World of Tanks Patch 0.6.5 Goes Live

World of Tanks has released the newest patch today which introduces some new maps and the American Tank Destroyer line. Here is a list of some key features and you can get to the Article here.

Redshire and Arctic Region maps;

American TDs Т18, Т82, Т40, M10, M36, T25, T28, T95;

American premium light tank M22 Locust;

Soviet premium light tank Т-127;

Tier 9 American medium tank M26 Pershing will be replaced for M46 Patton.

KV-3, Tank Destroyers and South East Asia

Been gone from the blog for a while, life has not afforded me much time to play or to blog a lot lately. Either way here is a quick recap of what I have been playing lately.

World OF Tanks

What little time I have to play lately has been focused on this game. Several new tanks have rolled on into my garage including the KV-3 and the Jagdpanzer Tank Destroyer. Both are Tier 6 tanks and unfortunately appear a bit underpowered. The major attraction they bring is increased armor while the guns are the same as their Tier 5 Counterparts. The biggest change is who you face in this tier as for the most part you will be paired up with tier6-10 opponents. You may be able to get some kills here and there, but when trading blows against the likes of IS-7 and Maus you really don't stand much of a chance.

I am getting close to obtaining my Tiger I (Tier 7) but am a little concerned about my chances of surviving against much larger opponents. The VK3601H is a very fun tank to play and I am finding it true that when battling in this medium tank that I am seeing successes more often than the much Larger KV-3.

Supremacy 1914

Haven't said a whole lot about this game for some time, but I still play it from time to time. Presently I am playing a 10 player game on the new Southeast Asia map that had won a contest for player created maps. It is well done and is different enough from the standard Europe map to make it fun to play. My first game in I was selected to play Mongolia which starts at the top of the map and has 0 water territories. Wasn't expecting to play a land locked nation on a SE Asia map, but I'm sure ill get a island nation soon enough.

Wipe the dust off my Gat and get back at it..

We all are from time to time, over encumbered by life, liberty and the pursuit of "honey have you finished the list" that so accompanies our spare time.

I am pinned down from the "Honey" bullets from my better half more times than i care to admit.

Thank God for Fathers day and the excuse of Stress...without them I'd never get any gaming done.

This weekend I found out that without constant practice you are never as good as you once were...Battlefield called, I answered and so did the virtual medic!

As I strafed, knifed, sniped in on my fellow combatants in some head to head tests of digital skillz I found myself thinking, could this be, might it be possible, I suck yet again....ACKKK, I do.. I toss this out to all arm chair generals reading...stick with your training. without it, we are all just food for wolves. silver lining, my M16 will still reach out and kiss ya in the right spots!

In my contemplation of yet again queing for war, I did a little surfing and ran acrossed this little tid bit of news that might interest you.

http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3/videos/thunder-run-trailer#

I have to admit that I dig the idea of driving a tank in the new environments. If you have not gone to the host site, you can check it out http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3 here.

I have to say This game is shapping up to be one of my future favorites!

Damn You Match Maker, Damn YOU

For the past month or so I have been crawling my way from the primordial soup of lower level Tankdom in a desperate attempt to cling onto the ledge of the middle tiers of beautiful heavy behemoths populating Tiers 5-7. For weeks I drudged along taking blow after blow from the larger more powerful brethren that would beat upon me daily in their large and imposing tanks, constantly making me pay my dues. When the carnage was over and night would fall upon me, I would huddle up in a fetal position and dream of the day I would ascend to the next level, as sobs of despair escaped my trembling lips.

            Finally as the required experience as the whipping boy came to pass, the gods of metal mayhem bestowed upon me my first glimpse at the world of middle ranks of the rolling warriors and said it was good. Brand new shiny metal death machines were at my disposal, with large powerful canons and think sturdy armor. The days of cruising around in a Loltracktor and his friends was OVER, the day of power was upon me. Soon enough all those below me would tremble at my might as one by one they fell to my mighty gun or crushed beneath my massive treads. 

Reality Check

            Just as I emerged over the lip of Middle Tier I noticed just how high up the upper tier happens to be. Now any normal man would have been dismayed to look up upon that far away perch, but not this guy. After all I just had made the climb to this new rank and damn it all I could do it again, so what if it was twice as high, I…could…do…it. As I sharpened my claws in eager anticipation of the feast to be had upon those lowly level tier wagons of fail, I watched the screen load into my first ever battle as a KV “Heavy” tank.

            Err halo Tiger…good day to you Mr. IS…What’s that Miss Jagdpanther you don’t like me much? Oh ha-ha-ha quite understandable under the circumstances…no, no worries ill just be over…hey wait a second…wait please put that away…ouch ok hehe good one…just give me…sigh.

            I quickly came to realize that my day on top was short lived and not quite what I thought it would be. As it turns out, all those guys cruising around in their KV’s and Stugs when I was a wee bit, were now cruising around in tanks with imposing names like ISU-this and M-that. They had gotten bigger and their guns had gotten bigger, but their disdain for me, the bottom feeder, hadn’t changed. Apparently the matchmaker system is run by an evil little troll with an unusual sense of cruel humor. Also apparent in this game is that no one can escape this maniacal system of self destruction as you hurl your impotent metal coffin at those with armor so thick it would take a nuclear bomb to crack it. Unfortunately I am fresh out of nukes and damn if that isn’t a lot of XP to get the Tiger.

Batting 500

The game isn’t all cruelty though sometimes this dog does get his day. Recently I was engaged in a battle where I managed to be the largest tank on the block. I laughed menacingly as wave after helpless wave of inferior beings threw themselves upon my Iron hide and fell before the might of my Derp Gun. Unfortunately these matches have come far and few between and are interjected with face to face tie with MR. Tiger II and his friends.         

            Although I could swear it doesn’t appear this way at the time of game play, my stats dutifully inform me that on average I am winning almost as much as I am losing. It would appear that this game is actually balanced. Now I know this isn’t true, there’s no way this is possible. I have seen the piles of burning metal wrecks of my rolling image that have littered my ascension up the ranks, but this game seems to think I have left just as many terror stricken victims in my wake. Maybe it’s just me, but I am starting to get the feeling that the stat keeper of this game is the same troll who manages the Match Maker system.

            Oh well I guess I’m a gluten for punishment…clicking to enter the queue again.

Repopulating the Ghost Towns

This post is a continuation of a previous post where I commented on the problems related to game design in MMORPG’s that often left zones empty of players. If you haven’t read the post yet I urge you to give it a look over here.

            First I would like to state that the following ideas are my opinion on fixing a common problem associated with MMORPG’s today. Now with that out of the way I would like to make a few suggestions on possible ways to eliminate the creation and the subsequent ignoring of whole regions of game content.

            Common game design dictates that players gather experience from completing various tasks in game and then utilizing the experience to gain rank. Although each game is different, the general premise is that a player becomes more powerful via new abilities and improved stats. Once a player reaches max level they then improve their character via gear upgrades. The problem with this classic design is in order to maintain a challenging environment for players; Developers will create “level” appropriate areas geared towards progressing them along. As players advance they leave behind them an empty barren land of no interaction and fading memories. Great locations once adored by many are left to remain unwanted and unused.

            If we eliminate a players Level then we can eliminate the need for “level” related areas. Now many will say that if we go this route then what’s the point of playing a game without progress? Why log into a game if I can’t grow as a character? My solution to this is to have characters become more powerful with two different mechanics. I would keep the ability to improve a player’s equipment or gear as this makes sense, but I would eliminate a player’s ability to become more powerful in abilities. Instead a player would learn new abilities not normally associated with their class.

            Imagine if you will a Warrior that has filled up his knowledge bar on how to swing a sword and has in essence become an expert, he receives minor improvements to his skills like, +5 to hit and such, but his base stats of health, Wisdom or whatever remain unchanged. His weapons will improve and offer their own modifiers for things like chance to hit or total damage, but nothing to dramatic. Armor can improve resistance and such forth, but the overlying theme is increases in abilities are minor. However once a player has mastered the arts of his own abilities he can begin studying arts in other fields. For instance he could be a warrior/mage with some lesser abilities than a full mage like adding fire damage to his sword attacks or creating a shield. This will allow the player to still have something to aim for without creating a demigod which forces the Developers to keep upping the anti.

            Now you may have noticed two problems with my suggestion and are presently wondering what I am ranting about as I am not really fixing anything. Problem one – Players are still “leveling” in a way and therefore will become more powerful than other players and/or mobs in an area. Problem two – once players over power a regions mobs they will not wish to return if it is not providing them a way to improve themselves. Both are valid questions that require answers themselves.

            As to players leveling the biggest difference is that players in my world would not have extreme advances and therefore would not be overly powerful beings, instead they would be marginally improved over others. Now I do believe a well seasoned warrior should be better than a rookie new to the lands of strife, but it shouldn’t be overwhelming. Instead it should provide a tactical edge found in better gear and knowledge and force the newer player to overcome the better equipped and trained opponent.

            To combat the problem of out-leveling content, zones would have to be constantly updated to introduce new things to do. Now I am not suggesting an earth shattering change as we saw in Cataclysm, but a more mild change from time to time to alter the landscape slightly. Lands should be fluid in nature and constantly evolving in an unknown manner. This will create a need to explore old covered grounds to see what’s new. Also I would layer content in each region with some mobs being more powerful than others. This is more realistic as each type of enemy would not be of the same health and level just because they share the same area. 

            A player may stumble upon a group of beings that he has no business facing and might die, but she can then mark that as an area to return later or to bring back friends to help. Quests can also help keep players in the right area of a zone, but that involvement should be limited and only “aid” the player in places to avoid. Lastly I would create non combat related things to do in each area no matter how well adapted a player is. A more robust crafting and gathering system is a possible idea to implement among others to give players a reason to return.

   This is the beginning of my idea and there is much that I have left uncovered, bit I have gone on long enough for now and will introduce other ideas in a later post. I am curious to know what you think on this subject and welcome any ideas.