The wife and I are still playing World of Warcraft. We gave Everquest 2 a try, but she really did not care for it. She didn’t like the look of it and she hated all the extra clicks it seems NPC quest givers require. I’d almost say she hated the look of the game to be honest. We went back to WoW, but since I lost any interest in the queue on Doomhammer, we looked for a quieter server and landed on Undermine. We’ll see how long this lasts before we get a queue but so far so good. This time we both started a Night Elf Hunter. As a duo, we are just destroying everything in our path and we don’t even have pets yet.
Of the two beta tests I am in, one of them is collecting dust and the other one just keeps getting more and more enjoyable. Because of this, my time normally spent in EVE Online (which I was playing when the wife didn’t want to play) has dropped to nothing. I think it’s time to take a break from EVE for a while. Not sure if or when I’ll go back, but I’ve lost all desire to play it right now.
Lots of holiday family stuff coming up and also a family vacation, a trip to Disneyworld. Going to be busy for a while. Here’s hoping your holidays bring you lots of joy and good memories!
- Ethic
This month’s Dragon Magazine has a brief update on D&D Online. Executive Producer James Jones says:
We’re also very interested in implementing prestige classes, adding the rest of the races and classes from the Player’s Handbook, and we’re looking into adding the Eberron races and classes as well.
Looks like the game should be ready for release sometime next year.
: Zubon
TV is not vulgar and prurient and dumb because the people who compose the audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests. — David Foster Wallace
Everyone likes boobies. Everyone likes huge phallic swords that burn with purple fire. Everyone likes blowing up the bad guy.
Once you get past the “everyone likes” options, you are eliminating portions of your potential playerbase. You may be making a better game, but it is better only for those subsets of the world that like that sort of thing.
As we get more games, we see more refined and aesthetic options, as games find their niches. We also see more games trying to be that lowest common denominator superstar in the center.
So hey, your game’s population is tiny not because it sucks, you are just more refined and noble than the market leader. Now that other niche game, yeah, it sucks, and so does everyone who plays it. What a bunch of losers.
: Zubon
H/T: Ben Casnocha via Marginal Revolution
I have seen print ads for the Age of Empires III expansion for a while, but I had not read the text on them:
You are one with the land. Bury your enemies in it.
Defend the Americas as the mighty Sioux, Iroquois, or Aztecs. … The land will bear your legacy forever.
I do not know how many game developers have history degrees, but they might have looked up how that fight turned out… Meh, the game would not be much fun if disease took out 95+% of your units when you met the European powers.
: Zubon
Most MMOs have a multi-month discount plan. Pay $15 for one month or $14/month for three months, with options frequently ranging up to a year. A Tale in the Desert even offered an “as long as this Telling lasts” package, which was a huge cost-saver if I recall correctly. I would like to encourage you to buy these plans rarely if ever.
The quick version is that you are giving up a lot of flexibility for very little savings.
Continue reading ‘Don’t Take That Discount’
In City of Heroes and Villains, Snaptooth has returned and kidnapped Baby New Year! Oh noes! Save the little tyke and enjoy your Christmas toys (and badges).
Father Crimbo is missing from the Kingdom of Loathing, so the Fright Queen steps up to take his place. Three spirits will guide you against primitive cave-elves, festive undead, and cyborg reindeer as you seek to bring him back. Assemble your own familiars!
Over at Gunbound, the event itself does little to gameplay except add a new song, but they are giving a discount on various avatar items and an easy way to get the gold to pay for them, along with some free avatar items.
: Zubon
I just spent 56 minutes and 32 seconds on the phone to Comcast customer service. About 56 minutes of that was spent on hold. At about the half-way point, someone answered, asked how he could help me, then said he was transferring me to the right department. He sent me back to the original voice prompt that you get when you call. Around the 56:20 point, someone answered, asked for the number where I have service, then disconnected me with a BEEP.
So tomorrow, I am calling back to cancel service, assuming anyone will answer the phone. My next call will be for DSL.
Thank you. That was vaguely cathartic.
: Zubon
So as many you should already know, Interplay has “risen from the ashes” and announced that they will spend $75M to create the highly anticipated Fallout MMORPG. Don’t hold your breath.
First of all, Interplay doesn’t actually HAVE $75M. That means that they are going to have to convince someone to give it to them. Normally, I would say this would be highly unlikely and you would be stupid to give Interplay and its current “management” that kind of money. I mean, like so stupid, you don’t deserve to have that kind of money to start with. You should be fired from your job, your dog should bite you, and oompa loompas should beat you with nerf bats for days if you do this deal. “Wow” you say, “did Nicodemus actually just say that?”. Damn skippy I did. Why? Read on…
Continue reading ‘Interplay’s Fallout MMORPG: Don’t hold your breath!’