Weekly(ish) Update 32(this year)....

Not much 'new' or at least not as much new since last time I posted. Gaming is gaming but at this time of year and with real life, things are things. 

Planet Crafter has received a quality of life patch but nothing to really mention. My gameplay has been very side screen based. Letting the exports run while having my character eat and drink when needed. I could be doing Eve Online mining but that needs more of an eye on random acts.

 

While I've still not been back into Euro Truck Sim 2 for long; I can't help but keep pottering about with my save and it's garages/drivers/trucks. Business is good, probably better when I'm not driving. As I keep saying the game updates really are good(ETS and ATS). I'm really liking the used truck option. Great to see but I think I now need the Christmas event to push my actual gameplay along.

 

 

 

 

For Star Trek Online, the winter event has started(MC Stu has a good video on it here). I've been playing on both PC and Xbox. While I've seen far too many winter events on PC, I think the Summer event is now my most favored. Not to say that I'm not interacting with the winter event, I am, it's just not drawing me in like it used to. Besides once you get to 3 full stacks of each event token it all gets redundant.

 

 

 

There's a lack of anything really new, not just in event activities but the rewards. If the rewards were more than a new jumper or a hat that I'd never consider then maybe I'd be more into it. It's just hit me more this year than previously. If the event ship was a real keeper(this years seems to be), that also needed more than the bare minimum of event interaction. Game balance is a hard thing to please most of the players most of the time.

 

 

If it's one thing over time that's been made clear, is that the level of expected player interaction needed for group content has been low, kind of crazy to think about. That said some newer TFO's have needed more co-ordination. Players just leaving TFO's despite TFO progress is telling. I know I go on about players paying for ships when they then don't use them..... They may be in the ships but all they do is explode. That's not to discourage anyone from paying for whatever they want. Otherwise you'll get idiots blogging about STO! I'm waffling, but the experience is just so persistent.

 

 

 

So anyway on Xbox I've been doing more of my KDF recruits 'random TFO' transponder requirement. This see's me 'have' to do random queues; because of which, to be kind, I have gotten to see a 'wide breath' of STO wealth and 'intelligence' of players. I finished off the remaining queue's to get the transponder reward. Worth doing for completion rather than the transponder reward itself; very much a completionist me thing.

 

 

 

With Temporal, Gamma, (the 3 needed) Deltas and KDF recruits with completed transponders giving all account unlocks I feel less accomplished than I guess I should feel......  What next for me on that platform. I can't see myself do as I did on PC and creating more characters with a theme. Bar my new Breen.... Of things to do I've already gone racially thematic.... So I guess the last character is now my 'main'? Breen ship needed there and with it more to do. Time will tell on that, just have to play the game/event /dailies....

 

With Dave the Diver I did find myself unexpectedly getting some extra fish of a higher quality which lead me down the more completionist rabbit hole. Easy in late late game to just redo and get better. Next thing I know it's done. 

 

 

 

Yet not done. Some questions remain. Another photo after this one below, I think.... As well as the end Boss for the collections completion.

 

 

 

 

 

Those and one remaining 3 star lobster. That'll need luck.

 

 

 

Eve Online has seen more of the same for me. My friend is still hard into industry and is trying his best to drag me with him into lowsec for his reactions process. Is the isk worth it longterm or will bad luck see all porfits ganked(time will tell). 

 

 

Going from one end of the video card spectrum to the other; I went with my wife's PC as she has an RTX 3080(better than my 1080). What can I say.... I don't like the game, I don't like playing it. I don't like the in game UI elements('early' access or not) beyond shooting. The inventory and manufacturing systems are not good in game as a game element. Something Dust had down well with players having a 'room' to plan/create and manage out of match elements. Yea I much prefer the management that was in Dust to what is Vanguard. That there is an out of battle element and an on planet battle area. It's all work in progress. I get it; And as it is, it's not a game for me. 

Eve Vanguard is indeed a looter shooter. Like all looter shooters the main group waits at the area for players to go bank stuff and then ganks them. So in theme it's very Eve Online. Not a game for me even if it wasn't based on Eve(The Division wasn't for me etc). I am confused that the big thing in promoting Vanguard was that players coming to Vanguard will come to EVE. I don't see much of that happening at all. I see large groups in Eve taking over Vanguard because it's part of Eve and will be needed for dominance over all. I do not see FPS players playing Venguard the way they did with Dust, there's no draw for them. There are so many more accessible, fun, adrenaline pumping dopamine FPS hits out there. Paid and not. 

 

As it stands in this early stage I want to complain in volumes more than say nice things. The graphics are good. The weapons is good but I wish I had a pistol and or knife option. See I'm automatically drawn to complain about it.

I see more in common for Vanguiard with Captains Quarters, in a here today gone next year, kind of way. CCP is CCP and they will do what they will do but they need to deliver a draw for more than Eve players to make this 's thing'.

 

As a dislike I am opposed to the current clone limited systems of play, not exactly like there's clones as fodder which slows gameplay down a lot; Mixed with the Time to Kill it's a bore to play as an FPS.

 

I've played my two accounts, both my Omega's to get the 'free' capsule skin, if not for that I'd have not been back to the game a second time. It needs a lot of work, more than CCP seems to think it does. 

Too many unknowns; So lets see what this playtest does to CCP and the game(Eve); Will they force it ahead?