Why Call to Arms Tank Treats Won’t Work in the End

Blizzard announced their plan to decrease wait times in the Looking for Dungeon System by introducing goodie bags to those classes that are in short supply, namely tanks and in a lesser way healers. So basically if you play a class that is needed to decrease wait times, you will be rewarded with extra gold and some vanity items like pets and mounts. To me this is nothing more than a band aid for a big wound that won’t work in the long run and I’ll explain why.

Excerpts From the Article are below:

In patch 4.1 we'll be introducing Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms, a new system intended to lower queue times. Call to Arms will automatically detect which class role is currently the least represented in the queue, and offer them additional rewards for entering the Dungeon Finder queue and completing a random level-85 Heroic dungeon.

Call to Arms is meant to lower wait times by offering additional rewards for queuing as the currently least represented role. To be eligible for the additional rewards you must solo queue for a random level-85 Heroic in the role that is currently being Called to Arms, and complete the dungeon by killing the final boss. Every time you hit these requirements (there is no daily limit) you'll receive a goodie bag that will contain some gold, a chance at a rare gem, a chance at a flask/potion, a good chance of receiving a non-combat pet (including cross faction pets), and a very rare chance at receiving a mount. The pets offered come from a wide variety of sources, and include companions like the Razzashi Hatchling, Cockatiel, and Tiny Sporebat, but the mounts are those specifically only available through dungeons (not raids), like the Reins of the Raven Lord from Sethekk Halls, Swift White Hawkstrider from Magister's Terrace, and Deathcharger's Reins from Stratholme.

This system is meant to address the unacceptable queue times currently being experienced by those that queue for the DPS role at max level. The long queue times are, of course, caused by a very simple lack of representation in the Dungeon Finder by tanks, and to some extent healers.

            The argument will be made that the rewards will encourage people to roll tanks and healers and I do people in some capacity that this will be true, but does a new tank definitely equate to a good tank? Not at all although we will see an increase in quality tanks giving it a go, we will also see an increase of bad tanks that will make wiping a more common event. My biggest fear however is for the hybrid classes that will be queuing as tanks in their DPS gear so they may get the extra rewards. Under geared or improperly geared tanks is a recipe for disaster, especially in today’s world of more challenging dungeons.

            Also you have to wonder if it will bring enough tanks to truly make a difference that noticeable in the times. Is waiting 25 minutes instead of 30 really that much of a change? I question whether there are even enough tanks out there at this point to offset the deficiency enough to make the change noticeable. 

            The idea as it stands has some merit for improving the dismal wait times DPS is experiencing, but I believe that at best this is only a temporary solution to a much bigger problem that won’t go away easily. Blizzard needs to look at other ways to deal with this on a long term basis and hopefully this band aid solution will give them the time needed to make it to surgery.  

            While in the meantime the added extra loot will entice some tanks and healers to Queue more often, but what happens when they are just sick and tired of running randoms or they have all the pets, mounts and gems they can handle. What will be the incentive to keep going? Eventually these presently enticing rewards will become less desirable and the number of tanks queuing up will become low again.

BattleField: Bad Company 2 Prices Cut in Half

If you have never played this game, but always wanted to you have never had a better reason to do than now.

EA sports has cut thier prices in half for the game $9.97, The Expansion Vietnam $7.47 and the SPECACT Kit which allows you to customize your soldiers appearance for only $2.75.

I will be purchasing the Vietnam and SPECACT since I havent already and for 10 bucks its a good deal.

See you on the Battle Field.

"Ascension" - My First Foundry mission to be published

               Well After quite alot of learning and trial and error in figuring out the Foundry, I have sucsessfully completed my first Star Trek Online Mission called "Ascension". I was still having a problem with markers working correctly, so I went around them by using "interact with objects" instead. For some reason my markers were not triggering, even when I increased the radius out to extreme range. Oh well I will continue to make missions if only for the fact that I enjoy doing so much and I am confident my skill at making mission will only get better. If you get the chance to try it out, please stop back to this post and let me know what you think. Good and bad comments accepted becuase constructive feedback can only help me improve future missions.

 

Playing around in the Foundry

Last week Star Trek Online released their mission building program called Foundry to the live server. Although still leveling my main character (Commander Rank 3 ATM) my curiosity got the better of me so I took the plunge and began creating my first mission. I was instantly enthralled and frustrated at the same time.

            Building your own missions and then having other players play them must seem like tedious mind numbing work for some people, but for a guy like me this is exactly the kind of fun I am looking for. Developing a story, creating new maps and new characters is a lot of fun for me and the foundry is a nice tool to do this. Whether or not my missions turn out to be entertaining or not is yet to be seen, but I am having a blast learning the system even if it does frustrate me at times.    

 

Good Interface, just read the Q & A First 

            I am going to assume that most of the people who will use the Foundry are going to have limited knowledge and experience with programming. The concepts of programming logic and code progression are probably not widely known. Therefore it goes to reason that the average person will not be able to use this knowledge in crafting their missions with the understanding of how things should progress. One word of advice to those unfamiliar with programming, it is usually prudent to write out your plan before engaging in writing the code or in this case writing your mission. Having a map to follow while working on your story will help out tremendously in reaching your desired goal.  

            Fortunately the Foundry has a user interface that is pretty straight forward with tabs set up to make everything that you need. The look and feel of it is similar in design to Microsoft products like Visual Basic and such. However understanding how a story should progress, on a programming level, is often hard to follow unless you do some homework first.

            Although very basic in its information, the official Q & A has enough to get you started in designing your mission. However where it fails is in helping someone to understand triggers and transitions. Although they are covered, the material provided is very limited and only helps you in building a very basic mission. Once you have tinkered around with it a little bit, you should be able to get the basic idea behind how to use the Foundry, but to do the more dynamic story development you should look for additional help outside of the Q & A.

            There have been several videos and websites created to assist you in figuring out some of the more advanced features of the Foundry and I suggest you read up as much as you can before tackling your first mission. It is twice as hard to try and go back and fix what you have already done, instead of doing it as you go the right way. This is why mapping your plan and learning as much as possible are very important.

And then there are the bugs

            As any programmer will attest to, writing code also means fixing bugs. Bugs are those pesky things that will make your screen freeze or a program to stop working. Foundry has its own bugs and writing bad story progression or map design will give you plenty of them. The system does a decent job of providing you with clues to what’s wrong, with the addition of a task pane in the bottom left of the interface, but inevitably you will come across something that will be out of place or will not work. This is where the Foundry can get frustrating as solutions to your missions problems are not given.           

            For instance in creating my first mission (Which should be out soon) for some reason the server stops responding when loading the first map of my mission. I pre made this map instead of using a provided one (possibly the problem) and created a spawn point and a place marker. The map will eventually load, but nothing happens when you reach the first marker. This problem only happens on the first map and not on additional maps with the same mechanic. Also in places my pop up dialogs are not engaging when they are supposed to.

            At the moment I am without an answer as to why this is happening, but I will fix it eventually or just remake the map and reenter the pop ups. The point is according to the Foundry there is nothing wrong with anything I have created and it doesn’t have a problem until I test the mission. I can imagine that this could become annoying to the average user and may prevent them from using it further.

The Verdict so far

           

            The fact that Cryptic has given its players the Foundry to use is a huge plus to me. Although not a new concept in the world of gaming, it is not normal in MMORPG games.  I really, really like this feature and if nothing else it will keep me a paying subscriber for the foreseeable future. I am positive that Cryptic will make changes to improve this tool, but even in its present state the Foundry is a very nice program to play with. The fact that you can publish your missions to other players is simply a bonus.

            I am sure that people will create missions that exploit certain game aspects and find ways to manipulate the Foundry          to gain an advantage in the game, but that still doesn’t diminish the value of this tool. I am looking forward to many hours of creating content for my fellow gamers and I am sure that my creations will get better as I become more familiar with this tool. My first mission (Which is yet to be named) should be ready soon for public consumption and I will announce its arrival here.

            If you have a question about the Foundry or if you have a mission you would like me to try and talk about you please let me know and I will do my best to help or check out your content. Until then good luck in crafting that epic episode you always wished they had made.

Shame of an Elder Gamer

We have all heard the stereotypes associated with playing games, especially MMORPG style games. Nerd, Geek, or my personal favorite “No life loser living in your mom’s basement” are all used in society to label a gamer, especially an adult gamer. In fact the negative names are often used the most by gamers when describing other gamers. Is there anyone over 18 that is not a gamer? Also at what age is it no longer considered cool to be a gamer?

Everybody plays Games

            The first thing I did when I thought about this was to look at the people I know and see who does and does not play video games. I was hard pressed to locate a single person that I know that doesn’t play video games at some level. Each and every person I thought of had or actively does play video games on a daily basis.

            Today video games are everywhere and are played on all types of devices and mediums. From social media sites like Facebook to consoles to cell phones, video games have infiltrated modern society like no other form of entertainment available. How then it is still considered weird or not acceptable in society? Why do people feel it necessary to conceal their online lives behind avatars and pseudo names?

Secret Identities

            In comic books super heroes always hid their true identities for fear of being discovered. In video games we follow this same line of thinking and hide our real selves behind cleverly (in some cases not so clever) fake names. In some part it is the desire to live a secret life that causes us to do this, but how many of you have during the course of a conversation will talk about your latest exploits in Azeroth? Or how many times have you included your gaming life as part of your resume for a job, even under the hobbies portion?

            Normally we are very discreet when disseminating information about the games we play to the general public and will often only do so when we know someone is of like mind. What causes us to shy away from our hobby of choice and hide like a vagabond afraid of the dirty little secret? IS it this preconceived notion that gamers are in general social outcasts unable to maintain a real flesh and blood relationship? If that is the case then how can anyone today be considered normal since for the most part we all play video games to some degree? Shouldn’t the person who doesn’t play any type of video game be the one given weird looks and talked about at the water cooler?

 Fantasy Phobia

           

            As much as we might like to believe that our society has become more modern and forward thinking, a lot of the old world taboos still exist today. This is never more evident than in the worlds of fantasy and Sci-Fi. Saying you enjoy movies or books like The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars in many cases will still get you labeled as a geek or weirdo. However these movies and book series are some of the best selling of all time, so just how many closet geeks exist out there? When you combine these genres with video games, which is the case in most MMORPG titles, you have a recipe for ridicule and shame.

            Whether we like to admit it or not Fantasy and Science fiction will most likely always be considered outside the realm of normality. Go ahead and do a search for “Sci-Fi fan” on your favorite search engine for images. How many “Normal” people do you see in the photos? The image most people have in mind when they hear fantasy or Sci-fi video game, is often one built on pre ordained prejudices and misconceptions.

Add Adult and stir until well blended

            When we interject the word adult into this equation the recipe creates a hideous monstrosity of social awkwardness and deprivation. An Adult Video Gamer is someone who refuses to grow up and move out of their mother’s house. Now the person is unable to maintain a meaningful relationship and most likely is a 40ish year old virgin. Hmmm remember the scene in that very similar sounding movie with all the action figures and collectibles?

            This is the preconceived image that anyone who is over 18 years old and still playing video games, especially MMO games is perceived to be. Going to a Star Trek Convention or ComicCon this year? Better not let that out of the bag to the wrong person because you will most certainly receive a label that is not kind. I think we can all agree that this is not fair, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist today.

            I applaud those who bravely go to these events in full costumed regalia unafraid of what others think, but for the most part I tend to believe that most attendees are unwilling to admit attendance to non followers of the genre. We talk to or fellow gamers about the things we do, but very rarely do we discuss it in open public.

Maybe this is acceptable; maybe it is supposed to be this way, but I have to believe that as these games grow in popularity so will it become more social acceptable to be a fan of them. I look forward to the day that I can say “I am an Adult Gamer who plays an Armor Wearing Paladin” without be looked at funny. Well ok that might be a bit much, but at least allow me to claim my love of online gaming without ridicule.