Obligatory Feb post

It is the last day of February 2015.

Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns

Via the Twitters: Guild Wars 2 expansion, Heart of Thorns, announced.

To which I say:

Acceptable to be unacceptable?

As a Packers fan I just don't know what to say.  First, it is acceptable to lose in the NFC Championship game.

However, the way in which the Packers just lost the NFC Championship game is unacceptable.  It is unacceptable to lose when you have a 12 point lead with less than 5 minutes remaining.  It is unacceptable to botch special teams plays.  It is unacceptable to play an entire half of football in the National Football League like you are trying not to lose.  Go out; win the game.  Don't turtle in and mutter "how the fuck did that just happen" when the other team plays to win and does in fact win.

I have never been physically ill after a game.  I can't eat dinner right now.  I can't even determine if this is real.  Someone pinch me.

Thank you Green Bay and Seattle for an amazing game.

Merry Christmas 2014

Yadda, yadda.

Yep

GPU upgrade time: XFX Double Dissipation R9-290X-EDFD Radeon R9 290X

It was 2009 when I last upgraded my computers GPU (aka video card) to an EVGA GTX 260.  That little baby has served me for over five years and is still ticking away without problem.  However, it was becoming extremely noticeable in games like Guild Wars 2 and Bioshock Infinite that I was playing on outdated hardware.  Even though I had more ram and a SSD speeding things up the message was all but clear as my machine continued to come to a crawl during intensive graphical encounters.

So I waited all Black Friday and no great deals surfaced (at least ones I could get to before they sold out).  I checked all weekend.  I checked all of Cyber Monday.  Nothing.  Then the day after, Giving Tuesday as it is apparently called, an R9 290X surfaced for $299 after rebate via NewEgg.  Not as great as the $249 R9 290X deals I missed on Black Friday, but good enough for me to pull the trigger.

Proud new owner of this:

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens Official Teaser Trailer #1

Hell to the yeah.

Black Friday Gaming Deals

Its that fateful day of the year where our wallets scream in terror: Black Friday.

The fall Steam sale is already in full swing.  Check it out here.  General Steam sale reminders:
1. Don't buy a game unless its on the daily sale.
2. On the last day of the sale buy any game you wanted that was not on the daily deal.
3. Buy early as sometimes the number of copies of a game on daily sale are limited!
4. You can use http://isthereanydeal.com/ to see if a game is on sale cheaper somewhere else with a copy that will activate on Steam.

Another great place for Black Friday game deals is Amazon, albeit not as organized as one would like.  The first place to start is on the limited-time (aka lightning) deals page here.  You can set the category at the right hand side to PC & Video Games or Toys & Games (for board games).  Note: these things sell out fast, sometimes within a matter of seconds.  Keep an eye on the sales coming up in the future so you know when to be there to try and snag a copy.  If you see "Join Waitlist" that means it was gobbled up, but if a clicker does not check out with the sales price the copy will go back in the pool.

For board/card gaming it is best to keep an eagle eye on Board Game Geek's Hot Deals forum.  Users post deals all day long to this forum.  On Black Friday it can move quick so keep an eye posted.  Keep in mind for board gaming, shipping costs will often kill any great deals.  Look for sites that have free shipping on orders of a certain size like Cool Stuff Inc that has free shipping for orders over $100.

For anyone venturing into the real world; may you go bravely and return safely.  Also don't punch any kids...


...unless its for the last one on the shelf.

Be Thankful

Have a great day everyone and be thankful.

Why am I playing Archeage?

The question dawned on me last night: why am I playing Archeage?  I wasn't playing Archeage at the time.  I was playing Guild Wars 2 and rolling through the beginner Sylvari area as a level 59 Necromancer and I was having more fun than at any moment in 35 levels of Archeage.  I dinged 60 in short order, completed some more hearts (Guild Wars 2's version of quests), and tagged along with a few players running completing dynamic events.

Like Guild Wars 2 (GW2), I got into Archeage for the promise of the player contested end game.  In GW2 it was the end game World vs World vs World (affectionately known as WuvWuv).  In Archeage it is the end game promise of open sea pirating, castle sieges, home ownership, and exceptional breast physics.  The journey to get to these end game states was not going to weigh on me.  I am an MMO veteran since the days of MUDs.  Grinding is an accepted activity.  There is not game without pain first.

The actual truth of the matter is: I am an MMO veteran.  I'm sick of the grind.  I'm tired of chasing the plus one shiny.  Here is the heart of Archeage's problem.  There is literally not a game while leveling.  The questing and leveling is generic.  Quest givers are almost always situated within a split second walk of the end target.  There is no encouragement to explore off the beaten path.  In contrast, GW2 rewards me for every single thing I do.  GW2 guides players to explore everywhere and do everything and now with their megaserver technology there is always other people to play with.

Archeage questing and leveling is quintessential grind.  It serves no purpose.  I am not "learning the game" as so often is used as a defense for the leveling grind.  I don't feel like I am building towards anything.  I've been using the same four or so attacks since I first started the game.  There is no incentive for me to change up how I attack the content.  Target, 1, 2, 3, 4.  Repeat until dead.  It is mind-numbing.

All of this boredom is occurring while I read about rifts, and open sea pirates, and castles getting claimed and all of the things that I don't get to do because I'm locked into immortal grinding hell with the next exclamation point.  Compare to Guild Wars 2; at any time I am a couple clicks away from a world boss or WvWvW match or a random walk away from engaging content.  Everything, again, rewards the player in GW2.  I really don't have any reason to want to skip to level 80.  I am actually "learning the game" as I level.  Archeage, as a freemium game, really needs an option to pay up to get to the end game instantly.  I have (had?) enough interest to pay up once and get to a point where I could start what interested me in the game: housing, pirating, breasts.

The irony of all this is that Archeage has huge issues with a burgeoning playerbase seeking more land, more boats, more everything that is not the leveling grind.  All of the questing areas could just as easily be turned into housing areas and land would hopefully open to the masses.  Give players the ability to put quest givers in their home.  There are so many other ways for Archeage to present itself so that all of the cool things that it offers are part of the game.

Why am I playing Archeage? I really don't know.  It's fun from the perspective of promise but the actual journey is one I am thinking I'd rather not take.  There are other games, like Guild Wars 2, which does the "free 2 play" moniker better justice by asking for my money up front and giving me a good experience on the back end.