Day Nineteen

A. G. Cook & Charli XCX - Cold

Day Eighteen

Santa's a Drag - Marianne Spellman

Day Seventeen

Brenna Red - Punk Rock Christmas

ROSE Online : First Impressions

So, how's that whole ROSE Online thing working out for you, then? A lot better than expected, thanks for asking, at least when I finally managed to log in and play for a couple of hours. 

If Rednim Games were hoping to emulate a real 2005 mmorpg launch they pretty much nailed it. The first few times I tried to log in, either the servers were down for a patch or the login server wasn't responding. When I did eventually get in, there were more people in the starting area than I've seen since the Legacy of Ykesha launch in 2003. 

Definitely one of the better login screens I've seen.

Okay, not that many - LoY remains the all-time busiest I've ever seen a starting area without the server crashing - but it was busy. I was able to get the first quest to kill five jelly beans (Sure beats rats for flavor.) but the little jumping buggers had a life expectancy of less than a nano-second so I didn't make much progress. Or any progress.

I gave things a day or two to calm down and when I tried again this afternoon I had no problems getting in but it was still exceptionally busy. I thought that after three days the bubble would have cleared the newbie grounds but once again the starter village was absolutely heaving. So, it turned out, was every hunting ground and quest hub in the whole of the first zone. There must be plenty of new mmorpgs that would love to have these kinds of numbers for an Early Access launch.

Compared to launch day, this feels virtually deserted.

At least the crowds weren't so dense that I couldn't find enough quest mobs to kill, although frequently I was competing with dozens, scores of other players for the spawns. I guess that's why I kept getting group invites one after another. Either ROSE players are exceptionally sociable or the game has shared quest credit in parties.

I could have accepted one of the invites and found out for sure but I like to have at least a basic idea of what I'm doing before I party up. Call me a traditionalist that way. Not that there's all that much to figure out. After playing so many modern, imported, mobile-oriented games like Chimeraland or Noah's Heart, some of which seem to make a virtue of obscurity, ROSE Online feels thrillingly simple.

A peculiar quirk of the quest system is the way the dialog just trails across the screen. Not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it.

That said, while it has many of the trappings of a game of its era, it's surely also had the benefit of a decade of post-launch development. If it had played this smoothly and looked this good in 2005, we'd all have been there, wouldn't we?

And I do have to say that, even after all these years, that basic mid-noughties mmorpg gameplay loop still works. It really does. All that happens in the first ten levels of ROSE Online is a brief introduction to the head of the local village, leading to a string of simple tasks for the guards, farmers and villagers. To call them quests would be a call-back to that Monty Python sketch. You know the one. You'd think after a couple of decades I'd have developed some kind of immunity but apparently not. 

Sitting down to get your health and power back is another throwback mechanic, although you can also eat and drink for a similar effect.

It helps a lot that mobs drop clothing that goes into your appearance slots, meaning you get to change your look early on, although since one of the items that dropped was a pair of pants for which there seems to be no leg slot, it's possible I may be overselling the lack of mystery in the game. I took a while trying to figure out how to put them on but I got there in the end, although I couldn't explain how I did it.

For such an elderly mmorpg, the visuals are surprisingly appealing. The style is described elsewhere as "anime" but it feels more generically cartoonish to me. There's not a huge amount of detail but the set design isn't bad and the color palette is cheery. There's a huge amount of on-screen clutter, not least the heaping piles of uncollected loot that cover every inch of the killing fields but you can toggle a lot of it off in the options.

Okay, now it's your turn to hit me.

Combat at this extremely low level is about as basic as it could possibly be. Until you start to specialize at Level 10 you get auto-attack plus one skill. You can also throw a stone for ranged pulls. For a weapon, everyone gets a wooden sword before an early quest upgrades that to a bamboo spear. That's it. 

It works. Mobs die quickly enough that it doesn't matter too much when the Kill Fives become Kill Eights and even Kill Sixteens. There's no shortage of targets, either. The ecosystem seems to operate on the same principles as the average battery farm.

Is it Halloween already?

At Level 10 you're sent to the training camp just outside the village, where a bunch of trainers stand around waiting to explain your options. You can revoke your "Visitor" status in favor becoming a Soldier, Muse, Hawker or Dealer. I didn't find it an easy choice.

I'm well aware that a pure melee character woud be the most straightforward and therefore probably the most appropriate in a game it's highly unlikely I'll still be playing by New Year. On the other hand, fighters are so bland at low levels. Magic-users are always more interesting although that interest tends to come at the expense of efficiency. And then there's the insiduous pull of the unfamiliar, that curious hybrid trader/crafter that also commands mercenaries and uses guns. 

The official Hawker uniform.

In the end I plumped for the Hawker and I'm already doubting my decision. It's an error I've made many times and one I fell into particularly often around the time ROSE Online was new. Somehow, the idea of picking off my targets with a bow from a hundred yards away always seems like it's going to be both easy and fun and yet it so rarely is, unless you also get a pet to tank for you.

I'm pretty sure the Hawker doesn't get a pet. I guess I'll find out for sure next time I play. I logged out at the start of the second zone, where my Hawker trainer sent me to get some hands-on experience with the bow. He also told me not to forget to buy some arrows from him, advice which I now realize I completely ignored, so the first thing I'll have to do when I log in next time is go back to the training camp and pick some up. That's going to be embarassing.

I think this might be more my style.

Such is the life of a neophyte Hawker. I'd better get used to it. I have another ninety levels to go before I can call myself a Scout, which is what experienced archers are known as in this game. Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it but stranger things have happened. After all, I'm still playing Noah's Heart...

Day Sixteen

Jingle Your Bells by Porter & Sayles

 (Hush Kids Cover)

Solid Gold Easy Action

Something I read in the patch notes for yesterday's EverQuest II update got me wondering. I don't remember any previous expansion labeling an instance in the Signature questline as anything other than "Solo" so I found the following a tad confusing:

"With their early involvement in the Signature quest, the following zones have been relabeled from [Solo] to [Signature], and no longer apply Oppressive Sands:

• Raj'Dur Plateaus: Blood and Sand
• Raj'Dur Plateaus: The Sultan's Dagger
• Buried Takish'Hiz: Terrene Threshold
• Buried Takish'Hiz: The Sacred Gift"

I infer from the mention of "Oppressive Sands" no longer being in effect that this change relates in some way to difficulty. Presumably the intent is to make the four instances easier. I didn't know what "Oppressive Sands" was until I did a bit of digging but from the name it's obviously some kind of debuff, so taking it away has to be beneficial. 

Other than that, I guess we're meant to assume that something labelled "Signature" is inherently less challenging than something labelled "Solo"? Does that track? I'm not sure it does.

The notes also mention that something has been added to Tishan's Lockbox, the stash of free catch-up gear you get with every expansion, nowadays:

"The Jubilant Familiar Infusion, Monolithic Mercenary Infusion, and Tolan's Darkwood Mount Infusion are now free from Tishan's Lockbox."

Since buffs from familiars and mounts are hugely important to player power these days and since solo players rely heavily on mercenaries, these changes once again imply a leg-up for those already struggling with the entry-level content in Renewal of Ro.

Finally, there was this:

"Removed the lore tag from many of Tishan's lockbox white adornments."

That's primarily a bug fix but it means players can now equip extra, free adornments, which is another increase in power. Taken all together. it's hard to avoid the conclusion that someone feels the new content is overtuned and needs toning down.

It wouldn't be the first time, only for once my experience has been very much the opposite. So far, I've had no significant difficulty with any of the content in the new expansion, either overland or in instances. I'm currently some way through the third instance, Buried Takish`Hiz: Terrene Threshold, having killed the first two bosses before I had to stop for lunch.

Yesterday I finished the whole of the second instance, Raj'Dur Plateaus: The Sultan's Dagger without a hitch and a few days ago I ran Raj'Dur Plateaus: Blood and Sand, which also gave me no trouble. Of course, only that last one did I do before the patch, so it's impossible for me to tell if the later instances would have given me pause without the notified nerf but the first one, which is included in the change list, I did before the patch... so make of that what you will.

Whatever, the tl:dr is that so far all the instances have been very straightforward. Several of the bosses have had some kind of script with special attacks at various points in the battle but I've just ignored them and carried on tanking and spanking with no obvious problems. Twice, my mercenary died, leaving me without outside healing and cures but still I prevailed. As yet, I haven't died once.

It probably helps that quite a few of the bosses seem to think calling for assistance is their best option. That might work on some classes but my Berserker actually thrives on chaotic battles with large numbers of opponents, thanks to the number of abilities we get that are designed for exactly that situation. The more the merrier might be his motto. Or his battlecry.

More importantly, the expansion so far has been gloriously free of those infuriating developer's fall-backs of recent years, massive power drain and invulnerability. It makes things so much more enjoyable when you can rely on your massive power pool and regenerative abilities to keep up your relentless barrage of attacks and when the mob you're fighting doesn't magically switch off all damage every couple of minutes, forcing you to go break something or click a switch somewhere, just so you can get back to the scheduled mindless violence.

Well, it makes it much more enjoyable for me, anyway. I appreciate there may be other opinions. I'm just happy it's my preferred playstyle that's getting the love for once. I'm sure it won't be for long.

In the expectation of things getting tougher ahead, I took time out from hacking and slashing to get my Alchemist working on Combat Art upgrades. I didn't play my Berserker much in Visions of Vetrovia, the previous expansion, other than to get him up to the level cap. Consequently, almost his abilities between Levels 121 and 125 were the lowest quality grade available, the free "Apprentice" versions you get automatically, when you ding.

That sounds bad but in fact he wasn't really using any of them. He had the Expert or better versions from the expansion before that, when he was favored character on the account. EQII's spell progression means that higher quality versions of lower level spells are generally better than their lower quality, higher level equivalents, at least until you leapfrog more than one level-cap cycle. 

Indeed, because I've been fairly dilligent in utilizing the free, time-gated upgrade system, some of the Berserker's favored attacks are now so far upgraded it's going to take a couple more expansions before even the crafted Expert replacements take over. It's just one example of the ferociously complex, nested, sometimes contradictory network of interlocking progression mechanics that make kitting a character out for current content in EQII such a daunting prospect.

For the moment, I feel like I'm on top of things. I'm playing a character whose armor and abilities are there or thereabouts par for the new course. I realise that most players will be breezing through fights that take me some concentration and effort but I'm winning, not losing, and that's really all that matters. 

Better yet, it's not taking me too long. None of those attritional twenty minute boss fights, so frustratingly common a few years ago. Everything seems much better-judged towards helping the solo player to have fun, which I am.

That's good because the story this time is really interesting. There's a lot of lore and flavor text and I'm reading every word with relish. One stage of a quest today asked me to read a book, which turned out to be twenty pages long, huge by in-game standards. I could just have flipped the pages to get quest credit but I read the whole thing with increasing fascination. I've always found the legend of Takis'Hiz curious and compelling so I'm happy to learn more about the history behind it.

I'm also always glad to meet old friends so it was a pleasure to re-acquaint myself with Firiona Vie. She and my Berserker have met many times before and I was delighted to find she remembered him and their greatest adventure together, the Battle of Ages End. Granted, I didn't play my part until several years after the original raid but who's counting?

Redbeard at Parallel Context was talking about power creep in (mmo)rpgs and how characters who once struggled to protect a farm from bandits can end up fighting Gods and winning. It's the kind of thing that used to worry me, too, although not so much these days. 

My change of heart is mostly due to the successful efforts of writers at ArenaNet and Daybreak in contextualizing these changes, acknowledging the events that brought them about and integrating that history into an ongoing narrative. Sometimes it's done awkwardly but the fact that it's done at all helps a lot. 

When it's done well, as it very much has been in the Renewal of Ro storyline so far, it creates a warm, pleasurable sense of belonging, something like walking down the main street of your home town and passing the time of day with people you know, at least by sight or reputation.

Whether the writers can keep it up for the whole of the expansion remains to be seen. At least, given the foundation laid by both the writers and designers, I can say I'm looking forward to finding out.

Day Fifteen

Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul - 

Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)