Operations and Flashpoints for players new to MMO's

[smilodon]

Star Wars The Old Republic is unique in that it seems to have attracted many members of the dMw community who have little experience of playing MMO's. This means that some of the unique features of MMO's that seasoned players take for granted won't be apparent to everyone. This especially includes 'end level content'. The following will be pretty familiar to WOW players but hopefully explaining raiding and the challenges it presents to a Guild up front will help everyone to be clear about what's involved and to keep their expectations realistic.


The core problem for an MMO is how to keep it's player base interested and paying their monthly subscription once they have reached the Level cap. Traditionally games like WOW have achieved this through a number of methods. Obviously they have added new content and increased their level cap (from 60 to 85 so far). They also offer player v player content with leagues and competitions. Finally they offer end level raiding content. And it seems clear this is also what is planned for Star Wars.


The Bioware game developers create complex encounters with extremely tough opponents for Lv 50 players to enjoy and to play through many times. They reward players with weapons and equipment that are unavailable anywhere else in the game. They design these raids to be challenging with a real possibility for failure if the raid is not properly organised and executed. To allow players of different skill levels to enjoy the content the same encounter is offered in different levels of difficulty. The Operations (as Bioware describe their raids) come in Normal, Hard and Nightmare versions. This allows players new to MMO's to attempt Normal Operations while still offering a challenging encounter in Hard and Nightmare modes for experienced players. It is also often the case that players will need to be kitted out in gear they win from Normal Operations in order to be able to survive the Harder mode. Likewise only players wearing Hard mode rewards will be able to survive the Nightmare encounters. This means that new Lv50 characters will not simply be able to jump straight into Nightmare mode and expect to survive.


As explained in a previous guide the core concept of Tank, Healer and DPS must be observed to make these Operations possible. A raid needs a proper balance of the three roles to succeed. Also the Operations usually cannot be completed without at least some pre planning. Often a Boss will have a phase where players must react in the right way or they will fail. A ficticious example might be that a Boss will glow red before firing a huge area attack. Any player who has not reacted and hidden behind a wall will be instantly killed. A group must be learn these features of an Operation either by trial and error or through prior research.


It's important that as a Guild and a community we are always fair and consistent in making sure everyone gets the opportunity to join Operations and Flashpoints and to play to a level that suits them and the way they wish to play i.e. normal mode, hard mode and nightmare mode. However it is also important that a team learns to play well together and that we mix players who who have experience in either a specific role (tank, healer, DPS) or the actual Operation being attempted. Therefore we will often bring a player with experience to help someone who has never been to the Operation before. For example we would try not to have two tanks who had never been to Eternity Vault go on the same night. Rather we would bring back one experienced tank to partner with the new tank. Also it would be a problem to keep breaking teams up and mixing everyone around, especially on the harder modes. While we don't want a completely strict roster for each group we should attempt to create groups that don't change all the time. Therefore if we have two Raiding groups we will try to keep the same players in the same groups, so they learn how each other play and can work better as a team.


Lastly some encounters will require that players are able to use medical packs or stim boosts. Without them they will not be able to Tank, Heal or DPS enough to beat the encounter. Operations are not rocket science but on hard and nightmare modes they obviously require proper gear, tactics and preparations to complete.


For this reason we cannot attempt these raids with a random collection of players. We will therefore need to impose certain pre conditions to being accepted. On the face of it this would seem to fly somewhat in the face of what dMw stands for. We're an inclusive group that welcomes players regardless of ability. Most of our games have no restriction on joining other than everyone having a positive friendly approach. However SW:TOR, like World of Warcraft, clearly will have to adapt this open ethos to make raiding end level content possible. Players will not automatically be included in groups for which they cannot be an effective part. It goes without saying that actual Guild membership is not restricted in the same way. In that respect we are a fully inclusive and welcoming Guild within the dMw community.


Finally it should be remembered that SW:TOR is only a few months old at the time of writing this post. Many players have yet to reach Lv50 and Bioware have already stated they plan to release more end level content on a regular basis. Therefore we're all in the unenvious position of not being certain what future Operation challenges are in store for us, who will be joining us in these Operations, when they can play, what class they will play and to what raiding level they want to progress to.


However the Guild is still committed to letting everyone enjoy all the content and to provide groups that cater for all skill levels. It is just that we may not be able to let everyone play the role they want in the group they want exactly when they want. Hopefully the discussion above explains why that is.

The Dark Council