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Breakfast Topic: Got upgrade?
Leveling up my draenei hunter, I used to keep looking for the next upgraded item I'd be able to use. My most exciting upgrading moment so far came when I reached level 40 and got to put on a full mail set I had bought and put away in the bank just for that moment. Somehow, though, I wasn't able to find many upgrades in my forties, and now starting on my fifties, some of that armor I had saved in the bank is still the best I can find, on the auction or in quests. The surprising thing is that leveling still isn't that hard! Of course maybe it's just because I'm a hunter, and hunters can even level naked if they want to.Still, it makes me wonder just how often we need to try and upgrade our armor leveling up. Is it totally different for the various classes? For example, can a hunter get by with sub-par gear for a long time, while a priest or warrior never could? If you're trying to level a very gear dependent class and just can't seem to find good upgrades, how do you manage?
Crush developer open to Wii sequel
Crush, the PSP's 2D/3D puzzle platformer, may have waggling in its future, according to an interview with Paul Mottram, senior producer at Crush developer Zoë Mode. We're talking faint "may" and distant future, since this was all idle speculation on his part. When asked the weirdly pointed question of why they made a PSP game instead of putting it on a Nintendo platform, Mottram responded, "There is no reason why it couldn't be transferred to multiple different platforms especially the Wii, DS and PS2 and this is something we are thinking about." He went on to describe the level editor they wanted to include, but couldn't. That definitely sounds like something well-suited to the DS or Wii, right?[Via Joystiq]
WoW Future-Vision: Express train to the level cap
The year is 2012. WoW fans are excitedly awaiting the game's 5th expansion, Revenge of the Gnomes, which brings two new races to the game (Sporeggar and Goblins, at last!), as well as a new class (the Tinker), and a slew of other features. As everyone knows, this is the expansion where the gnomes finally take back Gnomeregan from the troggs, pushing them back all the way into the "Undergloom," a vast and ancient network of caverns beneath Azeroth. Of course, the gnomes also accidentally stumble upon the long-buried prison of the Old Gods and unleash unbridled havoc on the World of Warcraft, but that's where the fun is, right?I could go on and on about the new features included in Revenge of the Gnomes, but I'm sure you've heard about most of them already (like the subterranean hovercraft group-mounts and blue-pill, red-pill potions for alchemy). Suffice it to say that the feature everyone is most excited about is that the level cap is once again being raised another 10 levels, to a grand total of 110. Like everyone else, you're probably wondering how in the world (of Warcraft) are you going to level your new Goblin Tinker character all the way through those tedious levels of 1 to 100? Everyone wants to try out the new content, but no one wants to slave away through Stranglethorn Vale for the 48th time. To complicate things further, Blizzard still doesn't want to add any more 1-60 quests in the lower-level zones (not to mention any of the Outland, Northrend, Emerald Dream, or Great Sea Expansion zones)! Fortunately, though, Blizzard's got what you need! Are you prepared for the "/level" command?
Alts and alts and alts, oh my!
I probably play World of Warcraft way too much. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right? My addiction stems from not being happy with one character, or two, or three... I have 7 characters leveling in the Outlands right now, two of which are raiding Karazhan. Why can't I stick with just one and work on it until it's the best of the best? Because I love my alts! I created my first alt when my primary character, a Hunter, hit level 52. I'm not entirely sure why I did so, but it probably had something to do with having out-leveled my friends by about 20 levels and wanting to help them without hindering our playing experience. My first alt was a Warlock, who I took to 60 first, becoming my first instance grinding and raiding main character. The hunter stood on standby for a while, until my guild had Molten Core on farm-mode, upon which I took him to 60 and brought him in for our alt runs. He was one of the first to complete the Lok'delar/Rhok'delar/Lamina quest in our guild, which he still has (at least, until I dust him off and bring him out of retirement). After a few months with them, I met other people who played on a different server, and they needed main tanks for their progression. So I was off and running with a Warrior, who was level 60 in a matter of a few weeks. I helped that guild progress through Blackwing Lair when I took my first burnout hiatus. It took a few months of enjoying other things, more real-life than virtual, when I was feeling the pangs of withdrawal and logged back in.
I have portals, I know things
The other day I was helping a guildie with their mage as they reached 20. Thus began the long journey to collect teleportation training from around Azeroth. Something he said along the way stuck with me though. He mentioned that he hardly sees people asking for portals to Darnassus now. I thought about it, and would have to agree. I seem to sell as many ports to Darnassus as I sell to the Exodar. The cities are so closely linked, it's fairly easy to hop on a boat and be anywhere on Kalimdor that you need to be. Why then the great level difference in the training? The portal to Darnassus still remains a spell you can train in at level 50, while the portal to the Exodar is a level 40 spell. This goes for the teleport spells as well, since the level for Darnassus is 30, while all the others are available at level 20. So in essence, all that bouncing around the continent starts ten levels sooner. I imagine that initially the portal to Darnassus was level 50 because it represents a greater magical achievement. You are now transporting a group across the ocean. Does the Exodar require less skill to use? You are still transporting people across the Great Sea. Wouldn't it in fact require more skill, seeing as how we have had a longer history with the Night Elves than we have with the Draenei? I am thinking that the developers might want to take a look at the level requirements for the portals. The initial level requirements seemed to support the lore. The training, as it stands currently, does not. A possible explanation is that Night Elves shun arcane magic. However, they do accept the portal trainer within their city, so this argument doesn't seem to work for me. If they let that first mage in there to create the portals in the first place, why would it be more difficult for other mages to do so? Is there some sort of other explanation that I'm missing as to why there is such a level discrepancy with both the teleport and the portal spells to Darnassus?
Hellfire at level 55
A week or so ago, a friendly lock in our guild summoned me out to Honor Hold to train in Enchanting. It appears to be bothering people that this is possible, that we are somehow abusing the system. I don't feel that I am, and in fact I was able to summon an entire group ranging from 51-55 for some Outland fun. We killed boars, a lot of them, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It's interesting to note that although I cannot pass through into Outland, I am able to go through the Dark Portal into Azeroth. To me this is the sign that what I am doing is not against the design of the game. It's more like that shortcut to UBRS, built into the game for those resourceful enough to find it. I have yet to be able to get a quest, but I get plenty of looks from other players. Most are supportive, and many have helped me survive those times when I managed to attract too much attention from the wandering wildlife. Some have watched me die and laughed at my corpse. It matters not. What matters is that I can level my Tailoring and Enchanting again, I can use all that Netherweave I have been gathering, and I am having the time of my life. I have rediscovered the joys of grinding. I find it a better use of my time grinding the levels until 58 in an environment where the exp gain is so high. It sure beats Silithus and those darn Dredge Crushers.
Breakfast Topic: What level are you?
The race to level 70 has come and gone -- the first 70 in the world, the first 70 in the US, first 70 on my realm, your realm, and everyone else's realm. Not there yet? That's okay -- having a penchant for reading quest text and other such silliness, I'm not there either. But before I ask you, I suppose I need to 'fess up myself and admit to my own levels: a priest at 63, a rogue at 61, and a paladin at 29 (this last taking up the majority of my time lately). And now it's your turn -- what levels have you reached since the expansion release?
Japan set to implode: Dragon's Quest IX is a DS exclusive
You heard it, folks: at Square-Enix's annual Jump Festa event, they let the bomb drop: the next entry in the venerable Dragon's Quest series, entitled Dragon's Quest IX: Defender of the Stars (another silly "DS" subtitle) will be coming exclusively to everyone's favorite little handheld. This is huge news: this franchise is second only to perhaps Final Fantasy in Japan, and still one of the most respected names in gaming worldwide. Having the title being developed exclusively on a Nintendo system is a clear show of faith from SE (they're also releasing a Final Fantasy XII sequel, Revenant Wings, sometime next year), and hopefully, even more Wii and DS support will follow.Development of the game is being passed over to Level 5 (also working on White Knight Story for the PS3), and it'll feature a four-player co-op mode as well. Of course, there's no definite release date, but the team mentioned that they'd like to have it out sometime in 2007.Let this news wash over your Tuesday, and make it full of glee and joy. Bring on DQIXDS![Thanks to everyone who sent this in, and GoNintendo for the pic!]
Elebits looking elementary
Siliconera has posted new details about Elebits' level-trading WiiConnect24 functionality.Custom levels are built using a point system. Points are charged for each item used to populate a level (examples: public trash can, 2 points; blue elebit, 3 points; toy tank, 28 points). No level can exceed 1,000 points.Once completed, the level can be 'overnighted' to registered friends, along with choice screen shots. It's as of yet unclear if friends can further edit your creations, which appear to be limited by pre-made environments (e.g., bedroom, yard, street, etc.). If level building is this restricted, then one has to question this feature's longevity. Here's to hoping Konami is dedicated to implementing some bigger possibilities for WiiConnect24.
A hard shopping lesson taught by APEX
Lets be honest. How many of us have been tempted to buy an entry-level (read: cheap-no-name-but-it-is-a-heck-of-a-deal) consumer electronic? Most have 'cause they might have a great picture or the styling is rather nice. You would think that in these days of class action lawsuits and consumer watchdog groups that manufactures would not be able to get away with selling...crap. Well, this isn't entirely true. Walk into any major electronics store like Best Buy or Circuit City and take a look at their lineup. They will have some nice name brand products and then some no-name entry-level products at the other end of the price range. Ron Donoho bought the APEX at the low-end of the scale and is now paying the repercussion. Most people remember APEX as a rock bottom priced product line-up sold almost exclusively by Walmart and Circuit City from 2002-2005. Ron purchased his 27-inch APEX LCD from Circuit City in February of '05 and well, it broke. Very long story short, he declined the extended service plan from CC but it still had parts covered by APEX and local service centers won't touch the set because of bad relations with APEX. In fact APEX themselves are in heaps of trouble with the Chinese government (CEO was physically tortured for fraud and bad debt - can we send Ken Lay over there?) so they aren't any help at all. So the moral of the story? Sometimes those entry-level products that look like such a good deal might not be that. Sure, there are always exceptions to the rule and even name brand products go bad, but more often then not, they outlast no-name products. Mr. Ron Donoho has a very lengthy write-up on his experiences with APEX that might be worth a read if you are in the market for a new TV. We are curious to hear your experiences with entry-level product lines like APEX. Tell us everything - good or bad.
Preview of new Guitar Hero II co-op mode
In case you missed it on Friday, IGN posted a pre-E3 hands-on preview of Guitar Hero II's new co-op mode. It's a departure from the first game's multiplayer mode in that the two players have to depend on each other a lot more to pass each song and thereby make beautiful music together.While the old multiplayer option will still be around in the sequel, the new mode mixes distinct lead guitar and bass or rhythm parts where each player affects the other in various ways, whether by failing if either performance slips (as in DDR), sharing the same Rock Meter (with mistakes from either player resetting the score multiplier), and needing to both go vertical at the same time to activate the shared Star Power. Thankfully, different difficulty levels can be assigned to each player.The Joystiq team out in L.A. will probably find something to do until they get their sweaty paws on a guitar controller or two on the E3 show floor (maybe one of those wacky press conferences will help pass the time), but we're sure the wait to try the latest build of this rockin' series will be worth it. The seven songs available at E3 are listed below.[Thanks, murph]
