I am absolutely not happy with the state of my blog. It's supposed to be about gaming tips from a business/capitalist/asocial standpoint or simply "how to be stupidly rich in games without grinding". Then it supposed to have articles about parallels between the game-moneymaking tips and real world ones. Except I don't even play anything. BDO was a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, there won't be a "Don't play BDO" like there are such for EVE and WoT. There is no hidden evil I've found there. It's just another, shallow, press any key to kill mob, grind-or-pay-in-cash-shop game where I became the richest guy in the server in two months with moderate effort.
At the point I don't play any games and despite hardly looking, don't even see any to play. (Please don't comment Crowfall or Albion Online, they aren't released. You can hope that they'll be good, but can't know). A gaming blog without games is ... crap. My blog in the last few months was crap. Random ideas and frequent cheering over the death of EVE. I deserved losing all those visitors.
I am also looking for other blogs for inspiration and ideas to debate. Found very little. And they go silent very fast. Which brings me to a sad option: maybe my blog turned crap in the last half year, but readers prefer crap over nothing. Other bloggers stopped blogging or turned even worse crap, so readers come to me because at least I'm trying to not be crap - with little success.
Which leads to the a more sad option: my blog is crap and other blogs are dead because the games we used to write about with enthusiasm turned unbearable. Not just a few games, but the whole scene. It's not nostalgia, because I can point at two objectively measurable thing that changed over the last decade:
Sadly I'm no Ben Kenobi and see no good games. I still hope that the rapid dying of EVE will force them to change course and they fire the monetizers and the devs they corrupted. I hope Crowfall will be good. I might even try Albion when published. "hope, hope, might" are not really encouraging and deep down I know the answers: EVE already changed course - to free to play and cashgrab until the server goes down with no further development. Albion is discussing mechanics with players, meaning desperation and going shit. Crowfall will be published when Star Citizen.
Maybe it's time for us to make peace with the fact that our gaming days are over. I won't leave just yet, I want to explore how it happened (I already did some job). I have some ideas still. But I see now that the end of my blog is coming. Not in this month, probably not in 2016, but it's coming.
At the point I don't play any games and despite hardly looking, don't even see any to play. (Please don't comment Crowfall or Albion Online, they aren't released. You can hope that they'll be good, but can't know). A gaming blog without games is ... crap. My blog in the last few months was crap. Random ideas and frequent cheering over the death of EVE. I deserved losing all those visitors.
I am also looking for other blogs for inspiration and ideas to debate. Found very little. And they go silent very fast. Which brings me to a sad option: maybe my blog turned crap in the last half year, but readers prefer crap over nothing. Other bloggers stopped blogging or turned even worse crap, so readers come to me because at least I'm trying to not be crap - with little success.
Which leads to the a more sad option: my blog is crap and other blogs are dead because the games we used to write about with enthusiasm turned unbearable. Not just a few games, but the whole scene. It's not nostalgia, because I can point at two objectively measurable thing that changed over the last decade:
- Cashgrab and pay-to-win: a decade ago the idea to buy advantage in a game was completely inacceptable. Goldsellers were considered a plague. They were constantly called "Chinese goldfarmers", not because anyone could tell what country they were from, but because it was unacceptable to even think of them as one of us. A decent Western middle class guy like myself simply can't sell gold, only those Communist do that. Fast forward a decade and game devs shamelessly sell gold and butcher gaming features for monetization; bots and hacks are offered for subscription and notable players openly make money via streams, paid boosts and promoting the most toxic form of monetization: gambling sites.
- Accessible gaming: games became trivial. Most of them are literally "press any key to continue". Failure to perform even the most basic task has no consequence. Death penalty disappeared. Rewards are showered for even the most mundane task or simply for logging in. You remember the days when you had 5 lives and when you lost them you had to start over, right? Being able to complete Shattered Halls heroic, something noobs couldn't even dream of is still a fond memory to you too, right? Do you remember when developers literally called catch-up mechanisms "welfare epics" when they were forced by suits to include them? Well, those days are gone and they aren't coming back.
Sadly I'm no Ben Kenobi and see no good games. I still hope that the rapid dying of EVE will force them to change course and they fire the monetizers and the devs they corrupted. I hope Crowfall will be good. I might even try Albion when published. "hope, hope, might" are not really encouraging and deep down I know the answers: EVE already changed course - to free to play and cashgrab until the server goes down with no further development. Albion is discussing mechanics with players, meaning desperation and going shit. Crowfall will be published when Star Citizen.
Maybe it's time for us to make peace with the fact that our gaming days are over. I won't leave just yet, I want to explore how it happened (I already did some job). I have some ideas still. But I see now that the end of my blog is coming. Not in this month, probably not in 2016, but it's coming.
47 comments:
I read your stuff cause I tend to disagree with you on this or that point but generally do agree. I only play eve its the only game I found where I don't give a frack what others do as long as I am doing my thing. F2P and P2W have been around in eve a long time its just more visible now. I don't care if some kid logs in loves eve spends his cash on buying a toon a bunch of plex and buys a carrier or some such, Or rather I do care cause he will be not good and I will help kill him. That's the inner secret of EVE as you well know. You can "Buy" anything doesn't mean you win. You can buy a dev and he can set you up in sweet spot or that dev can abuse a player, doesn't mean you win. Example is your experience you didn't win but despite everything being on the side of the goons they didn't win either. That's Eve and that makes it different. So I play it holding the line in Provi (which you discount cause it is not expansionist) and when the times comes yes we will burn down what ever the next 'great" evil is.
I tend to visit most days but I don't read most of what you have wrote especially the BDO stuff so I am not sure as to your metric being accurate. I visit cause I enjoy your social commentary (even when you played eve) more than your insider make money tips. I do use your anti gank stuff as in I link it to folks that have no idea what they are doing.
"Help us find a good game, Ben Kenobi, you're our only hope"
Which is what I was about to write after reading first half.
Let me tell you my story. Recently, I got my almost-decade old PC (had some upgrades, but you can only have so much with old CPU and motherboard) up to date to handle my job requirements, so I can work from home without having to scrape together every last bit of memory.
Three weeks later, only 2 games are installed. On a top line professional rig, with a gaming GPU worth as much as a console. With a user who used to be a competitive gamer of a national play-off level. With 50 products steam account. Dafuq.
Warframe and Guilty Gear Xrd. And the second one is getting corrupt with pay2win, paid DLC characters being dominant force, so I guess I'm going down to one in the foreseeable future. And should Warframe go pay2win (it's a coop pve mmo with an ugly pvp taped to the side of it, but pvp has practically no "gear" aspect to it, thus technically it's not pay2win-able at all) I'll find myself in your shoes.
I used to play WoT, but suspected it messing with penetration and stopped. I used to play League of Legends, but couldn't stand rigged matchmaking and got all my accounts banned for bitterness over it spilling in chat. It's not like I haven't got time to play, I still log like what, 30 hours a week between those two games, it's just games became... rather meh?
I still have one spot in my no-requirements clan with all clan gear researched if you want to check Warframe out (yes, clans have caps on them there). It has somewhat open market, while the list of trade-eligible goods is limited, there's no price enforcement, and you can freely trade platinum (local cash currency). There is no real semi-mandatory "subscription" either, rather the system is "you buy it or you grind it", and the grind is subject to mad rngesus, and the inflation seems to be under control with a suitable amount of convenience and cosmetics platinum sinks here and there. Maybe you can find a project if you can get thru some seriously anal moderation, which is quite surprising in M-rated game.
I still play EVE. I tend to read your blog because you are not without decent insights and thoughts on various matters. I tend to think the comments that "EVE is dying" are overwrought, but a decent argument as to why at least does escape your lips than from others I have heard. The Alpha Clone announcement is not what I consider a death knell for EVE, but CCP had best improve their image with EVE players by avoiding all appearances of preference - such as the case with CFC and IWI - such appearances certainly scare off a good number of the player base.
Why I'm still reading your blog? Simple, I actually like reading random ideas and RL posts. Seeing ideas being implemented in the environment of games is surely a nice thing, but even without that your ideas still have value to me.
About the games becoming trivial thing: I disagree, kind of. Yes, sure, WoW-like "everyone's a hero" attitude is annoying and makes no sense, but that doesn't mean endgame content is trivial. Mythic dungeons and raids surely aren't.
It's just that games nowadays require you to set your own difficulty, which is not a bad thing by itself, and the default is the lowest possible.
Also, there is definitely a market for difficult (by default) games, see i.e. Dark Souls. So I wouldn't exclude the possibility of hard games "coming back" just yet.
@Hanura: while you can make hard things in games, they aren't rewarded, therefore you can't measure yourself compared to the others, so you can't know if you're any good or not. I mean Mythic dungeons are maybe hard, but since the gear they give is outdone by quest gear next patch, you can't just look at ilvl and tell if you are better than the other. So you can't know if you are the only one capable of doing mythic dungeons or you are the only one who is struggling with them while everyone is farming them.
@S. Riojas: EVE isn't dying. It's dead. You can't just stand up from losing 1/3 of your players in 3 months after 10 years of doing relatively OK. CCP simply lost the trust of players and it's not going to return even if they fix the most atrocious things.
I think you're overestimating how sexy people found your weird hateboner for goons. Don't get me wrong, the anti-goon project was well executed and not without its moments. But still, glad that's over with.
" I mean Mythic dungeons are maybe hard, but since the gear they give is outdone by quest gear next patch,"
That's not how mythic dungeons will work in legion. See here for a quick overview.
Maybe your gaming days are over. I still play just for being entertained.
I read your blog mostly to see how you struggle to find excitement for games. You always try to find the hardmode and the win-fastest-strategy. It's amusing me to see how this fails.
Besides this its a good source to learn something about other games. Especially to learn something about games I didn't need to try out because you wrote already down all essential things.
I would happily read your blog also in the future if you would change the games all four weeks. I don't have the time to try all games I'm interested in. So, I'm happy to see that I saved my time by not trying WoT or BDO. Not go and write about Elite or Star Citizen :)
I am still reading your blog because of your unique perspective, even if I do not agree with everything you post. I did not care much about BDO although reading your tips on the game was interesting. I do hope you will come back to Eve, and I do not believe Eve is anywhere close to dying.
Listening to the different podcasts for Eve, I find out they are all inviting the same circle of players, and they like to discuss about the same things between their cliques and friends from one podcast to the next but have no interest to really debating different ideas or perspectives. Your blog always bring a different perspective, rather than more of the same.
Still come here refularly. I've grown fond of this "lunatic" or "bat shit crazy" Gevlon.
Most people who tried to insult Gevlon this way were people who were upset that Gevlon gained insights they did not wnat to see the light.
Gevlon was not alway right, bit his assumptions and predictions were often true and his reasons were often very logical.
I like controversy, if the debatants exchange arguments with reason. That is why I come here.
Gevlon's article about Donald Trump was real food for thought to me. I share his views on BDO as I stopped playing my main and spent more times with my alts, making money, but it was as boring as trading in EVE.
Recently, I've been playing ARK or some shooters like Ghost in the Shell or Rainbow six siege. Once you learn to ignore the cheaters, you enjoy it as a pastime, but I do not look at these games to be ambitious as with all these cheaters you can't compare their performances.
I've read your blog since the WoW days.
Still read it because it was interesting to follow the eve history and happenings you were involved in (even though I only ever played a month).
BDO does not interest me at all, and the posts mostly made me dislike the game, but it increasing your readers seems logical to me. People like to read about the game they play, and I don't think BDO has many consistent blogs.
Even though BDO content was the least interesting to me, I stick to reading since I can not imagine you playing it long, and am waiting for what comes next.
I read your blog because you're a "rational". I don't care if you write about a game I play or about cooking. FWIW, I think some of your best posts are real world posts.
I read your blog because you consistently post every day, so when I arrive in work and grab a hot drink from the vending machine, I have something to read whilst I have my drink.
I am an ex-EVE player. I left for different reasons to you. However, I have no interest in BDO yet I still found your posts about the game very interesting.
Have you considered playing, and writing about, mobile games?
Surely mobile games are the future?
I only play mobile games now, purely because I can play and put down on the go. 10 minute gaming sessions. I never have time these days to spend 10 hour+ sessions like I used to when I played EVE (or even vanilla WoW back in the day). Marriage, family, work means quick click games or CCG Hearthstone style games are more likely to satisfy my gaming urges.
It's funny how we have more technology to make our lives easier now than say 50 years ago, yet we seem to have less spare time than then to do anything!
Personally, I have been reading you since WoW, and briefly stopped doing that during your EVE era. I haven't played EVE and did not plan to, and while your GRR project was fantastic, you posted mostly killboard statistics with little or no analysis understandable by non-EVE-players like me. I would rather read more summary posts, explanations of what you had been doing, popularized for masses. There were such posts indeed, but little. I saw no reason to ask for them, it was your blog and you probably knew better what to write about, so at some point I just "forgot to visit your blog". That's how it goes.
(That's probably also the reason of your "long march to Deklein" posts' popularity. Their point is not about you leaving EVE, but about being a well-written analysis of the whole project and the whole story.)
I read you mostly because of your metagaming (philosophical) posts, which ironically became more frequent when you no longer have killboards to post. But I see your point - there's no sense to write philosophy about games when there are no longer games out there. I was often wondering how you would find a decent game in the modern environment and sadly I was actually waiting for something like this post of yours.
I believe the new trends in mainstream games are already set. Games are no longer art, no longer even proper entertainment, they are cashgrab. There is some possible salvation in indie games, niche games and generally other non-profit oriented games (with techologies developing, it's possible that we see many indie MMOs soon). But nonmainstream games might not be your thing, it's hard to popularize your thoughts if you play a game most of the world never heard about.
Maybe things will change when many people realize that mainstream games are not worth discussing, like modern TV shows, and playing niche games becomes a "fashion" for intelligent people. There are already some games that make it a possible future.
Your blog is on my "check daily" set of bookmarks, along with the likes of CNN, The Economist and Gamasutra (and also Partially Examined Life and Giant in the Playground, but hey :D). The reason it is there because your posts about RL implications of in-game experiments have been well and truly impressive. To the point where if you were to, say, kickstart a book on your blog material, i'd support it, just for the opportunity to own the same stuff on paper and also give it to people who wouldn't normally read some blog on the internet, but would read a book.
The way i understand what is happening is that the MMO scene is finally running out of meaningful content to give players (they give tons and tons of content, but, even for the new players, it is about as meaningful as a chewing gum). And since your content, however brilliant, is built on processing meaningful content from MMOs, it is now being sort of starved.
I will repeat what i already said in previous comments - you should start an MMO project. If you were to oultine the conceptual fundamentals of a meaningful MMO and then presented some manner of regular asynchronous work schedule, i don't believe you'd have any trouble finding a game designer or two, a few programmers, a few artists and a project manager to get the project started. You would also probably be able to fund the whole thing through something like Patreon. Your own input in the project would be conceptual-level control and relations with external stakeholders (not the same as PR).
@maxim: "a game designer or two, a few programmers, a few artists and a project manager" can make a cartoonish arcade game for Steam Early Access and not an MMO. An MMO - regardless of philosophical merit - needs $100M and 100+ people just to get over a "must do" basics like a big enough World where 100+ players can be present without lagging the damn thing off. Even with $100M and 100+ people you can fail in that with a good idea, see Star Citizen which isn't in forever delay because of lack of great ideas but because the inability to put 10+ players in space.
Now, I'm sure that if Blizzard or Pearl Abyss would allow modding their game (Same world, same spells, same classes, same NPC animations, just different rules and NPC dialogs) a good game could be written in a few months from $100K, but they aren't crazy to help the competition. It's the barrier of entry that keeps them atop and not their skills.
Wildstar is a perfect example: it was unique, engaging and interesting... on paper. What we really got is a buggy crap with retarded graphics.
Your blog is a "check daily" for me too for 6 years now. Same as anon above; reading this is the first thing I do when I get to work.
I played all the games you have blogged about, except BDO, but read BDO posts too, because they were interesting.
If you truly run out of gaming related things to blog about, I would really enjoy reading your RL posts related to work/professional connections and experiences, financial experiences and advices.
If I remember correctly you are a chemical engineer, I think most of your readers are some kind of science/engineering graduates, and would be interested in what are your experiences in your field too.
There are good old school fashioned games out there - and none of these are a true MMOG. MMO games are expensive to maintain, and people are no longer fascinated by them as they used to. Gamers prefer session games, collectible card games and so on. MMORPGs are still a thing, but they have an extremely short life cycle - it became prevalent to sell access to beta, grab cash and let the game die within months after release. Hence why I'm very skeptical about Albion Online, though it does look interesting. The entire industry seems to be built on blatant lies these days, which is sad really.
You could try a game every month until you find an interesting one, that would be gaming journalism sort of
Put down the mobile phone if you want more spare time.
Hi Gevlon, I'm like Maxim in that I check your blog daily.
Your take on games and gaming is usually interesting enough to provoke me to consider the points you raise. Your views on 'Socials' and 'M&S' are even more interesting to me. Although they're presented with a garnish of conservatism, many of your observations about behaviour are available to people of all (or no) political persuasions.
You are in your 50s now, and clearly experiencing what many of us go through as a result of advancing age. It's a kind of world-weariness, in which things that used to ignite our enthusiasm produce only mild interest, or none.
Sometimes that's because we can see the outcome of a course of action almost as soon as we begin it, or perhaps because we decide that the activity itself is no longer worthy of our attention.
I was 61 this year, and I still play EVE Online. There is sufficient within it to encourage me to play, and I've no plans yet to quit. But I did take 6 months out last year, after playing since 2013. When I came back (I'd biomassed all my characters), I had to start from scratch, and that forced me to consider what I really wanted to do in the game, if anything. I think I'm enjoying it in a different way now, a way which excludes the meta and focuses simply on the game as a game.
A blogger can't just take 6 months out, I know. It would probably spell death for the blog. But I found my break really useful in allowing me to consider my life as a whole, and where it was going. It was important for me not to have the (admittedly self-imposed) pressure of recording the Miner Bumping SoundCloud files, so that when I returned, my approach was much more professional and authoritative. My play numbers were severely affected, but I don't care; the material is better for the break, and I feel better about that.
Consider carefully your next step, but don't be afraid to say 'To hell with it...!' Publish at the weekend for a while, perhaps. Persuade your girlfriend to abandon WoW temporarily, and you can both have a hard look at the gaming world. Does she have an angle on gaming that might make an interesting contribution?
Anyway, long post. As an older man, and a gamer/creative, I've some idea of what you might be going through. I suspect you actually do know your next step; good luck!
Purchasing and maintaining an MMO requires $100M and 100+ people on staff.
Building a conceptually new MMO requires, as a first step, a very simple prototype (on the level of graphic detalisation that something like, say, candybox.com has) and maybe a 100 players to test the basic mechanics. If the prototype is successful, you then simultaneously beef up the prototype and start looking for a significant investor.
@Maxim: that would work. Till the point the "significant investor" would show up with an advisor firm report that forecasts 38% income increase next quarter if we include a power item cash shop. Sure, I can just sell my little share at this point and retire, but I can do that with my current job. Anyway, the game I worked on so hard for years would be dead at that moment.
Personnally I am still playing Guild Wars. The 2 (after enjoying the 1, even after they killed the original difficulty). And I still enjoy it, especially WvW.
However, I share your anxiety with respect to good enjoyable computer games.
But I remember periods of time in the past where we had nothing really worth playing. Alternatives will emerge. Why not simply wait?
BTW, in the meantime, why don't you write a requirements document for a good game?
I do not agree with you all the time (not at all!), however, I would expect you to do a pretty good job at defining high standards for an enjoyable and competitive game. (Maybe not so profitable, but who knows... sometimes work pays better too.)
Imagine a "Goblin approved" mark (no monetization of course). Simply GG(tm)!
I already have the slogan "No morons nor slackers inside!".
I read your blog because gaming content focused on reasoning and "philosophy" is few and far between. It's not difficult to find content talking about how someone feels about something, but the vast majority have very shallow views on gaming/strategy, and would honestly save you brain cells if you don't read them.
I don't always agree with your views but because they're justified and reasonable, they usually make good food for thought.
My gaming days are not over, however since MMOs turned into p2w I switched back to single player games. Same with most of my friends.
Für 100$ you get far more single player content than multiplayer content in any MMO. Steam/GoG sales show this.
Some goodies from 1990 have more reviews on GoG than EvE on Steam... that's where the players went.
You know when I started to read your blog frequently? It was at about the time when Jestertrek stopped his blog.
No that doesn't mean this blog was second choice. Jestertrek was just the first good eve blog I found and while I did find yours before he stopped I only very infrequently checked yours. Simply because one blog is the amount I like to consume.
I am also sure that I have checked your blog more often since you stopped eve (not initially, I didnt read your blog for about 1-2 weeks after you cried (sorry but thats how it sounded) about eve). Not because your posts are better or BDO is a better game but I liked reading about how your own perspective about a lot of things changed. I am often checking your blog just because of that. It is interesting how the views of a person change. How his theories (sometimes conspiracy theories) change over time. That is why I am checking more often but I feel like I spent less time on your blog. I just skim over your BDO articles, read your real life and eve ones although I hate some of the recent eve posts since it at times just feels like crying. It seems you just can't let go and leave the stuff that happened behind you.
Well I'd probably spent more time on your blog if you started playing eve again, even though I stopped playing once again a few months ago I still enjoy reading about the eve drama. (pretty much the same was true when I read jestertreks blog, I wasn't really playing the game myself anymore but I still enjoyed reading about it)
@Gevlon
Not necessarily
That actually rather depends on what exactly your initial prototype will achieve
I guess, ultimately, the thing i don't like here is that you are saying that current MMOs suck without offering an alternative.
You don't want to initiate a new product? Fine. What you can do is, at least, figure out the parameters and structure of that new product. Maybe start a public conversation with a couple prominent game bloggers and maybe game designers.
@Maxim: I WILL provide what I think is necessary to make a good game. But don't have high hopes, it will rather end with "you see, that's why we don't have them"
Initiating a $100M product is completely out of reach. I might as well run for president.
Hi,
I read your blog daily, but skimmed (skipped) most Eve posts. I like the ideas in it, whether I agree or not.
As for games, the formula changed. It's become less being a citizen of the world, to the world being a playground.
I turnef myself to games like DNC, Bayonette, if I want challenge. Crank the difficulty to max, if you win, you win, if you die, you suck, get good.
I enjoyed your work, your take on Wow, and the idea posts. They were some helpful idead to add to my world view, though I am not hardcore Rand Libertarian. In moderation, some is good.
Should you make a book, I'll buy it.
(But woa, you're 50? Damn. Thought you were maybe 35 or something.)
I've never said I'm 50. One of the commenters guessed that and I did say nothing.
You have done a great job with your blog! You have your theories on things, you have evolved them as necessary, and you have stayed very dedicated to trying them out, and it is very interesting to see someone do this.
Good. Keep the mystery. I liked the romantic unknown.
I read because your way of seeing the world makes me think things through I would normally take for granted. Whatever game you play is just material for that. I've stopped playing MMOs, but not because they're any different- I'm different. I suspect if you look carefully at your taste and attitude, you'll find that it's you who changed.
Find something you are passionate about, and write honestly about it. It's a simple formula :)
"I've never said I'm 50. One of the commenters guessed that and I did say nothing."
I'm sorry, Gevlon. I was sure I read in one of your blogs that you were early 50s, and that it was said by you. I may still be correct!
My point was that increasing age is a factor in our capacity to distil enjoyment from repetition of the activities we embraced when we were younger. It can happen at any age.
The slightest shift in focus is sometimes all that's needed.
I think your blog has declined in quality but the rest of the game-blogoverse has declined faster so your relative position is still secure.
I played WoW until they introduce pandas. I have not played EVE or BDO. Only multiplayer game I play currently is LoL, and it is gettin less and less attention every week. I look your blog daily. Why, because your blog gives different point of view. And that view is usually backed up with good logic, facts and statistics. I really like the post, where you analyze why some feature is good or bad for game and how it influences the game state in the long run. Specially the bad sides, because games intend to advert only good things and try to hide all the bad bits. Getting significant ingame wealth is usually a hard task for a average player, that makes your view pretty much unique - there are not many ingame wealthy bloggers. I like all the "what-if" theories on both gaming and real life, even if they are not 100% right, it makes people to think.
What i like to see, is your insight in "time managment in games" and "wealth managment in games". Topics like how different reaction time, action per minute, session time, total play time influence the game, and what happens when you abuse them. Same thing for wealth, income per action, per session, per total game time and what happens if you abuse them.
I still read your blog because even though I disagree a lot with you, it's good to confront with other people's opinions. I'm a goon and I still play EVE, I'm also a feminist and I find it interesting how you always make everything about money. To me you're a paradox and that's why I keep reading. That and the fact that you keep posting.
I'd be genuinely curious to see you try solo games. See if you can succeed on the highest difficulty in Civi by yourself, same for Crusaders Kings II. And of course, I would love to see you play Dark Souls, but I guess the game is too much about bosses and slowly grinding your way through the story for you to enjoy.
It would be interesting to see you try a strategy game- the Civ series- or go back to League- they made it a lot easier to hit level 30.
I've read daily since WoW for your ability to draw meaning from, and analyze, anything. And obviously your perspective is always interesting/unique.
@Gevlon
I'm sad that you quit BDO, but I can understand your reasoning. I always liked seeing the responses to your posts on the official BDO forum. I couldn't believe how many people would just instantly parrot "but grinding makes more money!" failing to realize the difference between active income and AFK income.
I would have liked to see your thoughts on nodes now with the valencia 2 update adding some more nodes on the far east end of the map. I have a similar amount of CP as you did, and I'm currently trying to consider the logistics and profitability of taking all the vanadium and titanium nodes and setting up a crate making operation in valencia and shipping the crates west, in addition to the calpheon timber crate setup I already have.
In any case I do like reading your thoughts on various game economies and how to take advantage of them, since that's what I tend to enjoy in MMOs nowadays.
Hey Gevlon,
why don't you try out Ultima Online? Besides being as old as most of your readers they just released a new expansion and with Random-PK (on one faucet) and looting of other players this might be a challenge you are looking for. Also there is housing and a player driven economy that might appeal to your style of play.
I visit your blog mostly just to see if you have started something new and interesting. Let's face it, without your previous Eve blogging I would not with the current content.
I read your blog because it is one of the first gaming blogs I started reading, and your ideas are usually thought provoking. I suspected BDO was trash from the start, and I am happy you moved on from it.
I wish you could make 8 hours of your week scheduled for WOW raiding, I would love to read about you playing WOW again. I too would prefer to avoid scheduled play time, but I have not found a gaming experience that offers the group-PvE challenge that organized guild WOW raiding does elsewhere.
WOW mythic progression raiding is not about getting gear, it's about the group challenge. No one denies that top mythic raiders are the best at raiding. Are they the best at getting gear? Are they "the best?" Who cares?
I have to say I am shocked at 100,000 readers per month, I would have thought it was much higher than that. I blog inconsistently, started only a few months ago, and so far only about Warcraft related tips, and I am surprised at how our site visits compare.
I hope you find a reason to keep blogging!
I have read your blog off and on since before the under-geared project in WoW. I find your take on gaming interesting and I enjoy the nostalgia when reading about WoW (I picked up the last xpac for a while because of it!). I read when you were playing EVE simply because it was a game I was unfamiliar with and it sounded interesting. I liked watching you figure out the best ways to do things.
Eventually, the blog basically devolved into a he-said she-said argument between you and the Goons in EVE (even if I didn't read the comments, that's how your posts came off to me) and I stopped reading. I visited recently and saw that you had picked up BDO and again, was interested in watching you figure out the best way to do things.
I started reading when you were posting tips for money making in Wow. Once I quit playing wow I would still read occasionally to see how you were abusing the social players. I stopped reading actively when you started posting about Eve related content. The game seemed interesting but I had no interest in personally playing it (I think I am burned out on MMO's in general). Most of your eve related posts especially about in game factions was at a level that as an outsider I couldn't relate to / understand outside of the really basic things (don't put all your money in a small ship that is easily destroyed and then whine that things are unfair and you can't progress ... etc).
I really enjoyed the series of posts you had in wow where you wanted to prove that skill was way more important than gear and were doing raiding in nothing but blue gear. I learned about the concept of GDKP from your blog and thought it was an awesome technique ... but sadly Blizzard frowned upon it (as did the oh so many economically ignorant average player).
Since then I had been checking your blog periodically to see when you comment on real world topics just to get your perspective on some of them (which I have always found interesting). I live in the US and I find it interesting to get the opinion of non US people about stupid things going on in the US (Be it the election circus going on, or when stupid price gouging laws are made by politicians that should know better).
I used to play quite a bit of League of Legends so I am interested to see your analysis of that game. You had mentioned something about being interested in lol strategies in another post I encourage you to check out the youtube videos and the guides posted by flying baklava on top lane Zac ... it is hilarious to see him take out a whole team by himself when he can catch people being stupid.
I know it probably isn't terribly useful but I wish you luck on finding a path to revitalizing your blog.
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