revenge
Latest
Latest EVE Online Chronicle a moral tale of sabotage and retribution
EVE Online differs from other massively multiplayer online games out there in that it's as much a setting as it is a game; its galactic setting of New Eden isn't divided across shards. This helps the game's lore creators conjure up a sense that the stories of New Eden echo throughout and define a single expansive galaxy, at least for those who choose to get into the game's backstory.EVE's lore has been building up for years as short Chronicles and even in novel form, creating a substantial yet growing body of work that fleshes out the gritty setting. We don't cover all of the Chronicle releases at Massively but we do tend to highlight those that have a direct bearing on the game's lore, rather than those that add flavor. Still, now and again a story comes along that really stands out. That was the case with this week's Chronicle titled "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" by CCP Abraxas, the description of which was one simple word: "Sabotage". This caught our interest and, in this writer's opinion after having read the Chronicle twice, "All These Lives are Fit to Ruin" may be one of the best stories Abraxas has written thus far.
EVE PvP Tournament assassination: Machiavellian or bad form?
Struggle between player alliances in EVE Online is very much at the heart of the game. While most conflicts play out in sweeping alliance warfare, with its requisite fleet battles involving hundreds of players, some alliances also choose to face one another in arena combat with the rapt attention of many thousands of their fellow pilots: the Alliance PvP Tournament. The Alliance Tournament in EVE Online provides a way for players to demonstrate what they're capable of under controlled conditions, and offers a shot at fame or notoriety among the playerbase. In some cases, alliances may face off in the PvP tournament to settle a score in a very public way. The rules of engagement in place ensure that all alliance teams are on equal ground with one another. EVE players can be devious though, if nothing else... as one match this past weekend proved: one alliance competitor assassinated his team's captain once the match had begun, and then self-destructed his own ship. The would-be saboteur, ironically named "Happy Joymaker", later announced he had infiltrated the alliance for the express purpose of a public execution of his target.
WoW Moviewatch: REVENGE
Silverlined_Pro created REVENGE as a roleplay-based movie about his character Nixxiom. As the story goes, Nixxiom has "always had a hard life." The author doesn't spell out the details, but apparently he killed his own parents through some circumstance, his wife died, and then his daughter was violated and murdered by demons. As if that's not enough, he got turned into a Death Knight. Now, Nixxiom has broken free of the Lich King's control. He's amassed his own army of undead critters, and is marching on Arthas with the goal of deposing him and taking the title Lich King for himself. You only get that background and information from reading Silverlined_Pro's summary on Myndflame. The video itself, as a stand alone piece, doesn't really supply that story. I don't know what I would have thought if I were only viewing the movie. It contains mostly a series of undead characters staring at each other, and then the main character -- a Night Elf -- staring down Arthas. I think the basic jist that "these guys don't play nicely together" probably would have come across, but that's about it.For all that the story is vague, though, the video itself is fairly well done. The music is apropos (it's the Lich King theme), and the animation and screen capture is solid. My words of summary would be, "Nice first attempt, let's see what you do next." If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
Ghostcrawler's thoughts on Death Knights
Ghostcrawler has sparked conversation on Death Knights and potential future changes on the official Tanking forum with a rather lengthy post. He starts out saying he's thrilled that Death Knights have been well-received, but they've expected since the beginning that they'll have to make changes to the class as they go along, because it is a brand new class. I think us players expected that as well, so it's really not a big deal.He mentions a number of problems that have cropped up with Death Knights since launch (or before in some cases) and some potential ideas on how they can be fixed in upcoming patches. No official change announcements, just thoughts and discussion. If you want to see the full list, head on over to the forum thread. I'm just going to touch on a few that I've experienced firsthand.
Death Knight tanking overhaul
The ever-helpful Ghostcrawler hit the forums late yesterday with a slew of changes to Death Knight tanking in the form of both bug fixes and buffs. The single biggest "buff" is actually a fairly significant bug fix; Death Knights had half the untalented, ungeared dodge of a Warrior or Paladin, and that was definitely never intended. Between that and a change to Blade Barrier (it's currently activated with all runes on cooldown; it's being changed to activate with only Blood runes on cooldown), Death Knights should see a significant improvement to their avoidance. Threat generation is also getting a nice boost, as Blizzard recognized that Death Knights suffered badly whenever key moves failed to land. Rune Strike is becoming a reactive ability like the Warrior's Revenge, and Frost Strike can no longer be dodged, blocked, or parried. Death and Decay has also been changed to be more competitive with Consecration and Thunder Clap, which is consistent with the overall trend toward AoE tanking effectiveness.I've healed a number of Death Knight tanks in 5-mans now (you'll be hearing from my grumpy self about this soon) and recognized a few early versions of these issues, certainly in the form of Blade Barrier's often-spotty uptime. While I'm glad that DK's are getting more consistent threat generation, I have to admit that my real concern is the amount of burst they seem to take (something others have noticed as well), so I'm keeping an eye on the tweaks being made.Thanks to Doug for writing in!
When carebears attack
CrazyKinux from The Drone Bay podcast, and of course one of Massively's EVE Online columnists, had an interesting find which he recently shared on his site. "When Carebears Attack" isn't the newest video out there, but given the absolute hammering that miners have been taking in Empire space over the past few months, it's quite timely. Here we see an exhumer pilot named 'JNB' who's fed up with ore thieves and being griefed in general, simply for being a miner. While not technically griefing as it's considered a fair use of game mechanics, 'can flipping' is the time-honored tradition of a thief sneaking up on a mining vessel and replacing the floating cargo container (being mined into for greater efficiency) with his own, bearing the same name. When the miner or his hauler unknowingly removes ore from the thief's can, the innocent party becomes criminally flagged -- ironically, for being a thief himself -- and then is predictably blown apart by his antagonist. Concord, i.e. 'the police' in EVE, takes no action against the can flipper. Tired of this use of game mechanics, the carebear in this video snaps and starts hunting down griefers in a repurposed Hulk, which is little more than a fancy mining vessel; it's completely unfit for PvP... or is it? The footage shows the miner racking up a respectable kill count by using his normally defensive drones as vicious little attackers. It turns out some carebears have teeth after all.
Hacker gets revenge on Puzzle Quest's bullying AI
We're not certain what sort of demonic sacrifices Infinite Interactive made to grant Puzzle Quest its hellborn AI, but we imagine that the cursed contract that authenticated the ceremony was written with the blood of many innocents. The match-three puzzler does everything short of outright cheating, stealing your advantages and setting up multiple combos, each computer-cleared gem bearing the mark of Mephistopheles.DS gamer Zaraf plotted a strategy that would tear down the AI's defenses and avenge dozens of unfair losses. Unwilling to spend months leveling up and making preparations, staying his vendetta, he hex-edited the game to to max out his character's stats. Zaraf then armed his warrior with a class spell called Deathbringer, enabling him to fill the screen with an amount of damaging skulls equal to half of his red mana. Head past the post break for the results caught on video.
Revenge of the healers
I was talking with a shaman of my acquaintance today about a player we both know who regularly mutilates the English language beyond any reasonable explanation. "I need a bar for him, like I have for experience," the shaman said. "Every letter that he destroys will be one point on the bar, with five for extra stupidity, like every time he says a drop is "knise." When he gets to 100 points, I'm going to let him die in an instance by not healing him. Then the bar will start over again." Healers have an exceptional capability to get revenge on other players, particularly on overzealous DPSers. The healers of my guild joke about a "blacklist" for hunters, rogues, mages and warlocks who anger them -- if you're on the blacklist, you get to die to AOE or your own aggro pulling until the healers feel you've suffered enough. They don't actually have the blacklist ... I think. I've also seen a guild's druids band together to let a rogue die in every raid after he complained about a feral druid rolling on DPS gear in a 5-man instance because "druids are only good for healing." And many raid leaders who have been too rough yelling at their healers in Blackwing Lair have died due to coordinated priest heals on the Nefarian class call. Most of the people that healers let die seem to have brought their own fate upon them, whether by recklessness ("I can totally solo that"), malice ("God, our healers really suck tonight") or other forms of stupidity. As Robert Heinlein said, "Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity" -- especially when you tick off the guys who hold your life in their hands. If you let them live, they'll never learn. Healers, have you ever let someone die because they offended you or did something dumb? Or have you been the victim of a healing blacklist/intentional death?
Breakfast Topic: Revenge!
There are some beasts you'll encounter in Azeroth that you'll never quite forget. Not because they were massively scripted encounters of epic proportions, but because they managed to outwit you -- perhaps several times over. There you were, walking along, peacefully minding your own business, picking flowers in Un'Goro -- when suddenly a huge devilsaur appears behind you. (Devilsaurs are very stealthy for their size!) You try to run, naturally, but you can't escape the devilsaur's huge stride once he's sighted you, and he devours you in a single bite. Of course, the devilsaur is hardly the only beast in Azeroth to play such tricks -- and on most such creatures I vow to return at a later level for revenge. And what about you? Do you find yourself returning to zones ten levels later and avenging earlier deaths?
Get revenge on a 360 Ebay scammer: Call his mom
Moms really do know best. They also get results. Here's a satisfying tale from a guy who bought a used 360 on Ebay for $315 and got burned. He does a little detective work and tracks the non-shipping seller down to some town in Ohio, then calls him up only to get the phone slammed in his face. So who does he call next? The cops? Nah, he dials the dude's Mom and rats him out. Minutes later he has a refund, an apology and the pleasure of posting the most humiliating Ebay feedback ever. As reader Jamaicanbwoydre notes: Vigilante justice rules -- especially when Mom is playing the Charles Bronson role.
