Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Homeless MMO veteran LFG

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OMG, that's me! I should really clean up...

With EverQuest Next now kicking the bucket before it was allowed to stand on its own two feet, I’m now free to walk aimlessly. I was on board with Daybreak thinking they were close to a sure bet with getting out the next EQ game. Even though they aren’t backed by Sony any longer and loss some prominent faces from their team, they have the strength of two previous MMO games and countless other video games, trading card games, stories, toys, soundtracks, and who knows what else fueling the fandom to ensure the company that there is a market for a third in the series.

When they first announced EQN, I was excited to have a modern game with my favorite IP attached to it. I remember starting out around 2003 with the Legacy of Ykesha expansion. That expansion introduced Frogloks as playable characters. Since then, my love for EverQuest only got stronger and eventually I ‘hopped’ on over to EverQuest 2.

Even though I have so much love for EverQuest, I do get tired of it. I dabble in EQ2 from time to time, but I got a lot out of it already and kind of looking for something new. EQN was suppose to be that new hook to really bring me back.

When it comes to games, I’m either hooked on the story, or breaking down / mastering the mechanics. When I have neither to do any more, I slowly get bored and move on to another game.

For many people, social aspects keep them playing long after they are bored of the game. Since I have commitment issues, and a slew of social skill ineptitude weighing me down, I tend to shy away from building connections in game. I'm not proud of this. As a matter of fact, I would like to be part of a group, but I have the hardest time including myself, which I’m usually left out.

Since EQN is no longer on the horizon, I’m still drifting from game to game. Currently I’m on the hunt for my next MMO home, but money is a little tight for me, so I’m sticking to Free-to-Play games and ones I’m already established in. Currently I’m adventuring in the beautiful lands of Guild Wars 2 again, but I’m already feeling the sameness set back in. Soon, it will be time for me to mosey on to the next game or go dormant again in single-player purgatory.

Wildstar looks good from what my fellow blogger Chestnut has shown on her YouTube channel. Though it looks like Wildstar is having some trouble too, as of late.

I still have a lot of story to play through in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I kind of need a subscription going in order for me to enjoy the game and money is tight at the moment.

I could go back to Star Trek Online and Neverwinter Online, maybe play around their player made stuff. I actually have a lot of fun with those. Speaking of Neverwinter, I’m getting interested in trying Dungeons and Dragons Online. Not sure how solo friendly the game is, but I might give it a try.

Lastly, I could look to smaller games instead. Get more involved with indie games or older games I’ve missed.

Anyone have a good suggestion or want a hitchhiker or to drag me into their game? I can work for gold, credits, tokens, crafting materials, or even just some crafted food if you have it.

You can also listen to me lament about the closure as well below.


Friday, March 11, 2016

EverQuest Next Canceled

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If you haven’t heard the news yet, EverQuest Next has been officially canceled.

I’m so angry right now. This was my most anticipated game and it’s gone. There was so much promise and it was going to be a more modern version of the EverQuest franchise. The official response was “Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn’t fun.” That’s right, they gave us the same excuse that Blizzard gave us for Titan. I would like to know more on why it wasn’t fun. Were they just mimicking their previous games and finding it to be boring? Did the new stuff they wanted to do not work together? Could they not find a proper balance between systems? Or are there more reasons that they aren’t sharing?

The biggest thing I’m mad about now are those two or three bone heads that was “predicting” the game to fail from day one and become vaporware are now sitting smug. I’ve been burned by SOE before, but I came around and could enjoy their games again. Some people just wouldn’t let go some of the mistakes and want to see SOE, now Daybreak, fail at everything. I just can’t get behind that.

I’m actually running through a lot of emotions right now over this news and don’t want to get into name blaming, or absurd accusations on how Daybreak is running things. Instead I’m just going to mourn in peace and wait to see if Landmark can ever pick up the slack and become something more than a test bed for mechanics.

I can’t speak for the whole community, but Daybreak, you really hurt me on this. I was already sitting on the fence since last year about you guys and now I’m feeling rejected. EverQuest Next was my only reason for waiting around and now that’s gone. All I can ask of you now is to just keep active. I’ll check on you from time to time as I’m done sitting on the fence.

EDIT: Made a change to my second paragraph to make clear that not everyone that could see this coming are bone heads. There was like a small handful of people I've read that seemed to be very angry at SOE. I don't want to down anyone that could actually see this coming honestly because I was blind to it.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Guild Wars 2: Where are all the lions?

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Lions are large, predatory hunters. A pride of lioness work with powerful and deadly efficiency and are some of the most feared hunters of the animal kingdom. In Guild Wars 2, there’s a city named after them called Lion’s Arch. It’s the central hub of all the races of Tyria where they gather, trade, communicate, and craft. The lion is definitely a worthy mascot for such a wonderful city… and yet, where are they?

Nowhere in Tyria can you find a lion, not even in Ascalon, a logical place to have them roam. But you know who is roaming in Ascalon? Charr!

That’s right, you heard it here first, folks. I theorize that Charr evolved from lions. I’m not sure where they got the horns from. Maybe they were drunk and took things a little too far with a dolyak one night, but honest, it meant nothing!

I really can’t think too much on this conspiracy theory, but I did make a short funny video about it if you’d like to give it a see.

#WhereAreTheLions


Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Mechanic Brainstorm: Currency

With most ideas, they usually start out raw and unusable no matter how genius they sound at first. They usually have kinks that need to be worked out and the best way to do that is to run them through someone else. I tend to throw my brainstorm ideas at my brother and we’d bounce them back and forth. One of us would suggest a mechanic and the other would point out what might not work, and what we like about it to refine further. This goes back and forth and we’d write it down in our idea document.

Recently, I just threw a new idea to him and was waiting on his response. Then I got to thinking, I have a blog now. Why don’t I throw some of these ideas on it? I’m not afraid really of someone ‘stealing’ my idea. As a matter of fact, I would prefer someone use them because I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to make the game I always wanted, and if they can better the games I play, that would be a major win for me. Let’s get to the idea.

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What if currency were temporary?

What if currency only lasted for about 24 hours upon collecting? The implications of this could would change how game economies work.

For starters, people would need to find something that is a long term currency storage. This would lead them to store resources, like crafting material and equipment, which means they would need a reasonable amount of bank storage.

This would also mean when someone has something to sell, they need currency now to buy  or trade. That would probably mean most items sold on the market can’t be ridiculously expensive because no one will ever have that kind of currency built up to buy it. Most things would be rather cheap, and trade of resources would be far more common.

It would also have the side effect of making stuff scarce because people wouldn’t leave something up for sale for a week because they won’t want to lose that currency, unless the countdown is set when you pick it up.

Problems with accepting this

Obviously, there is a major problem to work out here. How will people accept this? Most people will probably be hostile to this idea because most people hate losing money or to mess with temporary stuff. I can completely understand.

A currency like this would have to be explained well ahead of time when the player is learning the game. That way they don’t lose a lot when they try and sell off all their resources.

This currency would also need to have a good reason why it’s so temporary. Perhaps it’s some form of energy that will dissipate if not ‘stored’ in a system. But upon storage, there is no retrieval of it so once you use it, it’s used.

Why would this currency be valuable?

Maybe this currency is a form of unobtanium in which large corporations really want this stuff, so you collect a lot of it (within it’s expiration date) and hand it over to these corporations for valuable stuff. Things like equipment, resources, land, titles, power, etc.

This currency can double as a resource itself for crafters that can use it to power equipment.

In the end, I think this system would put more emphasis on resource diversity and inventory management. Perhaps it’ll remove some of the reason for grinding in games and possibly help balance inflation because now money has a cap depending on what you store and how much of it you store.

Any Ideas?

I love talking mechanics and coming up with new ones for games, or modifying existing ones. If you liked any of this, please feel free to use it yourself, or help me whittle this idea to something more usable.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Undertale: Conclusion Solution

Before I begin, I want to do my due diligence and say There Are SPOILERS Ahead. Undertale is a game where you’d want to experience first before reading about it. Trust me on this. CAREFUL, SPOILERS AHEAD! If you haven’t played the game, or watched a playthrough, then I suggest the former over the ladder, but sometimes the ladder will have to do. So, let’s get this started.

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I honestly didn’t think I had another Undertale post in me, but I shouldn’t be surprise because I would love to talk more about this game. If you haven’t already played the game yet, please please please go play the game. It’ll make what I’m about to share that much more powerful when you understand what’s going on.

I’ve experienced endings through the pacifist, neutral, and unfortunately the genocide. Even knowing the horrors of genocide, through that experience makes sharing this all the better.

I wanted a perfect ending, where you can save all the monsters, and the pacifist ending got you 99% there (as far as I know). There is one person you couldn’t save; Asriel. If you played the game, or read my previous posts, you’d know that Asriel is stuck within Flowey. When Asriel breaks the barrier in the pacifist run, he also releases the souls, but in that act, he will fade back into Flowey. A bittersweet ending if ever there was one.

After dwelling on this a while, and being mostly content with what I had, I came across a Tumblr blog that set out to change all that. It gave me a new ending, one I feel completely satisfied with. This fan-made ending left me on a far better note and I really want to bring attention to the blog for anyone else that wanted to save Asriel as well.

WARNING: It will pull at your heartstrings, so be prepared. Special note is the creator assumes the player to be a boy. I personally like Frisk staying neutral so I change references back to ‘they’ and ‘them’ mentally.


That is a direct link to the blog where you can see everything. I’ll go a step further and point out some specific stuff.

The Choice

To get directly to saving Asriel, click to read The Choice. You can finally be satisfied with a happier ending in saving Asriel, but not without an equal consequence, which I am willing to take.

The Return

Upon his return, there’s someone Asriel will have to say goodbye to.

The Return, part 3 - this is a video

The Mistake

It doesn’t end there. Asriel will have to face one more challenge in order to truly leave the underground.

The Mistake, part 5 - This really explains the why of it all. Play the music at the top

Or if you’d like, watch a fan-made video of this fan-made comic ‘The Mistake’. It’s what brought my attention to the Tumblr originally.

Final Notes

Much like modding Skyrim, I realised I can do the same with story with the huge world of fan-made stories and comics. I don’t have to settle with what the original creator made, I can choose to change the story however I feel. Toby created a damn near perfect game, and would ask that he keep it as it is. I just wanted to add a personal edit to it for my own sake.

I do hope you get out of this what you want, like I have. It also wouldn’t hurt checking out everything the creator made for Undertale on their Story Archive page. Might I suggest checking out ‘Three Plates’ while you’re there.