Moar Goodies!

Through the Hellgate.

Lots of fun stuff going on this weekend. Kicking it off with Hellgate  and Age of Conan FTP launches. I decided to give Hellgate a try, just to see what it was about, if you follow me then you know I am all about trying stuff for free. I love trying new games period, even old game if they are new to me, sometimes even checking back in a few years later to see what has changed in some.

Anyhow, Hellgate is one I had read about in the past but I didn't know a whole lot about. When it was first released it didn't appeal enough for me to part with my money in order try it out. Being free gave me some interest, this time around. I decided to go with the summoner class and it really was interesting and engaging. Basically it is sort of like a demonic horror, post apocalyptic game. It is very similar to the set up Guild Wars has, instanced missions with outposts full of people.

It had a very dark, gritty and urban feel to it, which I liked. Fighting undead in the ruins of London. My character was not cheesey nor beautiful but she wasn't clunky and I looked forward to getting armor upgrades as well as weapons, in drops. The summoner class was a lot of fun, by level five I had four little fire minions following me around wreaking havoc. I liked the choice of the 'talent' trees.

I have seen some complaints about this game's launch because people expected this game to be 100% F2P. Instead it is sort of similar to those where you play to a certain level and then pay for the actual game. People claim to feel mislead because this was apparently a last minute announcement. The thing is it is only four dollars to unlock the entire game, yeah four dollars, I think that is well worth it- so far. No monthly fee either with a cash shop which seems to have decent prices. I definitely think this one is a keeper as it would be great fun to play with friends or just to blow off some steam, it is fast paced and fun. I was genuinely surprised I ended up enjoying it so much.

My minions and 'manslave'. I've never had a man for a pet in an MMO.

It has been about two years since I last played AoC. While I really enjoyed this game, it was a tad much, in some areas, for my old computer. Going free to play has given me the chance to check it out again and enjoy all its charms once again. All of my characters were still there when I logged in, my highest being a 23 necromancer. I really like the feel to this game and it is really nice to be able to hop back in without worrying about a subscription. I always say that, ha! But really it is.

I cannot say if I will really put much time into the game as of now, I do plan on spending some time over the weekend with it and I'm excited about that. I have other things on my plate now so it may fade into the background, for a bit, but it is nice enough to pick back up as a main game in the future. I really like the quests and the feel of Hyboria. I plan on spending time there in the future.

Teddy pets FTW!

I'm still enjoying Champions Online. Each week the Aftershock issue has been something I look forward to. This week was a bit too fast paced for my tastes. Basically a void, or a nothing (think of The Never Ending Story) that closes in on the zone and consumes everything, even you. If you don't move along fast enough it will kill you. I like to take my time and kick back when playing CO, so this one was a real downer, if it left that part out I would have loved the Issue.

I am really looking forward to the hideouts being added July 6th! Very, very excited that we will be getting superhero housing. Gold members get to pick one out of four hideouts with the others being purchasable through the cash shop. The housing is shared across the account. I can't wait to pick mine out, I do hope it is worthwhile, I have heard we will be getting neat things like the tailor and Socrates, so we shall see how good they are. They look great from the screenshots.

The Producer's State of The Game was released a few days ago and it looks like a lot of good things are in the future for this game. I was pretty impressed with the things listed because these things will offer more for high end too, which is a really something players want to see.

Today I am like a kid in Candy Land with all this, I even have seven free days of WoW. Woo! So, I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday weekend! Well, if you're here in the US of A. Happy 4th! If not I still hope you have a wonderful weekend. Safe adventures all.

-kaozz