Horizons - not impressed at all!

Gamergod.com had some Horizon's media accounts floating around and an article for the upcoming dragon ceremony was needed... so never fear... Heartless is here!

Step 1 : Download Horizons.
-No problems here... downloaded while I slept.

Step 2 : Install & Patch Horizons
-Nightmare begins. So it downloaded and the patcher opened up just fine. Installed Microsoft 1.1 .NET Framework. Then it is time to install the game. Took an AFK break and come back to a screen that says "These files must be deleted for Horizons to play correctly." DELETE.

Step 3 : Make an account and play!
-Never going to get to the play part of this experience. Account created with a little tweaking of the ole' address. I live in an apartment and the account form fails to mention it doesn't accept the # sign until AFTER you put all your info in. It rejected me and didn't save any of my info. Repeated without the # and got my account. Tried to launch Horizons... Horizons is not installed on your computer. OH HELL YES IT IS YOU STUPID PROGRAM.

Step 4 : Call customer service.
-Nice guy... not terribly helpful. He tells me to reinstall. However the downloaded program file says there is an installation that already failed and I could not start another one. Customer service walks me through the uninstall and then directs me back to redownload the program.

Step 5 : Politely tell the CS rep that it isn't worth my time
-Informed my CS rep that I would not be downloading the program again. Even after he tried to convince me of the "new patcher" that is only a 34MB download and would then auto download the patch for me.

So there is my Horizons experience. Account canceled withing the first 36 hours.

Tried Irth Online for a Bit

Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post and applied label.

Update: 4 May, 2009 - Removed post, but this will be kept as a placeholder for historical value.

Originally, this post contained a link to Irth Online's website (now defunct) and gave a blurb about playing in the NDA-protected beta.

Scout is level 24 now

And I'm getting that old feeling of hate for DAoC again. Took him to Thidranki full of catacombs gear. It pretty much is unmatched outside of getting a full spell crafted suit and set of weapons.

I am facing the fact that a scout can barely kill yellows in PvE let alone kill anything in RvR. Blue casters eat me alive... especially warlocks who unload one insta dot that kills me.

I don't know what to do... keep getting pissed off... quit... roll a necro that I know I can level... or just take a break.

/sigh

Anyways my DAoC review for Gamergod.com is coming along good. I can seperate my hate from the review :P It is more a broad stroke review with a bit of game history included. It is scheduled to go live Monday the 22nd so keep an eye out over at Gamergod.com!

Half Life 2 MOD Spotlight - Battlegrounds 2

Battlegrounds 2 MOD has a beta version up and running. I jumped on a few servers and blasted away with it. But first what is this MOD all about? From their FAQ...

Q #2: What is it all about?
A #2: BG places you in the time period of the revolutionary war in America. American rebels are fighting for their freedom and the troops of the british crown are trying to keep control of the colonies.

Yes you heard that right... a Revolutionary War mod! Enough with WWII and Vietnam... lets go way back in history! The game reflects the time period with highly inaccurate weaponry and a lot of bayonet action. The battles are frantic and no real strategy could be found on any servers I played on. I would like to get an organized group on a server and just line em up like they did in those days... firing shots off at each other.... ending in a big melee scrimmage!

Check it out... you may just like it.

Vanguard will be an Everquest rehash...

Reading up on an article over at Gamergod.com it seems that Vanguard is going to be another treadmill game. From the article I have grave reason for concern...

Jeff Butler mentioned at the demo that downtime will be making somewhat of a comeback as it's an important factor in socialization and community building. Players will have mental and physical stamina that they will need to replenish, but it will be reasonable for lower level characters.

-Holy shit! How socialization comes out of having my character sit on their proverbial ass is well well beyond me. I'm guessing these developers have no idea that players actually want to PLAY the game when they are logged in. Sitting, resting, or "replenishing" is not FUN. Remove fun and you remove me. Socialization and community come out of two things. Putting players together and having community driven goals. Both of which require as little downtime as possible.

Without details I don't want to go too overboard here, but unless they have taverns that push real beers out of my CD drive...

Another breakthrough feature is called demeanor. Each player will have to evaluate the demeanor of each NPC they come in contact with and apply their diplomacy skill to get the desired result. Vincent also stated that each class will be able to utilize different strategies for getting the same results. A rogue may choose to steal something from an NPC to complete a quest. A warrior may choose to use diplomacy to achieve the same ends. Also, the "hail" command will be back and each NPC will have something to say depending on your diplomacy level and their demeanor towards you.

-Breakthrough? Hardly. Retarded? Possibly. Most gamers I know ignore 99% of the quest text and NPC text that is dribbled their way. It is the reason games like DAoC and WoW have quest journals that abbreviate the goals on a given quest or task. Sometimes more detail is nice... most of the time it is not. Once again it comes back to the fact that gamers like to play the game... not read NPC text and hope they are persuading a NON-PLAYER CHARACTER to respond to them.

As the crafter progresses, he will eventually outgrow the village and need to move on to a more advanced town to learn more skills. This will have the effect of opening up his workshop slot to junior crafters. A crafter can pass on the location to a fellow guild member or friend. Each village will have a finite amount of crafting slots available. Also, many advanced crafting recipes will only be found in dungeons.

-Oh... so.... the players with no life who are logged in 24/7 get to control the crafting market? Great plan! Well guess this is good considering this game is shaping up to be powergamers'R'us.

Another inspired feature is that players can learn more exotic combat and spell skills using a skill called tactic recognition. Players can do this finding and fighting various mobs. Skills can also be learned just by grouping with other players. For example, a Thestrian warrior could learn a skill uniquely Qalian combat move just by grouping with Qalian warrior.

-Ah yes. Instead of trainers... or hell just giving us a skill tree to click on we will be scouring "spoiler" websites looking for the location of the fuzzy fuzbugger to get the fuzzy fuzzbugger attack. I'm doubting this will reward explorer types... considering that there will most likely be a line when they get there anyways.

It was important to Brad that Vanguard brings back a sense of accomplishment to players by providing a world where players can succeed by employing skill and tactics. He echoed what other Sigil staff had told me by stressing that Vanguard was about letting players make their own stories with more of an emphasis on open ended, non-linear game play.
-If it was "important" to bring back a sense of accomplishment they may want to stay far away from treadmills as possible... and clearly so far that is not the case. The old cliche of "You only won because you have no life." is ringing in my ears... and it is quite loud. If they think accomplishment = time spent... they are sadly mistaken.

True Heartless Insight... the THI effect.

Level 15 is the goal!

And I am at 13.9 as we speak. Going to farm up some arulite (DAoC's Catacombs expansion uber trading commodity) and then upgrade my gear all around :) Or at least I hope... never used arulite before!

Heartless out.

2 days and no BF2

DAoC and 12 hour work shifts have kept me offline of BF2 for the last two days... and I'm ITCHING to pull the trigger. However I am working this weekend and have other business to take are of... so I won't get my BF2 fix until Monday!

Oh the tragedy!

Pondering a return to DAoC?

DAoC recently released three new servers with the title of "classic"... meaning no Trials of Atlantis(ToA) (no more master levels and artifacts) and no buff bots. These were two of my largest issues with DAoC orginally. You needed a buff bot to compete and after ToA you needed to be ML 10 with a full set of level 10 artifacts.

On top of the new servers Mythic also announced "The Island". Movie title monkey-business aside this fixes another issue I had with DAoC's New Frontiers mini-expansion. There was no longer an area to frequent for reliable RvR action... leaving tower camping power groups and stealth wars as your soul enjoyment.

So this leads me to ponder a return. A new account... a new life in DAoC. Stay tuned.

DAoC to get new server type!

Look what Mythic is up to now.

The new server type will be called “Alternative Rules” and has two main features: no access to Trials of Atlantis and “ranged buffs”. Here are the details:

Trials of Atlantis: ToA zones will not be available, nor will Artifacts or Master Levels. You will be able to play ToA races, however.

Ranged Buffs: All concentration buffs will have a range limit of 5000 units, and will be available only to the buffer and his groupmates. Anyone outside of the group cannot receive concentration buffs.

So is Mythic finally coming full circle to admit that TOA was a bad expansion and relatively destroyed the game for many players. We're back at square one almost and I guarantee these servers will be hit hard. I will not be lured back... I hope... and I don't see many other people coming back.

Why you ask?

They still haven't balanced the stealthers, new frontiers is still worse than old frontiers, and most of all leveling sucks. The people that were looking for this type of server are already playing the free "get everything without any work" emulation DAoC servers being run outside of Mythics grasp.