Solo Leveling Paths

Regarding the ways to make XP in FFXIV:ARR

Note: This is a companion piece to my MMORPG article about Beta-3 Tidbits.  When that article posts to MMORPG, we will update this note to include a direct link.  Additionally, this article is based upon experiences in early Beta-3.  Content will be tuned and changed as we progress through the beta, so some of the concerns and conclusions discussed herein may not accurately reflect the final product!  Images in this post come from the FFXIV published media and is used in accordance with the Terms and Conditions.

With FFXIV Beta 3 up and running we have a new “soft drop” of the NDA.  At this point, we can talk about game content and we can post images.  What we can’t do is post video or audio about anything related to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.  It is my belief that the banned content is part “preventing spoilers” and part “some things aren’t in final form.”  Additionally, we can no longer talk about B1 and B2 content.

In general, the population wasn’t allowed to talk about B1 and … Continue reading →

Putting the Dynamite in Dynamic Content

A Companion Piece to Tempting FATE

NOTE: This is a companion piece to my MMORPG article which looks at the history of dynamic content in MMO’s — Tempting Fate

In my article, Tempting FATE, I discussed the origins and evolution of dynamic content in MMO’s.  In part, I wanted to counter the misconception that Guild Wars 2 invented dynamic content.  Additionally, I wanted to give credit where credit is due for the origin of ideas we associate with dynamic content.  I also wanted to identify some of the better concepts to emerge in the dynamic content arena.

One thing that stood out in that column, dynamic content has been around a lot longer than we think.  Anarchy Online introduced the first iteration of dynamic content with its Alien Invasion expansion nearly a decade ago.  In that decade, at least six MMO’s (including FFXIV 1.0) have included some aspect of dynamic content.

We are at a point where dynamic content should have an identified set of best practices.  In this column, I want to explore some of the ideas that make up those best practices.  Additionally, I want to … Continue reading →

Thirty Days in the Sun

Search Traffic for Modern MMO’s

Note: This article is a companion piece to my MMORPG.com column – A Realm Rising?

In my MMORPG.com article, I observed that FFXIV may be experiencing a bit of a rebirth.  In a Google Trends analysis I showed that, while search traffic remains low, there is a definite uptick starting at the end of February, 2013.  In this column I want to continue that analysis by depicting how there are predictable search patterns for MMO’s.

One of the observations I made in the MMORPG column is that MMO’s experience a Google Search peak right around their launch window.  As evidence of this, I present the launch window for FFXIV, The Secret World, SW:ToR, RIFT and GW2.  This figure was prepared using Google Trends examination indpendently for each title, so all of them have a 100 peak.  The correct way to interpret the changes from week to week is to think of them as a percentage of the peak week.  You can’t make comparisons between titles (other than the general shapes of each trend), since the actual peaks are being scaled to put them on a common … Continue reading →

Hi everyone and welcome to EorzeaReborn.com.  This site will eventually contain information regarding Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn gameplay.  For now, though, the game is under an NDA and we respect that.  We will not post or address anything outside of public knowledge (e.g. there is a beta).  We will also moderate or block any comments that breach the NDA.   There are things happening in ARR that are okay to talk about:

Based on the released roadmap, the NDA should drop in Beta Phase 3.  Extrapolating the road map means this could be sometime in April, 2013.  For now, lets all just be happy that A Realm Reborn is getting closer to reality.

Too Similar and Too Many

Commodity and Saturation Problems with Gear in MMO’s

Note: This article is the second companion piece to my similarly titled article at MMORPG.Com.  The initial companion piece examining market efficiencies in MMO’s can be found here.

In the first companion piece, I outlined market efficiency problems in MMORPG’s.  This is a response to recent announcements calling for player driven economies (good) along with abandonment of auction houses (bad).  My premise there is that removal of auction houses adds an information asymmetry to your MMO economy and that is really never a good idea.  Auction houses didn’t create a problem in MMO’s, auction houses illuminated a pre-existing problem and auction houses are now erroneously catching the blame for those problems.  

My position is that the blame the auction house crowd fall victim to a few fallacies.  First, that auction houses decrease socialization in economic transactions.  This is a sweeping over-generalization, some bargaining and haggling very much occurs in an auction house model and paying attention to where and what would be prudent.  The second fallacy is the idea that auction houses harm the smaller … Continue reading →

Of Hammers and Scales

Economics and Crafting in MMO’s

Note: This article is a companion piece to my similarly titled article at MMORPG.Com.    There is a second companion piece, here, dealing with the commoditization and saturation problem.

As I indicated over at MMORPG, MMO’s are currently in a reflective period.  We have had enough trial and failures that we are beginning to see established ideas questioned, old ideas revisited and new ideas attempted.  In general, this is a good thing and a sign that the market segment is out of its post-WoW rut.  However, during these periods of reflection we sometimes through out the good and bring in the bad.  This Eorzea Reborn entry is a discussion of one area where some odd thinking is starting to manifest: the player driven economy and what makes it tick.

It’s no surprise that gear is a key part of the MMO.  Fabled and exotic gear is as much a fundamental element of the hero saga as is the nemesis.  What, for instance, would Arthur be without Excalibur?

The question in MMO’s is where should gear come from: crafting or adventuring.  If we look at … Continue reading →

Enough with the (solo) quest hubs

A Companion Piece to “Of Augury and Speculation”

Musing on Massively Multiplayer Games

Note: This is the companion piece to my 30-Jan, MMORPG.com article. There is a second companion piece to this series located at, “what have we lost to solo play?”

In a recent post, I queried “what have we lost to solo play?”  My premise in that article was that building our game worlds around solo-based quest hubs has trivialized the MMO worlds and led us to a series of parallel solo-play games.  Feedback from the article has been quite strong, my thanks to everyone who read the article and an extra dose of thanks to those who commented (good and bad).

Detractors for the column assumed I wanted to see games return to camping, most likely due to my references to Everquest.  That, though, is a mistaken assumption.  I rarely camped in EQ (my group did nightly dungeon circuits, not sit in one room sessions) and I would rather not change one limited premise (quest hubs) for another (camping).  The second mistaken assumption regarding my last post was that I didn’t … Continue reading →

What have we lost to solo play?

A Companion Piece to “Of Augury and Speculation”

Musing on Massively Multiplayer Games

Edited Note: This is the companion piece to my 30-Jan, MMORPG.com article. There is a second companion to this column called “Enough with the (solo) quest hubs.”  You can see the rest of my MMORPG.com column here. 

In a companion piece to my MMORPG.com column about combat, I queried “what have we lost to the global cooldown?”  In those articles, I observe that the pursuit of immersive MMO combat has paradoxically produced the opposite.  MMO combat is largely repetitive and trivial and winning is virtually guaranteed in all but the hardest of encounters.  While I noted that some of that triviality is an aspect of moving away from strategic combat, there is more afoot.  I noted that:

“I also think it’s part of a number of MMO elements that have had their complexity simply watered down over the past decade.  Some of it could also be the natural evolution of “solo based” character advancement, requiring PVE encounters that can be … Continue reading →

What have we lost to the GCD?

Combat in MMO’s

A Companion Piece to Cerebral vs. Visceral

  (Note from Ryahl:  Thanks to anyone who is seeing this from the Lodestone.  Since both Aela and myself are more then a month out of playing the game at this point, we’re unable to respond to the discussion.  Please feel free to leave comments on this page, or visit my Lodestone blog if you wish to touch base or comment to either of us.)

So, my MMORPG.com article on combat styles (edit: Part 2 has now posted) has produced quite a bit of interesting commentary.  Now, that commentary is divided across a few different spectrum   Most of it is over at MMORPG.com, where the article was hosted.  But there has also been very good conversation over at Reddit in both the FFXIV and MMORPG subreddits.

One of the common themes in the comments is that MMO combat, since moving to the more action-oriented, global cooldown (GCD) style is that combat has become even more boring … Continue reading →