How about a giant crystalline alien who crash landed his ship on Earth during a scientific expedition? He's got a bluish tint to him and is extremely heavy and dense. He looks a little like Iceman paired with the hulk.  His powers are super strength. On his home planet he is a normal citizen, a scientist. It is an intense, high gravity world. Because of this, on Earth he is able to lift many tons. His body makes him highly damage resistant. He is an intelligent intellectual who is viewed as being a big brute on the outside. The press calls him THE BLUE WHALE.

Not too original, I know, but I tried. Haha. I hope someone worthy gets the key if I don't. I joined the Champions site in the summer of last year and applied for beta as soon as it became possible. I never heard anything.

Thanks.

I'm more of an old timer when it comes to gaming, having started in MUDs. I can't count the number of online games and MMOs I have played. Without a doubt, LOTRO has been one of the most social games I've ever experienced.

You need to find a kinship that is not filled with a bunch of silent people as there are many. My guild/kinship has always held interesting events for the purpose of getting to know one another. We've had a Christmas party where we got drunk and competed in a swimming match (in lotro drinking alcohol makes your screen go all blurry and crazy) to chicken races through wolf infested areas. It probably sounds pretty lame when it is written out but when you have 15-30 people together for events and do entertaining or original things it is a blast.

Of course, we also do a lot of the content together.  Our kinship puts a premium on social interaction and communication. It makes the game ten times more enjoyable when you're hanging out with people who engage in conversation and are there to have a good time.

I'd recommend that you find a kinship that has that kind of approach if you haven't already quit. In addition to that, people are generally quite helpful and I've never played another game where getting together a pug for content is more easy. I'm on Meneldor. Send me a message here if you're still playing or looking to meet people in LOTRO who aren't silent gerbils.

The avatars look great. Just look at my photo album for examples!

Seriously, though, I was a former player and I recently resubbed. LOTRO has very cool instances (the game is not all instanced for those who never played). I like how you go into Books or epic instances and follow a story. Some are mediocre, some are great. The lowbie stuff can be very burnt with the typical kill 10 boars, kill 10 spiders, etc, but there is a strong RPG element that helps to sustain it throw the more familiar moments.

If you're on the fence, check it out. I played through the betas and for a year. I left pre-Moria and just came back. I'm having a good time with it. It has shortcomings but what game doesn't? The conjunctions and small fellowship quests are a blast, too. I'm not saying that it is all original but there are plenty of things that are.

I'm on Meneldor. Look me up: Levathar.

My friends and I get together and we have always run stupid events like chicken races (where you spawn as a chicken and then run across Bree). We've had drunken swim meets where you pound ale and your screen goes crazy and you have to swim with your knee caps broken. Right now we do a "nightgown fellowship" where we put our male avatars in dresses and run around looking like imbeciles. I know this makes some people mad but we play games to have laughs and fun, not to be serious and feel powerful through pixels.

Originally posted by khameleon

I played the 14 day thing for AOC(played one day of 14 lol) and uninstalled again, sold the game and 6 months of time cards that I had sealed, its still not a fun game, although it has a beautifully designed world.

I did the same thing. I uninstalled it. I have level 80s. I played through beta, launch, and beyond. I'm not trying to troll, the game has some strong points but the 14 days definitely just confirmed why I ran hard from it.

Originally posted by Database82

Originally posted by lornj

age of conan already did this. no biggie.

 

US version was censored though. I'm not really certain about this element in game though, last thing was I wanna see is a bunch guys streaking through town because you know it's going to happen.

Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

The US version was not censored. I'm sure someone else covered this, but I am not sifting through 7 pages. Have a winner!

Originally posted by Wintersbite

If these forums are anything to go by  MMO players don't have the brainpower to register anything remotely human, let alone comedy.

I'm going to have to agree with Wintersbite on this one.  On top of that, people's sense of humor (or lack thereof) is too varied. The developers of such a game would definitely have the odds stacked against them. I like the column, though. It is an interesting concept although I don't think it will ever happen.

fixxxxed...

Me: Vista 64, Intel 2 Q6600 quad@3.2 ghz, GTX 275, Liberty Enermax 620 w psu...

I have to edit my .ini file to get it to run well. It runs nicely except for places like Veskal's exchange where I sit at 18-20 fps. But I run maxed with maybe 1-2 very minor things turned down.  I am certainly able to play, it runs ok for me overall.

There is one line you can add in the ini that involves the netspeed. I am almost positive that it is not the one you see all over the tweak guides. I am kicking myself for not saving my old ini file last time I uninstalled, but it literally gave me a 20-30 fps boost when I added this line. It is something about how the game processes the online data. If anyone finds a net tweak (I found it from when I played Unreal Tournament), try that.  If not, just use the recommended one. 

On another note, I just went back to check out EQ2. Two years ago I had a crappier system and could run it on much higher settings than I can now. I have noticed with Vanguard too that I could run it on the lowest garbage settings possible and I get the same FPS as I do maxed out. The same applies to the performance I get in EQ2. I think we're in a weird transition stage with MMO gaming where some of the moderate-high to high end hardware is not running so great on these older games. I see it happening very frequently.

I appreciate it. I think the game looks just fine considering it didn't come out very recently.

I was having a hard time because my system is not garbage. I can understand if I can not run high quality but on my previous system, with lesser specs, I could run higher settings. If they do give us the ability to offload some features from CPU to GPU that would be the best.

I'm running Intel 2 Q6600 @3.2ghz, 4 gb ram, gtx 275. I figured I could run it at least on balanced considering my old system ran it higher, but your tweaks helped. 

THANK YOU. This needs to be on the official forums.

I am a returning vet, although I have yet to get a character above 26th level. Hahah. It had been over a year 1/2 or so since i played and my computer was performing horribly. I'm on a quadcore, 4 gb ram, gtx 275 and was dismayed by how badly the game was running on anything but high performance blanket settings. Your tweaks helped a lot. Now I can give the game a chance.

If anyone wants to look me up, I am on Nektulos as Levathar.

I'm pretty much a newb in the sense I am getting comfortable with the game again but I used to play. I had alt-itis and never got that high. Levels seem to advance much quicker now.

"Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Out of interest which companies have never been accused of misleading their customers? I know from my experience NCSoft, Cryptic, Funcom, Blizzard, Adventurine, SOE and who did I miss(?) have all been accused, who exactly hasn't?

Grow up guys, you are acting like someone stole your virginity."

Thank you for your words of mature wisdom. This is coming from someone who uses "grow up" and then "you are acting like someone stole your virginity" in the same sentence.

Agent Smith, that was a constructive and thoughtful post. I completely agree. 

Just a quick question, I played CoH for a while up until a few months ago. When they were talking about the Architect issue, they said you would not be able to get drops from mobs in the player made missions. Did that change when it went live? 

As for player made content, I remember doing that back in the day with MUDs. I think that there could be a good future in it for a company who pulls it off properly. I'm saying that separate from CoH, I'm not bashing it or anything. I haven't tried the latest issue so I can't comment.

As for PvP, it was a big draw for me. Then I learned the bases were messed up and it was disappointing. I've pretty much stopped keeping track of it and got bored with running the same cookie cutter missions over and over again. I love the character customization and some of the other features, though. All in all, it is worth checking out but I would be hard pressed to get into it for an extended period of time.

Originally posted by Wind-breaker

For anyone who played the game and is leaving because of the announcement, which game are you looking at?  I personally was more offended by the dishonesty than the model, although I wasn't happy about that either.

January 2009

 "We know the recent job listing has caused a bit of a stir, but please be aware that this posting is for an unannounced future project. We appreciate the thoughts and feedback on both sides thus far."

June 2009

They have been working on it for "a year" according to their official announcement.  They knew all along.

They word things like that because it could be argued that "Eberron Unlimited" is, in fact, a future project. It is intentionally misleading while they simultaneously try to act all Mr. Rogers-like...as if they deeply care about, or listen to, their players.

I don't think this transition is going to bring them the profits they are fantasizing about. It is a niche game. But still, If it helps to keep the game alive and provides a positive experience for their player base, great.  I  liked DDO's combat system, the traps, and the puzzles. 

Everyone should try it for themselves to see if it is for them. It's definitely a niche game.. Overall I had a decent experience with DDO but Turbine sometimes makes me want to call 911.  I'd be shocked if this free to play model came out by the end of the summer. Early September probably makes more sense, if not later. They aren't exactly great with hitting their deadlines.

What happens if I already have 8 high level characters and log in to play for free? Do they get locked? 

I don't know, as long as subscribing gives you all that you currently get, for paying, that is fine. The point system is crap for old subscribers. Many of us ran this content to get favor in the first place. You can NOT get points/favor by running the content again but someone who is new is obviously at a great advantage for earning points. Wow, let's run this quest for the 3294239043209th time!

They announced last year they would not go microtransaction on DDO yet they just announced that they have been working on it for a year. This game has many GREAT aspects but I have never been a fan of Turbine or their lack of transparency (honesty).

Originally posted by Red_Juice

I got the free trail at http://planetside.station.sony.com/reserves/download.vm

Thanks for the link! I could not find it anywhere on the Station page.

Station.com does not even list the trial anywhere on their page, even though they list trials for games like Infantry! It seems like they are seriously trying to let it die. I played it a bit a long time ago, I miss this game. I know it has hackers going nuts lately, but I'll take a look for free.

Thanks a lot for the review!

I am holding out some hope for the higher level experience as the lower levels bored me to absolute tears. The majority of quests are kill X number of Y creatures. I am a long time gaming geek and am just sooo tired of that formula. I'll play Aion at launch in order to see how the experience goes in the 30 + range.

I have to give them credit for the graphics although I'm not huge on the art style. The customization is great.

I also think it is one of the most stable new game clients I've seen in the last few years.

When you are in the Abyss, do you use your wings/flight a lot?

I was wondering how often pvp is done while flying? 

Originally posted by shain1234

i find it very odd how i can run crysis on max setting at like 80 fps with no artifacts ro anything but this game which is the same engine.

Yeah, this is Cryengine, the first one. The one used in the FIRST Far Cry. Haha. I think they have done a good job with the graphics even though I am not a fan of the art style. But yeah, there is no rhyme or reason to your situation. I see that often with different games, even on good hardware.

I played in Asian Aion and have checked out the NA version somewhat.

Aion does not do much new but it does it well.

Those looking or something vastly different from EQ2 or even games like Guild Wars or Lineage 2 will be disappointed. I am not saying it is a clone but there are points of similarity ranging from quests to art style.

The flying mechanic does mix it up a bit.

The graphics are nice, the client is extremely stable on max settings (at least, in my experience).

Having not pvp'd yet it would be unfair or stupid for me to make a judgment on it either way. The pvp may bring something more to the table.

Aion will keep a lot of fans of this kind of game very happy. If you're looking for something very original, you will probably be disappointed.

They should have a jumping stamina bar. A few jumps in a row is fine ...300 jumps in a row is retarded. I was in the Korean beta for Huxley version 1  and it was War of the Bunnies.

I think they will follow through but I don't see them sending a key to us for each 3 day event (although they should). 

Once there is the regular beta, if there is one, I am sure we'll get access. Also, let's hope they throw us the pre-order  key once it is due to become "officially" available.