Daily Blogroll 8/4 — Lifetime edition

Well, would YOU bet $200 on a game that nobody but press is allowed to talk about, a month before it’s released? When Lord of the Rings Online offered the same deal — A Benjamin and his identical twin for a lifetime subscription — you had a month to think it over. Not so with Champions Online — if you insist on playing before committing, the offer goes away. Probably the best thing about the offer — access to the Star Trek Online beta, and Mirror Universe outfits for same. So, if I want to play STO and get all the best goodies, I have to toss two c-notes Champions’ way?
They do announce STO’s beta begins later this year, which is in line with their projected Spring 2010 release date.
Green Armadillo doesn’t think ANY game is worth $200 to play free forever, especially when it will have an RMT store that, following SOE’s lead with their EQ2 and Free Realms, will entice subscribers to spend additional money each month on costumes and temporary powers. Keen feels they should at least drop the NDA now so that the blogosphere can weigh in on Champions’ good and bad points before begging players to pay blindly. Anjin of Bullet Points wonders if the Champions IP is compelling enough to take the leap of faith.
I’m in the beta, but when the NDA does drop, I won’t have any glowing articles to write about it (just some comics). It’s just hard to get excited about quest-based, level grind MMOs anymore. I’m just burned out on the whole idea of the grind to play mechanic. By making the level 1 game essentially identical to the level 50 game (or rather, the level 21 game, as that’s as high as I’ve gotten), Cryptic’s previous superhero MMO arguably provides a more super and less level-bound experience.

The Evil Theurgist and Fallon Shadowblade of Diary of a Wizard are sponsoring their Second Official Meet and Greet (SOMG) in Wizard 101, August 15th, Vampire Realm, Nightside. I missed the first one, but everyone had such a great time that I’m gonna try and make this one.
I just finished the Nightside/Sunken City arc with my (now) level 14 Myth wizard last night, too… (picture above, note Marissa’s Firezilla pet!)
Gordon of We Fly Spitfires looks at EVE Online’s sandbox approach to letting players determine their own goals in the game vs World of Warcraft’s rails-driven approach to player achievement and wonders if it would ever be possible to combine the two — still have rails-driven gameplay, but with the freedom to accomplish given goals with some degrees of freedom?
I don’t think that could even work. I’ve played both games, and they are just too far apart. Both fun, but they scratch different itches.
We haven’t heard much from Ayba and Oric over in Shards of Dalaya for awhile, but news comes from the ~~gnoll-infested~~ undead-infested passageways of ~~Highpass~~ Undead Pass that our favorite halfling duo have reached level 30! Grats!
Speaking of returning from the dead, Cownose, once our connection for news of Lineage 2 and Ultima Online, is back with dispatches from the world of Darkfall. And is that Cameron Sorden announcing his comeback by reposting articles from the last couple of years? Aw, no, it’s not. And, could that be some new posts by Tobold? Yes, yes there are.
And lastly, Syp explains why he’s no longer excited about Fallen Earth, Global Agenda, Jumpgate Evolution, The Agency, APB, DCUO, and Guild Wars 2. That’s mean! Doesn’t The Agency have enough problems already?

7 thoughts on “Daily Blogroll 8/4 — Lifetime edition”

Good morning tippa! Several things!
Thanks for enlightening me on the lifetime sub choice for C.O. I hadn’t picked that up until this morning. One word for that – Blargh. In this day and time, asking anyone to pony up $199.00 for anything game related is borderline irresponsible. I’m also in the beta, and while I’ll play it (of course I will), there’s no way I’d fork over that kind of dough up front. I’m actually becoming a big fan of Wizard 101’s velvet-rope style billing model.. or “pay as I go”, with more choices. OH.. and speaking of Wizard 101..
I made level 12 with my Ice Wizard. Woo! Question for you. You’ve mentioned a number of times you’re pretty much completely burned out with the whole quest & grind “level your character” model of play in MMO’s. But Wiz 101 is still very much a quest driven experience driven levelling game, even if it has different combat and group mechanics than most MMO’s. Is there something else about Wiz101 that still makes the game appealing for you, despite the levelling and questing? Or are you just enduring that aspect of it, because the actual play mechanics are so fun? Inquiring minds want to know.. 🙂
Thanks for the blog recap! You’re better than any RSS reader I’ve ever used! Recaps *plus* commentary! <3 it!
Dusty
aka Dlangar
http://ofcourseillplayit.com

I did not dismiss the idea of a Champions Online lifetime sub entirely, just because of Cryptic’s previous track record. I have paid for and played CoX more than 3 years now.
Still, that does not guarantee that I will stick to this one. I cannot say I care much about the items offered with it – nice to have, but not more – except the character slots, but they will probably available to buy anyway.
If I am not able to play the game before the decision has to be made, then it will probably not happen.

Tipa, have you seen/tried some toilets in Japan or Korea? Your comic is not that far off…:) It can be quite and experience. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU_vNb_XkTM)