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Rogue co-creator helps pick 'Ultimate Roguelike' winner
Participants of last month's Ultimate Roguelike Challenge game design competition had a lot of pressure on their shoulders; along with creating a game using only a tileset provided by contest organizer Christopher "Oryx" Barrett, the end result would be judged by Glenn Wichman, co-creator of the original Rogue. Other judges included Barrett and Cardinal Quest creator Ido Yehieli. Adventuring Company by Slothwerks took home the gold, which is kind of appropriate since it's a game about trying to take home gold from a great red dragon. It's available now on Android and in-browser. The rest of the entries can be seen on the Oryx Design Lab website.
SOE Live 2013: Five of EverQuest Next's classes announced
While yesterday's big reveal showed us what races are confirmed as playable so far in EverQuest Next (Dwarf, Human, Ogre, Elf, Dark Elf, and Kerran), only two classes were highlighted during the demonstration. We also discovered that characters will be able to learn more classes -- and there are more than 40 of them -- as they adventure. But what are all the classes and which ones can players choose when they first embark on their next Norrathian exploits? We cannot answer the latter, but we now have a partial answer to the former. Five of the classes that will be available in EQ Next are: Rogue, Warrior, Tempest, Blademaster, and Wizard. Any, all, or even none of these may be one of eight starting classes. A few other tidbits about classes were also discussed during SOE panels, including how to distinguish what class a player or NPC is (answer: how s/he stands and holds his or her weapon) and character builds (items plus abilities will together constitute a build). Hungry for more info? Keep your eyes peeled for a more in-depth look at the philosophy and mechanics of classes coming soon! What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas, at least where SOE Live is concerned! Massively sent intrepid reporters MJ Guthrie and Karen Bryan to this year's SOE Live, from which they'll be transmitting all the best fan news on EverQuest Next, EverQuest II, DC Universe Online, and the other MMOs on SOE's roster.
MediaTek's MT8135 SoC does dual-core big.LITTLE MP, packs PowerVR Series6 GPU
It'll be a while before MediaTek's true octa-core SoC makes its glorious arrival, but for the time being, the company's unveiling something just as interesting -- and perhaps more practical. The new MT8135 announced today is a "quad-core" SoC aimed at "the middle- to high-end tier of the tablet OEM market." We quote "quad-core," because it actually consists of two clusters: dual Cortex-A15 cores and dual Cortex-A7 cores. But the good news is that unlike the original big.LITTLE configuration where only one cluster can operate at any given time (depending on how heavy the workload is), MediaTek's confirmed that it has implemented big.LITTLE MP ("MP" as in heterogeneous multi-processing) in the MT8135, meaning both the A15 and the A7 clusters can operate simultaneously. Another highlight of this MT8135 is that it'll be one of the first SoCs -- alongside LG's H13 (which we've seen first-hand), Renesas' APE6 and Renesas' R-Car H2 -- to come with Imagination Technologies' almighty PowerVR Series6 GPU. Specifically, this is the PowerVR G6200 which, as part of the MT8135, can apparently deliver "up to four times more ALU (arithmetic logic unit) horsepower" than the Series5XT GPU on the cheaper, quad-A7 MT8125. And unsurprisingly, the MT8135 gets the same Miracast wireless video goodie given to the MT8125; though it's also worth noting that the latter only supports LPDDR2 RAM instead of the more powerful LPDDR3. Sadly, there's no further information regarding availability, but you can kill some time by checking out more technical details in the video (with benchmarks; even though Qualcomm's been mysteriously left out) and press releases after the break.
Preparation, Readiness, and other cooldown resetting abilities may have grim future
Classes with cooldown resetting abilities probably won't find one of Ghostcrawler's most recent tweet all that surprising. The abilities (Preparation, Readiness, etc.) have been targeted by several nerfs and changes this expansion. Ghostcrawler wrote the following in reply to a tweet that said it may be time to stop adding cooldown resetting abilities to the game if they're constantly going to be nerfed. @Divine_Namjoo We agree. I'm not sure that design angle has payed out well. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) July 16, 2013 The abilities are particularly problematic in PvP, where players can chain several attacks or crowd control abilities together within a short period of time. What do you think? Do cooldown resetting abilities belong in the game? Are they overpowered?
Tier 16 Armor Set videos: Paladin, Druid, Rogue, Death Knight [Updated]
Adriacraft are back with more tier set videos. This time we've got the tier 16 armor sets for Paladins and Druids, with Rogues to follow later. What do you think of the sets? Here at WoW Insider we're unsure, both these tiers look rather similar, and there seems to be a recurring theme of basic-colored armor with some unusual, even bizarre, frill detail. As previously, the tiers' different colors will come from different difficulties. You can also remind yourself of the previous datamined tier sets for the Warrior, Priest and Hunter. Hit the break for the other two sets! And do check out Adriacraft on YouTube for all the latest patch videos!
Should you play a rogue in WoW?
If you're just getting started with World of Warcraft, don't worry: you're not too late to have plenty of fun. (In fact, we think this is a great time to be playing WoW.) But getting started can be a little tricky with all the choices you have to make. Which race you select is a primarily cosmetic choice, but the class you pick -- and whether it's a good fit for your preferred style of gaming -- is a choice that will make all the difference. But we're here to help make that choice at least a little easier by talking you through WoW's classes, one at a time. And on the menu for today is the rogue. In World of Warcraft, rogues are lightly armored meleers who use stealth to get in close and then hit their target with precision strikes. The rogue is one of four classes in the game that focuses solely on DPS: their three talent specializations only changing their preferred way of dealing damage. If getting up close to the bad guys and always being in the middle of combat sounds like your thing, a rogue may be the ideal class for you. Read on for more about what to expect.
Rogue joins the gallery of guest stars in the Deadpool game
Cable, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Domino were already announced as making appearances in the upcoming Deadpool game by High Moon Studios (due out on June 28), and now you can add one more X-(wo)man to that list. Rogue is joining the team, and as you can see above, she's brought a new look with her.%Gallery-191728%
The Repopulation gives much love to Rogues
The Repopulation transitioned into its second alpha test last month, and the team has a quite detailed report about all of the tweaks and features that it added to the game during that period. While there's a lot of everything in the patch notes, Rogues got a big piece of the attention pie. Above and Beyond Technologies reported that it improved the quality of life for Rogue characters through a number of changes. The thievery mechanic got an upgrade, pick-pocketing got several missions, and containers got stubbornly locked. As an aside, there are six stealthed Rogues in the above picture. See if you can spot them! Other changes to the game for the second alpha test include mission chains, random missions, 70 new crafting recipes, two new generic den types, and an overhaul of the reputation system.
Breakfast Topic: Which is the hardest class to play?
I have been informed by The Management that the answer to this question is a rogue. This is probably objectively true. Rogues are a finicky class to play. Gearing can be an inordinate pain, with new pieces of gear often requiring complete regemming and reforging for optimal DPS output. Rotations, priorities, and situational attacks are also quite complex, and I have a lot of admiration for accomplished rogues. I have a rogue myself, and if I'm away from her for even a few days, it takes me a little while to get back into the rogue play style groove. However, I cannot truthfully say that a rogue is the most difficult class for me. My main is a druid, and I have played feral spec since I started WoW (though I raid and run dungeons mainly as Restoration - I prefer healer queue times, who doesn't?) so roguish game mechanics are pretty familiar to me. No, to me, the hardest class to play would be a death knight. I have never been able to make sense of death knight mechanics. I can recite them: abilities consume runes, which produce runic power, which is necessary for other abilities. In practice, though, when I play a death knight it always eventually boils down to button mashing, which is not fun at all. So, despite having rolled a death knight at least three or four times, each in an attempt to finally stick with the class, I've given up. Death knights and me, we just weren't meant to be. I still don't understand why, though, because honestly the concept behind both death knight and rogue mechanics is really similar! It doesn't make any sense that I'd be perfectly at home with one class but not the other. What gives, brain? I feed you and give you sleep when you need it, the least you could do is be more consistent in your virtual-world data processing, okay?! Alas, I cannot change the natural order of things, and death knight mastery will likely remain my World of Warcraft white whale. What about you, fair readers? What is the hardest class for you to play?
5 stupid-awesome uses for the Glyph of Disguise
Last year, we examined the curious possibilities of the remarkable Potion of Illusion, introduced in Cataclysm and hailed for its potential as a tool for amusement and mayhem. Potions of Illusion were my guild's go-to ingredient in what were otherwise boring waits for raiding to start, and my guild thoroughly enjoyed playing around and seeing what different kinds of effects we could mimic. Although the days of Cataclysm are over, the Potion of Illusion still has its uses. And in Mists of Pandaria, the possibilities have opened just a little wider due to the introduction of a glyph that works hand-in-hand with the Potion of Illusion. In Mists, rogues were given the Glyph of Disguise. This minor glyph allows rogues to copy the appearance of an enemy, simply by pickpocketing it. Sadly, the Glyph does have its limits -- rogues can no longer pickpocket Durn the Hungerer, a source of endless hours of amusement in beta -- but that doesn't mean the glyph is devoid of all fun. In fact, there are plenty of cool mobs out there in the world, waiting to be mimicked.
Patch 5.2 features new spell effects
The folks at Wowhead have found a whole mess of new spell effects coming in Patch 5.2. These include effects for several new talents, like the rogue talents Marked for Death and Hit and Run, which replace current talents like Preparation which is going baseline. Also getting new effects are redesigned talents such as the warlock's Blood Fear and the Monk ability Nimble Brew. It's interesting to see redesigned abilities also getting new effects - you'd expect it of entirely new talents, of course, but going back and redoing existing abilities, even if they are getting revamped, is not quite as expected. It's welcome, of course, and some other abilities could use some new paint as well - I'd like to see Enrage get a once over, as an example. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
PowerVR Series6 mobile GPUs are almost here, we go eyes-on with a test chip (video)
Imagination Technologies is on a high right now. Throughout 2012, the company's PowerVR graphics processors continued to monopolize the iPhone and iPad as well as appearing in (late 2011) Android flagships, the PlayStation Vita and even the first Clover Trail-powered Windows 8 tablets. But you know what? That's old news, because all those devices run current-gen PowerVR Series5 silicon. Most new top-end devices in 2013 and 2014 will either contain the latest Mali GPUs from rival ARM, or they'll pack PowerVR Series6, aka Rogue. This latter chip is currently being developed by at least eight different smartphone and tablet manufacturers and is expected to make a good bit of noise at CES next week. But who's going to wait that long if they don't absolutely have to? To get a fuller understanding of what awaits us in the coming weeks and months, we scoped out a Rogue test chip at Imagination's sparkly new HQ just outside of London, UK. The test silicon doesn't represent the true power of Series6 because it's running on an FPGA board that severely limits its bandwidth, but it's still able to show off one crucial advantage: namely the ability to run OpenGL ES 3.0 games and apps. This API is all about improving mobile graphics through making smarter use of GPU compute, without annoying the battery, and the three demos after the break show just how it pulls that off. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
New rogue talents and other rogue buffs coming in patch 5.2
If you follow rogue news, you know the class is in a bit of a funk. The developers are certainly aware of the class's low representation and they're aiming to fix it. Two new rogue talents have been datamined from patch 5.2: Hit and Run and Marked for Death. Where these new talents fall in the talent trees, we aren't yet sure. One of them is surely replacing Preparation, which has now become a baseline ability. In addition to the new talents, great changes have been made to select existing talents and abilities. For example, Deadly Throw no longer requires a full 5 combo points to interrupt an opponent's spellcasting, but rather only 3. Shuriken Toss, when used beyond 10 yards, turns all of your auto-attacks into ranged shurikens with a 30 yard range for 10 seconds. Do keep in mind, however, that this is the PTR. So sayeth Ghostcrawler: @dylanrogue We have had the discussion about whether we're buffing rogues too much in 5.2. Give it a spin on the PTR and let us know. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) December 20, 2012 Everything on the PTR is subject to change. Get excited, but cautiously so.
Back-stabbing is front and center with Neverwinter's Trickster Rogue
In a previous poll, many of you have indicated you'd prefer the play the magic-flinging, crowd-controlling Control Wizard over the shield-slamming Guardian Fighter class in the upcoming fantasy game Neverwinter. Perhaps your choice will change once you get a look at the wily back-stabbing moves of the Trickster Rogue class. Forget about standing your ground like a tank, the Trickster's main skills focus on slipping behind an enemy to take advantage of the vulnerable flank and slinking away with artful evades. Cryptic has released a video highlighting these skills along with others in the rogue's arsenal. Check them out in the clip after the break. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
Arcane Legends arrives on iOS
Arcane Legends' staggered rollout crossed a major barrier today, as Spacetime Studios' newest title got approved for the Apple app store and released for iOS. It's currently available as a free download with in-app purchases. This makes it the fourth MMO in Spacetime's Legends series. Massively's Beau recently took some time to sit down with the MMO and suss out whether it has that Spacetime charm. We've also seen Arcane Legends' short cinematic trailer. The game launched a couple of weeks ago for both Android and Chrome. Spacetime reports that to date, Arcane Legends has accumulated more than two million downloads. To celebrate the iOS launch of the game, the studio posted a few new screenshots of the game, which you can check out in the gallery below! [Source: Spacetime Studios press release]%Gallery-170781%
The seedy underbelly: Roleplaying the rogue
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. They are the dark masters of combat. Unwilling to stand at the front lines and fight like a warrior, the rogues of Azeroth instead choose to skulk in the shadows, taking any advantage they can to win. They aren't necessarily fighting for honor or glory -- they could just as soon be fighting for their own personal gain, be it wealth or otherwise. Dextrous and keen-witted, the rogue class is full of ne'er do wells, thieves and scoundrels. That isn't the only side to the rogue class, however. Some may be fighting for the greater good. Others may be treasure hunters with no interest in the rest of society. Still others are masters of political intrigue, listening in on conversations and blackmailing where appropriate. Still too are others that are masters of assassination, of the quiet strike that comes in the dark, when one least expects it. It's a class of multidimensional gameplay, and it's a class ripe for multidimensional roleplay, too.
Arcane Legends debuts cinematic trailer
Spacetime Studios, creator of such mobile hits as Pocket Legends and Dark Legends, has released the first cinematic trailer for its newest entry in the Legends series: Arcane Legends. The video whimsically showcases the MMO's three character classes -- Warrior, Rogue, and Mage -- as well as the helpful battle pet that can fight along side you and grant special bonuses along the way. Each class can combine its skills for group combos, while later specializing in certain skills to fit each player's playstyle. Arcane Legends is expected to release this fall for Android, iOS, and Chrome. [Source: Spacetime Studios press release]
RIFT reveals the Tactician, master of flamethrowers
RIFT has been updated with new areas and content since launch, but the upcoming Storm Legion expansion is set to seriously kick things up a notch. As if tripling the size of the game world weren't enough, the expansion will raise the level cap and add a new technology-based soul to each of the game's core classes. The battle-mage style Harbinger soul was revealed at Gamescom 2012 in August, followed by the Tempest, and data from the test server hinted that the remaining pair might be named Defiler and Tactician. Last night Trion Worlds confirmed our suspicions by revealing the new Rogue Tactician soul to livestream viewers. The Tactician uses a magical weapon that's part flamethrower and part fire extinguisher, able to deal incredible area-effect elemental damage to enemies but actually heal allies. Players using the soul can also place small devices called Cores on the ground to provide area-effect healing, buffs, and additional damage. The flamethrower-like weapon is directionally aimed and can be channelled while the player is moving, so clever positioning is required to get the most out of this unique soul.
Rogue glyph changes in patch 5.0.4
When the new 5.0 patch flips over on Aug. 28, will you be ready with glyphs? Blizzard is recycling old glyphs instead of making new spell IDs and charring old ones. Some glyphs are staying the same, some are new, but some share IDs with old Cataclysm glyphs. Below is our list of new or changing glyphs for rogues. This is not a list of changing tooltips, just which glyphs you ought to have if you want to automatically have the new glyphs when the patch flips over. Rogues have no brand new glyphs and are keeping most glyph names. Glyphs that are changing into new majors: Sinister Strike becomes Adrenaline Rush Rupture becomes Cheap Shot Fan of Knives becomes Deadly Momentum Eviscerate becomes Debilitation Revealing Strike becomes Detection Deadly Throw becomes Recuperate Adrenaline Rush becomes Shadow Walk Slice and Dice becomes Shiv Preparation becomes Smoke Bomb Shadow Dance becomes Stealth Glyphs that are changing into new minors: Backstab becomes Decoy Mutilate becomes Disguise It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Robot stock traders lose $440,000,000 in 45 minutes, need someone to spell it out
Humans never learn and apparently neither do robots. Autonomous trading AIs went on a spending spree at Knight Capital Group in New Jersey this week, buying up shares in everything from RadioShack to Ford and American Airlines (ouch) in a 45-minute frenzy of disobedience. The company tried to offload the unwanted stock, but discovered it was already nearly half a billion dollars in the red -- enough to wipe out its entire profit from 2011 and "severely impact" its ability to conduct business. If only it had protected itself with one of these.
