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What to blog about? That's a huge question? Do I talk about the current MMO landscape and it's future? What, if any, impact has Rift had on WoW's sub numbers? Will WoW wither away or become Free to Play? Should more companies take chances to break out of the WoW mold or should they continue to clone it?

Well I could talk about all those things but then I would be like thousands of other bloggers out there, speculating on the future of a business that 10 years ago was dominated by Everquest and why was that? Because they were the only game in town, basically.

In the future it seems that anyone with a programmer and investor's cash will be getting into the MMO business, sorry Curt Schilling. All this does is clutter the field, making it harder for the gems to stand out. Forcing bloggers to pick a favorite and trounce everything that isn't what they are playing. Giving birth to a flock of Fanboys that will circle looking for prey, starting a plethora of flame wars and...

Well to be honest that isn't the future it's the present. People spend way too much energy deciding who has the bigger penis, I mean MMO, and why? Who really cares? I change MMO's like underwear, once a year and to be honest I'm only loyal till you bore me to death or fail to provide value for my dollar. Trying to explain why my choice is better that your choice is like trying to explain what a song bird sounds like to a deaf person and pretty silly if you ask me.

If people were the same, liked the same thing and made the same choices the world would be boring. Excepting that your opinion matters but only to you is the first step to recovery, from the dreaded fanboy disease.

And I thought I wouldn't have anything insightful to say.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Back to the Middle again!

Middle Earth that is.

Succumbing to the powerful Jedi mind tricks of several friends (a nice SWTOR plug),I decided to give the Free to Play (F2P) version of LOTRO a try.

Now as some if my readers may know I did sub to LOTRO back when it first came out but only briefly. At the time I was still hooked on the WoW crack so playing another MMO along side it was always fatal to the other MMO. So I ended up dropping LOTRO.

I won't do a true first impressions of the game since what I posted back a few years ago still hasn't changed much in my opinion. Instead I'll discuss my current likes and dislikes.

Lets talk about the dislikes first. This way I can end the post on a positive note.

Turbines new Free 2 Play business model is based on Micro Transactions. Basically Turbine let's you play for free and gives you access to almost all of the content. However some items, perks and content will cost you money to unlock. Real money is exchanged for Turbine Points which is used as currency in the LOTRO store.

Want a second revive and disregard timers, then spend a few points. Want more bag and bank space, how about resetting your daily tasks or increasing the number of tasks you can do per day well just spend a few Turbine Points. Would you like to ride your own horse? Well the horse will cost you a few game silver but the skill will cost you points. I'm not a fan of micro transactions because the player can end up spending more to unlock items than it would cost for a monthly sub where a majority of things are free.

On the plus side, as you adventure and unlock Deeds you do earn some Points to spend in the store. It just takes a while to build them up, but it is possible to play the game without paying for a sub or buying Points. But like me, most people who play an MMO want instant gratification, which makes it hard to wait. I want what I want and I want it now has always been my motto when playing any game.

Subscribing to the game will unlock a lot of items and areas, but developers have added a few additional quests and storyline content to LOTRO since launch that even subscribers have to pay for with points to access it. I'm not a fan of charging subscribers for additional content when they spend $15.00 every month, but Turbine makes up for this by giving an allotment of points free to subscribers every month which can be used to unlock additional content as well as other perks available in the store.

The point with all this is that before playing Free 2 Play LOTRO I hated the idea of an MMO using micro transactions. Now I don't think it's so bad. It let's me play a triple A game for free and I like that.

That should cover all my dislikes. I do have some nit picky stuff I could mention but all games have some animation, sound or graphical glitch that effects the experience and although LOTRO has there fair share, still, it's not enough this time to detour me from playing.

So why am I back in Middle-Earth, besides the fact it's free? Mainly because a bunch of close friends have decided to start playing. Before no one I knew in real life played and the game quickly became more like a single player game in a world of strangers. I got bored and left. Now we have a little community that hangs out once or twice a week. We are all learning the game together and having a fantastic time. It's very casual and I like that. The game is still gorgeous. The sounds and music help get you into the game.

I'm usually not big on game lore but I am really digging the whole Tolkien setting this time around, trying to finish parts of the main story line and really enjoying the journey.

The game just seems more fun this time around. Maybe because it's not competing with WoW or maybe playing with friends does make a huge difference or could it be that it's free? Who knows. Either way I'm having fun and that is the important thing, right?

Location:Piedmont Pkwy,Greensboro,United States

For your viewing pleasure

I'm Not

I'm not playing WoW.

I'm not playing Rift.

I'm not playing anything.

I'm not at home, so I'm not in front of my computer or gaming consoles

I'm not blogging, because I'm not playing games. I'm not happy about that, but what's one to do when your just not.

Now What?

Well, I did something I never thought I would do. I cancelled my World of Warcraft account. Not sure why, but I just didn't see the sense in paying for a game that I was only playing maybe twice a month. Sure, I had lots of friends wanting me to hang with them and do stuff, but my heart just wasn't in it. I just couldn't see myself leveling up another 5 levels and then do dungeon after dungeon for gear only to turn around and start raiding for better gear again and again. The mechanic for end game just doesn't rock my boat, flip my pancakes, or launch my rocket anymore.

It bores me to grind, grind and grind some more only to find out that once I'm at the top, if I ever get there, its still not enough. Its just enough of an obstetrical till Blizzard decides to launch another update that includes another area that hasn't been unlocked with more grinding involved. I've done it, and I've done it for 5 years. I think the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Well, its insane for me to stay subscribed to WoW, because its going to be the same old thing.

Wanting to avoid more insanity, I've decided not to jump on the Rift band wagon. I've read about the end game there and its similar if not the same as any other end game. Do dungeons for gear, then do more dungeons, then raid and raid till you get to the penultimate raiding dungeon and defeat the bosses there. Sure, they will have different degrees of dungeons, different sizes of raids and different ways to defeat bosses that will make it different from WoW and other MMO's but not different enough to capture me. Besides, right now is the wrong time to join Rift. They are working out server loads, population caps and every day since head start people have been waiting in line to play with on their guild selected servers. Some guilds I'm sure have had to move because they can't get into the servers they wanted at launch and are scrambling to keep guildies together. Its a mad house but nothing the MMO community didn't expect with a brand new child. So, I'll wait a bit. See things calm down a bit. Wait for the tourist season to subside and then quietly slip in under the radar and play me a little Rift, probably in 2 or 3 months.

Not sure what I will be doing now. I've been playing some Oblivion on the Xbox and its fun. I can probably spend a lot of time there. I've also been invited to play a little Champions online with a few friends. Right now I'm only playing the free 2 play version but who knows, if things pick up I may had back there full time. But for now, I'm MMO-less and it feels good.

The Kindle

I have been thinking of picking up a Kindle. I have a vast book collection, mostly Scifi fantasy, which tends to be very heavy when traveling. But as I was reading my current book, Robert Jordan's "The Great Hunt" it occurred to me that one of things you can't get from an e-reader is a visual as to how far you have left in the book.

Looking at my book, I could easily see the thickness and how far I had left till I reached the end. Sure, if I got a Kindle I could do the math. I'm on page 200 of a 350 book, but being able to look at the thickness left on the other side of your thumb is something that you can't get from a Kindle or any other e-reader and I'm not exactly sure I want to give up that visual.

Just a quick observation.

How did I get here?

I seem to have become a very angry gamer and blogger. Oh, I've been known to rant from time to time about things that get under my skin, like ex WoW players who think Blizzard is the anti-Christ or crazy people that just lash out and offer comment without actually knowing what they are angry about or whom to focus their anger on. But lately, it seems that all my blogs have been unusually angry. I don't report anything interesting or having anything very interesting to say, I just attack and let the blood fly.

In my last post, I basically asked bloggers who participate in betas to stop pre-judge those games until they are released. I did this without actually forming any kind of theory as to the motivation they have for offering these opinions nor did I even ask them why they do it. I have since come to a conclusion that may explain the need that compels bloggers to chat up betas, specifically MMO betas, so much.

I know the community is hungry for information on the next possible WoW killer and when an MMO looks promising people in beta want to dish on all the info, good or bad. They want to be the ones that find the oasis in the desert and help guide gamers to it. People want to find that next gem in the rough and when its found, they want to be the first on board. The problem is, there have been more lumps of coal than actually gems of late and people are getting very annoyed with this trend. So, I really can't fault bloggers for wanting to find the promise land. How can I when even I'm looking for it.

The future of MMO gaming, as I see it, isn't very bright these days. We have WoW and we have a number of WoW clones. Which is great, if you like WoW, but not if you don't. For the record, I still like WoW, but even I want something new to play. On the horizon we have Rift and SWTOR. Both seem to have promise.

Rift has had several successful beta tests, the community is all a buzz with activity and the release date is very soon. Prognoses looks good that this could hold the attention of some for a few months maybe even longer. The game is different in some aspects to a WoW, but not too different to frighten away gamers. There is positive hope that this might put a good dent in WoWs armor for a while, at least long enough till SWTOR hits shelves in the fall.

By all accounts SWTOR could be a great hit. The IP is very strong and BioWare has been known to put out a few successful titles here and there, the Mass Effect Series comes to mind. A lot of detail has gone into the game, lots of lore and separate quest lines for each of the different characters which will all voice over. Could be very exciting or could be a complete disaster. Long decision quest trees and the long wait for quests to be read out loud to players might turn a lot of people off. Did I mention the game has a Smuggler, Bounty Hunter and Jedi class? So maybe it takes a little longer to get your quest.

In between those titles we have Guild Wars 2 set to be pushed out onto shelves. I've only seen a few things, but it looks like devs have decided to move the game more towards the traditional MMO style this time around, which isn't winning over a lot of loyal GW players. Still, being a free to play model, they shouldn't have any problem getting players to populate servers. Success is pretty much a forgone conclusion. The MMO community will play it, but I'm sure they will be itching to pick up another pay to play game in between visits to GW2.

But to my knowledge, with the exception of a few smaller MMOs that tend to come out every year, most of them either going with a micro transaction model or are some version of a converted Asian MMO's the future of MMO gaming is pretty bleak. I mean, if neither of the above big titles captures the hearts and minds of WoW players, then Blizzard will remain king for another year. I'm not saying thats bad, but even I think its time to move forward and I love WoW.

Again, I understand the need for bloggers to talk about their beta experiences. They want to give hope to the masses that this will be the year of change in the MMO community. that a new champion will emerge from the dust and we will have something exciting to play again.