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Eminence: Xander's Tale lands on Kickstarter
Do you want a bit of MMO in your virtual card game? Because that can totally be a thing now. Eminence: Xander's Tale is an MMOTCG that isn't purely either of those things, blending card-slinging action with an explorable world and social hubs. Players will take part in battles via card games, but the exploration and upgrades will feel more familiar to veterans of other MMOs. The actual card battles will be familiar to anyone who took part in Final Fantasy VIII's Triple Triad, focused on matching numbers on different card faces along with utilizing various abilities and stealing opposing cards. If this sounds like your sort of jam, go ahead and drop a few dollars on it; there's still quite a bit of time left on its funding campaign and it's already passed the halfway mark.
Kissed by the Mist: The mistweaver 101 guide
Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time! With Mists of Pandaria now released, I've been actively engaged in playing my monk, and having a blast doing it. I've received several polite notes from readers about how I haven't written a mistweaver guide yet, so this week: mistweavers! Mistweaver is the healing specialization for the monk class. Any race, except Worgen and Goblin, can be a monk. Mistweaver monks have two resources that power their healing abilities: mana and chi. Resource Management Unlike the other two specializations, Mistweavers use mana instead of energy as their primary resource. This powers the majority of their heals. Mistweavers can regain mana through the same ways as other healers (in-combat Spirit regeneration via Mana Meditation, mana potions, etc.). However, Mistweavers also generate Mana Tea stacks by using chi; one stack is generated for every 4 chi consumed (Brewing: Mana Tea). To regain mana, you channel the Mana Tea ability, which regenerates 4% mana/sec/stack. An alternative solution is to glyph Mana Tea which removes the channeling behavior and causes it to simply use two stacks (8% mana) instantly, on a 10 second cooldown. As a supplement to mana, chi is a static 4-point pool, similar to a paladin's holy power, that decays when out of combat. Maximizing your chi generation is vital for maximizing your healing output; while you can heal without chi at all, most of your strongest HPS abilities require chi to use. Overall, of all the healing classes, Mistweavers likely require the most thought when it comes to resource management. All the other healers get large mana regeneration cooldowns (Mana Tide Totem, Innervate, Hymn of Hope) that they can typically fire and forget; Mistweavers require more constant attention to mana and chi levels in order to maximize their performance.
So you want to play a mistweaver monk?
Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time! We've covered windwalkers and brewmasters; now we get to mistweavers. One caveat, though: Because this is still beta, things will likely change somewhat between now and live. We'll have a full 101 guide that covers things like enchants, gems, and stats when Mists is released, but this will cover you until then. This goes double for mistweavers, since Ghostcrawler has already acknowledged that their healing is currently too high. What is a mistweaver monk? Monks have three role options: damage, tanking, and healing, of which mistweaver is the healing role. How do mistweaver monks work? Mistweaver monks have two primary resources, mana and chi. Mana works similarly to all other mana-based classes; it regenerates at a constant rate, regenerates at half that rate in combat, and powers the majority of your healing abilities. Somewhat similar to holy paladin mechanics, however, is the addition of chi, which is generated by several different abilities. Chi can stack up to 4 (5 if talented) and powers some of the spec's stronger abilities and damage potential. Damage potential? What is this "melee healer" thing? While it's still heavily being tweaked, mistweavers have several passive abilities that allow them to convert damage into healing. The most important of these is Eminence, which converts 50% of the monk's special ability damage into healing a nearby ally with the lowest health. Eminence can currently be stacked twice if a Jade Serpent Statue is dropped, which provides enough healing for encounters with light damage. The rotations are pretty simple: Use Jab, Expel Harm, or one of your heals to generate chi, then spend it via Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick to get the Eminence healing. If you're fighting a large pack, use Spinning Crane Kick, which heals based on AoE damage. If things get tough, though, you'll want to switch to full-time healing. As it currently stands, DPS healing isn't required, but it provides a small additional boost to overall raid damage and raid healing -- and it's also pretty fun, too.
Echoes of War standard edition sees re-release, new artwork
Who remembers Echoes of War? A musical extravaganza originally released last year in legendary and standard editions from Eminence. Well both the official site and Worldofwar.net are reporting that the standard edition is being re-released on June 16th with new artwork.The two-disc version is essentially the less shiny version of the limited Legendary Edition. It features music from all three of Blizzard's franchises: Diablo, Warcraft and, of course, Starcraft, as played by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra and special guests including Kow Otani (best known for his score from PS2 game Shadow of the Colossus).Even better, if you've not picked up the set yet then there's a special $5 discount for orders made before the relaunch date next month, dropping the price from $24.95 to $19.95. Just head here to order. Copies begin shipping today and will also be made available through stores next month.
Echoes of War hits iTunes
Awhile ago, we announced that the Echoes of War music set, the CD set by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra highlighting the music of Blizzard's most popular games, had finally been released for purchase. For those of you that prefer to get your music digitally (what's a CD?), good news! The official World of Warcraft site announced earlier today that you can now purchase Echoes of War on iTunes, either whole hog or individual tracks.If you're on the fence about picking up this album (or some of its tracks), remember that the Echoes of War site has some sample music that you can check out. Personally? I'm a fan. I adore how Blizzard uses music in their games. Still, there are a few tracks I don't care for since Diablo III will be the first one I'll have ever played (shameful, I know), and I have no emotional attachment or memories tied to those tracks at all. They're pretty music but not something I'd listen to every day. The Starcraft and Warcraft tracks are definitely cool to have, though.
Australian orchestra records tribute to WoW, Blizzard in general
Australia-based Eminence Symphony Orchestra (who performed pieces for the soundtrack of the console fighting game Soul Calibur IV) have recorded a vast musical tome called Echoes of War that encompasses virtually every game Blizzard has made -- including World of Warcraft. The international (Australia, United States, Japan) project is made partly out of the proverbial love of the game, but the folks behind it also want to get a young generation interested in classical music by playing "the music they want to hear." The samples on the website (which include two WoW tracks) are impressive, and should entice hardcore Warcraft fanatics to pick the full package up online. There's a standard edition for $29.95 that just includes the 90 minutes of music, and the pictured-above "Legendary" edition (geez, even video game soundtracks have CEs now) which includes the music, a making-of DVD, a "32-page color booklet" (whatever that means), and nine bits of artwork on cards. That'll cost you $49.95.Sure, other MMOs have gotten soundtrack albums, but we're pretty sure this is the first time we've seen a soundtrack for the entire catalog of an MMO developer other than Square-Enix; Final Fantasy fanatics proudly challenge even the Warcraft guys and gals in sheer enthusiasm.[Via Kotaku]
Eminence records Soulcalibur IV orchestral score
Eminence, a Sydney-based orchestra known mostly for their renditions of popular anime and videogame scores, has been tasked to record the orchestral set pieces for Soulcalibur IV. All in all, Eminence recorded seven music pieces at Trackdown Studios in Sydney, Australia. Eminence's director and concert master, Hiroaki Yura, told IGN that the music they recorded was "mostly the opening, the ending credit, player selection [screen] ... and a little bit of battle music."Junichi Nakatsuru, the composer for Soulcalibur IV, was also on hand to oversee the recording of his masterpieces. He stated that he was conscious about bringing out the game's story through music. Not just the new title's story but the series long tale: "This Soulcalibur IV project itself is basically the result of all the previous Soulcaliburs and I'm taking all the good bits [from those games]... and building on them."With a talented group of musicians working on a passionate composer's work, it's safe to assume we can expect to hear excellent music in the final game. To hear just how good Eminence sounds, have a listen to the clip after the break. The clip showcases music from a game unrelated to Soulcalibur; however, we think you'll be impressed from the mad skills nonetheless.
