Werit

Werit Visits Aion

2009-07-03T07:22:00.003-04:00

I was able to play Aion a bit yesterday. I can't say too much about the game though as I am still in the starter area. It is pretty much what you would expect in a MMO starter area. Combat is pretty smooth, gameplay is what you've seen before (so far).

I tried to make my character look like a Dwarf. Might have better luck on the good side of things though.

Below is some video I took. It includes combat, scenery, the personal store, skills and more. I suggest watching it on Full Screen so you can read the text.

Direct Link.

Aion Video Requests?

2009-07-02T11:58:00.003-04:00

I happen to have an Aion Beta Key, so I will be checking out the game a bit this weekend. While I am not too excited about the game, it does look like it is worth trying out. This beta event does not include the Abyss, which is what I am interested in. But I'll putt around and explore a bit of what Aion has to offer.

I'll have Fraps handy, so if there is anything you would like to see let me know.

Don't cross the streams

2009-07-02T06:12:00.002-04:00

This isn't another Ghostbusters post. The next big thing to come down the pipe in gaming looks to be these streaming services, OnLive and Gaikai. I know, cutting edge topic. This video brought on my interest.

Let's assume for a moment that both services work as described. I don't think they will work as well as their marketing would have you believe but let's say they do. You can play nearly any game without a download just using a web browser or their client. Lag is not an issue.

Would you be interested in the service?

I'm not sure I would be. It sounds great at first, but there are a lot of unanswered questions.

Pricing. Would this be a subscription service? Will all these game publishers be on-board with that sort of pricing? Seems to me they like the 1 copy == 1 license model. There would have to be some kind of volume license agreement going on. You'll still have to pay MMO subscription fee's on top of any service subscription fee too.

Bandwidth. Gaikai, on average, uses up about 1mBit a second. If you play 60 hours a month, that comes out to 27 gigabytes of traffic just from gaming. In this age of bandwidth caps, who knows what will happen. Also, network issues can happen anywhere down the line which can degrade your performance. This would be quite frustrating for a single player game.

Publisher Support. You know not every publisher will sign up for this service (or allow it). You will still need a computer that can play their games. If not, you will be at the mercy of OnLive or Gaikai for what games you can play.

Support. Will that game launching today be available on the service today? Will WoW 3.2 be patched and ready to go when I want to play? Again you are at the mercy of the service.

Add-Ons. Mod's and add-ons are popular these days. I think this is actually a pretty simple issue for these companies to solve, so I expect them to support it.

Overall, these types of services just sound too restrictive to me. I don't want to be waiting on them to do something.

In a galaxy not so far away

2009-07-01T06:37:00.003-04:00

Recently, my interest in Star Wars Galaxies was piqued by Fan Faire. I have always liked SWG, but whether or not I want to play ebbs and flows. One, it is Star Wars and Two, it does have a lot going for it.

At Fan Faire, they announced the new Chronicle system. It is similar in concept to Ryzom's Ring and CoX's Mission Architect; User-Generated Content. SWG has been doing user-generated content in the form of the Storyteller system for years, so this is the next big step.

The Chronicle system allows players to build their own quests. It doesn't seem to use an instancing system, instead it uses what the game already has available. The quest is given through an object, which you can likely put on your vendor. You can also choose iconic Star Wars figure to be the quest givers. So Darth Vader can message the player and tell him what to do.

The Quests can be crafting, killing, PvP and more. You can even create a quest drop and specify its drop rate on existing npc's. Lets not forget the rewards either. There is a special Chronicle loot table, XP and custom rewards. The custom rewards are ones that you provide. You can check out screenshots of the system here.

Another topic of Fan Faire was the Galactic Civil War, Rebels versus Empire. The developers have many ideas but would not commit to anything just yet. Let's hope they do, as the struggle between the two factions is a big part of Star Wars.

Recently, SWG also brought back battlefields. They had something similar a long time ago (before WoW) but it went away. These are open world fields where a set amount of players fight it out over objectives. It is similar to being instanced in that the population is limited, but it is not separate from the rest of the world.

Unlike some other games (Vanguard and PotBS), SWG had a pretty decent showing. That should speak well for its future, even if stiff competition is on the way. There is room for both games, as they are going to be quite different from each other. I do think SWG will need a face-lift in the coming years to hang on though.

It turns out SWG had a free trial so I was able to log in and hang out a bit. My server was more crowded thanks to the free server transfers. I walked around a bit, looked at some of the new houses (which are SWEET) and did some of the Empire Day event.

Here is a compilation of the video I took.

Direct Link.

Aion: Fighting in the Abyss

2009-06-30T12:25:00.005-04:00

As a fan of PvP and RvR, I can't help but keep an eye on Aion. Today I did some reading and watching about life in the Abyss. It has similarities with other games like WAR, but is also different.

Keep Sieges. The keep siege system looks very similar to WAR. The door is the main line of the defense. Attackers must break down the door using their abilities or siege weapons. The door is healed through a device inside the keep. Flying into the keep is generally a bad idea as there is a damaging field. This field can be turned off once you break through the doors. Once in you kill a boss and the castle is yours. To watch the tutorial video's, check out this thread.

I've also read that there are no incentives for holding a keep, so keep trading is rampant on existing servers. If it is true, that would be a real shame.

Artifacts. There are a number of area effecting artifacts in the game. They are captured from special npc-guarded locations throughout the abyss. It almost sounds like some of them are 1-time use, tough to tell right now. They don't seemed to be tied to keeps/forts at all.

Mobile Rez. You can carry a kisk (mobile obelisk) around with you that will act as a respawn point. Only a limited amount of players can bind to it and it can be destroyed. No more long walks back to the fight, but it could also mean perpetual life in a way. I'd have to see it in practice, but it is interesting.

Hero System. A select amount of players on each side will be able to become Guardians/Heroes. This turns them into a raid boss with special skills (and some restrictions). Only the top tier of players will be able to turn into these of course. These players will be worth more Abyss Points, but will be able to take on many players by themselves as well. I don't know how well this will work out but it's something different. See this thread for more info.

For a video of a Cleric as a Hero/Guardian, check this out. They get a powerful heal... so you can imagine what happens.

Zerg On. One of the biggest complains about WAR is that it is all about the Zerg. Nevermind the fact that all PvP, except those who activly choose not to, degenerates into a zerg. Aion's engine seems to allow Zerg on a scale yet unseen. See this video. Names are still on, but characters are not visible. We'll have to wait and see what it will be like in game.

Collision. Aion doesn't appear to have any player collision detection. It probably helps their engine, but I liked it in WAR. It gives tanks a good purpose in keep defense.

What about the Twinkie?

2009-06-30T06:21:00.003-04:00

A couple weeks ago I got my hands on Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the XBox 360. I've been a Ghostbusters fan for a long time and was looking forward to the game. The previous efforts were not bad at all, but it has been a while since a new Ghostbusters game came out. I figured I should post some kind of review for it.

Here is what you need to know about the game:

Story. Written by Aykroyd and Ramis. Takes you to a lot of places in the original Ghostbusters films but adds a lot more detail.

Graphics. I was very surprised with how good the graphics are. They are top notch in many places.

Gameplay. Using your proton pack is tough at first, but once you buy some upgrades it becomes much more fun.

Voice Acting. All the original Ghostbusters are back and so are a lot of the supporting cast (no Moranis). It does add a lot to the game for me, as the actors are a big part of why the movie was good.

Multiplayer. There is a Multiplayer element and it is pretty neat. I would buy the game for it, but it is there.

Replay. There are hidden items to find, but the replay value isn't very high.

Ghostbusters. The developers spent a lot of time making this feel like the Ghostbusters world. There are so many small details from the movie in the game. They didn't stop there as they expanded the lore. From sliding down the pole, to the ball room at the hotel, it's all there.

I think it is a great game. The bottom line is, if you are a fan of Ghostbusters then get this game. At least rent it, it is certainly worth the money.

Return of the Producers Letter: Part 1

2009-06-29T06:51:00.004-04:00

Mythic posted Part 3 of their Producer Letter series. Trilogies seem to be still in vogue. It contains the normal prerequisites that an official letter must have. Commitment, support, recap yada, yada, yada.

Combat and Careers. Many of the changes we saw in the short lived jumbo 1.3 patch will be making a comeback. Tears will be raining down like a Monsoon. Listen to the bass go.... sorry, got sidetracked. This time they will implement them piecemeal though. Excellent idea as you may see not all the changes are necessary.

One thing I don't understand is Mythic's seemingly love affair with the KNOCKDOWN, not back. They want to put the Knockback and root on the same immunity timer. A while back they increased the knockback immunity timer, but did not touch (or say they touched) the knockdown timer.

Knockdown's are the worst type of crowd control, as you cannot do anything. Knockback's save as many people as they get killed. Yet it never seems to bear the brunt of Mythics balancing. By all means keep taking away the non-lethal ways my Engineer can defend himself, but leave all those AoE knockdowns in play.

AM/Shaman/Zealot/RP will all be getting some attention, in a good way. Marauders and White Lions were not so lucky.

End Game. It seems the next major effort for the dev team will be to improve the city siege. This has been a long time coming. As it stands now, the contested phase (the first one) is the only time when PvP is involved with the end game. That wouldn't be so bad if it was actually fun, but it is not.

The PQ that spawns will now be optional. Instead, each side will be required to hold 3/4 objectives in order to win the stage. But, if they kill the PQ boss, they win too. While that is nice, will players just try to find an undefended instance so that they can farm the PQ? Sounds like something players would do. Also, while one side is defending the 3 objectives, the enemy can just go beat the PQ boss for a win. I'm not 100% sure this hybrid system will have the desired effect.

The 2nd phase of the city siege is having RvR added to it as well. I have never actually seen this phase, but I do believe it was just 2 PvE encounters. It sounds like the contested phase will continue on, but the winners can choose to go do the PvE instances. Will that leave enough population for the attackers to fight on the streets?

The third and final phase, the King, is mostly remaining the same. Except that the previous phases will remain active with RvR. If the defenders win the first-phase, they will shorten the time that the attacker has to take down the King. This is an interesting idea.

Population is my big concern. Lets say it is 100 vs 100 and the attackers win. 30 of them go off to do the higher level content (Stage 2 and 3), now it is 70 - 100. That doesn't sound very fun for those 70 who remain. The defenders will enjoy it as the 70 vacate the zone and they can farm the PQ. The folks who may have gotten to the king will be disappointed that they have no time with him as the PQ is being farmed. These are just arbitrary numbers, but you get the idea.

This has run on long enough for one post, more to come later.

Fight Finder v1.1

2009-06-26T07:37:00.004-04:00

WAR is everywhere, when you have Fight Finder!

Fight Finder is an add-on which keeps you informed about the all of the RvR going on in the game. If you are hanging out and Tier 4 and a Tier 1 fight breaks out, Fight Finder will tell you so you can hop on that alt and join the fun.

At present, you are notified via a chat message using the RvR filter. It would like like this:

[!] Heavy Fighting reported in Praag!

Version 1.1 is now available on curse. In addition to command line access (use /ff help in game), Fight Finder will now give you Keep reports throughout the game. This will let you know if your allies or enemies are up to something so you can join/spoil their fun.

Requirements: LibSlash

Upcoming Changes: Different types of notifications, Filter by Tier

It's not the end of the world

2009-06-25T06:43:00.003-04:00

As you have no doubt heard, EA is restructuring Bioware and Mythic under a new MMO group. This group will be lead by Ray Muzyka at Bioware. Mark Jacobs will be leaving and co-founder Rob Denton will report to Ray. In essence, Mythic will now report to Bioware.

It is no secret that WAR did not meet expectations. That isn't to say it's a failure as it is still a popular game. As Mark lead the studio, it is his responsibility. EA was likely not pleased and here we are. When corporations merge divisions, there are usually too many executives and not enough positions. Someone has to go.

What does this mean for Mythic and WAR? It is hard to tell as we are not privy to the details. It could be that Mythic is still largely independent or it could be Bioware will be very involved. I think it will be the former, as right now Mythic is still intact. New leadership, in the form of Bioware, could end up being beneficial to WAR in the long run.

In the coming months, we will see how this plays out. There is a chance this could be the smoke before the fire of WAR coming to an end. I don't think so, but the possibility is there. Better yet, maybe this is the start of the TOR/WAR MMO empire.

I have noticed quite a few posts/comments out there with an undercurrent of glee to outright joy at the possibility of WAR failing. This isn't a big surprise and I suspect most of them are failures and just unhappy people. When the prospect of other people joining in their misery comes about, they finally have a chance to be happy. If MMO's failing brings you happiness, it's time to log off and go make something of yourself.

Opening Day Impressions

2009-06-24T06:26:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the Land of the Dead opened in WAR. On Badlands, Order won the race and was granted access for a day. I won't be saying that the LotD is good or bad for the game, as it is way too early to tell. I know some people on my server proclaimed it to be awful for the game a few minutes after logging in. Others enjoyed it quite a bit.

When Order is away, Destro will play. Destruction took advantage of Orders armies being away and launched an invasion of Altdorf. A few of us decided to defend rather than stay in the LotD. We put up a valiant fortress defense, but only bought us a little time.

The city defense went pretty well. In our instance there was a lot of fighting until Destruction left with about 20 minutes left. This allowed us access to the PQ. In the end I walked away with a good amount of renown and 4 Invader Crests.

I was also able to get my Ironbreaker to 25 yesterday. He immediately hopped on the first airship to Zandri. Being bolstered to 36 is really nice as I could hold my own. I participated in a few PQ's and got two purple bags. Sadly, the items can't be used until I hit level 31. It was fun and I made some decent experience.

I almost feel bad for the denizens of Zandri. Order was down there in force. PQ bosses were dropping like flies to the massive zergs. This is only temporary of course. Once the newness wears off you will see less people there at a time.

This morning around 11am EDT is when the early access wears off so we will see how the purge mechanics work. Overall, I had a fun day yesterday between the city defense and the LotD. That is what this new zone is about for me, options.

The Land of the Dead Opens

2009-06-23T06:34:00.003-04:00

Today Warhammer Online's new zone, The Land of the Dead, opens. The winner of the Rise of the Tomb Kings will get a full days access before being able to be purged by their enemy. I'm not really sure what time the new zone opens, but the Herald message makes it seem like this morning.

Sadly, I did not make my goal of having my Ironbreaker ready before its launch. He is rank 24 with 75% more to go. I will of course be hitting up the new zone with Tirew, so Hoplon will have to wait. On Badlands, Order has the lead as of this morning. It isn't a large lead, so who knows if we will still be ahead when the zone opens.

Be ready for the complaints about no one being in the old world once the zone launches. Its something new, so everyone will be all over it. I am going to wait a few weeks to judge how the expansion was for the game. I won't spend all of my time in the new zone, as PvE isn't my thing. Once the newness wears off, I'll need some real competition and head back to the Old World.

New WAR Add-on: Fight Finder

2009-06-22T12:10:00.007-04:00

I was feeling especially productive this morning, so I made a small WAR add-on called Fight Finder. This add-on will notify you of any fights happening in every zone. For example, if I am questing in High Pass and a fight breaks out in Avelorn, I will get a message.

It is based on Hotspots, so small skirmishes may not register. You are notified via a chat message through the RvR filter. It will only notify you once per zone for each battle size. For example, if a small battle goes on in Praag, you will get a message. If it escalates to a large battle, you will get a message. Otherwise, the next message you get for Praag will be a new battle.

This was a quick and simple project, so please let me know if you want any improvements. I don't feel like registering for Curse yet... maybe if people actually find this useful.

You can download it here. Just unzip it to your WAR\Interface\AddOns directory.

UPDATE: Changed link to Curse.

Tank On

2009-06-22T06:38:00.003-04:00

In my post, Things to do before the Land of the Dead, I wanted to get my Ironbreaker to Level 25 so he could journey to the new zone. In the first few weeks, it should be quite a popular place so leveling should be good. This weekend was spent mostly leveling him.

I must say playing the IB, Hoplon, has bee a lot of fun. Like any good Dwarf, I took up my shield and a hammer. Currently he is rank 23, but almost to 24. Those 63k Exp quests were a great help. I am currently working my way up the Brotherhood mastery path toward Earthshatter.

When using a shield, I have found my damage pretty abysmal, but that is perfectly fine with me. I am playing the IB as a defensive tank class, so offensive power is not really required. It seems that they are damage mitigation machines and a lot of fun to play.

My current goal is to reduce damage to my group as much as possible. If the enemy attacks me, great. If not I can still do a good job of reducing their damage. I will often lead with Challenge, which reduces all enemies damage in front of me by 30%. To help protect myself and my Oath Friend I use Runic Shield often which absorbs some damage.

When the opportunity is there I will use Away with Ye (knockback) and Taunt/attack. The rest of the time you'll find me Holding the Line. There is something satisfying about seeing all of the blocks, absorbs and Disrupts go flying by. If they decide to focus fire on me, I pop Shield Wall and hope my team can take advantage.

Once I get Earthshatter, I should be even more dangerous. Until then I am having fun in my current role. There are some frustrations though. Choppa's still wreck me and Squig Herders can kite me forever.

It has been a nice change from my Engineer as they play totally different. On Badlands, we always seem to have a lack of tanks, so I hope I can contribute soon. A healer is next on my list, as we are in desperate need of them.

WoW adds PvP Exp

2009-06-19T10:03:00.004-04:00

With the 3.2 patch, Blizzard plans to give experience points in Battlegrounds. You can read the full Q&A here. At first I was very excited, as I love PvP leveling. Then I read this:

"Experience will be granted based on honor gain from actions, not kills. For example, if you capture a flag in Warsong Hold, you would gain experience, but killing a player would not grant experience."

That seems to kill the notion of leveling via PvP. The following section they even say that they want it to be slower than leveling via PvE. Why can't it be equal?

WoW also does not have any kind of Bolster (increase stats to an arbitrary level for that level tier) mechanic, so it will still be quite painful versus all of those higher level players when you are at the bottom of the tier. Luckily Twinks will be in their own bracket, so you won't have to deal with them. There is also no loot drops on players, so gearing up only by BG's might be difficult.

Blizzard seems so close to giving people a good PvE alternative, but they are reluctant to take the steps that are needed. Add in a basic Bolster mechanic to even the playing field some and grant experience from kills. It would be nice for PvP not to just be a waste until you are level capped.

If Blizzard did make PvP leveling viable, would I play? Maybe. There is still no end game I am interested in. Also PvP in WoW just feels strange after playing WAR for so long. It's hard to put my finger on it, but it really does feel like it was tacked on rather than being planned from the start.

Communication

2009-06-19T06:30:00.003-04:00

Mythic has always been pretty good about communication with their players. Recently though, one member of their team has gone above and beyond. Bryant, a Senior testing Lead, has been very active on the WAR forums.

He doesn't give any great details or revelations but does more for the community than other developers. Most of his posts just acknowledge a bug and give some sort of status about it. It may be that they know about it and it's been fixed or that it's been added to their tracking system and they are working on it.

You can offer all the in-game rewards that you want, but giving feedback on bug reports is the best way you can encourage more in the future. Most players will feel very satisfied knowing that they were heard and contributed to improving the game.

I don't know how much time it takes Bryant each day to respond on the forums, but it has been well worth it. So please Mythic, give him a bonus or something as he has been doing an excellent job. Dealing with the community is likely not in his job description, so that is really nice of him ;)

Overall I think this is a good lesson in communication. You don't have to spend all your time on the forums writing novels to the players. Acknowledgments and small status updates work wonders.

UI Improvements

2009-06-18T06:31:00.005-04:00

I spent some time yesterday on my WAR UI. It has long been neglected and became quite cluttered. Using WAR's native interface tools I was able to adjust it so it is very minimal and gives a lot of screen space. Here is what it looks like now.

I am planning on recording some battle videos in the near future, so this UI should allow for much better viewing.

In other WAR news....

Mythic applies several new hotfixes.
The Grudge patches.
Eyeball makes it rain... fire.
Keen forfeits the Live Event.
Overly Positive takes on PTS testing.

You just lost a refinery!

2009-06-17T06:33:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was Patch Day in WAR and overall it went pretty smooth. I had some patcher issues, but it was all resolved ones the server came back up. I logged in and got to work exploring the new content.

The first thing I did was setup my Auto-Roll. Maybe it's just me, but I find it fun to see what I got after a big fight. So far it has been mostly green's with some Officer Medallions, but still it is nice not to have windows popping up.

Then I headed down to the Lucky Lady PQ in Aldorf. There was only a couple of us to start and we failed during the second stage. The airship blew up and Order lost the war. The second try we completed it with the help of a few more people. I won a gold bag but the only choice in it was the Shroud which I received for helping out on PTS.

After that I went and did the Iron Eagle quest line. I loved that movie as a kid. Fighter Jets and Twisted Sister, how can you go wrong? The sequels were awful though. The quest itself was pretty good and it paid well.

Then it was into the RvR lakes where the real fun started. I could only play during the afternoon but there was plenty of action. We went back and forth over the Airship Cargo crates in small group action (12 vs 12). I even won an Invader Crest with the help of the warcamp guards.

Mixed in we played Reikland Factory. That scenario is a nice change of pace from the normal rotation. My FPS did take a beating in there though, wonder if it needs some optimizations. The scenario was popping with pretty good frequency. Between the crates and the Factory, it was almost nonstop action.

As of this morning, the score on Badlands is 725,000 to 690,000 in favor of Destruction. The event lasts until the 23rd, so I expect these numbers to get pretty large. I have not completed all 10 tasks yet as I still need the blueprints and two more fuel tanks from the factory.

The event has been great fun so far. I do think the event lasts a bit longer than it should. I'm sure many will tire of fighting over the crates and the same scenario for a week. Mythic does have to accommodate a lot of people, so there may not be much they can do. I hope Tier 3 is busier with the event, could be a great time to level my IB to 25.

Rise of the Tomb Kings Task List

2009-06-16T11:22:00.004-04:00

The Live Event, Rise of the Tomb Kings, has started! Here is the full task list for the event.

Completing the tasks contributes toward your realms total score. A good bit of them are RvR too, so it should make for some interesting times.

It has begun

2009-06-16T06:34:00.004-04:00

The Land of the Dead expansion and patch 1.3 go live, today! It starts with the Rise of the Tomb Kings event and culminates with one realm getting full access to Zandri for a day. I expect the RvR to be fast and furious as both sides compete for the prize. The new patch contains many improvements, read the notes here.

Land of the Dead. I've talked about it quite a bit already, so enough said.

Auto-Roll. This system allows you to set roll preferences for loot. It worked very nicely on PTS. It is very granular so you won't have to ever see a loot window again if you so choose.

Lifelines. Regis not included. If you get disconnected in a dungeon and scenario, you will be able to reconnect and be where you were. I really hope this applies to fortresses too.

Deadbolt. A new Keep Upgrade has been added, Deadbolt, which allows you to look the back door of the inner keep. This should stop those pesky ninja's.

Bag Space. Is more bag space the one thing that no gamer ever complains about? Seems like some sort of universal constant. Well, you get more with 1.3.

Sigils. Get your wards by the armor you have, killing players, killing bosses and other ways. More options == good.

Scenario Fixes. Many scenarios have been adjusted. The dreaded Black Fire Basin looks a lot more fun now.

Rewards. Tokens for Keep defenders, tokens for keep/BO defense quests, more bags for attackers if it is a larger fight. Upgraded keeps yield more rewards.

Stuff to get in the Land of the Dead

2009-06-15T06:38:00.005-04:00

With the Land of the Dead fast approaching, you may be wondering what is down there that you would want. Gold will not go very far with the risen dead, but scarabs will. With these tokens there are a number of items you can trade them in for, in addition to the plunder from our gracious hosts.

Tyrant gear is the highest end loot in the zone. You can trade in tokens for the Gloves and the belt. The rest of it will be from drops in the Tomb of the Vulture Lord. The loot system is a bit different than other dungeons though as pieces will drop per archetype rather than class. Mythic has said that these drops will be very rare though, so don't go in here with the idea of farming your Tyrant set. The image below is probably not accurate state wise anymore.

Souls are a new type of talisman used in vessel weapons. These can be bought for tokens or looted off many of the denizens of the zone. The longest duration soul I have seen is 8 hours. As they are quite useful (and you'll probably need 3 or 4 at a time) it should be some incentive to keep coming back to the zone.

There are several new crafting goods to buy with tokens. I suspect these will be popular, especially the run speed talisman (thanks Radishlaw!). These can only be found within the Land of the Dead.

Jewelery and accessories also play a big part of the rewards in the new zone. Many new 2 piece jewelry sets have been added which can be traded for with tokens. In the Tomb you can also get a 5 piece jewelery set (1 piece is available through tokens). Cloaks are also included in the sets. According to the devs, these are meant to compliment your Lost Vale and Invader gear.

A new item type has been added to the game that allows you to summon NPC help. Four of these items can be purchased with tokens from a vendor. I never did get to try them out on PTS but they look very interesting. I wonder if they will work back in the Old World?

There are also trophies that you can buy with tokens and who knows what else. I wouldn't be surprised to see a mount in there at some point. It looks like there is a lot to keep most players busy fighting over the zone for a while.

Clip Show Friday!

2009-06-12T06:30:00.004-04:00

It's been a busy week here on Werit. That means you get a clip show!

On Werit...

Bones for Werit - A package from Mythic!

Crafting in the Land of the Dead - What's new with crafting down south?

Tomb of the Vulture Lord Footage - Small peak into the latest dungeon.

Land of the Dead - In Action - A trailer with Land of the Dead action footage.

Aion, Not feeling it - Is Werit immune to the Aion hype?

Vessel Weapons - Details on how these new LotD weapons work.

Land of the Dead Scenery Trailer - A look at the scenery in the Land of the Dead.

Elsewhere...

Warhammer Alliance is ground zero for the Bone Blog Challenge.

Druchii Journal has compiled the Diary of Doom for your reading pleasure.

Massively talks about the new vessel weapons.

Bones for Werit

2009-06-11T15:54:00.007-04:00

UPS dropped off a package for me today... from Mythic. It is a part of the Rise of the Tomb Kings Blog Challenge and contains a number of things. First, a nice jawbone...

Here we have Day 4 for of the Diary of Doom.

And the Map...

Crafting in the Land of the Dead

2009-06-11T07:02:00.009-04:00

Crafting received some additions in Warhammer Online's upcoming Land of the Dead expansion. When you venture to the new zone, you will find several new ingredients that can be purchased from vendors for scarabs. Apothecary and Talisman Making both got two new types of additions.

Let's look at Apothecary first, as my character on PTS is trained in that field. There are actually 6 new ingredients, 3 potency levels for each of the new potions. As I was short on scarabs, I chose the cheapest ingredients. A few minutes later I had an Elixr of Ptra and an Elixr of Tahoth. These are their effects when consumed.

I was able to test the Elixir of Ptra by letting a carrion beat on me. When I had low health it healed me for 1,500. The bird kept attacking and I eventually died, so it doesn't trigger all of the time. Remember, this was the cheapest version.

Like Apothecary, Talisman Making has 6 new ingredients, 3 levels for each new talisman. I couldn't make any, but here are the described benefits.

Both of them sound quite nice. I wonder if speed means attack speed or movement speed? Draining energy sounds like a nice addition for a tank.

I have heard that there are new items to salvage and such too, as a cultivator I was not able to verify. PQ bags still drop crafting materials as well. I really hope some new seeds are available in the zone.

Tomb of the Vulture Lord Footage

2009-06-10T08:45:00.003-04:00

Last night, the Tomb of the Vulture Lord was opened for testing on the PTS. I managed to find a group and ventured into the new dungeon. The video does not really spoil anything for a couple reasons. One, I hate spoiling content before it even hits the live servers. Two, I was not on long enough to get very far.

At no extra charge, this footage contains an experimental new technology, PopUp Werit. That's right, yours truly will guide you through the video!

Direct Link.

The Warhammer Blog Times also has a video up.

Land of the Dead - In Action

2009-06-09T06:58:00.003-04:00

I put together another Land of the Dead trailer, this time with more action oriented video. I hoped to get some Destruction players in it, but such are the pitfalls of filming on PTS.

Direct Link.