Unplugging

As I write this, my wife and I are less than two days from going on our first week-long vacation since before any of our children were born.  It’s been a while.  My parents have graciously agreed to watch our kids for the week so that we can go on a cruise.  Yes, we are excited.  We are also stressed, because it is a whole different ballgame to up and leave for a week when you’ve got several jobs and three kids to plan for.

Apart from being with my wife and hopefully not getting stranded on a desert island, this vacation is about unplugging.  Unplugging from work, unplugging from the normal routine, and unplugging from the internet.  While the ship does have wifi, it’s stupidly expensive — and besides, sometimes it’s just good to go a week without.  Emails will wait.  Blog posts will wait.  MMOs will wait.

I definitely feel like I need a week where I’m not writing, working, and taking care of kids every waking moment.  It’s going to be incredibly strange not writing the news or knowing what’s going on in the MMO industry for a week.  Knowing how it usually goes when I leave, something will implode and a major event will happen and I’ll come back to a chorus of “WHY ARE YOU NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?”

Sorry about that in advance.  Sometimes it’s horrible to have the world revolve around you.

The most technology I’m bringing with me is my iPad mini, which I’ve stocked with a season of a sitcom that my wife and I are watching, four new books on Kindle, and a few games.  I don’t anticipate needing all of that, it’s just nice to have if there’s some waiting around or late-night downtime.

Anyway, apart from a pre-scheduled post here on Bio Break, you won’t see me again until the 6th.  Be… excellent to each other… and… party on, dudes!

Happy Neverwinter soft launch day! (and yes, I’m playing)

So here and there I’ve had people ask and/or act surprised about me playing Neverwinter.  Yes, I’m planning on getting into this new D&D title and no, I don’t have huge reservations about doing so.  I’m also covering it for Massively.

I have a particular fondness for Cryptic and its mid-sized MMOs.  There’s always issues with bugs and skimpy content, but what’s there is usually pretty enjoyable.  Plus, I like the studio’s devotion to F2P; Star Trek Online still has one of the most generous F2P models, and Neverwinter looks to be similar.

Neverwinter really wasn’t on my radar until I started hearing surprisingly positive reports about it from conventions.  You know the type: “I expected this to be a turd, but dang if it isn’t the sleeper hit of the show” kinds of things.  Not perfect, but fun to play.

That’s the impression I got from the few beta weekends I participated in.  While the character creator is really skimpy and the Foundry reportedly in shambles, the core game itself looks fantastic and is pretty fun to play.  It’s more action/arcade-like than a traditional MMO, but for some reason it works here.  The dungeons still have plenty of traps and secrets to navigate, the combat has oomph to it, and the world is classic D&D.

Plus, there are several features in Neverwinter that I love to see: a useful group finder, combat companions (which can be leveled and swapped), cosmetic clothing, player-created content, and mounts that can be used in the city.  I do have plans to make my own adventures for others to experience, and I’ll be letting you all know when that happens.  They’ll probably all revolve around killing Elves.

As a mid-size game, I’m not heaping expectations on it, either.  It’s not going to be an industry-changer in any sense, but if it entertains and gives me reason to keep on playing, I’ll be happy.

SWTOR: A Bounty Hunter on the prowl

Because getting ready to go on a vacation and preparing for Neverwinter’s soft launch tomorrow isn’t enough to keep me busy, I loaded back up SWTOR to check out the game’s changes since 2.0 went live.  I thumbed through the few characters that I’d created during the subscription era and found a fresh new Bounty Hunter with an unlocked race and expanded inventory to enjoy.  Sounds good to me.  Guess I’ll try my hand at a tank.

It’s not been terrible returning.  The combat isn’t as free-flowing as what I’m used to in GW2, but it’s satisfying and scratches the ranged combat itch in me.  I particularly like the addition of achievements, a few of which are tied to tangible rewards (such as cartel coins).  It does seem like there aren’t as many rewards tied in with these as I’d prefer, but it’s nice to have secondary goals while puttering around on a planet.

So I’m getting used to Ghostfire, a Bounty Hunter who loves to indulge in dark side choices while being sugary and sweet to those she likes.  Going through Hutta is a huge nostalgia trip as I feel all of my long-term memories being downloaded back into short-term for quick recall.  Oh, there’s where that datacron is.  I remember this quest.  Those aliens really want to make me kick their butt.  Etc.

I think LOTRO is spoiling me with its remote looting, because clicking on mobs to loot seems so passe now.  Even GW2/TSW allows you to loot nearby corpses with a button press, which is much faster.

I think I’ll be keeping my time with SWTOR pretty casual right now.  I know that XP gains dip for F2Pers after level 10, which does a number on my enthusiasm for gaming, but we’ll see how bad it is.  I saw that joining a guild gives you a 5% XP gain boost, and perhaps running the three flashpoints per week can supplement things to keep me up to par.

Maybe one day I’ll see the expansion content, even.  I’ve heard good things.  But for now I’m just trudging through the industrial muck of Hutta and dreaming about one day finding a Jawa sidekick to love.

Battle Bards Episode 2: Final Fantasy XI

Welcome back to Battle Bards, a collaborative bi-weekly podcast that listens to and discusses MMO soundtracks!  On our second podcast, Syl, Syp, and Steff tackle the daunting and exuberant score of Final Fantasy XI.  It’s an hour full of whimsy, mogs, and earworms!

• Download Battle Bards Episode 2
• Show page
• Follow Battle Bards on iTunes
• Follow Battle Bards on Stitcher

Episode 2 show notes

• Introduction to Final Fantasy XI’s soundtrack (Composers Nobuo Uematsu, Naoshi Mizuda, and Kumi Tanioka)
• Airship
• Ru’Lude Gardens
• The Republic of Bastok
• Recollection
• Battle in the Dungeon
• Mog House
• Mhaura
• Sometime, somewhere
• Check out Distant Worlds

Contact the Bards:

• email all the Bards: battlebards@mail.com
• Steph: MMO Gamer Chick @MMOGC
• Syl: MMO Gypsy @Gypsy_Syl
• Dodge: A Casual Stroll to Mordor @tdhowell
• Syp: Bio Break  @Sypster

Special thanks to Tesh for the logo!

Guild Wars 2: Exploding pink butterflies

My focus in Guild Wars 2 as of late has been with my punk Mesmer. The Mesmer is an interesting change of pace, and I’m still getting the hang of the class’ mechanics. It’s a caster class that does a lot of strange things, like summon temporary clones/illusions, mess with enemies’ heads, and fiddle with conditions. There’s a lot of variety in weapon choices, ranging from a two-handed sword (which is actually used to channel ranged damage) to one-handed swords (for slashing melee) to a staff (group attack/debuff/buffs), and so on. Many of these weapons impact which illusion you’ll be pulling out, and I’m somewhat partial to having an off-hand pistol for the illusionary pistoleer.

My favorite part of the class is detonating illusions and clones to hit enemies with damage or status effects. Yeah, fear the power of my exploding pink butterflies, fool! It took me a little while to get used to how disposable my clones are; I was reluctant to get rid of any assets on the field. But exploding them at the right moment can provide a huge damage spike that can severely weaken or take out a group of bad guys, and getting new ones is not that difficult.

I really do have to be light on my feet, since I can go down pretty fast. Who would have thought that wearing a French maid outfit wouldn’t give me much protection in the middle of battle? Perhaps my character is trying to dazzle everyone with her legs. Everyone knows that Charr have a weakness for gams.

I’ve been slowly going through Queensdale, trying to build up levels so that I’m not biting off more than I can chew. This time around I’m definitely focusing a lot more on events which has been pretty enjoyable. Forget the cutscenes of the personal story; the NPC interactions during these events are much more engrossing. Escorts are usually my least favorite (per usual), but I’m always up for taking back a camp or defending an area from marauding whatevers. The chaos can feel like a genuine pitched battle, and I’m pleased to see how players are still gravitating toward these events and help each other out during them. One of the best design decisions that ArenaNet made in this game was allowing any player to resurrect at any time.  Definitely helps to enforce team spirit.

And teen spirit

because

here we are now

entertain us

i feel stupid

and contagious

Whatever happened to Nirvana, anyway?  They kind of disappeared off the radar.

Too Long; Didn’t Listen episode 60 is up!

Is it strange that in games where we spend 90% of our time performing wonton acts of slaughter, we’re also concerned about proper manners?  Perhaps it is, but we’ve gotten used to it.  On today’s episode, Dodge and Syp talk about combat styles and community maturity — not that either of them have style or maturity.

Two topics in 30 minutes or your next podcast is free. You know you would listen to all this if it just wasn’t so… long!

Listen to episode 60 here!

March MMO/MOBA poll results

Let’s take a look at the poll results from Bio Break readers’ game activity in March, shall we and compare it to the February poll?

The Top 15

1. Guild Wars 2     (101 votes, no change)
2. Lord of the Rings Online     (66 votes, no change)    
3. World of Warcraft     (56 votes, +2 spots)     
4. The Secret World     (53 votes, -1 spot)    
5. Star Wars: The Old Republic     (43 votes, -1 spot)     
6. Defiance     (31 votes, +3 spots)     
7. Star Trek Online     (30 votes, -1 spot)     
8. Neverwinter     (27 votes, +6 spots)    
9. World of Tanks     (26 votes, NA)     
10. RIFT     (25 votes, -4 spots)     
11. [tie] PlanetSide 2     (23 votes, +1 spot)     
12. [tie] League of Legends     (23 votes, NA)   
13. TERA     (21 votes, -7 spots)     
14. Path of Exile     (18 votes, NA)     
15. EVE Online     (17 votes, -5 spots)    

Contenders

EverQuest II (15 votes), Diablo III (12 votes), MechWarrior Online (11 votes), DDO (10 votes), Firefall (9 votes), EverQuest (8 votes), DCUO (8 votes), Dota 2 (8 votes), Age of Wushu (7 votes)

The Dregs

Guild Wars (6 votes), Marvel Heroes (6 votes), Unnamed beta (5 votes), Vanguard (5 votes), Champions Online (4 votes), RuneScape (3 votes), Age of Conan (3 votes), WURM Online (2 votes), Pirate101 (2 votes), Final Fantasy XIV (2 votes), DAOC (2 votes), Scarlet Blade (2 votes)

The One-Pointers

PlanetSide, Free Realms, Wizard101, Lineage II, Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, Allods Online, Darkfall,  Aion, A Tale in the Desert, Pirates of the Burning Sea, SMITE, Wakfu, Wizardry Online, Star Stable, Fallen Earth, Need for Speed World, Hawken, Istaria, War Thunder, Book of Heroes, Eden Eternal

No votes

AC, AC2, Runes of Magic, Global Agenda, Lineage, Warhammer Online, Ultima Online, City of Steam, APB Reloaded, Vindictus

Thoughts

Since we factored in MOBAs this month, the standings are definitely skewed from February, so don’t take the movement up and down the chart much.  Guild Wars 2 is still the undisputed champion among Bio Break’s readership, and Defiance and Neverwinter have good showings for their debut month (Age of Wushu not so much).  Surprises include 5 people playing Vanguard and 10 playing DDO — don’t hear much about either of those titles as of late.

The Secret World: Tweets and buzzes

The Secret World’s contemporary setting offers the game’s creators plenty of opportunities to extend the game into our world via blogs and websites and whatnot.  The more I play and discover these sites through missions, the more I’m amazed at how much had to be done outside of the game proper to blur the line between reality and fiction.

What amuses me most is that Funcom’s established Twitter accounts for several of the game’s characters.  It’s even more amusing that you see these characters interacting with each other over this medium.  Here’s a few of them with some choice tweet quotes:

Said (@PrunePrince): “The Messenger & the message too. Living memes. Ever wonder if Demotivational posters could eat your brain or a cat pic could kill?”

“Of all my nostalgias, never for a moment did I miss being surrounded by maniacs with whips. You get what you pay for, I suppose.”

Kristen Geary (@CorporateBlues): “An expert analysed images of the thing. He gouged his own eyes out. As soon as we have him talking again, we’ll find out why.”

“No more pics of me, K? Nod if you understand. Use that new smartphone to google the term ‘scorched earth.'”

Nassir (@BoomBoom_Man): “best way to start week… dancing!!!”

The Buzzing (@The_Buzzing): “We saw. WE SAW. The phone screamed obscenities. The poor phone was frightened.”

“The lonly woman with saw dust and thread. Mummified cats grin at her. She never lets go.”

Carter (@Innsmouth66): “I’m OK! Long-short: two wraiths came out of the box. Montag sent them away (it’s good to have that kind of scary on your side).”

“Oh! Supplies appreicated. Especially for Danny. I worry about him out there. He’s partial to cheese doodles. Orange fingers!”

Danny (@katanaguyissue1): “Kind of in an Evil Dead I funk. Rather have an Evil Dead II humor.”

“M, don’t play with that! That’s Clive Barker bad. I swear to Romero, parents aren’t letting their kids watch enough horror.”

Superior Realities notes that the interactions between these characters sometimes results in a story/extra-game mission that can be solved for store points.  I haven’t done this yet, but I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on things.

Five things I want to find out in any beta

I’m not going back on the “mostly I avoid beta” stance, but I’ve been thinking about betas more lately, especially with the recent flap about WildStar’s patch notes being unofficially and then officially leaked.  I guess the one thing that peeves me about beta testing and not being in it is that others have access to more information about the game than I do.  I love having the full scoop and being behind the scenes rather than out in the audience.

So if I do go into a beta, almost always these are the five things I want to find out:

(1) How different is the actual game from the impressions the previews/dev hype/my own imagination?  Above all else, I want my expectations to get ‘n sync with reality.

(2) A full rundown of all races and classes, along with any talent trees or whatnot.

(3) How combat functions and feels.  One or two fights is usually enough to suss this out.

(4) The ins and outs of the UI.  What standard features are there?  What new or missing ones are there?

(5) The full map of the world.  I really dislike learning about new MMOs one zone at a time through drips and drabs of official press releases.  Let me see how many zones there are all at once and how they’re connected.

If I get all five of those down, my curiosity is usually more than sated.

LOTRO: The nothingness of Eregion

Last night I finished up the deeds I needed in Eregion, including doing 40 quests in the region.  Nothing super-tough; my Lore-master is smacking faces and taking names these days and my trusty bear is always there to lend a hand.

As I’ve been going back through all of these zones on this character, I’ve been reevaluating them.  Eregion used to be a welcome alternative to the grossness of Angmar, pleasant and open to explore.  However, now I’m seeing it as a lot of nothing.  Apart from the instanced area that leads up to the gates of Moria, it’s such a bland region with so little to define it.  A few ruins, hills, scattered trees.  It’s kind of interesting to meet the Dundlanders, but that’s not enough to set my underpants on fire.  The quests aren’t much better, to be honest.  There are loads of kill ten rats, as most everyone is just passing through and wants to give you busy work.

There are plenty of early LOTRO zones that I’d like to see reworked with more quests, better landscape, and an improved quest flow.  Eregion isn’t as high as, say, Trollshaws and Misty Mountains on that list, but in comparison to any of the expansion content, it really is kind of pathetic.  You’d think that the developers would have taken more advantage to the Fellowship passing through (although seeing Bill the pony is a nice bit).

Anyway, I just have Angmar to go and then I’ll be diving back into Moria.  Wish me luck!