SWTOR: Galactic Strongholds

Did reality match the long anticipated hype and hope?  First impression, not in the slightest did the hope and hype match reality this afternoon.

We all know I like my video games to have housing.  A place where my character can relax while I play someone else.  You know, home for the character.  Thus, I was very much looking forward to housing being implemented in SWTOR.  Star Wars holds a special place in my heart and I wanted my characters to have a place to kick back, relax, and express their personalities.

What I got was a hanger bay with prettier doors.  SWTOR, EA, and Bioware decided to go with the hook system of housing thereby destroying all player creativity.  No seriously, it is impossible to be creative when item can only go in certain places.  The decoration choices so far are cold and sterile, not remotely personal.  I’m disappointment to say the least.  Crew members and pets can be placed in the house, but they are static and unmoving.  Basically, the stand there like frozen actors or deer caught in the headlights.  It was soul crushing.

There was one highlight, the ability to park vehicles on the taxi pad.  But six vehicles parked next to a taxi is far from enough to make housing rewarding or enjoyable.

I will give housing another chance but I am not holding out much hope. I need housing that is warm, cozy, and creative.  I need housing like in Everquest 2 or Wildstar.  I need throw pillows, pets the move and make noise, pictures in odd places, well you get the idea.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Continuing Adventures, Treek, & More

My Consular is currently on Hoth, the cold and icy Hoth of the  movies.  Hoth is very large and very spread out and beautiful in the way that only extremely cold winters can be.  Being a content and happy desert dweller, I can admire the icy, blue beauty that is Hoth without bringing back awful memories of winter.

I’m finding the quests on Hoth interesting and engaging.  But then again, I love all of the unique races you discover within the universe of Star Wars.

She has helped the above Ortolans save their geothermic power plant from the Empire and is off to stop a madman she has already killed once.  Her biggest “issue” these days, is reviving Qyzen from the floor after a battle, despite the fact that she’s split her tree points up for some heals to keep him alive.  So, given his apparent love of dirt naps, hubby and I both purchased the Treek mercenary contract from the Cartel Market yesterday.

Treek has been available for a while but I was too stingy in spending cartel coins to acquire her services.  I was an idiot!  The initial meeting with her makes me laugh every time and I admit it, I love Ewoks and always have.  So, once you get her and get her gear up to speed (she comes pre-equipped with Adaptive Armor appropriate for level nine) I took her into battle.    She not only holds aggro, she HEALS herself during battle.  Yep, that’s right, she heals and tanks which leaves you free to dispatch enemies as quickly as you like.

Now, I’m not going to lie I kill quicker (at least on my Sentinel) when I bring Kira along but I tend to take more damage and spend more time recovering after a battle.  Also, Treek gains no affection from conversations while out questing so I have found myself swapping her out with other companions for the affection gain whenever possible.  Treek only gains affection from gifts and completing her companion missions. 

And lastly, look what arrived this morning after maintenance!  My characters are happy and T7 will have a friend to hang out with!

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Xbox One: Dragon Age: Inquisition

October 7th I can be found safely curled up in my sofa lost in the latest adventure from Thedas.  Dragon Age: Inquisition finally has a release date and I am ready for what looks to be a significant improvement from Dragon Age II.  It looks to be a promising Fall for Xbox One games, although Inquisition is also releasing on the Xbox 360 and the PS3, PS4 and PC.  Id the videos, screenshots and gameplay footage can be trusted, then Bioware looks to be well on their way to saving the Dragon Age franchise.

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Weekend Activities: SWTOR and Xbox

SWTOR got a lot of play Thursday and Friday, easy stress escape and I got caught up in leveling my bounty hunter.  What is really irritating me is that since the last time I played the fine folks over a Bioware have for some unfathomable reason disabled the ability to take a screenshot during a dialogue scene with a NPC.  I’ve missed countless great shots of humorous lines or facial expressions as a result.  Hell, I’ve just missed great shots of my characters up close.

I have a plethora of screenshot for the wildlife or environment but not one of my character.  I am going to have to remedy that next time I log on.  I fell into the crafting trap this weekend, you know the one.  You spend more time logging in and out of various characters to craft items or send raw materials.  I wish they would release an app for one of the mobile platforms to let gamers do that stuff while away from their gaming rig.  I would definitely spend more free time in SWTOR or any game to be honest, that let me get some of the more mundane but vital activities, like crafting, accomplished while waiting at the doctor’s office or watching television.

I fired up the Xbox demo for Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD before I had my first cup of coffee on Saturday morning.  It left a bad taste in my mouth and I quickly moved on.  Hubby woke up and he tried it thankfully and I was instantly charmed.  So a couple of cups of coffee and a trial by hubby and AC: Liberation wound up on my game rotation for the week.  A full review when I am more than a couple of hours of game play in and more than one cup of coffee consumed.

Thanks to the fine folks at Gamefly I also played some Diablo III on Saturday.  I created a female barbarian and set off on my single adventures.  I got to New Tristam and learned that there was no way to link my battle.net account to my Xbox account and was instantly frustrated.  All those fine goodies from virtual Blizzcon tickets are going to go to waste because of my platform choice?  Seems like a oversight that should not have happened.  Diablo III never felt like a PC game to me and there is no way I’m paying PC prices for it when I can rent it or buy it from Gamefly.  The one thing I do really like about the port to the console is that cooperative game play isn’t fouled up by a split screen which drives us both bonkers.

Hubby fired up Mass Effect and started the ugliest character he has ever created on Insanity.  No seriously, the Shepard he created was so ugly I cringed every single time I looked up at the television and caught a glimpse of him.  He took pity on me and recreated Shepard as Sheldon Cooper and started over on Insanity.  All I have to saw is that Insanity is a difficulty setting I will never be attempting!

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Plague breaks out on Alderaan

Rakghoul Plague has infested the peaceful planet of Alderaan and I’ve participated in the event for the first time when the event went live yesterday.  The last time the Rakghoul event was in game I was playing something else and didn’t participate.  However, I jumped in with both feet on two Republic characters yesterday.

My consular, Laughlynn, took the opportunity to further explore Alderaan and pick up some bonus series quests.  I particularly love the taxis on Alderaan that are non-mechanical.  There is just something so peaceful and majestic about taking a taxi on Alderaan.  I’m a little biased admittedly since Alderaan is my favorite planet to date.

First off, the Rakghoul tunnels on Alderaan are beautiful.  I spent a lot of time just enjoying the beauty of the environment yesterday while exterminating the affected victims.  There is a definite challenge to the event when you aren’t at maximum level and at the low end of the level range for the planet.  However, I love the challenge and had fun yesterday. 

Laughlynn did great even against the level 55 creatures when others were around.  They were hard to touch at level 39 but so long as she wasn’t fighting alone they were fun and a challenge.  Now those elite level 55 creatures and bosses were impossible to touch, every once in a while I’d manage to get a hit one of the but it was rare.  Still it was a blast!

Abi’gail had a much more difficult time at level 28.  The tunnels and the infected were definitely a challenge for Abi’gail.  More often than not her light sabers were nothing more than flashing purple sticks of ineptitude as they failed to land a hit.  Against the level 25 Rakghouls she was successful but those level 34 plus creatures were an exercise in misses.  But you know what?  I didn’t care, the tunnels were beautiful and I still managed to complete event quests and gain reputation while having fun.

This morning I logged on to my level 15 bounty hunter, Steph’ana, who has been stranded on the Imperial Fleet for a year now.  However, she is getting play time these days and she contracted the plague while on fleet.  Steph’ana is now on Balmorra and setting out on the great Hunt.  I got this great picture of the effects of the plague before she purchased a vaccine from the medical droid in Sobrick.

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Christmas Week Abbreviated Adventures

Pippa managed to run into Krampus finally in The Secret World and blindly followed him into the portal he opened.  He and his buddies immediately kicked my rear and Pippa was dead on the floor faster than wrapping paper on Christmas morning.  She wisely exited the instance upon regaining her sense.

Pippa, the original character of that name, and the bevy of 90’s opened presents and rescued Metzen until one of them was lucky enough to get the Rotten Little Helper companion.  He is decidedly evil and miserable looking.  Can’t say I feel the effort was worth it.  I will admit, I think I’m over WOW for quite a while.  Yes, I still have characters I could level and I haven’t completed the loremaster achievement.  But I’m not enjoying myself.  I enjoy reading the lore in novels much more than I am repeating myself in game. 

I can’t say I won’t ever be returning to WOW, I’ve made that claim too many times before and Pippa always get’s missed.  I wish Blizzard would wise up and give the non-raiding crowd a reason to stick around, like adventure or quest packs.

I stopped into Guild Wars 2 again this year.  Same even as last year it appears, I didn’t stick around that long to find out.  I decided to try out one of the event instances and imagine my delight in learning my level 10 warrior was stuck (until I logged out) in an instance filled with level 80s.  I can’t deny the game is lovely but there is no quest content and thus no interest for me.

I’ve dropped my LOTRO several evenings this week and completed the quests in Frostbluff for cosmetics.  Luckily, LOTRO will run on the Surface Pro well enough to do things like festivals and crafting so I’m not trapped in the office.  I think I’ve gotten almost everything I want from the festival this year.  Trying to decide if I want this year’s horse or not.  I’ve gotten one, not sure how interested I am in the other. 

I stopped by Star Wars: The Old Republic this week.  I activated one character, my Consular.  She’s on Hoth and I want to finish her story line.  I didn’t play her, I browsed the Cartel Market and realized that I need to change her gear out if I’m going to play her without subscribing.  Two years after the game launched and I don’t have a character at max level yet, but I keep wandering by for the story which speaks to how compelling the quest writers at Bioware are.

This time next year, I imagine I will still be happily immersed in Elder Scrolls Online.  I hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas.  Happy New Year and may all your football teams be victorious!

 

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Women and Gaming

Blizzcon just ended and once again another gaming convention has come and gone with an ever present male bias in gaming.  It happens every gaming convention, not just Blizzcon.   I get my hopes up that some gaming company somewhere will present reveals, cinematics, or a new major character(s) that are women.  I fear that is never going to happen however.

The executives, hell almost every panel member, is male.  The new character models on the Warlords of Draenor site are so far male only models.  The only models shown during the art panel and discussed were male models.  Sure they showed a slide of a female dwarf and gnome, but these were non-animated slides and are not available on the website.

Every major character discussed at Blizzcon was male.  Why?  Warcraft has so many amazing women that would make excellent vehicles for story telling: Sylvanas and Jaina immediately spring to mind.  There are so many story lines possible with just these two woman alone that it is inconceivable to me that they are left to languish and sit there on the sidelines.  Sure we heard from Jaina a couple of times in Mists of Pandaria but her story was left  unfinished from the brilliant treatment Jaina received from Christie Golden’s Tides of War.

Star Wars:The Old Republic does a somewhat better job.  Satele Shan is the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and she isn’t a figure head that players have no interaction with either.  She is a strong, lead female character but SWTOR isn’t a great example to draw on unfortunately.  SWTOR is extremely story driven by the player’s in-game choices thus allowing Bioware the opportunity to write strong female characters into cut-scenes. Bioware, in general, writes strong, prominent female characters but even these characters aren’t the “star” of any Bioware game.

I want development of lore from the games I play that involves women.  Women play games, write about games, and want game developers to recognize that we are more than just a small, insignificant portion of their player base.  We are more than spell slingers and healers.  We tank, we burn stuff down quickly with blade and spell alike.  We lead raids and guilds, we write about our gaming experiences and we bring others into games we play.  What do game developers fear in making a woman front and center in a game?  That their male audience won’t play because of the presence of a strong woman lead character?

It’s time that gaming developers recognize that women play games and that we want stories that are balanced between the sexes. My characters, are more than a plate bikini digital image to feed the imaginations of young men.  Women everywhere deserve equal lore representation and focus as male characters.

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Dragon Age: Inquisition: Dragon Keep Announced

Dragon Age has always been a story where your choices and decisions impact the world.  For the third installment of the game, the details on how past decisions will be handled and implemented has just been announced.

Dragon Age Keep will allow players to customize the world of Thedas according to past decisions made.  Don’t worry if you’ve lost files or if they’ve become corrupted over time.  Past decisions can be implemented by the player within the keep without having to access previous saves.  The Keep will exist on the cloud.

Head over to the announcement for more detailed information on the decisions behind the making of the Keep.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Having a Blast

It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for a good story, be it in a book, a game, or a performance, and the one thing Bioware has consistently provided over the years are great and compelling stories.  I’m back playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, SWTOR, (no surprises there at all) and loving the stories once again, even the Consular story line which so irritated me into taking a break earlier in the year.   

When I resubbed about two weeks ago I was in a PvP frame of mind, and still in am honestly.  I had heard so many complaints and horror stories about the PvP in SWTOR that I was reluctant but bit the bullet and jumped right in.  It was a blast!  Seriously why do people bitch and moan like preschoolers that just had their balls taken away?  Maps are fun, wide range of skill levels makes for challenges, and there are decent rewards.  Seriously I don’t fathom why there is so much angst about the state of PvP in SWTOR.  Yes you aren’t going to be at the top of the damage or healing charts if you are in the lower half level wise of your bracket.  But really who cares?  It grants you experience, credits, commendations, and is a break from questing.  The PvP gear doesn’t take a lot of commendations to acquire either. 

I played the WOW version of Huttball (Temple of Kotmogu).  Huttball is superior in EVERY way.  There is no one shotting members of the opposing team, which was consistently my experience in Temple of Kotmogu.  The commentary in Huttball amuses me to no end also.

So, if you haven’t given PvP a go in SWTOR, then jump on in and experience it yourself.  Remember having fun and helping your team be successful is far more important than topping some meaningless chart in a match.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Patch 2.1 Customization

Tired of the sometimes drab brown world of the Republic or perhaps you have an inherent distaste for purple armor of the Empire, well then my friends never fear the fine folks at Bioware have released Patch 2.1: Customization today for Star Wars": The Old Republic!  Patch notes can be found here in full.

Hate everything about the way you created your character except for class and gender?  Then rejoice because for Cartel Coins you can have everything from a new race to different eye color.  Hate the hair style you picked, then head on over to kiosk by AesthTech and pick a new one on your fleet or Capital city.  If you wish to create a new character using the new models, those models must first be unlocked via Cartel Coins.

Have you longed to rename your character, legacy, or guild?  Then you too have a reason to head on over the the AesthTech kiosk and deposit your cartel coins.  Renaming in now an available option, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 Cartel Coins.

Cathar are now a playable race.  For 600 Cartel Coins, you can unlock the race to create a new character or change the race of your current character.  I expect to see quite a large number of player created Cathar in the coming days.

Collections are a new feature also being released today.  Collections will be where all characters, across all servers will be able to access most items available from the Cartel Market or Reputation, live fan events, Pre-Order, Collectors Edition, etc. items.  Once one character has collected an item or gear set, Cartel Coins can be spent to unlock said item or gear set for all characters on the account.  There is however an exception for level 15, 31, and 43 Adaptable fear and Cartel Reputation items.

I’m looking forward to experimenting with armor dyes and character customization later today.  See you in game!

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Neverwinter: Verdict so far

I’ve played each of the five available classes in Neverwinter through the beginning quests and they were all enjoyable.  I have my personal favorites but no class felt gimped in comparison to the others.  The one flaw of the five classes so far?  Quite simply the scales are tipped in far of those that prefer melee classes, there is currently only one pure ranged dps class and one healer class that is also ranged for dps.

The Classes

Control Wizard, who unfortunately none of my screen shots took during severe server lag yesterday afternoon, is ranged dps.  They appear to be an arch-typical mage class (imagine that, archetypes in a Dungeon and Dragons game!).  Game play was fun without feeling uber squishy those first couple of levels and enemies were pretty quickly dispatched.

The Great Weapon Fighter class is a two-hander melee dps class.  Extremely fun and powerful feeling from the very first weapon attack, no feeling gimped by heavy armor and a huge sword. 

The Guardian Fighter class is the tank class.  The play style, at least initially, is very similar to that of the Great Weapon Fighter except for the sword and shield.  Holding aggro was not a problem and killing enemies did not take much longer than the dps classes.

  Trickster Rogue is the archetypical rogue, massive burst damage followed by stealth.  Damage the rogue puts out is incredibly, to be honest it felt more like I was dual wielding claymores rather than daggers.  Enemies were dying fastest on the rogue, other classes feel slow in comparison.

Devote Cleric is the ranged healer for Neverwinter and the class I’ve played the most.  High survivability and decent damage output make for an incredible immersive and fun play style.

Summary

So far, truth is the game is a blast but it isn’t going to entertain those looking for an immersive social game.  The feel of the environment and the quests are all very reminiscent of the Neverwinter series.  However, so far I haven’t had a need to group with anyone to kill anything quest related, I haven’t died or even come close to dying.  Players have the ability to heal others as they run by or stop and help kill a mob.  Personally, I prefer my games this way.  I prefer questing at my own pace and play style rather than being forced to play in a manner that suits the group.  This is not true for all gamers however, and if you want that elusive “social” experience will gaming I can’t see Neverwinter being the game of choice.  Don’t misunderstand me, servers are packed and chat is never quiet.  There is plenty of opportunity for social interaction and joining a guild, but the overall feel of the game is that of a single player game set in a muliplayer world.

There is a cash shop and the cash shop currency is called Zen.  The conversion rate from Zen to dollars appears to be 1:1.  Thus buying extra bag spaces will cost you real world money.  So the cheapest, non-quest reward bag, will cost you $6.00 for 12 slots or $10.00 for 24 slots.  Yep if you want extra bags be prepared to pony up real life money for at least 2 extra bags per character.  The cash shop contains cosmetic items, mounts, dyes, and various other items.  There is no subscription fee to play the game.  The cash shop, which is normal for Perfect World Entertainment games, is pretty standard.  Extra bank space is also a real world expenditure, as are extra character slots.

I don’t have a problem with the cash shop model or the free to play model.  Would I think it wise if they offered a subscription model option in addition?  That’s a no brainer, it’s asinine not to offer the option of a subscription.  Need models that work, try any Sony Online game or Turbine game out there.  Bioware has implemented a model that works well also.  Why would any company only go strictly free to play when there is a chance to have a sustained, reliable revenue stream completely baffles me.

I have completely enjoyed my experience in Neverwinter so far.  It reminds me of Guild Wars 2 in many ways, minus all the hype and BS that accompanied that title.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Game Update 2.0 released on PTS

Star Wars; The Old Republic’s the Rise of the Hutt Cartel has hit the Public Test Server.  Here is a brief glimpse of what can be tested:

• Level 55 characters will have new gear
• New Operation: Scum and Villainy
• Level 55 Hard Mode Flashpoints: Hammer Station, Athiss, Mandalorian Raiders, and Cademimu
• New Nightmare Mode of Operation: Terror from Beyond
• New legacy achievements

You will, for the first time, be able to copy an existing character to the test server, and all characters on the PTS can be advanced to level 55 on the Fleet.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Expansion Video First Look

 

Bioware released the first look of Makeb this morning in the above video for Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Interested parties can find more details on The Rise of the Hutt Cartel here.  The expansion is due out this spring, no date yet specified, and it looks like the Hutt’s have been quite busy since the events in The Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams (great read and an excellent audio book by the way).

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Game Update 1.7 Return of the Gree

The Gree are coming, in Game Update 1.7 for Star Wars: The Old Republic.  The Return of the Gree is coming soon and will bring a recurring event to the game for level 50 players and introduce a reputation system to the game.  The recurring event is called Relics of the Gree and will allow the player to gain new weapons and armor.  The Galactic Reputation System will be earned for your legacy and that should significantly alleviate any grind associated with the introduction of a reputation system.

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What Does Fox News, SWTOR, and You have in common?

So, what do the fine folks over a Fox News have to say about the coming expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic?  Well, apparently it’s an expansion occurring on a gay planet for gay people.  Yep, you read that right folks … according to Fox News it’s an expansion devoted to a gay planet for gay people.  Fox focuses solely on the inclusion of same-gender romance arcs becoming available on Makeb and makes outrageous claims concerning the outrage of the player base.  The story fails to cover the expansion in any detail or the facts concerning same-gender romances. 

So, once again let’s clarify same-gender romances will be available on Makeb when the expansion launches this spring.  These CHOICES will not be available with companions in the game and are options for players to explore if they so desire.  The planet of Makeb is not “gay”, as if a whole planet could be “gay”, nor is it a “gay” expansion.  Fox decided to latch onto one small aspect of an expansion that would sensualize their base of readers and viewers. 

The universe of Star Wars is an inclusive universe and how can any rational, thinking adult believe that allowing same-gender romance arcs turns an entire planet or expansion gay?  Instead it’s just an option for those players uncomfortable, marginalized, or exclude with current romance options available in the game.  I applaud Bioware, EA, and the team at SWTOR for following through on their promise to include same-gender romance arcs into the story and for building an inclusive, accepting universe rather than an exclusive, judgmental, bigoted, and hateful universe.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: State of the Game #2

Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Star Wars: The Old Republic released his second State of the Game Developer Blog.  The posting covers four areas of interest to players:

1. End Game Content (aka Elder Content)
2. PvP
3. Copy to Public Test Server
4. Same Gender Romance

End Game Content remains a priority for the developers at SWTOR.  The plans for the coming year include The Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion, new operations and flashpoints, new PvP, and new difficulty modes.  The team is looking at ways to keep all play styles engaged and active at max level.

World PvP is difficult for the team at Bioware to implement.  New warzones and PvP seasons are instead the primary focus of the developers.  There will be some open world PvP in the coming year, but it will be limited to contested zones.  And truthfully, I have no problem with this form of implementation of PvP.  It opens PvP up to a much broader player base than those that play on PvP servers and desire the constant threat of ganking and being unable to complete objectives.

The long awaited and begged for ability to copy a live character to the Public Test Server (PTS) is coming!  This ability will be available in the early part of the year.  The most welcomed news out of this State of the Game blog is that character transfers are coming later this year.  Too late for many players but better late than never.  Personally it will be nice to be able to transfer over a couple of characters that are orphaned on a server we do not play.

Same gender romance has long been asked for and promised for SWTOR.  It is coming, limited fashion at first but it is coming.   Due to design implementation difficulties unforeseen by the development staff, it will not be implemented for companion characters.  However, with the release of The Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion this spring, there will be several same gender romance options available with NPC’s on Makeb.

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2012: The Bad, the Good, and the Oh Crap Games of the Year

2012 Holiday season is officially at a close for most of us now and so here are our The Bad, The Good, and the Oh Crap games of 2012.

 

The Bad:

2012 Biggest Disappointment: Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft was the biggest disappointment for us.  Yes the team over at Blizzard did a fabulous job on improving questing and story-telling in WOW and the expansion was much better received than Cataclysm.  However, after you get to level 90 on one character (at least when we stopped playing) you were faced with an incredibly long grind of reputation to gain access to the next tier of questing and rendered the playing of alts a daunting and crushing prospect.  I admit it, I fell for Ghostcrawler’s promise that the game was quest friendly and not solely focused on end-game.  I knew better but deep down, i wanted to believe. 

2012 Most Overhyped:  Easiest category of the them all, Guild Wars 2 was by far the most overhyped game of the year.  If you are going to build a game around the ideas cobbled together from other games, then the game had better be able to stand the test of time.  Less than six months post-release and the game is in a sorry state,  If you didn’t jump on the bandwagon in the beginning then do not pick up Guild Wars 2 as beginning leveling areas are most often devoid of other players thereby making it impossible to complete “dynamic” events.

2012 Worst Game of the Year: The Secret World wins this category because there are so few things Funcom handled well with the game and it, by far, has the worst and ugliest character creation system for any AAA game out there.  If you are going to have the balls to claim, play the way you want, then dammit Funcom why did you build and release a game where all the characters are forced by the game’s engine to be the physique?  The game had, and continues to have, so much potential in the questing system but the lousy combat, character creation, poor optimization make this the worst game of the year.

 

The Good:

2012 Biggest Surprise:  Biggest surprise of the year was Planetside 2.  Admittedly, it isn’t a game we play but it was something we both tried in beta.  If you like shooters than this is definitely the MMO for you.  You might be wondering why a game we don’t actively play won the category, quite simply I didn’t think Sony would be able to pull of the the revamp of the game and still meet the publishing deadline.  SOE proved me wrong and released a game that has been very well received by critics and players alike.

2012 Best Expansion: Riders of Rohan from Turbine for Lord of the Rings Online was easily the best expansion of the year and we don’t yet have characters that have reached Rohan.  However the overall gaming improvements the expansion brought to the old world of LOTRO is enough to win this contender filled category.  The fact that loot automatically loots itself into my bags is enough to blow the competition away.  Other gaming companies need to talk to Turbine about how they do this and implement it immediately. 

2012 Game of the Year: Star Wars: The Old Republic went through a lot of growth, changes, and revisions during the first full year of release.  However much the perceived lack of developer communication drove players from the game in the early month of 2012, or the griping of players who unreasonably expected an “end” game as robust as WOW’s, the team over a Bioware consistently delivered an improved game this year that maintained it’s story telling hear while making improvements to the health of the gaming community and the state of the game.  SWTOR is the game we consistently returned to throughout the year and the game stayed true to it’s story foundation despite pressures otherwise.

 

Oh Crap:

2012 Biggest Waste of Money: There would be quite a discussion for this title around here since we bought two AAA titles that we aren’t playing and an expansion we no longer play.  Both AAA titles, TSW and GW2 are now buy-to-play games but TSW will have to beat GW2 simply because we gambled on two lifetime subscriptions and lost.  The conversion from Funcom was poorly handled for lifetime subscribers and left a bad taste that ensures no more dollars spent on Funcom titles in the future.

2012 Made You Scratch Your Head and go HUH?: Two game expansions tie for this dubious honor, Riders of Rohan for LOTRO and Chains of Eternity for Everquest 2.  Their price points were, and continue to remain, insane for a purely digitally released product.  When you charge well in excess of $50 for a digital expansion, there better be plenty of goodies included along with  amazing gameplay and content.  Both games delivered on gameplay and content but goodies could have and should have been more for both titles.  The studios both appeared a little cash starved at their price points for the expansions.  Development costs can be recuperated through more sales at a lower price point than missed sales because of a ridiculous price point for a digital expansion.

2012  Best Tie Ins: SWTOR wins this easily.  The books that flush out the lore are simply amazing.  Earlier in the year I read, Fatal Alliance by Seam Williams and I was hooked. I’m currently finishing up the second book, Deceived by Paul S. Kemp and then will be devouring and savoring, Revan by Drew Karpyshyn.  The newly released forth book, Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn.  Why more gaming companies haven’t figured out the tie-in concept baffles me.

2013

2012 saw a shifting in our overall gaming patterns, stepping outside our respective comfort zones and trying new and different games.  i highly doubt it is a pattern that will be repeated this year.  I know I have my three core MMO’s I play, Everquest 2, LOTRO, and SWTOR and I don’t think anything will change that this year (admittedly The Elder Scrolls Online stands the best chance).  There will also be a return to more console gaming around here as we discovered in the last week or so, we missed too many titles in 2012. 

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: EXPANSION News

Star Wars: The Old Republic has announced details for the first expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel.  Release date is set for Spring 2013, level cap increase to 55, Planet Makeb, and will be fully voice acted.  SWTOR has left some details to be released between now and the expansion itself, a great way to keep people engaged. 

Rise of the Hutt Cartel is available for pre-order immediately, $9.99 for subscribers and $19.99 for non-subscribers.  If you pre-order by 7 January 2013 you are guaranteed five days early access to the expansion content.  As part of the news of the expansion, returning subscribers now have until January 7th to re-subscriber and receive their bonus Cartel Coins.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Game Update 1.6 – Ancient Hypergate -- Updated

Star Wars: The Old Republic is releasing a major PvP patch overnight, Game Update 1.6 Ancient Hypergate.  When game servers come back online 11 December 2012, there will be a new PvP battlefield and six new heroic space missions.

• New battlefield: Ancient Gree Hypergate – 8v8 battlefield
• Level 50 players will find six new heroic space missions, per faction
  • PTS reports are that these missions are extremely difficult even with the best gear possible outfitted on your ship
  • Successful mission completion awards Blackhole Commendations
• Battlemaster PvP gear is will no be longer attainable in game
• New PvP vendors will be added with Elite War Hero gear

When official patch notes are released, this posting will also be updated.

Updates from Patch Notes highlights:

• New Cartel Market Items, include:
• Blockade Runner Cartel Pack for 360 Cartel Coins
• Ship Upgrades to Grade 7 ranging from 350 – 550 Cartel Coins
• Life Day Items (LIMITED time) ranging from 60 –2400 Cartel Coins
• Fireworks in celebration of First Anniversary ranging from 50 – 300 Cartel Coins
• Grade 7 Artifact quality ship enhancements are available from Fleet and Mission Support vendors

 

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Player Feedback and You

With the completion of weekly maintenance, Preferred Players in Star Wars: The Old Republic will have an additional two quickbars by default.  For players that have previously purchased two quickbar upgrades, the Cartel Coins spent on those purchases will be refund.

Future changes are also coming for Preferred and Subscriber players.  Preferred players will have an additional two character spaces made available, bringing the total up to four.  Subscribers will see all restrictions lifted on the total number of characters they can create across all servers. 

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