MMO Gamers

     I had a few days off work so I managed to revisit a few MMOG as well as try a new one so I thought I would give a quick round up of my experiences.

1. EVE Online – I downloaded the free trial and the subsequent graphics update.  Firstly let me start by saying that EVE looks and sounds good.  The interface is quite different to any other MMO I’ve played and I definitely had to do the tutorial a couple of times to get the hang of it.  I did a few missions, but the easiest way to make money seemed to be harvesting, so I did a lot more of that and upgraded to a better frigate with some more firepower.  This seemed pointless seeing how I spent most of my time harvesting.  Had I had more time and patience I might have tried this game a bit longer.  It did draw me back a couple of times but I found it a little slow and tedious.  I don’t doubt this is a good game; I just wasn’t up for the ride.
2. The Matrix Online – I still had this on my PC and fired it up.  The Matrix is a lonely place.  Enough said.
3. Pirates of the Burning Sea – Well I logged in, sailed around, produced some goods for the Auction House, sunk a few pirates and ran from a few others.  The ships and ship combat look amazing but it’s all a bit ho hum.  If I could reach the end-game I might find a decent PvP game.  As it stands I’ll have to take Keen’s word for it, though he didn’t seem overly impressed either.
4. Everquest 2 – There are only two games that I’ve played for more than 12 months straight, DAoC and EQ2, the latter I played for 18 months.  I even started my own guild, which at its peak had 120 members and is still going today.  But the magic started to wane so I thought it was time to move on.  I hadn’t played this game since October ‘07, so after a few hours of updates I was back in.  I always thought EQ2 had great graphics, but after playing Vanguard for the last 7 weeks it’s starting to look old.  But sadly the magic is gone for me so I’m putting this one to bed.  EQ2 = a great game.
5. Vanguard – Some amazing graphics, good dungeons, helpful community, this game’s a diamond in the rough.  It’s just a little hard extracting the diamond.  I’m still experiencing graphics problems and the game has been released for over a year.  Add in a harsh death penalty and some serious grinding at higher levels and the diamond really starts to lose its sparkle.  Still, I think it’s a good game and certainly worth trying.
6. Tabula Rasa – I bought this on the day of release and enjoyed it, for about six weeks.  It’s not that I started to dislike it; it just got a little boring after that.  Well after loading it up again I jumped back in and had a blast.  Nice graphics, fun combat, easy missions, this game is definitely more focused toward easier, casual play.  Still loving it at the moment but let’s see if it has staying power this time.

And that’s it.  6 games in 6 days.