Hi again.
If you were bothering to read this before then sorry I stopped. Though I doubt that anyone did.
I've decided to take this up once more. I'll be talking about much more hopefully than just Eve Online this time. I won't be going back to it unless it goes free to play and even then probably not.
Instead I am looking to the future and future releases, whilst playing some games and generally being grumpy.
The games that I am currently playing are;
Planetside 2,
Anarchy Online,
Total War: Rome 2.
Games that are on my radar that I'm looking at with some hope of actually being decent and/or interesting.
TUG - The Untitled Game by Nerd Kingdom.
Titanfall by EA Games.
Destiny by Bungie.
EverQuest Next and Landmark by SOE.
Elder Scrolls Online by Zenimax Studios.
Anyway I hope to in the next couple of weeks start throwing out some stuff about the state of the games I'm currently playing and why I'm playing them, what I make of them and what I don't like about them.
I'll also be working on some pieces about those games which are not released yet that I am looking forward to.
Anyway that's it for now, see you next time.
Sunday 15 September 2013
Thursday 28 March 2013
Critisms of the current gaming worlds.
This post first started out as yet another attempt to put to paper the concept and thoughts I have had on a fantasy sandbox mmo that I would like to see and play. In many respects it is heavily influenced by Eve Online and in others by my own experiences and things I personally enjoy.
However I'm not going to talk about this.
What the post turned into was a list of points which currently draw my ire and leave me feeling jaded or that they are all just rehashing the same old archetypes and concepts.
So without further ado that list.
1. Explore what's already been explored.
This is something that I think is best exemplified by Guild Wars 2, where there's an award or name given for having explored the entire game world. Except for your not truly exploring. Its all already been explored and mapped.
Its the same for almost all games. They players start out in a world already populated where everything has already been found and named by someone.This means you don't get the enjoyment of going somewhere which is unknown, the thrill of actually exploring something. In some ways game developers can ignore this as its new to you the player and your exploring it for the first time yourself.
Eve interestingly gets around this to a certain extent. First there's known space. where anyone can look at a star map, see the names of every system and what's in that system to a certain extent, as well as exactly how to get there, which system links to which and so on. but they also have randomly generated pve sites popping up all over the place, yes they're the same ones being spawned but they're never in the exact same place. But Eve also has wormhole space which is unmapped and un-mappable for any real length of time. Why? because the connections between the systems there are mostly random, shifting and changing on a very regular basis.
To me it would be great if a developer actually created a world in which there is no map but what you create yourself and what is chosen to be shared with you by others. Imagine if you will that you set out into the unknown wilderness and depending on your skill are able to draw a map or what you find and see, but it's not exact, you would be able to either make some of this publicly available either for free or for a fee. Or you can choose to withhold it and keep it to yourself or choose to share it with friends or your guild.
2. Walk around in places not of player creation, populated by cardboard cut-outs.
About the only current game that I would say that doesnt fall into this catagory is Skyrim simply because they have put alot of time and effort into their npc's to make them as unique as possible.
In so many mmo's you walk around towns and cities in which no player has any ownership over anything, they don't have a house there, the shops and buildings are just there to give a backdrop.
In a sandbox I would say this is acceptable in starter area's as there is some need to give players a starting block from which to learn and move off from.
Again I would like to point out how interesting and cool it would be to be able to walk around a town or village which has been built by your guild or friends or just other people.
3. Be a citizen of something which comes across as sterile and of little importance.
This comes back to the idea that you are essentially just a visitor or are attached to something which makes no difference to your actions or loyalties.
4. Being a hero in a world of heroes.
Any game that isn't single player which tries to make you out to be a hero is bullshitting you. As soon as your playing with others who have the same level of capabilities you lose the heroic feel. Your not a hero in Guild Wars 2, your one of thousands. Your not unique and I think that's possibly one of the things that defines being a hero. You manage to undertake and succeed in heroic actions and tasks which lesser mortals wouldn't or couldn't complete. Nothing you do in Guild Wars 2 is that as so many others can do exactly the same.
To be honest mmo's need to do away with this gimmick and leave it to the single player style of games.
5. Magic for all.
Magic in story and legends and whatever else is enigmatic, mystical, something limited to a few exceptional people. Unfortunately it's been made mundane, common, known. Not something that mystical anymore.
I'm not against magic being in games, but in my idea of an mmo which I may go into at some later date there would be a major differentiation between two different types of magic. One being that of legends, which is so incredibly rare that its actually mind blowing to see. And at the other end of the scale the magic which is more common but still not something everyone can do is akin to small cantrips for example, creating flashes and sparks.
6. The four races.
I'm somewhat tired of seeing the same races used over and over. Either the common human, elf, dwarf, elf and halfling. or the other archetypes of the strong muscle, the intelligent yet weak of body, the agile quick thinkers and then the middle man.
Again and again we get these re-used in different universes or worlds or whatever and It gets boring to see.
Again going back to what I would like to see in my ideal game is that your choice of races makes no difference to your stats or talents. that there Isn't the stereotypical usual stuff. For example, dwarves being generally the best engineers and craftsmen, tough douty and have a hatred of elves.
Elves being stuck up better than everyone else people because they live for centuries or are immortal, who have such great knowledge of magic that anyone else seems like insects crawling round in the mud trying to figure it out in comparison.
7. The holy trinity, classes.
Classes are limitations. One of the major things that I like about Eve and the Elder Scrolls games is the lack of classes. You can try anything out. However synergy still has its place. Being a tank who isn't that mobile and going into combat in light armour or just clothes doesn't mean your going to do as well as someone who goes in wearing heavy armour.
Remove them, let people choose for themselves what to do is the way forward instead of forcing choices upon people.
Those that want classes will define them themselves or stick to working synergies.
8. Players not being able to shape the world.
This point is specifically for mmo's. And I think can be most recently and possibly best shown by the Battle for Caldari Prime in Eve Online. Where a series of events led up to a bigger event which changes the storyline and ongoing lore and background of the game. The players were allowed to get involved but their actions were ultimately meaningless as the outcome had already been decided.
In a sandbox, which prides itself on player choices having consequences.
Being able to truly shape the world. Create and Destroy I think leads to the most exciting and griping gameplay. Rather than following a set path where all outcomes are preordained.
So yeah. I've a heck of a lot of gripes about what's out there.
Hopefully I will try putting into writing once more my concept for an mmo soon.
However I'm not going to talk about this.
What the post turned into was a list of points which currently draw my ire and leave me feeling jaded or that they are all just rehashing the same old archetypes and concepts.
So without further ado that list.
1. Explore what's already been explored.
This is something that I think is best exemplified by Guild Wars 2, where there's an award or name given for having explored the entire game world. Except for your not truly exploring. Its all already been explored and mapped.
Its the same for almost all games. They players start out in a world already populated where everything has already been found and named by someone.This means you don't get the enjoyment of going somewhere which is unknown, the thrill of actually exploring something. In some ways game developers can ignore this as its new to you the player and your exploring it for the first time yourself.
Eve interestingly gets around this to a certain extent. First there's known space. where anyone can look at a star map, see the names of every system and what's in that system to a certain extent, as well as exactly how to get there, which system links to which and so on. but they also have randomly generated pve sites popping up all over the place, yes they're the same ones being spawned but they're never in the exact same place. But Eve also has wormhole space which is unmapped and un-mappable for any real length of time. Why? because the connections between the systems there are mostly random, shifting and changing on a very regular basis.
To me it would be great if a developer actually created a world in which there is no map but what you create yourself and what is chosen to be shared with you by others. Imagine if you will that you set out into the unknown wilderness and depending on your skill are able to draw a map or what you find and see, but it's not exact, you would be able to either make some of this publicly available either for free or for a fee. Or you can choose to withhold it and keep it to yourself or choose to share it with friends or your guild.
2. Walk around in places not of player creation, populated by cardboard cut-outs.
About the only current game that I would say that doesnt fall into this catagory is Skyrim simply because they have put alot of time and effort into their npc's to make them as unique as possible.
In so many mmo's you walk around towns and cities in which no player has any ownership over anything, they don't have a house there, the shops and buildings are just there to give a backdrop.
In a sandbox I would say this is acceptable in starter area's as there is some need to give players a starting block from which to learn and move off from.
Again I would like to point out how interesting and cool it would be to be able to walk around a town or village which has been built by your guild or friends or just other people.
3. Be a citizen of something which comes across as sterile and of little importance.
This comes back to the idea that you are essentially just a visitor or are attached to something which makes no difference to your actions or loyalties.
4. Being a hero in a world of heroes.
Any game that isn't single player which tries to make you out to be a hero is bullshitting you. As soon as your playing with others who have the same level of capabilities you lose the heroic feel. Your not a hero in Guild Wars 2, your one of thousands. Your not unique and I think that's possibly one of the things that defines being a hero. You manage to undertake and succeed in heroic actions and tasks which lesser mortals wouldn't or couldn't complete. Nothing you do in Guild Wars 2 is that as so many others can do exactly the same.
To be honest mmo's need to do away with this gimmick and leave it to the single player style of games.
5. Magic for all.
Magic in story and legends and whatever else is enigmatic, mystical, something limited to a few exceptional people. Unfortunately it's been made mundane, common, known. Not something that mystical anymore.
I'm not against magic being in games, but in my idea of an mmo which I may go into at some later date there would be a major differentiation between two different types of magic. One being that of legends, which is so incredibly rare that its actually mind blowing to see. And at the other end of the scale the magic which is more common but still not something everyone can do is akin to small cantrips for example, creating flashes and sparks.
6. The four races.
I'm somewhat tired of seeing the same races used over and over. Either the common human, elf, dwarf, elf and halfling. or the other archetypes of the strong muscle, the intelligent yet weak of body, the agile quick thinkers and then the middle man.
Again and again we get these re-used in different universes or worlds or whatever and It gets boring to see.
Again going back to what I would like to see in my ideal game is that your choice of races makes no difference to your stats or talents. that there Isn't the stereotypical usual stuff. For example, dwarves being generally the best engineers and craftsmen, tough douty and have a hatred of elves.
Elves being stuck up better than everyone else people because they live for centuries or are immortal, who have such great knowledge of magic that anyone else seems like insects crawling round in the mud trying to figure it out in comparison.
7. The holy trinity, classes.
Classes are limitations. One of the major things that I like about Eve and the Elder Scrolls games is the lack of classes. You can try anything out. However synergy still has its place. Being a tank who isn't that mobile and going into combat in light armour or just clothes doesn't mean your going to do as well as someone who goes in wearing heavy armour.
Remove them, let people choose for themselves what to do is the way forward instead of forcing choices upon people.
Those that want classes will define them themselves or stick to working synergies.
8. Players not being able to shape the world.
This point is specifically for mmo's. And I think can be most recently and possibly best shown by the Battle for Caldari Prime in Eve Online. Where a series of events led up to a bigger event which changes the storyline and ongoing lore and background of the game. The players were allowed to get involved but their actions were ultimately meaningless as the outcome had already been decided.
In a sandbox, which prides itself on player choices having consequences.
Being able to truly shape the world. Create and Destroy I think leads to the most exciting and griping gameplay. Rather than following a set path where all outcomes are preordained.
So yeah. I've a heck of a lot of gripes about what's out there.
Hopefully I will try putting into writing once more my concept for an mmo soon.
Monday 25 March 2013
Media of the Week
Where to start?
Image of the Week.
Leviathan wreckage on Caldari Prime.
When I first saw it I was shocked. Then I was awed.
Its something which really helps hammer home the scale of the ships in eve. However I believe CCP will have a really good quality version of this that they should release in my honest opinion. I may be a Caldari fanboy, but its a damn good piece of work which I would like as my desktop background for a while.
As a further note on images, though not an image per-see CCP has updated the look of their community website and released a dev blog about it. Linky.
Video of the Week.
Clear Skies 3 by Ian Chisholm
Literally if your interested at all in Eve Online and have not seen these your missing out big time.
There are in actual fact three separate Clear Skies movies, 1,2 and 3. The third and last one is possibly the best out of the three. But its necessary to a certain extent to watch the first two to fully understand what's actually going on.
This is the sort of thing I wish we saw more of for many more games, and I wish we saw more of this kind of thing for eve, as Its pretty damn great. It is if anything a testimony to how dedicated and invested the eve community is with the game. I know for a fact that when this was released when I was in Test that nearly everyone began downloading it to watch it as soon as word spread it was available, with most people logging out of game shortly after finishing downloading it to watch it.
Music of the Week.
Something Dark is Coming. - Bear McCeary.
I chose this for this week's piece because it is again one of my many favourite tracks, one which I can listen to on an endless loop without getting bored of it infact.
Bear McCeary did a fantastic job with the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks on a whole. Parts of them are not great in my opinion but others he has shown some true skill in.
The whole feel that this piece is building up to something unknown in the future I think perfectly fits with the nature of the reasonably brief Odyssey announcement. We don't know much, it sounds like it could be epic and it could turn eve into a more dark and dangerous place.
Eve Online Odyssey
Yeah, somewhat interesting news.
The nineteenth expansion for eve online has been announced and it has a launch date as well. (4th of June).
Eve Online Odyssey website
Pax East 2013 Odyssey presentation. (Linky for the photos of those slides.)
Pax East 2013 What do the next 10 years hold? IGN interview with John Lander.
I'm hopeful about this expansion, I like the words that come out of John Lander's mouth, I'm just playing the wait and see game as to whether he can make CCP do what he talks about wanting to do with Eve.
What's on the list for this expansion;
Discovery Scanner.
Using this new system, more pilots will reveal the hidden secrets of the EVE Universe. Beautiful new visuals, customizable controls and new functionality have been added to encourage the adventurer in everyone. There is now more among the stars, enticing even the most experienced veterans to explore.
I am somewhat confused as to why people think this is going to screw with the existing Directional Scanner. (guessing its because of the D).
To my mind this is actually going to be at least a rework of the base system scanner we all have, but ignore in favour of D-scan for much of the time. But it may also include a revamp or at least making scanning with probes that much better. Currently it feels a little bit faffy and time intensive to me at least, to experienced people its probably relatively quick.
To this and to the following section comes the anomalies, signatures and DED sites. I fully expect we can see all of these massively re-worked at the minimum. I'm going to also say it's likely that mini game/puzzles will be the method of hacking and analysing in the future. I seriously doubt they will do much if anything to salvaging. In my opinion we can expect them to make sure there's a full variety of scaled content in these sites for each faction and going from high to null-sec with them.
If anything I expect there to be a new gold rush much like with Incursions when they first came out to this newly revamped part of the game, where if you put the time in you can make some serious cash.
I will however say I think that CCP will barely touch on those sites within wormholes, maybe a little balancing but that would be it.
However I would love for them to add some new T3 tiers of ships (sub-capital) and build this into the wormhole sites and the industry which revolves around them as well.
A New "Spacescape".
A rebalance of major areas of space from highsec to nullsec include changes in exploration sites, industrial resources, some types of NPC loot and more…
Into this I'm expecting to see the newly revamped and added exploration sites being added.
There has been a little speculation that CCP may be adding some new systems to existing regions or possibly redefining the borders of some regions but I doubt this will be the case.
If anything I'm expecting CCP to add ring mining into all layers of eve, as well as moving around the R64 moons so that not all of the Technetium is situated in the north. I think this will be in an effort to remove the current stranglehold that the combined nullsec powers of the CFC and HBC (inc. PL) currently have upon these. Though it's not going to be enough to force any major changes.
Going out on a complete random limb here but it wouldn't surprise me to see CCP adding lesser style wormhole effects to entire regions of known space with the effects being able to be increased in low-sec possibly and definitely in null-sec. This would be a likely attempt to make more space seem different and add to the value of different regions of space, e.g. if your an alliance which primarily relies on shield doctrines your going to want to move to a region with bonuses to that.
Again people have been speculating that CCP is going to add incursion style events for each pirate faction. I however don't see the point at all. There isn't the lore background for it for the Serpentis nor the Gurista's or even the Blood Raiders. In one of the books the Angel Cartel did actually declare ownership of some Minmatar low-sec system after they got the local populace to all sign up to something or other. But even then I don't see a real reason why the Angel Cartel would.
One interesting idea that springs from this is the pirate factions having more of a presence in low-sec with maybe gaining ownership of a constellation or two with missions available and so on.
On this I have little to say apart from I hope CCP listens to some of the criticism they received about the Battle for Caldari Prime event. To just quickly re-state the issues which rose from this.
1. There was a predetermined outcome to an event in the One Universe, Sandbox where each of us can supposedly make a difference.
2. System population cap. There shouldn't have been one. Its what I thought reinforced nodes were supposed to deal with, lots of people in a single system.
3. The timing of the event meant that not only were most of the North American playerbase unable to get in on it, but you had to be a quick Brit or Irish etc player to stand a chance of getting home from work to actually participate, (Not to mention most likely being locked out of the system by the population cap.)
4. Commentary on the live stream being at times poor.
However I do hope they release the artwork they produced for the background of the Dust 514 battles with the burning Leviathan wreckage in it.
As a final point I wouldn't put it past them to add in some new nexus stuff in the way of ship skins. With the probable two options being a one off use skin you can purchase or an infinity use ship skin, so you can select to have each and every one of your Drakes or Ravens appear to have the Navy colour scheme or your Oracle's to be dubbed with the rusty red markings of a Blood Raider forever more.
Still only time and fanfest will tell.
A rebalance of major areas of space from highsec to nullsec include changes in exploration sites, industrial resources, some types of NPC loot and more…
Into this I'm expecting to see the newly revamped and added exploration sites being added.
There has been a little speculation that CCP may be adding some new systems to existing regions or possibly redefining the borders of some regions but I doubt this will be the case.
If anything I'm expecting CCP to add ring mining into all layers of eve, as well as moving around the R64 moons so that not all of the Technetium is situated in the north. I think this will be in an effort to remove the current stranglehold that the combined nullsec powers of the CFC and HBC (inc. PL) currently have upon these. Though it's not going to be enough to force any major changes.
Going out on a complete random limb here but it wouldn't surprise me to see CCP adding lesser style wormhole effects to entire regions of known space with the effects being able to be increased in low-sec possibly and definitely in null-sec. This would be a likely attempt to make more space seem different and add to the value of different regions of space, e.g. if your an alliance which primarily relies on shield doctrines your going to want to move to a region with bonuses to that.
Again people have been speculating that CCP is going to add incursion style events for each pirate faction. I however don't see the point at all. There isn't the lore background for it for the Serpentis nor the Gurista's or even the Blood Raiders. In one of the books the Angel Cartel did actually declare ownership of some Minmatar low-sec system after they got the local populace to all sign up to something or other. But even then I don't see a real reason why the Angel Cartel would.
One interesting idea that springs from this is the pirate factions having more of a presence in low-sec with maybe gaining ownership of a constellation or two with missions available and so on.
The Little Things.
Continued development towards raising accessibility without removing functionality will bring dozens of changes to player-owned starbases, game UI and beyond.
To this section I'm attributing the new skill and ship tree's that we have seen some leaked screenshots of as well as personal hanger array's for POS's which have been confirmed as to exist on the Chaos test server. I will also guess that a revamp of corporation management and roles will be on the cards, but will be a slow burner item which will be updated on periodically as they untangle this mess and sort it out bit by bit.
The Warmachines.
Forged by the lessons learned from countless combat pilots, the four factions will issue forth with the latest tools of war and re-designs of old favorites - ships as awe-inspiring as they are deadly.
Rebalancing of all faction and navy ships. As well as the introduction of new faction and navy battlecruiser's and if were incredibly lucky some new T3's of some sort. I would also hope to see tier 1 industrials rebalanced as well during this as I doubt it would take much to do. As I think I have stated already on this blog, I completely agree with Jester Trek that these ships need some attention sooner than later.
The Storyline Continued.
The shared EVE Universe storyline continues to evolve following the Battle for Caldari Prime, with participatory events spawning unique player stories in two games at once.
Continued development towards raising accessibility without removing functionality will bring dozens of changes to player-owned starbases, game UI and beyond.
To this section I'm attributing the new skill and ship tree's that we have seen some leaked screenshots of as well as personal hanger array's for POS's which have been confirmed as to exist on the Chaos test server. I will also guess that a revamp of corporation management and roles will be on the cards, but will be a slow burner item which will be updated on periodically as they untangle this mess and sort it out bit by bit.
The Warmachines.
Forged by the lessons learned from countless combat pilots, the four factions will issue forth with the latest tools of war and re-designs of old favorites - ships as awe-inspiring as they are deadly.
Rebalancing of all faction and navy ships. As well as the introduction of new faction and navy battlecruiser's and if were incredibly lucky some new T3's of some sort. I would also hope to see tier 1 industrials rebalanced as well during this as I doubt it would take much to do. As I think I have stated already on this blog, I completely agree with Jester Trek that these ships need some attention sooner than later.
The Storyline Continued.
The shared EVE Universe storyline continues to evolve following the Battle for Caldari Prime, with participatory events spawning unique player stories in two games at once.
On this I have little to say apart from I hope CCP listens to some of the criticism they received about the Battle for Caldari Prime event. To just quickly re-state the issues which rose from this.
1. There was a predetermined outcome to an event in the One Universe, Sandbox where each of us can supposedly make a difference.
2. System population cap. There shouldn't have been one. Its what I thought reinforced nodes were supposed to deal with, lots of people in a single system.
3. The timing of the event meant that not only were most of the North American playerbase unable to get in on it, but you had to be a quick Brit or Irish etc player to stand a chance of getting home from work to actually participate, (Not to mention most likely being locked out of the system by the population cap.)
4. Commentary on the live stream being at times poor.
However I do hope they release the artwork they produced for the background of the Dust 514 battles with the burning Leviathan wreckage in it.
As a final point I wouldn't put it past them to add in some new nexus stuff in the way of ship skins. With the probable two options being a one off use skin you can purchase or an infinity use ship skin, so you can select to have each and every one of your Drakes or Ravens appear to have the Navy colour scheme or your Oracle's to be dubbed with the rusty red markings of a Blood Raider forever more.
Still only time and fanfest will tell.
Saturday 23 March 2013
Quick Update
Not a whole lot is happening on the Eve Online front. Stuff is going on ingame. But I'm not really taking part.
I've realised that I will need to train many many long skills so I'm doing that now, or at least ones which feel long as they give no immediate or real benefit to a certain extent. What am I talking about? the core skills.
Like; Electronics 5, Engineering 5, Mechanics 5, Weapon Upgrades 5, Eletronic Upgrades 5, Frigate 5, Energy Management 5, and a whole bunch more.
All these skills are going to be necessary to get the most out of the ships I will be flying, in terms of fitting them as well as flying them, along with their inherent bonuses.
So they're all necessary if I want to make the most of the ships, which I do, but at the moment it feels as though they do nothing, as they are not really improving much on my existing fits.
So during this somewhat boring skill training time, I've gone off on a tangent in my gaming to some extent.
I recently got Assassins Creed 2 from the Steam Summer Sale, (Thanks!) this is a really great game to run round in and feel somewhat immersed. Ubisoft just break it with the whole meta plot and all the flashy white stuff every now and again from getting you more involved. However, Ezio is a fairly kickass person to play as, jumping around assassinating people with little regard to their security.
I've also been playing PlanetSide 2 again.
I just recently unlocked the Haymaker shotgun in this and stuck a x2 red dot sight on it and the extended magazine. Oh wow, it makes the game fun to play again and changes up the grind for other upgrades for it and my classes.
The reason I went for a shotgun is simply because unlocking it with my 1000 cert's which seemed to take forever to grind, unlocked it not only for my main to classes, Light Assault and Combat Medic, but also for the Engineer and Heavy Assault, which means should I ever feel the need to switch to one of these other classes I've a good weapon to start out with.
I will also point out that my guy is in the TR, I tried NC pre flinch patch and found it grossly annoying when my aim constantly ended up on the moon instead of the enemies face whenever they shot near me. Thus I switched over and enjoyed actually being able to kill the Vanu in a near straight fight.
And going back to Eve Online once more.
It looks like I'm going to be on my own in it for now as my friends who said they would try it on a whole don't have the time to do it justice, or to really get into it. Which is fair enough. But means when I am ready I'm going to be looking for a EU wormhole corp to join. Hopefully in a Class 3-4. I would prefer to find a smaller less well known group play with rather than one of the bigger well known groups.
CCP have also just today held an ingame event which I give them great kudos for doing in that its progressing the storyline of the Empires and so on. But I am also incredibly disappointed with them about the way they went about it at the same time.
If your not aware this was the Battle for Caldari Prime. With the Gallente and Caldari going at one another. Capsuleers were able to help shoot all the things in space as everything was tagged suspect. Thats all cool. The progression is cool as I've already stated.
What isn't cool is that they had already decided the outcome of the fight and it looks as though they also stacked the fight to make sure they got the outcome they wanted. In my book this isn't cool. Here was a chance to allow high sec people to make a difference, or infact anyone to make a meaningful difference to the history of the game, and CCP denied the players it, by deciding that the Caldari would lose and that the Leviathan class titan would be destroyed and parts of it crash onto the surface of Caldari Prime.
How do we know this?
Earlier in the week was some footage from a Dust 514 battle which apparently took place on Caldari Prime in which in the background was visible the burning wreckage of one Caldari Leviathan class titan.
Well done CCP I applaud you in not giving the players a chance to influence the history of the game in a meaningful way and in essence playing the god GM card, by making sure it went a certain way.
They might as well just have made a video of it and uploaded it after downtime in which they removed the titan from Caldari Prime orbit. They've done similar before.
It looks like CCP has recently taken a good couple of steps forward lately and then taken this one back in my opinion.
Anyway that's it from me.
I've realised that I will need to train many many long skills so I'm doing that now, or at least ones which feel long as they give no immediate or real benefit to a certain extent. What am I talking about? the core skills.
Like; Electronics 5, Engineering 5, Mechanics 5, Weapon Upgrades 5, Eletronic Upgrades 5, Frigate 5, Energy Management 5, and a whole bunch more.
All these skills are going to be necessary to get the most out of the ships I will be flying, in terms of fitting them as well as flying them, along with their inherent bonuses.
So they're all necessary if I want to make the most of the ships, which I do, but at the moment it feels as though they do nothing, as they are not really improving much on my existing fits.
So during this somewhat boring skill training time, I've gone off on a tangent in my gaming to some extent.
I recently got Assassins Creed 2 from the Steam Summer Sale, (Thanks!) this is a really great game to run round in and feel somewhat immersed. Ubisoft just break it with the whole meta plot and all the flashy white stuff every now and again from getting you more involved. However, Ezio is a fairly kickass person to play as, jumping around assassinating people with little regard to their security.
I've also been playing PlanetSide 2 again.
I just recently unlocked the Haymaker shotgun in this and stuck a x2 red dot sight on it and the extended magazine. Oh wow, it makes the game fun to play again and changes up the grind for other upgrades for it and my classes.
The reason I went for a shotgun is simply because unlocking it with my 1000 cert's which seemed to take forever to grind, unlocked it not only for my main to classes, Light Assault and Combat Medic, but also for the Engineer and Heavy Assault, which means should I ever feel the need to switch to one of these other classes I've a good weapon to start out with.
I will also point out that my guy is in the TR, I tried NC pre flinch patch and found it grossly annoying when my aim constantly ended up on the moon instead of the enemies face whenever they shot near me. Thus I switched over and enjoyed actually being able to kill the Vanu in a near straight fight.
And going back to Eve Online once more.
It looks like I'm going to be on my own in it for now as my friends who said they would try it on a whole don't have the time to do it justice, or to really get into it. Which is fair enough. But means when I am ready I'm going to be looking for a EU wormhole corp to join. Hopefully in a Class 3-4. I would prefer to find a smaller less well known group play with rather than one of the bigger well known groups.
CCP have also just today held an ingame event which I give them great kudos for doing in that its progressing the storyline of the Empires and so on. But I am also incredibly disappointed with them about the way they went about it at the same time.
If your not aware this was the Battle for Caldari Prime. With the Gallente and Caldari going at one another. Capsuleers were able to help shoot all the things in space as everything was tagged suspect. Thats all cool. The progression is cool as I've already stated.
What isn't cool is that they had already decided the outcome of the fight and it looks as though they also stacked the fight to make sure they got the outcome they wanted. In my book this isn't cool. Here was a chance to allow high sec people to make a difference, or infact anyone to make a meaningful difference to the history of the game, and CCP denied the players it, by deciding that the Caldari would lose and that the Leviathan class titan would be destroyed and parts of it crash onto the surface of Caldari Prime.
How do we know this?
Earlier in the week was some footage from a Dust 514 battle which apparently took place on Caldari Prime in which in the background was visible the burning wreckage of one Caldari Leviathan class titan.
Well done CCP I applaud you in not giving the players a chance to influence the history of the game in a meaningful way and in essence playing the god GM card, by making sure it went a certain way.
They might as well just have made a video of it and uploaded it after downtime in which they removed the titan from Caldari Prime orbit. They've done similar before.
It looks like CCP has recently taken a good couple of steps forward lately and then taken this one back in my opinion.
Anyway that's it from me.
Sunday 17 March 2013
Media of the Week
All right. I nearly missed it this week, but its here.
I've been fairly busy and not totally in the writing mood till now. Though I think that's changing. Looks like I may be going through cycles of having lots I want to write about and then times when I just want to sit and stew, doing nothing.
I've been fairly busy and not totally in the writing mood till now. Though I think that's changing. Looks like I may be going through cycles of having lots I want to write about and then times when I just want to sit and stew, doing nothing.
Video of the Week.
Of Fountains, Clowns and Birthdays.
Yeah, I couldn't resist beginning to show off some more eve related video's. This one, titles "Of Fountains, Clowns, and Birthdays" is perhaps one of my all time favourites by Tez of Test Alliance.
It dates from the time when Test Alliance Please Ignore with the help of Goonswarm and others kicked IT Alliance from Fountain. 6VDT-H being the capital system for the region, with the Gallente outpost of it being the centre piece for much of the footage as Test and Goons hell camped it twenty four hours a day for about four or five days I believe, meaning that IT Alliance was unable to undock safely and form a fleet to defend their space. This is one of Tez's earlier propaganda videos and as I said one of my favourites, though all of his videos are well worth watching in my opinion.
Image of the Week.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Blackreach.
A Skyrim screenshot.
This is taken from down in Blackreach, if I remember correctly.
Skyrim is a game that I have a lot of time for, the exploration and the ability to customise your character so much is what really makes it for me. Well that and the stunning visuals. Skyrim for me will be one of the all time greatest games ever. One of the reasons I picked this one is simply because I think many people will have possibly missed the glowing orb down in Blackreach which is in this, and the brilliant radiance it gives off.
Music/Sound of the Week
John Dreamer - Becoming A Legend
This is perhaps one of his best pieces of music, I'm hoping he will release some more stuff in the future as I think this is pretty damn cool as it is. It would suit just about any epic hero driven game trailer or montage video. Definitely one of the better pieces of epic classical style music that I've been listening to lately. And something that I hope others will enjoy.
The old me.
Hopefully in this post I will examine the reasons I have chosen to roll anew and see how it goes in Eve Online.
Old me.
The new me.
Why haven't I gone back to my old characters? this can probably be split into three parts.
First, starting afresh allows me to gain a newer perspective of the game itself and what its like to be the low Skill Point player once more based out of high-sec. This has been a little annoying and yet quite good at the same time. I've been mostly just updating skill queues so far on my new character, basing myself out of Hek - Boundless Creation station (aka the trade hub). Ive good access to just about everything I need at reasonable prices whilst still being able to do a little market trading to make some start-up ISK.
Having completed the new player experience I've a greater idea of what it was like starting out.
Secondly having a new character does not tie me to links and friendships and a history which my previous characters have. In Eve, your corporation history can tell a story and can limit you if you wish to move on. Starting afresh means I've none of that to really worry about. So if I choose to apply to a corporation I'm showing up as a new old player returning. In itself that's not great and I will probably have some explaining to do.
Finally I've grown and moved away from how I was in the days where I was a line member in null-sec. A veil has been drawn back and I can truly see what I was part of and to me I have come to despise it. What I'm referring to here is that null-sec is so broken now that the massive alliances and coalitions they have formed don't want to go to war for real. They would rather just thunder dome once again. No doubt your thinking that I'm yet another person who is totally against the large null-sec alliances, that perhaps I have an axe to grind against them because they picked on me or something. I don't.
What I intensely dislike is the fact that null-sec has reached a stage where it is essentially a big blue doughnut which so many other people have described. That the people at the top are the same people as years ago. That its the same alliances holding space. The same cultures, the same people, the same everything. Yes null-sec has stagnated. This is in part because of CCP, but this is also in part because of the alliances have become too good at what they do and that the people at the top have not moved on or refuse to.
I hold a great deal of respect for some of them, e.g. Shadoo, Montolio, The Mittani each for different reasons. But I also hate them to a certain extent for not moving on to the next challenge, and not allowing new people to step up to the challenges.
Anyway that's enough of that rant for now, back to the topic at hand.
Starting afresh also allows me as I've previously stated to truly get to know ship classes that I bypassed and skipped when I rushed towards the bigger and better ships of the time, (Battle cruisers and Battleships).
At the moment I'm looking forward to giving the assault frigates and interceptors a good run around with in the future. To this end I've been focusing my skill training on fitting skills and small weaponry support skills and so on that will be needed to get the best from these ships. This will also stand me in good stead for further progression into cruisers, T2 cruisers and T3 strategic cruisers, which at the moment are my goal.
I have however made a slight detour in my skill training to be able to fly the Corax, and Oh blimey. I like the look of it a hell of a lot, CCP art department is really good at space ships now.
Old me.
The new me.
Why haven't I gone back to my old characters? this can probably be split into three parts.
First, starting afresh allows me to gain a newer perspective of the game itself and what its like to be the low Skill Point player once more based out of high-sec. This has been a little annoying and yet quite good at the same time. I've been mostly just updating skill queues so far on my new character, basing myself out of Hek - Boundless Creation station (aka the trade hub). Ive good access to just about everything I need at reasonable prices whilst still being able to do a little market trading to make some start-up ISK.
Having completed the new player experience I've a greater idea of what it was like starting out.
Secondly having a new character does not tie me to links and friendships and a history which my previous characters have. In Eve, your corporation history can tell a story and can limit you if you wish to move on. Starting afresh means I've none of that to really worry about. So if I choose to apply to a corporation I'm showing up as a new old player returning. In itself that's not great and I will probably have some explaining to do.
Finally I've grown and moved away from how I was in the days where I was a line member in null-sec. A veil has been drawn back and I can truly see what I was part of and to me I have come to despise it. What I'm referring to here is that null-sec is so broken now that the massive alliances and coalitions they have formed don't want to go to war for real. They would rather just thunder dome once again. No doubt your thinking that I'm yet another person who is totally against the large null-sec alliances, that perhaps I have an axe to grind against them because they picked on me or something. I don't.
What I intensely dislike is the fact that null-sec has reached a stage where it is essentially a big blue doughnut which so many other people have described. That the people at the top are the same people as years ago. That its the same alliances holding space. The same cultures, the same people, the same everything. Yes null-sec has stagnated. This is in part because of CCP, but this is also in part because of the alliances have become too good at what they do and that the people at the top have not moved on or refuse to.
I hold a great deal of respect for some of them, e.g. Shadoo, Montolio, The Mittani each for different reasons. But I also hate them to a certain extent for not moving on to the next challenge, and not allowing new people to step up to the challenges.
Anyway that's enough of that rant for now, back to the topic at hand.
Starting afresh also allows me as I've previously stated to truly get to know ship classes that I bypassed and skipped when I rushed towards the bigger and better ships of the time, (Battle cruisers and Battleships).
At the moment I'm looking forward to giving the assault frigates and interceptors a good run around with in the future. To this end I've been focusing my skill training on fitting skills and small weaponry support skills and so on that will be needed to get the best from these ships. This will also stand me in good stead for further progression into cruisers, T2 cruisers and T3 strategic cruisers, which at the moment are my goal.
I have however made a slight detour in my skill training to be able to fly the Corax, and Oh blimey. I like the look of it a hell of a lot, CCP art department is really good at space ships now.
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