Latest Blog Posts - WowRiot

Alganon: Where Have I Seen This Game Before?

no.spam@gameriot.com (bilingue) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:09:43 -0500

The term "WoW Clone" has inspired thousands of debates but in this case it might be literally a WoW Clone. Let's start with a proper introduction. Alganon is an MMORPG developed by Quest Online and scheduled for release on December '09. Since I have not played the game, I will not be comparing any of the features or classes in the game; however I will point out certain similarities with WoW in the graphical department. Before I continue please read this excerpt taken from Alganon's wikipedia page:

Designed from scratch and based in a uniquely created world, the initial goal in designing Alganon was to provide "Simple Gameplay with Unlimited Growth in a massive world of immersion and interaction".

Is it me or this world looks familiar?

Maybe I am just biased because I play too much World of Warcraft and to be fair I haven't played the game yet. I should look for some videos.

This approach is quite different and it will be very interesting to see how it plays in the future. The last game I thought felt like WoW was Runes of Magic but Alganon easily wins. Who knows, maybe Quest Online can release a copy worthy enough for the Chinese government to approve.

Edit: This blog was written by someone who actually played the game. A quote from the review:

"That key icon on the far left? It's only there because WoW has a keyring with that button. Alganon doesn't have a keyring but they forgot to remove the icon when they copied the UI design."

Check out the talent window comparision.

Epic Drop 11/3/09: Poll Day! Shorter/stocky woman evolving, IP address issues, V review, Hyundai bonus, Terminator sale, Build your own wife

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:56:37 -0500

The November-Friday-girl poll is here for your voting pleasure so make sure you make your voice heard. And in cool but not huge news today Stallone is discussing the Arnold/Willis/Stallone scene from The Expendables. 80's action starts, hot chicks and funny videos? That equals a +1 for your daily discussion here on the Drop/

Build yourself a wife? How hard could it be? 1600g of silicon and £18,000 seems to be the foundation of this guy's new and improved wife thanks to massive cosmetic surgery. The before and after pictures are almost day and night. I guess if she is happy with it then more power to them. Just seems a bit odd building your own ideal wife like the guy restored a house or something. I'd laugh if she left him for an upgrade now.

The internet could run out of addresses within the next two years if people don't get on the ball and switch from IPv4 to IPv6. The later pretty much offers infinite addresses that we will probably never run out of but in the mean time things may be a bit of a mess. IPv6 was introduced in 1998 (!!!), what the hell is taking so long? Only 1% of hosts as of last year had moved over to using it. The net may collapse if there is no address available for www.idliketodropadeuceonyourface.com in a year or so.

As if we need another reason to visit Las Vegas, Summer Lena resides there. NSFW here

Just how awesome is ObamaCare? So awesome that it isn't even constitutional when it comes to the mandate front. The government making you buy health-care is clearly illegal in its current form and not supported under the commerce clause and Orrin Hatch isn't buying its constitutionality either. It doesn't help that it is based off the flawed Massachusetts "Romneycare" which looks worse and worse every day.

Women are getting shorter and stockier according to paths in evolution. The good news in all this is that Ming-sama Jr. will have plenty of bloggers to choose from down the road when she takes the reigns of WOM. Plus they are having babies sooner meaning they put out sooner, wins all around?

Remember the BMW "monster-trucking" they Hyundai last week? Hyundai stepped up and gave the poor victim a brand new 2010 as they had just finished paying off their 2004 that was ran over. Props to Hyundai and I am glad they caught the 62-year-old woman (sur*******prize) that did it. A smart woman would have canceled her membership and found a new gym...

The Terminator franchise is for sale and Joss Whedon wants to buy it. This equates laughs a plenty. Honestly the franchise in his hands might actually be a good thing. I just don't think $10,000 is going to cut it.

I am looking forward to the relaunch of the "V" tv show on ABC. I was just a wee little lad when the first one came out but I remember the reptilian aliens creeping me out as a kid. Variety has a review and so far things are looking up.

I wonder what was going through this guy's head as he was mid jump when he saw what awaited him on the side... besides the side of the bus.

Also, check out this one at Break which is a few days old that really makes me wonder how neither guy wanted to stop the fight.

It is November poll time people, place your votes!

DirectX 11 - What you need to know about the next graphical upgrade

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:58:09 -0500

DirectX 11 and its subset of Direct3D 11 commands has officially launched and what you need to know is that so far the graphically improvements are impressive.

DX11 officially launched with Windows 7 and then last week it was also released for Windows Vista for those of you still holding out before a move to 7. Those of you "die-hards" on Windows XP are still screwed much like you were with DirectX 10. Besides, unless you are running 5+ year old hardware there is no reason not to run 7 considering it manages resources even better than Vista did.

But wait you say, "don't I need DirectX 11 hardware to take advantage of all the cool things in Microsoft's latest graphical API"? Generally you would be correct but this time around there are also advantages for those of you on Directx 9-10 hardware. Bonus features for those of you without the upgrade bug, can you really complain? You can read some of the concepts over at MSDN for those of you into the technical aspects. Basically what you need to know is that DX9 and 10 with both support the shorter pipeline for graphics rendering possibly providing more FPS on older cards. Multithreading and a better use of resources will also back-port to older cards that support DX9 and 10.

Those of you who suffer from the upgrade bug like me will get the most benefit. The only game in town right now for Directx 11 is AMD/ATI's fantastic 5xxx series. The 5750, 5770, 5850 and 5870 are all out right now and all support the fantastic eye candy you see in the above video. Their upcoming dual-GPU cards (5970 and 5950, renamed from last generations 4870x2 and 4850x2) will also support DX11 out of the box. If you insist on holding out for Nvidia you still have a bit of a wait. Don't expect DX11 cards from the green guys until mid-to-late January at the earliest.

Graphically you can expect a much more significant change from 10 to 11 than you did from 9 -10. The new tessellation feature is one of the most notable features which is something you see within the video providing a huge bump in detail in the polygons. The new C shader will allow for better access to the shader pipeline on the physics front and for stream processing which will also make it easier to add effects after the fact. Shader model 5 is the next generation of graphical rendering and will also be included.

So what about the games? Right now Battleforge supports DX11 and later this year Dirt 2 will as well. Aliens Vs. Predator and Crysis 2 expected out early next year will also allow for those graphical enhancements previously mentioned. There are various other games like LotRO which will support it as well as D&D Online. You can expect more and more games to be added to the list as it is quite easy to change over from DX10 to 11 even mid-development of pretty much any game.

As of right now the game support is still a bit thin but that is always the case with new hardware support. The good news is that you don't need DX 11 hardware or games to make use of some of the new features and potentially see improvements.

Here a couple more previews for those you with the itch to learn more about the future of PC graphics. I realize it make take some cool new software like AVP or Crysis 2 ( see CryEngine 3 in action here) to get everyone really fired up for DX 11 but in the mean time the new features are certainly spectacular on the software and hardware front.

I have a feeling that DirectX 11 won't be as "skippable" as DirectX 10 was for many of you. How many games can you name with full DX 10 support besides Crysis without looking it up? I could only name 8 and I image many of you won't get that far. DX 10, partly due to Vista, just didn't take off like many hoped. Hopefully this time around things changes as 11 is a massive step up from the previous generation.

Game Reviews: Should multiplayer and single player content be rated separately?

no.spam@gameriot.com (F8L Fool) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:19:11 -0500

So, what happens when you get a game that is packaged with a garbage single player, and a stellar multiplayer? Do you simply throw a 7.0 rating at it based on the main campaign aspects alone, despite having a 9.3 caliber multiplayer experience hidden deep within it? Should one portion of the game be weighted more than the other, or should they be assessed side by side as equals? Lastly, are some reviewers clearly more or less biased towards the single player experience?

Those are questions I've been asking myself for over a decade it seems. The reason being that I started to heavily partake in gaming with friends, especially when consoles made it easy to do so via a high-speed internet connection. What followed was a growing trend: Some games that I thought were only so-so in terms of their single player content, quickly turned out to be mind blowing in regards to their multiplayer functions. Every console has had those one or two games that really enthralled me with one dimension of the game, and appalled me with the others. Goldeneye 007, Halo: 2, Age of Empires, and Perfect Dark zero are just a few that immediately come to mind.

The truth of it all is that I play certain genres for the multiplayer, and others for the personal experience. I enjoy shooters, sports, fighters, and racing for multiplayer. While on the flip-side I crave RPG's and Adventure games for the super personal "me time" that can be found in a superior campaign. If a game/genre is able to mesh multiplayer in a way that enhances the campaign gameplay through co-op or other means, that's great. If it has its own standalone MP that most games could never hold a candle to as a full package, that's absolutely superb.

The reason I feel this way is unlike a single player campaign that has a script and tentative completion time, multiplayer is ever evolving and contains near limitless replay value. While I reflect fondly on some of the best single player experiences I've had over the years, only a select few can even compare to the highs and lows I've had thanks to multiplayer. I am much more inclined to purchase a good Shooter or Fighter than I am to purchase an awe inspiring Action romp, thanks largely in part to that replayability aspect.

So what's the solution for the rating dilemma? In my opinion it's very simple: give the games three ratings. I've yet to see a site or magazine take this approach and I think fans would really appreciate it. There's an entire population of gamers that play games strictly for their multiplayer aspects, and hate to play alone. I have a ton of friends like that and as previously stated, certain genres are that way for me. Here is how I think it could be done effectively:

Multiplayer: This will take into account all multiplayer features. Including leaderboard capabilities for stages/bosses/other clear times, and challenges, as well as other non-traditional multiplayer settings. Co-op compatible modes like Horde mode in Gears of War 2, Zombie mode in CoD: WaW, or Firefight in Halo: ODST. Co-op campaign would be a checklist of sorts: 2 player only or more? How does it function? Enhance game or nuisance? Etc. Last but not least, the good old traditional multiplayer versus modes that you'd expect your favorite games to have now a days.

Single Player: This would incorporate any and everything that is designed to be done by yourself. Ranging from the actual campaign mode, to something like say a "Challenge Mode" that you would find in Batman: Arkham Asylum, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, or even Peggle (which has some ridiculous challenge levels).

Overall Score: Multiplayer averaged out with single player. Say for instance a games lackluster campaign is deserving of no higher than 7.3 rating. However, it's coupled with a kick ass multiplayer that clearly deserves a 9.3, so that game would average out to be a respectable 8.5 overall. Why overall? Because frankly in the end a game is a total package. At least until they start selling bits and pieces for you to choose from (ya right).

There are many facets to a game that makes up its quality. However; in my eyes it's very important to distinguish between the multiplayer experience and the single player experience before I delve into a title. Some people on the other hand will be completely content with the standard overall view which covers all bases. I on the other hand would like to have more variation in the matter.

If a gamer favors one style of gameplay over another, whether it be multiplayer or single player, it would be useful if they could distinguish between several ratings to know what they're getting into ahead of time. If I am going to go buy a shooter or fighter, I want to know I'm getting a game with amazing multiplayer aspects. Ones that will keep me entertained indefinitely. If not, I don't want it. Being able to check on such a rating and get an in depth review of it would really ease my mind and greatly influence game choices.

Best of all it would be nice to know when a game has solid (or hideous) marks in both categories. That way you'll know what games are a sure thing, and what games to avoid like the plague.

MLG Anaheim Super Weekend Predictions, CWOW Down: 10% Of Activision's Net Earnings Gone? Will Blizzard Switch Business Model? Appreciate What You Have

no.spam@gameriot.com (Ming) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:56:31 -0500

Don't miss the MLG Anaheim super weekend!

Coverage on: http://www.gotfrag.com/

Friday: 7PM PST
Saturday: 10AM PST
Sunday: 10AM PST

Current time of Anaheim: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=783

WOM's own Azael/Pookz/Bodi will be at the event! Good luck to all competitors!

Looking at the final roster, as far as RMP mirrors go, Reckful-kun's Complexity has mental edge over Korean Button Bashers and SK-US as they beat both at the last MLG, including a humiliation 5-0 sweep of Realz's SK-US. Woundman/Yog/Douja has the better overall record in BG9 over Azael/Terderloin/Smatin. And I expect those two teams to finish in the top 4, representing the pride of rogue community to the best of their abilities.

However, they won't be the favorites of this tournament. Even with beast cleave nerfs, Microsoft's Checksix is still running the strongest overall comp today, with the highest margin for error as they took multiple high winning percentage teams to the top of the BG9 ladder with ease. Azael/Pookz's wizard cleave does stand a chance but for this tournament they are on separate teams.

Thankfully, the damage nerf from S7 to S5 is not the only thing that can hold hunter hero Twix back, Another/Inflame's DK/Lock/Druid with an amazing 89% win rate in Europe's finest BG will be a formidable opponent, taking full advantage of the slower pace in S5 gear. BG9 does have a quality DK/Lock/Druid team that will be at this tournament, although no one would consider them at Another/Inflame's level.

Of course, SK-EU haven't experienced anything like the original beast cleave either, so this will be the most exciting match-up at the tournament! With Toez being able to switch to priest for anti-DOT/HOT, shaman disease totem + priest dispel = low damage output for DK/Lock, double offensive dispel makes it VERY hard for the druid to stay alive. My money is on Checksix to win their second championship in a row, playing the best overall comp in the game today.

Ming's Predictions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th

CWOW Down: 10% Of Activision's Net Earnings Gone?

Just how big is the Chinese WOW market? Even without the WOTLK release, playing TBC still, the Chinese market accounts for 5-6 cent of Activision's 65 EPS (Earnings Per Share) according to analyst reports. That is not 10% of Blizzard's net earnings, that is almost 10% of Activision the parent company's net earnings and Activision owns many other successful franchises than WOW, like the super popular Guitar Hero and Call of Duty series.

This will be a serious dent to Activision/Blizzard if Netease can not get themselves out of the power struggle between China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and Ministry of Culture (MOC). Both government agencies are trying to control the $4 billion Chinese online gaming market, growing at 30-50 percent a year. 11 million subscribers cut in half will also result in sheer dominance of Aion in the Asian market, taking up the subscribers of CWOW. Suddenly you are looking at a 6-7 million subscriber base for Aion vs 5-6 million for WOW. A disastrous situation for the game we all love.

Fortunately, according to Chinese players of NGACN, Netease re-opened its servers after regular maintenance despite CCTV (the equivalent of NBC in China) reporting the clamp down of CWOW. I am a big fan of Netease CEO William Ding, #647 on world's billionaire list at 1.1 billion according to Forbes. He is playing hardball when GAPP is telling him to stop charging users to play the game and not allow new account registrations on national TV. A victory here will lead to WOTLK release in China, and Blizzard obtaining the financial resource it needs to make Cataclysm the best game it can possibly be.

A defeat? It will probably be the beginning of the end when we look back a decade from now . . .

Will Blizzard Change Its Business Model?

With the wildly successful faction/race change earning $30 a piece, Blizzard is selling the equivalent of an extra copy of WOTLK every time someone wants to get a better racial for arena or join his/her friends on the other side.

WOW is without a doubt, a financial success, but given the huge subscriber base, there is a lot of room for additional revenue streams. In China, 75% of its online gaming market is built on free-to-play games that rely on virtual item sales, and the Chinese business model is enough to produce billionaires off far weaker franchises, vastly inferior games than WOW.

Michael Morhaime, the CEO of Blizzard was worth $90 million in 2007 according to Forbes, an impressive figure, but still nowhere near William Ding of Netease's $1.1 billion (in USD) who is in a totally different league. And with a pay package of $5 million in 2008, I believe he will do something about that. Heck, the profit margin of CWOW is much bigger than American/European WOW, with much lower administrative costs, and time cards instead of flat rates for much bigger revenue streams.

Think your class is underpowered? Change from rogue to warrior for $50! Missed last season's action? Missing slots are just $10 a piece. Special mounts, super unique pets, someone will pay for them. If they can sell Will of the Forsaken for $30, anything is possible.

Of course, like everyone else, I hope they don't go that route. But I do believe faction/race change is just the beginning. There is more pay-to-play "content" on the way folks.

World Class 5v5 Team LF Warlock

If you are a warlock who is interested in getting a 1st place season 7 title with likely minded players (including rank 1's of past seasons), please email needlockfor5s@yahoo.com. I can not disclose anything more than that as I am adding this note as a favor. Please be vocal on vent and willing to transfer/faction change!

Appreciate What You Have

I was talking to Estel today on my cell phone outside of my day job in Midtown Manhattan, and this thing made a right turn on a very narrow street and a good portion of it got onto the curb.

I was standing still, about 2-3 feet away from the corner of the curb with my back turned. A co-worker (and a very close friend) of mine pulled me a step forward and I was out of its melee range. I also heard someone shouting out a warning. Would it be direct contact if I stood still? Hard to say, would have been a close call according to him. Needless to say, even a "gentle kiss" from this thing can have very serious consequences.

Throughout our lives, I am sure everyone got into similar situations, where the difference between life and death is just a few feet/seconds away. Of course nothing really bad happened, but you realize how lucky you were after the fact. My father was hit by a car once when he did delivery jobs for a Chinese restaurant when he was new to the U.S. Somehow the car hit his bike and never made direct contact with him. His bike was broken beyond repair, his body only had a few minor scratches. Had it been the other way around our family would have never got this far. Even then, my father never rode a bike ever again.

That is why sometimes I feel I should be satisfied about life in general. I have a beautiful wife and a lovely baby, a modest apartment with no mortgage, relatively stable job of decent income with growth potential (to a certain degree, it certainly won't get me to where I would like to be, but stability is very important right now), and our parents have no major health concerns. Throughout my life I never had any serious injury or illness that required more than a week's worth of rest. I should consider myself VERY lucky, as good health is something money can't buy, and it is something you appreciate a lot more when you just experienced a close call.

Yet with Estel's father coming to New York on a business trip this coming weekend, I know I have a lot to prove. While he will appreciate what I provided for his daughter (and I think he is going to like my genetics as well when he sees the baby, although he will give most of the credits to his daughter), I still have to defeat him in a duel to meet his expectations, as I am still very far from what he had in mind as a strong and capable husband. And the gap between our chakra levels hasn't shrunk. If anything with Chinese yuan poised to gain vs dollars, it may even increase as his investments are all hitting the right cylinders.

Still, at end of the day, I used to intern in World Trade Center a couple of years before 911, and I was working on Wall Street the day it collapsed. A safe and healthy life, no amount of money can buy that yet it is so easy to forget how good you have it! Life is so incredibly fragile as Orochimaru puts it, appreciate what you have and make good use of it!

Butterday with some resilience

no.spam@gameriot.com (butterland) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:34:03 -0500

Of all the blogs in all the sites in all the internet, you walk into mine.

My name's Butter... Butterland
Also known as Hulk from Burning legion for my fans out there.
They call me Mister Hulk! (and you should too)

Anyway, you might have seen me here and there. I generally make boring long comments (and this will be no different) on very useless stuff that gets either no attention or down-votes. In fact, I know you've already made your choice and won't up-vote this. Well you know what? I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore! I've traded my 8th page position on a Verdak post (squeezed between a Lusitania image and a very inspiring "Tits or GTFO") for this magnificent blank page to fill with my communist ideas and subliminal messages.

So now would be a good time to introduce the essence of this article or, at least, post a picture of a semi-naked girl to hold your attention for another few moments, but for once, I'll cut to the chase...

After I introduce myself!
You know, make a background to prove that I have no PvP credibility and thus saving you the time of scanning through my armory. In fact, I didn't even make the Gladiator cut in S6 even after giving it all out. I didn't even make Duelist to be honest. Ever. Not even on my S3 druid. On the official forums, I'm stuck on the no-man's land where I'm not a noob, but still "baddy Rival Hulk" and thus I see no point posting there. Its just much more gratifying to be spit at by WoM e-thugs than WoWforums bg-heroes.

So, now that were past the awkward part of me trash talking myself, we can get on with the real deal that is (WotLK) arena.

Personal definition of WotLK Arenas : Ground where competitive players meet to skillfully global each other. It is the pinnacle of skills and I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Hulk when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

*hum*

So what is all this about ? You may ask.
Its about burst ****in damage that makes or breaks professional (lol) play.

While I can't fix WotLK burst, I can try to fix the absurd use PvE gear that was and always is rampant in arenas. (2pc, 4pc, warglaives, etc.)

My solution :
Some tits and a resilience fix that really works once and for all.
-Make PvE gear much less attractive in PvP
-Make PvP gear much less attractive in PvE

What I propose is to have a portion of offensive stats removed from PvP gear/weapons and have the value of 1 resilience increased appropriately to match the item level. That's right, Resilience should have a higher value BUT it should be buffed (yet again) appropriately :

(Show me the money, already!)

And here we go :
One percent of resilience currently has the following effects:
    * Chance to be critically hit reduced by 1%.
    * Damage taken from crits that do land have their critical strike damage component reduced by 2.2%.
    * Damage taken from all player attacks reduced by additional 1%.
    * Amount of mana drained or burned by mana-draining effects is reduced by 2.2%.

My personnal modifications to this already long list of effects done by resilience :
One percent of resilience should have the following effects:
    * Chance to be critically hit reduced by 2%.
    * Damage taken from crits that do land have their critical strike damage component reduced by 4.4%.
    * Damage taken from all player attacks reduced by additional 2%.
    * Amount of mana drained or burned by mana-draining effects is reduced by 4.4%.

    * Damage done and amount of mana drained/burned ignores 1% of your enemy's resilience

Effects if you wear :

Full PvP gear
Slightly decreased damage vs PvP geared players due to the loss of offensive stats.
Significantly increased damage vs PvE geared players due to the resilience penetration.

Full PvE gear
Greatly decreased damage vs PvP geared players due to lack of resilience penetration.
No difference vs PvE geared players due to simple lack of resilience on both sides.

Obviously, numbers could be tweaked to keep a damage edge for wearing a few PvE pieces, but at a much higher survival cost.
That would also eliminate the PvP gear in PvE we saw in BC that forced Blizz to impliment PR and higher scaling on PvE gear.

I tell you, this will bring the balance to the Force.

Maybe Blizzard will see this and go all batman on the change, fixing everything that was, is and ever will be wrong with WoW by this one-trick-pony.

There is hope.
After all, tomorrow is another day!

May the force be with you,
HULK OUT

Modern Warfare 2 supports F.A.G.S. - then removes video

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:54:17 -0500

Philadelphia Phillies star Cole Hamels had and interesting public service announcement for all you Modern Warfare 2 fans: "avoid random grenades, they are for *******".

The funny thing about this clip isn't just that they got a Major League Baseball player to drop by for the announcement, nor is it about how bad random grenades are. The PSA is the best part. Apparently Infinity Ward and Hamels by proxy are in support of F.A.G.S., the fight against grenade spam.

Oh my, an acronym that spells out ****, look out world! Infinity Ward got wind of some negative feedback so they had the clip pulled from their website which obviously doesn't prevent it from already going viral much like the "terrorists shooting up an airport" video that had everyone *****ing and moaning.

Sol wrote about this Saturday noting "using such words only betrays an inarticulate, intellectually stunted mind. Don't use them unless you want to sound like an idiot". Are to the point where everyone is politically correct and no one can take a joke a anymore?

Support F.A.G.S. kill nade spammers?

They weren't advocating the uses of **** in relation to homosexuals nor as a knock on straight people as a joke. It was a simple acronym. Get over it, lighten up, have a laugh and move on. The ******* thing is probably way offensive as well. Feminists everywhere should certainly be upset about the comparison of ******* nade spammers to their vag. Most people know that ****** is infinitely more cool than nade spammers.

On top of that F.A.G.S. is actually shown as a positive influence in the commercial and not a negative making me wonder when a PSA will come out titled "avoid getting your panties in a bunch over jokes, that is for *******".

There are bad jokes and there are funny jokes. While this isn't "laugh out loud" hilarious I did like the PSA aspect. Now if they video portrayed a guy on the mic playing MOW2 calling everyone who killed him with a grenade a "***" and then starting up a anti-*** group that would probably wade in to excessive territory. This PSA wasn't even close to that.

All this free publicity probably has Infinity Ward opening up extra bank accounts just to store all the loot. This will only further their cause towards being one of the top selling games of the year and making Bobby Kotick that much more well off. Between the "dedicated server issue", the "killing innocents as a terrorist" and now this PSA they have been dominating gaming headlines and probably laughing manically Dr. Evil-style.

Lighten up people. Life is too short to not enjoy a joke from time to time.

Efriends, UFC 105, Music you should be listening to..

no.spam@gameriot.com (Weinersmile) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:41:00 -0500

Efriends: playing online games, you are bound to meet people online and grow attached to them becoming friends, but how do they rank with your real life friends? If you play more hardcore you will end up spending hours each day with them. So does it mean anything or is it just a voice in your head from vent? With all the horror stories of people meeting from online games its seems like you should just keep it that. Whats your opinion on your Efriends and do you mingle with them and your real life friends?

UFC 105 is coming soon on Nov 15 and will be free on Spike, some interesting fights.

Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera: I see Randy making a comeback and beating Vera who has looked very sloppy at 205. 30-27 Couture

Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy: This will be a all out brawl and I'm choosing this to be Fight of the Night. Mike Swick is hungry for a title shot and I dont see Dan Hardy as that great and really needs to prove himself after the controversial split decision win over Marcus Davis. Mike Swick TKO in Rd 2

Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang: As much as I would like to see Bisping take another shot to the chin and get KO'd in front of millions again, he always puts on a show in his hometown. Bisping TKO in Rd 1

James Wilks vs. Matt Brown: James Wilks fresh off his win over DaMarques Johnson who he completely dominated I see him being just as good this time, big future for him with a impressive win here. James Wilks Submission Rd 3

Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley: Ross Pearson off his win at TUF finals, he did fair pretty well in the Decision victory, but I'm feeling Riley who has been very impressive in his wins to take the W: Aaron Riley TKO Rd 2

Super Awesome Music that you should be listening to:

Tegan and Sara's new single Hell, def new sound and it sounds ******* amaze.

The most underrated UK metalcore/mathcore band the Architects new video for Follow the Water. They are by far my favorite band, I even have a Hollow Crown tattoo

Gotta have some techno, this little gem

Level Segregation: Do we even need/want a solution?

no.spam@gameriot.com (F8L Fool) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:21:37 -0500

The concept of "level segregation" touched on in Gamebynight's recent blog really elicited some dormant memories and emotions for me. In every MMO I've played to date I strove to not only reach the highest level content of said game, but to conquer it in a dominating fashion. This obviously limited who I could effectively play with to the higher level, like-minded individuals, and endgame guilds. This also put a strain on some friendships that I made while leveling, and/or brought with me from the start.

I frequently pick up an MMO at the behest and suggestions of close friends. Either they have already started playing or want to start anew with me in a promising looking game. Whenever I am the one to start late I am left playing catchup in both levels and gear. This is typically frustrating because not only do I have to learn the ropes of the game, but I have to put in a great deal of effort to get on par with them in terms of gear and levels.

If we all start at the same time then one of two things happen:

1.) One of us out-level's the others. Forcing the ladder to play cuponatchup, or be carried.

2.) One of us has to intentionally limit our leveling to stay near one another.

In either example it can be a chore to manage your levels effectively and still enjoy the game.

Most of this angst can be credited to level segregatioen, the lack of incentives for higher levels to help lower levels, and the inability of lower levels to contribute to content beyond their level range. There is virtually no reason for a level 80 in WoW to venture over to a level ~30 area and be of some assistance, outside of cleaning out high level gankers that is. Conversely a level 30 can't even get to any of the level 80 content, thus designating them as a non-factor.

The real question is does any of this even matter? If so, is it big enough of a deal to seriously tackle? I believe that not only does it matter, but by finding a solution to it can cause a games success to exponentially grow. Even in the case of games that are already hits like WoW, Eve, or Aion. The reason being that a games longevity relies not only on retaining subscribers but finding new ones as well. If a game makes you feel as though you'll never catch up, you can't interact/group with friends of a higher level, and you're just too far behind in general to enjoy the game you're far less likely to even pick up the game let alone continue to play it.

I feel as though the vast majority of game developers overlook a prominent way to encourage expansive level mingling. The primary reason for that is the ephemeral or temporary nature of being a "low level". Sure at times it can feel like an eternity leveling up and finally reaching max, but in reality it's generally a quick process. The time you spend at max level vs. the time you spending attaining it, in the majority of MMO's now a days, is extremely one sided. It can take anywhere from one to three months to reach max level in most MMO's, where you can end up spending one to two years at that end level before it is raised.

However there's always room for improvement in the leveling and social experience, and ways to have one feed off of the other. A great example of this is how some of the guild functions will work in the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. In the expansion there will be many ways to level up your guild. Anyone regardless of level will be able to contribute guild experience through things such as leveling their character, raising professions, winning rated BG's+Arena, and even rep gains. You can see an expansive explanation on the guild leveling system in this video from Blizzcon 09.

While this change to the guild system gives a way for anyone regardless of their level to contribute directly to the guilds progression (which is a giant leap in the right direction), it isn't so gamebreaking in the sense that you'll see guilds basing less of their recruitment methods on level and gear, and more on personable characteristics.

What's really needed are two things:

1.) Worthwhile, lucrative incentives for high levels to help low levels.

2.) Some better ways for a lower level to contribute to a guild and/or higher level players.

Gamebynight claims that, "If there's a good reason for the 80 to help the 20 rather than run a 5-man, they will. Someone needs to make a system that casts level segregation to the wind and lets players actually play together without punishing them."

While I wholeheartedly agree with part of this statement it's hard to completely disagree with any of it. There has to be a superior or at the very least equivalent incentive for an 80 to help a 20, instead of running a 5 man. Not just a "good" reason. Otherwise no, I do not believe for one second they'll opt to go help even part of the time. Here's what I suggest:

Mentor System: There's an infinite number of possibilities when it comes to the mentor system. The way I would propose doing it is having a set amount of quests that can be performed, similar to the daily's we have now, but exclusive to helping lower levels.

This could be in the form of helping them kill a named in a dungeon, taking them to a higher level area and collect unique quest items for special rewards, or maybe even supplying them with special tokens that can only be used a "mentor vendors" to purchase potions, limited exp buffs, or even the occasional item at specific levels.

Some limitations would obviously be needed in order to prevent abuse, which could be the following:
- The quests given out would have to be completely random.

- Players would need to be a certain amount of levels lower than you in order for you to mentor them (10-20 at least sounds adequate).

- Players would have to be level 10 (perhaps 15) or higher before they can be taken on as an apprentice in a quest.

- Players would have to be 40+ before being able to act as a mentor.

- Only a set number of them would be doable per day.

- There could be a Looking For Mentor or Looking for Apprentice channel (with level ranges)

- The rewards for the mentor would have to be based on their level upon completing the quest, and not simply baseline (scaling rewards).

- There should be varying difficulties (tiers) for the mentor quests. Ranging from a random dumb quick daily, to a dungeon style daily like you would find at the upper levels.

- Mentor rewards would be unique to the mentor system (titles, mounts, rest tokens, in addition to money) and not found elsewhere in the game; alluring enough to make your average player really want to acquire them.

- Other limitations and tweaks would obviously be necessary to prevent abuse on either the Mentor or the Apprentice end.

As for the better ways for a low level to contribute, well...I have tons of random ideas but balancing them is the difficult task. Tell me what you guys think on the matter and perhaps suggest some of your own solutions, or reasons for not needing one.

Some Arena Tips, WotF Nerf Enough To Re-balance Factions?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Serennia) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:26:48 -0500

Arena Tips
So it seems to be kinda trendy lately to blog about arena tips for newer and veteran players alike and although a lot of this kind of stuff will just get the "duh" reaction from seasoned players, for everyone person that reacts that way there is someone else that just learned something new. That said, I'm going to write about a few things that I seem to get asked a lot and hopefully some people will get use out of it.

1. Plan of action - In order to be successful at the highest levels, you should always have a plan of action for every possible outcome of a situation planned ahead of time. I touched on this in an interview in the past I believe with Carmack, but this is the best scenario I can give to describe an example of this:

You're a rogue. You have 5 cp's and you're planning a kidney shot. You have a plan for kidney shot landing and a separate one for kidney shot dodging/parrying. You then have a plan for your vanish re-opener and what you'll do if it works successfully or if it gets gayed (for lack of a better term). When blinding someone, you already have planned out how you will react if they trinket the blind or if they sit in the blind (with trinket available).

It's situations such as those that separate good players from great players: planning ahead and anticipation. There are situations like the aforementioned ones for every class, as well, not just a rogue. A death knight faces similar scenarios: if you gnaw a mage, you should have a plan for if they blink it or not, if you miss mind freeze on a paladin you should plan out your follow-up interrupts with gnaw, strangulate, or death grip, etc etc. For a mage, typical situations would be things like RMP mirrors and if the enemy mage locks your arcane or frost and how to react in either situation. I'm sure you get the point by now.

This really just comes with practice but I know a lot of players that simply think one step at a time and I feel that really limits them as opposed to if you plan out all possible outcomes to a situation ahead of time.

2. Proper Fake-Casting - Although this applies a lot more toward paladins than other casters, there are applications of it for any caster class so I felt it worth noting. I constantly see paladins tanking a melee class, casting a flash of light, and faking it by moving or jumping, and then starting the cast again. I see this as an incredible waste of GCD's. Instead of juking your cast by simply breaking the channel and restarting again after (thus wasting a global doing that), you're much better off interrupting the channel to juke with an instant spell such as cleanse. The best scenario of this that comes to mind for me:

Paladin has a DK on him and full diseases on. Paladin begins casting flash of light and interrupts it with a cleanse on himself (instead of just moving) and potentially baits the DK's mind freeze. Not only did the paladin succeed in getting the mind freeze but he also cleanses 1 disease (assuming no resist) which not only removes the damage it was doing but also reduces the damage multiplier for the DK's abilities due to having less diseases on. This works the same way if a mage or rogue were on the paladin, as well, and trying to juke their respective interrupts.

Shamans can do the same thing with their cleanse, druids can do the same thing with a HoT or abolish in place of cleanse, and experienced priests most often fake a penance in order to get several flash heals off typically. I guess you could call this GCD management, but I really see casters doing this all the time when attempting to fake-cast when they could be getting in twice as many spells if they used proper fake-casting techniques.

3. Cooldown Management - Maybe another one of those "duh" sections, but all too often, I see players stagger their important cooldowns and not accomplishing very much of anything out of them. For example, a rogue using an offensive vanish to cheap shot their DPS target but not really chaining anything off of that. Although it's different for some classes, in most situations, it is far better to "put all your eggs in one basket" and drop a huge cooldown chain on your opponent. In the case of going up against a holy paladin team, you generally want to use half of your cooldowns to force all of their outs (emergency buttons) and the other half for finishing the job when they're done with them.

As a death knight in 2v2 or 3v3, you typically want to use 1 or 2 cooldowns in order to force the other healer's emergency buttons (nature's swiftness, divine shield, pain suppression, etc) which ideally will be your less important ones such as gnaw and gargoyle. This allows you to use your devastating ones such as strangulate and empowered rune weapon to score the kill after the other team has used their outs. In the case of death knights, it is also far better to save lichborne for the final rushdown to immune incoming CC rather than using it to prevent a sap (l2petcombat) or even to prevent an initial CC.

Again, this might all seem pretty fundamental to some, the fact that you see these types of players out there at 2500+ ratings at least says that there are players that can benefit from reading these types of things... hopefully.

WotF Nerf Enough To Re-balance Factions?
The 3.3 patch nerfing WotF (45 sec shared cooldown with pvp trinkets) has been discussed ad nauseum lately but the question that I haven't really seen answered is will this significant nerf be enough to re-balance the factions and send some of the horde zerg back to alliance? I think it really all depends on the reason why everyone went horde to begin with: was it WotF or was it just "the cool thing to do?"

I think it was fairly obvious how broken WotF is in arena currently, leaving it as far and away the best racial (since WG trinkets replicate human racial). Pretty much every player that faction-changed to horde went Undead if their class allowed for it, so how will they all react now that their precious racial is not-so-game-changing? I actually feel that Undead is one of the weaker horde races now with their other racials not stacking up to the benefits of stun reduction for orcs (as well as racial AP/SP trinket), nor even the snare reduction that trolls get (which is ridiculous when stacked with snare talents and snare meta).

As dumb as it may sound, if I were a DK going horde, I would honestly pick troll at this point and stack it with Toughness and an Enigmatic Skyflare Diamond. Warriors sure are going to love having to hamstring you every 2 gcd's and berserking isn't all too bad either. In any case, there probably won't be any massive return to alliance from all of the horde players (especially the ones on Blackrock) so I don't expect to see too many people going back, but instead possibly race-changing to a different horde race now that Undead are getting the nerf bat.

Alkasir 4 Mage Video, No Hassle Model Change? Uncensored CounterStrike Strippers Images

no.spam@gameriot.com (bilingue) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:26:20 -0500

Alkasir released his latest video and it's very entertaining. Alkasir 4 will not offer much for those expecting serious arena business but instead is a really well edited movie with Halloween theme. The movie features a great intro, world pvp, some arena clips, and an unique ending. Just like my last blog I could not enjoy the full HQ version (thanks windrunner for the link) but at least a "HQ" stream was offered. Not so skilled opponents will appear in the video but I guess that makes sense if you follow the story Alkasir created.

The first Pally fight and the double spell steal was really funny. There is a 1v1 fight versus a Warlock in an arena match, good timing with Iceblock but that is common among good mages. I had a good time watching the movie and can't wait for the next one.

Another Way To Model Change?

There is a video on WCM explaining how to change your race with no editing:

Step 1 : Make a new character of the race / gender / appearance you want to be, class does not matter. Also, for example if you're a tauren druid, you can be ANY race you want not just a night elf.

Step 2 : Log onto the newly made character, and then log off.

Step 3 : On the character selection screen, have the character you want changed " Highlighted " in that they are the character is shown enlarged, and have your cursor over the level 1 you want to look like. Click that level 1 and press enter at virtually the same exact time ( but with the clicking part being slightly before). If you fail in doing so repeat step 2 and try again.

This is not game breaking but Blizzard will probably fix it soon. Good Luck!

Where are my strippers?

Slapnuts posted an entry about strippers and Counter-strike and included a link for some censored NSFW pics. Click here to view some of the uncensored NSFW images. Enjoy!

ESL Announces Invited Teams And Raises Questions, The Great Transatlantic Rivalry - Yiska on GotFrag, Mods In Qualifying Tournaments And Blizzard's WoW Policy Dilemma.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Yiska) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:19:35 -0500

Yesterday I sat down with Shrew from gotfrag.com to talk my about my application which I handed in right after they announced that they need a WoW related writer and we agreed that I'd be doing a little coverage for MLG Anaheim by posting small summery-blogs every couple of matches on their site. Also he encouraged me to do an entry blog for them which is up and running already. The topic is the transatlantic rivalry and what impact Anaheim will have on this on going battle. Here is a small excerpt:

"MLG Anaheim is right around the corner, and the heat between the European and American communities is boiling up already. And what better place to fight out this transatlantic battle could there be than the hallowed halls of the Anaheim Convention center – the venue where so many significant tournaments for WoW as an e-sport have taken place. As long as WoW is played competitively at tournaments, the community was always craving for an answer to the question...

“North America or Europe. Who is the more dominant WoW continent?”

After every tournament, excuses are made from both sides as to why their respective team didn’t perform as well. “They didn’t train properly before the event”, or “Their comp was just too overpowered” and "This is not the strongest team my continent has to offer" can be read all over the communities websites. While I’m sure that the blame game will never change, the situation in Anaheim is an exception to the usual confrontation..."

If you're interested why I think MLG Anaheim is special, check out the whole article over

>>>HERE<<<

ESL announces invited teams and raises questions

Just the other day, ESL announced (check out the full news here) which 8 teams of each continent won't have to go through the hassle of qualifying on the ESL TR for one of the other 8 other qualifying spots. These 16 teams will then battle it out again to determine who's going to the offline continental finals for their respective continent. The already seeded teams are:

North America:
compLexity (Sodah, Venruki, Reckful)
SK Gaming USA (Realz, Enforcer, Pookz)
Evil Geniuses (Azael, Tenderlion, Smatin)
fnaticMSI.WoW (Douja, Yog, Woundman)
CheckSix Gaming (Twixz, Toez, Flexx)
CRITICAL ERROR (Euneek, Fuzionn, Excentric)
moving my hips like yea (Huggerz, Beast, maximebl)
slash pulse (???)

Europe:
iNNERFiRE WoW (Desis, CoolD, Phenomenon StGeorge)
SK Gaming WOW PvP EU (Divine Inflame, 4star General Another, Private Enigmz)
aAa (Prof. Thorkin, Alca, Khuna)
Ensidia (Flyn, Lord Hydra, Caliph Kalimist)
plan B SKY.wow (Texi, Daisyduke, Kajn)
SK GAMING Sansibar (Fraki, NòÓnia, Moldran)
x6tence.wow (Siler, Souler, Falcon)
BRB ICE CREAM TRUCK (Yunisha, Instance, Sanchez)

Few surprises there as pretty much all sponsored teams have been invited. While I don't think they forgot any high profile team, some teams on this list beg the question if the size of 8 invited teams is a well thought out procedure. Some of these teams don't even have three active players while many teams have entirely new rosters. Some of them don't even play together anymore and some just don't have the quality to be seeded in such a prestigious tournament. If these rosters written above were to play on the TR now, I guarantee you 30% of those teams wouldn't qualify or even attend the TR in that roster.

The settings for ESL are different than MLGs. A month back I criticized that MLG wanted to make SK.EU go through the Wildcard stage, which would've required them to play on a US realm with horrible pings and therefore very little chance to qualify and MLG reverted their decision. ESL got two tournament servers though, one for North America and one for Europe. Everybody would have a fair chance of qualifying via the TR.

If you ask me, inviting four teams or even none at all and let them just battle it out on the TR would've been the best method for WoW as an e-sport as there is no doubt in my mind that Europe will have better teams than some of these above on the TR in this very moment, which is probably also the case for North America.

We all saw that exchanging one player from a line up can turn an ESL world champion into a not even top 4 team at Blizzcon and MLG, like it was the case for Button Bashers. I go out on a limb here and take the educated guess that 50% of these teams listed above will attend the 16 teams qualification round with a line up that has been together for less than 6 month and most of them won't have LAN experience together.

Here is why ESL was probably forced to invite 50% of these teams: Money. If you sign up for the TR now you already have to agree that you will only get your price money if you attend the actual offline tournament, which of course requires sponsorship in many cases. You can't expect the ESL to knock on Top Clan doors and make them pay for the wild cards like complexity did.

Follow that thought with me and you will find out that there will be some cases, my bet is 2-4 per continent, in which a team that made it out of the top 16 has to hand their spot to a sponsored team which has failed to qualify if sponsors don't step up and help the community. It has been said time and time again, there are teams on live servers who play at least on the same level as those sponsored teams.

Mods in online qualifying tournaments and Blizzard's WoW policy dilemma.

Listening to some high profile players in #ArenaCast on GameSurge such as Zyz and Spoh, they state the statement above has also to do with the fact that many of those teams use an excessive amount of mods.

When they interviewed complexity's Reckful in Dallas he said: "Teams play so much worse here than on live, it's pretty ridiculous" and he has a point. Of course some of this are Lan jitters but you can still be sure that some of those teams still train with mods even in the training before the tournament. This is all good and fine, as long as you don't have to go through an online qualifying stage where you can use all the mods in the world you want and get **** on once you attend the offline event.

What can be done though? There are some ideas floating around, such as offering an addon package for everyone to use but if you think it through, there is a significant flaw in each approach that makes it just too easy to "cheat".

The answer to this issue is a very familiar one for probably 70% of all questions ever raised in WoW as an e-sport: "Blizzard has to take action". Disabling addons to load from a tournament account can't be too difficult and checking if these restrictions are enabled with the amount of system checking and observing Blizzard products use, it should be possible to develop a "punkbuster" type of software. Possibility for this to happen? Close to zero as I'm sure Blizzard won't see this as necessary development time and just like all these other game developers didn't in the past and the community had to code all these tools they needed themselves. This is close to impossible with how WoW treats third party programs though and it's a shame really.

If you look into other Blizzard game communities, great tools such as Waaagh TV (which is essentially like HLTV) have been developed and there is little doubt in my mind that this would be a huge deal for WoW as an e-sport. The only reason WoW-streams such as Reckful.com are so popular is because they are the only form of spectating WoW in it's competitive form has to offer. The problem for the WoW community is, that so few people have access to the spectator client and therefore are unable to come up with a solution. I was about to write "make it open source" but realized how ridiculous this sounds considering we are talking about Blizzard here. Instead I will go with "make it happen, pretty pleaseeee?".

Today I will leave you with the first line Lusitania approached me with a while back while I was idling on Ravencrest and Yiska out.

(not shader'd)

Epic Drop 11/2/09: Baseball bat lawsuit, New uTorrent, Google voice blocked, MIB3, Hogan Q&A, Best Picture?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:16:23 -0500

Not a whole lot going on this past weekend. No big movies unless you are in to Michael Jackson. I did a bit of bowling, a few drinks and even found time to get my drunk friends home, minus the one I left downtown. That is what happens when you chase the split-tail and don't close the deal. +1 for Hurt Locker owning faces

Starting the night off with this awesome video of Manu Ginobili ruining Dracula's night:

Is this what this country has come to? We are now suing Louisville Slugger for making aluminum baseball bats without warnings on them? I feel for the family of the 18-year-old who lost their son from a ball hit off of a aluminum bat but this is just ridiculous. Should they sue Rawlings for the ball not having a warning it? What about Wilson gloves for not noting "glove should be between ball and face when trying to catch balls in the air"? I really hope this gets tossed out on appeal.

A new uTorrent is in the works and is beta as we speak. The benefit this time around is that the protocol uses uTP and not TCP therefore it won't infer with web surfing, games, VOIP, etc. The uTP transfers will auto throttle when needed providing you with a high quality of service while downloading at the same time. I like this move though I do have some concerns considering uTorrent's attempt at going semi-legit. Plus this could have ISPs dragging their feet if it becomes mainstream as they may have less desire to improve speeds considering the high use of BT traffic on their networks.

Google Voice, while simply awesome, isn't appeasing everyone. It seems Google has taken to blocking certain telephone exchanges that were abusing the system (though legally) and costing them a fortune. For a free service Google didn't want to pony up the cash to cover the massive amount of calls from these few exchanges (who are making millions off of them) and simply cut them off. The question we should then ask is if Google Voice should be regulated like a telco. It sounds more like the FCC needs to overhaul their own rules instead of going after Google. On a side note, I can't wait to use my Google Voice # with the Android, free calls and txts is a nice bonus.

More NSFW images here. .Lorena from Met Art.

Men In Black 3 is in the works. Everyone can rest easy with the presumption that Will Smith will once again save Earth from an alien threat. I am kind of hoping he can save the theaters from having to run Hancock 2 but that may be hard to accomplish even for someone as talented as himself.

Hulk Hogan is back on the Epic Drop with this candid interview with Time.com. I almost picked up his book the other day at Best Buy as sounds like an interesting read into some of the crap he has been dealing with since leaving wrestling. Say your prayers brother!

Firstshowing.net takes a peak at this years potential "Best Picture" nominees. While it is still a bit hard to handicap the award thanks to all the late movies that will show up I agree with their take on Hurt Locker being right up there near the top. So far it is probably my favorite film of the year.

AICN has one of the first reviews up on the new Nightmare on Elm Street film. Unfortunately it doesn't sound all that great at this point even with Jackie Earle Haley. Just goes to show that the continual rebooting of old-school horror isn't doing all that well. These aren't hard films to make, it isn't like they were Oscar winners, why can't they make decent remakes?

More sports tonight for laughs this time thanks to the Las Vegas Cobras in what very well may have been "betting with bookie" gone wrong.

A Simple Guide To World of Warcraft Arena for New Players, pt 2

no.spam@gameriot.com (Bodi) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:31:58 -0500

This entry is a continuation of my last entry found here in a short series which attempts to give new players to WoW PvP an introduction to concepts they should consider when attempting to begin playing. Today's subjects are broken down into: Maximizing Your Play, What Comps to Play and finally, an often asked about subject, How To Find People To Play With. As with anything PvP related, many of these concepts overlap and I'll try my best to keep them as categorized as possible to avoid confusion.

Maximizing your play

The first step to becoming good is realizing that you aren't good. From there, you tweak your play and practice like a madman until you are good. The first part is a difficult thing for many people, including myself. Here's what Glick had to say to me after fighting against me a few times and thoroughly kicking my ass this season:

"Sometimes you stand around like you're unsure of what to do. Plan your positioning better. For example, on Dalaran you can't seem to decide if you want to be on the top or the bottom, when you should probably just make a beeline for the boxes." - Glick, on how much I suck at this game.

Sometimes, the truth hurts. But you as the player have the freedom to make the decision of becoming better and listening, or letting your pride getting in the way by making excuses as to why you played badly those games. It's okay to make mistakes, you just have to learn from them. On top of this, the best way to get better is to play against people who are better than you. But, as this is an MMO, there are a couple of shortcuts you can take in order to make this process easier: gear (which I covered in my last article), gemming, talents, glyphs, macros and addons all have the ability to maximize your character as well as help you keep track of things that may at first overwhelm you with details.

With gemming, it boils down to your class, comp and playstyle. This week I spent about 3,000g trying different gemming styles for Rogue/Warlock/Shaman to see if a high stamina build would work against teams that focus me all the time. I ended up with 29,005 HP unbuffed and it worked alright. But then I had another problem: I lost 204 spell power. So while I was being focused less, my ability to keep up my warlock was slightly hampered. The solution I found was to go middle of the road with stamina and spellpower and go healing wave spec to be able to heal through cleaves better.

Sometimes, experiments don't turn out exactly the way you want them to but there's no such thing as a failed experiment if you learned something from it. If you don't have the gold or patience to theorycraft, check out what top players are doing on the SK Top 100. SK-Gaming is a Swedish e-sports company with many resources on top level PvP news, commentary, and useful information for when you want to copy someone's spec, gems and glyphs. For actual strategy and information on the stuff you see there, there's Arena Junkies.

A NOTE ABOUT ARENA JUNKIES
Arena Junkies is not a well made site from a navigational perspective and many of the macros and strategy guides there are outdated. You also have to be 2400 rated to post on the damn thing. However, it's forums are an invaluable resource for people looking to find out trends with comps, strategies, specs and general gossip mixed in with a dash of bull****. Start here. Choose your class and read through the past 20 or so pages of forums for useful information and be sure to make use of the search function. Be assured, you're not the first person to have issues with starting out so in many instances there have been threads made which contain the information you see.

As you can tell from my talking about the SK-100 and Arena Junkies, research is a huge thing in terms of maximizing your play because the more you know before you queue up, the more you can meta game when you see who's on the other side when the gates open. Another source of research are PvP videos made by high rated players.

Here's a simple exercise: record yourself playing 10 games of arena, then go to Warcraft Movies and look for a high rated arena player's video of your same class. What's the difference between what they do, and what you do? Taking note of things like this and watching yourself play will elevate your conscious in terms of playing. Generally, we're our own worst critics so it's a good way to motivate yourself to get better at playing.

What Team Compositions To Play

If you're starting out, you probably want to stay away from experimental class compositions that may have a steeper learning curve and higher skill cap than the common compositions you'd see on the SK-100. WoW's greatest strength and weakness is that the game changes all the time, so it's important to keep note of how the trends change over the seasons, with patches and especially expansions because outside of Rogue/Mage/Priest and certain 5v5 compositions there hasn't been any consistent strong comps throughout every season.

In The Burning Crusade for example, druids were by far the best healer but with Wrath of the Lich King, druids are considerably weaker when you compare them to the other healers while arguably still on par with them. The SK-100 keeps track of all of these trends in real time. To save you going to SK's site right now, I'll list some of the major popular comps in 3v3 that you'll see.

There are four types of teams:

Melee Cleaves (Two Melee, One Healer)
Hogwarts Cleaves (Two Caster DPS, One Healer)
Comps That Actually Take Skill (One Melee, One Caster DPS, One Healer)
I Can't Believe People Run This Gay **** (Two Healers and a DPS, usually melee)

Common Cleaves Include:
TSG (the super gosus): Warrior/Death Knight/Paladin
Beast Cleave: Enhancement Shaman/BM Hunter/Priest or Paladin
Rape Is Legal in Texas: Retribution Paladin, Rogue, Priest
Preparation H: Feral Druid, Rogue, Priest
Wolves and Bladestormz: Enhancement Shaman/Warrior/Druid or Paladin
PHD: Death Knight/Hunter/Paladin
Retribution Paladin/Hunter/Shaman

Common Hogwarts Cleaves Are:
Elemental Shaman/Destruction Warlock/Priest or Paladin
Frost Mage/Destruction Warlock/Shaman or Druid
Shadow Play (technically): Affliction Warlock, Shadow Priest, Shaman or Druid

SKILLED COMPS Consist of:
RMP: Rogue/Mage/Priest
RLS: Rogue/Warlock/Shaman
WLD: Warrior/Warlock/Druid
Shadow Cleave: Death Knight/Warlock/Druid or Paladin
Hunter/Warlock/Druid

Comps Most Likely To Be Played By A Prince Body Double (if prince were tall) Include:
Double Healer Warrior (Any combination of healer)
Double Healer Hunter (Less common but still pretty dumb)
Holy Play (Obsolete but I'm sure someone's playing it. Shaman/Priest healers)

A SMALL NOTE ABOUT HUNTERS
Even if you play a healer, bind an AoE spell. Their snake traps give you deadly poison which stacks up to 5 times, crippling poison which slows you significantly, mind numbing poison which makes your casting slower and AIDS, which can't be cured by the things that clears poisons.

How To Find People to Play With

So now that we have the major comps down and you know what you'd like to play, the question becomes who do you play with? This is an easy question if you're on a high population PvP server, where the population consists of a significant percentage of bored male teenagers and college students willing to take out their pent up young male angst on a bunch of pixels. The challenge is if you're on an RP-PvE or PvE server, or if your server is low population so the pool of players is significantly lower. There are a number of solutions to this:

Transfer to another server
Make connections with like minded people by raiding
Duel a bunch of people to make a name for yourself
Write a Game Riot Blog to make yourself e-famous
Sleep your way to the top
Use Trade Chat to find people (be sure to subtract 200 from their claimed experience)

The first option may not be the most ideal for many people. After all, we have friends and significant emotional investment placed in not only our avatars but the avatars of others. It's difficult to leave that behind. Unfortunately, if the only high rated people on your server are your typical small-penis-having-big-fish-in-a-small-pond-douchebages then you may be SOL. Unless of course, you can somehow import a good player from another server then you're golden.

Other limitations of this option are if you DO transfer and you're not already known, you're starting from the bottom socially and you'll have to use the Trade Chat Random and Dueling strategy. Unless of course, you use Verdak's strategy of using your assets to get in-game swag.

All in all, as with any social setting it's about raising your profile. Your ability to do it depends directly on your ability to meet and interact with people who have similar ideals to you. The entirety of being introduced to arena comes from learning that the community is your biggest resource. With practice in your play, knowledge gained from research in this community, you'll raise your profile and arena ratings to eventually attain Gladiator.

Warhammer Online Trial: Play As Long As You Like

no.spam@gameriot.com (bilingue) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:10:31 -0500

I thought this could be very interesting for those looking for a small break. Mythic will be removing the 10 day restriction from it's trial. Warhammer is not a bad game but it suffered from hype, a lot of it. This is a great way to give players a taste of what the game is about. There are some limitations to the trial:

All trials account are restricted to Tier 1 content and Capital Cities.
Trial accounts may receive mail and purchase from the auction house; however, no sending mail or create auctions is allowed.
Trial accounts are limited to designated servers.

Some of these restrictions are in place to prevent population exploitation and gold sellers spam but it does't really affect what the trial is about. I had a blast when I played the game in Tier 1; Nordenwatch was one of my favorites BGs in WAR and we used to roll alts just to keep playing in this BG. Tier 1 RvR was not bad at all but the occasional zerg fest could happen from time to time.

This is an interesting move from Mythic; If you are bored or just want a break, give the trial a chance.

Warhammer Online Videos

Breasts vs. AWPs - Can strippers keep you from Counter-Strike?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:45:57 -0500

Russian teams Virtus.Pro and forZe went head to head in some Counter-Strike a while back with an interesting twist. While racking up headshots and doing Deagle saves they were being distracted by strippers to question a gamer's resolve; boobs or video games?

According to EnglishRussia:

"And when the game started, the whole room of a playground turned into a dance floor with loud music and half-naked hot girls. It seems that sponsors of the event wanted to make a surprise for boys and test them for firmness. Let’s see what was more important for hi-tech gamers, pretty girls or their score in the game?.”.

I am a bit curious as to whether or not the gamers knew what was going to happen. The article implies it may have been a surprise but if there was good money on the line I wonder if anyone complained. Then again the notion of actually complaining about tits in their faces and stinky-mouse pads may have convinced them to just play on.

Regardless of how things panned out this should almost be a requirement of all future gaming events. Everything is better with strippers and instead of watching some dudes wearing goofy looking headsets and shouting "double doors" or "ivy" wouldn't you rather focus on game screens with T&A to the side?

I really hope they provided some sanitary wipes after having those skanky ***** all over the computer hardware. And would it have really hurt for the hosts to actually get some hot girls to do this and not girls who looked like they worked a 12 hour shift, snorting lines and doing dollar dances in a local back alley? Of all the girls the only that is mildly decent looking is the one featured at the top of the post here.

You can check out more censored NSFW pics here if you are interested and a couple of more below.

A Travel Through Time - Yiska From TBC Till Today. Part 1

no.spam@gameriot.com (Yiska) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:43:36 -0500

I will try something new today. Maybe it's too screenshot heavy but we'll see how it goes and as there are simply too many screenshots for one blog, it will have a couple of parts I will toss in when no hot news are floating around in WoW Arena. That is if you guys enjoy this. I hope some screenshots will humour you or push your nostalgia button. I surely enjoyed going through my screenshot folder. As some screenshots are simply too big for the Gameriot blogsize I will link on them and you just have to click on them. If your name is in the blog or one of the screenshots, hit me up with a PM and I will remove it. I don't think you should be ashamed though. Enjoy

Oh TBC, how I miss you. I remember stepping the first time into Karazhan as a raider and a Commander ranked PvPer. On the first night we cleared until Curator when we found out that our raid DPS was pretty sad. Also you can see my raiding UI which was a compilation and I'm sure one of you still remembers it's name. Hard to see, our tank sported Thunderfury, a weapon with one of the best models in WoW ever.

High King Maulgar was the first 25 man boss encounter most raids started with after the transition from 40 man to 25 and I'm sure everyone who raided will tell you that drama was involved because you had to ditch a certain amount of people. This is a screenshot from our High King Maulgar RP-PvE world first (or so I remember.) You had some things to coordinate but wasn't too difficult at all. As always I had to moan about our DPS and while I ranted in the "cool kids" channel, I slacked around.

I also had my fair share of Arena with the first rank 14 on our server and he was not only a PvP grinder, but he was also an insanely good Rogue. As you can see on first glance, my keybindings are horrible and my play was atrocious. Keep in mind though, everybody was **** in season one. If you wonder what happened in that game; he raped the warrior.

My gear was quite OK. I even had a use trinket, macro'd to Frostbolt of course. I played AP/Frost back then, which was an OK spec for a baddy. Looking at the spell damage (pardon the German client) it was scraping 800. Laughable if think about today. I had 8k HP in this gear, about 12k less than now but also about 2k spell power less. Of course they changed some stuff about how spells scale, but you still see that the offensive stat to HP ratio significantly changed.

For early TBC raiding, you had to go Tailor as a caster or you just weren't competitive so I had to invest some serious gold and I remember farming for days just to skill it up and buy spellweave cloth. Thanks Isendar for helping me out with his CDs back then! If I recall correctly, in the very beginning this robe was a vest and it looked horrible. I switched to tailor rather late though as I couldn't decide if I should reroll Shadow Priest or stick to my beloved Mage. I wore this set till T5 I think.

I remember it took quite a bit for us to kill Gruul and Maulgar as our raid leader quit the game. A raid is a very fragile plant and once the gardener is gone the plant will either die or grow uncontrolled and some seeds will prinkle into another mans garden. We had a lot of roster changes before we could kill Voidwalker or Hydross. It took our raid 110 tries to kill Thaddius in Vanilla and even though we sorted out most of the ****ters, the player pool wasn't too reliable back then.

I really only raided the beginning of season 2 as I was emo about my Rogue. I took a 3 weeks break right before the season ended and we were on a save Gladiator spot, until my Rogue decided to play with a Ret Paladin. Yes a Ret Paladin, in season 1. Needless to say we dropped 300 rating in that process and as I came back to ride on my Gladiator mount, I had to find out that I didn't get it. I played RMD with these guys to 2300 but we also played with a female 30+ year old teacher (ilu Ta**<3) and we kinda downplayed every time we played RMP with her. I quit WoW as my time at university began and I really didn't care too much about WoW anymore. I was still reading WoM, but my account was cancelled. My Rogue told me that they finished 2300+ and people under them received the Gladiator title, I was well in the 30% and I got screwed all over Gladiator yet again although I must say I didn't deserve it because of being inactive.

I'm running short on time for today. Let me know what you think and if you guys like it, more parts will follow. I definitely enjoyed doing those and while I will go out jogging of your +likes (hint, hint) now, I leave you with this...

Arena Openers, Emotion and Logic

no.spam@gameriot.com (hamchook) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:07:57 -0500

Alrighty then, time for another awesome Orangeblog, yeah! I have a few observations to point out on the reaction to my first entry. Firstly, it makes me feel good to defeat dumbs in argument, so to all dumbs: feel free to continue commenting (dumb is a noun - side effect of immigrant family). Secondly, I've decided to add in more WoW flavor to appease the angry mob. Now generally, I find most WoW related articles, strategy guides especially, rather boring. But seeing as how I'm the best hunter ever, I feel as if I should share some things. I'd gladly take requests for content in this department, so feel free to make them. Lastly, I appreciate the couple offers I got to write on other blogrolls but for the time being, I want to continue on my own.

Arena - The Opener

You stand next to your comrades, knees quivering in nervous anticipation. You hear the wild cries of the riled mob echoing above your head, hungry for violence and death. The wooden platform under your feet cranks to life, rising slowly and you feel your stomach plummet in place. The crowd in the stadium gradually comes into view and you know you're mere seconds away from the heat of battle. The platform comes level with the dry, dusty arena floor and it hits you. Cheap shot, Frost Nova, Mutilate, Frostbolt, Icelance, Kidney Shot, Frostbolt, Holy Fire, SW:D! The ****? You die. (3499 overkill)

One of the most important requirements for an arena team to be great is the ability to recognize why a match was lost. I find that a significant portion of my losses come from botched openers. I may have risked an aggressive flare and not caught the rogue I wanted, only to see my healer get sapped and my poor dwarf getting creamed in a cheapshot. Instant loss.

Now, you shouldn't die right off the bat to PMR even if they get the jump on you as is the case in my awesome dramatization, but that's not the point. They got the jump on you. Even if you survive the first burst, they have the offensive momentum. Now you have to start burning your cooldowns defensively. Your rogue has to use a vanish to survive instead of more pressure. Your hunter has to use silencing shot on a frostbolt instead of a heal. Your DK has to use runic power on AMS/ICB instead of death coil. They are running at you full force and you are backpedaling for the rest of the fight.

So, what can be done? How do you swing the opener, and thus the whole fight, in your favor? Well, being aware of the issue is half the battle. Another important requirement for a great arena team is the ability to think of viable solutions to your team's problems.

There are general things a team can improve on, such as team positioning. Who do you suspect the other team will get on? Is that player in a position to get hit first by opposing dps, or is he in a position to get the first shot off? Sometimes its simply the difference between running into an enemy team as the first player in your team, or the last player.

There are things you can do based on your opponents' composition. If you're opposition has a warrior, you know you are going to begin the fight in a short stun. Those two seconds, in WotLK, are enough for you to die. We've all experienced it. Knowing this, do you put yourself in a position to get devastated by both dps? Or do you try to drag the charge behind a pole to make it difficult for the second dpser to reach you, or at least behind your teammates where they are automatically within range to help you?

Map plays a role as well. Take Ruins of Lordaeron, for example. Do you allow the other team's dpsers to climb over the tomb and get on you, while their healer uses its line of sight for safety and yours stands bent over in the open, ready and waiting to take it in the pooper? **** no, you climb over and fight, at the very least, on even terms.

Aside from general things, there are individual class abilities that help with openers. Hunters, for example, have great stealth breaking tools. Denying a rogue an opener is monumental for your team, because some rogue teams live and die by their saps and cheapshots. Flare is obvious, but it matters how you use it. If you know the pattern of a certain team's rogue, you can take a risk and be aggressive with the flare. Otherwise, team squatting on a flare to deny them a sap and a cheapshot as opposed to taking only one or the other is a good use. Hunters with Tenacity pets (crabs, turtles, etc) can use intervene on themselves and run out with Track Hidden (+stealth detection) to catch a nearby rogue. Every class has a wide range of abilities, use them creatively to your advantage.

Keep in mind that openers do not only apply to stealth classes. Every class has a means of beginning a fight. How you do that individually and as a team plays a role in your success!

Theories in Life: Emotion and Logic

I think often. One of my favorite things to think about is why people do things. In my thoughts, I've come up with a theory of why people do the things they do (particularly in relationships), and I want to share it because it is of value to me. Any feedback is welcome. Keep in mind that these are all my opinions, from my perspective. Here goes.

Everything we do is based in emotion or logic. One or the other, or some mixture of both. We think emotionally and logically. We make decisions based on these two things. Now, the difference between the two is that emotions don't follow reasoning or rationale. You can like a person emotionally and logically or one without the other.

Example of the emotional: I feel good when I am around person X; I want to be around this person all the time and I have no explanation why. If you feel this way towards a person, than emotionally, it makes sense to be with him/her. People who feel this way towards each other usually get involved with each other romantically. (Note: some of you may not have experienced this feeling yet. I know people that haven't.)

Example of the logical: I share similar values (perhaps morals, religion, race), share common interests, and offer equal amounts of commitment/sacrifice in a relationship as person X. It makes sense logically, to be with this person. People who feel this way about each other usually become what we call "friends."

Why do I found all of this valuable? Well, think about marriages and relationships. Most relationships that fail are ones that are only based in emotion, and not enough in logic. Great example of this is those couples that end up on Jerry Springer episodes. "He beats me but I STILL LOVE HIM!!" It works the other way too. People who get married based in logic and not enough in emotion end up unhappy. It's not so common in the US because people just divorce, but I come from a culture where divorce is considered shameful. I see tons of marriages, some within my own family, that occur due to logic but lack in emotion. The tragic thing is that most of them remain together for the rest of their lives despite the unhappiness.

My conclusion, as it seems to be with just about everything else, is that balance is the key. Think of it as a spectrum, emotion on one end and logic on the other. When you become emotional, let's say anger for example, your logical thinking suffers. You get pissed and you just want to hit something, despite that hitting something might get you into trouble. As your anger settles down, you start to think rationally again. The idea is to keep balance. If you live your life as an overly emotional person, like all women (^5 for sexism lalalaa), you will do a lot of stupid things in your life. If live your life as an overly logical person, like Spock from Star Trek, you will have a really boring life. Balance, balance, balance.

That wraps it up for today. I think this will be a once a week deal, we'll see. Oh, and I meant to continue my WoM blogger analysis thing but this turned out longer than I expected, so that will be put on hold. Remember in my first blog when I said shut the hell up if you're upset about my inconsistency? Ye ye ye.

Cendo: Shadow Priest/Rogue 2.5k+

no.spam@gameriot.com (bilingue) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:28:21 -0500

Yiska mentioned the possibility of one of my favorite specs to come back in 3.3. Well, I am thinking taking out my priest out of retirement and just hit 80 to start the honor grind. In the meantime I found an interesing Shadow Priest Movie called Cendo.

The movie doesn't have any fancy editing and the quality is low. I love downloading WoW movies and later watch them and pay close attention to what is happening. Cendo does not have a mirror to download his movie (sorry, I am not a premium member of WCM) and the damn player has crashed twice on me.

It is hard to appreciate things with such a bad quality but you get used to it. As with other movies, the music is a hit or miss but I did enjoy it. The matches are easy to follow and you will find a couple of "questionable plays" in this movie.

I would love a commentary version or at least some information about what's going on to help new players. While this movie doesn't feature opponents with great skills (check out the last scene); if you like Shadow Priests, you will find Cendo enjoyable.

In a random note, I can't wait for RopeDrink, creator of the ClickBoom series, to make a new shadow priest movie.

Dead Before Dawn Releases TODAY! L4D Mod!

no.spam@gameriot.com (anris) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:34:04 -0500

It has been awhile since I wrote something eh? Well I bring you all great news!

http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=67&Itemid=128

I bring to you a link to the torrent for Dead Before Dawn. A L4D mod that has been in development since before L4D released. Based on the amazing Dawn of the Dead setting, DBD takes place in the Crossroads Mall. From what I gather this is an entire campaign. I wont be surprised if this turns out leagues better than Crash Course either.

For those waiting on L4D2 and itching for new content, I urge you to give this mod a try.

First Impressions, Zilea is a douche bag(surprise!) LoL and Icecrown sucks

no.spam@gameriot.com (Verdak) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:58:18 -0400

Why are first impressions so important? For one, it defines you as a person to the people you are meeting. The first time someone sees or meets you will be a memory that they have of you. Say you knew a really preppy girl in high school, and she was known as the *****y popular girl. If you see her years later, the first thought you will have of her is that exact thing. It is the same in World of Warcraft. Whether it is in real life or through a video game, it really does matter. For instance, you applied to a top raiding guild that is recruiting your class. It is, at least for me, very exciting to have your application be accepted and to be on trial. You do everything you can to not be “that guy” in the raid that messes up.

I remember I was on trial for one of the top US guilds in the Black Temple Sunwell era, Momentum. This was also the guild that gave me a chance, even though they knew my extensive history. The fight that made me most nervous was The Eredar Twins and standing on that damn ledge with everyone else. I did not want to conflag the raid or fall off that ledge. I had never messed up yet on that fight, but had seen others do it and I remember getting so pissed at them. Well, I guess the night of my screw up was there. I had ice blocked to get the dark touch (I think that is what it is called) stacks off me, then at the same time I got the conflagration debuff. My camera messed up and I ended up jumping off the ledge. I ended up somehow Conflagrating the whole raid, ranged and melee. I remember everyone screaming “Touchdown”, because they had never seen someone get the whole raid. Almost everyone was laughing because of it, but I felt horrible. Luckily my dps was great at that time, so I passed recruitment.

Unfortunately I cannot take back the ***** things I have done in my past, so a lot of the time when people think or hear about me they are like “omg it’s that one e-*****”. Some people online have given me a fresh start though and I am appreciative of it. I have learned a lot from my mistakes, so I always try to have my first impressions in real life be successful ones. Honestly, I have stopped really trying to care about first impressions online, because nobody really cares anyways. I have been playing a new game though, so I try to do well on it with my team mates. What do you guys think about first impressions on video games? I know for some officers or hardcore pvp’ers , you do not want some morons screwing your raids up, or even worse your hard rating you have been working on.

I also have a question for the pvp’ers. Say you are searching for a new partner, and you find someone but they really suck. How do you go about handling that situation? Do you tell them to basically take a hike, or are you nice about it. Let me know!

Darling Zilea

Now I would like to address Zilea. It is pretty obvious that my blogs have gotten a lot of views the last few weeks, due to my past history and such, or maybe the trolls were just bored, who knows! If you really don’t like me Zilea, why even bother sending me messages to my inbox. I was here to help you get traffic to this site, so Ming can continue paying all the great people on here. I know you may not like what I am writing about, but I am only trying to help the site, even if it makes me look bad. You can at least be a little respectful. And by the way, you are no Brad Pitt or Antonio Banderas either there babe. You look like Prince on crack. I know maybe I could lose a few pounds or whatever, but you could go to gain some on your scrawny chicken bone ass. I thought you were actually being nice to me at first and helping me out, but I guess you are just using me to get traffic to your own blog. Thanks for using me to get views bro! This is a quote from someone else and what they think about Zilea, “Zilea is what you get when you take Prince's skeleton and add bad hair, acne with a dash of social awkwardness to round it all out.” I think you could be a great guy Zilea, but don’t be a faker or a douche bag even if it is online.

LoL > HoN

I forget who it was that wrote about Heroes of Newerth a few weeks ago. I was searching through the pages of blogs and it didn’t catch my eye, but I was searching pretty fast, so I probably just missed it. I am sure there are a lot of DoTa fans out there. If you do not know what DoTa is just go Google it! I remember playing DoTa during sit out nights, or with guild mates when we were done raiding for the week. I had always talked with people saying it be cool if DoTa had its own game outside of a Warcraft 3 Mod. Now there are two games that have this genre. Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends. These games are best described as a little bit of MMOrpg mixed with some RTS in there, otherwise known as a MOBA. I absolutely love RTS games, so this is right up my alley. I have tried both games, but LoL has won me over by far. Heroes of Newerth is going for a more realistic look, while LoL has the more cartoonish look like WoW does. I think having a realistic looking RTS style game is a bad decision. I was playing in a few HoN games and had a very hard time distinguishing who was my actual team mate, and who was my opponent. Everything just blended in so well, and on top of that, the terrain was very dark, making the mobs seem almost camouflage.

Also, it is a price thing for me. Being a college student, I do not have a lot of extra money lying around a majority of the time. HoN costs $30 just to buy the game and play it. LoL is free to play, and you earn points by playing and unlock more heroes. You can also buy extra skins, heroes and items in the online store they have available. Hey, LoL is free, so give it a try in my opinion.

PVE Raiding is boring Failcrown Glacier!

So, with Icecrown right around the corner, I have gotten to test the first few bosses that have been out on the PTR so far. Lord Marrowgar, Festergut, the Gunship encounter, Sindragosa, and Valithra Dreamwalker. I can say that I am falling asleep with these new bosses so far. It is like casualville. Look, there is fire move. It is so damn boring. I wish WoW could be like the good old raiding days of Molten Core, BWL, AQ and Naxx40. I guess they are making a lot of money, so they don’t really care what the hardcore gamers want anymore. The achievements are supposed to be more hardcore, but it is a pain in the ass to try and get people to do some of them. It’s almost like they just want to get in and raid and get out. Which I honestly don’t blame them. This game is so boring right now, content wise. And battlegrounds get repetitive as well. I can see why people arena, seems like it would be fun. They are the same arenas, but the situations are always changing. With raiding, you are in there and already know what to expect. I just hope WoW will get more enjoyable soon, and I pray to the WoW God that Arthas won’t be a Nancy!

One more thing I forgot to say. Thanks to Yiska for being nice and stuff so far. I expected you to be a douche bag, but you are a very nice person!

Halloween, My Best Up vote, and Serpents.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Levidian) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:28:56 -0400

Halloween 2k9:

I hope everyone has a good time for Halloween. I hit up the local traders store and managed to scramble together a costume for this evening. If anyone is going to be out in Indianapolis tonight you may see me. The sweatshirt is official NASCAR gear so I had to drop 20 bucks on the shirt alone but it will be well worth it. If I had the foresight I would have grown out a sweet mustache but this will have to do.

Epic comment:

I actually managed to to create a post that had the epicness to overcome the down vote trolls and that accomplishment is worth sharing.

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/World-of-Ming/Stress-Points-ESL-Needs-Teams-Tweet-Twit-Tw-Just-Get-Rid-of-Em/4#comment_505691

Oh and have a few more hits ming...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Serpents:

I've been streaming games more often the past few days and a question I got repeatedly was "Why are you using a serpent?".

Well the answer is pretty simple as MM you really need serpent sting to have the highest up time possible and a serpent is the best poison dot pet available. The serpents spit helps cover up serpent sting as well as having a mind numbing poison which is great for any casters but especially vs RMP.
I just have it on auto cast so it's not as effective as macroing the pet but I also use 1/2 gftt and have bite on auto for the extra damage since the serpents spit is on pet global and costs focus it pretty much forces me to use it in this manor. If I want to guarantee it goes up I can pull my pet off and have it attack (and in doing so spit) at the same time I serpent.

Have a great weekend!

Check Six Sick Tricks, DKP System For Pugs, LF Druid 3vs3, Ridiculous European Electronic Prices

no.spam@gameriot.com (Yiska) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:48:28 -0400

A guest writer who was supposed to deliver his blog today hasn't come online today, so I have to step in. This blog might not be all that awesome considering I had like one hour to create this. I hope you still enjoy it

I was supposed to play L4D2 demo with a couple of friends tonight which a nice American called mprs bought for me. They offer a pack for four players and the price goes down by ~10$ for everyone. Not only did I save money from buying it in this pack, but also it's way cheaper to buy games from the US. It's a ******* joke that they charge us the exact same number just with a €-sign instead of a $ attached, like with every electrical good. There is no justification for a game that I'll never physically hold in my hands since I just download it from steam to charge that much more. I ended up paying 23 € instead of 49,95€.

Just because we are so good at WoW Arena, shame on you Americans...

"DKP system" for cross realm raids?

You guys might have a false impression of me by hearing that I won Death's Verdict. That is actually the first major item I won in a pug raid ever. I have never won a Naxx weapon in WotLK and I have easily 70 runs on all my chars combined. If I have a good item, it's either been traded to me or nobody wanted it. As I failed to roll on Reign of the Unliving for the second time I tried to think of a fix for this. Well actually that's a lie, I threw a shoe against my apartment wall while screaming "RNG GOOOOOO" Lord Hydra style, then I thought about a solution.

Soon the cross-realm raiding will be available and maybe it's time to change things up a bit. What if badges from the current instance could be used as "DKP Points". You just had to increase the amount of Badges dropping per boss. Guild raids would be able to turn this loot procedure off. Now there are many procedures to handle this, like if you make it zero sum and people in your raid get the badges you spend or just the guy with the highest amount of badges get the loot and they disappear. I don't care what it is, as long as it rewards player for participating in PuG raids. It might be too complicated but the current system enforces abuse immensely.

Pretty much every PvP Guild at the moment that raids ToC25 puts one member in each group for raid rolls and "Ups yeah... on my screen XYZ guild member won it". Some go as far and reserve certain items right away, which is hard to set up but if all people agree it's fine. Mostly this announcement happens when the raid is full and every raid member just can't be arsed to search for a new raid. Once you make it to Anub and down him your chances as a total PuGer without friends in the raid lead are slim and there is more ninja'ing going on then not. As it's not punished by Blizzard, the only way the fair playing community has is to not raid with those people. Therefore forums are created like the one we have for Ravencrest. There are some fun and unbelievable stories in these threads, it's probably worth a watch.

Something needs to change, and the Need before Greed change Blizzard implanted won't be enough. Ninja'ing will be so easy with very little drawback since the time it takes to be a known ninja looter on a whole battle group in a game in which you can change your name anyway, is almost infinite. Heck, it's so easy to cheat I'm tempted to do it myself.

Check Six adds Uckington for Anaheim - Mind games, Joking or the real thing?

Just a couple of hours ago, Check Six' Twixz posted the following in #ArenaCast on GameSurge.

[16:27] <+[check6]Twixz> You forgot to put our 4th player on the roster yiska
[16:27] <+[check6]Twixz> Uckington
[16:29] <+[check6]Twixz> he is not on contract just on team for anaheim to counter comp
[16:32] <+[check6]Twixz> ya destro lock hunter pally is a really good counter to some things
[16:32] <+[check6]Twixz> we can kill druids in like 3seconds lmao
[16:32] <+MLG`BLiTZ> MMMMM WHATCHA SAYYYYYYY
[16:33] <@xira> MMM THAT YA ONLY MEANT WELL
.
.
.
[16:33] <+[check6]Twixz> Inflame vs Uck MLG anaheim
[16:35] <+[check6]Twixz> only gonna use him for DKLD probably
[16:35] <+[check6]Twixz> Cause BM hunter+Destro Lock on a Druid with aura mastery up
[16:35] <+[check6]Twixz> is a dead druid

Now there are different approaches how to get this and I hope nobody will interpret this as ambush journalism. It's a public channel after all. I just hope he wasn't drunk :P

There are three possibilities why Twixz mentioned this in #ArenaCast:

1) Mind games. He knows that other players who will attend MLG Anaheim plus me idle the channel and maybe he speculates that I run to Divine Inflame to tell him about it and make them nervous training for a comp that will not work for their real counter. Normally the team of Check Six much more protective about their strategies, such as transfering off to a scrub BG to train their comp.

2) He's joking. It's not too unlikely that he's just goofing around for a bit and wants to mess with people. He hasn't responded yet and may just want to let it sink in. Maybe he was drunk *shrug*

3) It's true. It really wouldn't surprise me from a tactical standpoint if they added Uckington to their roster as it's true what he's saying: A BM Hunter and a Destro Lock on a Druid means trouble. I still think it's not a free win against SK EU. Private Enigmz is a beast after all. Keep in mind, making first instead of second already justifies taking a 4th member on the team - Even more when you're hungry for wins although you already got yourself a Firebird.

Whatever it is, I like this aspect of tournament play so much, which is why I loved seeing live footage from Kintt because he was one of the only people trying to get into peoples heads. (Keep in mind, he triggered Swarms nerdrage). Even if it was meant to be a joke, it still has an influence on opponents and we'll have to see how it pays out for them. If Check Six were European and Divine Inflame and Reckful weren't so cute, they'd definitely be my favorite team at the tournament.

LF Druid 3vs3

It happens that I'm desperately searching for a high skilled druid. He has to be willing to try out different comps and has to be able to somewhat help in the process of improving our game play. A German would be nice, but if not decent English skills are needed. You have to transfer to Ravencrest Alliance as well.

What I can offer you is a raging blogger that might be writing about you if you perform well and if not, I will blog about you anyway. Our former Druid might still come back, but I have two comps in mind to play with the classes I have and there is definitely a need for a second Druid although as it stands, you'll be the only one. Hit me up on Gameriot or in game on one of these chars, Briy or Briska.

That's it for today. Be sure to check out the Lipton's Razer Naga review and compare it to the review I did for the Logitech G500. Yiska out.

Small Fixes Make a BIG Difference, Interview With Complexity's Sodah

no.spam@gameriot.com (FHazael) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:26:47 -0400

Lately I have been thinking about some small changes that would make a huge difference with the Warlock Class... and how small changes would really be the best way to improve or balance classes further to improve the game without throwing anything off with major changes. I'm sure that almost every player can think of small little bugs and problems with their class that fixes could easily be implemented for to greatly improve them without completely adding some new ability or changing a talent. When Blizzard changes a huge talent or massively nerfs or buffs an ability it can really throw PvP balance out of whack because it's very hard to change something just the right amount and not end up making something over or underpowered. It's pretty common, and happens almost nearly every major patch where a class or spec suddenly skyrockets to the top of arena representations or is completely dismantled by a change which leaves them with no viable comps at all.

Speaking along those lines, there are a a few things that stand out as simple changes which would make a massive difference for Warlocks. For starters, Unstable Affliction should not have dispel resistance, it is completely backwards logic and defeats the purpose of the ability - to punish anyone who dispels it. It can be frustrating to see fear, deathcoil, etc dispelled off a target you need to control by a priest who is continually avoiding the damage / silence from UA because of the dispel resistance talent including it. I recently had a game against Vrty (the priest on my 5s team) where he was able to dispel all 3 fears in a row plus the deathcoil off his rogue while they trained our Shaman without getting UA once. It goes without being said that it can easily change the course of the match and I honestly don't think Blizzard intended it to be that way. The talent in question is http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=30064, and it would be an extremely simple fix to just remove UA from that talent or even as a more extreme option make it so that Contagion is not a pre-requisite to getting Unstable Affliction so that when you're playing dispel teams you'd be able to skip it.

Another thing which is a pretty obvious one is not being able to conflagrate before immolate is dispelled. Many people feel that the ability is only balanced because of how that works, but with the upcoming conflagrate nerf that may no longer be the case. I am not really sure how this could be fixed, but I'm sure Blizzard could simply give a 0.5s dispel immunity or something along those lines to Immolate so people could conflag right away as long as they were spamming the ability before it got dispelled. Even if you're able to get the conflagrate right away, dispelling it is still a massive difference simply because if you can't get a chaos bolt -> conflag with immolate up it's huge burst, and if you're forced to conflag right away, and then chaosbolt without immolate up it really breaks up the damage and changes it to something which is extremely manageable to heal. If you land a chaosbolt / conflag at the same time with elements and immolate you're looking at ~11,000 non-crit instantly, whereas a conflag -> chaosbolt is more like 9500 damage over ~2.5 seconds.

The other major culprit here for me is pet AI, which is much more difficult to fix. It's pretty common for your pet to be unable to Spell Lock for various reasons due to poor AI, and it can be really frustrating to watch a full Divine Hymn, or Holy Light channel with your Spell Lock up simply because your pet won't use the ability. When someone is on a pillar, if your pet isn't in line of sight instead of running to the healer it will try to Spell Lock through the pillar and tell you that it's out of line of sight. Along the same lines even if your pet is meleeing the healer it's often inside the pillar and consequently will give you the line of sight message even though it's meleeing them and will not Spell Lock. There's obviously many of the same issues with Devouring, as it's pretty common for someone to get Sheeped and path out of line of sight and your pet will not run to them to Devour, so instead you either simply cannot get it off or you have to put your pet on follow and bring it to them or tell it to attack something by the sheep.

Just changing those three things would really improve the Warlock class, and there are tons of other things with other classes that're basically the same thing. Stoneclaw totems absorb not working instantly is one small example, as it's not uncommon for a Shaman to die with it down and not having absorbed anything yet. That's just one non-warlock example, and I really feel like Blizzard should be focusing on these sorts of fixes instead of trying to add new abilities or make other massive changes. If you can think of other examples like this with your class post them up in the comments and maybe we can get some sort of a list going for Blizzard to work on.

So I figured I'd do something different this week... as I haven't yet done an interview, and Sodah is someone who mostly keeps to himself but is a fantastic player and a good friend. I figured he'd be a good choice for this so I hope you all enjoy it and are able to get some insight into him as a player and person. Without any further delay, here's the interview!

Azael - So, how about you start off by introducing yourself?

Sodah - I am Sodah, priest of Blackrock, also known as Alex, poli sci major at UCSB. I play RMP almost exclusively, as its the funnest comp, and I play with Reckful and Venruki as team complexity. I also like puppies and CRPGS.

Azael - You were able to take third place at MLG Dallas, and you were also the highest placing RMP in a tournament with five of them. Many people were impressed not only with your team, but in particular with your very offensive playstyle. What can we expect from you going into MLG Anaheim, should we look for more of the same or are you planning on taking home the Firebirds this time around?

Sodah - I think we're going to totally whoop ass at Anaheim, specifically in the round robin. We've been getting our games in and we have no doubts we will be able to dominate almost all of the mirrors, your team / yog's team, and the shadowcleaves. Beastcleave is another story, so we've been practicing our BM hunter, paladin, shaman setup to mirror them. I'm not worried about them finding out our strategy to mirror them, because its not like you can change how you play and somehow overcome our opponent. You just dps the lowest armor target. But all joking aside, I'm expecting it to be extremely stressful. Playing game after game against top mages is not easy for the priest. You can never ever let your guard down or lose your focus or you will eat sheeps and be humiliated. It's going to be tough getting trained all day and sheeped constantly, but I still look forward to the tournament because at least RMP and RLS games are fun.

Azael - Do you really think that Beastcleave is so easy to play that you'll be able to beat Check6 in a mirror?

Sodah - I think that we have a better chance as a mirror than on RMP. It has so little to do with coordination, positioning, timing, and analysis that it simply comes down to : who bops CCs faster, who crits more, and who doesn't manage to fatfinger the wrong button. Playing against them on live is one of the most depressing things I've ever experienced, as they've decided to start focusing me instead of my mage. They target me, I pain suppression, desperate prayer, shield, and die before my PS ends. I'm not exaggerating or kidding, and it's disgusting. Maybe we could play differently and change the outcome, but when a team can do that sort of thing using no CC coordination at all, there's something inherently wrong. Flexx tells me it's because of live gear, which is definitely the case. Hunter ranged weapons were buffed in S6 and on S5 gear for tournaments its much easier to deal with the damage. So maybe it actually will be easier on MLG realm, but I still think we have a better shot as a mirror.

Azael - Since swapping over from Druid where you originally became a known player, you've made quite a name for yourself on Priest and are definitely considered one of the top Priests not only in North America but in the world. Speaking from personal experience there's no priest I hate playing against more as Destruction as it feels almost impossible to get Conflagrates off before you dispel the immolate. Besides quick dispels, what do you think sets you apart from the competition, and more specifically other Priests?

Sodah - I think that I've massively improved throughout this year as a priest, and because I have a fresh perspective on the priest class in Wrath it helps me keep up with the other vanilla priests like Numberone, Toez, and Realz. I ignore mana efficiency (which I've always done on my druid anyway,) and focus on being able to utilize my abilties to free up my DPS to do what they want. A healer shouldn't cripple his dps and make them help him, he should be helping them. Maybe this is a different perspective than level 70. I'm also perhaps the most determined. Proving yourself when you reroll to a new class, especially with a comp like RMP, is not easy. Your team does not trust you and you get constant tells asking why you aren't playing Druid anymore, and you get no pats on the back for your improvements as a priest. However, I've always been an insanely offensive druid, which is why DMR worked back then, and I've rolled over that ideology for Priest. If you're looking for specifics, its really about awareness about when your rogue needs dispels, shields for vanishes, and extra burst. Those are so important and really are the only things you need to be super successful.

Azael - Do you see yourself continuing to play for the next year competitively? What goals do you want to be able to accomplish before you quit WoW? Would you like to win a tournament or get to Blizzcon before you do, or are you happy with what you accomplished and feel like you could leave anytime satisfied?

Sodah - I don't know if I'm going to be playing next year competitively. However, I have yet to get 1st place at a tournament and that is just downright depressing. It's been snatched from me when I was one round away from winning at Philadelphia, and I don't plan on giving up until I win a major event, like Blizzcon. However, despite this competitive attitude, I always find myself just playing with people I like, and playing compositions which are fun. I never really expected to get championships as druid mage rogue, I just liked getting recognition of being crazy good at my class. I will continue to play for the enjoyment, and I think as long as arenas still give me satisfaction I will still play. How's that for a mixed answer.

Azael - Works for me, haha. So, there has been a lot of talk about the current state of World of Ming & it's most recent bloggers, what's your opinion on it all?

Sodah - I like how Ming has brought on a variety of writers, but I still love Ming's own blogs the most. His unique style is really what brought him success, and he should be careful of who he chooses to pass on the torch. As a side note on Ming's style and generally what bloggers talk about, I notice that DPS classes are glorified while healers are given vague compliments. Sometimes healers can be the backbone of a team, calling targets, and can against many setups have the most difficult job. The healer has the broadest view of the match, and is constantly keeping in mind everyone's mana and knows what needs to be done to turn the tide of cooldowns and mana. Druids in TBC and Priests in general have this aspect of being able to change the fight moreso than Shamans and especially Paladins. I think this is largely ignored by the gameriot community, but hopefully Zilea can show how everyone how healers are the ******* bomb. Now that I think about it, every healer class has this ability to be more important than the DPSers, I just haven't played Shaman and Paladin enough to comment on the extent of this.

Azael - Yeah... you were supposed to tell everyone how much you liked my blogs with that question.... that's pretty awkward. Didn't even mention me man, that's cold as ice. Well that's probably a good note to end on, so any shout outs or anything else to add before we call it quits?

Sodah - I read your blogs, Ming's blogs, and Pookz' blogs. Yours are good! I want to thank Creative, G8, XFX graphics, Puretrak, and Nationvoice for sponsoring compLexity. Cool interview, bro. Now let's go play borderlands.

That's it for this week!

God of War III Smashes Faces With An 'Ultimate Edition'

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:38:37 -0400

This might be the coolest thing you see all day. God of War news rarely slips past my radar and this is no exception. God of War III's Ultimate Edition was announced today and it is loaded with face-smashing goodies.

The other good news if you buy the Ultimate Edition within 10 days Amazon will email you a code to download the God of War III demo. That now makes three ways to get the demo, buying the God of War HD Collection, picking up District 9 on Blu-ray and pre-ordering this Ultimate edition.

The game comes packed within a collector's box designed around the infamous Pandora's Box from the game. It also includes the following goodies and digital content on the game's launch:

God of War III
An art book
Combat Arena with seven challenges
Premium Dominus Kratos skin
Documentary Titled God of War: Unearthing the Legend
God of War trilogy soundtrack
God of War: Blood and Metal EP (heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by God of War)

The later two both come as MP3 digital downloads. There are also pre-order bonuses from various retailers including an Apollo skin at Amazon.com, a Phantom of Chaos skin at Gamestop and an exclusive skin at Gamecrazy as well.

How much for this glorious set of Greek-god destruction? A mere $99.99! I generally don't cough up for collector's editions but this one might be a must buy. This is one of my favorite modern series and this is a solid set with a bunch of content.

This is probably my most anticipated game of 2010.

The First MLG Predictions, ESL TR Information, Wizard Cleave On TR, Death's Verdict Is Mine

no.spam@gameriot.com (Yiska) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:38:59 -0400

Yesterday it happened that because of a domino effect which Daanzka triggered by raping kids and my Shaman decided that I was too inactive and he wanted to play with Shaman hero Glyptic's Mage, which is fair enough since I my time is very limited with university and Eurospective and also I'm sure that a 300 games per week playing Glyptic is the better player.

I decided that it was time to go back to Ret, a class that suits my playstyle meaning I think I'm pretty good at understanding if I need to play offensive or defensive which Ret has great tools for and also I don't need the practice to perform well like a Mage does. When Mage hero 4star General Another switched from Mage to DK as his main class, he handed the best Mage EU title to Flyn (some people say Trig <3) and went down the ranks. He's still a top Mage, just not the guy he was before.

This also means that I kept Death's Verdict and while I sport only the t1 2h weapon, because I bought T2 sword and board for Protri or ProtBEATZ as Roma likes to call it, my damage is already very acceptable. We aim to play Warrior Paladin Priest in the future although I'm not sure how good the comp is. It's feels so insanely retarded because the comp is only about momentum and bladestorming as the 3rd global when two people stand together is the best my Warrior partner can do. Our Priest is very ****ty equipped and he's the make or break in that comp as he has to survive for quite a bit with very few help while we simply nuke the **** out of the enemy cloth target. The absolute ridiculousness is that if my warrior bladestorms in the 3rd global and we end up killing a target right away, I will still end up with more damage done since both Darkmoon Card: Greatness and Death's Verdict are up at that time and I judge for 8k even in my **** gear. I will have to sit down with Tehseus and discuss how much PvE gear I can wear without being too much of a glass cannon.

I still haven't given up fully on my Mage but this is not the class I want to go high-rated with rather than goofing around with some fresh comps. If you feel you got a nice hot comp for a Mage that I should definitely try out, leave a comment and I will see what I can gather.

ESL TR Information

I've gotten quite some emails/PMs lately from people not knowing what's up with their application for the ESL Online Qualifiers so I asked Shawn what's happening at the moment.
As Pookz pointed out lately, the ESL TR for NA is up and running. As for the European TR there are still a couple of problems as all accounts were reset because of the battlenet account change and I tell you, it's a ***** to create an account and give it to a player, not even speaking of hundreds. Shawn is on it and expects the accounts to be handed out soon(tm).

Wizard cleave not viable in S5 gear?

Quite some people I've talked say that Wizard Cleave won't work on TR because of the differences of up to 1k spell power for casters. That is only partially true as Wizard Cleave is the name for a couple of comps. As for Wizard Cleaves like Elemental Shaman/Destro lock/Priest I'd say that they aren't viable on the TR as the comp doesn't have as much CC capabilities and Shamans profit from their PvE Set bonuses like no other class.

There is one Wizard cleave, the Dumbledore or Hogwards if you like, that still has a chance in my opinion. I'm talking about Shaman/Destro Lock/Mage and I'm not alone. I know that Daanzka applied with his Furious Gladiator Wizard cleave to the TR to proof that there is more about him than just gear although I don't know if that is still going as he's so confident in his new comp.

Dumbledore Cleave has more potentially to it than just bombing the **** out of an opponent in the absence of CC. Against most comps Warlocks run with Succubus which saves them many globals for CC'ing while Shaman and Mage have quite an arsenal of CC and control spells themselves. The only CC that shares DR in that comp is Shadowfury and Deep Freeze and in between DRs you still have Shaman Shocks and Mage CS to make a healers life a true pain in the ass. I personally wouldn't be surprised if the finals 16 of each continent had at least a couple of these comps and having the name Daanzka in one of those, if he decides to go with Wizard Cleave doesn't seem unlikely at all.

What can make Wizard Cleave not work though is the meta game going on on the TR. I expect a majority of the teams on the European TR being RMP again, but there are quite some quality players ready to play comps such as Divine Inflame's Shadow Cleave, which aren't quite the easiest line up for chief wizards. Only time will tell and when only about 50 teams are around, the possibility of having one Wizard Cleave making it to the top 8 by the art of selective queueing isn't too slim.

The First MLG Predictions

That's right, I'm so confident in my ability to weave the future that I'm the first one to officially announce my predictions for MLG Anaheim even though the tournament is still one week away. I'm that cool and that retarded. Tell me what you think in the comments.

Evil Geniuses

With a rather unpredictable line-up, Azael leads his RLS to MLG Anaheim. I'm sure some readers have found out which players are on his line up just by reading comments and I can honestly say that I as a European have never heard of these guys. RLS for me is a second tier comp anyway, so I predict a hard time for them and even though Azael is a nice guy, I have to trust my ability and say that they won't make it out of Round Robin and will most likely fight for the last spots.

SK.US

Team America is in serious trouble as their reputation is on the line. Last time at MLG Dallas, the team didn't even make it out of Round Robin and my ability tells me, that it will be a tough tournament this time and while Pookz is still goofing around with Azael's Wizard Cleave on live, they didn't do all that well with RMP. I think they might have a save spot for the MLG finals next year though so they might not feel that they have to perform. Who needs two firebirds anyway? I don't see them coming out of round robin this time as they are the weakest RMP at the tournament in my books. Pookz strong shoulders might make something happen, but I seriously doubt it.

Check-Six (formerly eMg)

Check-Six, the team around melon nightmare Flexx and Twixz's pet is on fire. Although their comp of Beast Cleave took heavy nerfs, I still see the comp going strong in the meta game. It wouldn't surprise me if they came up with a completely new comp to shock everyone once again though. With the addition of Toez, I think they can compensate the nerfs their comp has gotten and will be very strong in Anaheim. I feel happy for Toez as I think that this is the first team after he left Realz that has the potential to win it all. My prediction: they will definitely be in the top 4 and have very good chances for the grand finals.

Complexity

It's hard to formulate an honest opinion for the team that I work for. Fortunately there isn't really anything negative to say about these guys other than their comp. It's my honest opinion that RMP is just not a top tier comp anymore and new age Rogue hero Reckful agreed. Nevertheless they still managed to pull of a respectable 3rd place in Dallas and were the best RMP at the tournament, a title that they will fight out this time with Button Bashers. My weaving skills are very undecided which two of the following three teams will make it out of round robin: Button Bashers, Fnatic and coL. I put on my clan glasses and say that they will be in the top 4 again but will have an insanely hard time making it to the grand finals. My bet is that if an RMP can beat SK.EU, it will be Complexity.

Complexity BHMS

The 2nd spot of the qualification tournament and the controversial but rightful winners of the wild card sponsored by complexity is BHMS. They play the same comp as SK.EU but I'm afraid that they don't have the quality of an Inflame or an Another, as much as it hurts me to say that to a team that has at least temporarily the same clan tag as I do. Venruki felt pretty confident against them and I'm afraid they will already have a very hard time against every team at that tournament. On top of that, all players as far as I'm informed are new to the tournament scene and LAN jitters will be an issue, as they also don't have the confidence of having won the qualification tournament. What they do have though is the realization that either their parents are cool and supportive or they are grown up enough to make their own decisions. I declare this team as a team that can potentially surprise everyone though and if they win their first matches (which also depends on seeding) and they have momentum, very similar to the eMG success story, as they play a very good comp. Unless this happens, they will not make it in the final four.

Button Bashers

Oh how I learned to love Orangemarmalade in his interview on ArenaCast. If my affection towards Europe and my clan weren't so pure, I'd hand the guy the firebird myself. Button Bashers is hungry for a win and they switched their Rogue which is now Hiren after a very disappointing tournament in Dallas to come back strong. The strength of a Rogue in an RMP setting is so important, you can go from ESL World Champion to not even qualifier for the finals within month. I'm sure they are putting an unreal amount of time into training as you read and they will be very strong in mirrors and against RLS. They got one disadvantage though that carried over from TBC; they have no chance to prepare for Divine Inflame. Koreans with their unique style of RMP are always hard to predict against comps they don't train against and as I said earlier, they are definitely a candidate for the top 4. It really comes down to how they perform against Fnatic as I feel that this will be the make or break match for them. I think my ability tells me that they are more likely to make it to the top 4 than Fnatic.

Fnatic

Douja sounded relatively confident on ArenaCast when I asked him about the strength of RLS as a comp and while I really think it's a second tier comp, it doesn't mean that they can't straight outplay their opponents and if someone is able to pull that off, it's definitely Yog. Moreover quite some people say that Woundman has an edge over Reckful at the moment, which doesn't sound too implausible considering his hair is longer. They are a candidate for the top 4, but as I said have the lowest chance of the three teams in question. It will really depend on their form of the day.

SK.EU

Oh how I love this flag and how I love the players of the team. In my honest and most sincere opinion the team of Divine Inflame, 4star General Another and Private Enigmz are the best team that has ever been under a sponsored team going to tournaments of all times. They are unquestionably the best players of their respective class in Europe and together they form a EuroPEON's wettest dreams. Their is no doubt in my mind that they will make it into the top four but there is one thing that can break them and that, my beloved readers, is nothing else than their own ego. Proclaiming your own victory and behaving like you already won the tournament will make you an outlaw among the other teams and can poison your mind with anger or even hate against your enemies. Moreover it can cloud your judgement of which comp to play if you're too confident in your ability and while I think they are justifiably arrogant (tm Xom) a firebird has to be earned first. To date, a European team has never won an MLG tournament and it's time my fellow EuroPEONs. My prayers will include you, Divine Inflame. Bring it home, homie. Yiska out.

Homelessness at its best(TITS OR GTFO EXCLUDED)

no.spam@gameriot.com (KuroRP) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:35:53 -0400

Apology in advance, my blog will not really be about PVPing. I suck at pvping. It is mostly a personal Life journey that I have taken( lots of drama included, and some wine too, along with a short prayer as well). I look forward to reading your negative and positive comments.

My story begins 7 years ago. The setting? A small, cosy village in Czechoslovakia. There weren’t many luxuries for my villagers and I. Running water was non-existent, any time we felt the need to quench our thirst we carried buckets to the nearest well. When it rained we took to the streets to wash away the filth. It rained often. Heating was sparse and always faulty. Our TVs were no bigger than 38” and none of them HD-ready.

It was December of 2002…the 2nd of the month I believe, when my life took a dramatic change. I was pulled out of Sunday school and my best friends mum took me and her to my house. I saw a lot of cars at my house, and I didn’t know what was going on. My mum opened the door and she was in tears, and so was the rest of my family. All I remember saying was “Have you rejected Christ (our savior) or something?”. And that is what it was.

I was 18 at the time. I remember talking to some friends at the well and they told me to get away. “Get away” they said. So I did.

I quit my job in February of the next year and decided to travel. My family’s shift to agnostic-ism had hit me pretty hard, and there were a lot of things I wanted to feel and deal with while I was doing that. I’d been camping my whole life and so I thought this would be like one big camping trip. I packed my bible, my rosary beads and my camping gear and I walked out into the sunset.

At first homelessness was great. I had walked endless miles to the nearest commercial city and now it was paying off! I showered in public restrooms and ate out regularly. I was given time to relax and to grieve for my family.

And then the anger and depression set in. The little money I had dried up pretty fast.

What had been a mild spring turned into a miserably hot summer and it became impossible to pitch tent anywhere without being disturbed by an endless sea of dogs and stray footballs (the round ones). And it was really hot.

I couldn’t afford to rent an apartment and one day while I was bathing in a public sink a local youth stole my camping gear and Ipod. No more songs of praise, no more Sunday hymns.

I was now completely out of control of my life. And I don’t know when it happened, but the speed at which I went from being a successful farmer in a loving village to being a homeless woman living on the mean streets of an alien city… it took my breath away.

I hadn’t changed. My IQ hadn’t changed. My love for the Lord and my devotion to Christ (our savior) hadn’t changed. Everything about me remained the same. But I had changed somehow.

I was in my usual spot (outside of McDonalds) when it happened. A priest was walking out with his meal when he turned to me and offered a French fry. I reached out and thanked him and said “thank you kind sir, you will be in my prayers this evening”. He knelt down and looked at me with intensity. “You aren’t homeless,” he said “why are you really here?”

I was puzzled.

“What do you mean I’m not homeless? I have no home. By definition surely that would make me homeless?”

“No” he said “you have a calling, you have hope. The real homeless don’t have hope.”

He was right. As long as I still accepted Christ (our savior) and all his loving tendrils into my heart, I had a home. I shook off my blanket dusted myself off and marched into McDonalds to claim a job that had been there all along.

They didn’t give it to me. Our Lord had other plans for me. Shortly after that I moved back to my old village and started couch-surfing with friends (I never spoke to my family again). I began work on the farm again, and with no rent to pay I soon had enough money to buy a plane ticket and move to England.

…and that is where I will leave off for now. I am sorry that my first blog wasn’t about WoW, but I promise you I have some JUICY DRAMA for you guys!

Go in peace.

Week 8: The Voice of the Mind

no.spam@gameriot.com (celesis) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:13:55 -0400

Matches 69 ( W 38 - L 31 )

I apologize for the lack of blog entry this last Tuesday, I was sick and got backlogged at work this week as a result! Anyways better late than never so here it is your dose of Slushy for this week

The human mind is an amazing thing, sometimes it fills you with worries and fear, other times with happiness and satisfaction, your mind keeps you amused and organized at the same time - although these may be mutually exclusive in occasions. Use your imagination and picture your mind as a giant board of flips and switches-- some up, others down depending on your mood and current state. Most of the time, during our arena matches, my switches for nervousness and anxiety are flipped and stuck on.

You see at the beginning of this arena experiment whenever we did our games Sargaz, Ravasham and myself would hang out in a vent channel alone. Nowadays I can easily expect at least 8 people listening in, including some high profile players at times which makes it even more nerve wracking! I tried streaming our games as well but I stopped as it did two negative things: it added a huge amount of pressure on myself and it also made me lag a little bit.

I'm aware that at the level we currently are playing the beginning of a match will determine the outcome in the majority of the games; this is why I pay extra attention to whatever my two teammates may be discussing in terms of strategy and procedure in the first 5 seconds of the match. For this particular match we encountered an RMP, we've had a very decent success rate against this composition so I'm feeling kind of relieved until this line was delivered: "yea eum this is the top team in our BG!" If I had a switch for my anxiety and it was already on, it magically changed into a dial that cranked itself to 11 with just that.

...

I'm standing in the middle of the Dalaran Sewers arena wondering what just happened, it wasn't even 10 seconds ago when we jumped off the pipes and made it into the middle when all of a sudden we had already lost our Shaman to an all out attack by them. The cold splash of the waterfall in the middle woke me up from my trance... the match was over in an instant and I wasn't able to do a thing-- but that wasn't going to be the last time we met them this evening hopefully the next time I will react faster.

We had a couple of fights in between our second match against the top Stormstrike RMP, again the setting was the Dalaran Sewers but this time I was more focused and my initial anxiety dropped a little bit. For this match our Shaman was extra careful and we forced them away from an early all out attack like the previous fight- instead we had a very decent brawl in the middle of the arena. This was the first time I encountered this huge amount of a skill gap between myself and our opponents or at least to me it seemed like such.

I felt like a pinball inside a WoW themed pinball machine being swatted around by each of their players. Not Sapped (a relief), got Polymorphed and my FelHunter devoured a chill, trinket to get into the fight-- not so fast, blinded, I help with my pet Spell Locking the Mage, the Priest casually walks next to me and is healing while just standing there; I see this but its too late when it even occurs to me to move my pet away when he fears us both as soon as I got out of the blind. Even though they had controlled me so well we were in a position to win the match but a good Cloak of Shadows helped the Rogue survive and get a kill on ours.

It was a little rewarding to have endured longer against that RMP team-- mostly because of my teammates sheer skills-- but it served as great experience. This type of skill-imbalanced matches helps you learn a lot; its not the same watching streams of amazing players and seeing them react to their peers, when you have the actual opportunity to experience this kind of talent it is very valuable.

We had a third and final match against them and it was yet again in the Dalaran Sewers, for this specific fight I was extremely focused and determined to avoid my early mistakes from the previous fight. We didn't manage to protect our Shaman from their all out attack approach this time, they had position on us; their Priest was ready to fear while our Tremor Totem was being destroyed. I Shadowfuried both the Mage and the Rogue to minimize the damage if for a few seconds; it paid off as our Rogue was able to open on the Priest cleanly and I was in position to nuke him-- while doing so I spell locked the Mage's attempt to CC and a few globals later the Priest dropped. After a loud celebration in vent it struck me, we beat the #1 team in our BG, albeit their mistake of course I still feel it was a great accomplishment: happiness and confidence switches on!

Earlier this week...

I think we've done the bulk of our games for this week and continuing the spirit of this blog entry I believe its worth a mention of our experience against this other known group. This night we were being plagued by a large amount of Hunter teams and a bad case of arena stages to boot: Ring of Valor and Ruins of Lordaeron. We pulled our hair out, or at least I did, against Hunter-Feral Druid, Hunter-Retribution Paladin and Hunter-Death Knight to name a few, and we weren't doing too well against them. To make matters even worse a good and famous team from our server just started queueing: Hunter-Death Knight-Druid featuring Levidian! (with Ampd and Garathorn too!)

I was already upset that so many bad Hunters had been eating myself, my pet and my Rogue, my Shaman, my homework and confidence alive in the previous matches, and now we get to queue against a very good team to make it even worse? I've had had it, I was tired of being bullied around and abused so I was ready to use my most secret and difficult technique: the Celessy Nuke Special.

This is how you build a Celessy Nuke Special: put your portal up in the .0025 of a second window you have before getting your face kicked in, choose a target, CoE+Immolate+Chaos Bolt+Incinerate (Backlashed from before thanks to your awesome positioning and totally not about just standing in the middle of the field like a klutz)+Conflagrate. The result? A skillful instant kill.

The match started and we opened on the DK and my rogue pointed to me: "Okay let's switch to Lev... OH NEVERMIND HE DEAD!", I was very lucky to have a string of consecutive crits in the two matches we played against them and was able to kill their Hunter in the blink of an eye. Those were very cheap wins but after being beat up all night by pesky Hunter teams I will gladly take them!

Another topic, I really can't wait until there is a new Tournament Realm as I'd love to try and beg to play against top worldwide teams; since transferring to Blackrock, even though tempting, its something I cannot do. I would absolutely love to have the opportunity to play against these players and even when they beat me silly I'm sure that it would be a wholesome learning experience. Please Blizzard let us have a TR again!

Level segregation: the problem with guilds

no.spam@gameriot.com (gamebynight) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:48:17 -0400

As I've jumped around from game to game this past year, I've always made it a point to be sure I have an active guild to play with. I did the same with every character I had on WoW. This morning, playing through Fallen Earth without a guild, I did some thinking ajbout why this is and I've come to the conclusion that guilding is a pretty lackluster.

Probably the biggest reason for this is that it works against the level system. Guilding is all about being social and working together with other players; however, if a level 30 wants to group with a level 15, they're going to receive some kind of negative impact in most games. Be it less XP, less reward, or what have you, that level 30 is self-sacrificing if they decide to help that 15. Those two players, more often than not, are names on a chat screen.

Mentoring systems help this but the unfortunate truth is that most games tack these on as afterthoughts to the original game. Many, like WoW, don't even consider it worth their time to develop. Even when in effect, there is still little reward for that high level player and less incentive for the system to be utilized outside of cliques and real life relationships.

As a result level segregation, guilds also perpetuate the idea that the end game is where the “real” game is at. Why? Because that's where the segregation disappears (or lessens, at least) and guilds begin to function at their intention. Two players at max level can plan and enact events, such as dungeon runs or PvP groups, and use guild chat as a means towards actual game play. This type of intra-guild grouping sets lower level players apart from the “real” guildies.

There might be a tendency to resent the cliques that come about because of this but the higher level players are not to blame. When it comes to value in a guild, higher level players can contribute more, and more often, where the lower level players tend to expend their efforts towards leveling, reinforcing the stereotype of upper level dedication. In the end, you have a guild broken by level, larger than its core of raiders/pvp'ers, with outlier levelers scrabbling to get past the content as quick as possible to join their “friends” at level cap. Just like I talked about with grouping, the problem isn't the players, it's the system.

Ironically, the way to circumvent this failing of the guild system is by stepping outside of the game itself and turning to third party programs such as Ventrilo. Voice is the great equalizer. It's harder to ignore the person talking in your ear than scrolling by on guild chat. Likewise, the person on vent isn't likely to point out that they're 20 levels and two years newer than you. That doesn't matter. When you hear someone's voice, they become a person more than a character and the guild builds stronger bonds within itself.

The solution to the guilding problem is two-fold:

1. Introduce a mentoring system rewarding to the high level player.

If there's a good reason for the 80 to help the 20 rather than run a 5-man, they will. Someone needs to make a system that casts level segregation to the wind and lets players actually play together without punishing them.

2. Introduce guild-wide voice chat.

When voice got introduced to WoW, their excuse for not allowing this is that it would create too much lag. I wonder about that excuse; however, there's nothing stopping WoW from creating a separate voice chat app. that runs outside of the game. Blizzard's acceptance of third-party applications as necessities is apparent when you look at the history of add-ons with the game; however, it's not acceptable for a company to pass the buck. It's lazy servicing and only allowed because the players have accepted it as the norm.

At the end of the day, I join guilds as a low level player because it's nice to have other people to talk to in-game. When vent is available and used, that's all the better. I don't join guilds with high-end raiding in mind because, outside of WoW, it's not a reality for a player like me. Yet, often, when I choose which one to join, I look at those things just in case. If nothing else, they make the game less lonely.

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Epic Drop 10/30/09: Arnold's F-You, Fat Abuse, Best zombie flicks, 16 million for stupidity, Ridley talks Alien

no.spam@gameriot.com (Slapnuts) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:48:02 -0400

The last official Biel Day is here and I hope you enjoyed her stay. I will probably wait until Monday to start the poll for next month. In the mean time you can drool over her a bit more and imagine all the places you could shag in this massive tree house (watch out for splinter). +1 for helping Boondock Saints II!

Arnold Schwarzenegger had a very special message for a Assemblymember Tom Ammiano when he vetoed his recent bill that passed without a single nay vote in both in the state house and senate; "I **** you". His spokesperson said it was merely a coincidence that the letter the Governor sent out happened to spell out f-you on the right side margin. What are the odds of such a random act of miscommunication? Apparently anywhere from 1 in 10-100 million. I give him props for being funny, but when the bill was looked at so favorably was that really a wise idea?

Is this only a U.K. thing? It seems our pals across the pond are looking in to laws to protect fat people who are seemingly attacked, harassed and shouted at. I don't really see that being a bit issue around here or most places I've been in the States. We have far more racial and gay bashing than anything and when it comes to weight people seem to be more politically correct or not say anything at all. Any one else have any thoughts on this?

This list I saw on Digg today is actually pretty decent. The top 10 zombie movies of all time is fairly accurate though I think they rate Zombieland a bit too high. One, I wouldn't count Evil Dead II. Two, my top five would probably go 28 days, Zombieland, Shaun, Dawn and Night.

Nintendo, creating games even your grandparents will like.

The family of a lady who died from drinking too much water in a radio stunt won 16 million dollars in a lawsuit. This is all over an attempt to win a Nintendo Wii when they first came out. The "Hold your wee for a Wii" contest hosts were found negligent in the woman's death after ignoring repeated warnings about the dangers. While I agree with this one a part of me realizes not everyone is a medical genius but wouldn't common sense tell you that it was probably slightly unhealthy? I bet that $16 million dollar contest is the most expensive one they will ever run. There are probably some people out there now that would tray their Wii for a case of Aquafina.

Bad drivers have a new excuse, women too apparently. Some research has revealed that a variant in a gene make people perform 20% worse on driving tests and that 30% of Americans have this gene. Isn't 29 test subjects a bit to small sample wise to glean anything out of? I am curious to know how many of the 22 with the gene were women and foreigners.

Scrubs return has been announced for December 1st. I am not really sure what to think of this after the amazing "My Finale" episode. Much of the previous cast will either be limited or not appearing at all. Without J.D. and the other core 4 and Cox can it really be Scrubs? And what about Janitor? Too many questions, I guess we have to wait and see.

If you want to help Boondock Saints II get a wide release, and you probably do as word is that it is a better film than the last one, then head over and place your votes of support much like people did for Paranormal Activity. As of right now it is only a limited release so go vote and help the cause.

Ridley Scott is talking a bit more about his Alien prequel movie lately. Instead of a direct setup to the first Alien movie Scott is saying this one will take place 30 years before that. What exactly that entails is anyone's guess. Either way, Scott+Aliens=win.

Some people go through life in a complete daze...

This has gotta be fake right? Right? Either that or the camera was running all damn day...