Playing WoW vs. Not playing WoW.
Richie plays WoW. I don't and never will. Why? you ask when every blogger goes on about it and Youtube and Googlevideo are jammed with WoW videos.
Firstly, PC gaming. PCs are inherently broken except Macs but we all know about Mac users. More often than not the lastest, and allegedly greatest, games cannot be played on your 2 day old PC unless you turn graphics, mouse, power and sound off even then it grinds to playing at 2.5 fps before blue screen death.
Secondly, RPGs in general are not hard. There is no skill involved other than menu juggling. All it takes is a lot of time. Put in x-hours reach x-level repeat. If you wrote down a list of your in game acheivements it would read like a really boring diary. Went here, got this, went here got this. levelled up, went here etc.
I read somewhere on a forum that a WoWer was sick of "flinch" games such as FPS, driving games, beat em ups etc. taking the limelight in e-games and on the increasing number of Webchannels. Could you imagine WoW TV? It would be more boring than the Winter Olympics or the Super Bowl. Seriously. Watching a typical 8 hour long show would be 4 hours of hanging around a hub waiting for people to turn up and watching item swapping and general chit chat. Eventually the party would get going until a group of harassers ambushes them and kills a couple of the healers. Then a two hour discussion would start about how players shouldn't fight each other (what exactly does the war bit in Warcraft stand for?). Then the party would get into a fight and viewers could watch twenty guys (in the generic term) kill three enemies which involves looking at a lot of fireworks and running around. Then another hour would be spent diviing up the loot..............
For me gaming on a console with the other players in the room or at the most in anohter room, on games from the typical Halo, Supersmash Brothers, WarioWare, Mario Kart, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, is far more rewarding not to mention social. There is no need to fear server crashes every ten minutes and if someone supects foul play they take it up with the individual player they don't log on to every forum they can find bitching about it whilst repeatedly whinging to GMs or whoever. Also with console gaming there is no need to fear accidently having gay cyber "sex" with a 14 year old and a bunch of his mates who are pissing themselves at your literal sexual inadequacy. Seriously, look at the sheer number of night elves parading around using sexy poses in their underwear. Is that really how girl gamers play MMORPGs? Is it?
Gauntlet thrown. Cyber that for gold if you will
Firstly, PC gaming. PCs are inherently broken except Macs but we all know about Mac users. More often than not the lastest, and allegedly greatest, games cannot be played on your 2 day old PC unless you turn graphics, mouse, power and sound off even then it grinds to playing at 2.5 fps before blue screen death.
Secondly, RPGs in general are not hard. There is no skill involved other than menu juggling. All it takes is a lot of time. Put in x-hours reach x-level repeat. If you wrote down a list of your in game acheivements it would read like a really boring diary. Went here, got this, went here got this. levelled up, went here etc.
I read somewhere on a forum that a WoWer was sick of "flinch" games such as FPS, driving games, beat em ups etc. taking the limelight in e-games and on the increasing number of Webchannels. Could you imagine WoW TV? It would be more boring than the Winter Olympics or the Super Bowl. Seriously. Watching a typical 8 hour long show would be 4 hours of hanging around a hub waiting for people to turn up and watching item swapping and general chit chat. Eventually the party would get going until a group of harassers ambushes them and kills a couple of the healers. Then a two hour discussion would start about how players shouldn't fight each other (what exactly does the war bit in Warcraft stand for?). Then the party would get into a fight and viewers could watch twenty guys (in the generic term) kill three enemies which involves looking at a lot of fireworks and running around. Then another hour would be spent diviing up the loot..............
For me gaming on a console with the other players in the room or at the most in anohter room, on games from the typical Halo, Supersmash Brothers, WarioWare, Mario Kart, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, is far more rewarding not to mention social. There is no need to fear server crashes every ten minutes and if someone supects foul play they take it up with the individual player they don't log on to every forum they can find bitching about it whilst repeatedly whinging to GMs or whoever. Also with console gaming there is no need to fear accidently having gay cyber "sex" with a 14 year old and a bunch of his mates who are pissing themselves at your literal sexual inadequacy. Seriously, look at the sheer number of night elves parading around using sexy poses in their underwear. Is that really how girl gamers play MMORPGs? Is it?
Gauntlet thrown. Cyber that for gold if you will
Difference is that WoW is not really an RPG there are possibly some stupid girls willing to read the text for quests and be "immersed in the rich and lush storyline" of WoW.
ReplyDeleteThe game is basically a lord of the rings wankfest that actually does involve skill and there is not one iota of "Menu-juggling".
Skill!??! You say…
Yep, well from level 1-30 maybe not, but the game is real time combat and the player does need to use a variety of skills (real and Virtual) in order to progress in the game. Plus you have to use a great big goddamn keyboard and mouse, no control pads for this bad boy.
But I think every “Gamer” should at least have one level 60 character due to the immense amount of achievement you get form this game, plus it does so many things right, the game is beautiful and huge! There are a lot of games that can learn from Blizzard! The really raised the bar with WoW and thank fuck they did, other wise we’d be bollock deep in MMORPG faeces.
So, by skill you mean clicking on the various coloured orcs and goblins a bunch of times whilst pressing F1-F12. Diablo 3 then.
ReplyDeleteI will concede that the sense of achievement one would get from getting a level 60 character and the journey you've "both" taken. but surely someone can come up with a MMORPG that is as good but with a slighter thicker veiled reason for playing other than to go up levels to reach the maximum. Perhaps a proper storyline?
I digress slightly, but I am sick of RPGs using levelling up as a lazy excuse to force progression through a game. If there is an element of skill involved as you say then why not compel players to refine this skill as in FPS, for eaxmple. If you ramp the difficulty up to hard you have to play differently, adapt your tactics but you are still just the same guy with the same weaopons at your disposal.
In WoW and other RPGs (it is an RPG) its just a case of weighing up the odds on whether you (and your party) can win/lose against an enemy(ies). If not go and beat up rats for 3 hours, level up, and then come back.
I'm really against the levelling up ethos. What should distinguish players from each other should be their skill and knowledge rather than a case of man-hours.
Not to mention the addiction thing, guild politics, harassment, loophole exploiters, whingers, whiners and the gold farmers.
1. Levelling is inherent of RPGs! Its a trait seen since the early Final fantasy games, we have all experienced the "Grind" in some way e.g. Getting Cait Sith to level 99
ReplyDelete2. The AI of enemies is different, and gets harder as you progress, you have to create new tactics for the enemies you can fight (+/- 3 lvls to your own) your whole fighting style changes dependant on the enemies, especially when you receive a new skill.
3. The game does get fucking hard towards the end, the enemies AI and stats both increase forcing you to innovate.
4. And as for that Man-hours quote - how else do we achieve skills an knowledge? Magically? Are we just gifted and born with it*. I’m sure you have had to deduce tactics in FPSs through trial and error, thus “Man-Hours”.
5. And Levelling is only one part of WoW, as is Fighting. There are many other things to do when you get pissed off with the grind.
6. But yeah I hate the addiction thing, guild politics, harassment, loophole exploiters, whingers, whiners and the gold farmers... All of there Blizzard are fixing or have fixed...
*Bait
Not convinced. Essentailly your argument goes like this:
ReplyDelete1. Dicks are inherent of RPGs! Its a trait seen since the early Final fantasy games, we have all experienced the "Dick" in some way e.g. Getting Cait Sith to level 99
2. The Dicks of enemies are different, and gets harder as you progress, you have to create new tactics for the dicks you can fight (+/- 3 lvls to your own) your whole dicking style changes dependant on the enemies, especially when you receive a new dick.
3. The dick does get fucking hard towards the end, the enemies dicks and stats both increase forcing you to innovate.
4. And as for that Man-dicks quote - how else do we achieve skills an knowledge? Magically? Are we just gifted and born with dicks. I’m sure you have had to deduce dicks in FPSs through trial and error, thus “Man-Dicks”.
5. And Levelling is only one part of WoW, as is Dicking. There are many other things to do when you get pissed off with the grind.
6. But yeah I hate the addiction thing, guild politics, harassment, loophole exploiters, whingers, whiners and the gold farmers... All of there Blizzard are fixing or have fixed...
*Dick
Ok let me throw my balls on to this cock fest and toss up Monster Hunter Freedom on psp.
ReplyDeleteCunzy at some point try this game, it is exactly what you seem to be interested in. There is no active leveling up of your character, you
do not gain levels. You progress by carving flesh and bone from your kills and building new weapons/armour.
You don't learn new moves or attacks, you end the game with the same attacks as you start with but you have to refine them to near perfection to progress in the game.
However this is not the main consideration, actively studying the behavioural patterns of the monsters you are hunting is even more important.
It reminds me of RE4 with the perposely limited/crippled controls that force the player you adapt and learn instead of the hack-slash, point and click bollocks of most rpgs.
And it's a great online experience.. . oh, hang on FUCK YOU CAPCOM/SONY/JAPAN, fucking ad-hoc, more chance of finding a PS1 link cable, and 2 copies of Descent 2.
THE PSP?
ReplyDeleteNow I don't know about you young man but here at That Guy's we are pretty open minded about the comments people post, the insults we call each other (e.g. Cad, Japer, Buffoon).
But when you come rolling up here using words like PSP? Children read this blog Chuff. Children.
"sigh"
ReplyDeleteIf a games good it's good, no matter what media centre pretending to be a games console blah blah blah...
Nice try. You are one of those people who has Penny Racers I bet.
ReplyDeleteI meant to post a longer comment examining Monster Hunter Freedom and commenting on how despite poor reviews in the mags + sites, reader reviews tend to rate it 3-4 points higher.
But I spilt coca cola over my keybord yesterday so I had to sort that out