Tuesday, February 12, 2008

From last entry:

As for MMO-Land, EVE seemed to be okay for a while, and I even trained up an alt for the Red vs. Blue PvP, but I'm really doubting whether I want to actually join them. EVE combat is kind of slow (read: fucking slow), so I can't see how the PvP is going to be better. Sure, there's real loss when you die, but the Red vs. Blue PvP is all in cheap ships as to make it light on the wallet. Thus, it becomes almost trivial to die. So with the loss of a real penalty, and slow combat, there doesn't seem like a lot of reason to do it in the first place. Plus, I can't seem to coordinate any time to play with Kofi, as our schedules have been almost completely opposite lately.
So ...

Kofi and I actually got into Blue and have managed to be a part of some PvP fights. Or should I say, We've managed to get blown out of the sky numerous times while doing absolutely nothing significant to the enemy.

Sigh. :(

We've been completely ineffectual in every encounter, mostly due to numbers/ship types and the fact that our alts have fucking pathetic skills. There was only 1 time when I felt like I actually contributed, when I was warp scrambling a battleship, but I ran out of energy and he got away. Had I fit the proper scrambler, I could have helped take him down.

I've changed my ship setup a little, but it hasn't helped at all. I really can't do much other than warp scram, and as soon as I get targeted I end up dead in seconds. It doesn't matter what I do, I die very, very quickly.

So, I figured I need to train up more skills, and possibly move into a bigger ship. And then I looked at the time it would take me just to train /some/ of the gunnery skills I have on my main character. 69 days or something stupid. And that's with training a bunch of Learning skills to speed things up. It doesn't make me want to continue actually. I'd much prefer to go play something else if it's going to take that long. And it's not like the PvP in EVE is even all that fun. It's /really slow/ and can take /hours/ of waiting, jumping, planning, teamwork, etc., just to get those few kills.

Comparing it to all the other games I've PvPed in, it's far too slow for my tastes. It was fun for a while, but we have no real chance and it shows. Blue is especially full of lower skillpoint chars and complete noobs, so we keep getting our asses handed to us. I checked the killboards and after the skilled Euro players left the other day, Blue didn't score a single kill in over /5 hours/. The North American players are so useless, it hurts.

Kofi and I only have one other option, and that is to bring in our main characters instead. But that opens up a whole other can of worms, especially since we use those chars in PVE to supply money for the PVP alts. If they are in Blue, we can't simply go mission. The only way is to make jump clones (ie. extra bodies you can jump to once every 24 hours), but then we are still in Blue when we are missioning, and are therefore vulnerable to attack by anyone at war with us.

We could just train up our alts, but I'm not going to wait another 6-10 months to get to where I'm at with my main. Plus, like I said, the PvP just doesn't feel like what I'm looking for.

Goodbye /again/, EVE? It's been ... "meh"? :S
---

As for other games, I think I might pick up a copy of Sins of a Solar Empire instead, as it's a melding of RTS and turn based strategy games, and is a space game I can replace EVE with. It has got a lot of good reviews, and Tycho from Penny Arcade can't stop raving about it. It's a lot slower paced than regular RTS games, and it has many of the aspects of turn based strategy games that I like.

If that doesn't work, I might get STALKER or something else. I'm sure there's something out there I can find to pass the time. Inferno and I actually started playing NWN2 co-op, but I think we need to start over. He's kind of fucked up his character and I think I might try a different class instead of Cleric. But he's going on a shirt holiday here soon, so the likelihood of us continuing that game anytime soon is pretty slim.

Oh well ...

---

That's it for now, I guess.
Later all. o/


Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Ugh ....

I'm bored. Soooo bored. :(

It seems my PC gaming has pretty much run dry and the 360 has absolutely nothing either. There are a couple games I've contemplated for both, but none of them get me excited.

I'm sure it's not helping that there's /absolutely nothing/ decent on TV anymore since the writers are still on strike. I really miss Heroes and Smallville. They weren't excellent, but they were at least entertaining.

Right now I've got nothing to do with my spare time. I'll break it down for you.

PC:
- Call of Duty 4 (the roomies and I never seem to have time for this anymore, sadly. And 3 person deathmatches get a little repetitive after a while.)
- Crysis (half through, can't bring myself to play. So mediocre/obvious in story.)
- FEAR: Perseus Mandate (SP is so boring compared to MP. Graphics seem weak too, and story hasn't engaged me at all. Sadly no one plays the original MP anymore.)
- FF vs. TTR (basically shelved this one. No challenge as I can min/max and make unkillable heroes. Weak Nazi era heroes just piss me off)
- Jade Empire (got a copy of this and found it lacking severely. Controls are shit, camera sucks, and story is "meh". GFX aren't shit hot either, and areas are very linear.)
- NWN2: MotB (waiting to see if Inferno and I will play through both NWN2 and this co-op. I've finished the original campaign, but playing co-op might be fun.)
- Rainbow Six: Vegas (also got a copy of this, and found it okay, but not something I really feel like playing right now. Too slow, and I dislike the controls. The cover elements in Mass Effect were better, IMO. Roomies want to play it co-op, but we never have time anymore, so it looks like this won't do it either.)

360:
- Skate (it's been fun, but it's got to the point where it's become too repetitive. Maybe if I could play MP on Live it would be more fun. Also, the insane tricks required for some of the challenges are ridiculous.)
- rest are finished and/or don't have any replayability

As for MMO-Land, EVE seemed to be okay for a while, and I even trained up an alt for the Red vs. Blue PvP, but I'm really doubting whether I want to actually join them. EVE combat is kind of slow (read: fucking slow), so I can't see how the PvP is going to be better. Sure, there's real loss when you die, but the Red vs. Blue PvP is all in cheap ships as to make it light on the wallet. Thus, it becomes almost trivial to die. So with the loss of a real penalty, and slow combat, there doesn't seem like a lot of reason to do it in the first place. Plus, I can't seem to coordinate any time to play with Kofi, as our schedules have been almost completely opposite lately.

---

Speaking of work, looks like I'm going to end up on graveyard shifts for at least a week. I'm hoping that's it, as I really like working days now, and the guys on nights are fucking annoying. A couple of them are okay, but the majority of them are idiots. Plus, it's just them to talk to, and I like dealing with customers, seeing Kofi and my other work friends, chatting with the lovely ladies, etc. About the only two things going for nights are a $2/hr higher wage and the fact that it's more casual. But the tradeoff is I lose any semblance of a fucking life. Sucks ....

---

Le sigh.

I really need a break right now. Holidays or something.
The Rev.