I did what I normally do and canceled my subscription when I want to ensure that I do not get stuck into a recurring cycle.  My WAR subscription will run out on July 17th and given my current game interests, the state of my guild (mass exodus to other games), and the state of the game, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to cancel and be asked to renew instead of just forgetting about it.  Seventeen days should be enough to check out Tomb of the Vulture Lord and see if Mythic will fix the T4 content quick enough – if I like what I see then I’ll stick around.

This time when I canceled my account I was asked to take a survey.  What the heck, sure.

The usual questions were presented and I clicked away.  One of the pages had me chuckling though.

I don’t think I could possibly make a better list of Warhammer Online’s biggest problems and how to fix them if I tried.  There you go Mythic!  You already know what you need to do.

38 Studios‘ Copernicus IP has me feeling a bit uneasy.  Reading the interviews and statements from Brett Close, I’m not sure what to expect from the studio anymore.  Originally I was expecting a company from Curt Schilling, with talent like Ryan Shwayder, and Steve Danuser (to only name a few) to put out a product that would feel familiar.  Honestly and simply, I was expecting a better EverQuest.  However, it appears that 38 Studios is taking their MMOG(if we can call it that any longer?) in a different direction.

In Brett Close’s interview with Joystiq you’ll find the reasons for my unrest.  He talks about Copernicus (btw, that’s still a code name right? right?) being this IP and turning into books and graphic novels, extending to other platforms, printed on underoos and t-shirts – okay, perhaps not, but you get the idea.  It seems to me that they’re trying to really sell the idea of this property becoming the next big name.  Does 38 studios want Copernicus to be the next Warcraft?  EverQuest? What?  That’s the biggest problem that I am having right now:  I don’t know wtf Copernicus is anymore.

Originally, the idea of Todd McFarlane and Salvatore being the creative force behind a MMO, with what we know Curt Schilling likes (And what people like Ryan and Steve are comfortable with already), had me thinking that perhaps we would see the next step in the EQ style of game being refined and brought up to speed with what the masses and fans of McFarlane and Salvatore can appreciate/enjoy.  There is nothing wrong with that.  The greatest successes in this industry have come from brilliant minds willing to take what we know and improve upon it.  The biggest flops in this industry have come from people who think it’s time for innovation simply because they feel it’s time to be innovative.  Innovation for the sake of innovation is wrong.

Brett Close states that there is nothing like Copernicus out there and that he believes no one out there is even working on something like it.  *RED ALERT! ALERT! DANGER! DANGER!* ….  I’m not the only one, right?   Without enough information I’m left to form assumptions.  Some of my more disturbing assumptions would be this recurring nightmare of some oddly put together game mixing Guild Wars with Choose your Own adventures and Free Realms in a Spawn-like Forgotten Realms Metaplace available on the iPhone, DS, and PC!

I’ll remain uneasy about this game, IP, platform, whatever, until the specifics are out.  Curving the hype is a marvelous idea and I applaud them for it, but at the same time I just want to know what type of game we can expect.

Today feels like a good day for a weekend update.  There are a lot of odds and ends to briefly comment on, announce, update, etc. etc.

[Podcast / Interview] Julie Whitefeather & Frances Kosac of the No Prisoners, No Mercy podcast had me on their show for episode 36 to discuss… well a lot of stuff, really.   They’re working on several episodes at once over there so I’m not sure what was all part episode 36 and what is being reserved for future episodes (I’m only halfway through listening) so you’ll just have to listen and enjoy.  I do know that you’ll hear my thoughts on Land of the Dead from my time on the public test server (this was recorded before LotD launched) and my thoughts on some of WAR in general.  Those two nuns are a lot of fun and you’re sure to enjoy their podcast (and me!) so give it a listen.

[Delayed] Mortal Online has delayed the sale of their pre-orders/collectors/whatever because they can’t get their store working properly.  No one could have seen that coming. OUCH! Sorry, my tongue just went through my cheek there.  Dodging the same problems that Aventurine had when they couldn’t get their store working probably would be a very good thing.  This whole “only 999 copies!” thing and having to pay full price to get into beta is a big put off for me so I won’t be adopting this one early.

[Gaming News] NCsoft delivered an open letter to their community.  In usual form for a producer’s letter, it gave very little information.  When I tried desperately to read into the letter or find something worth talking about I read the line “…an army of creative writers generating an enormous amount of rewrites as we execute to our total commitment of quality of content” and thought that this could at least explain why Aion, being so polished already, would need 3 more months before release.  Makes sense that rewriting the story and Westernizing the content would take a while…. but then I found out from a friend who has been following the game for years that they’ve been saying this same thing ofr the past 2 years.  Maybe they really mean it this time.

[Release] Battlefield Heroes launched this past week.  I’ve been in the beta for months and months and months and months and forever and have enjoyed playing and testing.  It’s not what you would think of when you think of the Battlefield franchise.  It’s cartoony, wonky, honky, and the antithesis of what you would consider the Battlefield games to be.  It works though.  It’s fun, completely free, and offers a decent amount of fun for a game that requires you to put so little into it.  You can earn experience on your character like you would in the recent FPS games to unlock new abilities.  You can do “missions” which are just like achievements and give you a form of currency to spend on buying new weapons.  The sad part about the game is that they’re really looking for you to spend money on their microtransactions.  To get any cool clothes you have to spend money and the weapons are not permanent because you have to continue spending to own them (7 days or a month at a time).  Unfortunately, their microtransaction system has to value to it.  You can’t buy more to save in the long run.  Spending $5 will get you X and spending $20 will get you X*4.   I consider myself to be decent at the game and enjoy completely destroying those who spent money on the game when I’ve spent zilch.

[Beta / Upcoming Game] Aion’s 3rd Beta Weekend will be a bit longer this time.  We get to play from July 2 – July 6 and have access to content from levels 1-20.  The schedule says that this will be open to Asmodians, but I bet they’ll open up the Elyos as well.  I’m torn on whether or not I should play a lot this weekend.  On one hand I want nothing more than to play the heck out of Aion, but at the same time I want to avoid burnout or seeing and experiencing the fun before it’s permanent.  I’m usually the type to play the beta, love it, play at launch and like it but feel like it wasn’t as good as beta – probably because the magic of the first time has worn off.  I’ll wrestle with my decision up until Thursday.  Be sure you pre-order if you haven’t already and give it a shot.  It’s only $5 if you can find a pre-order bonus box at your local Scamstop Gamestop/EB which can be transfered to another game if you don’t like it.

We would like to remind everyone about our Sacred 2(Xbox 360) giveaway contest which ends on July 4th, 2009.  We have an extra copy of Sacred 2 and we want to give it away to someone absolutely free.

To have a chance at winning you must submit a work of art featuring the Keen and Graev characters in your favorite video game.  That is the only criteria!  It can be a comic or just a picture, funny or serious – the choice is yours. Be creative and original! We would also like to be able to tell which game you’re depicting or at least understand and relate to the type of situation you’re trying to represent in your art.   Here’s a reminder of the details:

Rules

If you want more information on Sacred 2 then you can check out our review of the game.  It’s a decent hack n slash rpg that can provide you with hours of gameplay this summer.

What is the cause for celebration?

You can find and read the entirety of the letter on the Herald.  I’ll assume you’ve read it and just jump right in to what I have to say.

“The Winds of Change are upon us, but the ship and crew remain the same.” – Jeff Hickman

Uhh, no.  Why even say that?  I don’t get it.

Overall, it’s very much the standard producer’s letter.  Jeff Hickman tells the players what we want to hear but also throws in some educational tidbits on how they’ll change city sieges (for better or worse remains unseen) and how RvR in general will improve even if it means removing fortresses.  AoE is more than out of control in WAR and I fear that a few changes won’t be enough.  The situation is out of control for all AoE classes and it has really trivialized almost every combat mechanic in the game.  Crowd control itself is not really an issue in WAR, but how it operates within the limits of “annoying” and “functional” is nothing short of borked.  The immunity timers being consolidated will help.

I participated in giving feedback during Mythic’s reaching out initiative and I focused mostly on the realm war being flawed.  I really do feel that the entire way in which zones flip and push the war in one direction is too arcade, shallow, and detached from the soul of RvR.  Fortresses are absolutely part of this terrible system and only serve as the biggest and most obvious example of ‘why’.  Get rid of them and the system will improve.  Take it further though and look at why the fortresses should be removed, other than performance issues.  We’re pushing zones in one direction trying to “flip them” to earn invisible points to “dominate” a zone all in order to push open the gates of a city.  That sounds really cool and it sold well on paper pre-launch but there is a reason why WAR’s retention rate is low in T4.  Fix all the little issues that make people bitch and moan on the forums first.  Fix CC, AoE, etc., then turn a serious eye to the bigger picture.

Optimism is great, but I want to see results.  You say “We’re still working out the specifics…” but it’s those specifics we want.  Bring results, Jeff, and you’ll get the community’s attention.  We really do want to share in your optimism and see what you see.

P.S. What is this in-game celebration buff (pictured right) all about?  Hopefully it’s not what I think.

Me on my 60% Guild lvl 37 mount in Lost Vale

Despite several attempts at finding a group within my guild to do any content, I wasn’t able to secure a group to do anything at all.  No one does the city dungeons anymore (and I still do not have a single piece of Sentinel gear) and they all operate within their own cliques of which I am not apart.  I don’t really blame them for finding a group that works for them and sticking with it, but it leaves me out in the cold a lot.  I decided to turn to pugs with hopes that I could do something – anything – in Land of the Dead.  Nothing.  No bites for an hour.  Then Order took control.

My one last attempt at finding a group went into alliance chat “Anyone need a 5/5 gw Shammy for anything?” and I got a bite.  Someone wanted to form a group for Lost Vale!  I had never been and this was as good a chance as any.  I didn’t get my hopes up because, afterall, it’s a pug.  I was expecting a couple frustrating boss attempts and people who constantly afk or don’t listen to instructions while talking about their girlfriends or drugs – you know, usual pug stuff.  Furthermore, I was scared since half of us had never done LV at all.  I wasn’t expecting to meet genuine decent people who listen, know how to play their class, and wanted to group with me again in the future.  You can imagine my surprise when I did.

Lost Vale spider boss downed

We cleared the left wing with one accidental wipe and two of my Darkpromise pieces dropped.  All of the pulls went very smooth and the tank, who also led the group, carefully explained all of the fights and the group listened.  The first boss was tank and spank and went down in a matter of seconds thanks to our great DPS.  The next couple of bosses were also tank and spank with little quirks such as mist you have to avoid or other usual mmorpg boss encounter mechanics.  The last boss of the left wing was a spider who would knock back and web you if you (which also silenced); this had to be burned off with a torch you obtain from a quest that you had to complete as you killed each boss up to that point.  During the spider fight lots of little spiders would swarm towards the boss and if they reached her they would enrage her (not a good thing).  It went incredibly smooth and we had a lot of great item drops.

After the left wing we went to the right wing which is a lot harder.  We wiped twice here but recovered my running out and resetting the boss.  These deaths were due to learning the fight but man… we sure learned well from our mistakes and came back to kick the crap out of even more bosses after each wipe.  One boss in particular we had to keep resetting because he had a gnoblar companion that would enrage the more damage you dealt to the boss.  When the gnoblar enraged to 200% he needed to be killed, but the catch is when he dies the boss gets harder.  We figured out that we kill him at certain increments of the main boss’ health and it was cake from there.

I had to handle most of the healing because our other healer only had two greater wards (which meant he died a lot to cleaves and aoe’s), but I enjoyed the responsibility that came with having to constantly heal with everything I had.  Every boss kill was exciting for our group and we were all constantly telling each other “good job” because each of us really was doing a good job.  We’re scheduled to return and complete the instance tonight where I hope to get more Darkpromise gear and have more fun.  I’m hoping that these guys will want to run dungeons together regularly and become a static group – something that is very important in a game like WAR.

Two upgrade, a trip to one of the top-end dungeons in the game, and new friends all thanks to a PUG.  Go figure.

TotVL first PQ

After yesterday’s news this almost feels awkward writing about something I did in game.  Yesterday was the first real day of Land of the Dead.  Feels like I’ve said that three times now… no really, this was the first real day that this place is open for business for both realms and the system of flipping it back and forth is in operation.  When I logged on after doing my morning routine I was shocked to see that we (Destruction) owned the place and had in fact just taken control.  This was early in the morning, perhaps 9am PST, and not many people were even online.  This is when I found out that only two zone flips are necessary to earn the expedition resources to flip the place – Design flaw.  Anyway, I entered LotD and was able to get into the warband participating in the purge (pushing order out).  We stomped them back to their camp and made quick work of them.  I was a healing machine and rightfully earned the very first gold bag on our server for a Land of the Dead purge.  Inside the bag I could take some various crafting mats, or a gold scarab cluster, or a piece of Conqueror gear (my shoulders were inside).  This gave me 4/5 Greater Wards!

After poking around every one of the PQ’s (all very well done) and obtaining all of my glyphs (these are used up when you enter a dungeon – sorta like access quests) I decided to take a break for a few hours because Order was 10 minutes from getting control of the place.  We had owned it for perhaps 1.5-2 hours.  When I logged back in after the break we had just taken control of the place again – what luck!  I was then able to immediately answer the call in my Alliance for a warded Healer to do Tomb of the Vulture Lord which is a dungeon equivalent to Lost Vale; in other words it’s relatively the hardest dungeon in the game.  It took us a while to get access even though we had the glyphs.  Order was really putting up a fight by hiding entire warbands in little corners of the zone and popping out to gank people.  Although terrible for us because we were already well on our way to losing the zone again, it’s a nice mechanic that reminds me of DAOC.

We eventually gained access by completing the PQ to open the door.  It required us to stand on tiles that matched ones lighting up on the wall of pyramid type temple thingy.  Order messed with us a couple times but we eventually were able to enter and begin our own instance (we opted out of purging Order from theirs because we had limited time).  The first obstacle we reached in this dungeon was a trap with swinging pendulum axes.  Three of our guys worked their way through the trap and stood on tiles to disable them.  In the next big room we were able to throw a switch that closed the door and (I believe) reactivated that trap in case Order decided to come in.  Statues filled this big room and a PQ began where we brought the statues to life and had to kill them.  We nearly completed this PQ when the call came out over alliance chat to rush to the fort for defense.  UGH!  Just as we had finally found our rhythm!

The fortress defense lasted an hour and I was able to complete a Sigil which awarded me my 5th GW (5/5 now!) so it wasn’t a total loss.  Order promptly seized control of LotD while we defended the fortress against a huge zerg, but we had played the game how it is supposed to be played.  Land of the Dead isn’t going to shine if players gain access and refuse to defend the mechanics which grant the other team access.  It will only feel like ‘right’ if each realm treasures the zone and wants to come out and defend.  Having to defend your city works in this mechanic’s favor because defending forts will help you two-fold.

Overall I’m still impressed with the new content.  I was able to collect 15 gold scarabs, 10 silver scarabs, some ankh thing, a purple staff with 43 wounds and 3 sockets, a talisman with a neat proc, and complete all of my greater wards.  Not bad for a day’s work.  I’m about to hop on and try my luck at pugging some of the new lairs or dungeon and I hope to report back that I completed them and found some phat loot.

It’s a day of WTF’s around here.  If the EA Bioware/Mythic news wasn’t bad enough, Aventurine decided to drop this bomb on us:

“On the American server: The American server will launch on July 7th. Characters from the European server can be cloned and moved without their possessions 3 months after the American launch. Certain restrictions and charges will apply, to be announced at a later date. In the meanwhile if you want to play on the American server at launch you need to buy the American Darkfall client.” – Tasos

Then Tasos clarified with this:

“Clarification: American players wanting to clone and transfer their characters do not have to buy another client. Everyone else needs to buy the American Darkfall client to play on the American server.” – Tasos

Basically, if you want to play on the brand new American servers when they launch then you have to buy a new client.  If you want to TRANSFER (3 months after the servers launch!) then you don’t have to pay.   Sneaky, underhanded, and the end.   I’ll pass.  I’m not going to rebuy this game all over again.  I had plans to try and revive the fun this summer and play with some friends but there is just no way.

Seriously, if anyone is still playing Darkfall this was the best possible way to drive them away.