Rants tag

Rants, ruminations, and rambling remarks from my mad, muddled, meandering mind.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

S(ecre)t. Paddy's Day

The Pain Train
There were just five Knights of Mercy who survived yesterday's green-tinted festivities to show up for our weekly get-together: SypScooterTenten, Mogsy, and me. Monday evening counted as part of TSW's Scenario Weekend, promoting these (somewhat) randomized instances with 150% Aurei of Initiation rewards (commonly known as "Oreos"). Tenten declared that he wanted to run Hotel Group Normal to complete the "Warriors of the Dawn" achievement, and we ended up running all three scenarios (Mansion and Castle are the other two) at that level. I feel the need to briefly explain that the three locales are places encountered in each of the major regions of the game, but modified for the purposes of the scenarios, which are meant to prepare both the players and the characters for the upcoming Tokyo "expansion." The goal is to keep as many "survivors" alive until the end of the scenario, which lasts several hours in-universe. Each successful scenario lasts about 21 minutes in real time. If all the survivor NPCs are killed, the scenario ends immediately in a failure.
Ready to RumbleAnd all I got was this . . .
Meanwhile, I had to scramble to put together something for St. Paddy's de la mode, which led to this rough-and-tumble get-up. It fits the battle axe (hammer) I wielded all evening, bashing the bad holograms. For my efforts, and the efforts of my comrades in arms, we all got the "Warriors of the Dawn" achievement and accompanying T-shirt. In addition, Syp earned enough Oreos to purchase an epic Shotgun weapon.
~~~
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4 comments:

  1. I really need to start logging in on Monday nights so I can run with y'all. Sounds like you have way too much fun together :D

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    Replies
    1. Sorry for the double-- was too quick to hit publish. . . .

      I actually did log in this weekend to finally get enough oreos to certify for Tokyo. Dunno why, but the scenarios just bug me. I ran one duo with a friend once and it was a lot more fun than my solo runs, so that's probably what I'm missing. . . . And here's the link to my short write-up about it:

      http://nomadicgamer.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/tsw-eso-tokyo-certified-and-final-eso-beta-weekend/

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    2. Cool, thanks for the link. Yeah, I don't mind them, exactly. But I do think the "randomness" was oversold, and that they need more variety with the goals. It's my understanding that they are pushing to get Tokyo opened, so new scenarios will have to wait.

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    3. Yeah, there are only so many "random things" in the 1st place, and since they all occur at set times and once you know how to deal with each of them they're really not any big deal, I don't really consider them to be random at all.

      For me, it's the very "game-ification" of the scenarios that bugs me about them. Take Hotel --- survivors huddle in 3 groups out in the open with only 1 defender? They don't all go into a fortified position with the sole defender at the choke point, but rather make that defender run around like a madman to cut off the baddies who come at them? They don't run away from the baddies?

      Yes, I know.... if the "survivors" acted rationally it would take all the "game" out of the scenario... but the fact that it is so "gamed up" as to be completely ludicrous....... well how bad is it if I can suspend disbelief for ghoul, zombies, ghosts, immortals who suicide on purpose so they an do things in anima form, magic bees, teleportation in Agartha, etc, but I just can't suspend it for idiot NPC's who need protecting?

      Yes, I'm weird. But I've know that for quite a long time. . . . . .

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