I've become extremely aware of how weak my character in WoW has become over the course of the transition from Legion to BFA. One one hand I'm the hero who defeated Sargeras and all that stuff. I wielded an artifact of extreme power. I'm the hero. At least I felt that way for a little bit. As the expansion came close to release, the stat squish happened and a number of factors made everyone feel just a little ill-tuned. Suspending disbelief, I can accept that as it was necessary in order to avoid ridiculous number inflation. But I wasn't expecting that feeling of being ill-tuned to continue as I progressed through content in Battle for Azeroth. My character has progressively become weaker and weaker with every level. 110-112 was reasonable. But right around 113-114 I started to feel like it was taking me longer and longer to kill things. By 118 I was seriously struggling (relatively speaking). I was obtaining items that were 80-90% better than what I was wearing based on their … [Read more...] about Getting Weaker as I Get Stronger
Check out some of the new dwarven zones coming in Lord of the Rings Online’s Update 23
Play LOTRO for freeAt GenCon earlier this month, Lord of the Rings Online studio Standing Stone dished on some of the goodies coming to the game in Update 23, dubbed the Grey Mountains update. As we discussed on the podcast, that means good stuff for fans of the dwarves – maybe even lady dorfs too, though that’s apparently still up in the air. What’s definite, though, is the regions appearing (and reappearing) in the update, as LOTRO Players lays out in a trio of videos today. First up is a trip through the Grey Mountains – aka Ered Mithrin – themselves, encrusted with dwarven ruins, mines, and dragon bones but also a glacier biome and a unique forest too. The second video covers the Iron Hills, with more Easterling towns and functioning dwarven mines and fortresses, but YouTuber Andang notes that the zone is mostly empty right now. Finally, the Lonely Mountain of Erebor is getting some love! We’re still running our regular LOTRO Legendarium column … [Read more...] about Check out some of the new dwarven zones coming in Lord of the Rings Online’s Update 23
Rumor: Players are losing their houses in Final Fantasy XIV in error
Play Final Fantasy XIVHousing in Final Fantasy XIV has some issues with limited space, so almost no one who has a home in the game wants to lose it. So if you want to spread chaos in the game’s homeowner community, claiming that people are losing their houses without warning is a good way to do it. There are more reports than usual of players logging in to find their houses gone, while they claim they had been in there and active in time to reset the timer. Time to panic? Maybe not. That shiny “rumor” tag is there for a reason, chiefly the fact that at this point there’s no real confirmed reports of this happening to people. Reddit users have taken the opportunity to keep tabs on the house watchers on Balmung, and as of yet nothing has surfaced as abnormal there. (Balmung is one of the game’s largest servers and the unofficial RP server, which means housing is closely watched.) If there is a bug, it appears to be highly limited, but it’s still … [Read more...] about Rumor: Players are losing their houses in Final Fantasy XIV in error
Fallout 76 won’t allow crossplay but is talking up mods and multiplayer
Bethesda isn’t really that keen on allowing crossplay with its games these days. The studio recently confirmed that Fallout 76 isn’t going to feature crossplay between platforms, nor is Elder Scrolls Legends going to get it any time soon. No specific reason was given for the decision, although there were heavy hints that Sony’s stance against crossplay was a factor in this. “Fallout 76, sure: It would be nice if I could play on my Xbox and my kid is playing on his PC and we can play together, but if we can’t,” said SVP Pete Hines. “But for Legends it’s absolutely critical.” At least Bethesda is working on several features to make its communuty happy despite this, including a committment to mod support and an in-game photo mode. Bethesda released yet another video, this one very pertinent to us because it discusses how multiplayer will work in Fallout 76: Source: Eurogamer, IGNSHARE THIS ARTICLE … [Read more...] about Fallout 76 won’t allow crossplay but is talking up mods and multiplayer
Blaugust Dev Appreciation Week: Thank You FFXIV Team
This week at Blaugust is Dev Appreciation Week. And since I’ve been straying all over the place with my topics so far, I decided to pull together a quick post that’s on-theme today. As a creator myself, and a member of a software development team IRL, the developers of the games I play tend to stay up front in my mind. I marvel at the skill and originality they possess, and try to be gentle when things don’t always live up to expectations. A Final Fantasy Fan It’s not a secret that I’m a Final Fantasy fan. My first JRPG as a pre-teen was Final Fantasy 1 on the NES, and my first RPG love was Final Fantasy 2/4j on the SNES. I still appreciate the old skool games much more than those that came after FFIX. I never could quite get into the shift into more sci-fi, J-Pop or modern themes that newer FF games take the series to. There was even a chunk of time when I was quite angry at S/E for what I perceived as milking the series — especially my most … [Read more...] about Blaugust Dev Appreciation Week: Thank You FFXIV Team