I would make apologies for my absence, but I hope you understand.

Tobold has put up another thought-provoking post (man’s good at that) concerning the reward you get out of grouping and soloing.

So if people are trying to maximize the reward per session, they would prefer soloing if the solo session reward is bigger than the group session reward. But they would prefer to group if the group session reward is bigger than the solo session reward. As the term of the group finding time is always greater than zero, if the solo reward rate is equal than the group reward rate, the group session reward is diminished by the group finding time term, and people prefer soloing, because it gives greater rewards.

There’s a variable here he’s not considering, though, and I think it’s an important one.

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You may have heard Allakhazam was purchased by IGE? Most folks had measured responses. Not Warcry!

Just thought I’d let you know. Unlike some other fansites out there, we don’t take money from the people who make your game harder to play. We’re pretty proud of that, and just thought we’d share.

Youch!

Kingdom of Sky was just released, but a week ahead of E3 SOE is already releasing details about Echoes of Faydwer, the next EQ2 expansion. This one’s going to have a new race, even. They’re also working on the next Adventure Pack, The Fallen Dynasty. The expansion is expected in November, which isn’t bad. Announced so soon after KoS, I was like ‘how can folks already have played through that?’, but in another five months that stuff will be pretty tapped out.

Echoes of Faydwer is the third expansion pack for EverQuest II, and introduces a new playable race, The Fae. An enchanted race of winged creatures, the Fae dwell on the continent of Faydwer, in the arboreal city of Kelethin, the new starting city being added to this latest chapter in the EQII saga. Echoes of Faydwer includes over 350 new quests, a new selection of profession hats, cloaks, armor, and new horse mounts available to players of all levels. EQII players will encounter over 40 new types of creatures to face, more than 20 new zones and adventure areas, and will be able to compete against other players for new PvP (Player vs. Player) rewards, plus all-new items, equipment, spells and tradeskill recipes.

MMORPG.com has the word that Keith Baker will be writing for Dungeons and Dragons Online.

I don’t really understand this move. I mean, I certainly think that DDO needs more content. That’s not a question. The confusion I have is centered around the big name. What does that say to the folks in the trenches? I’m not that big a fan of the quests in DDO, but a lot of people obviously put a lot of work into the thing.

What does it say to the designers when the company very visibly hires a ‘big name’ to come in and flavour up the world?

What it says to me is that Turbine has no faith in the people working on the project. The game hasn’t recieved the response the company wants, and so they’re pulling PR stunts in order to get pen and paper gamers more interested in the product. Which is a losing proposition. Keith Baker is a good writer, but the reality of the situation is that gamers (especially the finicky pen and paper variety) go where the good games are. How many gamers love the X-Files? The card game made about the show in the late 90s should have been a hit, right?

It bombed miserably because the game just wasn’t any fun. While DDO isn’t devoid of fun, the amount of fun squirreled away in the streets of in the Stormreach isn’t going to increase because of a high profile writer.

A for effort, though, and I’m sure the resulting quests are going to have great flavour text.

The banner for May is in honor of the Beta test for A Tale in the Desert’s Third Telling. The second Beta period goes up this Friday. If you’ve been interested in the game previously, and haven’t checked it out, the next few weeks are a good chance to get in on the ground floor. Fun, and very very different, game.