Author: Ethic

I own this little MMO gaming blog but I hardly ever write on it any more. I'm more of a bloglord or something. Thankfully I have several minions to keep things rolling along.
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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.

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Happy 4th, World of Warcraft

IRVINE, Calif. – November 4, 2004 – Blizzard Entertainment today announced that its eagerly awaited massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft will be in stores in North America on November 23, 2004. World of Warcraft will launch simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand, and is planned for release in Korea, Europe, and other countries throughout Asia shortly following. With a monthly subscription, players in these regions will soon be able to experience the epic adventure of the Warcraft series in an immersive and continually evolving online environment.

Make sure you log in today, there are birthday gifts!

– Ethic

The End of Tabula Rasa

I just caught this over at MMOG Nation. Was not expecting Tabula Rasa to close. I figured they would fight it out for a good while before they ended up deciding to pull the plug.

To the Tabula Rasa Community,

Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we’ve achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn’t performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.

So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.

Before we end the service, we’ll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.

– Ethic

Losing Sight of the Carrot

One of the problems I have with quest-driven leveling in modern games, is that I end up depending on the carrot to lead me around way too much. Eventually, I lose sight of the carrot altogether and then I stop playing. I know it’s kind of a silly metaphor, but it happened to me in both World of Warcraft at level 40 and in Lord of the Rings Online at level 32.

What seems to occur is that I will end up with a group of quests that are too hard to do solo, or else a bunch of quests designed specifically for groups. Since I seem to have some sort of mental block around finding groups, I usually log on a few times and log back off. Finally I cancel the game.

However, since I have a lifetime account for LotRO, I didn’t cancel and continued to pop in once and a while to see what’s new. One day a few weeks ago (with my hunter that was stuck at level 32) I decided to get on my horse and ride to Rivendell. I had not been there yet and I realized I did have one quest asking me to talk to someone there so off I went.

Continue reading Losing Sight of the Carrot

Death Knight, Fun.

I installed WotLK for my wife and then watched the queue for her. 1600 people and 45 minutes later, I was staring at the character screen. What the heck, I thought I’d whip up a Death Knight to see what they put together before she came back downstairs.

Fun. Damn you Blizzard you know how to make this fun. I had a total and complete blast and finally logged out after a level and a half of pure joy. Even the quest to kill 100 guards was fun. And what is this fantastic new technology that you use to change the state of the landscape with the blink of an eye? I was dumbstruck. I just don’t know what to say other than way to go Blizzard! You really surprised me.

I had no intention of ever playing World of Warcraft again. Thanks a lot.

– Ethic

HCB: The Run To 80 – Is Over

My Hard Core Brother (HCB) is going to update me as he progresses on his way to level 80 in World of Warcraft. I will update this post as I get the information from him. He estimates he will be 80 sometime on Saturday. Yes, he took the rest of the week off for this.

Beginning at level 70 with a Retribution Paladin on the Horde side at 11:30 PM on Wednesday night. He claims he started 30 minutes later than he wanted to so he had to play a little catch up with his guildmates at first.

  • Level 71 at 3:30 AM Thursday morning (4 hours to level).
  • Level 72 at 8:00 AM Thursday morning (4.5 hours to level).
  • Level 73 at 12:00 noon Thursday (4 hours to level).
  • 4:00 PM Thursday, taking 2 hour nap.
  • 6:00 PM queue of 600, est. wait time 25 minutes. 30 minute nap.
  • In game 6:30 PM – Level 74 at 7:45 PM Thursday night (5.25 hours to level).
  • Level 75 at 1:30 AM Friday morning (5.75 hours to level).
  • Level 76 at 6:00 AM Friday morning (4.5 hours to level).
  • Level 77 at 10:30 AM Friday morning (4.5 hours to level).
  • Level 78 at 3:00 PM Friday, highest on server now (4.5 hours to level).
  • Level 79 at 6:45 PM Friday (3.75 hours to level).
  • Level 80 at 11:00 PM Friday night (4.25 hours to level).

    • Realm first on Mal’Ganis! He got spammed by so many tells that he couldn’t even do anything so he is off to bed for some much needed rest.

    – Ethic

    My Late Night WoW Theory

    I believe: The majority of the players in World of Warcraft are first-time MMO players. We all know how hard it is to leave that first MMO, and the popularity of WoW makes it even harder because it’s not about the game as much as it is about the people you have met.

    I believe: The majority of those first-time WoW players will eventually realize how much time they have “lost” playing WoW and will not move on to another MMO when they do finally decide to quit WoW.

    I believe: New MMOs will not have a lot of success targeting the first-time WoW players and will have to rely mostly on people new to the MMO genre as well as the old-school MMO players that try them all hoping to find “The One”.

    I believe: The first-time MMO players that do leave WoW for another MMO will have a very hard time finding another MMO to equal their first and will not give new MMOs much of a chance unless they dramatically improve on the WoW gameplay experience.

    – Ethic

    Happy 4th, EverQuest 2

    Sony Online Entertainment today announced that EverQuest II is scheduled for a simultaneous release in North America and Europe on November 8, 2004.

    “After more than four years in development, the wait for EverQuest II is almost over,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve invested heavily on development of the game to ensure that EverQuest II has the highest production values of any online game produced to date. We want to deliver a game to our players that will provide an experience like nothing they’ve ever seen.”

    EverQuest II is a parallel online universe to the hugely successful gaming phenomenon EverQuest. Featuring breathtaking graphics and a vast, beautiful game world to explore, EverQuest II sets new standards in graphical realism as players are immersed in the game’s epic storyline with thousands of other players online. Players will encounter more than 160 unique creatures as they journey across the majestic landscape of rolling hills, lush forests, and bustling cities. Thousands of new items, hundreds of magical new spells, and unlimited adventure await all who enter the world of EverQuest II. Choose from 16 races, 100 levels, and 48 classes; own apartments, homes, guild houses, and ships; and log information regarding quests, adventures, encounters, transactions, and more in your in-game journal.

    – Ethic