As I write this, Mythic has a “Banhammer” image saying, “4051 banned for selling gold.” If that is accounts, that is $202,550 in Warhammer boxes. I know that retailers, publishers, etc. see a lot of that money, but it should be enough to pay for whoever is tracking down and banning spammers.
Frankly, I am not worried about people buying or selling gold, or the fine services offering level 40 in 8 days for $240. Just stop sending me poorly spelled tells about it. Seriously, you are pasting text; someone needs to write coherent English ONCE.
: Zubon
Edit: also, what are you spending this gold on? The only time I did not have enough money for something is when I bought new skills and renown gear all at once on a low-level character, before remembering to sell my vendor trash. I bought my mount at 16 and had cash to spare. Can there be that much on the auction house?
City of Heroes has moved the mission editor to Issue 14 in 2009. Issue 13 will be adding all the content that was missing from Issue 12: they are finishing up Cimerora and the Midnight Squad. Because releasing incomplete content and getting to it 5 months later is acceptable on a four year old game with a direct competitor in development. *ahem* The delay on “create your own mission” is so that they can include “create your own villain” for it.
That aside, evolution in the genre:
The Leveling Pact: A new innovation to MMOs, this groundbreaking system allows you and a buddy to create new characters and have your XP be permanently in sync, whether both characters are online or not. You will always be the same level, even if your buddy plays ten times more often than you do! It’s sort of like “Extreme Sidekicking.”
Multi-Builds: Another innovation to City of Heroes, we are delivering the ability to have two different build-outs of each character, including which powers are selected and which Enhancements are slotted. This will now be possible for characters who want to take advantage of it. By visiting any Trainer you can switch the entire build of your character to an alternate one. You can use this separate build for whatever you like. If you wish to use different power selections for soloing and groups, you can do that. This even makes it possible to have different IO sets slotted for PVP and PVE. It’s up to you.
Multi-builds are straightforward and a great idea for all of us who do not want to be forced between PvE/PvP, healing/damage, solo/group, etc. Leveling pacts, however, are … interesting. They explain that you split xp, no matter which character earns it, and you are in that pact for life. I like it as a way to make sure you do not out-level your friend. Their initial plan is for two characters, and if it does not destroy things, more. Because it can be hard to arrange having everyone on at once.
: Zubon
Update: you can leave the leveling pact, but you cannot get another after level 5.
Captains are the most under-rated class in The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™. They are the most hybridized class I have seen in any game, and they still work. We are used to seeing broken hybrids, either brokenly powerful (and therefore overshadowing the classes they are hybridizing) or too weak (so just wait until you get the first-best for whatever your gap is). Captains, while rarely required for a successful group, contribute meaningfully in any role they can fill, without over-shadowing the original class.
Captains are melee buffers, a rare decision to make. Beyond being The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™’s primary buff class, a Captain is also an off-tank, secondary healer, secondary DPS, pet class, and teleporter. They also have a little ranged DPS. They are the go-to class for in-combat rezes and curing fear effects.
Beyond the usual damage and tanking that you expect from meleers, Captains bring to the table some bonuses not found on other classes. Whenever an enemy hits the ground, good things happen (like healing). They can mark targets for more damage or for life leech. Banners and buffs add massively to your morale. With the critical hit buff, my Hunter clears 25%. Their late-game buff is the mighty In Defense of Middle Earth, which adds +50 to everything for everyone. That is huge when stats cap at 500. They also have the ultimate in survivability: when Last Stand is active, the Captain cannot die.
Hybrids and buffers are hard to sell in most games, difficult to make or play well. Props to Turbine for a viable hybrid melee buffer.
: Zubon
In the spirit of Shiny Happy Week, we encourage only happy comments about good things on this post. Saying nice things about other games under the heading, “You know who else does that well?” is allowed.
Maybe you wonder where you are
I don’t care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there…take you there
We’re on a road to nowhere
- Talking Heads
I was fighting in the Battle at Bittermore when I noticed a trail heading north and west into the mountains. Being more of an explorer than a fighter, I slipped away during the battle and climbed up to the trail to see where it went. Turns out it went nowhere, but yet somewhere.
I saw a lot of rocky mountains. I really explored the space man. As far as my eyes could see, rock and more rock. I also got a little bit lost.
I did recall seeing a bridge, perhaps that would lead me back to civilization. Turned out it only lead to the end of the world. Now what?
Looked like down was the only option left, but it looked so far down to the bottom, assuming there was a bottom. I wasn’t sure that jumping was a good idea after all. Oh well, time to go find out just how far up I was.
I can fly!
No, I can’t.
What is the best way to wrap up an adventure? Killing some rats.
- Ethic
I know that I complain a lot about the games I play. Complaining is kind of what we do here in the blogosphere. And then there is Yahtzee. Yahtzee is the popular video blogger who likes Portal, Psychonauts, Guitar Hero, and cursing whilst wearing a hat. That seems to be all the joy that he receives from gaming. When he does give praise, it usually comes in the form of, “I like this part of the game; if only it were not wrapped in in the flaming, feces-covered corpses of a thousand dead puppies who all had their eyes gouged out by the falling horns of unicorns that were decapitated by evil monkey pirates, who were in turn raped to death by the even more evil developers of this festeringly putrid game.”
Only it sounds better in his accent.
: Zubon
Kind of hard to argue with the webcomics comment. It has pretty much been like that since hitting First and Ten.
But I’ve been playing Spore a lot, hence the absence.
How is it? Mini-review: It’s like going on a date with a cute girl. She’s smart, funny, makes you laugh, very easy to be around her and you two have a blast. Then you take her home at the end of the evening and realize she’s really a man. As in, she actually has male equipment in the crotch locker. So what do you do? Call it off then? Or go through with it anyway so you don’t finish destroying a great date?
That’s what I’m debating.
In non-gaming news, got ourselves a cheap telescope yesterday. Thought I’d get my oldest son interested in science with some hands-on observing time, and we had a great time with it last night. The moon wasn’t up when we went out, unfortunately, but I could show him the disc of Jupiter, a couple of stars and told him how to spot the Milky Way, and what it was.
It was a very nice night that made me warm and fuzzy. One of the most honored and solemn duties of any geek is to pass the torch to future generations. I feel I’ve started doing that last night.
Pretty much the same as ranged DPS anywhere, but I like the turrets and multiple, stacking, instant-cast damage over time (DoT) abilities.
The Engineer’s big class feature is the turret. You get three options: long-range, short-range AE, and medium-range grenade turret. I have not been using that last one much, although I might toy with it. It fires the fastest, with an occasional AE. The short-range one is a flamethrower, although sadly the graphics are fireballs rather than a huge cone of fire unless it gets a good roll. None of these are as game-changing as I might have hoped; the extra damage is nice, and it occasionally pulls adds off you, but most of your offense comes from you. This is not the Lugian Tactician.
Continue reading ‘Engineer at Level 10′
Today is, first and foremost, my wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday, sweetheart! Feel free to wish her well in the comments…
She is also happy to share the day with Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. It’s a good day.
- Ethic
