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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Froggie Went A-sailing

[Everquest 2] More game testing downtime (servers offline) led me to create a Froglok in the Trial of the Isle. I wanted to see if I could enjoy myself enough to justify the $30 box cost for a month of goofing off.

The intro movie is good, the style was sort of like a set sketches. I really liked the voice they chose and the visuals used. After watching that, my Froglok appeared on a ship sailing on the ocean. A Froglok looks just about how you might expect it, like a frog. It even hops when you move. Well, except for when you jump it seems. I don’t know if the animation is broken, but when I jumped the Froglok just levitated up in the air and then back down. Anyway, I really enjoyed the effect they made of sailing on a ship.

The captain greeted me and through him I learned some of the basics of how to move around and interact with the NPCs. He had me go talk to another person on the ship. Through interacting with these various NPCs on the ship, I learned all the basics I would need to get started.

Then, as I was just about to kill ten rats on the ship, I lost all power in my house. After the power came back on, my computer would not power up. Oh oh.

This morning before work I thought about the power strip. Sure enough, it was dead. My computer was saved from damage. Now I just need to get another one and I’ll continue my tales on the next testing downtime.

– Ethic

Priest Takes A Trip

[World of Warcraft] I had some downtime from testing last night so I created a Dwarf Priest on the Scarlet Crusade RP server. He was a brand new level 1.

His first quest was self-imposed which was to get out of the snow. He hates the cold believe it or not. He ran when he could and walked when he was tired but eventually made it to Iron Forge. He took the tram to Stormwind and from there he marched to Northshire. He liked the weather better here so he set about making money, honing his skills and getting some priestly training.

After much work, some fighting, a little bit of bartering and several attempts at making friends he found himself tired out. With his hard-earned wealth in his pocket, he travelled to Goldshire and rented a room at the Inn.

Before retiring for the evening, he spent some time chatting with several of the locals. A few had been drinking, but for the most part the time spent here was pleasant. On one occasion, there was even a Troll running about trying to hurt people. A small group gathered to teach him a lesson.

He went to sleep soon after and felt very good about his day’s adventure.

– Ethic

Nothing To See Here

Over the next few weeks or months, I will be involved in testing two upcoming MMORPGs so I will not have much to say here. Why not? *NDA*.

I’m going to let any current games sit on the back burner while I focus on this testing. Hopefully the other gamers/writers here can keep things hopping.

Which two upcoming MMORPGs? The first one is called *NDA* and the second one is called *NDA*.

Wish I could say more, but *NDA*. I hope you understand.

– Ethic

DDO Goes Alpha

[Dungeons & Dragons Online] This just in:

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve sent out the first round of Alpha acceptance e-mails. Our internal Alpha has gone very well, improving by leaps and bounds on an almost daily basis, and now it’s time to take the next step: giving you, the public, your first real look at Dungeons & Dragons Online®: Stormreach. This project has been in development for over two years now, and we’re very excited to share our hard work with you.

– Ethic

Moonglade

[World of Warcraft] Tonight I teamed up with a random stranger who was playing a hunter and I was playing my level 9 druid. We did the Relics of the Wakening quest together and in the process I levelled to 10. It was fun working together. I was able to fight most of the time, and still had enough in reserve to pull off some amazing healing when the hunter needed it. In fact, at the end when I needed to run back to turn in a quest I managed to survive for a good long time with 6 or 7 creatures pounding on me. It is really nice to be able to heal.

Best part of hitting level 10 for me was the ability to travel to Moonglade which is a special Druid place (other classes *can* get to it I guess). It was worth the effort to get to 10 just to see it. Very nice and peaceful place, and I picked up several flight paths as well. I sense this place could become a travel shortcut in the future. As a night elf druid, I was hoping to see some tauren druids here, but the only ones I came across were the NPCs. Oh well, I have some more exploring to do there, it seem like a big place. Perhaps I will run into one later.

Up next is the quest to learn how to shapeshift into a bear. This druid might put a damper on my plans to play a dwarf priest on one of the roleplay servers. I’m having fun.

– Ethic

Run Away

[World of Warcraft] I logged into a roleplay server and started a Dwarf Priest. Spent a little time roleplaying (nobody else was). There are corpses of Gnomes and Dwarves all over the place, with interesting names. Names like “Blizzsucks”, “Nocontent”, “Deadgnome”, “Dontplaywow”, and “Laggyservers”.

I decided to move on to Ironforge. After 5 or 10 minutes of running, I enter the big city. Lock up, crash to desktop.

So, I figured I would go back to my main server. Queue of 189 and 15 minutes later, I’m in. I log into my level 8 Druid, because I’m bound and determined to see Moonglade even though it is probably not anything special. It’s a goal so I make it mine.

Running around Darnassus, some level 14 Warrior is challenging all the level 6 and 8 players to duals and then calling them “pansies” if they don’t accept. Finally a level 11 Hunter accepts and beats him. The 14 Warrior called the 11 Hunter a “pansy” for using her pet. After that, a level 10 Rogue fought him 3 times, finally beat him on the third time. Meanwhile, a level 50 Hunter is telling everyone that he could beat anyone here up in real life, or he could go get any of his other level 60 characters and take everyone on. A few people confront him with accusations of “no life loser” and such. He proclaims to make $50 an hour so he wins in real life.

I went out questing and finally got to level 9. I returned to one of my quest-giving NPCs in Darnassus. Only this time he has been slaughtered by a level 60 Undead Rogue who is just waiting for him to spawn again. With no high level Alliance players around, he is pretty much left alone. I manage to turn in my quest before he could kill the NPC again, but it was close.

What fun.

– Ethic

Nothing To Play

Like Zubon, I have cancelled EVE Online. I could echo a lot of what he wrote below, but instead just read what he wrote below. For me, there is more. I am feeling little to no desire to play any MMOG right now. I’m sure it will not last long, but for now here it is.

I even reactivated my World of Warcraft account to see if that would help. After logging in to a brand new RP server and having two Paladins run into an area I was fighting in and then yelling at me to “find my own mobs to kill, ass” that I decided to bow to them and log out. That was some stunning Paladin roleplay, boys.

So what now? I don’t know. What I liked most is actual roleplay and grouping with people I know. It seems hard to find either these days.

– Ethic

Flashback

Melee Ah, Dungeons & Dragons. Who amongst us does not look back fondly at the late nights spent gathered around a table with your good friends, eating pizza and trying to figure out which hallway to take in the latest dungeon you are exporing? I know I do. However, at least for me, there was something before D&D.

They came in zip lock bags and you could by them for a few dollars. My very first experience in this microgames world was a game called Melee.

The first character I ever created was named “Yagery”. I’ll never forget that sword slinging brute. I virtually destroyed my friend’s character in every fight and he was supposed to be the one teaching me.

If you aren’t familiar with “Melee”, it was a rather simple game that was focused on combat in an arena. The creator of Melee, eventually went on to create GURPS.

So, what was your first RPG game and what about it brings back the memories for you?

Now I’m off to order a copy of “Melee” and teach my son how to play it.

– Ethic