Thank goodness

I think the Christina Hendricks frenzy has finally died down, I only had a couple hundred hits the other day as opposed to the 8,000 I had at the peak. As cool as it was to see those high numbers for a bit, it actually led me to more dismay than elation. I knew they weren’t “real”, as in, they weren’t people interested in the content of my posts, or the greater community of gamers. It was some mere happenstance of preferential iconography that enticed the hordes to make my corner of networked computers a pit stop on their feverish hunt for the latest popular gossip.

With the settling of visitors to the status quo, I’m happy to return to the topic du jour: MMOs.

I got to play WAR for maybe an hour last night, and I surprisingly spent my entire time out in ORvR. It was a group plus spare of guildies, filled in with friends and alliance members. We quickly found us facing an interesting situation that happens far too rarely: only one pairing was open for contention. Order had locked the Empire/Chaos pairing and Destruction had done the same to the Elven one, warfare descended upon the oft-overlooked Dwarven/Greenskin lands, and Kadrin Valley in specific.

Video: How to Play with a Zerg

Just a quickie for you boys and girls.

No, we’re not going to help you

How do I know that the Shadow Warrior is not getting any attention in the balance department anytime soon? This is how.

I’m not angry at Andy, or any of the other fine deliverers of information that we find on the forums. They’re all just doing their job. I am frustrated that they won’t even deliver news on their intent and direction. The Shadow Warrior community needs something more than the canned response, “We continually look at all classes and are constantly performing balance adjustments.”. They need something a little more concrete and definite. “Yes, we recognize the limitations and concerns of the community. We have criteria for determining adjustments and balance changes. The reason we have not addressed the issues presented so far are as follows:”. I think Mythic could earn some serious SW fanboi love if they did that.

This is a more general gaming blog with a heavy focus on WAR for now. My days of constantly pioneering the Shadow Warrior class are long gone. It’s too much work, and took far too much energy. Plus, I’m happily playing my Knight now, and am not as up to date on the issues the community faces in a practical sense. I try to keep abreast of it all, for situations like this, but nothing beats first-hand play time. Anyway, I hope for SW changes, but do not forsee them at all, in any reasonable amount of time (fourth quarter at the earliest if I were a betting man).

Good luck Shadow Warriors, you are more stalwart and persistent than I.

No dragons allowed

But you can stay in your dungeon.

This is a ridiculous ruling. It’s limiting imagination, and removing an outlet for people in prison. I’m not one of those people who think prisoner’s should have a lot of the amenities they do have (cable TV for starters), but I accept that people in prison need some type of outlet to keep them from going nuts. If letting them read books distracts them, I don’t see how you can single out one group of them. Unless an inmate is asking for the latest copy of, “Escaping from Jail for Dummies”, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. “Rationally related” my ass.

What is Good?

I’m not asking the question from a moral standpoint. I’m not looking for what you think is right or wrong, and should I help that old lady get her wheel chair loaded into the trunk of her car at the market. No, the more accurate question would be, “What does it mean to perform well?”. In this instance that question would have a few letters tagged on as a qualifier. “In an MMO”. You hear it all the time in MMOs, particularly games like WAR. “So-and-so is good.” “X is so much better than Y.” “LoL, he’s terribad!” So-on, and so forth. So, by what stick do you measure this undefined, non-quantifiable term?

From my outlook, the quality of a person’s performance cannot be evaluated without first acknowledging the goal that the performance is directed at. I could have the highest level of twitch skills, and a reaction time measure in nano-seconds, but if I’m playing a turn-based video game, that won’t help me at all. So, this leads me to see two necessary points that need to be held in mind while going forward with this discussion:

WAR: 1.3.4 Preview

You can read it here.

The most tangible news in the mix is concerning the weapons. Not purchased via medallions/crests, but with a new system through scenarios. SQUEEEE!!! My favorite part of the game currently, and the thing I take part the most in. We have no real ideas what the system will be, or how it will behave, but it’s coming. So, while this post doesn’t contain a whole lot of information, it has some, and that’s good.

I’d love to see Mythic get back to communicating with the player base like they were in the Fall of 2008. There doesn’t need to be a lot of quality content in the updates, just a line here or there to say they are aware, they are working, and they care. The player base is the mob, and the mob is fickle. Placate them, entertain them, and they will be yours.

Shut up, I can use lines from Gladiator if I want to!

Also, this whole thread goes on for a ways, and Andy seemed to be fairly active in it. My favorite back and forth was this tidbit.

• Shuguard: does this mean thunder valley is scrapped? hurray
• Andy: Maayyyyybe 

 

Of Underdogs, Kings, Vultures, and Colossi

Believe it or not, this is a "King Vulture"

I don’t know if the plural of Colossus is actually Colossi, but Colossuses just sounded retarded, so I’m going for it.

The weekend was an intense one in the world of Warhammer on the Gorfang server. I knew there was a buzz in the air every time I played. It seemed as if zones were flipping for us more quickly, and Order was running over opposition every time they ran into them. Zergs of Order, surfing their way around the world, destro serving as nothing more than a speed-bumb on their march to the city (mixed metaphors are totally awesome when intentional). The new underdog is working decently, if the intent is to try to even out both sides access to the city, and let the underdogs feel like they can make a difference too. The boon to the losers is really noticeable at two points. Once two points are reached, Order on Gorfang really picks up its pace.

That said, I really wish that the cities weren’t being attacked with the frequency that they are. It seems to me like the system is still a bit broken or working in a manner different from what was originally proposed. I was under the impression that the underdog points were only supposed to be assigned when a city was actually captured, i.e. the invaders reach Stage 2. Currently, UG points are assigned on every invasion, which happens multiple times a day. In practice, this is working out well by giving both sides a great way to see the other’s city, but whenever Forts get reintroduced (or some other slow-down method), the system is probably going to have a far less impact. I eagerly look forward to that day. I also look forward to Warlord PQs in Inevitable City not being completely ridiculous and more comparable to the ones in Altdorf.

Just guessing…

But Christina Hendricks must have won an award or something recently. 5,500 page views in the last two days, when weekends are usually the slowest of them all. The bulk of this traffic has been to my gender-bender post, and the highest search that got people here has been this lovely red-heads name. A little bit of me feels dirty and like I didn’t earn this. I also know that the people looking for my favorite red-head aren’t going to stick around to read this blog, and the numbers are completely artificially inflated, so I don’t care, and just enjoy the ego-stroke. It should be noted, that I am not too shameless to be above some attention whoring myself.

We’re Not Friends

We are not pals. Or buds. Or compadres.

I am not your chief, your champ, your guy, or your friend.

Calling someone this in a message, whom you do not know from the stranger down the street, is a sure-fired way to instantly make them dislike you. Just because we both play on the same server, doesn’t mean I even like you. Don’t use these terms.

God, I’m angry lately. So close to freedom. The confinement is getting to me!

He is a Fucking Genius

Best idea ever.