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Choose My Adventure: Quest rhythm

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Polls, Game mechanics, Ryzom, Opinion, Free-to-play, Choose My Adventure

Questing is an essential part of MMOs. You can say that players should be the ones crafting stories in games, not the developers, but quests provide you with structure and guidance. Even if you can create all sorts of stories on your own, it helps to know what the world is supposed to be like and how to set your own objectives. Not to mention the fact that having some sort of pointer is massively useful when you start playing.

So it makes sense to take a good look at the questing in Ryzom, even though the game definitely veers toward the "sandbox" side of the fence. Plus, questing won the poll last week, so even if I thought quests were categorical garbage, that would still be my destination. I can't run you through all of the quests that I've done in the game, but one in particular lent itself to a narrative, albeit in a somewhat disjointed form.

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Choose My Adventure: Quest rhythm originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What was your favorite experience as a tank?

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

Maybe you have a sword and shield, maybe you have a really high Dodge rating, maybe you have durable force fields. Whatever your qualifications for the role, you take up the mantle of the tank to keep the rest of your party safe against your enemies, whether they're gang members in DC Universe Online, vicious beasts in Final Fantasy XIV, or enemy starships in Star Trek Online. Whatever your game of choice, if you've played MMOs for a long enough stretch, you've had opportunity to tank.

Of course, part of tanking is that you wind up with stories, in no small part just because it's such a vital job. You can't fake the experience -- you have to get in close and take the blows for the party members who can't survive them. So what was your favorite experience as the party's meat shield? Was it a specific run, a specific group, or was there an entire game that made tanking feel like the most enjoyable thing in the world?

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 was your favorite experience as a tank? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Which character death did you find the most memorable?

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST

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

Your character will die. You know this going in. Death penalties in some games are harsher than others, but every single MMO assumes that your character will at some point drop to zero hit points. By the time you hit max level, you'll usually have several deaths under your belt. Some of them fall into the category of doing something you knew was stupid at the time, some of them were just mistakes, and some of them... well, they were the sort of deaths that you remember.

Maybe you died because you were raising a teammate in City of Heroes and didn't think about where you were standing. Maybe you died from a knockback effect in Warhammer Online that threw you right off a ledge. Whatever the case, today we want to hear about your legendary death stories, the times when your character met his or her end in the most spectacular fashion possible. Which of the many deaths you've experienced still sticks in your head?

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: Which character death did you find the most memorable? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Tripping the XP fantastic

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

City of Heroes has the best pseudo-seasonal event anywhere: the double XP weekend. Forget holidays that you're usually sick to death of in which you can get some arbitrary gimmick powers, it's cold hard character boosting that really gets everyone excited. And if those of us that play the game weren't swimming with enough alts, we also had our chance to scream up with dual pistols. In summary, it was poised to be the best Christmas ever, except for the minor detail of not being Christmas.

Going into the weekend on Friday. I had three major priorities. I wanted to level one of my two "mains" which had been suffering from some neglect, I wanted to bring a villain to 20 or as close as I could manage, and I wanted someone with paired handguns. A tall order, even for a doubled-up weekend, but I live for challenges. Or I'm a glutton for punishment, one or the other. Read on past the break for the path of events and some observations about the leveling game, and perhaps even a bit of enlightenment.

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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Tripping the XP fantastic originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What death do you usually not talk about?

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor

Characters die. It's not usually a permanent thing, but MMOs are kind of built on the premise that your character is going to die at some point, since something hitting you until you hit zero hit points and then wandering off out of boredom removes the flavor of the game. More often than not, when you die, there's no real shame involved. It's just a muttered curse word at worst and then whatever you have to do to get back into the game again, ranging from running back to your corpse to trying to get your level back to apologizing to that megacorporation.

However, there are certain deaths -- getting eaten by a goobbue, for instance -- which you privately agree to just not talk about.

What death do you remember that's so embarassing, silly, or unnecessary that you normally don't mention it? Maybe you really should have known better beforehand, maybe you just find the circumstances too humiliating, or maybe it still makes you annoyed to even think about it. Whatever the case, today is the day to share your death stories -- and we've all got them. What's the story you wouldn't tell on any other day?

The Daily Grind: What death do you usually not talk about? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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