Month: October 2008

Brilliant Merchandizing

So brilliant that I am going to help them advertise their product by talking about it: IRL guild tabards. Well, t-shirts, but it cannot be that long until someone actually offers tabards for sale. Merchandise with your guild logo and character information on it: brilliant! Not anything that I would buy, granted, but there must be demand for this product. It can only branch out further.

: Zubon

Hat tip: WOWVault

Positive Can Be Funny

Have you seen Zero Punctuation for this week? I think it would have been even better without the GTA4 negativity — the Saints Row 2 positivity was great. Plan for the day: mayhem, destruction, violence, whimsy. Yes, that sounds like what many of us are here for.

Happy day in City of Villains: going into a Mayhem Mission with a Fire/Fire Brute. Nothing says “flaming maniac” quite like having boxes explode because you walked by them. I need to level that character someday so I can do the same to cars.

: Zubon

A Message from Mrs. Oz

My wife became a citizen this year, which means she can now vote, and for the past few months has been asking everyone she meets (and I mean EVERYONE, including random people at the store) if they were going to vote. Yes, she has an opinion on which she likes, which she does not push on the people involved, but is completely filled with glee that people have an opinion. The country she hails from had a mock political system, that offered only one party, one candidate for leader, which was part of a ruling family that bankrupted the country. The ability to choose your leader is, she feels, akin to super powers. She asks everyone if they are going to vote, and I’ve learned to simply get out of the way when I hear someone say no. The lecture they get about having a choice and failing to execute it is intense. Do not retort about the “lesser of evils” as she will explain to you about what true evil is – the lack of a choice at all.

Not looking nor will I post to convince you to one side or another – simply employ your right to choose. Don’t make me send my wife over.

Candy Corn Meatgrinder

Warhammer Online kicked off it’s Halloween-themed event, The Witching Night, yesterday.  I am usually excited about holiday events found in MMOs because it focuses people and draws them together.  Games will draw people to go trick or treating to the inns across the world, to play rock, paper, scissors with a mad demi-god, or even eschew the pagan festival for a happier harvest celebration.

In Warhammer Online it draws people together so that they will kill each other.  Last night I logged on and immediately flew to Black Fire Pass and joined the first RvR warband I found.  Order controlled the Keep and two Battlefield Objectives, and had pushed Destruction back to the warcamp.  We then started pushing back.  I think that I completely missed the event’s Public Quest, but I did have a blast racking up the Renown (especially since they recently buffed Renown gain from healing).  It was becoming such a meatgrinder at one point that people were running back to the warcamp after being rez’d multiple times to get their rez sickness healed.

Warhammer Online might have too much content.  But, when Mythic places the candy corn (read: carrots) in the right place to unabashedly lead the two sides together to fight over Halloween goodies, it is a beautiful thing.  I hope that the RvR zones containing the Witching Night Public Quests remain this active through the event because I think it will show how much the game can shine.

–Ravious
Someday this war’s gonna end…

Inigo’s Scenario Guide 1.04

I do not mean to pry, but Arkenor posted some of the 1.04 patch notes for Warhammer Online, along with some commentary.  As it stands there are only two scenarios that reliably launch, at least on my server.  In Tier 3 it is Tor Anroc, and in Tier 4 it is Serpent’s Passage.  This happens because Destruction queues for all the scenarios, and Order queues for one… the one where they feel or definitely have the advantage.  In my guild, we have unofficially embargoed play on Tor Anroc, and so we dutifully queue up for the other 5 scenarios in Tier 3.

With Mythic’s awesome change, Order can still do what they want.  They won’t be randomly forced to play one of the other 5 scenarios, BUT for the long run, it is going to hurt them as a faction.  That is the sound of ultimate suffering.

I think people are jumping the gun with “math” they cannot see.  I do not think it means what you think it means.

–Ravious

EDIT: And, I am jumping the gun with “logic” I cannot see.  I’ll eat the crow to this post.

Deepest apologies

My deepest apologies.

It is my understanding that my invading forces, in their attempts to besiege your cities and snuff out all life on Azeroth, have inconvenienced the activities of common civilians. In the future, I will ensure that your commanding officers are informed well in advance of planned invasion times so that they may properly fortify themselves.

I have also looked into the issue of my plague being too quick in its purpose and too difficult to cure. Please be reassured that I have taken the matter up personally with my top necromancers and that any further incarnations of said plague should be only a slight challenge for your natural immune systems to overcome. Please forward any additional complaints to either Kel’thuzad or Anub’arak.

Regards, the Lich King Arthas.

(By Zampyr, Tichondrius US via Lum)