Other Games....

Activision Stock Plunges After Report CEO Bobby Kotick Knew Of Employee Rape Allegations For Years

 

Shocka, I tell ya. Absolute shocka.

 

I really enjoy questing and have found DDO to be just right for me. It's a bit complex and I have no idea what group play is like, but that's ok. I like solo questing, so it's been a perfect fit.

 

Been years since I've played DDO, but I liked it. I enjoyed the twitch combat and loved that itemization mattered in a mob or environment specific way. Loved the puzzles.

Hated the crafting system, the prevelance of zergers, and would eventually get bored and drift off.

 

AoC has begun migrating to Unreal 5. Gotta say, the differences in the aesthetics are AWESOME.

Now, those of you still throwing salt because the game has pvp can move along. However, for those who're interested in observing said awesomess can do so by watching the Dec dev stream.

 

I'm barely on ESO anymore. I spend more time on Destiny 2 or Minecraft than I do a proper MMO anymore.

Refresh my memory, is AoC all-PvP no-opt out?

 

You can opt out of PvP in AoC. However, there's no pvp immunity setting. Instead, the game utilizes a corruption system to apply severe punishements to players who kill other players flagged for non-pvp status.

Those punishements include severe debuffs to health and abilities, bounty hunting, and no restrictions on dropped gear (both bags and equiped). In addition, there is no time decay on corruption. The only way to lose it is to die from pvp or grind cleansing repeatables that force the player to venture back out into the world.

I believe the devs have recently opened a player feedback environment to discuss concerns over griefing.

 

So if you get ganked, do you lose your stuff? (I'm not looking at consequences for the ganker, griefers gonna grief and will always find a way around the penalties.) It doesn't sound like "opting out" is much practical protection at all.

 

The most you can lose is some of your harvestables. That's also true for regular pvp (irc) The only folks at risk for losing gear are gankers, and they can lose anything equiped or in their bags.

There are no safe zones for corrupted players, so for example, they can't park in their home cities. They also show up on bounty hunter maps.

People with little to no experience with pvp play seem to be having a hard time believing that AoC corruption mechanics will impactfully disincentive ganking/griefing. But those of us that do pvp know they will.

AoC's corruption mechanics are intended to (imo) confront two problems: (1) Immunuty buttons are eady to turn into exploitable mechanics, and (2) They're immersion-breaking.

AoC is a pvp environment that allows folks to opt out of pvp and play the game in all kinds of different ways, but I've abandoned any attempt to persuade people that its corruption system will work. Some people will simply refuse to play a game where they can be killed by another player, even if the odds of that happening are unlikely and the stakes trivial. /shrug

 

It's only "lipstick on a pig" if one believes it's a pig. The game has more than enough support to succeed and be profitable. I like the corruption system, and so do lots of others. Already explained why.

At the end of the day, there will be some traditionally pve-only folks who give this game a shot, and their opininion is what's going offer credibility to the rest.

Still, as previously noted, there will be a healthy chunk of the pve crowd who will never accept this game because they cannot manipulate or evade 100% of the danger contained within the environment, and that's fine. To each their own.

P.S. I'm also not saying corruption can't be improved. I'd like to see even harsher penalties, and the dev's are currently taking active feedback on that. Never the less, snd as previously noted, the risks to flagged players are likely to be low, and in the event of an unfortunate encounter, the costs trivial. In fact, the best way to exact vengeance for such encounters is to die without fighting back.

 

I suppose the proof will be in the playing. The summary "yes you can be ganked, but it's risky and you won't lose your gear" isn't the worst in the world (though losing harvestables may have ramifications on server economies).

I won't be in, but I seem to be out of the MMO space altogether for the most part, so that's neither endorsement nor indictment.

 

Okay, so yeah, I agree that LOTRO's monetization structure is goofy, but low and behold, Ji Ham takes over, and now SSG is trying to build a path down the loot box rabbit hole.

As current/former EQ2 players, we already know how this is going to end.

https://massivelyop.com/2022/01/13/...o-win-currency-changes-as-the-forum-explodes/

 

Microsoft buying Activision-Blizzard for $69B.

Microsoft to buy 'Call of Duty' maker for $68.7 bln in gaming push

 

Microsoft has typically been very good to the devs they buy, and this is also a great deal for gamepass and Xbox, but I can't help but feel uneasy about Microsoft buying yet another huge dev.

 

Gotta say, I've been playing the Final Fantasy 14 free trial and I've been really enjoying it. I don't know anything about Final Fantasy but so far FF14 is a fun as heck MMO. I love the job system, more MMOs should take this approach to classes.

 

Now that they've changed the system so that I can use NPCs for main scenario/story duty dungeons, and not be forced to group with others to progress, I've gone back to it and am enjoying it immensely.

Still have to figure out how to do different jobs, but more interested in finding out now.

Edit: I had been playing SWTOR for the past 6 or so months (founder, since open beta), but with the new 'expansion' (actually a pretty significant downgrade), I'm looking for a new gaming home again...looks like FF14 may be it for the foreseeable future.

 

For the curious, AOC tank preview for alpha 2. As someone who likes playing tanks, I like how the class is shaping up, mechanically and visually.

 

Hello everyone *waves at whoever still remains*

Just popping back in to say that I'm now playing Baldur's Gate 3 and LOVING it!! I was very unsure about it (do not like blood etc) and it's taken a little while to get used to the D&D turn-based combat system, but really enjoying it now. I actually like it - it slows fights right down and gives me time to think a bit strategically about what I want to do and where I can put my party members (PC and 3 companions make up your party). Although mainly single-player, you do have the option to take it multi-player if you want to (I don't).

It's definitely an adults-only game though - you can customise your character right down to the dangly and fluffy bits And yes, there are spicy romance *cough* scenes if you choose to date one (or more) of your companions. You can definitely tell the developer is European and not from the USA....

The only downside to the game is the point-and-click to move. Pretty last century. There are mods/addons to address this (and other QOL things) but as there has just been another major patch this week gone, the mods have broken and I'm now waiting for them to be updated. It's a small thing, with a minor annoyance factor only.

I've also reinstalled ESO and now looking for the link to the mods (need a minimap and movement change) that I think Fuli posted in this thread....

Edit: Having logged back into ESO, I'm now reminded why I didn't enjoy it the first time, and think I might just ditch it and reactivate my FFXIV sub instead....