Posts Tagged ‘crafting’

Having worked my way up to Commander, and nearly captain (sounds like a child who is 5 “AND A HALF” doesn’t it?) I finally made use of all the Star Trek Online (STO) crafting materials that I have been saving…

And it was not long thereafter that I shot them all out the airlock.

Now rather than simply writing an article denigrating crafting in what is one of my favorite games, I will offer a few observations and a solution or two.  But first let’s start with our earlier article which really did denigrate Player versus Player (pvp) in Star Trek Online.

This last weekend I decided to indulge in a bit more abuse…I mean pvp.  As the Feds were lined up, waiting for all five players to log in to the arena, one player said, “I can’t wait to leave the pvp in this tier behind me.”  Now I could have pointed out that simply attaining the rank of captain doesn’t mean the pvp would be any better.  The simplest solution to the unbalanced pvp would be a pvp only buff for the Federation side only.  The main problem being that any time the Federation players engage in pvp they are easy targets for the Klingon players, and the largest culprits, despite what the “my e-peen is bigger than yours” crowd wants desperately to believe, are weak shields compared to Klingon DPS.  The buff would simply be a buff that could be given by a science ship to increase the shield strength (pvp only) that would be active only while in the arena.  This buff would be similar to the flasks (a type of potion for you non-wow players) in World of Warcraft that persist through death of the character.  This would also have the effect of making the player who chooses to fly a Science ship more valuable instead of eliciting the response “O.K. who brought a science ship to a cruiser fight?” So far the experienced of the staff is limited to the first three tiers and the virtual thumb on the scale is still firmly placed on the Klingon side. I heard rumors in the wind (read forums) that the pendulum swings back toward the Feds briefly in Tier 4 and that “corrects” itself in Tier 5.  This being the case (if it is) the buff would only work for the ships that are used in Tiers 1 through 3 – However, the answer still seems to be in balancing the shields and the ability to penetrate them to make the fight not only fair, but last a bit longer.

To craft, or not to craft, that is the question…

There are many players, myself included, who enjoy crafting in games.  Many players, including some of our regular guests on the No Prisoners, No Mercy show, who will quit a game if it doesn’t have good pvp.   It is important to note, at this point, that “good” crafting doesn’t necessarily mean “complicated” crafting.  The crafting system in Vanguard, for me at least, was complex and so much of a pain in the posterior that I couldn’t sit down for a month after I finally quit playing (which was about the same time that Brad McQuaid did a number on the Sigil employees.).

Crafting in STO is just about lifted directly from Champions Online.  Briefly it works like that: Go out and scan for anomalies as you travel through space.   You will then obtain an inventory full of icons that represent data, artifacts and whatnot.  This isn’t where the system fails.

Where the Star Trek Online system fails, and that is not to say it doesn’t function – it does, it’s simply worthless, is the next step.  All the crafting system amounts to is taking an item you already have in hand (say a medium hypo spray) and turn it, along with your collected data, in to a vendor and receive back an item of the next higher grade.  In other words, all you are really doing is going through a length process to obtain items that are easily obtain through other means – such as on the “auction house” or as pvp rewards.

Imitation is not always bad.

Despite the usual hue and cry of “It’s a wow clone” (and in the case of many writers it seems to be the case of they simply can’t think of anything better to write) this is one time where imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery but a darn good idea.

If Cryptic is going to “take a note” from crafting in another game, it shouldn’t be from their own game – Champions Online.  If you are going to borrow, borrow from someone who has been doing crafting and industry correctly for a LONG time…

Eve Online

When it comes to crafting the folks at CCP do it right. Quite simply there is little that can equal their crafting system.  To begin with, crafting shouldn’t not be something added in as if to say “Oh yes, and maybe we should have crafting” (sort of the way Turbine initially did pvp in Lord of the Rings Online). Crafting should be desirable. There are many people, myself included, who would make it a major occupation.  Viewing crafting this way is beneficial for the developers and the publishers because, while there are many people who will quit a game with bad crafting, there are also many players who will stay in a game just because  it has good crafting, even when other parts of the game irritate the crap out of them (like Eve Online).

More depth

Crafting needs to have depth. It can’t simply be a matter of turn something in to a vendor for a better goody. The crafter should be able to go out and get the raw materials and create something of value in the game. Too often this turns out to be potions/hypo sprays and the like that are simply a few scraps thrown at the table of crafters.   There is an opportunity here that Cryptic can seize.  If they are going to introduce new ships into Star Trek Online there two ways it can, and should, be done.  First, make those ships craftable, and ONLY craftable. They should not be for sale anywhere in the game other than on the auction house created by crafters. Those ships, and their components, should be the top of the line, the best of the best. It should be what players want and long for.  This is also the point at which those ships, incredibly difficult to make in the first place, could be sale for a MODEST sum in the cash shop.  Not for a small fortune as Gpotato is doing, as they busily price themselves out of the market.

And that’s the way it is, on February 22, 2010

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team

SIDE NOTE:

As a side note, here is one of the many, many spam messages our filter catches:

Hey great blog, I discovered your website when doing some study on some methods to develop my site. I was just wondering which spam software program you employ for comments because I get lots on my blogs.

The answer, of course, is the same spam filter that caught this automatic spam message.  Then there is the recent spam from a website that promised eternal youth in pill form that offered the following:

Thanks for sharing! it is good to encourage people to comment, not just reading. The only reason I writing blog rather than diary is because of the feedback.

At lest its better than the standard “Great blog, I have been looking for a site like this, I couldn’t agree more”…

If all else fails, so the old adage goes, read the instructions.  Yet ask yourselves, of all the times  you bought an mmo off the shelf (remember when the only way you could buy one was in an actual box?) how many of you even cracked open the instruction booklet?  As for me, I occasionally peruse the instructions… usually when the mmo takes a long time to patch. After all, isn’t that what tutorials are for?

It’s interesting…all the comments I have read about tutorials over the years – everything from “it’s too good” to “it sucks a pile of dead dingo dung.”  With each new game developers face multiple challenges with just the starting area:  How do you make it convey how to play the game but not make it boring? How do you make it good, but not so good it overshadows the rest of the game? (Age of Conan anyone?)  How do you do all that but make it interesting enough so players won’t say “OMG not again!” when they go through the same starting area for the third time.

Yet no matter how good a starting area is, there is no way a developer can convey all the nuances and myriad rules in the short time it takes to complete the tutorial. And there, as the immortal bard once said, “lays the rub”.  Had I had the opportunity to talk to whoever designed the crafting in Fallen Earth this weekend it might have gone like this:

Me:  “My armor crafting seems to be stuck at 28 – no matter how much I craft these stupid t-shirts my score won’t rise.”

FE Dev: “That’s because you are capped out for your level…”

Me: “WHAT! I’VE BEEN AT THIS ALL AFTERNOON! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘LEVEL’?”

FE Dev: “We mean that the cap on your current craft skill by area is tied to your intelligence and perception scores.”

(long pause while I think)

Me: “Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?”

FE Dev.: “We did…”

Me:  “No you didn’t.”

FE Dev: “Didn’t we send you that wonderful autographed box?”

Me: “Well…yes.”

FE Dev: “Did you spend all your time gawking at the signatures or did you read the instruction book that came with it?”

Me: “Well…I never read those things.”

FE Dev: “We suspected as much. That’s why there is this really nice npc standing right by the exit where you start the game that answers all the questions you have.”

Me: “Oh that guy…I just sort of ignored him.”

FE Dev: “We thought you might. That’s why we sent you to the NPC to teach you about crafting and have her guide you through the process. Did you read everything in the NPC’s dialogue?”

Me: “Well…no.”

FE Dev: “Well then any time you wasted is your own fault.”

Me: “How so?”

FE Dev: “Back in college we failed ‘Mind Reading 101.’”

Whoever designs crafting in any game has an enormous challenge. Make it too easy and it will seem like it was tacked on to the game as an afterthought. Make it too hard and the player will get bored. If crafting is both hard and an integral part of the game it will make the player feel like an animal in a trap – willing to chew off a limb just to get out of it.

Even when a developer hits the proverbial nail on the head when crafting is added to the mmo, the interest of the player is still dependant on both ability and willingness to perceive how the process is done – like reading instructions.  Fortunately, when part of that equation fails those who are fortunate (like me) have a great clan LIKE THE OLDER GAMERS who are willing to help out.

See you online

Julie Whitefeather

Side Notes

 

This last weekend I had a chance to hear a performance on taiko drums.  There may be those of you who don’t know what taiko drums are – for those unenlightened few they are, in brief, REALLY BIG REALLY LOUD DRUMS.  Now it so happens I have heard taiko drums played quite a bit.  Keep in mind that taiko drums are usually not accompanied by other musical instruments, as drums so often are in western music.

Now if I have heard my share of taiko drums, I have heard A LOT of bagpipe music.  The reason for this is simply that there is more than one hard drinking Scotsman in my family tree. That said, taiko drums and bagpipes have at least one thing in common, and that one thing is that it takes a trained ear to really appreciate a performance with either instrument. Otherwise, after the novelty of the performance wears off, reactions start to go like this:

Neophyte audience: “Hey…look…great big drums!  This is really different!”

(Drumming starts)

THUMPA, THUMPA, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP

(15 minutes later)

Taiko Drum Master: “And now ‘Tea for two’ on the taiko drums”

THUMPA, THUMPA, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP

Like drums, there are some songs that just shouldn’t be played on bagpipes.  Two that come immediately to mind that I have heard played on bagpipes are “Jesus Christ Superstar” and  “Stairway to Heaven”. As moving as I occasionally find the bag pipes, like taiko drums, they are best taken in moderation.  Otherwise, like our penguin friend above I find myself looking at the piper and saying, “Maybe if you quit biting it’s tail it will quit screaming”

And I used to be in a bagpipe band.

Quote of the day: This quote is from one of our “must reads” here at No Prisoners, No Mercy – Killed in a Smiling accident. This quote is from “When Once the Forms of Civility are Violated, there Remains Little Hope of Return to Kindness or Civility” by Melmoth (and is available here) The title alone is nearly an article in itself but the post is a good read. We recommend both the article and the web site.

 “Well you could do that, but nobody will want to group with you.” A phrase wrapped in wilful condescension so thick that if you spread some patronization between a couple of slices of it you’d have the world’s most bitter doorstop sandwich.” – Melmoth, on “Killed in a Smiling Accident”

The subject of the article is not DDO so much as some of the players who inhabit that virtual realm.  I must say, as a player of DDO from back when it came in a thin little book that said “chain mail” on the outside I agree whole heartedly with the following quote by the same author, from the same article:

“…every MMO has their class of players who think that they are above and beyond the plebeians who don’t play the game the way that they do.” – Melmost, ibid

The article even coins a new word that I just love, describing players who fault others for not squeezing the virtual nickel until the buffalo farts (my comparison not his, so fault me) or ensuring they have squeezed out the last .01 dps. Melmost calls them “Maxminati”. You just have to love the term.