It’s A Perfect World

Cryptic/Perfect World seems bent on taking up all my gaming time lately. Though I can’t seem to convince my husband to come back to Star Trek Online with me, I myself have been sucked back into the game big time.

Um, yeah. This is definitely not the STO I knew and remembered. It’s bigger and better. I am still set-phasers-to-stunned by how much has changed. I know a lot of features have been added since I left, but it’s also the little things too. Stuff has been tidied up and streamlined, from the user interface to combat mechanics, the visuals and environment and effects have been updated or improved. This was something I played for almost two years before I stopped, but coming back again now feels like discovering a brand new game.

And yet, memories of gameplay inevitably flow back to me while I’m playing. Sometimes it’s a good thing, like during ground combat. Remembering the Expose/Exploit system helped me decide which weapons to give to myself and my bridge officers, and mobs went down without any trouble. But sometimes, half-remembering the game can also hinder. During space combat with my new Romulan character, I’m maneuvering my beached whale of a starting hunk of metal and wishing so badly I was still back in my main’s escort ship. A lot of the battle tactics I developed I mastered using that little Maelstrom, and that baby turned on a dime.

Perhaps not surprisingly, my first foray back among the stars did not go so well. I even forgot the golden rule of STO space combat: DO NOT hang around exploding ships! I guess my MMO-player instinct to run up to enemies I’ve just killed in order to loot them was just too strong, and I was almost blown up for it, bleh.

It’s a shame I can only fit in about an hour or less of time in STO during the afternoons, because like I said, the mister doesn’t seem to have any interest in captain duties anymore. As for the game we’re both still playing, the obsession with Neverwinter is still holding strong and I’m glad to report we’re slowly climbing the levels every evening.

It’s a good balance, don’t you think? Sci-fi by day, fantasy by night.

In The Time Of Neverwinter

My decision to hop aboard the Neverwinter train came as a fairly recent one.

To understand how it came about, you have to know that in our family, I’m the one who keeps up with the news in the gaming industry, reads the reviews and blogs, researches the games and decides in the end whether to get them or not. So it’s not uncommon for my husband, even though he’s an avid gamer, to be completely clueless about what games are out there or what’s coming out, because he’s perfectly happy just letting me fill him in and playing anything that I play.

It definitely helps that we have very similar gaming tastes. I’d like to think I’ve always chosen well and that I know the kind of games he prefers and never had to push my luck or his self-respect with anything like Hello Kitty Online. The most important thing is that we get to play together, and bless him for trusting me enough to follow me into whatever MMO world I want to explore.

But still, I almost made a faux pas with Neverwinter. I’d gotten my hands on a beta key earlier this year, played a few days of the beta and liked what I saw, but when “soft launch” came this week I took one look at the sea of games we’re already swimming in and said to the mister, “Maybe we should pass on this, or at least wait until after the open beta when we can both play free at our leisure.” His answer: “But why?”

In retrospect, I suppose I should have foreseen this; that as someone who prides himself on having owned the original Dungeons and Dragons basic boxed set, my husband would be hard-pressed to pass up anything attached to the franchise, let alone an actual MMO based in the Forgotten Realms city of Neverwinter. So he promptly went ahead and bought us both each a Guardian pack, which is how I found myself in front of my computer Saturday morning downloading the client and trawling the multitudes of D&D name generator sites for ideas.

Ultimately, my husband ended up rolling what he calls a “classical cleric”, while I rolled a Wood Elf Great Weapon Fighter. Because if there’s one thing I like more than elves, it’s elves wielding big honking swords.

Alistara Arborshale

It was pretty much all we played this weekend. I can already tell Neverwinter is not going to be as deep as some of the more involved MMOs I’ve played, but it’s still very engaging for a story-based online game supported by lots of dungeons and opportunities to play with friends.

The important thing is, I’m enjoying it; but apparently Neverwinter has gotten its hooks even deeper into my husband — which is incredible, for he is usually so even-tempered and takes a judicious attitude towards new games. I’d say 60 bucks, which is the usual price I’m used to dropping for a brand new game anyway, was definitely worth it for the chance to see things a little early and play with the gang of usual suspects, not to mention the items and perks that come with the pack.

Anyway, it’s only been a couple days and I still feel so green, but I’m slowly discovering that there’s a lot more to Neverwinter. Every hour, I still get surprised when I stumble across new game mechanics or systems that I didn’t know existed, while continuing to be impressed by how much is already in place. I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface, or looked into the Foundry. As I only reached level 15 yesterday, I’m looking forward to a whole new world still waiting for me.

Let’s Revive This Thing A Bit…

Okay, so my little break actually turned out to be a pretty long break. You know how it is when things get busy; you say to yourself, “All right, I’m just going to put this blogging thing aside for a next little while just until I get back on track.” Except 2013 has been crazy from the outset, so the obligations just keep piling up and before you know it’s been more than two months gone and your poor blog has gone from “on a little break” to flat-out neglected.

Well, I’m back to change that. Part of the reason for my absence also had to do with the types of games I was playing. In January and February, I used most of my spare gaming time to catch up with the Xbox360 titles, some of which had been gathering dust on my shelf, still enclosed in their original shrink wrap:

• Assassin’s Creed II: Brotherhood (if you ask me, this game is where the AC franchise reached its peak)
• Assassin’s Creed II: Revelations (I just couldn’t bring myself to do everything, so I breezed through it for the story)
• Assassin’s Creed III (I had to give up on this for now, the gameplay proved to be grindier than I expected)
• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (loved this, loved this, LOVED THIS)
• Dishonored (I may be too incompetent and inept to ever become truly good at stealth games, but I don’t care what anyone says, I love my dark ending)

Um, yes. That would have been an overabundance of assassins.

In terms of MMOs:

• Rift (Hey, I finally bought the Storm Legion expansion!)
• The Secret World (TSW Mondays are still happening every week, and as always I am dressed to kill)
• World of Warcraft (golden rule: when you’re married to someone who doesn’t have as much time to game as you, play what he wants to play during your mutual game time. WoW will ever be my husband’s MMO of choice, and I’ve been having a lot of fun raiding in Mists of Pandaria too, so I’m not complaining)
• Neverwinter beta (very excited for this)
• Defiance beta (with the game’s release right around the corner, you’ll no doubt be seeing me write about it now that the blog’s also been sufficiently revived)

It has been revived, yes? Yes. I shall endeavor to post regularly again. Thank you, and good night.

Screenshot Of The Day: Old Friends, New Business Model (TSW)

Another Monday night, another Secret World session. It was our guild’s first TSW night since the game’s big announcement last week, and I must say we had a pretty good showing, considering our modest little cabal.

Being a subscriber, I was able to claim my rewards which included a bunch of Funcom points, so of course the first thing I did was go shopping. And shocker — I didn’t buy new clothes. Instead, I adopted a pet:

It’s reaching up to me for a hug! Aww…

Okay, at first I was going to get a dog. But then, I saw this little guy on the front page and it’s like, how the hell can anyone resist? My new Automaton pet jumps around excitedly when he sees me and also follows me around on rocket boots (or a rocket butt, I can’t tell).

We also had enough people last night to split off into a couple groups. Almost all of us are in Transylvania now, and so I took the opportunity to zip back into the Shadowy Forest to turn in several missions that had been sitting in my quest log all this time. Honestly, it’s been so long that I’d forgotten how much faster the experience rolls in once you get into the higher level zones. With my Time Accelerator that increases XP gain, I don’t think it’d be too long before I get enough AP and SP complete my third deck (Warlock) and to finally equip my rocket launcher.

Oh, and something else I forgot now that I’m back in vampire land — how ridiculously, maddeningly, soul-crushingly tough this game can be. TSW is a cruel mistress, but then again, it’s a big part of why I love it.

Screenshot Of The Day: VRRROOOOM-RAH-RAH-RAHWWWWWRRRRRRR

Monday’s The Secret World night was productive. And that is all I have to say about that.

Edit: Bah, looks like Syp beat me to it. But I think I look more stylish. I’m standing on a Mini Cooper wearing a top hat, for God’s sake.

Rift: My Storm Legion Tour – New Zones

First of all, I want to thank the Rift team and especially Community Manager James “Elrar” Nichols for the amazing opportunity of being offered a private tour of their upcoming expansion Storm Legion during this beta weekend. This Monday, I was provided with a level 60 character, and along with the masterful Elrar acting as my personal in-game tour guide, we traveled to a variety of locations in the game so he could show me some of the features while allowing me to get in some hands-on time.

I’ve always admired Trion’s dedication to building rapport with their players and their enthusiasm to reach out to bloggers and the gaming community, and I’m really grateful to have been included. I know several have already gotten their write-ups posted, so here’s mine.

The fact is, Rift and I have always enjoyed a genial relationship; I played for many months, leveling my Cleric to 50 and continued to enjoy the game for a long time after that thanks to the flexibility of the soul system and the frequent content updates. I did stop playing around last winter when pretty much all my MMO gaming came to a screeching halt when I gave birth to my daughter, but with the announcement of Storm Legion this summer I knew I was going to be heading back into Rift sometime soon.

I just had no idea how soon. I knew I wanted to play the expansion, but my plan was originally to hold off on it until next year when my current MMO plate isn’t quite so full, but after my tour on Monday I think I’m going to have to reevaluate that plan. It’s probably safe to say that some of the things I saw shifted around my priorities somewhat, and there are more than a few features I’d definitely want to get a jump start on and not wait around for.

Elrar began our tour in Tempest Bay, the massive new cross-faction city on its own island on the map. The mechanical eldritch theme it has going there reflects a long history of its highly-advanced society. I imagine once the expansion goes live and players begin flocking to this city for their everyday in-game needs, it’ll look sufficiently more populated and lived-in. For now, from what I saw Tempest Bay positively radiates the majesty and grandeur of a central capital.

Elrar and his supermod powers ported us to various locations around the world next, exploring some of the new zones. Storm Legion will add two gigantic continents to the game world, Dusken and Brevane. Each of them will be bigger than the original game world, essentially tripling the size of Rift. Level 50s will have access to these areas in the new expansion.

Our first destination, Morban. And yes, the mood of the zone is as baleful and sinister as the name suggests; in the area called the Forest of Flesh, my guide led me by several foreboding structures nestled in a twisted wood. It’s an eerie sight to behold and yet a feast for the eyes. Rift being an original intellectual property, Elrar explained how their artists get a lot of free rein to design and theme the zones. Indeed you can see the full extent of the creativity at work here in the unique lines and forms of the architecture and biodiversity.

Our next stop was Seratos, the next zone over. My guide ported me into an area called the Pus Swamp. Hmm, flesh and pus and hey, I think I’m starting to see a pattern here! I was reminded that we’re in the realm of Regulos now; everything here has pretty much been taken over by the planes. Speaking of which, throughout my tour I was treated to many interesting tidbits of background information and the history of Telara. So, not only has the Rift team been hard at work adding content to their game, they’ve also beefed up the lore big time.

I also had the chance to visit the Kingdom of Pelladane and the Eastern Holdings on the other continent of Brevane. Along the way, I got to see how quests will be treated in the new expansion. Firstly, I was fortunate enough to experience a spontaneous rift event during my tour and was assured that rifts will continue to be a main feature and the driving force behind the game. I was happy to hear that. Of course, there will also still be quest hubs where players can show up and talk to a bunch of NPCs, but Elrar also emphasized a concerted move towards improving the flow of questing and making it feel more like a natural and organic experience.

I was shown a couple of examples of this. In one instance, I was just running around the area when I suddenly stumbled across an item on the ground with a quest indicator floating above it. In another instance, me killing a random mob also triggered a quest. This obviously is a move to encourage more exploration; Rift has always been very good at doing this, what with their artifacts and collection system and such — but now there’s even more reason to go poking your head into every nook and corner, or killing every monster you see.

Storm Legion is going to be chock-full of new features and lots of cool stuff, and there’s definitely no way I can fit all that I saw on Monday into one post. So stick around, I’ll be sure to cover my tour of dungeons and raids, and housing and dimensions in my next couple of updates!

The Secret World: Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Aww, look at the kittens so fluffy and cute and adora–oh wait, this is The Secret World. Hmm, this isn’t going to end well, is it?

I have to confess, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I always look forward to October because that’s when all the MMOs trot out their Halloween events, but most of all I was holding my breath to see what Funcom would do for The Secret World.

It’s hard not to expect the amazing, because you gotta admit, something like this is like right up their alley. Like the devs have said themselves, Halloween is like their Christmas. To get a sense of what a big deal this is to them, they’ve been talking and teasing about this since launch. If nothing else, the trailer for the event certainly reaffirmed my decision to stay subscribed to this game. In a word, it looked fantastic — new investigation quests, a dungeon encounter, cool rewards.

The best part? Now that I’ve actually done the event for myself, not only did I have a blast, but I also have to say that, yeah, it is indeed unlike any other MMO Halloween event I’ve ever experienced. I’m big enough to admit that at one point, I screamed. Not to be the bringer of spoilers, but it was sufficiently creepy, just the right amount of disturbing, and it doesn’t hold back. One other thing: I hope y’all are cat people.

Well, actually. On second thought, it might be less unsettling if you weren’t.

Of course, amidst the new are some of the old — more specifically, a couple of old friends who will contact you to initiate the quest. One of the best things about TSW? The colorful, memorable NPCs. When I got that phone call from Madame Rogét asking me if I remembered her, I had to laugh. How could I forget Kingsmouth’s own soothsayer and part-time prostitute, she of the fake accent and fuzzy handcuffs? And then there’s Deputy Andy, whose ominous quote about his drowned kittens still haunts me. As it’s one of most referenced quotes from the game, I’m guessing I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Samhain and the Cat God are here.

Both are amongst the first quest givers you meet in the game, so even if you only played TSW briefly, you would have encountered them. Months later, I still remember their names and personal stories as clear as day. Now, I’m aware Funcom has had their Halloween event up their sleeve for a while, but the fact that Deputy Andy’s dead kittens are at the heart of this mystery has got me wondering — damn, just how long has Funcom been planning for this? Like, really?

Bottom line is, I knew beforehand that I was going to be too busy to game tonight, so no Monday TSW night for me this week. But even if that weren’t the case, I know I wouldn’t have been able to wait to do the event. I gave in to the temptation last Friday, when I along with a few guildmates managed to complete the quest chain.

For the Cat God’s sake, if you play TSW the Halloween quests are not to be missed. The first part is completely doable solo if you’ve gotten most of the way through the Solomon Islands, but having friends to brainstorm ideas will help with figuring out the investigation quest. Second part is a bit tougher, and I’m not just talking about the puzzle. If you aren’t already in the later parts of the game, having a friend who is to help will make it easier, but it’s still possible to go it alone if you’re careful. The final showdown, however, is classified as a dungeon encounter and a group is recommended.

At the end of it, you get an outfit and a really cool portal tentacle cat! Speaking as a self-confessed companion pet addict, the uniqueness of the latter makes it all worthwhile. Now to find the little guy a veterinarian who won’t run away screaming at the first sight of him.

Wherever that portal takes him, I hope he does his business there too. I hate cleaning litter boxes.