Category Archives: mmorpg
Wandering back to Middle Earth
So Rise of Isengard has now been released, the latest expansion for Lord of the Rings Online. And I’ve wandered back to LoTRO.
I’d logged on a couple of times earlier in the week, pre-release for some late night roaming. I wonder if there’s a word for the feeling you get, returning to a MMO after a long break and exploring familiar places that take you right back? It struck me once again what a beautiful place LoTRO is especially compared to the brashness of WoW.
I haven’t many impressions of the new expansion yet, I haven’t had time to play much. I didn’t even manage to connect to the server on Monday, the day of release. A lot of people in the kin had similar problems. On the Tuesday, I managed to connect and patch and began the first chapters of the new Book, having a brief look at the first new area. The first quest was interesting, giving you a choice leading to a potential moral dilemma. Possibly an attempt to continue to give a little more depth to quests given, though I did hear grumbling in kinchat, apparently at some point turnips need to be collected.
The level cap is now 75, an increase of 10 levels. And for the first time since my early days, I don’t feel a rush or pressure to reach it. Much of this is because, as I’ve written before, I am no longer focussed on Raiding and any accompanying end-game instances. The drive has gone; and I don’t really want it to return. As a result, I feel I can go properly at my own pace and truly enjoy the journey and the work that has gone in to the design of the game.
A rest, a poem, a song
I think it’s time for another poem, courtesy of Rhiannon (Berath’s Brain Burp’s official poet-in-residence). Today she has chosen a subject close to her heart, the LoTRO minstrel. In fact even more than that, she has chosen to write about herself! And her singing, which I’ve never had the pleasure of.
Now, I’m aware that this Blog may have picked up the odd (probably very odd) Team Fortress 2 player recently and they may be a little lost. So for their benefit, let me explain, the LoTRO minstrel heals so is basically the Medic. Minstrels heal by playing instruments and singing, whereas the Medic heals by pointing a huge raygun at his patient and shooting them with what is more-or-less a giant laser beam. This is a not quite the same, but not as really makes any difference. So when Rhiannon writes ‘minstrel’ in her poem, you can replace it by ‘medic’.
You could also sing it with a german accent.
Rhiannon
(Originally entitled, Rhiannon…… by Fleetwood Mac)
Rhiannon sings like a cat in a fight
And wouldn’t you love to gag her?
Screams aloud like a pig in flight,
When will the fight be over?
All your life you’ve never heard a minstrel
Who couldn’t sing.
Would you stay if she promised you silence?
Is murder a sin?
She is like a bat in the dark
Shrieking through the darkness
She runs about like headless chick
And when the fight is hopeless
All your life you’ve never heard a minstrel
Who couldn’t sing.
Would you stay if she promised you silence?
Is murder a sin?
Is murder a sin?
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
She sings like a cat in a fight
But you wouldn’t want to be without her.
She may scream like a pig in flight,
But deep down, you love her.
All your life you’ve never heard a minstrel
Who couldn’t sing.
Would you stay if she promised you silence?
But will you ever win? Will you ever win?
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
The Same
Medic
Minstrel
Our move to the States
So the countdown starts.
On June 1st LoTRO moves over to Turbine and we all become American; no Green Cards needed. In my earlier post, I expressed the concern that roleplaying won’t be supported after the move, but we have been assured that Laurelin will remain intact, roleplaying and all.
That’s good.
But, at the present time, I have no idea what will happen on 1st. We’ve been told we need to migrate our accounts. How? What will happen if I don’t on June 1st? The odds are very very high that I won’t. Even while I’m writing this, I can only just keep the concept in my head. I’m sort of vaguely hoping that I’ll just log on sometime next week and see this:
Turbine. YES or No. Click
Rift and my faerie
Whilst LoTRO is going through it’s content-lite phase, in the rare moments when I’ve not been playing Team Fortress, I’ve been playing in the, relatively new, MMO, Rift.
A lot of people have already blogged about Rift and have said some useful stuff. As you all know, I am incapable of ever writing anything of any relevance so I won’t tell you anything that might help you play the game, I’ll tell you instead of about my chav faerie, Petal.
Because she’s ace.
My character in Rift is a Defiant cleric with justicar/shaman/druid souls. Petal comes with the druid. At first I thought she was just rather sweet but then I noticed something. I’d be crossing a field full of shambling undead, on my way to peaceably harvest some rat tails for a local NPC vendor. Petal would be flittering behind me. Note, behind me. Then, from in front, shambling undead, runs straight past me, to Petal.
There was no way I could have aggro’d them, well if I had they would have gone for me. But yes, I’d turn around and there’d she be, seriously handing it to shambling undead, taking it down with a quick one, two. My only conclusion, Petal, from behind me, giving a bit of the old ‘you’re going home in a St John’s ambulance’, ‘come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’, shambling undead falls for it, getting a bit riled, goes for the kill, gets taken down.
Petal, dyed blond hair piled high and pulled tightly back, ity bity skirt, rules.
Apart from that, what does Petal do? Well she heals. After the fight. I’ve just managed to scrape through alive. I’m standing there. Petal throws some leaves over me, they do a bit of healing. Thanks Petal, could have done with that during the fight. Petal ‘s not bovvered.
Petal 'wot you lookin at?'
Defending the Point in Team Fortress 2
So we have the classes and we have game objectives. But what’s it actually like playing TF2? For starters, for anyone used to playing PvP in MMOs, it’s pretty familiar. It’s fast; it needs quick reactions, and it needs knowledge of class movement, skills and weapons. When you first start, you need to be prepared to die many, many times. In one of my first games I died 22 times in 20 minutes.
It also needs teamwork.
The classes are designed to work together and to counter each other. What one lacks in one aspect, another makes up for. The team that plays best together and communicates, tends to be the team that wins even if individual members are less experienced or good. To look at a very basic scenario;
A point is to be defended. The Engineer puts up a Sentry gun. He has put up a teleporter to get the team from spawn to the point as quickly as possible. He has a dispenser nearby to keep the team topped up with health and ammo as they defend. Whilst the engineer builds, he is vulnerable to an enemy Spy; Spies can cloak themselves and become invisible, sneak up on Engineers, backstab them and sap their buildings. They can also disguise themselves as friendly team members and do the same thing. However, pyro flames light up spies. So while the defensive Engineer builds, the Pyro can spy check. In the meantime the friendly Spy is trying to do the same to any offensive Engineers. He may also be trying to take out key targets, the enemy Medic perhaps. The Demoman has his stickies…basically small round mines that the Demoman can detonate. He can perhaps place these on the point; he can detonate them if any of the enemy reach it. Or perhaps he can place them where he knows the enemy will pass through. He also has his explosive grenades…these give him a bit of range, he can shoot through upper windows or bounce them round corners. The Demoman can also use either his stickies or grenades to destroy Engineer buildings.
Meanwhile the Scout is out and about. The Scout is basically an irritant. He flanks the enemy, moving in and out fast, taking them down before they have a chance to react. He can also double-jump, a technique that allows him to access high and out-of-the way areas. The Soldier is on the front-line, largely being offensive. He can jump, propelled by his rockets, to give him height and allow him to fire from unexpected directions. His rockets carry over a fair distance allowing him to kill at range. The Heavy is slow but with his minigun can deliver much damage that very little can survive. The Medic is healing. Often the Medic will be healing the Heavy, both pushing the defensive line forwards in an offense with the Soldier and the Demoman, dropping back to the Dispenser for ammo. A Medic/Heavy pair is a strong combination to take down. This can be the job of the Sniper. One headshot can finish one or the other.
And at any stage, an enemy Pyro, deciding to have a rest from spychecking can flank the team and set them on fire, to be countered by the friendly Pyro extinguishing the flames. Oh and throughout, everyone needs to protect the Medic.
So, while all this is going on, communication should be constant. There is often a Caller who will let the team know the location of various enemy classes. There are automatic calls which alert everyone to spies and enemy pushes. A Pyro distracts an enemy Engineer while a spy attacks from the back, and a Demoman fires grenades into an upper floor window allowing a Medic and Heavy to advance, safe from the enemy Sniper upstairs. And the Medic? Well he doesn’t ‘just’ heal. He builds ubercharge by healing. When his charge bar reaches 100% he discharges it making him and his ‘patient’ invulnerable for 8 seconds if he is using his medigun or cause his patient to shoot 100% critical hits for 8 seconds if he is using his kritzrieg. So often an entire push is based upon a Medic’s ubercharge.
And it’s happening fast, fast, fast. I’ve been killed through a moment’s inattention scratching my nose; you really need to get someone to do it for you. Like I said, at the start, it all seems to be a confusing whirl, there is so much to get used to especially to someone new to the genre like me, but gradually it does start to make sense as you listen and observe. And then as you learn, it just gets better and better.
Middle-earth moves to the US
So, from June 1st, Turbine will be taking over the entire operation of LoTRO. Well, well, but what could it mean?
There is slight concern within my kinship. We’ve already checked that our lifetime memberships will be honoured; they will be. But it sounds like we’ll have to all transfer our own accounts over ourselves, I’m not sure how that will work, will it be straightforward? I hope so. And I hope we don’t lose numbers in the process.
It seems that servers will be transferred over ‘as is’, without change, so after June 1st we should just be able to log on and nothing will be different. Except lag? Will lag be an issue? A kinmate said he plays on the Turbine DDO servers and hasn’t had any difficulties, maybe it will be alright. And what about Laurelin, so far Turbine have not specifically supported roleplaying servers. Will this mean that the restrictions on naming and so forth will be relaxed and the server lose it’s identity.
There is a little bit of cheer, surely this move means that Turbine feels it’s worthwhile acquiring the EU population and it helps assure the game’s future. I’m not so sure, organisations usually consolidate when times are bad, and this sounds like a consolidation. But then again, consolidation as a survival function can be a sensible move and in this way, assure the game’s future. And we may get the benefit of services such as My-LOTRO and a more direct link to the developers.
Whatever, it’s going to happen; we have to wait and see. But it’s a shame for Codemasters, we’ve always had the feeling that they’ve done their best by Europe and certainly their Community Officers on the forum will be missed.
Berathiela; a new musical interlude and about time too!
Well, Rhiannon (Berath’s Brain Burps’ official poet-in-residence) has put pen to paper once more and produced another composition. And a corker it is too. About my LOTRO elven hunter, Berathiela but please note, Berathiela does not pull aggro. Let me say again for those asleep at the back; BERATHIELA DOES NOT PULL AGGRO. Thank you. Instead, Rhiannon is taking licence of the most poetic kind and talking amusing generalisations.
As you will see, this composition has been written with a popular song in mind. So find some friends, grab a tamborine and all large it to:
Berathiela
(Originally titled Cecilia and performed by those loveable 60′s/70′s pop poppets, Simon and Garfunkel.)
Berathiela, you’re breaking my mez!
You’re grabbing my aggro completely!
Oh, Berathiela! I’m down on my knees.
I’m asking you please, not that bow.
Berathiela, you’re breaking my mez!
You’re grabbing my aggro completely!
Oh, Berathiela! I’m down on my knees.
I’m asking you please, not that bow.
Not that bow!
She’s a hunter is our dear Berathiela,
And a hunter is my doom.
I went up to tank that mob
When I turned it around
It had run for the crowd.
Berathiela, you’re breaking my mez!
You’re grabbing my aggro completely!
Oh, Berathiela! I’m down on my knees.
I’m asking you please, not that bow.
Not that bow
Oh, tarnation! She’s at it again!
I fall on the floor and I’m gasping!
Resuscitation! I’m running again,
Hunters kill tanks by exertion.
WoW: maybe not
While I haven’t been playing LoTRO so much, I’ve been having a go at WoW. And it hasn’t grabbed me. I know when a game has. I devour as much information as I can about it; on forums, websites, in magazines. But with WoW, nothing. No intense reading round class build, skills, background.
I’ve tried to work out why. At first I though it could simply be that WoW was not LoTRO. But I’m enjoying Rift and have exhibited many of the ‘Berath grabbed by game’ signs. So it’s got to be WoW itself.
Well to start with, I don’t like the Art style. This is probably a major factor. I always thought gameplay trumped appearance for me, but in the case of WoW it has proved an irritant; the mix of archetypical fantasy and cartoon. Not my taste.
I find it difficult to navigate. I have been questing, mainly to level so that I can keep up with my instance group (the reason why I’m continuing to play is my little group). I have found mayself completing the quests in one hub and then being directed to another quest hub. However, on arriving, I’ve found all the available quests to be lower level and instead of getting 1900+ per quest I’m getting around 600. When my main goal is to level, this is frustrating.
Then there are the hills. Why does WoW put things on the top of hils and then make it so difficult to find the way up? Do they think we enjoy the challenge of finding a path amongst a wealth of dead ends and slopes that look as if they can be climbed but can’t be? A couple of times I’ve just given up.
And finally the ‘witty’ modern references and wacky humour. From time to time it does amuse, but generally I am a grim and humourless person, not a Terry Pratchett fan here, it wears thin.
So, not grabbed.
I’ll continue playing because of my Group which I really enjoy and, a positive here, it seems it’s possible to level mainly through the instances/dungeons; there are many of them. They are well designed and I can see the designers trying to be creative; in general I do appreciate and understand the vastness and detail of the World.
But apart from that I will be playing my other games. Probably not too bad a thing in my time-limited life; I have a feeling that WoW will survive.
Ost Dunhoth: the new Raid
We have now tried out the new Raid in LOTRO and so far it gets a thumbs up from the kinship. The first weekend we tried one Wing, the following weekend the other. In the first Wing we managed to get the Boss down, easy mode and then moved on to the second Boss and had a good attempt there. The fights were good….the mechanics were interesting involving disappearing islands and acidic water; I’m deliberately not saying much to avoid spoiling it for those who haven’t tried it yet. And the Boss we didn’t defeat involved the strategic use of tree sap.
The second Wing gave us a very different challenge; another nice aspect of the Raid, variation. Again I won’t say much, just think Indiana Jones running from the boulder. All the party was fully involved, there was none of the waiting for carefully timed pulls from one or a couple of players only, that we found in BG.
And throughout, there were none of the endless trash mobs to be fought through, taking time and tiring people. It all seemed much more compact and efficient.
Finally, for the whole Raid, there was the removal of cool down for skills used during the Boss fights. Thinking about it, this was a very logical move, having to wait for Rally, for instance, to come off cool down after being used, never served much purpose. It was just a time waster. Now, as soon as everyone has retreated from a wipe, everyone was able to go straight back in again, able to use all skills. After all, Raiding should be about the fight and not constrained by skill mechanics outside.
