akaDarcee

Foreshadowing Part 2

2013-04-17T14:35:00.001-07:00

I've been kicking this thought around in my head ever since Blizzcon 2011 and I've decided now is the time to share it with all of you. If any of you had a chance to watch the opening ceremonies, whether in person or online, you probably recall the Mists of Pandaria announcement. It was followed with a hint that the final raid would be a raid on Orgrimmar to take down Garrosh. Here's the thing that has bothered me since then: Chris Metzen never actually said we were going to kill Garrosh. He said we were going to lay siege to Orgrimmar and remove the mantle of warchief, but nothing was ever said about killing him.

What could this mean? All right, its "wild speculation" time. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on what I think the next expansion is going to be (you can read that here); however, I only covered the Alliance side. What will the Horde be doing while we are reuniting with Alleria and Turalyon? There are a few ways this could play out, so bare with me. Everything will begin with the final raid of Mists of Pandaria.

The fight itself, between us and Garrosh, will also involve Malkorok in some way. For those who don't know, Malkorok is a blackrock orc who now acts as Garrosh's bodyguard and is the leader of the Korkron. I don't know what route Blizzard would take on this, but here's how I see it. I'm picturing this in his throne room, but I wouldn't doubt it happens elsewhere (mainly for lack of space). We will storm in and in front of us will be Malkorok and Garrosh will be behind him. The fight is us battling down Malkorok while Garrosh stays immune. We get Malkorok down, he becomes immune (to recuperate) and Garrosh becomes "active." We DPS a bit on Garrosh until Malkorok is back up to full, at which point Garrosh becomes immune again. We will do this "back and forth dance" until Garrosh reaches a certain percentage. I like the idea of 5%, so that's what I'm going with. Malkorok then gets a burst of strength and tries to finish us off OR he calls in some of the Korkron to distract us. I hate to break it to you all, but here's the point I'm finally going to get at: Garrosh escapes!!

Where's he going to go? The Korkron will still be loyal to him, so they will be his much needed ally throughout this ordeal. He is going to head back home to Draenor, which puts the Horde back in the Outlands with the Alliance who are searching or have found Alleria and Turalyon.

As for the new warchief, I'm going to give it to Lorthremar, and here is why. I've already mentioned that the Alliance will be getting a new major city with Danath Trollbane retaking Stromgarde. This means the Horde will also be obtaining a new major city. Upon thinking it through, I love the idea of Vol'jin and the trolls building their own major city elsewhere. Where? I do not know yet, I like to think Hinterlands area so that it's right close to Arathi Highlands and Stromgarde. Having the two cities so close together will help bring the open world PvP back to the game. Putting aside the cities idea, Lorthremar has made some huge character progressions within the latest books and patches. There is no way he will be going back to being the leader no one has heard of. Who do you think should be the next warchief? Debate it out in the comments below.

All right, let's go back over to Garrosh hiding out in the Outlands. I saw an amazing post on the forums, I cannot find it anymore so I cannot credit you (sorry), that talked about a theory on what is "driving" Garrosh. If anyone knows their lore, you may recall that Garrosh's father Grom helped free the orcs from the demon blood by slaying Mannoroth the Destructor. Garrosh was never comfortable with being the "son of Grom Hellscream who accomplished so much." I believe it was in the book "The Shattering" where Thrall pulled Garrosh aside and had to explain to him that, "yes your dad was great and amazing and did all these wonderful things for the orcs, but now is your time to do the same." As a tribute to his father, Garrosh turned the bones of Mannoroth into a set of shoulders that he wears. It is these bones that are fuelling his anger and driving him to war with the world, whether through whispers or whatever. The skull of Gul'din did similar things to Ner'zhul and Illidan. We need to defeat Garrosh before he tries to summon the Burning Legion, can we do it?

That's it for me, if you have any questions or comments please leave them below. If you want to stay updated on what I'm doing and when I'm posting things then you should follow me on twitter @akadarcee and on facebook. Thanks for reading.

Method Wins the Race To World First

2013-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

The headline says it all, the race to world first is over with Method taking down Heroic Ra-Den yesterday. Blatty posted on his facebook page:

It's over. We'd predicted that we would get him this week, and after two pulls it was done. We are now the only people in the world to have killed the last boss of tier 15.

Congratulations, it was a hell of a race!! Patch 5.2 dropped March 5th and the passed few raids the world first race seemed to only last a week. If this was something you followed, did you find it to be much more exciting having it play out for a month or do you prefer it to be short and sweet?

I loved how long this took, it was suspenseful especially with the "secret" boss, Ra-Den, at the end.

Things took a small twist April 8th when a Chinese guild, 七煌, took Ra-Den down (I say small twist because Asian Guilds are part of a completely different World First race due to how there gear works and so on). They announced that this was not a legitimate kill, as there were tons of bugs and glitches in the fight and they reported all this to Blizzard. From the way it sounded, they were able to tune the fight down to the 10 man version, but were still able to use their 25 players. On top of that, they found that if they did not kill two of Ra-Den's adds and just kited the boss away from them he did not soak up his special abilities and ended up being extremely easy to kill.

A day or so later, a Paragon member, Devai, had his account banned mid battle for "exploiting the economy." His ban was quickly lifted once he began his inquirers.

So, tell me what you think, was this an epic World First Race?? Did you care?? Let me know in the comments below and as always stayed tuned for new articles, reviews, and my super awesome new project I'm working on. Follow me on twitter @akadarcee, facebook, and twitch. Catch you all later.

Gaming News for April 12th...'ish....

2013-04-12T11:07:00.001-07:00

League of Legends vs. Dota 2

I'm going to kick this off right now with League of Legends vs. Dota 2. Now if you follow at least one of these games, you probably heard the news/controversy involving GamesIndustry. Basically, what happened was GamesIndustry posted that Dota 2 had surpassed League of Legends as most "core" PC title... in the west.

"GamesIndustry reports that Valve’s Dota 2 is the most played “core” PC title according to the DFC Intelligence report; the report combines data from multiple sources through its PC game Meter service, which includes real-time stats from Xfire’s 23 million users. The top three most played games were Dota 2, league of Legends and in third place World of Warcraft, although the free-to-play MOBA’s numbers far surpassed that of Blizzard’s subscription based MMO."

As you would expect Riot, along with the League of Legends' players and fans, exploded and for good reason. There was no way that Dota 2, a game still technically in beta, could be beating League of Legends in most played game. I don't even play these two games and I cried "B.S." after reading it. Well, as was expected, this wasn't entirely true. We're not entirely certain what part of Xfire GamesIndustry was looking at, but the list shows League of Legends in first and Dota 2 down in sixth.

GamesIndustry than retracted their original statement and analyst David Cole responded with:

“We have this service that tracks usage of PC games. League of Legends is always on top by a huge margin, an order of magnitude. The only time anything came close was the launch of Diablo III, but just for a short time. Dota 2 showed a huge bump in usage; first product to do that well in a long time,”

“The thing is globally [League of Legends] is still much bigger because we don’t track Asia and many of the small markets they have penetrated. Our tracking is only key Western markets. China alone counts for way more usage of [League of Legends] than the rest of the world, so that is the major footnote we have been telling everyone,” he added. “The main news to me was that Dota 2 has been a huge success.”

What do you think? Do you feel that at one point Dota 2 will be pass League of Legends as most played "core" PC title? My only question is, "when is it coming out of beta!?!?!?!" However, I choose to not discuss that today because I will fill this post with angry rants and there's a better time and place for that.

Camelot Unchained

There's been a flood of "new" game ideas that have been getting their funding from kickstarter. Among those games is Mark Jacobs: Camelot Unchained. What makes this game special when compared to other MMO's? Camelot Unchained will have no PVE content. This includes no PVE levelling or loot drops. Basically, it's considered to be an RVR or Realm versus Realm. Players will have to craft the world, building camps and cities, sharing resources with their competition. Here's a big question, Subscription or free-to-play?? This surprised me, it will be subscription based. Basically, they're saying that they are looking for a certain type of player and having a sub will give these specific players the type of game they are wanting. But, with so many sub based games failing and having to adopt a free-to-play system I would personally be a bit worried to bring a game I've been working on and attach a subscription to it. In a recent interview, Mark Jacobs said:

"We don't need one million subs to make money," he said. "If we get 50K paying subscribers a month it will justify the $5 million development budget."

Is Camelot Unchained a title that interests you at all?? I love the idea of having to build my world up right from the start; however, I'm not much of a PVP gamer and definitely would not pay a subscription for it. Therefore, I am not that "certain type of player" they are looking for... the system works. Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.

Violence & Video Games

This topic seems to never want to rest... It has come up again, this time by California Senator, Dianne Feinstein. She stated:

"I think the really violent video game becomes a kind of simulator to practise on. And it enables the individual to become much more familiar with that depiction of death and blood."

Really!?!?!?! Here's a thought, how about doing a little research into it?? <Gasp> I know, its a crazy concept!! If the only information you are going off of is that the Sandy Hook shooter played violent video games, than I'm going to respond back with "parents who have weapons in their houses breed killers." Hmmmm.... sounds just as ridiculous, doesn't it?? What do you guys think, debate it out in the comments below.

But, wait I'm not done yet. She later goes on to say that violent video games play a very negative role in young people and if video game companies continue to make these violent games congress may intervene. All right, while I do see her point (to a small degree), I feel I need to bring up game ratings. A game has a rating for a reason. I don't know what it's like in all stores, but if you try and purchase a game here at our store and you don't meet that rating, they won't sell you the game. In order for these under-aged kids to get their hands on these games, their parents have to buy them. Who are you to decide what a parent feels is OK for their kids?? I have a five year old... do I let him play violent shooting games? No!! Will he get to at one point?? Guess what!! I will decide that when the time comes, not you.

Betas

Let's simmer down on the anger for a second and chat about betas. Elder Scrolls Online released a bunch more beta invites. If you happened to sign up for beta, check your email, you may be among the lucky few.... that does not include myself <sigh>.

Neverwinter has gone into another beta weekend, starting today. They have released a new class, Great Weapon Fighter and are introducing their crafting system. If you are in the closed beta, definitely go give that a try. If you are among the unlucky few who have not received a beta invite, do not worry!! Open beta is set to begin April 30th.

Wildstar's first closed beta has begun (the previous betas were for press only). You can still sign up here. I did not get in, but I've been scanning my email every day with my fingers crossed.

Which of these games appeals the most to you?? Any other games you've been waiting patiently (or impatiently) for??

Eve News Can Be The Best News EVER

I seriously love Eve news. While everything so far has been about the games in general, Eve news tends to be random crap that happens in the game. Like this story, for instance. April 10th, the CEO of Space Monkey's Alliance, aka Alisonia, robbed from his own people. What did he get: Approximately 400 Billion ISK. In a letter, Alisonia wrote:

I was spending needless hours on something that was pointing SMA into the direction of NOWHERE [so...] Tonight I stole about 220B+ worth of assets, this on top of what I had already taken. The total comes to around 440B in assets.

...after about a year and a half this idea came to me to steal as much in assets as I could. At first I only stole small amounts of assets to test the waters. Eventually leading to stealing Tech, capital ships and more. If I had to guess 200Bish since I started. I want to go through my logs and figure it maybe more. I mean why steal it in a bulk (one-time) when you can milk the cow.

Space Monkey's Alliance released a statement about the theft:

Spacemonkey's Alliance [SMA] is confirming today that one of it's Alliance Directors and a real-life friend of the brothers that run SMA executed a plan to rip off the alliance. Alisonia spent more than a year growing SMA and, for all appearances, executed a long planned theft.

A few months ago he was promoted to Director for his service providing not only IT but in-game help without ever asking for compensation or a position. This was a betrayal of trust, not of data or pixels. We have been told that he will be quitting EVE and that he "wanted to go out with a bang."

As of today, the amount stolen has gone up to approximately 600 billion ISK. You can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't play EVE, so I'm just going off of what other people are saying. 600 Billion ISK is approximately 22, 253.70 USD. So... now that he's quit playing the game, all that money is just sitting there untouched. It's just amazing, I love reading about this game!!

Well... that's it for me. As always thank you for reading. If you want to stay updated on the random things I do, you can follow me on twitter: @akadarcee, send me a like on facebook, and subscribe to me on twitch. If you have anything you want me to cover or add in, feel free to let me know. I have a super, amazing, and awesome new project I'm working on, so I will definitely be keeping you posted about that. Catch you all later.

LFR Part 2: The Other Players

2013-04-08T10:50:00.004-07:00

Hey everyone, today I'm going to continue my ramble on the LFR and chat to you about the other twenty-four players. If you haven't read part 1 yet on the loot system, you can do so here. Dealing with the other players is the #1 thing I cannot stand about the LFR. In the end, there aren't too many fixes that Blizzard can do to make this better, but we'll take a look at it anyways.

I'm going to start with the elitists. These are the players that think they are the best in the group. They belittle everyone who cannot "keep up" with them, the tanks are never doing a good enough job, and they are the first to point out if anyone makes a mistake. Most of the time I can handle this type of player, but sometimes it just makes the experience go by much better if you put them on ignore. You won't have to listen to them ranting about how awful you are and you will never get grouped with them again. It's a win/ win. What people need to understand is that not everyone is as geared as they are. It's actually a really simple concept.

What can be done?? As I said before, there really aren't too many fixes for something like this beyond putting the player on ignore. I'm not entirely certain why more people don't use that system. It works and it's extremely funny to watch the one sided conversation between the rest of the raid and the guy you cannot see posting. If the player is being exceptionally rude than right click on their portrait and hit the report button. Blizzard does look at it and they make the call on if it was bannable, suspendable, or if you are just being a whiny baby. It really doesn't hurt to use it. If you have a fix for this problem, I would love to hear it, feel free to leave it in the comments below.

Next up is the bad players. There are several different types of bad players, so I'll try and get them all in here for you. I'll start with the people that I really can't stand: "I've never been here before!!" Don't be this guy!! Here's a tip for you people, if you are about to enter a LFR that you have never been to before please familiarise yourself with the mechanics. It's really not hard, in fact you don't even have to tab out to do so. Blizzard put in a dungeon journal for a reason and they even simplified it for you by adding little symbols to things that you may need to know about. If you are a tank, there are little shields next to some of the abilities. This means tank alert and you should probably read that one. Healers, there is a little healing symbol (the plus sign) which means healing alert, in short this ability does loads of damage and you need to watch for it. I suggest with healers, open up each ability and see if any of the sub abilities need to watched out for as well. The skull and cross-bones stands for deadly, something you should probably read about. Exclamation Mark (!) stands for important, again you should probably look at that one. Quickly skim through these and you're good to go. I will be doing an entire article on how to properly use the dungeon journal sometime next week.

If this is still too hard for you to figure out, than you are the perfect candidate for add-ons. Go check out the forums and do a little research to find the add-on that is right for you. I am a full supporter of add-ons, I use deadly boss mods to remind me that certain abilities are being cast. In short, you gain that extra bit of raid awareness that you never had. Tell us what add-ons you use for raiding in the comments below.

The next type of "bad player" would be the players that aren't contributing to the fight. I'm not talking about the ones that are doing their full rotation but just aren't putting out the numbers as everyone else is. I'm talking about the people who could be doing well, but stand there and let everyone else take care of the fight. While it would be nice to have Blizzard add in some sort of system where players like that don't get loot, right now all we can do is vote kick them once the fight is done.

If there are enough of these bad players that you are wiping on boss fights, do not worry. Don't jump ship just yet. Blizzard added in the determination buff. If you've been putting in an effort on the boss, but you wiped due to lack of dps or whatever you will gain this buff. This buff increases your damage dealt, your health, and healing received by 5% and it stacks 10 times. The first thing you're probably thinking is "people are going to abuse that." Here's the thing, in order for you to get the buff after wiping you need to have been fighting the boss for a certain amount of time. This shows that you were putting in the effort, but just didn't have the right group makeup to complete it. I have yet to have a person insist on wiping it to get the buff, but I have seen forum posts complaining about it happening. Here's the thing, you might as well just finish the boss up instead of wiping it to get the extra 5%. You're not saving time, you're being an idiot.

When I say don't jump ship, I really mean it. Eventually that buff will stack up to an appropriate level for you to complete it. Would you rather wipe three times and get the boss down, or wipe once and leave, only to have a 46 minute queue and be placed at the beginning of the raid again with a group that probably knows less about it than the one you just came from. The most I've had this buff stack to is four. This was on the first week this raid was released, so people were still learning the mechanics. After the fourth try we knew the mechanics and had the extra 20% to get us by. It really wasn't that bad.

I don't want to just single out the dps, but seriously there's 2 tanks, 6 healers, and 17 dps... so it's a bit hard to not single you out. All right, dps you are important to the fight too. If you are not fighting the adds like you are supposed to, you are going to cause a wipe. Do not assume the others will do it for you, attack the adds. Here's another thing, don't pull for the tank!!! Usually, there's a reason we are waiting to pull or a reason we are going at a certain pace. If you wanted to set the pace, than you need to re-roll a tank. Here's a great example from the LFR I just completed. We downed the first boss and both our tanks left, so now we're waiting for new ones. We have an impatient mage who doesn't understand why we're all waiting so he goes ahead and pulls the next mob and we wipe. Now he's going on and on about how he didn't know we didn't have any tanks, but in short, you are not a tank so you do not pull.

Here's another thing to watch out for. If you have an ability that can be raid wiping or just irritating make sure you do not have it on. Here's some examples: retribution paladins with righteous fury on, hunters with aspect of the pack on, hunters with their pet's taunt on, shamans and their earth elemental... these are all a few examples of irritating things that make the make the rest of the raid's jobs harder and more irritating. Nothing sucks more than a death knight popping his army of the dead on a boss with a vicious frontal attack. Suddenly the boss is flipping around this way and that and spraying the entire raid with nastiness. FYI: you want to use your army of the dead get the "glyph of army of the dead." In short, your ghouls no longer taunt the target and it's a minor glyph... problem solved.

I have probably missed a ton of info, so please feel free to point it out to me and I'll update this. The only thing I have left to say about dealing with other players is don't bring attention to yourself. Don't come into the group and say, "hey guys, I've never been her before. Any tips?" Chat away with other players, but don't let on that you don't know what you're doing. That's how you bring on the attention of the elitists, and they will make your LFR experience a bad one. If you are a tank, please at least half know the fights. Your queue may be instant but the rest of us tend to have to wait anywhere from 30-50 minutes for our queue to pop. It's no fun to finally get in and have the tank or tanks not know what they're doing, especially when it's so easy to figure it out.

That's it for this week, as always feel free to leave a comment below. Also, because I don't exactly post on a schedule, if you want to know when I post new articles you need to follow me on twitter @akadarcee or send me a like on facebook. You can also subscribe to my twitch . I'll catch you all later.

LFR & Loot

2013-04-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

I thought today I would ramble a little about the LFR in Warcraft. Basically, if you don't know what the LFR is, it's a "looking for raid" tool that pairs you up with twenty four of the biggest nubs in the game and allows you to complete easier modes of the raids. In these dumbed down raids you have the chance at acquiring lower item level gear. Players have a "love/hate" relationship with it. Many feel it is a useful system that gives you another way to gear up for "real" raids. While others just love to complain about it. What's there to complain about?? This may take a while...

Part 1: Let's Discuss How Loot Works

The LFR made its first appearance in Cataclysm for the Dragon Soul raid; dividing the raid into two separate parts. When this feature came out, it still used the Need/Greed/Pass system for loot; however, you were restricted on some of the items you could roll on. Some of the restrictions ended up being a little funky, and certain classes were able to roll on things they had no right in rolling on. With that being said, that wasn't the most frustrating part of this loot system. What had begun to happen was certain players were needing on gear they already had. Upon winning this gear they would announce to your raid that they would be willing to trade it for the piece that they were in there for. For example you've been running these raids for weeks now trying to get your tier shoulders to even drop, and when they finally do Player X needs on them and wins them. Upon inspecting him, you see that he already has those shoulders (usually the "normal" raid version). Player X announces to the raid that he will trade those shoulders he won for the tier chest... if it drops. This was ridiculously frustrating!!

The next problem with this loot system was winning something while playing an "under-performing" character. I'm sure all of us who run alts have that one character that you're just not that pro at. By the end of Cataclysm I had seventeen level 85's; ten of which I played quite often. Three of them I was pro on, four of them I was average, and 3 of them I should have just deleted and re-rolled. I'm going to use my warrior, Tadaka, as the example here. Tadaka was one of my average toons. I wasn't great on her, but I managed. Never top of the meters, but never bottom. However, the minute she won anything, it would announce it in chat and the entire raid would rage. I was booted from a ridiculous amount of raids because I was considered an "under-performing" toon that was winning all the gear.

So, how did Blizzard fix this? Now, when we down a boss, a few lucky individuals are rewarded a piece of gear for the spec they are currently playing in. The rest of us win a bag. At the beginning of Mists of Pandaria that bag only contained gold; however, as of patch 5.2 it now has a chance at also containing a piece of gear, motes or spirits of harmony, flasks or potions, pets or mounts, lesser charms of good fortune, greater charms of good fortune, or a rune of fate. On top of that loot being rewarded you can use your greater charms of good fortune or your runes of fate for an additional chance at loot... or gold. This system is frustrating for people because they feel like they're downing these bosses and not getting anything from it. It doesn't announce in chat that anyone got anything, and many people go weeks and weeks without winning a single piece of gear. I keep telling myself at least I'm not losing it to some "jack-ass" who's needed on my gear while having better.

Again, how is Blizzard fixing this? Patch notes for 5.3 were released a week ago and it stated that those of us with our "unlucky" streaks will soon be protected. The more times we use our coins or runes for the extra gear chance and lose will give us an increased chance to win something. This is one of the changes I've been waiting for. By the end of patch 5.1 I had stopped acquiring my greater charms of good fortune because it was a complete waste of time. My extra rolls were rewarding me nothing but gold. In patch 5.2, Blizzard upped the drop chance of gear in Mogu'Shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Springs, so I began collecting my charms again. As for runes of fate, I could care less at this point. If I manage to get my three for the week, than good for me, but I'm not going out of my way to do so.

Now lets discuss winning gear for an offspec. Even back in cataclysm it was tough to win offspec items in the LFR without being in that spec. It's become a little fuzzy, but I believe the way the loot system worked was certain gear items were restricted to certain specs, but it was vague. So, say you play a holy paladin. Holy paladins can use intellect shields, so this meant that all holy paladins can need on all shields. A tank shield drops, the holy paladin can take it which was incredibly frustrating for many classes.

Your catching on to the trend, right?? How did Blizzard fix it? When they took away the option to roll need/greed/pass on the items and replaced them with the possible loot/most likely a bag of gold system, they made it so that the piece of gear you may win can only be used by your spec. Now what this has done is made people come into the raid in the "wrong" spec so that they can get the gear they want. We end up with DPS specced as tanks and even healers specced as DPS... it's a mess.

How will Blizzard fix this? Hooray for Patch 5.3, am I right?? I can now check a box (I believe) that says I'm DPS'ing, but am rolling for tank gear. Finally, I have a reason to be running through Mogu'Shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, and Terrace of Endless Springs again.

So, the next time you feel the need to complain about loot in LFR, just take a look back at the way things used to be and breathe a sigh of relief. It may be hard to believe at times, but the system is far better than what it was and is improving as we go along. If you have an idea on how to improve the loot system or any other feedback, feel free to leave a comment below. Next week, I'll be discussing the other players and how to deal with them. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @akadarcee and on Facebook. You can also subscribe to my Twitch so you can always catch my livestreams. If you have an idea for an article, news story, or want me to try out a game for a review please let me know. Thanks for reading and I'll catch you all next time.

Foreshadowing?

2013-03-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

I saw something I had never seen, as of yet, while I was logging into Warcraft. I was waiting on the loading screen and glanced down at the little blurb underneath the loading screen art. Usually, I read something along the lines of "Don't stand in fire" or some other random piece of advice. Today I read, "Tip: Nobody has seen Alleria and Turalyon in years. I'm staring at this and getting myself far more excited than I should.

First of all, how is this a tip? Usually a Warcraft tip is along the lines of "Companion pets are account-wide. If one of your character has a pet, all your characters can use that pet." You know what I think, this is more foreshadowing than a normal game tip. They are leaving us trails of hints and clues to what the upcoming expansion will be.

I had originally thought we were going to have another Burning Legion expansion, along the way we would stumble across Alleria and Turalyon. But here's what I'm thinking now.

We are not ready for another Burning Legion expansion. We are not ready for Sargeras, so I'm pushing that aside. I have a few different scenarios for how this is going to play out, all of which involve the old "dark portal" crew.

Several possible scenarios can unfold for Danath Trollbane. He is currently sitting in Honor Hold as we speak in the same loop with Alleria and Turalyon's son, Arator the Redeemer. Scenario #1: Danath and "little Arator" (who's not so little anymore) set out on an expedition to find Alleria and Turalyon. This may lead us to new zones in the Outlands. Scenario #2: Danath Trollbane takes back Stromgarde giving the Alliance another major city (a matching Horde city will also pop up somewhere in the world). Scenario #3: This one I've been wondering about for quite some time. When Deathwing ransacked Stormwind, one statue fell over. It was the statue of Danath Trollbane. I always considered this to be an omen and Danath is going to die somehow. Whether its in scenario 1, 2, or elsewhere. I know that the statue has been fixed, but I still think of this as an omen.

Khadgar is currently located in Shattrath. I don't think he's going to return to Dalaran and be with the Kirin Tor, but he will be their representative in the Outlands. If anyone has read any of the Warcraft books, you probably came across this juicy little fact. Khadgar witnessed or dreamt his own death. He knows that he dies beneath a sky of orange. When he first stepped through the Dark Portal he realised that the Draenor sky was the sky he saw in his vision. There really aren't too many scenarios for Khadgar. If Danath and Arator go off in search of Turalyon and Alleria, he is coming along. We may or may not see his death yet.

Kurdran Wildhammer has jumped around a fair bit, so its hard to say if he would make his return. He was in Shadowmoon Valley at the Wildhammer Stronghold, but during Cataclysm moved to Victor's Point in the Twilight Highlands. If he is involved in the future expansion in any way, he's probably the one who's going to come across the information of their whereabouts.

Originally, I had thought that we would be battling the Burning Legion in the same expansion, but after pondering it awhile I really think that having Turalyon and Alleria back before this happens would make things so much better. Having an expansion where we find these heroes again would be fantastic, but what would the horde do?? I have my own prediction for this, but first I want to know what you think? Let me know in the comments below.

As always I hope you enjoyed this piece of random ramblings. If you would like, follow me on twitter @akadarcee and send me a like on facebook: here. These are the two places that are updated with everything I do, whether its streaming on twitch or posting on youtube. It would also help to subscribe to both of those as well. If you have any questions that you would like me to cover feel free to send them in via facebook, twitter, or email (akadarcee@gmail.com). Catch you guys later.

Gaming News!!

2013-03-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm really not going to keep to any kind of schedule, but I would like to start posting a weekly mash-up of interesting news worthy stories. So... here we go.

Another SWTOR Server Merger

Only this time the Asian servers are merging with the American servers. Bioware community manager, Eric Musco stated that the decision was guided by community feedback. "One common theme from suggestions, which we heard clearly, is that everyone wants the opportunity to play on higher populated servers. With this in mind, we have evaluated all the options and determined that the best solution, that will offer the best long term play experience, is to merge the APAC servers with higher populated North American Servers." No date has been announced for when the merge will happen.

Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada Is Stepping Down

Remember those days where a new title was announced and you knew it was going to be good because you saw the name Square-Enix. Well things have very much changed in the last few years, with the problems that Final Fantasy XIV brought them and how Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution did not meet their sales "expectations." Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is stepping down after thirteen years with the company. So what's next for Square Enix? Twelve year Square Enix employee, Yosuke Matsuda, will be taking his place and hopefully the company will be getting an over-haul.

Counter-Strike Map Resembles A BC School

It's the same story. We have a massive tragedy and the finger pointing begins. If its not guns then it must be video games. But, I'm choosing to not debate this , instead I'm going to tell you about a counter-strike map that was made resembling Port Moody Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada. While there are no students or teachers being killed it still feels a little wrong to me. I don't know if its because the map looks so close to the actual school or if its because the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting is still fresh in my mind. The map's developer has stated that he was working on this project before the December 14th incident and that there are dozens of counter-strike maps that are other schools. "Port Moody Secondary is a great school. We certainly did not single it out for malicious reasons. . . . Its architecture and design is rather ideal for the game’s tactics,” the developer says. During a time where violent video games are again being questioned, something like this feels like its just "fanning the flames." I want to know what you think, debate it out in the comments below.

PAX East Highlights

PAX East was this week, March 22nd - 24th, and there were tons of announcements and highlights. While I didn't get to go (stupid passports), here's some of the announcements that excited me. Bioware announced that they are making a new fictional universe. What do we know about it? Very little, actually. I'll try and keep you posted as more news surfaces. Diablo 3 is coming to PS3 & PS4. Most everyone had already heard that, but there we go it's been announced. I personally found Diablo 3 fun, but boring at the same time. I beat it once and never played it again. The idea, however, of being able to sit on the couch and play it with four of my console gaming friends is kind of intriguing. Blizzard announced their secret project that was not a sequel, expansion, or the rumoured Titan project. While I was really hoping to see Blizzard All Stars, the announcement they made was just as exciting. It's almost what I call a "guilty pleasure" game. You will be able to play the Warcraft trading cards game on your PC, Mac, and iPad. I will be doing a full write up of everything we know on this because there is just too much for right here. Capcom, I think, surprised everyone by announcing the return of... Ducktales!! While similar to the Nintendo version, you are Scrooge McDuck and you are working your way around the world treasure hunting. My son is going to play the crap out of this game!! Again, I will keep you posted as more information surfaces.

That's it for this week. If you have any comments please leave them below. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @akadarcee. I've slowly begun to stream a little more over at twitch.tv/akadarcee and some of highlights are being uploaded to youtube.com/akadarcee, so don't forget to subscribe to those. I just, just made a facebook page, which is pretty empty right now, so head over there and give me a like facebook.com/akadarcee. I also really appreciate it if you have a story you want me to cover. Get a hold of me on twitter, facebook, or send me an email akadarcee@gmail.com. Thanks for reading guys!!

Broken Realm: A Crystal Saga Chronical

2013-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does it feel like all these “new” browser based MMO's are just the same thing over and over again? I'm at a point where I'm barely paying attention to the dialogue/story anymore. I just don't care. It looks the same and it feels the same.

So, let's take a look at Broken Realm by R2games. I had never even heard of this game until I was searching through a list of open betas I'd like to try and the name caught my eye. I scanned their page and really found no information on what the game was about. The most I got from it was that Broken Realm is a medieval-fantasy MMORPG. Upon searching through other pages and scanning other peoples reviews, I now know that it is a follow up to Crystal Saga: Origins. To briefly sum it up, the beloved Queen has died and we now have a new King. We join his army and work our way up to find out everything is not as it seems. I made it 11 minutes in.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have full intentions of playing this game and getting further in. You never know, it could get better.

But, lets forget about my whining and complaining and lets talk game features. Character creation is mediocre, but was exactly what I expected for the type of game. Each class is pre-made. You just click on what you want to be and that is who you are, no custom made dilly-dallying. There are four classes: Barbarian, Archer, Paladin, and Mage, and you can choose to be male or female. I chose to try the paladin.

The graphics are 2.5D, which has been feeling like the trend for browser based games. While I tend to enjoy a more cartoony style, as opposed to realistic graphics, this style of game tends to bore me. I really don't feel like I'm part of the game.

Autopathing!! I've played other games where autopathing felt all right. I could chat on the phone and still quest. I never felt like I was missing out on any story and I still felt involved. In Broken Realm it does not feel right. I think this is because you begin with autopathing already turned on. So, I get into the game and my character is running from quest giver to quest giver and I barely know what's going on. Yes, you can turn it off and I eventually did. As it turns out, you only get one hour of autopathing (as a free to play player).

Combat is pretty straight forward and probably the most fun for me. I just pointed and clicked and my character did the rest, alternating between my various abilities. Before I knew it, I was level 5 and had no idea how I got there. After a bit of research, I discovered that Broken Realm has a high experience gain, so levelling does go by quite quickly. There are dungeons available to explore and I hope to give them a try in the near future. Same goes for their PVP.

What did I enjoy? The music!! It really made the game feel like the medieval-fantasy game it is supposed to be. Not once did I feel the need to turn it off or down a little. While it's not something I'm going to listen to all day, I definitely didn't need to pull up iTunes.

Should you play it? It's free to play, so its not like you'll be out anything but your time. Personally, from what I've read about where the story will take us, I really want to keep my eyes on this game. Perhaps, a few changes will be made that will keep my attention.

If you would like to keep up on any of my reviews, blogs, or just want to hang out then you need to subscribe. Follow me on twitter: @akadarcee, youtube.com/akadarcee, twitch.com/akadarcee and I now have a Facebook page that is pretty dead right now facebook.com/akadarcee. Hopefully, I will be posting, streaming, and making a lot more content for you guys. Thanks for reading!!

Livestream and Random Thoughts!!

2012-11-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys!! It's been a bit since I've really been on here. This year has been crazy for me, and I just haven't found the time to sit down and tell you about the games I'm playing... and refusing to play.

So, my real reason for this post is to tell you about my livestream. I finally got my twitch.tv stream going and you can find it at here. I seem to only be streaming late evening, only because I'm noticing my guild isn't too comfortable with it right now. I am streaming a lot of World of Warcraft because Mists of Pandaria has super, super impressed me and I can't seem to be able to stop playing it. I have re-installed Star Wars (now that its F2P), Warcraft 3 (just as fun as its always been), and I will be taking another poke at League of Legends (so much fun, but I'm really bad).

In other words, please subscribe!!! Thanks for popping back on to my page. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or email me at akadarcee@gmail.com. Don't forget to follow me on twitter: @akadarcee and check out my livestream: twitch.tv/akadarceee (maybe subscribe, too). Catch you all later.

Extra Life: Play Games. Heal Kids

2012-10-19T08:52:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

I'm just taking a moment to let you all know that my friend, Tristin Bueckert, is participating in Extra Life again this year.

Hi everyone!

I just want to say Thank you for taking a moment to read this letter and check out our fundraising page.

I'm on a mission to save kids through video games, and I need your help.

My local Children's Miracle Network Hospital (BC Children's) treats thousands of children each year, regardless of their family's ability to pay. These kids are facing scary stuff like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and injuries from accidents to name just a few.

On Oct. 20th, 2012, I'll attempt to play an epic 24 hour video game marathon and it's my sincere hope that you'll find it in your heart to support me with a monthly pledge or one-time gift that will go directly to my hospital.

Your donation is tax-deductible and ALL PROCEEDS go to help kids.

Last year, Extra Life raised more than 1.2 million dollars to save kids, but in 2012 our goals, just like the needs of the kids we serve, are much, much higher.

I can't do this without your help. Donating online is safe and easy! To make an online donation please click the "Support This Participant" button on this page.

Thank you for caring for our kids!.

Tristin :)

If you are interested in donating to this great cause or would like to more information I've provided the link right here =====> Apocalypse Pwnies Ride Again!

Beta, Beta, Beta!!!

2012-04-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

As you all should know by now, Mists of Pandaria Beta has gone live. There are tons and tons of youtube videos, livestreams, screenshots and info out there.... so I thought I'd start sharing what I have.

I started my beta experience by making a Pandaren Monk for obvious reasons. I would have taken screenshots of the character creation, but it was bugged at the time.

Now, I had decided early on that when the expansion when live I would not be rolling a Panda. My monk was going to be human, and that was that. This was going to be my taste of the Pandaren starting zone. Here's what I logged in to.

That is an overwhelming amount of Panda's. Scratch that... that's an overwhelming amount of Panda's all gathered around the starting quest giver. I seriously moved a few paces and the game crashed. So.... I will revisit the Panda starting zone at a later date.

Currently I am testing out the Jade Forest on Darcee (retribution paladin) and am loving it. The scenery is beautiful and the quests feel all right. I was worried that Blizzard was going to pick up on a few of the newer MMO's questing ideas. I like that it still feels like my Warcraft.

During questing I was noticing that I would stop and stare at the view. It is stunning.

I will keep everyone posted as new content is added. Pet battles have yet to be implemented, and I will for sure be checking that out. I'm going to leave you for now with some "glitch" screenshots. The first one looks as if the ground just hadn't loaded up yet. It was like that for quite some time.

And this last one is a hunter pet glitch. Hunter pets, for whatever reason, are the size of buildings.

Well, that's it for me. As always leave a comment below and follow me on twitter @akadarcee.

Mists of Pandaria!!

2011-10-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of info released for the new expansion. I'm going to dive right into it.

Pandaria

*Single, Unified Continent

*5 new zones
*Influenced by Asian landscape
*Auction House, Bank and Central Questing Hub all in the new continent

*No Flying until max level

Enemy Races:

* Jinyu

* Hozu

* Verming

* Mantid

* Mogu

* Sha

Basically we find Pandaria, which has been shrouded by mist since The Sundering, from a naval battle. We wash up on shore and find this lush land that we can potentially harvest. The starting zone in Pandaria will be the Jade Forest. Horde will wash up at the north and Alliance at the south. We will meet up in the middle. The two races we find here will be the Hozu and the Jinyu. Each faction will try and befriend one of these races, turning the two against each other. Horde will befriend Jinyu and Alliance will befriend Hozu. The Jade Forest will also have an 85-86 dungeon (Temple of the Jade Serpent.

The other zone that they talked about was the "Valley of the Four Winds." This zone acts as two zones for the price of one. You can choose to go South (Coastal Jungle) or go North (Pandaren Farmlands). This is to make questing seem a lot less linear. This zone will also have a dungeon (Stormstout Brewery). It is said that dungeons will have a presence in the zones.

The Pandaren starting area will be on a giant turtle. You will start out as a neutral race, as you complete your first ten levels. At level ten you will then get to choose your faction (Horde or Alliance). This starting zone is already playable, those attending Blizzcon will have the opportunity to try it out.

New Features

New Playable Race: Pandaren

*Classes: Hunter, Mage, Monk, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior

*Racials:

*Bouncy: Reduces fall damage by half.

*Inner Peace: Double Rested XP.

*Gourmond: +15 to cooking.

*Epicurean: Double Stats to Food Buffs.

*Quaking Palm: You touch a secret point on an enemy target putting it to sleep for 3 secs

New Class: Monk

*Races: All can be a monk except for Worgens and Goblins.

*Specs

     -Brewmaster: Tank
     -Mistweaver: Healer (stand up in melee)
     -Windwalker: melee dps

*Not a Hero Class: You will start at level 1

*Martial Arts Based Combat

-Hand and Feet Combat. You will build up to your finishing move that you will use your weapon for.

*There will be lots of monk only animations

*Weapons

-Specializes in Staves and Fist Weapons

-They will also be able to use one handed axes, maces, and swords

-Duel Wielding has not been decided yet.

-Healers will use off-hands.

*You will be leather wearers, relying on agility or intellect.

*Build up your Chi (energy) used for Jab and Roll

*No Auto Attack

*You will have a new bar (currently in the lower middle of your screen).

Talent Changes

There are so many talent changes that I will cover more tonight, but here is a preview. With Cataclysm the talent trees had more pros than cons. You will still start choosing your talents at level ten. To break it down, once you hit level 10 you will choose your spec. I play a paladin, so I would choose Retribution, Protection, or Holy. I will get my first spec ability and will earn additional spec abilities later on. There will only be one talent tree and you will earn talents every 15 levels. For each talent you will have three choices. You will choose one that you want and cannot go back down the tree to get any you missed. There will be no mandatory talents, thus breaking the "cookie cutter" specs. Again, I will go into this more later tonight.

PVE Scenarios

PVE Scenarios will be short instances set up for a few players. This is set up like questing and should take the place of group quests. It will be a staged experience with no player collision. You will queue up for these, much like the dungeon finder but with no role requirement.

Challenge Mode Dungeons

These are time trial versions of dungeons. Upon completing these you will earn bronze, silver, or gold medals. Gear levels will be normalized (skill before gear). You will earn neat new gear rewards with no stats, aka Transmo Gear. You will also get valor points, bragging rights, and your chance to grace the leader board. That's right, there will be a leader board.

Pet Battle System

This is a big one, and as a pet collector I am excited. Think Pokemon: collect, level and fight with your companion pets. This feature will be accessible to all players and it will work with almost every pet currently in the game on top of any new ones added. You will be able to customize your pets, giving them names, abilities, and so on.

There will be wild pets in the world that you will be able to catch. If you find one in the world you can engage it in battle with one of your current pets. If you win, you will add this new pet to your pet journal. Each wild pet will have varying stats, so you may have to catch one several times to find the one you are looking for. They will have unique spawning abilities. Some may spawn at different seasons, different weather conditions, night or day, and so on. For example, there may be a pet available during spring, when it rains at nighttime.

You will be able to build teams, so level multiple pets. You will be able to access your pet journal across your account. You will not need to level multiple pets across multiple toons. What's this pet journal I've mentioned a few times?? It's a new page that allows you to access and customize your current pets. As well, you will be able to look up existing pets and where to get them.

These pets will be tradeable. You will be able to level up and customize a pet and then sell it on the auction house.

There will be PVP and PVE battles and the combat will be turn-based. You will queue up for battles much like dungeons and battlegrounds and you will be placed in battles with players who have equal leveled pets. You will eventually be able to fight battles with a team of three pets.

I mentioned Pokemon because there are so many similarities. Here's another, there will be master's throughout the world. You can battle these masters and if you win they will give you master abilities.

All in all, I feel like this is an exciting new feature that should be a hit.

Dungeons

There will be nine new dungeons upon launch, six of which will be in Pandaria. There will also be heroic updates of old dungeons: Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery (completely redone).

Raids

There will be three new epic raids at launch. All three raids can be accessed through the raid finder in normal or heroic difficulty. On top of raids, World Raid Bosses will be returning. This is to get us out of Stormwind and Orgimmar and into the world again.

Questing

There will be more max. level content available with multiple hubs and extra incentives for dungeon lovers and raiders (I am assuming pvp'ers as well). The example given was complete five daily quests and get a buff. This buff in a dungeon will allow you to drop a piece of gear that only people with this buff can see.

As I mentioned before, there will be no flying until max. level in Pandaria. This will be so you can experience much more of the world instead of swooping in, killing your quest target and flying out. You will have more quest choices so that your questing does not feel as linear as it did in previous expansions. There will also be an improvement in factions, making the reputation much less grindy and little more fun.

PVP

There will be new battlegrounds added in this expansion.

*Stranglethorn Diamond Mines - Payload Style Battleground

-escort mine carts to depots

-there will be multiple tracks

-first to x amount of resources wins.

*Valley of Power - Murderball Style Battleground

-Capture the artifact

-Holding the artifact will earn you points

-Certain zones will earn you multiple points

-The artifact will do damage and over time the damage will increase.

-I immediately thought of Rift...anyone else??

*Azshara Crater - Dota Style Battleground

-So, I have kids so I'm not sure if I missed what they said about this or they just didn't say anything. I will look further into it.

*Tol'vir Proving Grounds - Arena

-Based on the popular Nagrand Arena.

Achievements

New achievements will be available including account wide achievements. Think of an achievement to get every profession to max level.

Class Changes

*Hunter minimum range: GONE
*Hunter Melee weapon: GONE
*Hunters have gone from everything is a hunter weapon to nothing is a hunter weapon.
*Ranged Slots: GONE
*Relics: GONE
*Rogues and warrior will throw their weapons when they need to.
*Wands will become main hand weapons.

I will go further into more class changes later tonight, but here is what I have so far.

Warlock Changes
   *unique resource for each spec
     -Affliction: Soul Shards
     -Demonology: Demonic Fury. Build it up and morph into a demon.
     -Destruction: Infernal Embers. As you build it up you will get hotter and hotter. At full you will catch fire and nuke your enemies.

Shaman Changes
   *Buff Totems: GONE
    -All totems will be utility
      -Earthgrab Totem: Roots
    -Repulsion Totem: Repels
      -Bulwark Totem: Absorb

Druid Changes:
Druids always felt like they had four classes, so now they do.
*Feral (Cat)
*Guardian (Bear)
There will be some overlapping between these two classes, but they are now separate from each other. All druids will still have cat and bear form.

All classes
*Spell books will be cleaned up.
*Spell rotations will be improved
*Spells will be automatically learned
*Introduction of several new spells
*Specs will be more developed
*Talent trees will be more fun!!

Believe it or not, this is just a portion of the information on Mists of Pandaria that is being release at Blizzcon. Stay tuned, I will bring you more.

Blizzcon!!!

2011-10-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Chris Metzen has confirmed that "Mists of Pandaria" will be the next Warcraft expansion. Level cap will be increased from 85 to 90. We will get a new playable race, Pandaren, which will be shared among both Horde and Alliance. From what I understand, you will get to choose which faction you want in your journey through the Pandaren starting zone. We will be getting a new Monk class, which I will admit I've been looking forward to for an extremely long time. For everyone looking forward to Brewmaster, it's sounding like that may be a subclass (maybe to spec into).

Racial abilities will be:

Bouncy: reduces fall damage by half.
Inner peace: double rested XP.
Gourmond: +15 to cooking.
Epicurean: double stats to food buffs.

We will be getting a new continent, Pandaria. There will be new talent systems, pet battle systems, PVE scenerios, and challenge mode dungeons.

There will not be a new "evil" bad guy that we need to stop because this time round the enemies are the Horde and the Alliance. That's right it is WAR!!

I will keep you all posted as I learn more!! Happy Blizzcon everyone!!

Extra-Life

2011-10-13T22:27:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

Help me get in the game!

I'm raising money and awareness for my local Children's Miracle Network Hospital.

On Oct. 15, 2011, I'll attempt to play video games for 24 hours straight in hopes you'll support me by giving just $1 per hour ($24 total).

Your donation is tax-deductible and 100 percent of your gift goes to help kids.

My fellow Extra Life gamers and I are going to make miracles happen for kids. I can't reach my goal without your support. Any contribution will help, and all donations are tax deductible. Donating online is safe and easy! To make an online donation please click the "Support This Participant" button on this page.

Thank you for your time, support and participation.

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&eventID=501&participantID=26012

Summer

2011-05-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

I'm finding it difficult, with my newborn and my 3 year old, to stick with my Tuesday and Thursday schedule during the summer. I'm going to put my schedule aside until the fall and just put out reviews and blog posts when I find a moment.

Thank you for being understanding.

~~*Darcee*~~

Taking A Week Off

2011-05-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Between a teething baby and family coming to town today I've had no time to actually work on a proper post. However, I did find the time to do this: http://youtu.be/jiVlEvBslJk

ENJOY!!

I did have some issues with this video... the program I used told me after I was done that it could only be 2 mins. long. I worked really hard on the video, so I didn't want to shorten it. I decided I would Hypercam it; unfortunately, that led to skipping and some freezes. Take it as it is, though.

Have a great weekend... play some LA Noire (It looks awesome).

That Was Left Out.... Why?

2011-05-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

This week, due to my irritating issues with Black Prophecy, I’ve decided to talk (more question) about game designing that doesn’t make sense for us (gamers) in 2011. If you never read Tueday’s review go take a look right now; I will be bringing it up.

Key functions being left out

I have yet to find a good review for Final Fantasy XIV (highest being 2 out of 5 stars), but the main reason I’m bringing it up is the lack of “jump.” For a game being released this day and age it makes no sense to leave out something (although minor) that prevents you from getting stuck on the terrain. There is nothing more irritating than running, running, running and, BAM, you’re stuck on a flower pot. Other games you could just jump over it and carry on. This game had far too many complaints to discuss here (lack of containers, targeting, lack of auction, copy pasted terrain). It blows my mind that a company, with so many hits, would put their name to this game with all of its faults.

Don’t hate me for this, but I’m bringing up Star Wars The Old Republic. We’ve been hearing about all the money going into this game and all the amazing features it will have; then I hear this: SWTOR will not have swimming. It’s said that you can wade out into the water and a message will flash on your screen telling you to turn around or you will drown. While the lack of “underwater combat” makes me happy I do not like that my Jedi cannot swim. Many people will argue that lightsabres don’t work underwater which is understandable (Kit Fisto’s did) but that shouldn’t stop a Jedi from being able to swim. One of my biggest pet peeves in many single player games was falling into water and drowning because I couldn’t swim.

Mac vs. PC

At this point, with so many gamers spread between the two systems, our games need to be released for both. Console gamers have these options (as long as designers didn’t sign on exclusively with one console) why don’t we? World of Tanks did not release for Macs and Nexon announced that they had no intentions of releasing their games for the other system. This seems strange to me and leaves me with no intentions of ever owning a Mac. For more on the state of Mac gaming I suggest reading an article posted on Macworld: http://www.macworld.com/article/157700/2011/02/stateofmacgaming.html.

Graphics are too high for a regular gamers system

There is no need for a game to be that awesome to look at if no one will be able to play it. If you read Tuesday’s review you’d know my problem with Black Prophecy. The short story, my computer (a year old) did not meet the system requirements to run Black Prophecy. I am not about to run out and buy a whole new system to play your little space game no matter how awesome your character creator is. I could play EVE or Star Trek and get my space MMO fix.

Why are these games leaving out these attributes? I recall a month ago being so excited for ARGO online; only to log in and find that I can't play because there is no inverted y-axis. Company's are wondering why it's so hard for a new MMO to make it in the market, it's because the older games we have did almost everything right that everyone can play.

That's it for me the this week. You can follow me on twitter @akaDarcee and don't forget to leave comments below. Share with us your biggest disappointment in a game that you could not play or lacked something you enjoyed. I'll be back on Tuesday with a game that (hopefully) lets me play it.

Backyard Monsters Review

2011-05-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

All right guys, I decided this week I would do something a little bit different and review some "guilty pleasure" games (as I call them). These are small games found on social networks like FaceBook that many people do not want to admit they play (or like them). This weeks "guilty pleasure" game is "Backyard Monsters" by Critters. It is a strategy game allowing you to build the best (and well defended) monster city... while destroying other people's cities.

First off, Backyard Monsters is not like most FaceBook games (relying on your friends to play in order to advance); although friends can help you with reducing your upgrading times and can send you gifts. You do have the option (like most FaceBook games) to buy the "special currency." Backyard Monsters uses "shiny's" as their currency. You can pick mushrooms around your backyard (I guess that's what it would be called) and have a chance at finding shiny's, or you can just buy them.
14,000 Shiny for $99.99
6,000 Shiny for $49.99
2,200 Shiny for $19.99
1,000 Shiny for $9.99
550 Shiny for $5.99
200 Shiny for $2.99

Shiny's are used for buying your grunt workers, increasing your building area, finishing upgrades or buildings, or buying special decorations to customize your backyard.

Once logging in you begin the tutorial. You have one worker and a few buildings. The tutorial explains about collecting resources, upgrading buildings (using shiny's to make upgrading instant), building new buildings (using shiny's to make building instant), being attacked, defending and how to strike back, and making new monsters. By the time the tutorial is done you will be level 5 and will have 7 days of protections from any enemy player's attacks to build your city, prepare defenses, and build an army. If you decide to attack anyone before your protection is up you will lose that protection.

Backyard Monsters is definitely a game to check out. I find myself playing it Tuesday morning while WoW server's are down or sometimes to pass the time on those long flights across Azeroth. I find myself building the best army I can possibly build to destroy other people's cities (taking their recourses for my own). Definitely a rainy day boredom filler.

Tell me what your "guilty pleasure" game is or what you think with comments below or follow me on twitter @akadarcee. I will be back on Thursday with my "Tidbits of Interest."

Black Prophecy Review (Kinda)

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

After several weeks of fighting with it, I finally decided to give you my review of Black Prophecy by Gamigo. Videos, screenshots, and other reviews for this game made it look fairly entertaining. I was excited to get to try their character creator which I was under the impression was remarkable. However, here’s my Black Prophecy experience.

I logged into Gamigo’s site, made my account, and entered in my beta key. I downloaded their beta client (which for some reason took forever) and began the install. I believe it was about two days later before I actually got to log in. Apparently my year old system did not meet the requirements to run said game. I cried “BS” and re-installed the game several more times only to have the same outcome. I then deleted the beta client and re-installed it, to no avail. Finally in frustration, I took several days off to work on more fulfilling projects (“Free Gary”). I went to re-download the beta client only to find that my account no longer works. I had my password reset and new one sent to me, but the site will not recognize this new password that they generated. Even though I never got to experience the game doesn’t mean that you will have the same issues I did, so here are some other reviews of the game from people who did get to play.

MMO Reviews gave Black Prophecy 3.86 out of 5 stars. There review can be accessed here: http://www.mmoreviews.com/black-prophecy/

Mike B showed off the character creator on the BFF Report along with some gameplay.

Outpost Gamez gave Black Prophecy a 7 out of 10. Here's what they had to say: http://www.outpostgamez.com/outpostgamez/top-stories/656-opg-black-prophecy-review.html

Here is a video from MMOReviews:

Hopefully my problem with Black Prophecy gets resolved so that I can give them a proper review (maybe when it goes live). That will be it from me until Thursday. Please feel free to leave comments or even a little something about your experience with Black Prophecy. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @akadarcee.

Gary Gannon Update!!

2011-05-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

Late last night two YouTube videos were released. They were placed unlisted on the popular video site, so only accessible if you have the link. Here is the link to the first video:
http://youtu.be/2vLIoQfLM3I

New theories of sprung up about what may have happened to Gary. The most popular is that Blizzard led by Bashiok took out the studio and captured our beloved ginger. A few fans have made mention that Gary jested of being involved in the Sony Online Entertainment hacking, and they are the ones behind all this. New reports say that Darnell, the host of BlizzBlues, has been behind this incident all along. After the second YouTube video emerged (http://youtu.be/VVAQsIp0mQ8), fans have been wondering, "is Darnell really the captor?" "Has Blizzard taken him as well?" or "Is he there to save Gary and clear his name?"

Gary's fans have been doing as much as they can to find their beloved host using whatever tools they possess (websites, blogsites, forum posts).

News of Gary's disappearance has reached the popular Trion MMO, Rift. A forum post was found entiltled "Gary Gannon is missing! Help!" I've provided a list of current (known) forum posts involving the disappearance of Gary Gannon:
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?182703-Gary-Gannon-is-missing!-HELP!
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2483748474 (Blizzard removed our first one)

We hope to hear word from the Gamebreaker crew soon, as Sunday is fast approaching, and we need our Republic, TWIMMO, and Sanctum fixes. If you have any information you may leave comments below, post at http://freegarygannon.tumblr.com/, or contact @irljasmine, @akamikeb, @devolore. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @akadarcee. I will try to keep everyone updated.

Legendary Episode #27 http://blip.tv/file/5103455

SOE Hacked, Blizzard's Patch 4.2, and More...

2011-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

What’s made the MMO news this week? From Sony Online Entertainment’s hackers to Warcraft’s Patch 4.2 notes, this week has been full of interesting events that I just could not leave untouched.

Sony Online Entertainment: Hacked??

...that’s right you heard correctly. April 20^th, Sony noticed an attack on their servers, but never reported it for two days. Their customers were finally notified April 26^th. SOE went offline (forums, games, etc.) due to their player’s personal information being compromised. Some of the stolen information included: names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, login names and passwords, and birthdates. Those customers that had any credit card or debit card information stolen were contacted (from what I understand they were all non-US customers).

However, it doesn’t end there, Sony informed the public this week the hackers acquired more information from approximately 24.6 million customer accounts. These accounts contained an estimated 12 700 credit card and debit card numbers.

How will this attack affect you?

This is an extremely difficult problem. Information that can lead to fraud and scams has been taken, along with credit card information. Due to the servers being offline, customers cannot access their accounts to change any of their information. One thing customer’s need to do is change password and information on their other (non Sony) accounts. As many people use the same passwords and login information on other accounts, hackers will be able to infiltrate other online sites/services. Customer’s need to be wary of anyone saying they are from their banks or other trustworthy companies. As always, never give out any personal information (pins, account numbers) over the phone or email. Lastly, check and recheck all credit card statements to make sure you are not the target of credit card fraud.

A release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic??

Yesterday (May the Fourth be with you), financial reports from EA were released which included an approximate release date for, the much anticipated MMO, “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” The report stated that SWTOR would be released Q2 FY12 or Q3 FY12 which means sometime between September and December of this year. I’ve provided the link to their financial report if you are interested http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=574530.

APB: Reloaded Open Beta

APB has announced that open beta will begin May 18^th. Various features will be fixed and ready to go for open beta, along with new items. As I did not get into closed beta, I am looking forward to having my try before launch date. As for those pesky aimbotters, changes will be made to the game prior to open beta launching. Goodbye cheaters, you will not be missed.

Lots and Lots and Lots of Blizzard News

Blizzard announced that a new vanity pet will be available in their online pet store. The Cenarian Hatchling will cost players $10.00 USD and 100% of the proceeds, from now until July 31^st, will go towards the Japan Earthquake Relief. The Cenarian Hatchling is a replica of the rare Hippogryph Hatchling obtained through the Warcraft trading cards. Help support the Red Cross by purchasing your Cenarian hippogryph today.

As well, information for Patch 4.2 was released all this week. New quest lines, Firelands info, and the highly anticipated Legendary weapon were one at a time posted for viewers to read and begin flooding the forums with their complaints. Probably the largest complaint was that the newest raid, Firelands, would only have seven bosses. The forums lit up with angry posts and Bashiok was there to “calm” them down with his replies that made very little sense. I believe what he was trying to convey was that Blizzard tried to make challenging and entertaining boss fights; therefore, only seven bosses were needed. However, it took him several posts and many angry players to express this.

Caster DPS players were ecstatic to learn that the new legendary weapon was a DPS staff, Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest. It will be the end reward to an epic quest line involving the blue dragonflight appointing a new leader (Malygos met his demise in Wrath of the Lich King). This quest line is said to need guild involvement and your guild mates will receive a special vanity pet once a guildy receives their shiny new staff.

That’s it from me this week. If you would like to leave a comment feel free to do so below. Follow me on twitter @akadarcee or keep checking back Tuesdays and Thursdays for new posts.

Breaking News!!

2011-05-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last night during the live show of Legendary, it is assumed, Blizzard’s raid on the Gamebreaker Studio went live. Gamebreaker’s fearless leader, Gary Gannon, has yet to be heard from and it is alleged that he has been taken captive by the Blizzard team lead by Bashiok. Twitter, Facebook, and the Warcraft forums went wild with demands to “Free Gary.”

Several loyal orc fans occupied Garrosh Hellscreams chambers chanting “Free Gary, Save the Nuggz” until the wee hours of the morning.

“Bashiok and Blizzard think we’re weak. A broken gaming community. They think we’ll roll over like a dog. How wrong they are. We will fight them in the forums until the last thread collapses and the last poster is silenced. We will fight the……m on the servers until the last /shout is done. And when there is no more /shouting we will crush their minds with trade chat. We will fight them in the internets until our fingers are bruised and bloody and our keyboards lay on the floor shattered. And if we find ourselves surrounded and disconnected…silenced and without hope…we will lift our heads in defiance and spit in their faces. But we will…NEVER STOP!!! FOR BTV!!! FREE GARY GANNON!!!!!!!” Legendary3437, May 4, 2011

No report yet on the whereabouts of Gannon, but it is assured that his fans will not rest until they get the remainder of their Legendary episode. MikeB aka Fony and Lore have gone into hiding fearing that they are next. If anyone has seen or heard from Gary Gannon please contact us on the WoW forums http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2456451310?page=1, http://freegarygannon.tumblr.com/, follow me on twitter @akadarcee, or leave your comments below.

Super Hero Squad Online Review

2011-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online (by Gazillion Inc.) said goodbye to closed beta and has opened its arms to anyone wishing to give their game a try. I immediately jumped on the opportunity, (not having the good fortune to get into closed beta) and both myself and my son (3 years old) created our accounts. This game actually intrigued me, as it is an MMO geared towards ages 4-6. There is a safe chat filter and there are moderators that do look over chat logs. Super Hero Squad Online states that they are COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliant and are part of the ESRB Safe Harbour program.

Safe Chat Feature

Super Hero Squad Online has two types of chat to keep your children safe. The first is the Safe Chat which goes through strict filtering and phrasing and is only accessible if authorized by parents. Personal information is not allowed to be shared. They have assured that even though you may see something you have written doesn’t mean everyone else did. The second type of chat is the menu chat consisting of pre-created messages and emotes open to everyone. For more on keeping your children safe I strongly suggest reading the “Parents” section at www.heroup.com.

Gameplay

Super Hero Squad Online is a browser based game (only needing a minor download), but you would never know it graphics wise. The graphics stay true to the TV series: cartoony and cute. Keeping in mind that this MMO is meant for children, the gameplay was fairly simple. Players use their mouse for pretty much everything (very little keyboard use). You click to run, click to fight, you get the picture. My son was not familiar with playing with a mouse, but after his first day he had it figured out. You begin with a tutorial that goes over everything you will need to know. You begin by choosing your character (Cyclops or Ms. Marvel). They then go into moving around and defeating enemies (earning tickets for the prize wheel). Next, you get a crack at the prize wheel (1 ticket per spin); winning either items for your HQ or silver (gold for members). You then are shown how to purchase new heroes (in this case Falcon and Thing) and how to switch from hero to hero. Finally you are shown how to access missions.

Once you find yourself in a mission, you’ll see just how simplistic the game really is. You continuously left click on your enemy and build up star points. Star points allow you to use your special abilities by right clicking on your enemy. When you have all your stars lit up, you may use your Hero Up ability. It is a large attack dealing multiple damage to all enemies around you. Each mission has two stages and then a boss fight. The boss fights were (in my opinion) super difficult. I had the hardest time completing them without dying a gazillion times. If I couldn’t beat them than no 6 year old could.

I found dying in game somewhat interesting. As of right now, there is absolutely no death penalty. When you die you are reincarnated right where you were (full health, no star points) and can continue on. My son tested this out rather well having started a mission and then leaving to go watch TV. Enemies attacked and killed him repeatedly for several hours before I finally turned it off.

Free To Play, Subscription, Micro-transactions?

Super Hero Squad Online is available to all as a free to play MMO; however, you do not have access to everything in the game. There is a monthly subscription of $9.95 a month that allows you to earn gold from the prize wheel and gives you access to purchase heroes not available to the free to play gamer. I’ve also been informed that there will be Micro-transactions as well, allowing you to purchase in-game currency.

Is Super Hero Squad Online worth trying?

If you (or your child) are a fan of the TV series and a collector of the action figures, I highly recommend trying the game out. As there is no need to subscribe, give the game a trial run and see how you like it. My son loved the game, so this week we are definitely purchasing a subscription for him.

Please feel free to leave a comment below or follow me on twitter @akadarcee. Check back in Thursday for my weekly "Tidbits of Interest" or wait until next week for the next review (so many to choose from).

Patch 4.1.0

2011-04-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

This week patch 4.1.0 went live, and I figured this would be a good time to discuss some of the newest changes and features. This is a fairly large patch; a lot of new content and elements were introduced. If you haven’t read the patch notes yet, you should probably get on that (http://www.wowhead.com/patchnotes=4.1.0).

Rise of the Zandalari

The days when great troll empires stretched across ancient Kalimdor are long past. Millennia of war and internal strife have stripped these nations of their power, lands, and glory. As Azeroth recovers from the destruction of the Cataclysm, the world's divided troll populations face a bleak future. These dark times have spurred the trolls of the Zandalar, the historically wise and scholarly tribe from which all trolls originated, to take drastic action. They have embarked on a bold crusade to save their race by uniting trolls into a single mighty empire. With the Zandalari's aid, the fallen capitals of the Gurubashi and Amani nations—Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman—are already rebuilding, replenishing their forces for a bloody campaign to expand their territories.

Yet Vol'jin and his Darkspear trolls are not aligned with the Zandalari. They have sworn to stand with their Horde comrades—and even work with the Alliance—should the trolls ignite a new war on Azeroth. Soon, Vol'jin might be forced to act on his promise, for if the Gurubashi and Amani are left to their own devices, the world will know the legendary strength and savagery of the ancient troll empires once again.

When it was first announced that Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman would be returning as 5-player heroic dungeons I was so excited. I never had the chance to complete Zul’Gurub has a level 60 raid until and only had one opportunity to try Zul’Aman which ended horribly. I thought it was an intelligent move on Blizzards part announcing the come-back of these two amazingly popular raids back as heroics just in time for Rift’s big launch. So, naturally, I was shocked when this news didn’t go over well with the rest of the Warcraft population.

Is this yet another issue of Blizzard re-hashing content?

Just because these new heroics share the same name as the old raids doesn’t necessarily mean that Blizzard repackaged them up for you. If you do the new Stranglethorn content (starting from Northern Stranglethorn and working your way to Southern Stranglethorn) you will wind up doing the chain quest that briefly sends you back into Zul’Gurub. This new storyline is why we are returning. The gear that drops has such a high item level to help get players ready for Firelands (4.2.0). For more info on the Rise of the Zandalari, I’ve posted the link to Blizzard’s explanation http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2514161#blog as well as a trailer http://youtu.be/AfoCq-RssLk.

Call to Arms: Dungeon Finder

On April 7^th, 2011 Blizzard announced their newest feature in Patch 4.1, Call to Arms for the dungeon finder. It is designed to entice players to fill the rolls most needed at the time to lower queue times by awarding them with a bag of items (Satchel of Exotic Mysteries) upon completion of any random level 85 heroic dungeon.

Here’s how it will work. If the queue times are lengthy the Call to Arms function will take effect. It determines which class is needed the most (Call to Arms – Tank, Call to Arms – Healer, and (I’m laughing while I type this one) Call to Arms – DPS). To qualify you must queue alone and complete the level 85 heroic dungeon. The bag of goodies will contain gold, but may also include a rare gem, flasks or potions, vanity pets, or even a rare mount. These rare mounts are strictly dungeon drop mounts such as the Deathcharger’s Reins from Strattholme.

What’s with all the complaining?

As a natural product of every Blizzard announcement, the amount of complaining went through the roof. DPS everywhere are outraged that Blizzard has “forgotten” them even though this Call to Arms dungeon finder is made specifically to help them. I say, at least, give this new feature a chance before complaining about it. The first week or two may be challenging with a flood of DPS queuing up to tank, but eventually these “new fail tanks” will either get better or will quit trying. If this is still a huge problem for you as a DPS that you are missing out on rare mounts and so on, roll a tank and give it a shot. You may actually enjoy the tanking experience, and (on the plus side) the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries is bind on account. Therefore, your DPS that you are trying to earn the mounts on can still have the chance.

Guild Challenges

Guild challenges are new ways for your guild members to work together. Your guild will have all week to try and complete each challenge (and it is optional) to earn your guild more experience, gold for your guild bank, and achievements. From what I understand you will receive credit for completing any dungeon or raid (no matter the skill level) but your rewards will scale. For your guild to qualify for the guild challenge the party must be made up of the proper amount of guild members. For instance 5-man dungeons should have at least 3 guild members present to receive the credit (8 members for 10-mans and 20 for 25-mans). Your guild must also be level 5 and higher to be eligible.

What if your guild doesn’t need the experience?

Blizzard is well aware that some guild’s have already hit the level 25 cap on experience. These guilds will receive extra gold (on top of what they earned initially) for their guild banks. This way these guilds will still benefit from guild challenges. If your guild manages to hit the daily cap on experience, guild challenges will push past the cap.

Guild Finder

The guild finder is designed to be an efficient way of finding new guilds or recruiting players for an already existing guild. It is a step in the right direction; however, it’s not quite where most players would want it. What would have been useful is to include cross-realm guilds as well for those hardcore players willing to realm transfer for a better guild experience.

Usually I would have a question here, but I have decided to post something I saw in the Patch 4.1 Guild Finder comments.

A player who went by Geørge wrote that he wished their was a guild hall, or a place where guild members could meet and interact. It was then expanded further by a player named Argusius. He stated that the guild hall should be a phased out area for guild members. There should be things like boss simulations and training rooms. Imagine what that would do to the game. I would love to have a feature where i could go and practise said boss without looking like a noob. It seems like such a clever idea. Maybe one day (fingers crossed).

These were just a few of the many changes that occurred in patch 4.1.0, so please go and read the full patch notes. Your character may have had a big change that you don’t know about yet. Thanks for reading. As always I urge you to post your comments below and follow me on twitter @akadarcee. This week I’m testing several really great games, so look out for that.

Darkspore Review

2011-04-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Described as Diablo in space, Darkspore (the sequel to the popular PC game Spore) arrived on the shelves today. Although not considered to be an MMO, it does display a lot of similar features in regard to their multiplayer and PvP aspects.

There is no character creation, you are given a hero known as a “living weapon” to play initially, and may eventually earn up to a hundred different heroes. The living weapons are separated into three classes and five different genetic groups. The classes are:

1. Sentinel: Slow but possess great defences and melee power

2. Ravager: Balanced in both stats and speed

3. Tempest: Ranged and Support

The genetic groups include:

1. Plasma: Fire and electricity

2. Quantum: Time-space and matter

3. Bio: Plants, animals, poisons, and life

4. Cyber: Bullets and energy beams

5. Necro : Death, darkness, fear, souls, and the twisting reality

You may have three living weapons to play in each level and may alternate between them at anytime pending the cool-down after each switch. The heroes all have a basic attack you use by left-clicking your mouse, and have five other abilities that can be used by pressing the corresponding number keys (1-5). Abilities one and two are your current hero’s powers, while three to five are your shared abilities between your party avatars.

The character editor was one of my favorite highlights in the game. You use it to equip body parts, armor, and weapons. Unless specified the different gear can be placed anywhere on your hero’s body and resized to your liking.

As well you may customize each living weapon to your liking. My heroes ended up being bright pinks and purples in a variety of different patterns. This editor could be described as an improved form of the editor from Spore.

While single player game-play was fun, the real attraction is the co-op mode. You and four friends may play through the Darkspore campaigns with three heroes per person. Test out different strategies and group make-ups while you battle your way through the Darkspore storyline. As this game was designed with multi-player being a huge part, the encounters were made to scale in difficulty. For instance, the more players you bring along the more enemies will be attacking. As well, there are special creatures meant to delay you on your journey.

At level ten you unlock the PvP feature. This aspect of the game seemed to be much like arena matches (1v1 and 2v2). You (along with your three heroes) may go up against other player's heroes. These matches seemed to be fairly challenging from all the different combinations of heroes you can put together. To win, one team must defeat all three of their opponents living weapons. A leader board and ranking will be implemented and I have heard that players may bet various parts (gear) or some of the heroes they have unlocked on the battle.

Darkspore is an overall solid game. I would definitely recommend you and a couple friends go pick up the game and burn through some co-op. Don’t forget to tell me what you think by commenting below or follow me on twitter @akadarcee.