Ald Demo

Dontain tossed up a video today showing off some data mined features from the Wildstar beta client.  The class selection shows off 9 possible classes in the game, but I'm not sure about some of them personally.  One of the options is for an Elementalist, which doesn't seem to fit the game theme at all with that name at least.  At any rate, I'm hoping for a lot more classes than currently announced and plan to be announced according to the official site.  One of my pet peeves is a small selection of distinctive classes.

I also like how he points out and gets excited about a "last online" option, which was desperately missing from GW2.  I smiled a little knowing how simple a feature this is yet how important it can be for any guild leader trying to maintain an active roster.  It becomes invaluable when it's time to purge your roster of inactives so you can begin recruiting.

The option that caught my eye was a costume selection on the character sheet.  Here's hoping it's an appearance tab and not some useless town clothes or out of combat clothes option that GW2 had.  I firmly believe players would rather have armor skins options that they can wear in combat.  I know i would.  I'll spend ridiculous amounts of time going for armor skins of any kind as long as i can where them when and where i like.

Take 2, Square Enix.  Despite my total disappointment with 1.0, which i considered the worst MMO I'd ever played, I plan on giving ARR a solid chance to redeem the franchise for me.  So far, I've seen lots of positives from beta footage to feedback from friends in the beta itself.  It appears as if SE has finally caught up to MMO's of a few years ago.  While that's a good start, it also means they're a few years behind their competitors.

What am i saying!  FF fans are a different breed.  They don't care about other MMO's and will stick with almost any junk tossed at them wrapped within a shiny moogle package.  This of course is a huge problem and one that will only stagnate the attempted resurrection if the player base allows it.  I used to be one of these people until i smacked myself back to reality so lets hope the zealots can get a grip with reality.

This isn't about my opinion of course, since i haven't had a chance to test the game since 1.0 beta, so lets get back to the announcement!  Since I've never been one that was interested in all the extra bells and whistles with CE's, the price for the SE is fantastic.

• PlayStation 3 (Package*) $79.99
• Windows (Package) $69.99
• Windows (Digital Download) $49.99

• PlayStation 3 (Package*) $39.99
• Windows (Package/Digital Download) $29.99 

This is a hot topic, top level, DEFCON 1 issue for me when it comes to MMO's.  The most recent FFXIV blog post got me thinking more into why character customization is usually so overlooked in the grand scheme of all that is MMO development.  Is it a time and resource issue or do devs actually think it's not that important a feature to focus on?

Well I'm here to tell you that it's damn well important.  It ranks right up there with content and combat in my opinion.  I suppose out of the 3, it's the least important, but it's still important enough for me to base whether or not I'll even try an MMO.  I mean who wants to look like everyone else once you enter the game for the first time and see yourself surrounded by dozens of clones?  It definitely does a number on my immersion.

I'm happy to see FFXIV 2.0 take a step in the right direction when it comes to it's characters.  I mean it couldn't be any worse than the limited options the 1.0 abomination had going.  It's still to be determined if it's enough for my tastes until i get my hands on it but it's looking good so far.

Human Female Height

Human Male Height

Human Female Physique

Human Male Physique

Human Female Hair

Human Female Faces

Human Male Hair

Human Male Faces

     Source

I can't say I'm surprised that it's happening but i am shocked it took this long.  I was sure Rift would be heading down this path prior to GW2's launch, which never happened.  This announcement strikes me as a bit odd at the timing though.  Perhaps they've reached do or die status or perhaps it's just time.


I am happy that Trion isn't gating any actual content behind a cash shop, other than the Storm Legion souls and the normal inventory space that every game does.  This will absolutely help in getting more players trying and possibly engaging in Rift down the line.  This, however, doesn't solve the problem that i felt Rift had when i stopped playing.

The game was a ton of fun and what really set it apart was the soul class system.  It was the closest thing to FFXI, which i always said had the best class system ever in any MMO.  The ability to swap to whatever your group or raid needs on a whim is amazing flexibility.  I loved swapping between a tank or dps or even a bard on my rogue.  It made grouping so much easier.


The problem with the game was it's extreme focus on the "raid or die" mentality.  I recall as if it were yesterday what Hammerknell did to the player-base.  Personally, i loved the difficulty and the focus on only the best groups being able to complete certain bosses.  Unfortunately this new raid eventually broke and destroyed 50% of the raiding guilds listed on the now defunct raiding progress website that the players created.  The only way to recruit players to your guild was from dead or dying guilds.  This is just unhealthy for the future of your game.

There was a pretty good post on the official forums at the time outlining this and the path the game was headed down.  How there would only be 1 or maybe 2 guilds per server that would even be able to fill or compete in the raiding game.  I also recall how this post was looked down upon by the players, to which some even stated how consolidation of raiders was a good thing.  My mind was blown how short sighted some people can actually be.

Now, i haven't been involved in the game for about a year now so maybe things have changed.  Hell, the fact that there's housing now is a huge step forward into giving players more to do other than raid.  I can only hope that the news of FTP helps Trion build a player-base back to what it once was, but it's up to them to provide more options for players to participate in.

It's no secret how much i absolutely love housing in my MMO's.  It's a game feature that can not only add hours upon hours of replayability but can also drive an economy.  This is one of the main features often overlooked or tossed aside as simply "fluff" in today's MMO's.  This is a huge mistake and one i think game devs are starting to realize.

Rift realized this and eventually implemented dimensions not too long ago.  GW2, on the other hand, missed a golden opportunity to launch with housing in place.  They had the perfect platform for it as well.  Our personal story area would have been the perfect location to include housing, farming, or even some sort of horse or mount breeding.  I'm more than positive that this is coming in some form or another, perhaps in the first expansion which should be sometime around the corner.

This is also why I'm so excited about Wildstar and the possibilities it seems to be bringing to housing.  A new MMO, launching with housing from the start?  What world are we living in?!  It's obviously still early and we really don't have any idea of the overall scope of their housing, but it's nice to see another studio taking this feature seriously.

My first experience with housing was FFXI.  Everyone had an instanced room that we could not only decorate but also served as a storage hub and a crafting location.  I spent hours upon hours just moving furniture around, though my options were limited items wise.  Doing more with less isn't always possible.

My mog house in FFXI

One of the aspects of Neverwinter that i surprisingly enjoy is the short solo instances.  They're essentially all the same with a bunch of rooms with trash packs to defeat of your way to a story related boss.  Despite that fact, i enjoy them a lot more than the normal run of the mill fetch quests.  At some point i hope all MMO's get away from those blasted kill quests.

At the same time, I'm not a fan of the over-instancing of so much content in an MMO.  I get that Old Republic feeling again, which isn't good overall.  Destroying any sense of grandness by splitting up the playerbase into small chunks is just bad.  It works though for this game simply because i looked at it as a dungeon crawler first with co-op thrown in.  As an MMO, it's not really my cup of tea.

Open beta, which is essentially a soft launch of sorts, is upon us.  While I'm still not sure i even enjoy the game, i thought I'd get a head start in leveling in hopes to avoid the crowd.  Oh how i underestimated players willingness to jump all over anything new.  After a 2 hour queue, which should have been expected honestly, i jumped in and got going.

Simply by accident, i swear,  i managed to create a rogue that has an uncanny resemblance to a 40-year old Cloud mixed with a little bit of Wolverine.  I know it sounds silly, but tell me he doesn't!