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Today we take a look at the changing landscape of combat in MMOGs.
Several companies are aiming to drop the standard of point-and-click
combat and bring more action to their games. We take a look at some of
these, including a hands-on preview of
style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Nest by Nexon today in
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There was a theme this year at GDC 2010 that stood out quite clearly.
And that is it's time for change in the MMOG market. We've gone on
about free-to-play and microtransaction games becoming the new "norm"
but the new themes didn't end there. We saw several titles this year
that are aiming to break the mold of MMOGs by changing the flavor to
one of action. Say goodbye to point and click interfaces and hello to
fast paced action combat.
style="font-style: italic;">Age of Conan was probably the
first game that started the trend of responsive action-based combat in
our MMOGs. Since then few games have followed suit until now.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">
style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars: The Old Republic has
a strong action feel to it.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/TERA">
style="font-style: italic;">TERA is heavily action-based
and plays very well. Nexon also emphasized the exciting change with
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/vindictus">
style="font-style: italic;">Vindictus. They have another
game coming up too where the name of the game is pure action. That game
is Dragon Nest.
Ethec and I got a chance to play Dragon
Nest which is currently in beta in Korea. We sat down at the
computers that were set up with the game and given a choice of several
classes to play. I picked the archer, while Ethec selected the warrior.
The first thing I noticed about the game is how very much a 3rd person
shooter game the game feels. While Ethec had a different experience
with his melee character, crosshairs and hotkeys with the archer that I
was playing felt intuitive, easy, and fun. It didn't take long to get
into the feel of the game as I play FPS games almost as much as I play
MMOGs.
We entered into an instance where the combat began immediately. While
the graphics and characters were very obviously Asian in origins the
fun began as soon as we stepped into the instance. My guide watching me
play over my shoulder gave me a very brief rundown of the controls, but
he didn't need to even finish the explanation before I was shooting
enemies and performing special attacks. Right clicking shot arrows and
left clicking performed a kick which would knock nearby enemies away
should I start to feel crowded. The number keys on the keyboard from
1-7 each represented a different attack, some of them pretty impressive.
I toyed with some of the attacks and soon found my favorite which was a
virtual 'machine gun' of arrows. Getting the most out of this ability
was a little on the tricky side as the arrows launched so quickly that
a slight twitch in your hand would send your arrows off target.
Ethec and I fought our way through the dungeon performing our special
moves and running through quickly as if we'd been playing the game for
years. The controls were simple, responsive, fluid, and they just
'felt' right. It was gratifying launching an Area of Effect attack and
watching our enemies fly back from the force. Once dispatched, there
were several mini-puzzles that needed solving in order to proceed to
the next section of the outdoor instance. The puzzles weren't
particularly difficult to figure out as they involved just clicking on
a couple of giant glowing crystals to open a door, but we were told
that puzzles vary in theme and difficulty in different areas of the
game.
Stopping to loot wasn't any hassle either, as 'stopping' may be an
exaggeration. All that was needed was to run over the glowing bags and
hit the L key and collect your spoils. The loot went directly into your
inventory so it really was no fuss collecting everything which could be
sorted out at the end of the run. This was an important aspect, to me
at least, as the game plays so quickly that you'll be on such a roll
that you won't want to stop to sort out loot until you're done.
Once at the end of the instance we faced our flying boss enemy. This
guy was a little trickier than the rest of the enemies we faced as he
had much more powerful attacks and was quite fast. I ended up dying
against him after he rushed me leaving me no escape. Death, though, was
painless as it only meant a short respawn timer before I was back in
the action helping Ethec fell our foe.
Ethec told me he had a difficult time with the game, even though he
earned an "S" rating for the dungeon while I only earned a "B." Perhaps
it wasn't his type of game, or perhaps the melee classes are more
difficult to get used to than the ranged classes. I, on the other hand,
had such a great time with our short hands-on that I went looking this
weekend for a way to play it again. I did find a download for the
Korean version on the Nexon site, but since my Korean comprehension is
non-existent at best, I conceded defeat and will just have to wait
until the game releases in North America later this year.
Dragon Nest will be
free-to-play when it launches offering various services and items
through a microtransaction store. And when it does launch, I'll be
there rolling an archer to once again face the forces of evil and shoot
them in the head.
Action-based games are a welcome change, and I'm sure we'll be seeing
more and more of them as the MMOG market continues to evolve. But does
fast-paced combat suit everyone? Let us know your thoughts
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50305">in the
forums.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our Articles,
News & Events Discussion forum
Maricopa
Courts Appoint Edward Burr as CME Receiver
If
you're the type of person who loves to pore over the latest truths,
lies and deceptions, then there's nothing like the Cheyenne Mountain
Entertainment saga to feed your drama llama. It's got intrigue,
quasi-criminal (or at least shady) business dealings, power struggles,
oppression of the little guys (read: CME employees) and more! Martuk
has posted new details in our news forum. Check them out and href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=50284">discuss!
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"Progress is not always a good thing. Back in the old days, this
issue would have been resolved ages ago with a good old fashioned
lynching.... Problem solved. Now we have sit and watch while this train
wreck is dragged out in court for the next few years. "
- Annatar
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!
New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer
8 new Ten Ton Hammer
features
today! 92 in March! 322
in 2010!
PREVIEWS
The Secret World Details Emerge at
GDC 2010
http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/tsw
This year at GDC in San Francisco Ten Ton Hammer was able to get a
sneak peek of The Secret World. Up until now information had
been scarce so it was refreshing to be able to sink our teeth into some
facts about the game. Join us as we take a look at The Secret World
in its current state.
FEATURES & GUIDES
Shortcuts For The Mission Grind
In EVE Online
http://tentonhammer.com/node/82601
Grinding for missions is important for getting access to the best
quality NPC agents available in EVE Online. Ten Ton Hammer Contributing
Writer, Space Junkie, gives us three ways to shorten the grind.
Microcosms #10 - Mythbusters
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82580
The developers get it, the publishers get it, the gaming industry as a
whole gets it. Gaming media is getting it and Asian gamers certainly
get it, so why can't Western gamers see the light and accept
free-to-play games? The stigma that exists is one that was born of low
quality games that were cheap imitations of AAA titles and huge money
sinks that forced players into paying to play.
Luckily for us, a new breed of free-to-play is here and its eradicating
the preconceived notions of what it means to be a microtransaction
game. Join Medawky this week as he looks at some of the games that are
shifting the free-to-play paradigm in Microcosms - Mythbusters.
StarCraft II Terminology Encyclopedia
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/allraces/terminology">http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/allraces/terminology
With the beta in full swing and tens of thousands living the dream that
has been in the making for almost 12 years since StarCraft's original
release, the professionals and amateurs alike are coming up with new
strategies and build orders. The game has evolved quite a bit since
then however, and if this is your first time returning to the Real Time
Strategy genre in a while you might find that the strategies read like
programming code! Fear not, this is your primer to understanding the
acronyms and terms thrown around in a Starcraft II strategy
conversation!
Star Trek Online: Guide to Gear Bonuses
http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/guides/gear_stats
Gathering
up loot is great, trying to figure out what all of
the Star Trek Online shorthand means isnt. One of the first
things players
notice in the game is the bracketed gear bonuses that trail behind the
better
armor, weapons and kits. Today
we provide some decryption for those gear codes
and discuss the best bonuses for different careers in the Star
Trek Online: Guide to Gear Bonuses.
WoW: ICC Heroic Mode Strategy Updates
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/raids/icc/crimsonhalls
Now that the heroic modes are available on all the bosses in Icecrown
Citadel, many guilds are trying to work through them. In this
second update to our ICC guide we provide the basics on the heroic
modes for the bosses in the Crimson Halls, Frostwing Halls, and Arthas
himself. Check out all the basics in our guide, and help others out
with your exploits in our forums.
WoW: U.I. Mod Review - ForteXorcist
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/uimods/reviews/fortexorcist
When playing World of Warcraft it seems like there are a million and
one things going on, and it gets harder and harder to keep track of
them all well while doing other things. That is why many players
use spell timers and cooldown timers to help track what they have done
and what is up for use next. I was recently looking for a good
timer for my Death Knight and ForteXorcist was recommended as one of
the better ones out there. So off I went to load it up and see
how it stacks up.
WoW's Ultima Weapon - WoW Weekly
Report
http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/newsletter/issue59
The Overpull, our World of Warcraft newsletter, is here again this week
with all of the latest news in WoW condensed into one newsletter. This
week David "Xerin" Piner takes a look at boss encounters in WoW and
what it would be like to have more bosses like Algalon. Should WoW have
more optional boss fights in the endgame?
Today's
Hottest Articles and Guides
-
style="font-weight: bold;">The Secret World Details Emerge at
GDC 2010 - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/allraces/terminology"> style="font-weight: bold;">Starcraft II Terminology Encyclopedia
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/dragonageawakening">Dragon
Age: Origins - Awakening href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/dragonageawakening"> (PC)
Review -
Age
of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/rotg"> GDC 2010 Video
Presentation -
EVE
Online
Sins of a Solar Spymaster #40 - Make More Sandboxes -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/swtor_erickson">Star
Wars: The Old Republic Lead Writer Interviewed at GDC 2010 -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/InexpensivePets">WoW:
Fashionable and Inexpensive Non-Combat Pets
- Democratizing
DDO
-
Turbine Reveals New
Facts and Figures at GDC 2010 - New href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/blackprophecy/trailer">Black Prophecy href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/blackprophecy/trailer"> Trailer
- TERA
Preview at GDC 2010
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!
- Benjamin J. de la Durantaye
and the
Ten Ton Hammer team
