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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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Simply Epic Public Quests

I badgered a few friends to run back to some skipped Public Quests in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning last weekend, and we decided to try out the more difficult Public Quest for Chapter 4: Chaos called Salzenmund, aptly named for the walled town that the Raven Host is corrupting from within.  The Public Quest deals with the actual direct attack of the Raven Host on the town.
 
The Public Quest Salzenmund starts out with the objective to steal the supplies from the city, which requires players to dispatch one or two simple guards and then interact with a box of supplies (50 times).  At the second stage, you have to take out two of the city’s leaders who are both Champion level mobs.  The surrounding city becomes filled with fighting as Raven Host warriors rush in to contend with the remaining Empire defenders.  It feels like the whole area’s conflict escalated from the tunnel entrance of the city where one or two NPC battles occur to the whole town.  The (anti-)heroes are of course rushing to deal with the enemies that the lesser of the Host cannot deal with.
 
Once you defeat the Champions, a Hero Bright Wizard boss appears.  As he appears the entire city erupts in an inferno, and it truly feels like the war for Salzemund has erupted to another level.  Buildings are burning.  Raven Host NPCs are running around sacking everything.  And in the middle of the chaotic inferno you go toe to toe with a huge flame mage.  When the triumphant Chaos players win, the city continues to burn until the Public Quest resets.
 
I felt in this Public Quest that Mythic’s developers truly took the reigns to use their unique play mechanic as a story-driving device -  a simple epic story.  Quite a few Public Quests are rather boring escalations with no true story except ‘your killing ten rats has angered a bigger wolf/boar/rat/man-thing.’  However, there are some true gems like Salzemund.  Another thing to note is that this epic-feeling event takes place around level 10-12 (out of 40), so players do not have to go through to the so-called “end game” to feel like a hero… or killer of one in the Destruction sense.
 
Guild Wars and Lord of the Rings Online both have similar story telling devices (missions and instanced epic quests), but in neither instance did I feel the story was as world changing as some of Warhammer Online’s Public Quests. Only in Guild War’s case did I feel that the mission was readily available to do again.  Mythic has created a persistent, game-driven storytelling device, and I cannot wait to explore the Public Quests at the higher tiers of play.  I hope that there will be quite a few more that have me saying “cool” outloud.

Z-Axis

The game is shaky on it, particularly with respect to floors and ceilings. If you use an area-effect attack in a cave, everything on tunnels above and below you might come running for you. That is if you are lucky: they also might start hitting you through the ceiling. This is a fun way to discover when a building has a basement or a hill has a cave: attack enemies on the surface and see if invisible monsters start eating your ankles.

Did I mention that I have an AE-specialized character? Good times.

: Zubon

Define “New”

800, really? 800 new monsters, you say? How many of those are the same guy with a slightly different name and color pallete, plus or minus a few hit points or abilities? Heck, how many of those are new models, rather than declaring this green-ish orc the “orc mauler”? Would 40 be a fair guess? It feels optimistic; the 158 types of undead must have at least 10 models amongst them, but I don’t know that the 321 types of orcs have 20.

This from the game that advertised how many characters had been made.

: Zubon

Meet Ravious (cue TF2 fanfare)

Hello.  I have been strangely attracted here by Zubon’s Blog Posting Fury Method.  He was what I consider one of the four lasting friends of the Southern Star Guild from the niche MMO A Tale in the Desert.  While I am still searching for Dragynne and Aewl, the bloggers at Kill Ten Rats really grabbed my interest, and I hope to humbly contribute my own thoughts and experiences.

A Tale in the Desert was my first true stab at an MMO.  I did try Everquest first, but was hit hard with kill camping and training mobs through the zone thereafter giving up quickly.  I have in the past played World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Matrix Online, and Tabula Rasa to varying degrees.  My current list of MMOs that I play are Warhammer Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Guild Wars (roughly in order of play time).  However, Guild Wars is by far the MMO that I have spent the most time playing.

I also run an actual play blog, Game Scribe, where I try to write in a wacky roleplaying/storytelling manner from the eyes of the actual character.

I am looking forward to contributing to this fine piece of internet blog-estate, and I hope I do not disappoint.

Honeypot

Have a normal but CSR-controlled character logged on at all times. Wait for the spam. Ban the account.

Park the character next to a mailbox so you can check that. If general chat spam is your problem, go wherever that is most common (say Bree-town). You do not even need to pay attention much: look every five minutes and do a round of bans. Internship opportunity! Some games must already be doing this, but I want to mention it since it would help with quick response to spammers.

: Zubon

Spore Meta-Review

The near-universal consensus I hear is that Spore is four poor mini-games packaged with an odd version of Master of Orion 3 and a great creature creator. The connection between the games is weak, so you might as well play the good versions sequentially. Impressions of the spacefaring game vary, with the advice to expand gradually to avoid getting overwhelmed by every species out there; the most common comment I have seen is that your ability to do much interesting is limited because your worlds are constantly under attack and need personal attention.

That would be the most common comment on gameplay. The most common comment I have seen is that it comes with the worst digital rights management system ever invented, one so problematic that EA has threatened to ban people for talking about it. That is in the MMO sense of “you cannot play anymore,” not just banned from the forums. Maybe I could try it if they use Steam for distribution. And have a sale.

: Zubon

Tier 3 Scenarios

About half the time, I am out-numbered in scenarios. In about half of those, the team will fill by the time we are down 100-200 points, but there is not a lot to be done by then. I have won one 10-on-12 scenario, but there is nothing to be done with 8-on-12. Why are scenarios starting under those conditions? Is Order queuing up and canceling at the last possible second? I expect to be outnumbered in open world RvR, but the point of scenarios is to have even numbers.

Is Tor Anroc asymmetrical? I have never seen Order get the bauble at the start, even when someone has a standard with a run-speed buff.

The mission for Doomfist Crater is broken (Order side).

: Zubon

Of Games and Glory

Given last week’s fun and games, I would like to hit the wayback machine to 2007.

If the game is irredeemable dreck, there is no point in discussing its problems.
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Bugs, queues, and crashes are upsetting because they stand between us and the fun that we know to lie just beyond them.

Or as Rog puts it, “It’s because the game is good that makes it worth discussing and even bitching about the bugs, issues and design oversights. If it wasn’t good, who’d care?”

Or sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

: Zubon

Bonus points if you thought of Marit Larsen.