I may have used that title before, because let’s face it.. In my case it’s pretty recyclable.
I’ve ranted here before about microtransactions, and the negative effects of RMT on today’s games. I’m not a big fan. But what I don’t like is the type of MT that gates or changes game play. So when Blizzard announced this week that they were adding the Pet Store to their Blizzard store for use in WoW, you might expect that I would have a problem with that as well.
Instead, as you can see here, I now own one. It’s actually fun, as people can come up and bow to him, and he will bow back. He’ll also do some animations that are kinda fun.
I’m still not a fan of changing game play with MT. Even the moves that SOE made this week rubbed me the wrong way, converting Free Realms from a Free To Play to a Fee to Pay. But to me, cosmetic things like this are harmless. If you think they are stupid, you don’t have to buy one to remain competitive or able to play. So you are free to take a pass. To those who say that they are too much money, I say the same thing. If it’s too much money, don’t buy it. You don’t need it to raid/crawl/craft or whatever you like most in the game. It’s really something you can ignore if you think it’s overpriced.
Me, I’ve already got my $10 worth out of the little guy. Had some fun parading him around Dalaran tonight and watching others interact or try to interact with him.
I’m interested to see what else may come along for this kind of thing. Armor dyes, color swatches to match up all your armor, other pets? All of this kind of thing are the least objectionable form of MT to me. The first time they ask me for cash for a key to a dungeon or the like I’m gone though. How about you guys?
So it’s baseball playoff time, and I’m enjoying a game on TV when I get an email. It’s from SOE. They want to make sure that I know they are closing about half of their SWG servers. Yeah, OK, I know that. And they want me to know a couple other things. To quote;
In accordance with the server closure date, the Free Character Transfer service has been extended through October 15. 2009. Between September 15, 2009 and October 15, 2009 at 4:59 PM PT all characters on the affected servers are eligible for a one way, one time Free Character Transfer* to any of the remaining thirteen (13) Star Wars Galaxies servers.
Cool! Free character transfers! That’s always good, especially when the server you are on may be one of the soon-to-be-obsolete variety. Duh. But there is more;
After October 15, 2009 at 5:00 PM PT, any characters and their associated items and structures remaining on the identified servers being closed will no longer be accessible on your Star Wars Galaxies or Station Access account.
Ouch. OK, no longer accessible? You mean deleted, right?
But wait! There’s more! And this is the really good part!
To access the Free Character Transfer Service, you must login to Star Wars Galaxies with the character you would like to transfer. You will be notified that your character qualifies for the free character transfer service opportunity when you login. Eligible characters may also enter “/freects” to begin the transfer process. Only one character may be transferred at a time. Please read and respond carefully to each question and answer entry you type. All Character Transfers are considered final and cannot be reversed.
This means that there is no way to transfer your characters if you are currently unsubscribed. I say currently because the nature of MMO subscriptions is that people come and go, then come back again. Tarkheena and I have resubbed to SWG three separate times.
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So when the PileFlanet (Yes, I did that on purpose) beta came out for Champions online, I took advantage of the membership I’ve inexplicably maintained for the last few years and downloaded and installed the game. I got my key, activated my account, patched (I won’t bitch too much except to say that didn’t go well) and tried it out. I made a few characters, cool, and tried to play. Meh.
Pete over at Dragonchasers and I exchanged tweets about it, and we agreed that the main problem with Champions is that it’s got a first-impression problem. Now, the game might not be for everyone but everyone I have spoken to has agreed that the game is better than the first impression it gives. And that’s a problem for Cryptic. I almost didn’t come back to the game. In fact, I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the fact that Brent over at A Wall of Text commented that he was really digging it. Given that he and I seem to like some of the same stuff, and when we play together we often have the same likes and dislikes, I decided to give it another run. I’m glad I did.
I’m not saying that I’m going to cancel my WoW accounts (I’m not) or that it’s going to be a game that I’m going to be playing 5 years from now (it almost certainly isn’t) but it’s a lot of fun. Tarkheena and I are enjoying it.
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Like anyone who is interested in the MMO space, I tend to want to at least try every game that comes along. I was a little resistant to mess with Champions Online just because from the brief time I spent with it in beta, it felt like CoX 2.0. This isn’t a ringing endorsement.
Like a lot of people, Tarkheena and I were fascinated by the character creation though. Add to that a lot of friends that are playing and we decided to give it a run. I headed over to the Champions Online website to find out what the deal is with pre-order, head-start and the like. I also wanted to find out when the game was going live. According to what I saw there, I’m evidently just supposed to know this by osmosis or something. There isn’t a single banner, news post, or link that would tell me when the damn thing is going to happen.
Being the stubborn sort, I refused to look elsewhere to find this news because if you are trying to sell me a product, I feel like you should effing tell me when it’s going to be available before I have to google (or Bing) it.
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When we are talking about the events in MMO history that have caused a company to become reviled among the player base, the Star Wars: Galaxies NGE is frequently brought to the forefront. SOE still hasn’t lived down the whole debacle. It’s not even entirely clear that it was their idea, as I hear a lot of people who should know such things point their fingers at LucasArts. SOE would still be to blame for the timing, just days after an expansion shipped that a large percentage of their player base paid for. SOE or LucasArts, it’s hard to argue against that event being the nail in the coffin of SW:G’s hopes of world dominance.
With that as a background, Blizzard announces this week that they are going to make sweeping changes to their Goose in the hopes that it will continue to lay Golden Eggs at the same or an increasing rate. For the most part, other than the Horde getting screwed with gobby’s as a race when the Alliance is getting effing Werewolves, the player base looks at it and says a collective; “Hells yeah.”
What’s the difference?
Well there are many and fundamental differences. I won’t rehash what SOE did too much other than to say that they changed the fundamental nature of the game, some even say the genre. Blizzard is continuing it’s tradition of changing and rebalancing classes on a continual basis, but overall the fundamental game play will stay similar. There are going to be a LOT of new features in Cataclysm, but most of them are net-new stuff and won’t likely be viewed as take-aways. Blizzard is also giving us something that no other MMO company in my (admittedly faulty) memory has done, which is to go back and try to make the old, tired, and trivial content usable and playable again. I think this makes a lot of sense, because you can redevelop and area and make it good a lot faster than you can go and make new areas, and adding new stuff doesn’t address your abandoned content problem.
I don’t know how the Cataclysm is going to work out. I am willing to be they will sell a ton of it, but it remains to be seen how the whole things comes together. A lot can definitely go wrong. Blizzard’s track record suggests it probably will be mostly solid. We’ll see, I guess.
For now, I have to say that I’m impressed that they are willing to take a chance and do something bold. This is certainly bold, if nothing else. I hope it works out for them. There’s nothing I want more than a dilemma about whether I should be playing WoW or SWToR, or even Copernicus, if that is out during that time frame. Choices are what it’s all about. It’s going to be a while before we find out if this is a good one for Blizzard.
Hi everyone. Genda asked me to take a few moments and post some thoughts on the end of the world as we know it. No, I’m no a preacher with a wooden sign over my shoulders screaming about Armageddon. No, I’m not talking about people paying 5 grand to watch Kobe Bryant talk at Michael Jackson’s Memorial (And really, Kobe? why?). And no, I’m not talking about Star Wars The Old Republic’s release date (which we all know we’ll be clamoring for).
No, I’m here to talk about The Cataclysm. Not “A” Cataclysm. THE Cataclysm.
The cataclysm is the Greek expression for the Deluge, from the Greek kataklysmos, to ‘wash down’ (kluzen “wash” + kata “down”)* – Source Wikipedia.com
This past week, Blizzard decided to file for copyrights to the name regarding computer games, paper based products, and, lo and behold, online entertainment services. COUGH wow COUGH. Everyone knows with Blizzard you take it as it comes. Some people have already looked at this as the name of their next Generic MMO, rumored to be working on the Xbox. Others have seen it as something to do with Daiblo III or potentially Starcraft II.
One smart guy though saw this… and said, oh wait…
Swirls for the win... or complete wipe-out
Yup, that’s the center of the map from your friendly neighborhood WOW MMO. It’s been like that since pretty much day one. Speculating that this is truly the name of the next WOW expansion, and taking into consideration some facts about WOW Lore, here’s the short run down.
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Last week, Wolfshead’s thoughtfully written and nicely crafted article about Why the MMO Industry Needs a Real Cataclysm set me to thinking. First of all, I don’t have nearly the industry pedigree that he has. Second of all, he took an idea from mid air and fleshed it out with cogent arguments. Third, it was thoughtful and passionate. Good on him. Let me tell you why he’s wrong.
This week I decided to go ahead and cancel my Champions Online account. I think there is a general malaise at my house when it comes to MMOs. So I guess I have to tell Champions; “It’s not you, it’s me.” I need to see other MMO’s.
Among the great things that are accomplished by people every day, I have always pointed out that doing so is easy when you are smart.
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