Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: Biggs On Page 10 of 13

Biggs On: Why I Still Play WoW

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On July 9, 2012

In Biggs On, World of Warcraft

I decided that since I wrote a post on why I still play The Old Republic, I thought perhaps I should do the same for World of Warcraft. I actually have an active subscription for both games. I have been playing WoW since it was a year old and I have many friends (most of which I know in their physical form) that are still playing as well. Most of us are on the same server and in the same guild. We don’t care about how our guild does compared to other guilds on the server, we just play to hang out. We all know that we have our own lives and that sometimes we can’t log in and raid because life happens.

My friends are predominately the reason I still play WoW, but there are other facets of the game that I still enjoy. I know the game has changed tremendously since vanilla and many people have criticized Blizzard for making those changes. While I understand their viewpoint, I think they are being a bit obtuse. The game has to evolve. Only a small percentage of the player base were experiencing the bulk of the content, if Blizzard hadn’t evolved the game to appeal to more players the game would have died years ago. I’m glad they got rid of 40-man raids and implemented 10-man raids. I love the dungeon finder tool and transmog. All of these changes improved the quality of life of the game and are the other reasons I keep logging in.

I doubt I will play WoW until the servers shut down, it all depends on what life brings for me and my friends. Despite my feelings for the name of the expansion, odds are that I will be playing Mists of Pandaria. I’m not really looking forward to the changes to the talent system but I’m sure I will adjust, just as I did for all the other expansions where they made dramatic changes. In a few days it will seem natural again and I’m willing to give the new talent system a chance. Perhaps after 6 years of trying to meticulously construct the perfect build, it will be nice to only have to worry about six talents.

I’m also kind of a fan of the Asian culture and I’ve always been a big martial arts fan. I’m looking forward to making my own “kung fu panda”, I’m already working on some names so I will be ready at launch. I don’t know if I am going to buy the collector’s edition. I’m not sure that I am as much into the game as I was for Lich King and Cataclysm. I might just buy the digital version instead of going to Best Buy at midnight.

Blizzard has done a fantastic job with World of Warcraft and I’m glad that I chose to make it my hobby because I have made some terrific friends. It’s also been fun to unexpectedly meet a complete stranger because they yelled “For The Horde!” when they saw your Blizzard t-shirt.

Cheers!

Biggs On: The Secret World

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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

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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!

Biggs On: Why Microsoft Is Dying

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On June 4, 2012

In Biggs On, Technology

Despite the fact that I make my living providing Microsoft solutions using .NET, many know that I have never been a big fan of Microsoft. I stated that because I want to be upfront about my past feelings and that I am going to try not to let those feelings influence this topic. I am going to discuss this based on my interpretation of the evidence I see in the industry today. I think that Microsoft is no longer a leader but frantically playing catch-up instead.

Windows OS – It took Microsoft 7 versions to finally get Windows right (with Windows 7) and now they are going to screw it all up with Windows 8. While I have heard that the latest beta build of Windows 8 is much more stable, people are still struggling with its interface. It’s not very intuitive on a desktop which is what I had been saying since the beginning. It’s the Microsoft curse that every “even” version of Windows is garbage. Unfortunately for Microsoft the OS is the only thing they have left in the PC market that may be generating revenue, though unfortunately for us Windows is the only OS we can buy for a PC. Although, more and more people are switching to Apple.

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Biggs On: The House Finale

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On May 29, 2012

In Biggs On

After eight seasons, Hugh Laurie is hanging up the cane. While I know that all the characters are fictional and that Princeton Plainsboro doesn’t exist, House was still a pretty big part of my reality. The cast and crew of House have made amazing television over the past eight years and I wish all of them luck in their new projects. I intend to keep close tabs on a few of them to see where they go to next. I was very upset when I heard that FOX was not going to renew House for another season and I’m still pretty upset with FOX because I feel like they forced Hugh Laurie to end the series so FOX could free up the time slot. Why do that to such a successful series, especially when we barely got to know Park and Masters.

At any rate, this post is about my impressions of the finale and not whining about another great showing getting “FOXed”.

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Biggs On: Diablo III

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On May 16, 2012

In Biggs On, Gaming

This post is probably a bit premature and perhaps I will be writing a retraction in the near future but I thought I would express my impressions and concerns about Diablo III. I’m sure any of my gaming friends reading that first statement are probably surprised by the subtext it creates about my impression of Diablo III.

Generally I feel like Diablo III is the bored man’s game. Granted I have never played any of the previous iterations of Diablo, and I have spent the past 6+ years playing MMO’s exclusively. Perhaps the pace of WoW and The Old Republic have created an expectation that is counter to the pace of Diablo. I am so accustomed to using both hands to play a game that I find myself trying to find something else to do while I am frantically clicking the left and right mouse buttons.

I think the mouse is part of the problem. I’m actually not a big fan of the mouse. In WoW and TOR I only really use the mouse to adjust the camera angle, beyond that I try to do everything with the keyboard. Click to move is pretty annoying and one of the reasons why I couldn’t get into other MMOs that used that mechanism for movement; then again that probably just stems from my preference of the keyboard over the mouse.

I do think it’s visually stunning. The graphics are really slick and the carnage from killing a mob (or mobs) makes Diablo III a great way to relieve stress … in a sadistic, masochistic way. There have been a few times when the slaughter that resulted from a new ability had me laughing maniacally, and I’m sure the gore only gets better as the levels get higher.

Perhaps as I level more my impression will change, but at this point I feel like I can read a book and just blindly click my way to level 60. I am pretty far behind in the Game of Thrones series …

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