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Late Happy Holidays, One Month For Free Contest Almost Over, The "Sexy" Santa Gallery

no.spam@gameriot.com (bilingue) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:05:21 -0500

Happy Holidays! A bit late but with the same intentions and emotions. Everybody is enjoying the Holidays and preparing to say goodbye to the year 2009. A naive at heart, I am looking forward 2010. There will be a lot of change in my life and God willing, our baby will be born around April.

Love or hate Steam, be sure to check out the their discounts for all different games on sale. Once again, I wish this New Year brings good health and blessings to everyone.

This is not the traditional Xmas tree found in many homes. Instead is made out of bottles. I would love to see that tree with all the lights on.

Hopefully nobody died while building the tree:

One Month Free Contest

Just a few more days to sign up for the contest. The winner will be selected the first week of January and you will have 1 week to claim your prize. If nobody claims it, another winner will be selected. I will be using the power of the RNG.

"Sexy" Santa Gallery

Here is a gallery of "Santa Cosplay". There is a NSFW gallery. Wink, Wink.

Yes you are right, some of them are not that sexy. That's why it's "sexy". The NSFW gallery looked somewhat better and these images were very easy to find.

I know you guys can do better than me. Post sexier images.

I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE

no.spam@gameriot.com (samhehelol) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:12:33 -0500

Hey Nerds,

My friend wants to play World of Wolves with me but I quit in Season 5 as Paladin/DeathKnight was a buggering nuisance. Is Stormscale still the best PVP server? What classes are overpowered? Is the game still an aggrivating semen stain on the trousers of dissapointment?

Don't be invalids, give me great answers and I'll reward you with some bestiality loli.

XxXxX

so i just bought resident evil darkside chronicles and im pissed >:(

no.spam@gameriot.com (marshall11) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:58:37 -0500

ok so i bought RE:darkside and i found out that there is only ONE bonus scenario and i pretty much bought the game for the bonus scenarios i loved being able to unlock all those and then be able to play them so now all they added was the whole unlock info about stuff that we really dont care about and info on the people which makes me annoyed sure they put some cool stuff like better graphics being able to see your partner and yourself reload and have wi-fi but i mean who cares! i mainly liked to unlock the really cool stuff. The only thing i really liked though is two things costume unlockes (i like the tofu people lol) and how they added the better RE games like 2,code veronica and well leons and krousers isnt really a game lol so anyway yeah what do u people have to think about this cause it kinda pisses me off >

Rank 1 pushes turn you all into raging idiots; do you even enjoy Arena anymore?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Draek) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:53:41 -0500

This goes out to nerd ragers, trolls and kids who spend hours and hours each week whining about X spec/class comp.

Do any of you even enjoy WoW anymore?

Last season was my first time ever contending for rank 1 (I was a mediocre PvPer in BC), and I'd never considered just how intense and stressful the push for rank 1 could be. It may come as a surprise, but I am not a nerd rager; in fact, I don't really have the energy to confront people in this game anymore. Arguing on the internet is a huge waste of time, and while I'll unhesitatingly replace people on arena teams, I can't be bothered to yell at them anymore.

I wish everyone felt that way.

I was lucky last season, to play with two very level-headed PvPers who already had Deadly Gladiator titles (which probably contributed to them remaining calm during the grind). We missed it by two rating, but what I remember most from that grind is that no one ever freaked out when we lost a game on that fateful Monday night.

This season is a whole different story. Being an overpowered, overgeared PvE whoring juggernaut, I'm forced to wade through the chest-high river of tears that playing against me seemingly causes--even though I'm reputedly "terrible" and, as every Envenom Rogue/caster team is happy to demonstrate, I'm hardly an unkillable leviathan.

But Christ do people continue to cry. As I've mentioned before, I feel like most of the complaints are based in theorycrafted scenarios that don't actually occur; or people simply forget the limitations that are imposed on Prot. Yeah, I can spell reflect without incurring a DPS loss; but what does it matter when I can't do it while Kidney Shotted? I still eat the fatal CB/Conflag combo, I just happened to reflect some random curse a few seconds before I explode.

I'm not denying that Prot is amazing, but the community reaction to the spec does seem hyperbolic and infectious. People who I held a lot of respect for in Season 6, like Menismyforte and Emcl/Emlb, suddenly transformed into my worst enemies, relentlessly trolling me on every forum available to them as if it were their job. This is probably the best place to let you guys know that I don't read the comments on this website, and I've also given up on the Battlegroup AJ forums as a lost cause. Most of your trolling reaches me second-hand and elicits nothing but an amused grin.

An amused grin that rarely fades, because I'm rank one and you're not.

The rank 1 grind turns you all into raging idiots.

As I mentioned last week, we picked up a new Druid in our 3s. Queueing up when you're 150 points ahead of the rank 2 team can be risky; one point wins and 22 point losses as a high profile team can be a pretty awful thing for both morale and team rating (which are often related). It's a lot like treading water over an ocean of sharks, and by sharks I mean kids that are overjoyed to post their victory screenshots as if they were holding our severed heads for all to see.

I'm not going to get into how/why we lost some games here (let's just say offensive dispel+rusty players+druid healers+envenom rogues=sad faces); because what's more interesting is how furious kids can get over this game. After a couple 20 point losses to RNG, Ring of Valor and simple bad play, our previously high-flying morale was in the gutter, and our first night of PR grinding for Swarms ended up with someone rage logging.

Our team is not the only one to let the rank one obsession get to them. I mentioned Menismyforte and Emlb for two reasons, both of which are germane to this discussion.

First, I liked both of those guys and had many friendly exchanges with them last season.
Second, they've both turned into monstrous hypocritical douches over rank one titles.

* http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Mannoroth&n=Menismyforte

Profile Unavailable

This guy was a staple of Ruin and a great Shadow Priest to play against, yet somewhere along the way he realized he was not going to succeed on Ruin and decided to transfer to some obscure Battlegroup for Relentless Gladiator. Bye bro :/ Too bad SP/Rogue/Healer is a top 3s comp now, I'm sure you guys could've given us a run for our money.

Then I got this PM, when I was recruiting a Warlock for my extremely retarded Afflock/Surv Hunter/Prot War/Disc Priest/Resto Druid 5s team. (We are now almost 2700 despite not having two major staples of 5s: BoP and Bloodlust).

Again, Emlb, you're a great Shaman; but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Either I'm the worst player alive and you hope I die a horrible death, or you want to ride on my broad and overpowered shoulders on the way to Relentless Glad.

It's one or the other.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is...

You're all hypocrites.

DK/Paladin was OP in Season 5. Melee cleaves were OP in season 6. Wizard cleaves, Envenom PMR, RLS, Prot Warriors, Prot Paladins, Feral druids and god knows what else are OP in season 7. We play what we think is best with the best people we can find; we don't pull punches or hold back out of some sense of fairness, and we rarely feel bad about it, either. Blizzard sucks at balancing their game. I'll go back to Arms when this game's retarded damage is toned down. I don't enjoy turtling up on a character with no mobility and bad EVERYTHING when I'm playing Arms, and I don't enjoy gibbing someone in 6 seconds with a charge MS Bladestorm.

Then again, even Prot isn't enough anymore, though I'm starting to think my team comp is the cause of that (we don't have a way to peel Evasioned Rogues, and we're dead before the second Evasion runs out). With 707 resilience while sitting in defensive stance, running every cooldown available and stopping every hard cast possible, it is not enough.

I promised some spoilers on how to kill Prot Warriors last week, so here you go.

Run Rogue/Caster/Healer and tear us apart. We have no second wind or blood craze, which can shave a good 4-5k off a stun kill combo. We have less resilience. We get raped just as hard without a shield on--Dismantle is amazing. We can't stun, snare or disarm an Evasion/Sprinting Rogue. Combine the two and you will take zero damage. Do it at the end of a stun lock and you now have almost 30 free seconds BEFORE PREP to wail on us; as long as your partner CCs our partner, this will give you enough momentum to win the game.

Run a faceroll melee cleave and tear our healer apart. At least for a Prot/Hunter/healer combo, we are powerless to stop a dedicated melee cleave on our healer. I can safeguard every Bladestorm, disarm every cooldown, maintain demo shout and put out hilarious pressure, but it's never enough when our healer can't pillar kite because Hunter damage stops. Sure, you won't win every game, but even against the best teams ever, you'll still get 1/4 lucky wins just by trashing our healer despite our best efforts to stop you. Don't forget: all you need to do is random Ring of Valor and you can collect your 22 points!

Run a wizard cleave and burst down.. well, anyone. Yeah, this comp is still amazing. Sure, Prot warriors might do triple your damage at the end of the game, but it's not bursty enough that you can't react with cooldowns and prolong your defeat. That's not the case for a wizard cleave, though! All you have to do is Deep Freeze and line up a nuke combo and you can profit! Remember, no one can spell reflect while stunned. Just yesterday I watched my Hunter die ~10 seconds into the game (Ring of Valor, as always) to Shadow Priest/Frost Mage. I TRINKETED THE DEEP FREEZE BUT I WAS DISARMED AND COULDNT DETERRENCE + EVERYONE ELSE WAS CCED BY FREEZE FEAR CYCLONE SHEEP JESUS'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN RAGGHHH.

In fact, most teams have a very strong chance of winning against most Prot Warriors, as my infinite number of copycats who spam my AJ inbox and in-game mailbox and tell windows are evidence of. There are what, 10 high rated Prot Warriors now? 20? A drop in the bucket, and hardly worth the massive walls of text that they've generated.

One final thought for the day. No matter who you are, unless you're a crowd favorite like Pookz or Veex, there will be an army of kids, motivated by everything from jealousy to spite, who will proclaim your rank 1 title to be meaningless. Why is that? Well, every season has some kind of imbalance. Gladiators that exploit that imbalance will take rank one.

And they will be hated for it, until people learn to CALM THE HELL DOWN, ITS JUST A GAME.

Until then, we'll take your abuse with a knowing smile.

2010: The Year of Legendary Game Drops

no.spam@gameriot.com (Gengar) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:40:29 -0500

It's almost New Years and as soon as that ball hits the bottom of its pole one of the greatest years for gaming will begin. Almost every big title that had a planned December release pushed themselves into 2010, which left the holiday a little bland as far as games go. Some of the big games we did have were Dragon Age: Origins, Modern Warfare 2, New Super Mario Bros, L4D2, Halo: ODST, and Uncharted 2, but that is nothing compared to what 2010 holds for us. (Warning: This is a long post due to trailers I had added. I will try to keep discussions short considering this is for information purposes only)

And So The Legend Begins...

We of course must first start with the big hit for most of us, World of Warcraft Cataclysm. There is no official release date, but we do know the expansion will be hitting in 2010. I am putting my money on around June/July, but some are saying as early as March/April. Once Cataclysm hits the game will completely change, though it's yet to be seen if it's for the better. Recently MMO-Champion re-reviewed changes that Cataclysm is bringing in. You might want to read up on it considering they are pretty huge changes.

Here is the Trailer we were introduced to back in August:

Starcraft II:

The long awaited sequel to Starcraft was supposed to hit around this time this year, however, the date was pushed back to the first half of 2010 back in August. If I had to guess I would say around April or May for Starcraft 2. As long as we don't see the game pushed back again to some time in 2011, this game could definitely grab game of the year for 2010.

Mass Effect 2:

This has been a long awaited title for me. I loved the first Mass Effect and have just finished a recent play through once again. Bioware just delivered DA:O to us and you can count on them bringing a bigger and better game this time around. Bioware has really gone all out with ME:2 stating, "The choices in the game really matter this time. For instance, Shepard can die, literally die from some choices you make." This does not mean the game ends however, as they go on to say, "Your other team mates pick up where Shepard left and continue to the story without him." They also have hinted that there will be no such thing as "Oh **** wrong choice" moments as they have made it to where your choices are final, each and every one of them. The best news is you don't have to wait that long! The release date for Mass Effect 2 is US: 01/26/10 and EU: 01/29/10

Bioshock 2:

The original Bioshock was a huge hit when it was released, though it should be noted that it came out during a time of hardly any good games. Nevertheless, Bioshock 2 promises to be just as good as the first game, if not better. This time around we will be playing as a Big Daddy who runs around Rapture helping his little sisters find angels. It looks like this time we will be fighting a very fast and agile Big Daddy who I believe is actually the Big Sister the Little Sisters warn you about as you progress through the game. Release date is US and EU: 02/09/10

Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach brings back the great Master Cheif, but also brings in new Spartan Soliders we have yet to see. If you have read the novels you will most likely already know what happens in the games and the fellow spartans of Master Cheif. The release date for Halo: Reach is Q4 2010 Multiplayer beta is set for Summer 2010 and an invite can be found in any copy of Halo: ODST.

Super Mario Galaxy 2:

A game in which was a huge come back for Mario will have it's sequel coming out in 2010, and it's looking even better than the first. Many were sceptical about MG when it first came out, but after grabing the Wii Remote and playing it for the first time you realized just how great of a game it was, and couldn't stop playing it until the guys at gamestop told you to let the line of people behind you have their turn. Mario Galaxy 2 has an expected US release date of 02/11/10 and shortly after will be released in EU

(Trailer Found Here: Caused Errors In Formatting)

Pokemon Soul Silver and Heart Gold:

Most of you reading will remember the days you played pokemon until your eyes bled, and I would also say most of us started falling off of the pokemon scene around the time Pokemon Gold and Silver came out. I myself broke off after Crystal hit and only recently (within the past year) have got back into the games. I have played the Japanese versions of the game and have to say, they are truely marvelous. They have a new feature that will have your first listed pokemon follow you around outside of its pokeball just like Pikachu did in Pokemon Yellow. Release date for US: 03/14/10 EU: TBA (most likely a week after or less)

Final Fantasy XIII

The 13th edition to a game series that is possibly the most popular IP in gaming known to man. This long awaited title will be using the Active Time Battle System and have seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and in-game cinematics. The game is absolutely gorgeous and could also snag game of the year. This time around Final Fantasy will be on the PS3 as well as the Xbox 360. I know I can't wait to get my hands on this game. The release date for FFXIII will be for US and EU: 03/09/10

God of War III

God of War III starts right where God of War II ended, but honestly who cares about the story it's just so damn fun to play as Kratos that everything else seems like an interference. Ok, so yeah the story is pretty good, but you know what I meant. This will be a PS3 exclusive as always, and will no doubt be a great game to rub in the faces of all your 360 friends. The release date for GoW3 will be for both US and EU: March 2010.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMO set in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game world. This is a highly aticipated game that has receieved great reviews by those who have play tested, but still have sceptics who believe the game will not live up to its expectations and become another Star Wars Galaxies. The game seems quite promising and has many features that other MMOs do not offer. One of these features will be voice actors. The entire game, every quest, every guard, every merchant, every person in the game will have voice acting, which is an amazing feat accomplished by Bioware. It is still yet to be seen just how great this game will be, so for now let us keep our eyes on it and not get our hopes up too high. Release date for both US and EU is expected for sometime in 2010.

Titles Not Mentioned Just Cause TL;DR Will Kick In

Fable 3 - Q4 2010
Star Trek Online - 02/02/10
Super Street Fighter IV - Q2 2010
Global Agenda - 02/01/10
Dead Space 2 - 12/31/10
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - 05/25/10
Splinter Cell: Conviction - 02/23/10
Grand Turismo - Q3 2010
Heavy Rain - 02/16/2010
Dante's Inferno - 02/09/2010

One thing is for sure, this coming year will be one hell of a year for gaming. Start saving every nickel and penny you have and hope to God the economy picks up and you get a raise, because you're going to need it for all these amazing games.

Contests, the Force for Improvement

no.spam@gameriot.com (Erunno) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:26:05 -0500

Today, we'll talk about the mystical power of contests who always have and will bring quite some innovations or excellent pieces of Machinima to the surface. Why are there such ground-breaking things coming up at almost every contest? How come there is less of them now? Also, we will make a quick overview of the WoW Model Viewer X-mas conest!

X-mas Machinima Contest

Ah yes, the X-mas Machinima Contest, held by ZimTower over at wowmodelviewer.org ended yesterday. Even though the participation was not that big (I blame WoW.com. They fail at really supporting the overall WoW community) there has been quite some lovely entries. Here's the list of winners and participants:

1st - Erunno's Christmas Story - by, erm... Me.

Now there's something new, I actually won something with machinima. I should start joining bigger events. If they would allow me to enter (Hey folks, Croatia is next to Slovenia, ya know. And they're not in the EU. Why can't Slovenia join then?!)

2nd - Christmas with the Critters - by Mushanga

A really well made short. Personally, I'd say its visually even better than mine and some visuals are next to gorgeous. The story talks about a target dummy who loved to play with the forests critters until a big bad wolf came.

3rd - Christmas with the Critters - by GrapeSoda

GrapeSoda made quite some progress since I've met him the first time and it warms my heart to see him get so far and still stubbornly following his Machinima dreams. While the visuals weren't perfect, the story did gave me a smile while watching it. The short shows Christmas from a Taurens perspective... in Stormwind. Who cares about logic, its Christmas!

Other Entries:

A Super Awesome Psychodelic Christmas Adventure Special Edition Extravaganza - by Paus and Bonkey

Yeah, Paus (and Bonkey, I guess) is famous for his... lets just say, "****** up ideas" in parts of our machinima community. To be honest, I find Paus' abstract machinima ideas freakin' hilarious and entertaining. Its something completely different than everything else. Really worth a watch even if it makes you go "wtf..?".

Sore Eye Productions: A Cristmas Special - by Sore Eye Productions

While last, its still worth a look. If you're very picky when it comes to visuals, you might skip this, else, go on. The story is kind of interesting, covering a Gnomes journey to find Santa in the mountains of... Dun Morogh, I think?

Yes, I just said, "In the Mountains!"

"Wait, I remember you..."

Contests, Inspiration Boosts

Now, let's take a short journey back, to the past Machinima contests held by Blizzard and other organizers.

Almost every contest gave us something to drool at. Remember Illegal Danish; Super Snacks? Or Billy MacLure and Wish Upon a Paladin? There are even older contest that I honestly cannot remember anymore. But each of the very first contests brought some big innovations that still impact WoW machinima till this day. One of the most impacting ones was the use of WoW Model Viewer and Map Viewer. Without them WoW machinima would still be quite "primitive" in lack of a better term. Then came more professional tools and techniques like heavy post editing (like relying on Vegas or After Effects instead of freaking Windows Movie Maker), face puppeteering, "professional" Voice actors and special music scores.

Contest are the main force that makes machinimators move the border. But why do contests do that? How can they affect us so much? Easy, free lewtz! Whenever someone is promised a desired item if they beat someone else, that person will do its best to get it. Basic human psychics. This means that people will search for new ways to beat the opponent, thus discovering new ways of making appealing or interesting machinima.

But contests are also a chance to show your work in-front of a huge mass of people, interested in the contest or who just accidentally tripped over the contest. And what else does a machinmator desire than an audience enjoying his hard work? Pie perhaps... Mmmmm... Pie...

They go as they Come

But contests come and go. So far the game is new and fresh, contests appear everywhere. Outside companies and web sites taste the fresh player-base and try to attract them to watch or buy their products. So after a while, doing contests for that game start to get "unprofitable" in the eyes of the companies. But theres still Blizzard and the fan sites.

Speaking of Blizzard, I actually have a conspiracy theory. Oh yes.

The power of 5 minute speed photoshoping!

We all know that Blizzard is holding its IPs with sharp, long claws and won't let them go just like that. If ever. So I guess that during the years, Blizzard started to refuse approving contests by other companies, unless the company is huge, has loads of money or is in partnership with Blizzard... Hellooouuuu, Alienware! I've even heard and seen cases where Blizzard didn't approve contests and events that would bring no real money or income to the organizers at all. But that's for some other day perhaps. When I get really pissed off or am about to die.

Back to contests. While machinima is slowly reaching its full potential (where can we go from Hybrid-machinima? Live action-something-machinima?), contests still are important to the community. Some people do machinima only for contests. Did you see the slow downfall of quality machinima recently? The lack of interesting contests surely is related to this in a way.

Maybe the lack of "events" is also related to the abysmal quality that Wrath of the Lich King brought to WoW. Maybe Cataclysm will bring back old and new players, make them stay longer and make Warcraft more attractive for contests and such. Only time will tell.

Big changes: tons of stats being removed and changed in WoW, hunters no longer use mana

no.spam@gameriot.com (gamebynight) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:45:51 -0500

Before I go on, take a minute and have a look at this.

Coming in Cataclysm, Blizzard has plans to remove a relative crap-ton of stats from the game. When I first read this, I was pretty shocked. I mean, there's a lot happening here, without even considering that hunters won't have mana anymore and warlocks won't need soul shards for more than a single ability. Like I said, big changes.

Looking just at the stats though, I don't think it's that bad of an idea.

Take the changes that effect casters. Spell Power is now intellect and MP5 spirit. Honestly, I find this change to be far more intuitive than what's in place now. If we go back in time a ways, we'll find that spell power actually was intellect. If you had a lot of int, you were going to be a better mage. Period. Spirit isn't so cut and dry, but the sentiment remains the same.

As long as the transfer doesn't shortchange casters, this is a welcome change. Even though simplifications usually bother me, in this case, we're still at the level of the classic RPG, so it's all good. It's like, the game was complex because it was an MMO and not an RPG like those before it. Now, it's moving in line with the classics of the genre. To me, this feels more like trimming the fat than any kind of nerf.

The changes to the primary tanking stats, however, are a nerf... to a certain kind of player. When I played a tank in BC WoW (a poor one, admittedly), I did a lot of reading. Warriors especially swim in numbers. There's a lot more balancing and perfecting armor sets than most other roles. Once this change goes in, there will be a lot less of that theorycrafting. The number crunchers won't like this simplification.

Now, being the noob that I am, would like to say that I welcome these changes too with open arms. Not because I want anyone's game nerfed, but because I think all that tweaking and perfecting makes tanking a lot less appealing to new players. Hell, it makes it less appealing to old players too.

Most people don't want to have ten extra things to worry about when, simply put, it can be someone else's problem. Hence, our lack of tanks. These changes remove one of the biggest barriers to the role. It might simplify things but, really, if it was keeping people away from tanking, something probably needed to be done.

One of my guildies commented that the stat changes are another step towards homogenizing the classes. Maybe, but I don't think so.

Since hunters won't be using mana anymore, you don't have to worry about them rolling on caster items. That means that healers and casters will be competing for roles, along with the various tanks. It doesn't sound much different from the current system.

Speaking of the class changes, I don't really mind either of them. Hunters will now be focusing on “focus,” which will work similar to rage. Ammo will also be equipped able which means “set it and forget it.” No more having to buy tons of ammo.

Warlocks will automatically get three soul shards per kill and only have one ability that uses them. I don't see much need for this, since soul shards were easily acquirable and provided an interesting mechanic. Without having to soul drain, however, they won't need to take a DPS hit when they run out and need to replenish.

Overall, these updates will have an impact on how we plan out and gear up our characters. How much, though, we'll have to wait and see. I, personally, don't mind a bit. Players coming n will be able to connect spell damage with intellect, and if that's not intuitive, well... blame Gary Gygax.

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Never Lose Faith In RMP, The Decline of Wizard Cleave, A Controlz Christmas, and the End of Season Slump

no.spam@gameriot.com (itsperplex) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:34:27 -0500

Never Lose Faith in RMP

A while back my first RMP fell apart due to a huge point tank to wizard cleaves. I switched over to Druid/Mage/Lock, a comp I wrote about in a previous blog, and ended up having a good amount of success. After about of week playing though, the Warlock on the team went inactive. I put up an advertisement on Arenajunkies and was contacted later that day by a priest and rogue looking for a mage. Not long after, they transferred to Rivendare and we started playing.

While I had once doubted RMP’s dominance due to chain-queing into Wizard Cleaves, my faith in the comp was quickly renewed after playing with my new teammates. We rode a 75 percent win ratio all the way to 2400 mmr, and plan to push our ratings higher this week. RMP can be a very tricky comp to play properly, and unfortunately, like most Wotlk setups, it has become more of a “bursty” setup. It needs to be played much more offensively than it did in TBC if you want to succeed. Here’s some strategies for those of you struggling to break those first 2 pages that seem to be plagued by cheesy comps.

Useful Tips for Beating Cheesy Comps

-BM Hunters are extremely easy to kill after Bestial Wrath is down. Most comps with a BM hunter will focus the mage. Ice block the duration of Bestial Wrath, thus allowing your rogue to save his dismantle. When BW is over, have your priest fear the hunter and go for a sheep on the opposing teams healer. Your rogue should vanish onto a feared hunter as you (mage) are casting a frostbolt. The hunter will generally trinket somewhere in the cheap/kidney, it’s important to dismantle him immediately – this prevents him from deterrencing, and allows you to finish him off easily.

-A Warrior under pressure has two options, die or play defensively. When you force a warrior to go sword and board, his damage output is severely lowered. He loses a lot of offensive power by going into defensive stance, and this often prevents him from getting a kill.

-The majority of a Resto Druids healing power comes from his HoT application. Blanket silencing a druid after a fear is usually much more effective than saving it for when he hardcasts. Bouncing between targets based on who is and who isn’t HoTed will also oom a Druid extremely fast. Take advantage of this when fighting druid outlast comps (druid/affliction lock/caster). Druids are also often forced into taking a somewhat offensive role when going for kills (landing cyclones, bashes, etc.). If you see a druid casting cyclone on your focus, call a switch to him and CS his cyclone. You now have a druid in caster form locked out of his healing tree. This makes for a very easy kill.

-Having Bloodlust or Heroism up on yourself makes CC’ing and dealing damage much easier, and helps you take control of a game. Pets have no trash buffs, so when you see a shaman pop bloodlust, instantly target any pets the opposing teams have and spellsteal bloodlust (this is often the only buff they’ll have).

The Decline of Wizard Cleave

While the recent nerfs to Destruction Warlocks and the Elemental 4piece Tier 9 set bonus were reasonably small, they seem to have seriously reduced the number of wizard cleave comps queing every night. These double caster variants were the main reason for my frustration in playing RMP, and since they have become less common, RMP has room to shine once again. While the first 2 pages of my battlegroup are still riddled with comps such as Prot Warrior/Marks Hunter/Resto Druid, Ret Paladin/ BM Hunter/ Resto Shaman, and Ret/ Mage/ Resto shaman, I feel that achieving Gladiator as RMP will no longer be as frustrating as it once was with all the wizard cleaves.

I don’t fully understand why people seem to have abandoned wizard cleave, none of its crowd control DRs were changed, and when I played the comp, we killed people with plenty of time left on our CC’s. A slight “burst” reduction on conflag and lava burst shouldn’t have too large an effect, but often times, just the way of thinking “my comp has been nerfed” is enough to make someone not want to play it anymore.

A Gamer’s Christmas

For christmas this year, I got Left4Dead2, A Seinheiser pc350 Headset, and a nice desk to replace my old one. I'm really excited to try out the headset as I currently just use a desk mic and my speakers.

I'm also an avid Xbox Live player, PM me your gamertag and we'll play sometime

What did you guys get for Christmas? Any good gaming loot? Let me know in the comments

The End of Season Slump

Right now, season 7 is at a point where it isn’t quite time for the gladiator push, but people have stopped queing actively. A lot of players (including myself) have started some casual PvE. For those of you who haven’t already, be sure to get yourself into some 10 man Icc Reputation farming groups. For just a couple hours of farming every night, you can land yourself an ilvl 277 ring . This ring comes complete with a socket and a very nice chance on hit proc. There is a well itemized ring for every class/spec except warriors, but hey, warriors are pretty well off with an easily attainable armor pen trinket like this one.

Sorry for the shorter than usual blog, I was at my families and it was pretty hectic so I didn’t have much time to write. I hope everyone had a good time during the holidays.

~Controlz

Myths, Stereotypes, and Perception of the Elusive Girl Gamer; It's Not Easy Being a Hot Girl

no.spam@gameriot.com (Garakskull) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:46:18 -0500

Myths, Stereotypes, and Perception of the Elusive Girl Gamer

The Stereotypes

Every female gamer could be slotted into a “girl gamer” stereotype from time to time. I know that I have been guilty of perpetuating both, “I’m a chick but I’ll kick your ass,” and the, “sexy female who loves games as much as any guy,” stereotypes during my WOW career. I have even played with portraying some of the stereotypes while I’ve been writing for WOM, who remembers the cosplay article? Just the promise of boobs gets attention.

Ladies, it isn’t all about us

The same can be attributed to male players. While the stereotypes of female players are fun, I got a lot more enjoyment reading this male stereotype list. I have known guys that I could slot into each of these categories. Perhaps my favorite was the Smart Ass Gutter Punk, of which I could slot quite a few people I've known over the years.

A Gender Role Study to End All Gender Role Studies

There was a study released recently by Dmitri Williams (not to be confused with Demetri Martin) that caught my attention. The subjects of the study were male and female gamers who played Everquest II. While EQ II is no WOW, the fact that a large-scale study was done on MMO players is interesting, particularly because of the results.

The basics of the study were that a large group of players were voluntarily subjected to a questionnaire and then observed over a period of one year to determine game play habits. The ratio of the males to females was approximately 80% male and 20% female. There were many interesting aspects of the study, but the ones I will talk about are regarding the differences in male and female players.

According to the authors of the study, the “hardcore” female players actually played more than their male counterparts and underestimated how much they played more than males. The females also reported themselves as having better exercise habits and better health. Both males and females both reported the same satisfaction regarding their playtime in EQ II. One other thing that was interesting was the findings regarding sexual preferences. According to Williams, “Females were also much more likely to be bisexual, at a rate several times that of the national average.”

It was no surprise when I read the motivating factors related to gender roles and game play. Unsurprisingly, males are motivated by achievement and females are motivated by social reasons, among other things. It is also not surprising that females often play with their male partners.

So what does this all mean?

Besides the revelation that females spend more time playing MMOs than males, the truth is that if you’ve played WOW for a while, you would have noticed similar trends. I haven’t known many aggressive female players, in fact, the few that I have personally known (who got anywhere in PVP/arena) all happened to be healers. Most played priests, paladins, and druids with few exceptions. I have yet to personally meet another female shaman (let alone one who plays a male orc), although I’m sure they exist, somewhere. The only females that I know who play traditional DPS classes all stick to PVE or just do arena for points each week.

Also, most of the women I do know who play WOW wind up being tied socially to the game. I have been guilty of finding myself telling people about friends that I’ve made on WOW even now. The truth is, some of the people I’ve met through the WOW community have become a part of my daily life. One person, in particular, was a great romance for me. I will assure you, it was the stuff of server scandal and legend. Perhaps the most lasting social thing for me was the role of advice giver. I have spent so many hours lounging about in WOW talking to guys about women, sex, relationships, and family problems. I have heard it all, too.

It’s Hard Being a Hot Girl

Honestly, when it comes to being a female and playing games, it’s really no different than a male playing games. Sure, you can use your sexual appeal to your advantage in a MMO from time to time, but that’s life. Men and women do that on a daily basis in all aspects of life. I never give much thought to sexual appeal when I’m playing in BG’s or arena. The only time it really comes up is in vent, or the first time a player realizes I am a girl (unless I force the issue).

In fact, for the whole of vanilla and half of TBC, I never let on that I was a female. I wasn’t trying to dupe anyone, I just never thought about it. I even rerolled a male toon because for the whole five minutes my friends played Alliance, I had a NE female (a druid, cliché as it was). After being asked about four hundred times, “are you a chick IRL?” I convinced my friends we should play as Horde and I rolled my shaman. Sure, some people eventually figured out I was female, mostly guild mates, but it only came out for real when I started doing competitive arena and was forced to use vent on a regular basis. After that, I ran in a close-knit PVP circle and everyone knew. I actually found it to be a huge disadvantage from time to time because people assumed one of two things: First, I was letting my boyfriend play my arena matches, or second, that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with “good” players because I was a female.

After a while, I found that it was more fun to play the “girl” in vent and that it could get me places. I eventually met, quite randomly, one of the best warlocks in my BG. From day one, we had a blast playing together. It turned out that we were both huge teases and there’s a certain tree in AV that should have our initials carved on it. (But that’s a story for another day…) That was during the peak of my fun with WOW, and honestly, the dynamics of flirting before arena matches probably enhanced the game more than it should have.

My Future Here at WOM

The truth is that I have no illusions as to why I am writing for WOM. I have never claimed that I was anything close to a professional level arena player, or that I’m comparable to the unrealistically hot females that most men imagine in their lap (NSFW example) as they fap away into oblivion. What I am here to do is talk about the game and related topics from a casual perspective. This means that my blogs are going to be varied and will stray from the typical WOM “this combo is…” and “this class/spec is…” content.

I will leave you all this week with wishes for a great New Year’s Eve and luck with your New Year’s resolutions. I hope that for some, it is to play less, enjoy life more, and get out of the house; for others, keep on with the grind. Last, but not least, here’s hoping for Starcraft 2 beta keys!

Top Three Movies of 2009!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Rokman) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:04:59 -0500

How to fix in-game events

no.spam@gameriot.com (gamebynight) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:02:34 -0500

Or, “Why in-game events don’t do it for me.” Enjoy!

I’m not one of these guys that rails against in-game events. But, really, they don’t do much for me. Granted, I’ll usually poke my nose around and see what’s going on, but after a quest or two, and sometimes less, I’m out. Usually, I don’t bother looking back again.

This whole topic comes to the forefront of my mind now more than ever, as our games are inundated with their “Not Christmas” Christmas events. WoW has the Feast of Winter’s Veil, LotRO the Yule Festival, and Fallen Earth is celebrating its first First Night. Each of these option gives players some quests, a couple of activities, and maybe some little extra to send them on their way. Plus, the events mean new (or slightly less seen) content, and we all love that.

So what’s the matter? My issue, and I’d bet a lot of other players who feel the same, stems from these three suggestions I have for MMO companies wanting to incorporate a live event into their game.

Be Bite Sized

This is huge. When I’m logging in, I usually have a goal. That’s the nature of the beast. I don’t want to have to set my goals to the side for a day, or even an hour, to ride a horse, find a cookie, or trick-or-treat. There are exceptions, but a good rule of thumb is to give me options to experience pieces of your event and get a good feel for it in an in-and-out fashion.

Don’t make the festival compete with my main goal. It won’t win. Make it something I can do in my downtime, or before I head out, and I’m a lot more likely to take part in the fun.

Be Unique

Another biggie. The event has to offer something that I can’t find in my normal questing/dungeon running routine. Maybe it’s a unique activity with a new mechanic. Maybe it’s some big (or at least actively progressing) story event. If I can see the same thing elsewhere, I need a reward, quick and easy, otherwise, where’s the draw?

On that same token, adding new things each year is always good. If it’s fun enough for me to want to join in the first time, I’ll probably be there again the next year. But, if there’s something new and exciting on top of what I enjoy, I’ll for sure be there the next year.

Be Rewarding, Without Being Demanding

This ties in with my first suggestion. Don’t make your event compete with the main game. The bulk of an MMO is made to give the player a rewarding experience. To win out against the actual game, the event has to give a unique reward, while also requiring less from the player.

Sound backwards? It is, if we’re talking about the normal MMO. Here’s how I see it, these events are like clouds: light, fluffy, and gone before you know it. Players like getting rewards, so give them to them without making players jump through a bunch of hoops. That’s what the main game is for. If players want to do more, make sure they’re getting something extra without making the average joe feel shortchanged.

Take WoW’s Winter Veil, for example. This is by far my favorite in-game holiday because, on Christmas Day, I know I’ll be logging in to a couple of lighthearted presents, and probably a fun vanity pet. I like that. It makes the event optional, while still including everyone. Likewise, the people who want to do more get better rewards for it. That’s the way to endear the majority of players to an event.

—

The main reason why most of they don’t hit home with me is because they ask too much. The unique-fun-reward factor has to be dialed up to get the community stirring, so I know it’s worth my time to even travel out there. Once I’m there, I need a quick hook to get me in, and quick fun to keep me going. Delivery quests aren’t it unless there’s an immediate rainbow at the end of the tunnel (Rainbow? Light? Weasel?). And that rainbow needs to be bright. No +2% chance to parry cookies please.

Overall, I love that so many games put on these little events. They’re all just “extra” and anytime a company does that, I see them going above and beyond what they really need to do. That’s awesome and, a lot of times, I think I can see a little bit of the developer’s love for the game shine through. You can tell they have fun putting these things together and that feeling makes it all the better.

Whether or not I take part in all of them, I hope developers keep cranking these events out for years to come. They’re worth the time and certainly worth the smiles.

Until next time!

Visit Game by Night

Christmas Gamer of the Week

no.spam@gameriot.com (The Extremist) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:40:21 -0500

Just a quick mindless post on "Boxing Day", 2009. Saw this on Mashable today and just had to share it.

If you need an introduction to this memelet, check out the video below first, also courtesy of YouTube and Mashable:

And finally...

Battle.net 2.0 Review

no.spam@gameriot.com (famsyy) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:16:21 -0500

An excerpt from the article as well as an excerpt from the the suggestions can be found below along with a link to the full piece.

Battle.net 2.0, Blizzards latest brainchild is to be launched with the release of Starcraft II, one of the most anticipated games of all time. At this years’ Blizzcon Blizzard finally announced a few details about the new Battle.net and what to expect. Seeing as how Blizzard has the reputation of not releasing anything until they feel it is perfect, it was odd seeing what direction they were going to take the new Battle.net. Blizzard stated from the get-go that Starcraft II was designed with E-Sports in mind; however looking at the features and plans they announced at this past Blizzcon, was a little underwhelming.

With current trends leading towards social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube, it was not surprising to see Blizzard staging an attempt at cashing in on the combined success of their hit video games and the recent phenomenon that is social networking. Blizzard even goes so far as to say,

“The new Battle.net experience is a full-featured online game service designed specifically around Blizzard Entertainment titles, and will include a complete set of around-the-game features including a state-of-the-art matchmaking system, achievement system, social networking features, structured competitive play options, a marketplace, and much more. Our vision is to create an environment where gamers can compete online, develop an online persona, and stay connected to friends and the rest of the community while enjoying our games. (Activision/Blizzard, 2009)

Suggestions:

It would be good to see Automated Tournaments such as the tournaments they currently run but with actual prizes and incentives to participate. For instance, currently Blizzard uses Intel and NewEgg as sponsors of their online tournaments, but they never give out prizes, etc. If there were bi-weekly or even monthly prizes available to be won, then that would help spark more amateur levels in the E-Sports scene.

On top of the smaller regular Automated Tournaments Blizzard could run larger Automated Tournaments at the end of a selected period that incorporate the winners of previous tournaments, offering larger prizes, etc.

Blizzard should incorporate the ‘competitive’ maps into the competitive ladders that Blizzard has promised, such as the Pro and Platinum ladders.

Blizzard should regularly maintain and update map lists to give a variety to regular players and competitive players alike.

Make sure you check out the full article along with the suggestions HERE.

BG9 Slows Down - Everyone Slaying Dragons?, MLG Orlando Allstar Tournament,

no.spam@gameriot.com (FHazael) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 01:27:32 -0500

As Zilea wrote about recently, there has been a pretty big lull in BG9 PvP lately... as tons of people have been busy. Whether it was finals, time with friends, or various Christmas / Holiday activities it seems like a lot of the best players have been very inactive lately. Traditionally PvPers would simply find new teammates to play 3v3 with, mess around in smaller brackets or simply play another game during times like these but it seems with the latest patch there's an altogether different solution for passing the time.

Ever since the most recent patch which added cross server heroics it seems like everyone has been spending their spare time slaying dragons. Just within my little team for MLG Orlando it seems pretty much everyone has been spending their spare time doing just that, as I really haven't been around to practice at all lately. Pookz is raiding on two mages, Kollektiv is still actively raiding with Deus Vox, Realz is raiding, Tenderloin is doing it on his Paladin, and I've been doing tons of random heroics on my Warrior. With the random heroic queue if you enter as a Tank you literally always get an instant group, and are able to get plenty of great gear from the badges as well as a legitimately fun way to PvE and pass the time. All the work is taken out of finding groups for heroics and it really seems to have rekindled interest for PvE in general as anyone can (with some time and effort) get gear good enough to do the new raids in relatively short order.

With one fell swoop heroics went from being completely obsolete to being something that practically everyone is doing. I've never seen anywhere near the amount of pug runs from everything to Naxx to Icecrown, and it really does make it easy to find something to do in order to pass some time and have a bit of fun. Traditionally to practice for a tournament and do 3v3 you have to play in the evenings, and likely quite late at night if you're East Coast as I am since the majority of players are West Coast. It makes any time you feel like playing during the mornings or afternoon feel pretty useless as there's little to no chance of finding a legitimate team to queue / practice against. Now regardless of when you login you're able to quickly find a group and feel like you're accomplishing something right away. It's instant PvE gratification and although I'm sure tons of people hate how easy it makes it for casual players to gear up, I have to say I love it and definitely think it's an amazing addition to the game.

The other huge reason for PvPers doing so much PvE is obviously the Ashen Verdict reputation rings which anyone can rep farm with relative ease. I haven't begun to do so yet, but I will likely feel close to obligated as it seems so many people are doing it and the rings (which you can see HERE) are completely out of this world with amazing stats and procs that simply put them over the top. I really think that Blizzard had done a great job of minimizing the need for PvE gear in arena recently as you saw more and more top players using exclusively PvP gear. Obviously there are tons of exceptions to the rule as even now there are certain classes, specs or individuals who still abuse all that PvE gear has to offer. I still just don't find myself noticing it nearly as much as I used to though which really is great because they have such high item level PvP gear which really closed the gap between players with access to everything PvE, and players who were using exclusively PvP stuff. Sadly I think that with Icecrown it's back to the ways of old, because although I'm sure the new seasons gear will have stellar item levels and be on par in that category I just don't see it stacking up when compared with some of the ridiculous procs available on Icecrown gear.

The ring is the first in a list of many things that will be a big advantage in arena for any player to obtain. Trinkets always have been, and always will be at the top of that list as there as things like Solace of the Defeated simply dont' have anything that comes close to being a PvP equivilant and can really be game changers. That said, the need for PvE weapons in general has been greatly diminished since season five as the item levels on t2 weapons were raised in s6 to equal that of the best PvE equivilants. However with the new Icecrown raids, some of the procs available on weapons are absolutely ridiculous and will once again give players what can sometimes be a disgusting advantage in arena.

Case in point - the heroic version of Bryntroll, the Bone Arbiter, a weapon which will likely be the same dps as next seasons t2 PvP 2h weapon should in an ideal world be its equal in most ways (although it's fair to expect the added benefit of some offensive stats since you have no resilience on it). It however has a life steal proc for ~2500 damage with no internal cooldown which is shadow damage so obviously has added benefit against high armor targets for a melee class and which heals you. Imagine that fun that will be had when a Warrior Bladestorms you and gets a few procs from that weapon during the Bladestorm - it can turn something which is already very difficult to survive into something which is altogether impossible to. I also wouldn't be surprised to see even the healing from the weapon making a big difference especially against a team like shadowcleave who has no real healing debuff. It's hardly the only weapon like this though as there is a dagger which gives you increased energy regen (imagine a rogue with those of these proccing constantly in PvP), a healing mace which gives a Wild Growth type HoT from a proc, as well as other things of this sort.

When Shadowmourne's stats were public there was definitely a huge portion of players who were worried about the strength of its proc in PvP so Blizzard responded by taking that proc out of arena. Would they consider doing the same with the legendary healer mace and these other Icecrown weapons? It might be a great step in the right direction that the Blizzard balance team could take to further close the gap between PvE and PvP exclusive players, but it's hard to know if they will choose to take that path or not just yet. We'll likely have to wait and see next season if anything is changed or if PvPers are to be sucked back into raiding full time in order to not be at a disadvantage gear wise in arena.

As Pookz mentioned in his most recent blog there is to be an All Star tournament at MLG Orlando... where they have captains who choose their teams and have mixed rosters for the event. Players will battle it out with their pick up teams for $1000 which should be entertaining for viewers as well as a great way for players to warm up the day before the tournament. I'm definitely excited for it, although my hopes aren't all that high as far as winning it simply because since I will likely be stuck playing with a Priest. Priest / Warlock teams can be alright but they really haven't been popular since season 1 / 2 simply because they have no poison cleanse and a Warlock requires so much healing / support. The Priest often is unable to play the offensive role for which they've become known for doing in RMP when paired with a Warlock, and as far as pure healing output a Priest really doesn't compare with the other healers for playing with a Warlock.

There's no Deathknights at the tournament so Shadowcleave isn't really an option, so I'll likely end up running some sort of Wizardcleave or Priest / Lock / Rogue or Hunter. I think that Paladin / Warlock / Hunter seems pretty strong, but I'm unsure if Priest would have the same strength for the reasons listed above and we couldn't do Pally / Hunter as Toez / Twix are on the same team and cannot play together. Anyway, it's not all that important as it should be a blast regardless, but it would still be nice to get on a team which has a chance at at winning, as that definitely makes things a lot more fun. I definitely see RMP as having a strong chance of winning it as you could mix and match some pretty strong RMP teams with the players available, and everyone who could play the setup has experience with it including Toez, Pookz and Realz (who aren't running it for the real tournament).

On an unrelated note I hope everyone is having some great holidays... I have thoroughly enjoyed mine as it's always great having all your old friends in town as well as spending time with family. My holidays are always pretty jam packed with all kinds of family / friend events so it's a nice change from the norm. There was nothing I really wanted for Christmas, but I got some nice clothes and random things anyway so I was pretty pleased as far as that went and the gifts I gave were all well received which is satisfying. I hope all WoM readers had an equally enjoyable Christmas, and will have a safe / happy New Years as well! If you have any fun stories or got any insane presents this year be sure to drop a comment about it.

Until next week...

What gaming-loot did you get for Christmas?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:05:34 -0500

Image via pocket-lint

Christmas day is officially over so it is time to cover the spoils. I used to love all the gaming crap I would get on Christmas days from the Atari 2600, the NES, a Genesis, Nintendo 64 to the Playstation 1. I can remember them all vividly. It was sometime before the Playstation 2 that I started buying my own gaming related goods and Christmas became less about "what I got" and more about what I was getting everyone else.

But that doesn't mean I forgot those awesome mornings of waking up to a new console under the tree, or out on the front porch as a massive "surprise" that Santa left on his way out. I am kind of spoiled now on the gaming front thanks to work so I generally don't get many for Christmas anymore. The last one I landed was Mario Galaxy from my pops two years ago. I did get a gift card that I could use for a game but to be honest I have too many to play right now as it is.

While I may not be rocking any new games today I figure I can live vicariously through you folks here on Gameriot so let me hear it; what games, systems and accessories did you get for Christmas?

And if you want to mention your other goodies feel free.

Merry Christmas from L4D2's Midnight Riders

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:47:37 -0500

I am about to crash out after a night of wrapping gifts and and crushing helpless enemies with my Soldier's Direct Hit but I figured I would pass a little bit more Christmas cheer your way courtesy of Valve, Left 4 Dead 2 and the Midnight Riders, rock on!

Hopefully you all get some nice games, hookers and pajamas with images of hookers and games on them. I don't think my one Christmas wish will happen but hopefully the rest of you are in luck.

Later Gameriot

Oh and here is one more present courtesy of Egotastic, I can't leave you guys hanging:

Merry Christmas from Eurospective!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lyuze) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:16:21 -0500

Merry Christmas from Eurospective.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas day and you get everything you want.

P.S. Shader has specifically requested to not be a part of this blog as he hates Christmas, even as we speak he's trying to Shadowstep it away (good luck).

Eviscerate X: An Early Christmas Gift To Rogue Community, Happy Holiday To All WOM Readers!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ming) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:39:21 -0500

9 movies, the longest rogue PVP movie series to date, it is clear the latest Eviscerate X will end up becoming Akrios's greatest work, as he poured everything he has into this labor of love. The man went all out here with 1.5 GB, 45 minute's worth of footages collected from season 5 to season 7, and he threw every type of PVP footage you can possibly ask for in there with one glaring exception, no arena footages!

I can watch the Button Basher vs Checksix series at Anaheim over and over again if someone can pass me a high quality video link, but 99% of the arena footages in PVP videos are trash because the author doesn't know how to pick good footages and let's face it, it is hard to find an arena team as pretty as Button Bashers in all of WOW (and even harder to find a better "villain" than Checksix's beast cleave).

Back on topic, Akrios did a great job mixing up the locations. From Ironforge/Stormwind ganks to world PVP in WOTLK farming areas to BGs, he did every location in small doses and mixed them up with great duels against four furious gladiators in addition to half a dozen rank 1's from previous seasons. Even Unmercey made a guest appearance here (although he looks mortal when he is not the one doing the editing) and Akrios gave him a much better treatment than say, a typical Neilyo movie. Akrios showed plenty of losses and handpicked the closest duels where win or lose, the man standing will be at 5% or lower. I also didn't notice any glaring mistakes in the fights, making his duels quite a bit more authentic to watch than Curse 3.

The Gforce 4 style, cinematic intros for his opponents are absolutely fantastic and he did duels at all sort of exotic locations. Between Unmercey 7, Gforce 4, Curse 3 and Eviscerate 10, it is clear you can't just throw together a week's worth of footages together anymore. New authors really have to put in a ton of effort to make a strong impression, and the amount of editing that went into those mega releases set the barrier extremely high. You either have to be a pro with Sony Vegas or you have to find someone who can do this for you.

Unfortunately the video is way too long (what is up with the fetish for rogue vs rogue duels?) and it doesn't help the entire sound track seems to be a Metallica album. 3.3 is also out and some of the fights feel outdated. I still believe Akrios needs to put together a serious team with the talent pool he has access to in BG9. Looking at the amount of work he put into this video, the sharingan still sees fire in him. Fire of passion and desire to be considered an elite rogue with the likes of Reckful-kun. His first attempt with Furious Gladiator Euneek went ok but the rogue/ret/priest comp is just too limiting. Deadly/envenom should open up the rogue class to more options and hopefully he will rebuild his career.

Happy Holiday To All WOM Readers!

Well it has been an uphill battle all year against the recession, hopefully 2010 will be better! I wonder what everyone got for Christmas and I will share mine. Thanks to Chinese tradition we received a lot of red envelopes for the birth of our daughter from both families. I will be the only income for a while (and thankfully with my day job getting better, WOM is kind of like the 1.4 dagger in a 44/2/25 deadly/envenom spec now, before it was more like the 1.8 offhand in 41/5/25) until Estel feels our daughter is old enough for nanny/day care's. We also plan to upgrade our coop apartment into a bigger place in a nicer school district in a couple of years.

As a result we tried to take advantage of all the discount stores around us:

Ming: Hugo Boss suit From American Place ($200)
Estel: Linden Street Curtain/Drape Set From JCPenney ($90)
Our Daughter: Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo from Amazon ($75)
Estel's Mother: DKNY Leather Hand Bag From Century 21 ($95)
Estel's Father: Philips Norelco 8240XL From Costco ($75)
Ming's Mother: Citrine earring from JCPenney ($90)
Ming's Father: Yankee baseball hat + PC memory upgrade ($30)

Hope every reader of WOM got something nice for Christmas! If you didn't here is a Christmas card from Ming & Estel, happy holidays!

Estel did all the photo editing/retouching, if you are interested in her service please visit her web site at: http://www.heleneworkshop.com/

Merry Christmas!

no.spam@gameriot.com (FHazael) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:33:38 -0500

Merry Christmas from World of Ming!

Since there is literally nothing to write about in the World of Warcraft, and it's Christmas Eve you get this fantastic Christmas tree in place of a blog.

Happy Holidays!

Love, Azael
xoxo

No Point: Stretching Time

no.spam@gameriot.com (BaronSoosdon) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:00:23 -0500

No Point: Stretching Time was originally released late february of this year.

I tried a couple of times to upload it here into Myndflame, but unsuccessful upload is unsuccessfull. However, I shot my own principles in the face and released this.. thing full of nonsense to Youtube in separate parts.

I do recommend that you watch the movie in one go and from your screen. Should you accept this mission, all you need to do is to go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/nopointmovie and choose your path!

Anyways, merry christmas everyone!

The Midnight Riders' Latest Hit Single

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:47:18 -0500

Valve's Midnight Riders have released a new hit single for this festive season entitled "All I Want For Christmas (is to kick your ass)". Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Bioware Reveals How Mass Effect 2 Handles Save Game Imports

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:39:25 -0500

A question that has been asked of Bioware time and time again is how Mass Effect 2 plans to handle the importing of old save games from the original Mass Effect playthroughs.

Though Bioware has remained silent on the issue for quite awhile – raising no small amount of doubt as to whether the feature would even be implemented – the silence was shattered today as Chris Priestly, the company’s community coordinator, wrote a detailed post about how the system would work in full.

Priestly also revealed that Mass Effect 3, the final episode of the Mass Effect trilogy, would also incorporate consequences from the previous games.

Save Game Import

Upon starting a new game from the main menu, players can import a character save from Mass Effect 1
The Player chooses which character to bring in. Bringing in more than one character is possible, this will create a second or additional profile(s), just like in Mass Effect 1.
For Xbox 360 players need to be signed into your profile that you used to play through Mass Effect 1.
On PC players will select the .MassEffectSave files to import.
The profile and save data must be present on the hard drive and not an MU.

* There is a limit of 11 end-of-game saves that can be imported into ME2. This means that if the player was to complete ME1 12 times, regardless of the number of unique playthroughs used, the 12th save will not be available for import, but saves 1 through 11 will be available.

At this point we have revealed that the save game import system will carryover all your decisions and plot decisions from ME1 into ME2. Did you save the Council? Who survived Virmire? And how did you handle your most ardent fan? We don’t want to list everything out and spoil the surprises we have in store for you, but rest assured you will be pleased when you see just how much carries over into Mass Effect 2.

Up until now we have only discussed the plot impacts of this feature, however, there are also certain gameplay perks as well. If you finished ME1 as a high level character you will receive greater bonuses than those who finished at lower levels. Ex, if you finished ME1 as a level 35 character, you will receive a bonus, but if you finished ME1 as a level 50 character, your bonus will be larger. That being said these bonuses will not put new playthrough characters at a severe disadvantage. For example, some of these bonuses include a monetary boost at the start of the game, or additional research resources for use at the Normandy’s Tech Lab. Another perk is if you finished the game as a Paragon or Renegade, part of your alignment will carry over making it easier to access certain dialogue options.

Finally, some technical information regarding the feature as well. If players start a New Game + after beating the game they will be able to re-use the same character import file they did for their first playthrough. Yes New Game + is making a return to Mass Effect 2! Additionally as mentioned above, make sure you are playing on your Xbox 360 profile that you completed ME1 on and that the profile and save data is present on the Hard Drive and not a MU. If you want to do a quick check and make sure you are good to go, load up Mass Effect 1 and see if the New Game + option appears. That will let you know your save game is ready for Mass Effect 2.

We are definitely excited to share this brand new feature with everyone, and remember what you do in Mass Effect 2, will have consequences in Mass Effect 3!

Source: Mass Effect Forums

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

no.spam@gameriot.com (GreenSLi) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:33:22 -0500

Just want to wish on behalf of RTW a Merry christmas and a happy new year to all of you guys!

Erunno's Thoughts; Christmas Eve Edition

no.spam@gameriot.com (Erunno) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:38:51 -0500

Click the picture to enlarge

I know you all just want to get your presents today, so I'll be short. Since I don't have anything smart to say about machinima and its relation to Christmas (expect the holiday inspired films) I'll just say the generic "Make luv" stuff.

Yeah, I'm blogging on the 24th. I'm horrible. Thought for the past three hours or so I've been having an epic fight with the Christmas decoration. First, the Christmas tree almost fell on me due to a weak table (why we insist on putting a tree on a table, I don't know...), then I got caught up in Christmas lights, twice (outdoor and tree lights) and ended the battle with re-wiring the whole living room... so much wires... Seems like a server farm blew up in there.

Where was I? Oh right, Christmas.

If you're still reading this, then its time to turn your damn PC off. Its Christmas Eve! Decorate the Christmas tree, grab a table-top game or, if you're one of those techy families, insert a Wii party game or Rock out in Rock Band with your family. Basically, ignore your gaming/machinima personality for an evening and go be with your loved ones.

So, Merry Christmas and have some great holidays! Now if you'd excuse me, I have to kick my brothers behind in Knights of Cydonia on expert.

Oh yeah, almost forgot... The picture up there. I might redo an ancient comedy machinima series of mine which was made only for the Slovenian audience long ago, called Mug of Ale.

PS: Don't forget about the cookies and milk for that fat guy in red... Comercial Claus or... something. Santa Claus, that's him!

Slapnuts' Top Five: Game of the Year Edition

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:52:53 -0500

Last call is here for the gang of 2009 games and it is time to recognize the very finest gaming had to offer this year. This week's edition of "Slapnuts' Top Five" focuses the games of the year. My choices of course and not necessarily yours, hey, you can't all be right. I played a ton of games this year, quite possibly more than I had any year in the past. There were a couple big titles I still need to spend some time with but I feel I can call these the best games of the year with few qualms.

I listed some of my thoughts on such a lofty "title" a couple of weeks back. I've gone back and played everything in my library that I felt could be a worthy contender and feel I have some fresh outlooks on my favorites of this year. The top two were my biggest struggle as I felt the other three fell in to place quite well. One and two are definitely leaders of the pack this year if you ask me. The only negative about this list as that four of the top five came out within almost a month of each other. If only some of these titles could have been spread out among the rather otherwise dull year.

There are a lot of sequels and follow-ups this year with very few original ideas. That isn't necessarily a bad thing with as good as these games but just something to keep in mind. With their success we could see less and less risk taking with new properties.

Without further delay it is on with the list.

5. Super Mario Bros. Wii

I realize a lot of you haven't played this considering the Wii-hate of our widely PC-loving audience but let me assure if you own a Wii this is a must buy. Without a doubt this is the best game on the Wii all year. I wrote my "ode to Mario" and this game even before having a chance to play it. The game lived up to all my expectations even if its "more and better" theme was a common occurrence among this year's best games. The Mario-love may stem from some nostalgia but this game certainly stands on its own right as one of the classics.

On the technical level the game really delivered. SMB Wii offered, for the first time, four-player-at-once multiplayer and it is a complete riot. Add a touch of modern physics, four friends and the insanity that is tons of new Mario levels and you get the most fun I have had on the Wii yet. New toys like the Penguin Suit, the Ice Flower and the Propeller Suit offer new spins on old classic concepts. Give this game a chance and you just might have renewed faith in Nintendo.

4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

In my review I noted that Modern Warfare 2 wasn't perfect but after a month plus of playing it I am still having a damn good time. Amid all the hype and beyond all the controversy lies a great game that still offers new experiences daily. This game isn't going to dethrone TF2 as my favorite FPS any time soon but at the moment it is my current flavor of choice.

The single-player may not rival Half-Life when it comes to storytelling but it does offer the over-the-top action of your typical summer blockbuster; think Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay; maximum action in overdrive. The game wouldn't win any awards based on this alone but it does offer a great multiplayer. This aspect wasn't without its flaws but Infinity Ward has done a great job on the patch front making constant improvements. I may be annoyed playing this with analog sticks but this is only a testament to how much fun I have had weathering the storm without my trusty G9. As long as IW continues with the fixes and the talked about map packs roll in I suspect this continue to find a dusty home on my shelf.

3. Left 4 Dead 2

The zombies returned for another dose of mayhem during our trek across a mass-infected southern U.S.A. This time around Valve delivered a sequel worth in both name and value. I haven't spent as much time with this game as I would have liked thanks to many of the other games on this list but I still love it.

The melee weapons aren't necessarily my strategy of preference but there is no doubt about the satisfaction that comes from chopping off zombie heads or running a chainsaw through undead abdomen. I think my favorite aspect of the sequel that really steps up the game this time around is the added depth to multiplayer. The new special infected are real game-changers and add balance to modes that lacked it in the first go around. That seems to be the main bullet point for L4D2, Valve took everything we loved about the first game and made improvements virtually guaranteeing a better game. With the promise of DLC and Valve making this their zombie "platform" I fully expect this to be the Team Fortress 2 of the zombie-FPS world.

The first runner-up is...

2. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Rocksteady nailed the Batman franchise like Sasha Grey in a DP scene. This is the best outing in the history of Batman games. Rocksteady's attention to detail was nearly perfect. I've been a fan of Batman comics for ages, even before the movies and TV series. I think the best part of Arkham is how faithful the game is to Batman's world. No it doesn't read straight from the comics and it isn't a rehashed episode of the cartoon or movies but it stands as it is own story like a Batman Elseworlds tale and it "fits" in to the Batman mythos. Sure they could have cashed in and made some filler-story after The Dark Knight and mailed this game in like most games based on other media but they took the difficult road and it paid off.

This is surely the best new franchise of the year. Every other game on this list is a sequel or follow-up and this fact was one of the reasons I considering bumping this to number one thanks to the originality aspect. The detective mode was awesome and it really give helped put you in the boots of the "world's greatest detective", albeit sometimes too awesome as you may have found yourself missing out on some of the amazing visuals around Arkham Island. Combat had more depth than your typical "beat'um up" like the haters tried pegging it as early on. From the toys, to the melee attacks, to the combos and mixing it all up in a devastating ballet-of-death; this game delivered. I haven't even covered the solid plot or the awesome voice-work provided by The Animated Series' Mark Hamil, Kevin Conroy and Arleen Sorkin.

And the winner is...

Sorry for the second page, but I didn't want to spoil it.

1. Uncharted 2

Nathan Drake stormed in to 2009 with guns blazing and never looked back giving Sony a new icon on the Playstation. If you own a Playstation 3 and like playing these bundle of joys we call games then this is a must buy. The first Uncharted was a solid game and the sequel is not only the best return to any franchise this year but it lands my game of the year (see review here).

This isn't an Oscar-winning movie put down in pixels but it is the best blockbuster of the year. Other games have tried to capture that "movie feel" but Uncharted 2 snagged it with a bear trap and gnawed at the leg of cinematic experience. The characters aren't going to take home awards for any sort of profound portrayals but the voice acting was second only to Batman.

Batman may offer the better plot but Drake offers a complete experience overall on both the single-player and multiplayer aspects. I was impressed with Naughty Dog's foray in to multiplayer as it is much better than expected. Playing as Drake is a pleasure in a world loaded with incredible visuals, squads of opposition and platforming segments that would make Lara Croft cry. Uncharted 2 put Drake on the level of Kratos when it comes iconic Sony franchises and suspect this is a series that will be around for some time. In the year of the "PS3 turn around" Uncharted 2 led the charge and made its mark as the best game of 2009.

Feel free to offer up your complaints, suggestions and your own personal lists. Be sure to tune in next week for 2010's most anticipated games as well.

Revealed Roster, All Star Tourney Woo, RMP with the gaz, PvE Pookz, coL fourth?, my dream shoutcaster

no.spam@gameriot.com (Pookz) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:54:58 -0500

Revealed Roster

So yeah I tried to be mysterious last week with that sick paint picture of the other two players on my MLG Orlando roster. The two other players, besides me and Azael, are going to be former teammate Realz, and former guildmate Kollektiv. Kollektiv and I used to raid together in Epic during the days of Naxxramas at level 60, and his PvP video “Ragdolled” actually was one of the things that started my interest in WoW arena. And obviously I used to play RMP with Realz playing priest under SK Gaming. Look for us to be playing wizard cleave, RLS, Shadow Priest Mage Shaman, SMR, Priest Elemental Shaman Mage, Enhancement Shaman Priest Mage, Rogue Enhancement Shaman Lock, and Shadow Priest Warlock Shaman. We guarantee to display all of the above comps in Orlando. Oh and also my former rogue Enforcer is going to attend the event, so he'll be hanging around if anyone was planning on getting their teeth knocked out.

All Star Tournament

Speaking of Orlando, something interesting is happening at the event called an Allstar Tournament. The schedule is posted here: http://www.gotfrag.com/wow/story/44765/ but basically the Allstar Tournament is every team healer becomes a captain and they choose two other players to form a team, like dodge ball, for one thousand dollars prize money. The captain is not allowed to choose any of their own teammates. This tournament is separate and in addition to the normal round robin tournament that is going to be on Sunday. How will the Koreans adapt to this with the language barrier? The only player from Buttonbashers who speaks English is Orange. I really want to be paired with Sodah and Hyren for the Allstar Tournament I don't need Hyren to speak English a mage's synergy with their rogue comes from the heart, believe it!, please pick me Sodah. I do know that Reckful has been practicing his Korean lately as he apparently yells CHIKA CHIKA when he's about to get a kill. I wonder if Sodah yells KUO KUO for Pain Supression.. Anyway, who do you guys think will be first and last pick? And who do you think the best Allstar team would be? I say Orangemarma is the first pick and Twixz last since no one wants a BM hunter without the enhancement Shaman, it's like peanut butter without jelly, cereal without milk, Azael without gunnar glasses, wait was he wearing them in Edmonton?

RMP with Sargaz OH NO!

This week has been pretty different for me in terms of WoW since not only did I start to PvE but I also started playing RMP with Sargaz again with Verty. Playing with Sargaz is an experience I long missed ever since I transferred to Cho'gal and then Blackrock. Sargaz's chameleon type playstyle, we call it, enables him to swap between the worst rogue to ever step in arena, one game, to the best rogue I've ever played with another game. Usually the “best” of Sargaz's antics begin with “f it I'm just gonna...” for example, “f it I'm just gonna run in” you look and Sargaz is on a motorcycle charging in to the other team. It's always fun playing with Sargaz as long as I don't forget to not take it seriously. We did actually have some decently seriously skirmishes with me Verty Sargaz against a double healer warrior team and also a TSG team. The TSG was a brand new team and the double healer warrior was a pug with Caylee Arcan and a Paladin. The TSG was my friend Bothi, his paladin and Lytae a deathknight. I really liked playing RMP against both of these match ups since I hadn't played RMP in a while.

Against the double healer warrior team we would basically either sap paladin or priest and get on the other healer. So sap priest go paladin, sheep priest out of sap two times then fear priest while the warrior is stuck in a nova and the paladin usually has to bubble this opener. Playing this setup was really just about landing my spells when I knew they couldn't effectively get dispelled. For example, the priest is sapped the paladin is stunned so the warrior eats a full nova. Two dispellers can really cause a mage trouble since cross dispelling is a huge disadvantage.

Against the TSG team I used some of my old tactics as SK.US as most of the time we opened pally blinded warrior and sheeped deathknight. If the warrior trinketed blind we either sheeped him or swapped him depending on the paladin's HP. In this matchup I really noticed a difference between experienced deathknights and not so good ones. The deathknight we were playing against was definitely lacking knowledge as there was really not much control coming out of the TSG team. A good deathknight is quick to AMZ the opener, usually keeps chains of ice on the rogue, deathgrips the priest on top of the warrior and of course stragulates the priest. The deathknight seemed almost lost most of the games as he would usually deathgrip me just as an interrupt, get full shackled, get sapped and be solo DPSing my priest while the warrior was either being killed or ccd. Priest can survive a 1v1 against a deathknight, but not a warrior. This is especially the case on TR as we found before that whenever the warrior connects with Realz it's a problem. I like opening paladin, especially if he runs straight in, because it prevents some of the early dispels on initial snares. We did really well against both teams and I realized that Sargaz only plays well in skirmishes and after eating chocolate..

PvE

I've been raiding in Vicious Cycle which houses players such as Glick, Realz, MLG admin Trance, Flexx and other fairly known players. The ring gained from exalted The Ashen Verdict reputation is going to be great in arena and I also wanted to check out the new zone. Unfortunately everything seems extremely easy since the hardmore isn't released yet, but the loot is still amazing in normal mode. Even people that aren't in raiding guilds are doing the rep farm groups to obtain the ring for pvp. The random dungeon queue is a great feature and can be quite funny if you get The Occulus. Verty and I queued up and got Occulus so Verty decided to mount up on his three person mammoth and see how many people he could jump off the side of the zone. He probably dropped over 10 people and the best part was that a deathknight and a ret paladin managed to kill most of the stupid bosses while we were griefing people.

Sneaky Snutz

It seems as if sneaky Snutz has weaseled his way in to the roster of complexity and apparently he'll be going as a fourth. Will we be seeing two wizard cleaves in Orlando or are they planning on running rogue warlock priest? Snutz is a very strong player and is known to literally fake every single counterspell, spelllock, or wind shock ever done to him. He also wasn't too impressed with Inflame as we saw in Yiska's interview. I know Reckful had some strong plans for this event after Edmonton and he really wants to do well. I hope Snutz can bring them success like he brought his shadowcleave team. RMP seems to be greatly nerfed after the WOTF change so I wouldn't be surprised if they did run this. I guess BB will show us the real potential of RMP post patch in Orlando.

Dream Shoutcaster

Skip to around 3 minutes or so..

Merry Holidays

Epic Drop 12/23/09: Merry Christmas! Butt sniffing, Burned boy doing better, Get money from Comcast, Wtf leg, Hollywood doing fine, Big ass dog

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:24:48 -0500

Via Lusi:

Merry preemptive Christmas everyone. After my "Top Five Games of the Year" tonight the GR Blog will be on a holiday vacation until Monday unless I get really bored or the drunken-motivation to type up an Epic Drop come over the weekend. The good news is you won't be shorted on Miss Wilde as she is stopping in early for Wilde Wednesday! +1

I don't know about you folks but I tend to try and stay from random ***** when I am out in public, it probably wouldn't give a good impression off you went around sniffing people's ***** in a grocery store like this guy in the U.K. Youtube vid here. I've heard of some weird fetishes thanks to the internet but this public butt-sniffing is a new one.

The teen that suffered burns over 65% of his body thanks to the group of kids that poured gas on him and lit him on fire is now out of the hospital. Michael Brewer is alive but still in pretty rough shape after the quick response of rushing to nearby pool and jumping in saving his life. All the teens are charged with one count of attempted murder and all have plead not guilty. Anyone of them that poured gas or the one that lit him up should get more than 30 years of prison, lucky them.

Olivia may be my hottest girl in the world but she does have her moments. Next week brings a new Friday girl, Brooke Burke anyone?

Comcast might be sending some money your way thanks to their P2P blocking issues of the past couple of years. The 16 million dollars class-action lawsuit could net you a whopping, wait for it, $16. Great, that should cover a ton of my cable bill. Nice slap on the wrist there, this should surly keep them in line on the net neutrality front.

I've seen some big dogs before but this one takes the cake. 7 feet long and 42 inches tall from paw to shoulder this dog is a beast. It may just be enough to get Zilea to switch from dogs to cats? The dog gets its own queen size bed and eats 110 pounds of food a month. Wow...

I know there are more gruesome leg breaks out there, especially from MMA, but you don't see something like this in a basketball game that often. Check out this footage of Texas A&M guard Derrick Roland doing his best Gumby impression. (Thanks Proto)

When Hollywood attempts to make you feel bad about piracy just remember this article. They are set for a all-time record year this year with a projected total box office of 10 billion dollars. Gaming may not be recession proof but maybe the movie business is? Just know that those of you who supported movies like New Moon made this day happen. Congratulations!

Repo Men, featuring Jude Law and Forrest Whitaker. This is Red Band and probably NSFW. Cant say I didn't see the "twist" coming before watching it but it might be alright.

Props to this guy for the balls but I don't think his plan was all that well sought out. I'm sure no one would have seen him walk out with that big-ass bag...

Be safe in your holiday travels, yes, even you Smokee!

Staying Focused and Addressing Clutter: Two Problems, One Solution?

no.spam@gameriot.com (kjado) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:04:30 -0500

As we began to discover last week, just because something is outside of our direct line-of-sight doesn't necessarily mean it isn't seen or understood. Our ultimate goal is to create a usable, intuitive, and efficient interface, and in order to do this we'll have to make use of our understanding of vision and perception. We've seen that crisp, high-resolution vision is only available in a relatively small portion of our field-of-view, so by optimizing certain screen elements to better utilize our peripheral vision we can reduce the need for our eyes to bounce around and read everything.

Revisiting the List

In some of my recent articles I made a priority list of interface elements and then tried to directly translate it into a UI. The result felt like an improvement in terms of efficiency, but a by-product of moving things closer to the middle of the screen was the realization that it's easy to overdo it and make things cluttered. Rearranging the interface was a good first step, but it still felt kind of clunky. While the elements were closer to the focal point, our eyes still had to move a lot to understand them (albeit significantly less than before).

With what we now know about the way our eyes work, let's revisit the priority list. I don't think the actual ordering of the list should change; I'm still happy with it. However, we can take a look at some of the items on the list and categorize them a bit differently. The interest now shifts to identifying which elements require precise, foveal vision to understand, and in turn which ones maintain usefulness outside of it.

After a quick run-through, these are the items I felt required direct focus: player debuffs, party/raid frames (for healers), aura gain/fade text, target cast bar, target buffs/debuffs, player buffs, and the minimap. On the other hand, that leaves these items that don't require direct focus: player/target frames (health/power bars), player cast bar, combat damage text, action bars, and party/raid frames (for non-healers). Some of these choices may be arguable, so I'll try to give some quick reasoning, but I think it will become obvious that there is a pattern at play.

It's noticeable that anything with an icon was included in the first category (for buffs and debuffs). Some icons in the game are very distinguishable, but also some can be confused with others, and as such I felt that they really need to be "read" in order to be understood. In addition to icons, valuable textual information requires focus for comprehension. Items that contain this sort of data include the party/raid frames for healers (sometimes an arbitrary health bar isn't enough to make a decision), aura gains/fades, and the target cast bar (same reason; what is being cast is often more important than how far along it is).

There's a common theme for the imprecise focus elements, too: while each presents meaningful data, a large chunk of the time they are used merely as feedback mechanisms, or means of informing the player of their interactions with the game world. The player's cast bar is a perfect example of this, as the name of the ability is largely irrelevant (assuming the player isn't hitting buttons completely at random), so the progress bar becomes the defining piece of the whole interface item. The player and target health and power indicators share a similar fate, and the meaningful values the bars represent only become pertinent in certain occasions.

Combat damage text and action bars, items with characteristics that would normally place them in the precise focus category, have instead found themselves labeled as imprecise. While comprised mostly of text (and sometimes icons), combat damage is rarely read line-by-line as it flies by on the screen. And in the case of action bars, even though it can be handy to keep them visible, they really shouldn't be looked at too often during a fight.

Food for Thought

We're familiar with the elements above, but what can we do differently to optimize the way we use them? Concerns of information access and focus extend outside the realm of computer screens, and in some cases actually predate modern computers themselves. There's a niche of addons that attempt to address our issues, and the idea itself has its roots in something much different than computer games.

HUD from an F/A-18C airplane. Image from Wikipedia.

Though most players don't use them in World of Warcraft, I'm sure plenty are familiar with the concept of a Head-Up Display, or HUD. The idea itself was originally used in fighter planes, and the first implementation of an overlaid display was a simple attempt to help improve the accuracy of gunners. This was soon expanded upon and other features were introduced for reasons that echo those of our priority list we created a few posts back. The goal was to keep the pilot's head up instead of down looking at instruments, and there-in losing focus of the surroundings.

How can this help us though? The HUD concept can provide us a bit of slack when it comes to implementing our original list. Elements from above that we identified as feedback mechanisms can be pushed out of the middle of the screen without sacrificing too much information, and the potential benefits in terms of efficiency are huge.

There are some considerations that we'll have to address, of course. The HUD from an airplane will be vastly different from a HUD we create for our character, so answering questions about the position, size, orientation, shape, and grouping of the elements will be important. Until we are ready to do that, it will be helpful to explore our options and try to learn from what others have done so far. Vranx has a list of some of the popular HUD addons to choose from, and the UI forums over at Elitist Jerks (among other sites) is a great place to see people showing off their new interfaces.

Steam Christmas Sale - Up to 90% off

no.spam@gameriot.com (Weeman5872) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:11:56 -0500

Steam Sale, from 75% off GTAIV (£4.99) to 90% off S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (£1.39). Noteable the Unreal Tournament pack for £7.81. Some offers last for another 25 hours while the rest last until January 3rd, 2010.

Happy holidays RTW.

Feature: Post Apocalyptic Settings in A Few Select Video Games

no.spam@gameriot.com (Sol Invictus) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:15:37 -0500

Like any popular medium, video games are rife with a number of discernable, unique settings that make them instantly recognizable. Video games are generally a little plain and even a little unimaginative, but a number of games manage to stand apart from the rest by being pretty cool in some way or another.

Few of these scenarios manage to truly capture the imagination as much as post-apocalyptic settings. Yeah, because everyone either dead or dying and you’re all alone (either literally or with a group of buddies) in this dangerous new world where one little mistake could end your life pretty quickly.

Interestingly enough, designers can apply the post-apoc setting right on top of a generic setting to make it a little less generic and a little more exciting, like putting the icing on top of a tasty, but otherwise bland sponge cake.

I’d like to say that post-apocalyptic settings are ‘very’ discernable, which makes them a little better than your average, run-of-the-mill variety of discernable settings. Post-apocalyptic settings as far as settings go – and they can be applied to all sorts of preexisting and otherwise generic settings if only to spruce things up and make things a little bit grim, like that aunt who shows up every year who puts her false teeth in a cup during Christmas dinner.

There’s nothing more generic than having some guy waving a sword around at some dragon looking like a pissed off tin-can with flailing appendages, so why not set it in a post-apocalyptic setting, where the dragon’s the Last of Its Kind and the sword you’re the only one capable of taking it out, or else the village behind you is doomed, and along with it, all of humanity, because it’s apparently the only village with a sizable population of people that’s capable of repopulating Middle Earth or whatever generic fantasy realm Sir Knight and the Angry Dragon live in.

Post-apocalyptic settings – by their very definition – present end-of-the-world scenarios. Ranging from the classic zombie apocalypse to nuclear holocaust, post-apocalyptic settings immerse the viewer, reader, or in this case the gamer in a world where survival is the primary goal – the prime directive, so to speak, and the only options available are fight or flight – fulfilling a primal need. I like to think of survival as a primal need, like wanting to eat, have sex and doing all the other things that make people happy. You can’t really do much of the latter without putting survival at the top of your list, really.

With that in mind, I’d like to explore a number of post-apocalyptic scenarios – both unique and popular – that represent the genre to the limits of its very definition. Why not?

Fallout 3

Imagine what it would be like if the 1950s never ended – a future full of flying cars, talking robots and strange imaginings. Imagine what it would be like if atom bombs fell upon the earth and decimated most of its population, leaving few survivors. Yeah, stuff got blown to bits and all that’s left are those concrete buildings and the dilapidated signboards that populate the urban environment.

Those who survived – the lucky ones, at least – did so by hiding in gigantic bunkers called Vaults. Buried behind tons of steel and earth, these Vaults finally open their doors a hundred years after the war with a bunch of ignorant Vault Dwellers gaping out like so many frightened rats, waiting for some invisible giant cat to suddenly pounce. Born within the confines of the Vault are clueless about what lies beyond those doors – large, sacred, metallic doors leading to a brave new world beyond – a single, poor schmuck steps out into the wastes. That would be you, in case you were wondering.

You are the first to step out into the world beyond the Vault, and it is to your surprise that other survivors, too, have emerged before you – many of them rebuilding some semblance of society. No kidding! Did you think you’d be the first? Fat hopes in being the first to climb Mount Everest, for a thousand others got there first.

Barter and trade exists, with bottlecaps and bullets the main forms of currency. Bottlecaps, huh? I guess recycling was a bad idea after all. It’s a strange world – frightening, even. I mean, bottlecaps? Come on. But seriously, radiation has taken its toll on the environment, causing horrific mutations in humans, and turning wildlife into feral monstrosities – all in tune with a 1950s pop-culture view of science. Yeah, people believed in some crazy stuff back then, and the whole idea was that when you get hit by a dose of gamma radiation, you turn into the Hulk or something. That’s the kind of crazy thing that defines the world of Fallout, and that’s what sets it apart from every other “bombs fell, everything died” scenario out there.

Zombie Apocalypse

A mysterious virus spreads throughout the planet, infecting and killing all whom it touches. Kind of like what Uwe Boll does to people’s acting careers.

Within two weeks, much of humanity is infected – and dead. You know, cause it’s a deadly virus. Very few survive – lucky ones, immune to the virus… because we wouldn’t have much of a story to tell if the mortality rate was a hundred percent. The infected ones become mindless automatons, slaves to their hunger for human flesh. They like brains, it’s managed to angle its way to the top of their diet for some reason. Don’t ask me why – it’s just something that’s been established over decades of b-movies and gory films. It’s a scenario that’s been told and retold since George Romero wrote Night of the Living Dead in 1968 – a story told with a supernatural twist way back in the day, and retold as a science fiction-based horror story by 28 Days Later and most recently in the comedy, Zombieland.

It’s an easy genre to take on, because you hardly feel bad about wailing on dead people with a cricket bat. It’s all of the primal violence without any of the guilt that tags along as excess baggage every time you have a violent thought.

Not one to be left out, many games have ‘me too!’d their way into the setting thanks to the popularity of science fiction-themed zombie-apocalypse games like Resident Evil and the more mundane but no less horrific Left 4 Dead. I prefer the latter, but it’s only because I have a well-known bias for Valve products and the only thing I ever appreciated about the original Resident Evil was its bad dialogue, but I digress.

In the former Resident Evil setting, you play the role of special agents whose task is to end secret experiments that turn people into zombies, and in the latter, your role is to merely survive. Like, in Resident Evil, there’s this evil corporation called Umbrella Corp that’s been turning people into zombies with some crazy experiments and it’s your job to stop them. In the latter, there’s all this backstory about CEDA (which is a lot like the real world FEMA) that nobody’s been able to really pierce through since Valve’s a little stingy on letting people in on the game’s backstory, if it has any.

Though unique and different in their separate ways, survival is one of the few things that the two have in common. And zombies, of course.

Gears of War

As the manual reads, and I paraphrase to speed up the pace, “In its ever expanding search for natural resources, humanity has colonized another world – one by the name of Sera. Sera contains a radioactive liquid known as Imulsion, which functions as a power source unlike anything we’ve ever had. The resulting economic shockwave from the discovery of this precious substance leads to a series of wars between the planet’s various nations, known as the Pendulum Wars. The war leaves humanity in ruins, and race of creatures native to the planet, laying previously dormant, sees it as an opportunity to destroy all that’s left of humanity.”

It’s the same old story, really. Humans need resources, so they colonize some country (or in this case planet) and end up fighting squabbling over it because nobody can decide who gets mining rights, or some such. It’s probably some veiled commentary about Afghanistan or something that I’d rather not get into.

It goes on to say that only one thing stands in the way of the Locust – the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG, arisen from the ashes of the wars that ravaged civilization. Cleverly named, no doubt, to back up the “Gears” in “Gears of War”. It’s no surprise that the elite soldiers tasked with the destruction of the Locust and the reclamation of Sera are called Gears.

There’s really not much for the humans to do, besides surviving the onslaught, driving it back, and taking control of Sera, or whatever’s left of it.

From the surface, it might seem like a typical “human versus aliens” scenario, but you’d be wrong to dismiss the setting. In fact, the portrayal of a post-apocalyptic civilization, though limited to the eyes of the Gear whom you play, is very well done thanks to the game’s rich visuals, sound effects and overall theme. It all really comes together. Say what you will about how it might not be as well thought out as the world of Fallout or anything else, but Epic Games (Gears’ designers) managed to really create an immersive, post-apocalyptic experience.

Diablo III

Set in the aftermath of the previous game, the world lies in ruins, due to the destruction wrought by the forces of hell. Twenty years have past, and most people can barely remember the events that culminated in the destruction of the Worldstone, and those who do, do not wish to reminisce. Yeah, I guess people are pretty forgetful like that, and who could blame them for not wanting to think about how some nasty little goblin jumped on their dad’s head to rip it clean off? I mean, you could only imagine what these people have been through, so can you fault them for wanting to just get on with their lives?

Rebuilding has only just begun, but a grim spectacle threatens to throw the world into chaos once again as cults dedicated to the Prime Evils sprout all over the face of Sanctuary, like so many plague blossoms on the skin of a dying man. Those poor bastards just can’t catch a break.

You play the role of one of the few heroes destined to save the world from its fate – driving back the forces of evil from whence they came. The motivation for every hero differs – for some, it’s a matter of righting wrongs; for others, it’s a matter of taking care of unfinished business. Talking about the Barbarian here – he’s the same old dude as the one in the previous game, but twenty years older and twenty times more agitated due to his old age. He’s just one of those old guys who doesn’t get mad – he gets even, like if Jesse Ventura had a long, white beard and a large claymore strapped to his back. I can almost picture it.

Diablo’s setting combines gothic fantasy fare with an apocalyptic mindset. Everything goes from bad to worse. The world goes to hell, and back, with heroes delivering the world to its salvation. Sh*t just got real with the Diablo setting the moment they cast it under a post-apocalyptic light. Yeah, post-apocalyptic settings are /that/ good, for serious.

Conclusion

I could keep going on about all the different post-apocalyptic settings out there, including Bioshock’s “post apocalypse under the sea” setting, or Dead Space’s “alien virus summoned by a Scientology-like cult wipes out humanity” spiel, but I think I’ll stick to what I’ve mentioned as a good representation of everything the broader post-apocalyptic genre is capable of.

In all, every post-apocalyptic setting shares the common theme of survival and rebirth. It’s a strong theme, and one that resonates deeply with the human spirit. It will be interesting to see at this point where else the post-apocalyptic setting could go. It’s just nice to be constantly reminded that everything we have will eventually come to an end; and from that end, there will always be something new... and why the hell not?

9 Days of “9”

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