MMO Comparisons. ^^b

[yoshikwalla]

Tried XI for the billionth time... couldn't get past the low-level-super-boring-grind-from-hell. Killing bees, then killing bees, then killing bees... mindbreakingly hearing the first ten or twenty seconds of the battle theme play repetitively before moving on... occasionally switching my book levequest thingie as I progress further in level... slowly running back to the city to get a new exp ring and re-casting signet and selling crystals... Patience is a virtue, yes... but this kind of patience is unrewarding, tasteless, and gratingly boring. If the developers were to add one thing in the new expansion, it's some sort of interesting lower-levelled content.

In Final Fantasy XIV, even at launch, I arrived on caravan into an Ul'dahn parade and fought a goddamned Gobbue, then started to solve a political controversy, while having fun doing leves in a big group with my irl friends. The game systems were broken as hell and I lagged pretty badly, but at least I had some semblance of progression and fun for my time invested in the lower levels, unlike XI. In Final Fantasy XI, I walk into San'Doria/Bastok/Windurst and struggle through the boring-ass grind and unbelievably counter-intuitive interface. Anyone who says that XIV 2.0's interface should be more like XI's deserves to have their mouth sewn out and their vocal cords surgically removed and their fingers chopped off. I have a lot of friends who are far in the game so I'll just watch then play like I sometimes do, and watching the cutscenes on YouTube.

I just wish that I could get over that barrier because I really want to participate in that endgame.

Tried AION again... bajillions of gold farmers. At level 30, my blocklist was full of them, and that's just from the occasional trip to Sanctum to turn in quests and get new skillbooks. However, I heard there's this legal mod that autoblocks them, and I'm having a lot of fun with group content. At almost level 40, I kick ass as a Templar tank... so much that people ask for me to tank again and again. The content is much less grindy and more streamlined, especially when using the free exp bonus items and levelling on the fast-track server. Content comes at a decent pace and the servers aren't... that bad... Might go see that through. It's much better than how it was. The PVE community so far is nice, but that's probably because I tank well (Tanking A-labs with players 7 levels above me, and still holding aggro over the mages like a boss) and form groups a lot... and thanks to the fast track server, I can get help on my campaign quests quickly. The gear grind is rng-based but worth it. I wish I could say the same for enchanting and mana-socketing... *cough* But there are cash-shop and event-based items that get rid of that.

Tried Mabinogi again. Bad idea for now. Servers are mismanaged as hell and there are bugs and glitches galore. The battle system still remains as the most frustratingly, skilltasticly fun battle system ever, but when combined with the latency, lag, and class imbalances, gets me killed a LOT. Nexon's customer support still remains the worst in human civilization. They do come out with content a lot... and a lot of it I am very interested in, and the story is amazing. However, I can never get to that content because there is always something.

Hoowwweeeevvverrrr, the game's faults are becoming less prevalent with every patch (which is good), the servers are becoming more stable (which is great), and after speaking with Sabina, the community representative, I found out that they'll be getting a higher budget and hiring more GMs (which is amazing). Right now isn't a good time to play mabinogi, but I definately plan to once I finish my military service in three or four years. At the rate they're going, they'll have an amazing game by 2016. Plus, the community is increasing a lot every day, especially on alexina. Newbies run amok and there are more than a lot of helpful players. The community still stands to be amazing and resilient against all of the game's flaws... much like the community of FFXI.

I may or may not be in the Alpha, but if I were, then I would have completed pretty much everything it has. *cough* And enjoyed it a lot.

After a long break, MineCraft remains as my go-to game. I made a new file and I'm hard-coring the crud out of it. I always seem to find something new to do, especially when it comes to redstone circuitry. Soon I plan on messing around with fireworks, and maybe hosting a server launch fireworks contest once it goes live. After playing since alpha, MineCraft remains as my most beloved game.

So far, I'm thinking AION and MineCraft. I'm skilled at both and I'm going to be making a small MC server next month so I can play with friends.