Xbox Ultimate with EA Play....

EA Play on PC from Xbox Ultimate is a complex mouthful of overlords and platforms. But it's here and it works. Or at least it's finally here for PC after teething issues, which it still has, some, issues. I've played games under the Ultimate access on Xbox but it was the PC versions of some of those games that I wanted to see, test and over the last few days I have...... for the most part.

The games I had planned to take a look at via the 'scheme'/new entitlements had an addition in Command & Conquer Remastered; And three games not looked at(both KOTOR games and They are Billions).

Taking another saber swing at Fallen Order proved to be a better stab at it than when I tried it on Xbox. Still with a controller and still with it's flaws. It hasn't changed my mind. The game is what it is. I saw on PC what I'd seen on Xbox and character popping isn't something I can't unsee no matter the platform. It's a fun enough game, it looks and feels like a Star Wars game. No flaws in that yet I found myself getting irritated at times. True to say it's not a game for me now. It's got to much tomb raider platforming and Prince of Persia(Sands of Time) wall running with time slowing.... Even with a cute robot companion and force power to 'interact'/slow objects, none of it 'did it for me'.....Again. 

Yet using the saber in battle and pulling off great moves does 'feel' cinematic. Too many cons then pro's for my tastes these day's. Never say never for the future.....

Battlefront II via EA/Ultimate carried over my previous progress (from the Free Epic Store giveaway) which is nice to see but the game is still the game I left(like here and here). I did play in a good few online matches but the 'new' playerbase from the Epic giveaway has gone and the older 'uber' always on 'this is their game' players were OP spamming everything. I didn't find that fun then and not now. Time to exit stage left.

Battlefield V is exactly like my Battlefront II thoughts. My stats and player details 'via EA/Ultimate' carried over my previous progress which is nice to see but the game is still the game I left'. Again akin to Battlefront II it's got so many OP players it's hard to survive. Fun gives way to frustration fast. I'll plug away with it here and there but it's treading a fine line.... Makes me want to get back to Battlefield 1 the more I play; And that's not a player issue, BF1 is 'just' a better game right now (imho) and has been since before BFV came out...... BFV is too quick, snap reaction based for me.

Battlefield 4 is a game I played to bits on 360. Seeing as I missed(by years) the once off profile export option(360 to xbox one) I was always going to be trying this PC version as a Noob. I had fun, nostalgia was fulfilled. It's not a game I could grind a 100+odd levels in again. Still I laid out some C4 on a helipad and enjoyed an explosive moment as the helo respawned, an enemy player hopped into it and I detonated said C4. For old times sake.....Nice.

I've had my fun and this version is good fun but I think Battlefield 1 really is a better game today; For me at least. The thought of grinding levels for gear, unlocks and mods.... It would crush my soul. Efforts better but towards my ongoing BF1 journey.

Aragami was stuck in a pre download queue loop for a while; Despite my clearing of both Origin and EA app location caches. It took an app reinstall(no cache clear) to get it to download. That aside the game is the same as on Xbox(no surprise); And no point going past the initial start of the game. Nothing new over the way I played and cleared it on Xbox. The Xbox version was played through well enough. 

They are Billions as well as KOTOR I & II are listed on EA as available under Play as well as the more costly Pro. As Ultimate 'only' includes Play, the EA store seems to have issues with recognizing the Ultimate access to access them as 'Play', all three games are not 'available' and prompt to buy Pro to access them. 

Snag, temporary hitch or not it's a pity as I was looking to get back to the KOTOR's and see how I liked They are Billions. All on the back burner now. I'm sure as the joint venture goes on things will be ironed out(for the majority of gamers).

Which all brings me to the best experience of the access to games this way.... Command & Conquer Remastered. I've waffled about it, mainly in a way that was biased in not wanting it. Maybe in a semi subconscious way.... But trying it now is a whole other thing. I was genuinely gobsmacked at the look and feel. The instant switch from old to new graphics on the fly.... The new and old music. I've been flooded with nostalgia big-time. So many memories so much need to keep playing it 'just' for the fun of it. 

The addition of all the behind the scenes content 'unlocked' items as you play is great fan service. The new music and remixing is phenomenal.... I've re-added the game to my wish-list. I'll pick it up on the next sale(yes I still have a need to own games......Just a pity they aren't on physical media!!!!). 

BF4.... BFF's....

It's been a while since I caught up with the BFFs video series. Two of my favourites in the new series:

I've been both sides of this:

Dust 514.... Battlefield Fallout.

I've not had my ps3 connected since doing that bit of DIY a while ago. And to be honest I dont' miss it. One less game to do dailies on. Or at least that's what I had been thinking.

I did connect my 360 and have tried to get a few matches on Battlefield 4 but ended up on my own in a match.... that's not multiplayer. I can only say that new games or games like Fallout 4 are taking up players time.
I even tried battlefield 2 multiplayer. I did get a match from it and it's setting/options and class's brought back a lot of gaming memories (I miss the sniper artillery!). But again in saying that I went into a match and on parachuting in ended up drifting and leaving the game area and died. The next spawn saw me call in the must have sniper ability - Artillery - only to have it register the bush ahead of me as the target instead of the area the enemy was in. With such a FUBAR start to an old favourite I decided to retreat and not play it any more. I should have stuck with the memories. Which brings me back to what my point is... DUST 514 never had a massive drop off in players. I should hook the PS3 up and see what I'm missing it anything. Besides I saw a new video that makes me want to try out some new fits....

BF4.... Legacy Operations

I don't keep updated with the latest developments for Battlefield 4 so I was surprised (but not that much) to see another update to be released. Hot on the heels of Night Ops & Community Ops we now have Legacy Ops. This new update contains the BF2 map 'Dragon Valley'. Official site here.
Despite having played BF2 Bad Company I never played BF2. The trailer does look like it will be fun.

I hope this trend of new free updates continues, bringing with it new game mechanics, re-imaged maps and with luck and a lot of crossed fingers a few maps from Battlefield 3....  

Battlefield 4 update....

Info on the latest update is here. And there is a lot in it. The patch also contained the community map that will be "turned on" at some stage in the coming day's/week's. I presume they are waiting for a sufficient amount of people to have it downloaded before going live with it. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still enjoying the night ops as well. There is still a great deal of life in the game yet despite all the other games released since.

If only Dust was like this..... Battlefield 4 Community Operations

The details for this update are great considering it's not the current big thing from Battlefield.
I'm still in awe and playing the Night Ops map.

My Battlefield 4 Update....

I've been back to BF4 with a vengeance, putting in way to many hours of game play. I attempted to screenshot some bits but I decided to finally log into EA's Battlelog. It's been worth doing so as the images below are always gonna be better than my shaky cameraphone pics. I'm still thinking of that video capture device but the longer I wait the more unlikely it is that I'll get it... roll on XBOX One for Chrimbo.

The last few days has seen me level from 96 to 102, not to shabby.

As of writing I'm almost 103

One of the better options among the pile of info on the website is seeing what battlepacks are close to being claimed. That's just an open invitation for free stuffs! 2 kills here with this and 8 kills there with that, it's a motivator!

 

I'm not a player that loves the vehicles, I do use em and I do help out in them but they're not a first choice when on the battlefield. I much prefer to blow them up.

My current setups

I'm happy with the way my Assault, Engineer and Support fittings and setup, some minor improvements here and there as is usual for some circumstances.

 The class I play the most by a long stretch is the Recon. Usually as a sniper.
 

I've also used the Recon as a class that for the most part has leveled up the Carbine weapons.

My toss a coin carbine favourite is between these two...

And again for the Shotguns.

 
Before my Xbox Live subscription lapsed I had started on the last weapon group. I'd gotten a good few unlocked along with the other bits that go with the weapons. I've used these on Recon as well and oddly enough they are also a class of weapon that I've used with silencers. The DMR(Dedicated Marksman Rifles). 

Now that I've started playing again and just as the last surprise expansion of Night-time operations has been gifted I've found myself using these on the Recon as the best fit for the nighttime shenanigans. Everything has fallen into place. It's almost ideal. I'm truly loving the new game mode, night or thermal vision, silencers and a pinch of sniping. /faints :)

Of these DMR weapons I've been made good progress to level through the them. The SCAR-H SV is a great weapon and one of the last to be unlocked, it's my current rifle and what I'm using most for the new night game mode. However, there is one rifle that unlocks early with this class and I find it better than the SCAR. The SVD-12. Unfortunately for me I've not unlocked night or thermal scopes to use with it 'yet'.

For now I'm using the SCAR and it works but I know the SVD is so much better. So between playing fun night ops games with the SCAR I'm trying to unlock the packs that will give a scope I need... A night vision scope is good but a Thermal is better.... 

In rearranging my fits and gear I also found this knife, I'm not sure when it unlocked....

I broke out laughing when I saw it first! I'm really glad the developers have seen the funny side of their games through a great comic series. Glad they included it with the description. I've changed my Recon setup to have it :)

Battlefield 4....

It's been a week or two since I last fired up my xbox since getting the gold subscription reactivated. After a few day's of play my interest lapsed again in BF4. Despite a long break and an almost instant muscle memory reactivation. I think it's the BFF's video's that have spawned my re-reinterest in Battlefield 4 gamplay this time round.
Once in game I noticed on main menu that there is to be a new expansion for it... I was surprised as I thought it had run it's course on expansions, a quick google brought this article and of course I looked up the new video. I'm looking forward to trying it once it's out....

 

DIP DIP POTATO CHIP

I came across this series of video's last night, so so funny and true for other games even it you haven't played Battlefield ;-p

You can see the video's on Youtube up to season 4 and Season 5 on i-tunes well worth a watch.

Gameplay update....

Ahoy! Gaming has been as usual "ongoing", it's a hobby that covers a lot of ground in a lot of area's, especially for a carebear like me, not a single pigeon hole in sight. Got to stick my finger in all the pigeon pies!

Rome Total war has had some more gamplay in a return to a late game save I've had.

I'm really enjoying where my Empire is (the green). Cities well developed, internal and border defensive forts at choke-points, commanders well placed and the economy pooling gold. All is well in the Empire.
Outside the empire the other two Roman factions are at war with me but one is a passive war (red) and the other is active (blue) but taking some time to amass armies that once unleashed will hammer my own in the east in what will be a huge series of battles. I look forward it. My main up to date armies are waiting for that hammer blow.
There are 4 other factions that are not at war with me and hold no immediate interest. The one other Iberian faction (west light brown) is my current active war outside my "boarders" and holds much of my obsolete military units in a to and fro wrecking of cities, armies, lands and more 'fun' fro the sake of it then for conquest.
I might see about uploading a video of a battle....


Dust 514 after the last event has seen me back to the usual War barge item collection (less the lab weapons) and the one win/one key reward daily. Mixed in with some suit fitting tests and checks. But not much gameplay outside of that. The last week long event was a borderline burnout for me so I'm easing back for awhile. A change to the less intense (severe?) BF4 might be in order... for a vacation ;-p


I've had a pang or two to play Battlefield 4 again on my Xbox 360, that will mean buying Xbox Gold time. Getting that might not be a waste if I do end up getting an Xbox One at Chimbo as it will cross over.
No for now but if that 'need' to return to it gets stronger I might just start it back up. There are the freebie games to consider with a gold account as well....



Eve Online is always a constant and reading up online Eve Hermit (big shout out to him, another legend online that is one of my must read blogs) has some new posts up worth a read, two on solo exploration and another on the new sov changes. This last entry is much like my own view, even with an alt in a null sov holding alliance I am really not in tune with what the changes will really mean, especially in a big picture view. The video he linked is of much interest in what can be done with a little to tie up a lot of people.

The only real impact that it has had on me is that there are troll ceptors during my night time that I dont' see but who do fill my mailbox.

The alliance does seem to have things handled well in that things go on/disabled/off etc and are then defended and enabled again. I dont' see any real changes for me when this new sov hits but then again maybe this is the calm before the storm. Time will tell.

The next patch for Eve is not far off and the changes to sov will be of interest in the shakeup of Sov. With luck it will provide content but the reading is "heavy" when considering it's good and bad implications of various lifestyles within the game.

Summer of Sov - Nullsec PVE and Upgrades & Patch notes for Aegis Sovereignty

I am really liking the idea of a pve fleet section of maintaining your null index..... Maybe a way of making people fleet up for these "bigger" anoms rather then go solo. I dont' usually like this site and take what I read with a bucket of salt but this article is interesting. Again it's all up in the are until the patch hits and reality hits with it.

I'm a gamer that can happily sit and plug away at a game that doesn't change, Rome total war is a good example of that. Not to mention the single player pause element. But there is a constant need for mmo's to change and update and keep changing and updating that I find annoying, that's just me. Change can be good, change can lead to great improvements but only if it lets the gameplay on a day to day basis last. Eve is now more so than ever in constant change or maybe flux is a better word, so many changes to so many elements at once. Maybe they need to slow down a little and actually deliver a big feature and not just big changes. 

Elsewhere in Eve my other Mains and Alts are plugging away with the usual assortment of PI, hi sec carebearing.

Both my main mains used their iskies buildup to buy 6 plexes to extend the training on my alts. The bulk of which should see them be more rounded in skills as well as get a bit more specific in their own areas of expertise.  

Both of my mains are Caldari and are mainly based around those ships as well as being diversified. My main alt is the same. My other two alts are based around their race, Amarr and Minmatar. The other alt is my null sec alt who is Caldari but it makes sense in my a.d.d world that he should be based more around the Gallente side of things. So his Hi-sec gear is now all based like that. Ships and gear were sold and traded between the other characters, markets etc. This has made the null alt my Gallente alt as well... even if he was born Caldari. :)

I'm sure that there are players in Eve that after reading that last paragraph will be in total disbelief at how I play my game of Eve, the best thing is that Eve does allow for it.

Skills wise my new Gallente/Null alt needs to train up more gunnery skills and finish up a few Tech II ship skills to be "complete".

Life for my Gall/null alt is bound around mining for production. Producing more transport ships and certain modules. It's a very limited version of what I had in my old market setup but it is now bringing in the iskies. Thankfully P.I. is still the best earner, But after getting it setup and working again things have started to stagger, it's my own fault trying to produce too much through micromanagement and I had to dial it back and get back to basics. More time is needed on both the market and PI sides with the mining and production keeping me busy. Ratting is taking a back burner but I have to say that my recently refitted "backup" ratting Caracal seems to tear through the rat faster than my drake.... Lots more faffing testing to be done....

BF4...... sooooo tempted

With such a massive patch I'm really tempted to get back playing it again.
The only thing stopping me from doing so is the xbox live gold subscription. I'll need to find more online reasons to play on a de-mothballed xbox to make it happen.

11 pages of patch notes in pdf is here.

My gaming world....

I could write posts on what RL has slapped in my family's face but I think I'm back to gaming and blogging about it.

Eve is still my online game of choice.

Time will tell if I retry others with RL friends to rekindle some mmo shenanigans.

Wow is all but done for me, I'm not even logging in to do the garrison upkeep. I might before my time runs out try and get some stuff done on my lock, maybe.
 I'm not the only person leaving wow from my guild.  I thought this post was interesting from The Grumpy Elf.

r've not switched on of gone near my Xbox 360 let alone play any BF4 which ion itself says a lot.

the PS3, specifically Dust 514 have been checked and played late at night. I'm a fan of the last two patches and the changes/improvements made to the game. The graphics and gameplay have been tweaked well. The added changes due to CCP listening to the community are fantastic. If only I could find a significant presence of that community online!   Eveything you try to lookup including the official youtube channel is all dated over a year ago...
At least there is the official dust514.com   /  dust514.com/news/blog/ & the forums there.

Eve is still the same'ol, same'ol.

Both my primary characters remain in Hi-sec,  as does my main, Minmatar and Amarr alts.
Already it's sounding complicated.
All these characters are on two accounts. Oddly enough by chance or fate one account has all male characters and the other has all female. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just happened that way.
My Null alt resides on another account but should be moved over to the male side in a good few month's.
Over time these characters have developed their roles.
Both Mains are Caldari, in the same corp and make their living from Level 4 mission runners with the Caldari, Amarr and SOE factions. Get passive/semi passive imcome from datacore agents and P.I. Have a hub to run cosmos/exploration and combat sites out of. And a currently offline POS between it all.
My main alt is in a similar position but not as spread out as those other two.
My racial alts, Amarr and Minmatar are hi-sec, PI'ing carebears with a side of exploration.
 I'll try to go into more detail and post about some "projects" I intend to do. I think that would be more interesting. Including a more personalised whats happened to me and my characters within Eve. In a more back to a diary/log kind of way. Back to the roots of this blog.
 
I am looking forward to the news from fanfest, for both Eve and Dust 514. With a bit of luck some Valkyrie as well.
I'm looking forward to the next release for Eve.

I may have had my own little theory about the sleepers and wormhole space but the new game lore developments have been great and should prove to be very cool. The new hybrid sleeper/Jovian Drifter race "people", ships and cloaked stations should be an incredible ongoing storyline. 

I also hope that the new once off ship goes to Tranquility!
http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/fanfest-2015-worlds-collide/

I've been enjoying the Scope news broadcasts that make the Eve world feel more real, at least to me.

Recently this one:

 
and then this one:

Though I have posted about liking the cloth's given as part of the mystery code and have said I do look forward to the future of WiS (walking in station). I did read this blog with interest.

I mentioned in my last post, perhaps a bit offhand that most people I come across in Eve are "unkind". The emotion of playing eve and meeting/gaming with people of all kinds is always ongoing. This blog entry is of interest in that field.

I'm still gaming away with Rome Toral war (Vanilla/BI Version).

And I just bought the Southpark Stick of Truth game, and have been enjoying it. Seems like it would be a simple game but it's combat is intricate and interesting! The whole tone of the game even if I'm not a Southpark fan is a gamers parody of choice.  But enough waffle from me.

Funny....

There is something extremely "funny" about listening to some tunes on christmasfm.com while playing Battlefield 4....... such a contrast with happy seasonal jolly songs and the vengeful killing of internet people in the face with rapid bursts of high velocity death dealing bullet intensity.... 

October 2014 update....

A lot of news and patches out for both Wow and Eve, I'll mix that into my goings on.
Brace, Brace. Brace! Eve, Wow and BF4 .... This is going to be a long one!

 
Eve has seen my usual P.I. and skill queue updates. This is soon to change as the unlimited skill queue is pushed out with the next Eve patch/expansion/update. That will cut my daily maintenance of my mains by 50%!
It's had me thinking about the P.I. I might extend them to a once a week rotation of update planets and sell items.
Both my mains have seen very little activity and overall I've been questioning what to do with them. I'm still mulling that over. It may take some time.

There was a new 101 video from Crossing Zebras, makes me wonder why CCP dont' do this type of thing themselves.  Blizzard have had and have updated their own WoW version for some time. But then again CCP does encourage a lot of player participation and endorses the "meta" game.

The Eve Vagas event brought lots of information.  The keynote speech was interesting.
T3 destroyers being the big thing for me, not that I can see myself really using one but to pick something new for the hanger would be nice. We'll see what they can do on release.... then pick one up cheaper later ;-p
The new tech and the new "Tug" ship coming are of great interest. I can see the tug being used instead of the Orca in hi-sec for moving ships.
The newest info about some of the sleeper tech being dangerous makes me want my story of sleeper tech to come true.
The event showed a lot of the long term Eve development and it's going to be very interesting.
It was a good event from what I have seen online and a good introduction the next Eve release, the info site is here. The main vid from that does go into more detail.
Very interesting times ahead indeed.


Eve Valkyrie was at the event. A good Eve Valkyrie writeup was done here.


The new music that they have released, the main menu music, is one of the best I've heard them release since the music used in the Inferno trailer ;)

The Vagas event also had a section about the new player experience, I found it very interesting, I hope they continue to work on it.

I was surprised that Dust 514 was not even mentioned and had Zero presence. The Dust forums have been awash with the anger since the fanfest fiasco and with CCP saying nothing at large events is even more of a snub and PR disaster.
Dust got it's biggest update since it came out, in my opinion. This patch does more to expand the game than the rest of the patches that band-aid the game. In saying that I've not been drawn any more to play the game other then to login, have a look around and log out. I might try a few matches here and there but I've had no long time palying it. BF4 is way better a multiplayer shooter. Dust's Eve link is the real draw for me. I will give it time in the future but not soon.

My Eve time has mainly been spent on my Null sec alt.

Hauling

Mining

LOTS of mining

LOTS of P.I.

and a mix of some SOE missions

________________________________________________________

Wow has seen me doing a lot more in the last few weeks than I've done in the last 6 month's.

The new patch 6.02 and it's mini update 6.03 have brought big changes that I've taken too more than I thought I would have. I still miss fan of knives on my Rog and Mirror image on my Mage but overall I think the stat squish and redo of the classes is a good thing. It bodes well for the expansion.

I've been getting to go back and solo some content that needed a few 90's to do. So it's been achi time for me.
I've been getting to see places that I've not seen in a long time and some that offer great screenshots :)

 

Thankfully the addon community has been 100% efficient in getting the addons updated and uploaded.

The new patch was not without it's bad points. Characters not "being found" and "world server down" messages to name a few.

Once really annoying glitch was the dungeon kick that then reset the instance. Thankfully that has no longer been happening. It all in fact seems to have been smoothed out.

Despite the removal of all the Valor and Justice points it was good to get free gold :) 

The new expansion event around the dark portal is very "mini", that's not to say that my alts were not appreciative of the 515 ilevel gear as quest rewards. But it is a very short quest chain "event".

The best I had seen was the Wotlk pre expansion zombie apocalypse, now that was truly epic.

The quest blue 515 gear as well as the headless horseman new drops of 540 epic's is a great gearing method for my alts to replace their timeless isles gear. I've only 2 Characters that can attempt the new Blackrock dungeon and I've only run it once so far. All in all it's been great gearage wise.

I got to level my priest to 90, hop into the timeless gear, do the horseman dungeon and finish the iron invasion quests and be in a really good place to head to the expansion.

I've been a disc priest 100% on all my priests I've ever had on every realm. So for this patch that all changed and I've had to do shadow as it is now the only dps class of priest for dungeons. And I love it!!!!

I like the new addition of the toy box and it does allow all your characters to use all the toys. So it stop hunting for multiples... it does open up looking for others that I dot' have lol.

I got this for my Rog. I've been after it for a while and decided to just go and get it. Very easy to get and worth it as it brings attention from other rogs asking what the heck that buff is.

 I've not had much time to try the green fire again.... I really need to do this soon!

Most of the dungeons I've been doing is the horseman to try and get my Pala the horseman's helm!!!

I also got on a Transmog buzz one night and updated some gear now that they didnt' need justice of handin's to purchase...... I spent a fair amount of gold.... 

Druid

Mage

Pala

Rog

Priest

  ________________________________________________________

My BF4 saga goes on, F'ing and Blinding in some games and howling in victory in others. I really do enjoy it. I'm not a competitive person but it really does get the blood flowing.

Assault
I've made no changes to the assault class, the SAR-21, G18, Medbag and Defib with the RGO impact grenade cover all bases.

Engineer
Like assault no real changes, P90,G18, Sraw or Stinger, Slam mine and RGO impact grenade seals the deal.


Support
I've been enjoying the support class more in Deathmach games of late.
Main weapons have seen me mix things up a lot in DM games.
The main weapon I use on this class remains the QBB, I do love it.

But I find in Deathmatch games I change this weapon for a rotation of 3 others.

The RPK-12 for my need to have a high fire rate with a silencer

Soon with Laser attachment...

 The AWS for general purpose mayhem in medium engagements. 

 

The MG4 for sheer close to medium bullet hose building clearing fun.

Secondary weapon is the faithful G18
I use the Ammo box and have started to use the XM25 Airburst a lot more than the claymore I used to use. The RGO impact again rounds out the class.

Sniper
This class sees me using the M98B rifle the most, sniper is as a sniper does.
The G18, Radio beacon, C4 or Claymore and M67 Frag finish this class off.


Carbines see me use the AKU-12 or Type-95B-1 the most.

Shotguns see me use the Saiga 12K and DAO-12 the most.
Both depend on situations and on the mood during game play :)
 
DMR's are the last weapon challenge and I'm not there to use them yet.

  ________________________________________________________

That's the bulk of my gaming fun.... hope it was interesting... Till next time o7