Lowtotem.com >> I Like WARHAMMER

Quick post of my intial thoughts on Warhammer up over at the new site.

Post Preview:  WARHAMMER is pretty fun.

Braid Thoughts

I’ve posted my thoughts on Braid over at the new site (LowTotem.com):

http://lowtotem.com/site/2008/09/01/quick-review-braid/

Please check it out!

ZOMG WARHAMMER!!!!

This isn’t really a post about Warhammer news or anything.

So I guess the Warhammer NDA has been lifted. I was kind of hoping it’d be like opening the floodgates on Warhammer info, yet pretty much all the sites I turn to for MMO news/opinions are pretty silent. The majority of the posts are simply “NDA HAS BEEN LIFTED!” but no actual news/impressions/thoughts/concerns. So I guess I’d just add myself to the list of people posting that the NDA has been lifted.

GUYS THE NDA HAS BEEN LIFTED! LET THE INTERNET PIPES OVERFLOW WITH THE NECTAR OF INFORMATION.

I had a bunch of thoughts on PVP at this point. But I figured I’d save them for a future post I had planned on PVP theories and stuff. Mostly, I’m excited about RvR in WARHAMMER. I never played DAoC, and I’ve heard mixed reviews of that game, but it “sounds” cool.

I’m trying not to get too excited, because City of Heroes, Vanguard, Final Fantasy XI, Fury, Age of Conan, Hellgate London, RF Online, Guild Wars, and Star Wars Galaxies all “sounded” cool too. And I bought all of those. And I don’t play those games. ((Unfunny and costly story – I’ve got a 10 month veteran rewards for Vanguard even though I never played that game for more than 15 minutes.)

So yeah, here’s to hoping.

Blizzcon, Community and In Game Goals

Yesterday, I said I felt bad for people who couldn’t get tickets to Blizzcon. But, they really know how take things to a ‘HO NUTHA LEVEL.

It’s reached a point where people are overreacting about this whole situation. There are multiple “F**K U BLIZZ” threads. There are multiple, “Let’s take legal action against BLIZZARD!” threads. Everyone is posting their sob story about how Blizzard ruined their Christmas because all they wanted in the world was a little peace, hope, and Blizzcon “goodies.”

Reading the forums, most threads come across as some dude who just found out his girlfriend was cheating on him. Nearly every thread I saw last night was titled something like “Blizzard, we need to talk,” or “Blizzard, I’m so hurt and disappointed.”

And of course, this means everyone who did get a ticket has to act like the dick new boyfriend. “Tough luck, should have tried harder.” “Better luck next year, CHUMP” “Don’t worry, I’m gonna take REAL good care of Blizzard at the con this year. Maybe I’ll send you a postcard.”

And of course, the reason most people are disappointed is they aren’t getting free crap. “Blizzard, I’m a cancer survivor, and the only thing that kept me going was the hope that I would see my next Blizzcon and get a goody bag. But now . . . I don’t have anything left in me.” No joke.

Challenging Games and Horror Movies

Horror movies don’t scare me. Horror games even less so.

I finally got around to watching The Orphanage (El Orfanato) the other night. It’s not a “horror” movie per-say, at least not the type of horror movie that’s been released lately. It shares a lot with Guillermo Del Toro’s films (rightfully so, since he produced The Orphanage), combining elements of The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth.

There’s very little blood or gore. There are no monsters or psycho killers. But there were a couple of moments where I said to myself, “wow, this will haunt my nightmares.”

I really sat down and started to think about what scares me. I guess as you grow up, you are more scared by situations and ideas rather than things or people.

Then I thought about video games. And I thought about the failure of video games to capture those kinds of “scary” moments. I don’t really understand why I fail to have emotional moments in games. The truly “scary” movies are ones that make me confront a hard decision, or force me to imagine myself in a situation where I’m truly alone. Yet in games, I’m not “imagining” I’m in the game, I’m actually a part of the world. I’m controlling a character. Yet games continue to fail to engage me.

The WowArmory Meta-Game

Sometimes when I get bored, I search wowarmory.com for fun.

First I do the stalker thing and look up friends/players I’ve lost contact with. If the last updated is recent, I might logon to say hello. The last time I did this, it was to contact my former manager to ask if I could use him as a job reference.

Then, I look up the names of my own characters, to see how many other players have the same name as me. It makes me feel good to know that I’m the only person IN THE WORLD using the name of my main. (All three entries for my main are me). It is discouraging to know that my alt warrior I never play anymore has a name used by 112 other people .

Then I just start typing random names. For example, there are more Kurt Vonnegut fans than I expected. Charles Bukowski is also well represented in the WoWiverse . How about John Fante? Suprisingly more than I would expect. No question George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway are pretty popular. But even more popular than street fight legend Kimbo Slice? Apparently so.

Sadly, 1988 National League Rookie of the Year and Rec Specs icon Chris Sabo’s WoW presence is underwhelming at best. Former Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey has yet to establish a WoW presence. And Mike Tyson’s legacy as champion will be forever enshrined with this touching WoW tribute (one of those is my character).

In the political arena, Barack Obama proves his appeal, sizing a large block of the WoW demographic. But he just might yet have his hands full with likely contender John McCain . Meanwhile, current president George W. Bush struggles to garner support among Azerothians.

Paladin Update – HOLY PVP HEALING, BATMAN!

Got sick so I didn’t work. Played some WoW. I actually like my job, so this was kind of lame, but gave me an opportunity to GSD.

I hit 68 running Slave Pens and Underbog. I decided to respect as a SHOCKADIN for some HOLY LIGHT HEALIN, DAWG. My current spec is THIS with the next 2 points going to Eye for an Eye and Sanctity Aura. I’m sitting at about 400 spellpower and 500 healing (with Holy Guidance) and while it’s pretty low, I really love this build. I spent the majority of the day healing in Battlegrounds, and while I had to deal with some idiots, it was fun to play as a PVP healer. Putting talent points into Retribution instead of Protection means this isn’t the ideal PVP healer build (you miss out on a lot of utility talents like Blessing of Kings) but it means I can heal pretty effectively and still do some decent damage.

Keeping Motivated – Paladin Update 66 and 1/4

As the title of this post implies, I’m currently ¼ of the way through 66. I haven’t played at all this week, save for about an hour and 30 minutes last night. It hasn’t’ been an issue with time, either.

One of the central issues in my life, and this extends to WoW, is getting motivated to do things. In a sick and pathetic way, WoW is one of the few “hobbies” I’ve kept up for an extended period of time. The key to this, I think, is making sure I don’t take this game too seriously.

Over the past few days, WoW started feeling like my second job. So I had to take a couple of days off from playing.

The key to keeping motivated is to always remember the big picture goal, while at the same time re-evaluating and updating your smaller goals. My big picture goal is hitting 70, but in doing so, I need to build an infrastructure for end-game success. This means, learning to play my class effectively, building a network of in-game friends, and getting sufficiently geared. This all sounds pretty sad and pathetic, but it’s true. The best players in this game aren’t just skilled players . . . they also have a network of people they can rely on for support.

Scarlet Monastery – Where Dreams Come True

I first solo’d Scarlet Monastery at level 38. It’s not something I recommend, as it’s much easier and more efficient for players to level through questing, especially with the amount of XP you receive from quests in “new” Azeroth. It’s not easy, and you can really only solo the first sections of Library and Armory. Cathedral is too hard at this level. Graveyard might be doable, but I never ran it.

First off, at level 38, you need to be prot spec, of course. I believe THIS was my build. The key talents are Reckoning, Redoubt, Blessing of Sanctuary, and Improved Righteous Fury. Important to note is that the tool-tip for Righteous Fury is broken and does not update when you put points into Improved RF. This might freak you out because you feel like you just wasted 3 talent points, but it’s there.

It’s been a long time, so I can’t give specific gear info. At this point, I had level 70s running me through instances, so a lot of my gear was blue mail items from various instances. As long as you have decent stamina though, you should be okay. In addition, a quick 1H sword and shield is a must. Aim for a 2.00 speed sword. Also, you ABSOLUTELY need a shield spike. If you can afford it, throw a thorium shield spike. With redoubt up, you will be doing a lot of blocking, so you want to be doing additional damage from that as well.

Keep in mind that I play as a blood elf, which gives me access to Arcane Torrent. Arcane Torrent is INVALUABLE as a prot pally, because basically your only interrupt is Hammer of Justice on a 1 minute cooldown. There are a lot of healers in SM so it might be impossible to run this as alliance at this point.

At this point, we zone into the instance.

Paladin Update – 66 and an EPIC MOUNT

I didn’t think I could do it. Time was against me as I raced through the place that had become known as the “Blood Furnace.” But through my unwavering faith in the Light, I brought Judgment to the corrupted. And I also hit 66. Ding.

I manage to hit my goal this weekend of cracking level 66. I was really surprised, since I didn’t even play Sunday. I also managed to FINALLY complete my EPIC MOUNT quest (which couldn’t have been done without the help of a fellow Paladin—a level 70 protection spec pally who’s single handed decimation of UD Strat was inspiring.)

Friday, I didn’t play much. I caught a showing of THE DARK KNIGHT (really good) with some friends. I got home really late, but I don’t sleep weekends, so I played a couple of hours. I actually ran Ramparts with a group! SHOCKING! Its pretty much all I did that night.

I’ve had never actually run Ramparts, and I figured I’d finish up the quest for the Shoulders. At 64, I was pretty high level for the instance. The rest of our group was about 60-61, with a 61 druid tank and a 61 druid healer. I got a little nervous when I took a look at the Druid tank’s gear, but he did a great job. We did wipe once due to an errant pull, but it wasn’t really a problem.