MMOs
Well, it's been over a month since Rohan released. Since I missed the Isengard launch by a few months, I was wondering how the Rohan release would go. Would the servers jam with players trying to get into the new region? Would there be instability or crashes?
In the end, I decided to avoid the crowd and didn't log in on the day itself. I updated the game the next day, not without a bit of trepidation since I'd seen the forum posts about the game client getting stuck at examine program data and refusing to update further. Thankfully, I managed to get updated without a hitch. Over a month later though, it seems that there are still some people who can't update and enter the game, although I have no idea how widespread this is. Several patches/updates have already been released addressing this and other issues.
I haven't purchased the Rohan expansion yet, but I've been following the epic questline and have gotten my warsteed. Initial impressions during the tutorial weren't good. The horse tended to drift outwards during high speed turns, and there was some kind of lag going on. I attempted to jump a fence, landed on it, got stuck for 2 seconds and then shot forward like a rocket. Thankfully, after maxing out agility and upgrading speed and acceleration, the horse handles pretty well now. I can pretty much spin about to face an enemy and still retain full fury. And this is just on a medium steed. I will be switching to the light steed once I get Rohan, for the better turning, acceleration and fury generation, although there is a greater risk of being dismounted.
On another note, Star Wars: The Old Republic went free-to-play about a week ago. Like Rohan, there'll probably be a mad crush of people trying it out. For those who loved Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic, or even just their RPGs, this is the chance to play one or more classes, each with their own storylines. The 8 class storylines are literally free access to the level cap of 50, though some other restrictions are pretty harsh. Such as free players having only two quickslot bars compared to a total of 6 for subscribers and free players having no access to a bank vault, no ability to send mail, increased prices at vendors and inability to equip high level items. Despite the restrictions, I'm still thinking of giving it a try, especially since I'm mostly just interested in the class storylines.
In the end, I decided to avoid the crowd and didn't log in on the day itself. I updated the game the next day, not without a bit of trepidation since I'd seen the forum posts about the game client getting stuck at examine program data and refusing to update further. Thankfully, I managed to get updated without a hitch. Over a month later though, it seems that there are still some people who can't update and enter the game, although I have no idea how widespread this is. Several patches/updates have already been released addressing this and other issues.
I haven't purchased the Rohan expansion yet, but I've been following the epic questline and have gotten my warsteed. Initial impressions during the tutorial weren't good. The horse tended to drift outwards during high speed turns, and there was some kind of lag going on. I attempted to jump a fence, landed on it, got stuck for 2 seconds and then shot forward like a rocket. Thankfully, after maxing out agility and upgrading speed and acceleration, the horse handles pretty well now. I can pretty much spin about to face an enemy and still retain full fury. And this is just on a medium steed. I will be switching to the light steed once I get Rohan, for the better turning, acceleration and fury generation, although there is a greater risk of being dismounted.
On another note, Star Wars: The Old Republic went free-to-play about a week ago. Like Rohan, there'll probably be a mad crush of people trying it out. For those who loved Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic, or even just their RPGs, this is the chance to play one or more classes, each with their own storylines. The 8 class storylines are literally free access to the level cap of 50, though some other restrictions are pretty harsh. Such as free players having only two quickslot bars compared to a total of 6 for subscribers and free players having no access to a bank vault, no ability to send mail, increased prices at vendors and inability to equip high level items. Despite the restrictions, I'm still thinking of giving it a try, especially since I'm mostly just interested in the class storylines.