April 2005 Entries
Everyone say hello to the new kid on the block:
Guild Wars: Now Open for Business
Not quite sure what to make of this one, but I suspect it'll be nowhere near the Warcraft-Killer everyone not playing WoW would like. PvP is always a spikey subject, and in the face of nearly a decade of collected evidence, not for most people. However, many elements come into play, including the amount of skill needed, twitch or stat-grooming based, ambushing, penalties and rewards, and all that good stuff. Personaly, I only go for PvP in Planetside, and only then because it's so free of...
SirBruce has updated his spreadsheets again:
MMOG Chart.com
Obviously only of academic interest unless you're a shareholder or dev; you either like a game and play or you don't, but it's still quite interesting to get a bird's eye view from a fairly reputable source.
Van Hemlock's Notes: Mostly the various numbers in the last few months reflect the outstanding success of World of Warcraft, in particular, the sudden and sharp decline in both Everquest and Everquest II during the last few points. Star Wars Galaxies and Anarchy Online also seem to have taken a hit, along with pretty much all the rest...
Meanwhile, out in the Rest of Gaming:
Star Wars Galaxies: Combat Upgrade
Seems my old SWG server is due for a massive rejig tomorrow, which is a pain as I've only just uninstalled SWG to reclaim some disk space. I still get irritable when I think about SWG's combat system, and I've been out of it for at least six months, so I may have to reinstall and see what it's like now. Opinion seems divided on the move, some calling 'Dumbed Down' already, and sit in protests abound:
N3rfed: AN SOE_EMPLOYEE_1 SAYS "THIS IS THE COMBAT UPGRADE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR"
(I hope the...
First off I'll confess, I did cheat a little bit with this Neocron 2 newbie experience - this isn't the first time I've played it. I had a good old look around during their open beta (read 'Mass Free Trial') some months back, so was able to get on with things a bit quicker than most genuine newbies would. This was one of the reasons I've started with this particular title. So what did I think?
Three Good Things:
Atmosphere: Set in a post-apocalyptic 28th century, the impression of wandering the ruins of a shattered Earth is well executed and very immersive....
Almost ready to review Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York, having pre-emptively cancelled my trial account last night before it trips over into a paid experience. However, before I do, thought I ought to post this gem, found on their 'Community Talk (English)' message-board. In my experience, nothing destroys any faith, immersion or enjoyment in an online game than a trawl through it's 'General' forum.
Neocron Forums Community Talk: PCZONE UK Review 24%
There's a lot of trash in there, so here are the two point-scoring posts. First, a copy of June 2005 PC Zone Magazine's review of the soon-to-be re-released Neocron...
Operation Cheapseats is well under way now:
Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York
The deal:
Duration: 10 Days
Client Download: Retail (1.7Gb)
Credit Card Required: Yes
I'm on about day 4/10 so far, so I'll talk about the game itself nearer the end of the trial, (and there's a lot to say, believe me,) but something I have noticed, and that seems largely detatched from this particular title; only having ten days greatly improves the game experience!
It's true. Simply knowing that in less than a fortnight, my little character, and all it's stuff, troubles, achievements, hopes and dreams, will cease to exist - 'permadeath', casts a...
SOeBay-Gate seems to be gathering pace. At first, I was somewhat dismissive of it all; it wasn't going to affect me much one way or the other. I know it WILL affect all aspects of the server's internal economics drastically, but honestly, I really am that much of an online loner that I genuinely don't interact with player economics at all. I buy necessaries from NPC shops, and dump all my phat lewt on the nearest NPC merchant, regardless of rarity, value or utility. I just can't be bothered with haggle-anxiety, market-watching, price-checks, scamming and being ripped off, so tend...
So while the rest of the MMORPG world goes quietly beserk over the 'SOeBay' Affair, back to my current pet project: Operation Cheapseats!
First some definitions. The idea here is to see how far I can get on free trials alone, before having to actually subscribe for anything. The rules are simple:
1. No Money Spent: This is the crucial part of the thing. Internet connection costs are okay; I'd be paying those regardless of any indivual game, and even if not playing any MMORPG at all. Likewise, electricity to power the PC, inital cost of PC, etc don't count. There are...
Wow...some days I don't even make it all the way through the 'MMORPG News and Blogs' Favourites folder to the end before seeing something bizzare enough to start ranting about immediately:
SOE: Station Exchange
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! SOE had always been pretty steadfast in their policing of Ebay virtual trades, so it's odd that they've decided that suddenly it's okay, and are setting up their own system to facilitate it. I can hear the IGE screams already, as two of what must be their most lucrative avenues suddenly dry up.
Just for any Outsiders that may visit, basically the...
Since I'm currently a bit antsy about Cynical Market Forces and Global Capitalism and whatnot, I've decide I'm not going to pay for my next Online Escapist Fantasy. That'll show The Man! No, I'm not about to dip into the murky world of 'war3z'. I'm going on the Free Trial Circuit!
The more I brooded, the better this sounded. On the one hand, my own jaded attention span has been shrinking, game after game - where once I stuck out two years of day-in, day-out, unapologetic Grind in the name of entertainment, now I am lucky if I can bear two...
I understand advertising now. I used to think that the point of adverts was to inform, to provoke a 'Hmm. That looks interesting/novel/useful/tasty. I might give that a go.' type of reaction. Now I know better. Advertising is designed to provoke a 'OKAY! HERE! JUST TAKE ALL MY MONEY! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEEEASE, GOD, LEAVE ME ALONE!' response. A sort of nervous breakdown, in fact. Nothing less than psychological torture.
The pop-up window is a good example. No-one in their right mind would think that a pop-up window does anything but irritate, obscure, distract and generally annoy. Therefore, this effect...
Once, long ago, I used to be quite an eager fanboy. Not for any MMORPG in particular mind - more a non-specific general enthusiasm toward whatever was coming out whenever. It would be new! It would be different! It would change everything! I'm not sure what went wrong, or when - MMORPGs became more formulaic, when at the same time, I became more cynical.
I still play them obsessively of course, but am far less choosy about what they actually are, and have difficulty stating a preference for one over another. (And am probably clinically addicted at this point, which is...
Ha! I'm far to self-absorbed to take a rant like the previous seriously for long, so back to work. I only hope that when the original author finally did end his joyless life of universal contempt and loathing, it was swift and painless. Moving on!
Curiously enough, I spent most of yesterday evening nowhere near a computer game, which was a novel enough experience that I felt I ought to write about it. Not that my alternative was any more healthy or cool:
Battlefleet Gothic
Oh yes, there's a special place in Nerd Hell being warmed up for me.
Battlefleet Gothic, for you...
Found via the Planetside Discussion board - oh, the irony!
'Why MMORPGS Suck'
Well, that's told me. Considering I fall into at least eight of those categories, I'd probably best do as the man says...
Nothing witty today - I'm recoverning from a 4 A.M. finish in Planetside. It was one of those infamous 'Just One More Go' moments that video game enthusiasts the world over will recognise with trepidation. In my case it was 'I'll stay until we've taken this base' - a process that can take from fifteen minutes to, as I discovered last night, five hours! And we still hadn't secured the adjoining Tower.
Numbers on Werner server are low enough at that time of night that there is only ONE fight going on, so everyone is faced with a choice of a...
Last night I experienced something truly bizarre. I was sitting in the pub with my long-suffering RL Friend, talking my usual gibberish about online gaming.
Indeed, I DO sometimes leave the house and see Other People, you know, ‘IRL’. Even in the depths of my obsession there still remains a part of me that periodically throws out images of ‘The Comic Book Guy’ from The Simpsons and whispers, “That’s you, that is…”, so I do try to maintain some kind of tie to the real world; pubs, people, conversations, that sort of thing. ‘Superficially Normal’, I aim for.
Anyway, we’re sat at...
When obession isn't enough...
SOE Worlds Magazine, Preview Issue (Warning; bloatey PDF file!)
Free nekkid elf boobies, and redicilously partisan editoralising with part one!
Fascinating page here, found by AFK Gamer:
Literary Sources of D&D
I've seen so much of this junk now, that it's become a wierd kind of genre all in itself, and is generally commonly accepted as canon when applied to any computer game in the 'fantasy' mileau. "Of course magic works like that...du-uh!". It's only when you realise that the whole thing comes from perhaps three main sources - three individual books, that you start to realise how tenuous it really is, and how daft. And that Gygax is a hack.
So homework today; read three chapters from:
'The Dying Earth' by Jack Vance
'Three...
Seven hours camping for a rare drop component for a class-specific robe in Everquest: 4% of level xp
Two deaths: -2% of level xp
Net progress after seven hours: 0
Logging into Planetside, equipping the Anti-Air Flak-Cannon Powerarmor and beating the seven shades of shit out of Air Cavalry infantry farmers: Priceless...
So having had a good old run about with the Newbie Alt Army, I eventually found the guts to haul out the big guns; my long abandoned 29 Magician. The Magician is a fragile easily smacked-down caster-type who essentially lives or dies on the success of his pet, one of four elementals. As detailed elsewhere, it's a solo class - a tank and healer rolled into one, and was chosen for independent viability, rather than any romantic notions of mystical forces and arcane knowledge.
Interestingly, the character creation screens now include help text that explains a bit about the class and...
Link-tastic!:
Grimwell Online: Mmmmm Marketing
I'd heard this was happening, but this is the first time I've seen screenshots. I suppose in theory, it might be bearable, afterall, we filter out adverts everywhere in real life, and anyway, Anarchy Online always had in-game billboards, albiet advertising in-game backstory-based companies. I do find the idea of Motley Crue surviving 30,000 years into the future, and then going on a highly promoted comeback tour, very funny though. I get visions of their heads in jars, on barstools, Futurama style, and giggle a lot.
What's more interesting, for me at least, is if Funcom can actually...
So where were we? Leaving the Tutorial! Well, once out of the mines, I found myself in a barely recognisable Qeynos, a pokey low-polygon box-based affair spreading only two zones, instead of the twelve-zone-plus lavish Disney fairytale city of Everquest II. From an objective point of view, yes, Everquest 1's cities are look pants, but I'm quite fond of them, partly through the memories, but mostly because there is so many of them.
Each player race gets one, some get two, and all are distinctive and unique, if rather low-res. I miss that from EQ2, which has two cities: The Good...
Interesting link, if you're into Virtual Economics:
Terra Nova: WoW Market Scoop
Terra Nova is a bloggey-type site with people who over-analyse MMORPG even more than me! I think if I spent less time writing about games, and more playing them, I might actually get somewhere in one.
For many online gamers though, the business of imaginary money can be brutally serious, and with the 'Bureau De Change' that is E-bay, the dividing line between pretend money and real money becomes clouded.
I could wax on at length about the perils of inflation, the dynamics of pretend trade skills and the laws of supply...
First new thing I spotted was a whole new tutorial that wasn't there before - 'The Mines of Gloomingdark'. I can't quite work out if it was there before Everquest II and it's 'Isle of Refuge' tutorial levels, but it's a good idea none the less. One of the things that struck me, all those years ago, was just how complicated everything was. It's hard to see, now I'm a battle-scarred veteran, but clearly a tutorial is a necessary thing for something that complex if you want genuinely new players; a distinct, closed off environment where you can fumble about...
So the first job was getting installed and patched. I gave up on Everquest quite some time ago after a drawn out battle between addiction and frustration. It culumnated in me signing up with Anarchy Online instead, which probably wasn't the healthiest way out, but from that point, I became a very jaded migratory gamer, and no single game has ever captivated me quite so utterly.
At any rate, it turns out I have only three of NINE expansions! God only knows what groovy new features I'm missing, so I suspect the general usefulness of this mini-review could be better, but...
Deja Vu! Only this time, it's the grand old dame of MMORPG, Everquest:
"EQLive": Another Cull
Given that back in the day, when I used to play, they stated that their ideal server population was intended to be about 1600 players, 18 whole servers effectively being closed is pretty severe. And this isn't the first time either; 'Rallos Zek', the free-for-all PvP server, where I endured a good two years of self-inflicted mental cruelty, has long gone, along with 'Kane Bayle', the second of the two 'European' servers where I spent a gentler few months. At one point, there were at least...
It's that time of year again. I initially thought it was only something morons in the UK celebrate, sorry...perpetrate, but a bit of research shows I was mistaken.
Penny Arcade: Yanks get this too it seems.
Personally, I hate it. A day set aside for making credulous people look like idiots, and a day filled with paranoia for the rest of us. All the basic organs of civilisation break down; it is no longer possible to take any news, indeed, any information presented to you at all, at face value. Simple people need all the help they can get, and certainly don't...