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What a tangled web Lord of the Rings Online weaves, especially for Weavers
If your idea of a good time in Lord of the Rings Online is to be a scuttling eight-legged monstrosity in PvMP, you've no doubt spent plenty of time with the Weaver. The developers aren't entirely happy with the Weaver; they feel that as players have grown more powerful, the finesse of a Weaver has less of a place on the battlefield. Rather than reworking the class from the ground up, however, the team is pushing through some big new upgrades for Weavers to keep them as terrifying in a mechanical sense as they are in a physical sense. The two biggest changes are the addition of Venom pips and the Ensnared debuff. Venom pips will increase a Weaver's poison damage and can be consumed via two new skills. Ensnared, on the other hand, stacks on players whom a Weaver has slowed and can be converted into Venom pips and damage. The control elements of the class are also seeing some upgrades and enhancements aimed at keeping spiders dangerous in the battlefield, ensuring that the first reaction of "smash that spider!" is in fact the correct one.
Scientists develop blood swimming 'microspiders' to heal injuries, deliver drugs
Scientists at Penn State would like to release tiny spiders into your blood -- no, it's not the premise for a new horror movie, but rather, it's a medical breakthrough. The spider-like machines are less than a micrometer wide (just so you know, a red blood cell is around six to ten micrometers), and are designed to travel through veins delivering drugs and a little TLC to damaged areas -- not a totally new concept, per se, but even minor advancements can open up all sorts of new doors for troubled patients. Made of half gold, half silica, these microspiders are self-propelled by a molecule called the Grubbs catalyst, which scientists can control directionally using chemicals. Although still in the preliminary phases, lead researcher Ayusman Sen hopes to one day attach the creepy crawlers to nanobots, which could maneuver through the body to detect tumors, helping the immune system and scrubbing vessels clean of plaque. Not like that's doing anything to diffuse your arachnophobia, but hey...
PAX East 2011: Delving LotRO dungeons deeply
Right now, Lord of the Rings Online is in a brief respite between the insanity of PAX East and the upcoming March 21st release date for its next big update, Echoes of the Dead. To say that there's a lot coming with this update is a vast understatement, so it was great to get a sneak peek at the five new instances before they went live. Earlier this year, players started to get rumblings about a major upcoming event as five mysterious relics popped up all over Middle-earth in Evendim, Forochel, Enedwaith, North Downs and the Trollshaws. By finding all five, players completed a special deed and got the title "Calm Before the Storm," foreshadowing dire events to follow. All anyone could do after that was prepare for an uncertain future. It turns out that LotRO's players had good reason to prepare, because as of next week, five new dungeons will open their doors for business -- the business of eating adventurers alive and spitting out their bones, that is. Spurned Gaunt-lords have returned to make life for the Free Peoples of Middle-earth harder by transforming the very landscape into their hellish domain, and it's up to you to thwart their schemes. Hit the jump as we traveled to these new instances at PAX East with LotRO Executive Producer Kate Paiz!
TERA Arachnaea fly-through video released
If you've got a spider, insect, or creepy-crawly complex of any kind, you might want to skip the latest TERA fly-through video from En Masse Entertainment. The clip is straight out of an arachnophobe's worst nightmare, as it takes place deep inside a huge stone cavern filled with egg sacs and giant hairy-legged spiders. The cavern is a newly revealed zone called Arachnaea, and its denizens are apparently being conjured by evil priests aligned with the goddess Arachne in order to gather sacrificial offerings from a nearby town. The clip clocks in at a tad over one minute in length, which is plenty of time to be creeped out by the spiders and their sinister surroundings. Check out all the gory details after the cut or at PC Gamer.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Does whatever a spider can (VEAT levels 20-50)
Welcome back to our conclusion of A Mild-Mannered Reporter's guide to spiders! After last week's long discussion of the various builds possible for the villainous epic archetypes, we're back to blast through to the end of the unique leveling missions. And it's a pretty interesting string, although like much content in City of Heroes it starts to slow down a bit as you get higher in levels. But it also has the nice story interplay of the best content available on the Rogue Isles, the constant back-and-forth as untrustworthy people stab each other in the back. For players or readers coming in late, we left off at the conclusion of the level 20 arc, where you delivered the Eye of Chronos to Fortunata Hamilton. She tells you that the process of seeing whether or not you truly are a Destined One will take time... which is true if you turn the mission in before level 20, but otherwise it apparently takes two seconds. Of course, there's a good reason for that.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Spiders on the wall (VEAT levels 1-20)
I've been talking about it more often than not these days whenever I mention City of Heroes, but in case it wasn't transparently obvious: I like spiders. Not actual spiders, mind you -- those generally merit a kill-on-sight order from me -- but the epic archetypes that villains get? Boy, I can't get enough of those. They're like sliced awesome, complete with sweet armor for the soldier side of things and buttcapes for the widow ladies. (And creepily form-fitting armor for the male widows... y'know, let's just pretend that we didn't go down that road.) What's struck me as odd, however, is that there's relatively little written up about partaking in the sheer joy of being a faceless cog in Arachnos who decided to strike out and hit the big time. With more players than ever able to access the archetypes, and more players still when Going Rogue goes live, now seems as good a time as any to take a hard look at our eight-legged friends and jackbooted oppressors. Today, we're going to go over the basics of starting a new Soldier or Widow, including powersets and the early missions.
An analysis of all the food and drink in WoW
Not long ago, a friend of mine from college asked me to resurrect his WoW account so he could get back into the game before Cataclysm comes out. The first week that he was back, he messaged me quite frequently with various questions about trends in raiding and PvP at level 80. I answered his questions without much thought until one afternoon, he sent me a different type of message. "Did you notice there is nothing but meat in WoW?" My thoughts stumbled over the question for a moment before he continued. "There is meat, fish and fruit, but no vegetables." (My friend became vegan since the last time he played WoW -- thus his sudden epiphany.) He then proceeded to tell me about a quest in Teldrassil where you gather spider meat for a kabob recipe. He said something along the lines of, "They're on a big freakin' tree, full of plants and they're eating spiders! Spiders!" I'll admit, he had a good point. Curious, I decided to start looking over the types of food in WoW to see just exactly what Azerothians eat.
Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper vs 360 in NA this March
Adventure game Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper will take a stab at North American retail this March. Released last year in Europe, the console port of the PC game has the fictional detective on the trail of the real-world 19th-century serial killer. Hey, while we're messing with fiction, reality, history and time, why not have Holmes team up with Doctor Who and Sam Beckett? He can change history for the better, putting right what once went wrong and bringing Beckett one step closer to his leap home. Actually ... that's not bad. Hands off, video game industry! We're saving that idea for Joystiq Publishing's still-looking-for- 2011 release list.
The Daily Grind: What produces a visceral reaction in you?
Every RPG has giant spiders. Inevitably. Despite the fact that such creatures couldn't possibly support their own body weight and other natural physics problems, you will find them. And arachnophobes the world over will cringe, because it will usually culminate in having to dive into an entire dungeon filled with spiderwebs and chittering eight-eyed things the size of a Hummvee. Not to mention all of the quests where your character has to smash them and then rifle around in what's left of their corpse and you get the general idea. If you're not comfortable with the idea of unholy, bulbous, overlegged creatures scuttling about, these parts aren't terribly comfortable even though you know it's just a game. Today, we ask you what produces that sort of bred-in gut reaction when you come across it? Giant bugs, blood, and slimy things are all common ones for a negative reaction, but there are others, and some of them might even be unique to your own sensibilities. So we'd like to know, what gets you at a basic level, even when you're totally aware it's just a game? (And if any developers are reading right now, bonus question: why all the spiders, guys? Come on.)
Mars for Xbox 360 still dependent on publisher support
An Xbox 360 version of developer Spiders' upcoming game, Mars, may be planned, but apparently there's currently no work being done on it. Destructoid spoke with Spiders CEO Jehanne Rousseau, who said that the company sorta needs a publisher to fund the project first.Rousseau explained that the developer is currently shopping for a publisher and will give a "final answer" on an Xbox 360 version when it has a contract in hand -- or lack thereof. Bucking the trend, Spiders is developing Mars for PS3 because it's a "very complicated platform." Hopefully, the extra work will put it in the company of Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch -- and not that of the ill-fated Factor 5 and Free Radical.%Gallery-47404%[Thanks, Estee]
Spiders' PS3 RPG 'Mars' creeps onto Xbox 360
Formerly announced as a PS3/PC exclusive, Spiders' upcoming action RPG is also releasing on Xbox 360. Mars is now one of the few multiplatform games to take advantage of Sony's free first-party PhyreEngine. In Mars, players will assume the role of two heroes: Seth, an elite soldier, and Pandora, a "technomancer." The two will have to survive a disaster on a post-apocalyptic colonial Mars. You know, that old chestnut.This action RPG looks to follow the mold of other traditional hack 'n' slash games. This first footage is very rough (to say the least), but with a planned late 2010 release, there's a lot of time to make improvements to the game.%Gallery-47404%
New PS3 sci-fi action RPG heads to 'Mars'
French developer Spiders is working on a brand new sci-fi RPG called Mars, currently slated for release on PS3 and PC. The game takes place 200 years after the colonization of Mars. Inexplicably, the orbit of Mars is altered, causing a communications breakdown with Earth and exposing the inhabitants to solar radiation. With supplies and water in short supply, Mars looks to be Total Recall an extraterrestrial version of Fallout.Two playable characters are planned for use in the game. Seth, an elite soldier, will have the ability to master a variety of weapons to fight his enemies. Pandora is a "technomancer" equipped with several, magical abilities. Both of their stories will intertwine, giving players two unique perspectives of the world.The first screens (available in our gallery) reveals the game's current, primitive state. But since us PS3 owners are an RPG-starved bunch, we'll watch how Mars progresses.%Gallery-47404%[Via GameZine]
Beast Mastery: Spiders
I like the creepy-crawlies. As soon as my hunter hit Level 15, I made my way to the Skittering Dark in Silverpine Forest and hunted down Krethis Shadowspinner. Sure, she looked exactly like the low-level spiders in Tirisfal Glades, but how could I not want her? With a name like that, she was sure to be deadly. Sure enough, she was, and she managed to kill me several times before I was finally able to tame her. If I had waited 5 more levels, Freezing Trap would've made things much easier.Of course, over the course of leveling, I had to abandon her (leveling pets was nowhere near as easy as it is post-Patch 3.0.2) but these days I keep the company of Leech Widow from the Wetlands. Yes, it's a generic white spider, but you'll understand these things if you have a Hunter. The cool thing is, Spiders now appropriately have the Web ability that we only used to envy from NPCs. It entraps opponents for 4 seconds from 20 yards and has a 40 second cooldown. It's a damage-less version of the Exotic Pet Silithid's Venom Web Spray. The good news is, the damage doesn't really matter. You'll want to use the web merely to keep opponents at a distance. This ability makes them a great choice for Level 19 twinks.
Just say no to the glow!
Before everyone heads out tonight to various and sundry events, I wanted to take a moment out to give you all a valuable tip for anyone playing WoW and who intends to drink far too much in-game ale. As many people have noticed, when you overindulge in game, your screen will go from lovely and clear to blurry and hard-to-navigate. For those who weren't aware, the drunken effect that you get when you overindulge -- as well as that comes from the waiters in Moroes' room, the poison effect from the spiders in ZG, and pretty much all other drunken/hazy visual effects that mobs can cause you to experience -- are tied to your "Full-Screen Glow Effect" in Video Options. So if you're in dire need of quick sobriety, or just want to improve your system's performance and not have to deal with it while mid-run, pop into your Video Options and say no to the glow. Although I recommend turning it back on if you're just drinking (in game) for fun, personally. Some of those folks from the Darkmoon Faire are much better looking when they're blurry. Whooo...
The only thing we have to fear... is spiders
Moony on WoW Ladies is freaked out by the Burning Crusade. But unlike most of us, she's not freaked out because all the new instances look so awesome, or because she loves playing with the new races. Nope, she's freaked out because there are spiders. If you've ever been to the Spider boss in ZG (or the spider nest in LBRS), you know how creepy the creepy crawlies can get in Azeroth, but apparently on Bloodmyst Isle (a new Draenei zone), they get even creepier-- so much that she'd rather run back to Loch Modan to pass by that quest.And surprisingly enough, a few people share her pain. I've never really been freaked out by spiders in WoW, but I was kind of sickened by my first trip into the insect nests on the eastern border of Feralas-- those winged beasts are icky for sure. And Silithus, of course, although by then I'd gotten more used to it. And some people have other fears brought on by their travels through Azeroth-- one commenter has a fear of heights that shows up from time to time while jumping off of zeppelins, and a few other players have issues with swimming really deep while that little blue bar drops. And it's not always fear-- this past weekend, I was running Baron, and it occurred to me just how disgusting the abominations are-- not only are their guts all hanging out, but they actually vomit on players they attack. That's sick, man!Have you been freaked out or sickened by something in the game? Blizzard's great because they play on central parts of our culture when creating the World of Warcraft-- from pop stars and entertainment to myths and legends, even to our basest fears. Have they ever actually got you shaking in your Wolfrunner Shoes?
Molecular spiders can cut grass, fight one another, and save lives?
If you've read Engadget for any period of time, you know that we love robots. What do we love more than ordinary robots? Spider robots. But what do we love even more than spider robots? There's only one obvious answer: molecular robot-like spiders. The BBC has just reported on such research from Columbia University by Dr. Milan Stojanovic, a professor of biochemistry. Dr. Stojanovic and his team have built what they call a "molecular spider" that has four legs, each of which are made up of 10nm strands of DNA. The spider, once let loose in a solution of molecular-sized grass, acts as a miniature lawnmower when it releases an enzyme catalyst that cuts the tiny blades. But Dr. Stojanovic isn't stopping there -- he says that he plans to build a microscopic arena for dueling spiders to go at it: "We could have a simple predator-prey system in which one of them would try to cleave the legs of the other." However, the Beeb had to go and get a practical answer from him, explaining that "insulin could be steadily released from the surface of a tablet: if the spiders were sensitive to blood glucose, they could be automatically activated or halted according to the diabetic patient's immediate needs." That's useful, but BOR-ING! Dr. Stojanovic, let us know when we can start betting on molecular spider gladiator fights, ok?[Thanks, Chris W., illustration courtesy of the BBC]
