I haven’t read the PC Gamer article yet, thought I’m very much looking forward to it. Just the same, now that I’ve had a chance to listen to Brent (slovenly, huh?) and Shawn, I’ve pretty much made up my mind: while I completely understand why they’re doing this, I think it’s a shame.

In short: I feel this change is a big step away from everything I like about Guild Wars.

Witness the fact that even mainstream media can capture the missed opportunity here. MSNBC has an article on the changeover to GW2, and aside from some groaners (”Guild Wars is probably the most popular massively multiplayer online game you’ve never heard of.”), it captures the title’s personality pretty well. It goes into the history of Arenanet and the game, and then goes into what makes it different from other Massives. It transitions from past to present with this:

But despite this success, ‘Guild Wars’ exists mostly below the radar. Although the company’s games have a passionate fan base, some hardcore gamers sneer that it’s tailored for newbies, and lacks the mechanics of a traditional MMO.

They then go on to talk to a few GW players, who are understandably upset at the pendulum swing back towards traditional massive games. In fact, after hearing all the descriptions of the changes from GW to GW2, the only thing I recognize as core to the game is the lack of a monthly fee. Never-ending levels? Grinding? Bah and double Bah.

I’ll admit Guild Wars doesn’t come up as often as some others in my game rotation, but the fact that it’s NOT just another EQ or WoW or DAoC is what has made it popular. I don’t understand, at all, why Arenanet is moving the game away from everything that has made it stand out from the crowd. It’s almost as if the millions of players and pleased box-purchasers have convinced them that they made the wrong choice. Yes, I understand that they don’t want to re-invent the game every six months. That’s fine … they were the only ones asking them to.

Why not have a schedule of “Campaign/Expansion/Campaign/Expansion”?, and push it more out to like 9 or 10 months? Have a team come up with a new campaign, and then after they’ve pushed one out the door do an expansion follow-up to what they’d just done? Or hell, there are already three settings available: do expansions for each of them before you push on to something completely new.

I specifically want to say that even rumours that they’re considering not having a level cap makes me not want to play the sequel. I’ve long railed against the concept of a game with no ending here on the site. I feel very strongly that even Massive games should have closure. I’ve always pointed out Guild Wars as a great example of this. You hit level 20 and you ascend. You have further adventures with that character, sure, but there’s a sense of an actual plot arc. Contrary to this, my WoW character Groedin is now caught in the never-ending-arc-of-level-cap-raising. There will never be an ‘end’ for his story; Blizzard will release another expansion and the cap will go up. That makes me … not want to play. If there’s no level cap at all, you can look at that never ending mountain, leading off to nowhere and think to yourself “What’s the point?”

Bah all around. I think it’s a darn shame Arenanet is backpedaling on what has made their game so enjoyable to play. I think it’s a shame that these ‘hardcore gamers’ are allowed to sneer at such a quality product. I think it’s a shame that I haven’t played more of the damn game. I can only hope as more details are released (and the PC Gamer article becomes available in a few days), we’ll get a better sense of what they’re aiming for here.

(Also – Thanks to folks who have been discussing this here on the site. 30 comments is a new record!)

The Station Access Pass has been one of the best deals in online gaming for some time now. At around $25, it was less than the monthly price of two games and offered access to half a dozen. If you played one SOE MMOG primarily, and dabbled with a second, it was a no-brainer decision. Unfortunately, the price has gone up. As Krones, Abalieno, the Noob, Tipa, DingGrats, Cuppycake, Amber, and Aggro have all observed … that’s dumb.

I initially began writing this post at the end of last month. I stopped because it occurred to me that John Smedley might have some insightful additions to any statements I made here. He asked if I could hold off on it for a bit, and I did. GDC came and went, and because they’re still wrangling to get the legal terms on why they made the price go up nailed down we’ve still heard nothing. I don’t envy you sir, I imagine it’s something you very much want to get out here.

That’s a shame, because I can only assume they do have something vaguely cool planned. As Val, Rot, and the rest of the folks at EQ2 Daily mentioned in their most recent podcast, there has to be a good business explanation for this; otherwise they wouldn’t have done it.

Here are my own negative reactions:

1. The real loser here is Planetside, which has received a price hike of its own. I thought that the game should have been $5 a month when it launched. Lo these years later, it’s worth nowhere near the $15/month they’re now charging. Above and beyond that, I’d be willing to bet Planetside was that ’second mmog’ played by a number of Station Access users. With gamers pulling out of that deal, the PS playerbase will grow even smaller and make the price hike look even more asinine. This game only has players, in my estimation, because Tabula Rasa and Huxley have yet to launch. Whichever of those games pops first is going to get the remaining PS players day one.
2. EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies are the two least likely to be affected by this, I think. Anyone playing those games in 2007 are playing for keeps; they’ll sluff off the Station Access and keep on trucking with their chosen fix. If SWG still hasn’t broken its current players by now, nothing they can do will stop them. (So merge servers already, darnit!)
3. EverQuest 2 and Vanguard are the two that people will be forced to choose between. I know a lot of EQ2 players have been checking out Vanguard on the theory that it’s a lot like the olden days of EverQuest; with the price hike folks now have to choose between nostalgia and the now. While Planetside slipping even further into obscurity isn’t that big a deal to me, this seems like an act of arrogance on SOE’s part. Vanguard is still very much an unproven element on the Massive scene. While folks are interested and they’ve claimed over 100,000 users, how many of those are bored WoW players checking out the countryside? How many of those are Station Access players? Both of those sources of subscription fees could evaporate in the next few months. EverQuest 2 is, I feel, pretty darn safe. With TBC’s charm fading faster than some folks expected, I think a lot of folks are looking at column B as a nice way to spend some time while they wait for their WoW itch to come back or for another game to launch. If SOE wants Vanguard to stay on the upslide over the next six months, it seems like this would be the last thing they’d want to do.
4. This is a dangerous time to be raising services like this. LOTRO’s never-ending membership is probably looking like a good deal right now. You never have to pay a monthly for the game, ever, if you fork over the equivalent of 7 months worth of Station Access. That’s crazy. LOTRO may or may not be a critical success, but given the license you know they’re going to run that thing for at least four or five years. Assuming five years that’s $200 for LOTRO or $1800 for Station Access. That’s some grim stuff there. Likewise, games like Tabula Rasa, Warhammer, etc, will not be available on Station Access.
5. At $30 a month you’re requiring people to make SOE games their only source of gaming. $30 is a used game, as has been pointed out by a few other folks. That’s an entire single-player used game a month, for the cost of Station Access. At $30, you basically have to be playing SOE games all month every month, or it’s not worth your time. The death of player choice in how he spends his time is really kinda shitty. For $30 a month, you’re offering two fantasy MMOGs, a crazy sci-fi world based on a movie series people don’t like any more, a sci-fi world people don’t like any more based on a movie series people love, and a mediocre FPS. That’s just not a lot of options for the now hard-core-dedicated SOE player.

Whatever they’re adding to the service that ‘justifies’ this bump had better be magnificent. In one year, a jump of something like 25-30% in price is outrageous. I know, I know, there’s a lot of value there, but that just leads back to point five: you can only play SOE games. It seems to me the Access pass has one of two purposes: either it makes big money for the company, or it gets bodies into SOE games that wouldn’t otherwise be there. These two purposes are at direct odds with each other; unless Smedley’s holdup is the announcement of another tier of pricing, purpose 2 is going to be simply inviable.

If I were going to pull the strings on the Station Access pass, it’d go something like this …

Welcome to Sony Online Entertainment’s ‘4 Tiers of Fun’ Website. Here’s what we we can offer you today:

• Tier 0 (Planetside) – $4.99/month. This is the ’soldier tier’, reserved for the special members of Planetside’s unique combat forces. Log in and go get em’!
• Tier 1 (Single Game) – $14.99/month. This offers you complete and unfettered access to one of our six [Gods and Heroes, remember?] high-quality Massively Multiplayer experiences. In addition, you’ll be able to play one of our highly engaging Station Arcade titles, like Cosmic Rift, Infantry, or Tanaurus. This Tier and every one above it also allows you access to Planetside’s unique engaging FPS gameplay.
• Tier 2 (Floating Access) – $19.99/month. Offering an affordable price and ultimate flexibility, Tier 2 is for gamers who like the option of moving around a bit. Choose from three of our six premium titles, and you’ll have unrestricted access to groundbreaking entertainment like EverQuest 2 or Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. This Tier includes the option of, for a nominal one-time fee, unlocking extra perks like downloadable episodes or extra character slots! Station Arcade and Planetside access is also included, insuring that you’ll be getting plenty of ‘bang’ for your buck.
• Tier 3 (Station Access) – $29.99/month. The ultimate offering from Sony Online Entertainment: Station Access. With unlimited access to all six of our premium titles, you have the freedom to play any time and any way you want. Elements like downloadable content, extra character slots, premium character and guild benefits, and reduced rates on the Station Exchange service are all included. Additionally, the client for every one of the games SOE supports is available for digital download absolutely free. That’s right, there’s no need to buy a box for one of our titles: You can download it at no charge, with every update already included. For the cost of a single, used console game, you’ll be purchasing six high-quality titles, the unique MMOFPS title Planetside, and all three Station Arcade games. It’s an unparalleled deal, and an unparalleled offering – take advantage of it today!

Ultimately, I want what the folks at SOE want: success for games in the Massive genre. Considering some of the positive steps forward SOE has taken as a company in the last 6 months, I am confused and concerned about their decision with the Station Access price. I really hope that Smed and the rest of those folks can give us the lowdown on the changeup soon, because I know we’re all dying to understand the plan.

Kotaku has pointed out a brilliant marketing bit, discussed on the site MCV: Brits are going to get a 14-day trial of World of Warcraft this weekend along with their copy of The Times.

Tidy piece of marketing, this, and I doubt it’ll be the last time we see something like it. Announced in today’s print edition alongside this feature on the game, there’ll also be an 8-page beginners guide included, presumably because most readers won’t have the foggiest what all the fuss is about.

Who wants to bet five bucks we’ll see this in the NYT sometime soon?

Additional: Grimwell has a few words on the wisdom of this plan (he thinks it’s a good idea), and links to a Times article introducing the game from a newbie’s perspective. In a nutshell, the article is completely awesome:

If I had to marry one of the cast of The Lord of the Rings, it would be Sam Gamgee — the completely prosaic, normal, nonmagic one, who comes across like the owner of a garage in Cricklewood having a particularly bad day, what with this vexatious epic quest and all.

and

A visible copy of World of Warcraft makes me want to shout: “I don’t seek to nullify my rampant sexual dysfunctions by pretending to be a Paladin called Thrusthammer Orcbash! IT’S FOR WORK!”

Completely awesome. Go read.

Over at 1up, Luke Smith gets really excited when the NPD numbers are released. I feel very similarly when Nick Yee (the bestest researcher ever) puts out another edition of the Daedalus project.

This edition offers up:

• Superstitions of Massive Gamers. Hilarious and sciency at the same time; I played in a ZG raid where a tank seriously argued that if we didn’t kill Gahz’rilla the loot we’d get from the pyramid quest would be worse. I tried very hard to explain that the loot was static. Bastich.
• Through the Looking Glass. A discussion of the personal growth, leadership skills, and confidence building that playing Massive games can develop.
• Birth Order. Teh haweseomes. “Are you a middle child, oldest?” Dear Nick, I lovez you.
• Game Choice Demographics. My favorite article this time around. Did you know that the older a woman gets, the less likely she is to choose an evil race? Conversely, women are more likely to want to play an undead character if they’re near 30 than if they’re near 20.
• Likelihood of Quitting. How likely a player is to quit in the near future.
• A candy for the end: screenshot submissions.

Go, read. Especially the demographics article.

Me-ppearance over at the XPlatform podcast, along with Tom Kim from Gamasutra and Jimmy Blocksom from Orange Lounge. Invitation extended by Luke. GDC is the main focus of the event, so if you’re GDC’d out, feel free to skip. I had fun, though, so if you think I’m awesome this is a chance to get more me-time.

Many thanks to Tobold for refocusing on LOTRO; better him than me is sort of the attitude I’m adopting. As someone around the ’sphere said recently, since I’m not preordering I’m basically never going to play. That cheaper rate would be awesome, and I couldn’t ever pay a higher one knowing that others are paying less. It’s cool though, because one of my favorite MMOGbloggers is taking on Bree and the Shire for me.

With the Beta not even over yet, his commentary on monster play already has me looking forward to further adventures.

Now this being the beta, and there being no level 50 player characters around, I couldn’t really test the PvP. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to do in the Ettenmoors, the PvP zone. There are numerous PvE, or should I say MvE, quests that have you kill mobs or NPC guards. Each quest rewards you with some destiny points. But it quickly becomes obvious that the most points could be gained in a raid on one of the numerous castles on the map. That is where most of the PvP action will take place later. The castles are defended by NPC guards, but with players from both sides around it would be more fun. 

I still wish you could play ‘evil side’ as a matter of course, but this sounds like an interesting substitute.

Herein, the promised interview with EA Mythic’s Mark Jacobs.

I tried to approach this interview with a bit more of a ‘high level’ approach than most other folks probably did for interviews with Mr. Jacobs that week. I’d really enjoyed the MMO’s Past, Present, and Future talk the night before, and we spent some time touching on the subjects that event brought up. We do, of course, talk Warhammer as well, but there’s lots of ‘other’ stuff in there too. Specifically, Mr. Jacobs opines about being a small developer in the modern MMOG market, the RMT business and the SOE White Paper, and the role of viral marketing.

Read on for my transcript of our discussion, or feel free to download the whole thing and give a listen yourself.

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