Reminder...
It's official. The frequent and lengthy posts formerly available at Mystic Worlds are on vacation. I'm hanging out the summertime shingle - Gone Writing. Add me to an aggregator or something so you'll know when I return. I will be doing posts here-n-there but it will definitely be spotty. If you're at all curious about my writing adventures visit me here.
Another show with the Sisters that was recorded a few weeks back but is just now making it's way on air. To my knowledge this is the only podcast where Tipa from West Karana has been a guest. I REALLY enjoyed chatting with her on the podcast. If you're a West Karana fan, you don't want to miss hearing her "live."
BTW the Sisters are in the process of launching their own site/blog.
My cousin’s foray into a more traditional massive fantasy title has come to an end. Her desire to transition the fun she was having in her first MMO, Free Realms, into the gaming experience she’d heard about in World of Warcraft didn’t take.
Even in the vanilla-flavored, on rails and spoon-fed character progression you find in a WOW, there are complexities of “real” progression that can’t be avoided. Unless of course, you’re off tooling by yourself in a corner, which isn’t what she wanted.
Besides the fact that the “Recruit a Friend” XP boost levels you faster than you can even afford to buy class spells and abilities, the nature of knowing your role, specializing for it and playing that role in a group, can only be watered down but so much. At some point, you have to dig in your class’ undies to deal with choosing a talent spec and making somewhat sensible gear choices when presented with options.
A few weeks back when I still had time for gaming, I had a wonderful chat with Sister Julie and Sister Fran, from the No Prisoners No Mercy podcast. The focus of our chat was the new free-2-play MMORPG, Runes of Magic. Also included in the podcast is a conversation with Keen, from Keen & Graevs Gaming Blog, about the upcoming content patch in Warhammer Online.
I didn’t know there were adults left in the world that wanted to play World of Warcraft and hadn’t yet. This weekend I learned that they exist. One of my female cousins called me Saturday afternoon. We’re not on phone call terms. I see her at family outings and we chat but we’re not close. Distance is the primary reason we’re not more like friends. I grew up in New York City. She grew up in Oregon.
She got my number from my mother after hearing somehow that I play games on the internet. Come to find out that she plays The Sims and her recent foray in a massive title, Free Realms, piqued her interest to play another game she’s heard people discussing at work. Now that she’d bought a new PC, she really wanted to give the “other” game a try.
I did my best to convince her that she should try Runes of Magic. Warts and all, you can’t beat the value of it as a free-to-play MMO. I suggested that she test drive that to know if she’d even like a traditional MMO, which Free Realms isn’t. “No,” she replied, “I have my heart set on trying Worldcraft.” Conversation freezes. With an eyebrow raised to my hairline, I turn into the camera for a Ferris Bueller sidebar response with the audience, “Oohkay.” She knew what she wanted. Who am I to tell her otherwise?
Continue reading "From Free Realms to World of Warcraft. How Many More?" »
I find it mind boggling that players are still trying to distill online gaming down to group content (MMORPG) or if you solo, you clearly belong in single-player games (RPG). They speak as if that’s all there is to the game – the manner in which you complete content? I’m baffled by such a narrow definition of gaming - solo or group. Doesn’t that strike you as too vanilla? I don’t happen to like vanilla ice cream. I mean for real, in case anyone cares. *smile*
I ask myself, have they never been with someone doing completely different things but in the same space and enjoying the camaraderie? You’re sitting together on the sofa. Someone is watching TV while the other is reading a book. You go to the mall together. You go into some of the same stores, then split up to hit the shops that only you like and meet back up at the food court for lunch.
My best friend and I like to take vacations together since we’re both single – again. She loves the beach. I tolerate the beach. I love to read, her not so much. We both enjoy good conversation. We head out to the beach together, sitting in the sun relaxing for a long while. When I’m tired of that, I grab my book and go have tea or whatever in the lounge. She doesn’t come until she’s ready – or not at all. Later we head out for dinner and a long chat or sight-seeing together. It’s not all or nothing. It’s not because we don’t want to be doing the same thing, at the same exact time – the WHOLE DAYUM TIME, we shouldn’t take trips together. There’s a middle ground of shared experiences, along with time allowed for personal (solo) experiences. What a shallow place the world and for that matter games, would be, if it could ONLY be one or the other!
I have been playing games here and there. Mostly it’s been EVE Online. Two long weekends and ½ day Summery Friday at work have me in better spirits. I’m making good progress in the writer’s workshop. I’m not where I’d hoped I’d be at this stage but I’m on track where I’m supposed to be in the course. I also invested in a very nice NordicTrack A2350 Treadmill to help burn off some stress. I’ve done the walking around the lake thing after dinner but I’ve never been a jogger. I was happy to find that after only the second day, I was doing 3 miles a day. They didn’t lie. Exercise/exertion is an AMAZING stress reliever. I kid you not. I can already feel the difference.
Feeling a bit better all the way around, I was in the mood for some brightly colored fantasy MMO gaming over the weekend. Unfortunately, I was thwarted on all sides. Saturday afternoon my brother and mother stopped by for a visit. Sunday both of my girls came over. Before they left, my nephew called to ask if he could come stay over a few days since school is out. When he got here we spent the next few hours playing Wii Sports game.
I’m an organization and planning freak. Before I can really get going with anything, I must have a plan. EVE Online (EO) is a playground for people with that kind of approach to things. I completed my move to Arnon Sisters of EVE (SOE) station. I started doing missions with the local NPCs and began my first Story Arc Mission. I like these arc missions. They provide a cohesive story that links the activity together more like the traditional quest chains found in fantasy MMOs.
When Tipa gets her mining operation under way, I’m going to be her security / wing-man. We’re not anticipating PVP. I will mostly be there to deal with the rats and do salvaging. Regardless, one of my personal concerns was that I don’t have a lot of combat experience. When I was flying frigates, I had to pay attention during missions. I jumped from frigate to cruiser while still doing level 1 missions. I could do nothing but launch my drones and complete a mission. It’s that’s simple in a Vexor.
On the heels of a horrible week at work, every week seems worst than the one before, I’m just hanging in there trying to maintain a shred of sanity and integrity. The general effect is that I am very grouchy, distant and need considerably more alone time. I got my writing workshop assignments done but not nearly as much as I’d hoped. I spent some time gaming to relax. Feeling considerably less sociable, which is a stretch, since I’m not highly social in the first place, there was no better place to be than in the darkness of deep space.
I was alone, yet not, in a way that is only achievable in multi-player virtual worlds. As an aside, I believe the “alone but not” is one reason for players who solo MMOs. We’re not trying to pee in your cornflakes. We just want to be among you while doing our own thing. EVE Online is a wonderful place to be when I’m feeling this way. It’s dark and thematically superb at delivering on the fantasy that you’re part of a civilization making its home in the cosmos. Popping into a brightly colored over animated environment with flashy pixilated entities bobbing everywhere would have been sensory overload and could have pushed me over the edge. *Smile*
I don’t particularly like mini-games. I’ve done them occasionally when trying to fill some restless time. I’ve played Bookworm Adventures trying to fall asleep in a hotel room. I’ve baked with Cake Mania wasting time in a LONG and boring meeting. However, when it comes to game time – moments I explicitly reserve for gaming, a mini-game isn’t what I’m after. I tried them before dismissing them. Games like Puzzle Pirates don’t appeal to me.
Then there’s instancing which I hate. I lump zoning into the same category. All those things that take me out of the game and sit me in front of a “please wait and watch this static picture” while the clock is ticking on your game-play time. I accept that they exist in all MMOs on some level. But games that zone me in and out at every turn immediately raise my ire. Pirates of the Burning Sea didn’t have a chance with me because of the constant zoning and instancing. I have a hard time considering that type of game play as MMO, even if I do prefer to solo content, I don’t want to be off in a private space doing it.
Continue reading "1,000,001 - Another Game Makes a Liar of Me" »
Last night – well technically this morning, I played a little Runes of Magic. It was a little past midnight and my mind was racing so much that I couldn’t sleep. I got up out of bed and decided to play something. Logging into Runes of Magic reminded me of why I’ve enjoyed this game.
I haven’t played in a couple of weeks but getting started was a snap. There are no long travels times zoning across the map to reach questing areas. Typically, you’re operating out of a nearby character community – player-towns the size of Bree in Lord of the Rings Online or something smaller, around 2x the size of Lakeshire in World of Warcraft. All of the primary amenities are available from within that town – access to your house, banking, auction house, crafting stations, vendors, mailboxes, etc. Most everything you need is right there, without you having to travel several zones away from where you’re questing. You also have quick travel options via the different methods of travel using runes and portals.
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