Wait, which RPGs are Blizzard known for?

I think the only thing cooler would have been if players could play as Shadows.

They added Shadows as a playable race a few months ago.

While never good news, one can hope things have a better purpose for working out the way they do...

That said -- best of health to your mother, hope things turn out for the best.

non-update? you've got more important things to do (;

AC2 is supposed to have housing, banking, and player-run shops (well, vendors) by the end of the year -- of course, if they stay on track with that, it'll be amazing. I imagine February.

They're learning what their playbase wants. Turbine's gotten a lot of flak for doing the rebalancing pretty much at launch, but it's MUCH better to do it early than it is to wait until everyone's got high level characters that will be slaughtered by the redesigns.

The game has come a long way even since launch, but it has a long way left to go before it will live up to its predecessor (if it ever can, given the radical differences in style).

Content is still coming in monthly, but they're waiting on lore until after this new Hero system, and some of the other mechanics they want to get in.

Player and monster rebalancing was necessary, but it has hurt quite a bunch of classes in solo play, and they're not planning on giving solo some focus until .. February?

The server consolidation is a good thing, it's currently a group-oriented game, and with so many servers, with low populations, it was hard to enjoy the game. I'm imagining in a few months time, it'll suprise most who quit after beta, or the first month or two of retail.

Moot mainly due to the differences between the cards.

Yeah, but I wanted something more juicy, something more sordid! Carmack geeking out on pixel depths of shaders or whatnot isn't nearly as interesting. (;

Eh, it has the opportunity to improve, it just isn't, which is mildly disappointing.

Right now, it's not a worthwhile gaming platform, and has (imo) limited use as a desktop environment.

I'd love to see it improve, but I'll admit, I'm a geek and enjoy messing around with Linux/UNIX. Oh well.

Eh, they've been in the /. news a bit, with Netware 7 being based on the Linux kernel and all.

For the most part, I've found this fiasco about as annoying and useless as the Futuremark/Driver issues fiasco.

WIth the latest Novell statement, this has actually gotten amusing! (;

So, is anything similar going to happen in the Futuremark situation? Is someone going to come out an say that it's all moot due to some lame goings-on at Futuremark?

hah, one can only hope.

... these are the days of our tech-lives ...
... as the tech-world turns ...

etc

(heheheheh)

err, the web site actually says 60 minutes, not 60 seconds.

I've been in a similar boat as LordSteev..

The team came from Firaxis, they know the background, and they did really well on the RTS part (;

it's a quality game, i'm eager to try multiplayer.

Oh, and the Conquer the World global situation is much closer to the old Civ boardgame's playstyle. it really is a cool blend (:

This comment was edited on May 12, 20:34.

I'm willing to bet that Empire Earth fills the hole that Empire Earth left.

Sorry, was a bit cryptic, I was anxious for Empire Earth, and from what I played of it, it didn't deliver quite what I was expecting, thus leaving a hole for such a game that I think RoN will fill.

Oh, and as for the multiple victory conditions, a lot of times these aren't fleshed out well enough to really, as the previous poster stated, have them feel like worthwhile goal conditions. I'll be interested in trying out these in multiplayer, but I don't tend to play strategies in multiplayer settings, so I'll be stuck with Conquer the World (not that it's a bad thing).


This comment was edited on Apr 23, 13:15.

well, this isn't just like Empire Earth if you ask me. It's Empire Earth done by one of the few teams that can pull it off. Given BHG's background with Sid Meier in the Civ games (and Gettysburg!), and the teams own experience with Colonization, Civ 2, and Alpha Centauri, I bet they've actually been able to bring some of the turn-based concepts into the real-time strategy game without losing the fun.

As for the game being too military based, most RTS games are when it gets down to it. I imagine that RoN will be the same way. I'd love to see an RTS that allowed for a number of peaceful victories, but I'm patient.

I was really excited about Empire Earth, but while Rick Goodman makes some amazing RTS games, he hasn't the experience with turn-based games, Rise of Nations comes from a team with some experience in both, but mostly drawn from turn-based classics.

I'm willing to bet that Empire Earth fills the hole that Empire Earth left.