I have a warrior on another server. My girlfriend has a character on a different server.
REAL ID to the rescue. We became friends on Real ID and then grouped cross server and off to the Dungeon Finder we went. Technology folks. Now I dont need to really pay for a server transfer at least until I hit 75 or so (he is 44 now and she is 48). Since I dont quest and just run dungeons to level this is a no brainer and very easy to do.
Something that 90% of today's "new and cutting edge" MMO's dont even launch with. Especially that failsack of a game SWTOR. And its not like WoW is even old really in technology standards. How hard would it be to launch with a LFG Finder or cross realm action built in? Apparently for Rift and Star Wars its 2001.
And their games play like it!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Weekend of TV - Still have Warrior love
Did not accomplish much this weekend I am afraid. The guild was formed last week, we even have a webpage now which is converted from our lame attempt to actually like Star Wars The Old Republic. The page for the guild is still as basic as it gets but we removed the old SWTOR boards and converted them to WoW with a new theme.
Some people ask me when I will get tired of WoW. I won't. Over the past 7 years I have left or taken breaks but I always come back. No other MMO has held my attention for more than 2 months at best. I probably spent the most time in Star Trek Online and Lord of the Rings Online but other than that I never really make it past the free 30 days. The other games just do not stack up.
Now oddly enough I was in the mood to run some fast dungeons yesterday and ended up playing a 4 year old warrior I made way back in the day. He was the guild leader of the original AFK All Stars on Sen'jin and is the only member of that guild. The others players had not logged in for 4 years so I literally had to remove them and take the guild back over.
I do miss tanking with a warrior. I have a 82 on another server but when I hit the Cata dungeons the fun seems to fall off and it becomes more of a job. The early dungeons, other than Dire Maul and Mara, are a lot of fun and fast. My warrior went from 36 to 42 in the span of a few hours. He has no tradeskills and is lacking the very basic achievements I have on everyone else. I still have more fun tanking with him than I do my bear tank. Its the end game that makes it just no fun to be honest.
Other than that I ran some dungeons on my 84 priest and continue to do the cooking and fishing dailies in multiple cities to wrap up those achievements.
It was a weekend of a concert, 7 hours of Pay Per View and Free UFC fighting and then the Oscars on Sunday. A perfect storm of television so to speak.
View Hudson's stickers on GetGlue
Some people ask me when I will get tired of WoW. I won't. Over the past 7 years I have left or taken breaks but I always come back. No other MMO has held my attention for more than 2 months at best. I probably spent the most time in Star Trek Online and Lord of the Rings Online but other than that I never really make it past the free 30 days. The other games just do not stack up.
Now oddly enough I was in the mood to run some fast dungeons yesterday and ended up playing a 4 year old warrior I made way back in the day. He was the guild leader of the original AFK All Stars on Sen'jin and is the only member of that guild. The others players had not logged in for 4 years so I literally had to remove them and take the guild back over.
I do miss tanking with a warrior. I have a 82 on another server but when I hit the Cata dungeons the fun seems to fall off and it becomes more of a job. The early dungeons, other than Dire Maul and Mara, are a lot of fun and fast. My warrior went from 36 to 42 in the span of a few hours. He has no tradeskills and is lacking the very basic achievements I have on everyone else. I still have more fun tanking with him than I do my bear tank. Its the end game that makes it just no fun to be honest.
Other than that I ran some dungeons on my 84 priest and continue to do the cooking and fishing dailies in multiple cities to wrap up those achievements.
It was a weekend of a concert, 7 hours of Pay Per View and Free UFC fighting and then the Oscars on Sunday. A perfect storm of television so to speak.
View Hudson's stickers on GetGlue
Sunday, February 26, 2012
KORN 2012
Korn rocked Congress Theatre in Chicago Friday night. Below are some pics. We had VIP balcony seats and all you can drink open bar. Was pretty awesome.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Now I get it: It's the DUMB players that ruin it for all
In a PUG yesterday. Typical Ret Pally on the last boss in Vortex Pinnacle just stands there wacking on the main guy and doesnt even bother to move when Asaad makes the grounding field.
He dies during the fight. He calls out for a rez in group chat. An instant rez. Any player worth his salt would realize that there were no classes there can even remotely instant rez.
"REZ QUICK SO I GET XP ON BOSS KILL"
XP? Really? Thats what you are worried about?
Supremacy of the Storm goes off again. Retarded Ret Pally stands there wacking on the boss.
I guess all new players to this game expect every boss fight to be a giant pinata of loot. All you have to do is stand in one spot and auto attack the boss and mash your retarded ret pally buttons every now and then right? WRONG.
If you press "M" a map comes up. Each boss is on the map you idiot. Click the little HEAD PICTURE and it tells you everything a boss does. Right down to his abilities. You see even when Blizzard makes the game as EASY AS POSSIBLE people are still so fucking lazy they cant even be bothered to read something over.
Guy dies again. "REZ PLEASE FAST"
When I am healing I dont bother even trying to keep idiots like this alive. You know the types: stand in poison, stand in storms, stand in big dark cloud things etc etc. Let em die.
Finally I tell him off. I tell him he cannot keep standing there and to follow us into the grounding field. Its simple really. Guy actually tells me to "fuck off". Really? You are the one so stupid that you die twice to the SAME thing and then cannot understand that not every class in this game can instant rez.
THE BOSS EVEN DRAWS A TRIANGLE ON THE GROUND.
It is people like this, the idiots of the MMO population, that deserve a game like Star Wars the Old Republic. And the more the companies cater to these idiots the more dumbed down and stupid our games will get. Do you actually enjoy playing games like this or is it just me being pissy?
He dies during the fight. He calls out for a rez in group chat. An instant rez. Any player worth his salt would realize that there were no classes there can even remotely instant rez.
"REZ QUICK SO I GET XP ON BOSS KILL"
XP? Really? Thats what you are worried about?
Supremacy of the Storm goes off again. Retarded Ret Pally stands there wacking on the boss.
I guess all new players to this game expect every boss fight to be a giant pinata of loot. All you have to do is stand in one spot and auto attack the boss and mash your retarded ret pally buttons every now and then right? WRONG.
If you press "M" a map comes up. Each boss is on the map you idiot. Click the little HEAD PICTURE and it tells you everything a boss does. Right down to his abilities. You see even when Blizzard makes the game as EASY AS POSSIBLE people are still so fucking lazy they cant even be bothered to read something over.
Guy dies again. "REZ PLEASE FAST"
When I am healing I dont bother even trying to keep idiots like this alive. You know the types: stand in poison, stand in storms, stand in big dark cloud things etc etc. Let em die.
Finally I tell him off. I tell him he cannot keep standing there and to follow us into the grounding field. Its simple really. Guy actually tells me to "fuck off". Really? You are the one so stupid that you die twice to the SAME thing and then cannot understand that not every class in this game can instant rez.
A short time before he casts it, he will put a grounding field somewhere. You will be able to clearly see him draw the field's triangular shape with lightning. Get in there and wait for him - he will teleport inside the field as soon as it's complete and then channel the Supremacy of the Storm, which will kill anyone not inside the grounding field.
THE BOSS EVEN DRAWS A TRIANGLE ON THE GROUND.
It is people like this, the idiots of the MMO population, that deserve a game like Star Wars the Old Republic. And the more the companies cater to these idiots the more dumbed down and stupid our games will get. Do you actually enjoy playing games like this or is it just me being pissy?
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Diablo 3 Beta Patch 13: Testing now
Minor uproars over the same stupid players that think you can keep a beta character and that it never gets wiped but otherwise the patch seems to have gone off well.
The features are numerous and now that my Barbarian Queen! has been wiped it is time to roll a new character and start over. I think it will be a monk. I can only hope the sound glitch has been fixed. It is a long download packed with features so here we go:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3123246179#13
Oops maybe not...
The features are numerous and now that my Barbarian Queen! has been wiped it is time to roll a new character and start over. I think it will be a monk. I can only hope the sound glitch has been fixed. It is a long download packed with features so here we go:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3123246179#13
The levels at which both active and passive skills unlock have been adjusted for all classes
Skill runes are now available for testing
For a full list of documented game and service bugs, please review the Known Issues sticky located in the Beta Bug Report forum.
Oops maybe not...
Friday, February 17, 2012
Priestly thoughts and some transmog action
So I decided that my gnome priest will be my next level 85 character and he is even further behind than my rogue. My rogue has gotten his gearscore up to about 351 which is ok but I need to get to about 371 to really take advantage of this expansion before it goes by the wayside. Coming in this late to an expansion sucks as everyone has the "been there done that" attitude and plays the game with less zeal than a returning player such as myself.
My priest is 82 and has a paltry 282 gear score but has no mana issues in the Cataclysm dungeons so far (regular ones). I spent most the day yesterday working his enchanting to about 505. He is also 700 achievement points behind my rogue who was a more accomplished raider in Lich King. My priest was a recruit a friend free level benefactor back in the day. He went 1-60 in no time and then healed through dungeons only all through outlands and skipped right to Northrend. So his achievement level is a lot less than it should be.
I have to say I also am loving the transmog feature. It is another brilliant example of Blizzard expanding on this game to give players a huge number of things to do. I have seen some brilliant sets out there of people being creative in how they make their characters look. For example I always loved the floppy brimmed hat look of the Weather Beaten Fishing Hat. Now thanks to this new feature I can always wear it no matter what gear I get on my head. This feature is just one of many that make WoW a full featured game that sucks me back in after all these years. Polish, population, features and responsiveness are the key words of the day no matter how much you may hate this game.
Having healed some of the dungeons after being nervous at first I am getting the hang of them but you cannot escape idiotic players. Those are the ones I just have to let die. My spec is holy so I rely on AOE heals after the nightmare of such dungeons as Halls of Reflection in Lich King I just never went back to discipline. I also need to re-glyph since the last time I raided I was discipline which I hated. I need the power to spam heal everyone and do it fast and holy suits that. Cannot say I am a big fan of the MOP talent calculator it is almost a complete game reinvention. But that is what Blizzard does best with this game do they not?
My priest is 82 and has a paltry 282 gear score but has no mana issues in the Cataclysm dungeons so far (regular ones). I spent most the day yesterday working his enchanting to about 505. He is also 700 achievement points behind my rogue who was a more accomplished raider in Lich King. My priest was a recruit a friend free level benefactor back in the day. He went 1-60 in no time and then healed through dungeons only all through outlands and skipped right to Northrend. So his achievement level is a lot less than it should be.
I have to say I also am loving the transmog feature. It is another brilliant example of Blizzard expanding on this game to give players a huge number of things to do. I have seen some brilliant sets out there of people being creative in how they make their characters look. For example I always loved the floppy brimmed hat look of the Weather Beaten Fishing Hat. Now thanks to this new feature I can always wear it no matter what gear I get on my head. This feature is just one of many that make WoW a full featured game that sucks me back in after all these years. Polish, population, features and responsiveness are the key words of the day no matter how much you may hate this game.
Having healed some of the dungeons after being nervous at first I am getting the hang of them but you cannot escape idiotic players. Those are the ones I just have to let die. My spec is holy so I rely on AOE heals after the nightmare of such dungeons as Halls of Reflection in Lich King I just never went back to discipline. I also need to re-glyph since the last time I raided I was discipline which I hated. I need the power to spam heal everyone and do it fast and holy suits that. Cannot say I am a big fan of the MOP talent calculator it is almost a complete game reinvention. But that is what Blizzard does best with this game do they not?
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Man does the Old Republic suck as an MMO
Reasons why Star Wars the Old Republic FAILS as an MMO
I guess in this day of hand holding in an MMO and making things as easy as possible for the idiots that punch a keyboard and play these things in today's gaming world SWTOR would be the perfect game for them. But not for this guy. This game fails on so many levels its actually pretty funny. I would have just preferred KOTOR 3.
No meaningful UI customization. Oh wait...ITS COMING SOON. Hello....2002 called they want their MMO back. How much was spent on this game again to produce it? What is funny is the TOR fanboys jumped all over that stupid trailer that promised features that any MMO after 2004 should have launched with. Man people will buy anything.
- Even without Mods, WoW and Guild Wars both allowed me to change a lot of things in the UI.... and TOR just doesn't. It's a real step backwards.
No macro support.
No mods.
No taking short cuts:
- If you try to stray off the beaten path, you'll soon realize you can't.
Weak character customization.
- There will eventually come a time, when you'll wonder if you're speaking, or if it's another player in your party. The graphics are terrible also.
Poor combat responsiveness.
- You know when you get a bad mod, and nothing in your UI responds very quick and has a lot of latency. It's a feature in TOR now.
Lifeless mob and NPC spawning.
- I'm not sure how to explain this, but picture groups of 4 mobs standing next to each other, quite obviously waiting to be killed by a player. Served up like little dishes for you. NPCs standing at static locations, that never move. Now, think of an NPC in Skyrim going about their day, moving from their home to their job location, chatting with other NPCs along the way, and returning home at night to sleep. I know that MMOs are going to have lifeless mob and NPC spawning to an extent, but for some reason in TOR it feels really jarring in how bad it is. Cities are bland and empty, zones feel like big boxes you have to quest in (like Everquest 1), the flight path system is HORRID, and its almost impossible to easily find friends and group with them.
Class based quests
- Yeah, you're damn right I listed that as a negative. Linear class-based story quests... basically splitting up my guild so that we can't quest together? I HATE THIS. Sure, my Jedi Knight friend can tag along while I do my Consular quests. But the entire time he's probably thinking "OMG, I want to get back to doing MY quests! This sucks!" Instead of "I'm happy I can get my quests done with my friend", which would be what he'd be thinking if his objectives were the same. Plus they're horribly easy and boring if done with 2 people.... leading to us not wanting to do anything but Flash Points with groups. And then good luck FINDING A group. The game is so easy everyone skips instances and heroic quests. This teaches morons how to NOT play their characters when the time comes that we need them to.
Lets add to this: I cannot CHOOSE where I want to quest. World of Warcraft may be a lot of things but at least if I want to take my DAMN DRAENEI and do quests in GOLDSHIRE I can. I can WALK or go where I want to.
- Quest choices are a joke. They may make you "mean" or "nice" down the road but for the most part you can space bar through them or hit "1" "1" "1" "1"and get maximum companion points. Its the greatest smoke and mirrors marketing deception since Paul Barnett and Warhammer Online.
- TLDR version of the above (throw in no LFG also), this BS ruins incentives for people to group together, and makes the game less of a social experience, which is bad.
The Classes are all awkward hybrids.
- OK, OK. Maybe not ALL the classes are hybrid abominations.... just most of them.
PvP level brackets are broken
- Yay, a level 15 can fight a level 50 and somewhat fight back!.... wait.... why are they in the same PvP bracket? I... don't understand. The 15 is still missing a LOT of core abilities.... uh. How wasn't this seen as the most idiotic thing ever?
Broken MMO Mechanics
- ITS DUMBED DOWN FOR MORONS. I mean really can this game hand you level 50 on a platter anymore than it does? Why not have that stupid companion quest for you while you are at it. Companions make everyone a single player juggernaut that can play the ENTIRE game alone until cap. Tanking is a joke. Everything is a joke. So is healing. For fucking hell a tank can TURN HIS BACK ON A MOB AND NOT EVEN GET STUNNED. WTF? No facing, no consequences, no anything but idiot retards spamming attack buttons.
NO LFG FINDER
- Biggest nail in the coffin right there. Dont give me some shit about making the community garbage either. RIFT has one for fucks sake and it works fine (except that no one PLAYS Rift anymore).
No point in joining a guild
- Guild controls are laughable at best. No guild storage. No guild achievements. No guild anything other than a stupid name over your head. Grats community.
In short: it has voice acting (big deal), its a good single player game with a few people running around in it that may or may not talk to you. Done. Well heck lets let The Escapist describe it:
I guess in this day of hand holding in an MMO and making things as easy as possible for the idiots that punch a keyboard and play these things in today's gaming world SWTOR would be the perfect game for them. But not for this guy. This game fails on so many levels its actually pretty funny. I would have just preferred KOTOR 3.
No meaningful UI customization. Oh wait...ITS COMING SOON. Hello....2002 called they want their MMO back. How much was spent on this game again to produce it? What is funny is the TOR fanboys jumped all over that stupid trailer that promised features that any MMO after 2004 should have launched with. Man people will buy anything.
- Even without Mods, WoW and Guild Wars both allowed me to change a lot of things in the UI.... and TOR just doesn't. It's a real step backwards.
No macro support.
No mods.
No taking short cuts:
- If you try to stray off the beaten path, you'll soon realize you can't.
Weak character customization.
- There will eventually come a time, when you'll wonder if you're speaking, or if it's another player in your party. The graphics are terrible also.
Poor combat responsiveness.
- You know when you get a bad mod, and nothing in your UI responds very quick and has a lot of latency. It's a feature in TOR now.
Lifeless mob and NPC spawning.
- I'm not sure how to explain this, but picture groups of 4 mobs standing next to each other, quite obviously waiting to be killed by a player. Served up like little dishes for you. NPCs standing at static locations, that never move. Now, think of an NPC in Skyrim going about their day, moving from their home to their job location, chatting with other NPCs along the way, and returning home at night to sleep. I know that MMOs are going to have lifeless mob and NPC spawning to an extent, but for some reason in TOR it feels really jarring in how bad it is. Cities are bland and empty, zones feel like big boxes you have to quest in (like Everquest 1), the flight path system is HORRID, and its almost impossible to easily find friends and group with them.
Class based quests
- Yeah, you're damn right I listed that as a negative. Linear class-based story quests... basically splitting up my guild so that we can't quest together? I HATE THIS. Sure, my Jedi Knight friend can tag along while I do my Consular quests. But the entire time he's probably thinking "OMG, I want to get back to doing MY quests! This sucks!" Instead of "I'm happy I can get my quests done with my friend", which would be what he'd be thinking if his objectives were the same. Plus they're horribly easy and boring if done with 2 people.... leading to us not wanting to do anything but Flash Points with groups. And then good luck FINDING A group. The game is so easy everyone skips instances and heroic quests. This teaches morons how to NOT play their characters when the time comes that we need them to.
Lets add to this: I cannot CHOOSE where I want to quest. World of Warcraft may be a lot of things but at least if I want to take my DAMN DRAENEI and do quests in GOLDSHIRE I can. I can WALK or go where I want to.
- Quest choices are a joke. They may make you "mean" or "nice" down the road but for the most part you can space bar through them or hit "1" "1" "1" "1"and get maximum companion points. Its the greatest smoke and mirrors marketing deception since Paul Barnett and Warhammer Online.
- TLDR version of the above (throw in no LFG also), this BS ruins incentives for people to group together, and makes the game less of a social experience, which is bad.
The Classes are all awkward hybrids.
- OK, OK. Maybe not ALL the classes are hybrid abominations.... just most of them.
PvP level brackets are broken
- Yay, a level 15 can fight a level 50 and somewhat fight back!.... wait.... why are they in the same PvP bracket? I... don't understand. The 15 is still missing a LOT of core abilities.... uh. How wasn't this seen as the most idiotic thing ever?
Broken MMO Mechanics
- ITS DUMBED DOWN FOR MORONS. I mean really can this game hand you level 50 on a platter anymore than it does? Why not have that stupid companion quest for you while you are at it. Companions make everyone a single player juggernaut that can play the ENTIRE game alone until cap. Tanking is a joke. Everything is a joke. So is healing. For fucking hell a tank can TURN HIS BACK ON A MOB AND NOT EVEN GET STUNNED. WTF? No facing, no consequences, no anything but idiot retards spamming attack buttons.
NO LFG FINDER
- Biggest nail in the coffin right there. Dont give me some shit about making the community garbage either. RIFT has one for fucks sake and it works fine (except that no one PLAYS Rift anymore).
No point in joining a guild
- Guild controls are laughable at best. No guild storage. No guild achievements. No guild anything other than a stupid name over your head. Grats community.
In short: it has voice acting (big deal), its a good single player game with a few people running around in it that may or may not talk to you. Done. Well heck lets let The Escapist describe it:
New Skywall guild
My friends and I made a new guild on Skywall. We are not going to recruit actively (but people may join if they wish) and we are not planning on doing hardcore ANYTHING until we are all leveled, geared and ready for Mists of Pandaria.
It is mainly a guild that we can grow and mold as our own image as time goes by. I didn't want to join some guild just because of bank tabs or a tabard. And really who the hell cares about bank tabs? Half the time you join a guild you can only access one and take out like one stack of anything.
Why people recruit and spam messages about bank tabs is beyond me. Here is a suggestion: if you want more members try being on more than one hour a day and looking active. How does that work for ya?
Anyway our new guild is AFK All Stars which is the first guild I ever made on Skywall way back when in 2005 when our first raiding guild split.
We are on almost every night but right now we want only mature World of Warcraft veterans that know the game and will play it smartly. Other than that we are not recruiting. Also you must be over the age of 21 and once we get enough members then and ONLY then will we contemplate a voice chat server.
We are Alliance, Skywall.
Last night was a busy night for me. My holy priest hit 81, I transmogged his weather beaten fishing hat, my feral bear tank hit 49, and my rogue ran another non heroic to up his justice points.
During the day I worked tradeskills and got my enchanting, tailoring and leatherworking to respectable levels (mostly over 425 at long last). Today I will get little to no playing time due to maintenance and Valentines Day.
It is mainly a guild that we can grow and mold as our own image as time goes by. I didn't want to join some guild just because of bank tabs or a tabard. And really who the hell cares about bank tabs? Half the time you join a guild you can only access one and take out like one stack of anything.
Why people recruit and spam messages about bank tabs is beyond me. Here is a suggestion: if you want more members try being on more than one hour a day and looking active. How does that work for ya?
Anyway our new guild is AFK All Stars which is the first guild I ever made on Skywall way back when in 2005 when our first raiding guild split.
We are on almost every night but right now we want only mature World of Warcraft veterans that know the game and will play it smartly. Other than that we are not recruiting. Also you must be over the age of 21 and once we get enough members then and ONLY then will we contemplate a voice chat server.
We are Alliance, Skywall.
Last night was a busy night for me. My holy priest hit 81, I transmogged his weather beaten fishing hat, my feral bear tank hit 49, and my rogue ran another non heroic to up his justice points.
During the day I worked tradeskills and got my enchanting, tailoring and leatherworking to respectable levels (mostly over 425 at long last). Today I will get little to no playing time due to maintenance and Valentines Day.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dungeon FInder: I can't 5 man dungeons....yet. Also: Amalur sucks
Over the weekend I did not get a lot accomplished due to being either hung over or just lazy. Mainly I worked on my rogue some more getting his justice point total up there so I can purchase more gear that I am a year behind on so that I can then purchase more gear that will be outdated when Mists of Pandaria launches. It is a never ending cycle that...well....never ends.
I was going to purchase the blue dagger on the legacy justice point vendor but the upgrade would be very minimal for the 950 justice points. I could just save and get the set gloves and that would be a much greater upgrade. If no daggers come my way then I will take a look at the Throat Slasher. Taking another 1.80 delay weapon in my off hand would just gimp me so another Brainsplinter is out of the question.
So with that out of the way I ran NON HEROICS and was doing a ton of damage but I was not playing with the big boys. I am satisfied with how he is performing but I wanted to know each and every dungeon in NORMAL mode before moving to heroics. See I am the type of WoW player that studies and learns how to play my class. I am not one of these RETADIN scrubs or stupid ass DK players that charges in and stands in the fire.
That being said I am still amazed at how many NEW WoW players there are. And I am not talking Lich King new, I am talking Cataclysm new. People that have not even run The Nexus or Drak'Tharon Keep and do not even know where to stand or how to fight ANY of the Lich King bosses. It boggles my mind to this day, 6 years later, how stupid some players can be. Even if they are new how the fuck are they leveling? Are they literally questing all the way to 85? Not this guy. I havent quested at all since I came back. Every character has leveled through the dungeon finder. Which is one reason that keeps me coming back to World of Warcraft. I can learn my class, see how it performs, get loot and do the quests all in one shot.
Now granted sometimes questing pays off. You might get a good blue reward, cash or achievements. However I prefer to wait until level cap THEN go back and quest and get maximum gold so I can pimp my bank account.
I messed around on my 80 priest as well. All of his talent points had been refunded so I had to re-spec him and learn holy at the high levels all over again. Although I am at the same time leveling a priest that is 42 now the difference at lower levels to high levels is night and day. I have backed off on my tanking. I do not enjoy it as much as I used to mainly because I don't trust healers or DPS to know what the fuck is going on. Yet I still see terribad tanks. Tanks that go AFK, tanks that lag out, tanks that get turned around and lost in dungeons. Tanks that are not spec'd to tank (fucking DK's) the list goes on and on.
Look folks I cannot play every class. If I could I would 5 man dungeons. But I just cant. Im good but I am not that good. Also I need a new guild. The one I am in now is going no where and loves to PVP. Fuck that. If you want to PVP go play Counterstrike or Battlefield 3. Keep that the fuck out of my WoW raider preparation
I also played Kingdoms of Amalur. Man that game sucked. Its Darksiders with a shield and chainmail. What an overhyped console port of a crappy fighting game. 10 minutes of that and I was back in Skyrim. 5 minutes of Skyrim I was back in WoW. Sorry I just like things to count :) Single player is not my bag...man.
I was going to purchase the blue dagger on the legacy justice point vendor but the upgrade would be very minimal for the 950 justice points. I could just save and get the set gloves and that would be a much greater upgrade. If no daggers come my way then I will take a look at the Throat Slasher. Taking another 1.80 delay weapon in my off hand would just gimp me so another Brainsplinter is out of the question.
So with that out of the way I ran NON HEROICS and was doing a ton of damage but I was not playing with the big boys. I am satisfied with how he is performing but I wanted to know each and every dungeon in NORMAL mode before moving to heroics. See I am the type of WoW player that studies and learns how to play my class. I am not one of these RETADIN scrubs or stupid ass DK players that charges in and stands in the fire.
That being said I am still amazed at how many NEW WoW players there are. And I am not talking Lich King new, I am talking Cataclysm new. People that have not even run The Nexus or Drak'Tharon Keep and do not even know where to stand or how to fight ANY of the Lich King bosses. It boggles my mind to this day, 6 years later, how stupid some players can be. Even if they are new how the fuck are they leveling? Are they literally questing all the way to 85? Not this guy. I havent quested at all since I came back. Every character has leveled through the dungeon finder. Which is one reason that keeps me coming back to World of Warcraft. I can learn my class, see how it performs, get loot and do the quests all in one shot.
Now granted sometimes questing pays off. You might get a good blue reward, cash or achievements. However I prefer to wait until level cap THEN go back and quest and get maximum gold so I can pimp my bank account.
I messed around on my 80 priest as well. All of his talent points had been refunded so I had to re-spec him and learn holy at the high levels all over again. Although I am at the same time leveling a priest that is 42 now the difference at lower levels to high levels is night and day. I have backed off on my tanking. I do not enjoy it as much as I used to mainly because I don't trust healers or DPS to know what the fuck is going on. Yet I still see terribad tanks. Tanks that go AFK, tanks that lag out, tanks that get turned around and lost in dungeons. Tanks that are not spec'd to tank (fucking DK's) the list goes on and on.
Look folks I cannot play every class. If I could I would 5 man dungeons. But I just cant. Im good but I am not that good. Also I need a new guild. The one I am in now is going no where and loves to PVP. Fuck that. If you want to PVP go play Counterstrike or Battlefield 3. Keep that the fuck out of my WoW raider preparation
I also played Kingdoms of Amalur. Man that game sucked. Its Darksiders with a shield and chainmail. What an overhyped console port of a crappy fighting game. 10 minutes of that and I was back in Skyrim. 5 minutes of Skyrim I was back in WoW. Sorry I just like things to count :) Single player is not my bag...man.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Diablo 3 beta screens 2
More Diablo 3 beta screens for you all to enjoy as my female barbarian hacks and slashes her way through the beta. Of note: barbarian axe throw and leap attack are badass. Also the enemies are tricky and varied in the crypts. Just got the ability to craft and salvage weapons and armor. A lot of detail has gone into this game. It oozes atmosphere in typical Blizzard fashion.
Taming wolves in Minecraft
Another Minecraft post.
Taming wolves is awesome. With a bone you get from skeletons archers you can equip it and RIGHT click on a wolf. This will make hearts appear over its head and tame the dog. The dog will follow you around and attack things that hit you.
If you don't want to the dog to follow you anymore, right click on the dog and he will sit. I have taken some screens of this and you can see them below. Great way to guard the outside of a house or entrance to something.
Taming wolves is awesome. With a bone you get from skeletons archers you can equip it and RIGHT click on a wolf. This will make hearts appear over its head and tame the dog. The dog will follow you around and attack things that hit you.
If you don't want to the dog to follow you anymore, right click on the dog and he will sit. I have taken some screens of this and you can see them below. Great way to guard the outside of a house or entrance to something.
Minecraft worlds
My other game that I play religiously is Minecraft. Since this game is wide open and basically what you make of it I usually play it like a giant adventure game. The addictive part is making new worlds and seeing what the game generates. I have rarely played one world long enough to actually "finish" anything substantial. I did at one point make a roller coaster minecart that took me across my vast building empire but since then I have limited myself to smaller constructions and concentrated on digging STRAIGHT down as far as I can. This usually either leads to an untimely death or finding more things to explore that suck 3-4 hours out of my life at a time.
This new world I generated was quite interesting. Quite early on I found a source of lava and constructed my home in the side of a huge mountain. Once I established myself I built sky bridges to get around faster then made an underwater tunnel down into some caverns beneath the lake. That is about as far as I have gotten but as I gain iron and make armor I am starting to stock up for a massive expedition.
Hey why not pop over to Minecraft Seeds and see what worlds you may want to generate instead of trying the random seed generator?
http://www.minecraftseeds.info/
I guess that is what I like about the game. Every game turns into a mini Journey to the Center of the Earth (not the one with the ROCK). You have to prepare, get supplies and set off...not knowing if you ever will get back to your home. Below are some shots of my new world:
This new world I generated was quite interesting. Quite early on I found a source of lava and constructed my home in the side of a huge mountain. Once I established myself I built sky bridges to get around faster then made an underwater tunnel down into some caverns beneath the lake. That is about as far as I have gotten but as I gain iron and make armor I am starting to stock up for a massive expedition.
Hey why not pop over to Minecraft Seeds and see what worlds you may want to generate instead of trying the random seed generator?
http://www.minecraftseeds.info/
I guess that is what I like about the game. Every game turns into a mini Journey to the Center of the Earth (not the one with the ROCK). You have to prepare, get supplies and set off...not knowing if you ever will get back to your home. Below are some shots of my new world:
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Rogue hits 85 in longest play stretch in recent history
You might notice a blog title and twitter account change. For the time being I am going to go solo due to time constraints with my podcasting partner and the fact that I am feeling too lazy to head up the entire operation for a podcast. It is a lot of work and I do not feel like devoting time to that when I could be playing WoW or doing other things on my day off.
Now to the news of the day. ROGUE HITS 85. This is just ONE of my level 80's to push forward. The only one I care about really other than my priest. The rogue has been around for a while and is always the first one to cap and get into the action. I love the way WoW handles the rogue class, by far the best one in any MMO I have tried and I have tried many. Playing a rogue "type" in Rift was a joke. EQ2: sucked. EQ1 was ok for its time. Other games have been so forgettable I dont even remember what it was like.
My GOD that took forever. I logged in in the morning thinking I could easily clear 84-85 and then switch back to my priest to get him to level 40 but getting 84-85 took me ALL FUCKING DAY (at least until 4:30 pm).
Not sure I want to experience the pain of doing that again especially with a holy priest. I had to pull out every stop in order to pump out that XP too. I am not a quester, I despise it. Basically I ran dungeons all day (capped my Justice Points) and did the holiday events and dailies I could find. I had to give in near the end of the day and do some Twilight Highlands quests and that is where I hit level 85.
Upon doing that I went to the bank, put on all the level 85 gear I had stashed for my rogue then went over to the Justice Point vendor and bought some legs, a neck and bracers.
My hit rating is dead on, my spell hit rating is dead on (for poisons) and I am geared enough to start heroics. Now the second phase of World of Warcraft begins for my rogue. And this will be the hardest one I am sure. Getting to 85 is just the start. Now I start over at 0 and need to gear up to hit the LFR.
I did experiment with the Transmog feature and took my shitty green shoulders and transmogged them to Shadow Pauldrons. Pretty neat little idea Blizzard has thrown in there.
After enchants, gems and leg kits I am down to 10k of the original money I had when I transferred all my previously rich level 80's over. Time to quest for gold and run many, many dungeons.
Now to the news of the day. ROGUE HITS 85. This is just ONE of my level 80's to push forward. The only one I care about really other than my priest. The rogue has been around for a while and is always the first one to cap and get into the action. I love the way WoW handles the rogue class, by far the best one in any MMO I have tried and I have tried many. Playing a rogue "type" in Rift was a joke. EQ2: sucked. EQ1 was ok for its time. Other games have been so forgettable I dont even remember what it was like.
My GOD that took forever. I logged in in the morning thinking I could easily clear 84-85 and then switch back to my priest to get him to level 40 but getting 84-85 took me ALL FUCKING DAY (at least until 4:30 pm).
Not sure I want to experience the pain of doing that again especially with a holy priest. I had to pull out every stop in order to pump out that XP too. I am not a quester, I despise it. Basically I ran dungeons all day (capped my Justice Points) and did the holiday events and dailies I could find. I had to give in near the end of the day and do some Twilight Highlands quests and that is where I hit level 85.
Upon doing that I went to the bank, put on all the level 85 gear I had stashed for my rogue then went over to the Justice Point vendor and bought some legs, a neck and bracers.
My hit rating is dead on, my spell hit rating is dead on (for poisons) and I am geared enough to start heroics. Now the second phase of World of Warcraft begins for my rogue. And this will be the hardest one I am sure. Getting to 85 is just the start. Now I start over at 0 and need to gear up to hit the LFR.
I did experiment with the Transmog feature and took my shitty green shoulders and transmogged them to Shadow Pauldrons. Pretty neat little idea Blizzard has thrown in there.
After enchants, gems and leg kits I am down to 10k of the original money I had when I transferred all my previously rich level 80's over. Time to quest for gold and run many, many dungeons.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Rogue now 84, BattleNet balance
That didn't take long. While the significant other caught up to my priest (and passed him) on her hunter I was playing my rogue all night and constantly running dungeons and doing Darkmoon Faire quests. I also started archaeology and man that will be a bitch to level. I just want to get it to 75 though and I am done. Could really care less about that tradeskill.
I ran several dungeons over and over again last night and while my DPS was terribad at first I later always came in second (the tank was always first....always). I had initial issues due to the fact that I had the weapons in the wrong hands for my assasination build. I had the faster one in my main hand and it took me two runs and really horrible DPS'ing to realize what the issue was.I swapped the 1.8 speed to the main hand and the 1.4 speed to the off hand and all was back to normal.
Once I fixed that my rogue was off the races. I have had that character the longest. Started in 2005 and leveled up until 60 then waited for the Burning Crusade. Switched to a Blood Elf through NorthRend, raided even in those dark days when rogues were terrible in melee raid encounters with a lot of AOE.
He is back now and terribly undergeared. I cannot find a throwing weapon ANYWHERE above level 76 and that means no FoK in dungeons which makes me look like a scrub but I just link the charts and people shut up.
My priest is 37 and one behind the girlfriend. I have to rectify that tonight.
Also announced today is BattleNet Balance. I have no idea if this will ever impact me other than selling items for BattleNet money in Diablo 3. Here is the jist:
Battle.net Balance is now live! As we announced previously, Battle.net Balance is a new feature that gives players an alternate way to purchase Blizzard digital products and services directly through their Battle.net accounts. Players are now able add to their Battle.net Balance using a variety of payment methods, and then use that balance toward Blizzard Entertainment products and services such as World of Warcraft game time; paid services, such as realm transfers and character name changes; digital versions of select Blizzard games, including Diablo II and StarCraft II; and in-game pets and mounts. In the near future, players will be also able to use Battle.net Balance for the digital World of Warcraft Battle Chest and WoW digital upgrades. In addition, with the upcoming launch of Diablo III, players will have the option to use Battle.net Balance to buy and sell items in the game’s currency-based auction house.
For more information, check out the Battle.net Balance FAQ, or head to the Battle.net Balance page in Account Management to manage your balance.
I ran several dungeons over and over again last night and while my DPS was terribad at first I later always came in second (the tank was always first....always). I had initial issues due to the fact that I had the weapons in the wrong hands for my assasination build. I had the faster one in my main hand and it took me two runs and really horrible DPS'ing to realize what the issue was.I swapped the 1.8 speed to the main hand and the 1.4 speed to the off hand and all was back to normal.
Once I fixed that my rogue was off the races. I have had that character the longest. Started in 2005 and leveled up until 60 then waited for the Burning Crusade. Switched to a Blood Elf through NorthRend, raided even in those dark days when rogues were terrible in melee raid encounters with a lot of AOE.
He is back now and terribly undergeared. I cannot find a throwing weapon ANYWHERE above level 76 and that means no FoK in dungeons which makes me look like a scrub but I just link the charts and people shut up.
My priest is 37 and one behind the girlfriend. I have to rectify that tonight.
Also announced today is BattleNet Balance. I have no idea if this will ever impact me other than selling items for BattleNet money in Diablo 3. Here is the jist:
Battle.net Balance is now live! As we announced previously, Battle.net Balance is a new feature that gives players an alternate way to purchase Blizzard digital products and services directly through their Battle.net accounts. Players are now able add to their Battle.net Balance using a variety of payment methods, and then use that balance toward Blizzard Entertainment products and services such as World of Warcraft game time; paid services, such as realm transfers and character name changes; digital versions of select Blizzard games, including Diablo II and StarCraft II; and in-game pets and mounts. In the near future, players will be also able to use Battle.net Balance for the digital World of Warcraft Battle Chest and WoW digital upgrades. In addition, with the upcoming launch of Diablo III, players will have the option to use Battle.net Balance to buy and sell items in the game’s currency-based auction house.
For more information, check out the Battle.net Balance FAQ, or head to the Battle.net Balance page in Account Management to manage your balance.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Darkmoon Faire
The Darkmoon Faire has me addicted : http://www.wowwiki.com/Darkmoon_Faire
I didn't think much of this place in the older days in fact it was a little dumb. Good for turning in cards to get a deck for casters but that was about it. In its new iteration it is a much more fun and viable place to waste an entire afternoon of playtime.
First off there are trade skill quests you can do that grant +5 to each trade skill which is sweet for those stuck at a certain skill level. Next you can use Darkmoon Faire tickets now to get Heirloom gear which is awesome if you fucked up and made a new BattleNet Account like I did and leveled up new characters only to realize your heirloom gear was on the OTHER BattleNet Account and could not be mailed over. Oops.
Darkmoon Faire is of course its own zone now which is also nice since it allows Blizzard to give it a whole questing experience and not just put a few vendors out. For a new character this place can cause you to waste a LOT of time since there are achievements and things like that. Currently there is one called Faire Favor and it invloves doing all 6 tradeskill quests. Well I knocked out enchanting, tailoring, cooking, fishing and first aid only to discover I have no archaeology and have to actually level that dumb profession to 75 now to see the quest in the Faire. Same as I had to do with First Aid.
So anyway off I go to try and get that achievement at least. In the meantime I did some Love is in Air achievements but I don't think I will go past the easy ones to get.
I didn't think much of this place in the older days in fact it was a little dumb. Good for turning in cards to get a deck for casters but that was about it. In its new iteration it is a much more fun and viable place to waste an entire afternoon of playtime.
First off there are trade skill quests you can do that grant +5 to each trade skill which is sweet for those stuck at a certain skill level. Next you can use Darkmoon Faire tickets now to get Heirloom gear which is awesome if you fucked up and made a new BattleNet Account like I did and leveled up new characters only to realize your heirloom gear was on the OTHER BattleNet Account and could not be mailed over. Oops.
Darkmoon Faire is of course its own zone now which is also nice since it allows Blizzard to give it a whole questing experience and not just put a few vendors out. For a new character this place can cause you to waste a LOT of time since there are achievements and things like that. Currently there is one called Faire Favor and it invloves doing all 6 tradeskill quests. Well I knocked out enchanting, tailoring, cooking, fishing and first aid only to discover I have no archaeology and have to actually level that dumb profession to 75 now to see the quest in the Faire. Same as I had to do with First Aid.
So anyway off I go to try and get that achievement at least. In the meantime I did some Love is in Air achievements but I don't think I will go past the easy ones to get.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Tanking Cata
I got home last night and with the little lady out of the house decided to have a total and complete nerd night on the computer...with booze of course.
Hey why not we have the UFC Condit vs. Diaz fight Saturday and the Superbowl Sunday so my playtime will be limited.
About halfway through a bottle of wine and then hitting straight Vodka I decided to crank up some Diablo 3 after starting yet ANOTHER Minecraft world. Diablo 3 worked much better for me last night and the trick was turning down the AUDIO quality of my sound in game. Apparently there is an issue with on board sound cards in the beta that was causing the animation lag. I looked up the fix on the tech forums and off I went. And it was glorious. I started playing my Barbarian but after a while I got board with this attack style and went back to the Monk and let me tell you once you get that flying roundhouse kick he starts to KICK ASS and I fell in love with the game.
Here are my D3 beta screens: https://plus.google.com/photos/102682922008272370123/albums/5705097316369102241
I still feel that Diablo 3 is not as open as it previous version and that 3D holds it back but I did start to discover little hidden areas with bosses and things like that. I want to start a new Monk and see if the bosses in the hidden areas are random or if its the same ones. I loved Diablo 2 for its randomness.
After some D3 action I logged in my 81 Prot Pally and realized I could no longer Q for Lich King Heroics. There went my practice dungeons to learn my new rotation. I guess at some point I would have to tank Cata shit so why not when I was totally hammered?
I always tell my buddies I tank better drunk but to be sure I ran some heroics on my 82 Rogue on another server just to get the dungeon mechanics down. I jumped back onto my Paladin and got put into Throne of Tides which I had run a zillion times on my Rogue. Tanking this was easy. Next up was Blackrock and this would be the challenge. I knew the path, I knew the patrols and I knew what most of the mobs did. I had some trouble on (http://www.wowwiki.com/Karsh_Steelbender) Karsh Steelbender and we wiped the first time since I kept him in the fire too long. Keep in mind my vision was blurry and I was totally wasted on the Guild Mumble voice chat but sometimes you just gotta jump in and do it.
All in all we survived, no one died after that one wipe and of course I got no loot drops but the experience was worth it. Now I know these dungeons have been nerfed and I am about a year late to the party but it felt good to get back on the horse again so to speak. Two dungeons down and I dread Vortex Pinnacle. I hated that on my Rogue and I know tanking it will suck. But hey at least its not Oculus.
Hey why not we have the UFC Condit vs. Diaz fight Saturday and the Superbowl Sunday so my playtime will be limited.
About halfway through a bottle of wine and then hitting straight Vodka I decided to crank up some Diablo 3 after starting yet ANOTHER Minecraft world. Diablo 3 worked much better for me last night and the trick was turning down the AUDIO quality of my sound in game. Apparently there is an issue with on board sound cards in the beta that was causing the animation lag. I looked up the fix on the tech forums and off I went. And it was glorious. I started playing my Barbarian but after a while I got board with this attack style and went back to the Monk and let me tell you once you get that flying roundhouse kick he starts to KICK ASS and I fell in love with the game.
Here are my D3 beta screens: https://plus.google.com/photos/102682922008272370123/albums/5705097316369102241
I still feel that Diablo 3 is not as open as it previous version and that 3D holds it back but I did start to discover little hidden areas with bosses and things like that. I want to start a new Monk and see if the bosses in the hidden areas are random or if its the same ones. I loved Diablo 2 for its randomness.
After some D3 action I logged in my 81 Prot Pally and realized I could no longer Q for Lich King Heroics. There went my practice dungeons to learn my new rotation. I guess at some point I would have to tank Cata shit so why not when I was totally hammered?
I always tell my buddies I tank better drunk but to be sure I ran some heroics on my 82 Rogue on another server just to get the dungeon mechanics down. I jumped back onto my Paladin and got put into Throne of Tides which I had run a zillion times on my Rogue. Tanking this was easy. Next up was Blackrock and this would be the challenge. I knew the path, I knew the patrols and I knew what most of the mobs did. I had some trouble on (http://www.wowwiki.com/Karsh_Steelbender) Karsh Steelbender and we wiped the first time since I kept him in the fire too long. Keep in mind my vision was blurry and I was totally wasted on the Guild Mumble voice chat but sometimes you just gotta jump in and do it.
All in all we survived, no one died after that one wipe and of course I got no loot drops but the experience was worth it. Now I know these dungeons have been nerfed and I am about a year late to the party but it felt good to get back on the horse again so to speak. Two dungeons down and I dread Vortex Pinnacle. I hated that on my Rogue and I know tanking it will suck. But hey at least its not Oculus.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Diablo 3 beta and Blizzard has me for a year
For the first time ever I got into a Blizzard beta. Diablo 3 this time around. I was as shocked as anyone I got the invite. I quickly downloaded the client and gave it a spin. On my work machine the game runs like a dream. At home there is a animation skip and lag issue that may or may not be caused by the on board sound card. My work machine is far shittier that my home gaming rig so this would be a surprise.
The animation and the effects lag out every time I make an attack making the game almost unplayable. This figures. I get in and it sucks ass.
I am able to play at work ok, but of course I cannot turn it up and truly enjoy it. So far the game controls a lot like Titan Quest more than the Diablo of old. I won't lie in saying I miss the 2D art but hey its a new era and 3D rules all. I will go home tonight and give the sound adjustment a shot. From what I have been playing on my work rig I was hooked into the game pretty fast. It is typical Diablo and the game does not stray from that formula.
I wanted a free copy of the game and knew that with Mists Of Pandaria coming out I would not be cancelling WoW anytime soon so I did the one year buy in on my account and my girlfriend's thus assuring we BOTH get free copies of Diablo 3 and MoP beta invites.
Lets face it. With how shitty SWTOR turned out to be and utter lack of caring for the Asian PVP sensation Guild Wars 2 WoW is still the only MMO on the market that gets things right. So might as well take advantage of this deal now and get a free game like Diablo 3 in the mix.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Rift: still a letdown
I wanted to see how much had changed. The game didn't click with me at all. Didn't like the character models, the universe, the weird races and the classes were a little odd. It has a nice set of features but then again so does EQ2, which I would rather play. Rift just seemed very bland and boring. The combat was a mess of button spamming, everyone in the group could do everything, and the mechanics were odd.
I busted out my 34 paladin tank (a justicar) and just Q'd up for an LFG. At least it has that unlike some million dollar MMO's that we shall not name (SWTOR). I had no memory what my skills did or my buttons. I got into a group and mashed things and tanked all of Foul Cascade. The game is way too easy and simple.
Got to the end boss and guess what? BUGGED. Couldnt finish the instance. There was a ton of lag, a bugged boss and overall the game is just not as polished as World of Warcraft. Oh and the combat is super fucking boring.
Rift tries to be too many things at once instead of its own thing. In the end if I wanted to play a WoW clone in a bland fantasy world and re level characters that did the same shit I would....JUST PLAY WOW again. Which is what I am doing. Go figure.
The last two days of my free time will more than likely rot in hell.
By the way the first twenty levels are free to play now.
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