Alt soulution

Well, I have decided to just focus on the burglar in LotrO. It is my oldest character there, and I find the play style more satisfying than the minstrel, so I shall stick with it. I have not been spending too much time in Middle Earth this week, mostly due to being very busy with real life. I have a huge pile of group quests to get through, and I might try to plough into them this afternoon.

I have downloaded and installed the Warhammer client in anticipation of open beta, though it looks like I will not actually get to take part. As far as I can tell, the only way to get open beta access is to order the digital version of the game, either through the EA store or Direct2drive, both of which are charging £10 more for the game than most other online retailers. I want a boxed copy, and I do not feel like being charged more money, so I shall miss out. Seems that new MMOs have a strange concept of open beta these days, what with this situation and also Funcom operating a similar pre-order only access, and charging for early access. It is a disturbing trend. I have been in open beta for almost every MMO that has been released in the last 4 years, without being charged or having to even pre-order. Oh well. I should at least get access to the head start on the 15th, so not too much longer.