sw:tor

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?)

Bored

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I’ve been trying to avoid saying it for a while now.   I suppose I’ve wanted to avoid admitting it to myself.   The truth is that I’m bored with SW:TOR.  Bored, bored, bored and quadruple bored.  I’m the chairman of the bored.  I’m paying a monthly fee to be bored.

I’m a slow leveller, and I don’t suppose that has helped.  My guild have all reached level cap and are into hard mode operations.  Meanwhile, I haven’t done a flashpoint for weeks.

The problem isn’t so much that I’m desparate to do operations.  Normally, I enjoy levelling.   I should enjoy levelling with SW:TOR, but it’s got to the stage that I often just don’t feel like logging in.  Why?

  • It’s lonely.  The levelling planets are deserted.  There’s no chance of spontaneously grouping up for a heroic, because there’s nobody there.  The NPCs are just standing around staring into space.
  • It’s repetitive and monotonous.  I’m afraid it really is.  The planets look great, but I feel as if I’m doing the same sort of thing over and over again, with a pretty backdrop.
  • The travel. *sigh*  I hate having to spend so long on my stupid vehicle (and what the heck happens to my companion while I’m on it?  I hate the way they disappear then suddenly reappear, having arrived by the power of thoughtwaves, or something).   But what’s worse is travel between planets.  It’s a protracted saga of loading screens, similar looking spaceports, running (on foot!), shuttles, loading bays, etc.   There are several parts to getting from A to B, and none of them allow you to go away and make a cup of tea while waiting to arrive (unless you count the loading screens).  A few weeks ago, my guild held an event which involved visiting several planets, and I felt like I spent most of it looking at loading screens.  Now, I just try to avoid leaving planets.
  • The story hasn’t grabbed me as much as I thought.  The class quest is fun, but the pace is all wrong.  It’s dictated by levels, so there’s no real sense of urgency.  The stories on the planets – they’re OK, but I’ve lost interest.
  • The role-playing aspect hasn’t grabbed me either.  I’ve ended up choosing responses which I think will suit my current companion.  I found that it was impossible to plan what my character was going to be like, because the game tells you what you’re going to be by limiting your responses (and the voice acting is great, but I’m fed up with always being sarcastic).
  • There’s a lack of replayablity .  I’m normally an altoholic.  This time  I don’t think I can face running another character through the same quests.  Not for some time, anyway.
  • There is a lack of “other stuff” to do.  Oh, there’s the odd thing, like getting datacrons, which I thought would keep me occupied.  But that involves travelling, which I try to avoid.   I’ve been dipping into WoW to play with my son, and it’s amazing how many things you can waste your time on in there compared to SW:TOR.  (I’m thinking of things like trying to get rare pets, achievements, etc.)
  • I am anxious about the endgame.  If I’m fed up with levelling, I’m dreading how I’m going to feel at level 50.  What do people do?  I’ll have to get geared up to do operations, which will presumably mean that my guild have to do normals to help me (not much fun for them).  What if I can’t get geared up enough?  What if I get bored with doing the same old operations week after week?  What if I don’t like operations at all?  What if I’m rubbish at it?
  • And it turns out my class is being nerfed.   Apparently it needs to be.  I wouldn’t know, as I’m out on my own questing all the time and can’t see how anybody else is doing.   I don’t mind being nerfed so much as having to redo my talents and my rotation after I’d found something I liked.
  • The damn legacy screen.  I haven’t decided on a name yet.  But it pops up every time I enter a new zone or look at my talents and I have to manually close it.  It’s inevitable that with so many chances for it to happen, eventually my cat is going to type something in that space and I’ll be stuck with the name “l,ytltk,ml”.
  • The companions.  Actually, the companions are a big plus in this game.  I like that I can use my companions in different ways and can choose a tanky, healy or damagey mate for different situations.  I like that they have their own little stories.  But there isn’t enough.  Their stories and their romances aren’t as involving as the ones in the Dragon Age games, for instance.  And yet, because I’m playing this game much longer than one of those single player games I need more from the companions, not less.

Those are some of the things that have led to me being bored.  If I didn’t like my guild and hadn’t just added a two month sub, I’d be thinking about taking a break just now.   What to do?

It’s been suggested that I level through pvp instead of questing.  I don’t like pvp, but it may be that this is the less painful way of finishing off those last few levels.  I may also voluntarily respec to make the forced respec not seem so painful!  I’m going to grind it out through the medium of Huttball and hope that I enjoy being 50 more than I enjoy the 40s.  Wish me luck!

 

(Disclaimer: there are some things I love about the game and some things that I think are very well done.  I appreciate that it’s a new game and may well improve.   I’m not saying it’s a crap game, but that I, personally, am bored with it.  For now.)

Bored

Love me, love my pet

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Why do I love playing pet classes in MMOs?

  • I like being able to play more than one role within one class, and having a pet gives me the pet’s secondary role.
  • Usually, pet classes seem to have good surviveability
  • Probably because of the above two reasons, they’re often good for soloing
  • You can multitask (for instance, have your pet fight a mob while you’re mining a node)
  • The first class I ever loved in an MMO was a pet class (my warlock).

And finally, perhaps the main reason

  • it’s a lonely old world out there, and it’s nice to have a companion

I can become quite attached to my pets.   That’s why my hunter in World of Warcraft keeps bringing out her crag boar that she trained in Dun Morogh all those years ago.   That’s why I was devastated (well, maybe not devastated, but pretty put out) when my warlock’s demons were renamed at the start of Cataclysm (thankfully, they got their old names back).

Maybe SW:TOR is the ultimate game for pet class lovers, because every class has a selection of companion “pets”.   Companions with back stories and personalities, companions that you can talk to and even romance!  No wonder I’m drawn to the game.

There’s one problem, though.  I have to learn to play without a pet whenever I group up!   And real life has got in the way of grouping for the past couple of weeks, so I’m out of practice.

Love me, love my pet

May the farce be with you

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Every so often, in SW:TOR, my character will do something that results in an increase in light/dark side points, or an increase in approval from a companion.    What is it about these points that I find so appealing?   Of course, there are gains to be had.  I believe that an increase in approval with a companion helps with crafting, and light or dark side points allow you to buy particular items from a vendor.    Which isn’t actually terribly exciting.   I think those gains just give me an excuse to keep trying to make those points flash up.

I’m trying to role play my character, but have found it difficult to get to grips with her motivation.   In beta, my sith inquisitor was dark side and that was fun.   This time, well, I was intrigued to see how a light side inquisitor would play out.   And I know from experience that I’m drawn to the light.  I knew I would find it difficult to consistently make dark side choices.

Sometimes the light side choices work better than I expected, and aren’t necessarily “good”.  I can imagine a more evil person might choose the light side choice of keeping a captive alive to torture or to bargain with, rather than killing them instantly and spoiling all the fun.    However, as there’s no advantage to being “grey” (wouldn’t it be “purple”?) I feel I have to consistently pick those light side choices and somehow make them fit to my character rather than vice versa.   Which means that my character is evolving through her choices.

When I’ve played other Bioware games, I’ve always felt I can justify doing or saying something out of character just to win approval.  It might be more important to that character to win a companion’s approval at that point than to choose the more “right” answer.   I’ve particularly felt this with romance companions.   After all, in the first flush of romance, I think many people might be influenced by their partners into choices and modify their words and actions slightly.

The ability to switch out companions makes things even easier to manipulate.  I’ve sometimes done a quest with one character, then switched to another to hand it in, just in case there are approval points to be gained.

Which means the whole thing becoming a bit of a farce (OK, I did just want to use that title for the post, and couldn’t think of another one.   Next week, I’ll probably think of something farce-related to write about SW:TOR and will really regret using the title on this one).    Picking light side options even if they sound ridiculous, being childishly rebellious to win approval, switching companions whenever I start a conversation …   The inappropriate light side options are rather fun, though, particularly when spoken in my inquisitor’s sarcastic voice.

May the farce be with you

The loneliness of the less typical gamer

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Long time, no post.   Like most people, I’ve been playing SW:TOR in my (limited) free time.

I say “like most people”, but I probably mean, “like most people in my guild” or “like many MMO players”.    I’m in a situation where I don’t know anyone in real life who plays SW:TOR (apart from my son, and the guild member whom I’ve met in real life).   I hardly know of anyone in real life who has heard of SW:TOR.

Such is the loneliness of the older gamer.  I very occasionally mention my gaming to friends my age, but there’s nothing to discuss unless they play.   I think they’re mildly amused at me pretending to be a gnome or whatever in my free time, but there’s nothing to discuss unless they’re gamers too.  Which they’re not.

Even on the internet (never mind real life!), older female gamers don’t have much of a presence.    I can only think of one in my guild, and she’s not playing SW:TOR.   I’ve had a look for blogs or forums, but haven’t found much – it’s easy enough to find female bloggers, but older female bloggers?  And I don’t mean older than 25.  I mean around my generation or up.  Teenage or older kids, wearing varifocals, remember everything (leggings, dry hair shampoo, Thatchermania, all the older-than-me singers making comebacks, the story referenced in this post title) first time round, etc.   We exist, but we seem to be largely invisible.

There are websites, forums and blogs about “girl” gamers.   I know that I don’t have to be under 18 to be referred to as a girl, but still, I can’t seem to think of myself as a girl gamer.  To be fair to those who do use “girl”, they aren’t exactly spoiled for choice.   What should we be called, if our sex is to be identified?  Lady gamers?  Women gamers?  Female gamers?   All of those names come with baggage.   I’d go for “women” myself, but apart from anything else, I’d lose the alliteration of girl gamers.

And when I’ve read about girl gamer issues, a lot of it seems to be about being “hit on” by guys, something which doesn’t seem to be a problem for me.  (Why not, eh?  Do they know that I’m somebody’s mum?  Can they sense it?).   (Not that that’s the only issue.  I’ve been reading some interesting stuff about sexism in SW:TOR, something I feel I’m not far enough into the game to make judgment on at the moment).  I don’t even have much in common with the women who are juggling (not literally) small children and gaming, although I can sympathise.  I’m past the small child stage, and on to the picking up from girlfriend’s (my son’s, not mine) stage.

So what are my specific, older female gamer issues?   I suppose that it’s balancing game time, but in a different way.   My son goes to bed at the same time as me so I no longer have a couple of clear hours in the evening.   I’m in a household which has a certain level of noise right up until bedtime, so using Mumble, Vent, etc., is problematic.    I’m having to budget for my son’s education and my own pension, so money is limited.  I have health problems that I didn’t have to deal with when I was younger and that can sometimes affect my gaming (I’m convinced that my many medications don’t help!).   My eyesight isn’t what it used to be and my varifocals don’t seem to be designed for looking at a computer screen.

These aren’t moans, but just issues that I don’t seem to have in common with other people.   The main issue is simply that I’m on my own.  I can’t talk to my friends about my gaming because it would be boring and they wouldn’t understand.   They don’t seem to feel the urge to game and I don’t understand that!     It’s not loneliness as such, because I don’t feel lonely, but maybe aloneness.  Solitariness.   But with the feeling that there are others like me out there.  I just haven’t met them yet.

The loneliness of the less typical gamer

The class choice dilemma

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For a long time I’ve been trying to decide which class to play in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  And the decision-making has flagged up, yet again, one of the dilemmas in playing MMOs.   I’ll be playing what is a group game, but for the great majority of the time I’ll be playing it solo.

My ideal class in a group is one which has a clearly defined role, is useful and wanted in groups, and isn’t too hard to play.   My ideal solo class is one which is tough, fast, fun and versatile.  The difficulty doesn’t matter too much as I’m only letting myself down if I get it wrong.

In groups I love playing (in order of appeal):

  1. a straightforward tank
  2. a straightforward healer (I’m OK at healing, but bad at doing healing along with something else)
  3. a support class, with crowd control and tricks
  4. ranged dps
  5. melee dps

Solo, in order of preference, I like to play:

  1. First equal, hybrid classes and pet classes.   I love to be able to self-heal and to have a pet act as tank/support
  2. Ranged dps
  3. Melee dps
  4. Healer
  5. Tank

Of course, it depends on the game.   I’ve put tank at the bottom of my solo list because I got so bored grinding my guardian through LOTRO.  Never again.  Meanwhile, I’m sure my WoW paladin tank would have been fun solo.   But then, I see a paladin as more of a hybrid.

I was very excited about Rift because the classes were so customisable.  Given my choices above, a rogue was ideal.   I could tank or do a bit of healing in instances, along with the ranged dps (and melee dps if I wanted a change).   I could just switch to play whatever role was missing in the group.  Solo, I had my choice of pets.

Although I still think the Rift class system is great, in practice, it didn’t work the way I’d hoped.  Changing spec was like learning a whole new class.  I tried soloing with the riftstalker (tanking) tree, but I couldn’t get to grips with it, and wouldn’t have had the confidence to try it in a group.  And when I did instances with my guild, we always had a tank, so there was no need.

Now, I’ve been trying to work out a ranking system for the different classes, to help me decide.  For instance, I could give points to a class that can tank, because that’s my number one choice in a group.   However, I suspect that the reality is that I’m not going to tank.   There are others in my guild who might like to tank, and have more time to commit and are, frankly, better at it.  And I could give points for a pet class, but in a way, I feel that all the classes will be pet classes because of their companions.    Then I thought that perhaps the most important aspect was versatility: the ability to try out different roles and change when I find the one that suits.   But from what I gather, at some point with any class I would have to specialise and would lose that versatility.

What I’d planned to do, in this post, was work out a formula which took account of the advantages of each class for me as a group and solo player, and decide, through a points system, which was the optimum choice.  But I know that it’s not going to go like that.  I know that Bounty Hunter would probably win.  And yet, I’m not particularly drawn to Bounty Hunter, even though I think it looks fun.

In the end, I’m probably going to decide on the basis of less quantifiable things.   Things like the look of the character, the voice acting, the starting story, the companions. For instance, I’d like to play an Imperial Agent simply because I like playing less popular classes.  And “Bounty Hunter” just doesn’t sound as good as “Sith Inquisitor”, does it?

I haven’t been playing the beta, so it’s only now that the NDA has been lifted that I’m starting to get more of a feel for the different classes.  But even things like talent calculators don’t get me to the nitty-gritty of “Will I love this class?”.  It’s a gut feeling, and I think I can only find out by playing.

And the solo/group dilemma?   Two things.   First, because I will be solo so much of the time, it’s probably best for me to find what I love playing solo and then adapt to make that work well in a group.  Roll on dual specs.   Second, I have a cat who likes to walk on the keyboard, catch my mouse and sit in front of the monitor.  Whatever class I play, I’m going to be a liability in a group.   As a mum, I’ve been used to working game time around a child’s sleep times.  To my consternation, it turns out that cat sleep times are not quite so predictable.   Cats are like children in one way, though.   They are able to sense when you’re doing something engrossing that doesn’t involve them and then do their best to be the centre of your world again.

The class choice dilemma