Welcome to the 39th edition of Reloading…



“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.”  -- Babe Ruth



Everyone can use a feel good moment to start the day.   Let’s go with this…



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A vicious storm rolled through our area this spring and caused some water damage to our house.  What began as a little drywall work and perhaps some new baseboard has become an enormous renovation project as apparently even the smallest amounts of water are the equivalent of Superman’s kryptonite to our home.     Remember, a small drywall patch or two and new baseboards became this.



Note: the floor on the left (the tile) is already redone. That was ripped out too.   Those painted walls, they were already ripped out and redone. Oh, and this is only one room on one floor of our house.  With the exception of our electrical  / furnace room, nearly every room has to have some sort of work done.   A small project, started about two weeks ago quickly became an enormous project.



This is why I find it so hard to either a) go back to a game that I loved and start over.  I’m looking at you EverQuest II or to b) begin again in a new title that looks promising.  Rift, you get the nod.   It seems like a fun project, but then you realize how much investment you have in your old home (or game) and it is the work (fun) really going to give you a better experience than you have now.   I think I could have lived with a stained baseboard and some funky drywall.  I’d just rather not have known about all the rest.



EverQuest II is a tremendous game.  It was in my humble opinion the better of the two giants that launched that year, but it didn’t have the ease of access that World of Warcraft provided.    EQ2 lost the sales race, but continues to provide entertainment for thousands of gamers.   David Georgeson, the Executive Producer of EQ2 took some time to explain the changes or renovations as I now call them that are coming soon to the game.  You can read all about mercenaries, player created dungeons and more in EQ2: The Next Generation – Q & A with David Georgeson.

“You can name the mercs, of course. If they hang out with you for a while, you can train them to say things. It will be amusing to see what people train their mercenaries to say. You can even use them in raids if you want to. I think the real beauty of it is if you and a couple of friends want to go into a heroic dungeon and you can’t find enough people to go, you can all get mercs and you’ll have a full group.”

I’d love to go back and play EQ2.   I’m tempted time and time again, but I know in the end I will probably be disappointed, mostly because I have become too impatient with MMOs to relearn everything again.   I have a tough time doing the “work” to get to the fun.  



I realize that this title in particular has done an excellent job of easing new players into the flow of the game, and yet… I still feel at unease.   Our brains have many components, but the piece that is right at the core is essentially a feeling and instinct engine.   It doesn’t understand speech or high reasoning.  It works only on gut instinct.   It is the part of you that takes over when all logic points in one direction, but you say, “That doesn’t feel right” and do something else.   My reptile brain is holding me back.   Damn you R-complex!



In other news, renovating a MMO to become Free-To-Play is a monumental challenge that many developers avoid.   It appears that Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts are in agreement that taking that plunge is out of the question for Star Wars Galaxies.  



LucasArts made this statement,

“The decision to shut down the game has not been an easy one. SOE and LucasArts investigated every option to keep the game open, including taking it to a free to pay model. However, that model just isn't financially viable. Changing the business model for an experience like Star Wars Galaxies takes a major investment and overhauling of the existing infrastructure of the game. We're unfortunately at a point in our life cycle where a change of this magnitude is just not possible. The harsh reality is that we've reached a point where the game is no longer a sustainable business.”

You can read more here.



Have you gone back to a MMO that you loved and stayed?  Was it impossible to go back and enjoy it? Send me your thoughts.



As always, you can contact me a number of ways:

• Email
• Twitter
• Telepathy (Just make sure it’s during business hours.  I hate to be woken by this stuff)

Until we meet again,

John “Boomjack” Hoskin