I was shocked to have a good schedule at work for a change! In fact, I had two five-day breaks between trips, which was heavenly! I was fortunate to be paired with a First Officer who I got along extremely well with for a change; one who shared many common interests and personality quirks and could match or perhaps exceed my penchant for immaturity and silliness, which I keep bottled up the majority of the time at work. On more than one occasion a flight attendant called up to the flight deck asking “are you guys singing up there?” Yeah… We were jammin’ on some 80′s…
I got a bulk email from the leader of my DDO guild that he was dissatisfied with his leadership and inability to be online due to real life constraints, and would be disbanding the guild. One of the regulars stepped up to the plate and leadership was transfered to him, but I was dismayed enough that I did not login to DDO at all in April. Here’s my thing: I didn’t join this particular guild because I wanted to be in some huge DDO über guild. Mind you, they raid and do all the high-end content that I’m itching to see, and the overall DDO community is such that most guilds and players are all friendly, so it’s not a huge issue getting into some other guild’s raid. The reason I joined this guild was for the family atmosphere. The guild leaders, a well-known (in the DDO community) husband and wife team, were like our little DDO parents, everyone got along quite well in the guild, and it just felt like “home,” which is precisely what I was looking for. I didn’t feel the leaders needed to be in-game every night; I didn’t feel the guild needed the normal (is there such a thing?) style of “leadership” that a progression-oriented guild may or may not need. Does that mean the new leader won’t keep that feeling? Absolutely not, but the whole minor drama bothered me just enough that I decided to distance myself from the whole thing until the guild emotions boil over and I can get an idea of where things are headed. I learned from the whole GuildCast fiasco that I tend to spout off comments that don’t read quite as I’d intended when emotions are flaring so there was no sense adding my own salt to everyone’s wound. Maybe I’ve just gotten a little gun-shy of guild drama?
So, that put me exclusively in Middle Earth! As of last night, my lore-master Arwellyn is level 43 and has entered the south-western regions of Angmar on her own. I say “on her own” because some of my kin-mates were in need of help defeating some elite hill-men bosses last week, and summoned me to their location in the rather dark village of Donnvail, which is near Carn Dûm. Great group, and we all went in and kicked ass! It was pretty amazing watching a fully geared-out 50 champion (also a kin-mate) do his thing. On the flip side I was left with a sense of disappointment or perhaps loss because that was my first time in Angmar and I didn’t get to enter the zone “for real” from an exploration point of view and work my way to that location, discovering everything along the way. I didn’t know the lore behind Donnvail or what all content came prior to that adventure, I was simply summoned into the middle of strange territory and the ass-kicking commenced. Arwellyn has also entered the Bruinen Source West region of the Misty Mountains “for real” which has been fun and challenging as well. This is post-Book 13 so I’m seeing the Misty Mountains with the new weather effects seen in Forochel, Book 13′s new adventuring zone.
Speaking of Book 13, I’m loving every bit of it! The new quest log is phenomenal! Fishing was implemented very well, and the little I’ve seen of Forochel was excellent! If I had to point out any negatives it would be the lack of sound effects to fishing, the elf lore-master’s new jump animation, and the nearly hidden and underwhelming LFG tool. The LFG tool is the biggest offender by far. Seriously, as much group-only content as the game has, they really need to take a look at what makes the DDO LFG tool so awesome, and make it even better. An LFG tool should be in-your-face obvious, as well as simple and intuitive to use. As it is, most players don’t even know it exists, so I expect the LFF channel will still remain the primary means of finding PUGs. The new combat timing is taking a bit to get used to but it’s a great tweak. As a lore-master I’m primarily noticing the new timing when casting Light of the Rising Dawn, which now fires immediately after the casting bar fills. Previously, the casting progress bar would fill and the lore-master would raise her hand, then the beam of light would blast down from the heavens. Now the animation and blast are simultaneous. I’m sure I’ll notice other tweaks to the other classes as I start playing my hunter and captain, but I’m concentrating my efforts on Arwellyn for now.
My birthday is next month, and I’ve set a very soft goal of achieving 50 with Arwellyn by then. The problem is my schedule is much less flexible in May, with fewer days off, and my girlfriend and I are going to a resort in the Keys a few days prior to my birthday. (Plan A was the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island but I seem to have misplaced both my passport and original birth certificate! I know they’re here somewhere but damn if I can find them.) Plus it’s full-on summer here in Florida and I’d rather get some sun. Given those realities combined with my attention span, I sincerely doubt I’ll actually get her to 50 in time.
Once again this month Funcom held a technical beta for Age of Conan that I missed. I was working both the original date and the date it was delayed til. Given the two five-day breaks I had, I wasn’t exactly pleased that Funcom apparently called my employer and deliberately scheduled these tests when I was unavailable… However, to make amends, Funcom has generously upgraded all technical beta testers to full closed beta testers effective May 2nd. So I’ll finally get a chance to see what the fuss is all about and if it truly holds any interest to me or not. This close to launch I’m rather unsure if they’re still in a true “find bugs, etc.” beta phase or if it’s the marketing “come play for free” version of beta that is so annoyingly common in the MMO genre these days. If it’s the real deal, I’ll commit some time prior to launch to play testing and reporting feedback, otherwise I’ll just play the game as-is and decide whether or not I want to give them any money. I was extremely dismayed to read some of the latest AoC posts over at Keen and Graev’s this past week. It sounds like AoC is just another fantasy MMO based entirely on levels and gear and ends up on the exact same PvP/Raid treadmill that just isn’t burning the calories it used to, if you get my meaning. We’ll see…
Tags: MMO Gaming
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