Sorry ESO, it's not you

 With some downtime from New World I've been out trying some other games.  Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) was one I dabbled with and I shared some thoughts here.  The game didn't hook me though and so here are some thoughts as I walk away from my fledgling Templar.

 The foremost driving factor was the combat.  It just isn't acceptable for my tastes when I've played games like New World where combat is far smoother.  It is annoying having to overthink your combat.  Canceling animations, weaving light attacks in, etc.  These are just not things I care to take on.  It doesn't help as well that the bulk of content doesn't require knowing how to do those things so the only way you learn about them is reading about them online and watching videos on how to do it.

 Second I just didn't like the disconnected world.  It felt like Starfield.  Run a little and load screen.  Run a little further; load the next room.  Sure there are bigger zones but I never got a sense of "world".

 Next I didn't dig the UI and as much as I love UI mods being supported I just didn't have the energy (or time) to dig into what was all available.  I've waffled on UI mods over the years.  Back after World of Warcraft I couldn't envision not having UI mods in an MMORPG but more recently playing New World where I spend very little time looking at the UI I enjoy how a minimal UI keeps me in the world.  Staying focused on the world, and not a UI, has become my new preference.

 Last of all I don't think ESO looks all that good.  I don't consider myself a graphics snob but ESO is dated compared to newer games.  I did not get to newer content in ESO so I am sure it gets better visually with the newer content.

 I do want to note that it was exciting to think about the large amount of content ESO offers; both PvP or PvE.  I really was hopeful it would hook me as it would have given me a good amount of stuff to chew on.  Alas it was not to be and I realize it's me, not ESO, that is really the cause of the mismatch.

#savenewworld

 

#savenewworld

 Here is where I think New World needs to start in order to #savenewworld after the disastrous fall out from their "big announcement".

1. Release an honest apology to the community and admit it was wrong to hype the announcement up
2. Provide a roadmap for 2025 as soon as possible
3. Ensure all PC owners of either the base game or base game + expansion get upgraded.

 At no point can AGS say "can't talk about that right now" without causing more backlash.  It simply isn't acceptable that anything is being held back.

Dark Days for New World

Note: after the New World debacle with Summer Game Fest and IGN Live this past weekend I could muster no words to describe how disappointing the it all was.  It is now Monday and I've had time to dwell on the situation so here is an attempt at some words.

 If you tell your players to wait 8 months for a "big announcement" and after the wait the players walk away from your "big announcement" not understanding what genre your game is in or whether you are wiping their characters then you fucked up.  

 If your "big announcement" then says "wait four more months" after you had your players wait eight months then that is a year since your players got any meaningful update which is fucked up.  

 If all that the "big announcement" you hyped up for those eight months was just "the game is coming to consoles" with no other big updates then you lied to your players which is also fucked up.

 Amazon Game Studios... you fucked up.

 Let's take a step back to a post I made about the ill-timed community update for May 2024 in which the community lead and a developer were shown with a heavy dose of censored discussion. It was meant to poke fun at the "big announcement" they couldn't talk about yet.  It was a blatant tease and pissed off a lot of the community.  

 At the time of the video I commented:

 They better have a banger of an update for June otherwise this video will likely be forever held up as the moment "remember when New World died?"

 After that video however I still supported the team.  I even made a long post about how I had faith in New World and why I thought others should as well.  That was a mistake.  My trust in this development team is gone.  We can, and will, look back at that May video update and point at it as the moment New World died.

 It is so upsetting how they handled this announcement and there was no reason they had to handle it this way.  

 First and foremost; there was NO REASON for secrecy.  There was nothing of substance in this update to require it being hidden from players; especially after the minuscule number of changes were data mined months ago.  To prove the point further in the latest minor patch (which came BEFORE the "big announcement") they dropped a relatively major technology update by adding sharding to the game.

 Sharding is one of the biggest new technology things in the entire set of changes and just gets dumped in a minor patch.  How hard would it have been to record a video telling us "hey shards are coming!".  It didn't need to wait for the announcement and if one of the biggest tech changes didn't need to wait then why did the rest of it?

 I can't overstate how obvious it was what was coming.  We knew about the name change to New World Aeternum, the free for all PvP zone, the gear score increase to 725, and it was abundantly clear that the game was coming to consoles.

 I can understand having to keep the console news under wraps, but the rest of the stuff? What on earth were they thinking!?  All of these items would have made good fodder for video updates over the last several months.  Instead we got starved with a promise of "something big" in June.

 Was there no one at AGS that previewed this announcement and said "we have no new information; current players are going to be pissed"?  Was there no one that identified that maybe they shouldn't be hyping this up?  Did no one think maybe some better wording in the follow on videos and IGN Live interview were needed... just a simple "hey if you are a console gamer and wondering what New World is here is what the game is"... instead of leading everyone on like the follow on update was going to give us a bunch of juicy information?

 Let me predict something for you: they have a bunch of pre-canned dev updates that the video clips from the larger update came from and they are going to release them over the next few weeks.  They will put "note: recorded before announcement" subtext in the videos because none of the videos will address the community anger.  I will be SHOCKED if they address the monumental miss in any way.

 What is the end result of all of this?  AGS lost the trust of the current playerbase and has earned every aspect of backlash that will result.  Including when console release does not go as expected.  New World is approaching three years old before it lands on consoles.  What console gamer is going to want to pick up an old game, at a full game price tag, that has Overwhelmingly Negative reviews on Steam.  

 AGS could not have fucked up this situation any worse.  Dark days ahead for New World.

New World Aeternum

 Today is the BIG day for New World announcements.  We got a minor leak about the console release when New World Aeternum (note the name is not just New World) showed up on the Playstation store (it was then promptly removed).  We all assumed a console release was pending so nothing shocking here.  We will get the rest of the update at 5p EDT today!  Set your timers!

Bottom Fishing in The Angler

Bottom fished up a trout!

 My recent vacation got me jazzed about fishing (caught my personal best shark while surf fishing and my son caught his personal best largemouth bass) so I wanted to check back into Call of the Wild: The Angler.  What I found was a new fishing method, bottom fishing, and a much improved experience over all.

 Back when Angler launched it featured just basic fishing methods: float fishing or cast/retrieve.  At some point they added a new method for bottom fishing so I jumped in the tutorial and gave it a whirl.  Fortunately the game provides all the basics to get started.

A big ole' pike!

 First I want to note that I found it a little odd that they added specific rods to the game for bottom fishing when in real life the average fisherman will use their current rod/reel for any method (bottom, casting, etc).  Ideally they'd of let us fish with any equipment for bottom fishing and just had bonuses for gear that was more tailored for bottom fishing.

 I set out and grabbed a spot to bottom fish and it worked exactly as I would have expected.  Cast, wait, and catch fish.  I did try some areas with moving water and the weight does move with the water which if you watched closely could fool you to think a fish was nibbling.  However, since I had sound on for nibbles/strikes I knew when I did or did not have a fish on.

 I finished the bottom fishing quests and moved on to fish some more areas of Golden Ridge Reserve (I don't have any of the other maps they've added).  Along the way I found some much improved aspects of the game from my last adventure.

 The biggest quality of life change was to make jigging or twitching baits into a "hold the button" instead of having to shake or repeatedly move your mouse to emulate the action.  This makes it 100% more reliable to perform the specific action without wearing out your wrist/mouse.  Ideally they'd change it to be button press on/off instead of holding the button the entire time.

Gold!

 The next noticeable change was to progression.  Leveling XP was much more smooth and gear in the tackle shop had a much more obvious path to take.  I still had top end gear from the last time I played from the old system but I can see how the new system will be more rewarding for players moving through it.

  The map also seems improved with better icons and the ability to set/record a ton of custom way points.  This was really nice to track the type and level of fish being caught in areas as I tried to fish up a diamond (which I did not).

 Lastly; multiplayer worked!  I joined and left online matches with ease.  It was cool to see a feed of other player catches scrolling past and to be able to jump in a boat and zip by to say hi.

Pax Dei Sets Early Access Date: June 18th

 Pax Dei is entering early access on June 18th.  This is not a good sign for the game.

 First, I want to be clear that I am NOT against early access.  I have and will continue to be a believer that games developed alongside players playing the game ultimately do better.  So I think the developer's intents are in the right place for Pax Dei.

 Why I don't think early access for Pax Dei is a good sign is because a major aspect of the game, combat, is in a state that is not enjoyable.  What is left behind is the same gather/craft/build any other number of games do better.  Pax Dei's promise was a persistent online world that offered the buildcraft alongside engaging MMO-style combat encounters.

 There is no doubt that that the developers know combat needs a ton of work so going into early access with a shell of a game has to be a known risk to them.  That spells financial problems pushing them to early access.  I hope I am wrong about that but reading between the lines that is what I see.

 Ultimate question: will I play early access? No.  The game just wasn't there yet to be worth playing based on the last alpha.  If the combat system was better then it'd be a much better game.  As it stands; a week after early access launch the hardcore players will have their mega castles built and then what?