Disclaimer: I have not yet played WildStar in Beta, and as the NDA is still in place, even if I do start participating in Beta I’ll honor the NDA. So I won’t respond to questions about what I actually think…
Blog Archives
Threat-Based PVE is Lame and How I’d Fix It
The traditional model of PVE tanking, which revolves around the “threat” (aggro) mechanic, severely limits the gameplay experience of MMORPGs. I’ll share an alternative model that would provide a much more dynamic combat experience. PVE tanking and the “holy trinity”…
Why PVE Content Shouldn’t Be a Coral Reef
Thanks to the rich analytics I have for this blog, I can see where traffic originates from. For my previous article on the two issues plaguing game developers, I found the following take by Zennia on the Old Timer’s Guild forums:…
The Two Big Issues Plaguing MMORPG Game Developers
Here are the two most common, critical issues of game developers in the MMORPG space: They’re unable to contain scope and go “big game hunting” They’re lagging behind broader industry trends I’m going to unpack these in detail. The good…
The End of Culling in Guild Wars 2, a.k.a. Choose Your Own Lag
Guild Wars 2 (GW2) launched with a system called “culling”, explained by Habib Loew of Arena Net (AN) as follows: In order to cut down on the network resources that were used by the game and to reduce the client-side…
