November 2006 Entries
Since I’m in danger of falling below my Federally Mandated World of Warcraft Ramblings Quota, I grabbed this, via Virgin Worlds:
World of Warcraft: Game Statistics
Proving that the folks at Blizzard have much better things to do with their time than, say, make The Burning Crusade ready, playable and released, they bring us this invaluable reference page. I don't even play anymore, but I love stats – the numbers keep me warm on cold empty nights, so lets have a looksee:
Most Auctioned Item: Runecloth
No big surprise there then – it’s the top-end humanoid common-drop, and essential for tailors, bandages for everyone...
Perhaps the most startling piece of MMO news that fell out of Google Reader when I shook it down for last weeks news, was this one:
Saga of Ryzom: Important Information
And
Saga of Ryzom: The Latest Update On The Ongoing Situation
As of writing, this is the last thing we’ve heard through the official channel of the Ryzom main site, although I’m sure things will develop. As far as I understand it, the basics are that Nevrax, a French company whose one and only product seems to be Saga of Ryzom, is going into receivership. I’m not quite sure what the American business...
Iiiiiiit’s me! Huzzah! Back once again, like the renegade master, and all that, and as usual, I take time off and the MMO world goes crazy, with the most notable bombshell being the sudden, startling and ongoing collapse of Nevrax, the company behind Saga of Ryzom. Odd really – I thought it was doing quite well; shows how much I know. More on that later. Mostly my last week has been spent being pleasantly surprised by Everquest II.
It’s been quite some time since my last foray in there, which was brief, and spent largely puttering about the Freeport 10-20 levels,...
Oh go on then...one more and then I promise to give it a rest for a while:
Official Second Life: Townhall With Philip Available
This is the transcript, and mp3 recording, of last night's 'Town Hall Meeting' in Second Life I happened to be listening in on it from the location I was at, while tinkering away on a rather complex scripting project - the land-owner in question having set up the land's URL audio stream to pick up the meeting in progress. The actual meeting took place for real...er...well....you know what I mean; 100 or so avatars gathered in-world at LL's...
It’s lynch mob time in Second Life again, and boy are those Virtualfolk angry this time! While the hyperactive PR landslide continues, with all manner of Hip Cool Trendy Real People discovering this cutting edge ‘Life 2 Thing’, and promptly annoying the hell out of everyone by claiming to be the first company to have an online shop, EVER!!1!, and also the first online newspaper EVER!!1!, the more long time residents have a new and quite apocalyptic threat to worry about than massively out of control PR pushing the platform well beyond it’s capabilities and everyone else's indulgence. It’s...
Spent some time over the last few days being slapped about the head by the Halibut of Frustration, in Guild Wars. My time there is rapidly dividing into two distinct phases.
There’s the solitary overland roaming, when I, and five mostly silent, entirely predictable and totally obedient AI NPC henchmen form up a party and explore the various non-mission Explorable Area regions of the Crystal Desert – Prophet’s Path, Salt Flats, Diviners Ascent, Arid Sea, Vulture Drifts, Skyward Reach and The Scar. I’ve always found GW to have one of the more good-looking MMO worlds – well designed and varied regions,...
Back to Guild Wars once more, and the familiar unfamiliarity, as I try to work out how the hell yet another dusty abandoned MMO works – the usual sort of deep and philosophical questions: who, where, what, when , why. Time for a little stock-taking!
(Note: Whether or not Guild Wars is technically an MMO at all is a matter for some debate. I’m going to just ignore that debate and call it one, simply because I can’t be bothered to invent a new term for it! It’s close enough for me.)
My main GW Self seems to be a L20 Ranger/Necromancer,...
I find myself at something of a crossroads at the moment, regarding matters MMO. This current malaise seems to have been largely caused by me recently winning of World of Warcraft. An arbitrary thing, I know - just a number, but more importantly, I’m now at the point where most of the interesting and varied solo content options are running out, to be replaced by endless repeatable "Kill 100x [L58-60 TrashMob], Gain 10 Faction Points" type open-ended blue-question-mark types of work, and of course the nightmarish prospect of 5-Man L60 Instance Pick Up Grouping. (Which I'd have to massively, and...
Is it that time already? Where do the weeks go...
Unfettered Blather: Carnival of Gamers #19
I'm always a little surprised how many completely new faces emerge each month on the Carnival list. I guess this internet thingey is really quite large!
Sure enough, Planetside saw the previously mentioned Halloween rules applied to one of the Battle Islands last night, and I did indeed get to have a go. A curious experience, to say the least.
The only equipment allowed in play consisted of the following: Infiltration Suit, Med Kit, REK, Nano Dispenser. The only vehicles were Wraith, ANT and AMS. This made the Knife and running people over, the only forms of attack. Each of the three bases on the island was set to one team, and if another ‘captures’ it, it instantly reverts back to the pre-assigned team automatically, making a...