2012

Key From the Keynotes (For Me) #EQ2 #SOELive

stargrace October 19, 2012 2Comments

Tonight was the first keynote at SOE Live (Fan Faire Forever!) and while there wasn’t a whole lot of detail about the games that I’m most interested in, there were some aspects I thought I’d talk about.

To start it off, I found it amusing that John Smedley talked about how non-instanced housing is going to be the next big thing at DCUO and he asked the crowd when the last time that was even done (and he mentioned SWG) – uhms. Vanguard has non-instanced housing. I know it may be difficult to try to remember all of your companies games, but at least try. Now, the interesting points

• Live casting games is a big deal, and getting bigger. SOE is going to add a TwitchTV client into their games (starting with Planetside 2 I believe, November 1st). [I think this is a great idea, why not show off your games as much as you can, and let the players do it for you.]
• EQ2 Chains of Eternity is tentatively scheduled for November 13th. [That seems VERY early, so I’m not expecting it to actually release then. Is there even a beta for it yet? Maybe they’re not having one this year.]
• EQ Rain of Fear is releasing November 28th [About what I expected]
• Krono are being introduced October 29th! [If you’re familiar with Plex, you’ll know how krono work. They’re in-game virtual items that you can use to pay for a 30 day subscription to the game. You can also put them on the broker and sell them to other players. I am VERY excited about this because as it is now players just have to trust one another when selling game cards. It’s too easy to get a fake time code, and easy to not get paid for a valid one. This will help that, I hope. Of course making them into an in-game item comes with issues like account thefts, hacks, etc.]
• EQNext is being completely re-done. SOE was not pleased with where it was headed, so they’ve completely scrapped everything they did, and are redoing the game into a sandbox of measures no one has seen before. They should have something to show at next years SOE Live, but we’ll just have to wait and see. [A LOT of people were upset about this announcement, but for some reason, not me. I’m pleased they honestly told us what was up, point blank, and we’ll just see where it goes from there].
• Wizardry Online beta opens October 29th. [I’m excited about this game. I think a nice hardcore game with permadeath has a niche market that very few games take part of these days, and there’s room for it.]
• SOE is partnering with Runewaker (the folks who made Runes of Magic) and bringing us all Dragon’s Prophet in 2013. [I have heard nothing about this game, but they showed a lot of videos and it looked neat. Unique? Not sure.]
• Planetside 2 releasing November 20th [Been in the beta for this one a while now, but it’s not something that’s my ‘usual’ type of game. Some people are excited, some people are saying it’s way too soon.]

And there you have it. The keynotes addressing EQ/EQ2 are tomorrow, they should go into more detail about each expansion and the future of both games, which I’m looking forward to hearing about. I may not always agree with what any gaming company does, but I do understand that as time passes games need to change along with it. It’s not always change for the best or even change for the better, but at least they’re trying.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Blesse The Defiler Dings 92 #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace October 17, 2012 1Comment

The count down to SOE Live is underway, and if you’re unable to make it this year you can watch a few of the panels live on twitch tv. SOE has posted a schedule so people don’t miss anything. I was incredibly excited and pleased to see that Vanguard has two panels this year,  in previous years Vanguard was the game no one wanted to talk about and you wouldn’t even find it at Fan Faire.

I spent most of yesterday working on my defiler. So far only my swashbuckler had braved the Withered Lands and managed to inch her way to 92 (I did this back in April, and I barely remembered it) and I was not really looking forward to leveling another character. I found the experience incredibly slow, so instead of questing I headed to my favorite old haunts and boxed my way through old instances. I hate having to compete with other characters in zones, so I tend to stick to instances when I can. My rout included going to Barren Sky and completing Vaults (and poking my head into Palace of the Awakened to see how busy it was), then heading off to Halls of Fate in the Bonemire. From there I went to The Blackscale Sepulcher, and Den of the Devourer, and off to Jarsath Wastes to Vault of Eternal Sleep, and Maidens Chamber. Before I knew it I was 92, and made my way to Freeport to complete the Chains of Eternity pre-quest that rewards a really nice legendary necklace.

At 92 you can begin to work on Skyshrine quests, and one of the first things I wanted to do was get the tradeskill apprentice. Sure you can buy it from the broker, but what is the fun of that! Next I’ll be working on getting my aa to 320, and then that character will be all ready for the next expansion when it releases. Of course I still have 8 other characters to go, but it’s a nice start!

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Chains of Eternity #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace October 15, 2012 4Comments

I’m excited about the next EverQuest2 expansion ‘Chains of Eternity’. No big surprise there, I get excited about any expansion for any game (did you know LotRO is releasing Rohan today? Urge to play, rising). The story reminds me a bit of the void creatures who invaded Norrath not that long ago:

“Death is rampant across Norrath. Citizens are suddenly falling dead as their spirits are torn from their bodies. No one on Norrath seems to understand why the souls are being pulled from the mortal plane, but all signs point to a massive disturbance within Ethernere, the realm of the dead. The heroes of the world must travel to Ethernere to find the cause of the unbalance in the Grey Wastes, and discover what has become of its caretaker – the mysterious being known as Drinal. If the heroes can return balance to Ethernere, the siphoning of souls may be halted. Should they fail, both the living and the dead will suffer a dismal fate.” – zam.com 

I did my first pre-quest to the expansion yesterday and I don’t want to spoil the story but I did get a very nice level 92 necklace out of it. I completed it on my swashbuckler, Jacquotte, who is the only level 92 character I have at the moment. The rest of my characters are still sitting at a dismal level 90, most of them not having the required 280+ aa in order to progress further. A handful of them are close, hovering between 230-250aa and that is what I spent most of my game time this weekend working on. Inching them further and further.

Except the bard, who I betrayed from Troubador to Dirge. Again. This is probably the .. 20th? Time I’ve betrayed that specific character back and forth. I’ve written about it a lot, too. I’m thinking of betraying my shadowknight to a paladin as well for the simple fact that there are a billion SK out there. I know, not exactly a good reason. I do enjoy the ‘fresh’ feeling my characters get when I betray them though.

Chains of Eternity will change the current cap of 92 to 95, adding three new levels. Of course there are other features being added too:

• Prestige Abilities – Each subclass will get access to new Prestige Abilities!
• Prestige Tradeskills – Your crafting will shine like never before with Prestige Tradeskills.
• Organic Adornments – New adornments that gain experience with you and grow in power.
• Guild Level Cap Raised to 95.
• Adventure to Level 95.
• Tradeskill to Level 95.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!