Nomadic Gamer

September 2009

Gaming

The Waiting Game – How do you Play?

stargrace 4 Comments

It’s game update time! The day we have anticipated for MONTHS now, eagerly, on the edge of our chairs while we drool over lists of updates and changes. Excited? Yes, yes I am. So how do you spend the time waiting to get in game for those who may be around this time of day on a regular basis. Do you wander off and play another game for the duration? Do you get those chores done that simply are not going to take care of themselves? Or perhaps you spam your friends on twitter with random facts, until you risk getting banned.

Whatever you do the waiting is the most difficult part. I want to see the changes! I want to explore achievements, the new shard of love zone, the new heirloom tag, house items, and so many other goodies coming in this update.

Before the servers went down this morning I was busy completing a handful of level 1-10 quests in The Caves and Oakmyst forest on my templar. See, she was 20 quests away from the “1,000 quests completed” mark, and for some reason I decided I just HAD TO GET IT DONE before the servers went down. I did, it was great. Calreth was there listening to me shout out my progress as the minutes ticked.

I also managed to get my mystic a pair of T4 set gloves last night from Palace of the Ancient One. Not exciting, but it was a huge upgrade from her T2 gloves, so I was happy.

Aside from that, I am just waiting for the remaining 2 1/2 hours until servers (fingers crossed) are back up! I’m spending my time chattering on twitter, blogging, writing the occasional article for work, and of course knitting. It’s dark and raining and cloudy out – in other words an absolutely perfect day.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself – and hopefully I will see you in Norrath soon(tm)!

Gaming

What Feature would YOU add?

stargrace 5 Comments

Eventually if you play a number of different games, you’ll come across a point where you think to yourself ‘I wish such and such game had THIS feature!’ It doesn’t matter what the feature is exactly, but you’ll think it and you’ll feel a little dirtier thinking it depending on what “it” is. Now, there are a couple of directions you can go with this thought.

Number one, it’s common for games to “borrow” from one another and add popular features to their game that may have shown up elsewhere ‘first’. This only makes sense, why would you NOT add a popular feature to your game, even if someone else is using it. It’s not the developers who cry ‘we had that first!’ but the players who typically shout ‘oh yeah, well THIS GAME had that feature first! So it must be better.’ In the end it doesn’t really matter.

Second of all, if games only used unique and different features in their games we’d have even more indecision on what to play because no one game could possibly house everything you would like to see.

What feature have you seen in one game but would love to see in another? Would this feature changed whether or not you played either of those games? Feel free to name some that are realistic (ie: you could actually see them being implemented in your game) and some that you know there’s absolutely no way you’d ever see in your MMO of choice.

One of mine would have to be from world of warcraft. I would absolutely love to see EQ2 with a built in calendar much like WoW has (you click on it from the mini map) that tells players what world events are going on, and when they start. You can click on each specific day of the calendar and it will tell you everything you need to know about this event.

I think this would be fantastic for events such as the moonlight grotto that comes once a month, Frostfell, and every other holiday event out there. When a special promotion is going on (ie: doubt exp weekends, SC cards on sale) that could also be mentioned.

Of course it’s not good enough to simply swipe another games idea, you have to improve on it and make it better. So how about allowing guilds to customize their calendars and add events to it, raids. Then players know what is scheduled without having to always log over to their guild web site, and it gives officers and leaders a neat place to write things down and keep track. The general calendar could be something simple and edited by the community team so that developers don’t have to spend hours and hours working on it once it’s released to the game, and things like Antonia Bayle’s server wide roleplay events could eventually get added to these calendars for players to look at while they’re in game.

This feature may not be for everyone, but it’s still something I would one day absolutely love to see (and yes, I’ve left /feedback about this before). Lets hear some other features out there, it doesn’t matter what game you’d like to see it in, I want to hear them all!

Gaming

Why I’m Not Playing Aion

stargrace 11 Comments

Yesterday was amusing to say the least. I watched a number of very angry gamers vent their frustrations about the queue lines of Aion, on twitter, their blogs, forums. It was everywhere. I can’t really blame them. I know the excitement of having a new game release and the eager feeling you get when you JUST WANT TO LOG IN, and WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LOG IN! New games are fun. They’re exciting. They’re something new.

I played the Aion beta through all of its stages and I really enjoyed the game. I wrote about it a few times and talked about it with friends. I didn’t really have anything negative to say about it – but I’ve decided that I won’t be playing it.

Why not?

I have a few reasons for this. Number one would have to be that I’m not unhappy with any of my current MMO choices. I have fun in all of the games I play, I’m not unsatisfied, there’s no lure for me to go play something else because I’m perfectly content. I have a good selection to choose from and in the off chance that I DO want something else to play – I want something ELSE, and Aion doesn’t give you something else, it gives you what is already out there and wraps it in a different package. Between EVE (yes, I’ve started up a 21 day trial of that again in the hopes I will actually get some where this time), DDO, Wizard 101,  EQ, EQ2, VG, Free Realms, the occasional WoW,  Champions, WAR, and a few other games that I play for work my MMO plate is already bursting with games that I really enjoy.

The other reason I’m not playing Aion is the cost. While I’m certainly interested in the game I know it’s not something that would hold my attention long term and I don’t want to spend $60 cnd. to try a game for a month. Especially for a digital version of the game.

It feels a little odd to watch everyone get excited and read their blogs and not really be a part of that but I’m happy for the opportunity to watch everyone and see how they react. Are you playing Aion? Enjoying it? Think you’ll stick with it long term?

If you’re not playing Aion, what are your reasons? Please feel free to comment below!

In the mean time, I’ll just keep playing the games I own and watch from afar. Happy gaming no matter where it finds you!

Gaming

Willamina – Introduction

stargrace 1 Comment

Willamina was a gnome. An unusual gnome at that. While most gnomes her age were into tinkering and blowing things up in unusual ways, Willamina would sit at home with her bow and arrow (a gift from uncle Cogbit that neither parent approved of) attempting to shoot apples off of her brothers and sisters heads. To add insult to injury, she was actually GOOD at this pass time, and injuries were not the results of her efforts. Her entire family looked at her as some sort of freak of nature.

Being who she was, she rarely let their opinions get to her but every so often a stray comment would give her pause. What was so bad about wanting to be a ranger? When she first told her parents that she wanted to fight for the Qeynosian Guard not as a master tinkerer but as a ranger, they just about had a heart attack. Why was that such a big deal? She just couldn’t understand it.

As soon as she turned knee high to a grasshopper she decided it was time to broaden her horizons and move out. This would give her the freedom to explore her craft fully without the watchful eye of her family judging her.

“I-I have decided to move out now.” She told her parents one warm evening. Tinkerfest had just passed and the comfortable home she had known all her life was absolutely packed with cogs, gears, whistles and other do-dads. Her parents had brought home every item they could possibly find, plus a few extra.

“That’s nice dear.” Her mother said, obviously not paying attention. Willamina was used to this response, her parents were always lost in their own inventions. Willamina sighed, they never took her seriously. She had already packed up anything she thought she may need on her adventures, and shaking her head, she headed off to the stables, waving goodbye to the home she had known for so long.

Her heart didn’t stay low for any amount of time, especially upon seeing her fine mount stabled. It was the one luxury her parents had (eventually) relented on. While most in her family were traveling Norrath on magical carpets (that had a high tendency to roll up mid-flight) and other tinkered items, Willamina was given a rare frost dire bear for her previous birthday.

She had even been allowed to name him, and so Gumpy Nattoo he was, Gumpy for short.

“You’re excited about this adventure, aren’t you boy.” She put on her thermal gloves and groomed Gumpy as he practically rumbled with a purr. “I figured as much.” She giggled.

Her first goal was to head into Qeynos and track down the Qeynos Guard. She would present herself as a recruit, and see if they had any work for her. She had read all sorts of stories about adventurers bonding together to rid Norrath of the evils (what evils exactly it was never said, but she could only imagine that they must be formidable) and she wanted to be one of those people.

Willamina gave another wave to her home in Baubleshire, promising to write back every week, and without a second glance she rode out down the docks to begin her adventures.

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