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Neverwinter Days: A one-month evaluation
It's been a little over a month since Neverwinter soft-launched as a no-wipe open beta. Perhaps some folks are holding off until the "official" launch to play it, but I wager that most anyone who is interested in this game is already leveling up like mad. I always think that the one-month mark is a good time to pause for evaluation. There's just too much drama and over-excitement and new car smell that goes on during the first week to keep a level head, so first impressions can be tainted by an atmosphere that will soon settle down. But 30 days seems like a good span of time to get a feel for how Neverwinter is doing, how it's being received by the community, and what needs addressing. I've been playing every day since the soft launch, although two re-rolls because of guild/server conflicts means that I haven't achieved the level cap the way that some players have. Still, there's no shortage to my opinions on what I like and dislike about this title, but I'll see if I can sum up the salient points for you today.
The Daily Grind: How long do you need to play a game before you get a fair impression?
First impressions are tricky things. Play a game for a little while and you'll get an idea of what the game is like, but you might miss some important parts that give it context. The combat doesn't change once you finish the tutorial in DC Universe Online, but you have a lot more powers and abilities afterward. Having your full skillbar in Guild Wars 2 changes a huge chunk of the gameplay, and you don't unlock your final slot until level 30. But some gamers would argue that you can tell whether you'll like a game earlier than that. Speaking as a journalist, I know I need to evaluate the game as a whole to make sure it's not just a good game that isn't to my tastes, but a casual player doesn't have that restriction. So how long do you feel you personally need to play a game to get a fair impression of the game as a whole? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Road to Mordor: Rise of Isengard report card
It's been a half-year since Lord of the Rings Online's third expansion, Rise of Isengard, opened the doors to Dunland and beyond. It was an interesting expansion compared to what came before in several ways: It finally took us into the pages of The Two Towers, it introduced Rohan and the Rohirrim, and it introduced what I consider to be the most compelling villain this game has seen to date. While the game's hinted and alluded to Saruman and his White Hand back-up dancers leading up to RoI, the expansion finally unveiled the mastermind behind many of the machinations of Middle-earth's mischief. His was not an overt city-crushing type of evil; instead, he's a crafty politician-type who attempts to woo and seduce minds to his cause. More than the Witch-king of Angmar or Sara Oakheart, Saruman gives us a perfect target for our justified outrage. This is a guy we don't want to see succeed, ever. So with six months under our belt, I thought it would be a great time to evaluate as much of Rise of Isengard as I've experienced with the ol' report card treatment. Where does it get good marks -- and where does it need tutoring?
Lockheed Martin's SMSS autonomous vehicle wins Army competition, ships off to Afghanistan (video)
The US military's fleet of unmanned vehicles may soon get some extra support, now that Lockheed Martin's Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) has received the Army's official blessing. Designed to support infantry squads or special ops forces, the company's autonomous craft was recently crowned the winner of the Army-sponsored Project Workhorse Unmanned Ground Vehicle competition, after more than a decade of development. Measuring 11 feet in length, the SMSS is capable of transporting more than 1,000 pounds of equipment over rugged terrain, and features a set of onboard sensors that can automatically track individuals by recognizing their 3D profiles. Both the SMSS and its Block I variant can be carried aboard CH-47 and CH-53 choppers, with the latter offering a driving range of 125 miles. Three of the beasts will deploy to Afghanistan for a three-month evaluation later this year, when they'll become the largest unmanned vehicles to ever deploy with infantry. Shoot past the break for a video tour of the SMSS, along with the full press release.
Spiritual Guidance: How to critique a priest without making them cry
Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. Once in a while, I'll get a question in the mail from a reader that goes something like this: Dear Matt, There's a priest who has recently joined our guild. I'm not sure if he's doing the right things. His HPS doesn't seem to be where our other healers are at. His overhealing seems to be a little bit high. I'm not sure if I'm reading it right and I was hoping you could tell me how you evaluate the priests (or healers) that are in your guild. Am I supposed to be using numbers as a solid way to see how good they are? Sincerely, Dazed from healing In this week's Spiritual Guidance, I'll walk you through how I evaluate priests who join my guild. I'll go over the best times to get impressions, what I look for specifically, and how I deliver the necessary feedback. We'll go all the way from application through to raid insertion.
Officers' Quarters: Not peons, but just as lazy
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.There's an old adage in sports that's often bandied about whenever someone gets confused about their role on the team: "Players play, coaches coach." It doesn't really work for us ("Officers office, members . . . memb"?). However, it's true that officers are officers and members are members. Members can slack, but officers have to maintain, support, and improve their guild. This week's e-mail comes from a guild leader who's tried everything (short of giant hammers) to motivate her lazy officers, but to no avail, and she's at the end of her rope.Dear Scott, I'm a co-GM of a mid-sized, fairly stable guild that has been remarkably stable and solid over the years. We have a solid group of core members who are active, we've progressed steadily through the WoW raiding content, and we have an active social calendar as well. As far as the day-to-day business and guild harmony go, from where the members sit -- things are really great. The problem is, our officers have been getting less and less responsive in taking leadership, and because of it, most of the work seems to be falling more and more on myself and my co-leader. And as more and more of the work falls on us, and the staff we delegated to help us with it doesn't give us that help, we are burning out badly.
How to permanently activate Windows Vista, at least for now
While Microsoft's Vista hasn't quite had time to make it out to us normal folk just yet, there's certainly versions floating around thanks to the November 30th corporate release, which has in turn led to the new discovery of a method to circumvent Redmond's most valiant efforts to make us activate the darned software. With the help of a few background apps, a little registry tweakin', and whole lot of deviousness, you can reportedly freeze the 30-day countdown timer within the operating system in order to prevent it from ever leaving the fully functional evaluation mode. Purportedly, the TimerStop Vista crack works "on all 32-bit x86 editions" including Ultimate and Premium, but the success rate in 64-bit (x64) environments is "likely to be low." Notably, the folks behind the crack suggest that Windows Updates will still be accessible, as will Microsoft's "value-added software downloads" typically only available to those who pass the WVGA validation process. So if you're looking to hit up a new OS in the coming weeks, or you've already got 'er up and running, be sure to peep the read link if you're interested in pulling this off -- but don't count on Microsoft to sleep on this one, holiday break or not.[Via Digg]
