World of Hall of Fame Craft

As some of you might know if you read NRT, I recently took up World of Warcraft again.

I’m pleased with many of the changes they seem to have brought in … But i’m not going to talk about that for now … Instead i’m going to show you this:

Puzzled yet? Well if you click this link you’ll be able to see it more closely.

They’re all my characters! Mwahaha!

Oh and Left to Right:
Imacutyou (Warrior), Urial (Warlock), Dreadmoore (Rogue), Linotaur (Druid), Dalthu (Shaman), Manaholic (Mage), Venmara (Priest) and Liadrin (Paladin)

Enjoy!
James

Second WoW Forum Ban

Heh, Another one

Bloody moderators …

Account Banned
Ban Type
Temporary

Expires
17/08/2007 10:12:15 BST

Ban Reason
Posting obscene/vulgar or inappropriate language
Use of vulgar or abusive language, even if masked by symbols or other characters, or engaging in other impermissible behaviour. I.e. objectionable content:

http://forums.wow-europe.com/forum-coc.html?sid=1

“It sounds to me like you have a serious case of L2P.
The recommended treatment is GTFO.”

Pretty Crappy really … but nm.

Hope you’re have a nice week!

JamesR

Ps. This is the thread: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=394350530&sid=1

WoW Arena

Originally posted on Nobody Reads This.

Well the European leg of the Arena Tournament has just recently started and I think its about time I reflected on exactly what I think of the new wave of PvP.

I remember when I first joined WoW it was all about AV and getting that Unstoppable Force but it was rife with problems. To this day the Alliance have a Terrain Advantage over the Horde in AV, but PvP was just all about Class Balance.

With TBC came Arenas, small 2v2, 3v3 or 5v5 Skirmishes. Short and to the point.

However, it comes with its own inherent problems. Terrain whores leave you feeling cheated … Mass Dispell can wipe out all your Cooldowns … Teams without healers are at a massive disadvantage … But the biggest problem of all – CC.

More specifically Fear is the biggest problem, the single most lethal class in the Arena is the Warlock. Let me tell you how it goes;

> Battle Starts
> You close in on the Warlock
> He Dots you
> He Fears you
> You Trinket out of it
> He Fears you
> He Fears you
> He Re-Dots you
> He uses Deathcoil
> He Fears you
> You Die.

Fear is renewable, has a low cast time and they even have two kinds of it. Oh and did I mention that a few patches ago they made it extremely resistant to breaking via Dots? Yep.

The second most imba Character class is the Holy Pally, they have the effeciency to heal constantly, the ability to make themselves completely immune to your Attacks, they have 100% Resistance to Spell Interrupt and they have CC.

Sadly this is very much all the Arena is, a CC battle, which is disappointing for me (a Shaman with -Zero- CC) and thus you have lots of Gladiator Equipped Warlocks and Paladins running around … and virtually no Shaman.

I can only hope in the future Blizzard do something to remedy the CC problem, making them all weaker in PvP … They took out the “Heartbeat” thing a few patches ago and replaced it with something which reduces how long CC lasts with every use … But this doesn’t apply to Fear.

In Summary; I wish I rolled Warlock.

James.

Live-D wrote his last article for us and we Thank him for his time

In his place we Welcome Dachande! Woo! We look forward to his first article.

Half-Post

Originally Posted on Nobody Reads This.

Was going to write a Big Article about how I enjoy Indie Games more than the Pro-release ones these days.

But fuck it. I’m not feeling well. Heres some fun links instead:

Battleships Forever -
Classically Inspired Spaceship Combat Game. Get the Editor to for tons of fun!

Dward Fortress -
So complicated it’ll make your eyes water … but there is so much satisfaction to be had.

Ant Attack 3D -
Inspired by the Classic, see if you can save the Damsel and defeat those pesky Ants!

Google Fight -
The one place in the Universe where Chuck Norris can actually lose.

Nihilum vs Illidan Stormrage -
In case you wanted to know what End-game WoW looked like for yourself. (Warning, long)

Chewin’ the Cud -
A Blog by one of my favourite WoW Animators Oxhorn. Check out his YouTube Profile for his stuff.

If you know of any good Indie Games or Entertaining websites or funny videos, let me know! ^_^

Also Thanks to Icefox & Live-D for their Contributions, remember, if you’re interested in submitting content then get in touch! All work considered!

James.

Ps. The Video is also by OxHorn, great stuff. Real Cow <3.

Warcraft Reflections

Originally posted on Nobody Reads This.

I checked the other day, I have been playing WoW for a staggering 21 Months now – about £189 in Real Measurements – and its time to reflect on the experience as a whole.

What i’ve done

When I started out on WoW I was totally green; had no previous MMO experience and didn’t even conscript any friends to form a pseudo-Fellowship to make the virtual journey with. I was just a small-town Orc in a big bad world.

Since then i’ve grown and risen through the ranks to a respected and recognised casual player not only in my guild ‘Novus Initium’ but also accross the server.

I still vaguely remember my first Instance Run; Ragefire Chasm as a level 15 Shaman – It went horribly. Nowadays i’m conquering new 5-Man content with ease – and fulfilling the role I want and not being pigeon-holed into “Healer” because of my Shaman Roots.

I’ve cleared Molten Core, Onyxia’s Lair, Zul’gurub as Raids and am currently working on Karazhan.

Whats Changed?

So much it isn’t even funny. When I first played, WoW was calm – New content was slow, but came out ready to be conquered. PvP was simple, you had WSG and Arathi Basin and World PvP was pretty much non-existant.

Raids? … Molten Core was where “it” was at and Onyxia’s Lair was brand spanking new; lets not forget UBRS >_>

Lets look at what’s been released since then; Green for I’ve completed it:

• Zul’gurub
• Molten Core
• Onyxia’s Lair
• UBRS
• Ahn’Qiraj 20
• Ahn’Qiraj 40
• Blackwing Lair
• Naxxramas
  The Burning Crusade
• Magtheridon’s Lair
• Karazhan
• Serpentshrine Cavern
• The Eye
• Gruul’s Lair
• Black Temple
• The Battle of Mount Hyjal

As you can probably tell, I’m not exactly up to speed with raid progress, my Guild was half way through BWL when TBC came out, meaning we’ll never finish it (or Naxx in all likelihood). My point being, content has come so bloody quickly that even the best Guilds out there (read Nihilium) aren’t even keeping up.

Lets not even talk about the bugs.

How about Class Balance?

Class Balance is actually an Oxymoron; because I can hardly remember a time when the classes were actually fairly matched. It didn’t used to be so bad … Rogues were kinda the Kings but that was it.

Since then, with the expansion of PvP, Blizzard have gone Balance crazy; and with the ever increasing difficulty of End-game content they had to buff and not nerf. Some classes have been running around Unbalanced to the Max; Paladins became the best healers due to their ridiculous efficiency – Mages now have Silly DPS.

Shaman. Well things used to be good, we used to be quite powerful foes for PvP, but in PvE we weren’t so great. You had to be Resto to raid and our healing was never very efficient. Nowadays we have totally changed; In PvP we’re jokes; with such low Health and only Mediocre Damage (not going to talk about CC) we just get stomped.

PvE is totally different, All three Shaman builds are viable and generally accepted alternate builds; I Instance/Raid with my Enhancement build and do the job of Melee Support perfectly. The only thing you have to fight now is old-fashioned raid leaders.

So … Summary?

I’ve always loved the craftsmanship of any Blizzard product; I can still pick up and play their oldest Games and they work on every level. I play World of Warcraft and … I’m a little sadened.

I love WoW, it remains one of the best games i’ve invested my time in for quite a while – but I am still unhappy with many things. Like SW:G, Blizzard thought they needed big changes which were brought in for TBC. I think they’ve spoiled the entire game now.

Every new change seems to be a bad one … Shaman Nerf upon Nerf, Alchemy Revamp – Which makes it fucking shite … I just want to know how much longer I have to take this abuse before my card is up … Even during the last Shaman Class-Review, they just fucked us over and didn’t fix a multitude of our problems.

Where now?

I am confident WoW will continue to run for years to come and I hope Blizzard will get their best people on the case; because they are the Kings of Balance … but I don’t see why they’ve done such a shit job of Balancing WoW.

I bet £5 that WoW will run for 10 Years, and probably get a Graphics Revamp.

I said this because I do not think a Starcraft MMO could ever work; but then I thought about it … What about a Diablo one? Or atleast a Diablo Online Game, like Hellgate: London?

Anyway, those are my Warcraft Reflections; Tune in next time.

James

Ps. Still looking for people to write for WSAG; Get in touch people! >_>

def post(content,autor):

Apologies to our regular readers, i’m as guilty of neglecting the blog as Mark recently. I’ve been lapping up my new functioning and reasonably high speed internet connection, amongst other things.

I guess I should talk about The Burning Crusade, but I don’t want to review it so this is actually quite a tough thing to get going. I’ve got a level 22 Blood Elf Paladin and my Shaman main is up to 62 and it has renewed my interest in WoW. Honestly, i’ve seriously considered ditching it many a time, I even cancelled my subscription once … I resubscribed two hours later though.

The Blood Elves in general are spectacular, I was cautious initially – they simply don’t look Horde’y – but their lore was both intresting and sound (bar the Forsaken Blood Elf reasoning). Their zone is absolutely incredible though, its so vibrant and alive. For too long have I plodded through dark and dreary zones, one after the other, killing the same creature – albeit a different size. Silvermoon City is a prime example, the structure their current leader resides in has foundations of air, thats right – it levitates, this massive ellaborate structure is just floating … it sums up the nature of the Blood Elves perfectly.

Outland however is a different matter … Blizzard certainly made sure of a few things;

• There is never a shortage of things to kill
• Even if you kill everything, it’ll respawn nearly instantaneously
• Everything is Much Bigger than you.
• You don’t spend too long looking at the scenery.

Its that last one i’m a bit peeved about, Outland is a giant cross between Silithis and the Barrens, speaking landscape wise. Its largely uninpsiring and totally … expected really. The devil is in the detail though. Its the sort of place you should read the quest text for once, because you’re probably doing something important.

For Example, Mark and I were questing together, we did a quest that made us friendly with a tribe of local orcs. I did it, and moved on. Mark highlights how ‘cool’ these particular orcs are, and I WoW-Wiki them. Oh, they aren’t just ANY orcs, these orcs were left behind and have survived on their own after all these years of isolation. An amazing feat if you compare them to the rest of the deformed monsters of Outland.

Thats quite enough about WoW for now, needless to say, I’m pleased with TBC. I think Blizzard might break 10,000,000 Subscribers by 2010 … Hell, at this rate maybe even 2008/9.

Another purchase of mine recently was the first season of “Over There” a Fox Show about the War in Iraq from the perspective of US Soldiers. Sounds gay right? Its incredible, easily a 9/10, it only looses a point because sometimes it drags a bit, but every new plot turn is as brilliant as the last. Seriously, go buy it, £15 on Play.com I believe.

An even bigger bargain than that was my purchase of the Prince of Persia Trilogy for the whoppng amount £12. Again, Play.com saves the day! I never really enjoyed it to be honest, but I figured – 3 Highly Rated PS2 Games for £12? No going wrong really, and I have very much enjoyed the 35% of Prince of Persia I i’ve completed. Although the Camera can REALLY be a bitch sometimes.

As part of my uncontrollable spending spree I bought more WoW Trading Cards … but thats all I intend to buy in the near future. I don’t know why I enjoy it so much, but I do.

[Trading Card Set]
Unqiue(10)
Anyone in possesion of a set will suffer a penalty of -10 Popularity and -45 Sex Appeal for every set you own.

Oh and, I suppose it’d only be polite to plug Elemental Temple since they’ve been suffering from a lapse in activity. Should someone accidentally read this blog, do swing by their Site & Forums.

Anyway,
Have a nice one chaps.

You are Not Prepared

Liez, I am totally prepared to watch this!

The official The Burning Crusade Cinematic Intro Video, includes Illidan and of course the two new races.

The graceful introduction of both Dranei and Blood Elves were quite good actually, it sums their individual race up fairly well, but I won’t ruin it for you

TBC Is so close I can almost taste it.

Other links:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=9104497525264407391&q=tbc+intro
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/downloads/
http://media.worldofwarcraft.com/bc-cinematic/en_US/WOWXP-EN.htm

Cheers,
JamesR.

Red (5) Faction

News of Red 5’s formation is not anything new, but their project it seems is gathering momentum and support.

Red 5 is a company consisting largely of former Blizzard employees who have licensed the Offset Engine [1] for their up and coming project. Offset’s engines are regarded as some of the most visually compelling engines to date and looking at the images on their website I’d have to agree.

However, news more recently broke about their success in gathering funding, all $18.5 Million of it. The Venture Capital firms backing them have an ever increasing (in size and success) portfolio of Web-based Firms which bodes well for Red 5.

They do however have big shoes to fill, the company’s CEO Mark Kern (Great name btw) was previously the Project Leader for the perpetually successful World of Warcraft.

With Red 5 rarely appearing on the Radar I hope with their new Venture Capital success we will see their first project proposals soon. To finish I’ll quote their website: “Our mission is simple: we want to make the best online games possible and have fun doing it.”

I wish them the best of luck and hope to read about them in the not to distant future.

Ciao

My Shaman is so Overpowered…

That when I cast frostshock every channel is instantly filled with cries of FROOOOOOOOOST SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCK! (and stfu noob!!1!)

That when I cast flameshock I summon Ragnaros.

That Thrall hides under his chair when he sees me coming.

That I can solo Naxxramas in Resto gear.

That Arthas and I are Best Friends Forever.

That people who talk to him when he’s AFK are blasted with all the power of the elements. In real life.

That using Earthshock makes me fall off my chair.

That his purge spell rips the skin off mobs.

That Blizzard keep nerfing shaman.

That when he walks through Felwood mobs try to hide behind trees. When he walks through Tanaris, they try to hide in the sand. When he walks through Durotar, people can’t create new Horde characters for twenty minutes.

That he gives the Alliance heart attacks when they see his name on the scoreboard.

That he makes Rogues stunlock themselves.

That he’s specced 300/300/300.

That he’ll be able to duel wield two handed weapons. Including swords.

That he can almost beat Warlocks sometimes.

That he pays for nothing. People who try to make him pay for things are frost shocked so hard their kids are born with a slowing effect.

That he has Divine Shield.

That he automatically fills a battleground all by himself.

That he can drink Varimathras under the table.

That he uses beartraps on Hunters to show those pussies how it’s done.

That putting Crusader on his weapons makes him hit for less. I do this to give people a fair chance… sometimes.

That he appears in other games coming soon.

That he melts faces.

That he’s taking over until Jesus gets back.

You can tell I made these, because they’re crap.

(I Lol’d constantly – James)

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Join Disciples of Arthas now!

I’m going, against all common sense, to assume that those who read this blog are:

A: Intelligent;

and

B: Not already members;

and

C: Play World of Warcraft.

…we need to spam this blog everywhere. People need my precious guidance.

Anyway.

Disciples of Arthas is a new type of WoW guild. We believe that WoW should be fun to play, and that half of that is determined by the people you play with.

DoA only take those of a reasonable intelligence. We’re sure that there’s enough on our server to at least make one guild. Probably. But we need more. So come join the Horde on Turalyon and give DoA a hand.

We don’t force any class or individual to spec any way. When we get to the point that we do raids, we won’t force anybody to raid every week, or two weeks, or at all, though it would be helpful and polite if you did once in a while. We don’t have a complicated list of rules, as ours are formed by common sense and decency, which intelligent people generally have.

So join Disciples of Arthas today, and get ready for his return as you laugh at us jeering at idiots on general chat channels.

Just make sure you ridicule UK Death Squad whenever possible.

/w Bullsoul or Dreadmoore for an invite. Make sure your whisper is intelligent, or you’re not getting in. Bitch.

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