Author: Ethic

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

EVE[EVE Online] The latest issue of E:ON magazine had a little blurb on page 9, but what an exciting blurb it is – at least to me.

Announced at the Fanfest back in October was CCP’s intention to release a mobile edition of EVE. Currently the product of a joint research project between CCP and Reykjavik University, a limited prototype client is already running on GSM phones, which allow users to log into the game, access characters, set skill training and manage items.

“EVE is a game where you can do a lot of things without having full 3D,” says Hilmar Petursson, CCP’s CEO. “We are focusing on everything that can be done in-station and hopefully players will also be able to chat and monitor chat channels, although this is one of the more difficult parts to implement.”

“It’s coming along,” he adds, “but there are a lot of commercial and security issues to work out.”

What a cool idea and I can’t wait to try it out.

– Ethic

Trial of the Isle: Mage

eq2[Everquest 2] Trial of the Isle is a free trial introduction to Everquest 2. It is free to play so why not go get it. You should at least get a taste of what you are missing, then you can rest easier at night with your gaming decisions. I’m not sure how long they are going to leave this up, but they should make it a permanent feature.

Honestly, I’ve never been a fan of Everquest. I tried it and did not like it. I was an Asheron’s Call boy instead, and I never looked back. I guess that is why I didn’t give EQ2 much of a chance. Besides, everything I read about it said it would be too grindy and too group-centric for me. Well, I’ll find out.

Continue reading Trial of the Isle: Mage

DDO Alpha Quest

DDO[Dungeons & Dragons Online] A good while back I wrote down a small story about a quest, rather uninspired really, but I wanted to kind of show what one quest was like in DDO. This was from the Alpha testing phase and it was one of the first quests you did in the game. This particular quest is still in the game, somewhat revised, so don’t read if you are avoiding spoilers (not like this is much of a spoiler really).

If you read a line that begins “I notice” or “I hear” something, that is likely the DM text I read on my screen.

Continue reading DDO Alpha Quest

Dungeons & Dragons Online NDA Lifted

DDO[Dungeons & Dragons Online] The NDA for D&D Online has been lifted so anyone in it can start blabbing. I suggest you start by reading here. Follow that up by reading here. Check out Tobold’s take here.

I’m not sure if I want to write anything about my experiences, but I will say this: Turbine made this? Not bad. Regardless, I don’t see me playing it any time soon. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice … you can’t get fooled again.

– Ethic

World of Waitcraft

wow[World of Warcraft] I figured I’d pop in to WoW for a little chat with my buddies tonight. 700 person queue, FU Blizzard.

So I figured I’d just pop into one of the other servers I have alts on and just do a little adventuring. 566 queue, 742 queue, 581 queue, on and on and on. Not a single server I can get on. FU Blizzard.

I sort the servers by population. All full except for about 20 PvP worlds that say medium. Nice planning, FU Blizzard.

What kind of a bullcrap operation they running over there? FU Blizzard.

I’m done. Where’s that Everquest II box?

– Ethic

Carnival of Gamers X – Winter Carnival

wintercarnivalsmWelcome to the Carnival of Gamers X – Winter Carnival! This year we have lots of activites to take our minds off the brutally cold weather. Luckily the lakes froze over early so we could get a good start on building the Ice Palace.

This years schedule of events:

Curling Exhibition

Over at the Fairground Ice Rink, we have a Curling Exhibition by Russ Mitchell from “Boxing Alcibiades”. He is famous for a special move he calls “Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion is a great game”. It’s a long name, which is possibly why most other players just call it RoToWar BarInIaGaGa.

Continue reading Carnival of Gamers X – Winter Carnival

The End Begins (And Ends)

ac2[Asheron’s Call 2] Today is the last day for Asheron’s Call 2 and I have the day off from work. Therefore, I will try to play as much as I can today to see how they say goodbye. There has not really been a lot of news out of Turbine regarding any plans they may have, so to be honest my expectations are low.

Here is the first update of the morning. The red X means “offline”.

Checking with the official forums, I find this update from Calandryll:

Hey folks,

Just to let you know, the AC2 servers are not supposed to be down. We are working to bring them back up now.
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-Jonathan “Calandryll” Hanna

Continue reading The End Begins (And Ends)

Looking Back: Ethic’s 2005 MMORPG Predictions

Let’s go back and take a look at my 2005 MMORPG predictions and see how close I was.

World of Warcraft: Will continue to dominate the casual playerbase. Hardcores will move on. Will become the number one MMOG in the USA.

Looks pretty good, but perhaps that one was too easy.

Asheron’s Call 2: Won’t make it to 2006.

Ouch. Dead on.

Everquest 2: Completely gives up on the casual player market and focuses on the powergamers, thus raping Everquest.

Wrong. It appears that EQ2 has been trying to lure the casuals over to the SOE camp. I got this game as a gift for Christmas, perhaps I’ll give it a try.

Continue reading Looking Back: Ethic’s 2005 MMORPG Predictions

I Like To Watch

gw[Guild Wars] The latest update out of ArenaNet has added something I like to call “Voyeur Mode”. The official name is a more boring “Observer Mode”.

That’s right, you can watch certain matches – time delayed 15 minutes to avoid abuse by cheating. This sounds interesting enough, I’d like to see more games add something along this line.

Sadly I stopped playing Guild Wars months ago, pretty much lost all interest in it. The Observer Mode is something I will check out, if only to study the technical side of it all.

Continue reading I Like To Watch