free to play

Return of the middle-aged MMOer (is that a word?)

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Asation, from http://www.swtor.com/

 

This really is turning into a yearly blog!   Maybe I will try to rectify that.  I was thinking of doing Nanowrimo (again) this year, and my decision not to do so has freed up a huge amount of time that I wouldn’t otherwise have had!   So, time to write about gaming again.

I’m still trying to balance gaming with “real life”.  When I quit SW:TOR about three years ago, I realised that spending hours in front of a computer screen was not good for my health, my fitness, or my figure.   I got fit, I lost weight, and I cut down my gaming time dramatically.    I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, that has to be a conscious decision.   If I didn’t make that decision, I’d quite happily sit for hours, playing games, while no doubt drinking wine and ordering takeaways (no time for cooking and washing up!)  I have to accept that it’s kind of addictive for me.

However, it works the other way too: the less I play, the less I’m drawn to playing, oddly enough.   I’d still rather do it than housework, of course, but it’s not like it was a few years ago, when I could happily have spent the whole day staring at the screen, given the chance.

And the less I play, the less social gaming is.  I don’t have the time and experience to do “dungeons” in ESO or SW:TOR, so they have become solo games.   PVP didn’t appeal terribly much in either of those for different reasons (I wasn’t wild about it in SW:TOR and in ESO, Cyrodill was so huge and I kept dying and having to run back and get killed on the way … rather frustrating and boring).   I did have a stint in WoW recently and that was much more social as there was so much group content that didn’t require a long time to organise and do: dungeons, old raids and achievements, world bosses, etc.   I enjoyed grouping up with other guild members.  Even raiding was quite accessible.   I know many people hate that WoW has become so casual-friendly, but I have to say, that if you are casual, then … it’s friendly.   It’s easy to gear up and you don’t feel excluded from the good stuff.

As for the hugely anticipated (by me), ESO: what happened there?  (So long since I last posted!).   Well, I loved it at the beginning, had fun doing the starter dungeons, but being a slow leveler I once again went through the experience of being stuck in what seemed like a single player game: levelling through quiet areas and lonely delves, not feeling I had the skill for veteran dungeons, and not managing to find a group for them at a suitable time (I did try to organise one, but the timing seemed to be wrong for everyone else).    It was SW:TOR all over again!

I still pop in now and then as it’s now buy to play, and called Tamriel Unlimited.  But oddly enough, I’m back in SW:TOR.   Some of my guild have returned to it and as it’s now free to play I thought I’d give it another try, and finish off the main class storyline for my inquisitor at least.  The story is actually turning out to be a little disappointing, but never mind: my misgivings about the game still apply, but I’d forgotten how pretty and atmospheric it was.

What I really want is to play Witcher 3 and Dragon Age:Inquisition, but my computer says no.  Maybe in a year or so, when they’re in a sale, I’ll buy them and put them on my son’s computer.    Meanwhile SW:TOR is providing a nice combination of single player story and MMO.

Return of the middle-aged MMOer (is that a word?)

Guild Wars 2: I don’t want your freedom, I don’t want to play around … well, I do, but …

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Image

I keep forgetting to take screenshots in GW2, which is a shame, as one of my favourite things about the game is how pretty it is.   My very favourite thing about the game is that it’s free to play, of course.   There are no difficult decisions to be made about subscriptions.   I can log in, check my mail, do a bit of crafting and a bit of exploration, safe in the knowledge that I haven’t paid to do so.

One thing that’s nice about that, is that I don’t feel a duty to play, just to justify my sub.  I’d particularly started to feel that with SW:TOR before I left.  On the other hand, I’m finding I have a more leisurely approach to the game, just because I’m not paying a sub.    It doesn’t matter if I don’t log in today or tomorrow, because I can log in any day I like. 

Unfortunately, that has a downside.  Because I’m not in game day to day, it feels as if I lose track of what I’m doing.  I’ll log in, usually to find myself next to a crafting station.   I might have a look at my map for unfilled “hearts”, particularly trying to pick those which involve killing humanoid mobs, because I’m a tailor and need the cloth.  I might then notice that the travel costs are a bit steep and try to work out whether I’ve got the time and the bag space to make the most out of the journey.  Sometimes, I’ll log in and find myself out in the world, and from there I might travel on to the next hub, or go back and do some crafting.

This is where the lack of formal quests isn’t working so well for me.  With no clear sense of direction and purpose when I log in, I tend to focus on crafting and gathering, and every day feels much the same.   There is the personal story, of course, but I’ve left that on hold because I can’t decide which faction to join and so can’t progress the story. 

I’ve ended up being a very slow leveler.  Even more slow than usual.  I still only qualify for the first dungeon, and there hasn’t been a guild run there since I got to that level.  I’m hoping to get into PVP in GW2 instead (can you level through PVP?  I haven’t checked), as it’s possibly more easy to dip in and out of it, but I imagine gear is going to be a problem.   At the moment, I feel the levels stretching ahead of me, and I feel I haven’t done enough “homework” on my class to be effective in dungeons or PVP.   One thing that I would have loved for GW2 was a low level dungeon so that we could all get stuck in, in the first week or so, and perhaps some short dungeons.  I think that’s particularly important because it’s free to play and “casual”.  As it is, I’ve now been playing the game for several weeks, but am still pretty clueless. 

Guild Wars 2: I don’t want your freedom, I don’t want to play around … well, I do, but …

Guild Wars 2 launches … with a few hiccups.

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As some might have noticed, Guild Wars 2 launched yesterday.  I finally had to a decide on a character, any character.  I had tried most of the classes in beta and liked them all, but eventually settled for an Asura necromancer.   I’m actually enjoying this class more than I did in the beta.  The starting area is nice and busy, the main city of Rata Sum is fairly easy to navigate (although I managed to fall off it), I’ve been dabbling in crafting and enjoying that, I like the system with the small toolbar/limited spells that can be changed by switching weapons.   It’s all good.

However, I’m annoyed that we were unable to play for some of the day despite spending a significant amount more for these two days of early access (i.e. the digital edition).   All the other bugs, such as not being able to be in my guild, or using the trading post, are irritating, but not being able to play at all is the worst.   I took advantage of the time the game was down to go to the gym and do some shopping, but it’s not the point.  I’d paid, and I wanted my access!   Funnily enough, I wouldn’t be so bothered after the start, because the game is free to play (after purchase) anyway.  It’s the two days that we bought at £7.50 a day that bother me!

Guild Wars 2 launches … with a few hiccups.