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Wow. Been a while. Stopped playing Star Trek Online. The DPS monkeys won and now everything requires a very specific type of gameplay. Sad too, as there were a couple of updates that added cool stuff (like removing the sector blocks so there is one, massive contiguous block of space). Still, not fun anymore so I decided to bow out.

 

I've been playing Elite Dangerous solo play. I was going to switch over to Open World (MMO) play but I read where it is quite common for experienced players to hover outside of space docks and attack newbie ships. That really sort of settled the whole online, multiplayer question for me. I think I am reverting to my pre-STO opinion that massively multiplayer anything pretty much sucks eggs. That puts a damper on some games that I might have been interested in playing (Elder Scrolls Online and, possibly, Star Citizen). On the other hand, I can focus on a narrower field of games and not spend a lot of money to get there.

 

I don't want to drag down the conversation in general, so this will probably be all I have to say on the subject.  Skyrim, my happiest place in gaming, is calling me.

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Wow. Been a while. Stopped playing Star Trek Online. The DPS monkeys won and now everything requires a very specific type of gameplay. Sad too, as there were a couple of updates that added cool stuff (like removing the sector blocks so there is one, massive contiguous block of space). Still, not fun anymore so I decided to bow out.

 

Hold up, Nolgoth. When did they remove the sector blocks? I don't recall hearing about that.

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Hold up, Nolgoth. When did they remove the sector blocks? I don't recall hearing about that.

 

A couple of weeks back is when they released the update.  Be warned, if you are in the level 55-60 range, things are going to be tough. Level 60 is aggressively deadly. So much so that if you don't have an optimized bridge crew, a Tier 6 ship, and all your ship weapons and gear upgraded to Mark XIV (Ultra Rare or even Epic), you are going to have some serious issues. Heck, one of the requirements for remaining competitive is a specific ship console from a previous lock box event. These days you are more likely to spend roughly 50 million EC to get one off the exchange than to find a lock box that has one. PVE Queue stuff is very tough but that "DPS rules" philosophy has leaked over to the story missions now too. It started with Delta Rising and this new Reaper...I mean Iconian War stuff is hard enough that my first character, with aforementioned min/maxed ship, has a tough fight against what used to be middling power opponents.

 

If you are cool with that, then I suspect that this new season might just have some fun stuff for you. If the Delta Recruitment event is still running, it is fun to get one of those recruits up to Admiral. Same ol' story missions but they add a little treasure hunt to find clues about the Iconians.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like no more flying in WoW. Ever.

 

Found this thread a minute ago:

 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/17597939626

 

It references this interview.

 

 

 


4. There's still no flying in Tanaan Jungle ... and there probably won't be in any new zones or expansions

 

When Warlords of Draenor first hit, some fans were surprised to discover that even upon reaching the new level cap of 100, they couldn't fly with their air-based mounts in the new zones. Initially Blizzard expected to patch in flying at some point, but now it has changed its mind.

 

"Having looked at how flying has played out in the old world in the last couple of expansions, we realized that while we were doing it out of this ingrained habit after we introduced flying in The Burning Crusade, it actually detracted from gameplay in a whole lot of ways," Hazzikostas explains. "While there was certainly convenience in being able to completely explore the world in three dimensions, that also came at the expense of gameplay like targeted exploration, like trying to figure out what's in that cave on top of a hill and how do I get up there."

 

 

They're not really making me want to rush out to sign back up. Edit: Not so much on the lack of flying, just their general approach to things, including communication.

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Yeah the designers have made noises that they regret ever adding flight into the game.  Their complaint?  Well aside from most of them being PVP'ers and hating having someone fly in suddenly from above to attack them on PVP servers - something only a small minority of idiots players play on - it allows players to bypass the hard, slow slog through hordes of monsters on the ground and annoying terrain designed to slow down your play time.

 

If there's one thing game designers hate, from the very beginning of MMOG's (you used to get banned in EverQuest for doing it), its "bypassing content."  Bypassing content means "not fighting your way through mile after mile of crap to get to where you want to be."

 

Now, honestly, I don't mind going through that once, with one character.  You see the story, learn about the territory, etc.  Its okay.  But when you have multiple, sometimes dozens of alts... yeah, not real fond of it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've played around a bit with Pathfinder Online. First impression: We're gonna party like it's 1999! Though to be fair, the graphics for PFO are a little better than EQ, but EQ had a much, much better UI. Kind of does feel like the old, old, old days of gaming at this stage, though.

 

I have no idea what I'm doing, but at least that doesn't stop me from leveling up! You earn 100 xp per hour. Just for existing. That's pretty cool.

 

Right-clicking on the town guards in the starter area? Don't do it. You attack them, they aggro you, and after you die . . . .they corpse camp the graveyard. Don't ask me how I know. :D

 

I think they may have hid an interesting game behind the UI, but not sure if I'll be able to dig much of it out before the 15 days are up.

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So, I just launched Wildstar to patch it (I do that randomly with my inactive games to keep them semi-up to date in case I decide to play them again at some point), and found an interesting notice in the launcher:

 

Wildstar is going free to play.

 

I haven't read all the details yet, just linking for now.

 

This may further disincline me toward returning to WoW.

 

OTOH, if I can play without grinding cash to buy game time tokens, I could resub to WoW for a month, raise the 20-23k gold the tokens (copycats) there are going for, and play both for free (save that first month of sub -- I blew all my cash on heirlooms and stuff before unsubbing last time).

 

Of course, if  did, it would just be to use the game as an elaborate chat room at this point, which I can already do with my level 20 alts.

 

I farted around a bit in GW2 last night. I may grab the expansion if I can get a discount on it. I'm still only level 36 on my highest level character though. (Guardian.)

 

I've been farting around a bit on CO, too, just doing an odd alert here and there. Working on my fire and my ice archetypes at the moment. Seemed like a good pair to level up next. I have an unused time card somewhere in a box. If I get about three or four characters to 39, I'll use it. Or if they actually release any interesting content. (So, when I get some more guys leveled up is when it'll be used.)

 

Overall, I've been pretty meh on MMOs of late. Though the WS news does pique my interest.

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Here's an article on the WS free to play move. It's not got much to it, but I think this quote is important:

 

 


Last year NCSOFT made public just how rough things were for Wildstar: The game had a decline of $25.5 million in revenue to $5 million by the end of the financial year.

 

Basically, if the free to play doesn't make for a big turn around in revenue, this game is very likely going to be toast. The reason I state the obvious is that they're offering incentives to subscribe until the FTP launch. I'm not going to do it. I may sub for a month or two to get my main to level cap so that I have a character to play that's not in the starter zones which will be packed by then, but beyond that, I'm not planning to invest too much.

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Looks like WoW's doing a flip-flop on the flying now:

 

 

 

In an upcoming Public Test Realm build, we will be introducing a new meta-achievement called Draenor Pathfinder. You’ll earn this achievement in Patch 6.2 by mastering the outdoor environment of Draenor—exploring Draenor’s zones, collecting 100 treasures in Draenor, completing the Draenor Loremaster and Securing Draenor achievements, and raising the three new Tanaan Jungle reputations to Revered. Initially, this achievement will award a rylak mount: the Soaring Skyterror, one of the native beasts that roam Draenor’s skies. Players will remain ground-bound on Draenor until a small follow-up patch (6.2.x), when all players who have earned Draenor Pathfinder on at least one character will unlock the ability to fly in Draenor on all their level 90+ characters.

 

I'm guessing enough people finally voted with their feet.

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Looks like WoW's doing a flip-flop on the flying now:

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing enough people finally voted with their feet.

Mixed feelings on this.  Blizz' response sounds petulant, in that flight is now some defiance of the 'natural order' that you get as a treat after going through the right hoops, but then they are giving in just a little bit.

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I've got it. Not too fond of the controls. Last time I logged in, I was having serious performance issues, too. One of these days, I may delve deeper into it.

 

Lately, I haven't had a whole lot of time to play games anyway. Mostly, I've been working on getting some characters leveled on Champions Online. Once I get about five or six of them to 39, I'll use the time card I've got laying around, ding 'em, and make a new batch.

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It's supposed to take about three weeks to finish. It's going to be based on daily quests, and I think some rare spawn kills. This is according to this interview with the lead PVE dev:

 

 

It's an interesting interview. They talk about some of the mistakes made so far with WoD, and taking a somewhat different approach with Tanaan Jungle. It doesn't excuse the sheer level of bone-headedness  of some of the mistakes (crafting, gathering professions are HUGE, very obvious ones for example), but at least he's frank about acknowledging them, so maybe 6.2 will be an improvement.

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Man, GW2 is facing some serious backlash for the 50 dollar price tag on its latest expansion. It's not just the price, it's the fact that newcomers get the core game plus the new expansion for that, while those that already have it end up with no extra character slots, nada, and they have the odd feeling they're paying extra since they already bought the game and now its like buying it twice.  That's an incomplete summary, but I have to wonder if Arena net expected this level of blow up about it?

 

I was pretty disappointed by the lack of extra character slots myself.

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If they're introducing a new class, they should at least give one new character slot with the expansion. It's not like they're that generous with character slots in the first place. So, I can see that. Not sure about the other one. It does seem unfair to give the base game away, so new players pay once for both, but I don't have a huge problem with it. That'll get more players in by lowering the cost of entry a lot, which is good for the game, and the current players.

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Pretty much, from what I can tell, it would be roughly 10 dollars to buy enough gems for a slot.

So if you are maxed out on the five they give you, and you buy the expansion, to play the new class you'll need to spend not just the 50 bucks, but 10 on top of that. Now you can earn gold in game and buy some gems with that, but still, 60 bucks for an expansion in usable form is steep

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Kinda like Warlords of Draenor was? :D

 

Just went to the Champions Online site, looks like they're launching the new tutorial zone and giving away a free character slot:

 

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/champions-online/news/detail/9416233-champions-online%3A-free-character-slot-and-character-slot-sale!

 

So, heads up for those who still play it.

 

Edit: It's on the Bonus tab in the Zen Store, which is the far right tab.

 

Edit2: You have to log all the way out and back in for it to show up. Just going to character select doesn't work.

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