Category: General

[World of Warcraft] Despite all the work I’ve had for the past three weeks (not to mention the work I still have), my brother not wanting to play WoW very much, plus the fact that my college’s internet has been booting me from WoW approximately once every 15-30 minutes for the past three days, I’ve managed to squeeze in some playtime. However, rather than spending all my time on my mage, I’ve created my first official alt, a Tauren hunter.

There’s a couple of things I’ve learned from playing my mage.. Firstly, being a mage isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be. I’m still going to try and hold out until I get into my 50’s and respec to the frost tree, but I’m very bored with it as it is right now. It just has no flare to it anymore. Secondly, I hate being Alliance. It’s not just the looks. I’ve heard people say Blizzard prefers Alliance more than Horde, but after playing both, I’d personally argue against that, but I don’t feel like getting into that discussion because the real answer is that Blizzard doesn’t prefer either, or at least I hope that’s true.

Continue reading Decisions…Decisions…

About three weeks back, I got accepted into the beta of a highly anticipated MMO. I cannot disclose the name due to non-disclosure shit, but I was excited.

I love betas because it is really your chance to get into a game, try out everything and make a difference in the development path. This interest however is only viable when you can actually PLAY the game. I have not been able to play this game once because it will not work on my 6800 card. It also is not working on any other 6800’s apparently.

Continue reading Dragons Don’t Fly

[World of Warcraft] Patch Day for WoW, normally this would’nt be so bad. I open up the game, log in, it gets me to a patch downloader… wait what’s this…”there was a problem with (insert text here) file, reinstall World of Warcraft and seek help from Customer Service if the problem persists” So, uninstall, click.

Now I try to reinstall it, should be easy right? Wrong, I get to disk 3, and get stuck on Installing “patch.MPQ”, I canceled, tried again, same result. It’s been going for about an hour now… guess that’s it for WoW tonight….

-Zxyrox

[Sociolotron] I read an article in Wired the other day regarding this little indie MMO based in a post-apocalyptic London. Not exactly an original concept, but the bells and whistles make up for the lack of originality. In fact the frills almost require such a setting in order to be believable.

What makes Sociolotron unique is its dedication to the minute realisms which other MMOs, due to their mainstream audience refuse to address. Pouring the bag out on the table I will point it all out for you up front. The world allows explicit sex, murder (including perma death at higher levels), drug use, BDSM, disease (including sexually transmitted), pregnancy/abortion, rape, and mechanics to support them all. This is obviously only the things which should get your attention. Much emphasis is also put on combat, ownership, crafting, business, etc.

Continue reading Sex, Drugs, and Succubus!

Just wanted to say I have been away for a little while dealing with some personal stuff, but not to worry, I am back now. I will be writing more soon.

ringthree

If I knew how to easily get a banner up for this I would, but until that time comes I’m just going to put this up:

Go Donate Now!

– Ethic

I received a subscription to a gaming magazine free with a discount club. In the midst of an ongoing internet explosion, we are still seeing weekly and monthly magazines expanding. Maybe they are all being given away, because most of their content is given away online before they see print.

In this issue, we learn that the Nintendo Revolution will have a funny looking controller, there is a good buzz about FEAR, several extremely popular series have sequels coming out before Christmas, and hey some photos of an upcoming movie that has a video game tie-in. I imagine that some console gamers are not online very much, but what what are the odds on you or I hearing something for the first time in a monthly magazine?

Apparently, games are rated on a scale of 5-10. I say this because one of the harshest reviews I have ever seen got a 5. The reviewer expected the game’s protagonist to leap from the screen and kill babies IRL. I guess a 2 would require that actually happening. Is it a sign of cynicism if I see a 10 rating and wonder, “How many ads did they buy?

: Zubon

Off and on lately, I have been having scattered thoughts about a subject about which others have surely written more coherently. The impetus was the announcement of ED around the same time as the announcement of the Nobel prize in economics. The winners this year work in game theory, and some of Thomas Schelling’s work can be summarized as, “You can be better off, either individually, or institutionally, if your choices are limited in advance. ” (Yes, it means something different in-context.)

We take it as an article of faith that games should offer more choices. When does less choice mean more fun?

Continue reading Choices = Fun?

[City of Villains] City of Villains does not have healers or tanks. The holy trinity of healer, tank, and damage? We are down two. Stop for a moment and think about what your current MMO would look like without those two.

There are characters that can heal, and some who can take some damage. Still, your Paladin is not a Priest, and my Dark/Thermal Corruptor is certainly not an Empathy Defender. Every character has some sort of damage power and some sort of defense or utility power. We are all hybrid damage dealers.

Continue reading City of Hybrid Damage Dealers

Not much to say here as I haven’t tried it, but free is free.

– Ethic