Category Archives: Games

TSW: A Look Back at the Whispering Tide

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After many months of grinding and battling, The Secret World’s Whispering Tide world event seems to finally be drawing to a close. All previous missions are being offered one last time for those who may have missed some, and after May 21, the event will end.

Players attempt to clean the Filth from Agartha during the Whispering Tide eventHopefully, this means that the release of Tokyo is imminent, but before we get caught up in stomping Filthbots and flirting with Japanese rockabilly dudes, this seems like a good opportunity to look back at the Whispering Tide.

I was very excited when the event was first announced. An epic world event featuring the most sacred sanctuary of Gaia being defiled by the Filth? Sounds badass.

But, unfortunately, it didn’t quite turn out to be what I’d hoped.

Stage one: Flying solo

The event began with gathering crafting materials to support the custodian who would then unlock the main activity. This set the pattern for all stages of the Whispering Tide — gather materials to open a portal, then do stuff in said portal.

Many have complained about this rather massive resource dump, but it doesn’t bother me. I wasn’t using my mats for anything anyway, and scenarios are an incredibly good way to farm, so it doesn’t take long to replenish your stores. Besides, it’s not like anyone forced people to dump all of their resources.

My Templar battles the Titan of Dis in The Secret WorldThe first portal led to a brief dungeon that could easily be soloed by most any QL10 player.

This was my favourite part of the event, on the whole. It only took about ten minutes to finish a run, and the cooldown was so short that you could grind to your heart’s content. It was great to be able to log on and knock out a quick run whenever I had a few spare minutes.

I really wish MMOs had more of these kind of quick, moderately challenging solo dungeons. I enjoy low-stress, bite-sized content like that. It’s very relaxing.

Scenarios are similar, but their hectic nature isn’t very conducive to relaxation, even if you can easily get platinum, as I can.

Stage one also introduced us to the Tendrils of Dis, Filth tentacles around the entrance to the portal that would slowly die off as players completed the mission. When all tentacles died, the next phase would start.

Or such was the idea. In practice, players killed all the tentacles much sooner than Funcom had anticipated, leading to an awkward and incredibly anticlimactic pause between phases.She Who Crawls Outside in corrupted Agartha in The Secret WorldStage 2: Filth Harder

The second phase followed the natural escalation of the MMO and featured a dungeon tuned around a five person group.

This worked out better than it could have. The low difficulty meant that pretty much anyone could do it, and it was relatively easy to find groups at all hours despite TSW’s archaic lack of a dungeon finder. It was also nice to have a low difficulty dungeon to use to test new or unusual builds.

My main problem with this phase was that the rewards felt very disproportionate to the effort. The amount of currency received for each run was so pitiful that it was often hard to convince myself it was worth the effort of assembling a group and going through the whole dungeon, especially since there were occasional issues where certain members of a group wouldn’t received credit for defeating the last boss.

It was also around this time that Funcom upped the cost of the most expensive event reward, the Runic Automaton pet. I never wanted the pet myself, so it didn’t affect me, but I fully sympathize with all the rage this generated. Upping the cost of an already extremely difficult to obtain reward is just Not Cool. Players need to have stable goals to reach for — moving the goal posts like this is never, ever okay in a live game.

This phase also further exposed the problem posed by the Tendrils of Dis. You can’t have player actions determine when an event will end if the following content isn’t ready yet. So Funcom wound up tuning the health of the Tendrils such that players had no hope in Hell of killing them all in anything approaching a reasonable amount of time. Then, when the next phase was ready, they’d just turn up the death rate.My Templar shows off her Carapace of the Immaculate Machine set during the Whispering Tide event in The Secret WorldEssentially, the player direction of this event became nothing but an illusion, and a very poor one at that.

Ultimately, the mistake was attempting to let players determine the end of each of phase in the first place. That just wasn’t ever going to work.

Phase three: Flappy Bird

The final phase took things to their logical conclusion: a massive raid against the Bird of the Zero Point Pathogen, better known to fans as Flappy the Filth Dragon, who had been dive-bombing us in the previous dungeons and on the main branches of Agartha for months.

At first, I strongly disliked Flappy. The fight was excruciatingly long, plagued by exploiting players who would simply go AFK and collect free rewards, and surprisingly laggy despite having been designed to create less lag than the previous world bosses. Furthermore, the attempt to create a more challenging yet still accessible world boss led to utter anarchy and near-constant deaths throughout the fight, even for those of us in survival builds. It grew wearing.

However, to Funcom’s credit, they took fan feedback to heart and worked quickly to address many of the issues. A health nerf and a simple but effective system to discourage AFKers greatly cut down on the length of the fight. Once it was no longer a twenty minute plus endurance test, I came to appreciate the positives of the Flappy fight.Flappy dive-bombs the branches of Agartha during the Whispering Tide event in The Secret WorldThe most interesting thing about the raid was how chaotic it felt, even if that was a double-edged sword. Between the dozens of players, the hordes of adds, and Zuberi’s assistance, it had a truly epic feel that few other MMO encounters have equaled. This wasn’t just a battle. It was a war.

Funcom also deserves a lot of credit for bringing back forty-man raiding in a way that is casual friendly and doesn’t present any significant logistical hurdle. That’s no small feat. But the way the fight is scheduled to only be available for a limited time every three hours ensured you could always get a full group, and the ability to essentially corpse zerg the fight means group organization doesn’t really matter. Just run in and get killing.

Yet at the same time, there are ways in which small groups of well-organized players can make a big difference — by taking out the mini-boss on the upper platform, for instance — so it also holds appeal for players who want more than a mindless zerg.

Probably the best thing about Flappy was its rewards system, which was miles ahead of previous world bosses. The fact that every kill rewards a decent amount of both event currencies gave a buffer against bad luck. No matter how unlucky you were with drops from his loot bag, you were guaranteed to get something good from the vendors if you put in the hours.The loot bag itself was also nicely rewarding. You could still get lame rewards like potions, but at least there weren’t any of those thrice-damned, utterly useless flairs we were showered with in past events.AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A FLAPPY PARTY CAUSE A FLAPPY PARTY'S GOT FILTHThe fight still had issues, though. Even with the health nerf and other changes, it was still a little too long for my taste. Given how hectic it is, it starts to feel like a stress test for my keyboard after the ten minute mark or so.

There was far too much potential to die through no fault of your own. If the tank loses aggro and Flappy spins on you just as he’s casting Membranous Tempest, or if someone kites Filth Exposure into a crowd on the upper platform, you’re going to die, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Overall, there was just too much going on in the fight.

Finally, the lag was distressing. I rarely if ever lagged on the other world bosses, yet despite the fact Flappy was designed to minimize lag, there was still usually at least moment per fight where the game slowed to a slide show.

My favourite event bosses to date remain the original anniversary golems.

…Why the Hell does Firefox’s spell checker have “rockabilly” but not “golems”?

Closing thoughts:

I think my biggest disappointment about the Whispering Tide is that it just never lived up to its own fantasy. It never felt like an invasion. Agartha remained safe and happy, occasional bombing runs by Flappy aside, the whole way through. Never did I get the sense that Agartha was under real threat.

This is a problem with MMOs in general. Villains just sit in their layers and wait to be killed. Why can’t the monsters come and raid us for once?

That’s another thing the anniversary event did so well. Few things in my MMO career have felt as epic as seeing dozens of players man the walls of Harbaburesti to fend off a golem attack.Players defend Harbaburesti during the Guardians of Gaia event in The Secret WorldI guess they didn’t want to disrupt player travel too much, but at the very least, why couldn’t the fights take place in an instanced version of the main platform? When the event was announced, I pictured players fending off waves of infected in a desperate final stand by the city portals.

Couple that with various other stumbles, and Whispering Tide was fairly disappointing.I don’t think MMO developers should ever be discouraged from trying new things, so I don’t regret that they tried. But, in retrospect, I’d consider this a failed experiment, though there are elements that were fun and could be adapted to future content. I wouldn’t mind seeing a permanent, casual-friendly raid in the style of Flappy. Just hopefully not so long.

I didn’t hate the Whispering Tide. It wasn’t bad for the game. It just wasn’t what I’d hoped.

As an aside, I’m starting to wonder if the entire concept of MMOs presenting evolving and dynamic worlds is fundamentally flawed. I’ve yet to see it executed in a manner that lives up to the fantasy and isn’t more trouble than it’s worth — let’s not even get into the train wreck that is Guild Wars 2’s Living Story.

The only positive example I can think of off the top of my head is the destruction of the Vale in World of Warcraft, and that was largely just a cosmetic change.

StarCraft: I’m Just Going to Say It

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Brood War was really bad.

The Zerg invade Augustgrad in the StarCraft: Mass Recall modAll right, let’s back up a minute. I should give some context here.

First of all, I’m only talking about the campaign, and specifically its story. Brood War helped give birth to the modern world of eSports, so obviously the multiplayer aspect was great.

The story, though…

I just finished playing through the Mass Recall mod that recreates the original StarCraft campaigns in SC2. I did encounter a few more bugs as I made my way through, but nothing game-breaking, and I stand by my original comments on Mass Recall: It’s great, and you should play it.

This was the first time I’d played through the Brood War campaign since I was a kid. I didn’t remember much about it beyond the broad strokes, and I hadn’t even played it that much back then due to the high difficulty and my gaming skills (or lack thereof) at the time. So I had little to no nostalgia surrounding Brood War, and it was almost like I had never played it before.

And as I played through it, it became clear to me: This is not a good story.

Of course, many StarCraft fans see Brood War as the pinnacle of video game story-telling, a brilliantly tragic story of intrigue and ruthless politics.

The UED occupy Augustgrad in the StarCraft: Mass Recall modI’m sorry, but that’s just baloney.

There is no intrigue in Brood War. It’s just a case of Kerrigan lying to everyone and having them all believe her because… the writers said so, I guess. It’s not like Kerrigan’s even a particularly good liar — her plots are incredibly transparent, and become more so with every passing mission. But the entire cast still swallows every word she says like it’s gospel.

I could maybe buy the Protoss being dumb enough to fall for her lies once — maybe — but they just keep making the same mistake over and over again. Aldaris outright told Zeratul that she was controlling Raszagal, and then Kerrigan proved it more thoroughly by murdering Aldaris for telling her secret.

And Zeratul does absolutely nothing. He continues doing everything Raszagal says and is utterly shocked when Kerrigan finally reveals the truth.

And for that matter, if Kerrigan had control of Raszagal all along, why did she have to invade Shakuras and take her hostage?

A carrier could arrive through the plot holes in this game.

Duran confronts Stukov in the StarCraft: Mass Recall modIt makes no sense to me, either, that Fenix would choose to go along with Kerrigan after she betrayed the Protoss on Shakuras. If the UED can have perfect knowledge of everything that’s happening in the Koprulu Sector despite having no presence there whatsoever (How does that work, anyway?), surely Zeratul could have sent Fenix a message to say, “Yeah, Kerrigan isn’t very trustworthy. Don’t listen to her.”

I don’t even buy the idea that they needed to side with her to defeat the UED. I don’t see the UED as all that big of a threat. At worst, they’re just another Terran dictatorship. Even with the Overmind under their control, they’re not all that much worse than Mengsk.

The only thing that might have justified everyone’s terror of the UED is if they were planning to do some kind of Nazi-esque purge of all those they deemed impure, but that was never mentioned in-game, and it wouldn’t make sense anyway because Brood War also retconned the entire identity of the UED by including ghosts and psychics in their ranks, when the whole concept of their culture was that they rejected all “impure” humans, including telepaths. That’s how Terrans wound up in the Koprulu Sector to begin with.

Either way, Kerrigan is obviously a greater threat than the UED could ever be. If anything, people should have been making “enemy of my enemy” alliances with the UED against Kerrigan, not the other way around.

Speaking of the UED, Dugalle has got to be one of the best examples of how bad the writing in Brood War was. The dude’s so over the map he almost comes across as schizophrenic.

Stukov's funeral in the StarCraft: Mass Recall modAt the beginning of the campaign, he goes on a rant about he can never trust Duran because he’s a traitor, but then the rest of the UED campaign up until Duran’s betrayal essentially consists of Duran saying “Jump” and Dugalle asking, “How high?”

Dugalle inexplicably even sides with Duran against his lifelong friend Stukov, despite the obvious evidence of Duran’s betrayal. He murders his best friend just because Duran said so.

As an aside, Stukov is perhaps the only character in the entire campaign who acts like a mentally sound adult, and he’s one of the few saving graces of Brood War. I am now reminded why he is a fan favourite.

Ultimately, Brood War feels incredibly pointless, as well. Almost nothing actually happens — that is, the state of the Koprulu Sector is little changed by the end. Kerrigan takes over the Swarm, and the Protoss settle Shakuras. That’s about it. The UED got roflstomped, so they end up as nothing but a strange footnote in StarCraft lore.

The only other lasting impact is the deaths of what feels like half the game’s cast, and this is perhaps the worst part of Brood War. If not for all the deaths, Brood War could be written off as a bizarre but forgettable tangent, but we lost a lot great characters.

The opening cutscene of Omega in the StarCraft: Mass Recall modDuke was a bastard who got what was coming to him, but Fenix and Aldaris are dearly missed. Looking at him through mature eyes, I’ve come to realize Aldaris was actually one of the game’s most interesting characters, and everybody loved Fenix.

They didn’t even get good or heroic deaths. They were just shanked like prison snitches and left to rot.

The only goal Brood War seems to have had as a story was to build Kerrigan up as a terrifying villain that the players will truly hate, but even there, it fails. The ten year wait for Kerrigan’s reckoning robbed Brood War of any emotional payoff, leaving it as a pointlessly bleak and ultimately depressing game.

It also fails because it doesn’t make Kerrigan seem frightening at all. All of her successes are down to everyone else’s mind-boggling incompetence rather than any cunning on her part.

Never in this campaign does one get the impression Kerrigan even has a chance of failure. She effortlessly deceives everyone and wins every battle without fail. Thus, there is no drama. The outcome seems preordained.

A carrier hovering over Aiur in the StarCraft: Mass Recall modThe only good thing about Brood War — aside from Stukov — is the Dark Origin secret mission, which is a brilliantly chilling piece of foreshadowing and has more relevance to the greater arc of the StarCraft universe than the whole remainder of the Brood War campaign.

All in all, Brood War is one of Blizzard’s all-time worst stories, rivaled only by Burning Crusade in its destructive pointlessness. The original StarCraft and Wings of Liberty both had their stumbles, and Heart of the Swarm was very disappointing, but all of those are still much better than Brood War was.

New article:

My latest contribution to Nexopia is Sci-Fi Novels That Changed the Face of Literature. From War of the Worlds up to the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

I wonder if the war with the Martians would have gone better if the humans had more towels?