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Choose My Adventure: Fizzles aren't fair edition
The votes have all been tallied, and my fellow Wizard101 players have spoken! When I asked which secondary school I should go for, you all told me, "Life!" Some thought this was a silly idea -- a Death wizard with a life secondary school? -- but I like it. After all, what better way to rub my enemy's face in it than by stealing his life, adding it to mine, and healing myself every time he hits me? I think I'll learn an evil laugh just for moments like that. It was also decided that I ought to keep my current zombie pet at my side. This was great news, since I've already grown pretty attached to the little rotten guy. What does all of this mean? Well, I will save the explanations for secondary schools and pets for next week's installment. In the meanwhile, I need to tell you all about the busy week I just had in game. It was pretty epic, filled with steam golems, awesome new weapons, and discovering the secrets of deck building. (Well, some of the secrets.) If you want, you can give me all sorts of advice in the comments section. Follow me past the cut to read up on my adventures!
Choose My Adventure: Wings rule, horses drool edition
For those who might not know, it was decided last week that my Wizard101 character was to be a boy from the school of Death. On top of that, he was ordered to get around town by using a pair of beautiful white wings. I heard a few comments in different places about how the wings would not look cool with a Death student or about how a horse mount or broom was better. I held fast and nabbed a pair of the white, fluttering back pieces. I had to obey orders! Once I made my character and put the wings on, though, I looked completely metal. For those younger players who might not understand what that means, Google "Dio" and watch a few videos. Avoid Slayer -- your parents would not like that. (Note: If you come across a band called Queensryche, that's not metal.) Anyway, my white wings only accentuated my dark intentions. It was a fantastic choice. But what else did I do over this last week besides wait for the vote to end? Well, click past the cut and I'll let you know. %Gallery-114601%
Choose My Adventure: Beginning my Wizard101 adventure
Well, it was an epic battle. Little did I know that, in an effort to promote a random assortment of high-quality free-to-play and indie games, I would come up with the formula for the destruction of the entire universe. Over the last few days, readers cast their votes (and their nasty comments) in the hopes that I would take a look at their favorite game for well over a month. After all, it would expose everything that is good (and bad!) about their game and might draw in many more new players. Not to brag, but a lot of eyes are drawn to our lovely little site here. Each game I chose was nestled alongside a mortal enemy. Wizard101 had MapleStory to tackle. Puzzle Pirates had Zentia. My planning only lead to mass chaos as the giant of the bunch, MapleStory, barely opened an eyelid. Then, out of nowhere, Anarchy Online swooped in and punched everyone in the eye. It looked like the 10-year-old masterpiece of sandboxy goodness would win for the oldies in the bunch! (The AO community's passion for the game inspired me to cover it in my other column, Rise and Shiny, for the week of January 16th.) Where was Shadowtale? At the time of this writing, the game boasted literally thousands of players on at one time. Yet they barely pulled in a handful of votes. Pirates of the Burning Sea seemed to give up early, as evidenced by forum posts. (I was following all the games' forums.) In the end, Wizard101 pulled it off. While I knew the game had the numbers, I wasn't sure that it could herd all of the cats together in time. It did teach me one thing, though: Don't mess with the tweens. Join me past the cut for the next vote and for some information about Wizard101.
The top indie and free-to-play stories of 2010
I have to admit to feeling slightly amazed when I read that someone thought of 2010 as a bad year for MMORPG fans. Then, when I think about it, I realize that he was talking about the year in "AAA" subscription gaming -- something almost alien to me. I just don't get turned on by huge-budget subscription games like I did seven or eight years ago. Well, it might be better to say that I am always suspicious of big-budget gaming. Gaming is a lot like movies, and look at how bad most blockbusters are. They are often silly, over-the-top, special-effects-laden bores. If those movies were the only ones I watched, I might be a little depressed about Hollywood as well. If you pay attention only to what the major publishers are pushing out, you are simply going to have a narrow view of MMO gaming. You will miss too much. The year 2010 offered more than any year before it, and 2011 will top that. Thanks to mobile technologies and the always-dropping price of computers, you will find that smaller or unknown games have much more of a chance of grabbing a gamer's eye than ever before. So, what were some of the high and low points in free-to-play and indie gaming this year? Click past the cut and let's take a look!
Free for All: How much for a ten-spot?
In this week's Free for All, I decided to check out some cash-shop games to see what I might get for 10 U.S. dollars. For the record, some games can be subscription-based and still have cash shops, and some games can have cash shops that have been redesigned and tweaked so that they do not fit into the same old "cash-shop" model. For clarity, I stuck to cash shops that normally pop up while you're in-game -- usually inside their own window. Sometimes, though, the cash shops might be accessed or found on the games' main websites, as well. It was hard to choose, being that I generally don't buy from cash shops any more. It takes a very special product (like Wurm Online's currency) to get me to pay, namely because I do not spend as much time in a single game as I used to. Actually, let me rephrase that before someone starts to write a comment based on that statement: I still spend a lot of time in certain games, like anyone else, but my pace has slowed. Most of the cash-shop items out there are convenience items -- simply time-travel devices that allow the player to speed up his experience. Since I have all the time in the world because of the free nature of these games, speeding up is not something I am interested in. So, let's look at a few cash shops to see what piqued my interest!
Rise and Shiny recap: Alganon
We have all heard of the controversy surrounding Alganon. Essentially, it breaks down into a few basic points: it is a "WoW clone," and it is being run by Derek Smart, a say-it-like-you-mean-it development bad-boy. Many claim he looks for negative attention and enjoys arguing with players. To be blunt, I don't care what people think about Derek Smart. I have said it before: I actually believe that he reacts to negative attention the way other developers wish they could. I don't keep track of his battles, though; I keep track of what he has done in gaming. All I know is that before he was with Alganon, I did not enjoy the game. After he became involved, the game got better. Concerning the "WoW-clone" issue: If I had a gold piece for every time I've heard that, I could afford that incredible level 50 mount! (*snort*) If I took a moment to break down all games that have similarities to WoW, this article would be much, much longer than it needs to be. WoW was successful, and the industry takes cues from success. WoW took its own cues from other games before that. Still, does Alganon take more from WoW than, say, Lord of the Rings Online? Read on, and let's discuss it.
The Daily Grind: Which titles should try F2P?
Let's face it. In these harder economic times, there are a lot of people cutting back on subscriptions. Folks that may have carried multiple MMOs are now choosing more carefully. Those who probably wouldn't have taken a look at a free-to-play game before are now at least reading up on them in case anything they might like shows up. Companies like Turbine, EA/Mythic and others are starting to look towards models that turn the old "14-days to try it, then either buy it or sod off" on their ears.Our question this morning is what game (or games) do you think need a F2P overhaul? Would you use something like what Turbine has done with Dungeons & Dragons Online, offering free play and an item mall that sells adventure packs? Do you think the Warhammer Online unlimited trial/velvet-rope model is better? Grab your morning caffeine and let your thoughts flow in the comments below!
