Livin' after FRIDAY, rocking too the dawn

[bob48]

One of the reasons why I stopped playing 3+ years ago.

...you need to join a decent Guild :-)

[Huw the Poo]

Well I'm on the starter account at the moment so I can't.  I'll probably continue until the starter account limit of level 20 but so far it's not looking likely that I'll buy a subscription!

[MetalDog]

Several hours of Sovereignty: Crown of Kings.  For Early Access, it plays pretty well.  The game mechanics make sense and the balance of always needing something and never quite having enough are there, too.  There's no RPG to it, like CK2.  There are no buildings to build or research to discover.  No.  This is manage your resources, armies and economy and pursue your objectives.  Pure and simple.  And I even like the tactical battles. 

[JudgeDredd]

I got to about level 50 or so and became very bored with the very obvious "matrix" the enemies used.

The enemies get stronger and you get more powers and progression kind of slowed - but the obvious matrix was the killer for me. Once I spotted that formula, I couldn't play it anymore.

[Bison]

I'm not sure exactly what the AOW III 1.5 update and the DLCs added to the base game, but I'm loving the game now.   

[Anguille]

Did not have the time to play much. Just played about 15 -20 turns of my campaign in Endless Space....not much yet it takes longer than it seems. Turn processing is slow in this game (around turn 170).

[spelk]

My "rotation" thus far has been precisely one spell.  This is how I've fought in WoW so far: press 1.  Press 1.  Press 1.  Choose another target.  Press 1.  Press 1.  Press 1.

It's utter bollocks.

Guild Wars 2 is light years ahead of where WoW is now, even with its updates. Modern MMO's just have more options on how you play, what you do, and what you can do. GW2 doesn't even have a monthly sub. I was all over any MMO for years and years, and the GW series is my fallback. It's low cost and max options. F2P stuff like DCOU or MH or STO or Neverwinter or DDO or LOTRO they give you enough to get going, but often "nickel and dime" / "penny and shilling" ;) you later on.

[Huw the Poo]

I don't mind a cash shop in a free to play game as long as it's done right.  Rift's is the best example I've seen; literally thousands of cosmetic items, mounts, gear etc all for very reasonable prices, but no way to gain an advantage over those who don't spend money.

[Nefaro]

I'm not sure exactly what the AOW III 1.5 update and the DLCs added to the base game, but I'm loving the game now.

The DLCs and Updates have improved the experience quite a bit. 

[JasonPratt]

Worth noting that Lotro (a) goes on sale occasionally and once packs are bought there's no need to keep paying for online content (except cosmetic fluff which is completely optional); (b) seems pretty capable of unlocking most or all story content if the side missions are drained out progressively as you go.

So playing to get the maximum story experience can be free; but it costs to skip ahead to the main story parts.

(I bought all the expansion packs for sale around $10 or $15 total back at Christmas. ;) )

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, I rather surprisingly didn't get much gaming done over the weekend. But last night I picked back up on my Russian Darkest Hour AAR mod campaign for several hours. I haven't updated my AAR on it yet, though.

[Kushan]

I played a little bit of everything Saturday morning. Finished up chapter 1 of my EUIV - Austria AAR. It should be going up later this afternoon. From this point forward I'll be using the new El Dorado DLC and patch. It might break the save but I'm willing to risk it.

I re-installed Diablo 3 Saturday afternoon and that kicked everything else to the curb after that. Forgot just how addicting mindlessly killing undead/demons can be.