tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67111568508791626852012-02-02T19:01:52.690-08:00MMO gaming and other random topicsYeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comBlogger1921100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-30547658262103228892012-02-02T17:00:00.000-08:002012-02-02T16:33:46.968-08:00

EA has announced that as of Feb 1 SWTOR only has 1.7 million active subs, which amounts to a mere 85% player retention rate. Obviously most of the folks that have tried SWTOR can't stand it. After the first six weeks, it seems that Star Wars the Old Republic is an abject failure.In all seriousness, I'm really glad to see that SWTOR is off to such a good start. It remains to be seen whether

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-87884130295675108472012-01-25T09:05:00.000-08:002012-01-26T19:03:08.197-08:00

Lot's of new content coming down the pipe:Massively just posted a story that has a ton of interesting LoTRO news. The next full expansion will be called the Riders of Rohan. It will include mounted combat and raise the level cap to 85. Not very surprising so far, we all pretty much knew this was coming. However two items did come as a bit of a surprise: (1) players will gain the ability to

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-63299691578695536892012-01-19T21:00:00.000-08:002012-01-19T18:04:26.156-08:00

The latest SWTOR patch apparently contained some serious cluster fornication for PvP players. Level 50 players are now looking at crazy ques to get into the regular battlegrounds due to faction imbalance and the general lack of level 50 players on most servers. Meanwhile, in SWTOR's open world PvP area Republic players are getting stomped on most servers. Unverified reports put Empire /

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-82555320172488195562012-01-17T16:25:00.000-08:002012-01-19T13:38:43.206-08:00

My lack of blog posts lately can be attributed to several factors. I was out of town for most of last month, doing real life things like hiking and hanging out with familly. Since I got back into town, I have also been obsessing so hard on Star Wars the Old Republic that when I get home from work I simply haven't wanted to spend an hour knocking out a blog post. It's odd to see my MMO addiction

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-75542741024942106802011-12-14T21:00:00.000-08:002011-12-15T09:51:17.645-08:00

Star Wars galaxies is one of those games I've read a ton about, but never really clicked with me. However, the news that SOE was shutting it down got me to sub up and see what the game is really like while I still could. I've been dutifully putting in at least a few hours a week, and I managed to get up to about level 40 on my main which is tons further than I’ve ever made it before.This is my

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-82734311748900657542011-12-08T08:53:00.000-08:002011-12-08T16:02:04.965-08:00

[I'm not going to spread this chain any further, but I thank Blue Kae for inspiring me to post this] .Dear Santa,It's been a while since I've written to you. I don't even visit you in the mall these days, I know I've been lax. I do sometimes donate a little bit of money when I see you out ringing a bell next to one of those Salvation Army buckets, so there's that. In any case I hope that I've

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-79576871027841915132011-11-28T07:31:00.001-08:002011-11-29T22:11:39.610-08:00

Like everyone else and their granny, I spent the weekend playing the beta of Star Wars the Old Rebublic. I went into the beta mainly to see how the game looks and runs on my current PC, which is almost three years old now. It runs just fine, but I can also see that I'll have to replace my PC in another year or so if I want to keep playing modern games. In any case there is nothing to stop me

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-22457729661820132752011-11-18T11:59:00.000-08:002011-11-18T19:10:15.546-08:00

One topic that seems to come up every so often is that hit points/ health/ morale are kind of absurd. Whether or not you agree with Wilhelm that they are especially absurd when using a blaster, I think we can all agree that the ability to withstand multiple lethal attacks is a fairly baldfaced sacrifice of realism in favor of gameplay. It's one of those things like level based combat and the

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-42294932217080004262011-10-31T15:35:00.001-07:002011-10-31T16:35:19.562-07:00

Minor spoilers abound ahead, be warned!I'm about halfway through the Rise of Isenguard expansion in Lord of the Rings Online, I just started in the Gap of Rohan over the weekend. Towards the end of the first zone you catch a glimpse of a Dunlander village where preparations for war are busily underway. One thing that's pretty neat about this scene is all those tiny guys you see in the distance

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-67677866406107274252011-10-25T12:00:00.000-07:002011-10-25T20:09:14.806-07:00

Using the power of Google Insights, Tobold recently asserted that interest in massively multplayer online roleplaying games is declining. Looking at the most recent google insights results, interest in "mmmorpg" is down almost 40% from the peak in 2009. You get similar results from mmo. This isn't total voodoo, this tool does a very good job of reproducing trends we pretty much all agree are

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-54922925135414081602011-10-01T16:20:00.000-07:002011-10-01T16:28:52.564-07:00

It's fantastic. By far the most fun I've had in the Lord of the Rings Online since the launch of Moria. It expands on Tolkien's narrative in completely logical ways. It also offers vistas that I can absolutely imagine him creating if he had lived long enough to do it. The home of the falcon clan. One of the few clans of Dunlander's that were never corrupted by Sauroman's promises.I know that

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-38997859446324511122011-09-23T13:16:00.001-07:002011-09-24T12:09:27.121-07:00

The greater part of September seems to have vanished. This has been one of those weeks where I got a lot done and still don't feel like I'm on top of everything. A lot of neat little news tidbits have caught my eye, but I haven't taken time out to comment on them. So now I ramble...SWG: Star Wars Galaxies just launched atmospheric flight. You can now summon your space-ship and fly it around

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-18017475938596494702011-09-09T03:29:00.000-07:002011-09-09T05:05:13.660-07:00

This post over at I Have Touched the Sky (which contains one of my favorite quotes from the original Conan stories, btw) led me to this post over at Scary Booster, where Scary seems to have had some really bad experiences with other MMO gamers lately. In short, he feels that modern MMO communities are filled with asshats. He makes it sound almost as bad as X-box live ["shudder"].You will

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-12245311390234593322011-09-02T18:00:00.000-07:002011-09-03T06:42:33.953-07:00

A lot of tidbits have been on my mind lately. SWG: I finally made it to my second planet in Star Wars Galaxies, Naboo: You really really want to buy a swoop soon as you can afford one. Once you get over the steeper than usual initial learning curve, there really is a fun game buried in there. I've been tempted to make a short "things I wish I knew when I started" post. There are a lot of

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-29199189851267101742011-08-26T12:16:00.001-07:002011-08-27T05:15:16.427-07:00

[Warning, a bit of a rant. I spent last night experiencing one of my pet peeves in a party.] I know that some of us live in less than ideal environments for gaming. You might not be able to help the fact that there are screaming kids, a really loud television, or perhaps constant machine gun fire and explosions where you are playing from. If you are in a party using voice chat, the

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-66420975320056159132011-08-19T15:19:00.000-07:002011-08-19T16:21:52.881-07:00

Austin: Things have been slow on the blog because I spent last week in Austin, Texas. It was my first time there, and I really enjoyed myself. Great food, great nightlife, but hot as the dickens. During the summer months something like a million bats hang out under a bridge near the hotel I was staying in. They all fly out in a giant cloud near dusk. It's an impressive sight (I didn't film

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-43778879358727592272011-08-01T13:06:00.001-07:002011-08-01T15:29:45.945-07:00

Several Diablo III news items have been making the rounds today. The two big ones are that (1) DIII is launching with an online for real-life-cash auction house (Blizzard will take a small cut of all transactions) and (2) DIII will require a live internet connection to play, even solo.I'm not sure how I feel about either. Certainly online enabled characters should be hosted on Blizzard's

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-24944430792964257842011-07-26T22:34:00.000-07:002011-07-29T12:16:47.321-07:00

This post over at Blue Kae got me wondering why I am so much looking forward to Star Wars the Old Republic (which I have yet to pre-order, but plan to soon). My expectations for it as a viable long term MMO commitment aren't particularly stellar. However, as a game that I'll play for a month or two and enjoy, they are pretty high. More broadly, why do still I care about the Star Wars franchise

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-77737222425855567362011-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:002011-07-18T19:29:13.617-07:00

I absolutely love the ability to slot cosmetic items. Making my toon look the way I want is a game in-of itself as far as I'm concerned. Giving me cosmetic slots to fool with gives me a ton of extra gameplay, and for what would seem relatively few development resources . . .save implementing the system in the first place, of course. As an example, this is what my dwarf champion in LoTRO would

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-74508550463945323892011-07-14T14:30:00.000-07:002011-07-14T22:31:51.254-07:00

For the last few weeks, I've been asking myself "What am I trying to do with this blog?" To post my ruminations on this subject seems almost unimaginably self indulgent, but here I go. . . ;-)There were a few key points I had in mind when I started this blog. I wanted it to be nearly a strict MMO blog. I also wanted to point out in various ways that I don't think there's anything fundamentally

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-61694726160066158962011-06-24T13:52:00.000-07:002011-06-24T16:40:16.067-07:00

This has to be the most stunning MMO news in a while to me: Star Wars Galaxies will be shutting down on December 15th. I saw "SWG shutting down" as the title of a thread over at MMORPG.COM and just assumed it was a troll post at first. But, no, really, it's shutting down (official announcement here).You can find an interview with John Smedly about it here. It contains as direct an admission

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-3062325666888085482011-06-11T12:56:00.000-07:002011-06-13T18:21:09.204-07:00

I've been playing Lord of the Rings Online since open beta. I've pre-ordered at every opportunity, and gotten free stuff each time. I also went lifer fairly early on which got me more free stuff. I got yet more free stuff by subscribing to PC Gamer around the time LoTRO launched (it came with a code as part of a promotional preview). Finally, I decided to buy the most expensive version of

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-76543940895027162042011-05-30T19:47:00.000-07:002011-05-30T22:18:22.694-07:00

Work got a bit berserk lately. For several reasons I've barely been in town this month. In MMO space, the main thing I've been up to is prepping for the FtP transition in Age of Conan.Funcom reactivated my account until the end of May (tomorrow) recently, which was enough to get me to try the game out again. Not much has changed that I can tell on my low level guys (my max is a 25 HoX), but it

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-87702838627586396682011-05-14T08:14:00.000-07:002011-05-14T15:50:00.620-07:00

City of Heroes/ Villains is having a free account reactivation weekend (thanks to Sente for the heads up!). City of Heroes is actually one of my favorite MMOs, I like to spend at least one random month there every year or so. One of the coolest things about it is that you can make almost any character you can dream up. In my hands, that usually means I make either a character based on an old

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-7362677122055232902011-05-09T15:06:00.001-07:002011-05-09T20:51:27.611-07:00

SOEI did not intend for the meltdown at SOE to be the only thing to read about here for a week, but RL sort of snuck up on me. I was actually in NYC most of last weekend. On the subject of the SOE meltdown, it is now starting to seem that all SOE games are going to be down at least until June. As Wilhelm notes, this does not bode very well at all for their future. I can't help but think most

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-82773670744142660082011-05-03T08:39:00.001-07:002011-05-03T12:15:50.777-07:00

Via massively, it seems that the billing addresses, logins, and passwords of more than 20 million SOE customers were compromised, as well as the account information on about 12,ooo credit and debit cards (the latter all came from European accounts). Apart from my EQ2X account maybe getting screwed with I personally don't have a lot to lose in this, unless of course it turns out that some North

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-67243849310001416572011-05-02T12:36:00.000-07:002011-05-02T16:39:53.157-07:00

This is a bit disturbing. Apparently the data breach in the Playstation Network last week may have also affected SOE in general, or at least led to the discovery of a vulnerability in their network. I'm not at home, and so I can't attempt to log in to my EQ2x account. However, according to the BBC DC Universe Online at least has been taken down in connection with their investigation of the

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-80571659206533440912011-04-28T11:52:00.001-07:002011-04-28T13:10:58.257-07:00

Blue Kae recently posted about a utterly fantastic interactive procedural music generator called Otomata. One of the things that's really fascinating about it is that simple geometric shapes will produce complex songs that sound almost composed. One can't help but wonder if certain new age and minimalist electronic composers haven't been using tools like this for years and selling us the

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-32228489558549741452011-04-21T12:22:00.001-07:002011-04-21T16:13:00.316-07:00

Earlier this week the blogosphere was alight with displeasure at how badly Trion managed phase 3 of their world event over the weekend. Even generally upbeat bloggers like Blue Kae and MMOGamerchick expressed disappointment. I was on during the weekend, but didn't bother trying to log during the event itself due to pretty horrific que times. When I saw I had an hour long wait to log on, I

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-15125470422265302982011-04-15T07:39:00.001-07:002011-04-15T10:35:55.794-07:00

In the most recent update, Turbine made all of the Volume II quests soloable. That should not be taken to mean that they are easy. Unless you are capable of taking down a raid mob with 18,000 morale using only your skirmish soldier for help, you will not be able to get through all of them. In fact I died four or five times learning how to kite effectively on my hunter the first time I

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-43056562224588170732011-04-04T10:42:00.000-07:002011-04-04T17:58:55.255-07:00

Due to a code generously provided by Anjin of Bullet Points fame, I was able get into Rift and take it for a spin this weekend. I played a bit on Saturday and it honestly didn't click at first. However, not wishing to waste my free time, I forced myself to play longer on Sunday. By the time I hit level ten I was having a heck of a lot of fun.I got a female Defiant Kellari Elementalist/ Dominator

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-13174000283704148272011-03-22T15:37:00.000-07:002011-03-22T16:54:10.742-07:00

The studio that gave me the most entertainment over the the last year was definitely Turbine. I discovered DDO during the spring, and had one hell of a time there. The real time combat, abundant traps and puzzles, and stupidly deep character development system make it a serious breath of fresh air compared to most fantasy MMOs. They have been updating it like crazy, with significant new

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-29719380568252301862011-03-18T06:50:00.000-07:002011-03-18T13:39:37.491-07:00

I sort of side stepped Rift for several reasons. First off I didn't feel the need to get going in another fantasy MMO. I have toons up and running in WoW, EQ II, LoTRO, DDO, and Wizard 101 after all. As long as I keep paying my WoW sub I can visit them whenever I want, since most of those games are FtP. I was also utterly and thoroughly addicted to WoW during the beta events. I hadn't played

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-14473965872594420712011-03-10T11:50:00.000-08:002011-03-10T12:46:09.229-08:00

Via Massively, I learned yesterday that Funcom released a ton of new details about Secret World at the Game Developers Conference. They also now have a website for it with trailers, class info, and such. Secret World really piqued my interest when I first heard about it, but has somehow managed to fly completely under my radar recently.I have to say what I am seeing there looks fantastic. The

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-38328313188966134502011-03-02T15:30:00.000-08:002011-03-02T16:23:41.128-08:00

I'm surprised to still be playing a lot of World of Warcraft, weeks after hitting the cap. What has sucked me back in is PvP battlegrounds, of all things. I tried PvP in WoW several times in the past, and quite frankly hated it. Trying to learn the ropes while also getting two shotted by players in gear that utterly outclasses yours is an exercise in frustration. However, the gear reset in

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-16644823815263891622011-02-19T06:58:00.000-08:002011-02-20T12:36:57.987-08:00

About two weeks ago I finally hit 85 in World of Warcaraft, on a gnome fire mage that I started from scratch when Cataclysm went live. I had a grand old time leveling Grizlith up. The revamped 1-60 zones are impressive. The BC zones were a bit grindy, but I had a lot of fun in the Lich King zones and the Cataclysm zones were even better. Because I took mining and skinning as my crafts, I was

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-56723158603615671362011-02-17T13:48:00.000-08:002011-02-17T19:01:38.916-08:00

This post over at Stabbed Up and this one over at Tish Tosh Tesh got me thinking about something: when I play MMOs I almost never roleplay. At least not actively. When I'm presented with a choice during a quest line (a very rare occurrence in most MMOs), I'll try to do what I think my character would do. I'll also gravitate towards quest lines that I think my character would care about.

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-56806838554849543852011-02-14T15:27:00.001-08:002011-02-15T12:22:47.884-08:00

I caught wind of this last week via Kill Ten Rats, but things have been so hectic I haven't had much of a chance to post about it. The next patch to LoTRO is bringing some enormous changes. Pretty much everything that annoys me about the current game is getting a pass, and some things I thought were fine are also getting improved. In no particular order, things that caught my eye in these patch

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-63333477198606026522011-02-08T06:44:00.000-08:002011-02-08T08:33:14.816-08:00

Over the past few months there has been a lot of buzz about Rift. Lately that buzz has started to swing back around to a predictable backlash. Green Armadillo and Ardulf have great posts about it up, and I think there are some legitimate concerns. However, I also think that predictions of a WAR and AoC style disasters are likely overblown.You can be almost certain that Rift is going to lose

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-58105081271318959512011-02-02T10:11:00.001-08:002011-02-03T08:18:36.995-08:00

One of the few new MMOs I'm really looking forward to this year is Star Wars: the Old Republic. I was a big fan of the Knights of the Old Republic games, and (as I've said elsewhere) even if SWTOR turns out to be nothing more than "KoTOR III: Sub Fee Edition" it's still something I very much look forward too.Citing possible development costs of up to 300 million, there have been some pretty

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-69395807738847102702011-01-25T07:52:00.000-08:002011-01-25T09:20:03.607-08:00

Anjin over at Bullet Points put up a great post yesterday that struck a nerve with me. He points out that, having raced to the cap, a lot of MMO commentators are now bored with Cataclysm and suddenly turning on it; some even going so far as to call it the "worst expansion in the history of WoW." More generally, he points out that for some bizarre reason many MMO "fans" consider a game that

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-89389249832332282682011-01-19T11:13:00.001-08:002011-01-19T12:26:13.517-08:00

Before Cataclysm came out the archaeology system was one of the features that I was most looking forward to in the expansion. However, once it came out, due what I heard and read about it in various places, I rapidly lost interest. For example, in a video guide to the system here the guide spends roughly half his time whining about how boring the system is, and how it seems designed to get

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-71030904968250078972011-01-18T21:02:00.000-08:002011-01-19T11:53:49.975-08:00

Apologies for the radio silence. Since my last post I burned out the power supply on my main rig for a 3rd time, this time playing Star Trek Online rather than Champions Online. I finally realized I need a bigger power supply if I intend to play any Cryptic games. What threw me was that nothing else has given me problems at maxed or nearly maxed settings, including Age of Conan. In the last

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-379273655475156792011-01-06T16:08:00.001-08:002011-01-06T17:02:03.181-08:00

Some commentators have been fairly gloomy when looking back at 2010, pointing out that Star Trek Online was virtually the only new MMO to launch last year and not faceplant almost immediately. The massive win of STO over the competition in Massively's end of the year poll has even been cited as evidence that the majority of MMOs released in 2010 stunk. While it's hard to deny that some 2010

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-70810710099675769392010-12-24T22:05:00.000-08:002010-12-24T22:32:02.085-08:00

That was the most holiday themed screenshot I had on hand. They look embarrassed and guilty to me, I will not speculate as to what they were doing before I came upon them. In any case, regardless of what you celebrate or don't, I hope the days winding down the year are good ones for you!

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-2015259236468125832010-12-17T12:06:00.000-08:002010-12-17T12:32:16.791-08:00

My gnome mage is up to the ripe old age of 51 now, and starting on his final days in the 1-60 zones. I ran out and bought the gnome epic land mount the second he turned 40. It's not the big deal it used to be back when epic land mounts cost 1000 gold, but I'm still pretty happy with it.I did almost all the quests in the Eastern Plague lands, but couldn't for the life of me find the last two

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-39340363444178173852010-12-15T13:08:00.000-08:002010-12-15T13:35:07.270-08:00

Recently Bioware has started letting journalists play through one of the Jedi Starter areas in Star Wars the Old Rebublic, and previews of it have been mixed. Mike Nelson over at 1up posted a surprisingly negative preview of it, upset that it contained fairly typical MMO style killing and gathering quests. That's a bit of an odd complaint to me, because I remember the KotOR games having a

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-61181988373414507002010-12-08T12:01:00.000-08:002010-12-08T21:45:47.718-08:00

I posted somewhere recently that I was waiting for the price of Star Trek Online to get down to "practically free" before I was going to get it. Amazon is currently selling the collectors edition for nine dollars. With shipping it was 11, less than the price of the month of sub time I'll get with the box. I think that qualifies as practically free.In other news, somehow I missed the fact that

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-26876417843097405692010-12-06T15:40:00.000-08:002010-12-07T08:37:00.125-08:00

Unlike many players, I do not intend to get Cataclysm for World of Warcraft until some time this weekend. I'm currently leveling a gnome mage, so it's unlikely that any of the new content would affect me much. Listed below are what I've been up and my near term plans in WoW, in no particular order.I have a shiny new gnome mage that I started a little over a week ago up to 32. I was really

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-9512170738008703332010-12-02T12:48:00.000-08:002010-12-02T13:01:38.847-08:00

When I was finally able to get back in to my WoW account, I discovered to my amazement that none of my gear or gold was missing. Apparently, someone hacked my account so that they could use it to send spam tells on a random server. The only change to the account was a new level one character with a name like "Dskjsdka" on a server I don't play on (quickly deleted). Many password changes later

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-5823476482437070412010-11-29T18:30:00.000-08:002010-11-30T07:26:50.969-08:00

I've been playing WoW for about four days, and my account has already been hacked. I did full system checks with Spybott and Avast, and changed my password to something horrific that I have no hope of remembering (I had to write it down) filled with numbers, letters, and shift key symbols. Even after all that, my password got changed while I was out with some friends at dinner tonight. My

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-39526051566706866792010-11-27T09:52:00.001-08:002010-11-27T12:35:49.653-08:00

Last night I started mixing in the Dungeon Finder with normal questing on my new mage. The fact that it takes me so long to get a group as a DPS is actually pretty cool, because it lets me mainly work on quests and get whisked off to a group every 30 minutes or so. My job in a group is also easy as hell: hit stuff in the face with fire until it dies, and don't get aggro off of the main tank.

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-49736555722976211942010-11-26T05:13:00.000-08:002010-11-26T10:59:16.979-08:00

After some internal debating, I decided to sub up to WoW for a month and see what the post shattering game is like. STO certainly has me intrigued, and I plan to buy the full game soon. However, the only way for me to try out the "new improved" WoW was to sub up.I started a gnome mage named Grizlith. My first ever MMO character was a wizard in Everquest named Grizlith (a name I made up). Since

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-64437592876166686142010-11-24T06:47:00.000-08:002010-11-24T10:57:00.952-08:00

For roughly the past year I've been playing FtP games (in the broad sense of any game that doesn't require you to pay a monthly sub to log on) almost exclusively. LoTRO was still technically sub based most of the year, but since I bought a lifetime sub a couple of months after launch is was effectively FtP for me. SWG never got a sub out of me, I barely made it to the end of the trial. I also

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-56419206981932758072010-11-19T09:18:00.000-08:002010-11-19T11:11:08.123-08:00

A lot of little news tidbits have been piling up around Lord of the Rings Online lately. First off, the next expansion has been announced, the Rise of Isengard. Ardwulf posted a preview video on his site earlier today. Details include a level cap increase and a major revamp of monster play, including a new PvMP zone. My experiences with monster play in LoTRO have always been a lot of fun,

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-17259797501238700012010-11-18T00:27:00.000-08:002010-11-18T10:41:16.332-08:00

Before leaving town last week I had the pleasure of doing the crafting quests in New Halas on both the evil and good sides in Everquest II.SPOILERS ABOUND AHEAD!!!The evil quest line has you trying to ensure an exclusive trade agreement between New Halas and Neriak using mafia tactics. Spinning wheels are broken, cloth is trashed with acid, and bombs are planted. On my next alt through that

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-45719710619441521302010-11-06T08:08:00.000-07:002010-11-06T09:41:22.356-07:00

I am an explorer when it comes to MMOs. Not only in terms of lore and in-game geography, but also in terms of systems. I really enjoy exploring the mechanics of MMOs. In fact, once I learn all of the basic mechanics of any given MMO I tend to lose interest in it.I spend a lot of time fiddling around with the classes and crafting professions, then get bored once I'm not learning anything new.

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-26821833475823090122010-10-21T12:53:00.000-07:002010-10-21T17:54:39.474-07:00

All three of the MMOs that I currently play have Halloween events going. I made it halfway through the Halloween festivities in EQ2X last night. There are a series of events going on in different regions, the first two I went through both involve haunted houses. One event that started in Neriak especially impressed me.Warning, spoilers ahead!I talked to a goblin at the Neriak docs who sent me

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-43322128257970693022010-10-18T18:03:00.000-07:002010-10-19T21:41:39.706-07:00

Amazingly enough, Tobold and Syncaine agreed on something last week, that Star Wars: the Old Republic is doomed to financial failure. I suspect this was because it's too much like WoW (classes, quests, levels, PvE focused) for Syncaine and it's not enough like WoW for Tobold (who argues that no-one plays MMOs for the narratives). However, Ardwulf also weighed in, and running some

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-58685392049042361372010-10-12T18:58:00.000-07:002010-10-12T19:13:38.557-07:00

Via Biobreak, there is a huge sale LoTRO starting at midnight tonight (runs until the 13th at midnight eastern time). Quest packs for the Lonelands, North Downs, and Evindim will all go on sale for 75% off (!). That is enough content to get you to the low 40s and ready for Foreschel if you really milk it. If you are FtP in LoTRO and don't have those zones yet, you'd do well to take advantage.

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-29635672381044031942010-10-08T11:48:00.000-07:002010-10-10T01:41:52.033-07:00

Turbine recently announced at the Game Developers conference that LoTRO has done extremely well since going free to play. The number of users has more than tripled, 20% of all lapsed former subscribers have come back, revenue from the game doubled, and subs have actually increased. Sounds an awful lot like what happened when DDO went FtP.We don't know how well EQ2X is doing, but SOE has already

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-46428579512546178752010-10-02T10:21:00.000-07:002010-10-02T17:51:08.704-07:00

If you blog, watch this video over at Broken Toys, it's great.A lot of the talk is obviously aimed at an audience that works in game development. I don't work in the industry, nor would I ever want too (I applaud you guys, but consider you slightly insane for putting up with the work hours and lack of security). Regardless, his presentation had some pretty good advice for anyone that blogs.

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-23574596313277440192010-09-29T13:41:00.000-07:002010-09-29T13:57:54.925-07:00

Today SOE announced that we will be able to buy character slots in starting October 5th in both EQ II and EQ2X. In EQ2X slots can be purchased at any account level (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and will be in addition to whatever slots you have at your current level by default. For example, if you buy two slots at Bronze and switch to Silver, you will have a grand total of five slots. Slots will be

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-47927040123373065712010-09-28T18:42:00.000-07:002010-09-29T13:02:04.457-07:00

Massively was giving away beta keys to World of Tanks yesterday, and I decided to give it a shot. On paper a MMO focused strictly on tank combat sounds...well insane to be honest. I was motivated to try it mainly out of morbid curiosity. To my shock I actually came away fairly impressed.As near as I can tell the NDA is still in force, so unfortunately I can't go into a lot of detail. I will

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-78124359508011706822010-09-24T10:16:00.000-07:002010-09-24T10:42:30.372-07:00

I finally got around to trying the new zone in LoTRO (Enedwaith) last weekend, and intend to head back there this weekend. It’s a surprisingly pretty zone with some neat areas to explore. I really didn’t get that impression from screenshots I’ve seen. It’s also fairly challenging, aimed squarely at level 65 solo players or parties of players in their low 60s. It’s a lot tougher than Mirkwood,

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-29496844539337804692010-09-16T13:58:00.001-07:002010-09-16T15:20:35.030-07:00

Via MMO crunch, Pirates of the Burning Sea is gearing up to go FtP. A bit of research reveals that PotBS is not nearly as mainstream in it's design as other recent sub-based games to make the switch, less so than even DDO. In fact, according to reviews, it plays a lot like a EVE Online with a pirate theme. Not a game I'd be willing to try if the purchase of a client was involved, but for free?

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-54354644667081505512010-09-10T07:23:00.001-07:002010-09-10T14:07:37.392-07:00

With Lord of the Rings FtP going live this weekend, we now have three major MMOs (LoTRO, along with Dungeons and Dragons Online and Everquest II extended) that have switched from sub based to FtP. Besides those of us that obsess on MMOs as a hobby, I imagine a lot of industry folks are going to be watching these games closely.I suspect that the success or failure of LoTRO and EQ2X in particular

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-44409507077872734082010-09-03T12:15:00.000-07:002010-09-03T12:30:55.313-07:00

First off, I think the blogging community needs to decide what the abbreviation of Everquest II Extended is. Hell, even here you can find EQ2X, EQIIX, and EQII ex in various posts. There is also some movement towards EQ2E on some blogs. Forget unemployment, this is serious business ;-) My new pixie death mage is definitely going to go tailor. After a bit of research, I realized that I was

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-81761280172895758382010-09-01T12:58:00.000-07:002010-09-01T13:15:52.191-07:00

Today at around noon SOE released a small patch and an update to the item shop in Everquest II extended. Now silver and bronze players can buy access to restricted classes for $7.50 each, and can buy broker (auction house) tokens in stacks of ten for $1.50. On the announcement I bought another $20 in station cash, bringing my total in EQ2X up to $45 since I started playing. I’m planning to

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-56597249727984767652010-08-25T18:43:00.000-07:002010-08-26T15:08:50.834-07:00

Apologies for the radio silence, I was at a conference last week and playing catch up early this week.The first thing I did when I had some spare time was try out Everquest II extended. Everquest II is one of those MMOs I have dabbled in a few times, and like quite a bit, but have never subbed to for more than a month or two. I tend to get bored with it in long doses, despite the fact that it's

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-40571378268545445472010-08-14T09:58:00.000-07:002010-08-14T10:59:56.148-07:00

I found a recent post at Don't Fear the Mutant and the comments that followed really thought provoking. In certain corners of the web there is a running meme that goes along the lines of "Every major MMO since World of Warcraft launched has been a WoW clone, WoW murdered innovation in the MMO genre. " Of course this relies on defining every MMO that has classes, quests, levels, and turn

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-75882592659145739642010-08-06T13:53:00.000-07:002010-08-06T14:57:26.359-07:00

In responding to a recent post over at Bullet Points, it occurred to me that the makers of sub based MMOs have an odd quandary. Every time they add content to a game for free, the value of a sub goes up since it buys access to more. A side effect of this is that if you are thinking about subbing to a game but can't decide whether to do it now or later, waiting until later will always be a

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-33205737796102584652010-07-28T17:52:00.001-07:002010-07-29T07:13:03.285-07:00

Because of Aspendawn's heads up about the deal that steam had going for Everquest II last week, I very nearly restarted up EQ II over the weekend. In the end, I found the thought of paying $15 to renew my sub in addition to the (fantastic) $15 deal on expansions too off-putting. With a lifetime sub to LoTRO; and having gotten used to URU, DDO, and Wizard 101; I was hesitant to pay $30 to walk

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-72246231119419806612010-07-25T10:05:00.000-07:002010-07-25T10:44:54.501-07:00

The last big patch for Dungeons and Dragons Online added a new feat for spellcasters: Augment Summoning. It adds +4 to the stats of everything you summon or charm, as well as +4 to hireling stats. With this relatively minor addition to the game, Turbine essentially created a new character specialization. The feat is a lot butcher at low levels than at high levels, but at low levels it is

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-13766386085421785952010-07-15T15:29:00.001-07:002010-07-15T15:57:41.480-07:00

Recent posts by Ardwulf and Tobold in the aftermath of the RealID fiasco have gotten me thinking about why I maintain an online persona. I've been posting as Yeebo for quite a while, for years on various message boards before I even started blogging. I am certain that when I started out, it just seemed like a cool fun thing to do to make up a name and start posting under it. Much like

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-74312707811288696582010-07-08T20:04:00.000-07:002010-07-09T12:41:15.731-07:00

I sincerely hope I am mistaken about this [Edit: yeah, I was...turns out it's an unintended bug in the patch]As far as I can tell, the buffer for outdoor maps got changed from four (i.e., your character will remember where you have been in four outdoor zones until you hit a 5th, then one character specific map will get replaced) to zero. This means that if you have the temerity to explore an

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-42648785199776429522010-07-06T17:24:00.000-07:002010-07-07T08:52:22.987-07:00

Lest this blog become known as Yeebo's random DDO rants, I feel obligated to give some more details about book five now that I've had time to mess with it.The guild leveling system I like quite a bit. Whenever you finish a quest chain, in addition to the normal rewards you are offered an item that will feed points to your guild. Even soloing low level quests I've managed to add a few thousand

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-9937739862355732272010-07-01T16:27:00.000-07:002010-07-02T09:31:34.757-07:00

I made it back from a conference (to which my recent lack of posts can be attributed) last night. Despite my jet lag, I decided to spend some time messing around with DDO's update five. I’m sure that the higher level features such as the new guild airships , the class spec line changes, and the new module are fine and dandy. However, on my (maximum of level 8) toons, the only real difference

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-73423288560877811132010-06-17T16:24:00.000-07:002010-06-19T06:27:03.132-07:00

A lot of tantalizing news is coming out of E3. The one trailer I've seen that got me the most jazzed was not for an MMO at all, it was for the new Deus Ex game. I loved the first Deus Ex, one of my all time favorite games. I even liked the second one enough to play through it. I'm hoping the game will hew closer to the first than the second, which does seem to be the case.Interplay's Fallout

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-52742246722112228252010-06-07T18:43:00.000-07:002010-06-07T19:26:45.794-07:00

Spent most of the weekend in Dungeons and Dragons online. Still having fun there, though I'm finding the higher I get the harder it is to figure out what quests I should be working on and where to pick them up. Where I used to be able to wander aimlessly and find quests, I'm relying very much on the in game compendium these days. It lists every quest near your level range in the game, as well

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-9362747751651102122010-06-04T08:53:00.000-07:002010-06-04T13:39:05.617-07:00

I got a serious shock when I did my normal lunch time blog browsing today. Mordor or Bust completely nailed it, Lord of the Rings Online is going Free to Play ala DDO. There are a lot of places you can get info on the website if you dig around. You can read the announcement here and get some additional answers to player questions here. Forum reactions so far are mixed, but overall tending

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-86274120535604443212010-06-02T17:15:00.000-07:002010-06-03T06:24:09.251-07:00

I'm still slightly obsessing on DDO. My main (a paladin) is almost level 8, and I'm really happy with how her build is performing. The other character I've put the most time into lately is Warforged Wizard, and until last night I was growing increasingly dissatisfied with him.Warforged are kind of an oddball race. They are magical constructs that can't wear armor. Instead they start with a

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-21607114200240384712010-05-24T10:53:00.000-07:002010-05-24T11:31:41.283-07:00

Dungeons and Dragons Online has an incredibly deep character development system. The game itself isn't all that complex, but when planning characters you may as well be playing EVE. You have to allocate stat points when you roll a character, which is damn easy to mess up when you first start playing. This is not Everquest, where the stats you get from gear will trump any other

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-76659233576414187832010-05-18T11:56:00.000-07:002010-05-18T16:08:35.652-07:00

As I mentioned previously, my goal in DDO was to see how far I could get solo without repeating content. As of last night, I have concluded that it's around level six and three bubbles. I could have maybe squeaked out some more levels by banging my head on level 7 content, but that's kind of a losing proposition because I'd have to start in on level 8 and 9 content with fewer abilities to get

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-27446137359217675462010-05-07T09:55:00.001-07:002010-05-07T10:26:51.409-07:00

It seems like in almost every level based MMO, you hit a plateau at the mid levels where you don't have any new abilities to look forward to for a while. Up until then new abilities come at a rapid pace. However at some point you've earned all of your core skills, and won't be getting any major new ones for many levels (in some games, not until you start to approach the cap). Making it seem

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-13235352017586082742010-05-06T08:57:00.000-07:002010-05-06T12:15:09.502-07:00

Posting has been a bit slow (i.e., absent) because I was out of town over the weekend (in Sante Fe, NM). Going from 6000 feet and light snow to 85 degrees at sea level in one day when I came back was absolutely surreal. Since getting back, I've been putting more time into Dungeons and Dragons online. I now own every race and class apart from Favored Soul, and most of the low level content

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-12174418859916536362010-04-24T07:14:00.000-07:002010-04-24T17:56:45.677-07:00

Dungeons and Dragons online has a sale going this weekend where you can get 6900 Turbine points for $50. It was simply way too good a deal to resist. Until now I've been pretty smug about the fact that I've barely spent any money in DDO during the past year that I've been playing it on and off. It's still not a ton of money, but more than I was planning to spend for certain.I had already

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-90503821199545812512010-04-21T14:13:00.000-07:002010-04-22T11:19:30.594-07:00

My time in Star Wars galaxies came to an end last weekend. I had some fun during my trial, but in the end the game simply wasn't polished enough for me to justify buying the client or subbing. The controls are not very intuitive. Even after two weeks getting used to them, they were really only tolerable. The graphics engine also is poorly optimized. Running the game on a rig that would have

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-69551756346491427232010-04-09T20:26:00.000-07:002010-04-09T22:57:17.062-07:00

Via Broken Toys and Slashdot, it seems that Mythic had a billing snafu of epic proportions. Hit the links to read up if you care to. The short version is that, due to a glitch in a new billing system, thousands of customers were hit with subscription charges sufficient to nearly empty an average mid-month checking account. In many cases this caused checks to bounce and overdraft fees to be

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-45807851940048208672010-04-08T22:20:00.000-07:002010-04-09T08:18:21.822-07:00

With my interest in LoTRO and Allods Online waning, I went out looking for a new PvE focused MMO over the weekend (URU continues to scratch my explorer itch quite well). At first I intended to take Star Trek Online for a spin. However, while looking for the best prices I found an all in one pack for Star War Galaxies for $20. SWG is one of those MMOs I’ve been meaning to try for ages,

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-87483643268714740692010-04-07T08:29:00.000-07:002010-04-07T12:56:28.563-07:00

Lately my playtime in Allods Online has dropped to almost nil. I think the major issue that I'm having is that the pace of the game has slowed to a crawl. I realize that's a bit of an unfair assessment, since the level cap is 40 and I'm half way there. Levels don't exactly fly by in the 40s in WoW, or in the 30s in LoTRO after all.However, the other thing that's making the game seem slow paced

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-89119001527434446782010-03-31T16:07:00.000-07:002010-03-31T22:38:53.951-07:00

A trailer for Funcom's upcoming horror MMO The Secret World is up at gametrailers.com, and I have to say "Holy crap, that looks like something I want to play." Unfortunately, based on their track record so far, it will likely be next to unplayable for the first few months after launch. Of course maybe the Funcom curse only applies to MMOs that start with A.Another trailor for FFIV is up, and it

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-55989768082043035622010-03-25T16:40:00.000-07:002010-03-25T18:22:57.858-07:00

A friend of mine got me to try Myst Online last weekend. I thought the game had long passed into the mists of time (npi). However, as it turns out, it's still online and 100% free to play. The maintainers welcome donations, but in no way require them.The game has a bit of a learning curve. It has the most god-awfully clunky chat system I've ever seen. It quite literally took me 30 minutes

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-2869015633086590902010-03-24T09:59:00.000-07:002010-03-24T13:02:45.883-07:00

Via Blue Kae, I'm jumping in on Scary Boosters Developer Appreciation Week. I'm taking some liberties with the idea and broadening out to a whole division that consists of several studios: Sony Online Entertainment.Yeah, yeah they screwed the pooch with the NGE, we all know. However, screwing the pooch occasionally is one side effect of being innovative. Innovative means "risky," and when

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-87444948825722777252010-03-19T01:10:00.000-07:002010-03-19T02:19:27.106-07:00

I've been having a lot of fun in Allods. I've been playing for close to a month now. Based on simple general goodwill, I have reached the point where I would usually spend money in a FtP MMO. In fact a few hours ago, I spent some time digging through the cash shop to see if there was anything I could justify spending cash on. There wasn't anything I was willing to buy. After some reflection,

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-38942563754791394472010-03-14T11:29:00.000-07:002010-03-14T12:03:55.128-07:00

I finally got around to trying the new glory system in LoTRO, and I have to say I think it's brilliant. "Glory" refers to a massive buff that you now get when you attempt to solo epic quests meant for a full party. These quests are some of the best content in the game, and a lot of players that aren't in big kinships simply aren't able to get PuGs going for them these days. Turbines' solution

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-65199913797294310432010-03-12T11:55:00.000-08:002010-03-12T12:33:07.582-08:00

I have just finished out my second questing zone in Allods Online. I'm on the cusp of level 15, and though I'd share some further impressions.The second zone, called the Training Camp, was a lot of fun. There was an interesting story about a rivalry between the red team and blue team running through the zone. And a lot of the quests had some humor to them, the quest writers (or perhaps

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-39875386055292491432010-03-12T08:33:00.000-08:002010-03-12T14:13:12.577-08:00

The developers that I trust, the one's that seem to "get it", are the ones that approach MMO development the way that a scientist would. They say things like, "we have been analyzing player behavior, and concluded that we really need to do X to our game because of Y." They make observations and draw conclusions from data rather than guessing. For example, a few weeks or months ago Turbine

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-20052876183795215182010-03-07T23:44:00.000-08:002010-03-08T09:19:49.493-08:00

I was planning a post about the crafting system in Allods. It's a bit of a pain since at low levels you can gather or craft items, not both. To make finished products you pretty much have to have two toons, one supplier and one producer. Once you do have both going, one of the best crafting systems I've ever encountered in an MMO opens up (really, it's quite impressive!). However, that is now

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-16986485297695045422010-03-03T09:22:00.000-08:002010-03-03T10:22:29.214-08:00

My main character has hit the ripe old age of level 11. I've ended up playing the Empire side, mainly because I like the art direction. It has a very cool eastern European/ steampunk/ I'm-not sure-what feel to it. For example, one of my quest givers:My character at level 8, with her steam powered robo-scorpion in the background:A random guard:And the ceiling of the building that he works in:In

Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com4