Tag Archives: mythic

12/31/11

RIFT Versus SW:TOR – An Observation on With It-ness

I find it very interesting that RIFT gets mass appeal for being a game that’s adapted to the times, yet SW:TOR has absolutely not. In fact, I’d say the folks at Bioware pretty much stopped learning right around 2008 with WAR’s warfronts. Few people mention this, despite their being back to back releases (figuratively anyways). The only lessons Bioware seem to have applied since are those they’ve taught themselves with single player RPGs.

And for all that, I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun. The voicing, while sometimes an obvious mask for “kill ten rats” advancement quests, really does make leveling more engaging. On the other hand, I also feel like my character has been planned out for me, like a single player RPG. That’s always been there, though,  in games gone by, but I guess it’s easier to ignore when everything isn’t spoken.

I do wish they would implement some of RIFT’s improvements. It needs better tutorials and a more customizable UI. It needs better quest planning — either that or earlier mounts. I love the massive scale of everything but it’s tiresome when you have to run back for the second or third time. And, as small as it is, I really wish the minimized window would flash red when I was being attacked. I’m an alt+tab blogger and that’s a death wish when you stay logged in.

Overall though, there’s still this looming question over fanboy love and jaded bitterness. I’ll say this: SW:TOR is a very polished, very familiar game that harkens back to the 2004 era of MMO scope. It’s picked up some things better left behind and, yeah, I hope they fix them quick. I feel very spoiled by Trion’s quick turn around time, though, so I hope it’s a lesson they learned. While SW:TOR’s first patch was three yards short of underwhelming, and their communication is EA Mythic acceptable, this could be the second life for the WoW quality MMORPG.

Is it as up with the times as RIFT? Not by ten feet of tent pole. Is it still a shining example of how compelling and exciting this genre can be? Yes — and for that, I hope you try it.

10/5/11

Is Anybody Really Happy the WAR Guys Are Back?

Rockstars?

Forgive me for being a little crass, but I’m not all that excited Paul Barnett and Mark Jacobs are back. These are the same guys who sold us a total bill of goods and then dropped the ball like lepers at the super bowl. To be quite honest, I’d keep Paul Barnett out from in front of a camera (and microphone) for another three years if I could. If AOL wanted to help the MMO community, they’d have Massively pretend these two don’t exist entirely. Both their names are synonymous with failure and disappointment.

And it doesn’t help that these guys are pretty much severing all ties they had with the MMO world. Paul Barnett came off like a “facebook games are the future” –type back in December and was outright dismissive his former (and now future) customers. And Minecraft players, of course, because, you know, Minecraft isn’t even really a game. Mark Jacobs is doing the same but at least he’s being upfront about it. He says that social games are easier to make and their players are easier to please. It’s also a lot harder to put your foot in your mouth when your whole game consists of aiming birds or pressing “jump” repeatedly.

Simply put: Both these guys messed up. They’re likeable enough people and I respect them for their talents, but they should lose their PR privileges forever – you don’t shackle yourself to the Titanic and then try to sell me a river boat. Even though Mark Jacobs would have you believe it was EA that drowned WAR, a good look at Christmas Past should tell us all that WAR had fundamental problems far before EA bought them. It didn’t start with the buy-out, it only got worse because of it.

So, yeah. Enough with the schilling already. You pay marketing people to market, not “creative strategists” and CEOs.

11/8/10

The Multiverse – Episode #31: “They’re Barely Even Games”

Happy Pre-Black Ops, Folks!

Don’t let that mislead you. We don’t talk about Black Ops on this show; I’m just excited.

There was a lot of great news this past week, MMO and gaming in general, so we thought we’d take a show and break it all down for you. There’s lots of great MMO talk from the headlines we picked, so buckle in and get read to hear about:

Most of the conversation focuses around the three major stories, but we spend some time talking about Fallout New Vegas too. Come Fly With Me, Internets.

Enjoy it and don’t forget to drop us an iTunes review. Share the love, gamers!

Oh, and PS: Last week’s show, though discussed through for the full hour was lost, once again, due to the Skype recorder we previously used. We’ve switched to something new, improved, and much more reliable. Please let us know what you think of the quality!

We also welcome your email at multiversepodcast@gmail.com.

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UPDATE: Whoops! Looks like editing something at the end threw off the track alignment in the beginning. We’re reuploading a fixed version now. Sorry about that!

04/9/10

If you’ve been affected by the Mythic billing fiasco, READ THIS

The recent billing issues from Mythic and Warhammer Online have caused a lot of financial stress for players lately. I worked in the commercial banking industry for 3+ years, so I’m hoping to offer a little background on the situation they’ve caused for you and where to go from here.

Before I begin, I have to provide a caveat. Even though I worked for two of the nation’s biggest banking institutions over that time, this information is general. I’m not guaranteeing it will apply to you or work; however, that being said, I’m coming here with honest intentions and the knowledge I have tells me that it will probably apply to a lot of you, if you bank with some of the bigger institutions. This is not financial advice, just one persons meanderings to another.

I’ll also caution that this article is a bit lengthy and doesn’t include pictures. Considering the potentially serious impact it, and my conversation, could impress upon you, I think it’s best I don’t try to cut corners. I will, though, include the bulk of it after the cut.

So, let’s go on…

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