As life continues new games go into beta. And once again I am ignored. Recently several games I want to try has announced activities of the beta variety. Namely Age of Conan, Tabula Rasa and The Chronicles of Spellborn. Okay so TCOS didn’t actually go into beta just now. Instead it announced the beta would last longer and that they would likely add more players. Also I suppose PlayNC can excuse the lack of an invitation in my inbox by saying I technically signed up for the European beta. No idea if that one is supposed to have started yet.

So life goes on with nothing new to play. As I am writing this I am waiting for Rappelz to complete updating just to try something new. I can’t say I am looking forward to yet another “free” game that sells in-game stuff for actual money. But as always I allow myself to be positively surprised.

Also the one month anniversary day for my third tour of duty in PlanetSide. Last time I wrote something here I was going to find an outfit to play with. And soon after I stumbled across someone from AoJ who got me invited into the outfit he is playing with. Well actually he contacted me when he noticed my name in-game (presumably one of the many times it showed up in the wrong end of a ’someone was killed by someone’ message). So I ended up in the biggest Terran Republic outfit of the Werner server: Outcasters. Likely I wouldn’t have needed to actually getting an invite, since they seem to sign anyone up. But it helps to fit in when you actually know someone, if only a little.

I think I played with the Outcasters, last time I played PlanetSide, but left for some reason and instead joined MoX. This time around it seems like a good deal tho. While not exactly the most structured people around they do usually have an outfit platoon running. And usually someone who has a clue will be in charge too. And of cause being on TeamSpeak does help making the experience better than some random platoon. Even if often most of the commands end up being given in-game anyway. Since not everyone is on TS.

Still it is soon time to see if I want to spend money on PlanetSide. I doubt SOE will grant me with another month of free game time once this month is over. But right now I have nothing else I am paying to play. And I do have some good times from time to time. So odds are pretty good I will do at least one more month.

But something does loom on the horizon. I have a weak spot for limited editions of stuff. And today the temptation became too much. I had to have it even if I am not sure I wanna play the game. The precious item I am speaking of is the Lord of the Rings Online - Collector’s Edition. I finally broke out my trusty VISA and bought it the Dutch online store bol.com. Turns out it was cheaper place to buy it and I didn’t even need to call on a native to figure out the store. Still at a price of 249.99€ it is no bargain even if everyone else have jacked up the price after the game launched.

The upside of buying this edition is I can look forward to another game I can play really casually. The box includes a lifetime subscription. So I won’t have to consider if I want to continue spending cash on it. Instead I can just log in when I feel like and not feel bad for wasting cash on a subscription I am not using… I already wasted the cash in one go. Water under the bridge now =)

Technorati Tags: Beta participation, PlanetSide

After an initial spurt of enthusiasm and motivation on my return to PlanetSide (and finding a sensible outfit) it’s all come to an end.

I now have to admit that I generally don’t feel like playing often enough for to make me feel I get my moneys worth. Lately I’ve played a couple of hours once or twice in a week. And a lot of the time I’m only joining the game because I feel like I have to since I’m paying for the damned thing!

I suppose some of it is rooted in the fact that I never really got any good at playing the game. But then on flip side of that I think possibly I never really bothered to try to get good because I have trouble seeing the point of the game.

I initially rejoined the game to try out the BFRs (and the Core extension I suppose. Didn’t bother to buy it first time ’round). And once I got that and tried them out my main motivation for the game was fading. But in the mean time I DID manage to find an outfit that worked a bit more like how I see the game so I did manage to pull some motivation out of that.

But the fact that the game is still as unorganized as it’s always been has a tendency to kill every effort of organized battles. And that in turn kills the game for me. A long time ago there was people suggesting better faction/battle management tools to better centralize control of battles. And it looks like people are still suggesting many of the same things today… And noting seems to be happening about it.

But then for me I’d still have trouble seeing ‘the point’ I guess. Cleaning a continent (or planet as they are called now) is great after a big and hard battle. But it don’t mean much since the two other fractions will soon take it from your side…. And ’round and ’round we go…

So now I suppose I could - once again - try to see if Face of Mankind can be any fun… Or perhaps I should just sit back and wait for a beta invite to Dungeons & Dragons Online and get some single player games (and coding) done in the mean time.

Well. It’s been quite a while since I posted on this site last. I’ve got this WoW review I really wanted to complete - been writing on it since I started playing it and now I’ve stopped. But well… I’m too lazy I suppose.

Anyway I’ve had some vacation these past two weeks and the weather has been miserably AND I hurt one of my feet just before going on vacation. So most of my time has been spent doing nothing. So I kinda remembered PlanetSide and looked it up and ended up deciding to trying it again.

Mostly I figured I’d try the Core Combat stuff since I never got that expansion before. And also those new BattleFrame Robotics look fun. So I set off with reviving my old subscription and getting the expansion… Well… I had to wait 6-7 hours as a fresh install on my old CDs it took a while to patch.

But finally I was ready. And to my great surprise they even have joystick support in now. So that makes the birds somewhat controllable. W00T!

Anyway when getting into the game it seems most of the factors from back when I played are still in place. Generally the battlefield is highly unorganized and most of the time the sides simply Zerg to gain the advantage.

As was the case back when I played before finding a good outfit (or guild if you like) is tricky. Most outfits don’t really take matters too serious and just move around and do ‘whatever’. Even tho they do create outfit squads for doing battle together. They usually don’t make a big deal out of working too much together - apart from sharing a vehicle whenever it’s convenient.

Of course on a grander scale it’s not gotten much better either. Mostly some random people who have worked their way through the Command Ranks will attempt to direct the battle. But mostly they seem to be ignored since ‘nobody put them in charge’ (for the uninitiated Command Ranks are simply a separate experience point system that don’t really require any leadership skill to get).

Oh well. I guess I’ll look for a good outfit that suits my needs while my patience with the game holds. If that don’t work it’s back to retirement from that game. Perhaps something new has come around by that time.