The Common Sense Gamer

Looks like it is indeed Diablo III

…bravo.

‘Tis that time in the summer yet again where I take vacation….so more than likely, I will not be writing anything after today.

I do have a SUWT episode in the hopper that I recorded on Wednesday and I should have it done by tonight for you all to listen to…so stay tuned.

Also…Blizzard has updated the splash screen yet again. Yes…it’s still very cryptic. No….I still have no clue what it is yet

D out.

Blizzard’s splash screen has been updated and some more non-descript details have emerged:
1) The hole has opened more. I won’t go into the details of how I can relate that to a sexual meaning.
2) Creepy looking eyes looking at us through the hole. Ummmm…yeah…I can’t relate that to anything sexual but I know one of you will come up with something.
3) A fourth rune that resembles a solar system of some kind.

So, my guesses after seeing this pic…since that’s the whole frickin point would be:
a) A whole new IP and that solar system “rune” is a symbol of that new IP.
b) Star Craft Online.
c) Diablo III…though, I’m starting to doubt this one.

So…have fun with this one because tomorrow is going to be a big day I think

D out.

…it’s because he went into your virtual Bible Belt and said “there is no God”.

For those who don’t get the translation there. I think we’ve put WAR and WoW on such a high pedestal that they have become the Third Rail of MMOs for most people. Even if WoW looks like WAR or even if WAR plays like WoW with little differences…those truths, if they are truths, cannot be mentioned because people have hung their collective hats on those titles. They’ve identified with them so deeply that to criticize those titles, no matter how true the point, is to criticize them…personally.

That, is the only reason why people are upset at Mr. B.

I’m tellin ya….WAR better be the next coming or there will be no end to the pile of broken souls.

Perspective…know it…love it…get it!

D out.

…at least it looks very, very likely. But there is still that nagging doubt…isn’t there

Take a look at this page and pay special attention to the second splash screen analysis, i.e. how they point out that one of the runes on there is, in fact, the Hel Rune.

Once again, Blizzard is a frickin marketing genious.

D out.

Going to keep this as short as possible.

Richard Bartle….he’s is 100% correct.

That is all.

D out.

When we see a game patch this much, what does that tell you? Well, it tells us one of two things:
a) The game was not ready to launch and Funcom is having a bunch of “oh shit” moments fueled by Mountain Dew.
b) “man…are these guys ever dedicated to the enhancement of the AoC experience”

Those are the responses that I’m getting from reading various articles out there about the frequency of the patches. The last time I saw this type of patch frequency was in Vanguard. I really hesitated typing that for a minute because, gawd Darren, AoC is NOTHING like Vanguard was at launch.

I think it’s a combination of the two actually. They probably did release a bit on the early side. Reports of the first siege came in last week and they weren’t that good. Also, if I hear of one more Necro fix/nerf/improvement, I think I’ll scream. I would have had no issues if they would have held back a couple months…but these fixes wouldn’t have guaranteed I’d stick with AoC. Actually…I doubt it would have. I am positive that they are 120% dedicated to their game and I equally as positive that the success (…yes, I think we can call it that now…) of AoC is only fueling that commitment even further.

I am concerned about their people though. At the rate they are going, their designers are going to resemble something out of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video soon (…Woot! First Thriller reference on the site…./high five). You need to let designers run out and play every once and a while. You know, throw the ball around…frolic with the females and all that jazz.

D out.

Random post of the day….totally not MMO.

I’ve seen the year 2012 come up quite a bit as the next date for the end of the world. Just finished watch I Am Legend, and I swear they used this year as well.

Well, we all know that these wackos who make a living out of figuring out when we’re all going to die are batting 1000 on these kinds of predictions….so I’ll be holding my breath.

D Out.

I’m quite a strong believer of “lessons learned” and actually implementing them whenever you get the opportunity. Couple things I’ve learned from my NGE post down below:
1) I really like my readers.
2) I’m a real stubborn bastard. Both a strength and a weakness of mine.
3) People will always want to talk about the NGE and read about an SOE rep apologizing for it, no matter how many times we see it.
4) I am wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong…and here’s why:

WoW is a huge success in the MMO industry and we will always reference that as such. We will always talk about it as a reference point of how to do and MMO and make it successful. LoTRO, to this date, had the most solid launch of an MMO. Yeah, Conan and TR came close, but not close enough. On the opposite side of things, Vanguard will always be sited as the wrong way to do an MMO, from almost every aspect of the issue. On the flip-side, I think Vanguard will also serve as an example on how to bring an MMO back from the dead….give it time

NGE. Yeah…best example of how not to change your game when there is really nothing wrong with it. Not broke…don’t fix it kind of thing. Where my frustration comes from, as the links above and has Ancient Gaming Noob (John) pointed out, is how the press seems to think that asking Smed about “Hey, wanna apologize for the NGE again” is a good story. It’s not. Yes…I think I understand that players absolutely have a right to still say “wtf!!” when it comes to that because really, some players still have that bottled up. Perfectly normal. I guess my frustration needs to be totally focused on where it needs to be…not the players, but the “official” coverage of the whole thing. There is a reason why I put quotes around the word “press” when I talk about gaming “press”. That’s where I fall down…is the focus of my frustration

So…players. Vent away. Honestly. Gaming Press…STFU about the NGE

D out.

So…sounds like something evil this way comes and GU 46 seems to be a pre-cursor to that “something”. Full patch notes here for those who are interested.

I’ve spent a couple gaming sessions since the update and I’m having fun with the whole live event thing. Actually, I’m hard pressed in figuring out the last time I really participated in this kind of thing. So what have I been doing? Killing those shadow thingies to get those “recommendation notes”…or something. I took a look at the rewards being given to players for these notes and, for the most part, they look purely comedic in nature. There is a set of chain amour that will look quite sexy on my Swashy as well as a nice cape.

I counted to see how many notes I need, and I think it came out to 20. So…I’ll have to do the quest 20 times in order to get Bel to look sexy. As of last night…I’ve done it about 7 times. Fun stuff with the group I had last night and we got quite efficient at getting those quests done. We were camping the little pond out in Antonica and I plan to do the same tonight and at least get past the half-way mark.

Hope everyone is having fun with it.

D out.