Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Women's armor in MMO's

I read a post today on MMOSite.com about women's armor trends in MMO's "13 Ridiculous Female Armors ...", something I've always found disturbing, annoying and fascinating. 

We know that the majority of Dev/Designers are men, so obviously all women warriors should be in bikinis as they definitely protect you in battle!  It really seems to be a common trend in MMO's these days, as I remember in EQ2, that all my characters had adequate armor that cover the vital parts, kind of like armor is suppose to!

Now though it seems to be almost ALL MMO's have hired lingerie artists to make the female armor.  It would be better if you could pin point one MMO at fault, but it is across the board in all MMOs sadly.

I know I've had a major bitch about this for years. Why my female characters are in chainmail bikinis and/or high heels, yet the male counterpart looks like something you actually might survive a battle in is beyond me.

The Secret World, I'm glad to say does give you a variety of clothing from the super slutty to completely covered head to toe to business attire to the truly strange.  But at least there are options!  Not well here it is!  I remember one year my Priest in WoW was in shadow form all the time as the hot pants she had to wear were so embarrassing short, but they were the best gear I had at that level.

It's definitely a sore subject for many women that I game with, as yes we want it to be pretty/cute, but functional!  There's a place and a time for sexy, but more specifically it should be a CHOICE to dress that way, not the only option. 

I love this video from College Humor - Female Armor Sucks
(the link isn't working properly)


Here's a few links I found on Repair Her Armor of interesting blogs about this topic.

Repair Her Armor

Escher Girls

Bikini Armor Battle Damage
** Bikini Armor has a long list of related blogs **



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Rift will be Free to Play (F2P) June 12

Big announcement from Trion today that RIFT is going F2P (Free to Play) on June 12, 2013.

Personally, I'm not surprised by this announcement as so many MMO's have found a new breathe of life adopting a F2P model and many have increased revenue with a more ala carte approach. 

As long as a game doesn't degenerate into a "Buy to Win" philosophy, I'm all for the F2P/Cash Shop model.  A few of the games that I think have great F2P/Cash Shop models is SOE with Planetside 2 (you can buy or grind a specific item, but only by playing can you upgrade it/no game purchase is required though), Turbine with LoTRO and FunCom with The Secret World (both of these do require a game purchase, and added content is available for purchase in their cash shop).

Conversely I wasn't very keen on EA's F2P model for TOR.

What this holds for Veterans (Patrons for Rift) that have pre-paid subs or want premium membership will be fleshed out in the coming weeks.  Some of the items mentioned are nice, but will it be worth the price of admission??  And for those of us that have pre-paid annually... ?  One only hopes!

There is a good over-view of the upcoming changes over on the Rift site.  There is also a Dev Diary video on YouTube.

The big question, how long before Blizzard takes WoW F2P? When subs drop below 1 million.... maybe!




Sunday, May 12, 2013

Planetside 2 New Player Tutorial - PTR!

AGN (Auraxis Global Network) Instant Action has a YouTube video out regarding the New Player Tutorial currently on the Public Test Realm.

It will be helpful for those coming from a strictly MMO background as well as those coming from FPS, as PS2 definitely has more complexity to it with the variety of classes, vehicles as well as strategies behind capturing bases, etc.

Glad SOE is finally putting one of these out, about six months late, but better late than ever!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Secret World Golden Weekend! May 3rd-May 5th

This coming weekend everyone can enjoy tons of bonuses in The Secret World. Make sure you don’t miss this great opportunity to reap some very valuable rewards.

During this Golden Weekend event, from Friday the 3rd until Sunday the 5th of May, you can enjoy the following bonuses:

Double Ability Points! – Every time you earn an Ability Point during the event you also get an additional one as a bonus. This stacks with the bonus from Timed Ability Point boosts from the Item Store.

Free Membership Months for Recruiting! – For every new player you recruit this weekend you get a free month of Membership in addition to the Veteran Rewards you get normally (if you are a Grandmaster customer you receive $15 worth of Funcom Points instead). To get this bonus you must send your invite between now and the end of the Golden Weekend and the recruit must purchase The Secret World within 30 days.

Great Deal on Funcom Points! – During the Golden Weekend you get 30% extra Bonus Points every time you purchase Funcom Points! Bonus Points are valid for 6 months towards any in-game purchase.

New Player $15 Bonus! – Anyone purchasing The Secret World from Funcom during the Golden Weekend gets $15 worth of additional Bonus Points thrown into the bargain. Buy The Secret World here now.