My MMO List for 2015!

It's been a busy 2014 for me with my daughter being born and all, however I am planning to take somewhat of an interest in a number of games in 2015. Their names and my thoughts on them are as follows.....

• Albion Online

Is that you Death..

I've been looking forward to this for quite a while now, it reminds me of so many different games that I enjoyed playing years past from Ultima Online to Diablo and a touch of Dark Age of Camelot too. It's going to be free to play and the developers have confirmed that the in-game shop will be cosmetic only, but if I'm honest I can see some of my coin going into their coffers as I'm a sucker for looking good :p.

The crafting and housing elements should be refreshing and fun, but it's the Guild Vs Guild that I'm looking forward to the most - it's going to be best suited for guild groups of smaller numbers, which is great and there will be times during the day when your land can't be pillaged, so you won't log off to sleep to wake and find your castles and keep razed and your land in the hands of another.

• Camelot Unchained (2015 release unlikely)

Extra sharp sword!

I am a backer of this title up to the sum of around 55 bucks, which is around 35 units of real money (i.e, Sterling!). The main driver for me wanting to put my own money into a game that was way off at the time, and still is at least a year off now was due to Mark Jacobs. He was one of the guys behind Dark Age of Camelot and I spent many years in my 20's playing and thoroughly enjoying that game. Although he isn't squeaky clean when it comes to some of the failures of DAoC and it's sister game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (RIP!) I'm willing to give him another shot at re-creating the lore, community and unrivaled realm pride of DAoC in Camelot Unchained. /fingerscrossed

CityStateEntertainment YouTube Channel

• EverQuest Next

No obesity here!

I must admit, I never did play the original EverQuest and this was solely down to one of the above linked MMO's (DAoC). I thought about it on numerous occasions, but in the end always ended up in another title. 

Another reason for never dipping my toe into the EQ bath (hmm, ok...) was my disregard for the look of the game - it all looked a little too friendly if you know what I mean. Take DAoC as a comparison, that was not as pretty to look at, but it had jagged edges, chiseled character features and that really did help you immerse yourself into the world - in my mind anyhow.

My main drivers for trying out EQN are notably the look of it which I like, the fact that the whole environment is destructable and also that it's going to be free :).

Ish

Camelot Unchained Kickstarter

Camelot Unchained Wants You!

So it has been 2 weeks since the Kickstarter for Camelot Unchained went live and at the time of writing this jibber jabber they've accrued a total of $1,157,435 in pledges from the gaming fans out there. Considering they still have 17 days left to go I don't think that's too bad at all, although my only concern is that everyone that wanted to back the game, has and the pledges are now going to plateau out - but let's hope not.

I've not followed that many Kickstarters so I don't know how common it is, but I've been really impressed with the amount of updates and how much information City State Ent. have been releasing on a daily basis. Granted they do it to make people put there hands in their pockets, but there are many KS's that don't do any where near as much.

The first update that perked my interest was #6 which showed off some concept art and modeling for the Tuatha De Danann (TDD as they're known) who look great.

Looking good.

He looks pretty mean.

I think the TDD look great. Yes you will always get those that compare them to other games they play, whether that's Lineage, Neverwinter or even WoW (yes they did...) but they don't look too cartoony and still have that menacing feel to them.

The next update that went down really well was #8 which gave us a first look at the Viking concept, and notably a female Viking.

Aren't they warm..

That armour looks great.

I could see me playing one of these.

 If I had to take a guess I'd say 90% of the backers liked this look and the other 10% either didn't or didn't see it. I was undecided at first as my first thoughts when looking at the images was not "Viking". I've since changed my mind though - with the help of Mark Jacobs and Wikipedia in regard to what these people did actually wear and look like - Wiki page.

I'm REALLY looking forward to the next installment of artwork as I'm a big Arthurian fan.

The final (at the moment) piece of info that's been released which ticked another one of my boxes was in update #16 - part 2 Strech Goal. The Depths is a RvR dungeon, think of Darkness Falls in Dark Age of Camelot, but with more killing. DF was brilliant in DAoC and from listening to MJ, TD sounds as good, if not better!

I recommend you take a look at the video as you won't be dissapointed.

We just need that $800,000 and then some now :)

Ish