Friday with(out) Means - July 29th, 2011: Time Keeps On Tickin'

[JungleGeorgeRK2]

I have not taken the time to learn the role playing aspect of the game instead I have been busy with other aspects of the game. Being a longtime Froob and recently paid account, I might considered it if I start getting bored.

I do believe a good story leads to good ideas to add to the game. It also provides some consistency.

[Namiru]

Immersion and atmosphere for me. And continuity.

A game can't knock my suspension of disbelief in it's plot. I don't need to know EVERYTHING that's going on, but my character (ergo, me) should have easy access to finding out everything a common person would know in that universe plotwise, and have the ability to find out more.

The Knowledge of the Xan quests in Scheol, Pen and the Ado questline do a great job of giving you the bigger picture of SL. Not a complete picture, by any means, but you start to get the feeling you know what's going on.

RK....less so. You get snippets here and there from various NPCs about the history of RK and the storyline there.

AI is largly a blank, other than what you can connect from SL and the "OMG! ALIENZ INVADING!" concept.

LoX is okay...but has a gap or two in the "what's going on" category, judging by responses in the forth wall.

What's like to see is more detailed quests in RK that let you understand the storylines and what various place do there or function. For example. "Who is Aztur the Imortal? Or Hezak for that matter. How do they connect to the Hiisi in Penumbra? . Who is Cerubin and how does he connect to the RK or SL plots?"

Some of that info may be knowledge from thing mentioned here in the forums, but being able to find out that information via questlines and story information would be nice.

[Kotts]

Immersion, and atmosphere.

Different styles, and points of view can actually add to the whole feeling. It's more a seasoning, and the immersion is the meat.

[Colawrenn]

I had a feeling a comment like this would come up ;]

It seemed a suitably predictable thing to say.
They do look cool, would definitely like to get my mitts on a pair. But I'm sure I've seen something similar before, it wasn't just a comment on the styling. Though unfortunately these days, everything will look like something else.
But yeah, with the existence of Camelot, you can't really stray too far from AO's fashion era.

As for the question, my answer isn't really story related. But music, in my opinion, is quite important. I havn't seen it addressed with the talk of balancing/new engine, but I would like to see the music improved. Some of the existing tracks are pretty nice, with the way the music stops and starts, it kinda kills the feeling. (If you want new tracks, I need a job.)

[szuzu]

OMG purses! *glee*

Please make them wearable in a social shoulder slot (so we can attack while wearing them) and also make them have storage like a backpack!

And please make them available outside of the item shop! (vet shop, loot, whatever!)

[maxmoutinho]

Lol, and more pictures

Lower the EU prices to grab more Clients
US=9 euros
EU=18 euros

Could this be more ridiculous?
A great GAME is dieing and I had such huge hope with Means....

[paraparita]

hopefully i will not see trox with bikini and that bag >-<

[Namiru]

Lol, and more pictures

Lower the EU prices to grab more Clients
US=9 euros
EU=18 euros

Could this be more ridiculous?
A great GAME is dieing and I had such huge hope with Means....

Not exactly. US also get upcharged because the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US Dollar. So I don't know what it comes to precisely.

[szuzu]

hopefully i will not see trox with bikini and that bag >-<

It's European!

[maxmoutinho]

Not exactly. US also get upcharged because the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US Dollar. So I don't know what it comes to precisely.

Maybe math is not your strong?

This old game with bunch of promises and they ask 18 euros for 1 month
So,we EU players,have more lag(US servers) rubberbadding(often) and we pay more
Is not 1 euro or 2 is double

See the diference.....

[If6was9]

The story has to be credible: 1) our role in it cannot be the lone hero, out to save the world, {only a child buys that BS}; 2) pre-existing world touches should be indicative of a standing, living culture, {the trash, sludge and graffiti in the subway missions were a good touch once upon a time} 3) what I do should have some effect on localized events or structures but at no point should I meet or affect central characters in the plot (the tete a tete with Conan in AOC, for instance, is a big part of why I haven't gone back to try it... likewise running missions with Luke and Han Solo in SWG... even knowing that that crap is in a game destroys its authenticity).

The story is revealed through action more than words: 1) the most common mistake I've seen with developers trying to put forth story is an NPC quest where we have to wade through a wall of text to get the fed-ex action we need to perform to get the phatz, that's just painful [if there's some backstory you just have to get out there then have NPCs who will do proximity chat, make it a credible conversation and don't attach any rewards to it]; 2) the things we do should be within the range of the possible for characters within the story's universe... in AO that would be mining, assassinations, medical modifications, remotely triggered attacks, smuggling, {for all its fun BS does not fit anywhere into the story}; 3) individual achievements should have a meaningful effect on the character's capabilities - whether that's leveling or some sort of increased authority/capacity with reference to other players.

Quests just plain blow. Doing things in a virtual world that you can't do in reality is a big part of the MMORPG's charm. That + character advancement is enough incentive to perform an action. Being tied to a rail - especially in someone's concept of a storyline - to get some reward, especially a reward necessary to our advancement (alpha and beta nano components for WTF'ever that thing is for... still haven't done that on any toon) - is both insulting and weak. The open ended aspect of MMORPG worlds are a big part of what makes them appealing. Narrowing progress down to some arbitrary, time-consuming sequence of events that you will have to repeat on every character to get the prescribed rewards for... it's a violation of all that makes MMORPGs good.

[Tiralee]

About story:

One of the things that I love about AO is that so many items, even the most insignificant little piece of shop food, has a story to it. Sometimes the story meshes with the overall game story, sometimes it's just a little description about the piece itself. But it makes me feel that whatever I find has, or at least used to have, an important place in the AO world. For me, it's those little things that make a big difference.

[SoapTarder]

one of the most seen shoulderpads afaik, besides beast and leo, are the alappa pads. whoever designed those should win a lifetime supply of beer and cupcakes. having said that, more shoulderpads that have a sci-fi look to them like the alappa pads, would sell well i imagine. i might be wrong, but those pads (the layered ones) in this weeks photo look like the ones the Ghede(?) Champion from SL catacombs wear (sorry cube).

love the toaster helmet

[Kintaii]

love the toaster helmet

Those three are the shoulder bots. =) No pics of the new helmet items in the shot.

[SoapTarder]

Those three are the shoulder bots. =) No pics of the new helmet items in the shot.

lawl. wtb toaster oven helmet then.

[Myreyliib]

*snip*
Conversely you have games such as the incoming Deus Ex III,
*snip*

Assuming we share the same future.

[Kintaii]

Assuming we share the same future.

there was only one deus ex game before the new one what are you talking about

i heard they were working on some kinda sequel called 'invisible war' or something - shame that it never came out :|

[itisispongeboob]

those pads in the middle better be agent only!

[JustinSane4]

As to story, what I absolutely love about AO's atmosphere is that everything learned was known and forgotten by the Xan. We're re-discovering lost knowledge, fragmentary, but really interesting. I love the Yuttos, the descriptions on items in SL, almost all of Home, it's just all great stuff. However, I think a bit more info regarding Arthur, the 8, etc. would be quite welcome to actually sort out what actually happened. It's been enough years of humans tramping about Inf/Pande for more info to have come to light, no?

[Xirayne]

...
Story and setting in a game, regardless of how you may feel about things such as roleplaying, *are* elements that help tie the player into the 'concept' of what they're playing, even if they're not something that's directly prevalent in the player's view. Take a game like Minecraft which, while not having a running narrative of any fashion, still has a unified setting and 'feel' - A deliberately low-tech environment, a sense of logic behind even some of the game's stranger mechanics; the game and its world make sense in its presentation, even without having a story directly presented to the player. Conversely you have games such as the incoming Deus Ex II, which focus very heavily on their story and writing, making it one of the main attractions and selling points behind the game. Both styles of game are still giving a form of 'story' to the player, even if one is only the story that we ourselves make up due to the presentation we're given.

My question to you guys is this: What makes a good story in a game to you?

Kintaii!! Give me minecraft+deus ex 2 and I'll buy that in a heartbeat! :P

It always bothered me how AO used to play out like an epic sandbox style game similar to minecraft, yet had heavy roleplaying and plot and stuff was going on if you looked for it. Except, almost every expansion and patch it seems to be backing away from the sandbox feel entirely. The planet is big enough for the two to work, npc's and quests around cities, people to talk to, stories to hear, choices to be made and the such. Then on the other hand a player can explore the planet, getting minimal xp but it's just so cool and interesting that you're still at it. Except now there's almost nobody to do this with and there's no way to acquire half decent equipment due to how aged and crappy the RK(and even sl) loot has become.

Lately it seems all the expansions and all the patches seem to be trying to twist and painfully turn AO into some sort of super streamlined MMO. XP has been getting boosted massively, power gap items have been creeping into game (neleb rod, dbq nanos, lox everythings) where players have a very hard time competing without already completing the grind. What I'd like to see is AO to go back to being a game that -players experience-, not a game that -experiences players-! (o.o)

Play it till you get bored kinda game like minecraft is what I'd love, with the ability for a player to participate and compete along the way with various plot and rp designed content (city/faction pvp, faction encounters like raiding sentinels base, etc). I'd like for it to be a bit more similar to how it used to be, prolly wont ever happen but I always hope, but the epic grinding for just a little more IP or a little bit more hp or damage **if you wanted it** because the power gaps were almost non existant, everyone could participate regardless of whether they spent unreasonable hours in broken shores missions or not. A game where the power gamers do get an edge, but not nearly enough so that the casual players are unable to compete.

With all the introduced items and quest grinds we've gotten over the past 4 or 5 years it is starting to feel that you must accomplish these grinds to be able to compete at all, causing huge gaps in the population and turning it very top heavy. I don't mean making it easier to acquire the items and xp because that will only further divide the population away from newer players and turn it even more top heavy. (I sent means a chart on this earlier in the week) The minecraft feel is dying fast, and I'm not sure AO, with its 320 total levels, is going to work in a streamlined state especially with all the power gaps it has.

So definitely, more atmosphere is needed, a player needs to get more from AO than just XP, but do remember that one of the big problems with the AO story experience is that the rest of RK is just sitting there empty and waiting cuz players are too busy trying to level like maniacs to catch up with the rest of the population than to actually play the game

sorry for typing too much!