Good Openedge - The Free 2 Play Model Can Work

Just read the report on the GDCO 2010 conference for Turbines report. You can catch the news here.
Turbine GDCO Report
"At GDCO, the studio [Turbine] announced that revenues from Lord of the Rings Online have doubled in the past month since switching to a free-to-play hybrid model."

Everyone knows how I feel about LOTRO, as I have stated in the past...the game is just not that good. Period. I could sit and point out the many flaws in gameplay and style, and most would even agree.

But, when it came to them changing to Free 2 Play, I was on onboard, and had even stated I could see their business doubling thanks to this change. Looks like I was spot on for that.

If Turbine has one thing right, it is how to treat their customers and how to make a game profitable. They pulled a rabbit out of their hat with DDO, and took a chance with a grade A (according to many) MMO and converting it to a less popular style of monetary arrangement in many MMO circles.

Most associate Free 2 Play with low quality. But, LOTRO is not too low quality wise (just in the aspect of character models and UI...which I understand has been tweaked some, but still needs work) , and Turbine took a big chance. Especially with the type of community that LOTRO exhibits, the belief was going F2P would be it's downfall. If anything, I applaud their move and am glad they have made headway. I hope they use this money wisely and apply it to a better animation engine and model designers, along with UI creators who understand DPI.

This leaves the window open now. Can this model succeed if done right? Want an example of NOT doing it right? Head on over to EQ2X and take a look.
You can't inundate your customer base with charges left and right. Also, there has to be a way to earn the same goods that can be bought in your store. Do this or alienate a large audience.
SOE's move to place the new "free" audience on other servers was genius...until they saw that their core audience wanted more people to play with, and saw an emptying of their pay servers...ouch. In so many words, don't separate your audience if you don't have a large audience to begin with.

So, is Free 2 Play the way to go all the time?  I still feel some games cannot work like this.

Take Warhammer Online. So many think it needs to go Free due to it's low populations. I disagree. The niche it inhabits does not bode well for a cash shop. Buying into a PvP oriented game is a big no-no to me.
But, the game could do with some price "tweaking". Changes to pricing structures for their "Tiers" is a start. Then charge for aspects that can be earned. Horses and Mounts could be one piece. New addons like their upcoming RvR packs is another.
The fact that PvE is taking a back seat to their PvP also means F2P would be disastrous. To top it off, their PvE is so broken to begin with...more work would have to be done in that arena before a F2P model could even look WAR in the eye.

PvE gameplay is 100% congruent to Free 2 Play in my opinion. People will be willing to buy what they need or want. But, you must offer some way to have the player gain these same items...just make sure it takes them a long time.

I welcome our new pricing models and hope it leads to more innovative ways to pay and play.

The Xfire Game

Last week, a small group of us had a Twitter-scussion over the validity of Xfire as a tool beyond the mere use as a glorified chat program.

Xfire has the capability to track players time in games of their choice. Though not perfect, it does give a glimpse of these players (people who load Xfire)  favorite games.
As far as MMO's are concerned, I feel it can be used to do more in respect to players and times.We can also track sub numbers for MMO's in a general capacity. This would be more in line of "paying" commercial based games, by either a large distributor or game developer.

So, a while back, I posted an article (2008) which took a noted news story about the current World of Warcraft population in the US and created a formula to help see how many players can be calculated in all other MMO's based on that formula. What happened is a pretty close and accurate picture of players in various MMO's, and since that time I still have been able to use that formula to this day. Check out the article to see a more in depth discussion of that calculation.

This really took flight when last week Cryptic noted just how many people were playing Star Trek Online. When I saw this, I thought it was time again to try the formula. What happened was a pretty scary comparison that was almost completely accurate to their posted numbers. Cryptic noted a 100k player base. I did my formula and got 96k almost 97k. This of course was based on a Wednesday reading. Sunday numbers are usually more accurate as this IS the busiest day for all MMO's. So, I thought, maybe we need to really do an in depth analysis using Sunday numbers.

Now, I never claimed that the numbers are 100%, accurate, They are a pretty close representation though of what has either been discussed by news pundits or forum goers for total subs of some MMO's. And if a company ever announces their numbers, as seen by the Cryptic count for STO, it can garner a pretty darn accurate calculation.
Since a lot of companies do not release this data, the "Xfire Game" has really become a good way to see just how well this works.

Today, I will do a run of the Sunday count for Xfire for several games being discussed lately. I pick these for the very reason we need a tool like Xfire and my calc. These companies have not, or do not release their numbers. If they do, it is rare.
As well, I will add Aion, as eventually we WILL get numbers (NCSoft does their numbers about once or twice a year), and of course STO, since we did get a report recently.

Lets see how they fare.

Star Trek Online

We will start here. As we KNOW how many are playing thanks to Cryptic's recent announcement of over 100k players, it will be a good jumping off point to see how our calc is working.



The calc rate is multiple the number of Xfire users x 120.05. Using the calc system we see - 980 x 120.05 = 117,649 subs. Over 100k. Interesting.

Aion

Next, I want to show a game that we know has a large population based on reports from NCSoft. Now, of course, most forum goers or blog gurus call this game a failure. I would beg to differ, and I believe Xfires data shows this.



Our calc system states...3864 x 120.05 = 463,873 subs. Basically almost as much as Lineage 2 had been stated to have at one point and time (over 600k in 2007). And as always since it's launch, in the top 10 on Xfire. Now, I am sorry, but this does NOT take into account how many of those subs are gold sellers...

Lord of the Rings Online

Over and over it has been stated that LOTRO is a good "200k" sub game. I for one believe it, and Xfire really corroborates this.



Calc says? 1780 x 120.05 = 213,689 subs. Still a good sub rate and steady. Wish Turbine would just come out and tell us. For me, I think a company should be proud of that many players in todays MMO market. Since I have been doing these calcs, LOTRO has consistently done this number of players...except when they release an expansion, then there is a jump.

Age of Conan

A lot of discussion has been traveling the blogosphere as well as the forums that AoC has progressed beyond the old days, and is a more stable game. Some servers look busy according to the forumites, and Funcom has been able to keep it afloat (though financials have said otherwise). How do the Xfire stats look?



677 x 120.05 = 81,274 subs.
If we read the report for Funcom in their financials, they state "stabilization". This Xfire data corroborates that. They continue to hold this area in the Xfire ratings AND have stabilized in subs if Xfire is to be trusted.

Warhammer Online

My new favorite. Recently Bioware has made comments about the Mythic division and how WAR is actually "profitable". How many subs does a profitable game need? What does Xfire say...



621 x 120.05 = 74,551 subs. Could it be possible that with 4 servers and 50k plus players, any MMO could be profitable? Seeing Age of Conan has held to this area and is still afloat, I may not doubt it now. Especially if we watch Age of Conan with the expansion and new financials report. How will these numbers increase? I will watch these two games closely. They are thought to be case studies of failures for their time. Yet, I also feel they are also the most improved games over time, unlike some others on this list.

Dungeons & Dragons Online

This is a unique case, and I want it here to show how Xfire can still help us figure out what is considered a paying customer, compared to a freebie player. Recently Turbine has stated that they have "1 Meeelllion players" (note the pinky held next to my cheek as I say this..). In so many words; Turbine. The leader of misleading statements.
If we read further into the press release this came from, we also see these words..."paid subscriber base has more than doubled"....AHA. DDO at one point...before the "Free to Play" model, was noted as either having 25k or 50k players subbing. What does Xfire say they have now?



930 x 120.05 = 111,647 subs. So, 1 million players, yes, but I still say 100k plus subscribers paying a monthly fee. Now, this also does not take into account how many people pay for extras (and are not subbed). I still will say it. This hybrid model that DDO has is truly the way other games with low subs should go. We are guaranteed that Turbine is turning some very nice profits right now.

Everquest 2

I always wish to throw this one in there. This game is hard to pigeon hole, because we hardly see or hear about this game, and I always wonder what SOE needs to keep a game afloat. I always want to include Vanguard also (to show what a real failure looks like)...but, for now, EQ2 is good, as we know they have a dedicated playerbase, but not a huge sub lot (at least based on what we know and see).



293 x 120.05 = 35,175 subs. Now, is this really profitable? Has the game been out long enough to make back it's money? I guess it does help that they force players to repurchase EVERY expansion every time they launch a new one (almost 40 bucks a box every 6-8 months). Maybe all along EQ2 has made it's money off of the two-boxers and those who purchase new expansions at launch. For now, low player rates, but dedicated players keep EQ2 afloat.

The argument I keep hearing is Xfire cannot be used as a valid tool for these numbers. I will continue to disagree, as these numbers clearly show a lot of matching data with what we know about these games. We can never be 100% sure, but if I need to know how well a game is doing, I can look at Xfire and get a rough guesstimate.
The Calc I have continues to show some interesting data to this day, and as long as we have this tool, I will continue to try and use it to help me see how well these games are doing.

If you are ever worried about if you should play a game depending on if there are enough players to group with, etc, then try Xfire and see if it is doing well there.

Cheers

Divinity 2 - Fini`

And so it comes to an end. 40+ hours of gameplay, and I have come to the conclusion of Divinity 2.

Was it worth it? Yes. Even with the horrid ending that if you watch Japanese movies or Anime and know how they end, then welcome to the end of Div 2.
I do not wish to give away anymore at this point. But, I do want to talk for a moment on Div 2 and a few other news tidbits.

First off, what compelled me most about Divinity 2? The variety of things I needed to do was one factor. The non-hand holding and difficulty also helped.

I really enjoy games that make me feel like it is life or death, but I have a way to survive if I keep on my toes. For example, the ending fight in Div 2 was truly outrageous, but was survivable if you learned some tricks to stay alive. That is key to an action game for me.
The non-hand holding is a far cry from most of our MMO's (except LOTRO, where the obtuse questing just becomes frustrating). But, I think MMO's need to have that feature due to the size and scope of those games. Divinity 2 with the open world to explore mechanic, where the world is finite?...that helps give me a sense of adventure (adventurer?) yet completion as well.

The variety of things to do really got crazy. The enchanting of armor, charms you could apply, crafting of potions, and even controlling your own pet that you built (a necromantic skill) really just made it crazy deciding how to build, rebuild, shape and setup my character.
Variety was also key to your own classing. YOU controlled what you wished to do ...from heals, to tanking, DPS and defense, summoning, ranger attributes...and more.

The game was not easy, and I finally had reached a point in one puzzle that I needed to look it up...and THAT was it. All the other puzzles had enough of a learn curve to make it hard to do, but possible. That difficulty factor if you will is what was key to my fun. Same for fights, with tricky ways to complete some of these (boss fights mainly), but not impossible.

I like that.

There is no doubt there were gaping holes in plot, bugs to deal with, as seems to be par for course now for all software titles. But, they were not enough to make me stop.

That is the sign of fun to me.

And patches are still being developed, that it could warrant a second play through to find some things I missed along the way (I had to leave one zone with 3 locked chests I could never open...wonder how to get into those?).
It was an awesome time, and I felt that nostalgia I felt from The Witcher, Fable 2, etc.

It was just plain gaming fun.

Now, before I leave, just some news of note.

First off, the "Family who MMO's together" has been on hiatus. Thanks to several issues with EQ2 that caused us to lose interest, we just never logged back in. This to me felt like a bad sign.
We never stopped playing Age of Conan with the concerns there. Why? Because we at least could continue to play and have fun.
When EQ2 had multiple days of "unannounced" downtimes during the holiday period (where we really like to play a lot), this caused quite a stir.
We lost our son to the Xbox, and I started playing single player games. My wife lost interest due to the multiple issues she had (loss of claimable items, no rewards for a special quest and of course the outage that blocked her one time, after my son and myself got in...), and as she stated, the game "disappointed" her. She just was not happy about logging in again.

I feel that way when people or things let me down as well.

So, we wait. For what, we are not sure.

Age of Conan is of course our game of choice. But, Funcom is TRULY quite slow when it comes to development, and STILL no patch, no fixes...nothing for several months. This just keeps the game on our "wish it was better list".
We have time cards ready to go, and will most likely start again after patch 1.06. But, when that will hit, we do not know.
The news today though is the first step for "merges" are taking place. This also comes with a doozy of a side note: Anyone who has not played for the last 7 months and has a character level 21 or under...will be due for deletion.
This also makes me wonder just how bad things will be after merge? Loss of items, characters...CITIES?

A nailbiter there.

Well, that is enough rambling for now. As a final little goodbye, I wish to let everyone know I went back to Dragon Age and I am giving it another shot. The chattiness was getting to me, and I started to lose interest. But, now with Divinity 2 done, and no other MMO ready to go, lets see how it feels now.
I played about two hours this morning and had fun...so that is a start eh?

Later folks.

Tis the season...

That I hope everyone is having a holly, jolly.

Recuperating from a great Christmas with family. Catching up on movies (how far behind am I? I watched Wolverine...yea, not much of a movie watcher. Tonight is the latest Harry Potter...lol). Also, had my own Christmas miracle and found out my Mom has been released from the hospital and is on her way back home to Michigan (as she was stranded in Rhode Island with her issue). Now, just praying for a safe flight, seeing as Al Qaeda tried to down a flight to Michigan...ARGH.

Played my butt off in Divinity 2, which I SO, SO cannot wait for. This is truly the type of action RPG I have been wanting. Witcher, Oblivion, Diablo and Guild Wars all rolled into a Fable 2 like package. LOVE it.

And have yet to log back into EQ2.

Yea, EQ2 has officially kinda disappointed us. Downtimes, issues with claim items, learning curves, gathering all have added up to a game we want to like, but will probably let expire after our 60 days are up.

Age of Conan is actually already calling us back. We sure do hope they get patch 1.06 in before the end of January.

Otherwise, time to sit back and have a relaxing weekend, with some shopping, some dining and family time...as that is what it is all about.

Cheers and Happy Holidays

Everquest 2 - Why must you hurt me...

Just a quick little note.

Today serves as the third issue my wife has had with Everquest 2 since we started playing...not quite a month even I think.

Login servers went down, and we were locked out. Thus we played something else.

Things are not looking up in the EQ2 arena of gaming. Sucks too, as we always have a blast when we do play. But, I already gave Funcom lip for their less than stellar development of Age of Conan...yet here is a game going on 6 years with continued problems and bugginess.

Now, we debate if our 60 days will be it. Time will tell. For now, just a little /rant needed so I can get that little issue off my chest.

Later

When MMO's Disappoint

Out of all genres of gaming, one seems to consistently have the buggiest and most unreliable code and support.

That would be MMO's.

Last night we did not play our normal game of EQ2 with the family. My wife actually was the one who did not want to play. I decided to ask why she was not into it (as her main complaint she stated she was "Tired"...and men, we all know this is DEFINITELY not the time to ask questions...but I did it anyways).

Her real reason I found out is because EQ2 disappointed her.

Originally this started when we enabled each of our accounts. My son and myself all had these goodies in our claim window. My wifes account was missing quite a few claimable items. So, while my son and I had cloaks running us 25% faster than normal, here was my wife trying to keep up.

I sent this into support, which took about 4 days to handle the issue. But, it was fixed...luckily.

So, we went on our merry way. This past week was exciting as we all were working on the new quest/achievement that EVERYONE gets...the Level 20 quest in 14 days.

We all started at the same time, same day and made all efforts to complete this. On Wednesday night, my son dinged first. I dinged 20, and we all saw a window pop up congratulating us with gold and a trophy and our first real title.

My wife dinged 20...and nothing. We looked at her history, and looked to see if she had the title.

Nothing.

The frustration was just too much for her I think. She even logged in before supper for about 10 minutes and tried to enjoy the game, but finally said that EQ2 disappointed her.

This is one of the reasons she refuses to log into LOTRO, another game with bizarre issues. The laggy hitching issues we always had, no matter what we did (and I ALWAYS have top of the line equipment and keep my systems pristine and well cleaned of junk, yet, we always had this ongoing issue) irritated her. The fact the game had little niggling problems like animations and ugly models. Combat felt unresponsive and the UI just did not seem consistent...she decided she would never play again.

Look at Age of Conan. Still a buggy mess after the multitude of patches. We finally got to the point that during most of our gameplay, if we would run into a problem, we would just laugh and say "We were funcommed again". We also realized that this became more rampant as we reached higher levels. Thus, it was easy to say goodbye to a game that we all loved.

I understand MMO's are large code bases and there are just too many angles to consider when finally launching and running your game. But, when titles like WoW and EQ2 which have been out for years and years still have stupid issues that are unexplainable...how do you tell the standard game player, like my wife, who has played many single player RPG's, or even Guild Wars which consistently ran and displayed no major bugs that would make you want to quit...and help them understand "This is normal".

But, I also need to ask. Why should it be?

I know a lot of people will rant and rave with the stupid comment of "It's only a game". Yet, what would YOU do if you logged in one day and find out that an expansion you payed for was blocked off from you...for no reason, and that content was unaccessible? That happened to ALL of our accounts in EQ2 yesterday when I saw that my login screen which always said 9/9 addons, said 8/9 addons. And when I log into all our accounts management and see that each of us do not have access to the Shadow Odyssey pack, and SOE wants us to pay $20 to have it? Oh brother...another duel with Customer Support.

My wife finally did end up saying she will play again this weekend, but for last night, she had been hurt by a game she was really enjoying.

Why should she even have to feel this way?

Everquest 2 - Thinking of the starter zones.

I did a little tweet marathon on Twitter on what I felt like when I was in each of the starter cities or zones in Everquest 2.

Each area gives me a feeling of something I have read or watched in a movie or on TV in the past (or even visited...hehe).

Here is a reprint of that tweet-a-thon, along with reference links in case you have never heard of the stories, etc.

Qeynos is very easy. It feels very Germanic and Renaissance like. When I am in Qeynos, I feel like I am at a RenFaire.

Kelethin of course is VERY high fantasy, and almost feels cartoon like with it's huge mushrooms. Harry Potter? or Fairyland?

Neriak is a dark world, and it totally feels like the Drow races of Dungeons and Dragons fame. Drizzt comes to mind.

Freeport is old, and feels like a thieves zone. I think of Thieves World or Fafhrd and Gray Mouser.

Gorowyn is very Barbaric, and makes me feel like Conan and Hyboria.

Can you think of variations on this? What do you feel when you visit these starter zones.

And Cheers!

Everquest 2 - Modeling is fun

Yesterday, a small Twitter discussion was had over the quality of the models in EQ2. I, of course in my infinite wisdom, decided to compare the models of LOTRO to EQ2, which started a small storm of "EQ2 models make my eyes bleed" as one person put it.

There is no doubt that when it comes to models for games, EQ2 and LOTRO are just not winners anyways. Especially with us coming from Age of Conan, it is hard to compare their realistic and gorgeous models to any other on the market.

Take The stock models of Clay that EQ2 provides. Those are truly ugly to look at.

Luckily, thanks to an alternate model system, I feel the EQ2 visuals of their models get a boost in quality over LOTRO.

As someone pointed out, the females do have an issue with standing to attention...yet, they visually are more appealing.

Another thing of note is thanks to a lifelike skeletal system, the run animations for EQ2 models and their fighting animations are truly much better. Hand motions for emotes are good, and armor at least looks like it is worn instead of painted on.

LOTRO suffers from some issues of oversized hands, a multitude of ugly female faces (which from my understanding are much better on NPC's than the characters which is just wrong), and males with size two waist...which all detract from the visual quality.

Men also have a terrible issue with beards looking like they are also painted on. Here is a perfect example of the size two waist, painted on spandex armor and painted beard. I really dig the "That 70's show" Ashton Kutcher hairdo also.

But, all of this does not matter if the animations look good...which we again run into an issue where all of the models look like Mechs when they run (they twist at the waist which gives the sensation that they are robots), and combat looks to be done at 30FPS in a 60FPS+ game.

These are all personal beliefs, and would finally all not matter if the games are fun. EQ2 has so much to do, and keeps you occupied that a majority of the time, thinking about how your model looks becomes a moot point...

We are having fun.

LOTRO never did this for us in our household.

I have in the past really griped about LOTRO, so everyone knows my views. I will just leave with what my wife says when I ask her if we should go back and give it another try...

"I am sorry, but I want to feel and look pretty while having fun. LOTRO offered me neither of those".

Everquest 2- Getting to grips

If there is one thing Everquest 2 does NOT do for the player...it is hold their hand.

Coming back, there is a lot I remember, and more is coming back to me. But, some things leave me wondering where to start.

The abundance of things you need to do while leveling is truly insane. From XP for levels to the AA system, crafting XP, to leveling up each type of skill (for example, if you do not cast certain spells enough, you do not level those abilities within themselves...yea, I know...convoluted).

But, this must be what makes the game FUN. Also, I am thinking that EQ2 is the best game for future Alzheimer's patients, as the number of things you must remember, and how it makes the brain work, is phenomenal!

We are close to finishing a new achievement the game gives you, the race to level 20. Finish in a week and you get a special prize. I am level 15, the wife 14 and my son...16. Yea, he is rocking.

As to my son, he has started an alt already. We who have played EQ2 know the alt addiction that can happen in this game, as the classes are so varied.

He is playing a Monk as a secondary right now. Figured that kung fu stuff would rock his world.

So far, the game is running great and we are having a blast in Antonica (that region really brings back memories). We have started on the writs for the guild to help level her. We are level 27 and have a long ways to go. We are almost level 20 in crafting and then we can start the work orders there as well.

Great to be back in Norrath.

Everquest 2 - Old accounts enabled

Just seen someone mention this on Twitter. So, I went to check it out on the wifes old account. It was enabled and available for 25 days...so, we can grab all her cash and items and put them in the Guild bank.

Love it when they do this for EQ2.

I have some more info coming soon and some screenies are starting to pile up. Hope to post those soon.

Cheers.

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad...

You take them all and there you have...EQ2.

Wow is all I can say. Talk about blasting through some hours. I think we accumulated about 4-6 hours of EQ2 yesterday. Myself, the wife and son took times to log in, quest, level up, gather resources, craft, get shinies and play with the UI to get it all set up.

We re-enabled the Guild, Simple Complexities, which should be a blast working on leveling that up...

As you can see...we had so much fun.

But, as I sit down today, I want to give that good ole..."Hey, I am back. Lets talk about YOU for a bit and where you are in your life" talk to EQ2.

The Good

I am so glad you have kept your same style. You feel familiar to me, and that helps me get to feeling all funny inside. You know, that good funny feeling as I remember those old times.

But, I do see you have been working out some. What is this cool new "achievement" feature that keeps standing out to me. Yea, I know the other girls are doing it, but hey, you do it very well.

I also see you have been working on making sure you are more serious about running well. The way you use those multiple cores and moved those shadow maps to usability on the CPU or GPU...well... it makes me all giddy.

Also, thank you for all the presents you gave me with that "Complete Collection". I really appreciate that.

The Bad

I just wish you would change your clothes a little. You continue to wear some old fashions. That UI is just dreadful. There are some new items I see, but overall...it feels so "80's".

I just had to think of you with an alternate model still, as I really like those better than your original looks. Clay modeling is so passee`.

You still feel a little confined to me as well, but I know that cannot change. Luckily I forget how boxed in you make me feel...so I will accept that.

BTW, you really have gained weight. And do you realize it took me over 30 minutes to load your DVD, and I STILL see you gain another whopping 4.6 GIGS of patching. That sure does NOT feel so "Complete".

The Ugly

I am sorry, but why should I feel so slow and like my system will crash after playing with you. I have today's latest tech, and other games we should not mention (Yea, you know, that...other guy...named Conan), well, he doesn't run like that. And I mean...really...he is TWICE your size!

But, I tell you what. I will accept those "Bads" as the "Goods" make me feel happy inside.

Lets go play now.

Simple Complexities LIVES!!!

All I gotta say.

Hmmm...Seems we are a Level 27 EQ2 guild. Better get to work and reach 30 with our super group.

Woot.

And the winner is?

Everquest 2!!

That is right. After much deliberation, the family has chosen it's "interim" game, and that is EQ2.

Originally it started as trying to decide what to even do. I had been feeling kind of down with life in general thanks to my Mothers condition, Christmas not being a grand affair this year due to going broke helping my family, I was just not in the mood AT ALL to play anything. Things started to pile up on me, where I debated about playing the Xbox 360, but my sons Xbox goes and dies. I wish for him to have the system, and I was not really in the mood yet to play it, so I handed mine over to him. (I have also been unimpressed with the RPG collection available on the 360 anyways).

I logged into various games, like WAR and DDO. Yet, they just did not grab me. But, then I was graced by a star. A ...Stargrace if you will.

Over at MMOQuests.com, I saw her post, a little piece, a simple video explaining what she liked about EQ2 compared to WoW.

Then the nostalgia hit.

Since I have been playing MMO's, only 3 have kept me occupied and happy enough to play them for extended periods. Guild Wars has kept me for years and years, but I have played it so much, it just does not call me now. Age of Conan is the longest subscription MMO for myself (and my wife), but as we have seen, Funcom just has NO clue how to run a game, and I needed to talk with my wallet for a while (I will return, but probably not until a lot happens change wise).

Then came Everquest 2. The 3rd longest game we ever played, and we had a blast. Just like any MMO, after an extended period of time, everyone needs a break, and after 8 months we had moved on.

But, now we have a difference. Our son.

So, after watching the little piece by Stargrace, I suggested it to the wife. She actually seemed interested, and we thought it may just be the two of us again. Last night, I loaded up the demo to see how it felt. During that time, my son watched and asked about the game. Since he has a growing interest in MMO's, well, we let him in. As he saw and heard all of the things we could do...decent combat, gathering and crafting (which he enjoyed doing..), housing (which he really liked) and SHINIES!!....he was sold. So were we as we watched him play. The music lulled me in to that nostalgic feel, and the game instantly became familiar to both myself and my wife (who was slightly napping, but as my son started to play, actually woke up and interjected with her own commentary and suggestions...lol)

The second selling point is what is called the "Complete" collection. You get all of the game...every expansion, every addon AND 60 days of gameplay (not just 30)...all for 20 BUCKS. WOW, what a deal.

This helped us make the next decision...start from scratch...EVERYONE.

Both myself and the wife have higher level characters. But, one thing is for sure. EQ2 was never about the race to level, but reaching the things to do AS you level. The wife has already started discussing gathering and crafting, I started discussing housing....well, you get the idea. The game is NOT just about questing and killing.

So, we should be able to enter Norrath by Monday!!

Now, who thinks I need to change the title of my blog?

AoC, EQ2, Drakensang, Prototype

Heck...I wanted to write a post that dealt with what is coming for AoC...but, I wanted to touch on these other games that are in my list.

First up is EQ2. Well, it is more about "Not much" about EQ2.
I did have some nostalgic feelings as I played through my first 10 levels, but I am, at this point, not feeling it to log back in.
Do not get me wrong, I think it was fun what I was doing...just since I have done some changes in Conan, I actually am having more fun in AoC than EQ2...that I just do not feel the urge to log back into EQ2.

Another distraction is Drakensang. This has become a family past time game (along with 1vs100 on Xbox Live). Basically we just chat and play this together all on the couch. Each person actually contributes to that game time, thus making it a fun diversion in the evenings.

Finally , Prototype has become my "hop in" game and do stuff when I wish to blow a few minutes or less than an hour, which also then detracts from EQ2.

What I really think it has to do with is the fact that no matter how many times I have tried, going back to that old MMO style seems to not really keep my interest for long.
This worries me down the road when Aion launches, and if I will be able to handle the grindy style of questing that everyone keeps mentioning (tons of fetch quests and kill 10x).
As long as it looks gorgeous (which EQ2 really does not, as it is starting to look long in the tooth with the ugly textures and funny looking models) and combat is smooth...it will rock my socks.

But, here is the meat. Age of Conan. Dangit, I really am enjoying myself.

I started a new Herald of Xotli, and man oh man, what an awesome class to play. Fire, decapitations galore, more fire, more fatalities than I can shake a stick at.
Things just die faster overall with this character.
Also, it is Tuesday night, and this will be my first Raid night with these guys. I need to kill Vistrix again specifically as he holds the key to the Black Ring Citadel. Once I have that key, I can enter the wing one raids, and hopefully start to get some Tier 1 gear.

But, the big news this week? Patch 1.05 may launch Wednesday.

I have spent some time on Testlive with my level 80 Dark Templar, Amatheon.
What I noticed on his copy over today is all of my feats stayed intact. I had made changes about a month ago for raiding and it has been quite effective. So much so that when the update comes, I do not need to change one single thing.
Awesome.
So, this may go pretty smooth, except for the raids.
Seems many changes have taken place in that arena, and I have yet to try this thanks to being so new to it. Isn't that nice that it could all change from what I have been learning?
Other basic changes like fixes to the DX10 client, and a whole new zone to quest in, this could be a make or break patch for Funcom.
The changes look good for Amatheon at least (Dark Templars may actually be wanted for more stuff...lol) and visually some major updates.
I took some screenies and will hopefully post those soon of what some things look like.

And thats it. Quite a bit there. A lot going on, especially with gaming. Having a blast so far this summer.

Now...back to it!

Fathers Day Weekend - What to do

Oh yea...that's ME!! I am totally the "Daddy!"

Well, I have totally planned this out also. I get to relax and totally take it easy while being waited on..

So, my plans?

I have the following schedule lined up..

Prototype missions - Maybe one or two. This game is awesome, and I am trying to make it last...seems most new Single Player games go too fast.

Age of Conan raid - I bought a new headset (I got the xbox 360 Bluetooth wireless earpiece. This thing is a gem...comfortable, small, and works with my wireless gaming receiver for my 360 controller...) and plan to try some raids this weekend. Not sure which yet. I know Vistrix the dragon, Yakhmar the Ice Worm and Kylikki (what the heck is Kylikki? All I know is I fought demon hounds...that was one well done raid also run by one of the major guilds..Ronin).

And...EQ2.

Thats right. I bought a 9.99 copy through Steam.
I do have a character I had played before...but, since this required a new account, I decided to start in Kunark with a new character.
I had never completed Kunark before, and decided now was the time to try and make it to the level required to leave that zone.
We will see how I do.

I do know I felt nostalgic, and rather enjoyed myself playing for an hour this morning. EQ2 is another MMO which actually works with my controller, and now with it's new multicore and shadows to GPU features, it actually runs like a game on my hoss machine should run.

So, it is good for 30 days I think.

Finally my weekend is topped off by some Indian food (my #1 favorite food in the world!), and relaxation mainly...and the wife has agreed to all these plans.

But, me being me...I have her and my son included, with first some 1vs 100 competition on Xbox live. I will also show the wife Magic: The Gathering TCG on Xbox Live (she loves these card games) and then Drakensang, a single player RPG, but we always gather around the TV...all of us... and will play together, taking turns at controls, working on puzzles etc.

Then we have from Netflix, Death Note...the live action version of this anime.
That movie looks like fun!!

Ok..I better hit it...CYA!

Dungeons and Dragons Online..well

It is just not fun.

I have tried to enjoy my time in the game, but several issues prevent me from enjoying the free 30 days I received.

Let me list some Pro's first.

• I like the dungeons and the quests once you enter.
• The combat is fast and fun (though weak right now)
• The models look 100 times better than LOTRO
• DX10 looks good and is smooth (the launcher though is another problem all together

But, something does not feel right

• No real atmosphere (Music is far and between not to mention boring as all get up, sound effects sound like tin cans hitting each other)
• Grouping is not fun due to the veterans being all for "race through and finish quickly" attitudes. Hardly any newbs to play with.
• Populations is quite small..I only saw one major group (3 others) and two other people playing from the amount of time I logged in
• I see no real need so far to use a skill...just smack, smack, smack and with combat being so frenetic and running around, with models sliding along the floor as they fight...it is unimmersive.

That last word says it all. Immersion is non-existent in this game....period. I do not feel like I am in another world when I start playing. WoW is even more immersive thanks to it's stylized look. AoC makes me feel like I am in the desert or snow capped mountains. Even some zones in EQ2 worked (but, also was not immersive...luckily they made up for it with a fun game inside the trappings)..

Also a point that DDO fails on.

It just does not feel fun!

Uninstall for the last time I guess

On list of NEVER to load again...Vanguard, LOTRO, DDO.

Next up....I bought myself a 9.99 copy of EQ2 Shadow Odyssey, so I will go back to EQ2 as a newbie for 30 days. Also, purchased a wireless headset for Vent for raiding in AoC while I was on my trip.

And finally bought a copy of Drakensang (even though it forces me to downgrade my PC to Vista from Win7...thats another story...)

Let the games begin, so I may protect myself from the UV Cancer Rays of the Sun..

MMO support - Get what you pay for?

Since my issues over the past several months in using DX10 and Age of Conan, I started to think real hard on what our MMO publishers offer us for that 15 bucks a month.

What do some of the original archaic systems as offered by the big name MMO's like WoW, EQ2, Lineage 2, DAoC, AoC, LOTRO offer for that monthly fee.

What are their terms of service? Lets see what we can find...

First off, has anyone opened their game and found anything that says "This is what you get for 15 bucks"? I keep trying to think back, and as far as I can remember, I do not know of anything like a normal monthly service that shows what you receive.

Think of paying for Cable or Satellite TV, or phone service? When we pay we receive guidelines of what a company can or will not offer service wise.

But, is it that when we pay that monthly fee for an MMO, we ONLY get access to their servers?

Lets start with WoW, due to their size. They must cover their bases. If we read their Terms of Use (found through Google), we get this nice little bit o' text.

Warranty Disclaimer.

THE GAME AND THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND BLIZZARD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE GAME OR THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE GAME OR THE SERVICE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. BLIZZARD EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

In so many words, hey bud you paid for this, and don't expect anything in return...WHA? Boy do they ever cover those bases, and add padlocks even.

"Does not warrant..."Uninterrupted or Error-Free" "Does not warrant...that defects will be corrected"

So, for WoW, what you are paying for is to be allowed to login to their servers, and they do not need to do anything for you as a customer. At least this is the way I read it.
This does not mean they will not try and help, but hey, if you cannot login, it is not like they will care in the end if they cannot fix it. At least this is how I read it.

Trying to find these same "warranties" for LOTRO and Age of Conan was next to impossible. I was able to find a "Terms of Service" for SOE from their EQ2 page, but it seemed to be about the use of their website, and not the games.

So, why is it these are not easily accesible. Why is it that WE as customers just allow the games to take our money and not question our rights or question what service we are given for those costs?

What should we expect for our hard earned cash while playing on their servers? When anyone discusses what we ARE paying for when we pay a monthly fee, support is always thrown in with the cost to access the server, like it is what we should be paying for...but do we really get it?

When I dealt with my issue for Conan, I decided to use their forums first. A quick access to answers, and a way for the devs to troll what issues others are experiencing. A good "one stop" shop for problems.
But, it seems Funcom does not troll their forums. Unless it is for negative comments about the game, or if you state "I will quit", this instantly gets deleted. (for example, my comment after months of frustration was "Do you guys not want my money?"...instant delete).
Thus I took that argument to a more public forum...MMORPG.com, and there they cannot delete, and what do you know, I got some results.

But, why would I, as a customer, try to make it easy for the company taking my money? Why did I try the forum first? Why have many people been conditioned to try this route first?

Would you try a forum first?

Now, even though I was finally asked, and catered to in the support dept., I still ended up having to figure out the issue on my own. This proved not to be the company's fault, even though it does affect their product in a way that down the road, it could lead to more issues. But, overall they were clueless. And it was an odd enough issue that I hold no grudge.

What was problematic was why it took so long, and why I had to scream and shout to get the support in the first place.

Something I always wonder is why is a tracking system not used for issues. NCSoft is great at this, because your questions go into a wide open database and as the issue is being resolved, all the discussion goes into that database (better than a forum, but like the forum in regards to openness).
And in regards to the forum discussions, Turbine has been really good to get involved. But, they run the same gambit, that if the issue is something they do not want to discuss, the thread will be closed (for example, the 6000 response thread on "hitching" from the launch of the game, that was finally closed as they just kept lieing and getting caught in the thread along with being quite rude as well...).

Finally, I can go all the way back to the issue I was having with Age of Conan, and in the forum thread I created, the devs did state "It is a known issue". Hmmm...yet the support group had no idea what the problem was...so who knew. And if they did know, why did they not offer some type of input instead of closing the thread?

I know a lot of games are starting to switch to the Free with bonuses for fee offerings, and this really does not include those. But, imagine if as a player, you could pay for ticketed services? Would this increase the support response times? Would support improve?
So, if we play a game for free, then pay a monthly, we get "support" as part of the bundle? Would that alleviate certain problems?

So far, support for MMO's has really been a hit or miss issue. In game help for quests and what not seems to work well, but for issues with game client support like graphics, memory issues, it is almost like they do not care.
I can already see those with spittle upon their lips, screaming "But, not all computers are the same..."
No, they are not, but, there are a lot of ways to support generic issues, and get the ball rolling on support for those with problems.

And maybe one day in "Utopia"- Land of Milk and Honey, all computers will run a specific way, and make calls to code a specific way that issues can be handled properly..

Until then I expect some help for my 15 a month...don't you?

Everquest 2 - RMT A Success?

I am confused.

I have been reading over the latest news from MMOExperience about the RMT system, and then the thread over at the EQ2 forums.

According to Grimwell

"The initial response to Station Cash has been a success for SOE"

Really?

Then why is a thread for feedback on the system full of "I quits" and hatred?

Who decided it was a success? Was a database showing a list of people opening the RMT window considered a success?
How many people really cannot live without these fluff items that they must pay SOE more than a Station Pass?
And then XP and AA potions? Really? Easy ways for the affluent to power level?

Almost like Gold Buying.

So, I ask, who is this a success for?

Corporate greed?

I can hear the commenter's now...

"SOE has to make money"

Duh.

But, had they not found one way to do this? Station Pass? They also already had one server doing this. Was it the more populated server? They thought others wanted it?
I think I noted this on another comment section or forum post.
If SOE needs money, they have quite a few dead weight MMO's they could drop (Vanguard, MxO, PoTBS).
And want to make more money on your best MMO? Try to improve the core gameplay and engine.

But this... this just smacks of greed, pure and simple, and so many agree.

SOE, have you finally taken the last step over that edge?

X-Fire review - trending popularity

If we were to take the scales from the X-Fire charts, we can get a pretty good idea of popularity of the various Western based MMO's, and actually create a chart.

Like, for example, we all know WoW is #1 in sales and players. But, can we guesstimate how popular the other games are using this methodolgy?

Lets take a look.

#2 - WAR - Easily the second most popular MMO.
We have heard rumors of customers leaving, yet the latest patch added in two of the missing classes, and the times being played correspond to it's place in our chart. It's popularity still places high on the list, and makes WAR the #2 most popular MMO.


#3 - LOTRO - No matter how much I do not want to admit it, based on the X-Fire chart, and thanks to a new expansion, LOTRO gets in at #3 for popularity. The return of customers who originally bought the game, and lifetimers overall add to time played.
Well done Turbine.


#4 - Age of Conan - Still charting, and being consistent, this is pretty good. There have been new issues with the merges, and some slow response on the next patch. But, there is no doubt that there is a group of people who want their game to be a little different. I still have confidence in them. Now, if they would just speed things up ..


#5 - Everquest 2 - Well, thanks to some brisk sales of their latest expansion, they have made some huge leaps on the X-Fire charts...actually up 20 spots from when I last looked upon them..
This easily drops them into the top 5 Western MMO's


Note, we did not include Guild Wars here, due to one issue. They are not subscriber based, and that is what we are looking at. If we were to include them, they are by far the second largest MMO. But, we also question the MMO connotation, so for our purposes, we will note that WoW and GW are the two most popular fantasy online games. Here is hoping Guild Wars 2 proves to be a powerhouse like it's predecessor.

Now, this makes for our top 5. I do want to include a couple here that I have discussed in the past, and wanted to follow up on.

Dungeons and Dragons Online - The game has seen an upswing, which may be due to the new module that was released. I also have noted in the past that new technologies drive players to some games. With the addition of DX10, I think this also drives new players in.
So, with the upcoming henchmen system (hirelings) and the continued support of the DX system, who knows...maybe this game could do a turnabout (I also want to note that since release, all new content and updates have been FREE, with no expansions or costs associated with this...nice move to help drive new business)


Tabula Rasa - So, what happens when you announce the closure of your game? Bye Bye customers (even though the game is not scheduled to end for another 3 months...OUCH!)



Thats it for now. I am hoping to see a couple of more titles here soon. I may look at the Asian Market and check on games like Cabal, Shin Megami and later Spellborn.

Cheers

Interesting NPD sales numbers...

This is a major shock, and I have been trying to understand how this worked out.
Basically one of the titles on the list is not known to carry a very high "Brick and Mortar" awareness...

Anyways, the latest charts have showed up, and Kotaku has posted the top 10...

Most are predictable...BUT...

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. Left 4 Dead
3. Call Of Duty: World At War
4. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff
5. EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey
6. Spore
7. Fallout 3
8. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
9. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collectors Ed
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life

Yet, no LOTRO!

..........................how interesting.