My initial thoughts on Pillars of Eternity

Many of Kickstarter projects are based on nostalgia. So is the subject of todays post. Pillars of Eternity was called by Eurogamer "Baldur's Gate 3 that we never got". Is there any truth to this statement? It is, to some extent. This game is an interesting mix of elements, both oldschool and new. I'm not sure if I manage to squeeze enough time out of my schedule to write full review. That's why I wanted to give you at least my first impressions. So far they are positive.

Skyforge CBT first impressions

This is going to be post about my first impressions of Skyforge. And I mean that quite literally. First closed beta event lasted few days. Unfortunately because of health issues i got only 3 hours with the game. So don't expect deep analysis this time around. Skyforge has been on my radar since I've heard about it for the first time. Setting seems to be original, after all how often you get to be a god? Game is also first attempt at MMO genre by Obsidian Entertainment (it's being developed in cooperation with Allods Team) - RPG developer who's recent works I've enjoyed. So how was it?

Free Floating Hostility: Microsoft did it again

They did it again. Microsoft is one of those companies, which seem to think, that instead of making better products you dominate market by locking competitors off. Earlier this week Motiga, developer of upcoming MOBA Gigantic announced at PAX East that their game will be available only on Xbox One and Windows 10.

This is not the first time Microsoft is pulling stunt like this. Last year they made a deal with Crystal Dynamics - developer behind current installment of Tomb Raider franchise. Upcoming Raise of the Tomb Raider will be Xbox exclusive at launch. PC and PlayStation players will probably get it at some point in time. Let's just hope this will not take as much as getting GTA V to PC market.

Please don't screw this up...

If you were paying attention to the news lately you probably know last few weeks were not good for Everquest franchise. After SOE has been acquired by investment firm Columbus Nova several members of Everquest 2 and Everquest Next teams were laid off. A week after Terry Michaels revealed during livestream that when it comes to Everquest Next the matter of business model is now open for debate and they are considering alternatives to free to play. Also Daybreak will not continue to cooperate with Storybricks. I have finally squeezed some free time out of my packed daily schedule to write about all of this. So here's my view on recent events.

Derail the train: why Edge of the Mists needs to be fixed

Almost a year ago if you wanted to level your character up to 80 in Guild Wars 2 as fast as possible you had to go to Queensdale (one of the starting zones) and follow the champion train. This was very efficient way of leveling character - no argument about that. You got constant stream of exp from events and large amount of loot. There was no skill involved in doing this. Sheer number of participants guaranteed that any champion, no matter how difficult do beat with a small group, will be dead in 10 seconds or less. Unfortunately train had one nasty side effect - it unleashed upon the game large population of people, that at the level 80 didn't know how to play their class.

Free Floating Hostility: How ArenaNet killed the dailies for me

So here's my first shot at a column. I called it "Free Floating Hostility" because I'm going to write a piece every time something i get really pissed of at something game-related. Topic for today is Guild Wars 2 and the way daily achievements work in this MMO. I recently came back to the game after six months break and discovered some bizarre changes to few of the core mechanics. What I like the least is new way dailies are completed. While playing the game one thing boggled my mind...
  

Nosgoth: my baby steps into internet world of ownage

I had a certain problem with my gaming portfolio for a very long time. Most of my games required a lot of time so I didn't have a game that I could jump in for 15 minutes or less. Few months ago I've heard about Nosgoth. When open beta (mostly because I was bored at the time) I decided to check it out. And boy oh boy, it looks like I won't leave anytime soon.

Elder Scrolls Online: DLC Unlimited

No doubt you have heard that on March 17 ESO is going buy to play. Console launch is scheduled June 9th. Game is also changing name to Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. I am happy that they are switching so fast. Some may argue this was their intention all along but that is a story for another time. Whatever the case may be it is good that conversion is going to happen so early in game's lifecycle. The older MMO gets the harder it is to convert it to F2P/B2P. Game will have cash shop and paid DLCs. People who still want to subscribe will be able to do so. It all looks pretty much like the model used by The Secret World. However the devil is in the details and we have yet to see how Zenimax Online will implement buy to play.
   

Subs are here to stay

Some may argue that 2014 was last year that business executives in MMO industry thought they can launch successful game with subscription. We had two high profile releases: ESO and Wildstar. Both games launched with sub and after few months fizzled. There have been rumors about Elder Scrolls going F2P/B2P for quite some time. Many expect this to happen when game launches on consoles. Wildstar with huge layoffs and population under million is not doing better than ESO. Suits at NCsoft are certainly analyzing pros and cons of conversion. What about other publishers? Do they look at these two games and draw conclusions? Of course they do. However lesson they learn here is different from what you may think.

2015 Predictions

If you're fan of MMOs like me chances are good that 2014 was for you a year of disappointment. Every big game that launched had either serious design flaws (Wildstar) or was released without proper testing (ArcheAge) or both (The Elder Scrolls Online). In 2015 we will get no major release and maybe alpha access to 2 MMOs, see below for details. There are few expansions worth checking out. Some already announced and some expected - I'm looking at you Guild Wars 2. To summarize 2015 will not be as interesting as 2014 but there are still few things to watch out for.