My WAR account expired today! That's good news, by the way. I logged in a handful of times in the weekend, but each time, I only got as far as buffing myself and checking my friends list. I had no motivation whatsoever to do anything else. The last time I logged in, I saw that Order was pushing all 3 zones and seiging a Fortress. I winced and made a face as if I had drank rotten milk and logged off... and logged into Aion!
I got to level 10 after some nasty PVE. Aion's PVE isn't bad by usual standards. I just dislike PVE; always have, always will. I threw in the towel a couple of times when I had to do some stupid travel quests that made me run all over the place and back again for 30 minutes. This would be equivalent to what WAR calls "epic quests" (or what I like to call "epic travel quests"). I don't know why game designers think it's "fun", or "epic" to have quests that make you run back and forth for more than a few minutes.
I recorded some videos from the weekend. I don't have many videos of the PVE action. Instead, I have more of duels and what seems to be an Arena. Flight does add another interesting dimension to the game, and I'd say that if you are not deft in managing your flight abilities, you will definitely be at a disadvantage.
Getting a feel for Spiritmaster mechanics on some NPCs:
Spiritmaster vs melee (Assassin, Warrior). There's a mismatch between caster CCs and melee counter-CCs at the this level. Things should sort themselves out at endgame:
Spiritmaster vs RDPS (Sorcerer, Spiritmaster). There aren't any anti-caster CCs at the moment. Only thing at this level are damage chance-to-interrupts and spell chain pushbacks (stuns). Because of this, it's pretty much like a wild west gunfight at this level --- whoever gets the interrupt first wins. The 2nd video is a little more interesting. In it, I fight a Spiritmaster and I try to do some kiting to disrupt the stun/damage sequences:
Spiritmaster vs Priest. It's a "max DPS and heal interrupt" game. Feels like DPS is greater than HPS at this level from the fights in the videos. Although, Klausen (from Phoenix Throne) destroyed me on his Cleric earlier by outhealing my damage and sneaking in some damage between heals. I didn't have fraps running at that time though:
Arena. We found out about the existence of the Arena minutes before we had to go to bed and rallied a group to go up against a team that had been kicking ass there. We held them off for a short while, but eventually got overwhelmed by their number of healers:
Bonus vid - Tooka (Lylia) kicking butt on her Chanter:
Combat is more involved and engaging than WAR even at this level. But that's the advantage of a combat system where classes are ultimately balanced with each other. Systems balanced for group combat have to dumb down each class so as not to give too many tools to each class. I think this is where WAR fails hard twice. First, by having classes balanced at a group level, paper classes will always be at a disadvantage to counter scissor classes, and have to rely on help from rock classes. This means that when group synergy is not just perfect, players die fast and are not able to do anything about it. Second, WAR has CCs that have no counter (stuns, long disables). Focused fire is enough to give serious problems in any combat system. But when you add the two characteristics of the WAR combat system mentioned above, combat becomes extremely cheesy with the one-two I-WIN combos. I believe it is possible to have a good combat system balanced for group PVP, but just not the way WAR does it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Case study: why lower tiers are more fun
People are always talking about how the quality of gameplay plummets in T4. I am going to try to elaborate on this because I feel that this is one of the weakest points of WAR. The fact that people are experiencing a significant and noticable decrease in their gaming experience is a gigantic hint to some of the fundamental problems in WAR. From here on, note that I only speak for myself. As much as I hate the RVE endgame, I believe the problem is not because of Fortresses or Keeps or BOs, or any of that RVE bullshit.
The problem is combat and mechanics.
Somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4, almost every class begins to get armed with the The Cheese: disables that last a long time, AOE CCs, and powerful AOE damage. Prior to this, no one person had the power to do enough damage to single-handedly slaughter multiple people simultaneously. There was also limited CCs such as silences or stuns, so for the most part, classes had to rely on good ol' fashioned single-target damage. There were fewer AOE snares and disables, so everyone was free to run around and brawl. No one felt helpless for losing control of their characters due to CC.
Furthermore, there was not enough damage that someone would be vaporized within one GCD. But yet, people died, and fights were won and lost --- even though damage was lower, it was never a stalemate. In any prolonged fight, eventually people would fight smarter and do a better job of focusing fire and selecting targets. And that was what made fights fun. There would be clash and a battle. But without crazy damage, the battles could mature and people could got a few good licks in. There's also enough time to experience the joy of a "tough" battle, and being able to go through a process of figuring out what is going on, who we're fighting, and rallying the mob to outsmart the enemy. Thus, giving every fight (even over something as boring as a BO) a chance to blossom into an epic fight.
Fights like these will NEVER happen in T4, because of the AOEs and CCs. Note that in the first video, Order and Destro were fighting in close quarters. In T4, it would have played out like the following: AOE CC (frustrated victims), AOE damage (dead victims). T4 combat deprives the players of the chance to see battles mature into "epic battles". Another thing to note in the video is the number of people fighting. Even though the number is large, it doesn' feel "zergy", because no one gets "steamrolled". And that is key. Large-scale combat can be fun. It is not fun in T4 because of the "steamrolling" effect from AOEs and CCs. Large-scale combat is fun in the lower tiers because of the absence of them. And take a look at all the melee careers! Look at how happy they are being useful and swinging their weapons.
BTW, Shamans are overpowered :) Our shammies had no problems holding our own in T3, even though we were only lvl 20 and 22. Check out what I picked up yesterday at level 21: Gork's Barbs. Shamans get AP drain + healing debuff? Damn. Lylia picked up I'll Take That! with only 6 Mastery Points. My Zealot needed 10 Mastery Points to get something similar, but inferior: Boon of Tzeentch (requires Harbinger and has 5s cooldown). Other stuff to come in this tier are RunAway, EEEEK! and Gork Sez Stop. Shamans have the tools to disassemble any class.
In other news, Aion Beta opens today!
The problem is combat and mechanics.
Somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4, almost every class begins to get armed with the The Cheese: disables that last a long time, AOE CCs, and powerful AOE damage. Prior to this, no one person had the power to do enough damage to single-handedly slaughter multiple people simultaneously. There was also limited CCs such as silences or stuns, so for the most part, classes had to rely on good ol' fashioned single-target damage. There were fewer AOE snares and disables, so everyone was free to run around and brawl. No one felt helpless for losing control of their characters due to CC.
Furthermore, there was not enough damage that someone would be vaporized within one GCD. But yet, people died, and fights were won and lost --- even though damage was lower, it was never a stalemate. In any prolonged fight, eventually people would fight smarter and do a better job of focusing fire and selecting targets. And that was what made fights fun. There would be clash and a battle. But without crazy damage, the battles could mature and people could got a few good licks in. There's also enough time to experience the joy of a "tough" battle, and being able to go through a process of figuring out what is going on, who we're fighting, and rallying the mob to outsmart the enemy. Thus, giving every fight (even over something as boring as a BO) a chance to blossom into an epic fight.
Fights like these will NEVER happen in T4, because of the AOEs and CCs. Note that in the first video, Order and Destro were fighting in close quarters. In T4, it would have played out like the following: AOE CC (frustrated victims), AOE damage (dead victims). T4 combat deprives the players of the chance to see battles mature into "epic battles". Another thing to note in the video is the number of people fighting. Even though the number is large, it doesn' feel "zergy", because no one gets "steamrolled". And that is key. Large-scale combat can be fun. It is not fun in T4 because of the "steamrolling" effect from AOEs and CCs. Large-scale combat is fun in the lower tiers because of the absence of them. And take a look at all the melee careers! Look at how happy they are being useful and swinging their weapons.
BTW, Shamans are overpowered :) Our shammies had no problems holding our own in T3, even though we were only lvl 20 and 22. Check out what I picked up yesterday at level 21: Gork's Barbs. Shamans get AP drain + healing debuff? Damn. Lylia picked up I'll Take That! with only 6 Mastery Points. My Zealot needed 10 Mastery Points to get something similar, but inferior: Boon of Tzeentch (requires Harbinger and has 5s cooldown). Other stuff to come in this tier are RunAway, EEEEK! and Gork Sez Stop. Shamans have the tools to disassemble any class.
In other news, Aion Beta opens today!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Fishing for fights in Tier 4 and twin gobbo power in Tier 2
I raged again yesterday and swore never to do another Scenario (I got tired of: being a 'support class' to the PUG, being a helpless boring healbot, and The Cheese™). So, since Scenarios are the only thing Lylia finds fun in T4 now, she logged on her Shaman today instead of her Sorceress while I went around fishing for fights for a little bit:
But Tier 4 is not something that sits well when taken in anything other than very small doses. I went to detox by watching some TV and caught the sweet finale of Out of the Wild on Discovery. Then, having had enough of Tier 4 for the day, I joined Lylia on her Shaman (Tum) on my Shaman (Bzzt) for some Tier 2 double gobbo action:
Lylia's Shaman got her Wolf mount and last name today!
Of all the things I will leave behind in WAR, the thing that makes me sad is not being able to see our Shamans grow up :( But then again, considering how fowl the endgame is, maybe that's for the best. They get to spend forever in the best levels of their lives!
But Tier 4 is not something that sits well when taken in anything other than very small doses. I went to detox by watching some TV and caught the sweet finale of Out of the Wild on Discovery. Then, having had enough of Tier 4 for the day, I joined Lylia on her Shaman (Tum) on my Shaman (Bzzt) for some Tier 2 double gobbo action:
Lylia's Shaman got her Wolf mount and last name today!
Of all the things I will leave behind in WAR, the thing that makes me sad is not being able to see our Shamans grow up :( But then again, considering how fowl the endgame is, maybe that's for the best. They get to spend forever in the best levels of their lives!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
June 11 prowling
The first part of today's video shows some fights as I roamed around to help give some eyes to the zerg in Praag and Chaos Wastes. The remainder of the video takes place after people started to log off and activity died down. I amused myself by trying to stalk a pack of Order across zones in search for kills.
Aion 1v1 combat
I pre-ordered Aion last week, and I have since been researching for the right class for me to play.
I was severely disappointed with the Zealot in WAR, since pre-game info and interviews (and even the class details on the *#&$ official website!) had conned me into thinking that there were no healbots in the game, and that the Zealot could be a cross between the WoW Warlock and Shadowpriest --- being complicated but rewarding to play, and a bitch to fight against. Man was I wrong. I was pigeonholed to be a boring healbot because that is the best way a Zealot could contribute to a fight and to his team. I played along for a few months, but after getting the right gear combo, I finally had enough. No more. No more button mashing in boring zergs. No more cheesy skirmishes. No more RVE. No more healbotting. It was time for me to try to find some fun in this broken game.
And here I am now, a month or so after running around soloing/duoing, etc. I'm spent. That was my "hail mary" play to give WAR one last shot. But I see nothing meaningful on the horizon for the Zealot, combat and career cheese dominating, same ol boring zerg RVE, and Mythic shoving Land of the Dead in my face despite the fundamental problems with the game that I have issues with.
Damn, got sidetracked into a rant again. I'm sorry. Anyway, I've been trawling the interwebs for Aion class info, but I found that the web is overflowing with tons of speculation from lowbies who don't know much about their class or the game, and an abundance of anecdotal evidence instead of sound arguments. Most of the gameplay videos (just like WAR gameplay videos) are of people PVEing, or PVPing in lowbie encounters. I absolutely didn't care about PVE, nor about how classes are balanced at lower levels. I wanted to know what the potential and playstyle of each class was at endgame. Most importantly, I didn't want to make the mistake I did in WAR again, by "learning about a class" only by getting to max level.
Fortunately, Aion has already been released in Asia for a while now. That means that people have had more than enough time to work on their characters. Then it occurred to me... I should be looking for KOREAN videos!
I found what appears to be a 3v3 tournament. Except that it's a series of 1v1 fights, until one team has no players left standing. The video was uploaded by "s2dayz". He has uploaded other videos that have given me some valuable info about how each class plays: http://www.youtube.com/user/s2dayz. I initially thought of being a Ranger, but I am leaning more toward the Spiritmaster now.
I was severely disappointed with the Zealot in WAR, since pre-game info and interviews (and even the class details on the *#&$ official website!) had conned me into thinking that there were no healbots in the game, and that the Zealot could be a cross between the WoW Warlock and Shadowpriest --- being complicated but rewarding to play, and a bitch to fight against. Man was I wrong. I was pigeonholed to be a boring healbot because that is the best way a Zealot could contribute to a fight and to his team. I played along for a few months, but after getting the right gear combo, I finally had enough. No more. No more button mashing in boring zergs. No more cheesy skirmishes. No more RVE. No more healbotting. It was time for me to try to find some fun in this broken game.
And here I am now, a month or so after running around soloing/duoing, etc. I'm spent. That was my "hail mary" play to give WAR one last shot. But I see nothing meaningful on the horizon for the Zealot, combat and career cheese dominating, same ol boring zerg RVE, and Mythic shoving Land of the Dead in my face despite the fundamental problems with the game that I have issues with.
Damn, got sidetracked into a rant again. I'm sorry. Anyway, I've been trawling the interwebs for Aion class info, but I found that the web is overflowing with tons of speculation from lowbies who don't know much about their class or the game, and an abundance of anecdotal evidence instead of sound arguments. Most of the gameplay videos (just like WAR gameplay videos) are of people PVEing, or PVPing in lowbie encounters. I absolutely didn't care about PVE, nor about how classes are balanced at lower levels. I wanted to know what the potential and playstyle of each class was at endgame. Most importantly, I didn't want to make the mistake I did in WAR again, by "learning about a class" only by getting to max level.
Fortunately, Aion has already been released in Asia for a while now. That means that people have had more than enough time to work on their characters. Then it occurred to me... I should be looking for KOREAN videos!
I found what appears to be a 3v3 tournament. Except that it's a series of 1v1 fights, until one team has no players left standing. The video was uploaded by "s2dayz". He has uploaded other videos that have given me some valuable info about how each class plays: http://www.youtube.com/user/s2dayz. I initially thought of being a Ranger, but I am leaning more toward the Spiritmaster now.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday woes
I rage-terminated the WAR client again today after not being able to do anything.
My character was in the Chaos pairing when I tried to log in, but for some reason the Chaos pairing was dead, so it booted me out of the game. When I logged back on, I found that the game had sent me to Tier 1. Whatever. I then noticed that the Elf Destruction Fortress was under attack, so I teleported to the Inevitable City to try to get to the Fort via The Maw. I get booted from the game again, and it seemed like the Maw had died along with the T4 Chaos pairing.
Meanwhile, Order unlocks the Greenskin Fortress as well. The only other way to the Greenskin Fortress was via the adjacent Greenskin zone, but I thought hell no, I'm right in front of the portal to The Maw! So I bang at the portal to The Maw a few more times and give up:
Earlier today, WAR freaked out and barfed all over my screen:
Bonus (bad implementation of trees in T2 Chaos):
This game makes me mad way too often. I have wanted to like the game from before it was even released, but it is nearly impossible to!
My character was in the Chaos pairing when I tried to log in, but for some reason the Chaos pairing was dead, so it booted me out of the game. When I logged back on, I found that the game had sent me to Tier 1. Whatever. I then noticed that the Elf Destruction Fortress was under attack, so I teleported to the Inevitable City to try to get to the Fort via The Maw. I get booted from the game again, and it seemed like the Maw had died along with the T4 Chaos pairing.
Meanwhile, Order unlocks the Greenskin Fortress as well. The only other way to the Greenskin Fortress was via the adjacent Greenskin zone, but I thought hell no, I'm right in front of the portal to The Maw! So I bang at the portal to The Maw a few more times and give up:
Earlier today, WAR freaked out and barfed all over my screen:
Bonus (bad implementation of trees in T2 Chaos):
This game makes me mad way too often. I have wanted to like the game from before it was even released, but it is nearly impossible to!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Helping lock zones with intel
It is usually fun to roam around when a zone is about to lock, because that's when the activity level spikes and there's a good chance of actual fighting going on. Thunder Mountain (and later, Dragonwake) were about to lock for Destruction, so I set out to look for some good fights away from the zerg. Strangely, I felt altruistic today and felt bad for the zergs who typically operate in blindness. Since it was Destro locking the zones this time, and I do a fair bit of "scouting"-type stuff anyway to pick my kills, I decided to relay whatever I saw to the zerg.
The first part of the video is in Thunder Mountain with Lylia. The second part of the video is me running solo in Dragonwake, after Lylia ditched me to play Aion.
The first part of the video is in Thunder Mountain with Lylia. The second part of the video is me running solo in Dragonwake, after Lylia ditched me to play Aion.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Aion looks amazing
I've been looking over Lylia's shoulder as she tests Aion with her beta access and I have to say... it looks AMAZING. Now that's what a game looks like! Not like a game like WAR, that looks like it was hacked together by some high school kids as a computer graphics project.
The "polish" that everyone praises is well deserved. With graphics at max quality, the game is smoother than WAR with fastest framerate, and it looks gorgeous. Gorgeous enough that I actually feel like walking around to explore the virtual world, instead of closing my eyes, holding my breath and rushing through the PVE content. We didn't realize how scarred we were by WAR until we exclaimed in surprise for being able to walk over a fence without getting impaled on it.
Graphics-wise: from what I can tell, the polygon count is actually lower in Aion than in WAR. They are just smarter with their implementation. E.g., better use of textures, various illusions and clever tricks to make the game look good. There are people who know what they are doing at work on this game. It might have also helped that they used the CryEngine for Aion. The visual depth of the environment is far better. Pretty clouds span the sky, buildings in the background, butterflies, fish in the river... it even started raining at one point without any noticable performance degradation. There's also Bloom for some of you junkies.
The game doesn't try to blow you away with sophisticated, resource-hungry graphics. It looks like there might have been some conscious thought put into deciding that some visuals are just too slow, so it's better to use faster alternatives. But they still managed to pull off a very cohesive environment that looks great. And that's what an interactive game should be. It should look great and run fast. There's no need to dick around with crazy particle effects as if you have something to prove, and consequently slaughter performance because the devs don't know what they are doing. Aion's environment is immersive, unlike how WAR reminds you how broken a game can be and how much software can suck every minute you play the game.
The music is fantastic (if you like the genre). Seamless transitions. Enter combat, and the background music gets more energetic. Exit combat, and the music transitions to a soothing, ambient piece from a wind instrument, piano or vocals. It's not music they whipped together by the developers calling a friend of a friend who happens to play an instrument. It's well produced music with an orchestra behind most of the pieces. The sound effects are great as well. Birds chirping, snappy spell animations and sound effects.
(Since I started writing this, Lylia must have mentioned at least 20 times how much she loves the music and how pretty the game is)
Interface is slick and looks well implemented and efficient. Windows and menus are fast and snappy. No noticable server-client lag. You can show the enemy cast bar, so I would assume that the latency is low enough to have them in the game. There is some weird occasional camera glitching that I can't put my finger on though.
Can't say much about how the combat is, since Lylia didn't get high enough for any meaningful combat. Can't tell if PVE is grindy either.
What I can say for sure is, Aion looks like a game I want to try. I want to play it now! F***k you WAR, you uninspired jimmy-rigged piece of garbage. Can't believe I let you string me along since Beta. I'll be pre-ordering Aion and the second the N.A. servers go live I'm there!
The "polish" that everyone praises is well deserved. With graphics at max quality, the game is smoother than WAR with fastest framerate, and it looks gorgeous. Gorgeous enough that I actually feel like walking around to explore the virtual world, instead of closing my eyes, holding my breath and rushing through the PVE content. We didn't realize how scarred we were by WAR until we exclaimed in surprise for being able to walk over a fence without getting impaled on it.
Graphics-wise: from what I can tell, the polygon count is actually lower in Aion than in WAR. They are just smarter with their implementation. E.g., better use of textures, various illusions and clever tricks to make the game look good. There are people who know what they are doing at work on this game. It might have also helped that they used the CryEngine for Aion. The visual depth of the environment is far better. Pretty clouds span the sky, buildings in the background, butterflies, fish in the river... it even started raining at one point without any noticable performance degradation. There's also Bloom for some of you junkies.
The game doesn't try to blow you away with sophisticated, resource-hungry graphics. It looks like there might have been some conscious thought put into deciding that some visuals are just too slow, so it's better to use faster alternatives. But they still managed to pull off a very cohesive environment that looks great. And that's what an interactive game should be. It should look great and run fast. There's no need to dick around with crazy particle effects as if you have something to prove, and consequently slaughter performance because the devs don't know what they are doing. Aion's environment is immersive, unlike how WAR reminds you how broken a game can be and how much software can suck every minute you play the game.
The music is fantastic (if you like the genre). Seamless transitions. Enter combat, and the background music gets more energetic. Exit combat, and the music transitions to a soothing, ambient piece from a wind instrument, piano or vocals. It's not music they whipped together by the developers calling a friend of a friend who happens to play an instrument. It's well produced music with an orchestra behind most of the pieces. The sound effects are great as well. Birds chirping, snappy spell animations and sound effects.
(Since I started writing this, Lylia must have mentioned at least 20 times how much she loves the music and how pretty the game is)
Interface is slick and looks well implemented and efficient. Windows and menus are fast and snappy. No noticable server-client lag. You can show the enemy cast bar, so I would assume that the latency is low enough to have them in the game. There is some weird occasional camera glitching that I can't put my finger on though.
Can't say much about how the combat is, since Lylia didn't get high enough for any meaningful combat. Can't tell if PVE is grindy either.
What I can say for sure is, Aion looks like a game I want to try. I want to play it now! F***k you WAR, you uninspired jimmy-rigged piece of garbage. Can't believe I let you string me along since Beta. I'll be pre-ordering Aion and the second the N.A. servers go live I'm there!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Scouting Thunder Mountain warcamp
One of my gripes with warband leaders is they operate with too little intel and do not put enough effort into getting intel. Take the Thunder Mountain warcamp for example. It is easy to safely observe the PVE and RVR routes leading out of the warcamp. The only other ways to enter the zone would be to run in from adjacent zones. It would require fewer numbers to lock the zone down at the source, than stationing warbands at BOs and having reactionary roaming forces.
However, this brings me back to the topic of WAR rewarding the zerg mentality. No one is encouraged to scout, because it is a boring job with few rewards. Sure it helps win battles, but when the battles are won and the zones lock, everyone gets rewarded equally (the mindless 1-button mashing lemmings and the crafty, courageous, selfless, lonely scouts). So why do more work if you will get the same rewards? The zerg will get into more fights and get more renown and loot.
It's particularly a problem with Fortresses. The game rewards the cowardly and the lazy. If you are brave and do what's good for your team by sacrificing yourself and charging up the ramp to break the enemy bunker, your chances of dying are very high. What happens when you die? You have to respawn at the warcamp, run back to the Fortress and you will most likely be locked out of the Fortress because of the population cap. Meanwhile, the cowards who sat back until it was safe to move up kill the Lord and all the defenders, get top contribution and reap all the rewards.
Mythic: if you are reading this, for God's sake get rid of your irrational coddling of the "PQ" concept. I know you guys invented it and it's your baby, but you have to be realistic with its limitations and just let go. It's one thing to have public quests, but it's silly to force every encounter to fit into the notion of a "public quest". Reason: you simply cannot comprehensively quantify contribution in RVR encounters. Everyone can play a significant part in the war, even when doing uncelebrated things such as scouting (just like how a truck driver in an army delivering supplies is as valuable as any other solidier). Ditch PQs!
Anyway, in the video I was on my usual rounds in Thunder Mountain, and I stopped to check out the order warcamp. Order had just landed as a zerg, and appeared to roll out of the warcamp with a singular purpose. Shortly after, they attacked the North BO (Thargrim's Headwall).
It was a slow PVP night otherwise. Although, I admit I was lazy to look for fights tonight.
However, this brings me back to the topic of WAR rewarding the zerg mentality. No one is encouraged to scout, because it is a boring job with few rewards. Sure it helps win battles, but when the battles are won and the zones lock, everyone gets rewarded equally (the mindless 1-button mashing lemmings and the crafty, courageous, selfless, lonely scouts). So why do more work if you will get the same rewards? The zerg will get into more fights and get more renown and loot.
It's particularly a problem with Fortresses. The game rewards the cowardly and the lazy. If you are brave and do what's good for your team by sacrificing yourself and charging up the ramp to break the enemy bunker, your chances of dying are very high. What happens when you die? You have to respawn at the warcamp, run back to the Fortress and you will most likely be locked out of the Fortress because of the population cap. Meanwhile, the cowards who sat back until it was safe to move up kill the Lord and all the defenders, get top contribution and reap all the rewards.
Mythic: if you are reading this, for God's sake get rid of your irrational coddling of the "PQ" concept. I know you guys invented it and it's your baby, but you have to be realistic with its limitations and just let go. It's one thing to have public quests, but it's silly to force every encounter to fit into the notion of a "public quest". Reason: you simply cannot comprehensively quantify contribution in RVR encounters. Everyone can play a significant part in the war, even when doing uncelebrated things such as scouting (just like how a truck driver in an army delivering supplies is as valuable as any other solidier). Ditch PQs!
Anyway, in the video I was on my usual rounds in Thunder Mountain, and I stopped to check out the order warcamp. Order had just landed as a zerg, and appeared to roll out of the warcamp with a singular purpose. Shortly after, they attacked the North BO (Thargrim's Headwall).
It was a slow PVP night otherwise. Although, I admit I was lazy to look for fights tonight.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Black Crag pre-fortress troublemakers
In this episode, Order was trying to lock Black Crag and defense was heavy at each BO. I try to escape the zzzzzzs and run off to look for trouble at the north BO. To my surprise, Andrarlatrip the Chosen follows me. First encounter was against 3 people (2 of which were healers). Outnumbered and without enough damage, we had to keep working them around to create opportunities for some kills. Eventually they get smart and separate the Chosen and me; a KotBS (Knight of the Bullshit Stun/Snare) and a Runepriest join the fight and I am vanquished. I self-rez, regroup with Lylia the Sorceress and we go back to get our Chosen. We get a few more kills, but also pick up a few more adds (probably shouldn't have fought so close to the north BO and Order WC). As we try to maneuver the fight to our advantage, the Knight stuns us and separates us with his super field goal punt. The north BO was getting too hot and we would no longer have the element of surprise, so we left to look for trouble elsewhere after that.
In other news, Lylia somehow managed to obtain a key for Aion's closed beta. She finished installing it last night and is fidgeting for the servers to open (June 5th!).
Also, I clicked the button last night, out of impulse. The pain ends on June 22nd.
In other news, Lylia somehow managed to obtain a key for Aion's closed beta. She finished installing it last night and is fidgeting for the servers to open (June 5th!).
Also, I clicked the button last night, out of impulse. The pain ends on June 22nd.
Monday, June 1, 2009
5-piece Invader set bonus (Mending) on PTS
I usually run with a combination of Conqueror and Invader for two +Int bonuses, one +Willpower bonus and one +Wounds bonus. But after fooling around on the PTS yesterday, I started to wonder if it was worth completing the Invader set. I destroyed every crest I had and spent everything at the Royal Quartermaster to find out.
Here's a video of Mending (together with the Warped Flesh tactic) in action, in a WAR version of "how many 5-year olds can you take in a fight":
I did not heal myself actively in the video --- the heals are from Mending and the Absorbs are from Warped Flesh. Mending is affected by stats (and the Divine Fury tactic), and can critically heal.
I can't decide if it's worth giving up the the Int and Willpower Conqueror set bonuses.
Here's a video of Mending (together with the Warped Flesh tactic) in action, in a WAR version of "how many 5-year olds can you take in a fight":
I did not heal myself actively in the video --- the heals are from Mending and the Absorbs are from Warped Flesh. Mending is affected by stats (and the Divine Fury tactic), and can critically heal.
I can't decide if it's worth giving up the the Int and Willpower Conqueror set bonuses.
Stalking the Dragonwake zerg
Order was zerging to lock the zone. First fight was with WH I caught by surprise. An IB add shows up and with my knockback down, I bait him to hurl himself off a cliff to finish the WH. Second fight: an IB spots me "hiding", breaks away from the zerg and follows me back to give me a piece of Invader.
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