I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Ours was quiet as usual (being across entire oceans from my family and friends) but still nice. Phil got me a Kindle Fire HD, which I love to bits – it’s my preciousssss. We’ve been very lazy, have eaten a metric buttload of holiday food (and isn’t that a lovely image), and had some guilt-free game time. I even had some time to work on the graphic strip that I’ve been thinking about for ages. (More on that later – it’s still not ready for prime time.)
As far as gaming goes, this is actually a great time for MMO gamers. There are a couple of very solid and enjoyable MMOs that have gone pay-to-play (with varying degrees of success) and Rift had a solid expansion. This is what I’ve been playing:
Rift:
I re-subbed for two months and haven’t played a great deal. I saw some of the new areas, but got involved with other games for a couple of reasons. One reason was that although the expansion was up to Trion’s normal high standard, it felt a lot grindier than it used to. Mobs hit a lot harder so questing is slower, and on one day I’d played for almost two hours and went from being 48% through that level to 51%. This was while using the Veteran’s 50% XP potion as well. I don’t like flying through content, but this just felt hopeless so I became less and less enthusiastic about logging in.
SWTOR:
The positive part of the conversion to pay-to-play was that the story (so far) was offered for free, without restriction. The rest of it pretty much sucked: 20-30% XP reduction along with a host of less catastrophic, but no less annoying, restrictions such as not being able to sprint for ages and having to pay to remove your ugly hat. I’m still planning on working my way through a number of storylines, but am currently sidetracked by…
The Secret World:This is my current game of choice. I can’t convince anyone I know to play, so it’s a bit lonely, but I’m still enjoying it. I must say, though, that I hadn’t realised how non-solo-friendly areas of this game are (I’d levelled my first character in tandem with Phil). It can be a harsh game, and you’ll become quite familiar with anima form. Add in the miserable freakin annoying Mayan zombies that are currently plaguing new players right now, and death becomes a regular thing. (They seem to be coded to spawn when you’re at death’s door, or when you’re doing a wave event such as the one in Edgar’s scrapyard where you’re AOEing down lots of mobs.)
Guild Wars 2:
I haven’t played much GW2, as I needed to let my anger at ArenaNet and their community managers cool. This relates to the Great Bot Problem, when they were not addressing bots because they were too busy deleting and locking community threads where players were complaining about said bots. Now, a couple of months later, they’ve finally started doing something about the bot armies and goldspammers, but I still think they’re jerks and don’t want to support their game. Hey, I’m a mature adult, which is all about cutting off your nose to…well, you know. :)
I’ve been thinking about finding a guild, once I decide on a game to settle down in. I don’t think I would ever think about raiding again, but a group that does a bit of everything would be great. A mature group of people who don’t think that everything is “gay.” Non-elitist types. Hmmn, must do some research.
I’m looking forward to 2013, and hoping for a year of positive things. I wish you happiness and health and all good things as well.
Poor ArenaNet. I don’t know what their situation is, but having been on the other side of that, I can say that freeing a game from bots and goldspammers is not as simple as one would think. Too bad they didn’t take care of the community so well through it all. I’m glad they seem to be getting a handle on it, though.
This has been a good year for story-driven MMOs, though, hasn’t it?
It was really their rudeness that pissed me off. It’s a gorgeous game, and I know bots and gold farmers are like roaches, impossible to totally eradicate. I just hold a grudge really well. :)
This is like a golden age for MMOs, especially story-driven ones. So much content out there, much of it playable for free. SWTOR has the best personal storylines that I think I’ve ever seen. The overall story in The Secret World is amazing (even if I’ve only seen a small part of it and understand an even smaller amount). We’re spoilt for choice right now.
I haven’t even mentioned LotRO, which is another good game, or Star Trek Online, which is another very fun MMO. There just isn’t enough time to play everything!
Community really is half the battle, isn’t it? Showing your fans that you care is so important.
Star Trek Online! I played it once, really enjoyed it, but never got back to it. :( I’d be all over that game if the Foundry were free. I believe they’re making the Foundry for Neverwinter free AND integrating player-made quests into the game, so I’ll be checking that out.
(I’m all about user-generated content — big surprise there, right?)
I’m pretty sure player-created content is in the game, and Phil says that Foundry project slots are relatively cheap (you can buy dilithium, or earn it in game). I’m really tempted to check it out.
Ah, I meant that in Neverwinter you’ll supposedly be able to run into player-created quests just running around the game world. From my understanding, you have to seek it out specifically in STO — though I could be wrong.
Let me know if you do check it out! I’m always eager to see what my fellow players come up with. :) (Some of my favorite Skyrim quests are player-created.)
Ah, I see what you mean. I’d never played Neverwinter, but the quests sound cool – I’d love that. Yes, you have to choose from a menu in STO (I think).