And then, before I knew it, I was a Captain…

I’ve been playing STO again for something like 13 days.  And by “playing” I mean that I did the “2800″ series, which is like five or six “episodes” (quests, if you will), and one additional episode from the series I was on when I last played over a year ago.  Outside of that, I’ve done only dailies and rotated my duty officer assignments around playing my other games.

And in those 11 days, I have gained more than 10 levels.  In fact, I had planned a post on “what ship should I choose” – because I was not sure if I wanted to branch out and try cruisers, in part because I intensely dislike the Defiant (errr…”Tactical Escort”) and I’m not a huge fan of the Intrepid class either.   But after some consideration, I realized that 1) I was going to hit Captain long before I thought I was and 2) for $6.25 + some leftover Cryptic points from my pre-order and some survey I did, I can purchase the Long Range Science Vessel Refit, aka the Bellepheron, aka the “USS Voyager, only much cooler looking.”

To Boldly Go...and Look Awesome While We Do It

And given how much fun I’ve had in the game and that its kinda my secondary game fix now, $6.25 a month was not a bad investment.  That gives me about 500 Cryptic points a month to play with, enough for 1-2 cash shop purchases.  I say “about” because you can also trade some of the in game currency into Cryptic points (at a rate of about 4 a day at my current pace) giving me another 100 or so points a month to work with.   For $4 less per month than I was spending on World of Tanks.  How about them apples?

So, as of tonight, this Captain will have a new ship.   Now if  I could just come up with a good name…

How Did I End Up Here?

If you had jumped back in time (haha, if I had a nickel for everytime that happened in…well, you’ll see) to two weeks ago, and told me, HZero (some of my internet friends have a disconcerting habit of calling me Zero by the way 0-O ),  a few weeks from now, you will voluntarily give up a night of playing TOR to play some STO, I would have laughed at you.  And in fact, I did, literally “lol” at the person who asked me to play with them.  And then I felt bad, so I went and downloaded the game and logged in.  And went ahead and got my Akira (what the hell, that goal has only been on hold for like, 13 months, right?).

 

My Akira/Zephyr class. Yes, it is rather awesome looking, isn't it?

 

And along the way I realized that Cryptic and Perfect World have done a great job of improving the game.  Granted, some stuff is still just plain bad.  Ground combat, for example, continues to be unresponsive, boring, and at times, just plain odd (why is that AI alien armed with a plasma mini-gun trying desperately to get as close to me as possible?).    But there are a lot of things being done absolutely right.  Ground combat, bad as it is, is much improved over a year ago.  The Foundry delivers some excelling user-generated content.  The Duty Officer system is fantastic.  The Episodic story format, with its weekly story-driven missions, are great, almost like an interactive online comic book.   You can actually fail missions if you don’t read the text.  The opportunities for RP are so deep its hard to truly appreciate them all (it occurs to me that, despite the lack of true dialogue interaction with my bridge crew, I am far more attached to some of them than I am to any of my TOR companions…).  And perhaps best of all, the atrocious grind is gone, and replaced with a decent leveling curve.

 

But this might come at a good time.  I’ve about tapped out World of Tanks.  Or, more specifically, I’ve about opened up all the tank lines I wanted to, with the possible exception of some individual historical tanks, which can honestly wait until they put in actual historical matches.  So it may be time to step down from a premium account there, which has acted as a sort of “second sub” for me, and put the $5-10 a month I was spending there into STO instead.  I see no reason to sub up to STO, since a subscription offers me nothing of interest at this point.  But with 400-800 Cryptic points a month, I would be in heaven with a well stocked duty roster, fun uniforms and ships, and a regular XP boost.  Even if I do nothing more than log in on the weekend to play the new episode, and occasionally during the week to piddle around with duty assignments.

 

So, in summary, I’m not sure how I got here, but I’m glad I did.  And my friend is too, because those continuing missions are more fun with a second ship and captain at your disposal.

Catching Up

So I’ve been a busy boy, between stuff at work and a week out of town and the stomach bug.  So lets do a little recap roundup shall we?

 

TOR – I have both my characters in the mid-20′s now.  I grind out about a level a week, which is pretty normal for me.   I just hit Tattoine for the first time last night and it felt…weird.   Landing on Tatooine as an Imperial Agent just felt so *not* Star Wars.  In fact, the whole Empire thing is starting to wear on me a bit.  I may have to let one of those two Imp characters lay idle for a bit so I can scratch the Republic itch.  I will wait until update 1.2 though – the Legacy system means that my Republic alts, all at level 10 on another server are basically useless to me.  And I am not running through Tython for the umpteenth time without Sprint if I can help it.

 

World of Tanks – I’ve spent the last week doing my runs on the Test Server, which has been a breath of fresh air.  The Russian players are actually quite nice, and much more skilled than their American counterparts.  I have wondered lately if I was just bad at WoT or if the teams were so bad it was hard to excel, and its definitely the latter.  In all the matches I’ve played on the test server, I’ve only once seen the team deploy poorly, without watching the map.  As one EU player said after a match, “we didn’t get beat because we made bad choices, we just got beat because they were better than us.”  I don’t get many of those matches on the regular server.   Much as patch 1.2 for TOR will turn it into what it should have been at launch, patch 7.2 will certainly do for WoT.  The new tanks are excellent, and the graphical and game updates are all well done.  The M18 Hellcat is almost all that we wanted it to be (it can’t quite hit 89 kph, and the option of the 105mm howitzer is missing).  Time to learn some Russian and make an account on their server I think.

 

Sandbox Vistas – I’ve shelved this for the time being.  The remaining options just don’t appeal to me all that much, and the announcement that Dawntide was shutting down, while somewhat expected, was ultimately very disheartening.  At this point, unless I get the itch to try Ryzom or Wurm, I’ll probably just keep a keen and interested eye on ArchAge instead.

 

Star Trek Online – Yeah, I know.  But a friend has been begging me to run some missions with him since it went F2P, and I was just a few points shy of my Akira and Nebula.  So I logged in last night and did one mission.  And I have a few things to say:  one is – who killed the graphics?  Its like a whole new engine in there, and it looks like crap, even with all the settings dialed up to max – which, by the way, is something I could not do with the original game.  Balancing that out though – praise the Alpha Quadrant, they actually fixed ground combat to make it manageable, and the skill system to make it less of a headache of WTH, and changed the progression to the point I breathed a sigh of relief.   I did one mission to finish up the jump from 19 to 20.  That same amount of skill points would have required me to do 3-4 missions when I was in the game before.   So now its time to claim that long awaited Akira and learn about that whole “duty officer” thing.  Its like the bizarre crossbreeding of TOR’s companions with your Bridge Officers and a far future version of Pokemon.  I feel like I have to catch them all!

 

And decide if I want to shell out some real bucks for that Nebula.

The Dilution of the F2P Market

So Age of Conan has tossed its hat into the ring around the Free to Play paradigm.   And yes, I would like to play it for free, thank you very much.  But…

The Age of Free To Play

I am struck all at once by a peculiar sort of conundrum.  Eighteen months ago I was bouncing subs like nobody’s business.  I had two subs running concurrently and those often changed from month to month based on what I wanted to play.  So in general, my annual MMO subscription budget is $360 a year.  That seems like a lot, but since its pretty much my only form of entertainment (and since at least $160 of that each year comes from birthday/Christmas money), I guess its not too bad.   Still, it is a lot when my wife looks at the bills, and so that was my cap, and indeed, my limiting factor.

Now though, I enjoy what we all do – the ability to play a game for less than $15 a month.  Indeed, when I boot up the compy tonight, I could play Everquest 2, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Lord of the Rings Online, or Champions Online…all for free.   And that doesn’t include other already F2P favorites of mine like World of Tank or The Reincarnation or Minecraft.  All of a sudden, my limiting factor has shifted.  Before it was money, and now, it is time.

You see, with two subs a month, and changing each month, I played only two games at a time, for at least a month in duration.   And this was okay, because MMO’s require some continuity.  Now though, I can play anything anytime.  And continuity is my problem, not theirs.

Long story short, all this lead me to a thought…

Does this mean that the more high profile MMO’s go F2P, the less successful they all will be?  Or more poignantly,  does this mean that those “lesser” games that enjoyed a new lease on life as F2P creations will now hit a back burner as other, formerly “greater” games turn F2P.  Granted, this designation may not apply to Conan – YMMV.  But the question remains.  I guess time will tell.  But my hope is that the many virtual worlds I have explored and come to love will have long lives ahead of them for years to come.  And if the pool gets to crowded, some of them may get pushed under to make room for the new guys.

Coming Soon to an F2P Market Near You!

State of My Game: November

I’ve been thin on content lately my friends – I had a large family wedding this weekend and this week a dear friend passed away, so I have been neck deep in friends and memorial arrangements.  Here’s where I’m at:

EVE Online 

I should be back in the fold as of tonight.  I have plans and alot of future posts planned about those plans, so stay tuned.  Mostly I’m excited to strap into that badass Command Cruiser and put it to good use in the coming PVE events in Incursions (when it finally drops I suppose).  Also on the docket – T2 missiles and projectile weapons.  Its time to diversify into the world of Minmatar.  Kudos to EVE Online’s re-sub discount, its one of the reasons I’m back.

Fallen Earth

I am back in here as well, working my way through some content to catch up with my brother.  Mostly I have my eyeballs on crafting though, as usual.  I have a severe case of motorcycle envy, and and even worse case of submachinegun/shotgun envy.  I’m trying hard not to blow all my points on Pistol to have one  *now*.  Kudos to Fallen Earth for their re-sub discounts.  Its one of the main reasons I’m back.  Seeing a  trend here?

Star Trek Online

I am around 700 skill points shy of my Nebula and Akira.  After that, I have no idea what, if anything, I will be doing in the game.  I continue to be intrigued by Diplomacy though.   Part of my slow progress in the game has been spending time (without spending Credits, because I know I will need them for the non-free Tier 3 ship) stringing together enough Diplo XP to open up more missions.  I’d really love to see them spend more time in that category.  I enjoy the space battles and land battles, but I need the exploration and conversational stuff thrown in to break up the monotony that can come from having an MMO where your skill bar has less than ten buttons on it instead of the normal thirty or so.  One other request Cryptic – and a small thing I never thought I would miss – color code the quests by level.  As it currently stands you have no way of seeing, until the quest is in your log, its difficulty relative to you.  Gimme that old “grey to red” colorscale to help me sort them all out, m’kay?

Rifts: Planes of Telara

There may or may not be an Alpha.  It may or may not have an NDA.  I may or may not be in it.

Everquest II

I haven’t been playing but I’m excited.  My wife and I’s ten year anniversary is upcoming.  She asked me last week what I wanted.  And I jokingly said “play some games with me.”  She pursed her lips and replied “one night?”  I said, “one for each year of marriage.”  She frowned.  “Okay,” I admitted, “I’m open to some negotiation here.”  If it happens, and it looks like it might, this would probably be where we would play.  No extra money, its pretty vanilla in terms of system, not alot of grieving going on, etc.

Pirates of the Burning Sea

Goes F2P this month, and it will be on like Donkey Kong.

The Reincarnation

I continue to urge you to this free warhorse of a game.  Its been going on for over a decade now, and is fantastic.  We are currently neck deep in a two front war, and about to open a third.  Its my third or fourth set leading our guild, and we have truly grown into a veteran war guild.  Despite the two front war, we have lost only one mage to each of those opponents, while slaying multiple foes on each front in response.  And another two will probably be dead before the day is out.  If you like strategic PvP, this is the place for you.  I imagined that would apply to alot of you EVE pilots out there…

So that’s it.  Add in my long reading list and my neglected novel for NaNoWriMo, and you’ve peeked inside my world this month.  Was it good for you?

Restless

That about sums up my evenings this past week.  I returned home late Saturday night, pretty much went straight to bed given how many hours I had been driving and how zoned out I was (“highway hypnosis” is a term I recall from long ago).  Sunday, I took in my missed episode of Boardwalk Empire, followed by the new epsiode (both good).  Monday, and Tuesday though, I had some time.  I’ve been meandering my way through Star Trek Online, clawing my way to the long desired Nebula and Akira.  I made it through another level, so only two more to go.  I realized some of my slow going is that I haven’t spent nearly as many bridge officer points as I need to, and I haven’t upgraded my ships weaponry since I got it some 8 levels ago.

Anyone else here a little restless? Little holodeck action time maybe?

But mainly I’m just not with it.  Its not the games themselves mind you.  Its anticipation of what’s just over the horizon and out of reach.  I spend a good bit of time each day reading through whatever scraps of information I can come up with about Rift and SWTOR.  Which is admittedly very little.  SWTOR in particular is being stingy, for a game only a few months from launch and having been in closed Beta for awhile now.   Its starting to give some signs that it may be pushed back.  For my two cents, if there is not a class update this weekend a pushback is all but certain.

Rift isn’t out of Alpha yet, so I don’t expect as much from them, and yet they seem to deliver updates more consistently, which I think is probably good.  Some may argue that its not good since information can change that early in a development cycle, but they are putting out mostly lore and backstory and world related updates.  That stuff does not usually change and still generates good interest.  Compare that with SWTOR, which has still not finished dribbling out their backstory (a backstory, I might add, that ignores some 200+ years of history as if nothing at all happened therein), at a time when they should be promoting other things.  The biggest complaint though, by those much more heavily invested than me, is that the developers are nowhere to be found.  There were a handful of posts this week – the first tim the devs have spoken in the forums in perhaps three months.

For whatever reason Guild Wars 2 isn’t on my radar much.   No particular reason.

But those games all come next year at the earliest.  And even if SWTOR launches on time, there’s a long way to go.   So for now?  Well, I’m sure writing a novel in November will keep me mildly busy.  And we’ll see what my third tour of duty in EVE Online will bring with it…

STO Protip: Ship Layouts

I finally looped back into Earthdock last night after finishing up all the missions I could down “south.”  My next leg of assignments carries me to a different front in the battle.  Which is slightly frustrating.  One would think that finishing up a front would coincide with a bump in rank, in this case, that I would hit commander and be transferred in the storyline to a new front complete with a new ship.  Alas, real life and STO are not that serendipitous (no idea if I spelled that correctly – or even if it’s a real word). 

I took advantage of the time in Earthdock to sell off the big items (I tend to scrap small cheap items to the replicator to save room while out and about, but hang on to the big items until I can get a better return for them in a station) and do some skill management.  I also dropped by the Shipyard and Ship Requisition rooms and I learned a few things.

One is that I can indeed get the Excelsior once I hit commander, which means the same should be true of the Nebula as well, once it releases.  There are also “retrofit” kits available for both if you wish to continue the ship once you hit endgame.  So I’ll be leveling with a hope and expectation of of it releasing in time for me to choose it as my free upgrade ship.  I will probably by an Akira as well.  Over the final two tiers in the game, the only other ship I want is the Research Science Vessel, so I’m good on ship slots I think.

Hey, welcome to Ten Forward. Maximum Occupancy: 500. Crew Size: 100.

Anyway, the real reason of this post was to address my concerns about ship interiors – turns out, you can vary them at least a little bit.  When I went into ship Customization to look at maybe changing the colors on the Lafayette, I took a look at bridges too.  I like the small bridge I have now – fitting considering the size and crew of ship I have, but I wanted to see what options there were.  And behold  – if you click on the Bridges tab in the Ship Customization interface, there is a new tab along the top of the LCARS window that opens, entitled “Layouts.”  You can change the layout between Small, Medium, and Large for 1,000 energy credits, the same cost for changing the colors of your bridge.  Mine was set to Medium, so I switched it to Small.

The result is that the mile long hallway disappears but the rooms stay the same.  I found this a little disappointing, that I still have quarters large enough to host half the crew in a party, and that the crew lounge looks like the lobby of the MGM Grand…but at least it looks like its all packed into the about half the hull, leaving a reasonable amount of room for engineering, assuming the saucer holds the rest of the crew quarters (logistically an odd layout, but doable nonetheless).

I’m tempted to spend two grand more myself – just to see what the large layout looks like.  But I don’t have any alts, so maybe thats a good way to see it without having to really pay for it, eh?

Another Step Closer…

I spent a little time playing STO again last night as my brother worked on a paper, my parents recuperated from helping with the kids all weekend and my wife crashed out to catch up on her sleep.   It didn’t go as smoothly as before, or at least it didn’t feel like it, perhaps because I played the same amount of time and only managed one level.

I was abouth halfway through the second mission when I started getting odd flashbacks.  I finally realized that I was remembering the mission from my days in the Beta.  I remembed not liking it, and it being overly difficult and slow.   And behold – nothing had changed.  Still it was good experience and it was good for a nice screenshot.

The Lafayette joins an ad hoc fleet including a Typhoon-class battleship, a cruiser, and a pair of escorts.

I’m going to have to give in and do an RP/IC post with STO at some point.  Its a game that practically begs you to RP, much like LotRO, and while I normally do that on my time, I may have to post some up here.  I forgot to check last night if any of my out-of-game acquaintences were in game – but then I don’t necessarily have all their contact information either!  If you are one of those players of STO, let me know how (and more importantly perhaps – when) I can best catch up to you.

I keep hoping for some word on the Nebula class by the way.  Its been a favorite of mine since it first appeared in ST:TNG.  The Akira is nice and all, but really I was going to get it because I am not a big fan of that Tier science vessel.  Getting the Nebula instead would certainly streamline my skill points spending.   ETA:  Upon further research, it appears that the Nebula is actually one of the top tier refit ships.  So…so much for that idea. 

I still have no idea how to do the Diplomacy missions, which I have a hunch I will enjoy alot.  I have a feeling it has to do with a few of the quests I have in my log to pick up so and so or talk to so and so.  But most of those require me stopping in at a Starbase or Earth, and I’m still clearing out some missions amidst the stars.  Home can wait.

To Boldly Go Where Everyone Has Gone Before.

As I sat last night, I decided I wanted to play with other people.  I’ve been playing through Kotor 2 the last week or so to scratch the itch that catching up on Old Republic news has given me.   And it takes up my TV and I wanted to at least have the football game on in the background, because I had a hunch that  things would break Chicago’s way…

So I surveyed my options.  Fallen Earth was out – most of the Casualties crew is way above me, and my brother has been without computer access for the last week and for a couple more as well.  EQ2X has been going good, so I thought about trying to track down some of the Casualties crew there.  But then I remembered that I shelled out for that 1-year-in-advance Star Trek Online thing.  And that there are a few good blogging friends that play that pretty regularly, in addition to the Casualties guild there.  And  I did promise myself that I would at least get my Akira to take some of the sting out of having paid so much up front.

Sir, approaching planet AT&T. We believe it to be ruled by a being known as "Ma Bell."

I won’t lie, it took a good bit to get used to the updates.  Exposes don’t seem to happen nearly as much, combat all around seemed tougher,  I really didn’t get the new signal anomaly mini game.  And then there is just the process of getting the hang of a game you haven’t played in six months.   I’ve spent time in my life driving 15 passenger vans, while my main vehicle was a Ford Mustang.  Drive one for a week and then move to the other – and it takes some getting used to!

But once I settled in I had some pleasent surprises.  Apparently the XP curve has been mitigated somewhat:  I completed two missions last night and basically gained two levels.  And I really, really liked the additional ship interior zones that we’ve been given.   I do have some misgivings as to the scale of those though, which I’m guessing doesn’t change with each ship class.   For example, my science vessel, the U.S.S. Lafayette, supposedly has a crew of 100.  From the outside views, it has only a few decks too it, which also makes sense.  And yet, here is the main hallway:

"Hello ::hello, hello:: Is that an echo? ::echo, echo::

If that’s the same main hallway on, say, a Defiant type ship, I have a problem with that, especially considering the number of crew members would be less than the number of spawned NPC’s walking around the joint!  I do though, like my spacious suite – but it still seems overly large given the size of the ship. The ready room is even bigger than the one in the Enterprise!

"Captain's Personal Log. They finally gave me a ready room...but it seems a bit ostentatious."

Long story short though, I did enjoy myself.  And in a theme this week of lowering expectations, I need to remember that the best value of this subscription to STO will be as a secondary game that I can log into from time to time and enjoy for what it is, rather than wishing it was something its not – lets face it, I really wanted this game to be its own “series” with my Captain as the star.  And it does try, and at times, even succeed in giving me that feeling.

At least, until I exalt over a completed mission, and then look out the tactical view and realize there’s several thousand people who have already done the mission I just finished.  And yet, I hadn’t played with a single one of them…

State of My Game: September ’10

Well looks like I have shingles for another week - this according to my latest doctors visit on Monday.  I’ve also been told that I was lucky that we caught it early.  Normally shingles on the torso manifests around one nerver branch – with the rash covering perhaps a rib or two.   Mine is vertical from the top of my shoulderblade to midway down my back, wrapping around all the way to the front.   This week the fun has been numbness and itching, which don’t go well together.  Because it itches, and you try to scratch it, but you can’t feel anything.  Oi.

Anyway, onward to the games  (its more fun this way – if you see a game you dont play/dont like, just skip to the next one!):

EVE Online

I’ve decided to rest this one for awhile.  While there is alot still on my training list and I’d like to do planetary interaction, I just can’t seem to get motivated to do much more than change skills and sign in once a week to run a mission or two.  That’s still plenty of entertainment for $15, but I have other areas that would be probably more fun and productive.  My one big regret here is that this means the corp will probably sell that big beautiful Damnation they were building for me…

Star Trek Online

I swear I’m going to get that Akira before my sub lapses in February.  Consider it my other yearly goal or something.  Plus I want to see these new diplomacy missions.  Sadly enough though – I watched the AMC Star Trek Movie marathon last week (two weeks?) ago, and even that didn’t movitate me to play…

Champions Online

Free game time, for anyone (not just past account holders – new players will have access to the whole game) from today to September 7th.  That will be just enough time for me to check in on my favorite superhero and teleport around a bit.  And probably just enough time to get bored with the game again.

Fallen Earth

 Last night I went to cancel my subscription because my free time was out and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of my brother since he bought The Guild 2 (for the unfamiliar – its like a medieval version of The Sims).  I could have played some solo and been fine, but after 3 solid weeks of adventuring in the game, I was ready for a little break.  That turned into a big break when…well more on that later.  Anyway, as it turns out, they had billed my card for the month’s sub one hour and forty five minutes before I logged in to cancel.  I was *that close.*  Last night I was pissed about it, grumbling, and considered asking for the money back.  This morning though, I was of a more philosophical frame of mind.  The studio could probably use my money, I like what they’ve done, I’m not sure I’m really done with the game yet, etc.   Let it never be said that I’m not a generous person!

The Reincarnation

 And this is the reason I haven’t logged in to much in the MMORPG world lately.  My favorite free game heated up again when we got into a major war.  A three way alliance of guilds, totaling 77 players, taking on the servers favorite guild of villainous backstabbing players, totaling 30 in number.  Not fair yes, but the enemy brought it on their own head – running their mouth, trying to sneak spies into other guilds, leftover hostility from betrayals last set, etc.   I give them credit,  they were losing tactically just by shear numbers, but they made up for it strategically and diplomatically.  At first they war dec’d everyone, which caused us all to waste turns and trip over each other.  You can’t share battle reports and spell logs if you are not allied, and most of the other guilds weren’t going to ally for any number of reasons.  Then yesterday they simply disbanded their guild, leaving us to rebuild our enemylistings and battle morale issues from some of our guys who were ready to be done and thought that should be the end of it.   Thus far we’ve gotten 7 of them and only lost 1 of ours, and we have perhaps another 6 of theirs on the ropes that will go down in the next couple of days.   It will still make for a tough Armageddon though because we haven’t been able to drag down many of their top mages.  I’ve enjoyed being the guild leader again this set, particularly with all the diplomatic hurdles and hoops I’ve had to jump through.  Makes me want to play more Vanguard!

EQ2X

Yes, yes, yes.  I’ve really enjoyed it so far.  The limited races and classes has actually *helped* my game.  I know I can’t create mulitple crafting alts.  I know I can’t hoard my gold, I need to spend it on gear.  I’ve discovered two new classes that I passed over before that I really really enjoy (Warlock and Inquisitor).  I really like the new twists they put on the starter areas (yay no more annoying little girls in Feydark!)  though I still really do miss the trial islands.  And I’ve come to accept the fact that I like the Neriak and Gorowyn starting areas best, despite my earlier Gorowyn gripes.  The change up in skills was not as bad as I thought, and the new appearance flexibility goes way beyond what I imagined (you can be using a sword and board for group play and yet look like you are dual wielding axes, etc).  Some of the RP skills I liked (Summon Food and Water for example) are actually still available, but are considered “fun” spells now and can be purchased rather than given automatically.   Plus, I ran into someone who had transferred their level 90 over (a Shadowknight, what else?) and we had a good time talking as he ran me through Darklight Woods to the tune of 6 levels and 7 AA points.  While dumping a mound of gold on me (would have been platinum, but there’s that pesky cap on money).   I don’t know if this is representative of the whole game or not – but our group consisted of him with an active account, me with an inactive account – and two brand new players.   That’s a great sign for the game I think.

All that – and more than anything, all I want to do is shell out for a Station Pass.  How said is that?  All these good games, many of them for free, and I still want to spend money.  I guess the F2P systems works somehow then.  Perhaps alot like it worked for Wizards of the Coast when 3rd edition DnD dropped.  The Core Rules were free – but everything else cost ya.  And it made them truckloads of cash.

The downside is that it also made them greedy – hence no free stuff in 4th edition (I wish someone would take them to court over this, because I think they would win considering their public pledge that Dungeons and Dragons would henceforth, always and forever, be free).  But that would never happen to our friends in the MMO industry would it?