If your current game offered a lifetime subscription for $200, would you take it? I have friends who are looking back at their years in Asheron’s call and thinking, “Wow, I could have saved $500 by now with that deal…”
: Zubon
Author: Zubon
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.Beta Characters Go Live
[The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢] Since we have been talking about The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢ lately, there have been questions about keeping beta characters when the game goes live and how that works. Answers from players have been contradictory, but Turbine has ruled, so I am posting their statement here for reference.
The short version: keep all characters, 5 characters per server, open beta level cap of 15. Nothing except xp is capped.
Balancing Day One Load
[The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢] Turbine announced that if you pre-order, you get to keep your open beta character(s?) once the game goes live. Everyone simultaneously said, “Huh?” What kind of game lets you keep beta characters?
On Day One, however, the population will already be somewhat spread out. Not everyone will be level 1. The newbie areas will not be (as) ridiculously full of people competing for those wolves and pigs. Lag spikes will be smaller because the population is not all in the same town. The choking frustration of new players will be lighter. I have this image of Turbine representatives in their dark tower, cackling, “They called me MAD at the academy! Well who’s laughing now?!”
Sure, those pre-orders will hit the level cap sooner and run out of things to do, but who cares? Half of them are on lifetime subscriptions, so you already have their money, and the others lose their discount rate if they get bored and leave for a month. The race-to-50 players will be concentrated on the open beta servers, while the newly opened ones offer less competition from ubers (although more competition for those low-level pigs).
: Zubon
I Was a Halfling Fashion Victim
[The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢] Or, “A Weekend in The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢. Yes, it is my turn for a “first impressions” post. You already know that Ethic has pre-ordered it, so we have at least one rat-hunter there.
Short version: it’s WoW. Long ruminations follow.
Perfect PvP Commentary
Sometimes, someone says something so perfectly and succinctly that any commentary would only weaken the effect, although we can discuss it as if this were a poetry reading. Without further ado, I present Camelot Addict for February 19 and 21.
: Zubon
Travian
The latest free online game I have been messing with is Travian. Think of it as a simpler version of Sim City or Civilization: one village (to start), build up resources, make buildings, raid your neighbors. It plays slowly, but there is a 3x speed server. I am told that it is not so slow once you are into the raiding game, since you have your resources and those of your (potentially inactive) neighbors.
Tobold played for about a month. Looking ahead, I can already see myself going through the same progression, except that I have some fairly aggressive neighbors already (Ha! Eat my cranny! Wait, that sounds wrong…). Neat little toy, but will it hold my attention for long? Wars of conquest over other players rarely excite me, and I am sure that others have far more time to spend on this than I do if I wanted to be competitive at any point.
It is kind of hard to get that romance started when you can see the break-up coming. Is it fun to build things that you expect to fade with no closure? I lack even the illusion of permanence. I am still playing around with Rule the Seas, for some reason.
: Zubon
Excellent Thread
[City of Heroes] Over at the City of Heroes boards, there is a great thread about the story of the game. It includes critiques of the story line and its development (or lack thereof), analysis of game zones, tracing story lines over many levels and across villain groups, a chronology of City of Heroes/Villains history, discussions of different theories of villainy, comparisons of real world dictatorships, alternate visions of possible Cities of Villains, suggestions for how the storyline could develop, and thoughts about the game development process. Many of the commenters show significant sophistication about game and story development along with awareness of its limitations. It includes recognition of what the game’s story does well and where it could stand to be improved.
There are also some of the other things you expect from message board threads, but the quality is remarkably high. There are ideas here that could be used. Normally, a thread with >200 replies reads like a train wreck, but has some very good stuff. If you have a fair amount of time on your hands, give it a read through. There are several discussions and lines of thought running through it, and some of the good ones pick up late in the thread.
: Zubon
Pirate Life
From Zen of Design, Second Life and Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates both have 2,000,000 registered users, of whom 1.5% have converted to paid subscribers. I’ve never seen them in the same room together…
: Zubon
Vigorous Enforcement
[City of Heroes] With Rudy Giuliani running for president, expect to see an occasional mention of innovative police efforts in New York City, notable the broken windows theory of enforcement. The idea is that when you enforce minor laws, people never break the big ones.
We have been testing it continuously in Paragon City. When we see a suspected gang member engaged in petty larceny, purse-snatching, or (especially) loitering, we open fire with automatic weapons or perhaps drain their souls with powers from the netherworld. More creative heroes might gut them with claws or simply set fire to the area. So far, we have not seen a reduction in crime. In fact, over the course of a hero’s career, he sees fewer petty criminals only because they are being replaced by werewolves, killer robots, and the free-roaming souls of our enemies’ ancestors.
Maybe if we electrocuted them…
: Zubon
Rabbit Season?
[Earth Eternal] Sure, Iron Realms has announced an 11th race for their upcoming game, but will there be ducks? Why are ducks always stuck being the comedic sidekick? Where is our game for heroic ducks that save the land?
Come to think of it, I knew a great many duck characters in City of Heroes.
: Zubon