MMO Grinder

UPDATE: Poll is closed. League of Legends wins.

Since it was voted on often for the Halloween Episode, I have chosen 10 MMOs from the Suggested MMO List that you can choose from to decide from if you want to see me review it for Episode 10. I’m not much for “milestones”, but I figured a poll would be a good way to decide on what you’d want to see.

Rules again are as follows… well more of a cautionary, really. If the game chosen as the number one spot cannot be reviewed for any reason, be it my PC won’t handle it, I am unable to register, I cannot record it, or it just ends up being shut down, I will immediately default to the next highest on the list, until I find one that will work. It’s been a while since I played a few of these, and I don’t know how well they will take to this PC. I also may have to make some room. (Sorry, LOTRO. 8 gig is pushing it.)

I will “close” the poll right before Episode 9 airs, and announce it at the end of Ep 9. (Don’t worry, next week is only Episode 8.)

While I’d like to say this is the “halfway” point between the last episode of MMO Grinder and the next one, I am actually shooting for a Halloween day release. Wish me luck with that.

I’ve been busy working on a Haunted Trail this past weekend, and had a few other things to take care of in the past couple day, but I think I have enough of a handle on Hellgate to finish up the script. I’m shooting for finishing it today, with filming tomorrow or Friday, and editing on Friday or Saturday. I’m going to have to see what my schedule is like. As much as I don’t want to wait until next Wednesday, at least expect it by then if nothing is completed for Halloween.

I’m really thinking of doing Rusty Hearts for Episode 9. There’s a bit of technical drama going down with Perfect World and the release of Natasha, but if they figure it out, she’ll be a playable character by the time Episode 8 is complete. If not… I’m going to need to find a backup.

I also had a bit of time making a Mountain Dew video (The stinger of Episode 7 wasn’t just a joke.) If you want to check it out, or at least me try something similar to a vlog when I do a live tasting, I’ll embed it here.

http://blip.tv/chaosd1/chaos-reviews-mtn-dew-game-fuel-2011-5670069

Ok before I start I want to mention that I had NO CLUE people would respond this positively to Episode 6 on Myst Online: Uru. It really didn’t seem like the kind of game that people would expect to hear about in this series so that’s good to know. Again, I have to thank Tyler for the suggestion, and the tour. It wasn’t an easy game to figure out solo.

I’ve been very busy playing/scripting episode 7, and while today was a bit of a mess up on my part, I am certain I can get the script done and filmed within a day or so. I predict this episode will be another long one. Hoping not to go into Maple Story territory, but who knows? I will say I find myself enjoying the game, and there are a LOT of interesting innovations in the game I wish more MMOs would take notice from.

Also, in case you didn’t read the post below, the poll to choose Episode 8 (the Halloween Episode) is going on at the MMO Grinder Facebook page. Right now it’d say it’s pretty obvious which one is going to win, but time to sway the vote in your favor still exists. (I really should get to downloading it, though. It would suck if I couldn’t run it.)

In that same vein, I’m thinking I should do more of these polls so people have more of a choice as to what game I pick to do next. I won’t be doing that for EVERY episode, as I like to have a bit of control in what I play. Right now, I think the next poll to vote on would be for Episode 10. And since it’s a “milestone” ep (albeit a small one) I think I’ll let it be free reign of the entirety of the Suggested MMO list. (There are probably a few titles I’ll end up not including for one reason or another.)

The other polls would probably be a smaller group of choices resting on a theme. (2D MMOs, Action MMOs, Arena combat MMOs, etc.) I’m sure any polls I announce will be broadcast here… or on Facebook…. or both.

Anyway, keep an eye out for Episode 7 next week, cause I’ll have to speed it up for the episode right after that.

I have a vote poll running on my facebook page. (Click HERE) to decide between the two MMOs I’m planning on reviewing for Halloween. (Which will be episode 8 ) Feel free to check it out and vote if you haven’t already… or “like” the Facebook page while you’re at it… whatever works.

Unfortunately since I cannot differentiate between people on Facebook and people who post here, I cannot make another version of the poll here (like I should have) but hey, I needed to do SOMETHING with that page.

Also I will NOT be counting “votes” that are posted in the comments here, sorry. For the same reason above. I don’t want the same person voting for their favorite game in two places, and therefore double-stacking their choice in their favor. But feel free to comment here with a preference in the event I need a tie breaker. (Currently, I’m pretty sure I won’t need one.)

The poll will be closed (if I can figure out how to close it) on October 16th and the game I review will be announced at the end of the next episode. (Episode 7)

In case you are unable to see the poll, as in you are allergic to Facebook, the two games in the poll are Hellgate: London and Requiem: Memento Mori. Halloween is a perfect time for games with a colon in their title.

Let me know if you like the idea of these polls, and I might do more in the future, so I’m not always the selfish jerk who gets to make all the choices around here.

Since it went off well enough last time, I figured I’d take a bit of time to hop in and tell you what I’m up to while we’ve reached the “halfway point” to the next MMO Grinder episode.

The next episode is going to be… interesting. It’s probably something no one is expecting, and it loosely fits the “MMO” genre, but it still counts. The script should be complete by the end of this week. Today if I stop being lazy.

A LOT of people have been asking when I’m doing Rusty Hearts, and I’ll be honest, I think it’s still too green. I could easily do an episode with the content available, but I really want more of a full experience with the game before I do that. Right now I’m just waiting for Natasha to become playable. In it’s stead, episode 7 will be about a fairly new game to the free-to-play MMO market that I have received some curiosity toward, and rest assured, I’ve had a window tab open on that very game just waiting until I was ready to look at it.

I had quite a bit of the wind taken out of my sails when I started noticing a lot of the things I wanted to use the name “mmogrinder” for were taken, (Why do you think this is a .net and the twitter site has an underscore?) despite a Google search for MMO Grinder bringing up results for my video, and usually ONLY my site or videos. (With the exception of the Wikipedia article on “Grinding” as a term.) It took me a LONG time to come up with this name, and I’d sad to say it now seems, two months after starting this series that someone else didn’t bother to check if it was in active use… or did check, and doesn’t give a shit, (Knowing the internet, I’m going to go with “B”.) is using the name “MMOGrinder” for their own site. If this concerns you as much as it does me, do what you can to support THIS page and show by visiting as often as you can to keep the views and Google placement up. (That’s how that works, right? I honestly don’t know.) What I do NOT suggest you do is look into this matter further unless it does start cutting into my recognition. Giving attention is what allows things to prosper and lack of attention will cause anything to die out. It’s why the internet is so bad with dealing with trolling. They think they have the perfect comeback, when ANY comeback is a victory on the troller’s part. I’m digressing. Long story short, do what you can to support me and my MMO Grinder show if it bothers you as much as it’s been bothering me lately.

Breaking my rule of “not telling you what MMO I’m doing” I’m thinking of looking at an MMO with a horror theme for my episode closest to Halloween. Possibly Requiem: Memento Mori. I’ve also thinking of doing a side project and “sequel video” to my “Chaos Reviews” episode of Paranormal State, of the one other ghost show that I think it unquestionably WORSE, “Scariest Places on Earth”.  And in relation to that I ask you this… Any of you do a good voice impression of Gilbert Gottfried. Yes, I have a reason, and no this has nothing to do with him appearing in that one episode of “Are You Afraid Of The Dark?”

Couple confessions to make. I have two dungoofments in the past two videos. (Probably more but these are the ones I noticed the most/pointed out to me.)

First up is the LOTRO video, where I state that you need to be level 30 in order to do Skirmishes, when you can do them at level 20. I really have no idea where I got the level 30 info. I swore I looked it up in a LOTRO wiki and found it said level 30, but searching again all says level 20. I still would not have reached level 20 in time to reach the deadline so my issue still stands.

Second is the DFO review, where Pi Story is given the “death date” of 04/01/08. It was shut down 04/01/09. I should know. I wrote that article I used in the review. My preview window in Vegas is shit, and the clumped resolution looked like the date read 08 instead of 09, and I didn’t bother to look further because I just wanted it DONE. This is something I could probably fix easily, but I’m not concerned with it right now. Maybe later. Also that month and day are still not a typo, Pi Story DID get shut down on April Fool’s Day. I’m not happy about that.

Your homework for this post: Ask me questions that I may create an F.A.Q. with in this comment section. I’m certain that people are wondering why I make the choices I do. (Like the two-week release schedule, or the fact I won’t reveal the upcoming episode until I release it. Yes you can ask those even though I just listed them as examples.) I probably will NOT answer the questions in the comments (unless it’s something really simple, or I decide not to include it in the F.A.Q.) and will have an F.A.Q. page constructed with the ones I choose. Don’t worry, I won’t take forever with that… probably not. I dunno.

Ok, for those who think I spend most of my time on Skype desperately waiting for someone to contact me… you are partially right, but I will also let you know what I’ve been up to lately.

First off, Episode 5 is scripted and the subject of Episode 6 is determined. All going well, I should have Ep 5 completed in a few days, and uploaded on Wednesday or Thursday. If you are wondering why I don’t tell you what game I’m looking at, I have my reasons. If interested, I’ll explain in greater detail in an F.A.Q.

As a couple people have told me, Rusty Hearts is finally in Open Beta, which I do allow full reviews on. (Games rarely change too drastically from Open Beta to Release.) Expect that one to be covered fairly soon, depending on the news I get.

I’ve been getting a ton of good suggestions for reviews, but be sure to check the Suggested MMO List page to see if it already listed so you don’t end up wasting your breath… or keyboard letters… whatever. I will be updating that page once I get some more time, but expect it to be updated once Episode 5 is completed. (There’s a reason for that. Yes, that’s all the hints you’re getting.)

As of now, I will NOT be looking at MUDs or limited graphical interface MUDs. I’m not completely shut off to the idea, but it’s not something I can review with the show’s format. The same goes with games that are contained within a browser like Kingdom of Loathing. Adventure Quest MIGHT work, but I’ll have to find some workarounds. I should also mention that I will NOT be looking at anything subscription based unless it has a free-to-play option. This includes things like Eve Online, Aion, and technically Guild Wars, as while you don’t have to pay an upkeep to play Guild Wars, you DO have to buy the game itself. (However since I do own the game there’s a slight chance I may look at it… but it’s not like I’m running out of material.)

One final thing of note is that MMO Grinder is now featured on AngryBananas.com! Currently the LUNA Online episode is up there, and the rest will soon follow. Check out the site when you can. A special thanks to Carlos, who runs the site, and to Justin Carmical (better known as JewWario) for introducing my video series to him.

Thanks for watching the show and I’ll keep working on it as best I can!

-Jon