#mulling over mmos

[webxgal]

[Ⅺ] proximo mense

in the following month.

Time passes you by like a speeding bullet. It whistles as it goes, and you are abruptly awakened to the fact it is reaching the end of May. Midterms were a rude reminder that despite everything happening to you, and everything that is going to happen to you, academics are still a responsibility. You brace yourself for humiliation, especially due to your lack of preparation for the exams, but are pleasantly surprised when you manage to score just a little above failing. While you felt a little guilty for thinking so, you can’t help but feel relieved that Iori had taken permanent residence in the failing bracket for the dorm, so you felt a little less ashamed when Kirijo asked about how your papers went.

(Yet, judging by Takeba’s mirthless stare at your head, you have an inkling that maybe scoring above Iori isn’t as much of an accomplishment as you made it out to be.)

Despite feeling exhausted by the weekly-ish expeditions to Tarturus, you can’t help but find the missions a welcomed distraction. It gave you less time to think, less time to bemoan the regrets that brew in your mind when you think of Yuko or the apprehension you felt when your grandmother stopped her spam calling early this month. A good granddaughter, a good person, would at least call her back for a welfare check or to see if it’s anything urgent. Yet, you carry your family’s fatal flaw in your veins as if it were a heirloom, and your selfishness will never let you suffer a teeth-grinding conversation for another. Concepts like family were meaningless, as breakable as killing yourself in a bathtub or starving yourself in an empty apartment. Nobody will put you first, other than yourself.

When SEES activities weren’t taking up your time, you found yourself mulling over magazines in the lounge often. You need to replace your camera, desperately, but finding a good quality one with your limited budget proved to be a more arduous task than you expected. Usually, the first floor is vacant at the times you are downstairs, giving you the peace you need as you examine flyers carefully. However, today it seems you overestimated everyone’s ability to be busy on a Sunday.

“What’re you doing?” Takeba asks, plopping down beside you on the two-seater couch. She leans over slightly to take a peak at the booklets you have piled on the coffee table, her eyes widening. “Oh, I didn’t know you were that into technology.”

Considering how old your phone is, goes unsaid.

“I’m not,” You correct her, not meeting her eyes. “I’m just trying to find a good camera for the one I broke.”

Ever since your unspoken meltdown, you’ve been filled with the irrational idea that every attempt at small talk is forced on her part, and you starve for female validation as if it were ambrosia. So, you try to keep your presence minimal and sparse, which proves difficult considering how you both live in the same building and have to spend a hidden hour traversing through a hellish tower. You really didn’t want her to dislike you.

“Right…” If she notices your shifty behaviour, she pays it no mind. “But it wasn’t your fault. It was that shadow—”

“Hey ladies, what’re you two doing?” Iori announces his presence with a drawled-out greeting and a lopsided grin. Takeba's expression sours at being interrupted but she answers his question half-heartedly anyway. He stalks over to lean over your shoulder, reading the paper in your hands as you shuffle aside instinctively.

“Where is Arisato-kun, by the way? I don’t remember seeing him come down today,” The brunette asks and you quirk your head up in sudden interest.

“I think he’s playing that MMO I gave him,” He answers disinterestedly before his attention shifts back to the piles of magazines on the table. “Do you seriously need to think this hard about buying a camera? You can get pretty cheap ones at that Net Café you know?”

“I’m not getting a disposable camera,” You reply flatly, deciding entertaining Iori is barely worth the effort as you go back to sorting your good and mediocre options into separate piles. “It’s my hobby, so I get professional-graded ones. The downside is that they are way too pricey to just blindly throw my money at.”

“And I’m a student living off allowance, so I don’t have that much left to even spend on. Working feels difficult right now too, with me falling behind on school and with the SEES operations…” Without realising it, you’ve begun rambling as you card through the pages of a home shopping manual, missing the shared glances between Takeba and Iori. “So either I’ll have to settle with an average, all-rounder camera since it’s cheaper… or I’ll have to compromise film capacity and resolution… but that sucks, ugh, I won’t be able—”

“So, when did you get into photography? I remember seeing you with a camera since the first year,” Takeba’s forced question snaps you back into the realm of focus, and you recede to a more reserved composure.

“Back when I was little,” You answer shortly and expect that to be the period end of the conversation. You were never asked tailing questions about your passion, nobody cared enough to ask more. It was a nerdy hobby at best, and boring to others at worst. Plus, how would you be able to explain the history behind it? Is there anything more shameful than admitting it became your passion out of desperation to maintain some semblance of a colourful home, and when the effort was spat back in your face you use it every day just to show everyone how you live a happy life? That death does not call for you and you do not call for it?

Is spite a good enough reason to love something?

Luckily, this conversation does not take any monumental turn because you three are just kids wasting time on a slow Sunday, hardly close enough to bother beyond surface-level questions. So, Takeba merely hums.

“It’s nice to have something you’re so dedicated to,” She comments simply and you just agree.

Iori, having grown bored of this conversation, has already made his way to the door but Takeba is just a little faster, turning her head with a raised brow in his direction.

“Going to the station to kill time like always?” She sighs and misses how his expression fills with genuine bitterness that quickly shifts to light-hearted annoyance. You realise nothing either, preoccupied with scratching off the coupons on the back page of a magazine.

“What’s it to you? Are you my mom?” He meets her sass but doesn’t waste time shutting the door before she can get a response in, resulting in an unheard huff from the girl. The air is terse, and you will yourself not look up from colourfully printed titles. The lull in conversation between you and Takeba is discomforting, unlike the quiet ambience that usually takes up the room when Arisato is around. A pull at your gut tells you that this tension isn’t supposed to exist, and you’re sure it is because Takeba is the more extroverted counterpart to Arisato, so silence from her is meant to be offputting rather than the standard. However, it’s too little too late for you to act on it, because when you feel the dip in the couch disappear, you find Takeba standing up.

“I think I’ll be heading out. Good luck on finding a camera,” She shoots you a tight-lipped smile, and you reply with practised politeness before she’s already out the door. You can’t help the breath that escapes your lips, slumping against the polyester fabric of the backrest. It bites into your mind that perhaps you should be at least attempting to get along more with the dormmates and team members, but living in synchronisation has never been your style. It doesn’t seem to be SEES’s style either, as you barely see them when the school week is over and they are given the window of opportunity to spend their precious break elsewhere.

The dorm didn’t feel very homely. It just felt like sharing a space with reluctant co-workers.

You pick up the faint jingle coming from upstairs, unmistakably from a game. Arisato is one of the prime examples you can think of when you imagine independence. He keeps his eyes straight ahead during expeditions, never lingering. He leaves the classroom as soon as the dismissal bell rings, and he doesn’t return to the dorm till the spare remaining minutes before the Dark Hour strikes. There is no sentimentality in the way he moves, no hesitation and no room for deeper thought.

You wonder if it’s easy to live like that.

You did not fancy yourself the greatest actor of your generation, but you think you’re doing a pretty good job at not letting your cluelessness show on your face.

On those rare occasions when all of SEES decide to sit together at the dining table, the mention of an unconscious girl being found at the student gate is thrown into the discussion. Apparently, it’s been the raging news recently and apparently, you were the last one in this dorm to find out about it. Your attention span has only gotten worse these days, and you find yourself zoning out during classes as well. You chalk it up to some kind of exhaustion, from the sudden change in lifestyle and the battles at Tarturus.

You nod along listlessly as the group discusses the rumours of a ghost being behind this, much to Takeba’s visible displeasure and Iori’s smug delight. The idea of a girl collapsing at the school gates in the middle of the night, defenceless, left an obvious bad taste in your mouth. You were no monster. However, you find that all the information being thrown around the table has been going in from one ear, and out the other.

“What do you think?” You startle immediately, not expecting a question to be shot at you, much less by Arisato who sits directly across from you. He speaks bluntly with a tone betraying no emotion, posture lax with his cheek resting on the palm of his hand, almost bored. Yet, there is something about the gleam in his eyes that spoke a different story.

It was a look that read ‘Caught you’ and you fluster immediately as the group’s attention diverts to you.

“Oh! Um…” You scramble to put a half-assed statement together. “Well… a ghost story can’t be totally ludicrous. I mean, I think the idea of shadows or Personas seem more fictitious, right? Whose to say ghosts don’t exist.”

It seems your well-meaning attempt at adding some weight to the conversation is taken the wrong way, with the table finding humour in your unintentional joke, sans Takeba (obviously) and Arisato (who keeps a fixed straight face). A sudden table slam catches everyone’s attention, finding Takeba with her palms pressed against the flat surface and a fire in her brown eyes.

“Fine then, let’s investigate it!” She practically spits out the words, filled with ire. “Each of us will ask around for the rest of the week and gather information. I’ll show you this ghost story is a bunch of nonsense!”

You sweatdrop at her unexpected and childish reaction, feeling a familiar tug in your conscious that warns you that you are about to be severely inconvenienced. However, it’s too late for you to take back your poorly-thought out statement as Kirijo hums thoughtfully.

“Sounds good to me. The story is a bit unnerving, isn’t it?” Despite the reflective tone she takes on, there is a placid smile on her lips that tells you that she’s finding some entertainment in the second year’s panic. Takeba lets out a bewildered noise, as if not expecting to be taken seriously, or maybe hoping someone would discourage her.

“We’ll leave it to you guys, then,” Sanada, ever Kirijo’s supporter, chimes in with matching amusement. “Would’ve been too scary for me.”

It seems that the consequences of her rash words have sunken in, as the brunette sinks in on herself at the situation she’s created. You give her an unimpressed stare, equally as regretful for suddenly having a new set of responsibilities pushed onto you. Iori and Arisato lack any excitement for the decision either, judging by the flat stare Arisato shoots her and Iori’s delated posture.

Playing Nancy Drew with your classmates wasn’t on your itinerary for June.

#persona 3 #p3 #persona 3 x reader #p3 x reader #makoto yuki #makoto yuki x reader #minato arisato #minato arisato x reader #persona 3 protagonist x reader #persona 3 protagonist #x reader #reader insert #webxgal writes #memento vivere

[motheatenscarf]

Had a couple days to mull over some Shadowbringers thoughts while I fixate on housing and level up Trust party members as friends catch up to me in the story.

General musings is all.

Officially declaring that yeah, people were right, base Shadowbringers and the first like, 3 patches worth of patch content is far and away the strongest the storytelling has been in this game. It was legit good. Like, single player RPG good. And one of the better single player RPGs I've played kind of single player RPG good. A proud successor to the likes of some of the best entries in the Final Fantasy series good. It even managed to incorporate the MMO elements into the story (making your past life's entire ability being to call upon allies from afar) in a way that felt not only meaningful but on theme.

I loved Heavensward, but in a way that was like... I personally got a lot of mileage out of it, I'm sure others would vary. Shadowbringers was just legit good and I recommend it to everyone. It's... actually worth the slog of getting through through ARR and Stormblood. Stormblood admittedly isn't the... worst, but depending on your sensitivity to uh, let's call it the "George R.R. Martinification of History" in your fantasy settings, you will either be able to roll with the weak storytelling and have fun with the things that work. Or you're gonna be fucking furious and hate a lot of what's going on.

As for the last couple of patches worth of story content in Shadowbringers, i.e., the stuff that's setting up Endwalker... I'm not sure how I feel about it yet? I'm still parsing it. The stuff with the Scions is still fine and it works, it's serviceable, and I'm glad to have Estinien back, there were some fun interactions there. But the villains. Woof.

Zenos is over the top in a fun way, big gestures and waxing poetic on his intentions, grade A villain Presentation stuff. And then Fandaniel just being... every annoying stereotype about queer coded villains and not in a fun way. I think it has everything to do with the VA not being that skilled to start with and these mincing little dances that he does. He's just so fucking tedious. Asahi was already The Worst Character and then they brought him back possessed by The Worst Ascian, but kept the voice actor, and made him somehow even more offensive in doing so. Great. Thanks.

Idk. It's just such a step backwards after all the work they did with Emet Selch to humanize the Ascians and made him one of if not the most compelling characters in the game so far. They even did great making Elidibus sympathetic, if not especially gripping as a character. Time will tell if they do anything interesting with what they're setting up, but that's a couple weeks away for me at this point while my friends catch up.

#Caitlin Plays FF14 #FF14 spoilers

[devoutpriest]

ragnarxlodbrok:

"TRIANGLE MEME THING :)" RAGNAR LOTHBROK AND ATHELSTAN PLAY AN MMO TOGETHER. RAGNAR LOTHBROK IS THE TANK AND ATHELSTAN IS THE HEALER. ATHELSTAN & RAGNAR IN A SKYPE CALL, WHILST PLAYING A GAME OF LEAGUE OF LEGENDS TOGETHER.

Upon the League of Legends character selection screen being loaded up, Athelstan paused, mulling over which character to pick. He hadn’t had too much experience yet, playing these action kind of games. This MMO had come through the rift in time, it lying on the table. Athelstan had seen Bjorn pick it up, interested. He was still learning, but he found out it helped with his basic instincts and reflexes a little. He had heart attacks more oft than the fellow Vikings, they thinking heart attacking good for the rhythmic swirling stars in one's body and soul ; especially Rollo and Floki and some of the more vile villagers ; to make one's heart beat alive in their chest. One had to act QUICK. Finally, he decided to choose Sona, a blue-haired healer who could do damage, but another vital factor was her beautiful ability to play music. It calmed him, as much as painting did, and “HEALED THY SOUL.” It additionally inspired him, made him feel quite elated. He noticed Ragnar had selected a tank character, and he couldn’t help smiling in response. He had chosen Garen, who had been in Demacia with Luxanna, they fighting in a war together and developed a close bond. He was a good strong starter character.

“RAGNAR, LOOK OUT FOR ELISE!”

Athelstan shouted in instinct upon seeing the giant spider form of said enemy bear down on his friend’s tank character, and then winced. As he rushed to Ragnar's side, who reacted quick, holding a bow like Ashe, running in the grassy plains of Summoner's Rift. This Elise had emerged originally from the darkness of the caves around the lanes, where it hatched spider eggs, the mother spider. The enemy, which was Jarl Borg had harnessed enough energy to grow Elise into an ultimate. He hoped that his exclamation wasn’t TOO loud, and he didn’t unintentionally burst his friend’s eardrums through the Skype call.

His heart hammered in fright in his chest, as Elise covered his screen, which looked surely like a pixelated (albeit in a high quality resolution) but nonetheless SCARY devil but he tries desperately to still it, willing his Sona over to her. He then started to disperse multiple quick bursts of hymn of valor ( a yellow music note drifting in the air ) to damage Elise’s health and thus help save Ragnar’s theoretical life. Ragnar was fighting well with his bow and arrow, as well as his chainmail breastplate protecting him, yet the spider was viciously large, and his health bar was going significantly more red than the spider.

Of course, his friend was a tank, but that didn’t mean he was completely invincible.

#rp partner | ragnarxlodbrok #ic #headcanon.

[sandwyrm]

Live remake made me want to rewatch ATLA for the 53rd time or whatever, and I offered my kid to watch with me. We're 2 days and 2 seasons in and so far: -she has predicted lightning bending, metalbending and lava bending halfway through s1. I am mad. I never saw them coming, I never even thought of them as possibilities. -during the Blue Spirit episode prison break. "Are they friends? I think they're friends!". at the end, when they're both rolling in bed mulling it over, she gestures at the screen angrily. "Just. SHut up and sleep." -she has concluded Sokka is gay. I couldn't argue against it. I just need to introduce her to the term 'bi' since the internet hasn't, and her conclusion is based on hard science (he blushes on two different occasions when guys hug him) -heard more 'fuck you's and 'die's than I spew while PVPing in MMOs. -/*seeing me watch the Netflix version*/ "Oh is that Avatar as a movie???" me: yeah that's how I remembered the cartoon, but the movie isn't as good. her: of course it's not as good, they had to use fans and special effects for bending but in the cartoon it's drawn so they can make it look epic SHE IS EIGHT SHE IS NOT LEGALLY ALLOWED TO BE THIS CLEVER.

And my personal favorite,

13 episodes in s1 I notice her looking at Zuko a little too seriously. "What's that scar? I just noticed it." I will never know whether that was her thinking it's something else, her ADHD blocking it out entirely, or the fact that she is so politically correct and brainwashed by all that forced rep that it took her a 5 hours to realize a dude has a scar on his face.

[endlessmidnightparade]

32. PAGE OF CUPS: A PLEASANT SURPRISE (What was your most recent writing-related pleasant surprise?)

and

36. ACE OF SWORDS: NEW PROJECTS (What project/WIP do you want to work on next?)

Thank you!

Yayy thank youu for the ask! I'm always pleasantly surprised when people actually send me something haha. Here we go!

32. So I've been working on an original story that was supposed to be a magical girl story but with knights. It was an excuse to draw a bunch of different women in different types of armor. Well that idea definitely has evolved over the years. And this is me rambling...

Anyways, I have been mulling over my story trying to figure out an interesting chain of events for the first chapter of my story. It's been several years and I haven't been able to connect the final dot and find a spark that was good. I was pleasantly surprised when it randomly came to me one day. I was in a discord vc and someone said something random and i was like HEY! THIS IS IT THIS IS THE CHAIN OF EVENTS. And so I started with the line "Hey girl get up, there's monsters coming after you." and literally the plot for the first chapter just flowed out of my head and yeah that pleasantly surprised me. I learned that I'm definitely the type of artist that has to contemplate my pieces for a long time.

36. The wip I want to work on next is...I've recently started playing the Star Wars the Old Republic MMO Again and so I'm inspired to write the story for one of my toons! It takes place in between the Shadow of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire DLC (yes a lot of mumbo jumbo, I know), and she goes on a personal quest where she encounters a bunch of my other SWTOR toons. It borderline an original story tbh.

#ask answer #ask game

[multiplayingorg]

To CE, or not to CE

| Repost: Originally posted by Steve "Slurms" Lichtsinn on July 21, 2011

Well the time is finally upon us. We now have images of what will some day be in our offices, dens, or family rooms next to our computers. Tempting photos of the Star Wars: The Old Republic game box and all the swag that comes with its Collector’s Edition.

But which version to get?

I fully expected to drop down whatever ridiculous price EA slapped on the CE. I mean, this IS the MMO I’ve been looking for. But I’m instead mulling over the decision as if I were trying to pick out a new car. I’m weighing heavily the extra items that come with the $150.00 price tag and trying to foresee if I will be able to justify the purchase. As a person who is on a budget for games, this is the kind of money that would kill a couple months of new video game purchases.

I do have an amazing wife though. She’s not giving me carte blanche so to speak, but she is letting me make the decision whether or not to spend the money. I think she understands that it’s something I’ve been waiting a long time for. She’ll never understand “why,” but she loves me enough to overlook that.

I’m currently leaning towards purchasing the less expensive Digital Deluxe edition for $80.00. On one hand, I love the extra digital items that come with it, but on the other; IT’S EIGHTY DOLLARS. That’s pretty steep! So I start to see all the additional items that come with the CE for 70 slices of bread more to be a bit more reasonable. But then I think…A HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS!

I’ll be mulling over my choice for the remainder of the day, but I’m curious to know:

If you bought SW:TOR, what version are you buying?

#throwback thursday

[youtubegreys]

A tale in the desert guide

#A TALE IN THE DESERT GUIDE HOW TO#

#A TALE IN THE DESERT GUIDE FREE#

Merek always struck me as the older, calmer member of the pair.

#A TALE IN THE DESERT GUIDE HOW TO#

That’s serious -serious- trust.) I learned how to find marble from them – though if you asked me at gunpoint now, I can’t remember how to save my life. (Spouses in ATITD can literally log on as each other’s characters. I remember we mined a decent amount of marble together as well. I still have some old screenshots of the pair dowsing for metals and me in the vicinity possibly doing the same thing? We were talking in chat, so I was probably learning how to do it from them? This is absolute bliss as an explorer motivated by discovery. It’s years ago now, but I seem to recall that I mostly provided cheerful conversational counterpoint, and the two veterans essentially took newbie me under their wing and taught me little interesting secrets that you couldn’t find on the standard wiki. The only thing I can do when trust is extended like that is accept the honor in the spirit that it is given, and not abuse it.

#A TALE IN THE DESERT GUIDE FREE#

My possessions are mine, until I decide to stop playing, at which point, whoever wants them is free to declare open season and nab them for their own use. Every time I play ATITD, I have one personal guild that is only me and my alt. Significant levels of trust are involved with guild invites and guild ranks. Or even if you intended stuff to be shared, maybe you didn’t intend for one person to take ALL the resources overnight and use it all for personal profit. This in A Tale in the Desert, an MMO where if your ownership permissions are set carelessly, anyone can pretty much come along and loot you out of any and all possessions that you set to be shareable. (I was Isaiah, and my alt spouse was Juliana.) Imagine my surprise when one day, out of the blue, I got a guild invite to, pretty much, their personal guild. I did my usual solo self-sufficiency hermit thing, just being civil to all and sundry. Turns out that a pair of veteran players also had similar ideas and we ended up in the neighborhood near each other. I’d moved up to middle Egypt to have a change from my previous Tale 3 attempt down south Egypt near the Zfree guild. My second go at A Tale in the Desert was on Tale 4’s Bastet shard. Tehm (aka tehmoosh) and merek (aka Verix) were a very well known ATITD pairing since the early Tales. Sadly, one would rather not see familiar names pop up in this context: Something about just seeing the same names over and over again, and having the time and space to have civil conversations without getting interrupted by aggressive virtual wildlife and so on. It’s a very social, tight-knit, neighborly sort of community (including neighbors of the sort who hate each other.)īut now and then, neighbors become friends. I haven’t played the game for years, but I had a nice MMO time with it when I played. I end up joining a bunch of groups because people want me to listen in, and I join a few other groups of interest where I lurk and every once in a very rare blue moon, scroll through pages and pages of text chat of other peoples’ conversations weeks ago.)Ī Tale in the Desert’s Discord chat is one of the latter. Or I have no idea how to use it to its fullest potential, and very little impetus to do more with it. While mulling over his memory, wondering if the faint melancholy of the past few days was worth a post of some kind, what do I see while reviewing the immense Discord detritus I’d accumulated with the Dragon’s End metas and Aetherblade CM release? Touched enough lives that you can hang out with his virtual doppelganger and bring back his ten rats. No, what really got me was the commenter at the bottom of that post. Lifestyles were healthier in the old days. They made it into their 90s, which is likely far longer than I might achieve. Perspective, indeed.īoth elderly relatives have now already passed on, by the way. The old post took my mind off that rather neatly. A game that wasn’t supposed to be a traditional MMO ever. I’d been doomscrolling the GW2 reddit recently for far too obsessive a time for the last week or so, and getting somewhat unsettled by the seeming brigade of hardcore challenge-seekers clamoring for more rewards for their preferred game type – including exclusive mount skins and high profit rewards – so that they could resume their place on the traditional MMO pedestal of prestige. Going down the rabbit hole of my blog posts, probably the only one with the gumption to do so, I came across an old post that brought back serious memories. The plan is still in effect, but not today. It seems like I was a lot more excitable and passionate then, for one thing. Perhaps find the equivalent comparisons to the Flame and Frost story instances and Molten Facility / Molten Furnace instances and do a compare and contrast? The plan was to re-read some of my ancient posts way back in 2012 and early 2013 to remember how I felt about GW2’s Living Story World back then.

#A tale in the desert guide

[gegenji]

Merchant (MER) as a FFXIV Job

A while back (almost a year and a half now, in fact) I wrote a dissertation on how one could implement Beastmaster as a tank job using concepts taken primarily from how Summoner was being handled at the time. Given how things have gone since that point with the Arcanist-based pet jobs, its base concept seems all the more possible... though it's just as likely to become a Limited Job like Blue Mage just to allow for the full actualization of taming something and using it as your companion. Still, it was a fun thing to do and I’ve been mulling over doing another.

This is the actualization of that, albeit a rather spur of the moment one. Like before, it’s - as the title implies - the idea of a "Merchant" combat class that is actually an attempt at providing that Chemist-like job folks have been wanting. Just with some inspiration from the Bravely Default job of the same name, and some other gil-based concepts like Zenniage.

As for how it came about? It all just sort of... clicked into place during a conversation, honestly. Hopefully it all makes sense, too!

Disclaimer: As with the BST theorycraft post, this whole idea is just speculation and ideas presented for fun and as a mental exercise. There's likely to be gaping holes in the concept that would need to be dealt with to be executed properly, and things like potency and cooldown timers won't be delved into at all. This is all theorycrafting and spitballing, after all. Don't expect much else to come out of it other than perhaps some smiles on the part of the reader.

And, also like the Beastmaster post, this will likely get unnecessarily in-depth and wordy (as is my wont). So it will be put under a Read More just like the last.

High Concept: Merchant as an "Item"-Based Healer Job

As mentioned above, one of the abilities I've seen people lamenting not being able to do in FFXIV is throw potions at people, a la the Chemist in Tactics (though the job is also in FFV in a much more broken capacity) or - honestly - like what you can do in any single-player RPG like the non-MMO Final Fantasies. Of course, I’ve always had the mental block on actually thinking too deeply on it because the Alchemist already exists as a Disciple of the Hand class. Why would they make a Chemist job that would just confuse people?

There were other issues as well, of course. Most folks also wanted this Chemist job to use a gun too - another design decision taken from Tactics, since Chemist was among the three jobs that could use one (the other being Mustadio’s titular Machinist - a Squire replacement - and Mediator). This, of course, would step on the toes of FFXIV’s own Machinist job without some sort of variation to set it apart..Using two smaller pistols at once, for example. But I wanted to avoid as much overlap as possible - giving the job its own kind of unique identity - and that meant a unique weapon as well.

Then there's the problem that if the character actually had to use items, then that would require this job to have to carry around materials much like how Hunters had to carry around arrows or a Rogue their poisons in WoW. It would attach a cost to playing the job that - while fitting for the flavour - would be detrimental to the player since they would have to spend more gil than any other job. So, of course, the obvious solution for this is to nix that for the sake of gameplay.

With all this ironed out, the overall concept became one of the idea of a healer that uses "items" as a method of healing and support, where said "items" are just cooldowns like anything else. Like what you'd see with some NPCs or use yourself when playing as them. Just with some fun little additions to add a bit of mercantile flair to the job as a whole, all of which I'll delve into here.

--------------------

General Information

Job Role: Healer Primary Stat: Mind Weapon: Bag

You read that right! Bags! These were actually a weapon in Final Fantasy Tactics. Normally only usable by female characters, they had a random damage range like axes. However, for someone who is using items to heal, it also seemed fitting that they use the very bag they carry everything in as a weapon in a pinch.

Job Gauge: Profit Gauge

The Profit Gauge is a meter to display how much "profit" the Merchant has gained during the course of combat. Profit is used to increase the efficacy many of the Merchant's moves, allowing for big bursts of healing or damage at the cost of the resource. It also has a section to indicate whether they are in a Nald or a Thal Market.

Limit Break: Defibrillation

Taking all the energy gathered from the fight and funneling it into an experimental device, the Merchant jolts downed allies to life and heals everyone up to full.

--------------------

Expendable Resource - "Profit"

(The name for this resource has gone through a few revisions. First was Currency or Wealth, and then started moving away to the more abstract Gratuity before ending up as Profit.)

All things are made from aether. People, plants, animals, the land itself. As such, this also extends to the various concoctions made by (and oftentimes out of) these things. However, such things are never a perfect one-to-one ratio. And there's always some degree of excess.

The Merchant skims this excess from the potions and tinctures they use, gathering each extra little bit of aether in the crystal focus clasp set in their Bag. From there, they can infuse it right back into the next item they use - giving an extra little kick to the healing or damage that it might do.

This allows a Merchant to suddenly bolster the power of their abilities, but each use eats into that Profit. If they spend too much of it or use it too frivolously, they might not have enough saved up for when they actually need it, considering...

Nald/Thal Market

On the side of the gauge, there is a circle that is usually empty. However, after hitting a certain level, this field activates to symbolize the Merchant’s ability to identify the ebb and flow of the aether that is coursing about the battlefield. This is represented by a symbol of Nald'thal with an up arrow, a down arrow or a line along with a timer. These, in order, identify a Nald, Thal, or Even Market.

During a Nald Market, there is extra aether to be had - leading to a boost in the amount of Profit gained from each action taken. Conversely, a Thal Market means a dearth of aether, resulting in less Profit being gained with each action. An Even Market means no change to the Profit gained at all, and is the default when out of combat.

Once combat begins, a timer appears for the Even Market, and then it cycles into a Nald or Thal Market. After that subsequent timer runs out, it can refresh as the same Market or switch to the opposite. It takes a wily Merchant to capitalize on a Nald Market, gaining and spending Profit freely. But they should also make sure to keep some left over should it become a Thal Market.

--------------------

Combat and Mechanics

As mentioned above, the main idea of this type of healer is a healer that can - in times of necessity - have a sudden spike of healing or damage by utilizing the Profit Gauge. It's not unlike how a Scholar can use their Aetherflow stacks for a sudden Lustrate or Indomitability. However, a Merchant can constantly gain their resource unlike a Scholar, and thus their healing is more deeply tied with having this resource on hand to be spent.

The gain of Profit, however, is not a constant thing thanks to the shifting of the Nald/Thal Market. As such, playing a Merchant is about using their abilities to seek to properly utilize and cultivate this flighty resource. There are, of course, some abilities to allow them to circumvent or even ignore their Profit Gauge, but these are mainly for emergencies.

The overall idea is to be utilizing your basic attacks and heals to generate Profit at all times. These are generally low potency, however, and will require usage of your gathered Profit in order to put out any meaningful numbers. So, just getting a full Profit Gauge and then sitting on it until you need a big heal is technically a viable strategy, actively utilizing your Profit and the abilities that manipulate it will maximize both the Merchant's damage and healing capabilities.

And, due to the ability to burst damage as well as healing, the Merchant would likely end up one of the more damaging Healer options. However, this comes at the cost of eating far more into its healing. The other healers would likely be preferable for their consistent healing and damage numbers over the peaks and valleys of a Merchant. However, a properly played one makes a perfectly serviceable healer.

-------------------- 

Actions & Traits

Much like the BST section of the same name, the items listed are not in level order and are instead grouped as I feel would work best. The overall goal to show the items in each part of the kit for an overall whole. Potency, cooldown timers, and Profit costs are not included either and will instead be given in vague terms. I'm sure concrete values could be figured out for these, but that is a bit beyond the scope of this theorycraft.

Attack Items

Dark Potion - Deals unaspected damage.

Poison Breath  - Deals unaspected damage over time.

TNT - Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it.

Zenniage - Deals unaspected damage, potency increases with Profit. Uses all Profit bar.

Support Items

Aqua Vitae - Restores target's HP.

Caligo Vitae - Restores own HP and HP of all nearby party members.

Savium Vitae - Resurrects target to a weakened state.

Iron Draft - Erects a magicked barrier which nullifies damage. Does not actually heal.

Samson Power - Increases damage dealt by a party member or self by 3%.

Goliath Tonic - Restores target’s HP, percentage matches Profit. Uses all Profit bar.

Market Abilities

Poor Quailty - Reduces the potency of the next Item used, but increases the amount of Profit gained off it.

Good Quality - Increases the potency of the next Item used by 50%, but uses a decent amount of Profit (~25-50).

Great Quality - Increases the potency of the next Item used by 100%, but uses a large amount of Profit (~50-100).

Speculate - Force a reroll of the Market, making it a Nald, Thal, or Even.

Ether Loan - Increase Profit Gauge by 30. Long cooldown.

Deep Pockets - Allows usage of Good Quality without Profit cost for 15s.

Traits

Pharmacology - Increases base action damage and restoration by 10%.

Pharmacology II - Increases base action damage and restoration by 30%.

Market Sense - Adds the Market indicator to your Profit Gauge.

Deeper Pockets - Changes Deep Pockets to Deeper Pockets, allowing usage of Great Quality without Profit cost for 15s.

Potions Mastery - Upgrades Dark Potion to Dark Hi-Potion and Poison Breath to Morbol Breath .

Potions Mastery II - Upgrades Dark Hi-Potion to Dark X-Potion and Morbol Breath to Dragon Breath .

Potions Mastery III - Upgrades Dark X-Potion to Dark Elixir and Dragon Breath to Dark Breath .

Mix Mastery - Upgrades Samson Power to Dragon Power, increasing the boost from 3% to 6%.

Long-Term Speculation - Allows accumulation of charges for Speculation. Maximum Charges: 2.

-------------------- --------------------

Afterword

Things have changed a lot since the last theorycraft I did. A whole new expansion has changed up how the jobs are laid out, their traits, and added whole new aspects and angles to them I didn't know about before. I had thought to update my Beastmaster theorycraft to match that, but I also felt that it might be best left as it is as a testament to the idea wrought at the time I put it to paper.

So, instead, I decided a new job was needed instead. I had been musing on how a job like Mime would work in FFXIV, mostly focused around expanding on the concept of Aetherial Mimicry and the Aetheryte Earring from the Shadowbringers Special Edition. Something involving having a basic set of moves, and then some others that changed based on the target you mimicked. And then possibly the idea of its gear shifting stats to match whatever they're mimicking (an idea brought on by a debate about alternate roles for existing jobs).

But I didn't think I had enough of a concept put together for a full on theorycrafting diatribe like I had done for Beastmaster. And then, when talking to some friends about the aforementioned debate and musing on what jobs were left... what jobs people still wanted... and some abilities that had been used in Final Fantasy games but not yet in FFXIV. And this is what came out.

Of course, even as I started writing, things shifted around. The concept of the Profit Gauge solidified with some lore to go with it, along with the addition of the Nald/Thal Market idea (for good or for ill). I was originally musing over trying to include a Slots-style system like Setzer has that would randomly boost (or hinder) the Items used for the next 15 seconds or something... but that seemed a bit too random for a job that already had this amount of variance, and a healer at that.

... Though maybe it can be a third part of the gauge in the future. With a button to spin it for varying positive effects.

Still, all in all, it was a fun exercise. Even if it came crashing into existence much more quickly than the slow formulation that was my Beastmaster concept. Do you like it better? Worse? Have any ideas of your own? Want me to try taking a crack at Mime anyway? Let me know!  

#ffxiv #theorycraft #merchant #wall of text

[rwbyconversations]

RWBY LVL Up 2019 Expo Panel Summaries

So, first one of these for the 6-7 hiatus. This took place on the weekend of April 27th-28th, and saw two panels with the four RWBY girls. Most notably, the panel actually fielded questions from the r/RWBY subreddit prior to the Q&A. 

Saturday

Twitch VOD here. Keep in mind Twitch auto-deletes VODs so this link may be dead if you’re coming back to this in a few weeks The Twitch channel mentions a user called SoraKasaiSkyFire is going to upload them on Youtube. It’s a short little interview session done on the show floor.

This was Kara’s first time in Vegas.

The host is actually an long-time fan of RWBY and opens by talking about how Monty’s legacy has carried on. He highlights Grimm Eclipse and asks if we’ll see RWBY go into other games. Lindsay hopes for an MMO and mentions Amity Arena and Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. Barbara also mentions the Combat Ready board game and Vicious Circle, an unrelated RT project.

What jobs besides being a Huntress do you think your character would have? Barbara thinks Yang would be a personal trainer. Arryn thinks Blake would be a civil lawyer. Kara thinks Weiss would become a Broadway star, and Lindsay goes for Ruby going into a bakery.

If you could bring back any dead character at the cost of a living one, who? Lindsay immediately offers Pyrrha in exchange for Salem (Kara gets ticked off because she was going to say that). Arryn jokingly says “Kill Zwei,” while Barbara mulls over Torchwick. Kara says kill Jacques and bring back Pyrrha.

What advice do you have for people who want to get into the entertainment industry? Lindsay talks about how it’s overwhelming that RWBY took off when they envisioned it as a small passion project and says to keep an eye out for more side-projects.  

Sunday

VOD link here. They’re playing some Smash during the Q&A.

Host Guy’s shirt offends me on a spiritual level. The whole “Stars of such anime like RWBY, Red Vs Blue and Camp Camp” line makes me snicker. That’s my token anime elitism moment out of the way.

Apparently it’s a semi-infrequent thing for the VAs where they’ll meet people cosplaying as RWBY characters and the cosplayers won’t recognize them.

What is the current biggest flaw your character has going into Volume 7? Kara thinks Weiss needs to learn how to get along with her family. Barb thinks Yang is a bit too caring for her friends and talks about how Yang is particularly going through some self-discovery and her abandonment issues in relation to Raven. 

What advice would you give aspiring voice actors? Barbara talks about how hard it is to get into VA work, but there’s always something out there, even if it’s just a car commercial or a friend doing some small animation project. It mostly comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Arryn quips that she could use some advice herself.  

They get interrupted a lot by the Smash play. 

What was your favorite volume to record for and why? Barb- Volume 5 because of Yang’s arc with Raven. Arryn- Volume 5 as well, since that’s when Blake heads home and has to work through the eternal problem of Daddy Issues, (”Since that’s what everyone has.”) and that Blake got to rally the troops. 

How do you deal with emotion in the studio? Barbara explains how challenging it is. Camera acting lets you act through your body language and face, but with VA work you have to carry everything through your voice. Arryn mentions how Blake is very monotonous in the early volumes and how she had to take a few tries to get that level without it falling into sounding asleep. 

If RWBY’s Aura had a scent what would it smell like? Barbara thinks Yang’s would smell like citrus. Arryn goes for a newly opened book. Lindsay and Kara were too distracted by Smash to answer so Barb and Arryn opine that Ruby’s would smell like cookies and Weiss’s Aura would smell like a waterfall or hot linen. 

What are the best and worst qualities of your characters in your eyes? Barbara thinks Yang’s best quality is how much she cares for the people in her life, but that’s also her weakness since she needs to learn when to draw the line and work on her temper. Arryn thinks Blake doesn’t talk about her feelings a lot and had a bad problem to run from her problems, but she’s unfailingly honest when she does stick around. 

Which outfits of Team RWBY do you like the most? Barbara holds a soft spot for her OG outfit but bluntly says that she’s looking forward to the new Atlas outfits (they’ve really not been trying to hide that Atlas will mark new outfits for RWBY at least). Arryn has apparently seen Blake’s new gear but thinks her favorite Blake outfit was her PJs. 

What jobs besides being Huntress would your character have chosen? This got asked the day prior. The only new addition is Barbara and Arryn joking a mechanic Yang would be sexy.

I think this was actually my question- I asked Arryn if she thought Adam was ever a good person or if he was always a psycho. Arryn firmly believes he was always a monster who “dissected animals as a kid,” like Sid from Toy Story. Arryn also mentions the people who were bitter at Adam not getting a redemption arc, while Barbara talks about how people try and find the good in villains.  

They go off topic and talk about games for a long bit. Barbara used to love Smite and played in a few tournaments in-house in RT, while Arryn loves Animal Crossing and Borderlands. Lindsay has been undefeated for the entire Q&A to this point.

What’s the hardest challenge your character’s faced. Kara thinks just going to Beacon was a big challenge for Weiss, and also her confrontation with Jacques at the fundraiser. Barbara mentions confronting Adam at the end of Volume 6. Arryn talks briefly about going home to her family in Volume 4 before getting interrupted by Lindsay’s winning streak being broken.  

The guy host decides to ask a few questions exclusively to Ruby- she agrees with how Ruby’s Aura would smell. Ruby’s greatest challenge has been trying to find herself and move out of her socially awkward/lone wolf shell through becoming a leader and finding that inner strength, which manifested in Volume 6 with her arguing with Qrow.

Final question- any common fan opinions about your characters you don’t like? Kara refuses to let White Knight die and is sure that Weiss has a small crush on Jaune. Barbara isn’t very fond of when people’s headcanons or theories are proven wrong and they criticize the show because of it. “Difference between criticism and hate.” Arryn hates that some people still ship Blake and Adam. Lindsay doesn’t enjoy some people’s takes of characters being bad and that they shouldn’t be in the show, it’s more than just black and white for some characters (someone tell whoever’s writing Cinder that -_-).

#rwby #lvl up expo #Lindsay Jones #kara eberle #arryn zech #barbara dunkelman #rwby panels #lvlupexpo #lvl up expo 2019 #ruby rose #weiss schnee #Blake Belladonna #yang xiao long

[empressledge]

Today I’m going to begin something I’ve thought about doing for a long time but have never really sat down to do.

Buckle the fuck up peeps, today I’m blasting my opinions obnoxiously all over my little corner of the internet.

Today is the first of the days... where I talk about MMOs.

I am not an MMO afficionado. I begrudingly began my MMO career with WoW but found it intimidating - I played a LOT of Flyff back when I had friends, enjoyed but didn’t have a community for EQ2 and made my home in Rift until the parent company turned it into a cesspool of microtransactions and misery.

However, part of my work is user experience - my job is to take the content that my coworkers produce and turn it into something that is consumable and pleasant for other people to use and look at. I am also highly opinionated about what constitutes good and bad user experience design, even though I’m untrained in the field. I know what I like, and I notice what works and what doesn’t work when other people use tools and play games. I form opinions. And now I’m spouting them. Because my latest and greatest love was Rift, that is the MMO I will be referencing most often. Today, I’ll begin by introducing Rift and talking about one of my favourite mishandled features.

For those of you not familiar, Rift is a pretty typical high fantasy MMO that follows many of the conventions of WoW, EQ2 and their kind. Kill monsters, complete quests, level up, with a typical interface and skills on a hotbar. The core mechanics of Rift are nothing special, but a few things set Rift apart - whether this is still true or not I cannot say.

The key difference that Rift brought to the table when I began to play way-back-when was Rifts themselves - tears in the fabric of the world that split open, pouring a whirlpool of elemental outcropping and monsters whose objective was to take over the world.

Tears in the world spontaneously (or deliberately, with the right skill) split into Rifts from one of six planes - Death, Life, Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. These six planes of existence are connected to Telara, the world on which you live and are sworn to protect. Each of the planes covet Telara for lore reasons I cannot recall, so Rifts and their creatures were highly aggressive.

Back in the land of yore, a little low-level character would adventure through the world, following quests and journeying through the zones. You might come across a rift, which you could close yourself or, more likely, with help from someone else. Occasionally, your entire plan would be thrown to the wind due to an invasion - one of the planes would launch an attack on a zone in Telara, opening Rifts across the zone and spewing rampaging enemies continuously, who would set up Footholds in key locations. Large invasions would prevent you from completing quests as smaller quest hubs would be entirely overrun with monsters set on killing you and everything not from their plane. Roads would become battlegrounds between the elemental invaders and the local fauna - both of which wanted to kill you - and of course veering off roads wasn’t much safer, as those were the areas with the densest Telaran monster population. Once an invasion began, everyone in a zone would come together to clear footholds, close the Rifts, defeat the invasion leader, and eventually return Telara to peace once more.

There are a few things about this Rift feature that I think were the most engaging:

Rifts and Invasions were not instanced, but appeared where you were playing

Normal monsters interacted with Invasion monsters, giving them a sense of life and intelligence

Anybody could join anybody else to close rifts and end invasions - there were few ways to drag other players down, and usually any extra bodies in the fight were a positive force

Invasions and Rifts were opportunities to create relationships between other players, but you were not required to already have relationships as you need when taking on things like dungeons and raids

Rifts and Invasions had real consequences and impact - they were temporary, but if you wanted to hand in that quest you needed to clear at least the quest zone. Having consequences made the Rifts seem important, and created a sense of immersion.

Telara had a beautiful world, interesting characters, interesting quests and fun gameplay, but this ability to dip in and out of group content without consequence and without a skill barrier made it a very friendly MMO to play. A changing world - even though the mechanisms behind these changes were quite obvious - helped convince you that this was a real place where your actions mattered, not that you were running around with a toy sword in a city of cardboard buildings.

Now, Rifts and Invasions had their issues too. Players with weaker PCs or slower internet connections had a negatively impact play session when one of these dropped. Players who preferred single player RPG style gameplay, or those who wanted to fast-track to max level, found themselves frustrated at being interrupted. Zones with few players could become unplayable for low-level characters, at least until the timer on the invasion ended, and especially in the earlier days of Rift as there were fewer safeguards against a truly taken over zone - groups of scouts could pile on top of each other on top of footholds, so what initially looked like a group of five monsters suddenly became fifty. These were real issues that impacted players and their enjoyment, and deserved to be addressed!

In response to these issues, Trion - the parent company of Rift - did a number of things:

They scaled down the difficulty of rifts and invasions, making them easier to kill

They changed when invasions appeared - a minimum number of people were required to be in a zone before an invasion could pop, and the more challenging invasions had a higher player requirement

They made invasion footholds and monsters disappear as soon as the invasion timer ended

They beefed up the quest hub guards, making them less likely to be completely annihilated - and if they were, they did not stay that way for long

They added a placeholder mesh for slower computers and connections, meaning that other players and monsters would appear as a single ghostly green cylinder until the computer could catch up with rendering, allowing the player to heal, fight and survive during invasions

Many of these were good changes, but some went too far in the opposite direction. By the time I stopped playing, invasions could and would be ignored - even with a fully populated zone, scouts were easy to bypass, monsters easy to kill, hubs were never taken over or too easily cleared. With no consequences and fewer incentives to participate, players disengaged and the few players who wanted to complete the invasion were unable to close it themselves in time - or, they would struggle to do so with a few dedicated players only to have boss-campers appear only to tag the boss and run away, leaving the people who actually did the work without rewards… which resulted in THOSE players becoming disengaged.

By this time Trion seemed to have placed their focus on Raiders, with encounters and experiences seemingly balanced around them and their feedback. Combined with a race-to-endgame playerbase and server issues, open world content shifted out of focus, and the world lost much of its original allure. When I last played, invasions were an ignored faceroll, only presenting a challenge when they glitched, or when Trion released a new zone and had the invasions tuned towards the too difficult (likely due to balancing around raiders).

Now, many of the changes Trion made for the original issues were positive ones, but there were a lot of other fixes that could have avoided some of these issues and kept the original engagement. Fixes like the green ghost sprites and beefier hub guards were excellent and kept within the realm of possibility for the sprites and lore for the guards.

Invasion strength could have stood some tweaking, but the key issues were:

Invasions stacked on footholds and hubs, resulting in a zerg kill of unsuspecting players

Mobs never disappeared, requiring clearing by SOMEONE - which could be an eight or twelve hour wait on less populated servers

Weaker players, such as the very casual or inexperienced, felt disempowered

Some might argue that slowing down levelling, questing and the rush to endgame were also problems, but I personally disagree with encouraging that particular playstyle and that is a rant for another day.

These issues could have been solved without the mad swing towards easy mode. A few fixes could have changed the game for the better:

Implementing a limit for the number of invasions at a single location, as well as expanding the size of footholds. Rather than a stack of 50 mobs in a 50px area, capping a foothold at say 15 mobs drastically increases the danger and longevity of a foothold while still giving a player a chance at dragging mobs off and killing them one by one. If another group of mobs roll by, they could linger for a minute before rotating onto the next foothold area. This wouldn’t have been a huge tweak to the AI - these paths between rift spawns and foothold spawns were already in place. If all footholds were full, this could have been both a cap for more spawning, and any untethered mobs could simply patrol the area. This makes perfect sense from a lore perspective - what invading force wouldn’t patrol a secured area? Further, smaller patrol paths around footholds could have been created to add interest and decrease the train of mobs on the main path.

Mobs disappearing at the end of the invasion timer was a fix that could have solved most problems by itself, but additional checks for the progress of invasions could have decreased the difficulty if one lone player was struggling against an army. Additional fixes come in my next point, which is...

Rather than nerfing the opponent, empower the player. Temporary buffs already existed within the game and within the lore. An ‘underdog’s advantage’ buff could boost the power of a player who has experienced a set number of deaths within a period of time, or according to other carefully considered metrics that the developers could look at. There already existed a power to summon allies to help you, and this also could have been an alternative to basic nerfs. Calling in reinforcements of NPCs to help you be a hero is much more interesting than cutting through mobs when you’ve done nothing to earn that power.

While these fixes are of course not as easy as the ones implemented, I believe they’re better user design - they engage the player, they keep the lore and consequences intact and improve them in some areas. Players need rewards in order to participate in content, but I also believe they need consequences - otherwise, you have a playerbase that rushes to endgame, forces nerfs into top-tier raids and then complains about being bored… which is one of the reasons I left Rift behind.

#mulling over mmos #shouting from my soapbox #Rift #mmorpgs #super long post #ramblings

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Bonuses for Speed

So there’s a mechanic in a game called Wakfu which brilliantly handles a game problem:

It’s an MMO tactical battle game, and the inherent trouble with that is in the waiting. Like a turn-based JRPG, you have to sit and watch as the enemy takes a turn - or if you’re up against three enemies, you have to wait for ALL of them to take their turns.

Worse still, if you’re in a team you have to wait for all of your allies to take their turns. The game plays out on a grid, so you can’t simply have everyone take their turns at once. You’d get players sharing spaces and unable to select each other (say, for healing) in all that mess. Also it’d look glitchy - a clear mismatch with the Wakfu aesthetic.

And yes, on the one end you can and should have a timer to limit turns. In case of complex moves (or slower players) this timer needs to be of reasonable length but there’s definitely an upper cap on how long a player’s turn can take.

But the game experience suffers if everyone takes their full turn length, mulling over their best turn, ON their turn, and then locking in right before the buzzer.

So Wakfu offers minor bonuses for every X time you shave off of that maximum. 

The general rule I’ve seen is “Lure, don’t Shove.” Offer a bonus for the behavior you want. The quintessential example is WoW’s “Rested” mechanic which playtested first as an exhaustion mechanic (your character would suffer a mild xp penalty after too long without rest) and playtesters hated it, so the designers baked the xp penalty into the basic size of the xp bar and made a Rested buff that gave you “bonus” xp (which then offset that baked-in penalty). The ideas were mechanically identical, but the framing as a bonus made it popular instead of reviled.

And I can imagine a similar feeling if my character’s natural abilities in Wakfu were higher but suffered penalties if I weren’t playing quickly. I’d hate that. Honestly in those first few areas I sometimes worried I wouldn’t get through my turn before the main timer ran out. I was so busy just reading my abilities and trying to figure out range and movement. Having something come in and say, “by the way, you lost 7% crit chance because you were too slow this last turn” would feel awful.

One question to consider: Is there a place for a timer - even a bonus-based timer - in a single-player game? Is it better to simply expect the player to take their time and ponder their options than to ask them to jump through your menus in real time?

When I consider FFX2 I think the real-time battle system there - even the version that supposedly waits for you - is its big flaw. There are a few mechanics (for instance the combo chain, specifically tied in to the Gunner class which is the main character’s starting class) which would suffer without it but I honestly don’t think those mechanics were worth the things lost.

Demanding the player go fast in that game tempts players to just mash Attack, which is a real shame when the game has so much care put into providing lots and lots of combat options - spells and specials and buffs, oh my!

Even if your timer is offering bonuses, it still has to count down and eventually drop off if the player isn’t fast enough. If I recall in Wakfu they cleverly have it count UP the amount of “bonus time” you’ve stocked, even though the timer for your turn counts down.

I...don’t really have anywhere I’m going with this. I just thought the Wakfu timer incentive was a cool mechanic and I’m surprised it didn’t catch on anywhere else.

#wakfu #game design

[meireviewproduct]

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[moonlost]

A couple of days ago, the Brother Unit asked me if I was going to be picking World of Warcraft up again once BfA launches. It was a question I had to mull over. I mean, a week ago my answer would have been a furious spitting of the word no as I stomped around the room like an enraged potato-monster yelling about how they ruined my favourite canon character. But some days to settle gave me the chance to wash the salt out of those metaphorical wounds. The answer is still no, but for a few more reasons than just nerd rage.

I’m still bitter about the AU mag’har and draenei and how they’ve been treated, for all the same reasons I ranted about and reposted. But, I can admit that there are some interesting ideas to be had with it. Ideas I have my doubts Blizzard will explore, but for my own characters?  A zealous crusader Kyali seeking to purge away all the corruption that nearly tore her family and her culture apart is delicious, as is a Zaruuk who was broken down by a Naaru to purge any fel corruption inherited from his father. I can just see this husk of who he was, aglow with holy energy to fight unquestioningly for his Naaru masters. A man finally fully accepted by his people, but who had to pay for that acceptance with his soul. I also wonder if there are splintered groups of draenei trying to fight back against this new crusade. Do the rangari attempt to hide away orc families from the burning flames of their kin? What about Nobundo? Does he still feel the call of Draenor’s elementals?  There are stories there, is all I’m saying. And interesting things happening with the main storyline as well.  But with that all said, I just don’t have a desire right now to play the game. Some of it is just my personal salt, I cannot lie. But a lot is just a need to take a break from warcraft. I’ve been enjoying my time away from the game. A lot of my close friends have moved on, joining them in Guild Wars 2 has been incredibly rewarding. I have never minded playing my MMOs solo, but being actively engaged with my friends again has been wonderful - be it roleplaying, running dungeons or showing off our whatever outfits we’ve worked out.  I’ve also been working my artistic muscles a bit more as of late, along with just doing more varied work and activities in general. There’s been a lot less pressure to keep up with some imaginary grind and I’ve been appreciating that a lot. WoW has been a big part of my life for a long time, and I fully expect to return to the game eventually. I’d especially love to try and get more active in the roleplaying communities, there are  s o  many rad people with equally rad characters. Plus I have a mighty need for one of those hyena mounts. But not right now. I hope that when the expansion hits, everyone playing has a fun time and doesn’t have issues with lag or whatever other server nonsense happens. In the meantime, I’m gonna keep trucking with my charr lady. Hoping to get some short stories about her written!

#Moonlost Blogging Nonsense #long post #warcraft thoughts #ramblings #That and I really want to play as a wicker druid okay #and I want to do more with Illorwyn #one fucking day I'll finish up that story of him in Icecrown #ADD and anxiety meds are my creative bane

[roaming-axe-aaa]

       “Giving me a hard question, hm?” Shigaraki stands in silence for a moment, mulling over the question. What was his top five.. It was a hard one. So many different games to choose from. He had so many favorites. But in the end, he could only choose five...

     “World of Warcraft is probably my favorite MMO. It has a lot of variety and the quests are fun to do. Dungeons and raids can be a challenge. And PVP can bring it some life when you feel like kicking other people’s asses..”

     “The next one I am just going to lump the series together. It’d have to be pokemon. It’s a gave that brought me comfort in my childhood. I love all the monsters you can get and play with. Although I think as the games go on, the.. quality lessens... But in the end, they’re still fun to play, and that’s what matters. They’re fun games to play between busy times...”

      “Okami is another favorite of mine. The art work is beautiful and stunning. The game play is fun and the story is great. Probably one of my all time favorite games. I would really recommend it if you ever get the chance to have some free time. They have the HD version for the switch.”

      “Smash Brothers is another favorite of mine, and always has been. Brawl has a special place in my warped heart and is my favorite. I really loved the story line mode in that one. But Ultimate has so many fighters, and brings new favorites in. I really respect Sakurai for over extending himself and bringing in so many different characters into the game. He didn’t have to do the second season of characters, but he did anyways...”

     Shigaraki paused for a moment, thinking of the final game to put on his list of his top five... So, so many to choose from.

       “I think... if I would have to pick my final one, it would be the Elder Scrolls series. I played Daggerfall when I was a kid and loved it. It was probably my favorite from the series since it was another comfort game. Skyrim, although buggy, is still really fun to play. It’s one of the games that I come back to time to time again to play.”

     “Some runners up, because I wish to share some more video games I like, would be; Hollow Knight, Mega Man, Kirby, Splatoon, Mario, Dark Souls, Minecraft, and Final Fantasy games...”

#MV: Hail to the King #Ask: Questions for the king

[miyomiikonran]

Whumptober Day 5

Extra rules: Each short story will be between 500-1000 words and will include at least one of my or @ironic-artist's OCs.

Today's theme: Where do you think you're going?

Choosen prompt: Failed escape

Universe: Wakfu

Character: Shinuo

Word count: ~1000

Trigger warnings: Emotional distress

For more notes please look at the end!

___________________________________________

Forest was awefully quiet tonight. It seemed painfully ironic as it often was not letting him fall asleep easily, with all of it's lively creatures just going about their night or loud howling of the wind moving huge, old trees. Tonight there was nothing. Not even a single cloud to disguise him from bright moonlight. But Shinuo decided to proceed with his plan no matter what, despite fear consuming him from within.

All three of his kidnappers finally fell asleep, due to extra herbs and alcohol he added to their mulled wine. He had been waiting for such opportunity for so, so long… They barely trusted him with anything, but taste of nicely flavoured with herbs wine turned out to be enough for them to take that risk. He slowly got up, but only to his knees, slowly crawling through grass through these few meters between them. Heavy shackles on his ankles and wrists didn't make it anyhow easier to be quiet, so this small distance felt like forever. He needed to take keys to these and then retrieve his wand, otherwise he will be completely defenceless.

His goal was the second oldest of Rouges sleeping by the fire, over twice as old as him, well-builded man. They should be sleeping nicely, but he never could be sure, as his calculation wasn't precise, he didn't know exactly how much each of them weighted and too much of that herb would give wine different, unpleasant flavour… He had to risk and pray it would be enough for oldest of these men, sleeping just two more meters away. Once he reached one with keys, he knew where to reach. It was the most dangerous part, as even if his hands were slim, he still had to very, very slowly put one of them in back pocket of man's pants. He glanced nervously back and forth, expecting him to rise up any minute, hoping that he didn't put them elsewhere. Thankfully, he then felt cold and smooth metal under his palms, so he gently hook up his finger on small ring connecting keys. Deep, slow breath. He started to pull them out even slower, so focused he didn't dare to move any other body part.

Finally, Shinuo saw slight shine at the edge and seconds later he had keys in his pale hands. Yes!! Boy felt wave of excitement, followed by new wave of fear, gripping his throat tightly. It's not over, it's just the start of impossible. Albino decided to slowly move back away, just so getting these iron shackles and sound they inevitably made won't wake them up. He could try to put these on at least one of them, but it was too risky and time consuming. He has to get out without this advantage if he wants to have any chance at all. He freed his legs just fine, but pair on his hands was extra difficult because of limited mobility. Suddenly, when he finally thought he fit the key in it's hole just fine, mechanism inside made unpleasant sound that made his whole body freeze on the ground. Boy looked panicked as youngest Rouge, barely few years older than him, rolled from one side to the other without opening his eyes. He could swear his heart's gonna jump out and his hands now shivered from stress while he put metal on the ground.

One obstacle left behind, now few more awaited. He slowly went to small tent in which bandits kept their loot as well as supplies, but not only. He swallowed nervously glancing towards the corner, where metal cage was placed. Place of many of his torments, as men enjoyed locking him in that for whatever wrongdoing they saw as bad enough, usually any sign of "talking back" to them. Usually it had nothing to do with what he said and more what was their understanding of that.

Tonight he was spared of that fate only because they decided to put small, young boar there, to keep meat fresh by keeping him alive for few days, as they already killed the other one. Poor creature was bawling for few hours, but it's mom didn't show up. Shinuo's heart was sinking but he couldn't afford to free it, it was too loud. He slowly reached chest and after opening it he slowly went through things stored there. Finally, he got small wooden box, that contained his wand. He took small thing out. It was carved out of wood to look like thick stem at the top of which detailed leaves surrounded unopened flower bud. He missed it, as he wasn't allowed to use it otherwise than to heal his tormentors. He slid it under his belt and found a small sack, just to pack a bit of food and jug of water. He needs to live long enough to get through this huge forest before he'll reach any village. He also took small compass left on view by Rouges.

Everything went smoothly till now. For a second, bits of hope awakened inside him, as he went outside of tent. But with the corner of his eye, he saw small movement. Piglet in cage moved, so he immidiately hid behind the wall of material, praying that it didn't see him. He could hear it snuffing around… And then it howled with it's high-pitched voice. Something moved in bushes on the other side of camp, near fire. He saw round, big shape and didn't need any more reason to start running as fast as he could into the forest. It was the mom, she followed the scent! Terrifyingly loud roar went through forest from behind his back, leaving him no doubt his escape will be quickly noticed. At this point, only sheer panic powered him, despite darkness around him and roots he was constantly tripping on. After few minutes his frail body was starting to give up on him and especially thick root finally sent him flying forward, right into small pond created by recent rains.

Boy's face was full of mud, but his long ears managed to hear footsteps somewhere around. Shinuo desperately crawled into small hole made between roots, uncovered by water, belonging to nerby tree. There he stayed as quiet as he could, shivering from his wet clothes. Footsteps were getting closer. He got his wand in trembling hand, but all hope was already gone once someone jumped into pool, right in front of his hiding place. It was oldest of kidnappers, his golden teeth shining in the moonlight, just as his cruel, dark eyes.

- Got ya, you little shit!!

___________________________________________

Phew. Finally managed to write something after long break. My mental state isn't the best lately, sorry about that. Even though this was something that existed in my mind for years by now, when my heart isn't in it, it's very difficult for me to write anything I could be satisfied with.

About this writing, it's set in different moment on their timeline, in case you have been confused. Takashi from the previous writing was in their adult years, around 23 y.o., while they've been already reunited and living together. This one takes place in their teenage years, when Shinuo was still held captive by killers of their parents, first because they believed that albino like him will have some unusual abilities and later mainly because of his healing abilities in general. During these years he attempted escape few times, but none of them succeeded, bringing him only more torment, till he gave up completely.

Rouges are one of playable races in Wakfu MMO and mostly known as skillful thieves and bandits, the only ones widely using guns and bombs. In anime they were hired for various illegal tasks.

#whumptober2020 #no.5 #failed escape #oc #fic #tw: emotional distress #wakfu #original character #shinuo #eniripsa #rouge

[mistletien]

MMO AU Part 1

Fandom: RWBY Characters: Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos  Rating: G Pairing: Eventual pyrruby / milk and cereal ( Pyrrha/Ruby ) Words: 2209 Summary: Modern AU where Ruby and Jaune are partners in an MMO. After several long months of another person tagging along on quests, Ruby asks Jaune who this person is. Ruby is then introduced to Pyrrha, a cute girl from Greece, and is instantly smitten with the redhead. 

A/N: Title DEFINITELY subject to change. I’ve been wanting to write this for a while now, but I’m the worst and kept putting it off. Now that Pyrrha’s fucking dead might as well indulge in my ship tbh.

“Okay, so how do I pull out my weapon again?” Jaune asked the same question for the fifth time in a half hour. Annoyance and slight panic colored the teen’s voice. “I want to take a screenshot and clicking only highlights things.”

Ruby had seen the newbie when she logged on for the day, and decided to take the boy under her proverbial wing and help him get through the first few basic levels. It was slow going, as it seemed Jaune hadn’t the slightest clue how to play an MMO.

He was sweet though, more so than a lot of the players that surrounded them and that she had been forced to party with to get through a dungeon or two. And that kind, oblivious demeanor was what drew Ruby into helping him.

She didn’t want him to have a bad experience playing, not while you had to pay-to-play, and she had once had a higher level player take pity on her and helped her learn the controls of the massive online game. Sometimes all it took was a kind person in a game to make or break your enjoyment of it.

While the newbie wasn’t the quickest learner of the controls, his enthusiasm more than made up for it. After a brief introduction in the chat, the two started a party and an in-game call as Ruby tried to teach him everything she knew that would help Jaune get through the single digit levels. So far they got along swimmingly, and the teachings had his character leap up to level six in a short matter of time.

“It comes out automatically when you attack a creature, but you can change between stances with the Z key.” Ruby paused for a moment, watching the character on screen switch into a fighting stance before disengaging and going back into a neutral one. “See? Simple. You can always adjust your controls to fit you better though.”

“Thanks for helping me with all this,” Jaune thanked her again. Between a constant barrage of questions, he poured in tons of thanks for all of Ruby’s help with getting started. “I didn’t expect anyone but my friend to come help me learn how to play this game.”

She could hear a soft laugh come through the headset, and Ruby felt her face flush in embarrassment as the boy doused her in more praise. “It’s no big deal. We were all newbies at one point or another.”

Clicking onto Jaune’s character, she started a trade with him. “I’m going to give you a bit of the currency they use in-game since it takes a while to build up.”

She could hear the sputtered words of protest before the trade was cancelled. “Crescent, I can’t--”

“Ruby,” she immediately corrected. “My name is Ruby, and of course you can! I’m giving it to you. As a gift for letting me help you out.”

A sigh of quiet distress was heard, and she no doubt expected the boy to be mulling over accepting this new trade she started or not.

“If you’d like to pay me back, I can send a friend invite so when you’re a higher level you can come join a party with me on harder dungeons?”

It seemed like a fair trade to her. Jaune would level up his character, learn a bit more about the world and get a better feel for the game overall before being tossed into a mid-level dungeon alongside her. As long as there were at least two people, it should be okay. Sure, three would ensure their triumph, but Ruby would take any help she could get to defeat the dreaded Grimm that ran rampant in the game.

Ruby’s character was DPS class, but she could make a sub account as a healer and aide them in higher dungeons if needed. Besides, it would be more fun if she had someone to play with other than her older sister who rarely got on the game anymore.

“Actually, I have a high-class friend who’s supposed to be coming online soon. If you need some help, they wouldn’t mind lending a hand.” Jaune, who seemed to have perked up after the brief mention of their high leveled friend, had his character jump in place as he spoke.

Ruby smiled at the action, her own character, Crescent Rose, began jumping in place too. The satisfying sound of crunching leaves each time her character landed was incredibly satisfying to hear, and she jumped a few more times to hear it before spinning in tight, rapid circles before going stock still once again.

“Are they the one who got you into the game?” she asked, unable to resist prodding for a bit of information. She had spent the better part of an hour teaching Jaune the basics, so to know he had a friend who was a higher level than she was was a bit surprising.

A soft grunt was given in affirmation. “Yeah, we met about two years ago on a Neopets forum and stayed in touch. We play games together if we both might enjoy it, but a few months ago they started to talk about Remnant.” Ruby had to stifle a snicker at the admittance as he continued. “They’re really a rad person, and after hearing about them talk about the game so much I decided ‘hey, why not try it?’”

“It’s a good game!” Ruby began eagerly wiggling in her chair, legs outstretched and feet kicking slightly as she grinned at the screen where her and Jaune’s characters idled. She was careful in her excitement not to knock off the headset that perched on her head.

“So far I’m enjoying it.” Jaune paused for a moment to laugh softly. “I’m surprised I didn’t get into it earlier. The graphics are absolutely amazing! And I didn’t expect such a large character creation. I thought I was never going to get out of it”

“Yeah, I spent about an hour designing Crescent Rose when I first made her.” Ruby laughed nervously as she leaned back in her chair and thought back on her time in the character creator.

Untrue. She had spent about two hours alone just designing what Crescent Rose’s face would look like. She’d spent an hour alone sculpting her character’s body and creating, in her opinion, the most perfect person in the world of Remnant.

Sitting forward once more, Ruby’s character started wandering off, smiling as Jaune’s quickly used the sprint button to catch up with her as she walked over to a vendor to sell some of her items. She made it habit to trade items whenever she came to a town again. It kept her inventory light since she hoarded everything possible to keep her currency at a high level.

She liked to buy dyes and a lot of them could be pricy.

“Give me a second,” she said as she rang for her personal vendor. She had a few rare items she could sell in the marketplace and easily triple the amount she had given to Jaune. “I’ve just got to sell a few things.”

She heard a soft hum of agreement before shuffling on Jaune’s end. “Oh, my friend messaged me and is coming online soon. Is it okay if they join the party?”

“Of course!” Ruby was quick to answer.

While they weren’t really friends, it was nice of the newbie to ask if she’d like to stay in the party even after another high character was destined to join them.

“Okay, we just need to meet them at the warp point…”

“Would you like me to lead the way?” Ruby asked after listening to Jaune trail off. No doubt staring at the tiny map in the corner of the screen and trying to deduce where the warp point might actually be in the mess of everything.

“Oh man, please?” Hope was evident in Jaune’s voice, and Ruby couldn’t hold back the giggled that escaped.

“Yeah, it can take a while to learn where everything is,” she said as she started sprinting off towards the Southeast. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it eventually, Newbie.”

“Thanks a lot,” Jaune replied, voice veritably dripping with sarcasm. He followed along behind Ruby’s character, sometimes mumbling a quick apology to NPCs and other players alike as he bumped into them.

“So what’s this friend of yours like? How long have they been playing?” Ruby asked as she lead him down the winding staircase of the main entrance that lead to the warp platform. If she was going to be partying with them, she would like to know what they were like.

Before Jaune could answer, a high leveled paladin approached the pair, golden armor gleaming as the warp point spun and shimmered behind her. The off blue light only served to make the player seem more intimidating as they just stood there.

A large shield was strapped to the back of the paladin. Resplendent and ornate in its design, far more than she’d seen on other player characters, and it caused a surge of envy to ghost through Ruby’s body before being replaced with curiosity as she clicked on the character and inspected their equipment.

Brilliant red hair spilled over her shoulders and down her back, and even though the character’s face was hidden behind a mask, Ruby could see the hint of green eyes if she zoomed in closer. Even for a human character, the paladin was tall, standing higher than a player should as they practically loomed over Jaune and Ruby both.

For her armor, it was the highest a person could get at level 99, and Ruby felt her stomach lurch a bit as such an intimidating and powerful person stood in front of them. Sometimes higher leveled players could force a PvP battle, especially if a character was idle or away from the keyboard, and Ruby didn’t want to deal with getting her virtual butt kicked if she could help it.

“Jaune, I think we need to go before--”

:D !!!

The emoticon popped up above the player’s head as they jumped in front of Ruby and Jaune. Jaune quickly started jumping in place as well, before he and the new player began running in circles. The childish actions had startled her for a moment before Ruby picked up on what was going on.

“Jaune, this is your friend?” She was awed that such a high leveled person was here, practically babysitting them both.

Crescent Rose wasn’t a new character, Ruby had been playing her for months now, but had only managed to grind up to level 28 before the need for party members hindered her further advancement in the game.

But here was a level ninety-nine character, running in circles and jumping around like an excited child with a level six character. It was baffling, and Ruby couldn’t help but let out a small incredulous laugh as she watched as the high leveled player join their party.

Akoúo̱ popped up on the screen beneath hers and Jaune’s names. Ruby squinted at the name, mentally going over how it should be pronounced. “So, Ak--Ak….”

“You can call her Pyrrha,” Jaune supplied. “She’d be fine with you using her name, I think.”

:D Hello! It’s nice to meet you.

“Pyrrha….” Ruby tested the name out, letting it roll around in her mouth before slipping off her tongue. “Well, welcome to the party! I’ve just been helping Jaune learn the basics of the game, and as you can see he’s already leveled up a bit.”

Thank you for helping Jaune.

Ruby frowned slightly as she read the chat. Wouldn’t it be easier to just join the party call?

“Pyrrha was going to help me out today, but we didn’t get the timezones right,” Jaune laughed. His character now stood still besides Pyrrha’s and Ruby watched as she and Jaune had a small conversation. Jaune, via the chat, and Pyrrha through messages.

In a way, Ruby felt like she was intruding. She wasn’t really friends with them, and it was by sheer chance she decided to help this one newbie.

“Ruby, what do you feel like doing?” Jaune asked, pulling the teen out of her own head for the moment and back to the game. “Since I took up so much of your time, it’s only fair we do something you would like.”

I can help you out with a dungeon since you helped my friend? While he’s not terrible at games, he can take a bit to train.

“Hey!” Jaune cried out, laughter intermingling with his faux outrage at the teasing comment.

Ruby’s eyes sparkled at the chance to possibility to level up and actually get further into the game.

“Yeah, I’d love that,” she said in a large gust of breath.

:D Alright, just let me know when you’re ready?

Ruby shoved aside candy wrappers and put her empty can of soda in the trash beneath her desk as she scooted her chair closer, intent on a full night of gaming.

These weren’t her friends, but they could be, and for once Ruby could enjoy a game meant for a group of people without hating every second of the forced, randomized parties.

#RWBY #Ruby Rose #Jaune Arc #Pyrrha Nikos #pyrruby #milk and cereal #ark does a thing #mmo au