High Hopes for Guild Wars 2

     I see myself looking forward to the release of Guild Wars 2 and It's like I'm watching a close friend who is fixing to make a decision that they'll regret.  I want to stop myself from having such high hopes for this game but I can't for some reason.  I haven't been truly gripped by a game in such a long time (Balders Gate and Elder Scrolls level of gripping) and I want GW2 to suck me in and tell an epic story that I'll remember.  Will it?  I really don't know.

     I'm skeptical and a bit cynical because all of the recent MMO's I've played have all been no fun.  Like a lot of people, I went from playing Everquest to WoW, from WoW to Warhammer, from Warhammer to Aion, and from Aion to Rift.  I don't really enjoy bouncing around trying out all of these different games, investing months of time and realizing they suck.

     I honestly don't remember too much about Everquest.  Playing WoW from beta through the completion of its first expansion cycle was great, I just never understood how people could stick with it after that.  I thought that the attunement quests and the entire Onyxia / Nefarian story line was great.  The world-wide Ahn'Qiraj gate opening event involved a spectacular story line.  WoW sucked me in for a long time but once the expansions started pouring out it was so obviously more of the same I lost the will to even play...

     Warhammer was a different experience.  It was always extremely buggy but enjoyable anyway.  Warhammer didn't suck me in quite as deeply as WoW did because of its bugs.  You couldn't achieve any level of immersion into the world because it was constantly reminding you about how seamless it wasn't.  PvE in that game was as bad as Conan in that it was nothing more than a string of endless bug exploits for free gear.  I remember I had similar hopes for Warhammer that I have now about Guild Wars 2, but Mythic really screwed themselves on the game engine.  It was a tragic failure.

     I didn't have that sense of hope for Aion.  It was just there when Warhammer's grind started to get to me, and the people I regularly play with were trying it out.  PvP in Warhammer was fun, but they never implemented any kind of ladder/arena system so it turned into a gigantic grind I couldn't ignore.  Aion's "asian" style leveling was brutal.  The brutality was compounded by the fact that there was no enduring story line in the questing, and no apparent attempt at creativity whatsoever.  It was neat to fly, but that was the only highlight in Aion.

     Rift is a PvE'rs game.  The end game had some interesting mechanics, but again no ladder/arena system in PvP.  I actually love the way they constructed their class system, with all of the variety of mixing and matching different skill trees.  The PvP system in Rift is just another grinding time sink however, like the old days of grinding weekly for High Warlord in WoW, or grinding 80 Renown ranks in Warhammer.

     For Guild Wars 2 to succeed for me (an average gamer) its got to pull off a few things.  Consider this a wishlist for the perfect MMO.

• It needs to have a rich immersive environment (which apparently it has from the videos I've seen)
• It needs to have some form of competitive PvP which is more than just another grind with an end point (it needs a ladder/arena system)
• It needs to have some form of open world PvP that matters.
• It needs to promote local server culture.  (limit the amount of clustering and involvement between servers).  Guild rivalries are where its at, but this only works with a thriving population so it's hard to pull off and I don't reasonably expect it to happen.
• I needs to have some PvE but not so much that it becomes the main focus.  Let it tell a well thought out story, but let the fighting between factions be what animates the story.
• Progression needs to be non-linear and open ended, with quests that do not have a single fixed outcome.
• It needs to offer horizontal expansion at a 100 to 1 ratio (or more!) to vertical expansion.  Releasing $60 expansion packs every few years that completely reset your heroes progress just demolishes my will to play...

     They've been talking up the game like they're really trying hard to exceed all expectations and deliver a game of extremely high quality.  I wish them luck.

The Importance of Gaming Mice

Wikipedia Image

     The single greatest thing you'll do for yourself playing games is invest in a solid gaming mouse. Not only will it make you perform better in any game you play, but it will keep your hands and wrists healthy so you can enjoy those games for a long time.

     I tell this to people all the time (in person and online) when discussing key binding, macros, and afflictions like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The fact is you can do some serious long term damage to yourself playing video games for long periods of time using a keyboard and mouse. I'm going to show you what I do to prevent some of the stress on my hands and wrists. If you set yourself up correctly you'll play better and have more fun not worrying about injuring yourself. Right now I'm using a Logitech G9x, but there are a lot of good quality mice out there, Razer makes some good products also.

Sensitivity Settings

     Normally only an FPS concern, but now I think even in MMO's these are becoming more important.
A lot of times people hear something going on that isn't in their immediate field of vision and need to look left or right quickly but can't get there fast enough. Something important happens and you miss it costing you a death or something. Sometimes people have to physically lift the mouse to put it back on the pad because they've slid it off the pad. Sensitivity settings are very important for fluid movement when you need it, and quick reaction times when you need them. Turning 360 degrees in an MMO doesn't sound like something you'll be doing very often until you in the middle of 500 other people and you're trying to gain some orientation of the battlefield. "Uh, which way should I be killing again?" 

     Windows does have sensitivity setting adjustments available, but the software that comes with the mouse will help you fine tune what is most comfortable for you more effectively. Rule of thumb is that the higher your sensativity settings are then better off you'll be. It's uncomfortable at first, but once you get the hang of it you'll feel the difference. The repetitive twitching and jerking your wrist does will over time cause inflammation that can lead to more serious conditions. Once you get in the habbit of continually increasing your settings just to the range of making yourself slightly uncomfortable all the time, eventually you'll be at a very comfortable point and can stop (at a high sensitivity level). There is a "peak" out there for these sensativity settings, and I think every individuals is different. If you're pushing the mouse off the pad, or picking it up off the pad to move it somewhere at any point in time, your sensativity is too low.

Key Bindings

     There are a lot of benefits with understanding proper key binding. I hate pressing the shift key with my pinky, and I hate pressing the alt key with my thumb. Normally with your mouse hand your thumb goes completely underutilized (although thumb buttons are becoming more mainstream now). It just hangs there and your "gripping muscles" go to waste. You've got perfectly good fingers doing nothing for you... it's a handicap. The same problem exists with most Console game controllers. When was the last time you used your pinky or index finger on a console controller? Key bindings help your ability to utilize your fingers efficiently, which in turn allows you to interact with the game more effectively, which in turn makes you better at the game, which in turn allows you to have more fun! "I thought this was about Mice?" It is, because a good mouse is more important than a good keyboard... but having a good keyboard doesn't hurt. 

     What I do, using the button config software that came with the mouse, is bind the two thumb buttons (mouse 4 and mouse 5) to Shift and Alt. These are referred to as modifiers. So really, when I reach up to press the "1" key with my left hand, it's actually 3 different keys, and I can choose between which of those 3 abilities I want to use in game by a flick of my right thumb thanks to they key binding ability of this mouse... without having to play any kind of "Twister" with my hand to hit the key combos I need.

[1] + [Alt+1] + [Shift+1] I've turned one button into 3 buttons, and I can access all three with just two fingers. Think about the versatility you have with these buttons for a moment.
You have the following keys easily accessible to you with your left keyboard hand.
12345qwertasdfgzxcvb[Spacebar] and F1,F2,F3,F4

     25 keys easily in reach. It's difficult (and eventually painful) to hit key combinations like Alt+5, or Shift+F4. Your thumb squeezes in and your entire hand lifts and rotates so you can reach the 5 key. Your pinky finger and your first finger stretches way out of the range of comfort. Now, with Shift and Alt bound to my two mouse buttons (M4 and M5), I turn those 25 easily accessible keys, into 75 easily accessible keys without having to deal with contorting my hand. Generally there are not 75 unique actions you need on separate keys in any game I've ever played, so this has me covered. Games that feature an in-game macro system make this even more optimal.

The Benefits

     The benefits this give are numerous 1) Comfort because it eliminates hand gymnastics. (This is pretty huge for me if I'm going to play a game for a long period of time.) 2) I can play the game better, I can respond to the game faster, I can generally just perform better, and have more fun because of it. 3) Health, as I mentioned already... hand contortions can physically cause harm to you in the long run. 4) Giving yourself 75 ability keys on your left hand free's up your mouse hand for viewing things and looking around, (panning the camera) instead of having to click buttons. With a cheapo mouse you get a maximum of 3 buttons if your scroll wheel doubles as a button, but generally those cheapo mice don't come with software that allows you to configure them for enhancing your game performance. These mice generally cost a lot more than cheap crappy mice though, but "Is it worth it?" Yes, absolutely it is worth it. Logitech and Razer both make quality products, but you don't necessarily have to buy from them. Gaming mice in general will add a lot to your gaming experience if you spend a little time and get comfortable with them.

More Than Hardware

     In addition to preparedness in terms of equipment, you need to take breaks as often as you can and stretch your wrists. That would be an entirely separate post however, so you can search online for hand and wrist stretches yourself. (sorry!)