“If there’s a bright center to the universe, you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.” – Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker talking about the desert planet of Tatooine
“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: all glory is fleeting.” - George S. Patton
Gamers are a fickle lot. Every time a new mmo has an announcement date, there is always the hope that it will be the one – the one that saves all that is wrong with mmos. The release date is reached and the virtual shores of new worlds are flooded with virtual residents. When Warhammer Online (War) opened its doors, tier one, Empire pairing, was the place to be. Then comes the turn of the wheel, the toss of the dice, the virtual crap shoot that is the estimation of how many servers to open. A few months out and you could shoot a cannonball down the center of many War servers and not hit anything. Where have they all gone? Some voices within the community will tell you that once their virtual visas are up, they will migrate back to the shores of whatever virtual home they have chosen – in many cases World of Warcraft (WoW).
Not everyone migrates like a flock of virtual gaming birds, flitting from one mmo to the next, looking for the next fix. Sometimes a game comes along that grabs and holds our attention. When that occurs, the inevitable race to the top ensues, where leveling proceeds at a pace that would rival the fastest land speed records. When that goal is reached developers/publishers are beset with the problem of what carrot to dangle in front of players to keep them going. But no matter how many carrots a developer comes up with, no matter how much content a team can create, there will always be players that can burn through it faster than it can be created. When this happens many players log off…many but not all.
This gives rise to the places where players go to be seen. In almost every mmo I have ever played the place players to go been seen is the bank. What magic is it that casts the spell on players that causes them to congregate in places like the banks at Ironforge, Stormwind and Dalaran? As far back as Ultima Online (UO) I have seen players flock to the plaza in front of the bank – in UO it was the bank of Brittania.
What is it that drives players from virtual shore to virtual shore, ever seeking the certain je ne sais quoi?
Is it because, as George C. Scott surmised (or whoever wrote the script) as General Patton that we, “all admire the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, big league ball players, the toughest boxers?” Interestingly enough, that part wasn’t in the speech delivered by the real General Patton to troops in England, on May 17th, 1944. Perhaps the real General Patton didn’t include the part about fame in his speech because he knew all glory is fleeting…Oscar Wilde, Veronica Lake , Hedy Lamarr , and Billie Holiday all died penniless. Does America always love the major league Ball Player? They used to love J.R. Richard, starting pitcher with the Houston Astros; by 1994 he was living under a bridge in Houston, Texas. Perhaps as gamers our search for the next virtual fix are what keeps adding names to the list of mmos that includes, Auto Assault, Asherons Call 2, Earth and Beyond, and Tabula Rasa…with All Points Bulletin by Real Times World’s coming way to close to the list for any kind of comfort.
Perhaps as gamers we are always seeking for that certain something, that je ne Sais qua, that bright shining center of the universe. But when we never find it we keep driving on, keep moving, hoping to find some places where the light shines the brightest, some place where we can finally breathe easy and say “at last I have arrived.”
See you online,
Julie Whitefeather
Side Notes
Gold Sellers redefine the word “desperate”
If you have entered the hallowed halls of Azeroth lately, wether on the horde or alliance side, you will have seen gold sellers redefine the word “desperate.” Gold sellers have programed hordes of synchronized sleeping bodies in routines that would turn Esther Williams green with envy. Does this constitute gold spam if the bodies spell out the name of a web site? We aren’t sure, but we will just bet that the program that does it would be considered a hack.
Fallen Earth
Take me back
If you are one of those who have left the province, as Icarus Studios put it in a letter to a former subscriber on the NPNM team, they are giving you a chance to re-subscribe for $10 off the first month and a “Clone Psychoactive Shot” that has five charges of +15% experience points boost each.
State of the Game
We wanted to make sure that you all had a chance to see the content under discussion in this months State of the Game message from the Fallen Earth Development team. You can see the content discussed below – take a look at the entire letter here.
Combat
We’ve been taking a very in-depth look at two core systems of Fallen Earth—Combat and Factions. Over the next several months we will be making changes as we continually adjust and improve these two systems.
Specifically for combat, we will be changing some of the formulas to create a more fast-paced, exciting combat experience. Major changes coming soon involve adjusting high levels of mitigation, tweaking the random damage spread and making armor require statistics (like Faction or Strength) and character level (rather than Armor Use skill). However, Armor Use skill will still determine how well armor performs. After these changes are in place, we will be making adjustments to Faction skills, Mutations and regular skills, and a balance pass for Items.
Progress Towns
Progress Towns, a PvE feature, will add all-new content to the Wasteland.
Within certain areas, factions are attempting to build new towns…while the remnants of Alec Master’s forces are trying to tear them down. In Progress Towns, players can run all new missions in an effort to build a town, from the ground up, for their Faction. While special defenses may be crafted to help protect and defend your newly formed faction town, beware, it won’t be an easy task to maintain control.
Faction Control Points
Every Faction has planted flags throughout the Wasteland to claim parts of the Grand Canyon as their own. Players who are in a PvP area or World PvP flagged can claim one of these flags for their own Faction. Claiming such a flag, or multiple flags in an area, may grant benefits such as Faction-specific guards, buffs, or harvest nodes, but you’ll have to battle it out to keep your flag flying.
Color Customization Options for Clothing
We are hard at work on introducing the next step of customization options in Fallen Earth in the form of customizable social clothing. We will do a special dev journal on this feature and are very excited to bring this to all of you!
Camp Improvements
We are also taking a look at the camps system and will be improving certain elements. With the improvements, players will have the ability to place camps on a wider selection of terrain. Additionally, camps will no longer disappear when their creator logs out or moves out of range. We hope to see this system continue to evolve and improve as we move forward.
Mobile App
We realize a lot of players are anxious for the premium mobile companion app features to be released, and you can expect to see the update available within the next few weeks on the Fallen Earth website. With the update, you will have the ability to fully craft items, send/receive in-game mail and attachments and buy/sell at the Auction House!
We’ve got lots more in store in addition to these awesome new features in the September patch, so be sure to keep an eye on the FE website! And to give a glimpse at what you can expect to see hit the server in December, we’re working on some major systems—Factions and Clan Strongholds. Stay tuned for more details!