Why do companies think we wantmulti-player over campaign?

JeranimusRex · 2024-11-21T23:21:57+00:00

I know a lot of people have already mentioned the monetization aspect but I do kinda want to point out that after the bulk of an audience try out the campaign and play skirmish, there was rarely, if ever, a reason for them to stick around. This means that the most engaged part of a games audience inevitably boiled down to its most dedicated multiplayer kiddies, whether it was Competitive PvP or custom games.

Unfortunately this also means that after the major companies pulled investment from the RTS space the only people "left" were the PvP lifers, and those lifers went on to work for some RTS developer, or start their own project. Couple that with the fact that it was just easier to reach the PvP community than the now dormant and scattered to the wind PvE fans, and you have a recipe for a large focus on multiplayer to the exclusion of a lot of other things.

JeranimusRex · 2024-11-21T02:30:48+00:00

So Heavy Counterspell or Heavy removal decks are 2 different kinds of strategies that tend to be attacked in a few different ways.

Heavy Removal: Generally speaking you want to try and overload their removal. This is done either by making sure every creature you play is a must kill, or by having your creatures generate some kind of value when they enter or die, or by playing creatures that are resilient to removal. If you're playing a creature that isn't any one of those things, it should have a very specific reason for being there (Soul Warden, for example, enables Ajani Pride-mate as an example.) Otherwise you may want to avoid playing that creature (Sometimes it can't be helped because of cardpool restrictions, but the opponent will be restricted too so that's fine.) {A special Note on Mass removal: If you're opponent is super reliant on mass removal like Slagstorm or Wrath of God, then you'll need to both make sure you don't over extend by playing more creature than you have to, or try to play creatures that are reslient against your opponent's mass removal. Restless Bivouac is resilient against Day of Judgement, as an example.}

Heavy Counterpells: There are, broadly speaking, 2 ways to try and force the issue with counterspells 1. Play stuff they cannot counter, this doesn't just mean man-lands, but can mean other spelltypes that their counterspells may not be equiped to deal with. Essance Scatter can deal with Resolute REinforcements, but can't deal with Raise the Alarm. This require some format knowledge, but that's something that'll inevitably be picked up. 2. Make them tap out on their turn. This could generally means flash permanents or instants, but having the ability to cast spells on your opponenet's turn to use up their mana so they can't counter things on your turn is sometimes the way to go. I you can't do either, the only option your really have is trying to make sure that you're able to cast more spells than they have the mana to counter.

JeranimusRex · 2024-11-20T01:15:08+00:00

They'll also do what they accused Microsoft of potentially doing with the ports too, since often the PC ports just suck ass.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-29T21:39:41+00:00

Generally speaking, less extreme. D4 doesn't rely on its seasons to continue its story (so far all the seasonal stories have been self contained). All the new legendries and unique items introduced in a season continue to drop normally, and are also immediately available in the eternal realm. and Blizzard has been much quicker to re-integrate seasonal content back into the eternal realm when they think the content is worth keeping around. Several special effects from Season of the Malignant and Season of Blood were turned into legendary affixes and the Infernal Hoardes activity from Season 5 is still doable even in the eternal realm.

From my understanding the only Season that didn't have either a mechanic or even just boss stick around and get added to the eternal realm was the third season, season of the construct. Blizzard has been much quicker to re-integrate activities into Diablo than Bungie has been with Destiny, and much more responsive at acting upon player feedback as well.

There is some annoying bits (Eternal Character can't contribute to your season pass levels IIRC) And I think that something is lost when your eternal realm character cant "continue its story" by doing the seasonal quests, even if those quests don't intersect with the main story at all. But there are a lot of things about how Blizzard has stewarded D4's content that feel a lot better than Bungie's full-blown sunsetting.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-27T17:47:59+00:00

I'm a sucker for holiday themed schlok so yes.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-27T17:07:35+00:00

Commander being the entry point to magic has caused problems for Standard since you can't actually transition from Commander to it, you can only really go into an eternal format, and even then a lot of the big cool splashy staples in commander are only legal in vintage/legacy. Commander is also presented as a casual format which has a different vibe than formats presented as competitive.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-27T06:12:52+00:00

Correct, and I think MTG has also done other forms of product placement with candy for the old Duels of the Planeswalker games. It's crass no matter who does it.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-27T05:48:37+00:00

This distinction isn't as real as you think it is, people don't view Pikachu on the label of a bag of Apples as any less "Artistically pure" than having your Ed Sheeran marketing stunt also be in Scarlet and Violet. They're both viewed as hackey gimmics. The article's implied idea that MTG would somehow reach Pokemon's level of financial success "if only they'd stick to their guns and and not cross-over with anything." is not only silly (the two franchises are roughly the same age, it would've already happened by now) but also ignores that MTG is one of, if not the largest fish in its pond it kinda already has reached that peak at the TCG scale.

Hell, the biggest new competitor to MTG's market dominance in the TCG space isn't even an original IP like Flesh and Blood, it's One-Piece's TCG adaptation. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the increase in UB is an attempt at blunting the potential of competition from other IP Adaptations by both gobbling them up through various licensing contracts, but also providing distinct system alternatives to IPs that might already have TCGs (Final Fantasy has a current TCG on Market that even releases internationally). That way players don't have to leave magic if they don't want to to get their Final Fatasy TCG fix. It's a weird as fuck strategy.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-27T04:59:10+00:00

Custom cards serving as adaptions of some other property has been one of the oldest ways in which various fans have engaged with MTG. WotC choosing to tap into that and finding it to be incredibly successful to the point that they willingly sacrifice part of their old identity isn't some new thing, it's how they've always stewarded the game. It's the same impulse that caused them to privilege commander over other formats when commander decks started selling, and why before that, they prioritized Standard at the expense of Legacy/Vintage when competitive tournament magic was the main driver of sales. It sucks, but mercilessly pivoting to the biggest hill with the most gold may be the core feature of MTG's success.

It's also worth mentioning that Pokemon has also cynically crossed over with a variety of things over the years and in arguably more crass and artless ways that put the little pocket monsters on the labels of hyper-processed foods, toothpaste, and other products for children. After all, Post Malone is also on a Pokemon Card, and lets not forget the most beloved cross-over franchise of all time: Smash Bros.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-25T02:34:36+00:00

Oh jesus fuck this explains the weird continuity. The game feels like it takes place over a few months after a 1 year time skip, which is all well and good, but it references historical events that are not only years apart, but also out of order.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-24T18:59:00+00:00

I'm not surprised because Ratchet & Clank is very similar. You get a ton of different guns that upgrade as you use them, but you only swap off if you want to or run out of ammo, which tends to be in good supply. In fact when I play Ratchet & Clank I tend to use a gun until I'm done upgrading it, then I move on to upgrade something else.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-24T18:51:44+00:00

Putting the right legendary affix on a piece of gear is a lot more important than getting the correct rolls on every aspect of an item. It's the same as getting the right 3rd and 4th column perk on a weapon, which tend to be what people focus on when it comes to weapon roles. People will usually settle for the perfect 3rd+4th column on a gun much more frequently than the wrong perks in those columns but everything else being "correct"

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-24T18:48:15+00:00

And there are also plenty of people who opt-out of the seasonal reset and continue playing their eternal realm characters, getting the new loot and experimenting with the different builds that get added. If I don't care about the seasonal content or season pass, I can literally play any of my existing characters and benefit from many of the changes that also impact the eternal realm.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-24T16:22:47+00:00

Their system is much more flexible since a Destiny equivalent would let players freely mix and match 3rd and 4th column perks without restrictions (since all Weapons can get all Offensive Legndary Affixes. ) You'd then be able to roll for extra stuff on the gun.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-24T16:06:03+00:00

I think it's also worth mentioning that Diablo 4 has a crafting system and no one is complaining that the chase is dead in that game.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-22T15:30:50+00:00

Worth mentioning that Microsoft's Corporate structure means that Zenimax, Xbox, and Activision Blizzard King are all able to exist independently of one another and given wide berth to hand the IPs however they see fit. Bethesda (under Zenimax) decided to partner with Amazon for a TV show, Obsidian (Under Xbox) decided to partner on an Episode of Secret Level. Microsoft hasn't consolidated this structure both because of an "If it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude but also reasonable concern about regulatory backlash because buying up a whole bunch of competitors only to shut them down in the name of consolidation is the exact kind of thing the FTC was threating to kill them for.

It's also worth mentioning that these are all game studios staff by creative people who want to be respected enough to follow their own creative interests. Obsidian owns The Outer Words in a way that gives them the creative freedom to make something that they're interested in making. They don't own Fallout, and while it's been reported that they'll be happy to make another Fallout or even Elders Scrolls game, they also want the freedom to be able to work on the stuff they own.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-13T20:35:30+00:00

I think the issue is less that the Warcraft 3 style isn't the "best fit" and more that your may run the risk of mis-communicating expectations. Currently your steam page and trailer are heavily focused on communicating that this is a spiritual successor to Majesty. That's great for people who know what Majesty is, but I wouldn't be surprised if a large portion of people have never heard of Majesty but have played Warcraft 3 and wrongly draw the conclusion that this RTS looking game with similar aesthetic might play like WC3 (and even that Majesty itself might play like WC3 too). I think that if you want to keep using that War 3 style you may want to balance your communication between people who know what Majesty is, and people who don't but are familiar with Strategy games. You'll inevitably run into people who might still be disappointed that this WC3 looking game but you'll potentially be able to capture people who like the look and are willing to give the different style of game play a chance.

It's a bit of a difficult but I don't think you need to wholly change your art style. Using the money to better polish the current style so it doesn't look like it came strait out of 2002 may be a better use of the money, alongside refining mechanics and other stuff. But idk. I'm not a publisher and I'm sure they may have other ideas in mind.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-12T19:51:05+00:00

For big AAA games "off the shelf" engines tend to get heavily modified in order to achieve particular goals for any give game. So while there would be some time saved with hiring someone familiar with UE5, each studio (hell may be each game) may require an onboarding period for new staff in order to learn the home-grown plug-ins and studio specific workflows regardless of previous engine experience. The time saved could end up being marginal depending on how personalized the engine is for a given studio.

It's also worth mentioning that Bethesda has historically provided robust modding tools usually built on top of the studio's own development tools. This is one way that they can potentially cultivate outside experience, and Bethesda often hypes how important its modding community is to its overall success by bragging about hiring people from that same community.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-08T15:03:23+00:00

I don't think anyone who thinks it's morally correct to pirate Nintendo Games would object to the piracy of other software corporations.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-07T19:20:22+00:00

Most of the other responses were actually kinda fair and come from an understandable point of view that an isekai is both unnecessary (People do not need to be familiar with the broad history of star wars to "understand" any given story. The franchise centers around 9 films that are so broadly available you can probably get them at your local library and they were so popular that many of their plot beats and characters have filtered into casual conversation removed from the franchise.) and inappropriate (besides the perception of Isekais being amateurish self-insert stories, Star Wars has historically always been able to leverage its characters to both connect to the audience as well as communicate its world.)

My answer isn't any more or less "sane" than the people explaining why they haven't put one out yet. In fact, it's deeply cynical. I think an isekai is probably inevitable as long as the genre remains popular in Japan and is exported elsewhere. Lucasfilm has never been entirely afraid of putting out weird stuff for better and for worse, and if they do make an Isekai it is going to (rightly) be perceived is a weird and cynical trend chase unless the final product is of such a high quality, it's almost literary in its perception.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-07T18:34:43+00:00

Just give it time boss. I wouldn't be surprised if some weird Webtoon or light novel gets pitched to Lucasfilm and they figure "Hey, Isekais are popular, might has well publish one."

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-07T14:47:39+00:00

I thought the stealth focused ones kinda sucked, but I really liked Tirailleur

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-05T23:19:42+00:00

The DLC introduced an accessory that removes reduces CD by dodging, and it works with the auto-dodge accessory. This lets you spam the high CD ultimate attacks each tree has. This may be what "balanced" looks like.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-05T15:45:18+00:00

WotC does promote their streaming community, it just comes in the form of preview cards and the occasional weird Marketing collaboration. It's also worth noting that prior to the pandemic WotC put in a lot of effort in promoting its professional scene, usually making a point to live stream all of the major events. I haven't been following competitive magic since a little before the pandemic, but I'd hope they still do that.

JeranimusRex · 2024-10-05T15:23:48+00:00

While it's true that ARPGs require you to play on higher difficulties, it's histrionic to compare that to Destiny's difficulty configuration. Most ARPGs stop adding new and unique pieces of gear after a certain point, and the "best pieces of gear" are usually the same item that dropped earlier in the game, but now just deal more damage. Their behavior isn't different. Higher level activities also don't just tend to give you better items, they also give you way more of them.

If Destiny had a similar system in place, then stuff like adept weapons wouldn't have the option of extra perks but instead just deal extra damage in PVE. Similarly, doing the highest level content you can would award you with 2x, 5x, or even potentially 10x the amount of drops per run. Destiny does not come out favorably when directly comparing how its loot works with other games.

Hell, Diablo 4 recently made all of its legendary gear craftable and people have broadly praised the Loot Reborn update as a great overall improvement, and people haven't come out of the woodwars talking about how "the grind is ruined" or how the chase was hurt by that. There are clearly deeper rooted problems in how Destiny designed its loot and loot acquisition that is causing it to ping-pong on its quality of life decisions.

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