[MUD-Dev] Total Annilation of Downtime

[amanda at alfar.com]

shren <shren at io.com> wrote:
> [concerning Asheron's Call 2]

> Wow.  MMORPGs and Monty Haul meet in a harmonious union that
> brings in new gamers to the field.  Have we been talking about
> this and I missed it?  It's very, very interesting.  In the
> average situation the average gamer finds an item and all he
> really wants to do is turn it into gold, but I never thought of
> letting him do it directly.  They are really gunning for mass
> appeal here, and they seem to have succeeded.

AC2 is great fun.  People who've mastered the underlying numbers
game in AC1, Everquest, or the like find it very perplexing at
first.

AC2 is less like D&D than previous MMORPGs, so people who want to
play "the same game with better graphics" are likely to be
disappointed in it.  People who don't like spending half their time
looking numbers up in charts, however, may find it quite a bit more
fun.  The graphics, sound, and social interactions are much more
immersive, and while it has some tedious aspects ("farming" for rare
ingredients for crafting), it is simultaneously *much* more scenic
and much less tedious than most MMORPGs (DAoC is about as scenic,
but in my experience much more tedious after the first few levels).

In truth, I find that transmuting unwanted loot into gold has the
same net effect as going to town and selling it to a vendor, but
without the tedium.  You can still find people gathered for
socializing and trading purposes (usually around the crafting
forges, which give a localized skill bonus), and the "player music"
feature turns out to be surprisingly popular, despite the fairly
limited repertoire of music.  Exploring is also a lot more fun,
since you don't get the "stray outside of the familiar spots and
something will stomp on you" effect of most MMORPGs (at low levels,
at least).  On the last day of beta, I had great fun just running
around sightseeing, without having to fend off the local wildlife
very often.  In short, I'm enjoying having things to do in game that
aren't just looting & leveling.

Leveling up to about 15 is very, very fast (last night I started a
new character from scratch and was at 10 or so in about 90 minutes),
so the low levels really do act as the "game tutorial", not "paying
your dues before you can get the really l33t stuff".

The game has some rocky bits, but over all I think it's definitely a
success on the "fun" scale.  So is E&B, but that's another essay and
I've just been told dinner is ready.  More in a bit.

Amanda Walker

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