tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64224129497492171352024-03-14T18:49:31.265+00:00HiveGamer: Game news, reviews and thoughtsNews, reviews and thoughts of a gamer!Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-57364309203428996282012-09-28T20:29:00.000+01:002012-09-28T20:29:59.109+01:00GW2: The achievement that did not exist...but I did it anyway.<br />
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As I leveled my character I noticed that seeing dead or downed players on the mini-map was a common occurrence, many of them would die several times on tougher dynamic events and required constant reviving, it was almost a full-time job but I never put much though into it since the XP from reviving them was decent.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxTL4MjL8-g/UGX3U41n6bI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/aIXDDFEGlZ4/s1600/guild_wars_2_ranger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxTL4MjL8-g/UGX3U41n6bI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/aIXDDFEGlZ4/s1600/guild_wars_2_ranger.jpg" /></a></div>
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When I reached lvl 30 I found my self in a pretty Silvary town filled NPCs and I took a break to start with dinner preparations, so I left my character in that "safe looking" town and went to the kitchen, little did I know that this little Silvary camp(south of kessex hills) was constantly raided by undead, so to my surprise I was dead when I came back from the kitchen, that was my first death. From that moment I decided to challenge my self to reach max level without dieing, so I deleted that character and restarted from scratch.<br />
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Regardless of my wish to not die, I was not about to just play safe since there is no fun in that, I did however begun to take extra precautions when I had to go AFK. At first I would teleport to safe location but that had a cost, then I remembered that I had a Hall of Monuments Teleportation stone(to access my HoM rewards from GW1) in my bag that would teleport me to a safe instance, I could use it at anytime providing I was not in combat and when I leave the instance I would return to my former location, it was perfect, so from then on I begun using it every time I wanted to go AFK.<br />
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The reason I was able to avoid death can be summed to one word, "dodging". It is the most powerful combat mechanic in the game, it's great to avoid those mean red circles and the nasty 1-shot hits from bosses, however I still see a lot of players ignoring it and just standing there taking the punishment which I assume is the reason for most deaths.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7yTp1gmC_lI/UGXy2XqIwZI/AAAAAAAAAZs/rSd7gzH1sbk/s1600/guild_wars2_max+level.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7yTp1gmC_lI/UGXy2XqIwZI/AAAAAAAAAZs/rSd7gzH1sbk/s640/guild_wars2_max+level.jpg" width="560" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">type /deaths to see your death count</td></tr>
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That screen-shot was taken 9 days ago and ever since I got to level 80 tried to get my self killed, first I would farm whole groups
of undead, then I tried soloing Veterans eventually I died the next day
when I tried to solo 3 veteran NPCs but I did so with a smile, my quest was over...<br />
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I must say that I had a lot of fun doing this achievement even though it was just for personal satisfaction. It reminded me of when I played the old Diablo 2 in hardcore mode, every time my hp bar dropped bellow 30% I could feel my heart ponding against my chest, I even went down a few times during my adventure and I could feel the sweat going down my back when it happened.<br />
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I'm however a bit disappointed that the "lifetime survivor" achievement was not working(and still isn't at this time) as it would clearly be complete by now.<br />
<br />Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-48443493231577912762012-09-19T13:13:00.000+01:002012-09-19T13:13:03.582+01:00Guild Wars 2 launch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-apJgVClMEqc/UFmydyMI40I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/7Pg-PcpW-e4/s1600/guildwars2_collectors_edition_box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-apJgVClMEqc/UFmydyMI40I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/7Pg-PcpW-e4/s320/guildwars2_collectors_edition_box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
We were all excited by the GW2 launch, however once the head-start begun it was chaos. I love Guild Wars in all its glory but I have to say it had one of the most problematic launches I have seen, and I have participated a few.<br /><br /> Some of the problems were to be expected such as login server overload due to sheer amount of players trying to login and reserve their names, other problems however like party members not showing in the map or players in a party not being able to join the same instance, those hit me completely by surprise because in all betas and stress-tests they done previously every feature worked perfectly.<br /><br /> Like all companies ArenaNet begun doing daily patches which in my books is great, but for some reason players hate them because it stops them from playing for a few minutes, here is a message for those guys out there "they are fixing things the game you are playing, stop being retarded specially when the 'downtimes' are basically 10-15 min once a day".<br /><br /> The game never stopped being playable and due to the Overflow system players could always play the games even if their server was full plus the downtimes are minimal, so even though they had a rough time I believe it was still a reasonably successful launch.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-76352274551247684282012-08-27T16:11:00.000+01:002012-08-27T16:11:00.069+01:00Quantum Conundrum reviewThis game has several similarities with Portal, in fact both come from the mind of the designer(Kim Swift) as and such you will be spending your time going from room to room surpassing challenges as they come.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fHkk04Wg-Nw/UDeXSHaHzDI/AAAAAAAAAYs/ihJ_pKJ8Qmw/s1600/Quantum-Conundrum.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fHkk04Wg-Nw/UDeXSHaHzDI/AAAAAAAAAYs/ihJ_pKJ8Qmw/s320/Quantum-Conundrum.png" width="320" /></a></div>
In this game you take the role of a kid visiting his uncle, a genius Professor named Fitz Quadwrangle who has turned his mansion into a huge laboratory, on arrival you find that as usual something went wrong and you are now stuck in the mansion.<br />
<br />One thing my geeky side finds very entertaining is that Quadwrangle, who acts as a narrator/guide in a similar manner to Glados in Portal is voiced by John de Lancie, who will be easily recognized by anyone who enjoyed watching Start Trek as Q, which is also in that series related to the quantum phenomena, so has you can imagine every time Professor Quadwrangle spoke I was literally imagining Q saying those words which added to the enjoyment of the game.<br />
<br />The mechanic of the game revolves around using dimensions who change the properties of the world in order to overcome the challenges. These four dimensions are the fluffy(objects becomes lighter), heavy(objects becomes heavier and can resist lasers), slow and reverse gravity dimensions, they change the physics of all objects and can only be used one at the time. Initially you have little control over the dimensions them selves and its usually one or two at the same time, but as the game progresses you will start using more dimensions. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1LaU-_qAOw/UDeXTjS9AoI/AAAAAAAAAY0/rRIYn7ca-K4/s1600/Quantum-Conundrum_lasers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1LaU-_qAOw/UDeXTjS9AoI/AAAAAAAAAY0/rRIYn7ca-K4/s320/Quantum-Conundrum_lasers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
While the concept of the game is interesting and fun, I found the puzzles them selves to be boring as my brain was craving for some hard challenges, mainly because the narrator usually tips you in how to overcome the problem reducing that feeling we get after achieving something difficult, making most part of the game feel almost like a big tutorial.<br />
<br />Like all puzzle type games there is little re-playability value, unless you like to try doing the same puzzles against the clock or/and in this case with less dimension switching, but then it no longer becomes a mental exercise and its all about reflexes and luck.<br />
<br />In the end regardless of what I felts about the challenges the game was fun, and when you look at the price of the game its definitely worth the cost, so far two DLC(downloadable content) have already been announced for this summer meaning puzzles will no doubt become more interesting from now on.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-88194398781854902942012-08-24T15:50:00.000+01:002012-08-24T15:50:39.999+01:00Bulletstorm review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n2PPmzAchnE/UDeSpj29JrI/AAAAAAAAAYI/Qzl6awsAM5w/s1600/Bulletstorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n2PPmzAchnE/UDeSpj29JrI/AAAAAAAAAYI/Qzl6awsAM5w/s320/Bulletstorm.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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A futuristic first-person-shooter filled with mutants, criminals, gore and everything else you can think of, this game caters to the primal urges of every FPS lover.<br />
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You are Grayson Hunt, the leader of a small blackops task-force called Dead Echo who went rogue because they found out that General Sarrano was using them as his personal assassination squad to murder innocents, after that you and your team became space pirates until an opportunity arises for you to make Sarrano pay.<br />
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The plot is pretty straight forward and there are no major plots or twists, but this game isn't about the story, playing this game is just like going to see a transformers movie, you go there for the special effects, the explosion and possibly to see some hot actress they forcefully added to the film, this game is no different.<br />
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In Bulletstorm combat is visceral and very fast-paced as you need to get in close and personal and kick some ass... literally, sliding through the ground kick enemies in to the air and blowing their head off is a common occurrence in this game.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjmL1HyhlJ0/UDeTXX3nSRI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/7Ep6yv8tXog/s1600/bulletstorm_enviro+mental.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjmL1HyhlJ0/UDeTXX3nSRI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/7Ep6yv8tXog/s400/bulletstorm_enviro+mental.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There is some sort of progression were it allows you to spend point you earn from killing enemies to restock and upgrade your weapons slightly, so if you like games like Unreal Tournament where you are awards more point for doing double kills, then you probably will love Bulletstorm because not only do you get more points for a double or triple kill you also get point for killing your target with style.<br />
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I truly had a great time playing this game. I found my self smiling or laughing the whole game because the character are always making witty jokes at each other and shooting at the balls of the enemies for extra points is not only hilarious, but because also it appeases my inner-phycopath in a way I haven't felt since WH40k:Space Marine.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-8666408565458254162012-07-25T07:50:00.001+01:002012-07-25T07:55:39.415+01:00Social engineering FAIL My final exams are done and I am glad to say it all work as planned, now for the next 2 months i wont have much to do other then focus on my hobbies, and we all know what those are... gaming!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yqOoYtSDz6A/UA-WZ-fS_vI/AAAAAAAAAX8/i9RX96U_jxc/s1600/Social+Engineering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yqOoYtSDz6A/UA-WZ-fS_vI/AAAAAAAAAX8/i9RX96U_jxc/s320/Social+Engineering.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
While browsing the web I came across an interesting conversation about some kid who tried to scam another guy by posing as Steam employee in order to steal someone else's account, this is known as social engineering, its the act of tricking another person into giving you information/access you should not be allowed to have, one could also call it social hacking, this event reminded me of something someone tried to do to me back when I used to play Counter-Strike on steam several years ago, anyway here is the conversation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-size: 12px;">
br0kenrabbit says: hi<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: good evening<br />
br0kenrabbit says: What's ip?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: up?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: my name is greg a member of the valve online Support team<br />
br0kenrabbit says: On MSN?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: yes :)<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Why?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: we logged multiple ips from your account and ned to verifi your information<br />
br0kenrabbit says: My information?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: we believe someone may have stolen your account mmmm you havent shared youre account infomation with anyone have you?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: No. I don't even have it written down.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: hmmm maybe a keylogger on you r PC then maybe you need a format?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Well...<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: if you can verify your account information to me i can insure that only your ip have access to it Its a new security feature were trying because this happens so muchlogin names and passwords aint safe anymroe You know. L:)<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Well<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: dont worry this connect it secure<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Can I be honest with you, Greg?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: k<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Look, I don't know how you go this MSN account name, don't really care, either.<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Unlike you, I DO work for Valve. Trace my ip and you'll see.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: huh?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: bs<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Trace it.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: how<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Start/run/cmd type Tracert and then my IP address and hit enter.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: oh k<br />
br0kenrabbit says: As an employee, I know that Valve employees will NEVER contact users over MSN. I also know a valve employee will NEVER ask a user for his/her username and password.<br />
br0kenrabbit says: I'm putting a temporary hold on your Steam account.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: why?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Have you read the ToS?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: Tod?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: tos<br />
br0kenrabbit says: terms of service<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: were?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Greg, this is a serious infraction against the Tos. You are at risk of losing your account.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: why<br />
br0kenrabbit says: I just told you why<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: :(<br />
br0kenrabbit says: I need some information from you if you want me to unlock you account. I'm going to write you up but I will only suspend you account for three days, since this is your first infraction, okay?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: k<br />
br0kenrabbit says: First, what is the name the account is registered to. Not the user name, the persons real name who created the account. This is for verification purposes.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxx xxxxxxx<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Is this you?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Are you the only user of this account?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Okay, and what is the username<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxxxx<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Okay.<br />
br0kenrabbit says: I see you have purchased a few of our games, thank you. :)<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: some. dude<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: m<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Do you always log on from the same IP?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya<br />
br0kenrabbit says: And who is your internet providers, your ISP?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxxx<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Thank you. One moment, please, let me verify this information.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: am i gonna be bale to play 2nite?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: What is your city of residence?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: That depends on if you cooperate. You're doing fine so far.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxx<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Illinios?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: yes<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Okay. And what is the password associated with this account?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxxx<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Okay. Do not try to log into steam. If you are connected now you need to log off.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: why<br />
br0kenrabbit says: So I can update your account.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: can I play 2 nite<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: clan fight<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: wont win without me heh<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Heh. You'll have to wait a few minutes. Are you logged off?<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Okay. Give me just a moment.<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Try to log in now.<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: k<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: It says login failed wtf wtf!!@?<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Greg<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: did u ban me???????????>WHY<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Greg<br />
Greg_ValveOLS says: what<br />
br0kenrabbit says: Valve will never ask for your username and password.</blockquote>
The most interesting part of this conversation was the fact that this kid was fooled with the same trick he himself was using in the first place which was most entertaining.<br />
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Like I said this reminded me of a time when some random 13 year old asked me if I wanted free full games in my steam account, it was such an obvious trap I wondered if the guy was being serious in his attempt to steal my account information, but I went along with it to see how far it would go.<br />
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At some point he sent me a file, I don't remember if it was a .txt or a .doc file but either one was ludicrous, as I read the content of the file I laughed, it was a survey asking for several information two of which were the account name and password, I asked myself who would get caught by such a ridiculous scheme but then again I also knew several gullible people back then specially the younger generation who would probably be blinded by the prize to see the obvious.<br />
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In the end I gave him the survey back with fake information, he then replied saying the information was not correct, I told him "really? are you sure?", he clearly didn't pick up on the sarcasm so I told the guy how what he was doing was as ridiculous as he was an idiot, of course he tried to defend his scheme saying how he had given access to several other people, then I blocked the guy from the friends list and never saw the guy again.<br />
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I think the most saddest part of this is that this kid probably started doing this because someone else did it to him and he probably fell for it, otherwise there was no reason for him to think such a thing would actually work.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-35773067574250221302012-06-28T05:00:00.000+01:002012-06-29T12:27:45.155+01:00Guild Wars 2 announced release date<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Are you prepared?</b></span></i><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h52uKR2GtcY/T-18OIr-SFI/AAAAAAAAAXU/-qkf52JVgDA/s1600/guild+wars+2+hounds+of+balthazar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h52uKR2GtcY/T-18OIr-SFI/AAAAAAAAAXU/-qkf52JVgDA/s320/guild+wars+2+hounds+of+balthazar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">28th August 2012 - Release the kr---hounds!</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c3rMKgyCmc/T-18LnEnxXI/AAAAAAAAAXA/pEFngaTwVUA/s1600/guild+wars+2+hom+rewards+heavenly+bracers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="102" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c3rMKgyCmc/T-18LnEnxXI/AAAAAAAAAXA/pEFngaTwVUA/s200/guild+wars+2+hom+rewards+heavenly+bracers.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HOM reward - Heavenly Bracers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Guild Wars 2 confirmed released date. It was a momentous
occasion for many fans and Arenanet when yesterday they finally let us
circle that special date in the calendar---<b>28th August</b> is the
magical number and hopefully they will indeed have everything ready by
that time, considering how zealous the company has been regarding the
date up until now, the backlash would be too damaging in the event of
the release and the game still have glaring problems as other mmos have
done so.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-icjLL8R9YeU/T-18LL1EB4I/AAAAAAAAAW0/_QBNfTq2sps/s1600/guild+wars+2+hom+rewards+fiery+dragon+sword.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="95" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-icjLL8R9YeU/T-18LL1EB4I/AAAAAAAAAW0/_QBNfTq2sps/s200/guild+wars+2+hom+rewards+fiery+dragon+sword.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HOM reward - Fiery Dragon Sword</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To be fair, the bugs and most problems I encountered were minor in
nature and easily fixed...except for the ranger pet AI in the stress
test that seem to have regressed (possibly running a older build, even
though I couldn't confirm) and the pet most of the time simply stopped
attacking on it's own---which considering it's a mandatory profession
feature means that it's quite game breaking, on a more positive note the
server stability and overall connectivity/performance have improved to
the point that gameplay was fluid even in mass scaled battles with many
players, and that's a very important thing, games that have big scale
events/battles surprinsingly and disappointingly tend to NOT be able to
handle the heavy influx of many players gathered in the same area,
resulting in a crippled game feature and consequent backlash (Aion and
Rift comes to mind). Thankfully Guild Wars 2 seem to be heading in the
right direction in that sense, and I hope come release this experience
will be even more heightened. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qAD5q4rmPIA/T-18NFLDKLI/AAAAAAAAAXI/cBVGuhLpGvs/s1600/guild+wars+2+hom+rewards+ice+breaker+and+white+raven+pet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="105" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qAD5q4rmPIA/T-18NFLDKLI/AAAAAAAAAXI/cBVGuhLpGvs/s200/guild+wars+2+hom+rewards+ice+breaker+and+white+raven+pet.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HOM rewards - Ice Breaker and White Raven Companion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At the heels of a announced release date, a short reminder to any who still hasn't gotten this game why it could be good...<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Eight professions, five races...thousands of character combinations</span></b> <b><br /></b></span></i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UjU7IKeL8Gc/T-18PvzraMI/AAAAAAAAAXg/pKWv_kmzG7k/s1600/guild+wars+2+profession.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UjU7IKeL8Gc/T-18PvzraMI/AAAAAAAAAXg/pKWv_kmzG7k/s200/guild+wars+2+profession.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Which profession will you choose?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The personal stories add a singular perspective to players and following it's predecessor, enhances the experience of each individually created character to a level never seen in other games, the thousands of combinations refer to the personal choices done throughout the game but they all originate from the first choices done after selecting race and profession---from that moment and every other choice made for your character's story afterwards will affect the development of it's personal story and also the type/story you will see if you lead your party in the dungeons. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I_-tZtltXf0/T-18KAXQYVI/AAAAAAAAAWo/bCEy7BCjYwU/s1600/guild+wars+2+five+races.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I_-tZtltXf0/T-18KAXQYVI/AAAAAAAAAWo/bCEy7BCjYwU/s320/guild+wars+2+five+races.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 5 race's iconic heroes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Dynamic Combat, complex and entertaining skill/trait system </span></b></i><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></i><br />
<br />
Due to the very active combat system and creatively situational
skill/trait system, even if some of the professions use the traditional
names from older mmos such as thief, warrior, ranger and elementalist,
in Guild Wars 2 they still catch the players attention with their unique
play styles. The attempt to rid the holy trinity of tank-dps-healer in guild wars 2 can be deemed a success as throughout large scale battles and pve events everyone's role is active and equally important and useful, therefore eliminating situations like bottlenecks due to everything relying on certain professions such as tank or healer to progress anywhere in the game. The following video was one I found to explain quite succinctly what we can expect for the game's combat system and overal mechanism. <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cfy9ZRPTcaU" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Be rewarded for your skills, for knowing when and where to use the right skill, for using anything and everything at your disposable including each skills effects--combination of skills merged with another players or the active dodge system! After having tried out the betas I can say that I wasn't disappointed, as the saying goes "everything looks good on paper" but in this case, it works wonderfully even in practice and I find myself gladly waiting for more game time after each beta---something that hasn't happened in a long time as I tried one after another mmo and was only disappointed come beta time.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VwG-JDRp6zI/T-18JY8eorI/AAAAAAAAAWg/QD48ldXy4VQ/s1600/guild+wars+2+comic+environmental+weapon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="101" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VwG-JDRp6zI/T-18JY8eorI/AAAAAAAAAWg/QD48ldXy4VQ/s320/guild+wars+2+comic+environmental+weapon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's viable to use anything and everything you find</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y5dNOmNTfOo/T-18KvMubnI/AAAAAAAAAWs/ntkmbTyqLwI/s1600/guild+wars+2+holy+trinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="98" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y5dNOmNTfOo/T-18KvMubnI/AAAAAAAAAWs/ntkmbTyqLwI/s320/guild+wars+2+holy+trinity.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Progress doesn't wait for any profession or lack thereof</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGs9Rc2f0QA/T-18JA1CRnI/AAAAAAAAAWc/56ml1nVuvys/s1600/guild+wars+2+comic+-+no+stats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGs9Rc2f0QA/T-18JA1CRnI/AAAAAAAAAWc/56ml1nVuvys/s320/guild+wars+2+comic+-+no+stats.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Statistics will not cripple you in this game</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nvx_X9T-KII/T-18PMqdsxI/AAAAAAAAAXY/tbMRq2t0WYA/s1600/guild+wars+2+no+healer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nvx_X9T-KII/T-18PMqdsxI/AAAAAAAAAXY/tbMRq2t0WYA/s320/guild+wars+2+no+healer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Any and all group combinations will work</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b><br />
<b>Dynamic and Heart events and a engaging environment</b><br />
<br />
Regardless of the event or the scale of it, the active role they play in the world, how they affect it or simply for the reward that players of any level will get and find it equally useful, players will unavoidably find themselves engage in some activity constantly or simply whenever they choose to in their current area, character evolution takes on a more active and compelling form this way rather then the traditional quest systems and more importantly everyone can join in at anytime and contribute to the events in progress without fearing players stealing mobs or items as the reward for mob killing shares according to damage done while items looted by another will still be there for yet another player, even during the heavy influx of players in the starter areas during betas, the game experience was still exciting and stress free unlike other mmos where players have to compete and often times be rude to others.<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hdC1nQoKMyQ" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Dungeon</b><b>s</b><b> and secrets hidden throughout the world</b></i><br />
<br />
As I had mentioned before, personal stories affects what you will get in the dungeon, depending on who leads the party that will brave the dungeon, the path you will take once inside and the story you will witness changes, this means that what you will find inside both in enemies and rewards will be different each time you return to the same dungeon, from the known and explored dungeons we can see that making use of what is within and solving puzzles is just as important in terms of progressing within as it was on the outside, this makes dungeon runs far more entertaining and re-run values increased in comparison, additionally, like dungeons there are secret areas in the world of Tyria that can only be found and accessed through meticulous exploration and at the same time requires some platform jumping and other interactions to reach/complete.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8JCeTG7zWqs" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />
And while these are only a fraction of what the game has to offer, it's easy to see that for a subscription free game, Guild Wars 2 has already exceeded many's expectations and I for one look forward to the final product to when it finally releases in August!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-68S110myR6w/T-2QjYFbGvI/AAAAAAAAAXw/73XI52KZLtE/s1600/world+of+warcraft+be+prepared.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-68S110myR6w/T-2QjYFbGvI/AAAAAAAAAXw/73XI52KZLtE/s320/world+of+warcraft+be+prepared.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If not, GET PREPARED</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-79662880414505253832012-06-27T21:05:00.000+01:002012-06-28T21:06:56.390+01:00Guild Wars 2 BWE2/Stress Test 2 Finale<i><span style="font-size: large;">The corruption begins...</span></i><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7fnbVMSJ3dU/T-yyZFed9qI/AAAAAAAAATY/gxtB8eEHJNM/s1600/guild+wars+2+kralkatorrik+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7fnbVMSJ3dU/T-yyZFed9qI/AAAAAAAAATY/gxtB8eEHJNM/s400/guild+wars+2+kralkatorrik+art.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Crystal dragon can't wait, so can't we!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l6oY8JbIvo0/T-y2GGp7L8I/AAAAAAAAATo/lFmPJ3YJGVc/s1600/guild+wars+2+Branded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l6oY8JbIvo0/T-y2GGp7L8I/AAAAAAAAATo/lFmPJ3YJGVc/s320/guild+wars+2+Branded.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Branded</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Near the end of both the second beta weekend and also for the small
stress test that was held on the 27th, Guild Wars 2 hosted a finale
event that was one of the most entertaining ones so far, one I hope will
be part of the game in it's eventual release.<br />
<br />
The event starts with the corruption of a few waypoints/players by the
Crystal Dragon Kralkatorrik, the waypoints will become crystallized just
as any "corrupted" players will take on one of the many forms of the "Branded",
players who use the corrupted waypoints will also reappear as the
Branded and the objective for this invading force is to contaminate
other waypoints, kill players and ultimately invade the Black
Citadel/eliminating Rytlock. While the uncontaminated player's tasks
would be to destroy any invading force and to re-capture the waypoints
by destroying the "Branded Crystal" at the sites.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t5SmhM0zwME/T-y2GnZRBwI/AAAAAAAAATw/6tWVK-jJLjA/s1600/guild+wars+2+branded+corruption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t5SmhM0zwME/T-y2GnZRBwI/AAAAAAAAATw/6tWVK-jJLjA/s320/guild+wars+2+branded+corruption.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Motivational Recruiter!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br />
While Arenanet had already stated that there wouldn't be pvp in the pve
environment, it was a fun change to have world pvp in the form of a
meta-event where players can choose to be on either side and just fight
it out as part of the story/event play out at the same time. The goals
and objectives escalate in what I suspect is a system to balance out
each side, in the very least the Branded at some point will spawn out
Champion Devourers/Dragons that will march towards the Black Citadel and
provide yet another event for players to accomplish in either defending
or destroying these champions depending on which side you play as.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F-ZN8fJWTEw/T-y2FivQeLI/AAAAAAAAATk/8XDWE8V87Eg/s1600/Guild+wars+2+Branded+spawn+point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R7pYHo8Ks0k/T-y2I3UCGeI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/z9wf762dPZY/s1600/guild+wars+2+branded+underwater+form.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R7pYHo8Ks0k/T-y2I3UCGeI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/z9wf762dPZY/s320/guild+wars+2+branded+underwater+form.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Branded player's underwater form</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Branded Warrior Skillset</b><br />1 Branded Punch - Punch a single target with your giant branded fist<br />2 Lunge - Launch yourself at a target area, knocking down any enemies nearby when you land.<br />3 Throw Crystal Shard - Throw a crystal shard that cripples and bleeds your enemy<br />4 Corrupted War Cry - Removes conditions from allies and grants swiftness. Dazes nearby enemies<br />5 Crystal Frenzy - Knock down several targets with a massive kick, crush them with a mighty slam, and then unleash a torrent of lightning strikes on anyone left standing<br />6 - Signet of branded corruption (passive: grants regeneration and toughness) signet active (heal yourself and gain quickness)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-au1H7N5Dv4s/T-y2J3uUNJI/AAAAAAAAAUY/oKeqFAVH-Ag/s1600/guild+wars+2+branded+warrior+skillset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="35" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-au1H7N5Dv4s/T-y2J3uUNJI/AAAAAAAAAUY/oKeqFAVH-Ag/s320/guild+wars+2+branded+warrior+skillset.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Branded Warrior's skillset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br />Branded Ranger Skillset</b><br />1 Branded Slice - Slice your opponent with crystal fists<br />2 Flash and Brand - Teleport to your target, striking them and blinding nearby foes<br />3´Throw Crystal Shard - Throw a crystal shard that cripples and bleeds your enemy<br />4 ???<br />5 Crystal Mine Field - Create a field of crystal shards that explode and damage enemies <br />6 - Signet of branded corruption (passive: grants regeneration and toughness) signet active (heal yourself and gain quickness) <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P6w38tFd2Z8/T-y2HES0DjI/AAAAAAAAAT4/N_tW8Z2waLI/s1600/guild+wars+2+branded+crystal+waypoint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P6w38tFd2Z8/T-y2HES0DjI/AAAAAAAAAT4/N_tW8Z2waLI/s1600/guild+wars+2+branded+crystal+waypoint.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Branded Crystal/Contaminated Waypoint</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WH9oapyE_VA/T-y2L8Eah9I/AAAAAAAAAUw/1W-sirrVhWg/s1600/guild+wars+2+the+shattered+flyby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WH9oapyE_VA/T-y2L8Eah9I/AAAAAAAAAUw/1W-sirrVhWg/s320/guild+wars+2+the+shattered+flyby.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Shatterer's flyby</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DmCq3hlSKbg/T-y2KX_rWgI/AAAAAAAAAUg/FW28xn_v-t0/s1600/guild+wars+2+charr+cry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DmCq3hlSKbg/T-y2KX_rWgI/AAAAAAAAAUg/FW28xn_v-t0/s320/guild+wars+2+charr+cry.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Need more Guild Wars 2!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
While this was a stress test and of short duration, I noticed that there was virtually no lag during massive events although I'm still not sure at what point Arenanet is with the handling in general for the large scale events/battles...hopefully this is a good sign and while we wait...our friendly neighbourhood charr will cry for more!<br />Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-54118847552097452852012-06-18T05:46:00.000+01:002012-06-21T05:47:36.418+01:00Makai Kingdom - Time to play<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OGk63d3mf-o/T-KmFO2lYlI/AAAAAAAAATI/vrJ5SrUl3KA/s1600/zetta+tome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
Recently I scrounged up some time in the middle of my busy college exam studies(truth: should be studying 24/7) to play through one of the more recent release from the Disgaea Series, for those who don't know the background story of this franchise: it revolves around the concept that there exist many worlds(netherworlds) each ruled by a powerful(most of the time not very smart) entity called the Overlord, each release save the remake for other platforms featured a different world/story and naturally a new protagonist but it always revolves around multiple Netherworlds and even starring characters from the other releases as hidden characters/bosses or part of the storyline as a cameo. As a fan of both tactical and rpg games, the combination of both in these games has kept me coming back throughout the releases, what makes this series so appealing to me is mostly the light-hearted stories that while goofy(with impossibly goofier characters) and yet both story and characters are extremely likeable therefore making the player interested in seeing how the story develops through cutscenes before and after each map battle.<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJhhRM6zmOw/T-KmERVeNuI/AAAAAAAAATA/0lVZFfy_0Fw/s1600/zetta+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJhhRM6zmOw/T-KmERVeNuI/AAAAAAAAATA/0lVZFfy_0Fw/s320/zetta+cover.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If only we can look as "badass" throughout the game</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bfCqpcpmK6k/T-KmDQmuhgI/AAAAAAAAAS4/2j_Co-8MrWw/s1600/overlord+zetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bfCqpcpmK6k/T-KmDQmuhgI/AAAAAAAAAS4/2j_Co-8MrWw/s200/overlord+zetta.jpg" width="188" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much power and sheer luck equals ?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OGk63d3mf-o/T-KmFO2lYlI/AAAAAAAAATI/vrJ5SrUl3KA/s1600/zetta+tome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OGk63d3mf-o/T-KmFO2lYlI/AAAAAAAAATI/vrJ5SrUl3KA/s200/zetta+tome.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A "badass" book?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome</b> stars Overlord Zeta, considered the most powerful across Netherworlds due to his immense Mana(innate power Overlords possess), on a certain fatidic day a prophecy from the oracle Pram foretold the destruction of his Netherworld and as any decent overlord woulddo (specially a self-proclaimed "Most Badass Freakin' Overlord In The Entire Cosmos"), Overlord Zetta blasted his way into the forbidden library to get to the Sacred Tome known to record everything and thus holding the answer to what threatened his Netherworld, and yet, in a goofy twist of faith, what the Sacred Tome had to say wasn't agreeable with the baddass Overlord as it blamed the Overlord's stupidity as the sole reason for the ruin brought upon his domain, in a fit of rage the Overlord set the book in Hellfire and watched it burn away---only to find out immediately after that the destruction of the Sacred Tome would *gasp* destroy the Netherworld(his) and as a last desperate move the he bound his own soul into the Tome and that's where our adventure begins.<br /><br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkAh7eBdQt0/T-KmBptGD2I/AAAAAAAAASs/z_h_8RQFcJU/s1600/badass+overlord+zetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkAh7eBdQt0/T-KmBptGD2I/AAAAAAAAASs/z_h_8RQFcJU/s320/badass+overlord+zetta.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">in-between combat scenes</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Battle</b>: Unlike the normal Disgaeas which featured grids for movement and attack, Makai Kingdom took on the combat system from Phantom Brave giving player characters the freedom to move within a circle whose size is determined by the characters Mov(movement points), classes and weapon skills remain mostly the same from the other Disgaea games as skills are learned by mastering weapon types and while some classes remain the same, there are a few additions aswell as a couple others not in the game at the same time. While to deploy unit the game uses a similar system as in Phantom brave where you need to confine characters to objects, in Makai Kingdom this is done in the Homebase and the units will not go away after a certain number of turns once summoned, as it happened in Phantom Brave, additionally units can be set into existent buildings that the player already possess at the base, each granting different bonuses to characters housed in them and summoned into battle afterwards from the also summoned house unit. Lastly, the standalone feature not found in any of the other games from the same franchise is the addition of vehicles, they vary in size, shape and purpose but they are moving and generally faster then normal movement from the characters, they can also damage oponents and level up(although the system required for this is different then the characters and possibly more difficult).<br /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKYEQzTGGtA/T-KmCq1S5tI/AAAAAAAAASw/7HZIYbDMZwY/s1600/makai+kingdom+cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fKYEQzTGGtA/T-KmCq1S5tI/AAAAAAAAASw/7HZIYbDMZwY/s320/makai+kingdom+cast.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, try it out, can't help but be charmed</td></tr>
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<b>Maps</b>: As with it's predecessors, the maps are randomly generated with a feature called "extensions" which are hidden areas of the map oftenly unlocked by killing a key mob or object, save a few pre-set maps at the beginning of certain chapters, most of the RNG maps provide the player with a fresh replay value as each playthrough in the same map will be different both in objects, area and enemies, extensions also provide with a necessity for further strategy as accomplishing all the requirements and opening all areas at the same time might have the player's army quickly overwhelmed.<br /><br />Finally, for anyone interested in turn-based strategy games this and the others from the same franchise (Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, Phantom Brave etc...) are definitely something to check out, the light hearted humour/storyline and the combat system are something that make this game noteworthy and interesting to play withSiveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-52667917837327493452012-06-11T05:37:00.000+01:002012-06-21T05:39:33.123+01:00GW2 impressions after 2 beta weekends and 1 stress test<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ2PoOOCeUM/T-KgrIiLpyI/AAAAAAAAARs/WdhTa-92QMU/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+Iron+Legion+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZ2PoOOCeUM/T-KgrIiLpyI/AAAAAAAAARs/WdhTa-92QMU/s320/Guild+Wars+2+Iron+Legion+.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like all access for Guild Wars 2, it was a blast!</td></tr>
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Last weekend was GW2's 2nd scheduled bwe and while it was meant to be basically the same content as the previous one(with fixes from the stress test), there is still alot that can be said for the roughly 48 hours period that the game servers were up.<br />
<i><b><u><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Servers and connectivity</span></u></b></i><br />
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Game performance and stability was impressive compared to the 1st bwe, taking into consideration that the last week before the beta Anet had started giving out tons of keys through selected sites in simple contests and plain giveaways. This means that for this bwe at least, the amount of participating players increased both from additional pre-purchasers and others who were lucky enough to grab a weekend-only key---and the servers behaved well against the influx of both recurrent and new players.<br />
This isn't to say that it was perfect, sometime in the middle of the weekend there were moments when I was in WvW and would get disconnected repeatedly with no special pattern to it, both from the WvW map shutting down or random disconnects. On the pve side the game proved to be more stable save the uncommonly rare slower loading screen. Overall, while from the looks of it there is still quite a long while before the game will be ready, the progresses made in-between the beta weekends and stress tests, the game is steadily heading into a good direction.<br />
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<b><i><u><span style="font-size: large;">Small changes</span></u></i></b><br />
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<b>Utility Skill system</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PeDH_cilsds/T-KhX09u1JI/AAAAAAAAAR0/cHDbKn7rFHc/s1600/GW+2+Skill+Tiers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PeDH_cilsds/T-KhX09u1JI/AAAAAAAAAR0/cHDbKn7rFHc/s320/GW+2+Skill+Tiers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Traditional mmo leveling system - get what you want, get what you don't want so you can move on</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yECG3D7gTrc/T-KgKpdQcqI/AAAAAAAAARg/vB_6tBp5OTI/s1600/skilltiers-600x469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
While there wasn't much in the "new" department, there were noticeable tweaks done to the game in general, such as the utility skill system that is now grouped by their respective tier and the player needs to spend enough skill points in one tier before being able to unlock and advance to the next, this was somewhat a expected change for me as I remember commenting with fellow players back during the 1st beta that the leveling/skill up system was missing the "keep you interested" factor, the current game cap is 80 but even before level 30 players could already have all the skills they wanted as they could simply accumulate the unspent skill points to get only the skills they were interested in, but with the new change players are delayed in reaching that stage and possibly will need to be a higher level then before to be able to reach the last tier of utility skills and more so to get enough points to unlock them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Py8iwzgw3cI/T-KhZahGWdI/AAAAAAAAASA/PmdRHSE3oEc/s1600/GW2+Game+screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Py8iwzgw3cI/T-KhZahGWdI/AAAAAAAAASA/PmdRHSE3oEc/s320/GW2+Game+screenshot.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New dodge gauge position</td></tr>
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Another one of these was the dodge gauge being moved to the middle of the player's skill window, not a big change by itself but personally I think it is easier to see that all important gauge now rather then it being on the far end to the right and during the confusion in battle possibly not the easiest thing to keep a eye out for, also not forgetting it looks slicker where it is now!<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mystic Forge</b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQiHpsap-6g/T-KhaFoEHZI/AAAAAAAAASI/88ZYb-GPTLY/s1600/GW2+Mystic+Forge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQiHpsap-6g/T-KhaFoEHZI/AAAAAAAAASI/88ZYb-GPTLY/s320/GW2+Mystic+Forge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun feature to mix and mash items to get something new</td></tr>
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<i>The Mystic Forge uses a combination of random and non-random recipes. For example, throw four rare swords into the forge, it will return a random sword with a chance for that sword to be substantially better. There are also specific items that can be created by throwing four very specific items into the forge with no randomness involved at all</i><br />
- <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/05/massively-exclusive-eric-flannum-talks-guild-wars-2-beta-change/">Eric Flannum Talks Guild Wars 2 Beta Change</a><br />
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This was a welcome addition that I didn't expect, save for console games I haven't seen similar mechanisms in the multiplayer scene---for the players it's a fun way to try and combine various items they might not even want anymore for a chance at something new and possibly useful, and as Eric Flannum has said, for the developers it's a easy way to introduce new and better content/items from time to time...even for consoles this sort of feature was something I always had fun with and spent much time(and materials)on and I'm looking forward to when we can try this out more in future betas--currently the forge will take 4 items(no more, no less) of the same rarity to create one single item with a RNG type and stats/bonuses, there might be a base rule for what type of item will come out but I don't think anyone had much resources and time to try this out in this last beta, what I have noticed is that the item was always slightly higher in level compared to the average of the 4 items I used to make it and the bonuses it can come up with aren't necessarily "inherited" from the old items as I have seen in some games as I had occasions where a brand new bonus such as healing would come out despite the items used to forge with didn't have that.<br />
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<b>Black Lion Trading Company</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SH9Dv-N_0hA/T-KhY_mHnhI/AAAAAAAAAR4/6khdxG2qaKU/s1600/GW2+Black+Lion+Trading+Company.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SH9Dv-N_0hA/T-KhY_mHnhI/AAAAAAAAAR4/6khdxG2qaKU/s320/GW2+Black+Lion+Trading+Company.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gem shop under new employment!</td></tr>
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<i>The Black Lion Trading Company out of Lion’s Arch has officially taken over operation of the Gem Store, Currency Exchange, and Trading Post. Its new owner’s first action was to completely overhaul the Gem Store.<br />As a result, the all-new Gem Store is easier to use and has a greater variety of items, from the decorative—like dye packs and costumes—to the whimsical—like the Box o’ Fun, which spawns a chest that applies random crazy effects to everyone who touches it. Each beta player will receive 500 free gems on their account, so do a little shopping on us!</i><br />
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With the provided free gems I had the opportunity to try out the nem items from the gem store, the one item that caused the greatest impression for me during the beta event was the "Box o' Fun" http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Box_o%27_Fun, currently it costs 250 gems and has 10 accounted for transformations plus skill effects, it was "fun" when I first tried it out as we placed it in the field and curious passerbys would all gather up and try out the different effects the box could provide, aside from being able to get the skin of a sylvari while they aren't available for play at the moment, the other skill effect I liked alot was one who name I don't remember but the player had 3 seconds to strike a "pose" before being petrified into that state and I'm sure the readers can imagine the possibilities, it's definitely a fun item to bring to parties although I do hope there will be more things to do later on save the currently accounted skills because as much fun as this is, it's still a one time use item(couldn't confirm the time the box stays as the map went down later on but it did last over 15 min+). Other new items were unremarkable such as a couple of sunglasses as cosmetic and it's with sadness that I report that the dyes are still bound by character and not account...along with the costumes, if by release this isn't addressed or if this is meant to be so, I don't think I will be one of the fans that will buy much in that department as I am used to games with vanity shops yes, but I'm a firm believer that things like this once bought should be account wide and not just one character.<br />
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<b>WvW</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQNS9PTv9Yc/T-KjKm59wGI/AAAAAAAAASU/QjTz4l7rlHY/s1600/gw2+wvw+bombardment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQNS9PTv9Yc/T-KjKm59wGI/AAAAAAAAASU/QjTz4l7rlHY/s320/gw2+wvw+bombardment.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If your side learned that you don't bring down a door with only sticks and stones!</td></tr>
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The best improvement in WvW for this beta weekend was the Squad system, players can now see the leader icon on the world map which gives everyone a much easier time in knowing where to be and what to do, this allowed for people to remain organized despite the times where multiple fortresses were attacked or under attack and also the communication has been enabled for both ways so squad members can now chat back with the commander, this last feature wasn't of much use to our Squad as we were mainly just a group of people sticking together and testing it out but I have no doubts that later on in actual WvW this change would come to be very useful as the default channel is usable for all three sides and everyone in the map can chat in it. Lastly on the topic of WvW, the siege constructs are still under changes as they have already modified range and damage on some over this beta but I'm sure that until release there will still be alot of changes underway.<br />
<b><br />The disappointment</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1T6WWA7NUlk/T-Kj3CzbrEI/AAAAAAAAASc/DXbFqibvisY/s1600/sad+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1T6WWA7NUlk/T-Kj3CzbrEI/AAAAAAAAASc/DXbFqibvisY/s1600/sad+face.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forever sad at the lack of real competitive pvp games</td></tr>
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I'm not sure this was working back in the 1st bwe, or it might just have passed by me as I was immersed and distracted by everything else that was great about the game...but this beta weekend I came across a feature that is a absolute sinker for me in the world of competitive pvp: auto-facing. Personally, I don't believe that any self-respecting pvp oriented game can call themselves as such with a automated feature that has your character auto-facing your opponent with a simple click of a button, this was my biggest and at the moment *only* disappointment with guild wars 2---a anet staff actually responded to my thread about this in the guild wars 2 forum stating that this feature exists solely to help newbies and only works when our character remains stationary, while this isn't as bad as it could've been...it's still a horrible feature to put in a game.<br />
The first instance that called my attention to this, that something was *odd* was during my skirmishes in structured pvp as a thief, no matter how I dodged/strafed or moved around my enemy *they were always immediately facing towards me*, in the beginning I had just thought that this was simply because I was fighting against players who knew what they were doing, but the sad reality is that was the devil at work: while I was losing my time trying to reamin out of line of sight from the enemy and hopefully landing a backstab, all my opponent needed to do was stay in one spot and spam their skill buttons while reducing my chances of timing a hit in their back for additional damage to zero.<br />
While the realist in me knows better, I still hope that anet will reconsider this feature, even if they try to downplay this matter the truth is that this feature alone is enough to cripple everything else they have made so far in trying to promote active gameplay from players, other games have signed their own death sentence by striving to please everyone and that simply doesn't work: a good game either caters to one audience or the other, staying in the middle between competitive and skill based play while enabling automated features such as auto-facing doesn't work for most, people who are used to them will want more(such as click to move etc...) and others like me who want a bona-fide pvp and skill competitive environment don't want anything to do with said features.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rO0Sybr6ja4/T-Kk8ZV7dEI/AAAAAAAAASk/wR-xFpzZ0hQ/s1600/guild+wars+2+beta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rO0Sybr6ja4/T-Kk8ZV7dEI/AAAAAAAAASk/wR-xFpzZ0hQ/s1600/guild+wars+2+beta.jpg" /></a></div>
Lastly, for those who have come to realize by now(or not) anet has already confirmed that there will be a 3rd beta weekend and it's clear also that it won't be the last, between the 1st and 2nd beta weekend nothing was changed except for the fixes and there are still alot of work to be done, balancing issues and professions like the ranger class still missing three elite skills and I expect that there will be a bwe or two for the 2 missing races of sylvari and asura, all in all I'd say a release date in September can be called "soon" for the state of things as they are now.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-69035179916571226812012-06-05T05:04:00.000+01:002012-06-21T05:15:29.126+01:00Guild Wars 2 - Facebook Milestone ArtFor those who might have missed this as they don't have a habit on checking Guild Wars 2's facebook page. Back at the end of April there was some promised art for the fans posted on the page at each 10,000 likes: from 450,000 up until the half a million milestone marker.<br />
Originally the "preferred" goal from Anet was to reach that marker before the end of the GW1 Birthday held at the end of the same month, although the goal was reached with a few days of delay it still kept avid fans eager on each piece of art they would release. I think it's one of the best selling points from Anet is that the artwork for both games were always amazing, players who had the chance to try out the beta will surely know what I mean as they have included their beautiful art in much of the game itself, even more so compared to GW1. Anyway, without further ado do check out the released art piece below.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1m-ZpcJiwRQ/T-KeO9QfxDI/AAAAAAAAAQo/9KA2zJygtQk/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+-+Eir+underwater+discovery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1m-ZpcJiwRQ/T-KeO9QfxDI/AAAAAAAAAQo/9KA2zJygtQk/s320/Guild+Wars+2+-+Eir+underwater+discovery.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eir's Underwater Discovery</td></tr>
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<i>For hitting the 460,000 fan milestone, we give you some gorgeous concept art of Eir: "This piece by concept artist Jamie Ro shows the iconic norn heroine Eir Stegalkin making an underwater discovery."</i><br />
Full-version: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Farenanet%2F7092056785%2F&h=tAQFKPF1o">Link</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3HdXtYpn5MI/T-KePsHXyWI/AAAAAAAAAQw/4oS3qz7_DSc/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+-+Massive+asura+golem+boss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3HdXtYpn5MI/T-KePsHXyWI/AAAAAAAAAQw/4oS3qz7_DSc/s320/Guild+Wars+2+-+Massive+asura+golem+boss.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asura Golem art - GW2 artwork at it's best</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P1M_lFZOKK4/T-KeRPTWKkI/AAAAAAAAARA/jpsQcGpk9yo/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+Mesmer+Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<i>A massive asura golem boss somewhere in the sun-dappled Maguuma Jungle. Note the tiny asura figure in the foreground, which gives you an idea of the scale of this huge magical construct. This art by Levi Hopkins is used in one of the load screens for asura players.</i><br />
Full-Version: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Farenanet%2F6945989408%2F&h=kAQGZBCk4">Link</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P1M_lFZOKK4/T-KeRPTWKkI/AAAAAAAAARA/jpsQcGpk9yo/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+Mesmer+Art.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P1M_lFZOKK4/T-KeRPTWKkI/AAAAAAAAARA/jpsQcGpk9yo/s320/Guild+Wars+2+Mesmer+Art.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mesmer concept art - it's not a wallpaper but amazing all the same</td></tr>
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<i>A beautiful mesmer image from our concept artist Jamie Ro.</i><br />
Full-version: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Farenanet%2F6945989152%2Fin%2Fphotostream%2Flightbox%2F&h=6AQGUVuE5">Link</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jfPqBaYwTT4/T-KeQdb1oSI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/tzqgKxOtZDM/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+-+Undead+Globster+Boss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jfPqBaYwTT4/T-KeQdb1oSI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/tzqgKxOtZDM/s320/Guild+Wars+2+-+Undead+Globster+Boss.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I fully expect to encounter this undead boss as a huge dynamic event at higher levels!</td></tr>
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<i> We've reached our milestone of 490,000 Facebook fans, and we've got some brand-new art for you! Did you find the Shadow Behemoth big and intimidating? This Undead Globster Boss might make him look a little tamer. This early concept art piece by Matthew Barrett depicts a hulking maritime undead boss. Did this monstrosity make it into the final game? You’ll have to play to find out.</i><br />
Full-sized: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Farenanet%2F6945989250%2Fsizes%2Fl%2Fin%2Fphotostream%2F&h=WAQE2uMym">Link</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0TZ6YgpI6g8/T-KeOLKc3UI/AAAAAAAAAQk/vE8QVC4TW9c/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+-+Destiny%2527s+Edge+vs+Zhaitan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0TZ6YgpI6g8/T-KeOLKc3UI/AAAAAAAAAQk/vE8QVC4TW9c/s320/Guild+Wars+2+-+Destiny%2527s+Edge+vs+Zhaitan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They were'nt lying when they said epic - I will be using this as a wallpaper for a long time!</td></tr>
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<i>Ding! We've reached 500,000 Facebook followers and have the long-promised epicness for you: Destiny's Edge, together and taking on a foe that you'll find familiar. This is an actual in-game screenshot embellished by Daniel Dociu.</i><br />
Full-sized: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Farenanet%2F6945989372%2Fsizes%2Fl%2Fin%2Fphotostream%2F&h=JAQFloK5B">Link</a>Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-49108463962818311962012-05-23T03:36:00.000+01:002012-05-23T03:36:19.256+01:00Guild Wars 2: Flame Wars Over the time as I was waiting for the release of yet another game, I would have come read all sorts of information and opinions about it. Some, overexcited players, offer very enthusiastic yet exaggerated opinions as if praising their own God and expecting a blessing, while others seem to act as peasants in a witch hunt, doing everything they can hoping to again watch another witch burn at the stake in the old Inquisition days.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6LRiy5ah-lY/Tx7l8RYleiI/AAAAAAAAAKM/IAOPPjul0qU/s1600/gw2logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6LRiy5ah-lY/Tx7l8RYleiI/AAAAAAAAAKM/IAOPPjul0qU/s200/gw2logo.jpg" width="200" /></a> I was never one to follow anything without knowledge, what can not be seen can always be heard and even the senses can be fooled, so in order to obtain the precious truth one must really needs to gather information from all sources and senses over time, comparing, connecting and weighting them as if they where part of a "string theory", which will hopefully result in something closer to the unquestionable truth.<br />
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One great example of why we should not trust our senses was the first time I played Guild Wars 2. After waiting so long, reading so much and watching so many videos I was finally able to play the game, I felt like a kid opening a present at Christmas and when that happens it's like looking at a bright lamp, it shines so much that only after some time can we see past the brightness and when we look away we can still see the afterimage, that was what happen in the first beta weekend. That effect soon starts to fade and we are able to see things clearer.<br />
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The first topic that comes to mind was some people saying the quests were just a glorified "kill 10 rats" quest. I do understand why they would say that but honestly that is just an over-simplification in order to add more wood to the fire.<br />
Lets try a real world scenario, imagine if in the medieval times you needed to kill a group of mercenaries, you could see it as "kill 10 mercenaries" could you not? The difference is that in Real-Life you can choose how to deal with them, and that is what's missing in games, "choice".<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-maedxu6k8wQ/T7sNfJjyLUI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/yfYowpGX6Fs/s1600/GW2_quest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="139" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-maedxu6k8wQ/T7sNfJjyLUI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/yfYowpGX6Fs/s320/GW2_quest.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guild Wars 2 Quest</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
GW2 however brought us closer to that by saying "there is more then one way to help", what that means is on that same quest, in order to "handle the rat problem" not only can you "kill 10 rats" you can also "poison the rat food", "use a magical flute to lure them away" or "convert the rats to help the npc instead".<br />
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Another well known topic is the old combat and tab-targeting system, some people complain and say its outdated, which is true, but then they only focus on the targeting system and talk about Tera combat system who most of the skills make your character stop and the rest slows to a crawl an already snail paced game, making that game feel like a turn-based RPG, so they just lose all the right to complain about it. But I digress, even though tab-targeting is old and honestly sometimes hard to control in GW2 as it made me hit the wrong mob several times, these people seem to ignore the not-so-old combat system.<br />
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Projectiles in GW2 hit who ever it touches and they can be physically blocked, so just because you have a target selected doesn't mean he is the one getting hit, Rangers with the "arrows pierce targets" Trait are an exception as they will hit anything in the arrow's path. <br />
Skills do not require a target to be used and like the projectile they will do dmg to who ever they hit/touch and a great majority of the skills do not require you to stop not even for casting, so far I only know of 2 skills which require you to not move(a ranger and an elementalist AOE), which makes the combat very fast paced and fresh.<br />
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The last topic I am going to touch is the "zerg fest WvWvW". Some complain that World vs World vs World is mostly about the numbers, this not 100% true... for now at least.<br />
I have experience that Sieges weapons wins wars not zergs, several times I have witnessed a smaller group of players not only successfully defend their keep, but pushed us back to ours simply because our group had a zerg-mind and they overwhelmed us with a simple arrow cart(which seems to be maybe a bit too powerful). In the end I could say it's more Siege weapon dependent than zerg fest, but of course as time passes people will learn and build more Siege weapons thus becoming zerg dependent.<br />
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In any case 3W(easier than typing "WvWvW") relies completely on other players from your server to join together and fight the common foe, for nothing other than bragging rights and the pride to say that they play in the best PvP server.<br />
On the bright side, as a server wins/loses 3W, it starts to be fight with other more/less successful servers, this means that over time it becomes a bit more balanced as less PvP active servers begin to play against others of a similar nature.<br />
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The game is far from perfect, there are bad things as well as things that could be improved but doesn't mean we have to bash everything to a pulp. The worst part is that almost of the bad things people point out aren't horrible enough to be labeled as "bad", they're just small quirks or preferences, maybe I'll make a post about disappointing things I saw in GW2.<br />
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That's it for today, hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-41729735269562917352012-05-10T05:05:00.000+01:002012-05-10T09:19:58.360+01:00Guild Wars 2: stress test<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6LRiy5ah-lY/Tx7l8RYleiI/AAAAAAAAAKM/IAOPPjul0qU/s1600/gw2logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6LRiy5ah-lY/Tx7l8RYleiI/AAAAAAAAAKM/IAOPPjul0qU/s320/gw2logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Great news for the fans, next Monday(14th of May) the servers will open briefly(about 7 hours) for a "important stress test", only the players who pre-purchase can participate and there are no specifics of what exactly they want us to test, but they said it is possible for us to encounter stability issues.<br />
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Hopefully they are optimizing the graphics engine to spread the load from the CPU to the graphics card, because last beta-weekend I had to set my game to the lowest settings to play in the Mists("world vs world vs world" pvp) due to the amount of players and special effects on the screen.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-86120787675152477222012-05-08T04:48:00.001+01:002012-05-08T04:48:13.025+01:00Guild Wars 2 Beta: character creation Last weekend was the GW2 "open beta" and everyone was excited about it, I even planned to be extra lazy during that weekend so my desk was filled with energy drinks and my food supply was all easy-cooking stuff.<br />
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The first hours of the beta was a bit rough but from my experience, every time a game opens for the first time to a massive amount of players it is expected to the login server to have problems, as always a lot of people were crying everywhere from forums to facebook/tweeter. So i stopped trying to login since the system was being flooded. About 3-4 hours after the scheduled start, players where no longer spaming the login button so I was able to enter the game without much fuss.<br />
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As I created my first character, the first thing i had to choose was the race. Of the 3 currently available races the Humans were the most appealing, Charr and Norn are not bad but my alter-ego demanded something he could relate with. Humans even though they are a very common race in the MMO genre and tend to be bland, In Guild Wars 2 they are remarkably well done. The amount of facial customization is very good probably even too much for the average gamer, but the "cherry on top of the cake" is how good armor looks on them.<br />
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The last character choices are meant for roleplay and personal story, as a Human Ranger I needed to select which of the 5 gods was I blessed by, my social status(commoner, street rat or noble), my biggest regret("never joining the circus", "never met my parent" or "never found my lost sisters body"), my pet and my main characteristic.<br />
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The god you chose don't change the story in the first 20 levels, however since it's marked in the wiki as part of the personal storyline i chose the goddess of nature as it fits the theme of the Ranger profession, i am guessing it will come into play when we reach lvl 30 which is when we get our first elite skill.<br />
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I must say that I was hoping the pet choice would have a little impact in the Ranger storyline since it is an integral part of the profession, but in the end it feels like it just an annoying npc that follows you around and i felt no connection or empathy toward it.<br />
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That's it for today, next part will be focus on gameplay and first impressions... stay tuned!Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-56625366069392138262012-04-25T11:33:00.001+01:002012-04-25T11:33:13.914+01:00Guild Wars 2: Wants to beat World of Warcraft<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v8kHPqxLGUc/T5fNpKh2WaI/AAAAAAAAAPc/lkT8q2-uIPA/s1600/Guild_Wars_2_launcher.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v8kHPqxLGUc/T5fNpKh2WaI/AAAAAAAAAPc/lkT8q2-uIPA/s400/Guild_Wars_2_launcher.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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First a little history that some people might not know, Mike O'Brien the founder of ArenaNet, started this company in 2000 after leaving Blizzard(interesting isn't it?). Initially ArenaNet was called TriForge until it was acquired by NCsoft two years later.<br />
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After the success of the first Guild Wars they are back in full force.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Guild Wars beat all of our expectations and our company grew as we put
out four expansions and we came together as a team and learned how to
build content," - Mike O'Brien</blockquote>
After years of waiting Guild Wars 2 is finally at the door, and their aim has changed since the first one. They are no longer content with surviving the MMO market, no longer will they remain in WoW's shadow.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We’re in it to win it this time,...We were number two to World of Warcraft with Guild Wars, now we want to
beat them. We’ll be satisfied when the Guild Wars 2 is the most
successful MMO. I think we have something unique here and players are
going to see it and understand why dynamic events are a way better
content model than people have experienced before in online worlds.
Word-of-mouth will get people to understand that we really are doing
something new and different. The sky’s the limit once this game is out.
Online worlds have a networking effect. People will bring friends to
Guild Wars 2. We hope all the people who play the beta weekend will tell
their friends about it." - Mike O'Brien</blockquote>
It is indeed a bold claim but Guild Wars 2 certainly does have the capability for it, however he tried to soften the "WoW-killer" slogan by saying:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Nothing is going to kill WoW other than WoW. Games just don’t die...One MMO has been on the top of the heap for seven years now, but there’s
been a progression in the industry for other games being able to
attract more and more players. And we’re set to climb to the top."</blockquote>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aobpdA58YH4/T5fMjntzqcI/AAAAAAAAAPU/Z-CVEKFJabM/s1600/Guild_Wars_2_login_screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aobpdA58YH4/T5fMjntzqcI/AAAAAAAAAPU/Z-CVEKFJabM/s320/Guild_Wars_2_login_screen.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Now with only 2 days away from open-beta(on the 27th), it is time for us to be the judge. Will it meet out expectations? I'm sure it be great but we shouldn't raise our expectation to be too high, after all no game is perfect which is why most of us hop from game searching for one we can call home.<br />
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On a side note, its interesting how the game is coming out on the year of the dragon, with the dragon being the main theme of GW2 and how the open beta opens in weeked as the 7th year anniversary of the first GW.<br />
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I'm trying to setup a live stream in <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/sive0n">http://www.twitch.tv/sive0n</a>, hopefully i will be able to play the game while recording with my outdated CPU, though they have announced in the forum that GW2 is currently using more CPU than the Graphics card, which will more than likely be a bad thing in my case.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-57798942653246681262012-04-04T18:25:00.001+01:002012-04-04T18:25:47.518+01:00Guild Wars 2: what is it worth to you?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jTCwZ1V017U/T3qCNIJyk2I/AAAAAAAAAPE/Fo_IBygNTPQ/s1600/Guild-Wars-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jTCwZ1V017U/T3qCNIJyk2I/AAAAAAAAAPE/Fo_IBygNTPQ/s320/Guild-Wars-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
We already know how much Guild Wars 2 will cost, they have announced that it will have the same standard cost of a regular game where we live and with no monthly cost. This is the reason why games cost $60 in the USA cost €60 in Europe and a lot of people complain about this, it's not because of shipping costs like most have said, if that was truly the case then a digital version would not have the same 1-to-1 ratio conversion.<br />
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Back on topic, when we pay for a game regardless of the genre or if its Console/PC game we are paying for entertainment and/or stress release. So the game's worth depends not only on how much fun it is to you obviously, but it also depends on why we play, how we play the game and how much time we spend doing it.<br />
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One thing i like to do when I'm angry or frustrated is PvP,
and I think the 5v5 PvP in Guild Wars 2 will be great for this. The
lobby style quick-join is great when you don't have the patience to do
anything else, and the lack of an annoying healer that "fully heals
players when their are about to die" will do wonders for my sanity.<br />
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So just turn off your brain, go completely Hulk and smash some skulls,
preferably with some music. Its like that feeling you get when you are
really fatigued and you hit the shower, but for the brain.<br />
Entertainment is the most common reason to play games, just like going to an art gallery, watching TV/movie, listening to music or reading a book is a form of personal entertainment as they provide a way for you to have fun, in fact games nowadays such as Guild Wars 2 are all that and more.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/UPROkIV-Ssc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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In Guild Wars 2 we have amazingly beautiful scenarios which were literally hand painted, the sound is a masterpiece giving that additional boost we need to be fully immersed into the game, the music itself is nothing short of epic and it conveys the right feeling according to the zone you are in, the lore in the world of Tyria is vast, and the ability to create your own personal story through the choices you make will be even more exciting than reading a book. <br />
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With every thing we talked so far, all that's left to talk about is the amount of time we spend playing and the amount of content the game offers. If we look at an average game which has the same cost at release as Guild Wars 2, more than likely it will have less than 8h of gameplay and an additional 50h assuming it even has multiplayer, which will more then likely be limited to small maps with a few players and will get boring soon enough.<br />
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If all Guild Wars 2 needs to do is provide 60+ hours of entertainment to have a similar worth to other games, then that's a walk in the park for GW2, not only will it provide with at least several hundred hours of gameplay, it will do so with a massive community, official PvP tournaments, an engaging story, difficult challenges and a world that will make you wish you could do like in TRON and digitalise yourself into it.<br />
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So how much would you pay for all this? is it worth the current price?Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-40081154782479253852012-03-30T01:14:00.000+01:002012-03-31T03:13:40.666+01:00Guild Wars 2 - Released/Leaked Cash Shop info<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjok6xrKI-U/T3T6O-Ld-6I/AAAAAAAAANs/zFCw1jcqDJg/s1600/Guild+Wars+2+gem_gold_cash++shop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjok6xrKI-U/T3T6O-Ld-6I/AAAAAAAAANs/zFCw1jcqDJg/s320/Guild+Wars+2+gem_gold_cash++shop.png" width="280" /></a></div>
Recently Anet provided players with a glimpse explanation on the workings of microtransactions in GW2, in preparation for it's early beta testing during the last weekend. Naturally, a bit more information was leaked through the beta weekend about the cash shop elements and these has raised a lot of controversy and debate among the community. While I would like to remind my readers that these belong to a "early" testing on the beta, these items should still be able to provide players with a good idea of the in-game cash shop structure in general, with that in mind here are some of the shots that have been floating around the internet.<br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">How does it work?</span></u><br />
As we all know F2P games are funded by cash-shops, this much is no mystery to most gamers out there. In these type of shops you can only purchase stuff with a special type of in-game currency which requires real money.<br />
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Now lets explain how this works specifically in GW2. The special currency will be gems which like all currencies of the type can only be bought directly via real money, however it is not the only way to get them as there is also another way of acquiring them.<br />
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Gems have a uncommon characteristic, they can be traded with other players for Gold which is the standard currency in GW2, meaning any player can get them without paying real money providing there are players trading them<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wcihd1Z4aHw/T3Zh4_2KyII/AAAAAAAAAOU/jYO7ERs-aQA/s1600/Guild_Wars2_gem_market.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wcihd1Z4aHw/T3Zh4_2KyII/AAAAAAAAAOU/jYO7ERs-aQA/s320/Guild_Wars2_gem_market.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the above screenshot it shows a in-game market tracking feature on the standard value between gems and gold. What this means is that trading gems will work just like a real-life stock market where players can look at a value/time graph of the gems current worth and decide when the time is right to buy/sell them.<br />
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I foresee a lot of players keeping an eye in this since you could effectively make a in-game profit if use the old "buy-low, sell-high" technique. I'll also add that the current expected estimate is roughly 5-6$(4-5€) per 400 gems.<br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">Cash shop impacts</span></u><br />
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While it's still early to say anything too definitive, it's all too easy to unsettle a community whenever the cash shop is the talk in question. Throughout all this, Anet reaffirms their position in their philosophy of microtransactions on visual perks, services and time-saving conveniences.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PeofwCk6d18/T3ZjruDUcBI/AAAAAAAAAOc/Ws6P4334hac/s1600/Guild_Wars2_shop+items.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PeofwCk6d18/T3ZjruDUcBI/AAAAAAAAAOc/Ws6P4334hac/s320/Guild_Wars2_shop+items.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Available boosts</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As the Cash Shop images were leaked, I'm inclined to agree that they have stayed within the boundaries they set out for themselves. The game does not have a itemization advantage, nor does the faster leveling make a impact. These things I believe are crucial when referred to and influence what the cash shop can have to differentiate it between pay to win and simply pay because its nice or saves you some time while not giving you actual advantage over other players.<br />
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As the easiest example, having a buff that gives you additional 50% experience while killing monsters for a hour, that by itself isn't much and when in a game where your level is automatically adjusted in dungeons and pvp zones to match the others, actual advantage is almost nonexistent.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>The voiced concerns</u></span><br />
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The biggest concern with the cash shop for the community, surprisingly isn't the shop itself but the gem currency. While it's true that the ratio between actual real cash paying gem buyers, and those interested to get gems with in-game gold is expected to be abysmal, I don't think that it's such a issue as most seem to think it is.<br />
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As I refer again that most of the cash shop items are not in anyway crucial to gameplay, people who can't pay real cash for them might want some gems very badly for whatever use they intend, and yet its actually "normal" to consider that gems paid with real cash can hardly be compared with a virtual currency made in game, a point which I often find people forget as they complain about this issue.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--btCcq21gKQ/T3Zhv7nrI8I/AAAAAAAAAOM/Re2pmRjlTB4/s1600/Guild_Wars2_shop_style_items.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--btCcq21gKQ/T3Zhv7nrI8I/AAAAAAAAAOM/Re2pmRjlTB4/s200/Guild_Wars2_shop_style_items.png" width="186" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Style items</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Guild wars has always been a very player driven economy, if someone is willing to pay whatever price for the gems, it's still in the end, part of the economy. This as a taken example inspired from EVE online and their PLEX influenced economy, is a alternative way to bring income home to Anet for a game without monthly fee, instead of illegal gold sellers who infest beloved games with bots and spawn farming.<br />
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Also, taking GW1 as the first example where the cash shop with account services and costumes was made available, people who didn't pay real cash didn't even have the possibility to acquire this things, the existence of the gems raise controversy because it'll be a unknown factor how it will mold itself within the economy, but it's still a chance at these items for people who can't/won't afford them with real cash, and a convenient way for people with more money then play time to acquire in-game valuables, directly benefiting Anet and hopefully thwarting illegal activities.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Guild Wars - The game with the pioneer monthly-free plan</u></span><br />
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The existence of GW by itself was unique the moment they charged players for the game, but at the same time kept it monthly free with only a mild cash shop to support itself, this was so with GW1 and it will continue to be so with GW2 albeit with a slightly more varied cash shop.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Areanet explains</td></tr>
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Personally, I always loathed "free" mmos with a pay to win cash shop. Awhile back, I tried a much talked WoW clone called Allods Online... it was well made, had decent gameplay and "good" graphics comparable to World of Warcraft. As I had quit WoW around that time the much familiar gameplay was still relatively new and entertaining up until I reached the part where I discovered that the game was literally impossible to play in higher level areas without Incense buffs, a simple explanation is that it equaled your character's stats to the environment, allowing you to progress throughout higher level areas, what put me off was the literal way that they enforced this system.<br />
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I have tried games with cash shops that sold weapons and equipment but having to pay for a temporary buff to be able to play at all was new to me in the pay-to-win scene. My point with this is that even though GW has a cash shop some still mistake this as a pay-to-win game, while in fact nothing could be further from the truth. While the cash shop is obviously much more varied in it's selection of things to sell for other players, it's to be expected considering the game is operating at a much larger scale compared to it's predecessor, and yet Anet has done remarkably in keeping the shop and the game from crossing that thin line and becoming another pay-to-win environment.<br />
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<br />Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-2649205857735511912012-03-16T00:52:00.000+00:002012-03-16T01:05:26.243+00:00Blacklight: RetributionHello there, today I am going to review a game I have been playing on and off for the past few days, it's a free-to-play First Person Shooter named Blacklight: Retribution That's currently on open beta.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y42TITdR2rQ/T1_RdlxVa7I/AAAAAAAAALk/GDY5cRxYrqw/s1600/Blacklight-retribution-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y42TITdR2rQ/T1_RdlxVa7I/AAAAAAAAALk/GDY5cRxYrqw/s320/Blacklight-retribution-logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Before you start playing you should take a look at the game menu, even though it seems pretty straight forward it's not. Some menus are redundant while others are just not intuitive so I will try to explain in more detail during the review.<br />
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Let us start with the marketplace, obviously it's where you buy stuff such as gear, weapons and weapon parts(more on it later) however you can do the exact same thing from the customization menu, making it redundant since you have 2 ways of achieving the same thing with one slight difference. In the customization menu it will show how the item will affect your total stats while in the marketplace it will only show the item stats.<br />
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One thing I found confusing is the way the stats are shown in both the Customization and the marketplace. In the marketplace an item will show +10 recoil indicating that your weapon will have less kickback when shooting while in the customization it will actually reduce recoil by 10.<br />
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The customization menu is where you will change your gear and weapons. Gear-wise you have 3 slots which you can combine to your liking, some have more HP, other faster run speed or even faster energy gain for the VR. You also have a range of utility slots which depends on the armor you have, in these slots you can put items such as mines, grenades, visual-scramblers, etc. As for the weapons this is the greatest part of the game as you can tweak each to suit your playstyle:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OKS1cNMtE-s/T1_q2iRzRiI/AAAAAAAAAL0/D8RBF5BE40k/s1600/Blacklight_retribution_weapons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OKS1cNMtE-s/T1_q2iRzRiI/AAAAAAAAAL0/D8RBF5BE40k/s320/Blacklight_retribution_weapons.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>reload faster or carry more bullets per mag?</li>
<li>closed scope with a big zoom or just a sight that aims faster?</li>
<li>Stock that helps you control your recoil a bit better you one that increases the precision of each shot?</li>
<li>a silencer or a longer barrel that increases your effective range?</li>
</ul>
...you choose.<br />
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Blacklight gameplay feels very similar to Battlefield as you sprint around from cover to cover in moderately large map, players as they level up will unlock backpacks which will let them fulfill certain roles in a team such as medic, dropping supplies or fixing the robots.<br />
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A particular unique feature of this game is the VR, yes it is Virtual Reality. VR allows players to enhance their vision to locate friendlies, enemies and other points of interest such as mines and weak-spots in the Robots Heavy-Armor. While using the VR you can not attack and it only works for a few seconds after which you have to wait for your energy to replenish, plus there are devices that counter the VR by cloaking nearby players from the VR or creating a dummy that will show in the VR.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nbgKVjWPIio/T1_rAQQCJRI/AAAAAAAAAL8/zcAFry6Qz1w/s1600/Blacklight_retribution_HVR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nbgKVjWPIio/T1_rAQQCJRI/AAAAAAAAAL8/zcAFry6Qz1w/s320/Blacklight_retribution_HVR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HVR in action</td></tr>
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There are 4 game modes, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Domination and King of the Hill. While DM and TDM are self explanatory in DOM you have three fixed locations where you must Hack/Capture a device and keep it as long as you can to gain points overtime first team to get 1000 wins. KOTH consists on capturing a randomly activated location by standing near it for some time, first team to get 4 points wins the match.<br />
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One thing I find disappointing in the game is the lack of strategy, sure we wouldn't expect any strategy in a Deathmatch but the same seems to apply to all other modes, since the respawn locations are not fixed its not uncommon to get killed from behind when 5 sec ago there was no one there. This gives the maps a feel that regardless of the modes they are just a big arena.<br />
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Overall the game has interesting concepts and I believe it is worthy enough for you guys to give it a try, specially if you enjoy playing FPS just to kill time... or other players.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-9361271152630971382012-03-14T00:42:00.002+00:002012-03-14T00:48:05.900+00:00Guild Wars 2: Pre-order Great News for the Guild Wars 2 fans, information has been released about the contents of both the Standard and the Collectors Edition of the game. The Pre-Oder according to Areanet will be available starting April 10th, as usual doing so will bring small perks such as:<br />
<ul>
<li>Access: to all beta events</li>
<li>Access: 3 days head-start. (start playing 3 days before launch)</li>
<li>item: Hero's Band (+2 to all stats)</li>
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Beyond the above you will get the following in-game bonuses if you buy the the Deluxe or Collectors Edition:<br />
<ul>
<li>Unique Elite skill that summons a pet to your aid for a brief duration.</li>
<li>A non-combat miniature pet of a known hero(Rytlock) to follow you around in your journey.</li>
<li>Limited duration/use items: pet banker(5 days), Glory boost and Influence boost scroll.</li>
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One thing i have to say is that the physical items included in the Collector's Edition is one of the best i have seen offered in any game in the past, it just shows the quality and commitment that have been placed in making Guild Wars 2.<br />
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The game cost varies slightly depending on which retailer you get it from but it will be around $150 for the massive collectors edition, $80 for the Digital Deluxe and $60 for the Digital Standard.<br />
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On a personal note i feel that the prices are more than acceptable for a one-time-fee game, however i dislike that they are giving limited duration/use items with the Deluxe Edition as i would rather have something unique and everlasting.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-42202271194196256682012-02-26T10:45:00.000+00:002012-02-28T16:18:44.937+00:00Aion: closed beta journey (part 2)Be sure to read the first part of this saga on <a href="http://hivegamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/aion-closed-beta-journey-beginning.html">Aion: closed beta journey (The Beginning).</a> <br />
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Finally I've finished the starting zone, don't get me wrong it is beautiful and i am sure that for a new player it might be awesome to explore it all and read the lore, but since I've already done it before I did what most players tend to do now-a-days like skipping cinematics, accepting the quests without reading, etc... <br />
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Once you hit level 9 you should already have a couple of titles which you gain from completing specific missions, these titles go beyond bragging rights as they give stats as well. In my opinion this feature is unwelcomed simply because as a player feel compelled to use the title that provides best stats instead of the one i like the most or none at all which is what i usually do in MMOs.<br />
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After recovering part of your memory you will be asked to "remember" your class, this is the point where you will choose your specialization and go for the first time to Sanctum, the main city of the Elyos. Here you will find several quests which will help you navigate in this great city however, this part even though useful for newcomers is extremely boring. You have finally become the class you wanted and then you have a ton of "talk to X" quests that take you in a tour of the city when you are dieing to try out the new skills.<br />
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At this point you will be introduced to the pet system, which is a new addition from last time i played and something i have learned to hate with a passion. I have noting against people who like to have cute pets following but Aion goes a bit beyond that.<br />
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Pets not only follow you around which for me is annoying enough but they also have a looping animation and sound when you attack something, this depending on the pet can be nerve racking. I could avoid this by simply not having a pet but here is the twist, if you give him some attention(every 10 min) you will gain some coins according to your level which you can trade for some decent gear, not only that some more expensive pets can do stuff like carrying items for you, applying item buff automatically or just giving you random items when fed, so yeah now just like the titles i feel forced to have this annoying pet around.<br />
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Next you go to Verteron city where you will remain at least to lvl 19 which depending how fast you level can be from one to four days, here you will learn to use your wings and will most likely feel disappointed when you see that you can't use it all the time nor can you use it everywhere, the time limit will increase when you buy new wings(which is weird) but you are only allowed to fly in certain areas, most of the time you can only use them to glide as you bonce across small inclinations on the floor which is ridiculous.<br />
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Verteron has three themes(a desert, a forest and a contaminated area) which is good to counter the visual dullness however the change of scenario is too abrupt, you can have this green beautiful forest behind you and a orange desolated area in front of you.<br />
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As you are questing you will see a lot of gathering quests which requires you to keep up the gathering level but this is nothing but a waste of time if you are trying to level-up fast as the time spent to continuously level the gathering isn't worth the little XP the quests give.<br />
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Beta is not over and we just have to wait until 28th of February which is when Aion becomes officially free-to-play.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-77340582263600747572012-02-22T15:18:00.000+00:002012-02-24T12:19:59.991+00:00Guild Wars 2: Beta signup Finally the moment the fans have been waiting for has arrived. Starting today Areanet will be receiving applications for beta testers, however this will only last 48 hours so be sure to do it quickly.<br />
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I hope i will be have the honor of being selected for the upcoming beta, as a MMO and more importantly a GW player i am very excited with this news, however since the NDA will still be applied even if i enter the beta i can not talk about it.<br />
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Its a small price to pay in order to gain early access to the game before launch but in the end, Betas are meant for us to help the developers and not for our enjoyment, however that doesn't mean i wont savor every moment of it.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-50277373015319916572012-02-17T19:05:00.000+00:002012-02-26T10:49:09.965+00:00Aion: closed beta journey (The Beginning)As i prepare to enter the world of Atreia i find my self asking that one question every one must be faced with, "which class/race shall i play?".<br />
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Choosing a race was a no-brainer for me, it had to be the Elyos because even though the Asmodians look
more badass i dislike some features they have such as the tail and the
claws. When i put on some awesome armor i want it to look great and having claws instead of some cool looking boots ruins it for me.<br />
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When the original Aion was launched my first choice was a Ranger because i have a small fascination with bows, but since i have to play again from the start i might as well give it a try with a different perspective/gameplay.<br />
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My initial thought was the Spirit Master, running around with cool pets, summoning lightning balls to hit my target and having some of control over opponents seamed like something i would enjoy. However i spent most of my Aion time playing with my girlfriend which happened to play with a Spirit Master, therefore i have a good understanding of how the gameplay is like. So i thought i should go with something i never actually played with. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nnJWgw886Hg/TzBKKupT0pI/AAAAAAAAAKs/K-aBwLhP7cc/s1600/chanter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nnJWgw886Hg/TzBKKupT0pI/AAAAAAAAAKs/K-aBwLhP7cc/s1600/chanter.jpg" /></a>Of all available classes most i knew to some degree because i had fought them in the past. The first rule of PvP "know your enemy", if you can foresee what he will do a you can try to prevent it. How ever i somehow didn't had any memory of fighting any Chanter so i got curious about it. The closest i ever got to a chanter was the time i played a Prophet in Lineage 2, back then it was interesting to have the best buffs and be able to dual-wield(wish Chanters could do it too) with awesome attack speed... and so i decided to try the Chanter.<br />
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As an Elyos the beginning is played for the first 10 levels in Poeta, it is a beautiful area to play however it becomes rather dull because you will be playing the basic class(priest in my case) of your choice. This zone functions as a tutorial area and for you to get acquainted to the most basic game mechanics.<br />
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From previous experience the game has some interesting lore if you are into such thing, however the beginning is a bit of a cliche... you start as a recruit with amnesia and you will go around helping the locals while slowly regaining your lost memories.<br />
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Quests in this game are fairly typical consisting of "kill x mobs","get xx items from mob Y" and "talk to W" however there are some gathering quests as well (ex:collect 10 iron) and you also get a little XP each time you gather something, but it does not come close to the XP gained from a mob and the quest rewards are lacking.<br />
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Speaking of gathering reminds me of one thing i hate in this new "free-to-play" model. Apparently basic free accounts can NOT trade with players, can NOT gather more than 50 times per day and have NO access to the Auction House, thankfully beta testers and old players automatically gain Veteran status which have no such limits.<br />
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Hope you enjoyed the reading, I will do an update soon as beta continues!<br />
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Update: check out the continuation on <a href="http://hivegamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/aion-closed-beta-journey.html">Aion: closed beta journey (part 2)</a>Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-52089696741550009582012-02-15T00:42:00.000+00:002012-02-15T00:42:09.434+00:00Guild Wars 2: Hall of MonumentsToday I would like to talk about one of the most anticipated games for the season *queue superman music* Guild Wars 2. It isn't a big surprise for me that a good number of people who wait eagerly for Guild Wars 2, doesn't know about the Hall of Monuments, or even how it works.<br />
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Basically, the achievements you accomplish and add to the Hall of Monuments within Guild Wars will let your Guild Wars 2 Characters inherit a variety of rewards ranging from equipment, weapons, pets, decorative and titles. You can see a demo and a list of the rewards in this link <a href="http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/#page=main&details=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Playing Guild Wars....<br />
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It's not necessary to play GW to be able to enjoy Guild Wars 2, but those who do will get a different perspective when they play GW2, because everything is related lore-wise...while new players can get to know the GW2 world as it is, veteran players will have a different and more in-depth understanding of what happened to the GW world 250 years into the future. The important factor to weight in when considering playing GW, is whether the player accepts the gameplay as it is very different, and if he/she has any interest in the lore or the exclusive items to be gained by playing. There is a <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/freetrial/" target="_blank">free trial</a> for testing the gameplay to those who want to check GW out.<br />
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Hall of Monuments<br />
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The Hall of Monuments is a room located in the Eye of the North expansion, players need to go there to add the achievements they have earned in-game, so that it registers to the HoM calculator linked above, these achievements give the player points and these points unlock unique items and titles for their Guild Wars 2 account. Both the achievements and unlocked items are account based, so there is no need to worry about individual characters. There are a total of 50 points possible, with the first 30 points rewarding weapons, armor, and vanity items. In addition, unique titles are unlocked at every 5th point (5,10,15...50).<br />
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Doable for new players and how many points to get<br />
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It has already been confirmed that players can still work towards the rewards even after GW2 has been released, depending on how many points and how much time a player intends to spend in GW, it varies only in how long it will take someone to get there. The first 30 points or less to get the items and pets is the standard set goal for most players, and it is definitely doable without much grinding. In fact, around 10-15 points can be gained by just going through the regular mission campaigns of all expansions. The true challenge starts from 31 to 50, where it will require a good number of grinding, and for the player to go through the Hard Mode challenges of the game for the rest of the achievements. <br />
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Bottom line, I find this to be a great feature, those who never gave up on GW may have had all the 50 points even before the HoM came out, but it breathed new life to a game that had stopped releasing expansions, giving much more meaning to actually accomplishing the achievements and something to keep eager GW2 players busy while we wait!Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-65759307128740469582012-01-29T13:58:00.002+00:002012-01-29T14:28:23.090+00:00Aion: closed beta journey Aion did a step back, it reverted to beta stage due to the change of publisher in Europe and to the migration of their model from subscription to free-to-play. I was never a fan of the new European publisher (<a href="http://corporate.gameforge.com/en/products/games/" target="_blank">GameForge</a>), in fact, i hate every single game they have but that's mostly because of their choice of games, not their quality of service.<br />
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Anyway... I got my hand on a beta key and I have been playing Aion for 2 day now. So far I can testify the stability of the server, but then again this is a closed beta so the number of players around is only a fraction of what it will be on relaunch, hopefully they will have this covered by then.<br />
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I had however some problems with GameForge's new game launcher. While downloading the game it consistently stopped at 19% annoying the living hell out of me. The error was always the same and prompted me to check my firewall and ISP because it could not access the file for download. Here's a crazy idea, if it was a firewall/ISP problem I wouldn't have the first 19% downloaded now would I? The worst part was that after restarting the download, it had to recheck the integrity of all the files which takes some time, so I just stopped trying.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GX5kWPa4yp4/TyUjAlRaZBI/AAAAAAAAAKc/gHUCWg9wmCc/s1600/aion_launcher.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GX5kWPa4yp4/TyUjAlRaZBI/AAAAAAAAAKc/gHUCWg9wmCc/s200/aion_launcher.png" width="200" /></a> Later that day I decided to give it another shot and it no longer gave the error... I guess it wasn't my problem after all *rolleyes*... however, the launcher would occasionally stop downloading from the server and only use torrent connections, meaning it would just sit there uploading with little to no download. So I had to go to the preferences and disable the torrent mode(and restart the launcher... again), everything went fine from that point on.<br />
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About the game itself, little is new for me so far because I played the game back on the original launch, they are going to add some late game content soon with the 3.0 major patch, not sure if it will be implemented with the relaunch but it will be sometime around that date.<br />
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Remember to follow so you can check the next article about my journey into Aion universe.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-51157378399746141872012-01-24T18:49:00.003+00:002012-01-24T20:05:41.183+00:00Guild Wars 2: open beta announced! Today is the 24th of January 2012, the first day of year of the Dragon according to Chinese calendar which coincidentally is the mascot of Guild Wars 2, because of this Areanet founder Mike O'Brien took the opportunity to reveal their until now "secret beta plan".<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6LRiy5ah-lY/Tx7l8RYleiI/AAAAAAAAAKM/IAOPPjul0qU/s1600/gw2logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6LRiy5ah-lY/Tx7l8RYleiI/AAAAAAAAAKM/IAOPPjul0qU/s320/gw2logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
According to O'Brien they plan to begin spreading beta invitation exclusively to the members of the press starting sometime next month. The invitation will be severely expanded over the course of the next couple of months(March and April) allowing players to finally have a taste of their favorite game.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We recently finished our first closed beta test, and we’re now ready to
hold progressively larger events. In February we’ll invite select press
to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we’ll
aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of
you will have a chance to participate. And of course, this all leads to
the release of <i>Guild Wars 2</i> later this year.</blockquote>
The launch day is still classified as "TBA"(To be Announced), but with this information some companies such as <a href="http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/guild-wars-2/1217019p1.html">GameSpy</a> think its is possible to speculate that Guild Wars 2 release date will happen somewhere around June.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6422412949749217135.post-59425600078987007032012-01-16T03:32:00.001+00:002012-01-16T03:41:50.282+00:00Anno 2070: A simple guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3plPckj8oZM/TxOVIcKmibI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/U3Qjm5hmqRM/s1600/anno_2070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3plPckj8oZM/TxOVIcKmibI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/U3Qjm5hmqRM/s320/anno_2070.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
Like the previous Anno titles somethings have not changed, all of them have a steep learning curve and neither of them really give you a good understanding of how things work. This is off putting for most players, specially the younger generation where most of them seem to lack the ability to figure things out for themselves...but i digress...<br />
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Continuing with the topic... when you start a colony a good rule of thumb is to never mix industry with
housing nor mixing houses within different factions. Its not because
of the pollution nor will they start riots against each other or anything
like that which you might have seen in other games, its simply because
of space.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HCXMfb1OVa4/TxOVHD4h0oI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/8pqZtFogA6k/s1600/anno_2070_city_plan.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HCXMfb1OVa4/TxOVHD4h0oI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/8pqZtFogA6k/s200/anno_2070_city_plan.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A simple city plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Houses can only be built near community centers
and industry buildings need to be near a storehouse, furthermore
different populations have different needs. For example Techs need to be
near a Lab while Ecos need to have theater nearby. So if you start
mixing things up you will be forcing yourself to add other required
buildings within the same area thus reducing your already very limited
space. <br />
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One thing you might find helpful if you are low on resources is denying the Ascention Rights in the City Center, all this does is stop houses from automatically upgrading themselves, since upgrading a house costs usually tools and building materials, you may need to allocate them into some industry first specially if you are moving into a fresh island with a single ship and limited resources.<br />
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One thing i found myself curious about was the buildings that have a secondary placement such as a farmhouse. Once you place your farmhouse you are required to build fields around it, the more field you have the better it's efficiency, so the question is "if i put more then the required fields will it get a higher percentage?" It should but that does not happen.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sFYbjuBHBDU/TxOXnooBv0I/AAAAAAAAAKE/SAJvMqaXSpU/s1600/anno_2070_corridor_layout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sFYbjuBHBDU/TxOXnooBv0I/AAAAAAAAAKE/SAJvMqaXSpU/s320/anno_2070_corridor_layout.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same plan in city view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Later in the game when you see that you do not want to expand anymore, some buildings may become useless and others less required. For example in the beginning you will need lots of tools and building materials but once your houses are all set and you are only focusing in building a fleet, it then becomes useless so you can just stop producing all together, lowering your environmental pollution and using that iron for other ventures such as ammunition.<br />
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This was a very basic guide so some people new to this genre know where to begin. This article can be extended to a part 2 depending on the viewers choice, so drop me a line and tell me what you think about this starters guide.Siveonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10100092863841419632noreply@blogger.com2