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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.

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Hello and Goodbye

wow[World of Warcraft] Blizzard has said hello to many players over the past year, now crossing the 5 million mark. I’m pretty sure nobody believed an MMO would have sold this well.

With that level of popularity comes some negatives as well. Scammers, thiefs, beggars, cheaters, farmers, crooks, and low life scum. Blizzard has occasionally said goodbye to large groups of accounts, the success of such actions are questionable but at least they are trying. The most recent round of bannings shut down over 18,000 accounts. That is around the total number of people playing EVE Online at any given moment, so it’s not a small amount.

I wonder if banning accounts really slows down the activities that caused the ban. I bet it’s a losing battle for Blizzard. Although, it probably is a financial gain for Blizzard anyway, because most of the banned people will just buy a new box and start over.

– Ethic

Asheron’s Call 2 Memories

ac2[Asheron’s Call 2] First off, the people. The community of AC2 players was amazing. I’ve seen nothing like it before or since.

Leafcull!!!

The “end of beta” Tyrant assault on Molworth and Cragstone (they attacked all the cities, but these were the ones I was at). Running through the vaults (Arwic, Lost Wish, Esper, etc.) in the beginning as a group. Looking up at the rain hitting an invisible “floor” above me. Leveling just by running through portals and clicking on obelisks (crazy run buff too). Fueling the forges for crafters. Chat, or should I say no chat. Tou Tou Vault – argh the jumping. Cragstone Excavation (fighting the crowd for medallion pieces). Ghost Mines. Lady Aerfalle. Olthoi and Olthoi mounds. Lady Silva. Tyrants Loft and Lord Deimos. The White Rabbit. Becoming a Hero. Icefire, Boots, and Mage Academy. Gurogs and Buruns.

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Whimper

ac2[Asheron’s Call 2] Well, it’s almost over now. AC2 is closing down on the 30th of December. What’s left to do?

For one, you can read Wired’s article, “Not With a Bang but a Whimper”, here (thanks to Inhibit for sending me the link). Or, if you still have an account like I do, you can get boosted to the max level which is 150 and go fight two Tyrants at one time in East Gevoth or perhaps go fight Ahria Queen of Night.

But mostly it is just another MMO to go down the tubes. Lots of things went wrong and some went right. Lessons will have hopefully been learned.

Current AC2 players have been invited to DDO’s beta, so all is not lost. Yes, they sent me one so I guess they want me to stop playing AC2 now? Anyway, I’m planning to be there when they pull the plug, to see if they have any inspiration left or if they will do just that – pull the plug.

Whimper.

– Ethic

Loving Change

ffxi [Final Fantasy XI] My brother mentioned FFXI one night. I’m not sure how we really came to this decision, but because he hadn’t asked for anything for Christmas, we came to the idea that maybe an FFXI account would be a good idea. Both he and I have burnt ourselves out on WoW, though we are far from done with WoW.

I’ve been kind of mellow lately, not feeling like even logging into WoW, even though I got home five days ago and have been able to. I’ve mostly been playing offline games between my new Nintendo DS and Dragon Quest VIII. I don’t know exactly why I haven’t felt compelled to play WoW. There’s many reasons I can think of, with feeling bored of the game actually being close to last on the list. Playing FFXI again would be like breathing fresh air again. I’ve never played two MMORPGs at once, so I don’t know if this could eventually be a good or bad thing for me.

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Wish Me Luck

EVE[EVE Online] I just applied for a position that CCP is advertising for on their jobs page. What fun would that be? I would think, lots. I have a lot of respect for the company and the position pretty much describes me and my skills. It would require a pretty major relocation but I’m perfectly willing to do that (and so is my family).

So send some good vibes towards Reykjavik, Iceland for me. I know it’s a long shot, but thanks!

– Ethic

Cryptic Wins

coh[City of Heroes] For those who had not heard, Marvel sued Cryptic because you can make superheroes that look like copyrighted heroes (although Cryptic resets those characters to “GenericHero####). While this would also suggest that they sue Microsoft, since you can do the same thing in Paint, and Bic, fine maker of pens, I understand why companies are worried about dilution of intellectual property. Copyright precedent holds that if you do not defend your right to exclusive ownership, you may de facto give it up. This is why Tivo does not want to be a generic word for DVRs, Xerox for photocopiers, or Kleenex for facial tissue.

I presume that there is more to this than is stated, but it sounds like Cryptic won unconditionally. Whatever it is that Marvel got out of this, it apparently does not require Cryptic to change anything in character creation. Maybe Cryptic just needs to say, “and we mean it!” when reseting the 4,057th Storm-Electricty defender named “Ororo.”

So a win for Cryptic and sanity. I presume that Marvel also has a press release announcing that they got everything they wanted out of this suit, it is a great win for shareholders, and by the way we have our own MMORPG coming out soon.

: Zubon

I Am So Popular

Does everyone have to turn down team invitations every five minutes?

City of Heroes lets you set a LFG flag to a variety of settings. I indicate that I am soloing by leaving if off. This does not seem to deter people. If I am in a mission, I cannot be invited, so I am safe there except for the occasional /tell asking if I would like to quit my mission and join theirs. In the time it takes me to fly between missions, someone will send me an invitation or, more politely, an /tell asking if I am LFG.

Apparently, they believe that I would like to be on a team, but I am not competent enough to operate the LFG button. That is not the level of competency you want your healer to have.

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Substitute For Crack

Well, my MMORPG addiction came to a screeching hault a few weeks ago (read my last post) when my dorm internet decided it hated me. I thought it might be my computer, but alas, I took my PC home and it worked fine. I can only deduce that it must my dorm internet…

So here I am, sitting in a cold room with stone walls. I think my eyelids might be a little red. I don’t dare look into the mirror. I’m too scared. That’s right, I haven’t played World of Warcraft in two WHOLE weeks. What’s the point in playing when I get disconnected five minutes after logging in? It’s no fun striking up colorful conversations with your guild when all of a sudden you can’t type and everyone around you begins to aimlessly run into walls and not turning. It’s called lag, my friends, and it’s painful.

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