Lord of the Rings Online Moving to Free Subscriptions

by Cedric on June 5, 2010 at 11:07 am
Posted In: Blog, Gamer News

Lord of the Rings Online is moving to a free subscription model this fall.  Yup, that’s right free.

Currently they’re ranked 8th in the MMO market, but they’re hoping to capture more players by moving to a free play model.  Turbine has had earlier success with such a move for Dungeons and Dragons Online.  Since DDO moved to a free model, they’ve roughly doubled their player base and increased their profits by a large margin, and now LotRO is thinking to capture some of that success.

It seems people like to get free stuff and are willing to pay a premium for convenience or luxury items.

As for the game itself, I tried it over a year ago.  It was fun and I played for several months.  But I simply preferred WoW’s easier interface, graphics, and more polished tools (not to mention that most of my friends were still in WoW rather than the handful that tried out LotRO with me).  Still, the game has beautiful scenery and unique game play.  Healer Minstrels, for instance, heal their allies by hitting their enemies.  That’s much more dynamic in play than the heal bots we see running around in other MMOs (though that style of play is still available).

But WoW had been around for years earlier and simple things like the Auction Houses, Mailboxes, Banks, and similar things were just easier to use simply due to having had more development time (they were similarly clunky when I first started WoW).  The crowd was also certainly more mature back when I played, which was a significant enough difference that one of my friends opted to switch away from WoW for it.

LotRO definately had some things that’s unique to it and probably done better than WoW.  The central quest storyline is very engaging, weaving in and out of Tolkien’s original story.  I would say their quest log is much better organized than WoW’s and allows you to scroll back through all of your completed quests.  The lore is certainly captivating.  Nothing quite describes the feel of visiting Bag End, seeing the party tree or standing in Bilbo’s living room.  The roleplaying angle is also emphasized a lot better.  You can actually RP to be a simple farmer with a hut and never adventure if you felt like it.  There are musical instruments that you can actually play improvised music with.  The list goes on and on.

But WoW had a better interface, battlegrounds, PvP, and just plain more content which affected my decision.  Even now, with Cataclysm coming, I’m still tempted to play more WoW than LotRO.

I haven’t been playing much MMOs these days, but you never know.  If you catch sight of an elderly female hobbit guardian named Granma, say hi!  :)

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Hello New Readers!

by Cedric on June 3, 2010 at 11:41 am
Posted In: Blog, Familiar Ground News

I just wanted to give a big welcome to those who found Familiar Ground recently, as a well as a big hearty thanks to the dedicated readers that have been faithfully following the strip.

Both new and old fans might not be aware of the various ways you can keep up with the comic.  Coming to the site every update is great (and certainly helps with page view numbers), but I’d rather have it be as convenient as possible for you to view the content.

So here’s a reminder of the various ways you can access Familiar Ground:

  1. Bookmark this site into your favorites folder and check periodically.
  2. Subscribe by email at http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=FamiliarGround
  3. Subscribe to the RSS feed* http://feeds2.feedburner.com/FamiliarGround
  4. Keep up with me on Twitter http://twitter.com/cedricatizado
  5. Add the FG fan page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Familiar-Ground/105725139465217

If you don’t know what they are, RSS feeds are a convenient way to keep up with sites that have content that updates frequently.  There are many RSS Readers available for free (do a web search for “RSS Reader”).  It’s basically like an online newspaper that you customize according to your tastes.  Check your current homepage, you might already have it.

* Other feeds available to this site include:

Also, various social media sites (reddit, stumbleupon, digg, etc.) are available to link to by clicking the share button that’s attached to the bottom of each comic post.

Thanks for reading Familiar Ground!  Remember to share with your friends who might appreciate it. :)

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Portal is Free!

by Cedric on May 17, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Posted In: Gamer News

Portal is one of the iconic games of this generation’s gamers.

If you haven’t played it yet, here’s your chance.

It’s free until May 24th.   http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/

Do you know where the phrase “the cake is a lie” came from?  Now is your chance.

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Peeps Sushi

by Cedric on April 2, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Posted In: Blog

Saw this from a tweet.

I lol’d.

Peeps Sushi

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Book Review – Azagar’s Book of Rituals

by Cedric on April 1, 2010 at 10:32 am
Posted In: Blog, Gamer News, RPG News and Discussion

This is a book review of Azagar’s Book of Rituals, a D&D 4e compatible rules supplement by Goodman Games.

160 pages, softbound, list price $14.99. Color cover, B&W interior.

ISBN 978-0-9841127-1-5

About a year ago I was browsing the enworld forums and on a whim decided to peruse the industry news section. I came across an announcement from Goodman Games. It was an open call for authors for a new product, a book of rituals for D&D. I thought, ” Neat! maybe I should submit something.”

Then I looked at the deadline.

All submissions must be sent in via email by midnight that day. It was 9pm.

So I cranked out four submissions, with a careful eye for balance. One of them was accepted (Radiance Infusion), and here we are almost a year later with a review copy in my hand.

Things I didn’t like:

I think a  few of the rituals in the books are somewhat unbalanced.

Armor of the Blessed (pg 7) for example is a 2nd level ritual that has the potential to grant armor of up to +3 quality. An 11th level item doesn’t really belong with a 2nd level character.

Sun’s Renewal (pg 106) is an 18th level ritual that allows the party to gain the benefits of an extended rest in only one hour by standing in sunlight. Oh, and since it isn’t technically an extended rest, you get to keep any action points you’ve accrued. At 18th level, the cost is hefty at 5,000gp and an action point. But since there’s no level limitation, there’s no reason an epic level character can’t cast this spell over and over again after every encounter. Of course, there’s the hour long casting time, but if time is an issue, then thankfully epic characters have access to a 5 minute version, Time Compression. Granting back daily powers outside of long rests is just a bad idea from a balance perspective in my opinion.

There’s also a couple of editing mistakes I came across, but they’re minor and overall the book was well put together.

Things I liked:

This book is filled with 300+ rituals! Players can finally customize their casters with unique and varied spells. You can find a ritual for any occasion. The Batman build is back!

DMs can also benefit since a lot of the rituals are custom made to spark adventure ideas. Seriously, I came up with several potential adventure ideas by just reading the first chapter on creation rituals.

The art is pretty good. Certainly better than anything I can do ;)

Azagar the hobgoblin introduces each chapter with a short story and he’s one entertaining dude. I’d certainly be interested in hearing more about him.

Overall, I’d give this book a thumbs up.

Probably 95% of the book can be used as is, with the rest needing DM adjudication due to balance or campaign issues (Defile Soul for example should be an NPC only ritual…unless you want PCs harvesting souls to make residuum).

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