Life in the City

If you've ever played City of Heroes, you've likely been around Paragon a bit. Even so there are entire zones you may have missed on your characters journey from 1-50. Maybe because they're older and you didn't want to. Maybe because the contacts you selected from Radio missions just didn't send you there or maybe you just stuck to the Radio missions.

In the Rogue Isles, the City of Villains, things are quite a bit smaller. Mercy leads to Port Oakes, Port Oakes to Cap and so on and so forth. Every time you're in a level band that opens a pvp zone, you get a mission to at least talk to the zone liasion. The Isles are a small and interlinked place. That isn't to say there's not things to see. My friends and I have a Widow team whose entire raison d'être is to work their way through each and every contact they can, turning off xp to make sure that we see it the first time through rather than using the Oroboros flashback system to relive it.

The Rogue Isles came after Paragon City and are a good example of what to do. Each island is meant for a different level range and there's always travel involved when you get sent back to an area later in your career. That retracing almost always is done properly.

Paragon City however is suffering due to its metropolitan sprawl. There are so many far flung corners of the city, people just don't see them all unless they make an effort to do so.
Partially this is due to some content being newer and better done than other bits. Partially it's because some places are just easier to deal with.

Take Faultline. Old Faultline was a horrible place full of zombies and Clockwork and Circle of Thorns. It had pitfalls a plenty and if you were a superspeeder, watch your feet. Before missions got a boost and you could as easily street sweep to 50 as mission, an old friend and I used to sweep Faultline, rarely was there competition. Why? Because Faultline was crap. It was desolate, it had no missions attached to it, no contacts. The nearest Hospital in Skyway was on the other end of that zone.
Issue 8 revamped Faultline and brought life to the area. Contacts were introduced with a level range of 15-20 and 20-25. There were more badges, including the out of the way Easter egg room, and there was more to see. Travel was made easier and Faultline was made the place to go for the mid levels. Pocket D even got an exit in Faultline to help with traffic.

New Faultline gives you it all, it has well written and interlinked arcs. Four contacts, four-ish missions each. Three or four of the characters you meet during the run come back later on in the game. There are Archvillains earlier than ever, Yin-O enhancements and all sorts of interesting things to get up to.

New Faultline has spoiled me.

Instead of working my way through all it has to offer on my blaster, I have gone to Striga instead. Introduced in Issue 3 if memory serves, Striga is the stronghold of the Council. It also has a string of four contacts, leading up to an unlocked task force contact. Striga however is tougher. It's better than the earliest zones (Boomtown) but it is by no means a quick run through.

Striga for all its worth, for all the fun toys you get (Holy Shotgun!) and for the two taskforces it contains gets passed up in favour of other faster flashier places.

This is how places we live are. Either it's small and you know everyone and every corner or it is built up and the slightest change to one area can draw people from miles away, leaving other places to stagnate.

This is all building up to something though. World of Warcraft : Cataclysm is going back and rocking the old world of Azeroth. That patch of grass you used to kill ten bunnies in? Steaming lake of lava now. I don't know myself, not being a player, but I can imagine revamping all the geography is also going to need a pass through on the quests. Will they be brought up to whatever the current population considers standard? I couldn't say.

In City of Heroes, the places you've likely never been are going to become more accessible first and then more irrelevant. Issue 16 brings supersidekicking and removes most zone entry restrictions. Never been to Striga because you were too low a level when it was interesting? From I16 on, you can go there as a level one and if you're supersidekicked, not worry about mentor range and getting turned into paste the moment you lag behind the group.

Going Rogue however promises to bring new zones to an already overburdened city. With the coming dimensional travel, I think it's time to say goodbye to some of the Hazard areas that never got the Faultline treatment and may never. It's time to close those giant zone gates and block out parts of the City, for the good of the City.

Personally I would love to hear that with the newest expansion, there will be work done on all the other zones. Updating and bringing new life and new contacts to all the corners of Paragon. If not though, I think we should pay our respects to the likes of Dark Astoria and Boomtown. Wave goodbye to the deepest regions of the Shadow Shard and Creys Folly. Supersidekicking promises to make the city more open than before, but it can't guide people to places of little interest or old tired content. It'll make the world smaller for a while as everyone can suddenly play on the same level, but the world is going to get larger once again, with the ability to play in Praetoria and switch sides.

Look upon the maps of that world of Superheroes. What would you change in the City of Tomorrow?

Commentapalooza : The Tobolding

For my junk post to inspire comments, I take my lead from Ysharros and I expand upon the point made.

While pie is meh, I posit that this refers only to the American convention of fruit based pies. Cottage Pie and Shepards pie when made well are far superior to mere fruit pie.
Further and to reiterate, Mince Beef and Onion pie is awesome.

However, to grant Ysharros one small boon, my father swears by (oh how I wish it was at) apple pie with cheese on top.
I prefer cheese and peanut butter sandwiches.

For Tobold by the League for Greater Comment Volume. Never mind the quality — feel the width!

League Memebers
Ferrel who hates bloody peasants.
Ysharros wielder of the holy cheese
Syp whom the cheese did not agree with
Rivs who is piloting the breakaway Attention Whore Union
Frank who gives tips and points out he whom we must topple.

Issue 16

Issue 16 : Power Spectrum for City of Heroes is now in Open Beta.

Thanks to CoH_OCR and Niviene_CoH for the tweets.

Patch notes are linked in the title. I'll blog properly in the morning. But before I go, a reason why I shouldn't think too hard about game mechanics.

Supersidekicking is supposed to help deal with farming.

[23:46] Mr. Earl: "super-SK" sounds like "no PLz" :P
[23:47] Jonathan: tis somewhat :P
[23:47] Jonathan: Though logically, get 47s, supersk the folks to pl.
they're 46. Difficulty setting yourself some 50+ mobs
[23:48] Mr. Earl: ahh :-O
[23:48] Jonathan: aaaand turn off xp so the 47s dont level
[23:49] Jonathan: Heeeyy.... I just rediscovered how to farm CoH post
i16

The Cryptic Model

This morning I was talking to my good friend Seph (That's Sephorus or Hey, Bitch! to you). Given that we met in City of Heroes and have become good friends, we tend to talk about the game a fair bit. Of course no conversation about City of Heroes nowadays will stay away from Champions for long.

So I ask, are you happy with the Cryptic Model?

Seph: It's not a game I'd sign up for right this second. There's too many things that I feel need more polish for them to be acceptable. However, there's enough stuff either done well or with the potential to be polished up real damn nicely that, given a bit of time, I'd play it. It's certainly in the category of "when I'm done with City of Heroes". Not something I'd jump ship for, but not something I'm willing to pass up, either.

The emphasis in the above is mine.

Polish, that dastardly term trotted out every time someone compares something to WoW. Does it have the polish of WoW? Did they spend enough time on polish? It isn't as polished as it could be.
This isn't a dig at WoW, but rather at the term. A polished turd is just a shiny turd. A diamond in the rough is just as good as a flawless one, it simply hasn't gotten there yet but you can see the worth.

Anyway that's a divergence, if polish is synonymous with WoW and Blizzard, what then is the Cryptic Model?
I submit that it is more stuff than you could ever possibly use.

Take a look around at what people are saying about Champions, almost universally is the mention of the character creator and for good reason. Cryptic broke ground with the City of Heroes creator and this one has even more crammed into it. Moving
tails, limb sliders, stances, how you want to run, mood, backpacks and more. I know someone who spent literal hours in the creator, saving characters and doing it all again.
If you preorder, you get more options; if you microtransact, more options. If you get the 6 month or lifetime sub, even more options. So many options that they carry over into Star Trek Online where for reasons best known to themselves they're
offering Mirror Universe skins (do not get me started on that, I'm keeping that nerdrage for later).
Every Issue of City of Heroes had yet more options of things to do. Champions will likely have the same. Options upon options upon options. For some, this is nirvana.

However it seems to be the hat for Cryptic. People are complaining about how the game is set up, or performing or how its console dna is showing. Cryptic on the other hand is touting the colour customization (and boy did they learn that lesson well after telling City of Heroes it couldnt be done, which...soon it can be), modular powersets and the flexibility of the creator.

Is the game polished? I couldn't begin to guess. My graphics card is still in Silicon Heaven so everything I see is rough and ugly.

Are they even trying? I can't say for sure, I got lost in their submenus trying to find out.

Polish be damned, they want you to select your eyebrows.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

...and I feel fine.

Yes this is somewhat related to World of Warcraft : Cataclysm

Coming with the latest WoW expansion is something that I've personally only seen once before. A change of the worlds landscape on a major scale. Previously I saw this with The Bending in Planetside when the plaent Auraxis shoved its bits across the cosmos (and completely removed the Oshur continent in favour of Battle Islands).

That said, and I'm sure its happened more than I've seen, in any healthy game, the world ends on a regular basis. Well... the world as you knew it anyway.

How many shifts does it take though until the world you started in and the world you have now are only vaugely related in your mind? Old hands will always complain about how easy it is to level now, newbies wont know about aspects of certain areas and miss scads of story. Is this a move forward though? In some cases yes. I imagine Cataclysm will cause a wave of alts through the old content as people go to see what has become of what they grew bored of/outleveled. In other cases, I don't know. Champions had me go through two versions of two early zones. While they served as good introductions they're also misleading. The impression I got of Canada bore no relation to what the zone actually is. That sudden spike of awe was invalidated by the world changing so quickly.

Syp has posted over on Bio Break about the difference between convenience and consistency. Making the game easier versus keeping what the game was. Whichever wins out for each game, sooner or later the world changes. Let's just hope in the games you love, it's always a change worth singing about.

Champions and Ardy

I knew I forgot something. I had a long string of blogging to be doing about Champions. I've stuff yet to come on the Microtransaction bits, MMO bits and so on.

This however is inspired by Werit, Keen and the players of the Shield of Paragon, Guardian Angels and other Coh supergroups.

I don't really like Champions.

That said, I never really did. There are some who greeted the news way back when of a Champions mmo and from their reaction it was though the Lord God himself came down and handed them a dream. Hark how the angels sing, go forth and pwn for justice.
I was unimpressed. Maybe it's a function of those gaps in my geekery that are responsible for me never having played a single Blizzard game (and boy was twitter shocked at that).

That first feeling has carried all the way through closed beta up until now.

First a quick comparison. This time last year I was chomping at the bit to get into Warhammers closed beta. I wanted that game. When I got the CO beta invite, I had forgotten I applied. Most midweek preview sessions ("Hi it's wednesday, log in, test") came when I was busy and the weekend ones rarely stood a chance if there was anything going on in Paragon City.

Champions has delivered a truely impressive Character Creator. But you know what? I'm not going to give them awards for that. Of course they delivered one. They made City of Heroes and its character creator. Delivering anything less than what they left behind in the hands of Paragon Studio would have been staggering idiocy. As much as some people will give it its due with the hours you can spend tweaking to your hearts delight, well... sometimes I just would like to play. It shouldnt take long to get from login to tutorial. When you're being given options to change the size of different parts of a single limb, you've gotten a tad silly in my book.

The variations on the characters get especially pointless when you consider the type of game Champions is. It's supposed to be action packed, quick quick quick, hit the button, build your energy, FINISH HIM! With the amount of sharding they're doing (Keen called it redundant instancing) and the pace of combat they want, I haven't yet seen how the game will have a social centre. Perhaps I'm wrong or more likely I didn't play enough. Champions though feels like a ritalin deprived game. They don't want you standing and spinning stories, they want you out beating the next guy with a tree you ripped out of the ground (which is admittedly cool). Who cares if your biceps ripple ever so slightly and your eyebrows are a certain way and your facial expression is sad. I'm going to notice your size, any bright colours, how you travel/hit and if you run funny. That's it though. The faster the game pushes me, the less time I have to take in what took you three hours and a muse to create when you'd have been just as effective if you hit the random button.

One note on the character creator. City of Heroes players, prepare to recognise many pieces. I don't just mean the art, I mean the names as well. I don't know if Cryptic retained rights to bits and pieces of CoH. For example the game engine (at least according to wiki so take that with a grain of salt) is a modified version of the CoH one.

Moving on, there are bits about Champions I enjoyed. The travel powers all have looked good and add a nice touch, however when you look at them close they're mostly variations on flight and jumping. Still they do look good.

I enjoyed the ability to select from where some powers originate, I liked how quick and easy it was to change power colours (whereas when CoH has it in Issue 16, I predict many trips to Icon). There are plenty of a-okay things about the game, but none of them grabbed me.

There are also plenty of things I hate. In case you hadn't guessed I hate the pacing. It's bad enough that with the instancing I may end up selecting zones to follow friends only to find that they've done a certain mission and ended up in yet another instance where I cannot follow (or at least if there is an easy way to follow, I didnt see it. Im talking about moving from Wartorn tutorial Millenium city to peaceful and from wintery blizzard Canada to regular old Canada, same place different versions).
The game is all go. For some that will work, they want the action and get it quickly. For others, I forsee early burn out.
I hate the cel shading animation, I always have. It's never done anything for me though I will grant it is very true to the comic book feel. I hate the chat system where everyone at all times is reminded of my username. And why is that? Well apparently there wont ever be any naming conflicts. You too can be Superman, because your usename will make it unique. Don't give me the monster of a creation suite you have and then make it so that I wont have my own name in the end.

In the end, I've come out of closed beta the same way I went in, unimpressed. City of Heroes has flaws, I'll happily point them out in a second, but despite that they're working on improving the game with each issue (Ardy hates the AE though). I'd sooner spend a day in Paragon City than Millenium City.

The most damning thing about Champions though? I was worried it would gut City of Heroes.
Every single player I know across several global channels has reacted the same way, "Thanks but no thanks".

Champions, you have one final crippling flaw to me and one shining virtue.
Firstly, you have Jack "Statesman" "Force Field isnt broken" Emmert. I don't trust that man any more and while he appears to be learning from some mistakes, I am not yet convinced.

The virtue though? Every thing you do makes Paragon Studios have to work harder to retain its numbers and suceed. Survival of the fittest. I don't think Champions could kill City of Heroes, but it certainly looks like it could forge its predecessor into something unstoppable.

Our world, our wars.

CCP, I love you. Honestly I do.

Why the love for the Icelandic crowd some ask? Well simply they're doing two wonderful things.

Firstly they are launching a console based online FPS game, Dust 514.
Secondly, it is based within the universe of EVE and will interact with the podders.

Pc Gamers and Console Gamers apparently don't get along. So say the games reviews, the fanboys on each side and more besides. I, personally, always thought it was quite odd for Final Fantasy XI to have been launched on consoles. After all it has enough on its plate with the Japan/everyone else divide without throwing in desktop Vs console.
Consoles to me seem more ... for unwinding. I can sit down with a console game and merrily destroy my enemies. It doesnt matter if it's fps, a fighting game, rts or a sim; I have enemies and they need destroying. There's a clear start, there's a middle and an end. You start your race, defend your home, make your first move and then the plot comes after.
Eventually you've won your freedom, won your race or made the best damn Sim torturing device known to man.

MMOs however seem to sit in the middle of the story. No one wants to see their MMO end. Certain plot threads perhaps, but they want the world to continue, to deliver on that persistence promise. At the same time MMOs don't have a clear start for players. The reason for playing took place in the story before anyone ever logged in. There is a world with all its history, you are not the origin of the tale.

How then can the two mindsets co-exsist?
Rather well if my wild unfounded mass guessing is correct.

CCP will be delivering Dust 514 to consoles. It will be familiar to such players. Have gun, will travel. If you've played Halo online, I think you'll probably be able to handle Dust 514.
It's set in the universe of New Eden though. That place where the wonderous stories come from. Where even Dev blogs are a delight (See Operation Unholy Rage).

New Eden has a shake up coming. The cloning tech that lets pod pilots fly without worrying about that silly little mortality issue will be adapted for ground forces. Soldiers that can go on living even after being blown into ludicrous gibs and learn from the experience. These soldiers, these warriors from the console world who are "trained" for this sort of fight will have an effect on New Eden. They will help the ships and fleets win entire worlds.

Personally I've always been unwilling to play EVE because of one simple fact, I don't think I would do it justice.
We read the stories of how slick conmen win one on thousands, of assassination plots and of capers that make millions. I love to read about that universe but never have felt that I would give it what it deserves to be a part of it. Now, now I can.

Dust 514 will tie two platforms and two genres together in such a seamless manner that I'm giddy about not only playing the game but what it means for that old PcVsConsole war.

They're not the enemy anymore, they're the men and women you need to win the next world and in turn you're the pilots whose fleets will bring them new worlds to conquer.

Casual twitch gamer or dedicated corporate magnate. We each have a part to play in that world

Axe Me Again Next Month

Vorri, Aardii, Orrekai. Do you miss me lads? Do you miss getting your Dwarf on and being piloted into mayhem and madness and war? Do you miss the hustle and bustle of Altdorf or the haggling and bragging that goes on in her taverns? Do you miss the sights and the fights and the foes and the pitfalls and the pqs and the keeps?

I know I do.

I know I hear good things about 1.3.1. I know that since the Bioware/Mythic merger people have apparently gained a measure of calm. A sense of peace and a sense of purpose. I hear that they are being more straight forward with us, the fans. I hear that improvements are being made where they are most called for, most needed, those places that I stopped just short of seeing.

Do you want me back? Raising staff and rifle and hammer and spanner in the name of Order? Do you want to ride with the Sentinels, proud in your Gyroharnesses? Do you want to slay your foes, slake your thist and bury your weapons in the worthy?

If I could move to Europe and keep you boys, you know I would.

Failing that, the stars are not yet aligned. Morreslieb and Mannslieb have yet to wax full once more for me.
Axe me again next month.

The Best of Frenemies.

I love my friends, they're my friends after all. I am sure you yourselves also are rather fond of those you call friend. Then there's acquiantances. They're nice folks, handy in a spot, you're friendly/neighbourly with them but you've rarely had them over for a drink.

I've made many good friends in City of Heroes, I've made many more passing ones as well. The first in a series of blog posts about Champions is dedicated to my frenemies.

I ended up going back to City of Heroes for two simple reasons. I couldn't afford two MMOs at the moment and I wanted to play with Shannon more than the people I rarely saw in WAR. (If ever there is US -> EU Transfers, I'd be back in a heartbeat)
There are of course names I recognise, names I love, names I can barely stand and all the flavours in between. Like a good team player, unless I honestly cannot personally stand someone, I will play with whomever. I will try reign in my exuberance (lemming behaviour) and I will play.

Now some people in City of Heroes, I respect. They're good players, or good roleplayers or simply fun to see on the global channels. However, they are the frenemy. They want to try Champions. They want to up sticks and move onto the new game, and that's perfectly fine. They want people we're both friends with to go with them, also fine. Some people will make the move, others won't bother. There'll be a few who spend time equally across heroic games. The problem is this, they want to recreate what they have here in the new game.

That's why they bother me. Instead of going into a new and virgin territory where all are once again equal before their Mods, they want to bring their baggage with them. Friends they've made, people they've snubbed without realising, the stories that they have worked on and the associated bits and pieces that come with roleplaying.

For some it will work, I will honestly say that the Force powerset in Champions is far more like what I originally envisioned City Of Heroes' Forcefield powerset to be. I could be quite happy playing there, but the character I originally created in CoH will not make the move.

Now for some, there is a sense of identity with their avatar. They may use the same name in each game they go to, and that's fine. My complaint here is the wholesale copy/paste behaviour from one game to another.

City of Heroes has life in it yet. Issue 16 is in closed beta right now and Going Rogue looms in the future. There is freshness wherever you want to make it. For any who are finding it stale at the moment I would ask. Is it stale because you've really done everything in every way with every powerset? Or is it stale because you are beholden to passing friends, people whose names you possibly don't even know but who are not evolving with their virtual space?

Moving all the same faces, places and stories into a new game will not invigorate or freshen them, not for long anyway. In the end, I think, you'll have ruined a fresh start at a new you, a new way to be with your friends and a new way to make more.

When you're given the chance to create anything, create.

Warhammer Temporal Mechanics

I love Warhammer Online. I really do. I enjoy playing it, I enjoy the setting, I enjoy the times I've had and the loot I've gotten my hands on.

I have not played in the Land of the Dead yet for two simple reasons. My graphics card died silently one night leaving me with what the motherboard cranks out and Shannon came back to City of Heroes. Given a choice between playing with her or playing in a Warband, it's no choice. Also, given the fact that no graphics card means no RvR, it's better not to play and have bad memories. Economic pressures also recently made me pick between the two games I subscribe to and for a while, I have let Warhammer expire.
Then on top of it all, time is an issue.

Recently Nic, one of the fantastic Community guys over at GOA, had a birthday. We were all out for drinks, hugs (I am told I give the best manhug in Dublin) and geekery. The WAR EU players have consistently seemed to have a better time than me, and I've never really complained about my time.

Why is that? Well... I went to the NA servers for a good reason, I stand by that reason. But in an RvR game or a PvP game, the main action will always be primetime. I can stay up for that on the weekends, but if I've got something going on elsewhere, I'm missing the lions share of the action. For once, geography and time have let me down. There are fantastic people on Phoenix Throne (Go check out The Sentinels) but I don't get nearly as much time with them as I would like. Money no object, I'd run two computers :P However such multigaming is best left to people with more money than sense.

What to do then? Well it's obvious. I'm going to keep blogging about WAR and I have my sights set on someone inside Mythic about a few things.
That and I'm going to campaign for greater server transfers. It's time I went home, it's time I asked for a way for my Dwarfs to find their way back to their native time zone and the people who will be playing when it suits me to play.

Communication Integration.

Recently people have been talking about the social networking sites like they were some sort of new thing that no one has ever seen before. Obviously they aren't but their clout and impact is growing. How many people coloured their avatars green to support the Iranian election dispute? How many Iranians themselves used Twitter to organise protests? How many people heard of the celebrity deaths on Twitter and Facebook first and the news second?

News channels are getting in on the act. Shannon watches Quest Means Business on CNN for some unfathomable reason and the man would have Twitters babies if he could. Sky News has a segment every evening based entirely around the web. Microsoft Earth and Google Earth/Maps/Streetview are being used to pad out news reports with on scene images and graphics for when a reporter hasn't yet hit the scene.

So with this ever growing trend of accepting sites like Twitter and Facebook, why are our virtual worlds not yet integrated?

I feel safe saying that Champions, for whatever reason, has a /tweet command. The only other game with integrated Out Of Game chat that I recall was The Matrix Online. Unsurprising really as it was owned by WB who of course had an AIM integration built in. You could play in Megacity 1 and still chat to people on your AOL friend list.

Now admittedly for some that will break immersion, much like EQ II's /pizza command to bring up a game browser so you could order Pizza Hut to be delivered. For others it could be a great tool, EVE as far as I recall has a built in browser so pilots can keep up on their mail and check databases etc without alt tabbing out and potentially leaving themselves vulnerable.

People talk about word of mouth press and the impact of blogging. Personally I would blog more if I could do it while in my games. If I have a few minutes between tasks and goings on, I am not inclined to log out for an idea I am forming, but if I could hit up Blogger and Wordpress while the Warband/Supergroup/Raid gets together I'd quite like it. How many friends do we all have who just don't get the online gaming thing? Now imagine when you tweet from in the game, alerting your gaming friends to something massive going on and possibly intriguing your other friends.

By all means continue to improve and enhance our virtual worlds. Make them immersive, make them fantastic. Make them somewhere we want to be. More importantly, make them work with the world we live in, the world that should always trump a game when there's something important. I could be sitting quite happily with rose coloured glasses on, but in my opinion when the two worlds don't have to compete, when they gel better, people will enjoy them more. After all, the game is by its very definition, sociable. It should be enabled further.

In the end, first kill bragging rights, free press, word of mouth advertising and positive (possibly) attention focused on your game all for the sake of "/tweet" or "/im". Why pass that up?

Obvious Cat is Obvious

If you follow me on Twitter you'll have seen that I tweeted from Champions Online.

So I can say the following happily without breaking the NDA, I think.

I'm in the Champions Beta, it can tweet.
I'm saving the rest until I check the NDA etc, I know that Syp had to ask for permission to blog about his time there so I'm going to tread lightly for now.

Mythic & Bioware : Mythioware

Head on over to the Warhammer Herald for one of likely many announcements to come on
the EA Mythic/Bioware Merger.

This... is going to be interesting. Where's my flame war survival suit?

So much game...

Hopefully I'll be back to blogging properly by Friday.

As a catch up, I've two quasi-static friends teams running in City of Heroes. Patch 1.3 has hit Warhammer and I've to check it out.
Oh, and to top it all off, I've recently had beta invites to three games. Two I have taken, the third was a fileplanet invite and I wasn't much bothered.

There's an awful lot to play and then I'll have plenty to say.

Woohoo!

Thanks to the blogosphere (I wish I was putting information out rather than taking it in as usual, must work on that) I too have gotten myself the nifty Scarab amulet.

So far ....
CE Retail Box Includes: The Librams of Insight, Custom Character Heads and more!
Pre-Order Includes: Rittenbach's Portable Camp and Guardian's Iolite Band
Reward: White Dwarf Includes: Custom Dwarf Head
Reward: Email Validated Includes: Title - 'The Validated'
Reward: C&C Red Alert 3 Includes: Kossar's Helm
Preview Weekend Provides access to Preview Weekend
CE Open Beta Provides access to the CE Open Beta
CE Head Start Provides access to the CE Head Start
Reward: Choppa/Slayer Custom Heads Includes: Choppa/Slayer Custom Heads
Reward: Scarab Amulet Includes: Scarab Amulet
Reward: Shroud of the Imrathepis Includes: Shroud of the Imrathepis

One day Skaven Cloak, you will be mine.
(What? CoH has badge whoring, WAR has the Tome and rewards :P)

Never one to deny a challenge

Folks, they've thrown down the gauntlet. That or dangled a carrot, you decide. What am I talking about? The Warhammer Age of Reckoning Blog Challenge.

Werit already tweeted that the fantastic and ever entertaining Tome Of Knowledge has received a package, head on over for a peek.

From the Herald.

If you want to claim your free Scarab Amulet, put your decoding hat on, because the Rise of the Tomb Kings blog challenge is coming! Over the next three weeks, Tomb King Skulls will be appearing on some of your favorite online gaming sites. Painted on these skulls are five different Cartouches. Translate any one of these and you’ll reveal an item code. If you play on a North American or Oceanic server, you can take this to the Mythic Account Center and enter it into your account. Once activated, you will receive a unique Scarab Amulet reward. This fun item summons a Scarab swarm that chitters and swirls around your feet. Remember, nothing grants e-kudos like a personalized beetle horde.

How do you translate the hieroglyphs? Well, you’ll need to search around the WAR blogosphere. Just like the Night of Murder bloody valentines, we’ve sent special packages out to US and Canadian WAR bloggers. Different blogs will get different fragments of the code. Collect the lot, and you’ll be able to translate a cartouche.

You’ll need to be quick about collecting the code. Each Cartouche will only give out 1,000 Scarab Amulets (only one per account, before you ask!). So, if you want your beetle buddies, get thee to the internet!

I'm going to regret this

Head over to Quilldragon for a shot at torturing me.

City of Zerg

Recently some friends and I have gotten together in City of Heroes/Villains and created a team. It's not quite a static team, though it comes close. It is also not really a superteam, though arguably it has the hallmarks.

To elaborate, a superteam is a group of characters in CoH/CoV that are usually comprised of identical or highly complimentary powersets. It goes to such a point where the major level organised superteams even have predesigned builds so they get certain powers (typically Leadership) at certain levels to maximize the twink. Example: Fire/Radiation Controller teams.
A static team, well most of you know but for those that don't; it's a group who will always come together at a set time on a set day and play together. Some run statics that rarely group with anyone else, others roleplay all the time on their static characters but only ever level with the other members.

Anyway we have a team of Masterminds. Specifically five Thugs Masterminds for a simple reason. The same reason that class gets used for superteams. GANG WAR!

We have a

• Thugs/Storm
• Thugs/Pain Domination
• Thugs/Dark Miasma
• Thugs/Forcefields
• Thugs/Traps

So that represents alot of slows, resistance and defense debuffs, accuracy debuffs, healing, defense boosts and stealth powers. A few of us have also started taking the Leadership powers which stack with the Enforcer leadership. Provided there are no cascading defense failures, the team will only get tougher and tougher as time goes on.

This weekend, we'll be tackling the Silver Mantis strikeforce together. If you are on Virtue and over level 20, give me a shout on @Ardua and join in. Just a word of warning, when all the pets are down, at this level we account for 75 characters on screen at once :P

Bullet Points

Lo folks.

Sorry for being under the radar so long. Between work, play and sleep there's been precious little time for things like blog, snacking and other lesiure. Still three day weekend here and I'll kick works ass so you'll all have to put up with me again.

What I've been playing!

• Left 4 Dead (Ardua on Steam)
• City of Heroes (@Ardua)
• Warhammer Online

What I am looking forward to!

• Warhammer 40k
• Black Prophecy
• Global Agenda

What I will be honour bound to try.

• Champions Online
• Star Trek Online
• Stargate Worlds (If it ever comes out)

What I'd get into again if I had more free time.

• EVE Online

I'll blog properly later about Warhammer vs time and City Of Heroes superteams. Till then.

WCPI : Gaarawarr Gabs

This week in WCPI I hereby promote my new favourite person.

Gaarawarr has a fantastic blog dealing with his views on patches, updates, armors, wards and so much more.

If nothing else, he should be worshipped for these two. " Moar Tokens! " and his Guides section.

Read, enjoy and like me, plan out what you'll be doing tonight. Moar tokens indeed.

Quilldragon Now Open

Ladies and Gents, Quilldragon is now open.

If you like fantasy literature or just really like the bunch of bloggers involved, pop on over and check us out.
If not, do it anyway or face my wrath! Muhahahahaha.

Everyone say awwwww now

WAR news, but not WAR related.

From Twitter : JoshDrescher Less than six hours left until the wedding...

Come on everyone. Tweet the man and wish him luck.

Trying a different question

Syp made a post about the validity of solo play, despite him being mostly a grouper. Due to the back and forth in the comments Ysharros had a stab at defending their playstyle of preference. I threw a comment out there myself. Spinks on the other hand has a different view and once again the comments flow, as doother posts.

Here's something I want to ask though.
Grouping is fine for those who group. Reasons have been given ranging from personal achievement, enjoying a metagame, tactical reasons and so on.
Soloing is fine for those who want to. There should be an overlap permitted but both camps seem to have a problem with that.

My question is this. Soloers, what would entice you to group? You have your reasons for not doing so, and that is acceptable. Maybe you don't always feel like it, maybe you dislike the chaos, maybe you have a medical reasons (I've known a few).

When the solo vs group question comes up, inevitably the question posed is "Why would you solo in an MMO?" with the implication to some that soloing is the digital equivalent of leprosy.
How can we make the question "What would get you to group with us?". People don't have to group, people will always still want some alone time, me time, time to do whatever insanity or drudgery catches their fancy. Could you make it enticing to group though, even to a soloer, without necessarily forcing the issue?

Heads up people.

Coming soon

On the Group/Solo cost of living.

I group. I solo. I duo. I've staticed. I have raided, taskforced, pugged, warbanded, fleet maneuvered and run around like a headless chicken in an Escher painting.

I understand that an MMO has people. I know that even when I run alone, there are people. I accept that when there are people en masse, I sometimes wish there wasn't. I play what I'd like when I want and do what I can for the mass when I can.

At the end of the day however it depends on my mood. I've seen people who group more than anything not log on when they have a bad mood. Why? So they don't take it out on others. Noble that, but the alternative is you could play your game still and just not play with other people.
I've seen hardcore soloers complain about new group based content essentially locking them out, but guys if any random schmoe could solo the content, we'd all be bored fast.

I think the reason Groupers hate Soloers is the old old old player type, the Tank Mages. Tank Mages either want or have the ability to carry the game on their shoulders. They can solo every boss that ever wiped your team, they don't need heals or dps or (de)buffs as they have them themselves. They don't need you. In social games and online spaces where depending on others is promoted, this can be a bit jarring. Especially if you need the Tank Mage so your group can do things. Not everyone who prefers to play alone is a Tank Mage though, just as how not everyone who only ever groups is a powerleveller.

In City of Heroes, I soloed every Kheldian arc. Why? Well.. as much as I love my friends and as much as I enjoy playing with new people, you lot get in my way when I am playing for the content and fluff. You want to do this mission and get to the next as fast as possible or roleplay something that will slow me down or make the fluff whore in me cry quietly.
In Warhammer, when I am not feeling up to the mania of a Warband or the banter of the guild and groups, I go and solo. I can take my time reading the mission text. I can suicide repeatedly if I so choose. I can play NinjaDwarf and get into places I really probably shouldn't. Nothing in that playstyle is bad. I am not saying you cannot come and mission/quest with me, I just want to take it easy and am not offering you a fast and productive experience.

Am I drain on the Sentinels in Warhammer? I like to think not. Through taxes and tithes, they make money from me. Am I a drain on Luna Arcanum in CoH? They are making prestige off of me. When I am soloing, I am still contributing. I'm not always on the team, but I am engaged in teamwork. Maybe not as obviously as when I am in a group, but it is still happening.

If I don't participate with the group as a whole, I do not expect to get the same preference. A raid or taskforce won't ever hinge on my showing up, nor can I expect them to hold a spot for me when others want to go unless I have given the group time in return. Many of the new soloers do not expect such. They are not asking you to bring them on every raid and leave them alone at all other times. If they are, their solo playstle has nothing to do with them being a leech.

Sometimes, even in the most solitary of moods, people like to know others are near and can be reached if necessary. You can solo and be in an MMO. Just don't take it too far one way or the other. Warhammer, for me, had lost its appeal when I was always soloing. If you have soloers in the guild, maybe they just need a friendly hand extended. If you always run in groups, keep in mind that's not for everyone. One former friend in City of Heroes physically could not cope with 8 man teams and would sooner leave than put themselves through strain and no one would say that they were wrong to.

Finally on the grouping side of the fence.. if you never put yourself outside your guild or outside yourself, consider this. You are missing an experience and you may not make friends you otherwise could. My life is richer, online and off, for having pugged and talked to groups.
There is no one ideal playstyle for an MMO in the same way that there is no one ideal MMO for all us online players. If there was, we'd all be raiding tonight, some in groups, some by themselves and some just sitting by and watching us do it.

What possible application could you have for pudding flavoured gunpowder?

In this universe? None whatsoever. But in the universe of shrimp it might be useful.

To be honest, the title line was something odd that came up in conversation once (don't ask) and I promised I'd use it. It does however let me launch into a City Of Discussion.

Having had time to settle down from my nerdrage, I think it is time we talk about Going Rogue and Praetorians.

For a long time, since the introduction of Portal Corps, Praetorian Earth has been a fantastic roleplay device. Evil twin? Praetorian! That or a Nemesis plot. Statesman is missing? Praetorians! A well known hero flip you off? Praetorian, or just a bit of a dick (I'm looking at you Manticore).

Going Rogue seems to be promising us access to this parallel world in more than just missions to beat up the Mirror Universe versions of our favourite Heroes. As such, some things you should know.

• Praetorian Earth has previously been depicted as a Crapsack World
• Most groups seem to have an inverse there. The Carnival of Shadows having a good guy version in the Carnival of Light. We've never seen Praetorian Recluse, so expect that one to be interesting (assuming Tyrant aka Emperor Cole didn't just off him)
• Unless they are being literal about their worlds colliding or there is a third path (the theorised Spy AT) that starts in Praetoria and comes to Paragon, expect this to be a high level zone. After all the machines are all based in Peregrine Island, Level 40+.

Fluff linkdump for those who want to get the skinny on all this Portal and Alternate Universe stuff.

This guy did the reseach and founded Portal Corp. This has led to a possible I15 Mcguffinpopping by, the Rikti invading, people accessing the Shadow Shard and of course Praetorians noticing Earth.

Probably all a Nemesis plot, as per the meme and the status quo

Other rumor mill items, some from the Shield of Paragon coalition and official boards include:

• Power Customisation
• Two new AT's (Dual Pistol .... scrapper? Demon summoner Controller or Mastermind)
  Assorted other bits and pieces reported on Massively before (Link redug by Spinks )

I'll certainly be keeping an eye on all this, though I stand by my complaint that it should have been announced in a better and more coherent fashion.

Some end of blog entry bonus Squick.
Miss Liberty is the granddaughter of Statesman. It has always been assumed that Dominatrix is the same to Tyrant, certainly Statesman in one of the CoH comics went to Praetorian Earth (and it looked like crap) to "rescue" her. Make what you will of the last line in her In Game bio.

WCPI : Tome Of Knowledge

This weeks WCPI.

It has to be, it's got to be. It is the Tome of Knowledge.


Webcomic? Oh you bet. Great posts, great commentary and still the blog I'd go to for Land of the Dead stuff, fluff and history. Looking back and going forward, always check your Tome.



Go! Read!

Bad to the Bone

Ok no. I am annoyed at Paragon Studios and NCSoft.

Let's have a quick run around. We have NCSoft being sued by Worlds.com, NCSoft being sued by Richard Garriot and my original complaint for the lackluster annoucement.

Now we have this : City Of Heroes : Going Rogue

Is it an interesting idea? You bet. Is it something the player base has asked for for ages? Oh most certainly. Could it improve teaming in City of Villains and make City of Heroes pop just that little bit more.
Is it a big announcement that could steal Champions thunder and retain some of the current base or the resubs? Oh yes.

Then why has it been rolled out in this manner? There is a direct page for it on the main City of Heroes page, but as of writing this, there is no link to it on the front page. People have been emailed and directed to the link given, which is not an NC page. There were 13 pages of "omgwtfbbq" on the boards before Castle weighed in to say that it was legit.

Am I glad to have something coming? Of course I am.

I am however very annoyed at the execution. This hasn't so much been announced as "oh by the way.."
Where was this news two weeks ago?

Blogroll Update

Had to go and take an axe to the blogroll on the side. So many WAR Bloggers gone, so many blogs that I didn't pay enough attention to.

Sad to see them all go, but still I thank them for what they shared with everyone while they were here.

Coming later tonight : WCPI

Goodbye Grind, Hello Ban (There's a rant in here)

To my friends recently, I've been a bit vocal about City of Heroes, its lifespan and what I considered idiotic decisions. Hey, it's the internet. Bitching ahoy, granted it would have made sense to blog it all.

Yes I came back for a bit, Shannon wanted to and that was my deal maker/breaker.

Issue 14 is a failure. Issue 15 is an insult and the big announcement the other week was a let down.

In reverse order, here we go.
Posi gave an interview on Massively and hyped up a really big annoucement coming on the 5th anniversary of City of Heroes. All trial and inactive accounts in good standing (read: not banned) were given a free week in which to come back to Paragon and have fun. There was to be chaos on the live servers, Giant Monsters, invasions and Av's everywhere but no Rularuu invasion or 5th Column vs Council war much to my disappointment. In fact given the meat of the i15 annoucement, a 5th/Council war like we had way back at the end of i2/start of i3 would have been amazing. Seph sent me a link from the official site the morning of the anniversary, it was the i15 annoucement. Ooo the 5th Column are coming back, that's cool. Meh, one non co-op taskforce at level 45-50, that's ok. Some stuff from the Magic pack is being copied into the live game (costume change emotes, how long have people waited for those?) and there's some eye candy in more faces and costume pieces.

Slight aside that may get me flamed. Spinks put up a post a while back about a community blog Feministing complaining about the casual sexism in World of Warcraft with the bunny ears and the achievement gotten from tagging a female toon over level 18 with them. Personally I just thought it was an incredibly obvious popculture reference. I had no opinion on the sexual connotations and when you factor in Tauren and Scourge, I had a hard time thinking it'd be sexual. Then again, I'm not a feminist. Even so, why havent they complained about this

Back on track. The i15 annoucement page was up some 16 hours before Posis (late) 8est annoucement. I had come back from Star Trek, I had some free City of Heroes and I was expecting something huge. After all they went down in text as saying that the annoucement would only be published to the website after it was made. It sounded massive.

Global Anniversary Address From Positron™

Also on our anniversary day, be watching around 8pm EST in-game (and shortly thereafter on the website), for a special Anniversary Address from everyone's favorite Lead Designer, Positron.
He will certainly have some fun information to share!

Actually it was just the i15 annoucement page. The only added bit was that the closed beta testing of i15 would be open to all. So not closed then. Thanks for that.

To go back to the start, as mentioned Posi gave an interview on Massively before his big message we'd all seen. In this he talks about programmers they have on board working on a graphical update to City of Heroes. He teases about CoH 2 and plans for the future. He's working the marketing machine as Champions is just around the corner and it's built by the people who built CoH.
None of that made it into the address. No new zone, no mention of updating the game (look at EVE for an example of how to constantly keep your game gorgeous), no mention of plans for the future. Just "lawl new tf, closed beta isnt closed".

As a result I now find i15 insulting. Why? i14.

Issue 14 brought in the much vaunted Mission Architect system. Create your own content! Customise enemies and earn badges based on kills, tickets and people voting on your submission!

Now you have this.

I'm sorry, you're the ones who have gradually made the game easier and easier to the point that some people can fart and hit the midpoint of your levelling system. But because some people are now able to use a meow to burn right to the end of the game, the banstick comes out. As people on the forum have pointed out, the traditional farming maps aren't being removed, nor is the nature of the discipline clear. I got Shannon from 29 to 32 the other night so she could have a new costume and her controller pet. It was late and I was tired, so we farmed it. Are those levels at risk? Who knows.

This is turning into a long winded rant (it's always been a rant) so I'll bring it to a close and cleverly save myself some stuff to blog about later.

The level grind, Posis risk/reward ratio has been steadily pushed over to reward for a long time. Bringing out a system to let people create their own content was always going to be loaded. Sure there are some wonderful stories now that people have crafted themselves, at the same time farming has always been in games. I farmed in Warhammer to get myself to 35.

What really is happening is this. For whatever reason (smaller team, less funds, who knows) there is less new compelling content being created for City of Heroes. Instead they've focused on the end game and farmed (heh) the job of entertaining the masses out to the masses. People are always going to try rush to the end if that's where they think the goods are, look at Warcraft and what it's done to its early game. Death Knights start at 55 for more than just thematic reasons in my opinion. Now because of the farming that the studio themselves enabled, the lack of "official" content is clear. Oroboros was meant as a patch on the content by rewarding badges for rerunning old content, MA was meant as another to distract people while they got more things done. They tied badges to it and as someone on the forums so wonderfully put it "prayed on angel farts" that people wouldn't do what people always do. Min/Max.
It didn't work. Now out comes the banhammer to try balance the equation. They want farming to be dirty again instead of dev enabled.

In the end, under the wording of the announcement, technically anything that changes that magic risk/reward ratio is at risk. Are the PI farms a thing of the past? Are Superteams doomed to die as they max their potential? Will Soldiers of Arachnos get nerfed?

We'll see.

WCPI : Blogwarhammer

For this WCPI it is less a promotion of the active and more a good bye.

• Alt Much? rips off the bandaid.
• Girl IRL makes a sideways move.
• Wizards & Wenches beats a towel to death with another towel. Don't meddle in the affairs of Wizards, they is the cwaaaziest people. <3
• Bugmans Best is no longer being served.

Blame The Healer and the Tome of Knowledge continue and I along with them. Over on the sidebar there's still the link to the Blog Warhammer Forum. Drop by and annoy some folks.
(Ardy watches for spam .... always watches)

Star Trek Premiere

Spoiler Free I promise.

Some folks know, others may not, I won two tickets a fortnight or so ago on Facebook for the Irish Premiere of the new Star Trek. Paramount Pictures was hosting it in the Savoy screen 1 on O'Connell street.
Both myself and Shannon are still, as she put it, buzzing from last night. It was bloody epic.

To keep this spoiler free, we're not going to discuss the plot nor most of the effects. Instead here's a quick run down of my thoughts.

1) I missed Paul McGillon (Dr. Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis). I know he was given a role and we even checked the credits but I just didnt spot him. Still on the 8th I'll be going back and having another go. Simon Pegg does a wonderful job as Scotty though, so I'm not too bothered (they both went up for the role).

2) The Constitution class Starship Enterprise. Registry number NCC 1701. Abrams, your guys are geniuses. To elaborate, the Constitution is a workhorse. It's ugly, it's the 60s. When The Next Generation came about they kept the shape but smoothed it out, so we got the delightful Galaxy Class Enterprise D. In the Next Gen movies they further sexed it up in the Soverign class Enterprise E.
This version, this reimaging of the Enterprise and the Constitution class? Gorgeous. They took something that, while iconic, was outdated and kept its spirit intact while giving it some much needed love.

3) Realism. Aliens, phasers and Warp speed aside, this universe feels real. It feels as though we could get there, unlke the old Federation which was just a little bit Stepford.

4) The biggest thing they've done? They've made this exciting.
Of course there is bang and whizz and graphics and half naked women, that's to be expected nowadays but that's not what I mean.

I was raised on science fiction. The 60's British sci fis, the 70's and 80's American faire. Star Trek from the get go all the way to the current era. I have grown up with my mind in the stars and you know what? For the longest time I didn't much care about Star Trek.
I was excited to see new Babylon 5, I'd be thrilled when Battlestar was going to do something awesome. I look forward to new Fringe and Sarah Connor Chronicles (they better bloody renew that last one). Though for the longest time Star Trek was that thing I did. It happened somewhere in the run of Voyager, I wasn't looking forward to next week anymore. I would watch but because I had always watched. Enterprise, I just lost it there. Manny Cotos 4th season was genuinely good and certainly brought me back to the fold, but Enterprise was so ... uninteresting to me that when I missed an episode, I wouldnt try catch it again despite the fact that nowadays things get repeated fifteen more times before the end of the week. I lost the faith.

After this movie, after this reimaging/reboot/reawakening ... I want more. I am excited once again and Star Trek is king of the hill. They signed up for three movies? I want those movies.

In the end, that's part of what comes next. I am going back on May 8th. Not just to spot Paul McGillon, not just for Shannon to get buttered popcorn and not just because my friends will be going then. I am going back to buy my ticket, show my support and show my love.

In MMOs people always say you vote on the game with your money, I'm voting for more Star Trek. It was and is just that good.

Beyond the Stylish

Well... my aim of getting the elite reward on Vorri was very ... straight forward. There was a warband in the area after I scouted the Depot. Quick undead smacking later and Vorri has his goggles.

10/12 for the goggles, but I'm still going to finish it all out because I'm all about the fluff.

Still, doesn't he look good?

(Do all use engineer players use the same explosion in a a matress factory hairdo?)

Once more with ketchup

Yes I know, I know. I keep talking about food. Maybe lunch hasn't hit the stomach yet.

Bit of a general question open to all.

WoW has become the McDonalds of online gaming: Everyone loves it, I like it,
too.-> But which player can stand burgers over and over?And no, you do not
need to be a "hardcore elite raiders" to get that feeling. By commenter Longasc

Above quote taken from Tobolds Blog

We are not discussing Wow in any way shape or form. This goes back to the sandwich metaphor (and eerily I did make a burger comment...) and shopping around. This also goes back to the idea of lifetime passes to games such as Lotro.

So!

Assuming that WoW is the McDonalds of Online gaming and other games represent other restaurants, how much more would you be willing to pay for a varied menu?

WoW caters to millions, other games also have their own populations. In the end though a vast majority of our online games are made by the same crowd in some fashion.

How much would you pay SOE or NCSoft or Turbine or Mythic or Blizzard or CCP or NetDevil or whomever to have access to several very different games at once? SOE already has the Station Pass, but how much more than our normal monthly fee would you pay for a super pass to let you easily play WAR and WoW and EVE and CoH for example?

Instead of grabbing what they can for their own games, would it be profitable or even sensible for the various names in online games to share their subscriber bases? A Taco Bell sharing a roof with a KFC sort of deal.

Would you buy a Blizzard/NCSoft/Mythic game pass for one month or a year of cross company gaming? If it was affordable, so called WoW tourism aside, how many of Blizzards 11 million would explore further, and how many more would leave other games to go stomp around in Azeroth?

I'd consider it myself. The only limiting factor is time, I can only be in one game at a time unless I get silly... so many games, so many choices.

Livin la Vida Evento

Quick Public Service Announcement
It’s not always a good thing to be caught looking at blogs while in work, or even posting to your own. Still because I have such time to think in work, I often have some topics come up in the mind to blog about and they don’t survive the trip home.

However, I forgot blogger lets you email in your blogs so let’s try that this morning. See if we can’t get a pretty blog out. If not, I’ll repair it over lunch.

So onto the meat of the matter (what is it with all the food comments lately?).

Since October 2008 Warhammer has had 6 live events. Only three of them relate to actual holidays, two were for class releases and we’ve one going now to build up to a new zone with one more to come.

Of the six, I got the elite rewards for three of them and am working on the fourth tonight. The two that I didn’t manage were Kegs End (so much grinding) and Night of Murder (iirc it ran into my time in Italy). Even then I got some titles from the first, and some work done on the second on Leggit.

Personally I am pretty pleased with the rate we’ve been getting these live events. They always spruce things up, but at the same time they often cause an unforeseen idiotic side effect. During Kegs End, you had to /boast and /toast a number of characters and classes on both sides. That was clever, kill a guy, boast over his corpse. The problem in execution was… dual targeting. If you’ve that last class you want to boast targeted, and you’ve yourself or anyone else on your side targeted (healing or whatever) you’ll emote at the friendly target. This is why so often for reasons best known to themselves, instead of gloating over my broken Rune Priest body, Black Orcs have a tendency to laugh at themselves, sometimes two or three times.

So imagine a scenario where it’s already a bit crazy and someone is spamming an emote bind but has forgotten that whole target issue.

Also in Bitter Rivals and Heavy Metal with the pie throwing. It is amusing to see an otherwise well behaved scenario team suddenly break and charge into the jaws of the enemy because “Oh yeah, I need to pie some guys”. Hey I am not complaining about that one though, in doing that very thing on Vorri (or Norri at the time) I not only pied a guy good and proper, I got one in return and the tiny amount of damage killed me. Cue title “Death by Pie”.

The side effect I have seen on Phoenix Throne in Beyond the Sands is a massive sort of tier based blindness. The second day I played the even I went on Vorri my level 24 T3 Engineer. I have 8/12 tasks done. I have to finish the quests based in Altdorf and kill a Lich Priest. It was a good blast of back and forward battling, pushing Destro out of the depot, getting pushed back. Collecting crates and killing skeletons and being confused about the Beam of KillThisGuy from the heavens centered on me (I didn’t know where to drop the McGuffin). It was a good night and I had fun.

Compare and contrast the night before on my 32 Rune Priest Orrekai in Tier 4. Thunder Mountain is locked by Destruction. Destruction want the things and have the whole “we just won here so are hanging about” thing in their favour. What does Order apparently do? Engage in a stalemate back and forth battle just at the base of the Warcamp or gets picked off solo (as I did a few times, but hey I killed a 40 Magus who thought I would be a pushover). I went around the long way and managed to get two of the tasks done, but still need to visit the depot which accounts for many more of the tasks. What would I have done differently? Start Warbands (they had) and start in Kadrin Valley (they hadn’t) and push properly. Fight Destruction as if it was a normal push on the city and kick them out of Kadrin, out of Thunder Mountain and if possible, lock the zone. After that, well hey you’ve an army spoiling for a fight standing on a) the thing most of them need for this event and b) the one spot short of a Priest spawning guaranteed to draw attention and victims.

Perhaps I will suggest it tonight. Quick tangent! Good on Phoenix Throne setting up channels to co-ordinate RvR. They have /chan tier1, tier2, tier3, tier4 and /chan organize for when there’s several warbands getting messy. I really should write a macro so I can button mash and autojoin the channels.

Back to the Event.

I plan to finish it out on Vorri tonight and if all goes well get cracking on Orrekai as well. It is a habit from when I only had the two characters and fortunately I’ve not returned to how I used to be in City of Heroes. Every event that I have finished, I have gotten to the Elite on Orrekai and Vorri. Redundant maybe (certainly in the case of Bitter Rivals where only Orrekai got the Axe Hewer kit and Vorri couldn’t select it). I want the goggles for Vorri as they just fit my image of him, having the Battlebrew Back Pack would just make it fantastic but sadly he doesn’t. I want them on Orrekai because well.. he’s my main.

All in all I am having fun in Beyond the Sands and look forward to next months event. I wonder what little gap in peoples thinking it will introduce. How many times are you all going to run this one?

To close though, a link. Enjoy!

http://gaarawarrgabs.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/goggles-and-scarabs-and-tomb-kings-oh-my/

Mythic Marketing Rewards

Unlike Arbitrary I'm not actually going to say anything useful or constructive on the marketing machine of Mythic just yet.

I will say two things.
1) It is my current mission to hunt down the guy involved and get an interview.

2) I cannot be more clear than this. I want a freakin sweet Griffon.

So if anyone from Mythic stumbles across this, I have sent some emails but if you have an answer, please drop me a line.
If anyone else stumbles across this and wants to be invite to Warhammer, drop me a comment or mail on my profile.

Ardy's Platform '09. Freakin Sweet Griffons for All!

Let's talk about Sandwiches.

My personal favourite sandwich is "THE Sandwich". It's tuna, eggs, ham, onion, cheese, dash of black pepper and cheese & onion crisps.
Granted, I'll put almost any meal between bread. Ask Shannon.

How does this relate to WAR? Well I am going to close my eyes and pretend it does. Actually the whole sandwich thing comes from a blog I remember reading once, may have been Ixobelles. The idea being that the sandwich shop that offers it all and has the freshest bread and fillings is the best.

That and when I originally started writing this, I was waiting for lunchtime.

Anyway back to the point at hand. PvE is your bread and butter, except I hate butter. PvP we'll call being the spicy/very flavourful fillings. Some like them, others not so much. Despite the original sandwich theory being that the shop that offers better sandwiches than the others is the shop you will always return to, I would like to offer the counter theory that we have not yet made the perfect sandwich.

A sublime medley of tastes and textures, a mix of colours and sounds when you chew. No one has yet made such a sandwich that you can lean over the theoretical counter and say "hold the PvP" and have it remain delicious. Or even "Can I have a wrap instead of bread? Not feeling PvE".

Right now several WAR/MMO bloggers are casting their eyes about and trying new treats. Some are in EVE, others CoH and probably a few in WoW. Vanguard, LOTRO and Champions Beta have all also been mentioned.
If they come back to WAR, of course I'll be pleased, but I am not going to shove my choice of food down their throats. One day we'll get the game that has it all and spells the end of the MMO genre as we know it, one day we'll have the sort of game where hardcore casuals and casual pkers and seat of the pants market junkies can all co-exist without any trouble.

Until then, I wish everyone the best on their travels round the worlds offered by MMOs, I hope they find something filling and enjoyable, I also hope I'll see them again around my way.

In the end though, sometimes when you're in a sandwich shop... all you really want is a Chinese take away.

Alting : Good or Bad?

Alts are commonplace in MMOs. Why else would you have more than one slot per server if people never played more than one character? Sooner or later everyone gets bored. Either they achieve what they set out to do, hit the level cap or some other reason. Sometimes it is as simple as needing a change of scenery and a change of pace.

Personally in Warhammer I have four active alts that I've mentioned herabouts. All Dwarfs as is only proper. In City of Heroes, despite originally being very conservative and loyal to a handful of characters, I ended up filling my 17 server slots on Virtue.

I personally, as mentioned in GirlIRLs meme, prefer to start out slow and only play support when I start a new game. It's how I learn the ropes, the community and if I like the game. Other folks like my good friend Seph love to try everything as soon as they can. Seph had in very short order, some 10 or 15 alts and may well have filled two servers. He wanted to sample the various classes and have them there to play later. That's his perogative.

Now to the meat of the matter. Before the switch from Ostermark to Phoenix Throne my regular play group wasn't regular anymore. Some had left, others couldn't afford the time. C'est la vie. As a result I decided that I would shop around and find myself a nice Guild to try out. Grungi was with me though as when I settled on this course of action, Bitter Rivals had just finished and I hadn't even gotten Aardii past the first PQ in Ekrund when I saw the various guilds vying for new blood.
I ended up joining a fantastic bunch called The Sentinels as well... they were in my PQ group and seemed like good chaps.

Now a part of Sentinel policy is that they wanted to recruit not just your character, but you yourself. All of your characters on the server. At first, I was a little wary as well I had some in the Oathbearers Legacy, a friend group from CoH.
Now though, all my Dwarfs are with them and I've one inactive character remaining in the Oathbearers. They all left so nyah.

This means no matter what I play, when I play I am with them. Whichever alt I feel like being on, I've an active guild to be around. This is in part because when any of them decide they'd like to alt and play something else for a bit, their alts are also there. We're encouraged to be together and it works. Notes on the Guild Roster let you keep track of who is who easily and so far I've not met one bad apple.

Now I don't know any of them personally, I've not yet formed the friendships I did in City of Heroes. In CoH, I'd happily join any group a friend wanted me to and I have come to think that this is a bad thing.
When my account expired, it wasn't just me not being on the global channels. It was several supergroups losing one of their number. Had I been centralised like the Sentinels prefer, well then one group would have only lost one person. You can, except in cases of Dual boxing or that crazy 36 account WoW guy, only be in one place at a time. This causes trouble when you have 17 places to be instead of one or two.

In the end it may all just be a cycle. I may end up filling Phoenix Throne and Vortex to the gills. I may end up have 20 different alts, but I wonder if I will have 20 different places, or by joining guilds like the Sentinels, will I only have one or two?
Either way that time is still in the future of my Warhammer play, I've 40 to get to yet and Vorri has his eye on those Aviator Goggles from the live event. Tonight, you'll find me with the Sentinels, no matter who I happen to be.

Dig, Drink, Kill

The Dwarf Way. Dig, Drink, Kill.

There's plenty to dig up though and as an addition to the WCPI and because of something mentioned on Sentinels guild chat, I present to you the quick link fest to the brightest and best about the Land of the Dead, Beyond the Sands and the Live Expansion.

• Beyond the Sands from the Herald
• The Tome Of Knowledge on the Tomb Kings pt1
• Pt2 from ToK, also what got the attention of Massively
• GirlIRL considers the Live Event
• When in doubt, Lexicanum

Also ... in a WAR related note. Some personal pimpage. If anyone is going to Baltimore Games Day and can grab me a code, I will heart you. If anyone wants to join Warhammer and help me earn a bloody sweet Griffin, so much love. Otherwise, get back to readin ye buggers.

Dug up the links. Check. Drank. Check. Kill.... well the barman looks shifty...

WCPI : Shadow WAR

Hope. Hope and Zen thinking.

You know I know have some notes on that somewhere... expect a blog entry shortly. For now though I present to you this weeks WCPI Shadow WAR's Blog

What I love about the latest entry is the close call nature. It was the goodbye post all blog communities don't want to see. It was a departure and a goodbye.
But then there was light at the end of the tunnel and the game was fun once more, the blog lives!

So for Shadow having hope and for the many games we all have yet to play, this is my WCPI.

The community I promotes it.

Ardy: How-to

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging to bring you this helpful how to into the world of online gaming.

Meme Mia, here I go again

Regis has probed me and without so much as dinner. As a result, suffer the meme.

1. What is your current main character’s name (or names, if you play multiple games)? Explain how you chose the name.

Right now in WAR I am playing bot Vorri and Orrekai rather alot.
Vorris name comes from the server transfer from Ostermark to Phoenix Throne. Related to #4 below, I didn't placeholder the name on PT and so Norri Powderkeg could not be Norri on PT. Hell I was surprised I got Norri on Ostermark. I changed it because I like the sound of the name. That and one day I will eliminate the imposter Norri and reclaim the name.
Orrekai is related to #2. I went with the first name I ever used in an MMO and changed it to suit a Dwarf.

2. What was the name of your very first character in an MMO? Explain how you chose that name.

Ortus Sapienta. Jenquai Explorer, Galileo Server, Earth & Beyond.
This was a good few years back and having never played an MMO I had no idea what the naming conventions would be (or if they exsisted, they dont really). So cue the latin dictionary online. Jenquai were the explorer race and to be an Explorer class in the explorer race? Got to be latin. Ortus means birth, Sapienta as far as I knew at the time meant wisdom.

A better name was a friend I made. Dafugizzi. He entered every zone and yelled "Who?", say it all together now.

3. Have you kept a specific name through various games, or do you tend to change your naming habits based on the individual game?

Not really. I started with Ortus Sapienta and that was in fact the name of my first hero in City of Heroes and for a long time my global handle. After a bug with the global system in CoH, everyones handle was reset to the first character they logged in. Not knowing this, I logged in my Peacebringer Ardua and so became @Ardua. After that, well that's when I really started making friends in mmos and they all knew me as Ardua. So on boards, here on the blog and other places you'll find Ardua or Ardy (or the slayer Aardii). We'll see if this lasts into the next game.

4. Do you ever reserve names, planning to use them for characters that you might play later? If so, what are they and why do you hold on to them?

I do not and have never understood the practice. My altism only came into being after playing City of Heroes for a while and the naming comes at the end of creation there. I've always been in the habit as a result of rationalising the abilities first, the origin second, the look third and pulling a name and bio out of my ass just before I play. Some friends still in CoX take the time to craft backstories for all their toons, anyone who likes any of mine? I invented it thirty seconds before pressing "Enter Tutorial".

Regis! You forgot #5! How am I supposed to copy paste efficiently?

5. Of the three common archetypes in MMOs — tank, healer, DPS — which is your current main character?

Healer. I always gravitate to support classes when I enter a new game. How better to learn how things work than by helping everyone do what they do and taking notes? My second "main" is an Engineer done in a support manner as well.

That said, as anyone I've played with in CoH can attest, being support does not mean I will behave. I will be ... enthusiastic.

6. What archetype was your very first character in an MMO? Why did you choose it?

Jenquai Explorer as in #2. Basically support class. Cloaking, scanning, scouting, wormholes and suchlike. I picked it because the Jenquai race appealed to me and the explorers explorer, what's not to love?

7. Are you usually attracted to one archetype over another, or do you play them equally? Why?

Support! Though WAR is my first attempt at being a main healer. I prefer sitting back somewhat from the action and seeing how the battle is going and possibly by my actions influencing where it goes. Melee people just hit it till it's dead.

8. What is your favorite feature from an MMO you no longer play?

Wormholes from Earth & Beyond. One class could provide them, mine. Sure it turned some players into little more than glorified taxis. Sure some people like that (See Taxibots or Rogue Isles Transit in CoX). I enjoyed it though because it let me, if I chose provide a service to a great many people who had to get where I could go. Rezzing the dead, healing the hurt, mitigating damage, all these are good things, but how happy would a Warband be to see someone who could teleport them to Altdorf *now*.


9. Is there an MMO that you would play if it was free? Which and why?

EVE. I love the depth of the game and what people do with their freedom there. I just have never been comfortable with the timesink it would be for me to do the game justice and experience it in the ways we occasionally read about. If it was free though? I could easily skill up or afk mine on the laptop while I play and one day be ready, in my own mind, to play properly.

10. How do you measure the success of a character in an MMO (total kills, titles accumulated, wealth, rare items collected, level reached, etc.)?

If playing them makes me happy. Level caps aren't everything, though I'd like to be there. Money isn't everything, though it buys shinies. Social status isn't everything, though it's great to be recognised or looked up to.
Being able to log out at night, pleased with what you've done and considering it time well spent. If the MMO doesn't make me smile, it isn't worth my time, let alone my money.

5 bloggers I also want to probe for answers:
Arbitrary, I choose you!
Sneaksz you're up!
Snaffy must tell us all.
Werit, why not?
Bootae!

WCPI : War Underground

A good while back I blogged, or at least remember blogging which is close enough, about the extra bits that come along on an MMO. Radio stations, artists plying character portraits, things of that nature.

We already have a few podcasts going (I really should get into those...) and enough blogs to shake a level 2 +5 crotchetiness stick at.

Still todays WCPI goes out to a dual effort of WAR Underground and the Waaagh! Roots blog. They've got radio, they've got guild bits and they've got thee poooowwwer.... sorry, wandered off there.

Slowly but surely we're getting there in the blogosphere. Hop on over to WAR Underground if you want to promote your guild, check out some player made videos or read a few guides to Warhammer Online.

Now if only they could get rid of that elf chick. I vote for a big barrel of Bugmans.

Global Agenda

I'm watching various games right now and I've decided to sign up for Global Agenda. If anyone wants to sign up for the beta, go right ahead. I've a referral code and will happily email it to anyone who comments below.

This is just a snippet entry as there's something else going on that I'm paranoid about and want to check out. Bloody args.

You're in the Guilditary now

Bear with me folks. This one will wander a bit.

Massively has a Daily Grind article up with the following question.

Do you think a game needs to include some form of PvP to be successful? Or can a game go with a purely player vs. environment or cooperative approach and still succeed?

Now I've my own question based on the whole PvP thing. Not is it necessary to be successful but rather, what does it or could it do to the structures that come about in games.

In City of Heroes there is some PvP both through arenas and pvp zones, essentially though I've always treated it as a PvE game. A few years ago the Silver Guard was redoing its website and one part of that was a picture for the front page of all the available members wearing the Guard uniform and basically showing off the colours. A group effort, a sign of unity and all that jazz.
Boy did it ever go wrong.

Firstly there was one member who at the time didnt have the ability to enter Supergroup bases because they had to be the only person I think I had met who didnt bother getting CoV (if memory serves, a whopping $1 increase in the monthly sub at the time, I could be wrong). What do you do in this situation? Personally if I couldn't be where every other single player in the group was, I wouldn't hold things up. No... that's too easy. So this member (to be honest I've forgotten the character name otherwise I'd be all for the shaming) basically had us all relocate to Atlas Park. Atlas is the armpit of the CoH universe, partially due to it being one of the two newbie zones (don't hate the noob, help the noob) and partially because the Atlas statue has a big idiot magnet in it that summons hyperactive morons.

Secondly, despite it being a group photo and the group having colours, several members refused to wear them. The Guard never enforced a uniform like some other supergroups, but personally I would have thought that throwing the colours on for the sake of thirty seconds wouldn't have hurt. Excuses ranged from "I don't have a uniform" to "I prefer my shades, the Guard ones clash with what I want".

Finally it was down to getting people to position themselves in a sensible manner. Top tip, if you have an 8' tall character, stand behind the 4' ones. Wait for the Atlasidiots (polite name) to get out of the frame. Wait for the afkers to reposition. Wait for the sun to come up as this has now taken so long we're in our third night cycle aaaaand finally click.

It wasn't a bad photo but I still as you can guess have a sore spot over all the nonsense that interfered, especially the fashion comment.

Compare and contrast a straight PvP game. We'll take a few examples.
Planetside, also a few years back, had several outfits making in game promotional/recruitment videos. Cue many many more players than the maybe two dozen Guardsmen standing in formation and having a mexican wave style salute to the camera. You were in the military now and you followed orders.

Massively gave a one-shot of Darkfall Online with an "Inquisition raft fleet". Players coming together and, even if their vent server is filled with penis jokes and bash.org style nonsense, forming a fleet to take the waters they want.

EVE.... just EVE.

Why does it appear to take a game or setting where the prime opponent is other people for our imaginary otherselves to show discipline that they wont when facing a computer? I know of course there are exceptions to both sides of this and of course no amount of roleplaying or discipline survives first contact with the enemy.

Is it something in ourselves? Are computer controlled enemies unworthy of displays of restraint and discipline or are other players such a threat that we look down on displays of axecrazy? Will in game AI advance to such a point to challenge this?

Finally in the 80/20 split of Warhammer (i.e. 80%pve 20%pvp inverting in later levels) that I once heard quoted play with this? I've seen some instances of people following orders and acting in concert in ways I wish bands I've been in could, I've also seen everything degenerate into a zergandpray. Does Party 2 always listen to the Warband leader and cover the postern? Or does this only come later when it is clear it's you vs another meatbag?

I'm in the guilditary now, but I think no one got the memo.

T Minus One Month (give or take)

What are you doing on May 9th ?

After the GOAmeet Dublin well.... we wanted to try another go. So this time information is available from Arbitrary and the Book Of Grudges blog, as well as her own Nerf The Cat. The broad plan at the moment is outlined over there. Check it out. Come to London. Let's Waaaagh!

Oh and the Star Trek thing is my fault. But who doesn't love the idea of IMAX Star Trek?
(That will be May 8th, times tbd)

WCPI: Smelly Orc

Well I imagine Tufmudda smells funny what with being an Orc and all.

Tufmudda is one of the other Irish bloggers which if nothing else makes me feel all warm and happy because my God does this country need more MMO players. Check the site out for honest views on the ups and downs on the Euro servers as well as an awesome chicken recipie that I will have to try.
...What I still haven't finished Gunbad? I've never even seen the Lost Vale.

Tastes like stunty

One Does Not Simply Rock Into Tier 4

I play Warhammer most nights in any given week, typically a few hours each night. Yet I have only just reached 32, with my Rune Priest Orrekai. I've always leveled slow my first time in a game. It took me nearly the entire lifetime of my Earth and Beyond subscription (a game that lasted two years) to get to 150. My first 50 in CoH took forever, granted this was back before ED, the Global Defense Nerf and was most of the way there before Kheldians made it into the game.

One of the things I love about Warhammer is that Orrekai is 32/30. There may be just 8 levels of pve left, but I've 50 renown ranks ahead of me still. I fell out of love with alot of my 50's in CoH because I had done it all and there was little left to do (thankfully I was cured of my badge addiction).

Back to Orrekai for a moment. When I reached t3 I had a good run of luck. I got two Devastator pieces in short order, one of which was my first keep gold bag. I raked in xp and renown and it was all good. The rest of my t3 career entertained me (I didnt manage to cap inf in Elves, but thats all) with new toys coming, new additions through renown training and generally learning names on Ostermark, like I am again on Phoenix Throne.
The end of this particular T3 run reminded me of how it started. As I crept ever closer to 32 I worried because despite winning plenty of Gold Bags, they were never in a keep necessary for me to get my Devastator Vestments. To make matters more ... complicated, oRvR on Phoenix Throne is certainly to my eyes hopping. I've bands to join every night and we have enemies to fight often enough to keep it interesting.

With 6% left to go to 32, I managed to finally get my Devastator Vestments.
Thanks go to Vilydes for running the band that night fantastically. With 4% left to go, I felt confident I could scout what may have been a Destro attack on Ghronds. On the way, I got my rr30. In Ghronds, I left t3 in style.
Dropping boiling oil on people over and over until I died so suddenly neither I nor the Rune Priest healing me could believe it. That is until the hammers and shield came up. 32, chicken and leaving the tier happy.

Still I've learned names, gotten used to some peoples methods and as Orrekai passes into t4 (and on that particular night, despite a zone crash, an awesome t4 battle), Vorri takes his place at the bottom of t3. The only thing I can say now though? For the love of all that is proper and Dwarfy, defend keeps. Influence is tasty.

Vorri as before has entered well and I am sure will leave well, having come up with people I recognise and cannot wait to play with in T4.

Special thanks to Krellgar, Dachtwar, Vilydes, Compassion, Halstadt and Thomgrim all of PT.