self-improvement
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The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's greatest opponent is WildStar
Your real opponent is pretty much always yourself. I could spend the next several years of my writing career trying to be a better writer than, say, Justin Olivetti. I'd fail, for starters, because look at the guy. But even if I could succeed, I'd never be living up to my potential. I'll always be the guy trying to be better than the last thing Justin wrote, never coming up with my own things, never really advancing myself. The only way to be truly good is to try to be the best writer I can be, regardless of who else is out there. What does this have to do with WildStar? Simple. I mention other games here, other releases looking at the same window, but WildStar doesn't need to be better than those games, up to and including The Elder Scrolls Online. WildStar needs to be the best version of itself that it can be. Its only real opponent is itself, not other titles.
The Summoner's Guidebook: A year of summoning Guidebooks
It feels sort of strange to be writing the one year anniversary of the Summoner's Guidebook. On the one hand, it feels like yesterday since Shawn asked me to do more MOBA coverage and I pitched the idea of a League of Legends column to him. On the other hand, it feels like I've been writing about League for ages. I've grown tremendously as a player; from a guy who stomps pubbies in low-Elo games to a guy who gets stomped by experts in high-Elo games. I have no illusions about going pro, but I've made a lot of progress up the skill ladder. I don't chalk up this advancement to chance or aptitude. I know I didn't get here on my own. I have you guys to thank -- faithful readers who have read my column, either silently or vocally in the comments, who force performance upon me. I can't just be a hypocrite and tell you to practice a skill. I have to practice what I preach! When my authority in this column falls on my ability to execute on the battlefield, I need to step up my game. This week's Guidebook is my love letter to all of you.
The Daily Grind: How do you want to improve your gaming in 2013?
It's the start of a new year! That means it's the traditional time for everyone to start making plans to improve, plans that will probably last only until next Tuesday at the outside. But the spirit is there, and today we want to know about your plans to improve your gaming in 2013. Maybe you're a competitive player, and your big goal is to spend 2013 honing your craft in your game of choice. Maybe you like being at the high end of progression in your game, and you want to really push for server firsts or cleaner dungeon runs. Maybe you just want to stop playing so many alts, or you want to start playing more alts. The point is that players in every game from Star Wars: The Old Republic to EverQuest to Xsyon have all got points in our play that we want to improve. So what are you hoping to improve over the next year? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
DS Daily: A welcome dose of improvement
One of the best things about the DS is not only does it have an incredibly large library of amazing games, but it also has several cool training titles. Things such as Cooking Navi, Let's Yoga and even Nintendo's Brain Age games, as well as the upcoming English of the Dead all offer users something other than a time sink. They offer real tips for changing or improving one's life.That got us thinking about how many of you out there have improved your own life through these kind of self-help titles. Have you found your brain power increased through regular Brain Age use? Have you improved your vision with Flash Focus? What training titles have you used to enhance your life and how has it improved?
Gankbang: For those times you really need an ego boost
While not a new site, Gankbang has recieved a push on a few different realm forums recently and it seems few know about it. A shame!Gankbang pulls character stats from the Armory and compiles them into a fun little searchable tool. It gives you the option of breaking down your search by class, talent spec and specific stats. You can also choose to search by specific realms, factions and battlegroup. You don't have to pick through those things if you don't want to, a WoW-wide search works as well.The most obvious use of this tool is to stroke your ego when you come up in the top ten of a search. I'm pretty sure everyone who's been to Gankbang before has done that at least once. Another good use of the tool is to find the players of your particular class who either know what they're doing, or at least are doing really well in the end-game. As a shadow priest, it was fun to do a few searches(shadow damage, spell haste) to see who's on top, and use their Armory profile to see what's available to me. If you're on a friendly, homely server, those people on top might have some good advice for you too, if you're in need of it.It has a few issues, though. Due to Gankbang's update frequency and that of the Armory, your stats may not always be current if you have multiple sets of gear. In addition, while Gankbang strips most buffs when grabbing character data, there are a few things that slip through. For example, a search for melee crit on warriors has the number one warrior listed with 116% crit.Oh, by the way, if you're not showing up on a search? You can add yourself manually by using the link at the top of the Gankbang website.
The wisdom of experience
Keen wrote a great piece over on Keen and Graev's Gaming blog that really caught my attention. Obviously Keen has been "around the block" like I have and has his share of regrets just like the rest of us who have been chained to the MMOG genre for any length of time. He reaches back to some of the past games he's played and talks about some of the mistakes he's made that he won't ever repeat. I'll make you read the article to find out his other two, but his first one is no not take an officer position in a guild on impulse and to give it a lot of thought. I couldn't agree more. More than a few of the twenty odd guilds I've been in over the course of my MMOG experience have crumbled because of mediocre or semi-committed leadership, or leadership that wasn't united in focus and direction. Regrets are not something that need to stay chained to us that keep us from meeting our potential. Identifying our regrets help us to improve ourselves. What are your biggest regrets in World of Warcraft or in other games you've played in the past? What are you doing to ensure you don't make those mistakes again?
