Last Thursday in EVE was my first real exposure to PvP. An organised StateCorp fleet, with Zwiss as fleet command, went roaming and got five kills. Not a lot, given that there where twelve of us, but enough to give myself and the other PvP noobs a sense of what's involved in decent fleet combat.
I say decent because one of the recurring themes in corp chat is the lack of good fleet commanders in the alliance. Last night I saw the difference between the two. Not that Kirin incapable, but the level of communication was far lower, and the rush to combat more impulsive and, ultimately, more destructive.
For the sake of getting on two kill mails last night (both for the same guy, funnily enough), I lost a Hawk and a Moa. Losing the Hawk was my own fault - an assault frigate and two interceptors taking on an inty, a missile boat and a droneboat was always going to be close - but I can't help feeling aggrieved about the Moa. It was easy to see who was jamming the fleet, but we all kept pounding on the wrong ship...ah well. The insurance money bought another Hawk, so it's off to 0.0 to try some ratting.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Good EVE
Finally, EVE has come back to life.
The ongoing war with The Five, my lack of (ingame) money, my lack of skills...it was getting me down. A few weeks of training and I can fly a Hawk, which is perhaps the most fun I've ever had in EVE. It's fast, it's hard, it's not as powerful as its big brother the Harpy...but it'll do. It'll do until I can afford something better, anyway.
While EVE is coming back into focus, WoW is fading away. It was fun, for a while, but the continual grinding is boring, dull, monotonous, and a thousand similar terms. My Paladin is nearly level 40 (and gaining a mount will probably change things in WoW in the same way the Hawk did for EVE), but it's came to my attention that he's not the character I wanted him to be. A mid-range damage class, a mid-range healer and a mid-range tanker. Neither one nor t'other. Jack of all trades ad master of none, and all that. Frankly, it's boring. I have a lower level Warlock as well, but the games' novelty is wearing off.
Give me the stars anyday.
And on that note:
EVE Diary 1: First Frontier
EVE Diary 2: Learning Curves
EVE Diary 3: How We Won The West And Where It Got Us
EVE Diary 4: All Alone In The Night
My semi-regular series of EVE Online play diaries continues over at alwaysblack.com
The ongoing war with The Five, my lack of (ingame) money, my lack of skills...it was getting me down. A few weeks of training and I can fly a Hawk, which is perhaps the most fun I've ever had in EVE. It's fast, it's hard, it's not as powerful as its big brother the Harpy...but it'll do. It'll do until I can afford something better, anyway.
While EVE is coming back into focus, WoW is fading away. It was fun, for a while, but the continual grinding is boring, dull, monotonous, and a thousand similar terms. My Paladin is nearly level 40 (and gaining a mount will probably change things in WoW in the same way the Hawk did for EVE), but it's came to my attention that he's not the character I wanted him to be. A mid-range damage class, a mid-range healer and a mid-range tanker. Neither one nor t'other. Jack of all trades ad master of none, and all that. Frankly, it's boring. I have a lower level Warlock as well, but the games' novelty is wearing off.
Give me the stars anyday.
And on that note:
EVE Diary 1: First Frontier
EVE Diary 2: Learning Curves
EVE Diary 3: How We Won The West And Where It Got Us
EVE Diary 4: All Alone In The Night
My semi-regular series of EVE Online play diaries continues over at alwaysblack.com
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
More Dawn of War crap
As much as I'm enjoying being immersed in the 40K universe (cue bitch fights with The Flatmate, who's adamant that the Warhammer Fantasy universe is where it's at) , the game grows dull, stuck, as I am with one level to play on.
I can see that Relic are aiming forthe online side of the game to be a large partof the experience - and I'm sure they'll take their practised arm to the single-player campaigns very well - but it seems to me that online games are just going to turn into power gaming fests, degenerating into either troop rushes, or stagnated, stalemated trawls through tech levels.
The bigger your army, the more likely you are to win; the bigger your army, the harder it is to control. A reflection of real life, perhaps, but an irritant in the context of this game. RTS games have never really been my bag, baby, so I guess that I would inevitaby fall out of love with Dawn of War. I just didn't expect the novelty to wear off so soon.
I can see that Relic are aiming forthe online side of the game to be a large partof the experience - and I'm sure they'll take their practised arm to the single-player campaigns very well - but it seems to me that online games are just going to turn into power gaming fests, degenerating into either troop rushes, or stagnated, stalemated trawls through tech levels.
The bigger your army, the more likely you are to win; the bigger your army, the harder it is to control. A reflection of real life, perhaps, but an irritant in the context of this game. RTS games have never really been my bag, baby, so I guess that I would inevitaby fall out of love with Dawn of War. I just didn't expect the novelty to wear off so soon.
Saturday, August 07, 2004
Noon of War (well, about quarter to one)
The Orks are, obviously, the most fun to play. Well, how could they not be? The Ork race is, in the Warhammer universe anyway, the life and soul of every party. Of course to them a party means bringing along four tofive hundred mates, needs some high calibre automatic weaponry and, if possible, orbital bombardment, but still. You get my meaning.
The one real problem I have with the game so far is that the Eldar play so differently from the other three races. The Orks might require one more resource than the Space Marines or Chaos Marines, but that's not that much of a hardship. Instead of building a turret next to your listening posts (for no extra gain), you build a Waaargh! bannerthat ultimately adds to the power of your army. The Eldar, however, start with the puny Guardians and remain with the puny Guardians until and unless you research the different Warrior Aspects available. Their tech tree is different from the one the other three races share.
It seems to me that if you're going to have four unique races then they really should all be unique - or all the same.
The one real problem I have with the game so far is that the Eldar play so differently from the other three races. The Orks might require one more resource than the Space Marines or Chaos Marines, but that's not that much of a hardship. Instead of building a turret next to your listening posts (for no extra gain), you build a Waaargh! bannerthat ultimately adds to the power of your army. The Eldar, however, start with the puny Guardians and remain with the puny Guardians until and unless you research the different Warrior Aspects available. Their tech tree is different from the one the other three races share.
It seems to me that if you're going to have four unique races then they really should all be unique - or all the same.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Dawn of War
I've been playing the Beta version of the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War today, in between bouts of re-starting my PC.
(I wish I knew what the hell was causing the problems with my machine. The BSOD errors, and a lucky find on the net seem to point to my DSL modem drivers - of which I have the latest version. Bugger. If I had a boot disk, I'd just format and go back to WinME, cos I've had nothing but trouble since upgrading to XP. Of course, I'd also need to install a floppy drive...)
It's certainly the first videogame (that I've played) that's managed to capture the perceived atmosphere of the 40K universe. Chaos Cultists beg for mercy while you whip and lash them to work, Space Marine Commanders laconically reflect on the need to worship the Emperor and carry Big Guns, and the Orks shout a lot. The Gretchin sound a little too much like Serkis' Gollum, in my view. I still haven't played as the Eldar, but playing against them, they seem to follow the combat roles that one would expect from these future-Elves; martial arts, high speed and longevity of life.
The demo only allows one single player tutorial map, and only online multiplayer games. The tutorial is a skirmish mode game, using the Take and Hold rules: capture strategic points around the map, slowly advancing on the enemy. These points give resource points, allowing you to build facilities and vehicles, and recruit troops. So far, so C&C. Luckily enough, that's as far as resource collecting goes, apart from the ubiquituous power generators and their handy electricity. The three races I've tried so far seem to play pretty much the same, albeit the Orks need Waaaagh! power as a third resource.
It's fun, but far from revolutionary so far. I wish there were more game modes available, but, alas, not.
(I wish I knew what the hell was causing the problems with my machine. The BSOD errors, and a lucky find on the net seem to point to my DSL modem drivers - of which I have the latest version. Bugger. If I had a boot disk, I'd just format and go back to WinME, cos I've had nothing but trouble since upgrading to XP. Of course, I'd also need to install a floppy drive...)
It's certainly the first videogame (that I've played) that's managed to capture the perceived atmosphere of the 40K universe. Chaos Cultists beg for mercy while you whip and lash them to work, Space Marine Commanders laconically reflect on the need to worship the Emperor and carry Big Guns, and the Orks shout a lot. The Gretchin sound a little too much like Serkis' Gollum, in my view. I still haven't played as the Eldar, but playing against them, they seem to follow the combat roles that one would expect from these future-Elves; martial arts, high speed and longevity of life.
The demo only allows one single player tutorial map, and only online multiplayer games. The tutorial is a skirmish mode game, using the Take and Hold rules: capture strategic points around the map, slowly advancing on the enemy. These points give resource points, allowing you to build facilities and vehicles, and recruit troops. So far, so C&C. Luckily enough, that's as far as resource collecting goes, apart from the ubiquituous power generators and their handy electricity. The three races I've tried so far seem to play pretty much the same, albeit the Orks need Waaaagh! power as a third resource.
It's fun, but far from revolutionary so far. I wish there were more game modes available, but, alas, not.
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