Everquest Update and Mechamatic Blueprint

Everquest had an update yesterday, a few changes were included. First off there is a free three day promotion for Underfoot. Annoyingly- I can't find any solid information other than the forums. Check email, best advice I can offer on that. 72 free hours, it's free, why not check it out? The full patch notes can be found here.

Underfoot mobs have been tweaked a little, easier? Not sure, sounds like the developers are trying to make it more viable for groupers. Lowering damage and HP on several mobs and thinning out areas. Reward loot added to UF missions. Very cool, incentive for people to help out on those. Also, they changed the repop times (and rare spawn percentages) in UF zones. So it's looking better! A few spells and AA were changed. Ranger AA, HA got a nerf, I've read good and bad feedback on it. So, I don't really know how it is going so far.

 Mercenaries can now be maintained with Bayle Marks (an alternate currency).  These can be purchased on the marketplace as an alternate payment method to platinum. Platinum is still accepted by all mercenaries. I didn't see these in the station shop yet though. A little confused on that still. Speaking of mercs, I noticed a new claim item- Mechamatic Blueprint. Click it and speak to the Mercenary Liaison Hadya Ware- near the soul binder in PoK for your very own clockwork merc (tank or healer). You can claim one on each character.. the claim offers 999 claims heh. They are oh-so-cute!

Last night I ended up soloing. After watching an episode of Rome, Dire fell asleep. So I went off to BoT to grab some AA's. I ended up gaining a few and killing a few named for some parchments. It went pretty well, I didn't go LFG as I just wanted to grind out a few AA before logging for the night.



Some Modest Mouse, just because!
-kaozz

Bored...

So, today I was very lazy. I was sick the last two nights, fine in the day.. very odd. So the fatigue finally caught up to me I suppose. I'm feeling a little better now though, so I thought I'd write a late evening post. Brushing up on what I've been doing-Which has been.. not very much at all.

I'm still mostly playing EQ when Dire is on. Which can be 1-2 hours tops in a pay session. I'm not bored with it, it's just more fun to have someone to play with, especially as a Shaman. We are getting some much needed aa's under our belts, which will help in the future. He has been playing some on the PS3 a bit too and working quite a lot lately. I think I will pop into EQ myself this evening and try to get a group and see how that goes.

Guild Wars hasn't been rolling along as well as I thought it would. While I enjoy the game, I've not really found a class combo I like very much. I am still messing around with several characters. I seem to grow bored quickly and play in spurts. It is a great game, I just have to decide what will be fun for me to play. Once I do though, I can play in the new expansion Eye of the North, which should be fresh and fun.

I am just bored in general I suppose. Not much new and exciting in any of the games I play. Starting over with characters can sometimes be fun and other times tedious. Same with Everquest, The only thing there is, I do not look forward to the latest expansion Underfoot as I will be so far behind. This is not an expansion that holds much excitement for people that are behind in the game, as it is very harsh. Mobs hit harder than ever in group content, come in pairs which makes it even worse and named spawns are all over the place (spawn points, not the actual elusive creatures). Maybe by the time I catch up a new expansion will be out and this one will just all be a bad dream we can skip!

I keep thinking about playing Everquest 2 on the side with some friends or even WoW again. I don't know which would be the better. I have been holding out though playing one or the other for now. I just really feel bored with games lately, and it's not been so long ago since I played either of these. At times I miss them both. EQ2 would probably offer the most to me as I have friends playing again... Now on two different servers. Gah, why couldn't they have gone to my server.. Ah the complications!

One thing I have done though, I saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. It was fantastic.We actually went for my son's birthday. It was such a lovely movie, with a slight variation from the story. I thought it was the best version of it so far, as I have seen them all.

Hope everyone is having fun with whatever they are playing. If not, off with your heads!
-kaozz

Casual Vs Hardcore

The battle in every (almost) MMO, rages on, between casual vs hardcore players. You're casual you don't need raid gear! Why cater to a small percent of players, giving content that not everyone will experience? I read it on a daily basis in forums, on websites and so on. There is also the player like myself, the casual hardcore player. Not quite hardcore but you wouldn't classify me casual either. I'm not the average player, I have seen both sides and I tend to burn both ends of the candle, at times, in games. Sometimes burning myself out in the process. I try not to do that so much, these days. I do see both players views, though.

The questions. Why do casuals need raid equivalent gear if they don't raid? It's not the fact that they need or even want it, they simply want some goals they can work on also. Content to gain accomplishments within also. Take for instance Everquest's new expansion Underfoot, it's a much more brutal place for casuals when compared to the last expansion. If they can't do it, they don't deserve the rewards. Deserve? Who deserves raid gear? You feel entitled more so to deserve raid gear because the game is harder, which only equals more time,  flagging, networking and so on. Who is to say that is fair and what games should be about anymore? That is a sure way to doom any MMO. However do we want to be bored because the end content is so easy you finish it in a week? Of course not!

You can't design content, in this day and age and think it is fine to aim for one play style. If you aim for the raiders, the casuals feel left out and grow bored quickly. What is there, in terms of goals, to accomplish? If the raider is left out, they feel there is nothing for them.

Developers should always keep in mind, todays players are a far cry from the players who once dominated the MMO scene. Parents, kids, singles, people with busy schedules, people with time on their hands and everything in between. There has to be a balance in what is offered. Not one or the other.

What bothers me the most is the feeling of entitlement, on both sides. The negative attitudes towards people who play at a faster or slower pace. If other people with different goals in mind playing bother you, perhaps an MMo isn't for you? Perhaps not.

One thing is for sure, if you stagnate one side or the other the game is sure to decline and players get bored. I mentioned doom earlier, there are so many games out today these people that are ignored will jump ship. I suppose this post was inspired by a few rude replies to a casual player on the Everquest forums. It makes me want to slap frogloks and murlocs. Hrmm, I wonder if there is any relation to the two species...

Point is- It's not going to get any better complaining about how one or the other getting this or that. Why not, instead- ask for content for both types of content? Instead of thinking the other is an insect that should be exterminated from the game. After all, that is what makes an MMO.


-kaozz

Everquest 11th Anniversary, March!

This year will make eleven years for Everquest! Fabled mobs will be upon us soon, which will add more excitement. It's still going strong with an expansion each year, who would have thought Everquest would still be such a great game! It's evolved into something I love to play still, after so many years.

From the official site:
In celebration of EQ's 11th Anniversary, we'll be sharing a timeline of wallpapers throughout the month of March! Keep watching for updates! To view and download the wallpapers, find EverQuest on … Facebook. 


-kaozz

Bad Romance- WoW

I think I've been riding in my brother's car too much, listening to his music.. Hence the title - Bad Romance.. That or either I've been watching too much Rome. I'm bored I suppose- With MMO games in general. That is why I am playing older games lately. Sometimes I have the urge to start up this game or that. I was thinking about WoW. Do I really want to go back so soon? I sometimes feel like the 'romance' with the game has long since gone.

I still think about playing, I miss it at times. I know the game inside out, there is no confusion when I play it. I know what to spec with my characters, what classes I like and so on. I just wonder what it has to offer me anymore, if I were to go back now. Maybe that is a sign not to? At least until Cataclysm...

It seems like the only thing left to do is random heroics, when not raiding. I did the off key thing last expansion, fishing, and trade skills, PvP and all that jazz. I look back fondly on 'Vanilla WoW' and then I wonder if it was really as much fun as I remembered. I think we candy coat things, looking back nostalgically with rose tinted glasses... or goggles. Really the game is better than ever today with the ease of accomplishing what we need or want to do.

I think, in part, it is also the community that has left a sour taste with me. Or shall we say, the lack of? There are many, many, people playing the game. Though the sense of community seems to be very different from how it use to be. It's just-  Dog eat dog. That sums it up for me. Dog. Eat. Dog.

Do you have any games that you feel the 'romance' is gone? You hate to love it, or is it love to hate it? Just some thoughts today as I was considering some of the games I haven't played lately.




*Lovely heart by: Moi-
kaozz =p