Blood Red Arachnid

The whole thing with WoW's success reminds me of an excerpt I read from Malcom Gladwell's Outliers, about how the a dozen or so of the richest people in the world were all born in a very specific 10 year span in a very specific place.

I find it funny that the article poses the question of whether or not MMOs are dying, then summarily answers the question a few paragraphs in with a resounding NO. I actually tried to post up a rather lengthy checklist of the reasons why it is the subscription model is dying/why it is that WoW will continue to be played for a very long time, but unfortunately the comment section deleted it and I never saved a copy . Here is a redone version:


#1: Time investment. With so many factors of MMOs coming down to gaining wealth, grinding, and economic treadmills of some kind, people are less likely to switch MMOs because a new MMO makes people start from scratch. Starting from scratch = losing everything you worked for in the previous game, and such an immense loss is too much to bear for players at large. Because of this, they will continue to play the same game they have been playing prior because they don't want to invest all that time just to get back to where they previously were in the last game.

#2: Community. An MMO's ability to function is dependent on how large the community of the game is, with a larger game functioning better. Through a growing economy, through accumulating rare drops, a larger community makes it more likely that you'll eventually buy the rare item you want, find people you want to play with, find people of the appropriate levels, so on and so forth. Smaller MMOs don't have that advantage, and because of this players will flock to the MMOs that are already successful.

A second part of the community comes in how good it is. While massive communities can let you find niches within them, smaller games can't. If a bad group of players decides to play the game, they can run off everyone who would be interested with their antics. This makes the MMO turn into a niche game for a niche genre for a niche population, ever dwindling how well it functions.

#3: Availability. The subscription model ultimately discriminates against potential players, and does so in two tiers. First, the person who can't afford a subscription and doesn't think it is worth it. Often times, these players can contribute to the game in other important matters (see #2), and so excluding these players will harm the game ultimately. The second is a person who can't afford multiple subscriptions to multiple games. Subscriptions are purchased time on the game, and if someone doesn't spend all of that time playing the game they are losing out on their investment. Basically a subscription model punishes players who don't have a lot of free time to play the game. Having multiple subscriptions means that you're doubling your investment for half the return, and logically people just don't do that. This causes isolation in the markets, making it so people only play one subscription MMO at any one time, and are reluctant to move away from it or play a smaller game.

#4: Aging. The biggest problem with the MMO playerbase for the current games is that they are getting older. The MMO appeals largely to people who have a lot of free time (the unemployed, the youth, the retired, ect). The problem is that as time goes on, these people have less and less free time. As the youth get older, they develop more responsibilities that require more time devotion, and thus don't have the time to bother with a monthly fee for a game. The unemployed are constantly seeking employment, and once they have it their devotion to the game goes away. The retired... generally die within 5 years of retiring. With the youth and the retired there is a generational effect of around 5 to 7 years where the player base leaves, and new players have to come in. Unfortunately these MMOs are on aging technology as well, leaving other people to flock to newer shinies than to play older games. Free to play rectifies this situation by making it costless to not play a game, but the subscription model enhances this problem.

I'd tear the helmet off and fry my brain immediately, giving a middle finger as I do it.

Seriously, the problem with most sadistic scenarios like this is that there is no leverage, no repercussions for the villain, no guarantees of anything, and no morality of the villain to stop them from doing anything more insane than what has already transpired. You're stuck in a world with a malignant god with no way to fight back. They want you to play the game, so you don't play the game.

I saw the series through and through. There were some things that annoyed me about it's presentation and how plot points unfold, and overall I'd say it is just a little above average.

I found Arnold Swartzwhatever filled comedy roles better than action roles.

I haven't seen the movie yet. I probably won't until it is out on DVD. I always feel a little uneasy about movies that are remakes of movies that I watched myself.

As awesome as it all looks, it feels like Dr. Who is getting too big for it's own pants lately. I really liked the smaller stuff they did near the beginning of the new series.

It's really hard to pick, since there has been so much good content with release.

Lower level stuff, I find that Praetoria has interesting writing that gets deeper as you play through more story arcs. The funnest Task Forces are the Apex and Tin Mage, which are just so intense that it feels like an actual war. The funnest trial is Minds of Mayhem (which a LOT of people will disagree with me upon) since it is made up completely of boss fights that are hard and require tactics and planning. The best story arcs in entertainment value are the first and second parts of the patron arcs.

Never saw much of a point on power leveling. There is a certain fulfillment behind growing up with a character and taking them through different storylines that other toons haven't. It gives them a sort of personality that I didn't expect, and relationships with NPCs that I didn't plan for.

Also, Ourobos just kind of feels forced and locked in. I can't just stop and do something else: I have to do the whole Ourobos arc, or quit halfway through and start again if I want to do something else.

It happens to me all the time. It is worse for me for two reasosn:

#1: I'm two steps from legally blind, with vision so bad that glasses can't correct it further than 20/40

#2: Sometimes I'll play the game on my HD television, and doing so gives me two screens: my computer monitor and then the screen on the television. The mouse can get lost in any of them, and sometimes this will lead to an extensive search just to find the darn thing.

Zone: Redside Shadowshard, 45-50
TF: Redside 30-35 TF located in Nerva Archepelago.
Story Arc: No idea. Probably somewhere later level redside, since usually my interest pitters out and the only arc I do around those part is the whole patron arc.

Redside kind of needs the TF and Zone.

I am ever the proponent and hopeful for the transformation incarnate power. What this will be is a form shift similar Kheldian Shifts, except temporary and granting several powers into the temp power tray. It is likely that it is coming, since they have experimented with something similar with Shadowhunter and his transformation halfway through the battle. This will also be quite easy to balance, since each transformation provided will be contained within itself, and can be tweaked to perfection outside of any powersets in the game. It can also be really cool to have players turn into giant monstrosities or something like that.


I'm also waiting for the self destruct power. The idea is that it is one of the other incarnate powers on steroids, so much that it crashes the player to 1 HP and 0 Endurance or just outright kills the player. Not sure if they would put this in, since Crashed Nukes were rarely used, but something like this could be done.

KM is also up there for having the insanely fast AS. Though it will be normalized in the future, right now AS from out of hide is set to a 0.67 cast time, giving it insanely high DPS.

Most of the people I've seen in the game have multi-colored hair and they don't seem out of place. My first two toons had red/blue and turquise/black hair respectively, which is kind of odd given that I have no explanation for them... The cool thing is you totally CAN make that kind of anatomy in the character creator. Gigantic bust, waste with the circumference of a can of soda, and all on what looks like a 13 year old, and then give them super strength. Completely possible.

Though it would be cool if we could get an outlandish hair option. I'm still waiting for hair capes myself, and then after that we can get giant asymmetric spiky hair. As far as outfits go, it would be nice to have more long coats covered in buckles or have gigantic shirt collars.

Meh... the death penalty vs. life in prison thing is a toss up. I've heard both sides claim to be less expensive, and I have heard that both sides are both too forgiving and too harsh.

I'd rather look at the practicality of the solution than the rather subjective merits on it. Whatever the mental state, this individual has proven himself to be a meticulous, scheming, and completely dedicated mass murderer that is unfit of the public, and that must be dealt with. Whatever means, it must be dealt with, for the protection of the rest of the world.

I don't immediately see anything really wrong with making IO sets attuned, but I also don't really see anything right with it, either. It is more of a convenience move than it is anything else, and I'm hesitant to violently shake the market over convenience.

I don't know about Warshades, but Peacebringers have always had a Crashless Nuke: Photon Seekers. If you jump into a group and use those at point blank range, they are basically the PBAoE nuke combined with enough KB to fragment alpha. Recharging twice as fast as Dawn Strike and doing more damage as a whole also helps it out, too.

Dawn strike also isn't particularly nasty to PBs, since it has -100% endurance recovery instead of -1000%. The player's endurance keeps on ticking, and with conserve power cutting the costs of powers, the only detriment would be dropping the shield toggles for a second IF the build in question uses shield toggles. Even if they do, light form is still active, giving more endurance and plenty of resists, so the PB is more than capable of taking a few hits. On a PB with Dwarf, that can be morphed into for more defense and extra heals. Because of this, Dawn Strike isn't as much of a "crash" as it is just a very high costing power.

I suppose one of the reasons why it is that they aren't porting crashless nukes to Khelds (especially PBs) yet is because it is a balance issue. Even with the above, Dawn Strike is still a harsh power to use, and removing that crash would be giving PBs two costless nukes, which could be quite overpowering.

With tactics running, I may have enough of a bonus to be at that BTH threshold to always use the snipe instantly. In that case, I'll be swapping out one of the basic attacks on my defender for the snipe.

My understanding of the BAF has always been that there is a division of labor between the ATs. Controllers and doms hold the minions at the choke points, while blasters and their kind blow them all up, and melee classes chase after the commandos as their first priority. It is kind of a necessity to have enemies immune to mezz in that kind of phase, since not having enemies immune to mezz would result in the whole phase being soloable by a single player with caltrops or ice slick or something like that. Even with the adds all being bosses in the BAF, a troller or two can still hold most of not all of them off.

Regardless I do not feel underpowered on my ice/storm troller going through the trials. I do, however, also relegate my troller to different roles on those trials than I do many of my other characters. Play to their strengths, and support guys doing the main objectives instead of just doing the main objectives (for all those objectives a troller can't do).

The likelyhood that there will be an engine overhaul is greater than there being a completely new game. It is also the better option IMO.

I caught myself headbobbing to that video. It was pretty good.

It is possible, but I wouldn't expected. A weaker crash, maybe, but a full on crashless tier 9 armor not so much.

I have very limited experience in the matter (having only one real crashing t9 on my /elec armor stalker), but for the most part a crashing armor power seems to do it's job quite well. On said stalker I find myself using it as a panic button on occasion to max out my resists, and it has saved me many times. The crash for the armor power also isn't nearly as much of a detriment as the crash from nukes, since an armor power doesn't attack, immediately draw aggro, or always cause their crash in the middle of a fight. Usually what I do is use Power Surge when things get dicey, and after 3 minutes I back up and rest, letting people know that I am doing so.

You thought you were rid of me, but you're WRONG!

I have uploaded a new video, and likewise have also decided to make trial guides for ALL of the trials instead of the hard ones. This leaves me with Lambda, Keyes, and the Magisterium to do.

Originally I was going to do the Magi first, but I just can't get a good recording of one. All the special Magi's I tried to join would fail miserably or not go well in any sense, thus making for a poor video guide. A certain level of success is needed to be a good guide on how to succeed, and they just didn't meet my expectations.

I have expectations now. Expectations are cool.

So now I upload the BAF, and then I will get to work on the Lambda video I have. I still need a few good recordings of Keyes and the Magisterium. I also decided to do these trials in my other toons, since I've run out of combat outfits to showcase on my Peacebringer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilsp81hrHBw

Human bones can already be pretty durable, but combine that with the skin and the next thing you know we'll be indestructible.

With my Ice/storm troller I'm lucky of I can break them down pst 50%.