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Wasteland Diaries: Bosses and battles
This week in Fallen Earth has been, for me, a good mix of PvP and PvE action. I've gotten plenty of both. I literally wished that I had more time to play. Alas, real life was standing in the way again. I haven't played any other games all week. Unless you consider the Fallen Earth forums a game (which I sometimes do). Between protecting territory that rightfully belongs to the CHOTA and cracking the skulls of world bosses for their precious volatile chemicals, I've found myself pretty busy. I know that everyone feels that Sector 4 is long overdue; it's probably the reason most people haven't come back to Fallen Earth. If you are on the fence about re-subbing or are waiting for Sector 4, there is still plenty to do, especially if you left before Deadfall Point and Deadfall were released. Even if you left in the past couple of months, things have changed, and new content has been added. There is plenty of PvP action if you know where to look, and new faces are joining the fray every day. After the cut, I'll give you some examples of what I've experienced this week, and it may help you decide to come back... or to keep holding out for Sector 4.
Living Elements alchemy transmute proc changed
Patch 4.0.6 brought about an undocumented change to the way transmutation specialized alchemists receive their bonus from the Cataclysm Transmute: Living Elements. Previously, if you were successful with a proc, you would be granted another 13-16 of any volatile. Now, the proc is guaranteed, but you only receive three to four of any volatile in addition to the 14-16 from the original transmute. Blues have commented thusly: RE: Living Elements proc nerfed or bugged? I wanted to hop in and clarify and confirm there was in fact a change that was implemented with the patch that unfortunately did not make the patch notes. The change actually adjusted the return on the transmutes so that you weren't getting spikes in the amount of items you'd get from the transmute. Instead, if you transmute over a period of time, the amount of the transmute return should even out. So basically if you transmute on a regular basis, you should see a more regular return on the transmute vs. a spike in large returns. Transmutation specialists will almost always get a PROC when transmuting living elements. source Essentially, now that the proc is guaranteed, you will be making the same amount of volatiles as you would if you were to proc, but over a longer period of time instead of all at once. Depending on how lucky you are or were, this could mean a lot more or a lot fewer free volatiles from your transmutes. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Gold Capped: Juggling the Volatiles market in Cataclysm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house, and Insider Trader, which is all about professions. For Gold Capped's inside line on crafting for disenchanting, transmutation, cross-faction arbitrage and more, check in here every Thursday, and email Basil with your comments, questions or hate mail! This week's gold blogosphere post is BigJimm's post about profiting off the world events. The new elemental crafting materials are called Volatiles. Volatile Earth, Volatile Air, Volatile Water, Volatile Life, and Volatile Fire are going to be by-products of herbalism, mining, and killing certain mobs. While they're technically farmable (unlike ore, skins, and herbs), the only way to farm Volatiles is to camp things that drop them or to collect them as by-products of mining or herbalism. Let's look at the sources for each type of Volatile. Bear in mind that this is just beta information and thus is completely subject to change (as well as probably a little unreliable because of the small sample numbers). Elementium Vein will contain Water, Earth, Fire, and Air Volatiles. Pyrite Deposits will contain Fire and Air Volatiles. Obsidium Deposits will contain Air and Earth Volatiles. Herb nodes will all drop Volatile Life. There are a variety of elemental mobs that drop all the Volatiles, the most farmable of which are in Twilight Highlands.
Dead to Rights: Retribution takes us behind the scenes a second time
Sure, you saw the first part of the Dead to Rights: Retribution behind the scenes video, but have you seen the second half? Yeah, we didn't think so. But it's here, just above, and Volatile Games project director Imre Jele is back again to lay out how the game was put together over the past few years. Jele describes the development as akin to a kid in a candy shop, unable to pick just one item and instead choosing everything. While that sounds nice from a quantity perspective, we're hoping things play out as well in the quality department when the game finally arrives at retail in a couple weeks. Either way, at least there's a murderous dog, right? %Gallery-45220%
Dead to Rights: Retribution dated April 13 in NA, April 16 in Europe
Along with yesterday's news of ninja dog pre-orders and a snazzy "noir style" graphics filter, Dead to Rights: Retribution has been given a release date of April 13 and April 16th for North America and Europe (respectively). That means you've got just under three months to start preparing for the reboot to the Dead to Rights series -- and three-ish months to prepare for some hard choices. In case you'd forgotten, April is the month that brings us the much delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction, Capcom's Super Street Fighter IV and Monster Hunter Tri, as well as Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption. And yes, again, this is the busiest Q1 ever. Good luck! %Gallery-45220%
New Dead to Rights: Retribution dev diary heads to Abbey Road
So what if the latest Dead to Rights: Retribution dev diary is unbelievably light on actual gameplay? It makes up for that in droves with a smattering of pretty images of the Abbey Road recording studio where the game's soundtrack is being recorded. For all the effort being put into the music, we would hope a bit more attention would be focused on the bits of game footage strewn throughout the clip. Unfortunately, we are instead given the less than thrilling exchange between the game's main character and a police officer around the three minute mark. Last we heard, Dead to Rights: Retribution was scheduled for a "Q4 2009" release by Namco, so considering that time has come and gone, your guess is as good as any as to when the game will see the light of day. For now, well, we've got this dev diary. %Gallery-45220%
Metareview - Reservoir Dogs (PS2)
Ah yes, just the latest in an ever-growing succession of pitiful movie-to-game adaptations. There are exceptions -- Goldeneye, King Kong, and The Warriors come to mind -- but Reservoir Dogs is not one of them.What's most disappointing about Eidos and Volatile's misstep is that it wasn't developed under the time constraints of a current blockbuster tie-in license, but rather, it was an opportunity to pay homage to Tarantino's influential film. Fourteen years ago we would have expected a Reservoir Dogs game to be terrible, but now? C'mon guys, you gotta do better than this: Eurogamer (50/100) - "Tarantino's movie showed audiences just what could be achieved with no money but stacks of talent, while the game merely demonstrates what can be pulled off with current generation hardware and enough spare cash to snap up the rights to a cult movie." Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK (50/100) - "A bad idea executed only slightly better." [Oct 2006] IGN (30/100) - "At least you have the movie soundtrack to fall back on, but that isn't saying much." Update: Removed IGN (UK) review; replaced with IGN (US) review.[Also available on Xbox]
