littlelostrobot

I didn't set out to play the game this way, but my Trooper has become a complete righteous space snitch. The other day I grouped up in a Flashpoint with a smuggler who was trying to go really darkside, and we weren't sure how cautious to be in the scripted events in respect to each other's character progression (turns out it didn't matter too much, although we disagreed about killing a quest NPC).

I'm not even to level 20 yet, so I haven't experienced a ton of really high-impact moral choices along the way yet. It's mostly been snitching on other Republic officers for doing unethical things - which hasn't mattered very much.

As for companions, I like seeing the "approval" points pop up in the cut-scene interactions, but I'm consciously making a point NOT to care too much about my companion's opinion. After stressing out constantly about Morrigan's fickle demeanor in Dragon Age, I'm going to just relax and occasionally buy my employees presents.

I think that if SyFy is successful with their TV Show and MMO tie-in, then I could easily see there being some (simple) online component to go along with a future show or something like that, with people sitting at home voting or carrying out online tasks for the game that corresponds to a television, or some other live event. Kinda like Xbox Live's version of "1 vs 100".

And perhaps a much future version of the iPad could be used for home/internet participants to vote on which of the stalkers hunt down criminals in "The Running Man". (I'd choose Dynamo)

I don't mind paying for some DLC, but I'm hoping valve has more free (and current) stuff as well.

Though, I'd pay top dollar for some whacked-out Valve mod-map that makes good use of Left4Dead zombies and a Portal gun.

I think that a MMO based off of "The Borrowers" or "The Littles" would be rad. You'd play as a miniature person living in the walls and cellars of normal sized humans, crafting weapons from sewing needles and razor blades. You'd fight cats, and raid battles would be against full-sized people (like exterminators).

Think of all the zones that you could play, in just one city block.

I'd like to say that I think it'd be a terrible idea and wouldn't support it, but I know that I'd end up drinking the SOE kool-aid again.

I've bought into so many EQ expansions, sequels, and even Vanguard in a futile attempt to recapture that feeling I had just under a decade ago playing the old-school EverQuest.

I'm loving these guides. I picked up a copy of FF for my PC and Xbox (each was only $7 at Target) about six months ago, but only played it for a few days before quitting in frustration and moving onto something else. I'll admit that I never really gave it a chance.

Right now, I'm thinking about playing a new-ish MMO and am considering giving it a real try after reading the past few guides you've done.

I think that being able to "pull off" the complete Star Trek experience is going to be difficult for any MMO make happen.

Mirilene's post (above) did a great job highlighting the whole PC vs NPC crew dynamic.

Personally, I wouldn't mind just working my way up from the Starfleet Academy and then picking an assignment on a ship (floating player guild) or doing odd jobs around Deep Space Mall, or even going on solo (shuttle) missions or something. I like the idea of being small in the scope of such a huge, well defined universe. And I think it'll feel a lot smaller when everyone has their own pimped out spaceship.

It'll be crazy when five players all warp out to the same planet, and then join each other on the ground for an away team mission. It's like that scene at the beginning of "The Fast and The Furious" where the whole racing gang arrived in seperate cars for breakfast.

I used to get sentimental about leaving characters behind, but not any more. I think it was partially because (back in the day) SOE stated that they wouldn't save characters for very long once an account was cancelled.

So my EQ gang and I all kpet subscribing to Everquest or subscribed to station pass to keep our characters alive and 'active'. Later on, we realized this wasn't the case and decided to close up shop.

We went on of "Norrath Revenge Tour" with our high level toons, obliterating all of NPCs that gave us a hard time back when we are lowbies. We would roleplay small tribunals and have a quick hearing before sentencing each character to death. I took great pleasure and killing the Dark Elf Dorn D'vinn in the North Ro desert.

But now that all the MMOs save account data, I just unsubscribe without a second thought. If it's a game I KNOW I'm not coming back to, I'll hand out my junk to friends and strangers.

It's important to me. I'm not knocking PC MMOs, and I certainly hope that the rise of console MMOs won't dumb down the PC experience for anyone. But in my life, it would be much easier and convenient to have the console MMO experience, and if I'm able to play across platforms with the last of my friends that haven't bought an Xbox, that'll be a nice bonus.

In the weeks leading up to the EQ anniversary, I've come to realize that I'm not that the same online gamer that I was nine or ten years ago. I'm married and my "man cave" has all but vanished. I'm less inclined to sit in the corner on my PC, and my daughter is in the phase where she would love nothing more than to pound on my notebook computer with her sippy cup. I can at least fool her by letting her play with a non-operational console controller when I'm on Xbox.

I really have to plan when I can play EQ2 or WoW, and when I finally do it's rarely as enjoyable as some of my console multiplayer games like Left4Dead. I find myself soloing much more that I like. Whereas, on my Xbox, all the party interactions run smoother. Everyone is in voice chat, and we all have the same system specs.

I still think that for the next few years the "ultimate" MMO experience will be on the PC. People can roleplay, and raids will run much more smoothly. Patching works better, and the developers can get changes into the game faster than having to go through the Microsoft and Sony certification process to get new content into the games.

For me, it'll be a good thing. But I'm not holding my breath for the right one to come along. I'll keep enjoying my PC plaform as much as I can until I just makes sense for me to stop.

I remember in Everquest when the only way to buy stuff from other players was to spam the auction channel in every zone, shouting about your "bargains".

I would love to save up enough money and items while out adventuring, and then rush off to Freeport with all that money burning a hole in my banded armor pants. Sometimes you'd have to make the trek from halfway across the world, so you'd stay away until you had enough money, or you wouldn't leave Freeport until you finally got something you needed. You would enter the zone and just get flooded with all the auction chatter.

And when you wanted to check out someone's items, you'd have to go up to them and ask to peek in their bags in the trade window...and then there was the haggling and bartering. There were a million people there and it just seemed like a community because you were forced to interact with people to do business.

It's seems so antiquated and weird now. After the Bazaar went up in EQ, that really changed the dynamic of a lot of the game.

In SWG and WoW, there's still city hubs and places where a ton of people hang out - usually by the mailbox- but it isn't the same. People still support each other's trades in other MMO's, but not to the extent that EVERYTHING seemed to have to come from the player base. It was a hassle, and it worked.