Tag: EQ

Oh Give me a Home, Where the buf– Gnomes, Roam! #EQ #EQ2

Enough posts of doom and gloom – anyone who has followed me for the past 6 years knows that it’s not my typical style of writing, and I really don’t enjoy it. Today I want to talk about one in-game aspects that I absolutely love and wish more games would incorporate – housing.

Out of the games I have played EQ2 and EQ have some of the best player housing. Note that I said of the games I have played because I realize there are a few other older ones that have done it quite well too. I really like the fact that players can “own” a little piece of the game and personalize it; beyond their player characters. Even if you’re not really interested in housing chances are you’ve at least attempted some decor and have a storage space set up. Or gotten a friend to decorate for you.

EQ2 and EQ even take this one step further by allowing you to display trophies that you’ve collected in your battles. Turning weapons into house items that can be mounted on the walls. Trophies of raid encounters that you can display in your guild hall. I don’t like LotRO’s housing as much as I do EQ2 and EQ simply because they don’t really let players be creative. They allow you to “hang” furniture on hooks which are set out in specific locations across the house. Sure, it’s customizable in what you actually put in each spot but don’t expect any unique home creations that way.

Yesterday I felt the housing bug creep up on me. It’s the one thing that I can’t seem to find in any other game I play to such a satisfying degree. Could I play EQ2 JUST for the housing? That seems a little silly to me. I meandered around EQ1 looking at all of the homes that have gone up since House of Thule has been live. Wow. Some amazing creations by some talented players. I saw everything from wedding chapels to garden gnomes to GIANT garden gnomes. Walled in yards, fountains, a lot of wandering house pets, I saw it all.

Couple that player generated content with the books that EQ2 added some time ago and you have yourself one very vibrant role play community. I absolutely love these player written books, I must, since I own over 300 of them written by various authors. We need more of this stuff in our games. That’s what helps separate our Single player RPG’s from the MMO’s and gives them life.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Yesterday Was Huge

I can’t remember the last time I had such an eventful day gaming so I’m going to go through each game one by one and my thoughts on them. The ones I’m playing, of course. Pictured above – my new home in EQ1! Doesn’t it look awesome. I need to purchase more trees for my lot, but so far I’m incredibly happy.

EverQuest (1): House of Thule went live and with it came a level cap increase (90) which of course also means new everything. Player housing was also released, and it’s just great (refer to my video yesterday for details). I spent a good chunk of time playing with my housing, and since I have the collectors edition I also had a lot of neat things to claim, including two paintings for the home, two mounts, and a few mercenary contract items. The down time was painless and I’d say out of all the updates yesterday the smoothest. I spent the morning watching the SOE Ustream event during the down time, and really appreciate the time and effort everyone put into it, especially since some had been at the office since 1am.

EverQuest 2: GU 58 went in yesterday. Some 5 room homes were given balconies which look really dang cool. I find it a little amusing that a 5-room home now has more item space then a T1 guild hall. I was a little put off by the fact that you can now purchase a 200 item expander from the market, as opposed to the 100 item expander (that don’t stack) crafted by players. $12. After playing both EQ2 and LotRO which have fairly elaborate markets, I feel that turbine does a MUCH better job on their price points. I really enjoy the new currency tab but wish it was shared across all characters so that I wouldn’t have to keep putting currency into my shared bank for alts. The new mount tab is also nice – but I still wish we had a quest item tab to clear out even more inventory space. The update had a number of bugs that still had to be worked out, and there was down time this morning for that. I haven’t tired the new zone yet, but new content is always good.

WoW: The game changing update 4.0.1 went in yesterday. The game didn’t come up until 9pm EST and then of course I had to disable every single AddOn I had until they’re updated. I like the changes to talents although it requires me to re-learn every single character I have which is not exactly fun. My single target dps is up on the shadow priest, but down in AoE damage. It felt odd to play her. I’m considering going holy instead of discipline, but I haven’t really decided yet. I went from 21,000 hp to 29,000 hp which was a nice change. I love what they’ve done to the talent window, the UI changes in general are nice looking. The graphic updates are quite nice. Azeroth is being plagued with earthquakes, and it’s giving me incredible bouts of vertigo, but a neat live event for the onset of a cataclysm.

LotRO: While there isn’t a huge patch going in right now – there is an incredible sale where you can purchase some quest packs for 75% off – and what’s more is if you actually quest through these packs you’ll make the turbine points back. Even though I have VIP access until February, I’m going to pick them up because – well, it’s just a fantastic sale and I know I won’t have a VIP account forever. The sale only goes on until midnight tonight, so be sure to take advantage of it. My Minstrel hit level 32 yesterday doing a few skirmishes, and I’m really excited about exploring further.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Why so Much Emphasis?

After reading a number of early morning blog posts left over in my RSS reader from yesterday, I found myself wondering: Why do gamers put so much emphasis in what we and others are playing. Especially others. Why do we even care? Every day I read a post from one or more authors that includes some sort of semi derogatory remark condoning a group of players simply because of how they choose to spend their time. Or, to be more precise, where they choose to spend their time.

There are those who have made up their minds that everyone who plays a free to play game must be a certain ‘class’ of gamer. How dare they actually enjoy ‘the grind’ that comes with a lot of these games. Don’t they know that in the long run they’ll pay more for their “free” game then some people will pay for their monthly subscription?! Then there are the WoW gamers. Don’t even get me started on these people. I have heard everything from how close minded they are to how stupid they must be, simply because of where they choose to spend their time. It’s as though we as gamers have moved into certain categories and stereotypes not based on who we are, but because of where we play.You ask a fellow blogger their game of choice and suddenly your opinion of them shifts slightly.

So I ask again – why does this aspect of a person even matter. Why are we so keen to judge someone based on a persons decision to spend their free time where they wish. I have even heard people go so far as to say they do not like a particular person because they play certain games that they are not fond of. Really? Are we so shallow that we are now making character judgements based on video games?

I simply don’t understand it.

In my opinion it doesn’t matter where you play, so long as you have fun. In fact voicing my opinion about any other ‘type’ of gamer is a moot point because when it comes to how others are spending their time – my opinion doesn’t matter! It’s their time, their money, and what I think of the matter is completely irrelevant. I refuse to classify a person based on whether they’re playing EQ2, EQ, VG, LotRo, WoW, WAR, DDO, Darkfall, Wizard101, Runes of Magic, EVE, Alganon, Fallen Earth, Lineage II, Allods, Champions, STO, Free Realms, Aion, FFXIV, SWG, Guild Wars, AoC, or any other game.

Go play, and enjoy. Don’t like it? Move on and find something you DO enjoy. It’s a game. They’re supposed to be fun. There are SO many games out there and despite what others would say about them all cloning one another there are always unique factors to each and every game – you may be surprised at what you end up playing and enjoying. I implore gamers to make their own decisions about what they like and don’t like, and refuse to be classified into a category of gamer simply because of where they spend their time.

Giving Players Things To Do

I feel that it’s essential for games to offer players something else to do – some mindless goal to work towards so that they’re not constantly doing the same thing all of the time. Other wise they’ll complete that one goal they set out to do, and then stop playing your game. Out of all of the games I’ve played over the years I still feel that no game does this better then the original EverQuest. The Alternate Advancement path was one of the greatest things, giving raiders and casual players alike goals to work towards. Now, you may say to me “But Stephanie! What about those new players who don’t HAVE thousands of points to spend, isn’t it hard for them to catch up?!” – No. The less aa you have, the faster you’ll earn them. The curve is not quite so far out of reach even if you are a new player.

These little points are small ways for players to customize their characters, connect with them, and feel more ‘unique’ compared to their friends and the masses. Of course EQ is not the only game with these (EQ2 has aa, WoW has their talents, WAR has a similar set up, LotRO has their method even). I still feel strongly that EQ is the best example of this. There are literally thousands of possibilities for players to chose from. A player who has dedicated a year or two to their character will not have the same achievements as someone who has just reached level 55 – or someone who has been playing for 10 years.

House of Thule has hundreds of new achievements for players to work towards. The level cap is going up by 5, and in the mean time there is a bonus granted to players who have a lower amount of achievements at the moment. It’s not a perfect set up, but it at least shows some consideration to ‘new’ players (I put emphasis on new because I’m not really sure that EQ is bringing in truly new players as opposed to returning players).

I’m excited, does it show?

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!