A carebear in Eve Online

Like Gevlon, I'm back playing Eve online. I've played it before, and he's a 3 month noob, but he already has more ISK than me. Ho hum. Anyway, in case you don't know (in which case you probably don't play Eve), a carebear is someone who doesn't like Player vs Player combat much, which is unfortunate in Eve because that's basically what the game is designed around.

I am probably the ultimate Eve carebear, since I've been playing the game for six years, on and off, and in all that time I haven't killed a single other player, and been into lawless 0.0 space exactly once. It struck me that although the majority of players (80% or so) are like me, and rarely venture out of safe space, the majority of Eve bloggers are a motley collection of pirates, griefers, can flippers and scammers. Macho warriors all, I'm sure. My hope, therefore is that I may repurpose the word 'carebear', in much the same way as our gay brethren and sistren have taken the word 'queer' to their collective chests.

So, say it loud, say it proud - I am a carebear!

Young, Shifted and Black

You are young, shifted and black
We must begin to tell our young
There's a world waiting for you
This is a quest that's just begun

(with apologies to Weldon Irvine)

I'm rather enjoying levelling Kododancer through the post-cataclysm world. Even though she was level 20-ish when Deathwing made an appearance, which means that I missed all the spiffy new starting zones. Now, I know that a lot of Blizzards love-slurry has been dribbled over the 1-20 areas, but even the rest of the old world is sticky with it. I got a rattly cart ride from Ashenvale to Stonetalon just so I could join the army. Now that's recruiting. And I've even been phased after saving some group of centaurs from demons. When I'd finished the demons were actually dead. For good!

Generally, though, it's fun playing a tauren druid, a moodrood. It's nice to be able to pick any role in the game and run with it (although Kododancer was born feral - deal with it!) Also it's quite calming and peaceful being a cow. Most of my other characters are scheming wicked forsaken with bony elbows and poison in their back pockets. It's nice to be able to kick back in the Cenarion enclave, and really feel that these folk are PLU. Moo!

I luv Deathwing too

My basic problem with WoW is that I don't like repeating stuff.

I like repeatedly shooting cartoon figures in the face until they fall over in a suitably amusing manner. I quite like repeatedly making the same bit of clothing/food/pretty gems or whatever, because that levels me up in a small way. Elite Super Grandmaster of Flowers! Yakawow!

I even slightly like wandering around picking up the same flowers or bits of rock. It appeals to the hoarder in me. And I like the scenary.

What I don't like is repeatedly going down the same dungeon with a random group of mostly indifferent and occasionally rude strangers to kill a boss that I've killed many times before. Unfortunately, this is known as 'knowing tacs' or 'having the achi', and reached its nadir with WotLK. It's about making sure you've done it plenty of times before, so that you can do it over again. Efficiency prioritised over fun. WoW as a second job.

Happily, though, Deathwing turned up to change all that. I imagine that the normal mode dungeons will devolve into the usual rinse'n'repeat fest for the lootwhores, once the first flush of excitement has worn off. However, the Heroic modes, being really heroic, will hopefully be more like mini-raids, with all the excitement of having to actually worry about dying and crowd control, and getting the giddy thrill of progression. Maybe actually talking to people. That sounds like fun.

I luv Garrosh

I've decided that I love Garrosh Hellscream and I want to have his babies. He's just so masterful, but he obviously has his sensitive side. I encountered him first in an air raid at the beginning of Mount Hyjal, where he was barking orders like a good 'un. but even then I could see that beneath his shouty orc exterior there beat a soft nature-loving heart. Megeara's too much of a bony biatch to notice though. He fell into the sea but was okay. He's so butch.

But then! When his renegade general had just bombed a load of innocent nelf babies and laughed about it, Garrosh turns up and drops him off a cliff for disgracing the horde. "Honor" he said, (misspelling it of course, but thats just orcs for you). And some other stuff, but KodoDancer was too busy admiring his pecs to listen.

He was thinking of dropping Kodo off the cliff too, but he was soon convinced that she was innocent and was in fact a hero of the horde. He's so reasonable. And dreamy. Here's a picture of us holding hands.


Kodo and Garrosh sitting in a tree K I S S I N G

So, my thoughts on Cataclysm:

1. It's Very Linear

It really is. Larísa at the Pink Pigtail Inn compares it to the conveyor belt at the Tower of London. Blink and you miss the cutscene. I cut my MMO teeth on Ultima Online (actually waay before that) which didn't even have quests, so I find this a little strange. I find self-completing quests and hunter pets just appearing violate even my minimal suspension of disbelief. Mind you the world has never been very internally consistent, as James Wallis noted in his seminal study of Azerothian Physics

2. It uses lots of phasing

Finally, the actions you take actually have an effect on the world, despite the fact that there are 13 million other people running around. No more finding Manrik's wife, then watching him send other people off. Kill those nagas, and as long as part of a scripted bit, they stay dead. This is, of course dependent on the Linearity. It would be a nightmare to test all the possible paths through various levels of phasing if people could just do what they wanted.

3. It's very pretty.

Despite being remarkably old, I was sorely tempted to take some serious psychedelic pharmaceuticals when I first hit Vasj'ir. Look at the colours! whee! That's deep man.

WoW has always been more of a game than a sandbox or a virtual world simulation, and it's moving even more in that direction. However, that's not necessarily a problem, since the linearity allows for Story. Finally, your level 80 hero can do heroic level 80 things. You just can't decide what heroic things you want to do.

Haven't blogged for a while, because truthfully I haven't played for a while. Being effectively guildless and time-poor, combined with a dislike of pugging meant that my last experience of WoTLK content was of running away from the lich king after having hidden around a corner to gank his lieutenants. Not terribly heroic, 5 mans.

Anyway this is all history now because we have moved into that country from which no man returns - Cataclysm. So I can start levelling seriously and toss my tatty tier 8 armour aside for shiny new greens.

Nidhogger is now half-way to 85 and wondering where to go after Vasj'ir. He's sticking to shadow spec for now and enjoying Mind Spike a lot. There's been a certain amount of whinging about the way Mind Spike drops all your dots, but my solution is simple: don't bother with them. Mind flay for a couple of shadow orbs, then 3 Mind Spikes for a 90% chance of a crit on your Mind Blast. Finish off with a Power Word:Death and there hasn't been much that's still standing while I levelled.

Free Starcraft II Beta Keys

Last night my guildmaster and I went to the launch of the Sci-Fi London film festival, Life in 2050. This is a 5 day extravaganza of Sci-Fi films based at the Apollo Theatre in Piccadilly Circus in the centre of London. The festival is sponsored by Blizzard, amongst others, since the imminent launch of StarCraft II, Wings of Liberty dovetails nicely with the futuristic theme of the films.

Since my GM is a srs journo, Blizz wined and dined us royally* before taking us across to the venue, ready for the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award, which was being presented. Apparently China Miéville swept the boards. Why apparently? Well, being the geeks we are, we spent the whole time drinking free beer, and playing the Starcraft II beta which Blizz had thoughtfully provided, instead.

So what's StarCraft II like? To be honest, it struck me as being much like StarCraft I, but with considerably prettier graphics. By which I mean, of course, that I got my arse royally kicked by all and sundry (just as I used to 10 years ago), until I retreated, chastened, to single player mode. It's not surprising that the gameplay isn't drastically different, since StarCraft is a national obsession in Korea, and presumably a huge cash cow for Blizzard which they don't want to overturn. (That last sentence gives me visions of Korean water buffalo-tipping which is not really relevant.) The beta was very stable, and to all intents and purposes the same as the release, unless you are a Korean e-sports gladiator.

Anyhow, notwithstanding my ramblings, Blizzard are offering 500 beta keys for StarCraft II, 100 per day, free, gratis and for nothing, so you can try out it for yourselves. All you need to do is to turn up at the Apollo Theatre and actually play a bit of StarCraft II. That's it. simples.

Of course this isn't much use to anyone outside the M25 London orbital motorway, but for those of us who live or work in God's own country - fill yer boots!

*full disclosure - assuming the royalty like kebabs and beer.