DAoC Interview with Mark Davis

Rancid, over at Back to the Dark Age, had a chance to talk with Dark Age of Camelot's new Producer, Mark Davis (WAR Live Events producer).  DAoC isn't in the news much, so it is nice to see some new information come out about it.

BttDA on Expansions.  UO showed that you’re never too old for an expansion.  Many consider UO and DAoC in the same “maintenance” mode right now, and that no new development is going on.  Can you dispel that rumor?  Are plans for an expansion in the works?

MD: We have new development going on all the time for Camelot, though not necessarily in the form of a boxed retail expansion.  The question is, what’s best for the game?  Does Camelot need another expansion?  Possibly, however it’s not what we’re working on currently. That being said, it could be something we do in the future.

Go read the full interview!

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Werit subscribes to...

Over the weekend I re-subscribed to Everquest II.  Don't be jealous WAR and FE, this is just a fling.  My desire to play has been slowly creeping upwards for the last month.  Sure Syp didn't help, but the main reason is the Sentinel's Fate expansion pack.

I'm not sure what it is, but knowing that a world is alive and expanding makes me want to play.  I won't even get to see the new content for quite a while as my Ranger is only level 25.  It is the same reason why I will play Cataclysm even though WoW is not my favorite game.

I fully expect  to play EQ2 for a month as I can only take so much PvE.  In that month, I am sure to get my $15 worth so it wasn't a big deal to re-subscribe.  I played a bit over the weekend, got 3 levels, crafted quite a bit and decorated my house some.

I plan on doing my first Heritage quest today, which is for Level 17's.  I may just chrono myself back to level 20 and convert all of my XP into AA. After that, I'll likely hop over to WAR for some PvP.  Speaking of WAR, Andy hinted that the 1.3.3 patch notes may be live tonight.

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Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate Collector's Edition

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Adwords

Last week I talked a bit about what I learned from trying out Adsense. This time I experimented with Adsense's sister product, Adwords.  Adwords is Google's ad creation and management product.  When I created an Analytics account  I received a free offer of $100 worth of ads.  So I thought, why not?

First, let's get the big question out of the way.  Werit, why would you want to advertise weritsblog.com? I wouldn't as I don't sell anything.  The only reason for this is that I was curious how the system worked.  As usual, the free offer wasn't really free.  There was a small activation fee, but well worth the experience in my opinion.

You start out by creating a Campaign and then add Ad Groups to it.  Also at the campaign level you can set a budget per day, so you won't go through all your money at once.  Ad groups are where you assign keywords.  So for example, I used 'MMO news' as a keyword.  You can use quite a few keywords as I never reached the limit.

The main type of advertising I used was based on CPC (cost per click).  You can set your upper limits for CPC's on the entire ad group.  If the need arises you can also set it for each keyword.  Each keyword competes against itself (other advertisers) to get to the head of the line.  If my CPC is 25 cents and other advertisers are offering 50 cents per click, they will be shown before my ad.

Impressions, the amount of times an ad is shown, is also tracked per ad group and keyword.  One way to measure the success of an ad or keyword is the CTR (click through ratio).  If few people are actually clicking your ad, then your scope may be a bit too broad.

My CTR was pretty low, but that's what I expected.  There is really no good reason for me to have an ad, so why should anyone click on it?  Over the course of the week, I used up most of my free credits so I canceled the campaign.  It was interesting to see how advertisers go about using Adwords. 

For a blog, the best kind of advertising is the content itself.

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This is the DROID you are looking for

A couple days ago, I became an owner of the new DROID phone from Verizon.  This is actually the first smart-phone I have ever had.  The main draw for me is the web access as I am not a big text message user.  For my impressions, read on.

Since this is my first smart-phone, some of the features I mention may be common but are still new to me.  Overall, using the DROID has been a great experience.

Size.  The first thing you are likely to notice is the size of the phone.  It is a bit bigger than the iPhone or the Envy and weighs more.  You will know that it is in your pocket.  It does feel solid though.

Screen.  The screen on the DROID is great.  It gives a resolution of  480 x 854, which is quite a bit more than most other phones.  It is bright and the UI looks very crisp.  I was very impressed by the quality of the videos I watched.

Web.  The built-in web browser worked without any issues.  The only slight frustration I have is using the touchscreen to follow links.  It can be a bit tricky at times.  While the DROID supports multi-touch, the browser does not.  Hopefully they add that functionality soon.  In general, it is pretty hassle free. 

Google.  The integration of Google's services is very nice.  It can monitor multiple GMail accounts and reading/writing mails is very easy.  The Google Maps implementation is amazing.  It can show you the satellite footage and traffic information through its layer interface.


Voice Interface.  I was skeptical about doing voice searches, but it works great.  I was especially impressed when I tried 'Directions to Blah' and it brought up Maps and directions to Blah.

Apps.  I downloaded a few apps and it was a seamless experience.  I'll go into the apps themselves in another post.

Lag.  There were a few times when the UI would lag, but I think this is related to an app I downloaded.   For the most part, it was very responsive.

So far the Droid has done everything I wanted it to very well.  If you have any specific questions about the phone, please ask away.
 
As Ferris would say, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. "

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DROID

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Two great Steam deals

Want something to be thankful for?  How about digital distribution and the great deals that can be had.  First up on Steam we have Fallen Earth for $25.  Not only is it a great price, you get a special Faction t-shirt in-game item.  It bears the emblem of your faction and gives +stat increases.

Also on Steam is the THQ Complete pack for $50 (50% off until Monday).  This sucker has 18 games in it!  Titans Quest, Saints Row 2, Warhammer: Dawn of War I and II, Company of Heroes and more are all included. 

Have a good holiday, and for those non-US folks, have a good day at work? ;)

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WAR's December Plans

The WAR newsletter arrived yesterday and with it a glimpse of what is in store for the month of December. With the recent layoff's and the holiday season, I was not expecting too much.  It does look like it will be a good month for WAR though.

There are 4 primary items of interest with the upcoming 1.3.3 patch, which may hit PTS within the next week. 

1. WAR Report.  This new system is sort of like Fight Finder.  At a glance you should be able to see the RvR going on all around the game.  In addition to seeing it, you can transport yourself close to the action once every 8 hours. 
2. Underdog System.  While the details are still not known, this system will alter the victory point's in order to help the underdog realm capture zones.  Jury is still out on whether or not it will help.
3. Keg's End.  The winter event is back.  It runs from Dec 16th to Jan 4th.  The  Battlebrew Backpack will be in play, as will a new rare drop.  This looks like a must have, Dwarf Keh handler for Order and the Goblin Bar-Back for Destruction.  And of course, a new Event slot item: the Keg Tap.
4. Graphics Update.  Bloom and HDR will be enabled on the clients.   I think WAR already looks very good, should be interesting to see how this goes.

Along with those 4 features, there should be a slew of bug fixes.

The next Producer's letter is what I am really interested in.  As 1.3.3 is the bug fixing and polish patch, the next one really should deal with content.

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Werit at WAR: Shaman

In previous episodes of Werit at WAR, I have played only Order characters.  I think it is time to give Destruction some attention.  So this week I bring to you Werit the Shaman on Iron Rock.  He is Rank 15, likes long walks on the beach and fungus.  Watch the video after the break.

Normally, I use WAR's own music for these videos.  Not this week, instead I was in an 80's rock mood.  I think it actually fits the Shaman pretty well, as he is quirky too. 



Direct Link.

What is that awesome song you ask?  It is 'Play with Me' by Extreme.  You can find it on the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack.

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Well played Aion, well played

Even though I don't play Aion anymore, I like to keep up with what's going on in the game.  Recently they had a new patch, 1.5.1, which was interesting. CAPTCHA's in game, really Aion?  Then today they released a new video of Aion's future.  I must say, it is nothing short of amazing.




The video's quality was iffy, but that really doesn't matter.  The scope of the additions NCSoft has planned is what is incredible.  At first, I thought it was going to be just graphical enhancements.  Then I saw weather, mounts, housing, cities, enormous machines of destruction and Underwater worlds.

I probably missed a few things in there too.  There was no other information, like when any of the would be live.  Still, it is nice to know some of their vision going forward.  I really wish Mythic would give us the same.  Not a video mind you, just some idea about the future.

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STO's Next Faction

Star Trek Online is starting out with two factions, the Federation and the Klingon's. Even though the game hasn't even launched yet, I think it is a safe bet that they will add a third faction eventually.  Star Trek has a number of interesting possibilities, so which will it be?

Assimilate Ten Rats.  Who wouldn't want want to fly around space in a cube?  As they are likely one of the primary PvE enemies, it doesn't seem that they will be playable anytime soon.  But you can get one as a part of your crew when you pre-order from Amazon.

Rules of Acquisition.  I think the Ferengi would be an awesome faction, but their economic goals may not fit well into STO.  I also think they may be one of the Federation races but that may have just been a dream.

Cardassians.  I couldn't think of a good way to start this one.  STO has released a screenshot of one of their ships, so they seem like they are in the game.  Of course, they may be a PvE faction.  They do seem like a good candidate for a playable race though.  Always fun to oppress some Bajorians. 

Ketracel White.  The Dominion (shapeshifters and Jem'Hadar) would be interesting.  I'm not sure of the full lore in STO, but they would seem like a good candidate for an expansion.  It'd be interesting to see if they use the drug addicted nature of the Jem'Hadar.

Pass the Romulan Ale.  The Romulans are probably my favorite Star Trek faction.  Technically they are the 'dark elves' of the lore, but they don't seem to be super heroes like Vulcans.  They are no friends of the Federation and the Klingon's, so they would be a great first expansion.  Their ships look awesome, which should be the only factor considered :)

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Borderlands and Fallen Earth

Bronte, over at Are We New At This, got a chance to interview the President and CEO of Gearbox, Randy Pitchford, about Borderlands.  It is a very interesting interview, so check it out.  Part 1, Part 2.

One of the Fallen Earth forum goers made a music video for the game using A Horse with No Name. It is extremely well done, take a look after the break.




Direct Link.

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Lessons Learned

Some of you may have noticed that last week I had an Adsense ad in the sidebar.  One of the reasons for this site is as a vehicle to try new stuff.  Whether it is a new game or a web technology like Adsense, there is plenty to learn.  While the Adsense is now removed, I did learn more about how it works.

Personally, I don't have any issues with blogs having ads as long as they follow a few rules.  First, it must be relevant to the content.  Second, the ads should not be obtrusive.  And finally, it should look good.

Relevant. Adsense is actually pretty good at getting relevant ads using their contextual engine.  The problem is keeping certain types of ads out.  When it comes to MMO's, this is often gold or item selling ads.  The first step in keeping undesirable ads out is to use their Category Filter. 

This filter offers you 11 categories to choose from, like Dating or Video Games.  The problem is you can only check 5 of them.  The rest will be shown in your ad space.

The next tool you can use is the Competitive Ad Filter.  This allows you to block specific URL's.  For me, this was very helpful with getting rid of irrelevant ads.  I would go through my posts, check the link properties for the bad ad, get the URL and put the domain name in the filter.  25 minutes or so later, it would be blocked.

As I added more domain names to the filter, the more relevant the ads became.  This requires a bit of work and a lot of supervision though.

Classy Hats.  Sometimes, there is no hope for the contextual ads.  Take last week's post about Fallen Earth, Classy.  They introduced a new buying bonus which happened to be a hat. You guessed it, all of the ads were about hats.  I can't really blame Adsense, as most of post was about a hat. 

Looks are important.  It may just be me, but I don't like the way Adsense text ads look.  I'm not sure why they invoke a negative feeling in me but they do.  I never click on them, so why would I expect my visitors to?

I should mentions their Image ads.  It seems like they are much more relevant and look a lot better.  The way my site is setup, they just wouldn't fit nicely.

In the end, they just didn't work well for my site.  Over the next few weeks I will be trying other things (like Project Wonderful) in an effort to see how things work.  It will never interfere with the content, and if you are subscribed via RSS you may never even notice.

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Torchlight Contests

Runic Games, the creator of the action RPG Torchlight, is holding a fan art contest.  The winner gets a Penny Arcade strip, signed by the dev team. One interesting piece is that they mentioned you can participate without any artistic talent (like me!).  A fan site is also holding a contest.

It seems that you can use Photoshop's ink filter with a screenshot and bam, comic strip.  That is really cool, anyone know if Gimp can do the same?

Runic Games Fansite, aptly named, is holding a modding contest.   Winners get prizes like a free copy of Torchlight and a t-shirt signed by the developers.  If you have been interested in modding, this would be a perfect time to do it.  For details, head over here.

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Dawntide Update

It has been a little while since I posted about the new sandbox MMO in development, Dawntide.  Turns out they have been pretty busy and the game is coming along nicely.  As there is no NDA,so  I can post what is new.  Read on for the latest news.

Today I received a status update from the development team.  They are currently in the 2nd phase of beta and have had the following changes:

A couple more weeks have passed in phase 2 of Beta.  In case you haven't
been following the forums, here are the last two weeks worth of patches and
changes:


November 11th
- Fixed a bug that was causing stats to reset to 20 (stats will be restored
from a Nov 7th backup later tonight for those that were affected)
- Fixed bugs related to perk ownership
- Fixed autograss display when switching cells
- Improved armor swapping code
- Wielded weapons will now show up on both your own character and other
players characters
- Improved saving mechanics to reduce database bloat
- Improved AI to cause less of a strain on the server
- Fixed some bugs related to resistances
- Fixed coloring on autograss

November 18th
- Fixed a large number of crashes introduced in last week's patch
- Fixed a problem that was making NPCs non-interactable
- Added a warning for cards not supporting Shader Model 3.0
- Fixed some bugs with your character's animations
- Fixed a possible crash during immediate logoff
- Fixed NPC aggro, NPCs will now attack players if their AI is set to do so

Here is what we are planning for the next couple of weeks:

- Make all spells and perks functional
- Roll out new terrain
- Introduce new revamped graphics for characters
- Expand tradeskills such as alchemy greatly
- Add npc factions


WAIsoft is committed to building the best game out there and we cannot do
that without your help.  Please continue to make suggestions on the forums,
enter bugs into Mantis, and enjoy your time while playing.

The game is really coming together and I hope to have some more coverage of it in the coming weeks. They also revamped their webpage which is a nice improvement.

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Friday Temptations

You didn't really want to work today, did you?  It's been a busy week for me and not in a fun way.  Luckily some other folks picked up the slack and gave me plenty to read.  Now I pass them on to you, so that this day can go a bit faster.

• Back to the Dark Age is an interesting site discussing the Dark Age of Camelot. I've always been curious about this game which is going surprisingly strong.  There are over 2,500 people playing at certain times of day. 
• Rivs is back, this time with a STO blog, The Klingon Academy.  I look forward to blowing up his ships in the coming months.
• Dragon Age announced plans for a new DLC, Return to Ostagar.  It is due out closer to the holidays, which is probably when I will finish the main storyline.
• Gaarawarr is back with WAR guides on: Cultivation, Butchering, Scavenging and Salvaging.
• Cliff, of Gratuitous Space Battles, discusses basements and plans for an expansion pack.
• ITG checks out LoTRO's new skirmish system first hand. 
• Soldak details the warrior class in Din's Curse.
  

This weekend I hope to get some Shaman time in on WAR and play some more of Dragon Age.   It's about time I gave Destro some attention in my Werit at WAR videos.

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What's so civil about Galactic Civil War anyway

One of the major things missing from Star Wars: Galaxies has been any kind of meaningful galactic Civil War.  Sure, you could fight those evil rebels (weren't they the bad guys?) but it was largely inconsequential. All that is about to change, because the next update is all about the GCW.

In the latest Producer's Note, we learn a bit about the upcoming update.  While the specifics aren't there we do know that Imperials and rebels will fight over territory on planets, eventually taking the planet.  No clue how neutral's fit in... I would guess they don't since they are neutral.

The actual fighting will be PvE and PvP based.  From the screenshots, it shows npc forces battling back and forth.  You're able to assist them by fighting, entertaining or crafting defenses.  The note says every profession can participate. It sorta feels like the approach WAR took.  All aspects of the gameplay contributed to locking the zone. 

Don't worry pilots, they did say you too will have a place in the war.  No detail were given though.

I didn't see anything about what happens when one faction controls an area/planet.  In any case, this will certainly spice things up.

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Open the Gates

When the Land of the Dead was released, it required many more resources in order to open it to your realm.  The only practical way to do it was to flip two zones.  Not too long ago, they lowered the amounts so turn-ins were more meaningful.  Now, in combination with the frequency of city sieges,  control of the zone changes hands pretty regularly.

With control of the Land of the Dead changing nearly immediately after it unlocks, I have been wondering the the gated aspect is necessary.  There are a few reasons why the zone is gated.  One is to provide incentive for realms to fight and capture zones back in the Old World.  Another is to give the weaker realm a chance to get stuff done.

There is actually a lot to do down in Zandri for all group sizes.  Solo you can go farm some mobs and get scarabs and souls.  Small groups can take on a few of the PQ's.  Full parties can do the Lairs and the Tomb of the Vulture Lord.

Of course, the Land of the Dead is also a RvR zone.  Due to its gated nature, once an enemy dies they will resurrect back in the Old World.  Some crafty groups hide out so they can catch their unsuspecting enemies off guard. The RvR here tends to die out pretty quickly though.

What would happen if the gated aspect was removed and players could go to the zone at any time?  Running the lairs and dungeon would be a bit more interesting.  At any time your enemies could enter and get the jump on you. I think it would be a lot more exciting with the constant threat.

Small group content is one area WAR needs to improve on.  There is just no reason to go into the RvR lakes solo or with a friend.  The LotD would give something for people to do if they don't want to run in larger groups.

There may be downsides to a gate-less LotD.  Underpowered realms may be effectively shut out of the zone if there is a large enough enemy presence.  If the population disparity is large enough, they may be able to hold the LotD and still advance to the city.  That would be bad.

I think removing the gated nature of the Land of the Dead is something worth exploring.  The zone still gets use, but without the gate it will likely see a lot more RvR.

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Pandemic

Yesterday, the gaming world received some sad news.  Pandemic Studios was shut down as a part of the sweeping EA cuts.  They were one of my favorite game studios.  Let's take a look back at some of their awesome games.

Star Wars: Battlefront.  You had a choice of over 20 different classes (soldier types) from multiple factions on a number of different planets.  You could also man vehicles like the X-Wing.  Nothing but combat and I loved it.  Maybe it's just me, but being a Storm Trooper was a bigger draw than a Jedi.

Mercenaries I and II.  Mercs was one of the best sandbox game's I ever played.  It was all about combat and there was a ton of stuff to destroy.  You had objectives throughout the open world and how you accomplished them was up to you.  Earning new vehicles and methods of destruction was rather addicting.

Destroy All Humans.  Based in the the 1950's, you played the role of an alien sent to Earth to rescue a fellow alien.  From there hilarity ensues.  You can fly around in your spaceship, tossing around pretty much anything with your tractor beam.  Since it too was a sandbox game, you could do things your way.  I was really hoping for a 360 sequel to this. 

Pandemic developed several other games, but these are the ones that I remember the most.  No one did Sandbox games quite like Pandemic.  In a month or so, The Saboteur launches , which promises to be another fun sandbox.  It is a shame that most of the employees were let go before even before it released. 

I am even thinking about taking The Saboteur off of my list due to my personal disgust at how this whole thing went down.  However,  the folks at Pandemic put a lot of effort into it and I'm they want it to succeed.  We'll see though, I'm still undecided.

Thanks Pandemic, you made some awesome games.  Hope you all find ways to keep doing it.

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Star Wars Battlefront | Mercenaries | Mercenaries 2: World in Flames | Destroy All Humans

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Gratuitous Space Battles hits Steam

Gratuitous Space Battles is a game where you design your ships, deploy them and watch the carnage unfold.  There is really nothing else like it on the market.  I have always enjoyed the space battles in Star Wars, Star Trek and others.  GSB takes that aspect and builds a game around it.

As I pre-ordered Gratuitous Space Battles, I was able to download the current form of the game and start playing.  Even in its unfinished state is was fun.  Now that the game has been released, it is a solid title.

• Video preview of GSB.
• Interview with Cliff Harris, the creator of Gratuitous Space Battles.
• Video of a Star Wars mod for GSB.

There are two ways to buy GSB, both Digital Downloads.  First, is directly from the maker.   Second is from Steam.  Either way, it will cost you around $20 at this time.  Not sure when (or if) a demo will be released.

GSB is a fun game on a budget price.  The developer is very open and interested in improving the game as time goes on.

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Missing armor in Dragon Age?

A few days ago, I started up Dragon Age only to find that my character was walking around in his underwear.  While there are certain situation where this is acceptable, fighting the darkspawn is not one of them.  It seems he was missing his armor.  In particular, this armor was from the Warden's Keep DLC.

To fix: Go to Downloadable Content then the Installed Content tab.  Un-check all of the items and then re-check them.  Go back into the game and your character should have his armor back.

Another fix:  Make sure you are logged in (lower left corner).

Hope that helps.

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Dragon Age: Origins

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Werit at WAR: Bright Wizard

Dragon Age wasn't the only game I played over the weekend.  I was in a PvP mood so I spent some time in Warhammer Online.  Rather than playing my normal characters, I had an urge to throw some fire around.  So I created a Bright Wizard.

The last time I played a Bright Wizard was during open beta.  It was fun then, but really not my style.  Since launch most of my time has been spent as an Engineer.  As fun as the Engy is, sometimes you feel like putting up big damage numbers.



The Bright Wizard can be tricky to play.  Damaging yourself does add a bit of risk when trying to annihilate your enemy.  This is especially apparent when there is no healer around.  I wasn't really used to this mechanic, so I killed myself on a few occasions.

While BW's are pretty squishy, they really do put out some high damage.  When I was around Level 5, I scored a critical hit of over 600 at full combustion.  Most of my Engineer attacks don't get that high without a crit.

It was a fun time, but the Bright Wizard will not be replacing my main anytime soon.  I've gone a bit alt happy in WAR lately, so this isn't the last new character to be seen.

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Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

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Classy

Just because it's the apocalypse doesn't mean you have to wear those instruments of death and destruction.  Fallen Earth announced a new bonus when you purchase the game which is sure to get you looks around the canyon.

When you purchase the game directly from Icarus (you know, the makers of Fallen Earth) you can choose your own bonus item.  The original item is the ATV, which yours truly has.

 The second option is a new item, the Classy Feathered Top Hat.  A sure sign of classy is when the item is labeled as such.  When wearing this hat, you gain skill points in Nature, Scavenging, Geology and of course, Social.  It also gives you a bit of armor... must be the Prairie Chicken Feather. 

So you can still get these bonus items, even though the game has launched.  Head on over to the Fallen Earth store to check it out. 

I should note, the pre-order Wasteland Runner horse is still available at Direct2Drive. Sadly, I did not see the STEAM t-shirt item still for sale.  This is also not the last item bonus we'll see.  In the patch notes, they mentioned the hat, but also a special Faction Shirt.

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Fallen Earth

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Dragon Age + The Old Republic

Most of my game time has been consumed by Dragon Age lately.  It is rather addicting.  As I play, I can't help but think what Dragon Age tells us about Bioware's upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. 

I think it is safe to say that Dragon Age and Mass Effect have been big hits.  They were hyped and both have lived up to it, which is a rare occasion these days.  So what can these titles tell us about TOR? 

Voice Acting.  Both DAO and ME have extensive voice acting.  In those titles it has been very well done and it added a considerable amount of immersion.  The Old Republic is also going to be fully voiced and may have more dialog than all other Bioware titles put together. 

Dragon Age is a great example of the quality of the voice overs. Bioware has tailored the voice overs to your particular situation.  Even characters in the DLC, like Shale, have voice comments for situations all over the game.  The voiced banter between members of your party is very natural as well.

Companions.  What would a Bioware game be without companion characters?  Both Mass Effect and Dragon Age made full use of your NPC companions.  They all have different personalities and perspectives.  They were designed not as an island, but as an integrated part of your team.  Morrigan and Alistar are a great example of this.

Bioware has said that companions will take a similar path in the Old Republic.  As TOR is exponentially bigger than Dragon Age or Mass Effect, it could mean we will have a large number of companion choices.  They all may not be available to every career, but they would add even more re-playability.

Story.  Mass Effect was the first game that I really noticed the amount of effort Bioware puts into the story.  All over the game world were story unlocks and items which were easily viewable.  Dragon Age took it a step forward with their Codex. I think a good chunk of my time in DAO has been spent reading all of the information in the Codex.

I would be very surprised if TOR did not have something similar to the DAO Codex.  Warhammer Online's Tome of Knowledge is also very similar.  Those little tidbit's of information really add depth to the world around you.

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Dragon Age: Origins

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Envy

Recently, I have come down with a case of MMO envy.  I had hoped yesterday's WAR Producer's Letter would have alleviated it but it did not.  In fact, the letter did not do much of anything except tell us what we already knew.

It is widely known that EA is cutting many jobs, Mythic included.  First, we had the PR form letter from Jeff Hickman.  That is to be expected though. so no big deal.  Next up was the Producer's Letter from Jeff Skalski.  This is usually where the good info awaits.

Compared to his previous letters it was rather short.  99% of the information was already known, the 1% was a new Live Event coming next year which seems to be pirate themed.  The rest was just stuff that already happened or we already knew.

Speaking of live events, the guy (Mark Davis)  responsible is now the new DAoC Producer.  Congrats Mark?

I am starting to get envious of other MMO's.  Let's take a look at what some of WAR's peers are up to.

• WoW:  Cataclysm expansion.
• Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate expansion.
• Everquest: Underfoot expansion.
• EvE: Dominion expansion.
• Pirates of the Burning Sea: Power and Prestige expansion.
• City of Heroes: Going Rogue expansion.
• Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer expansion.
• Ultima Online: Just had the Stygian Abyss expansion.
• Lord of the Rings: Siege of Mirkwood expansion.
• WAR: ???????????????

WAR had a great first year, they introduced 4 classes and the Land of the Dead.  I don't expect that kind of pace to continue, but right now there is nothing on the horizon.  Part of the reason I like MMO's is that they expand as time goes on.  A stagnant MMO is not usually a fun MMO.

Don't get me wrong, I like what WAR has planned in the near future.  Bug fixing and polishing is always welcome.  The underdog system is desperately needed as well.  None of them are very exciting though and I think players need something to look forward to.

Even if whatever they have planned is 9 months away, some hint or tease would be nice. The best way to counter bad news (layoffs) is with good news.  If none is to be had, what are players supposed to think about the future of the game?

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm| Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate| Eve Online| Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning| Pirates of the Burning Sea

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Last night's PTS event

Last night, there was an event on WAR's PTS to test out the new shortened city siege.  I, as usual, strolled in later than I had hoped.  I did get a chance to fight for close to an hour though.  For a look at the video and my impressions, read on.

The contested stage now only lasts one hour.  This shortened period really does put an emphasis on the fighting inside.  Battles should be a bit more exciting now that winning the PQ's is significant.  I know one hour is much better for me, as that will allow be to stay through the whole contested stage.

I did take some video, although it is a bit short.  I often forget to hit the record key, as I'm too wrapped up in the fighting.



Direct Link.

Overall the feedback seems to be positive.  Next, I hope to see them tackle to issue of too many sieges occurring.   This should help the problem a little, as people will spend more time fighting to get to the city than they spend inside the city. 

Also, this is the 500th post for me, yay!

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Q&A with Torchlight's Matt Lefferts

Today we have the third and final Torchlight interview.  Matt Lefferts, the animator of Torchlight, was kind enough to answer the questions as well.  I think the animations in torchlight really help to get across the feel of the combat.  Thanks Matt!

Werit:  Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m Matt Lefferts.  I’m one of the founding members of Runic Games.  I’m the animator for Torchlight.  I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated in 06.  I’ve been in the industry for about 2 years and freelanced for 2.5 years before that.  I will be playing the part of Biff in this production of, Death of a Sal… moving on.

Werit:  What sets Torchlight apart from other Action RPG's, like Diablo II?

About 10 years for one.  As kidding as that is, there’s a lot of truth to it.  D2 has been around for a while now as one of the most fundamental games in the ARPG genre.  It set and reset the bar many times over.  Since then, the genre has had time to evolve in different ways but at its heart remains pure kickass fun.  When we set out to make TL that was the number 1 thing we tried to keep in mind.  Let’s not get bogged down with attempting to create a new innovations, let’s stay true to the roots and make it a badass click fest.

Werit:  The infinite dungeon sounds interesting, how does it work?

The Infinite Dungeon is something that becomes available to the players after completing the main story quests.  New quest givers and appear in town, near the graveyard, where there is an entrance through a mausoleum.  Levels and monsters are randomly generated.  This is where someone can really put their skill to the test because as they go deeper, the difficulty ramps up.

Werit:  Torchlight is mod-able by the players.  How much can a player add to the game?  Is it just text files or can they also add art?

We’re putting out the exact same set of in-house created tools we used to make the game.  Pretty much anything we were capable of putting in the game, the player can do too.  We are also releasing some content along with the editor to help get people on their way.  Honestly, looking back at my time working with mod teams, I’ve never seen or heard of a game company putting this kind of stuff out there along with the editor.  It makes me extremely proud and excited to see what people do with it.  The stuff people have managed to do without even having the editor yet has been impressive in its own right.

Werit:  Are there any DLC/Expansion plans for Torchlight before the MMO?

We have already released a patch with some fixes and such, and beyond that I don’t know all too much yet.

Werit:  Will players be able to use anything from the single player game in the MMO?

As far as I know, we don’t have any plans for that yet.  But we ARE in the planning stages of the MMO currently so it’s certainly within a realm of possibility if we think of something cool enough to integrate.

Werit:  Which one of the classes is your favorite and why?

My favorite class has jumped around a lot throughout development but I think I’m back to my first choice.  The Alchemist wins it for me currently because I really love the animations on the ember monkeys and alchbots.

Werit:  Fishing is a surprising feature.  What kind of stuff can you catch?

Anyone who knew of FATE would know that Fishing was going to be an obvious addition to TL.  The cool thing we did with it is let you transform your pet and augment its stats.  For most of the monsters in the game, there is a fish that will transform your pet into it, and for all those fish, there is a special rare fish that will make the transformation permanent.

Werit:  What kind of benefits and perks can your retired character give?  Can they ever come out of retirement?

Currently there’s no way to get a character out of retirement.  The benefits of it are tied to that.  The whole point of retiring a character is to pass down an heirloom item to one of your descendants, the next new character you create.  The item’s requirements are decreased, while it’s damage and bonus effects are increased.  Just like the infinite dungeon it opens up after you beat the game.

Werit:  There is a a lot to like about Torchlight, what is your favorite part of the game?

Totally an overwhelming question.  It’s like getting asked what your favorite song or movie is.  Impossible to answer.  So I usually give top 3 in no particular order.

1: The Dog – the mechanics of sending it back to town and picking up your stuff is very cool.  And that was a tough one to animate but I had a lot of fun doing it.

2: The Final Boss – getting that character’s look and feel right mattered a lot to me.  I think there are still a couple of animations for him that didn’t make it into the final game, but I really enjoy how that guy came out.

3: The Sunken Ruins – this my favorite looking level in the game.  I love it

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PTS Event Tonight

First, I want to wish everyone that lost their job recently, good luck and thanks for the effort.  As it often does, WAR marches on.  Tonight, at 8pm EST, they are holding a PTS event in order test some of the new City Siege changes.  They include the shorter duration and changes to how victory points are calculated.

These events are usually pretty fun.  You can use a template and try out classes on either side.  Some of those fancy mounts will also be given out to a lucky few.  I plan on stopping by, as Werit of course.  If you can, stop in and say hi.

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Q&A with Torchlight's Matt Tanwanteng

Torchlight week continues with the second of three developer interviews.  This time we have Matt Tanwanteng, one of the MMO and Toolset developers.  Can you spot the Simpson's reference?  Thanks Matt!

Werit:  Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi!  My name is Matt Tanwanteng, and I graduated with a Master's in Computer Science from MIT before coming to Runic and inheriting the Newbie Brick.  Here, I'm officially helping Peter lay out the codebase for the upcoming MMO version of Torchlight.  Most recently, I've been working on testing out and documenting the modding process and have been having fun throwing together little unofficial Torchlight mods.

Werit:  What sets Torchlight apart from other Action RPG's, like Diablo II?

Torchlight is a refinement of the formula that made Diablo II a success, ported to the present with all the amenities that players have been introduced to since Diablo II's release.  Auto-gold pickup, pets that sell your goods, and the ability to run at respectable resolutions immediately come to mind when directly comparing against D2.  What sets it apart from other Action RPG's as a whole is the attention to the core mechanics of the game.  Running around, getting cool loot, and hacking and slashing and blowing stuff up in a satisfying, visceral manner has never felt so good!

Werit:  The infinite dungeon sounds interesting, how does it work?

Even after you clear out the main storyline quests, there's still levels to be gained, enemies to kill, and loot to acquire!  The infinite dungeon lets you fulfill any extra urges you still have to loot and loot and loot until your grubby little mitts can't handle it anymore.  At some point you'll cap out on levels, and then you're on to an endurance test to see just how far you can get before it becomes impossible to progress any deeper. Personally, I'm more of a "create-20-characters-and-try-each-possible-build" kind of guy, but once
those are done...

Werit:  Torchlight is mod-able by the players.  How much can a player add to the game?  Is it just text files or can they also add art?

Torchlight is heavily moddable.  Basic modding is incredibly easy, and you can definitely add in your own art, sound, and skills without a problem.  There are definitely a few things that you won't be able to change (with a caveat that motivated, savvy modders will find a way to do it), but by and large you can do an incredible amount with the tools we give you.

Werit:  Which one of the classes is your favorite and why?

All of them are my favorite!  Conceptually, the Alchemist appeals to me the most, but when I'm playing the game I have just as much fun with each of the characters.

Werit:  There is a a lot to like about Torchlight, what is your favorite part of the game?

It's that attention to the basics.  That one-more-level-and-then-I'll-stop-but-gotta-test-this-new-weapon-and-oh-it's-7-AM realization.  It's the blend of animation, sound, and timing that makes just using your normal attack feel like you're down there laying into the enemy.  Coming in at a close second (and other people have said it, but still) is the ability to have your pet summon zombies.  My /pet/ is
/summoning zombies./

I'm not sure if it qualifies as part of the game, but I'll throw in here that the editor is awesome.  I created a skill that shoots bees at enemies, so now... my dog is summoning zombies and barking a swarm of angry bees at my foes.  How much  more can you ask for from an ARPG? Whatever that answer is, you can probably put it in the game with the editor.

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The Engineers new clothes

Don't worry, no dwarfs in their birthday suits.  I had to phrase that last sentence carefully as it could have brought the wrong kinda traffic to this site.  I don't change my gear often in WAR, as it isn't that important.  Eventually, I saved up enough medallions and was able to upgrade.

To be honest, I don't even remember the last time I changed my gear.  It has been at least 3 months since I started wearing the Conqueror/Annihilator combo.  I never had any luck in the fortress battles, so medallions were the only way for me to replace my Annihilator equipment. 

The last 2 items I needed cost me 60+ Conqueror Crests (converted) and 300+ Officer Medallions.  This was almost everything I had earned since they put the tokens in the game.

My Renown Rank is 55, so I could also wear Invader equipment, of which I have the boots and gloves.  Rather then jumping to Invader,  I wanted to check out the full Conqueror set.  I really like WAR's art style (as opposed to Aion).  I think Tirew here looks awesome.

And from the back...

The backpack has gotten me a few whispers.  I got it from the Auction House guy in the Inevitable City.  It felt a bit bulky at first, but how can I not wear it?

I would also like to thank Syp for posting the in-game item code for WAR that he received with Dragon Age.  Thanks to twitter, I was able to snag it and get myself the Skaven Cloak. 

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Q&A with Torchlight's Wonder Russell

Recently, I had an opportunity to ask Wonder Russell, the Minister of Culture at Runic Games, about Torchlight.  This is actually the first of 3 interviews with folks at Runic, thanks Wonder!  If you are not familiar with Torchlight, be sure to check out this video review of the game.  Check back tomorrow for the next interview.

Werit:  Can you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Wonder, I’m a chick in the gaming industry which reminds me of a quote from my Alaska days: “the odds are good, but the goods are odd.” Except for Runic Games, that is! ;)

Werit:  What sets Torchlight apart from other Action RPG's, like Diablo II?

Torchlight has a very different look and feel, the art style is entirely different and very much our own thing. We also have an Enchanter, pets, fishing, save anywhere, an item inventory that does NOT use the Tetris style, and lots of little details like those that to us, make gameplaying more fun!

Werit:  The infinite dungeon sounds interesting, how does it work?

It goes on and on, unending! Well it’s infinite in the sense that  it will never stop randomly generating tilesets – muahahahaha. We included it for more playability once you finish the storyline quest but still want to gain fame and essentially finish the game at its level cap, which is 100.

Werit:  Torchlight is mod-able by the players.  How much can a player add to the game?  Is it just text files or can they also add art?

They can add literally anything they can think of. Ogre is a graphics engine, and supports 3DMax so they can add their own artwork, and we are providing an incredible amount of raw files. The tools for the mods are literally the tools we wrote to make the game. Nothing is dumbed down, you get it all. Check out these forum posts to stay tuned:

http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5688

Werit:  Are there any DLC/Expansion plans for Torchlight before the MMO?

It’s possible we’ll release some content that is also going into the MMO, but nothing is planned so far. There will be gobs of new content from modders, though.

Werit:  Will players be able to use anything from the single player game in the MMO?

Nope, it will be an entirely different game, using an entirely different model.

Werit:  Which one of the classes is your favorite and why?

My favorite is the Alchemist for his steampunk aesthetic. Seattle seems to have a real sweet spot for steampunk and I’m a big fan, personally.

Werit:  Fishing is a surprising feature.  What kind of stuff can you catch?

 All kinds of fish that have transformational properties or  buffs for you and/or your pet!

Werit:  What kind of benefits and perks can your retired character give?  Can they ever come out of retirement?

Your character cannot come out of retirement, but at retirement they place special enchantments on a weapon which can be bestowed onto a new character, your “descendant.” It also decreases the requirements for wielding that weapon, so you’ll be able to use it sooner in your gameplay!

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Combat in Dragon Age

In my previous video, I only showed off the very basics of how fighting works in Dragon Age.  Looking back at it, I don't think it really showed how fun the combat system can be. So today we have a video of the first boss fight.  This may be considered a minor spoiler.



The video above shows one way to handle fighting.  I like issuing orders directly to my party, however it can be a bit cumbersome.  Dragon Age includes a tactics system to help alleviate this.  You can assign conditions and action to each npc and let them fight on their own.

It actually took me 4 tries to win the above battle on normal difficulty.  Each time I failed the Ogre only had a sliver of health left.  My problem was that I relied on brute force which is not recommended against an Ogre.

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Fallen Earth Friday

It has been a crazy week for gaming.  I've played Torchlight, WAR, Dragon Age, GSB and a little Fallen Earth.  The Halloween Event ended but I did manage to get my shotgun.  Sadly, I am not skilled enough to use it yet.  I do have some pictures of some other stuff though.

All players were given a gas mask, you know, the traditional Halloween gift.  It came with a nice warning label from the manufacturer.

I did manage to try it on.  It looks, um, interesting. 

The final gift from Icarus was a gigantic set of patch notes.  They are much too big to post in their entirety, so I will pick some of the neat changes.

Changed the PvP anti-griefing debuff. Players will no longer receive the debuff when they kill a player under the minimum level for a PvP zone.

This should prevent groups from using a low level character to weaken their opponents.  

Updated the tree textures to unload when not in use.

Less textures means less memory use, yay!

Increased the drop rate of scrap fasteners from low level scavenging nodes. 

More stuff? yes please.

Added Sector Vaults outside the Embry bank and made the interior so vehicles and horses cannot go inside.

This will be nice, since mounts do not just disappear.

Enlarged Nature nodes to improve their visibility.  

Very nice, sometimes the plants were tough to find amongst all of the ground foliage.

Added a Feather Hat promotional item. Added Faction Shirt promo items.

Hmm, what could these be for?

And of course there were a ton of bug fixes to go along with these changes.  Most of my time in Fallen Earth lately has been crafting.  I am going the completion-ist route, so I want to get all of my tradeskills maxed before moving on.

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Dragon Age Video Review

This really isn't a review, as I don't judge the game.  The video will show, without spoilers, what Dragon Age has to offer.  So if you still have not had enough Dragon Age, you can check it out after the break.



Direct Link.

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Dragon Age: Origins

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Changes coming to the City Siege

When the fortresses were removed in WAR's 1.3.2 patch, the intention was to get campaigns moving again.  It was successful but perhaps too successful.  On some servers, city sieges are occurring too frequently, resulting in some players being locked out of their city.  Mythic is aware of the problem and has outlined some of the planned fixes.

If a city siege advances to the second stage, it will lose ranking.  A loss of rank means things like the Guild Hall and palace are no longer accessible.  So the losing side is put at a further disadvantage.  Another problem is that when the city is under siege,  the rest of the game is pretty much put on hold.

Andy, from Mythic, posted some fixes for these issues:

• Guild Hall access and functionality will no longer be tied to City rank. All privileges granted by the Guild Halls will be available in a 1-Star City.
• Cities will now start to recover rank more quickly. We have drastically sped up the effort required to rank your City back up.
• Access to the Citadel and the Imperial Palace will no longer be tied to City Rank. You will now have permanent access to the quests and vendors that lie within.
• We are retiring the two Scenarios formerly available when a City is under siege: The Undercroft and the Altdorf War Quarters. Ok, this is nothing new since 1.3.2, but this paves the way for...
• During Stage 2 of the City siege there will now be two scenarios permanently available for those of you who do not wish to participate in the City siege experience, depending on which City is being seiged: If Altdorf is under attack, then Reikland Factory is enabled. If The Inevitable City has fallen to the armies of Order, The Twisting Tower will be active.
  
  • These two scenarios will not contribute to the Victory Points of the City siege in any way however they will offer a 10% bonus to Renown and Experience gained.
  • Anyone from Tier 2, 3 or 4 may queue for these scenarios. For this Scenario only, everyone is Bolstered to 40 for some face smashing good times. 
  • You may only queue for these Scenarios from outside of the City instance. 
   
  

This should solve the problem of being locked out of necessary city services if you are the losing realm.  I am most excited by the return of Reikland Factory and the Twisting Tower scenarios.  Almost everyone can participate as they will bolster all players to rank 40.  In addition, you get more renown and experience while fighting in the scenarios.

Another issue with the city siege is the length.  It is clear players do not like spending hours fighting in the city.  As a result, the duration will be shorter.

• We will be halving the duration of the City siege experience.
  
  • Stage 1 will now last only 1 hour.
  • Stage 2 will now last only 3 hours. 
    
  

This is pretty much cutting the duration in half.  I like the city siege, but not for 2 straight hours. One hour in the contested phase should be good amount.

These changes do not address the core problem which is that population imbalances lead to too many sieges by one side.  In a way, the shorter duration does help.  By spending less time under siege they will have to spend more time fighting out in the lakes.

Andy did respond to my above point:

As you've alluded too, Cities were not meant to be sieged as frequently as they are right now. We know this, and it's apparent that many players know this. Internally, we're making the needed steps to address this and will keep the community informed every step of the way, as we have been doing. 

And now the big question, when will we see these changes?  Andy mentioned that there will be another PTS Event next week.  That makes me think, if all goes well, these changes will be in late next week or the week after.

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Gratuitous Space Battles + Star Wars

When I think of space battles, Star Wars immediately comes to mind.  In fact, I have always liked the space fight angle much more than the Jedi.  X-Wings, Star Destroyers, Tie Fighters,  it was all great.  When I first played around with Gratuitous Space Battles it was clear that someone would make a mod to use Star Wars ships.

And of course, someone did.  I took a video of it which I think is pretty awesome.  Who doesn't love a Star Destroyer?




Direct Link. 

Check out the game, here.

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Dragon Age: Impressions

Yesterday the long wait for Bioware's latest venture, Dragon Age: Origins, came to and end.  I went with the Digital Deluxe version from Steam.  I played for 3 hours or so yesterday.  Read on for my no spoiler impressions. 

The process of getting everything setup was not easy.  In order to link the game to Bioware's Social Network it had to be registered. I had no luck in getting the site to recognize my key.  The site is also supposed to display your screen shots but I haven't been able to get that to work either. 

As for the game,  it is good but I'm not ready to call it Game of the Year yet.  The graphics are a bit sloppy in my opinion.  There is a lot of clipping and the fact my weapons float a few inches off my body bothers me. 

The story is good so far but I would expect nothing less from Bioware.  They added a lot of GUI elements from Mass Effect for managing all of the information the game throws at you.  Even though I have spent over 3 hours in the game, I have not done much.  Most of my time was spent reading or talking to npc's. 

I went with a Dwarf Commoner as my first character.  I was impressed with how my story fit into the game.  I was worried, since there are multiple starting stories, that it would feel disjointed.  It flowed perfectly into the main story.  The characters around you talk/treat you differently based on your start.  It isn't just 'substitute your name here.'

I plan to have a spoiler-free video out tomorrow so you can see for yourself what the gameplay is like. 

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Streaming WAR

Recently, I did some intensive investigating (twitter) and found an interesting tidbit about WAR.  You may recall that WAR is revamping their free trial.  That is not the only change coming to it though.

In addition to the unlimited time free trial, they are also making a streaming version of the client.  Instead of having to download 8gb for the trial, you will download a much smaller package and the rest will happen in the background as you play.

WAR is not the first to take this approach.  EverQuest 2 recently launched a similar client.  For me, free trials are often an impulse decision.  One day the mood may strike me to try out a new game.  Nothing kills that mood like a 8gb download.

With a streaming client, players will be able to get into the game much quicker.  This is something every MMO should be trying to adopt.  Just imagine if you could try a game by clicking a link and a couple minutes later you are in and playing.  If other games embraced this, I'd certainly do more free trials.

NOTE: Guild Wars also uses a streaming client. 

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Farewell Aion

If you have been reading my recent articles about Aion, it should be no surprise that I have canceled my subscription.  Since well before launch I have been cynical towards Aion, but the game at least deserved a try.  Much to my surprise it was not as bad as I thought.  In the end though, it just wasn't the game for me.

Here now are my thoughts about Aion, in bullet form.

• + Performance.  Aion ran very smooth in normal gameplay.  
• - Art Style.  I'm not a fan of the anime influenced style. 
•  + Combat.  The actual combat was very smooth and felt great.  The animations were top notch.
•  - Crafting.  Way too much of a grind.  Work orders were very boring.  Many of the decent items required a crit of a previous item. This made materials very expensive.
•  - PvE.  The cut scenes were nice, but this is the same PvE we've been playing for years.
• + Rifts.  I think rifts were a nice idea.  They spiced up the PvE a bit and invading the other side was fun.  However, it was an infrequent source of PvP.
• - Abyss.  The Abyss sounded interesting on paper, but in reality it was one big gank fest.  Allowing ranks 25 through 50 to fight in the same space, without a bolster, just was not fun.
• - Leveling.  It's a long way to the top if you want to PvP.  I am a big fan of PvP leveling and Aion just does support that style of gameplay.
• - Bots.  Aion is crawling with bots.  I shouldn't have to fight bots over spawns to get a quest done.   It even had me thinking that maybe I was the one in the wrong by not botting.
• - Gold Spam.  While they have fixed the issue somewhat, it still left me with a bad impression.  In all my years I had never seen so much of it.  The channels were scrolling with ads.
• + Guild.  There are quite a few CoW's who play Aion and I will miss grouping with them.
• - Leveling Part 2.  I am a casual player, and I am just not able to keep with with the folks I group with.  Playing the game mostly solo is not very fun.

I think Aion is a good game, but just not for me.  I don't regret buying it and I feel as if I got my monies worth.  It certainly has it's good points, but not enough to justify it keeping a place in my MMO rotation.  That rotation now consists of WAR and Fallen Earth. 

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Aion

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Death Troopers

Death Troopers is both a new book in the Star Wars universe and also an event in Star Wars Galaxies.  As you may expect from the title, it involves zombies.  While you may think they are hopping on the zombie bandwagon, it appears that they have been a part of the Star Wars lore for a while.  For a video and more info, continue on.

First, let's take a look at a trailer made for the book.  These guys won a contest for making it and it is very well done.



Now that was pretty cool right?  It isn't often a trailer gets me fired up to read a book.  Now if Amazon would just get this out on the Kindle I'd be all set.

Not only is the book out, but Star Wars Galaxies added some tie-in content in the form of a full fledged update.  More quests, collections, Chronicle relics and items were included with the update.  From the looks of it, it was well received by the players.  While the troopers may be dead, SWG appears to be living.

I am a big fan of these kinds of multimedia events (game + book).  Bioware has been good about that, except their books are based on the game and not the other way around.  When you have a good IP, you should exploit it in as many ways as possible.

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What Aion can learn from WAR

Last week, I made a post discussing what WAR can learn from Aion.  Performance, Crafting, PvP and the economy were all included.  That doesn't mean Aion is perfect in those areas.  There is always room for improvement and WAR does have some good ideas.

WAR is currently my most played game.  While it has its faults there is a lot that it does right. 

• Leveling.  Aion, when compared to WAR (and WoW), has a very long leveling process.  This is also a mostly PvE experience (due to reasons we'll see below).  In addition to a shorter road to max level, WAR gives players the ability to level via PvE and PvP, which really helps break up the grind.
• Crafting.  Aion's crafting is a long grind.  They don't try to hide it, as the work order encourages afk/bot play.  In WAR, maxing out your trade-skills is easy.  Once you reach the top the stuff (potions ,talismans)  you make is useful rather than doing it all for a single item.
• PvP.  The rifts are a neat idea, but they are not frequent or a reliable source of PvP.  The Abyss, which is the primary pvp area, is really only for high level characters.  The bolster system in WAR would be a very nice addition as it helps make the playing field more level.  In the Abyss, high level players would still have an advantage (gear and levels) but a bolster system would make it more competitive.
• Customer Service.  Now that gold SPAM is under control (mostly), Aion needs to do something about bots.  I am still surprised by their numbers.  With a long grind to 50, seeing bots make me wonder why am I bothering?  If you enjoy the PvE experience that last bit probably doesn't apply. 

Those are four points which I think Aion can take away from WAR.  The most important to me is the PvP.  I don't mind losing but at least give me a chance.  Being able to actually level in the Abyss would be a lot of fun.  Of course, I'd try and level mostly via PvP from the beginning if I could.    

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