The Secret World
This weekend I participated in The Secret World monthaversary celebration. Having only seen a little bit of video and information on TSW I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have to say I wasn’t disappointed but I also wasn’t supremely impressed either.
Although I really didn’t get a lot of time in game I will give you my two cents. The first thing you get once you start TSW is a very limited character creation. Followed by and opening cinematic that as far as I can tell is the same no matter which group you choose. After the opening in typical MMO fashion you head to the main HQ of your faction. Which includes the background story and a session play as a shotgun wielding Japanese girl. Then you come back to reality and choose you weapon specialization. You then get sent to an inter earth space bridge to travel to your first questing area. As I said this seems to be the same no matter the faction. The only thing that choosing a faction seems to change are your motives for doing the things you do. (more…)
Firefall Reimagined?
In the last few days Red 5 Studios has been finishing up a new update for Firefall which is still in the beta stages of development. Update maybe a little bit of an understatement it seems more like they mostly rebuilt the playable characters and the way you’ll be able to play. Here is the Video developer diary take a look.
As always comment below, email Bor, or follow me on twitter @Th3B0rR3p0rt & @Bor_Jason and let me know what you think.
To F2P or not…
With the announcement of Bioware and EA’s joint project going to a hybrid subscription model what does that mean for the world of MMOs?
My first thought is nothing, I really believe that it is up to the developers and the MMO community to make that decision final. I mean as long as games like Rift and WOW are able to function with a subscription model that will still be the main goal for larger studios. After all they have to cover their budgets.
However smaller studios and those who don’t feel they need to be the only game you play will take the F2P or hybrid subscription model at inception.
Let’s talk free to play stigma and why it really shouldn’t be that way anymore.
Stigma part one if a game switches from a subscription to F2P they are a dying game and a last ditch effort to save themselves. I believe that this one mostly came from DDO making the switch because it was floundering. But games like Lord of the Rings Online did it completely to increase revenue. Mostly after seeing what the change did for DDO. Both of these game of course being published by Turbine.
I am sure that the swift manner in which Star Wars The Old Republic has decide to change most people are going to see this as a failure. I believe that in the eyes of the studios involved that may be the case. When your actual goal is to hit 13 million subscribers and take over the #1 spot anything less is a failure.
Next stigma if a game comes out as F2P it is low budget and not well made. Low budget maybe but not well made have you seen Firefall it is well polished, it still has some issues but it is in beta. Although most F2P games are Asian ports that don’t always translate well in the US and Canada doesn’t mean they are also bad games just that we aren’t the right audience for them.
With all that in mind are subscription MMOs dying? I don’t think so with WOW still running things. And games like Rift performing like it has. There is promise in a subscription based game. That being said it is going to take innovations like the ones in Rift and those that are being tried in games like The Secret World for that to remain true.
On the flip side games like Guild Wars 1&2, Firefall and LOTRO that are very solid MMOs. That you can play without spending a dime and they can and will continue to make the money needed to continue to develop content and turn a profit.
So what have we learned? That subscription or no there are all types of very strong MMOs out right now. So find one you might like or a couple and give them a try.
As always comment below, email Bor, or follow me on twitter @Th3B0rR3p0rt & @Bor_Jason and let me know what you think.
Firefall
Recently I have been in the closed beta of Red 5 Studios‘ Firefall. So having limited experience with the game I can’t give it a yea or nay yet but I will tell all of you to at least try it out. It has something to offer to all types of gamers. The aspect of the first or third person shooter, and also some role playing pieces. The closed beta being limited I was unable to dig in very far but hopefully after it opens up I can get a lot more play time. So take a look let me know what you think and I’ll let you know what I think after I get some more time in game.
Lord of the Rings Online : Rise of Isengard : Tusks of the Boar
This is a battleground type instance that we tested during the closed beta remember this is in the beta and may be very subject to change or even removal.
Any comments or questions leave them below or email me at bor.nimrodel@gmail.com I’ll see you next time ~ Bor
Next up Lego Universe
I will be heading into the world of Lego and trying out Lego Universe and letting you know how it is stay tuned. Here is the intro trailer to hold you over.
Any comments or questions Email me theborreport@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
A Thought on Role-Playing
I just wanted to take a few minutes to share my thoughts on RP in LOTRO and other games. I am not much of what has been come to be know as an RPer. Although I do believe that anyone playing a game in a fantasy world where they are able to customize their character are technically role playing I do know that isn’t considered RP. RP is taking the story to a new level by going beyond the just the character creation by creating a back story for their character which they play out as they go through the game. Also they will be seen carrying on conversations in character or doing other group events with other role-players. I can’t imagine the amount of work that people go through to play this mostly because my creativity is maxed out with just the facial features of my characters. I do however want to applaud the people who take the time to play any game that way. I also want to say to anyone that thinks RP is weak or lame to remember whether you want to admit it or not you are role-playing just with less effort and thought put it to it. These are just my thoughts you can choose to agree or disagree and feel free to let me know either way. See you next time ~ Bor
Comment below, email me at bor.nimrodel@gmail.com or @Bor_Jason on Twitter
MMO Etiquette and Protocol
Lately I have been playing a few games at a time and have noticed quite a bit of the normal American “I am the most important person in the world” attitude in the communities. Even in LOTRO which I always felt was one of the most mature and creative communities around has even gone down hill since they introduced the free client model. This isn’t me just voicing a complaint I am just pointing out things I have noticed, nor am I trying to lump all players into this category. Most of the things I have noticed seem to be either a lack of community members speaking up or just a lot of new players that haven’t been told otherwise. Most of these are just little things like blind invites to either groups or guilds which really just drives me nuts at least introduce yourself. Some things are a little more of a social shortcoming like mob or resource jumping. I mean just because you can do it doesn’t mean that you should. For example if there is a quest mob in an area and you don’t need it leave it alone, if you do need it and someone seems to be waiting on it send them a Tell/Whisper to find out maybe even team up and take it down. Like I said these are just a few small things that if people would be more considerate it would allow everyone to enjoy the game that they are playing more. And I want to stress that it doesn’t matter if you are paying to play a game or not you should treat everyone with respect. Just remember that the Golden rule IS “Do unto others as you would want them to do to you” NOT “do unto others before they do unto you”. This is just something I have wanted to get off my chest for a while and now I have. If you have any comments or questions don’t hesitate to ask either below, email me at bor.nimrodel@gmail.com or leave me a message (304) 534-9BOR (9267). Until next time I will see you when I see you. ~ Bor
Bullroarer Took Screenshot Contest
Yesterday Turbine announced this years take a Tooky picture contest. Winners will receive 500 Turbine points so grab your in game cameras a start clicking :{D
Link to Celestrata’s Post
LOTRO Character Panel
Hey guys just a quick video showing the new character panel coming in the Echoes of the Dead update on the Bullroarer server coming “soon” to the live servers. Hope you enjoy it thanks for watching and I’ll see you in Middle-earth ~ Bor
You can read Tim “Raskolnikov” Lang’s new Developer diary here.
Rift: Planes of Telara
After many Betas of Rift I can safely say that it is a decently solid game. There is a lot of polish on many features of the game. Some big things done well and even some little things that really make a lot of sense. Is it a WOW killer?
World of Tanks Open Beta
Welcome to World of Tanks your place for all sorts of tanky mayhem. (more…)
Bloodlines Champions
Okay you PvP’ers out there here is one for your consideration a new offering from Funcom in association with Stunlock Studios called Bloodlines Champions. You can have a look at the pricing here as with a lot of games recently there is a free option. I have only played it a little but the first impression is it could really be a lot of fun it has a sort of action RTS feel at least with the look of the arenas. (more…)
Dual Boxing Experiment
So the other Day I decided to try out Dual Boxing in LOTRO. After some trial and error I was able to get it working using the Lavish Software currently I am only running 2 accounts but I believe you can go as high as 5. You may ask why would you want to dual box? Well there are quite a few answers to this question but my answer is mostly to make it a different gaming experience. I am sure you have seen the videos on you tube of the guy running 5 RKs or Hunters with every key mapped so all 5 characters do the same moves at the same time. I have taken the approach of doing classes to support each other my first attempt is a Guardian and Rune-keeper combo. As of right now I am unsure whether this was a good choice or not but I’ll let you know. So far this has been quite fun although I am only at level 9 on my characters but so far I seem to be doing okay. I believe this may be the way I play from now one but we shall see I still have some more tweaking to do and a lot of experimenting I’ll post my thoughts and suggestions and answers to any questions you may have about this also thanks for reading and I’ll see you in Middle-earth ~ Bor.
Win 100,000 DDO Turbine points
What Would You Do With 100,000 Turbine Points?What would you do with 100,000 Turbine Points? Would you buy every item in the DDO Store? Purchase matching armor for your entire Guild? Upgrade to the biggest Airship in the game? Change your hair color to match every dungeon? The possibilities are endless. You could be the richest player in Eberron! Simply enter today for a chance to win 100,000 Turbine Points!
- What Can I win?
- One 1st place winner for each game get’s 100,000 Turbine Points
- Two 2nd place winners get lifetime subscriptions to either game
- Five 3rd place winners get 1000 Turbine Points
- Do I have to purchase anything to enter?
- No, the contest is free to enter, no purchase necessary.
- Ok great, how do I enter?
- To enter, go to trial.turbine.com between Dec 1 to Dec 31 2010 and register for a free account to become entered in contest.
- But I already play DDO, can I still enter?
- Absolutely! If you already have a DDO account prior to Dec 1, entrants need to go to my.ddo.com/contest Dec 1 to Dec 31 2010 to become entered in contest
- If I enter to win for DDO, do I need to enter separately for LOTRO?
- Yes. Each game will have individual drawings. You may enter to win for each game, but you must sign up separately.
Vindictus Characters
I have recently started playing Vindictus by Nexon a newer “Free” to play Action MMO. here is a few videos introducing the playable characters you can choose from. you can find Vindictus here I hope you enjoy the videos and there are more to come. ~ Bor
Welcome to the Bor Report
Hey everyone I have decided to branch out I will now be covering any game that I play whether it be console or PC games. I will still be covering LOTRO and will hopefully be able to get back to doing the Podcast. Until then I am going to concentrate on doing some videos and posts to let you guys check out games you may not have even heard of. I may even start to incorporate the Gondor Awaits podcast into The Bor Report or vice versa. I hope it is enjoyable to everyone because I do enjoy putting it together. Again I would like to thank Mordor or Bust for hosting the podcast archives and the LOTRO Reporter Network for allowing me to write for them. hopefully in the future I will be able to return the favors. If there is anything you would like me to cover you can still email me at bor.nimrodel@gmail.com or call me at 1(304)534-9BOR (9267). thank you for your time and I will see you in Middle-earth or some other such place :).
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