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Breakfast Topic: WoTLK: The perfect time to switch mains?
It's an exciting time to be playing WoW, what with the WoTLK alpha information leaking out (Thanks for risking your eternal soul to break the NDA, anonymous screenshotter!) and 2.4 being pretty much a roaring success. By now, I'm sure everyone has settled in and is making plans for WoTLK, figuring out which zone they'll go to first, maybe setting aside a bit of money from all those dailies to powerlevel a trade skill. So, I was thinking the other day of one more thing I was planning: switching mains. We've discussed the art of switching mains a bit before, but there's always a lot of hassles to it: there's the concern that you'll fall behind your friends, the concern that your gear won't be good enough, the concern that you'll have to grind your reputation up for certain keys and essential reputation rewards all over again. A new expansion is just the ticket for getting rid of most of those problems. As long as your character is max level at the start of WoTLK, they can catch up on gear pretty quickly just from level 71 greens and quest rewards. Everyone's starting out grinding all the new WoTLK reputation grinds, so no worries that you're behind on those either. Despite being on a relatively "new" character, you'll be able to join your friends in Utgarde Keep right away. So the reasons not to switch mains mostly manage to resolve themselves when a new expansion hits, and the question becomes, do you want to switch mains, and why?
The bad girls (and good girls) of Warcraft
I love this -- miladyhikara is working on a series of sketches featuring "Bad Girls of Warcraft," and the beginnings of the pieces are now up over on her deviantART page. They look fantastic -- I especially think this Shivarra looks good, but she's also got a female Naga, a Succubus, and Lady Barov herself. She says she's working on color palettes for most of them, so we'll have to wait to see the finished product -- if the sketches are any indication, they should look amazing.She's also still asking for suggestions apparently -- who else would go in the "Bad Girls of Warcraft" series? Sylvanas? (is she really bad?) Onyxia for sure (in both forms). And she's also thinking about doing a "Good Girls of Warcraft" series, too -- hello Jaina, Tyrande and Fandral Staghelm. Wait, he's not a girl? Then why's he wearing that dress?
CoX: Throw Moar Slots!
CoX players have been crying out for extra character slots for some time. Now, with Issue 12 bringing both Powerset Proliferation and the new Villain Epic ATs, many of us had feared we'd have to delete some characters to make room for all the new ones we're aching to make. Positron has come to our rescue by confirming plans to add additional character slots with Issue 12. Here's how the optional additional character slots will work.
Spellborn character screenshots
With all this news coming out of the Chronicles of Spellborn closed beta, can open beta be far? Well, actually, probably yes. The glimpses we have gotten of the game world so far look absolutely beautiful. Today's screen shots of actual characters shows off the unique Spellborn art style. And yet... the game world still seems barren and lifeless. Despite all the media Spellborn International is showing us, it seems unlikely they will make their Q2 '08 date for open beta. Further, without a US publisher, it could be a long time indeed before we get a chance to play.
Character naming guide from Waaagh!
Okay, so technically Waaagh! is a Warhammer Online blog, but we'll forgive Syp this time, if only because S/he writes a pretty good article about choosing your character's name. The first part of it is, to me at least, good common sense. Don't choose a name you'll regret or a name that looks overly bad to other people. Naming after real life celebrities can get a bit tired. Naming your character "something naughty" is probably just going to make most people think you haven't cleared puberty yet. And yeah, it might be funny to call your character Rickroll NOW, but when Rickrolling is the next "All Your Base", everyone on the internet is going to point and laugh at you for being old and busted. The second part has some excellent ways to comb for new names, some of which many veterans already know, but it's a good compilation, and gave me a few ideas for my next name search. I can confirm to anyone who doubts it that Syp's Rule of Three really is true. I have known only 1 or 2 people who have been able to avoid having their name reduced to a 3 or 4 letter nickname that is used almost constantly in place of the whole thing. You can't avoid it, so sometimes it's not that bad to go with the flow and plan your name around it. Same thing with the similar names across characters thing. It works pretty well, if you like the idea, but woe to you if you accidentally take someone's naming scheme and join their guild or group of friends! If you're having trouble thinking of a new name, or plan to roll a character at some point in the future, give the article a read. It's pretty keen.
Soul Calibur IV's Amy, Cervantes and Zasalamel revealed in screenshots
While Soul Calibur IV's trio of Amy, Cervantes and Zasalamel were first revealed this week in the pages of Famitsu, we find that we're often far too busy to be bothered with flipping through a magazine looking at pictures, let alone one we can't even read. That's why we're thrilled that Namco Bandai has sent out some screens showing off the characters as they make the high-def leap from the PS2-exclusive Soul Calibur III to this summer's sequel. Still, as fearsome as Cervantes is (just look at that pirate scowl, you know he means business), we still wonder how even he will handle dealing with Jedi. %Gallery-6043%
Belfaire on community policing and GM subjectivity
As you may recall, a few days ago, I wrote a little Dear Blizzard letter on the subject of enforcing the RP and Naming Policy. Of course, Once one writes a letter to someone, it is a good idea to deliver it, and thus I delivered it, or at least the issues therein, over on the Customer Service Forum. I was lucky enough to have Belfaire, who you may remember from his post explaining Blizzard's stance on multi-boxing, answer some of my questions and concerns. I also got some pretty well thought out feedback from a couple other people browsing the forums, including some roleplayers who disagreed with some of my points, so I think the threads worth a read in itself, and I'll comment a bit more on what Belfaire said after the break, now that I've had time to digest it a bit.
Dear Blizzard: Am I your police officer?
Dear Blizzard, First of all, I really do have to thank you for changing the name of that guy called Longjohnson. Yeah, He sent us this pretty long rant about how it was unfair his name was changed, but honestly, it was a pretty clear violation of the naming policy against inappropriate references to bodily parts or functions (Sorry Jason, I'm only siding with you to a point here. Your character's name needed to be changed). That said, I'll give him this: It is pretty annoying that he was able to then proceed to the Armory and find 19 characters named Longjohnson and 60 characters named Bigjohnson. If a name is impermissible because of being profane or inappropriate on one server, it should count on them all, right? Every server has the same set of naming rules, except for RP servers, which have the extra "appropriate for an RP server" qualifier, so this shouldn't be a problem. Mike has actually observed that enforcement tends to be a bit lax in the past regarding both the naming policy and RP server policy, but I figured it was worth bringing up again.
Forum Post of the Day: How did your undead die?
Yeah yeah, lolRP, but even though I'd never seriously do an emote with my character (though I do enjoy /coughing at inappropriate times), I do kind of enjoy thinking of what my characters did before I started playing them in the game. As I've said before, my Orc Shaman was actually a prisoner in Durnholde Keep along with Thrall (and though I've tried to find him among the Orcs down there, I don't look too hard -- wouldn't want to cause a paradox).But for my Undead Rogue, I've never thought about this questions: What did he die of? Whether it was choking on a gnome, one too many enchantments (never knew those could kill you), or the old standby of, y'know, cancer, every Undead character out there used to have a life (and now they just play WoW, ha!). So how'd your Undead lose theirs?I'd like to think mine was something poetic, like his family was murdered by roving noblemen, and he arose from the afterlife and became a backstabbing rogue to avenge his lost ones. But it's probably more pathetic: like most of the Forsaken, he probably just got trampled underneath the onset of the Scourge. Of course, that'll make an appointment with Arthas more interesting...
Free character transfers
Blizzard CM Bornakk announced that the following free character transfers will be available from Wednesday, February 13th at 12:00 p.m. PST until Wednesday, February 20th at 12:00 p.m. PST. Of course, these times are fully dependent on Blizzard reaching their transfer goals.For the PvP servers, you can move from Illidan, Mal'Ganis, Skullcrusher, Smolderthorn, Tichondrius, and Warsong to the Anetheron server. For the PvE servers, you can move from Aman'Thul, Dath'Remar, Khaz'goroth, and Nagrand to the Caelestrasz server.Be sure to move as soon as possible! The transfers have been known to shut down early when Blizzard reaches their goals.
Super Spoiler Bros. Brawl: Major leaked roster update, videos & more
With Nintendo continuing to trickle out official information about Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it seems a few early copies have leaked into the hands of gamers in advance of the Jan. 31 Japanese release. As such, there has been an absolute flood of credible images, videos and information about the game leaking onto the 'net throughout the day today.While none of the following information has been confirmed, we're relatively confident in the veracity of everything below (unlike before). We'll continue to update as further credible information becomes available.WARNING: Read on only if you want significant portions of the game spoiled.
Rumorang: The 'final' Smash Bros. Brawl roster
Rumors of the final Smash Bros. roster (past the 25 officially announced characters) are nothing new, but with the game's Japanese release nearing, such rumors seem to be reaching a fever pitch. The latest fuel for the fire is the above picture, which purports to show a final roster of 44 characters from the Japanese version of the game. The screen has been floated on a number of sites with varying degrees of credulity -- it was even included at the beginning of a very official-looking GameTrailers video introducing moves for three of the confirmed new characters in the game.So is this the holy grail of Brawl information? As much as we'd like to believe it so, we just can't. For one thing, the background seems to be taken directly from this official image of a much smaller select screen. Everything matches a little too perfectly, from the transparent background image to the floating cursor in the bottom left corner. For another thing, the images many of the "newly revealed" characters are 2D drawings that don't match up well with the 3D renderings for the officially revealed characters. Even for those that are renders, a closely matching source image can usually be found with a quick Google image search, suggesting an overzealous photoshopper.Still, we'd be more than happy to be wrong on this one and to be able to play with this impressive list of Nintendo favorites come March 9. For those who want to cover their ears and hold out a shred of hope, check out a full list of the supposedly "revealed" characters below the jump.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, whether they believed it or not]
All the World's a Stage: Something to remember me by
All the World's a Stage is a column for creative minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening.The best characters in novels and movies often leap into your mind from the moment you first see them -- something they say or do sets them apart and captures your interest, and from that time on, you're hooked. Likewise, when we roleplay, our characters should always have some memorable trait which can hook other people's interest. Too often, I see roleplayers focusing too much on dark secrets that they only reveal to their closest friends, and neglecting those mannerisms which could give everyone they meet an instant and profound impression of their character. Of course, if some people prefer to roleplay this way, that's fine. But to my mind, roleplaying is best when it avoids cliquishness, and the best roleplayers are those whose characters stay with you, even if you never see them again. When I'm creating my own characters, I think of such memorable traits as "gimmicks," but that word usually has a negative connotation that doesn't apply in this case. For now, the best word I can think of is "quirk." It's an instantly recognizable pattern of behavior or speech that can let others know who your character is right away. Below you will find some of my favorite quirks I have seen people use in their roleplaying in WoW, each of them entertaining and inspiring it its own way.
Breakfast Topic: How many characters do you play?
Player character, character, avatar, toon... Regardless of the term you use to refer to your in-game persona, I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing. And today, I'm curious: how many characters do you play? If advancement is your aim, it makes a lot of sense to focus your time and energy on a single character. If efficiency is your goal, perhaps you have a pair of characters to switch between depending on rested XP or what roles your party might need filled. But if your interest is variety, perhaps you have a character of each class -- or more. For my part, I actively maintain three characters. My main (a healer) raids and in my spare time I'm leveling up two alts: one to farm with (better than my healer can) and one to tank (as tanking seems to be the hardest to find component for instance groups). Three seems to be about as many as I can juggle actively -- though I have a mid-level Paladin waiting in the wings, working on it would mean I'd neglect another character. Now that I've told my tale, I'm asking you: how many characters do you play, and why?
News of MMO "falls out" of Jason Anderson's mouth
Rumors of a Fallout MMO have been floating around for quite a while now, but in this interview over at Gamebanshee, Jason D. Anderson (of Troika fame) basically confirms that Interplay is working on an MMO-- though not necessarily one based on Fallout.Anderson says (whatever he's working on) that his enthusaism for making games has returned. And he says that while MMOs are definitely fun and have really brought the social and character advancement aspects of gameplay to the forefront, there are two things he'd really like to see advanced in MMOs: storyline and character development. Oh us too, Jason, us too. He's ready to break some molds, too-- he says competing with the monster that is WoW is not half as interesting for him as making "an awesome MMO."Whether it is a Fallout game or not, it definitely sounds like Anderson has some good ideas about what to do with his MMO and how to advance the genre a bit. Unfortunately, I don't expect we'll see what he's doing for a while, but it should be interesting to see what Anderson, an old CRPG veteran, can dream up for the MMO genre [Via Curse]
The Daily Grind: Best character creation
In all the games we've played, that's one thing we've often heard about. Many people from the earliest days, wanted ways of making themselves stand apart from the others. EverQuest introduced dyes to allow you to change your armor color, but many felt that wasn't enough. The community called for more and more ways to set themselves apart from the others in their MMO of choice. Some MMO makers have done a good job. Others, not so much. That said, this morning we wanted to ask what your favorite character creation in an MMO is? For me, personally, I'd have to say my top 2 would be: Second Life - You can control every single aspect of your avatar. This is, of course, why mine looks like Picasso's cubist rendition of someones really ugly little sister. (I can't figure that system out to save my life.) It is, unfortunately, the downside of having a system that customizable for people who aren't good at that kind of thing. Unless you get an artist or friend to hook you up, you'll always remain the ugly duckling in a land full of swans. City of Heroes (and more recently, City of Villains) which just seems so packed full of costume changes that it can take you an hour or more to even make a character the first time you sit down with that character generator. I still say it's the best mini-game ever. Add in veteran rewards like trench coats and capes at level 20, and it just gets better as you go along. Now I know I haven't touched on many other games, and I'm sure some people are sharpening their pitchforks now so they can tell me SL isn't a game. (Okay, it's a virtual world -- but it does have a character creator) So I leave it up to you. What are some of your favorites for character creation? Have you seen any that gave you highly powerful creation up front? Which ones have you spent hours in?
Saying goodbye to a deleted character
Timekeeper on WoW LJ had to say goodbye to a friend recently. After 70 levels, countless instances, gear upgrades, and raids, circumstances lead him to decide that his mage should no longer exist, and so he typed "DELETE," and sent her to the big graveyard in the sky.I can't bear to do it, myself-- I think I've deleted maybe one or two characters for space ever, and even then, though they were only level 5 or so (about 20 minutes of leveling, probably), I still cleaned out their bags and sold off and mailed away their gear. Like most people, I couldn't imagine deleting one of my 70s on purpose-- even if I don't ever play them again, I couldn't be the one to wipe out all of those accomplishments (virtual as they are) forever.Have you ever killed a character past level 60 before? Did you just delete them, gear and all (like a bandaid), or did you strip them down and send the parts to your other toons? And do you regret it at all? We should all keep in mind that these are just characters in a game, of course, but having your progress wiped in anything you do is always a loss that can be felt.
Wii Warm Up: So many heroes
One of the most interesting aspects of the upcoming freakfest No More Heroes is the wacky cast of characters. Leading the pack, of course, is our antihero, Travis Touchdown. But we're going to discount him for our purposes today, since after all, he's the main dude of dudes in the game. Instead, we want to capitalize on the colorful secondary characters, with their humorous names and weird costumes. From Sylvia Christel to Destroyman, which one seems the most interesting to you (of those we've seen so far?)? And isn't it a shame that you'll probably have to kill them all?Wait, did we say shame? What was really meant is, isn't it awesome?
Brawl character selection screen revealed
As you may have gathered from this post's very title, what you're looking at is none other than the character selection screen for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. While normally we wouldn't create a post on a single image such as this (we crave substance in our news items), we felt you readers wanted to discuss it, regardless. So, do us proud and engage in the internet talkings.[Thanks, Ryan!]
Whistling a new toon
Jason over at Wife Aggro sends word about a good piece he posted on a subject I don't remember ever covering: how to switch over to a new main. It's an interesting thing to cover, and a situation that I bet happens more often than people think. But as Jason says, especially since the Burning Crusade was released, switching an alt up to your main is quite a task. In vanilla WoW, things weren't too bad-- you had to run BRD once or twice, run UBRS once, and you were pretty much set for endgame. But in Burning Crusade, there are lots and lots of keys and factions and questlines and decisions to deal with, so switching is a much tougher thing to do.Not to mention how your guild takes it-- dealing with grinding faction rep again is one thing, but "giving up" a character that your guild has helped equip (sometimes with epic gear) causes all kinds of drama by itself. And while it's probably easier if you're switching to benefit the guild, Jason is actually doing the opposite-- he's leaving his Holy Paladin for a raiding Rogue.Of course, this is still just a game, and you should play what you want to play. If that Warrior you've got just isn't doing it for you lately, you have every right to make that Druid you've really been enjoying your main. But you've also got to remember that this isn't a solo game-- especially in guild situations, switching from an alt to a main can have a huge effect. But if you handle it as Jason seems to be doing, by carefully considering all the consequences of such a switch, both you and your guild will be better off in the end.
