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RIFT's Arbiter and Physician are incoming
Patch 2.7 is delivering a bundle of four new souls to RIFT, and that means that every calling will be able to play every role in the game. The support Cleric soul (Oracle) and the healing Warrior soul (Liberator) have already been revealed, but what will Rogues and Mages get? The details were in the most recent livestream: Rogues get Physician as a specific healing soul, while Mages will be able to tank with the addition of the Arbiter soul. According to the most recent development livestream, a great deal of internal testing is being done to ensure that all four new souls remain functional and competitive, even though they're being added before an expansion. Players can keep their eyes peeled for later in the week when the Physician and Arbiter both get revealed ahead of their test realm implementation. These four souls will be purchasable as a bundle, although no announcements on price have yet been made.
Tamriel Infinium: The true meaning of The Elder Scrolls Online skill lines
I have always thought it presumptuous to declare that anyone can know the true meaning of anything. However, I believe that players might be led slightly astray by the latest Elder Scrolls Online video. I don't think that the ESO creators were lying because I do believe that it is distinctly possible to take on nearly any role no matter the class or race choice. However, as in every other MMO in existence, only certain combinations will reign supreme, and unfortunately, I also suspect that if you wish to fill a specific role, you will have to pick specific classes. Thanks to some of the data fan sites have gathered from convention playthroughs, we can guestimate which combinations will fill which roles the best. In order to understand where I'm coming from, let's explore how the progression system works. The minimalistic user interface for ESO displays four components related to your skills. Your health bar depletes every time an enemy lands a hit. The magicka bar indicates the amount of spell-slinging power you have. The stamina bar depletes when you perform a physical action like dodging or swinging your axe. Then you also have the toolbar, which gives you five active ability slots and an ultimate slot. When you reach a certain level, you will be able to actively switch between two toolbars based on your weapon. Your weapon, armor, and skills determine which role you play in a group.
Tamriel Infinium: Three pieces of 'advice' now that you're in ESO beta
When I started this piece, I wanted a good strong Elder Scrolls oath or expletive to start us out, so of course, I jumped to the Imperial Library to find a good one. By the time I'd finished looking and being distracted by the incredible lore surrounding these phrases, by the dragon's teeth, I had completely forgotten why I'd wanted to look up the oath in the first place because this week's Tamriel Infinium isn't even about oaths. It's about beta testing. Apparently, ZeniMax should not give any more beta invites to people with Twitter accounts because they cannot keep a secret. Many players reveled in the fact that they are better than everyone else because they received a special invite to The Elder Scrolls Online closed beta for this weekend. I figured I'd help those special few out by giving them some "advice" on how to make a good impression on the developers while in closed beta. The first one they have already done: announce to the world at large that they have been invited to secret beta test. To get extra points, include your full name and IP address so that it's easier for the ZeniMax community team to find you and "thank" you personally. I've got three more pieces of advice to give, and I want to know why the rest of you deserve to be in beta. Perhaps, I can use your advice to help me get in. Bogfire! My own tactics aren't working for me yet.
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online is more than just dungeons and dragons
Although many fans of The Elder Scrolls cheered at the introduction of The Elder Scrolls Online at E3, the divisions within the fanbase since then have morphed into warring creatures like Godzilla vs. Mothra, and this column is Japan. Although all of our buildings are being smashed by the battling brutes, it makes for great entertainment. I'm cheering both sides on. I love a good debate. Despite diligently scanning my spam folder every day this week, I am still without a beta invite. I think ZeniMax is playing hard to get. I promised I won't divulge any secrets; I just wanna make my Khajiit Nightblade. Is it asking too much to get a chance to explore the Tamriel dungeons? Obviously, it is. However, we did get a taste of ESO dungeons in a blog this week. And it looks as if we have an exciting combination of RIFT-style classes and Guild Wars 2 combat to look forward to. Hopefully, it's the best of both without the flaws.
The Daily Grind: What would your role trinity look like?
The trinity of MMO roles is pretty well understood by a lot of players. The tanks hold enemy attention, the healers keep the tanks alive, and the DPS kills the enemies before the healers get overwhelmed. It's a functional system, one that's been used for years. It's also one that many people have decried as being stagnant and overused, resulting in Guild Wars 2 discarding the existing roles and replacing them with an entirely different setup, focused instead on damage, support, and control. But maybe you feel that there's a better way to split up roles. Maybe you think healers are outmoded but the rest of the trinity can stay, or that tanks, DPS, and control would be more interesting to play. Or perhaps you'd like to see DPS go the way of the dinosaur along with healers. If you had the opportunity to design your game of choice, what sort of trinity would you design? Or would you stick with the old standby? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Choose My Adventure: RIFT sealed
Here we are: the last hurrah, the final hour, the closing curtain, the rift sealed. Although it would be unfair to say that I have done everything in RIFT, I believe my experience has been well-rounded. I have done PvP, invasions, solo content, and group content -- even a little bit of resource gathering and crafting. One thing I can say with all certainty is that RIFT has a lot to offer, and the developers at Trion have put a lot of good work into the game. Beyond the cut, I would like to break down my general experiences in game. Some were good; some were bad. Unfortunately, if you are looking for a straightforward review, then you're not going to find that here. RIFT is a complex game, and depending on what you're looking for, your experience will vary. Most of what you obtain from this game will be proportionate to how much you personally put into it. But instead of rambling on here, I'll explain what I'm talking about beyond the break. Follow me there.%Gallery-131417%
SWTOR reinvents the tank role in PvP
Tanks have often suffered in PvP. In many games, there's not much of a role for them. Frequently, they must dual-spec or at the very least have a completely separate set of armor to remain competitive. Supposedly, in Star Wars: The Old Republic, this will not be the case. Last month, fans of TOR were invited to BioWare Austin for two days. During this time, players not only were able to play origin worlds (as we reported last week) but were also the first players outside of testing who were able to try out PvP. Darth Hater spoke to Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo about Warzones and character roles in PvP. He had this to say about a couple PvP tanking abilities: If I taunt a player, they are going to do less damage to everyone except for me. And that less damage that they end up delivering -- that difference is going to be tracked on the scoreboard for me. When I guard a player, fifty percent of the damage they receive is redirected to me. And of course, all my heavy armor and avoidance is going to come into play, helping them to survive as well as myself, and all the damage I take on their behalf will be tracked for my rewards at the end of the Warzone. All the fans sites are busy posting about their experiences in SWTOR PvP. Next week, the Hyperspace Beacon will take a comprehensive look at the whole fansite experience at Austin. In the meantime, visit Ask A Jedi, Corellian Run Radio, Darth Hater, Fureur, Gamona, InGame, Mos Eisley Radio, SWTOR.EU, SWTOR-FR, SWTOR Life, SWTOR-UK, TOROCast, TOR-Talk, TORSyndicate, and TORWars for their impressions of SWTOR PvP.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Masterminds
It's hard to get a much more iconic villainous archetype than the Mastermind. Most of the City of Heroes choices can make perfect sense for both factions, but if you're calling in legions of battle droids to fight your opponents, you're really half a step away from building a laser to destroy Newark. (Although that might just be throwing good lasers after bad, there.) That doesn't mean that the players have no right to play on the faction they want, just that... it's a bit harder to see the archetype as particularly heroic. But we're not here to talk about the thematic elements of the class (or at least not just for that). This week it's time to look at what is also one of the most recognizable archetypes in City of Heroes by virtue of its uniquely overwhelming system of minions. So whether you're new to the game as a whole or just to this particular archetype, click on through for an examination of what it means to be a Mastermind.
Breakfast Topic: The revival of the non-standard group
The other night I told my guildies about a Hunter who used his Gorilladin to tank a Heroic instance. So they were determined to try it themselves in Heroic Mechanar. The group was three hunters and me as feral cat. Monkeyboy tank lasted two shots. Downgrading to Normal Mech we had a little more success when we added a healing Paladin. Not quite the Heroic run we were hoping for, but still good fun and I didn't have to go bear.With all the new specs and players experimenting with new builds, have you found any non-traditional roles or group compositions since Patch 3.0.2?
Choosing the group role (for the hot engineer sex)
Why wouldn't you want to have hot engineer sex? That's the point made over at "Groups of Words" in a post about choosing a role specifically to set up your spot in a group. Well at least that's the point I came away with -- let me start over.Most players choose their role based on what they want to do the most -- if you like playing as a ranged character, Hunter is probably a good choice, while being a Rogue will let you sneak around. But if playing in groups is your thing, says GoW, then you should aim for one of those roles that groups want: healer or tank. That's one reason I personally chose a resto Shaman -- everybody always needs a good healer and/or tank, and with a Shaman, I can fill that role, or go off and do my own thing as well.GoW compares it to being a woman at an engineering school, where you've got your pick of the 1:6 girl/guy ratio (my alma mater, fortunately, had odds stacked slightly the other way). But other than the hot engineering sex, the point is a good one: if you're on a realm suffering from a lack of tanks and healers and you want to group up, why not fix things yourself and roll up one or the other?[Via Mystic Chicanery]
