Wednesday, September 30, 2009

My gaming time spent: WoW + Aion = I can't decide which is more fun ;)



WoW
I've been pretty busy lately plus I'm spending my playtime between WoW and Aion. I'm having fun with the holiday events in WoW, for the most part. Other than a few jerks in the pugs it has been quite fun. I finally got my priest the Ram a couple of days ago, which made me very happy!

Other than that, I may do a few daily quests if I am up for it, a heroic every few days then log out. I'm having more fun due to the Holiday events mixing things up, I still have yet to do Onyxia though. Just have not had the time really. With the Halloween and Thanksgiving type events there is still more fun stuff yet to come, then to cap it off at the end of the year Christmas.

My husband says he wants to play WoW again so if he does it will give me more incentive to play this game. I will see how it goes before my sub runs out this month. I'm not having oodles of fun but I am having more fun that I was before, then again I'm not playing very much at all.




Aion
I have finally sat down to play some more Aion the last couple of days. I decided to try out the scout a bit more. While trying a new class I figured I would try the otherside, Elyos. While I really loved Asmodian race I think I may end up sticking with the Elyos.

Anyhow, the scout was much fun. It did at the lower levels feel as if it relied heavily on cool downs. With bandages there really is no downtime if you stock up on these.

I joined a small friendly guild which has been nice. So far I'm pretty happy in this game. I get to ask questions to some of the higher players, opinions on other classes, things I have not had anyone to ask besides the general chat. However people in chat have been pretty helpful.

I decided to try out a priest as the chanter class just seemed fun. I am almost ascended with her, she might be the one I play up. It just seems the toughest so far, I still want to try the tanking classes a little. I have ranted on being tired of the healing role in games in the past, but.. this isn't a main healer.

So while the game play is definitely different I do want to see other parts of the game to get more of an overall feel for it. I really do enjoy most of the quests, it's a really lovely game, lots of fun classes. The armor looks kick a$$!

So that is what I'm up to. I really can't decide which one I want to play more lately, Aion seems to be winning though just because it is fresh and new. I will always dabble in WoW but for now I think Aion is going to be more fun for me. High end may be another story, I plan on enjoying the climb to the top!

Till next time.
-kaozz

A Decade of Everquest! An Up to Date Review.



I've been meaning to do a few reviews of some older games I've already played. Sure I know all about them, but I'm sure there are others out there who may be curious. Sometimes a friend will ask me how a certain game is that I played, and I think of how I should put a review up. So I am finally getting around to those games this week. First up is Everquest, my first MMORPG. I've played it for almost a decade now, on and off, I still play it.

Over the years Everquest has changed a lot. It's become less harsh and more so flexible. It once was a game where quests were few and far between but today you can find many quests and tasks to keep you busy. It was a hardcore game. It still can be to an extent but these days it is more accessible to the casual player.

Graphics
While I have heard people complain about the graphics, I have always loved them. They are part of the charm of this game. I suppose for me it is nostalgia. Many old zones have had updates though and at one point the character models received an update. I like the character models, I don't think I would like it if they were updated to look more like the newest race, Drakkin. Yes, this game will run fine on older machines as it is an older game.

Norrath and beyond.
The world of Everquest is probably the largest in any MMORPG. That is one of the things I like about this game, tons of places to level, a variety of places to pick from. Also Hotzones, (These zones offer an experience bonus higher than that of regular zones. Some of the latest sets also have extra loot added; this loot is obtainable even after the zones are no longer "hot."), are a great place to get an xp boost and meet other people your level to group with.

Travel
While the world is massive travel is quite easy, getting around isn't as much of a pain as you would think. While only casters get a gate spell (much like the hearth in WoW but it has no cool down), melee do not. Melee can eventually get origin which is more like a Hearth with a CD. Plus there are gate potions one can take as often as they like. Also port stones in Plane of Knowledge, Magus from the Wayfarer camps, Guild Hall portals, and Druids or Wizards can also port players as well. Add very fast mounts into this list and it really gets even easier, no money for a mount? Grab a SoW from someone or a potion to boost run speed. Even bards can run at extreme run speeds.

On a side note here with mounts, combat is available upon them. This is great for casters, regen mana while sitting on the mount w/o having to sit or stand to cast and med up. Also to note you will get several mounts upon buying the game, you just have to make sure to award them to the right characters!




Experience and gear.. solo or group!
While there are quests in this game, you really have to quest or do tasks but sometimes they can be very good in certain zones. Although you may want to look into the Epic quests which require a lot of time, they reward a class specific Epic Weapon. One thing I like about this game is you can grab a group and find a spot to set up camp and xp. It's more laid back when you group with people, you make friends, and get good xp to boot. You can do monster missions or LDoNs (instance with quest objective).

More of a loner? Everquest at one time was very hard game to solo in. It is easier now to solo with thanks to the Defiant armor that drops for all level brackets, being cheap in most cases and a great boost to stats! Also the recent addition of Mercs you can hire. Tank or Healer, this changes things big time. You can have one merc out at a time. This also makes things easier when filling roles in groups, a merc can heal or tank if you can't find either of these. You can always use the tank Merc for an extra bit of DPS if needed. Soloing and acquiring gear in EQ are easier while leveling than ever!

Buying and Selling
This may be one of the more outdated areas in Everquest, although I have heard it mentioned they want to add in an Auction House system or maybe an offline trader mode. There was once a place people gathered to sell items, this was the EC tunnel. Back then you had to spam over and over to try to sell something in chat. Now there is a specific zone (The Bazzar), to set up a trader. You must stay logged in to keep the trader up so at times this can become annoying. There is also a world chat channel that you can link an item in if you like while xping.

Alternate Advancement
This is one of the things I like best about this game. While at max level, or even working towards, it gives you something to work on for extra stats, spells, abilities ect. You get an alternate advancement point pretty much as you do a level but at a faster rate. The more you have the more they slow down, but this takes awhile. This is a great thing to have in a game IMO, to keep working on even after the level cap is hit.




Servers
There are around twenty servers. Many of these were merged a few years ago so there were actually double the amount. Twenty is still quite a lot! More servers than most games. There are special servers such as the Zek server, which is PvP based. This is the only PvP server (you can PvP in the arena on any server though). The Mayong server is the newest server. This server you start at level 51 with 50 alternate experience points. There is the RP server the Firiona Vie server. Also the European Server Antonius Bayle. And then last but not least the regular servers. Once in awhile S.O.E. will add in a progression server which is always very popular.

Expansions
Everquest is putting out it's 16th expansion this year! This game still updates and puts out new content with a yearly expansion. The current level cap will remain 85 this year, new alternate advancement skills and abilities however will be added.

Death Penalty
Gasp! Yes we still have this icky mechanic in the game. Keep in mind it's not as harsh to deal with these days. With the guild hall now, you can summon your corpse there by speaking to an NPC. So once you have the corpse summoned, you can ask a nice cleric (or one of the other rezzing classes), for a rez. A cleric provides the most experience back, 96%. Mercs can do this as well so if you have a cleric merc you really have no issues there. Keep in mind the basic cheap merc does only 90% while the step up from that does 96%. Death is more of a gate back to home annoyance these days. The amount lost is so minute that it is more of an annoyance than anything.

Classes and races.
This game offers so many choices of each. Classes have specific roles such as the normal tank, dps and heals, but everquest goes beyond just those. Here in Norrath we also have crowd control, (mezzing many mobs at once, rooting, memblur ect.), slowers (slowing the mobs attack speed), and pullers. So there are a variety of fun roles to fill.

If you have played some of the newer games like Aion and WoW there are opposing sides where certain factions dislike others, some these types of games you cannot play with the opposing side which can get annoying. Even if you cannot visit Kelethin as a Dark Elf, you can still group with Wood Elves from this city. You can group with anyone. This is how I like it. Some races have beneficial things to go along with them such as Ogres are resistant to frontal stuns.




Low to high end.. everything in between.
Unless you start out in the Mayong server you probably will not see as many players while leveling. It is best to stick to hot zones to group or just for faster xp in general. The first levels 1-60 fly by very quickly as the xp for these has had a major boost.
There is a wide range where players can group together at different levels. The best way to explain this is; Say your character is level 40. Divide the level in half, which is 20, now add this to the current level. 40+20= 60 That's the best way to figure it out. This gives you a wider range of people to group with. Also players can shroud down to a lower level to group with you.

The Mayong server has a healthy population to start off on or if you want to just try out classes to see how they will feel later on it is perfect. While you could try the test server for this, Mayong has plenty of people to talk to plenty of groups to jump in right off the bat.

So how about high end? Raiding! The raids in this game can be quite large. Some of the largest raids I've ever seen, at one point it was 72 people! Currently it is around 47. Recently I think the smallest objective has been toned down to 10 people.

Raids in Everquest have always been fun, boss fights in particular. However they can be quite long when compared to other boss fights. Also having a wider range of roles in this game requires a wider range of them in the raids. So it can take a lot of work but be very rewarding and fun to full these different roles. Multiple people doing multiple things. This was the game I learned raiding with, from a long time gamers perspective it was a great place to learn.

Aside from raiding there are groups to do progression lines with, farm gear and augs, aa points and so on. Lots to do!




Trade skills.
Everquest offers a wide range of trade skills. While more in depth than other games it can sometimes be hard work but mostly pays off in the end with nice rewards even titles. It is easier than it was years ago to pick one up and work on it. Nifty things come along with trade skills of course. Some of them being shaman get alchemy which can make potions! Many, many types potions. There are also nice things like making stat food, cultural armor, armor dyes and so on.

Things that make or break a game!

Everquest offers classes that have special abilities such as speed enhancements, invisibly, porting, and illusions. Potions that can make you invisible. Pet classes. Quests for pets that increase stats but look cute! Holiday events with unique items! Sometimes it's the little things that make a game fun!

Everquest also introduced the Station Cash not too long ago. There are mixed feelings upon this introduction. Basically it is a cash shop in game. You can buy random item bundles, fluff pets, cool auras, even titles. While they stated these items would never be game breaking some people still do not like it, while others love it.

There is also the LoN online card game. You can gain special loot cards for in-game items, (illusion items, mounts, pets, ect) trade for them, or just win them in special events. Again there is a bit of hostile reactions to this but at the same time you see many people with these all over in the game. This game is free, you get starter booster decks. Additional cards, decks, or event passes require purchase.

Interested?
I am sure I missed a few things you may have wondered about such as "Mail system?" Yes and no. You can mail other players, text only, no items. Also there are weapon and spell skill ups you must work on. You can always post or email any questions I may not have covered or check the links I provided below.

Interested in checking out the game or the trial?
Everquest Offical Site
Everquest Forums
EQ Players
LoN online card game




Thoughts
I just wanted to give a basic look at the game since I often refer to it in my topics. I do have friends from other games or just friends who on occasion ask me about it and it makes me think, as widely known and old as the game is not everyone has tried it.

This game has one of the best gaming communities I have ever been involved in. I cannot express how much I miss this community at times, how kind some of the players can be. While all games have a few bad apples this game has it's fair share. However it also has a massive amount of good people. Smaller communities often pull closer together.

While I have had a few bad experiences with technical and billing support sadly.. overall this company does their best for the most part to help players. I have had exceptional support and help in the past no other company has offered me.

It is a wonderful game that offers a gaming experience unlike a lot of games. It is the game that started it all. Much nostalgia and many memories fill this game. While it has it's good points and bad, remember no game is perfect. If you are looking to try something with a different feel Everquest might be worth a look at.

There are different mechanics in the game such as the death penatly, mobs summon players while spamming each sumon with "You will not evade me _playername!" Kiting is an art in this game, tanking is something to respect, it even offers an in-game music player. There is even an in-game Volunteer Guide Program players can apply to be part of. I participated in this years ago and it was a rewarding experience.



Currently I am not playing it, I let my account lapse a couple of months ago. After playing a game almost a decade, breaks are needed, at least for me! I do have characters at high end, I have a guild that probably is wondering where I am again heh. I play on Bristlebane but Lanys T'Vyl is where my heart remains.

While this review will probably be the most drawn out, one cannot cram a decade of a game into one small post as a simple review ;) I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

"You will not Evade me!"
-kaozz

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

SWTRO Closed Beta!??



"MAINTENANCE
Thank you for visiting www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com. We are making adjustments to the site due to the overwhelming response to the testing announcement. Please be patient and check back later. We estimate that the site will be back up in the next few hours."


After yesterdays "blip" (SWTOR had a closed beta announcement up at one point which was removed), it seems it was really meant for today! I figured I would check back to see what was going on and this was the message I got.

I didn't expect to see closed beta as early as this year but it is exciting news indeed. Good Luck everyone!

Monday, September 28, 2009

What I've been playing (MMO)... and a go at the PS3.



Often as I complain about this or that in WoW it's still my main squeeze. I finally got around to patching it yesterday after being quite lazy and waiting around to do so. I have been really enjoying the Brewfest daily boss fight. So far I've got a ton of trinkets.. and a Direbrew's Remote for my Priest and Paladin. Makes life so much easier to port straight to the boss.

Other than that I've just been puttering around in game still trying to decide if I want to transfer one of my horde to alliance for a change. I played quite heavily on the alliance at one time so sometimes I miss the cities. No luck with a guild still as I don't play as much as I was. I think finding a guild would make the playtime more rewarding. I just have to find one I'm willing to log on for on a regular basis.

Aion of course my shiny new toy, I haven't had much time to play this one the last couple of days, I hope to spend some time on it this evening unless something comes up. I've had a lot of fun so far, I am taking my time with it. I came across some quick tips for Aion at Massively earlier which I thought were very helpful.

I want to play this game and stick with it as it's such a nice game. However I'm thinking about trying another class possibly. I adore the Spiritmaster class but there's a few things that bug me about it. My pet got taunt at level 13, yay! The thing is.. I have to cast it AND it has a cast time. Kind of annoying. Same thing with the pets special attack. I have to stop my dps rotation to cast that as well. I think the pet class needs a bit of fine-tuning in that area, if you ask me.

Other than that some of the quests objectives are harder to find so I have been checking out this site to help speed some of them up. I am still having fun with it, it's a great game. I'm very interested in how end game will be.

My brothers brought by the PlayStation 3 last night and decided it would be funny to watch me try to play it. They wanted to pick out a scary game that would make me jump, lol, and turned off all the lights so I couldn't even tell which button was what. So after they showed me how to use the controls I gave it a go on the game Fear 2.

I NEVER play console games. My son use to try to make me play Halo on the 360 and I was useless on it lol. The last time I can remember sitting down and avidly playing a console would be the PS for the Tekken series. Oh I loved me some Tekken!

Anyhow it was fun we all had a bunch of laughs as I tried to use both analog sticks to control moving and turning. I shot everything else but the mobs, my husband was rolling at how bad my aim was. All those buttons.. it was some getting use to. I ran into walls and was prompted with "No turn around, go left!" Watch out for the ghost!" Um will it hurt me? However it was quite fun to give it a go. So far I've seen some pretty interesting games and really like the PS3. It's probably not for me as a gamer, but it might be something I'd play on occasion. In the end it was not so scary because everyone kept laughing at my playing ;)

All in good fun. We'd like to get one for Christmas for my son so I thought it would be fun to try it out and everyone loves to laugh at how bad I play it. My hands are molded to a keyboard not a controller. Busy weekend so that's what I've been up to with my gaming.

"Which button is triangle, it's so dark in here I can't see it!!" -kaozz

Sunday, September 27, 2009

"You've ruined your own lands, you'll not ruin mine!"... (MMO)



Everybody has an opinion on game play. mechanics and classes. Some of those like to voice their opinions on forums, loudly. I have started to wonder if really "we" have become a generation of spoiled gamers. At least some of us...

I remember when I first started gaming I never went to game forums b/c I was having too much fun playing the game. It seems to be more mainstream now to go to the forums and complain about the game, what your class lacks ect ect ... It boggles me to no end how this syndrome of pitching such fits has actually seemed to worked. If you cry hard enough the developers will listen is the message.

It's come to the point where I hate going to the official WoW forums because it is such a crying fest. From anything to "Draenei need a new class" to "Blood Elves are lame". Seriously do people really have nothing better to do? Are "we" the reason that classes change like the weather in games such as WoW? All the crying, whining and moaning? Even the Everquest forums have gotten bad about this, however not to the extent of the WoW forums.

On top of this, the atmosphere on the forums is vicious. People insulting each others gear, arena ratings and so on. Name calling, insults, overall rude behavior to anything that they disagree with in the most outrageous behavior. In all honesty I think many forums are too lenient and lax when it comes to this behavior. There is no repercussions for acting this way, which carries over to game.

I even notice in chat channels of many games the most irritating people who spam constant insulting childish dribble actually become popular, almost (boggle) respected. Is it because people don't want to be insulted publicly, like others who have spoken against said person, that they go along with it? Or are we just gaming with a bunch of "childish" people (not literally, I have seen many children act more respectively to others than adults in games), who have no fear of saying every little mean thought that pops into their heads?

I for one am sick of this behavior. It ruins communities in games. But really when games have so many players there seems to be no consequences for acting like this. It begins to be the norm. Nobody is scared of being cast out of groups for disrespecting others because they can just grab another group in games where groups are a dime a dozen.

I remember in Everquest there was the sh!t list. This was a place where players were listed for obscene behavior, if you were on it people were wary of grouping with you or even inviting you to a guild. People then built up respected reputations and that was something to be proud of, much unlike how it is today.

In my newest game Aion this seems to have carried over, no I am not surprised in the least bit. Saddened if anything. The new fad I seem to see is "STFU and go back to WoW".

Is this a problem of the players or the game companies who run the games? I suppose we could try and act more respectable, but you can't make others act such way, then again the game companies could make punishment for actions more severe. But alas they want to make the "monies".. banning people for bad behavior cuts into their wallets. So where does it end? Will it ever end?

Toughen up right? I have grown to learn that I shouldn't listen to much garbage, using ignore or turn off channels. However it still is there, when you group with people you still see it. When you visit the forums to find out some information, you still see it.

Just an observation I have made over the years how the quality of gamers attitudes... has drastically gone down.

"You've ruined your own lands, you'll not ruin mine!"...
My favorite Everquest quote seems fitting for this topic.
-kaozz

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Eye Candy: The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Book)



When I'm not gaming in my free time I like to read! So this is a deviation away from the norm. Sometimes I like to share a good book or movie. If you like post apocalyptic type stories you will definitely enjoy this one! I suppose anyone who likes a good "shiver up the spine tale" will indeed want to check this out. So here's a couple of good reads and what I'm currently engrossed in.

I'm currently reading "The forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan,which has been so far a book I don't want to put down. I try to pace myself with good books or I will sit down and read it from cover to cover in a setting. I'm not going to really get into depth what it's about, you can click on the picture to peek inside.

If you liked "The Host" By Stephenie Meyer, then you will really want to check this one out. If you didn't, you may possibly like this one a bit more.


Just something I thought I would share as a good read, Eye Candy for sure! -kaozz

Don't judge a book by it's cover. (MMORPG)



Occasionally I see on different game forums posts asking why people play a character of a different gender than what the player is in real life. I have always wondered really what does it matter. Just because the character may be the same sex of the character it doesn't change anything. Maybe you might flirt with them possibly? Does it gross you out? Does it even matter to you? In an MMORPG does it matter?

A few weeks ago I was on my female NE druid in WoW and I had a male character trying to dig around to find out if I was female or not. He started out making a comment that my name was pretty. As I have found on the alliance I tend to get hit on more so, though it still happens on horde, on a female character. I have been asked to dance "naked" for gold more times than I'd like to count.. Always sending back an earful to the person heh.

Anyhow as I was saying. This player kept asking me questions, which I figured I wouldn't give him a real clue that I was, in fact, female. He asked if it was odd to play a female character which I replied with "No it feels fine to me." He made a few comments how he always felt creepy playing female characters, my reply was "I think my druid is nice as a female, as my Paladin is nice as a male." He then quit sending me tells. It got a chuckle from me. My work was done, easy way to fend off potential cyber requests. The week before I had a "guy" ask if I liked to talk dirty, a random tell.. wth dude?

You can't always tell who is behind the character, therefor you should act respectfully and take this into account. One of my mains in WoW is an 80 Male BE Paladin. When I first created him I had a lot of friends and random people sending me flirty tells and I figured it would make me immune to those kinds of tells. I switched sides back to horde, and at the time I liked how the males looked in plate better.

I like it that way, my friends know I am female, they don't treat me any different. No shocks on Vent to find I am female because I am not posing as a male, I do not feel I have to associate myself with my character. I know who I am. Plus my character looks sweet in plate ;) I've always had a few male characters since back in my Everquest days.

Another thing I find is many people feel the need to associate with their character. My character is not an extension of myself. It's just some pixels I run around in a game with. Sure I won't name it Buttface or anything, because I like to have some self respect in that manner. Or I have even seen people say "I like to look at a female behind all day not a males." or vice versa.

It's not that for me. At the time I thought he made a better choice for a paladin, with the immunity to random flirts as icing on the cake. I still have friends who get a kick out of doing silly flirty emotes with my character but that's a different thing.

I had changed my character to female at one point then I changed it back to male b/c I preferred how I had originally made it. If I want to play a female character I have another main as a female. Really it just comes down to which class I feel like playing not which sex it is.

Though I have found it doesn't always make a difference as I have had female characters hitting on me in tells... I may look like a gallant tanking machine who leads the group onward in the land of Norrath, doesn't mean I really am a gallant Wood Elf warrior in real life! Though this is not the reason I play male character as well as females. I like to play what I think looks cool as said class. However I do play more female than male characters. As you can see only one in my banner is male ;)

Everyone has different reasons. I have several male friends in WoW who only play female characters, I don't view them any differently. One of my last guilds a few female players asked why I would play a male, it seems the females that had the most reaction. The males were more like, cool dude.. lets go do a heroic.

I suppose you have to feel comfortable with it. People have to realize that the character that's being played isn't an extension of it really is, it's an avatar, pixels. There is a separation, I play my characters to the best of my ability and expect to be judged on this, not what sex my character is.

Some people feel squeamish about it. It's not as if I'm running around with a photograph of someone else taped to my face pretending to be someone else. It's a whole different ballpark. When I am a female character do you think I am posing to be a vixen in disguise or that's what I really look similar to?

It's not an issue with me personally I just thought it was an interesting topic. What do you play? Do you have problems with people playing the opposite sex? Why?

I'd also like to say this isn't a post meant to rant on rant of in game flirting, or random cyber tells. I just use some of my own experiences as reference. I'm not ragging on people who flirt in game either, however I am there to game. To each his/her own. You also have to keep in mind to be respectful to other players, so always keep that in mind.

Plus you never know who is behind that avatar ;)
-kaozz

Friday, September 25, 2009

Booterang: Knocks sense into worthless, lazy peons. When MMORPGs go meh?



Booternag, I have a new "column" to ramble in. Yay, you get to read the first post, aren't you special. Well you came to visit my site, you must be, and may I add that you have good taste! Ok on a serious note..

"Why it put da booterang on da skin?" I'm going to use it on some games I think need a good booterang ;) Ok some of them don't I just like the Booterang. Maybe not so serious after all.

I is on teh Massively! One of my favorite sites Massively picked one of my screen shots for their One Shots section. First thing I do when I sit down on my machine is light up a smoke and check out my favorite sites to see whats going on. (Yeah sorry, along with my MMORPG addiction there's cigarettes, Dr.Pepper and Coffee) I was pretty stoked when I went there today and saw my DDO character on the front page. I know, I'm a geek. I use to work in the geek-squad.. I guess it's a natural thing, I can't help it :(

Did you notice my new banner? Well if you have been here before maybe you may have glanced at it. It was starting to get cluttered, and I had a couple of characters I drew, which I have taken off, and added a couple new characters of mine ;) Still kinda full but I am happy with it for now. Oh and ECtunnel's twitter got a new look too :D


Anyhow.. I have been wanting to go over some of the games I have spoken about previously and why I don't play some of them, along with what I will be playing again in the future. I seem to have given some reviews/thoughts on them but I never got back to where I was with them currently. I'm not going to go on about them all, just the big ones people may be interested in.

The first one I want to talk about is AoC. I had a fantastic time in this game. However there were certain things I didn't like about the game after awhile. The graphics were great to look at but sometimes it's the little things that bug you about a game.

First off I had my heart set on the Necro which is my highest character. I had fun with other classes I played up also but the Necro was just too cool not to play. What got me was all the pets aggro (yeah the billion pets you get heh), goes to the caster. I just couldn't get past this mechanic. While I put it out of my mind for a bit, as the Necro killed mobs pretty quickly, there was another issue with the pets that just added more aggravation.

*Thud**Thud**Thud**Thud*... wth was that? Oh it seems my pets are random dying off. Recast each dead pet. *Thud**Thud**Thud*. Recast three more. Ok guys come on stop playing around.. lets go across all this water. *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*.

Ok you get my point? They all died. A mob attacks me, I can kill it. But really it's more of a hassle thinking they are there and turning around to see a pile of corpses.

I did try out other classes but I was not a big fan of melee combat in this game. Honestly no auto attack blows chunks. At this point I wasn't interested in playing the healer I leveled up either, I had my heart set on one class.

The graphics while being some of the best out there were chunky in some areas like characters hair and some animations. Not a huge deal. In some cities after playing it for a few hours it started crashing. Some days it would run fine, others lots of crashes.

I also did not like some of the starting areas, how you were swept away to your homeland at 20. What if I wanted to play a certain class that was only available to one race yet someone I played with wanted another race/class combo stuck to another? I didn't like that. I couldn't even get out of one city until I did a quest chain on my healer. It got annoying.

While it was an exotic game overall even with the annoyances I just seemed to move on to some other new titles that caught my attention more so.

Next up is Champions. This is a love hate relationship I have decided. IMO the graphics are too taxing for this game. While I run it fine, older machines have trouble. The characters can be anywhere from fatalistically beautiful to comically funny. While retcon prices have been smoothed out it really got annoying back then how they were so high.

Superhero or just another fancy pants player among many? Some skill combos are far stronger than others. I had a big problem with this. While I am not a min/maxer I did want to at least have a character that had a decent build. By the time I spoke to other people and searched the forums I just got bored. Either the combo wasn't something I wanted to play or it didn't go with the feel of my character.

There is no direction in this game. I say this b/c really skill choices are flung out at a new player with no feel on what would be realistically good for leveling. What sounds cool in the description isn't always a good choice. Questing was better simply because there was a built in quest helper but other than that the quest descriptions were pretty bland about where to go. Even though it did have an area circled on the map, it was a huge radius, sometimes you had to find a piece of paper that blended in with the ground.

I think the character creation goes beyond many many others. I had tons of fun with this aspect. The animations were sweet! The interface was so-so, but it was doable, easy to use at least. It didn't offer much else in the world that was unique. I wasn't looking for a unique game style I mean the actual world.. it felt bland in many areas.

I will say champions has the most innovative travel skills in any game. They top this one. They surpass Aion with travel currently.The game has some really really cool abilities as far as skills go. I think they might have nerfed the classes upon release a bit much. That's just my opinion. While I do have my complaints it is not a bad game, it is solid, you just have to do a bit of research about builds. Currently I am just not into being a test monkey while they iron out all the kinks. They are not that bad, I don't know I just got... bored very quickly. If you are into super heroes this game might be more for you than I.

While I am on the superhero topic, what is S.O.E. thinking putting out another Superhero game? I just don't think it is going to be a good move for them. Marvel backed out on Cryptic (Disney now owns Marvel...), so I suppose they may feel DC heroes give them the edge. I'm just not feeling it. Get back to work on EVERQUEST NEXT S.O.E. or I'll stick the Booterang on you!!

DDO Unlimited is up next. This game really was captivating. Out of all I have played recently it has been one of the most fun. And of course I had my beef with it. I did not play it nearly as long b/c I hopped over to Champions and it took up more of my play time.

I thought the combat and classes were fun. Dungeons were interesting. However it had a lonely Guild Wars feeling. Not as bad, but still you felt cut off from the rest of the world at times. Other things like getting health and mana back at shrines were annoying, but not a big hinder while playing.

The game has polish and depth. It's got graphics worth looking at, it is charming. This is one that I would consider playing in the future. If I did I would pay for the subscription instead of trying to find the things needed to level found by non-subscribers randomly. ANNOYING- Booterang time for you DDO! I missed having a mount too but I could live with out it I suppose.

So that's all I am going to Booterang on today. These are all good solid games I spoke on. I just have a lot I am interested in lately and have been flittering around from game to game trying to find something more suiting to me.

Currently it looks to be Aion as my MMORPG of choice!.. and of course WoW which will probably always be my fallback when I get bored. EQ is my fallback after that lol.


One day me have dat Booterang!
-Kaozz

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A New Everquest?! ..and WoW the five year old juggernaut.. among other interesting things.



A NEW EQ?!!
I recently had someone mention to me they heard there was an Everqest 3 in the works. I chuckled to myself, and said yeah right. I don't ever seeing that happening. I just might have to eat those words. I don't mind that one bit if it's the case ;) But I am sure it will be a wait for hearing more on that.

Zam/Allakhazam has it posted up on their site(s). I recently got around to seeing it, so the news isn't new. I do check out many other sites quite often and I saw this mentioned, just thought I would look into it. I try to keep up on things but sometimes things get past me, so no this isn't anything new.

While there is no big news with S.O.E. on it, here is a quote from the 10th Anniversary EverQuest Book written by Rusel DeMaria and Paul Lipscombe: "So you can see there's a lot to wrestle with as we begin laying the foundation for EverQuest 'Next.' As I write this, we have concept artists and game designers working hard in our studio-taking the lessons of the past, the best parts of the present and the most promising ideas for the future-to bring the world of Norrath to a new generation of players, as well as the dedicated legions of fans who made the EverQuest franchise timeless. I hope we'll see you there."

So all we can do is wait and hope for the best. As much as I liked EQ2 it wasn't a game to hold me like the original. If they were to do another, lets hope it is more like the original. It could be console based, who knows. If that was the case it would not be of interest to me, sorry I'm not much on console games unless my son badgers me into playing.

Speaking of EQ2, Shards of Destiny patch was released today. Some cool things along with it.

Chronomagic.
This works similarly to mentoring except:You do not need a mentoring target.You can only choose levels in increments of 5.You do not receive the bonuses granted from mentoring other players.

Player houses have been given an extra room!

Achievements
"The new achievement system gives players a fun new way to track their accomplishments! Most achievements will award players with achievement points that can be used to compare their progress against other players. Some harder to complete achievements will offer non-stat item rewards. The basic categories are General, Dungeons, Exploration, Player vs. Player, Quests, Raids, Tradeskills and Triumphs. Triumphs are large scale achievements that combine multiple achievements into one large one. An example of this would be to do all of the combat, quest, and exploration achievements in a specific area."


Currently there's some cool in-game events, but I'm not currently active, if I do play one of the two EQ games anymore I prefer the original. That's just me. Definitely good stuff there though.

More and more new games!
So it seems on the horizon we have DC Universe, yet another comic book style game. I'm not sure if I could stomach playing any more super heroes in the near future. I have my hands full with Champions Online. I suppose this will be the first to use real super heroes we all know and love. This is also a S.O.E. game.

Star Trek Online. This could be a Trekkie's dream game. I'm not into the space type MMORPG. But it is nice to see different types popping up. They are currently accepting closed beta applications. So head over there if you're interested. Think I will have to pass on that.

However.. I am interested in SWTOR. When I was five I had a pair of R2-D2 Underoos I ran around in the house with lol. I have always been a Star Wars fan so this game holds some interest to me. Not much news lately though :( If you have not checked out the current classes you can check them out here.

The three new releases in the MMORPG Genre, how are they doing?

Champions is doing well, they recently had another patch to smooth out some kinks such as retcon costs. A free retcon is being granted to all characters created before September 22nd, 10AM UTC. More money will be dropping off mobs and from quests to help resolve the problem. I am glad to know they are keeping in touch with the players issues.

Fallen Earth did an overhaul on the female character's faces due to player request. It seems the females were not so easy to distinguish from the males. They do indeed look better IMO. You can check out some pics and more info on Massively. They also had another patch today, the full notes included; Fixed a server lockup due to actor generators. Fixed some cases where events would not update correctly.

Aion is booming obviously ;) While I have had a really easy time logging in with (HAHAHA NO QUEUE TIMES... sorry had to say it), other servers have had horrible wait times. NCsoft has stated they are keeping tabs on it. I assume it will slow down in time, I remember waiting up to 2-3 hours to log into WoW in the past when servers started getting full. Only time will tell if they will need to expand on servers, for now it is best to wait and see on this I suppose. I remember logging into WAR and not seeing more than two people before the server merges.

Speaking of server merges..
Recently SWG had server merges. This is a good thing. A game of it's age begins to need the servers merged. It helps with the community and finding more players to do things with. It does not mean "OMG THE GAME IS DYING!111" It's something that happens to a lot of older games. With the exception of one.. Before I go onto that route, I did notice SWG has a buddy/recruit system in place with rewards. Sweet.

Back to what I was saying.. Actually the game six years old, about a year older than WoW which I just noticed. But then again WoW is the juggernaut of the MMORPG industry currently. So neither is old when compared to Ultima or EQ, still not spring chickens.

Every game out now is trying to compete with a five year old game. I surely hope S.O.E. comes out with guns blazing on Everquest 'Next'! How ironic would it be for EQ to take the lead again? Oh one can dream right?

I have played two out of the three new releases (Aion and Champions), and constantly I see people talking about WoW. Compare it to WoW, ask if there are options for this or that like WoW. Is the PvP like WoW.. and so on. The chat is constantly flooded with talk of WoW either it being good or a random STFU and go back to your WoW fanboi!

It is still there, an imposing game, in a world where new games are trying to get footing. If Blizzard had any common sense they would take note that they are still in the lead and keep people interested with (yes, I am going to say it..) NEW CONTENT on a bigger scale with expansions.

Had Cataclysm come out this year instead of next would I have gone to other games? I highly doubt it. I do want to see other games prosper, it's so nice now to have more choices. Then again if Everquest used all the resources they put into EQ2 on EQ would I have left? Maybe, maybe not. I still miss the game, I just don't miss many things about it.

So Blizzard could try to top it's own game like S.O.E did and possibly fall off the top.. or top themselves. Nostalgia holds a lot of power, while newness fades quickly. Or they could get their arses in gear and start doing things to keep players.

Also I wanted to give a /salute to ixobelle the lonesome hero.


And thats all I have to say for now ;)
-kaozz

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

My 2cp: Aion Day 2



Day two of Aion, still having a lot of fun! Since I am still not high enough to give a real in depth review I am sticking this into the my 2cp section.

So yesterday I left off right before I got my ascension quest. It has been slow getting to level 10, today was my mother's birthday so limited play time this evening. That plus me looking at everything, taking my sweet time. But who cares as long as I'm having fun right?

Today I just wanted to point out a few things I think are cool, and what I don't like after getting more of a feel for the game. So lets get this started!

Leveling. I did have fun leveling my Mage. It wasn't the class for me, however I wanted to be a Spirit Master so I had to trudge though it. What I don't like about the leveling process is you have to level through the set path to get to the class you want to go with.




Each class splits into two paths. Luckily I am very happy with my choice. I really think I wouldn't of had much fun re-playing through the slow leveling process I just did, to find a character I liked more so, all the way back to the ascension again. At least not back to back. While it was fun, it seemed to take longer than some other games. It wasn't bad, I goofed around a lot too.

Things you can't live w/o in an MMO. The dressing room! I am very glad they added this, I love to try things on. Cosmetic gear. Supposedly you can change the look of your gear while keeping the stats. I have yet to find out very much about this but I like the idea!

It seems you will be able to do a gender and or cosmetic change in the future, but for real money. The Korean version had this option added for players already. You can currently pay in game money to change hair colors.
Just an idea on whats (and will be) available:

Sanctum
Dionysia Tavern at the Outer Dock Euripides Gender Switch
Angelic Frippery Shop on Divine Road Maenia Plastic Surgery
Angelic Frippery Shop on Divine Road Tigares Character Colorations

Pandaemonium
Back alleys of Pandaemonium Plaza Jotunmodr Gender Switch
Angelic Frippery Shop on Prosperity Road Himingleva Plastic Surgery
Angelic Frippery Shop on Prosperity Road Sjalfi

What else? Of course it has auto run, which is great. Jump, cool flips included. Flight Paths and ports are available for a fee.( I do wish there were mounts to be honest) Auction house, bank, shared bank (yay!), mailbox and personal trader mode you can sell w/o any AH cuts taken out. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Stuff you want in every solid game.




Overall feel of the game. The quests are better than grinding, it seems to get more fun as you level for sure. Changes of scenery are always good.

The first big city I have seen, Pandemonium, was an exquisite place. I liked the feel of it, even if it was maybe a bit too large, all of the buildings were a treat to peek into. Fires crackling, comfy couches, lush gardens and cozy rooms full of interesting paintings. I thought this was a nice touch.

I like the sounds in this game. The music really good, I enjoy hearing each new type in each zone I advance to. When your character walks across certain types of ground you can hear different sounds like you would for carpet, grass and stone.




You acquire titles in the game as you complete certain quest lines. What's nice about this is you can get them as you level and they give bonus stats!

The emotes in this game are some of the best I've seen in any game. For instance if you do /sit you find something fancy to sit on.. a flying carpet. Quite cute. /Sleep tips you back to sleep on a soft cloud.

So far I am having a great time. I love the class I picked, it's very similar to my Magician in Everquest. The game is a bit different in some ways, I am still getting use to it. The game has a nice feel to it and plenty of quests to advance you onward.

And of course I think this game is a masterpiece when it comes to art. The lore is interesting, not very in-depth but lore isn't something that will make or break a game for me. I like a game that has nice graphics, good game play, lasting game play at that and neat little things that keep you interested.

Dislikes. The gathering skill is slow, and takes a little time, though you do get xp for it. Also some downtime after a bit of killing but really nothing to get upset about.

At times it seems there's not much direction on the quests. It does give you a vague direction but at times you have to do some looking.




Flying is so limited, you get one minute, which really it's not worth using in certain areas. While it is cool, handy at times... I find myself really wishing for a ground mount also. Then flying wouldn't bother me nearly as much. Running, you do a lot of this. Makes you tired just watching your character do all that running :(

The cities are huge, lovely but with all this running.. makes you realize just how far one end is to the other. I did notice teleporters to different parts, but you pay for that. Not something I wanted to do.

But for now the good outweighs the bad. I will keep updating how the journey to the top goes! Also probaby soon I will give some pros and cons on some of the games I've dabbled in over the last couple of months and why they didn't hold my interest. This one so far seems a keeper!

Till next time. -kaozz

WoW Patch 3.2.2 snuck past my radar ><



So it seems the one day I don't log into WoW b/c I wanted to play Aion I didn't notice the 3.2.2 patch! So along with all the Brewfest fun, they add in Onyxia! And I was complaining about nothing to do last week lol. Add in the Harvest Festival at the end of this month, followed by Hallow's End and it seems the end of this year is full of lots of fun events!

My WoW account is active till Oct 19th and I was thinking about letting it lapse... meh with all this going on I don't want to miss out. I dunno, depends on how much time I have though and how much fun I have in Aion. I really want to get more into Aion and focus on leveling up there.

So this looks like a very fun patch. I don't know why they added in this one: Players may now only queue for no more than two Battlegrounds at a time. Though they do like to change things up all the time..

Rogues - Fan of Knives: The damage done by this ability has been reduced by 30%... Just noticed that one in particular since husband plays(ed) a rogue.

The only change that I really noticed for my characters would be Seal of Command: This ability now chains to strike up to 2 additional targets when it is triggered by an attack that can only strike a single target. I suppose they had to try something to make it less crap than it was. I will have to see if this is even worth it now, somehow I doubt it is much better than before.

Anyhow I still have to patch WoW. My patcher is not wanting to work properly and I will probably have to lug my machine elsewhere to DL it as my connection and WoW patches do not get along. I'm not even going to get started on that topic.. we could be here for days with my ranting ;)

I hope to get it patched in the next few days if I am not too lazy. One of my friends was telling me earlier about the new Onyxia fight and it really seems fun. She got some nice loot out of it too, I am looking forward to trying it out.

So have fun with Onyxia those of you who dare set foot in her lair, may you be safe and your lewt be phat! -kaozz

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Aion, first day.. first impression.



I want to start off by saying a few things about my expectancy of Aion before I give my first impression on the good and the bad. First off I am not looking for something that is going to break the mold. I wanted something pretty to look at while I had fun killing monsters like in every other mmorpg. I'm not looking for a game that has new innovative questing.. questing is questing to me. I am at the point no matter what is in that box I will only read the directions how to kill X.

So with that said, lets get started! I have only played for the first day, so I can't give a full review on this game yet. My first impressions are mostly on the Mage role. I tried them all out, which took some time, (that and the character creation.. we will come back to this ;) ), and finally settled on a caster. I have not got past 9 sadly due to trying things out to get a feel for what I wanted. I plan to get past that tomorrow!




Anywho.. I seemed to have picked a decent server (for now), and had no queue. I was happy.. after the updates, to log in w/o any hindrances. I've always liked Dark Elf type characters so I picked a server I could make an Asmodian on. I'm quite happy with it so far.

The character creation was great! I spent too long in there finally when I picked the class I was going to lvl for sure, after remaking her twice.. I said no more lol. The characters in this game are some of the most beautiful I have seen in any game. It's like taking Lineage 2 and Guild Wars models and mixing them into WoW.. almost.




You can really get into detail, I even saw people who made chars that looked like dwarves. The hairstyles are like my dream game hairstyles! They go way and beyond AoC and any other game I have played. They are simply the best, tons of choices.

The world. Oh my it is a lovely place. Stunning, it was a nice change from Champions. I felt like I was in a fantasy place, not some lifeless city or sparse forest. Not bright in your face colors either. So you get it, I love how the game looks. I loved how L2 looked too, didn't mean I played it past a week lol.

Game play. It really was enjoyable. Different, not bad though. Combat reminded me of Runes of Magic slightly. From what I have done so far, I have not died once vs getting killed every 10 min on my last MMORPG I wanted to give a shot.. Champions. This game will take that spot for sure. There were some annoying things, like my character blabbing her mouth off everytime she casts, I turned that off after a couple of hours. The game is not perfect but it was simple enough, yet you had to still think about what you were doing.




I cannot say how high end is but I am looking forward to it. This WILL BE my new game to stick with. It may last only till Cataclysm, maybe beyond. Only time will tell.

Polish! The game has been converted from the Korean version which has been out for almost a year. So yeah we get the polished version with the bugs smoothed out. More than I can say for any game since 2004. They did have a head start on that, but I am glad they did.

I did do a little reading and figured the Spirit Master would be the class for me. It seems a decent solo class, and I love pet classes. This looks like the class for me, unless I can recruit some friends/family, I might then make a healer. But for now pretty happy with the mage type.

Performance. I was really surprised to see how polished and smooth the game is. It makes some of the graphic intense games out there look bad honestly. I'd say this would run better on older machines than any out there besides WoW, which has the lead there.




The UI was simple enough, I liked it. Controls are pretty much the same, you can always remap keys too. Combat with it was smooth, chain "combo" spells pop up on the screen or on the spell key that triggered it. Nothing spectacular but easy for me, how I like it. I am lazy and old. No spamming keys for melee combat like AoC.. which I hated. That's bad on the Carpal Tunnel :(

The bad.. hrmm. I really am impressed by the game. Maybe because it's not beyond my expectations. The chat is a bit different, but not hard to get use to.

Really it's not as slow as I have read on some other sites reviews, I could kill most mobs in three nukes. Maybe for other classes it could be. However it's not as easy as WoW, then again I am not playing WoW for a reason atm. It is slow I will admit when you compare it to WoW. When I first started WoW I thought, gee this is a kiddie game. EASY MODE! That was my first thought as an EQ player. People who compare it to L2.. must not remember how painful and slow combat was in that game.

I wish it had more of a quest helper built in like Champions, AoC, WAR.. just to name a few. But it does have options to show you where to go, you just can't be lazy.

Flying. I went into this game knowing it is limited. If I had to say my biggest issue, it would be flying. But knowing how it is before hand, it's not so much of a let down.

My feelings could change as time goes on but as I see it now this is my game of choice for the long run. I am pretty smitten with it so far.

On a side note NC Soft added in a quick character search option similar to WoW armory with a 3D character view along with it. Pretty cool!

My first impressions. -kaozz

Aion release day.. what am I doing?



Today is the official release day... for those of us who did not pre-order. I sat thinking yesterday how it sure would have been nice had I done so. But as I am a night owl and up in the wee hours of the morning, my husband doesn't get off work till 2 or 3am, I happened to still be up last night pretty late. Or this morning.. all the same to me ;) So off to Walmart I went in hopes to snag a copy of Aion.

I remember some of my friends telling me about times they didn't pre-order games Walmart had copies though in the wee hours. So I figured in Houston I should be able to get one pretty easily. So when I got there I saw they had added a lot of different games to the shelves, more so than the last time I had been there. But no Aion!

*PANIC PANIC PANIC!!!*

I just really felt let down that I had even bothered going out. I decided to look around for a sales person, never hurts to ask. Plus I'm never shy about asking for what I want to know. I noticed that they still had someone at the counter in Electronics, so I pounced on them asking about a game released today. "Oh Halo?" They replied. "Uh no.. Aion.. " I said. Turns out she had seen Aion in the back and went to get someone to let her in the cage in the back to grab me one. I was thrilled!

So that's my little adventure with Aion. Right now I have it installing, so that's where I will be today. I am sure there will be a nasty queue like WoW had. I've heard about it from other blogs and sites over the last couple of days.

So tomorrow I will be giving my first impressions on it after some play time! Till next time -kaozz

After thought: I meant to mention this before I published >< I guess it slipped my mind in all the Aion excitement.

Direct2Drive is having a 5 year anniversary sale. Great deals, many games for five bucks. You can check it out here. 50+ games for 5$ each, every Monday for the next five weeks new titles will be launched. There's some really good deals there.. I see AoC listed.. I paid a lot more for that a few weeks ago lol. Anyhow.. just wanted to share that with anyone who might be interested!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Aion Release!.. and some thoughts.



Today is the big day for Aion's release. Many people got into the head start. I wasn't one, I didn't pre-order either :( I was wanting to see how much I liked Champions first. But it's exciting to have a new MMORPG on the market. Something different, a change is always nice.

While I have not tried it, I kinda got lazy during open beta, I am looking forward to playing this gorgeous game! I've been playing WoW a bit more due to Brewfest, doing some heroics on both my 80 Horde chars. I was working more on Priest but leaning back towards Paladin now.

Anywho.. It's going to be nice to have a change from WoW as burnt out as I am. Tonight I saw my old guild leader's alt in better gear than my main. I'm not jealous to be honest.. just kind of irritated since he passed loot I won on my alt to someone else. He used the *that's your alt* card on me, while I never saw it said to others. All the while he raked in the loot on his alts like it was raining candy. Talk about a hypocrite.. /rant off. Guess you can see why I am burnt out a bit...


U R NOT TEH CORE GROUP GTFO.. oh can u plz healz uz?!!


Moving on...
So I will be curious how this game goes, I want something a tad different, we shall see how it is with this first month. I think Champions was too different for my tastes, although I am still trying to stick with it. Picking a spec is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle heh. I spoke to someone in game the other night that told me about a good solo build that I still have to try.

I am getting sick of can you top this bull with the games I play. WoW is the leader of the pack, can you top MAH DPSSSS METERZ. No I'm healing arse face.. now can you stfu and stop stepping in the green goo? Oh you died, how tragic.. /sarcasm. Getting gear depends on running with morons if you don't have a guild, or a good guild. Or you could have a good guild with a greedy leader. I have been in good guilds although these days it's hard to find one that doesn't have it's little clique. Honestly it's something I hear about all to much. I love WoW just not most of it's players :p

So back to the topic.. I am excited about Aion . The graphics! Oh they are sweet. It's like a Lineage 2 but with out all the bad things. I loved how Lineage 2 looked, sadly I found the game to be quite boring, it did not hold my interest for long. I am not saying this game will be perfect or close, but it seems to be the only one since WoW that has had me this interested. The rest since then have been iffy.. I almost preo-rdered. Wish I had!


The closer it's got to release the more I have really been wanting to get my hands on this game. It seems to be the one closest to my tastes within a game, that has been released in the last few years. I really did want to beta it, but I also didn't want to burn out the game when I knew I would get it in time. Beta can be fun.. I had tons in the WOtLK beta.



I had wanted to wait a month or two after release to try it but knowing me I will try it anyhow regardless of how the reviews are. I do this with every game out there heh. I have to try it out for myself. I do hope this game has some grit, some depth, a fun feeling overall. I am not looking for the Holy Grail of Games of course. Just surely something new I can sink my teeth into and play after such a long haul with WoW and the previous first love.. EQ.

I suppose if not this then maybe SWTOR could possibly be another on the horizon. Only time will tell. Hopefully soon I will have more to say on Aion. I want at least something to have fun with till Cataclysm, geez Bilzzard can you make us wait any longer?.. Oh yeah they have done so in the past!

Till next time players ;)
-kaozz

Sunday, September 20, 2009

More Brewfest fun!



This year Brewfest is using coins, but if you still have tickets, you can trade those in for coins! I had 25 in the bank on my Paladin and traded them in for 25 coins. I was pretty happy about that.

Everything you can do is linked here. Plus a lot of nifty achievements to get! It will be happening September 20 - October 4.

I decided to give the Brewfest boss a go with my Priest, friend of mine asked so I figured it would be fun. Got a couple of nice trinkets which I was happy about for Priest and Pally. I was pretty excited when a Great Brewfest Kodo dropped on my second try with Paladin, ecstatic when I won it! I will be trying to win that or the ram with my Priest now lol.

I also got the cute Pint-Sized Pink Elekk which I was so happy to see as a pet collector! On the 27th watch out for Harvest Fest! They are adding a new title and pet! Pilgrim title, and a turkey pet. So this looks like a good year for us pet lovers!

Anyhow.. lots to do for Brewfest! Always a treat when the holiday events come around. Fun times! May your Brewfest be full of Brew or.. Synthebrew Goggles heh, and your lewt be phat! -kaozz

WoW, Happy Brewfest!



Well today Brewfest started, tons of work to do for the achievement! A new pet Pint-Sized Pink Elekk was added this year! The Brewmaster title is pretty cool, not sure if I will get it this year or not, I will get the little pet for sure though!



Happy Brewfest Everyone!
-kaozz

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Pirates' Day! "You landlubbers are tougher than I thought. I'll have to improvise!"

[caption id="attachment_365" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Happy Pirates\' Day!"]Happy Pirates' Day![/caption]

Ahoy!! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day heh.

Can you guess who I quoted in the title?!

CELEBRATE PIRATES' DAY IN YOUR FAVORITE MMORPG!!11111111
A few ideas of mine would be...

Things to do in WoW for International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
-Check out the Pirates' Day in Booty Bay.
-Kill Briusers in Booty bay?! Ruin that faction and start working towards being a real pirate! (Good luck there ;) ).
-Go visit Edwin VanCleef and Mr.Smite to hear some of the best Pirate Lingo around!
-Drink Lots of booze and shout Pirate like talk across every zone you enter. Quote your favorite Pirate in wow! "Fools! Our cause is righteous!"
-Call Everyone "matey".

Things to do in EQ for International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
-Get drunk and /y pirate lingo in the Guild Lobby! " Yarrrr! You've ruined your own lands Matey. Avast you'll not ruin mine!!." Or make sure to use it in ALL chat!
- Go visit Gulf of Gunthak (or your favoriet pirate zone.. TBS, LoY, OOT, IC or TD), Bring some friends, run around with no pants and see how many pirates you can kill at once. Spice it up and use the weapons the pirates drop ;)
-Do Pirate Missions and make everyone role play as a pirate- or just talk like one.

Pirates! Yaaaaaaaaaar!
I thought today would be extra cool for the two pirate mmorpgs' out there. Pirates of the Burning Sea looks to be having a bit of a celebration today.

Also Pirates of the Caribbean is hosting Talk Like A Pirate Week!

WoW
In WoW today is Pirates' day, so I logged in and got my achievement "The Captains Booty". All you have to do is Drink with the Dread Captain Demeza to join her crew during Pirates Day. Easy achievement to get.

There were tons of people on the roof in Booty Bay lots of PvP action of course. Mostly I saw dancing, drinking, people killing bruisers, flight masters and each other. You get a 12 hr pirate costume buff which is fun.

Tomorrow Brewfest starts! I always enjoy the holiday events more than anything these days.

[caption id="attachment_350" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="An ice cream cone by the lake with my little doggie"]An ice cream cone by the lake with my little doggie[/caption]

Free Realms
FR still has the Party Wheel available for the 5mil Celebration. It will be in game until Sept 23. You can access it on the welcome screen. I logged in and got a ice cream cone, as the coolest item so far, for my adventure set. Free stuff is always good!

Champions Online
Champions is currently taking a poll "What new areas do you want to see in Champions Online?" So be sure to check it out and vote! Very good to see the developers are keeping in touch with what the players want. With this and the economy changes things look very good for Champions!

Everquest
EQ is having a few contest for International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Some nifty rewards, these are not in game events though. You can find them here.



We're under attack! A vast, ye swabs! Repel the invaders!

Happy Pirates' Day Mateys'!

-kaozz

Friday, September 18, 2009

Eye Candy: "Howl's Moving Castle" Movie & Book




This is just a change of pace from the norm, something for the Eye Candy Category :) - Candy for the eyes to enjoy heh.

Last winter one of my Christmas presents from my mother was the book "Howl's Moving castle" by Diana Wynne Jones. I often get a lot of books as gifts as I devour them so quickly. What a great gift. Such a lovely book, a truly charming story.

I won't go and spoil it for potential watchers or readers with too much depth. The story is full of magical things. Sophie, who is under a curse and turns from a young woman to an old "grandmotherly" woman. She then gets caught up with a dashing, dramatic.. yet kind hearted Wizard Howl. Howl lives in a castle that is constantly moving thanks to his egotistical demon Calcifer, who maneuvers it across many different lands. An engaging tale with adventure, comedy, even a bit of romance! Packed full of magic.




I had heard about the movie but I've just gotten around to watching it. It's an anime style movie, though even if you are not into anime it's a great movie none the less. The artwork in this movie is excellent, so much to look at in each scene, it's beautiful.

While the movie differs from the book a bit, if you have read the book, it still has the same feeling. The book was actually wrote in 1986 and won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was named an ALA Notable book for both children and young adults. In 2004 it was adapted as an Academy Award-nominated animated film by Hayao Miyazaki.

A sequel, Castle in the Air, was published in 1990. A second sequel, House of Many Ways was released in June 2008. Which I didn't know until recently, so you can guess what I will be reading before long ;)




Although the movie is different in some ways, it is still just as fantastic on the screen as it is in the imagination. Author Diana Wynne Jones comments on the movie vs book:

"The characters are the same as I wrote them, but other things are different. Making something visual is so different from making something to read. It takes more time to make something that you see, so he had to cut things out."

"Howl is less of a drama queen in the film, and more of a hero. It didn't spoil the essence of Howl. He is glamorous to many people. Only weeks after Howl was published I had a letter from a girl reading: 'My friend wants to know if Howl is a real person and if so she wants to marry him!"





Yes, Howl is quite a character in both the book and the movie. Christian Bale does the voice for him, and a fantastic job at that. Sophie is just as witty as I imagined her to be and Calcifer was a enchanting.






So if you are looking for a good book to curl up and read or a movie to settle down and watch, check these out. I found both of these to be such a treat.
-kaozz

Champions Online Economy Changes!




Today Cryptic announced economy changes in Champions. Looking good so far that Cryptic is taking note and acting on things quickly. This change will be on the public test realm this weekend.

It has been a big issue with the retcon price. I have had to remake characters due to bad choices because it just seems easier than trying to get the resources to respec. So this seems like a great improvement!

Some of the mentioned changes will be:
-Increasing the resources you get for mission rewards specifically.
-The retcon pricing curve is going to be much gentler so that players can undo more decisions at any time.
-Free retcon for all heroes when the economy changes go Live since it will take a little time for the effects of the new economy to allow players to build up a retcon bankroll.
-Increasing the amount of resources you get for defeating all enemies.

I'm very excited about these changes, I've been slow on the get go with champions but I'm still hanging in there to see how it is going to turn out. Which it looks good so far that they are keeping close tabs on keeping things in retrospect with game function and play.

The community still at this point is booming. I for one am glad to hear about these changes! Once I start getting further into the game I'll be doing a more in depth review. For now I thought this was worth a mention!

Stay safe adventurers.. or champions!
-kaozz

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Gatheryn Beta, first Impression. (MMO)



Gatheryn a new MMO currently Beta, so I decided to try this one out this evening. I've seen many screen shots of it and thought I would peek in and see how it is. I can't call this a review honestly, more of a first impression.

First off, I never like to really say any game is no good. It takes time and effort to make them, and someone out there is proud of the work they put into any game. I respect that. Although I am a MMORPG/MMO vet when it comes to playing them, I am not a designer and I applaud those putting their dreams into motion on any game. I absolutely love all the different games out now, I applaud even the little names in this big game world trying to get a foot in the door.

However I do know my games and how they should function. So lets get on with my peek into Gatheryn Beta. It was brief I will admit. But the reasons would be because my first thoughts of this specific game are- it feels more like Alpha Beta. While Gatheryn has a lovely world, the characters still need more work, the controls make you feel dizzy and there are currently no options.

I am sure they are working on it to better the game but if you are looking for a game to play around with, this is seriously a game that needs feedback, feels as if it is being tested while you play. So if you do look into it, be sure to send those folks some feedback.

The mini games are actually kind of fun, though they need descriptions on them. Some of them you know how they should work.. while others you feel quite lost.

Controls, as I said there are no options. So the controls feel awkward and cannot be remapped. I couldn't get over the controls long enough to explore more than a bit of the world and some mini games, my eyes were swimming.




Character creation was meh so far. They offer different outfits which was neat but no matter what I did for my characters face it still looked pretty much the same. Lets just say my character was on the homely side heh. The hair wasn't bad, it could use some work on a few but I have seen much worse.

It took awhile for some things to load up. Loading.....
...................................
............................................
Yeah loading was really yucky for me. It was actually on the harsh side where I actually tabbed out while it did so.

This game could be a fun little game if they added some more control with it, worked on the mentioned points. While I didn't see anyone running around, it is meant to be a social game with mini games. Just something to kick back and have fun with.

As I said the scenery was very good, lets hope they take some of that polish and put it into the characters and play of the game. So that's just my brief look into the game. While I would of liked to give it more of a chance, I just couldn't play it as is to try more of it out. Plus steam punk gives me nightmares ;) This game could hold promise if they give it the much needed love it needs. I truly liked the scenery and robot npc's I saw. I've never been a steam punk fan but they gave it a great look in this world so far.

*Runs away from Steam Punk Robots*
-kaozz

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Free Realms, RoM and some Kung fu Fighting WoW Style!







This video is from Boubouille of MMO-Champion. I just love this little guy! I'm wondering how he will be obtained. I surely want to get my hands on one! Waiting eagerly for the patch to come out!
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Free Realms 5mil celebration event.
Take a Spin and See What You Can Win!! To celebrate the 5,000,000th registered player in Free Realms, a special 5M Party Wheel is available for a limited time. Log in each day and celebrate with your friends using the crazy fun party items. To participate you must log in to Free Realms between September 16, 2009 and September 23, 2009.

So it seems FR hit 5 million registrations! I just might have to log in for the celebration. It's been awhile since I checked the game out, been waiting around on the housing to check that out when it's released.
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Runes of Magic released it's new patch "The Elven Prophecy" yesterday. It offers their new race and class. I will definitely be checking this out soon.
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Just a few things I thought were worth mention today ;)
-kaozz

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Everquest Ancient Heroes patch, expansion date pushed back, memories.




From the Sept 15 patch notes on the EQ offical forums:

"Ancient Heroes: Old Man McKenzie, a frequent patron of the taverns in the Plane of Knowledge, thinks you adventurers have it too easy these days! Back in his day they didn't have all this fancy armor and magical weaponry, they relied on their wits and not a little luck to survive! Think you've got what it takes to survive in McKenzie's Gold era? Now's your chance to prove it! Enter McKenzie's world and take on the denizens of Nagafen's Lair, Permafrost, and Guk as they were originally meant to be played, at level 50!

Transform yourself into a character built to mimic the classic EQ experience before even the lands of Kunark had been discovered. Prove your mettle by besting the Undead Frogloks of Guk or the Kobolds of Nagafen's Lair, with up to 5 friends. Or if you're feeling especially gallant, gather a raid force and take down Lord Nagafen or Lady Vox! With all new rewards you'll want to conquer them all!
"

For players who wish for that classic server this is probably the closest thing you can have to it currently. Seems like a lot of fun, you get for a time to reminisce of those good ol' days.

It would be nice to have a classic server having up to Velious on it but I doubt that ever happens. So if you're looking for a chance to re-experience some old content, great time to do it. It's not enough to get me interested honestly. It's just another Monster Mission really, but it's one of the better ideas IMO for one.

The expansion date looks like it will be pushed back to Dec, keep tabs on the forums to see whats going on with that.

So that's about as exciting as it gets for now ;) I use to think a classic server would be a silly thing but as time passes by the idea becomes more appealing to me. Maybe a classic up to Velious with a few perks of today's game.

The game was fun and fresh, it had simple graphics, but we miss those. The game had a certain feel to it. As the game gets older it seems to lose that feel. There are things I do not miss. Horrible corpse runs to zones across the world, no ooc regen, no mounts.. the list could go on and on. But they could take a few things and make it better. Alas I could dream on and on. The closes thing it seems we will ever get is EQ for the Mac. As it has expansions only up to Luclin. That's just not something I want to bother with to be able to play it for nostalgic reasons.

Todays game is a better game honestly in mechanics. But the spirit of the game seems to hang back in a much simpler time, the days of Kunark and Velious.

This patch and the next expansion appear to offer more fun to be had, cheers to Everquest!
-kaozz

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