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Why I Play: The Secret World
I can't stop! No, seriously -- I had delusions of sneaking this article out a week earlier than scheduled, but that involved actually tearing myself away from Kingsmouth long enough to log out and write. And you can see how well that turned out! It's hard enough trying to do so now; every time I think about The Secret World, I want to jump right back in and... um, excuse me a moment, I'll be right back... Hey, I just needed to test something in-game for this article, honest! Though if the test was to be able to log in and right back out of TSW, I failed. I checked what I needed to and thought to myself, "Just five more minutes." Before I knew it, too many hours flew by. And this was not an isolated incident, either. As much as I enjoy playing MMORPGs (anyone who has heard me in a game can attest to that!), it has been quite a while since I truly reveled in my time in game and champed at the bit to get back in when I had to leave. It's no secret that I have been waiting for this game for years now, and I have to say I am not disappointed. Funcom's newest release has truly ensnared me. So what is so compelling about The Secret World? Do you have a minute or five?
The Tattered Notebook: Peeling back the layers of time, part II
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how EverQuest II is like an onion. It's got layers upon layers of content, and some of it has really helped the game mature, like a bottle of fine wine. In the previous column, I talked about how some of those layers have made gameplay more convoluted, but for every arena pet and every lonely looking-for-group tool, there are many examples of clever features that greatly improved the quality of gameplay, and in some cases, should be considered a standard feature in all MMOs going forward. With the recent buzz around SOEmote, it's a great time to look back at some of the changes to EverQuest II that really left their mark.
The Daily Grind: Is platforming welcome in MMOs?
Like some of you, at least according to statistics, I am an aging gamer (one who is turning 36 tomorrow). With that comes some loss of sharp reflexes and bladder control, which is why I enjoy twitch gaming less and work within 10 feet of the bathroom. As long as I avoid MMOs with the "action combat!" label on them, I'm mostly OK, although it now seems that I have to contend with an increase of platforming elements in my online RPGs as well. From Star Wars: The Old Republic's Super Mario Datacrons experience to hopping along tree branches in order to get one of RIFT's shinies, platforming seems all the rage, and I don't know whether it's a welcome thing or not. It can be terribly frustrating to try to time the right jumps in a 3-D environment, but it's hard to rail against additional gameplay options in MMOs as a matter of principle. So what say you? Do you like or hate platforming in MMOs, and is the style welcome in our games? 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 Tattered Notebook: Five things not to miss from EQII's Heroes' Festival
Once again, the Heroes' Festival has returned to Norrath. The event has only been around a couple of years, but it's a nice time to shoot off some fireworks and celebrate EverQuest II's seventh anniversary. It tends to get overshadowed, coming just on the heels of Nights of the Dead and just a few weeks before Frostfell. But the festival actually has several fun events and offers some of my favorite rewards in game. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look at some "don't miss" things from the Heroes' Festival -- from fireworks to flying band fliers!
The Daily Grind: Pre-order now!
Pre-ordering has become something of an epidemic in the gaming industry. Whether you're looking to plunk down five bucks at Gamestop several weeks in advance of Red Dead Redemption or pay for the full enchilada on Amazon and wait for them to ship you a box on launch day, companies large and small have taken to offering their goods up for sale before they're really for sale. MMORPGs aren't left out of course. Currently the darling of the pre-order ball is Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin, simply by virtue of being the next big genre release. Along with the early payments, players are generally rewarded with some sort of in-game trinket. Age of Conan's first expansion, launched this week, offered up a Loyal Kappa and Ravager of Jhi pet duo to those who pre-ordered Rise of the Godslayer. Both of these items, while aesthetically cool, are completely unnecessary (they function as fairly weak combat pets and buffers), mainly because Funcom is following the unwritten gaming rule that states thou shalt not provide early adopters any kind of real advantage. Along with the pets, early Godslayer customers were given a bewildering array of expansion upgrade packages to choose from, each featuring different items designed to temporarily boost XP, ease the transition for newbs, or just make their avatars look that much cooler. Whether all of this is a good thing is up for debate. On the one hand, it's clear that players love any chance to acquire new shinies, even if it means paying a little extra. On the other hand, it can be argued that pre-ordering allows MMORPG makers to deliver unfinished games due to pre-existing demand and blind faith from fans. What say you, dear readers? Yay or nay on MMORPG pre-orders?
WoW Lore: Zul'aman vs. Sunwell Plateau
So... how is Blizzard doing on Lore? Ever since the Burning Crusade came out, the battle cry of many a disgruntled fan has been "lollore," a cry which signifies a disgust with the direction the story has taken and a belief that many of the twists have betrayed the previous feel of the world or fallen short of some expected level of quality. Now honestly, There have been some lore twists I haven't really liked. Certainly, there were ways to give us the Draenei besides besides massively retconning the back story of the Burning Legion and making Sargeras corrupt them instead of the other way around. That said, I don't really mind that the Draenei came to us on a space ship. After all, the Orcs came to us through a Stargate! I also appreciate that Blizzard has, in the lore arena, learned where they tripped up and tried to correct it. This is very apparent to me in the differences between the Lore behind Zul'Aman and the Lore behind the Sunwell Plateau. Where Zul'Aman's lore felt lackluster and weak, the lore behind patch 2.4 keeps getting better and better.
