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The Art of Wushu: Understanding the Meridian System
Age of Wushu is not the most accessible game. It is full of confusing systems that are hard to decipher, and a large part of the "skill" in the game is being able to wade through the mess of gameplay elements and produce an optimized character. Meridians are one more extremely confusing system to handle. There are nine meridian lines, advanced characters can activate four of them, and even training them at all is pretty confusing. Training the correct ones adds another layer of complexity to an already confusing game. I'm not a huge fan of the system -- it causes a number of metagame problems, particularly due to the increased HP inherent to everyone who trains a meridian line. However, it's there and we have to make the best use of it. How do we do that? Read on!
The Art of Wushu: The right stats for each style
There are a few questions I answer on a very regular basis in Age of Wushu. "How do you make money?" is a pretty common question, but I think we've answered that. "Can you annotate my book?" happens rather frequently, too. However, the most common question I answer is "what stats should I get?" The answer for this question is anything but simple, and I end up spending hours explaining it to individuals. If I went back through my chat logs, I could probably fill this entire column just by copy-pasting because I've answered this question so many times. For the first time, this information will be available as a public resource. Instead of spending hours of my time explaining it to people, I can just link it! Even if you think you know what you're doing with your stats, this is a must-read.
Behind the Mask: The best kind of loot
Loot feels like a controversial thing in Champions Online. It's an odd feeling to have your character's super strength be powered by Qularr Mutagens or an ARGENT Dimensional Shunt. It's not strange to see a fantasy character loaded down with epic gear, but when a mutant superhero gains a majority of his attributes from magic headbands, tech wristbands, and radiation-emitting devices rather than his own superpowers, it sort of makes him feel a little less super. From my experience with the roleplaying community, most players ignore gear from an IC perspective because it just doesn't make sense. Personally, I have mixed feelings on gear. I like having things to do in the late game, and while grinding Nemesis merits for top level gear is a chore, at least it gives some sort of incentive to do things in the end game besides roll alts. Without the promise of character advancement of some kind or another, it's hard to convince players to keep playing their favorite characters. On the other hand, gear creates imbalance between players. As a PvP type of player, I like it when everyone has a fair shot. The one thing that most people can agree on about CO is that the gear system is downright confusing. Most people just pick the items that give them the most points in their superstats and move happily along. Even though I have a fairly in-depth understanding on how the gear system works, distilling it into an easily digestible form is no easy task. Hit the jump and you'll see what I mean.
