Wasdstomp's New Years Resolution for 2010

It's simple.  I want to provide my readers with my own E-book, or possibly several in 2010.

Why Do The Credits Roll After Hitting Renown Rank 80 in WAR?

Is the game really over when you hit that milestone in Warhammer Online?   It isn't officially over, but it makes 99% of the game pointless after you do reach renown rank 80.

I know many players who stopped playing after they hit it because RvR became boring without any goals.

With renown being worthless it takes any motivation out of taking battle objectives, keeps, zones, and cities.  You only did it before for the renown, and now that is gone.

Many players that reached renown rank 80 just stopped playing immediately with that toon.  The thought of handing out Sovereign pieces in zerg battles just made alot of players cringe.  So most just shelved their toons, and played alts until IC reached the king kill.  They would than log them in just for that.

So it defeats the main purpose of high renown rank players dropping this gear, and is the #1 reason Warhammer Online needs to add something to keep players playing once they hit renown rank 80.

I think they need to make renown ranks higher, and change the gear requirements on the RvR sets to match the new higher ranks.

I also wrote about a Nemesis Influence being implemented into the game once you reach renown rank 80 that keeps players playing.

How do you think they could keep players who are renown rank 80 playing those characters instead of alts?

Are Game Developers Great Players?

I have always wondered if they are some of the best players in a game.  They should be right?

They would definitely have huge advantages over the regular gamer I would think.

1-  They would know classes inside and out.

2-  They would know every boss fight.

3-  They would now the fastest way to level.

4-  They would know every quest, and exactly where to go.

5-  They probably have an I-win button secretly coded into the game that they use

Can you think of reasons why Game Devs should be better than regular gamers?

Would you play an MMORPG that is F2P with in-game ads?

So could it be possible to go away from the monthly subscription model?  Could a free to play MMORPG actually be free of RMT (real money trading)? Would players actually accept ads being in the game?

I thought of several different ways that it could be introduced into the game without being to intrusive.

What if a cloth piece of armor drops, and it's called Tommy Hilfilger Cloth of Glory, or a ring is called Kay's Jewelry Ring of Power?  How about potions being Pepsi infused Mana regeneration, or 5 hour energy action bar regeneration?  How about a Nike backpack?

Some other ideas would be make Inns, and buildings have names.  It could be the Hilton, or Embassy Suites.  What if taverns were like Buffalo Wild Wings, or something similar.

Cloaks could have ads on them, or even mounts.

The possibilities could be endless.

How about placing a static ad on the bottom of your screen?

Do you think something like this could work in an MMORPG?

Should MMORPG's of the Future remove Levels?

Lately I have been thinking how great it would be if all new MMORPG's required no leveling.  I personally hate leveling with a passion, but do it because I want to reach end game where the fun actually is.

If levels are removed how would players show character progression?  I think there is still a viable option out there that players would accept. What is this option?

I have a few ideas I would like to throw out there.

Just think about World of Warcraft for a minute.  What if every current zone was level 80 content?  What if instead of gaining xp every quest was part of a campaign quest like in Aion.  Once you complete a 10 step quest you gain a spell, or a title that gives you a special stat, or opens one spot on your talent tree.

This would still give players a time sink, but take away the whole xp bar watching, and level progression.

I think players enjoy the sense of accomplishment more from that than simply grinding mobs.

You could also tie in achievements in some way to unlock mounts, slots, or whatever.

Do you think something like that would work?

Is Aion gaining new players?

I think Aion may be gaining subscribers these days.  I thought this day would never come, but I think it is happening.

What makes me think this?

A simple trend I see on all my Aion HD video leveling guides on Youtube.  They have been showing increases of 30%+ viewing consistently the past few weeks.  My Aion seven part video leveling guide is only for levels 1-10.   

You know no one rolling alts is using my guide.  They already know the first ten levels.  It means that new players are coming to the game, and wanting to get a jump start on the leveling process.

Did a bunch of gamers get Aion for Xmas?

Aion could still turn out to be the game that everyone imagined it being in a few more months.  It will be interesting to see how it matures, and how quickly they implement the Aion Vision.

Do Blogging Communities Exist?

Are you tired of reading the same 25 blogs every day?  Does it seem everyone talks about the same thing? Do you wish you could find new gaming blogs?

I just found this really cool tool on every Blogger blog.  At the top of each you will see a little navigation box with a clickable Next Blog.  I never really paid attention to it until this weekend.

Today I thought I would just try it out.  I was amazed at how many blogs I found that I never even knew existed.  I found some pretty quality gaming blogs by doing it along with full blogrolls of gaming blogs that I never even visited before.

Is it possible there are gaming blogging communities out there that don't know each other exist?  After hitting next blog I found out there really is.

It seems that our little blogging community is just a small community.  This whole time I thought we were the only gaming bloggers out there.

It is one of those things where I think someone copies someones blogroll, and the next blogger copies that blogroll.  Eventually it is a 25 blog community with everyone having the same blogrolls.

Do you think there are other blog communities out there thinking the same thing?

Can you find some new gaming blogs to add to your blogroll?

Why I love playing poker online

Do you love poker?  I do.  I love playing at Full Tilt Poker.  I love the online atmosphere.  I think it is much easier to play, and win online.  No poker faces needed, and if you are new to poker it's real easy to play without looking like a total idiot in front of people at a Casino.

I started playing online poker a few years ago, and just after a few hands I dreamed of being a professional poker player, and some day winning the WSOP tournament.  How can you not like playing cards all day for a living?

You get to meet tons of new people, socialize, drink, win lots of money, and have fun the whole time.  The adrenaline rush makes it so much fun.  Every time I get to the final table it is nerve racking, but exciting at the same time.

Full Tilt Poker always has great promotions for tournaments, deposit bonuses, and more.  Are you dying to play yet?  What other games can you play, and make money like online poker?

2 Things all Gamers should do Today

1--  Now is the perfect time to subscribe to Wasdstomp via Email or the RSS feed.   It is free to subscribe, and you will never miss another great post.

2--  I also suggest following Wasdstomp on Twitter.  You not only receive tweets about Wasdstomp, but also any other great articles I retweet from other gaming blogs for all my followers.  It is the best way to keep informed throughout the day.

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?

Did you not get the items you wanted for Christmas?  Go ahead, and buy them now for yourself.



- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

- 28 inch Widescreen Monitor

- Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse

- Warcraft Horde and Alliance Leveling guide

- Warcraft Gold making guide

- World of Warcraft 60 Day Pre-Paid Time Card

Last Minute Stocking Stuffer Ideas for World of Warcraft Gamers

Do you need a stocking stuffer?  Here are a few stocking stuffers that would make any World of Warcraft player have a Merry Christmas.


- Warcraft Horde and Alliance Leveling guide

- Warcraft Gold making guide

- World of Warcraft 60 Day Pre-Paid Time Card

Last minute gift ideas for World of Warcraft Gamers

Are you undecided on what to give someone who plays World of Warcraft?  Here is some last minute gift ideas.


- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

- 28 inch Widescreen Monitor

- Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse

- Warcraft Horde and Alliance Leveling guide

- Warcraft Gold making guide

- World of Warcraft 60 Day Pre-Paid Time Card

Top 5 blog posts on Wasdstomp for 2009

Three reasons Aion killed our legion

Seven reasons the Endless Trial in Warhammer Fails

Killing innocent people in an airport in Modern Warfare 2

Is this really worth 500 gold in World of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft triple xp shot with whip cream and caramel sauce

Warhammer Producers Letter Ripped apart like a Shredder on Steroids

Is this the producers letter I have anticipated?  If so can someone just shoot me now.  This is the saddest Warhammer Producers letter I have ever seen.  Could you at least fake it?  This letter created about as much excitement as a Knitting Convention in Iowa.

Let me dissect this letter piece by piece, and rip it apart like a shredder on steroids.

First on the list Kegs End.  Do you really think this event is exciting?  I would rather go shovel snow for 3 hours in my driveway.

They talk about a great past year.  What was so great?  If it was so great wouldn't they still have all 60+ servers still live?

They brag about new dungeons, zones, and scenarios.  I have to say they did pick a perfect name for the new zone Land of the Dead, but a better name probably should of been Land of the DOA (Dead on Arrival).  I think my guild literally spent about 1 hour in that zone total since it was launched.  It was the biggest waste of time ever.

They speak of new dungeons.  Are they talking about Tomb of the Vulture Lord?  The dungeon you can only have access for once you RvR for hours to get access too, and by that time no one wants to do it.  Oh but the RvR is going to be exciting in this zone.  You can invade other peoples instances, but players already know when others are there, and ready to invade.  If the zone was open 24/7 to both sides the RvR would possibly be a little more exciting.  They ranted and raved like it was like Darkness Falls.  It was nothing like it.

What are these new scenarios?  Are we talking about Twister Tower?  Okay the scenario that everyone hated, but did it anyway to complete Live Event tasks.  Mythic remove the Live event tasks, and see if anyone does it.  Let me save you some time, and tell you no one would.  Oh wait, I forgot the populations are so bad even other scenarios don't pop.

They talk about the second keep ramps as the second coming.  This is something that just needed fixed.  Hey I have a great idea.  Let's put a keep lord at the top of the keep with only one way to get there.  What does it do?  It causes no RvR plain and simple.  The attackers zerg the lord, and the defenders zerg the lords room.  There are no small battles outside the keeps, inside the outer keep.  It is just one zerg fighting another zerg, and seeing who can heal, and run back faster if they die.

They act like the War Report is the greatest thing since the Droid cell phone.  Is it really an 8 hour cooldown?  What a joke.  Who plays more than 8 hours these days in Warhammer?

The underdog system.  How much thought process was put into this?  OMG, Aion has a third npc faction we need a quick fix guys.  This system is one more joke.  It is not going to help any faction who is outnumbered, or outgeared.

You really mention Ordnance?  At first the number needed to buy something was so overpriced it was just stupid.  Even with the lowered amounts needed it is just a huge waste of time.

Luckily Greg Oden doesn't work for Mythic.  All these kneejerk reactions would cripple the guy.  How about all the Aion is so beautiful posts?  How does Warhammer react....OMG lets add bloom.  Players will come back in droves.

Okay lets launch the game on other platforms, and countries.  Are you serious?  This is the day, and age of the internet.  You think other countries haven't already seen this game fail, or MAC users?  What are you guys thinking?

They mention a few new things coming, but I will wait for that in another post along with my very own Warhammer Producers Letter that would actually cause excitement, and bring subscribers back.

7 days of Hell in Warhammer Online

I had a good laugh today at Mythic.  I decided to stroll over to the Warhammer Herald.  I see some hot fix notes.  Now here comes the funny part.

Battle Brew Backpack: Fixed an issue which caused this item to not be usable by the appropriate realm. Please note: This change did not fix existing bugged Battle Brew Backpacks. If you find yourself in possession of a bugged Battle Brew Backpack, please file an in-game appeal using the “Missing Item” category. Please note, appeals may take up to 7 days to be processed.  

I finally picked myself up from the floor from laughing so hard.  For a company that stresses the layoffs haven't affected anything I have to disagree.  Are you kidding me?  It really takes 7 days to respond to an appeal?

What if it was something really critical?  7 days is like 10 years in gaming time.  How could it take that long to fix an appeal when you probably are lucky to have 25k subscribers?

Earn Double XP on weekends in Aion all the way to 50

NCSoft Aion took a good beating the last few days after the announcement of Double XP weekends to level 35.  Players voiced their opinions that once again where the real level grind starts Aion was still making players spend countless hours of boring grinding for every bubble of xp.  It was like a double slap, and spit to the face.

I am surprised they gave in so quickly.   I am sure the declining subscription levels probably have urged them to respond quickly to players concerns.   I don't know what the numbers are, but I personally know about 300 from my guild that stopped playing, and so many others from Warhammer that have disappeared.

At least many more players will now reach the level 50 milestone with double xp being extended all the way to 50.  Of course all the players who grinded it out will be mad until they realize the game won't be fun until the majority of the games population hits that max level cap anyways.

17 of My Best Aion Blog posts for 2009

Here is a list along with a short summary of my best Aion blog posts for 2009.  

Did Aion fool you into buying the game?

With open beta limited to level 30 I think NCSoft was trying to hide the real grind, and get players to buy the game.

9 ways Twitter makes Aion better

Twitter has become a huge social networking tool, but unfortunately players refuse to accept change.

Aion Grind Optimizer

The biggest question is always where do I go grind mobs now.  This optimizer works really great at showing mobs health, xp given, and the xp/time ratios to optimize the best grind.

Bot or Not?

Bots were a big deal in the game.  The problem was so many players just assumed people were bots since the grind is so monotonous. 

3 Things Aion PvP needs

You add these three things, and pvp in Aion would be so much better.

Will rifts be dead in Aion in 6 months?

With everyone eventually reaching max level it will most likely make most rifts a waste of time.

Queueing system for the Auction House broker

With the personal store nerf they really needed to allow a way for players to utilize the auction house since it was limited to 10 items.  The queuing system to put things in the auction house after other items sold would of been a great addition.

Manastones make me cry

I guess I just would always run into a streak of bad luck when it came to inserting mana stones into my gear.  The way they would fail, and destroy any manastones in the gear was stupid.

Why was I banned?

It is always great to read about players claiming they were banned for no reason.  Why do players always want everyone to believe they are innocent.

Holy Captcha

Adding captcha to gathering skills was just a dumb idea.  Everyone hates captcha.

Infatuation with character names

Why do some players feel they have to use the same character name no matter what game they are playing?

Dude where's my bags

Everyone needs more bag space.

Personal stores nerfed to 30 minutes

The nerf seriously ruined my ability to earn kinah as easily by not being able to put stacks of 200 in a store, and go to sleep for the night, and wake up with everything sold.

Things killing MMO's

Several things I think are killing MMO's, and sending them to an early grave.

Which is faster grinding or questing?

I don't know which came first the chicken or the egg?

Aion release survival guide

This is the biggest viral post prior to Aion launching.

Why I am playing Aion

This basically tells you why I left Warhammer, and decided to play Aion.

#1 Blogging Pet Peeve of 2009

What does every blogger want? They want repeat visitors.  Every blogger works hard to create content that makes people keep coming back.

What drives me crazy, and is my biggest pet peeve about certain blogs?  It is the default settings for subscribing to a blogs comments after commenting.  I catch it most of the time, but it drives me away more than it keeps me coming back.  It is just pure annoying getting 200 separate emails for every comment someone posts, and going through the whole unsubscribe process to stop the bleeding.

Just do everyone a favor, and make the default so you don't automatically subscribe to the comments.

25 Greatest Warhammer Online Blog Posts of 2009

Here are some of my best articles about Warhammer Online this past year.  

Four Reasons Warhammer should go F2P

Zerg Guilds

Fort Population Caps are Epic Fail

Best Four Hours of my Life

Ventrilo makes you a better player

Nordenwatch Weekend was FUN

Third Faction?

Goodbye Mark Jacobs

Happy Dance Today

Boss Strats Tomb of the Vulture Lord

Land of the Dead: DOA

Scenarios are better than ORvR

Two Factions have killed the Game

Guild Cities and Bases in ORvR

Nordenwatch Live Event is Fail

10 Things I learned on Dark Crag

Guild Rank XP is stupid

99% is a great stat

PvP > PvE

City Sieges are boring

What if Blizzard bought EA/Mythic?

Why I left Warhammer Online

Wanted on the fly respecs

Life after RR80: Nemesis Rewards?

King is dead

Revamp RvR Gear

6 Reasons Guild Wars 2 is now on my Radar

After seeing the most recent Guild Wars 2 trailer today I suddenly put this game on my radar.  The game looks really amazing.  I can think of five reasons I will buy this game when it's released.

Races

The races seem very interesting.  It is not the same old races you find in every other MMO.  You can choose between Charr, Sylvari, Norn, Asura, and Human.  I think I want to play a Charr.

Free to Play

Just like in Guild Wars this game will be free to play.  No monthly subscriptions to pay to be able to play this game.  The great thing about it is you know there will always be expansions, and new content because that is how they make money.

PvP at all Levels

It will be similar to the original Guild Wars where in the PvP instanced zones everyone will be the same level, have access to the same skills, and etc.  How can you not like that?

Sidekick System

They are implementing a sidekick system that players and friends of varying levels will be able to do content together.  I guess it will be like how it works in City of Heroes.  It sounds like a great way to get friends to play doesn't it?

Underwater Zones

There will be underwater zones.  They are eliminating drowning, etc that you find in most other traditional MMO's.  This sounds pretty similar to what we saw in the Aion vision trailer.

Soloable to Max Level

You will be able to reach max level without ever joining a group.  It is always reassuring knowing that if groups aren't available that you will still be able to progress in leveling.  Leveling will also be anti grind which is always a plus in my book.

My Top 3 Aion Videos of 2009

These are three of my favorite Aion videos I made this year.  I really enjoyed Nochsana Training Camp.  Wouldn't it been nice if the xp was like that throughout the game?

Of course the Krall Boss farming sessions were fun too.  It was the easiest place to farm bosses with being able to change channels without fighting your way through the area again.  Did you channel farm?

The last video is the great queues everyone endured at launch.  I remember waiting over 3 hours my initial login to play.  How many hours did you spend total waiting to play?

 

My 8 Biggest Blogging Mistakes of 2009

Yes, believe it, or not I am not perfect.  With 2009 being my first year of blogging I have made mistakes along the way.

Picking the right Niche

I made this mistake twice in 2009.  I made my niche based solely on a game I loved.  The problem is I fell out of love twice.  Once with my Warhammer blog, and another with my Aion blog.  It was the third time that I realized that my niche may have been to small, and a general gaming blog works better.  It is much easier to write about multiple games, than just one.

Not using your own Domain name

I made my first two blogs without doing much research on blogging.  I just decided to do it.  I googled something like blog programs, and the next thing you know I had a Blogspot blog.  I didn't put too much time into the whole idea.  I ended up with a warhammerblogtimes.blogspot.com, and aiontavern.blogspot.com blog addresses.  I didn't know any better.

I now know the importance of your blog having its own domain address, and having a hosting company.  The search engines love a real URL compared to a Blogspot, or Wordpress extension.  It improves your pagerank tremendously, and SEO optimization.  Also the longer you have a domain the better search engines love you.

Not using Twitter to its full marketing power


It wasn't until towards the end of the year I realized how valuable Twitter is.  The whole year pretty much passed by before I realized the marketing power of my Twitter account. I now know the importance of my profile, picture, favorites, retweeting, and more.

Monetizing my blog the wrong way

I didn't realize the income potential I was giving away by having Google Adsense ads after each post.  I realized the pennies I was making was pretty pointless on impressions, and clicks.   It defeated the purpose of keeping visitors on my blog, and making other people rich instead.

Not allowing visitors to comment

I finally just woke up, and activated comments on my blog.  I now know the importance of interacting with my visitors, and building relationships.  No one enjoys coming to a blog with no social interaction.  Visitors also enjoy the interaction with each other on the comments, and it gives them a chance to increase traffic to their blog too.

Having a Blogroll

I love the idea of the blogroll, and giving your fellow bloggers in your niche some link love.  The problem I found is it was the biggest exit from my blog.  I work hard to keep people on my blog, and not give them an invitation to leave for another blog.  I removed my blogroll a few months ago.  I have seen my length of visits, pages visited more than double since I did it.  It was prime marketing space I could use for my own site instead.

Not being Controversial

I found out pretty quickly that my visitors loved controversy.  If I just posted something about a patch announcement, bug fix, or etc my daily visits were small.  After the first few months I realized if I made my post say Bright Wizards Scorch Earth is not Overpowered compared to Bright Wizard Scorch Earth Patch Changes  it would make a huge difference in visitors, and rage within comments on the posts.  Posts need to tuck at peoples emotions.

Misunderstanding using Links within posts

I read somewhere that it was good to have links within your posts.  I went a little overboard, and the saddest part is I gave visitors about 10 reasons to leave my blog in every post.  I soon realized the marketing power of only linking within my own blog, or affiliate links.

I made over 500g selling Ice Cold Milk in World of Warcraft today

I know it's unbelievable, but it is true.  Everyone needed it for the quest for Gingerbread cookies, and Ice Cold Milk for Great Father Winter.  I took full advantage of the opportunity.  I bought stacks from the Innkeeper for like 10 copper for a stack.  I sold the Ice Cold Milk originally at five gold each, but other players kept undercutting me until the easy money disappeared.  By the end of the night it was no longer worth filling the auction house with it.

Why do players always undercut?  Why didn't everyone just leave it at five gold, and everyone would of made a killing?  I sold my final Ice Cold Milk for a pathetic twenty five silver because of the non stop undercutting.

My Favorite Elyos Aion Leveling 1-10 Videos of 2009

2 things that made Aion better today

They are listening believe it or not.  The leveling grind in Aion is getting easier.  They will now be offering double xp on weekends.  The second great thing they are greatly reducing the cost of soul healing.  Both get two thumbs up from me.

My Top 5 Warhammer Online Videos

The first video featured for Warhammer Online is during the PTS for the launch of the Tomb of the Vulture Lord.  It shows some of the introductory fights.  The first fight you have to stand in the little clouds to actually do damage to the mobs.  The next part you have to stand on the lighted squares similar to the game Simon.  Once inside you get to the pendulums.  I found it easiest to aim my camera from a top view to walk through them with ease.    You can follow this guide for all the details of the boss fights in Tomb of the Vulture Lord.
 

This second video of Warhammer Online features the biggest zerg guild that played on Dark Crag called Rhuin.  The video was made to make fun of the zerg title, and instead they should be called a convoy.  It shows them riding through the streets of Praag in massive numbers.  No wonder Rhuin was in Inevitable City every night, and drove Destruction to ragequit in droves.

The third video features Rhuin being bored one day, and having all the Engineers lay turrets on the stairs.  The best part of it was Destruction thought they were just doing RvDoor, and didn't know we had been secretly waiting inside there for an hour.  It was definitely one of the funniest keep defenses we ever pulled off.

The fourth video features Rhuin introducing all the Destruction Praag server merger players to RvR.  For that day we called Dark Crag by Dark Praag.  It was some of the biggest fights in Chaos Wastes that first night of the closure of the Praag server, and players being merged with us.

The fifth, and final featured video shows one of the biggest fights in Praag before all the bright wizard AoE nerfs.  Order seemed to take control of the zone Praag as they eventually were able to even kill the guards by their spawn point.  It was definitely one of the more memorable, and epic fights I remember in Praag.

Warhammer Online, and the server Dark Crag will always hold a special memory in my heart.  I had so many great times, and made so many friends, and enemies.  I really thought Dark Crag would be the last server standing in the game.

7 things to buy World of Warcraft gamers for Xmas

Are you trying to think of things to buy for Xmas for someone who plays World of Warcraft?

Here is a great list of things that any World of Warcraft player would enjoy receiving as a present on Christmas Day.



- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

- 28 inch Widescreen Monitor

- Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse

- Warcraft Horde and Alliance Leveling guide

- Warcraft Gold making guide

- World of Warcraft 60 Day Pre-Paid Time Card

Make tons of gold with the Feast of Winter Veil

I love the Feast of Winter Veil event in World of Warcraft that starts December 15th.   It is one of the best events to make easy gold from.  You can sell small eggs, milk, gingerbread cookies for crazy prices on the auction house, and it puts tons of gold into your bank account with almost no effort.

Is this really worth 500 gold in World of Warcraft?

Today was my lucky day I guess in World of Warcraft.  I would have never thought a random drop in the Barrens would be worth so much gold.

If it wasn't for me deciding to purchase this gold making guide I would have never known how valuable this green recipe was worth.  I probably would have put it up on the auction house for 5-10 gold.  I personally thought it was a totally worthless recipe.  What recipe you ask?

It was a level 18 recipe for Savory Deviate Delight.  I still can't believe how much this recipe is worth.  I am slapping myself right now just to make sure I am not dreaming.  I need someone to slap me back to reality.  Is it really worth 500 gold?

Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor revealed for SWTOR

The Jedi Consular, and Sith Inquisitor classes were revealed today for Star Wars: The Old Republic.   I really can't wait for this game to be released.   Also a teaser for another Planet being revealed next week.

Rudolph and other Reindeer spotted in World of Warcraft

Today I was minding my own business while grinding out levels in the Barrens.  I was surprised when I saw Santa's reindeer right in front of my eyes.  I think they may have been lost, but I am sure with Rudolph's red nose so bright he will find his way back to the North Pole before Christmas.

80 or Bust

I thought I was finished with World of Warcraft the other day. I canceled my subscriptions, and was cutting my ties. It lasted a whole day.

After talking with some coworkers they convinced me to stay, and grind to 80. They said I could get geared up super fast. Also in the back of my mind I couldn't let this 90 days of triple xp go to waste. I bought the second account the least I could do is play the game.

I somehow managed to get level 20 on both of my characters today. The triple xp is nice, but it's tough to make money when you aren't killing as many mobs, and splitting the loot. They should really think about giving triple money loot to make up for it.  It is to the point where I either buy gear, or I buy my mount. I really need to find a way to make some gold.

That's a bunch of BCS

Why is Congress worried about the BCS National Champion?  Are they really wasting our tax money on this?

It would be a different story if they were changing things, and making playoffs.  The problem is it won't solve that.  It will only prevent them from calling it a National Championship game, and the winners being called National Champions.

A huge waste of time, and tax dollars.

Honeymoon is over

The honeymoon stage of my relationship with World of Warcraft has ended already.  I can't say I didn't try.  I really tried to play again, and even with the triple xp I just couldn't get into the game.

It isn't just World of Warcraft.  You can put Warhammer Online, and Aion Online right up there too.

Am I burned out on MMO's?  Why have I lost interest in them?  Do I just need a break?

Actually I find myself enjoying blogging more than playing these days, but if you don't play enough it's hard to find things to blog about.

Twitter Rant

Twitter has so many great uses for gaming, but no one seems to utilize it correctly.  Why is it that gamers refuse to accept, and use Twitter to enhance the gaming experience?

It seems that most gamers on Twitter seem to be idiots.   Why would you make a Twitter account that is basically like an automated spamming bot?

I don't care that you are currently playing a game, or unlocked an achievement, or whatever.  Your Twitter page has absolutely no personality, and is a total waste.  Just go ahead, and do everyone a favor.  Log in to Twitter, and delete your account right now.

Warhammer Item Code Giveaways Galore

Mythic announced being on Twitter now, and are giving away special item codes left, and right.

Just follow Mythic News here.

Why is the Mohawk Grenade so entertaining?

The Mohawk Grenade is so much fun. I really wonder who the brainchild is in Blizzard who thinks this stuff up. How could something so simple be so popular? Why do other MMO devs from other games never figure out what players like?


I guess maybe World of Warcraft can do no wrong. They could probably make anything fun in the game.

University of Oregon Ducks to the Rose Bowl 2010

I know. I am pushing my gaming blog to the limits. I am just excited over the huge civil war college football game last night on ESPN. It was the Oregon Ducks, and the Oregon State Beavers. A victory for either team meant a trip to the Rose Bowl. The game lived up to all the hype. I am just glad my Ducks won.

Another Dumb move by Mythic

Does Mythic think before they do anything?  Why would they have a PTS event, and the Dark Crag/Phoenix Throne server transfers on the same day for Warhammer Online?

I can almost bet that the turnout for the PTS event was horrible.  Would you rather test, or play on your new server?  I think the answer is really easy.  The excitement would be playing on your new server.  Who really cares about the PTS?

With the declining population in Warhammer the only server left will be the PTS in a few months.

The server transfers will be like all the rest of them in the past.  You will have the initial honeymoon phase for a week or two, and by two months the server is right back to its 50 people online status at prime time.

Another one BOTS the Dust

Is anyone even still playing Aion?  They just announced another 26,000 bot accounts banned in the game today.  How many subscribers are left after banning so many the last few weeks?

If your game is that infested with bots than maybe you need to start looking at why your game is a breeding ground for bots.

Why not remove the never ending grind?  I bet if you cut the grind in half the bot issue would fix itself, and you could actually work on adding content instead of wasting hundreds of man hours tracking down bots.

World of Warcraft Triple shot of XP with Whip Cream and Caramel Sauce

My adventures back into World of Warcraft is like a triple shot mocha with whip cream, and caramel sauce at Starbucks.  It is simply amazing.  The recruit a friend is my best friend right now.  I love earning triple xp.

Over the Black Friday weekend I purchased a second copy of Warcraft for a mere $5.  How can you beat that?  It also gave me a free month for my other account.  It is a win-win.

Dual boxing so far has been really easy.  I have been skipping the quests.  It seems faster just to mow through mobs.  I have no downtime which is really speeding up the whole leveling process.  I am no leveling expert, but spending just a little over an hour to get two characters to level 10 is pretty sweet.

The only downfall I have seen so far from leveling up so quick is you have a hard time earning money to buy your spells, and gearing up.  Unfortunately I don't have a main that can supply my new characters gold.

I decided to play a Warlock, and a Priest.  I have my Warlock do all the killing.  I just use Lifetap to get mana back instantly, and than have my Priest heal my Warlock back to full health.  It couldn't be any easier.

Why is it that I can do the grind in Warcraft over and over, and over again?  Why is it that in other games I hate the grind, but in I have done it about twenty times now?

Warhammer Patch 1.3.3 Rants

The patch notes for Warhammer patch 1.3.3 have now been released on the herald.  I see nothing that makes me want to log in, and play Warhammer again.  It is mostly bug fixes which makes it seem the game really is in maintenance mode.



The underdog system is finally explained in detail:

Each time a capital city is Captured the realm who successfully captured the city will lose one Underdog Rating point to a maximum of -3 while the realm who defended the city will gain one underdog rating point to a maximum of +3. Underdog Rating points will decay up or down back toward 0 by 1 point per 24 hours during which no city is Captured. Underdog Rating points greater than +1 or less than -1 each add or remove 5% to the percentage of Victory Points needed to capture zones in the Tier 4 Open RvR Campaign and also increase or reduce the Tier 4 pairing lockdown timer by one hour per point beyond the first. Additionally, Zone Domination timers are reduced to 45 minutes for Keeps and 10 minutes for Battlefield Objectives at an Underdog Rating of 2, and 30 minutes for Keeps and 0 minutes for Battlefield Objectives at an Underdog Rating of 3. New underdog rating icons and tooltips have been added to the Zone Control bar in Tier 4 to display this information.

I still don't see how this system is going to work to actually help the underdog realm.  If you are unable to take Battlefield Objectives, and Keeps how is lowering the timers going to make it any better? 

Bloom and HDR details:

The game client now allows users to turn on Bloom and HDR lighting post processing effects. Users who enable post processing will experience a visually harmonious and enhanced feel in the Warhammer world! To enable these new visual enhancements check the Post Processing box in the Customize Performance panel of the User Settings options. A new customize performance default setting has also been added, "Oooh, shiny!" which includes all the settings of "High Quality" with the addition of post processing.


Why would they add even more graphic intensity when huge rvr battles were already slideshows, and most players played on the lowest settings?  I really wonder sometimes what they are thinking.


The War Report details:

A feature that returning and existing characters will enjoy is 'The WAR Report' window. This window opens automatically when a player enters the game for the first time during a session and gives a snapshot of the action going on in the world. Separated by Tiers, the window not only gives you a list of current events but also allows you to choose one and teleport directly to the action. RVR events will take you to the closest warcamp and PVE events will take you to either the closest chapter hub or to the nearest Flight Master location which may be either a chapter hub or a warcamp depending on the event. This instant action teleport will be available for use once every 8 hours. The WAR Report window can be accessed via a toggle located on the left side of the mini-map between the Rally Cry and Scenario queuing buttons. The window can also be toggled off if players do not want it to automatically open when they first enter the game.


Didn't we already have an addon that did this?  Any bets that the Warhammer one is broken, and players continue to use the addon instead?  I really hope the eight hour cooldown for the teleport is long enough.  Are you kidding?  Every 8 hours is a joke.  Do people even play for more than an hour these days?