Roleplaying games

I’ve read somewhere that after the boom of WoW and the so-called “free MMORPG” (in which you buy items paying with various funny in-game currencies, using micro-payments), Everquest 2 was losing lot of players.

It must be true, since I found a pleasant surprise when I was checking the website for the Rise of Kunark new expansion: they gave me 60-days of free trial. I heard that is a promotion they’re doing with people that were previously paid-subscribers like me. However I stopped playing it in 2005 for time problems, so I was pleased to see that Sony was remembering the people who paid even so long ago.

So I downloaded the client and all the various patches (almost an entire afternoon gone!) and resumed playing with my old character. Quite lot of stuff has changed, new AA (Alternate Advancement) that help people solo. Talking with people in game I also understood that Sony did a very strong job to fight the EQ Gold vendors / sellers, by applying a strict banning to everyone was caught sending in-game email to sell gold!

Also, I’ve found that soloing now is more enjoyable, with the new Kunark zone perfect for my old character (that was a level 62 inquisitor).

So it’s all good? well, no, not exactly – soloing is great but grouping is really a problem now. Maybe because there aren’t many players around, or simply because everyone is playing with people they already know. And I can understand why: last time I found a group we waited 45 min (yes you read well, 45 MINUTES!!) for a tank to come!!! of course after the 45 min was gone, I camped and left the group (I have a real life too!).

So there are still the old problems: takes a while to travel from one place to another, and if you’re like me that can’t spend too many hours a day on a MMORPG, you really don’t watn to waste precious time traveling on Everquest lands…

A pity because the game itself, with his detailed combat system, is really good now. And has depth, with lot of quests and storylines. But if takes 15 min to reach a zone I want, I don’t see myself playing it for long time in future. I know that would break the realism, but some fast teleport thing available to every player, would be much appreciated!!

After my previous unsuccessful attempt, I decided to give Codemasters MMORPG another chance and tried to download the Archlord client. After 1.4gb download, and another 2-3 h of patching, I finally was ready to login. I tried to login about 10-15 times at 4-5h of distance and this was always the result:

I’m starting to wonder: does ANY of codemasters MMORPG actually work!? they look so promising but if I can’t even get the chance to play them… It’s a real pity, I wonder where’s the problem, since I can regularly play WOW and EQ2, so surely isn’t my pc!

Will try again next days before uninstalling even this game…

No I don’t refer about the game itself. Read on, you can have a laugh maybe:

Last week I had finally some free time from my job, so I decided to try DDO:Stormreach.

I heard that there was a 10-days free trial key, so decided to try it. I went to the site and requested my key, then downloaded the client. 1.7Gb isn’t a joke, even with a DSL line (I have a slow 640kb one, took about 7-8h). However this wasn’t a problem since most MMORPG now have insanely big clients.

Finally, when the download ends, I am being told I must click on the link in the email (the same that contains my trial key) to access the account system to create my username/password.

I fill the LONG form with all the data, then I see the “submit” button isn’t active. I wonder what the hell is happening (is a graphic button, so I can’t do anything if doesn’t work). I decide to refresh the page, losing all the data I’ve entered, and fill the LONG form again. Nothing. I can’t submit this form, so I can’t create my account!!

I decide to try logging in from the account site homepage and make it: manage to register myself and create my user/password. Then I start the DDO client, to discover that it needs more patching! What I just downloaded the client, and is old ? why they don’t update it? I don’t know how much data it was, but at least another 200-300mb of downloads.

Then AT LAST I am at the game login screen. I type user/password. A pop-up windows informs me that “user or password is incorrect”. What !? I try again several times, but nothing. Then I try logging in the web account server with my user/password and works fine.

So, WHY on the website my user/password is ok, but in the game no? why I can’t log-in?! I activated my serial since I see it under the active subscriptions, so that’s not the problem!

Result: I GAVE UP . I’m probably going to try WoW or go back playing EQ2. I wasn’t really able to try DDO, despite wasting almost 2 days of my time. I wanted to try it badly, but I couldn’t win against such terrible forces of evil!

I wonder how many potential customers are losing every day by acting in this way… I have no words!!!