A lot of the true PvP’ers discuss the need for penalty upon death. We aren’t talking about some pansy time-delimited death penalty (especially when you can just buy it off). We are talking about digital blood. Continue reading The PvP Protectionists
Month: September 2009
.
Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.
.eAsk
World of Warcraft seems perfect for scratching that Achiever itch. This may just be part of the newb experience, but there are more flying numbers, color splashes, and dinging bells than I have seen anywhere else.
When I fight, my chat box gets blue text telling me how my weapon skills and defense are increasing, and I can switch between weapons to get even more blue numbers. After the fight, numbers fly over my head, indicating experience. A purple bar keeps me updated constantly on that. I click the body to receive cash and loot. I may be able to skin the enemy, and if not, walking around is probably rewarding as I find other things to gather. I have two trade professions and three secondaries, with a fourth coming next year. Back to the enemies, they may relate to a quest, so I get more numbers for each kill, plus maybe more numbers when I check the body. The quest numbers update on the right side of my screen, and if I have Quest Helper, they even change colors. I have various factions that like me more with each quest. I have pages of achievements, most of which come naturally as I do other things to get numbers and colors above my head. There are clarions and splashes of color for everything. All of these things let me buy new skills, ranks, and other things that will add a number or line, with the accompanying animation and sound.
On the Explorer side, I do not see much. I mean, I can wander around and look at things, but I do not think of touring through Disney World as exploring. It is funny that The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ out-theme parks WoW in the early game, but it feels like one for Explorers. Continue reading eAsk
Guild Wars 2 Interview
Guild Wars 2 is fast becoming one of the most anticipated MMO-type games since the release of the Guild Wars 2 trailer and follow up articles and interviews. Jeff Grubb – World Designer and Writer for Guild Wars 2 - just back from a busy time at Germany’s Gamescom, and he was graciously able to answer a few questions before heading off to PAX 2009, where ArenaNet will have plenty of events. (Be sure to check out their giveaway times for their 128-page Guild Wars 2 concept art book.) On to the questions! Continue reading Guild Wars 2 Interview
Casual Hardcore
I have yet to be able to play in moderation, and my gaming time has hardly decreased, but I am not a hardcore player of anything in particular at the moment.
I am a recent World of Warcraft newbie, but it is not enormously sucking me in. When my triple-xp referrer friend wants to play, we play a few hours, although we have not since hitting the “instances do not work” wall. Other than that, I solo a character for about half an early quest hub before logging. As part of the hardcore player’s optimization, I am cycling through characters and using that rested xp. It still has that new game shine, so I am playing a couple of hours most days of the week.
I have a lifetime Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ account, and I play a couple hours a few times a week. We have a Casualties static group, I get a level on an alt, I run the bounty IXP chain, or I farm and craft. It usually lasts about one expedition: if my packs are full, I will most likely warp back to town, sell, train, and log.
Team Fortress 2 appears a few times a week for several hours. I know and like a few maps, and I have not felt like being a newbie again to learn new ones. Friends have invited me to several Facebook games, and some are amusing once you get 4 or 5 running at once. Visit Kongregate twice a week to check on card challenges. Plants vs. Zombies still gets a little time.
That adds up to quite a bit, but it is widely scattered. This, plus my web-like conceptual map, explains why I write about one game but end up mentioning four others. There is no “one game” at the moment, and I would enjoy more time to binge a bit more on each or add more to the stack. I frequently find myself wanting to like various games more than I do.
: Zubon
I wasn’t always a raider
There was a time in which I loaded up MMOs just to be a part of an online world. For me, it was just an extension of my text-based MUDs. Yes, there was loot and levels to lust after in those games, but there were no raids. It was so rare to have a full group that you may not be aware of mechanics like maximum group size until you had played for hundreds of hours. There was nothing to do at max level except hang out, or maybe join the coding team and make new content. Today, end-game raids are the only reason I bother installing an MMO.
Additional instances cannot be launched, please try again later.
We spent half a night this weekend running around for the Defias Brotherhood quest chain, which showed me a bit of the world. It culminates in the Deadmines, where we spent the other half of the night waiting at the door until everyone gave up and left. Two groups came after us; I don’t know how long they waited. A few of us hopped servers, made new characters, and took them to level 9. Checking that instance portal before leaving for the night, nope, still no dice.
I know it is hard to get good servers and architecture with only $100 million per month or so, and I give full credit for how quickly and easily I can log into the game without queues, but being about to log into the zones is important too.
: Zubon
Update: the last update seems to have worked, at least for me, at least so far. I have yet to be rejected at another instance portal.