The Decision

Today I decided to end my WAR subscription before it renewed. Yea…I didn’t last long at all, and to top it off, I hafd mentioned before that i was going to be sticking with this game for a while. Well, due to a mixture of real life and just sheer boredom, I will not being playing WAR anymore. I shall list my reasons:

1. I don’t know if the census is true or not, but it doesn’t matter. Order owns Phoenix Throne and it really sucks. Period, dot on that point.
2. I play healers in MMOs because this way I know there is a decent healer out there, me. I, of course, understand the immediate danger I am in for being a healer, and the fact that I play a Zealot and have no shirt makes me easy to spot is acceptable. The issue is that I am constantly targeted within 10 seconds of a fight and rarely have any backup to keep me safe. Bleh I say!
3. Building off number two, Destruction just doesn’t seem to know how to play as a whole. Premades make life beautiful for me because I have compotent people with me, but my schedule makes those few and far between. I hate solo joining a scenario or WB.
4. Other than my healer, I really can’t find a class I enjoy, and since I hate life as my healer…yea.

So, that about covers it. I have two EQ2 accounts and am loving every second of that, so that is where I shall be. Like any MMO I have ever played, WAR shall sit on my shelf until I decide to give it another go. Maybe I will like it then, but I don’t think I will.

Flight Masters!

As of Game Update 1.1.1, every zone (on Destruction at least) has a flight master. –little hip thrust with a resounding YES- It’s about time. It was so annoying to have to run through a zone to get to another zone. Here’s the thing though: They could use more. I mean, some of these zones are pretty big, and another flight master in them wouldn’t hurt. I know Mythic isn’t Blizzard, but if it works… This is my opinion, and I am probably just spoiled from my years of WoW. Oh well.

WAR Update

Overall, Warhammer has been treating me fantastically. I’ve been in the game for almost 30 days, and I have to say, it has my attention. I’m definitely keeping my subscription going and look forward to the upcoming events and the new classes. Of course, every story has its little annoyances, and here are mine for WAR.

Population Balance

According to the new census addon tool for WAR, Order outnumbers Destruction two to one on Phoenix throne (my server). Now, I simply read this briefly and am not sure if this is sheer number of characters created or actual characters being actively played, but it confirms what I have thought for a while. I know this is a big topic of discussion, but I wanted to throw my voice out there for the cause. I really think Mythic needs to do something, but I have no idea what that something is. Good luck Devs!

RvR

I’m not sure what it is, but Destruction on Phoenix Throne doesn’t seem to do much oRvR in T3. Maybe they are all in T4 tearing Order up, but the T4 players in my guild don’t seem to be too actively engaged in RvR. In fact, most of them play alts. There’s more to this than I just listed, but the fact remains that they aren’t out there fighting for the cause.

The issue I run into is the fact that when I go out to do some oRvR I find it difficult to find a WB or even a group doing anything. I run into Order all the time which reinforces the thinking that they have more people, but I am, more often than not, wandering around trying to find some action. Sure, scenarios pop, and they are fun, but they get old after a while unless you are winning. I don’t care if I am out in the world with a WB at my side, and we roll up on some Order WB, duke it out and end up losing. It’s still fun to me either way. I’m hoping T4 is better.

PvE

Let’s face it; WAR PvE sucks. That’s okay though since it’s an RvR game, but I am feeling the grind with my Zealot, and PvE is just not viable for me. The new Land of the Dead live expansion sounds promising and very Darkness Falls like, so I am hoping that cures some of my PvE woes. The issue there is the fact that I don’t think my Zealot will need PvE to level by that point.

Synopsis

Like I said; the game is great, and I am having a blast. I am looking forward to the next six months of play and know Mythic is going to deliver some excellent content.

EQ2: 60

Last night in EQ2, my Froglok Troubadour, Cloy, reached level 60 while running through the Court of Innovation with a 77 Assassin and 76 Warden (both mentored). This is pretty exciting for me considering the last time I really played EQ2 was when the DoF expansion first came out and they raised the level cap to 60.

After finishing up the instance, I headed back to Qeynos to organize/sell all the great loot I received and realized my armor was, well, crap. I was still using stuff from level 36… I hit up a broker and bought myself some Mastercrafted armor pieces, and I am hoping that holds me over for a while.

Overall, it was a good night. One of my other buddies should be playing with us again, so we will be able to have a more complete group and can handle tougher dungeons. I’ve really been enjoying EQ2 and look forward to tackling some dungeons I have missed over the years and exploring the new expansion with my friends.

WAR: RvR and RP

As I said in my previous post, my WAR server of choice is Phoenix Throne. For those who don’t know, Phoenix Throne is a RP server, and it has slightly different crowd to it. You will still find your non-rpers because, from my experience, RP servers seem to have a larger, more friendly community. Being a RvR game, there is the Destruction vs. Order tension, but overall, I think the community is there, or starting to develop. Before I continue, any RPer interested in doing cross faction RP, please check out The Phoenix Throne RP forums. We are trying to get a good RP community going that is server wide.

On to my post!

Last night I was playing WAR and was grouped with some guildies, and we were running scenarios. One of the guild requirements is to have vent. This makes sense since it is much easier/quicker to push-to-talk rather than typing things out especially when you are in the middle of a battle. Well, out of respect for our hardcore RP members, you don’t have to use vent; you just have to have it. Now, I didn’t start the guild, and I am definitely not complaining about the rule, but I have been finding it difficult/annoying running scenarios with people who aren’t on vent. Let’s play a scenario where not all members are on vent.

Me on vent: Rez incoming, big heal incoming, etc, blah blah blah….omg…WH on me. Oh man…now I have a WH and two WL. Help! *dead*

Most of the time this isn’t an issue since the tanks/melee DPS classes are usually on vent, but sometimes… Well, you get the point.

I’d like to put it out there that i totally respect the wishes of those of the hardcore RP nature. I dabble in RP and find it enjoying and can see how vent can take away from the RP interaction, but come one. No one really RPs in battle. I mean, I have seen it done, but it isn’t common. Personally, I don’t see the big deal in using vent for RvR. It is definitely a lot quicker than typing out in a RP manner or between double parentheses, but hey, that’s me.

Back in Action

Alright! I know it has been a while since I last posted, but I am back in action and ready to do this right. Let’s get started.

To start, I’d like to say it is great to be able to do some proper gaming once again. I’ve been hitting four games pretty hard in the last week and a half and those are: WAR, EQ2, L4D, and EQ2.

WAR

Whoa – This game is awesome. While I was deployed, I was following mainly Keen and Graev’s and The Greenskin for my WAR news (only two I could get), and it was looking pretty gloomy at one point, but Mythic came through. Keen and Snafzg wrote about the improvements and how Mythic was drastically improving the game almost every day, so while I was still a little worried, there was hope.

I was definitely going to give it a try either way, and I am glad I did. I started off as a Black Guard and have gotten him to rank 10 but playing a tank isn’t really my style, so I made a Zealot. The Zealot is a definite pain to solo PvE, but in RvR, I love him. I enjoy playing a healer in any MMO, and this one is no exception. My Zealot, Odius on Phoenix Throne, is rank 20, and I am finding myself topping or being in at least the top five for healing during most scenarios. I am also lucky in the fact that I have a great guild (Scorn) that is great to play with, and we dominate in RvR often.

Look out for more WAR news because this is a definite keeper for me.

EQ2

I’ve played EQ2 off and on since launch, and I still find it enjoyable. There are plenty of things to do, and since my friend didn’t like WAR and went back to EQ2, I am splitting my time to hang out with him. My Troubadour, Cloy on Antonia Bayle, is currently level 57, and I am having a blast playing him.

I’d like to also thank Stargrace from MMOQuests for reigniting my interest in this game while I was deployed.

L4D and TF2

L4D and TF2 are my current FPS games of choice. I played a lot of TF2 right before I deployed, but it was only about a month. The new upgrade system they have put into the game is really cool, and I look forward to the upgrades for the other classes. As for L4D, what can you expect? I’m a zombie survival horror fan, and this game definitely gives you the feel of that experience. I have played this game a little but am waiting for some buddies to come home still so we can tackle this beast as a team.

All in all, I have a great week and a half of gaming, and these are just some highlights. I will be posting more in depth articles about the individual games as I play them.

Merry Christmas!

Yea, I know it’s a couple days early, but who knows if I will be able to get on the net on Christmas day.  So, Merry Christmas!

Halt!

Sure, I haven’t written anything in a while due to my gaming slump, but now there will be a halt to posting for at least the next month and a half. First thing that happened was the DOD nixing the use of thumb drives on all government computers including these net cafe computers. This basically means I can’t write my posts beforehand, and I also don’t always come in. The second thing is my laptop died on me, so I couldn’t write posts if I wanted to. I’m not too worried because I will be hitting this blog hard and heavy when I get home. I’m sure I will write random things when I can. Until then, later.

The Hammer Falls

I’m not out of my non-gaming slump yet, but I did want to address something that has recently developed with my friends and gaming.

My personal friends who I was looking forward to playing War with have decided the game is not as exciting as it was hyped up to be. This really doesn’t come as a shock to me. I have been reading a bunch of blogs and forums that have stated the exact same thing, so I don’t blame them. So, what are they doing now? EQ2. It’s rather amazing really. I have been toying with making EQ2 my secondary MMO for a while now, and this pretty much made the decision for me. The only difference is EQ2 will be my primary MMO now. My secondary is still up in the air.

I know I bought WAR with all intentions of playing it hardcore, but I really prefer playing a MMO with friends. I know for a fact I will still try WAR and may even like it, but as of right now, EQ2 will be my main focus. This isn’t so bad since I haven’t played EQ2 since the first expansion, and the newly released TSO looks pretty amazing. Also, my buddy –who apparently played EQ2 far longer than I realized- has two level 80 characters and a level 30 guild, so it won’t be like starting over again.

I’m really looking forward to going home for obvious reasons, but I am also looking forward to playing some EQ2.

Blog Block

Where have I been? What have I been doing? I often ask myself these very same things. The issue I run into while deployed is a sort of cycle involving my motivation and exhaustion levels. I go from being all ‘let’s do this!’ to ‘zOMG…I am le tired’. At this moment in time, I have zero motivation and am exhausted 85% of the time (the remaining 15% being the time I sleep). So, let me answer the two questions.

Where have I been? I have been here the whole time! I haven’t left or anything. In fact, I barely travel more than 100 feet a day. My posting on blogs/forums has been non-existent, but I do still read them.

What have I been doing? I pretty much get off work, work out, take a shower, talk to my better half, and watch a movie and pass out for 12 hours. Yep…wow. I then wake up, hygiene it up, go to work, and do it all over again. I define repetitive and mundane.

This downside usually lasts two or three weeks, and this is the fourth time it has happened this deployment, so hopefully, it is the last time. Unfortunately, I still have at least a week left. I apologize for my lackluster blog during this craptastic time, but I assure you it will pick up soon and more so when I am home.