Alzheimers

So, is *THIS* the update that makes singleplayer worthwhile?

I gave up on the beta a few days in, but if the Retail installer is anything like the nightmare it took to get the beta installed then I wish you all the best of luck.

And by that, I mean -- Screw this, I'll wait until the first expansion.

When you're going to compare economic models, there's no greater example than Eve. If FFXIV can even get close to that of Eve, then it'll be a huge success.

The real problem isn't even the basic mechanics of the AH, but the fact that it was limited to only seven slots at a time. I actually liked the auction house was set up, but it really requires competition to be effective. But who is going to compete on price for goods where the margins are thin and demand isn't high?

New characters find themselves with an extremely limited number of inventory and storage slots, so they need to maximize their return -- mostly by farming Crystals and crafting materials. Older characters and dedicated traders don't have the incentive to compete for the market on lower-level goods.

Even with their expanded inventories, who is going to waste their measly seven auction slots with low-level noob goods that have to compete with the NPCs to get any profit from? Crafting skills to make these goods require VAST amounts of money and time to reach -- way out of the reach of new players who already struggle just to equip the basics for their level.

Finally, the actual sources of liquid Gil for new characters are extremely limited. When you need 700g for a basic piece of equipment, farming 10-20g per goblin is lession in futility. The only alternatives are farming, or the (mostly) non-repeatable quests which can take anywhere from a minutes to several days to complete. And no matter what your opinion of FFXI is, I don't think anyone can argue that their Quest system is anything but a tack-on. Compared to WoW, it might not even exist at all.

Only if you get to play with the most awesome instrument ever: Jordan Rudess's silver Keytar!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpi_pxLYlhE&feature=related

Crush The Castle, Shift, and GemCraft are all on my top ten favorite games....Of all time.

Go ArmorGames!

Armor Games is quickly becoming my favorite new games site. With titles like the truly awesome Shift, to Gemcraft, to Crush the Castle, their hit-to-miss ratio is forgiveable when their hits are this damn good.

Avoid Sexism!

Play Eve Online.

Re: Torchlight

Anyone who was bitching and moaning about the art direction of D3, while simultaneously *enjoying* Torchlight, should go jump in a well. Torchlight is a close approximation, if not downright imitation, of the screenshots that Diablo "purists" have feverishly protesting and petitioning blizzard about.

As far as I'm concerned, the success of Torchlight has ended all arguments about the WoW-esque colorful reimagining of the Diablo franchise. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the very reason Blizzard hasn't gone after the "homage" is precisely because it has eased customer sentiment about their new engine. If anything, people will be much more accepting of the change now that they've had a chance to acclimate themselves to the idea that it doesn't have to suck.

And for something a bit less "Metal" that truly qualifies Petrucci as one of the greatest guitarmen of our generation, check out "An Evening With Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci."

Hang 11!