Crafting

Sometimes, a well-planned weekend turns into a complete mess. Case in point: This past weekend, which I fully meant to use to get more of a footing in Ryzom, wound up being almost entirely dominated by a mixture of other responsibilities and necessities. As a result, I didn't get nearly as much time playing the game as I would have liked. The plan is to spend more time crafting away over the course of the week, but this article needs to be written up earlier than that.

As you can imagine, this results in a little bit of a hole in the narrative. Fortunately, crafting is pretty deep as a system but fairly thin in terms of a core narrative, unless you find "and then I made another set of light sleeves" to be engrossing. So while I didn't get several hours of story, if you're not familiar with what the system offers, there's still plenty of ground to cover.

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Oh, don't you scoff at today's topic. I can hear you, harrumphing with seeming impatience at what you consider to be activities beneath your stature. Perhaps the idea of putting in an honest day's hard work in an MMO is abhorrent to you -- after all, that's why you have servants, right? But there are those of us who know the value of soil, stone, and wood.

So today we turn our gaze away from manslaughter and onto gathering natural resources. In most MMOs, two harvesting professions come almost standard with any title: mining and woodcutting (or, if you're feeling Monty Pythonish, lumberjacking). Which is more noble and more worthwhile to pursue?

Mining has the appeal of precious metals and the near-universal utility of these resources in a wide range of crafting recipes, but one must not underestimate how essential wood is. After all, can you imagine swords without hilts, ships without hulls, or campfires that had to resort to burning dung every night in lieu of a better fuel source? Inconceivable!

Get your hands dirty today and vote on the better career path for the burly outdoorsman or woman!

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As with many of the games I choose for this column, I am a bit lost as to how long the game has been in existence, what sort of time has passed since the game first began to allow players into its world, and what the exact state of the game currently is. With PlaneShift, a game that seems to have existed since I was 12 years old and has remained in some sort of testing or beta phase since then, I am even more unclear. Really, it shouldn't matter, but I can see the importance of knowing whether the game you are about to play is in testing or has even been released yet.

Without those key words, a player can become confused. Is this quest broken, missing parts, or just poorly designed? Is the game world empty because it's midnight or because the testing crowd is on at different times? I've heard from developers who keep their games in a beta state for years and years, and it usually means that they simply want a sort of explanation as to why the game feels incomplete. I say release it already and perhaps you'd attract more players anyway.

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If you're a member of a tribe in Xsyon, you might want to check out Notorious Games' latest architecture contest. The event runs from February 1st to March 1st, and it's open to both small tribes (between one and five members) and larger groups (six or more members).

Since it's an architecture contest, you'll obviously need to construct (or re-construct) your tribe settlement. Notorious will be judging your creations for originality, uniqueness, design, layout, and beautification.

The dev team is remaining coy when it comes to contest incentives, but the latest Xsyon press release does say that "there will be a large prize for the winning tribe in each group."

Glitch is a wonderful game, but it can be a bit confusing. The sheer number of items, places, and ingredients can make navigating the world of Ur difficult. I decided I needed some assistance living in the world of the giants. It took but one post on the forums before the helpful community overwhelmed me with choices. The developer of Glitch, Tiny Speck, made sure that players and third-party developers can have a go at making applications or websites that connect to the game's information and characters. I had no idea how many people had created some sort of app or website so far!

I started to try them all out, and as of the time of this writing, I have barely scratched the surface. There are apps or websites for almost anything you can think of. I have already found some that I really like, and I wanted to share them with you. Feel free to let me know which ones you like, and why, in the comments section.

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I recently had the opportunity to fire off a few questions to Henrik Nystrom, and the Star Vault CEO was kind enough to provide some interesting insights into the firm's Mortal Online fantasy sandbox.

Though Mortal is thus far renowned for its full-loot PvP ruleset, it's also got a number of nifty features that you may be unaware of, with more on the way. Join me after the cut for a lengthy discussion of the new Awakening expansion as well as a glimpse into Nave's future.

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Prior to Lord of the Rings Online's free-to-play implementation, players were raising concerns of potential abuse of the F2P model and the LotRO store in particular. The CM at the time, Patience, posted a now-infamous response stated that Turbine was about selling "convenience, not advantage" in the store. I thought it was a terrific stance to take (and still is, for any F2P MMO dabbling in microtransactions). It wasn't long, however, before the thread was purged from the forums entirely, although the playerbase has held on to those three words to this day.

That phrase has echoed in my head over the past week, ever since we heard that statted armor was coming to the in-game store. I've been among those who have championed Turbine's F2P model as the way to do things right -- to offer fluff, a la carte content and convenience without straying into so-called "pay to win" territory that has plagued cheaper games. But now I wonder if the new motto is "convenience and advantage," especially in light of several other questionable store selections that have been pushed through despite player resistance.

But let's concentrate on one topic today, that being the stat armor that's now available in the store. Is this strictly a "convenience" item that is meant to aid struggling lowbies, or does it represent the sale of a clear advantage for those who are OK with letting their money game for them? Are we making a mountain out of a molehill by discussing this, or is it far past time that something like this needs to be brought into the public discourse?

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So you're an armchair game designer, eh? Well, EverQuest II invites you to put your money where your mouth is -- at least as it relates to dungeon creation.

While Sony Online Entertainment's venerable fantasy title is no stranger to player-generated content given its spectacular player- and guild-housing mechanics, this winter's Age of Discovery expansion upped the ante a little bit in the form of the new dungeon maker toolset. The system is a bit rough around the edges, but it's nonetheless a fantastic first iteration that adds a lot of fun and replay value to an MMO that was already chock-full of both.

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Xsyon's PR machine is shifting into high gear of late, and the post-apocalyptic sandbox title from Notorious Games has released another batch of screenshots. This isn't your typical 10-screenshot blast, either, but rather an entirely new gallery section on the official website devoted exclusively to user creations.

Notorious is intent on showing off what it calls player architecture, as Xsyon is one of the few games on the current MMO market that actually allows for unique creations in terms of buildings, structures, and even town layouts. You can see a few of the choice shots in our Xsyon gallery below, but you'll need to head to the game's official website to see them all.

[Source: Notorious Games press release]

If it's true that MMORPGs have become more linear as the genre has grown, it's also true that Ankama is setting out to do something different with WAKFU. The French development firm has released a new video dev diary titled Power to the Player, and it outlines how the free-to-play game is tackling some of the challenges inherent in sandbox design.

"We really wanted to make WAKFU a game based on freedom, a game which puts the player in control," says Ankama designer Azael. "Most current MMOs create a game and then insert the player. With WAKFU we aimed to create the game around the players."

WAKFU features very few NPCs (and no traditional vendor NPCs at all), and it also boasts mobs that don't drop money. Players create the game's currency themselves by harvesting ores and making use of minting machines, and players are also responsible for seeding the world with monsters since they don't respawn on their own. You can learn more about WAKFU by viewing the video after the break.

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It's patch day for DC Universe Online, and when the superhero title comes back up, denizens of Gotham and Metropolis will have a new research and development system to play with. The R&D mechanic is DCUO's answer to traditional MMO crafting, and characters at level 10 and above will want to head to either the Watchtower or the Hall of Doom for an introduction to the new mechanics.

The R&D system brings equipment mods and superior consumables to the game, and it's broken down into four major gameplay spheres: researching, gathering, salvaging, and collecting. Researching involves finding upgrade plans throughout the game world while gathering involves acquiring exobytes. Salvaging is all about turning items into crafting materials, and collecting hinges on getting drops from various boss mobs.

The new mechanics are free for all players via the game's eighth major update. The patch notes can be viewed on the official DCUO forums.

[Source: Sony Online Entertainment press release]

After the most tumultuous year in Star Trek Online's history, we stand on the cusp of the game's second anniversary and full-blown evolution to free-to-play. Early F2P entrance for former subscribers was opened last Thursday. And now, unfortunately, loyal subscribers have been informed that the anticipated flood of new story-based content might more accurately be described as a trickle.

In his most recent Dev Diary #11, STO's acting Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo outlined his future hopes for the game in 2012. As players are wont to do, we read between the lines and noticed not what was contained in the blog but rather what was blatantly missing: a detailed outline of future playable content.

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Fans have been sitting on pins and needles, waiting for their blessed early access emails for Star Wars: The Old Republic. What can you do while we wait to reserve your character names before the noobie rush on December 20th? You could check out the awesome guide Massively released on Monday to scout out which class you want to play before you play it. You could read the Hyperspace Beacon that came out yesterday; it may take the edge off the anticipation. Or maybe you could have a chat with SWTOR Creative Director James Ohlen about the current state of the game and what's coming down the bend.

We went with the last one.

After the break, find out what Ohlen had to say about SWTOR's legacy system, customizable ships, and other future content.

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Nexon Europe is preparing for the biggest Vindictus update of the year. The Cohlen in Flames content package brings fire and brimstone to the online action title in the form of Resenlian's Labyrinth, which Nexon describes as "a deeply intense myriad of twisted, dark corridors and skull-lined murderous dungeons."

New skills are coming too, foremost among them the transformation ability that features both a temporary boost in ability and a permanent (i.e., irreversible) decision to walk the path of the Paladin or that of the Dark Knight.

There's also a new town in the update, and Rocheste features many new characters and side quests as well as the chance to create personal weapons via the new expertise system. Finally, Nexon is raising the level cap to 70, and you can get a glimpse of the update in the Cohlen in Flames and Transformation videos after the break.

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If you pre-ordered the game early enough, then you should be in Star Wars: The Old Republic's early access by the time you are reading this. I hope you're having a good time. Look me up on the Lord Adraas server. My name there is Shaddoe. Don't be scared -- I may roleplay my character.

Even if you didn't pre-order in time, you'll want your SWTOR fix, and I have the solution for you right here: the Hyperspace Beacon. Each week for the last year and a half, I have written a guide to the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic, covering everything from lore and game mechanics to speculation and community. Ultimately, I hope to better prepare you for the launch of this highly anticipated MMO. However, 67 articles can be tough to sift through, so I've narrowed down the list to the best of the best.

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