Why the Fanbois Don’t Get It – TaugVlog Ep. 6

Posted on 2012 August 27 by Ed Park

In this video, I discuss why the fanbois don’t get it.

#1: Fanbois miss the broader context.

Fanbois tend to advocate one game to the exclusion of others. That’s short-sighted. It’s important for multiple games to be successful at any point in time. The more success stories there are, the more investment will funnel into the industry, and the more games will be developed, which is give us more choice as consumers.

#2: Fanbois blame other gamers for the failure of games.

This is terrifically illustrated by the ad hominem rant I share in the video. It’s the responsibility product company to deliver a great product. Don’t hate on the playas!

#3: Fanbois slap the label “hype” on new games.

Moreover, fanbois accuse other gamers who are playing or switching to new games as chasing hype, instead of recognizing that these new games may appeal to other players based on their merit or functionality.

Let me know what you think :)

P.S. I’ll never call any of you a “flakey ass gamer”, even if I disagree with your opinion.

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Twitter: @taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtv
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Posted in Video, Vlog

Is Stunlocking Possible in Guild Wars 2?

Posted on 2012 August 19 by Ed Park

In this video, I discuss the situations in which “stunlocking” is possible in GW2. For the purposes of this discussion, I use the term “stunlock” to mean any control-oriented CC that causes the target to lose the ability to take action – e.g. stuns, knockdowns, knockbacks, fear, etc.

In a nutshell, in order for Player A to chain CC Player B, the following things must be true:

Player A must spec for multiple CCs and chain them together
Player B doesn’t have the appropriate immunity (e.g. via Stability for control CCs) or relevant stun breaker available

Dinged 10k Subscribers, 4k on Twitter – TaugVlog Ep. 5

Posted on 2012 August 12 by Ed Park

I wanted to share two “achievements” I’ve reached:

10,000 subscribers on YouTube
4,000 followers on Twitter

Thanks for your advocacy, encouragement, and feedback :)

To celebrate these milestones with you, I’m running giveaways on Twitter. If you are the first person to correctly answer a given question on Twitter, you get to pick any t-shirt from my shop on Printfection and I’ll ship it to you anywhere that Printfection will ship.

Initial Thoughts on SWTOR’s F2P Model – TaugVlog Ep. 4

Posted on 2012 August 7 by Ed Park

I share my initial feedback on the planned F2P model for SWTOR, based on the FAQs and the subscription-vs-free comparison chart provided by BioWare:
http://www.swtor.com/free/features
http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449

This is a huge transition for SWTOR, BioWare, and EA, so hopefully they get it right.

As I discuss in the video, there is a significant hurdle for implementing F2P the way they are thinking, based on the structural design of the game content and experience: 1-49 is a significantly different experience from endgame @ 50.

Let me know what you think.

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Twitter: @taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtv
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Posted in Business Analysis, Game Design, PVE, SWTOR, Video, Vlog

Top 5 PVP Design Flaws – TaugVlog Ep. 3

Posted on 2012 August 6 by Ed Park

I discuss my top 5 design flaws for PVP combat of MMORPGs.

In reverse order, they are…drum roll please…

#5: 50% healing debuffs

E.g. Mortal Strike for pre-Cataclysm Arms Warrior in WoW. When 50% healing debuffs are part of a game, healing is stupidly easy when opponents don’t have the debuff, but healing is stupidly hard (and inefficient) when opponents do have the debuff. As Blizzard figured out by Cataclysm, the better solution is to reduce the effectiveness of healing debuffs and healing and mana regen together, as this leads to improved balance and better gameplay.

#4: Asymmetrical damage scaling

E.g. Bright Wizard’s Combustion mechanic in WAR. Combustion caused a BW’s burst and sustained damage to ramp up significantly and scale with gear, whereas the downside (explosion backlash damage) was fixed. Therefore, the benefit greatly outweighed the downside.

#3: Asymmetrical CC

Relative to your opponent, this is having too much chained CC capability (e.g. stunlocking, chain-fearing) or having too much CC immunity (e.g. RIFT Pyro Mage’s Ground of Strength indefinite CC immunity).

#2: Overpowered passive procs

E.g. Lingering Wounds, Vampiric Munitions, and Fell Blades from RIFT. Strong debuffs or effects should be tied to an ability with a meaningfully long cooldown, or there is no thought needed on the part of the player, and the result is skill-less PVP.

#1: World PVP based on 2 factions

This is too fragile when there are population imbalances, which tend to further increase the imbalance over time because the winning side gains PVP rewards faster than the losing side. See SWTOR on any PVP server.

I’m sure that I missed other design flaws (e.g. gear dictating outcomes, etc) that chap your hide, so let me know which ones I’ve missed and what you think of my list above.