Heard Lately?

Because every post needs a pretty pic.

2012 is turning out to be a great year for MMO games, the end of the year will wrap up with even more interesting things for us, the wait isn't over yet. Many games have expansions due out still, Rift, EQ, EQ2, LoTRO, WoW and that is all I can skim off the top of my head. I hope things ramp up in 2013, with all these great additions we've had this year and competition will give us, players, more content on a regular basis. We can hope, right?

With good comes the bad. CoH is set to sunset in November, but there is a petition to keep the game going, a community petition. Some say you're only doing the community and the game an injustice by signing it if you don't intent to play or fund it. I'm thinking that the sunset was a rather abrupt action with the game, personally. I didn't seem to think it was as bad off as other MMO games, there are some far worse off in my honest opinion.  This is only guess work, but really I would think WAR would have shut down before CoH/V. But anyhow, Massively has a wonderful recap of how fans have been rallying for the game to stay alive. I would be there every step of the way if it were my choice game, I just haven't played it in years and I'm certainly there in spirit. I sincerely hope these players get to keep their online world. I hate seeing ANY MMO sunset.

Then there are games like Ryzom that are not doing so well, but instead of shutting the game down they are resetting all characters and merging to one server. Imagine if you played this game for eight years and you were one day reset to start all over, all your hard work gone, poof. Would you stick with it, walk away or rather just see it sunset? There is a list of pros, telling us the world will be more alive with more players as all servers merge, I don't quite think that will take the sting away from losing progress and levels. I think this is pretty much a worst case scenario any company can offer players, besides shutting down, but that might feel less insulting? Fresh start in an eight year old game? Harsh, I know. I just think it is a bad situation all around, I do feel for the players and the company to have to be at such a point where this seems to be the only option.

On a lighter note, my oldest and dearest MMORPG is releasing their 19th expansion! EverQuest is raising the cap to 100, I really would hate to see it go over this, that is a lot of levels to catch up on, but a very impressive number after all these years! The most exciting thing, for me, OFFLINE traders! So awesome, after many, many years I am still very excited to hear about this! No more will you have to leave your computer on to sell items. Hallelujah! Learn more about the Rain of Fear (why not rein!?) expansion here, on the official site. *huggles* to the EQ dev team for accomplishing this, it's been a touchy topic for years.

while we're on the topic of SOE, they are also adding in the Player Studio, it looks to currently only be EQ and EQ2, but I am sure it will reach their other games in due time as Vanguard and Free Realms are listed as coming soon. Player Studio is pretty much the freedom to create items, as a player, to sell in the Marketplace. The creator will gain 40% of sales. There are limitations and you will have to submit your work.

If you have talent with 3D design you'll be a great candidate, if you don't and you really want to take part in this... Then you might want to start studying a 3D art program such as  Blender or something free (my favorite 3D program is Sculptris but this is not ideal for creating in-game items. If not that I have to say I prefer Zbrush, very expensive but a fantastic program for in-game items- Next choice would be Blender as it is free, while more complicated, it is a great tool). Youtube it up for lots of great tutorials, there are so many good ones with tips and son on. There is a lot involved in creating these models and learning the programs. I dabble with this stuff with my work in Second Life, pretty much the same thing but I am nowhere near an expert, I am still quite a novice, it is a lot of work to learn it all.

And thus the whole thing is reminiscent of Second Life, but there you can create anything you want and upload it to the game, charge what you want, make what you want whenever you want. Give it away or sell it. More choice there. All in all it is still very great to see SOE open up this avenue, there are already games like SL that cater to players who are more creative, but for those who don't take to games such as SL this opens up another direction for them. I'm excited to see what ends up in the Market, what people create!

Speaking of creativity, the creator of the game Love has worked on this project with no funding for over five years. Very impressive! It is now free to play, he asks for donations, which I think is only fair and anyone sneering at his hard work and dedication should honestly think twice. You don't have to but the option is there. It is a very lovely looking game, thought I'd pass it on to those that are more inclined to shooters. You can find the official site here.

Since I can't end this w/o taking a moment to gab about GW2, still lovin' it, the auction system is pretty solid and stable now, yay! It still needs tweaks like being able to PREVIEW items and selecting which type of armor when searching. The forums are also up and more is being added to them, hence, I'm lurking morning, noon, and night, so glad they are up!

That's it for me, just passing on some news, my thoughts and some insight. Thanks for reading, as always, and safe travels!

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