Today was the last daily I needed to complete the Borg event. I'd previously completed the overall token campaign from an overrun of 'credit' with the previous event. So account bound ground anti-Borg rewards for me.
With the event rewards done it's dilithium rewards form here on in. As it the event ends on the 29th of the month that'll be a good amount of dil. Not that I need it, I still have over a million unrefined ore as is. Still old habits are hard to break.
It's an interesting time in STO with the 10th Anniversary. I wouldn't say I'm excited but the upcoming new elements to the game should be interesting.... Like new ships.
Details of changes and additions are already coming out(Omega Event, Additional TFO's). I'm as eager as the community to see what daily rewards are going to be given away.
The new Allied Fleet Service I hope will be a shared player area akin to the way Dalaran worked for WoW. A neutral place for all to dock. Granted like WoW there may be separate bank/exchange areas....
The second(and last) event for the Xbox's free ship will be available later 'today'. I've been away from the Xbox version for a while so I'm looking forward to getting back to it.
Server patch/maintenance is scheduled for 5 hours(as well as PC)later today!
Progress, progress, progress, there has been progress in my Stygian (hard mode) save since I last posted.
The hamlet buildings are now all fully upgraded. There wasn't that much needed to finish them but gathering/converting the heirlooms needed some time. As the saying goes the last 10% is the hardest. It feels good to have both the districts and hamlet complete now.
Likewise the main bunch of level 6's are fully upgraded for skills and armour. The remaining few upgrades will need about 70k gold to finalize.
Level 4's and 5's are still a mess but I count them more on the disposable side in a survival of the fittest kind of way. Plenty of level 6's to move forward with. Level 3's and under are throwing themselves in puddles to allow everyone else to cross the road un-muddied. Beyond disposable.
I've been working on the gold gathering for those remaining hero skills by running level 0's and 1's through dungeons with an antiquarian when available. The save may be a Stygian run but once the DD main campaign is done Sygian becomes (downgrades?) to a darkest/normal run; So no graveyard limit on lost heroes(bring in the next couch load!!!). The unrestricted joy of being post Darkest Dungeon, pre Crimson Court is that I'm free to farm the normal dungeons. Mainly hassle free. I can usually get 3 runs out of a new crew before I need to 'send them on their way'(one way or another). The extra 5% per week/turn from the bank doesn't hurt either! Why more players don't build it first is beyond me. If I was in the Crimson Court DLC I'd be all about the blood production first but as is gold is king for now. The great enabler.
I've also taken to not buying any extra supplies for these throw away runs. So they end up being dark runs as well. As long as one of the sacrificial 'heroes' gets out with the loot I'm happy.
So besides gaining gold and finalising the cream of the crop there are 2 more bosses to clear and 1 class to get to 6. More progress needed to clear things up before the DLC content.
I've been enjoying a lot more Crying Suns over the last week and bigtime this last weekend. Lots more progress made. So without too much spoilage I'll waffle on....
The merest sniff of a cryopod and I'm there. Two of my newest additions are my favourites so far.
My progress has been swift, fun and filled with both luck and pain.
That pain is mainly in the form of of being unlucky. Like getting blown up just as I get a 'boss' battleship to the very last 10% health of a first time encounter fight that would have been 'the end'(of the game). Even more unlucky to never get that close again.
Despite some walls of text, the story is good and imho gets better as your journey evolves. Some may say it's a little predictable at times, but that's not me. I've enjoyed the journey, the story and the ending I've seen so far. Even if it's taken a 'few' tries.
I've endured done the last run a few times and settled on the original Excelsior ship or The Void as the best for the final phase.
With the end run, luck, even bad luck seems to be turning into a frustrating grind for me. The end isn't just a boss fight it's the 3 region run plus the boss 'fight';Which is an extended boss battle(and then some). So it's a compounding problem. If you fail it then your specialist clone is in a growing state and unavailable. You could have the ideal setup/upgrades, then with the roll of the dice on your journey you get completely messed up.
Yet if there were a 'save point' post run pre boss it wouldn't 'feel' like a rogue-lite tactical game.
At this point, for me, it's time to step away from the game for a little bit; Then get back to it again once I've recharged my interest in the challenge...
I love this game and not to end on a downer here's some of the things that make the game great.
Ship explosions. Ship explosions after a victory are still a thrill to watch. The burning wreck as it slides out of view.... Add in the music and you get a combination of greatness(Part of what sold the games demo to me). The overall visuals and music really set the scene, make the games universe come alive. The game may have randomness to it's gameplay, it's what makes it great. Take the good with the bad chances.
Before I go negative question CCP's new event the latest patch is good. I'm a Caldari at heart so bonus's to missiles and shield boost tiericide is welcome(this time round). Now the rest...
CCP are doing things awkwardly again(at least imho). The first 'event' for the first quadrant of the year. Yes it's PvP based but it's PvE in a PvP area. On the best of times getting into low sec can be easy enough. Most of the time it's camped. Not just by faction warfare gangs but by general PvP gangs roaming for opportunity.
This is already reminding me of that Amarr event (July or August 2015 maybe?) where everyone who was loyal to that faction were literally funnelled into low sec as part of the 'event'. Meatgrinder to say the least. CCP had to 'apologise' for any misleading interpretations and let players know that if they entered low sec it was 'dangerous'.
I don't see the point of giving players PvE content in a PvP event. Boggles my mind....
Running a theme of PvP and basing it around in game PvE activities. That's just asking players to be ganked, especially in bottleneck systems that are the main ways into low sec. A PvP event should have zero to do with any NPC activity/objective. Let alone skew PvP into a funnel straight to the lions mouth.
CCP have made patch changes to Caldari missile systems/warhead stats with the event. Why not base the 'event' around that. PvP only needs a slight motivation. Get X amount of PvP damage with Y damage type or using only heavy missile...... This game is all PvP all the time, why try and squeeze it into a designated low sec system to PvE......
When I first read that the 1st Quarter was going to be PvP based I fully expected that everywhere was going to burn(Concord on strike etc...), gloves off, Burn Jita style for everyone, towards everyone.
More wasted opportunities...
As this first quarter goes on I'm sure the PvE narrative will move on from low sec space to other area's. Players will be pro or against the PvE forces and kill each other as a by product. If they weren't picked off trying to get there in the first place.
As is this is neither inducive for me on a PvE or PvP level.
It's going to lead to ganking and combat for sure; But CCP could have done that in a much better way without the need for PvE smoke and mirrors. When has PvP ever needed PvE narrative to really kick off(missed sov payment anyone).
All that said and done I've been enjoying doing some mining with an Alpha, minimised as I play Darkest Dungeon. Ore is then transferred to my 'Main' Alpha and used for some T1 production.
I'd have that main doing level 4's if they were still doable by Alpha's; As is there's no real motivation to do level 3's. Why bother with a grind when I can choose to not grind at all and profit my time better. Filaments or other activities are all swarmed with players so are hard to get in on; Or get ganked, ninja'd as you do.....
A game I got free on Epic some time ago, Rebel Galaxy, was of interest to me not only as a space shooter but as it's devs had already caught my attention. The newer Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is set before the previous game so it made sense to play the first game first for context. It was free after all. Not that I have the newer Outlaws game. So far I've not delved into the first game much(a few hours).
Playing Rebel Galaxy today reminds me of Everspace combat, Outlaw even moreso. The unique element of Rebel Galaxy space combat is it's use of broadside firing. Overall the rough universe reminds me of a cross between the Firefly series and Babylon 5. So in my book that's a very good thing. The game is swimming in atmosphere. I've not played much of the game not because the narrative is bad but because I know if I spend time on this game it'll take all my time. Ship upgrades, weapons and equipment upgrading, mining, trading, missions. There's a lot to the game, the main story takes a good 20 hours according to howlongtobeat.com . 50+ as a completionist! I may have time for games but I'm lacking the multi game long haul dedication, game after game...
I really liked the universe and the game in general. It's a game that I'd have been well into not that long ago; But if I'm going to go anywhere near the newer game I need to skip ploughing time into this version. With luck Outlaw will be on Steam later this year at half the price.
Taking a break from the PC I got back to my starter Xbox BF1 version. A change of scene. A scene with a lot more players. I still can't aim properly with the controller; But there's something enjoyable in faffing about on an account where it's all about the fun. Not that it isn't worthy of serious play; Keyboard and mouse is better for me. Not that I take the PC version that seriously, it's more accessible/controllable in my view. Xbox version is 'just a bit of fun'.
I'm still streaming Xbox gameplay to my PC. Most games stream flawlessly(even with other things happening on the 'ol home network). For BF1 this works out great 98% of the time. That other 2 percent can be split into two scenarios. 1% of that as a second of 'normal' lag; The other 1% because the Xbox stream can't handle achievements popup's(I had to edit out 6 or so seconds of frozen/lag/distortion).
Lag happens, achi pop-up freakout happens, the price I pay for convenience.... Still, fun was had:
I've got three Darkest Dungeon saves. The first is my main 'Normal' (Darkest)difficulty save. A save created before any DLC was released. A save I've spent a lot of time with before and after DLC, getting and completing everything. A 629 week Hamlet of pride and joy, so to speak. Doing everything in a save leaves little challenge or new experiences. When the game received changes this lead to the creation of two other saves. A radiant (easy mode) save to 'see the difference', currently 45 weeks(turns) and the other save is my "New Game +" Stygian (hard mode) which is called Bloodmoon these day's, currently sitting on 182 weeks. It's that last save/mode that I've been faffing about with.
The last few weeks have seen me pottering around more than usual with this save. The main campaign is done, DLC is there but not triggered(Crimson Court especially!). With the main campaign done the Bloodmoon 'effects' are gone so its back to a 'real' Stygian mode.
So the save is at a sweet spot where dungeons can be run, gear acquired and gold amassed without to much hassle. But gold is not flush and gear(trinkets) are lacking. Trying to heal and fix my hero roster is resource and time consuming. Unlike my main save where all on my roster are preset teams with trinkets; This save is all add-hoc and unequipped trinkets.
Over time while some tactics and strategies fade others stay with me. There's been an apprehension in my mind at taking on a specific dungeon boss for a while. I've never liked The Cove. While it's Siren boss can be a bit of a pain it's very 'doable'; The Crew on the other hand have some tactics of their own that make them a royal pain to beat. Specifically a health regen that needs a lot of DPS to stop never mind counteract. So my last few runs were more serious and aimed towards getting my own crew(3 level 3's and a level 2) to be good enough to take a trip to that boss and attempt The Drowned Crew. The second iteration of a boss is always a pain. You can't just take in maxed out level 6's to brute force things. Medium boss's need to be done with a medium level crew. I may sound bitchy about that fact but it's usually 'just an inconvenience'; More so when you've got limited resources and trying to aim those efforts into making the level 6's "better". But this boss.... With the health regen really 'gets' to me; So I've avoided it.
So long story short. Hard difficulty save has no DLC content started, has the main campaign done and just needs a few bosses mopped up. Oh and 1 last class gotten to level 6.
So yea, it 'can be' a 'sweet spot' for building resources. Easy to faff about with even in a 'hard' save.
Time to push for a challenge.
The problem with some boss runs is that you can get unlucky with the actual dungeon you need to pass through to get to the boss. So this time in I avoided as much as I could and skipped a lot of looting to keep as much of my starting inventory as possible. Getting my crew to the main objective intact was the point of the run. Tempting as the gold is!
I would have failed the boss if not for a positive sanity check that turned my spot 1 Sheildbreaker into an anti-anchor machine!
So with her benefiting from that sanity check, the crew member couldn't anchor her to allow the main boss regenerate health. By the time I realised that was working multiple times in a row I kind of started to cheese it a bit and then went all in on the DPS.
After the boss kill I went back and looted some bits I'd passed by, I didn't want to push my luck.
I'm glad that that's over. Relieved but not as happy as I thought I'd be. The reality of that sanity check was the only saving grace to an otherwise O.K. run. It would have been a disaster without it. New experience right!? In doing up the video I can see a lot of flaws in what I was doing. A kind of benefit in a retrospective way. To be back on top of the game I need to play more. Especially more seriously with this 'hard mode' save. More lessons to be learnt and relearned.
On a side note; It's fun to watch new players to the game on YouTube. Fun in a 'they don't' know whats ahead' kind of way. Their pain, my pleasure etc.... We've all been there.
Yet some new players find it hard to shake the World of Warcraft group mentality when they form a Darkest Dungeon group. There are plenty of workable groups that don't need a dedicated healer never mind a 'Tank'. Which takes group buffs to really make workable in DD. Yes, I'd rather go with a healer at the back but run a group with dodge buffs rather than any kind of agro redirection to a 'tank'. That's just me and my voice of (my)experience. What works, works well for me, so of course I'm biased. Each to their own. Watching has made me want to dive back into the game more fully. This last boss proves I need to.
I got to do a lot of matches over the combo of Chrimbo & New Year. With the new year in full swing it's now hard to find a server to play on. There's maybe an hour, hour and a half (at a stretch)a night that's got enough players to form decent sized matches based on the weekly theme. That theme recently has been All Modes/All Maps so it's disheartening when I see empty servers. Frustrating to join a server with 4 players; And annoying to get into a match that just has me. Not even many large clan groups about.... BF 1 is a great game even today, but multiplayer gamers are fickle. I'm playing way more out of habit these days than anything else. I can't see myself going to BF V. Was nice to visit in the 'free trial time', just not to stay for me. With the next BF game rumoured to be out mid to late next year(2021) maybe gamers will get back to BF 1.....
The STO character crossovers continue to be spotted at the bank. I've seen a fair few Alien franchise 'Engineers' but this one looks really cool with the armour look. Kudos!
I didn't get to check if the character was an engineering class, but it would make apt sense!
Development for the game is really dead. The monthly content promotion is based on 'featured' and 'curated' contracts. Which I never do. As well as the return of the undying as an Elusive Target. I don't think there's many more ways left for me to kill him. The novelty has really worn off, the Sean Bean death joke isn't funny here any more.
Given my lack of motivation for the game and the apparent end of anything new incoming I might just call Hitman 2 "done" as an active game for me.... Maybe I'll get back to it for some retro achievement clearing but I think it's time to call it time.....
The latest batch of Games with Gold contained Styx: Shards of Darkness. I've played and enjoyed the first game and this follow up is no disappointment. It's a great game. Like the first I may never be back and replay it but it's fun and worth doing at least once. That sounds more harsh than it really is. I'm surprised at the ease of the new crafting systems integration. I don't mind a little extra gathering of resources for it. But overall I'm really glad Styx still has his attitude/one liners.
The latest patch was applied today for PC and enabled the reworked Borg TFO's. These TFO's are now the bases for earning the last part of the current T6 token. I've already reached the token with the previous event but I'll do this one for the weapons unlock. I'm not sure if my overall progress will count if there is a new T6 token campaign.
Doing the reworked TFO's it's nice to see the the new UI enhancement progress pointers. Nice big targets, X marks the spot. Shoot here. Some groups need all the help they can get.
If your newer or never run the TFO before you now no longer need to watch out for someone who knows what to do and mimic them. I hope there will be more of the same reworking done throughout the game.
I'll probably put more effort into the event with my Xbox character, she still needs the ship reward.
So CCP are going back to doing things in a shorter time-frame. Quadrants, of a year. So Quarterlies really. Like it's a new thing. CCP've been changing so much over the years it's hard to remember when they did such things before. Not quiet a new gimmick. Why do things bi-annually when you can do things in quarters. Personally I used to like when they did things in a major update format, chang the screen animation and music to be thematic etc. Like so much else that all got scrapped. Maybe there's hope for things going quarterly. There's so much adjustment in how CCP makes changes to both their development plans for the game and development as a company. All ad-hoc, change after change. Decisions built on decisions. Good and bad. Lessons learnt, or not all.
When I waffle on like this it's because I'm passionate about Eve Online, a game at it's core that's a sandbox sensation like no other. It could be so much more to everyone in game never mind draw in and keep more players. Yet, CCP still can't seem to find that long term hook. CCP only seems to do in the box or way outside the box thinking. That mid-ground, all things to all people stuff can't be seen for the trees. IMHO.
2012; Has it really been so long since Inferno......
So CCP is back to a more short term time based development cycle with added bells and whistles of a 'potentially' overdeveloped theme. Needless to say I read the news and details of this with some guffawing and eye rolling. As much as I love the game I'm no shill or lapdog. I'm a salty bitter burned veteran of the game, least I can do is waffle about it. In all their waffle about these new changes(and it was real waffle); For all they say, for all they state, it's all prefaced with one single word that lets them off the hook with following through with any of there statement of good intent. "MAY".
The start sounds good, exciting even:
" EVE Online will be splitting the year into four sections - Quadrants - that will allow for releases, events, offers and more to exist within a given theme for that period of time. The first of these Quadrants for 2020 will be "Fight or Flight" starting 16 January, which will be themed around PvP in EVE, and will offer explosive rewards, challenges and changes! "
There's an awful lot of "will" in that statement; But the next part has the "may" get out of jail free card:
" Each Quadrant may contain seasonal events, balance changes and game health improvements, permanent meta changes, challenges and rewards that could be themed, for example, around a particular style of gameplay, or any aspect of EVE. "
That second part really does undo the first. In expectation and in terms of 2020 sounding like all quadrants will be PvP based("Quadrants for 2020 will be "Fight or Flight").
WTAF. I'm a casual carebear and bitter enough as it is.
This kind of unclear messaging is as frustrating as I find CCP to be.
Why make a list of potential if you then say you may not actually go through with it.
Why give hope for so much and then backpedal in the same statement.
Boggles my mind....
Why not just leave the first part as:
' Eve Online development will be splitting the year into four sections - Quadrants '
There's no real expectation there, so leave the second part to do that...
' Each Quadrant may contain seasonal events, balance changes and game health improvements, permanent meta changes, challenges and rewards that could be themed, for example, around a particular style of gameplay, or any aspect of EVE. '
Isn't that so much better.....
Better than a jarring 'will' of intent that 'may' happen.
Then do the first quadrant theme as a separate thing..... Even if it's all PvP all year.
Like I said I'm a casual carebear. If the game is going fully PvP themed for 3 months with the potential for 12 PvP months I need to know about that. I'm concerned and all I have are alpha accounts. If your a carebear and you pay I'd be cancelling my sub(s). Glad I already did that years ago.
Over the last month or two I've seen adverts for Albion Online. It reminds me of a cross between two games I've played. A 'lite' version of Divinity Original Sin 2's in game mechanics and the looks of Torchlight 2. It's a game that's taken my interest but never my full attention so I've not installed it. Why mention it at all? Because I found something better while watching TheLazyPeon; A game called Hordes.....
Hordes.IO A web based MMO so no installer necessary. It got my interest and attention straight away. I like the art style of the game, the day/night cycle in particular. I've played about an hour of it, not much granted but enough to get through the tutorial in a very leisurely manner; And then faff about a bit. Here's my first 30 mins of noobing in the game:
It did have an advert at the top of the screen at times which I've greyed out in the video so it's got 'issues' from my pedestal view; But I won't hold it against a one man developer/creator. It's a great, cute looking, fun, engaging game. Yes it's a bit grindy for levelling, but group up and it's a far better game. I've never been more pro PvP at the start of my time in an MMO. Worth a look.
While I wasn't a fan of the Totally Accurate Battlegrounds FPS; Totally Accurate Battle Simulator on the other hand is a much more fun distraction. I'd claimed it at some stage as a freebie on Epic. It always looked fun for it's rag-doll gimmicky, yet I'd never really been interested in trying it. Looking at Youtube video's was enough for me. Till I noticed for some reason that it was already installed. I may have misclicked install when I claimed it. But seeing as it was installed I might as well have a look....
The sandbox open battlegrounds are fun enough to mess about with but it's the 'campaign' modes that are the more fun for me. Combat puzzles, choose what force composition(via a points based unit system)to field and win. Good to mess about with for however long it keeps my interest.
