So, it took about 30 mins to get in game at first, and once I was in, I wasn’t really shocked to see every channel flooded with players since it seems like everybody and their mother preordered this game. It’s okay though…really. I looked around for a few minutes and decided to run further in to Poeta and gather some Aria. Homestly, smart idea if you ask me. Harvesting at level 1 gives 60 exp, so it helped with the early levels while at the same time I raised my gathering.

Eventually, the mob scene back in noob land died down, so I was able to start questing and reamin behind the mob. I made it through the pre level 10 quests easily and moved on to the next area. Overall, the night was productive with me ending at level 11.5 and my Handicrafting at 20. It’s pre launch, so i’m not going to list off any gripes although the queues are pretty ridiculous. Hopefully, it gets better.

So, I have been very inactive with my blog as you can see, but it is time to start back up again. Aions headstart begins today at 2pm Central, and I plan on hitting that game pretty hard, so look for some heavy blogging to come.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!