Tuesday 27 May 2008

Age of Conan..First Impressions.

Hey people! Hope you all had a nice weekend! I had a good long one as it was bank-holiday here in the UK yesterday!

So i got my grubby little mits on Age of Conan on Friday night, and after our quick badge-run to kara I started installing the game.

Then I waited as this mother of all games set-about chewing up 10% of my hard-drive! TWENTY-FIVE GIG!!! Oh my god!! then i had to wait like another hour while it downloaded and installed the patches...god only knows how long a fresh install would take after Funcom have released a few patches.

Anyway so my friend and I sat back and watched the rather cool opening cgi thingy.

I had decided to make a conqueror - which was as close as i could get to a Ret-Paladin as possible. (called Firelight of course!!)

Took me a while to create him as i decided to fiddle with as much of the char-creation toys as i could to get him looking slightly normal, and not mouse-like.

Then I entered the game. Wow everything is so pretty...man the water...the water reacts to me being in the water!! Wow!

Ok so I wonder up to that woman and I see the "!" above her head - ok my first quest NPC. Expecting the usual page to pop up I'm surprised to see that I actually get to talk to her rather than just read a log.

Right she wants me to go kill the guard who locked her up. I run over to him and start hitting him. Ok the Combat systems is rather interesting, and not as complicated as the manual made out. Basically you click an attack and then press the corresponding attack direction to finish the move. Or you can just attack using the direction buttons. There is no Auto attack.

Ok he's dead...hang on....I'm level 2 already? huh? Whats the deal with that? One mob and I've leveled? Riiiiight...

So back to the woman - she is free'd and off we go on our merry way to Tortage killing mobs along the way that seem to have an unusually high aggro range.

Anyway eventually i get into Tortage and start the night quests. I'm currently level 8 or so and I must say that Although the graphics are lovely, the game just isnt....well.....fun.

Its very realistic and detailed, and I love the way quests are handled (This fact explains the 25gb installation) and the combat system is a laugh as well, but there are just too many things that bother me:

1 - The chat window. Why do the system messages and chat have to be displayed together?

2 -The death system is just annoying. I mean i died and i have to fight my way back to where I was due to respawns?

3 - I'm still not managed to talk to anyone face-to-face in game...Mainly because i find it hard to distinguish the difference between a player and an NPC.

I just don't find the game fun at the moment mainly. When I hit level 10 or 20 maybe things will change. I'm going to keep going though as I wanna make it through the night quests.

On another note - Rage got Archimonde down last night! Awesome guys! Grats!

I was at the cinema watching Indiana Jones.....Lucas please stop writing movies....

Friday 23 May 2008

Black Temple Last Night

Hey guys!

Just a small update with some more WWS Reports:

Supremus - This is a ranged fight so to be as High as I am here is nice! (Absolutely nothing to do with the 2 rogues, DPS warrior and the shaman being dead for most of the fight honest!!)

http://wowwebstats.com/rmayfssbr64is?s=2529-3171

Shade of Akama - I'm really proud here!! 1671 DPS!! and 7th on the list!

http://wowwebstats.com/rmayfssbr64is?s=6228-6274

We had some tries on Gorefiend, but as usual we had newbies to the fight in the group and we didn't get him down due to constructs in the raid picking off the healers.

But i was 7th, and 5th on 2 out of the 4 tries - so not bad..

My faith is restored for now! But I still think we need another instant attack - this is what we need!

Thursday 22 May 2008

Blizzard....Fix me....Please?

Hey Guys...Hows you? All good I hope.

It was all so much fun when I first stepped foot into SSC having found Rohan's Blog and changed all my gear around so I made the Hit-Cap and got my AP right up and started working towards getting some real upgrades.

Then 2.4 came out. I had attained lots of nice gear and we stepped foot into Mount Hyjall and Black Temple...As the weeks have gone past and people have gotten their hands on some nice T6 gear I've started to be left behind in the DPS stakes. While I appreciate that Retribution will never be able to out do Warlocks or Rogues for pure DPS I was always happy with being placed 5th or sometimes even 4th or 3rd.

Slowly but Surely I've been pushed back down to 9th/10th although I seem to still always be over Mages for some reasons on boss fights. (Who knows!!)

I know this probably sounds a bit like a broken record from all Ret-Pallies but we need something else...something special - to make us a bit more powerful, and yet not over powered.

Its tough for Blizzard I guess to balance a class with the rest of other DPS classes when we could quite quickly be SO over powered in PvP.

But then Warlocks and Rogues are already OP in PvP and Blizzards seems blissfully unaware of this...

I'm suffering a bit of WoW Burnout at the moment I think - its frustrating to have so much gear you don't know what the optimal setup is for it...especially as everyone else around you seems to be getting stronger and stronger.

I just cant seem to get myself over 2000 AP unbuffed. I gain stuff on one item, then loose it on another - its like 2000 AP is the cap for ret-pallies (unbuffed of course)

Its all good saying stuff like "drop all your gems and put +Strength Gems in" But more than likely I'll loose my Meta gem activation.

This weekend I'm going to buy a copy of Age of Conan and see if its any good - reviews seem very positive at the moment - so I'm optimistic.

If I like playing that it'll be a nice refreshing change to keep me tied over until Wrath comes out.

In other news my druid made exalted with netherwing last night. Yay!

Tuesday 20 May 2008

Lots of Info to Assimilate...

Hey Dudes!

Well after my last post which generated a LOT of responses I've had a lot on my mind lately.

Firstly a big thanks to Josh @ Eye for an Eye for introducing me to RAWR. I've had a play with this app for a few days, and its pretty cool so far. Its a little confusing to start with, but once you get it setup correctly its a good thing to see what sort of loot you can use to increase your DPS. I need to sit down and look at what i have 100% in my bags and play with it properly.

I'm tempted to drop all my crit gems and swap them out for strength gems as well. Most of the socket bonus's are crit or stamina anyway so not a huge issue here.

I got a new ring last night:

Ring of Decietful Intent
+21 Agility
+42 Stamina
Equip: Improves Hit rating by 19.
Equip: Increases Attack Power by 58.

This is a nice replacement for my Kara ring, but not sure again if its a good upgrade.

Josh advised me to buy Angelista's Revenge but isnt the above ring better?

I've got 102 badges now so if anyone could suggest anything to buy with them then please do so!

Last Nights Raid Bosses:

Azgalor:
http://wowwebstats.com/4q2pznhixi6c3?m&s=2839-3353
(I was on the spawning demons)

Najentus:
http://wowwebstats.com/4q2pznhixi6c3?s=5766-6050&m

Supremus:
http://wowwebstats.com/4q2pznhixi6c3?m&s=8609-9055

Shade of Akama:
http://wowwebstats.com/4q2pznhixi6c3?m&s=11645-11696
(something screwy about that fight as melee were on the adds then the boss. Are the adds counted as trash mobs and Akama only has 1 million HP?)

Wednesday 14 May 2008

I want a 2nd Physical Attack...

Wow Web Stats from Mondays Bloodboil Fight(the try when we downed him):

http://wowwebstats.com/rqhfcywfdwixa?s=9932-10543 - DPS: 771
(I died at 5% left on this try and I was gimped for stamina)

Wow Web Stats from last nights Gorefiend fight - with a shaman in our group:

http://wowwebstats.com/c55rvmah5u6kw?s=5191-5509 - DPS: 1086

Quite a difference!

Now can anyone explain how i managed to miss so much when I'm hit-capped?

Black Temple - Upgrades and 2.4.2 Patch...

Hey guys!

Another fun evening in Black Temple Last night. We had to go and kill Teron Gorefiend. This time I managed to kill all my constructs bar one, which was killed by one of the other guys.

It was still scary and i was so nervous! But I think i got it this time.

We got him down and then moved onto the Reliquary of Souls. This is an interesting fight. Well what we saw of it!

Getting to the boss is a lot like the room of depression in Black Wing Lair (or whatever its called - I've only seen it once and that was last week!) You have a gauntlet of ghosts to fight through that re-spawn every 15 seconds - there are 4 groups on your way to the boss room.

We only saw phase 1 of the fight and it was rather annoying. Basically the aura the boss has 3 things to be aware of:

1 - It reduces healing by 100% - this is all healing - everything: Pots, Healthstones, HoT's anything that is a direct heal. The only thing that does work is Last Stand for Warriors, and those Battlemaster trinkets that give you 1750 health.

2 - It reduces your defence by 500 - So you take all his damage!

3 - Reduces armour by 100% - So we're all standing there pretty much naked.

We didn't get him past phase 1 as we were too slow moving from into his room - and had deaths all over the place - it was messy - but it was our first time - we're quick learners it seems.

I just want the boots and 2h mace he drops.

I got a new belt last night:

Girdle of the Lightbearer
Waist Plate
+49 Strength
+33 Stamina
+21 Intellect
Equip: Improves Haste Rating by 32. (2.03% @ 70)

This is the first Retribution item I think I've seen since the Hammer of the Naaru!

The Legs i got the night before from bloodboil:

Leggings of Divine Retribution
Legs Plate
+51 Strength
+51 Stamina
Equip: Improves your critical strike rating by 35. (1.59% @ 70)
Equip: Your attacks ignore 350 of your opponent's armour.

Bracers I got from Winterchill last week:

Furious Shackles
Wrist Plate
+35 Strength
+28 Stamina
Yellow Socket - (I put a +10 Strength epic gem in here)
Socket Bonus: +3 Stamina.
Equip: Improves Critical strike rating by 19 (0.86% @ 70)

The shoulders I got from hyjall the other week as well:

Blood-stained Pauldrons
Shoulders Plate
+47 Strength
+34 Stamina
Equip: Improves hit rating by 23. (1.46% @ 70)
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 32. (1.45% @ 70)

Also these sweet gloves from Akama:

Grips of Silent Justice
Hands Plate
+40 Strength
+37 Stamina
Red Socket - +8 Strength
Red Socket - +8 Strength
Socket Bonus: +4 Stamina
Equip: Improves your hit rating by 15. (0.95% @ 70)
Equip: Your attacks ignore 175 of your opponents armour.

And this Neck from Hyjall trash:

Choker of Serrated Blades
Neck
+37 Stamina
Equip: Increases your attack power by 70.
Equip: Your attacks ignore 175 of your opponents armour.

So some quite nice upgrades lately!!

These few items have bought my ignore armour up to 700 and with executioner giving 840 that's a total of: 1540 ignore armour. Which is lovely!!

So onto 2.4.2 Retribution Patch changes...

Paladin:

Seal of the Crusader: This ability now increases the damage dealt by Crusader Strike by 40%.

Right I had a quick go at this, this morning once the patch had downloaded and I was pleased to see the server was up and running.

Basically i cannot see how this is a good thing...

It only gives you +40% CS damage when Seal of the Crusader is up. It does nothing if the mob is Judged with Crusader and you have Seal of Command up.

I will have to work this into my spell rotation some how...but this will just burn more of my mana on some fights.

So what I'm looking at is something like:

Seal of the Crusader.
Run in - Auto swing.
Crusader strike.
Judgement.
Seal of Command.
Judgement.
etc etc etc..

Now should I add a SotC in there somewhere while I'm changing seals?

Surely this means I'll have less up-time for Seal of Command to proc...and sometimes I'm getting 3-4k procs off of that beast.

I really really cant understand this "buff" it just seems pointless..

If Seal of Command had this buff instead then it would make more sense....

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Bloodboil DOWN!

Hey guys!

Well what a night!

We entered Black Temple to continue where we left off, and we continued in style!!

After a number of tries we got him down and had enough time to look at the trash leading up to the Reliquary of Souls - that's going to be fun tonight!!

I got some new leg armour with some nice ignore armour stats! With all my new bits I'm sitting at 700 ignore armour +840 when executioner procs! (1540 total)

If we manage to get the Reliquary of Souls down tonight he drops 2 very nice upgrades for me! Firstly some really nice plate boots, and secondly one of the best 2h mace's in the game. I'm gonna be so happy if either of them drops! I've never really liked the look of my current boots, so the ones that drop from RoS match my legs/gloves i'm wearing at the mo. (t6 warrior look-alike gear)

Here's a W.W.S report from the evening (taken from our Druid Tank Senias):

http://wowwebstats.com/rqhfcywfdwixa?m

I was a bit gimped as I'd equipped a fair bit of my PvP gear to give me 12-13k health buffed so I didn't die as fast as i did last week when we tried this guy when i was the target for his Fel Rage thingy.

I also wrote a macro to equip my shield/sword which helped, and I also grabbed one of my tanking trinkets for the fight as well that when used increases my shield block quite a bit so i could block a lot his attacks - which helped a lot.

Please notice we were missing a shaman from our group. WTB Shaman tonight!!

Wish us and Me luck for tonight! I so want that mace!!!

Monday 12 May 2008

Daily Quests.....

Hey Guys!

Another seeminly uninteresting weekend on WoW, been doing a lot of work on my car in RL to get her back to speed, but thats an other story!!

Anyway I've been thinking what Blizzard are going to do about daily quests once we're all level 80?

Will The Isle of Quel'Danas Sink into the ocean? Will the Netherwing Ledge finally loose its gravitational foot-hold and disappear into the twisting nether? Will Orgri'la be exposed as a fake Afterlife for Ogre's?

It seems to me these quests have a lot of money associated for very little work. And at level 80 this work will be even easier. So will the amount of money and rep you get lower?

Friday 9 May 2008

Death Knight Cometh...

Hey peeps!

Its been another week since my last blog entry, and for this I apologise.

Well the main reason is that I've not really had much to say - Rage continues its onslaught into Hyjal and Black Temple.

We have 4/5 bosses in Hyjall on farm now, all one shotted and taken down with ease.

We've have Naj'entus, Supremus, and Shade of Akama on farm in BT as they really as a joke it has to be said. Gorefiend still is causing us problems - that death phase is a real shock if its your first time, and sadly this week I had my first time with it....I was not happy with myself :( It just didn't make sense at first - I messed up and caused a wipe :( I felt terrible and apologised profusely to the Raid Leader, thankfully he was kind and explained it wasn't just my fault.

This encounter is one of the scariest I've had to deal with in this game its a real shock to cause a wipe...

Anyway Last nights progression in Hyjal was amazing - to one shot every boss in there apart from Archimonde was a real achievement for us! I even managed to NOT blow up the melee group on the 3rd boss!! (not like last time when i killed my entire party except me! That was funny!)

We had tries on Archimonde, and he seems fairy easy to say the least if only we could master the fire thing he does. Its just picking too many healers off with ease it seems. We'll get him eventually.

This weekend we're going to do Kael'thas. A couple of the guilds on the server seem to enjoy poking fun at us as we'd not downed him before 2.4 but he will die this weekend...Enjoy your weekend Kael...for Sunday night Rage is coming to get you!!! Are you prepared? Time will tell....

Onto some exciting news regarding Death Knights!

Copied from World of Raids

The Deathknight class A quick description of some of the spells:
• Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target.

• Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy!

• Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out.

• Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities.
- The ghoul has the ability to do the following: -
- Leap to the target -
- Rend for decent damage-over-time -
- Stun target, and of course more

• Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight. • Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared.

• Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time.

• Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence.

• Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power. • Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds.

• Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts. A quick recap of the information Curse were told about the Death Knight:

• Death knights will be available to all players with level 55 characters

• Players can create one death knight per realm, per account

• Death knights can be any of the races

• Once created, death knights can undertake a series of quests to introduce the player to the new class and its associated lore

• Death knights utilize a rune system as their resource mechanic - Three different rune types are available: Unholy, Frost, and Blood - These runes allow death knights to cast spells and abilities; spells can cost any combination of these runes - Spent runes automatically refresh after a set period of time, similar to a rogue’s energy bar - The death knight will have the ability to customize which array of six runes is currently available

• As rune abilities are used, the death knight also generates another resource called Runic Power - The death knight will have several abilities that cost all available Runic Power, with varying levels of effectiveness based on total Runic Power spent - Runic Power decays over time if it’s not spent, similar to a warrior’s rage bar

• The death knight has three different presences to use: Blood, Frost, and Unholy; each presence grants the death knight a unique buff that will allow him or her to fulfill different roles in combat

• The death knight can serve either as a tank or as a melee-based damage-dealing class

• Death knights are designed to be highly viable tanking, magic-using characters

• Death knights will have the ability to summon undead guardians to fight by their side

• Death knights will have the ability to summon a Deathcharger mount.

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Now this info is really exciting!! I cannot wait to try out some of this stuff when Wrath hits!! Really exciting!!

Also this:
Raiding Changes:

• Similar to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, all 5-person dungeons will have a Heroic mode

• All raid dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King will have both 25-person and 10-person versions - 25-person raiding progression is not dependent on 10-person raiding; players will not have to obtain keys or attunements in 10-person raids to participate in 25-person raids - 10- and 25-person raids both have their own, independent progression paths

• Players will receive more, higher level rewards for completing the 25-person raid dungeons over the 10-person version

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This is cool also! More 10 man stuff!! Awesome!