After a long duration of profession release silence, ArenaNet has overcome the half-way point hump to release the guardian profession. This new profession at first glance is a spell-casting melee fighter with a huge amount of battlefield control. This second, and last, soldier profession will turn a lot of heads, especially for those already considering a warrior main.
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.[RIFT] Untethered from the Group
Last night was a very wonky night in RIFT. The servers were going crazy, whereas in prior betas they ran pretty well. Many wise voices in chat kept repeating that this was beta, and this is the best time for Trion to optimize servers. So, my playtime was constantly interrupted, and I didn’t get to play in a big event. I did get to play in a few small invasion events, where I was able to test two new features.
The first was the open grouping feature. It is pretty good, but I wonder about whether it is an artifact, rather, of the decision to keep conventional MMO grouping mechanics in the open world.
Bloggers & Breakfast at PAX East!
Going to PAX East? Want to meet celebrities, legendary developers, and be waited hand and foot on by the Cookie Brigade? Me too! Sadly, those doors don’t open until 10 AM on a sweet Saturday in March. (Possibly some of those doors are closing for me right now too.) But, if you want to meet some awesome bloggers, Syp, at BioBreak, and I are hoping you’ll come join us for a relaxing meet’n’greet at 8:00am through 9:30ish on Saturday, March 12th at Flour Bakery + Cafe at Fort Point. Head on over to the signup post at BioBreak to let us know if you are coming.
–Ravious
Quote of the Day
Yeeno Fernbottom reacts to another blog post on the acidic reaction to Cataclysm:
More to the point, what really mystifies me about some MMO commentators is that once they decide they don’t like a game, they can’t seem to get past it. They act like a jilted lover, or the victim of a war crime. For ever after whenever a particular MMO is mentioned they can’t help but pipe up about how “sucky” it is. If the MMO that burned them happens to be something popular like LoTRO or WoW, they may even concoct all sorts of bizarre explanations as to why a game that “obviously sucks” can be entertaining to so many players. Usually it boils down to something along the lines of “I simply have much better taste/ am a much better gamer than the mentally deficient masses that inhabit that shallow carnival ride.” So endearing, not at all arrogant…
This is a point that is so core, in my opinion, to being a well-rounded blogger. There are so many people playing all the games you ignore or don’t like. Must be a reason, hmmm? Another reason to make comments in first person rather than making a statement for everybody.
–Ravious
[GW2] Why the Guardian Matters
I think that Guild Wars 2 fans are going to be on a self-propelled roller coaster of excitement and energy until the guardian profession drops. It’s fun to speculate on upcoming Guild Wars 2 news with such focus, rather than trying to have a meaningful conversation about all the things we don’t know about Guild Wars 2. I am very happy that the guardian is the next profession of the four. I am much more likely to play a “mesmer,” but I think the guardian is more important in telling the story of combat and group dynamics.
With the few hints we know from concept art and the Edge of Destiny novel, the guardian is support melee. I’ll link the Edge of Destiny guardian breakdown over at Hunter’s Insight again because the article is so good. The guardian, as written, seems to minimize the effect of enemy’s attacks and control their movements. The profession also appears to have some sort of direct healing capabilities and may have assimilated a bit of ye ol’ ritualist profession by taking the weapon spells piece of the pie. Whereas the warrior profession has an offense-is-the-best-defense feel, the guardian well… guards.
[GW2] Guardian Profession on the Way
PC Gamer created a bit of a hubbub within a multi-page article discussing the biggest PC games coming in 2011. Apparently they leaked the name of the fifth profession: the Guardian. I mean they were allowed to leak it by ArenaNet, but it was a very tricky maneuver by all parties. So the Guardian name was pretty much all but confirmed. Still, the community managers gave us a great gift by telling us that the official reveal will be next Thursday (January 27, 2011).
I love that ArenaNet is putting so much faith in the community by letting people know when an information dump is coming. Â Says a lot, in my opinion. Going to be cool to see the second and last, what is assumed to be, soldier profession.
–Ravious
Forward the Future
The amazing thing about the modern day is not that computers can play Jeopardy against human opponents, in real time using natural language recognition (although not voice recognition?). The amazing thing is that the second comment on it is “Eh, not so impressive.” Because here in the future, we just assume computers do that kind of thing.
: Zubon
Horrible Introductions
I picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY on the holiday Steam sale. Before you even start, the business side of this game makes it clear that it hates you and any of the game developers who want you to like the game. It incorporates at least four kinds of security, required me to sign up for a new account that I needed to verify twice, and returns the same error message when any of the seven-plus steps to start the game did not work. Sign in, update Steam, update the game, sign in, download profile, update your Live account, I think I missed a step or three, and there are definitely at least six loading screens worth of companies who thought this would be a good time to advertise themselves. Because while you are putting hurdles in your players’ paths, putting your corporate logo on those hurdles is the way to make friends. Oh, and Windows Live helpfully mentions that it may reboot your computer. And it does not update to the latest version in one attempt, so you repeatedly go through the multiple log-ins and multiple loading screens until it is happy. The reboot warning was actually helpful; Windows Live needed to reboot to finish updating, and didn’t, and didn’t mention it, so the lack of reboot was the only indication (?) of a problem.
It may make more sense to buy a legitimate copy then just download a pirated version without all the BS. Pirates actually care if the game is playable. As I type this, my irritation is strong enough to rub off on FF XIV and DCUO because related companies are advertising themselves as involved. Oh, and Steam? Having the same button for “exit to the Steam community” and “close this pop-up window”? You’re being idiots too.
The game itself is excellent, and I will likely have comments on it to come.
: Zubon
Parents on Parents
When parents want to give other parents unsolicited advice, it’s always to be a reminder rather than a preacher. There are simply too many unknown variables in the incredibly complex equation it takes to equal a family for an outsider to make many “laws of parenting.” Very good messages to start the new year with; just have to be careful about the delivery.
Anecdotally, my toddler (1.75 yo) used to give me raspberries on my stomach. I miss those since she’d rather stand on my stomach now (good for strength exercises) or give me a fist bump. I often wonder if I got enough of those raspberries.*
–Ravious
i know it was you, fredo
*Good parents already know the answer.
RIFT on a Short Sale
Small public service announcement: RIFT is on sale at GoGamer.com for $40 + $3 shipping until about the end of 1/19/11 in the states (~40 hours from the time of this post). Once you take into account taxes at the local Gamestop, it still should come out to nearly $10 in savings. I have to say that $40 for a game I will be paying $15/month for after that first injection feels like a much more comfortable price point than $50, but buyers will have to rely on shipping lag (as opposed to the instantaneous digital delivery at Trion, Steam, etc.).
–Ravious