Thursday 7 April 2011

Sub go bye bye

Yet another mini absence by me… I can only apologise, my time and focus have been elsewhere, though thankfully its for real life reasons that for once are good ones. For those that knew what’s been going on over the last 6 months, everything has been pretty much sorted out. Phew. Anyways, you’re not reading for that stuff, so back to gaming and so on.
 
After my last post about me not feeling entirely settled in RIFT and missing the pick up and play of WAR, you may have expected me to have drifted further back to WAR. However that’s not what happened at all; in fact I have for the first time cancelled my WAR subscription. I did give WAR a bit more of a spin initially, but very quickly discovered that nothing had changed at all and to continue playing would only serve to sour my opinion further. The last couple of times I played went something like this:
 
I logged in with my RR60 Choppa as I figured a change from my RR80 Chosen (or 81, I forget…) would be better. So I spent some time sorting out his improved gear options, then went out to Riekland and took part in a keep take. Which comprised of watching a doors health go down, as melee there was nothing else to do, I logged off. The next day I logged in and went to Praag to find a fight. I strolled into the RvR lake and straight away saw a Slayer appear to 1 shot a Marauder. Even so, I wasn’t going to run in pixelated fear and I charged in with a guttural roar of WAAAAGH! Alas, I had my 9.5k wounds removed in 2 seconds, at least according to the combat log. It felt like less… Now, I know I was using a lower RR character and the higher player should have an advantage, but under no circumstance should it be that much. It’s silly, restrictive, WoW PvGear bullshit and the primary reason that I stopped playing. Anyone justifying it is deluded, end of story. I logged off and shortly after started thinking about cancelling my subscription. Yes I know there's another patch coming at some point that will supposedly fix things, but it isnt here yet and I remain unconvinced.
 
 
I must say that if Mythic kept the WAR subscription cost at it’s current price, but included DAoC access with it… I’d resub instantly and dabble with DAoC when WAR was being rubbish, but they haven’t, so I won’t. Money is tight at the moment and paying a premium MMO subscription fee for a game that I’m barely playing at all just doesn’t make sense. Plus WAR has clearly stagnated, it is in dire need of critical changes and genuine new content (tome unlocks and pets do NOT count), but with Mythic’s resources apparently almost entirely siphoned off to Star Wars these critical patches are just way too slow in coming. This cancellation of course does nothing to remedy my drop in/out PvP fix that RIFT can not at present supply and I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do about that. Unfortunately there’s nothing else out there that can cover it.
 
I’m always tempted by DAoC, but really that demands more time than I’ve got and would have to compete with RIFT, which is difficult because the PvE in RIFT is still proving to be very enjoyable and still feels fresh. As such, my reliable chunks of gaming time are spent there and in general gladly. Of course I do have concerns about its long term viability for me and the whole raid PvE materialistic scene that breeds loot whore selfish retards, but for now it’s fun and if we’re lucky Trion will add more  PvP focussed areas.
 
My random gaming moments are instead being spent on single player games and dicking about on a free to play Ultima Online second age shard (second age is before it went all carebear friendly). I must say playing Ultima Online from that era again has been a revelation, the game maybe dated, clunky and so on, but it’s still got far more sense of world and adventure than pretty much anything else. Yum! I know it’s a temporary distraction mind you.
 
Which means my MMO gaming future is a little cloudy, at least until something a bit more modern arrives (or gets fixed!) with a PvP focus. With no UO2, DAoC2 or proper WAR expansion on the cards there isn’t much to look forward to in that regard. Star Wars sounds more like a Neverwinter Nights online style co-op PvE game than an MMO, Dark Millenium is ages away, Secret World is made by Funcom so will by definition be a buggy pile of crap, Guild Wars 2 doesn’t interest me at all (based on experience of the first one) and Planetside Next has an unpredictable future, if not cancelled already. The only other game I’m interested in is CCP’s vampire MMO, which comes out God only knows when.
 
Meh, so all a bit lame really. Something inspiring needs to happen.

9 comments:

  1. Heh, the last day I played WAR (and cancelled my account) was the day I posted this.. http://wargrimnir.posterous.com/dead-in-2-gcds-surely-working-as-intended

    Getting two shot, as any class, in an instanced PvP setting, is in my mind a clear failure of balance. You just put more words to it than I felt like bothering with.

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  2. if you want PvP maybe you can try Darkfall. I am not sure if you tryed that MMO.

    João Carlos

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  3. If you want exhilarating PvP in a different setting try out these MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arenas):

    1) League of Legends (free)
    2) Heroes of Newerth (not free)
    3) Bloodline Champions (not free)

    I'm currently playing League of Legends and loving it. There's more than enough action to satisfy my PvP fix, so many things to learn, and progression elements akin to RPGs.

    My account name is Snafzg so feel free to friend me and/or put my name in as a referral so I can get a nifty forum tag! :P

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  4. What Snafzg said. LoL is a GREAT fix for pickup and go PvP. It's what I play when I don't want to get into EVE. I'm Shadow War on there if you want to look me up.

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  5. Heyas all,

    I may well give LoL a try out, no harm being free :)

    Darkfall is a game I was very tempted by at launch, but the extortionate price put me off. Of course after it went live the reports weren't good... I read recently its hugely improved though, so perhaps I'll give the trial a, uhm, trial...

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  6. Let me be the one to say it: World of Tanks. Honest to god, good, casual pvp (arena)fun if you fancy a break from elves and fireballs. Free to play but I will pwn you with my paid-for-special-ammo :)

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  7. Dunno if you're being consciously cautious (mouthfull)about your future feelings but your descriptions of your game time in Rift are always mild and non-committal. It is "very enjoyable and still feels fresh" like yesterday's salad. Apart from the obvious military pun I could painfully squeeze from "general gladly", this statement does not make me feel like you've been living some epic moments in battle. More like you've skinned a few pigs and made a nice coat from them to keep you warm. Comforting but not epic.

    I always come here to read stuff about the game from a source I trust, hoping that you'll inspire me to go back to it. That you'll say something magical to fill my heart with song so that I'll get antsy to get home and play me some Rift. No pressure.

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  8. It's a tricky one tbh Sara, I am enjoying RIFT and it has provided many epic moments, but with a few exceptions those moments have almost all been PvE related. So for me personally it hasn't had the same impact as my fave MMO experiences; UO, DAoC, Planetside and WAR. Also I'm very aware that my online gaming time has reduced dramatically and accompanying that (but not entirely due to it) what I want out of my MMO and what I am happy to accept is perhaps changing.

    Further to this I am extremely disappointed with how WAR changed and it's abject failure to reach even close to its potential. It was the game I expected to spend the next few years playing consistently and I think the experience of dramatic decline and the utter balls up of 1.4 has left me rather jaded and frustrated with MMOs in general.

    Which all adds up to me either not gushing about RIFT as much as it deserves, or perhaps justifibly seeing it in a much more critical light. I'm not sure. Certainly a great many of the KF guys are really liking the game, but I don't think I'm entirely alone in my general MMO doubts.

    I guess it all boils down to the realisation that I want to be playing DAoC2, which of course just doesn't exist and nothing else is going to be fully satisfying.

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  9. I've long since lost hope that there will ever be a DAOC2 mostly because for it to be "mainstream," it would have to abandon so much of what made it great.

    Lore aside, WAR really was the spiritual successor to DAOC from the hearts and minds of Mythic. And look how badly it's been bungled up...

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Half man half pixel. Music obsessive, likes a drink, occasional bastard.