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The Light and How to Swing It: Support class in disguise
I re-specced to Holy again a few weeks back to concentrate on our 5v5 after quite some time of running around whacking things with a hammer. This is one of the best things about being a hybrid class. We have the option to play a particular way. Before I had decided to focus on Retribution for a couple of months, I would re-spec about 4-5 times a week depending on what our raid needed and spec Ret when I wanted to muck around in the Battlegrounds.The trouble is, between Holy and Retribution, there is a world of difference in how to play. Granted, most of your spells will be pretty much the same, but the playing style is completely different. As much as Shockadins will protest, the truth is, Holy is a support spec. It is terrible for questing and the best thing to do is find a partner who can kill things for you. Despite the improvements to Holy Shock and the spell damage included with healing gear, the experience pales in comparison to pure DPS classes or specs. This is fine. The only real beef I have is in the disparity in play experience and the nagging feeling that, at the heart of it all, Paladins are glorified sidekicks.
Samsung set to release Aura R410 14-inch laptop
Samsung hasn't exactly been flooding the market with its Aura laptops since it kicked off the line last year, but the few models it has released so far have certainly been decent enough, and its just-announced R410 model looks to be no exception. This one squeezes right into the middle of the pack with a 14.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 display, which gets backed up by "Intel's latest 45nm Penryn CPUs," ATI Radeon Xpress 1250M graphics, a DVD burner, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, and a welcome ExpressCard slot. All of that comes in an expectedly glossy package that weighs in at just over five pounds, and boasts a starting price of £499 (or about $1,000). Look for it to hit Europe in May, with no word of a release 'round these parts just yet.
Paul Scarfe's Aura classes up speaker looks
We've seen some interesting loudspeaker designs, even ones employing glass. but the Aura speakers from Paul Scarfe have looks that set a high bar for un-speaker appearance. Though they look more than a little like a blender, these definitely fall on the "art" side of the fence, and specs are unfortunately thin. We're a little skeptical on how the upward-facing tweeter will do for soundstaging, despite the sketches that indicate the glass cone will project sound in a headward direction. Similarly, you'll probably want to add in a subwoofer unit as the enclosure on these beauties is a bit small. But seriously, good looks are the real reason to buy these speakers, and we've got a feeling that if you can afford them then springing for an entire second set of "high performance" gear is within your budget.[Via HDTVReviews]
The Light and How to Swing It: A class full of irony
I have once again managed to steal the Light for another week, as regular columnists Chris and Elizabeth are off on their own epic quests while I am left to tend to the shop, so to speak. For today, we'll take a closer look at how the class is designed and its inherent ironies. When I first rolled a Paladin, I didn't know what I was getting into. I rolled it mainly as a companion toon for my playing partner, my wife, who was elated at the Horde finally getting a 'pretty' race and promptly rolled a Warlock. As I leveled with her demon-enslaving new main, the experience challenged and frustrated me and it soon became apparent that Blizzard had designed the Paladin under a completely different design perspective. I was hooked. If there are any perceived failures about the class, it is largely because Blizzard had a vision for the Paladin class that was different from traditional class designs.Blizzard worked hard at defining each class with a clear directive to make each one feel different from the others. Rogues had Energy, combo points and finishing moves; Warriors had Rage, a sort of reverse Mana bar; and Shamans had the totem system. Paladins are designed largely around the interesting Seal system. Everything that a Paladin does revolves around Seals, Blessings, and Auras, with Seals being the primary mechanic for dealing any sort of damage. For the most part, class design has worked for many classes while others, like the Shaman, have had more than its fair share of issues. Personally, I love the Paladin class. My main is now a Blood Elf Paladin, with my Troll Shaman getting a little less love than it used to. I also used to play a Troll Hunter and an Undead Rogue. While I enjoyed all of them as I played them, it was the Paladin that appealed to me the most. To be honest, I still have no idea why. Maybe it was the challenge. Maybe it was hybrid aspect. Maybe, for all I know, it was the coolness of it all. When you get right down to it, though, Paladins have -- if you examine it very carefully -- what is probably the most inherently flawed ironic class design in the game. Let me explain.
The Light and How to Swing It: Three easy steps to Retribution PvP
Regular Paladin columnist Elizabeth was crit by an insane amount of work at, well, work and her co-columnist Chris is away completing his own epic quest, so like those duplicitous Blood Elves, I'll be stealing the Light for this week and swinging it around. Since most of the stuff I write on the site concern the one thing I really like to do -- PvP -- I think I'll get into character and write about something that some people find taboo... Retribution PvP. After writing about a few rules on healing in PvP, let's indulge ourselves with a little retributive mayhem. Despite being the most ridiculed spec in the entire game, Retribution can be a lot of fun -- and painful for your opponents -- once you get some fundamentals down pat.Step one: gear upIf you are at all interested in PvP as a Retribution Paladin, you must get geared up. There are no two ways about this. Unless you have the proper gear, you will simply not perform as well as similarly-geared classes and your PvP experience will be diminished greatly. Retribution is one of the most equipment-dependent specs in the game, and you will feel it in PvP. Chris has written an excellent starter guide for all aspiring Ret Pallies, which is an excellent read for learning about the perfect Retribution gear. In order to do some PvP, we'll then need to take the next step and go beyond what Chris suggested and aim much higher as far as at least one piece of equipment is concerned -- your weapon.
Samsung Aura Q45 details emerge
The action on the Santa Rosa front continues to heat up as details about Samsung's Aura Q45 leak out. The 12.1-inch little monster, which we first spotted in concept form at CeBIT, sports a 1.8GHz Intel T7100 Core 2 Duo on an 800MHz bus with a 128MB NVIDIA Geforce Go 8400M powering a 1,280 x 800 screen. No word on that oh-so-hot integrated HSDPA / WiBRO modem or the built-in DMB tuner on Sammy's CeBIT concept, but the 1.3 megapixel webcam and the multiformat memory card reader seem to have made the cut. The Q45 is expected to drop in Europe "shortly" for €1,159 ($1,578) -- not bad, not bad at all.[Via Electronista]
Samsung set to launch Aura R20 laptop
Samsung looks to have suddenly found itself in a branding mood, with the company set to introduce a whole new line of laptops under the "Aura" banner next week, beginning with the Aura R20 (pictured above). From the looks of it, the new line is definitely out to impress, with a slimline design and that glossy black finish people can't seem to get enough of these days. Matching R20's good looks are its specs, with a 14.1-inch widescreen display, a Core 2 Duo T7400 processor on the top end, up to 4GB of RAM, a max 160GB hard drive, and ATI's new Radeon Xpress 1250 Hyper Memory graphics chip, as well as a DVD burner, and the usual built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have to wait 'till the official announcement for pricing and availability details, but you can check out a couple more shots of it after the break.[Via Laptoping]
ASUS shows far-out "Aura" concept phone
Ahh, to be an industrial concept designer, free of the binding chains we call "reality." You know -- absolute limits of technological advancement, laws of physics, corporate red tape, and the like. Must be nice, right? You can go ahead and design a phone for yourself (or even better, for ASUS) that meets virtually every dreamy spec requirement you can conjure. Go ahead, drop a 3.9-inch touch screen that eats up the entire surface of that bad boy. While you're at it, throw in a sliding d-pad bar that can be positioned anywhere along the screen. Oh, and don't forget the HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and microSD expansion, all in a 6mm thick shell that magically reveals a full keyboard stowed in a slot along the left edge. And yes, that's a full 0.1 millimeter thicker than Samsung's Ultra Edition 5.9, but don't even think about drawing a comparison (except for the fact that the Samsung actually exists, we suppose).[Via Mobile-review and Unwired View, thanks Staska]
