May, The MMO Crisis Month

May has been an MMO crisis month.

I can only stand to play ESO for a quest or two at a time. There’s nothing wrong with the game (except the horrible inventory management and dungeon grouping tools). I accept full responsibility for my lack of enjoyment. At level 41, my stupid Two-Handed Templar build feels weak and ineffective, and it has almost no AoE damage capability. Everyone around me in public dungeons is burning down big groups in seconds, but I have to wack on mobs one at a time.

And honestly I’m getting a bit depressed from listening to the quest stories from the NPCs. Almost every single person you meet has lost a wife or a husband or a son or a daughter to some kind of horrible fate. I kind of miss the ol’ kill ten rats quests. Nobody’s family and future was ever destroyed by rats.

Rift 2.7 was kind of a bust. I thought that was going to be a lot more interesting, but there wasn’t enough new-ness to draw me in.

I think I can no longer deny that I’m an MMO-hopper (not that I ever did deny it). I need freshness to keep logging into a game, whether that is in the leveling experience or in the endgame. If I’m just logging in to do the same thing I did yesterday, I have a hard time keeping my mind from wandering to other games, even if they are still in alpha or beta.

So I’ve been logging into ArcheAge to tend a tiny farm and trade strawberry jam to Marionople. I got kicked out of a guild because apparently I wasn’t participating enough. Which is true. They randomly invited me while I was standing at a vendor and I only joined so people would stop randomly inviting me to guilds.

By the way I think the best way to approach ArcheAge when it launches is to level to 50 really fast, then work on commerce. (As opposed to leveling to 50 using commerce.) Because you’ll need to be able to defend yourself against the endless hordes of griefers and gankers that are drawn to PvP games.

I’ve also been logging into the WildStar open beta more and more in the past week. I’m starting to see the appeal of it now. I think you have to shift your mindset in order to get the most out of it. You can’t go into it thinking you’re going to get a rich, deep, immersive virtual world. I find it a much better experience if you go into it thinking you’re playing a mindless, button-mashing Mario Bros. game that doesn’t matter.

Unfortunately, the more WildStar I play, the more unsure I am which class and path I will play. I have a feeling I’m going to have three main characters in WildStar. Probably Spellslinger+Settler, Esper+Scientist, and Warrior+Explorer. But then I sort of like the Engineer too. Decisions, decisions.

I wonder if I can reach level 50 in ESO before the WildStar head start. That is officially my main goal for the rest of May, even if it’s the most boring, painful, non-fun gaming experience in the world. Goals must be met!