Blaugust day 16 post 1

Ok so I came a little late to the party, fashionably late obviously. I just heard about Blaugust from the wonderful Contains Moderate Peril (if you love games, you should really check it out) and so I thought I should embark on an attempt to blog every day for the rest of the month.

Now call it serendipity or fate, but just as I was considering this today, my Alienware gaming machine gave up the ghost. It's been making a racket of late, fans blasting full on, apparently a common problem with my model and as I'm unable to get it fixed any time soon, I've hooked my wife's laptop to  my monitor in the hope I might have the chance go play something. I installed Eve and it runs like a hippo through mud. Needless to say, I am not happy. No LOTRO for a while, and probably no Eve aside from maybe adding skills to my queue. 

ah we'll, gives me time to blog from my iPad doesn't it?!

Here's to payday at the end of the month! Hope you join me for my cold turkey away from gaming.

Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative - Coursera 2014

Last year I joined a course via Coursera, Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative run by Jay Clayton of the Vanderbilt University.

It covered a range of topics related to the "remediation" of literature into other forms of media, notably gaming, and this ties with the courses connection to Lord of the Rings Online. Through the course, I joined Landroval, a second permanent server for me, and made some great friends.

The course is due to run again for 2014 and if you have any interest in trying an MMO or learning more about the subject, I can't recommend it enough. It starts on 14th June and runs for 7 weeks. It is free and of course, LOTRO is a free to play game, so it's not going to cost a penny.

If you want to sign up, join us on Landroval. We have a Kinship, a guild, dedicated to course members called the Courserrim. Leave a comment or drop me a line @jestrosneak on Twitter if you need an invite.

Course information here

Return to Eve Online

A couple of years ago, I tried out the 14 day trial to Eve Online. I remember enjoying the experience but after the 14 day period I just dropped away.

Last week, after hearing a discussion on the game on the excellent Contains Moderate Peril Podcast, I was tempted to give it another go. I rolled a new character and started the training again from scratch. Such is the complexity of the game, even the tutorials, it didn't come flooding back so I trawled through it, itching to get into the game proper.

5 days in and I'm hooked. I can't speak highly enough about how well the game holds together even after ten years. There are many reasons why this game has enjoyed the longevity it has and will continue to have. The world is rich, the graphics and sound excellent and there are so many choices of style of play you can never get bored. It reminds me of my early days in my first mmo, where I didn't see the mechanics and just enjoyed the game, something no other mmo has been able to capture for me since.

If you haven't given the game a go, please do. It's not for everyone, but if you want a complex and frankly unforgiving game experience, something you can throw yourself into and not hit cap in a few days, this may just be for you!

New Class comes to Neverwinter!

I've had an off and on relationship with Neverwinter lately, but the new expansion released this week, Shadowmantle, has dragged me back in with an introduction of a class I've longed for, the Hunter Ranger.

The class plays like a dream, awesome ranged power will the ability to hop backwards to put more space between yourself and the enemy, this actually plays better than my favourite class in Lotro, the Hunter!

I've not played through any of the new content yet, but for the release of this class alone (and Free to Play!) I hail Perfect World for a job well done. If you haven't tried it yet, give Neverwinter a go. It's a blast!.

http://nw.perfectworld.com/

Guess what I'm patching?

Well, as if I didn't have enough games on my plate, listening to the Contains Moderate Peril podcast, I was inspired to dive back into this excellent game. Be nice to play something modern to get away from the fantasy of Neverwinter and LOTRO and sure it will take me ages to understand the thing again.

To min max or not to min max....

Today I got into a heated debate with my guild leader in Neverwinter. Now this guild has always been described as casual, which fits my play style, however today the leader was suggesting he would be basing recruitment on people's stats, suggesting that if they didn't know how to build a character 'correctly' he had no wish to 'carry' them.

This stuck in my craw no end. I have never been a fan of min maxing. I have no interest in researching a cookie cutter build, especially to satisfy another player who does not contribute to my game playing budget. For me it removes all individuality and if The game designers wanted me to play the game like that, they'd just set my stats and skills as most solo games of ten years ago used to.

I also made the point that not everyone is in a game to play its hardest content and what he was doing was essentially discrimination. he didn't like my opinion at all.

Sadly if this is the way the guild will go, I'll be forced to look for another home. If all you recruit are hardcore gamers, then that's the kind of people you'll socialise with in game and I have no interest in that at all.

What are your thoughts on min/maxing? Leave a comment below.

Neverwinter - Masquerade of Liars Event

Neverwinter have released a very interesting event for the Halloween season. Running from 10th October to 4th November it consists mostly of collecting tokens to convert to cosmetic gear with a Skeleton Warrior companion up for grabs for the most dedicated of grinders.

What impressed me most about the event though, is the makeover they've given to the main city hub.