Becoming suddenly impressed with online gaming trends that everyone else discovered eight months ago, but that I was too cynical to get involved with at the time, is very much part of the mission statement here at Van Hemlock, and in that vein, I went and bought Guild Wars at the weekend.
I wasn’t going to touch it really, already having a fairly full MMO plate at the moment, but two main points recommended it to me. Firstly, I wanted to catch up with an old online friend who I’d not seen since we wnet our separate ways from post-CU, pre-NGE SWG. If like me, you aren’t one for raoming the internet in vast incestuous guilds, it becomes a difficult business keeping touch with those friends you do make – different people end up scattered in different games. Email is nice of course, but the gaming was what brought us all together in the first place, so sometimes it is worth making the effort with a game you were quite ambivalent toward, for the sake of friendships. I’m sure MMO designers are extremely aware of this as well…
Secondly, it’s free…well, effectively anyway – one box purchase, and then zero dollars a month, for as long as NCSoft feel like running servers for it, I guess. I ordinarily wouldn’t be that worried about monthly fees – what I spend on MMOs, I’m not spending on beer, but recently, my life is all changing thanks to a big financial decision I’ve just made, which begins with ‘M’ and ends in a nervous breakdown and probably insolvency, twenty years down the line. Heigh ho! However, it does mean I have to be less frivolous with my outgoings, and first saving I’ve made is the re-cancellation of my Access Pass, after a total of one month this time. Aggro Me has some in-depth analysis of the packages SOE are doing currently, here. The deal is a good one, but only if you’re obsessing about more than one SOE titles at a time, which I no longer am.
Planetside was fun, but not something you can do for months and months, and also, with the new ”Fodderside” free play mode coming, I figure I’ll just go with that…I doubt losing 13 cert points will make me suck any less, but at least I’ll have a good excuse why now! Everquest II failed to grab me again…I don’t know what it is. I want to like it, but it just doesn’t happen. Oh well…maybe next time around. So that’s $21.99 a month saved right there. World of Warcraft is for the chop next, as soon as I hit 60, that is…got to finish at least one of these silly little treadmills, leaving me with Guild Wars which is free, and Second Life which could conceivably earn me money. I may pick up Anarchy Online again too…that’s free to play these days as well. Gaming on a shoestring!
Anyway, proper look at Guild Wars to come, but one weekend in, I’m surprised and impressed. I was expecting a half-arsed Diablo II clone, and have found what looks to be a quite complex and involved game, and a very polished product indeed. Playing through the first few levels, I couldn’t help but ask myself why I should have to pay $15 a month for WoW or EQ2 at all…
(Also, not online, but since it's all change on the sidebar again anyway, I highly recommend Darwinia, which is now on Steam, so you don't even have to leave your house!)
More GW analysis later...