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The Perfect Ten: Shapeshifters
Because we are true geeks, last weekend my wife and I went to see X-Men: First Class. Afterward, we got into a discussion about what mutant power we'd pick for ourselves if we had the choice. I was torn between teleportation and quick healing, while my wife wanted to be able to turn into cash to pay off our mortgage. I think one of us is more grounded in the real world than the other. But the more I think about it, the more I was intrigued with the idea of a shapeshifter. To be anyone would give you unparalleled freedom -- and plenty of chances to get into mischief, too. Come to think of it, it's probably best I'm not granted that particular superpower. However, plenty of MMOs do give players the chance to shift between their normal forms and something else entirely. While there are far more than 10 examples that the brain trust over here came up with, I'm going to pick out my favorites to highlight.
The Perfect Ten: Unusual MMO weapons
Swords. Staffs. Maces. Spears. Wands. Bows. Crossbows. Double-crossbows. Hammers. Wolverine claws. Daggers. Axes. Deadly? Yes. Fashionable? Not so much. I mean, really. A two-handed sword is so 1299. Now, a deep dish Chicago-style pizza with the works flung into an enemy's gullet -- that's progressive thinking! Because I'm deeply bored with the usual suspects in most MMO armories, I wanted to spend a day praising devs who said, "Screw it. We're going weird, and we're not going to regret it, even when our bosses call us into their offices demanding why such lunacy ended up in a professional game." So forget everything you think you know about weapons because your pitiful armament has yet to scratch the surface of the wild, wild universe of things that can be used to kill you in game. This Perfect Ten column is sponsored by Grizzly Bear Rocket Launchers, Ltd. after the jump.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars players respond to the Dervish update
Thursday's Dervish update in Guild Wars shifted the foundations of the entire class. The community has been buzzing as players talk over the changes, share new builds, dust off old Dervishes, and create new ones. It was an easy decision to step away from Guild Wars 2 this week and focus on the mega-update. This one has been a long time coming, and I wanted to chat a bit with some community members to see what they think of the update, now that it's finally arrived. Follow along after the jump to hear what five members of the Guild Wars community have to say about the new and improved Derv!
Guild Wars update brings sweeping Dervish changes
Yes, you can have a moment to groan and throw rotten vegetables in return for that pun. We'll wait. The Dervish changes promised by ArenaNet last week arrived to Guild Wars this evening, and they're even bigger than expected. Adrenaline is now a factor in the Dervish skill line, Flash Enchantments have been added, and enchant removal has been fundamentally changed. That's not all by a long shot, though -- this is arguably the biggest update to a class in the game's history. Other classes and skill sets were tapped with the update wand -- Elementalists have an updated version of Intensity, the Warrior's Body Blow skill took a little hit, and a few non-class-specific PvE-only skills were changed. However, the Dervish update is undoubtedly the star of the show, so check out the patch notes and get ready to become reacquainted with the Derv!
Dervishes get a major turnaround in Guild Wars
Introduced with the third campaign of Guild Wars, Dervishes have always been a unique class, swinging scythes in wide arcs and using a combination of enchantments and melee strikes to take out opponents. Of course, being a unique class also leads to a lot of unique issues, which the development team is hoping to address with the coming update. The preview promises that over 90% of the Dervish skills have been changed, with the overall goal of improving the class in a broad spectrum rather than just tweaking the numbers on a handful of skills. Among the more far-reaching changes are several Dervish skills using Adrenaline, the addition of new "flash enchantments" to allow Dervishes to enchant themselves while on the move, and a restructuring of the many "teardown" combos in place that capitalize on Dervish enchantments. Several of the new skills are previewed, as are examples of how players can use the changed mechanics to still retain the essential playstyle of a Dervish with much more flexibility than before. If you're a Dervish in Guild Wars, the changes should keep you spinning up in the best possible way. [Thanks for the tip, Teina!]
Guild Wars' August update targets underpowered skills
While there wasn't a proper skills update last month in Guild Wars, the one prior to that did a lot to improve underpowered skills for the Ritualist and Paragon professions. For August's update, which is now live, the Arenanet dev team opted to continue their assault on weak abilities. Some of the more significant changes made were: Assassins have had their area-of-effect damage options increased Improvements were made to Rangers pets (for PvE only) Dervishes had their survivability improved somewhat The Elementalists Air Magic line was made more useful for PvE, and Earth Magic was given more offense options for PvP Check out the latest Guild Wars Developer Update to get all the details on August's PvE and PvP balances, or see the patch notes in their entirety here.
Guild Wars Nightfall arrives Oct. 27
NCsoft and ArenaNet have announced that both the standard and collector's editions of Guild Wars Nightfall will be available Oct. 27. If you can't wait that long to begin exploring the new continent of Elona, the pre-release bonus pack ships in three weeks.Achtung! For those of you attending the Games Convention in Leipzig this weekend, be sure to check out the final rounds of the Guild Wars Factions Championships.See also: New Guild Wars Nightfall trailer
Guild Wars: Nightfall announced
NCsoft has announced the third Guild Wars campaign, Nightfall, which will have an exclusive PvP preview for current members on July 28-30. Like its predecessors, Nightfall is a standalone module with a new continent to explore, and will only require the earlier games if you have characters to transfer. However, veterans might be tempted to start fresh with one of the two new professions -- the angelic Paragon or the scythe-wielding Dervish, both of which are previewed at GameSpot. Visit the game's official web site for more details on the Nightfall preview event, as well as updates on the Guild Wars Factions Championship.See also: Guild Wars goings-on NCsoft's E3 booth tour Guild Wars: character slots for cash coming soon
