Pink Day in LA (and a little context)

I’m going to start this post with a bit of background info; it’s a little sombre but I promise I’ll perk up in a minute. Skip over it for Pink Day in LA info - this is just some context as to why it is important to me.

There is a history of cancer in my family, most recently with my little sister battling lymphoma from the ages of 14-16. I opened my 18th birthday presents at the foot of her hospital bed. It’s not a wholly remarkable story; if you threw an orange in a crowded bar you’d hit 5 different people who have had some friend or family member who suffered with cancer (you might also get glassed, depends on the type of bar). However, just because the story is common, doesn’t make it any less important. If anything, it is all the more important on account of its prevalence.

Since my sister’s illness we’ve all done what we can. My sister is a spokesperson for a charity that helps teenage cancer suffers; she is a confident public speaker and, at the age of only 18 was regularly speaking to large audiences, alongside my dad, about her experiences. I worked for the charity committee whilst at university and managed to raise a total of £30000 for various charities over the three years I was involved. Since leaving university I’ve been working in clinical research and have had the opportunity to assist on a number of cancer research network studies. Most relevant, I suppose, to the real topic of this post is my mother – she works in a breast care centre; screening women for breast cancer.

So, I guess you could say we have a vested interest in encouraging cancer research and breast cancer awareness.

With that in mind: PINK DAY IN LA!

This is a brilliant player run event, conducted in conjuction with Gamers Giving Back and Gaming World Entertainment Network (GW-EN) which seeks to spur doudy grey and green gamers into perfect, pretty in pink cancer research behemoths. Started in 2007 by some kind-hearted individuals, the whole event is an annual fund raising extravaganza which, this year, hopes to hit the holy grail of gamer's numbers by raising $13,370.00 in funds for The Canadian Cancer Society.

Head over to the GW-EN site to donate some dough for cancer research - donate $10 and you could win a host of tasty-wasty prizes!

We already have the NPC ready and willing to sell you some pink dye (I, in all my compulsive hoarding glory, still have some from last year) to make you look the part. I'll be lurking around LA all day Saturday, probably drinking heavily and popping party poppers like a madman.

We Gon' Flux it Up Like it's your Birthday

Guys? Really? I go away for like... 4 days and we get Guild Wars updates up the hoo-hah, DDOS attacks on GvG players and the opportunity to become a Guild Wars 2 Ambassador?! Anyway, quick update before I take a look at the Anniversary stuff:

• I still don't have internet access at home - the landline becomes active next Monday and then my broadband provider will have the internet done by the end of that week. So, it's going to be a little longer than I thought before I'm back to daily blogging.
• In addition, apparently the people I work for have read the strict instructions of "you cannot increase the workload" as "increase the workload". So I'm currently facing one hell of a week.

Right, admin out the way - onto the meat of the matter.

  

Recently Guild Wars hit its 6th Anniversary. As Ravious has said over at KTR, it is impressive that Guild Wars is still going strong after so many years and as much as the vocal end of the playerbase might complain after each and every update, there are countless other players who still enjoy it on a daily basis (I've been known to fall into both camps). This year, ANet shook it up a bit with their updates - full details can be read over at the developer update page. Along with Hard Mode quests, Razah becoming some kind of "super" hero and Costume/hat makers being added to presearing - there were a few interesting updates in there - Birthday Tonics, Mutual Friends lists and The Flux.

Birthday Tonics

With each anniversary previous to this one, ANet have released a new set of miniatures and players whose characters have reached their birthday for that year would receive a gift which contained one of those new minis. The upshot of this was that the mini market would grow gradually each year - become ever more diversified and bloated. I imagine there aren't a huge number of new accounts being created each year, but as each player's characters mature and reach their birthdays the market becomes ever more filled with tiny little Rurik’s and Wind Riders. Frankly, the mini market has always confused me and I'm glad they've drawn a line under it.

This year ANet decided to drop the birthday mini and instead release a tonic. Now, when I first saw this I thought - well, that’s just another aesthetic item, just the same as the minis. But actually it's quite clever - it has no effect on gameplay, it doesn't impinge on their costume selling business, it doesn't affect the mini market, and the tonic market is relatively small in comparison. The tonic transforms the user into a legendary NPC or monster, it is everlasting and tradable (so people can liquefy it into money if they so choose it).


Mutual Friends List

Another nifty introduction is the mutual friend list. If you and your friend both have each other on your friend list, you will be able to see where they are at that moment. Its not groundbreaking stuff, but it’s a pretty useful little mechanic. I haven't had a chance to see this yet - but I also imagine it will let you know who your real friends are (as you'll be able to see who has you on their list too) and then you can stop pestering that one monk you met back in '06 who never really seems to want to reply to your PMs. WHY WON'T YOU TALK TO ME!?


The Flux

Probably the biggest change (and the one which has caused the most controversy) has been the introduction of the Flux. The Flux will be an ever changing Meta mechanic which will affect all PvP (from AB/JQ/FA right up to monthly GvG tournaments and HA) - it will change monthly. For example, the first Flux is "Lone Wolf":

Lone Wolf: "If you are not within earshot of an ally, you deal 10% additional damage and take 10% more damage."

Now, where the Flux comes from will take a little bit of lore knowledge so here goes: last October when the Lunatic Court attempted to release the Mad King Thorn from his realm into Tyria all sorts of odd goings on... went... on. Apparently, in their haste to emancipate him, a number of seals were broken and cracks began to form between Tyria and the "Mists". The result of this has been growing instability in places where Tyria and the Mists are closest (i.e., all PvP arenas) - and so, the Flux has occurred (or is occurring, or will occur? Not sure of the tense...).

Now, a lot of people are very excited about this update, and a lot of people are very worried/angry about it. Those who are worried/angry see it as another mechanic which counteracts the balance to which all PvP should be striving - where all skills, builds and professions are equal and all player vs. player interactions are decided on player ability alone. I can see where they are coming from, but I have a counter argument:

You know what I think about balance? Balance is BORING. Balance stays at home on a Saturday night, collecting stamps and watching Antiques Road show. Balance could spend an afternoon alone in a room with a tea cosy and not even consider putting it on his head. Change, however... now that’s where the excitement is. Change spends his Saturdays drunk on rice wine, having hot tub parties with playboy bunnies, snorting coke off an anaconda's back and dancing to hard techno. Change would wear that tea cosy like a boss.

I understand the compulsion to work towards balance, but with 10 professions, numerous primary and secondary profession combinations, hundreds of skills and millions of skill combinations, finding ultimate balance would be nigh on impossible - particularly considering the size of the GW Live Team. The only way to truly create a fun and dynamic PvP environment is to embrace the chaos that all those variables creates. ANet will know sort of what will happen when each Flux is released each month, but they won't know for sure - whatever is dominant in the meta might suddenly become hugely impractical. Eg, if you are running dual E/D Mind Blast spammers with Aura of Restoration, Fire Attunement and Mirage Cloak and then the Flux switches to: "All hexes and enchantments last 50% shorter" you're going to have to rethink your strategy. The Live Team know that they cannot release monthly skill updates to keep the meta fresh and to sort out any kinks which came with the previous update, they simply do not have the time - but they know that with the Flux at least the game will change every month without fail. If players want to be successful in PvP - they will have to learn to ADAPT.


I realise this post is getting on a bit, so I'll wrap it up:
ANet have stated that they are using Guild Wars as a proving ground for mechanics they will be slipping into GW2. So, expect the mutual friends lists and Flux to make its way into the finished product as long as they are well received. If you aren't fond of any of the updates, it's worth voicing your concerns to those in power - they probably won't remove the feature just for you, but they will certainly take your opinion into account.

I'm a Survivor, I ain't gon' give up!

All that work. So many innocent worms murdered... so many dead Dwarves. Oh god. What have I done? And all for nothing!

 

As you can see, I've gained a bit of experience since my demise. That is mainly because this morning I took out my frustrations on the inhabitants of the Fissure of Woe. 

 

But Will, I hear you cry, it's Monday morning! Why aren't you at work, posting entries filled with pictures stolen from other websites justified by your questionable interpretation of copyright law? I booked a day off! Booyah! Gaming day. To be honest, when you are packing 7 heroes, FoW is a bit of a joke. Nothing really stood in my way, my heroes barely went below 75% health and my energy was absolutely fine.

So - it was a cool 150k or so experience points for 2 hours work. Not bad. Plus I got my hands on 4 obsidian shards, 4 gold items and about 8k worth of gear. All in all - good clean fun.

Also - because the heroes were so good at tearing through mobs, I had a chance to skip through my newly delivered "The Art of Guild Wars 2" (which Amazon is listing for $100 in hardback... odd). There is some really impressive shizno in here; I really hope it all makes it into the game. I'm particularly fond of the Sylvari/Norn stuff. Scrumptious.



So - the rest of my day will be split between browsing some blogs, preparing dinner for myself and the Girl, and generally not getting dressed/bumming around.




Oh, speaking of which... must dash, got fish fingers in the oven!

ps. fish finger sandwiches are best done on wholemeal bread with tartare sauce of plain old ketchup.




EDIT: You jelly?

Guild Wars: Feature Build Drops Tonight!

John Stumme has confirmed that the Embark Beach/7 Hero Build/Title update for Guild Wars 1 will be uploaded later today (although Martin Kernstein has stated that they won't say a specific time, and I predict it will fall at 11:59 - Baker Island time).

This is the most anticipated Guild Wars update (at least for me) for a long time, the run down of the updates is as follows:

• Introduction of the outpost "Embark Beach" (EB). EB will include links to all Mission outposts - with sections for Tyria, Cantha and Elona. Similarly, all mission outposts will now have a zaishen "Scout" added to allow teleportation back to Embark Beach.
• Seems EB will also be the new home of the Zaishen Quests - and will have additional daily tasks added with the introduction of the "Zaishen Vanquish" option.
• 7 Hero update - eagerly awaited. Self explanatory really, they are increasing the hero cap from 3 to 7; to allow full parties of NPCs. UI updates are coming in to handle this. A new option to allow greater control over party allies (necromancer minions etc) is also being added. 
• Mercenary Heroes - I haven't had a chance to properly look into this one. But the sounds of it are that you can pay a nominal fee and have one of your own playable characters adventure with you as a hero - sounds AWESOME to me. Can't wait to party with a party of ME.
• Dailies in Pre-Searing (apparently, there will be nine every day!). Pre-Searing Ascalon has always been a rather insular community, and the players who are going for/have achieved Legendary Defender of Ascalon (LDoA) have always been an odd bunch. Because LDoA requires you to reach maximum level before you move off the starter area, and the level which the monsters reach around that area only reach high enough to produce EXP up to level 16 or so, the LDoA title involved allowing yourself to be killed over and over again by a monster in order to increase its level and then eventually killing it when it was a sufficient level as to produce EXP. This process was incredibly time consuming, and often involved leaving your computer running overnight. With the introduction of daily quests, pre-searing players are now given another option to get the much coveted title. I can see the anger rising on the horizon for those who worked their ass off to get the title when it was a complete bitch. Personally, I'll just be happy to get another title under my belt.
• An historian NPC will be added to presearing to allow pre players to add titles to their Hall of Monuments.
• Undisclosed changes to the LDoA, Survivor, Drunkard, Party Animal and Sweet Tooth titles.
• Shit will hit the fan.

Sweeping changes, its going to be a rocky few weeks on Guild Wars as the prices of items skyrocket in response to increased demand (depending on the exact changes made to the Party, Drunkard and Sweet titles). Similarly, I foresee a lot of whining and bitching about the changes to the more time consuming titles.

Drop in tomorrow for a full run down of the aftermath - I'll be all 7 heroed out by then I fear. I'm literally quivering with excitement.

EDIT:

From the horses mouth: John Stumme tells us about the updates:

Adaptation: The Difference between a Good Player and a Bad One

Before the explosion of online gaming, the video game world was a relatively static system. Sonic: The Hedgehog was a brilliant game; but I'm sure if we had to, there could be any number of gameplay criticisms which we could use to pick the game apart. Nevertheless; it was the finished product, it would never change so we just got on with it. With the advent of the constant change and feedback loop between players and developers which online gaming allows, gamers have come to expect flexibility in their games. If there is a bug or a glitch, players expect the developers to deal with it - and so they should.

However, in some situations I've found players to consider their game as a static medium and therefore any changes made to the game are met with hostility and fear. A good example is the CoD community's reaction to the changing of snipers in Black Ops.

In previous games (CoD4 and Modern Warfare 2 are prime examples) experienced players would use sniper rifles (ostensibly a long range weapon) in all situations because the "Aim Down Sight" (ADS) movement was so fast that they would kill most players with one shot at any range. In Black Ops, Treyarch changed the sniping mechanic so that the perks which a player could equip to accelerate the ADS did not affect sniper rifles - thereby largely eliminating the ability to "Quick Scope".
Similarly, with the update to the Dervish skills in Guild Wars, I've seen a backlash. ANet changed the Dervish from a hodgepodge of different roles (single target spiking, multitarget condition spreading, healing, runner, tank) and refined its purpose. Increasing the ability to manage energy and changing the statistics on their main weapon, the scythe, ANet were able to distil the Dervish into a pressure character, capable of spreading conditions quickly through the use of their "Flash Enchantments".

The changes made to the above games were necessary - quick scoping was a far too overpowered mechanic and it was using the sniper rifle in a way which was counter to how the developers wanted it used. Equally, the Dervish needed a sprucing up and anyone who had been to GWGuru could see how eagerly awaited (and how well received) these changes were.

However, both of these updates have been met with a bile-ridden uprising of trolls and complaints. The CoD sniping community raged that Treyarch were gimping the snipers by removing quick scoping, and they complained so much that after a month or so of the game being released Treyarch had to release a patch which somewhat went back on their changes and added a certain degree of speed to the ADS.

Similarly, I came across players on Guild Wars late last night complaining that ANet should now be dubbed "Fail-Net" (I know, I know - how do I come across these comedy whits? Where do they hide? Gosh, I couldn't imagine... under bridges, maybe?), due to their messing up of the Dervish with the new update. They were complaining that all of their old builds no longer worked and none of the new skills were half as good as the previous ones. Any argument I made against them was met with derision:

Me: "I can't see how they are worse... Avatars are permanently maintainable - have you seen Avatar of Balthazar?"
Troll: "Avatars are overrated"

Troll: "my old build doesn't work anymore - Zealous Renewal isn't the same! Its garbage. I can't maintain energy"
Me: "Ok, but you don't need as many energy management skills anymore, you have adrenaline skills to manage energy and Mysticism now reduces energy cost like Expertise. Similarly, you've got stuff like Eremite's Zeal"

Me: "Its also changed lots of skills and altered the scythe so it can't be abused by other professions"
Troll: "ANet have gimped Warriors, Rangers and Assassins - why use them now?"
Me: "Wait, so you are saying the new Dervish is better than those professions? I thought you said it was terrible?"
Troll: "Get off my bridge"

The video game is no longer an artefact stuck in its own time. It is a fluid medium and players must recognise that their game will change. It is inevitable. The real test of a player isn't "how well they shoot the gun" the record of a good player is how well they play the game - whatever that game may be. Being able to destroy people with an Intervention Sniper Rifle is a static skill - it is only indicative of your skill with the weapon and nothing more; being able to adapt to the changing climate of the game is an intrisic and fundamental advantage to the player and is a skill which you can transfer to any number of mediums.

If you want to be a good gamer; learn to adapt.

Norn Week: To the Mead Hall!

So, I've been reliably informed that Norn week is just around the corner (as in, starts Monday) - so I thought it would be worth going over the Nornish lore in preparation, much like I did for the Humans at some point last week.

The Norn are gigantic warrior people from the frozen Northern Shiverpeaks.  They value individual prowess in battle above all else, and such have little to speak of when it comes to organised society; each Norn stands relatively alone.
In terms of physical appearance, they are obviously inspired by the Nordic warriors such as the Vikings and the Normans. The men are typically broad chested, muscular and often sport manly-man beards. The women are Amazonian in stature and are equally skilled in battle. The Norn worship the spirits of the wild - choosing to focus on the strongest, bravest and wisest animals in the Shiverpeaks - as such the Norn can transform themselves into the shape of their chosen totem - either the Raven, Wolf, Snow Leopard or Bear at will to increase their ferocity in battle (as far as I'm aware; in game, a Norn will be able to transform into any of these forms and will not be restricted - but don't quote me on that!). 

Since the end of Guild Wars 1, the Norn have been ousted out of their homeland in the mountains and forced south by the arrival of the Elder Dragon Jormag. The dragon slept beneath Drakkar Lake for centuries (and if you visit there in GW1 you can see him under the ice - kinda creepy now you know who he is)**. When  Jormag emerged from his slumber he corrupted the surrounding landscape, bringing Dragonspawn of ice and snow and forcing many Norn to abandon their homes in favour of the safety of the  Southern Shiverpeaks and sometimes even further south.

During the events of GW:Eye of the North we see how Jora's brother Sanvir was corrupted by Jormag's power and turned into a half-man-half bear (half-pig) monstrosity. Eventually, Jora is forced to kill her brother to put an end to his suffering, but in the years between Sanvir's death and the events of GW2 a cult has arisen which worships the Dragon just as poor Sanvir did and is as such just as corrupted as Sanvir himself. The Son's of Sanvir threaten the Norn as much as the dragonspawn - I'm hoping we'll learn a lot more about them as Norn week progresses.

The Norn have an uneasy alliance with the Charr - through mutual respect of their militaristic abilities. Not much else is known about their allegiances, its assumed they are on reasonable terms with the other races, although I don't imagine they appreciate the arrogance of the Asura, or have much patience for the naivety of the Sylvari.

I commented on the KTR post a while back stating that it might be difficult to integrate Norn and other races' cultures in places such as Cantha and Elona when there seems to be little lore-base to do so. With this in mind, it will be interesting to see if ANet sow any of these seeds for the future in the coming week.

Overall, the Norn are a brash, confident and bloodthirsty race who can transform into a freaking bear. Who wouldn't want to play as that!? I'll be making a Norn warrior, personally - can you imagine the feeling of raw power?! I think it might actually turn me villainously mad! Muahahahahaha!

ps. I am aware that villainously isn't a word.

** 19/04/11 - it's come to my attention that the creature under Jakkar Lake isn't Jormag - it's one of his champions. Christ, that thing is huge enough, and he's just a peon!

My Top Videogame Characters

Today Eliot over at Massively posted an article asking for our favourite NPCs from Guild Wars. This got me thinking, which characters from any game have really impacted upon my life as a gamer? I've played thousands of hours-worth of games over the years - of all genres - and there are few characters which I can name which really stick with me. Ones which populate the gaming world which exists in my brain. So, after a lot of thought (and I mean a lot, this was tough!) I've compiled a list (in no particular order); some goodies, some baddies and some guys sitting on the fence:

Sonic the Hedgehog

First and foremost, Sonic is my quintessential childhood video game character. This is kind of odd because as a character in the early games he wasn't really developed that much; and whenever the developers tried to build a story around him they right royally messed it up. Perhaps this is why he was such a good character, there was very little pretense of a story (and I'm strictly talking Sonic 1 and 2 here). The gameplay was just so much fun and the little du-dummm sound when you hit a spike with no rings left sending Sonic flying out of screen with a look of hurt surprise on his face was so disappointing that I became pretty much obsessed with the guy.
One of my earliest gaming memories is unwrapping my Sega Megadrive when I was just a wee lad; sitting on the end of my parents bed and playing it (I didn't have a telly in my room, although I think it was mainly so my dad could play it whilst lounging in bed after a night shift). Apparently, I would sit with my legs hanging over the edge and physically run in mid air to try to make the little blue guy go faster on the screen. Sonic is my childhood - and he's a billion times better than Mario any day.


Cloud

Most Final Fantasy fans will cite Final Fantasy VII as the best in the series (Unless they are thick rimmed, cheque shirt wearing skinny jeaners who will insist its FFII or something. Or, oddly, if you're the Girl and you think it's FFVIII). Cloud was the silent protagonist; the deeply troubled, deeply pixelated, blonde super-soldier was my company through one of my first RPG forays. What was compelling about Cloud was that to my understanding (and I was still pretty young at this time, probably 14ish) he was a bit of a dunce, he had little understanding of girls, could do little to argue back and was at the mercy of whatever terrible things the army and Shinra had instilled into him. Yet he trudged along, uncovering deeply disturbing backstories to his past and his family. He was a trooper dammit!
At the time of playing I was quite confused about his relationship with Sephiroth, Zack and Jenova. For a long time (until a recent play through) I had thought that Jenova was somehow Cloud's Mother, and Sephiroth his brother - kinda shows how easily even I was duped by Sephiroth!
When I was playing FFVII as a child, I got incredibly caught up in the story - I was terrified of Jenova as some sort of indescribable Eldritch Horror, and equally scared of Sephiroth as a ruthless madman. Cloud was my guide through this troubling game, across immense and beautiful landscapes, and through complex relationships.


GLaDoS

Finally, I hear you say - one from after the millennium! I know, I know... and GLaDoS truly deserves to be in this list. She is the epitome of evil. Deceitful, merciless, witty, omnipotent and down right insane - she is the main antagonist of Portal.
GLaDOS stands for Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System, in the early parts of the game she acts as your guide and tester for a number of portal challenges. As the game wears on, you notice her little glitches become gradually more and more manic; you can break into back parts of the facility and see warning messages from previous testees: "The cake is a lie!" and she continuously promises you a party if you continue to follow her instructions. Ultimately, GLaDOS does invite you to the final party; where there will be cake. Unfortunately, she seems to be holding the party at the bottom of a furnace, and as you slowly descend towards a rather grisly end it becomes apparent that she isn't the friendly robot-buddy you probably never thought she was.
Without the brilliant writing and the expert voice work by Ellen McLain that the Valve team employed with GLaDOS she could have easily been just another antagonist; just another insane robot bent on destruction. Instead she becomes a lurking nightmare, constantly trying to fry you, dissolve you in acid or blow you up with missiles. She is a haunting apparition, an all seeing eye which can at once make you laugh and the next forcing you to "euthanize" your companion cube in the "emergency intelligence incinerator". She is pure evil - and she's got a lovely singing voice.

Mhenlo

With all the characters in Guild Wars, you might think it strange that I choose a henchman as my favourite character from the first game. However, Mhenlo is one of the very few characters who has been central to the plot from day 1 (except for Gwen, but who wants to choose her?). I believe that in the series he is the paragon of good: where Rurik was a bit of a douche, Kormir almost caused the Nightfall, Togo gets himself killed, Keiran has a hissy fit and Gwen's a bitch - he's always just and true, faithful and hard working (I mean, he even runs WoH in EotN; making him a decent healer!).
When I have Mhenlo with me on missions (whether as a henchmen or an NPC ally) I know I've got a decent monk at my back, even if he does lag a bit behind in Vizunah Sq.
I also sympathise with him. He's just a strapping young man in his prime, and when he travels to Cantha with Cynn he gets nothing but greif just because he has a couple of female friends.. whu-tssssh! I can't imagine what it must be like when they get back to their top floor flat at Lion's Arch - "Honey, do you think we could have drake kebobs for tea tonight?" "NO! *RODGORT'S INVOCATION!!!"*" "ok...".
I hope that when GW2 comes around, Mhenlo is suitably honoured and remembered as a constant and unfailing companion.

Dervish Update in a Flash

Its been a tiring day so I don't imagine this will post will be as enthusiastic as I hope it will be! The inside Will is all happy and excited about the new Dervish Update information, but the outside Will is lacking in energy. I need more Will-Power. Anyway, to the meat'n'bones of the piece: found preview notes to the long -awaited Guild Wars Dervish update on Kill Ten Rats earlier today:

So, ANet have released some preview notes on all the changes they have made to the Dervish profession. Its an update for which many in the Guild Wars community have been waiting for a long, long, long, long time; and looking at the notes, you can see why its taken so long (long, long long long long). The notes detail a number of mechanical changes to the Nightfall profession which ANet hope will serve to balance the Dervish and put him in a better position in melee combat (an area where almost all other professions have outclassed him before). Heres a quick run down:

• Flash Enchantments and Mysticism 

This new type of spell can be cast without a cast-time, and can be activated without stopping movement. Originally, Dervishes were hampered by the fact that they had to stop and recast their enchantments in order to be effective. With Flash Enchantments, this problem is removed. When you activate one of these newly changed skills, all other Flash Enchantments on your bar become disabled for a short time, to prevent spammage. A number of existing Dervish enchantments have been changed to Flash Enchantments. Mysticism now reduces the on-cast energy cost of Dervish enchantments, rather than giving you energy when enchantments end.  

• Adrenaline, Avatars and Melee Skills 

ANet have buffed skills which strip enchantments from the user by stipifying that the skill removes a "Dervish enchantment" - this removes the rather clunky situation where you risked removing beneficial monk enchantments when using these skills. In addition to this, some Dervish skills have been changed to require Adrenaline rather than energy to activate, and some skills have been given the ability to inflict cracked armour (Making the Dervish the only melee class that can do this). Avatars have been changed so that they are easier to maintain - Avatar of Balth now looks... awesome.


In my opinion they are the most important details distilled down into bitesize chunks. Tasty-wasty. They look mainly as if they want to do two things: increase the Dervish mobility and increase their energy management. They look super-duper awesome and I'm sure Kamadan will be cramadaned with very happy Dervishes once this goes live. Full update notes can be found here: DERVISH UPDATE PREVIEW.

ps. I realise there has been a lot of video gaming related stuff over the past week or so - I'll get back to ARG-y stuff soon! New TTA vid has just come out.. oooh!

The Reasons to be Human: Part 4

Human Armour (presumably medium armour for an adventurer)



The first two days of "Human Week" have revealed a great deal about where ANet are trying to go with the race in Guild Wars 2. I believe one of the great challenges that ANet will face when building GW2 will be making the Human race as appealing as the more innovative races out in the game. When faced with the choice between playing as a Human or a 10ft tall Bear-Norn, its tempting to say there is little contest. I believe the way that ANet are approaching this problem is rather innovative. They've recognised that, visually, it is difficult to make the Humans stand out against the Charr or the Asura; and neither can they make the other races any less striking so as to emphasise the Human's over them. What ANet have done is to emphasise the lore aspect of the Human race; they are seeking to appeal to us as Humans; as people who have played Human's in the first game and who might want to band together and help the downtrodden race of Humanity through the dark age that is Guild Wars 2.

It might be a good idea to give a quick rundown of what has happened to Humanity in the intervening years between the end of the first game and the start of the second: *WARNING - the following probably contains spoilers to both Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny*

Since the destruction of the great Destroyer at the end of GW: Eye of the North, a number of changes have occurred both physically and socially throughout Tyria. Gwen and Keiran Thackery have established Ebonhawke - a fortress in Ascalon. A number of Elder Dragons have awoken and wrecked their way through the lands, shifting boundaries and forcing races into uncomfortably close quarters (driving the Asura onto the surface, forcing the Norn down from the Northern Shiverpeaks etc).

The interior of Ascalon City following the foefire.

The Charr have all but wiped humanity out of the kingdom of Ascalon. With Charr at his gates, as a last stand, the Human king Adelbern invoked the "foefire" - a terrible magic which killed every living thing for miles around - both Charr and Human. Whilst it wiped out the invading forces, the foefire brought the inflicted Humans back to the mortal plane as ghosts to stand guard over their kingdom for eternity. Until the events of Ghosts of Ascalon, the city of Ascalon had lain deserted save for the army of phantoms which haunted its halls.

The fortress of Ebonhawke now stands as the last living Human settlement in Ascalon, in the intervening years between GW1 and GW2 it stood under seige from Charr forces. It was never broke. That is, until the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik woke in the Charr homelands, and flew North. His flight burned the Dragonbrand onto the land in its wake; tranforming land and creature into monstrous crystal reflections of their former selves. Tranformed by the Elder Dragon's magic, a clan of Ogres (already pissed off as Logan Thackery had killed one of their family), decimated the seiging Charr and stormed the fortress themselves. They broke the walls and their crystalised hyena pets tore through the Human ranks. Thackery, called to the aid of the fortress by Queen Jenna, used his influence with the Charr Blood Legion to invoke the help of the Charr prisoners in the dungeons of Ebonhawke. With the aid of the Charr prisoners, the Humans were able to repel the Ogres and retake the fortress. On the back of this victory, Queen Jenna was able to broker a peace between Humanity and Charr.



The Elder Dragon Zhaitan rising from Orr.

With the rise of the Elder Dragon Zhaitan (the main antagonist of GW2) the lost kingdom of Orr rose from the sea; along with an army of undead pirates and sea creatures. The result was the flooding and subsequent evacuation of the city of Lion's Arch (formerly the main Human settlement in GW1). It is only now that people have begun to trickle back into the city. Lion's Arch is now a haven for pirates of all races, governed under its own kind of martial law.

The final great Human settlement is Divinity's Reach in Kryta. It lies on the Divinity Coast in the province of Shaemoor. Following the decimation of Ascalon and the flooding of Lion's Arch, Divinity's Reach is now the main hub for both displaced Ascalonians and Krytans; as well as a meeting place for those who were able to get out of Cantha before it shut itself off, and those who were stuck on the Tyria side of the Elder Dragon who now cuts off Elona from the rest of the world. The lands surrounding Divinity's Reach is besieged by Centaurs and other opponents, and so is guarded by the elite guard - The Seraph - lead by Logan Thackery. Divinity's Reach is where most of the Human side of the story will be played out in Guild Wars 2, from what we've seen in the videos; it is completely stunning.

Divinity's Reach

With all this crazy-shizzno going down on the Human front, I think ANet are trying to encourage players to coralle together and defend their homelands. They've certainly tried to develop some strong characters and histories to take over from GW1 and GW:B (including the two current novels) to the new game. Interestingly, in most forum polls, the Humans don't come last in the race people are planning to play (that particular accolade tends to go the the Asura). So, it appears that ANets tactics are working. It will be interesting to see what threads the final novel in the GoA - EoD series weaves into the lore of Guild Wars 2.

Phew, thats a lot. In fact, that might be enough for today! I will give a run down of the implications of ANet's Human Week on Saturday when we've got all the info. For now, its all looking gravy-baby. I can't wait to see the new video tour of the Human lands this evening, particularly as it's all penned by Jeff Grubb.

ps. The title of this post is inspired by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. There are no Parts 1 through 3, don't go looking for them.

Human Week at ArenaNet

Today marks the first day when we'll be getting some juicy info from ANet on the Human race for GW2. Hopefully, a little later today the writer John Ryan will be revealing some of the background and ambient audio which our characters will be party to in Human cities. ANet plan to make Guild Wars 2 cities feel like living, breathing places; rather than the static and ostensibly dead places they are in most games.

In other Guild Wars related shinanigans; I reached Legendary Cartographer over the weekend! Turns out I was scraping around the edges of the Elonian map to reveal as much as possible, I got within 0.5% of 100% before going to my ace in the hole - the Dynastic Tombs. I knew I'd never been there and I was hoping it would be able to chomp off the last .5%. Turns out the Tombs are worth 1.8% and I could have completed the title last week...

Having achieved Legendary Cartographer, that puts me at 26/30 titles maximised. I'll hopefully be maxing out my Luxon Allegiance title later this week (9.92m/10m), putting me at 27. From then on its consumable titles all the way: Sweet tooth, Party Animal and Drunkard. Its not going to be easy as I don't have a lot of money and the Sweet tooth title alone (if I bought it all right now) would cost me 750 000g. So, got any spare sweets for a poor toothless lad?


Other than Guild Wars'ing; I've been working my way through the DC Universe Online world. I'm having quite a lot of fun with it, but I'm not sure I'll play past the free month - I'll be discussing my reasons for this in a blog post later in the week. In the meantime, if you have a villain on the Absolute Power server, feel free to add me and we'll hunt some Heroes together. My character name is Stormenghast.

Distilling January: A Review

I've taken inspiration from tagn.wordpress.com and I decided to take a look at what happened in my newly emerging blog over the course of the past month.

 Verydistilled has become a bit of an obsession of mine since I started in November last year, you'll notice I try to post daily on weekdays and stay in contact over Twitter most of the rest of the time.

My topics of conversation through Jan have ranged from creating evil penguin-eating monsters in LBP to attempting to murder my friends over New Year. I've read some really interesting articles over the past few weeks, from the heroism of Twitter defending its clients, tonnes of predictions for 2011 games and even some lore stuff for GW2 (yay for giant polar bear warriors!). Considered buying DC Universe Online; decided against it, bought LBP2.

The most popular posts for January 2011 were as follows:

1. Vanessa Atalanta Trilogy - Puppetmaster Interview
2. Guest Post: The Experience of Evil by time2pwnu
3. The Looking Glass Club
4. Waiting for my Blue Mace Lady
5. Marble Hornets Entry #33

Congrats to time2pwnu - in the short time its been up, his guest post has shot to near the top of my reader list. Nice one :D.

Top 10 Search Terms for January 2011

1. blue mace lady
2. marble hornets 33
3. "robert monroe" xkcd sickness
4. appleofoureye
5. everymanhybrid
6. inception ambiguity
7. marble hornets unfiction
8. segst
9. "an amphibious mammal swims in this sea"
10. "apple of our eye" slender man

Special mention to the person who found their way to my blog via the search term: little naked nude blogspot. Kudos horny midget blogspot adventurer - you are a king among men.

Video gaming wise my time has been split as follows:

50% Black Ops

25% Guild Wars

25% Little Big Planet 2

Black Ops: I'm now about halfway through my 5th prestige - not amazing by the real hardcore gamers' standards, but impressive for me, I think! I'd rate myself as semi-decent. Usually going positive when it comes to K/D ratio once the game ends (my overall K/D is currently 1.22). Each time I prestige I keep trying to use different guns, but inevitably I always end up falling back on the FAMAS - its a complete beast and I love it.

Guild Wars: I've been striving to finish the Elonian cartographer title by exploring the continent of Elona in its entirety (and so get Legendary cartographer by gaining the equivalent title for all continents), and also max my Luxon Allegiance title through grinding out some Alliance Battles and Jade Quarry after Jade Quarry battles. All the while, I've been chugging booze like there's no tomorrow - I will have GWAMM by the time GW2 is released!

Little Big Planet 2: Only recently got it, but if you've been reading my posts and following me on Twitter you'll know how much I've been enjoying this game. I think I'm on the final few levels now and its getting tough, I've heard the final boss is a complete bitch so I'm looking forward to that. I'll be making a level fairly soon, the Girl asked if I would make one on the subject of "how much I love her" - so she'll probably be eaten by Gobbler's mother. Who knows?

ARG-wise, the first part of my month was filled with 15 Days of Darkness stuff (what with the OOG discussion going on the 4th of Jan), subsequent to this we've got some interesting stuff happening in Marble Hornets and also some real developments from the smaller YouTube stories out there (such as Experience of Evil and Dark Harvest). Other games worthy of a mention:

Missing Wallace - brilliant story in this, uF poster Thunderwolf has just come in and blown the whole game apart, so its well worth getting involved if you fancy it.

The Wrach - interesting story, cryptic and twisting. Worth getting into if you've got the conviction.

Interesting blogs I've come across over the month:

Brit Chick Runs - Healthy living and running blog from a horse-mad oatmeal hoarder, lots of fun.

L'Épée Magique - RPG enthusiast and Dragon Age: Origins player. Debates tea and elvish custom.

Video Games Blogger - up to date gaming news, crashes when I load it at work - update IE systems admin! Curse you. 

Kill Ten Rats - MMORPG news, including lots of Guild Wars stuff. Love it.

So, its been an interesting month overall. Expect more stuff from Feb - notably, Guild Wars updates, Marble Hornets shenanigans, Black Ops pwnage, fluff, stuff, waffle and banter.

The Guardian and other News

Over the past week the Guild Wars Universe has been buzzing due to the lead up and subsequent release of the Guardian profession. There are no end of articles summarising the Guardian's role in Guild Wars 2, so I shan't dwell on it for too long: the Guardian is a Soldier class (and so uses Heavy Armour - that's right, armour with a U), he has three inherent buffs; which he can release at any time to benefit his compadres, he can create magical barriers and wards to protect his allies and keep his foes at bay.

I think that's a fairly succinct summary. Now, what I want to talk about is actually using the Guardian.
One of the most exciting things which come out of a persistent game world is the emergent situations which arise. The guys at ANet have tried building this into the game through their "dynamic events" system; wherein traditional quests are done away with and you pick up tasks in the area as they emerge. A number of these dynamic events described by ANet workers have been "protect this town" or "escort this caravan", this is, I believe, where the Guardian will shine and (to a certain extent) outshine other professions. Whereas a ranger might encounter a group of merchants in attack from a group of ettins and attempt to distract and kill the enemies before the merchants get splattered; the Guardian can run up and plop a shield around the men and then begin fighting off the ugly brutes. Similarly, say you encounter another player pursued by Centaur archers, you can save the day by pooping out a barrier to deflect the missiles back at the attackers. This might seem overpowered at first, and even very "monk-y", which would seem to contradict what the dudes over at ArenaNet have been saying about doing away with the Holy Trinity; however, Ravious at KillTenRats points out:

In an aggressive interview with Jon Peters, one of the Guild Wars 2 game designers, OnlineWelten asked about the use of guardian skills targeting allies. Peters said that there are no ally targeted skills in Guild Wars 2. No ally targeted skills. That bears repeating. That may be the “flash of genius” that changes the MMO industry. They are making systems so people play together more seamlessly and simultaneously taking away the mortar that has held together all other groups in prior conventional MMOs. There should be no reasonable doubt that the holy trinity is dead in Guild Wars 2. Another big effect is that almost all of the attention by players will be on the battlefield instead of party UI.

I had missed this comment and really should go back and reread this interview. This is the best news I have heard yet with regards to this profession. The flame-train was a rollin' when it was first released, the name "Paladin" was tossed about a lot and people feared they would become a necessity in a team, and most players would refuse to leave town without one. What this emphasises to me if the importance of positioning and environment with the Guardian; not just the infamous "red barring" (where the monk would just react to the red bar of player health dropping, rather than playing smart and protecting the player in a more active manner). Where you choose to stand and enact your skills will have a great impact on your and your allies well being. I can see the Guardian being a whole lot of fun to play solo (perhaps searching the countryside for people to save, damsels in distress etc) and in especially fun in groups. Hopefully, this approach will breed clever gaming. Either that, all the wammo Paladin fans will play Warrior...

I am looking forward to the next few months on Guild Wars, I've got my predictions for the remaining profession releases all set up, this is how I see the final line up playing out (unreleased and unconfirmed professions in italics):

Soldier Professions
Warrior
Guardian

Adventurer Professions
Ranger
Assassin
Gunner/Engineer - this is the only one I'm unsure about, but I'm hoping for something of this ilk

Scholar Professions
Elementalist
Necromancer
Mesmer

In GW1 info; Canthan New Year is coming up this weekend. Even more of a chance for me to stock up on sweets, booze and party items for when I finally finish Cartographer and have to focus on the consumable titles. If you catch me in the gutter, stoked up on wed bean cakes, twitching and consuming gallons of sugary blue drink - don't worry, I'm just trying to max Sweet Tooth.
It kind of feels like the new expansion; Cantha: Winds of Change, must be just around the corner.

With this and with the 7-hero update coming soon, I'm squeeing with pleasure. Literally squeeing all over the place, all up the walls and down the back of the sofa. I am squee-fountain.


ps. also some juicy info on the Sylvari from the lovely Ree Soesby. Yum...
pps. that yum is for the Sylvari info.
ppps. ok, maybe its a little for Ree.

The Kodan and Guild Wars Artwork

I've been following the GW2 Twitter for a couple of weeks now and today it popped up with an update letting me know of a new blog post on the ArenaNet blog: http://www.arena.net/blog/the-wisdom-and-power-of-the-kodan. The post concerns the non-playable race of the Kodan in Guild Wars 2. Now, in a time when most of the GW community is clamoring for any information regarding the upcoming game - a whole blog post on a NPC race seems to suggest that the Kodan will play an integral role in the story of GW2 and probably more specifically, the lore of the playable race; Norn. 

 I came across the Kodan a few months ago whilst browsing through the Guild Wars 2 wiki, and I was immediately intrigued. Up until that point I had not heard even a sniff about them, and considering I've been playing the game for upwards of 5 years now and have read just about all there is to read regarding lore and literature on the game, I found them fascinating. This new blog post has only strengthened my curiousity, The Kodan are not at all what I expected them to be.

From the pictures I have seen up until now I characterised them similar to the Norn - as a proud warrior race, much more barbaric than the spiritual and altogether more conservative group that they have turned out to be. Instead they are arbitors of balance in nature, and ruthless in the protection of that balance. Far more calculated and mystical than I had imagined. Thats not to say they aren't awesome, who wouldn't love a 10ft tall polar bear wielding a sword?

I won't go into too much detail about what is revealed in the blog post - if you'd like to read about them then click the link at the top. What I will say, however, is that this new post is a brilliant example of the incredibly high standard of art that the Guild Wars 2 team is producing at a breakneck speed. The level of skill required is just immense, and their talent has not gone unnoticed, several of their artists winning a number of prestigious awards.
Finally, I'd like to congratulate the Guild Wars team on their mopping up of the competition in the recent end of year awards. Again, full details of the awards the team managed to take away can be found on the ANet blog here: http://www.arena.net/blog/fans-support-arenanet-in-year-end-awards

ArenaNet Retrospective Trailer - Oh, freakin', baby...

Ooooh baby... you need to watch this. My fanboy gland is squelching out juices at a previously unheard of rate.

I think its admirable the work that goes into making a decent community around the Guild Wars franchise. Whatever people may say about the guys over there, they work really really hard to listen to all of our suggestions and to provide top quality content on the back of them.

Also - anyone else think that Ree Soesby is disturbingly hot when shes pretending to tear someone's head off?

ANet Blog is the best place to keep up with GW2 news: link to the article on this here.

Guild Wars: Wintersday 2010

Ah look, its the non-denominational secular holiday man! Here he comes in his generic multi-faith red suit, with his non-threatening possibly Sikh inspired white beard. He's come to hand out inoffensive non-specific winter-themed gifts! Hooray! Merry Christma... I mean, Yay for Wintersday!

Guild Wars' Christmas is always an amusing time, ANet try so hard to please everyone that you get odd uncanny valley Christmas cliches cropping up left right and centre: Elder Skruug, Grenches, Jingle Bears etc etc. Far from finding this attempt to side-step the normal PC problems galling, I actually find it quite quaint, perhaps its my rose-tinted view of the GW universe.

Looking forward to Christmas this year - in and out of game - in Guild Wars they are bringing Melandru (Goddess of Nature) and Balthazar (God of War) into the mix to join Grenth (God of Death) and Dwayna (Goddess of Life) in the Wintersday celebrations. Unfortunately, I'm missing the finale which takes place over New Year, as I'll be up in the Lake District - my friends parents own a hotel up there and its a great place for a New Year's Eve party!

In the real world, it's mine and the Mrs' first Christmas outside of our family nests and although it will be a little weird, I can't wait! Our tree is up, I've made mulled wine, wrapped the presents and spent all my savings (my girlfriend had the excellent idea to be born JUST after Christmas, meaning I have to buy her presents x2). So, its going to be a scant Christmas, what with the monetary constraints, but we'll have fun, I'm sure! To top this off, we got Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood the other day, shes dead into it; even to the point where if she can't find her glasses she will sit inches away from the telly, see below:

Living with Yourself

I've broached this subject with a number of coworkers and friends and a lot of them seem to come back with completely the opposite response to the one which I would give; do you like spending time alone? I relish the chance to spend some alone time just quietly getting stuff done or relaxing. However, some people say that they outright cannot stand their own company, that there is something fundamentally annoying about themselves which means they'd rather blank themselves out with the company of other people. So, I thought I'd post the top 5 tips for spending time alone:

1) Mentally plan your day. I find that if I don't give myself tasks to do then I will probably spend the whole day melting further and further into the sofa - sure, I'd get a lot of headshots, but would I get stuff done? Hell naw. When I know I have a day of leave coming up I set up a little timetable in my brain: 9-10 get up, breakfast, eat cocopops in front of the news, 10-11 do the washing/dishes, 11-12 dance around in my pants... etc.

Note: that's not to say that you shouldn't set aside time to unwind and chill out. Time to get your head around what is going on and just sit and scratch yourself is very important. Having time alone is just as much about relaxing as it is about getting the dishes done.

2) Get "out there". When you've got extended time alone, one of the obvious problems is loneliness, one of the easiest ways to combat this is the engage in some online networking. One of the great things about meeting people online is that you can have social interaction in tasty little bitesize pieces. Start a blog, get on twitter, play a MMORPG, join a forum - whatever takes your fancy. The beautiful thing about the internet is that each of these little facets of society interlink, the more you post in a forum the more you meet likeminded people, maybe you find them on Twitter and you sign up, you follow a few interesting people and in turn are followed by others, in time you will stumble over their blogs and maybe start one yourself. For me this is fascinating, its social interaction at the very basic and pure level, relatively little geographical or aesthetic restrictions, just plug in and go.

Note: that is not to say you should rely on the internet 100% for social interaction, there is no full substitute for human interaction. So, by "get out there" I also mean, go down the shops, go to Twitter organised events, attend Flashmobs, do some Geocaching etc etc. 

3) Be childish. You are alone, do whatever the hell you want - if you'd like ot take your clothes off and dance around your flat to Miley Cyrus then go ahead and do it, you crazy diamond. Go and watch Spongebob Squarepants, you'll enjoy it. As adults we rarely get a chance to revisit the world in which we existed as kids, I believe that to have a healthy mind you have to embrace your inner kid. So, put on your furriest slippers, watch Alladin - its awesome. There is no-one around to judge you.

Note: don't do a MJ. You don't have the space to look after a fully grown chimp.

4) Don't watch the clock. Although I've said that you should have a plan for the day, I don't believe its good to watch the clock for every second. If your favourite TV show isn't on until 5, dont sit down at 4 and wait, go and do something else for a bit - set an alarm for 5, and if you find an interesting enough activity then you probably won't notice the hour fly by.

Note: I am incredibly bad for this. Like now, I've had to write this post as I'm alone in the office and I'm watching the clock every 5 minutes hoping that 12:30 will come around and I can go for my lunch. *Check again* Damn 12:08.

5) Don't be afraid to mentally (and sometimes, physically) slap yourself. One of the biggest traps which I often fall into when alone is that there is noone around to tell me that I am being silly. Typical train of thought: "Hmm... I should make lunch... wish someone else would do it... WHY AM I SO ALONE?!". You need to be able to go "Oi, stop that. Get a grip", otherwise you won't survive past the first few days. Be realistic about your circumstances, but also be realistic about what you do have. Take an honest stock of who and what exists in your life and its likely you will see that there is more than you think.

Note: having a strong online community to go to for advice can help with finding perspective when no-one else is around.

The experience project has some interesting tips from anonymous people on spending time alone, check it out here: Experience project.

*Checks again*
12:10, Dammit!

Ghosts of Ascalon

In yet another tangent, I'd like to give a short review on a book I've just read: "Ghosts of Ascalon" by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb.

Its a book which I have had mixed feelings about right from the start - for reasons as follows. I love fantasy hack and slash literature - dragons, swords, spells, bows, elves, orcs and goblins and all that. Its great. I am convinced that I would be far better off if society crumbled and I was left with nothing but a makeshift bow and arrow constructed from my guitar strings and the bendy bit of plastic which holds my telly together. I also love Guild Wars, and am eagerly awaiting Guild Wars 2. On the other hand, I am deeply deeply ashamed of my geekiness. I think only my girlfriend truly knows how deep the nerd-hole goes, and I work very hard to keep it that way.

With that in mind, a fantasy fiction novel bridging the gap between the game I love and its sequal is something which I lust after and fear in equal measure.

Having finished the book, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am a huge GW fan and there were so many moments when I could go "LOL I KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN!" and clap enthusiastically like Stewie does when they say the name of the film in the film. The book does a great job of reconciling the tensions between the two major enemies in GW1 - the charr and the humans. Both sides are seen in a light which the first game just doesn't quite capture (primarily because you see everything from the view of a human, in the book you see the dark side of the human empire and the very human side of the charr legions). And has so many twists and turns you really get to feel for the characters.

Another nice thing is that the writers don't fanny around with undue description and flowerly language. There are no Tolkeinesque passages of "and then they sang the song they always sing, when they did the dishes" bloody Tom-Freaking-Bombadill, man, never even got halfway through that book. GoA really just gets stuck in from page one.

What is one of the greatest assets of the book, unforunately could also be seen as a criticism. Sometimes events can seem rushed, as if they are only there to fill the space between the beginning, middle and end. Perhaps, to slip in a character who might induce squeeing amongst GW fans such as myself.

However, on the whole I enjoyed it. I got a bit worried when I was 10 pages from the end and all seemed to be lost - I could see a very bleak start to GW2 when it comes out next year *fingers crossed*, but the writers Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb did a great job of really rounding it all off nicely. It guaranteed that I will be literally gnawing at my desk in about 6 months squeeing myself into oblivion about the prospect of playing GW2.