Phasing

Doyce points to a cool article on “phasing” content in MMOs. The idea is to strike a balance between a static world and a heavily instanced one.

Brack gives the example of a quest where a player needs to rescue villagers from a Scourge-infested town. Players who complete the quest will see the villagers they’ve rescued back at the quest hub whereas players who haven’t done the quest will not. WoW Insider’s Alex Ziebart experienced the same after doing a series of quests involving the Wind Serpent Goddess, who appeared for him in town after completing her quests. She was there only for him and wasn’t visible to other players (who presumably haven’t done the quest series). It’s a new way to bring a new experience to players without having to load anything (such as in instances).

It’s an interesting idea to fight an age-old problem in MMOs — how do players know that they are having an impact? Taking CoX as an example, no matter what I do as a hero (or villain), the only thing that really changes is myself. Yes, I get passers-by discussing my virtues/vices, and, yes, the contacts may mention something based on the last mission I fought. But, really, the world around me and the NPCs I interact with don’t really change one whit no matter what I do.

The previous alternative to this was to deal with instances. This could be small-scale — in CoX, something that happens at the end of a mission — or it could be large-scale — the wholesale change in the world in LotRO when you complete initial half-dozen levels (the best example of which is the one for humans/hobbits, where the town is now recovering from the fires and bloodshed of the brigand raid).

Phasing, instead, “simply” tailors what characters see and hear based on stuff they’ve done. A simple example in CoX (were this implemented there) would be if, after the Ernesto Hess TF, the big central “mountain” on Striga was a broken-topped smoking ruin … for you. For someone who hadn’t done the TF, it would still look intact.

That points out the key problem with phasing, which is that two players, side by side, might experience very different things.  If I’m teaming with some folks who haven’t done the Hess TF, and make reference to that cool smoking ruin, they’d think I was nuts. It would (further) strain the suspension of belief for doing the TF a second time (either while at level, or mentored down).

I can imagine it being used in more subtle ways, though, that would be less jarring. Perhaps a “Thank You, Captain Ultra” banner over a building (that each person might see with their own name). Maybe if you’ve gotten certain hunt badges, the text that those hunted groups use in dialog with you changes. Or perhaps a mission that changes how you (graphically) see certain bad guys (or good guys) — as more or less menacing — in future encounters.

Anything that helps tailor the MMO experience more to the individual, while still maintaining that “mass” community, is a good thing.