Legends of Norrath

SOE announced their new game at Fan Faire this evening.  It is an online collectible card game called Legends of Norrath that encompases the lore of both EverQuest and EverQuest II.  You will be able to be able to play online or in the EQ or EQ2 client and cards for the game will be available as in-game drops.

Among interesting features is the ability to play across the two games, so EQ players can play against EQ2 player.  There will, of course, be loot cards in some of the packs you can purchase that will yield in-game items.

You can find the new SOE site about the game here.

I actually listened to the presentation via Online Gaming Radio (couldn’t get video to work) while IM’ing with Darren at Common Sense Gamer.

The best quote came after the presentation, when the mic was still broadcasting, and a female voice asked what I believe was, “You guys want some skirt shots?”  I suspect Coyote was involved somehow.

Five EVE Online Wishes

Of course, with every game I play, there are always some features or some improvements that I want.  EVE Online is no exception.  Here are my current EVE Online wishes.

A Little More Mission Variety

When I heard there was a level IV version of “Worlds Collide,” I just about screamed.  Are you seriously telling me that when I get to level II missions, they are just going to be up-gunned versions of the level I missions?  OMFG, how many times do I have to run that damn mission?

Part of the reason I have been enjoying EVE Online as much this time around has been the new introduction missions, the 10 part events that has you doing a variety of different things.  I would like to see some more strings of missions like that.  Maybe even missions that send me on epic journeys across space, to visit places that are more than, say, five jumps from Jita. (Anything that gets me away from Jita is probably good.)

Of course, I am sure that there is a good percentage of players who are in active corps in 0.0 space who would not want CCP spending time on missions when they could be working on the PvP aspects of the game.  All I can say is that the long term health of the game depends on new people joining in.  Something that makes the game more engaging to new players can only help that along.

Coherence in Terminology

You may have already seen my past rants about warping vs. jumping and the dreaded hanger opening incident. This is a general follow up on the small naming inconsistencies in game.  All of them seem insignificant once you have gotten used to them, but they make the UI Nazi in me scream with rage. (UI Nazi was one of my past jobs.  Now I work in enterprise software.  If you ever deal with enterprise software, you know that UI is way down the list of things that people care about.)  Just the other day I was pondering the fact that to add somebody to your “Buddies” which you find under the “People & Places” button, you right click on them and select “add to address book.”  WTF?

Re-Ordering of Targets

I am going to guess that you can do this, but I have not yet figured it out, so maybe somebody will come along and educate me.

Once in a while, I find myself with four or five targets locked, and I realize that I really need to kill the third guy in line.  Right now, the only way I know how to do this is unlock the first two targets so that number three becomes number one.  Is EVE missing a feature, or have I just not figured it out yet?

[Addendum: After I wrote this, I went back and figured it out.  Par for the course, merely complaining about something makes it appear.  When you have multiple locked targets, you can just click on the icon at the top of your window for the target you want to attack.  I’ll leave this wish in just in case I am not the only complete noob who couldn’t figure it out.  It wasn’t in the tutorial!] 

Custom Ship Skins

Yes, I am stealing CrazyKinux’s idea, but just because somebody else thought it up doesn’t mean I cannot wish for it myself.

I will repeat what I wrote elsewhere:  I would gladly trade an avatar walking around a space station for the ability to customize the look of my ship.  We spend most of our time in game with that ship in view.  I have to see my frigate for hours on end.  I want it to at least look a little bit different than every other frigate of the same class.  Charge me ISK for the paint job.  Make certain modifications available via loyalty points or whatever.  Just let me be somebody a little different. 

Skill Training Queue

Didn’t CCP promise this with Revelations already?  Did I miss it somewhere?  Does it come bundled with EVE Voice?  I’ll pay the fee, just give it to me.

Right now I have about a half a dozen skills I want to train that will take between 1 and 4 hours each.  To get all of these trained, I have to baby sit my character all day long.  I would be happy with a 48 hour queue.  Just let me set up training for the next two days, and don’t let me go beyond the skill that spills over the 48th hour.  Or 24 hours even.  Just help me out here.

So what else should I be wishing for?