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Updates stopped for this blog. Last post 20 August 2013.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Hai.
It’s the holidays now, so naturally, it’s time to catch up on games, relax, and have fun. Why work so hard? Majority of people’s regret on their deathbed is that they spent too much time working, and not spending time with their family, or doing the things they enjoy.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been playing anything much. 3 games. World of Tanks, War Thunder, and Rift.
I actually have 3 other games sitting around collecting dust. I’m not sure why I do not feel like playing them. I need to complete Dishonored, Tomb Raider, and XCOM. And I still haven’t reached max level in Guild Wars 2. Why am I playing a new MMO (Rift)?
Well, Rift is really fun. In fact, it’s better than Guild Wars 2. In my opinion, many MMOs are better than Guild Wars 2. I just don’t like it.
Rift
Rift is now free-to-play, but I went ahead to redeem the Raptr reward for Rift, which gave me a 30-day subscription, as well as the expansion, Storm Legion. This gave me a substantial head start, so I didn’t need to crowd with the free-to-play horde.
The Raptr reward also grants me patron status, so I have more bag slots, some expansion souls (talent trees) unlocked, and some other benefits I’m not sure of. Awesome.
I played Rift briefly during the beta a few years ago, and I passed it off as a generic MMO that followed in the footsteps of World of Warcraft. Most of the mechanics that are present in Rift can be found in any generic MMO out there, and I passed off the soul tree as some sort of gimmick (to be honest, I didn’t truly understand the soul tree matching back then).
But why is Rift so fun now?
It’s smooth. It’s polished. And it’s polished to a gleaming shine. And yes, the soul tree system is pretty darn good. Classes are so flexible. Each class can do a minimum of three of the four possible roles in the game (tank, healer, damage, support). This makes me an extremely happy man. I’ve always loved to play hybrids in an MMO, and Rift offers this opportunity.
The game is very easy to play as well (I heard it gets hard in level 50-60), which adds to the fun factor to the game. No one likes a game that is too difficult, especially when you’re just trying to level. Fall damage doesn’t even exist!
There is very little travelling to do, which is also a huge plus. I remember my time in World of Warcraft running around the huge areas, and even with a mount, the travelling can be a huge pain.
Even the PvP is fun in this game. Sorry for making so many comparisons with World of Warcraft, but it’s the only MMO that I have had years of experience with (I did high-end heroic raiding). In World of Warcraft, you have the potential to get killed very quickly (especially during the pre-Cataclysm health pool). The pace of PvP in Rift is perfect.
Just try it! The free-to-play model of Rift is not prohibitive at all, unlike some other MMOs, *cough* SWTOR *cough*.
I’m Lordhodor on the Laethys (Oceanic) server if you want to find me.
World of Tanks
This is a game I’ve been playing for the past year, consistently logging in to play daily. The first battle of each day has a x2 experience bonus, and I log in to earn these bonuses only. That is all I do.
Why do I continue to do it? Well, World of Tanks provides a unique gaming experience that cannot be found elsewhere. Sounds rather cliche, but true. I tend to play unique games for long periods of time (remember Rakion?). And hey, who doesn’t like driving a tank and shooting at shiny things?
But why do I not play it more than just the x2 bonuses? Well, the game can get rather frustrating at times, and the downtime on this game is horribly large. If your tank gets destroyed in a battle, you cannot use it until the battle ends. This can result in waiting for an average of 5 minutes before you can use your tank again. I have no such patience.
War Thunder
This is a flight combat game. A simple description for this is: it’s World of Tanks with planes. Eventually, War Thunder will grow to have tanks and ships as well, all in one battlefield. Pretty awesome. World of Tanks, World of Warships, and World of Warplanes are all separated.
I’m not a huge fan of planes, I prefer ships and tanks. However, War Thunder is still fun, and it is definitely plays at a higher pace than World of Tanks. If you die, just leave the battle and join a new one. No waiting necessary!
I haven’t gone far in War Thunder yet (rank 4 British only), so I cannot say much. What I can say is, it has been fun so far. I am impressed with the way the planes get damaged in game though. Fires, wing damage, engine damage, etc. It is all very elaborate and detailed. These damages affect the way your plane flies, and it’s fun to see a badly battered up plane fly/glide around to kill someone before you crash to your death.
What I do not like about War Thunder is the way planes are put into battles. Unlike the matchmaking system in World of Tanks, there are no strict rules for the matchmaking in War Thunder. A tier 1 plane can go up against a tier 4 plane, and it’s no fun when this happens.
There are also objectives in each battle, which is usually either to capture bases, or destroy ground targets. It seems like a good thing, until you realise that the game ends in 3 minutes because everyone rushed to destroy ground targets, and you’ve barely done anything. I find it fun to dogfight and shoot down planes, not win in 3 minutes without doing anything fun.
Again, I seem to only play it for the daily x2 bonuses, and again, it provides a unique gaming experience. It’s all good.
Oh, if you want to sign up for War Thunder, use this link:
http://warthunder.com/en/registration?r=2386088. You’ll get golden eagles (premium currency that can only be bought with real money). I’ll only get in-game money. Good enough.
posted @ 6:48 pm
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