Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: Launch Day Rituals
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The List by Bill Murphy this week deals with the launch day rituals that we all employ on the day of a game's launch. These rituals and the sometime attendant difficulties that they engender are being keenly pondered by Bill on the eve of the official retail launch of DC Universe Online. Check out Bill's "new game" rituals and then tell us about yours in the comments below.
With the first MMO launch of 2011 upon us, with players rubbing their hands together as they prepare to dive into the game for the first time, I’m reminded of many different things from MMO launches past. I’m reminded of the long lines to get into World of Warcraft. The server issues with Anarchy Online and Everquest. I’m reminded of my first taste of life as a Celt in Dark Age if Camelot. I think back to the first time playing through Hobbiton and smiling the whole while in Lord of the Rings. But nowadays, MMO launches bring more than just pure wonder of a new world. They also bring a laundry list of things I usually have to do on launch day just to make sure I’m “future-proof” for whatever amount of time I spend in that game. Read along and be sure to list your own, as I count up my usual launch day rituals.
Read more of The List: Launch Day Rituals.
)
Comments
Granted the name is important but to ensure that you get yours, it's best to choose a name the is not commonly used.
Server hunting should be a priority when playing with friends but alone not so much.
Yes exploring the main city is a must to figure out where the bank, guild house, weapons, armor, and mount or pet shop is.
Guild establishing is really only if you plan on raiding as a group other wise that can wait some.
Most definetly get the hell out of lag central, too many people logging in will cause your enjoyment to lessen.
One's you also forgot to mention is:
1. call in sick.
2. prepare snack and drink for a long day of gaming.
3. disconnect the phone( no need for annunounced visits).
4. be mentaly prepared for the onslaught that eventually comes.
5. Giggle like a little school girl out of your system before actually playing.
How about launch day nightmares. I 've been anticipating DCUO's release since i got into beta last year and i wake up this morning to find my gaming computer has gone kaput overnight. I'm stuck using my 7 year old backup that would have trouble with WoW knowing its unlikely i'll get it back in time as my computer repair mate is on holidays.
Had my heros's and villian's name all picked out too. Arg!!!
Awww....that's horrible! You need to get a friend to grab your names on their account for you and then, once you get your computer fixed, they delete those characters/names which leaves them open again for you.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
How about lag and crashes?
Important facts:
1. Free to Play games are poorly made.
2. Casuals are not all idiots, but idiots call themselves casuals.
3. Great solo and group content are not mutually exclusive, but they suffer when one is shoved into the mold of the other. The same is true of PvP and PvE.
4. Community is more important than you think.
The list...
1. Take leave
2. Score food and drink(s)
3. Have fun!
I feel your pain. Lost my computer two days before cata launched. Have a copy which has been sitting on my desk since the 7th of December. Fortunatly my baby gets back tomorow from the repair shop and am very much looking forward to having it back. Have been stuck with a laptop slightly more powerul than a 1980's Timex watch. Hope you can get your rig fixed. Good luck.
Funny, I never have any of those on my list. When I start a game, I strictly want to enjoy it the first few days. Personally I think you are ruining the pleasure you get out of the game by having a such a list. Maybe you should try just enjoying it for a bit first.
I love launches, well not the launches, but laughing at the massive nerd-rage explosions. Until I'm the one having the issues, then it's not funny anymore.
I make my one or two toons and relax. But TBH, launch day has proven to me that the day OF launch isn't he best time to enjoy the game. IMO, the best time to enjoy "launch day" is the next day between 6am-10am. No one is one. It's awesome.
Other than that, I have PLENTY of time in MMO's. It's not like a single player game where I can't gurantee I'll be able to go back to roam it later. I especially hate those RPGs that force me to explore every single zone each time because I can't ever get back to a zone.
Just got back from the grocery store. I can baricade myself inside for 3 days now.
Pretty much this. A day off work, enough food for the day, ignore phone and doorbell.
Damn it. I shouldn't have read this..
I'm trying to be strong with DCUO and not play until a couple of weeks as I'm innundated with post holiday work ><. What's worse is I work for myself so there's no calling in sick. Ahh a "couple hours" can't hurt right... nooo
Currently Playing: The Game
I've never had a list. I usually wait out the first few months of a game I really want to play to avoid the problems most games end up going through. Having four character names that are pretty unique compared to everyone else means I have only once not been able to get my characters named the way I want.
I guess my list would be quite similar apart from where you have put 'Get the heck out of Newbie-Ville', I'm the opposite, I love being there on the first day of a new MMO sat in the starter zones watching hundreds of people running around getting use to the game. The chat channels buzzing with questions sure to annoy the heck out of the beta testers (Where's tutty, where's Sulu, how do I claim my ATV code, why did chuck norris cross the road, etc).
I think it is one of the most exciting times in a games life cycle and a time that after a few days or maybe a week you never get back again really, so it is something I look forward to and savour. It often gives me the fondest memories of games that I went on to find I didn't like very much. I don't like Aion that much now, but back on launch day it was so much fun seeing so many people in the newbie zones (Once I'd sat in the queue for 8 hours to get logged on that is).
Plus there is the innevitable server crash, followed by the official forums drama as everyone flocks to the games boards, then when the official forums go down it's time to hop over to mmorpg and follow the drama some more while eating my favourite snacks. You gotta love launch days
My list?
1) Attempt to log in for half an hour just to claim a few names.
2) Wait a day or two 'till you can actually play the game and the noobmass has somewhat moved from the noobvillage. Play X3 Terran Conflict instead.
Since I do not play betas or pre-releases, my list is often like this:
1. Laugh at the people who beta a game and have issues
2. Laugh at the people who preorder a game to play pre-release and have issues
3. Laugh at me because I bought an MMO at release and have issues and I should have known better.
To Ozmodan get a life , this list is just for FUN !!!! GET IT
the name issue is really annoying. some games offer pre- and surname. so that reduces the trouble a bit. i hate to see my favourite prename already in use. but i have no problem to be creative with surnames until it fits. but now i need an option to switch showing surnames OFF.
it could be so easy. but we always see the same dull design made by the devs if it comes to names.
and you forgot one important task on every launch day: OPTIONS.
i am always pretty busy for a while with understanding all these options, tweaking my system and customizing my UI and my keyboard until the game plays like it is supposed to.
played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds
Yes, i don't really understand why most games allow just a single, very short word (no spaces and like up to 8-10 characters)... that's terrible when it comes to names
As for my launch day rituals, I'm mostly all about the name creation claiming. I have developed a few names throughout my gaming life and some work for some race/classes while others don't so I'd claim them first and then create a character that fits them.
I don't totaly mind noobie-ville either except when it feels like noobie-ville. You know, when it's totaly instanced and once you leave you can't come back. That makes it feel like something you have to get through just to play the game to me. I tend to know how to work the general controls now adays and what I don't catch I will later, but when you can't come back do to phasing, it feels more like a chore. So if there is a noobie-ville, I level quickly and get out of there and then slow down.
My last ritual is finding the class that works for me. If I was in the beta all the better. Sometimes though I'm not so lucky. So I'll come into a game and say, "oh a rogue class. I've enjoyed those before, this should be a lot of fun." I'd play a litle bit and decide that, you know what, in this game... not so much. Or for DC universe, it looked like they had a class that used a gun so I'd prolly try out my fun tote'n fly'n ninja from the CoH days lol.
My list
1. Make large bag of popcorn
2. Come to these forums to watch the inevitble troll vs fanboi wars. Munch popcorn and point and laugh.
3. Wait a few months so I don't have to wait out the inevitable login queues, deal with the inevitable bugs/exploits that "slipped" past the testers and let the population settle down all the fly by night oooh shiney people have left and gone back to whatever they were doing before.
4. Read the reviews that are now coming out that are more balanced in their approach and not just the one sided opinion pieces so I get a better feel of what the game is actually like and worth me paying out actual money for.
5. Profit
Seriously launch day is just way more trouble than it's worth I mean most devs can't evan get single player games to work right straight out of the gate what hope does something as big and complex as a MMO have.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
There is nothing more dangerous than a true believer.
+1
I used to visit this site a lot however in recent years it has become the home of negative forum posts, illogical opinions and tantrums so I visit less often.
Played or Beta'd: UO / DAOC / Horizons / EQ2 / DDO / EVE / Archlord / PirateKingsOnline / Tabula Rasa / LOTRO / AOC / Champions / Darkfall / Mortal Online / DCUO / Rift / STO / SWTOR / TSW
Well.. i guess i'm a little more like the guy how likes the noob-ville things
Especially if you get to know someone and get friends, trying to mostly avoiding the troll smart ass guys, that thinks they know everything and everyone.
In general, i like to help everyone and mostly ppl helps back, cause of it. It gets more fun and you start nice and easy to get most right as well... get a feel of the class and the "can does" and "can't does" After a while, start a new char, go through the same scenario once more with a new class, to get about every starting char. By then you got a small picture of what every class is about, and what might be fun in the future to folow up on.
And yes... basicly, taking ages... but at least in the noob-ville there is some kind of new stories, some friequently cut-scenes and some fun quests with some humor in it. At least its my experience that this kind of stuff gets thrown out the window later on for the greater good of reaching "the end - the black nothingness of borring"
As a brilliant man once said: its not the "where to get" that counts the most but the "how did you get there" that really is essential. Or the journey there, that has a purpose.
/Cheers
Dark_Elf
1. Plan ahead (work, school, illness, food, phone, GF, Wife, etc...)
2. Keep a pens and paper nearby
3. Prep the Day-Bed (just in case)
4. Lock the doors and windows (unwanted zombie attacks are not worth it)
5. Run around in a circle for the first ten minutes of play to get it out of your system
Here are my Rituals in order with the time span of a week prior to launch
~Check with all sections and heads if we still are planning on Seeding a game.
The Seeding party is put through a test designed to help players in new games. We have used it and have established ourselves in every major game we have entered very quickly.
~Each member of the initial Seed party has sworn to maintain a minimum three month stay in a game.
~Codename: Faction, Base Faction, Ordinal Members, Cardinal Members and Support Members established for us....and we spread ourselves through the sites and pages we care about.
~We set our systems to be able to have at least 75% more performance than "Recommended Specifications" and the Initial System design and optimization is left up to me.
~We establish a chat server with the usual restrictions. Our CommonName is in the Chat, where we refer to each other as, while we have independent character names.
~Search and Establish a list of "Friendly" and "Neutral" groups localized and non-localized (Inner-League vs other league groups)
~Wait to initial release in order to claim the character names we want
~Make sure the entire house is cleaned, dusted and everything is up and running.
~When game is released, send the message so everyone can get their digital copies.....through mass email.
~Finally, we all login and wait at a point to meet each other....and so the fun begin...Welcome to "flood week."
I am part of a gaming group I had ran as a tournament group so when we have a new game we want to play, we set up very well since we dont want to spend money to play an MMORPG to have half the players leave in the first month....Usually the entire group stays together for minimum 3 months, average 6 - 9 months..
We also control the time we login and play together...Doing this allows us to spend the least amount of time leveling up, with a lot of support inside and outside the game (like friends who read up on items, forums and other things about weapons and items in-game and quest.),
Due to playing together, tackling hard and easy areas together in a short time, our characters mass level through the game....This is really the only way to play an MMORPG without turning it into a second (or third) job.
yes, I call these rituals, along with "Security" as it sucks to spend money on games and fees and have people leave before their promised time is up. We require everyone to make a commitment to play a game and do what is best for the benefit of the group. I tend to be one of the party leaders who decides who gets what and when.
Its been like this for the past eight games and over half of the group remains together. We also have a chain of command too and even something established by myself in case something happens when I abuse my own power.
Take care all. ^^
sheesh Shin ... I have worked RL jobs with less hassle and crap you dump on Game time and fun.
Post your UBER guilds name, that has crossed paths with 8 games, so that I never try to join by mistake. What you describe for your Guild and style of Play is Exactly The Type of Guild / Play style I avoid.
Look to the stars to know HE is with us. HE hung them as markers, of times and of seasons.