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If you’re looking for a game that offers a unique social experience and the fun of beating the snot out of bosses as the staple focus of gameplay, RaiderZ will be right up your alley.
Features, Previews
Tue, Jun 19, 2012
Sardu
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GW2Hub's latest community spotlight feature focuses on one of the most requested PvP features for Guild Wars 2: spectator mode.
Features, Opinions
Tue, Jun 19, 2012
Sardu
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We enjoyed our hands-on time with Neverwinter at E3 so much that we made room in our schedule to play the full group demo twice. In this preview we take a closer look at Neverwinter's action combat through the eyes of the control wizard and trickster rogue classes.
Features, Previews
Tue, Jun 12, 2012
Sardu
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Following the second beta weekend event for Guild Wars 2, we take a look at necromancer builds and trends in structured PvP.
Features, Opinions
Mon, Jun 11, 2012
Sardu
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We were able to take CCP's upcoming console shooter, DUST 514, for a spin at E3 2012. Did we enjoy the ride? Read on!
Previews
Fri, Jun 08, 2012
Sardu
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RIFT is getting bigger. Much bigger. Biggerer, even! Our E3 team got the details on Trion's upcoming huge expansion at E3 2012 and previews the size, scale and scope of Storm Legion.
Previews
Thu, Jun 07, 2012
Sardu
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End of Nations has undergone some fairly radical changes since it was first revealed. Our team on the show floor at E3 2012 had the chance to explore how the game has evolved on its way to launch.
Previews
Thu, Jun 07, 2012
Sardu
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We got our hands on Planetside 2 on the E3 2012 show floor and learned that this game scores high marks for being more than just a massive shooter for players with lightning-quick reflexes.
Previews
Wed, Jun 06, 2012
Sardu
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Continuing our preview series for The Secret World, we take a closer look at the third and final zone of Solomon Island, the Blue Mountain.
Features, Previews
Fri, May 25, 2012
Sardu
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We’ve put together a collection of tips to help keep the inventory management mini-game from critting you for too much damage, and keep you out enjoying the rest of the game instead.
Basics, Guides
Wed, May 23, 2012
Sardu
The original raiding guild I was in back in vanilla eventually collapsed because the leaders refused to adopt a standardized loot system. To compound the issue, a number of our top raiders were part of a "raiding alliance" where they obtained most of their gear. As a result, they stopped wanting to do guild runs (something GDKP could have helped resolve) and the remaining raiders began the dreaded cycle of quitting if they didn't get drops they felt they somehow deserved.
By the time TBC rolled around we were a broken mess of 300+ people, though most of us left shortly after that point when it became apparent that the leaders / officers refused to get their heads out of their butts on the whole loot distribution thing.
Please oh please don't tell me you're using my idea of stuffing My Little Ponies full of Play Doh and then strapping them down and using the Fun Factory to make rainbows shoot out the top of their heads >.
The rumor that I heard from a friend of a friend's pet squirrel's stamp collection is that the Bioware game is in fact the long rumored Smurfs Online where every day is a 100 smurf (the server cap coincidentally) raid on Gargamel and Azrael! Hoho!
But yea ... I'm so long past the boat to mention 'Big' so I had to come up with something else to throw you off...
In years past there would always be that few weeks leading up to E3 when there would be this collective silence in gaming news, as big developers would save major announcements for the show etc. To fill that void there'd be a lot of "Be sure to check here for all your E3 coverage needs!!" type articles etc. Then the show would hit and that's all you'd hear about for the next month - you could tell writers were just as excited about the show itself as the games / companies they were writing about.
This year there was that same silence leading up to the show .... and then a few articles highlighting the major announcements. And that was all. There were as many people writing about how they didn't want to travel so much for the next month and a half as there were about actual games. Even this might not be a huge year for MMOs in particular per se, this fall has an extremely solid bunch of PC titles out which we haven't seen in a few years ... but no one seems to care because they'd rather write about how many units the Wii sold this month.
I guess I'm trying to say I miss what E3 was both for the industry, as well as from the perspective of someone who enjoys reading about it (usually). Kind of funny too, because the new set-up was supposed to be designed specifically so that media outlets could get more focused if not better coverage.
There's another point to be made with all of it as well - booking your writing staff to travel and report on half-dozen shows for a month + tends to = a bunch of people with no time to play any of the games they're writing about that are being released during that period.
I can completely appreciate that this is more of a 'reintroduction' write-up vs. more of a full game review. This actually reads the way I wish more game sites would do preview pieces. Most often it ends up being a straight forward list of events with little to no mention of weather or not it was an enjoyable experience at all. Of course I understand that writers will most often have limitations on what they're allowed to print, but that's besides the point :D Even full reviews on certain sites who I won't list here follow the very wooden approach of:
"I launched the game, made a character, this is what the UI looks like (insert screenshot with witty caption). Now allow me to paraphrase the press release information as to the game's premise for 5 paragraphs. There was a wart on one of the NPC's noses so I scored the game lower than were it unblemished. The end!"
All that said! I only mentioned your comment being harsh because I tend to enjoy GW when looked on as a whole - To each their own of course :D For the record, even though I may sing GW's praises and overlook some of it's inherent flaws I'm by no means a 'hardcore' player of the game. I drift in and out for a few weeks here and there since the non-sub model allows that kind of freedom, and otherwise even though I do enjoy the game I do feel it's missing that certain intangible *something* that keeps my attention over a longer period like other games have.
Last side note!
It's interesting you mentioned UT as well as being into GW PvP early on - my first GW guild was built mostly around an ex-UT clan so we approached old Hall o Heroes and guild battles a tad differently than we might have coming from a pure RPG background.
The game play in Fury surely does have the same feel of UT matches for me (been playing the UT3 demo quite a bit the past few days in fact with map-modding plans already brewing ;) ) - I got me my emails telling me what fabulous prizes I earned during the Fury Challenge so I'll be firing up the retail game in the next couple of days as well. Not telling how I ranked though! :P