Project Lore

We dedicated players can bicker all we want about Arena balance or Rogues being over-powered, but what about the presence of PvP available in the game itself? When you have a game as popular as World of Warcraft, you're bound to attract the ire of the gaming community at large. In my travels around the internet, I've learned that there are quite a lot of people fed up with Blizzard's baby, and one of the chief complaints, next to simply being an MMO, is that it doesn't focus enough on Player versus Player combat. I suppose this isn't a new argument. After all, the game's been criticized for its "care bear" approach to open-world ganking since before its launch, and, at that point, I can understand why. It stands to reason that the people most interested in the game at the time were those that had spent extensive amounts of time playing through the Warcraft strategy games. WoW offered them a new, interesting, and more intimate way of engaging in the age-old conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. With so much standing animosity between the two factions, it would be reasonable for your average pre-release gamer to expect copious amounts of wanton bloodshed and for all-out war to consume Azeroth whole. Well, the fight with the Burning Legion mellowed those tensions. The Alliance lost their core leaders and Thrall tried his best to pacify the more chaotic aspects of the Horde. So when it came to retail, the only thing you could do in WoW was to attack someone on the opposite side if they let you, duel with fellow players, and play a silly game of "capture the flag" in Warsong Gulch (though, if memory serves correctly, Arathi Basin may have been available, as well). Quite the disappointment for some, but a great boon for others. The game's population swelled not only on the brand name, but the number of players who wanted to work cooperatively towards their goals. But Blizzard didn't completely forget about PvP. Instead, they made great strides to make it more and more a part of the game without completely alienating their base. But to this day, the game takes a lot of guff from those who have long-since quit the game or never played it in the first place. In fact, so heralded is this mythical PvP nirvana, that a lot of people believe that's the only way to make a dent in Warcraft's armor. That its players simply continue to bide their time and play such a "boring" game because a real, honest, PvP-dedicated MMO has yet to come along. Isle of Conquest... on of Warcraft's most recent PvP additions. The problem is that they have. Guild Wars, Warhammer, Aion. Countless other Korean MMORPGs. More games than I'm willing to list here have used PvP as a selling point to distance themselves from WoW. And yet, its success remains unparalleled in the genre. Now that's not to say that they're bad games or that they don't present a viable PvP option, but rather, I propose, the market for such games isn't quite as big as one might initially think. After all, not only are these games competing with Warcraft, but also games in other genres: Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament, HALO, Gears of War, Madden, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., Starcraft, Warcraft 3. Taking a quick look at the pro circuit will allow you to see what sorts of titles are dominating the competitive gaming scene at any given moment, and MMOs are curiously absent... aside from, ironically, Arena play in WoW. In my experience, the vast majority of competitive gamers prefer instant action, as opposed to the typical need to grind to a certain level to even start playing seriously. Now here is where WoW excels: it's got some excellent PvE content to pull you along, making that grind more or less worth it (at least the first time through). PvP, even if it isn't in its ideal form, is layered on top of that core structure. But some people maintain that the game simply doesn't go far enough. Really? Currently, you've got your choice of six different Battlegrounds, an extensive, rating-based Arena system, and World PvP objectives like Wintergrasp (and, to a lesser extent, Venture Bay, Halaa, and the Bone Wastes as the next most popular locales). The next expansion will add ratings to Battlegrounds, three brand new ones to fight in, the Tol'Barad PvP zone, and most certainly several unrevealed Arena maps, to boot. I contend that the sum total of World of Warcraft's PvP content eclipses that of  nearly any competing MMORPG. Is it as integrated into the game as it is in other titles? Perhaps not, but that's splitting hairs. If a game's PvP is restricted primarily to certain zones, regardless of whether or not they are physically connected to the core game world, I don't think it's any different from the way Battlegrounds are set up. And, of course, there's always rolling on an open PvP server if that's the way you really want to play the game. Blizzard may have shifted their focus to PvE content early on, but I think that the concept of PvP in Azeroth has come back in a very big way. With those old conflicts rising once again, both the Horde and Alliance marching to war against each other, even with a greater threat looming, I think the game's potential for competitive player combat can only become greater. So, I ask you readers: Is Blizzard really short-changing PvP? Have you been satisfied with the amount of content added, or do you think other games have succeeded at competing on this front, offering a better, and supposedly more comprehensive PvP experience?

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MythWare, BioIc, thicWare, BioMyth? Have you heard the news?  Electronic Arts is merging Mythic Entertainment, maker of Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, with BioWare, creator of Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.  EA's announcement, first officially confirmed by Mythic, followed another huge announcement in the video game industry, the purchase of id Software by ZeniMax (the parent company of Bethesda Softworks and Game Studios).  After nothing since E3, the pair of announcements on the same day caught everyone off guard. EA's bombshell was short on details, but here is what we know:

• The "studio group" is still unnamed.
• BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka is now the Group General Manager.
• BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer.
• Mark Jacobs, former GM/VP/CEO of Mythic, will be leaving EA.

The Mythic/BioWare merger isn't exactly surprising, specifically because it makes business sense to have the developers of MMOGs close together.  On top of better using one's resources, there is also that little issue with Warhammer Online, it simply didn't meet Mark Jacobs' standards for success, 500,000 subscribers and no server mergers.  EA last stated that WAR was around 300,000 and Mythic has already merged servers.  Thus, as part of the on-going restructuring at Electronic Arts, the company has smashed Mythic and BioWare into a “MMO/RPG studio group.” The brevity of the announcement has left me with a few questions:

• Was Mark Jacobs axed for his title's, he was Lead Designer after all, shortcomings, or did he walk?
• Will WAR's post-launch development be hampered by Jacobs loss, or the merger?
• Is BioWare going to take any advice from Mythic, who is far more experienced at MMO developing, or go it alone?  Will they have any impact on SW:TOR?
• Any chance the merger will hinder the development of BioWare's RPGs, Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age: Origins?
• Does the select wording of the new entity, studio group, mean there will be no further layoffs at Mythic?  Perhaps just a new management chain?

Here are my expectations in short; he was likely asked to leave due to the "failure" of WAR and development will continue per usual in the short term. BioWare would be stupid to ignore launch advice and community ideas from Mythic and the company's RPG titles will be unaltered by the merger.  No further layoffs, just a change at the top. From following Mark Jacobs' career at Mythic I would speculate that his departure was a little from column A and a little from column B.  The man played nearly every roll in his formerly small company, which would lead one to believe that he's a workaholic perfectionist and likely a control freak, for better or for worse.  For someone like that selling his company to Electronic Arts must have been difficult, and merging with another developer would be impossible.  So with that in mind, and the sluggish adoption of WAR, Mark likely took an offer to walk out.  Knowing that one of the studio heads, himself, Muzyka or Zeschuk , would be demoted or asked to leave, the choice was probably easy.  No matter which way it went down, we'll likely never know, I wish Mark all the best and thank him for his contributions to the video game industry as they stand. This is by no means at the level of the "Another One Bites The Dust" column, but it is still huge, far reaching industry news.  Are there any other questions that you feel have been left unanswered?  What do you think the company should be called?  Could the move actually make WAR better? For the FPS/RPG fans out there, id Software has detailed exactly why they sold out.  Now for a little bromance; I love John Carmack.  He's clear and concise when discussing business or pleasure, which to him is building unheard of technology, without being arrogant or coating his statements in sugary PR lingo.  Quite possibly, the coolest uber nerd ever. <3 Not to be outdone by a simple WoW blogger, John Romero also chimed in with his thoughts on id. Note: EA responded to the departure of Jacobs this morning.  A spokesperson for EA stated that Jacobs is "a visionary thinker, and one of the pioneers in online gaming and is, at heart, an entrepreneur."  Sounds amiable enough.

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Can't post images from the other games in action. :*(

At the last minute I decided to take the short ride up to New York and stick around for this year's Comic Con.  I am not a huge comic buff by any means, but with the video game industry's annual trade show being nerfed a few year's ago, the comic con circuit has changed.  The publishers of the finest video games have branched out to other venues (PAX , San Diego Comic Con, the former Leipzig Games Convention, now Gamescon, and others) to reach their adoring public.  With no ticket to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this year, I took the plunge and headed to NYC. When I arrived at the venue I wasn't exactly sure I had the correct facility.   I expected there to be a good amount of fanfare going on outside the glass-enclosed venue, yet it lacked ridiculously sized banners, a steady stream of cosplayers or huge buses with teams of satellites on top.  Turns out everything was inside, rather than spilling onto the streets. I went to the show knowing that I'd miss Blizzard's presentations - and they won't be at E3 - but enough other anticipated games, including a pair of upcoming superhero MMOGs, were still available to me.

• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (Mythic Entertainment/Electronic Arts) - Mythic Entertainment's MMOG has been hit by some hard times lately.  The company - along with numerous other internal developers - has been handed down directions from their overlords to cut costs.  This has caused over 60 people to lose their jobs , including development staff.  There really wasn't anything new shown in their hands-on area, but the panel discussion talked about their upcoming Call to Arms Live Expansion (free is good).  I also scored the spiffy, reversible poster you see above.  Regardless of the lack of new material, I was happy to see that EA is still throwing money around for WAR.
• Champions Online (Cryptic Studios/Atari) - Cryptic's newly purchased intellectual property is shaping up pretty nicely.  While it essentially looks and feels like City of Heroes 2.0, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  The developer purchased the Champions property outright, giving them free reign over the material rather than being hamstrung by licensing ties.  I played through a bit of a mini-instance - essentially a small dungeon designed to be soloed or done in a small group - complete with destructible objects and numerous mini-bosses wrapped in a comic-inspired presentation.  Champions Online is supposed to be out this Spring and is currently in closed-beta, which I scored access to.
• DC Universe Online (SOE Austin/Sony) - DCUO is still in its pre-alpha stage according to the developer.  The game looks more advanced - and less polished - than its superhero competitor above, but both are to be expected.  According to the booth manager, Sony is treating DCUO like Blizzard treats its titles, it will be done when it is done.  While it was originally announced for 2009, that can change at any moment.  PS3 play also looked surprisingly manageable. What had me most excited about the title was the licensing agreement that is in place.  Rather than SOE having have all aspect of the title approved, DC is apparently working with them at every level.  The comic company is helping and/or developing the overall story arcs, quests and encounters as a team with SOE, with Jim Lee at the helm of the creative side.  From what I was told, players that manage to stand-out from the run of the mill MMO gamer may even have an opportunity to have their character brought into the larger DCU, such as a limited comic appearance!

It may be my deep appreciation for the arcade days gone by, or my fascination with all things of B quality, but the title that stole the show for me was the latest entry in the House of the Dead franchise.  The campy series has longed needed a reboot - HotD 2 was the last good one - and the first game to launch on a console will honor us with just what the franchise needed.  House of the Dead: Overkill looks fantastic (for a Wii title) and plays very well.  The release is tomorrow and I am slated to review it elsewhere, hopefully we find out why G was bleeding. Did anyone else manage to swing by the con?

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Warning: The post contains business information that may not be suitable for some minds. In the event that you hate business, market analysis, facts, quotes, words and things of that nature, you may want to read some other posts. However, it is good to have these things when you try and argue with your friends about which MMO is the best. Blizzard Entertainment has certainly struck a gold mine with World of Warcraft. ProjectLore is living proof of its popularity and cultural impact. I could give you all numerous examples to the phenomenon that is World of Warcraft, but its 11 million subscribers worldwide, should be enough to convince gamers. Since WoW's launch in 2004, it has constantly been put up against other MMORPGs. The first of which was the sequel to the previous industry leader, EverQuest 2. It took a few months, but it became readily apparent that WoW had won that first battle. The next battle was fought with some old Blizzard employees and their first title, Guild Wars, in April 2005. The trend continues, with a string of MMOs trying to dethrone World of Warcraft, but none putting more than a dent in the armor. A pair by Turbine (Dungeon and Dragons Online & Lord of the Rings Online), the terrible MMO from the Matrix universe (The Matrix Online), a MMO from the father of MMOs Richard Garriot (Tabula Rasa), and the brutal Age of Conan, all pail in comparison to World of Warcraft's influence. With the exception of EverQuest 2, I only felt that Dungeon & Dragons Online: Stormreach had a chance to upset WoW's stride. That is until Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was released in September. Mythic Entertainment released WAR to solid reviews and has posted impressive subscription rates since. To date, it is the closest anything has come to stealing WoW's thunder, holding over 750,000 subscribers with more than 1.5 million units shipped to retailers. Unlike AoC, it doesn't appear that the subscribers are leaving in droves after the free 30-days either. Is Blizzard worried? It doesn't appear so, but maybe they should be.  Just a little. When Age of Conan was doing so hot its first months, Blizzard sat back and watched their members return, “about 40% of those players have returned to World of Warcraft," according to CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime. That was just two months after AoC launched, so one would imagine that the number has only grown since then. Yesterday, as part of Activision-Blizzard's business mumbo-jumbo, Morhaime returned to update that number, and included WAR in the statistics. A whooping 68% of people who left for AoC have returned to WoW. Mythic Entertainment's title seems to have faired a bit worse than AoC. Almost two months out from WAR's launch and Morhaime reports a return rate of 46% to AoC's 40%. In fairness to WAR versus AOC, many people are likely returning to WoW for Thursday's release of Wrath of the Lich King. In fairness to both of them, just because players have re-subscribed to World of Warcraft doesn't mean they aren't still participating in the other MMO. Yet, according to research, most MMO players only subscribe to one title. The numbers show that WAR has been the biggest threat to World of Warcraft, but even a shiny new title with an incredibly dark universe and more mature theme, hasn't been able to retain its users when put up against an expansion. Let us pray that the competitors stay in business, and new titles make it to market for years to come. This will ensure that Blizzard has to keep the design juices and creativity flowing. Competition is a good thing. Anyone think Blizzard should be scared of some upcoming MMOs?  Aion?  Star Wars: The Old Republic? LEGO Online?  To be honest, I think LEGO Online just might grab some impressive numbers.

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A few things happened this weekend that have me worried about my PvE excursions for the week. As you can see by our chilly site, Blizzard Entertainment has officially announced Wrath of the Lich King's release date. Wrath is officially set to launch November 13, just shy of two months from now. Why does the launch of the second expansion have me worried? Simple. With a new expansion coming so soon, many players will go into a coma of sorts. Most will simply cut back on their playtime.   Perhaps in a squirrel like effort to store it up for Wrath's inevitable push to level 80. Then there are the players who will no longer see a point in putting the time in, when any activity they pursue will change drastically in a months time. Especially when the change will make all those efforts fruitless. Many guilds will take a break from their normal schedules and perform some house cleaning as they wait for the new content. The launch of patch 3.0.2 – which hit the PTR this weekend as well – will keep many people interested but I doubt my guild will be performing any Karazhan badge runs again. That is one half of the battle though.  So what was the other thing that has me worried about my PvE plans? Well, a little game called Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has gone live. The game isn't actually out until September 18th but Mythic Entertainment and Electronic Arts have a head start program if you pre-order the title. If you ordered the Collector's Edition, one of the bonuses is getting the server to yourself for two days.   That started on Sunday morning.  Then the people who pre-ordered the normal edition join you for two days before the game launches to everyone. I know many of my guild mates are interested in WAR, so if they aren't put off by the closeness of Wrath then they may head there to check out the title. Blizzard's recent timing of various announcements - a new round of beta keys, PTR character copying enabled and official release date – are an obvious diversion tactic from WAR as well. Thinking about it further I am not worried about raiding anymore.  Now I am just hoping my main's guild still exists two months from now.

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