I Have Given In, New Rift Blog Started!

Well, after fighting off the hype and the excitement for awhile, I have decided to jump in and start a Rift: Planes of Telara blog.  I will continue to blog about general MMO stuff here but my Rift commentary will happen over there.

I expect to post information about Rift’s instances, PvP, classes and the like over there and you are all welcome to check it out!  I only have three posts up there now but more are coming everyday and, of course, if I get into beta and the NDA drops the blog will be chock full of Rift information!

Hopefully you folks will all check it out!  Rift: Planes of Telara looks like it may shape up to be a stellar game and, I think, the best of the upcoming MMOs.  I also think I came up with a pretty damn nifty title for the blog, if I do say so myself.

So, without further ado, please go check out HorRIFTic Intentions!

Reservations (somewhat) Alleviated!

After my last post, I started to do more research into the Rifts in Rift: Heroes of Telara and, after much reading and video watching, many of my fears have been alleviated a bit.  Here is short synopsis of what I have learned thus far.  Those of you who have read more than I, please feel free to comment and correct me if I am wrong!

A Rift from the Plane of Life?

First of all, the entire Rift system seems to be much more dynamic than I had previously thought.  They do appear randomly across the world but the consequences of a Rift going unchecked are much more dire than I had thought.  In WAR Public Quests had little to no effect on the surrounding world.  It did not matter if you completed them or not, they were static entities in the world at large.  Nothing really happened if they were completed, nothing really happened if they were not.

This will not hold true for Rifts.  If a Rift exists long enough, without being shut down by the players, it gains a foothold into the world.  From there it spreads outward, causing massive changes to the world around it.  It can, and will, encroach on other areas, including quest hubs.  Killing NPCs, destroying entire villages and causing general mayhem.  This is a lot more dynamic than anything that WAR did with the PQ system and can really change the way the game is played.

Imagine heading off to your favorite grinding spot, only to find it mutated and destroyed by the Plane of Death.  Of course by now the Rift is too big for you to tackle alone and you must gather a party to put it down.  How big a party?  We don’t know but let me say that it would be awesome to have to get a raid together to destroy the giant Rifts that have been left to fester for an extended period.

Darkshire? We don't need no stinkin' Darkshire!

Apparently, Trion has stated that they have hundreds of different scripts that could potentially happen when a Rift enters the world.  So, it will not just be kill quest after kill quest after kill quest, as I feared it was.  Each Rift can behave differently than the last and you never know what is going to happen with a Rift until you try to shut it down.

Secondly, Rifts war with each other.  Let’s say a Rift from the Plane of Fire has landed somewhere in the world and has started to grow, mutating the world around it.  Eventually it grows enough that it encroaches on the territory that another Rift, this time from the Plane of Water, has claimed as its own.  Now, what happens when the Plane of Fire and the Plane of Water meet?

Well, probably lots of steam but that is beside the point.

No, they fight, of course.  War between the Planes, that just so happens is happening right on your planet.

Not good.

Of course, now you have to shut both Rifts down but which one first?  Well, it seems that you can align yourself, for a short period, with one of the Planes.  Maybe you feel like fighting for Water today and you help it destroy the Fire Rift.  Or maybe you side with Fire.  Either way, you now have its help in destroying the opposing Rift.

This opens up a whole new myriad of possibilities.  What if other player characters are helping Fire while you are helping Air?  PvP?  Who knows, as they have not clarified this yet but it does sound like a possibility and a very intriguing one at that.

Furthermore, just how big could a Rift possibly get?  Could it grow until it consumes the entire zone?  Are there limitations?  What if the players decide to let one grow just to see how big it will get and how much damage it will do?  This could, potentially, be crazier than when Kazzak did Stormwind! And that would be just too cool.

I see lots of possibilities within this system and, on the face of it, the Rift system seems a lot more dynamic than anything that WAR offered with its PQ system.  Matter of fact, if the Rift system works as advertised, we are looking at something a bit more creative than anything we have seen with the last slew of MMOs.  It could be something pretty special.

I am going to leave you with a link to a video I found today, that shows a bit of the world of Telara and a bit of an instance.  The thing that jumps out at me about the instance is that it does not seem as linear as what I have come to expect from dungeons post-WoW.  There looks like there may be some cause to actually explore the dungeon, instead of being pulled from point A to point B by the nose.  I really like that.

In addition, the dungeon “grows” with your character.  Meaning, as you level, you will unlock new content in old dungeons.  New bosses, new events, new areas and, of course, new loot.  It will be more than just a “Heroic” mode, as the dungeon actually changes instead of simply getting harder.  This is I like a lot.  I hate “dead” content in MMOs.  You know, that old content that no one does anymore?  Hopefully this will ease that a bit.

Edited to add another video.

This one is a really nice look at the class/skill system, one of the capital cities and a goblin 5-man instance, the Darkening Deep.  Click here, folks!

Reservations about Rifts

The upcoming Rifts MMO is my current most anticipated title.  The graphics look gorgeous, I love that it is an open world and there seems to be a lot of good ideas contained within it.  However, I do have my reservations.  The Rift system itself is causing me a bit of worry.

A quote from the official website:

Often, rifts appear in the world as a tear in the fabric of reality.  Powerful magic has been used to study these anomalies, and sometimes they have been opened inadvertently, resulting in great tragedy. But there is still much to learn from these destructive forces. Can riftic power be harnessed by sorcery? Can powerful beings enter the rifts to venture into the deadly planes beyond? How many planes really exist?

From what I have been able to find out about Rifts, they are random and they completely change the look of the world when they form.  Fire Rifts cause molten lava to kill trees in the area, Death Rifts cause decay around the area and there is a different effect for each of the six planes.

When a Rift opens it can cause horrible damage to the environment as it squeezes its way into the world.  Besides the transformation of the world itself, it also brings with it beings from other planes.  Demons, undead, fire creatures and the like.  These forces must then be fought back and the Rift closed before it can get a solid grip in the world.  Of course, it is up to the players to do this.

Sounds cool, huh?

Yes, but I do have my reservations.  Take a look at this newly released video from Gamescom:

It looks to me like a Warhammer Online Public Quest.  Rift comes down, changes the world (which, admittedly looks damn cool!) and monsters spawn.  Players come in and start killing stuff until they reach the end of a stage.  New stage starts, with tougher monsters and the thing continues that way until they reach a final boss, defeat it and close the Rift.

Now, I am not one of those people who hated WAR’s Public Quests.  To the contrary, I thought the system was a fine idea and was probably the single most innovative thing that Mythic did with WAR.  Many of the PQs could be incredible fun, especially the competitive PQs, of which there were too few, where both factions competed with each other to complete their part of the PQ before the other side.  Some of the bosses were a lot of fun and there was humor and fun to be had with many of them.  The Dwarf/Greenskin ones were fantastic.  However, there were some problems with the implementation of WAR’s PQ system that really caused problems and bogged down the entire thing.

First, there were just too damn many of the things.  They were everywhere.  Each zone contained 2-3 PQs and after a while they ceased to become a fun even and became a grind.  Had Mythic just made them special it would have increased the fun ten-fold.  It became a case of:  ”oh, damn another PQ…”  when it should have been:  ” Hey!  It’s a PQ!!  Awesome!!”.

Secondly, there were just better things to do.  In any MMO, players will normally take the path of least resistance when it comes to leveling.  You can make all the cool instances you want but if the fastest way to level is by standing in a field and grinding mobs, that is exactly what most players will do, grind mobs.  When WAR released, by far, the fastest way to level was through Scenarios.  So people endlessly queued for Scenarios and it made the open world a dead place thus no one was around to do Public Quests.

Now, we do not know enough about Rift implementation to say whether Rifts will have either of those problems but the similarities between the Rift system and WAR’s PQs does cause me some concern.  But let’s be generous and say that Rifts will suffer neither of the above problems.  Let’s say Rifts will be fairly infrequent and when they do happen they will be an event instead of a grind.  Let’s further say that when one does happen that they will be the absolute best thing to do to level or get gear.  Let’s say they are so fantastic in that aspect that players flock to the Rift.  Do I still have my reservations if that is the case?

Yes, I absolutely do and the above video is the cause of it.

The change in the world in the video, as I said, looks really cool but there is one very big concern I have from the video and that is the possible “sameness” that might exist within these Rifts.  For all the problems WAR’s PQs had, they had one great thing going for them; variety.  One PQ might have you defending an Empire village from a Chaos Giant, another has you sobering up a Giant so that he can carry a bomb to a Dwarven fortress, while yet another has you blowing up Orcish catapults and stopping an Orc offensive.  Each PQ was different from the last.

But what about Rifts?  Even assuming that different planes spawn different types of Rifts, there may only be six different things that could happen when attempting to close a Rift.  Even with that, will each boil down to kill a monster type, wait for the other to spawn, kill those, then kill the boss mob and the Rifts close?  Will there be no variety from that at all?  If it is just a series of back to back to back kill quests then that is no fun at all.

However, I am hoping that they add some variety to the Rift system.  Maybe to close a Plane of Life Rift you have to lure undead from their graves and coax them to attack the Rift.  Maybe a Plane of  Fire Rift will need some element of Water to close and you will have to decide how to do it.  Something, anything to break up the monotony of kill quest, after kill quest, after kill quest.

So, has anyone heard anything to allay these reservations of mine?  Does anyone else share this concern or am I just being loony?

What Excites Me on the Horizon?

I am still having fun with Global Agenda but I am also waiting for a few other MMOs on the horizon.  2011 could shape up to be a pretty big year for MMOs.  Certainly the biggest since 2008 which, in hindsight, was very disappointing.  That was the year both AoC and WAR was released.  Both were to revolutionize the industry, both ended up being case-studies in how promising MMOs can go wrong.

Since then we have seen very few BIG MMO releases.  Aion was fairly large but was not as anticipated as WAR or AoC.  Other than that, I can think of no MMOs that have released since then that could be considered big, but please correct me if I am wrong.

Now, 2011 looks to be a different story.  Here is a short list of what I am looking forward to in 2011 (and, perhaps, beyond!).

5.  Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Yes, this is the one most are looking forward to the most but not me.  I love Star Wars and I love Bioware games, so I should be ecstatic about this one, right?  But I am not.  Sure, I want to give it a try but I am not holding out a lot of hope for it.  I think it will probably being too instanced for my tastes, I worry that the story will get in the way of gameplay and I have deep reservations about EA running the game properly.

Still, I hope they prove me wrong and make a great game.  I will give it a try no matter what but it would be nice to find a new long term MMO.

4.  Earthrise

This one is flying under the radar quite a bit.  A sandbox sci-fi game with no class restrictions that claims to be purely skill based.  Sounds very interesting but there are a lot of mistakes that could be made with this one as well.  Still, keeping a close eye on it and hoping I get into beta.

3. Guild Wars 2

I really did not like Guild Wars 1, so I pretty much ignored Guild Wars 2, but the more I hear about it, the more I get excited about it.  A persistent world, dynamic events and great graphics, all combine to make Guild Wars 2 a game worth watching.  The combat is GW1 was horrible, in my opinion.  I hated the “auto-move” to target and I hated not being able to jump.  Hopefully, both of these are removed in GW2.

2. Warhammer 40K

This one will probably not release in 2011.  I suspect 2012 but I am still highly anticipating it.  I love the Warhammer universe and it is a chance for a Warhammer MMO to redeem itself after the unfortunate fiasco of WAR.  This one worries me, however, I am very worried that it is going to follow the standard “tab-targeting” combat of WoW and that would be very unfortunate.  I was also very disappointed to find out that it was going to be a 2 faction game.  Why can no one follow DAoC’s example and make a 3 faction game?  It boggles the mind.

One thing I will suggest to the WH40k devs:  Pick up Global Agenda.  Play it.  Learn the combat.  Love the combat.  Put it in your game.

Global Agenda’s combat in a Warhammer 40k skin, in an open persistent world, with instances/raids and with a DAoC Frontier type endgame?  I would never play another game again.  Ever.

1.  Rifts: Planes of Telara

Rifts looks to be closer to a traditional MMO than the others on this list but the graphics and the lore are very strong.  The Rifts system is intriguing, although it may just be a Public Quest system dressed up in fancy clothes.

Still, I am putting this at the top of my list for the time being.  The character customization possibilities look enormous and they claim that they are making a strong effort to making a PvP system that is strong in its own right, though they are also going with a two faction system.

Ugh. This is it?!?!

This is Bioware/Mythic’s big announcement?

A new Skaven race (that you can’t even level from level one!) and an increase of the Renown cap to 100 from 80?

That’s it?!?!

Before you say it, yes I know we don’t have all the details yet but, come on, this is a big letdown.  No matter how you fancy it up, a single race and renown cap raise is not enough to keep people interested in WAR.  WAR needed some big news this week, something to keep people interested.  Something to give people hope that there was actually new content coming.

Instead we get this??

Oh, and I love this quote:

With the RvR pack Bioware Mythic wants to move away from the standard “Release a huge expansion every 2 years.” system and wants to adopt a system that allows players to“customize their game experience”.

Why don’t they just admit that they do not have the staff nor the players to justify a proper expansion?  It is pretty obvious that WAR is being run with a skeleton crew and that EA has pretty much abandoned it in favor of  ”The Next Big Thing”  a.k.a. Star Wars: The Old Republic.  At this point, WAR is not even on the back-burner, it has been taken completely off the stove.

Carrie and all the WAR fanboys, I hate to break it to you but this is not content.  An added race and twenty new Renown levels to grind is not content.  This game needs new zones, new endgame experiences.  It needs a lot of things but this is not it.

Hate to be Chicken Little but this is it, the beginning of the end.  WAR is just about over.  RvR while you can, folks.

Global Agenda Review

Before I get into this review, let me say that I stumbled into Global Agenda.  I had heard of it in a vague sort of way but it was never on my radar in any shape or form.  Last week I was looking through You Tube for some WAR PvP videos and I noticed that one of guys who made some excellent Warrior Priest videos had moved over to Global Agenda.  The videos he was making for GA were equally impressive and I decided, on a whim, to give it a try.  The rest of this post details my thoughts on Global Agenda.  Enjoy.

Initial Thoughts

I have a confession to make.  It is something that I am somewhat ashamed of but something I am a bit proud of as well.

I liked Tabula Rasa.

Yeah, thats right, I liked Tabula Rasa.  Strange, I know, but it was a fun game with tons of potential.  Unfortunately, that potential was never even close to being realized.  It was shut down quickly but, despite that, there was the foundation of an excellent game there.  The combat was an intriguing combination of action shooter and MMO.  The graphics were good and the story was interesting.  I was sad to see it go.

Why am I bringing up Tabula Rasa in a Global Agenda review?  Because Global Agenda has a lot of Tabula Rasa in it.  The combat is similar, the weapons are similar and I can feel Tabula Rasa’s influence when I play Global Agenda.

Like Tabula Rasa, Global Agenda has a lot of potential.  A metric ton of potential, in fact.  Will it ever realize that potential?  I don’t know but it is on the right track.  Let’s take a look at the game and see if Hi-Rez studios has improved upon the ideas present in Tabula Rasa or if it is destined for the same failure that TR was.

Classes

Character creation starts with the class decision.  There are currently four classes to choose from; Assault, Medic, Recon and Robotics.  Each brings a different skill set into the game and will appeal to widely varying play-styles.  Here are some thoughts on each class.

Assault

The Assault class is meant to be the ‘tank’ class of the game.  They are equipped with bulky power armor and spend much of their time toting around a mini-gun like the one used in Predator to mow down trees.  Because of this firepower, they are a hugely popular class and they are very, very good at what they are designed for.  They can soak up the damage like no other and, if specced into defense, are nigh impossible to bring down.

Their offensive capabilities are nothing to sneeze at either.  The mini-gun puts out a high volume of fire and includes a slight knockback when hitting enemy characters.  Additionally, they can carry various types of rocket launchers and defensive shields.  They are a complete class.

Spec-wise, they have many options to go with, from defensive heavy, to offensive juggernauts.  All three spec trees are viable, from what I have gathered, and all three are fun.  One of my friends chose the Assault class and, despite hating to play tanks in other MMOs, has specced defensively and he loves it.

Medic

The Medic, as the name suggests, is the primary healer in Global Agenda and, as with most MMO healers, is probably the least played class in the game.  This can not be attributed to the Medic’s effectiveness, they are a very good class, but to the lack of people who like to play healers.

Unlike healing in most MMOs, the Medic must aim his heals at the intended target, which adds some difficulty to the process.  They are equipped with AoE healing “grenades” but their main healing is aimed.  In addition, they have decent DPS in the form of poison attacks.  These attacks consist of grenades, DoTs and melee ‘injections’.  All of this makes for a pretty potent class and I found them a fun and challenging class in my limited time playing one.

Recon

Aaaah, the class I love to hate.  I detest Recons, not because they are not a good class, to the contrary they are a very, very good class.  I hate them because they are the antithesis of my chosen class, the Robotic.  Recon can be very effective, depending on spec, in melee or extreme long range.

They have a myriad of tools to bring the pain; samurai-looking power swords for up close, sniper rifles from ranged and an assortment of bombs, mines and stealth orbs to get in close and do damage.  They excel at destroying Robotic’s turrets and medical stations and are deadly with a sniper rifle.

The class takes a lot of skill to play properly.  Good aiming skills are a must when using the sniper rifle and circle-strafing is a necessity when meleeing.  Don’t choose this class expecting to be pro at it immediately.  Really good Recon players really separate themselves from the pack.

Robotics

Robotics is the hybrid class of Global Agenda.  Able to DPS, off-heal and even do limited tanking, they are very versatile and allow players a wide range of playstyles.  The class bears a superficial resemblance to the Engineer in Warhammer Online but is a lot more effective than the Engineer.

Robotics are masters at digging in on the defensive.  With the ability to drop turrets that do massive damage, they can really make it difficult to take an objective in PvP.  In addition, they can use drones when going on the offensive that do very good damage and can be used to take out opposing Robotic’s turrets.  Finally, they have medical stations they can drop for off-healing and force fields that can be used to block incoming damage.

Robotics are Engineers done correctly.  Mythic/Bioware would do good to give Global Agenda a spin and see how to bring some of the Robotic’s effectiveness over to the Engineer.

Character Creation

Character creation is pretty standard.  Pick a class and then customize their facial features.  Global Agenda has a pretty robust facial editor but it really does not matter.  You will quickly obtain power armor that will cover up that pretty mug of yours and no one will ever see the beautiful face you have created.

One interesting thing about character creation is the naming system.  You only have on name for all of your characters, so choose wisely.  If you name your first character foolishly every other character will have that same exact name.

Tutorial

After creation you are loaded into a cutscene that tells a little of the back story of the world and introduces your character.  The cutscene is well done and is as exciting as initial cutscenes can be.  Fortunately, you have the ability to skip the entire tutorial after the first go-around.

The tutorial itself is fairly standard.  It introduces you to your first weapons, your jetpack and the interface.  It is a quick and dirty introduction and soon dumps you into the game world proper with the begininning of a quest chain and some starter weapons.

The Dome and The Desert

From the tutorial you are placed in a hub of sorts called The Dome.  This is the main (and only) city in the game.  From here you can queue for PvE or PvP missions, visit the Auction House, test equipment in a virtual reality arena, working on crafting and get your hair cut.  For the most part, this is a large virtual lobby from which you queue for missions.  I believe that the original idea for Global Agenda was for everything to be spawned from here and not have any ‘persistent/open’ world at all.  From player feedback, Hi-Rez has decided to move away from that idea and start including more open world features.  From that, Sonoran Desert is spawned.

The Sonoran Desert is a large open-world PvE zone, not unlike a typical WoW PvE zone.  Clusters of quests and adventure areas are dispersed across the zone and slowly ramp up in difficulty.  The Desert is fairly large and looks nice.  The layout is typical of standard PvE questing zones and most will feel right at home out here.  The quests range from typical kill quests to more involved quests and also range from extremely easy to nigh on impossible without a group.

For a first foray into an open zone, Hi-Rez has done pretty good here.  I enjoyed the quests and the zone, while large, was not too large to traverse with my jetpack.  The graphics are nice and you often see sandstorms kicking up around you and the wind howling through.  From what I have seen with Sonoran Desert I am very interested to see where Hi-Rez can take us in the future.

Graphics

Before I go any further with review, I want to talk graphics.  In many ways, Global Agenda reminds me of Aion with what they have been able to accomplish with the Global Agenda engine.  The art style of the two could not be further apart but both accomplish a lot with very little.  Aion has always looked beautiful, despite not having the most advanced graphic engine from a technology stand point.  Global Agenda is the same way.  It looks great and runs flawlessly.

The armor is detailed and imposing when it wants to be.  The laser effects are awesome and the rocket launcher just exudes cool with its effects.  A heavy fire fight is just a joy to behold and looks right out of a movie at times.  All of this comes at a very low price, the engine runs flawlessly for me, even under a heavy load.  I have been in the middle of large fire fights, with turrets blasting away, force fields sprouting up and the Assault class mowing things down with their mini0gun and kept a constant 60+ FPS.  That is pretty impressive in my mind.

PvE Missions

PvE missions can be queued up from level five and are broken up into brackets depending on your level.  The first missions are quite simple and involve only one boss.  As you get higher you will see increasingly more complex missions and they get quite hard.  They do remind me of standard MMO instances in many ways but the addition of FPS-style combat and ranged tanking make the familiarity passing at most.

The combat certainly changes everything in PvE.  It is very reminiscent of Tabula Rasa and enemies can and will use supressing fire, flank you and retreat if needed.  I think the A.I. is a small cut above the standard A.I. found in MMOs.  The boss fights can be as complex as many WoW PvE boss fights, as each boss has its own special abilities.  Charges, knockbacks, AoE fire attacks, adds and the like all make their appearance.

I want to stress, however, that even though the bosses have similar abilities to your typical WoW boss, the mob A.I. and the 3rd person shooter style combat brings the encounters to an entirely different realm.  I have really enjoyed all the missions have partaken in thus far.

PvP

There are a few different types of PvP in Global Agenda but, thus far, I have only partaken in Mercenary PvP.  Mercenary PvP is a lot like WoW battlegrounds or a typical Counter-Strike map.  Two teams, different objectives depending on map and away we go.

That said, the PvP is fast, frantic and, most importantly, fun. Even better, I have rarely been in fights that did not go the distance.  Almost every fight I have been in has been a fight to the finish, no team has run away with it.  These are very competitive PvP matches.  I think that is helped by the fact that, at least in Mercenary mode, you can only queue yourself and one other up.  No premades running rampant and destroying everything.

The PvP also seems very, very well balanced.  Every class has their place and every class is needed.  Assault to capture objectives, medics to heal, robotics to defend and recons to supply high DPS and destroy turrets and implacements.  Every class is capable of winning the match and being the hero, if played properly.

Closing Thoughts

I stumbled onto Global Agenda and I am very glad I did.  It is tremendously fun and there is a whole lot of potential here.  I do hope to see more persistent zones (both PvE and PvP), endgame raids and a DAoC-style PvP endgame at some point but even without those it is tremendously fun.  The combat is a refreshing change of pace as is the sci-fi setting.  Even better, the game has no monthly sub and can be picked up for only 29 bucks on Steam.  That is a great deal.

I hope that Hi-Rez can make Global Agenda a success.  I really do not want to see it go the way of Tabula Rasa, there is simply too much potential here and a lot of fun to be had.

By the way, I am finishing up my first poor attempt at a PvP video tonight and should have it posted tomorrow, along with a more detailed description of PvP in general and Robotics PvP in particular!

WAR is a Strange Beast

The review and video for Global Agenda is still in the pipeline but, while I am waiting to build up enough raw video for the PvP video, I wanted to talk a little about Warhammer Online.  I had recently given it another try and it just really confounds me.

WAR, as I have said before, was easily my most anticipated MMO ever.  I loved DAOC and I awaited WAR with the anticipation of a little girl at a Justin Whatshisname concert.  Of course, like many, I was immensely disappointed.  I have tried again and again to return to WAR, hoping beyond hope that things had finally improved enough to return to full time.  Time and time again, it has disappointed me.  Not only that but I can get no feel for what Mythic is trying to do with the game.  None at all.

For one, WAR is the only MMO I can think of that, two years out from release, has seemingly removed almost as much content as they have added.  They have removed Fortresses, reduced Auction House functionality and, although not removed completely, have reduced each side to one viable Tier One zone.  On the flip side, they have added Land of the Dead.  As far as I can tell that is really all they have added.  To me, that is a net loss.

Additionally, there are many parts of WAR that come across as amateurish at best.  Take NPC pathing for instance.  In AoC, WoW or just about any other MMO I can think of, when you pull a mob it paths right to you, every so often you will see weird bugs or pathing issues but that is the exception.  In WAR it seems to rubber band back and forth, run backwards to you or teleport past you.  No rhyme or reason, the pathing is just bad.  Really?  Two years out in a AAA MMO and they can’t even get pathing right?  I just don’t understand that.

The PvE is extremely poorly implemented.  The instances and their boss encounters are a joke.  The pathing issues extend to the instances and the boss abilities are just strange.  It is hard to describe but they are just not as tight as they are in WoW, LotRO or AoC.  It is so bad that no one does PvE instances anymore from what I can tell.  Bastion Stair is dead, no one does the low level city instances and the PQs are empty more often than not.

Now, I know that WAR is a PvP game but, damn, if you are going to have PvE in your game then do it right.  Seems Mythic is lost when it comes to coding PvE and Mob AI.  I just don’t understand it.  The PvE is not up to a AAA MMO standard.  It is amateurish at best.

I understand Mythic is supposed to have a big announcement this week and, for their sake, I hope it is big.  They need it, badly.  No new content in almost two years will kill a MMO.  There is only so much of the scenario/Keep Siege/City Siege treadmill that people can take.  Even for the biggest WAR supporters it will get stale eventually.  New content is a must and it better not be something minor like a new race or two.  It better be something major.  New instances, new zones and new things to do at endgame.

If the announcement this week is anything less, I think you might as well start writing WAR’s obituary.  It will be a sad day but it will be time.

The Fate of AoC and Where I am Headed Now

So, I have decided to put down Age of Conan for the time being.  The PvE is still awesome, maybe one of the best around PvE wise.  Tons of stuff to do at the level cap, interesting instances and lots of faction grinds.  Really not much different than WoW in that respect, with better graphics, a more visceral approach and a different combat system.

But, I am just about PvE’d out.  I like to PvE and PvP in my MMOs.  Mix it up if you will but AoC’s PvP is dead in the water.  It should be fun.  It really should be.  Most of the pieces are in place.  A great combat system, mini-games, sieges, PvP areas….its all there.  But is just is not implemented well.

The mini-games pop so infrequently that you can go for hours without seeing one.  Then, when they do finally pop, you find yourself against a twinked pre-made that proceeds to obliterate your poor PuG in humiliating fashion.  Then its back to the queue for another four hours and the cycle continues.  No fun.

The PvP areas and Shrines of Bori are a complete mess.  Basically you PvE to get PvP levels.  There are people in game that are the highest PvP level in the game that have never killed anyone in PvP.  Ever. How wrong is that?  It is, frankly, depressing.

To top it all off, hacks are bad in AoC.  There is a program called AoCbuddy that is used frequently by players in the game.  It allows for teleports, speed-hacks and radar.  Apparently it has been around for a long, long time, yet Funcom has not done anything to address it.  I know almost every MMO has hacks but I have never seen one so blatantly used as I have AOCBuddy.

Put all that together and it makes for a bleak PvP experience.  Its very sad because when I am able to get into a PvP fight with someone around my level and not using hacks, it is incredibly fun.  So are the PuG vs. PuG mini-games I have been in.  The game absolutely cries out for meaningful PvP but Funcom keeps ignoring the PvP’ers.

Long story short, until they fix the PvP, I am gone.  I love the PvE but it is not enough to keep my subbed.  I need some variety.

So, what am I doing now?  Well, I found Global Agenda.  This was a game I completely ignored when it was released.  It was nowhere on my radar and I can’t even remember when it was released.  However, last week I was looking through You-Tube for some WAR PvP videos and I found that one of the guys who released some of the best Warrior Priest videos had quit WAR and was now making Global Agenda videos.  I was intrigued so I clicked on one and was instantly impressed by the fast-paced combat.

I downloaded the demo and, soon after, bought the game.  Gonna have a full review up tomorrow, as well as a PvP video I am working on.  Stay tuned!

Does a Car Hitting a MMO Blogger Make a Sound if No One is Around to Hear It??? (or Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K!)

Another long time away from posting for me.  Normal excuses apply this time around.  Two of my supervisors at work moved on to new positions in the company and, as a result, I now have two new supervisors.  I also moved up into a new supervisor position.  All of which have kept me crazy busy over the last few weeks.

In addition, I got hit by a car.  Yes, as in bodily struck by a car.  Not something that happens to most people, right?  Well, it was just my luck.  I now have a good story to tell folks though.  You see, there is a small convenience store right down the street from where I live, a Circle-K in point of fact.  It is close enough that I often walk there for cold drinks and the like.  Well, on this particular night, that is exactly what I was doing and, thus, the story begins.

As I entered the parking lot, I saw a car sitting to the side of the store, passenger door open and engine running.  This is not normal.  No one parks here, especially with their engine running and one door open.  To get to the store I had to walk in front of the car and, just as I drew even with the front of the car, a guy in his teens to early-20s comes running out of the store carrying two cases of beer.

Well, this also was strange.  It was too late for beer to be sold in my area and the guy did not really look old enough to purchase beer anyway.  He ran around the back of the car, threw the beer in the back and jumped into the passenger seat.  At this point it was obvious that he had stolen the beer and they were out to make a getaway.

Now, I am still standing directly in front of the car and still absorbing all of this information and coalescing it into rational thought.  Yeah, sometimes I am slow.  It finally dawned on me:  “hey, these guys are stealing beer and I am directly blocking their one way out of Dodge!”.

Deciding that retreat was the better part of valor, I started to move out of the way just as the car jumped forward.  It stopped about 6 inches from me and the passenger in the car yelled out for the driver to gun it.  He did.

By this time, I was almost out from in front of the car.  Well, all but my left leg, which the car proceeded to hit.  I am ashamed to say that in the war between the car and my left knee, the car won.  And won decisively.  It spun me around but (amazingly) did not knock me down and away went the car.

Equally amazing, I had the presence of mind to get the license plate as they sped out of the parking lot.  This proved to be very helpful to the nice policeman who answered the call that was placed a few minutes later.  He took all my information, the cashier at the store’s information and another witnesses information.

Long story short, I have a sprained knee, with possible ligament damage.  I won’t know for sure until I go to the orthopedist but I do know it hurts like a bitch and has a rather large bruise spreading across my knee.

Unfortunately for the perpetrator’s of this foul deed, the police were able to use the license plate information I gave them to track them down.  In their hurry to leave the scene of the crime they had elevated a simple petty theft charge into armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder charges.  All because they hit me with the car and the car is considered a weapon if used in the commision of a crime.

Geniuses they are.

So, what am I doing in the MMO world?  Well folks, that is a separate post but I promise I have not been idle and I promise that post is coming soon.  You will be surprised by what I am playing now because I know I am!

By the way, bonus points to anyone who can tell me what the quote I used in the title to this post is from!!