All Posts by zantax

Black Ork - ToeBreaker

Well I quit playing warlocks back about 1 month after Burning Crusade came out.   I wanted to quit probably after the first 6 months after Warlocks became something they should never have become.  Warlocks became Shadow Priests mixed with mages, and no matter how you speced your warlock you were not unique.  I got tired of my pet being useless even after I fully speced to be a demonologist.  I hated that in order to contend in BG I had to spec affliction or Destruction.  None of these specs made the Warlock a character worth playing, or made them unique.  You were never better then any other class for anything, Priests could drain better then you, mages could nuke better then you  and hunters well lets face it there pets could walk on you.  The Warlock had the potential to be one of the best classes out there but Blizzard screwed that up.

Sorry but I don't think WOTLK is going to make people quit playing Warlocks in Droves I think blizzard did that over the last few years.  I am tired of playing a game that the characters are not unique, that is why I quit WOW and I am on the search for a game that will satisfy my hunger for a real MMO.

AC will work on vista right up to Vista Ultimate x64, so you shouldn't have a problem there.  The problem lies in the antivirus software you have, and this is the only reason I am not playing.  If you have any of the main stream AV software out on the market, Mcafee, Norton, Avast...etc they game won't start.  Disabling the software does nothing to help it run, you actually have to uninstall the AV software.  Now please understand I haven't tried in 2 months things may have changed, and if they have let me know here because I will be back in AC in a heartbeat.

Ok so like many people when I first heard about WAR comming out I rushed out and applied to be in the Beta.  As usual I didn't get in right away, but I figured no biggy I should get an invite to Open beta at least, since I entered my name back when the Beta Ticker read about 100k people have applied.  Now I hear that the only people that will get into OPEN beta are people who preorder the Friggen game.  WTF is that, I mean I can understand haveing a prestart for people where if you preorder your automaticly in beta and your character will continue into release without being wiped, but this is crap.  What is the point of having a beta sign up if your gonna let all of the people who pre-buy the game in first.  I am very dissapointed but I guess that is what happens, I will just wait for the release and then go see the game at a buddies house first.  How about you do you think it is right or not?

Does it matter which stick you remove or do removing any of the sticks result in the same memory count?  Also have you tried just 3 sticks and then juggled them into all the slots to make sure the memory count does not change?  Last thing do a BIOS flash make sure you have the latest version of the BIOS, maybe there is a glitch in there?

I have replied to this thread once but I just feel like replying again, the reason being I LOVED this game, and still think that turbine should restart the franchise.  I read someone's post talking about how AC was a true addiction, and how you thought about it 24x7.  This couldn't be more true.

Back in the day around the shadow wars or invasion, I remember a buddy of mine and I were playing quite heavely every night.  Each day we would play for a few hours after work then head over to Arbys and get some Arbys roast beef sandwiches.  Now the reason we did this was because they were 5 for 5$, not the juniors, the regular Roast beefs.  We each would get 10 and eat 3-5 sitting there talking about what we should do in the game next.  What the dev chat had to say, or what we figured they should do differently with the game.  Then we would go home and start playing untill we were to tired to play anymore, so about 3 or 4 am.  The next day work and talk on the phone about it and then that night rinse and repeat.  Man we spent alot of time dedicated to this game.

I remember when Counter Strike came out, I took some time and played it ALOT, but I alway kept playing AC, at this time I was just starting to take on the Olthoi Acid dungeon.  I remember going down in there and getting to the bridges and rebuffing, and watching others die accross the bridges, I kept at it over and over again.  I played both of these games so much I started to have dreams about them...first it was a Counterstrike dream where an olthoi attacked me but I killed it with my MP5 and when I woke up i thought that was a cool dream.  Then I had a dream I was my sword fighter in AC, and I was in the acid dungeon, I was taking on tons of Olthoi mowing through them all, and I got to the bridges.  Each time I stood up to heal I misty holographic display would apear in my field of view and I could select things from my inventory just by looking at them.  In my inventory bag there was a wierd icon I had never seen before but I ignored it, I had Olthoi to kill.  Then while on the bridges i cleard out everything near me and saw another adventurer a few bridges over about to die, I stood up and selected thise weird icon then realized I was now scoping in with an AWP from Counterstrike.  I quickly sniped the 4 Olthoi on him and he said thanks as I heard the classic "ffft" sound as something respawns, I spun around standing up and saw something that should not be in this dungeon, a Olthoi Noble, I quickly tried to select my sword and sheild and get read for this epic battle but before I could do anything I took 4 lances from his pincers through the shoulders and guts.  Everything to pink/blue instantly as I saw a tunnel and materialized at the lifestone naked, everyone looked at me and I said, "$HIT" and ran off to retrieve my stuff.  This was when I realized I had to give it up, dreaming about the game is an indicator of being to addicted.  So I took the next logical step, I quit playing CounterStrike....LOL

As for going back to the game, yes the world seems kinda bare but my old guild is still there.  I played for a month and quit, I was having to many problems with antivirus/vista/ac so untill they fix that problem I can't continue to play.

Ok maybe I am missing something here, are you running XP x64 now?  If so then a stick of your memory isn't fully installed, reseat them all, and see what the bios says, forget about windows at the moment.  If the BIOS reads 4xxx then you have 4 gigs and it is a windows problem, if it reads 3xxx then it is a memory module or board problem.  If it is only showing 3Gig in the BIOS then shut off the PC and pull 1 stick of memory and power up the computer and check again.  Keep doing this till you pull one stick that does not affect the BIOS 3Gig value.  Once you determine which stick it is and what slot it was in, pull one of the other sticks and put it into that slot to make sure it isn't the slot, then if the good stick works in the slot you pulled the "bad" stick out of chances are you have a bad stick of memory.  To prove further put it into the known good slot and if it doesn't work there then take it back.

Once you know the BIOS sees the 4Gig then look at windows, but I think you will find that:

A) One stick isn't fully seated or seated incorrectly

B) One stick of memory is bad

C) One slot is bad on the motherboard

D) You are still useing xp 32 and need to be smacked....LOL jk

I think it will be a-b-c let us know what you find out.

I like Turbine, they have done a few good things, there game engine for AC2 was so advanced that nothing really could run it properly, so they polished it up and used it in DnD and LOTRO and to me LOTRO in full DX10 is one of the most beautiful MMO's I have ever played.  I played AC back in the day, basicly launch and I found that AC was a great game and the Dev's did try to apease most of the players.  They held constructive monthly dev chats and answered alot of the questions that were asked.  Now no company in the world is going to make everyone happy, but Turbine tries real hard.

Which brings me to the failure of AC2, people on here are saying that they sold the expansion then announced they were shutting the game down.  If you remember your history correct they did mention they were going to shut the game down but thought they might as well get this expansion out there and see if that could generate enough spark to reignite AC2, it didn't so they shut it down.  They didn't lie to anyone about it they just said it the way it was. 

As for being the best MMO company out there, well I would definatly rank them high up there, but not the best.  I also don't think a companies sucess is defined by one titles crappy release, or failure to make the masses happy.  So in that respect I would say NCsoft/Cryptic, Mythic, Turbine all hold the top spots on this question.  These companies put out products and don't try to change them like SOE does, or Blizzard, they put out games with a theme and stick to it.  Heck even Blizzard doesn't do that, if you think about it really, the leveling system in WOW is pointless, everyone should just be level 70  with epic gear and do battlegrounds all day, this is what they have turned there game into, nothing more then Call of Duty 4 with a different theme.

Log on - Choose character of the 5 I have at level 70 (Choose class eg sniper, assault, Medic) - find battleground (Match) - Enter and kill everyone (shoot anyone on the opposite team or heal my team), get prizes at the end (gain badges for achievments), rinse and repeat. 

So instead of World of Warcraft maybe we should start calling it Call of Warcraft 4: Wrath of the Lich Dictator  ... LOL  Anyways you get what I am saying I hope.

Just to put in my 2 cents on this, I have seen games that were sandbox and alot of games that people CLAIM to be sandbox games.  In reality there is only 1, thats right 1 TRUE sandbox game, and before anyone jumps up and says, "EVE" your wrong.  The very thing in EVE that everyone thinks is so great is the exact reason it is not a sandbox game.  You see training skills takes time, yes you can train any of them but the time it takes is what stopps it from being a sandbox game.  I will agree in every other aspect EVE is a sandbox style game but it falls just short of the "Sandbox" title.  Well now your wondering what could possibly be a TRUE Sandbox game, well there is only one True Sandbox MMO out there and that is "Second Life".  This game is the only TRUE sandbox game out there, you can go anywhere, and do anything you want in the game.  The only skills you have are what you have and everyone has an equal ability to affect the entire game world.

I know alot of people don't want to agree with me but if you look at all the arguments for what a sandbox style MMO is and the games that exist today only Second Life meets all the criteria.  Eve is second, and many many more come close but not exibit all of the Sandbox elements the way SL does.  So they do exist but there is only 1 that covers all the bases.

Originally posted by mo0rbid

I've tried with both a Visa and a MasterCard and none of em works.

Well i would just go to there site http://turbine.fuzeqna.com/turbinesupport/consumer/kbdetail_qaonly.asp?kbid=20&ao=t

and there is a phone number there along with an e-mail chat about your account, and I know on Monday you will be able to live chat with someone via the internet and you could ask them why you can't create an account.  I find the most likely reason for an account not being created with a CC is that people put in there home address but there credit card bills come to a different address.  This would cause an error, I would just double check the information is entered correctly.

Anyways good luck and I think you will love the game once you get in and start playing.

I used to play WOW back in the 40 man days as well, and really I didn't like it much.  The game was way to predictable and I hated the end game content.  I don't like the idea that people say WOW really begins at 70, the end game is the best part of WOW.  If that is the case then WOW is terrible just people haven't realized it or haven't opened there eyes to what is out there.

Compared to WOW LOTRO is a damn beautiful game, if you have the ability to do DX10 then I highly suggest it, to see the sunlight shining through the trees creating leaf shadows that move on the ground...awwing is all I can say.  Turbine put alot of love into the art of this game and of course had to follow a strict storyline as not to tick off any Tolkin fans.  The game is alot slower passed, but you do feel like your apart of something bigger, especially if your into the story.  Personally I never made it to max level in LOTRO just not enough time to devote to it with my GF and 2 jobs.  However if you like storys I would definatly play LOTRO.

I hope you like your experiance, and remember Turbine will be giving out update after update with this game so it will ALWAYS be changing.

Originally posted by Wolfenpride

A sandbox mmo is eve online, go figure it out yourself im to lazy to type anymore

I have to dissagree with this statement, while Eve is a very open ended game it is not a true sandbox game.  The reason being is your character development is curved and based on time.  The skill system in it is what makes it a non-sandbox game, however it is the closest a "Game" can come to a Sandbox game.  There is only 1 true sandbox MMO out there and that is Second Life, now don't get me wrong I am not promoting Second Life, personally I hate it simply because there is no "game" like structure to it.  There are no goals at all in the game that you can even search out, only create and do what you can do normally in the real world.  If you know how to code you can make things to sell, if you don't then all you can do is talk to people...like I said no real goals in the game.  Eve on the other hand does have some goals preset for you, those are the missions, but to advance you don't need to participate in them.  You could go your entire Eve Career and just Mine for profit.  Again though the skill system is the only thing really that stops Eve from being a TRUE Sandbox MMORPG.

Another game that came close I feel is Asherons Call, the only thing that really stopped it from being a full "Sandbox MMORPG" was the "levels" in it.  I know the level really didn't mean anything other then a marker because your experiance was spent on skills and attributes.  The only thing the "level" did was determine really when you got more skill credits to buy new skills.  Other then that AC is the next closest thing to a true "Sandbox MMORPG".

Wow, all I can say is wow.  I won't ever come back to World of Warcraft again, the game had potential back when it was released but now Blizzard is screwing up the game even more then normal.  Why do I say this you might ask, well it is easy Blizzard has turned what could have being a great class based MMO into a carebear version of an MMO.  The classes them selves were ment to contradict each other, people complained when the Paladin was able to destroy an undead with the blink of an eye but that is the way the Class system is supposed to be.  Balance in a class based system is nothing more then a carebear system.

Now one of my favorite types of characters gets screwed once more, the Warlock again is screwed over.  First one of the biggest reason people chose the Warlock was the Infernal as a pet then we find out all the conditions and the recharge timer.  Next we can't name our pets, that is fine, but now we don't have talent trees for our pets?  I mean come on this is pathetic instead of really fixing things that are wrong with the game they are just making the game more carebearish.  Its pathetic, I can't believe the people in this world are willing to fork over 10000000x 13$/month for this game.  There is so much that is horrible about it now.  People will flame me for saying all of this, but oh well.

Originally posted by skeaser

Norton sucks. I prefer Avast!, AVG is good too, but I just like Avast! better. Both are free and both just plain work. Unfortunatley, Vista has issues with some programs and I've been forced to use Microsoft OneCare, and I HATE it.

Sorry just have to ask this, What programs does vista not like in reference to antivirus.  I have run Vista x64 ultimate since release with Avast loaded on it and never had one issue, well ok only 1 issue but that is with a very old game.  For some reason Asheron's Call doesn't like almost ANY antivirus on Vista, but I am working with the Avast team to get that fixed.

As for myself I use Avast, for the simple reason it seems like the first one that was x64 compatible, took me 2 days to find it after x64 xp came out and I haven't looked back.  Other then that AVG looks good but I personally don't like it for some reason.  All the other AV programs out there just seem to tank a system to bad, they affect performance and that bothers me, I hardly know Avast is running until it updates.

This may be a bit more info then you need but here is a link to a website that explains what your looking for...
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/guides/ac_gg/p1_01.html

Reading this thread was great, I remember the great crystal in the PVP dungeon on all servers.  It was part of some story arc quest and on every server except 1 the crystal was killed within a week or 2.  Except on one server where a PvP guild decided instead of killing it, defend it, and sacrafice yourselves to it.  The results were that these guys kept letting the crystal kill them and eventually it would level up becomming tougher and tougher.  They would also defend the crystal from all quest goers in an attempt to alter the outcome of the story on that server.  Unfortunatly after like 25 days of holding down the fort the servers had a problem and needed a reboot, which then reset the crystal and the guild could not log in quick enough to save it.  It was an amazing month...

To answer your question in my own words let me just say if AC didn't have a "Level" in it I believe it would be considered the best "Sandbox" style mmo out on the market today.  Read that link above if you still don't get it ask again I would be more then happy to give my own thoughts on the system and explain it to the best of my ability.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

NEW element : important:

....

All good designed MMORPG have sandbox elements in them. Whether you like it or not.

No use bending this.

But it is trivial to discuss this because the total implementation of a real sandbox game is NON existent.

Why?

Look at Conan TODAY on these forums: they finally found out now that in allowing 100 people to ONE zone made the game not even playable. Immens FPS drops of course due to the laughable data manipulations needed to annimate the thing in the "sandboxes of siege sytems".

Guess what happens with so called "real real real sandbox games" where the players are totally FREE to change the worlds.

So I only see the evolution of SOME elements of sandboxes. Like crafting a house or a keep BUT VERY WELL preprogrammed AND controlled by the developpers.

Now keep on dreaming and look what I always stated : I believe in polished prepared MMORPG's with proper analysed gameplay (and here and there sandbox elelements).

All the rest is: PERSONAL definitions.

 

Zorndorf, I have read alot of this thread and I must say your points are like looking at medow through a forest of Trees.  You have only ever scratched the surface of what a true "Sandbox MMORPG" is, for further description go back to I think page 26 of this post and read my post.  You really don't know what your talking about I hate to say it, you either:

a) are just messing around trying to tick people off hence your a troll

b) Really believe this crap that you are posting and don't know any better

c) your a moron that has no idea what he is talking about.

Well to me I think you fall in to the b category, so why don't you sign up for more games then WOW, and see what real MMO's are like.  EQ is still around do there free trial, why not try Asheron's Call out, even Second Life and EVE.  Don't put in 2 hours on each, finish the trials and play them as much as you played WOW.  If by the end of that you still don't understand then I guess you can stick to your Linear based MMO's.

For the rest of us we have played most of these games and fully understand the evolution of MMO's today and if you start saying AOC or WOW are the pinicale of MMO's then I feel very sad for the imagination of todays youths.  I was only in final Beta for AOC and I can say that game was definatly not a "Sandbox", I played WOW from Beta for about a year and I know that game is not a "Sandbox".  You are right on one thing though, every MMO out has "Sandbox" elements in it in some way shape or form, except for 1.

That is right there is only 1 true full blown "Sandbox MMORPG" out there right now, and its name is Second Life.  Unfortunatly I don't qualify it as a game at all though because there is nothing to strive for at all, and that is why I don't play it.  Entertainment factor of a game means that there has to be something to strive for a goal at some point.  That is the first step back into a Linear MMO, and that step is shown in EVE.  Eve is the closest thing to a True "Sandbox MMORPG" that we have out on the market, the only problem as I have stated in a previous thread is the skill system, it is a linear based learning curve, this moves it away from a "Sandbox MMORPG".

Now I have gone through this all before so I will address a different part of this post, your statement, "Look at Conan TODAY on these forums: they finally found out now that in allowing 100 people to ONE zone made the game not even playable. Immens FPS drops of course due to the laughable data manipulations needed to annimate the thing in the "sandboxes of siege sytems"."  Many MANY  games have allowed more then 100 people into one zone for an event or PvP battle, Funcom has even had this issue before, anyone remember the Open Beta for Anarchy Online?  The point I am making is back in the day with Asheron's Call I can remember 200 or more easy people all battling it out on the PvP server right at the newb login areas.  I mean it was mass chaos.  Back then that game was not state of the art but it pushed your machine, and they were able to do it no problem, so why haven't companies like Funcom learned from others on how to do things like no instancing properly?

Anyways another issue your doing is comparing WOW to "Sandbox" by saying "At end game" Whoa right there, we are not talking End game to begin with.  We are talking the game as a whole, not just one portion of the game.  Besides even WOW's End game is not a "Sandbox" you are still pigoen holed into a class, and 1 of 3 talent trees or a mixture.  Not to mention some people won't even allow you into there Raids if your not a specific talent spec.  Your progression at End game is to find better gear that is it, and the fact that there is an "end game" is another issue with WOW not being a Sandbox.  Let me ask you this, can you be effective logging in for the first time and getting invited into an Onyxia Raid?  No you can't it just disqualified itself as a "Sandbox MMORPG" right there, but 1 or 2 elements of "Sandbox" are there.  You can pick a direction and start running right from login, will you get far probably not but it is your choice to do that.  Do you have to quest at all in the game, no you don't that is your choice.  That is where the "Sandbox" Title ends with WOW, the rest of the game is a Linear Spoon Feed Game no different then the RPG's of old like "Pools of Radiance"  The only difference is there is a chat engine to converse with others.

Originally posted by Hrica

-----------------> What ever happend to Sanbox MMOs?

one word

 

CATS!

 

seriously though, sandbox mmos are kinda a niche nowadays, people like hand holding.

ROTFLMAO BEST POST EVER!!!!

I think everyone is getting bogged down in a definitive definition of the phrase, "Sandbox MMORPG".  While I agree a true Sandbox game would have no barriers, and no levels everyone would be able to do anything, hence the "game" Second Life.  The only TRUE to the meaning of "Sandbox MMORPG" is Second Life.  Eve isn't true to the meaning, but it is very close, the reason being is the progression of skills, that is the only thing holding back Eve from being a full meaning of "Sandbox MMORPG".

Now before I go any further I have to say that I used to be a bigger pencil and paper RPG'er back in the day.  I played D&D, AD&D, Robotech, Rifts, Hero's...etc.  These games were not even true Sandbox style games, yes you could go where you wanted, yes you could do what you wanted, but you were limited by your level and your skills.  At some point you had to find a way to make experience to advance a skill, an example of this is in the Robotech RPG if you succesfully perform a skill you can get a % of a point into that skill.  I forget the full wording in the book, but if you did backflips useing your gymnastics skill over and over your Backflip skill could max out at 98%.  Either way you had to spend the time to get to that point.  From that point on if you decided to go do a backflip then you were sure to succeed.

Now to cross this with a game that is not as adaptive as a Human powered brain GM is quite difficult, because a human GM can taylor quests to your character and your skill sets.  Also they can adapt creatures so that you stand a chance if they made them to tough.  A video game can't do this right now, and I really don't know when one will.  Until that time we have to make due with what we can create to make a fun experience for everyone.

So the MMORPG is born, and in some cases they are based alot on the Linear progression of the Pencil and paper MMO like, WOW, and in some cases they are loosely based on the Linear progression like Eve, and in one case not based on any linear progression at all, Second Life.  So where does that leave us for our Sandbox MMORPG's??

Well we have to take the best of all the worlds that we can, some games have tried this and failed, others have succeded but not to the finacial standing of WOW.  Also we can't just look at End Game, that is just stupid because the whole point of an RPG is to live out a fictional life there is no real end to it.  So to me the best mix of "Sandbox", "MMO", and "RPG" would be this.  The freedom to go anywhere as a newb, that's right if I want to go into the heart of darkness I should be able to try, I prob