Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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Thoughts and ponderings about PC and consoling gaming.

The MMO Times: Good Neewwws Everybody!

By

On June 28, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 38

Greetings Fellow Gamers! It has been a very exciting week, culminating with the early access launch of The Secret World. There have been new updates and major announcements that will have many gamers giddy like a little school girl. Obviously the biggest news this week was the release of SWTOR’s Game Update 1.3 and the announcement of the Guild Wars 2 release date.

I hope to provide a post soon of my impressions of the 1.3 patch (similar to what I did for 1.2) so look or check back for that. There is also more information about account-wide mounts for MoP, more MechWarrior Online news and a very interesting article about the Jet Li sponsored MMO, Age of Wushu. Enjoy!

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Biggs On: The Secret World

By

On June 25, 2012

In Biggs On, Gaming, MMORPG

I was fortunate enough to participate in the past two beta weekends for The Secret World so I thought I would offer my review/general impressions. The release date for this game is July 3rd, early access starts this Friday. If anyone is not familiar with this game, its that latest MMO developed by Electronic Arts and takes place in a modern world but in a fictitious location. There are no races (in the orc/elf/dwarf sense) – everyone is human. There are three factions: Illuminati, Templar, and Dragon.

Character creation is a bit reminiscent of Aion or SWTOR where you can modify the physical appearance of your head, nose, chin, eyes, etc (but not quite as granular as Aion). You will also choose your outfit and choose wisely because your outfit will not change. You will be able to set a first name, last name and nickname. Your nickname must be what is unique and finding a nickname that wasn’t taken and/or allowed can be quite challenging almost to the point of aggravating. I’m not going to describe the story because I would rather you experience it for yourself but basically you are part of a secret society (which is associated with your faction) and you fight your way through strange activities occurring in the world (almost like something out of a Stephen King novel coupled with a Dan Brown novel).

Probably the most interesting concept in this game is how you level. It isn’t a traditional leveling mechanic in that there isn’t a numeric value to your level. What gear you are wearing and how deep you have gone into your skill/ability tree dictates how far you have leveled. Your weapons consist of magic, guns, swords or clubs … all of which seem pretty cool. Your weapons are the only noticeable changes to your character as you swap gear in and out. You don’t receive chest, legs, feet or gloves. Your gear primarily consists of a weapon (or focus for magic users), a couple talisman, rings, neck, etc.

Ok, so what did I think. Its not a bad game. It’s different. I like the modern world aspect of the game. The artwork and graphics are pretty amazing but you will probably want a pretty decent video card and processor to properly experience the game. It’s not a game I would pay a subscription to play. Something that I didn’t like is that sometimes what you are suppose to do and where you are suppose to go for quests wasn’t very clear. I found myself just running around without a clue as to where to go until I stumbled onto the right path. Sometimes you have to “pause” current quests in order to pick up new quests so you can’t pick up everything and do them all at the same time.

The game definitely has potential but its not going to be the next WoW, in fact I doubt there will ever be a game that will generate the same player base and have the same impact as World of Warcraft. I’d say that if you get a chance to check it out for free, give it a shot, I think its going to be a game, like Aion, for the A.D.D Gamer who briefly needs something different.

Click here to go to The Secret World website.

Cheers!

Biggs On: Why I Still Play SWTOR

By

On June 22, 2012

In Biggs On, Gaming, SWTOR

It has been a tumultuous time for Bioware and EA lately. The layoffs, server mergers, and plummet in stock price has been a pretty grim omen for the game manufacturer. SWTOR and Bioware have been receiving some tough criticisms from the gaming community and its sad to see such negativity because honestly I really enjoy playing SWTOR. I would say I enjoy it more then WoW and a lot more then Diablo III (I just couldn’t get into Diablo III – I like DC Universe Online more then D3, but I digress).

All the things people complain are wrong with the game I don’t see as negatives. I enjoy the story, the quests, the gameplay, the feel of the game. I love how crafting works, combat, instances, raids, pvp and traveling between planets is an appropriate concept for the game because its freaking Star Wars! In fact there is very little that annoys me about the game; the harsh feedback and whining from the gaming community is more annoying then anything in the game.

Yes, it plays like WoW so I would agree that one could loosely suggest its a WoW clone, but when did that become a negative? It seems to me that creating a clone of a previously successful game was the formula for success. Case in point: WoW was labeled as a clone of EverQuest and some may even argue that EverQuest was a clone of something older then it (perhaps Lineage or Ultima Online). The point is, games are made to parallel their predecessors or competitors to entice players to try their game. The more alike the game is to something they have played before, the easier it is to keep them playing it.

I have no control over the destiny of SWTOR. If Bioware has to shut it down then I am going to try to keep playing it until that day. I do think that if they were successful in going to a Free-2-Play model they may see people come back in droves because it really is a fun game. The risk though is now that they are consolidating servers, if they get a sudden influx of returning (or new) players, it may cause over-population and performance issues. It’s a difficult line to walk especially since gamers these days are so fickle and the market is saturated with so many games.

In the end, these games are a business and therefore they must make money. I trust that Bioware and EA will do what is necessary to keep producing great games. Who knows, perhaps those people that are constantly whining and complaining are the minority because the people that are content with the state of the games are too busy playing them instead of crying to complete strangers (who don’t give a rip) on the Internet.

Cheers!

The MMO Times: Summertime Fun!

By

On June 22, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 37

Welcome back! It looks like I have become more diligent posting a new Times each week. Summer has arrived which means the countdown to some of summer’s biggest releases has begun. The Secret World will soon be out (July 3rd) but I know the most anticipated upcoming release is Guild Wars 2.

There is some exciting news in this issue. Some updates on the SWTOR server transfers (its good news for once), as well as news on its upcoming 1.3 update. Some exciting DC Universe news as well as MechWarrior Online, World of Tanks and The Secret World. By the way, yours truly has a beta invite to this weekends final beta test for The Secret World, I hope to get in there and check it out and maybe provide you all with a post about my thoughts and impressions.

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Soapbox: Gamers Lack Appreciation

By

On June 19, 2012

In Gaming, Soapbox

I was reading through a post on WoW Insider about Cataclysm and the author was discussing the things he liked and will miss about Cataclysm. Someone said something in the comments that, I think, explains why most gamers are spoiled, whining brats. Nobody appreciates the work and effort that goes into designing and developing these games. There will never be another MMO that will reach the number of users that World of Warcraft had because Blizzard has set the bar so high no game will ever satisfy that many gamers again. Gamers are so spoiled that now they expect every feature of WoW to be available at launch of any new MMO.

The mere thought of that last statement is hilarious almost to the point of absurdity. All games are developed in a closed source environment. Obviously Blizzard isn’t going to share its dungeon finder algorithm, for example, with Bioware or Trion. It doesn’t matter anymore that a majority of the features currently in World of Warcraft weren’t available at its launch, but apparently now they are a necessity for all new games. If a new game doesn’t have these features then its deemed “unfinished”.

The MMO gaming industry is cutthroat and volatile. The longer a company waits to deliver a new product the farther behind they will be so it becomes crucial from a profit and marketing philosophy to deliver something sooner rather than later. Nobody will ever release a product that is bug free and with every feature at launch. I remember how much grief players would give Blizzard on days when there were huge content patches that made the game almost unplayable. It was expected that nobody would be raiding on Tuesday nights because the game was incredibly unstable and buggy.

Perhaps the MMO genre has lost its edge. I see comments on posts (mostly on gaming news and blog sites) that they don’t like the “kill X number of Y” type of quests, or any kind of quest. I never see anyone offer alternative methods of leveling. Clearly they have a better idea for leveling then completing quests if they are complaining about it … or maybe they are just complaining because it makes them feel important.

I also see people complaining that Game X lacks any end game content when it actually has the same end game content all the other games have (i.e. raid, pvp, instances, dailies). What else do you want?!? If these games lack so many features, and clearly you know what features they should have, then submit your resume! I assure you that you will find out immediately why games take so long to make and what it takes to develop one.

I think the appalling lack of appreciation is lost because of blind ignorance!

/endsoapbox

The MMO Times: Back to Business

By

On June 14, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 36

Greetings Gamers! Now that all the fun and “geekery” of E3 is over and all of us are coming off our nerd-highs, its time to get back to business. We heard a lot of cool things that are in store for several of our favorite MMO franchises as well as some exciting news about upcoming console games (ex: Halo 4 and The Last of Us – check out the gameplay video).

As we move into the summer months, when there are usually big titles released for all of those on summer vacation, we are hearing more MoP, TERA and Diablo news. We will also have to say goodbye to another MMO as another difficult decision had to be made to shutdown the servers of a classic MMO with a good six year run. Details on the SWTOR server transfers, collector’s edition pets and mounts, and the RMAH (Real Money Auction House) can all be found in this issue. Enjoy!

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