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.
.So, you are away from your computer and you get an itch for a little World of Warcraft. Just can’t quite get enough of that game you say?
Well, your prayers have been answered. Yes, the WoW Trading Card Game is on it’s way. Finally, we can get a little more of that sweet, sweet WoW.
– Ethic
I have been away from my home for over a month now, visiting family down in Texas. Before you ask, don’t! It’s hot and hellish.
Anyway, it has been a month since I have touched an MMO. After playing MMOs almost continuously for several years, a month break was a frightening venture. It has however turned out to be quite refreshing. I have had time to ponder many things in the realm of game design and how the social implications of MMOs bounce and react to real life group behavior. I would suggest it to anyone who has not had a break in some time.
Anyway, I fly back to Los Angeles on Wednesday. I previously tried WoW and it was not my bag really. However, a good friend of mine has been playing and really likes it, so I may pick it up again and play a little with him. I never really gave it much of a chance before so I plan on playing more than three hours this time.
Four at least! :)
-Spot
I tried to reactivate my Planetside account, but they appear to have lost it somehow. My account only shows Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies now (both cancelled). I cannot create a new account because my CD key was already used (by me). So, no Planetside. The online customer support will only help me if I can give them the credit card number I used when I registered that account. I don’t have that credit card so I can’t tell them. I switched banks you see.
So any way, even though I have the original CDs and the key code, and the Station name I registed the key to, they can’t help me. I think I can remember why I stopped playing Sony Online Entertainment games. They could even look up my account and see it was me, but without the credit card number I originally used, no help. Whatever, I didn’t want to play that badly.
– Ethic
[Dungeons & Dragons Online] Can an MMORPG live with just 20 levels, or 20 “moments of advancement”? Ken Troop at Turbine does not think so, and thus 10 will equal 40 and 20 will equal 80.
In other words, each level will be split up into ranks, of which there is four. Level one, rank one. Level one, rank two. And so on and so forth. The levels will still work the same as D&D rules, the rank will give you one enhancement from a pool (CoH anyone?). Well, the rank will give you “action points” which you can use to buy an “enhancement” which is something like a “feat”. I think.
And special bonus, at release DDO will only go up to level 10 instead of 20. So that means it goes to 40, right? Hmm. So 40 is the new 10 and 80 is the new 20 but 10 is still the old 10 and 20 is still the old 20 except 20 does not exist, at least not yet. Does any of this make sense?
Honestly, perhaps it is just me, but I just don’t get Ken Troop.
50 GOTO 10
This just in, former Turbinite, Jason Booth, comments on something that sounds kind of critical about decisions strikingly similar to this one without actually naming any names.
– Ethic
[Planetside] Yep that’s right. I’m going to reactivate Planetside. I’ve been jonesing for it and with my limited free game time that is not being used by testing MMO’s being so … um, limited, I wanted something I could jump into and out of easily.
Planetside fits the bill at the moment. Anyone out there with a good squad that I can join and subsequently get us all wiped out, let me know.
I was just looking and I see they have a few expansions. I’ll have to read up and see how much they added. Looks like it is only another $9.95 to buy so not a huge deal. Perhaps someone can fill me in on the details and if they are important to have or not.
– Ethic
[World of Warcraft] I was going to join the great webcomic PvP battle server over the last few days, but every time I tried to connect to the server they chose (Dark Iron), I had to sit in 20-25 minute queues and didn’t bother to wait. Too many people were doing the same thing I guess.
While they (the webcomics) seem to think the server’s population will drop after summer is over, I don’t think so. August has been a traditional low activity time so I only expect populations to pick up towards winter. Oh well, it sounded like it might have been fun to be a part of something bigger, but this one got too big.
For what it is worth, the webcomics guilds participating in this is Ctrl+Alt+Del, Penny-Arcade and PvP.
I really think it was a great idea, but they turned a brand new PvP server into one of the most overpopulated servers in a few short weeks. I probably would have had some fun.
– Ethic
If you are a practioner of the nerdly arts (I just recent received the rank of Grand Poobah Nerd from my local lodge) then you will appreciate this: Ninja Radio.
The intermingling of anime, J-pop and video game themes is so beautifully cobbled together into a play list that I believe I experienced an autoerotic nerdgasm.
Initial D 4th Stage theme FTW!
ringthree
Monkey Ninja Pirate Robot Online. Too bad it has not been made yet. I’d buy it.
Until then, we have the non-MMO version to play.
– Ethic
[World of Warcraft] I pose a question to our readers. A simple question that I will use as the basis of my next post.
What is different about WoW that has caused it to get so many subscribers?
A plain question, but one that has many answers. 3.5 million subscribers is more than any MMO ever. What about WoW has caused this explosion? Is it sustainable? Was the MMO market truely such an untapped resource? Are we the new Korea (including the millions of players dying in front of their computers after 60 hour marthon sessions)?
Thanks ahead of time for you input, and I can’t wait to tell you how wrong you all are! ^^
ringthree
[Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft] This is my mantra. Yes, I am going on to bash World of Warcraft again. Well maybe not bash, but point out why it is not all what it is cracked up to be. Last night, I completed Rank Mission 5-2 in Final Fantasy XI. Rank Mission 5-2 was the last mission of the original release of Final Fantasy, and is the beginning of the first expansion. After completing the battle at the end of Rank Mission 5-2 I was treated to near a half hour of amazing cut scenes. I can’t really describe just how epic they make the game feel, and just how involved they make the player feel within the online world.
Sadly, WoW has none of this. There is nothing beside the scratching of a quill to make you feel involved in the world, to make you feel that you are not just a part of the world but also have some impact on the world. Now I have heard that Blizzard is working on cutscenes to be introduced in the expansion, but I dont understand why they are not in the original version. Another example of a rushed product that shouldn’t have been on the market for another 6 months to a year.
FFXI should have set the standard for MMO’s by using cutscenes. Truthfully, I do not know if another game used cutscenes before FFXI but the level of detail and writing involved in the cutscenes in FFXI are just amazing. They are so vivid and deep as to make you feel like you are actually playing a game in the Final Fantasy series rather than just a break off MMO that stole the name. Why other games, especially a game like WoW that was developed to eliminate the weak points and emulate the strong points of other MMO’s, didn’t pick up on this is beyond me. Maybe the cutscenes are too far into the FFXI for other developers to grasp the importance of them, maybe they were deemed unnecessary for a game built around the ADHD generation, but in the end WoW is less of a game for it.
So to Blizzard: get working on some cutscenes. From what I understand, Blizzard used them in most of the Warcraft games before this one. Why stop now? Why stop with your biggest creation yet?
ringthree