What are you playing now?

[pmp10]

Maybe I'll give TOR a try when it goes F2P in a couple of months.

At the current subscriber level you'll need to wait more then a couple of months.

In fact, chances are it will not go F2P until at least one expansion ships.

[Guest Slinky]

Maybe I'll give TOR a try when it goes F2P in a couple of months. I installed Age of Conan a while back but haven't gotten to it yet.

 

I've heard from many different directions that Age of Conan is awesome in the beginning, but turns into suckfest right after it. Apparently they had time/money to do only the first part of the game well. No personal experience so can't confirm.

 

And I'm glad they only made the first 15lvl F2P in TOR, I've noticed that in F2P games the amount of "undesired" players is way higher than in normal subscription games. It's always "fun" when some 13 year old goes rather verbal after gotten killed in World of Tanks.

[Humanoid]

I wouldn't be surprised if they made the trial version of TOR indefinite though. I don't think there's really any reason to restrict it anymore to guest passes and free weekends - it's not like they've got a shortage of server capacity. When I did the trial weekend thing, I only had time to really sample one subclass to the level cap, and it turned out to be one I didn't enjoy - so there's good business reason to allow anyone to at least try to find one that they find enjoyable without having to rush them.

[Nepenthe]

+ The first 15 levels is a lot less than it sounds, probably something even I could put together in a day, or two at the most.

[Pidesco]

Tomorrow I will, hopefully, play through the entirety of Missing Link and start a New Vegas playthrough.

[greylord]

Maybe I'll give TOR a try when it goes F2P in a couple of months. I installed Age of Conan a while back but haven't gotten to it yet.

 

I've heard from many different directions that Age of Conan is awesome in the beginning, but turns into suckfest right after it. Apparently they had time/money to do only the first part of the game well. No personal experience so can't confirm.

 

And I'm glad they only made the first 15lvl F2P in TOR, I've noticed that in F2P games the amount of "undesired" players is way higher than in normal subscription games. It's always "fun" when some 13 year old goes rather verbal after gotten killed in World of Tanks.

 

Wait? What, TOR is free to play for a few levels?

 

Is it even worth it?

 

If so, I'll give it a shot, but how would I do that? Is there a client to download or how does it work?

[Gfted1]

You need to download and install both Origin and the game itself.

[Guest Slinky]

Wait? What, TOR is free to play for a few levels?

 

Is it even worth it?

 

If so, I'll give it a shot, but how would I do that? Is there a client to download or how does it work?

 

Not yet, no idea when. I don't think they gave any date.

 

As for is it worth it depends on you. You get to level 15 around beginning/middle of second planet and it doesn't take much time to get there. Think it as a demo for the game, just a way to let people see what kinda game it is.

[Hurlshort]

Stop crying because YOU *chose* to buy it.

I didn't buy it...

Back to Volourn...

Here's a short list of very successful MMO's currently running strong:

Lord of the Rings Online

City of Heroes

Everquest 2

Rift

Free 2 play

Free 2 play

Haven't quite heard of the last 2 in a while, so not sure how they fare. Are they still on a subscription model?

 

What does that have to do with anything? They are still very successful MMO's. Turbine figured out that the f2p model actually increases their profits, as the hardcore players are willing to pay even more than a monthly subscription, and it allows casual gamers to pay small amounts as they play. They also still run off a subscription model, it is more of a hybrid than a total f2p game.

 

EQ2 has implemented f2p aspects, Rift is still fairly new so they probably will wait awhile.

 

Age of Conan has a fantastic starter island. The first 20 levels are simply fantastic. Unfortunately it drops off after that, it is a beautiful world to explore, but the game lacks cohesion. You can play the starter island for free though. I didn't put AoC on my list because despite an initial burst of success at launch, it was mismanaged and the developer had to make significant cuts. It is still going though, so obviously it wasn't a total loss for them.

[Volourn]

"I didn't buy it..."

 

So, apparntly, you weren't forced tog et it. So, what's with the nonsense of being 'forced' then? Thanks for proving my point for me.

[Serrano]

Any recommendations pros and cons for Dead Island? Thinking about getting me some new games for the summer. And I was thinking a lot about this game, but somehow I do not know if it is my cup of tea :/

 

Dead island is a bit like Borderlands with Dead Rising 2 style weapon customisation. The maps are fairly large and often beautiful, there are a lot of optional side quests and some great moments here and there in the main storyline. It has the addictive loot hunting and the different weapons have a nice feel to them. A lot of average things come together really well in Dead Island to make it a fun experience but it's only a good game not a great one and there were parts were I was bored and just wanted to get to the next chapter as quickly as possible as well as some really annoying bugs (those may be fixed by now though) and the fact that multiplayer matchmaking was often terrible. When I wasn't frequently being disconnected from friends and randoms alike I was finding that where people had gotten further into the game with stronger characters they were giving super weapons to their older characters through the storage chest making them much more powerful than other players. It was hard to find a balanced group unless you were playing with friends.The story isn't very strong, the trailer and interviews were very misleading about. There are only a handful of different of enemy types so combat is always more about how many there and so while it can be difficult at times it's not very varied. Also the game has a death system like diablo so when you die it isn't game over you just lose cash, items, durability ect.

 

The dlc is not worth the money so don't buy those.

[Ross_Witchen]

Stopping by to say "hi" to the old Black isle die hard posters and new members.

 

I see Obsidian changed the web page. My 2001 computer can barely read anything on my screen. Must be my security settings or sumthing.

 

What am I playing lately? Stronghold (2001 version). Blizzard banned me again from World of Warcraft in April 2012, saying I'm a gold seller...and a disruption of their economic system. Of course ..its not true at all, but that didn't stop em. Sent a reply to em..but no response.

 

Maybe now I'll get a 2nd job..and get a new computer..so I can finally play NeverwinterNights 2, which my current computer can't play..no matter how much I fiddle with the patches and video settings.

 

Is that Volourn still here? Unbelievable..

 

Well, nice to see a few familiar faces are still here

 

I couldnt find the relpy title entry...entry boxes are either invisable, light blue, or sumthing. I tryed click-searching and cursur rubbing the screen, but couldnt find it. Man, I need a new computer.

 

edit note: Hey! Where'd my BG1 elf avatar go? Hmm..

Edited June 5, 2012 by Ross_Witchen

[mkreku]

Any recommendations pros and cons for Dead Island? Thinking about getting me some new games for the summer. And I was thinking a lot about this game, but somehow I do not know if it is my cup of tea :/

I liked it a lot. I played it in co-op with my cousin and it was fun as hell.

 

The first half of the game is melee based and takes a while to get used to (timing and distances and such), the character progression is very RPG-esque and also great fun to experiment with, the world is very well made and the graphics are good. The second half of the game is not as impressive (at least for me) and I didn't like that they divided up the game in two distinct parts. I had hoped for an open world. Also, the second part is much more gun based and guns just don't feel right in this game.

 

The bad parts are some of the story bits and the respawning enemies that can feel a little cheap. Also, the equipment breaks too fast and even the rare equipment you find doesn't feel very special.

 

All in all, I would still recommend this game, despite some flaws.

[pmp10]

Any recommendations pros and cons for Dead Island? Thinking about getting me some new games for the summer. And I was thinking a lot about this game, but somehow I do not know if it is my cup of tea :/

Depends if you can stomach first person melee combat.

If you can it's ok in coop but certainly not as interesting as a FPS like Borderlands.

 

I think I'm done with Witcher 2 and the game left me completely conflicted.

On one hand the production values and attention to detail are certainly great but the whole feels not as good as the individual parts.

Combat system looks like it should belong in a much larger sandbox game, character advancement is almost optional, storyline keeps dragging the irrelevant Wild hunt subplot and introduce/reference events/characters from outside the scope of the games. Add to that the fact that writers still haven't learned their target audience and keep translating things that absolutely make no-sense in English which makes the story-driven nature of the game somewhat of a mess.

On the other hand the choice player makes in chapter 2 turns out to be quite significant to the storyline development. Unfortunately since all decisions from the previous games were thrown away I have no faith that they will matter at all in the next installment.

[Calax]

Stop crying because YOU *chose* to buy it.

I didn't buy it...

Back to Volourn...

Here's a short list of very successful MMO's currently running strong:

Lord of the Rings Online

City of Heroes

Everquest 2

Rift

Free 2 play

Free 2 play

Haven't quite heard of the last 2 in a while, so not sure how they fare. Are they still on a subscription model?

I don't think you can just dismiss a game because it's free to play. City of Heroes ran for 6-8 years as a sub, Which is a LOT longer than most mmo's even survive. And even now it still HAS a sub you can do, and it's suggested you sub for at least 3 odd months to provide yourself access to things like Global names and global channels. Also has quite possibly one of the least antagonistic player bases in the entire world.

 

For the record, Rift is effectively WoW with everything that the Blizzard team had learned from the 5 years WoW had been working applied to it. It's nice because there are 4 basic classes but 9 sub classes within those. You can basically set yourself up with whatever role you want with vastly different play styles.

[Hurlshort]

Rift has also been out for over year and seems to have survived the release of TOR and carved a nice spot in the MMOscape. Pretty impressive what Trion Worlds was able to do with it.

[Mamoulian War]

Thank you guys for the minireview of the Dead Island. I have better view of the game now. Soon there will be GOTY edition for sale with all DLCs included, so if I will not have anything better I might pick it up

[Tale]

I'm in Dragon's Dogma's postgame.

 

Imagine you're playing your typical fantasy RPG. The roads and wilderness are filled with goblins, wolves, and zombies. Now imagine you beat the bad guy at the end.

And the enemies get replaced by super goblins, hellhounds, and giant zombies.

 

[WorstUsernameEver]

You guys are fast with Dragon's Dogma. I don't think I'm anywhere near the endgame yet

[Tale]

You might get time to catch up. I'm dog sitting this week so I won't be playing it.

[Malcador]

Civ V, am all alone in NA so will have to make the best of this. I wish they put the clock/alarm back in the game though, very useful for going to sleep at a reasonable time.

[SadExchange]

You guys are fast with Dragon's Dogma. I don't think I'm anywhere near the endgame yet

 

I agree, I've been spending some time with DD between times of Diablo 3 and really having a good time with it, but am only around lvl 15 for my main character. Love the Magick Archer so far. Went fighter till 10, and can't wait to try out some different classes. Nice system they have built into the game.

[entrerix]

Started writing again instead of gaming, 8000 words into my second novel attempt. Wish me luck!

[WorstUsernameEver]

Started writing again instead of gaming, 8000 words into my second novel attempt. Wish me luck!

 

Read good books and don't take cues from videogames. Not even the ones with supposedly good writing! Just don't! Good luck!

[Tale]

Try not to take too many cues in general. Find your own voice.

 

I mean, I'd love to write like Pratchett, but it's just not right.