Anyone here play online games?

Just on a lark, I thought I'd ask if any of my fellow warhogs play videogames on the internet at all.
Lately I've been playing allot of Team Fortress 2, I'm a bit of a Company of Heroes addict, and I will occasionally indulge in the guilty pleasure that is Left 4 Dead (the old one, not L4D2)
If anyone wants a non-profane teammate next time your playing any of those timewasters, let me know. I'll invite you to my steam group or some other crap. Or maybe I'll just get you e-mail and send you 10,000 spam adds.

AND NOW FOR A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

Your lack of profanity disturbs me.......

Seriously, though; since I have taken over the helm of CHG I have very little time for anything, whether it is craft related stuff here at the shop or online gaming. But I have played EQ1 and 2 in the past and enjoyed it. Also played WOW but grew tired of it.

In all three games I suffered from a lack of a good team-mate most of the time. I think I would enjoy those games more if I had a RL acquaintance to play them with.

I teamed up with a RL friend more often in WOW than I did in EQ and had a lot of fun when I did. Especially when we used Team-Speak and could actually hear each other screaming when the various mobs were eating us.

I still play Warhammer Online. Have been since launch.

I play a lot of games online. I tend to give most MMOGs that come out a spin for a month or two. I play TF2 on and off, usually when one of my friends who plays regularly talks me into it.

Right now I'm giving the Star Trek Online beta a try. They have a lot of work to do before the end of the month to make it a good release :-P

Yah, if there's one MOMRPG that could give WOW a serious run for it's money, it's Star Trek. If you start craving the rampant random violence of TF2 again, let me know and I'll pm you my steam gamertag.
Seriously though, with star trek's fan base, does anyone else think WOW is going to be loosing some players?

Mostly online it's been WoW and MW2 for me lately, although I would love to go back and play TF2 and L4D again. Unfortunately my good HDD has died so I'm stuck running games off an External or an old crappy EIDE drive. Either way slow slow slow. Once I get those up and running again I'd be up for a little rampant random violence.

DerangedFerret wrote:

Seriously though, with star trek's fan base, does anyone else think WOW is going to be loosing some players?

I don't think it's a threat. The game play isn't there, and it doesn't really feel much like Star Trek. It's 95% pure fighting, either in space or planetside. There's a few interesting concepts, but it gets repetitive pretty fast. It doesn't take very long for all the missions to start feeling the same.

There are some exploration missions, and the occasional mission that doesn't involve shooting someone, but both are few and far between.

I do like the starship combat, and the PvP with the starships is fun for now, but I don't see it holding my interest for long.

Maybe it's the Deep Space 9 version of Star trek (obscure fan reference)
That is a good point though Fulminata. I wonder if their trying to appeal to the "shooty-kill-everything-that-moves-gwaaaaaaaaaa" type of gamers. Like say, oh... people who play TF2? (another obscure and self depreciating fan reference) I guess there's a pretty good market for that sort of game, but I wonder how many star trek fans fall into that category. Still, it's probably going to be a while before I'm willing to trade my minigun and sandvich for a phaser (ok, seriously, stop making obscure fan references).

But ya, if anyone wants to get back into some TF2 or something, PM me and I'll see if I can remember how to send a steam friend request or however that works on steam.

It's not an FPS. It uses standard MMOG combat techniques so I don't know that it will appeal to the TF2 crowd.

After making the post it dawned on me that the game has more in common with the Starfleet Battles universe than with the mainline Trek universe. It's pretty much a galaxy at war with no end in sight.

I want to clarify that I don't hate the game. I'm still enjoying the space battles quite a bit, but I just don't think that the space battles alone are going to be enough to carry this game long term as a MMOG. It needs more and better content to keep peoples interest, not just bare bones "the enemy is messing with us, destroy them" type missions.

Ya, there is something to be said for depth in a game. Are they giving the chance to give feedback in the beta or is it past that stage already? Because that sounds like the kind of player feedback they could probably use.
Of course, even if they don't get just the right mix of action and depth in the release, they can probably add some more interesting missions with patches and add-ons like other MMOGs.

I just realized I haven't inserted a joke into this post yet. So to compensate: "A guy walks into a bar and says ow."

There's only about two weeks until release, so I'm pretty sure they're simply looking to fix bugs at this point, and there are a lot of little bugs. No showstoppers, other than the fact that there servers are getting slammed, but lots of little annoying issues that need to get fixed, hopefully before release.

There are some more story oriented missions, but it feels a little pasted on. I can see they're trying, it just doesn't seem to be all that great a result. Admittedly, I may be a bit jaded at this point, as many MMOGs as I've played over the years.

So it sounds like the new Star Trek MMO has more in common with the old Star Fleet Command 3 game. In SFC3 you bought a ship, grouped up with folks and took on other players in ship to ship combat on various servers.

For every fight you involved with you gained victory points (more points were gained if you won) and spent those points on re-tooling your ship or buying a new one. It was ridiculously easy to get to a high level on some servers so everyone was soon running around in ramped up cruisers or battleships.

It was a fun time sink and had the feel of Star Trek but just in two dimensions. Combat always took place on a single plane. While it looked and felt 3D it was not, really.

Space combat is effectively 2D. Visually there's an illusion of 3D, but tactically it doesn't really matter. There is a 3D element, but the Z axis is limited, and doesn't really do much. It is possible to sometimes get surprised by someone coming in at an odd angle, but that's about the extent of it. You can't roll your ship or anything like that.

One of the first things someone I know decided to do in the game was to try to move his ship in a vertical loop, when the ship stopped at a 45 degree angle for no apparent reason it ended up becoming one of the last things he did in the game :-P

Despite this, I still find it interesting. There seem to be multiple viable maneuver options based on the weapon loadout you take. Some loadouts favor a broadside approach, while others favor head on tactics. Whichever you choose is going to require shield management to either keep your facing shield powered, or else rotate it out of the line of fire. I suspect that there may be optimal ship/loadout/tactic combinations that will become apparent with time, but for now trying out different loadouts and tactics can be fun.

There is a ground combat element as well, but it's typical MMOG combat, and doesn't really interest me much. One nice aspect to ground combat is the away team in PvE. Away teams are generally five strong, and if the other four slots aren't filled with other players, then members of your bridge crew, or generic red shirts, fill the remaining slots. This makes soloing the PvE content a lot more practical, and adds a little bit to the trek feel. Of course, the fact that the away team is often equipped with giant repeating phaser rifles tends to detract from the feel, so it comes out as a bit of a wash. I haven't tried any PvP ground combat, so I don't know if away teams figure into it or not. There can sometimes be some serious pathing issues with the NPCs as well as some issues with them every once in a while choosing not to beam down with you, both of which can seriously hinder your ability to complete a mission.

There does appear to be a bit of a storyline in some of the PvE missions for the Federation, but the missions themselves aren't much different than the generic exploration and patrol missions, it's just the dialog that's different.

Often times there's stuff that they leave out of the open beta, but is there at release. I know they are updating the UI before release, although the UI is actually OK as far as I'm concerned, except for some lag issues in inventory screens that are obviously a server rather than a UI issue. I figure there may be some other stuff as well, so I'm withholding my final judgment until then.

Modern Warfare 2 is currently eating all my time, and preventing me from painting and blogging like I should. My Xbox Live screen name is, of course, Wildeyedjester.

DerangedFerret wrote:

Yah, if there's one MOMRPG that could give WOW a serious run for it's money, it's Star Trek. If you start craving the rampant random violence of TF2 again, let me know and I'll pm you my steam gamertag.
Seriously though, with star trek's fan base, does anyone else think WOW is going to be loosing some players?

Hah, hah!! Surely you jest, Star Trek has no fans. Bwahaahaaa!!! Just kidding. From what I have seen about this game, it is very lacking and doesn't even warrant anymore attention from me.
The only game that can dethrone WoW is going to be The Old Republic, the new Star Wars mmo coming out next year(possibly at the end of this year). Supposedly the TOR is being built on the same engine that WAR uses since both games are being(were) developed at EA. If Blizzard can't come up with real good original content for WoW by then, they are doomed!!!
I have no way to confirm this, but it is rumored that WoW lost 800,000 accounts last year. While I don't have a number, the folks at Mythic confirmed that they had a significant increase in subscribtions during the last quarter for WAR. They attribute this to the endless free trial available for WAR. This game is WAAAAY better now than at launch, but is still lacks that "I want to play THAT game!" factor to attract the numbers WoW currently has. Although WoW has been around for several years now and has an aggressive ad campaign.
Also, I personally haven't read anything, many folks on WAR have mentioned that THQ and another company are working on a Warhammer 40k mmo.

At this point, the question isn't whether new MMO's are going to dethrone WoW, but whether or not they can thrive in it's shadow.

Right now co-op Borderlands and L4D2 have been my crack. I tried WAR, but gave up on it due to the lack of knowing anyone I played with.

I've played WoW on and off for years. I can almost certainly say I won't play the Trek MMO or the new SW MMO unless they offer some sort of trial.

Although...i am tempted by the $300 deal for Trek MMO for the lifetime account PLUS you get to play as the Borg PLUS you get a 4 day headstart on the game.
Man. Just. Value!

capnwoodrow wrote:

Man. Just. Value!

Was...that... a poor attempt...on....a...Bill Shatner Captain James T Kirk....impression?

Verminlord wrote:

The only game that can dethrone WoW is going to be The Old Republic, the new Star Wars mmo coming out next year(possibly at the end of this year). Supposedly the TOR is being built on the same engine that WAR uses since both games are being(were) developed at EA.

I agree this game has the best chance of any of becoming the new hotness in MMOGs. Then again, so did Star Wars Galaxies. It all depends on how well they are able to implement the new ideas they are coming up with. SWG had great ideas, and lousy implementation. TOR has great ideas, but we'll just have to see how the implementation goes.

Well, the Knights of the old republic had good enough game play that they were able to make two rather decent games with the franchise. I don't even like RPGs and I still got a kick out of the first game. If you put those same ideas in an MMO environment, then with the fanbase KOTOR and Star Wars in general already have, I'll bet it gets at least get a decent following.

Wait...

Verminlord, did you say a 40k MMO?
(to quote Ed's World) Holy hotdogs in a toaster!

I wonder if you'd be able to play as a guardsman? Hmm, better not get my hopes up. Apparently, no one but me likes being the cannon fodder.

THQ has a 40k MMO in the works.

http://www.massively.com/2009/12/02/an-early-look-at-the-warhammer-40k-mmo/

The bad think is it wont be out for another 2 years

Fulminata wrote:

Verminlord wrote:

The only game that can dethrone WoW is going to be The Old Republic, the new Star Wars mmo coming out next year(possibly at the end of this year). Supposedly the TOR is being built on the same engine that WAR uses since both games are being(were) developed at EA.

I agree this game has the best chance of any of becoming the new hotness in MMOGs. Then again, so did Star Wars Galaxies. It all depends on how well they are able to implement the new ideas they are coming up with. SWG had great ideas, and lousy implementation. TOR has great ideas, but we'll just have to see how the implementation goes.

You do know that this is being developed by Bioware, not Sony Entertainment right? They made the first KOTOR game and recently released the hot titles of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. If you haven't checked out the The Old Republic site to see what they have done so far, it's heads and tails above Galaxies. There was one rumor that the game was not going to have any PvP aspect to it, but I just don't see that happening.

Also, if George Lucas decides he wants HIS game to be the biggest and baddest out there, it will be. With the success of WoW and the failure of Galaxies, he knows there is a market for this sort of thing. Besides, it Blizzard pisses him off, he can buy them and shut them down just to prove a point. Then with no WoW, guess what everyone will play? And we all know he has the money to do it.

Although, I see Disney buying them out and starting a Kingdom Hearts mmo.

Verminlord wrote:

Fulminata wrote:

Verminlord wrote:

The only game that can dethrone WoW is going to be The Old Republic, the new Star Wars mmo coming out next year(possibly at the end of this year). Supposedly the TOR is being built on the same engine that WAR uses since both games are being(were) developed at EA.

I agree this game has the best chance of any of becoming the new hotness in MMOGs. Then again, so did Star Wars Galaxies. It all depends on how well they are able to implement the new ideas they are coming up with. SWG had great ideas, and lousy implementation. TOR has great ideas, but we'll just have to see how the implementation goes.

You do know that this is being developed by Bioware, not Sony Entertainment right?

Yes, I was simply using SWG as an example of a game that looked great on paper but that wasn't well implemented. Bioware has a good reputation, but then so did Sony Online going into SWG, it was only after SWG that they had a string of miserable failures. Also, Bioware is now owned by EA, which itself has a decidedly mixed reputation when it comes to MMOGs.

I'm in no way saying that TOR is doomed to failure, merely that it's also not destined to succeed. Everything is going to come down to how well it's actually implemented.

That said, loving Mass Effect 2 so far.

Lucas may have a lot of money, but that's far from meaning Lucas is All Powerful. Blasphemous, I know. I love Star Wars, not to the same extent as a few other members here, but I do. That said Lucas buying Blizzard, even though it may not have been a serious suggestion, would end more poorly for him than not. Buying out Blizzard to just to end WoW would incur the wrath of the many millions of StarCraft fans. Considering all the people world wide who still play the original, even after 12 years, and with StarCraft II growing nearer and nearer, not to mention Diablo III even touching Blizzard would be a huge mistake. That said, I would love to see a successful Star Wars MMO, even one that replaces WoW, I just don't see the dethroning happening any time in the near future.

MMORPGs aside, have any of the current and potential PS3 owners had a chance to look at MAG? I may be one of the few interested in 256 player squad based combat, but the mix of actual cooperation with online game play appeals to me greatly. The Graphics take a bit of a hit, when compared to newer games like MW2 and Mass Effect 2, but everything hints towards the game play running very smoothly even with 256 players on a map scaled by kilometers instead of meters. All of that with what seems to be a better level system then recent CoD games seems like it has the potential to be a huge success. Granted without the CoD name and being a PS3 exclusive, it may take a bit longer to grab everyone's attention.

I am planning to buy a PS3 with either my tax money or the money I have yet to receive from my car wreck. However, I won't be playing any online games with it. God of War 3, any questions? After that looking forward to playing some Arkam Asylum, Restistance, Uncharted and Assassins Creed. Then, who knows.