Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Lil' Game Hunter


Yesterday I ended up getting a few very cool pets. I got the Frigid Frostling from Ahune! I noticed that I was pretty close to the Lil' Game Hunter achievement so I figured I'd pick up a few pets to finish it off.  I saw the Elwynn Lamb for a decent price and snatched it up, it really is too cute. So now I have my little Fawn pet which is simply adorable! I love pets and all that fluff.




I recently joined a new guild. I've been looking for one to raid a couple time a week with. So far the guild seems nice and today I am suppose to go on my first raid with them. They are currently doing 10 man ToC, while I would rather be doing ICC, it's been a real pain in the arse trying to find a guild. I mean, really , how do you meet people anymore in this game? At any rate I was very glad to find a new guild.

I was in a guild upon finding this one, it's one my husband has been in for quite some time. They use to raid but they don't do much of anything besides pugs anymore, randomly. So, I decided they were not for me, I wanted a more active guild.

Things have been going well since being back. I am still waiting on our authenticators. I saw that they are already out of stock again, I got to them in time!! I've never been to catch them in stock so it was nice to finally be able to grab them when I was checking.

Welp, I need to run off and set up vent for my raid and get some consumables ready for the raid! Hope everyone has a great week!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Everquest Mounts and DPS Mercs


Today I received an email from Everquest urging me to come back. It seems Everquest has joined in on the cash shop mounts. I must admit they look pretty snazzy. I currently have a LoN mount but these are really nice. I'm sure some people will rant on this but it's not like this is anything new. You can check them out here.

Along with mounts the DPS mercs wait is over. The ad above mentions they will also be available in the cash shop. So far I just see them available in LoN and the standard so I suppose it will take logging in to actually see. Ah, I let my sub run out! Well at least there will be some interesting stuff to look into upon my return. Read more on dps mercs here.


Finally some new hotzones!

20 - The Lavastorm Mountains
25 - Blightfire Moors
30 - Firiona Vie
35 - The Gulf of Gunthak
40 - Goru`kar Mesa
45 - Natimbi, the Broken Shores
50 - The Broodlands
55 - The Bloodfields
60 - Barren Coast
65 - Arcstone, Isle of Spirits
70 - The Elddar Forest
75 - Loping Plains
75 - Blackburrow

Safe adventures in Norrath!

Summer Camp (Free Realms)



My son often plays a lot of modded maps and games. I know he enjoys building maps and making his own content. The kid can do stuff that makes my head spin. Though I don't like to see him always play altered maps and games. I found he had made his Fable character dual wield barrels for weapons one day, I really had to laugh at that.

Yesterday I told him to go to the Free Realms site, make a character and let me know when he was done. He sulked and said it was a baby game. Oh noes mom is making me play a game! I play games with my husband a lot but not my son so much anymore. I told him if he didn't like it he could log off after we played a few games. I thought it would be a nice change to play something fun together and I knew he really would get caught up in the game, which he did. He absolutely loves it.


In the past his ancient computer couldn't run the game, now having my old one he can run it fine. I like that this game is kid friendly, the filters are nice too... well sometimes. There is always something fun to do, he even won some station cash on his first day and he was so excited. We played checkers and blew up ships and other fun stuff. It is nice to have a game to share with him. He is the perfect age for it being fourteen.

Summer camp is here which makes it a very cool time to start back again. There are a lot of fun little quests and some goodies to get. There's tons of people all over. Boom boxes playing, dancing, talking people being silly. It's a nice atmosphere and it is refreshing to play it again with my son. It also helpes me not burn through WoW again so quickly!

Free Realms summer camp is lasting till, hrmm the seventh of July. You can also get in on the free trial weekend. Be a member for a weekend- this weekend. If you haven't tried it and want to well it's a great time to check it out.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Cataclysm Epic Changes- For Better or Worse?


I'm sure most people have heard about the comments regarding the future stance on epics in WoW: We're actually working on restoring the epic feeling to epic items in Cataclysm. Epic loot should be epic, and something to be very proud of. Our plan is to try and get the Heroic -> Blue Gear and Raid -> Purple Gear balance back. (Source).

I was thinking on this a bit, since hearing this comment. I do remember fondly that I worked hard for my blues in Pre-BC, heck even in BC. I worked even harder for my epics. Thinking back on it now, I don't think I'd put up with that crap ever again. I put up with a lot to be able to raid, bad guilds, tons of drama so on and so forth. It was the only way to get good gear. Now, if I don't like it I don't worry about it.

In BC it took quite some time to finally have some decent gear. As the expansion moved on I spent many a night fishing instead of raiding for lack of finding a good guild. The ever widening gap continued to grow. Even in this expansion I have had a rough time with guilds, passing loot I won to their friends or making me sit out on raids for someone who shows up late, but is their old buddy.

I also remember in Pre-BC guilds bending rules and that epic I saved up all that DKP for the past month was whisked away by an alt or a member who would show up once a month taking that upgrade I've been trying so hard to get, me showing up to every raid. I needed those upgrades. Not everyone has a great guild. It's hard finding one and takes time. Honestly it's been a looooong time since I had a great guild in WoW. Point is now it's not so bad I can gear up decently and not have the best but good enough to participate. We all can.

While I was proud of my blues before I started raiding in Pre-BC they were good back then. There was no Gear Score and the game was still fresh. Think of it now, resorting to blues. I think many people get so caught up in nostalgia they can't see that it is too far in the game to revert to blues being 'special' while Epics are 'Uber'.

This game is getting old. You can't keep reverting things and keep people happy. People like the idea of doing group content to lead up to raiding. I can now do heroics to get myself geared up so I can catch up without too much 'pain' involved. The problem is that the gap is going to widen again. I may not need to but if my friend Bob or Sue wants to join in they can catch up fairly easy, or perhaps my alt will next.

Look at it this way- Think of how long it was since we started raiding in Nax, the gear from ICC is leagues ahead of what we started out raiding for. Now imagine starting up an alt or maybe you're coming back to the game at a later point. How far ahead will those epics be than the first? Group content will be a joke if that is the means for getting geared for raids. You think those kiddies making fun of your epic gear score is bad now? Oh so we have to raid all the time to catch up. I get it. Good luck trying to catch up there when most people want to do the current content and you can't.

If you have the time to raid throughout the whole expansion and stay on top, then this omits you. You might actually like the idea of being on top. Much like the EQ raiders did, in the end who is there to look down at now? You can't consider one play style, you have to take in the whole picture. If you want to be the rare few in good gear- get over yourself.

Unless the system is similar to how it is now, it will be harder on casuals. I like how it is now.I like the idea of people catching up and keeping the game balanced. If I wanted huge gaps in gear and players I'd play Everquest... Did I mention that before?

I'm not snubbing my nose at blues and I'm not wanting easy purples to be just handed out. I don't want to see Cataclysm cause some huge gap between players. What will be the point of doing heroics? I've pondered over this. Do you think people will actually do heroics if there isn't an incentive? That has to be a very, very good incentive to keep people running them as much as they do now. Plus I actually enjoy doing heroics for rewards, I love it compared to how it's been in the past.

Keep the raid gear ahead of group gear, don't shut the door though. On an aging game we can never recapture what the game once was. It will never be the same. A change like this could push players to the new MMO on the horizon. I've read many blog posts and articles of how people are excited about these changes, their eyes clouded with memories of the past. Wake up people.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Farewell Norrath


I've decided to cancel my Everquest 2 account. I still have some time left on it and I plan on popping in a few more times before I take my hiatus. So, you really won't see me writing about it so much in the near future.

Will I be back? I'm sure I will. I'm just not feeling the pull currently, the connection. There are many things I will miss a lot. Mentoring, housing and appearance slots to name a few.

What happened? The game is top heavy and I solo way too much. The levels feel they are dragging by and while there are tons of quest there are so many where one feels overwhelmed at the prospect of which one to work on throughout the vast zones. These zones are massive. 

I can't say that is the only reason. I suppose friends leaving the game didn't help. Some don't play as much some left the server. Dire moved on to WoW and I miss having someone to run dungeons with. Originally I came back to play with friends. The community is top heavy and a majority of focus is on the longtime gamers. Look at EQ2players, town crier, it showcases the old players. Maybe I've just grown bored, it's not from lack of things to do, maybe more so the lack of people to do them with?


So I will be playing in my comfort zone my 'own domain' back in my element, WoW. I know the mechanics inside out, the zones, the quests. I don't need to tab out to look up every quest I do. If I want a group it's only a click away with the new system. While I complain about the system it is easy for me to play what spec I feel like playing. The LFD has no personal favor on which class or spec I pick, it simply randomly generates me into a group based on the roles needed at that time.

I'm enjoying being back taking things slowly. I'm doing daily quest, gathering materials to sell items I craft. Let me say I do enjoy WoW's tradeskill system. It is good to be back to simplicity. I don't have to babysit the tradeskill process and cross my fingers in hope that it works. I already have two thousand gold saved up, maybe I'll save up for that hog I've always wanted!

I suppose losing everything on my main in WoW caused me to realize how much I did not want to leave WoW or lose my accomplishments. I'm taking precautions not to have that happen again, going the extra mile for authenticators. While there are rare occasions of these being hacked-  when it comes to security issues, the rate of theft with them is much lower than without- it's extra protection. So I'm waiting on them to get here, they were quite cheap $6.50 USD. I can't wait, I will feel safer and I have to admit the Core Hound pup is a nice bonus! I said I'd never get one, sometimes we eat our words after events alter our mindset.

Any of my EQ2 friends reading, always feel free to drop me a line to say hello on here or my email
kaozz @ ectmmo.com. I love to keep in touch, that goes for anyone who would like to drop me a line sometime.

Have a great weekend all! Something 'poppy' to listen to ;)



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Friday, June 25, 2010

Good To Be Back (WoW)


Do you have that one game that you just always fall back into? It fits like an old shoe, you know it so well that you feel comfortable whatever you are doing. No need to look up quests on sites, download map add-ons and the like.

For me I suppose it's WoW. While Everquest was that game for so long even that has changed in my long absences of playing. Now I will be the first to complain about things with WoW, but I suppose when you sit and think about it, this really is such a polished game- It works, it flows, it just fits.

Dire is playing avidly still and it is nice to group with him. We haven't played the same game on a regular basis for a few weeks. He is very happy at the idea of me playing again and I was even thinking about working on a set of healing gear if he wanted to get a tank set for his Paladin. I don't know if we will but it could be fun.

Things that I notice when playing my other games, or rather things I notice myself missing: It doesn't take ages to kill a mob. Really sitting there chipping away slowly at a mob gets boring quick. Money flows in easily and there are many ways to get it. I do miss flying mounts when I am gone so it's always nice to come back and use mine. Groups are easy to get, even as dps. Now if this game had housing I'd be in MMO heaven!

I'm not playing my games as much as I was. I just have other stuff to do, maybe I won't burn out so quickly this time. Who knows. I'm looking for a guild to raid a few nights a week with. I am feeling refreshed and happy to be back in the swing of things.

It just feels like home. I'm at the top I can join in on things, I don't wonder where to go or what to do all the time. Maybe I'll work on another alt here and there to help pass time while I wait on Cataclysm. For now... it's just good to be back.

See you in Azeroth!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Did You Hear?


Anyone else remember Mythos? They have a new site up- Last call for closed beta, so get over there and sign up! I was happy to see some new on this finally. This game was really fun and I was disappointed to see the original close up shop. Check it out here.

It seems Aion is merging servers. I'd actually like to give this game another shot, in the future. I want the housing and mounts to come about though. Still waiting... I also hear that the test server is a decent place to play. Lots of people have complained about others flocking there abandoning the old servers. I suppose these merges should help remedy that some. What are your thoughts on these merges?

It's been ages since I heard anything new on DAoC. A new developer is revisiting some of the old zones and changing things up to be more up to date with how the game is today. Drops in particular, in classic zones, from what I understand. This is good to hear, some new life into this ol' game. I was always enchanted by this game, it's really a fun game that seemed to fade into the background. Check out the news here on the Camelot Herald, in the developers diary. I don't know anyone else who's played this game recently, anyone out there who still does? I still have an account I would like to fire back up one of these days. I wonder if my old friends still play... I had such an awesome guild. I remember them all coming out to meet me when I joined. I wish I still had those screen shots.

I'm wanting to check back into Allods before long. I am excited to hear that the death penalty will be going away. It will be replaced with some other mechanic, lets hope it's not as severe- or costly! This change takes place on July 7th with the new patch. Would this be considerate enough to get you to take a second look at the game?

Safe adventures all!

I Wonder if Lord Ahune uses Real ID.. (WoW)


I was surprised this year to find that you can join LFG for Ahune. It teleports you right to the spot to start, which is really cool.  Plus the 'goodie bag' for the reward is nice, I got some frost emblems and there is a new pet Frigid Frostling. I really want to get this little guy. Last year I got the Scorchling and was very happy.

There's a couple of new things with this weeks patch that I';m not crazy about. The new chat window. Supposedly it works better but I just don't care much for it so far. I dislike that big bar sitting there all the time that doesn't fade. Better yet the last person you chat to sets to the default chat, as it use to when you would use group or say. So it's something to consider when chatting in tells. This is because you can hold chat in different windows. It's not horrible but I don't like it so much personally.

Another thing I don't care for is Real ID. Seriously, my battle.net account email address and my real name are out there for people to see? If I add them. I'm not up for sharing that info. Yes, there are a few people I play with and talk to that know who I am IRL. I don't want everyone I am friendly with to know this.

Gordon over at We Fly Spitfires wrote really good post on it and brought up a good point, now we can communicate with the Horde with Real ID. Indeed it does break the immersion. Where is my fantasy in my fantasy game, the mystique? A smart thing would have just been to implement a messenger to add whoever as their character.  Make the messenger available in and out of game. Or make a handle required to use it. One that is not changeable. Problem solved!

What are your thoughts on Real ID and the new chat window?

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Crabby ol' Gamer Update



Ah... for all my whining I am glad to be able to play WoW again. Yep, my items were fully restored! I am going to make Dire get me an authenticator soon though. I do not want to go through that ever again. Did I say.. EVER? I like to whine and complain but for all it's worth I am thankful for having my stuff back... even if they took long enough!

Enough talk it is time to plaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I'm wanting to do the fire festival event, I already have the title I still love events. I've been holding off, not wanting to travel naked, those fires are hot! Dire should be happy to have me to run dungeons with tonight!

See ya in Azeroth!

Crabby ol' Gamer


I'm kind of bored with soloing all the time. Mostly I've been playing DA:O and I'm so close to finishing it up I want to hold off a day or so. I was in the mood to play around in WoW some with Dire, this still isn't a possibility unless I was to go with zero gear. Yes, I'm feeling like a crabby ol' gamer today.

It's been two and a half weeks since I first asked for help. I'm pretty much the rabid irate customer at this point. I've seen the epitome of horrible customer service, this takes the cake. Yes, I am sure they are backed up with work. Frankly I don't care. I know how much money this company makes, the problem is either under staffing or they just don't give a rats arse. Probably a bit of both.

I think know they could afford to expand the support department if it has a queue of three weeks on account issues. I may just sound like an upset customer but seriously how much bad service do you have to take before finally walking away for good? They must all be out milking things like content, patience and wallets...

Oh Speaking of milk... Look at my cow Mooooo, in the pic below.  I got a 'house cow' from my free LoN packs this month.. yay! He is too cute, I do wish he was a regular pet though. I'd like to have him follow me around.

I am still enjoying EQ2 but I thought it would be nice, since WoW is still active for a week or so more, to group with Dire some. I do solo a lot and honestly I've just been playing a couple of days a week doing other things IRL. Sometimes I take a break and come back in a few days refreshed.

It is getting lonely again in EQ2. One of my friends is on hiatus for a few weeks, two left the server and there are others who I just don't see  on anymore, if they are on alts I sure don't know about it. I still enjoy it but I miss Dire playing it with me.

I do have one companion who is always up for something. A very young girl befriended me a few weeks ago and she is a ray of sunshine. Very bright for her age, so I often help her with decorating or mentoring. I'd like to have her meet my son on his character as I know they would hit it off quite well and being close in age.


Have a great week, safe adventures and all that...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

No More Ghost Ships... (MMO)



So, I've been meaning to finish up part two of my post 'We've lost some steam'. Basically just some ideas that I think would be really great to see in future MMO games. I'm sure we all have our list of things we would like to see in MMO games but this is more of a list of improvements rather than a true wish list.

If we are going to have the Holy Trinity then out with the days that healers and tanks are useless other than this role. Sure, today most games make sure not to do this but still add in limitations. What limitations? I'll get to this in a second. Remember in the glory days of EQ, Clerics could barely solo but they rarely sat long looking for a group. Today most can solo or group whenever they feel like doing so and even DPS if they please.

Just because I can, does it mean I really can? Sorry I don't have a healing set... Add viable options for the healing and tanking classes, especially when it comes to gear. While you can respec in WoW to heal or tank the gear suffers, lacking stats needed for one spec or the other (which is changing to a point in Cata). I think we should be able to dps as these 'specs' but not at a high rate as a pure dps class. I'd love to see a stop on stupid stats in games that either help dps or healing, tanking or just dps. These need to be incorporated better. I'm tired of farming different gear sets.

Looking for group tools. If we are going to go the way of automated groups in future games then please don't use the cross server idea. Another thing I am tired of and see it still ahead in upcoming games splitting the community in half for imaginary legions of good and evil. I don't know how many times I've griped on this.

A base for the economy. If you don't have a way for players to sell items, even when offline, you're in the dark ages. This is something that really irks me about Everquest. While Everquest 2 has a great broker/auction system Everquest still requires you to leave your character on to sell. Ok, so most games add this. However, some add a limit of items to be auctioned. Don't make it such a low limit that people vendor the stuff. While we're at it stop making people nickle and dime everything.

PvP needs to be seperate from the PvE aspect. Please don't nerf my character in order to balance PvP. Change how the mechanics work in PvP.  I'm not going to beat this dead horse any longer.

Henchman, mercenaries and companions. These are fantastic, SW:TOR is really going to blow us away with these, or at least I hope they do! I hope to see more of this in the future. It really helps a lot in EQ, though these mercenaries suck away my gold at a rapid rate, only to run away if you run out of money (or SC tokens), causing you to have to buy another- with the initial lump sum. I want Companions I can take on my journey and fill a spot if I need or back me up that won't run away or 'take' the item that I hope drops. I do hope to see more of a companion role in the future instead of the gold digging models we have in most games.

I do hope future games also consider the fact that players like fresh new content at a steady pace. An expansion a year sounds like a good deal to me. Please don't milk content for several years before deciding to get off your bum and add new content. Keep us entertained and we will stay with you!

There is no best. When you start to do this, you start to generalize the classes and just make them all pretty lackluster as a whole. There should be a best at this or that, in some cases. When you don't want one class to excel past others you end up nerfing said class to compensate for the others lacking. Sure they could boost the other classes but in most cases it's the nerf bat which strikes. I'm not saying leave other classes out in the cold. Though when designing classes this should be considered, what can this class offer that makes it unique and wanted?

-------------------------------------------------------

What I am seeing a lot of lately is people being stagnated by games lately. For some it is the lack of new content in a game. Others get tired of bad communities some which are a result of bad game mechanics. Some games end up almost dying off and when developers try to step in, it's already a sinking ship, left with a ghost crew of players. 

There won't ever be a perfect game but we can hope to see some improvements made to keep us happy in the future.  think there are a lot of ideas that can be incorporated to keeping players happy such as housing and other fun things which many games now do offer, but those are simply wish list ideas!

Feel free to share any ideas or thoughts. Safe adventures!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Fallen Earth- First Glance

This weekend I had a little time to check out Fallen Earth, thanks to the free trial. It's one of the few MMO games I've not had a chance to explore. I've wanted to check it out for some time but when release time came around I headed to Aion instead. I really haven't had time to delve into the game very far but I wanted to share some thoughts on my first impression. This isn't a review, just a glance.


So, what does Fallen Earth offer that other games don't? I really jumped in not sure what exactly to expect. It has a dark feel, a tad creepy and one I thought was refreshing and new. Besides the feel, it isn't too bad looking either. The scenery looks good (we will talk about models later). I thought it was very innovative how you have six weapons. I just kept clicking on the weapons I looted, in my bag, and watched them pop up on my character. I had a board strapped to my back, a gun in my hand, two blunt items on my hips and another gun strapped to my leg. Wow, I'm carrying around an arsenal! To use these you hold ctrl+ 1(-6). Different, very different. I won't say the game is hard, it does have a steeper learning curve I suppose, especially if you close out a window and forget what it said.. Um, how do I use my gun, it's on my back? Then again the help channel is there.



I wasn't a fan of the starting controls, which I am sure can be remapped, starting out they felt very different. Ctrl+f10 to take a screen shot? Ok... Another thing I had to get use to was hitting tab to take aim to use any weapon. It wasn't hard but it was hard to remember at times. Oh yeah, hit tab! When I first started, the message that told me how to attack must have closed out and I was standing there getting beat on... OMG... WHAT DO I DO?! I managed to figure it out after asking the friendly people in help channel. That combined with the aspect of holding down the mouse to attack kind of dampens the combat for me. It wasn't bad though I've seen far worse. It does make my hand and wrist tired though. The UI was ok, I didn't have any issues with it.

How was the community? While I did not group with anyone, I can't speak for that area. The people in the help channel were full of advice and seemed really nice. It wasn't one of those channels full of insults and can you top this behavior. I had a few questions and people took the time to answer them without making me, or anyone else asking, feel stupid. Also if you're looking for some some tips, this post at Massively helped me start out!


Running and moving, the controls are fine and smooth. The character models are a bit clumsy, when strafing in particular. I realize the females were made to look more feminine awhile back and they do. It just feels the faces are all feel very much the same. I did like the customization with tattoos, piercing, face paint and so on. While the characters are not very unique, they do allow you to customize them a bit more. The hair was ok, nothing astounding as a whole. There was one long style which I was very thankful for. I am going to assume it is probably the most popular, for females. My son tried it for a few, the male hairstyles looked decent enough.


Starting out there is a vehicle you ride out to escape. This was very fun. I zoomed down the tunnel and out of there! The control felt a bit like one of those racing games, not so much like a mount so it was a bit harder to control at first. I ran into a few walls then made it out without any other hitches. I was also trying to take a screen shot which did not help...


So, those are just my first impressions. Will I play it? Right now I'm busy enough with stuff going on and don't think I have the time to dedicate to another MMO. I definitely will not write it off my list. It has a feel I like and would like to experience more so. I will probably play it more through the trial and then keep it on my list of games to play in the future.

-kaozz

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Grab Me- Err... My Attention


I'm really a big medieval, fantasy person but part of me also loves the dark and creepy post apocalyptic genre. I was in the book store today looking for something truly apocalyptic to read and it dawned on me, I should give Fallen Earth a go. I'm wondering if it will grab me and pull me in, so to speak.

So I've decided to download it and give it a try. I'm not sure it's the game for me but it is worth a shot, I do like to try almost anything when it comes to MMO games, just to experience them. I'll have to share some thoughts and see if I make it past thirty minutes! Any advice would be much appreciated.

Speaking of dark fantasy Nexon has a new game that is looking interesting, Vindictus.  If you haven't seen the video you can check it out here, it looks enticing.

I'm still playing EQ2, I've just been busy with other things and only getting a little time in here and there. I will surely be on tonight to do the Moonlight Enchantment event. I suppose EQ2 is where my heart is when it comes to MMO games lately.

Dragon Age, I'm still playing it. I am getting closer to the end, I will probably finish it up tonight and write my thoughts on it this week. I still have side quests I want to explore also. I have no enjoyed a RPG in so long, it's been so refreshing.

Blizzard has assured me that they are working on my WoW account, it's in line to get checked out but I can still play it as normal. Gee thanks, my main is stripped of gear but I can still play. How thoughtful of you to let me know this... WHY WOULD I WANT TO PLAY?

Yes, a little anger on my behalf. My money is just, excuse the language, pissing down the drain while I am waiting on them to help. This really is very poor support, they have the money to hire more help if they are backed up so badly. Assistance on an account issues takes over two weeks?! It's furthering my jaded outlook on WoW. Sure, I'm not playing as much as I was but sometimes I'd like to. After all, I paid up two months for it, going on the third week tomorrow.

Well, that's all folks.That'll do pig, or something to that extent..
 -kaozz

Friday, June 18, 2010

SW:TOR- Hyped?


I haven't really been all that excited over SW:TOR. I tend to wait and see how things go on  most upcoming MMO games, all the hype tires me out and I try to not get caught up in it. Though after playing Dragon Age: Origins I've really been impressed with BioWare.

That combined with seeing some new game play videos and hearing more on how the game is developing. It is starting to look more impressive than it was a few months ago. I have heard some debate on the trinity system and it appears to have made it into this game as well. Which is fine with me, it's really a hard mold to break out of honestly and it is tried and true. Things like Range tanking are also really very cool.

New aspects like companions did not catch my fancy, to begin with, then after playing DA:O my stance on this has changed. They add depth and charm to a game, so this is something I am really looking forward to. No more boring stoic henchmen that just following you around, draining money and items (depending on the MMO you play). This really sounds very appealing.

The game is looking good to. While I am, at heart, a medieval  based fantasy lover I think the setting for this game could still offer appeal to many audiences. The graphics are not too intense but they have their charm, which is a good balance. Being a fully voiced game, that will be interesting to see as well. If the voice acting is as good as what I've seen in the past then I am sure it will be a fantastic addition.

While it's too early to tell how everything will pan out I am looking forward to getting my hands on this game. It still has a way to go for release so I'm trying not to get too hyped. I am reading on it here and there though. Are you looking forward to this release? Or are you tired of hearing about it when it's so far off?

-kaozz

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Adventures With Alistair



I posted this up earlier but I had to lighten up the first scene and blah.. blah.. blah. I hope you enjoy it, if you're curious to read more about the boring technical stuff you can read more here.

-kaozz

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

400 Pugs and Posts Later...


Today I had plans on posting part two of my 'We've lost some steam' post. Instead I've been busy working around with my resume and this week I will be sort of on the busy side. So, it will have to wait until later on in the week when my head is not as full as it is, heh.

I noticed today this will be my 400th post. I sort of lost count at some point and just happened to glance at the numbers this week. Nothing astonishing but it's a little mile marker for me. So what do I have to show for it and what have I learned? I have a lot of useless chaotic randomness floating around in my noggin that gets transferred to the web? I hope not lol. Here and there some ramblings of bad pugs or adventures gone awry, I do try to keep the grumbles minimal... I said try!

Ah.. I think I have learned you have to write what you like to keep at it, what makes you happy. Else- you might just grow sick of it and quit. I enjoy writing and I love, love, love MMO games and a new found love for a certain RPG game, so writing about them makes me happy.

I cringe at some of my older posts but there are part of the journey. I'm not the most popular blogger but that is ok. I try to do the best at what makes me happy. Partly, molding the look of the blog into something that reflects me and my artistic side as well as making my blog have a unique look and feel (yikes, a mouthful there) while being pleasing to readers has been a lot of fun. If you haven't noticed, there is (yet another) new banner this week.  Most of the time the banner reflects what I am into at that point, for now you can take a guess. Sometimes it doesn't, I can be pretty random.

At times I feel like quitting, other times I can't wait to share something here. Alas this blog is something that I am proud of and still enjoy. So, thanks for sticking around if you have been one of the readers that visits on a regular basis and if you're new I do so hope you will visit again.

For your viewing enjoyment a screen shot of the best pug ever (top), well... theoretically speaking.

-kaozz

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

June- July- August Summer MMO Events






Update- Some 2012 events listed here!

I'm a little late getting this published (moving slowed me down) but I wanted to finish the rest of the year off for the MMO calendar, so this page will list all the summer events I find along the way! June-Aug (summer) events. Some of these events have already happened but I will leave them up for reference.
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Everquest 2
New Halas City Festival- June 1-7.
The city festival comes to Halas! Fantastic new house items and some of the old favorites are here in Halas. The quests are the usual but the quest giver is set a little a ways from the camp. 


Moonlight Enchantments Midnight on the 20th of each month.
Check out this link for more information about the event.
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FFIX
Celestial Nights
Celestial Nights is back this year. Read more about the event here.
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World of Warcraft
Mid Summer Fire Festival June 21- July 4.
Check the official link here for more information. Is it me or does it seem earlier this year? Ah time must be getting away from me. More of the same fun, money to be gotten, plenty of fun items. Will the make any additions this year? I wouldn't doubt it, if I see anything new I will be sure to link it here.
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Free Realms
Summer Camp Ends July 7.
Summer Camp is here, bigfoot sightings, plenty of adventures to be had. The perfect place to spend some summer time while chillin in the AC at home! Check out more info here!

The in-game events are expected to happen every Tuesday at 9am and 4pm PST, Thursdays at 3pm PST and Friday mornings at 9am PST. You can check the in-game event guide to teleport right to the party! TCG Events are expected to be held every day.
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LoTRO
Summer Festival June 29- July6
Once a year, the Free Peoples of Middle-earth gather to celebrate Summer with horse races, fishing, dancing, and many other summer-themed activities! Check out the official site here
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Keep checking back as I will make sure to make any additions I see.
-kaozz

We Lost Some Steam?! (MMO- EQ2-WoW-LoTRO)



Bored? What's going on? Where are our MMO games headed? This piece will consist of two parts. First just gauging where some of our favorite MMO games are on the map. Tomorrow I'm just going to throw out some ideas that we could benefit from to freshen up our games. Feel free to drop a line with your ideas or thoughts! I suppose the little bars could be an estimated show of which games are higher on the gauge- Just for fun ;)

Where do you gauge your MMO? I think there are three categories most fall into, while I don't have all day to list every game, how about some that best represent these! Shall we?

------------------------------------------------------------------------WoW (We lost some steam?!)
First off I suppose lets start with the juggernaut- World of Warcraft. This is a game that set the bar for some many others. While not the first of it's kind it has changed the MMO scene dramatically since release. Gamers and companies look to it as a comparison for anything new. It's starting to age but it still has the edge on a lot of games. The expansions always rock our socks off, developers are always innovative and coming up with awesome new ideas that have players falling back in love with the game. The game is easy on the eyes and the machines we play on, which opens a broad audience.

More and more I am seeing so many people taking breaks, going off for greener pastures or just not playing period. Some won't play anything else if not WoW. What is the problem here? Does the company not see it? Is it not enough to catch their attention? People are bored. This company could actually benefit by throwing out expansions at a faster rate while keeping players happy. Sure, a game is going to grow into a monstrous thing in terms of size with each expansion, as it ages. That's the nature of the beast.

A recent Cataclysm press release showed some things were being canned, not much other new information was shown to us. Is it being pushed to meet a deadline? In my eyes it's over a year over due.  

*Cracks the whip*

------------------------------------------------LoTRO  (Don't give up the ship!)
Oh no the sky is falling! LoTRO is going FTP! If you didn't see this coming then you must not have really paid attention to Turbine's other flourishing FTP with cash shop content- DDO. Honestly DDO is doing better than ever since going FTP, I am sure LoTRO will prosper as well.

While I think it is a bit unfair to lifetime subscribers, what can you do? I am sure they will get perks, will they be worth it? I just can't say. The game will be fine, look at the other FTP Model Turbine has and use that as a comparison.

Sometimes we really get carried away when games head in a new direction, hold onto your 'boxers' and don't jump just yet! 


------------------------------------------------------------------EQ2 (Balls to the walls!)

You know when you get gold spam a game must be doing well. I saw someone say that in chat the other day in EQ2 and I have noticed that there has been more spam. It does seem to be doing quite well, I am happy with it and the speed of expansions seems to be at a steady rate.

I'd say if you're looking for something besides WoW this is going to be the most bang for your buck and I think a lot of people are realizing this. New players are joining every day and the trial makes it easier to fall into place. I would have to say this game is opening up more to keeping a broad audience happy. Battlegrounds level requirements have been lowered, the game is overall more solo friendly than ever while still offering group play.

Sure, I do have some preference to EQ2 but every game could use some changes and improvements. I think there are a few things that could greatly improve this game.  Especially the group scene, but more on that tomorrow.

There are a lot of solid MMO games out there that are doing quite well, sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own little world that we fail to notice that there are other options for gaming.
 ---

So we are losing steam in some areas, trying not to jump ship and going all out! I'm just using these three games as a gauge on where MMO games are at as a whole. Are we happy, do we need change? Is the company delivering content to keep players happy?

There are many others out there and If I didn't mention your game 'sowwy'. Tomorrow I want to cover some fun ideas about where MMO games could head in terms of direction. Share your ideas, as always, feel free to!


-kaozz

Monday, June 14, 2010

Halas Manor (EQ2)

As promised, I thought I'd show off the Halas housing I worked on. Sadly- I decided not to stay there and use my alts house. Currently I'm in Gorywyn and I'll post up some of those in the future as it's pretty much finished up. I had a lot of fun designing a Halas house, I just wish this town was neutral. I do miss the housing and those lovely windows! Enjoy.





















-kaozz

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sunday Rundown...


*Yawn*.. I'm still tired. My neighbor woke us up, jamming in his car to 'Slayer', around 6am... Finally Dire went out and asked him to turn it down, which thankfully he did. I so need a nap about now. I couldn't go back to sleep so I ended up playing a bit of Dragon Age- surprise, surprise. <3 Dragon Age!

I'm actually looking forward, more so, to SWTOR after playing Dragon Age, I'm pretty impressed with Bioware in that aspect. While I am really more so into the fantasy medieval thing, I will be keeping a closer eye on it.

WoW.com recently had a neat video showing off some of the changes Cataclysm will bring to the landscape of Norrath. They also some info on changes ahead and the Cataclysm press event. I really think I would still be playing if expansions came out at a faster rate. I think Cataclysm will be very refreshing. I'm still waiting...


Last night I entered my first Battlegound in EQ2. It went pretty well. I was a bit confused at first, never being in one before. It was pretty fun, we won- woot! It is a bit different than what I am familiar with (WoW) being that the game mechanics function a lot differently but it wouldn't be hard to get into the sync of things.

I also managed to get myself a couple more sets of teleportation pads for my house, on Nyomi. I am in the process of adding another 'hidden' room only accessible through those, which is really sweet. Nyomi hit 78 last night, slow right? I've not spent a lot of time playing since the move, I'm working on the climb to 90 though! I will be happy to get there.


I also found another quest for a Halas item on the docks in Timorous Deep, for another valor bloom. I suppose you can't have too many of those lovely flowers! Another would look quite nice in my garden.

So, that's about it for me this weekend, hope everyone had an enjoyable one as well. What have you been up to? I'm always interested in hearing!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Maker's Breath...


I'm still enjoying myself with Dragon Age: Origins, I plan to play a bit this weekend as I have time. I've been watching Dire PvP a bit this afternoon, in WoW, a little bit. While I can't log in and actually play my character (well I could, but she is still lacking her gear), it's sometimes fun to watch someone else PvP. I don't really know if I have it in me to play it much after my sub runs out, but it's nice to see he is happy with it.

Back to DA, I've gotten a bit further and I know I will be sad when the game finishes up. I still have a ways to go though which is exciting. Some of the things I really have enjoyed:

The characters, I actually miss the banter and interaction when I log into my MMO games. I remember people saying this in the past but I didn't understand it until I played it. While we have real people to interact with in MMO games it does add a nice bit of charm having companions to amuse us with their witty banter, arguing and advice.

The music is really lovely, I  enjoy the music in this game a lot more than some others. I ended up creating 'Leliana's Song' for a ringtone heh. It does add a lovely atmosphere to the game, the music. Especially for the romantic kissy scenes ;) Hey! I'm a romantic at heart!


Also the story, I like the options- what you pick can slightly alter things. The story to the game is really intriguing. It is a game I can see myself playing over many times, which is always a good quality. 
It's refreshing to play something different than my normal games.


Maker watch over you... 

-kaozz


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