Onwards and upwards

So, we are where we are, and we have what we have. And what we have is really pretty good. Mainly because it's us.

The game has its flaws. No surprises there then. It's not exactly shocking news, is it? Computer game fails to please everyone in every respect. Computer game gets it mostly right in many areas, and has lots of interesting new ideas and has raided many good old ideas.

The initial rush of activity has definitely died down. But you know what, I had a fabulous time the other night with a few of us jumping in and out of warzones. And the sense of achievement when we won, and won well, was awesome. From what I hear the ops teams are having the same buzz of success, and building towards a better future.

So onwards and upwards.

Problems, issues and questions

I, as is possibly apparent, am having some issues with TOR and I don’t think I’m the only one. So I intend to list here some of the questions that I’ve been asking myself about TOR and see what, if any, responses you have.

Of course, if no one has any response, that’s a pretty damning indictment. Ask any politician – love or hate is fine, that’s an emotional response that is committed and which can be responded to. Apathy is the worse as it’s almost impossible to combat effectively.

Right then – what are the problems?

1. Grouping: We’re not grouping up much for planets or flashpoints. We’ve made efforts down this route with a number of tactics, but they’ve waned. Was it the wrong tactic? Or does it need pushing again? We have people at 50 who have barely touched many of the flashpoints.

2. Social hub: Perhaps it’s the lack of a social hub. Do we nominate a Watchers cantina? Should we run another social evening? I’m not sure about these without a real purpose, I’ll be honest. But perhaps we can combine it with a RP night? Mix it with the Aartan legacy story.

3. Other games: There’s a lot of excellent releases out there at the moment. These are bound to distract, and have had similar effects on other guilds on the server.

4.  Release 1.2: Perhaps the community will start buzzing again once there is more to do. Once some of the crafting frustrations are fixed. Once we can make the UI work as we want.

5. Nature of MMOs: I think that to a certain extent MMOs now encourage a fluid community, moving among several games as new releases and patches pull us onwards.

6.  Leadership: Yeah, me. Tell me where I’m missing something or failing. And yes, I should be 50 by now. Particularly with the way that experience is handed out. However I’m not in any huge rush to hit 50 as I can’t join the raid team – the times and days don’t work for me - and I absolutely trust the people who are already in the raid team to deliver the best experience for all out there. But tell me otherwise. I consider my strengths are in community. And perhaps that’s why I’m worrying about this stuff, and no one else is?

7. Fluidity of community: We’re a relatively small community, and we have broad experience that moves us among various games; we don’t stay where we don’t want to be, and for some, TOR just hasn’t delivered. We could go in for aggressive recruitment to bring the numbers up? Appoint a new recruitment officer; and if so, who’s interested? One of the issues here is that we’re not particularly PuGgy as a community. Mel is, and has done a great job of bringing people in to the Watchers who are Watcherish by nature. What’s most important to you – a Watchers’ spirit or a bulk of numbers?

8. Is it the game itself? Has it not met people’s expectations? Were our expectations too high as it was?

9. Anything else?

Not a problem but something on which I’m also musing:

1.         Operations: Raiding is going really well, but what do we need to do so that it progresses? So that people don’t feel frustrated or blocked by a certain boss? Ilum daily nights so you can grind the necessary items and social points?

And there’s also the Legion – we’ve made efforts here but it’s not sparked. Possibly partly because of the numbers of people here and the various points above. It’s faded to an alts guild, which reflects the reality of the polls we did before launch, but remains a great shame for people who have invested their time and effort in characters there. And also we have some great members of the community who we’re missing out on. However, it seems that there are moves to have cross-faction chat – can’t be soon enough as far as I’m concerned. I see hope on the horizon here.

So over to you…

Altastic

So everything I read currently convinces me that SWTOR is totally geared up for the alt-lovers among us.

Tal has held forth expressively on his frustrations with the ease of acquiring experience and skimming through planets with grey quests. But all the recently-released legacy information increases the impression that we're being encouraged to roll our way through multiple classes, visit some planets in depth on different characters, and each time finding more to explore. Bring it on.

Of course, it is irritating if you are a completist by nature, and want to have one character who has done everything. And it's maddening if you can barely find enough time to play one character, let alone more... *cough* However I do find myself more inclined to play alts here than I have elsewhere (but I will understand collective scepticism until you actually find me levelling anyone properly).

I'm glad to see that they are also looking at freeing up some of the limitations of cross-faction chat - this would make a big improvement to the joy of alting.

The individuality of the story plots aren't enough to pull us through however. So I guess that's a good reason that the different planets can flood us with quests and experience. I'm already guilty of rapid spacing through quest dialogue (I knew I would be), but I have several planetary questlines and heroic/bonus lines of which I've just touched the periphery and would like to know more.

I think Bioware have crafted a game to reinforce subtly that culture of alts-rolling, but I guess we'll have to wait for the next big patch to see how that plays out in the community.

Listen up

It’s been a while.

Not because I am lacking in subjects on which to opine I hasten to add.

My first blogpost is also my explanation of my blogging silence. I have been totally blown away by the creativity and craftsmanship that went into the audio fiction created by Bryn, Denise, Simon and Ric on here.

One of the reasons that I started blogging on Aartan Away was to drive a bit more content on to this site and to remind people of the incredible work that had gone into the podcasts and audio recordings on here. The relaunch of the Aartan Legacy and its content didn’t need anything interfering with that product – it stands on its own in all its excellence.

I just want to laud the creativity and ambition that has brought that product together. The people involved have written, acted, edited, sought out sound effects, crafted outfits for stills images that reflect their characters. They’ve discussed, debated, fine-tuned, and whirled ideas around to produce the most amazing packages of work. And that deserves space for admiration.

I know that they have enjoyed the challenges of putting it together, but there have been complex tasks and heavy demands on their time. So thank you for doing this for all of us. 

Stars

A friend of mine is ill; she has to have an operation.

This is a woman I have never met. She's heard my voice, I've never heard hers. I have no idea what she looks like. Or what her real name is. So yes, of course, she's a game friend. That makes her no less real, vital or important to me than any of the ones I physically see. Of course, all you here in a gaming community know this. But she's not part of this community (so please don't cast worried looks upon the womenfolk here). So I'm feeling slightly guilty about the amount of time I'm spending here, and how little time I've spent with her lately.

But, and I can't quite believe I'm quoting such trite stuff, I saw this yesterday and it's true in my case - good friends are like stars, you can't always see them but they are always there. I hope she knows that.

Apologies this is such a personal blogpost, but it is relevant to my understanding of what is meant by a gaming community.

Why attend a guild summit?

Well, I did apply for the guild summit in Austin, but no place for me - perhaps fortunately as where exactly I would have found the cash or time to go to Texas was something I was blatantly ignoring. I am on the waiting list, along with hundreds of others but the clock is ticking on the duration of that list.

One of the questions that had to be answered on the application form was about what we expected to get from the summit. It's interesting but managing expectations is one area that SWTOR has had an uphill struggle to control. I've attended a few comic conventions back in my distant past, and seen The Guild's depiction of an mmo convention. Am not entirely sure which, if any, of these would have been wise to base expectations upon. And looking at the threads on the main forum and the Q&A posting lines, I'm thinking that a large proportion of time at Austin will be spent dealing with the same sex romance questions. I seriously hope that their communications team and developer team have had a proper conversation and come up with a response; there is a large section of the community seeking some sort of official line and action and yet nothing is being said. Myself, I would have looked to get from the summit inspiration and good ideas - nothing too demanding. I have been generally impressed with how Bioware seem to be responding to player input (while acknowledging some areas of real weakness). The Q&As always make interesting reading; although often because of what has been left out, not said or carefully avoided. But that's true of any big organisation, and I read these statements with an all-too-jaded eye. Perhaps that's the big advantage of a face-to-face summit - corporate control is never quite so complete in a live situation.

Will I watch the live streaming? Probably not. It's only one perspective and if there's anything particularly noteworthy, I'm sure the forums and bloggers will leap to bring it to wider attention.

A talking cure

This post started out as a question on how much our game life is an escape route from real life; but it's a debate well covered elsewhere and Zaboo pummelling real life into the ground probably sums it up sufficiently.

But I had been musing upon the post by another community member about hitting the doldrums and logging in merely run around a bit before logging out. And I know that feeling all too well. There was an entire spell where I would just log in, drive my speeder in idle laps around Tattooine, then log out again. Because, ofc, the essential thing about these games is that they should be fun; we should enjoy them - this isn't a job of work. And you do hit a point where you feel like you have to log in, and have to level up. And there's no better way of killing enjoyment of a game.

What makes an MMO something that I find time to play is the community. I log in to gather with my friends, to talk nonsense if I feel like it, or to be quiet in company if I feel like that instead. It's like being a regular at a much-loved pub; you can go to the bar and launch into cheerful conversation with your friends, or sit at a table at the back, supping a pint and staring into space. And if you want to be an antisocial bugger and go to a different pub around the corner, feel free – enjoy the peace and quiet. All options available.

However, I do have a difficult relationship with Ventrilo. As a tool, it is marvellously useful; but for a community it is both angel and demon. Yes, it makes huge difference to ease of communication and it definitely negates the likelihood of death by typing; but it does split us. By talking on Vent, we're only talking to part of the community, and another section is left out of the conversation altogether. And not being on Vent, doesn't necessarily mean that people want to be left out of the conversation - there are other reasons to do with surrounding external noise, game immersion, and labouring technology.

There's also the issue - to go back to the bar analogy - that sometimes you feel like you have to force your way into a conversation. At least at the pub, you can catch someone's eye, find out with a glance if you can join in or if this is a group-only discussion. It's not so easy on Vent; you can jump into groups to find the usual free-wheeling chat, or you can find very focused battle tactics. There are those among us who can happily channel hop with aplomb, but for others it is not so easy.

Groups form swiftly on voice-chat, and with the limited numbers needed for flashpoints in TOR, there's little need to call out beyond the voiced participants. Which again shifts the community into two tiers.

I'm not trying to argue that we should stop using Ventrilo. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Perhaps a rather more Delphic 'Know thyself' and 'Nothing in excess'. Try to make use of all our channels of communication - forums, voice chat, guild chat, chat channels, whatever; mix it up a bit and nothing to exclusion.

Beyond Dark Mondays

Dark Mondays are fun. Rampaging through the undergrowth as a wolf-pack of Legionaries laying waste to the bewildered wildlife – it's definitely fun.

But it's a bit rubbish if you want to know the storyline. There's always someone waiting for someone else to catch up, and you become acutely conscious of people standing around on your account. So it becomes a space-space-space storyline with a best guess of which flavour cynicism you want to display. And any sense of narrative is lost in the rush. However it's a great way to blast through heroics and group content, but we do still need to go back and play slower time through some of the quest hubs to have any hope of keeping track of who is doing what to whom and why he, she or it is doing it to him, her, it or them.

And missing out on these storylines would be a great shame for any of our imperial characters. Because these narratives (sometimes) open up the perspectives on the stories for all our characters. As with a book, shifting the narration from a first-person perspective to third-person opens up the focalisation and creates a breadth and depth to the narrative. Of course, as with a good book, sometimes there are excellent reasons why it's only the one perspective, but a game like TOR seems to me to be very strongly geared towards encouraging you to play alts and alternate stories.

The legacy system, the pace of levelling and the ease of experience gain - it's all subtly designed so that when you roll your next character there will still be new discoveries to be made as you explore the gameworld. Naturally, this is intensely frustrating for the completists in our community; if you're hung up on seeing everything on the one character you have decided is your main, then you will be spending a lot of time looking at grey quests in your mission log. (Although your codex will be beyond fabulous.)

Damn, even playing the same class but with a levelling buddy can totally open up your experience. Different stories, different responses, dark deeds – a winning roll by the one morally-dubious character among us in Esseles won us all the Backstabber title to our great amusement the other night.

Don't just live a little, live a lot...

On identity

How much of ourselves is bound up in our avatar?

I know this is one of those perennial questions of MMO gamers, but gazing upon Bramble just now in the character selection screen, it sparked it up for me once more. You see, for some reason, I decided to give all of my Bramblicious characters in TOR a very strong identity that themed across them, not just in terms of name. They all have variants on a specific style of hair and make-up. And to be honest, I'm quite intrigued as to why I decided to do this.

From those people who know me from Lotro, there's a smaller selection who have actually met me - and to them, before we met, I kept saying 'I'm not a hobbit'. Because anyone expecting the short-haired, dark-skinned hobbit persona was going to be somewhat thrown. I'm not short, I'm pale, and my hair was distinctly longer. We used to chat sometimes in guild chat about the closeness of our avatars to our own characters, or the level of wish fulfilment. I'm not entirely sure why I ended up with a character so far from my own (although I did have that short hair when I created Brambleleaf). I think possibly there was a conscious effort to distance myself from the character. And I initially created a few characters with very different names and looks. Although you are inevitably going to caught in a restricted palette of faceshapes and hairstyles that you like.

However in TOR I have created a Bramble brand of characters (I feel like I should trademark myself). And I'm not sure why. It is quite useful now that I'm guild leader - I log in, people know it's me; there's a lot to be said for being obvious. But I decided on this look before the possibility of guild leader was ever on the cards. In fact, before TOR launched, I had a strong internal debate going about whether there was going to be a Bramble at all. And I wonder if perhaps this is why I've reacted so strongly in the other way. For whatever reason, I had threatened my own game identity; and the strong Bramble brand is a resurgence of my own belief in my identity.

(And I, of course, could well be talking bullshit.)

Indeed, my choices reflect nothing of the RP nature of the realm that we are in. And this is possibly again why I find it so difficult to make the choices which are far outside my own personality's values (sorry, Jo, I do keep trying to take the dark path). I know that people who have created avatars to personify a character that they wish to play are having a fantastic time rebelling, disdaining and cynicing (that's not a real word btw) their way around the galaxy. So having too strong a Bramble brand is possibly limiting my experience of the game. Although I still quite like me, so hey-ho.

And on a final, slightly worrying, note, I had my longish hair cut short a couple of weeks back. And realise that I now have brand Bramble's hair...

Crew skills - Rouf says it so much better

Rouf (DraconianOne in Worlds Away) has written an excellent post on his blog about the issues with crew skills. I could rehash it badly over here, but I'd much rather send you over there to read it: Rouf's blog

To daunt or not to daunt

My recent forum post about raiding principles provoked a couple of comments regarding being scary or offputting. I'll repeat the guidelines here:

1. We're a guild who raids, not a raiding guild.
2. Retain a sense of humour and a sense of proportion.
3. Listen to the raid leader, and ask questions if you don't understand; also listen to advice if given afterwards, either by the raid leader or a battlemaster, and talk to other people if you're not sure.
4. Be prepared - bring stims, health packs and buffs.
5. Be more prepared - are your armour and weapons fully-modded and top end? Ask advice if you're not sure.
6. Everyone here is prepared to help, but you will be expected to listen, learn and develop. No one is here to hold your hand. But they will guide your nervous first steps, so don't be afraid to get involved.
7. Raids will be posted on this forum - if you want to join, you (or someone on your behalf) are expected to sign up.
8. Raid positions are first come, first served, provided group composition is viable - although your position will be jeopardised if you consistently fail at points 2 to 6.
9. Loot is on a need - greed basis (need is for the character you are playing, not your companions). If you win a major loot drop in one evening, and another major drop comes for your class, it is courteous to allow someone else in your class to roll - if they don't want it, speak to your raid leader. There is no DKP or similar system.
10. It's just a game. Take raiding seriously, but not that seriously.  
 
It's difficult to pitch something like this correctly, but it's important to get the message across.

In a raid group there are eight or even sixteen people. They've joined together because they want to tackle challenging new content and succeed. Raids take time to organise and a heavy commitment of many players' time on the evening. People don't want that time wasting, so that means it is important that there is a real sense of people trying their best. That doesn't mean that we can't make mistakes, or be silly, or lie on the floor in a laying-on-the-floor contest (ask Cam and Hon to explain that one). But it does mean that when we are trying, we are trying hard to achieve the goal.

I've raided with most of the people here. I've never known a better-natured, more generous bunch. They will take time to explain, to advise, to help; but that does not mean that we will carry someone. I can guarantee no better way of causing resentment than turning up with nothing week after week, making no effort to improve your armour and begging stims, buffs and medic packs from others in the group. I know that there are people here who can and do share willingly and generously - but I will not condone the leeching of that goodwill. It doesn't mean that we can't do favours, and trade - I owe several people who have made me armour or spaceship mods and will donate items to them in turn (when I can craft high enough). Act as you hope to be treated yourself - be generous with your crafts, and expect the same generosity in response. Act with dignity; be treated with dignity.

'I've not been here before', 'I don't know the tactics' - speak up, someone will explain. One of the things that I realised early on in raiding is that it actually takes quite a lot of confidence to speak out sometimes, for fear of admitting ignorance or showing weakness. Well, it isn't. Saying I don't know or I don't understand is the right and brave thing to do. Only then can you get the advice you need and can the group succeed. We stand or fall by our strength as a group, and each one of you is a vital element of that. (No pressure there then...)

This post wasn't intended to be a lengthy exposition on the thinking behind the raid principles, but somehow that is what it has become. The intention was to say - I hope that they do not put people off from joining raid groups, but the tone had to be robust.

Frustration - how to fight the biggest baddest boss of all

We're at the stage now where people's frustrations are really starting to show. There is a group raiding, and other people wanting to join that group, or wishing they were near enough to do so. There are people who feel their game choices are restricted by the class or faction that they wish to play. There are people like me who just wish there was more time in the day. I logged in last night myself with a slightly heavy heart - so much to do, so little time. And painfully aware of some of the frustrations of the people among us.

However I was rescued by the great kindness of one of our unsung heroes in Worlds Away. He gave me a guided tour of Quesh, running from quest node to quest node, pointing out when I was failing to use the mission item in my bag to complete a mission, and rescuing me when steering blind with the mission panel open and running right into various groups of mobs. We also cheerfully dissected what was wrong with the game, what was right with the game, and told each other of all the little polished touches that are so easily missed along the way.

This type of evening is what makes the game worthwhile. It helps us all retain a sense of perspective, and to appreciate who we are and what the game brings to us. Of course, it relies on huge goodwill. The guildmate had already finished Quesh, but here he was, prepared to lead me around again just to help me.

It is the generosity of the people in our community that inspires me. And our ability to chuckle as we tell each other tales of our spectacular clifftop faceplants. And how the highlight of my evening was not finishing a particular mission or planet, but me turning around to heal and accidentally stepping backwards off a bridge (as you do) to plummet downwards into the room full of Imperial forces below - to mutual giggling. I laugh when I think about it now.

We have to find the joy in our gaming lives. Acknowledge the bad but look for the good. For me, that good will always be these people and this community.

Operational focus

I love it that people are already plunging into operations. I hate it that I'm not able to join them yet. But I mainly love it that raids are already happening.

Of course, this now opens up a question about our approach to raiding. I had a discussion with Rodan about this the other night, but I think we need to open it up to more. One of the abiding principles of raiding in Lotro was a first-come, first-join sign-up. If you want to raid, put your name down. Provided there's the right balance of classes, you're in. This does save a lot of intra-guild trauma as compared to the selected pick-list option. Although you still get some bad feeling, particularly when someone signs up for one night of a raid that we'd been battling with for weeks, then waltzes off with the top drop never to join again...

Transactional relationships

A discussion started in guild chat last night about our companion relationships. Was there something slightly disturbing in our ongoing affection-building: 'Here this is my gift to you. Now sod off and do this mission.' Considering the reaction to the Sith intentional cruelty to their Twi'lek companion, perhaps we're not too bad (the story even made the Daily Mail *shudder*).

I commented, partly in jest, that aren't most relationships like that? I'm afraid the legacy of a hectic few weeks at work hung over that remark - I'm busy, I'm running around, but here's my salary so off I go running again. I've been studying some eighteenth-century literature recently, where the nature of the transactional relationships between the characters can be truly overt, and we can roll back to the patronage of the Roman empire. And this dynamic continues in subtler forms through the centuries. But in TOR we are back to a blatant transaction - although I am, of course, buying the affections of a range of sexes, races and robotic affections.

But perhaps this is not a new thing. Because we are encouraged (in English at least) to put a worth to our friendships - I value you as a friend, I treasure our friendship. I tend to talk about high-maintenance and low-maintenance friendships, the language of property fees and the divorce settlement (was that coined in When Harry met Sally btw?).

And I suppose in a game of so many roles, it is difficult to have a term that works across the classes - perhaps for a mercenary bounty hunter or smuggler, it's far more appropriate to buy affection so openly. Betraying my ignorance of the Imperial side, how do your dark-to-the-core Sith feel about their companion's adoration?

It's a strange mechanic, but we are caught in a companion relationship that has to have a numeric value, so the digital dice can be rolled and our crit chance or whatever be judged.

Muppet roulette

I first began using the term 'muppet roulette' about the random lfgs that popped up in WoW when they brought in the random groupinator. Pvp in SWTOR offers its own unique version of muppet roulette, sometimes dreadful, sometimes inspiring.

Not sure what other people make of the recent segregation between 50s and the rest of us, but I think it must be an improvement as it prevents the onset of quite such imbalanced groups. I'm not sure if SWTOR will go the way of WoW with bands at each ten levels, but I guess the fact that they have already changed the structure of pvping shows the popularity of the challenge.

Voices

A member of our Worlds Away community has posted that the voices in SWTOR are off-putting to her enjoyment of the game.

I have to admit that I wasn't sold on the voice acting in the run-up to the game (I'm on one of the podcasts on here asking something along the lines of 'don't you think you'll just turn that voice stuff off?'). And I'll be honest, I'm a rapid 'spacer' through most of the dialogue - I do read it, I just don't listen to it. I swiftly turned on the option to be able to read through the conversations. Does make me a nightmare if I'm in a group with someone and they get spectator mode though...

I do have issues with voices in games. There have been characters of certain classes/races/genders that I have quite simply deleted after building in the character creator my vision of awesomeness, and then had it matched with the most profoundly irritating voice imaginable. Or an inane giggle... No! Just nooooo! Gah, it must be serious if I've resorted to exclamation marks.

In TOR I had never expected to play a trooper. In my head, it was quite clear I'd be a consular. I'd read the reviews, spoken to people, looked at posts - had it all straight. Then I rolled a consular in beta, and somehow her voice didn't quite gel for me. But I thought, this relationship will develop, we will grow in our mutual affection.

But then, because I knew that the real game would be launching in the next few weeks and retreading old ground so quickly might be uninspiring, I decided to go play a class that I would not roll in the main game. And trooper Bram appeared. And she sounded fabulous. Just the right mix of husk and attitude for the character that I had in my head. (Thanks to everyone who has told me of Jennifer Hale btw.)

Someone might need to correct me, but I think it was Age of Conan where we had a choice of different voices for our characters (as well as breasts bigger than the character's head). I really liked having that little extra element of control on the character creator. And I know that for a game voiced to the extent of SWTOR that's just not practical. But still...

So I understand how important the voice can be in a game. But I would not find it so disruptive that I would consider leaving the game altogether. But then, as I said before, I often choose to speed through the text option anyway. Perhaps I am too bookish by nature, I always prefer the voice in my head to any other...

'Not feeling it'

I’m hearing more and more often currently: ‘I’m not feeling it’, ‘I don’t feel the draw to log in’. This is slightly worrying in a game so new, however it is also very understandable. Aspects of the game don’t balance quite right. People have become scattered across worlds, and the quest levels don’t blur quite widely enough.

Many people have been patient, and will hold off on their levelling, or repeat quests to help someone else on the way up. But understandably some people want to race ahead, to see the new planets, explore the new flashpoints, reach that next level. It’s also understandable that there’s a level of burn-out for people who have been playing the game in beta – for them, some of the excitement of discovery has dulled. And there are some fine games appearing on the horizon, temptations to launch into other single-player worlds.

But for me, single-player holds no allure. I get bored. Surprisingly, I like to have people to talk to. Bet you’re all astonished, huh?

My highlight of SWTOR so far has been the laughter provoked by watching two guilds gather for a conga line at Nar Shaddaa, while the naked Elromir and Janek strutted their funky stuff. It’s never about the game, it’s always about the people.

Flurry

Yeah, I know. You suddenly have an influx of Bramble rambling on here. I can't promise it will last - you might not want it to... - but let's give it a go.

Sloth-like speed

I know. My levelling is incredibly slow. I joke about it and say I get easily distracted; but sometimes rather than questing, I am chatting to people. Sometimes it’s purely social, sometimes it’s more community-minded, sometimes it even has a purpose – shocking concept, I know.

I also have a young family, a full-time job and a Masters to complete. Like many of us, I’m busy – although you’re all still faster at levelling than me! However, I’ve tried to be up-front about the demands on my time, and you still put me in the top spot, so you already understand. To which all I can say is thank you.