October 19th, 2007

Weekly Hot
Topics

Collected by Dalmarus

It's that time of the week again everyone, where I bring you the Weekly
Hot Topics featuring both the href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38">TTH
Vanguard forums and the  href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/forums/list.m">official
Vanguard forums. Even though the majority of topics running
rampant on the boards revolve around camp etiquette or the lack there
of, fear not, for I've managed to find some other interesting topics
for us to discuss as well!



Have you come across a thread you'd like to see featured? href="mailto:[email protected]">Send it off
(with a subject of "Weekly Hot Topics"). Or if style="font-weight: bold;">you want to be
featured, start an engaging thread on href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38">our
forums here.

TTH Vanguard Forums

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=19906"> style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Etiquette
on contested mobs. Can it exist again?
- By Dalmarus



By
the time I finished last week's Hot Topics list, I had to
spray myself down with a fire extinguisher after wading through the
flame-infested
lands of the official forums. The majority of those flames focused
around the
idea that this is a new era and camp etiquette is just a myth
perpetuated by
old timers from other gamers.

To
vent a bit, not to mention try to decide if I was just a
grumpy curmudgeon that couldn't deal with "those damn
whippersnappers", I started this thread to test the waters. Either I
really am sane (at least in my own head), or those that disagree with
me
wouldn't come out of the shadows. What do you think? If you think camp
etiquette is for the weak, speak up. And for those that like a bit of
fair play
in their gaming sessions, I want to hear from you too!

Official Vanguard Forums

href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?&topic_id=20101"> style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Solo
Vs. Grouping - By Stormhammer



While
this argument certainly isn't a new one to anyone
that's played an MMO, that doesn't mean it isn't still valid. There are
quite a
few players (myself included) that enjoy soloing the majority of the
time. For
me, it's mainly due to keeping odd hours or only being able to play in
20-minute intervals. For others, it's just a personal preference. That
being said
however, I still think the majority of the game should be geared for
group
play, even if that means having a group of only 2 players.

As
time passes, it's a simple truth that many of us that
used to have 5 hours a day to play our favorite MMO back in the day
simply
can't take the time to do that any more. As such, our needs for games
have
changed. Keep in mind the amount of change for each of us is different
though.
On the other hand, you have a new generation of gamers that were in the
same
boat we were years ago and have plenty of time to devote to whatever
they
choose. So who's more important? The old generation that fueled the MMO
market
to begin with, the new generation with time to kill, or do companies
have to
accept the fact that they need to accommodate both groups of players?

href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=20069"> style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Camping
Etiquette - By Jjay88

I wanted to add this thread to the
list this week to
highlight a couple of things. One, considering how many pages it's
garnered in
a relatively short period of time shows how hotly a contested issue
this is. I
think that as more people continue to hit the level cap, this will
continue to
be a hot issue. Will the upcoming Ancient Port Warehouse raid area ease
heat
this argument up or do you think it will cool it down by giving those
players somewhere
else to hunt? It should be interesting to see.

I
also added this thread to highlight the differences
between our forums. The topic is the same, but much calmer. Of course,
that
could just be because it doesn't appear that anyone has taken the FFA
route in
our forums, but I have faith someone will finally have enough of the
"carebear" chat and call me an old timer past his gaming prime, haha.





href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=20231"> style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">New
Ksavari Quest line is great...Buuuut... - By
Suntsu



Suntsu
brings up an interesting point in this thread. Why is
SOE adding new low level content when there is already a plethora of
things for
those characters to do already? Some believe that it's far easier to
create
content for those levels than it would be for them to focus more on
non-raid
content for later levels. While
a number of theories on their reasoning abound,
from a consumer's point of view, even if something is easier doesn't
mean it's
the right thing to do. There are a large number of players currently at
the
level cap, and more are added each week. With the introduction of the
rest xp,
that number is climbing even higher. If SOE wants to keep the attention
of its
players, it's going to need to give the players more "end-game" content.





href="http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/posts/list.m?topic_id=20142"> style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rakurr/Ranger/Rogue
Protest to GU3 - By Kerwyn

What Hot Topics list would be complete without at least one,
"I can't believe you're nerfing me!" thread? Especially considering
the fact that the original poster even admits that they have NOT been
on the
test server to see how these changes are really being implemented.
Before we go
on to the legitimate comments in the thread, let me stress again that
unless
you take the time to play on the test server and give constructive
feedback,
there will be no sympathy to be found.

Despite the gripes I list above
though, there are some
legitimate concerns. The main one being that rogues and rangers will be
seen as
less necessary members for a group in favor of a bard. While I can see
their
worries, I think they may be unfounded. The amount of DPS a rogue
brings to a
group alone would be reason to not dismiss them. And considering a
ranger does
a great job of setting up weaknesses to exploit. And really... what
group
doesn't want a necromancer in there, haha?

Conclusion

There you go everyone! As the game
progresses, camping etiquette is becoming a continually intensifying
heated topic of discussion. As the weeks continue it will be intriguing
to see what comes of it. Will servers start to enforce their own rules
of engagement, will things eventually reach a kind of status quo, or
will things deteriorate with everyone going to a pure FFA system out
of necessity?
I know which one I hope comes about. Which one do you think will end up
ruling the roost?

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=20073">Let
me know here!