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Age of Conan's Dark Templar in-depth
Most classes of characters in MMOs are generally morally ambiguous, blank slates for characters to impose their own personalities. At the very worst they're chaotic neutral, vaguely menacing looking but still ambiguous. In an interview with TTH, Age of Conan product director Jørgen Tharaldsen describes how the Dark Templar is noticeably, convincingly evil, evidenced by his very visible use of the powers given him in his pact with dark gods.From the sound of the interview, the Dark Templar will be a unique sort of tanking hybrid, pairing the use of single-edged weapons with auras and enemy draining abilities that rob enemies of health to sustain himself and his teammates. The interview itself has something of a worshipful character to it, but we're willing to look past that because of the depth of information there. As time goes, we're starting to hear more and more about the game's combat system and the kinds of characters we'll see in it, and what we've heard sounds pretty exciting.
Battalion Wars 2 hits the open water, land, air
It's only a few more days until this game hits the streets and we can't wait to get our grubby little blogging hands on it. So, it's with pleasure that we present the video above, which is a short, but very sweet, which looks at some naval combat. The fun doesn't stop there, though, as we have tucked some other videos behind the break that focus on land and air combat, as well.%Gallery-4966%
Assassin's Creed gameplay video in three parts
If you're anxiously expecting Altair to jump out of the shadows this holiday in Assassin's Creed, here's a little something to hold you over -- or make you foam at the mouth like you've been chewin' cyanide. The three-part gameplay video chronicles an assassination mission in Montferrat: the first video is the intro; the second part is filler; and the third part is the kill and attempted escape (parts two and three after the break). Everything looks good until the third part when you see the combat. Sure, the cutscene killings look cool (a la Heavenly Sword), but the combat appears a bit slow and awkward (one guy fighting when there are ten other people standing around). As we learned during our hands-on time with the game, there won't be a demo for gamers to experience the "different" style of Assassin's Creed before its release. Eh, they've got a couple months to work out the combat kinks ... or longer.
Air Combat: new Tom Clancy franchise takes to the skies
With Ubisoft's EndWar still months from release, the company has once again pulled at Tom Clancy's supple teat, announcing Tom Clancy's Air Combat, the latest game to be counted among the longstanding military action brand's ranks. Promising to take it all skyward, Air Combat is being handled by Ubisoft's Bucharest studio, the folks behind Blazing Angels as well as, of all things, Chessmaster XI. The aerial combat is expected to ship in 2008 for unspecified consoles and PC.We don't know much about the game at this point, though Ubisoft's managing director hints at the game's online focus, stating that the company is confident that Air Combat will be "an instant online multiplayer hit." Like other Tom Clancy games, Air Combat will be set in the near future, as players will fly a variety of jet fighters, complete with hi-tech piloting assistance to help players shoot down bad guys. In addition, as players get better at the game, Ubisoft notes that they'll be able to shed the assistance, no doubt offering more challenge for seasoned flyboys. I feel the need, the need for speed!
Blackhawk Warrior Wear combat uniforms feature integrated tourniquets
We've seen some incredibly high-tech approaches to better-equipping our soldiers in the battlefield, but Blackhawk Products Group is trying to save lives with a more back-to-basics approach -- by integrating tourniquets directly into their Warrior Wear line of battlefield clothing. According to the company, most preventable combat deaths occur due to blood loss from arm and leg wounds, and Blackhawk's system should make it easy to locate and apply a tourniquet in a short amount of time. Blackhawk is planning on licensing the tech to other military suppliers, so hopefully we'll be seeing the system pop up for all our troops soon.
Navy gears up for unmanned combat aircraft
While the idea of an autonomous flying military bot is far from new, the US Navy has taken a first step toward "developing an unmanned combat aircraft that some advocates say could compete with Lockheed Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter." Northrop Grumman was awarded a $636 million contract to design, build, and fly an Unmanned Combat Air System "that would operate from the decks of the Navy's giant nuclear-powered aircraft carriers," and if things goes as planned, we could see the gunners join our forces "within 10 to 15 years." And considering that we're already deploying land-based mechanical soldiers to fire our weapons, we'd say the full-fledged robotic army is certainly closing in.[Image courtesy of DefenseTech, thanks Jason]
No More Heroes site updates
The No More Heroes site continues to leak bits and pieces of information -- just enough to keep us drooling -- and this latest update covers some of the ground already tread by this morning's video. Our hero Travis and his beam katana are the center of the new information, which is all about combat and the tools of the assassination trade. The beam katana can be used to deflect bullets (where've we seen that before?), but it's not a never-ending source of bloody awesome; like any gadget, it can run out of juice. Luckily, there are battery packs scattered around, but in the event you can't find one and find yourself in need of a good cutting edge, you can always get your waggle-charge on. Charging the katana is as simple as jerking the Wiimote up and down. The updates also show off something we've already seen -- Travis's penchant for wrestling moves -- and a shot of a fight brought to a grappling standstill. The image isn't terribly clear, but it seems that with a turn of the Wii remote, it's possible to break free and beat your opponent down. We couldn't possibly want this game more, but at this point, all we really want is to find out just what's up with the tiger indicator on the upper part of the screen. In videos, it can be seen wiggling around, and in these screens, it looks like he takes a little tiger-journey across the top of the image, but for what reason? We can wait for the game, but we must know the secret of the tiger! Perhaps he's like a pet, feeding on the blood of your enemies. It's either that, or he's linked to all the tiger rugs we keep seeing in the game.
Encrypted Text: Building your own Rogue
Friends, countrymen (and women), lend me yer... eyes! Today I come to you with the first installment of our shiny new Rogue column, Encrypted Text. As the weeks go by, Elizabeth W. and I will share Rogue tips, tricks, gear, and more about all things stealthy and stabby. You'll get lots of Information spanning levels 1 to 70, based on questions we get, interesting forum posts, and more. (As such, if you have any questions or suggestions for Encrypted Text, you know the drill!)Before we get rolling, allow me to steal just a moment of your time and give you a bit of information about my history (and passions) as a Rogue. My main Rogue is a L70 Troll who I have spent the last year and a half leveling and raiding under different Combat variants for the most part. I also have a L23 Blood Elf Rogue on Zangarmarsh who will be my test subject for builds once she gets to a respectable level. Currently, I am running a Swords variant on my main and do a respectable amount of damage with her. While I know many folks will immediately scream "but Swords don't fit the sneaky stabby thing, and you disable attacks that way" at me. Yes, I am aware of that. Playing up the assassin personae can definitely be a lot of fun. However, as I am primarily about PvE content, and still spend a great deal of time soloing between instances (motes - you know I love 'em) I find Combat Swords to be an excellent build for what I generally want to achieve. I do not want to mess around with having to worry about positioning or timing -- especially when in a situation where I am competing for taps. I want to walk up, pilfer through the mob's pockets, drop an opening Cheap Shot (love that noise) get my Combo Points, throw my (Improved) Slice & Dice, and proceed to Cuisinart my target into a pile of sparkly win at my feet. If this sounds like fun to you, then keep reading. Past the jump I'll share some of what I consider to be the crucial things that anyone considering rolling a Rogue for the first time needs to know. (For those of you who are battle-proven Rogue veterans, feel free to join us and add your own observations!)
RoboGames 2007 to commence in San Francisco
Just as in years past, the "planet's largest robot competition" is about to get underway in San Francisco. This time around, over 800 robots from 30 countries will be competing in 61 various RoboGames events, the most notable of which include combat, fire-fighting, android acrobatics, android kung-fu, and iron-man exoskeleton weight lifting. Best of all, the mayhem is actually open for the public to enjoy, so drown your kids' whining and head on over to watch metal-framed machines put your skills to shame. Check out a few more peeks of the action after the jump.[Via Physorg]
Level 70 Combat ratings values updated and listed here
With that great explanation of stats this morning, how fitting that this afternoon, we have Drysc's update on what the various combat ratings mean for each of your character's combat values.The combat ratings system was implemented when the expansion came around-- it used to be that instead of a "dodge rating" on a piece of armor, you just got a "+2% chance to dodge." But Blizzard noticed that in order to scale that gear up ten levels, they'd have to push up percentages, and eventually everyone would just be walking around with crazy high percentages-- adding enough armor up to a 100% chance to dodge would obviously break the game.So they developed the rating system, with each armor piece giving a plus to "rating" that then translated into different percentages at different levels-- an item with 18.9 dodge rating on it actually gives +1% dodge at level 70, but more than that at level 60 (about %1.5, actually). That way, Blizzard can scale the rating with level, and gear can get better without breaking the game. Much more on this, I'm sure, when Elizabeth continues her WoW Rookie feature on stats. And don't forget that RatingBuster can give you all this automatically ingame-- from what I understand, it has been updated with these numbers.But in the meantime, after the jump, I've posted what Drysc says all the ratings will give you at level 70. Feel free to bookmark this post for quick reference when comparing gear.
Phat Loot Phriday: Blinkstrike
Last week we did a little joke with Phat Loot Phriday (and, if I can brag for a moment, did everyone read my completely-made-up WoWWiki article that the beautiful people over there didn't delete?), but there's nothing funny about the loot this week-- it's one of the most droolworthy world drops you'll find in the game.Name: BlinkstrikeType: Epic One-hand Sword (which means, yes, it can be dual-wielded)Damage/Speed: 143 - 267 / 2.60 (78.8 DPS)Abilities: chance on hit: adds an extra attack to your swing. What, no other stats? Nope, it doesn't need any other stats-- that proc might be the best one in the game. Players who've had one say it procs about 5-6% of the time, which is nice, but here's the big deal: unlike most "extra attack" procs, this one supposedly chains. As in, you hit once, get an extra attack, and then get another extra attack from the extra attack. One player reported seeing 8 hits chained in a row-- that's around 1300 damage without any crits with one swing. Ummm... yeah. Unstoppable much? Because of that, this thing is perfect for combat rogues, but fury warriors will love it too (Tanks will find better defensive swords, but they have to PvP sometimes, too, right?). Bewarned: the chaining thing is very likely a bug, but even if Blizzard nerfs that, extra attacks are teh win. How to Get It: With a weapon as crazy as this one, you know they're not going to just give it out. In fact, that's exactly what they're doing, but very, very rarely-- it's a very rare World Drop, which means it could drop from anywhere at any time. Some servers haven't even seen them yet, though, so if you really want one from a drop, you'll be killing things for a long time.The better option would probably be to just farm the gold-- they're selling on the AHs for anywhere from 1500 to 3000g. At least it's not as much as an epic mount, right? If you do go the raising money route, make sure you can find a seller first-- make friends with your guildies, in case they get one, and keep an eye on your AH and your realm forums to see if anyone's found a Blinkstrike to sell.A Blinkstrike is more of a weapon you just come across if you're lucky, rather than grinding or questing for. But everyone can dream, right?Getting Rid of It: If you're crazy, a vendor will give you 10g, 19s, 34c for it, and it'll DE into... well, it'll DE, but no one has DE'd it yet-- probably a Large Prismatic Shard or a Nexus Void Crystal, if I had to guess. Of course, if you have one that you can't get rid of and can't use, feel free to drop it in the mail to Punishment on Thunderhorn-- I'd love one!
Midway to develop Aqua Teen Hunger Force combat golf game
What has already been hinted at has finally been confirmed: Aqua Teen Hunger Force is getting a console game. This fall, the mooninites will be invading retail outlets with Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am. Billed as an "epic, action-adventure combat golf, cart racing game," ATHFZNP-A will pit players as the dynamic fast food trio, complete with weapons and golfing equipment, to face bad guys derived from the show.Licensed games, with some exceptions, generally fare badly in terms of quality. There is a glimmer of hope in that ATHF creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis will be "working closely" with Midway, but we're not getting our hopes up.The game is due out this fall on PlayStation 2. If there is any parallel to be drawn between the game and the movie, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres, however, some sensationalist event might cause the game to expand its horizons to newer generation consoles.
Rogue weapon specs: mace rogue = PvP server?
Some flavor of combat build is generally taken to be the easiest build for leveling a rogue. But once you get to the middle of the tree, you face a decision: which weapon type to specialize in? Fist Weapons is easily eliminated, since there just aren't that many fist weapons, pre-raid. That leaves dagger, for 5% extra crit chance; sword, for a 5% chance to get an extra attack on doing damage with the sword; and mace, for +5 weapon skill and a 5% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds when doing damage with the mace.While the swords play-style tends to revolve around Cheap Shot and Sinister Strike, dagger rogues lean more towards Ambush and Backstab. Why? Well, Sinister Strike is best with a high-average-damage (read: slow) weapon, and daggers are generally fast. And honestly, Backstab is a lot harder and more time-consuming to pull off in solo PvE than Sinister Strike. Sure, you can gouge and run through the mob, but it's so much easier to just stand there and whack it in the face with something big and sharp.
The truth about combat stats in the expansion
Eyonix presents us with the raw numbers behind combat ratings in the expansion -- both for level 60s and level 70s. The various combat ratings will replace percentage-based bonuses and different amounts of each will apply to different amounts of various things, depending on level. Specifically, we now know the following...At level 60... Weapon Skill Rating: 2.5 rating grants 1 weapon skill Hit Rating: 10 rating grants 1% hit chance Spell Hit Rating: 8 rating grants 1% spell hit chance Critical Strike Rating: 14 rating grants 1% critical strike chance Spell Critical Strike Rating: 14 rating grants 1% spell critical strike chance Haste Rating: 10 rating 1% haste Spell Haste Rating: 10 rating grants 1% spell haste Defense Skill Rating: 1.5 rating grants 1 defense skill (And for every 25 defense, you gain 1% dodge, 1% parry, 1% block chance, 1% decreased chance to be hit, 1% decreased chance to be critically hit.) Dodge Rating: 12 rating grants 1% dodge Parry Rating: 20 rating grants 1% parry Block Rating: 5 rating grants 1% block chance Resilience Rating: 25 rating grants 1% resilience (Which reduces your chance to be critically hit by 1% and reduces the damage of criticals by 2%) At level 70... Weapon Skill Rating: 3.9 rating grants 1 weapon skill Hit Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% hit chance Spell Hit Rating: 12.6 rating grants 1% spell hit chance Critical Strike Rating: 22.1 rating grants 1% critical strike chance Spell Critical Strike Rating: 22.1 rating grants 1% spell critical strike chance Haste Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% haste Spell Haste Rating: 15.8 rating grants 1% spell haste Defense Skill Rating: 2.4 rating grants 1 defense skill Dodge Rating: 18.9 rating grants 1% dodge Block Rating: 7.9 rating grants 1% block chance Parry Rating: 31.5 rating grants 1% parry Resilience Rating: 39.4 rating grants 1% less chance of being struck by any type of critical strike, and 2% less damage taken from critical strikes
Mazu Kan's "contact-free" Laser Martial Arts game
If you've got the bank credentials to back it up, you can build your own robotic fighting machine, or hop in the "squishy ball shooting" Land Walker and (slowly) mow down neighborhood pests as you please. But if you've only got $60, and don't feel like sustaining any major injuries when releasing that pent-up rage, Mazu Kan's Laser Martial Arts game has you covered. This two-person, "contact-free" slugfest contains a pair of wearable sensors that track your punches, dodges, and uppercuts to determine who loses their "10 life points" first. The built-in "sound and rumble" effects supposedly help you forget that you're not in an actual brawl, while the "two levels of combat" should put those newly-acquired cagefighting skills to the test. Red vs Blue tees not included.[Via Uber-Review]
Why you want Vice City Stories: the interview
Ever since the official trailer for Vice City Stories dropped on us, Rockstar has been very actively hyping this PSP-exclusive follow-up to the insanely successful Liberty City Stories. (Of course Rockstar doesn't have much of a choice: this game may be the only thing that saves the company from financial ruin.) IGN recently had a chance to talk to Gordon Hall from Rockstar, and Mr. Hall (obviously) has a lot of good things to tell us: Game features twice the number of polygons and a new radiosity lighting model. A new way to have the CPU and GPU communicate to each other was developed so that improvements could be made across the board. A new streaming process and lossless animation streaming allows the game to load more data at once. "With the Jet Ski you can dive under water and come bursting back up, you can really feel it bounce off the waves as the weather conditions change, you can turn on a dime and really send the water spraying." (Sounds like they packed in an entire water racing game in our GTA!) "The combat system has more depth to it than any other Grand Theft Auto game." Targeting and combat has been tweaked just a bit: you can now fight unarmed and do grappling moves and throws. "The soundtrack has over 100 tracks, and is probably the best, deepest collection of songs ever assembled for any one project -- TV, Film, or Game." (But the game includes Custom Soundtracks too if you don't like retro music.) Call me stunned. I know this is mostly PR hype, but considering how amazing the original Liberty City Stories was, I'm willing to believe that Rockstar is making this game a masterpiece. It sounds to be this could be the best GTA yet... handheld and console. And you didn't even have to wait until 12:01 AM for such amazing news. The game hits America the same time as Killzone. Ouch: my wallet's already crying.
JAGOG's combat scenario simulator
It seems that a bit of tension, or at least miscommunication, is quite common between pilots in the Air Force and Army soldiers holding it down on the western front. As we can all imagine, if communication during a live combat situation is anything less than flawless, things could turn ugly fairly quick. The Joint Air-Ground Operations Group, better known in military circles as JAGOG, is an outfit that addresses both Army ground patrols and Air Force squads to sync up communication patterns that tend to falter under the pressures of combat. It instructs ground units how to best communicate their current position and status, as well as giving them more effective ways to integrate airborne friendlies into their operations. On the flip side, Air Force units are taught how to best interpret ground commands so they can zero in on the targets at hand, basically ensuring a "Who's on first?" debacle doesn't give the enemy an edge. The newest tool at JAGOG's disposal is a 360-degree dome-shaped simulator, which drops students into a virtual "Iraq-esque scenario" featuring lightning-quick moving targets that leave you little choice but to give accurate and precise instructions to the trigger-happy pilots overhead if you want to evade serious injury. The student is tasked with spotting the target and guiding a fighter pilot in to eradicate the threat, thus putting a sense of urgency on getting this communication gig down that textbooks just don't deliver. Currently the simulator is stationed at the Air Force lab in Mesa, Arizona, but should be making the rounds to other facilities soon -- we figure if the military really needs a new way to recruit these days, a 30 second clip of this in action might help get things moving, or at least do a better job of getting the message across.
Breakfast Topic: Most satisfying kill
We all have those satisfying moments when we overcome challenges that we'd previously thought too difficult, or perhaps when we go back and exact our revenge on tormentors of the past. Even in PvE, there are plenty of fights that give a real sense of accomplishment at the end. What's your story?Personally, I have all the usual go-back-and-kill-Son-of-Arugal moments, but also a couple of proud achivements when faced with two elites (one add)--the last time that happened I survived with 5 health! I also have the embarrassing flipside -- /cheering after a fight only to realise I've been poisoned. Unfortunately the Spirit Healer didn't see the funny side.[Thanks, Eric]
Apocalyptic Auto Assault competition
Are you prepared for an apocalypse? That's the question asked by this promotional site for upcoming car-combat MMO Auto Assault, and like other promotions before it, there's a competition involved. By taking photos or video of your apocalypse prevention methods, you could win copies of the game and 6-month subscriptions.Hopefully there will be a gallery of submissions available later, to demonstrate whether this attempt at viral marketing works or not. It's an interesting premise, but the disaster-prevention-spoof theme might prove too realistic for some people.[Via Broken Toys]
Warsong Gulch Quickstart Guide
"Look before you leap". Wise advice, but it's easy to fall into a trap of complacency in WoW, believing that you can conquer anything and everything. Throwing other players into the mix as opponents can make the game change drastically, however.With the PvP Honor Contest coming to a close this Tuesday, this weekend is an excellent chance to stock up on honor and try to make it to the top. In fact, thanks to the battleground holidays, there's extra honor available this weekend than throughout the rest of the contest. Having seen several players on the Honor Contest Realm who evidently have no idea what Warsong Gulch is all about, here's a quick guide to what's going on:
