tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72796699637575509712024-03-13T03:28:57.846+00:00Bootae's Bloody BlogThoughts from a grumpy git enslaved by bloody MMOs.Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.comBlogger704125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-83355047425643257562015-12-12T00:44:00.004+00:002015-12-12T00:44:45.358+00:00Kill Frenzy - Return to ReckoningWell things changed a bit already. We've set up Kill Frenzy on the Destruction faction, which means we've got a guild on both factions. However, we have no intention of being dirty cross-realming buggers... Quite the opposite really, as the plan was we'll switch to play on the underdogs faction if other people are being lame and switching to the overpopulated side to do RvPVE zerg crap. We will bring balance, or at least a 6 man wanting a fight. :P<br />
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Of course that went slightly out the window this week because we all really enjoyed playing our destruction characters again. So we've only played destro the last few days... I'm back on a Chosen as my main. I still love the class, far more to it that the ravage spam than some like to think. And most importantly, it looks badass.<br />
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As for Return of Reckoning overall... I'm really impressed with the work the guys running this server have done over the last month. Massive stability and performance improvements and they're really responsive to problems requiring a restart, etc. So a big thank you to everyone who's working on this server, your time and effort is most appreciated.<br />
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It's been a real eye opener and a pleasant surprise to see that WAR is still able to draw myself and my bunch of PvP obsessed mates in. Anyway, will talk some more about the game soon. :)Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-52352832468460220222015-12-03T14:43:00.002+00:002015-12-12T00:44:56.745+00:00Playing WAR again...Yup, after all these years... Back playing WAR on the <a href="http://www.returnofreckoning.com/">www.returnofreckoning.com</a> server. My KF friends and I are messing about on Order as the Two Man Army guild. There's more than 2 of us, but we are doing small scale stuff, as before. Might write more, dunno yet.Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-88758712645861753342013-05-14T22:38:00.002+01:002013-05-14T22:38:24.258+01:00RIFT goes free to playThis is a good thing.<br />
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RIFT is a good game, it has many qualities and much to enjoy. It just doesn't do enough different to justify paying a monthly sub fee, at least not in the current world of MMOs with so many decent free alternatives. But when it goes F2P it could possibly be the highest quality option on the free market.<br />
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And yeah shock horror, I posted.<br />
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<br />Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-14702707342813430092013-02-07T19:21:00.001+00:002013-02-07T19:21:16.448+00:00Camelot Unchained - AKA Dark Age of Camelot 2 There is a god. :)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W-iIhorxqEg" width="560"></iframe>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-25891412621137704582012-12-20T17:55:00.001+00:002012-12-20T17:55:34.908+00:00Planetside 2 performance improvementsJust a very quick update... Only game I play these days is Planetside 2. It's still awesome and getting better. Of particular note, SOE have made huge improvements for performance.<br />
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My PC is very basic by modern standards:<br />
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Q6600 processor<br />
6gb RAM<br />
Nvidia GTX260 graphics card<br />
Windows 7 (64)<br />
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Back in beta I had horrible performance until I upgraded to windows 7, after which it was good, but I was having to run on low settings. Thanks to regular patches and good work from SOE (shocking I know...), I am now playing on medium settings and the game is running fine and looks rather pretty :) Happy Boots is happy.Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-68641458604212621592012-09-21T10:00:00.000+01:002012-09-21T10:00:04.962+01:00Player made awesome Planetside 2 videoThis is great :)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="338" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4IX28ENrt1U" width="600"></iframe>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-66559366072339259312012-09-20T16:48:00.001+01:002012-09-20T18:00:12.227+01:00Planetside 2 - gameplay experienceTLDR version - It's very good and much more interesting than the other uninspiring game you are probably playing.
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If you’ve seen any of my related tweets then you’ll already know that I’m a fan and have been more than a little impressed by Planetside 2. It has been spectacularly good fun, though that’s not to say it will suit everyone. This is an MMOFPS, not so much an MMORPG (though that can be debated) and there is no PvE at all. Like traditional online FPS games, Planetside 2 is decent when playing solo, but comes alive when played in a group. However thanks to Planetside 2’s campaign system, 3 factions and huge scale, when coordinating with the players on your faction the game comes alive in a monstrously awesome way.. Being a PvP based MMO, that may have seemed like a rather obvious thing to say, but the reality of MMOs is not everyone plays with other people and some folks do treat these games like a single player one with a chat room. With Planetside 2 if you were to dip in to it purely from a solo perspective, then it’s likely to feel a bit harsh, certainly chaotic and much of the awesome is likely to be missed. The ebb and flow of Planetside 2’s campaign and any strategy or tactics being employed will be invisible if people just hit instant action, look for red names to shoot, don’t get involved and never actually work with their allies.
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However, the first time you join up with other players for a defence or a coordinated attack on an enemy held facility… Oh my. It’s spectacular and one of my all time favourite PvP MMO experiences. I’ll talk about the campaign, classes, combat, etc another time, because for now I wanted to give you an example of what it actually feels like to play Planetside 2 when you properly take part in groups and cooperate with your allied players. What follows is a (badly written) retelling of a rumble we started not so long ago.
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cfHPe1q0OQQ/UFtLF6I0sHI/AAAAAAAAA0U/2ogonR4pYCE/s1600/galaxy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="401" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cfHPe1q0OQQ/UFtLF6I0sHI/AAAAAAAAA0U/2ogonR4pYCE/s640/galaxy1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Logging in with my Vanu character, I spawned at the main Vanu warpgate and joined a group of players who were setting up with a Galaxy transport (large troop carrying VTOL aircraft) to attack a Terran held base (I forget which, sorry). The gunner positions were already taken and as such I would be a passenger for this trip, but from the chat it seemed like we had an organised bunch of chaps running the show, so I was hopeful for some fun. Shortly after, the Galaxy was fully loaded and we set off. It’s VTOL engines roaring to life as the Galaxy lurched upwards, made a smooth banking turn and accelerated in the direction of our target enemy facility. Looking around outside I noticed a couple of Scythe interceptors sweep in to formation alongside us, apparently providing a prearranged escort… Needless to say, this looked proper classy. I equipped my Pimp Hat of Atmospheric Awesomness+2.
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It was a tense yet fairly uneventful journey, our gunners and escorts only had to deal with one or two enemy aircraft and within a few minutes our target was in sight. As we reached the enemy territory things started to get a bit trickier. The Galaxy was taking damage, mainly from AA below us. For a moment it was looking pretty damn dodgy and I was worried I’d be a helpless passenger plummeting to a fiery death in a blazing Galaxy. Thankfully the fighter escorts managed to draw enough attention to allow our pilot to make it down and land safely on the edge of the enemy base. It was a pretty defensible position he’d nabbed, there was practically no way enemy vehicles could get to us and there was a mountain to our rear providing some natural cover from being flanked. We all disembarked and started moving in to clear the enemy buildings. Meanwhile the Galaxy was deployed as a spawn point to give us a forward base for changing equipment and for our (inevitable) casualties to respawn . The Terrans were actively defending and we had a proper infantry battle on our hands, gunfire coming from defenders in multiple directions. There was much pewing, THWAPOWS! and so on. Initially we pushed the Terrans back a decent way from the Galaxy and for a few moments it looked like it might be over quick, but this was one rapidly escalating engagement. Not only did more and more Vanu spawn at the Galaxy, but absolutely shit loads of Terrans arrived to defend their facility.
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It went bat shit crazy. There were lines of Vanu all over the place firing up at the Terrans who were in turn lined along the building’s roofs and windows returning fire. It was a charnel house of pixel death and it went on for ages with both sides going back and forth, gaining and losing ground. I don’t know the numbers, but this was a seriously large scrap and in bloody close quarters. And it just kept getting bigger. Other Galaxies came swooping down and deployed troops into the fight, a couple of them also squeezed in to deploy as spawns. The Terran numbers kept increasing and I was cackling with glee as it got more and more insane. It’s hard to explain quite how awesome that fight was. There was just so much atmosphere to it. Using the localised voice chat you’d hear players calling for medics or ammo, shouting warnings, calling for fire to be put down on this or that building, yelling about being flanked and so on. The air was full of tracer fire and explosions, and everything was… loud.
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And then it went a whole other level of big bada boom. As night started to fall the Terrans decided enough was enough and a whole bloody squadron of Liberators (each a 3 crew bomber) was sent in to clear us out. We discovered this the hard way from; “BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!” Explosions everywhere… lots of dead Vanu. Ouch. The Terran infantry pushed forward, our Galaxy spawns got destroyed and suddenly our attack was decimated. I respawned at an outpost we’d captured nearby and ran back with my team, but then as we crested a hillside overlooking the Terran facility we skidded to a halt, stood still and watched, genuinely open-mouthed. Someone in chat summed it up with 4 letters. OMFG. All the Liberators (numbers = lots…) were hovering over the facility and spam bombing everything to buggery. Spam bombing… at night time for extra dramatic lighting effects, resulting in a fireworks display I’ve not seen the likes of since Apocalypse Now. It was incredible to watch and a classic gaming memory.
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GUgkJNGBJuE/UFtLNPEe2wI/AAAAAAAAA0c/kSl06bN5j2w/s1600/magrider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GUgkJNGBJuE/UFtLNPEe2wI/AAAAAAAAA0c/kSl06bN5j2w/s640/magrider.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But it didn’t end there. The Vanu weren’t going to take this shit, oh no. The infamous Vanu Magrider Army (and friends) turned up. The Magrider is the Vanu’s main battle tank, it has 2 crew and looks very much like the 40k Eldar Falcon grav tank. I can’t speak for other servers, but on mine you’ll often see the Vanu using them in seriously large numbers. Double figures of Magriders, supported by Lightning tanks and Sunderer transports, all streaming towards the Terrans. Which would have been easy prey for the Liberators if it wasn’t for the Scythe interceptors streaking across the sky to attack the slow, clumsy Liberator bombers. Planes were falling out of the sky, tanks were laying the smack down, infantry were running between it all and shit was blowing up everywhere.
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And then the New Conglomerate arrived, in heavy tanks and Sunderer troop transports. Lots of them. As Harold Bishop would say “ah…”. So we now had a complicated and bloody massive 3 way fight. Drama! What had started with one galaxy full of 12 infantry had escalated into a massive battle with seemingly hundreds of players and the group I had joined at random was the spark that had started it all. It was a little mind blowing really, as much as pixels can be anyway.
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Of course this doesn’t happen all the time nonstop and there are most certainly moments where things get a little bitty as you’re in-between more purposeful engagements, but something like the above happens most nights when I’ve played for more than a few minutes. And you don’t even have to be in one of the big raid type platoons, you just need to get involved and pay attention to what’s going on. My friend Veno and I are often grouped just the two of us crewing a Magrider, but we still end up part of the Magrider Army and inevitably get drawn into all sorts of other situations. There’s already been so many epic tales to tell and it’s merely beta. Also it must be recognised that these kind of events can happen in any PvP orientated game, I could tell similar tales from WAR, DAoC or the old days in Ultima, but the difference with Planetside is how incredibly fluid it all is, how regular these fights are, the scale of it all, the intense visual and audio drama and how smooth the performance is throughout. My FPS stayed at around the 20-30 mark throughout all of this, even on my rather basic PC. No sign of a fortress defence Powerpoint presentation here… To be honest, how well this game performs with VAST numbers of players and total bloody carnage should embarrass pretty much every other MMO developer, unless it’s due to melee or something beyond my ken, they are all doing it wrong.
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jrYqqGMCmf4/UFtLaMAxEPI/AAAAAAAAA0k/7mht_A7n0eA/s1600/base1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jrYqqGMCmf4/UFtLaMAxEPI/AAAAAAAAA0k/7mht_A7n0eA/s640/base1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Another specific point I wanted to mention that adds to all of this is the bases themselves. They are huge, complex, involving and most importantly; relevant. The objectives you have to capture (or in some cases optionally destroy) are spread around the base and in certain rooms or areas, but there’s none of the typical MMO nonsense where most other buildings are just a box with a texture wrapped round it, instead these are buildings you will be fighting in, under and on top off. Everything and everywhere is a potential route to take, defend or hide in. This makes them much more atmospheric and entertaining to battle over. The only downside is there’s no destructible terrain, but then that would probably present too many issues in a game like this and for once I don’t mind.
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So as a PvP experience, right now I would say Planetside 2 is right up there with the best. I honestly can’t fault it without being unreasonable and overly picky. That’s not to say there aren’t things I will criticise, as there are, but they’re not enough to detract from the game as an unrivalled dynamic PvP experience. OK except maybe EVE, but they’re doing such totally different things that I just don’t think you can compare the two. ;)Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-84321319729638891642012-09-12T19:21:00.003+01:002012-09-12T19:21:41.157+01:00Hillsborough and why you should care<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">This is mainly for those in the UK, but really it's something anyone should consider.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">It doesn't matter if you're interested or not in football, Liverpool Football Club or even politics. If you've any brain cells at all then you should still be interested in Hillsborough and the events of today. This was the government finally admitting that they, along with the police and media, lied, cheated and doctored evidence to blame innocent people (and their dead kids!) to cover up their own failures. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Most conspiracy theories are a load of bollocks that manipulative people use to sell books and bullshit, but as today proves, sometimes conspiracies are real. Sometimes the people we put into power lie in the most horrible ways. If their job or political ambitions are at risk then regardless of the truth, they will lie and tell grieving parents that a horrific tradgedy was their dead children's own fault. And then they will refuse them compensation or help, all whilst watching their own police officers get a truck load of cash.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">If that doesn't bother you, if you don't care, then you have serious moral issues.</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">For those that don't know what this is all about, please read this <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/hillsborough-documents-released-brian-reade-1318730" target="_blank">article</a>.</span>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-77974512895412591552012-09-01T00:52:00.004+01:002012-09-01T00:55:23.367+01:00Planetside 2 NDA lifted... Post 1 - PerformanceOK so as the title says, Planetside 2's NDA is no more and I can now talk about the game. I'll be making a few posts about Planetside 2, but this first one is about client performance.<br />
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When I first started playing PS2 I had big concerns. The game itself seemed spot on, but it ran like shit for me and would quite often become unplayable slideshow style. Sometimes I'd be just about able to take part in small infantry fights with FPS of about 10 and <i>very </i>laggy player movement, but soon as the battles got more than small it just became horrible beyond words. Also it was completely impossible to fly any aircraft at all, suffering from a bad case of Powerpoint presentation. Now since I can run pretty much anything else on<i> at least </i>medium graphics, don't have performance issues and I can't afford to upgrade... this was a worry. So I talked with other folks on the beta and whilst they weren't immune to performance issues, they didn't have problems like I did. We went through our different PC specs and I worked out what my problem was; RAM and Windows version.<br />
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I started off with:<br />
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Q6600 (overclocked to 3.2ghz)<br />
GTX260<br />
4gb RAM (limited to 3.25gb because of my operating system)<br />
Windows Vista (32bit)<br />
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I then installed a 64 bit version of windows and upped my RAM to 6gb. Changing it to:<br />
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Q6600 (overclocked to 3.2ghz)<br />
GTX260<br />
6gb RAM<br />
Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit)<br />
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So a very minor upgrade and one that really just brings me up to basic standards...<br />
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The performance increase was monumental. First thing I did was jump into a Scythe fighter plane and discovered it was now absolutely fine to fly! Then I got into to some proper battles and all was well. FPS is hugely improved and the teleporting enemy player lag is completely gone. Happy Boots was happy. :) Since then SOE have made continual improvements to the game's performance and I have to say their work has been extremely impressive. My FPS varies between 15 and 60 depending on situation, with 15 being very unusual, most of the time in large scale battles I'm running at around 30 FPS which is perfectly fine for a low end system like mine. I was in a battle earlier that was mind-blowing in scale, there was masses of tanks, swarms of infantry and a sky packed with dueling aircraft. Contrails from jets covered the air like a ADHD kid scribbling after too much Sunny D, bombs exploded left right and center, tracer fire and just bat shit crazy sci-fi warfare could be seen all around. Yet the game ran perfectly.<br />
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I can quite honestly say I have never seen performance like this in any other large scale PvP MMO. Perhaps its because by the nature of the game people are just more spread out than in melee based games like WAR, DAoC, GW2, etc. Perhaps its something to do with the differences developers face between traditional lock target MMORPG spam 157 ability buttons combat and that which we see in a MMOFPS, but then Planetside 1 often ran like poo and I'm only guessing. So I don't know and nor do I care. What I do know is
Planetside 2 is looking hugely promising for people with low end systems like mine.<br />
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Oh and the game itself is bloody awesome, but we'll get to that later.<br />
<br />Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-47708197884286992302012-08-15T00:39:00.000+01:002012-08-15T00:41:56.552+01:00Hello againSooooo, Guild Wars 2 is about to launch. It will be a huge deal at launch, obviously, and I think it will do well after for a good while too. Not exactly a shocking statement I know, since no sub fee should by default ensure so. Of course like most of ya'll, also I know plenty of folks getting all excited about it. However I'm well and truly back to not bothering with it at all. I just don't have the time, I'm in 3 betas that I'm very keen on and I tend to dabble with those when I have time for gaming. So little point in spending £50 on a game I won't play at all.<br />
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Situation remains as it was... Only games on my eventual horizon are free to play anyway, Planetside 2 and Mechwarrior Online. There's still nothing else inspiring me, that I can talk about yet anyway ;) Well I say that, I will dabble with others, but don't let that count as me giving two turds about them. For example.......<br />
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Star Wars (SWTOR) is going free to play. Yeah, good move. I enjoyed it whilst I leveled through it and thought it was pretty good, as a single player game... It lacked interest and most importantly motivation to continue as a multiplayer game, so a sub fee was always going to become an annoyance. When it turns F2P then I will reinstall and dabble a bit, but can't see me spending any money on it. Sure plenty of folks will though, at least if BioWare are clever with their cash shop and don't make it too aggressive a sell, if you get what I mean.<br />
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Oh and Vanguard has gone F2P I believe. I've never played it, but I might try it out of curiosity. I'm not expecting much.<br />
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All this prompts a question... Why the fuck is WAR not going F2P? Seriously.Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-15507722759190639602012-07-27T00:58:00.002+01:002012-07-27T00:58:25.196+01:00Planetside 2 beta next weekYup, it's been confirmed by John Smedley on twitter:<br />
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"@j_smedley
THE BETA WILL START NEXT MON OR TUESDAY BARRING ANY UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES."<br />
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Whilst I don't do much in the way of gaming these days, I will be finding time to get a good chunk of Planetside 2 in. Oh yes. First beta I've actually been excited about in a looooooong time.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/41QFL4QB3NE" width="560"></iframe>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-49869917869768194782012-07-05T22:00:00.001+01:002012-07-05T22:00:56.821+01:00Games and TVStill not playing any MMOs. In fact I'm still not gaming a huge amount anyway, but when I do I've just been on a Football Manager 2012 and Skyrim. I do kinda want to play an MMO, but there's just nothing interesting enough to warrant a sub fee and I'm not that inspired with any of the current F2P games. <span style="background-color: white;">Sure, a sub fee isn't a huge amount to spend, but I know right now I wouldn't play any of my existing MMO accounts for more time and enjoyment than I would get out of the 3 pints of beer or whatever for the same cost. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Secret World did tempt me a little, but at £40? No way would I play it enough to bother with that cost. Personally I think £40 is a total fucking piss take for a game with a sub fee AND a cash shop. BOLLOCKS TO THAT! Though even if it was less, I just don't think I would play it enough and certainly I would drop it like a sack of wet turds the moment either the Planetside 2 or Mechwarrior Online betas start.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">So there you go, not much to say on MMOs right now. I'm just waiting still...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">In other news... I've been catching up on TV shows I didn't watch for some stupid reason before. Rome was not bad, historical artistic licence wasn't toooooooooo bad. And yeah, yeah I'm stupidly late to the party, but Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes were amazing. The British versions of course, I got warned about the US remake of Life on Mars and just have to say christ on a bloody bike! The US makes some great TV, but they really know how to screw up iconic TV shows from other countries. Just watch the originals in everything, actually that's generally a good rule in life.</span>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-40296356734548039122012-06-12T23:03:00.000+01:002012-06-12T23:03:05.514+01:00Planetside 2 E3 trailer<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r_htNqTRnv0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
yumBootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-29992760565341179362012-06-08T22:07:00.002+01:002012-06-08T22:08:26.951+01:00Soooooooo gamesI've been busy and stuff. Only game I've played recently is Football Manager 2012. I have however kept half an eye on MMO news and community reactions, which basically went as expected, with reactions going kinda like this...<br />
<br />
<br />
GW2<br />
GW2
<br />
GW2
<br />
GW2
<br />
The Secret World, hmmph, meh, Funcom up to the usual.<br />
GW2<br />
GW2<br />
Oh what's this? New Planetside 2 video?<br />
<br />
OH<br />
MY<br />
GOD<br />
<br />
Planetside 2<br />
Planetside 2<br />
Planetside 2
<br />
Planetside 2
<br />
Planetside 2
<br />
But GW2!<br />
STFU!<br />
Planetside 2
<br />
Planetside 2
<br />
Planetside 2
<br />
Planetside 2<br />
Planetside 2<br />
Planetside 2<br />
<br />
<br />
There you go, a month's MMO news in one post.<br />
<br />
Oh and in case you aint seen it yet, check out this most glorious of concepts for Mechwarrior Online gaming: <a href="http://www.razerzone.com/artemis">http://www.razerzone.com/artemis</a>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-80719043276185453512012-06-03T22:09:00.000+01:002012-06-03T22:09:00.655+01:00KuytRandom this may seem, at least for those that don't know me so well... One of my all time fave players at LFC has moved elsewhere. Bloke had a work ethic like nobody else.<br />
<br />
I saw this image on Red and White Kop. Says it all<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-20852671841299963302012-05-17T20:26:00.002+01:002012-05-17T20:26:33.295+01:00Planetside 2 - Night Ops videoThe only PvP MMO I give two turds about right now.
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="335" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x6HgC6Exs0U" width="600"></iframe>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-87139647686700146742012-05-13T00:28:00.002+01:002012-05-13T00:28:41.871+01:00This is cool<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/40234826" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-76128190476634621242012-05-02T19:28:00.003+01:002012-05-02T20:16:18.038+01:00Since I get accused of hating on GW2......I shall now demonstrate the difference between my previous honest, unbiased and balanced opinion on a game I've actually said I would most likely buy and what would happen if I let myself go a little with a proper hate post.<br />
<br />
Guild Wars 2 is a stupid little kids game for all the retards that continue to blindly accept the horse shit gameplay inherent in MMOs these days. Kill 20 rats, now kill 20 not rats, now collect 10 cock rings, oh but it's different to other games because you didn't have to talk to a guy with a question mark over his head. Yeah.... it's dynamic, because it auto starts sometimes when you're not there. Sorry, that's pushing the definition of dynamic in this context. It's no more dynamic than my central heating pre-programmed schedule. It's barely any different to WAR's public quests, <i>amazing </i>as they were.<br />
<br />
It has art design that is mostly aimed slightly above Harry fucking Potter, yeah, those kids books you think it's cool for adults to read. Wake up you dong, they're not, they are kids books, for kids. See what Arenanet think of you? They think you're 8 years old. However it also steps quite happily into My Little Pony too with it's cutesy pixie spunk bubble gnome race and smattering of cartoony colour pallet shite. They think you're 8 years old and a girl.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZA8JiDkbzEs/T6GCT3IC-xI/AAAAAAAAAyM/M4cTBAm9pHQ/s1600/uni-piss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZA8JiDkbzEs/T6GCT3IC-xI/AAAAAAAAAyM/M4cTBAm9pHQ/s400/uni-piss.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Best PvP EVAR! Scenarios, battlegrounds, whatever..... exactly the same as every sodding game since WoW rubber stamped the format of instanced PvP. Boring. Every class is ranged and range is king. Were they trying to make a shooter? Are they trying to compete with Planetside 2 already? WTF? How shite is that? They can't even properly balance melee against ranged, so they give everyone ranged options. And they didn't even have the bottle to make proper factions, it's servers... yeah, great. What a load of character packed in.. brilliant. Whole WvWvW scene will die within 6 months due to apathy, it's natural dullness, lack of soul and the release of games with proper factions. Wank. Actually no it won't. because of no sub fee and most of the game's population not being old enough to own a credit card, I guess they can't go elsewhere anyway. Unless they can convince daddy to pay their sub fee for a proper game.<br />
<br />
Guild Wars 2, AKA a dull, flat and soulless experience for 8 year old girls. Anyone hyping this game is an idiot.<br />
<br />
Now that would be a bit more of a hate post. I could do better, but I just knocked this out in 10mins, so that's all you get. See the difference?Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-14370908016158880432012-05-01T22:50:00.003+01:002012-05-01T22:51:24.907+01:00Memories of WAR 1Thanks to Valdel for linking this classic video from the old days in WAR. Much of the joke will be lost on those not from Hirn/Norn.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://youtu.be/7gRAnxszIXQ">Dreddz responds to accusations of aura abuse</a>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-84741647048165240292012-04-30T19:50:00.003+01:002012-04-30T19:52:30.180+01:00A quick Guild Wars 2 beta review<br />
OK I got a few hours in over a range of characters and unlike some I don't give two turds about developer promises and hype train bollocks.<br />
<br />
<b>Graphics</b><br />
Decent enough to distract from the generic fantasy by numbers art design. It's as if the basic art style was thought up by an 8 year old, but then the layout and structural stuff was designed by a grown up. Same as WoW was really. Thankfully this adds up to me being able to stomach it. Also I was quite impressed by the cities and their (false) sense of scale.<br />
<br />
<b>Performance</b><br />
Reasonable, but potentially very good if it really is as un-optimised as claimed.<br />
<br />
<b>Classes</b><br />
Many interesting and fairly diverse classes to play with. But to be honest low level stuff means bugger all and you can't tell dick about them until end game. I liked the Warrior the most, shock horror I know.<br />
<br />
<b>Combat System</b><br />
Fast, a bit floaty at times, but encourages movement which is a good thing. It feels like Wrath of Heroes with more buttons. I'm not entirely sold on how abilities and weapon skills are distributed, but I think really I need to get much further through the levels than dabbling in a beta weekend allows. Potential issues with ranged being too easy in PvP.<br />
<br />
<b>PvE</b><br />
Solid enough, not as dynamic as RIFT's, not as dull as most everything else. It's still kill 10 rats, pick up 10 apples crap, but it's masked fairly well and you can get a nice sense of <i>exploring </i>the zones.<br />
<br />
<b>PvP Scenarios</b><br />
Same as every other game. Other than the stat, ability and gear bolster for all levels (making everyone 80 and in PvP gear), I would say "Move along, nothing to see here".<br />
<br />
<b>WvWvW (RvR, open world PvP)</b><br />
Lacks flavour because of the lack of true factions, but didn't matter too much because it was fun. Not done much with keeps, etc, I was just roaming and fighting with a group. I liked it. Was like old school DAoC in some ways. Lots of good systems built around this too, so much potential there.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Is it the second coming of MMO Baby Jesus?</b></div>
<div>
No.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Will I buy it?</b></div>
<div>
Yes. Though I still plan on dropping everything for Planetside 2.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-4150547076698498332012-04-23T23:08:00.000+01:002012-04-23T23:08:56.781+01:00Potentially interesting indie game "M3CH"Had a nice email today from "a new independent studio made up of ex industry guys" letting me know about their upcoming mech combat game "M3CH".<br />
<br />
Initially they're going for an iOS release and then potentially looking at a Steam launch. The game is currently in alpha and there's not a huge amount of info yet, but it's sure as hell got some sweet concept art going on.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/fullsizeEpic_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/fullsizeEpic_03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/004_2_Al.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/004_2_Al.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/VISUAL_TARGET_BASE_NOLIGHT_NO_FX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/VISUAL_TARGET_BASE_NOLIGHT_NO_FX.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/Military_rough_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj509/james_rowbotham/Military_rough_2.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><br />
There's looooooooads more concept art <a href="http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1569530#post1569530">here</a>. And further info and an in-game video can be found <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/m3ch">here</a>. I reckon this is one to keep an eye on, certainly for the big robot smush up lovers among us... Plus it's always good to support the indies.</div>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-43402891634569008112012-04-13T18:39:00.002+01:002012-04-13T18:39:41.556+01:00For example<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mhiE9FEj6KQ" width="420"></iframe>Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-89973869014409196572012-04-11T23:09:00.000+01:002012-04-11T23:09:11.539+01:00Where my Bootae go?OK so I should really post about my sudden silence. I find myself brimming with motivation at the moment, but these motivations have nothing to do with gaming and as such I've just not had anything to post about. My wife and I separated, resulting in a financial mess and all the more important difficulties that arise with a family breakup when there's kids involved. I had kind of expected this would mean I would end up burying myself in gaming, but actually it's been the complete opposite and I simply have little spare time or inclination for games. Strangely it was a couple of weeks before I even noticed I hadn't played anything. Though in the grand scheme of things over the last month or so, that was one of the smallest revelations.<br />
<br />
Now, whilst I could write quite an interesting post on some of these things, particularly on certain aspects of relationships and the connection to our online personal support networks, it wouldn't be vey classy of me and would be somewhat insensitive. Also whilst you may suspect from my vagueness that I blame gaming for my marriage explosion (albeit a very slow motion explosion), lets be clear that this is not the case at all. There is a difference between a cause and a (debatable) symptom.<br />
<br />
So what then for this blog?<br />
<br />
Hmmmm. To be honest I'm not quite sure. I do like the outlet that blogging provides me and there have been some pretty cool things that have happened because of this blog, but life at the moment isn't so conducive to writing all the time.<br />
<br />
I am still interested in games, I did play some GTA and Skyrim this week for example and I have kept an eye on the MMO news, but I doubt I will be anywhere near the regular gamer I was. Which to be fair was already less than most MMO players, despite what you may have thought. I suspect that I will be a lot more picky with what I play in future, the days of trying out everything are gone.<br />
<br />
I might play Guild Wars 2, but I'm not sure. There is a good chance I will just wait for Planetside 2 and Mechwarrior Online. Also I have a backlog of single player games to clear... All of which doesn't suggest a huge amount of source material...<br />
<br />
Probably I shall just write stuff as the whim takes me, but most likely not anywhere near as prolifically as before. There's also a chance I may go on all sorts of tangents, be it my rediscovered love of breakbeats and funky old tunes, my current obsession with cooking, Liverpool football club, or the latest oriental tea that takes me to my Zen place :P<br />
<br />
Basically, I dunno. Life is a lot of fun right now. Straight after everything going to crap, a lot of cool and interesting things happened. So my apologies for the lack of posting and my future randomness, but I'm having a good time, so meh! ;)Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-49755089487512631502012-03-22T19:12:00.003+00:002012-03-23T00:18:37.352+00:00Stuff I've been doingOK sorry for slow posting, it was D Day in the whole epic life changing malarkey so had other priorities :P For now here's just a brief catch up on gaming stuff...<br />
<br />
I went on to Warhammer Online again a little bit. Credit where credits due, it was better than that first night from my recent post. Yet everything I said still stands true. It was better because I stayed grouped all night, remained in the one zone that had fighting in, didn't do many scenarios and crucially because I stayed on my highest RR character all night. Don't get me wrong, I maybe banging on about the gear/RR issues (and they are pivotal to gaining/retaining new subscribers), but the list of issues with WAR is very long.<br />
<br />
Yet despite me knowing it's probably beyond salvage, for some strange reason I still hold an inkling of hope for WAR's future. I honestly can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe I'm should drink less.<br />
<br />
In other news... I've just got into a very interesting Alpha test, though not sure about the NDA yet. Will confirm and comment if possible ASAP. The big surprise however has been Neverwinter Nights 2. I'm not sure who had the idea, but a bunch of my KF cronies and I have been playing multiplayer campaigns on NWN2 and it's been great fun. Pure PvE, yet a pleasant distraction.<br />
<br />
On the PvP front other than a little WAR, it's just been Tribes: Ascend for me lately. Still enjoying that. Plus I'm going to be trying out a persistent world PvP mod for Mount & Blade: Warband. I'm hearing very good things about the mod in question. Info on that once I've actually played it of course.<br />
<br />
Oh and I forgot to say, since I had a few comments on this blog and some interesting messages sent to me elsewhere... I will expand on that idea from my previous post about how to make stats and progression work in a competitive MMO. Soon.Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279669963757550971.post-39784740751956879402012-03-15T14:58:00.001+00:002012-03-15T22:45:05.091+00:00Return to WAR no.3Earlier this week I activated my 2 weeks free return to WAR. I was bored and a little curious to see how things were these days. First impressions were not great…. <br />
<br />
ORvR lakes were far quieter than when I used to play. Sure there was some action and I did have a little fun and got a few kills, but the lower population was pretty evident. It’s a shame it took so long for the forts to get sorted out, because today there are quite simply not enough players for them to be of any interest. WAR is most certainly not everywhere.<br />
<br />
Also obvious was the gear gap. The relation between Renown Rank differences and time to kill is absolutely horrific and unchanged from when most of us quit before. As an occasional WAR forum lurker, it is amusing to see people constantly bragging of player skill when they are all so carried by gear. Though I guess it’s hard for people to be objective when they’re so close to something, especially when it’s giving them huge bonuses. Anyway, I tried out a few of my characters that have a range of renown ranks and the difference between them is frankly ridiculous.<br />
<br />
I will log on at least a few more times to get a more complete picture of the state of ORvR on Karak Norn and perhaps it will prove to have just been an off night.<br />
<br />
Scenarios were horrible. I knew it would be bad, I’d seen people talking about it being nothing but RR90-100 premades these days and yeah, they were right. This is of course fine when it’s premade vs premade and if gear is less relevant, but alas WAR is neither of those things. As such the scenario scene will be an unpleasant experience for the majority of returning or new players in Tier 4. Epeen bollocks about L2P and people deserving their power because of time played is just naïve nonsense, that kind of thinking does nothing to retain (let alone gain) subscribers. Which is evidenced by the situation WAR finds itself in. <br />
<br />
So far this 3rd return to WAR hasn’t done much to change my opinion of where the game is right now. There are things in the pipeline to address the balance problems, but I’m not convinced they will be enough and even if they are I doubt they will arrive soon enough to do much. The fundamental issues with WAR (aside from the factions) is that it is no longer a competitive game. An RvR game has to be competitive or it will alienate new potential subscribers. <br />
<br />
If I could have my way with WAR I would:<br />
<ul><li>Remove all stats gains from items and make armour cosmetic only. </li>
<li>Give characters a stat pool to distribute amongst their various stats, so players can still customise their play style, but wouldn’t gain more stats through farming gear or playing more than others.</li>
<li>Renown rank would unlock the armour options and would also have new abilities linked to it. Sideways progression giving options, not stat power gain.</li>
</ul><br />
This is of course too brave and probably impossible to do anyway because of effectively redesigning so much stuff. It would however work and would result in a competitive game where player skill and organisation would be the defining factor in your results.Bootaehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12857676039536372689noreply@blogger.com11