Mystic Worlds

Atog Who Are You?

Whoever you are, you really made me laugh today - the kind that giggles on the inside and out.  On occasion, I do check my blog stats to see which posts people have read the most and if there are any track-backs.  When I checked today, I saw all these readers coming in from the WOW forums.  I RARELY post on forums even though I like to read the train wrecks on a regular basis.  I couldn’t imagine why or what was sending them here until I checked a few of the links and noticed one poster in particular.

I LAUGHED OUT LOUD in real life.  Thanks man/wo-man for sharing the feeling, being part of the “I solo club” and proud to own it!  It’s kinda like Made in America – “This is why I solo!”

*Still laughing*

PVP for No Honor or Reward – Come Get Some Son

Even though I don’t consider myself a hardcore PVP player, I do enjoy the excitement, danger and adrenaline rush from being on a PVP server.  I did a tiny bit of Kingdom vs. Kingdom (KVK) in Asherons Call 2 (AC2).  It wasn’t until very late in my game play that I started going there with the guild.  There were no rewards to be gained other than bragging rights.

The initial implementation of WOW PVP didn’t have any rewards to be gained by engaging in World PVP and all that existed was World PVP.  I know that I’m not alone when I say, those were the glory days of PVP.  It was frantic, exciting and complete chaos in the hotly contested zones.  Lagfest and Illidown instability aside, it was as much fun, as any 40-man raid Blizzard ever designed.  The unpredictability of facing off against other players in a freeform manner just can’t be replicated in a Battleground or Arena.  There were no rules about what you could and could not do.  There were no contrived objectives.  The rule of law was, if it’s red make it dead.

Age of Conan Cometh

I got invited into the technical BETA.  I started the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG process of downloading and patching the client then figured, eh, I’ll just wait.  Today I received a FilePlanet email about BETA keys for subscribers.  I started to check out the link and read the details, but once again I decided not to bother.  No reflection on Funcom or AoC but this game was never on my list of MMOs I wanted to play this year.  I’ve only considered it since the games I thought I’d be playing have been repeatedly delayed.  Okay, well one of them has been delayed where as The Chronicle of Spellborn won't way when that is coming our way. Do they think they're Blizzard or something??

I think I’ll just wait to read what reviews come out of the Open BETA.  I’m curious about two things.  First thing is what people think about the initial solo play period where it plays like an RPG.  Was it a valuable experience?  Did it allow them to introduce epic storylines or special interactions like LOTRO does with the solo instanced quests?  Is the initial learning curve for the combat system so challenging that you need alone time to get going?  I really want to know what gives with this idea.  As curious as I am about that, I’m  more interested in reading player reactions to the FFA twitch style of the combat.   

I’ll admit to not having read much, so I could be way off base.  However, I believe it’s supposed to lean more toward the Free-For-All (FFA) style, combined with the fact that it is somewhat twitch-based like a first person shooter.  For console gamers that might not be anything new.  Where as for pure PC MMO players, that’s a bit of a twist.  I want to see how people respond.  I think many people take auto-attack and sticky targeting for granted.  It’s probably all that they know.  Other than the game statistics crunching behind the scenes to determine the probability of your accuracy, hitting a target is pretty much a sure thing.  My understanding is that it won’t be that simple in AoC.

Veteran or hardcore PVPers aren’t likely to have an issue with a serious FFA environment, and perhaps those are the only players that will actually play the game.  However, I’m kind of expecting that there will be players who purchase the game because they love the IP but won’t like how FFA feels up close and personal.

Dual-Boxing Experiment

I spent three evenings looking into the mechanics of how to dual-box two characters using the same computer in World of Warcraft.  Thanks to the Dual-Boxing Portal and WowWiki, it was a piece of cake – sorta.  If this piques your interest and you’d like to give it a try, just get yourself a trail WOW account to use.

The software side of things was very easy.  I read several posts suggesting that you make a copy of your WOW gaming folder to avoid conflicts which might cause the game to crash.  I was going to do that when I saw how friggin’ large the folder was and immediately nixed that idea.  I just wanted to experiment so I didn’t really care so much if the game crashed a few times.  As luck would have it, it never crashed even when I wrote all the macros needed to pull it off.  *Shrug*

My first decision was which software to use for sending duplicate keystrokes to the two independent session of WOW.  My first attempt at dual boxing was done my actually clicking things on the separate session back and forth – definitely not the way the pros do things.  I downloaded AutoHotKey first as it seemed a popular choice on the forums.  But after starring at the scripts needed just to get started, I quickly abandoned it.  It offers more flexibility but the posts about having to code in ways to pause it so you can chat or interact with the game in other ways other than sending duplicate keys, convinced me that it would be too much work just to mess around.

Why We Solo in MMOs

At first I thought it was just a “me” thing, this need to solo in games which are chiefly designed as a group experience.  It was my preferred playing style from the first time I appeared into the virtual world’s landscape.  I didn’t think much of it.  I was so mesmerized by the ability to simply exist in a fantasy universe.  I didn’t care at all about anyone else who might be occupying the same adventure.  I was of course awed by seeing other people running around the game and knowing that they were real people on the other side too, but that interest was fleeting.

I remember when selecting my first character in my first MMO which was AC1, I made a conscious choice to select a class that I felt could solo.  I didn't use the jargon “solo” but my intention was very much to be self reliant.  It was a natural choice and reflected how I lived my life – be kind, have friends but ultimately rely on yourself.  This immediately put me at odds with my desire to play a magic based class – fantasy and magic, I was about to experience a personal Holy Grail but wanted a self sufficient character.  Luckily, AC is a skill based game and although I started as a Ranger so that I could solo, I eventually learned that I could combine the two into an Archanter – Ranger/Enchanter.  I explained all of this to illustrate that going in, without knowing anything at about playing MMOs or RPGs, my first inclination was to solo.  This means the desire was there before I had any experiences with the downside of grouping with others.  This is an important point for later so hold this thought.

Two-Boxing and then Again, Not

One of the things I enjoy about WOW Radio is the diversity of podcasts for World of WarCraft.  Hardcore or casual, raider or not, you can find a show that talks about how you play WOW.  Catching up on some the WOW Insider podcasts hosted by WOW Radio, I listened to a show about two-boxing in games.  I'm familiar with the concept having run into couples that were doing it in AC2 on a casual basis.  Run spouse through <insert name> dungeon because he/she is cooking, doing laundry, dealing with the kids, etc.

I've done short spurts of two-boxing to mule items across our WOW accounts, give a toon a healthstone or soulshard or apply some priest buffs, but mostly to enchant items.  In the past I couldn't do it on the same computer for more than a few minutes before my system blue-screened - a VERY scary thing when you're messing with Bill Gates and his infamous Windows OS. :-)  But it was doable in very short durations for very specific needs.

Before I continue too much further let me back up a bit and define two-boxing for those who are not familiar with the concept.  Strictly speaking, two-boxing is when a single person is operating two sessions of the same game and controlling two characters at the same time.  These days we could probably say multi-boxing and not limit the idea to just two.  WOW has a few rather famous multi-boxers - someone does 5 Mages, someone is doing an Arena team with Druid, Priest and Mages I think...blah...blah, I'm not up on the whole scene.  Bottom line - for the real multi-boxers it is the act of multiple machines running the same game while they control multiple characters within that game.  Another variation on the idea is running multiple instances of the game on the same computer.  I would still consider that multi-boxing even though there is only a single set of hardware involved. 

Good Enough but Not a Keepr

Nine million or whatever the number is should say all there is to say, and yet it doesn't.  I hope one of the games releasing this year has something up its sleeve.  If they doesn't I'm done.  After two weeks playing LOTRO I can say with confidence - no brainer I'm sure, that WOW simply put, has the best leveling of any fantasy game I've every played bar none.  That is all and that is it. 

For all the things I like about the other games I've played since, and for the things that I HATE about the WOW end game, the journey to the end is best in WOW.  Oh well...  Doesn't mean I didn't have occasional fun in LOTRO.  Or that I love EQ2 crafting, housing and exploration any less.  It just means the road to leveling  isn't as much fun as it is in WOW.

WOW leveling is simple.  It's straight forward and then again not.  Because it is so simplistic it means you can do it anyway you choose and you can change your mind every day every session.  You can make it as easy or as challenging as you please.  As exclusive or inclusive as you please and change what you think pleases you, whenever it suits your fancy.  The only thing I'd change is to extend the leveling curve so that they can level of some of the hamster cages at the end.  Oh well - it is what it is and isn't by now and not changing drastically any time soon.

I'll continue hopping around on my Captain - which is really what the WOW Paladin always should have been.  I'll ride the month's subscription out but I won't be playing beyond that.  I recently received a BETA invite to a game that I was marginally interested in but I'm afraid to even download it.  What if the only two things on my list as options for 2008 don't even come close to the hype?  That would really suck!

I think the fates are conspiring to make me find something else to do with my precious free time.  That or I've out grown MMOs!?!  Gawd forbid.