Confessions of an EVE Noob

I haven’t put too much time into EVE yet. According to Raptr it’s only been 5 hours, so I’m not going to comment on my overall view of the game obviously. I am however going to mention a few things that I like, and a few things that I dislike.

First off the game is as beautiful as ever, though I’m not sure whether I like the graphics of EVE or Star Trek Online better. Obviously I love the SIZE of the EVE space compared to STO and it’s instanced bits, though I’m sure I’ll be singing a different tune when I have a four hour flight sometime down the line.

I like that they have a tutorial now (the last time I played, shortly after it came out, it didn’t). I’d prefer it if the tutorial were scripted and instanced, just so I they could make sure everything happened as it should, and the tutorial could react to unexpected things, like losing your ship on the third military career mission. I was left sitting there wondering what to do. Do I fly back to the base? Can I come back for my stuff? I figured it out, but it would have been nice for the game to tell me.

The reason I died, and a major problem with my own way of thinking, was that I was too close to my enemies. I knew guns in EVE had optimal ranges, so I checked them out. ~15km for my guns. I figured that meant that 15km was good, and anything closer was better, like a handgun. That is not the case though. Apparently when they say 15km for optimal range, you better be at 15km or as close to that as you can get! Once I found this out and bought a ship upgrade I was nearly unstoppable for the rest of the military career tutorial.

The music is another thing I wanted to mention. I don’t normally notice music in games, and I don’t normally like anything techno-ish. That said, I LOVE the EVE Online combat music. As soon as I warped into an area I needed to clear of pirates the music kicked on and I was blasted with music that got my heart pumping, even if the actual action wasn’t all that fast paced or exciting.

I’ve applied to EVE University, but apparently the interview que is 7-10 days, so it’s going to be a while before I can comment on that. In the meantime I plan to finish the tutorials, figure out EVEMon, and figure out what I need to do to eventually fly something that shoots out drones or fighter jets or something like that. I want to look like an ant hill just exploded when I attack something.

For race I picked the Amarr, simply because they seemed the coolest. Their crazy strict society and willingness to make everyone their slaves appealed to me, even if in game I’ll probably just be avoiding fights and running for a long time.

Fallen Earth Cash Shop

Fallen Earth unveiled its new Cash Shop. Right now there are only two in game items to buy, and the prices really aren’t too bad. Nothing like a $25 mount, yet anyway.

The first item up for sale is a $10 companion pet. He’s purely non-combat, just like the current in game dog pet, but he looks a bit different and can hold up to four items, making it a bag slot that can die. No bad though, I’d think about getting it if I was still playing Fallen Earth.

Sadly the second item sets a pretty bad precedent in a lot of peoples minds. The Brass Goggles are a level 7ish head item that is actual armor. It’s not just for looks, but actually useful in game. Some people are already raving about the sky falling on Fallen Earth and discussion threads are ripe with people talking about how they are selling useful in game items and how they aren’t going to resub at the next billing cycle.

That’s crap. The Brass Goggles are selling for $5 on the store. Before this they were a special item obtainable only (as far as I know) if you bought one specific copy of Beckett Massive Online Gamer Magazine. The odds that you could find a copy of that now are pretty slim. Not to mention if it was out there for purchase before, all they have done here is allow more people to purchase it.

And let us keep in mind that it’s a level 7 item. That might be useful for a few levels, but you’re really only spending $5 for the look of the item, not it’s use, because you’re going to level out of that pretty quickly. I see no problem with it. However if it IS the start of a bunch of armor and weapons being put up for sale…well let’s just hope it isn’t.

Advanced Class System…Ugh

You have to understand that I am a pessimist. That said I will get almost every new MMO and at least give it an initial chance. With all of that out of the way I have to say that The Old Republic earned it’s first red mark for me.

Bioware announced the Advanced Class sytem, but other than this page I haven’t seen any more information. Some people, namely MMO Gamer Chick are excited about the new announcement. For me it has literally called into question whether I will enjoy the game.

Many games have tried this already, if it truly is what I fear. You will pick a class, such as “Scout”, and at level 10-ish you will be able to go the equivalent of “Ranged Ranger” or “Melee Assassin”. I hate this style of class system. That means that the first tem levels of two separate classes play exactly the same, and it seriously hinders my enjoyment of rolling alts, or even trying out a bunch of classes when I first start to see what is for me.

I really hope I am wrong here, and that it’s going to be a high level thing, but even then, unless they still play almost the exact same, or you can “respec”, then it’s going to just be dragging out the time you are exactly like another class.

I have never understand why games do this, other than running out of time and mashing together classes in the early ten levels. Ten of the most important levels to get players hooked on your game by the way.

But who knows? Maybe Bioware will surprise me and it’ll be a level 2 choice. Probably not though.

EverQuest III?

My EverQuest II character is a level 29 Coercer. I got him up to level 20 just doing the Neriak starting area quests and it flew by. There were some new things to get used to, and the Coercer was pretty hectic what with the charmed mobs turning on me, Mezes being resisted and my clothie but having nothing resembling a heal. There were some confusing things during the first twenty levels, and some really cool things that I learned.

Sadly it seems to have gone downhill from there. I am worried that perhaps it might just be better for me to wait for EverQuest III. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of things about EQII still and I would love to figure it all out. Sadly it seems like I might have come in too late. It was easier to figure out EVE and Fallen Earth, for me at least, than it is to figure out all the facets of EverQuest II.

It doesn’t help that I got two dungeon runs from guildies. They came down, mentored me so we were the same level, got a group together, took me to the dungeon and we ran through two separate dungeons multiple times each. I have no idea what the mobs looked like, or if it was cool or not. It was all just a jumble of movement and non-stop action. Imagine if your first experience with WoW dungeons was 4 level 80s, and you at level 60, and then running you through Blackrock Depths. Mobs are AOE’d quicker than I can see them, and the bosses are dropped so quickly I hardly understand WHAT TYPE of mob I am fighting.

So maybe judging the early dungeons isn’t a good idea. The problem is that those two runs, on the same day, got me nine levels. Now I’m stuck at level 29. I know I need to go to Enchanted Lands at level 30, but I am scared of that place. Why? Because I am currently in The Forest of…Nukerot? (Apparently it is Nektulos Forest) The Forest is filled with level 20-26ish mobs. I generally die once every four or five pulls to the level 20 mobs, and once every other pull to the 26-ish mobs. I’m 29! It’s not the class either, it’s my nubness. I have no idea what I’m doing. Are there attacks that don’t break CC? I don’t know. Do I need more AA? No idea. How do I go about getting AA? Got me, should I set my AA bar to 90% and grind mobs? The problem with that is that I’m dying left and right.

Did I do myself a disservice by going to those dungeons? My guess is yes, but how much of a disservice? Everytime I use an ability it says my skill in the corresponding skill has increased. I’m 60-something out of 100-something on most of my abilities. Does that effect my spells? Do I need to get the next rank/tier of my abilities? I have no idea! My charmed mobs can’t tank and die if they try, meanwhile my charms, mezes, roots etc break or are resisted all the time.

Today has been a terrible gaming day for me, so that’s not helping. Am I giving up on EverQuest II? Not just yet. I think I might try a class that isn’t quite so involved. A Berserker maybe? Or I might just go back to a Necromancer. I think I need to learn a lot more about the game before I can start having fun again, which is sad, especially since everyone else playing already knows this stuff and they don’t think so mention it when I ask for help.

Doesn’t help that my guild doesn’t talk much, or respond much, either. Ah well, I’ll keep trying. Just in a really foul mood today and it’s not being helped by my sucking it up.

A Quick Addendum

I just wanted to add that apparently the Latin American servers are filled with racism. Citizens of the United States rolling, and bringing over entire guilds, just to spam and harass the Spanish speakers. Apparently their are guilds titled Border Patrol and other offensive, uncalled for things that are being reported but are still around.

That is in no way the spirit of my earlier post. People that roll on those servers to harass innocent people are **AW&*(&$’s. They are the same people who roll on RP servers to bash RPers, or talk in Trade Chat.

It’s disgusting, and I just wanted to separate myself from that foulness. I just want to help people and have them stop Ninja looting and blaming it on language.

This is the main problem with MMO’s. People. Stay classy everyone.

An Idea for the STO Store

I don’t usually endorse in game stores for MMO’s, especially if I purchased the game for $40 or more, and am currently paying them $15 a month for the right to play the game I payed them $40 or more for. That being said the entire industry is going that way, so I might as well start working at steering it in the direction I want it to go.

With that in mind I had an idea while I was laying in bed this morning. It was partly because I read a bunch of Star Trek Online related blogs last night before going to bed, and partly because I’m still trying to get through The Original Series. So what is this amazing idea you ask? It’s simple, as anything going into the store should be. They have tons of different “bridges” in the game and for sale in the store, but do they have the most important bridge in Star Trek history? No they do not. What is this bridge you ask?

The destroyed bridge bridge. I want bodies strewn everywhere, lights flashing, NPC’s using medical tricorders on my Bridge Officers. I want the ship the shake every few minutes and send people flying, only to land on the floor and have medics come running up to them and check on them. I want debris and rubble to be strewn around the bridge!

Just a small idea I had, what do you think?

EverQuest II: What? Where am I?

After playing 6 different classes to level 14ish I finally decided to stick with one until twenty. Above is a picture of my level 20 Coercer, in amazing looking (and free!) appearance gear that I got for buying the game. I’m still not sure whether Coercer is going to be my main though, since it seems kind of like a Necromancer that takes much more attention to solo with. My “pets” don’t keep aggro literally at all, so I’m pretty much rooting and DPSing things down. Usually what happens is that I accidently pull three mobs so I Mez two and start DPSing the third, and that’s when my screen flashes yellow (meaning my tamed mob has just broken free).

Surprisingly, with how bad I play him, I’ve only died a handful of times. One of them was to a guard. My tamed pet broke free near one, and I managed to retame it before the guard killed it, which I guess flagged me against that guard because she came after as soon as she one shot my tamed mob. The second death happened in the capital city. Apparently there are huge cliffs littered throughout the cavern city, so I would recommend paying attention to where you are walking.

Speaking of walking in the capital city of Neriak, it’s a pain in the behind. Thankfully after a very confusing quest I gained access to the teleporters that are littered throughout the city for travel convenience.

So far there are several things I’m loving about the game, such as gathering nodes for leather and meat being little animal burrows where you “catch” them. It’s just like mining nodes, but I enjoy it MUCH more than skinning. Since we are talking about crafts I need to just say that CRAFTING IN EQII IS AWESOME! It’s not a boring “click here and AFK” system like in most games. I’m not through with the tutorial yet as I need more materials, but you start your recipe and then use abilities in order to succeed, including reacting to unforeseen events. It’s literally like fighting mobs, but in crafting form.

There are a few things I don’t like either. For instance I still haven’t seen anything that might be called a sun. Sure this is probably because I am evil and Neriak is the only starting city that isn’t the original lame Freeport starting quest island thing, or filled with terrible looking dragon people, and the surrounding area is called Darklight Woods. Still, it’s getting a bit dreary and I hope that there actually IS a sun in the game.

There are also a ton of things I just don’t understand yet. I’ll leave all of those for another post, a long post.

So far I’m having a blast in EverQuest II and I am looking forward to getting a bit higher and experiencing more of the content. Which my Coercer though? I’m not sure about that. I kind of want to play a clothie class since I have a free set of clothie appearance gear.

Also, what level am I going to have enough for a mount at? I see you can use them at level 1, but what kind of timeframe can I realistically expect to have the plat required to purchase the basic mount? I guess I’ll find out.

Game Updates!

I’ve been playing many a game lately. These are a few updates from some of them.

 

I’ve been playing mostly Fallen Earth lately and I’ve finally made my ATV Key. The way mounts work is you craft a key, but when you use that key it spawns the mount in the world. It can NEVER again be mailed, or put back into your bags or the bank. You can only stable/garage it, and you can only have one active and in the world at a time.

I have not used my ATV Key, as it was a requirement to research Motorcycle building. I’ve since researched and learned that, and I’m on my way to making my first Motorcycle key. I’ll keep that one around until I can make a Cargo Motorcycle, since that’ll be the first thing that has more storage than my horse. Not to mention I got a free regular Motorcycle from the Clan I joined, which is really nice.

My character, Connor Toth, is a melee crafter with healing capabilities. I haven’t grouped yet, but at level 14 I’m about the right level to get a group together for Kingman Prison. It’s not an instance in the classical World of Warcraft style from what I understand, but I’m looking forward to getting it done and getting some AP for it.

Darkfall is having a welcome back special, a free 14 day’s for anyone who had an account. I read about it on Hardcore Casual and just as I thought “Maybe I should give it another try” I got an email from them. Now when I played (See not very long) it was back when the game only had an EU server, my internet sucked, and my PC couldn’t really handle it. I switched my EU account for an NA account free of charge and created a character. I’m still not sure what the race is called, but if any game allows me to be a Werewolf, the only thing I would ever choose over that would be a rat person. So naturally I am the games Werewolf-ish race.

Sadly, because of the age of my account, I do not have the newbie protection. Luckily, after eight hours in the game, I haven’t died to a player yet. I HAVE died to several goblins, especially those damn Goblin Shaman. I’ve followed the tutorial video’s that are linked to on Hardcore Casual and it’s been a blessing. I’ve since abandoned following it, and I’m getting most of the low level quests, but I doubt I would have been able to get my bearings without those videos.

I’ve made a lot of progress, having gotten an OK set of armor, a two handed sword from the vendor, a really nice quest bow that has allowed me to start three shotting Goblin Scouts, and a magic staff. Well, many of the staffs, which I keep in the bank.

I’ll make another full post about Darkfall at a later date, but I’m having a blast so far. I’ve run and escaped from several decked out players so far, and the adrenaline rush of just fighting a newbie area goblin is such a strange feeling that I can’t help but log in and keep going. I’m also a simple steedleaf (I think that’s the name) away from getting my first mount, which will be kept in the bank until I can get a few more mounts.

I haven’t mentioned LOTRO much since me and the wife resubbed to WoW, but we’ll be back in Middle Earth this weekend! We’re going to hopefully turn in our tokens to get our Spring Horses and maybe get a couple of levels and enjoy the festivities. The wife is really looking forward to it. She hasn’t had much time to play games lately, so she’s itching for an MMO fix.

That’s it for now, expect more on Darkfall tomorrow. And Fallen Earth.

Slow Down and Smell the Roses. Damn Roses.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Mythic Entertainment lately. This is partly due to the fact that I recently starting playing the trial for Dark Age of Camelot. I got a guild in Fallen Earth, and when I logged into their vent I noticed that they had people in a DAoC channel. I like the guild (Clan in Fallen Earth) so far so I’m messing around in DAoC and chatting with them.

It’s weird going from Warhammer Online to Dark Age of Camelot, a game I never really played back in the day. The first thing I noticed was that the UI was TERRIBLE. Of course it’s because of how old the game is, and I actually like some of the differences, but having to /whisper npc’s with key words to get quest dialog…I haven’t had to do that in an online RPG since I was playing GemStone (a MUD) on America Online.

On the other hand I was immediately sad that I had never picked it up back in the day. The setting is very interesting and I like the little bit of lore that I have been exposed to so far. I am, above and before anything else, a fan of settings, and DAoC’s is great.

I started wondering what the subscription numbers were like and it doesn’t appear there are many. There are reasons that a game like this might not be very successful in today’s world of modern MMO’s, such as it’s archaic UI with no mini map (I love the action bar being on the top left), or the quest log being almost no help at all, or even the fact that it’s mostly a grind to levels.

What I found however was that it had one of “Those” expansions. Trials of Atlantis is considered by many to have killed Dark Age of Camelot. To sum it up quickly it appears that it added a lot of PVE grinding in order to be competitive in RVR. It’s one of the big problems that WAR had when it launched, forcing people to PVE in order to improve in PVE. That is possibly the worst thing you could possibly do to a PVP/RVR game.

What amazed me though is that, amongst all the ranting about the changes Trials of Atlantis brought to the game and how bad they were, people took the time to talk about how pretty the new zones were, about how interesting it was to explore and find new areas that were really well done.

Then I thought back on Warhammer Online and some of it’s amazing areas and zones, and about how beautiful they really were. I also thought about how it was never mentioned amongst all the hate threads and posts. In fact, exploration is never really mentioned in any MMO’s anymore. Most people talk about it based on what quest/grind spot they found, but not what a pretty area it was.

Have MMO’s lost that sense of exploration, are they not worrying about making beautiful areas? Or have we gamers with our ADD lost the ability to slow down and smell the roses. Or at least notice that they are there.

Questing in Fallen Earth

I was doing a bit of light questing and crafting in Fallen Earth and I was again reminded of one of the reasons I enjoy the game. The quests are of course things like kill x of this, go loot this, go ferry this, craft this ect. but I’ve NEVER had a problem with those types of quests. That’s the genre. It’s like getting mad at First Person Shooters because they are first person view. Maybe it’s just not the genre for you in that case.

Anyway, I met a member of the banking faction in Fallen Earth and he has a little quest for me. Some of their special paper, paper they had made by a skilled craftsman that is very hard to forge apparently, hasn’t shown up. It was guarded by several men but none of them showed up either. I ride out into the desert and discover several boxes filled with the paper. That’s weird, I figured if they were robbed the paper would have been stolen. That’s when the smell hits me and I follow my nose to a pile of dead bodies hidden by the tall grass. Sure enough, these are the men that were sent to protect the paper shipment. In the clinched fist of one man there is a small chain, like a necklace, which I take back with me, along with the paper, and show it to the banker. Does the man bow his head and mourn the death, secretly happy that he didn’t lose any money? Nope, instead he demands blood. Why? Nothing got stolen I say, and he tells me that nobody F*&*s with the BANK!

I’m sent out to track this man down. The tracking quests in this game involve you heading out to an area marked on your map, then it tells you a new area, and you go to that and so on until you find the person you are hunting. Sure, it’s just filler but I like it, makes it feel like I hunted the guy down. I of course kill the man, who apparently didn’t care about the paper, he’s just crazy and wants the bank to suffer.

Anyway, I’m off to find some wood to make a tent pole for a CHOTA officer, then I’ve got to gather some materials to make some poison resistance medicine for my future romp through the scorpion filled desert. Wish me luck.