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The Daily Grind: Do you celebrate game accomplishments in the real world?
After many, many attempts, my free company finally downed Titan in Final Fantasy XIV on Saturday. That meant a relic weapon for me (followed immediately by relic +1) and a trip out for ice cream and celebration for my wife. Yes, all it took to encourage us into outside celebration was beating up an irritating fat man made of rocks. On the one hand, this was silly. Titan is just a boss; beating him is the equivalent of the rats figuring out how to run the mazes in those maze-based experiments scientists love performing. On the other hand, it was a major challenge that I had been grappling with for quite some time, because darn, this is hard. So what about you, dear readers? Do you celebrate major game accomplishments in the real world? Have you and your friends hit the bar to commemorate your first major boss kills in Star Wars: The Old Republic? Or would you rather stick to in-game celebrations for in-game accomplishments, if indeed you even need that? 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!
Microsoft Tag closing on August 19th 2015, reminds us all crappy things must end
You know how QR Codes still aren't really a thing? Just imagine how popular Microsoft's proprietary alternative to the format has been. In a letter to its users, Redmond has conceded that Microsoft Tag will pass the way of all things on August 19th, 2015. That said, if you can't live without the system, QR Code company Scanbuy will be supporting certain Tag components from September of this year. We've included a suitably redacted version of the company's letter after the break, but be warned -- it contains toe-curling phrases like "digitally engage with brands in their everyday surroundings through smartphones." [Thanks, Carter]
Goon Squad downs Tirion Fordring
Perennial pariahs Goon Squad, Horde-side on Mal'Ganis-US, have really carved out a niche for themselves in the World of Warcraft. Well, two niches. The first is a rock-solid reputation of being the foremost trolls and griefers in the MMO market, period -- a reputation perpetuated by a community that operates mostly on word-of-mouth and lovingly crafted by the guild itself. The second is providing some of the best and most hilarious WoW videos on the internet. This one is no exception -- they managed to score a victory for the Lich King by defeating the dread paladin Fordring. It's a rare ability, possessed by Goon Squad and a few other community figures, to be able to take the building blocks of the game experience provided by Blizzard -- strictly compartmentalized and defined by sets of incontrovertible rules -- and then cobble together something wholly new and, frankly, ridiculous out of them. You're not supposed to be able to bring together two often-'shipped faction leaders for an impromptu date. You're not supposed to be able to blow the Wintergrasp fortress wall to smithereens in a minute's time. You're certainly not supposed to be able to kill the head of the Argent Crusade who, by the way, should learn to cast Consecrate.
Take aim at big prizes in MAG tournament
Amidst all the debate about whether or not MAG qualifies as an MMO, not to mention the recent Playstation Network brouhaha, it might be easy to lose sight of the actual game underneath everything. And it'd be a shame if you did, because you'd be missing out on a tournament centering around MAG run by Major League Gaming's Gamebattles site. The prizes? Straight-up cash money. Well, straight-up Sony Style gift cards and Playstation Home items, which is just about as good. (Although you can't rifle through a $1500 gift card like a pack of twenties.) Here are the details: the tournament will have three phases, with each lasting one full month. Each phase is a contest to earn the highest score in a different area -- MAG XP for March, headshots for April, and total kills for May. There will be leaderboards available on the site, as well, to help track how well you're doing compared to all the entrants. If you think you've got what it takes to make the top of the charts, head on over and take a look at the official entry rules. And no matter what, it couldn't hurt to give it a shot.
ASUS kills USB 3.0-laden P6X58 motherboard for reasons unknown
Such a shame, no? As has become all too common in the uncertain world known as ASUS' R&D lab, it looks as if yet another promising product has been canned before it ever had a chance to truly live. After the aforementioned company's P6X58 Premium motherboard set the world ablaze just over a week ago, primarily due to the USB 3.0 sockets shown there on the left, the mainboard has reportedly been canceled for reasons unknown. According to a report over at The Inquirer, an ASUS spokesperson claimed that the mobo had been shelved "not for any particularly interesting reasons," leaving us to wonder when we'll ever see a motherboard equipped with that so-called SuperSpeed magic. Our true emotions are captured nicely in the video just past the break.[Via HotHardware]
World first of "Alone in the Darkness" a possible exploit
We reported last week that a guild named Exodus on the US realm of Ysondre had come out of nowhere to topple the world first of the Heroic: Alone in the Darkness achievement, which requires that you bring down the biggest bad currently in the game, Yogg-Saron, with no help from any of the Keepers in Ulduar. But not so fast, says Serennia over at WoWRiot -- over on their forums Ensidia is claiming that Exodus used an exploit, and that their kill doesn't count at all. Apparently, having Thorim help on the fight keeps the "Immortal Guardians" in the last phase of the fight from being a problem, and without Thorim, you have to not only do the fight without his extra 10% damage bonus (each Keeper ups your DPS that much), but you have to deal with the Guardians messing up your melee classes, and oh yeah: they both heal and get healed by Yogg. Not that it's impossible to do it, but it's definitely not easy, and Ensidia claims that Exodus found a known exploit that allows you to evade the Guardians out completely, thus turning the last phase into a straight tank-and-spank, obviously much easier.After that, it gets into some guild back and forth (Ensidia apparently did something that might have been an exploit on Hodir, and when people call them out on that, they say that the exploits were different -- Ensidia's tactic was just an interesting use of game mechanics, while the exploit Exodus is suspected of using is more of a cheat), but the fact remains that Exodus is clearly not a guild that anyone expected to clear what might be the toughest raiding achievement in the game before anyone else, and yet that's exactly what they did. Ensidia says they won't be killing Yogg for the achievement using the exploit, and that they've reported the Exodus kill to the devs, so we'll have to see if the devs decide that Exodus did cheat, or if they let Exodus keep their achievements and mounts. We're not sure how much it all matters, with world first kills not being all that important any more (and that's exactly what the devs might say as well), but Ensidia is claiming that an exploit took place -- we'll have to see if that turns out to be true.Thanks, Nimrod!
Alienware cans Hangar 18 HD media server before its time
It was under two years ago when we initially caught wind of Alienware's Hangar 18, and while the outfit seemed pretty bullish about the thing just 12 months ago at CEDIA, things have apparently went south. As of right now, the Hangar 18 website simply redirects back to the company's homepage, and CSRs are now informing inquiring consumers that the HTPC is simply no longer available for purchase. We know, this thing was overkill in every sense of the word, but it's not like that's stopping Niveus, Exceptional Innovation and all those other guys from making headway. So long, Hangar 18 -- we barely knew ya.[Thanks, Aaron]
Blizzard confirms retroactive achievements, when possible
Ever since achievements were announced, the question I've heard the most from players has been about whether what they've already done will count. I attemped to answer this with a little bit of speculation last week, and today Tigole has basically confirmed what we'd already said: that where possible, Blizzard will award achievements retroactively.As we said last week, things like reputations and quests are easy to track -- other than dailies, you can't do the same quest twice, so it's easy for Blizzard to know, since day one, which quests you've done. And if a quest takes you to kill, say Onyxia, and you've completed it, then obviously you've got the achievement. Where it gets a little fuzzier is if you haven't done that quest, but you have killed Onyxia -- Blizzard probably doesn't even know yet if they'll do things like look for specific loot from certain bosses in a character's history, or if they'll extrapolate things even farther -- if you're Exalted with Hydraxian Waterlords, does that mean you've cleared MC?But Tigole does say that Blizzard is making a conscious decision to be as inclusive as possible on these old achievements -- whenever they can, they'll reward credit rather than making you go back to redo old content. That's a good choice -- it does mean that a few people will get angry for not getting the achievement because they killed the boss but didn't do the quest, but the alternative, awarding no retroactive achievements at all, would be even more frustrating.
WoW Things Considered interviews Vis Maior
As scheduled, our good friend Duncor (and his co-host Cadwallion) on WoW Radio's WoW Things Considered podcast sat down for an interview with three guildies from Vis Maior, the guild that's been rolling through the PTR so far. It's a good interview -- Duncor and Cadwallion go through Vis Maior's (not Vis Major) history, how they've moved on to the PTR and begun raiding there, and what they think of the new content.It's interesting to hear not only from a guild that has been around for a while, but is just now coming into the spotlight. And it's also cool to hear what the GMs are doing for the guilds testing the new content on the PTR -- they've deathtouched trash a few times, and even spawned "flaskators," which are NPCs which will give out consumables and other raiding standbys. They also tackle the debate of whether "world firsts" actually count on the PTRs. Vis Maior does agree that PTR kills don't necessarily count if they're just being tested, but a world first kill of a "final" version of a boss should count. Duncor and Cad don't press them on this, unfortunately, but I'd disagree -- the only way you know a boss is final is if it is on the live realms, so only live realms should count. Still, Vis Maior sound like a great bunch of people (they sound like they really love to raid, which is always good for a high-end guild), and what they've done so far on the PTRs is definitely impressive. Kudos to them, and nice job to WoW Radio on the interview.
The Eredar Twins dead in PTR
Vis Maior once again adds another PTR first by slaying the Eredar Twins, Lady Sacrolash and Grand Warlock Alythess (courtesy of worldofraids). If you were fortunate enough, you were one of the 1300+ viewers of their live stream when they killed the 4th boss of the new Sunwell raid instance. The loots were:Band of Ruinous DelightGrip of MannorothShroud of Redeemed SoulsSin'dorei Pendant of ConquestEssence of the ImmortalsAccording to their Ustream schedule, they're at it again at 9:00 p.m.(EST) tonight.Video of their kill inside.
Toshiba pulling the plug on HD DVD already? - Yup it's over.
Japan's NHK has followed up The Hollywood Reporter's earlier indications Toshiba was ready to dump its money-losing HD DVD business, with news that the company is prepared to cease manufacturing software and hardware, at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. This caps the worst week ever for red, when HD DVD was dumped by Netflix and Wal-mart, pushed to the background by Best Buy and put on -- an apparently incredibly short -- deathwatch right here. Toshiba is mum on the subject right now, but we hear there's plenty of cheap players and movies in a dumpster around back of the HQ. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in; via Reuters; warning, Japanese read link]Update: Along with an English translation of the NHK's article (Thanks sfditty!) comes additional confirmation from Reuters sources, it's a wrap. Toshiba is shutting down its DVD manufacturing facilities in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, while official word is expected "soon".
Toshiba gearing up to drop HD DVD?
We're not exactly sure what's going on in Toshiba land, but shortly after not-exactly-believable whispers made the rounds of the firm suddenly deciding to try its hand at making a Blu-ray player, we're now seeing reports stating that it will pull the plug on its beloved format "in the coming weeks." Citing unnamed industry "sources," The Hollywood Reporter is suggesting that the end may be nigh for the HD DVD format. Jodi Sally, VP of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products, was quoted as saying that "given the market developments in the past month, Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of its recent price reductions on all HD DVD players." Of course, we aren't exactly equating said statement to waving the white flag or anything, but whatever the case, it seems the death watch is in full effect. [Via Home Media Magazine, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
World firsts on the PTR
So here's the question: Do PTR world first kills count? MMO Champion has done a great job of following along with world firsts in the Sunwell on the PTR, and Vis Maior, an Alliance guild on Bonechewer has done most, if not all, of them-- they were the documented first to topple Kalecgos, Brutallus, and Felmyst (Forgotten Heroes and our old friends in Death and Taxes are also among the first boss downers on the PTR). But do kills on the PTR count as world firsts, or do the kills need to happen on live realms before they're considered world firsts?Now, I know lots of you readers don't care about world first kills anyway (and you've got a point-- the only down that matter is the one you do with your guild), but lots of players believe there is value in being the first guild in the game to down a boss, and certainly the best guilds in the world work really hard for that honor. But technically, a boss isn't really "done" until it reaches the live realms. Then again, it usually isn't "done" yet anyway even after that.Personally, I don't think they do count, which is one reason why we haven't yet reported them on this site. I have to applaud Vis Maior and the other guilds for their hard work, and I'm definitely impressed by what they've done, but this content isn't done yet, and in terms of documenting who got there first, my opinion is that we need to wait until after the bosses hit the live realms. You readers disagree?
Hasselblad discontinues the H2 product line
We don't foresee too many tears being shed over this news, but the Hasselblad faithful will probably want to know that the tried and true H2 product line has been nixed. Not surprisingly, the company reported that "demand simply no longer justified the dedicated manufacturing line required for its production," and that it would be shifting those resources to the H3DII. On a more positive note, the outfit is introducing the H2F, which is being billed as a "greatly simplified film-only version of the H2," so those (still) sticking with film can look here to get their fix. Lastly, the firm reassured H1 / H2 owners that it would continue to support those products "for a minimum of 10 years from the date of purchase." So long, H2, it's been a good run.[Via CNET]
Liquidor's rep calculator works for US realms, too
Ask and you shall be given-- the other day we posted about Liquidor's rep calculator, and lamented that it was EU only, and now only a few days later, he's updated it to not only include US realms, but he's completely revamped the design.Sure enough, I punched in my character from the US realms, and I got the nice readout of where I'm at for all my reputations, and one click access to what exactly I need to do to move up a level (apparently I need to keep running Shadow Labs, grrr). Seems like it pulls everything directly from the Armory (where else would he get it from?), so all the info is as up to date as it is on Blizzard's official site.There's also a checkbox now for "TBC Reputation only" that when unclicked gives a warning that says "Soon!," so apparently Liquidor is working on including Old World Azeroth rep as well. Just like we said the other day, this is a terrific tool for working on those all important rep grinds. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm LFG Shadow Labs. Anyone? Please?
Deadly blast rocks Virgin Galactic rocket test
This week is quickly becoming a tough one for the aerospace industry, as just a day after NASA reported tampering on an ISS bound computer, an explosion at the Mojave Air and Space Port has claimed two lives and seriously injured four others. The blast reportedly occurred during a "test of a new rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo -- a spaceship being built for Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space tourism company." According to a spokeswoman for the spaceport, the blast was "on a remote pad" at an airport home to Scaled Composite (which is the builder of the first private manned rocket to reach space), but the firm's founder Burt Rutan wasn't in attendance when the "cold fire test" went awry.
Doing the Math on the New Honor Kill Decay Rate
There's lots of questions going around on the changes in the Honor system coming up in patch 1.12, but not a lot of clear answers, so let's pull out the old nerdulator and crunch some numbers.First, if you're just wondering what the story is and don't care much about the numbers, the news is good for most of you. Basically, you'll be able to get more kills on the same person before they're worth no honor at all. Additionally, Blizz is changing the honor curve a bit-- even though there's no numbers on that yet, they say it's "to allow more people into the ranks." So we assume that's good news for most of us-- if you're one of those players who farms honor in the battleground for forty hours a week, you're probably not real happy about that, because there will be more higher ranks walking around. But then again, you were probably one of the kids who messed up the grading curve for the rest of us in math class.But speaking of math class, let's see what they're actually doing with the "diminishing returns" on honor kills. Currently (before 1.12), there is a diminishing return of 25% every time a PVP player gets killed. That is, the first time they're killed, 100% honor is given (the actual number of honor is based on all kinds of other factors-- the ranks and levels of the players involved, whether you're in a group or raid, and a few other things). Then, the second time they're killed, 75% honor is given, then 50%, 25%, and on the fifth time they're killed, no honor is given. But in 1.12, we're told that the diminishing return will fall back to 10% per kill. The first kill, then, will grant 100%, but the second will grant 90%, then 80%, and so on and so forth. Which means you'll be able to kill the same player more times, while still gaining honor.So the big question is, how much more honor will we get? (We told you we were pulling out the nerdulator for a reason.) Just for calculation, let's use an honor score of 100. Under the system before 1.12 (the formula is 2.5x, if you want to get really nerdy about it), you'll get 100 + 75 + 50 + 25 + 0 = 250 honor before your target is honorless. Under 1.12 (formula: 5.5x), you'll get 100 + 90 + 80 + 70 + 60 + 50 + 40 + 30 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 550. That's a whopping 220% more honor before every kill goes honorless. Sounds nice! Except that everybody else is getting honor at the same accelerated rate, too. So not so fast on shopping for that new High Warlord gear. Blizzard's updating of the ranks curve will help get you the rank you want, but the new honor kill decay rate just means there's lots more points for everybody to fight over.
