Dovahkiin, there can only be one

And so it begun, The Elder Scrolls took an arrow to the knee..

The recent anouncement of The Elder Scrolls Online has left me kind of mixed.
On the one hand i think it might be nice to have an mmo based on the Elders Scrolls series, but on the other hand i doubt they are ever going to catch that what makes the singleplayer Elders Scrolls so awesome in an mmo.

I mean it is just going to be another mmo with the same old same old, with the only difference being it is based in the world of the Elder Scrolls.

You are the chosen one, dragonborn, the only Dovahkiin... and so are the hundreds of other players waiting on you to finish and move on so they can finish their quest to report the slaying of another dragon.

You travel the roads of Tamriel together with your trusty companion,... and so are hundreds of others running past you, or jumping past you like they are playing the next Frogger, killing that dragon that just attacked you so you have no loot..

Maybe it is just that i am tired of mmo's lately, but i am just not interrested in another mmo.
I am really enjoying my (singleplayer) time exploring and slaying dragons in Skyrim without other players ruining  my immersion, my experience.

I am just tired of going into places designed for mmo play, designed to have several players there at one time, so that when you go there alone it becomes almost impossible to go on/complete quest objectives because of the huge spawn numbers.

True when SWTOR came out i was excited but i am hardly playing it, i do enjoy the storylines but that's about it.
Personally i would have rather seen a KOTOR 3, a singleplayer game would have been a much more pleasant experience.

I am tired of seeing great singleplayer games turn into mmo's, there is really no need for that as all we get is just another run of the mill mmo.

Sure i still (occasionally) log into an mmo whenever i feel like it but than i'll just play WoW for a while, i'll get everything i need in an mmo there.
I have tried so many mmo's only to realize after a while it's all just the same, it only has a new, fresh layer of paint and it makes us all feel good, until you realize you've been doing the same thing in your previous mmo's, it just had a different name.

I am sure we will see a quest to kill 10 dragons for a set of dragonscale boots in The Elder Scrolls Online, sure it beats getting a set of boots made out of rat hides but still..

I am also sure i will be checking it out, yes i am sure i will be playing it, afterall it is The Elder Scrolls Online, and i just happen to love The Elder Scrolls series, i might even be excited when i start playing but i am sure there won't be anything different about this mmo, besides the world/lore so after a while i will probably just return to Oblivion or Skyrim.

Of course there is always the hope, that i guess everyone has: This mmo is going to be different...
However one thing that has allready been said was the combat is not going to be anywhere near what it is in the singleplayer as that is apperantly not possible in an mmo... what??
First hint of this is going to be like any other mmo.

Now it has also been said, or rather tweeted by Pete Hines that this mmo will not affect the singleplayer Elder Scrolls series and i hope this is true, however knowing Bethesda that might very well change in the future, they are known to go for the money (which makes sense, it's a business afterall), just look at their xbox exclusive timed deal for the Skyrim DLC Dawnguard, so it would not surprise me if it will in fact have an impact on the singleplayer series.

Now i know that the mmo is being made by Zenimax and Bethesda Game Studios are the ones working on the singleplayer series, but that doesn't mean anything, it's just a different name under the same company.
Guess where the money goes if Bethesda thinks they can make more cash with the mmo..

Immersion in a RolePlayingGame

After a hard day travelling it is always good to wind down at the inn.

It is not always like that for me, i mean i enjoy my "chainmail bikini's" and skimpy armors, although i tend to get bored with them pretty fast and start looking for some armor that actually fits within the game/lore.

I mean after a while i start feeling like something isn't right, like i don't belong.

I am probably one of the very few, i mean just have a look around on the Nexus sites, my guess is that 80-90% of the armors there are very skimpy looking or hentai "inspired" armors.
Don't get me wrong though i am not critisizing those mod makers, hell some of those armors look amazing, but to me they just look like they don't belong in Skyrim.

So eventhough i will play around with those armors, i will eventually return to somthing more "lore friendly".
Some might consider the above armor to be skimpy, but i think it definitely fits within the lore, this armor is named Barbarian Armor and really fits it's name, and skimpy.. well there's the Forsworn armors or some fur armors that show even more :)

OMG, you mean you actually Roleplay in an RPG??
Well yes i guess i do :)
Not always, i mean i do use fast travel by clicking on the map markers, but there are times where i really try to roleplay. Last nights session for example i started like anyone would by fast travelling to a quest marker.

However this time my quest target was an actual moving target and seemed to avoid me, everytime i fast travelled the target had moved the opposite direction.

I actually started to enjoy that, so i jumped on my horse and started the chase, eventually catching my target.
I decided to move back to the questgiver by horse, eventhough it was half way accross the map.
Luck had it that as soon as it went dark i came across an inn, so i decided to spend the night there.

Heading out at first light to continue my journey, of course during the day i got jumped by bandits and my horse got killed, so now i am on foot.

The screenshot was taken while i travelled through Rorikstead and eventhough the day was far from over i decided to stop here and rest and stay the night for relaxation, food, drinks and a good night rest, before continuing my journey towards Whiterun.. on foot.
And with that i mean actual walking ingame, so not running, no fast travel, just walk.

And that's where i had to quit to get some IRL sleep.
So yeah i am (sometimes) roleplaying in a RolePlayingGame :)

I do sometimes try this in an mmo, but it's pretty hard to stay immersed in the game when a person runs by, jumping up and down like the next incarnation of frogger named ipwnedurmom.
Or when there are 20-30 people on top of a questgiver trying to get the same quest.
There is no, waiting in line for your turn anymore. RP servers are really just a name/categorie and mean nothing anymore.
They are probably just there so publishers can say we have them so shut up you RPers.

Sometimes i wonder if RolePlaying is just dying out because of the gimme now instant reward easy mode generation.

Oh well at least i have my sanctuary of singleplayer games where i can RP as much as i like without anyone annoying the hell out of me.

Now: GET OF MY LAWN!!

That's not a bug, that's a feature!

There has always been one thing in MMO's that anoy the heck out of me, i would be out exploring or doing some quest, you would come across a named mob or someone askes for your help killing a mob and you kill that mob.
Later you get a quest to kill that excact same (named) mob, i see this happen a lot in WoW, but it's not only WoW, i see it happen in most, if not all MMO's.
Eventhough i am not a hardcore roleplayer, i still feel it is wrong, afterall i allready killed that specific mob so why make me do it again??

There has been one MMO to date (that i played and loved) that got it right: Tabula Rasa!
There were several times where i would join some people in defeating a mob or i would be out exploring and encountered a mob and killed it, than later when i would be out questing again and get a quest to kill a mob i allready killed before, the quest would just auto complete, almost like the quest giver would say "ah i see you allready killed him, good job".

I would say that's one heck of a feature and i would love MMO developers to take note of that and implement it, afterall most MMO's log everything you do in game, in WoW for example the game knows if you kill a boss in a dungeon, it shows up in your armory feed, (heck they even know what you're looting) so to me it would only make sence that if i would recieve a quest later on to kill that same boss in a dungeon or the world the quest would complete, because you allready did "the job".

To me it's not a major thing but it still anoys the heck out of me, having to go back and kill the same mob again and like i said it makes no sence to me, maybe it's just the little roleplayer in me, but it just feels wrong.

Free 2 Play versus Subscription

Lately i have been looking a lot at Free2Play games, like Allods Online (which i've been enjoying quite a bit), i have re-installed Runes of Magic & Sword of the New World, signed up for Aika Online and i am still looking for more.

I might not keep playing some of them, but that's why i am trying out/returning to so many games.

The main reason behind it is that i am currently paying for so many subscriptions, yet i play most of them very little.
Right now i feel like i don't have a game that "i wann go home and play" with, i use to have that with Star Wars Galaxies and Tabula Rasa. So right now i am "jumping from" game to game, cause i like to play all of them, yet i feel i don't play them enough.

Currently i am subscribed to Age of Conan, Fallen Earth, World of Warcraft, i have the SOE Station Access so i can play Everquest, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard, Pirates of the Burning Sea. I also have lifetime subs for Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online.
Looking at my gameplay hours on Raptr and Xfire, i have to conclude that i do play those games, but over a long period, it's very little and more and more i am beginning to doubt if it is worth the subscriptions i am paying, i tend to play a game fora few days (sometimes) and really enjoy it but then i move to another game and some games i don't play for several months, yet i am still paying for them.

So i guess the Free2Play model is really starting to sound more and more interresting, although looking at the games you can't really compare the to subs based games (yet), although i think Allods Online is on the right path. I can spend a little money here or there to support the game and if i am not playing, well i am not paying so..

I also really enjoy the lifetime subs, sure they're a lot of money at the start but i think in the long run it will pay off as i never have to pay for a sub and i don't feel as guilty if i don't play them for a long while.

So until i find that one game that i wanne go home for to log in, i guess i'll keep jumping from game to game..

Allods Online: Damn Bag Grinders

One of the things that is really destroying my fun, is those "bag grinders".
I call them bag grinders because they're usually grinding mobs to get rare drops to be able to get the bigger bagspace ingame instead of buying it.

Now i really think there should be an ingame way of getting the same stuff that you can buy in the cashshop, if you don't want to buy it, however when i am on a quest for which i need to kill a bunch of mobs and find a couple of high levels grinding those mobs, one shotting them even before i can get a shot in, i am not ok with that.
Especially if there are a level 27 and a level 31 grinding lvl 13 mobs..

I really think the devs need to come up with some other way, as this is making things annoying for those that need to complete quests, let them grind mobs that are not needed in other quests.

Of course this also depends on the (grinding) player, afterall those high levels could be a little nicer and ask those lower levels that are running around in the same areas if they need to kill them for a quest and offer a group, but then again they're probably to scared those lower levels run off with the rare drops :)
Or at least leave a little area untouched so others can get quests done and not kill every mob in sight.

Personally i say, just buy the damn bags, at least you are supporting the game with it and you are not annoying other players. I know it's a free to play game, but hell if no one buys anything it won't be around for long.

Allods Online, doing the right thing.

OK, i'll admit it, i was one of those (probably very few) that actually did buy the 20 dollar bags.
Do i think the (very) little extra bag space was worth it,... hell no, it was definatly not, not for the bag space.
However i looked at it in a different way, i was getting a little extra bag space and with that 20 dollars i support a F2P game that i actually enjoy playing.

Of course we all know there was a huge uproar about the pricing and we also know they lowered the cash shop prices.
But yeah, i payed 20 dollars for the bag before they lowered the prices, well guess what?
They actually went back and priced my bag at the current price and put the rest of the gPotatoes (points) back into my account.

So i guess one could say that they are definatly trying to do things right, eventhough they didn't have to, afterall i agreed to the 20 dollar price when i bought it but still they went back and gave me back credit for the "overpricing".

Allods Online, Giving it a second chance and liking it.

I have been playing a lot of Allods Online, although i did get pretty close to quiting it.
My first character (Cynfull) is a warrior on the League side and i have level 10 with her.
But the kill stealing was so bad that it really took the fun out of the game, well technically it isn't kill stealing, because as soon as you land the first hit on the mob it's yours no matter what happens.
However as a warrior it's very hard to get a mob everyone is after, as what usually happens i see a mob and before i can reach it some mage comes along and from a distance castes a fireball and takes the mob, even if i still kill it i will not get credit for it.
As a warrior theres really no way to getting to a mob fast unless you are standing right next to it, i do have one ranged attack but that takes 4 seconds to fire.

So i got really close to quit the game, but decided to give it another change, this time i rolled a scout (stalker) on the Empire side (Synfull) and i have to say it's alot more fun to play, as i feel it suits me better, being ranged, and at least i have a chance to get a mob as soon as i see it as my ranged attack is instant, so the kill stealing is no a lot less.

I also feel like the the Empire has had a lot more attention from the Devs, it feels more "done", it definatly felt like i was leveling faster and so far i have to say i really prefer the Empire over the League.
It's save to say they try to put it down as the evil Empire, as one of my first quests was to beat up a couple of POW's, a quest i personally didn't like and i actually felt bad for doing, i don't know it definatly felt wrong (i know, i know it's a game, but still..).
But so far i have not had any more quests on the Empire side that were that extreme and i have generally been having a blast.

I have had a lot of fun running the XAES Dungeon, so far i have done it twice as i found out later that i got a few more quests in there to do as follow up quests for other quests.
And although it's not a raid, as it's set to max party of 6 (we tried as a raid but mobs wouldn't aggro), it has been fun doing it a second time, i even got a nice pair of (blue) dual daggers from it, and i definatly enjoyed my part, just staying in the back of the group and fire those arrows and try to do as much DPS as i can :)



So far i never had the urge to do raids, as a matter of fact i always tried to stay away from them, but now i think it might actually be a lot of fun doing raids, i mean not like being a full time raider, but more like a casual raider.
I do sometimes listen to some talk about raids in WoW where people actually "study" the raid and memorize a complete "choreography" to do a dungeon, i admire those people and the efforts they put into it to do it "right" and i do enjoy reading/listening to those stories, but it's not what i would like to do, i just wanna go in there and have fun and either we make it or we don't.

So who knows.. i might actually turn into a casual raider :)

So after all this, yes i will definatly keep playing Allods Online, i really enjoy the world and the setting and although there are quite a lot of those kill ten (or 20) rats quest, i am really enjoying the storyline quests. It's definatly an interresting world.

For the Hor.., i mean for the Empire :)

Allods Online, my first impression

After hearing and reading so much about it i decided i had to check it out :)

First impressions.. well nice tutorial.
After that i went on my first quest, only to have the first two mobs i was trying to kill for the quest been stolen away from me, guess that's what you can expect from a F2P game, kill stealers.. general rude people.

And of course the gold spam, pretty annoying, especially if it's the same "person" doing it for quite a while, isn't there a GM online to take care of that shit and ban the fucker.

So yeah, so far my first impression is one of meh..

I might give it a little longer, but after hearing so many good things about it i had honestly expected more.

Search for the lost quest objectives..

Finally reached lvl 8 :)
Been doing a couple of quests, most of the time i feel like i am lost..
When questing it is not always clear on were to find those objectives, sometimes not even a hint as to what direction to go, so i find myself constantly wandering around, hoping to come across a quest objective....

Now i don't mind exploring, in fact i like exploring, but sometimes i just wanna get some quests done and at those times it's annoying if you don't know where to go :(
Maybe i am spoiled by WoW, with it's quest addons, but i would like to know where to look for stuff when i am out questing..

Another thing i noticed is that it is awfully quiet on my server, not many people around, despite the fact there are only 2 "international" servers. I spend a couple of hours ingame and i think i only saw 4-5 people, probably not a good sign.. :(
Also as far as i can tell, no game updates or patches since 23rd December last year..

Spellborn

Played a bit of Chronicles of Spellborn, having a hard time getting into it, but definatly think it's a beautifull game.
Just went into a new area with lots of new quests to do, but still at lvl 7 with my character.

Also been having a couple of crashes at game startup, which i think is being caused by the "gameguard" software. Quite annoying..

The Chronicles of Spellborn

Been playing quite a bit of Chronicles of Spellborn and i have to say there's something about it that i like.
It looks great and is fun to play, so far i have reached level 7 on my main and i am about to leave the starting zone.

I started playing it because it was "free to play", but found out this free to play was only up to level 7, which i reached pretty quickly.
But i actually took a subscription to play this a bit more.

Definatly an interresting game and great looking art style, although i personally don't like the character models, but the world looks awesome.

City of Heroes

My collectors edition of Tabula Rasa came with a 14 trial of City of Heroes, never got around to trying it out, but today i thought i'd give it a go :)

2Moons

Played a little bit of 2moons, levelled my char to 12.

Rappelz

Played a little Rappelz, fun little game, great graphics.

Ryzom

Started playing the free trial of Ryzom, heard a lot about it, so figured i'd give it a try.
So far have to say the game looks great.

Dark and Light

Started playing Dark and Light.

2Moons

Reached level 11

2Moons

Level 10 so far

Leveling up

Allready reached level 5 on my Segita Hunter.

2Moons

So far looking great, typical Asian type MMO, meaning lots of grinding inbetween missions/quests.
Might continue playing this one.

Only downside, i think this game is still in beta (is mentioned on the website) yet gold sellers are allready spamming their wares..