State of the Blog

I've been more than lax about posting here lately. Here's some highlights on how things are going in various games, in as much as they affect me.

Warhammer: Still not in the beta. It's not looking promising to get in anytime soon, which is a shame, because I'd really like to ride this wave of enthusiasm before it crashes. The delay to Fall is probably good in the long run based on the beta reports, but I still was a bit disappointed.

City of Heroes: I haven't played in over a month. I like the game, but I don't like to solo, and my girlfriend, who is my usual duo partner in CoX, has been very busy, and so it just hasn't worked out lately. I like my characters, but I think CoX is destined to be my "second game" forever, even when I don't have a first.

Everquest 2: In a fit of gaming ennui, I actually bought and downloaded EQ2, complete with Kunark expansion, just to see what the talk was about. I was very excited about a lot of things about this game, and in the end two things killed it for me. One is that the client is buggy and crash-prone, which a 4-year old game has no right to be. The other is that the game is EXTREMELY arcane and not newbie-friendly in the least. I just couldn't see through the fog of war as it were; couldn't get over the initial learning curve, and it isn't grabbing me. It's very pretty for an MMO and I had fun with my Sarnak Wizard, but I won't be lasting past my free month in Norrath.

Conan: Comes out next month. I really don't care at all about this game at this point.

D&D 4th Ed.: In light of my new resolution to use this blog to talk about tabletop games as well as MMOs, D&D 4th Edition is the thing I'm most excited about. I've been reading the PHB Lite that some internet folks have compiled, lots of forum grazing and the like. I'm just very excited to get a fresh start on D&D and clear out the trash that has built up over the 7 or so years since 3rd first came out.

D&D 4th

So since 4th Edition D&D will have a significant online component, or at least significant online integration, I think it's fitting that I use this blog to talk about it some.

That's not to say that I have anything in particular to say about it NOW, just that I will use this space to do so.

Also, check out this page for all the current info, both confirmed and rumored, about 4th ed.

And we're sort of back

So, with the hopes of me getting into the WAR beta dwindling, my MMO addiction manifested itself in the most unlikely of ways recently, with me giving City of Heroes a second look. Yeah, it surprised me too.

I had previously played from launch to somewhere before Issue 3 came out. So WAY before City if Villians, way before the Invention system, or PvP, or much of anything other than the kickass character generator and the ability to run around and punch the same guy forever. I had heard from several people that it was a much deeper game now, and still fun, so I figured what the hell.

So I reactivated my CoH account, grabbed CoV from direct2drive, and started up a villain. She's an Ice/Dark Corrupter on Justice, named Winter Soulstice if you wanna hit me up. I'm only up to level 11, due in part to the fact that I haven't had tons of time to play, and in part to the fact that the character generator is STILL so kickass that I make tons of alts that are sitting at level 2-4 just because I wanted to make them. So in addition to my "main", I also have a Zombies/Poison Mastermind (Mama Nightshade), a Superstrength/Electric Brute (Cardiak), and a Storm/Dark Defender (Darkyn Stormy). When Issue 11 hits tomorrow, I'll make an Archery/Devices Blaster, almost solely because I can have a compound bow with a purple laser sight, which is extremely pimpin. Or, you know, maybe I'll try to actually level my main, since there's tons of options and customization stuff that pops up at 20+.

Thats the strange thing about CoX. I find myself SO EXCITED about cosmetic and prestige stuff like costume options, wings, auras, cool looking new alts, etc, that I don't really think very much about the game. I mean, I do a bit of forum sharking for good builds and thinking about what powers to take, but when I look forward to level 20, it's not because I get Stamina. It's because I get a second costume slot. In other games I didn't really care too much about that. I cared a bit, in terms of trying to get matching sets of armor or buying expensive dyes, but it was an afterthought when there was nothing else to do at endgame. Here I'm not even at the point where people say "the game really starts" and I'm already planning 2nd costumes for characters and planning multiple other alts just based on appearance or cool names or powersets. I want to play around with a stalker, and the new Dual Blades looks neat as well.

Is the supers genre just that much more fun to customize than the fantasy genre? Would I have the same amount of fun doing this if it were a fantasy game (or a sci-fi game, or whatever) with the same level of visual customization? Is it the fact that no other game has the diversity to have a team consisting of a spandex-clad Golden Age cliche, a fallen angel, a werewolf, a gritty elven archer, and an army of ninjas? Or is it something more than that?

Do Not Adjust Your Computer

So I've been really lax about posting anything here, and here's why:

1. I haven't logged onto LOTR in over a month at this point, and I really have no desire to do so. The new patch probably fixed some things, but really, the problems I had with the game were so fundamental that I doubt they'll ever really be resolved. And honestly, they don't need to be fixed for LOTRO to be a successful game, which I'm sure it will be. It will just be a successful game that I don't enjoy playing.

2. With LOTRO falling by the wayside, I am not currently playing any MMOs. I don't really want to go back to WoW since I know I can't really raid and so there's a glass ceiling there for me, and starting fresh in EQ2 would be painful, though Legends of Norrath is a tempting thing indeed.

3. I am pretty much waiting at this point to get into the WAR beta, or failing that, for WAR to actually release sometime in February or whenever. If I get into the beta, I'll be sure to shout it to the heavens (and then promptly say nothing more about it, since I'll be under an NDA). Until then, I expect very few updates here for a few months. If amazing news comes out or the writing bug hits me, I'll be sure to spout off loudly so you can hear.

Ok, so I'm a few days late...

But this is pretty big news. It's not like I can compete with Tobold and Darren anyway, they'll always scoop me. :)

The big SOE announcement was for Legends of Norrath. Legends of Norrath is, to put it simply, an online CCG in the vein of Magic: The Gathering Online. A proven business model.

But wait, there's more. In addition to playing this game online normally, you can also play from within EQ2. Your character can sit down in-game and play LoN with other characters using a built-in version of the standard LoN client.

You can find cards and packs of cards dropped by mobs and trade in-game. Certain rare cards can be redeemed for in-game items like mounts, cloaks, and probably lots of cosmetic items.

SOE may be the Evil Empire, and Smedley may be their Darth Vader, but this is a bloody brilliant idea. I mean, seriously, an MMO with a full CCG inside of it? That's like wrapping cocaine in bacon. MMOs and CCGs have been the two most powerfully addictive gaming experiences to come down the pike in decades (much like cocaine and bacon), and to fully integrate them in both directions is insidious. I thought the WoW CCG was a great idea, and that has half the integration that LoN promises to have.

I don't play EQ2, since it came out too close to when WoW stole my soul for a year. I've never seen anything that made me want to play it, but this is tempting.

As God Is My Witness, I Thought Gnomes Could Fly

Best. Hack. Ever.

Short version: Goldfarmers use a teleport hack to rain naked gnomes from the sky in Ironforge, spelling out the name of their website in the corpses. I shit you not.

I hate goldfarmers as much as the next guy, but man, this is funny.

I want my epics!

Info nicked from Random Battle:

Up to this point, the epic class-specific armor sets in LOTRO were only dropping in the Helegrod raid, and even then only boots and gloves. Devs swore up and down that the rest of the sets were dropping, we just hadn't figured out where yet.

Then this post comes out, and now the whole set will drop both inside Helegrod, and..."somewhere outside Helegrod". Hmm. That should make the non-raiders happy, but I'm a bit trepidous. Being an only-occasional raider myself, especially in a game where there's only one raid instance, I'm glad I can get my burglar set some other way, but does that mean it'll drop in Carn Dum? Or...just randomly around the world off high-level mobs? Off Ettenmoors Tyrants? Who knows? Also, didn't you say earlier that they were ALREADY dropping outside Helegrod? Was that true? Is it still true? Gah.

I'm trying really hard to be optomistic here, since I know it's a game in its infancy. The game has tons of potential and I'm sure it will grow into itself soon. I'm just an impatient bastard. And reading stuff about Warhammer Online isn't helping my LOTRO love grow. I want my squig-herder, dammit! :)