Gaming Bros

You might be wondering about what is special about this. It is just a mount, but as many WoW players know, this is THE mount that rules them all. It is almost impossible to get and only a mere fraction of players have it. Though it is your chance (and mine) to get one. Blizzcore is a new WoW site and they are starting it with a bang by offer people a chance to win the mount simply by making a comment on their website regarding this topic.

So what are you waiting for, go go go.

Note: As of writing, 1500+ comments have been made and this is running for 2 weeks but still, 0.0001% of a chance is good than 0%.

Yep, I couldn’t help it. WoW is great fun and even though many hate it for being an addictive game, for whatever reason, it is just that good that I went back. Lots have changed since I left back in March 2008 which is when patch 2.4 was released with new content on the Island of Qual’Thalas that brought the Scryers and Aldor together against the forces of Kael’Thas who is planning to bring Kil’Jaeden back in the new and tough raid instance: The Sunwell. In addition of lots of new dailies (almost all daily quests are on that island) and badge gear, lots to keep people busy. Oh and lets not forget the cool new 5 man instance: The magisters Terrace.

Now that I am back, post patch 3.0.2, lots have changed and have been added since 2.4. Mainly in preparation of the second expansion pack: Wrath of the Lich king. Talents have been changed a lot, lots of class changes, the new inscription profession, the cool achievements system and huge raid encounter nerfs (Reported by many as 30% reduction from mobs to bosses) are just some of the main highlights of the patch. You can check the patch notes for further details. Also because of WotLK release date is nearing, you will find Argent Dawn officers around the cities asking for help to kill the undead showing up because of the Scourge invasion. There are cool rewards that you can find there so easily that can compete against Tier 5 items but as of writing, the invasion has stopped and only the vendors are still around.

The best thing is, everywhere you go in Azeroth or Outland, you will find huge amounts of activity going on. Mainly because people are trying to earn achievements or leveling their alts. I also started to level two new alts as well on separate accounts and using dual boxing to level them. Dual boxing is simply controlling two or more WoW characters at the same time on one or more machines. For me am using the same PC but having two windows open. The idea is that both characters level at the same time and help each other quickly to finish quests.

As for my main who is a Warlock, he is trying to finish any remaining quests in Outland and get exalted with remaining factions before the expansion arrives.

One big change I noticed is how much the latency has improved since early this year. Currently the ping stays in the range of 200-400 ms which is damn playable compared to the disaster that was before in the ranges of 600-1000+ ms. Also, a nice graphical update has been done to the game as some cool lighting and shadow effects have been added. It would be nice if Blizzard adds more shaders to the game to make it shinier at least.

Will keep you posted on new stuff as they arrive with my progress as time goes.

Just after the release of Crysis Warhead and on the 18th of September 2008, Mythic Entertainment has released the much anticipated MMORPG game based on the popular Warhammer franchise: Warhammer Online – Age of Reckoning. You can learn more about the game and how it fared by reading MEGamers Warhammer Online Review.

Today also marks the game’s first month since release and it is going strong. With 750,000 accounts and being the smoothest MMO launch ever, Mythic are off with an impressive start. All that remains is to see how WAR will fare against the test of time. Read up more about the first month of WAR.

For me, WAR is currently the game I am playing and, until now, plan to play for maybe a couple of months. At least hit the level cap which is 40 and am currently level 24 (Rank 24). I play as a Black Orc, named Grimaxe, which is a tank class but can play as a melee dps class (damage per second class, also known as damage dealers). The game is quite enjoyable and my first impression is better than when I started WoW. You got a lot of things to do from the start and there is that sense of no need to rush to Rank 40. You can experience almost a huge portion of the game from the start and during leveling.

When I do reach the level cap, I will evaluate if it is still fun to continue or stop. Keep in mind that even though I am limited by Rank 40 (Which is harder than getting WoW level 60 btw), there is a lot to work on to reach renown rank 80 (renown is like experience for participating in RvR activities like killing players from the other faction).

I have some concerns with the graphics engine since even with 3GB of RAM, it stutters, which can only means some sort of optimization is required. The other thing is the animation, Mythic really need to work on it and get it in sync with the actions. There are some other bugs and concerns but nothing to take away the fun and/or obvious. I log in and check for an open party to join for PQs (Public Quests), do normal quests, queue for scenarios or join a warband to siege a keep.

I managed to get into some of the dungeons but still have to clear one. Being a player who farmed WoW dungeons heavily, things are different and don’t work the same way. I guess with time we will figure it out.

If you are interested to joining the WAR then you can find me on the European server “Sea of Dreams” (not to be confused with the upcoming Bioshock prequel). Keep in mind that the monthly fee for the game is 15$ and you do get a one month free trial when you purchase an account.

Feel free to ask me any questions about the game.

Am sure many are very familiar with this Warcraft 3 mod map. Choose your hero, start at the opposite side of your enemy’s base, help your creeps by killing the others and cooperate with your friends to beat the other team by destroying their base. Simple idea, nice balance between the heroes and fun for quick games.

So why would I hate such a mod? Why are there even a lot of people who also hate it? Below I list some very strong reasons why I hate this very mod:

• It is the same map layout over and over again. Where is the diversity?
• Yeah lots of heroes, but controlling one character from a top view isn’t really strategic.
• New people get hooked to it so much that any other complete (read not a mod) game isn’t cool.
• A huge number of players play it yet never heard of Warcraft 3!!!
• Matches almost always take a very long time to complete, easily above 30 minutes and I estimate 1 hour on average for a single match.
• For crying out loud, you are just controlling a Warcraft 3 hero unit!
• Level up above the others and you are invincible!
• It is fun for a week or three months (I am even going too far with that) but years are too much, even WoW players don’t get that hooked.
• The PC has no other game except DotA?

Around here, the biggest contributors to DotA’s success are the LAN gaming centers. Why should they go and buy “expensive” 8800 GTs or 4850s to play modern and cool multiplayer games when DotA requires PCs which you can buy on wholesale or cheap (50$ PC anyone) that have year 2000 or up to 2003 specs. There are players who play DotA, who tell their friends how cool this “game” is and that it is available in your average Internet Cafe too! Get the picture?

It is indeed a great mod, but taking it too far like that is really sad, honestly.

Well, I think it has been now two months since I quit WoW. I thought about sharing my story with this game. It was bought very late after it’s release, around August 2006. Reason I picked the game because I was intrigued to continue on the lore of Warcraft and check out this so called MMO genre. All I knew was that you can create a character and do quests together with other people who are on your side and kill people from the other side.

So I started with a warlock class simply because I saw one controlling the infernals in the intro movie. So I started leveling and slowly I was sucked by this black hole of fun (and addiction). I managed to reach level 60 and get my dreadsteed mount (one of the greatest moments in the game for me) just at around the same time as the release of the Burning Crusade Expansion. Do note it took me about 4-5 months to reach level 60. Reasons were I was trying to complete each quest in each zone I go through and that I fought with my weapons (in which is noobish considering my caster class).

At first, I didn’t want to get the expansion thinking that playing the main game is enough. Though in the end, I went ahead and bought it. Took me about two months to reach level 70 this time (faster but still slow). Then I went ahead and started the dreaded Karazhan attunement quests in which I did in two days. Though I was around another two months trying to get into this raid instance and just as soon as I started experiencing the instance, I got bored and thought to quit. I stayed off for about three months, then I decided to go back but without raiding and just for fun. Though gradually, I started getting back to the addiction. So I started raiding with a friend’s guild. Though the progress was very slow and we hardly went past Gruul. A decision was made by me and that was to leave my current realm, Bladefist, and go for a realm which is more ambitious. I went for Magtheridon, home of Nihilum. There, the standard of raiding is much much higher. I joined a guild who was at the end of Karazhan and Gruul and just starting The Eye and Serpentshrine Cavern.

After some time I moved to another guild (my last guild). In this guild, progress was much better and with a less stressful time schedule. Managed to kill Archimonde with them and reach Bloodboil in Black Temple. I even managed to create and level an alt warrior within THREE weeks to level 70 (Compare to my first character). At that point, I felt I had to stop for good. It was too much time investment. So I stopped at around March 2008! Yes, thats like almost a year and a half of WoW. Though the game was so much fun, the time I took playing it isn’t. I hardly managed to play other games. In addition, I got sick of the Carrot-on-Stick formula.

Now, I managed to experience new games, each different from the other, have more time for family, friends and writing a blog! WoW is a fun and great experience, though you should at some point think, am I getting something worthy for my time and money from this game? If no, then it is time to look for something else, something new and fresh.