I am not a MMORPG player

[VLSmooth]

Myth has formations that actually matter.

I can't help but think this was a thinly veiled attack on Warcraft III. If not, I apologize.

Formations are VERY important to Warcraft III, and are kept provided formation is toggled on (in the bottom left, by the mini-map, set on as default). This ensures a group travels as slow as it's slowest unit in the current formation. To change the formation, simply move units individually.

As for why this is important:

• Usually the slow-moving, fragile, but powerful siege weapons need an escort
• Non-meat shields (casters, archers, etc) need meat-shields (grunts, tauren, etc) in front of them to avoid being horribly, horribly, slaughtered. Hence why flanking is devastating in Warcraft III, as it should be. This is one of the basics of the game; up there with focus-firing, scouting, knowing when to retreat, etc.

In Myth, units are actually moving around while they fight.

This is also true in Warcraft III, if you want to defeat your enemy. One of the best things to do is weave through his frontline and attack his backline while protecting your own. Surrounding is also a very common and effective tactic, usually used against heroes and supplemented with disabling effects such as slow / polymorph / stormbolt / thunderclap / banish / ensnare / stasis trap / warstomp / hex / purge / frozen breath / frost nova / sleep / impale / entangle / shadowstrike / freeze arrow / etc, all of which wreak havoc with formations.

This is where good micromanagement really shines

[Jonathan]

It was a completely unveiled attack on Starcraft and WCII. I haven't played WCIII.

[VLSmooth]

Hmm, even WCII had some aspects of this (archers died faster than paladins, however not THAT much faster) and Starcraft definitely did. IIRC, Starcraft and C&C introduced damage and armor types to RTS.

This is why formations were really important.

For example, in Starcraft, Concussion damage was awesome against infantry units (marines, zealots, etc) while it sucked against armored units (siege tanks, dragoons, etc).

More related to positioning, siege tanks in siege mode could not fire close up at all, so zealots (protoss melee) could tear them to shreds. Even worse, clustered siege tanks in siege mode had AoE (area of effect) damage which could be catastrophic if a melee was next to a siege tank, and another siege tank was outside of the mininum firing range. This was lots of fun against terran beginners

For WCIII, here's the basic armor and weapon type page
(note all the other basic links at the top too ):
http://www.battle.net/war3/basics/armor ... ypes.shtml

[Alan]

I had the first Myth and enjoyed that one. I think I tried Myth II but for some reason or another I didn't play it much. I'll try to grab a copy of it sometime.

[VLSmooth]

farming and crafting are very related in FFXI, and I dont see a way around farming in any game with a primarily player driven economy. I would almost advise not to even start farming until you get lvl 15 thf. Farming isnt nearly so bad when you see a text box full of green stuff.

Eh? What green stuff? o.o

[Jonathan]

I'm gonna see if my laptop can handle the awesome power that is Gunbound tonight. Is anybody running a ventrilo server nowadays?

[VLSmooth]

I'd rather do extra practice problems and read optional material than do that shit.

Wow! What happened to the lazy Alan I knew that stacked Michelina microwave dinners on his monitor until they toppled? You're nothing but an imposter! (well, unless this is saying you REALLY hate questing/farming/crafting).

Yes, I'm re-reading since I seemed to have skipped posts in the past (probably because the page changed from so many posts).

[Alan]

Yeah I have pretty different habits now. Actually radically different. I don't miss any classes and do supplemental problems, get stuff done days in advance, and read all my textbooks. And this semester I also have to study for the MCATs, which means I'm pretty much doing homework of some kind and/or studying 7 days a week. So a bit different from the days when I'd play games from 4 pm to 7 am and sleep until 3 pm.

But it was also a statement about how much I hate farming and crafting.

[Peijen]

Yeah I have pretty different habits now. Actually radically different. I don't miss any classes and do supplemental problems, get stuff done days in advance, and read all my textbooks. And this semester I also have to study for the MCATs, which means I'm pretty much doing homework of some kind and/or studying 7 days a week. So a bit different from the days when I'd play games from 4 pm to 7 am and sleep until 3 pm.

But it was also a statement about how much I hate farming and crafting.

holy shit!! I wasn't that bad of an influence on you was I?

hehe

[Dave]

Thread necro, if only because I was trying to find a Counterstrike thread to post in. (I bought CS:Source again for $7 last night for shits+giggles+playing de_dust again for the first time in years)

But yes, on topic. I am a MMORPG single player. That is, I like playing online games, just by myself. WoW has been off and on for me for the last 5-6 years and every guild I join I eventually leave, half the time because I burn out and the other half because a certain group of people annoy me enough to stop wanting to play. So I leave and go guildless for a few months get bored and apply to join another guild and the cycle continues. I guess the same goes for RL, I don't have many friends outside of work since I really don't have any hobbies that allow for interaction with anyone not-online. Bad gaming!

Will u be my fraind!?

[Jonathan]

I meant to buy Portal for free and couldn't get Steam working enough to make it happen. Fail.

In retrospect, I think I should have carved out 2-3 hour chunks of time to do stuff I liked doing. 5-6 hours is too long for a frequent activity, but 2-3 works pretty well.

I play Eve 2-3 hours at a time. My 2004 self is full of lies!

[Jonathan]

I don't actually enjoy the grind of farming and leveling and crafting and whatnot that it takes to actually create a decent character. For me, a good MMORPG would have a nonexistent to very gentle progression curve, but there would be millions of rock-paper-scissors decisions to make regarding your character. No character could be "the best" because everything would have a foil, but people could apply their ingenuity and experience in playing the game to create a clever combination of skills or whatever which are better than most. So a newbie wouldn't be very good because he wouldn't know what a good loadout or spell combination or weapon combo is, but someone very experienced would have a finely tuned lethal killing machine and a network of friends to fill out his character's weaknesses. Or a finely tuned, uh, fisherperson. Whatever floats your boat.

Well, 2004 me has some clue, actually.

In conclusion, everyone is right but Vinny.

Actually, 2004 me is way smart.

[George]

I think this thread was before my time. Reading it now, I summarize as...

Someone: I don't enjoy this game/genre/activity. I think it's because of this reason.
Vinny: I disagree that that reason is important, correct, or applicable. Therefore, you do enjoy that game, and simply haven't realized it yet.
Joe: Your reason is sound. Therefore, you should play Puzzle Pirates.

Repeat for four pages.

[Dave]

So who wants to join me on [ASY] server to camp the house on Italy!!!???

[Alan]

Haha wow. 2004. What a year.

So what game are we going to play?

[quantus]

Joe: Your reason is sound. Therefore, you should play Puzzle Pirates.

I was just about to say that it's not worth playing puzzle pirates since it became a subscription model like WoW, but I just went to their website and it's now free unless you want to buy a special item or some other customization. Therefore, I agree with myself. You should just play Puzzle Pirates!

[Jonathan]

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/c ... ing-death/

GW2 devs know what you want, you cheeky bastard, you.