MMOs and Gaming

And the pendulum swings and I find myself returning to PC gaming. With the closure of Blockbuster and the Rogers outlets. I no longer have any good alternatives for renting. This has mostly ruined what was a good deal several years ago when I had swung into console gaming to play all the cool titles I was missing. But at $70 a title that lasts usually no longer than two weeks buying isn't a choice. I sold off my Xbox 360. And am content to hold onto my PS3 since the media capabilities of it are fantastic. And it's also my Bluray player. I don't see myself going into the next generation. I can further beef up my PC instead. And play some of these games a year or more down the line on my PC that still works. And not have a bunch of games that have no value and can't be used once their console system has been put out to pasture.

So, now I am back to PC gaming. I was enjoying Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. And Diablo 3 is right around the corner. But predominantly I find that MMOs are the titles that I usually get the most out of. Been playing them pretty much since 1999. But I find myself once again returning to Azeroth and World of Warcraft. I have always like Blizzard as a company. And maybe that is part of it.

I've been away from the game for must be at least six months or more. And in the interim I played the F2P versions of City of Heroes, EverQuest 2. As well as played the beta and launch of Star Wars The Old Republic. Which I left once I hit the cap and there didn't seem to be much left for me to do. I would say that SW needed another 6 months or so to fill out. And CoH and EQ2 even when they were pay subs didn't hold my attention that long. I would have to say looking back, that EQ1 and WoW were the two MMOs that I've played the most. Everything else were short diversions. I even played DC Universe Online on PS3 and it was only fun for a few days.

But I received one of the new super turbo charged Scrolls of Resurrection and it lured me back in. At first I played a couple hours and didn't have much fun with it. I was bored. Which was why I left in the first place. I had one 85 and several 80s and nothing I felt like doing. But now I was able to bring my Mage over from another server. And get a boost to level 80. And now I've been taking it easy fishing with my 85 and doing low key stuff. While with my newly minted 80 Mage (Who was 73 before) I find some more fun coming back. I don't find I have the time or the patience for Raids or even groups usually. Maybe with a guild dungeons wouldn't be so bad. But PUGs never seem to go well. And as a Mage my role is pretty simple. DPS. I don't have the pressure of healing or tanking. And back in the beginning days of WoW my Mage was into all the dungeons and raiding. But when I went horde I didn't recreate my Mage since I don't like to do the same things over and over. I didn't want to have to level a Mage a second time. Although it took me about three times to get a Shaman past 24.

And I guess with the single player games I have this sense of being alone, playing against a machine. And again I tend to get bored. With MMOs they seem to be like a pseudo sand box. And there are always other people around. Whether I choose to interact with them or not. I can buy, sell, trade and still feel like I'm part of something persistent. So even with my lack of interest in the main social aspects of the games (Grouping and Raiding) it still seems to be mainly a social atmosphere. This 'it' factor that single player games seem to be lacking.

So with my play style I tend to solo the game and play Battlegrounds. And this generally seems to be enough of a social interaction to keep me interested. Where single player games don't. At least when I'm not suffering MMO burnout.

But I knew that I would in all likely hood be buying Mists of Pandaria this fall. So a few months to finish up some levels and skills before that would be good. And I will be ready to dive into the expansion. And it looks like they are adding a lot of stuff to do with the 'Pokemon' aspect besides grind out another five levels. And I've been missing a Monk class since the game launched. They were one of my favorites in EQ 1 back in the day. And I still wish I had of come back for two months last fall for Brewfest and Halloween events.

Anyway, I better stop. Since this is turning into a large wandering post.

Star Wars The Old Republic

This post was much longer that it is now, but it turned into a bit of a rambling take on the state of modern MMOs compared to the early days of EQ1 and DAoC. And how the social aspects with groups were so much better than today. Which doesn't really say much about TOR in general.

So, I've been playing since early last fall when I got into beta. Just got billed for my first cycle. And I imagine it will be my last once.

I played a Commando in beta. And went back to it in release. And a couple weeks ago made level 50. And had the feeling of being done wash over me. I just don't much feel like playing now. My storyline is done. Which was the fantastic thing about this game. It was as someone else has mentioned WoW with lightsabres. And Knights of the Old Republic 3. And then when you hit level 50, the whole game just spins and lands on it's head.

You are once again just like any other MMO (Wow) and no, I don't really have any suggestions on what Bioware could do differently. All I am left to do is Raid, PvP or finish up some side quests I have left.

I had to spend a metric ton of cash to catch up on skills, and work on Armstech. And it seems like most MMOs crafting is basically worthless. I'm not seeing how I would generally make any cash. Not much seems to sell well at all on the Auction House. There just doesn't seem much for me to do.

Now, all 8 classes have their own stories. And I did start a bunch of alts of various levels 6 to 22. And beyond their class / story quests most of the side quests are the same as the ones I already did with the Commando. And the same planets, so that has been boring me. Hopefully down the road they will get a chance to expand the number of planets. And give some alternate choices for the different level ranges to quest in.

Space Combat was fun, rails or not. The trouble I had with it, was that a lot of them looked the same. But even so it was a fun arcade shooter quality. And I liked flying them. Again, hopefully they get some more variety added in.

I'm still having some quests that become buggy for one reason or another. And I can no longer complete them. And I can't abandon them from my log.

And the companion system is fantastic. You never have to adventure alone. And you end up with a companion to fill in the various roles for Tank, Healer, DPS..

So maybe it's not so much that the game turns on its head at the end. Just so much that it's really Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3 in a persistent environment. With NPC compantions you can quest with. And it's just a different game at 50 than the one you played for a month or so before that.

In the end if you like Science Fiction and MMOs you have to give it a try. It's well worth that. The game has a strong story element to it. And was great fun one time through. Just that the path is too narrow for me to apparently make it through more than once.

3.5 Stars our of 5.

Cataclysm Crash

Well, it's been what?? About two and a half months since it was released. And I think I'm done.

Everything was going well for awhile, but the old MMO burnout crept in and I didn't feel like leveling anymore. I always wanted a high level Priest to be group friendly and for PvP. I had one on Alliance that was sitting about level 63. Since I don't play Alliance anymore I started my Horde one.

The new revamped low level zones were awesome. They really did put a lot of work into them. Not just some cosmetics either. Not only did most of the zones have changes, but all the quests and everything. It would seem they did go back and totally re-write and update graphically and geographically almost every zone I passed through.

So, when I got out of my newbie zone which was unchanged since it was part of TBC expansion (I made a Blood Elf) it was quite fun from about level 20 to 61.

They have sped up the pace, levels would pass by. I had some trouble keeping my trade skills up to date. For some time now I've been taking dual gathering to rake in the cash. And just buy what I need. It's been working great. But I had some trouble keeping it up to date with leveling too fast, and leaving the zones I needed.

That evened out after awhile, as leveling slowed down. But, once I reached Outlands everything just kind of came to a halt. There has been some changes to quests I'd swear.. Drop rates for quests amped up. Or spawns more common. But other than that, nothing seems to have been changed. And Northrend wasn't supposed to have been either.

And the boredom has been overwhelming. I tried some PvP Battlegrounds. But it would seems at level 66 they aren't much fun, or rewarding. In the past I had leveled my Rogue from about 73 to 80 almost exclusively through the BGs.

So, it would seem I'm done..again. Who knows for how long this time. Since WoW is a pretty cheap time waster. Too much time really, you never get anything else done. But for $15 a month it's pretty cheap.

I'm mulling over opening up my Gamepass again. But that runs about $32 a month. I have a list that's growing of console titles I want to play. And more coming this year. And over all, they are more rewarding. Since you can affect the story, and be the mover and shaker. Not something that is really possible in a MMO (Although Bioware is apparently trying with SW The Old Republic) so In recent memory I have more joyful memories of the games I was playing oddly enough at this time last year.. Bayonetta, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 than I do the last year of WoW on and off.

World of Warcraft Cataclysm

Just when you get out, you get sucked back in.. I took about a month off last fall. And I was kind of hoping to stay out of it. But, economically MMOs are a pretty good bargain for their cost. But that is inversely proportional to the amount of time it sucks out of your life usually.

For $15 a month play as much or as little as you want. Which is basically skipping one trip to McDonalds a month. But your time just evamporates into this netherworld of digital addiction.

Well, Blizzard has done it again. I logged back in with a 10 Day Cataclysm Trial to have a look at the new stuff. I'm not very interested in starting any new characters. Even though all the low level content has been redone pretty much. I would like to have a high level Priest and Mage for Horde. But I already have Alliance ones. I guess this is the best time to do it again, seeing as the content has changed. And with about two years between expansion maybe I can squeeze in a Hunter as well. Or just spend the money and transfer them over. But at about $55 a pop that isn't likely I don't think.

Anyway, back to my point.. The new zones I got to look at being Mount Hyjal and the underwater zones have been pretty good. The usual hunt this, collect that. But they look fantastic. And I haven't gotten to play underwater really since EQ 1. And the mechanics they added really took away the annoyance of being underwater. The Sea legs buff, letting you walk on the ocean floor, and still be able to lift off and swim. And the quest chain that gets you a Seahorse mount. Which Is awesome. Too bad you can't use him in any underwater environment.

Archaeology I only started to get into, but was interesting. But I was finding it a little sparse looking for dig sites.

Overall, I was finding it more entertaining than I did TBC or WoTLK when I first started those expansions.

At any rate I don't expect to see Blizzard get any real serious competition until Bioware releases Star Wars The Old Republic. But, then that's also two different genres. So, may not be a head to head much anyway.

MMO Roundtable

Star Trek Online or World of Warcraft?? I've played WoW for 5 years off and on. Horde and Alliance, Raids, Dungeons, Solo, Battlegrounds.. Played Star Trek Online for a week less a few days, since it was so mind numbingly boring.

Don't get me wrong, ST:O looks fantastic, ship battles are just the way I hoped they would be. Reminds me a lot of Starship Battles. Ground combat was ok.. I guess it was just that I found myself doing the exact same things over and over.. The grind (tm).. The thing that every MMO has to some degree, and try their best to hide. Once you see that hamster wheel it's never the same again.

But ST:O being from Cryptic is very much like City of Heroes in space to me. I played CoH off and on since launch. And it's fun for awhile, but again very repetitive. And I would probably be still playing if it was $9.95 a month, or even better free like Guild Wars or Dungeons and Dragons Online. I would describe it as MMOLite. Just not enough meat to keep going long term.

But, contrary to all the bitching and moaning that goes on about paying a $15 US monthly sub. MMOs are very cost effective entertainment. Play as much as you want for that 15 bucks. You can hardly eat out once on your own for that. And forgetting about buying a console game for $70 now days, you can't hardly rent one for a week for less $8 or so. But, granted you can usually wrap most games these days in a week if your dedicated enough. And renting 3 games a month and we're back to MMOs being better bang for your buck.

So, I've landed back once again in Azeroth. My last trip didn't last more than 2 weeks before I closed my sub and didn't even log in the last two. I have a bunch of Alliance in the 60s, one in the low 70s and some horde in the 70s and 80.

Cataclysm sounds interesting, and supposedly will launch in November. I'd like to have two level 80s by then. So, I can try and play the next 5 levels from different perspectives. But, last time I had difficulty leveling through the same terrain all over again. And whether it was horde or alliance the difference from 70 to 73 seemed minor. And I was bored.. I didn't expect 74 to 80 to be any more varied.

I'd like to have a DPSer to go alongside my healing toon.. But I find oddly enough, that my two most prospective candidates are both healers. And I'm more bored working up a Mage in the 70s. And until Cataclysm launches I'm certainly not going all the way down down to level 1 again to try a Rogue (For the third time, one level 47 and One level 20 already.. ) Until I can try Worgen out and the new low level stuff.

I did play a fair amount of Lord of the Rings Online. And there is a lot to like about the way they did things. But WoW being out longer, just has more to do as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I'll talk about LotrO later.

And the odd duck of the bunch, Star Wars The Old Republic by Bioware I am looking forward to seeing more about. Looking like the MMO to break the MMO mold. And if anyone can do it, I would have said Blizzard. But since, they have WoW who seems to have sharpened and perfected the current EQ style. Bioware would be the next choice to upend the paradigm. But we have upwards of a year or so before we find out.