by John Hoskin on Jan 22, 2008
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It's always a momentous day when a fresh MMOG launches. January 22nd will be remembered, for at least 24 hours, as the day that Pirates of the Burning Sea launched. Those of you who have been whimpering for a unique game devoid of Dwarfs and Elves have been granted a wish.
So there I was, reading through the 50 or so websites that I peruse on a daily basis in my neverending attempt to know what is going on, when I noticed that even some of the people who should understand the casual versus hardcore "issue" really don't get it. The bottom line is that casual doesn't mean 'easy' and hardcore doesn't mean 'difficult'. How did many players get stuck on this notion?
You need look no further than World of Warcraft to see that a game most MMOG players define as casual friendly has a deep hardcore foundation. It simply flows well from one gameplay type to another. The vocal group out there who claims that WoW is for 'noobs' probably hasn't played it or they tried it and left because they weren't as adept as most of the other players.
WoW is successful because it has a long learning curve with a gradual grade. Players are led from one puzzle to the next in such an intuitive way that the game just feels right. This is great design folks. This isn't casual. Many of you are hardcore and you don't even know it. Blizzard simply changed the way that developers move new players from being isolated ports in the storm to being part of a larger entity that is taking on more difficult content. That fact that most players didn't even notice is a testament to how good the design really is.
Unlike most MMOGs that came before it, WoW was a game first and a world second. Did anyone really think that forcing a player to run up to every NPC in the world to see if they had a quest was fun? It's like asking every person who walks by you if they can spare some change. We call those people beggers in real life. In EverQuest and even EverQuest 2 everyone was a quest begger, panhandling for quests like some handyman moocher. "I'll take anything you got. You need Eel Eyes? I'll get 'em. You want me to smack 20 rats. No problem. Deliver this package to a guy in some other zone. I'm on it!"
Blizzard took the annoyances of real life out of their game and made it fun. Isn't that what games are supposed to be?
Casual or hardcore? Can you define the difference? Has anyone delivered as much as Blizzard? Hit the Forums!
Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures? Here's my E-mail.
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12 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 183 so far in January! 183 so far in 2008!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today
Age of Conan: All About Items Interview Age of Conan Community at Ten Ton Hammer Goes Live! EVE Online: Giveaway Free Realms: Interview with Lauren Naviaux Lord of the Rings: 10 Screenshots from Book 12 Tabula Rasa: Testing The Future Tabula Rasa: Valverde Plateau Overview Tabula Rasa: Targets of Opportunity - Concordia Palisades Vanguard: Spell List Rebuild Project - Bloood Mage - Level 1-25 Warhammer Online: Four Reasons to Look Forward to War, Part 1 Webkinz: Book Review - "An Air of Mystery" World of Warcraft: Editorial - Battleground Bannings World of Warcraft: Weekly Report - The First Anniversary of The Burning CrusadeHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to
Age of Conan: All About Items Interview Age of Conan Community at Ten Ton Hammer Goes Live! EVE Online: Giveaway Lord of the Rings: 10 Screenshots from Book 12 Age of Conan: Gaute Godager Shares Age of Conan Vision [Video] [Premium Video] Age of Conan: Crafting in Age of Conan Revealed [Video] [Premium Video] Age of Conan: Interview With Quest Designer Joel Bylos World of Warcraft Database - Gold Seller Free Age of Conan: Zone Preview Video - The Maze [Video] [Premium Video] Age of Conan: Officially Down To 12 ClassesMMOG News And Improved
Lord of the Rings Online: Book 12 Live on RoherynNeed More? Look no further for all of the headlines.
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- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team