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Encrypted Text: Tools of the rogue's trade
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Email Chase if you have any questions or want to submit a great screenshot. If you've been plugged into the rogue community for any length of time, you're familiar with some of the common thoughts that we share as a class. We're all very thankful that Cloak of Shadows is now a 100% immunity to spells, that aggressive min-maxing is part of our culture, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that our most pressing concern is getting Swirly Ball back. I would mention our years of torment waiting for a functional Vanish, but it's working now, and I don't want to jinx it. We don't always see eye to eye on every detail, though. While I imagine the rogue as a brutal killer, some prefer to think of our class as a group of honorable assassins. One of the most common ideas that I've seen but not understood is the obsession with daggers. I've heard the old standby of "a rogue not wielding a dagger isn't a rogue" a million times, but I just don't get it. Maybe it's combat talking. I even lobbied at BlizzCon for the devs to implement quick off-hand axes and swords, but the request fell on deaf ears. Like it or not, rogue weaponry has evolved.
Breakfast Topic: What's your weapon of choice?
One of the nice things about WoW is that it allows you a variety of choices for your character. You really aren't pigeon holed into one thing or another. There are some cases in the upper echelons of the game and theory crafting where one weapon or armor choice becomes superior – but that's only if you want to take the game to such a level.And even then, min-maxing to that extent isn't really necessary to be successful in raiding anymore.I've come across this in my play recently. My weapon of choice (and hence the forever awesome Christopher Walken music video attached to this article).As a Shaman I have a choice of various slow 1H weapons, giving a variety of different stats that I'd like to have. When entering the starting zones of Wrath I can pretty much find any combination that I want to fit my needs. As a protection Warrior I've found the same thing, even at times finding it more advantageous to use a DPS based weapon over a Def based weapon.For the Shaman (which I need to point out is just my favorite alt at the moment) my weapon of choice has shifted away from slow maces to whatever sexy fist weapon I can pick up. The DPS output is roughly the same, if not better in some cases, and I just like the way it looks.Yes, I said it. And I'll take the beating that's about to begin.
Phat Loot Phriday: The Bladefist
This stunning fist (geeky pun intended, of course) is wielded by the Warchief at the top of Hellfire Citadel. And you've got to fell him (after fighting through his clan) to get it.Name: The BladefistType: Epic Main Hand FistDamage/Speed: 152-283 / 2.60 (83.7 DPS)Abilities: Chance on Hit: Increases your haste rating by 180 for 10 seconds. At level 70, that means an increase in speed of ~17% when it procs, which according to reports, is fairly often. (Procs per minute involves a lot of math, and regular readers will know I'm terrible at getting math right, but from what I understand, this thing hits at 3 PPM, halfway between Crusader (1), and Lifestealing (6). So pretty often, but not every time.) Also, I'm told the Mongoose enchant can stack with this ability, which means if you've got both going, it's a lot of slashy slashy and stabby stabby (technical terms). Unfortunately, this baby is Unique (not to mention Main Hand), so no, you can't dual wield them like Kargath does. How to Get It: To answer that, we have to go back a little bit in Warcraft Lore. Kargath Bladefist wasn't always warchief of the Shattered Hand clan, and he wasn't always known as the Bladefist. When he reached the level of grunt, the dude cut off his own hand, and replaced it with this weapon. And anyone badass enough to do that should definitely be Warchief, so he rose through the ranks and took over Shattered Halls. There's more to it than that (maybe we'll see a KYL someday on him), but that's what this weapon is all about.And you know taking it away from him is not going to be an easy task. You've got to storm into Shattered Halls (which means you've got to get the key, which is a nice quest chain in itself), and you've got to do it on Heroic mode. Make your way through the Gauntlet, past the stupid Ogre (I'm just kidding, he's awesome), and all those damn assassins (they are not), and then topple the Warchief himself. Pull this bad boy from his wrist (it drops at around 5%), and it's yours. Impressive, no?Getting Rid of It: I don't know why I ever decided to include this section. Why would you want to get rid of any of this phat loot? A vendor will give you 10g 46s 29c for it, and it will disenchant into a Void Crystal.
Pachinko is really exciting!
Dude, we had no idea pachinko was so cool! We knew Japan was all into it, but we always thought it was some boring gambling thing. Turns out it's all a bunch of big people with huge chest muscles beating the crap out of each other in a post-apocalyptic wasteland! Man, when that guy punched the other guy like a hundred times really fast, that was some awesome pachinko! And then the other guy like exploded into a beam of yellow light! And the cool pachinko music was playing, and it totally got us pumped about pachinko!We know the graphics aren't totally next-gen (look at the cardboard hair), but it must be super tough to render realistic pachinko visuals! We are going to buy Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii RIGHT. NOW. We're totally ready for some pachinko mayhem! Watch the totally cool pachinko video after the break, and you'll feel the same way! PACHINKOOOOOO![Via Siliconera]
Fist of the North Star Pachinko uses Miis
We brought you the story that an EA producer was not given access to Mii code for My Sims, and that according to him, no third parties were. The situation seems to have changed, because Sega Sammy is using the little guys and gals in its Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii. It's not the most exciting implementation of Miis, with no Fist of the North Star-style makeovers or actual in-game avatars-- in fact, it consists mainly of a Mii portrait tied to a character profile.The game uses Nintendo Wi-fi as well, but for online rankings, which hardly counts as online play. We aren't ready to call that an implementation of third-party online play yet.Coming from a licensed pachinko game, proof that it is possible for third parties to use Miis. Sega does what E ... Ain't?
Finally, a pachinko game for the Wii
We might sound sarcastic, but we're happy to see different kinds of games come to the Wii. This latest title from Sega Sammy is a collection of pachinko and pachislot (pachinko plus slot machine) simulations, called (deep breath!) Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii (Fighting Pachinko/Pachislot Victory Way! Sammy's Collection Fist of the North Star Wii). It's based on the same popular Sega Sammy pachinko games that have been released on the DS, PS2, and PSP, and contains a bundle of pachinko and pachislot boards. And, of course, it carries the license of the classic, brutal Fist of the North Star manga and anime series.This one is interesting for the same reason a lot of Wii games are: Wiimote controls. Apparently, you can use the Wiimote steering-wheel style to control the speed of the dropping balls. We admire the novel Wiimote use! It also has online ranking, in case competition motivates your pachinko-playing.Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii (Fighting Pachinko/Pachislot Victory Way! Sammy's Collection Fist of the North Star Wii) comes out on May 24th in Japan, and probably never anywhere else. Any pachinko fans here? Do any of you import these kinds of things?
