I really tried to like it, but I couldn’t.

I was in the Aion beta and, really, I don’t see what the fuss is over that one haha.

Interestingly, I also regularly return to Guild Wars. I wonder why they do not make a game more in the SWG/Ultima Online style, I definitely like this more sandbox-approach better than LevelQuest with “endgame” problems.

Regarding the Underworld, you can “borrow” some Heroes from friends. Take a Spirit Spammer Hero with you, the new “spirit wall builds” are so strong that ONE of them alone is able to clear Aatxes, Smite Crawlers and even do some of the quests.

One of my worries with GW is that they somehow have a “back to the MMO roots” trend, which means a bit borrowing features from the standard DIKU formula and WoW. I am constantly worried about GW2.

Right now I am playing the offline game Mount & Blade, it gives me the medieval thrill that most MMOs lack nowadays. At least for me MMO spoilt kid. :)

I do not think there is a black&white situation here, rather some kind of sliding scale.

What I can say is that I tend to get tired of games where gaining xp and loot through fighting is the primary motivational factor, especially if it is dragged out long in time.

With other motivations being the primary driving force, I can still deal with the gameplay mechanics often.

I’ll shoot ya a msg on XBL though, I’m always up for co-op adventures.

I FINALLY got back on XBOX Live and now I have forgotten which Avatar is yours as well, but I got the dashboard update and I am good to go now.

I will give Too Human another try and possible go with a ranged character this time around.

I tend to fade fast on XBOX 360 games.

While i dont like the strict linear pathing and the total reliance on instancing that GW uses, as a co-op it’s a damn good piece of work, I’m hoping they can retain that co-op feel in a more persistent and dynamic world in GW2 and I really hope they dont decide to go down the road of large raid groups, the current ‘elite’ missions with a max of 12 allow for a flexible enough approach, 12 is far easier to organise or even PUG *shudder*.

We do become less outward looking once weve found a solid social circle in the virtual world, socialising becomes more limited in order to build that effective group of players who work well together as a team, in terms of PvE we rarely need to look beyond our immediate clique, alliances become useful when populations dwindle or some form of mass PvP is involved. Becoming insular isnt a bad thing, I could argue it’s the most effective way to spend your online game time.

@Openedge: The Commando doesn’t work like a “regular” shooter, no, it’s an RPG after all. But you get to stand back and blast things and move your lock-in-reticule around with much more precision (usually). And it actually does uber damage, where trying to use guns on the melee classes is just for laughs. I actually love the visuals, the whole cybernetic fantasy gods thing I thought was pretty cool, but I wish it had more diverse terrain. At the end of the day, you’re always heading down a linear hallway, it just has different textures than the previous ones.

@Everyone: I think I’ll just have to use the old mantra “variety is the spice of life” from now on. I just don’t think I have it in me to do yet another Diku game when I’ve done so many already. And I have real problems with the Diku version of “levels” (read Raph’s article on that) and each new Diku game I try out winds up exacerbating my attitude toward them.

Consider this: many (most?) of us enjoy MMOGs in particular because they more or less feel more “alive.” We have the opportunity to socialize, it can be neat just to see other characters running about in the world and you know there’s a real player behind them. Occasionally we have the opportunity to do a random heal or buff on a stranger as we pass by. But otherwise, it feels like we’ve all become very insular. We only *really* play with our friends/guild/static group. Everyone else is just “out there.” If that attitude or behavior is true, then do we really need a MMOG specifically if the ultimate goal is to have FUN? At this point I’m looking forward to more co-op RPGs like Borderlands than I am MMOGs…

I am now getting more variety though, and plan to break it up every once in a while.
But, I wish the DIKU would try to be different…and until then, I will be pretty selective.

Now as to Too Human, I had issues with the controls myself..(that and well, the visuals seem blah)…but if it is cheap, this sounds good..
So, the Commando works like a regular shooter? COOL!

Cheers

Scott, welcome indeed. I’m even just about burned out on trying to find ways to make MMOs better. I’m recovering with some Tactics Ogre. Mmm… Tactics…