Mudder goes MMO

[Zeta Thompson]

Ok I have been curious, but dial-up and slow machines have stopped from indulging in the past.  The machine is newer, not top of the line, but it is adequate, but dial-up  ewww!  But where there is a will.. Oh and blame this on the board's  local Guild Wars fanatic. He  got my old interest in the game rekindled.  Here are first impressions. I will add to it as I get deeper and deeper into the game.
 
Week 1 (give or take a few days)


First - I go to local store ask about running Guild Wars on dial up.  'Casey'  - young energetic and actually believes I might know my way around a game (most game store employees talk to my daughter or worse my husband - who can barely run a word processor )   says "You'll get pwned in towns but would be okay in the quests"  Yes he actually said pwned.  He directs me to Titan Quest Gold instead I buy that and Game of the Year Edition of Guild Wars  Titan quest is fun btw and will get to that one at a later date.

I load both disks, installs like a dream on Vista.  No worries there.  It goes out and dls over 4000 FILES  in updates. Ok, so they made some fixes.  No surprise.  I log on, make my first character - a ranger - hmm really want a  thief not an option, no real rogue or thief types.  Maybe will get Factions so I can play one later.  That was the expansion that REALLY piqued my interest in the game anyway.  I go to load first zone in the game. Loading bar appear and it tells me that there are  over 13,000 FILES that is FILES to dl.  Why bother giving me a disk then, much less 2?  Oh well kill it for the night, is now 1 am and I need to work tomorrow.

Next evening - I go to log in and get the you have not verified your account message. I click the have not gotten e-mail option, after checking my spam mail and everything else,  and continue. I start the dl for the 13000 files, post on the RPG board, edit some stuff, play solitaire, read some articles, then red a book. Finally I give up and go to bed leaving it running. When i get up around  it is done, it took around 8 hours I would estimate on 56K. (Monday the 15t, now) I log out, go check e-mail no message well it was the weekend and something is going on for St. Patrick's so .. I leave it for now.  Come back that night and start to play.

Monday - still no e-mail  I will give it one more day then will contact tech support as they suggest.  I get to Ascalon (pre)  Learn controls,  do a buncha quests, check out the zones and professions open to me.  Died very little.  One or two people speak to me, but that is ok. The  initial chat shows as whit on a tan background. and it  is hard to read for these old eyes. I finally figure out how to open the chat box and dark background makes it much easier. I get the ranger to about 3rd level and create my real test character a mes/ele.  If i can survive as a full mage,  anyone can survive. 

Tuesday  - still no e-mail  go to contact tech support. They don't make THAT easy.  Play for a while.  Got 2 propositions from people on chat for cyber, turned them bith down. Not much  else in the way of conversation or even group requests. Finally get a female character needing help on a quest I have done,  Run with her to place killing stuff she is a newb as well so I do not get frustrated and she apologizes a lot. Said others gave her a hard time about backtracking.  See. that is what no one needs. Let them get lost and learn their own way around.  I  get the ranger to level 5 and mes to level 3 and get her second profession. Still deciding on one for the ranger.

Wednesday - starting to get the hang of it and the net lag is not too bad.  Would not go PvP.  Lag spikes always come at the worst times.  Time for my big digression here.  Pre Searing is a zoo.  In almost any city there are a bunch of Idiots.  Definition time

Newb or Newbie  -  new player. New players are naive, lost, and some are just plain cautious.  They ask uninformed questions or don't even know what questions they need to ask.  They die a lot, get frustrated, wander into zones too big for them and and miss zones they should hit.  We were all Newbies at one time in any game.

n00b - aka PITA.  These are the ones that stand around acting cool.  In Guildwars they dance repeatedly, show off the emotes - which honestly leave one wanting.  I would prefer to doubletake at someone or scare someone specifically as on a mud  (Socials usually are set up like this - Emote $other, Emote $self or Emote $none  So would be Fred scares Mary, Fred scares himself and Fred scares someone who is not here)  N00bs spam,  beg for stuff, they beg for people to  lame them, they complain no one will help them or that the game is too hard or stupid or ... Worse they hit cheat sites, parrot information and opinions then whine when they have "the best" eq, best weap and get owned in PK.  They exist everywhere. And they NEVER SHUT UP. 

Scammer - these  are the players that need killin in game. They take new players - both types - for cash (usually in game but have heard of rl money) by selling stuff they can get easily enough at inflated prices.  Have seen people advertising to buy WoW accounts, AdventureQuest and other online games. Obviously admins are not present. This is one drawback. 

Pre-Searing is full of n00bs and scammers. There are cool people there, there are nice people, there are helpful people, but there are also the OTHERS.  Female characters are dancing in the nude around the city, male characters are playing air guitar, drums and   I see very few of same guild cape standing around.  Odd, I thought solidarity was one of the points of the game.  Again I get propositioned, I turn the guy down, get some attitude in return. Finally tell him I am probably old enough to be his mother, he goes away.

Another guy approaches asks if I want to join a guild.  I have been reading Wikis and featured Guild items and faction info.  Most of it assumes you know game premises.  They need some help in that department.  I am uncertain. He tells me if I hate it I can leave, people change guilds like underwear.  I am not that type of girl.  They are Kruzick, have a cool cape and the recruiter impresses me with his honesty so I join.  Suddenly everyone around pre starts talking to me

Hmm So lesson 1 -  people ignore you till you join a guild.

Ok this is long enough will return to being cranky tomorrow.  Upshot - so far I like the game dial up is not too bad and  I can ignore people. More later.




   

[PsychoChris]

There's another Guild Wars Fan on here? who ever this is, I could use some help on some quests.

Anyways, I'm sorry you have such a bear with starting up the game and downloading the latest version. I'm sure when they release a "Game of the year" edition, you would think it would be the latest Build. But when things are constantly being worked on, online, latest is such a loose term. The beginning is kindah slow, it's supposed to help you get your bearings and learn to get comfortable in  the setting.

I would say that GW is a watered down version of WoW. Where no real commitment is required since you're not paying a monthly fee. Heck, one guy I knew in my old neighborhood offered to mow my lawn if I would help him pay his WoW account. I was like, "Dude, you're 26, just get a job and pay it yourself."

Once you get into the flow then it's a great game as the story evolves. The first campaign I think has the best story. I'm in the Eye of the North expansion pack area now, It's not as bad as the pre-searing area because you have to be lvl 20 to get in. So everyone that is there, has been around. If you would like for me to tag along on a quest or two, PM me and I'll help you out. My opinion may be baised as I am just a huge fan. I have like the collector editions of the other campaigns. What can I say, I love flipping thru the production artbooks.

I'm sorry for the harrassment you would get. It's funny because all my characters are female, yet in my 32 months on GW i've only be approached like once.

(And I don't mean to sound ignorant, but what is a Mud?)

[GameDoctorKunkel]

(And I don't mean to sound ignorant, but what is a Mud?)

MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) -- What they called the very early dungeon crawls.

[BeGuile]

There's a whole crap load of them nowadays. I used to be an avid MUDder.

There was an amazing one based on the Cowboy BeBop series called "Space Cowboy" that finally went permanently down, and there was another one based on DnD that was good. Besides MUDs, I also liked MUSH's as well.

[PsychoChris]

Besides MUDs, I also liked MUSH's as well.

Ah, ok. Now what's a MUSH? and I've heard of MUCKS? is that something else? I donno, I'll google these sooner or later, but I'm afriad of what would come up with. Like that time I googled 2 girls, 1... um.. nevermind.

[Zeta Thompson]

MUD - Multi User Dungeon or Dimension Diku, Circle, MERC and ROM  are probably the best known engine bases. Mainly hack and slash with RP in between themes range from Horror to good old Swords and Sorcery with stops at various canon themes along the way including Star Wars, Star Trek, Wheel of Time, you name it.  Most have quests that reward, most have mobs that interact somewhat (Eliza was placed on MUDs for a while, there are some interesting interactions between PC's and an Eliza here)

MUSH - Multi-User Shared Hack, Habitat, Holodeck, or Hallucination, TinyMush, TinyMux, and then the variants like MUSHBattletech.  Most MUSHES I have seen are permadeath, but most are mainly set up for socializing and extensive role play.  Some require you give them a sample of your RP style prior to joining. We are talking paragraphs written, for each action, not just I go to the bar and order a drink.

MOO - MUD Object Oriented, obviously a MUD based on an Object Oriented development method. Some were used for distance Education as well as well as early Internet Chat and net meetings. 

MUCK - A word play on MUD  although according to WIKI they came up with a backronym of Multi-User Created or Character, or Carnal  Kingdom. Most I have seen are  X rated.  Lots of rp not much action on part of mobs (mobiles or NPCs) 

Most of the above are open source or partially open and the owner can alter the environment and most of the code as they see fit for their world.  I mainly play a DIKU II Swords and Sorcery type, though I have ventured into SWR a bit (Merc based I believe) and some GodWars. All were predecessors to MMORPG. Many are still around and being text based rather than graphically based,  they are low overhead on the players' connections and machines.  Also they are easier for most player who may be visually impaired or hearing impaired Think Zork, then think of Zork played by multiple people at the same time and you'll have a good idea of a MUD.

[BeGuile]

It is dark outside. You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.

[PsychoChris]

Whew! thanks a bunch Z.

Althought you had to literally spell it out for me, that was quite insightful. With as much time as I spend online, one would figure I should know what those things are. I've heard them breifly mentioned in chatrooms. But when I would ask, "What?" the conversation would end. I guess that's why I gave up chatrooms. Mostly they are just Naruto based Muds now.

It is dark outside. You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.

WHAT! Groo's a cannibal now? I thought he was just a humble bloodthisty wanderer... oh Grue...

one more thing for me to look up.

Zork, I do remember that.

[Zeta Thompson]

The Saga continues. ... and yes I am being a cranky old gamer

Ok I like the game. THe story line in Prophecies is great. The graphics are impressive. Some of the NPCs make me smile (orion I love that henchie). But the PLAYERS! 

Let's get one thing straight, sometimes you fail. Sometimes missions are tough, SOMETIMES you even die.  THe thing that so far has by far pissed me off the most in the game is the propensity that players have for bailing the first time soemthing looks bad or it looks like they may *gasp* actually lose.

First missions.  In the past week or so I have been on multiple missions where once the group is out in the world and the mission gets a bit rough (not even saying anyone has died - yet)  Players in the group leave and go elsewhere.  Now the group is almost guaranteed to fail. 

Then there was the big AB. FINALLY I got a character to level 20 so off i go to AB for guild and faction.  I join a bunch of other Kurzicks and we go to beat up on the Luxons.  Boy did we pound them.  So in the middle of AB what do I start seeing?  people logging out. Leaving the battle, fleeing defeat. Why? because their side wasn't winning.

5 battles later, the tables are turned and we are getting whomped.  My poor mes can't stay alive long enough to toss a spell into the fray even (I am SO gonna find that assassin! She was good.)  So now MY side starts bailing.  My one message. Not eve saying gotta go, or hey brb with a nuker. They just scarper off and hide. 

I still think the game is great, just think some people need to learn how to lose, otherwise they are going to be very disappointed in life.   

[PsychoChris]

Propheices was my favorite champaign so far.

Yeah, players have bad moral sometimes. but if your with a good group then it can be fun and you can cover lots of ground. I guess at times the game is only as good as the sum of it's players.

[Zeta Thompson]

Just a quick update.

I am still playing this game, so obviously I like it.  Muds still are my preference, but this MMO is worth the cost. For 30 - 40 USD you get a game worth playing through. Prophecies is the best story - so far, but Factions seems to be smoother. Like maybe they figured out how to move a character along withing the story better.  The graphics and cutscenes are impressive I tend to stop an look when i can in amazement.  Factions' missions seem much harder than Prophecies at about the same level, but that may be my character type.   

I hope to finish at least those 2 before guildwars 2 is released.  I just hope they do not change the model. It is one of the main reasons I like the game. No worries of kill or item stealing. I wish I could customize my character a bit more, but so far I like the flexibility available.

[PsychoChris]

i look forward to guild wars 2 too

i don't know but i hear ruomor that they are going to change the control scheme a little. And the ability to jump. I don't know how they would play out, but i imagine it might be a lot like Shaiya (the free korean GW knock off)

I need to get back onto GW sometime.
one of the other benefits, i don't have to worry about a monthly payment if i don't play