Author: Ethic

I run this little MMO gaming blog but I hardly ever write on it anymore. I'm more of a bloglord or something. Thankfully I have several minions to keep things rolling along.
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Azeroth Advisor Now Free

The Azeroth Advisor is, according to their FAQ, “an electronic newsletter that is personalized to your World of Warcraft characters. It is automatically delivered to you by email, customized to your character’s current level and status. Our idea is simple: give you the information you need when it’s relevant to you. The Azeroth Advisor is not a cheat guide or a set of walk-throughs; it is insightful guidance that helps you make informed decisions throughout the game.”

This service used to come at a cost, but now that 38 Studios has purchased it they have made it available free of charge. Very generous of them, considering that they are making an MMO to compete with World of Warcraft. So why would they do this? Seems obvious to me. They plan to offer this same service to players of their game when it goes live. Smart move on their part. This sort of value-added bonus for their future subscribers shows the forward thinking that is going on over at 38 Studios. I applaud them for this move.

Make sure you watch the Wizards vs. Cyborgs video.

– Ethic

The Road To Nowhere

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

Ethic in WAR, Day Two

Last night in Warhammer Online felt like a waste of time. Being in a limited head start really kind of sucks. There is not enough people playing. I ran around to 5 or 6 public quests and it was like a ghost town. Nobody around, at all.

I rolled up a Warrior Priest (check out them boots!) and decided to level up some before I join a scenario or enter the RvR areas. I pushed him up to rank 6 by doing quests and I have to say the class bored the heck out of me. Assuming I now know all about this class (kidding), I will be abandoning him as my main. I really enjoyed playing the Bright Wizard with my wife on Sunday so I think I am going to switch the Warrior Priest over to our duo and use the Bright Wizard as my new main character.

I’m hoping the second group of head start folks playing will make the public quests useful and I still have yet to do any RvR stuff. Long overdue for that.

– Ethic

Ethic in WAR, Day One

The Warhammer Online Collector’s Edition head start began yesterday and since I still had a functioning CE head start code on my account (I had canceled the order) I was able to play. The following is a summary of my adventures on day one.

I had to work in the morning but I thought I’d try to reserve names before I had to leave. Found out the start was delayed for a few hours. Off to work. Spent all day at work reading about people having long queues and other issues. Finally, time to go home.

Continue reading Ethic in WAR, Day One

Fever Pitch

This is what it’s all about. The day before you can first log in to a new MMO. Everyone’s talking about it. People are excited because this is the best game ever. People are holding off because all new MMOs need 6 months to really be ready to play. People are angry because it’s just more of the same old thing.

It’s a fresh start, a new beginning. New adventures with old friends. Old adventures with new friends. Finding a new guild or moving with the old guild. New game mechanics to figure out, or just to figure out they are the same as the old. A new class, a new race, a new sex. What name should I choose? Should I use the old name so people know me right away? What if someone grabs my name before me? Maybe I’ll choose a new name and new identity, I was kind of a jerk in that last game. I think I’ll create a character on each server to save my name. Ah, who cares if someone else gets my name.

What server should I choose? Maybe the first or last alphabetically? Oh I know, I’ll pick the coolest name so I will be on a popular servers. No way, I want a quieter server so I’ll go for the lamest name in the bunch. Nah, I’ll wait until they add a new server and I’ll join that one.

Anyway, for me this is where it all begins. A new game. Whatever you plan to do and wherever you plan to do it, I hope it is everything you had hoped for and more.

– Ethic

Shaman vs Rune-keeper

I’ve been playing a Shaman in Warhammer Online during beta on a regular basis and find the mechanic they use to encourage both healing and damage dealing to be entertaining. How it works is that basically the more damage you do, the more effective your healing spells become and the more you heal your friends, the more powerful your attack skills become. Therefore, the system encourages you to play the balance of damage and healing. No longer are the healers getting yelled at for attacking. It’s all part of the design and I find it quite fun.

Now along comes the Rune-keeper in Lord of the Rings Online. This is one of the new classes coming out with the Mines of Moria expansion. The thing that caught my eye here is a system called Attunement. The Rune-keeper is also a healer/damage dealing hybrid like the Shaman, but in this case Turbine has appeared to flip the design over. The more damage you do, the better you get at doing damage. The more healing you do, the better you get at healing. It seems to actually discourage you from filling both roles. Instead, I guess you must pick one role or the other before you start the fight. I can’t tell at this point if one will be more fun than the other but I plan to create a Rune-keeper when the expansion launches to test the class. My gut tells me the Shaman will be more fun, but I could be wrong.

– Ethic

Warhammer Public Quests Problem

A while back I read at The Cesspit and Nerfbat about some issues Warhammer Online will face. One quote:

Too many parts of Warhammer’s core design are strictly dependent on keeping a fine balance on the number of players participating, and so vulnerable. It’s not about PQs only. It’s about PQs, faction balance in open RvR, issues of overcrowding and depopulation in all the parts of the game. The *fun* strictly depends on that fine balance, to keep all the options viable at all times, and to keep the single option fun without suffering overcrowding or depopulation.

I hadn’t really seen it as an issue until it slapped me in the face last night. I was playing on the side of Order in the lower levels and the first two Public Quests I participated in could not be completed. There just was not enough people to take on the spawning mobs and people would not bother coming back if they got killed. I tried several times and eventually I got to the point that I would just slip into the PQ area and look at the quest progress to see if the mobs are being killed fast (the first phase is usually something like kill 25 somethings). If the numbers didn’t go up quick, I knew there was not enough playing and moved along – thus feeding into the problem more.

I’d hate to see what the early PQ’s look like a year from now (not to mention the even larger related problems mentioned in the quote above) if they don’t make some changes to address this.

– Ethic

Full Disclosure

We have not, do not and will not accept free product, subscriptions, advertising, or any related items from any game company. We feel that any payment of any sort creates doubt in the readers’ minds about our opinions being honest. Rest assured that all opinions stated on this site are our own opinions, no influence will be accepted or tolerated.

– Ethic

Ethic turns down money all the time. I’ve seen the e-mails. I’m just not important enough to be bribed. [Update: someone once offered me an exclusive screenshot.]

: Zubon

Warhammer Online: Biggest Failure Ever

Not.

I’m really getting a kick out of reading all the reviews for Warhammer Online. People hate it, people love it. It’s funny. There has not been any real significant change in the MMO industry since Day 1 and yet still people expect each game to be the one to change it all. These are games. If they are fun, play them. If not, don’t. Why get your panties in a bunch because there is a new game available? Check it out if you want.

Continue reading Warhammer Online: Biggest Failure Ever