Nice read. 

Gaming will always be under the cannon of "how far is to far" like when people believe doom 1 would corrupt children to do bad things.

However, I do find it interesting that in Australia is allowed to massacre innocent people in an airport (MW2), however hitting zombies with a frying pan in L4D2 is completely immoral and must be censored. 

Not meaning to hijack the issue, but it does reflect on how bull our rating systems are.

 I laugh at everyones rage towards the graphics, they know nothing of pre-alpha staging and how most games do not apply full rez texturing or GI lighting, also most models are primitive place holders to work out environments.  L2game design.

Originally posted by Nunez1212

Nope :/ I figured that wouldnt matter since I preordered it...and gamestop didnt give me any cd or key...they just told me I would get the game on the 21st and that was it.

whaaaaa? how long ago did you pre-order?

otherwise sorry you will have to wait. You will still get all your items however :P

 I have recieved all my early access items from pre-ordering the game. However you wont recieve the Collectors edition/ standard edition items till tomorrow.

So all we can get atm, is the Hat, exp boast thing and "Ring of the Ancient (element ie, fire/water depending on where you preordered.)

and yes you can apply the items to multiple characters i believe.

Originally posted by Nunez1212

I just received my pre-order from Gamstop today, and I tried to use the serial key to activate my account but it says that the key is not active yet...I'm assuming this is a regular retail version; therefore, the key will not work until tomorrow...though I did pre-order the game, so I should have headstart...so yeah...anyone know what I can do? Besides wait until tomorrow I mean :P

Have you made an account  prior to headstart ie, when you pre-ordered aion from Gamestop they would of given you a disk with an access code to CBT/OBT and headstart. The actual game key is not needed till tomorrow.  However if you have already made an account then you should be able to log in.

 oh god, i was so glade to get out of the newb zone every 5 secs "wheres tutty",

Now all i hear is:
"Wheres poppy"
"Wheres balboas treasure??" and ofcourse,
"Wheres the lobonite fossil???"

Originally posted by Lorel

Originally posted by gekkie96

And to add to the great release they are giving away FREE 2 week subscriptions to all players, so you just have to check it out IMO...

 

Yeah 2 weeks to existing subscribers aswell :)

But if you signup as a new player for the game between the 23rd of April to the 7th of May then you get full access for 14 days, existing players just got 2 weeks added to their sub.

So a free game to download and free to fully experience for the next 2 weeks, have to say thats better than what WoW, AoC, War and Darkfall have offered so far.

WoW gave a free month when it was released to players

 Blizzard has no reason not to build a sandbox styled MMO. They have a keen understanding on what a market wants (11million subscribers, not that i think they provide for 'everyone') So, why wouldn't they want to take hold of the people who refused or quit playing WOW.

They  have the money to take a risk and with their cash cow mmo constantly bringing in revenue and with another good 4-5 years of content (if they use all of their lore..or fuck with their lore, as they so love to do) i dont see it ding anytime soon. However,  i cant see Blizzard taking  a sandbox approach,  blizzard doesn;t seems to give to much control to players, they still like a path which is under their control, its easier to cater to players for, and keeps everyone on the same level.

I see the game leaning towards a FPS styled game, they have attempted to build one before (Starcraft: Ghost) but it was scrapped. However, they have an understanding now of FPS styled games although it was a screw up i reckon they will be trying to combine what was lost with their new mmo, not saying it will be Starcraft or anything. 

Although if they do go for a sandbox it could form a  RTS blend, i cant see how this could work with if they reach 11million subscribers but it would be interesting if your guilds became the army, leaders/officers controlled building construction unit upgrades etc.

Well enough of my speculating, But my vote is going for more of a FPS blend into their next-gen mmo

(sorry this may be worded terribly)

Yeah, chat bubbles clog up the screen, especially in cities. Also how hard can it be to look into a chat box...

Originally posted by Illius

I personally never cared much for chat bubbles.  I found it took away from the game for me so I disabled it where ever I went.  I find it interesting and a bit odd that people actually ask for this feature simply because of all the people I've gamed with and the friends I have that I play with on a daily basis non of them use the chat bubbles.  You are one of the very few I've heard of that likes this feature.

Yeah i am the same, i cant stand chat bubbles, loses immersion in a game for me.

Your judging a game on its audience, before it has even been released to gather one...seems abit stupid to me.

Originally posted by ladyattis

How about no classes, and lots of tiered/interrelated skills you can unlock?

-- Brede

Originally posted by Mythokia

If you suggest getting a Mac, installing bootcamp so you can run Windows, that kinda defeats the purpose of getting a Mac in the first place, doesn't it?

When it comes to gaming, Macs will always perform slower, and cost much more than a PC counter part. As for running daily applications, you can run Windows as a virtual machine on a Mac if you have to, but then again, like it said, it defeats the purpose. If you're that reliant on functionality provided by Windows, stick with it.

Originally posted by Bryzon82

I think player housing would not mix well with WAR, but I'm sure it'd be nice if done right.....But I do think guild housing is the way to go, I wish EQ2 had it.