Bad news for any Tabula Rasa fans, it is being delayed; again. The plan now is to launch Tabula Rasa at the end of October to pre-order customers and a live launch on November 2.
The development team wants some more time to test a recent overhaul of the crafting system and give beta testers the chance to test out the new high level areas. In any case, it means another delay added onto a long list of delays that have kept Tabula Rasa out of gamer's hands.
Personally, this kills any chance I would be interested in playing the title. Team Fortress 2 is almost officially here (it is in pre-order beta atm) and if a certain other beta invitation ever goes through I will have another MMOG to play around in. Sorry, Tabula Rasa. Wrong place, wrong time, and a complete failure to turn me on.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
The Media Does Not Understand Gaming
The mainstream media does not understand gaming and it is truly sad when they try. Click here or view below for proof.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Does The End Game Really Matter?
This post over at MPOGD.com has me thinking; does the end game of an MMORPG matter at all in its ultimate success or failure?
If you take the raw number of players that actively participate in end game raids in World of Warcraft and simply remove them from the total number of subscribers, World of Warcraft would still hold several million players. So, doesn't that mean that World of Warcraft would be popular without that end game content? Seriously, it is estimated that less than 2% of WoW's NA/EU user-base has actually stepped foot into an end game instance.
World of Warcraft is just one example, both of a game and of an end game model. What other models are there and what do they mean to the game as a whole?
Please discuss.
If you take the raw number of players that actively participate in end game raids in World of Warcraft and simply remove them from the total number of subscribers, World of Warcraft would still hold several million players. So, doesn't that mean that World of Warcraft would be popular without that end game content? Seriously, it is estimated that less than 2% of WoW's NA/EU user-base has actually stepped foot into an end game instance.
World of Warcraft is just one example, both of a game and of an end game model. What other models are there and what do they mean to the game as a whole?
Please discuss.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Dear Blizzard, PvP is a Mess
Dear Blizzard,
PvP in World of Warcraft is an absolute mess.
Players that were not fortunate enough to participate in the first two Arena seasons are now at a distinct disadvantage. E-Z mode epics are no longer attainable for lesser geared players to become competitive. Alas, the tried and true MMORPG rule, exploit early, exploit often (or abuse early, abuse often), is proven once again.
Also, the Arena system is severely imbalanced towards OBVIOUSLY overpowered class and skill combinations. It does not take a rocket scientist to look at the number of each class represented in the top 100 teams to recognize the problem.
Yet, for two full seasons these problems have been ignored and players have been allowed to gain superior quality items with little effort. But now, anyone coming into the system will not have the same opportunity.
The battlegrounds are in no better shape. Warsong Gulch is a bore fest; either ending extremely fast or going for hours on end. Eye of the Storm rarely actually fills with enough players for both teams and usually ends due to lack of players.
Alterac Valley has been designated an AFK zone for Horde players. Patch 2.2.0 was supposed to fix this, but alas your "AFK flagging" system was a broken design that is now punishing honest players while AFKers simply "buff a guard" to collect honor. On top of this, the map in Alterac Valley is still heavily skewed towards the Alliance.
Fortunately, Arathi Basin is somewhat balanced and still fun to play. Unfortunately, all the fucking rewards for battlegrounds absolutely fucking suck compared to the Arena rewards. Would it be so hard to update the fucking rewards?
Sadly, open world PvP is the worst aspect of World of Warcraft PvP. There is almost no point to playing on a PvP server. Rarely do you find any PvP in the open world that is not just someone getting ganked. Ganking is not PvP. Very little honor is gained for open world fighting compared to the immense amount that is given for battlegrounds. Also, most of The Burning Crusade objective-based PvP encounters are boring and exploitable.
Blizzard, you suck at PvP.
Yours truly,
Heartless Gamer
PS. Warlocks really need another way to make players run around helplessly as they die.
PvP in World of Warcraft is an absolute mess.
Players that were not fortunate enough to participate in the first two Arena seasons are now at a distinct disadvantage. E-Z mode epics are no longer attainable for lesser geared players to become competitive. Alas, the tried and true MMORPG rule, exploit early, exploit often (or abuse early, abuse often), is proven once again.
Also, the Arena system is severely imbalanced towards OBVIOUSLY overpowered class and skill combinations. It does not take a rocket scientist to look at the number of each class represented in the top 100 teams to recognize the problem.
Yet, for two full seasons these problems have been ignored and players have been allowed to gain superior quality items with little effort. But now, anyone coming into the system will not have the same opportunity.
The battlegrounds are in no better shape. Warsong Gulch is a bore fest; either ending extremely fast or going for hours on end. Eye of the Storm rarely actually fills with enough players for both teams and usually ends due to lack of players.
Alterac Valley has been designated an AFK zone for Horde players. Patch 2.2.0 was supposed to fix this, but alas your "AFK flagging" system was a broken design that is now punishing honest players while AFKers simply "buff a guard" to collect honor. On top of this, the map in Alterac Valley is still heavily skewed towards the Alliance.
Fortunately, Arathi Basin is somewhat balanced and still fun to play. Unfortunately, all the fucking rewards for battlegrounds absolutely fucking suck compared to the Arena rewards. Would it be so hard to update the fucking rewards?
Sadly, open world PvP is the worst aspect of World of Warcraft PvP. There is almost no point to playing on a PvP server. Rarely do you find any PvP in the open world that is not just someone getting ganked. Ganking is not PvP. Very little honor is gained for open world fighting compared to the immense amount that is given for battlegrounds. Also, most of The Burning Crusade objective-based PvP encounters are boring and exploitable.
Blizzard, you suck at PvP.
Yours truly,
Heartless Gamer
PS. Warlocks really need another way to make players run around helplessly as they die.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Down With The Sickness
Everyone seems to be getting sick lately. My boss was sick, my co-worker is sick, two of my instructors are sick, and everyday friends are dropping. Hell, even our dog was sick (but because of surgery, not the flu). Even the mighty Zonk may soon fall!
Worst of all, I am sick and it's been up and down for two weeks now.
Worst of all, I am sick and it's been up and down for two weeks now.
World of Warcraft Patch 2.2.0 Today
World of Warcraft is patching to version 2.2.0 today. I will hopefully post links to WoW Patch 2.2 downloads later.
The biggest new feature is voice chat:
Oh, and a side note, they nerfed Shamans again:
The biggest new feature is voice chat:
Voice Chat - The new Voice Chat feature is now available in game. Players will need to go into the options menu under Sound & Voice to activate it. Volume sliders are available for the microphone, speakers, and game-audio fade (which automatically lowers the game audio when a voice communication is received), as is a “push-to-talk” setting. Right-clicking on a player’s name now includes the option to mute or unmute that player. Muting another player blocks all voice chat from him or her; the ignore feature now blocks both voice chat and text chat from that player.It should definitely be a good week for WoW parody websites, WoW comics, and most definitely for the guys over at Ventrilo Harassment. However, for me it will probably be more than a week before I even have a new mic to use. I was never a huge fan of voice chat, but it definitely has it's advantages and I can't deny that I will probably be using it.
Oh, and a side note, they nerfed Shamans again:
Earthbind Totem: This totem will no longer break Rogue stealth.Because all the Shamans in WoW know how useful totems are for popping rogues. I just don't know what to do as a shaman with half of my crowd control now somewhat nerfed.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Green Bay Packers
I am a huge Green Bay Packers fan. I was born near Green Bay and my blood runs cold, dark, and green.
The Packers took home a win today against the San Diego Chargers and in the process, Brett Favre tied Dan Marino's all-time touchdown mark. Congratulations Brett. I will always be a fan.
The Packers took home a win today against the San Diego Chargers and in the process, Brett Favre tied Dan Marino's all-time touchdown mark. Congratulations Brett. I will always be a fan.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Following Failure With Failure
It seems that closing the doors on Auto Assault isn't the only thing Netdevil is up to these days. MMOsite has the news that Netdevil has announced another post apocalyptic MMOG, entitled Warmonger. The basics: Warmonger will be an action-oriented MMO FPS set in a post apocalyptic future.
The kicker? It won't just be vehicles this time. Players can blow shit up and stuff, but not with vehicles. Understand?
The bigger kicker? It will be available for digital download on October 16th, 2007!
So, why will this be a failure? Because it is built around the AGEIA PhysX processor, perhaps the most worthless piece of computer hardware ever invented for gaming. Don't get me wrong, I am sure all 250 people worldwide that own an AGEIA PhysX processor will be just tripping over themselves to download this baby.
Fortunately, the AGEIA PhysX processor has dropped to somewhere in the neighborhood of $130, not terribly unreasonable. Players will just have to pretend they are buying the AGEIA PhysX card for access to it's vast library of enabled games. It worked for FFXI and the hard drive for the Playstation 2!
The kicker? It won't just be vehicles this time. Players can blow shit up and stuff, but not with vehicles. Understand?
The bigger kicker? It will be available for digital download on October 16th, 2007!
So, why will this be a failure? Because it is built around the AGEIA PhysX processor, perhaps the most worthless piece of computer hardware ever invented for gaming. Don't get me wrong, I am sure all 250 people worldwide that own an AGEIA PhysX processor will be just tripping over themselves to download this baby.
Fortunately, the AGEIA PhysX processor has dropped to somewhere in the neighborhood of $130, not terribly unreasonable. Players will just have to pretend they are buying the AGEIA PhysX card for access to it's vast library of enabled games. It worked for FFXI and the hard drive for the Playstation 2!
Why Is World of Warcraft So Popular?
People will always argue about the reasons behind World of Warcraft being so popular. Some argue that Blizzard just spent a ton of money. Some argue that Blizzard has a massive following who will buy anything they put in a box. Some argue that WoW benefited from word of mouth. Some argue that WoW just got lucky.
Wash all of these reasons from the chalk board. Then, sit down, and play World of Warcraft for five minutes. The controls and camera are absolutely smooth. The UI is clean and simple. Tasks and goals are laid out from the start. There is almost no decisions to be made until level 10, when a player receives their first talent point. If a player dies, they run back as a ghost with no experience or item loss. The game NEVER punishes a player until that player is willing and able to avoid the situation.
Fundamentally, WoW is just a pleasure to sit down and play. Take all the reasoning for why WoW is so popular and compare it against this question. If this is truly the reason, then why do people sit down, play, and continue to play?
For WoW, the devil is NOT in the details.
Wash all of these reasons from the chalk board. Then, sit down, and play World of Warcraft for five minutes. The controls and camera are absolutely smooth. The UI is clean and simple. Tasks and goals are laid out from the start. There is almost no decisions to be made until level 10, when a player receives their first talent point. If a player dies, they run back as a ghost with no experience or item loss. The game NEVER punishes a player until that player is willing and able to avoid the situation.
Fundamentally, WoW is just a pleasure to sit down and play. Take all the reasoning for why WoW is so popular and compare it against this question. If this is truly the reason, then why do people sit down, play, and continue to play?
For WoW, the devil is NOT in the details.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
RIP Robert Jordan
Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, died Sunday of a rare blood disease. He was 58.
Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., was born and lived in this southern city most of his life. He died at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said Monday.
UPDATE: Check out TarValon.net for a great tribute.
Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., was born and lived in this southern city most of his life. He died at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said Monday.
UPDATE: Check out TarValon.net for a great tribute.
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