OPINION: Always-Online And You: Why it Isn't a Big Deal

I'm going to make a bold prediction ahead of Microsoft's next generation Xbox reveal this week. The always-online rumors, they will be true. And furthermore, it isn't such a big deal. Why? Because no-one cares about it. At least, not really.

Before you punch through your computer screen in a blind rage, let me explain myself. I want you to take a second and think, really think, about the last time you were without internet for an extended period of time. And by "extended period of time" I mean several days. Being out for a couple of hours doesn't really count because hey, even the power goes out every now and then. Now, exclude extra-ordinary circumstances such as natural disasters and moving house. For anyone tech-savy enough to be reading this blog, it seems completely unfathomable to simply be without the internet.

You know what I did when I didn't have the internet for a week after moving house? I tethered 3G from my smartphone. This, combined with steadily improving service records from most ISP's means that most people will always have some kind of internet connection. Anyone who is primarily a PC gamer doesn't even think twice about always-online gaming. Every game in our Steam library is played while we are online 99% of the time. All of Blizzard's new title's are always-online, and they work great. The only true example of always-online gone bad is SimCity, and that's more because the game was horribly broken at its core and the publisher and developer were terrible people who lied through their teeth.

So why has always-online become a dirty word? Colossal fuck-ups like Assasin's Creed for PC and SimCity are partly to blame, but there also seems to be this feverish minority of gamers that are so disgusted by the very idea of always-online, that the mere suggestion of it being any more than Satan incarnate is immediately bombarded with explosions of hate. This leads to the games industry being very, very careful to not actually talk about always-online in a positive light. Just look at what happened with Adam Orth.

I'm going to say something that is going to make some of you foam at the mouth. Orth was right. He may have been a dick about it, and probably should have kept his mouth shut considering his position at Microsoft, but his basic argument was spot-on. Always-online is not a big deal, and do you know why? Because as loud and angry as the vocal minority that opposes it is, they don't actually account for diddly squat. The percentage of players that have legitimate complaints about always-online (they live in an area with poor or no internet coverage) are so minuscule  that the publishers don't really care about them. And it turns out those people themselves don't really care either. Let's look at some examples.

Americans playing World of Warcraft are used to enjoying pings between 10 and 100ms, depending on how close they are to the server. On average, Australian gamers get anywhere from 180 to 300ms. It sucks, and it literally makes the game less enjoyable and more difficult for us. Aussies have been petitioning Blizzard for a proper Oceanic server (not just an American server with a different time-zone...) for the entirety of the game's 8 year lifespan. And guess what? We still don't have the server. To add insult to injury, World of Warcraft's server maintenance is at ~ 3 AM EST, which means it usually occurs at around 7 or 8 PM for those on the other side of the pacific.

So surely, with what you have been led to believe about the internet's intense hatred of always-online, this situation should lead to a complete boycott of the game in Australia. Right? Wrong. World of Warcraft sold quite well in Australia, and even managed to break the top ten in sales whenever an expansion was released. Furthermore, Australians make up for such a minuscule portion of Blizzard's overall profit margin, that they could probably ban all of us completely and it wouldn't make too big a dent. To put things into perspective, the total population of Australia is about the same as the population of Texas.

Another Blizzard example is Diablo III. 'Always-online? I will never buy this!' they said. 'No LAN play = no purchase' they threatened. "Starcraft II being always-online was the last straw, I will never buy a Blizzard game again," they swore. Diablo III was the fastest selling PC game of all time. Need I say more?

Even Steam, produced by Valve, who can "do no wrong" in the eyes of the internet, is actually already pretty-much "always-online", and most people don't even realize it. Have you tried Steam's offline mode recently? It's very iffy at best. Games won't run unless properly updated, the vast majority of features are disabled, save games won't sync properly, and it just makes for an overall inferior experience. Sometimes it will just refuse to work entirely. Yet, I never hear anyone every complain about Steam's offline mode, apart from the occasional "oh yeah, that sucks." Steam is designed to be always-online, with the offline mode simply being included as a "failsafe."

So, the next Xbox will probably be always-online, because, simply put, it can, and people will still buy it. Always-online is the future. Games with always-online are not selling any worse than games without it, despite how mad some people get. Internet and cellphone infrastructure gets better every single year. If the last console generation was anything to go by, the PS4 and next Xbox will be around for at least another 5 or 6 years. I imagine after half a decade, it will be unusual for a game to not be always-online.

Always-online should be a feature, not a deterrent. It enhances the gaming experience by ensuring that you are constantly up-to-date, can instantly join your friends games, can access your console from outside of your home, and can partake in many community features. It also allows developers to do cool shit like this "secret multiplayer" the WatchDogs devs recently revealed. This whole debacle reminds me of how people used to think gaming "achievements" were stupid, detracted from the game, and would never catch on. These days, it's almost impossible to find a game without them.

Lastly, Microsoft is not stupid, and that is why they have been incredibly tight-lipped (and why Orth was given the sack for running his mouth before their PR damage control could step in). We still don't know exactly what "always-online" even means, and are yet to hear Microsoft's explanation, which I'm sure will do its best to spin it in as much of a positive light as possible. They would not be doing this if they didn't think it would work. I would not be surprised if it had an offline "failsafe" like Steam does, or if it only has to "check in" every hour or so. It will probably require a very minimal amount of bandwidth  meaning even those with shitty connections will be completely unaffected. I would not be surprised if singleplayer games won't actually require you to be "always-on."

73 percent of Xbox 360 users have connected their consoles to the internet. This is a substantial majority,  and the remaining 27 percent are mostly likely people who wouldn't be buying the next generation Xbox too soon after launch anyway. Simply put, if you don't want always-online, Microsoft has gambled that it can prosper without your business. It doesn't care about you.

While the voices opposing always-online are still loud, with every iteration of the technology they get softer and softer. There are a lot misconceptions about what always-online actually means, which Microsoft should clear up at its event. People seem to think that it will require a constant 100mb/s upload that will check in every three seconds, and if it doesn't detect an internet connection, will shut your console down (and self-destruct). What you should know is that always-online is here to stay, and will become increasingly more common in the future, so you can either jump up and down in anger, or you can take steps to prepare for it.

And hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the next generation Xbox is when we all rise up and say "no" to our always-online overlords, causing the console to fail and forcing the technology back a few more years. This is all just one man's opinion on how, and why, events will unfold.

-Steven "The Taco Man" Bogos

Thoughts expressed in this article are entirely my own, and are in no way associated with or representative of any publications I work for.

Please direct comments/suggestions/hate mail/death threats to the comments section below, or personally to me at bogos.steven@gmail.com.

IMPRESSIONS: World Of Warcraft - Mists of Pandaria (PC)

There’s a reason why World of Warcraft has managed to keep a subscriber base of around ten million users for almost a decade. There’s a reason why people forsake their families, their jobs, and in some circumstances, their bodily functions in order to play the game. There’s a reason why, amongst the corpses of countless failed MMOs, World of Warcraft still stands tall. It’s because it’s a good game. Haters gonna hate, but I think World of Warcraft may just be the best game of our generation, and one of the greatest games ever made. Actually, I should rephrase that. World of Warcraft is one of the greatest games still being made, as it’s regular free content updates and paid expansion packs demonstrate. Mists of Pandaria (MoP) is the latest paid expansion, and today I'm taking a good long look at how WoW has changed over the years.

I’d like to acknowledge that yes, I am a little late to the party. I was unavoidably busy during the first few weeks of release, and have only now been able to experience a majority of the content MoP offers. As such, I see this article as more of a promotion to those of you still on the fence about ‘coming back’ to WoW. I'm having a great time in Pandaria and I think that maybe you might too. Of course, if you are new to WoW, please read on, as Pandaria has a lot to offer to newbies as well.

Is Mists of Pandaria worth returning to Azeroth for?

First, lets get this panda thing settled. This expansion is primarily about the Panderan. Instead of the expansion’s main villain being on the box art of the game, as was the tradition for every other WoW expansion, it’s a Panderan. The Panderan race is available to both Horde and Alliance. 90% of the new quests, dungeons, and other content involve the Panderan in some way. They are THE major part of this expansion, and if you feel that kung-fu Pandas (and not pokemon battles, dancing carnival bears, steampunk goblins, Victorian werewolves, alien space goats, time-travelling dragons, and all the other wacky shit WoW has implemented over the years) have ruined the game by being ‘just silly’ and not fitting the universe, you will find nothing of value here. Close your browser, make a cup of tea, and think about rainbows or something for the next fifteen minutes.

Gone? Good. Those of you actual Warcraft fans that remain are in for a major treat with this expansion. Nothing is hugely revolutionary but all of the small changes and new additions build on what made WoW great in the first place, while working hard to eliminate all of the little quirks that people disliked about the game.

The Pandaren are a major part of this expansion.

Lets start with the first thing most returning Warcraft veterans will do upon first logging in; Level their main character to level 90. The first thing you will notice is that all of your talents are gone. MoP has brought with it a complete talent tree overhaul. Now, when choosing a specialization, you are automatically granted a suite of spells that used to be talents. The new talents themselves have then been simplified to just three choices in six tiers. What this means is that the specs themselves feel a lot more ‘specialized’ and that the actual talents come down to personal preference rather than min-maxing numbers. Many classes will also see some pretty big changes.

I main a Warlock, and they got a complete overhaul of the demonology and destruction specs, going so far as to invent a new resource for each one (demonic fury and burning embers respectively). I won’t go into any more details about class changes; just know that your class of choice will not be the same as how you left it when you stopped playing.

The new talent trees have been vastly simplified.

The journey to the level cap has never been more pleasant. In vanilla, you kind of shambled your way to sixty. Most people would run out of quests and have to resort to grinding boars for at least a few bars every level. The Burning Crusade was a disaster. Thousands of people crammed into a single zone, with quest monsters and items respawning infrequency enough to just make everything a huge clusterfuck of a mess. Wrath of the Lich King was a big step in the right direction, with TWO starting zones easing the burden. Cataclysm experimented heavily with ‘phasing’ technology, allowing players to take things at their own pace.

Mists of Pandaria has perfected phasing and questing to the point where they don’t actually need two starting zones anymore. Every time you head back to a quest hub, you’ll get three to six quests to go out and complete, often with sensible drop and spawn rates. A particularly enjoyable change is that quest-specific monsters can be ‘tagged’ by multiple players, even if they are not in the same group or even the same faction. No more spawn-camping quest mobs.

The difference between the Pandaren and the original races is almost night and day.

It’s a lot easier on your eyes as well. Looking at the beautiful, Chinese culture-inspired locales and models of MoP will have you forget that the engine running the whole thing is from the same year people thought Doom 3’s atmospheric lighting was top shit. New animations, textures and particles will make you wonder what other tricks they can squeeze out of this aging engine. The Panderan models, for example, are so much more detailed that the models of the vanilla races that it almost looks like they are from a completely different game.

Perhaps most interesting is how alive the island of Pandaria feels. Unlike previous expansions which were plagued by death and destruction, Pandaria is all about life and energy. Memorable NPC’s such as Shen Stormstout will guide you through this beautiful land, and make a lasting impression. I get the feeling that every NPC I meet is out there living a life, and not just a big floating exclamation point. The living scenery, littered with critters, helps to create this feeling of a living continent.

The zones of Pandaria are inspired by Chinese mythology.

While the zones aren’t quite as varied as they were in Cataclysm, they are unique and well-paced enough to keep things fresh all throughout your levelling journey. But of course, we all know that the quest to max level is just the tip of the iceberg, and one of the things that has made Warcraft so great is its dedication to end game.

The good news is that there is no shortage of things to do once hitting the level cap, and the options available are sure to appease every kind of WoW player, from the weekend warriors to the hardcore raiders. The stock-standard pathway of normal dungeons -> heroic dungeons -> raid progression exists and the raiders will fit quite comfortably into it. Improvements to the dungeon finder system, and the impending release of the raid finder for MoP raids means that it’s easier than ever for more casual players, or players that prefer to play solo, to be able to experience all the content the expansion offers.

Dungeons have been pretty much perfected, with most heroic dungeons taking about 20-40 minutes and are a bit easier than the more punishing entry-level Cataclysm heroics. The addition of ‘challenge modes’ which offer extra rewards for completing dungeons within a time limit is sure to appease those who want a more challenging experience. Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery are the newest classic dungeons to receive the ‘heroic end level version’ makeover and along with a healthy serving of 7 new Pandaria dungeons, grinding heroics for gear is a quite fun and attractive option.

Scholomance is the latest classic dungeon to be revived.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints (mostly, wanting to be able to actually have free time, instead of just WoW time) I’ve made a conscious decision to NOT get into hardcore progression raiding. My friends who are raiding inform me that the current end level raids are quite well balanced.

Daily quest hubs are nothing new to WoW, but what is impressive is the sheer scope and variety of the MoP dailies. Blizzard had to remove the 25 per day maximum on daily quests; because they made so many quests that they didn’t want to force players to ‘choose’ 25 to do each day. The variety of quests means that in one day you will use goblin explosives to go fishing, tend to your own, personal farm, help giant bugs fight other giant bugs, use archaeology to discover the lore behind Pandaria, raise your very own cloud serpent mount, and protect the lands of Pandaria from aggressive Mogu forces.

As you gain reputation with the tillers, you'll unlock improvements to your farm.

I’m particularly fond of The Tillers faction, which has really taken this whole Farmville craze and run with it. You can upgrade your farm as your reputation increases, and the vegetables that you grow are very useful for high-end food buffs. Daily quests now reward Valour points, and it’s actually quite easy to hit the weekly Valour point cap just from doing your dailies! The highest reputation rewards are also on-par with some of the stuff that drops in the current raid tier, so you can quite respectably gear up your character without setting foot in a dungeon.

Then, of course, there are the Pokemon battles. Over the year, completionists such as myself have amassed a vast collection of non-combat vanity pets. Blizzard have finally given us something to do with these pets, and, of course, it's battle them like Pokemon! It works pretty much exactly how you'd expect - your pets start at level one and you can either battle wild pets or other battle pet trainers to gain experience. Just like in Pokemon, you can capture wild pets to add to your collection. Once you've trained up a team, challenge your friends to duels, or queue for a random pet battle with a member of the opposite faction. The system copies the rock-paper-scissors mechanic that made Pokemon so successful, with 10 types of pets each having their own strengths and weaknesses.

Pet battles - the latest fun distraction for bored raiders.

So now that we know what returning veterans can expect, let’s take a look at the new race and class. For convenience sake, I played them both together, and made myself a Pandaren Monk. I thought that Blizzard had completely nailed the starting experience with Goblins, as it featured a quest where I drove around town in my hot rod picking up chicks to bring back to my party.

But, they've really outdone themselves this time. The Pandaren starting zone is the Wandering Isle, an island on the back of a giant turtle. It will take you from level 1 to about level 12, and tells quite a story along the way. The Chinese kung-fu theme is very strong in the Pandaran storyline, as it has a simple community of Monks in training thrown into disarray by the sudden arrival of Horde and Alliance forces. As you try to settle their dispute, as well as restore balance to the wandering isle, you will discover the personalities and natures of both the Alliance and Horde. Ultimately, at the end of the experience, you will have to choose a side.

The Pandaren race is available to both Horde and Alliance.

As for the Monk, I only did manage to get him to about level 13, but he felt like a cross between a warrior and a rogue. He has a tank, a DPS and a healing spec, which makes him one of only three classes to be able to preform every role (the others being druids and paladins). In levelling, I mostly stuck with the DPS spec, which revolves around building up chi with basic attacks, then unleashing it to preform dazzling kung-fu moves.

I've played with some monks in end-level dungeons as both healers and tanks, and they seem to preform each role quite well, with the tanking ‘brewmaster’ spec using brews and drunken boxing remnant of Jackie Chan’s ‘drunken master’ and the ‘mistweaver’ spec using tai-chi-like healing magic. The Monk seems to fit well into the current selection of classes, and giving him the flexibility that he has means that the sudden influx of monks will filter into whatever roles are required.

The monk feels like a cross between a Rogue and a Warrior, with just a dash of Shaman.

After Catacylsm, I was ready to leave World of Warcraft for dead. I figured that the engine was so old that everything that could possibly be done had already been done. I had assumed that Mists of Pandaria would do relatively well, and would be the last expansion pack before Blizzard unveiled their new MMO, but now that I’ve actually experienced it, I’m not so sure anymore. MoP has shown me that Blizzard can still breathe life into their game after eight years, and it’s refining of content and features has made it the best expansion yet.

You can purchase Mists of Pandaria from the Blizzard store for $39.99

Liked this article? Check out my Natural Selection 2 impressions!

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NEWS: Saturday Roundup

Welcome to the Saturday Roundup, a (bi)weekly roundup of all the important news going on in the gaming world. If you’re sick of gaming websites' content turning more and more casual, or trying to pass off a single sentence and a link to a cool picture they saw on deviant art as ‘news,’  you've come to the right place. I aim to consolidate and summarize only the stuff that’s most important to gaming enthusiasts. It’s a mix of hard news, interesting features, and other titbits that I feel like you guys would enjoy. Let’s see what’s been going on this week:

• Blizzard promised that content patches for Mists of Pandaria would be released more frequently in order to address complaints that Cataclysm had very large 'lulls' in between major content, and it seems set to deliver with patch 5.1 to be deployed on public test realms very soon.  Patch 5.1 promises to put the 'war' back into Warcraft, with new daily quest hubs centered around the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance over Pandaria.
• First person stealth action adventure game Dishonored shipped this week, and has been generally well received by notable video game critics. Not sure what platform to buy it on? Check out this PC/console comparison video

• Long in-development sequel to popular half-life mod Natural Selection finally has a release date! Natural Selection 2 will launch on the 31st of October. Releasing exactly one decade after it's predecessor, Natural Selection 2 blends elements of both FPS and RTS. Check out my beta impressions of Natural Selection 2 here.
• LAN party favorite 'The Ship' is getting a sequel. Developers Blazing Griffin have announced a series of events leading up to the release of the game, including a 75% off sale of the original The Ship.
• Borderlands fans were treated to a nice surprise this week when the first piece of Borderlands 2 DLC released a week early! Gaige, the Mechromancer  is an all-new playable class for the first person shooter, free to all players who pre-purchased the game, and costing $9.99 for all those who didn't.
• If that's not enough Borderlands news for you, hows this? Gearbox today announced the Captain Scarlet DLC pack, to release on October 16th. Captain Scarlett will introduce new enemies, new weapons, a new vehicle called the sand skiff, and seraph crystals – a new form of currency. Please note that Captain Scarlet and the Mechromancer pack are NOT included in the Borderlands 2 season pass. Check out my Borderlands 2 review here.

• Microsoft Points have been the bane of many gamers, spanning both Microsoft's Xbox and Windows gaming platforms, and forcing gamers to purchase arbitrary 'points' before exchanging them for DLC, digital downloads, and other services. Fret no more, for Microsoft plans to follow the example set by other digital stores such as Steam and Nintendo's 3DS online store and do away with Microsoft Points for Windows 8. However, this happy news was countered by the rather unpleasant revelation that Windows 8 would not carry games rated above PEGI 16+. I guess we're going to stick to Windows 7 quite a while.
• Disappointed that giant mech robots will never be a reality? Pirahna Games can give you the next best thing: they are making a MechWarrior MMO and they want you to test it!
  
  “Make a MECH-sized marking in your calendars for Tuesday, October 16th. In just one week, we will be opening up the InnerSphere to all MechWarriors and their friends.”

• Resident Evil 6 is already not getting much praise from fans and critics, and the latest revelation that it has on-disc DLC despite Capcom's claims that it wouldn't pull this kind of shit any more is definitely  not helping. An extra difficulty mode, as well as unlockable costumes, melee attacks and taunts have been found hidden on the disk by modders.
• ZombiU is shaping up to be one of the 'killer apps' of the WiiU's launch lineup. It's unique use of the WiiU's gamepad controler can hopefully put a new spin on the tired-and-true zombie survival formula, as Gamespot takes us for an exclusive walkthrough of one of the game's levels.

So that’s the news for this week. Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, and check back here every Wednesday and Saturday for more content!