May 2016 – Page 3

Digital or Physical

May 19, 2016 by Belghast

Fun with Polls

Okay folks, curious about something… do you mostly buy Digital or Physical games? Or do you mix it up and do both?

— Bel@BirbFormFTW (@belghast) May 16, 2016

A few days ago I posted a poll on my twitter feed asking a simple question about my followers gaming habits. In the end 88 folks responded to the poll which is honestly more than I thought there would be… but far less than needed to really make it scientific and such. Essentially I was thinking about how I have shifted from only purchasing games in physical retail stores… to almost never doing so. In fact not counting the land-run for copies of Wildstar to redeem for bonus loot, the last game I likely purchased in a store was TERA back in January of 2011 (yes I had to look up the release date). Even then the only reason why I purchased a physical copy was that it was not available through any of the online retailers I trusted, and I didn’t realize it was a game I would be interested in playing. This was another case where I was following the great internet zeitgeist and getting in on the rush of yet another game… that I would ultimately walk away from quickly. This is also the last game other than the Wildstar land-run that I purchased from a GameStop… but that is an entirely different thing for a different day.

For Those Who Can’t See the Embedded Tweet

65% – Mostly Digital
16% – Mostly Physical
19% – Fairly Equal Mix of Both

There are so many times that in my mind I think I represent the new normal, when in truth I am probably an outlier. So with digital purchases I wanted to take the temperature of my gamer friends about the subject. As it turns out I am in fact in the majority with 65% of you stating that you mostly purchase digital games. Now the weirdity with twitter polls is that if you are using a third party client, you don’t actually see them. As a result I had a large number of people comment directly but in those cases I am uncertain if they are also represented by a vote. As a result I am only going to be looking at the poll numbers for percentages, but using the folks that responded to indicate trends. Here are a few of the interesting trends that emerged.

Import Troubles

There were a few people that indicated that they purchase almost 100% digital other than when they are importing a game from another region. This makes complete sense as the payment methods that are widely available in English speaking regions, are totally not the case in other regions. Then there are problems for example with South Korean games where you have to have some sort of national id to be able to purchase the game in the first place. I know from past experiences trying to play Phantasy Star Online that figuring out how to pay for a Japanese game can be maddening and there are entire guides out there that are the equivalent of showing a screenshot and showing where to click to get through the sequence of screens to make a payment. Especially now that Amazon allows folks to order from the .JP website with non-Japanese payment methods, sometimes just buying that physical copy can skirt a whole slew of frustration.

Console VS PC Divide

Another group of folks commented that they are 100% digital on the PC, but almost exclusively purchase physical copies for their consoles. This again makes sense, because digital purchases on consoles are often times more expensive than purchasing through a retailer that is offering a discount to get your business. There is also the case that consoles have a finite amount of storage space. I know personally I have gone through the trouble of upgrading the hard drive in my PS3, PS4, and Xbox 360 to keep from running into the wall where I am constantly having to uninstall one thing to be able to play the next. However in this case I know I am very much not in the majority. Even with my Wii U I have an external hard drive connected so I simply won’t have to worry about storage space. Buying that physical copy for the most part lets you insert disc and play… even though there is a modern trend of having to wait for a lengthy install process before playing it. Also having that physical copy allows you to trade it off after you are done with it… which is apparently a much wider practice than I would have thought. I tend to hold onto a game forever even in a case when it was a bit of a bomb.

Physical Exclusives

Another case that came up several times is that I had a group of folks that indicated that they buy digital unless there is a physical collectors edition… and then they go with the cool boxed edition. I think this is a combination of a bunch of things, not the least being that the physical collectors editions have statues and mock-ups of in game items that you can’t get in any other form. Then there is also the cool factor of seeing a wall of games. I used to have a dedicated gaming space and a huge bookcase full of games similar to the one you see behind Jasyla in most of her videos. Then problem being after several decades you end up with so much clutter that something in me snapped and just started giving it all away. I mean that said I have a closet packed to the brim with older console stuff, but I’ve only started holding onto the things that were particularly rare. It can be amazingly cool however to gaze upon your collection of rare physical collectors editions of games, so I absolutely see the appeal.

Concerns about Long-term Play-ability

This one came up a few times and I was not honestly expecting it. There is a concern that while the console might work for decades… the game companies and the digital delivery methods might be long gone. As a result we would be unable to play digital games. This one also makes quite a bit of sense as I have lived through both the downfall of game consoles… as well as the downfall of digital stores. While the Dreamcast went the way of the dodo, I can still freely play the games that I have on their goofy gigabit pseudo dvd system. Similarly I can talk about the disappearance of the Games with Windows store that Microsoft ran… however in that case I think they simply rolled those purchases over to the Xbox store. There is a certain amount of liability for digital purchases, so long as the main game company is in business. This is the reason why you still see PSP titles available through the PSN store… even though that platform has long been shuttered. I guess my line of thought has long been that if Sony and Microsoft are gone… there are going to be wider problems with their consoles given the amount of connectivity that is interwoven. I know when my internet went out a few weeks back, it was kinda hell to find a game on the PS4 that I could play without it needing to “dial home” for something. All of that said… I absolutely get this concern because the only way I can play Hellgate London is because I held onto my physical copy.

Wrapping Up

I really appreciated the wide number of responses that I got from folks on this question. Actually it turned out pretty cool, and I have considered doing something like this again in the future. I liked seeing all of the different points of view in a question I had thought about quite a bit myself… but one that wasn’t necessarily a hot button topic. The other big scenario that I purchase physical copies of games… are when I happen to find a deal that is too insanely good to pass up. Even then I take that serial number… and input it into steam because the last thing that I want to do is remember where the hell my physical copy is. I love being able to have a console or a gaming machine loaded full of options, and be able to keep them “on tap” as it were. I guess for me that was always my dream of having some sort of a gaming system where I could simply hit play and select one of any of the games I owned. There was a period of time where I had sixteen consoles hooked up in my loft, but the complicated system of “A/B” switches that were required to make that work is maddening. I love that I can just flip on my PS4 or Wii U pick a game and go, and this is also a big reason why I have zero qualms about repurchasing a game on a newer system. In the end we all have different habits and different norms, and I thought it was awesome just how free you all were with your thoughts.

Musical Steeds

May 18, 2016 by Belghast

Muscle Memory

The tale of our run in Final Fantasy XIV has been interesting, namely we played for roughly two years straight… and then after the launch of Heavensward that original group more or less faded away from the game. When we played the game at launch, I was towards the end of the pack when it came to leaving, and this time it seems like I was among the first. I had split priorities when it came to FFXIV and WoW raiding… and to be truthful I was burning out intensely in both. I last played regularly in December of 2015, and for whatever reason I’ve just not had much drive to dip my toes back in. As additional story content was released, I made a college try to come back and consume it. Unfortunately however I never actually made it all of the way through the 3.2 content. As a result I admit I had more than a little trepidation upon returning, because I wondered how much skill I would have lost. It turns out “muscle memory” is ungodly strong, and for the most part I was able to sit down and begin rotating through abilities and hitting hotkeys by reflex.

What also helped however was the content we were doing. Now our raid group met on Tuesday nights for two years, and it seems as though the current batch of Greysky folks have kept up that tradition. This time instead however it has been turned in to a pony farm night. Now back when we were doing the Extreme Primals legitimately, I had managed to get the whistle for the Leviathan pony, and counted myself damned lucky. In the meantime however it appears that Square has increased the drop rate, and getting those musical horses seems to be a pretty regular occurrence. What shocked me was just how quickly the boss fights came back, even in their currently abbreviated state. For example I instinctively followed the normal tank queues for Titan… even though I initially stood on the wrong slice of cheese. I was happy to know that I could in fact still apparently tank in this game, and I think I will feel significantly better actually doing some duty finder for gear currency.

A Good Night

It felt really great to be back, and equally great to be playing Lala-Bel again. There is just something about this character that makes me happy, and maybe some of the funk I have been in has been due to the fact that I haven’t been playing him lately. After the raid my friends Tzi, Rylacus and Nyte helped run me through The Antitower, the first of the 3.2 dungeons. I poked around a bit afterwards trying to figure out where all the other dungeon quests started, but sleep claimed me pretty quickly. I know I will be doing Destiny raid tonight, but the hope is to return to FFXIV in the coming days. I mean maybe the answer is to simply play all the things. Right now I am getting enjoyment out of WoW and FFXIV again… so maybe the idea is to simply ration them both. I know I have a lot of catching up to do in FFXIV so it serves as an excellent game to grind away while downstairs. When I left in December I was one of the better geared characters in the Free Company… and now I am probably one of the worst geared. I know this… because in running the Antitower I managed to pick up no less than two upgrades, which is generally a good sign that you are way behind the curve.

I managed to get the Garuda pony which was an easy drop since everyone else in the raid had one, and was quite literally just farming it to get me one. Then I rolled on Nightmare that dropped from Titan, and managed to get the lucky roll. The only thing there is… I guess I didn’t fully realize that this was a rare drop from any of the first three primals… even thought Ashgar said as much. I didn’t quite grok it at the time, or I would have probably passed on the roll. We did not however see any of the ACTUAL pony that is supposed to come from Titan. We did however manage to get at least one person a Leviathan mount, and I believe one other mount… but I am drawing a blank. All in all it was a really fun night and I am going to try and juggle my schedule so I can start making this a weekly thing. Hopefully I didn’t do anything that pissed anyone off too terribly. I felt a little bad falling right back into my overbearing tank mode… but like I said I was largely relying on instincts to get through the evening and that comes with the tendency to pull. Ashgar however pulled for me a few times expecting that I would provoke it back from him, and I did like a good lalatank. It was kinda great getting to hang with Tzi and Rylacus again, even thought poor Tzi had no voice at all. Maybe I am over my mental block against MMOs, or maybe I just happened to choose the right nights to play again.

Three of Coins Problem

May 17, 2016 by Belghast

The Ultra Knight

Last night while making yet another trip to the Dreadnaught just to kill the Ultra Knight, I started thinking about what a glorious debacle the situation of exotic drop rates are in Destiny. Don’t get me wrong, I love this game… and they have made so many great strides over the last year into truly making it an amazing place to be. The problem is… they are seemingly inches away from landing on the target but nonetheless not quite there. The problem currently centers around making doing content feel rewarding. I completely blame the recent Iron Banner for giving me more hope than I probably should have had. During that weekend I had a single activity that I wanted to be doing, as often as I could… and that was queuing for more Iron Banner. During the weekend I managed to make it to Rank 5 on all three of my characters, and the primary motivation was the acquisition of loot. Sitting in queue and playing a match felt like quite literally the best use of my time because I knew that every four or five matches I would be rewarded with some shiny bauble that either would replace my current item in that slot or serve as infusion fodder.

Once that weekend ended however it feels like I simply don’t have an activity like that that is equally rewarding. There is of course Challenge of Elders, but the Challenge requires you to gather together a fireteam to really have a chance at completing it. We have absolutely made a date on Thursday nights to try and get our various characters through CoE but the problem is… what do I do with the rest of my time in game. I am largely a soloist, and it feels like I don’t have a similarly valuable activity that feels like I am spending my time wisely. So as a result that activity ends up being heading to the Dreadnaught every 10-15 minutes to kill the Ultra Knight, so that I can consume yet another Three of Coins buff… and every fifth kill or so get an Exotic Engram, which may or may not decode to 335 light and help me push the goal forward. In fact there are so many times that I will be playing another game like Diablo or last night World of Warcraft… where I take a break every 15 minutes or so and log into my PS4 via the Remote Play app with the sole purpose of rushing to the Ultra Knight and attempting to get that exotic engram.

Lies of Xur

The problem is that this isn’t really an enjoyable feedback loop and feels like a hacked workaround to solve core problems in the actual gameplay. In theory that default thing I could be doing with my time should be either the Crucible or Vanguard play lists. Those are activities that need players doing them to keep the game thriving. However instead of getting interesting things while doing these activities, it feels like they solely serve the purpose of being a vehicle for me to spend Three of Coins buffs. Then there is the problem of strikes like Dust Palace and Omnigul not actually removing the buff and triggering the potential of an exotic drop. Then there is also the problem of Xur, where he is supposed to be this trader that sometimes brings us amazing things. However for most of us, Friday is simply the occasional that finally allows us to restock our Three of Coins and nothing he has to offer is actually interesting. This is because it feels like if you are doing any activity in this game, and you don’t have the Three of Coins buff active, you are playing the game completely wrong.

There is a lot of talk about Bungie summoning the Diablo developers to talk about the lessons they learned with the “Loot 2.0” patch. One of the key lessons seems to have been lost in translation. Diablo currently has a Three of Coins like effect when it comes to Legendary drops, but the difference is… it is always active. In theory if you are actively playing the game you should be seeing a Legendary drop at least every 10-15 minutes with the chance going up significantly based on the difficulty of the activity you are tackling. This means that doing literally anything from killing a level 1 mob to killing a boss has a chance of summoning a Legendary drop. This is how things should ultimately work inside of Destiny, because going out into the world and doing activities should feel like the most rewarding activity. You remember every time you get a drop from a boss, but no one remembers that one time the Cryptarch happened to give them something interesting. It feels like Destiny needs to reconsider the way loot works in the game, and make it so that Strikes, Crucible, Nightfall, Prison of Elders, and Raids are the default thing that players want to go and do, rather than simply finding any vehicle for flipping that Ultra kill switch. I also think there should be that random snowballs chance in hell of quite literally ANY mob out in the world dropping a super rare Exotic Engram, or even one of the good Legendaries at a decent light level. Bungie needs to drive players into the feedback loop of doing group activities, because the activities are fun but also the best possible way for them to get rewards.

Flowers for Garou

May 16, 2016 by Belghast

More Flora

It feels really strange to follow up yesterdays post. Those were a bunch of things that I felt like I needed to get out there, and to be honest about the doubt that I had been struggling with. As it stands right now I am for certain taking a break over Memorial Day weekend rather than either pre-writing posts or arranging for guest posts. I am also contemplating starting to make weekends optional. Sunday is really the day that becomes madness for me because I am also scurrying around that morning trying to wrap up the various stuff required for posting an episode of aggrochat. As far as this weekend, it was honestly one without a ton of gaming. Instead I spent a large amount of time hanging out in the backyard. Scope creep is a term we use in development when a project has gone beyond its boundaries in the number of features the user is requesting. Our backyard has long since entered scope creep territory and that’s okay. The original goal was just to make it more livable, and this has involved a whole sequence of smaller steps leading up to where we are today. Once again I took a panorama of the progress, and you can see the larger version here.

We have now kept the original batch of flowers alive and actually thriving for two weeks now… so of course we doubled down on the proposition. We spent a bit of Saturday afternoon tracking down more of the shepherds hooks so that we could have matching ones to the ones we had picked up at ALDI a few weeks back. The other night while walking with a friend, my wife saw a hanging basket at a near by pop up nursery that she really liked. We also happened to have a coupon from that same pop-up that if we spent $20 we could get a free hanging basket, so the end result is us adopting the purple, yellow and white hanging baskets and adding them to my “flower babies” as I have taken to calling them. The only big things left are to wait on the grass to finish filling in where the weed treatments left barren patches… and so far it has started. Then there is of course the idea kicking around about replacing the table we have with something that sits a little lower to the ground and that we could use our pseudo-Adirondack chairs with. Then I am contemplating getting another of the umbrellas we found on sale to go in a post on the far deck side of the pool to add a little shade there from within the pool. Like I said…. scope creep abounds.

The most interesting piece of scope creep over the last week however is the fact that we have entered the realm of bird stewardship. I’ve not been able to take a great shot of them but we have soooo many birds. In the panoramic shot you can see on the right side that I have a feeder hanging in among the tree that is really an overgrown hedge. I’ve begun feeding fairly regularly, a first a blend from the Audubon soceity and later a bulk blend we got from Sam’s that fairly closely matched the nutritional mix of the first one. Sunday morning while watering the flowers I filled the feeder up to roughly the halfway mark because it was ultimately what was left in the 40 pound bag after dumping the rest into a tightly sealed container. This was at roughly 9 am… by the time we were out in the yard after my wife got home from church around 11 am… the feeder was completely empty again. There have been times I have counted a dozen tiny sparrows feeding at the same time, with a bunch of cardinals, bluejays, and various sundry other birds that I cannot yet identify roaming around. We have a couple that look like doves of some sort, and another couple that look like pidgeons. Basically the entire time we have lived here I have wanted birds to hang out in the backyard and in the evenings I have been able to watch the baby sparrows hop and play around on the deck. Unfortunately they are all pretty skittish at the moment, except for the Robins… they seem more than happy to roam within close distance of us looking for worms. In any case… this is the non-gaming activity that is taking up a good chunk of my time. On the weekends and evenings we tend to eat outdoors hanging out in our rockers watching the flora and fauna. Yup… I am officially old, but not minding a minute of it.

Surprising Whim

Most of my weekend gaming was spent in Diablo 3, doing various things… and largely without purpose. I managed to get my stash tab on Friday, and from this point on everything else is gravy in Season 6. For awhile now even before the season, Diablo was the game I played when I didn’t know what else to play… and I spent a huge chunk of the weekend not knowing what else to play. Normally Destiny would fill this niche but I didn’t really want to hang out upstairs when the couch was so damned comfy. During the weekend I found out that my good friends Chestnut and Chaide from Wildstar have decided to re-up World of Warcraft, and the glory that is our collective community managed to recruit them to hang out on Argent Dawn Alliance with us. I ended up logging in to do some invites last night and wound up sticking around and playing my Druid. There was a part of me that thought… wouldn’t it be glorious if I could somehow ride into Legion with a full army of level 100 characters. The actual leveling game of World of Warcraft is something that I have enjoyed greatly… it is just the Garrison busywork that ends up getting me down and making me no longer want to play.

So the idea is simple… if I can focus heavily on leveling and or gearing my characters I might be able to get back into the game for a bit. While watching my Sunday night shows, I managed to push from 91 to 93 and make a big dent in Shadowmoon Valley. Normally speaking I take this abbreviated path around Draenor, jumping each time a new zone opens up to me. This time around however I think I am going to just focus on the questing, because that is the thing that seems to be able to hold my focus even when the rush to end game doesn’t. I mean with this character I am not pushing to get anywhere, and Hellfire Citadel feels stifling at the moment so I am in no rush to get back there with LFR. As it stands I have my Druid, Priest, Rogue, Mage, Warlock and Monk to level… and I am sure that this current burst of interest in World of Warcraft won’t probably sustain my way through all of them, but I might be able to at least springboard this into a renewed interest in MMOs as a whole. The absolute hardest for me is going to be the Mage because… really I could care less about finger wigglers and the least is always the pure finger wigglers. I can pretend the Discipline Priest is a cloth tank, and I can focus on the awesome demon pets on the Warlock. However with that mage… all I am left with is the fact that I am slinging spells which never really feels amazing. Anyways who knows how long I will be around for, but I enjoyed myself last night.