I have never liked the idea of mirror classes. It may (sometimes) be better than games where each realm has the same classes, but only slightly. So what is a mirror class? A mirror class system, is where the classes on each realm are just mirrors of each other. That is to say that they have a different name, and may have slight differences, but they effectively just have the same tools as their mirror. The reason I call this a dilemma is because there are actually pros and cons to this type of system. The pros are that it makes for easier balancing and less work for the developer;  the cons are that it makes the realm’s classes indistinguishable from each other which, for many reasons, makes for a much less interesting game.

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I’m tired of playing two realm MMORPGs. Some don’t have more than one realm, though that’s usually because the game was made with zero PvP in mind so it’s somewhat understandable, if still disappointing. Now I’m perfectly willing to admit, that I focus so much on having more than two realms because my first MMORPG had three realms and since then,  everything has seemed weak and shallow in comparison. Nevertheless, I still think there is a strong case to be made for a three realm system, for the sake of PvP, immersion/ depth and overall endurance in an MMORPG.

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When talking about the death penalty in an MMORPG there are two main areas that we have to consider when weighing the pros and cons. These two main areas are the division between PvE death and PvP death. Different games approach these areas in two separate ways (assuming of course that we are talking about a game with PvE and PvP). The first approach is to make the death penalty different for each scenario, and the second is to make the penalty the same for PvE and PvP. Almost all games are a variation of first approach, because there is always something that makes death different in PvP than PvE. What really matters is that the death penalties match their intended area well.

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I’m sure many of you, like I, are eagerly awaiting the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) which we are told should be released in the spring of 2011. Overall, I am fairly happy with what I see from the game – but one thing still bothers me. Where are my flying body parts or droid limbs? SWTOR needs dismemberment to really capture the Star Wars experience! There has been a lot of discussion on this topic over on the SWTOR forums, and I think a lot of reasons that people give in defense of the apparent lack of dismemberment are silly if not just plain incorrect. So let’s take a look at the major arguments against:

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It’s time for my third (and final) breakdown and review of Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO). Today’s piece will focus on the end-game of DDO, something that I have accumulated much experience with, but by no means have mastered. For those of you joining the party late, you can read my other articles by clicking Levi’s 2 Plat.

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Welcome to my second review and breakdown of Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO). Today I will be covering appearance and visual character customization, the combat system, race balance, the guild system, item swapping and more. I will definitely be writing a third article after a bit more experience, covering the end game raiding and progression, and everything that ties to that.

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This will be the first of at least two, maybe three reviews I will do on Dungeons and Dragons Online. I am writing this in multiple sections because there is a lot to cover, it wouldn’t be ethical to discuss what I haven’t experienced firsthand, and because I want to be able to give the proper attention and time to all the aspects of Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) which I wish to discuss.

Until recently, I didn’t play DDO for quite a long time. For those unfamiliar with the game, the level cap is now 20. When I played, it was 10, and it was a very different game. We used to joke that it should be called Dungeon and Dragon because there was only one dragon in the whole game. My best guess would be that I quit shortly after the release of Module 3 in October 2006.

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I wouldn’t consider myself a Trekkie. I’ve enjoyed the shows over the years, having watched all the episodes of Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine, but I don’t speak Klingon. When I first heard about Star Trek Online (STO) I was excited for about a minute. Then I realized that a MMO would never come close to offering what Star Trek is really all about. Ask any fan to tell you what the top themes are of Star Trek, and they should in their first or second answer, tell you it’s inherently about exploration. It’s about exploring new planets, meeting new species, coming across new, unseen sights, and going, as they say, “where no man has gone before.” So what’s the problem? The problem is that no MMO, no matter how big it is, no matter how many development teams are out there making new content, will ever be able to give a player that feeling of freedom and exploration for more than a very short period of time.

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Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) is a game that many new gamers have never heard of. Why? It is undeniably old, released in 2001 by Mythic Entertainment. Though old, DAoC has an alive and booming server still, because of one reason: Realm v Realm (RvR). No, not that RvR in Warhammer - but real RvR, because DAoC has three realms instead of two, something that I think current game developers have overlooked. You may think that it’s all well and good, but there is no way that DAoC could still be a viable PvP game after all this time. Wrong, in February of this year, Ten Ton Hammer rated DAoC as #1 pay-to-play PVP game. Whether you are a DAoC veteran who hasn’t played the game in years, or a new player, who like many of us, are unsatisfied with PvP and the current MMO options, I will attempt to bring you up to speed on the current state of Dark Age of Camelot.

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I have been playing MMOs since 2002, and before that, MUDs, and in all that time I have never become actively engaged in what we would describe as a free-to-play (F2P) MMO that are so popular today. F2P MMOs vary, but the basic premise is that the game is free to get, has no monthly fee, but has some sort of shop that you can buy in game resources with. The shop varies between games, some having mostly cosmetic stuff (new shiny mounts), others having the best items in the game, and anywhere in between.

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