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The Daily Grind: Are you a critter-killer?

Brianna Royce — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous

You're all alone in the woods. You're stalking your prey. The wind rustles the leaves in the trees. The sun's beams dance on the water. You could be off grinding for epics or mining ore, but no. This target is elusive and notorious and a threat to life as we know it. You're after... the critter.

What did that bunny ever do to you? Does the thought that a baby deer might be roaming the forest without a care in the world weigh heavily on your conscience? How dare that level 1 penguin show his cute little face in your leveling zone! Adorable miniature turtles in your heroic dungeon must be smashed with a large warhammer; crit numbers must be pasted in chat with glee. You'll endanger your instance-mates and risk aggro to flatten that newbie rat the devs added for atmosphere. Forget cow-tipping: You won't be satisfied until you've slaughtered the entire grey-con bovine population and seen that sweet, sweet achievement pop-up.

Does this sound like you? Are you, in fact, a critter-killer? And what drives you to such action?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Are you a critter-killer? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What's your favorite in-game wildlife?

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous

The general rule of MMOs is pretty simple to understand -- if it moves, either get a quest from it or kill it. Natural critters other than enemy soldiers exist mostly so that you can occasionally kill ten rats rather than killing ten beastmen. But from the chocobos of Final Fantasy XI to the elementally affected critters of RIFT, there are a plethora of different creatures that roam the land that you aren't necessarily meant to kill -- or at least those that serve a purpose in the world's ecology.

In some games, such as the deep space setting of EVE Online, you're not going to find much in the way of wildlife. But in the games that do feature animals meandering about, which ones are your favorites? What local fauna catches your eye, either because it reminds you that the game takes place in a living world or just because it's so alien and bizarre?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: What's your favorite in-game wildlife? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enter at Your Own Rift: Creature comforts

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift

I've got a problem that nine interventions and three bouts of electroshock therapy have yet to cure: I'm hopelessly addicted to collecting non-combat pets (aka vanity pets) in MMOs. I don't know why that is, exactly, although I've always had a fondness for "fluffy" elements on online games. In my opinion, a lot of what we work for in MMOs is cosmetic anyway -- a really good-looking set of armor, a top-of-the-line mount -- with some piddly stats occasionally making a cameo.

(Comment bait? Oh yes, I'm evil that way!)

While adding nothing to my combat power nor helping me advance in the game, pets still hold purpose. They are fun to display, particularly if you have rare critters that others haven't seen, and they can give you a feeling of virtual companionship during your journeys. Unlike many collection items, pets have a use -- you can actually do something with them instead of tucking them away where they'll sit collecting pixelated dust.

I was pretty pleased to discover that RIFT wasn't going to leave us high and dry when it came to non-combat pets, although it's interesting that they're somewhat harder to come by than in, say, World of Warcraft. If you're like I am, you're scouring the game looking to expand your menagerie, so it might be frustrating to be well on your way to 50 with only a paltry pair of pets to your name. Where is everyone getting all of these? How can I snag a few more?

Join me after the jump as we examine six ways to collect crazy critters!

Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: Creature comforts

Enter at Your Own Rift: Creature comforts originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa's Community Coordinator leaves NCsoft

Shawn Schuster — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, Tabula Rasa

Here we are once again, saying goodbye to yet another talented NCsoft employee as they pursue a greater opportunity outside the company. And once again, we're saddened by the news, yet excited for their broadened horizons. This time it's Amy "Critters" Crider, former Community Coordinator for Tabula Rasa.

Crider took over the community role earlier this year from April "CuppaJo" Burba, when she left for the Dungeon Runners team. Since that time, Crider has won the respect of the TR community through her work with in-game events, fansite interviews and more. Taking her place will be Dane Caruthers, who you may remember from our PAX08 interview earlier last month. We wish Dane all the best in his new role, and Amy continued success with her new venture.

Tabula Rasa's Community Coordinator leaves NCsoft originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa to get emote-tional at Comic-Con

Chris Chester — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Contests, Events, real-world, Tabula Rasa

With all the flaws we've seen in Tabula Rasa over the last eight months, one thing we'd never criticize the game for is a lack of creativity from the community team. They've consistently done their best to keep their community engaged, despite the fact that said community is disbursed around the internet due to the lack of an official forum. Their support team has pulled in similar praise in the past as well.

Continuing their reign of awesomeness, the Tabula Rasa community team is going to be spear-heading a new event at this year's Comic-Con. Critters and co. will be setting up a booth giving away free Tabula Rasa goodies, an exclusive Lumin pet, and filming fans performing their best real-world emotes. They'll take the footage back to their Austin offices and vote on which one is the best, and actually recreate it in-game. It's a pretty neat contest, and we recommend you check it out (booth #5209) if you're headed to Comic-Con this year.

Tabula Rasa to get emote-tional at Comic-Con originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feedback Friday aims its sights at Snipers

Chris Chester — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Game mechanics, Guides, Tabula Rasa

Perhaps it was a bit naive of us to have assumed that the Destination Games crew was going to fix all the problems with Tabula Rasa's Sniper class on the first pass in patch 1.6. Despite the increased rate of fire more than compensating for the nerf to Torqueshell Rifle damage, Snipers as a group still felt like their DPS wasn't up to snuff and their role as a "one shot, one kill" nuker was compromised by confusing or underwhelming buff mechanics.

In a spin on the usual feedback format, this week Critters picked the brain of developer Lee Ridout to ask him how he goes about playing his sniper. He goes through everything from what he feels the best Sniper builds are, to how he sets up his toolbar trays, to what situations he uses Shredder Ammo. This blogger has a feeling that some Snipers will take affront to this sort of pandering, but it could be a pretty handy guide for people only just cresting that Tier IV milestone.

Feedback Friday aims its sights at Snipers originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 May 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TR Sniper problems addressed

Chris Chester — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, Tabula Rasa

Critters and the TR dev team have used this week's Feedback Friday to address the recent uproar that's risen up over the change to the Torqueshell rifles in patch 1.6. In line with our hopes, it seems like the development team has seen the light, and has decided to cede a little room to player feedback. They're working on another build for the test server that will change the nerf in Torqueshell damage from the 55% wollop that it was originally down to only about 75% of the pre-patch damage. With the increased rate of fire from the change in the shooting mechanic, this comes out to a far more favorable DPS number in the end.

Critters goes on to explain how the development team's vision for the Torqueshell weapon and the Sniper class is one where players really have to know their class and have all their buffs and abilities in order to be able to achieve the one-shot one-kill scenarios that most Snipers have been clamoring for. The increased speed of attack also means that players will have more maneuverability and capacity to adapt during battle, instead of standing static waiting for their shot to go off.

TR Sniper problems addressed originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Experience buffs planned for TR patch

Chris Chester — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Patches, PvE, Tabula Rasa

Another Friday, another Feedback Friday brought to you by the folks responsible for Tabula Rasa. Critters and crew have come out swinging this week with a genuinely bitching preview of some of the changes we can expect to see in patch 1.6. Chief among those is a change to the experience modifier that will see the maximum modifier go up in a tiered manner based on level. The maximum multiplier in the game now is set at 250% of the base experience, but with the patch it will go as high as 6x base experience at the highest levels. Players will also get significant experience boosts based on group size.

In addition, they'll be offering an item to boost experience gain by 50% (stackable with the multiplier and group XP buffs) as part of the cache of items that you can buy by accumulating Global CP tokens. They will join the respecs we've mentioned previously along with a stock of other goodies to choose from like the old-fashioned weapon modifiers. With all these buffs to experience gain, it looks as though getting to level 50 in Tabula Rasa may change from the near-impossible test of patience and stamina to something a lot more amenable. We'll have to see for ourselves when patch 1.6 hits the PTS.

Experience buffs planned for TR patch originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCsoft fires one back across the bow

Eli Shayotovich — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Forums, Interviews, News items, Tabula Rasa

A few days ago I wrote about an article in the Korea Times that took aim at NCsoft's 2007 fiscal report by calling Tabula Rasa a "financial disaster." The ensuing explosion both here at Massively (the comments section) and abroad (a direct reply from the Korea Times writer himself) was akin to the Bane dropping a mortar round smack dab into the middle of our little virtual compound.

Other sites reported on the Korea Times article in the same manner. And Amy "Critters" Crider, TR's official Community Coordinator, even issued a public warning about said reporter and said article. But NCsoft didn't stop there. David Swofford, head of NCsoft's North American PR department, fired off a response via a statement given to the gang at Crispy Gamer. It's a doosey! Swofford said, "The Korea Times English edition story is full of inaccuracies... No one at NCsoft said the product is a financial disaster." He comments on a great may things, including the cost of the sci-fi MMO: "The TR development did not cost $100 million... I don't know where that came from."

Ah... justice is served. If you've been following this situation here you owe it to yourself to click on over to the Crispy Gamer site and check out their full article. It's got more searing rebuttal from Swofford (kudos to them for scoring this by the way). Then come on back here 'cuz we so want to hear what you have to say about this!

NCsoft fires one back across the bow originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa not in the dumps after all?

Eli Shayotovich — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, Legal

Earlier this morning we posted an article from The Korea Times that -- on the surface -- seemed to herald very bad times for NCsoft and Tabula Rasa. After talking with our contacts at NCsoft, things may not be nearly as dire as the writer of that article made it seem. The cliche "take things with a grain of salt" was coined for a reason, and as you'll see... this appears to be one of them.

According to what we were able to uncover this very same Korea Times staff writer has earned a reputation for writing sensationalized articles about NCsoft. In the last year he apparently has "reported" particulars from conferences that he never actually attended.

Here are a few nuggets of knowledge that Cho Jin-seo "forgot" to mention:

Continue reading Tabula Rasa not in the dumps after all?

Tabula Rasa not in the dumps after all? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa team talks two patches ahead, sort of

Chris Chester — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Patches, Tabula Rasa

Another week brings another gaggle of player questions for Critters over at the Tabula Rasa community team. Nothing of terribly much interest this week, though they're reporting that the development team is already on their second week of development on patch 1.6... which saddens my little gamer heart because we've scarcely heard any details about 1.5 yet. We know it exists, surely, but since one of the few details we have heard was later rescinded, it's hard to get terribly optimistic about the whole thing. We're not totally wise on the development process, but doesn't it seem a little premature to be working on 1.6 when players have only just came to terms with 1.4? Maybe I'm out of touch, that's always a possibility.

They also go on to address some slightly mundane questions like whether there are unlimited clone credits (no), whether player attributes pass over to clones (yes), whether item rarity should be affecting the quality of tools (yes, and they're fixing it), and whether we can get some more information on the always-popular Personal Armored Units (no, but stay tuned). There seems to be a growing frustration with these community updates, to which we are certainly not immune, and it stems from the general absence of real substantive developer feedback about player concerns. We'll see what the mood is next week.

Tabula Rasa team talks two patches ahead, sort of originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCRage goes toe to toe with "Critters"

Eli Shayotovich — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Culture, Forums, Interviews, Tabula Rasa

NCRage (a new website dedicated to all things NCsoft, so you know I'm a member) recently sat down with Amy "Critters" Crider, the Tabula Rasa Community Coordinator, and talked about her role, the community program, and what the dev team is working on next.

Rage asked her about the interesting dynamic between TR and the fan community, specifically in regards to the fact that unlike CoX, Tabula Rasa does not have any official forums. They're all run through third party fansites. Part of Critters job is to work directly with them by promoting their features and events. She personally visit them daily to address or note hot topics, and provides "official" responses on a regular basis. In fact, the community is so important that issues in the past have been bumped up on the "To Do" list. One example given by Critters was item rarity. The whole concept was "introduced to make mission rewards more important and make it easier to recognize an item's worth." Plus, several emotes were added based on player suggestion.

Be sure to check out the whole interview with Critters. It goes without saying that NCsoft knows how to run an MMO. The players make the game, and giving them this much access, attention and say is undoubtedly something that other, less gamer-friendly MMOs, should take to heart.

NCRage goes toe to toe with "Critters" originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TR's CuppaJo dings, promoted to management

Chris Chester — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:01:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa's lovely and lively community manager, April "CuppaJo" Burba has gotten the thumbs up from management to move on to greener pastures... situated a couple offices down the hallway. She's taken on the rank of Associate Producer for Tabula Rasa in recognition of her efforts on the game for the past three years. According to her letter to the community at large, she'll be taking on a sort of shepherd role, goading new patches through development from design to execution, as well as performing triage in outage issues and things like that. We hope she enjoys her new position and (we hope) expanded paycheck.

Taking her place as the main community contact will be Amy Crider, better known to most players within the community as Dev_Critters. CuppaJo promises she'll poke her head when she can, and when Critters is on vacation. We, for our part, welcome our new Critters overlord (overlady?) and hope we've all got years of fun community events ahead of us.

[Via TR Vault]

TR's CuppaJo dings, promoted to management originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cassiopia server's roleplay event recap

Kyle Horner — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Tabula Rasa

Last week we reported on an ambitious roleplay event happening on Tabula Rasa's Cassiopia server. For those of you who didn't or couldn't attend, here's the lowdown on what happened. The gist of it was to take all control points in Descent and hold them for one hour. Things started off well with the capture of Fort Virgil. The large group then split into various smaller groups and went after different control points around the battlefield. Around the time they were grabbing the final control point, the group lost Virgil again. So Alpha Wolf Tommy (who we assume is some sort of sci-fi Rambo) went and took back Fort Virgil single-handedly.

By this time, the GM who was in attendance by the name of Critters, was spawning things left and right for the group to kill. Eventually Critters surprised everyone by spawning entire packs of Striders, which are strong enough on their own. In the chaos of defeating all the Striders, the group yet again lost Fort Virgil and so the event ended. Although there were rewards for everyone involved as they regrouped at camp Cato. Apparently pleased with their efforts, Critters handed out berets and some obligatory screenshots were taken for good measure.

All in all it sounds like everyone had lots of fun. So like we said last time, we hope these continue to happen at healthy intervals on all the servers.

Cassiopia server's roleplay event recap originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vanity, thy name is Pet

Akela Talamasca — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:45:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Screenshots, Culture, Tips and tricks, Opinion

Och, that's reaching for it, innit? Regardless, Time Well Wasted's Justin Olivetti has posted about one of my favorite topics: collecting 'vanity pets', those (not always) little autonomous critters that follow you around and do little other than look cute.

Actually, Justin's provided a well-thought-out list describing the things pets actually do, and he doesn't just talk about World of Warcraft, either. So it's stand up and be counted time, O Readers: What's your favorite pet, and what did you do to get it? In fact, I welcome screenshots ... if I get enough of them, I'll post a gallery. Imagine: your critter, famous! You may send your shots to akela.talamasca at weblogsinc.com.

[Thanks, Justin!]

Vanity, thy name is Pet originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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