Turbine Nation - 2004 |
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Well, I'm back! All good
things must come to an end and this year's Turbine Nation and ACPL have
become, once again, fond memories. *sniff* I can't wait 'til next year!!
Friday Pre-ACPL Dinner Half the fun, of course, is getting the Devs drunk and trying to wheedle seekrit information out of them! After a few shooters, Jessica told me that... nope, sorry, can't tell you. And Sandra told me... no, I can't say that either. Oh, I'm kidding. They gave us nothing! NOTHING, I tell you. Plus, they kept beating us at pool! We played some Arcade Games then planned to head to the Decal Dev Hospitality Suite in the Westin hosted by Gouru, but, I'm afraid to say, we got lost driving from the mall back to the hotel (2 blocks away) and wandered aimlessly through Providence for a good 45 minutes! Let's just say the roads in RI are not much of an improvement from Boston's.
When we got back to the Holiday Inn, there was a big crowd at the bar, so we parked ourselves there for the remainder of the evening. It was great to catch up with fellow Thistledowners, Optoman and Doogen, among others! Optoman posed with his shield for us (a gift from his talented allegiance members) and I found myself pinky-swearing that I would agree to some power-leveling for the first time in my many years of AC gaming. Level 80, here I come! And then, Bobo, you had better watch your back.
Turbine Nation 2004 After breakfast at the hotel with Maddy, Denise, Doogen and my wonderful vassal, Ned Cleversun, we walked down to the Convention Center. There were so many people who showed up unregistered that the line wound round and round and it took forever to get into the event (more checker-inners at the door next year, please). Merry (of Split Pea fame) was there ahead of us and hung out with us in line while we waited to get in. Finally, after what seemed an eternity (hee hee, have I made my point?), we got our nametags and dove into our swag bag looking for the item that would top last year's Pewter Lugian by the talented Sue Anne Rishe, a really cool artist, and found... a nerf bat, T-shirt and a copy of a game we had paid $50 for a while back. Harumph. The nametags were very cool, though! I loved mine!
We settled into the Ballroom and waited for everyone else to arrive. As we waited, Alan "Orion" Maki and Nik "Azeraphel" Davidson "entertained" (I say that with love) the crowd with bad stand up and Drudge Dancing. Once everyone was seated, Jeff Anderson opened up the festivities with a few words and Turbine Nation was officially under way! Yay! Jeff Anderson
Keith Baker For the folks who were at Turbine Nation for Dungeons and Dragons Online, having Keith Baker there, the creator of Eberron, the settling for the online game, was a treat; he was obviously a "big name" draw. His informative and enthusiastic talk gave background on the Wizards of the Coast contest which solicited ideas for a new campaign setting to complement the latest rule set. He also gave an overview off Eberron's defining characteristics and the historical context of his well-received setting. We learned that his entry was chosen out of over 12,000 submissions! Its fresh approach turned out to be a perfect match for the online game Turbine was developing. A Q&A followed, but this segment of the day was one of the few areas that repeated some of the mistakes from last year. A broader introduction of Keith Baker and an overview of D&D would have been helpful for the many members of the audience whose only interaction with funny looking dice was counting them in a jar. In addition, it would have been great to hear more about the relationship between Keith and Turbine, the development process that brought the two of them together and how his and Wizards of the Coast's involvement is different from the collaboration Turbine had with Microsoft during the development and growth of AC. As it was, much of the Q&A would have been better suited to one of the DDO sessions. The placement of Keith's talk in the day's event, in tandem with the lack of sufficient context or introduction, did a disservice to Keith, a valuable addition to the day's events. Session 1 I chose to attend the AC1 session where they announced the Make-a-Monster and Make-a-Movie contest winners. They also talked about other AC stuff. More on the content of the session and the Q&A coming soon! Ha. Not really! I say that every year, but I actually have no intentions of writing it all up. I just say that, and then wait for Paraduck to post it on the Vault then I link to it. Don't worry! I made sure he was taking careful notes and lots of pictures!! ;-) Since it's true confession time, I will also now admit that I snuck out of the AC1 Q&A when they started repeating questions that have been answered on the boards before and went shopping! (My vassal gave me a beautiful silver mana stone necklace made by Sue Anne and I bought a Turbine hat for the beach!)
ACPL After a short break where I got a few signed art pieces by Scenario, it was time for the ACPL. As a side note, I just may be the only player to have attended ALL the ACPLs, including the very first one in Minneapolis organized by Allen Grey, a former fan site manager. And to think I stopped playing D&D in high school because I was afraid it was just a little too geeky! ;-) The food was good! Yummy! I ended up sitting with a few people who turned out to be part of Turbine's Customer Service contingent. Wendy gave us the opportunity to praise them and we were happy to oblige. I also got a chance to rant about how much Zone Billing sucks and how I was this close to quitting AC out of my strong personal consumer belief that you should never give money to companies who give crappy service because it just encourages them! But for you, my dear Turbine, I'll wait! ;-) I also, for Greeneye and my other European friends, put in an official request for a European player gathering. After the meal, Jessica gave the keynote speech and we had more Q&A. As always, she was brilliantly entertaining and made us all feel warm and fuzzy inside about the future of our beloved games. Sadly, however, my vassal was told -- in no uncertain terms -- that his desire for a spell-casting bow was... unlikely. See? That's the reason I only have one vassal. He's so needy that the effort of hitting hotkeys to switch from the wand to the bow is too much for him. More of the Q&A coming soon!!! (No, not really.) Session 2 The next session was the AC news we had been waiting for: details on the new expansion pack, Throne of Destiny! (The initials are TD! It's a sign!) It was very exciting! Graphics upgrades! A new heritage group! Rares! A new level cap! Augmentation Gems! New creatures, dungeons and quests! New hairstyles! I can't stop using exclamation points! And even better, they're going to hold back the land control feature to have more time to get it right and release it later, so we get TWO media blitzes for the price of one! What do I think about the expansion? I can't wait!! Even if it were just a graphic upgrade, without all the cool other stuff, it would still be worth it just to get our game on the shelves again. I must admit, I had a few misgivings about the level cap, since most of my game friends aren't in my league now and we're already bumping into quest difficulties. (Sure there's a Blackmire level for *me*, but nobody else I play with is even close to that level and can't accompany me on it.) I have minor concerns that our 47 level gap is going to become a 147 level gap and we will never be able to play together again. The explanation they gave, however, of the level curves and not foreseeing any imminent changes in the current breaks are good enough for me to take a wait and see attitude. My faith in Turbine's ability to make good decisions about the game has yet to be shaken. (Are you *sure* you can't give my vassal a spell-casting bow? It would mean so much to him!) I also think it's good to recognize the reality of the large portion of the player base who are basically treading water at level 126 and give them the ability to advance again and set new goals. What else? I wanna find a rare!! I like that I have just as good a chance as anyone else on the server! (Very terrible odds! ;-) I am a looter (or waddle butt, as my friend Danier calls us in-game loot picker-uppers) from way back and it would be so exciting to find some one of a kind prize! Even a level 1 rare would be fun! Or a level 3! And just think about finding a level FIVE rare!! *drools* What? It could happen! Like the previous session, there was also a Q&A for the expansion. Sandra, Crowley and a new Turbine Dev named Brandon answered questions from the crowd. More info coming soon! (Um, see links to the right.) To sum up: Level 275, here I come!! Wheeeee!!!! Lord of the Rhymes After another short break and an AC2 art signing thingie, the Lord of the Rhymes, a musical group that acted out our favorite Tolkien tale in hip-hopping style, took the stage. I'm afraid I sat this one out to have some coffee in the lobby (we stayed up a little too late the night before, as is the usual) and to socialize with new friends. As fabulous as I'm sure they were, I think it was a mistake to relegate the Whose Drudge Is It Anyway contest, a fan favorite, to an off the schedule afterthought. Surely there was time for both entertainments! Merry Steals My Beta Slot Finally, it was time for
the prizes and the 50 MEO Beta slot giveaways! Once again, we saw an
improvement from last year. It's always been a tradition to have
excruciatingly long door prize giveaways. It's fun! Last year it went far
too fast, but this year, things were back in fine form as the suspense
built! Nik announced 10 at a time, interspersed with T-shirts and other
Days later, as I roamed the boards, reading other happy tales of Turbine Nation, I came across a post by Merry. He pointed out that if he had NOT exited his place in line to come hang out with us at the beginning of the day as we waited to get in, and had I NOT gone through registration ahead of him, the *I* would have been holding the MEO Beta winning ticket. Merry, if you're reading this, all I can say is... next time I see you, I am kicking your ass!! I will PK joo!! Well, I suppose it's just par for the course for my Turbine Beta luck. I've whined and whined (and whined) about being passed over for the AC2 Beta. Even after the Beta giveaway at a previous ACPL, I was never actually authorized to enter the community which was a required hurdle before you could actually play. (Yes, I'm still bitter.) All I can say is that for AC1, I was in Beta 0! And I left another game because of the love! And I became a huge fan! And made this website which attracts tens of thousands daily! And I kiss endless Turbine hiney on it, practically declaring your godhood! Just think what could have happened if you had let me into the AC2 Beta. And just think what thejackcat love could do for MEO or DDO! You'd be foolz to exclude me!! Foolz, I tell you!!! So... Did that work? Hmmm. *checks mailbox* How about groveling? Or begging. I'm not too proud to beg. Pleeeeze! Pleese let me into the Beta. Please, please, please! *sobs uncontrollably* Whose Drudge Is It Anyway Now where were we? Although not on the official schedule, crazed fans (some in costume) cannot be denied! The Whose Drudge contest did indeed go on, after the door prize drawing was complete. Once again, I was asked to judge, along with a few of the Turbine Devs. This year the prizes were handled a little differently. We were asked to pick the winning team, and we were also asked to pick the 4 funniest individual players. To avoid cries of biased judging, I took careful notes this year, so that the reasons for my choices were objective and clear! (And so I could do this write-up, but I accidentally left the paper there, so I'm winging it!) Teams acted out skits such as "Crafting 2.0 Gone Terribly, Terribly Wrong" and "Doodz in the Marketplace." One team was at a distinct disadvantage when an audience member who shall remain nameless came up with the funniest line of the night for the crafting skit (something like, "hey baby, take off that armor and I'll generate some wood." *sniff* For a minute, it was almost as if Kwip was there. *dabs eyes*) Congratulations to ... the winning team! And congratulations to ... the other winners!! Sorry, all I can remember is that we picked one winner for his dungeon master line, "You pee on the floor," and another because his prat fall made a baby in the audience cry! [Note: Lord Ravnos sent a pic of his team, Asheron's Gimps, and said not to worry; the crying baby was his own!] Post Turbine Nation After Turbine Nation, we made merry and went out to dinner. Before we went, my vassal gave up the slot he won in a dice roll for the Dungeon Crawl with Keith Baker. Unlike many of us, my vassal had never played D&D before and did not realize what he would be in for or that it would interfere with previously scheduled dinner plans. We entrusted Nik with finding a suitable replacement and he still got to keep the books! Which he promptly gave to me in trade for my T-shirt and I promptly got autographed like a fanboi! (In high school, I would have been too cool to admit that. ;-) And Auz, if you're reading this, I kissed Orion hello for you. And you really owe me because he was all sweaty from all the Drudge Dancing (secretly, I found the Drudge Dancing sexy)! After dinner we finally made it up to the Decal Dev Suite for the rest of the evening and had more fun talking about the day and the game and life in general. I got to put faces to many of the names I'm familiar with from the boards. We liquored up the Devs again and got them spilling seekrits about the game and the future of AC! Brandon told us that... oh, who am I kidding. Once again, we got NOTHING! Rhode Island Vacation Some of us stuck around for another day or two. Rhode Island is a beautiful place to vacation! We drove to the beach and hung out in our bathing suits. We ate some ice cream. We went out to dinner and on a Duck Tour and had a wonderful relaxing time! I was sad to see it end.
Wrap Up Overall, I have to say this was the BEST ACPL EVER! The location was a great choice and a big improvement from last year! Lots of restaurants within walking distance, and even a movie theater, if we get our after plans more organized next year. Dave & Busters, although not a gourmet feast, had room to accommodate our growing group and had other fun activities to offer. The hotel choices were good, and even without a room block, the Holiday Inn where we stayed had a good crowd congregating in the lobby and bar area. The multi-game format was well thought out and the convention center was still condensed enough to foster the feeling of intimacy, even as the crowd was larger than ever. Plus, the nametags rocked! Best of all, the positive energy was palpable. Jessica was dead on when she said that there was uncertainty in the air last year, how she wished she could tell the fans about the negotiations to buy back AC from Microsoft and to bring the franchise back home. This year it's obvious that it's an exciting time for Turbine. With an expansion in the works, new advertising and new subscribers, two new big name games in the pipeline, the future looks bright. With all the fun we had this year, hanging out with old friends and new, it was sad to leave Rhode Island. But as I said earlier, all good things must come to an end. Or do they? It took me 5 years to get to level 80. It may take me another 20 to get to 275! And with all the cool new changes in AC2, I've been thinking about giving that one another try. As a Tolkien fan, I also don't think I'll be able to resist MEO. And for sure I'll be checking out DDO. Now that I think about it, it just might be forever before I say goodbye to Turbine! |
PREVIOUS ACPLs: 2000 ACPL 2001 ACPL 2002 ACPL 2003 ACPL Kwip's (whoever he is) non-report Throne of Destiny Presentation Special thanks to Katryna Star & Mykell of FF, and Paraduck for some of the pics!! |
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