Is that a whip on your belt or are you just happy to see me?
This week we talk about karate kicks, goat kicks, gettin’ our kicks on Route 66, and more! Welcome to CCR, where we talk about MMOs and we don’t have alts, we have alt games…or at least I do…Joe just plays Wildstar…
MMO News
Blade and Soul Launched and passed 2 million players
This week we talk about Dante’s Divine Comedy, drop-bears, the middle finger, and snorting lines of Aurin dander! Oh, and we also talk about Wildstar, ArcheAge, and Marvel Heroes, but that was the boring stuff. Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we talk about MMOs and where we stay up late to watch games launch (or more usually, crash over and over)!
MMO News
Runescape’s Evil Twin: Darkscape (completely F2P) – From a Press Release
Random Trivia: This week I learned that Tim Russ, aka Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager and a voice actor in the Secret World, was also one of the troopers in SpaceBalls, “picking” the desert.
What level of control would you give addon content creators?
JOE: Expose interface for complete modification. Do not allow the casting of any combat abilities, except by click-per-event macros (with GCD limitation). Allow for converting to mouseover targeting
DREW: Hard-core PvP game, so obviously they would be able to edit the game client. It will be a code-to-win game…
Seriously, though, macros and keybinding should be highly customizable to begin with, but addons should have full control over the interface and targeting information.
Back from a long break (thanks to Drew teaching a summer class), we talk changes and expansions coming to Star Trek Online, World of Warcraft, Archeage, Wildstar, and SWTOR! Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we always promise to have a new episode, SOON(™), reserved, copyright, service mark.
This week we discuss a crap-ton of launches, Wildstar’s Livestream and AMA, Crowfall’s knight powers, ESO’s “holy-crap-did-you-release-a-new-game”-sized patch, and more! Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where our launches are more frequent, but crash less, than SpaceX’s…
Let’s talk class stories… because SWTOR and GW2, as well as TSW took radically different approaches, and now SWTOR is on nearly the same track as GW2 and TSW.
Class stories or central story? Or both?
How pervasive would the story be (% in game tasks advancing the story vs other tasks)
How many expansions would you pre-design, including cinematics, soundtrack, and voice acting, would you have ready-and-waiting by launch?
JOE:
Central story. SWTOR’s right to make the change
100% of non-repetitive tasks would advance the central story, though only 50% would feel like it does.
At least enough for three years of main-story advancement – given an 18mo or so expansion cycle, the main game and two expansions. Very important for audio!
DREW:
Central + zones + class-based thing per zone
The only “quest-ish” things would affect the story
No idea. As much as possible before the studio made me launch too early.
This week we discuss Wander’s issues, Guild Wars 2’s issues, World of Warcraft’s issues, and other issues. Issues. That word has lost all meaning to me now. Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we talk about MMOs and where our lore in stuck in their canon…
How would you handle content release cycles – how often and what level of content?
JOE: Monthly mini-updates (adventure-sized instances, not a full dungeon). Quarterly new dungeons. Bi-annual new raids. Foundry.
DREW: Quarterly. Don’t lie to the customer. No one has been able to make monthly updates work. Your customers make most of the content for a PvP game anyway. There will be monthly balancing patches, because you cannot let things get out of hand.
This week we discuss bans for zombie goats, demonic Rowsdowers, how to pronounce “Ziost,” and how Archeage gets even grindier! Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we talk about MMOs and we’re not trying to double-jump long gaps in MMOs that don’t have double jump, we just like to fall into canyons. A lot.
Joe: F2P with Sub option, purely cosmetic in the cash shop, Boxed copy if it gets big enough that will include 1.25x the value in cash shop currency (retail for $40, get $50 worth of cash shop items).
Drew: Buy-to-play, with optional sub. Cash shop with cosmetic stuff.
A mother of a motherboard… Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard
This week we discuss rumors, tokens, how hookups aren’t like dates, and more! Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we talk about MMOs and we don’t dupe items, we control markets.
Joe’s new build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ypvff7 – bear in mind I already had an SSD drive, so the build includes two, while my rig has three, and I was wrong – it’s just a 500w power supply. It only draws 328w, so no biggie. I’m also STILL waiting on shipping of my GTX and second DIMM. Argh.
JOE: No item penalties: Repair costs are a cheap cash sink. Allow for one free rez-in-place, then offer a timer-driven system (with a currency cost to buy-down the timer) or a rez-and-run.
DREW: Full item drop and lootable body. Leave only equipped items. If you find your body before other players, you can pick it back up. Due to limited inventory space, most people won’t be able to take all of your stuff though. Backpack rigged to blow.
This week we are joined by special guest, Carla from Corellian Run Radio, Wildstar Radio, and Old Timers Guild leadership. We talk about Ultima Online memories, Archeage and their problems with dolphins, and more! Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where and we finally got that sparkly mount. (for 25 bucks…)
DREW: Power to power your gadgets (charge abilities, focus items, etc.) – same across the board. DCUO combo of weapons and powers with change-up abilities separate from skills. Passive increase based on progression. Minimal gear differential between gear at max level – better skills cost more power, determined more by level than gear (10-20% at most). “Health” Displayed graphically as an armor image. “Power” as battery. Modding important.
JOE: SWTOR Style customization, Guild Wars 2 style look. One stat for health and power, 20% variance in classes / gear level. Designed for multiple gear sets (burst vs sustained, etc.). Modding important.
Player-held memorial for Leonard Nemoy in Star Trek Online
This week we talk about THE news of the week, Crowfall, and honor Leonard Nemoy’s passing. Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we talk about MMOs and we don’t Pay-2-Win!
