MMO Gamers

I haven’t blogged lately, as you can tell, only because I’ve been too lazy and hadn’t really had anything to contribute to the MMO community at large.  I still don’t have anything to contribute, but I’ll think of something over the coming days.

I’ve been playing a bit of everything these past weeks, but mostly spending my time in Age of Conan and EVE Online.  I’ve been getting a feel for the AoC update 1.05, and I have to say that I’m liking it for the most part, though there has been some significant changes.  Graphics look better, which I’m certainly pleased about, seeing as how I’m a graphics whore.  Crafting has improved immensely in my opinion, and I know exactly what I can make now and what stats I can add to the item.  No more random gemcutting results.  The market seems to like the changes also, and I’m moving more stuff and at higher prices than I used to.  Though most of the weapons I’m making are level 50 stuff, I’m hoping to cash in on the /level 50 option and so far it’s working.  I’m going to have to do a lot of harvesting though and try to get some more items on the market.

Something I’ve noticed that I’m not so sure about is my survivability.  Mobs are resisting my spells a hell of a lot more now than before 1.05, to the point of near death for me.  At one time, killing two mobs my level was  no brainer, but now since the update, surviving an encounter with two mobs is not guaranteed.  As for taking on three mobs, forget it.  I’d have to pull out every trick in the book to come away from that a winner.  I don’t mind more challenging combat,  but since mobs usually come in two’s and three’s in this game, it has made soloing far less desirable than before.

I’m only level 73 at the moment, and that’s high enough for me to pick up only two quests in the new zone, Tarantia Commons, and I was only able to complete one of them because the other one had me hacking and slashing my way past level 78 mobs.  I’ll have to get a couple more levels and some backup before I head back in there, so stay tuned for a review of that zone.

I’ve also been playing EVE, and I’m still not sure about it.  My trial account expired and I went to the website and got another trial.  It’s nice to be able to do that, and if I’m still not sure after this then I’ll part with a month’s subscription to find out.  Certainly CCP deserve at least that much from me.  Unfortunately the trial account doesn’t let me do a lot of things, such as learn certain skills or play the Market.  I can buy items from the market but can’t sell anything, and I was hoping to get a feel for the economic game.  Well, I have another 14 days to try it so I’ll decide whether it’s worth my money and my time after that.