Battle of New Patch vs. New Game–Who comes out on top?

So, Guild Wars 2 released yesterday and so did Patch 5.0.4 for World of Warcraft.  Which is more compelling right now?  Honestly, and shockingly, it WOW and here’s why.

Guild Wars 2 still hasn’t fixed problems that have existed from the beginning of head start on Saturday and now, new problems are rearing their heads.  There have been repeated attempts to steal log-in information from customers via phishing e-mails, the lag in game has become so bad that they are now asking for random -diag reports to be sent, the trading post is still down, and yet the cash shop was once again immediately repaired and functional.  Customer communication is still strictly via Twitter and forums remained closed. 

The game is playable for us and we both enjoy it.  Personally, I have trouble staying logged in and supporting the game when the only issue that seems to be addressed by ArenaNet is the functionality of the cash shop.  If this game had a monthly subscription fee, then there would be many more people upset.  The general view is that Guild Wars 2 can do no wrong, and even mentioning the problems the launch has had will get you roasted over a very hot bed of fire by angry fans. 

WOW had extended maintenance yesterday but once the server came up, the game was stable and fully functional.  Don’t get me wrong, the massive amount of crying and whining that occurred over the changes was hysterical.  The amount of people allegedly rage quitting yesterday afternoon was entertaining.  If they had bothered to even try out the new talent trees and consolidated specializations they would have been pleasantly surprised. 

All of my characters have had their talent points assigned and mostly new glyphs, but I’ve only had a chance to play my shaman.  Although, as you can see from the picture above, I really want to do try out the new Warlock pets!  My shaman is incredibly overpowered now.  She is capable of one-shotting things and at most it takes three spells to make things die.  Leveling to 80 should take another day or two at most, she gained four levels today alone with sporadic play time.  Hubby accepted a Scroll of Resurrection last night but I doubt he’s going to sub, which is fine.

To sum up, Patch 5.0.4 wins and Guild Wars 2 has had a bumpy launch to say the least.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars 2,GW2,ArenaNet,Blizzard,World of Warcraft,WOW,Patch 5.0.4

Funcom: Blames Others, Accepts no Responsibility

In financial documents released today, Funcom has reported the sales of The Secret World at above 200,000 but below expectations.  Thus, they have taken a $35 million loss on the game.  This time the report not only sites Metacritic reviews, but also the release of Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria. 

If it wasn’t so pathetic, I’d be laughing.  Yes, we all know that financial reports double as public relation documents and spin, but seriously blaming the competition for the quality of game released by your company is just sad and pathetic. 

Technorati Tags: Funcom,The Secret World,TSW,Guild Wars 2,World of Warcraft,GW2,WOW,Mists of Pandaria

World of Warcraft: Blog Azeroth Shared Topic of the Week

This week’s shared topic over at Blog Azeroth, is what is your head cannon?  Head cannon being defined as the backstory for various NPC’s in the Warcraft universe.  Unfortunately, the backstory that constantly plays in my head would invalidate the entire Warcraft universe as we know it today.  Not intentionally mind you, but happy endings seem to be my personal preference in life so it’s really no surprise to anyone who knows me.

What if the much younger Arthas and Jaina had managed to find their way into a peaceful and happy life.  One where Jaina was able to temper and prevent Arthas’ actions in Lordaeron and all the ensuing chaos.  Arthas and Jaina find their way to happiness and the results transform the world of Azeroth entirely.  The question then becomes what happens to the other central characters in the story?  What happens to Thrall and Aggra?  Do the Orcs give up and find a way back to Draenor? 

Varian remains the odd man out in the entire story.  He’s the character everyone seems to hate.  He is alone, confused, and angry.  He seems incapable of moving beyond his anger and yet, deep down you know he is nothing more than an angry, confused, lonely, and unloved little boy who is alone.  Everyone loves to hate him and yet, he is the loneliest character in Azeroth.  Even now, Arthas is gone, Thrall is an expectant father, and Jaina is in Theramore.  Somehow, I am secretly hoping that Jaina and Varian come together as more than just leaders and find solace and comfort with one another.  They’ve both been alone too long.

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Blog Azeroth

World of Warcraft: Patch 5.0.4 Incoming

Pictured above, a blast from the past, traveling in vanilla WOW.  Maintenance begins at 3AM PDT tomorrow 28 August 2012.  It is expected to last 8 hours, so about 11AM PDT the servers will be back up.  It wouldn’t be unheard of for the maintenance to take longer however.

Blizzard has posted an official Survival Guide for Patch 5.0.4.  Be prepared for broken add-ons, outrageous prices for crafting materials and crafted items, the usual whining and moaning about how this class is now broken and how that class is now so overpowered.  Remember, you will have a month to learn to play your classes again and to get comfortable with new mechanics. 

One important thing missing from the patch tomorrow, the pre-expansion event will NOT be taking place in Theramore starting tomorrow.  Blizzard has promised to provide plenty of notice prior to the event beginning.  So don’t expect major changes in the life of Jaina Proudmoore tomorrow, but the back story Tides of War by Christie Golden is currently available at a retailer near you.

So, am I looking forward to tomorrow’s patch?  I can honestly say that I am.  Mostly for little reasons, like no more paying to learn new skills and area looting, but I’m interested to experience all the changes the classes will undergo too.  Are you looking forward to tomorrow’s patch?

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Blizzard,Jaina Proudmoore,Christie Golden,Tides of War

Guild Wars 2: Growing Pains or Failure to Launch

It’s day three of the head start and there are some serious problems beginning to surface with Guild Wars 2.  So far, the game is playable for both of us but there are plenty of people who have yet to be able to login and play.  Here is the current list of issues:

• Login server instability
• Game purchases not going through
• Random disconnects
• Trading Post completely nonfunctional
• Guild services are inconsistent and frustrating

As frustrating as the above issues are, an even bigger one for me is that the game forums are not open and all communication between ArenaNet and it’s customers is via Twitter.  While we do have a twitter account, it isn’t something we obsessively check.  However, game forums are something most gamers check on a regular basis, they may not post but they check the forums to hear from developers.  There is no time frame for the official forums to open.  I know they are undoubtedly keeping the forums closed to keep out negative comments and posts, but the lack of clear communication located in one place is unacceptable. 

It doesn’t help that the cash shop is up and functional and that was something that was fixed immediately when there were issues with its functionality.  There are plenty of people who are willing to make excuses about the issues but the game officially launches in less than six hours and there are game breaking kinks which are going to adversely affect plenty of people.  Don’t get me wrong, once you get in the game it is playable, beautiful, and fun but when you begin to realize you are losing valuable guild experience or you can’t successfully utilize items from your pre-purchase the frustrations begin to grow.

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Guild Wars 2: Pictures and First Impressions

Asura Awesomeness VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

They remind hubby of hamsters, they remind me of guinea pigs, Asura are a lot of fun to play.  Can’t quite put my finger on why, maybe it’s the way they move or there single minded determinedness to be right, but I highly suspect it is their dance moves!  He has a Mesmer Asura and I have an Engineer and he had way more fun that I did last night.  Most likely because he didn’t spend as much time dying as I did.  I have a feeling I wasn’t in the mood to play Engineer last night.

Combat Action Shots VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Combat is still engaging, connected, and incredibly fun and fast paced.  The way skills are earned is very well done and leveling up all your professions possibly weapon choices is a great way to experiment to see what does and doesn’t work for your play style.  This may be why Engineer felt so limited to me last night, they only start off with two weapon choices, not counting off hand, which hubby assures me isn’t the case as you spend points so time will tell.  Underwater combat is so much fun!  Completely cool that you have separate weapon(s) and skills for underwater combat.  Future game designers should take note and be sure to include something similar.

The Ladies VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

As usual, there isn’t a male character in my party of five.  Hubby has a couple but no screenshots of those yet.  It’s a matter of personal preference for me.  Maybe this game I’ll break out of my all female character rut and try a male necromancer or thief character.  Time will tell how successful that transition will be!  Between us we have two mesmers, a warrior, a thief, a ranger, a guardian, two elementalists, and two engineers.  Seems that the only profession we are “missing” between us is necromancer.  All professions are enjoyable to play and I’m not sure if either of us has picked a “favorite” profession yet.

There have been a couple of bumps along the launch pad this weekend, login servers being finicky and the trading post being even more so.  But overall, it has been a very smooth and drama free head start launch of the game.  We will see how the conditions hold up when the game releases officially on Tuesday.  There are a couple of areas which need improvement: No trade transactions between players face-to-face and you cannot mail stuff to yourself (minor, minor annoyance).  It is rather weird to not have a quest log, feels like there is something missing. The areas they have gotten incredibly right”

• Your account is in a guild, not your character
• Your friends list and by extension your ignore list, is by account and not character!
• “collectibles”, which is usually crafting materials can be sent to shared bank space from your inventory without visiting a bank
• Crafting, while raw material intensive, the system is immersive and discovering new recipes is brilliant
• Underwater combat
• Personalized stories that change as you interact with the world around you, so for once your actions really do impact the story you experience
• Armor dyes: yes I know it’s a carry over from Guild Wars but it is truly one of those aspects which is game defining.

So overall, we are both vastly entertained and enjoying our game time in Tyria.  Neither of us is rushing to the “end game” or max level, to be honest neither of us has a character that has reached level 10 yet.  The community has been great and chat hasn’t made either of us want to turn it off or bang our head against a wall.  Based on first day of play on various professions, combined we would rate the game a solid 8 out of 10.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars 2,GW2,Guild Wars,ArenaNet,NCSoft

Guild Wars 2: Head start has begun!

Last night the madness began officially, Guild Wars 2 exited beta status.  Head start began a couple of hours early on Friday night and we logged in about 9":30 or so.  Several servers were already full and several more at heavy status.  Hubby picked Anvil Rock as our home world and off we went for character creation.

The game is currently having login issues and server connectivity issues so I cannot include the photo collage of the new characters but I will in a later post.  In general I’m happy with my character names.  I only reused one from Guild Wars but it wasn’t from a currently existing character.  The rest of the names are all unique to this game, even if they were inspired from other characters in other games.  However, I’m bummed that my name of choice is disallowed in so many games.  Pippa is apparently a bad word somewhere.

I did not play much last night.  I’m much slower at character creation than hubby, which holds true for every game.  He got a decent amount of play time last night.  I imagine once the servers come back up we will fire up the game and enjoy ourselves immensely.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars 2,Guild Wars

Rift: On Why it Didn’t Crush WOW

A couple of weeks ago I pondered why Rift didn’t crush WOW.  I think I have an answer to my own question finally.  Rift has many, many great qualities I adore in a video game but there are two things that drive me batty when I log on at odd hours. 

The first is feeling like I’m the only person currently logged into the game.  This has happened to me more than once when a bout of insomnia hits.  I log on and even though I’m in one of the capital cities, there have literally been no other players around.  It’s weird. 

The second thing, and I think for me this one is a much larger thorn in my side, is questing constantly interrupted by rifts.  I understand they are vital to the lore and such, but honestly there are times I just want to quest and soak up the lore without being attacked by planar monsters.  Yeah I know, questing isn’t what the cool kids do but thank god I’ve never been one of the cool kids!

Don’t get me wrong, I will continue to play Rift.  I’ve just decided to level my characters exclusively via PvP or instant adventures.  Clairee, pictured above, is just shy of level 39.  I’m enjoying the game very much still, I just wish it didn’t feel so empty sometimes.

 

Technorati Tags: Rift,World of Warcraft,WOW,PVP,Instant Adventure

The Elder Scrolls Online: Lore Introduction

This morning, Bethesda released the lore behind The Elder Scrolls Online. The official page is located here and the first two paragraphs definitely set the tone:

Strange things are happening all over Tamriel. The dead stir in their graves; zombies and darker creatures congregate more and more frequently in every corner of the land. Winters grow colder and crops fail. Mystics are plagued by nightmares and portents of doom.

These events began with the Soulburst, in 2E 579, four years before present. An arcane explosion in the Imperial City set off aftershocks in every corner of Nirn. Mages died or went mad. Disasters and freakish weather lashed every province of Tamriel. Red Mountain flared and trembled in Morrowind, earthquakes shook Skyrim, and massive storms devastated the coastlines of Elsweyr and Valenwood. The constellation of the Serpent reappeared in the skies and grew so large that it seemed to threaten every star sign at once.

…

The three alliances/factions are given their backstory as well.  The path to inter-alliance war is clear set from the lore.  The great races of Tamriel have all clearly chosen a side and are pitted against one another.  Daedric Prince Molag-Bal has reared his head but somehow, somewhere you just know Daedric Prince Sheogorath is madly giggling away trying to scheme his way into the action.

 

Technorati Tags: Bethseda,The Elder Scrolls Online,TSEO,Sheogorath,Molag-Bal

“He Stole My Cookies” Syndrome

The internet is a wonderful and terrible thing all rolled into one.  The wonderful bits allow us to connect with others all over the world about things of interest to us.  Unfortunately, the terrible bit often outweighs the wonderful bit.  The internet has essentially removed all human interaction and sense of responsibility from our actions online. thus making is much, much easier to engage in behavior most people would never dream of in real life.

MMO’s are a prime example of the “He Stole MY Cookies” syndrome.  We’ve all experienced it, someone rolls need on a piece of gear that they either can’t use at all or is inappropriate for their class.  We have labeled the “needer” a ninja, but we have utterly ignored the person who then proceeds to produce group drama over the roll he “lost”  Said “loser” now begins to essentially bitch and moan to everyone that so-and-so did this to him and he just isn’t fair.  It isn’t hard to imagine a three-year-old tugging at their mother’s skirt, pointing, and screaming “HE stole MY Cookies” loudly and repeatedly when this happens.  Does it suck, yep it does.  Will new, and better, gear come quite easily?  Yep.

All games are subject to the “He Stole My Cookies” syndrome, it just seems to happen more frequently in World of Warcraft.  That may have to do with the much larger player base or the accepted community standard for dealing with “ninjas” is whining, but the problem is not exclusive to WOW.  Star Wars (SWTOR) has it share of community drama over need rolls for companion gear, and I’m quite sure the same thing will hit Guild Wars 2 in the coming weeks.

Is there a solution for the syndrome?  Unfortunately, I don’t have one.  I generally refuse to vote kick the “ninja” when the “loser” initiates the vote.  I try to remind the group that the ninja may not know better or may be a younger adult and it just isn’t worth it to cyber-bully.  Put the offender on ignore, move on, and forget about the roll that you lost.  Admittedly. rarely is my advice taken but if it helps minimize group drama then it was advice worth dispensing.

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Star Wars: The Old Republic,SWTOR,Guild Wars 2

World of Warcraft: Worgens are so …

ANNOYING!  No seriously, I mean it.  Above is my Worgen Druid, obviously in human form, in her early 20s at this point.  She is by far the single most annoying character I’ve ever made - the sniffing, the constant never ending sniffing.  Yes, even with the add-on which eliminates the sniffing you know she still does it.  And then there is the voice, reminds me of a chain smoker trying to sound sexy and failing miserably. 

When Cataclysm released, I wanted a Worgen druid (god only knows why at this point) and since I don’t mind leveling I killed off my level 80-something druid and recreated her.  That’s right, I killed off a high level druid with equally high-level leatherworking to make a sniffing, chain smoking werewolf.  I don’t even like werewolves, and yet somehow I created this:

So ever since I reactivated my account this week, I’ve been secretly thinking about asking for a character restoration.  I kept telling myself that it would be a mistake since I couldn’t get her back in the guild.  Without access to the guild bank, it will make life more complicated.  I even played with the sound off for most of the day but every time I saw her head move I just KNEW she was sniffing something.  End result, I spent the day grinding my teeth which is just plain stupid.

I sucked it up today after a group through Scarlet Monastery this afternoon.  I put in a request with customer service to see if my old character could be restored.  I’m not holding out a lot of hope.  She was deleted long ago but it never hurts to ask right?  I commend all of you who are capable of playing a Worgen and not drinking yourself blind drunk every time.

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Worgen

Funcom’s Investor Update

It’s been several days since Funcom released it’s Investor Update following the launch of The Secret World.  I’ve left the financial analysis up to people who are much better versed in the subject than I.  Here is the best of all those reports that I’ve read.  Basically, Funcom blamed the Metacritic score for the poor financial performance of the stock. 

The truth from a gamer perspective is much different.  As discussed previously here and here, Funcom failed to listen to the community regarding character creation and combat.  The quests and atmosphere are good but when that’s the best thing you can say about a game there are serious problems.

Where they went wrong":

• ALL characters are exactly the same height and weight
• ALL characters look ridiculous, the lack of options is a list that deserves it’s own article but I don’t want to waste my time
• Jerky animations
• Disconnected feel of combat
• NPC’s that don’t react when hit
• Run animation
• Armor/Clothing that is painted on characters and thus there is no movement at all for clothes
• BUGGY companion pets

I could go on, but why bother?

Funcom, and Funcom alone, is responsible for the low rating on Metacritc.  They were warned repeatedly of the problems and issues in both closed and open beta.  They repeatedly said, “Don’t worry it will be fixed at launch.”  Unfortunately for the employees at Funcom, they can’t get past their reputation as Failcom and they have no one to blame but themselves.  The game will be free to play in the next 60 days I’m sure.  They need people to spend cash in the cash shop the game launched with to have any hope of staying afloat. 

Technorati Tags: Funcom,The Secret World,TSW

World of Warcraft: How Has WOW Changed My Life?

Thanks to WOW Insider for leading me to this blog posting and the friendly folks over at Blog Azeroth.  WOW changed my life quite dramatically, I went from a non-gamer to a gamer on my own terms.

The Beginning

We meet, fell in love, and got married rather late in life, late 30’s.  I wasn’t a gamer by any definition.  I played Pac Man way back when but that’s pretty much it.  I, however, married a gamer.  In fact, shortly after we got married (less than a month to be precise), WOW was released.  I didn’t understand what he was doing in the basement for hours on end and I certainly couldn’t understand why those people and a “raid” was more important than me, the new wife.  I slowly gave up trying to understand and gave up trying to pry him away from the computer.

The Middle

Four years later, we’ve moved to Arizona and I’ve retired.  My brilliant hubby decides to buy me a copy of Guild Wars with my new laptop.  I was bored with Oblivion after hundreds of hours spent in Tamriel.  I had no clue what I was doing in Guild Wars and he hated it but I stuck with it for a couple of months.  And then on the sly on night when I couldn’t sleep, I downloaded the trial of WOW.  I created a Gnome Mage and I died A LOT.  Seriously, I sucked horribly.  I remember getting a recipe for Beer Basted Boar Ribs and thought it was super important. 

Didn’t take hubby long to catch on that I had stayed up all night playing WOW.  The next day I had my very own copy, he reactivated his subscription, and Refer-A-Friend active and thus began my adventures in Azeroth with hubby.  I rolled a Night Elf Hunter named Penelopa.  Looking back, I don’t know how we didn’t spend more time corpse running.  I had no clue about threat, shinnies were uber attractive, and I was terrified of PvP and dungeons. 

Today

We both play other games.  WOW is in my rotation frequently.  In fact, I just reactivated my subscription this week.  About a week and a half ago I saw a picture of the new druid travel form and it peaked my interest.  A little poking here, a little dabbling there and wouldn’t you know it I’ve got the WOW bug again.

My game play has improved dramatically since 2008.  I know what I’m comfortable playing and I know when I need a WOW break.  I may not love our server, but it is the server hubby has played on since 2004.  He hasn’t re-subscribed this time and I’m fine with that.  He’s happy when I’m happy and right now, playing WOW makes me happy.  I’m leveling my “baby” toons and looking forward to the release of Patch 5.0.4.

So, WOW changed my life, and hubby’s by extension, when it turned me into a gamer.  I play other MMO’s but WOW was my first true MMO and thus has a special place in the memory bank.

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Blizzard,Oblivion,Guild Wars 2

World Of Warcraft: All Races Playable in Patch 5.0.4

Just announced, with Patch 5.0.4 all races, regardless of what expansion you own or don’t own, will be playable.  Pandarians will be available upon release of the expansion on September 25, 2012. 

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,WOW,Blizzard

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Opening Cinematic

Here ya go folks … enjoy!

Technorati Tags: WOW,World of Warcraft,Blizzard,Mists of Pandaria

TSW: Issue 2 Digging Depper

Funcom’s, The Secret World, has released Issue 2L Digging Deeper which is the August 2012 update to the game.  This update includes:

• a new weapon with skills and abilities: it’s a rocket launcher
• the introduction of plastic surgery and barber shop
• nightmare mode dungeons

Sad thing is, I like the artwork more than I am even remotely excited for the game. 

Technorati Tags: Funcom,The Secret World,TSW

Rift: Patch 1.10 Announcement

Rift announced (here and here) this morning the changes that will be forthcoming in the last pre-expansion patch:

• Open world groups/public groups
• Cross Faction Trade
• Looking for Dungeon Tool
• Entering a Dungeon/Raid
• Instant Adventure
• Weddings
• Chat (channels & tells including cross shard)
• Quest sharing
• Guilds
• Mail
• Friends List & Ignore
• Chronicles
• PvP stat normalization
• Group Queuing for Conquest/Warfronts

There will be some restrictions placed on PvP shards when the above changes go live.  The changes are very similar to Everquest2 which in it’s own right, is a highly successful game with a very loyal following.  However, this can also be seen as an attempt to consolidate factions because of low player population numbers.

Technorati Tags: Rift,Trion,Everquet2,Sony Online Entertainment,SOE

WOW: Pre-Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4

Just announced this morning, the last patch prior to the release of the Mists of Pandaria will go live on 28 August 2012.  The expansion released on 25 September 2012.   Patch 5.0.4 notes can be found here.

Takralus

Please be aware that with the release of the pre-expansion 5.0.4 patch on Wednesday, August 29 [August 28 for the US], all raid lockouts will be reset. This means that you will not be able to extend a raid lockout beyond the week before the patch release.

source

Technorati Tags: WOW,World of Warcraft,Blizzard,Mists of Pandaria

WOW: History of Pandaria

As we know, WOW isn’t a game we regularly play anymore but that doesn’t mean we ignore it completely either.  This video found over at WOW Insider is a very helpful primer on the history of Pandaria.

The expansion releases in a little over a month on September 25th and the pre-expansion patch is ready for background download now.  Admittedly there are a couple of things that have me interested, new druid travel form springs to mind immediately, but I can see shelling out $40 bucks for an expansion based on how horrible the last expansion experience was.  I haven’t seen anywhere near enough new things that interest us to justify the cost of the expansion and another month of game time.  Do I think it’s likely we will play it at some point?  Most likely yes, but HIGHLY unlikely it will be on release day.

Technorati Tags: WOW,world of Warcraft,Mists of Pandaria,Blizzard

Rift: Coming Soon the Storm Legion Battlemage Soul

Video begins at 12:30

Yesterday the mage development team of Rift partnered with mmorpg.com to reveal the new soul for the mage in the upcoming Storm Legion expansion.  The new soul is called Harbinger and is a melee dps soul.  There is development gameplay footage contained in the video as well as various answers on other mage soul callings.  Harbingers will still wear cloth and utilize staves, but magically those staves are transformed into a choice of three two-handed weapons depending on the role you are fulfilling.  The gameplay almost exclusively shows that scythe in combat but the claymore was also shown.  There will be a two-hand axe as well but the artwork for that weapon is not ready for reveal.

No other amazing surprises come from the video.  The next soul will be revealed in about a month and no hint at which soul that would be unfortunately.

Technorati Tags: Rift,Storm Legion,Harbinger,mmorpg.com

Guild Wars 2: Signature Generator

Looking forward to the release of Guild Wars 2 this month?  Get ready with the just released Guild Wars 2 signature generator.  Customize your signature with a variety of graphics, mottos, and backgrounds.    Who knows what other small tidbits the team at ArenaNet has waiting?

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars 2,ArenaNet,GW2

LOTRO: Riders of Rohan Developer Blogs

Leading up to the release of the Riders of Rohan expansion next month, September 5, 2012, the developers have released several blogs detailing upcoming changes to the game.

• Guardian Blog
• Champion Blog
• Captain Blog
• Burglar Blog

And finally, this just released the developer diary on customizable war steeds!

Customize your appearance and skills

Technorati Tags: LOTRO,Lord of the Rings Online,Turbine,Riders of Rohan

Vanguard: Freemium Launches Early

In a surprise move, Sony Online released Vanguard as a Free-to-Play one week earlier than expected.  As with other SOE games, there is a subscription models which unlocks all the items which are locked on free accounts but can be purchased with station cash.  We haven’t played Vanguard in the past but might give it a try if we burn out on one of the other games.

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Tera: Free 7 Day Trial made me want to punch things

We played the Tera beta prior to release and hated it, in fact within ten minutes of landing on that starter island mess we logged out and deleted the game from our hard drives.  This week we both received e-mails offering us a 7 day trial and a trial code.  I will say that the trial code they sent both of us in e-mail was invalid, as was the link, and was for Europe and not North America.  I decided to see if we were too hasty perhaps.  Short and quick answer in NO!

Character creation isn’t bad, which is the highlight of the whole experience for me.  You land on newbie island level 20, you do some stuff I couldn’t be bothered to read or absorb because it was BORING.  And then suddenly you land in a new zone as a level 1.  HUH WHAT?  By now you’ve come to realize that the controls and user interface is so clunky and aggravating that it makes you want to punch someone.  Combat isn’t fast paced or fun, rather it is disconnected and at no point did my character feel threatened or vulnerable. 

Really?  You can only sell 8 items, that’s right 8 items!, at a time to a merchant.  See that horrible middle bar cluttering the bottom center of my screen, it comes up EVERY time you interact with a NPC and in order to resume your adventure you have to clear that interface from the screen.  Want to know what those buffs are you just got from gathering are?  I’m sorry you can’t mouse over them without bringing up that center bar first.  If you are like me and prefer to move with a mouse then Tera will make you cry tears of frustration.  I was able to keybind movement to the mouse but it was not easy to figure out.  Camera angles are wonky, NPCs randomly zoom in and out when you first speak to them, and there is no story at all.

Yeah, I know it “all” changes when you get to this zone or whatever it’s defenders might try and claim.  But the reality is that in today’s saturated gaming market, Tera cannot compete with other subscription games and is hands down far worse than many free to play games.  There is no originality at all in Tera.  It looks like a rip-off of Guild Wars and Lineage from NCSoft.  It has far less polish than it’s development cycle would have suggested it would have.  And their cash shop is EXPENSIVE in comparison with the competition.

I won’t be upgrading my trial to a subscription.  I certainly won’t be laying out money for the digital copy of the game.  I can safely say that when Tera transitions over to free to play, and I have no doubt that will happen sooner rather than later, we won’t be tempted.

Technorati Tags: Tera,NCSoft,Guild Wars 2,Lineage 3

Rift PvP

I decided to dip my toes into the PvP pool this morning while playing Rift.  I was hoping to find another Alterac Valley style game, I didn’t, but what I did find was great fun.  I decided to bring my level 14 Necro/Warlock and much to my amazement she did amazingly well in PvP.  There are two maps available between level 10-19, Library of the Runemasters and Black Garden.  I died far less often than I thought I might and ended up with a respectable 130 plus kills in the couple of matches I played.  The leveling rate is slower but I don’t mind that.  I had a heck of a lot of fun and will be going back to explore much more of the PvP Rift offers.

Technorati Tags: Rift,Trion,Alterac Valley

Rift: Defiant at Last

We have switched factions to Defiant and are pleased.  I am puzzled about something and haven’t quite figured out the answer for myself yet, why didn’t Rift crush WOW?  There are enough similarities that WOW players would feel comfortable instantly, the gameplay is dynamic, there are more than enough ways to level without traditional questing, and there is the proverbial “endgame”.  I haven’t figured out the answer to the question yet.

My highest character so far is level 20 and I’m having a blast.  Now we all know I love questing, well written quests keep me subscribed to a game for years.  However in Rift, it isn’t the quests (don’t get me wrong they are there and okay) it’s the dynamic alternative methods of leveling I’m loving. 

Instant Adventures are truly a brilliant concept and why more developers haven’t latched onto this idea baffles me.  The ability to “quest” with a random group of strangers, auto-mentored to adjust your level to the group, level appropriate rewards, and still have time to gather materials is so well done.  Instant Adventure is the way my cleric and mage characters will be leveling early on. 

Rifts are also another fantastic way to level, and level quickly.  After yesterday’s emergency hotfix, Freemarch erupted into a zone wide, huge rift and my ranger quickly went from level 13 to level 17.  it was a blast running around in a raid group and contributing to kills which otherwise would have killed me in one shot.  This is what I always thought raiding would be like if I’m honest.  Fast paced, dynamic, spontaneous, and free form, not the country and western line dance that “end game” raids are designed to be. 

My huge recommendation for new players, get a mount as early as possible.  It will make life much, much easier while participating in rift events and instant adventures. 

Technorati Tags: Rift,Trion,World of Warcraft,WOW,Blizzard

The Secret World: Unleashed

As promised, Funcom released the first monthly update to The Secret World, entitled Unleashed.  Patch notes can be found here, and brief highlights include:

• Chat bugs resolved
• Implementation of the marketplace
• Characters can no longer be made nude
• Two new nightmare mode instances

We haven’t logged in to test out the patch.  I will admit that right now, neither of us is all that interested or excited about clunky combat despite how good the story might be.  Doesn’t mean we are never logging back in, but for the foreseeable future we are content elsewhere.

Technorati Tags: The Secret World,TSW,Funcom