The MMO Experience

Not Dead, and Not playing WoW

2009-06-26T03:21:00.002-03:00

This shall be brief.

1. I"m not dead. I've recently got promoted at work and have a ton of other things to do now, but with more pay. Huzzah for that.

2. Part of the reason I've not posted is due to Internet issues at home *Thanks to a wireless USB adapter that has went insane.*.

3. I am resuming my old course. WoW is currently boring me so I'm wanting to return to my old wanderings of different MMOs. I'm a "WoW" tourist as Tipa mentions in one of her posts, however I may say I'm enjoying my vacation.

I'm currently playing Runes of Magic and S4, which I will post some pics up and talk about each of the games once I find enough time to do so. Until then...uhh...

*Vanish*

Who says Frost can't dps?

2009-05-19T13:32:00.005-03:00

No comment required I hope.

Ah, it has been some time has it not? However I'm not here to go on about how I shall soon post and to tide you over here is a few sentences. No, I'm actually going to sit down and type out some conversation and hopefully get some feedback to said conversation. It has been a long time, so let me make some updates.

This is me.

While I have some decent gear I suppose, my weapon leaves much to be desired. Regardless I do some decent damage, upwards to 3.5k - 4k on raids. Sometimes even more depending on the fight and other misc. circumstances. So why is the first topic called "Trash Talking"?

I went to a 10 man Naxxaramas PuG (Pick up group), hoping to finally get an upgrade for my weapon. While I didn't get an upgrade, something did occur on the raid. With us was three guild members from a raiding guild. One of them was a rogue by the name of Spacebott.

This is his gear. (He may have different gear for pvp, so if it doesn't look like pve gear..it probably isn't what he was wearing to the raid.)

As we were progressing through the wings, his two guildies started to give him crap for being beat on damage by me. ( I am referred to as " That Deathknight", instead of my characters name/whatnot.) As we make it up to Patchwerk, the rogue starts talking on vent on how no one ever beats him on Patchwerk, and my damn AoE's will not pull me ahead like it has been during the whole raid. Then he goes on about how DPS is nothing compared to damage done. (Mind you, I'm beating him on BOTH damage done and DPS.)

So we start it up. I wish I had pictures of my recount, but sadly I didn't think I would write an article about this encounter. So we kill Patchwerk, and the rogue is talking to his other guildies about random BS. I, on the other hand, politely mention that his perfect record just got soiled.

Vharian - 786k Damage done
Spacebott- 725k Damage done

He then says yeah right, and doesn't talk anyone but his guildies for the rest of the raid...which was just one more fight as all three of them left soon after.

As a little side note, I'm frost DPS spec btw. =) .

So what's the topic today? Trash talking and things of that nature. What do you think about the whole trash talking aspect in not only MMOs, but most games in general on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network? Leave a comment..or suffer.

Still Alive

2009-04-27T20:34:00.005-03:00

I find that the song " Still Alive " From Portal is running through my head as I type this during my lunchbreak at work. After reading a few comments about rather or not I still remain in this mortal coil, I've decided to make a small post about any updates with myself and a type of ETA of when the site will resume normal functions and the like.

Well, my new job goes well and I'm making more money then before, which is <3.> I've become hooked to the Deathknight class and just recently got mine to 80 and starting to do heroics and get epic gear.

In short I'm having a lot of fun, though I miss writing desperately. The only kind I have been doing o late is trying to gather notes together to write a small novel idea that's been stuck in my head for several months.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to write an entire article about something that went through my head when my group and I went through Oculus. This was the first time any of us had went to the instance, and none of us bothered to look up the fights. Needless to say, we died a few times on a few of the bosses, but had a blast figuring out what to do.

Well that's that for now. I'm sorry for the lack of posting, but know that I got 2 epics today for my deathknight, so huzzah for me? (Epic belt from H Nexus, and Epic legs from H UK.)

Oh, and while I get beat the crap out of by others I'm sure, my DPS is 2.5ish k in heroics. Rawr.

Walking Manual?

2009-03-24T11:17:00.005-03:00

Impossible! A post!

It has been some time since an update has graced the halls of "The MMO Experience", and for that I offer only my sincere apologies and blame Resident Evil 5, work, and my renewed interest in World of Warcraft. Before I get into my topic of the day, which I have spoke about on Twitter a few days past, I'm going to go ahead and give a brief update on myself!

Ahem.

Well, I got my Paladin to level 55, mostly during a sick day from work where I tried to ignore the ravaging virus that plagued me by laying in bed and playing WoW on my wife's laptop. Thanks to a new recruit in the guild I'm in, I hit that requirement to make a Death Knight. Now I've played a Death knight before,(for all of 5 minutes) but I was really interested to have the chance to take my time and explore the overpopulated, overpowered, and overrated class. From what I've read on Deathknight blogs and web pages(Too many to list here, but the foremost in my head is www.skeletonjack.com.), the introduction quests that lead you to 58 are amazing and filled with all kinds of intriguing quests, interesting tidbits of lore, and other such goodies.

Let's start with the fact I love the storyline of Warcraft, though I still believe that MMO's are a poor canvas for a storyline to be expressed. However I was quite impressed with the DeathKnight's introduction quests, and I had a blast doing them. So kudos Blizzard, you proved to this cynical gamer that quests in World of Warcraft do NOT have to be all "kill 5 rabid gorillas with chainsaws".

Now, on to actual post as well as the hopefully lively discussion!

/Casting Resurrection...

The other day, while I was playing World of Warcraft with my wife (who plays a Shadow priest), we decided to go hit up Zul'Farrak. I'm happily going as my level 51 Ret Paladin, knowing full well there isn't much there in terms of gear or exp, but I just wanted to have fun and help my wife level up. So we invited a shaman, a warlock, and another ret paladin for our misadventure.

We go into the instance, all of us talking and having fun, pulling 2-3 groups at once just because we can. However, midway through the instance, the paladin starts complaining. (Not me..the other paladin..)

" God, you're not even prot spec, you shouldn't be tanking, we don't even have a real tank. " He says to the group, even as I pulled 2 groups and he pulled 2, resulting in a close call as I tried to steal aggro from his mobs before they axe'd my wife, who was healing. I laughed, said it didn't really matter at this level, and we went about goofing off.

All of us but the paladin. (not me I said!)

He then went after my shadow priest wife..

" You're a shadow priest?!!!? ROFL! We don't even have a healer or a tank, this group is stupid, there is no way we can do this. Those spells you are using are stupid, they use too much mana!" He says as he pulls all the scarabs while we're killing toward the lizard boss. (The one who summons all the lizards...obviously.)

What was she doing? She was using Holy Nova(I think that's the name, the AOE holy spell Priests have.) on all the scarabs the other paladin pulled. Is it expensive in the mana area? Yes, but thanks to Judgement of the Wise, she and the rest of the group had almost an overabundance of mana.

It doesn't stop there.

He next gazes at the warlock.

" OMFG! You're not using your imp?! Are you retarded? Imp is the best, or succubus, Stop being a noob. "

The warlock was using his Voidwalker, in case the other paladin pulled too many and I needed an emergency backup tank to take some off me or so the warlock told me in a tell in response to that accusation. I responded he could use any pet he wanted and I wouldn't pester him to change. If this was a heroic dungeon or a raid, then I would ask him to use the "best" pet for the situation, however it wasn't..

We were just having fun.

So what did I do? Well I was tired of this paladin ruining the fun of 4 other people (While the shaman didn't get hit with any messages, she made it quite known she hated people like that.), so after the event with Bly, he was booted from the guild and placed on ignore.

What's is wrong in the makeup of the human psyche that some people are forced to try to point out that someone is doing something that isn't the most effective way of "doing things".

Yes, I wasn't a tank spec and someone that is would have been more efficient than the job I performed.

Yes, Holy nova is a very expensive spell and there are other spells more mana friendly.

Yes, A voidwalker is usually a poor choice for a group setting.

Yes, I shouldn't gleefully jump on some one's back in the parking lot and demand they take me to Undercity while out shopping.

But there are "ways" of trying to help people use more effective methods in MMOs. I once grouped with a hunter (I was on my hunter as well.), who asked if I knew how to double trap. I honestly didn't, though the process seems beyond obvious once he explained it to me. He didn't insult my intelligence, or go to mock my "newbie" hat that I was apparently wearing.

Is it an inferiority complex that makes most "assistance" from people come off as insults instead of actual help? Do people just like to swagger in their Elite world of min/max and make sure to always point out to others where their mistakes lie?

That's today's discussion kiddies. What do you think about people trying to explain how to play YOUR class?

Mini-Update + Mini MMO Discussion

2009-03-07T19:49:00.004-04:00

I'm about to play some ol "evil" Dungeons & Dragons, so there won't be an update until later tonight/early this morning. However just a quick "Here is what I've been doing.."

Raising lock picking is horribly boring, on par with fishing.

So for a small discussion while I go immerse my players into a fictional world of madness and despair (I'm such a nice DM), what is some of the most tedious activity you've done in an MMO but did so for the benefit it brings?

I bet most will answer with farming..so...mention something else eh? ;)

Discuss.

WoW Can Save Your Life?

2009-03-06T12:36:00.002-04:00

An interesting post I found while trying to kill time before work was about a boy who saved his sister's life on WoWFailBlog.com. So how does the brave young lad save his sister? Let me explain the story.

And please understand that while this story is old, its news to me so I'm sharing it now. Probably not the best " We're back in business " post from The MMO Experience , but I thought it appropriate. Expect future nonsense that strives to be serious soon as I try to sort out what I want to write about first.

Anyway....

This 12 year-old Norwegian boy saved his sister as well as his own skin from one of the most dreaded occurrences that can happen in a cold climate. No, not a snowstorm, not even hypothermia. Nay it was the dreaded " Moose" attack. While I'm obviously coming off as sarcastic, and while the scenario of a killer moose seems comical, these creatures ARE actually quite dangerous when they want to be.

The boy was, apparently, an avid player of World of Warcraft. When the moose started to act threatening toward his sister, he started to use "Taunt" , which he knew from his experiences in WoW that it would make the moose stop attacking his sister and go toward him. (Is trying to keep a straight face while typing this) Once he was the "target", he then proceeded with another highly valuable WoW skill, Feign Death.

Apparently the moose lost interest in the non-response boy and wandered off. Once the moose was no longer in sight the boy sprang up and ran home.

While I must say Kudos to WoWFailBlog.com for bringing this story to my attention, and obviously the most important matter is the child is safe, the source of his survival skills makes me blink a bit. I can't really put my finger on it, however it seems almost wrong that WoW knowledge saved the day..but thankfully he didn't try to "bubble" and hearth away.

The MMO Experience isn't Dead

2009-02-25T19:28:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. To give a reason of why The MMO Experience has been so dead lately, I've been under the knife so to say for surgery, and I'm just now feeling up to tinkering around on my computer with somewhat coherent thoughts.

Though, there were never many here to begin with eh? ;)

Anyway, I should be back to posting and all that jazz soon. I'm truly sorry for the delay!

Shocked, Stunned, and Confused

2009-02-17T03:41:00.012-04:00

My day started out normal...

I've been playing MMORPGs for some time. Since the 90s actually way back when EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark was released and found it's way into my heart.(and wallet!) With that in mind, I've seen some really bizarre things. From raining gold (EverQuest 1 glitch), to everyone spawning high in the heavens and falling on top of each other, making a "Tower" of Death.(World of Warcraft)

In short, I've seen some wacky stuff.

However yesterday must take the crown in sheer madness. I was in Thousand Needles in World of Warcraft. I had just recently achieved level 30, got my class mount, and sold a pair of legs for 200g. It was a swell day as I was Arikara, a nice unique looking wind serpent to finish up a quest line. If you're unfamiliar with Thousand needles, or World of Warcraft in general, the area I was in is basically huge flat lands with massive un-worked stone pillars going high in the sky. Some of these pillars are wide enough for small villages and the like, and have bridges connecting them.

I was such a bridge..when..

Inconceivable!!

Yes. That's a huge dragon walking on a narrow rope bridge. Now I'm pretty knowledgeable about World of Warcraft, though all the new stuff in Wrath of the Lich King is , well, new to me. So imagine my shock when I gaze upon a dragon from all the way in the Caverns of Time in Tanaris.

I was intrigued. A bit confused, which is normal, and perplexed. So I set off to investigate the matter like a good journalist.

Off to discover the truth...and the destination of this madness.

Apparently, two paladins had been pulling this dragon all the way from Tanaris. You can slightly see one of them in this picture, however you'll see more of them as I show the progress of this journey. So I hopped on my new faithful steed that probably wondered at his rider's sanity as he followed a huge dragon that could have sighed in his direction and destroyed him utterly.

Location: Lower Barrens, approaching Crossroads...

As I took screenshot after screenshot, not really knowing what I would want to use in this post, the most amusement I got was from other people that happened upon the scene. It would always some low level person in their low-mid teens running in my direction, seeing the dragon, stop, then immediately run the opposite direction. I can almost visualize their eyes widening in terror like a deer gazing at headlights as they simply stop moving for a good couple of seconds...

Then flee.

You can almost see the tauren's eyes widen in pure shock and horror..

The great journey continued onward for some time, until at last the destination was in sight..

Even the pigs came to stop and stare.

Immediately upon entering the city, I imagine the dragon wasn't too happy to see two dragon heads on pikes. However the residents were QUITE happy to see the great wyrm, as everyone and their cousin started beating the dragon down as he was continued to be pulled toward Thrall, the orc chieftain. What was hilarious was there were even a few people deciding to role play and goof off with the mini-event.

Read the text, it's worth a chuckle.

All in all, this took a boring grinding night and turned it into an enjoyable experience with quite a few chuckles. Perhaps the best part to me was seeing how no one was attempting to grief or blamed the two paladins of doing such. In fact the whole city seemed to gleefully jump in arms to slay the beast and play along. There were even people encouraging to do more events, perhaps PvP with the alliance, and "role" play the whole event for kicks.

This warmed my little nerd heart, and reminded me why I enjoy MMORPGs in the first place.

So on to today's discussion! Tell me about some of the crazy events you've experienced in an MMO. No glitches please.(that was another post.) It doesn't have to be World of Warcraft related, just any MMO where something out of the ordinary happened.

I close with a picture of the two paladins that pulled this off. The "tankadin" is to the left of me, Relea, and the "healadin" is Kanira, who is on the huge woolly mammoth.

I want to be like these two when I grow up..

MMO Issues: Dual Spec

2009-02-16T03:53:00.003-04:00

A great RazorFen Kraul run, got Corpsemaker!

I'm fresh from an instance that was actually a decent PuG run, and enjoying all the neat changes in the highly addicting World of Warcraft. Today has been quite a fun day for me. Prior to ripping the heads off razorfens, I finished F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. While I must say the game is challenging, creepy(Terrifying at times), and overall fun, I was really disappointed in the ending. Why?

I won't ruin anything, however it does end rather abruptly and is an obvious set up for the next game/expansion. It just seemed to sudden, and the game only clocked about a good 7-8 hours. While I will not get into my fury over how short games are these days, I'll simply go ahead and talk about what I wanted to converse about today.

If you've been paying attention, Blizzard will release a new game mechanic called "Dual Spec". This will enable players to have more than one spec that they can switch between if they either..

1: Go to the Lexicon of Power in any capital city

--or--

2: Use a new crafted item that summons a Lexicon of Power to them. The item requires more than one player to summon it.(Think how a Warlock summons someone.)

Blizzard is using this new game mechanic to make it easier on people constantly having to switch from a PvE(Player versus Environment) and PvP(Player versus Player) specializations. What is good for PvE may not be good for PvP. So instead of having players spend countless amounts of gold, they can just switch over. Also one could use a Solo spec, a raid spec, so on and so forth. The benefits are quite sound for World of Warcraft players.

What about the possible negative points?

One issue I would like to bring up for open discussion(Give me your opinion) is how would this affect guild looting? Already there are people who want to take loot for their DPS set/Tank set/Healing set when that is currently not their spec, even though people who can use it now want it as well. What happens when this new game mechanic hits the floor?

For example, let's say Retribution Paladin (which is a DPS spec) switches over to Holy(Which is a Healing spec) so the raid has enough healers. Then, hypothetically speaking, let's say a weapon that Paladin has been wanting drops. Should he be allowed to roll/spend points on it over people that came to the raid in their DPS specs? How would that work to placate the other members that will be somewhat upset to have a "healer" try to take THEIR dps gear?

Of course, this comes down to one of the MANY flaws of a game that bases it's character advancement with "gear" lust. People become obsessed with getting better gear because frankly there is all there is left progression wise for them to continue in a game like World of Warcraft. Regardless, how do you deal with that type of situation?

I know that I personally would allow that person to roll on the weapon, but what do you think? How should guilds set up their policies for dual specs? I frankly believe that many smart guild leaders and officers will already be discussing this issue to avoid any situations once the mechanic becomes live.

So today's discussion: What possible policies or just "rules" should be implemented by guilds for dual spec, if any?

Epic Fail at GameStop

2009-02-13T18:18:00.002-04:00

This just happened...oh..maybe 10 minutes ago.

I walked into my local GameStop, where I'm somewhat well known to the employees. Not in a "This guy causes crap and needs to be feared" kinda way, but in the "We talk about our stupid customers to this guy" way. So I walk in, grab a copy of F.E.A.R. 2, 2 copies of Wrath of the Lich King(One for me, one for my wife), and I wanted to pick up a 60 day subscription card for myself.

Sorry, this particular one isn't for the website...but I may have another giveaway soon.

So I walk up to the desk, give the initial greetings and explain why I haven't been to the store in a few weeks. I then INTEND to ask for a World of Warcraft subscription card...instead I say...

" I need a World of Warcraft prescription card please. "

To explain myself. I work for 1800 Medicare, and thus I deal with medication and other health information daily. It was an innocent slip.

The employee looked at me funny, and I then correct myself and ask for a subscription card in which he replies by laughing his ass off, shaking his head, and telling me..

" No, you were right the first time. "

Epic Fail or Epic Accidental Joke? You decide.

Contemplating the MMO Experience

2009-02-12T23:04:00.002-04:00

Since late last night, a question has been plaguing me. I couldn't shake it all day at work, on my drive home, or even now as I sit at my desk. I'm surrounded by the spoils of nerd war, and yet a question nags at me and I cannot begin to answer it.

Where better to write about my thoughts than my own site that is some strange lovechild of blogging and a pseudo attempt at video game journalism? Perhaps in the course of writing out my thoughts I'll discover the answer, or one of you, my readers, will assist me in some way.

I don't know where to go from here, with this website.

Forgive me if that sounds horribly depressing or extraordinary "emo". I don't mean that I have NO path to go, just too many to choose from. I would love to have a fraction of the hits and popularity of sites such as WorldofMatticus, yet there are so many paths to go from there to reach that that I stand at the crossroads.

Should I go the route of paid advertisement on sites, GoogleAdWords, and others? Should I continue the route of posting on other peoples forums/sites/twitter/and other social networking? Should I do both?

I apologize if this is coming off as whining, I'm simply saying my options are a bit overwhelming in the terms of how many I have. I know the end result which is to have a respectful, interesting, and somewhat cult popular website. Perhaps even make actual money writing in some type of career in the future.

I will end with this. The most insightful information I've learned regarding blogging and websites in general have been from others. So I'm asking for your insights or opinions as I try to see how to make The MMO Experience grow. After since my first giveaway I've really wanted to make this successful to do fun things like that in the future, with perhaps a much larger number of participants. Let me know, and thanks in advance for both your patronage and your wisdom.

Danshir

PS: To make this MMO related and to kill the somber mood...

The Art of DPS - Also an MMO Rant

2009-02-11T01:24:00.006-04:00

An interesting post found by Holy Discipline made me think about today's post, which is the first since my first giveaway here at The MMO Experience. The post is regarding some basic rules that DPS classes must follow to be "good" at their class. While for the most part they are really common sense (Which doesn't mean people FOLLOW them, they're just common sense for anyone with a brain.) , the entire thought of guidelines for a person to follow just seemed to click in my head with something I was thinking about throughout the day yesterday.

I'm not going to be so arrogant and tell you I'm some paragon at ANY type of game, or any aspect of life. I've never understood how people could go to someones website and feel as if they are in the virtual presence of someone greater than themselves because said person is recognized as a great player. However I will state that I have played 3 Rogues and 1 Hunter, got them both to "high" end raiding status, and was known to at least be considered "good". (If anyone says differently, stating something along the lines "Danshir used to wipe us constantly, don't listen to his delusional nonsense"....urr...pay them no mind!)

What these various guides do not tell you is how to go beyond a typical "good" player. It's all well in good to know that one of your LEAST priorities as a DPS class is actually focusing on the damage aspect, but going from good to great is....what?

I can give my opinion on it.

A good hunter will trap on pulls, making sure to pull the target away from the group to avoid AOE damage, and time his trap so he can get 2 down to maximize how long the monster will be taken out of combat. A good hunter will use misdirection and all his tools available to ensure the aggro stays where it needs to be, on the tank, and not gank aggro himself. That and having a decent amount of damage in between these various tasks will mark you as a good hunter.

However you won't make people shocked and stunned with JUST that sadly. How do you go beyond that and truly make you it a work of art for people to praise you for? (Again, only my opinion, my person experience, and what SOME probably disturbed minds have said about me.)

A GREAT hunter, or any dps class really, will focus on all those tasks as WELL as keeping his dps high. Recognize the limits of your group/raid. For example, on my rogue if I was grouped with someone that seemed to be a decent tank, I would start using Blade Flurry and see if I could gank aggro on the 2nd monster.

If I ganked, I stopped using it. If I didn't then I had just made a note in my lil brain that I don't have to be so cautious with aggro, even on secondary monsters. This enables more options to increase your dps WHILE maintaining the unity of the group. (IE You're not constantly ganking dps and making everyone mad.)

Of course it's easy to say you need to do this WHILE maintaining your DPS as high as possible, but in execution it's rather difficult. Especially if you're participating in a "Pick Up Group" where you never know how good a tank is until the group has started and you've probed a little bit. So here is my set of guidelines to not only be a GOOD dps class, but to excel and have people make you their friend in case they need DPS for a heroic instance. (This practice is generally reserved for Healers/Tanks, as DPS classes are a dime a dozen. However I've had quite a few people make me their friend not because I was INSANE dps, but because I was a good player with good dps at the same time. At least that's what they said. I'm still under the firm belief I epic fail. Though on one occasion the rogue in our group had 500k dmg over all, I had over 1 million. *toots own horn*)

1: Always see what limits you have to work with. Bad tank? Hold back a little until you find a good pace. Great tank? Let loose and go insane!

2: Always verify with the group leader which icon they want you to pay attention to for whatever (if any) type of crowd control you need to perform. Do it quickly then resume your dps

3: No matter how squishy you are, if the healer is about to get sent to the abyss, take one for the team and take aggro if you can. The healer is almost ALWAYS more important than a dps class in terms of group survival.

4: Don't get lazy. There will be times that a situation calls for an entire switch of play styles. A great example is back in BlackWing Lair when all the tanks fell down dead on Vael, and I, the wittle Rogue, became a tank. You can either stay where the DPS goes and wipe the whole raid, or you can show that you listened to the WHOLE raid strategy and go where the tank needs to go, pop evasion, and become a hero. (I didn't, I did the former and wish I hadn't became lazy. Learn from my mistake eh?)

5: The Number 1 Rule for a DPS class is this: Your DPS is 0 if you're dead.

--------------------

Today's discussion has nothing to do with my rambling that you've just read. If you learn anything from what I've typed above, then you've learned something from a madman! Good for you! Anyway, today's discussion is about parts of group edict in MMOs. What made me think of this was today I was invited to heal a Razorfen Kraul group. I was the last person they needed. However we couldn't start the dungeon because 2 members of the group continued to delay stating they were off doing something else and we would have to wait.

What is your opinion on people making the whole group wait while they do something by themselves? Should they be booted from the group? Should you wait on them in silence? Is that proper group conduct? Discuss =).

Winner of The MMO Experience Giveaway!

2009-02-08T16:59:00.005-04:00

We have a winner! Number 7!

It's official! The number drawn *you can see proof of that from the picture above* was lucky number 7. Which happens to be RavenPhoenix, so congratulations to her! She's already received the card number and made sure it works, and all emails sent to me with your physical addresses were deleted.

So there will be NO evil plots being hatched by yours truly using them. I swear...would I lie?

I must say I truly enjoyed running this event. It was a blast to organize it, get all the stuff together, and finally roll the dice. I fully plan on doing this again, though WHEN is a question I can't answer at the moment.

Due to some medical issues going on, I'm having to fork over $1200 more than I thought I would have to, which is the reason why there are no runner-up prizes like I wanted to do. I do apologize for that. However I did the budget to where I could still purchase the card, as I had promised to do the event and I didn't want to let you (my readers) down.

So the next giveaway will probably occur just when I can afford it. If you're feeling generous you can donate to the site, which will go toward hosting events like this in the future. However it is not necessary in any way.

Again, congratulations to RavenPhoenix for winning The MMO Experience's first giveaway!

Tomorrow will begin normal topics/discussions. One of them being my first time healing in an instance!

Last Day for The MMO Giveaway

2009-02-07T13:13:00.003-04:00

This is just a reminder. Today is the last day to enter. You have until 11:59pm EST or you will sadly be disqualified. Make sure you have BOTH a comment on either this post OR this one. Also please remember, because there are some people who have not, to email me with SOME part of your physical address otherwise your entry is considered incomplete and you won't get your number mailed to you prior to the drawing.

With that said, good luck to everyone!

There will be no "normal" post, as far as normal goes around here, today. It's my daughter's first birthday so I'm going to be doing that all day.

Take care all, enjoy your Saturday!

World of Warcraft: Subliminal Messaging

2009-02-06T00:01:00.006-04:00

Just a brief reminder about "The MMO Experience" raffle going on. If you want your free 60 day World of Warcraft subscription card, remember to sign up here. Now on to the post!

A little rumor going around in the World of Warcraft community is the possibility of the Spirit Healer's unearthly whispering is in actuality some subliminal messages. According to rumors, the messages range from..

"Play World of Warcraft..."

--to--

"Give us your money.."

Here is a brief video found on YouTube demonstrating the event.

A few interesting facts one should should note is..

1: This person plays on a private server.

2: He states this is (or part of) the reason World of Warcraft is so successful.

I must say I was curious when my wife brought this to my attention. So she promptly died in-game so we could listen in on the supposed brain washing done by the evil hypnotists known to us publicly as Blizzard Entertainment. All sarcasm aside, we actually did hear the phrase "Give us your money". Rather or not this was due to us actively listening for that particular phrase and hearing something LIKE it I can't tell.

So listen to the video, and discuss what you think about this. Even if IT actual subliminal messaging, do you find yourself insane with righteous anger toward Blizzard? Do you even care? What are your thoughts toward more...questionable forms of advertisement?

Rogue vs Paladin

2009-02-05T00:36:00.004-04:00

This has nothing to do with today's post.

Lately I've been having a somewhat of a conundrum upon my head, that is quickly going from an annoyance to brain wracking madness. A problem I've had in the past from all the way to EverQuest to whatever MMO I'm playing is sticking with a character. I can't really explain the whole situation, but I must be some type of dilettante in the sense that I constantly want to sample other classes.

What's fighting in my head now? Paladin vs Rogue.

Logically speaking, the Paladin is the best choice. A Rogue can ONLY ever be a dps class, while the paladin can fulfill all three main roles. (Tank,Healing,DPS) However I truly can't decide to the point where I feel as if my mind is made up.

It probably doesn't help that I've been trying to get everything organized for the big "The MMO Experience" raffle that is currently in effect. (Please check here for more information on how you can enter for a 60 day World of Warcraft subscription card.). However despite the work it is, I'm having a lot of fun offering a gift to the community. Depending on how well this goes I may do this much more often than I had originally planned.

I know I'm not the only one that just stares at the character creation screen, pondering what class/race/name/etc. Is it the large investment of time that makes us so carefully pick out a character in these types of games? After all, we will be looking at them for a long time if we intend to stick with these characters until late game raiding.

So today's discussion is this. What made you decide to play your current character in what ever MMO you are playing? Was it just random chance that you found your character or was it careful consideration? Discuss, and please sign up for the raffle!

Author's Note - Supposedly the Spirit Rezzer in World of Warcraft whispers the words " Give us your money ". I just listened for some time to try to verify this rumor...and it seems true.

The MMO Raffle has Begun

2009-02-03T22:35:00.004-04:00

If you want to score some free game time in World of Warcraft, you've come to the right place! The MMO Experience Raffle has finally started. So how do you get signed up?

There are steps, and evil rules...

1. Make a comment to any of the raffle posts*there will be one each day until Sunday, which is when the winner(s) will be chosen. You need to use some type of account.(Blogger, WordPress,etc)

2. Send me an email with your username/email and address. This won't be used for evil purposes, just to prevent people from cheating. Plus if you want the actual physical card instead of me just giving you the number on the back, obviously I would need your address anyway. Send all emails to ThaShirow(at)gmail(dot)com.

To enter into the contest you have until Saturday 11:59pm. From there I will be getting all the names together and where they will be associated with a number. To make this more MMO related, I will then /random 1-*how many entered* to pick the winner. The first winner will receive the card, while 2 more winners will receive runner up prizes.

Luck to you all!

A Stroke of MMO Genius?

2009-02-03T00:07:00.003-04:00

I look like this all the time..

I truly wonder how many readers I'm going to lose/gain with this post...

An idea I had while mindlessly informing people that they had absolutely no idea what they were talking about (I work at a call center...help me.) refused to get out of my brain today. The internal struggle between flesh and idiotic brain was quite an epic conflict. However, as usual, my brain told the rest of me to shut up and to talk about what it wanted me to talk about.

You may could have guessed it already, but I'll spell it out for the blissfully ignorant.

Magic: The Gathering.

Yes, that evil card game that is bound to summon Lucifer himself. (An interesting story, in high school I was once informed by a substitute teacher that the game was evil incarnate and I was going straight to hell for playing it.) While I don't play the game anymore, nor have I in several years, I do still read the novels that is either based on the game...or the game is based on.

I don't recall which. Obviously it didn't start that way..but..anyway.../endtangent.

An MMO based upon the STORY of the whole Magic: The Gathering series, most pointedly in the era of Urza Planeswalker and Phyrexia. Now while I wouldn't recommend it to be a "card" game a la Wizard 101.(Wizard 101 does it very well, but this isn't what I had in mind for this idea.)

Now what does it have? The ability of "planeswalking" enables there to be several worlds of vastly different geographies, populaces, races, monsters, and challenges. There is already an established storyline that is truly enjoyed by a large number of nerds. You even already have two factions that a player could pick between.(Urza's Academy and the Spheres of Phyrexia, a place of evil sentient artifacts to put it simply.)

Now obviously this idea would pitch better to someone who has played the game or read the books than someone who has done neither. However I just wanted to share the little idea in my head because, to me, it sounded like it could be quite a bit of fun.

So today's discussion is what type of world in either novels, movies, television, etc would you like to see translated into some type of MMO fashion.

Oh, a small note. I just noticed all the insane changes Blizzard has done to the Paladin class. I'm now stuck in Limbo trying to decide to play a Paladin*To eventually be a Healadin* or continue on my Rogue.

/sigh

MMO Questing - The Creator and Bane of Atmosphere

2009-02-01T12:55:00.004-04:00

Before I begin today's post, there is something I want to go ahead and get out of the way. After some earlier comments about the whole "Ads vs Donations" discussion a few days back, I've decided to go ahead and throw up a donation button. I may make it something more elaborate later where it can show how much has been donated, the goal, and just some type of funny interaction. But as I have no earthly idea how to do that (If you do, I would love for you to drop a comment/email and explain how.) it's just a plain old button until any future modification can be made.

Now WHY should I have the audacity to ask for donations is something you may be thinking.

It's really there for a couple of reasons. One is my whole raffle idea seems to be very popular, and I'm quite excited to give out presents to people such as a World of Warcraft subscription card, Key chains from Jinx, and other nerdy items. I could either...

A: Do this maybe a few times out of the year using my own funds

--or--

B: Accept donations from the community, help pay back what I spend on the site and help fund more events such as this.

To put it simply, the button is there if you want to use it. Nothing will change with the site if you do or do not except for perhaps more public fun events where I can give out prizes.

Now on to the post and discussion for today!

--------------

Imagine this, if you would.

You had just recently killed Illidan Stormrage, Lord of Outland. You are at the apex of power in your little MMO, World of Warcraft, and there is no longer any challenges left to conquer. Then you go on to fight Kil'jaeden, the last known leader of the Burning Legion...

So what are some of the first quests for the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King?

Kill 6 snow mice.

..........................

My thoughts for you today are about questing in MMOs. How effective quests can truly immerse a player into a virtual universe and make them feel like the actual hero they are playing, and how a horrible quest can utterly ruin the experience to bored tedium and /quit.

So what IS questing exactly? Well kiddies, it's basically a task given to you by an NPC(Non-playable Character) for you to perform for some type of in-game reward. Generally there is some type of lore associated with the task as well in an attempt to draw the player more and more in that virtual universe. This generally ranges from very menial tasks for low level characters (IE Delivering items from one NPC to another, Killing low level monsters, performing some type of task that can be done without any assistance.) to assisting with a threat to a kingdom or the entire world.(IE Killing Onyxia, Stopping Rallos Zek, Stopping the fabric of Time being ripped.)

It's interesting to note that the game EverQuest was really lacking in the whole quest department until recently. Most players would only ever complete maybe 3-6 quests during their entire time playing. Not a day, but from the day they started to the day they quit the game entirely. However one of EverQuest's strong points in my opinion was the "epic" quests for each class. Each class would have a quest specific to them alone that could take months, even years, to complete. Part of the reason was due to the game's horrible use of low drop rates on rare items and their use of "place holders" for monsters.

(Simply put. You would have maybe a 5% chance for the "rare" monster to spawn instead of a normal one, then a similar chance for the item you want to drop. It could take hours/days to get the monster you want to spawn....let alone drop the item you wanted.)

Now while the process could be horribly tedious, the tasks you were performing were not menial in the sense of some level 80 Deathknight being told to sweep the floor. With that point let me escape this tangent and get back to the main subject.

A good use of questing to make the player (YOU) feel like you're part of the game's "story". That you are changing it with your actions instead of the world staying forever in a static state of existence. (Which it is, why haven't the gnomes moved back into Gnomeregan yet? I've killed Thermaplugg at least 20 times..) This is called immersion, ambiance, atmosphere, and what have you. This was the charm of Dungeons&Dragons and many popular single player RPGs. A good use of questing is also simply good story telling, except you're letting the player take an active part of that story..

Which is what the player wants.

The polar opposite applies as well. Horrible use of questing only breeds boredom. Having players perform drudgery isn't going to make them happy, no matter what the in-game reward happens to be. It also a clear reminder that the player is doing just that, playing a video game. Now while menial tasks is expected at low levels, it shouldn't be expected after a player has just recently slain a demi-god.

Let me play Devil's advocate here however. Is it feasible to ask developers to make every single quest an epic encounter? No. For the simple reason that eventually what is epic and the highlight of your MMO career is suddenly the norm. I wouldn't be so proud of my achievement of finishing my Paladin's epic quest in EverQuest if I had performed dozens of similar quests. A player wouldn't be proud of doing the Wrath Gate quest series in World of Warcraft if he had done a few hundred similar quests prior/after.

So where is the happy median?

...

That wasn't a rhetorical question! What is it?! That is today's discussion. What is the balance needed for fun, entertaining quests and to keep the epic quests from becoming simply average? Or if you want, just talk about your experience with questing in various MMOs in general, or any quest that you found particularly memorable.

Discuss, and enjoy the Super Bowl(Commericals)!

The MMO Recap

2009-01-31T20:59:00.008-04:00

You know those kind of episodes from your favorite television shows that are really just a huge collection of clips from previous episodes?

This post is the written equivalent!

Now before you run off, damning me to the last layer of Baator to have a nice chat with Asmodeus,(I'm about to play D&D...leave me be I know what kind of horrid nerd I happen to be.) this one actually kinda makes sense.

At least it does to me.

I've recently received a much larger reader base, which truly makes me smile a bit when I think about it. I appreciate your patronage, your comments, and all that other crap. However since I've got this influx of readers I've not got to show some of my best(By that I mean hilarious) work that I've done in previous days. This also gives me more time to write the article that I was going to post today, and more time to reveal a secret surprise I have in the oven.

Not literally in the oven.

So....Recap!

MMORPGs are EVIL!!!!111!1 - A satirical piece written by me in response to someone blaming videogames on acts of violence.

Gender Switch-a-Roo - A true story that happened to someone I knew. This was prior to being able to switch genders in World of Warcraft. It involves virtual love between a virtual man and a virtual woman....and neither one of them is a woman. One of them didn't know that...just..read it.

Paragon of Humanity - Another satire. Written in response to the whole "If Blizzard doesn't release an "elite" patch, then a lot of casual players will lose their heroes and role models as the hardcore raiders will leave the game."

Subscription vs MT - A post about the hate that most subscription MMO players have for their arch-nemesis, players of Micro-Transaction games.

The special "surprise" is that I just sent an email to RedEagle games about an interview concerning their Wheel of Time MMO being developed. I'm hoping they agree to chat with me as I'm a fan of the series written by the late Robert Jordan.

Have a great Saturday!

A Question of World of Warcraft MMO Lore

2009-01-30T22:58:00.004-04:00

It's friday! Huzzah!

I'm about to go out and celebrate the fact that for a few days I won't have to assist people with their Medicare issues by enjoying the company of some friends. Now however I would still like to get a conversation started of a more casual nature. Tomorrow I'll post a few ideas I had at work..but that's another story.

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King, and the future patch that will let players face off against King Arthas/The Lich King/Ner'zhul, the storyline will soon have most of it's characters with evil delusions of grandeur axed.

So if you're interested in the lore of World of Warcraft, where do you think the story will go from here? Will Deathwing the former Earth Warder finally take center stage in World of Warcraft? Will Sargeras somehow be resurrected and lead the Burning Legions?

Where do you think the storyline will go from here? Let's discuss. Personally I would love to see Deathwing be the lead villain.

An MMO Idea: Fellowship Benefits

2009-01-29T23:59:00.005-04:00

Shouldn't loyalty be rewarded?

If you've spent any length of time in MMOs such as World of Warcraft, you've met the people that once they've obtained what they want from the hardest instance your guild can conquer, they /gquit and join a guild further up the chain. Now I won't go into the subject of whether or not this type of behavior is "right" or "wrong", but rather or not should an MMO developer reward someone the longer they stay in a guild.

Here is my idea.

To put it very simply, have a brand new NPC be available near where you purchase a guild tabard and start a guild charter. This NPC will sell special "pets", patterns, and other cosmetic items as a reward for players that have remained in a guild for an X amount of time. The longer you stay, the more rewards you can purchase. I was even considering the idea that after a certain amount of time you can get special "buffs" that you could use perhaps once an hour.

Now I'm not certain what type of buff this would be. Obviously it would have to be to the extent it wouldn't break the game in any way, just be an added benefit for not switching guilds constantly.

So today's discussion is this. Should developers reward players for being loyal to their guild and not switching, or should this fall under the actual guild leaders to try and maintain loyalty? Express your opinion about the whole "I got what I wanted and now I'm gone" attitude.

Happy hunting!

The Worlds.com "Interview"

2009-01-28T23:16:00.003-04:00

12/30/08

That is the date I asked Worlds.com for an interview concerning their recent lawsuit against NCSoft, creator of such gems as City of Heroes and Guild Wars. This was the pipe dream of an aspiring writer/journalist wanting to try to do a somewhat important interview. I didn't expect to get it, and I told some of my blog friends (Such as Tipa of WestKarana.com and OpenEdge1 at Simple and Complex.) about me sending out the email.

01/05/09

The date that Thom Kidrin, the CEO of Worlds.com answered my sally at fame. His answer?

Danshir:

I welcome your questions and to the extent I can provide answers to them I will.

You can post my email but I would also like to review your website.

Thom

The next day I started to send out my questions to Thom. To be kind, my first question was the typical "Tell me a little about your company, what you do, etc". Immediately following that was a series of questions relating to the actual lawsuit, what Worlds.com thought about the outrage towards them from the online community, and other such tidbits. I'll list a few of the questions I had..

Question 3. No sense in ignoring the huge elephant in the room so let's discuss your lawsuit with NCSoft. A question on a lot of gamer's minds are why Worlds.com is starting the lawsuit now. The two patents that have been infringed upon, if I'm reading them correctly, have been for infringed upon for several years by different companies. Yet it wasn't until near the end of 2008 that Worlds.com took legal action. Why?

And...

Question 4. Another question I'm hearing on blogs, forums, and news websites are "why NCSoft?". Was there something in particular that made Worlds.com choose that company over other companies?

These are obviously the questions that I, and a lot of people I've spoke to on forums and blogs, want the answers to. These questions, and quite a bit more, were sent out on 01/06/09. The only answer I've received from him is the answer to the very first question, the "shameless self advertisement" one. Not that I'm above shameless self advertisement, but I generally try to provide entertainment too, or at least information.

So what to do?

I'm going to release the information that I have on hand of course. Why? Because some of my answers are within what he gave me, if you move it underneath the monocle.

In 1994 Worlds was spun out of Bill Gross's Knowledge Adventure; an educational software publisher that grew to be the third largest educational software publisher in the world and was initially know as Knowledge Adventure Worlds. Titles included; Dinosaurs 3D, 3D Body and Undersea Adventure. When Worlds Chat was launched in April 1995 the company name was changed to Worlds Inc.

Worlds partnered with Steven Spielberg, Starbright Foundation, Sprint, UB Networks, Tandem, and Intel to create an avatar virtual world for kids confined to hospitals, Starbright World. The worlds came online at five pediatric hospitals in the United States in late 1995. Patent 6219045 was filed on November 13,1995.

In 1996-97 under contract Worlds developed private worlds for IBM, Visa, MGM, Sony and Disney.

In 1996 we also launched Alpha Worlds now known as Active Worlds which had everything that Second Life now does.

Worlds Inc. was acquired by Worlds Acquisition Corporation in Nov 1997 and changed the name to Worlds.com

Between 1998 and 2001 Worlds developed and launched the following worlds in revenue sharing partnerships with the following brands:

Universal Pictures Animal House, Polygram, Hanson, David Bowie, NY Yankees, British Telecom, World Wrestling Federation, Aerosmith and Coca Cola China.

Across all our 3D Worlds network our registered user base reached over 1,000,000 by the end of 2001.

On August 3, 2000 Worlds filed additional claims as a continuance to our 1995 patent 6219045 which resulted in patent 7,181,690 issued on February 20, 2007.

In June 2001 Worlds terminated all full time employees as a result of the .com bust and resulting Internet market meltdown. The company continued to maintain its service as well as continued software development on an as needed basis and under contract licenses.

During the intervening years there have been thousands of user created worlds and Avatars developed using Worlds tools and hosted on the members PC's. This user created content has been an experiment in organic growth and the sharing of virtual construction between thousands of Worlds users. This user created content on Worlds Peer-to-Peer 3D network now has hundreds of private user worlds

In September 2007 Worlds began a restructure which entailed a new Board to bring the company back into SEC compliance and to upgrading the core technology platform.

November 2007 Worlds signs a private development agreement with MTV.

July 7, 2008 Worlds signed Rapper DMC of Run DMC to develop DMC World set to launch early 2009.

December 11, 2008 Worlds retained Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP (LDLKM), to enforce Worlds' patents.

December 24, 2008 Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP files patent enforcement action against NC Soft on behalf of Worlds.

Isn't this interesting? In 2001 Worlds.com terminated all their full-time employees during the .com bust THEN they began reconstruction in 2007. Perhaps I'm being too cynical here, but why is the picture of an innocent company suddenly finding itself in the grip of an evil tyrant in my head? Ok, what I'm getting at is this...

Why suddenly sue companies that have been infringing upon your patents when you could have done this prior to now? Why after 6 years from it's collapse did the company suddenly begin to reconstruct itself and establish a new Board? I know I'm leading, please forgive me, I'll stop being subtle.

What if Worlds.com didn't WANT/CARE to sue prior to this? What if Worlds.com was reconstructed for the sole purpose of this lawsuit? I know that what I'm saying is very conspiracy theroy-ish, but hear me out. The patent they filed wasn't official until Feburary 20th, 2007. A few months after that they began to renew their company and then over a year later the infamous lawsuit between NCSoft and Worlds.com was born.

So why NCsoft? It's simple. NCsoft is the weak member of the herd at the moment for this type of action for two reasons. One is the downfall of Tabula Rasa, and the other is the fact NCSoft is a Korean company. Now why does that fact matter? Here is an excellent quote from VirtualWorldNews.com...

"Being a foreign defendant in Texas is not a pleasant thing," he said of NCsoft, which is primarily a Korean company. "The juries are, many would say, biased towards American plaintiffs and have a propensity to offer high damages. Some defendants might view them as an unfriendly jury and it might make the defendant more likely to settle."
Many observers have speculated that since Worlds.com's patent was only granted in 2007 and filed in 2000, there may be too many examples of prior art, including NCsoft's own games, for the patent to stand. Roth explained that the patent itself is actually continued on from a much earlier filing date, November 13, 1995, putting it ahead of NCsoft's founding in 1997.

I rest my bloody case. I wanted to be neutral in this matter with Worlds.com, I wanted to try to be a good "journalist". However I can't stop feeling somewhat dirty for even offering the chance for Worlds.com to give their side of the story. So while I do apologize to all of you that I couldn't get the answer from the mouth of Worlds.com as I had promised, I hope you found this article somewhat enlightening and entertaining.

My discussion for today? What do you think of this lawsuit? Who do you side for if anyone? Leave some comments and let's discuss shall we? Now excuse me while I take a bath.

An MMO Story: Why I love my Rogue

2009-01-27T22:02:00.009-04:00

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?

Interview with Tobold, Cult Leader of MMOs

2009-01-26T14:25:00.003-04:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been speaking with Tobold from Tobold's MMORPG Blog about him and I having an interview regarding his opinion on certain MMO issues. He was ever so kind to shoo away his army of loyal readers for a brief moment and agreed to chat up with me. So here you go, the first official "The MMO Experience" interview. (The one with Eskil Steenberg was for NegativeGamer, and Thom from Worlds.com still hasn't responded in several days...so..yeah.)

Danshir: Something that I've been curious about for some time, what got you into MMOs?

Tobold: I've been playing pen and paper roleplaying games since the early 80's. Which then got me into computer RPGs, and later MUDs. MMOs were just the next logical step.

Danshir: What is your favorite aspect of an MMO? The social aspect of it? PvE? PvP?

Tobold: I'm an ESAK Bartle type, that is my favorite aspect is exploration, not just the geography of the virtual world, but how everything works and is connected. Social aspects come next, I prefer playing in groups to playing solo, as playing solo I could do in a single-player game. Achievements are at third place, and Killing other players comes way last.

Danshir: There are several non-traditional MMOs possibly coming out this year such as Aion, JumpGate Evolution, The Agency, and so on. What are your initial thoughts on the 09' line up for MMOs? Is there any you suspect will be a dark horse or any that you suspect will go the route of Tabula Rasa and Hellgate London?

Tobold: I think Blizzard's competitors are making a wise choice to look beyond classical fantasy MMOs. I'm not saying that WoW couldn't be beat in that area, but it obviously would be much harder. A game with a different setting and different gameplay has a much higher chance of getting enough players together to be profitable. But I don't think you can predict the success of any of these games without having played a late beta. Success or failure are often determined by hard to grasp intangible things like "is the game fun?". You can't predict that from a feature list and some screenshots.

Danshir: Since you mentioned World of Warcraft, let's go ahead and discuss that. Considering how quickly some of the more "hardcore" guilds completed all the challenges that Wrath of the Lich King offered near immediately upon release, what in your opinion could Blizzard do to prevent this in future expansions?

Tobold: The only option here is to release expansions with more content. Blizzard did the right thing by making the first raid dungeon of the expansion, Naxxramas, accessible to a wider audience. But then you need at least one medium hard and one hard raid dungeon at release, not patched in half a year later.

Danshir: Is there something that isn't currently being implemented into World of Warcraft, or any MMO for that matter, that you would love to see?(My answer for this would be more interaction with one's environment)

Tobold: I'd love to see player housing in World of Warcraft, preferably combined with guild housing, including a system that rewards people for staying in the same guild for a longer time. I think houses add a lot of feeling at home to a virtual world.

Danshir: You may or may not have heard about some people wanting Blizzard to put in an "Elite" patch that would cater to the hardcore guilds. In their argument they stated that if Blizzard did not take action, that "normal" players would lose their heroes and role models, what is your opinion on THAT statement?

Tobold: I know a lot of ultra-casual players who aren't even aware that people like Ensidia even exist. I don't think the "heroes and role model" argument is valid, because by definition someone is always "the best", even if someone even better just left the game. There will always be someone in full epics strolling around the auction house and getting admiring looks for his epic armor. Blizzard certainly shouldn't patch the current patch to make it much more hardcore. But what they should do is add more raid content, which would occupy the elite for a little while, and the rest of us for a longer time.

Danshir: Since I used to lead raids in my guild back before I quit WoW, there are several aspects of raiding that I simply detested. Such as people wanting to loot items outside their spec(IE feral druid wanting healing gear) when there are people that could use those items immediately. Is there any part of raiding that you dislike? This doesn't have to be a personal experience in your own guild, just something you may have discussed in the past or heard about.

Tobold: The one thing I hate most about raiding is raid IDs and lockouts. Organizing the first raids of the week is so much easier than organizing the later raids, where you can't put people with different raid IDs together.

Danshir: Alrighty, let's talk about your website, Tobold's MMORPG Blog. Which do you enjoy the most to discuss with your readers? MMO Mechanics? Your own experiences? or do you enjoy your open discussion sunday's the most?

Tobold: I have to same MMO mechanics, the theory of what works and what doesn't work in an MMO. Personal experiences aren't as rich, because my personal experience how I killed that dragon in a raid in the end is neither personal not unique: Thousands of other players killed the same dragon using exactly the same strategy. This is one of the major weaknesses of WoW raid content.

Danshir: Recently on your blog you mentioned that you had to have readers register to some website(Blogger, wordpress,etc) to be able to post comments on your blog due to "trolls", was there some sort of final straw that caused you to decide this or were you just fed up with the whole thing?

Tobold: Final straw is maybe not the right word, it was more a resurgence of a problem I had before: Trolls claiming they had the right to tell me what to write or not write on my blog. A blog is a very personal publication of the author's thoughts, not like a magazine with a fixed subject, writing style, and chief editor to watch for coherence. A blog's content and writing style changes with the mood of the writer. Readers need to either accept that, or just skip the posts they don't like. As this is free content, it is silly to claim that the readers are entitled to anything, or have the right to harass the blogger if his content doesn't agree with their expectations. It is okay to disagree with me, and to tell me that, but don't tell me "don't write this way or I unsubscribe!". There is no subscription, nor subscription fee.

Turning off anonymous posting was based on John Gabriel's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory, which says it needs anonymity and an audience to turn a normal person into a troll. Taking away their anonymity hopefully makes people on my blog behave better. Did you know that Wal-mart managed to substantially reduce shoplifting by hiring people to greet customers when they enter the store? Same principle, greeting people takes away their anonymity.

Danshir: One quick question, since I've been trying to have an interview with Thom from Worlds.com concering the lawsuit against his company and NCsoft. What is your opinion on the lawsuit between the two companies?

Tobold: Sorry, I don't have enough legal knowledge to say anything about whether the patent is valid or not.

Hope you enjoyed the interview with Tobold! If not then his swarm of minions will more than likely dismember you limb from limb. Which is always pleasant. You should catch Tobold's current discussion over at his blog which talks about possible cost reductions done by Blizzard due to the financial situation. Be sure to vote for what type of prize you would like in a hopefully soon to occur raffle.

Until later...Kick some gnomes!

MMO Interview Crazy

2009-01-25T21:58:00.004-04:00

Just a bit of news while I wait on my wife to get on the zeppelin. Tobold over at Tobold's MMORPG Blog has agreed to sit down and chat up with me about MMOs, game mechanics, and blog/forum trolls. It should be an interesting conversation so stay tuned for that. (It should be up tomorrow.)

Let see..what else..

I had a friend run me through RageFire Chasm a few times hoping to get the sword and dagger from there. No luck on that sadly though.

I wrote up a small review/impression of the FEAR 2 demo over at NegativeGamer. If you want to read it due to being bored to tears, here ya go! Fear 2 review.

I do apologize that today was such a slow day with no experience or article posts. On a more positive and upbeat note I'm still entertaining the whole "Raffle" contest. Though I'm considering instead of giving away WoW+TBC+Wrath to just go ahead and give away a 60-day subscription card.

Why give a game away that more than likely YOU already have? Just an idea. I'll keep you posted about that, maybe make a poll regarding that idea.

One final note. If by chance you have an MMO blog and you're not on my lil list of great reads, you can always email me at ThaShirow(at)gmail(dot)com. I'll be happy to add you.

Kick some gnomes!

"Love" the MMO on X-Play

2009-01-25T02:04:00.003-04:00

According to Massively.com, G4TV's X-play has recently did a preview of Eskil Steenberg's "Love". While both articles(Massively and X-play's video preview) show off how impressive the project is as well as how impressive Eskil is, they didn't even mention some of the very negative points of the game. No character customization, no beta invites/free trials, and the fact the game will probably cost MORE than your standard MMO.

I'm very happy however that Eskil is getting the spotlight he deserves. With both Massively.com and X-Play mentioning the game as well as the name of the man making it, this may be the marketing that he needs to overcome the lack of "Try before you buy.".

WoW MMO: The Dance of Death?

2009-01-24T14:27:00.009-04:00

I'm not so crude that I would urinate from up here....ok..I am.

While the title of this particular entry seems dramatic, the truth of the matter is more of an epic fail than anything else. In truth today has been rather slow for me both in World of Warcraft and out in the real world. I'm going to hop around each subject briefly today due to the fact I rather not get into some type of serious philosophical discussion today.

I got to level 10 last night with my Blood Elf Rogue, Ahrimin.(The name Danshir is already taken..by me..don't ask. =*( . ) Since I had not previously viewed whatever changes to the talents that rogues get since a few months prior to Wrath of the Lich King, I may have squealed a bit in glee at some of the changes made to pre-existing talents and of course the new abilities.

Dual wield specialization a tier 1 combat? <3

The only change I didn't like was the move of relentless strikes to the subtlety tree. While I know others may have been overjoyed by it, I'm personally not a big fan of PvP in World of Warcraft nor of the subtlety tree itself. Other than that however I was quite eager to go ahead and spend a few thousand gold on trying different talent builds.(To date, I have spent over 3578+ gold. I didn't start keeping record of it until a few months after I started WoW at it's initial release date. If you count in how much I've spent on respecs for both my rogue and hunter...well.. it's too much.)

After that I decided to look up WoWhead's talent builder and just goof off with some potential ideas. While people can "theorycraft" all damn day, in truth what looks good on paper may be horrid in use. Still I made some builds to work towards and I'll make any changes as needed. If you want to check them out and scoff at my "noob" ability you may.(Remember, I've not played a rogue since..uhh..last year. So please, be gentle.)

Combat Sword Build

Mutilate PvE Build

After that I decided to go look into this year's Lunar Festival. I really wanted to level, however my wife wasn't really in the mood to play so I was left to doing things that didn't involve reaping the exp. (So I've been leveling professions, getting out of the way flight paths(I hate you ThunderBluff), and playing the auction house. Oh joy.) When I went over to Moonglade after the initial festival quest...I recalled something I probably should have considered before translocating myself..

I'm on a PvP server.

Instantly I was surrounded by level 80 characters with BIG scarlet letters that proclaimed my imminent release from this mortal coil. Or quite simply...

I was screwed.

No one attacked me however. So I quietly walked over to the pillar of light that would take me over to Orgrimmar so I could pick up some additional flight paths.(I'm so exciting! /sarcasm) That's of course when an Night Elf Hunter ran up to me. Judging by the skull on his portrait I decided my chances were null and void. Yet this particular human being(By this I mean the player...) challenged me in a way where the competition would be fair.

A dance off.

The Battle of the Century

I had to chuckle at this. It was one of those situations that you knew would turn out badly, yet fate threw you a curve ball only to shatter any assumption you may have had. After a few minutes of dancing while alt+tabbing out to work on both this site and NegativeGamer, I decided I would go ahead and leave...well..that's what I TRIED to do.

But this happened instead.

You knew it was going to happen.

So I got ambushed by some Rogue that apparently didn't appreciate my dancing ability. What a way to end the day eh?

On as positive note I only saw one Chuck Norris joke the whole day.

For today's discussion if you're so inclined, is to talk about what keeps you in whatever MMO you happen to play after you've already met the level cap. Is it the "lust" for additional loot? PvP content? Simply talking and chatting with friends?

Discuss.

The MMO Virus: Blogging

2009-01-23T00:52:00.006-04:00

If you came here looking for some more pictures of me falling to my death, I suggest you go read some old posts. I don't blame you for wanting to cackle in glee as I showcase my agility at ramming my skull into the earth. That tendency of mine will hopefully end before I make it over to Thousand Needles. Though I do have something evil in mind to foil the next suicide attempt by going into engineering and picking up a parachute cloak.

Brief nerd info: Parachute comes from both a French word with a Latin prefix. Para meaning "counter" and chute meaning "fall".

/RemoveTangent

What I wanted to talk about today is the "art" of blogging or having a website in general. I feel like a virus.
Let me go through this analogy with you. People make blogs to be heard, to tell others their opinions about whatever subject that particular blog focuses on. Success or survival of a blog is to continue to grow in terms of viewers, and to continue that growth until it reaches critical mass. Like a virus, I want my website to spread everywhere, to "infect" people into becoming non-readers into...well readers.

Of course to be a successful "virus" you have to be different than all the other viruses out there, or you'll be eradicated. There are so many more analogies you can throw in here, the electronic "survival of the fittest" so to speak when it comes to having a successful webpage. I'm not claiming my website is a success story however.

I'm still infecting people.

I would love to look back at this page a year from now and say " Wow, look at my evil empire."

The "infection" is the greatest part of the success of a webpage. How quickly you spread the word about your website, how well you keep reader's interests, and by doing so well your current readers cannot help but talk about you to non-readers. Without one of these you won't do too much outside of a few personal friends visiting your site.

Without all three you're doomed to mediocrity.

Of course I have a heavy dose of ignorance when it comes to those three key elements. I'm still fresh, young, naive, and insane so instead of yelling across the globe with a great thunderclap " Here I am, read my stuff cause I think I'm spiffy!" I do a small cough to get your attention and mutter something about pie.(That probably would get my attention rather quickly if that happened..)

I bet you're wondering why I'm rambling on so. This epiphany came to me while performing my customer service duties for my day job. And being the nerd that I am, the whole similarity between trying to build a successful webpage/blog and a virus stuck me as somewhat insightful.
So with that in mind I wanted to talk about it as I happen to have such a webpage that is still in it's growing pains.

Hmm..

I guess my goal is to go from being a small cold to being a world wide epidemic that causes mass hysteria and panic. Much like the Scourge in World of Warcraft.(Ha! It's MMO related now!) So eventually I hope to have legions of people all chanting..

"For Danshir.." in guttural zombie speech, and I frankly don't think that is too much to ask. Especially since the Zombie Revolution will be coming along any day now...

An MMO Experience: Stab?

2009-01-22T02:29:00.008-04:00

Stabbing a tree in the face..I'm a genius

First off let me explain. I tried playing a priest, I truly did. Yet my eye started to twitch. Maybe it was dealing with people all day on the phone that made the urge to start stabbing people, or maybe the fact I can't escape the class that I first stuck with back when World of Warcraft was first released.

I made a rogue.(Not a rouge, for the love of Zeus people...)

I think part of the blame lies with the "Craft of War:Blind" video. As nerdy as it may sound I really wanted to remake my old combat spec'ed rogue after watching that. So I quickly moved what little I had from my priest to my rogue and began to play. The transformation was to me phenomenal. I had mentioned that I dislike the lower levels of World of Warcraft, which is almost polar opposite of how most people view it. The reason that I had such distaste for the lower level content is simply the lack of abilities/spells one has access too. Well one reason.

It feels as if each class is basically the same at this particular point in the game. However what makes this so unique is I didn't feel that way playing the rogue. Perhaps it was the speed of the combat as I eviscerated my foes with my dagger.(Yuck. I hate daggers so bloody much..) So in essence I had an enjoyable experience playing WoW tonight. There are a few note worthy events I shall share against my better judgement.

I'll make it this time!

I decided I would try once more prove I was a paragon of jumping into a large body of water. Yet my fate was yet again sealed upon pressing my space bar..

*Sigh*

While you enjoy my personal humiliation(again) I did notice a few slight changes in World of Warcraft that I had missed previously. One was the improvement upon the Mining profession. I don't know when this change took effect, but instead of having to flail away several times to get all those precious ores, you get it all in one "hit". It was as if *gasp* Blizzard wasn't trying to waste my time with menial tasks! The next thing I noticed was another Blood Elf racial ability, magic resistance. Instead of just giving resistance to all schools of magic as it did previously when I played, it now increases the chance of spells missing you by 2%. A neat change, but nothing special.

However not all was fine and dandy in Azeroth...

Yeah..Subscription MMO players are ..uhh..mature

I had done probably the one thing that would make me desperately want to log off and never play again. I had ventured into a capital city. Immediately I was swarmed with mindless stupidity of Chuck Norris jokes, racism, and the "Insert the word anal in conjunction with a random ability/spell". Now correct me if I'm wrong, but these people are the ones that complain that the MT/F2P MMOs player populations are too "immature"?

So I threw an axe, and it stuck...in a ghost...wait..

That makes as much sense as the above picture. While there certainly are more players that are younger than the players in subscription MMOs, I would hazard a guess that the maturity level isn't that much different. In fact I would place my bet that non-subscription MMOs place higher.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

I think tomorrow I'm going to play Wizard101 as well as see if there are any updates about Spellborn. I've really wanted to try that out yet sadly someone is procrastinating about the US release. Then again, if I wanted to be truly honest, there are a TON of MMOs coming out that I want to play. JumpGate, DC Universe, The Agency, Spellborn, Aion...

The list could go on.

Hopefully we can see a bit more variety to the MMO genre beside the menagerie of World of Warcraft clones in 2009.

I shall close by re-posting the video "Craft of War:Blind" because it deserves to be viewed...twice. Also we got a new header! Yay!

The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

MMO "Love" Interview & Twitter

2009-01-21T00:06:00.011-04:00

I love my strange titles. Yet I may be going over the edge with each passing day. This may of course have something to do with my new "day" job being in full effect to the point where I am taking calls from people all over the United States. Since I was doing this, I sadly missed hearing my brand new President give his speech.

I'm not very political generally, but I really wanted to hear him speak. Thankfully finding this image on Diary of an (Ex?) WoW Addict cheered me up until I can hear a recording of it later.

This is the most epic thing ever.

So a few little updates to throw up on here. One is my very first interview is completed. The interview between myself and Eskil Steenberg, creator of the indie MMO project "Love", is now readable at NegativeGamer. If you're wondering why am I only posting the actual interview over there and not here at The MMO Experience? There are several reasons. While the actual so called "journalism" done by me is over there, I wanted to give my opinion on the whole matter here.

After talking to Eskil about his game "Love", I was kinda disheartened. Not about his game, but about his mindset and attitude toward "selling" his idea. He doesn't seem at all interested in what the world thinks about his game, nor about getting word out about it. While I can applaud someone being focused upon the creation of a project then trying to hunt down potential customers for an unfinished project, I can't help but wonder if no matter how great a game "Love" may be if it won't ever get that initial boost to give it ..well..

Life.

I've already heard a swarm of comments on MMO forums stating that the game looks like crap. I disagree with this statement utterly because I realize that both...

A: It's in pre-alpha stages.

and

B: It's an eccentric game that has a unique art style that ISN'T trying to be just like other, more world dominating MMOs.

Now while both I and others realize that, the majority of MMO players do not. These players that use forums and those that own blogs will give out their opinion, just as I am right at this moment. The "Word of Mouth" virus will spread like wildfire, and instantly a large portion of potential fans/customers are gone. Perhaps I'm over analyzing this, perhaps I shouldn't even bother being worried.

But I want to see "Love" succeed, even though I have nothing to do with the project except wanting to play it when it's released. Yet it seems several doors are shut about that. With no "free" trial of the game and the subscription fee possibly being more than your standard MMO I twitch, as if struck a blow. A developer that doesn't seem to want to make the game more accessible just slightly shuts me off, despite me liking Eskil Steenberg.

Time will tell.

On a side note, you can now find me on that horribly named program Twitter! If you want to become my personal stalker you may at anytime by following me at Danshir's Twitter.(Yes, That sounds horribly wrong...go ahead and laugh..do it...)

One more thing before I go. My wife has made a prediction that I will soon quit my Priest and return to some "random dps class, because You love doing damage..". I honestly hate to say that she may be correct as I start to yearn to play something that makes things go boom.

Maybe a mage? A tanking melee mage...yes that would do nicely.

World of Warcraft: Playing an MMO Priest

2009-01-20T00:42:00.013-04:00

Today has been rather uneventful. For one I had to work from 12:30 till 9pm ET, so that took up most of my time. Thankfully I got double pay due to it being a holiday. Anyway, enough of that.

I got an email from Eskil Steenberg today, answering a few of my questions. His answers of course prompted me to ask a few more questions, so that should be up within the next day or so. Rawr for my epic video game journalism.(Ok not really.) Moving on..

I finally got World of Warcraft + The Burning Crusade installed and patched(again). Then to save some time I passed my WoW folder over to my wife's computer to save her the horror I just experienced. However I finally got to load up the ancient addiction that is slaying people left and right.(Mentally at least.) So what did I decide to play?

His name is Vharaun

A Blood Elf Priest. There were a few reasons behind my choice. For one, I've not played a healer since the days of yore of EverQuest in it's prime. It's an entirely different playstyle than what I've been doing in recent years.(Rogue, Hunter, Fury Warrior....yeah..) While there was an excellent suggestion to do a melee hunter for laughs(Thank you, Tesh.), I decided to help out all those PuGs by being a healer. I expect to keep my evil attitude by enforcing the " You want healed/resurrected? Pay me =) ".

Maybe not.

So after being bitter with World of Warcraft so many times for reasons mentioned in previous posts, what was some of the first things I noticed upon returning? Well one, the latency icon is utterly gone. As if Blizzard no longer wants me to know how bad the server is lagging on a particular day...hmmm

Conspiracy theory! Dun dun dunnnn!

I noticed other things as well. The addition of the Xbox 360 Achievement tab..urr..I mean the World of Warcraft Achievement tab! Though probably the most pleasant change was the new Arcane Torrent. The fact that now I never have to constantly check on my Mana Tap charges was a nice little addition, as was making the mana return a % instead of a base amount. Smart move there Blizzard, I'll give you that grudgingly.

My wife and I. She's an evil Warlock..and I'm a holy priest..We ....uhh..compromise.

I quickly rediscovered how much I hate the low levels in World of Warcraft. By low level I mean anything prior to level 20. The game just seems so boring and tedious during this point. However I was thankfully too busy talking to old friends to really care about that particular issue. It's interesting to me how the camaraderie of just talking to people(Either through typing or voice chat) makes you not care how utterly boring the game is that you're playing. Then I got level 4 and with it...

Shadow Word: PAIN!

I finally had one of the staples of a priest. The spell didn't "WoW" me,(See what I did there? Sorry..on going joke with Tipa from Westkarana. hehe.) but I enjoyed having an instant cast clickie to destroy all those fluffy rabbits that could at any moment massacre everyone in sight. Aside from that, only two interesting events occurred in my initial return to World of Warcraft.

The first was my wife and I doing the "final" quest in the initial quest area. You have to go up a tall spire and fight some decrypted Blood Elf having withdrawals.(Who eerily enough looks like someone that plays World of Warcraft for far too long...) After we slain him with a few quick SWP and Immolates followed by a mace to the groin...My wife backs up...and keeps backing up...

My wife is that small speck of gore that you can barely see from up here. If that helps.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her brief little mistake as she said behind me " Oh crap..." and then went splat. I then, in my moment of infinite wisdom, said she should have aimed for the water. That way she would have lived instead of ...well...not living. In retrospect, this was probably when the great powers of Karma looked upon me and cackled with glee. Which is never good.

To demonstrate my serious "jumping from high places into a pool of water" skill, I decided to take the plunge...

All that yellow text is the Alliance attacking the Blood Elf Starting Area...Jerks.

I get a brief moment of vertigo which I've always found strange. In any other game where I plummet several hundred feet I'm fine, but with any MMO I get a strong sense of vertigo as if I was actually jumping. I can't explain it. Anyway sorry for going off on a tangent there. This is the result of my bravado.

I probably deserved this.

So that was my World of Warcraft experience as a Priest. If you were very observant you would have noticed that I had very quickly got the addon QuestHelper. I'm "on the fence" with this addon because the majority of WoW players seem like they're having withdrawal systems if QuestHelper isn't working. The biggest example of this was the chat in the DeathKnight zone when it was first released and people were trying to figure out the very easy initial quests.

Oh well. I promised myself I wouldn't rant too much tonight.

Something I want to make note on, just to assure both old readers and new. This site will NOT suddenly become a shrine to WoW. I still plan on playing other MMOs. (Especially Wizard 101.) I also will insist upon writing things that may put WoW in a negative light when it deserves it, which is most of the time. I'll also try to act like I'm some hotshot journalist and get interviews with people that really have better things to do than talk to me.

Like getting teeth pulled.

I just wanted to reassure that The MMO Experience will be what it's always been. It will simply incorporate the WoW aspect as I share my experiences there, which I hope are as wild, varied, and hilarious as they were when I played a hunter and a rogue. So give this priest your warmest regards and wishes as I boldly try not to show how inept I truly am.

An MMO Adventure : Starting over...Again

2009-01-18T20:13:00.006-04:00

I just got off the phone with a few of my old guild members from World of Warcraft. I have been missed apparently, and was asked to come back. I replied no, my account has long since passed away into the ether. Still, I was asked once more.

My answer was no, yet again.

I hang up, and sit there staring at the lovely page where I create articles that no one reads. While I do play Wizard 101, I really don't play anything else lately. Perhaps becauase I've been jaded and bitter toward MMOs of late due to a variety of reasons.

Yet how can I write about something if I don't experience it? How can I justify a website called The MMO Experience without me going out and doing just that? It's a riddle I don't like to contemplate too much. So I thought about resurrecting my EverQuest 2 account and playing with Tipa and my other fellow bloggers that are really a group of extradoinary human beings. I have been playing EverQuest 1 with DulakQuickLeaf, but aside from him I really didn't have anyone to chat with while playing.

So I called them back. I would return.

Danshir is returning to Azeroth with his lovely wife.

Stay tuned...as I spend the next decade patching...

To get some interaction with my fellow human beings, I want to hear some opinions from you. What class do you recommend from someone who has played a rogue and a hunter pretty extensively. Should I do a complete switich and try a healing position? Should I tank? Alliance or Horde? Don't make it thought out, just throw some goofy crap my way(What a lovely idea, throwing "goofy" crap...) and lets get to discussing! Oh. To show off my leet skills at horrible artistic ability, check out my new picture "ad" used to exchange pictures between blogs.!

MMO: At a Loss for Words

2009-01-18T14:06:00.009-04:00

You can only ram your head so many times into the monitor before something breaks. I know that's a very unique way to start a conversation(Unless you've been here before.) but for the life of me I've been trying to think of what to right today. After writing about the new law in China where you have to register your real name + ID number to your MMO accounts over at NegativeGamer, I can't for the life of me think of what else to write today. I could be horribly lazy and CTRL+C and then CTRL+V and call myself a genius at cloning..

But hey! When you can't think what to write you can either..

A: Find something someone else has wrote about and state your opinion. A good blogger links back to the source as a way to say thank you.

--or--

B: Write about the process of not knowing what to write, hoping to get pity from the community that they will read it anyway.

Yet I keep deleting whatever I type out, finding it either boring or egotistical. Most MMO bloggers relate their in-game experiences along with some fluffy bunny pictures or they talk about "TheoryCraft" for a few dozen paragraphs. I enjoy the former and loathe the latter. I've never been a big fan of "TheoryCraft" however. I find it utterly boring to try to apply mathematics to the timing of my Slice and Dice, and I really wonder how people find it entertaining to read off a list of the "Best" of certain armor/weapon pieces. However that all goes back the carrot being dangled in front of you, as Blizzard begs you to play through the 2 hour instance just one more time to get that 5% drop rate item.

I'm bitter. ^_^

I rather talk about the former. There are some excellent blogs out there where people simply talk about their in-game experiences. You almost get a vicarious thrill as you read and compare your experiences to theirs. They don't try to tell you how to play your class, or even hint that they are the best at whatever class they are playing. They just talk, tell a story, or tell you a little bit of their in real life situation.

If I wanted a "HowTo: Play a Rogue" guide, I wouldn't go over to a site like WorldofMing and gaze at the paragon of narcissism that is the forum famous rogue. This is the type of site that generally QQs for a few weeks, posts Arena and Duel videos, and thinks they are the "heroes" of the average MMO player. If you want to read how "epic" Ming is, read this.(It's funny)

/EndRant

I'm going to be adding two new polls today. One revolves around the idea of moving over to WordPress.com and using their neat and shiny tools. The other revolves around the site's content in general. I'm striving to find what particular content is enjoyable and what can be shoved into the fires of Mount Doom.

To reward you for reading this entire post basically about nothing except ranting, here is an extraordinary World of Warcraft video that should be viewed by everyone with optical organs. Enjoy. Have a great Sunday evening!

The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

MMO Glitches

2009-01-17T14:52:00.016-04:00

At last, free of the linear prison of flight paths! FREEEDOOMMM!

Sometimes those millions of lines of code fail us. Then we are suddenly unplugged from the rules of the world and are given free reign to wreck havoc. No I'm not trying to start a post about the Matrix. Any post that adds the words Matrix and MMO usually has me wanting to projectile vomit toward the creators of that farce of a game.

Of course I'm not trying to say it's a BAD game. I'm trying to say I would rather have a rabid cat become attached to my spine then play the Matrix Online anymore. But hey that's just my opinion.

I want to talk about glitches! Not just ye normal "Gears of War 2 Morons Crab-Walking" glitches but MMO glitches. Why? Well I was just goofing off in everyone's favorite addiction World of Warcraft when my griffon decided he was tired of his years of bondage to the tyranny of dwarves. So I find myself suddenly controlling the magical little beast and take him for a stroll down into Darkshire. After a few moments of joy I find myself suddenly disconnected and booted for ever showing the poor creature a moment of joy.

It got me thinking though of all the little glitches I've seen that made me pull my hair from frustration or made me laugh hysterically as I'm prone to do.

He is not suppose to be purple...

There is one glitch in particular that I wish I still had pictures of. Some time ago in World of Warcraft the instance server kinda shut off. So everyone in an instance or a battleground suddenly found themselves teleported several hundred feet about the Arathi Mountains. I cannot show my own personal demise in this cataclysmic event, I did find a video that demonstrates what happened...

While the glitch was pretty frustrating as the entire raid "wiped", the outcome was worth it for sheer laughs. However glitches are not always fun. What about if you wait a few hours for a named monster to appear in EverQuest only to have him "fall" through the ground somewhere else in the dungeon? If you've ever played EverQuest before and camped a mob you can have a glimmer of what type of rage this can produce.

So, what are some of the glitches you've come across while mindlessly stabbing monsters in the gut? Tell me about some of the more memorable glitches that you've come across, be they simple graphical crashes or gargantuan shattering of the game. It's the weekend, so I'm avoiding any serious discussion or work. So come bask in my procrastination this weekend. Also I'll update the poll for Round 3!

Round 2: Peg Leg Warrior vs Lagging Enchanter

2009-01-17T00:59:00.002-04:00

The last bout took the form of a small short story. This one however will be a bit different. Enjoy!

Peg Leg Warrior v.s. Lagging Enchanter

Grodius the Wooden Fury: *Gazes at his opponent* This will be over in a few seconds..Noob.

Foghorn the 56k Enchanter: Loading...Please wait...

Grodius: LOL, say something before I pwn you.

Foghorn: *Appears suddenly, and simply stands there* ...

Grodius: *charges in, and starts flailing away with two swords and a peg leg* Rip Frag time!

Foghorn takes no damage.

Grodius: WTF? *continues attacking, taking out his huge 2-hander that is easily 3x taller than him.*

Foghorn takes no damage.

Grodius: ok what the ....

Foghorn phases in and out of reality due to gargantuan amounts of lag, which apparently bends space and time. Appears several yards behind Grodius.
Foghorn begins casting a spell..

Foghorn casts Gravity Flux, dealing 300 points of damage and shooting Grodius several hundred feet in the air.

Grodius falls back down, falling down a ravine hitting every rock on the way down, taking 500 more points of damage.

Grodius: WTF?! Noob you hax!

Foghorn casts a spell...

Grodius: ...

Foghorn casts Gravity Flux..

Foghorn the Lagging Enchanter wins!

Interview with Eskil Steenberg, Maker of Love MMO

2009-01-16T22:21:00.003-04:00

I've recently emailed Eskil Steenberg, the one man development team behind the game Love. Since we're still waiting for the eventual Worlds.com Interview, I'm going to sit down with Eskil and talk about his game You can watch a brief video of Love in it's pre-alpha stages and read what I had to say about it here. I hope to get this interview up in a much more timely fashion than the one with Thom. I don't blame him however considering how busy he is with lawsuits and all that jazz.

Also sometime tonight I'll post the Round 2 bout in a format that EverQuest fans will enjoy. Stay tuned! Enjoy your MMOs!

Wheel of Time MMO: EA Signs Up

2009-01-15T23:09:00.003-04:00

I've talked about RedEagle Games' The Wheel of Time MMO some time ago.(You can read that very brief article here.) However, now the Dragon Reborn's virtual avatar will be backed by more than just Saidin, he'll be backed by EA.(Yeah I know my Wheel of Time.) As I mentioned before, RedEagle Games will be releasing much more than just an MMO, but also standalone video games for a variety of consoles and handhelds. The deal with EA will allow other third party companies such as Valve, Harmonix, and id.

If all these blockbuster names get together for the virtual appearance of so many WoT games, my skepticism over one of my favorite fantasy worlds being turned into a virtual world for the masses lessens to a degree. However I can't help but remember the evil that is Warhammer.(I'm sorry, I detest it.) For those who enjoy words, here is the press release with all the gooey details I was too lazy to put here.

Malibu, Calif. – January 15, 2009 – Red Eagle Games today announced they have signed a strategic distribution agreement with Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) for games based on Robert Jordan's beloved fantasy series, The Wheel of Time.

Red Eagle Games will develop and publish a line of stand-alone games on all major videogame platforms, including consoles, personal computers, handheld systems and wireless devices. The games will be distributed by EA. In addition, Red Eagle will launch and operate a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that encompasses the themes, characters and world of The Wheel of Time, which will be distributed at retail by EA.

"The Wheel of Time is a blockbuster global brand and our relationship with EA Partners will ensure that Red Eagle Games' products are made available to consumers around the world through familiar retail channels," said Rick Selvage, Chairman and President of Red Eagle Games.

"EA Partners is excited to team up with Red Eagle as their global distribution partner for games based on The Wheel of Time series," said David DeMartini, senior vice president and general manager of EA Partners. "The Wheel of Time series has a massive worldwide following and we're excited to help give Red Eagle Games' interactive products a blockbuster launch on the global stage."

The rich details of Jordan's meticulously crafted series have captivated readers since 1990, when The Eye of the World, the first book in the series, was published. Eleven additional books, including one prequel, have since been added to the series and have consistently appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List with the last four of his novels in the series debuting at No. 1. Jordan passed away in 2007 at the age of 58, but a final book, A Memory of Light, will be finished by fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson using notes and a partial draft left with Jordan's wife and editor, Harriet Rigney, and is expected to be published in fall 2009 by Tor Books.

Jordan's wildly popular books have been translated into 24 languages, and have sold about 44 million copies worldwide. In addition, the series has a vast global on-line community of tens of thousands of dedicated fan Web sites.

As a huge fan of the late James Oliver Rigney, Jr (His pen name was Robert Jordan) I hope these companies do their best to both remain true to the series and make the game entertaining. It wouldn't be the FIRST wildly popular book series turned MMO that turned out to be mediocre at best if it didn't however.(I'm so subtle...see what I did there?)

Also I'm very sorry for the lack of a post today concerning the victor of the Round 2 Event. I'll get that up as soon as possible tomorrow where I'll showcase the epic struggle between a peg-legged warrior and a lagging enchanter.

Source.

An MMO Subject: What class are you?

2009-01-14T18:34:00.007-04:00

There has been a large number of articles lately that are a bit TOO serious for my taste. I have no one to blame for this situation but myself as I wanted to give my personal opinion on a lot of hot subjects.(Such as RMT, how the financial situation will affect MMOs, the sudden migration of moose, and other fine subjects.) However today I wanted a more light, casual, and hopefully interesting topic. I have an urge to talk about classes. While for some reason I think it's hilarious to use the word urge in this context(I'm weird.), I really want to get into the subject of classes or archetypes if your game of choice doesn't use a class system.

For the most part, many MMOs follow a pretty standard set of classes. You have the Tank, the DPS melee, the DPS ranged, and the Healer. Of course sprinkled within these lonely archetypes there are abilities and/or spells that are other categories onto themselves such as support, crowd control, buffs, debuffs, and other unique features. Some games have entire classes focused on the "Support" niche in a group such as EverQuest, while others simply pass a few of these to the standard 4 archetypes such as World of Warcraft. So what does all this information make me?

Frustrated.

I'm at constant odds with the class system mechanic used in MMOs. On one hand it's a salute to the games of yore such as Dungeons & Dragons. On the other hand it is a very structured and limiting system that has me switching classes constantly because I get so bored remaining in one fixed niche in the game. When you pick a class in most MMOs you spend your entire time from level one onward to what ever level cap exists doing practically the same thing, using the same abilities. While there are different uses for abilities depending on if you're soloing, grouping, or raiding generally speaking you're pressing the same buttons, using the same ol sequence of moves that you've "TheoryCrafted".

"But Danshir! Just make another character! Make an alt!" You say to me.

Bah.

You're telling me to cure tedium I should go back and start at level 1 and repeat the entire process with an entirely different niche? Why? That's a snake eating it's own tail. The feeling of deju vu will come over me in a tidal wave and I'll realize I'm back at square one. Still confined in a overly structured class system that refuses to let me play EXACTLY what I want to play. As much as I love Dungeons & Dragons I really think the class system that we have used for so long has got to go. (While I love D&D, I have yet to learn the new 4.0 rules...Down with the new! Bring back ye ol 2.0 rules! Huzzah!)

So....what is an MMO player to do?

There are a vaccines for this disease, a treatment that have been used occasionally. The "point" system. To put it very basically, the point system lets you put skill points or what have you into different abilities. This can range from weapons to healing to fire spells or whatever. You make a custom class that is perfectly tailored to your playstyle. Want a Fire slinging priest? You got it. The freedom to powerfully control the "destiny" of how your "class" proceeds makes me giddy like a school girl. Sadly the only MMO I've played that used this system was Asheron's Call.

A great example of how versatile the system is and lackluster a class system is in comparison comes to mind when I think about Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I personally enjoyed this game for my PC, however I detested the Xbox360 version. Even though it ran a lot smoother on my console, there was one fatal flaw between the two. The PC version let you get skill points and distribute them between three skill trees. The first was more of a Fighter type, the second a Mage, and last a Rogue or stealth character. In the console one you were stuck with picking one of these three and that was it.

That was your character.

You couldn't make a strange hybrid between the two that fit your style of play.(Mine was Stealth/Fighter, I felt very much like Artemis Entreri from R.A. Salvatore's novels.) You were instead a very boring cliche class that you've more than likely played so many times before. Yet almost every single MMO follows suit. A review of Silent Hill: Homecoming by Zero Punctuation mentions how Americans HAVE to have a love story somewhere in their media. I know that the book "Ender's Game" has been in the works so long to become a film because every director wants to force a love interest in the story and the author of the book refuses for the main character to have one.(If you haven't read the book, it would make NO sense for him to have one...trust me.) Why add useless cliches such as a love story when you don't need it or it doesn't need to be there in the first place?

So why continue cliches for the sake of "That's how it's done?" Why should we use a class system just because "That's how it's done?" It makes no sense. So WHY do it?

*dramatic pause*

Maybe I'm bitter. Maybe I'm spoiled. Maybe I'm just tired of playing the same exact game with abilities that are under different names and different graphics. Offer me something unique or just offer me the chance to MAKE something unique for myself. Please?

So what class am I? I'm Danshir the Holy demon summoner that throws rabid pigs filled with explosives and knives. What class are you?

An MMO Called Love

2009-01-13T19:42:00.011-04:00

One of my fellow authors over at NegativeGamer found an interesting semi-MMO game being developed called Love. I dub it "Semi-MMO" for the fact each server will only hold about 100-200 people. The game boasts an environment that will be fully editable in game and also fully destructible. So anything you can see can be built AND destroyed. Something that may turn people off (or may not, depending on the MMO "generation" you are.) is that your character's perspective is first person.(If you don't know what this means, its where you don't see yourself. The screen is your character's eyes.)

According to Love's website nearly everything can be created. Terra forming, building cities, everything. While this in itself is amazing for an MMO to boast, this game that uses a more "artistic" style than most MMOs. (Think like the game Okami.) All of this is being done by one man.

Eskil Steenberg is developing the project all by himself. While I could go on how this indie title is shaping up to be major news in the MMO world, I'll just show a brief video of the game in pre-alpha stages. Enjoy. Please tell HalfLeft over at NegativeGamer thanks.

DC Universe Video - More People in Tights

2009-01-12T19:45:00.032-04:00

I got to watch this neat little video over at Massively.com. It's about a game I've not even bloody mention so far on this MMO site of mine.(Though not because I dislike the idea, I actually want to play it. There are just...so many things to talk about *insert sad face*) It shows off some of the aspects of character creation, some attack animations(which look very smooth and pretty), as well as the new movement mode acrobatics. Acrobatics is basically " Super Jump " from NCSoft's City of Heroes, except with a few neat additions like "air dash" and climbing walls.

I'll try to keep better tabs on this since it's one of the few MMORPGs coming out that will also be available for consoles. Most MMO games released for consoles generally crash, burn, break an arm, and crawl out of the horrible accident only to have a shark fall from the heavens on their head.(The image is now in your head..isn't it?) However DC Universe may actually pull it off and be a truly successful MMO on a console.

With The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction inspiring SOE to incorporate such interactivity into game play, hopefully this game will bring out the inner comic book nerd in all of us.

Put The World of Warcraft Needle in Your Veins.

2009-01-11T14:16:00.009-04:00

What is the first thing you think of when someone says "Addiction"? Generally the first few answers you'll receive are smoking, drugs, alcohol, and a variety of narcotics. However there is a growing epidemic (dramatic word) that is increasing drop-outs in school, ruining marriages, ending friendships, and putting people out of a job. What could this mysterious malady be?

MMORPGs.

While the hype about the effects are recent (Read Massively's article about Chinese game addicts here.), the actual problem has been around since the late 90s. The most notable occurrence was made by SOE's EverQuest. Given rise to such "pet names" such as EverCrack, EverQuest has had a share of stories where the "addiction" caused horrible incidents. A man killing his son because his son interrupted him playing. (You can read about it here.) A woman leaving her two babies in the car while she went inside to "quickly" talk to some guild members. She left them in there for several hours..( You can read about this tragedy here.) The list really goes on for EverQuest alone.

This isn't even counting World of Warcraft, which has a population several times more than EverQuest ever had during it's peak years. Suicide Pranks, Death by Exhaustion, Neglect of Children, and so many other stories. All of these can be linked to a single solitary word.

Addiction.

Now before you go raid SOE and Blizzard, know that these companies are NOT at fault. To blame them, or any type of media, for someones actions is childish and plain stupid. " Does the blame belong to the one who made the gun....or the one who pulled the trigger? " is an analogy I think that fits here. Regardless however of whom you think the blame belongs to, it doesn't change the fact that people let "virtual progression" take over the need to have "real progression". ( I've decided I will try to make Virtual Progression one of those useless words that seem to gain popularity on the Internet. Like Blogosphere or Innovation. Help support the movement!)

What do I mean by virtual progression and real progression? I think PART of the formula that makes MMORPGs so addicting is when we play them, there is a near constant growth with our virtual selves. Constantly improving your standing as you level, gear up, and raid, which is the direct opposite of how "Real Life" treats us in terms of pace. Any type of growth that can be measured and monitored (IE Job promotions, raises, buying a house, etc.) occur over a period of months, even years. However in an MMORPG you can experience "important" achievements at an accelerated rate. I won't go into the possible psychological reasons of why these games are addicting.( In real life I'm just a dork, in Norrath I'm an epic paragon of awesome.) I want to talk about addition itself.

While I wish just saying "Gaming Addiction is bad, m'kay?" would suffice and be the panacea to the problem it won't. The biggest obstacle is simply realizing that you ARE addicted. I found out personally a few years ago that I was addicted. I would avoid hanging out with my friends simply because it took time away from gaming. Movies, social events, work, everything was just a side note in my life's goal. (Which was leet purple gear) I would wake up a few hours early just so I could play without any interruptions.

Sounds bad eh?

I'm not so arrogant to assume that my brain is capable of producing the perfect answer, or any answer really, that would remove this venom from the psyches of others. While my own personal answer worked for me, which was simply realizing what a piece of crap I had become and becoming resolute to reverse the process through Twinkies (The Twinkies part isn't true.), it would more than likely not help everyone else.

I'm going to step down and let you talk. What do you think about gaming addictions? What are the causes and the solutions? You can go as detailed into the psychology of it as you wish or simply give a more personal comment about it. Do you think it's the developers fault? Could part of the addiction come from the simple fact people want to justify their money being shoveled into great vats these companies hold? Could it simply be human nature to be addicted to positive reinforcement? The floor is yours.

Wizard 101 - Brief glimpse

2009-01-10T20:44:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's post Tipa over at West Karana got me wanting to try Wizard 101. I've only got a brief chance to play it today, but that was really enough for me to break out laughing at times. I got some VERY interesting pictures that I think you'll appreciate. I would put them up now, however I'm at a friend's house and don't have access to my computer.

I'm being so very anti-social at the moment. However I wanted to give a few updates so you realize I'm still alive and breathing. I can say that so far Wizard 101 is very entertaining. I'm going to sit down and play it for a few hours once I get home and then talk about my initial thoughts upon this unique MMOG Card game. If you've ever heard of Magic: The Gathering, you'll have a small idea of the game...except it's an MMO.

Still no word with Worlds.com. I'm tapping my foot with a small twitch upon my brow. Anyway I better split. People are glaring at me and starting to find sharp objects. As I need my organs..I'll post later tonight.

Kick gnomes.

Recession, World of Warcraft, Worlds.com, and Hackzor!

2009-01-09T20:37:00.004-04:00

Have you ever woke up one day and the world seemed like it wanted to trip you and take your lunch money? Just curious, I'll not go into my days of elementary school. That never happened to me. Seriously. Why won't you believe me?!

(Cough)

A very interesting post made by the divine like being Tobold(He has his own cult now, dont'cha know? I'm the Unofficial High Priest) got me thinking today. With the recent financial troubles, how will this affect us as MMO players? While a number of comments generated by his post are under the flag " We are not really concerned as it's just $15 " I'm beginning to more and more disagree with them. What about the people with multiple subscriptions due to...

A. Playing more than one game

B. Paying for Spouse

C. A+B

???

My god the subscriptions can add up people! If you're in a situation (like my own) where you have to pay bills, pay a mortgage, car payments and such, those extra dollars can help. While I DO agree an MMO game will usually give you more bang for your buck unlike buying a brand new console game for $60. Especially in today's market where all the games are under 10 hours in game play time. (Or so it seems, I will say I just finished Metal Gear Solid 4 and it was thankfully filled with length....that sounded wrong. Still, A fantastic game..I recommend it.) So what's the solution?

F2P and Micro-Transactions.

Now before you send me hate mail, flame comments, and start to chant my name while uttering words from the Dark Speech of Mordor, hear me out. These games don't cost anything to play monthly. $15+ (Or MUCH more if your THIS guy.) can help out more than most people realize. However if you DO happen to have some extra change, you can always buy some cosmetic fluff items.(No matter how much support I throw toward MT systems, I will never be a fan of spending real cash for actual "gear".)

However this particular comment I made over at Tobold's post got me thinking..

Something to note, though it is not LEGAL per say is there is some advantages to having an account to a popular MMORPG. I'm not approving this, nor advertising for it, but I have known people in my guild who have sold their accounts when times got really rough. While you do put in*usually* more money then you'll get out, it's interesting to see how some players will use their *as an example* World of Warcraft account as a quick fix in case something occurred to throw their financial stability out of whack.

Again, not legal by any means, but an interesting aspect to the whole recession business that I just realized. How many people will sell their accounts to help get some money for more important(no such thing!)matters?

Is this an option that players currently under rough times may be considering? It was several years ago that I was offered by my parental units(IE my folks, whatnot) to get a high school class ring for the SOLE purpose of reselling it to a pawn shop later in life in case times got rough. While I declined (Blast me to the Abyss!), character accounts to popular MMORPGs, such as World of Warcraft, are and probably have been used in the same manner. Would YOU sell your account if that meant the difference of getting an important bill paid or getting enough groceries to last you until you were more financially stable?

Selling accounts is highly illegal, and against so many Blizzard policies and other MMORPG developer's policies that it's not funny. Hypothetically speaking if you were in said scenario what would you do? Post a comment about your opinion in this matter as I'm curious about how people feel about what could potentially be a hot subject.

Maybe not "Hot like Lava", which is my battle cry as I TRY to cook dinner. I generally fail and you can probably guess where the use of my battle cry comes into effect. It hurts.

Some site updates - I've switched my visitor counter to SiteMeter. People using plugins with FireFox that prevents ads( I understand there are sites with ads that make the page look horrid, but mine don't..and that's how I make cash...turn em off..please ;_;...You're making Danshir cry) also messes with the site tracker, so I may be getting a ton of hits and not seeing that on my reports. I think SiteMeter doesn't have these evil problems.

Worlds.com has still yet to respond to the rest of the interview questions involving their lawsuit toward NCSoft. I'm beginning to get restless so I'm sure those who have been eager to read it are as well. The beatings shall continue until morale improves. Hopefully I'll get a response from Thom this weekend so we can have The MMO Experience's first exclusive. The title " Video game Journalist " sounds a lot cooler than CSR.(Customer Service Representative)

Tipa over at West Karana has convinced me to try out Wizard 101. I have no earthly idea how this game is played except from what I've read about on her website. I fully intend to make an evil incarnation of Danshir or perhaps a more sinister character of mine, Ceallac Dru'Riden.(Ceallac is both the name of my Rogue on World of Warcraft, and a character I made some years ago in Dungeons&Dragons. Yes I'm a nerd, get over it. I rolled a 1 on my..anti nerd check?)

Unless Worlds.com answers me tomorrow, I think tomorrow's post will be me ranting about World of Warcraft addictions, some of my favorite times in "Edge of Dawn"(The only guild ever to have a host of awesome people that put up with my stupidity...thanks guys.), and other World of Warcraft related topics. I may even link some of the more popular WoW "blogs", such as BigRedKitty, SkeletonJack, and Critical QQ.

Kick a gnome.

Here is my Night Elf Fury Warrior btw. I still don't have Wrath of the Lich King. Leave me alone about it ;_;. You can't really see it, but my off-hand is Mounting Vengeance. Yes I know it's not a GREAT fury weapon. Also my helm is the Helm of the Illidari Shatterer.

Gnome + Deathknight = Deathgnome?

2009-01-08T18:29:00.005-04:00

I would love to say I had an witty anecdote that involved this post's title. That would be a lie however. I normally think of interesting things to write about while at my horribly boring day job.(Sadly, this ISN'T my day job. Maybe...some day..) However today I played slacker in that regard. I had assumed Worlds.com would finish sending me the rest of their answers.

So far all I've got answered was the nice introduction question that is basically " Here is some free shameless self-advertisement " that you hear about in any interview. However the more important questions such as..

Question 2. If you would explain the two patents that are both the source of the lawsuit and of most of the anger toward Worlds.com.

Question 3. No sense in ignoring the huge elephant in the room so let's discuss your lawsuit with NCSoft. A question on a lot of gamers minds are why Worlds.com is starting the lawsuit now. The two patents that have been infringed upon, if I'm reading them correctly, have been for several years by different companies. Yet it wasn't until near the end of 2008 that Worlds.com took legal action. Why?

Question 4. Another question I'm hearing on blogs, forums, and news websites are why NCSoft? Was there something in particular that made Worlds.com choose that company over other companies?

Question 5. I know you may not be able to discuss it, but is Worlds.com planning on taking any legal action against other MMO companies such as SOE?

Question 6. A good number of people are labeling Worlds.com as a "patent troll". That both patents were intentionally made ONLY to file lawsuit in the future. What are you thoughts on these opinions and what would you say to the online community to try to placate their, for lack of a better word, rage?

..are left unanswered. These are just a few of the questions I gave to Thom. I would also (more than likely) have additional comments after reading his answers. I can only assume that the people over at Worlds.com are quite busy.

Outside of that, I've been quite busy making a little World of Warcraft comic that was inspired by something I did once during a guild raid for laughs. I'll be using in-game pics so you won't have to see my horrible artistic skills.(Tipa's Spellborn comic was somewhat an inspiration to do this. You can see that over at West Karana.)

A friend of mine who DOES have artistic skill is currently hard at work making a new header for me. He estimates it to be done sometime this weekend, so hopefully I can show that off soon and end the ugly header we currently use. I have no idea who made that..but they should be shot. (Coughs)

Simple n Complex , the blog owned by OpenEdge1, gives some further proof of my prophecy that Micro-Transactions will invade the West. (You can read my post about it here.)

So a slow blog day I must say. I could list a ton of reasons of why I'm not writing an article or reviewing a game, but frankly there is only one that would ever make sense. I love writing about MMOs, however today.....today...

I'm playing them.

The Gnomish Revolution

2009-01-07T20:49:00.004-04:00

First to explain where there is no transcript between myself and Worlds.com. Yesterday Thom Kidrin and myself discussed several issues back and forth with emails. Due to some complications I had to send most of my questions to him where I had hoped he would have responded to by now. Since I haven't heard back from them, the posting of the interview sadly has to wait.

But not all is a lost! The second battle on the polls begins as does a brief little story of how the Gnomes saved Christma...I mean...defeated the Drunken Wizard. Enjoy. Or don't.

" Thiiiiiirsha manugk phah! "

Seabos growled. Once more his gaoler had been twisting together his favorite obsessions. Torturing his people and imbibing his favorite liquor. Quickly slipping into the shadows amidst the menagerie of exotic artifacts, ghastly jars filled with the gods know what, and other objects of the arcane as he left the upper levels of his master's tower.

It had been this way for years, to the point where he could barely recall the concept of freedom. Was it 10 years? Or 20? He couldn't remember. Days seemed to melt together into a lump of misery and pain. Yet today shifted away from that glob.

Today was special.

----------

" Whhhhyy ishh you already dead, nome? " the Wizard slurred, spittle spraying out from between his lips. He gestured, wand in one hand the bottle in the other, toward the poor gnome. What was left of the poor creature at least. The only evidence of it's existence being a fine powder of ash that was quickly being blown out of the window.

The Wizard chuckled as he ran his fingertips through the pile of ash, writing arcane symbols with a long delicate digit. He only needed a few more phrases in the arcane tongue and one command word. Then another one of his slaves would serve him in an existence after death.

He took one more swig, finishing the brandy. Tossing the now useless glass to the floor, he began the final incantations to the spell as the glass shattered.

-------------

The glass shattered as gnome after gnome swung from the top of tower to emerge screaming with blood lust and rage, 3 feet of pure terror as they crashed through the stained glass windows in the Wizard's laboratory.

" Whhhhhat ish thissh?! " The Wizard cried, horror struck as he fell backwards. With a loud whoosh all the air left his lungs as he landed upon the hard stone floor. His gasps quickly turned to horror as he saw gnome after gnome run into the room. Each held a strange box that made a most curious ticking noise.

One of the gnomes came up to the Wizard and placed his tiny foot hard upon the human's chest.

Seabos Daergel could only glare down at the human in silence. The rage that built within his heart had no words. There was only one way his people could feel at peace, only one way they could mourn. With a swift kick to the face the Wizard slumped into blissful slumber.

------

Minutes later..

The Wizard groaned. He had a most fascinating dream where his charges had risen against his might. As his cheek rested against the cold stone floor, he contemplating how he might torture a few extra today. Yet his thoughts couldn't focus. There was such a cacophony of tickin...

The tower of the Wizard exploded into a huge pillar of prismatic colors that reached high into the skies. Like ghosts violently tearing away from the earth in exultation of their freedom. The shock wave from the blast shook the caravan of gnomes as they headed back toward their ancestral homes.

Seabos smiled.

The End. Gnomes Win.

---------

That's it for the first match. A bit more serious then I had intended. I promise the next match the army of gnomes are in will be more silly than anything. Forgive me also for the horrible parody of an actual fantasy novel-ish. The next poll is up so go ahead and vote!

The Interview with Worlds.com is Official

2009-01-06T17:05:00.008-04:00

Some of you may not have noticed in my update to a previous post. Worlds.com has accepted the invitation to be interviewed by The MMO Experience. I'll be honest and say I was a little shocked they accepted. So during most of the day Thom Kidrin at Worlds.com and myself have been discussion several issues. While the interview isn't finished,(Thus why you're not reading it) it should be up tomorrow.

However I did ask if I could post his initial email to me stating that he wouldn't mind sitting down and chatting. I'll try to get the full transcript of our interview up on this website and NegativeGamer.com as soon as possible. So here is the email, hopefully it will appease your appetites. Also this is our 100th post! Huzzah!

Danshir:

Thank you for your considerate offer.

Due to the ongoing legal situation and under advisement of our lawyers I must limit my comments on this matter but am open to have a discussion with you..

I will say that there is clearly a rush to judgment and a lynch mob mindset on the blogs without any substantive analysis. Most of the comments I have received are uninformed, inaccurate and childlike in their simplicity and vulgarity.

A patent abstract is a general overview not the very specific claims granted, most postings and emails I have reviewed mischaracterize and generalize the abstract as the patent drawing the incorrect conclusion that the patent is a general catch all for virtual worlds and was applied for and granted in 2007.

The simple facts are that Worlds filed for a provisional patent on November 13, 1995 and a full submission was made on November 12, 1996.

Patent 6219045 was issued on April 17, 2001. This is a continuance patent which allows for further claims to be filed as refinements to the parent patent.

US patent office link:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,219,045.PN.&OS=PN/6,219,045&RS=PN/6,219,045

Our continuance patent claims were filed on August 3, 2000 resulting in the issuance of Patent 7,181,690 on Feb 20, 2007. The cover of the patent clearly states the continuance status and relationship to Parent patent 6,219,045.

US Patent Office link:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,181,690.PN.&OS=PN/7,181,690&RS=PN/7,181,690

Below are a few online posts that have a reasonable perspective on this matter:

Posted by: Tommyd | December 30, 2008 at 09:20 AM

Their claim is not a patent on MMORPGs but on a method for scaling them to handle the massive number of people using them. Let's face it, some of the early MUDs on Telnet and Compuserve were not handling nearly the kind of traffic or complexity of interaction successful modern day virtual worlds do.

If they came up with a novel way to handle that scaling, it might be worthy of a patent. Don't dismiss every patent just because it sounds silly after the news media has dumbed it down into a sound bite.

That said, I haven't read the patent or complaint. It could be completely stupid, but I'm not going to judge just based on a story.

Posted by: Hamilton | December 30, 2008 at 10:38 AM

Research revels that this company, Worlds.com, has been around for a long time (<95) and were one of the founders of multi-user graphic online domains. I couldn't find much in the way of financials but I would imagine based on my experience working in start up companies that maybe 10s of millions have been invested to develop this particular flavor of a virtual online player/browser.

If one accepts these facts, it seems a bit more valid that several (or many) of the multi-million dollar corporations profiting from client-server architecture patented more than a decade previously should be accountable. After all, Its not the case that many of these companies (ie Blizzard, Sony, Mythic) are giving their software away either.

The intricacies of the patent will be argued by very brilliant legal minds at a later date (if it goes to trial). From what I've heard from lawyers over the years regarding patent law it is one of the most complex and challenging divisions of law. IMHO, this particular case doesn't seem to be the proverbial "Patent Troll" as the company has been around forever.

Posted by: Hamilton | December 30, 2008 at 04:27 PM

With all due respect, citing prior art is not sufficient to dispute the nuances of a software patent of this type. In fact, my observations were mainly directed towards the apparent emotional uproar this thread contains as opposed to any debate over the legalese which would quickly reveal my ignorance in such matters.

I am certainly not an evangelist for corporate power brokers but my interpretation (after digging around a bit) yielded a rather polar conclusion to some of the more 'flamey' posts in that:
1. Worlds seems to be a pioneer in the industry.
2. They have been in this for the long haul.
3. They are a small company seeking their due from the titans in the industry.

Thats all...

I trust this covers a portion of what you are interested in my clarifying.

Let me know what time and date you would like to schedule a call and I will get back to you to confirm.

Regards,

Thom

Earthrise - Beta Sign-ups Begin

2009-01-05T21:28:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Massively.com for giving out some good news so early into the year. The MMORPG Earthrise has started to take beta invites. You may recall I've mentioned this sci-fi game before.(If you don't recall, you can read the story here.) Before you go rushing like madmen to sign up, go read up on Earthrise's forums for a little bit of Q&A(A link to their forums here. You're welcome hehe.)

This should be of interest to some blogger I know.(I'm looking at you Edge.) I can't vouch for the rest of you, but a decently looking sci-fi MMORPG would be refreshing after the swarm of fantasy games. At least it should tide me over until Star Wars:The Old Republic.

I hope.

EarthRise Beta Sign-up Page.

Playing World of Warcraft For Free

2009-01-05T18:07:00.008-04:00

I mentioned the other day a private server that I play on, WoWScape. I talked about briefly on how it is somewhat like a Micro-Transaction model.(Though a bit to the extreme in terms of regular gear and gear you can buy, to read the full post go here.) Other then that though I realized today that most gamers are pretty much in the dark about what a private server is. So today I'll go into it and make a few generic updates to other subjects at the end.

Private servers are where another organization will host the game instead of a public server. The servers you play on all the time in World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Warhammer, and other games are public servers. You pay a fee, they keep the servers running nicely and give you customer support, and so on. Since you're here at The MMO Experience I doubt I have to go into details about what these games provide.

Private servers are a bit different. While they keep their servers running, give customer support, and fix glitches (Though on a much smaller scale due to a smaller staff) there are a few difference. WoWScape for example you are not required to pay a monthly subscription fee. They fund themselves for server upkeep by donations from the community.(Which, depending on what server they are playing on, receives some items). Another key difference is, again using WoWScape, the different server options. WoWScape offers 4 different servers, catering to different needs. One for example offers a huge increase in experience gain(I can't understate this, A HUGE INCREASE) and making monsters drop nearly every item on their loot table. There is also a server that is "Blizz-like" meaning it tries to match Blizzard's official servers exactly in terms of experience and loot.

While Private servers seem like the real deal, there are a few things to note that will push you back to the public servers. Not all private servers are up to date with expansions/patches. Some don't have Wrath of the Lich King enabled or other instances. Others have a few(or a lot) of abilities that either don't work or partially work.(IE: Whirlwind only hitting with one weapon instead of two) However for someone wanting to simply goof off, try a class out here before trying it on the public servers to make sure they like it end-game, or to try out raids that you would not be able to on public servers then a private server is a blast. If you decide to give one a try, you can occasionally find me in WoWScape being goofy. Until then!

As I mentioned, there are a few site updates I need to make known. If you are having weird "glitches" in terms of the post background being black instead of blue, or the link buttons not having the neat little effect...pay them no mind. I suspect it's from my purchase of my own domain.(Isn't http://themmoexperience.com more spiffy?) It should go away shortly.

Also, time is almost over to vote between The Army of Gnomes and the Drunken Wizard! Vote now so you can pick your favorite. Afterwards I'll post a small fictional story of the great conflict. The next round is between a Peg-legged Fury Warrior and a Lagging Enchanter.(I'm insane..it's OK.)

Finally I have given up hope on Worlds.com answering my interview challenge.(You can read about it here.) So in my efforts to get some type of interview going I've emailed one of the admins over at WoWScape to talk about their server and private servers. Just something to chat about. Hopefully I'll get a yes from them.

The End.

Update - Worlds.com has answered my email. I'm currently talking with them about the details of the interview. However, obviously, some information will be limited due to that whole..law thing.

NCSoft Responds To Lawsuit

2009-01-04T06:25:00.005-04:00

After announcing Worlds.com lawsuit toward NCSoft a few days ago, I've been quite eager to find a response from NCSoft. I was thankfully answered by KoreaTimes. According to an NCSoft spokesman they have yet to receive the lawsuit papers nor have they analyzed the patent. They also spoke about how Worlds.com used the ideal place(East Texas) for the lawsuit.

NCSoft is concerned about the location and the juries being biased toward American plaintiffs. However I do like how in the KoreaTimes article the quote..

A Seoul-based patent lawyer said Worlds.com is apparently a ``patent troll,'' or an opportunistic company that enforces its patents on those who infringe aggressively despite lacking the intention to manufacture and market the product.

``Worlds.com is likely to be more interested in getting paid in a huge settlement than shutting down NCsoft's games,'' he said.

I'll end with a nice quote found on VirtualWorldNews when speaking to an NCSoft rep...

"We can't comment on potential litigation except to say that NCsoft takes all legal action seriously -- even if the company believes a lawsuit has no merit," a representative told me via email. "We intend to defend ourselves vigorously."

Station Cash was Just a Prelude. Prepare for MT.

2009-01-03T17:15:00.006-04:00

Uttering the two letters MT(Micro-Transaction) in association with an MMO and you'll quickly have a flame war on your hands. While there are several honest concerns about MT and the advantages Subscription-based models have other it, players better prepare themselves for the coming future. I predict that in the next few years subscription models will become a minority to an ever larger amount of MMORPGs with some type of MT.

So first, to those clueless about Micro-Transactions, let me explain. Almost all MMORPGs uses some type of system to finance server costs, additional content, and other expenditures. Most American MMORPGs uses a Subscription based model. If you want to play you have to pay a fee every month(generally) . This fee is roughly around $10-$15. A Micro Transaction model doesn't charge a monthly fee. You can play for free for as long as you want. However you can use real cash to buy weapons, armor, mounts, cosmetic items, and other services. Now before you start screaming "Why even BOTHER with subscription?!" there are a few bits of information you should know.

Probably the biggest reason Micro-Transaction games fuels such hate that one sputters the Dark Speech of Mordor is some MMORPGs that use this system allow players to buy actual equipment. By equipment I mean acutal weapons and armor. Why bother putting in hard work and hours upon hours of play time to get an item when someone can spend cash to get said item instantly? Sometimes the items you can get via cash are even better then anything a player could get under normal game play. It almost puts the message in the player's head that no matter how hard you try, no matter how skilled you are those with wealth will surpass you.

A prime example of this(Though this is vastly different than commercial MMORPGs) is the private server WoWScape.(I play on here occasionally, if you ever wanna find me.) Players can donate money to WoWScape(Which funds keeping the servers up, etc) to receive items called "Donor Gear". These items are powerful enough to enable one to kill end-game bosses without any assistance.(Though this can take hours. Note - My char has no donor gear before you ask.) A full suit of donor gear can range from $100-$400. Considering the price you may be surprised by how many people do this.(Take it from me, A LOT.) Items this powerful ruin several key elements of the game.

Using a World of Warcraft PvP server as an example, normal players would have no chance what so ever against people with gear of "Donor" quality. Imagine fighting a Rogue with 10x more hp then you, 95%+ dodge(I'm not exaggerating), and weapons that have DPS(Damage Per Second) well over 500. Now imagine having to fight an entire TEAM of people with gear of this magnitude in a Warsong Gultch match. Only divine intervention would enable you to have any chance. Mind you, I have nothing against WoWScape(I play there as I stated), but using a system like this for an "official" game is insane.

However it's not insane for game developers. There is an obvious demand to purchase in-game items, money, or other such perks. Just recently an EVE Online player spent $19,000 to purchase ISK.(The currency used in-game, you can read the article about the player about spending THAT much money as well as how he got ripped off at Massively.com) So with millions of dollars going out to leveling services, item purchases, in-game currency purchases why wouldn't developers take a piece of this action?

Well for one they already are. Blizzard offers the service of moving characters across servers, changing characters looks/gender, and giving your character a brand new name for a fee. EverQuest and EverQuest 2 has Station Cash where you can buy potions that give a 25% increase to experience gain for a period of time. SOE also releases a constant stream of expansions to the point it might as well be MT for content(Unlike Blizzard, which constantly releases new content for free.) However this is just what American MMORPGs are doing. Companies in the East are almost exclusively MT, and they make a killing. While these games do not sell players such balance destroying items that WoWScape does, they do sell a large amount of cosmetic items.

Cosmetic items are generally harmless little items that really don't do much besides look neat. It could be a unique mount model, items to place in your character's room/house/guild, auras, or even additional models for character creation. This type of MT system is the safest in terms of game play and retaining balance. It's also still a huge cash in for developers. If you don't believe me, ask yourself if you(or someone you know) has ever purchased an Xbox 360 theme, gamerpics, clothes/furniture for PlayStation Home, or things similar to that. If yes, then you have validated that people will purchase items that have no value other than an aesthetic one.

These are just a few reasons I think MT will replace subscription. Add on to the fact that you(the player) can play these games for free will draw in a lot of players. I know that from my time playing a few MT games that I never had that urge that I had to play every day for a significant amount of time otherwise I'm wasting my money.

After Star Wars: The Old Republic's "misunderstanding" of it being an MT system(Read more here.), don't be surprised if more and more triple-a titles jump on this wagon in some way, shape, or form. I think the community has valid points of why they dislike F2P games and MT games, however I find it impossible to conclude that game developers(And their shareholders) won't keep pushing more and more for this due to the financial gain. If done right, would you enjoy a game that you could play for free AND didn't break game balance with what items one could purchase?

A World of Warcraft Experience: A Story of Lies, Sex, and Laughter

2009-01-03T14:12:00.009-04:00

Author's Note - Fake character names will replace the names of those actually in this story to protect all those involved. However this is a true story. Would I lie?

During my early days of World of Warcraft I joined a guild a few "IRL" friends were in after making my soon to be legendary(Due to raid wipes, leading people to their deaths, and other lovely activities) rogue Ceallac.(This IS the real name of my rogue by the way) The guild introduced me to a large variety of human beings. Some of them I still talk to this day despite rarely jumping into the game, some of them I could kidney shot them and I don't mean in game.

There was one member in particular in the guild that could have been labeled "The Girl".(Read here to understand what "The Girl" is) Let's call her "Lily".(Remember! Fake name)There was constant humors of her "cybering" the guild leader and various other members for items, guild position, etc. One of these "other members" was even cheating on his fiance with this online dalliance. However since I was roughly around level 35ish I really didn't hear or care for the drama in the officer channel. I was too busy doing the StrangleThorn Vale Page quest(pre-nerf) and just having fun.

I'm a bit fuzzy on the details here, but "somehow" the truth got leaked out. "Lily" turned out to be a guy. All those involved with "Lily" were pretty upset, especially the one who had been cheating on his fiance. Though I wasn't privy to much of the details due to it going on in other chat channels, I sent some tells to other members in the guild and to "Lily" himself. Apparently he had been roleplaying this entire time and didn't see what all the fuss was about. Others didn't feel quite the same way about it. "Lily" either then quit the guild or was removed by one of the officers.

There are other bits of information about this story, but I'm not a jerk. Certain bits and pieces were removed/omitted to protect other peoples privacy. However there IS a moral of this story, especially if you're a huge homo-phobe as was the one who cheated on his fiance. Never assume that someone is a certain gender because of their avatar.

Because, lets face it..
Author's Note, part 2 - Just to clarify. Ceallac IS my rogues name, my main character*My hunter* is Danshir..thus..my name. Also, I didn't have any part in this particular story aside from being on the sidelines watching in awe and horror. Some details are my own assumptions and speculations. Thus do not label this story as 100% fact. That is all.

The MMO Experience..Without the Spots

2009-01-02T20:24:00.003-04:00

No longer are we the TheMMOExperience.blogspot.com anymore. We are the slightly more cool

TheMMOExperience.com! Huzzah!

Sorry for the delay in a post today, I've been spending some quality time with my wife. Once we get back from dinner, I'll throw in some interesting (I hope) topics to discuss upon. So lets all celebrate breaking the shackles of blogspot with free cake*!

*Only I get cake.

World of Warcraft Online Suicide Threat

2009-01-01T20:10:00.003-04:00

Blizzard cares.

That is probably the only positive thing I can comment about a recent story from the MiddleTownJournal. A 17-year-old threatened to kill himself due to being frustrated with, as the article from MiddleTownJournal says, an online game(AKA World of Warcraft, you'll see why further down). The boy was arrested December 29th for inducing panic after officers and medics went to his home.

The charge is a first-degree misdemeanor. Apparently the boy was having an online conversation with a Blizzard Entertainment representative.(Thus, World of Warcraft) When the boy typed in that "he was suicidal and that the game is the only thing he has to live for ". The Blizzard rep then called 911.

Once the police arrived, the boy admitted that he used the comment hoping to get his way with the representative. He was then handcuffed and hopefully thrown into a police car where he will never see the light of day.

I would like to say one thing, because the rest of the things in my head are too enraged and filled with fury to be worth saying. Kudos to you, nameless Blizzard employee for doing the right AND smart thing. You did the right thing. However I really hope this "boy" doesn't get off easy for this. ;) Maybe he'll get nerfed?

You can read the full and original story from it's source here.

Shin Megami Tensei (MegaTen)

2009-01-01T17:53:00.010-04:00

Recently Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine (Or MegaTen for short) has went from closed to open beta. So now that everyone can come make an unholy pact with demons we might as well talk about it. While I've touched upon Shin Megami Tensei before,(Read my closed beta story here. You can also read Tipa's he re.) I wanted to go into even further depth since now everyone can give it a try. While most gamers avoid a MT game, I truly do recommend this one.

Making a character in MegaTen is rather simple. There is no elaborate customizations that games such as Aion uses. You have a few different selections regardless height, face, clothing, hair, Arm Terminal, and weapons. I must stress that these are just the starting customizations. As soon as you get past the initial "quest" and tutorial you can buy weapons and armor from merchants.(Since this is an MT system, when I say buy I mean with cash you get from monsters in game, not actual money.) I honestly wish there was more freedom with customization here, a few more models for face/hair and such.

What's a good demon filled MMORPG without combat? This is where, for me, MegaTen shines.(And took me away from playing Archlord...more on that later) For anyone tired of the old press hot keys 1-2-3-4-5 then loot you should enjoy MegaTen's more interactive combat. While it IS quite simple(a more advanced version of Paper, Rock, Scissors) it really adds some excitement to fighting that doesn't make it seem like a horrid grind. For example, in the picture above the ghoul is charging me. I could just sit there like a moron and take it(Like you would in most MMOs) or you can use a counter/block ability. The strange geometric shapes indicates that I timed my counter correctly and the ghoul will get a nasty surprise when he finishes his attack.

Another element is the action plays more like..well..like an action title. The demons get knocked by from strong attacks, certain enemies uses an ability called guard which you have to break if you want a chance to defeat them. Add in the counters and you'll find yourself having to pay attention to nearly every fight...unless you want to die horribly. Above is the game explaining my AOE attack...Nothing is more satisfying than seeing enemies fly away from your assault. Yet what is a game if its all action and no plot? This is where most MMORPGs fail at. Due to the medium itself the difficulty of creating AND maintaining an atmosphere, having a strong storyline, and letting players feel like they are part of it is extraordinary. While World of Warcraft succeeds to a degree, Lord of the Rings online even more so, and Bioware claiming SWTOR will finally give that to players you generally just can't find actual RPG elements in most online games.

I wish I could say MegaTen was a triumph in story. During the very beginning it is, but it slowly devolves into a normal MMORPG. However MegaTen does capture ones attention with the initial story and atmosphere. If your any type of fan of the Shin Megami series, you'll feel right at home here.(Unless you just HATE MMORPGs...then you won't.) There will be a few moments where you need to make moral choices for your character. These choices can then shift your character's alignment between good, neutral, and evil. Do you spare a demon's life or do you sacrifice the demon to possibly help others in the future? While that question seems a given, considering the context that it appears in you may need to think about it.

Once your done with the first quest, you find yourself within Home III. This is the starting city(or zone) of the game where you are introduced to the VR training program. This is where a more in depth tutorial of the game is introduced before you are sent out into the wasteland of Tokyo. Something to note, as it's pretty creepy, is the first person you meet upon arriving at Home III.
So give Shin Megami a try. It probably won't replace your "main" MMORPG, but it's a nice compliment if your wanting to avoid the "I'm burned out " syndrome with MMORPGs. It's better than Archlord.(While it IS a pretty game, I quickly quit Archlord and went to play MegaTen. I'm just not impressed by Archlord..but I'll talk about that later.) Regardless, any game that has you making contracts with demons can't be bad....right?

An Army of Gnomes vs One Drunken Wizard

2008-12-31T17:07:00.004-04:00

Possibly more entertaining than the current "battle" (Read here about the current lawsuit NCSoft vs Worlds.com). How this "Vs" thing will work is you(the readers) will vote who you think would win. After I'll write a somewhat brief description of the epic battle. It's silly so please don't expect anything too hardcore. So vote it up for giggles, and I'll post updates in between news, articles, and just my ol gaming experiences(Not done any in some time...time has been limited on my end. My apologies.)

Still no word from Worlds.com about the interview/discussion proposal. I'll give them a few days as I'm sure they are QUITE busy. As I've said I really hope they "step" up to the plate and have a conversation with me. There are quite a few questions that I (and many others!) would like to know, like why wait until 2008? Why NCSoft? There are a host of other questions but I'll leave it for the actual interview if it happens.

Another topic I will go into is my thoughts about Micro-Transactions models for MMOs. There is a stigma to these games(Sometimes rightly so) but I honestly think they will utterly take over subscription based MMOs in a few years. I'll get into WHY I think so, and hopefully we(Myself and you) can get a conversation going about the topic. It's getting hot with SOE using Station Cash and SWTOR(Star Wars:The Old Republic) being "misunderstood" as having an MT system.

However these are conversations for another day! Happy New Year everyone from your mentally unstable MMO news source Danshir! I hope you and yours have a great new year and you don't get TOO drunk. If you wake up in an unfamiliar place please use this check list..

Do you have your clothes?
Do you have any strange scars that were not there previously?
Do people speak the same language as you?
Was it worth it?
Why are you remembering a check list from an MMO website while in a strange alley? RUN MAN RUN!

Happy new year =). See you guys tomorrow! Remember to vote for either the Army of Gnomes or the Drunken Wizard!

Possible interview with Worlds.com

2008-12-30T18:55:00.010-04:00

It's been a pretty rough day so I'm gonna keep updates slow for today. However an interesting bit is I wrote an email to Worlds.com today asking if they would sit down with me and have a chat. Basically I was giving them a chance to defend their position about the recent lawsuit against NCSoft. If they do I will post up the transcript here on The MMO Experience for all to read(I made sure in my email this was my intent).

I'm hoping they do. I would like to honestly see what they think about their lawsuit and about the rage the online community has for them now.

On a different note, I've decided instead of making another poll that I would have a little "tournament" much like GameFAQs.com has done in the past. However this one will be centered only on MMOs(Shock!). That should be up tomorrow as I brainstorm on some funny(It won't be serious..) ideas for contestants. So stay tuned for that.

Finally, I'm installing Archlord. It seems to be entirely free now and I'm kinda wanting to try some new games out. I'll post about that as soon as I've had a chance to tinker with it for a few days. Oh! So today isn't a total waste here are some pictures that gave me a laugh.

MMORPGs Getting Sued

2008-12-29T18:03:00.007-04:00

While you may expect good cheer, fun, laughs, and presents on Christmas Eve not everyone is so blessed. NCSoft got something worse than coal, they got sued. According to VirtualWorldNews the developer Worlds.com, an early virtual world developer in the 90s, is filing suit against NCSoft. Why? Apparently Worlds.com had two patents regarding scaling virtual spaces and enabling users to interact and chat in 3D environments.

Considering how broad of a statement that is, I wouldn't be surprised if these patents were filed for the sole purpose of filing suit against someone further down the road. Worlds.com is stating that City of Heroes, City of Villains, Dungeon Runners, Exteel, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage II, and Tablula Rasa all infringed upon the patent. You can read the full details over at VirtualWorldNews.

So what's next? Blizzard? Mythic? SOE? I'll keep you posted as events play out. To read a bit more about this bit of news try out Openedge1's website Simple N Complex. Seems even more people are talking about it too. You can read Tesh's post here and Broken Toys here.

Politics Invade MMOs

2008-12-28T01:14:00.004-04:00

In recent years advertisements have become more and more common within video games. Sandbox games would have Burger Kings, billboards with name brand companies, and using name brand cell phones. That's how it started. It then proceeded to become even worse, especially within the Xbox 360's NGE where you have several ads per "blade". While we as MMO gamers are safe *So far* from this type of advertisement, another perhaps more sinister is already within.

Politics.

Yes, Politics are moving in toward the virtual entertainment for advertising. At first it was only mild advertisements in non-MMO games, such as in-game billboards for Barack Obama in Burnout Paradise.(More info here) However now Newt Gingrich(Former House speaker who is flirting with presidential bid) is hosting both real life and virtual workshops. By virtual I don't mean over a website but using Second Life. Second Life, in case you have never heard of it, is a virtual world with roughly 9.5 million members in a 3-D "game". The game is basically "real" life, you can even buy virtual real estate with real cash*$$$, not virtual money here*.

With this news, and several notable politicians also using Second Life(Such as Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul, and John Edwards), and the fact many politicians are becoming open about their own MMORPG hobbies(Like Kevin Werbach, who is a hardcore player in two guilds) it won't be much longer until we see more and more influence in our virtual worlds. Video game companies love money and politicians love to advertise themselves. It's a match made in heaven except for the middle man which happens to be the gamers.

If politicians, or advertisement in general, gets too strong a hold upon MMORPGs then I only foresee disaster for the overall community. Creating a rich virtual world filled with cities, climates, dungeons, adventure, and atmosphere is difficult enough without having /yell "Vote for SoanSo - Level 80 Deathknight LFG". If something akin to that happened, the ambiance of the game will be shot directly in the head and will never be rekindled. Yet it seems this is inevitable. With countries such as the USA and Israel using online games as advertisements(More info here.) it is only a matter of time until someone taps into the huge populations of games such as World of Warcraft.

But hey, while it may be cool to see presidential candidates duke it out (verbally and metaphysically) in Stormwind and then have their "Teams" go at it in Arena, I rather not have to see...

Author's Note - This is in no way a reflection of my own political views. I have nothing against President Elect Barack Obama. I just thought the picture would illustrate my point..and it's funny.

Star Trek Online : NX-91001 = Epic

2008-12-27T02:28:00.004-04:00

Despite the fact I've really not touched upon Star Trek Online, don't assume I'm not looking forward toward this sci-fi MMO. I'm personally eager and ready to go, get in a sleek vessel and say over voice chat "Engage". However my little tangents here have been going in different directions. Why am I suddenly shifting then toward the other part of Sci-fi nerd nirvana?*Note- The other part is Star Wars: The Old Republic. End of Note.*

This is why. Meet the NX-91001. It's the first ship to have descriptions and details. While it is not positive to be in the final release of the game, chances are good as this teaser is Star Trek Online's present to it's fans. So here is the sexy stats, straight from StarTrek Online...

NX-91001

Specifications

Dimensions:

Overall Length: 692 meters
Overall Draft: 92 meters
Overall Beam: 253 meters
Displacement: 3,200,000 metric tons

Propulsion Systems:

Class 10 Warp Drive
Hyper Impulse Drive

Defensive Systems:

Ablative Tetraburnium Alloy Hull
Regenerative Shielding

Embarked Craft (Typical):

3 Shuttle Bays
10 Shuttlecraft (various classes)
10 Shuttlepods (various classes)

Velocity:

Cruising: Warp Factor 8
Maximum: Warp Factor 9.985

Computer Systems:

Holoemitter Trans-Deck Array System
Holographic Consoles and Astrometric Laboratories
Bioneural Circuitry

Offensive Systems:

16 Type XIV Phaser Arrays
4 Forward and 4 Aft Torpedo Launchers (Payloads Classified)
Additional Weapons Classified

Exploration vessel; Commissioned: 2409

A starship designed to carry Federation influence throughout the Alpha Quadrant and beyond, the NX-91001 is one of the first multi-role starship designs since the Sovereign class was commissioned in the early 2370s. Able to function as a deep-space explorer with extensive sensors and laboratory facilities for scientific research, the NX-91001 also is outfitted as a heavy cruiser armed with some of the latest in Starfleet weapons technology for deployment in hostile areas.
The NX-91001 contains the best of the new technologies developed in the past 40 years. Bioneural circuitry mimics organic neurons, speeding data functions and improving computer performance. An advanced sensor pod can be operated from the bridge or manned directly for intense sweeps, and includes telemetric observation VISOR technology to allow a science officer to interface directly with data transmitted by a robotic exo-probe.
A holoemitter array system allows Emergency Medical and Emergency Command Holograms to operate throughout the ship when needed, and the ship is equipped with a Class 10 warp drive for normal operation and an advanced hyper impulse drive for sublight operation. The Class 10 warp drive is equipped with an advanced quantum sublimating theta-matrix compositor which recrystalizes the ship’s dilithium into a much more stable form than earlier models. This allows the NX-91001 to go much longer distances at high warp velocities before needing to replace the crystals.
Defensive systems of this starship are based on significant advances in Federation technology. The starship features an ablative tetraburnium alloy hull, which allows it to withstand greater amounts of heat and pressure than any previous design, and regenerative shields on the NX-91001 can adapt to enemy weapons fire during a battle. The ship also carries a full suite of offensive weapons, including 16 Type XIV phaser arrays, eight torpedo launchers and several other weapons. Note: Because of the recent conflicts, the complete weapons configuration of the NX-91001 is classified.

While I truly hope Star Trek doesn't focus on combat, but has equal parts social interaction and NPC interaction, these details have me really wanting to find some Borg and show them *forgive me..*

"Resistance is futile."

If you would like to see some in-game videos, click here!

What got you into MMORPGs?

2008-12-26T19:22:00.004-04:00

Since I'm still winding down from the great rush of the holidays, and trying to figure out how to make time for Metal Gear Solid 4(I'm a big fan of the series), I thought to simply throw out a simple discussion for today. What got you into MMORPGs? What game in particular hooked you in to the social phenomenon that has escalated so much in recent years*Cough cough World of Warcraft cough cough*.

For myself it was EverQuest. I was a young lad, filled with promised as I tried playing this strange "multi-player" RPG. Now back in the days when Ruins of Kunark was first released the game was a lot harder than it is now. It was tough just getting enough money for a few spells let alone decent equipment. Yet I was transfixed by the game play and how massive the world was. It was really hard to put down. I missed many hours of sleep due to EverQuest*Or EverCrack, as it was called then*

So what got YOU into MMORPGs? Leave a comment telling what hooked you into this addicting hobby. Also you may notice on the lower right I'm now part of MassiveBlips. If you think a particular post is good go over there and vote it up to show your support. You'll get a free cookie!*

*You may not get a free cookie.

Red 5 Interview

2008-12-25T04:50:00.007-04:00

If the company " Red 5 " is unfamiliar to you'll want to get to know them real quick. Red 5 is a company formed of mostly ex-Blizzard employees. (Random Nerd Fact - It is also the X-wing Luke Skywalker pilots in "A New Hope".) The founders are Mark Kern(Team Lead), William Petras(Art Director), and Taewon Yun(Part of the Korean Operations that oversaw WoW's release in Asia). And they are making an MMORPG.

Got your attention yet?

Gamasutra got an interview with some of the high ups over at Red 5, talking about potential focus of their upcoming MMORPG, Micro-Transactions vs Subscription, game addiction, and other such subjects. You can read the full interview here. However don't expect any release dates, pictures, or even the name of the stealthy MMORPG. Red 5 is keeping their lips sealed until a future date*Which is hinted to be approaching in a few months!*

With a company consisting of mostly ex-Blizzard employees, I can only drool over what they could possibly be making over there. I'll keep you posted as soon as any information is made official.

Author's Note - I said I wouldn't be posting anything until later tonight..well. I can't help it, I love doing this ;).

Happy Holidays, may your loots be many and overpowered

2008-12-25T03:32:00.004-04:00

There will be no updates to The MMO Experience until sometime late tonight, when I'll post something to celebrate the coming of the new year. Until then I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday, no matter what particular holiday you celebrate.

For some MMO fun however, I have a question. What do you do to set up your MMO playtime? By that I mean do you listen to a particular type of music when you're about to fight a really hard fight, do you generally have the same type of drink/snack, or do you put a movie on the background and just listen to the dialogue.

Myself, I've been known to "watch" Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, and other movies while I raid. It just seems to help ease the repetition and the sluggish aspects that go along with raiding. I don't really have a set snack or drink however. If I'm just playing solo or grouping however, I generally like to listen to rock/metal*Especially for my rogue*.

So, what do you do when you game? Let me know.

Oh, I'm banned from MMORPG.com for talking about Jumpgate Evolutions holiday contest and posting a link to it. Ain't that swell? Hehe.

Holy Dual Contests! Free World of Warcraft

2008-12-23T18:35:00.003-04:00

I've spoken about a possible World of Warcraft + Expansions contest. However I'm going to up the ante here. I will have TWO contests, with possibly both prizes being The Complete WoW package. I have already decided on a format too. Is this contest IN STONE? No.

Not until I get enough interest to make it worth going out and buying 2 copies of WoW, TBC, and Wrath. It may sound evil*I am pretty evil*, but it just has to be done this way. I would love to do this however, I'm practically itching to do it. Why? It just sounds fun to give out some holiday presents to fellow gamers.

So here are the rules. I again state this contest will NOT happen unless I get some public interest. So slap your friends, make them interested, and repeat as needed. However I will go into the two contests.

1st one: A basic raffle. I will either use a computer program or literally take a name out of a hat to pick the winner here. Everyone that signs up gets only one entry*Though donations MAY get you additional tickets...Just kidding ;)*. I will put out a huge post regarding the rules once this becomes reality.

2nd one: A true contest. I've always wanted to get people to post up MMO stories/fanfics, so I'm gonna have to force it to happen. You'll have to write some type of story based on your character in whatever MMO you play or would like to play. I'll try to get some multiple judges for this one, and the best one wins. The winner, and those that didn't win*losers*, will get their fanfics/stories posted up on the webpage to show off their writing "skillz".

I've already decided that I will allow people to participate in both contests, so you are not limited to one or the other*Though you ARE limited to one entry per contest*. For the last time I will say this contest is not in stone, these are NOT the official rules. If you want this to happen, let people know about it, have them show they are interested either by leaving a comment here or by emailing me at ThaShirow@gmail.com

That is all.

Star Wars, JumpGate Evolution, and World of Warcraft

2008-12-23T17:35:00.007-04:00

A few updates in the whole news department for some MMORPGs today. Some of it neat, some of it not, and the rest is just filler so you'll read more. OK that last bit was a lie. There has been some interesting news so lets get started shall we?

SWTOR(Star Wars The Old Republic) : Gamespy had an interesting interview with Bioware a few days ago about SWTOR. Since it's a rather lengthy interview I'll just post a link about it here, however it IS worth a read if your curious about the title. You can read it here.

JumpGate Evolution : A neat little challenge to celebrate the holidays is going on over at JumpGate's website. It's open to everyone, with an unlimited amount of entries, and can score you a beta invite if you win.

Jumpgate Evolution Christmas Challenge
To celebrate the festivities of the holidays we’ve got a new challenge for you, the members of the community! The challenge is to generate the best caption for one (or both) of the screenshots we’ve provided, (below). But we don’t want you to provide any old caption (that would be too easy); we want it to be associated with a festive winter or New Year’s theme!

The winning entry will receive a Beta key, a custom forum title, custom forum avatar and a goodie bag and will be known as the caption contest king/ queen, until we run another challenge!

Check here if you wanna grab yourself some goodies. I have a few ideas for my own entry but as I believe I am lacking in wit, I can only hope one of you win instead of those that don't view my website*Blast them!*.

World of Warcraft : Also in the news today is the legendary giant, WoW. With a bit of both good and bad news however. The good news is that 4 million copies of the new expansion were sold in the first month of release. So Wrath of the Lich King is selling pretty well.*I'm not Captain Obvious, I'm King Obvious*. In another milestone event, WoW subscribers has now grown to more than 11.5 million. People are constantly throwing around the term " WoW Killer ", referring to the next possible MMO that will topple WoW. However I think at this point the only possible cause of death for this titan is some infection.

With that in mind, the recent attacks on EVE players(Read here) is happening to WoW players as well! While Blizzard didn't release any official information, they did state that a number of game accounts have been compromised. They also give several options to help protect accounts from piracy,hacking, and other "social" engineering. Be careful not just in Azeroth, but outside it as well. Else you may not even respawn at all.*Bad joke...*

At this point World of Warcraft can only be killed from the inside*IE Blizzard*. There are plenty of solid MMORPGs coming out in the near future. However I foresee them more fighting over the population of gamers that have become disenchanted with WoW instead of fighting for Blizzard's fan base. Until then however it's just guesswork and speculation.

Also, a little update. I'm getting VERY little feedback except from an excited Cownose about a possible future World of Warcraft + both expansions giveaway. If I don't hear anything from at least a good chunk of people then I will have to put this on the back burner for the future. So if you ARE interested, please leave a comment to this post, Free copy of WoW.

Aion - The Tower of Eternity

2008-12-22T22:09:00.008-04:00

For a game that looks this good and with a ton of interesting twists to the MMORPG genre, I sure took a long time to talk about it. Aion: The Tower of Eternity is made by NCSoft, which you may know from City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Tabula Rasa. However unlike those entries, Aion is one of the many triple A titles that will "supposedly" topple World of Warcraft. While that lofty title is up to debate, the quality of Aion looks to make it a solid contender.

One of Aions biggest bragging rights is probably one of the most in-depth character customization in an MMORPG. Instead of using a few preset selections like World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online, you'll be given complete control of your character's appearance. I was pretty impressed by the video of the editor in use. I think the best way to describe it is to compare it to The Sims 2's editor with better graphics.

The biggest "innovation" is aerial combat. Characters are limited to the ground, especially when it comes to combat. This isn't just "ground fighting but in the air" either. Of course you should be in the air, you're immortal. Your character has ascended from mortality to a more divine nature. Of course there just happens to be a celestial war going on. Which brings up the subject of the two factions in the game. You'll be given the choice to fight for radiant, luminous Elyos or the grim, foreboding Asmodians.

A powerful avatar editor, aerial combat, and being a divine being sounds like...some type of concoction that should be fun. However a few people are put off by the anime style to the graphics. How NCsoft will win these folk over, and those that fear this is just another "grind" fest remains to seen. A lot of American gamers are quite skeptical, if not outright hostile, to Eastern MMORPGs. Time will tell if Aion actually live up to the hype surrounding the game. If you would like to see some very shiny videos of the game in action, as well as a glimpse of the character editor, check it out here.

Want a free copy of WoW?

2008-12-22T21:59:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking for a few weeks to hold some type of contest for my readers. While nothing is set in stone yet, I would like to get some feedback. Part of what I wanted The MMO Experience to be was a place for people to post their own game experiences, such as comedic stories, and fanfics.

So, I've considered to give away a free copy of World of Warcraft + The Burning Crusade + Wrath of the Lich King. But before I go out and buy this, I would like to hear if you would be interested in this or rather just have a huge raffle.

So...let me know ;).

Paragon of HumanityPlease Look up the word Satire

2008-12-22T19:07:00.004-04:00

You just wouldn't understand.

I constantly read about these "gamers" talking like they're "leet" and they will "pwn" anyone that challenges them. You read about them in forums, in their little blogs where they can puff up their chests and feel like one of the big dogs.

They are so mistaken. Their tiny little brains cannot even comprehend what it means to be a gamer, let alone a "raider". That's what I am. I COULD enlighten them to their own inferior skills, show them the despair one only knows in a situation where they would no thread to grasp onto as I destroy them..

But I got better things to do, the rest of you "gamers" are beneath my feet. However I will, occasionally, post in these forums you love so dearly. Why? It's like a random occurrence in life that reminds you of a higher power, I remind you that you're not the best, you're just a newb.
I'm not the only one though, I'm surrounded by people nearly as good as myself. You probably haven't heard of us, we never gather where fellow players can see us in-game. However our guild is what all those other guilds you read about aspire to be.

We are the "Aristocrats ". Only the best are allowed to even be considered for our ranks. But enough of something you're too stupid to understand. I'm a hero after all, and I don't have the time to spend explaining such things to morons.

I've seen things you cannot even begin to imagine, no matter what you think of your little "accomplishments". In almost every game I play I've sailed far beyond what any mere player here can comprehend...

So you know what? I'm gonna leave you right there, as you struggle to catch up to me and my achievements. You can have your friends, your social life, your integrity, your morality, and all those other worthless things.

I got +10 more str than you.

Author's Note - This is a satire. For those that DON'T know what this means...

1.	the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

2.	a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.

But where did this satire come from? Here. I've always hated people with these type of elitist attitudes, especially concerning any type of virtual achievement. I wanna hear from you however about players of this caliber, so leave a message.

Do it ;).

EVE Players beware!

2008-12-22T18:05:00.004-04:00

As if the huge starbase exploit wasn't enough.

CCP Navigator just released the following statement, warning EVE players...

There is currently a phishing email circulating that claims to be sent from EVE Customer Support. This email claims that we had a database issue and lost some customer information and it asks you to login to make sure your information is still there. They conveniently provide their very own login link. This is of course not true; we have not lost any account information.

We'd also like to add that our knowledge when it comes to English grammar and spelling is far better than what is in the phishing email.

So if you play EVE, be careful when you check your email. While these sort of piracy attempts are used against many MMO players, it seems like EVE is being attacked over and over recently. You can read the original post here at MyEVE. Also something worthy of note, almost ALL developers will NEVER ask for your password or for you to login into the game due to "database" issues.

Even if you get a message that seems legitimate, verify your sources. Go to the game's homepage and make sure this is the case.

2009 Hopefully Good Games..

2008-12-21T20:06:00.004-04:00

With another year fast approaching, and the current one slowly fading out of our memories, it's time to start drooling over some MMOs that are still baking in the oven..or however they make games. They DO bake right? Anyway, a quick glimpse of some games that may (or may not) grace us in the next year.

JumpGate Evolution - A space MMOG*Massive Multiplayer Online Game* that looks entertaining. Jumpgate Evolution uses a "twitch" based combat system, so you have full control of your ship. With shiny graphics and doing away with turn-based combat, I really except this game to be a success. Release Date: Q2 of 2009*Not set in stone*

MegaTen - An MMORPG set in the world of Shin Megami Tensei, this game is quite fun. With a combat system that is more interactive than most MMORPGs, a unique pet system, and a dark atmosphere I think this game will be one of Aeria Games biggest successes. And probably one of the few good MT/F2P MMORPGs. Release date: Unknown*I suspect Q2-Q3 2009*

Aion - I want to play Aion. With that said, the game is visually stunning, and features some unique features*Such as flying for all characters, and aerial combat*. However there are many people worried it will be a "grind" fest. Only time will tell. Release Date:Unknown*The stars say Q3-Q4 2009*

Earthrise - An MMORPG set in a post-apocalyptic world. Earthrise looks pretty and is a nice trend away from the fantasy backdrop most MMORPGs use. You can read a detailed preview of it here. Release Date: Unknown

Guild Wars 2 - Following the previous entry, the sequel will still support no subscription fees, which I think is an excellent idea ;). Considering how much fun the first Guild Wars was, I can't wait to see this one in action.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Bioware's latest creation is last on this list because it's the one I'm most excited about. With the promise of the fourth "pillar" known as story to be included, I'm drooling. Add in the Star Wars IP to the mix of Bioware's record for quality video games, this seems to be a perfect union. One COULD say they have joined forces and became more powerful than you can possibly imagine.*Bad Joke..sorry. I had to*

So that's my list of hopefully good games that will hopefully be released in 2009. While there are other non-MMORPGs I'm looking forward to, I gotta stay on task. Now I must go. I just purchased Resistance: Fall of Man for my spanking new PS3. If you must know why I got it instead of brand new sequel, I wanted to know the storyline first...

And it was cheaper! Oh, in case you too own a Playstation 3, my PSN is Danshir. You are more than free to add me and we can get some gaming on.

We are now Live!

2008-12-21T19:12:00.002-04:00

Title says it all. Except for adding some more additions to the forum, our new format is live and done. While I may add more things to it, it is now an armed and fully operational battle station..

Or something like that.

Anyway, leave comments if you like/dislike. Post on the forums, force others to visit.

My minions get great benefits, such as 401k, dental, matching uniform,a refer-a-friend get metal teeth program.

New format is up..kinda...maybe...well..

2008-12-20T06:18:00.006-04:00

As you can see the new template is up! I found one I really liked, but I hated the header for it. Since I'm in no way, shape, or form an artist it took me a while to try to think of SOMETHING I could make that would function until I could figure something out.

Also you will note some key elements are missing, such as my blog roll*Other MMORPG blogs/gaming website that I personally enjoy* I will get those up as soon as possible. Anyway, tell me what you like/dislike about the new format. If everyone thinks its crap, I'll find something new =).

Until then...Sleep!

ZzzZzzzzzz

Author's Note - Another addition to the website will be our very own forum! It's made, just not linked to the main site just yet.

Update - Due to family gatherings, it may take some time to finish the new format than planned. I apologize.

Update 2 - The new format is nearing it's epicness. The site should be easier to navigate, and we have our very own forum! While there is no posts there, nor is the forum done*I'm SO lazy* it will be tomorrow. Sorry for it taking so long!

Tabula Rasa goes free early!

2008-12-20T03:53:00.002-04:00

Sometimes NCSoft is just a big ol softy. After releasing Deployment 15 and adding a bunch of neat content AND talking about adding mechs with Deployment 16 , they have decided to make Tabula Rasa free for current, new, and returning players a month early!

So head over to Tabula Rasa's homepage (here) and get to playing! The fact Tabula Rasa is going out with such a party is enough of a reason to show your appreciation to NCSoft for being such benign souls in these wintry months.

Who knows, maybe if they show off how well they've fixed previous errors they will get enough people to NOT shut down.

Just a thought.

Site will be under some construction..

2008-12-19T18:58:00.003-04:00

I'm quite tired of the current template, and I've decided to change it completely. So until that gets fixed*I would say the site will be back up in full tomorrow*, updates will be light.

I have a very good read for you however, click here for a great article about video game journalism.

In its current format, being any type of video game journalist is difficult. Especially with such large Blog sites such as Destructoid.com*which I'm proud to be a member*, Kotaku*Which sucks*, and other such "big" sites. You may *or may not* know that I'm also a writer for NegativeGamer.com*I'm too lazy to make links at the moment, bad day at work, it's over there to your right however with the rest of the cool web pages*. While I would love to see NG flourish for the sake of seeing a great idea flourish, I would also love to see The MMO Experience flourish as well.

Do I want to be as big as Kotaku, MMORPG, or Massively? No. I rather have an intimate audience that wants a more laid back and personal way of enjoying their news and just hearing interesting stories. That, to me, is what an experience is. While I will post about upcoming MMORPGs, especially if I think they are interesting, my idea for this blog was wanting a place where people could share their own experiences along with my own. I haven't accomplished that goal yet, but I indeed to.

So, since I'm currently about to back up all the links I have and other such things, I would like to hear from you. What are some feedback from you? How can this site improve? Both visually and with those weird symbols called "words". I would dearly appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,

Danshir

MMORPGs are Evil

2008-12-18T16:53:00.008-04:00

Are MMORPGs evil? The answer may surprise you.

With the recent articles about torture in World of Warcraft(read here) I have decided to investigate what other vices MMORPGs indulge themselves in. If MMORPGs can stoop so low as to have you torture a fellow virtual human being, than I doubt there is no low that the developers will have us sink to. Probably for their own nefarious plot of "world-takeover" proportions. I haven't got any proof yet, so until then I can only show what proof I DO have.

MMORPGs ARE evil.

First I'll start off with one of the more tamer vices, Drinking. I don't mean drinking water or kool-aid, which is all well and good, but liquor! Beer, ale, whiskey, and other intoxicating drinks are everywhere! Especially Ironforge, the city of the Dwarves in World of Warcraft. Apparently this entire "race" of people are nothing but drunks. Why would Blizzard design a game for our children that has an ENTIRE race of potential AA members? They even joke about it with the little quip..

/silly "I don't have a drinking problem. I drink, I fall down, No problem!"

THEN these games actually SHOW your character drinking and the effects of intoxication. The screen gets blurry, and your character starts to weave back and forth. Even your characters speech becomes slurred to where you can't ever understand what someone is saying. This is completely and utterly unacceptable. Yet I wish this was the largest problem I had with my experiences in games like WoW, EQ, EQ2, WAR, and a whole large list of vile, evil, malicious games!

If a whole race of midget drunks didn't throw you off and ban your children from ever touching a "PC" again, this may ban your child from even saying the words "Exp". The entire game revolves around one fact. To get anywhere, to "level" up or whatever, is you have to KILL other people! These games encourage violence. It teaches them positive psychological reinforcement that if you kill someone you can take their clothes and their money. It doesn't have to be people either. My son, Billy, was smashing a squirrel in the face with his "staff of jordan" saying that he could sell the squirrel's teeth to a "merchant" for a couple of bucks. I'm scared to walk my little fluffy wuffy Mittens down the road, afraid someone will maul him for his paws or whatever body part is lucrative that week.

There are other subjects too, like racism. These games were MADE to PROMOTE racism! What are our children to think when they are playing a game that tells them " You must kill all the Night elves you see because their Alliance! "? You are encouraged to kill other people JUST because of race. How can video game companies get away with such obviously misguided and twisted views and encourage our children to think the same? I know that immediately after writing this warning letter I'm going to write to my congressmen about all this. You shouldn't kill gnomes just because they are short! or Night elves because their eyes glow differently than a Blood elf's.

So please, keep your children away from these games! The more they play it, the more likely they will start thinking since your a human, your filthy alliance, and you have to die. Then they will take your clothing and money, and sell your ears to some "merchant"! These games, and ALL games, are evil. If there were no video games we wouldn't have violence! Before television we were a perfect society!

Author's note for the stupid - This is a satire. Enjoy it or Hate it. Post comments if you want, Just me expressing some rage over recent news about yet another human being blaming Video Games/Television/Movies/Music because they cannot take responsibility for their own filth. We need to stop pointing fingers at everything but those who are to blame when we take such horrible actions.

Ourselves.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Update

2008-12-17T13:15:00.004-04:00

Video speaks for itself. It looks amazing =).

Check it out here.

Author's note - Due to the new template, I could no longer have the embeded video on the website, plus it was getting annoying.

Danshir talks to Aeria Games!

2008-12-17T05:44:00.002-04:00

I'm somewhat surprised that someone actually bothered to talk to me, let alone someone that works on a game I've reviewed/play. However Spencer Chi, Producer of Aeria Games & Entertainment responded to a few questions I had about Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine regarding some of my suggestions and complaints.

While it's not a ton of information, I was still pleased with my answers.

I had asked questions about the run speed, explaining it was too slow considering the size of most play areas, and that it needs to be tweaked to some extent. While my answer here wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, I did get some nice information.

SpencerC -You'll be able to increase your run speed with the Item Mall item, Orb of Speed. If you don't want to spend AP, you can also get to level 20 and get a mount. When you have a mount, you'll travel faster.

Apparently also you can let your mount auto-pilot you where you want to go by clicking on the mini-map, which I thought was kinda nice.

Then of course, I had to ask about the disconnect issues. I know myself and a few others were constantly getting booted, especially if trying to do an instance.

SpencerC - We're working on the disconnects and we almost have it fixed--probably within the next 2-3 days.

Lastly, I had asked about the alt+tab glitch. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, when you alt+tab out of MegaTen while playing in full screen mode you can't go back into the game without it crashing.

SpenserC -As for the alt+tab issue, you're right that playing in windowed mode avoids this. We'll see what we can do about it not exiting in full-screen.

You can view the very brief posts between us here.

EVE's Starbase Exploit Reachs Cosmic Proportions

2008-12-17T03:08:00.007-04:00

As many EVE players probably already know, there is an exploit within the game that has been used on a massive scale. However what many probably don't know is that this exploit has been in the game for about 4 years. Now I won't go into detail on how the exploit is performed. Suffice it to say it has generated well over 3 trillion ISK according to Scrapheap Challenge. While this amount is roughly equal to the amount of ISK traded daily, that's a huge chump of change.

CCP games, the developer for EVE online, has started up an investigation and had meetings with the player elected officials known as the "Council of Stellar Management"(CSM). Some Q/A was released from this meeting and made known to the public. If you wish to read the minutes of the meeting please go here.

It is interesting to note if you read the main points of the discussion CCP isn't ready to whip out the banhammer. While there will be obvious punishments toward those that participated in the exploit, what about the players that purchased the exploited items? With over 35% of the Ferrogel market coming from this exploit, how bad have these players hurt the economy?

According to the 4 banned players(please read the minutes of the meeting if you have no idea what I'm talking about) they reported this exploit years ago and nothing was done about it. While this hasn't been verified, if they are telling the truth should they even be punished? Obviously they have hurt the game to some degree. However if CCP games did NOTHING about it after being told about an exploit, is that not a silent nod to continue said exploit?

Here is a few of the more important questions/answers..

A banned player posting on the unofficial EVE Online forums, Scrapheap Challenge, claimed the exploit had been running for four years. Is four years an accurate timeframe?

CCP's Lead Economist Dr. EyjoG (Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson) stated he's able to confirm that the exploits started in March 2008. The minutes indicate that 'the bulk of it' became operational in May and June of 2008. As to how far back this exploit actually reaches, the minutes state that "CCP is in the process of restoring older data and will mine that data for information over the next two weeks." Furthermore, CCP Games knows that the exploit itself existed before March 2008, but (thus far) hasn't found evidence of players using it until March. (Note: EVE developer CCP Diagoras stated that the exploit was possible, code-wise, from at least February 2007, but until the older data is restored the devs do not have a definitive answer on whether this truly began four years ago.)

If this market manipulation was happening on such a grand scale, why wasn't it detected until now?

Dr. EyjoG said the exploit wasn't used on a grand scale until this year, and thus the economic effects were gradual. Also, not all of the materials gained through the exploit were sold on the open market. Indeed, most of the materials were either used directly for production (manufacturing) or traded outside of the market. He also added that CCP is reviewing how they operate in terms of Quality Assurance, market monitoring and data mining to see if there's more they can do to detect exploits in the game.

How much of EVE's resources were produced through the starbase exploit?

Although the full extent of the damage to EVE Online's economy still isn't known, CCP Diagoras gave a rough estimate of the share of overall production the exploit accounts for: 35% of the Ferrogel market, which was the most exploited material. Other materials were produced with the exploit, but to a lesser extent than Ferrogel.

The forum poster on Scrapheap Challenge claimed the exploit netted between 2.5 and 3 trillion ISK. Is that figure accurate?

CCP is holding off on breaking the exploit down by ISK amount estimates for the various materials, namely to let the market speculation die down, and of course because they don't have the full picture yet themselves. However, Dr. EyjoG believes the exploit did generate a few trillion ISK. He noted that the daily trade in EVE is about 3 trillion ISK, downplaying the views of the impact as being catastrophic, but he reiterates that it is significant.

What impact did this amount of ISK gained through the exploit have on the outcomes of 0.0 warfare?

Dr. EyjoG said this is unknown, and in all probability cannot be estimated.

Which alliances and characters were directly involved, or benefitted from the starbase exploit in some way?

CCP Games, specifically CCP Arkanon, said the company policy is to not release information about a player or a player's account to third parties. As such, there won't be a name-and-shame of the players, corporations, or alliances who knowingly took advantage of the POS exploit. It seems they're aware of the fact that this will not sit well with some of the playerbase.

What guarantees does the playerbase have that the guilty parties were punished, and that innocent parties (those not directly aware of the exploit) are not punished?

This is a tricky issue, and one on which CCP Games is asking for input from the CSM. Essentially, CCP is wondering how far they should go in terms of punishing people who may have unknowingly benefitted from exploit, or otherwise helped the exploiters profit. (Such as those who purchased the materials produced by the exploit.) CCP Games appears to be taking an "innocent until proven guilty" stance on their investigations, rather than issuing blanket banhammers.

Was this truly petitioned by the now-banned player(s) 4 years ago and disregarded all this time?

CCP has not provided a definitive answer on this yet. Dr. EyjoG said they're still trying to verify this. The petition system has changed and CCP apparently outsourced customer support at that time (specifically, with an outsourced email system according to CCP Xhagen), although they are looking through the old databases.

Were CCP employees connected with this exploit in any way?

CCP Arkanon said that there is no indication that a CCP employee was involved, but stated that investigations are ongoing, particularly as they dig deeper and they get a more complete picture of the situation.

Grab something to drink, sit down, and lets discuss this. What should CCP do toward those that simply purchased items from the exploiters? What actions should be taken to try to fix the damaged economy?

Shadowbane, World of Warcraft, and The Evil Tyrant SOE

2008-12-17T02:37:00.003-04:00

A few posts ago, when I was talking about my dream MMORPG(You can read it here) a comment by DulakQuickleaf suggested I may enjoy Shadowbane by Ubisoft. I decided to give the game a whirl, after all it's free now. After the initial install, patching, and other minor updates I was ready to have a blast...

I was betrayed.

At first I was intrigued. There are several races to choose from. Human, elf, minotaur, centaur, vampire, demon, half-elf, etc. However once the game started I knew there was no chance I was going to enjoy it. This isn't Dulak's fault however. Shadowbane just instantly shut me off due to several issues such as UI, playing perspective, and just overall polish.

In other news..

Apparently job recruiters(some) are told NOT to hire WoW players. While I'm sure this remark is aimed toward all MMO players and not just WoW, this is a funny little fact. Why not hire the MMO gurus? Most employers find that MMO players are too focused/playing their MMO of choice*which is mostly World of Warcraft* instead of actually working. I know that at my previous employment there was generally a large group talking about WoW instead of working pretty much the entire time.

The rest of the time they were playing it in their offices.

Oh, and people still apparently hate SOE. I don't. My hate is now for MicroSoft

*glares at his bricked Xbox*

A sad author..

2008-12-16T22:42:00.003-04:00

A few minutes ago, my happy Xbox 360 died. It had lived a good...year. A month just after the warranty ended actually. Instead of forking over $100+ to repair a system that died in a year..* COME ON, my Nintendo Entertainment System aka NES still works to this day...* my wife and I decided to go over to Sony.

Yup, a Playstation 3.

Go go built in blu-ray and free online play.

Subscription MMORPGs Hate MT MMORPGs?

2008-12-16T15:14:00.004-04:00

With the recent addition of Station Cash by SOE for EverQuest and EverQuest 2 most fans are split into two groups. Those that HATE IT and those that are fine with it. After observing the kind of flame wars between these two on the forums of websites such as MMORPG.com I can't help but wonder..

What's with the rage?

A large number of the MMORPG community*not the website, but overall* are passionate one way or the other about these two types of systems. A large portion of subscription based players*Those that pay a monthly fee to play their game* detest and positively hate the idea of a Micro-Transaction model.*Game is free, but you pay real cash for fluff items, gear, and other such thing* Why do they hate it?

Most players find that it takes away from the game. With a game where the only enjoyment is what achievements you can achieve, having a system that lets you achieve the same thing with their wallet ruins the game for them. Even if the items gain in the MT are nothing but fluff items for unique graphics for armor/weapons/etc a good chunk of them will still protest. Why? Perhaps due to the "rich" kid having access to something they do not, despite it being nothing but aesthetics? You see it all the time in real life. Jealousy over someone having a sports car when you have an average car. Even though they both function the same and the advantage is only aesthetics, it's generally the same principle.

There is also the stereotype that F2P and MT games have a lot more children or people with child-like mindsets as their player populations. "If you play this cutesy game you must obviously not be hardcore like me for playing Warhammer" kind of attitude. I disagree with this attitude completely. In my experiences I've seen more immature attitudes in subscription based MMORPGs than MT/F2P. This could be due to an admittedly lower player population, but I think there are a lot more adults/mature people playing these games than people realize.

I made a small post about SOE's Station Cash(You can view it here ) a few days ago. Yet from then to now the total venom people have toward any payment method other than subscription has me in awe at their vehemence. There was also the recent incident with Star Wars: The Old Republic(You can view it here ). Another example of players going in an uproar over the thought of a MT system.

So how do YOU feel about either system? Leave a comment, lets discuss this.

SOE announces Station Cash a success

2008-12-16T03:29:00.004-04:00

Apparently adding Micro-Transactions to EverQuest and EverQuest 2 was a smashing success for Sony Online Entertainment. How much a success? Enough to start hiring a larger staff JUST for the Station Cash program. There is also talk of adding even more items. Now even though SOE once claimed in a blog to NEVER have any type of MT system...

Here it is. For better or worse SOE is keeping AND expanding it.

However most games that use MT have no subscription fees, yet EverQuest and EverQuest 2 do. They also charge per expansion, etc, etc. I really think that unless they switch to a full MT system*Where there is no subscription fees, etc* then this could hurt more than help.

You can read the full post by SOE here.

Earthrise - About the game and beta announcements

2008-12-15T17:33:00.005-04:00

As if someone heard my prayers, an MMO set in an apocalyptic world called Earthrise will soon be entering Beta stages. The game is made by Masthead Studios , a developer I haven't heard a word about until just recently while looking for new MMORPGs.

So what is Earthrise about?

Earthrise is a post apocalyptic science fiction MMORPG set in the distant future.

In the aftermath of the Third World War, mankind has managed to survive and build a new society: the prosperous city of Sal Vitas. Cloning, nanotechnology and quantum engineering are part of a new reality. Thanks to these technological advances, the human species has become immortal; each individual’s consciousness is stored in a data vault, ready to be uploaded into a cloned body as necessary. New energy sources have been discovered. There is a unified government that takes good care of those citizens who abide by its strict laws. Paradise, it appears, might really have come to Earth, and the people have embraced it.

But not everything is as perfect as it appears. By exercising full control over the cloning process, Sal Vitas' government decides who will live and who will not, playing the role of God on Earth. Insurgent forces have accused the city's rulers of crimes against humanity. Armed factions fight for resources and power within the new system. And from the waves of discontent, a rebellion has fomented and formed a shadow government: Noir.

Featuring a unique skill-based advancement system and player-driven economy, as well as extensive, meaningful player-vs.-player combat, Earthrise gives you innumerable choices to forge your destiny. Whether you're a noble soldier in the raging conflict between the Utopia and the rebellion, a criminal hiding from the law or a world-renowned engineer whose power extends into intricate trade and politics, your actions will echo throughout the game world.

Sounds wacky. After reading further about the game there are several things worthy of note. There is no "class" system for one. You build what you want to play from a selection of over 100 skills/abilities/tactics. Since I just recently spoke of the whole issue with classes in MMORPGs, I feel like my mind is being read...which is spooky.

Also is something most people love about EVE online, the ability to progress with something even while logged off. How Earthrise will do this I'm not entirely certain, but it will more than likely attract subscribers with that alone. Yes subscribers. It IS a subscription based MMORPG. So I'm really hoping it comes with a free trial so players can try before they buy. I've wasted quite a few bucks buying a MMORPG only to find it was horrid.

To close I'll show off some purity pictures I found of the game. Enjoy! And discuss...or suffer.