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Wings Over Atreia: Aion's classy balancing act
I'm in trouble now. I thought I had it made; I thought I was on easy street. I had one Aion character slot left, open and waiting for that inspiration. Then along came the cloak-donning, guns-blazing gunslinger class. Right on! I know who that slot's going to come 4.0. Or do I? Basically, NCsoft is evil! I had no interest in a musically minded class, none at all... until the Troubadour announcement last week. A healer! Come on, that's not fair; healing classes are my favorite, my passion, my calling in life. Short of a second Aion account, what in Atreia do I do now? This is not a good predicament for the decisionally challenged. Thankfully, at least I know I have no interest in the third class. No, really -- this time I mean it! I know, because even though I gave it a shot once before, I just have no desire to play a tank. And how do I know it is a tank? Elementary, my dear Daeva.
How to transmogrify your clothie into High Inquisitor Whitemane
I don't like to assume that I know much in this world, but when it comes to World of Warcraft there is one thing that I am truly certain of: People really like High Inquisitor Whitemane. I guess it's hard for anyone to miss though. Since vanilla WoW, I've been reading comments about the High Inquisitor in almost every cathedral PUG I've ever run. "This is my favorite boss in the game," or "I love this fight," they say. When I flip through fan art galleries, it feels like I can't go through 10 pictures without one of them being of her. Plus, have you ever been to a BlizzCon? I've attended three, and every time, I've seen more than a few girls cosplaying as her. And who knows why? Maybe it's because we all love Scarlet Monastery. Maybe it's the Sephiroth-effect (white hair + villain = fans). Whatever it is, this relatively minor character commands a huge fan base among players. Because of that, I'm going to show you how to make your character look like her with transmogrification.
Mapping the way to the Soul Master closed beta
With tons of MMO options available, players are looking for fun and interesting mechanics that might well scratch their gaming itch. That's why the folks at Gamescampus are hoping that their shiny new action MMORTS, Soul Master, will catch players' eyes by offering lots of interesting new maps and challenges to differentiate it from your everyday hack-and-slash game. As the closed beta is set to start "this summer" we're guessing that players won't have too much longer to wait before we start to hear more about this upcoming title. With most of the mechanics sounding very similar to regular RTS games (creating your own defensive and offensive units, resource gathering, producing upgrades, etc.) and talk of MMO-style raiding thrown in, it's still a bit early to say just precisely where this will land on the MMO spectrum. Nonetheless, we do have a handful of shiny new images featuring different maps and monsters in the gallery below for you to check out. Alternatively, if you'd prefer a taste of the action up-front, there's also a video embedded behind the break for your viewing pleasure. In either case, if you're an RTS-fiend who wants to see just how far down the MMO rabbit-hole this particular game goes, you can head over to the Soul Master site and sign up for the closed beta. %Gallery-93740%
The OverAchiever: The Keymaster
Hot on the heels of a much larger achievement we've recently covered (Twenty-Five Tabards), I've decided to do The Keymaster in this article for two reasons: I recently watched Ghostbusters. Do I need another reason? Actually, the other reason is that if you've done Twenty-Five Tabards, Keymaster is usually pretty easy because you've likely got some Burning Crusade faction rep under your belt. I could tack on a third -- I'm constantly surprised at the number of players who aren't keyed for some of the old-world dungeons, and by "surprised," possibly I mean "irritated," because I keep getting pestered to go open doors. Happily, just about all of these keys can be soloed at 80 for most classes, and none of them are particularly time-intensive (with the possible exception of the Scholomance key due to insane travel time) to get.
Director complains about making Xbox video content
Though James Gunn's Xbox Live short dropped on the service last year, the director is just now voicing his distaste with the way Microsoft treated his production. The piece, named Sparky & Mikaela, was part of the Horror Does Comedy series released in late 2008. "I wasn't too happy with the version of S&M that was shown on XBox [sic], as they cut the living s**t out of it," he writes. He also notes that S&M wasn't his first attempt for the game publisher, saying he made "the most balls-out, f*****d up thing [he's] ever shot," named Humanzee, which was flat out rejected by Microsoft. While he voices his steadfast love for the system as a gaming platform, he calls the company, "the most dreadful, non-talent friendly company I've ever worked for" -- and one we're guessing he won't likely work with again.
Player versus NPC health
A comment left by Argent on my article about the maximum amount of stamina got me thinking. How does player health stack and scale against NPC health? I quoted 17,500 unbuffed health as a good target for maxed unbuffed stamina, which equates to about 22,000 health fully raid buffed (possibly more depending on group, consumables, and talent composition).So, let's take a look at what some mobs are that have around 22,000 to 23,000 health. Remember, this is as much as a fully equipped tier six warrior will probably have in raid. Archaedas, Level 40 Elite, Uldaman Princess Theradras, Level 51 Elite, Maraudon Timmy the Cruel (Timmeh!), Level 58 Elite, Stratholme Live Highlord Omokk, Level 59 Elite, Lower Blackrock Spire Magister Kalendris, Level 60 Elite, Dire Maul West Maleki the Palllid, Level 61 Elite, Stratholme Undead Novice Astromancer, Level 70, Tempest Keep the Eye (pulled in packs around Solarian) Culuthas, Level 70 Elite Demon, Netherstorm If you want to just go by unbuffed numbers, some famous mobs that have around 17,500 health include:
Last few days for Headless Horseman farming
About a week and a half ago, the halls of Scarlet Monastery were packed with more players than they've seen in a long time. Corpses of Horde, Alliance and unwitting Scarlet Crusaders littered the floor when Hallow's End hit the servers and plate-wearers world wide began their obsessive quest to nab the Horseman's Helm. Of course, the warriors and paladins aren't alone in their enthusiasm. Since there are a variety of goodies that can be acquired, it wasn't difficult to find groups to challenge the Horseman the first few days of the event. As players have collected the items they were hoping to get or simply got bored of the encounter, it's become more difficult to find a group to take down the cackling loot piñata. With the real life holiday of Halloween marking the end of its Azerothian counterpart on Wednesday, time is running out to summon the Horseman. Hopefully more people will be online and willing to get a couple more shots at the helm/pet/ring they've been salivating over.Personally, it took me over thirty-five attempts to get the Helm for my warrior, and I have guild mates that are still trying to get the Sinister Squashling. While the drop rates are certainly random, in my experience, these two items are both the most sought after and the least common. While I'd love to get the pet for one of my characters, the grind for the helm was enough for this year.Have you achieved your Hallow's End goals? What are you still hoping to get accomplished?
Zul'Aman and Scarlet Monastery becoming safer for Alliance
Level 70 Elite Tauren guards (not to be confused with L70ETC) have been stationed outside Zul'Aman on the test server. I agree with Elizabeth that the race choice makes no sense, but according to CM Nethaera, the guards (in some form) are there to stay. This is, of course, in response to the overwhelming complaints from Alliance players that have to go to Horde territory in order to try out the new instance.Nethaera also says that they will be implementing a Contested Area around Zul'Aman to further alleviate the unbridled ganking currently occuring there. She says that in the past, they could only flag entire zones as contested, but now they have the ability to change the PvP status of just an area within a zone. This change will be implemented on the PTR first before coming to live servers.They are also going to be surrounding other instances with contested areas, such as the Scarlet Monastery. Unfortunately for the Alliance players currently trying to farm the Headless Horseman, this change will come a bit late. But maybe it will be implemented in time for next year's event.Players have been voicing concerns about changing the areas in lowbie zones to contested. How will it affect the level 10s trying to quest around these new contested areas?
Collect the whole set!
My little blood elf pally has finally hit 40 and got her free mount, and with it comes a new goal -- collecting the entire Chain of the Scarlet Crusade set from Scarlet Monastery. I probably would have never thought of doing it until I got the only BOP part of the set during my first Cathedral run. Then I got the Aegis of the Scarlet Commander and Herod's Shoulder, and realized that I was starting to look pretty cool. At that point, it became a quest. I knew it would be difficult -- and that I'd even have to go back at 70, most likely -- but I still want to do it. As I write this, I'm off to tag along in Armory with a 70 rogue from my guild who is doing silk farming in hopes of getting the Ravager or the mail helm from Herod. All in all, I only need the helm, chestpiece and boots to look like a real Scarlet Crusader. The tabard would be nice but not necessary. The boots are extremely rare, so I'm either going to have to do a lot of farming or plunk down some money from my epic flying mount fund. But it'll be worth it when I can stand in the lobby of Scarlet Monastery and taunt the Alliance. Hmm, the Ashbringer would also be a nice fit ... Have you ever wanted to collect the full set of something, whether it be from BRD or Naxx? Have you ever bought an item just because it was cool to have it?
WoW Moviewatch: Paladinypse Now
Paladin Regis of Sunstrider (EU) offers us this sample of a paladin's abilities at level 70. And while you may believe that Scarlet Monastery isn't the most challenging place to test your skills, I'm not certain which classes, other than the paladin, have the ability to take out the whole instance at once, even at level 70. Warriors could equal them in damage mitigation, but don't have the same AoE options. And mages could certainly best paladins at the AoE game, but probably couldn't take that much of a beating. Am I wrong? You're welcome to prove it with a video of your own!Previously on Moviewatch...
Finding Your Way Through Azeroth Lore
Garst from Stonemaul has a really interesting question on the forums: where can a lore newbie go first for information?Recently, I've been trying to get more and more into the lore of Azeroth-- instances especially are much more fun to play when you know exactly who you're fighting and why they're doing what they're doing. In the thread, Neth recommends a few books-- Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, and The Last Guardian, and I agree with her in recommending scanning through (it's long and sometimes boring) the timeline of the WoW universe over on the website. For all of my interest in it, the only thing I've really done outside of the game is go back and replay Warcraft III (or just watch a few cinematics from it). Both Wikipedia and WoW Wiki have lots of good lore info. And one thing Neth doesn't mention is that there's lots of lore inside the game itself. Don't laugh, but especially in Scarlet Monastery and Scholomance, reading through a lot of the books laying around will give a really good background on what's happening in Azeroth.You're laughing, aren't you? Ok, well, a lot of players may just say "lore lol," but believe me when I say that giving the history a read definitely fills out the game a little bit, and shows you even more deeply the care Blizzard has taken in putting this universe together. Wielding Ashkandi is fun, but it's even moreso when you know who that sword used to belong to.
