Month: October 2012

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Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.

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[GW2] Hodgins is Hardcore

This is becoming a running joke in our dungeon runs. You can help it become a meme.

In the Ascalonian Catacombs exploration mode, path 1 is guided by the NPC Hodgins. By the middle of the path, he is dual-wielding flaming scepters. The usual approach is to sprint through rather than clearing all the enemies. At several points, Hodgins is having none of this, whips out his dual scepters, and goes berserk on whatever enemy he feels like, caring not a whit for his own (surprisingly good) survival. Group of gravelings? Hodgins wants to solo them. Gravelings fighting oozes? He’ll take all comers. Ghosts, trolls, whatever you can find? Hodgins wants their flaming blood on his boots.

Hodgins is hardcore.

: Zubon

[RIFT] Storm Legion Preview

Trion’s James “Elrar” Nichols has been reaching out to a good amount of MMO bloggers to check out the upcoming expansion for Rift called Storm Legion. The feedback so far has been pretty darn positive. He did not pass up our humble blog; just a failure to communicate coupled with my idiocy prevented it until last night. Finally I was able to get in with James to get a nice run through of what is coming in about a month.

First, let me talk about James. I’ve spoken with a lot of community reps for various MMOs, and very few seem to as excited about their products as James was. I took in to account that this might be his hundredth tour for the dirty blogger folk too. He handled all my questions with great cheer, and despite it being the end of his work day, I was seriously impressed with his energy. The RIFT community has a great community manager.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to brass tacks. Continue reading [RIFT] Storm Legion Preview

[GW2] Elementalist Review

[Update: as of 11/15/2012, blast finishers were removed from Evasive Arcana, eliminating most of the ability to create and then exploit fields with a staff. It is not clear if the elementalist will remain a viable support class.]

  • Best roles found: group support, event AE damage, WvW siege weapon destruction
  • Pros: skill variety, combo fields and finishers, ranged area effect attacks, area effect healing, area effect buffs, high mobility, moderate control
  • Cons: damage, damage resistance, health, underwater combat, elite skills, high attention needed for effectiveness
  • Difficulty: low for leveling, events; high for late game effectiveness
  • Not tested: sPvP dagger/dagger builds

The elementalist is one of the two best group support classes and the worst solo class. To get the most out of it, you need to be with other people. To get the most out of it, you need to constantly switch attunements and use all 20 skills. You will love this class if you run dungeons, if you attack towers with a zerg in WvW, or if you like to hit large groups of enemies with giant, flaming rocks. You will love this class if you draw satisfaction from seeing others succeed. You will hate this class if you play a lot of underwater content, if you compare your damage to others, or if you need to see the big numbers on your screens rather than the combo effects telling you they are on others’ screens.
Continue reading [GW2] Elementalist Review

Revamping

A game you play (or played) is about to (or just did) have a major update/expansion. There will be an overhaul of core systems and/or your main class. Is your reaction:

  • “Awesome, let’s see all my new toys!” or
  • “Oh Lord, I have to learn how to play all over again?”?

Congratulations, you now have a decision criterion for whether you should spend that money. Please run through this exercise before you resubscribe, rather than having that reaction while you stare at a row of skill icons.

: Zubon

Reflecting on the Personal Story

A personal story, apart from the mundane hub happenings, seems fairly commonplace in MMOs. RIFT has zone-wide stories. Guild Wars 2 has the personal story. Lord of the Rings Online (“LOTRO”) has the epic line. I like the term personal story because it is a stronger narration of the events affected by player character, and for this post I will use that term in a broader sense.

I reflected on my journey through Dunland, the Gap of Rohan, and the Great River as I broke bread with some Thane. I had blasted through a few Books in LOTRO’s personal story. I realized that so much of the finesse of the storyteller was not in the actual story, but in the explanation of the ripples, the effects of the player’s doing. This went forward and backwards in time. Continue reading Reflecting on the Personal Story

Quests and Events: The Return

Quests and Events: The Return

Coming back to a quest-based MMO, in this case Lord of the Rings Online (“LOTRO”), after spending so much time in Guild Wars 2 was eye opening. I never once believed that the renown/event system of Guild Wars 2 (“the Guild Wars 2 system”) would kill quest-based design in any sense of the word. Guild Wars 2 had something very similar in their personal story. I did however think that perhaps the renown/event system was better, at least for me.

I realize now after spending a couple hours in LOTRO, that “better” is not the right word. “Different” is more accurate.

I Am Free! Continue reading Quests and Events: The Return

[GW2] Unbalanced

How are your server’s WvW match-ups? Ours have been dramatically one-sided, with one server wiping the floor with the other two. This week, we are the victors; last week, a different server held 75% of the map consistently.

I am told that one of our competing servers had an exodus last weekend, with a major guild or seven leaving Eredon Terrace. (There are stories about what happened, but never trust Us when they tell you what is wrong with Them.) Numbers disparities are hard to overcome, and once your server is losing that badly, people stop trying. You cannot build the momentum to get past your own gates, while people flock to the winning team. The winning server has a long queue for WvW and your WvW team is half-full at best.

Bandwagons are a problem that will continue as long as free transfers are available (to more populous servers). People generally want to be on the winning team. Without server transfers, this just means that people are more likely to hit B and join WvW if they are ahead. With server transfers, people leave losing servers and join winning servers. Any swings are exaggerated by immigration. Continue reading [GW2] Unbalanced

[LOTRO] Staging North Dunland

As I deathmarch to Rohan, most of my time in Lord of the Rings Online (“LOTRO”) has been in the Dunland zone so far. I hit level 70 last night, and I seem to be able to pull about a level per night. I do admit that the leveling speed to “catch up” is tiring compared to the leveling speed I had gotten used to in Guild Wars 2. I am enjoying the content, but I want to be at Rohan.

So far I have enjoyed three distinct hubs in North Dunland. The first hub, surrounds the plight of the Stag Clan defending itself against the Dragon Clan, which appears to be backed by the White Hand. Overall, it is the best hub of the three with its use of phasing and geographical content. Continue reading [LOTRO] Staging North Dunland