We Fly Spitfires – MMORPG Blog

After watching War of the Worlds for a 5th time, the Protoss decided to create the Colossus

Yes, I’ll admit it, much of my spare time has been occupied by Starcraft 2 recently. I don’t play that many single player games these days (MMORPGs are a full time hobby after all) but every so often one comes along that totally absorbs me and proves a nice change of pace from the traditional fantasy MMO. SC2 has definitely seized my attention by grabbing me by the gonads, leaning into my face and snarling ferociously so I thought it would be nice to share my thoughts about it in review form. Of course, seeing as we’re all busy folk, I’ve decide to write everything in nice concise bullet points. Think of it as a review by tweets.

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In this article I waffle on about going off topic.

In order to help man the fort whilst he’s away at Slayage (I’m not jealous… nope, not one bit…), I wrote a guest post for Professor Beej which he published today. The article is a departure from my usual sexually repressed MMORPG related posts and is a review of a Japanese book I’d just finished called “Out”. Although I love MMOs, I have to admit that it was refreshing to take a break and write about something on a totally different subject. It’s not often that I get to opportunity to stretch my literary muscles and explore an unfamiliar genre, something which no doubt other bloggers feel the same desire to do on occasion too.

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The theme music to The Apprentice plays whenever I use the Remote Auction House

It’s been a week since I posted my initial impressions of the Remote Auction House for WoW and figured it would be a good time to write up a more in-depth review. Yeah, I know, writing a review while the product is still in beta… the horror. Good thing that never happens about anything in the gaming industry.

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Sometimes R.E. Howard was inspired by Asian culture. And sometimes he just ripped it off completely.

I’ve been playing Age of Conan again since the new expansion Rise of the Godslayer came out about three weeks ago and thought it would be a good time to write up my impressions of how the game’s progressed since I left almost 18 months ago. Returning to this virtual world of Hyboria is a bit like hooking up again with that sultry Mexican temptress who you dumped after discovering she had the personality of a piece of wood. Well, the good news is that this fiery lady has had some schoolin’ and can now hold a pretty decent conversation over breakfast following a night of fast-paced combo action. Oh and I know.. me, blog, sex, chauvinism… I just count my lucky stars that my wife doesn’t read this crap.

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New from Blizzard! The ability to post auctions whilst on the toilet!

The World of Warcraft Remote Auction House was announced the other week but as I was deeply engrossed in Age of Conan I never gave it much thought. However, since I’ve started a new Horde alt in WoW on Sunday to play with my bro and RL friend who’s returning to the game I’ve been on a quest to earn some low level cash and found myself visiting the AH quite a lot. Thus is seemed like the perfect opportunity to give Blizzard’s new Auction House app a whirl.

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For some reason when Dragon Age: Origins came out I got it into my head that I wanted the PS3 version instead of the PC one and even ended up waiting two weeks to get it (for some reason the PS3 version was delayed in the UK). I think at the time I thought I’d rather play it on my TV and be able to trade it back into the store I bought it from when I was finished with it. Unfortunately the control system on the PS3 proved to be so utterly terrible that I never really got into the game and only scratched the surface of it.

Last weekend I decided to take Dragon Age back up to the shops and trade it in (most shops in the UK will buy back console games for a reduced price once you’re done with them). Although a little hesitant, I saw that the PC version of it was on sale for coincidentally the same amount as I had received from the PS3 exchange. Fate was calling me and I just had to answer. I bought the PC version and boy, oh boy… is it so much better.

I’m absolutely loving Dragon Age now and playing through it quite steadily on my PC. The user-interface is so much more friendly and I barely notice it, let alone having it obstruct me as it did on the PS3. Combat is also a heck of a lot easier and far less frustrating. Some games were just never designed to be released on consoles and DA:O is one of them.

Although I’m still dicking about a little bit in World of Warcraft, Dragon Age has taken up most of gaming time this week and will continue to do so for a little while longer. It’s actually very refreshing to play a SRPG after so many MMORPGs and I feel a connection with the story and NPCs that I never do in MMOs. Although it does feel kinda lonely at times (I keep instinctively looking for the chat window) and ultimately my in-game actions will die with my save game files, it’s kinda nice to be able to play through a predefined story and actually shape the world as I do it. Kill an NPC and they don’t respawn in 6 minutes, defeat a boss and he won’t be there the next time I return to the same spot.

Next on my conquest list: Fallout 3.

In a moment of utter lunacy, I decided to purchase the Pandaren Monk pet for World of Warcraft so I could see what all the fuss was about and review it for my blog. It comes with a hefty price take in the UK (£9, more than my monthly subscription and about 30% more than the US equivalent) but heck, it’s only money right? Plus half of it goes to the Make-a-Wish Foundation charity so that makes me feel a little better.

The purchase process was very slick and easy and I have to take my hat off to good web design when I see it. I mean, it’s so easy, you’re money almost falls out of your wallet into their system so kudos to the Blizzard Store web developers. Integrating the pet with your WoW account to claim is also very simple and well guided plus there’s a nice option to send the code off to someone else for a gift. No doubt Blizzard have eyed up these cute pets as being potential Christmas presents.

Pandaren Monk in WoW

I’ll need to let everyone know that at this point my wife caught me buying the Pandaren Monk and wasn’t very pleased with me splashing out £9 on virtual goods. I managed to convince her that it was important research for my blog but I’m not sure she completely bought it. Tip for everyone else – make sure you buy your online pets in secret lest you risk the infamous wife aggro.

Anyway, a few minutes later I was logged into WoW and had my little, chubby monk out ready to entertain me. Meh. Yeah, it’s kinda fun. I guess. The panda pet does look very cool and the animations are really nice. He will bow when people /bow to him and every so often he will squeal and jump around doing some kung-fu moves but other than that he just follows you around like any other vanity pet.

The Pandaren Monk is a nice pet, no doubt, but to be honest I’ve already forgotten about it. I’m just not sure exactly what to do with it apart from occasionally break it out in highly populated areas just to show off. If I’d received this pet as part of an in-game promotion or quest reward, I’d be very happy but I’m highly skeptical about whether it deserves it’s excessive price tag.

So to summarise: pet, nice; price, bad. But the most burning question of them all, is it worth the money? In my opinion, no, it’s not.

Oh and you can’t rename it. I don’t really understand why not and it’s a big shame as my wife was hoping I could rename it after her. I think she’s just watched Kung-Fu Panda once too often.