30 Something Gamers....Hello? Am I alone here?

I have been a gamer for a long time. Probably longer than some of you have lived. But just because I am concidered "Old" by a large group doesn't mean I am alone or few in numbers. This blog is a call to those "Old" gamers out there!

Author: tobin25

I will keep this simple. Yesterday I quit WoW. I sat and read all the information about the announced expansion and talent changes and made my mind up to completely leave World of Azeroth. I spent most of the day talking with friends and guildies as I one by one sold items and deleted my toons. With the announcement of yet another major class changes I decided I was sick of completely relearning my characters. The Kung Fu Panda expansion was just another nail in the coffin. WoW (for me) has become more and more a feel of playing something designed for younger kids. 

Post your experience and share with others. I would love to see hundreds of comments on likes and dislikes of how you all feel.

Cross-realm queueing in MMOs, friend or foe?

  I have played MMO's for a long time now and I have seen many patches, updates and expansions come and go. I have seen great ideas implemented into a game and I have seen some really bad ideas put into a game. In this post I would like to hear feedback on a topic and idea that I am not to sure is the best for the life of individual servers. Many MMOs have implemented the cross-realms queueing system to help those impatient people that did not like to wait so long to get a group together on their server due to low population during times playing or just plain low population of the server in general. It sounded like a great idea when it came out in the MMOs I play. I have used it religiously to find groups for dungeons and battlegrounds. Some MMOs even have a system for finding raid groups, BUT here is my thoughts on the system now that I have used it for much time....

   1. It is a wonderful tool and does make for faster more reliable (as far as getting members) way to   gather a group.

   2. Some MMOs have even used gear level scanning so that players that are not geared for a        dungeon do not even get the chance to queue for a dungeon they would fail in.

   3. It has become a standard by which the bigger MMOs use now.

   These points stated and they are good points, I would like to offer the thought that this system has hurt one of the main reasons a lot of people have joined into a MMO in the first place... The social player base of individual server you chose to join. There use to be a time after finding people to run dungeons with or help to complete a hard quest series you would create a bond, maybe even join a guild or linkshell together ( yes I did just go back to my FFXI roots). Many have found life long friendship in game and out from the adventures they had together (on the same server). Now that experience is slowly dwindling because 85% of the people you play with are from a different server.

   Yes, some games have added a cross-realm chat system so you can keep in touch with buddys you met in that random dungeon or battleground, BUT it does not compare to the bonds of friendship and comradery experienced when you needed to find people on the same server to play with. You see them in game. not in text or voice only. You spend time questing together or gathering for that next epic item you want to make. You can't do that when you are not on the same server. 

   I know many will say, "You can still do that dummy" and to that I just point out.... I know... but it has become increasingly harder to do now that most opt to use the queueing system. There is almost a disconnect in games now where people have become more isolationistic in their behaivors.

   When you post maybe I can see some of stories of people meeting in game and friendships formed. Post away.

 It has been a while since I have written much. When winter hits I usually hibernate like our animal counter parts. I did rush out and buy Dragon Age, so a lot of play time has been put into that game and not in the MMO worlds lately. BUT..... I see an unpleasant trend starting in the MMO world. A world of micro charging for everything. You always wanted to be that BE hottie instead of the Troll skamp you rolled, well that will be $20.00 dollars please. Hit enter before proof-reading your name? $15.00 and you can fix that. Want a neat pet that entertains you? Donate $20.00 and it's yours... oh also some of that will more than likely go to a charity.

Has it become so desperate in the MMO world that it is time to gank-strip the very customers that have kept you going for 4+ years? I see more companies pushing the line between monthly pay and item sale milking. Soon, as some are already heading, you will be paying a monthly fee and for extras!

I say stop the madness! I am all for a company making a profit, but do not milk the cow dry.

I got into the open US beta a while ago for Spellborn, but unfortunately I can not give a grear amount of feedback on the game due to the fact once I did the intro part and got into the active world server everything became so glitchy I was unable to play. Graphics would fade in and out and the engine stuttered. I checked online for solutions, but have found none that seem to work.

To top it off, I patched the other day hoping maybe there was a general fix for the issues and now the game will not start at all.

I have been a silent fan of this new MMO, Chronicles of Spellborn. For months I have popped in and out of the forums and main website reading and watching videos. Every week I grew more and more excited until recently when I found out that Acclaim received the American Distribution rights to the game. I DO NOT like the fact that it is not going to be a straight forward p2p game. With Acclaim you have to go through the hassle of purchasing a membership, but it doesn't stop there. After you have a monthly membership with Acclaim you then have to purchase coins to be used to play the Acclaim games. It is in my veiw an unneeded hassle! On top of that if you do your math it will cost you alot more than a set monthly fee. I am greatly disappointed in this move to let Acclaim distribute the game. I am going to step in to the open beta later today and at least find out if the game lives up to the hype, but unfortunately when it comes to dealing with Acclaim and their crazy fees I don't think i will find myself playing this game beyond the beta unless something changes.

Please feel free to voice your thoughts on this subject.

As of lately I have been playing WoW more than any other MMO. I can't say that WoW fulfills my need or desires in a game, but it functions better than most and is more enjoyable to play. Also my nephews have been playing for a while now (do to an uncle introducing them to it) and it has brought some new life into a dieing world. To see and hear their excitement as their toon lvls and gets new talents has been fun. BUT ... it has only brought me so far! There is just that lack of real rpg play in most MMOs that leaves one like myself with a huge empty spot. I did enjoy playing LOTRO, but the hitching and graphic issues in the game made for a frustrating journey. Even after getting a newer system it didn't resolve the graphic issues with the game. LOTRO was probably the closest in the MMO arena that gave a rpg'er the fix they were looking for. I won't leave out Vanguard either, but both are plagued with graphic and game play issues to this day.

So for a time it is looking like the world of MMOs will be taking a nap in my land. I may pop in on WoW and PvP a bit or check on it after the expansion comes out. I may even be tempted with LOTRO and it's expansion, but until someone puts out a game that functions like WoW and gives a person a good and meaningful crafting / rpg experience like LOTRO and Vanguard offered, none of them will be seeing much of my real world money flowing their way.

Back to the land of Neverwinter for me. I may even toy around with a few mods of my own and get back into a real rpg experience again. Oh how I have missed the meaningful storyline and the characters that drew you in and made you feel a part of a greater purpose; an "ever changing world".

So at least once a week I spend up to an hour or two of my time reading forums, blogs and people's comments on games. I sometimes feel like I am punishing myself due to the overwhelming amount of people griping about one game or another. Now you throw in the numerous WoW remarks and the WoW envy escalates the rants.

It just seems to me (this is just my opinion here) that if these other games are soo bad then just stop playing them! If you have a coherent complaint then take the time to write it out in legible sentences and let others know about it. Then be done with it!

I have played a good bit of games and MMOs as of present time and there have been many that I have asked myself, "Who in their right mind would continue playing this junk!?!?", but for me, I left the game and canceled my account. Occasionally I wrote a few comments on a forum. Please for the love of Pete stop playing bad MMOs and end their life in peace! If luck smiles upon them, maybe a little dignity!!

Only

YOU

can prevent these games from hurting thousands, possibly millions of gamers world wide!

and

Cluttering up our blogs, forums, and personal sites with mindless rants on a game that didn't deserve half of the attention.

Ok the title may be a little vague, but hopefully it grabbed your attention. I am desperately looking to get into the beta for Mythos!! I have tried other sites and peoples blogs that have said they have invites to no avail. I would love to try this game out and see what all the buzz is about it and how true the hype may be. If anyone out there in the MMO world has an invite they can send to this avid gamer I would greatly appreciate it and some day may be able to return the gesture!

You can email mail me at dregarr@aol.com.

Thank you,

Old Timer Gamer

There was a day when you could spend time playing a RPG game. You would spend minutes to even hours to build a character you later would expand and change to watch it grow into an identity of its own. It seems long past are those days of real RPG game play. Lately with the birth of MMO's "Cookie Cutter" game play role playing games have gradually become a letter addon to the latest release of a game that becomes less like rgp and more a mindless grind fest of leveling or gathering the latest stats and armor to be the best at a poorly designed pvp system. There is little adventuring to most MMOs and with many I have played and tested there is little to nothing of a storyline. What storyline and background there is to some games seems more like and after thought. There use to be a time where the story plot was the very thing that drew you into the the game world and progressed the interaction of the characters.

To date there seems to be few MMOs that have continued this idea.

As I have played what some label them as "MMORPG" I have found myself enjoying most and for a few, playing longer than a few weeks, but there have been only 1% (if that) of these so called rpg style  games that actually keep me coming back because I wanted to see where the story progressed from where I left it. In fact the one game I still play that does seem to incorporate a storyline plot is LOTRO. For the most part I feel like my character is involved in a adventure that impacts my world.

For me, if I am going to put more time and money into something I would like to have something more than a game that leaves me grinding away endlessly at mobs for item drops and reputation that only produces an end result of trying to be king for a few days in a pvp fest of wasted time! Don't take this wrong here. I love pvping and have spent alot of time with fps games like Halo, but if you are going to label your MMO with those 3 little letters at the end THEN please offer a real role playing experience for the many out there that like to get more out of a game than a great ego feed trying to be the best pker in the game!

When I was a kid, about 12 yrs old, I remember the first big explosion in the world of gaming. It came out from a company called Atari and it was something new and creative called a console. Up until then the only real gaming was done on a computer that few could afford or by saving up your allowance or chore money to have some quarters for the local arcade. My brother-in-law bought an Atari along with Space Invaders and we spent the next 48 hrs taking turns to see who could get to the end and beat the reigning high score king. Those were the days! It was something new and never seen before and it made a little kids heart overflow with excitement! Ever since my Atari days I have been a gamer looking for the next great adventure, the next great challenge to overcome and if good enough get a little recognition from your peers when your high score stood at the top for maybe (if lucky) a week or a month.

I have played games from the rpg to the fps style. I have bought my share of console games and units along with spending thousands of dollars over the years on the next best computer and accesories. I find myself more a fan of the rpg style of gaming and have sought to find the next best game that offered the indepth adventure that would take me away from my world for a few hours. But..... many games have failed to fulfill this emptiness and a few have risen to the top.

In my years of gaming I have played a huge amount of games with a wide variety of people. I have found myself playing head to head with some buddies shouting back and forth to each other over who was gona win the round. I have been inside many dark light rooms with only the lights from the video game units to guide your path, pounding out a victory on the latest game everyone was playing. I find myself in the past few years playing with my nephews or the age equivalent on games that they usually beat me at, but it's more the game play and having fun with them than winning anymore.

So I have asked myself lately, "Am I getting to old to play games?" Should I give it up and do what some call "Growing up" or is there others out there that can understand where I'm coming from and offer their input also? If there are some "Old Time" gamers out there I would love to hear from you.