2011 MMORPG Thread

[Marmel]

CoH talk? I'm in!

Best ways to make $

1) Pure marketing. Probably the best way if you know exactly what you are doing. I find it so boring so I don't do this.

2) Earning Hero Merits and cashing them in. So easy and gives you a nice steady stream of money. I worked this quite a bit for a long time. Use a 50 to do this and maybe get purples along the way.

3) Farming for purples. Most people hate it, but I find it pretty fun for about 4-5 runs then I need a break. I still think the demon farm is the best map out there. I had a fire/kin controller but recently I run a fire/WP brute. Even level times 8, no bosses. I swear the purples rates have been increased at some point. I used to go a long time between purple drops, now it seems I am almost guaranteed one if I run this farm 4-6 times. Often times I'll get 2 in spam of 6 runs. Plus you get some useful recipe and salvage drops.

I farmed with an ill/rad, but it is not efficient. Still doable though.


I've earned enough to retire from farming, unless I just feel like mass killing stuff. 10+ billion after buying my own enhancements.

[cuervo72]

Yeah, I've never actually tried to farm hard-core. Most I've run is x5, with bosses, on my WM/SD. And those were villain tips, so I was dealing with Arachnos, Longbow, PPD Khelds - so fairly tricky (too many debuffs). I bet I could run x8 against Rikti in the RWZ all day if I wanted to though. But, no point really - I'm not going to be buying any PvP recipes or even purples for the most part (I did for my Ill/TA to get PA almost-perma...need a couple more Apocalypse, but haven't really tried to get them). So I just play, and craft and sell what I get from A-merits.

[Matthean]

i20 is up and running for CoH. Globals, and channels are currently borked. Yes, I know. Please contain your shock at that statement. I just got on real quick and haven't started to team yet to really see about the new team UI yet.

[cuervo72]

Played one trial last night and had some annoyances with the UI.

First, the chat window is wider than I'd like. To get it where I want I have to scale down its size and then up the font (.9/12 works ok). A nuisance to have to repeatedly do.

The new team ui...not really a fan. Now, part of my problem is that I had it docked, which apparently WHOA LOOK AT THOSE HUGE BUFF ICONS GOING HALF ACROSS MY SCREEN. Yeah. Beyond that though, I don't like the taller health bars or the playername text that is harder to read now. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I was having trouble trying to figure out who was who. Not of concern on most characters honestly, but on my Empath? Yeah.



I also need to revisit my numpad mappings. Before I thought I could target and fire a heal in one keystroke, but only the targeting appears to be working (oh - that's the other thing; seems harder to tell what number on the list teammates are...or maybe I just need to be able to absorb elements of the interface while I'm not dealing with waves of robots).

[Matthean]

Yeah, once I got on a team and saw the new team UI I was rather disappointed at how bad it looked. Even the "classic" look is just the old look and new mixed together.

[Marmel]

Not that I have given the new issue a fair shake yet, but I am underwhelmed. So, we are supposed to grind out the two trials over and over and over again so that our characters become uber powerful so that they can then........do the 2 trials over and over and over again?

[cuervo72]

Yeah, valid concern. My son asked me day after day if I20 was live yet, but I really didn't share much of his enthusiasm (which is funny, as he doesn't even have a 50). The content is basically two trials and two TF. I seldom do TF, and really I never much play my 50s. I'll probably play these trials from time to time (like how I'd participate in the winter lord event if I happened upon it), but not over and over. I'll still likely default to leveling alts.

With only two trials currently out there, it would seem to me to be a good idea for I21 or even I20.5 to come out soon after this with a couple more trials, just to round things out some.

[Matthean]

I am still ignoring end game content. I have yet to finish the alpha slot arc on any of my 50s. I have about 2 rounds of guys to get to 50(first group is 40+, next is 32ish) and then I'll have a tough time having a burning desire to level specific builds to 50 outside of maybe 3 to 4. I'll play a guy here and there, but at that point I think I'll have a stock of 50s that I'll mostly focus on them for playing.

Eventually, there will be end game content that makes all of the alpha stuff worth it. You can be level 53 for trials now and there will be a reason for that. Def soft cap for certain trials now becomes 59% instead of 45%.

Got Quills on my Spines/elec. Squee! Just need to hit 21 and slot up dual IOs to further help end issues and wait for Power Sink to unlock. Considering people's love for doing TFs on even level, he'll mow through mobs.

[Matthean]

For Incarnate stuff this is how I plan on doing it. Open the alpha slot and get your level bump while knowing what you want to put into the alpha slot. Once that is done, get the level boosts that can be gotten for trials. After that, decide if you wish to complete the Incarnate stuff as much as possible, or move on to the next guy. About 25% of my guys I have a real desire to get to 50. Within that list, I would say about the same percent I have a desire to do the Incarnate stuff for them. I zero desire to get all of my guys to 50 and fully Incarnate them.

[cuervo72]

(at what point should I branch this into a dedicated CoH thread? )

I've done three BAF trials now and...actually am getting to kinda like it. Even succeeded in one last night, which had my adrenalin going. At the end I was lucky enough to get a purple reward table. I don't know if I will ever actually get to *use* the salvage I got (unless I break it down it can only be used for tier-4 abilities), but it got me looking more at the trees and I found myself getting more interested in them.

I like the turnstile system when it works. I had much more than the "1m average wait" last night, and even got booted out of one instance right after it started (I think the whole group did). I like it because I don't have to be pro-active about joining. No replies to PMs, no worrying that my AT/sets may not work with the already assembled group. I enter the queue, and it plops me down in the instance. Others can figure out what team I should be assigned to. I'll just go where I'm told.

I also like that failure IS an option. I was on a failed ITF a few months ago. Yeah, it's still possible. Spent about two hours and had just about nothing to show for it. Not the case with the trials - you still get iXP and Astral Merits. Thumbs up.



There's no way I'm going to be able to trick out all of my characters though. Going through this for 15 50s? Not happening. Heck, not all of them even have Alpha unlocked. I think the order of preference will be:

Ill/TA Troller - has the +1 Alpha, is near perma-PA, is versatile and just generally fun.

Emp/Psi Def - Because, well, she can't do much by herself. But, I do like the character. So content where teaming is required seems like a pretty good thing for her to do.

WM/SD Brute - the most complete of my villains. For whatever reason I don't really like teaming with my melee types (some burden of leadership), but I wouldn't mind it with him.

Fire/Fire Blaster - fun factor. I love blasting, blasting and more blasting.

Grav/Storm troller - again, versatility. Plus she's my only other toon with the +1 from Alpha thus far.


After that, probably nobody gets much focus.

KM/EA brute - possibly. A recent 50 that does get played still.
Mind/Kin troller - maybe. Would be useful for the kin, not so sure otherwise.
Inv/EM tank - bleh.
BS/Regen - eh, probably not.
DB/WP - not too exciting.
Night Widow - never feel like playing her much.
Plant/Thorn dom - ditto. Usually even forget I have him at 50.
Ice/MM blaster - nice, but not as fun as the Fire.
NRG/Kin corr - eh, she's just a mess.
Mercs/Poison MM - getting tired just *thinking* about the resummoning.


Actually, a couple that I might really like to have eventually try are my Warshade and my Elec/Sonic troller, but they are at I think levels 28 and 33. So a ways to go (and the WS is on Infinity. Nothing against Infinity, but really I have no other toons there).

I also kinda want to roll another defender or corr, or at least level one I already have (Sonic).

So I'll really have to see. I may not make a dedicated 100% effort with one character, I'll probably bounce around putting more emphasis on a couple.

[Marmel]

I am 0 for 1 on the BAF and 1 for 2 on the Lambda. We completed Lambda last night with less than 10 seconds left on the timer. Good times!

I only have 3 50's that I care about and only 1 that I really see myself advancing through incarnate stuff, my Fire/WP brute. But I don't know how many times I can run these things so my journey will be awfully slow. Getting that 4th level of each slot is a long, long process (even the alpha 4th level).

[cuervo72]

Right. I can't see going for the tier 4 of any of these, at least not intentionally (hence my comment about the purple salvage). It's such an investment that it's just not in the plan - and if Alpha is any indication, the reward/time tipping point is really tier 3.

[Marmel]

OK, I have to completely revise my stance on these iTrials. It is pretty amazing how quickly these have been mastered. The hardest part is putting together a 16 or 24 person team. The Lambda is harder than the BAF, but both are fun and not all that hard to complete with full teams.

I've made decent progress on two of my toons and I am glad to see you can use everything you unlock in normal missions except for the 2nd and 3rd level bumps.

Judgement slot is beautiful.

[cuervo72]

Yep. The BAF I pretty much liked right away. My first Lambda was a harsh experience on my Emp, because I was both lost and a little laggy. Trying to navigate through the lab to get to the containment chambers was impossible once I got separated from the group. I also gave up on trying to help with turrets (darned TP). My other attempts on my Ill were much better.

So last night I noticed that they changed the WSF target from Posi I (wasn't awarding notices) to Sister Psyche. Did one...then realized that change wasn't going into effect until today. Whoops. Ah well, I needed some shards anyway (Emp used the trials to unlock Alpha, isn't slotted).

[Matthean]

Atari Divests Itself of Cryptic StudiosCO Champions Online News - MMORPG.com

This is the result of putting out half-baked games does for you. Since Cryptic made CoH, I can't hate on them too much. I'm just amazed how much they floundered after CoH. Their post CoH resume is as follows. Get rights to do a Marvel MMO. That gets dropped so they pick up the Champions IP, finish the Marvel MMO, but with Champions slapped onto it. It losses enough money it goes F2P. They put out Star Trek and it's as close as they have to a decent game for them, but it's not near the potential cash cow that it could be. They get the rights to do the NWN MMO, but then Atari ends up dumping them anyway cutting their loses before they get worse.

[Matthean]

Don't Say a Word!

90 minute video of gameplay for TOR. I think my issue is that it's vastly like a number of fantasy MMOs out there, but it has the Star Wars name on it.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Matthean

90 minute video of gameplay for TOR. I think my issue is that it's vastly like a number of fantasy MMOs out there, but it has the Star Wars name on it.

This is what nearly every preview I've seen has stated. If you're looking for something new then TOR is definitely not it. The gameplay is almost identical to WoW with the main differences being the quests have full voicework done and it has the standard Bioware dialogue wheel.

I have friends that are incredibly excited, but I don't think it's for me.

[DataKing]

I miss Star Wars Galaxies. You know, before Sony ruined it.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Atocep

This is what nearly every preview I've seen has stated. If you're looking for something new then TOR is definitely not it. The gameplay is almost identical to WoW with the main differences being the quests have full voicework done and it has the standard Bioware dialogue wheel.

I have friends that are incredibly excited, but I don't think it's for me.

It's basically Star Wars WoW with morality choices. Let's just say I was wanting more than that.

[Matthean]

If nothing else, Bioware still knows how to make a trailer.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...urceid=eag3006

[JonInMiddleGA]

City Of Heroes Free To Play After Upcoming Rebranding As "City Of Heroes Freedom" - G4tv.com

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

City Of Heroes Free To Play After Upcoming Rebranding As "City Of Heroes Freedom" - G4tv.com

Already in the CoH thread. Not that link, but it's the talk of the player base right now.

[Thomkal]

World of Warcraft goes F2P...well sort of:

World of Warcraft goes free to play… Almost… - MMOBomb.com

[Thomkal]

And just in case that link wasn't clear, this change has already happened. Just checked my trial WOW account and I'm getting the Starter Level 1-20 free edition right now.

[Matthean]

I won't sub for it, but if it's an actual unrestricted 1-20, then it will be fun to at least kick the tires on some stuff.

EDIT: Looks like a trial account with some thing made better, so still no reason to poke around just yet.

[Thomkal]

yeah lot of restrictions on chat and such, but after so long away from the game nice to play and see what's new and such without having to worry about how many days I have left to play in the trial.

[McLovin]

Star Wars- The Old Republic pre-orders went on sale this morning. The collectors edition for 150.00 is almost sold out.

[Matthean]

I don't see the CE as being worth it. To each their own I guess.

[DataKing]

Great Cracked article...
The 7 Biggest Dick Moves in the History of Online Gaming | Cracked.com

[Matthean]

NCSoft's Carbine Studios finally revealed their MMO WildStar. Link has the trailer and 8 minutes of gameplay.

NCsoft unveils 'WildStar' MMO with debut cinematic, features animated style - Neoseeker News Article

[SirFozzie]

Neverwinter delayed to late 2012 as part of the Hasbro/Atari showdown. At least it won't get killed by SW:TOR now

[Coffee Warlord]

In development, worth a glance over if you liked DAOC. 3-faction PVP, which still amazes me hasn't happened SINCE Camelot.

Prime Battle For Dominus

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Matthean

NCSoft's Carbine Studios finally revealed their MMO WildStar. Link has the trailer and 8 minutes of gameplay.

NCsoft unveils 'WildStar' MMO with debut cinematic, features animated style - Neoseeker News Article

A friend of mine was a developer at Carbine until he was hired by Riot to work on League of Legends and he was pretty excited about this game. He couldn't tell me much about it at the time, but he said the technology was amazing and it was different than anything out right now.

[Scoobz0202]

Really really excited for GW2, and I've never even played GW1.

Have a pre-order for SW:TOR, but I have a feeling I'll put a month into it and be done with it. I feel like it will be just a rehash. I hope I'm wrong.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Really really excited for GW2, and I've never even played GW1.

Have a pre-order for SW:TOR, but I have a feeling I'll put a month into it and be done with it. I feel like it will be just a rehash. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm in the same boat. I'm really get excited to try out GW2 because it's a MMO that's trying to do new things. Most MMOs today are still using the framework used by Everquest in 1999 (granted, with lots of improvements). GW2 is finally attempting to do some of things people were predicting of MMOs after Everquest launched.

I have SW:TOR preordered, but everything I've read and seen on it looks like WoW with lightsabers. I watched a 9 minute PvP video a couple of days ago and it looked exactly like WoW pvp. At this point it's going to take more than WoW with voiceovers and a deep story to get me excited about playing a MMO.

[Scoobz0202]

Yea. I've read some beta testers post that it's more like WoW vanilla then Caty.

I'm not going to cancel my pre-order though because I'm not putting everything into what a few beta testers say. I'm still excited, but my excitement is dampened. Not sure why I expected something crazy different, though.

I've even read that the voiceovers are a royal pain in the ass, btw, and that they add nothing.

[Scoobz0202]

I mean...



That's a fucking race. That's not just some bullshit furry looking thing thrown in.

[Matthean]

Perfect World Entertainment confirms Star Trek Online going F2P this year | Massively

STO going F2P. Not surprising considering Perfect World's big thing is F2P games.

[SirFozzie]

So, just some random thoughts:

Hit the wall in WoW, because I've done everything but one of the new heroics (and unlocking the firelands stuff), but my gear acquisition has a hit a wall because the remaining Tier 11 items require a drop that only occurs in 10 man raids. I am not in a raiding guild (and in fact, me and my alts are the only active members, so I have to manage all the stuff).

Any of the PUG raid offers for Cataclysm on Moon Guard require you to have the acheivement first so I can't get my foot in the door, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with my character.. (who's really getting good stuff mind yo, Wow-heroes says that I'm ready for raiding)

So I've been doing a bunch of solo Burning Crusade heroics and the WOTLK 5 mans solo along with the 85's (normal, heroic and trollheroic) along with unlocking the new firelands stuff.. but I dislike doing dailies.. give me new stuff!

[tyketime]

Hard Drive Size Check Please...

The new build of Star Wars: The Old Republic will require testers to re-download the entire client... currently weighing in at a 27 gig download

[CleBrownsfan]

Is anyone playing League of Legends? I just started playing last night for the first time. Started around 8:00 and next time I looked at the clock was 12:30 - ooops

Fun fun game! My tag name is Broth32 if anyone wants to friend me.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by tyketime

Hard Drive Size Check Please...

I just want in as a tester... I keep looking for that e-mail but nada. Anyone here get in to test yet?

[spleen1015]

I am still hoping to get a beta invite as well.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Is anyone playing League of Legends? I just started playing last night for the first time. Started around 8:00 and next time I looked at the clock was 12:30 - ooops

Fun fun game! My tag name is Broth32 if anyone wants to friend me.

I tried signing up when people from a different forum were getting in on it and I found the signing up/download/contacting support process a completely fubar type of experience. I might have missed something to make it a lot easier, but I tried numerous times to get it to work.

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I just want in as a tester... I keep looking for that e-mail but nada. Anyone here get in to test yet?

I got an e-mail saying how I shouldn't miss out on beta testing it by not getting a preorder. My guess is they have enough preorders to not really need anybody else for beta. I'll assume they are getting close to beta though.

[CleBrownsfan]

From what I heard the closed beta started this past weekend.... but who really knows. I just want a freaken release date!!

[spleen1015]

They've been in beta for a while now. The beta weekends started this past weekend. They've implied that pretty much every one signed up for beta has a really good chance to get in for a beta weekend.

[CleBrownsfan]

I've been listening to gamebreaker podcast of SWTOR to kind of keep my up to date on things.

[Mustang]

SWTOR is a rare game in that I wouldn't want to Beta test it just because with Bioware titles, my guy is my guy. Beta would ruin that for me I think.

Then again, I'm odd when it comes to my Bioware characters.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

From what I heard the closed beta started this past weekend.... but who really knows. I just want a freaken release date!!

This actually wouldn't surprise me because I got the e-mail last week. I signed up for beta maybe in 2009.

[GrantDawg]

I am surprised I didn't get one. I was in on a early test, but no beta.