I haven’t logged in much lately, to beta or live. By lately, I mean the past 4 days or so. I think I mentioned in another post (I can never remember what I talk about) that I don’t have a burning desire to raid Naxxramas over and over again like many folks do. I try out the instances when they get patched in, test DPS numbers and various spec changes, etc. Logging in live involves doing a couple dailies, transmuting a Primal Earth to Primal Life for money, and talking to some folks. Plus I think my video card is dying. Yesterday my computer completely locked up twice at the log-in screen and crashed 4 times when I tried to log-in in Shadowmoon Valley. But those are the only times, so I am imagining it has something to do with 3D applications.
So moving on, let’s talk about games. What games do you guys like other than WoW? Heresy, I know. You know what I’m talking about, games before WoW. Or other games you like in addition to our Warcrack. :)
Me, I was introduced to PC games through first-person shooters. Through my early college years was a Counter-Strike junkie. R.I.P. MoralDecay server. :) I swear the only reason I passed Biological Anthropology and Principles of Archaeology was my uncanny ability to memorize things.
Each iteration improved on some of it’s issues making each game a little better than the previous.One of my favorite series has been Hitman. I stuck with it through it’s evolution. The first one was so unique even though it had glaring issues – but not enough to ruin the game for me. Each iteration improved on some of it’s issues making each game a little better than the previous. I don’t know why I stuck with it, but the games were always so fun to me. Hitman: Blood Money was a blast to play. I replayed the levels in that game over and over again. Yes, I even beat the credits. If you played it, you know what I am talking about. :)
Back when my friends and I used to still have LAN parties, our absolute favorite game to play (and is still one of the most awesome multiplayer games in my opinion) was Alien versus Predator 2. The balance was impeccable. We played that game for so many countless hours.
And we went out of our way to make it feel as movie-like as possible. We’re talking like 3 Marines, 1 or 2 Predators, and like 9 friggin’ Aliens. We were able to get girly high-pitched squeals out of a couple of my friends as they were bombarded by a platoon of Aliens. Until they make a third one AvP2 will always have a special spot on my hard drive. The game was dark, it was fast, and the 3 classes were true to their movie counter-parts. It was awesome.
If I wasn’t playing WoW, I think I would find most of time spent playing either Guild Wars or Pirates of the Burning Sea. Guild Wars is one of the most polished online games in my opinion. Sure, it has its limitations, but I had a lot of fun playing it with my buddy. I played it enough to get a Warrior/Monk to level 20 and get lots of shiny gear. All my green loots from bosses (In Guild Wars, green is good!). Good times.
**NOTE: Any screenshots of Pirates of the Burning Sea are from beta testing and may not reflect the quality of the finished game.**
But Pirates of the Burning Sea is one game I hope succeeds. I know Warhammer is advertising PvP. But unless it’s changed, no game had PvP quite like Pirates of the Burning Sea. Don’t let other games fool you, PvP in PotBS would wreck your face. This is how it was when I played beta, so if it’s changed, I hadn’t heard. You pick your natiom, either aligning with Britain, France, Spain, or Pirates and then you pick your expertise on what class of ship you sail.
Now you can sail any boat you want, but you only get “insured” in the class of boat you are qualified to be a captain of. So let’s say you a privateer and are great and medium-sized schooners, nothing is stopping you from taking over a 40-gun Man’o'War. Sail it around to your hearts content, but if you get sunk, you won’t get it back. You’ll start off with a run-of-the-mill schooner again.
But that’s not even the PvP I am talking about. Everythign in this game is player-made. Except for the most basic starting boats, anything you want to be is crafted by players. You can harvest lumber which you can sell to mast makers, or hull makers, create cannons, sails, etc. And then someone has to have the “pattern” to craft boats, in which they will buy finished goods, and assemble the boat for sale. You can then use their auction house to purchase ship deeds.
You are now a bustling, prosperous mast and hull maker. Business is thriving.Each player has a set amount of “slips” in which you can build into some type of profession building. They don’t have a physical representation but you choose which port they reside in based off what professions you would take. Want to make a lumber mill? You might use on of your slips to make a lumber yard in, let’s say, Port Royale. And in addition to a lumber yard, you want create ship hulls, so you create a shipyard. You are now a bustling, prosperous mast and hull maker. Business is thriving. Perhaps you are one of the few . . . let’s say British . . . merchants that can create a Man’o'War.
Well, the French aren’t too happy with you. And players, either individuals, guilds, whatever, start assaulting players and NPC merchants coming to and leaving Port Royale.
Over the course of a few days if they give Port Royale enough of a pounding it will go into contention. A port battle is now going to take place.
The game will notify the top 50 assaulters and 50 defenders that this battle is going to take place on this day and this time. And what you have then is a 50v50 naval battle, last team standing wins. If you die, you are out. No rezzing, nothing. You sink, you’re out. And the team that wins? Control of the port.
And what does this mean for you? Your shipyard and lumber yard are now inaccessible to you until you take the port back. Now you have an incentive to start fights with the French going to and leaving Port Royale. Your livelyhood is at risk. And thus the cycle continues. At least that’s how it was in beta. :)
So hopefully you guys didn’t mind me straying off topic today. I could have tried to write something WoW-related but it would have been rehashing material already covered. So what’s your favorite/fondest game outside of WoW? Or if you werne’t playing WoW, which game would be getting your time and/or money? Share your thoughts, comments, opinions!
