2010

Giving Players Things To Do

stargrace October 7, 2010 0Comment

I feel that it’s essential for games to offer players something else to do – some mindless goal to work towards so that they’re not constantly doing the same thing all of the time. Other wise they’ll complete that one goal they set out to do, and then stop playing your game. Out of all of the games I’ve played over the years I still feel that no game does this better then the original EverQuest. The Alternate Advancement path was one of the greatest things, giving raiders and casual players alike goals to work towards. Now, you may say to me “But Stephanie! What about those new players who don’t HAVE thousands of points to spend, isn’t it hard for them to catch up?!” – No. The less aa you have, the faster you’ll earn them. The curve is not quite so far out of reach even if you are a new player.

These little points are small ways for players to customize their characters, connect with them, and feel more ‘unique’ compared to their friends and the masses. Of course EQ is not the only game with these (EQ2 has aa, WoW has their talents, WAR has a similar set up, LotRO has their method even). I still feel strongly that EQ is the best example of this. There are literally thousands of possibilities for players to chose from. A player who has dedicated a year or two to their character will not have the same achievements as someone who has just reached level 55 – or someone who has been playing for 10 years.

House of Thule has hundreds of new achievements for players to work towards. The level cap is going up by 5, and in the mean time there is a bonus granted to players who have a lower amount of achievements at the moment. It’s not a perfect set up, but it at least shows some consideration to ‘new’ players (I put emphasis on new because I’m not really sure that EQ is bringing in truly new players as opposed to returning players).

I’m excited, does it show?

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

House of Thule – Housing Basics

stargrace October 6, 2010 0Comment

Alright, there are a lot of really neat things coming out with EQ’s newest expansion “House of Thule” so I thought that since the NDA has been lifted, I’d make some posts about the basics. I’m going to start out with housing because it’s one of the largest (to me) changes and one that also may be the most confusing.

Houses serve a few purposes. Number one, you can use them for player storage, and number two, you can use them for social interactions (like guild meetings) and just plain fun like decorating.

The basic facts:

• Very affordable, the largest house (three rooms) is 10k plat and a few thousand for smaller homes.
• Upkeep can be paid through various means, all sorts of different currencies.
• There is a housing UI where you can manage the items inside of your house, and the bonuses that trophies will give you
• You can do a plot search, for empty plots or plots of your friends.
• You can do a neighbourhood search, to see how many plots are taken and who has a plot where (in case you want to purchase one close to a guild mate).
• There is a GIGANTIC selection of items to purchase for your home, including pets that you can place outside and action figures you can place inside that come with lore and old school music.
• You can hang up weapons, you can place tradeskill stations, and you can craft furniture.

The neighbourhoods can be found at the back of the Guild Lobby, down a little hill behind an elaborate gate. You can search for which neighbourhood you’d like to go to from there. Once you’ve made your selection you’ll zone into the actual neighbourhood. Each house has a physical representation within the neighbourhood, as well as pads for teleportation within the zone, merchants for purchasing homes and furniture, craft stations, and a bank. Your first step may be to either pick out a house (there’s an NPC who says specifically they sell large houses or small) and they come in a very large choice of designs. After that you’ll want to check for an empty lot. You can do this again at an NPC near the entrance (thankfully these zones also come with maps).

Once you’ve found and made your way to an empty lot it’s simply a matter of standing within the giant square of land (it’s fenced off with a little stone wall for each section) and pick up the house on your curser and then drop it in the square of land. If it’s green that means you can place it. You can move it and rotate it to your liking using the place item commands.

Entering the home itself requires zoning, so it’s not exactly like Vanguard’s open neighbourhoods but it’s pretty close – something I am REALLY happy about. Each home is a physical building that players can see (as pictured above) rather then just a random door they enter (a la EQ2). The method of moving items around takes a little getting used to. They use the alt control and shift keys and the scroll wheel of the mouse to re-size and rotate. There are different ‘modes’ of placing items, one of them includes a collision mode. This leaves players with a LOT of control over their designs,  and I’m really interested to see what players come up with. Of course, we are limited to how many items can be placed within each home, and with so many options it may be hard to select.

I haven’t gotten a chance to check out what sort of bonuses the trophies give yet (mostly because I don’t actually OWN any trophies) but once House of Thule goes live October 12th I should be able to claim one from my collector’s edition of the game and report back on it.

With all of the new games constantly coming out, some times it’s nice to get excited about something so basic.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!