TallGuyCalif's Computer Gaming and Entertainment Site

Tag: MMORPG

  • Eclectic Game Playing Recently (Pocket Legends, LOTRO, Star Trek Online, and Planetside 2)

    In this case, by Eclectic, I mean random, crazy, no theme or consistency…

    I’ve been very busy recently with work and personal projects, so I haven’t had a lot of time to play games, and when I have had time, it has been in small increments. The exception to this was Fable III, which I wrote about previously. But other gaming times, I needed something comfortable that I could jump into an out of quickly.

    Pocket Legends is perfect for that. I could jump on with the iPad, play for a bit, and jump out. The gameplay hasn’t changed too much since I was on many months ago, but everything seems a little better, with the guilds and the crafting and other features that have been improved. This time, I created a mage character, rather than my old warrior. Mages have the advantage that they can heal themselves and their party members, which is great. While they’re not as tough as warriors and perhaps can’t deal as much damage, they still do pretty well and the ranged attacks help keep them out of trouble a bit. Mages can also do AOE attacks that damage enemies around them and also party buffs and enemy debuffs. I’ll write more about my Pocket Legends experiences at a later date.

    I’ve been given leadership of my Lord of the Rings Online kinship, Thirst for Power, and have created a website to try to build community in the kinship. Unfortunately, there aren’t many players participating these days, so we need to figure out how to revitalize the kinship. I finally took my highest level character, Tallborn, into Rohan, and the changes I’ve seen so far are big steps up. More in another post.

    Sadly, I inherited the leadership of my Star Trek Online fleet, as well. Since I seems to be the only one who signs in, I don’t know how much effort I will put into rebuilding it, but I probably won’t disband it any time soon. At least there are no upkeep fees, unlike in LOTRO where you need to remember to keep paying rent on the kin house (and your personal house).

    I also started playing Planetside 2, a new MMOFPS (Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter). It is fun, because you can play one of 5 or 6 classes, like medic, engineer, scout, etc., and can drop in and out at will, so no long-term commitments, unlike raids in LOTRO or other MMORPGs, which can last for hours and hours. It is a persistent world where 3 factions compete to capture regions and gain the advantage. The sides are well matched, so there is no innate advantage between them. Planetside 2 is annoying, because you will die a lot. Many higher level players have way better gear than you and they will use it to kill you. Often. Over and over again. Also, figuring out who your enemy is can be tough. I have been playing as one of the purple uniform guys, and sometimes it takes a bit to figure out if they guy in front of you is purple or blue, at which point, you die because you took too long. Annoying, though I presume it will get better with practice. I haven’t been back to Planetside 2 for a few days, because it seemed so futile, but I will almost surely go back. Unless Hawken is as good as it looks…

  • LOTRO Tour 9: Lone Lands

    In this video tour, we cross the Lone Lands from the Forsaken Inn to Ost Guruth, but in a roundabout way. The path takes us to the summit of Weathertop where the Hobbits encountered the Nazgul, then down a shortcut and back to the road. We encounter wargs, spiders, half-orcs, and more on the way to Ost Guruth.

     

  • LOTRO Tour 8: Bree to the Forsaken Inn

    Here I paid for a fast horse from the south gate of Bree to the Forsaken Inn at the start of the Lone Lands. Upon leaving South Chetwood, we can see the Midgewater Marshes, then the entrance to the Bree player housing area, and finally arriving at the Forsaken Inn, which clearly has seen better days.

     

  • LOTRO Tour Part 6: Stock to Bree

    In my never ending quest to show just how big Middle Earth in LOTRO is, I’m continuing the tour, this time riding from Stock (in the Shire) to Bree.

    This is, of course, not the path the Hobbits took to Bree, as they went through the forest and met Tom Bombadil. Sometime, I will show that path as well, but it is a bit of a maze, so I thought it better to continue the tour in a simple manner first.

    I am horrified to see that I already did such a tour segment, but this is a new video and probably nicer…

  • Star Trek Online ground mission

    The best part, in my opinion, of Star Trek Online are the starship battles, but the ground missions are fairly good, as well. In most of them, you and your faithful Bridge Officers (BOFFs) fight enemies and scan things and fix broken things and generally save the planet. It is important to choose your BOFFs to have a wide range of skills available. Science officers can heal you and disable or slow enemies, while engineering officers refill your shields and summon turrets and generators to help with health and shields, and tactical officers throw grenades and can buff the team. All these are in addition to your skills.

    If you are playing as part of a team, then you and your teammates may end up with fewer BOFFs each on a particular mission, but not always. There are a few large ground battles where it is just you and other players against lots of enemies, but you don’t get the BOFFs to help you. Overall, it’s a pretty nice system and you’re never lonely when you have your BOFFs to talk to…

  • Still playing Star Trek Online and Lord of the Rings Online

    So between finishing Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Gears of War 3 and being punished for thinking I could play Dark Souls, I have continued to play Star Trek Online (STO) and Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), because they are fun and comfortable.

    I am a charter subscriber to STO and have a lifetime membership, so I recently picked up a nifty attack ship they are giving as a lifetime member bonus. It is only for level 50 (Vice Admiral), but I finally got my latest Federation guy there, and it is a kick-ass ship. More stations and equipment slots than most, this more abilities, so that’s great fun! Plus it looks cool!

    This Federation character is in a fleet that was apparently abandoned by the old leader, so I took over fleet leadership. I am still thinking how to encourage the fleet to grow and become better, so more on that in future.

    I also have a Klingon character that is finally level 40 and was able to get a carrier, which isn’t quite as nifty as I’d hoped. It is fun to launch fighters to help deal with my foes, but the ship handles like it’s in molasses. I’ve only had about 20 minutes to play with it, so I may get used to it. My Klingon is an Engineer, so he’s used to cruisers that aren’t the swiftest things, but this is a bit slow.

    I still haven’t bought Riders of Rohan for LOTRO, so I’m not playing my level 75 Lore-Master, but I am working on leveling my Warden and Minstrel up to where Rohan will matter. I’m waiting for a sale on Rohan and will buy it then. The LOTRO kinship has also had a rapid decrease in online players since everyone hit level 75 and had their fill of Isengard. I hope things improve, because LOTRO is still an awesome game, and seems to be improving all the time.

  • My current games: Started Final Fantasy XIII-2, Stopped DDO, Playing STO

    My gaming life has been fairly hectic recently because of work and real-life issues (don’t you hate it when those get in the way?). So this will be a brief update on my meager gaming recently.

    At the urging of a friend, I started playing Dungeons and Dragons Online. It’s a fairly neat game, and certainly has potential, but somehow, I wasn’t enjoying it. I tended to leave every play session a little stressed, which is not ideal when I’m trying to have fun. So for the moment, DDO is on the shelf.

    I’ve played a little bit of Star Trek Online. I have 2 active characters, a Federation Tactical guy and and Klingon Engineer. I am impressed with the changes they’ve made to the Fed missions, and generally think the game has significantly improved since the open beta when I started playing. On the other hand, I still think leveling is too fast. I’m already a mid-level Captain and have had do to very few side missions, cluster explorations, or other things typically associated with MMO grinding. I think the rate of progress would be better if it were perhaps 20% slower, to give us more incentive to explore and do all the patrol missions and such. I’m also pleased with the Klingon story line so far, though much of it mirrors some of the Federation stuff. When I last tried a Klingon, there was no story, just PvE and PvP battles.

    Both my primary STO characters are in fleets. The Klingon fleet is large, well established, and working hard on building an awesome fleet starbase. The Federation character is in a much smaller, younger fleet, so my character is leader in fleet projects to build the starbase, though a couple others sometimes take the lead. I used one of my established characters, a level 50 admiral, to help someone create yet another fleet, but I haven’t done much with that fleet yet. Maybe someday.

    I started Final Fantasy XIII-2 on the PS3 last night and it’s okay. It is surely a pretty game, as one would expect, and so far, the combat is easy. They have added cinematic action, in which you have to hit certain buttons or move a stick just at the right time to land attacks, which is somewhat annoying. Some of the other features appear a little simpler than FF XIII was, plus now they’re trying to sell lots of DLC for companions and costumes and such. Pretty annoying. I’ll probably continue playing, but not very often.

  • My ship in Star Trek Online

    My Constitution class cruiser in Star Trek Online is very conventional, but still looks pretty good.

    USS Hermosa Beach

    The NX designation, rather than the usual NCC, is because I am a lifetime subscriber or played the beta or some such thing. The ship’s name, Hermosa Beach, is because I used to live in Hermosa Beach and still miss it.

    I played one of the PvE (player vs. environment) multiplayer instances last night, Starbase 24. I’d played it with my other characters, but they’ve changed it a bit. There used to be ship combat, then ground combat in the station. Now it’s just lots of ship combat with a group of other players. Something interesting was the courtesy shown in the loot drops. For high quality loot, it gave a choice of “Need, Greed, or Pass.” In LOTRO, most people choose Need for everything, which is annoying. In STO, people chose Greed for non-essential goodies and some folks even passed on things they couldn’t use. So does that mean STO has a better class of player? Maybe…

  • Lootboxes – a way for MMOs to separate us from our money

    Lootboxes are a fairly new phenomenon, at least in the MMORPGs I play the most, Star Trek Online and Lord of the Rings Online, and they are an interesting attempt to separate us from our money. Real money, not in-game stuff. And it is not necessarily a bad thing, but it may not bode well for the future.

    Lootboxes, per the name, are loot from kills. In LOTRO, they seem pretty rare, and I have only acquired a few of them. In STO, they are very common in the first few missions, though have become rare as I have progressed in the game. Though lootboxes (or Ferengi lockboxes in STO) are loot, they are not useful unless you have a key. In some games, keys can also be found as loot, but are even more rare than the lockboxes. Why? Because the game companies sell keys in their online store for real money (Cryptic or Turbine points, for example), so hoping to get players of these Free-to-Play games to plonk down real money to open an in-game item. To be fair, Turbine sometimes gives the keys away in the excellent lottery they have.

    So why would someone buy a key for real money to get an unknown in-game item? Gambling! The highest end loot that comes out of the lootboxes is quite compelling. In STO, you can win starships, while in LOTRO, you can get blue (highest quality) gear. In LOTRO, getting good gear is fairly regular, but I’ve opened a few lootboxes in STO and have yet to get anything good.

    Why has the drop rate for lootboxes dropped as I progress in STO? I can only speculate that the devs load early players up with them in the hope that they will spend some real money before dropping the game. That may be cynical of me to think that, because it means the devs have a low opinion of the long-term attractiveness of the game, but it’s the best explanation I can think of at the moment.

    Do lootboxes work for the game owners? Yes, I have bought a few keys in both LOTRO and STO. Do they work for gamers? Maybe – it adds a bit of a thrill in the process of opening a lootbox and hoping for a big win, probably similar to the gambling thrill in Vegas casinos. I have a hunch lootboxes are here to stay and may even be expanded. I just hope they don’t become the only way to get good stuff or that their drop rate doesn’t overwhelm other loot in an attempt by the game owners to get even more money from us.

     

  • How Star Trek Online offers a different challenge from most MMOs

    I will not declare complete knowledge of MMOs by a long shot, but Star Trek Online is different from all the MMOs I’ve played (or tried). These differences add a bit of complexity, yet most MMO players will find things familiar enough that it will not be an issue.

    The biggest difference between STO and conventional MMOs like WoW, LOTRO, Conan, etc., is that we need to manage the leveling and equipment of the main player character, one or more starships, and some number (between 4 and 8) bridge officers. Now having helpers occurs in many games, such as the helpers in Guild Wars (sorry, I forget what they’re called), or the companions in LOTRO for captains and lore masters, but STO’s level of customization, skill choices, and how they affect gameplay are unmatched.

    Since the best part of STO (in my opinion) is starship combat, I’ll talk about that first. There are 3 major classes of starship: escorts are quick and pack lots of firepower, while science vessels have powerful buffs and heals (yes, really, for starships – shield or hull restore, and so forth), and cruisers are slow all-rounders. Ships also have levels, from low-level ships with few weapons and slots that you get early in the game to studly ships we would recognize from the TV shows that we get as admirals (think Enterprise D and E, Voyager, and Defiant as examples from each of the 3 classes). As we get better ships, we also get better equipment for them. Quantum torpedoes or plasma beams or tetryon beams, etc. Each ship has slots for fore and aft weapons (varying number, based on level and class), engine, shield, deflector array, and consoles to provide engineering, science, and tactical buffs. The items that fit there are found as loot, given as quest rewards, bought in stores, or on the Exchange from other players. In short, it is essential that players keep their ships up with the best equipment, just as I keep my LOTRO lore master up with the best armor and weapons I can get.

    The player also levels and gains skill that affect various aspects of shipboard and ground combat. Players can choose science, engineering, or tactical emphasis, each of which gives unique special abilities as the player levels. Choosing one player class does not prevent using other ship classes, however, so my tactical captain uses an upgraded Constitution class cruiser. Player equipment is important, so players need to always use weapons, armor, and shields appropriate to their level. There is also the concept of a player “kit” which provides additional ground combat abilities based on the player class. Since my guy is a tactical captain, he has grenade abilities added by the kit. Previous engineer captains I’ve had could summon phaser turrets and healing devices. The player skill tree has changed significantly since I last played, so I am still getting used to the new (and, so far, better) format.

    The player also has helpers in the form of Bridge Officers (BOFFs). They level up as BOFF skill points are assigned by the player to certain skills for each BOFF. These skills provide space and ground combat abilities that are essential to winning fights, so keep your BOFFs up with their skills. The BOFFs can’t use their skills if they are knocked out in combat, so you also need to make sure they have good armor, weapons, and shields (though they can be hand-me-downs from the player). You can customize BOFF appearance, outfits, and name when you recruit them.

    There is even a new concept called Duty Officers that can perform tasks for the player and they help the player gain prestige and I don’t know what else. I’ve just reached the level where I can use Duty Officers, so I don’t yet know the full story there.

    So STO requires the user to manage skills for the player and the BOFFs, as well as gear for the player, BOFFS, and ships. As such, it is a little more complex than most MMOs but starship combat in the Star Trek universe makes it worth it.