Game Update 49 set for Today?

There is a 4h downtime today for EQ2 and I, like many others, are REALLY hoping and excited that this is more then likely the implementation of GU49. I spent the majority of yesterday working on guild status, trying to inch our way closer to 29. We won’t be able to purchase a hall right away, we’ll need at least one more level. Thankfully it shouldn’t be too long of a grind to get that one more level – I hope.

I did around 40 writs yesterday while I watched random movies. Stargrace has surpassed the 50,000 faction mark with Ironforge exchange (at least in my mind) and has become more of a permanent fixture in the building then an actual character. She’s almost reached 200,000 guild status, which is close to Silhouette’s 300,000 and Petites 80,000. 

I spent a portion of yesterday building an aquarium for a friend as well. A huge one in an upper portion of their 5-room house. I’m eager to finish it but I was curious as to whether or not I would want to manipulate the size of any of the items I used. I think perhaps the snowdrift (which I used to create ‘bubbles’ and some of the sea creatures themselves. Being able to resize items is going to be wonderful for us decorators, although I have been fairly content with the size of things ‘as is’ it will be nice to create themed character homes, or be able to stretch out a rug across a specific area (or a table, if I’m using it for a floor etc). I know the acorn chairs I’d love to enlarge, as well as the dresser that came as a void storm quest. 

Of course there are lots of other goodies coming out in GU49 including the dual core support (noticeable mostly with particle effects imo) and the new quests in sinking sands which I’m sure will be packed. 

I hope everyone else is just as excited, it should be a good one! Oh, and please remember Nostalgia is always looking for more amazing people to join our ranks if you’re interested, drop me a line.

It Really Depends on one thing – You.

Prezzer from Going Nuts In Norrath made the following comment today on a previous post that focused on Vanguard (hopefully he doesn’t mind me calling him out this way):

“I’ve got an account for Vanguard but never tried it beyond a few minutes when it first launched. Never really had the time to devot to yet another MMO but… is it worth it? Should I try it? I’m already heavily into EQII, started to dabble with both LOTRO and am trying to get set up with DDO after discovering I have an open account for some reason. Am I going to find something in VG that will grab me?”

I tried to think of a simple answer for this and failed – there really is no simple answer. I can’t answer whether or not someone else will find something they enjoy and that will grab them in a game, any game. I can point out the aspects that I personally enjoy (and there are a huge amount) and I admit from the start to everyone that I am very biased towards Vanguard in particular. I never seem to have the number of problems that others have with these games, it runs just about flawlessly for me and when it doesn’t run a quick /flush all command takes care of the minor glitches I may have. I love how complex the game is, the three spheres, diplomacy, crafting, the ability to actually own a house. I love the brotherhood idea – and Prezzer if you’re going to give VG a try then by all means let me know and I’ll do my best to play too so you’ll at least have someone to talk to. I play on the Seradon server. 

I’ve never played LoTR – it released at a time when I was already knee deep in other games, and unintrested in adding yet another fantasy title to the list. I also didn’t personally see LoTR offer me anything that I wasn’t already seeing in my ‘other MMO’s’ and it didn’t grab me. Different things grab different people, and all I can speak about is my own personal preferences. 

I can of course give an opinion. If you’re heavy into PvP, VG may not be the game for you. If you find it hard to make friends, dislike feeling lost in a world, are unwilling to dload new maps (talk to Kasul who just grabbed infomap, he LOVES them, and they were very easy to install), don’t like to try to figure things out, you may not like VG. If you’re unwilling to set your feelings aside from over a year of bad reputation, that may hinder how you feel about the game as well. If you’re actively looking for each and every bug, rather then trying to just enjoy the game – then VG may not be for you.

If you’re interested in a world experience, an interesting combat method (actions, reactions, and rescues that trigger by in-combat events anyone?) enjoy a heavy quest-themed game, complex crafting, being able to experience classes in a ‘new’ method (remember how healers used to just heal and that was it? They’ve evolved over time into a hybrid dps / healer class and I personally first noticed it heavily in Vanguard) druids who are nukers and not healers at all, then maybe Vanguard could be ‘that game’. 

Remember. This is my opinion here. I haven’t played what everyone else has played, or experienced what everyone else has experienced. So the best advice I can ever give anyone, about ‘what should I play’ type questions – is how will you know, unless you give it a try. Once you try it if you hate it, then at least you know and you’ll know why.

Edit: I know the screen shot has nothing to do with VG, it’s from Guild Wars, which I was playing this morning and thought looked awesome, so there it is.

Quiet Weekend

Yesterday actually saw no posts here on MmoQuests as I was dragged away by wild polar bears to their den and forced to listen to– er wait that may have just been a dream. Well, it was a quiet weekend none the less. I played a little WAR but I’m having a few issues (these have nothing to do with the game itself nor guild or anything so please put those flame torches away!) and is an issue that lots of people have to deal with. The issue of course is ‘which server’. I have my order characters guilded in CoW on Averheim which is great. We’re allowed 3 guilded characters total across both order and destruction. I created a Witch Elf on Thorgrim, but there was no one around to toss me an invite. Aside from CoW influencing where I play, I have one friend on Kragg, and myself I’d like to play on a roleplay server – but who wants to play alone. I really want to settle to one character (or two) and not 10. 

I also played EQ2 a fair amount on Sunday, working those writs. I’m really trying to push the guild to level 30 for guild halls. When I logged off last night we were 50% through level 28, and I’m going to work on writs today and at least try to hit level 29. Then it will just be one more writ to go for level 30. Won’t that be fantastic? I think it will. For the size of the guild, and having only been around since early May, Nostalgia is doing wonderful. Of course I should have started pushing for guild levels earlier, but until the release of the halls came up there was never really a reason to aside from cheaper mounts and 5 room housing. 

I’m also working on Beckett MOG issue #16 articles, and I hope people have been enjoying issue #15. Of course that issue does come with house items and it always seems to make everything look pretty. I’ve decided I dislike working on deadlines, but they’re a fact of life. 

I meant to get some Guild War action in, but then got side tracked by a million other things so that’s on the back burner. Still loving the fact that I have no monthly fee to worry about and can take my time. Civilization is sitting here ready to be installed too. Lately it seems I’ve been less interested in classic MMO’s and more interested in other games that may or may not have an online component. Interesting, for me at least.

Beckett MOG in game WAR Item

I posted previously about how Beckett MOG (Massive Online Gamer) had an in game item for those people who purchased Issue #15 for EverQuestII – but didn’t mention at the time (since I wasn’t playing WAR) that it also comes with an in game item for WAR. It’s a bracelet (shows a graphic ‘n everything) that’s purple – no idea if it can be salvaged. I was expecting to have some sort of /claim option to use it, but instead once I added the code to my WAR subscrption, logged into game and it was in my mailbox on the first character I logged in. I have no idea if that means it will be waiting there for all characters, or if that was a one time deal.

Like most ‘free’ in game items, it’s not that impressive to me. Or rather, aspects of it are not. It’s a 2 charge 5 minute buff for PvE. The +2 to all stats is pretty nice though. 

A huge thank you to Kasul who gave me his WAR code since he’s not playing. Since I can’t seem to find the dang magazine for sale up here in Canada yet. I am supposed to be on their mailing list, or so I was told when I started to write for Beckett, but the mail here seems to be slow, drawn by polar bears or some such. 

In any case, neat little item for those who bought the magazine. Combine that with the EQ2 in game house item, and a 3rd item that’s for a game I’ve never heard of before, and they’ve got quite a nice deal going on – not including the wonderful articles.

Little Big Planet – Preordered!

I’ve never really been a *huge* gamer. There’s a few games I play with a fair amount of frequency and they all have one component in common. They’re typically ‘creation’ type games. Games where you can use your creativity to build in some way shape or form. I loved The Sims – and not because I actually enjoyed the game all that much, but because I could spend hours and hours building whole scenes and worlds, families, neighbours. Houses. Decorating. (wonder where my EQ2 passion of housing comes from hmm?) I love spore not so much for the gameplay (though I do love that too) but for the creation process. Developing your own creatures and watching them progress due to choices you make for them. Creating space ships and cars, houses. That’s what I enjoy. The same can even be said about Civilization which I enjoy a great deal. Watching a city or town grow and expand, evolve based on the choices you’ve made for them – even if there’s no real creative design aspect to the game, it follows a similar path. 

So I’ve been eagerly waiting for Little Big Planet for the PS3 to release. Today it was time for a trip to EBGames, to finally preorder the game. Traded in three others that were getting little to no use (and got $90 store credit) so the preorder is paid in full. You also get a code for a kratos costume (pictured above) for your little sackboy. I had read that you can actually have 5 of these codes to give away to others, so there’s lots of trading going on, but I haven’t managed to confirm any of it yet. I admit I’m not QUITE up to date on my Little Big Planet information. 

I’m eager to jump into a world that the players control (to some degree) – and my only concern is that SOE will decide to pump this full of ‘pay to access’ content. I don’t mind if the costumes are something you have to pay for, but I really don’t want to see building aspects to a game I paid $60 for to be included in that whole ordeal. I know some of you are shaking your heads and thinking ‘but it’s sony…’ and that I should know better. I suppose we’ll see though.

If you’re going to be playing, please add my playstation network ID, it would be fantastic to see what people I know are creating. It should be fun!