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Unbattening Hatches

I assumed that most of our readership would be focusing on Guild Wars 2 last week, so I didn’t want to interrupt. Let’s ease back in with an off-topic post. I could find some way to make this link on-topic, maybe connect it to this old post, but why bother? As I have said, primate brain, fire, ooh.

The inherent awesomeness of that link is increased by the subsection “Examples with Zombies.” People don’t always believe me when I tell them that the CDC has a web page on preparing for the zombie apocalypse. The Infernal Retaliation picture, to note, is not an example, because he set himself on fire; the alien he is fighting loses its powers around fire, like Superman with kryptonite. Under the “comic books” tab, however, read the X-Men example. Choice.

Game commentary returns very soon.

: Zubon

[GW2 Press Beta] The Richest PvE Experience, Part 1

“Just play.” That’s been my tagline for Guild Wars 2 PvE, and really all of Guild Wars 2, but PvE especially. MMO PvE is so mired in invisible rules. Don’t kill steal. Don’t help other people. Don’t waste time doing X if there is no quest for it. Pass through these tasks because this task is gated. I don’t know how many times I’ve given up explaining these ridiculous rules to other gamers. I feel even stupider when I try to answer their simple question of “why”.

Right from the start, it’s apparent that strict theme park rides have given way to a big playground. Sure there are still rides, and even a few lines, but at least I can run around! Here’s an account of my run through the Queensdale zone especially in regards to renown hearts and player guidance.

Continue reading [GW2 Press Beta] The Richest PvE Experience, Part 1

Rumors of my demise…

… have been more or less accurate. You all have to thank (or complain to) Zubon for poking me and dragging me out of my hermit’s cave to post again. Work has sapped most of my will to write and free time, which combined to 2011 being not really that exciting game-wise, contributed to a lack of things I’d be remotely interested in posting about.

What I’ve been doing all this time: After growing bored of Rift I went back to LOTRO for a spell, since it was free (as in beer), but soon enough my old issues with the game peeked over the corner and off I went in search for something new. Which I found, curiously enough, in a place where had it not been for boredom I would have skipped entirely; Champions Online. I had the good fortune of finding an excellent roleplaying supergroup and it’s been good times since then. I’ve also started recently dabbling in Star Trek Online since it went F2P (notice a trend here?) so I’ve been splitting my time between both of Cryptic’s offerings. At some point I’ll have to sit down and post some impressions, since these two seem to be two games few people talk much about.

Incidentally, I’ve discovered that it’s pretty much official by now: A game won’t hold my interest unless I can get a good RP kick with it. So that’s the player I’ve slowly turned into.

More to follow soon. I’m trying to escape Zubon’s whip here, so there’ll be some stuff coming.

[GW2] Sunrise on the Plains of Ashford

Fanfic Warning: the following is part of my actual play in the press beta written “in voice.” I just needed to write something quick in a different way because my PvE article is getting monstrous. It’s a small, early part of the charr zone in Plains of Ashford. I had started there when I found the servers had opened early like my bud, Lewis B at Tap Repeatedly (read his amazing account here). Hope you enjoy, but if you don’t… you’ve been warned.

Continue reading [GW2] Sunrise on the Plains of Ashford

[GW2] For Those Under Rocks

Sign up for the Guild Wars 2 beta for only 48 hours! At this moment it seems the site has been slashdotted beyond the beyond. Still it seems the whole ArenaNet krewe was very excited to see this as the devs were watching possible beta testers slam the site (thanks, Mr. Fries!). Good luck to all! Now back to writing more press beta PvE in Guild Wars 2.

–Ravious

[GW2 Closed Beta] War Stories

What is Guild Wars 2 without wars. The Closed Beta had two ways to PvP, random arena PvP up to 10v10 with auto-balanced teams, and World v. World (WvW) where we were assigned to a server to fight for it against two other servers. There were two maps in arena PvP and WvW was fully available with the three identical Borderlands maps and the one central map. This is my story.

Arena-Type PvP

PvP is very accessible in Guild Wars 2. Click on the small icon, while in PvE, and players are instantly whisked away. Leaving the Mists, where PvP takes place, sends players back to the real world (PvE). It was a siren song all beta weekend long. It was so easy to just get in to a ten-minute random arena match, but then there was always activity in PvE too. The dilemma! Continue reading [GW2 Closed Beta] War Stories

[GW2] Closed Beta Bookends and Quick Impressions

One whole weekend of Guild Wars 2 was not enough. Last night I had dinner with my mom, and she asked me about my trip to Disney World. How could I explain to her all the fantastic memories from my 5-day trip? I emphatically said it was great. Then we talked about how we could all go down next time. This is how I feel about sharing my Guild Wars 2 weekend. Where do I even start? I didn’t take a terabyte of vids to let it speak for itself.

This is the beginning of a few posts on Guild Wars 2 weekend, and this is the one where I will answer any questions you, valiant reader, have. Ask away below in the comments section. If you want to overdose on information, head to GuildMag’s constantly updated news aggregation page linking to every bit of press impressions and video they can grab. I have many more posts to write, but these are some quick impressions. Continue reading [GW2] Closed Beta Bookends and Quick Impressions

[GW] Features That Probably Do Not Exist

I have figured out using and loading templates on heroes/myself. Handy, that. There is not a way to combine that with choosing heroes, I presume? I frequently pass through solo missions or four-hero zones, to say nothing of changes for missions, and it can be tedious to re-select my heroes from what is now a long list. I would love to be able to click a few times and reload my default hero/build setup.

If that is not available, I hereby nominate it for a future update. Also, other games? If you give the player the option of choosing seven heroes from a list of twenty-seven, then giving each of them eight skills from a list of 1,235, that would be a good feature for you to have, too.

: Zubon

Of Checklists

One reason I like achievements is because they give you a checklist of things to do. I like seeing the entire game, and large, complex games have facets I would not even think to look for. There are many ways to direct players to that content, but an easy one is just listing, “Hey, have you tried X?” In Guild Wars, the Hall of Monuments and the wiki are helping me find all the things I can do.

Honestly all I can think of when I start reading this kind of stuff is… work. For some reason, it just all seems like too much effort for not enough reward. To me, when I feel like I need to read a guide about how to make something happen, it feels like the game designers really messed up. I have like 3 points and I guess that is about all I’m going to get.

Bah.
— Ethic

I obviously differ, but let me point out that, if you have played through Guild Wars and have Eye of the North, you already have more points than you may know. If you have completed any campaign, you have at least 5 points available (3 for linking, 2 for first Honor monument). A level 20 Ranger pet is another 2. Any miniature is another 1, 2 if rare or unique, 3 if you have both. Any fancy armor or weapon is another 1-4. If you already ran through the campaigns and have your Monumental Tapestries up in Eye of the North, you just need a few minutes to figure out how to cash in your checklist. And from there, you can see if there is anything else interesting you forgot to try. Getting a lot of points is work, but you can get a dozen on accident.

: Zubon

[GW] Hall of Monuments Time

I had a big Saturday in-game. I ran my first challenge mission and I joined some guildmates for my first visit to the Underworld. The guild leader was recently traumatized by my still being on the easy Hall of Monuments points, since the veteran players are mostly at the point where getting another HoM point requires maxing five titles. After we cleared the Underworld, he asked, “So, Zubon, did you get five points today?” He was gobsmacked when the answer was “Actually, yeah.” That challenge mission filled my Fellowship monument, and Underworld was my fifth title.

As I recall people saying of the Hall of Monuments, 15 is where it stops being easy, 30 is where it stops being sane, and 50 is where it just stops. Steam says it took 215 hours to reach 16 points, so there is your barometer if you want to know what is possible/convenient for getting HoM points for GW2. I started with absolutely nothing, and some of that time has been spent on longer-term goals like my pre-Searing character that is level 13.5 (halfway to Legendary Defender) or about a day AFK during the festival. A casual, 10 hour/week player can probably get to 15 points before GW2 launches, and a really hardcore player could do it before open beta.

Added: HoM guide. You’ll get most of the way there just running the campaigns and playing normally. Getting later points takes work and grinding, but I haven’t ground anything yet.

: Zubon