Jun
18
A News Gumbo
There are a couple things that caught my eye this morning as I tried desperately to wake up.
First up would be Star Trek Online. From a pure theoretical standpoint, I think that they are on the right track when it comes to combat:
Starship navigation in Star Trek Online will allow for a range of movement but it won’t be possible for ships to dogfight. (And honestly, should these massive ships really be pulling barrel rolls in combat?) But even the smaller vessels with very different attributes will be subject to limitations in movement, so “there’s no strafing, no moving backwards and shooting (kiting)” says Zinkievich. He clarifies this by saying that ships can move in reverse, but doing so wouldn’t be useful in combat. So apparently the game will not have Jumpgate Evolution-type scenarios where smaller ships move with blazing speed and agility, as STO combat is by design a more tactical experience.
Just as important as maneuverability (via WASD, with E and Q for throttle up and down) in Star Trek Online’s space combat is positioning. Zinkievich says, “I don’t want to say that the class of your ship has nothing to do with combat, but positioning is HUGE. Making sure that you get to your target’s weak side and protect (shift shield energy to) yours is gigantic. Movement and positioning is probably the single most important part of combat.”
Most Star Trek fans are very aware that combat within Star Trek is rooted deeply in Naval combat. It’s not quick. It’s not about balls to the wall pwnage. It’s about movement and positioning in order to bring the maximum amount of firepower on your opponent. Not only that, it’s about hitting them where it hurts the most while denying them the opportunity to do the same to you. If they even hint at bringing in twitch combat into STO, then they have failed the IP. So far, it looks like they are doing the IP justice. Now, we just have to hear more about the non-combat options in STO because we all know Star Trek is more than just phasers and photon torpedoes.
The second piece of news was this story about Darkfall. What really caught my eye was this:
Darkfall could have been a great game, but never have I seen so much exploiting and cheating in an MMO from day one onwards, not even in most Korean games has it ever been on this scale. If you like cheating, then you’ll love Darkfall, the code is so weak in it that it practically begs for it to be a hacker’s paradise. A shame too, the ideas behind the game were brilliant, but the players have turned it to a pile of crap, really fast.
The game was supposed to have way more depth then that but this is what happens when you put a bunch of people in a game that have never played UO or any other non-easy-mode game. This isn’t UO-esque at all, like it was marketed to be.
Darkfall is shaping up to be one of those games where a certain type of player has taken over the game completely. What happens next one of two things: devs do something about it to plug the number of holes that asshats can exploit….or….this game bleeds to the point where Aventurine can no longer support the game. Remember, Darkfall is Aventurine’s only MMO product…so they can’t afford to bleed players for stupid reasons like code exploits. It’s a question of numbers and momentum for this game and both are trending in the wrong direction and need to be addressed in order for it to be a viable PvP alternative to games like WAR or EVE. It’s got potential to do that, but you just have to ask the drunk, loud, obnoxious uncles to kindly leave the family BBQ to get there.
Last, but certainly not least is Aion. Remember that Simpsons episode where Lisa goes up against Mailbu Stacy? There was that one scene where Lisa was in front of a crowd waiting to buy the new Mailibu Stacy doll…oh…here is a nice description of the scene:
A crowd of little girls wait anxiously for the opening of the toy store
so they can be the first to get Lisa Lionheart. Smithers waits with
them, too, greedily anticipating the joy. When the doors are opened,
the crowd stampedes in. “Look,” cries one girl, “it’s Lisa Lionheart!”
Another encourages them, “Keep running! We’re almost there!”They almost make it, except an employee pulls a cart full of Malibu
Stacy dolls “with NEW hat” in their path. They all stop: “They changed
Malibu Stacy!” one exclaims. “She is better than ever!” says another.
Lisa tries to point out that the only difference is her stupid cheap
hat. “She still embodies all the awful stereotypes she did before!”
Smithers is quick to point out, “But she’s got a new hat.” This is all
it takes for the girls to ignore Lisa Lionheart in favor of the cheap-
hatted dolls.
…Aion apparently has a new hat…
D out.
