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GuildOx launches Brawler's Guild ranking system
GuildOx have just released yet another ranking system for WoW players, to go with their achievement and title rankings, and mount and pet rankings! GuildOx has rankings for pretty much everything you can think of, and their latest addition, the Brawler's Guild rankings are another, much requested, string to their bow. They don't, however, track anything but the final achievement of the guild, the Now You're Just Showing Off achievement, and when players got it on each realm, region, and even worldwide. This achievement is kind of the pinnacle of brawling prowess, but it would also be excellent to see rankings for those further down, for example, to see if there's a glut of players stuck on Yikkan Izu or whether it's just that my shadow priest is undergeared, or played by someone terrible at shadow priests. One very interesting thing about these stats is the prominence of ranged DPS among the higher rankings. Mages, elemental shaman, warlocks, balance druids, and hunters all rank pretty high in their top 100 listings, with melee classes seeming not to be able to keep up with their ranged cousins. Is this indicative of a ranged DPS bias in the Brawler's Guild boss design? Also, do note that GuildOx's database is still gathering, so don't check your realm and assume that, because it's empty, you can get ahead and claim the top spot! It will take a little while to stabilize and be completely accurate, thanks to how the database works. But do check it out! Like all their ranking information, it makes interesting reading.
Cross-realm zone use clarified in Brawler's Guild
Blizzard Senior Community Manager Zarhym has taken to the forums to address player's concerns regarding the appearance of players from other realms in the Brawler's Guild. Zarhym We've seen some confusion about people from other realms showing up in the Brawler's Guild. It's important to note that the Brawler's Guild only uses realm coalescing when the number of participants is really low, so a lot of people are seeing people from other realms due to the fact that there haven't been many invitations to join distributed yet. It's highly likely the area will cease to activate CRZ on most realms as participation increases. Having 100+ people in the queue doesn't create a good experience, but, from our perspective, neither does having only a small handful of people. The feature is designed to bring a decent population into the guild, and those people should spend at least a modest amount of time as spectators or loiterers before getting into the ring. We didn't design the Brawler's Guild with the intention of getting you through queues in 10 minutes or less. We're not trying to replicate Dungeon Finder for the solo player with Brawler's Guild. If the place seems overcrowded AND you're seeing people from other realms there, it could be a situation where the population check that determines whether or not to coalesce a realm hasn't run again yet. As I said before, this should stabilize in time and likely automatically disable CRZ for the guild. source This, to me, seems a little counter-intuitive given Blizzard's earlier explanations of their theories behind the implementation of the Brawler's Guild. Daxxarri posted this back on November 8th:
Blizzard Talks about Brawler's Guild
Firstly, an announcement. Blizzard's made the "First rule..." joke now. Everyone else can stop, OK? Good. On with the post. Blizzard hasn't just been busy talking about Brawler's Guild. No, the developers have been trying to readdress some communication failings that, apparently, led to people erroneously thinking the Brawler's Guild was this big new feature that everyone would want to enjoy. I was definitely one of those people. Readers could tell as much from earlier coverage. So when Blizzard announced the method of gaining entry, I was among those who were annoyed. But now, the community managers have stepped in to address the concerns of players like me. The post splits out what Brawler's Guild is and isn't, and probably most important among the "isn't" section is "A major patch feature accessible to everyone (at first)". And this is where I'm not sure I agree with Blizzard. From a lore perspective, there are definitely bigger things afoot for both the Alliance and the Horde, and there's the addition of the two new factions, their quest hubs, gear and daily quests to look forward to, as well as new scenarios. And that's all great, but for me, Brawler's Guild is the major feature of patch 5.1.
Patch 5.1 PTR: My first night in Brawler's Guild
It took me a little while to locate this secretive group's headquarters, tucked away in the bowels of Stormwind. I wasn't quite sure where to look, having logged in to the PTR and created a level 90 shaman template character, and the first rule of Brawler's Guild wasn't exactly helping matters. I knew it was underground, so I checked in the Stockades, under the Cathedral, around the old Park, over where all the warlocks hang out... it sounded like a warlock-y kind of thing! Stumped, temporarily, and trying to think of other underground areas in Stormwind, it suddenly occurred to me: the Deeprun Tram! I zoned in, expecting to see it right in front of me, and, discouraged, ran over to the platform, then spotted a tunnel on the track level to the left that I was fairly sure wasn't there before. And the header image was what appeared at the end of it! Over on the Horde side, it was hidden in plain sight, in a building to the extreme north-east of Orgrimmar, in the Ring of Valor. I have to say, I think that, for a change, the Alliance have by far the cooler set-up here, although with the buggy PTR gameplay right now, the Horde arena is far more entertaining!
DCUO releases new brawling screens
November 2nd is fast approaching, and you closet-superheroes are no doubt dusting off your tights, underoos and power armor in preparation for Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe Online. The comic-inspired MMORPG will take would-be crime-fighters from Metropolis to Gotham City, and whether you've got a PC or a Playstation 3, you'll find a home as well as plenty of competition on Sony's servers. Speaking of competition, CVG has released a set of new screenshots from the game that focus on everyone's favorite MMO pastime: violence! Whether you're itching to spec out a beefy brawler who pancakes opponents with his fists and feet, or a lithe ranged attacker who fills up on POWs, WHAMs, and KRAKs from a distance, DCUO looks to satiate your hunger for action. Check out our gallery below for a little bit of the old ultra-violence. %Gallery-100729%
