Archeage Beta

     Where to start. I've been dying to try this game and waiting with bated breath every time they announced a Beta event in hopes I'd get an invite and finally I did. The character customization is great, in fact I'd taken many screenshots of it, and of several other things at the very beginning of my playing... at least I had before I realized the game screenshots aren't bound to print screen but to F9. F9 to F12 on my keyboard don't function in MMOs for whatever reason and the silly game would not let me rebind it. Frustration ensued. And I'm still a little frustrated that my current screenshotting process for ArcheAge involves alt-tabbing to Photoshop. I need a new keyboard. Still once I'd figured out what happened with the screenshots I managed to get several to illustrate this post with.

      I made an Elven Archer novice name Aelithar. Promptly spent several minutes trying to figure out how everything even worked, though once I figured it out it actually wasn't that complicated. The story is interesting, the game world and characters are gorgeous and  before level 10 you get a free racial mount to raise and love and take everywhere with you. I've always wanted a feature like that in an MMO, so I'm feeling pretty sold on it for the mount that follows you in the world.

     He named it Laurel. And they've had many happy adventures together so far. So far Aelithar's reached level 17 and Laurel's close behind. Classes are really interesting too. At the beginning you pick a basis, at five you pick another from the list and at ten the last one and then you find out the name of the class you've cobbled together. Aelithar went with Archery, Witchcraft, Songcraft, so he's a Hex Ranger. It's not bad, though right now I am not seeming to get as much use out of the witchcraft as I'd anticipated. I might be inclined to try a slightly different set up in live.
     After playing with the elves for a bit I had to switch over and try out the one other race I'd really been wanting to play.

     This is Zurrath the Firran, looking extremely dignified. He didn't turn out exactly how I'd meant him too, the graphics settings were turned down when I'd first designed the two of them (before I realized how well my computer handled it and turned them up. But that led to me not seeing exactly where I was putting his scars. Still I think  he turned out a handsome and very manly cat guy. Zurrath was destined to be a paladin. Looking over the options months ago I'd determined I could make the equivalent of a paladin in Archeage, and that It would be Battlerage, Defense, Vitalism. Then I realized the classes actually had names and saw someone mention paladin in world chat. So when I went to pick a second at level 5, I googled it to see what went into the 'official Archage paladin class'. As it turns out I know my paladins, no matter what game they're in. I was 100% right. And Zurrath's now a paladin.

     A manly feline paladin with a giant sabertoothed cat to ride, what could be better. The bundle of silly fur is named Winterwind. Have I mentioned how I love the mount system in this game? They level, you can give them armor, and they follow you around while you fight. I love that so much.

A little catch up

     In the month(!) Since I've posted here, Tirasiel has reached level 38, Sadrondir has been promoted to an officer in his Kinship, tons of things have happened in WoW and finally today I got that Archeage Beta Invite I've been hoping for!
     I really can't wait to try it out Thursday, though I'm a teeny bit afraid I may have hyped myself up for it a bit too much and be disappointed as a result. Only time will tell, though. And I have to wait until Thursday for that time to start. I anticipate hours on the character creation screen and as many screenshots as it will let me take, some of which are bound to find their way here.

Leveling in Aion

     Suddenly very aware that his Legion needs him Tirasiel looked at the massive pile of quests in his log, picked the few in Altgard that were nearest to complete and sounded most lucrative and went off to finish them up. When that was done he cleared the rest from the tracker and set off for Morheim, which is where he probably should have been back at level 19.

     It's cold in Morheim and Aion never fails to amaze me with the little emotes that have your character responding to their environment. When he stood still too long Tirasiel rubbed his arms for warmth and blew on his hands and then did little warm ups to keep the blood going. 

    He'd picked up some new and imposing looking armor from quests and coins awarded from quests, but I think one of my favorite parts is the very classy looking legion cape. It's not an actual item, it's just a graphic on your character showing they're part of their legion and I kind of love that.

     I also loved how welcomed and needed I felt when I logged on and everybody seemed shocked to see a Templar and wanted to know where I'd come from. Now if only I can get some real momentum going and churn those quests out to level for them. It felt like slow going today getting from 22 to 24 but I'll try and squeeze in enough time to hit 25 if I can later.

     A better shot of Tirasiel in his fancy new armor, all ready for trouble. He went to the fortress and picked up the quests, trying to be a bit more choosy this time and then headed out to handle some of them, gradually working his way toward the story ones. Hopefully this time more of those will get done and less of the sidetracked distracting ones that keep happening. Combat is fun to watch and fun to do and I'm practicing my abilities and their placement.

     But maybe my favorite thing today was running into an NPC that made me giggle.

     He's a pretty obvious reference, and what makes it even funnier is he gives you a couple of very egotistical quests to try to live up to his greatness. 

     I couldn't resist a few screenshots.

Tirasiel Joins a Legion

     Even though I pop into my side MMOs mostly to play solo it seems, it also does get lonely sometimes. And sometimes I desperately wish I knew somebody to ask questions about things. But with the off and on nature of my play I usually can't bring myself to hunt for a guild or legion or fellowship, even if the lack of one probably contributes to that off and on play. I hadn't looked for one in Aion. Tirasiel was briefly invited into one with about 7 people about half of whom spoke English but after a while I dropped it.
     Then today as Tirasiel was wandering around Pandaemonium, sorting his bags I got recruited. I've been invited to things like the fellowship in LOTRO and nicely given a home in them like Daethrys' guild on Rift but I'd never actually been recruited until today. I got whispered even though my character was below Rebonds' character level requirement, because apparently Templars are in demand. The Brigade General had a lovely little chat for me and gave me a home and requests to level quickly. I might surprise myself and end up focusing on Aion for a while because Tirasiel and his shield are needed!
     It's funny. I'd been debating with myself off and on if I wanted to stick with him as my apparent main because even though I love his character design and have fun playing him it seemed like it would be tough to do anything later on or to do group content. Tanking in MMOs is something I have a love/hate relationship with. I love doing it, I love the feel of being the plate clad hero with the shield at the front of the line holding the monster's attention. I'm also a little terrified of that responsibility I'm so fond of. It's so easy to mess up and things can go bad so quickly if the tank messes up. But the adrenaline is fun, the feel of doing everything in your power to keep the attention on you and off of your more fragile teammates.
     And I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was at least partly for the love of big plate armor and fancy shields. You can take the 'paladin' out of the game but you can't take it out of the player, I guess. Guess now I really have to work on getting Tirasiel to 65.

Tirasiel gets an apartment

     I'd been meaning to get the last level, I thought, I needed in Aion to get level 20 and get some housing. Turns out when I hit 20 I found out that the housing thing happens at level 21. Luckily when I was looking that up I also found there was a solo instance about Tirasiel's level that sounded interesting. So off he went. 21 halfway through and several pieces of new gear later he finally headed back to Pandaemonium to get his apartment.
     I was so curious about what the housing system would be like. Turns out it's sort of a happy medium between Lord of the Rings Online and Rift. I like it. It's not quite as open to creativity as Rift but Definitely isn't as confined as LOTRO.  The studio you get for free is just that, a studio and it was bare bones and empty of all but the butler and relationship orb when Tirasiel went to check it out. Luckily a few quests award you a table, a cabinet, wallpaper and a plant and then he blew a bit too much Kinah picking up a decent bed, and a shelf, chairs and a picture for the wall. It still looks quite spartan, but it'll improve.

     The view from the front porch is nice.

     The bed seems a little too big for him, but it's got to be more comfortable than loitering on the streets of Pandaemonium all night. There's a 5% increase in the speed the rested XP regenerates when you log out in a studio, I think that's pretty neat.

     A table and chair. If he ever makes any friends he might have to get a second chair.

     Bed, cabinet, and shelf. The studio is surprisingly spacious... and free, which is a nice change from LOTRO. If you want a bigger house later you have to buy it and pay upkeep but the studio apparently is always free, and for now it looks huge and empty so Tirasiel is quite content with just  studio size home. Maybe later if he levels a lot and makes loads of kinah he'll upgrade to something else. In the meantime, though I'm just looking forward to finding more furniture here and there and making it look a bit less bare.

     Another shot on the porch. He picked up a second earring and a necklace in the solo instance and I still can't help being ridiculously thrilled about being able to see them on him in game instead of just as stats icons on his character sheet.

Swordsman Beta. More thoughts.

     The world is pretty. I poked into it a bit more last night. Got to I think Level 14 very quickly and easily and developed a few more thoughts on it. I like the world... It's got a very in a movie feel to it. A few quests in you're just very unceremoniously given a horse of your own. I like that.  It's a pretty ugly horse but then I'm overly picky about what horses look like in MMOs anyhow.
     I think I like the combat, though I'll admit I'm still sort of confused at figuring it out and kind of just flail around occasionally as a result. I like the animations and the graphics a lot. I am not sure this would be a game for me. On the one hand the fact that it feels a bit like being in a kung fu movie is pretty amazing and I'm curious to figure out what happens next.
     On the one hand at the moment at least this feels easily like it could have been a single player game perhaps better than an MMO. There's a very linear storyline that progresses in a very straight line and all these other guys are doing right now is crowding stuff up... and insuring that world chat is filled with announcements like: Myballs has killed Yourmom and taken such and such off of their still warm corpse. -.- Okay it's pvp, I get that. People will name their characters stupid things. I get that too, but ugh.
     The other thing that bothers me a lot that may or may not bother other people at all. Lots of epic battles most of them end in a really nifty cut scene. Thing is: If most of the gameplay gets taken out of my hands and put into gorgeous cut scenes at the end. Can I please AT LEAST have the option of screenshotting my character doing all this badass shiznit during the cut scenes that I am not playing in anyhow? That would be nice. Lots of screenshots I'd have loved to have... super clunky camera mode function that you can't use during cut scenes anyhow...ugh.
     I will try to stick it out a few more levels, find some bugs I can coherently point out so they can hammer them down and see if it stays a straight line story where all the coolest stuff happens in cut scenes that I just watch, but I am not sure that even Free to Play this one would be a game for me. I think end game is almost entirely pvp and I am not a fan of pvp. If you were though... seems like it might be pretty epic at end game for that.

     The world, though, like I said. Is gorgeous. Quilian got a new costume as a beta prize while joining his school and though I didn't end up really liking the hairstyle it changed his to, I do like the robe part and so he's keeping that for now. I forgot to screenshot him after I realized that it was a costume item and I could take the hair part off and have him look more like  made him but in the neat robes. Maybe when I pop on again.

     Some other gameplay stuff that I both like and don't like. The quest stuff on the map isn't very easy to figure out sometimes. Doesn't matter because you can just click on the name in your log and your character will automatically run there. If it's far enough they'll even mount up on the run (which is pretty nifty.) This is a great feature for when people are twenty deep on the quest NPC and clicking on their name in the log lets you interact with them anyhow. But I'm not convince it's engaging gameplay. I kept trying to get myself to not just click to run there, but you know... why would I do that when it accomplishes nothing the game won't do for me and when I can stop at any point if I want to spend five minutes wrestling with the interface for a screenshot.
     The cut scenes are still really amazing. I like that they kept the original voice acting and just subbed it. I love the costumes and the character designs.

Swordsman Beta

     When I went to load Neverwinter a few weeks ago it popped up a window at me asking if I wanted to sign up for the Swordsman Beta. Eh, why not? It's an MMO with martial arts and a quick glance over it looked interesting enough so I clicked the button to sign up and then promptly forgot about it. Until they sent me a beta key two days ago. Beta started today, and I was mostly excited to spend time in the character creation screen, which is seriously one of my favorite things in a new MMO.
     Not bad. Don't like it quite as well as Aion's which is the best I've seen but it beats most of the others I play in some ways. I made two characters before I actually got around to...clicking the enter world button and actually seeing what the game was about. I haven't done much. It's a beta. It just launched and is very very crowded. But since I double checked and there is no NDA here are some initial impressions.

     This is Quilian. A website assures me that this name means Autumn Lotus in Mandarin. (It's probably a girl's name if the site is actually correct. Oh well. Still a better name than most I see in Betas.) Quilian belongs to the Zephyr school. Martial arts school where he gets to dance around hitting people with a fan and being ridiculously pretty? Yes, please. The other character can be the tough, manly one.
     The game is pretty. Unfortunately, remember me complaining that Neverwinter is obnoxious to take screenshots in? Swordsman is oddly much much worse for me. There's a lot more freedom with them, a lot more control but to me the controls for them feel very counter-intuitive and worst of all they can't be taken without entering a special camera mode and using an on screen button rather than the keyboard one. To make this even worse, my keyboard, which I love for fitting onto my very small tray with room for my mouse is a media one. so Buttons F9 to F12 are functionally useless for most MMOs. F9 is supposed to be the quick camera mode toggle... so to enter the fabled camera mode I have to hit escape, select it from the menu then try to figure it out before I can take the screenshot.
     I feel like the universe heard me complain about Neverwinter screenshots and said: Want to see how it could be worse? Maybe it won't be worse when I get the hang of it... and if I can ever find a free hotkey to bind the camera mode to. Won't recognize my mouse buttons for keybinds, so I can't use the one I use to clear the interface in Aion either. First world screenshot addict problems.
     Now onto gameplay. There are three control mode set ups. I've tried two of them. Right now I'm using the 'action' one... which is... interesting and I don't really like it but it's similar-ish to Neverwinter so at least I'm not utterly lost. I'm still very much figuring things out.

    The world is pretty so far. Not eye-popping spectacular, never seen this before yet. But then maybe I've been too annoyed with the screenshots. Quilian has a fan. He beats people up with it.

He also periodically takes time out from beating people with his fan to dance around the battlefield making himself feel healthier. I freely admit that I love the dancing around healing. Makes my day.

     So far... at the exalted and experienced level of 6. (Level ups are incredibly unobtrusive and I keep missing that they happen) this is where he got left until more playtime happens. So far the story modes are my favorite part of the game, but I think only because they are not crowded with other players. Still this little area I left him in is really pretty lovely. (And I think he's about to learn more sword techniques or something.)
     I'm definitely not sold on this yet. But I will be fair and give it more than a few minutes and six levels before I drop it. More thoughts to come.