Sometime over this past weekend I crossed the threshold for 24 hours played at level 70. I’ve done a lot of awesomely fun stuff since hitting the level cap, and I wanted to share a bit of what that’s been like. Nothing interesting here for a long-time WoW player, but this is the first time I’ve had a 70 in the game.

• I’ve done most of the Shattered Sun quests every day; I’m averaging about 200 gold total from my dailies, and I expect I’ll have my epic mount by the end of the month. I know I could be doing more, but I’m only really willing to spend about an hour and a half a day doing them. Since the big pre-patch probably isn’t hitting until at least then, I’ll definitely be set for the expansion.
• I really really really like the bombing run missions. I know everyone does, but they’re just a bunch of fun. The Isle bombing run quest is absolutely my favorite, providing a great 3D component to the minigame. I also really like the bombing run near Ogri’la; it’s really hard with a regular flying mount. Like, stupidly hard. But fun just the same, because successful completion really makes you feel good. I don’t like Fires Over Skettis that much; stupid birds.
• It took me a long time to put my Simon-playing skills into high gear. I could get 6 colors every time but not finish the Daily. Stupid crystals.
• I really like being in a guild of folks that actually have an interest in playing together. I asked in /gu if anyone would be up for the Ogri’la unlocking quests, and had six companions helping out in no time at all. Only took us about an hour to do that whole chain. Fantastic. I can’t imagine PUGing that.
• It’s amazing how many different things there are to do at 70. Admittedly, the biggest ones are faction grinding and instance running, but there are several options. It’s impressive the breadth of experiences you can have - even without earning experience.
• It may just be me, but it feels like a bunch of people are jumping back into WoW prior to the Lich King release. The server as a whole, and Shattrath in particular, seems like its bustling quite a bit. This may just be a function of my spending more time in high level zones vs. leveling areas.
• The only instance I’ve done so far is CoT: OHB. One was in a PUG, and that went very poorly. The other was with ma guild, and went really very well. We had some targeting problems (wayward healers) in both, but superior communication won the day with the guild group. Always does, huh? Really like the ‘reveal’ at the end of the run, and I’m looking forward to more plot-based interactions with the Azeroth’s high end.

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So, I’m in the WAR Beta. And there is one! That’s about all I can say specifically.

However, I don’t think I’d be breaking any NDAs to say that Warhammer Online has PvP in it. I was playing earlier today, enjoying the chance to not think about RL, and I was slain. (OMG spoilerz you can die in WAR RvR.)

So I’m killed, and as I bow my head in shame and failure I notice the following message from the system: “You have been slain by Mangina.” I sighed. Deeply.

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This week the MMOG Nation Broadcast is pretty darned navel-gazing. Join Michael and the rest of the Shortiez guild for an in-depth examination of the game EverQuest 2. We discuss, at great length, everything from our classes to leveling areas, to design … it’s the longest MNB by far, clocking in at almost an hour. Promise this won’t become a regular thing. Michael, Katie, Warty, and Brian are the Shortiez, and they’ve got two years of experience playing the game and plenty to kvetch about.

What about your experiences playing EQ2? We’re total newbs, right? Let us know why!

Relevant Links:
http://www.mmognation.com/2007/11/07/sand-in-my-eyes/
http://www.mmognation.com/2007/11/29/up-against-the-grind/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/01/14/klakkin-with-my-gnomies/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/02/07/bashing-bixies-and-bees/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/03/13/melting-menagerie/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/03/28/the-fabulous-faydark/
http://www.mmognation.com/2008/06/17/big-xp-and-high-concept-conversation/

As I mentioned yesterday, I transferred from a PvP server (Dark Iron) to a PvE server (Malfurion) over the weekend. Given my familiarity with the PvP ruleset, I decided to stay flagged on Malfurion. In my mind it was purely a convenience element. Running Thrallmar tokens is a lot easier when you can just ride up to the point and cap without thinking about it. I’ll also be honest: it was sort of a point of pride. I made it 64 levels on a PvP server. Sometimes, that was hard. It was a challenge. It’s not nearly as big a deal as a lot of people make it out to be, but STV was a monkey-in-a-barrel-of-pain.

Folks who have walked around flagged on a PvE server are now laughing at me because they know what’s coming. Yup: opposing faction tards wander up behind me, stealth-flag, and gank me. Usually while I’m fighting a mob. The act of wandering past an opposing faction player, killable, is an everyday occurance for a PvP server player. You see red names every day. My personal view was one of honor: I don’t attack lower levels unless they attack me first. Anything within a few levels of me is fair game, and avatars my level and higher are very much fair game.

And that’s just me, right? I got ganked by 70s all the time, never understood it but never begrudged it. There was no value to the kill, but the game mechanics allowed it. Fair game, no harm no foul. Only got corpse-camped once, and I managed to turn the tables quite deliciously on my harasser. (Hint: Never give  a Subtlety Rogue a second chance. Preparation and Premeditation are a bitch.)

In just four days on my new PvE server I was constantly being ganked by people who weren’t just PvPing - they were being assholes. One Druid stealth-flagged so obviously I even knew it was coming. She saw me questing, ran around a hill, and when she came back she was red-named. I was in the middle of a fight, of course, and so her level 70 moonfire spam killed me pretty much straight off. No fight, no fighting chance and (most importantly) no warning to me that she was a threat.

In other words, PvP on a PvE server is a losing proposition. It’s a joke, it’s “care-bear” nonsense. When there’s no realistic consequence to your actions (calling in reinforcements, logging on a higher-level character) there’s no point to engaging in it. So now my name is a boring shade of blue, just like everyone else’s. I can tell you from personal experience that it was far less aggravating being PvP flagged on a PvP server that it was being PvP flagged on a PvE server.

Bit surprising, and all in all dissapointing.

Over the past few weeks or so, I’ve been really enjoying a sideline business in EverQuest 2 Void Storm chasing. Fire Festival blossoms were a ton of fun too, don’t get me wrong, but I have a lot of appreciation for what SOE’s put out there as just the first part in a multi-month live event. The Void Storms supposedly tie into the next EQ2 expansion. I imagine they presage a wider-scale invasion … leading up to a full-on assault for the expansion proper? One can only hope!

Let me put it this way: if this is the kind of live event we can expect for the rest of the year, SOE is definitely going to be looking at an upswing in subscriptions. The event itself is simple enough: grab a pair of goggles, go find a storm, free the souls besotted by the void, kill a few beasts, and head back to the city. There’s a quest required to get the goggles and anti-void potion, and the quest is simple as dirt: 10 saved souls for a win. Each completed quest nets you a token.

These tokens can be turned in to a vendor very nearby to where you obtain the quest. If you pick your zone right, you can make the run to the storms and back lightning fast. You should keep in mind, basically, that the storms level-adjust themselves to your character. IE: doesn’t matter what zone you go to, you can complete the quest and get your tokens. You’ll only need 18 to get the full set of appearance armor - even fewer if you just want a nice robe or the friendly goblin companion pet.

It’s so simple, but still fun, an easy-to-complete enterprise that just begs for on-the-spot grouping. It’s the kind of thing I’m extremely hopeful we’ll see more of in the expansion - meta currencies for concrete rewards, ways to encourage players to get together in the short term as well as long term.

Check below the cut for a few videos and screenshots from my time with the live event content.
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MMOG Nation was pretty darned quiet last week, and there was a good reason for that. With the close of the month I decided to take a week to ‘put my money where my mouth is’ as far as the whole single-game thing. I keep whinging on in podcasts and posts about how much I envy people who just play one game and ignore the temptations of other titles. So, with that in mind, I decided to give it a go. Last week (except for my weekly DDO and EQ2 sessions) the only gaming I did was in World of Warcraft. By the same token I stayed back from the site, avoiding commentary on other games - just doing my pro blogging for ‘teh monies’.

I have to say - it was a hell of a lot of fun. Sort of a mini-vacation, really. Hackworth and I had some quality time together doing the Midsummer Fire Festival and churning through the content in Hellfire / Zangarmarsh. I concluded the Fest by helping out lower level folks in Booty Bay. The Goblin guards take the night off, and as a result - lots and lots of ganking. Though my actions I helped a few questers get their goals accomplished, and got to watch a lot of fireworks.

Hack is now 64, almost 65, and has a superfluous ‘e’ on the end of her name - I’ve jumped servers to Malfurion. I’m now guild tagged and finding life with green text to my liking. I haven’t had the chance to make ‘use’ of the guildishness yet, but I’m hopeful that instance runs are just around the corner. If nothing else I’d really like to be in a position to get my full Opportunists set by 70, which will require some quality time in the Caverns of Time.

So Hackworthe and I, I hope, will be in an ideal position to enjoy Wrath of the Lich King when it drops. I think I’ve finally gotten over the trauma of my at-launch guild, to jump into this green text. This text actually matters, going to give it a real go. And I guess now I’m actually a “World of Warcraft player”. I wouldn’t expect to see much of a change in the content here - still going to have my weekly DDO and EQ2 groups to keep me honest.

But - big week, important week. I’m going to actually have a character in position to play the new expansion, and I’ll have the support network in place to make sure that I don’t bail on the new content after a few days. Northrend or bust, I guess.