After months of waiting, we are finally getting a chance to get into the upcoming MMORPG: Star Wars: The Old Republic. This weekend is my first beta for TOR. I will likely be creating a republic trooper, a class I have little interest in playing in the full game. Given the games proscribed emphasis on story telling as a core "pillar" of game play, I want to be surprised when I create my Jedi Knight. Together with a group of friends, we should have an operation guild from day one. I suspect that TOR will be replacing WoW as a primary MMO for me, my friends, and a LOT of other people. [Yeah, I get this isn't news]
I am very excited.
I've been spending time in two other games. Partly to kill time, partly because their mechanics have come to interest me. The first is Star Trek Online. At launch, I purchased a lifetime membership. Many people said this deal was for suckers, but I feel I got my money's worth, its broken down $10/month to this point. In January, the game is going free to play, and to encourage micro-transactions to continue revenue flow, they're adding two new, and linked, systems: Dilithium and Duty Officers. Dilithium will replace all of the emblems currently in the game. Dilithium can be earned by performing daily quests, sending your DOffs on missions, and can also be purchased for C-credits from other players via the dilithium exchange.
The duty officers generate dilithium, specific DOff XP, Skill XP, Bridge officer XP, and occasionally other rewards. And since the DOff's perform missions while you're offline, it allows you to level while offline. While the underlying purpose of the DOff system is to generate microtransaction revenue (The fastest way to expand your roster of DOffs is to purchase "Booster Packs" from the C-store), it adds a great level of immersion. Sending these minor officers on these missions and having them come back with materials, and sometimes even wounded, makes your ship feel more alive. I'll admit, I'm one of those weird gamers that enjoys a certainly level of micromanagement, especially when it improves immersion.
Taking the game F2P is a great idea, and it will broaden access to the game to any fans of the Star Trek IP. Increasing the player base will be extremely beneficial to the game. I really hope it leads to STO becoming a preferred, high quality F2P MMO as an option to other pay MMOs. The way the dilithium system works allows people to substitute game time with money, but not vice versa, since players can't exchange the C creds in for actual $US.
The second game getting my attention is the Facebook game Heroes of Neverwinter. I strongly suspect this game is the product of the what was supposed to be the Virtual Tabletop system we were promised with 4th ed, that was later canceled. Its a good, albeit simple, interpretation of the 4th ed D&D we're all so familiar with now. There's a lot of room to grow (additional classes, races, level cap, mechanics etc). But the real gem in this game is the "asynchronous multiplayer" concept. Adventures assume that you have four party members, only one of which is your own PC. To round out your group, you may "borrow" characters from your FB friends, and they are under your control during the adventure. Your friends characters have their gear and skills chosen by their owners, but the action during the adventures where you "borrow" them is up to you. Its a neat inclusive system that allows for quite a bit of flexibility and allows players to use the time they have when they have it, instead of having to organize "raid night".
That's it for tonight. I hope to have TOR updates in the next few days, and hopefully a post on my thoughts about WoW, its future, and my future relations with it.
-Tris
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