[LotRO] Lag Silliness

It actually hasn’t been bad in a while, mostly. Just some occasional rubberbanding or slow responses in inventory for the most part anymore. Even so… I feel this video pretty hard…. Assuming the embed works. Becuz it says it can’t preview it in the editor. And if I go to the actual preview page it also doesn’t appear to actually be embedding the video, just showing a link.

Scratch that. Played with it a bit and now it’s showing in the visual editor, but not in the preview mode. Hopefully it stays. But if not, here’s the link — https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=324154468812338

Also, this new editor sucks. And the option to switch back isn’t in the menu where the articles says it’s supposed to be. Grrr…

[LOTRO] Trying It Out Again

Rivendell sure is pretty

A rather long time ago… late 2006 or early 2007, there was a beta release/playtest period for Lord of the Rings Online.  I took advantage of it and played with some friends who loved the idea of a game in Tolkien’s world, but at the time I was very heavily invested in EQ2 still, and to be perfectly frank, I liked the story of LotR well enough when I read it back in high school, but I’d also never felt the desire to re-read the trilogy, so the world itself didn’t really have much in the way of a draw for me.  I was single at the time and a raider in EQ2 with several characters capped out, so the thought of starting a new MMO didn’t have much appeal for me, so I played in the beta a few times, but didn’t end up buying the game or subbing to it, despite the entreaties of my friends who loved it and bought lifetime subscriptions.

After it went F2P I at least installed it, thinking I’d give it another look, but I was into other games at the time and what little I did try didn’t really “click” with me either.  I vaguely recall “working hard” to get a Lore-Master to level 14 to unlock the bear tank pet, thinking it would be a nice change from the raven pet you started with then, but then was disappointed in the bear pet and ended up deleting that character to make room for a minstrel.  I picked at the minstrel here and there over the years, but when I logged in and found it again, it was only level 12, so I obviously didn’t do too much with it.

That is a rather large statue. A colossus, one could say…

Anyway, this all leads up to with this summer and Standing Stone Games doing that “free quests” giveaway due to all the craziness in the world this year and Syp’s posts about it over the summer, I decided to give it another go.  Apparently in my prior attempt to get into the game I’d tossed some cash at it, as I had a decent stock of the cash currency in-place and I want to say I have a vague memory of having to pay to unlock the Warden and Rune-Keeper classes, so….  I logged in to the Brandywine server, as I recalled that name, and my old characters were there, but I didn’t really remember any of them, so I decided I’d just do a fresh start, so I moved over to the Landroval server instead.

My beef with the game before was that it introduced skills so slowly that no matter what class one picked, it still largely felt like “MMO #217” rather than anything unique, and since the world itself had no draw for me…  This time I researched the classes a bit more and found that I could level to the mid-teens in just a few hours (I remember feeling like leveling was a slog before), at least.  Still and all, the 1st little bit still played like “MMO #217” and didn’t impress me, so I decided to try each class and get it to level 23 (where the final Virtue slot unlocks and almost halfway to the original level cap of 50) figuring that should give me enough under the belt to get more of a feel for what’s unique about the different classes in this game.

I also subbed to the game as paying for 2 months gets you 3 and gets rid of a bunch of annoyances, 2 bonus character slots, and gives cash-shop currency equal to $20-ish in value, all for $30, so… seemed a good deal.  I also feel more inclined to play a game I’m subbed to in order to feel like I’m getting my money’s worth from it, so it may encourage me to stick to the game a bit more than before.

I’ve almost reached my goal of everything to 23.  I’ve actually got the Hunter to 33 (this was planned initially to be the “ez-mode main” before I got the idea of trying everything) and I was enjoying the questing enough on the Warden that I didn’t notice that I skipped past 23 to 26.  Oddly, enough this happened despite my not really caring for the warden much.

My Hunter

I tend to favor ranged/mage classes in any game anymore, and that seems to be holding true here also, as my 2 favorites are the Hunter (blue line, to allow mobility despite this being said to be the “bad” specialization) and the Rune Keeper (yellow line, to allow mobility and also said to be better than the red line anyway).  Lore-Master’s not bad and I note that the tanking bear is now granted at level 1 with the raven coming later.  I enjoy all the CC the class has got, but when solo questing it’s more about mowing through mobs and other classes do that better.  Minstrel’s fine too, but doesn’t seem to “do it” for me.

The melee classes are all “fine” but none really do much for me either.  I think I like the Beorning the best of them, though after a slow start the Champion really felt like it took off in the late teens.  Captain’s ok, but doesn’t quite “click” with me.  Guardian’s designed as a tank class, so even the red dps spec they gave it for solo leveling just doesn’t quite feel like it’s got the “oomph” I want, which is further compounded by the skills not being reliably available since so many rely on a defensive proc in order to be able to use them.  Warden’s got so many skills to use in order to create the gambits that the learning curve feels steeper than I’d like for “optimum play.”  It’s been fine mostly just using the base skills so far, but in reading up on it the rotation for use that goes from the various mastery skills to the basics and back seemed overly complex, so… meh.  I’ve never been fond of stealth/rogue style gameplay in MMO’s so I held the Burglar for last.  I’ve got it to level 18 now, so it’s got a little to go before I hit 23 on it, but shouldn’t be much more than another evening or 2.  But as it is, I’m thinking I’ll just continue with the Hunter as my main once I have the level 23 baseline established, with a possibility of doing the “RK” from time to time for a little bit of variety.

There’s a concert and dancing by the Prancing Pony in Bree on most nights, it seems.

Happy gaming out there!

EQ2 verses LotRO Free to Play

As the days go by, more and more games seem to be jumping on the (what I will term) “Freemium” band wagon. They’re not exactly Free to Play because you can barely play them without spending *something* but certain aspects of the game are free, and you can get by paying a lot less then the regular monthly subscription fee if you want (especially if you’re a casual gamer, and wait for deals).

Surprisingly enough I have NOT been playing the Lord of the Rings Online as a free to play member. I’ve got VIP access until February because I purchased a bunch of 60 day time cards for cheap before the game went F2P. I have been reading up on everything though, and I’ve got a few friends who are playing as cheaply as they can as a test. We’ll call it our online roulette games experiment for the time being, my money is on LotRO being the ‘cheaper’ way of playing compared to EverQuest 2.

I am far more likely to play LotRO as a ‘free’ game then lets say, EQ2, and I’m going to explain why with a few points that really stand out to me as being winners.

• – Turbine points can be obtained in game for completing deeds. This is a great selling point to me. If you enjoy completing every single deed and title you can get your hands on then you’re going to earn yourself turbine points that you can spend in their store. You may even be more willing to spend a few dollars here and there to round out the points you have earned when you make purchases. After all, if they can entice you to spend a little when you would have spent nothing, that’s good. You don’t feel like you’re spending that much because after all, you’ve EARNED points, you just want a few extra to pick up that <whatever> from the store. I am far more likely to spend a smaller amount numerous times, then one large amount.
• – Items in the store are pretty cheap. A piece of cosmetic gear could be as low as 100 turbine points, or as much as 295. Each 100 turbine points is $1 which means you’re not even paying $3 for a nice piece of cosmetic gear. I’ve seen some stores that sell appearance gear for as much as $25 – the smaller your prices SEEM (even if you’re selling each piece individually) the better. I don’t want to buy an entire set, some times I just want a chest piece, or a back piece. I’m far more likely to spend $2 then $25. The most expensive items are the shared vault, and mounts and even those are a far more reasonable price then a lot of games I’ve peeked in at.
• – Sales. If you’re patient, you can purchase what you “need” over the course of time at a very reduced price. For example the riding skill was 75% off a few weeks ago. I picked it up for my characters for less then $1. Three adventure packs were also on sale for 75% off, less then $1 per adventure pack (three were for sale) which is fantastic. Wait long enough and I have no doubt that even more items will go on sale, enticing players to spend just a little bit here and there. If you get a large number of people purchasing a little bit here and there you more then make up for the few who would have paid the $15 subscription fee.
• – VIP perks. As a VIP I have access to everything in game AND I earn myself 500 “free” points a month. Why is this great? Because when my account finally lapses from VIP I’ll have stored up enough points to continue playing on as a free to play customer – an idea that I absolutely love. I also get accustomed to their store as I purchase a few items (mostly appearance so far) here and there with my points.

That doesn’t mean I love everything about this new model, there are a lot of restrictions that I don’t enjoy. Skirmishes, channels, etc. that are locked without making purchases or being VIP etc. I’ve never been against F2P, or Freemium, or any other idea that follows, call it what you will. What I do have issues with is how some games have implemented these ideas, namely EQ2 (as of late). I was a fan of Wizard 101 for a good while, loving the idea of unlocking content as I came to it rather then purchasing $15/m for something I may only play twice.

My issue with EQ2X is as follows:

• – Separate servers from the main player base. I think this was an incredibly poor idea, no matter how many times the red names on forums say that they had the best interest of the players at heart. It turned into an us (regular live servers) vs. them (freemium players) model instead of trying to merge all of your players into one happy family.
• – The cost of items. Things are expensive. Cosmetic gear especially. I am not going to be buying a handful of things in EQ2X for the same price that I would in LotRO, which makes me less likely to spend anything at all as I have to hum and haw over what I’m going to spend my money on.
• – The confusing tiers of subscription plans and what they all unlock. It is not needed. In order to get the “full” subscription to EQ2X you’re paying $18/m on an EQ2X server vs. $15/m on a ‘live’ server. Wha? That also STILL does not unlock everything, as races require further payment.
• – The cost to copy a character from a live server to the EQ2X server. It’s $25 to MOVE a character between live servers. It’s $35 to copy your character to an EQ2X server. I don’t understand the need for that cost, either make it the same amount or simply don’t allow it at all and have everyone start from scratch. Is this an attempt to discourage the current player base from moving over to EQ2X? If so it’s a poor attempt.

Those are my main issues. As you can see it’s nothing to do with what is in the shops, but how the basic designs are set up. With LotRO I don’t feel as though I am being pressured to spending a lot of cash. In EQ2X I feel as though they’re trying to milk players for all they’re worth and then some. Perhaps this is unfair of me, after all you CAN play EQ2X completely free IF you are satisfied with what you will get. That means incredibly limited everything. Gear, spells, classes, and races. Now for some, this is not an issue, but I hardly go to a free to play game expecting it to actually be free, I’m always going to spend *something* – I just think that turbine did a far better job setting their games up.

General Musings

EQ2:  Just had a double XP weekend.  Every xp type was doubled, so using the AA slider to convert combat xp to AA xp made for some interesting gains — quests in a level range to normally give 5-6% were giving 22-35%.  I am not complaining in any way…. I set my sliders pretty high since AA seems to come so much slower than leveling xp.  If anything, I am complaining I only got to play maybe 3 or 4 hours over the weekend 😦  Still… I got almost 40 AA’s on my warlock — enough to get her the Shadows endlines.  I only wish I’d had more time to play on my inquisitor — I only got about 15 AA’s for that character, but would have loved to get a lot more.  Such is life.

EVE:  I took a break for the weekend to focus on EQ2 instead.  Fortunately we’re at the beginning of the month, so I’ll be able to make up the difference on my PI quota well before the end of the month.  The downside of having the PI quota though, is that I don’t really log in for fleet/gang ops, since I know I’ll be spending 45+ minutes each day doing PI, so I just don’t bother otherwise.  Add in that in my region of space an new alliance is taking over, so the jump bridges aren’t back in place yet, so getting to where the action is is a little tough right now and. . . well, there ya go.

LOTRO:  I got a 1 week beta key a few weeks ago, and it was fun enough and didn’t feel overly restrictive in the F2P area.  I got an email the other day saying I could log in for the head start today, but when I click the link in the email it errors out.  Not really confidence inspiring, especially given the buggy state of their points store while I was in the beta.

DDO:  I keep forgetting to log in for my Tuesday night guild run, and I’m focused enough on EQ2 right now that I’m not really playing at any other time either.  I have been working a little bit on my monk, and also I started a Rogue/Ranger with the plan to use the “Exploiter” build, but as an Elf using scimitars, rather than a Human using Khopeshes.  I’ve got it to level 6 now (1 rogue, 5 ranger) so in 1 more level I get to take my Tempest prestige class.  Perhaps I’ll even start dual-wielding then.  Up until now I’ve been enjoying the high armor class I’ve got from having a good shield.  I’m told that the “sword ‘n board” style is actually fairly comparable to dual wielding up until about level 12 anymore, so. . . .we’ll see.  Now if only they could steal EQ2’s broker system and the Profit UI’s market functions for it.

Free Realms:  My kids love this game, so I bought them a 3-month sub back at the beginning of the summer.  They went home about a month ago and it hasn’t been touched since.  Which is kinda odd, becuz I actually do find it a relaxing escape every once in a while, but…. too many other games to play and things to do, I suppose.

SWTOR’s Hype: Hopefully the game lives up to it, but from what I’ve seen from their press releases and from people blogging about it, there are going to be a ton of unmet hopes/dreams/expectations.  I don’t really think it will be fair since it seems that so many people are building it up in their own minds as the “WoW Killer” and when they find it’s going to be “just another MMO” I think there will be a lot of backlash… and for no reason other than people worked themselves up, not becuz the game won’t be fun.  It just won’t be exactly as they dreamed.  I know I’m looking forward to it, and as a result I’ve tried to avoid the hype lately.  I’m trying to go into it without any preconceived notions about it being the next best thing.

Warhammer:  I have the “unlimited trial” installed, but I forget it’s there.  And frankly, I haven’t even gotten any character up to the “cap” for the trial yet.  I don’t know why, I don’t feel like anything’s “wrong” with it, and I LOVE the public quests.  I guess it just doesn’t feel like anything sets it apart from any other fantasy-themed MMO.

And there ya have it….. random musings on the MMO scene.

LOTRO F2P beta Thoughts

Mordor Or Bust recently gave away 100 beta codes for LOTRO’s F2P testing, and I was able to snag one.  I’ve not played LotRO before and never felt inclined to pick it up due to my love of EQ2, but hey. . . I’m a nomad anymore.  Still have EQ2 and EVE, but am more open to trying new things out, especially if they’re F2P 😉

So I’m logging in and finding I’ve only got 4 races to play with.  Not a big deal since I’m usually an elf anyway.  Still and all, I wanted to try out a Warden, but needed Turbine Points to unlock it.  Not a problem, though, because the beta key also came with a code for 5000 beta TP’s!  So I bought that class, an extra character slot, and also the other locked class of Rune Keeper while I was at it.  And I went with the race of Man for my Warden.  Character creation was pretty straight forward — no worries about gimping a character like one can do in DDO, and I was soon fighting  brigands and saving Rangers from Nazgul in the tutorial.  At level 1 I had 3 abilities plus auto-attack, and in the tutorial that was of  course plenty.  From the tutorial I found myself in the small town of Archet, running a few tasks to try to figure out if the place was safe or if we needed to be worried about an impending attack.

And of course there was an impending attack once I’d completed all the other available quests.  And thus the game “truly began” at level 8.

At this point, the Warden seems a pretty powerful class.  My only real annoyance with it is its reliance on “gambits.”  Each gambit tends to do a bit of additional damage as well as throwing up a short-duration buff.  As you gain more gambits, you start trying to rotate though them all in order to keep the buffs up.  Or if you are taking more damage than you want you can just keep running through the self-healing one.  Still and all….it’s rather spammy.  Attack-Attack-Gambit!  Attack-Shield Bash-Gambit!  Shield Bash-Attack-Gambit!  Shield Bash-Shield Bash-Gambit!  Taunt-Taunt-Gambit!  Attack-Taunt-Gambit!  Yeah…. at level 8 I already had 6 gambit combos.  Most mobs died after only 2 or maybe 3 combos, so for the most part I just went with “Attack-Attack-Gambit!” over and over again, with the occasional leading off with the self-healing one if I thought it would be a slightly harder fight with multiple mobs.  I can see how vs tougher mobs in dungeons later on getting a nice rotation through the various gambits would be helpful as well, but for soloing in the lower levels, it actually seemed a bit of a kludge.

With the 2nd character slot I’d “bought” I then created a Dwarf Rune Keeper.  The affinity attribute it has for casting attack, balanced, or healing spells was an interesting mechanic, but in the lower levels it also was kinda kludgy.  Nearly every new ability I got up through level 8 was an attack spell and thus increased attack affinity making healing a bit interesting to say the least.  Pre-casting a heal before a fight would give healing affinity and then I couldn’t cast an attack spell for a few seconds until the affinity faded.  The overall feeling was “this is a mage, but we gave it healing ability to help with the typical healer shortage all MMO’s have.”  It feels like in a group later on  that the class could take the role of either dps or healing, but not both, thanks to the affinity system.  I still don’t know if I think that’s genius or completely moronic.  Especially as the healing I was capable of at level 8 seemed decidedly sub-par.  Perhaps in later levels more healing runes are obtained?  Perhaps I’ll find out someday.

I still had a bunch of the TP, so decided to try another character out by buying another couple of slots.  But the store interface would only let my do 1 at a time.  How crappy.  I tried buying it more than once, and also tried to set a quantity on it, but neither thing worked.  I simply got told “you already have this in your cart” if I tried to buy a 2nd time, and the quantity dropdown only had a 1 in it.  And then I ran into another problem — one can only purchase items from the store 1x in a 24 hour period.

Thwarted, I logged out for the night.

Next day I logged in again and went to buy the items I’d tried to get the prior day.  Except now I couldn’t because even though it hadn’t let me buy the items, it had still deducted the TP amount from my account, so now my balance was too low.

Tried to report it as a bug, but the bug report command simply takes you to the generic beta forum.  I logged in, and hit “submit a bug” link at the top of the forum, and got in a wonderful endless loop of “click link, get told to log in again, find yourself at the forum.”

I deleted the 2 characters and started over.  This time with an Elf Minstrel and a Man Lore Master.  Yeah, no Hobbits for me.  I’ve never liked “short races” and just don’t play them.  No idea why, just. . .don’t.

Anyway, the Lore Master was kinda fun, especially after about level 4 when I got a few more abilities and wasn’t auto-attacking mobs beating on me while my nuke was on cooldown.  I didn’t take it very far though, since I was repeating the Man starter area and wanted to see how the elf one was.

So… off to try the Elf healer.  Holy spammy combat again!  And like the Warden’s Gambits, it’s set so you go “starter, next ability, finisher” except they call them Tier 1, 2, and 3 ballads.  And oddly enough, while they do damage to mobs and add some healing effects to yourself (and I would hope your group later on), your actual healing songs are completely outside of this mechanic.  This leads to the same feeling I had with the Rune Keeper — I can heal, or I can fight, but I can’t do both.  I don’t know if that’s how it shakes out in higher levels, but that’s the feel of the lower levels, and that makes me go “yawn” and wish for my EQ2 Fury or Inquisitor, or even my DDO “Lord of the Blades” Favored Soul instead.

So my overall conclusion is:  It’s F2P and I’ve got disk space, so I’ll probably leave it installed and play it from time to time as “something different” but I highly doubt that I’ll ever make this into a “main game.”  I will probably buy enough TP to unlock a few character slots, the 2 extra bags, and the 2 classes, but then I’d be done with paying anything more for it at that point.