Blog, You Fools!

On By HarbingerZeroIn Blogging6 Comments

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That’s how I feel every years, because every year the New Blogger Initiative sneaks up on me!

But this year will not be the like the rest!

If you want to blog, go sign up here:

We already have new blogs rolling! Go read them here:

Chaotic Pixels
Soultamer
Gaming Adventures

Initial advice to new bloggers:

1) Be utterly up front and in face about having a blog. Leave a comment on a current blog and say “Hey, loved your post, if you get a chance, I just started blogging here.” (and leave some linkage). Any forum you are a part of: make a link to your blog your signature.

2) Use Twitter. I am not a Twitter guy, but right now, everyone in the blogging world and their sister and their pet poodle have Twitter accounts. If you want to be part of the “in crowd” you’d better have an active Twitter account.

3) Nothing wrong with a 100 word blog post. In fact, sometimes its easier to read and reply to those. Nothing wrong with a 1000 word blog post, most of us appreciate a tasty meat sandwich of gaming thinkeration from time to time.

That’s it. Go blog. More from me later. Right now I’m off to read the new blogs….

#blogging, #NBI, #2015

Forest, Trees, Burn

On By HarbingerZeroIn HEX

Hey Hex fans! Great news! Cory and the team at Crypto know how disappointed all you PvE cats are that its been nearly two years and you still can’t create a character, equip them with a bunch of gear, level them up, and take on dungeons with your friends like they promised.

So they are going to make it up to you! Yes, to make the hurt go away, they are going to allow your free PvP draft tickets to stay active another six months. They can’t imagine why you haven’t used them in the last two years, and they want to give you a nice present.

“Seriously, ha ha, have you tried out PvP drafts they are *SO* much fun, go ahead and head over there, you have lots more time.

No?

Okay, okay, 18 more months! 18 more months, ha ha, there ya go. We are generous and magnanimous in our graciousness.”

***

I can’t remember the last time I was rooting for Wizards of the Coast this hard. Either they win the lawsuit, Hex gets hammered, and the thick-headed PvP guys who absolutely gloat over the failure to provide PvE will be tasting a dose of their own medicine. Or, Hex manages to finally implement PvE to make the trial an open and shut loss for WotC.

Either way its better than the purgatory we are in right now.

#hextcg, #broken promises, #pve, #pvp, #wotc, #lawsuit, #mmotcg. #fail

Bro, Do You Even F2P?

On By HarbingerZeroIn Elder Scrolls Online6 Comments

Man, these F2P titles are killing it! What a great weekend we have lined up! All except one.

SWTOR is doing a double XP weekend – well, not even that, a whole week! With the announcement that next week they will bring back the popular bounty hunting for another week as well. All this along with their usual weekly sales.

And TERA? Also a double XP weekend! And they also are running a cross promotion with ZMR for some silly outfits and also free loot boxes.

World of Tanks is celebrating their gaming league and their 4 year anniversary, last weekend handing out x5 XP bonuses and huge sales on premium tanks and in game gear, and more stuff anticipated this weekend. And War Thunder is running their popular Chronicles series allowing you to reenact popular battles from WW2, as well as running a contest to help fill out their Wiki with good articles. All this in addition to the usual daily random boost and standard weekly contests.

STO continues to run their Delta Recruitment promotion with various skill boosts. NWN has a Wonders of Gond event with free items to collect and such. Uncharted Waters Online (I know, none of you play it) is celebrating a new Chapter of their story and a big game update along with a 50% boost to skill proficiency gain!

And the newest F2P contender, Elder Scrolls Online, they are doing a Welcome Back Weekend, trying to get people to come in and give the game a shot! With a live stream! And … um … yeah. That’s about it. No bonuses. No sales. No boosts. No free stuff – well, unless you enter the costume contest or the orienteering race and try to win a prize. You could buy an exclusive mount this weekend only, for $20. But that’s about it.

Bethesda has a long way to go if they want to succeed at this F2P thing. I know they are trying to be generous in their model, and I appreciate that, but right now they are the one restaurant on the boulevard that doesn’t have a sign out front or a coupon in the newspaper. It looks like its going to be a bumpy road for that team for awhile.

#mmo, #2015, #elderscrollsonline, #theweekend

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things: DAW15 Part 2

On By HarbingerZeroIn TERA Online2 Comments

So last time I thanked the SWTOR devs for their efforts. Today I want to highlight one of the things I appreciate about TERA.

While the game got raked over the coals in critiques, both socially and mechanically, there is one thing about TERA that I can not do in any other MMO that I play. One fun thing that nobody else really does. And that is that it has made me comfortable playing the game with the UI turned off, without having to mouse click any of my skills. Now to be fair, this is something that most ARPG’s and some MOBA’s have already gotten right – Diablo, Marvel Heroes, World of Tanks, etc. All of these can do that. But there are no straight MMORPG’s that I play that allow me that option and, more importantly, where that option of watching the fight unfold rather than watching numbers and buttons, is actually beneficial.

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I actually took that screenshot above while fighting. And its not unusual for me to gather the quests in a given area, hit Ctrl+Z, and run off to play the game. Its refreshing (and immersive) to not have to look at boxes and buttons and wheels for a change. And TERA is a truly pretty game with lots of gorgeous landscape, interesting cities, and of course, colorful characters. Its kinda like playing an online version of Alice in Wonderland I suppose, and it has some unique charm in that.

So thank you En Masse and Bluehold developers, for creating a unique MMO that lets me feel even more like I’m at home in an RPG.

#daw2015, #tera, #mmo, #2015

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things: DAW15 Part 1

On By HarbingerZeroIn Star Wars: The Old Republic4 Comments

In response to encouragement from Rowan, I am going to do some developer thank yous. And I thought I would do that through the lens of a few of my favorite features in games. Things the developers conjured up and made reality for me, often as if reading my mind. Its a busy week for me, being Holy Week, so these will be short and sweet, but I will try to get three (3) of them in this week.

So, my first thank you goes to SWTOR’s developers for an underappreciated element of the game: Starship Battles.

No, not Galactic Space Fail, the original space battles tunnel shooter than shipped with the game at launch.

The developers realized that they did not have the time or money to create the free-flying space sim / X-Wing clone that Star Wars Galaxies (may it rest in peace) was able to pull off. But they did not want to not do anything. And so they reached back into the history and lore of the franchise and pulled out a piece of nostalgia – the arcade game tunnel shooters that many of us played growing up, and that were also a cornerstone of the Rebel Assault franchise.

It was a compromise, a chance for players to actually use their cool ships and put some time and effort into them, and something that could be created within the framework of the original game. And while it was panned widely when announced because it was not what SWG gave us, it was a nice peace offering and one that was actually a nice, entertaining diversion within the greater game.

So, thank you SWTOR developers, for giving us something when we might have otherwise had nothing, and for giving us something that fit within the franchise, lore, and nostalgia of Star Wars. Critics and anonymous posters may have banged on you hard for it, but I thought it was a good move from the beginning, and I still enjoy it today.

THANK YOU!

#daw2015, #swtor, #2015, #mmo

A Few Random Thoughts on The Return To SWTOR

On By HarbingerZeroIn Blogging, Star Wars: The Old Republic5 Comments

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~ Its the little things that I appreciate in the game. That big knife sticking in the torso of the defeated barbarian master belongs to me. Most games that animation would disappear on death, but not here. The adaptive armor that allows you to achieve almost any look for any character without sacrificing stats or gameplay advantage. Are you a Sith Inquisitor using dark side heals but want to look like Cade Skywalker, rocking the trench coat vibe? No problem. Elite Republic Commando but you can’t enough of Leia in that bikini? Done. Have particular or conversation choices in mind but you don’t like the companion affection or dark side/light side changes? There’s an app a crew skill for that. Want to know where your apartment is on Dromund Kass? Well, they actually coded the building into the landscape.

The one with the docking garage, just above the tail end of the speeder.
The one with the docking garage, just above the tail end of the speeder.

~ Its also the little things that are frustrating. My Agent has a blaster pistol in every cut scene (and uses it in more than one), but I can’t equip or use one at all in the game. My companions are interesting, but my use in them is limited because I have to trade them out based on my in game need. Doctor Lockin (pictured above) can only come out when I’m in a group. Vector Hyllis, a fascinating character, never travels with me at all because he is locked into two different DPS stances. The word was that early on, you could give companion’s “kits” that changed their available gear and skill loadouts. I really wish we still had that. I would love it if I could make 2V-R8 tank for me, while he complains that he is not programmed for disintegration (a la C3PO in Clone Wars). Speaking of which, the ship droids need to be fully fleshed out. We need customization and conversations options for them, if you ask me. Though I suppose that might cut into Bioware’s profits from selling HK clones at however many $$$ a pop. And those giant, beautiful worlds? Well the game gets you running from place to place so fast because of its slow leveling curve (downright abyssmal if you are F2P) that you end up missing all the cool little tidbits they programmed in, like this conversation I overheard in a seedier section of Coruscant (you may have to enlarge to read it):

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~ Some things Bioware has done have improved the game. The one that nearly made me weep with joy was the removal of people shooting each other to heal them. It was not only not canonical in any way, it was just plain stupid. Just think of all the friendly fire accidents from forgetting to change to the right cylinder. Shooting darts at someone still remains, but that I can sort of see. It was unloading your gatling cannon on a buddy to heal them that made me cringe. Also the credit drop rate is now reasonable rather than deeply stingy (I remember when paying 100 creds for a jukebox token was the pinnacle of luxury spending). The game has been nicely optimized (it runs nicely on my son’s computer, which does not have dedicated graphics). Strongholds are a nice touch, and they also gave a way to cut down on load screen hopping as you try to group up around the galaxy – you can always travel directly to the stronghold and from the stronghold you can (without expending a precious travel cooldown) head to the fleet, the city the stronghold is located in, or your previous location. It still takes a bit to get to a new place, but settling your character in for the night got a hell of a lot easier. And the decoration “hook” system is nice for those of us who want a nice looking home but stink at decorating (or just don’t have a lot of time to put into it).

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~ That system does take a while to learn though. I burned my free prefab and some Cartel Coins for stuff that I could have gotten for free if I had known a little more about what I was doing. Which brings me to some of the things that haven’t changed that are hilariously irritating. SWTOR is the king of awkward animations, with nobody even close to second place.

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s5

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~ That last one just sums it all up. My gun magically moves itself to its invisible back holster while my kolto droid is shooting snot colored healing dust in my companions face. And I didn’t even put up any from the conversations because…surprise(!), they still have fixed the bug they introduced in beta(!!) that disables the screenshot key when you are in dialogue mode (!!!). MMO gods help us Bioware, you are reaching Sony Daybreak levels of cluelessness.

Still, we are enjoying our return to the game. So long as I play the stories with a bit of camp and frivolity, they are bearable, almost like an MMO version of Galavant. The subscription seems to offer a turbo boost to leveling, which puts it just this side of glacial (two nights on Alderaan = half a level of 30). If you are playing every night, that’s probably not bad. But for those of us playing once or twice a week, I should finish up my main character sometime this summer, and my alt somewhere in 2016. Meanwhile I will start a new character in STO next month and it will probably be my fourth to cap, which will happen probably in 4-6 weeks on a similar play schedule.

And I will say that the player base seems to have bled off a lot of the undesirables, perhaps because of how harsh the F2P climate is. My son rescued a fellow player from a bad pull the other night on Coruscant and got a big thank you in general chat and a gift of 200,000 credits – maybe more, since that’s the escrow cap on his account! And my interactions with other players have been constant and pleasent. Helping hands and patient waits for pulls have been the norm since my return.

To that end, I’m seriously contemplating something I haven’t done with any MMORPG since December of 2011, when SWTOR launched: buy a six month subscription. While I subbed to TESO for seven months in total, I never had the courage to run a multi-month sub like I have done with WoT/WoWp and WarThunder. The game still has its flaws, but the ability to play with my son seems to have helped me hit the reset button on the game. And that has been the biggest surprise, so far, of 2015.

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#swtor, #mmo, #2015, #surprise

Once Upon…

On By HarbingerZeroIn Blogging5 Comments

I’ll just leave that title there and see who a) speaks Spanish and b) gets the joke(s).

Thanks to Rowan of I Have Touched The Sky, I have been nominated for the Liebster Award, which means that I have been given explicit permission by another blogger to bore you all by talking exclusively about myself. Thank you !

liebster

I jest, but I am grateful. We all enjoy sharing a bit of ourselves or we wouldn’t be doing this. But for me its a genuine treat. In my vocation, rarely do I get asked about me. Usually, its the other way around, and the rare question directed at me is a question about the nature of my community. So, while I detest chain letters and glurge, this one seems to have the proper context and fun attached to make it something more than it is.

I checked the OFFICIAL RULES to make sure I was doing this right, although there are apparently several variations, so it may not be quite the same as you would see in other places. But enough intro, here we go:

11 Random Facts (completely different from other random facts I’ve given you before):

1) If I could make a perfect day from all the places I’ve lived, it would look like this: Georgia Mornings, Florida Days, Carolina Afternoons, California Evenings, and Tennessee Nights.

2) I listen to Dubstep. Like, a lot. Currently I’m hooked on Feed Me’s new stuff. Is that weird for a thirty something? Probably. But as a drummer, I get caught up in the beats and rhythms pretty easily.

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3) I’ve written articles for this blog on five different computers: three laptops and two desktops.

4) I’m the only pastor I know that has a model of a Rifter sitting on his desk. Its a conversation starter. Or ender.

5) Dr. Pepper is my drink of choice.

6) I am a part time collector of rare old books. My most recent (and currently oldest) acquisition is from 1814.

7) I am a graduate and proud alumni of Oglethorpe University. Go Stormy Petrels!

8) I still have my warm up jacket from JV soccer. I’m not sure why other than it actually still fits and is warm, so I hate to pitch it.

9) I’m an excessively picky reader. I read only the authors I like and then only the books or series of theirs that I think are interesting. Despite that, I never seem to have a shortage of reading materials.

10) Before I started writing this blog post, I spend an hour counseling a Grammy-nominated artist on the loss of a close friend. Because in Nashville even the famous people put their pants on one leg at a time.

11) My dad was an engineer and my mom was a math teacher, so it was obvious from a young age that I was destined to do something as far away from numbers as possible.

And now, on to Part Two: Rowan’s Questions –

Why did you start blogging?

My comments on Wilhelm’s blog were getting to be too long-winded.

What is the origin of your blogging name?

Harbinger = bearer/herald. Zero = nothing. I bring you nothing new. And if I do, you can be pleasantly surprised. Set the bar low, I always say.

What was your very first MMO character and why did you choose that race/class?

High Elf Magician, EQOA. While I didn’t play Everquest Proper, I did know a great deal about it, and I had the d20 books for it, so I knew all the classes. I loved that the Magician was this guy who could get you things. Summon supplies, gear, monsters, and yes, even weapons and armor. A magical jack of all trades. And it touched on my favorite DnD spell, Mordakainen’s Mansion (sp?) which summoned this extraplanar house. I always loved the idea of having everything you might need right at your fingertips, even if the cost was that you were not as (relatively speaking) powerful as some other classes.

Did you stick with that character as your main as long as you were playing that game? Why or why not?

For the most part, until a series of developer changes nerfed the class. In those days, camping was king and with a lot of classes, you needed to do something well. Originally, the Magician schtick was the best summoned pets. The changes basically meant that now Necromancers had the hardest hitting pets…and they had a resurrection spell as well (a nice backup if your healer goes down). So nobody wanted me in group in a game where you could really only level by group camping. So I rolled a Bard and a Shadowknight and played them for a while. I enjoyed both, but never as much as the Magician class.

What is your favorite zone in any MMO?

Too many to name honestly. I love lots of different places. The one I probably miss the most though would be that starting island in EQ2. It really was a fun little zone with a great deal of charm to it.

What gaming innovation are you looking forward to or hoping for most in the next twenty years?

Full realization of cloud based gaming and improved periphereals/control. I’d love to be able to use my cell phone to play all my regular games. But I need to be able to have reliable connection and also reliable control without a mouse. If we can make those things happen, I could start leaving my laptop at home and be a happy camper.

What is your favorite pastime besides video gaming or blogging?

I enjoy boardgames with family and friends, as well as reading. Love painting miniatures as well, but this section of live, with the kids at the age they are, well, its just not a hobby I can really do – I don’t have time or space for it. Once the kids are out of the house and/or I’m retired, I will probably pick it back up.

What house would you be sorted into: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin?

I have no idea. I’ve never read a single line of Harry Potter. I think I did see the first movie, and I’ve seen a scene here and there of some of the others. Yep, time to get out the torches and pitchforks. If I had to answer, I guess I’d say Ravenclaw. My son assures me that’s his favorite and that they are “the coolest.”

What is your favorite holiday?

Veteran’s Day. Which is actually Armistice Day. Which is actually St. Martin’s Day. Which is also the saint’s day of a) Martin Luther and b) Soren Kierkegaard. The respect shown to our veterans, the salute to peace, and the inclusion of (and derivation from) three of my favorite theologians all together. Love it.

What is your favorite vacation spot (or dream vacation)?

I love Callaway Gardens. I’m not sure I can describe just how at peace I am wandering through the woods or on the beach there. If I could buy a house or chalet there, I would do it in a heartbeat and make it my second home.

What brings you joy?

Oh, lots of things I suppose. My kids and my wife do. Getting to be a pastor does. Playing some of these amazing games, most of which I could, as a kid, only dream about, also qualifies. Mostly though, just being alive gives me joy. Life is broken, to be sure, and I know that first hand. But because of that (and not in spite of it), I love it even more.

And now on to Part Three: Nominations –

I hereby nominate:

1) Flosch. Missing in Action for 4 months now. You must come back and blog more my friend. Your views and posts are always a welcome read. Maybe this will get you rolling again.

2) Ysharros. You will write a wall of text and you will like it. And so will we.

3) Kirith Kodachi. Put down the EVE client and slowly back away. Then answer the questions.

4) Psychochild. Because I have to call out someone actually in the industry. Its in teh rules. I think.

5) The Scree. Because now that he is done designing his guild for a game that won’t be out for another three years or so, he needs something to do.

Part Three-Two: My Questions –

1) Do you have a favorite sexual fantasy? Would you like for it to be fulfilled?

Haha! Just kidding.

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I took that from The Book of Questions, where I am stealing some of these (real) questions from as well. Hope you enjoy:

1) What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

2) Would you rather be overdressed or underdressed at a party? Why?

3) If you could actually live in one of your MMO character’s homes, which would it be? It can also be one that your character doesn’t directly own, but that is available in the game.

4) What is the best compliment someone could pay you?

5) Which NPC would you enjoy having dinner with? Could be from an MMO, or it could be from a book/movie/tv show.

6) If someone offered you a substantial sum of money to stop playing MMO’s forever, would you take it? What’s your price point? A million? A billion? Nothing?

7) You get a VIP pass to spend the day at a developer’s offices, hang out with them, form inside contacts, see some stuff behind the scenes, and get cool swag. Which developer is it that you are going to?

8) You and your friends get sucked inside an MMO. The bad news is you are stuck here for 24 hours (of real time), the good news is you have unlimited lives. What MMO are you in and what are you doing while you are there?

9) What’s the first movie you remember watching in the theatre?

10) A Magic MMO Genie appears and grants you the power to host a private server for one MMO of your choice: past, present, or future. Will you take him up on the offer, and if so, what game do you choose and why?

11) Best Campy 80’s Sci-Fi: Flash Gordon, Buckaroo Banzai, Ice Pirates, Outland, Megaforce, Runaway, Masters of the Universe, or some other one I’ve forgotten?

There ya go. Thank you again Rowan for the blogging opportunity. Tomorrow: Either some SWTOR reflection, another installment of Dominions, or maybe something else. Depends on how I’m feeling.

A Different Kind of Recruitment Event

On By HarbingerZeroIn Uncategorized8 Comments

I just damned Star Trek Online for its removal of exploration again, but I’m going to make up for it here: I think the Delta Recruitment program (though it has some warts) is a wonderful initiative.

For those who didn’t jump immediately through that link above (I don’t blame you), here is a summary:

> Runs from April 2nd to May 21st.

> Every existing account gets a free new character slot, new accounts get bonuses.

> Every storyline mission will have bonus objectives to boost leveling and gearing.

> Everyone who completes the bonus missions will receive a unique Trait (account wide unlock).

> These new characters will earn extra Dilithium (real money exchange currency) during the event.

> The more people complete storyline missions with these characters, the more server-wide XP multipliers unlock.

The goal of course, is to invite new players, and give those new players plenty of people to play with by giving incentives for existing players to roll a new character.

I think its a great way to breathe life into the server, give people something fun to do, and insure your new players are enjoying themselves. I’d like to see other games follow suit.

And I’d like to say this: I will probably use this event to make a third (this time the charm?) attempt to really get a Romulan character off the ground. I’ve tried twice and it just hasn’t taken. I’d like to really put some elbow grease in it this time. If anyone wants to run the event/accelerated leveling treadmill with me, you are welcome to join in!