Guild Wars 2 – Grinding on Champions

Kaetlin Stormcaller
Kaetlin Stormcaller

Guild Wars 2 was developed with new ideas like eliminating the Holy Trinity, no backtracking to quest givers, everybody is a healer and so forth. But one thing they haven’t eliminated is “Grinding”. By Grinding I mean repetitive game play that is the most efficient way to move forward in the game.

I’ve played 6 characters from level 1 to level 40’s and recently started one – an Elementalist. When I reached level 17, I wanted to level to 20 to wear armor that I’d crafted so it seemed that Grinding Champions in Queensdale was the most efficient way to level quickly. I kept track of the progress and here are those results.

This is not a complete description of champion grinding in Queensdale. The GW2 forums or wiki will provide better descriptions. It’s an overview of what’s required to level in this way, with examples and my observations about how GW2 really does seem to include a lot of Grinding. Continue reading “Guild Wars 2 – Grinding on Champions”

Guild Wars 2 – Disadvantages Low Level Players

Asura Mesmer
Asura Mesmer

Guild Wars 2 is hard to play. Compared with World of Warcraft, or Tera, both of which I love and do not complain about.

The reason appears to be that ArenaNet is designing the game for the end-game players. For example, the recent update notes stated that they have upped the health of the champions [bosses] and reduced the time required to kill them. These are the events that show up in all areas, including low level areas and that you can do once per day, per account to get mid level loot and exp.

I think the problem is that the “Down-leveling” math is not fair and they are compensating in other parts of the game rather than fixing “Down-leveling”.

The ArenaNet folks are not happy with any criticism on their forums, so I need to post this here. Continue reading “Guild Wars 2 – Disadvantages Low Level Players”

Guild Wars 2 – It’s all about the hacks

Rant – It’s still all about some hack or other

Arrrrggg
Arrrrggg

I played GW1 for 2 years. All my 9 toons [of all classes] have done Ring of Fire. So I’m not saying that I’m the coolest player, but I have some chops.

So here’s my Rant.

With Arenanet, it’s not about careful design, it’s all about the hack.
They may think they are doing careful design. But by hiding that design and making it non-obvious, it’s really all about the hack that we eventually discover and document.

BTW: By hack I do not mean any exploit of the game. I mean an obscure play style, or path that allows you to solve a game problem. A solution that is totally legal and in keeping with the terms of service of the game, but is so obscure that you are not likely to find it without help.

Continue reading “Guild Wars 2 – It’s all about the hacks”

Be a Superhero

Defender - Champions Online
Defender – Champions Online

So you want to be a Super Hero? Well there are a few choices out there. Here are three, and my choice for Best of Breed. All these are Free to Play, so you can easily try them all.

Marvel Heroes is of course based on the Marvel Universe. But I’d give it a pass. It’s a pretty game, but only 2.5 D [Dimensions] in this age of 3 Dimensions.

DC Universe Online is a very pretty 3D game and is a very good choice. But it has a complicated overloaded control scheme that I didn’t like.

Champions Online is a full 3D experience in a new Superhero world. Cell shaded, with Roll-Your-Own heroes and Costumes, it’s a great game if you want to be social, or if you don’t. Brought to you by Cryptic Studios which is owned now by Perfect World. Continue reading “Be a Superhero”

Battle Chair Update

Battle Chair
Battle Chair

I’ve made some changes to the battle chair.

The system is now a Core i7-2600, 16GB, GTX 560i system in a Thermaltake A90 case.

For a while the monitor was an Acer 20″ 1600×900, but now it’s moved up to a Samsung S22A460 21.5″ 1920×1080 monitor.

Much nicer monitor and a faster system in a nicer case.

The monitor is very sharp and bright -It’s turned way down – and very affordable at about $190.

An upgrade to GTX 760 ti is planned when those cards are available.

Also you will notice the Logitech C510 Webcam stuck to the top of the monitor.

 

Continue reading “Battle Chair Update”

Tera – Free to Play and Fun to Play

Tera is an MMO that has recently gone Free to Play.

TERA-logo

Castani Berzerker
Castani Berzerker

In many ways Tera is World of Warcraft done right. Or at least, updated to take advantage of new graphics. Due to it’s long history, Wow is beginning to look dated and cartoonish. Tera looks much better, and I don’t just mean the sexy characters and armor. Yes, this is my sexy plate armor. I’m a level 15 Berzerker – Axe wielding damage dealer. It is surprising that the armor begins to look so good at a low level. Wow makes you wait until level 70 before the armor begins to look unified and reasonable, but Tera armor looks good from the start and for all the classes begins to look really good at level 11, when you fly off to Velika – the capital city to join the Federation, and get your mount. From the start of our journey, the compass, mini-map and quest lines lead you on your missions and never leave you stuck for the next task. No need for an add-on or guide to lead you on your way.

Continue reading “Tera – Free to Play and Fun to Play”

Wow – Zen Masters in Professions

Hemomage closeup
Hemomage closeup

We have all become Zen Masters – 500 – in our professions now. And we have all worked together to make some high level cloth and mail armor. Cloth armor is the most important since those of us who wear cloth depend on it to keep us safe from attacks. When we go to Pandaria soon, this will be very important for our safety.

Margrog, our Zen Master blacksmith, has made powerful plate armor and weapons for himself and Adamithus, our paladin brother.

Cloth and Mail armor was time consuming to build since it requires some exotic materials. Stormvein had to train in tailoring to level 525, and the patterns cost 10 Embersilk cloth bolts each. Each bolt is 5 Embersilk cloth. To there are many hours of farming in Deepholm to get the cloth to purchase the patterns and make the armor for two of us. Stormvein has the most powerful demon helper, so he will be the last to get his armor.

Candravia had to train to high levels and we provided her with Savage Leather and Blackened Dragonscale for mail armor for Kweezlix. She already has powerful armor from her quests in Pandaria. Continue reading “Wow – Zen Masters in Professions”

Wow – Industrial Crafting – Frostweave Bags

On the Square in Dalaran
On the Square in Dalaran

Here I am in Dalaran. Here is a larger view.

Now that I’ve reached level 350 in Enchanting, I thought I’d summarize how are are all going to work together to make 20 slot Frostweave Bags for everyone. This is a pretty big deal. Bags are very important to store our equipment and loot, and each of us needs as much storage as possible to store our junk. When we all started, our Tailor, Stormvein, leveled first and was able to make us 16 slot Netherweave bags. Netherweave bags are easy to make and Netherweave is quite plentiful for characters at level 60-70, so the first ones of us who leveled that far supplied Netherweave for the rest of us to have bags. For 10 of us, at 11 bags each, we need a total of 110 bags. Quite a lot.

Now that Stormvein is a more accomplished tailor, we would all like 20 slot Frostweave bags. But we all have to work together to make them.

Continue reading “Wow – Industrial Crafting – Frostweave Bags”

Wow – So you want to be an Enchanter?

Learning Enchanting in Dalaran
Learning Enchanting in Dalaran

So you want to be an Enchanter?

Enchanters place magical properties on armor and weapons to enhance them. But learning the skill is unlike any of the other professions in Wow. Other professions fall into two categories: Gathering, Creating. Gathering professions are like skinning, mining or herb gathering in that you progress through the world doing your skill and as you do, you achieve more proficiency at that skill – you level up your profession.

Creating professions like Leatherworking, or Tailoring or Blacksmithing use the products of gathering professions and then make things. As you progress in skill you make more complicated things using higher level materials. Creation professions each come with their own Gathering profession, except for Tailoring, since the cloth is just dropped by creatures killed in the world.

But Enchanting is different in several ways, some of them frustrating.

Continue reading “Wow – So you want to be an Enchanter?”

Wow – Happy Feast of Winter Veil

Thalmatos with Ramkahen tabard
Thalmatos with Ramkahen tabard

Greetings from Azeroth and happy Feast of Winter Veil, which is our winter holiday celebrations. Many things have happened to me and my siblings since the last time I wrote you. As the elder Death Knight brother, I often break ground in new areas ahead of other members of our family. Several of us have progressed to level 85, or are almost at that level. It has been a long hard struggle against challenging foes, but we have helped each other with equipment, crafted materials and funds. One of us has even visited the new continent of Pandaria, although she finds it very challenging, but more on that from Candravia later in our note.

There have been minor accomplishments too, such as Thalmatos and Candravia helping some of the others with farming for materials to increase their First Aid crafting skills. At higher levels, first aid can be a real benefit for many classes since it allows quick recovery from battle damage.

Currently I’m working in the desert of Uldum helping the cause of the Ramkahen. Not only do they have nice gear as rewards for my efforts, but they sell a camel mount which I will get when I reach Exalted with their faction.

Continue reading “Wow – Happy Feast of Winter Veil”