Tuesday, January 27, 2009

An MMO Story: Why I love my Rogue

I couldn't think of anything witty to say here, so, Stab!

The past few days have been pretty interesting. Before I go into my lil story of a boy, some swords, and a Troll being oblivious to his impending doom I would like to give a few updates about the site, myself, and that poor gnome I keep telling you to kick.

First you may have noticed the utter destruction of advertisements.(unless it's image exchanges between blogs) This was due to a few complaints heading my way about them. So I've decided to go without ads until I figure out a way to do it in a very pleasing manner. Someone mentioned to me to have a weird
PayPal donation box, but I kinda feel like that's even worse than having ads. The next step is probably throwing a shoe at someone and demanding cash for it.

Not a bad idea for some people though.

As for that gnome...who cares?

Excitement at it's finest....

Aside from fishing, I've had a blast playing World of Warcraft again. For one I got to play in probably the best designed low-level zone in the game, Ghostlands. This place is truly heaven incarnate if you want to level quick, get decent quest rewards, and overall have fun. While I was happily stabbing things in vital organs with my happy-go-lucky attitude, someone slams a flag at my feet and demands a duel.

Which was....odd.

So I gaze at this flag wielding madman, and discover to my surprise he's another rogue, just like me. We're the same level too. So what do I do? I mean I haven't played a rogue in over a year, WELL over a year in fact.

Deep breath,
Danshir. Focus....

I threw a shoe and demanded money....and it worked!

After giving the other guy some first aid,(It's amazing what a band-aid can fix! Horrible gaping wound with ruptured organs? No problem!) I went on through out Ghostlands doing quests left and right. I really cannot stress how well designed this area is. However there was one quest in particular that I couldn't do by myself, one involving two huge abominations that weren't too friendly to Blood Elves.

I know I probably should have asked in chat who wanted to group up and do this quest, gathered a party together, and slay the beasts with teamwork and tenacity. Instead I decided to take the quick easy fix by asking a level 80
DeathKnight to "...just wade in there, sword swinging.".

If you help me, I swear I'll post a picture of you on my website...

All in all it was a very interesting day on my Rogue.I'm practically itching to get more into the end game challenges. Between killing elite monsters solo, dueling some Orc chap in The Crossroads about 15+ times(He won three, I won the rest, but he was pretty good.), and raising the pick lock ability (Which is SO much easier now, if your new to WoW you have no earthly idea how hard it was back when WoW came out.) I've had plenty of entertainment and things to write about. Even at this low level, which I didn't expect.

So that's all for today. I have something very "special" in store for tomorrow so stay tuned for that! Also, wish me luck as I've applied for a paid writing job that may be my foot in the door to bigger and better things than being a
CSR.

For today's discussion I have a two part question to hand to you.

1. What do you think about blogs/websites having Donation links?

2. What was the most fun you've had in an MMO? This can be a particular event, a certain class, or an aspect of the game itself. Elaborate and let's talk eh?

10 comments:

  1. Donations: Meh

    Most fun? Taking back Undercity from the scourge with Thrall & Sylvanas in WoW.

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  2. Ok, here's my $0.02 on your two questions.

    1. I have no issues with donation links, or ads (as long as they're not in the main content area, sidebar is fine IMHO) even though I don't feel the need to have any on my own sites.

    2. Most fun I've ever had in a MMO... This is a tough one. Probably my first time in Kara, which due to my glacial leveling pace, was about 6 months ago. The guild I was running with had a few members who were well and truly ready for T6 content, but about 3/10 of the raid was newbies getting geared. We blitzed through the content, I got numerous upgrades, being the only clothie who needed gear, and I almost won T4 chest. But putting the gear aside, it was really fun to get in a big group, and blow the crap out of some massive bosses. Considering that the vast majority of my leveling (I did like 3 dungeons from 1-70) was done solo, I found myself enjoying the group aspect of raiding lots. Well, either that, or blowing the shit through people with a Pyroblast-Presence of Mind-Pyroblast rotation in duels and BGs.

    --TwilliK (twitter.com/TwilliK)

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  3. 1) Donation link? I do it on my guild website and guilt them into donating because I'm the webmistress and I can. The website is expensive as are all the other things I have acquired for their use. I have seen them on some podcast sites, but for a blog? I'm leaning toward no.

    2) Most fun I have in an MMO is every time we have a loaded Ventrilo server and we are wiping repeatedly on stupid easy content. The hilarity that ensues just priceless!

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  4. 1. Donation links are fine, except you'll find you get a few donation sup front, then nothing for like 2 years. A mate of mine tried it once and he said it probably wasn't worth it.

    2. Playing as a Monk in Ascalon Arena 3 weeks after Guild Wars was released. I'm yet to find an MMO that can top the fun I had that day.

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  5. 1.I think donations are a fine idea. This is a free service you offer, so there should be nothing wrong with asking for some help. Why not? A donation link is pretty small anyways. Though, it doesn't have to be. I think to have a really successful donation link you need to make it some sort of fill-up meter like the webcomics do. :D Check out http://thenoobcomic.com/index.php see this week its a octapus scratching out the days left to donate this month or something like that.. actually now that I look at that one it doesn't make much sense, but usuallyg it's something like a bottle that fills up or any number of other things... kinda interesting idea tbh. Oh it's coming back to me now, guess what happens when the bottle fills up or the octapus reaches his #? BONUS COMIC yes the creator of thenoobcomic.com takes his valuable time and makes a bonus comic (in continuance of the story, ie: he releases them faster) for the blog. You could do something like that, for every $5 donated release a "premium" blog, ie somethin that took at least an hour to make. :D Ok I'm going crazy I know.

    2. Wow, well this is really intense. I'll explain to you that I was playing a private Ultima Online roleplaying shard (server) at the time. I know you are familiar with private servers danshir, and Ultima Online ones were some of the best. Some of them had completely custom maps, classes, tottaly new monsters, ieL: a completely different game. (I wish I saw this in some of the more modern private servers, actually there is one, a private EQ1 server Shards of Dalya that is really custom I hear)

    Anyways, I was in this guild at the time called KTULU. We were the evil "cult" guild of the server, and we had this crazy plan of sacrificing 1,000 people to resurrect our great got KTULU. In UO you could cut peoples heads off, and so our guild went around collecting as many heads as we could for our great god. There were a few different ways to get them, some people gave themselves willingly, others we had to find in the arenas and the lawless areas of the land (buccaneers den was the designated open pvp place) and eventually we got enough to summon our dark lord!

    This is when it got really exciting... we actually DID summon the dark lord KTULU and many other minions, and launched a raid on the main "good" town of Britan!

    We killed a good number of good people, but eventually our dark forces were driven back by the hero's of the server. (as is ment to be, I accepted this)

    It was an amazingly fun day. :D A huge thanks to the GMs of that server for helping us do that... and it was all a surprise to me! I had no idea we actually would summon KTULU, I thought it was all a dream. Just goes to show some powerfully fun things can happen in a small roleplaying server. I know this stuff still happens all the time, on role-playing servers such as Grimmwold for UO and in other games like the NWN series.

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  6. 1) I believe a donation button with a meter is the est idea. By all means recoup the cost of the website if you can.

    2) Wow, SSC, Lady Vash, Running with Raid my Fuzzy Butt. Being the top rogue in my guild at the time, going head to head with a nightmare of a boss, and most of all with 24 of my closest friends.

    A close second is Kara with Kinrah. I ran that place once a week with my Waffles (my first raid) buddies and we had a blast burning thru content each week. Good times and I hope to run Nax with them one day.

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  7. 1) I believe if there appropriately placed, then go for it. I have a few on my page...as long as the page isn't full up on em (I myself hated I had so many and pair myself down to like 3 or so (it helps the layout of the page was ment to show off adsense cleanly) and let the viewers have at it.

    2) Humm...best moment was when the guild I was in at the time (We Shot Bambi's Mom pre BC) was called to help Blood Sworn Raiders guild kill the world boss Azuregos. Now it wasn't that they themselves couldn't kill him...this was a pvp server.

    And well they were being hassled by our biggest rivals and overall horde kos Ally guild Kali Compton. So we (or like 9 of us bored Hordies show up to assist). So a war ensues for like 2 hours till BSR gives up and ditches us with 40 Kalli Comptoners.

    But we WSBMers were strange folk. We enjoy causing chaos so as THEY attempted to down the dragon, we started a guerrilla war with then, snipping people to the sides, silencing healers, fighting as far as the beach, making it trouble for them. Even the server chimed in as it crashed several times during the skirmish. But as there was only 9 of us, we spent more and more time in spirit form. They eventually killed the dragon.

    They obviously were debating on how to give out loot. The dragon is skinnable but your skill had to be MAX including enchants and finkle's skinner wep. Belial on of our locks was a skinner. Then as the dragon was obviously looted, he did something epic: rezed, and immediately skinned it. By the time the allies knew what he had done it was already looted XD. Cue raid confusion.

    They eventually left, well some did as we kill so stragglers. And we hearthed to Org with our prize. After one of the KCers logged on there horde acc to say 'Well Played', some relm forum hi fives, it was agreed by both sides the epic fun we had that day.

    Troll Mage Hotaruchan of Kalecgos PVP

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  8. 1- Donation boxes are fine. The whole ad bloated blog thing sends off a bad signal to readers IMO.

    2- My funnest time ever was on my armsman when I was playing DAoC. The first ever keep take that I was part of. I think I was level 34 (out of 50) and didn't really contribute much but it was a rush trying to smash faces with my huge polearm. Charging through the newly broken door with my wife playing her cleric beside me was pure nerd-gasm.

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  9. Heya
    1. Well, I never set out to make money on my blog (and I have one lousy ad, and my payback has been Nil anyways), so if you can get donations...all the more power to you.
    2. I am with Crimson and playing Guild Wars really brings back the most memories of fun in an Online World. The many dance club days we had in the various cities as we completed missions to arrive at a new location was the most excellent. Teamspeak was up, and we blared the most obnoxious disco tunes, and all started to jam and dance upon arrival. We were the life of the town we were in...hehe.

    Cheers

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  10. 1. I would definitely suggest a paypal donation icon, as well as a meter showing your percentage left to pay off the costs. Any excess you could use towards prizes for contests, which would in turn generate more hits and revenue for you. It's a win-win situation for both you and your visitors. And it's not like you're forcing people into it like a pop-up ad, because donations are an optional choice for them. And a lot of people are happy to lend a few bucks to help a site they like. And as for ads, as long as there are no malicious coding, annoying automated audio files that run, or pop up ads of any sort, I would say to pursue that as well. Definitely use the sidebars to your advantage, perhaps google-Ads style. It's a good way to bring in revenue for yourself, at no one else's expense.

    2. As for best experience I can remember... I would have to agree with Cow Nose, that it would be Ultima Online in a private shard. I used to play back in 2002 on a shard called Imagine Nation (now closed down). The thing about custom shards that was great and so much different from any other MMO experience, was that you really felt as if you could do or accomplish anything you wanted. So I was introduced to UO through a friend in high school, and this was my first shard. It was a medium-light RP shard, and in order to be accepted on it, you had to submit a story of the character you were going to play, although mods weren't too critical on characters dialect. My friend and I were focused on RPing well, he was playing a trained assassin, and I was an outcast ranger. I remember us starting out, we were getting trashed by some really low level stuff early on (due to you needing to really up your characters skills to even stand a chance against something simple like a deer). So after we grinded away at skilling up for a little while, we went exploring the map. It was partly a custom map, and partly the original shard map(OSI). So as we are going through, we see what appears to be a goblin, setting up wares around an empty area of the forest. Immediately upon entering his general view, he sees us, polymorphs into a large winged demon shape, and begins chasing us down. From our keyboards we're both trying to manage to run away and type at the same time asking him not to kill us. After about 5 minutes of constant fleeing our pleas were heard, he stopped chasing us, and we ended up becoming his students. Basically, he gave us a grasp on how to make money, where to train, where we would best be suited, and so on. As we continued to play on the shard, we each amassed a decent amount of money, got some decently high leveled items, bought some awesome housing, and had a lot of good times. Now looking years later, its interesting to see that the game is still going strong on private shards at least, and that not too much has changed. Also, I noticed that so much of that carried over into other MMOs later on, and really made my time more enjoyable.

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