destruction
Latest
Blood Pact: 4 thoughts on destruction in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill finally dives into beta and found that she was having more fun flinging fire than draining souls. I got into the beta a week ago (and with the last Annual Pass wave, a lot of the rest of you should be, too). So I went marching around Jade Forest and found myself continuously crashing to affliction spells triggering a fun little error. I'd heard things about moonkin and fire mages also having troubles, primarily when DoTs or debuffs were being cast. But errors are odd things, and I found I could cast Immolate all day long on my destruction spec. So I did destro for a day of questing and flinging fire at the training dummy. Here are a few of the first thoughts I had.
Blood Pact: Initial impressions of 4.3 raiding as a warlock
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid. The first week of raiding after the release of patch 4.3 has more or less come and gone by this point, and while raiding isn't everything, it is the primary focus on this tier. Not only do we finally get to tackle with Deathwing himself, but Blizzard also introduced the Raid Finder tool in order to bring more players into the raiding game. Another part of this patch was an effort to bring destruction's damage up to par with that of our other two specs. While there is still much more time needed in order to tell how exactly things are going to play out, for now it is time to lay down the initial impressions that raiding within this recent patch has left in my mouth. Some are good, some are bad, but the common denominator is that, hey -- at least we aren't mages.
Blood Pact: Distinguishing destruction from fire
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... for those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. Send questions, comments, or requests for something you'd like to see to tyler@wowinsider.com or via Twitter to @murmursofadruid. I like to think that I've been a solid supporter of the warlocks in their struggles against the devil mages. I know that I do have some split loyalties with the druids, but let's be fair in saying that a druid is wicked awesome in comparison to a mage. With that in mind, know that it brings me no joy to say that I'm worried. We talked about the new talents coming in the next expansion last week, and while I love what talents warlocks had and I think the new system has some great potential, there's one facet about it that concerns me. Destruction and fire are very closely linked in playstyle. Both are heavy nuking specs that also utilize DOT effects to boost their damage. They both make use of an otherwise unwieldy long spell, albeit in different methods, but one cannot deny that the two specs are fairly similar. One of the key differences right now to set destruction apart from fire is Conflagration and Backdraft -- destruction has a form of focus on speed that fire doesn't. With traditional specs going out the window, one has to worry about how Blizzard intends to distinguish destruction from fire.
Blood Pact: The future of destruction
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology and destruction warlocks. For those who disdain the watered-down arts that other cling to like a safety blanket ... For those willing to test their wills against the nether and claim the power that is their right ... Blood Pact welcomes you. For the past two weeks, we've been taking a look at the future of warlock design -- a bit of clairvoyance on my part, with Blizzard's asking for player feedback of a similar nature this past week. First we looked at affliction's concerns, and then we talked about demonology. This week, we'll round out the series by discussing what might come of destruction, the current wayward child of warlocks. It's easy to talk about the problems that destruction faces now, as they're things that we see inside of the game, yet damage balance is a very fickle mistress. Numbers can be tuned at the drop of a hat; whether they are or not is an entirely different matter. Dealing in numbers and figures really is a simple matter. This week's focus won't exclusively be on the damage disparity that destruction currently suffers from, but rather the mechanical difficulties and identity crisis that holds it back. Damage is meaningless when Blizzard could easily hotfix in a random buff or nerf without a moment's notice; again, it's more so a matter of if or when.
The Daily Grind: Which zones are you happy to see destroyed?
When City of Heroes announced that the game's new starting experience will include the wholesale destruction of Galaxy City, there were some players who were sad. There were many more who were happy at the thought of Galaxy City being smashed into rubble and twisted metal, and there were even a few volunteers to help wreck it before the update hits. There are zones that we like in any game, yes, but there are also zones that seemingly nobody enjoys. Fortunately, the nature of MMOs ensures that the zone you hate today could be getting an extensive makeover via demolition tomorrow. So what zones do you think deserve a big dose of a cosmic wrecking ball? Are they zones that have already been destroyed, such as World of Warcraft's long-loathed Darkshore, or zones you just can't wait to see destroyed (such as Galaxy City)? Or are there even zones that show no sign of going anywhere that you'd just like to see wrecked? 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!
Warhammer's 1.4.3 patch goes live today
It's patch day in Warhammer Online, and we've got your your 1.4.3 update at a glance. In case you're trying to sneak in a few minutes of play during your workday, we're sorry to inform you that Mythic's servers are currently down (the good news is that there's an expected up time of 1:30 p.m. EDT according to the note posted yesterday on the official website). So what's new and exciting in this patch? For starters, Sigmartide. This two-week live event sees Order players basking in the glow of the faction's first emperor while they "seek out corruption, cleanse the wicked, and honor the age-old bonds with the Dwarfs." Destruction types, meanwhile, will actively oppose all the revelry by desecrating celebration altars and doing all the things that bad guys do. Also falling under the 1.4.3 banner are new temporary RvR accessory sets and a shakeup of WAR's scenario lineup. Hit up the official website for more details.
Watch this iPhone get dunked in a goldfish bowl
It's the weekend, and what better time to watch somebody try to destroy an iPhone than that? After the break below, you can watch video of a presentation at this week's Launch Conference in San Francisco, in which LifeProof, a company that makes iPhone cases built to withstand the elements, dunks said iPhone in said goldfish tank. They also put condiments all over it, cover it in dirt, and just generally make a mess, all to prove that their iPhone case can protect against whatever gets thrown at it. The case itself is $69.95, which is a little pricey, but LifeProof of course says that replacing the iPhone completely is much more expensive. I'd suggest that if your iPhone is getting dunked in water or covered in dirt, it might be better to just leave it at home (although I guess there are certain jobs that require a smartphone in less-than-ideal conditions). At any rate, even if you don't need a case that can withstand a tornado, the video below (the demo starts around 1:40) is an entertaining watch.
Polar bears destroy robot spy cams, show no remorse (video)
Iceberg Cam, Snowball Cam, Blizzard Cam and Drift Cam were the arctic photographer's best friends -- high-tech spy robot cameras designed to resist cold and traverse sub-zero terrain. Then they got crushed to death by giant polar bears while attempting to make friends. Seriously, that's the basic gist of Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice, a new BBC documentary which began airing last week, and which just so happens to be narrated by David Tennant. Hope he's got a screwdriver handy, if you know what we mean. Watch the bears play a spirited match of robot football after the break, then see all the lovely mechanical carnage in a third video at our source link.
Google Cr-48 laptop torn down and destroyed in one unlucky day (video)
Boy, we know the Cr-48 is supposed to be a test platform and all, but even by that standard, Google's Chrome OS laptop has had a very rough first day on the job. Ambushed by one of our kindly tipsters upon its arrival, the Cr-48 has been gutted and disassembled (mostly, the motherboard is mercifully left attached to the chassis), revealing the typical arrangement of tiny electronics, which includes Hynix memory chips and a SanDisk-branded SSD. We're just glad to see that masking tape isn't playing a structurally integral role in its construction. Things don't really get much better for the slinky 48 once it gets back home to Google HQ, however, as its makers have put together an entire video composed of creative destruction methods for it. Cruel, cruel people. %Gallery-110278%
Waging WAR: Battle for Badlands season 3 finale
With so many awesome things happening for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning lately, with the Verminous Horde expansion, the new store, patch 1.4 and all the rest, Greg has decided to turn his all-seeing eye sideways, to a land called the Badlands, and take Waging WAR along to explore a community-driven event that has been held there for nearly a year now with great success. Since launch, WAR has enjoyed a great community. With every great community, a great event is inevitable. I've been around the block since WAR was released and have experienced the game on several different servers. I originally rolled my first character, a Swordmaster named Xiimmel, on Iron Rock. Later, I rolled an Archmage named Feiyen on Dark Crag, who I eventually moved back to Iron Rock where she was renamed Veeo. I never did get a chance to explore Phoenix Throne, which was collapsed along with Dark Crag some time ago. Recently, I joined the Badlands community on the side of Destruction with a variety of new characters, and the community there has been good to me so far. Part of that experience the last few weeks has been the opportunity to participate in a community-driven phenomenon known as the Battle for Badlands. Since this is all quite new to me, I decided to do a community spotlight on the event in today's Waging WAR. Read on past the cut where I play 6Qs and deliver the details about the Battle for Badlands while I try to answer your 5Ws and maybe an H.
Windows Phone 7 beats iPhone 4 and Android ... in a grilling contest (video)
Let's face it, it's a question the world's been dying to know the answer to: which of the T-Mobile G2, HTC Surround and iPhone 4 will withstand a (literal) grilling the longest? Well, just in time for a mildly singed breakfast today, we have the answer. As you might have surmised from the title, HTC's WP7-equipped Surround showed the most endurance, though in the end it too cashed out its Earthly credits and moved on to that great scrapyard in the sky. Video of its final moments awaits after the break.
Waging WAR: Chaotic zeal, part two
In this week's installment of Waging WAR, Greg returns to the Chaotic Zeal series and peels back another layer or two of the Zealot career in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. He tells us about his experience through tiers 2 and 3 and talks about what makes the zealot stand out in the chaos crowd. If only we could get him to eat his onions with the same fanaticism... At the end of the first issue of the Chaotic Zeal series, I left off by saying that I was happily looking forward to playing through tiers 2 and 3 and the promise the Zealot would bring. I'll kick off this second article in the series by saying that I wasn't disappointed in the least. The Zealot is an absolute pleasure to play as a PvP healer, despite the settings and circumstances I was presented with. The career's growth is robust and meaningful with a variety of attractive tactics and morale abilities, while the playstyle becomes more and more refined over time. I could fill an entire column with anecdotes and memories of my time with the career through the middle tiers, as the Zealot is a career experience that tends to be quite engaging and memorable. Instead, I'll focus on my impressions of leveling through them. Thus, with my Zealot poised on the precipice of tier 4 at level 30, I'll look back and recall the issues I faced getting there. Follow along after the cut as I discuss the middle tiers with the Zealot career.
Waging WAR: Chaotic zeal, part one
Continuing in the tradition of the Nagarythe Chronicles, Waging WAR moves forward this week with the first issue of another multipart career spotlight for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. This time, however, Greg has defected to the velvet darkness of Chaos. Brandishing a skull in one hand and a twisted dagger in the other, Greg rolls a zealot and starts down a road of uncertainty, where the only constant is Change by the will of Tzeentch. It has been a long time since I've played the game on the side of Destruction. Actually, truth be told, I've never really been serious about any Destruction character I've ever rolled at all, with my highest level being somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 or so on a blackguard when the class was first released. It has also been quite a while since I've done any career spotlights for the column. With those facts in mind, I've decided to do a multipart series for the zealot and to take a look at how they play and what makes them tick through the various tiers of growth up into Tier 4. The reasons I chose the zealot for the series are simple and few. First of all, the last time I had my hands on the zealot career was long before the new Harbinger mechanic was released, and I want to try it out for myself. Second, I have a considerable amount of experience healing (and DPSing) with my archmage, so I have a baseline for comparison. Finally, I thought a defection would be fun as I level and discover new areas, quests and storylines that I never gave myself a chance to become familiar with. Follow along after the break as I take a look at the zealot through levels 1-11 in Tier 1.
One Shots: Suspension (of disbelief) bridge
While the orcs in Warhammer Online may not be prized for their smarts, they do generally have the ability to tell when something is not quite right. With that said, apparently this very silly orc decided that despite the missing bridge, he'd just stomp out where it should have been -- and amazingly enough, it worked! Today's amusing image comes to us from Cory, who writes in: "I've been playing Warhammer Online, and this is me on the bugged invisibridge in Hunters Vale: Legchoppa and the Last Crusade." Have you captured a strange image from your favorite game? Would you like to share it with us? If so, just email those screenshots in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in! Easy, and fun. %Gallery-85937%
One Shots: Off to explore
Where the ravens flock and the forces of Destruction hone their skills, there are secrets lurking. For brave explorers, the wild magics of Warhammer Online can often result in strange journeys -- if you know where to look, anyway. Today we have a tip from one of our readers, Taawa, on where to look if you're interested in seeing strange lands. He writes in to explain today's screenshot: "In Warhammer Online there is a Chaos portal behind the arena floor in the Inevitable City. Entering the portal will temporarily send you to interesting and unique places. Warhammer Online is an excellent game for explorers in part because of these kinds of finds. The character pictured is my main: a zealot named Lyram on the Badlands server." One Shots is always on the hunt for interesting screenshots of MMOs. If you'd like to take part, we'd definitely love to see your screenshots. Email them to us here at oneshots@massively.com, along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. Yours could wind up as the next one we post here on Massively! %Gallery-85937%
One Shots: Itchy
When you're but one dwarf, standing alone atop the ridge near your enemies, you likely have little chance of taking a keep all by yourself. Now when you're the one dwarf who incites armies to battle, or perhaps serves as the scout ahead of a large raiding party -- well that changes things a bit! While we don't know whether Talkan occupied either position or was just there on his own, we do know that his hatred of Destruction (or at least their architecture) in Warhammer Online is mighty. How can we tell? Check out the note that came with today's One Shots entry: "Here is a snapshot of my ironbreaker glaring down at the goblin/orc-made keep called Thickmuck -- it's literally made from wood and mud! All this greenskin work makes my beard bristle and my axe itch! This stuff is even worse than human stonework!" We're always on the lookout for art and architecture in different games, and we know we can't possibly have seen it all already. So grab some screens of your favorite game and send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com with your name (server and guild optional) and a quick description of what we're seeing. We'll post them here, and give you the credit for sending them in. %Gallery-85937%
The iPad makes a pretty good skateboard, too
We've seen an iPad blended and microwaved, so why not turn it into a skateboard, right? That's exactly what Fuel.tv did, and you can watch the results above. Does it stand up to the skater scrutiny? Yes and no ... okay, mostly no. The screen surprisingly breaks right away, and the form factor seems a little too small to support the skater's balance. However, after a little reinforcement (including a drilled hole through the middle that results in ... smoke? Is that the "magical" part?), they can actually get it to roll a little ways. That's not too shabby! Before you start complaining that they've, yet again, wasted an iPad, don't forget that 500 bucks has nabbed them over 100k views of their video online. So, for them, it's not a complete throwaway. [via Mashable]
WAR: Play both factions on the same server by patch 1.3.6
It's always important to eat your dessert first at dinner and then the main meal -- or so our rapscallion uncles taught us. So it is with developer articles. While the bulk of Carrie Gouskos' April Producer's Letter for Warhammer Online was devoted to examining the reasons behind the 1.3.5 patch changes, including the 100% RvR city sieges, it's not a bad idea to skip ahead to the final paragraph of the letter for one truly tasty tidbit: "By 1.3.6 players will have the capability to play as both Order and Destruction on the same server. We did this in Camelot, because we wanted to give players more choices about where they wanted to play and who they wanted to play with. We're aware of the possible downsides (such as cross-realming) and we're aware that people have a lot of realm pride, which we believe is very important, so we're going to be introducing a significant lockout timer to switch between realms." Up to this point, once a player rolled either a Destruction or Order player on a server, the opposing faction was denied to them unless they deleted every character and started over. This certainly represents a significant change in the the faction struggle of WAR, but could also solve the issue of friends being unable to connect on the same realm because one rolled Order and the other Destruction. Carrie highlighted other changes and revisions forthcoming to the game, including an auction house revamp and a pass at improving the open-RvR experience. Head over to the WAR Herald to read the full letter!
Warhammer Online's 100% RvR city siege outlined in development notes
Since its inception, Warhammer Online's greatest strength and selling point has been its Realm vs. Realm (RvR) gameplay between the forces of Order and Destruction. With the upcoming 1.3.5 patch, RvR is poised to claim its rightful birthright with 100% RvR city sieges (in the past, city sieges have been a mix of RvR and PvE). Yesterday, Mythic posted a slew of "In Development" notes pertaining to 1.3.5, specifically outlining their plans for the new edition of city sieges. WAR's new city sieges now have a maximum battle time of two hours, feature a respectable 24v24 population, and offer plenty of rewards, including a PQ-style chest roll for the winners. Once a player joins the fray, they'll be automatically put into a warband and pointed toward the battle. City sieges take place over three stages, each with specific objectives and a time limit. In stage one, the invaders will attempt to breach the palace gates while the defenders try to stave them off. This is accomplished on both sides by waging war over linked control points that function as a tug-of-war between the forces. Moving on to the second stage, each side has the win condition of either escorting their warlord to the palace gate or defeating the enemy warlord. Depending on how stage two ends, stage three will take place either in the palace or at the city's gates, and involves killing the enemy's king. One of the neatest parts of this final stage is that four players on each side will be chosen to be "Champions" -- highly buffed characters with a special new ability. The new city sieges sound streamlined, dynamic and -- dare we say it? -- a bloody good time for all. You can check out the proposed development notes for this patch on WAR's forums.
Memo from PETi: stop torturing iPads!
M E M O R A N D U M From: Ima Bettar Thanayou Vice President, People for the Ethical Treatment of iPads (PETi) To: YouTube user THISisCaSpEr Dear Mr. THISisCaSpEr, We received an anonymous tip from a friend of iPads about the horrendous treatment that you gave to a poor, defenseless iPad yesterday. He sent pictures and a video, so there's no way that you're going to weasel out of this one, buster! These young iPads (or Pad Puppies as we call them) experience plenty of trauma being dragged away from their parents, forced into boxes with fruit stickers inside of them, and then sold into slavery to surf the web, check email, and play games for their brutal owners. The thought of all those people stroking their fingers over these young iPads just makes me sick. You, sir, take matters beyond that with your violent and unjustified attacks. We're publicizing this brutal and pointless beating, Mr. THISisCaSpEr, so that others will see what a horrific scene you created. And if we can take some sort of action against you, we will. Sincerely, I.B.T. Vice President PETi We would like to protect our readers from the ghastly sight of the iPad being beaten, dropped, and otherwise abused, so we've hidden the video on the next page. Click the Read More link, if you dare, but please don't let children see this. They may get the idea that they should grow up to be rich sophomoric jerks who have nothing better to do than to pulverize expensive equipment for no apparent reason.
