Saying Goodbye

After the announcement that City of Heroes would be shutting down, the community around the game rallied greatly.  In-game events were held, petitions were created and signed by thousands, and e-mails sent.  It was  a pretty amazing thing to see, and I think even the developers were surprised and quite a bit humbled by the outpouring of support for the game.  Unfortunately, NCSoft did at last, actually issue a reply to the support, and it left no room for interpretation.  City of Heroes was going away.  So this post is really more for myself than anything.  At one time I had four subscriptions to City of Heroes, and I maintained a subscription and VIP status right up until today.  I had so much fun in this game, and for me it has so many memories.

Guild Wars 2 - Pulse Check

So we're a little bit over a month since Guild Wars 2's launch, and though I myself am still absolutely loving the game, and playing at least a little bit just about every night, I thought it might be a good time to do bit of a pulse check on Guild Wars 2.  We've now had plenty of time to get through the honeymoon stage, and for many people the honeymoon was all there was.  And while there is still much to love about Guild Wars 2, as we'll see, it hasn't all necessarily been wine and roses.

Rethinking Roles in Guild Wars 2

Last night our not-so-little guild Combat Wombat tackled a number of dungeons.  We put together one group of +40's that ran Caudecus Manor (the second dungeon in the game), and then because we were done so quickly, we ran Twilight Arbor.  And because enough people are now in their mid-thirties, we actually had two groups doing Ascalon Catacombs for the first time.  At one time I counted 16 people on Vent - which for me, is awesome.  It's hard to say how nice it is to be a part of a thriving, fun, like-minded group in the early days of what is sure to be a long-lived, epic MMO.

This morning though, the runs sparked a lively and interesting post-dungeon discussion on what exactly people's roles are on a five man dungeon team.  Do people even have roles - and if so, how can we fulfill them?  One thing I've noticed about Guild Wars 2 is that there is actually a lot more that comes out of Guild Wars 1 than it first appears, and I think one of the things they carried forward is their philosophy towards group roles.  So based on observations from playing the first game, and from what I've experienced in the dungeon runs I've done so far, I wanted to offer up some thoughts on group roles in GW2, intended especially for those that perhaps never played the original game, or only ever dabbled in it, and are coming from a more traditional MMO design like World of Warcraft.

We Will Not Go Quietly..

Last friday, quite unexpectedly, Paragon Studios announced that NCSoft had made the decision to terminate the MMO City of Heroes, with servers being shut down by November of this year.  It's hard to express the outright emotional response I felt at learning this news.  Don't get me wrong, any MMO closing down is never a good thing, but over the years plenty of games I've played in, and enjoyed, have come and gone.  But when I learned of this I felt a sense of outright loss.  It made me sit back and really think, and I realized the reason this game's closure is affected me so was that more than any other game, City of Heroes was a part of my family.

Back in '07 or so, my brother-in-law and his wife discovered the game, quite outside of my influence.  They asked if I played, and I told them well of course! My son and I had already been playing, and my daughter - eight at the time - loved to make costumes and played some as well, so we all decided to get together and play.  Even my wife, whom is a complete non-gamer, was cajoled by the rest of us to join in.  So for the better part of a year, every Teusday night, I would make sure that vent was working properly on all four computers in our office, and the four of us would get online, and then be joined by my brother-in-law and his wife over vent - whom lived in Houston some 200 miles away - and the six of us would play together.  Quite often my wife and my sister-in-law would use the time to catch up, chatting away over vent like it was a phone call, completely immune to the seriousness of fight mechanics, or drawing too much aggro - and often making fun of me whenever I tried to admonish anyone into focusing on the fight!  And.. it was okay.  Because City of Heroes was the perfect game for that.  The exact right blend of allowance for casual play, and serious tactics.  We could get on, we play play for an hour or two, the six of us, knock out some missions, and then send the kids to bed.

Even to this day it remained the one game my daughter would regularely ask me to play with her, a request I did my best to accomodate whenever I could.  Even though we didn't play all the time, it's presence was a comfort.  And so when I realized that after November I would never again be able to stand side-by-side with my daughter knee deep in the sewers of Paragon City, battling Circle of Thorns and Vahzilok.. the loss I felt was genuine.  I, and I think many others, had always assumed City of Heroes would be there for us to come back too whenever we wanted.  Well Friday NCSoft reminded us that City of Heroes is a business.  And like any business, subject to being closed immediately and without much warning.

Quite clearly though, I wasn't the only one shocked, and more than a bit upset.  Across the blogosphere there was at first a sense of stunned loss, and then a call to action.  And by today, that call to action has grown, and is continuing to pick up steam.

I don't usually participate in fan or community organized movements.  I'm keenly aware that businesses are businesses, and once a decision has been made, most of the time no amount of fan outcry will change that.  But this is important to me.  And there are some cases where the community did make a difference.  Perhaps this time it's different - perhaps we can show that are making this decision that it does matter, and that there is still money to be made here.  So I'm getting involved, and I hope that perhaps you will too.

Yeah.. but how?

Well you'll be happy to know that it's already extraordinarily well organized!

At the very least, drop over to this location and sign the fan petition showing your support for keeping the gates to the city open!

If you're so inclined, I would encourage you to write to the good folks at NCSoft.  As always, tact and professionalism will be far more effective than nerd rage.  Remember this is a business decision. You can find an extraordinary amount of information in this forum thread.

And this Saturday, the 8th, there's going to be a massive thing in-game, in Atlas Park, at around 4:00pm central.  There's going to be a huge costume contest, and in general I think they just want as many people as possible to show up and show their support.  Details are here, but the short version is come by Atlas Park on Saturday the 8th on the Virtue server.  And remember, if you haven't been by City of Heroes in a few years, the game has a free to play model.  All it will cost you is the time to download the client, and the time to show up in game.

There is a official press release from the Titan Network, and you can check it here.

I'm going to be there.  And I'm signing the petition, and may even write a letter.  It's not much, but I want to be involved in this.  I hope some of you do as well.

Guild Wars 2 Karma Farms

I was going to make this first post-launch blog be the standard "I'm playing Guild Wars 2 and loving it!" blog, but quite frankly, if you're following me in in the most slightest of ways, you already know this.  From screenshots, to dance movies, to previous blogs from the beta, you already know that I think this game is the real deal, and so far, I have no reason to think I won't be staying for quite a long time.

So instead I thought I might make this a relatively shot blog, and make it a PSA of sorts.  One thing you learn pretty quickly as a developer (and as a player) is that in any game where you persistent progression is a part of your game play, players are incredibly good at finding the most ruthlessly efficient means to achieve that progression.  By now, you've already heard about the player that reached level 80 (the game's max level) a mere 32 hours after the game launched.  Well good on 'im.  But not everyone has the luxury of an entire guild feeding you crafting materials to catapult your way into the upper levels, so some players are looking for any edge they can get - including exploits - to easy-mode their way through the game.

And right now, the most egregious of these exploits I've seen so far are the Karma farms.  What's a Karma Farm?  Well from the ones I've seen so far, it's characterized by two things.  First, a dynamic event that repeats with too great of a frequency and at too great of a regularity - or is easily triggered by a player.  Second, the dynamic event includes hordes of mobs that are funneled through a narrowly defined area.  The result?  Players park their characters with their auto-attack enabled and firing at the choke hole.  The event fires, the waves of mobs are exterminated, players rake in money, experience, and karma.  Rinse and repeat. Indefinitely.

There are two karma farms I've come across already.  The first was at the Ulta Metamagicals outpost in Brisbane Highlands.  Players would park themselves in the tiny room with the Asura gate, pointing their auto-attacks at the gate.  You could trigger the event repeatedly, and players would do so, and rake in the experience.  I use the past tense to describe this one because as of this morning, when I went by to check on the gate, no one was there, and the NPC that triggers the event was no longer present.  I'm hopeful this means this one received enough notoriety that ArenaNet has already found and fixed it.

The second I discovered is in Kessex Hills, and as of last night, was still very much active.  This one was at the bridge west of Greyhoof Meadows, where the centaurs are funneled through the gap at the bridge.  There was a pretty big patch overnight, and we have no idea of what all went into the patch, so they might have fixed it.  At least a few people this morning hadn't got the word if they had, as there were already some afk'ers parked with their auto-attacks on.

I bring these to your attention because I want them stopped.  And the best way for them to be stopped is for people to report them.  So I describe exactly where these farms are located because I am hopeful that you will go to these locations, and while standing there, submit a support ticket.  To do so, bring up the Game Menu by hitting escape, choose Support, and then click the little bug tab.  Your location is recorded along with the ticket when it is submitted, which is why it's important to be standing at the location of the Karma farm when you submit.  And yes, I'm aware that some of you might be tempted.


It's quite likely there are plenty more of these in the game, so keep an eye out for them.  If you ever come across a crowd of people standing around firing at nothing at all, it's quite likely you've just come across another Karma Farm.  Wait around, and see if indeed, a dynamic event doesn't fire shortly, and wave upon wave isn't mowed down.  When you see one though - do the right thing.  Participate in the event.  Submit a ticket.   And move on.  These things break the game, and in the end, ultimately do far more harm than good.

Apologies if heavy-handed PSA's aren't your thing.  But I really do love this game, and as a developer, I hate seeing game-breaking exploits like these.  I'm hoping if you are enjoying the game as much as I am, you'll understand!

Until I take another blog break in a week or so, you can find me in Tyria!

The Last Guild Wars Post?

The first time I really got a chance to play Guild Wars 2 was that first Beta Weekend Event, back in April.  I was of course aware of the game, had seen some screenies and a little bit of footage, but by far and large had been postponing really digging into it.  It was that weekend event that caught me, hook line and sinker, on the game.  And after the weekend was over, I decided I would boot up Guild Wars 1 again, and renew my effort to get at least a few points in my Hall of Monuments.  I think at the time I had like three - the ones you get for owning all of the expansions.

But I gotta tell you.. it was hard!  I had already become so used to so many of the features in Guild Wars 2, coming back was.. well to be honest it really did feel a bit like stepping back in time.  Being unable to jump (again), the loneliness of the instanced explorable areas, the auto-attacking & movement, the arcane armor crafting mechanics, the complete lack of modern ameneties like mail and auction houses - all of it bespeaks of a game designed seven years ago.

Meet Kerelyn Redfeather

So after completing The War in Kryta last week, I took a few days off from Guild Wars, and spent some time thinking about what I was going to do next.  But starting something new just didn't really appeal to me, and my mind kept wandering back to my Hall of Monuments.  (This is a clear sign of addiction, btw.)  The Oppressor Weapon you get from finishing WoK nets you two more Hall of Monument points, which was a pleasant surprise and a big motivator for pushing through that last tough mission.  Honestly, I never expected to have even one weapon on my Valor Monument, so this was a nice accomplishment.

Of course though.. that left me at an odd 17 points.  No one wants to be at 17 points.. halfway between the solid milestones of 15 and 20, right?  If I added a single hero statue, my Fellowship statue count would be at 10, and that would get me another point.  Well, I could run Remains of Sahlahja a few more times - all I needed was one piece of Ancient Armor Remnant - that couldn't be that hard right?  Wrong.  After running it another six times, three different times with three different characters, I still didn't have a single drop.  So I stopped doing that in frustration. But as luck would have it, at that very moment, a fellow was selling Cloth of the Brotherhood in Kamadan for 5k a piece.  You can use those to upgrade your Eye of the North heroes if you have finished Eye of the North (or at least have access to the Central Transfer Chamber) - which I have!   So I bought four of those, outfitted for of my heroes, and now I have 18 points.  But now what!  With 18 points, I needed just 2 more to get to a nice, even number again, and satisfaction.

After spending way too much time looking at each of the categories, and evaluating what would produce the best results for the least amount of effort - or at least in the most satisfying way - I decided that the Honor Monument would be my best bet.  I currently have two statues - one each for finishing the campaigns of Nightfall and Factions.  If I could get three more statues, I would get a full three points for having a full display, which is five statues.  If I just completed the Prophecies campaign, I would get one statue - Hero of Tyria.  And as I already had most of the missions in Nightfall completed with a Masters score, if I went back and picked up the few that I had missed, I could get another title - Eternal Protector of Elona for a second statue.  But to get that third statue.. I would have to do all the missions in the Prophecies Campaign, and get their bonus accomplishments.  The thing is, the first six of those missions require a prophecies character.  That's right, I would have to create a new character from scratch, in the prophecies campaign, and start working with her.  And this would be a huge disadvantage to finishing it quickly, as I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the hundreds of hours I've put into Kaytte, and more importantly, her extremely well outfitted heroes.  In fact, I'd have no heroes at all!  The only thing I could count on would be having enough money to properly outfit her with armors and weapons as she leveled up, and to buy the skills I've unlocked with other characters.  It was a tough decision.  I spent a solid ten minutes or so considering whether or not it would be worth it.

Of course, you already know what I did.  Meet Kerelyn Redfeather, young ranger from Ascalon, whom was there the day the Charr broke the sky and rained fire and brimstone down upon the country.  So far, things have gone pretty well.  Don't worry, I won't be burdening you with a picture-by-picture account of my journeys.  But I have had a better time of it than I thought I would.  My memories of the Prophecies campaign are mostly negative, formed from several aborted attempts over the years that never saw any character get any further than post-seared Ascalon.  But with strict focus and attention to walkthroughs, I've already accomplished more this weekend than I ever did in any of my previous attempts.  Kerelyn is a bit of an over-achiever, and at level 12, she has already completed all of Old  Ascalon, led the refugees through the Shiverpeaks, through the undead riddled Gates of Kryta, and seen them safely to Lion's Arch.  In game terms, I've completed 7 of the 25 missions that make up the Prophecies campaign.

Now that I'm in Lion's Arch, I feel I might be a bit underleveled (ya think?), so I'm going to do some pickup missions here and there to level up a bit, before continuing with the campaign.  The amazing thing I think is, how possible it is to really make progress in these campaigns when you have a goal and focus.  In pretty much every attempt I'd tried before, I always end up floundering, buried in a miasma of secondary quests, losing sight of the goal, before getting bored and wandering away to something else bright and shiny.  In this attempt, I've done pretty much zero side-quests. I check the wiki before every mission, and if it doesn't have the word Primary next to it, it's a safe bet I skip it.  And a few times along the way, I have done some extra things, just to level up a bit.  But the important thing is - the different thing is - this time I'm keeping my eye firmly on the ball.

Once I get to level 18 or 20, I'll jump over to Eye of the North, and do just enough of that content to get Ogden, Vekk, Jora, and Gwen in my party.  With those four heroes, I should be able to do the Lion's Arch quest to travel to Elona, and do the first mission there, which will add Koss, Duncan, Talkora, and Melonni. Though that isn't even half of the heroes Kaytte has at her disposal, I'm hopeful that mix will give me enough to have an easier time of it as I progress through Prophecies.

And that's what I was up to this past weekend!  Hope you are having fun in whatever game you're currently playing, and of course, I'll see you in Guild Wars 2 in 4 weeks!

Final Note - It turns out I actually could take a non prophecies character all the way back to post-seared Ascalon, and do those first, initial six missions.  The wiki and documentation, such as it is, is not very clear on this.  Regardless, it's too late now!  Committed we are!  Proceed we shall!