The little one is finally sleeping in her cot a bit with her Dad, which has freed up my evenings for gaming. I’ve been playing TOR more than anything else and it’s not been the most pleasant of experiences. I think Bioware did a fantastic job, but I’ve started to think about quitting at level 14. That’s not good. I’m struggling getting back into the play style of an MMO. For a few reasons, some good, some stupid; some valid and some not so much.
First, there’s the mouse issue. Using a keyboard, gamepad and mouse setup is very difficult for me. The mouse causes instability in my wrist and flares up the old symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. I’m getting clumsier by the day, the numbness and tingling is bothersome and the pain is steadily going up. I do everything I should, I have the best mouse, keyboard and game pad I can afford and although I would probably look into programming a 360 controller in the long run, when new spells are constantly added, I’m stuck with the mouse and keyboard for now. It hurts a lot and when I’m running into walls, it also hurts my pride.
Second, there’s the social aspects of playing badly within an MMO. I’m not a great player but I used to feel that I’m just a little below the norm. The seemingly small issues I have particularly when it comes to movement (I do use the N52 gamepad joystick for more movement, but with thumb joints that aren’t so hot, that’s difficult too) becomes all about perception. I run into walls a lot, fall off cliffs, aggro mobs I shouldn’t.
As I don’t use the mouse to move, I start by hitting autorun and then swapping to the movement keys programmed into the N52. As I have trigger finger issues, it also leads to hitting autorun at just the worst moment and suddenly finding myself running off wildly into something bad. I can’t jump and steer, so jumping is awkward and the impression this tend to create is that I’m really really bad at this. It makes it hard to wrack up the nerve to get into pick-up groups or join in.
Thirdly, another social/accessibility issue; I can’t type and play and I don’t hear very well. I got around this in WoW by playing with a partner when playing with others, someone whose voice and speech mannerisms I know well enough to understand despite not hearing very well. I would talk to them and they’d interface with other players for me. I started on a new server with a few people, stupidly assuming that’d solve this problem.
However, with a baby at home and sharing a computer, there’s no way Chris and I can play simultaneously and the thing about levelling when you have limited time and spend a lot of time running into walls is that your friends tend to be so far ahead as to be inaccessible; or haven’t started yet. So I’m playing an MMO alone, just great. So those of you who haven’t started yet, please come join the Dark Side on The Red Eclipse so I can selfishly hog your evenings to run through group missions and flashpoints. I’m almost at level 15 and not really in the mood to PUG or be boosted through Hammer Station.
I found myself in tears after last night’s playing session. It’s amazing what running into walls can do to one’s self-esteem. Add to that the intense pain I’m inflicting on myself at a time where I’m on a break from pain meds because I relied on it too heavily to get through the festive season in more or less one piece and a crying spell seems inevitable. Chris woke up to be supportive and once I started talking, I realised that it’s not actually that big a deal.
Playing an MMO again has brought two things home to me, the first is that the cyclical never-changing nature of playing with others are quite jarring. Running past someone you’ve killed ten minutes ago now standing there talking to someone else is weird. Getting into a Sith Inquisitor story line area and suddenly being surrounding by a load of other players with the same companion and occasionally similar style definitely detracts from immersive story driven game play.The second is that the seemingly small obstacles can have a massive impact, not just on the enjoyment of gaming but also on a much more personal level.
I’m still curious about how Bioware has fared in creating an RPG MMO. So far I’ve seen some excellent stories, quests and design, but I’ve also run into things that has been disappointing and frustrating. I’ll keep exploring for some time to come, although I’m pretty sure playing every day won’t last for very long. Skyrim is sitting on my shelf and having just started, I’m itching to see more dragons. There’s social pressure in an MMO that’s not present in other games for me; a direct line of comparison and now that the first patch has been announced for next week, bringing some juicy end-game goodies with it in particular, there’s a huge temptation to power level and I very much have a sense of falling behind.
My inherent response is to want to play something else; something that’s less effort and just pack this MMO up forever. But MMO’s have the best coop and I love coop; so I’ll keep plodding along slowly and hopefully in the process, pick up some friends along the way. The most fun I’ve ever had was raiding Naxx with a guild that soon became friends and I really wouldn’t mind having another chance to recreate that experience; but with lightsabers and spaceships and afterall, its Star Wars, how can I not be excited about playing a Bioware branded Twi’lek.
Our accessibility site is in full swing Beta and I find myself spending a lot of time making decisions about how we are going to do things. Today it was a seemingly small decision that turned out to be a big decision. How long should game reviews be?
