Great, kid. Don't get cocky.

Like many others i was also part of the beta test last weekend, along with probably everyone else, as i saw pretty much all of my Raptr friends playing SWTOR.

Eventhough i signed up for beta the day they opened signups i never got into the beta until last weekends test. I always had mixed feelings about it, on the one hand i really wanted to get into the beta (and help testing) but on the other hand i was kind of worried, that if i would get into the beta i might burn out on it, as i am pretty sure i would have been testing all the time.

So when the game launches, pretty much everything is new and fresh for me and all a new experience, although i could not resist rolling a smuggler in last weekends test, the smuggler has been the class that looked most interresting to me and i will definatly be rolling a smuggler on launch.

My first impressions of the game were mixed, initially it took me some time to get used to the (stylised, almost cartoon like) graphics, but once i got used to the graphics i really started enjoying myself.
The storyline for smuggler is definatly a cool story and i can't wait to check out the other classes.

Most of the quests i did were fun to do, although there are a couple of quests that will be very annoying on launch day, think of a few hundred people going for the same chests to loot an item while it takes some time before a chest respawns.
I was allready frustrated by this one quest in beta so i can only imagine what it will be like on launch: chest spawns, surrounded by 3-4 enemies, you go in fight the enemies so you can loot the chest (you can't loot while in combat), but while you are fighting someone else pops up and loots the chest, chest gone...

I only made it to level 12 on my character, so i don't know what the game will be like later on, but the story and questing up to that level was a lot of fun.

Apart from one graphical bug with an armor piece and the first server i created a character on going down within 10-15 mins i encountered no bugs or problems and gameplay was pretty smooth for me.
All in all i am pretty sure i will be having a lot of fun in SWTOR.

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.

Ship ahoy!

Finally got around playing Pirates of the Burning Sea.
I am a bit dissapointed to see i am still seeing all kind wierd of graphics bugs going on (like character dissapearing and only seeing a "walking" sword), seems to be worse than it was in beta.
Luckily i only get those problems with avatar combat.

The ship to ship combat, which i liked the most in beta, is still looking great and a lot of fun and is of course what this game focusses on.
Granted i have only done a few battles so far and am only level 3, so still a lot to do and (re)discover.

So unreal.

Played a bit of a beta (under NDA so can't talk about it), so there isn't much to say/post..
Been a lot of fun and the game looks awesome, i am gonna be pre-ordering the game.

Other than that i've been listening to a bunch of podcasts, really need to catch up on them as i am starting to run behind :)

I also played a bit of the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo and decided to order the Unreal Anthology.

I am still here :)

Well last few days i have been playing beta, still under NDA so eventhough there would be plenty to post about, and i'd love to tell you, i am not allowed to.
Needles to say i am having lots of fun as i really haven't found the time to play any other games/MMO's.

Lets pillage their town and steal their booty!

Well good thing i'm on my first week of a three week holiday as i just got an invite for another (MMO) beta :)
Of course being under NDA means i am not allowed to talk about it here (or anywhere else), but i have been looking forward to this one, been keeping my eyes on this MMO for months, always hoping to get excepted into the beta.

Talking about beta's the other beta i am in atm is absolutely a game i am going to continue playing, been having lots of fun there, no more high fantasy, elves or other crap as i am getting sick of that.

I've been cancelling several of my subscriptions, because i was getting bored with those games (guess fantasy just isn't me, it just doesn't keep me interrested long enough).
Been playing quite a few free2play games and loving them (really enjoying those martial arts type of games: 9Dragons, Hero Online e.a.), i'd rather spend some cash in games that i actually like to play than to continue paying for subscriptions to games i hardly play.

Anyway, once the launcher finishes downloading i'll be off playing :)

No news is good news....

Sorry for the lack of updates/news, i have been playing a lot lately but since it's a beta and i am under NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) i am not allowed to write, post screenshots or even name the title of the game, and since this is about the only game i play(test) right now, i don't have much to post.
Stay tuned !

Sword of the New World: Beta