Through the haze of Hydrocodon

I’m coming to you with a proclamation: Shadow Warriors bring the bomb! I’ve had bronchitis and a sinus infection the last couple of days, but I still got to be a part of a pretty decent city instance yesterday. People may say otherwise, but the Shadow Warrior as a career is in the best place it’s ever been. There’s still some work to do, and some minor tweaking, but they can fill a number of roles pretty decently. Playing bomb is pretty damn simple, mind-numbingly simple, but it’s pretty effective.

1. Replenishing Strikes
2. No Respite
3. Masterful Aim
4. Expert Skirmisher.
5. Spam Lileath’s Arrow
6. ?
7. Profit

I died a lot more than I’d like, but we were shy healers and tanks actually, and everyone there from my guild was DPS. I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out. Follow the jump to see my action from the city.

Tales of Hate, Entry 4

Today is May 4th, I will be posting this on July 8, 2010.

I almost spilled the beans today. A post by one of our server’s more famous forum trolls made me giggle on the inside, given my play on this Blackguard of late.

I’ve been looking into the different specs for the class, and trying to theorycraft what would be the best type of build for the career. I’ve lurked on the various forums, trying to glean as much information as possible from the more veteran players of the class, and have come to a bit of mixed information. Everyone seems to agree the class is very gear dependant, and that’s fine, a lot of classes are. My Shadow Warrior in particular was heavily reliant upon the best gear. Still, there seems to be a couple “core” tactics that are chosen by all, and then the last two seem to get mixed up based on personal preference.

Invasion Imminent

Some of this might be redundant from what I talked about in Blood Fields, but I have points that I want to expandon a bit further than what I went into their.

I reached Renown Rank 54 on my Knight last evening, and made some headway into 55. Invader gear is right around the corner, I just need to make talismans for it all now. I’ve been playing the Knight almost exclusively of late, and it has been incredible fun. There are most definitely times when I miss the relative killing power of my Shadow Warrior, but most of the time, I’m just happy to be alive, useful, and a more versatile tool.

Unlike most Knights, I don’t run around with a shield. I carry my claymore with pride, and my group is glad for it, because the extra damage I bring sometimes means that healer is going to drop, or that MDPS is going to need to pay attention to me. I said it elsewhere, but I wish that shields were more effective. I far and beyond prefer the apperance of the KotBS with a shield over a two-hander. The designs and looks of the kite shields are just incredible. Detailed and rendered in motifs of flames and skulls that really stand out above almost anything else I’ve seen in this game. I’d say, that the shield is probably a small reason I started playing one. If only they would get used in PvP…

Sabotage

So, in my continuing evolution with this game, we should all be aware that I’ve dropped my Shadow Warrior until such time that they become worth a shit. In my mean-time, I’ve been playing my Warrior Priest. The play is similar to that of my Disciple of Khaine, but better. It’s interesting how far these classes have come since launch, they were strong classes then, but there have been little tweaks and changes that make them really shine, and place them in one of the few categories of classes that I consider “there”. There being almost perfectly balanced. That balance shows.

Chicken or the Egg?

So, this week while I was sick, I was able to get some gaming time in. A lot of gaming time actually. Don’t really have anything better to do than sit around and read the forums, play the game, and pray to the porcelain god that whatever virus had invaded my body leave quickly. Our server had their first assault on a city on Tuesday with the release of zone Domination. Destruction orchestrated (though they deny having plans ahead of time) a great late night assault and zone locking that lasted well into the AM hours, when the majority of people are asleep. So, of course there is much heated argument over at our servers forum on WHA. Retaliation is a bitch though, and on Thursday, Order bit back.

Fog of WAR

I had the best night of game-play of my entire WAR career last night. Far and beyond what it normally was, but close to a few nights back in Kadrin Valley, and yesterday was a Monday of all days.

Where ‘da posts at?

I havent’ been posting near as much as I usually do. This is mostly due to the fact that I’ve been testing out other games during the time I would normally think up topics, cruise WAR sites, and just generally keep a toe in the waters of our community. It’s also partly due  to the insane-fucking-ridiculous fun I’m having in game. Last night (a Tuesday) there were probably 3 warbands roaming around KV with some incredible back and forth. Manuevers were used, feints, and fall backs. Anvil/Hammer techniques, boxed porcupine style, it was insane. I actually had the where-with-all to record some of it too. So this weekend I may put my cleaning up of Shadow Warrior abilities on hold, and work on putting together a video instead. We’ll see.

Nights like last night just further reinforce how important the domination system is for this game. We were running around, not really intending to lock it, we just wanted a fight. Once it’s required that we take points and hold them, it will bring a whole other level of strategery (yeah, I went there) to the game. To quote our president, “I’m ginned up” for this.

Kind of like an FPS

This Night of Murder live event has been loads of fun. People have come out in droves to look for the glowing red and purple Skull with Crossbones floating over the heads of unsuspecting victims. Warbands of people focus-firing down anyone unlucky enough to have received the inevitable mark of doom. Blood is flowing between the cracks of stone and through the leaves of grass like rain during a storm. We’re having fun here, mostly.