Zenimax Online Studios released their roadmap for upcoming future changes to The Elder Scrolls Online. Graev and I are what you might consider 'regular' players. We put in 3-4 hours…
The ‘buy your way into beta’ or ‘crowd-funding’ or ‘founders programs’ out there are quickly becoming a norm. For the sake of this post let’s call all of them founders programs. I have purchased several of them. Personally, I do not think they are necessarily a bad concept when handled properly.
These founders programs can get expensive. I’ve paid $10, $20, $40, $50, $100 for them. I’ve even supported some games as a founder that I think are still three years away, and I supported them over a year ago! How much is too much? Realistically, I have yet to see a founders program show me a true return on the investment. I give the money in exchange for access, which I suppose has a qualitative value. I give the money to support a team or IP (which I suppose also has an odd sort of value to it). I give in exchange for trinkets, tchochkes, baubles, etc., that I use for probably 5 minutes in-game then replace or put in my bank because I feel too guilty to delete them.
What games should, realistically, have founders programs? The business side can argue any of them when players are willing to pay money today for a game tomorrow. It’s finance 101. But should they? The consumer advocate in me wants to say that sometimes it’s not always a good idea to take money from people so quickly.
Let’s look at an example of a good founder’s program. This has nothing to do with the game itself being good, bad, or the final product being worth the money. I simply like how they handled their program. (more…)
Alright, let's continue the ArcheAge commentary. I've put in several more hours and I have a ton to say about several of the core game mechanics. An Ode to Farmville…
Trion was gracious enough to grant me access to the alpha test phase of ArcheAge. I’ve had access for two days now and put in somewhere around 5 hours of play. I’m still -very- early in the game and haven’t even gained access to most of the features I’d like to try the most (ships, housing).
I want to start sharing my impressions, though, because there’s going to be a lot to say about ArcheAge. Let’s discuss the first few hours of play.
Visuals, Presentation, et al.
ArcheAge is quite beautiful. You can glean that from watching most videos. The engine runs well on my computer at maxed out settings with only the slightest hint of slowdown around what I think could be a shadow issue. From a complete technical novice like myself, the game ‘feels’ well put together and as the end-user I have no technical complaints yet.
Some of the game is still in a language I do not understand — Korean? Other than language, ArcheAge feels Eastern to me. Character models all look feminine and ‘pretty’. Back to how the game ‘feels’, I can ‘feel’ the Eastern influence in the controls and the gameplay. Playing MMOs for almost 20 years gives one that sense to pick up on these things. Keep in mind that’s not yet a negative thing by itself. (more…)
I'm playing a lot of Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls lately. The game has truly devolved (or evolved depending on how you look at it) to be all about running…
My character in ESO is coming along nicely. I guess you can say I play a “Blood Mage.” I’m a Nightblade with a Restoration Staff, and I plan to one day become a vampire. I take the life force from others and siphon it off to heal myself and my allies over time. I can also lay down some great ‘smart hots’ and ‘aoe hots’ (heal over time) abilities to a group. Everything I do is based around living longer than the enemy, and killing them in the process.
Honestly, I haven’t spent a lot of time in PvP. Most of my time is spent PvEing with Graev and enjoying the world. My healer has been more than capable of all content I’ve encountered. Graev (tank), our friend as a DPS, a random DPS, and myself cleared all of the 20-23 dungeons (3 of them) yesterday in a marathon session. All of them were actually pretty easy for me to heal. The hardest encounters are those with lots of monsters all activating abilities at once. If people stay out of the red circles, block when they need to block, and play it smart then my spec works great. I contribute to the DPS and keep everyone alive with moderate effort.
I say moderate effort, but it’s not quite the same as other games. Healing can be frantic. I feel almost like a Druid in WoW. I won’t ever have the direct heals of a Paladin, and I have to keep everyone hotted up. I don’t stare at hotbars and play wack-a-mole. I pull out my bow and fire off some shots, cast lots of siphon spells, and contribute to the DPS as much as possible. I’m enjoying myself.
The dungeons themselves have been pretty decent. The boss fights are fairly straight forward, and the trash mobs are just enough to give you pause but not enough to feel like you’re wading through trash. We’ll have to see how the later ones pan out.
My build is still missing 3-4 very key abilities that will make everything I do 10x better. Part of that involves becoming a vampire, which itself is pretty involved and carries with it a series consequences like you find in previous Elder Scrolls games. If I can convince Graev, well go into PvP tonight and I’ll be able to bring you more of those impressions.
Overall, I have to say my class choice has been superb thus far. I can kill things quickly, live almost forever, and bring a ton of group utility. Check out a video of us killing a boss in last night’s dungeon run after the break. (more…)
It's been a while since I've written about Landmark. Yep, I'm still playing! I'm eagerly awaiting the upcoming patches, though. Right now the game is still all about gathering some…
Keen and I have been putting a lot of time into ESO lately, and have mostly great things to say about it. The story is engaging and the atmosphere is…
SOE just officially revealed (sort of) H1Z1, the game John Smedley hinted at 2 months ago when he said: “SWG PLAYERS – OUR NEXT GAME (not announced yet) IS DEDICATED…
We just hit level 16 last night in ESO, and I think we are about to finish up the first zone (Stonefall) for the Ebonheart Pact. I have to say…