I was disappointed to see faction mounts on the list, but then, I won’t be one of those willing to pay for it. You can see the entire list here.

What do you think of the items for sale?

–Wolfen

Sony had recently said that they would not be switching Everquest 2 over to the free-to-play model. Things change, as they say, and it is fairly easy to figure out why: Money. Companies are discovering that they can make more money using the free model and allowing people to purchase add-ons via an in-game store. The “gotta have it now” syndrome really brings in the bucks.

Studies have shown that a large portion of people who play free games actually end up spending more per month than they would if they paid a standard monthly fee. Free Realms, which is Sony’s first big for-free title, is a huge cash cow for the company. The game has millions of subscribers that press the “get it now” button at an amazing rate.

Personally, I think this is a good move. I will certainly play Everquest 2 when it does go free-to-play. It is a game that I normally wouldn’t play because I can only afford so many monthly game fees.

This is a surprising development, and I look forward to seeing how it turns out. I will be there when it begins.

–Wolfen

The Blackwold Hideout is located at the northeast corner of the Staddle pond. The door to the hideout is next to the falls that pour into the pond.

I enter the hideout and I am transported into an instance. The Blackwold”s guarding the gate were expecting me and they let me pass. I roam around the cavern for awhile until I come across the leader of the Blackwold’s. A man named Skunkwood.

I eventually find the cell in which Amdir is imprisoned. Amdir appears to be in a very bad way. He has been attempting to fight off the evil influence infecting his body but things are not going very well. He even scares the Blackwold guards stationed there to keep an eye on him.

I try to speak with Amdir but he is too far gone. He bursts open the door of his cage, knocks down his guards, and runs down the tunnel. This is when I noticed another prisoner in the cell.

A woman named Oakheart asks me to escort her out of the cave so that she can be free. The problem with helping her is that she walks very slowly. As we make our way through the cave, we see that all the Blackwold’s have been knocked unconscious. They re-awaken as we approach and I have to defend the woman from the attackers. Towards the end, I must defeat Skunkwood and his wolf guards. I took screenshots of all this but somehow they never saved to my hard drive. I don’t know why.

As I make my way towards the cave exit, I encounter Toradan facing off with Amdir. Toradan tries to help him but Amdir has transformed into something evil. He attacks and kills Toradan and then runs out of the cave.

I return to Constable Underhill and tell him what happened. I am rewarded with a tunic that is a huge upgrade for me. 74 more armor rating to be exact. Underhill then tasks me with finding the ranger mustering cave in hopes of finding more help.

This Blackwold instance was a fun experience. It advanced the main storyline and gave me several things to do in the cave. I never came close to dying, but I did enjoy my time.

–Wolfen

This was one of the challenges we set out to tackle with the Skirmish system. We were able to construct spaces that are available to as many players as possible and succeeded in knocking down many of the barriers that limit the impact, accessibility and audience for the content we produce. Now, we’ve looked at the Skirmish technology and started tinkering with applying it in other places to spread those benefits.

You can read the entire Developer’s Diary by clicking here.

–Wolfen

–Wolfen

–Wolfen

The same Blackwold that dropped the chain also had a receipt on him that I returned to Constable Sageford. This receipt seemed to implicate a local towns-person with the Blackwolds.

To be certain, I was sent to obtain another strongbox from the Blackwold stronghold.  Sure enough, the second strongbox showed that the local locksmith had created the box. I go talk to the locksmith and he tells me that he was forced against his will by a Blackwold named Applewood to make the boxes. The constable sent me to the northern area of the Chetwood to kill Applewood and retrieve the master key. After finding and killing Applewood in the Blackwold stronghold, I was rewarded with decent bracelet.

The next quest string I  embarked on was started with one named Cutleaf’s Good Intentions. I am to infiltrate the ranks of the Blackwolds by talking to Ellie Cutleaf, who seems to be a double agent. Before I could do that, however, she wanted me to go kill a den mother wolf before it can begin breeding more wolves for the Blackwolds. The den mother was located in a stall next to a house up on a hill in the northeast portion of the Chetwood. My reward for killing her was an axe, which finally gave me a second weapon to use with my dual wield skill. This greatly increased my melee damage.

Ellie then sends me to a man named Leecher Cartwell to get some poison to be used in finishing off the rest of the wolves. Leecher didn’t have any of the poison ready, so he sent me out in search of the necessary ingredients required to make it. All the ingredients were not far away. The berries were found in a valley filled with bears. The beehives were behind a house just south of Leecher’s house. The roots can be found near the wolf den located just inside the Chetwood. By the way, Leecher’s house can be a pain to find if you have never looked for it before. Here is a view from his porch. The big building on the right is the Combe and Wattle Inn.

Poison in hand, Ellie sends me to the Blackwold Headquarters to poison the meat that the wolves eat. I am also to kill the leader of this band of Blackwolds. His name is Jagger Jack. The headquarters, which I have visited several times before while on other quests, is located in northeast Chetwood. I entered the stronghold and worked my way deeper into it. I found the dead sheep that I was to poison while on the way to Jagger’s camp. With that done, I went in search of Jagger Jack.

Jagger is located just to the north of the dead sheep. He is guarded by several Blackwolds that have wolf pets at their command. I worked my way through those and found Jagger Jack in the middle of an evil looking camp in the valley below. He is well guarded but I did not have any trouble it taking him or his cronies down. I ran back to Ellie and completed the quest. This resulted in a huge upgrade to my boots. 30 more armor to be exact. Not a bad end to my evening.

–Wolfen

It’s our job to create an audio experience that enhances the emotional experience of the game and reaches the quality level expected of the Star Wars franchise. As fans and as game makers, we’re excited and privileged to breathe life into every planet, every weapon, and every creature that beeps, squawks, or just plain talks…and it’s not as easy as it, er, sounds.

I agree that music and sound can greatly influence how a game world is perceived. I know that many people play games with the sound turned off, but that is something I am unable to do. It adds so much to the experience. I can’t wait to see what they have created.

An official video dealing with this subject has also been posted. You can view it over on the official site, or watch it below.

–Wolfen

I bought the Lifetime subscription when the game first launched, so the game going free-to-play does not affect me or my characters very much. I still get access to all parts of the game and no restrictions to gear or quests. Those who are paying a monthly fee also get similar access to the game.

The people playing the game for free have quite a few restrictions to deal with, such as less bag space, lower gold cap, no rest experience, and only one character slot per server. The free player can get these features if they purchase them via the Turbine Store.

I believe this change will help bring more players to the game. Free is free, after all. I really hope that this change to the game will bring in many new players so that the world becomes more alive. As I play the game now, I certainly notice that the newbie area populations are very low. To be fair, most MMO’s of LOTRO’s age have fewer low-level players, but the areas sure are quiet right now.

Big changes ahead, to be sure. Is this a desperate grab for a game that is barely hanging on? Or is it a shrewd move to bring in more revenue (Lifetime members like me earn them no money at all)?

If nothing else, I want to see more people playing the game. It would be fantastic to see all the zones filled with as many players as there were during the initial launch. That would be a great thing indeed.

The official press release is here. The informative FAQ and a great deal more information can be found here.

–Wolfen

While this blog is primarily about online gaming, every now and then I will make a post about technology in general. This is one such post.

In May 2009 I wrote about my reasons for using MobileMe over Google Sync. Things have changed since then.

I have been using Apple’s MobileMe service for a couple of years now. My main gaming rig is a PC, but I have owned an iPhone in the past and I own an iPad now. MobileMe has worked flawlessly for me on both Apple and PC products. I used it to sync my email, contact, and calendar and it did so without issue. The problem with MobileMe is that it costs $100 a year. That is not such a great cost when you spread that out over a twelve month period of time.

Even so, Google’s Gmail and Calendar service is free. Google also has a service called Google Apps, which allows you to use your personal or business domain name for your email. The standard version is free and a Premiere version is only $50 a year. The differences in the two plans can be seen here.

I decided to try the Premiere edition due to the extra storage space and enterprise features. I have used the service for a month now and I have been very impressed. Emails are pushed via two-way sync to my iPad instantaneously. My contacts and calendar items also synced without issue.

My only real complaint is that I can not seem to get my Blackberry to perform two-way email syncing. I receive email easily enough and if I delete items on the Blackberry they are also deleted on the server. However, if I delete email via Google’s webmail, it does not delete from the handset. I have yet to figure out why. Setting it up using IMAP settings should do the trick, but it has not worked as of yet.

One very nice item that Google offers for free is a piece of software that automatically uploads all of your email to your new account. Switching to a different email service has been a big pain in the past, but Google’s Uploader program makes it easy.

So, to line the services up, they go like this: Regular Gmail is free and you get an @gmail.com email address. The Standard edition of Google Apps allows you to use a personal domain name, more storage, and better administration. Google Apps Premiere gives even more storage, Exchange syncing on the desktop using Outlook, more users, and many higher-end enterprise features.

I will be sticking with the Google Apps Premiere account and canceling my MobileMe service. I will save $50 a year and gain extra features on top of that.

–Wolfen

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime posted on the forums to announce that they have changed their mind and that posting with your real name will not be required. A huge cheer was voiced by many in the community.

Personally, I wish they had kept the plan in place. I think it would have resulted in a much more civil and productive discourse about the game and I think that was what Blizzard was trying to accomplish.

Naturally, people are up in arms over this for a variety of reasons. The biggest reason is player privacy. If another player does not like what you did in-game, or did not agree with what you said in a forum post, they are now armed with your real name and the potential for harassment is greatly increased.

My biggest worry is for female players. We all know what female players go through with the crude remarks, verbal sexual abuse, and general idiotic in-game stalking. Now imagine those idiots having that woman’s real name. In theory, the potential of some crazy love-struck guy could track her down in real life is very possible.

I am not sure what Blizzard’s real motivations are for this change. Are they tired of the official forums being a repository of the lowest common denominator? Do they think a more civil discourse will ensue once people are required to use their real name? I don’t know, but it sure is going to be fun to watch the outcome of this one. The Real ID system gets turned on just before the upcoming Cataclysm expansion.

As a side note, parents can opt their children out of using RealID. You can find instructions on how to do that right here.

The first quest I embarked upon was called Message to Taylor Green. Taylor can be found in the lumberyard located to the east of Combe. Several more quests are available at the lumberyard and I grabbed them all.

Taylor gives me the Den of Wolves quests, which required me to go into the nearby forest and kill 8 wolves. The wolves were nearby and I quickly dispatched the required number of beasts. Also at the lumberyard is a guy named Posco Burro. He wanted me to go find his uncle who had gone to have a word or two with the evil Blackwolds located in the Chetwood forest. I found his uncle along a forest road and he then sent me on a quest to find his missing handkerchief. Other quests that sent me into the Chetwood were Morning the Dead, which had me looking for a stolen fishing pole, Reconnecting Ties to find a missing boy, Beneath the Hanging tree to find some buried treasure, and a few others to boot.

I completed these quests fairly quickly. I would imagine that was because I had done them before, even though it had been a long time since I had last played. Almost all of the quests required me to go into various Blackwood encampments throughout the forest, kill everyone I found, and loot the required item.  The fishing pole was at one camp and the Blackwold lock-box (for the quest Unpaid Debts) at another.

The Beneath the Hanging Tree quest sent me over to the river to dig for treasure buried there. Turns out all the trees had been cut down and only the stumps remained, which made it impossible to know which tree the Hanging Tree was. So I was sent to someone who has a ledger that would lead me the exact spot, but the guy has lost it and I must retrieve it.

I found the ledger inside a Blackwold Lock-box that was located in a heavily guarded camp. The camp with the lock-box had about 5 Blackwolds in it and there was also a level 8 elite named Captain Dogwood. He roams around the general area and walks right through the camp every now and then. I suggest picking him off before you tackle the camp so that things go smoothly. He didn’t give me any trouble. The ledger gave me the location of the Hanging tree’s stump and I quickly dug up the treasure and returned it to its owner.

Reconnecting Ties had me looking for the missing boy named Covell Woodwright. It seems as though he ran off to join with the Blackwoods and has no intention of returning to his mother. He attacked me when I spoke to him and then ran off into the Blackwold camp before I could kill him (the quest is scripted that way). His mother didn’t like the news.

With the above quests and several more besides, I was able to get quite a bit accomplished and had some fun. Several of the quest rewards resulted in nice armor upgrades and I also reached level 12 by the time I stopped for the night. I was disappointed, once again, to find that all the battles posed no challenge. I never came close to dying. I hope the trend does not continue.

–Wolfen