This can be nothing less than the "vast and mysterious" thing that Turbine's Tolero has been alluding to since she was recruited out of the player pool and into the developer's cube.
And, I suppose there *is* something "vast and mysterious" about it...
To a point.
But, as I found out this weekend, there are some things that continue to be typical of Turbine...
Let me start with the delivery method for the Beta of Eberron Unlimited... The "Turbine Download Manager." This lovely little piece of software, based on my limited experience, doesn't quite work the way Turbine has advertised it...
"TDM: The Turbine Download Manager downloads sections of the DDO Unlimited client that will get you into the game within minutes, starting with character generation, then the new player experience, and finally the full game. For questions or assistance with the Turbine Download manager, please visit the DDO Beta TDM Forum."
The TDM did *not* get me "into the game within minutes."
It seems that, because I have sixteen characters spread across several servers, which Turbine surrepetitiously copied onto the beta server back in December during a "server maintenance" cycle, I was not able to start with character generation or the new player experience.
Instead, I had to endure a twenty-eight (28) hour... 28 HOUR... download.
So much for minutes.
And, despite the way the advertised peer-to-peer mode is *suposed* to make the download process go faster, I found that it made the process *much* ~slower~. In fact, I had to pause the download, turn off peer-to-peer mode, and restart the computer. Once the TDM was back online, it was running a bit faster. Maybe 3-5% faster, but faster nonetheless.
Now, I'll give you that part of the problem is likely the fact that my connection to the internet *barely* qualifies as DSL, but it *is* still a broadband connection. Barely.
Once the download finished, I was finally able to log into the Beta.
I was surprised to find that the character selection screen had the only two available character slots set to two characters I haven't played in almost a year, both lowbies, and no way to select a different character without either deleting a bunch of other characters I might like to play instead, or entering the DDO Store to purchase additional character slots, up to a maximum of ten slots. Since I was sitting at sixteen characters, I decided to simply choose one of the two lowbies and log in to see what all the hubub was about.
Interestingly, the lowbie I had selected had never been run. It turned out to be a character I'd created on another server to reserve my character name for some of the permadeath stuff some of us guildies had given a go of.
*Because* I'd never run this character, even though it was created long before the New Player Experience was released, I was promply dropped off at the shipwreck that begins the NPE.
Despite the fact that I had 15 other characters, most of whom who are *well* above Level 5, this new character was *forced* to endure the tutorial; I was not allowed to bypass the NPE.
I decided I'd switch to the other character I had available later on, saving the chance to experience some of the changes Belzur had told me Turbine had made to the Marketplace and the Houses for later. (I like to save the anticipation, and let it build.)
I did, however, find a few minor changes to Korthos Island, once my character finally made it through the tunnel.
I'm not sure why anyone felt those changes were necessary, but, whatever...
After verifying that I couldn't take the boat into Stormreach just yet, I ran a couple of quests to whittle away at the bare minimum requirements to get me off Korthos Island.
Until I became tired of the tedium, that is. Then I logged off and had some dinner.
After dinner, I found that I preferred to log into the live game and work on my latest laboratory experiment instead, but found that I couldn't log into the live game.
Suffice it to say that I was *extremely* disappointed, angry and upset.
I wanted to ~PLAY~!!!
Alright, then, I'll go back to the Beta and see if I can't venture into Stormreach on the other character.
ERROR [201]
WTF!!!
I couldn't play *EITHER* version of the game.
After tinkering with my system for about 10 minutes, I finally gave up, shut down my computer for the night, and joined my wife in the living room, watching a rerun of a movie Hollywood should never have released in the first place, but it was better than fighting with my computer and losing.
The next morning, I decided to go back in and troubleshoot the problems I was having with "my game."
Because I wasn't exactly thrilled with the Beta, I decided to work out the problems with the live game first.
To my surprise, the live game actually started this time. Granted, it was *incredibly* slow through the loading of the Turbine logo animation, at which point the previous evening, it would crash. But, at least it was now loading, and I could get into the game.
Satisfied that the live game was now working, I went back to give the Beta another go.
No dice... ERROR [201]... again.
Okay... fine... back to the live game then...
But now, it was crashing again.
WTF!?!
Alright... reboot the computer and start over...
Huh!
The live game actually launches, and doesn't crash at the Turbine logo animation, as long as you haven't run the Beta version first.
Funny that!
However, the license agreement screen that precedes the login to the Beta version is now showing up in the live game.
Fan-friggin'-tastic!
Well, at least I can play... for now.
As for the Beta...
I'm going to uninstall it when I get home this evening.
Hopefully, the live game will still run when I'm done with it.
No, I'm not going to attempt to reinstall the Beta.
I did, by the way, visit the Beta forums for assistance, and found none, and I also submitted a ticket to Turbine's Technical Support site (which still has not replied). So, I'm done with the Beta.
It's not worth the level of frustration involved.
Instead, I'll simply try to be content with my live game, and wait until the end of the summer, when Turbine finally gets around to releasing this so-called module.
By then, it will have been a year... a whole year... since Turbine initially promissed us this particular module.
Perhaps I should consider downgrading to the Free 2 Play option.
I dunno. I'll have think it over.
In the mean time, something positive worth mentioning... I participated in my first Hound of Xoriat raid. And, so did Belzur. I think, maybe, it was also the first time for Bashal (Confrag/Stonehands), but I'm not sure. I do know that it was *supposed* to be the second time for Tanision, but he was, sadly, unable to join us, since, when he arrived at the raid entrance, he didn't have the quest. This was a result of a very bad mix-up and the fact that we were pugging the group as a "new to raid, need guide" raid.
Troop was helping us, and ended up being the leader, even though it wasn't his preference. Personally, I think he did a good job. There is, after all, a reason I spent most of my time following him through the Tempest's Spine, and the other raids we conducted with all the old faces.
Anyway, Belzur pulled Levik's Bracers:
A *very* nice pull for my Dwarven Fighter friend. One I hope he uses well, as it will help PEBKAC keep Belzur's fleshy hide alive. :0)
Another of our raid party members pulled Lorikk's Champion:
As it turns out, this is a rather exceptional item for a Cleric, and the player who pulled it wasn't a Cleric. Because the PUG Cleric in our group already had one, he suggested that I, playing as PEBKAC, the Warforged Cleric of ill repute, should take it, as it would do him the most good.
Thanks to the generosity of our PUG players, PEBKAC now has a shiny new shield. Here's hoping it helps!
I suppose, now, we'll have to make another attempt at the Hound of Xoriat, to see if we can pull the paired items to go with them.
It was fun, though.
As Troop put it, "it started out messy, but it ended well."
If only all quests were to turn out that way...
Keep it fun, everyone!
