A Fast Ship And A Blaster At My Side

Star Wars: The Old Republic

  In the previous post I made on the game back in the early days of the blog, I talked about customization and some of the nice ways you could make your character look unique.  But that really only appealed to those who are already playing the game.  I felt that it was high time I posted something devoted to those who either haven't tried the game or have been gone for a while.  So we will take a brief tour of the game today, and address some of the items that I've seen change since launch.

First of all, we begin with the character.  There are two factions, Galactic Republic (Pubs) and Sith Empire (Imps).  Those who have somehow managed to avoid learning this much about the Star Wars Universe since 1977 likely aren't going to be playing this game, but hey gotta start somewhere, right?
A lot of people are going to say one side or the other is "better" or "more fun," but I have played both sides, and honestly have enjoyed both tremendously.  For this article, we'll be focusing on a character named Setnaris, a young smuggler who flies freight and takes on odd jobs for the Galactic Republic.  Each class has a story line quest chain that starts the moment you load in, and continues up until level 50.  Lots of cinematics, good voice acting, and the like are hallmarks of the class quest line.  Each one is unique and tells a part of the overall story-line.  For the role-play types, or solo gamers this is a large part of the game.  For the end game types, who race to the end to raid or do "operations" as they are called in this game, the questing system might be clunky. 

Setnaris, the Smuggler and his companion Corso Riggs.

The starter quests introduce you to the main story line, more or less in a how you got here sort of way. In the case of the smuggler, you need to have a reason to get involved in the coming war between the Empire and the Republic rather than just sell goods to both sides.  So you are a courier bringing in a shipment of weapons to the outpost on Ord Mantel which you find stolen in the opening scene. Oh, along with your ship.  So it's personal for you now, am I right? Of course, that's the idea. 

Each character at various points in the story line gets companions. Companions are combat helpers who quest with you and help complete your skill set.  In the original set that comes in Patch 1.0, each class gets at different times: a ranged tank, a melee tank, a healer, a ranged damage, and a melee damage.  As Setnaris is a healer, a tank is handy. And Corso Riggs, the original companion you get at the end of your starter planet quest line is a ranged tank.  So it works out well.  If you solo on your smuggler, odds are, you will play primarily with Corso much of your career.  One of the big things I hated about Corso when I first started the game was that he had a bad habit of harpooning enemy mobs and pulling them to you. Which is awesome if you're a melee class, but since smuggler is either a ranged damage class or a healer, having the bad guy next to you is bad.  They fixed that sometime around the end of the first year, replacing it with a charge-like ability.  Good thing to, because you won't get your next companion until the third planet in the story chain somewhere around level 24. But more on that in a later post.

Ord Mantel finds you in the midst of a small civil war, where you will find the non-force using Republic players (Troopers and Smugglers).  Due to the nature of the classes, early on Trooper will make you feel like you are stuck in mud as a smuggler.  The rapid run and gun style of the Trooper is much faster than the smuggler who crouches down and has to take long aim with his blaster pistol.  While it evens out later on, at the start Trooper has a huge advantage over smuggler in terms of speed and efficiency.  And why wouldn't they? They are special forces soldiers, trained in combat and in the latest high tech powered armor.  The smuggler lives by his wits, getting by with precision strikes and explosives. Each quest area will have 1 class quest and a number of other quests that are planetary quests.  In the case of Ord Mantel, the planetary quests deal with the conflict against a separatist movement that has the feel of being pulled from the headlines online.  There is a lot of options for being either heroic and a good patriot, or a sleazy scumbag out to make a credit.  That is the first major change from many MMOs that players in Star Wars find, an alignment system.  Old school RPers from the Dungeons & Dragons era will be familiar with alignment, but it's not something that most MMOs deal with that I've seen.  While not all quests have alignment choices, many do. You gain either Light Side or Dark Side points for each of these quests based on how you choose to handle the situation. The choices are often for play style only, but some have major consequences in how the story plays out for you.  And if you choose to keep it on, as your character grows darker, they are scarred and changed by the power of the Dark Side. 

Some items require you to have a certain attunement to one or the other to use, mostly relics which are small items that give buffs and some stat increases at later levels.  And there  are fashion sets that are unique to looks for a dark or light character.  Other than that, it often doesn't affect the outcome of the game, only in how you arrive there.  It's there for the flavor of the game, and to give you a full experience to be able to do the story different ways each time you play it.  Where my first smuggler, Peiper, was pretty much all hero and little scoundrel, Setnaris is a bit rougher around the edges and while still having a good heart, he's out for a buck and will look the other way when criminal activity happens.  There are going to be times he does the "right thing," and then there will be times where he is cold hearted and ruthless about making a living.  It's a tough world he lives in, and it's important to survive. Sometimes you have to break some eggs to make that omelet.

Ord Mantel teaches you the mechanics of the game if you haven't played before. And has a fun story that gives you a rather nasty villain at the end to draw you in further.  Once you finish, you will be on your way to Coruscant, the capitol of the Republic. See you there soon :)

FW: Guilds

Guilds: A Guide

In my previous posts, I addressed how guilds in Forsaken World made the game better.  I touched on the fact that had I not found Osiris, I would not still be playing the game.  I showed a quick picture of a guild base, but really didn't discuss them in depth. Well folks, that is about to change!

Anyone who has played in an MMORPG of any sort will likely have a basic concept of what a guild/clan is about.  Essentially it's a group of people who have a tie to one another for mutual benefit and to do things with.  That holds true in FW as well, of course.  However, taking it from where some games left off, FW takes it another step.  Being in a guild becomes nearly mandatory after a certain point, and more importantly being in an active guild with a base is vital for high end characters. Unless you feel like being a heavy cash shopper, and don't mind spending real life currency to get your in game currency to buy things you need in bulk or are really good at the Auction House.

First things first, however.  Guilds level from a level 1 guild to a level 6 guild, based on two criteria: Contribution and Zeal.  These are earned by members doing quests and events both pvp and pve.  The more of each a guild has, the higher level they can go. Once they reach level 3, they can bid on a base.  Although that isn't a sure thing, either. One of the guilds I have characters in, Shunned, has been level three for nearly a month now, and there are not enough competitors to bid against, so no auction for bases has been held.  It takes 4 level 3 guilds with enough contribution to be able to bid for an auction to be held.  One of those four guilds gets a coveted base, and the other three have to wait for another guild to join the fray.

Bases are a huge part of the game for guilds, as they unlock a number of options to do daily quests that help both the guild and the members of that guild.  First are the "GBQs" or Guild Base Quests, which are essentially construction quests.  Your base comes unfurnished.  You have to build it up, using these quests.  Most are simple and they come in packs of 4. The only requirement is that you need to be able to fly, so characters under 25 can't participate in them. One "envelope" of 4 quests gives a fair bit of guild perks to the guild, and decent contribution and merit to the player.  Merit is a currency that you use at your base to buy things which are very useful.  Merit can be used to buy high end crafting materials, experience buffs, experience buffs for your pets, and other items including soul gold, which is the currency used with NPCs.

Once a guild builds their base up, they can hold Campfires. These are guild banquets, which are open to anyone. They last half an hour, and depending on the guilds size and base completion can have up to three buffs. What this means that for half an hour people from all over show up at your base and sit there, often dancing, often chatting and soak up large amounts of experience points.  As you have to be guilded (not necessarily by the host guild) often campfires are a good place for a new guild to pick up bodies from the unguilded who want the buffs.

Campfires are a vital part of leveling for lower level characters.

 

The second event for guilds is the Base Exorcism. This is something that is done once a week by players, if they choose to, to get dedication (which is important for personal rewards) and merit.  It's also a huge amount of experience points.  An exorcism is an event where there are a number of phases to the event from running energy from one place to another to constructing towers and fighting baddies.  It can last up to two hours, but most last under one.  It usually is a good time, as there is a lot of joking around for the more social people.

The third event is the Immortal Rift.  Open to characters fifty and above, Rifts are guild vs guild territory wars. It's a pvp event on Saturday evenings.  Not only do you fight the other guild, if you are a pvper, but you can also run carts for your base. While this doesn't exclude you from PVP combat, it lessens the amount you do. It's actually rather fun, and this coming from a person who doesn't like PVP.  The guild gets things for this, among them currency to fund other functions, but also mounted combat licenses that can be given to those who participate.  These are better than those a player could get on his own.

Another event is the Guild Midas Event.  This is where characters level 60 and above can get a bonus twice a week for doing their guild base quests.  It requires a minimum of 80 dedication to get the better rewards: real gold that can be used on the AH. The more dedication you have, the more gold you get per envelope. At the high end, you can get 1 gold per envelope. Not a bad deal.

And lastly, there is the guild lottery.  Once you have 80 dedication, if you are in a level 3 or higher guild (with or without a base) you can trade 15 merit for a roll in the Guild Lottery up to 3 times per day.  The rewards can be anything from soul leaves (currency to buy a most racial mounts, pets, and fashion from the cash shop) to real gold to other things of varying value.  You can also get a VIP card either from the Cash Shop or the AH which allows you to wave the 80 dedication rule.

So that's guilds in a nutshell, and I have barely scratched the surface.  Next time I will look at the Mentor system in depth.

EdgeOfChaos, my personal guild that I created to explore some of the functions for this article.

 

Forsaken World: A Month In

Life In A Half Dressed World 

So I've been playing Forsaken World now for a month.  In that time I have leveled three characters to just over 70, and another to 62 as well as a bunch of little baby "check-in" characters.  I have learned a great deal about both the game and it's community.  While some of the luster has come off from the first few days, life in Erydia is good.  Osiris is still going strong, and I'm still happily a member.  While I don't necessarily fit the "mold" of the guild, in that I am not one to do the heavy flirting and goofing around that goes on in Guild Chat, I am an accepted and welcome member, and they have made me feel both useful and valuable to the guild.  And to be perfectly honest, what more could one ask?  

So what are my impressions of the first month of game play? Well to be honest, it's a very interesting game in many aspects.  Of course, since it is a PWE game, it's heavy on the Zen Market (ie Cash Shop).  However, if you have the time to put into the game, you can get by without cash shopping, though you are at a serious disadvantage if you do in pvp (or so I am told as those that know me know how much I pvp).  It is important to note that PVP is actually a fairly large part of the game, and I have been asked on numerous occasions to try it out. I may cave, and at least give it a look.

Past the ability to buff yourself for end game and end game pvp in the cash shop, you can get a lot of outfits or "Fashion" as they are called in game.  The rest are pets and mounts, which are a big drain in currency.  The other big drain is bag/bank slot expansions.  So there is a tendency to shop heavily amongst the clientele from what I have noticed. 

Moving on to game play.  The game is essentially in three different phases.  The first phase is leveling, and has a hefty xp buff as I mentioned in my original post.  Level 1-60 can honestly be done in a couple of days easily enough.  The next ten levels are a little slower, but not too bad still.  After level 70, however, he big 300% xp buff for quests goes away and you slow down. The other item that slows you down after you hit 60 is the soul power and scroll unlocking tasks.

Essentially, once you get to level sixty you start acquiring Soul Power which is used to buy Vice or Virtue levels to unlock skill buffs.  The various classes and trees have different needs in this regard, while one type of warrior for example may go vice for maximum buffs, another build may go virtue.  As you gain Vice/Vitue levels, you reach plateaus or gates, which require quests to unlock.  This is a very grind intensive time, with kill quests that require 240 of a specific monster to be killed to gain soul power.  Fortunately, the game allows you to combat bot.  So you can essentially afk for an hour or two and kill what you need to and come back to turn in your quest.

Another aspect of the game that is unique to other mmo's I have played is the gemming/fortification system.  No gear starts with gem sockets, but most gear can have up to either 3 or 4 sockets unlocked. However, to unlock it takes a variety of different materials which can either be purchased from the cash shop, or gained in other manners in a more hit and miss manner.  This can be a pricy process in either real money or game currency.  To unlock ones "wings" takes 100 chroma, which are obtained from the number of gems and the types of gems in your gear.  Wings make your character stronger.

Thus far, I have not gotten wings yet, but we'll get there.

This makes the game interesting for me, as there is a bit of a twist on the leveling/gearing policy.  Which is a nice change from simply grinding dungeons over and over and over again. Don't get me wrong... There is a lot of that still. Both for gaining scrolls to unlock skills as well as for some of the massive xp amounts needed to level.   

The one downside to the system as I see it currently is the lack of an archer class. While there is the Marksman, it is not the traditional archer character most every game seems to have.  Though the Marksman is fun, having to be a dwarf is less so for me personally.  Add that the male dwarf sneezes constantly and is a bit on the gross side, it lead me to make Procyona, the dwarfette.

Along with her blunderbuss and trusty Whirlwind Puppet, Setnaris

 

Thus far, I have found the marksman to be fun for me. I am, after all, a hunter at heart.  I do also enjoy most of the other classes I've played. The Vampire seems a bit overpowered to me, at least the blood spec does.  Bard is tricky, but that makes it fun.  The Mage is a blaster, go figure why I might like that one.  Assassin, or Sin as they are called in game, are more pvp based, but fun still pve other than threat issues.  Warriors are fun, lots of dps and have the ability to tank if a protector isn't around.  That's essentially all I've played so far. While I have a priest, that character hasnt really done much, so hard to get a feel for the class as yet.

Forsaken World: Osiris- A Game Changer

Guilds and Mentoring

Looking out over  Guild Base

What a difference a random event can make in your gaming experience.  One night while bored out of my mind, I decided to play Forsaken World. I was having trouble sleeping so I logged into the game. Being that I play on a West Coast server, people are still up at that hour it seems.  While playing in town doing the daily grind of quests called "Life in the Harbor" which is repeatable 30 times a day for xp and coinage and is considered a prime grinding tool, I happened to notice in World Chat a guild advertisement.  Normally, in any other game, this would be something that would be an annoyance to me, but being that as I wrote last time, my experience with the FW community had been non-existent outside of a random act of kindness from a stranger, I decide to read it.  It was a simple add, one you see all the time.  "Guild X is recruiting, Any level welcome, we like to help one another out and just hang out" or something along those themes seems to be the majority of guild spam, amirite?  Well since the X was Osiris and not something borderline offensive and sophmoric like Pygmy Hermaphrodite Chinchillas, I decided to look closer. The person who was doing the advertising wasn't some wierd sexual reference and didn't have pwn or some other pvp reference in the name, so hmmm maybe just maybe.  So I whispered him, a guy named Bashbrother.  I have to say, I had no idea what I was getting into at the time, but I am so happy that I made that step.  So I mentioned that I was new, as in a day or two of playing the game new and had no clue on many of the mechanics and nuances of the game, but that I was looking for people to play with and learn from.  And amazingly enough, the reply was simply sounds great, welcome to the game.  As a gamer, one of the worst things many people can say to you to hurt and belittle you is to call you a n00b or some variations of it.  To have a potential guild recruiter so openly welcome a new player who truly is a noob in this game was... refreshing.  So in no time flat, I basically said "sounds like what I am looking for in a guild, I'd love to give it a try if you'll have me."  And boom! I'm a new member of the guild Osiris, thank you Insomnia!

So the first thing they tell me is, we have a base and the coordinates are linked in guild chat. Go have a look around they say.  So being the curious blogger by day that I am, I did.  Mind blowing this was.  Guild housing is something I've only heard about as none of the games I've played to this point have it.  To finally see it was, breathtaking.  Set up in the sky overlooking the desert (which is very Egyptian themed of course) on "Guild Island." the base is an elaborate maze of plateaus and floating structures.  There are quest givers, vendors, and more up there.  One of the things that at the time I was not able to do are the construction quests, as I was only level 23 at the time and the quests require you to be at least level 30.  Sleep finally came, so I reluctantly logged off and went back to my nice warm bed.  

The next morning, I logged on and immediately went to my newly guilded toon rather than the others I had been putzing with more or less equally up to that point. I was eager to test the theory that if I needed any help just to ask in guild and somebody would be happy to help out, as I was told in my welcome.  So many guilds claim this, but so few deliver I was skeptical.  Let's face it, even one of my most pleasant gaming families in all of MMOs, the Dragons of New Avalon, is very cliquey and hard for new people to fit in at times.  So what would Osiris be like once the noob was loose?  One of my burning questions was regarding the Master/Apprentice system that the game keeps telling me I really need to get involved in to progress. What the heck is it? And how does one find a Master? Most of the people on the list that comes up when you search for one have obscene references or silly characters in their names, and the few that don't are too busy to reply when you pm them.  So since guild was hopping with a lot of idle chit chat between people who clearly were friends, I asked my question, prefacing it that I was a noob.  I braced for the ignoring I expected, or the backlash for being rude and interrupting a conversation that I feared.  Instead I got multiple "welcome to the guilds, and the game."   I then got one player who started to ask me about my gaming experience and we talked about WoW some as most gamers seem to.  I mentioned my experience as a player but that I was new to FW.  Then the conversation on the Master/Apprentice thing started.  It seems that the system is a set of daily quests that the pair need to do each day, and they can do other things together as well.  The apprentice gets gobs of experience points and a high level character to help them out.  The Master gets mentor points which allows them to do things at high level that help in the farming of gear and such as I understand it. So I got invited to be an apprentice, and given a great briefing on the game. Apparently Bard is a popular class as it is OP (Over Powered) as a damage class, and I had through my reading of the game text, stumbled upon the top end game build, Wind.  However, it's a challenging class to play, or so I am told.  Thus far, I have not found it so, but I am still a lowbie.

So we did our M/A quest, and I learned that "skull" mobs take only 1 hp from any ability you have, so spam your free attack only, it gives you participation but doesn't make you go Oom (out of mana) so if you have healing abilities (which I do strangely enough) you have mana for that.  We then turned it in, and I went up a level.  Just like that.  We then went to two drag throughs of level 20 and 30ish dungeons. I got some gear, some loot to put on the AH and four more levels.  Toss in a sixth level from turning in all those triple xp dungeon quests, and viola six levels in under two hours.  However, my new Master, Arblockus, was not yet done. He gave me some gear for when I get higher level (including some nice level 60+ gear) and a lot of information.  What classes are like, how to level and gear, and what the differences in guilds were in this game from others.  I was hooked.

So when I logged back on later in the evening, I found myself more confident talking in guild chat. I felt I belonged.  Not that I have too much trouble with this being an extrovert the way that I am, but hey it's nice to feel you fit in.  The grind on my own suddenly felt so... slow.  Then I learned of a Campfire event. Not just for roasting s'mores apparently.  Basically, you sit around at the Guild Banquet around a campfire and get xp buffs.  And for thirty minutes, you get xp for sitting around and chatting. How cool is that?  I crafted, brushed my teeth, got ready for bed, and chatted with my guildies.  And made nearly a third of a level from it. Gotta love free xp. :)

Pass the S'mores will ya?

PWI: Remembering Ye Goode Olde Days

Keepin' It Real

So after playing Forsaken World where the XP falls off trees, PWI or Perfect World International feels like you are caught drafting a snail.  The game has a much more old school approach to things, you have fewer health than most other MMORPGs I've seen at the start and do piddly damage out of the gate.  An hour or two of play time might get you a level or two, but not much more out of the gate.  Took me a couple of hours to get to level 5, which in a way is refreshing. It really helps you learn you two primary abilities and how to manage your resources a bit better.  Like Forsaken World, which I wrote about yesterday, PWI has several of the same benefits in that you have auto routing options, most of the mobs in the starter areas are neutral to you, and you do get some benefits to help you level up (somebody on the server hit 105 last night, it was a big deal).

Betarde, the Human Blademaster Starting Gear

Like it's sibling, it is graphically stunning, perhaps evena little more so than FW.  For those into character customization, you can go really nuts on the colors of skin, eyes, hair, lips, mascara, etc. 

Some of the things that take getting used to however are that the default key bindings for the toolbar are the Function Keys, not the numerical keys. Those are saved for the side bar.  Not sure why exactly, as yet, but it is an interesting concept.  I am certain I can swap stuff around to be more familiar when I get more familiar with the UI, given how customizable everything else in the game appears. 

The Quest system is again very similar to FW, in that you have quest text with the occasional response, though scripted, it at least gives the feeling of interaction with the Quest NPCs.   Unlike its sibling, after the starter zone, everyone does not get dumped into the same city. This gives the game a more realistic feel in a way. I don't necessarily feel that all the races of the world would melt into one melting pot flawlessly after being separated at the start.  In many ways, that is the primary difference I noticed between the two Perfect World games here, PWI has the more real feel where FW is more stylized high fantasy with that odd mix of steampunk and magic.  Both work, in their particular game, but there is something to be said for the rare game that tries to stay grounded in reality so far as a fantasy game with magic can. 

Upon arriving in the first city, you are given a quest to talk to an Elder who sends you around the city to meet up with the various vendors and skill people, not to learn their stuff but to find them.  This in turn gives you a set of gear to start your adventures with that is a complete set rather than the basic clothing you start with.

You even get a Genie Pet/Companion

Talk to the Watcher of the Earth behind me here, and you get your little Genie Companion. The Blademaster has a great weapon fighter sorta feel to it, though with a Far Eastern Flair.  I can't say I don't like the look. I think it's easily one of the nicest sets of starter gear I've seen in an MMO.

From here, I rolled my first love, an elven archer. Though Elves in PWI have little wings on the side of their heads, and can fly through full size wings that appear out of their back when they activate it, they are in most other ways typical fantasy elves. Big pointy ears, and very in tune with nature. 

Look, up in the sky it's a bird... It's a plane.... No, it's just a winged elf.

The auto-routing works better on the winged elf, since they can fly and when they take the direct route, are able to fly over obstacles that running can't get past. Though it does take some micromanaging in the Elven starter zone due to the big trees.  Once you get to the city and get your starter gear, you are much more potent than the Blademaster or at least that was the sense I got. Of course there is something appealing to me to stand back and let fly and let the mob die on it's way to me rather than having to get up in it's face and smell the stench of death first hand.  So this may be a slight bias of mine ;).

PWI does have a table top feel to it in many ways. When you level, you are given 5 attribute points to distribute between your 4 abilities.  This allows a degree of customization that you don't see in most of the other MMOs directly.  Given my table top background, I found this gratifying. 

Starter geared and ready to fly

However, the table top gaming aspect of the game may be a double edged sword in many ways. For those used to fast leveling and being able to tear through the older content to get to the "End Game" the experience of slow methodical leveling through 105 levels might just be too much.  Ironically, in a game of such massive customization options, the one thing it lacks is a talent tree system.  Not that its a bad thing since in most games everyone plays a cookie cutter one anyways, but I did find it surprising. 

If you are looking for a fast paced game where you can rip through it, this isn't for you. However, I rather enjoyed the slower pace and the gritty table top feel. And you can't beat the look of the game. More to come.

Forsaken World: Tweens Unite!

Pretty But What Else?

So Perfect World introduced "Arc" to allow players of their games to have a single loading interface to load any and all of their current games.  It also allows players to access community Forums and such from in game through the Arc Browser.  So having been playing a lot of Neverwinter I downloaded it, and installed it.  After doing so, I decided to check out some of their other titles.  Of the three games I looked at, the Forsaken World has held the most appeal to me so far.  It is a digitally attractive 3-D game world with stylized characters.  While most of the men in the game aren't "masculine" in my definition of the word, I am admittedly not their target demographic (Heck, I'm nobody's target demographic).

So, meet Roricsaxon (should be Roric Saxon) but the space wasn't allowed. He's a Warrior, that is to say a great-sword wielding killing machine in defense of the Lionheart Champions.  Of the four characters I created, he is the most "manly" in the traditional sense.

Starter gear in the town of Winter Heights

The game has a rather simple feel to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Much of the first twenty-five levels (of 80 currently) have a tutorial feel to it.  Most of the mobs (monsters) are neutral to you, and not aggressive until you attack them, even the "rampaging beasts" that you are sent out to kill.  Makes it easy to complete quests, in case you somehow take damage and need to rest. Or if you are like me on the staff of a certain cat, and she gets hungry just as you are in the middle of a centaur camp. The other feature that I really like is the auto-routing.  Most of the quests so far have the ability to click the target in the quest text and get auto-routed to that place.  If you have a mount (freebie one around level 10-15, free flying mount at 25), it even mounts you before taking you to your target automatically.  Given the fact that the mobs don't attack you without provocation in many cases it is therefore, possible to go get a drink while your toon is running/riding/flying to the quest target area.   Combat abilities appear to work the same way.  If you are targeting something and click a combat ability, your toon will automatically move to the maximum range for that ability if it's a ranged attack, or move to melee range to execute the attack. Saves on pounding on the keyboard some.

Currently, most of the servers I saw are giving xp buffs to new players to the tune of 300% quest xp up to like level 70 or so.  Thus even though the starter area quests are up to level 10, you are usually 13-15 when you reach Freedom Harbor, the first city I've found.  The first dungeon I've heard about is around level 17, though it says 15-20.  I have yet to find a group for it, but then again I've played sparingly so far.

Screenshot showing the default UI.

The UI is simple, clean and customizable.  A second bar is placeable directly above the one on the bottom, which I have put into place since this picture as my character got more abilities.  Also as is popular in PW games, you get a combat pet who has 2 abilities that I put on the second bar as well.

My biggest complaint about the game is the community seems closed.  From what I can tell, based on reading of forums and about topics, guilds are important in the game.  Guilds get bases and such and control/occupy regions of the world.  When you enter an area it tells you which guild controls the area.  However, joining a guild seems... difficult.  Getting somebody to talk to you seems even worse.  Outside of a female character on a fancy white mount that came up to me today and gave me a beautiful rare quality weapon for when I hit level 40 out of the random kindness department, I've had no player interaction.  Unfortunately, said player had to go quickly so I couldn't ask them questions.  But hey, it was still really cool. So on the off chance that player ever finds and reads this... Thanks!

Level 15 Roric with his Wolf Pet. Though he looks like he has a hairball right now.

I do like the stylized look of the game, and the quest system is a nice mix of the WoW-style flat text quests and the more evolved Star Wars or Secret World cut scene quests in that while there is only text, it is interactive to a degree.  It gives a bit more feeling while not making you wait for a cut scene if you're not into that thing.

For the moment, the jury is still out on this game. I like the look and feel of the game, but so far the community has left me cold overall (outside of the one great moment).  I will return to this and update you as I find out more.

Customization and Collections, Patch 2.1

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic has been out about a year now. It's been a rough first year for the highly anticipated franchise.  That Bioware, a well-respected company, was behind it boded well for the product. However, for many gamers, the fact that EA was behind Bioware was frightening. However, that didn't stop the game from having a lot of hype leading up to launch.  Most people likely know by now, that the game never lived up to the expectations.   All that being said, the game has undergone a lot of changes in the last year. First and foremost was the Free-To-Pay, err Play format.  I should be clear, this is not specifically a comment strictly on SW:TOR but on most of the F2P genre. It's the current successful model, and so why not follow it?  Even Neverwinter uses it, a lot more than I thought at first (more on that in a different post).  The Cartel Market, as SW calls it, has been a huge boost to the game's financial recovery.  Based on the amount of Cartel Items on the GTN, there are people spending hundreds of dollars a week on Cartel Packs.  That adds up to a sizable amount of money for EA/Bioware.  Like it or hate it, the Cartel Market is a major reason for SW having the ability to still be around.

The second big change for the game was the first digital expansion, the Rise of the Hutt Cartel.  In this expansion that sold for either $10 or $20 depending on if you were a subscriber or a F2P member gave you 5 new levels, 4 new Hard Mode versions of lower level flash points, and a new Op.  As well as a new planet, Makeb.  The Makeb story line is entertaining, and well written.  I've played it from both sides and found the story to be good both ways.  For those who want Same Sex relationships, there is a male Sith NPC in the Makeb Imperial story line that can be flirted with/kissed by male players.  While for many homophobic gamers, this is terrifying, it's good to see them at least make good on part of their promise to players on this topic.  While it doesn't appeal to me, that doesn't mean that it doesn't appeal to others, and therefore has merit within the game.

Lastly, the first major "quality of life" improvement in SW:TOR for players who don't like their look. Patch 2.1 Customization.  This had several major changes for those who are into the whole look of their character. First they introduced the Cathar as a playable race. Again, not my thing, but I am sure there are a lot of people who want to make their Thundercat clones.   I've seen more than a few people running around with them already.  Secondly, they made it possible to get some new hairstyles that are more lush than the original ones.  Both unlocks are account wide once you pay for them once, so it's not too pricey.  The third change is the ability to change your character's race, and everything else in their look other than class and gender.  This can be done relatively cheaply as well, and subscribers get a discount.

Before, Kermit the Jedi here... It's not easy, being green.

Take for example the above. This was a before picture. Typical bland boring Jedi Knight. You see a lot of these guys running around. And well nothing goes with green well... A few cartel coins later and poof!

And you go from typical to what the heck is a Pure Blood Sith doing on Tython?!?

While the race change is pricey, the rest is under 200 cartel coins, meaning well under the monthly subscription.  Total here was about 900 cartel coins, so a month and a half's worth if you don't want to buy any coins (or can't afford to).

Artificing got buffed a bit by the expansion as well, making up for the Cartel Market killing the crystal market.  New Dyes can be crafted by Artificers to change armor colors.  These sell pretty well, though a bit of a pain to make.  However, I expect Dyes to become hot.

Lastly, is the Collections feature. And I'll be honest, if you don't like this, then either you don't care at all about what your gear looks like (which is perfectly fine) or you are just enjoying hatin' on EA/Bioware (which is ok too, if it makes ya feel better).    Essentially how it works is anything you have acquired from either the Cartel Market, Cartel Rep, or from EA/Bioware in the form of a promo/perk can now be accessed through the Collections tab.  The character that originally had the item can get endless copies of whatever it is for free, to replace parts either lost or whatever. Or for a new companion you are gearing up, etc.  For a small fee, you can unlock MOST things to be account wide.  This is a really nice feature, as it allows you to get that really rare whatever you paid x credits for or got lucky and got in one of your cartel packs and use it on everyone.  And this is not just on a specific legacy. I play on two servers, and my Collections add items from both servers to the collective.  This made for a very happy smuggler.

What good is it to be a smuggler if you never have goodies from the Dark Side?

The Overlord's Throne is courtesy of my Sith Inquisitor's purchase on the GTN, the title "Crime Lord" was something I got in an old cartel pack on the other server.  Now, my main has access to both. It's good to be the Crime Lord, Jabba eat your heart out... At least Leia didn't choke me with her chain.

While I think the system needs some tweaking still, specifically the ability to make the space ship upgrades account wide (those get expensive otherwise for each new 50...) I think it's a major step forward.  While there are those who feel (justifiably) that some of the game issues and content could be addressed ahead of these cosmetic and Cartel Market things, one has to remember that it's the Cartel Market that pays the bills.

The Guardian Fighter: Tank & Spank

Neverwinter Tanking

So the Guardian Fighter is the last of the five classes currently available in Neverwinter.  At first look, this class is confusing.  A lot of the abilities are more damage oriented than defense oriented.  Though once you get the hang of the class it becomes more apparent how it works.  Neverwinter, as a whole only allows you a few things at any given time: Two At Wills, 3 Encounters, and at most 2 Dailies. The second daily doesn't open up until level 19.  You also get a tab and a shift ability that is unique to the class you are playing.  You have far more powers than fit in those slots.  So this is where the Guardian Fighter comes through shining.  The damaging abilities are nice at lower levels where where threat isn't as necessary as it is going to be all over the place with everyone going gonzo and many groups not even using a tank in skirmishes or Cloak Tower. However, if you are serious about tanking and damage mitigation, you have abilities for this around level 15-20.  So you swap things on your tool bar for when you need tanking stuff and when you are looking to be more damage oriented.  Once I got the hang of this feature, my tank became fun and easier.  

The Tab feature for the tank is Mark, which those who are familiar with 4th edition is essentially the tanks "taunt" feature that encourages things to attack them rather than the squishy dps with a death wish.  As you get stronger in levels, your Mark becomes more potent, and is more likely to keep the bad guy beating on your trusty plate mail rather than that crazy wizard in his bath robes.

The Shift feature for the tank is Guard. This essentially means lifting your shield up to hide behind it and block that nasty ogre's golf swing before you are permanently disfigured and your head is mounted on his pike.  Holding shift increases your chance to block that attack, and it also changes your two at wills to a new skill, much like the Channel Divinity in the Cleric mentioned previously.

Roric Saxon, sporting the spiffy level 20 blues available for 10s a piece.

When you are going to go dungeon delving, you just swap out your crazier attacks for extra defenses, and suddenly you are more study by a ton.  You also get more taunts that are good for snap threat.  This makes you feel more like a tank.  I ran a second Cloak Tower in the tank configuration, and the difference was palpable. Mind you, I went from top Damage dealer to last, but that's not my role, right?  However, I also needed no healing potions, and the cleric was able to dps his heart out rather than keep me and the squishies up. 

Devoted Cleric: Not Just A Healer

Neverwinter: Day Four

One of the more thankless jobs in most MMOs is healing, tanking being the other.  Everyone needs one, and yet if something goes wrong, their fault or not, it falls to blame the tank and/or healer for it. It couldn't possibly be the fault of the unaware dps standing in the fire or whatever too busy getting off on their recount numbers.  Or worse yet, the fact that your dps couldn't kill Hogger before the enrage timer at level 90.  Sorry for the WoW references, but despite their recent loss of a million plus subs, it's safe to say most people are at least somewhat aware of the WoW references.  With that in mind, and my predilection to playing the aforementioned DPS classes, I saved the two focal character types for last in my list.  

So, the Cleric.  It was once described to me by a very good friend as "the Lazy Man's Class" in 4E. You don't have to heal anyone until they are bloodied.  While this isn't the case quite in Neverwinter, it's still less intensive at low levels than other MMOs where I have healed.  Disclaimer: I have only played the Cleric through the first dungeon, so hard to say how much harder the healing gets later on.

However, that being said, I have run him through two skirmishes and the Cloak Tower twice now, and at level 17 he has been tremendously enjoyable. For starters, he doesn't only heal. One of his primary abilities at low level is Sun Burst, which is an explosion of holy power that heals allies and damages enemies at the same time.  It's a powerful AoE spell against the lowbie mobs in the first two zones and in the Cloak Tower.  In both skirmishes, my cleric was #2 on damage done while also being #1 on healing done.  The other feature that is fun is the Channel divinity feature you get at around level 15.  When you build up enough holy power, you can channel it, which takes your standard at-wills and changes them to two new channeled spells. One is a channeled attack that damages the target, and heals all the nearby allies.  The other is a channeled heal that heals the targeted ally with a stream of healing.  Both are relatively potent at this level, and I suspect they scale relatively well until you get your paragon abilities at level 31. 

The other two abilities are nice as well, Lance of Faith is a decent at will attack and Astral Seal is a pretty sweet stock buff/heal.  Apply Astral Seal on a foe, and any friendly target that attacks that foe gets healed. This is nice, as it even heals you which many of your abilities don't.  One of the encounters will heal you and your target both, but other than that, you are only caught in the AoE heals, I have yet to find a self heal.

The primary thing I didn't like about the cleric and healing mechanics is the reticule that Neverwinter uses to target. It is harder to target your allies to heal them.  Which is likely why you rely on several of the healing mechanics already mentioned. It's far easier to target the boss than to target all the moving parts of your allies, especially in random groups where everyone races about willy nilly.  However that aside, the cleric has been fun.

The devoted cleric and his Control Wizard ally, Likka.

The cleric uses chain main, and a holy symbol. They do not carry a weapon like in other MMOs, rather the holy symbol is their weapon of choice. Implement casters, clerics and wizards both, only use their implements rather than weapons.The cleric's is located on his belt on the right hand side of the image above.

Great Weapons Fighter: Smash and Grab!

Neverwinter Beta Report 3

On the third day of testing Neverwinter, I picked up the first character I made and leveled him.  The Great Weapons Fighter.  Enter Mugwort Bladebiter, Half-orc Warrior.  Wort or Mugs (your choice) is an old established character of mine going back to the nineties, and as such is my default brute warrior dps type when I start a new game.  Armed with Scale Mail and a Greatsword, the Great Weapons Fighter is all about the DPS race.  Kill it before it kills you.  No defenses to speak of until you get your healer companion, until then it's kill fast and keep your potion box stocked.  Ironically, the weakest of the three classes I've looked at so far, it's been the one I've enjoyed the most to date.  Something therapeutic about taking a massive greatsword and holding the right click button watching your power meter go up, and then releasing and watching the small mobs flop over.  Of course it does little to the larger mobs, but meh.  That's what encounter powers are for, am I right?  

The Great Weapons Fighter is all about brute force. They do get an ability around level 8 or so that allows them to heal themselves back from the damage they deal, which is very handy.  They also have an encounter power that knocks foes back, and slows them. Again, handy.  The key to the GWF is to hit 3 or more mobs at once, to get the damage buff to their cleave like abilities.  As with any other two handed weapon fighter in any mmo I've played, the attacks are slower and feel a bit clunky at times.  The biggest challenge I've found is in moving out of the way of attacks by the bigger mobs and casters.  It appears that my movement speed is much lower than my less armored characters.  Those of you who know me, may guess that this is part of why I like this class so much.  It's difficult for me to master.  If it was overpowered, like my rogue was day one, I would lose interest pretty quick.  

The side quests early on for the Warrior, the Half-orc, and the Dungeoneering Skill were rather amusing.  Especially the one where the half-orc lady is complaining about being treated like an orc spy and the guardsman trying to explain to you, a hero of Neverwinter, why your race is being targeted for racism.  "Umm no, Mis-ss-ster B-b-b-bladebiter sir, of course not you.... but.... ummm .... other half-orc scum... I mean.... Please don't kill me..." (Conversation is mine in this case, not in the story, but it summarizes the conversation pretty well to me).

In the first dungeon, Cloak Tower, I found the GWF strong and flexible. It functioned as an off tank on adds and small mobs easily, with my cleric companion maintaining most of my healing needs.  Though the cleric in the group did toss some healing love my way in boss fights, on trash my companion did more than adequately.

From what I have heard in zone chat (what passes for Trade or Fleet or Whatever ya wanna call it), the Rogue kicks tail until about 30 and the GWF is weak until then. After that, the two change places.  My rogue is 20 and my GWF is 17 so thus far, I can't say.  

Wort and his Kelemvor Acolyte (Companion available from Zen Market)

As this shot has a nice close view of the UI, I'll give you a quick run down.  The left button, Tab, is for your "Unstoppable" class ability, which is essentially beserker rage. You grow big and red, and it's very cool. Doesn't last long but it's fun.  The big 1 is your daily, think whirlwind.  The two unmarked yellow ones are class abilities that are passive, they build a buff to the character during combat so he isn't totally defenseless.  The Q is your knock back encounter. E is your leap into the fray encounter.  R is your self heal encounter.  The two green guys are left and right mouse. Left is your single target base attack.  The right is your channeled wind up and let fly ability.  You may see a small symbol above the elf's head that is the rage meter for Unstoppable. When that is full, the tab button lights up.

The big hexagon in the middle is your Action Points. This is on all characters, and fuels your daily power. It's not available until all of that hex is filled.  This is the stock UI, how it looks for each character. Dailies at the top, special feature ability, Encounters, At Wills.  You get your first free companion at level 15 or so, unless you sign up for one of the Founder Packs or buy one from the Zen Market.  The founder's packs expire May 30, 2013.  The middle one seems like a pretty sweet deal, though if I had the money I would get the top end one. It gives 3 extra character slots, and the Drow as a playable race. 

The Control Wizard: Ice Spells and You

Neverwinter, The Control Wizard 

After talking to some people about the launch of my new blog, I decided to take a look at the Control Wizard class in Neverwinter.  And so far, it's pretty nice.  My elven wizard just hit level 16, and will be running his first dungeon and foundry quest sometime tonight.  Like D&D 4th Edition, upon which the mechanics are based, the Control Wizard in Neverwinter is built around keeping the bad guys at a distance, and then burning them don with area of affect abilities and applying affects/debuffs on their foes.  Like in World of Warcraft and other games, the methodology here is frost magic.  You start out with magic missile, a D&D staple from day one.  As you level up, you get Ray of Frost, a channeled spell that over time can freeze your target in place.  These are your two at will abilities.  Your big guns are of course your Encounter and Daily abilities, like the pen and paper version of the game.  Ice Storm, your daily, is pretty potent as you'd expect.  The encounter powers are pretty nice including something that resembles a force choke from Star Wars.   Having a companion certainly helps, of course. But even without one, the wizard solos relatively well. The key is, of course, to start the pull off with an aoe encounter power usually, freezing or immobilizing the biggest melee type in the pack.  Then magic missile down the ranged, before channeling your ray of frost to keep mr bad guy away from you.  If they get close, and you have enough action points built up: nuke em with Ice Storm and blink away.  Yeah, double tapping the W key allows you to blink in a magical effect that makes me want to say "Bamf" and talk with a kitschy faux German accent ala Nightcrawler of the X-Men.  

Bosses are a bit trickier, as you usually have to fend off adds while trying to keep the big guy away from you, this is where the chill/freeze effect comes into play. Freeze/chill the boss long enough to burn down the adds and then reapply the chill asap.  Then blink away and channel while your pet beats on it. If you have a pet that is.  If not, you beat on it, and blink away whenever trouble rears its ugly head.  Which can be often if they get close to you.  

But other than that, I have so far found the Wizard to be a treat to play.  I made mine a bit on the scrawny side, as one would expect of a class that traditionally had d4 hit dice.  But hey, it hasn't stopped him at all.

Koli Vile, Scrawny Elf Mage admires the death of his first boss.

The little orb in the corner that reminds me of the "bit" in the original Tron, is your implement orb that you use as a "weapon" to cast your spells.  The wizards are easy to spot in game, they are the blinking fools followed by their little orbs. It's pretty funny actually.

As usual, I took the cleric companion, to keep me healed and buffed. Plus its the only female companion available so far, and well those who know Koli from my old games would know he would NEVER hire a male hireling.

Why does she look like she could beat me up?

You can see one of the mounts in the background along with some of the "creative" and "awe inspiring" names I have seen in game.

Neverwinter: Open Beta

Screen Shot, Alaryn and his clerical companion 

So I got into the open beta this last week for Neverwinter, the much heralded Free-to-Play game from Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios.   This game has gotten a lot of good press so far, and justifiably so.  It has a smooth play style once you get used to the slightly arcady feel to it.  For older fingers like mine it took some time to get used to using W,A,S,D and tab, and Q,E,R and thankfully my mouse has the 1-5 keys on it, so can do it all with two hands.  For those unfamiliar with the game, it is set in the Forgotten Realms city of Neverwinter during the 4th Edition D&D rules set, ie post Spell Plague.  For those of you who played Neverwinter Nights, and it's sequel NWN2 I know most of us wanted more of an MMO style game. Well this is it. :)  Bioware, who made the first NWN is busy with their project Star Wars: The Old Republic, so they are not involved. In comes Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment who runs a number of F2P games.  The fact that they have run several of these now helps Neverwinter have the feel of a game that will be around a long time.  

To start with, you are limited to two characters unless you buy more slots through their Zen Market.  Other than that, however, I've seen no limitations on play that require real money.  Most of the real money options currently are minor buffs and some things to open up other things. Most likely at somepoint that will change, but at least during the beta, it's relatively limited in my experience, which is a plus in my opinion.

Alaryn, my alter-ego, is as he should be, a trickster rogue.  That is, he is a dual dagger wielding elf with a habit of tumbling into trouble and poking things in the back with small sharp objects until they expire and shower him with lewtz.  I have found a number of places where the rogue is very handy to have a there are a number of traps in most of the crawls I've done.  The story line starts out pretty linear, as it has to I think, to teach you the game. Soon after it branches out some and you have many options to pursue.  

There is the Foundary, which is player created content.  Like the original NWN, the MMO version allows players to create content for other players to play and rate.  And through the Daily Foundary quest, encourage players to try the content out.  I tried one out today, and was pleasantly surprised with the effort and story work put into it by the author.  The rewards are set by Cryptic, so they aren't unbalancing compared to normal content.

There is Dungeon Delves.  The stock five player dungeons just like most other MMOs.  I did the first one today, the Cloak Tower (not to be confused with the Clock Tower as many players seem to call it).  It's a pretty straight forward crawl against the Many Arrows Orc Clan which is embedded in the city and making a fuss.  While I found the Need/Greed system slightly clunky in it's execution, it worked well other than the unguilded guy rolling need on everything (one in every game isn't there?)

There are skirmishes, which I have yet to try though it sounds like larger scale battles versus orcs and such.  I will try one, but just haven't gotten to it yet.

And of course, there is PVP arenas.  Not my thing, sorry.  I do understand it is a necessary part of the game, as there are many many people who like it, and it makes money, but well just not my thing.

Leveling through the first part of the game is pretty easy, your starter quest line will take you to level 4 and into the city itself. And another quest or two will get you to level 6.  After that it slows a bit, but not excessively so.  After a weekend of pretty steady play, I have Alaryn to level 17 and have cycled the second slot through three other toons to level 5 just to get a feel for the other classes.

The rogue plays a bit like a fighter early on, as you don't get stealth until level 10.  So while it fits Alaryn, it may frustrate some purists and those who are familiar with the stealthy rogues from other games.    They do dish out pretty effective damage though, from what I can tell, though I clearly need work. In my dungeon delve, I was the lowest kill count of anyone but the controller.  Meh, I am learning and I was busy trying to get the feel of things so I had something to write about.

Riding comes at level 20, and the mounts look cool from what I've seen.  Both the ones they give you with the Founders packs and those that you can buy from the traditional mount vendor. 

I've not gotten there yet, but I see a lot of mounted characters in game.

The servers are packed, which if you've played games like some of the other games I play is a nice change.  The graphics engine is smooth, and doesn't seem to hiccup much.  They are working hard on server stability, something that has yet to be adjusted for the player load, but it's the first weekend so that's to be expected.  All in all, So far so good. :)

Welcome to the Inn of the Four Winds!

The Inn of the Four Winds is a "quest hub" of sorts in my home brew D&D campaign that I've been running since 1981. Owned and operated by Alaryn Nightshade (the shadowy figure in the logo), an elven swordsman and rogue of dubious reputation.  It seemed the right choice for my blog's feel and flavor.  So now that we have that out of the way, this blog will be about online gaming, not any one specific game (though the image is from WoW, it's only one of my games).  It will cover topics from my impressions of games that I am/have played, interesting things I've found in games, and of course plenty of other game related stuff. If you have a specific request on one of the games I'm currently playing, let me know and I will try to accommodate you.

So, that being said, I am sure you are asking who am I am why should you read my blog?  I know there are tons of bloggers and video bloggers out there (many more attractive in real life than myself) for you to choose from. Why me?  Well I've gamed since I was well, young.  As I said, my D&D campaign (still active btw) started in 1981and has seen many incarnations including online in PBP and IRC games that have been played by people on at least four continents.  I started video gaming with some silly game named "Pong" and then moved to more "hardcore games" like Space Invaders and Defender...

In the more modern era, my games include World or Warcraft (since launch, and still play), Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Secret World, Neverwinter (currently in open beta).  I have also played D&D Online and Star Trek Online, though do not do so currently.  I have a well rounded set of experience in several different types of MMOs, both subscription based and f2p.  I like to think that I bring a different perspective than the average gamer with a touch of wit from time to time.

I hope my style appeals to you!

Thanks for stopping by.

---Alaryn