Author Archives: Foton

The Next Next Big Things

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And when I say “big”, I’m talking out of my ass because I’m not studying release figures and focus groups like the better blogs. I like to talk big, though.

*wait for it*

*wait for it*

The Matrix Online will go live on March 22, 2005 in North America (for any high schoolers in the audience, that includes the United States … I kid! I kid!), and April 8, 2005 in Europe. Fifty bucks for the box plus 15 a month to play. (Hope springs eternal over at Warner Bros.) I haven’t tried Matrix yet, but c’mon, that premise couldn’t get any narrower unless it involved a small town in North Carolina named Mayberry.

I suggest you use any included free trial time wisely.

Guild Wars will go live on April 28, 2005 and preorders include complimentary participation in their Beta weekends in the interim. No pricing was included in the press release, but I’m guessing it would be similar to everything else. Really weird that they wouldn’t disclose pricing; maybe they’re still working on it.

I have tried Guild Wars, a few times, in the Beta previews. It’s structured differently, and I think that could be good. As long as they’re not charging a king’s ransom for it, I’ll give it a shot.

(Originally found at GameGossip.com)

Bummer

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I really hate when a game steals items from players. Y’know, when shit just poofs into thin air, never to be seen again. I’m guessing it’s a matter of corrupt databases or loads or client/server sync issues, whatever the hell the problem is, it’s inexcusable.

Isn’t that the minimum of service my monthly fee goes toward: keeping track of shit I have, shit I’ve done and shit I’m supposed to do?

I understand that catastrophes will occur, but I think that’s where customer service is supposed to kick in. Customer service isn’t shrugging the shoulders and saying, “bummer”; customer service is putting things right.

Few examples of nerfarious system thievery in Warcraft lately … sadly, I cannot cite ALL the examples I’ve seen recently, because the forum search function is yet another one of those NOI things in WoW and because the Blizzard handmaidens spend more time commenting on fashion and how this game r0x0rz than flagging important issues.

Disappearing equipped items – Log out for the night, log back in the next day and an equipped item has poofed into thin air. (No, not sold to a vendor accidentally.) I normally would view such reports with a great deal of skepticism, but I’ve had this happen to me and to another dude in my guild. Fortunately, I was level 20 at the time, so hey, no big deal in the grand scheme of things. I, too, was shit out of luck when I petitioned.

I’m glad I didn’t use up one of my “limited number” of property recoveries for a level 20 piece of crap weapon. (Don’t be naive. Whether an item is lost due to the game’s fault or your own, it’s marked the same … a freebie restore.)

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