Perhaps I’m getting old. Perhaps I’ve just played MMOs for too many years. Perhaps I’m just overly cranky after the horrific headaches which have sidelined me during much of this month. I find myself firmly in that “You kids get the hell off my lawn” state of shaky belligerence and ire when it comes to gaming. ArenaNet, Bioware? Y’all can both kiss my butt, to be honest. Trion is the only one who gets a pass, because they make good games and take care of their players. You can stay, come up here on the porch and have a glass of tea.
The Guild Wars 2 forums have melted down with anger and concern about the announcement that ArenaNet had, contrary to their original manifesto, actually created a gear treadmill game. There have been innumerable threads and posts deleted and locked in true ArenaNet style, but what was allowed to remain is a 190 page, 9484 post (and still growing by the minute) thread. I’ve been watching it with popcorn in hand, rather enjoying it all because I haven’t played GW2 in a while. Prior to this major misstep, they’d already pissed me off by almost totally ignoring bots and deleting posts on the forums which complained about them, so I really have nothing at stake here.
I was looking forward to going back to Star Wars after it went free to play, since they were going to leave access to story questlines and limit everything else, which was fine with me. I could care less about access to Huttball or being able to run the same instances over and over again. I have to say, though, that this is the cheapest, shoddiest f2p conversion ever. Not giving you bank access is a bit unpleasant, but I can see that as a legitimate perk to sell in the shop. Inability to customise your UI and add additional action bars is pretty ridiculous, as is the fact that non-preferred players don’t have access to sprint. But the real kicker for me? The inability to hide the headgear slot. This from a game which is famous for having the ugliest headgear ever. Remember, I want to come back for the story, which was superb. I loved the way that they handled cutscenes, and seeing my character acting out the choices that I had made for her. And, shallow though it may be, I simply cannot do that if I have to wear a stupid hat.
There she is, my beautiful, snarky Sith Lord wearing a hat that looks like a prop from a really bad 1950s sci fi movie. “I am Electra, from the planet Electronikos. Take me to your leader, Earthling, or I will kill you with my amplified brainwaves!” I just can’t do it. And I refuse to pay to remove it because it would be rewarding them for a really, really petty choice.
So that game, as well, can just get offa my freakin’ lawn.
And like the cranky old fart in the yellowing undershirt scaring kids away from his yard, I don’t have a lot of people left to talk to, and it’s a bit lonely. I still have a Rift sub, and will keep that up for a bit. But aside from that? Not exactly a wide range of choices for escapist fare. I miss being able to lose myself in a game. There was a time when I could lose hours and hours and love every minute of it. And now? Too cranky. Too disappointed. Too much of an old fart. And that makes me sad.
why not do like I did with companions till recently? don’t wear a hat! no sense having the turmoil over it when you don’t HAVE to wear a hat to play the game. I like a slight greater challenge as well so taking off gear is a contributor to that. hey or pay for the unlock. point is there are choices and I may not agree with the exact choices that lead to costs (action bars, really?) I think that a more customizable experience with regard to costs is a win for the player community overall
Yes, I did think about that, and that’s probably what I’ll end up doing. I was always tempted to do it for companions (seemed really weird that you couldn’t hide their helmets). My Inquisitor is just too sexy to look so silly. :)
Charging you for an un-costume? Clever. A bit on the evil side, but clever.
Come over to the dark side, they said. We have cookies, they said. :)