I largely escaped the Great April Egghead Eggsplosion. Out of half a dozen log-ins on two accounts it only caught me once. It was also happening over in EQ2, where at least you could switch it off. Maybe, just for a change, next year we could all get gigantic feet instead.
Fortunately SOE had the sense to wait until April 2nd before confirming Player Studio as front-runner for the future of the studio and, indeed, of MMO gaming (that is if they don't migrate to Virtuality by means of Project Morpheus). Most importantly, at least from where I'm sitting - literally - they re-iterated their commitment to rolling out the ability to buy and sell imaginary castles for real, taxable dollars to the rest of the world, or at least those parts of it that
Good news for residents of Canada, Germany, France and the U.K. Not that I plan on submitting any of my teletubby tree templates for consideration any time soon...
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| I can do you one for $25 - $15 if you chew the bubblegum yourself. |
Meanwhile ArenaNet released the first volume of their epic trilogy, Featuring Friendly Play. We all wondered what that meant and now we know - it's a Megaserver. My first reaction was glum disappointment but I've cheered up a bit since. My secondary loyalty in MMOs, directly after my characters, is usually to my server. I certainly put it above any Guild. Any move that weakens let alone, god forbid, removes that bond is very likely to do the same to my feelings of connection to the game.
Moreover, having leveled up both at launch, when all the maps were highly populated, and later, when they were very much not, on balance I prefer them almost empty. The events work better with just a handful of people, at least when they scale well, which most do. It's much easier to become immersed in the storytelling and the fights are often more exciting too. Having all the maps busy again (which I'll believe when I see, megaserver or not) will be something of a mixed blessing.
On the other hand, most of the really big event chains do need a lot of people so it could help in seeing those more often than just once in a blue moon when a World Meta Train is running and if it puts the elitist cross-server mega-guilds out of business then it may well be a price worth paying.
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| Team Charr FTW!. |
What this all portends for WvW is anyone's guess. If they de-couple that from individual servers it just leaves them with v so I can't imagine how that's going to work. I'd go for a five-way based on race, meself. There are two more "friendly play" announcements to come so maybe we'll get a better picture by the end of the week.
I'm past caring all that much if I'm honest. GW2 has become a knockabout affair akin to throwing a frisbee in the park or a pick-up game of pool. Great fun for as long as you're in the mood but not to be taken seriously. I'm content to go along with whatever vision ANet has for the game this month - it's not like there won't be a new one along in a few weeks anyway...
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