Its been a few weeks now since I’ve rejoined the forces of Middle Earth to fight against the evil within it and I have to say I am rather enjoying myself this second time around. Could it be all the new content that was added during my time away that has sparked these feelings? Quite possibly. I’ve played through Book 11 and am in the beginning chapters of Book 12 and I have to stay that the storyline is very enjoyable to go through. Aside from that, my Kin also has its own house now which I visited for the first time yesterday. Nothing big, but it was cool to see the neighborhood. Book 12 also introduced new clothing options and while I myself have not been playing dress up, its nice to see people walking around that all don’t look the same.

There is one major new raid, The Rift in Angmar that is a hot spot for some of the best new items in the game, both drops and barter items.  This raid was added in Book 11, not 12, but since I missed Book 11, its still new to me.  It’s a 12 person raid where the end boss is a Balrog! Common, you know the huge fierly creature that Gandalf fought in the first Book of LoTR while traveling through the mines of Moria. Very cool new raid quest.

I have also noticed that PvP has become much more popular. I’ve yet to go to Ettenmore where some sort of raid wasn’t going on. Aside from the beefed up action, there are actual good items now that you can obtain by participating in the raids and PvP, which most likely is the reason why its become more popular.

Overall I’m happy that I went back to LOTRO. Oh and if you couldn’t tell that hunky elf hunter is me :) Damn check out those guns.

For as long as I can remember MMORPGs have had a monthly payment plan, decent ones at least. Back in the days when I used to play Ultima Online and Nexus these were new ideas and ones that were strictly taboo amongst mainstream society. Hell, you couldn’t even really play normal video games back then without getting odd looks from most people. So, suffice it to say, paying a monthly bill to play one was virtually (haha I’m punny) unheard of. Of course, these games were both about $10 a month, a simple fee that I didn’t think much of at the time. So how did $14.99 become the standard for mainstream MMOs today?

Well, there isn’t exactly a history of MMO subscription fees lying around the intertubes. If there was it would make answering this whole question a hellofalot easier. So, what I am putting forward next is very clearly my own theories and conjectures. That said, I do believe the 14.99 price fee began with the inception of Everquest by Sony Online Entertainment.

Everquest is touted as being the first fully 3d MMORPG (I’m not sure if it actually was or wasn’t). Because the game was one of the first it was justified as being more “costly” to produce. Now, the cost to produce and develop a game is largely dependent on the technology of the time. We probably will never know exactly how much it cost Sony to make the game, but given the technology available it could have been less expensive to develop the title than even Ultima Online. However, due to it being introduced as cutting edge technology Sony was able to use that as a fall-back in order to secure the right to charge more than it’s 2d brothers of the time being. When the game launched in 1999 you had to pay a $14.99 monthly charge. When the game launched in 1999, under 989 studios, the monthly fee was $9.89, charged after the name of the company. However, when SOE bought the game a few years later they upped the charge to $14.95. No specific reason was given for this change, but a look at other MMOs showed that the cost was increasing industry-wide. Mythic had released their first game for $12.95, therefor it became beneficial for Sony to up their cost as well.

So, how did this affect the rest of mainstream MMO society? Well there is a very simple answer for that, Everquest was successful. Because the the popularity of the title it gave Sony, and other developers such as Turbine and Blizzard, validation that $14.99 was a good fee to use to charge gamers monthly. Had Everquest failed we’d probably see games still hovering around the $10 monthly mark. Now, this goes without saying, that as more and more MMOs come out the $14.99 charge could be more. Especially when a certain assumed mega-blockbuster title is hinting at that very possibility. Who knows? Anything is possible. . . I’m just theorizing here.

EDIT: Changed some thinsg to better portray what actually happened as opposed to going off my own theories. :) If you spot anything else wrong with the article feel free to leave em in the comments. Like I said, this was written almost entirely off my own theories and conjecture, a lot of this pricing history was buried in the intertubes somewhere. . . I couldn’t find it.

So, like I said a week or so ago, I had planned on picking up Pirates of the Burning Sea. I am a huge fan of pirates and, as such, it only made sense for me to at least give the game a shot, right? Now I am here, I have been playing the game for about 3 days (I have been super busy this week) and I am starting to get curious as to whether or not other players feel the same things as I do about the game. I guess I’ll start from the top.

First, let me start by saying: Pirates of the Burning Sea is a refreshing take on MMORPGs. The game can be a whole lot of fun at times. This is all, of course, without mentioning the jaw-droppingly beautiful graphics. Seriously, sometimes after a ship battle with some NPCs I’ll just float around some looking at the water and sunset. It is a very nice touch, and one that, I think, breathes life into the game. Suffice it to say, I think that Pirates of the Burning Sea has nailed down all of the ship combat and movement. So what would I change from here?

Well the first, and most important thing I’d change about PotBS is the avatar design. Seriously, they look lifeless and generally give me the feel that they are stringed puppets. Sometimes, if I look closely enough I can almost convince myself that I see the strings. . . This is a very serious concern for the game, not because avatar movement/combat is a huge part of the game (it’s not), but rather because the developers have seen it fit to introduce the player to the game by starting him/her out as an avatar. Not a good idea, in my opinion, with those avatars. This also goes without saying that the avatar combat needs a general reworking as well.

In addition to the avatars, and their combat, the towns are also mostly abysmal. They are quiet, empty, and very much dead. I don’t mean there aren’t a lot of players there either. The starting town I was at had a bunch of other gamers inside and yet the town still felt dead. It could have been a Hollywood set for all I could see. When I say dead, I mean the NPCs don’t have much of a presence there. Now, I really hate to compare this game to World of Warcraft, really I do, but I have to go with what I know. In WoW, you’ll often notice that a lot of the towns have a whole lot of flare and presence. You’ll see guards on patrol, NPCs randomly roaming around yelling stuff out, and sometimes even fighting amongst the NPCs. It makes the towns feel alive, and it was one of my favorite aspects of WoW. I could be in a town with no other gamers and yet still not feel alone. In PotBS, I always feel like I am by myself. Of course I haven’t been to most of the towns so this could vary from place to place.

Well, that’s about it. There are some smaller things that I’d change if I could, but they really don’t require elaborating here. Like I said before, the game nails down the ship combat/movement, and even the economy is pieced together very well, as long as you are able to understand it. However, and I stand by this, one of the main things that is going to hold PotBS back is their avatar gameplay. While it’s not the main focus of the game, itself, it is still a big enough part of the game that it will cause a negative impact amongst new players. So please, Flying Labs, let’s get cracking on some fine tuning for that aspect of the game.

What would you like to change about Pirates of the Burning Sea? Let’s here it!

Congratulations to our two winners:

-Erlend Simonsen

-Jim McHie

Thanks for entering, I hope you enjoy the game!