The revamped Misty Thicket as viewed from the Runnyeye Citadel approach. Overall, I must say the screen shots just don’t do the revamped EQ zones justice. They are quite nice. Of course, Wilhelm and I keep wondering what sin Qeynos must have committed to invoke the wrath of SoE to be ignored…. For god’s sake, they even revamped Toxxulia Forest…
And while we’re at it, why did Misty Thicket get to keep the fog that went away in the Karana’s and Surefall Glade?
EQ’s Estate of Unrest on the continent of Faydwer.
I have nothing else to say, except I gave the Warlock SoW and Skin Like Rock. #winning.
Trying something new. With a blog theme that doesn’t have a custom header image, I think I’ll try to randomly post a screenshot that may be remotely relevant to what I’m playing or doing. Note: “Of the Day” doesn’t mean everyday or even the day that the post goes up.
Enjoy.
Haven’t had much to say of late, because, well, I haven’t had much to say. Seems most of the sentient universe is spending some time in Rift. As I noted before, I’ve decided to pass on Rift for now, though I’m not getting into the Rift/Not-Rift flame wars.
I beta-ed Rift and like it quite a bit. But for some reason, it just didn’t quite grab me though I have nothing but good things to say about its production quality. Given what we’ve seen in recent years, it restores my hope that the industry can actually produce a game that is worth buying on day one. Unfortunately, that is saying a lot.
Likewise, after an initial bout of new MMO expansion enthusiasm, the obvious flaws of Cataclysm have left me little enthusiasm to spend much time there. I got my non-instance group “solo” character to the cap in the middle of Twilight Highlands and stalled. The linearity and the excessive phasing sucked out any enthusiasm I had for feeding my alt-itis.
I like to explore. I like to explore the game world, I like to explore what other classes play like and I like to explore how virtual economies work, etc., etc. Gating off parts of the world behind quest phase walls is the antithesis of a virtual world to me. If there is a far off, dangerous and exotic place to visit, I want to be able to make my adventure getting there whether I’m a level one noob, level capped or anywhere in between. Playing with friends or guildies, even in the same zone, is nearly impossible.
Returning to EQ on the time locked Fippy Darkpaw progression server has been a breath of 12 year old fresh air. Experiment has turned into a bit of an obsession as Wilhelm and I have re-immersed ourselves into the EQ of old. As a concession to our play budgets and the game mechanics, we are both dual boxing the game which adds its own new experiences.
Its a worldly world. It takes time to progress. Combat is slow enough and unpredictable enough to require you to make interesting choices. Including the choice to run like hell to the zone line. Death hurts and fear is a powerful motivator. While on Fippy Darkpaw the death penalty is not the 1999 naked corpse run version, loss of XP and respawning at your bind point makes you more thoughtful.
There are dozens of places I can go to explore and go hunting. The general freedom from quest driven content has actually been liberating. Its been a while, but I’m finally beginning to understand what folks like Saylah and Tipa and others have been talking about for the past few years. Group experiences are still fun, tactics matter and you get to see and experience the world as a living place– with your friends.
A number of explorer types are reporting good experiences with Rift, especially at the higher levels, but I’m still curious whether that will hold up longer than the three-month windows folks have been discussing in the blogosphere.
I hope so, because at this point, there is very little in the MMO space that looks like it can offer the kind of experience I’ve been craving. I’ve got high hopes for Guildwars 2 and am cautiously pessimistic about SW:TOR since it will likely be fourth-pilloried on its story heavy construction. But for now, I feel like I’ve been all the way around the MMO-sphere and ended up right where I started 12 years ago.
potshot 