Mystic Worlds

Amazon Notifying Customers - "WAR will ship sooner than expected"

Sweet.  I checked email today to find a message from Amazon:

Hello from Amazon.com.
 
We are writing about the order you placed on April 16 2008 19:05 PDT 
(Order# -------). The item(s) listed below will actually 
ship sooner than we originally expected:
 
   "Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition [DVD-ROM]" 
	[DVD-ROM]
    Estimated arrival date: 09/18/2008

That date jives with what people have been guessing based on the comments made during the explanation from Mythic about the content being cut from the initial release.

EQ2: Life in Willow Wood

The last time I subscribed to EQ2, I had decided to play it more along the lines of The Sims goes Medieval.  I planned to just putter about slowly and partake of the casual aspects of the game.  One of the first things I did was to move out of Kelethin to Qeynos Harbor.  I was on Nagafen at the time where I’d made some good money furnishing components to players trying to power level tinkering and transmuting.  I found that I liked the change A LOT.  I’d made a bit of the same opportunistic funds on Antonia Bayle as a Summoner, when I abandoned Naggy.  Not nearly as much though because the re-roll didn’t last very long.  I have enough for a T2 mount but I’m trying to hold out for the next one.  Consequently, having a pricey flat in QH wasn’t what I wanted to fund.

Unsubscribed from Age of Conan – for Now

Current economic climate coupled with some other ways I’d like to spend my discretionary funds, I’ve decided to un-subscribe from Age of Conan (AOC).  I hadn’t played in about three weeks and the time I have available for an MMO, has gone exclusively to EQ2.  Before I made the decision to cancel, I logged in for a bit.  The thing that I really enjoyed about the game was still there – amazing visual rendering of Hyboria and kick ass combat.  I ran around for about 30 minutes killing stuff.  I joined an opportunistic group to kill a mini boss and turned in some quests.  As someone who doesn’t quest much, loves to tinker around in games and craft, AOC just wasn’t hitting enough of my sweet spots.  Because I solo grind to level – that’s what I enjoy, I have to have things to do in between and there’s not a whole lot of that in AOC.  You can’t start crafting until level 40.  Anywho, no disparaging remarks from me.  I think the game has lots of promise and I can see myself going back in the future.  It’s just not where my head or interests are for the present.

EQ2: Economy First - Ease of Use Second

Active forum reader for any game I’m playing, a post in the EQ2 Crafting forums got me to thinking.  As mentioned before, I’m an avid participant in crafting – it’s always my primary mini-game when not leveling.  EQ2 has my favorite system to date.  Yes, it takes time – almost equivalent to character leveling which is why for many players, it is the game.  With anything that takes that much commitment to advance, people aren’t likely to change mid stream.  It wasn’t uncommon in World of Warcraft for players to power level a profession simply to create particular Bind on Pick-up (BOP) items then switch back to their “real” gig.  You don’t hear players doing that in EQ2.

Because crafting in EQ2 takes work, changes to any profession are taken very seriously by players.  The forum post that got me thinking this weekend was one mentioning that Provisioners (create food and drink) need an increase in the number of items created by each combination.   A quick explanation of the process for non EQ2 players is that in addition to harvesting or buying the components needed to craft an item, you have to interactively make the item.  There is no auto-pilot option.  To create a pristine (perfect) item you have to apply profession specific skills to facilitate the production process while also successfully counter-acting random process problems.  If you don’t you run the risk of producing an inferior product which impacts its value or completely failing, losing all of your components, some of which can be expensive.  That said, any changes that impact the market for your hard won produce, is likely to incite passionate comments from players.

So as much as I sometimes wish I could create more items in less time, my current tier of items aren’t making me rich as it is now.  Anything that would dump more of these items into the market is likely to cause a drop in prices.  I’m already in the volume profession where my money is made by creating more of items which cost less than some of the other crafted goods where the components to create a single item are rarer and expensive, resulting in fewer items but those produced cost a lot of coin.  I’m starting to roll an alt character explicitly for crafting the high priced items I desperately need (skill upgrades) but can’t afford to buy.  However, being in the Provision profession as my first love, as cooking is in real life, I’m terrified of changes that might drop the bottom out of the market.

Re-visiting EQ2 – So Far So Good

My son walked by last night while I was crafting and asked, “Why are you playing that lame game?”  Later on, after I’d logged off he asked to try it, played for 15 minutes and said, “Yeah, that’s the same lameness I remember!”  When I first purchased EQ2 it was for me and my son – we both had accounts for a while.  He only lasted a couple of weeks before returning to whatever else we were playing – don’t recall what it was at the time.

EQ2 is a rather sedate game by our standards which is something that has turned us off in the past.  However, I’m doing just fine this time around with the pacing.  I don’t have lots of time to play.  I have zero patience for downtime when I can only play for an hour or so at a time.  I’ve done the flashy-pants MMO, hardcore commitment (raiding and PVP) and I don’t have energy or time for any of that right now.  My work-day feels like a war zone.  It’s not uncommon for me to end the day with a stress headache or migraine.  The pacing of the game suits me perfectly right now.  I like that there are ample mini-game opportunities, even when I have less than an hour to play.

Mini Game Opportunities
Player Housing
The last time I was subscribed I was living in Qeynos Harbor.  The cost was rather significant but I wanted a more central location for the staple of characters I was playing.  I had two Faes and two High Elves.  I really disliked the Fae City for housing.  It was too dark for my tastes and farming the components I need for carpentry and provisioning seemed more plentiful in the Commonlands.  I was on the edge of leaving so I figured I’d see if a change of scenery might help.  It did for a while but eventually I left.  When I came back this time I was down to just the Fae Illusionist on AB still sitting in the pricey room.  I decided the other day to pack it in and move to Willow Wood.  Willow Wood is still in a housing area that is more pleasing to me – human city, cozy and small, which means the bank, mender, housing and auction house/crafting is all conveniently close.  The Mariner’s Bell is just a stone-throw away and it only costs the noob fee of 5 silver per week.  Maintaining player accommodations – selecting, decorating and managing local selling features is a VERY cool mini game.  I think EQ2 has provided a nice mixture of functionality, vanity options and customization to housing that makes it worth your while.

Funcom Sends a Customer Survey

When I checked my email yesterday, I found a survey from Funcom requesting my opinion on Age of Conan.  I almost passed it by but then decided to complete it.  I won’t go into all the questions or my exact answers.  Instead, I’ll summarize it.

The survey wanted to know on a scale of 1 to 5 (worse to best) what I liked about the game, customer service, what needed fixing and what I was most concerned about having them work on for the future.  There might have been about 25 to 30 questions in all.

For the questions related to gaming experience – how things were working in the game, I gave all questions related to combat 4s and 5s.  I’m happy with the combat mechanic even though a bit button-pressing-frantic, it is the most unique and pleasing aspect of the game - fluidness of motion, realistic even when fantastical animations, are all executed extremely well.  When I answered questions about content and questing, I replied rather neutrally.  I don’t find the quests as a whole more or less better than other MMOs  I’ve played. 

Revving-Up for EQ2

Getting ready to do some leveling in EQ2 reminds of my days back in Asheron’s Call 2, where pen, paper and 3-ring binder by my side was the order of the day.  Leveling solo in AC2 was a reasonable affair but you still had to be prepared.  I spent time looking through the EQ2 forums for a good spec and locations that might be more solo-friendly than not.  To my delight and surprise, there were a few posts about leveling and soloing specs for an Illusionist.

I found the spec conversations a bit confusing at first.  The old time players use a lot of vernacular that newer players aren’t familiar with.  For example, they kept talking about the KOS line of spells or EOF line.  Only someone who’d been playing before those expansions would have any idea which lines came with which expansions.  Then there were the posts about the AGI, INT, WIS, etc lines when the lines in the spec tree aren’t actually named in that fashion.  Added to that many used notations like 5-6-3-4 STR to indicate their specs.  Whew, certainly not as straight forward as spec conversations in World of Warcraft.   After spending time reviewing the AA trees for Enchanter/Illusionist, I figured out that each of the lines buffed or altered a particular stat which is why they are referred to as AGI for instance.  Based on my research, I’m going to focus on AGI + WIS in the Enchanter Tree and Time Compression line in the Illusionist Tree until I get into the 60s.

I found a nice AA Calculator link on the forum and used it to build out this spec.  I only have 12 AA points.  I respec’d from the uneducated choices I’d made the last time around to follow one that's tuned for solo PVE. I had just enough time to find the NPC to get the free 1st time respec and then use my 12 AA before I had to log.  That's absolutely, all I've had time to do in game so far this week.

Summer Gaming Line-up

Since my post about wanting an MMO home, I’ve tried several different games.  I played free-to-play (F2P), free trials and revisited others I’ve played in the past.  I think I’ve come to a conclusion about what to do for the short term.

On the F2P front I tried Stone Age 2, Puzzle Pirates and Adventure Quest.  I thought SA2 was cute and bumped around there an hour.  The biggest drawback for me is the overhead point of view.  As a gamer, that view has never worked for me.  I do understand that is the POV you get with the 2D games.  However, it makes me feel more like I’m watching someone else play than actually playing myself, which is probably why those games don’t suit me.  Puzzle Pirates has some promise.  I do enjoy puzzles so the combination of a touch of MMO plus completing mini games was interesting.  It also ran perfectly on my tablet PC which is a big bonus.  I’m going to keep this game for when I travel.  It has the same POV as F2P but since I spent most of the time playing games versus roaming around as an avatar it doesn’t matter as much.  Adventure Quest didn’t quite do it for me for some of the same reasons as SA2, so I’ll pass.

For the trials I downloaded Lineage II.  I’ve browsed the official site lots of times even though I hear the game is grindy.  There are some RP elements/features that have always intrigued me.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it past level 5 and 7 on the toons I created.  Character movement felt stiff.  Why do the models run bent over like that?  The low level quests were uninspired so I bailed.  Similar quick no-go games for me, based on the gaming mechanics were Tabula Rasa and RF Online.  After trying these and not finding something new to cling to I’ve realized that when it comes to my gaming, I’m a traditionalist.  Oh well, so be it.

I was a Gamer Before I was a Blogger

Before I wrote my first word on the internet about games, I was a gamer.  I started playing Asheron’s Call while home on a medical leave.  As an avid lover of all things fantasy, I was so mesmerized by the concept of playing a game online with other people, I felt compelled to write about it.  By the time I’d moved over to Asheron’s Call 2, my mind was a light with all sorts of stories and tales about my MMO adventures that I wanted to chronicle – what being in a virtual world was like, what I was doing, what kinds of characters I was playing and the types of people I met.  I setup a website and for the past seven years, I’ve been writing about the games I’ve played, in one form or another.  I am not a professional blogger. I would however, be writing regardless, just not on the internet.

I’m getting more than a little ticked off by people – podcast show hosts, writers for commercial gaming sites and some comments I’ve read recently, that lump bloggers together, as though we are this single entity with a shared mind, attitudes and behavior.  The podcast from Channel Massive in particular, tends to utter these comments more than most.  I get the impression that they feel as though they are a cut above the rest.  Why is that I wonder?  I find their “Blogosteria” section where they tend to poke fun at the blogging community for blowing something out of proportion rather ironic, given their podcast’s intro shtick with that brutal reference to Vanguard.  Bloggers are no more the same than all Americans, Europeans, Asians, etc.  I’m writing about games because I’m passionate about them and like to share my experiences and thoughts.  No one is paying me to write about them or telling me what to write.

Missing an MMO Home

It’s REALLY bothering me that I don’t have an MMO to call home.  Several times a day, I run through the list of games where I have characters and list the pros and cons of returning to each of them.  It really shouldn’t be this hard to find a game that I’m willing to play and PAY for over the long haul.  This is seriously annoying.  I have opportunistic moments to play and I hate having that time come and go, where all I’ve accomplished is cycling through the list of candidates, yet again.

I know for sure that I’m done playing World of Warcraft – been there, done it and desperate for something different.  Granted, I had a ball when “the world was new” but after 3+ years of that being my main MMO, there’s nothing new for me there now and I can’t do the rehash anymore.

After canceling my son’s Age of Conan account, I logged into my own.  I played for a couple of hours and dinged two levels.  I enjoyed the time in a very disconnected way.  This game performs well as a solo RPG with other people running around ya, which is all well and good.  I can appreciate that as someone who levels solo.  However, there’s something really important missing from the show.  There’s no purpose, at least not one that I can feel.  I’m leveling for the sake of leveling.  I have no direction.  No sense of urgency or purpose within the game – at all.  Is that because I believe this game to be just filler?  Is it because I’m being prejudiced by what I’ve read on the forums about all the issues with the end-game itself?  Perhaps it’s the disjointed overly instanced zone every other second mechanic that robs me of feeling as though I’m in a virtual world that has a meaning and a purposeful existence.  It’s probably some combination of all these factors, that while I can enjoy my time in AOC, I don’t perceive that my time is leading to something meaningful.