Category: General

And I’m an Altoholic. Seriously, I have toon commitment issues. I don’t play all that often, so logic would dictate I choose one character and focus on it so eventually I can get to the upper levels. In reality, I get bored after a while and start a new character.

I may find one that I can keep playing for a long time, but that is pretty rare. My current character selection window in WoW has 8 characters. Rogue, Mage, Warlock, Shaman, Hunter, Priest, Druid, and a Warrior. Highest level is 24 and the rest are around level 10-15.

The first step to fixing a problem is to admit you have a problem. This probably isn’t really a problem, but it does tend to make me cancel a game after a while because I burn out on all the low level content. So it is a problem for me.

What is the solution? Play games with only one character slot like FFXI or SWG? Well I played them both. In FFXI I kept changes jobs so the same thing happened. I burned out on low levels. In SWG, well lets just say I was never really into that game in the first place. So I guess one character slot is out.

Perhaps the problem is that I am addicted to the fast levelling the lower levels offer. I think this may be the whole problem for me. Which makes me wonder what I would feel about playing a game with no levels. Would I have no incentive? Or would I focus on something else? Is levelling really what drives my MMOG gameplay?

What can I do to fix this? Delete all my characters but one? Maybe do some soul searching to determine what is the most fun for me. Or am I making too big a deal out of this? Perhaps I need to take a break.

I went into a local game store today to get a copy of Pirates! and it was sold out. Bummer. I’ll have to try again later.

Since I was there I thought I’d see if they had any copies of World of Warcraft on the shelves. Nope. The empty spots were there, but no boxes.

Everquest 2? You bet. 12 copies. On sale. $34.95, hmm.

Just caught this announcement on the Turbine website:

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, today announced the formation of Station Publishing, a new distribution label within the company. Station Publishing will focus on distributing interactive entertainment products licensed from external content providers for the PC and game console market. The first titles due from Station Publishing will be Turbine Entertainment Software�s Asheron�s Call: Throne of Destiny and Asheron�s Call 2: Legions.

Argus, the senior producer of AC2 Legions, had this to say about the decision:

Turbine is a developer and publisher. We make games. When it comes to putting these games into boxes and getting them on store shelves, it is better for us to partner with a well established distributor than to grow in a direction that is not in line with our focus: making games. If what we want is a distribution partner that has succeeded with the marketing and retail launch of expansion packs, SOE starts to make good sense. Sony�s sales force is one of the best in the games industry, and we�re more than happy to have them working on our behalf.

Marc Laukien responded to some emails regarding the reasons for the end of Wish and what may happen to the code over on Stratics:

Wish has been shut down because with the data we gathered during the first 10 days of our Beta 2.0 test, even with our best-case projections for player numbers, we could not have reached enough subscribers for Wish to sustain itself.

This is the reason that I already gave to several fan site managers, and it is the only reason. There have been no technical problems out of the ordinary, we have not been bought out, and neither is there any truth in any of the other rumors that are being spread in the Internet.

This reason is hard to accept for some fans of Wish, and I can understand that. There has been a very loyal and dedicated community around Wish. But it is simply not large enough to support a group of over 32 full-time game developers, plus many others that worked as consultants.

And later:

It is very unlikely that the Wish source code will be released under some form of open source license. The code depends on several commercial products, so you couldn’t just use the code as it is. Furthermore, you would need a large and highly experienced development staff to actually use the code, plus a lot of support from the original authors, something that most likely would not be possible. I’m really sorry that I cannot give you any better news, but knowing the complexity and required efforts of development, I’m afraid that Wish as a community project is not feasible.

So there you have it. They did not think the number of potential subscribers would keep the game afloat. The code is tied up in a bunch of 3rd party rights. The end?

I quote my own predictions for 2005: Wish: I wish this one would go away, and I may see my wish come true.

Here you go:

Dear friends of Wish:

Unfortunately we have bad news.

After careful consideration of all the facts and analyzing all the data
which we have gathered from the Wish Beta 2.0 test so far, we have decided
to cancel the Wish project.

Our Beta test will end this evening at 6pm EST, and at this time our Beta
forums will close as well.

We enjoyed working together with our fans very much, and we are very sorry
about this development. We wish you the best of luck in the future, and hope
that you continue to enjoy online gaming, even with Mutable Realms and Wish
not being available anymore.

We also wish the best luck to our competitors, and hope that they will not
suffer the same fate as us.

Best regards,
Your Mutable Realms Team

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

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

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

The Matrix Online: I’d be shocked if this one ever gets released.

City of Heroes: Will continue to be strong. City of Villians will be very big for them.

Guild Wars: I hate to call this an MMORPG, but what else can I call it. Will be rather popular but will not be able to remain free of monthly charges. I predict they will find a way to charge people other than the planned “expansion” idea.

Wish: I wish this one would go away, and I may see my wish come true.

Dungeons & Dragons Online: This one has good potential except for one thing: Turbine. Can they erase the stain of AC2?

Middle Earth Online: Same problem as DDO, but this one is already getting the rumors of cancellation (again). As much as I’d like to see this one and give it a try, I’m not hopeful. Turbine, what went wrong?

Tabula Rasa: Square Enix and Richard Garriott. That’s two pretty good things going for you. Won’t be out in 2005 however.

Final Fantasy XI: Will remain strong outside of the USA.

Lineage 2: Suckage will continue.

Asheron’s Call: Will remain a soft spot in many players heart’s, but most will refuse to play it unless they update the graphics.

Anarchy Online: Free game play can be good for the exposure, but it does not help the bottom line. Was one of my favorites and I hope it can get more players. It will hang around for another year.

EVE Online: Will remain popular with math geeks and scam artists.

Star Wars Galaxies: Space expansion a little too little, a little too late. Will hang around but it’s chance for glory is long gone.

Everquest, Ultima Online, Horizons, Shadowbane: Meh, I just don’t care. Go to hell.

What am I forgettting? Planetside. Yes, I forgot Planetside. Thankfully.

Beta 2.0 for Wish is now going on. Not only don’t I care, but it has a tough road ahead of it with everyone and their mother playing WoW.

So I watch with a yawn as Wish passes off of my radar screen for what may be the last time.

Happy New Year!

It’s 2005 now. Feels a lot like 2004. I hope it is better than 2004 though, it was not a pretty year in general.

This goes out to my good friend Inhibit who would rather play Meh because “he can login” than play WoW because … well I guess because it might have some launch issues or something, who really knows. Well, bud, if you really are enjoying that game I guess you can keep savoring it’s bland, tasteless, ordinary dullsville. But really, there are no good reasons not to partake in the amazing bounty that is World of Warcraft. It’s done, it’s polished, it was made with love, it has a great sense of humor, it works, it’s all about questing. It’s made to solo (any class) but you can and will group on occasion because it is fun and easy to do. It looks great, it’s full of lore, it has like 2,550 quests. Seriously. You don’t do any of them twice either.

Yeah sure, it has a few teething problems. What game wouldn’t if 100,000 people all wanted to play it at the exact same time? Fact is, I do not recall a better launch success of any MMOG short of CoH (which did many things right but gameplay was not one of them). And your precious game had one of the worst launches ever, if not #1. One of the many reasons I left that game was because I had problems logging into the game when I wanted to play well over a year after the launch. That and the bugs and shitty CS.

Truth of the matter is, I have been able to play WoW 98% of the time I wanted to. Only once did I have the situation like last night and I fully expect it to be the last time. After all, the game has been live all of 4 days or so.

So anyway, I’m having steak and lobster over here boy. How’s that cheese sandwich?