Change of address

I have decided to change the focus of my blogging to just a general everything blog (focusing mostly on Gaming and Sports). And with the way my 09 has been going so far I though it best to do a clean break and hopefully leave all the negativity behind. I started a new blog @ arthur1977.wordpress.com called Slow Learner. Please feel free to stop by and leave comments and suggestions. Its been fun and see you online!

Character Sheet

Syp posted a great personal character sheet on his blog and dared others to follow suit. Well here it is:

Character Name: Arhur1977
Guild: Family (2-member guild)
Class: Level 17 Spinning Technician, Level 2 Blogger

Stats:
Strength: 11
Intelligence: 13
Dexterity: 12
Charisma: 10
Wisdom: 10
Stamina: 12
Perception: 13
Humor: 16

Skills:
Writing – rank 3
Origami – rank 1
Video Games – rank 9
Reading – rank 8
Public Speaking – rank 4
Leadership – rank 6
Shadow Puppets – rank 1
Texas Hold'em - 6
3-Pitch Baseball - 7
Pick-up Hockey - 5

Gear:
iPod Touch (Vancouver Canuck logo on back)
Dockers plus a tee shirt
Honda CRV
Strong Black Coffee
Excel White Gum

DDOcast 125

While killing time at work, I though I should remind people to check out the newest DDOcast. With the NDA now lifted these great pod casters have some insightful information and discussion about the future of the game.

Its crazy how much I remember about DDO. I am having a great time running around Stormreach and meeting wonderful people. I am sort of surprised at how many new people I am grouping with, that says a lot about how effective the new DDO unlimited advertising is.

Shan-To-Kor is as crazy as I remembered, we wiped a few time (we were trying the first parts on Elite) and finished it on hard. I admit I have to pay more attention to the rewards I get after big quest chains. After STK I decided to take a necklace of Wisdom (+1 Wis) instead of the Charisma Cloak ( +2 Cha). I was thinking that the boost to my wisdom would allow me to cast first level spells, to my dismay I needed a +2 wis item. Oh well guess I have to run the dungeon again :)

The addition of hirelings to the game since I last played is very important because this is a group oriented game. I had a feeling I might be using them for the lower levels until DDO Unlimited goes live due to the age of the game. Unfortunately I have not used one yet playing solo, a Paladin is really solo friendly and I am having good luck finding groups. I have a feeling that when I roll a caster they might become very important.

Well that is it, if you decide to play look me up on Sarlona, the name is Innis Gunn.

Gamer A.D.D.

Well it seemed like I cannot commit to a MMO or any other game for that matter. I enjoyed Sword of the New World, but just never seemed to get hooked. Then I was just listening to a Massively podcast and they started talking about an old MMO I use to play, Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. Their guest host for the show was Jerry (from DDOcast.com) and they had a great discussion about all the changed happening in the game. It was nice to hear it still had a solid community and lots of people interested in the changes that were about to happen, mainly the game going free to play with an in game store. So after listening to that podcast I had to download the recent DDOcasts and hear what that group of players had to say. They had some great insight into what some long time veteran players might be thinking and most if it not always positive.

After hearing them talk about the game I use to love playing I though I would download the trial and check out some of the changes. After the first couple of hours I have to say I am hooked again on this game. I purchased another box (I have forgotten my old user name and password :p) and resubscribed. I have created a Dwarf by the name of Innis Gunn, he is a Paladin that will be specializing in 2 handed weapon fighting. I have been getting help some of the great people from DDOcast.com and the DDO forums with getting back in the swing of things in the game. So a hearty thank you goes out to Phlor, Wanbz, and Khorbyn for all your help so far.

I hope going free to play will bring some more people back to this wonderful game, because once in you might just not want to leave.

Well I had my first chance to play SotNW after the forced weekend off. I decided to make my first trek into Al Quelt Moreza and was doing great until I decided to run through a large group of enemies and wiped. I like the fact that you only have to wait 60 seconds to revive and then try and regroup, its so much better then having a spawn point and trying to run all the way back. I really enjoyed the pace of the dungeon, it kept you on your toes, and fighting he Shadow of Dois Lantem as my first semi boos was cool. After finishing the quest I headed back to Reboldeaux and remembered that I should have asked the NPC's for quest, I have to do some back tracking but its worth it. I do like the quests that transport you to another instance to complete. I found one of them but it was a little to low of level so I ran through it in record time leaving very little for the spear man who followed me into battle. All in all, a fun time.

I also got to select a new stance for my fighter, Zohra. This type of character customization is an interesting way to personalize you group. I have decided to make my fighter a Defensive specialist and hopefully the centre of my enemies attacks. Unfortunately, I still need to gain a few more levels with my Musketeer and Scout before more options open up for them.

I am enjoying my time spent in playing SoNW. I have mostly been just running around solo so far but I am thinking about looking to join a clan and being more social. I am a little picky about what clan I wish to join. I play MMO's for fun and want a clan that does as well. I have no problem with hard core gamers (I was one years ago in SWG and EQ2), but have decided to have a more relaxed view of things now. So if you are a clan looking for more members that like to have fun and help out Drop me a line :)

Something to look forward too..

With the recent announcement of Final Fantasy XIV I have my most anticipated game for 2010. Final Fantasy was the series that got me addicted to video games in the 80's on the Nintendo and then later made my decision to move to the PS with the release of FFVII. I am looking forward to hearing more about this new game sometime in the future.

Here is a link to the Video they showed at E3: FFXIV

Enjoy

Sight seeing

Well I have not had much of a chance to play SotNW but the time I have has been very enjoyable. I have got my group of adventures up to lv 12, so I get to see the new armor styles (which are really nice). My group consists of a Fighter, Scout (you have to love having a personal healer), and a Musketeer. It seems to be a well balanced group and I have been running the beginner quests out of Reboldeaux. I am still working out the basics of playing with three toons at once, it adds a bit of a challenge and makes the game interesting. The combat that I have done so far seems faster and more frantic then previous MMO's.

I have finally seen some AFK grinders in Ferruccio Junction, the fact they have allowed this type of leveling I things is good for the game. It gives people the ability to keep up with their friends even is they don't have as much playing time. That is one thing that most MMO's fail to offer.

Well, it to bad the server is currently down (I have a little time to kill :P), but I hope to see you all online soon. Also if anyone has some blogs about SotNW that they could point me two that would be appreciated (just leave them in a comment). I come from Warhammer Online which has hundreds of bloggers and am just wondering about this games community.

Sword of the New World,

Well I have spent some time away from PC gaming, instead taking some time to play my PS3 (a great system I must say). I enjoyed playing Little Big Planet, Fallout 3, and Uncharted, but I could not break away from the call of MMO's.

This time I decided to see what some of the free to play MMO's were like. This first of which is "Sword of the New World". The first thing I noticed about this game was the amazing art work and the beautiful background music.

The game play is different from other MMO's because you crate your own team of 3 characters made up 5 different classes. You can also get NPC cards to unlock those unique characters to join your party. I think the battle system will take a little getting use to but so far its been a very entertaining game.

If you are interested in saying hello or offering advice my family name is "CDN-Dragoon" and I play on the Orpesia Server. I am looking forward to playing this game further, for all of you who are still playing Warhammer Online I hope you enjoy the new expansion!

Seeing Stars

Well I have found out how amazing Little Big Planet is! My time recently has been spent running around in a pirate outfit and carring a wooden sword :) If anyone is playing LBP check out my first created level Seeing Stars, its a simple one but it was fun (and a bit frustrating) to make it. I hope to build more complex ones in the future, but man there are some amazing ones out there.

If anyone else has levels they want to promote send me a comment and I will publish them on this blog.

Life changing events.....

Well, I have hit the time in my life where MMO's are going to have to be put on the back burner. I have not logged in to WAR in about 2 weeks and have no desire to do so. There are many things going in to this decision. (edited) Secondly is my play style. I really enjoy playing Warhammer but I have a tendency to be shy dealing with other players. This has caused me not to get to attached to the social aspect of the game. I have been involved in two great guilds but have not participated enough to get any level of community.

For everyone who is still playing I hope all the new content is amazing and I might log on again to see what its like. I still plan on continuing this blog but its focus will change to general video gaming among other things.

All the best!

WCPI, Dark Crag Dispatch

Before I head out of town for the weekend I though I should give another recommendation to a great blog. The Dark Crag Dispatch is a blog that looks at many different aspects of the Warhammer Online. They have some interesting points and opinions about what is currently going on. Take a look and I hope you enjoy!

A Dwarf is born.....

No, its not a slayer. I have decided that my first alt will be a Dwarven Engineer named Innis. As much as I want to try a Slayer I wanted to try an engineer more. I was partly influenced by a former guild mate of mine, Lorient. When our old guild fell apart, he joined a guild of just Dwarf Engineers called short fuses and was having a great time. So I rolled a engineer and got the offer to join the guild, its been a blast so far. The fuses area a great bunch of ale drinking Dwarfs that just seem to enjoying the game.

So if you are a Dwarf engineer on Volkmar and want to join a guild of free drinking, grenade throwing, greenskin killing Dwarfs... well just look us up!

Also if you are interested in playing Warhammer Online I have yet to offer up my trial passes. If you are interested send me an email at CDNDragoon@gmail.com, I will give mine out to the first three requests I get.

WCPI, Werit

I just started reading Werits blog and like what he has to say. He recently wrote some good points about server balance on his home server. Wondering if Mythic will ever get around to offering buffs to the constantly defending side like they proposed to do. I also liked reading his post on the RvR Finale on PTS he took part of and the bits and pieces of EvE blogging he offers up as well.
The fact that he is a Dwarf Engineer (my new alt) is just a little bonus. So check out his blog and say hello, you just might like what you find.

Female characters in WAAAGH!!

This has been a hot topic over the last couple of weeks with the two new classes coming out. I find it strange that there are so many classes that are gender specific within the realm of Warhammer Online.

I have played a fair share of MMO's over the last 6 years starting with SWG, and have had the opportunity of gaming with lots of great people. Some of the more influential have been female players and I cannot understand why Mythic would short change them on character selection. I understand that the lore does not full support female characters in certain rolls like the Chosen or Slayer, but there have been cases where in some books they have made an appearance. What I don't understand is that Mythic can create a completely new character class, the Disciple of Khaine, and not have the ability to expand the role of female players within the Warhammer universe.

I can appreciate not wanting to corrupt the original idea of Warhammer, but in this case when you create a virtual world the players need the ability to make it their own. For now though, all the ladies out there get to chose for barley clad Dark Elves and a few other classes on the destruction side. I know the Greenskins are fungi but they are a version of the all boys club if you read almost anything that they say, so its hard to count them as a non gender race. The Order side is more balanced between the sexes, minus the Slayer. Everything evolves over time, this game is not the same as it was at launch, so maybe the option of expanding female roles would give this game an even larger fan base to draw from in the future.

There are lots of great blogs and podcasts out there on this subject. I just though I would put my two cents in. I just think that when you are creating a world this big and in depth, you sometimes have the let the players decided the outcome and perhaps create a some new lore along the way.

Simple thoughts on Pros / Cons.....

I was working on this post my last couple of days at work. Since I just had my four wisdom teeth removed yesterday I have not been in the mood to blog so I though I would post it. If you have any comments about my list please let me know.

Pros

- Community - A great blogging community has been build up around this game. Mythic does a good job of supporting and keeping involved.

- oRvR - Flat out, I just enjoy running around with a group of friends hunting Destro

- Diversity - Every race and class have different styles and feel while playing them

- Open Group System - Such an easy way to find people doing what you want to do

- Public Quests - Fun to do with good rewards at the end

- Continues effort from Mythic - They keep working on patches and updates

- Art Work - I love the visual style of the game

- Scenarios - Having the option to queue up while PvE questing is great way to get some RvR in while ranking up, but I wish you could queue to your tier in Altdorf

Cons

- No Central Hub - You need a place to just go and joke around with other players. SWG had Coronet where everyone just hung around relaxing. In this game I just go to Altdorf to hit the banker

- Limited space for Quests in ToK - The book is HUGE, but we only have one page for quests?

- Fortress Siege Lag - Enough has been written about this, lets hope it gets fix soon

- Generic Keep Defense - Change up the keep styles, or add more ways to reach the Lord

- Hype! - This is a good game but was over hyped and promised to much at launch

- Inventory Management - When I put stuff in the bank or my back pack I wish it would auto stack, it would make my life so much easier

- Keep Contribution - Need bonuses for people not getting bags in keep sieges to help them out at the next keep

WCPI, what a great idea

The first blog I would like to promote really needs no introduction but I though I should start at the beginning. The first blog I started reading was WAAAGH! by Syp. Its a great blog that is both informative, opinionated and very entertaining. If you are interested in Warhammer Online I suggest you read this one.

Here is a link if you are also interested in helping promoting fellow WAR bloggers, WAR Community Promotion Initiative (WCPI). Lets work together to keep this community growing.

In to The MAW!!!

Well I got involved in my first Fortress siege on Saturday night. It was around 1am when the call came out that we had the chance to take down the Chaos Fortress, The Maw.

Since I had just hit Rank 37 earlier in the week I could actually take part in this offencive. We ended up quickly destroying the gate as Order from all over the realm started showing up in insane numbers. The first floor breezed by as well as the second... then we hit a brick wall. As we tried to advance to the 3ed floor and the Lord, we hit the defending Destros choke point. They had situated themselves at the top of the stairs and rained pain down on anyone who tried to advance.

It was at this point that the lag also caught up to me. I was seeing our attemp to reach the third floor in a slide show fashion, which rendered me useless. It seemed that one second I was walking in an empty room, the next I was on the floor with a Garrison Chosen standing over me. To combat the lag I turned off all my allies and enemies names, titles, and guilds to no avail, it was almost painful.

We ended up not capturing the Fortress but I had an OK time trying. I don't mind the defeat, chalk it down to a learning experience. My bigger problem is the lag, I am starting to understand what all the fuss is about. Mythic has a good thing going with this game and I really enjoy it. All their new additions have been great, but I hope while they keep releasing these fun and innovative live events that are still diligently working on making mass battle oRvR a lot smother.

Whats in a Name...

Well with my guilds transfer from Sylvania to Volkmar it is the end of Binge Drinker. Unfortunately for my Bright Wizard his name is take by a Rank 40 Black Orc, so Mavric has been born.

On the topic of names, this event reminds me of the post Syp did on Waaagh! when he introduced my blog in his blog roll pt. 4:

"As you can tell from the title (or not), CDN Dragoon is all about the life and times of a Bright Wizard and his own personal burn ward."

My blog name is easy to explain and has nothing to do with the great game of Warhammer. The first part is my nationality, I am proud to be Canadian :) As for the second part, the Dragoon is the class I have enjoyed playing the most from the the Final Fantasy series. Those RPG's got me addicted to video games back on the NES and Super NES! Since I planed on doing the blog for general gaming I had decided on the name before I became aware of the Age of Blogging initiative.

Back to Warhammer, I am looking forward to get my start on Volkmar. Destro look out the Prismatic Order is hunting you....

Night of Murder

Well I have to say that I enjoyed the Night of Murder live event, and if my dog had not chewed through my internet connection I would have completed it! I did make a final push the last day getting 6 out the 7 Keep Lords though, oh well!

I liked how you didn't have to grind to get your influence and the final reward as much as previous live events. This event felt more organic to the style of game I play, which is a focus on oRvR. The objectives were straight forward, and as long as you have a decent server population not that difficult to accomplish.

Overall I cannot wait for the next live event. I am looking forward to seeing the new scenario and playing a Slayer. As for this one, I am not to disappointed about not getting the Master Assassin title. Its nice, but not one as a Bright Wizard I would use.

Altdorf... We Failed....

What an interesting night. I just planned to log on for a little to work on my Night of Murder live event when the call to arms was issued. Destro were attacking our fortress in Reikwald! I tried to get the fort but was warped out due to "supply line issues", basically I was to low of Rank being just 35. The good thing was even though I missed out on most of the oRvR I was still able to take part in the Altdorf War Quarters scenario. It was great killing Destro while fighting in the city. I was on for about 90 minutes before I had to log, and got into three War Quarters scenarios which was great. Now I cannot wait until we siege The Inevitable City.

I would also like to congratulate all the Destro that managed to take Altdorf. I logged out before it happened but checked the forums before work to see that you were successful. Now its time for Order to try and push back!!

Fire Building 101

When I create a new character I usually do some research on the forums to get a feeling of the class. For Warhammer Online I mostly used Warhammer Alliance site and searched blog postings to find information. I listed some of the more informative treads that have great information to out people new to the Bright Wizard class.



Class Mechanics: This post gives you an overview of the class and explains the different builds and styles of play.

Immolation Build: My build. The thread talks about all the aspects of the DoT line.

Conflagration Information: This is the A0E build. You need good self control to master this style of play.

I am still looking for a good Incineration thread but as of yet I have not uncovered one. If anyone has a good one, please put it in comments section and I will post it for everyone else to read.

Have fun putting Destro into your burn ward, but make sure you don't end up there yourself.

The Age of Blogging!

This is just a quick note to thank all the people involved in the WAR: Age of Blogging. It was a great idea to bring in new and interesting points of view to this ever improving game.

Friday Night Fights

After work I decided to login to catch up on the latest guild news and maybe grind to Rank 35 when a strange thing happened... oRvR.

It started out in Caledor with our war band taking both keeps and some BO's with little resistance. We decided to head over to Reikland and tried to take central keep that was in Destor control. Once there a pitched battle broke out on the ramp leading up to the keep with more then a war band of Destro blocking our path. Once we fought our way to the doors we started banging away until we got pushed back by the Destro reinforcements. After regrouping at our war camp we made another push by trying to take the hill from two different sides. This time we made it through the both keep doors to have our attempt stalled at the bottom of the ramp to the Lords room. While I was logged on we never quite made it to the top but it was a lot of fun anyway.

These battles are one of the many reason I am continue enjoying this game, and I look forward to the new classes and events Mythic are putting out soon.