{"id":1010,"date":"2012-07-21T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T23:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/?p=1010"},"modified":"2012-07-15T22:28:39","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T12:28:39","slug":"hunting-for-a-new-mmo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/2012\/07\/hunting-for-a-new-mmo\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting for a New MMO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made no secret that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit of a diehard LOTRO player. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a hardcore raider, or anything like that, but I certainly enjoy the game because it visually realizes Middle Earth in a way that really appeals to me. Places like Weathertop, the Trollshaws, the place where Durin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bane met his end &#8212; all these and more make the game addictive and appealing to me. After all, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m building a new gaming rig.<\/p>\n<p>But time marches on, and there are other massive multiplayer games that might spark my interest.<\/p>\n<h2>Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/11EVQcCsEbE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-AU&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a huge fan of George R. R. Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s A Song of Ice and Fire. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spawned a successful HBO TV series, and despite long waits between new installments and ever-lengthening word counts, it still is a fantastically realised world, with relatable, human (if somewhat inhumane) characters.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the game is browser-based, which is probably not a good thing. I also have reservations about how one would bring a setting steeped in politics and innuendo to a market that is obsessed with DPS and heals. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll watch that space, but won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hold my breath.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Star Wars: The Old Republic<\/h2>\n<p>TOR is the long-awaited MMO from computer role playing giant, Bioware. I played a 7-day demo and was mildly surprised by the effect that a fully-voiced interaction can have on one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s play experience.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wiMl8qw2M00?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-AU&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Gameplay was a bit run-of-the-mill, and at it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heart it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still very much a themepark MMO. Also detracting from my enjoyment was the piss-poor graphics engine. I had to set the game to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153low\u00e2\u20ac\u009d quality, and we still struggled on. LOTRO is now five years old, but the texture details are much better, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all I really ask for in a game.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, TOR has gone free-to-play up to level 15, and my new rig will be able to give me a prettier experience, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m willing to give it another shot.<\/p>\n<h2>Elder Scrolls Online<\/h2>\n<p>Like many, I have a love-hate relationship with Bethesda games. The settings and stories are great, especially the sidequests. Skyrim is a breathtaking wonder. And buggy as a beehive. Just this evening, I started a new game, which crashed in the opening sequence! I have a great character in Fallout 3 that is unrecoverable because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in the middle of a mission and can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go back, but moving 10 metres forward hangs the game.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I6m9-Dret0U?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-AU&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m dubious and apprehensive. The above trailer is pre-rendered and gives away nothing. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure the writing will be good, and the visuals fantastic, but you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t persuade me to pay an ongoing subscription for a game of unpredictable stability.<\/p>\n<h2>Guild Wars 2<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UPROkIV-Ssc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-AU&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know a whole lot about this franchise. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a little embittered by it because it is partly to blame for the collapse of my old LOTRO kin. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve moved on, and am willing to give GW2 a try. The visuals look awesome, with the science-fantasy feel that reminisces of Fable. If the developers deliver on everything in the above video, and keep it free to play (I presume the game itself is an upfront cost) then it might be worth checking out.<\/p>\n<h2>Pathfinder Online<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m afraid I don&#8217;t have a screenshot or a video for this one.\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/goblinworks.com\/\">Pathfinder Online<\/a> is still in the early stages of design and development. It&#8217;s a combined sandbox\/themepark MMO based on the tabletop RPG,\u00c2\u00a0<em>Pathfinder<\/em>. I&#8217;ve played a few sessions of PF, and while I find the organised play geared towards the lowest-common-denominator hack &#8216;n slash, I think the setting is both broad and deep enough to sustain a good game. And to be honest, there aren&#8217;t enough sandbox MMOs.<\/p>\n<p>The Goblinworks team recently <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1675907842\/pathfinder-online-technology-demo\">raised a stunning $300k<\/a> on Kickstarter, easily exceeding their $50k goal to build a tech demo, with which they will be wooing investors to further development. Whether or not it goes ahead, I&#8217;m pretty excited.<\/p>\n<p><em>What&#8217;s your poison? Does Diablo 3 count as an MMO (it&#8217;s a very clicky third-person fantasy game)?\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made no secret that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit of a diehard LOTRO player. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a hardcore raider, or anything like that, but I certainly enjoy the game because it visually realizes Middle Earth in a way that really appeals to me. Places like Weathertop, the Trollshaws, the place where Durin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bane met his end [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[538,513,563,562,486,561,564,134],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p149Qe-gi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1010"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1017,"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010\/revisions\/1017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daedalist.com\/conjunction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}