This trademark filing has been getting a lot of attention today. T’is said that the code numbers used are ones only used for actual games, rather than books or comics. The implication being that Mists of Pandaria is going to be the next World of Warcraft expansion. At any rate, that’s the assumption that a whole lot of gaming sites are running with.
While Mists of Pandaria sounds intriguing, I find it hard to believe that World of Warcraft is going to base its 4th expansion around anthropomorphic panda. Or as they like to call them, Pandaren.
A shame, because it would be pretty awesome if they did, but it doesn’t feel very serious. Not enough sorrow, death, corruption, and despair for a WoW expansion plotline. While I suppose you *could* put incredibly cute pandafolk into a horrible story, I’m not sure our heartstrings could take it.
My suspicion is that the title has been trademarked just to wind the players up, as Pandaren have featured in several of Blizzard’s April Fools stunts. How many times must they tell us that Pandaren are going to be the next race before people start looking at this stuff a little more cynically? A fun little game for the iPhone released next April, maybe, but the next expansion? No.
The picture below is of some completely unrelated, though equally cute, pandamen in EQ2, showing Maltheas the ways of Tai Chi, in the village of the Hua Mein.
It’s Kelethin’s turn to host EQ2’s City Festival this month. Maltheas decided to head along, and go for a spin on the all new Aether Racing track!
It’ll only be around until the 7th of August. The title for this race is “Bixie Barnstormer”, and it looks like you need a time of 95 seconds or better. Fly with luck, and watch out for the bixies!!
I’m sorry I’ve not been posting much here recently. Truth be told, I’ve had a lot of other things on my mind. While I have gotten some gaming in, I’ve not really felt much like saying too much about it.
I was hoping that I was going to be able to write a relieved post today about how it turns out I don’t actually have cancer after all. Unfortunately, after my hospital appointment today, we still don’t know, and so I have a whole spectrum of interesting tests coming up in the next few weeks.
Lets lay it out. It’s a rather squeam-inducing and embarrassing topic for a chap to discuss, but I might as well be open about it.
My body has been in a state of decline for a few years, with various organs deciding that they could no longer be bothered to work properly, not least of which was my brain, which has not been feeling particularly sharp of late. Why all this was happening was a bit of a spooky mystery, but we suspected that the toxins that my liver was steadfastly refusing to filter out of my blood were probably not doing the rest of me any good.
Anyhows, that was the state of play until a few months ago, when my good friend, Dave Fuller, suggested to me that maybe I should get my testosterone levels checked. Testosterone is an incredibly important hormone, and low levels can trash your concentration and energy, cause depression, prevent muscle growth no matter how much you exercise, and even, in extreme cases, cause your organs to pack up. Well, this sounded sort of familiar, so the next time I was at my GP I asked him if I could get that tested for along with all my usual blood tests.
The thing is, male hormone-replacement therapy is getting to be a bit trendy, and GPs are somewhat beset by middle aged men trying to persuade them to put them on it. That particular therapy, for folks with normal hormone levels for their age, is not available on the NHS. There was, then, a bit of resistance from my GP. I argued that it might be the root cause of my depression, and that it would save us all a lot of trouble if that turned out to be the case. Largely, I suspect, to humour me, he agreed we’d test it, just to see.
The results were devastating. My testosterone levels are, well, practically non-existent. How long this has been going on is hard to say at this stage, but it seems likely that it has seriously messed up a good portion of my life up until now. I spent a month or more being pretty damn angry and bitter about that. I’m largely through the anger now, and looking forward to the possibility of getting a fully functional body and mind. Should that come to pass, I do, I shall warn you, reserve the right to catch up on some of the youthful adventures that I missed out on.
First though, we needed to find out exactly why my testosterone levels are so low. I’m pretty much hitting the embarrassment wall here. Suffice it to say that parts of my body have been poked, prodded, and scanned. It was during an ultrasound that the operators found something of interest. They were actually just supposed to be checking the blood flow (which turned out to be fine), but there it was; a dark blob, its dense structure absorbing the ultrasound far more than the surrounding tissue, or anything else that ought to be there.
Funny thing is, it probably has absolutely nothing to do with my low testosterone levels. We just happened to be looking in the right place at the right time to catch the very early stages of whatever it is. We still don’t know its exact nature, but it scares me terribly. It perches upon my shoulder during my waking hours, pregnant with dark possibilities. It is difficult to think of much else, and I’m afraid that I have been not been feeling terribly inspired to write about games, even when I feel well enough to play.
But I will. Don’t go deleting me from your RSS just yet. I’ve a whole lot of scans to get through, and likely a fair amount of being needled, stabbed, and sliced, but I’m going to get through this, and with any luck, I might even end up with a properly working brain again, and the strength to use it.
Long-time readers may have some recollection of a series of posts I made about World of Lordcraft, an Evony clone that stole as much as is possibly could from World of Warcraft. I’m happy to report that the World of Lordcraft website now redirects to Blizzard’s site.
There have been quite a lot of visits to my Lordcraft posts from Blizzard over the last few months, and I hope they found them useful :) Though, you know, if I saved your lawyers any time and all, I wouldn’t say no if you wanted to slip me a few dollars.
Update: Turns out that while www.worldoflordcraft.com now takes you to Blizzard, Lordcraft simply went and got themselves another domain. Is even the might of Blizzard’s legal department impotent against them?
Or don’t. That’s cool too. The chances of you missing anything vital to your well-being is slim, unless your well-being depends on what I have for lunch or what I think of the latest MMO outrage! I do usually tweet if I’ve posted anything substantial here though.
Update: Changed the date on this to get it back on the front page for a bit!
This week I have only been playing games with the word “empire” in their names. Empire Avenue, the social-media trading game is one of them, and I may write about that at another time, but the one that has most of my attention right now is a Free-to-play game called Dungeon Empires.
Dungeon Empires is a next-gen free-to-play 3D browser game that presents a unique mix of tactical role-playing game and dungeon editor. Prove your skill as a dungeon builder and create your own lair full of monsters and other dangers. Those who dare to enter your dungeon must not be allowed to make it out alive! Explore and plunder other players’ dungeons, fight against terrifying creatures and loot new monsters, rooms and items to make your chamber of horrors even more deadly and grandiose.
What awaits you?
Build your own dungeon and challenge your friends!
Conjure and train mighty monsters!
Take part in intense turn-based battles!
Create and train your own hero!
Team up with friend to plunder enemy dungeons!
Highly-detailed 3D graphics right in your browser!
Descend into the underworld. Fame and great fortune await!
It’s a fairly simple of game of building your own dungeon, and adventuring into other people’s dungeons in order to find more parts for your dungeon, so that people can then adventure in your dungeon to find better parts for their dungeon. Dungeons figure quite large in Dungeon Empires.
It is a fully 3D affair, using the Unity engine. The adventuring side of things does still feel a bit primitive, but it is engaging, especially for short gaming sessions. I have a soft spot for turn-based combat. Every combat results in a chest, which is always fun, in a “pull the arm on the slot machine” sort of way.
Arkenor criticially smites a Mercenary in Dungeon Empires
The cash shop sells a full range of dungeon parts and adventuring gear. It’s a bit overpriced in my opinion, but they have played fair, and all the items can also be obtained through gameplay. So far I have not felt the need to buy anything, but then I do have rather more time on my hands than most.
When players come to my dungeon, they either get through to the exit, or perish. Either way, I receive some gold and items, though I receive rather more if they die :D So, it is important to get as many people visiting your dungeon as possible. For that reason, it is unfortunate that there is go good way to find a suitable dungeon for your level, other than searching manually through them all. That needs rectifying soon. When you do find a good one, be sure to write its name down!
Adventuring is a bit of a necessary evil, as you need to gather monsters, rooms and fixtures to build your own dungeon. Spare items can be broken down into runes for upgrading your existing dungeon parts. I would prefer to not have to adventure quite so much, and just build my dungeon, but I suppose if everybody felt like that then there would not be anyone visiting my dungeon. The adventuring side of the game needs to be made much more interesting, I think, for Dungeon Empires to have longevity. It has to be so much fun that people would want to play that game, even if there was not a dungeon building game attached to it, and I don’t think that is really how things stands. In the short term though, I’m having a great time. Take a look at my devilish creation below!
Arkenor's Dungeon Empires Map - Here there be no Dragons. Yet.
I’ve now got almost entirely uncommmon rarity rooms and above, allowing me to unlock plenty of monster slots. There’s still a lot of upgrading to do of course, and I need more rare monsters! If you feel inclined, why not come pay my dungeon a visit at the Dungeon Empires website. I’ll probably be writing further about how the game works at a later date
My friend, Terr, pointed this news out to me this morning. Fortune League, a vaguely EQ2-themed Facebook game, is shutting down:
As of Monday, July 11th this Facebook game will no longer be operational. In the meantime, you may continue to play and redeem prizes until the conclusion of this final season. However, the ability to add Station Cash funds to your wallet will be disabled on Friday, June 24th. Any existing funds in your wallet can still be used until the game is turned off.
Beginning on Monday, July 11th, you may request a refund of the non-promotional Station Cash in your wallet if you play Fortune League and do not also currently play any other SOE game (EverQuest II, Free Realms, etc.) where you can still continue to use the Station Cash in your wallet after this Facebook game has been turned off. If you are eligible for a refund, please contact a Customer Service.
Fortune League was not, in my opinion, a very good advert for Everquest 2, having far more in common with stockbroking than high adventure. I did play it, because it granted useful in-game goodies, but it was an 2 minute annoyance once a week to set my team up, rather than something to be actively enjoyed. I truly doubt anybody spent real money to buy additional trades for it, and nobody who wasn’t already playing EQ2 would want to play it, so it is probably just as well that this distraction is being wound up.
Perhaps it will eventually be replaced by something a bit more fun.
