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| I'd buy Gems for one of these |
Still subbed to all SOE games and playing virtually none of them. Try and get at least a few hours of EQ2, DCUO, Everquest and/or Vanguard in each month but its a real struggle finding time. Thought I would be back in EQ2 for the third slice of Velious but that would really be a waste without being able to level over 92. I'm not throwing away all that xp and all the gear requires 93 at least so that's on the back burner until we decide to get Chains of Eternity, which may never happen.
Neverwinter remains that new game I like but not enough to play instead of things I like more. If this was a slow patch I'd be burning through but it's anything but that.
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| Sand, sun, skeletons |
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| Go on, jump. I double-dog dare you! |
That leaves the huge bulk of my game time in GW2. Loving my dailies, my meta-events and WvW still, and after that lukewarm reaction to three months of Flame and Frost I'm more than a little astonished to find myself loving the new Living Story episode as well. Probably go into more detail at some point but the short version reads "Now that's more like it!" By which I am talking largely about the presentation, not so much the content. The content of Flames and Frost was fine.
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| No Intentional Bumping |
All of which just leaves that totally unexpected entry from waaaay over in left-field, Dino Storm. Playing every day, loving it. Great change of pace and color palette and gloriously sloooooow. Why is it that MMOs supposedly aimed at a younger audience often require more stick-at-it-ness and patience than the stuff adults get spoon-fed?
No more time. Karka to crush, ratlings to rout, dinos to ride.
Posts
It all boils down to needs. Some people 'need' every new version of the iPhone. Some people 'need' a new computer every three years.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I 'need' a lot from MMOs. I'm a high maintenance, high involvement, deeply passionate person when it comes to these products, and it shows with what I demand out of them.
Others may see what's offered today and be completely content for the next decade with all they have available to them. It's like my Mom who is totally fine with her flip phone from a decade ago. Ask her if she needs a new phone and she'll tell you no because hers makes calls just fine.
I do think it's got a lot to do with aging. If I think back to my teens and twenties I was immensely more demanding and judgmental in my tastes than I am now. The older I get the more I tend to notice what I like about something rather than what I don't like.
DeleteIn terms of MMOs, my spectacles have acquired their rosy tint gradually. I was crazily emotionally invested in Everquest in the first few years - I spent half of 2000 playing a druid who would not under any circumstances kill an animal, for example. That went down well in groups.
As time has gone on it's become increasingly apparent that the more I loosen the reins (which could be interpreted as lowering my standards), the more I enjoy myself. In some ways I regret the loss of intensity but on balance I think it's an improvement. I suspect the alternative would have been either burn-out or ennui.
I find is highly ironic that, however GW2 tries to swear off the traditional Quest system, it's still the best way to hand-hold players through all the content added in the Living Story.
ReplyDeleteThe way they use Achievements is so incredibly awkward to use. And I can see the later "stages" of stuff too, so the semi-spoilers is annoying. Like 3-4 quests would be really great to showcase all of the Living Story. But I imagine such a system probably literally does not exist in the system, and will be hard for the devs to program it in.
Still. Eeeeeh. I'll toss some crabs around, enjoy Lady Kasmeer's swimwear (I WANT IT), and ogle at Lord Faren's "assets" as I wade around this super clunky system.
(Also that one Charr with shades on a beach. Style!)
-Ursan
I do think that if you set out to make an MMO without quests you probably need to come up with content that isn't primarily quests. Putting in quests and calling them "Achievements" doesn't fool anyone. What puzzles me with the new Southsun content, which I like a lot, is why they didn't just put in three or four new Hearts and attach most of the gameplay to that. I don't believe they've added any new Hearts since the game began, have they?
DeleteAnd I really, really don't like the Crab Toss game!
Anet as a whole has a multiple personally disorder. It is known. Actually, I'd classified them more as a teen with big dreams but doesn't know exactly what to do and how to do it. (They have added new events/dungeons/jumping puzzles, but no new hearts)
DeleteWhat's not to love about karkas lag-barrel-rolling mobs of people to death? The Lost Shores was one of the most entertaining MMO fiascos, ever, and the Crab Toss reminds me of it!
-Ursan
I agree with the needs statement, Keep. I personally need something that I can invest in for years. I need one MMO that will provide a constant source of mystery and adventure and the unknown. That's probably why a whole salvo of freebies has occasionally piqued my interest, but never satisfied it for long.
ReplyDeleteI think we'd all like that. The question is whether any developer is ever going to be able to provide it. So far the chances don't look good.
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