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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Simple Pleasures

[World of Warcraft] With the pressure of levelling to 60 freshly lifted from my mind, I logged on to my level 15 Warlock. I did several quests and before I knew it I was level 16.

I headed back to the Undercity to get my training. I picked up a new skill called Unending Breath which grants me 10 minutes of underwater breathing. It’s instacast with no cooldown timer so I can cast it any time I want, even when underwater. What a simple pleasure I got from this skill.

I relocated away from Silverpine (hate that area) to the Crossroads (not much better) where I yelled out for all enemies of the Horde to leave town now. Eventually I found my way to Ratchet where I spent some time having fun exploring the shipwreck at the bottom of the bay there.

Now this is the stuff I’m playing the game for. Thank you Blizzard.

Yarr!

Break out yer pirate keyboards matey!

Disney Online has announced plans to make an MMORPG based on the Pirates of the Caribbean called (oddly enough) Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

In what seems to be an aggressive schedule, they plan to launch in summer 2006 alongside of the release of the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Disney Online describes Pirates of the Caribbean Online as “a world of high seas action and adventure where players will personalize their own pirate character and organize with other players to form a pirate crew.” Unlike most other pirate games, Disney’s MMORPG will incorporate the supernatural elements of the films, allowing players to “embark on swashbuckling missions to battle both each other and the evil, undead pirates of the high seas.”

Moderately Hardcore

According to a Gamasutra interview of Jessica Mulligan, I am clearly in the Moderate gamer club. I am no longer Hardcore. Well, if I was ever Hardcore, I was borderline Hardcore at best.

In the interview, she splits gamers into three groups:

  1. Mass Market: time and price sensitive, 75% of the market generating 5% of the income.
  2. Moderate: time sensitive only, 15% of the market generating 15% of the income.
  3. Hardcore: neither time nor price sensitive, 10% of the market generating 80% of the income.

I am time sensitive but I’m not price sensitive. Monthly fees don’t bother me but I do need to feel some fun and/or progress for my time spent playing. I compare my time spent, not my money spent.

I think the reason World of Warcraft is doing so well is because it has tapped into the Moderate gamers deeper than any other MMORPG has before. It also seems that Guild Wars is targeting the same market. I’m just not sure that a lot of PvP people are also Moderate. My hunch for that comes from the Honor System added recently in WoW. It has driven me away as it increased the amount of PvP going on in-game.

The Hardcore gamers are the ones that make up things like DKP (Dragon Kill Points) to keep track of who gets what piece of phat loot when raiding. Something that appeals to me in no way, shape or form. They are the ones that enjoy the spoils from all the time they spent in game, gathering the most uber of all gear. It allows them to dominate in every possible way and they generally feel no sorrow for the Moderates. They earned the gear, cry more noob.

Yes, I am a Moderate gamer and that is fine by me.

I almost decided to write an “I Quit” post today. I was thinking about the 11 days of gaming I played in WoW and what else I could have done with that time. I felt like my family deserved more time than I’ve been giving them. But then I realized that the only time I game any more is when my kids are in bed and my wife has other plans. I did technically “quit” when I stopped trying to be a Hardcore gamer. So, I don’t see any harm in playing a game at those times. I just need to focus on other things when the computer is off.

Really, my main problem is that I spend more time thinking about games than I do playing them. This website is the proof.

/played

[World of Warcraft] I asked a friend of mine how many in-game days in took him to get to level 60 and he figured about 25 days. It can probably be done faster, but he tends to goof off somewhat like I do on occasion so I figured it was a good estimate for me to take as “the time it will take me to get to 60”.

Then I looked at the /played for *all* of my characters. Here is what I have: 28 rogue, 28 shaman, 15 warlock, 15 hunter, 13 mage, 12 rogue, 11 warrior, 11 hunter, 8 priest, 8 druid, 6 warlock and 4 paladin.

If I did my math correctly, I have a total of 11 days, 6 hours and 9 minutes in all of them. That is 270 hours or so. I have heard people say that you can get to 60 in 350 hours but I am not sure if that is true or not. Even if I put all of my time into only one character, I would not have come close to level 60 yet. That is sad.

I’m probably over-analyzing it.

And then I think 25 days??? Damn that is 600 hours of gaming.

Can’t Sleep, Blizzard Will Eat Me

I’m having a hard time *not* playing World of Warcraft, even though I’m not enjoying it when I do play. I’m getting very little free time lately with lots of plans taking up what is normally my gaming time. But even when I do get some free time, I pop into WoW and kill ten rats before I’m heading off to bed. I’m just not finding 2 hours to play at night any more.

I’ve been saying “hey” to my friends in-game but nobody ever responds any more. I blame the level 60 zerg-fests going on. The social aspect in this game is all but dead right now.

Since I have been limited to only small bits of game time, I started a Dwarf Paladin over the weekend. I figured if I only have 30 minutes, I want to level a few times for that old time feeling. I noted that the class has changed from during beta. Seems like there is a little more action now, even if one of the actions is casting a 30 second buff every time I attacked something.

I don’t think I will ever get to 60.

Middle-Earth Online Is Dead

It will now be known as The Lord Of The Rings Online.

I predict the new website will be here: www.lotr-online.com

As written in June 2005 PC Gamer:

“AS OUR GUEST, you’re ushered behind the scenes at Turbine. The first thing you’ll notice is the new name of it’s spotlight title. Turbine bought the LOTR license from former publisher Vivendi and renamed Middle-Earth Online to reflect a whole new approach. “Vivendi wanted a game where you live and breathe in Middle-earth,” says lead content designer Matthew Imregi. “We decided that would be too dull, so our new slogan is ‘Forging a Legacy.'” LOTR Online focuses heavily on the idea of family history, which you’ll determine when you create your character, playing a big part in the game.

Up Next: Guild Wars

[Guild Wars] I hesitate to call Guild Wars an MMORPG but I guess it technically is. I don’t know it’s kind of weird.

I preordered it so I have been able to play in the beta weekends. I have fun, it looks great, but it still does not feel like an MMOG to me. Anyway, since I preordered I figured I’ll have to pick it up next week. No monthly fee is one of the bonuses. You don’t feel like you have to play, since you are paying a monthly fee, know what I mean?

Honestly, I have not played any PvP in the game, so it’s probably stupid for me to buy it but what the heck. I enjoyed the limited amount of PvE I have played and having NPCs that can join your party is cool. They are even pretty good at helping fight.

So starting in the next week or two, I’ll be talking about Guild Wars. If there is anyone out there that wants to help me get started in game (tips, training, etc) let me know.

AC2 Announces Hero 2.0

[Asheron’s Call 2] Turbine has redesigned the Hero levels in AC2 and has announced the new system.

It features things such as: making all classes solo friendly, new and improved passive skills, monsters rebalanced and XP increased, new focus system, more class variety, hero credits, original hero active skills revised, more new hero skills, and even more skills called “perks”.

Read more about it here. Also note the completely new website.

/gquit

[World of Warcraft] I’ve decided it is time to leave my current guild. They are an end-game hard core raiding guild and that is about it. Sure they are knocking out all the high level bosses in short order, but there is nothing for anyone under 60 to do.

They have no social events, no “help the lowbie” nights, no silly contests for fun, or anything else keeping me interested (role playing).

I will start trying to find a guild on my server that is more like what I am looking for, or else I’m going to move to the server where my old Asheron’s Call 2 guild went to. They do all the things I miss from those days. Why didn’t I follow them in the first place? Well, they went Alliance (just like during beta) and I wanted to try Horde instead. My brother was playing Horde and I knew I could mooch gold off of him so there I went.

I really want to stay on the same server because of the people I already do know so I’m going to try hard to find a guild there. Perhaps I need to start my own…