Ramblings of a depraved gaming madman or pure genius? You decide.

Author: Torak

Ok, so there is a lot going on in the MMO industry these days, it seems that devs are finally starting to realize that the current line of MMO design thought isn't working.

If I was a dev (and I'm not and far to old and indebt with too many kids to be switching careers) here are some of the things I would look at changing.

Classes

Classes are one of those things that devs are sticking to like like super glue. I ask myself "why is that?" The only real reason I can see is because they are "easy" and the community is more then willing to except them. But what "classes" really do? Well they are basically are restricted skill set. They make it easier for a dev to balance against other classes. By confining a person to a specific role, it makes it easier to design. The MORE restrcted the role, the easier to make. I think we see this idea in just about every MMO.

So what is the alternitive you ask? Obviously a skill based system. Using an optional "profession" so that you get an idea for the opporating framework is fine but after the initial creation the player should be able to pick and chose HOW THEY WANT TO DEVELOPE THEIR CHARACTER THEMSELVES. The only MMO's I have seen that successful do this are Asherons Call, EVE and pre-NGE SWG. All very successful games in their day with EVE still going strong.

Levels

Whats the first thing players want to do when they see levels? Get past them. Finish them. Get to the cap. For some reason CRPG players seem to think that there is some sort of reward for finishing levels in record time. MMO devs have accomidated this thinking with easier and baser point grinds. If the object of the levels in the players mind is to finish them and get them out of the way, why have them? Several companies have even indirectly acknoledged this with the idea of "free levels" namely Mythic and DAoC and now WoW with its refer a friend program. Whats the message? "We know leveling is dull so we will reward you with the ability to skip it". Hows that for a kick in the eye?

Levels are the root of all evil in MMO IMHO. Everything from pointless level & faction grinds, power leveling, botting and farming. ALL of it is driven by levels. In fact at this point, I cynically doubt you could take them out as the MMO community would collapse into arachy and chaos without them.

Raids

Now the idea of the Raid was started by SOE in EQ. The most despised MMO maker in the genre and yet the player community has latched onto this convention like a drowning man does to a life preserver. Devs have followed suit. Now I have no idea how many people in MMO's actually participate and better yet, how many actually enjoy "raiding" but I do know that it does not get a whole lot of love in public.

Even the simplier games like WoW have come to realize the flaws of this system reducing both the amount of people required and the time commitments.

Whos brainchild was it to make these things for 40 people anyway? What sort of arbatary off the cuff number is that? Why is it so restricted and more importantly why is the concept of good content reserved for the upper tier "levels" anyway?

And probably the most obvious reasoning why its a bad idea...because its an SOE concept. Come on people, why would anyone stick with an SOE idea?

MMO's should have fun, meaningful and challenging content throughout the entire game.

But again, why do that when you only need to worry about the last "level"?  Makes it easier for the devs. Add in a single raid dungeon and "oh look, we have challenging endgame".

ENDGAME

A curse on the dev who came up with that! In the beginning MMO's were virtual worlds that players had the freedom to play and do what they wanted at anypoint (mechanics allowing them to become better / more proficient over time) Non-linear gameplay was what MMO's were all about vs the linear gameplay of most other games. Now however MMOs have turned on a dime and in some cases are MORE linear then even console games.

Again IMHO this is just done for ease of design nothing more. Why bother with deverse gameplay when you can ramrod a player into a class with a linear level progression path and the illusion of the "most fun and reward" at the end?

Summing it up...

The core issues with MMOs as I see it is devs taking the easy route of design and the players totally buying into their laziness and allowing to continue.

The next time you see a game releasing look for these things and ask yourself...self, do I really want to do this again????

Why? Well because it's my opinion, damn it!

Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms

Why? Well first off because Turbine completely f**ked up their shot at D&D.

Second, if you are going to do a fantasy game, do it right and go with the definitive classic RPG definition of a fantasy setting. There is so much lore and material to draw on for this, it's not even funny.

Traveller

Geez, it boggles the mind that no one has tried to do this. Traveller is the last word in a comprehensive Sci-Fi setting. Over 30 years of background material exist for Traveller. 

Really the only thing that could hold it back would be an inept dev team that is only able to write "kill 10 rats" type content. Hear that SOE, stay away!

World War III online

Take a fictional country, add in some armies and set them lose. WWII online was an interesting idea but lets face it, its archaic old and so much more can be done with current technology. Imagine something with the CoD4 engine. WWIIO had some great ideas and scope of play that was awesome but something that would do justice to the genre needs to be made. IMHO, the FPS simulator "ArmA" or the tank simulator "Steelbeast Pro" best exemplify this.

Western online

An untapped wealth of gaming. There is so much you can do with this setting, its not funny. Bounties, tavern fights, wagon trains, building towns, robbing banks, robbing stage coaches, forming posses to run down the bandits, cattle rustling, searching for gold, gun fights....on and on...

edit

Steamboats, gambling....omg, does it end?

Day of the Dead online

We need another fantasy MMO like I need a hole in my head. Zombies and the entire Zombie sub genre are about as different as you can get. The end of the modern world by being eaten by the undead.

I watched an interview with George Romero once and he said that the movies are not about the Zombies at all, they are about how stupid humans react and how we cling to our old ways and selfishness in times of dire crisis. You can replace the zombies with any disaster....that's what his stories are really about.

What better place to demonstrate that then in the ultimate "how people behave simulator" online games? Of course many of the things most MMO's would require would need to be deliberately left out to simulate the isolation and feelings of hopelessness that this genre inspires like...general global chat channels, local only, no towns...undead would need to over run anything that players start to congragate at, no LFG, isolation is the key here. Overwhelming odds at every turn. Very limited resources. Open FFA PvP. 

Survival would be its own reward.

Just some thoughts on a Sunday morning....

The MMORPG frontier is still wide open to explore. Lets hope that in the future someone with a tiny bit of imagination takes up some of these challenges.

I'm reading alot of stuff lately about whats good and bad. Generally I am highly critical of new MMORPG's but that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to some games myself.

Here are my 3 games that IMHO feel will work out.

WARHAMMER

Why? well of course I'm a big fan of the overpriced table top. Although I haven't actually played it since the late 1980's I still enjoy the world they created and that inspired the Warcraft series.

I also really enjoy PvP. Nothing has disappointed me more in the last 4 years then the endless parade of pointless PvE grinders that have entered the market. Now cudos to DDO in regards to content because the content in that game is actually pretty good, I really enjoyed the dungeons( to bad they left out the rest of the world) but unfortunately most games have gone with the old and tired "kill 10 rats" then "raid" endgame. Its a pretty sad state of affairs in MMO's. IMHO PvE needs to be strong, indepth, have impact and be compelling, so far in the last 4 years it has been anything but. What does that have to do with WAR? well nothing, just a little rambling. (its good for the soul)

Star Trek

Why is that? Crypic is making it and well, they make very good games. City of X is probably one of the better MMO games out there. The Star Trek universe is so fleshed out its not even funny. There is a damn book out there that teaches you how to speak Klingon for Pete's sake!

I know I almost always say that IP's and MMO's don't mix but in this case I make exception.

Details are still sketchy but we know that there will be full customization, starships and planets to explore. STO could provide a great PvE experience if done right. If it ends up being some trash like "beam down to the planets surface and collect 10 space rat tails" I am so gonna kick myself for having any faith in an IP.

I'll give Cyptic the benefit of the doubt.

Fallen Earth (baby!!!!)

My underdog pick. Whats there not to like? Road Warrior-ish style world but with mutants, Zombies and things with big nasty teeth. It has an indepth faction system and PvP with impact. Vehicles and vehicle combat and lots of bizzarre looking PvE, FPS style combat, skills and crafting based items & economy.

I'm just hoping that this small name company can pull it off. I'm cheering them on.

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Some other things that look interesting but I simply will not have time for if these other games launch.

Could be Guild Wars done right for an MMOer. Not that GW is bad but its not made for MMORPG players, its made for FPS minded players who like capture the flag.

GW2 looks like they are going to build on what they have done with GW and bring the world to life rather then just instanced and town lobbies.

Earthrise

Looks interesting although its similar to Fallen Earth. If that game falls through and ends up garbage this will be my backup. Full PvP, player impact on the world, no classes and many other things  MMO players are looking for.

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Last but not least

Something to watch

Now I hate SOE. They have this incredible talent for making sh*t quality games. I wouldn't pre-order a game made / published by them if you put a gun to my head. (ok, well maybe I would in that case) In fact I wouldn't pay retail for anything they make, I'll ebay before I do that. I got Vanguard for 7.99.

Anyway, The Agency looks cool. Yeah its a bunch of maps / Guild Wars style play but its got style, I mean who doesn't like the whole spy thing? I will be keeping an eye on this one.

I'm not holding my breath, SOE will f**kit up.

Vanguard Player Profile - Rikoo

Character Name: Rikoo Rakoo

Race: Raki
 
Class: Ranger

Adventure level: 30. (And staying 30, on purpose.)

Diplomacy level: 3

Crafting level: One of my characters is like level 19 crafting.

Harvesting level My total is like 390? I forget off hand.

Guild: None, and will not join one. Nothing against guilds. Immersion Rules, that's all.

Server: XETH baby!

*(optional) Tell us a bit about yourself (the RL person):

I am a 34 year old kid that refuses to grow up. I have a wife and 4 wonderful fur kids. I play drums and do art. I have traveled with my old band all over the US, and will do more touring soon. I am a big dork, but I am also a black belt in Karate.

Given Vanguards huge variety of races and classes, tell us how you picked your particular character & class and why:

The Raki are cute, but not in a "WoW Gnome" type way. I liked their racial ability of a bonus to run speed. I picked a Ranger because I like to solo and I like ranged combat. But, I learned later that (my favorite description) ranger ins Vanguard are Aragorn rangers, NOT Legloas Rangers.

What is it that drew you to Vanguard and how long have you been playing?

What drew me to it? It was cheap, as in 20 bucks. I had it on my Station Access so I figured I would stop reading about how the game had such a horrible start and would just give it a try. I'm glad I did!!

What sphere to you enjoy the most in Vanguard? (adventure, diplomacy, crafting)

Exploring and trading, if those were spheres. Other than that, adventuring.

Vanguard leaves a lot of room for different play styles, very thing from soloers to raiders, what is your preferred play style and why?

Oh boy, long story here. I play "Immersion Project" style, which is a rule set I made for myself that puts certain, more realistic boundaries on my character. For example, if he dies, he's dead. Period. I might even go so far as to delete the character.  Also, I only use certain forms of "normal speed' travel. It has been so much fun it drives me CRAZY. lol

What do you enjoy most about your class?

His survivability. he can live on his own in the woods forever. He can forage his own food, his own arrows, and can get away from a pinch anytime. He's just an everyman that kicks ass.

What would you change about your class if you could?

Hmm, I'm not sure. I love him the way he is. I am glad he is not a typical "hunter" class. I guess I would give him a ranged auto attack, but that's so minor.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in trying your class?

Play them till at least 15 before you decide. Also, always always shoot from stealth!

Of the places / areas you have visited in Vanguard what are your favorite?

Hmm, I love the docks at New Taragnor. They just seem to bustle, and they FEEL like a giant cities docks. Beautiful, too, especially at sunset.

Are there any particular favorite adventure sessions or quest you would like to share? 

I have the most fun of my life every time I log in, seriously. The way I play has brought out the most of this game.
 Oh wait..there was this one quest I did to help out some lil ghost, and the lil ghost told me to sneak into this giants lil hut and to steal something out of the giants lil (huge) chest. I snuck up in Stealth and slipped down a hill only to find the giant standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I could hear him breathing, and he stood there forever, with lil question marks floating over his head. (The mobs do this when they might be sensing you are near.) I was literally so scared my hair on my arms stood up. It was brilliant!

Do you own a house? If so, where is it and what type is it? What do you enjoy about it and what would you change about housing if you could?

Housing is AWESOME. I own one on Conner's Retreat, with my own private beach! There isn't much I would change about the housing, but I would add some things like more seating, more mini-games, etc. Oh, and windows that actually open and close. I'm a girl like that.

Do you own a Ship? If so what kind is it? What do you use it for?

It is a beautiful green Caravel, given to me from a friend of my characters family. Seriously. I got a letter from this person and they gave me this whole back story of about my father and a debt they were re-paying, in the form of a boat. I was sooooo excited. I use it every day for my shipping route. I only travel by boat, foot, or horse.

What sort of mount do you own?

My brown horsey. His name is Royal. I have always used the same dark grey horse, but just upgraded his "class." I am going after my Shadow Hound, but honestly it doesn't fit my character to have one and isn't that much more of a mount. So I am staying with Royal.

What would you most like to see added or changed in Vanguard? 

The largest ships in the game are due for release soon. They are about 4 times the size of my ship but have a cabin that you can decorate!! I would love to see them along with actual boat storage.

Beau

Vanguard Player Profile - Balakor Halasin

Vanguard Player Profile
 
Character Name - Balakor Halasin

Race - Thestra Human
Class - Ranger
Adventure level -14
Diplomacy level - 6
Crafting level - 8
Harvesting level - Lumberjacking 126/ Qarrying 111/ Harvesting 171
Guild - Nasty Habits
Server - Halgar
 
*(optional) Tell us a bit about yourself (the RL person)
Active duty Air Force NCO currently stationed in Germany. I've been playing MMO's for about 8 years starting as a Planetside beta tester and my first full up MMO, Earth and Beyond.  Since then I've played EQ2, SWG, EVE, Horizon beta tester, Lineage 2 beta tester, City of Heroes, LOTRO, DDO, Saga of Ryzom, Matrix Online, WOW, EQ, DAOC, Guild Wars....basically darn near everything.  
 
Given Vanguards huge variety of races and classes, tell us how you picked your particular character & class and why. 
Class was really not a difficult choice. I have always enjoyed the Ranger profession in all MMO's, exploring the world and spending days in the field hunting, so naturally I picked Ranger right away. Race, however, was a different matter. Originally I started with a Wood Elf, figuring Wood Elf and Ranger just went hand in hand. I was enjoying his progression when my wife decided to give Vanguard a shot and went straight for the human class. After many attempts of trying to coax her into the Wood Elf race, I surrendered and moved to a human Ranger. I'm enjoying it, but every now and then will sneak back to play the Wood Elf for a bit.
 
What is it that drew you to Vanguard and how long have you been playing?
I've only been playing Vanguard a few months. Several things drew me in though. First, just the sheer size of the world. I have never seen a world this big before. In SWG, I used to love running on foot all over Tatooine, hunting creatures in the hills and dunes for weeks before returning to the cities to sell my goods. Vanguards land masses puts SWG planets to shame. I have had a blast trying to explore every nook and cranny of the world so far. 
 
The second thing that drew me in was the amount of professions and different skills each player can work on. Tired of Adventuring for the day/ Switch to crafting or harvesting or go find some NPC's and work on your diplomacy skills. There is always something to do.
 
The third thing that I love is that this game helps you a bit, but doesn't hold your hand. You have to really pay attention to the quests and ensure your gear and teams are prepared for the adventures. Running in hacking and slashing doesn't cut it.
 
What sphere to you enjoy the most in Vanguard? (adventure, diplomacy, crafting)

Right now I'm really enjoying the Adventuring side of the house. It lets me get out into the world and explore. Diplomacy is fun as well and reminds me of a different version of Legends of Norrath (except its free ! :) ).
 
Vanguard leaves a lot of room for different play styles, very thing from soloers to raiders, what is your preferred play style and why?
 
Soloer definitely. I enjoy getting out into the wilderness and just look for those odd sites or landmarks. Also it helps with questing and hunting when I get into groups in areas I have explored. if they don't have a clue where to go I have usually been there and can guide them right to it. I try and bring folks out on my treks, but they tend to miss cities after awhile.
 
What do you enjoy most about your class?

The freedom to explore a vast world and survive on my own, as well as help in a group. I can pull individual enemies to the group from a longer range, root them down for the tank or hide and sneak up behind them for a surprise attack.
 
What would you change about your class if you could?

Not real sure yet, I'm still to new to the game and low level to really have an idea of what he may need changed.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in trying your class?
 
Patience, it takes some time to get used to playing Rangers, or any character in Vanguard. If you are used to the quick paced leveling of other MMO's it may get a bit frustrating. Take your time, learn to evaluate your targets and from what I've experienced, you are great vs. 1-2 targets. Anymore then you need to run, and there is no shame in that.

Of the places / areas you have visited in Vanguard what are your favorite?
 
Themwars Shield. Nothing really special about it, its just a cool looking place and a good jumping pint to more rugged areas.

Are there any particular favorite adventure sessions or quest you would like to share?
 
No real favorites so far, i'm still rather new to Vanguard. however one particular session that made me like Vanguard even more was my first trip down to the RiftSeeker cave. We had a quest to enter the cave and enter a portal for a series of quests. well, we get down to the portal entrance, but have no clue how to get in. We walk through it....nothing happens. We jump, stand in it, etc...nothing. We reread our quest and it mentions nothing of how to enter. As we are talking to each other a non aggro NPC walks right to the front of the portal, looks at our groups, shrugs and says a strange saying.
 
Pop, he disappears.
 
Suddenly the lights clicks on and we all say the same words. Pop, we are in the dungeon.
 
4 days and many, many deaths and alot of swearing later we finish the quests and head out.
 
And that was just a level 10 cave.

Do you own a house? If so, where is it and what type is it? What do you enjoy about it and what would you change about housing if you could?
 
No, not yet. But I am trying to level my crafting up so I can support the creation of our guild house.

Do you own a Ship? If so what kind is it? What do you use it for?
 
No, no ship...yet

What sort of mount do you own?
 
A sooty brown horse right now. Its hard to believe that I already can buy and use a mount at this low of a level. Its great.  I'm working towards getting my city faction pet as well, but that may take a bit. Oh, and you can rent flying mounts for 25 copper, how great is that. You also have total control over the flying mount. Direction, how high/low they are and actually having to "launch" them into the air to get them flying. Its a blast!

What would you most like to see added or changed in Vanguard?
 
Better Guild Management tools. SOE, if  you are reading this, take the EQ2 guild management tools/functions and plant them in Vanguard. It desperately needs them.

Well yours truly hit the big four zero last week and an amazing thing happened....I didn't wake up and need a cane or walker and in fact everything was pretty much the same.

Seriously though, I was kind of down in the dumps briefly but I have faced my mortality several times and to be honest, it doesn't faze me to much anymore.

I look back on the last 40 years and ....well I can hardly remember what I had for lunch yesterday so it wasn't much of a reflection lol.

Just kidding, I am greatful for my time here and am looking forward to whatever life brings next.

I was a lost and confused kid many moons ago, I joined the army, served my country in war, went back to school afterwards, worked in the insurance industry for a number of years then went to work for the Dept of Defense and moved to Germany. I have been floating around the globe for the last 7 years while we contend with this or that conflict. I have spent less then 4 weeks in my home country in that time and sometimes I think I have been away to long...sometimes.

I still hit the gym 3 times a week, about 190lbs and not much fat. I actually got a fishing license here in Germany and am currently learning how to use a recurve bow. (I'm an expert with so many firearms, everything from 9mm to 120mm MBT main guns, I figured I would try sometime more difficult lol)

I have been married for 15 years and really could not have asked for a more ideal relationship. I have 3 wonderful kids.

In my travels I have met so many great people, I am blessed and see the hope and promise that someday this insanity will all end. I've been to the pyramids, I've traveled through the Red Sea, Been to the Rock of Gibraltar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain most European countries except for England, been to the top of the Alps, drank tea with Bedouins in their tents in the deep desert, worked with multi-national task forces, patrolled the Fulda Gap back in the day, went to the wall when it came down, saw the fall of the Soviet Empire, owned a business, I work everyday with so many great people from all over my home country and from many other countries as well.

I have seen true pain, despair, hopelessness and hate / true joy, happiness, strength and love. I've almost met my maker a few times and have sent a few to meet their maker. I've been chopped open once, watched a 125mm round almost hit me, had open heart surgery....hmmm....I think thats it. Oh, I have a hellva lot more grey hair then I did 10 years ago.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! It's been an amazing journey so far.

If I can say one thing as advice it would be "live with passion"!

It my blog and I'll cry if I want, cry if I want to.........sure just what everyone wants to read more bashing on a particular MMO. I generally don't like to do this but I'm in a mood today....

Ok, so I have this new EQII expansion that my wife gave me mainly because she hates me or something, thats the only reason I can think of because she KNOWS I don't like SOE games. I sat down this afternoon bored because the kids are sick (what else is new?) which effectively destroys our weekend giving me lots of time to troll around and moan about  the good old days of our gaming, much to my wifes dismay.

So I log in. Now I only tried that Fae thing in a trial when it released so I don't remember to much other then the fact it didn't leave to much of an impression on me.

So I make a Wood Elf after deleteing like half of our old toons because I didn't do the station pass which gave me like a hundred extra character slots I guess, until I get to the manageable level of 5 or 6. I go to the fae land and I swear its like a Winnie the Pooh simulator. First I gotta go kill some snakes because they are eating all the fairy flowers or some nonsense, the NPC sounds like Christopher Robbins mother, which I promptly begin looking around for. After that challenging task which got me to level 3 just because I stood there and shot the snakes for a few minutes, I gotta go look for some grobins, goblins or whatever, who are apparently pissing in the lake and making everyone generally unhappy. After dispatching them, a little girl with the voiceover of an adult trying to sound like a little girl ask me to kill buzzy bees for her. At this point I'm looking for Pooh and Tigger to bounce up and ask me to help collect some honey because Pooh's tummy is rumbly. Alas, Pooh must have been playing WoW today because I didn't see him or Tigger, I can only assume they were on a raid somewhere in Horde territory because thats how I envision Pooh, playing an Orc doing that Vanilla Ice dance, but I digress. After I get the buzzies for her she ask me to fix her frickin coat for her. Now I'm a parent of three. Like I need to play "daddy can you help me..." in my video games as well.
Anyway, the mom goes on about how the little girl lost her favorite dolly after some pirates took all their belongings and left them on the island and I'm like "look lady you are damn lucky they didn't rape your  sorry arse and kill the lot of you" and that ended my trip to happy fairy land.

Off I go to the new dragon guys...yeah they are evil. Evil is good, evil in an MMO should be better...or so I am hoping. (no I never got to play City of Villains, my wife played it like a year so does that count?) The first NPC is standing there with a blank look on his face so I'm like "whats up?" He goes on about some poachers trying to hunt the same crabs we want. Grrr...now we are talking, our food, right? We need to muscle these guys out. So I turn around and there are like 90 of these winged birdguy poachers standing no more then 3 steps away, looking at me. Flightless apparently. I thinking to myself, "what the hell, the NPC is just standing there all day watching them kll and eat our crabs?! Lazy bastage". man they should put me in charge, I would get this entire area in order in no time flat.

So the whole group of winged but flightless birdguys watches passively while I dispatch 4 of their bretheren with not so much as a wink. They never batted an eye. I am now assuming the reason they no longer fly is because they must have forgotten they can. Then Mr. Dragon dude NPC, satisfied with my thinning of the poachers from 90 to 86, informs me of some other, to stupid to fly, winged miners stealing our rocks. Geez, the nerve. So take care of that problem and at that point, not feeling particularly "evil" I figure, well if all we have to worry about in our kingdom is bird people who don't have enough sense to either run or fly away from me or at least help each other, they don't need my help...Thank you and good night.

Have you ever played Gothic 3 or Oblivion? Why is it in some RPG's, the stories and task are actually interesting / fun / and dare I say challenging and in MMORPG's, the content in EQII seems better suited to an episode of "Bob the Builder" or "Tellatubbies"? On top of it, can you say "linear do my quest or don't play" type game design???
WTF is that? I played Gothic 3 today and its like 10 times the MMO of any MMO except without the players, which is a bummer because I coulda used the help when the orc patrol from the Army that just sacked our little kingdom, saw me and castrated my ass and when they did, the f*ckers took my weapons from my damn body! WTF is that? The damn NPC's griefed and looted my arse. I could hear them laughing while they took my sh*t saying how I "won't be needing this anymore". bastages I'm telling you.

I want my damn sword back. Frickin Orcs. Not only do I need to go find the damn patrol again but I need to kill the dude who took it to get it back IF I can even find him. (or else reload and since I suck at remembering to save)

Anyway, I think EQII has seen its last of me...at least until they raise the challenge level a tad more or at least get some writers aside from Winnie the Pooh extras. Not even my kids where amused with it. They are off playing "Club Pengin". You ever play it? You should take a look, lets just say it puts most MMO's to shame not to mention its a blast to play. Its a flash based MMO targeted at kids.

I really hope that turns around one day because I would really enjoy an MMO with some sort of content written for a adult and not a deranged 6 year old trapped in an adults body.

So I have an Orc to go find now.... and no, I have no will to pursue EQII any longer, it had its chance 2 or 3 years ago when it launched and I struggled a guy up to 30 or so doing his stupid class quest and then they did away with all that letting everyone "just pick" their class at creation because that was "more fun" and lord forbid you get to feel any sort of accomplishment in an SOE game.

Like I said, its my blog and I'll cry if I want to :) If you read this far its to late to say just don't read it if you don't like my opinion.   /wink

Anyway, good gaming and enjoy it. We are lucky that we have such trivial things to bitch about.

I am weak.

I gave up Lineage 2 about a year ago after getting burned out on the skull melting, will crushing grind. I shut it off for the last time and uninstalled it and said enough is enough. 

Then the wandering began. I never was an MMO drifter until then, I always stuck with my MMO, I started with AC way back in the day and played about a year, I moved to DAoC and played that about a year, from there I went to WoW and played a bit less then a year. From then on I was in L2 (about a year or more) Inbetween I had several "quickies" with many other MMO's none of which were really any good. (SWG, EQII, all the usual suspects)

So like an outcast, I left Aden and went in search of the mythical "superior" modern MMO. What I found was a wasteland of uncompelling and dull MMO's, most of which either were severly broken, dead or dying. I went back to DAoC only to find the game had died in my absence.  I was sad. After a while I got fed up and dropped MMO's. I went on a frenzy of shooters and single player games. I played, and became addicted to "BF2 - Point of Existance".

I wandered around in those games but eventually got the itch to take a look at another MMO. So after many months I turned on my Station account. (Sept?) Again I was greeted by the empty servers of  many dying MMO's (its as if only a few voices cried out all at once...do you want to buy gold?) I slapped myself for turning on an SOE game...I had sucker written all over my face. So I washed it off and actually purchased a copy of Vanguard (like an idiot) off of ebay. I loaded it up and it was aweful. (I'm not going to talk about this here) So now what? My wife had pretty much given up on LotR so playing that was out of the question. I had a level 20 dwarf or something but it was about as interesting as cutting the grass.

In the meantime, I had this NCSoft timecard in my wallet. I had totally forgetten about it until I accidentally handed it to the gate guard at work (which he was not amused with, MP's are like that) And the wheels started turning. I resisted but as I said, I am weak. I was tormented. Aden was calling now.

So last night I loaded up WoW. Yes, I was going to attempt to resist. I figured I am dying for an MMO but everything is pretty much a waste of time but WoW is still thriving. Its "fun", I have high level toons, I have plenty of ingame cash, why not? It finished patching. I looked at my wallet to get the credit card out and pulled out both the CC and the time card and placed them on the desk. Oh the pain. Did I really want to play WoW? I really liked my Dwarf, he had a rifle after all and whats more fun then angry dwarves with guns? What was more fun?

I opened up my play NC account and logged in. (I had reloaded the game when I remembered about the timecard) Now in the course of the year I got myself a huge widescreen monitor and a 512mb graphic card. Now let me tell you Lineage is stunning. (L2 is actually made with the same base graphic engine as Vanguard by the way "unreal 2) I looked at my gallery of toons and said to myself "you magnificent bastards, I've missed you" (ok, so its a bit dramatic) If my Dwarf could talk, he would have said "its about f&*king time". I logged in to take a look at my situation and found I wasn't in as bad financial shape as I remembered. All my toons were fully outfitted and ready to go....where to start?

There was the music, the captivating music, the city was jammed with player shops, how I hate and dispise player shops....and all the selling spam going on...it was glorious lol...it was "alive". Everything I was looking for was right here all along.

Within a few minutes I got a tell....one of my old guildies was on. (I had been booted from the guild in my long absense) we talked a few minutes, he gave me the low down on what was happening since I left. The guild had dissolved, wars had happened, much drama, old friends were now enemies, comrades were now hunted. New alliances had formed, new allies had been made...what I found was that I was one of the only ones that had left. This made me sad again. 

Then I got another tell "so you are back you prick" LoL, yes old enemies STILL remembered me. I replied "Lol, yes...so watch your back, I missed you to" I actually got a smile back and I'm sure thats the last time he will ever say anything nice to me. 

I met up with my old friends and we grouped, I talked about a new toon...I want a damage dealer this time. We got on vent and chatted, its been a long time. B(name edit) was glad to hear from me, she put on some tunes and the group got to the grind.

It was good to get home.  I am greatful that my friends will have me back and honored my enemies still remember me. This is what makes a great "living" world, the people both friends and enemies, without them an MMORPG is nothing.

I was weak not because I went back to Aden but because I was lured away in the first place.

I hope that a player named "angleofaden" is still out there. I'm back.

(this rant was written mainly for me, I don't care what you think of L2 as a game, my point is sometime maybe we are looking to hard for something we might already have...did you leave your home also?)