They took the Rock and Roll and replaced it with… Metal (probably annoying, Scream-y metal).
Yeah, the most concerning part is the bit with the level 30 mobs right outside, actually.
Not pictured: My Confusion at Garrosh for demolishing the bank and replacing it with a lame castle.
I can’t remember what triggered this, but I felt the need to put in my $0.02 about the ‘great’ JRPG/WRPG debate.
The main argument against JRPGs seems to be ‘They are stagnant, blah blah blah”. SO WHAT? The plot works, and the gameplay is fun. Ya’know? If you don’t like it, then whatever, don’t play them.
On the other hand, (my) argument against WRPGs is that they are stagnant too. ‘Moral Choices’ are boring as fuck. (Especially when the only choice is being ‘THE MOST GOOD’ or being ‘THE WORST THING EVER’.
Also, WRPGs don’t actually exist anymore. There is exactly 1 recent, blockbuster-ish RPG that has come out of a Western company in recent memory.
DARGON AGE.
And it kinda sucked a little. For everything they did right (the dialogue trees, character customization) THEY DECIDED TO TAKE OUT OF THE SEQUEL.
WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT FUCK BIOWARE YOU FUCKING DUMB IDIOTS.
And before you say ‘Mass Effect’! or ‘Fallout 3′! or ‘Oblivion’! or ‘World of Warcraft’!
None of those count.
ME is less of an RPG than it is a shooter, and the sequel is just a sub-par shooter with a large number of boring characters, one genuinely attractive (perhaps not physically, but whatever) character (who would only romance dudes, proving she was more lame than I thought), and about as much RPG as a Coke Zero has sugar.
Fallout 3 was in real time, or in VATS, and then spent mainly in real time.
Oblivion was a watered down Morrowind, with more action and less RPG.
WoW is a m-m-or-ph-guh. (Or MMORPG). RPGs are for a single dude (read: player; not wanting to get attacked by female gamers here) to enjoy on his lonesome. Or something. Apart from that though, it’s good.
That being said, they’re still good games. Just not really RPGs anymore.
Look at the moon in this picture. (It’s that ball thing that is above the cliffs just to the right of the center of the image) It appears to be cracked, no split, into several pieces. WHY DOES THIS NOT ALARM ANYBODY IN GAME?
Yeah, this is not a real post, but I wanted to get this out into the abyss, so here goes next to nothing. I guess. It is copyright me, 2009, and may not be used or shared in any way without my express permission.
“Reina?” Sami asked. “You saw her…”
“Die?” A female voice said from the coffin. “Not quite. However, I certainly had left the mortal coil once more.”
“No. You can’t be her. I saw what happened to her with my own eyes. Nothing could bring her back from that.” Mat said, trembling.
The woman sat up, her bedraggled red hair, somewhere in between the hues of blood and fire, sat playfully over her closed eyes. “It’s me, and I’m sure I can think of more than a few things to prove that to you, rusa.”1
Mat stumbled back haphazardly. “W-WHAT?!” He shouted. “We- no, I-, I-”
The woman’s laugh echoed, warm and sincere through the trees.
“You were always fun to play with, that was for sure.” She smiled at him, opening her blood red eyes slightly. “Although, that was my fault for using a strange dialect just for my own amusement.”
Mat smiled somewhat. “But that was what had, and it was ours, and ours alone.”
“Well, perhaps. I’m sure there are plenty of people who know it perfectly well.”
“You, know what I mean.”
“Risa,macca ne?” The woman asked.
Mat smiled. “Bac, sisa.”
“Ooh, cold.” The woman laughed again, as she stood. She was wearing a simple white dress, made of a cloth that shimmered in the light.
“Still, I feel that we need a bit of an explanation to how you’re standing here.” Sami said, her sword still held firmly within her two hands.
“Fair enough, I suppose.” The woman said, with a shrug. “I am, as Mat here will be happy to confirm, Reina.” Her eyes wandered to the ground as she kept talking. “Do you recall seeing, any time during the last few months, a… I suppose you would call it a wave, of bright, white light?”
The four looked between themselves, not entirely sure.
“I do.” Irith’s voice said from behind them. “It was during the night we stayed at Ostios, you were probably all asleep.” Irith walked past them, and looked into Reina’s eyes. “It was more than just light, however. There was a physical sensation, that didn’t seem to affect anything, but at the same time, felt like it took a small part of me.”
“That, that was when I was placed here. Dead, mind you, but wholly intact.” Reina smiled. “That was the day our war ended.”
“Your, war?” Irith said. “Before Ostios was attacked, there hadn’t been anything close to a war going on here for over a hundred years.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure if I can tell you much more, but I’ll try.” Reina looked skywards. “The Gods War. A challenge set by the last of the old gods to their replacements, and that was the moment it concluded.” She laughed, this time is was much colder. “Of course, it really was an event outside of your convention of time.”
“Wait. You’re not saying…” Mat said.
“Yeah, I am.” Reina stepped out of the stone coffin. “I am a god. I always have been.” She smiled. “There were hundreds of us. Thousands even. All fighting for one of the one hundred and seven pieces of divine essence that were scattered across the material plane.”
“You, really?” Varian said.
“Shut up!” Seena whispered to him, hitting him softly on the back of the head.
“Of course, some of us wanted more power, to become something much worse.” Reina looked Mat straight in the eye. “He, was one of them. The man who absorbed me, and the piece of essence that I had been given.”
She coughed.
“So was your beloved teacher, Sami. She, with the aid of a few mortal souls, rescued us, and shared the essence between us.”
“F-Furoe?”
“Furia, to be precise, but many of us have kept the names we took here.” Reina looked at Sami with sadness in her eyes. “When we landed here, we knew most of nothing. We found out what we could. Hence the book.”
“Did you all-”
“No, just the Goddess of the Wilds there.” Reina’s laugh returned. “Or the hunt, or whatever it was.”
“So, uhh, what are you the goddess of, then?” Mat asked.
“Me?” She laughed again. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m the Goddess of Rebirth”
The group mostly looked at her bewildered, although Irith wasn’t surprised much at all.
“Come on. The phoenix? The flames? The fact I came back from death?”
“Uhh, well, err.” Mat stammered.
Reina embraced him firmly. “Mai haif, busa. Sisa ios, ne?”
Mat waited for a moment, before replying. “Perhaps, but you can’t come, can you?”
“Maiia.” She said, looking into his eyes, sorrowfully. “Sisa, azia busa ios, dina.”
She gave him a sisterly kiss on the forehead. “Don’t forget, okay?” She said.
“Never, not for the rest of my life.” Mat swore.
“And longer, I would hope.” Reina said.
“I’ll see you again, right?”
“I’d like that, but it wont be for a while. Just, be careful. I don’t want to see you too soon, if you catch my drift.”
“Sure.” Mat started to walk away, to join the others at the wagon. “One more thing. We’re kinda… lost.”
“Just follow the road, you’ll be fine.” She said.
“I, I hope you’re right.” He jumped onto the rear of the wagon, as it slowly made it’s way past him. “Goodbye, sister.”
Reina shook her head. “No goodbyes, that would imply that I might not see you again.”
“Fine.” Mat nodded, and he ducked into the wagon, looking forwards, to whatever came next.
She watched them leave the clearing, and wind their way into the woods.
“That, looked difficult.” A voice said in her head.
“More difficult that I let myself realize.” Reina kicked at the leaves that had started to amass at her feet. “I mean, I’m happy to be alive, but part of me, is very sad, also.”
“I think we’re all that way, but we have always had a duty, just like our parents, and those before them.”
“I, I guess you are right.”
Reina stepped outside the clearing, and found herself back in her domain. Sighing, she got back to work, part of her already wondering what was going to happen next.
Now, after Blizzard’s announcement that the RealID system is now going to be used on their forums, the community at large has gone (understandably) apeshit.
Here’s the thing. As much as I care about my privacy, and I care about the precedent it is setting for the future of gaming, I don’t care.
I’m as afraid as anyone else about creepy stalkers and shit (I have enough trouble talking to people already, I don’t need any of that anxiety), and I do really care about how the negative stigma attached to gamers will affect my ability to get a job in a few years time, but for now, I can’t properly express my feelings on the issue.
To put it simply, (which I am known to do only when I really want to get a point across) RealID is going in a really bad direction, and I hope that this ‘social gaming’ fad remains as optional as it has been in the past.
Now, we’re about 5 days into the Fire Festival. That’s fine, as it runs for another 8-10 days. Awesome. Now, the ‘hardest’ (they are all easy, but this is the most confronting one) achievement is the [King of the Fire Festival] achievement.
Basically to do this, you need to run into the opposing faction’s main cities and capture all of their flames (I’m not sure if you need to get Silvermoon or Exodar’s flames, but I will assume that you do (because I am a completionist)).
Therefore, I have developed this mini-guide to…
Now, this is not actually all that difficult. Honest. To begin with I’m going to do the Cities of the Alliance (I have actually done these, and can be 100% sure that they more or less work). I suggest going Exodar -> Darnassus -> Stormwind -> Ironforge.
To begin, haul your ass to just outside Auberdine (in Darkshore). Then make your way to the far end of the dock (the western end). This boat goes to the Draenei starter zones, and you should be able to get over to Azuremist Isle without any incidents.
To get into the Exodar, take the side entrance, which is just to your left as you get off the dock. Run down the ramp, and then north into the Crystal Hall. The bonfire is near the middle of the area, and takes 1 second to steal (you will find an item in your bags, not an immediate quest popup).
Once you have the flame, take the boat back to Auberdine and take the northern dock to Rut’theran Village, convienently, the Darnassus flame is here, so grab it and scram, if you’re really quick you might make it back on the boat before it leaves.
Back at Auberdine once more, take the southern boat to Stormwind Harbor. From here you need to run up the ramps, along The Park side of the canal, across to the Mage District, and make your way over to the flame, which is outside the Stockades.
From here, quickly jump into the canals and swim for your life to the Cathedral Square dock thing (near the Dwarven District), mount up (you can do this in the water) and ride to the Deeprun tram, which will take you to Ironforge.
Finally, run out of the tram (mounting as soon as you exit it) north to the Hall of Explorers. This is the hardest flame to get, as there are usually about 1,000,000 Alliance douches there waiting to kill you. As long as you get the flame, just spirit rez and hearth out. Congratulations on getting your achievement!
Before I begin, remember that the quests start from an item that is deposited in your bags when you use the flames. As long as you’ve got the item, don’t worry about the actual quest while you’re in the enemy cities.
First off, I’d start in Silvermoon, not for any real reason, apart from the lack of flow to other cities that it has. In Silvermoon you need to get to the Court of the Sun. To do this, you should run north, and through Murder Row. The bonfire is just beyond this.
Then make your way to Undercity. This is probably the easiest one of all the cities, as it is not even inside the city proper. Just run in the front door, and leave. No biggie.
Take the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar, and then run to the western edge of Durotar, and across the river into the Barrens. Follow the river north and go in the side entrance of Orgrimmar. Follow the path along into the Valley of Wisdom, and get the flame. This is by far the hardest of all of the flames, but if you’re quick, it should be rather simple.
Finally, go to the western Zeppelin tower out the front of Org. There are two Zeps that depart from here. One to NR, and one to Thunder Bluff. The best part of this is, that it deposits you right on top of the flame. Too easy. Hearth out and collect your prize.
Now, I personally really enjoy the Ahune fight. Mainly because Ahune hasn’t got some ungodly rare drop I need for an achievement that I’ve never even seen drop, let alone win.
However, through my many runs this year (like 10, but w/e) I have noticed that most players are either really bad in general, or are just dumb. (Not that I needed a event boss to figure that out, it’s just more exceptional here.)
With this in mind, I bring you…
Now, the fight itself is not too hard. Phase 1, gather adds, kill adds (burning the initial big bad add that spawns at the beginning of the phase). Phase 2, burn CDs on the Frozen Core. Repeat if your DPS is too low.
However, there are some really dumb mistakes that I’ve seen people making, and have felt the need to correct, in fancy bullet point form.
Now, I know you’re all thinking that this is elementary, but I’ve only seen two tanks do this, the others are all running around the place like idiots trying to get all the mobs that have peeled off of them. I know that you think it’s important, but it’s really hard to AoE things when the whole pack is moving. Most DPS will stop to kill mobs that have peeled off to eat their (or the healer’s) face, just sayin.
You know what that means, Fail Mages (as I have seen about 6 other mages do this)? Blizzard doesn’t work. AT ALL. This is a big issue, because it means we have to use Arcane Explosion (mana eater) or Flamestrike (which is a terrible AoE, but is alright here, if point one is conformed to). This also affects Frost DKs, as Frost Fever doesn’t affect them, which has led to many lols and wtfs among our zombie bros. (Just to make this perfectly clear DO NOT CAST BLIZZARD. Thank you)
This is the thing that will change the fight from a 5 minute kinda annoying thing into a 3 minute dream. The Frozen Core has about 500k Health, and is attackable for about 30 seconds (maybe? I don’t know, it’s not very long). Try and deal 5k-ish DPS over that 30 second period and he’ll go down without having to wait another 60 seconds or so for another go.
Anyway. That was all rather obvious tips, but the number of dumbasses I’ve been grouped with made me need to vent about it. Stay classy peoples. Twill, out.
((This entire post is written ‘in character’ purely to keep myself interested. It’s also short, you’ll see why tomorrow/monday.))
Dear readers.
I’m Sel’s sister, Iraia. Sis said something about how she needed to go find something, now that the Lich King is dead, so she’s asked me to take care of this journal for her.
She said something about sending letters to an address in Dalaran, and that they’d find their way “across the nether” to here, and presumably to her.
So… yeah. I’m currently working with the Argent Crusaders to help clean up Icecrown, but I’m also doing lots of other things across Azeroth and Outland.
Uhh, talk to you soon,
Yours, Iraia.
((Just popped into my head and needed to get out quickly-ish))
It didn’t occur to her immediately, but as she fled out into the scourge infested Stratholme, it hit her. She had committed a terrible act, one that she would have to live with for the rest of her life.
Her Warhorse was tied up outside, and she rode it as fast as she could north, into Quel’thalas, back to Silvermoon.
Her horse slowed, as it wound through the trees of the Ghostlands, and stopped outside a remote little building.
“No, I don’t need to see this. Not today.” She said, tugging on the reigns, but the horse stood firm.
She looked downwards, before sighing and dismounting. “Fine, just don’t wander off.”
The small stones of the path crunched under her boots, as she made her way onto the landing and pushed the door, which was half off it’s hinges already, open.
The house was not particularly fancifully furnished, even before the scourge hit, but it was rather large.
She made her way up a small flight of stairs, and clambered up the rubble to the next floor.
The room here had a small bed on one side, and a desk at the other. She sat at the desk, looking at the picture frame that was placed face down here, and the thick layer of dust covering it.
“You’d know what to do, wouldn’t you?” She said, as she began to tear up. “You’d swear to get to the bottom of this, to get revenge, or something, right?”
She pounded the desk, and cried into her arms.
Now, this post is almost just a flimsy excuse to post this image (as twitpic seemed to be all like “AJSHFDKJAFSHKJFSH-dead-”) but while I’m on the subject, I may as well write a more involved post about it, eh?
To put it bluntly, you probably shouldn’t. However, if you are into RPing (or in my case, writing) they can be quite useful to help figure out what characters think of each other, and have it in a nice graphical representation that you can frame and put on your wall (although why you’d bother (with the framing) is beyond my comprehension).
The easiest way to make one is to think of a metaphorical center for the chart. Lets say, for example, it’s your main (for the non-RPers, just pick something, I don’t know/care). Put their name down somewhere in the the center of the page. Now think of as many meaningful (and that’s the important part) other characters as you think you’ll need, and write their names around the page.
You might want to organize them by some sort of criteria (eg, genetic ties, faction, gender, whatever) the main thing is that you have enough room to put the relationship between the central character and the outer characters. It doesn’t matter if the other people are sisters, brothers, comrades (with each other), the only important information is the relationship between the main character and each other node on the chart (or if you want to be even less awesome, graph).
Not really a question, but I just tend to get on a roll, other part of my personality.
I hate you sometimes, you know that, me?
Really?
Ha! Anyway, if you didn’t follow the link at the top of the post (look for ‘this image’) I’ve embedded a tiny version of it below. Click it to see the big-ish sized version.
