The Daily Quest

GTA IV is not one of the greatest games ever released

Indelible — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:11:14 GMT

When Rockstar North stated that they had no plans to release the fourth game in the epic Grand Theft Auto series on the PC, fans were outraged. How could Rockstar Games and Take Two allow this travesty to occur? A game series that debuted on the PC should surely be continued on the PC? Eventually, like every other developer, Rockstar conceeded and in early December, Rockstar North released Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC.

In it's first week, it debuted at number 7 on PC game sales. By its second week, it had dropped out of the top ten. The installation process was slow and tedious, requiring you to install the 14gb game, install two online services in the form of Games for Windows LIVE and Rockstar Games Social Club, configure both accounts with profile information, link your GFWL and RGSC accounts together, load the game, go through SecuROM authentification and then finally get into the game, only to have to log into GFWL in-game before you can play. Some people didn't get this far, with a significant amount of players stating that the game crashed before they got to the opening cinematic. Others said that when they did get in game, they were greated with broken graphics, low FPS and generally poor performance from the RAGE engine. A wide pattern emerged: installing and playing GTA IV on the PC is a total pain in the ass, especially if you are one of the significant portion of people who can't actually run and/or play the game afterward.

My system isn't poor. I have a fast dual core, 4gb DDR2 RAM and a 4870 all overclocked to get the best performance out of them without frying them. I can run Assassins Creed, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect on full settings without any noticable FPS drop or engine problems. Now, these may not have the top graphics out there, but they are comparable to GTA IV, so when I loaded GTA IV, I expected to have little problem with it. I tried to set my Texture Detail to high, only to find out that you needed a graphics card with at least 700mb video memory for the highest texture setting. I had to settle for medium. I set everything else to fairly respectable levels. I'm not a fool. I know what my machine is capable of outputting and I settled for just underneath the line of no return. Sadly, things didn't go quite according to plan so I had to drop draw distances for everything right down to 1 in order to suffer no FPS problem. On top of that, the game seemed to be suffering from persistent memory leaking of the most foul kind. One to two hours into the game and textures would start to load slowly as I drove over them. Cars would seemingly be chopped in half by big grey squares as I drove around the roads at medium to high speeds. For Joe Bloggs who isn't too obsessed with perfection, perhaps you will be able to look past these faults and happily game.

I chose to look past them for as long as I could.

And then the most unfortunate thing happened to me. And quite a few other people for that matter.

I was just about to do a mission for a gangster friend of mine when I noticed that the loading screen had been up for a rather long time. I waited... and waited... and nothing happened. So I thought it may have something to do with the memory leak. So I booted down my PC and powered it off at the wall to clear the RAM. I rebooted and reloaded GTA, went back to the mission loading screen, finger crossed. And I waited... and waited... and waited... and once again, nothing happened. Throughout, the game is littered with headscratching inconsistencies like this that make you wonder how they could have got it right in one place, or several places and then got it horribly wrong in another place.

Now, I know what you are thinking: surely GTA IV is fun and has a brilliant story and brilliant characters. You would be totally correct to think this, as it does. If you want to read a review that goes on and on and on about how brilliant GTA IV is and how much we'd like to have sex and procreate with it if it had genitals, feel free to head on over to any of the mainstream reviewers, such as IGN, Gamespot, PC Gamer, PC Zone etc They all seem to have overlooked the blantantly obvious short comings. I wonder why that would be........... I'm not here to review. It is these reviewers that are lording Grand Theft Auto 4 as one of the greatest PC games ever to be released but... WHY? It's blantant short comings, performance issues, dependencies and DRM all make for one hell of a daunting initial experience with the title and the ongoing experience isn't perfect. To me, that takes away at least 1 out of 10. On top of that, the story is good but not brilliant. There are better story games out there. The only thing going for it is that it is the only half decent crime-based sandbox action game out there. What else do we have? The Godfather and Saints Row? LOLOLOLOLOLOL!

Rockstar North have made a classic mess with Grand Theft Auto IV by releasing a game that clearly wasn't ready for release. GTA IV needed more time to be refined for the PC before it hit shelves. It needed less dependencies such as Games for Windows LIVE and Rockstar Games Social Club, both of which are stupid ideas. It needed to be rid of SecuROM, which proved its effectiveness with SPORE, which is now the most downloaded game of 2008. The fact that GTA IV has done so poorly on the PC sales front isn't too surprising. I wish I had asked my gf to get me Prince of Persia for Christmas now.

Rockstar will probably release a statement saying that piracy is responcible for the low sales, either directly or by proxy; they wouldn't have to but SecuROM on their games if naughty, spotty teenagers weren't stealing their IPs, which in turn would mean that more people would be buying the games, meaning that piracy is responcible no matter which way you come at it. They will then say that it is now too costly to release games on the PC and they will be going console exclusive, at which point Microsoft will wave the GFWL contract and say, "no you aren't."

Here's an idea: why don't you release a GOOD GAME ALL ROUND rather than putting out a good game with a steaming **** engine..? Or am I just mad?

Update:

The perpetual loading bug that has been effecting a large amount of players appears to be solvable by what a poster on the GTAForums called a, "simple reinstall." I hate to be a whiner... well no, I don't... but GTA IV has one of the most painful installation processes I have ever had to go through. It's hardly a, "simple reinstall." On top of that, Rockstar has, "cut to the chase," and stated that the problems most people are having are due to their systems being underspec, which isn't the case for me or my friends that have purchased the game and run into problems. In fact, I browsed several forums, to find that a large portion of the posters complaining about problems were well in spec for GTA IV. Talk about passing the buck. Rockstar have however stated that patches are incoming to fix not only the errors reported on initial release but also to fix the errors they create with the patch that was supposed to fix the errors reported on intial release.

IGN Publish Best of 2008 Awards for PC - complete rubbish

Indelible — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:09:37 GMT

I don't know who called IGN as being a product of the major game developers and publishers but if the PC Best of 2008 awards are anything to go by, IGN certainly aren't the premier neutral game reviewer they once were anymore.

For those of you too lazy to click, let me break this down for you. For the most part, the awards were pretty straight forward. Most of the awards - such as Best Action Game, Best Puzzle Game, Best Graphical Adventure Game, Best Music/Rhythm Game etc etc - were one horse races. World of Goo won Best Puzzle Game, shock horror. Best Persistent World Game went to Warhammer Online and God only knows why they couldn't call it the Best MMORPG. Best Action Game went to Grand Theft Suto 4, who's only real contendor was Assassins Creed, which wasn't that good. The winners in most of the categories were pretty obvious.

There were a few awards that went to - frankly - the wrong titles and suggests to me that IGN aren't as neutral as they'd like us to believe.

The first travesty I was shocked by was the Best New IP Award. This year has seen lots of praise lavished on BioWare for bringing one of the most epic IPs to the console and PC in the form of Mass Effect. Closely influenced by games like Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect was a true epic when it came to story and game play. The dialogue between the main character and NPCs was beautifal and the development of the game universe was immense. They progression and discovery you could achieve with Mass Effect was second to none and reprisented another bold step by BioWare. The Mass Effect IP was first featured in 2007 on the Xbox 360, but wasn't featured on the PC until 2008. Now, you could argue that the Mass Effect IP wasn't new, but for the PC - which the awards I am talking about are for - it was and it was certainly a better IP than Sins of a Solar Empire. And even if we aren't going to count Mass Effect, there are far better IPs that have come about this year than Sins. World of Goo was far more original than the Sins IP. Left 4 Dead broguth more to the table. Now don't get me wrong, Sins is a good game but it isn't that good. Line it up against other Space RTS titles like Masters of Orion, Imperium Galactica, Galactic Civilizations and Homeworld and Sins is humbled at the bottom of the list.

The next travesty is that Sins goes on to win Most Innovative Design, which is arguable when you line it up agains Fallout 3, Spore and Left 4 Dead. Ok, Sins brought some late additions to an aged genre but it didn't do anything horrifically innovative, did it?

The cherry on the cake is that Sins of a Solar Empire won PC Game of the Year, which should have gone to either Fallout 3, Mass Effect or Grand Theft Auto 4 in any reasonable non-biased line up. A lot of people have been shouting that Fallout 3, Mass Effect and GTA4 are ports from console games but that is of no consequence. They were released for the PC and they are all better than Sins, so despite the fact that the console saw them first, they should not have been discounted.

Needless to say, I'm a little disappointed with the awards this year, like I was last year. One thing that does come from the awards is that there is a distinct lack of good titles on the PC.

Now let's see what other reviewers have to say.

Wrath of the Lich King Review Part 2

Indelible — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:59:10 GMT

For my second part of what I hope is a neutral look at World of Warcraft, I'll start with the PvP system, which has gone from a diverse and well rounded player versus player experience, to somewhat of a grind over the course of the last year. One of the most controversial additions to the system is the requirement of Arena Points for Battleground items. This has angered a large portion of the community and - as far as I can see - it is understandable why. Previously, the Arena System and the Battleground System were largely entities of their own. The BG system provided a stepping stone into Arena by giving players low-end PvP gear, with the Arena System then providing higher end PvP gear. In Wrath, Blizzard have added an additional cost to Battleground gear in the form of Arena Points, meaning that the stepping stone that was the Battleground system has been greatly diminished. Frankly, the idea behind this decision is plain as day - Blizzard really don't want you getting more than 1 or 2 items per week from PvP, padding out your play time. By doing this, Blizzard ensure you pay them money for a larger portion of time. As well as that, it is discouraging to those people who would buy the aid of chinese farmers as the AP requirement has increased the cost of Battleground item farming. As far as the PvP system goes, I'm less than impressed.

The PvE raid content seems to have taken a hit with Wrath as well. Naxxaramas - an instance famous for being underplayed in vanilla WoW - was brought into Wrath as the entry level raid dungeon, presenting those who did not see the dungeon a chance to visit it. Sadly, within a matter of days of the game being released, the hardcore guild Ensidia (formerly Nihilum/SK-Gaming) cleared all of the raid content on offer. Many are worried that this is a reprisentation of what raid content in Wrath will be like. Blizzard have always been playing a balancing game with raid content. They want as many people to see it as possible, but they don't want it to be too easy. They try to hit the middle road but find that they often hit too high or too low. Naxx reprisents Blizzard arguably hitting to low but we can't judge raid content in Wrath on one of several dungeons. How raid content evolves will play out over the course of future content patches and Blizzard have promised that future dungeons will be less of a walk through and more challenging, with more stupidity checks - such as having to be in x positions at x time - to add a little difficulty. We'll have to wait and see I suppose.

Now, Wrath of the Lich King has been accused of plagirism when it comes to two content additions. These content additions should have been covered in the PvP section but I left them until now - Wintergrasp and the new battleground Strand of the Ancients. A few years ago, Mythic Entertainment announced that Warhammer Online would take advantage of siege warfare and shortly after that, Blizzard announced they would be adding it to WoW at some point in the future. Does this mean they stole the idea? No, not even vaguely. Wrath of the Lich King and Warhammer Online are very different games in this regard, and Warth manages to hold its own. The siege weapons in Wrath are fun to play with and really do add a whole new compelling layer to PvP. I myself have had great fun watching others use them and I think that as they evolve, they will become a widely used source of fun and entertainment. The new battleground is also good fun but sadly, I have only got chance to play 1 or 2 times, neither of which were won by Horde. Needless to say, these two content additions are a couple of shining stars in Wrath.

There are other additions that were added in patch 3.0, such as the Achievement System and Barbers that I shall touch on now. Firstly, the Achievement System is a fairly nice addition, although not too inventive. It is the same as every other Achievement System out there and hardly reprisents a large chunk of content. Aquiring points through Achievements is worrying as Blizzard will blatantly use these as some form of currency beyond buying vanity items. This has already been demonstrated by allowing players to acquire epic crafting patterns through achievements and whilst players have to get a specific achievement and still have to get the mats to make the items, this choice reprisents a step in the wrong direction. The barber shop is nothing more than a addition provided because of the growing demand from players to be able to change their appearance and once again, does not resprisent a massive chunk of content. It is no wonder then that both systems were added in a content patch, rather than the expansion itself.

The future for Wrath is the same as the future for TBC - more content. Sadly, World of Warcraft looks like it has been handed over to the second-line developers. What I mean by that is the latest additions to the game seem - for the most part - to be efforts to prolong your exposure and lengthen the time you need to play. Instead of coming up with compelling ways of getting you into more of the content or getting you to revisit old content, Blizzard have thrown in the Achievement System and made adjustments to existing concepts to make them go further. Wrath seems to have watered down a large chunk of the game and made things a lot more clear but a lot more lengthy. This has heightened my fear that future expansions won't add more compelling content. It is my belief that we are now starting to see WoW move into the MMOs equivalent to, "old age," where content becomes slow and tedious over compelling and enhancing. Perhaps I am wrong. We'll have to wait for the next expansion to turly know.

So what sort of score to I think Warth deserves? Well, it is a good game and it has some spark in it. That said, there are a lot of content additions that make me repulse at the way Blizzard is trying to lengthen the game by forcing me into things I don't really want to do. From a new players perspective, this won't matter as they have never experienced vanilla WoW. From an old timers point of view, Wrath reprisents a step in a good direction, but not really my direction.

I give World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King 80%. I don't think it is as strong as vanilla WoW or The Burning Crusade and Ifeel it may reprisent the steady decline for World of Warcraft.

Please note: there is much more to World of Warcraft and I only covered the content that stood out to me.

Warth of the Lich King Review Part 1

Indelible — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:17:08 GMT

I've been reading through review after review after review that piles praise and medals on Blizzard Entertainment for their latest expansion to World of Warcraft - Warth of the Lich King. Sadly, I think that the age of the neutral review is well and truly over and entities like IGN, GameSpot and PCGamer are all in the pocket of the big corporations.

What I am going to do here is hopefully provide you with a neutral and informative review that actually covers the truth, rather than fabrications of the truth.

Wrath of the Lich King adds a whole new continent to explore in the form of Northrend. For those of you not familiar with Warcraft lore, Northrend is the frozen wasteland that the Lich King has claimed as his kingdom and it is from here that his armies of Scourge launch their conquest on Azeroth. The Lich King wants one thing and one thing only: Death. Sadly for the Lich King, the Alliance and the Horde aren't willing to accept this version of the future and are now taking the fight to Northrend, pushing the Scourge back into thier own homeland.

The diversity that Northrend presents in the way of environments is quite impressive; frozen tundras, burning forests, expansive vistas and underground caverns to name but a few. Now, we are all aware that the graphics in World of Warcraft are not the best of the best. They never have been. That said, the environments and the art direction that Blizzard take with WoW don't require anything more than they already have. Of course, Blizzard have thrown in some improved textures, such as better snow and ice, just for the kicks. Sadly for anyone wanting a completely new and improved graphics engine, you won't find it here. There are some improvements but nothing major along the way. It's not just the new continent that Blizzard have spent time improving. Some spells and abilities have gone through the mill and come out looking rather impressive, although I'm a little disappointed that only a handful of spells have been improved visually. This is where Blizzard get thier first mark down from me: If you are going to spend your time improving the look of the spells and abilites, you should do all or none. It doesn't feel right having 2D crayon effects coupled with 3D glossy effects.

Talking of spells and abilites, Blizzard have once again expanded the various talent trees in the game. Players can now take advantage of the 51-point talent trees which come with some rather epic abilites at thier end. Sadly, not all of them manage to find epicness and there are a couple that seem to have been thrown in as after-thoughts. Of course, new spells and abilites comes with new problems but for the most part, balance hasn't been comprimised too badly. Things aren't ideal but they could be a lot worse. Those of you who played vanilla WoW in the day when DoTs could crit will be pleased to know that this has been reintroduced in Wrath. Resilliance seems less of a boredom with this taken into account. You may be wondering why the spells and abilities section of this review isn't longer? Well, spells and abilites are spread across the now-10 classes and I don't play all 10 of them, so what you make of your own spells and abilites is up to you.

Moving on, we have the first of our hero classes - the Death Knight. Frankly, there is nothing heroic about the Death Knight. It is just another class. Granted, from level 55-58 you get one of the best quest lines ever to be made by Blizzard Entertainment, but this is short lived. The moment you step into Outland, the game returns to being a mindless quest grind through the 60s. Once you get to 70, the story starts to pick up again - as it does for everyone - but I was quite disappointed that Blizzard hadn't spread the evolution of the Death Knight over the first 15 levels, rather than piling it all in to two levels. Outland was underused as far as I can see. The mechanics of the Death Kight are very interesting and it does look like it could be quite an interesting class to play at 80, if not for the fact that all of its spells look better than every other class' in the game. Again with the inconsistency, just to remind you that WoW isn't real and never will be. Roll a Death Knight and you won't be bored, at least for a while. They are interesting and they are fun but they aren't what we were led to believe and they certainly aren't the heroic class I was expecting. It'll be interesting to see what Blizzard learns from thier first hero class.

The story in Wrath has improved greatly over the story in TBC. Blizzard decided to introduce the Lich King right form the start. You will find yourself running through seemingly generic quests and suddenly being presented with the Lich King himself, interfering and manipulating right across your journey to 80. He will always be only a whisper away... literally. He will even interupt boss fights and quest objectives just to be a grade A pain in the arse. The story really has improved and there is actually a reason to do things that you might not have done before, such as low level dungeons and grind quests. Take taht into account when you play as it is probably the most noticable addition to rath beyond the achievement system.

In the next part of the review, which I shall post later on, I shall cover the various forms of PvP, accusations of plagirism and what the future could hold for Wrath. I will also give you my final score for the new and "improved" World of Warcraft.

Test

Indelible — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:25:06 GMT

I am simply testing...

Hi there.

The Daily Quest comes to an end...

Indelible — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:49:08 GMT

The Daily Quest was my own personal dream. Something that I wanted to build and nurture. In order to do this, I needed somewhere to start this dream and so I came to Curse.com, the only place I could think of. Over the course of a year, I built a close relationship with Curse. I worked closely with Kody, Zyuu and others to bring you what I thought was the best content a voluntary blog could get its hands on. I feel I did my best...

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and all of that I got the chance to talk to some big names, I got the chance to do a hell of a lot because of my dedication here at Curse. Hell, I got to go to the AoC launch party in Oslo! I really did have a good ride and it's a time I shall never forget.

So to everyone out there who reads The Daily Quest, I thank you. Maybe someday, The Daily Quest will return in one shape or another. At least, I hope it will.

What's Next for TDQ?

Indelible — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:24:03 GMT

Some of you are probably wondering where I’ve been. Perhaps I should rephrase that one. Let’s start again…

My ego won’t let me accept that you guys have been getting on with your lives without me. As such, I’m here to let you know all is well. You can go and buy that can of Red Bull you’ve been waiting for, for the past four weeks. I’ll still be here when you get back…

It’s been a long four weeks of waiting. On my behalf, I’ve been waiting for a few studios, guilds and organisations to get back to me about interviews, previews and other things to present you guys with but these people are hard at work. That doesn’t mean that things aren’t running along smoothly. It just means that things are slightly delayed.

If you live in the UK, you won’t be complaining as, “slightly delayed,” is our way of saying, “perfectly on time.”

Sadly, I don’t have anything to present you with this entry in The Daily Quest. What I am going to do however is share some of the things we have coming up in the coming weeks.

What’s coming for The Daily Quest?

Hands-on with Ideazon’s fabled Zboard and its Age of Conan Keyset.

I had hoped to bring you the hands on a couple of weeks ago but Ideazon are having some trouble getting the keyboard out of the US and into Europe. Despite this, I have pestered and pestered Ideazon and they are diligently trying to get said keyboard to me.

In short, this hands-on will appear in the next couple of weeks.

An Interview With: Mythos

We’ve all been looking for our definitive hack ‘n’ slash experience since we stopped playing Diablo 2 oh so many moons ago. With the announcement of Diablo 3 over and the gaming world settling down after almost wetting ourselves with anticipation, I’ve decided not to jump on the, “YAY! BLIZZARD!” bandwagon like the rest of the Internet. Instead, I’m heading to Seattle. Well, I’m not. An email is heading to Seattle, containing some rather funky questions. This one was supposed to be up last week but there was a hiccup (*cough* WWIs) that prevented this from happening, so hopefully it will be up before the end of this week.

Keep an eye out for that one in (hopefully) the next 7 days!

Mythos Preview

I delivered the Age of Conan First Impressions article just over a month ago. Now I’m moving on to other pastures in the form of a free, hack ‘n’ slash orientated MMORPG called Mythos. Developed by Flagships Seattle based team and originally used as a way to test network infrastructure for Hellgate: London, Mythos has quickly grown to be quite an eye catcher in the world of MMOs. As such, I’m going to be bringing you a preview of Mythos in the coming weeks.

Frankly. I can’t put it down and you’ll find out why soon!

An Interview With: A Guild

We’ve already interviewed A’a Netjer – a guild waiting to get there hands on CMEs debut MMO, Stargate Worlds. It went down like cake. Very good cake that isn’t a lie. In our next interview, we’ll be talking to a guild that has entered the world of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and taken it by storm!

Want to know who that guild is? You’ll have to come back and read the interview then won’t you?

10 Reasons Why the Internet Should have it’s own class in school!

Sure, we talk about why the Internet should be limited and blocked for younger children but we hardly ever come up with a simple solution that helps all problems – education! Education teaches about the pros and the cons and allows for the learner to make their minds up themselves.

I give you 10 reasons why the Internet should have it’s own class outside of IT in school! They are good reasons, if I do say so myself.

This is just a taster of what we have to come. I am constantly contacting development teams, guilds, community sites and more to get interviews and articles that the Curse community will want to read!

If you have any requests or ideas that you think would make a great addition to The Daily Quest, feel free to contact me at tdqinfo@googlemail.com or through the Curse messaging system. I try to respond to every message and email I get so don’t be shy! Also, keep those comments coming! Without your comments as suggestions, I don’t know if my offerings are right so if you have something to say, say it via the blog comment system!

An Interview With: AoCSource.com

Indelible — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:38:52 GMT

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventure has been out now for roughly two weeks and it probably can't have gone better. AoCSource.com has also been around for a good while now and it has been received very well.

Being the first Age of Conan site to appear on the Curse Network, followed by ConanArmory.com, AoCSource.com offers news, forums and an entire community to be a part of. It's creation has been well received, offering limited moderation on PvP forums and a place for people to discuss things away from the official forums.

I sat down with Kevin Van Ness -- Content and Community Manager for the Curse Network -- and spoke to him about what makes AoCSource.com as well as the benefits of official and unofficial forums and asked him a little more about the limited moderation policy.

An Interview With: AoCSource.com

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourselves and what you do?

Kody: My name is Kevin Van Ness, and I’m the Content and Community Manager for the entire Curse Network; many will be more familiar with my nickname “Kody,” which I go by on each of our websites. At Curse in general my duties include overseeing the content on a variety of our network websites, including Warhammer Alliance, World of Raids, AionSource, Curse.com, CurseForge, and AoCSource. This includes working directly with each of those websites’ managers.

TDQ: Seeing as the interview is about an MMO fan site, could you tell us a little bit about your past in MMO gaming? How did you get into it? What MMO titles have you played?

Kody: Let’s see... I got started in the genre with EverQuest back in 2000. While most companies frown on account sharing, this is actually how I got into the game; I was watching a roommate (at the time) play the game, and became very intrigued by it. After a while of watching, he asked if I wanted to play it when he was at work – so I did, and quickly became hooked. A month or two later I bought my own copy of the game, and ended up playing EverQuest for close to four years.

I’ve also had stints in Dark Age of Camelot, City of Heroes, Final Fantasy XI, EverQuest II, Tabula Rasa, EVE Online, Lineage 2, World of Warcraft, and of course, Age of Conan.

TDQ: What drew you to Age of Conan? What aspects of the title stand out the most to you?

Kody: To say that the Conan story didn’t play a factor in deciding to purchase the game would be lying – I’ve always thought it would fit fantastically in the MMO genre. That said, I quickly fell in love with the combat system in May ’07 when I participated in my first Hands On event for the game. Even though it’s gone through two or three iterations since then, it’s still one of my favorite things about the game.

I also have to say that the voice-overs are incredibly well done, and rank up there with my favorites amongst the game’s features.

TDQ: What is involved with the creation of a fan site such as AoCSource? How much time and how many people go into the process?

Kody: The number of people involved in a fan site is typically rather small from my experience. That said, even with a small fan site you really do want to make sure you listen heavily to the community’s needs. Obviously you also have to weigh in the factor of time constraints, and whether or not a request fits into the role of the website or not. An example would be requests to add new forums... you have to always keep in mind that while each specific member of the community may want to see different forums, more is not always a good thing.

In terms of the time that’s gone into creating AoCSource, the website’s design itself took quite a while, but luckily we have a very talented graphics designer who created a template style that we can use across a multitude of game fan sites. This template was actually derived from World of Raids, and then modified to fit the theme and needs of other games. AionSource.com also uses the template, and it’s likely we’ll use it for any future fan sites as well.

TDQ: What has the initial reaction to AoCSource been like? Has it met your expectations and are there things you think you could have done better?

Kody: The reaction has been interesting, to say the least. We tried something very different with AoCSource, based on a number of requests from the community: uncensored PvP Discussion and PvP Server forums. Not surprisingly, the community has proven overall to keep things mature, and some of the discussions that have come from no censorship on the forums have been great.

The goal behind no censorship was to harness the competitive nature of the PvP community, and allow it to flourish without being constrained by unneeded moderation.

TDQ: There is a well known topic of debate that crops up now and again in the form of official forums versus unofficial forums. It’s safe to say that you feel unofficial forums have a place otherwise you would not provide them but I’m interested to know where you feel they fit and why?

Kody: I think Sanya Weathers has been a great voice of reason behind the debate of official forums versus unofficial forums, and I agree with her in many cases. What it boils down to inevitably is whether or not the game needs official forums or not: in World of Warcraft’s case, Blizzard obviously feels the game needs official forums.

On the other hand, Dark Age of Camelot was very successful without any official forums, and it looks as if EA Mythic will continue on this route with Warhammer Online.

One advantage of unofficial forums is that developers can interact with the community and not have as much accountability for what they say as they would on an official forum. If you look at the World of Warcraft forums, typically when a developer posts they’re held to their exact word; if they make a mistake in what they say they’re thrown to the jackals and eaten alive. Meanwhile, when you come across a developer post on unofficial forums, the community is very appreciative to see interaction, especially on important issues in the game.

Some great examples of unofficial forums are the old Vault Network during Dark Age of Camelot’s peak, Warhammer Alliance now and the developer activity there, and the Elitist Jerks World of Warcraft guild forums – a place where World of Warcraft developers visit occasionally and post in response to player feedback and questions.

Hopefully with AoCSource we can support our community now and in the future. It’s certainly our goal to make sure there’s a home for the gamer, whether it’s Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Aion: Tower of Eternity, or any other MMO.

TDQ: Again on the forum side of things, AoCSource offers limited moderation of the PvP forums and the FFA PvP server forums. Could you tell us a little about why you have decided to take this approach with these forums in particular?

Kody: As I mentioned earlier, prior to my essay about official versus unofficial, the choice was primarily due to community requests and feedback on what they felt other websites did wrong. Several guild leaders of well-known, historical PvP guilds were adamant about there being limited moderation on the PvP forums, including no censorship.

So far, it’s worked out well – we’ve only had to moderate a single post since the forums launched in late April, and no bannings due to inappropriate content. I don’t really see this changing for the foreseeable future (or at all), as we’ve introduced a plug-in that allows users to enable the censorship for themselves if they so choose.

TDQ: The Curse Network has another fan site with a similar layout and design to AoCSource in AionSource. Could you tell us why you settled for a similar design between the two sites?

Kody: As mentioned earlier, both websites were a derivative of the World of Raids design; we felt World of Raids looked fairly kickass, so we decided to adopt that general layout as our fan site template from here out. For those curious, credit for World of Raids’ design goes to an excellent designer by the name of Justin Uyemura.

TDQ: AoCSource is a young site and so I’m sure you have lots planned for it in the future. Could you tell us a little about your plans for AoCSource in the future?

Kody: It’s honestly hard to give any details about plans for the future other than to say we’ll be offering everything it takes to make sure our community has the best resources and tools available to them. AoCSource is just one piece of the puzzle with regards to Age of Conan; we have a lot of plans for the near-term, as well as long term across the entire network to support the game and its growing community. The Age of Conan Armory will of course be a big player in that, as well Curse.com’s file hosting, but AoCSource is where we plan to foster the actual community for the game.

You can expect to see a lot of syndication on AoCSource between the Conan Armory and Curse.com; video embedding, database tooltips, file embedding, etc.

TDQ: Last but not least, the token question: PvP or PvE and why?

Kody: So... can “both” count as an answer? I obviously have a number of friends from my years of gaming, and of course with that comes the fact that none of them can fully decide on a ruleset for everyone. That rings true with Age of Conan as well, so I’ve created characters on both PvE and PvP servers. Me personally, I’m a very competitive player, and this game just screams PvP for the competitive, passionate gamer.

So yeah, deep down inside I’m definitely more interested in PvP; there’s just something you can’t replicate in PvE about the rush you get from fighting other players (and in my case, owning ;)).

Thanks to Kody for the Interview! Keep an eye out on TDQ for more interviews (and MUCH more content) over the next few weeks!

Age of Conan First Impressions

Indelible — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:14:28 GMT

To say that Age of Conan had a good launch would in my opinion, be a bit of an understatement. Age of Conan has been live now for over a week and downtime has been few and far between. OK, so there have been a few hiccups along the way; there are bugs aplenty in game but you can't expect an MMO to launch with all the flavors.

For the last 3 years, Funcom have been waving their banner quite angrily when it comes to Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. They really wanted to get our attention before the game launched and I can safely say that they achieved that. It is arguable that Age of Conan has had one of the best advertising and hype campaigns for an MMO to date. Age of Conan has topped the sales charts at multiple game retailers and has also become one of the fastest selling PC games in history so Funcom and Eidos must have done something right.

Sadly, mammoth sales and elaborate launch parties don't prove a game. That is up to the content within the game. As far as I am concerned, Age of Conan hasn't flopped like other more-recent entries into the MMO world.

First Impressions

There will be problems. That is the first and possibly the most important realization you have to come to when you log into a new MMO for the first time. Age of Conan is no different. There are problems and quite a few of them. What you make of them however will depend entirely upon how many times you have played an MMO from launch. I can't deny that Age of Conan has its host of problems but what I can say is that, out of any MMO I have played from launch, Age of Conan has to be one of the least problematic. 1 month ago, in closed beta, I was using one of the most bugged and problematic game clients for any game I have ever played. Age of Conan was resource hungry, crash happy and anything other than user friendly. This was 1 month from launch and as such, fears spread that Age of Conan just wouldn't be ready for launch. It really was a lag-tastic mess that required massive amounts of patching and server downtime. I really did worry. Thankfully, my worry was not needed and my fears were misplaced.

There were two main milestones for Funcom. The first was open beta to Early Access [EA] and aside from a few problems with people not liking the lack of EA keys, this went better than most expected. Then there was the mammoth task of getting from EA to retail release. This was the part that most worried about when it came to launch day. Yet again, Funcom proved themselves and saw in Age of Conan with what can only be described as one of the smoothest MMO launches in history. I've been playing the game now for a little over a week and I am impressed. There are bugs and there are problems but they are few and far between. The game runs like a charm and the game play isn't teeth grinding. This is exactly what you want from an MMO launch. Other development and publishing studios should be taking notes.

That said however, there are complaints. There are always complaints.

One thing that does stand out is the possibly-mad system requirements. In order to play Age of Conan without any issues you will need all the new Windows updates, a LOT of RAM and a pretty juicy graphics card. These requirements alone have annoyed a fair amount of gamers out there, who settled for budget systems primarily due to World of Warcraft not needing much in the way of horsepower. At the end of the day however, there are those of us who appreciate such high graphical standards. OK, so you may need to fork out a little to get your World of Warcraft-capable system up to Age of Conan standards but then, it isn't just Age of Conan you'll be upgrading for. World of Warcraft is old now and games coming out in the next 12 months aren't going to cater for 512mb of RAM and a single core processor. Despite what is being said about the system requirements by some, Age of Conan really does have some impressive graphics. If you can set things to high, you will notice it. I am impressed with how much attention was paid to detail in most places. Armor for example, has some intricate patterns displayed that rivals games like Oblivion in some cases. Funcom have gone to every corner to try to make this game look as realistic as possible whilst not compromising on game play. The only other MMO I can think of that almost pulled this off was Lord of the Rings Online. In my opinion, Age of Conan does it far better. There are a few graphical bugs that I have encountered, such as my hair cut randomly changing but for the most part, things are very impressive in the graphics camp.

So it launched well and its graphical standards are high but what about the content? What, if anything, does Age of Conan add to the already-bloated fantasy arm of MMO gaming? There are few major innovations in Age of Conan but then, why change a proven formula? That isn't to say there aren't changes. There are and they do redefine several widely accepted standards.

One of the more noticeable, “changes,” is who Age of Conan is aimed at. Age of Conan isn't aimed at kids by any stretch of the imagination. Overflowing with sexual innuendo, mature dialog and scantily clad NPCs, it is clear that Age of Conan attempts to appeal to those who like the more mature fantasy franchises out there. There's no happy-jolly feeling to Age of Conan that I can find. If you aren't brutally killing your old slave-master, your brutally killing mindless slaves. There's none of this, “go and get my kitty out of the tree,” malarkey and if there is, it is probably achieved by setting fire to said tree. Age of Conan is dark, brutal and quite effectively mature. Whilst Age of Conan has achieved much in this sense, the dialog is a letdown. It tries its hardest to be really, really interesting but I've found this to generally not be the case. OK, so Funcom have served us a decent portion of storytelling here but a lot of it is quite boring. A third of the time, I follow through with reading what the NPC is saying and I think about my choice of retort but at the end of the day, it is still just an accept quest button dressed up to look like something it really isn't. To make things worse, I have to click this button several times in several different formats before the quest actually enters my quest log. Another feature is the starting area of Age of Conan – Tortage - which includes single player introductory content. Funcom claim that there is 20+ hours of single player game play at the start of Age of Conan. This acts as a way of introducing players to the combat system, basic game play functions and also to make everyone feel important in their own little bubble right from the get go. By day, you can play with your friends and enemies but by night, you play on your own through a series of introductory quests. You can alternate between day and night by speaking to NPCs. Once you complete the single player content, you are sent away from Tortage to the Hyborian mainland, where you lose the ability to switch between mutli and single player content all together. You will now have to duke it out with everyone else on your server, just like in most other MMOs. One of the more noticeable deviations from the accepted fantasy MMO standard is the combat system. Players are given several directional attacks. To start with, you can attack from the left, the right and above. As you level up, you will unlock 3 more directional attacks. These attacks can then be used on their own or they can be strung together in a series of combinations which results in casting more powerful attacks. As well as this directional system for attacking, players and monsters have access to a directional shield system as well. Monsters (and players) can move 3 arrow-looking shields to different directions to provide more protection. For example, you could stack all of your shields on the left, providing you with a superior amount of damage reduction on your left side. This however, would leave your right and top sides undefended and these would in turn take more damage than if they were shielded. Personally, I think the shield system is rather untidy and may only server to bloat the game and confuse the player base. We shall have to wait and see. There are also fatalities. That is to say that every so often, a successful combo will result in the player pulling off a highly detailed, “finishing,” move that splatters blood all over your screen.

One thing that I must point out now before I continue; Age of Conan has one of the most ugly UIs I have ever used. Funcom set a high standard with the Age of Conan hype campaign that for the most part, the game itself keeps up with. Sadly, the home team is let down massively by the UI. Bloated, unfriendly and highly dysfunctional, I really don't know what the guys at Funcom were thinking when they implemented it. I'll give you an example. The Guild UI has to be the worst aspect of the entire UI. Firstly, you can't define your own ranks and you are restricted to selecting from a list of very limited predefined government types which give you access to a varying amount of ranks. You can't modify rank permissions or create your own ranks and this really does make you feel like Funcom is the Guild Master of your guild and you are just administrating the show in their absence. There is no stand alone roster. It's all combined into one horrific example of a social UI that lists your guild members and your friends in exactly the same list, differentiating them using color. It feels like someone has taken the initiative and tried to streamline the whole affair but failed miserably. They failed so badly in fact that the poor workmanship here stands out like a sore thumb. I'm told that a new UI is on its way and I sincerely hope this is the case as the current one just won't do at all.

Another let down is size. Age of Conan is small. When you compare it to games like Lord of the Rings Online, Worldof Warcraft, Eve and so on, you will probably be a little surprised at how small it actually is. On top of that, Funcom have decided to instance so much so that every 10 minutes, you will subjected to a loading screen. This wouldn't be a problem if loading times were fast but in a lot of cases, they aren't. You'll end up sitting there for minutes waiting for something as simple as an inn to load up. For an MMO with such a small offering in terms of landmass, you're left to wonder why so much is instanced. Perhaps that will change with time. You never know. Personally, I prefer an open landmass with limited instancing and I hope that Funcom explore this route in the future.

All in all, Age of Conan so far is a very good game. There are a few hiccups and a few problems here and there but on the grand scale of things, it is probably one of the smoothest on-launch experiences I have had with an MMO to date. To top that, it feels like a Conan game should feel. If Mr. Howard were alive now, I'm pretty sure he would be mightily impressed with what Funcom have done with his franchise. As a Conan fan myself, I am very impressed indeed. As for all the people out there saying that it isn't a World of Warcraft killer, you are right. I really don't think Age of Conan will lead to the demise of World of Warcraft at any point in the near or distant future. What I do think is that Funcom haven't designed a game geared towards this task. I don't think they ever intended Age of Conan to be a World of Warcraft killer.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a brilliant entry into the fantasy MMO world and is so far the best MMO I have played since vanilla World of Warcraft. Thumbs up to Funcom.

An Interview With: The Guild!

Indelible — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:28:44 GMT

In recent years, MMO gaming has gone through a spout of growth on a massive level, not only in the world of nerds but right throughout popular culture. All around the world, people have latched on to the MMO phenomenon in various ways, shapes and form.

One such project is a web-series called, "The Guild." Produced, written and starring Felicia Day of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Bring it on Again fame, The Guild really is one of those things you just can't miss.

The Guild follows the story of a group of players from a guild in an online game who take their relationship from the confines of the computer out into the open air, allowing all sorts of humorous encounters to occur. The characters are amazing; the stories humorous but what makes the guild so good is the simple fact that almost every MMO gamer out there can related to either one or many of the characters portrayed in the show.

The Guild is about to air it's final offering for the first season, taking it to its 10th show. With season 2 on the horizon and some of the guys running round doing live shows, things really are looking bright.

I decided to pester Felicia Day and Kim Evey -- star and producer respectfully -- to ask them what made and makes The Guild and what we are likely to see in the future, as well as getting their opinion on a few other things along the way.

The Daily Quest Interviews Felicia Day and Kim Evey -- The Guild!

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little about yourselves?

Felicia: I'm a professional actor, I've lived in LA for almost 8 years now. I went to the University of Texas at Austin and majored in Violin and Mathematics, and naturally after college I moved to pursue acting as a career :) I've worked in many movies, television shows and national commercials. I've always been a gamer and a general geek, and I created The Guild after kicking a World of Warcraft addiction. With Kim's it came to the Internet! Oh, and I love cats and fantasy novels. :)

Kim: I have a background in improv and sketch comedy and I moved to LA to pursue a career in acting. I started working enough to make a living but there was still a lot of the proverbial sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. My husband is also an actor and an extremely funny person. He started doing comedy shorts and I persuaded him to post them on YouTube. We had success with a short called "Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show" and that made me realize that I could be doing something with my time other than sitting around worrying about how I wasn't doing anything with my time. Now I produce GTCMS, The Guild and 2 Hot Girls in the Shower in addition to commercial and TV acting.

TDQ: Seeing as The Guild is focused around an MMO Guild, have either of you played any MMOs before and if so, how addicted were you?

Felicia: Yes, like I said I was addicted to World of Warcraft for almost 2 years. Big time. I got to the point where I would wake up in the middle of the night and farm Dreamfoil. And fish. It was a bad addiction. Previously I had been addicted to Diablo in college and after that Puzzle Pirates. I obviously have a video game addiction problem, LOL. I still play a lot of video games, but I'm trying to avoid getting "hooked" again.

Kim: I've never played an MMORPG because I knew that if I started there would be no turning back. The last RPG I played was Legend of Zelda on Nintendo 64 and I was ridiculous about it. I went through a number of years where I wouldn't allow myself to play any type of video game because I would just go until I was exhausted. Even, like, playing online spades on MSN, I would play for hours. I would forget to eat. Felicia just gave me her DS and I played Phantom Hourglass like a fiend on the last Guild shoot. At one point Felicia ran across the room to move a glass out of a shot and I realized I was completely neglecting the shoot in order to play Zelda. Bad. It's bad.

TDQ: So where did the idea for The Guild come from? How hard was it for you to take it from paper and actually get the actors, gear and money together to see it all to where it is now?

Felicia: I wrote The Guild as a 1/2 hour pilot for television after some friends (including producers Kim and Jane) helped me shake my WOW habit. Everyone I showed the script to thought it was funny, but said it was too "niche". Since Kim and her husband had so much success shortly before with their Internet projects, she helped me realize that the best place to put the show was where gamers hung out: On the web. After Kim, Jane and I decided to work together to do a pilot episode, it was phenomenal how quickly it came together. Sheer will. And a touch of naivety, haha.
To get to this point now, 6 million views later, it has taken (and continues to take) hours a day of marketing, publicity and fan interaction. These things do not just happen overnight, even though we have a build-in fanbase of gamers and Buffy fans (which I was on the last year of). Lots of webisodes garner only a few thousand hits upon release. The true work takes place between shooting.

Kim: The challenge that we didn't think about with The Guild when we began our gung-ho efforts to put it together was that it's pretty much a full-on production to mount. My other shows take place in one location so it turns out we were a little bit naive about just how much work it would take in the long run to consistently schedule all the cast, crew and locations that go into making The Guild. We've scaled down considerably since our first shoot just to try and make things move faster but it's a delicate balance to get the right amount of people. You don't want too many extra people but you also don't want your lead actress to be the one running across the room to move the glass out of the shot. You should have seen our craft service table for the first shoot though. It was an awesome sight to behold.

TDQ: I think a lot of people would be interested to know what the differences are between working on an independent web based series and a major TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Felicia: Uh...everything? :) Besides the comfy trailer, the custom built sets, the enormous crews the...paycheck... Yes, it's night and day. We shoot with minimal crew and minimal equipment. We can't shoot consistently because we can only do it as donations come in (for now). And as stressful as it is wearing 10 different hats on set, I totally love the process because of our crew and our fans. It makes it all worth it. And I get to write stuff that makes people laugh. What's better than that?

Kim: On a major series you get to just be an actor. On The Guild you have to do everything. And the craft services on a major series don't start awesome and then shrink by the final episode of the season to the point where you're inadvertently starving your cast because you didn't buy bagels. On a TV series there are always plenty of bagels.

TDQ: The Guild is very tongue in cheek about the characters and the stereotypes it portrays and the way it deals with the issue of MMOGs but I'm interested to know what you actually think about MMOGs and their effect on society. Do you buy all of the reports that MMOGs promote violence and are bad for the community, promoting addiction for example, or do you think otherwise?

Felicia: Absolutely not. I mean, yes, there are addiction problems that can get out of hand with certain personalities with gaming or anything else (I include myself in that) and having friends and family help you realize when you cross the line is key. But I think that the social aspect of gaming is really fantastic. I'm much closer to my brother after playing World of Warcraft with him for a few years. We talked more than we ever had before over Vent.

TDQ: The Guild is aimed at a potential audience in the 10s of millions due to the popularity of games like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online. Do you think these numbers show that there will be a place for shows like The Guild on main-stream television networks in the future or do you think that it will always be something for the niche?

Felicia: Well, I think the best shows, especially comedies, are about people "making a family" whether it deals with an office, an actual family or a group of friends. I try to write my characters as fully as I can, so even non-gamers can enjoy the foibles of a set of quirky characters. It's a strange time in TV and film because the network model isn't working as well as it used to, and it may be that launching from a more specific point of view can become more universal for audience members, if that makes sense.

Kim: There's absolutely room for it in the mainstream. People love character driven comedies and the trick is, how do you bring those characters together? Sitcoms are just a bunch of unique and endearingly flawed people with a central thing in common whether it's hanging out at a bar or working in the same office or playing an online video game. The game lingo is in there because that's part of a gamers life but the focus of the show is the relationships and the characters. And Felicia's just getting started. The whole point of The Guild is watching these people who have poor or odd social skills develop them with each other and that's universally appealing--that's just standard sitcom.

TDQ: You are past your 9th episode and are moving on strongly. How has the reception been up till now? Has it all been good or have their been some pesky doom sayers who said it wouldn't work?

Felicia: I think the idea of having girl characters who game was really our biggest hurdle at first before we began shooting. People didn't believe that girls game, especially three totally different KIND of women characters. It's amazing now that so many letters we get are from women who game, thanking us for giving them a voice. Half our donors who help us film through Paypal donations are women. So I like to go "Nyah nyah" to those people who said they didn't exist. I knew they existed because I'm a gamer myself :)

Kim: New media is changing the landscape of entertainment at such a rapid pace right now, it's no longer a matter of people telling us it won't work--it's now a matter of "how is it going to work" and "what's the best way to work this thing?" We have so many viewers and yet so many of those 10 million that you mentioned still aren't aware of the show. The reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Now it's just a matter figuring out the best way to get it to more people.

TDQ: What's it like standing behind the camera and producing The Guild? How much time do you have to invest in the process? Could you describe some of the stuff you do?

Felicia: Well, the shooting process is like herding cats. Getting a weekend where we can shoot a few episodes in a row, coordinating 15 people's schedules (for free) is hard enough. There's equipment rental, locations (that are personal houses in general) and food to buy as well as phone calls confirming everyone etc... We shoot very quickly and I write too long to shoot on our schedule :) So we're always rushing to get things in the camera. It's quite a relief to realize at the end of the shoot we got everything that was on the page :) Afterwards the hard work comes, maintaining the website, all the social networking pages, emailing fans, commenting on all the blogs that mention the show, thanking donors for their donations, adding people to mailing lists. And then there's the email that we get in 15 different places on 15 different sites. We try to answer everything personally but it gets tough. Also, I do all the graphics stuff, most of the website programming (although thank goodness for fans to help me out of sticky Wordpress situations :) ). I'm constantly looking to improve the site, to link the show places, to get press articles done on it, because the internet is so vast, it's hard for an indie project to get ANY press at all. Summarize it up: Lots of sitting. :)

Kim: Felicia is a mad woman when it comes to the Internet. She's one of the savviest people I know when it comes to the web, which either means she's good or I'm just old and don't know that many people that use it the way most kids use it these days. Either way, so much of post production time is web-based. It's a really good thing we're both fast typists. The Guild has the audience it has because Felicia sits in front of her computer 8, 9, 10 hours a day and posts things and answers email and makes sure the website looks great and everything is up to date. I help but she's really the main one who does all that stuff. Aside from that, pre-production is all about scheduling and wrangling props. Felicia has been known to drive across town to borrow potted plants from studio lots for the weekend. Our directors tend to be in charge of assembling their crews, which helps. But there are always a million little details that would just bore you to tears if I listed them. It's definitely a full-time job though.

TDQ: Of course, every series has its gag real and The Guild is no different. What are your most memorable mistakes or pranks? Is there anything you look back at over the course of creating The Guild that makes you laugh?

Felicia: When Zaboo squeezed my face and said "I gotta drop my kids off at the pool". That was so hard to get on film, we kept breaking the tighter he squeezed my face. Also, the awkward silence at the end of episode 4 was almost impossible to film. I told Jeff Lewis (Vork) to start clearing his throat and groaning a little bit in the silence. It was so freaky no one could keep a straight face. I bit my cheeks and thought of dead puppies to get through the take.

Kim: There is a bit in the unreleased second gag reel where Jeff Lewis (Vork) is supposed to say "our 2 p.m. raid" but he kept saying "2 a.m." in take after take. And the brilliant part was that each time he was completely unaware that he'd gotten it wrong until the director would yell from behind the camera. The hard thing about our show is that we're always on such a tight schedule so we don't really have the luxury of reveling in stuff like that. Once Jeff got it right it was just like "OK on to the next thing" rather than the traditional group laugh and applause that one might expect in a situation like that. It's rather genius all strung together though.

TDQ: Are there any plans to bring The Guild to a format like straight-to-BluRay/DVD or newer formats such as downloadable media in the near future? Is it something fans can look forward to?

Felicia: We'd love to be able to sell the show on itunes, but that will have to wait until we partner with a big company. We are preparing a DVD of the first season now for release this summer, and for the next season we'll definitely be shooting on HD to provide a great viewing experience on other platforms. One of the reason we're talking with people about funding partnerships is the distribution arm, which is near impossible to do independently on any large scale. And it's an area in which we could use help and expertise.

TDQ: What can we expect from The Guild over the coming episodes?

Felicia: Well, the season finale is coming out in a few weeks, hopefully people will enjoy that. I will only say that The Guild will continue to play online together, but relationships will form/grow and other unexpected outside characters will invade their lives, online and offline.

TDQ: Lastly, do you have room for a nerdy, long-haired, short, English blogger on your cast? Seriously. I've been told I do an excellent rendition of Star Wars…

Felicia: Haha. We have a lot of offers for people wanting to be in The Guild, but that character..oh wait, Kim's trying to tell me something.

Kim: *whispers to Felicia* Tell him we've already got one.

At least I know I didn't lose my part because they didn't want me. They never said they didn't want me...

Thanks to Felicia and Kim from The Guild for the interview. Remember to keep an eye out on The Guild website for all the latest episodes and news from the guys!

An Interview With: A'a Netjer - SGW Guild

Indelible — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:12:32 GMT

Earlier this year, we interviewed Kevin Balentine – PR Manager at CME – about the upcoming MMO, Stargate Worlds. He told us a lot about the title, including bits about combat and crafting in the game and also shared with us some exclusive screen shots. What he didn't tell us is that behind the development team at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is a bustling community of people waiting and watch for Stargate Worlds to be released.

Not only is there a large crowd of people from all sorts of backgrounds contributing ideas and duking it out about the upcoming MMO, there is also a large group of guilds and clans – commands as they will be called in SGW – forming in preparation for the expected release of the MMO later this year.

One such group is the guys at the newly formed multi-gaming guild A'a Netjer. A'a Netjer is currently looking for people wanting to enter three upcoming MMOs – Age of Conan, Stargate Worlds and Earthrise – in order to form a multi-gaming family that has a wide spread over multiple titles. The leaders of A'a Netjer are veteran MMOers having played such titles as Star Wars Galaxies and they have decided to set up shop with this years generation of titles.

Currently, their largest section is their interests in Stargate Worlds and this is reflected by not only the posts on their own forums but also the amount of active members they have on the official SGW forums.

I decided to sit down with the leaders of A'a Netjer and ask them what they were expecting form the upcoming MMO as well as a little about themselves. After all, it's not often that the community get their pre-launch say.

The Daily Quest Interviews A'a Netjer

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little about yourselves as individuals?

Neith - My name is Devon and I live in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho as of now. I was born and raised in Seattle, WA and lived there until I went into the military where I spent 7 years all over the World. Things I do outside of gaming; teach MMA, wake board, snowboard, cliff diving, riding motorcycles and anything that involves adrenaline really. ;)

Desy - My real name is Alex I live in Northern California and I am one of the three leaders of A'a Netjer. I have been playing MMOs hardcore for a while now last one was WoW. In real life I am a soon to be college student starting up at Academy of Art San Fransisco. I like to sail and go to LAN parties.

Shamash - My name is Chris I am also one of the three leaders of A'a Netjer. I am a Game Art and Design Student at the Art Institute or Portland. Been a gamer since Doom!

TDQ: When did the guild form? Where did its roots come from?

A'a Netjer was formed on 14 Jan 2008 for the upcoming MMORPG; Stargate Worlds. We worked on creating a name that would fit not only SGW, but any game we may play in the future together. We started to do some research on the Internet and came to an Egyptian language website. We carefully chose the name of our Guild to have an actual meaning; A'a Netjer means True Gods in the 'old language'.

To gather more attention to the Guild we worked on creating a website, which is currently being improved and overhauled to fit the future expansion of the Guild. We will publish the site in the near future.

We also wanted to make sure our Guild was open to all styles of play. We separated the leadership into the two main functions of any MMORPG; PvP and PvE. We believe that RP is a persons choice and we support RPrs, but because most games do not have any RP functions or support, we decided to leave that off our or Hierarchy. We will perhaps add a RP Council if this style of play gains more interest.

TDQ: Your aim is to be a multi-gaming guild, supporting upcoming MMORPGs. What made you decide to aim for several titles and not just an individual title?

At first, we wanted to create just a Premiere Guild for SGW, but as more members came to the Guild the more we discussed other games. In this discussion we started to talk about playing them together. One of the things we have seen in the past is that people form bonds and friendships, only to leave one another to play other games. We decided to open this up for other games so we could not only get to know one another, but become a gaming family or Syndicate as others call it.

We decided to open up more opportunities to our members and leaders to actually lead in other games as they choose. We put a few requirements out there if they want to gain our support. 1) If a member wants to start a Guild with our support, they just need 5 other people that have an interest in that game. 2) Bring their proposal to the leadership 3) Follow our goals and our Code of Conduct.

We believe by opening this up to our members, there will be no reason for them to leave us if they want to lead their own Guild. They will be the Officer/Mod to their specific game and we will add their game to our list for all A'a Netjer members as well as add it to our website and create a place on our forums for them.

TDQ: What made you chose Stargate Worlds as one of the titles you wanted in on?

Stargate Worlds is one of the best title/story ideas that we have seen in the MMORPG genre. It will bring not only the fans of Stargate, but the ex-fans of Star Wars Galaxies, Sci-Fi fans, and Gaming fans together. We can't think of a better storyline to follow. Using the Stargate in an actual virtual environment leaves us with so many opportunities in-game and we look forward to using those Stargates to stop the oppression of the SGC and take back the power that is rightfully ours.

TDQ: What are your aims, as a group of people, for SGW? Do you have a specific goal or are you playing it by ear until you get into the game?

We wanted to bring together all of the dark aligned species together; Human (Op-Core), Loyal Jaffa, and Goa'uld. To do this, we wanted to make sure we included a reason for them to gather together. We are currently working on a storyline for the Guild but here is what we have so far:

Goa'uld Back-story:

The Gathering

Jacob and Samantha were wrong in their assumptions. They believed they had destroyed the Nameless Queen with C-4, however, Neith knew that if he were able to get the Nameless Queen to safe grounds, that he would be able to use her to create his own army. He gathered forces together and was able to create a 'look-a-like' clone before her destruction. They made the switch and brought her to an unknown place, a place of solitude and safety.

Because of his actions, she now works in collusion with Neith to spawn more symbiots.

In the past, the nameless Queen spawned symbiots for Anubis and she did not pass on genetic memories to its spawn. She felt that leaving them as non-intelligent slaves open for mind-imprinting for Anubis would help him in his battle for power. She assisted Anubis into creating the Kull Warriors which were grown originally from an unknown kind of aqueous material. She believed that they possessed comparatively more powerful musculature. (taken from SGW-Wiki) .

Her downfall was spawning them with no genetic memories. She is now acting in collusion with Neith to spawn more symbiots to create more powerful warriors with their genetic memories attached. They will be even more powerful than before. Although they are not open to mind imprinting, they feel that the destruction of most of the System Lords is enough to attract the Army needed for vengeance.

OP-Core back story:

OP-CORE

Many SGC members used the gates for personal gain. These ex-members of the SGC were tracked down and policed by the SGC for posing as Gods much like the Goa'uld. The abuse of the gates by these members was an illegal offense and as such, these members that were caught, were taken the SGC prison; The Castle. Many of these members believed that they were in the right. They were at times acting as saviors of small villages and their intentions were to help these villages by bringing medicine and cures for common illness. Others did in fact break the law, by using their education to read prophecies given to them by the Goa'uld in the past in order to capitalize on their ignorance and make a profit or gain prestige in these communities. Other Op-Core members were known for pillaging communities and taking over areas by force and enslaving the communities at hand to gain power and control.

Neith knew that if he were able to gain an alliance with the OP-Core that they would be a great addition to his current power. He was able to gather System Lords, the Loyal Jaffa, and now he would work on getting the OP-Core to work with him, This would be a force unheard of by any of the SGC and it would help to have the OP-Core by his side, as they are all ex-SGC members and could reveal their technology and tactics to A'a Netjer.

Neith started sending messages to Desy from inside the prison walls. They planned a break out and Desy gathered all the OP-Core that would remain loyal as favor for their freedom.

Neith sent the Ash'rak to create anarchy around The Castle and freed the OP-Core. Now, willing to serve the Goa'uld in their struggle for power, the OP-Core work together with A'a Netjer.

Loyal Jaffa back story:

Loyal Jaffa

The Jaffa Resistance and the destruction of the System Lords gave birth to the Free Jaffa Nation, with the planet Dakara as its new capital. The new nation immediately became a major power, inheriting part of the fleets of the System Lords, partially filling the power vacuum left by their defeat. In an elaborate ceremony marking the official founding of the Jaffa Nation, Teal'c and Bra'tac were knighted Blood kin to all Jaffa, the highest honor that can be bestowed on any Jaffa.

The nation was initially ruled by the Jaffa High Council, on which votes were appropriated based on unconfirmed military assets, the nation is divided between at least two major political factions: the opposition progressives who support Teal'c and Master Bra'tac's vision of a representative democracy and the ruling traditionalists who support the military oligarchy with Gerak at the head of the High Council.

With the arrival of the Ori, things began to become difficult for the Jaffa Nation. The nation was initially committed to resisting the spread of Origin and its attendant Priors; most Jaffa were horrified at the idea of worshiping false gods once more, as the resistance of the Jaffa of Kallana showed ("Beachhead"). However, Gerak was converted to Origin and as a result the Ori gained a powerful ally in the form of the Jaffa loyal to them.

Other Jaffa however, did not follow Gerak. They felt his conversion to the Ori were signs of weakness and that things were better serving with the Goa'uld. These Goa'uld believed that there should be no power struggle and the Jaffa should remain symbiotic with the Goa'uld. Changing their symbiotic relationship would affect not only the Goa'uld, but the Jaffa that served them. These jaffa were know as Loyal Jaffa. The Loyal Jaffa were lead by ______ and they serve the Goa'uld of the A'a Netjer. To get things back in balance, these Loyal Jaffa are willing servants to A'a Netjer.

To read the full story you will have to visit our forums.

TDQ: What elements of SGW are you most looking forward to? What specific elements that have been announced so far can't you wait to see?

We are looking forward to so many aspects that SGW has to offer so far. One of the key elements that particularly strikes us as original at this point in the creation of SGW is combat and how the classes are not your typical Trinity (Healer, Tank, DPS). They have a different approach and most combat will be ranged combat. According to the SGW Wiki site (http://www.stargateworldswiki.com/wiki/Combat) "Choosing a weapon will no longer be about which has the most DPS (Damage per Second) but will depend more on what you want to do with it." This is a very nice refreshing outlook on Combat.

As any fan of SG-1 or Atlantis (Further expansion) we can't wait to see the storyline and participate in the quests that drive that storyline in SGW. As Stargate Wiki explains "Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment are constructing an elaborate and complex questing environment. Quests will be an essential facet of Stargate Worlds in that they will be the primary vehicle that drives the game's story line. These quests will take place within the storyline that the developers have created around the Stargate SG-1 story and will take characters all over the universe and answer some questions that the show never did."

TDQ: I personally am a little worried about how CME are going to handle personal time lines and maintain an expansive feel to the story as well as continuity. What elements are you dreading or, at least, a little worried about and why?

One of the things we fear is failure to create a game that meets our expectations. We all want a perfect game, but what is perfect for them or you, may not be perfect for us.

One of the discussions we have had lately is about instances. A game that is full of instances is not an immersive game to us. We do not mind instances for certain quests that may take place, but if the World is instanced in areas of the open World then it takes away the meaning of MMO and it becomes a RPG. We want a large land mass and areas to explore and fight in. We do not want to sit in a portion of the land with 12 other people, but we want massive warfare. In order to do this, the land or planets can not be instanced, but more seamless.

We have played games where the land mass in the open world is instanced. We do not want this to take place in SGW. We want planet PX148 to be planet PX148, not Planet PX148 instance A and planet PX148 instance B, etc. We are hoping that planet PX148 will be open for all and that they do not place people in instances of that same planet. (made up planet name)

TDQ: What would you like to see added to the game before it hits release later this year?

I would honestly like to see Command/Guild Structures created before release.

TDQ: Lastly, if you could say one thing to CME right now, what would it be?

A'a Netjer members all want Beta! :D

On a serious note, I would like to thank them for their hard work and staying involved with the community. One of the things this Guild has been working on together is creating official polls (5 so far) for the community of SGW on the official forums. We received a PM from the developer Aruspex asking us to send him the results of the polls.

We actually gave Aruspex the username and password to get the actual results of our polls. So with each new poll, we know that the developers are actually looking at the hard work we are doing in trying to gather information of what the community wants.

It was a serious surprise to receive a PM from a developer asking us to send them the results. It may or may not change the shaping of this game, but we feel we are adding our input and helping the community add their input even if it is just to see what we feel as a whole.

A'a Netjer look like they are resolved to see Stargate Worlds right through to release and beyond and hopefully, in a years time, we will see them going from strength to strength as one of the first guilds to enter the universe of Stargate Worlds.

You can visit A'a Netjer here where you can stake a look at the games they are entering as well as join up to their forums or to one of their sections.

Thanks A'a Netjer and hopefully you'll be back when SGW is out to tell us all what it is like!

An Interview With: World of Raids

Indelible — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:10:50 GMT

Those of you who read TDQ often will know that we are on a never-ending mission to provide you with interviews from all aspects of the MMO world; from development teams to guilds and clans.

In our last interview, we spoke to the guys at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment about the upcoming MMORPG Stargate Worlds and they shared some interesting information into the workings of CME as well as what we can expect from the new MMO. Along with that, we got our hands on some really nice screenshots!

This time around, we decided to get in touch with one of the most popular World of Warcraft fan sites, World of Raids.

We spoke with the man behind the site, Teza, who’s been reporting World of Warcraft news on WoR as well as being at the forefront of raid content with the world famous raiding guild Meet Your Makers (formerly Curse). He kindly told us about the past and present along with what the future holds for World of Raids!

TDQ: Firstly, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Teza: Well, I am a 28-year-old WoW player living in France. I have been playing MMOs since 1998 (Everquest was my first MMO). I am currently playing a level 70 Rogue on EU-Vek'nilash server in the guild Curse/MyM (Meet your Makers).

TDQ: When did you decide to start World of Raids (WoR) and what made you want to do it?

Teza: It was decided around May 2006, when Naxxramas was available on the PTR. I have always been an active raider and I felt like there was a lack of information on high end PvE stuff (such as first kills, PvE progress, guilds and general news). I started writing/reporting about these subjects at least once per day (every evening when coming back from work). That’s how World of Raids was born; as a simple HTML page relating various things about Naxxramas (Sapphiron kill on PTR, loot tables, how the instance was designed etc..).

TDQ: How hard was the initial development of the site? How long did it take you to get it live?

Teza: As said in my previous answer, it started as a very simple and basic HTML page (without forums/sections), so the very first page of WoR took 3-4 days to get it live. Immediately people were interested in what I was reporting, so I looked for help to develop a real site focused on guilds, news and instances.

TDQ: Is it just you at WoR or do you have help to manage the site?

Teza: Since the beginning it always been me (news & moderation & content), another mate from my WoW server and some long time users/followers who contributed on several occasions . With the next version of WoR, the actual WoR team will increase from 2 to 10 members.

TDQ: Is the site easy to manage?

Teza: It was pretty easy at the beginning but the more visitors you get the more time it takes. Having that many visitors puts pressure on you each time you publish something (everything needs to be double checked). The information quickly spread and WoR is often being used as a source. I can't allow myself to make a mistake (although it happens but very rarely). Hopefully by adding new members to the team and splitting tasks we will able to provide more frequent & quality news/info/content/interviews/articles, it will give us more time to improve WoR.

TDQ: How easy was it to expand the site? Where did you get your content ideas?

Teza: The site grew naturally without publicity, a bit like a virus. Players began talking/posting about it on various places. It became a nest for players like me looking for accurate news/info on specific subjects. I am getting my content ideas from various sources (WoR users, my experience, mails, irc, sites) and I have also set up a program tracking 150 sites (from Reuters to blogs) and each time it detect certain keywords (such as World of Warcraft, Blizzard, Jeff Kaplan, Vivendi, etc...) I get a notice with a link, which I quickly read and decide if it’s newsworthy for our users.

TDQ: When you started the site, did you expect it to be as much of a success as it has become?

Teza: Not at all. It started as a hobby I had every evening when coming back from work, once I was done raiding with my guild.

TDQ: What's your most fond memory of your time with WoR? Is there anything that you look back at and laugh about?

Teza: My most fond memory was during TBC beta. WoR was a safe haven for US/EU beta testers (and those who didn’t have a key) where we were able to freely share all the beta info (pictures, description, tips, etc) on forums. It was considered as the best place to ask whatever you wanted about TBC beta without risking a ban. That’s until we received our first Blizzard DMCA (targeted at pictures being posted on WoR homepage/forums).

TDQ: How does it feel to know that thousands of WoW players look to WoR for up-to-date information, community and other content rather than other sites?

Teza: Good? Yes of course. I am delighted to see that WoR is the first stop for many wow players to stay updated on the hot info for WoW. It also became a hub for US/EU players to debate and share info/tips/advices. We plan to make several improvements to ease the process of accessing/sharing the info (i.e. news page for Iphone/Mobile users, improved news system and much more).

TDQ: What can we expect for the future of WoR? Is the site going to stay the same or will there be new features coming in the future?

Teza: We will improve our current features (i.e. mobile page for news, tag system, image tracking, improved archiving system) and add several new services (surprise !). We want to focus anew on what made WoR known to the community: Guilds & Raids.

TDQ: Lastly, if you could give one piece of advice to someone setting up a fan site, what would it be?

Teza: Pick a subject you are fond of, focus on it and it will turn out good. It’s better to be good at one thing than being average at several things.

I’d like to thank Teza on behalf of everyone at Curse.com for sharing his time with us to answer these questions!

Thank you Teza!

An Interview With: Stargate Worlds Exclusive

Indelible — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:20:02 GMT

2008 promises to be a big year for the MMO space with Warhammer Online and Age of Conan storming the fantasy genre, but at the center of the science fiction arm of MMO gaming right now is a franchise that has sat with such science fiction classics as Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

In 2006, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment announced that they were working on an MMORPG to be based on the massively popular Stargate franchise. Stargate started many years ago with the original Stargate movie. This took Kurt Russel on an adventure to an alien planet where he decided that the best thing to do was escape. After this, a TV series was created and it promptly took the sci-fi world by storm. Stargate SG1 pitted humanity -- with its machine guns and green camo -- against the might of a highly sophisticated, laser wielding bunch of aliens who got their kicks from pretending to be Gods. SG1 ran for ten seasons, spawned an offshoot series called Stargate Atlantis -- now in its fourth season -- as well as two straight-to-DvD movies and 2008 will see the franchise enter into the MMO world with the aptly titled Stargate Worlds.

Stargate Worlds, which is being developed by industry new comers Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, will allow players to take control of a character in the Stargate universe. Players will be able to explore an ever-expanding galaxy of planets, spaceships and aliens all the while waging war as part of one of two player factions – the light side or the dark side.

We decided to go to Kevin Balentine -- PR Manager for Stargate Worlds -- with your questions, and he happily agreed to sit down and answer them. He also provided us with two exclusive screenshots for you to feast your eyes on!

Firstly, could you tell us a little basic information about Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and how the project came about?

KB: The secret history of Stargate Worlds goes all the way back to 2002 when three game designers and fans of Stargate first approached MGM about creating an MMORPG based on the franchise. Three years later, the license was secured and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME) was formed.
Mesa, AZ businessman Gary Whiting jump started the company and began raising the capital necessary to get the company started and the game in development. Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations Joe Ybarra, a 25-year veteran of the video game industry, was the next member to join CME and he immediately set about building a world-class development team.

How much of the Big World suite of development tools have you employed in the process of designing Stargate Worlds?

KB: We’re using Big World as our back end and Unreal 3 as our front end. On the back end, we’re using the navigation path and the server monitoring tools from Big World, but none of their client side tools.

What kind of new possibilities does the Big World server infrastructure create for an MMO like Stargate Worlds?

KB: The main thing we get out of Big World, and Unreal 3, is time. By using established technology, we cut a lot of time off of the front end of game development that we can reinvest on the back end. The time we saved is being invested into tools for our content guys.
We’ve got a new tool that one guy jokingly calls the “Make Mission” button. Obviously it’s more complicated than that, but essentially it’s a tool that allows content to plug in mission elements. Tools like that allow writers to focus on the story and increase productivity. That’s just one of the ways that we are improving the way MMORPGs are built and reducing the time it takes to put the game on shelves.

Are you going to be releasing new content via periodic content patches that are free, such as new planets and environments?

KB: Absolutely. The Stargate franchise is so large and varied that we can keep building content for years and never reach the edge. We have an aggressive live team plan that will deliver regular updates including plenty of new content. Because of the way our game “map” is set up we can drop new content anywhere in the story.

How big will the Stargate universe be on release of Stargate Worlds? For example, will we be seeing hundreds of planets and environments or will the number of planets start smaller and be increased over time?</p>

KB: At launch, Stargate Worlds will have dozens of planets to visit with more added post-launch.

Stargate is based on the concept of exploration. That is, humanity exploring new planets and discovering new races. Will we see this kind of reactive content in Stargate Worlds? Will players directly affect the way the lore plays out or will it be more of a "follow the story" experience? For example, will player action be able to influence things like faction wars?

KB: Stargate Worlds is a story-based game. If you take a look at the 13-plus years of the two series, it’s been at its heart a search for technology that will save the Earth, or Atlantis, or wherever, from the threat of enslavement or destruction. That is the dynamic we want to capture through our storytelling.

There is currently a new Stargate TV series in production that will no doubt introduce new concepts and new races into the Stargate Universe. Can we expect to see any of the new ideas being introduced in the new series, in the game?

KB: Obviously this is something I can’t go into great detail about, but, we are in near constant communication with the guys at Bridge Studios and MGM about ways we can work together. We’ve had many discussions about items and events that appear on the show also appearing in game and vice versa. Robert Cooper, one of the show’s creators, has already pitched a movie to MGM that will feature an Op-Core character.

Will Stargate Worlds feature profession systems such as the ability to create weapons and armor for your character? If so, how will players attain high level items and gear from such a system?

KB: The details of the crafting system are in development even as I write this answer. I can tell you that our vision is for a system that’s easily accessible, effective and an integral part of the game’s economy.

Starships are another very big part of the Stargate series. Everything from the Replicator ships to Goa'uld motherships. Will players be able to travel around in ships and fly vehicles like Gliders or will travel be limited to the Stargate system?

KB: At launch, we are focusing on the core elements that give Stargate its unique Stargateyness. In our eyes, those elements are modern combat vs. science fiction weapons, exploring alien landscapes, encountering ancient cultures and saving the galaxy ... again! We’re not ruling out player-controlled vehicles for an expansion, but it won’t be part of the game at launch.

How is the Stargate Worlds team taking into account the failures and successes of previous Science Fiction MMO's? Are there any former or current titles you have looked at for inspiration?

KB: We all play video games at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment. Even our CEO Tim Jenson has a max-level character in World of Warcraft, so I think we’re well grounded in what’s been done in the genre before us. Obviously, we all see the success that Blizzard has achieved and we believe there are lessons to be learned there, but the lesson isn’t “make WoW with a Stargate skin.”
Now, when it comes specifically to science fiction MMOs, that’s a more interesting question. We’re following our competitors closely and frankly, we want them to succeed. It doesn’t do any good for the industry when high-profile titles fail to meet expectations. There have been too many games over the course of the last two years that have completely failed for us to ignore. We’ve got a group of smart, dedicated guys in our marketing department that analyze these launches in great detail to see what went right and what went wrong. We know what we have to do to succeed. We’re not depending on our license to carry our product. We are building a polished, fun game. We believe that’s the real key to success.

On release, what races will we be able to play as? Are there plans to make any other factions (i.e. Wraith, Ori, Replicator, etc.) available at release or via future patch content?

KB: Players will be able to choose from seven archetypes at launch: Archeologist, Scientist, Soldier, Commando, Jaffa, Asgard and Goa’uld. Five of the archetypes, Archeologist, Scientist, Soldier, Commando and Jaffa, are available on both the light side and the dark side. The Asgard are available on the light side and the Goa’uld on the dark side.
We will add other factions over time, some of them in content updates and some in expansions, but for now we’re focusing on our launch material.

In regard to the character classes, is there any possibility of the attainment of certain "prestige" or "hero" classes such as SGC General or Goa'uld System Lord proper?

KB: No. I see the archetypes we have in place as the hero classes.

With major franchise titles such as Star Trek Online and the speculation that Blizzard Entertainment may be working on a StarCraft MMO and BioWare may be working on a new Star Wars MMO, do you think that Stargate Worlds will be able to hold its own in the coming year? How will Stargate Worlds define itself from its main competitors?

KB: There’s one obvious answer that sets us apart from other genre games, and that’s the license. The fact is there aren’t many games, and no other MMOs that I’m aware of, that feature the same mix of modern combat vs. science fiction weapons and humor. If you’ve watched Stargate, you’ll recognize the elements that we have incorporated into the game and immediately feel like you’ve become the star of the show. If you haven’t watched Stargate, you’re going to experience an accessible MMORPG with a deep, tactical combat system and innovative non-combat game play featuring a variety of minigames and puzzles.

Will we be seeing a closed beta and if so, when can we expect to see it?

KB: Yes, we will have a closed beta, probably coming this summer followed by an open beta in the fall.</p>

Lastly, the question that is on everyone watching Stargate Worlds' mind is: Do you have a solid release date for Stargate Worlds?

KB: MMORPG development is a long series of deadlines and milestones that all have to be hit in order to hit your targets. The deadlines interact and intertwine with one another so extensively that missing one seemingly insignificant deadline can cause unforeseen problems far down the road. We believe we’re on track to hit a fourth quarter release this year. That’s what is on our calendar.
We don’t want to play the game of announcing a date, pushing it back with another date announcement and doing this over and over. When we feel that we have a solid date that won’t get pushed, we’ll announce it.

Reliquary of "Gear Check"

trptscott — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:52:48 GMT

So as a guild, we've been cruising through BT and Hyjal. But this past week, we spent quite a bit of time at Reliquary of Souls (or as I like to think of it, Reliquary of Suck). For those of you not immediately familiar with this fight, allow me to briefly recap:

It's a 3 phase fight... in phase one, if you heal anyone who takes damage, the Reliquary is healed, ergo, avoid healing people. Not too bad since she/he/it doesn't hit that hard. In phase two, it's all about interrupt the Spirit Shock using a series of interruptions (rogue kicks ftw). And the third phase is just a speed burn since RoS does aoe dmg to the raid (shadow) that increases to the point each raid member is taking 3000-3500dmg per tick (in other words, beyond normal healing capabilities).

It's phase 3 that is giving us a run for our money. Our tanks are supremely geared for the first phase and the rogues have the interrupt rotation in pro-form, but the speed burn in phase 3 is just killing us. So here's how we're handling phase 3... one tank goes in, picks up aggro, the MT taunts (RoS target changes), Seethe is cast on the raid, Hunters execute their MD to the MT (we have 3 hunters), and then the raid opens full fire. In a perfect world, the taunt/MD portion takes under 10 secs. A few hiccups aside, we're getting the aggro onto the tank fast enough. But we're consistently wiping around 20%. We're holding off on cooldown burns until we're taking a bit more damage (b/c the more damage she/he/it does to us, the more we do to her, that's the effect of the shadow dmg aura).

Personally, I think we're just a tad undergeared. We have a few folks filing ranks that didn't farm SSC/TK. Shadow priests would be a huge help too. We were only using one and that is just not gonna cut it. So we're in a holding pattern right now... farm a few more Hearts of Darkness, build some more shadow gear, and keep pluggin' away.

So TDQ readers who have RoS on farm, share your thoughts! Any tips/tricks/ideas for helping get over the phase 3 bump?

And as a closing thought, our server is seeing many more guilds enter Hyjal/BT in recent weeks. I think it is great that more guilds and therefore more players are getting to experience this content. And some of these guilds have not spent much time in SSC/TK. Should be interesting to see how many are ready for the Sunwell patch.

Edit: Ok, so we cleared to RoS last night after the reset and took a shot at him. I'm beginning to think it's a healing issue. Specifically, Shadow Priests. The more damage they do, the more group healing that takes place. Combine that with the dmg buff that happens as phase 3 continues, that could really help keep us up. WTB 5 shadow priests for RoS...

Theorycraft, 2.4, and Progression

trptscott — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:32:03 GMT

Never in my three years of playing have I been into Theorcraft more than I am now. I guess it all started when I was playing the role of an MT in BWL. To a degree, a tank could get by (back then) by gathering the "warrior" gear and spamming a few buttons. Eventually, I visited TankSpot and started my education in "mitigation" vs "avoidance." For a while, I faithfully reshuffled my gear and focus into the "mitigation" camp. Whereas on my rogue, I didn't really pay much attention to theorycraft. Sure... I noticed he was suckin' on the DPS meter, but I kept stackin' Attack Power (ignoring hit and agility).

Now that my raiding warrior is on the shelf, I began to study my rogue under the Theorycraft Microscope. Before I go further, I must disclaim that Theorycraft is not for the "new" Azerothian Adventurer (at least, in my humble opinion). With Theorycraft, we're talking about squeezing the last bit of dps from your toon (i.e. 902dps to 904dps) and then having the awareness to notice if, in fact, the dps changes are being effective.

So tweak again and again I did with my trusty DPS Spreadsheets. And I was immediately pleased with the results. Tossed my hit rating into the low three hundreds and dropped my AP to 1800. Once again, I'm faithfully tearing it up on the DPS meter and feeling much better about my raid contribution.

On the progression front, we dropped Azalgor the other night. Melee is so gimped in that fight right now. We've gotta work out our system and spacing better so we can contribute for a longer portion of the fight. And our poor druid healers kept getting too close, grabbin' the reign of fire, and dieing. Oh well, it was a good Horde first for our server. We then rode to Archimonde. One of our fury warriors rode WAY too close to Archimonde, and everyone in the instance was instantly obliterated ("Hit for 942,211"! Not making that number up).

We also completed 3 of the 4 timed ZA events. Frankly, I think we would have gotten the 4th, but we had a problem with some folks who died on the way to the Dragonhawk boss. But wow, it's hard to get 3 and 4 done in 20+ minutes. Nevertheless, our 3 chest rewards were nice and were also another server first (Horde side that is).

BT is just being hampered by Shadow Resist gear at the moment. More Hearts of Darkness please. Which brings me to a question... why must we farm an instance to gather the mats we need for success in said instance? Oh well, too tired to rant about it today.

I was looking over the 2.4 Patch Notes. Some nice changes in store. I think the PvP honor changes are a definite bonus. No more waiting to spend points. And no more ranting about the fact my "estimated" honor was no where near my actual honor.

Since we're not done with BT, I'm lukewarm about Sunwell. I do enjoy content. But I want to finish the content in front of us first. There's some rumors running around my server that the attunements for Hyjal and BT will be waived once Sunwell pops. I guess Sunwell is supposed to be a major gear check and guilds will need Hyjal/BT gear to survive. This in turn means even our casual guilds need access to Tier 6.