This just in from the SOE Convention in Las Vegas, the official launch date for Planetside 2 is November 20, 2012. The buzz around the game is growing. Particularly since it appears you don’t have to be a twitch first-person shooter player to be successful and have fun in Planetside 2.
Turbine released the latest expansion to the Lord of the Rings Online, Riders of Rohan. The screenshots and Twitter shots I’ve seen are simply gorgeous.
You are probably wondering what Turbine has released with the expansion, so here are a couple of highlights:
Increased bag space
Mounted combat
Warsteeds (which are customizable)
Three new books have been added to the Epic Story
Class changes for every class
Crafting Improvements
Player versus Monsters has been reinvented
I know I will be looking at the wonderful and beautiful cosmetic outfits from wonderful bloggers over at Cosmetic LOTRO and Starry Mantle, and drooling. I am considering pulling one of my characters and once again trying to level, if for no other reason than the environment and cosmetic outfits.
I reached Level 90, in World of Warcraft, today on my Shadow Priest this afternoon, although the above picture was taken several days ago. I didn’t run a single instance, didn’t finish all the zones, and reached level cap with a gear score high enough to run heroic instance should I desire. I’ve had a blast. The quest lines are fabulous, the faction are relevant and the artwork is phenomenal. My favorite thing so far, although it’s hard to pick just one, is that the armor isn’t drab and has color and vibrant details.
There are a couple of quests I’ve run into that are a little buggy, but there are well documented solutions available when that happens luckily. I’ve only looked up two quests so far and only after being stuck for a while. I thought I would despise farming but I don’t. My faction with the Tillers is negligible at the moment but I enjoy farming. It’s different than farming in Lord of the Rings Online, which is also supremely enjoyable and much more productive than five witchberries a harvest. It will be a pleasant diversion when I log-in.
One truly unique thing about Mists that is beginning to be talked about, is quite simply that people live and work in Pandaria. NPC’s don’t just stand around, hand out quests and rewards, die when attacked but rather you see their homes, relationships, their intense affection for beer, and their devastation when loved ones die. Who can forget the quest line in Kun-Lai Summit which asked you to gather materials to lay the dead to rest or the quest line which refused to allow the bodies of the enemy to be decimated by the wildlife? Little touches like that, make the environment come alive and make the stories more touching and emotional. I’ll admit it, more than once I’ve needed a box of tissues.
Best thing so far unrelated to storyline and artwork? I hit maximum level on Enchanting by level 88. It wasn’t a grind, I didn’t have to spend money on components, and rare components are achievable without a raid this expansion. Can’t tell you how pleased I am about that. Motes of Harmony and Spirit of Harmony may take time to acquire but the aren’t so unusual as to make you want to pull your hair out. Although I would love it if they made Motes and Spirit bind on account instead of bind on pick-up but I can live with that since I have no choice.
Biggest annoyance … quite simply I’m out of bag space! No seriously, I am out of bag space. I vendor every time I see a merchant and still my bags are packed. Between cloth, bolts, food ingredients, raw materials, cooked food, and stuff I can’t live without (like hearthstone, enchanting rod, and Jeweled Fishing Pole). Of course, doesn’t help that I stop and fish every pool I come across. Does anyone think there are insufficient Jade Lungfish pools in Pandaria? Besides much larger inventory bags, please Blizzard make fish stack in quantities of 100 and not 20!
The question now becomes who do I level next? It might be my Monk but I’m suspecting it will be my rogue. I can’t believe I just wrote that since I never thought I’d want to play a rogue. However, she has herbing and mining and thus has the potential to keep everyone but my leatherworker supplied with necessary raw components. However, I’m going to play who I want so I keep the game fun and not a grind.
At some point we’ve all thrown our hands up and stormed away from the computer in complete and utter frustration because of something another player did that we took personally. Question is, how do you handle the behavior of others and your own behavior in game?
My darling husband and I are polar opposites about game etiquette. He tends to take the behavior of other players extremely personally. I tend to let things roll off my back. I’ve tried to come up with an explanation for why this might be and I think it boils down to the simple fact he has far more life stress than I do and thus the little things crawl under his skin and irritate him much faster.
Don’t get me wrong, there are certain behaviors I find deplorable in video games, but when that happens I usually can resolve that issue by simply turning off the offending chat channel and going back to doing my own thing. Hubby doesn’t seem to be able to find an in-game solution and usually logs off in a grumpy mood. When this happens, I know he won’t be playing said game for a couple of weeks.
Do you consider your gaming time working or play time? Question, no grumbling, comes up here quite often to be honest. I think it comes from an ability to let reality slide into the background for a while, versus taking everything as a life and death situation. Once again, we are on opposite sides of the coin on this question. I let reality slide, take things at my own pace, and don’t sweat the small stuff. He, on the other hand, becomes so focused on the end goal that he forgets to stop, slow down, and remember it’s just a game.
The small stuff drives him absolutely batty, truth be told. Take the small stuff, combine with behavior he deplores, and you have an epic meltdown worthy of a preschooler who lost his ball. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why he gets so annoyed but he works himself up so much that is scary and funny at the same time. When it happens to me, I log off, do something else, and go back on a different day knowing the situation will have resolved itself. He seems incapable, it’s all or nothing. I’m worried about him. Gaming is supposed to be relaxing, it’s not supposed to be stressful and a second job. When games become more stressful than relaxing, it’s time to take a break and find something else to do for a bit.
So honey, when you read this tomorrow don’t worry playing what I’m playing; play what let’s you relax. I’d much rather you were relaxed and healthy than miserable and working at a hobby.
MechWarrior Online has announced the first day of Open Beta and the last day you can purchase a Founder’s Pack. Open Beta begins October 16, 2012 and your last chance to purchase a Founder’s Package is midnight October 14, 2012. This means that despite the numerous concerns closed beta users have brought up (limited maps and no tutorials for starters), Piranha Games is going to open the game to the masses. The claim is that closed beta testing will offer no further benefits to the game or the developers. It will be interesting to watch how the game develops when anyone and everyone can play and comment on their experiences.
This morning a hacker attacked WOW on multiple realms and killed everyone in Stormwind and Ogrimmar. These unfortunately souls were killed going about their business in their capital cities, and if they ran back to their corpse they were treated to a second round of death.
So I guess I’m glad we are stuck at the log-in waiting to connect after reboots this morning.
Yesterday, Rift introduced the third new soul, Tactician a rogue soul, prior to the release of the first expansion Storm Legion. Tactician is an offensive and healing soul, dealing elemental damage from a distance but forced to rely on secondary souls to maximum their offensive damage. Most exciting of all is the ability to utilize a flamethrower as a weapon! Which means damage if in a frontal cone in front of the rogue and thus situational awareness is of vital importance.
As promised, here are our two perspectives on gameplay for MechWarrior Online.
Up first, hubby’s perspective of gameplay, as interpreted by me who hears him hooting and hollering behind me. He loves the gameplay. The game is true to previous installments of Battletech lore and does not try to reinvent the wheel. Matches are short, he reigns death from a distance (or as it’s known around here, Fed Ex’ing his damage), builds are easy to tweak and change out, and matches are usually quick to come up. Right now, his biggest gripe has been the economy of the game, but this appears to have been fixed in recent weeks.
My perspective is pretty close to the exact opposite. I enjoy the quick, easy matches but unfortunately, that enjoyment is squashed by the problems I have with the game. If you are new to Battletech games and have no concept about the lore this is not the game for you. There isn’t even so much as an introductory video about mechs. If you, like me, find keyboard movement cumbersome and irritating then do not play this game. Yes it would get better with more games played but I just don’t care enough to inflict my keyboard issues on the other members on my team. (Plus I hate being an easy kill! LOL)
The game is still in closed beta. There are still many ways the game can be improved to allow people unfamiliar with the genre to have a fighting chance to understand the game. Biggest single improvement would be tutorials new players could access to help understand tactics, build options, maneuverability, and what the purpose of each type of differing mech serves. The game is truly not user friendly to their target audience, the casual gamer with excess funds. A free-to-play game needs to be understandable quickly and easily to players with limited time to game, the competition is simply too stiff.
This morning the Non-Disclosure Agreement has been lifted for MechWarrior Online. We were both in the closed beta, although hubby plays far more frequently than I. Pictures and impressions to follow later today, but as a teaser, if you love blowing your opponents up in an all PVP game than look no further than MWO.
This morning, Blizzard released the first week sales for Mists of Pandaria, which did not include the sales for the October 2nd release in China. In the first week of release, the game sold 2.7 million physical and digital copies of the game. Subscription numbers are over 10 million once again as well. It has been a very, very good first week in deed for the entire team at Blizzard.
This just in from community manager Crithto:
Coming in a future patch, earning reputation is going to become much more fluid. Basically, once one of your characters has reached at least Revered reputation with a faction, all other characters on the same Battle.net account will then earn reputation with the same faction at twice the rate. Going one step further, and as an added bonus, your main character who reached Revered will also begin to earn double the reputation as he or she climbs to Exalted.
The upcoming changes, at an as yet undetermined date, mean it will be easy to earn reputation on your main and your stable of alts. This is most definitely a blessing.
Yesterday, Star Wars: The Old Republic released the first in a continuing series of, developer’s blog covering companions. The first companion covered is Kaliyo Djannis. She is the first companion Imperial Agent’s recruit on the planet Hutta. I haven’t read the blog piece yet, but I will once SWTOR goes free to play later this year. The developer blogs contain spoilers regarding the story for the main character, so read with caution.
What is up with World of Warcraft players? Ever since I began playing, shortly after the release of Wrath, all I’ve heard is how wonderful vanilla WOW was because players had to work to get equipment and how that was SOOOOOOOO much better than anything post-vanilla. When Mists released, less than two weeks ago, there was a requirement that Justice gear required high level faction to be earned. And so players, whined and moaned loudly about having to gain reputation in Mists of Pandaria and tonight Blizzard officially caved.
Seriously, this is the first disappointment of the expansion for me. I was hoping that they would stick to the model and keep the requirement the reputation gains were required to spend Justice Points for gear. Now, the Wrath and Cataclysm models of sitting in town running dungeons repeatedly instead of getting out in the world is officially back in vogue. I won’t be doing it, but there will be a small (the vocal, whiny) percentage of the player base that will do nothing but that until the next expansion is released. So, thanks to all of you who complained. I never want to hear another word about how vanilla was better because you “earned” your gear because quite clearly you’ve lost the right to fondly remember those days with your inability to earn your gear in Mists of Pandaria.
When Blizzard announced the Mists of Pandaria expansion a couple of years ago, I was less than enthused about the concept, the included extras, and Pandas. The announcement left me deflated and was very doubtful about the direction Blizzard was taking the game. Thus began my game hopping saga and I dragged hubby through multiple games trying to find that one game that could recreate the WOW experience when I first started playing the game. No one game had everything I was looking for unfortunately.
Lords of the Ring Online and Everquest II both had the stories and questing I enjoy, but while LOTRO has unique PVP, EQ2 starts PVP too late for a character (level 30 is entry PVP). Star Wars: The Old Republic is a terrific game but game was released a little too soon and penalized players after the fact. (Requiring both factions to obtain HK51 on the same server when their own analysis would have told them that most players had one faction per server, for example.) Rift has great quality PVP but the while the story is there, it is constantly interrupted by rifts and events. The Secret World had the chance to have great stories and PVP but the game has so many issues that it was unplayable for me. Guild Wars 2 failed to live up to any of the hype: there was no story, never tried PVP because I just didn’t care enough to try, and there was nothing original to the game. The other games I tried just couldn’t hold my interest very long.
WOW somehow has all the right mojo rolled into one game. Yes, there are massive balancing issues between classes sometimes and I firmly believe that the development team listens to the squeaky wheel too much and makes changes based on the loudest whiners. But despite it’s many flaws, it still manages to have great PVP, good quests, and interesting characters populating the world. Then they announce Mists and it seemed like they not only missed the boat, they failed to even have a clue what their player base was after. Farms? Pet Battles? Panda Bears? I had been unsubscribed for 99% of the beta and wasn’t keeping up with the latest beta changes or upcoming changes but that druid travel form peaked by interest. I came back about a month before the expansion released and Patch 5.0 blew me away. I had a strong glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe they hadn’t destroyed their careful crafted universe.
Then the Theramore scenario released and I was plain and simple pissed off. There was no story, it was stupid simple, and it did not require three people to complete. I couldn’t care about the loot and the fact that the one character I ran it on, one time only mind you, received fireworks to celebrate the destruction of Theramore was too much to take. Why on earth would an Alliance character celebrate mass murder and destruction by the Horde? Twitter and bloggers assured me repeatedly that the scenario was NOT representative of what they had experienced on beta. I took them at their word and I am so incredibly pleased that I did.
Mists has not only revitalized WOW, it has raised the bar for the competition. The new continent is amazing. The quests, the stories, and the non-player characters are interesting and entertaining. My highest level character is 87 so far and I’m in no rush to get to 90. I’ve gotten my farm, I’m leveling crafting, I’m fishing, I’m questing, and I’m looking forward to the lack of grinding instances to gain reputation once I hit 90. I made a new character, she’s a Pandaren monk and a blast to play. The new Scarlet Halls and Monastery are so much fun and such a blast. I’m questing with my Monk through the old world and it is truly enjoyable. The revamp the old world received in Cataclysm was extremely well done and under-appreciated.
Admittedly, the developers took ideas from other videos games and have incorporated them into WOW (farming and pet battles for instances). However, they’ve managed to put their own unique spin on borrowed items and made their incorporation feel natural and like it’s always been there. I particularly love how farming and cooking now tie-in together, although no a requirement for either. The two things I was most skeptical about I have to admit are unqualified successes. The one thing WOW has borrowed from other games and I don’t think is super successful is appearance armor. Transmogrification has gotten me to go do instances I hadn’t done before admittedly, but the process is clunky and time consuming. I think they would have served their player base much better by incorporating an appearance tab like EQ2 and LOTRO for example.
So, what makes a great video game? The short and sweet answer is a lot of luck and hard work. The real answer is much more complicated. It takes people who truly love the lore, corporations that give designers and developers time and space to turn out a quality project, and project team who knows where the game is at, where it is going next, and what the next couple of updates and expansion will contain.
Right now, WOW is quite simply a great video game.
