Saturday, March 31, 2012

Diablo 3 beta: Rune system screenshots

Runes are a feature added in the last beta patch that allow you to tweak or adjust basic skills to make your character a little less one dimensional.

My level 6 Barbarian just unlocked these. Along with a new skills system screen and menu the Rune system has a totally new look and layout.




Friday, March 30, 2012

Second Skin is a mockumentary

I recently watched Second Skin, a documentary about people that play MMORPG’s. This film had been in production quite a while and was flip flopping around as to when it would be released. The primary amount of footage is from 2006 when Burning Crusade was released. You can watch the whole thing on Hulu, but I am not so sure you want to.

Directed by Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza the film immediately takes a turn for the worse when it decides to focus on how these games pretty much destroy or ruin a person’s life rather than focus on the games and the gamers themselves. What we have here is a film that takes the very stereotypes that we as MMO gamers battle to shrug off and pushes them out to the audience and makes many of us almost ashamed to be playing MMO’s.

The film doesn’t cover the industry, it doesn’t cover what the games involve, the way people interact in them or how much fun they can be. Instead the film plucks every stereotype of gamer there is (only the worst ones mind you) and then paints all of us gamers in a terribly bad light.

Lets take a look at the type of gamers featured in Second Skin and rattle off a who is who list of what other people believe MMO players to be like:

* *Lets see… take introverted lady that only finds love on internet in a game and probably owns 8 cats : check

* *Fat dudes that do nothing but guzzle energy drinks and power level: check

* *Dude that loses job cause of gaming: check. As a bonus lets have him in a run down house with no carpet and a friend that looks like a meth addict: BONUS CHECK

* *Creepy guy that preys on women through MMO’s and nerd flirts with them over voice chat: check

* *Interview mother who parented so poorly kid shot himself. Then show her trying to help other evil gamers and failing OH NOES!: check

* *Take couple with soon to be dad that doesn’t want to relinquish gaming time to parent: check

* *Coverage of gamers that live together and forget to buy basic household items, but lets cover them at a grocery store stocking up to power level in WoW the night before expansion comes out: check

What other gamer stereotype did they miss? I am pretty sure they covered them all. Yup, that’s all of us alright! Although I am sure every MMO player has run into those types and that most games do have a ton of those types of people playing, the film does nothing to go out of its way to show them in a good light. The only truly feel good story in the mix is the handicapped gentleman that is just happy to be able to play and gets a sense of freedom when he does so. Thank you for at least shedding light on one positive thing gaming can do to people.

Then when they DO COVER something that is controversial such as gold farming it is glossed over. Wait though, they do interview a gold farming company head. Guess what! This is a kinder, gentler gold farming company and he wants to treat his slave labor employees with respect and take them on field trips and have love ins! Wow, maybe gold farming isn’t that bad after all. Hell, I’ll go work for him according to what I saw in that film. Doesn’t look so bad to me!

Second Skin is pretty biased toward portraying MMO players as the utmost losers they could possibly find. All that time for this? Are you kidding me? Of all the 50 million gamers out there these people are the best you could find? One guy wouldn’t even keep toilet paper stocked in the house or go get any when his lady friend was calling him FROM the bathroom. Nope, gotta raid! Trust me, even though 90% of my WoW guilds and EQ1 guilds have at least one of those people, we usually find them few and far between. To quote another friend of mine that watched the “film”:

Looking at the stereotypes they portrayed reminds me of the Dark Ages… err… the 70’s and 80’s… when AD&D got such a bad rap for being evil. I used to save the news clippings to share with my groups. The typical story was of a dude that killed someone (or multiples) and/or committed suicide, and how police found “Dungeons and Dragons material in his house.

Although there are a lot of gamers that fit some of the stereotypes in the film, there’s also a lot of us who don’t. We have jobs, families, stocked shelves, toilet paper, RL friends, other hobbies, etc… and also play MMORPGs. I’d like to see a follow-up story about some of us.

After watching Second Skin I felt dirty and ashamed. I did not feel the film did anything but set all of us gamers back 10 years in how we are portrayed. South park was bad enough, but we all took that one on the chin. This movie is an hour long exploration into a bunch of idiots that are not able to function in real life.

Now, if you all want something better head on over and check out the Discovery Channel HD’s fine mini series about gamers, games and how the effect lives and the economy. This show is called Gamer Generation and you can catch some episodes on You Tube.

The stigma of World of Warcraft: Just because it is popular does not mean it sucks

Saw this comment on a blog today:

Are there MMOs out there for people who still enjoy exploration, finding things out on their own and gearing up as it happens, not as other people think is right? I’d jump right into that.
My response?

What rock have you been hiding under?

I love people that refuse to play WoW because it is popular and popular is “NOT COOL” right now.

Your loss. You can keep flailing around in FAIL MMO’s or give in and try it out. At any rate, you won’t find a more complete and well structured game for the money on the market right now. I am not a Blizzard fanboy but lets face facts. Champions Online and LOTRO and other MMO’s don’t keep having free weekends because they are doing well.

Progression in WoW for the casual player:

Get level 1-83 (solo if you want its easy)

Run the new dungeon put in specifically to get people caught up in gear.

Use the innovative LFG or LFR system which no other MMO has.

Alternatively (but stupid) PVP using the Q and get experience that way. 

Group until your eyes bleed since 11 million people play its easy to find groups

Gear up

Done? Do dailies at a casual pace and get purple gear after about 2 weeks of logging in one hour a night and making a ton of gold in the process.

Find casual guild in the Gazillions of Casual guilds out there and raid 10 man dungeons at your own pace

Finished. You won’t see that in Aion. Trust me.

War Realm campaign kick off

So this weekend, after initial moves have been made on the campaign map, the gaming club that I have been in since the dawn of time is kicking off its first Warhammer Fantasy campaign. Many attempts have been made to do this. Many have failed. However this time we are actually pulling this off thanks to the dedication and organization of club members that have stuck with the game no matter what. What started off as a predominantly 40k club has watched as that game got bastardized and slowly made a almost complete transition to Warhammer Fantasy.

So with this campaign and the amount of modeling time I did to get a 2K list complete in about 3 weeks, I need to learn the rules fast and get the sticky aspects down. The main thing that still gives me issues are all the cavalry rules and how they move and wheel. Cavalry also can be Fast, Vanguard, Scout and Monstrous.

That is a ton of rules and requires you to know your army book front and back. So today I plan on hitting up a few message boards and posting some really dumbass questions out there in the hopes of clearing up rules questions I have. In the first turn of the campaign I have carefully plotted to avoid conflict at all this upcoming Sunday. If it means I do not play so be it. That gives me extra time to model and even start painting. Just FYI I do miss my Ogre army. I was very ticked off when I stopped playing and then months later a new book came out. Expect to possibly see me take the reigns of that army again. My primary goals are: Tomb Kings (and paint them) and as a side project Empire then Ogres later in the year. Our campaign map is shown below.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

New Warhammer Empire Army 8th Edition pics and prices

Per Ben Curry over at the Bad Dice Podcast we have some retweets of the new White Dwarf featuring the new Empire models

Take a gander and prepare to hold onto your seats the new War Altar is AWESOME:













VIA Bell of Lost Souls (who finally have actual Fantasy news on their site)
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/03/breaking-empire-april-releases.html

ProductContentsPriceMaterial
Warhammer: The Empire96pp Color Hardcover Army Book$41.25Paper
Empire Reiksguard Knights/ Knightly Orders 8 minis$35.00Plastic
Empire Archers / Huntsmen10 minis$24.75Plastic
Karl Franz, on Deathclaw1 mini$53.75Plastic
Empire Celestial Hurricanum / Luminark of Hysh1 mini$49.50Plastic
Empire Demigryph Knights3 minis$54.50Plastic
Captain of the Empire1 mini$13.25Plastic
Empire Master Engineer1 mini$13.25Plastic
Volkmar the Grim on The War Altar of Sigmar1 mini$49.50Plastic
Empire Witch Hunter1 mini$16.50Finecast
Markus Wolfhart1 mini$16.50Finecast
Empire Warrior Priest1 mini$16.50Finecast
Balthasar Gelt, the Supreme Patriarch1 mini$41.25Finecast
Captain of the Empire - Great Weapon1 mini$16.50Finecast
Captain of the Empire - Gory Blade1 mini$16.50Finecast
Captain of the Empire - Sword & Shield1 mini$16.50Finecast
Marius Leitdorf1 mini$41.25Finecast
Empire Master Engineer on Mechanical Steed1 mini$41.25Finecast
Empire Grand Master of the Blazing Suns1 mini$29.75Finecast
Empire Grand Master of the Knights Panther1 mini$29.75Finecast
Empire Grand Master of the White Wolf1 mini$29.75Finecast
Empire Battle Standard Bearer - Griffon Banner1 mini$24.75Finecast
Empire Master Engineer - Hockland Long Rifle1 mini$16.50Finecast
Empire Master Engineer - Repeater Pistol1 mini$16.50Finecast
Empire Master Engineer - Repeater Handgun1 mini$16.50Finecast
Empire Warrior Priest - Two Hand Weapons1 mini$16.50Finecast
Empire Warrior Priest - Great Weapon1 mini$16.50Finecast
Empire Warrior Priest - Hand Weapon and Shield1 mini$16.50Finecast
Halfling Hot Pot Catapult1 mini$29.75Finecast
Luthor Huss, Prophet of Sigmar1 mini$29.75Finecast
Heroes of the Empire - Valten3 minis$66.00Finecast
How to Paint Citadel Miniatures136pp Ringbound, Hardcover Book$49.50Paper

Monday, March 26, 2012

Empire Army teaser trailer on YouTube

GW has released a all narrative teaser trailer for the upcoming Empire Army Book and new models in the Warhammer Fantasy line

April White Dwarf unveils Empire with:
-War Altar kit at last
-Karl Franz/wizard atop a double-headed Gryphon
-New Knightly Orders

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Chaos Dwarves: illegal

Is it me or are Chaos Dwarves an illegal unsanctioned army? Until there is a book I don't fathom the fascination. Armies like that and ones like Nippon or Amazons just don't fit the standard mold. Much like Squats in Warhammer 40k their time has come and gone. Until GW sees fit to give them the real treatment they will be a fad and illegal list to me.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Army List entry summaries for Army Books: How to read them

For a new player to Warhammer Fantasy the unit entry section of an army book can be confusing. Also if you are using a non hard cover book like the shiny new 8th Edition armies get there is not a nice neat summary page in the book like I have in the Tomb Kings book. I have posted a picture below for reference should anyone need to know how to read the entry section.

Due to the evil masters at the Games Workshop slave compound I have blurred out the stats on the warriors so that I dont get a lawyer driven cease and desist notice on my blog. Money well spent of course on making new army books for us players but apparently GW has deep pockets for lawyers.


New Scarlet Monastery in Mists of Pandaria beta

Very nice upgrade for the old zones. Especially if you like Vampire Counts in Warhammer Fantasy! The crypt has been shortened and the zones made to flow better

New Citadel paint range and how to book

Not too shabby. I think a lot of thought went into the book. It is a whole new "How to Paint Citadel Miniatures" book that includes a 90 minute DVD. The book also has a stand that allows it to be propped up so you can follow along step by step. Kinda cool.

As we thought the big 145 campaign was indeed a ploy to market 145 new citadel paints. The paint pots have a new look and they have added a lot of colors.

I guess this explains why the local Battle Bunker in Lombard, IL was so low on paints and not restocking anything.

All I know is I stocked up on Devlan Mud before the switch out.




Friday, March 23, 2012

Mists of Pandaria with Turpster

Good stuff here

The lore of my campaign Tomb Kings army for Warhammer Fantasy

The campaign for our gaming club is about to kick off on April 1st. We have chosen our territories and decide on names for our capital cities.

Part of the rules for the campaign is to name 3 Lords/Heroes/Casters that will be leaders of army lists. With that we also attach a Regiment of Renown that they lead into battle. Descriptions, history and lore are required to flesh out our campaign because we are after all nerds.

Below is what I typed up for my Tomb Kings army.

You can find our club's message boards at http://thewarrealm.org

The campaign info is hidden to guests however.

=====================================

King Ammon, Tomb King

Once a powerful ruler of one of the greatest cities in Nehekhara, King Ammon let wealth and riches slowly erode his penchant for good and honor. By the time of the fall of Nehekhara his lands were barren, his people had deserted him, and his loyal henchman had revolted against him twice. Dying alone and destitute his corpse did not receive the typical burial deserved of a Nehekharian King and as such the vengeful spirit inhabiting his mummified body is one of the most ruthless in the Tomb King empire.

Clad in armor of gold he carries a mighty two handed weapon that was passed down to him from his forefathers and buried with him in his elegant tomb. Known to be an expert horse rider his armies tend to be swift and calculating. His archers that guarded his palace in times of old are known to be expert shots.

Gathering forces beneath his iron will he has once again raised a mighty army under no guise of being lenient or just. His rule is with an iron hand now and his vengeance is swift and merciless. As the desert storm rises in power he gains more and more power uniting long dead factions. He sallies forth and looks to conquer the Warpstone.

Tomb Guard of King Ammon

Only the most loyal subjects that stuck my King Ammon until his death have been resurrected and given the great gift of life eternal by the returned King. These souls, entombed in elegant mummified casings with the best armor and fighting zeal, are the best trained forces of King Ammon's newly structured army. Stronger and more resilient than common citizenry of Ammon's lands the Tomb Guard are strong fighters that wield their long halberds with precision.



=======================================================================

Lich High Priest Ini-Herit

When Ammon needed to call upon the dark forces of the Lore of Nehekhara he trusted none other than the callous and cold High Priest Ini-herit. Known for his torturings and sacrifices in the attempt to grant King Ammon favor many believe that it was the dark practices of Ini-herit that eventually brought about Ammon's end.

Nonetheless when Ammon was resurrected and began plotting his return he wanted his best and most loyal dark magic practitioner by his side. Now decrepit and horribly misfigured from improper mummification Ini-Herit has returned but twice as powerful as he once was. Calling forth the dark Lore as well as learning many other Lores of Magic Ini-Herit boosts Ammon's army with the soulless bodies of the dead.

Chief among these are his animated constructs the Ushabti. Giant monstrous infantry that used to be statues that stood at the tomb of King Ammon the Ushabti, now animated, stride into battle and carve out death and destruction with their massive giant bows.



The Ushabti of the Tomb of King Ammon

6 in number and wielding giant bows that have the power to tear asunder even the stoutest ranks of men, the Ushabti statues that used to guard the Tomb of King Ammon now stride forth to do his biddings thanks to the magics of Ini-Herit.



=============================================================================

Tomb Prince Khaldun


The only son of Ammon, Tomb Prince Khaldun was slain in the first revolt that King Ammon suffered on his own lands. Leading his massive unit of Charioteers into battle Khaldun was slain when his chariot flipped over and was set upon by a horde of rebels. His head was later mounted on a pike and carried into battle by the rebels which were later defeated with the magic of High Lich Priest Ini-Herit.

Khaldun was a master horse handler, archer and leader of fast mobile forces. He has been given command of the Charioteers of Ode in the newly risen army.

Charioteers of Ode

King Ammon was famous for swift attacking forces and at the height of his power was the principle defender of Southern Nehekhara. Although he rarely participated in major battles the King would occasionally ride forth with his well trained Charioteers into battle. Basing his army around flanking attacks and quick moving, lightly built chariots many opponents found themselves quickly on the defensive. The Charioteers of Ode were the best equipped and best trained Charioteers in Ammon's arsenal. Trained at a nearby secret village from youth these young men were master horse handlers and archers. This unit was one of the first that Ammon's vengeful spirit sought to return to the land of the living. This unit was under the command of his son in later years.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Mists of Pandaria info at MMO Champion

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2687-Mists-of-Pandaria-Press-Tour

Media Presentation - Dungeons
  • Stormstout Brewery
    • The Hozan have invaded and Chen Stormstout has tasked you with clearing them out.
    • They are having knife fights, seeing things, and sleeping because they got into the beer. You run around on barrels trying to break up the party.
    • And after you defeat enough of them, Ook-ook, the boss that is up on the ledge, will come down and the first boss encounter here will start.
    • The second section has the Virmen, which are evil, crazy bunnies that will eat anything.
    • The biggest Virmen of them all is Hoptallus, the next boss. He has a furlwind attack and carrot breath that you have to avoid.
    • The third section has old beer that has gone bad and come alive. It has Stormbrew Alementals and spirits.
    • The final boss is Yan-Zhu the Uncasked a beer elemental.
  • Scholomance
    • The artists have added a lot of new art throughout the dungeon, including new undead models.
    • New lighting and particle effects have been added as well.
    • Jandice Barov still uses a lot of illusions to try and attack you, but they have been able to really punch up that encounter a lot.
    • Lillian Voss is now in the room full of skeletons being raised. She is here for revenge against Darkmaster Gandling, who is taunting her.
    • The old classroom had benches added and creepy paintings on the wall that are always watching you.
    • Darkmaster Gandling is the final boss, who still sends you into his rooms with undead that you must fight your way out of.
  • There will be nine level 90 heroics for players as well as three raids with 14 raid bosses. All of the raids are all going to have three difficulties.
  • In Cataclysm so much of the mindshare went into the revamp of the level 1-60 zones and the creation of the content itself, that they didn't really have an opportunity to create a lot of those new types of gameplay elements.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Pandaren racial bonuses

Just had to post this here.

Found some of these kinda funny. Finally a race that can cook!

Pandarens, like all other WoW races, have several distinct abilities specific to their race. These abilities reflect the overall nature and personality of the race and in leui of this fact the Pandaren racial abilities are a fun mix of whimsy and utility. The racial abilities that will define the Pandaren race can be found below:

Epicurean Increases the stat benefits from food eaten by a Pandaren by 100%
Gourmand +15 to Cooking skill
Inner Peace Gain double rested experience
Bouncy Reduces fall damage by 50%
Quaking Palm Allows the Pandaren to put the enemy to sleep for 3 seconds

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Back to the Chicago Battle Bunker

So a lot has changed with this once fine store. The so called "flagship store" of GW's Midwest effort. First they gave up half the space they had and moved everything into the WORST half of their retail environment. Secondly they turned it into what is basically a bigger retail strip mall store instead of the GW mecca it once was.

The Battle Bunker is now half as big and without the custom build gaming tables. Now we are all pushed onto Realm of Battle boards (not a bad product per se but not what the older hand built tables were) and the entire store wreaks of sameness and being stale.

GW is not the keenest at making good business decisions. In fact some would say they have the worst business practices of any gaming company out there. This then is one in a long long string of serious flubs they have taken toward ruining the hobby. Bathrooms at the Bunker? Yeah those are gone too. Annoying sales people? Yeah you wont get through to the gaming space now and duck anyone. While they leave you be if you are a regular they have a business to run and if you are new get ready for the attack.

Business must have been really hurting to cut back on what was once this super large cool gaming place to visit and hold tournaments at. You had two separate rooms, a paint bar and good atmosphere and now we are reduced to a store front room and feeling like we are just weekend warriors as opposed to being in a gaming community. One big wall divides the store area (low on stock as well) from the gaming area.

Stock: low (out of paint that matters, no blisters with metal, low on box content)
Space: low (no real hobby areas and paint bar gone)
Sale staff: depleted

I will never understand how a company with so much to gain can make so many seriously bad business moves. That location was primed to be updated, remodeled and turned into a serious Midwestern mecca for gamers and not instead we get...shit.

On the plus side the coolest and longest term salesman is still there and Tim Lyson is back to being the manager. So at least that is going well.

Ah well. No one ever said you had to game there or even buy things there. That is why God invented the internet. I used to have a philosophy that if I gamed at the Bunker I would always buy at least one thing to support it. Not anymore. Give us a shithole then we will treat it like a shithole. Luckily this was a Saturday and it should die down as the weekend goes on. Saturdays always were the worst at the Bunker regardless.

Still...it feels good to be back :) This just me being myself. Take it with a grain of salt

You can find all my old Podcast and War Realm photos here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/banstick/sets/

At the FLICKR account I cannot sign into anymore...




Wednesday, March 7, 2012

2000 point Tomb King Army List

Thanks to the fine folks at the Tomb Kings of Khemri forums

http://z4.invisionfree.com/Khemri/index.php?act=idx

I was able to make a pretty balanced starter list for my return to Warhammer Fantasy.

Below is the list. It comes out to 1995 points out of 2000 available. Now of course I have to buy the actual army which will probably cost upwards of at least 300 dollars. Yeah....expensive hobby. That's why this time I have to stick with one army choice and hang in there.

2000 Pts - Tomb Kings Roster
Tomb King (1#, 250 pts)
   1 Tomb King, 250 pts (General; My Will Be Done; Nehekharan Undead; The Curse; Hand Weapon; Causes Fear; Flammable; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      1 Blade of Antarhak
      1 Glittering Scales
      1 Dragonbane Gem

Liche Priest (1#, 130 pts)
   1 Liche Priest, 130 pts (Hierophant; Nehekharan Undead; Level 2 Upgrade; Hand Weapon; Causes Fear; Regenerate; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      1 Dispel Scroll

Skeleton Archers (20#, 130 pts)
   20 Skeleton Archers, 130 pts (Arrows of Asaph; Nehekharan Undead; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Bow; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)

Skeleton Archers (20#, 130 pts)
   20 Skeleton Archers, 130 pts (Arrows of Asaph; Nehekharan Undead; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Bow; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)

Skeleton Horse Archers (5#, 70 pts)
   5 Skeleton Horse Archers, 70 pts (Arrows of Asaph; Nehekharan Undead; Hand Weapon; Bow; Causes Fear; Fast Cavalry; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      5 Skeletal Steed (Nehekharan Undead; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)

Skeleton Horse Archers (5#, 70 pts)
   5 Skeleton Horse Archers, 70 pts (Arrows of Asaph; Nehekharan Undead; Hand Weapon; Bow; Causes Fear; Fast Cavalry; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      5 Skeletal Steed (Nehekharan Undead; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)

Skeleton Chariots (9#, 165 pts)
   3 Skeleton Chariots, 165 pts ('And the Tomb Kings Rode to War...'; Arrows of Asaph; Chariot Legions; Nehekharan Undead; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      6 Skeleton Charioteer (Hand Weapon; Bow; Spear)
      6 Skeletal Steed (Nehekharan Undead; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)

Tomb Guard (30#, 420 pts)
   29 Tomb Guard, 420 pts (Nehekharan Undead; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Halberd; Light Armour; Shield; Causes Fear; Killing Blow; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      1 Tomb Captain (Hand Weapon; Halberd; Light Armour; Shield)

Khemrian Warsphinx (5#, 230 pts)
   1 Khemrian Warsphinx, 230 pts (Animated Construct; Fiery Roar; Howdah Crew; Nehekharan Undead; Thundercrush Attack; Causes Fear; Causes Terror; Large Target; Thunder Stomp; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      4 Tomb Guard Crew (Spear; Killing Blow)

Casket of Souls (4#, 135 pts)
   1 Casket of Souls, 135 pts (Covenant of Power; Light of Death; Nehekharan Undead; Unleashed Souls; Causes Fear; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      2 Casket Guard (Always Strikes Last; Great Weapon; Light Armour; Killing Blow)
      1 Keeper of the Casket (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)
War Engines (4#, 90 pts)
  
1 Screaming Skull Catapult, 90 pts (Nehekharan Undead; Screaming Skulls; Causes Fear; Stone Thrower; Unbreakable; Unstable)
      3 Crew (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)

Necrolith Colossus (1#, 175 pts)
   1 Necrolith Colossus, 175 pts (Animated Construct; Arrows of Asaph; Nehekharan Undead; Unstoppable Assault; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon; Causes Fear; Causes Terror; Extra Attack; Large Target; Thunder Stomp; Unbreakable; Unstable)

Validation Report:
Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game; Special Rules: Forbid Regiments of Renown; Army Subtype: Tomb Kings Army
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules
Composition Report:
Points of Lords: 250 (0 - 500)
Points of Heroes: 130 (0 - 500)
Points of Core: 565 (500 - Unlimited)
Points of Special: 650 (0 - 1000)
Points of Rare: 400 (0 - 500)

Total Roster Cost: 1995

Diablo 3 fixes for animation lag and hitching

The worst feature about the beta so far? The fact they won't fix this issue and are laughably thinking about launching the game.

Anyway here are some so called "fixes" why not see if they work if you are in the beta. These hitches make me want to not even play to be honest.


Many people are reporting hitching, lag, timeouts, and choppiness in the D3 Beta. There's a number of probable causes for this, most of which you can fix / work around.

Here's the list so far:

Cause: Hold-to-cast spells! Disintegrate, Rapid Fire, Firebats, etc.
Cause: V-Sync will MESS YOU UP -- Known Issue!
Details -- Any/all channeled spells (spells you hold down button to continue casting) used while V-sync (this is a Video setting) is enabled will cause horrible lag, usually a disconnect, and probably a game-freeze. This is a known bug.

Workarounds --
-- Go under Options > Video: uncheck/turn off V-sync. Be sure to click "Accept" after making these changes.
-- Try running the game in Windowed mode or Windowed Fullscreen mode. Some users (myself included) have reported this allows them to keep V-Sync on without issues.

Cause: Playing Beta before its completely downloaded.Details -- If you launch the game before its reached 100% / completed download and install (possible via content-streaming feature), the game will hitch / stall periodically to download and install missing assets.

Workaround -- Let the Diablo 3 Launcher completely finish downloading and installing files before playing.

Cause: Sound Channels default setting may be bad.Details -- Although the game probably attempts to detect valid default settings, many testers are finding that a high number of Sound Channels is causing hitching / lag.

Workaround -- Reduce the number of active sound channels under "Options > Sound" (e.g. 128 down 64, 64 down to 32, etc.) Be sure to click "Accept" after making these changes.

Cause: Your video settings are too high.Details -- See text immediately above.

Workaround -- Go under Options > Video: Turn off V-sync, turn off Anti-Aliasing, lower Texture Quality, lower Shadow Quality, etc. etc. etc. Be sure to click "Accept" after making these changes.

Cause: Diablo 3 is having conflicts with Anti-Virus programs, security settings, or Firewall settings.Details -- "Agent.exe" and "Diablo III.exe" both basically want full rights, no interference, and access to any ports.

Workarounds --
-- Set file properties on "Diablo III Launcher.exe" and "Diablo III.exe" to "Run as administrator" under the File Properties dialog's Compatibility tab. (marking the Launcher as admin should enable it to launch Agent.exe with admin rights.)
-- Try adding the executables/processes to your AV program's ignore/safe list, specifically for any kind of real-time monitoring.
-- Try adding exceptions for the executables to your Firewall to use any ports. You should NOT have to mess with any port forwarding on a typical home network. (A pre-existing, custom port-forward setting may be sending D3 traffic to some other machine, but its unlikely you've configured your router to do this on your home network.)

Cause: Windows Aero/Visual Themes can affect with video game performance.Details -- Regardless of your system's beefiness, it turns out that Windows can inadvertently impact performance due to shmancy Aero / Visual Theme crap even if you're running the game in full-screen mode.

Workaround -- Set file properties on "Diablo III Launcher.exe" and "Diablo III.exe" to "Disable Visual Themes" under the File Properties dialog's Compatibility tab.

Cause: Background tasks are interfering with Diablo 3 [OSX + Windows]Details -- Automated backups, Virus checkers, etc. all can heavily impact the games performance if they happen to be running a task at the same time.

Workarounds --
-- OSX: Make sure Time Machine isn't performing a backup while playing!
-- Any OS: Make sure a anti-virus program isn't performing a system scan while playing.

Cause: Diablo 3 Beta is a Beta -- Known Issue!Details -- Stuff may just not perform correctly on your specific machine right now. Blizzard may be trying to overload their servers for stress-testing purposes. Normal asset loading may cause a your machine to hitch / seemingly lag. Etc.

Workaround -- Report your issues and wait for Diablo 3 to be released... Soon-ish? :D 
                              

Going back to Warhammer Fantasy (MINIATURES)

No..not the MMO. The actual thing that the MMO is based off of and based off of POORLY.

At anyrate the TRUE game of Warhammer (not that sci fi garbage) is calling me back again. You may remember I ran a podcast a while back devoted to Warhammer. I quit for quite a while but I am returning to play on Sundays most likely. I have not decided on my army it will be either Tomb Kings and their new book or Empire and their older 7th Edition book.

I have to think about it and raise the funds to get the army and the books and the paints. So bye bye goes the PS3 which collects dust and is never used. I'll sell that on EBAY and put the money toward raising my miniature army.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Scroll of Resurrection adds more idiot noobs that don't know how to play their class properly

UM...WHAT????!


The new Scroll of Resurrection revamp seems to be on live servers and includes a free level 80 character and a free character/faction change for the person you're bringing back to the game! We will probably get more information from Blizzard very soon.

We can only assume that the Spectral Gryphon and Spectral Wyvern Mounts teaser from yesterday means people doing the recruiting also get nice perks.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Upcoming WoW stat changes

Taken from this post by Ghostcrawler. Here is a summary

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/4544194/Dev_Watercooler_%E2%80%93_Mists_of_Pandaria_Stat_Changes-3_1_2012

As a side note: JUST GET RID OF PVP GEAR. It's stupid. 

Spell Resistance

    Spell resistance is gone. There are no buffs that improve it and there shouldn’t be much, if any, spell resist gear left. We always thought the system was hard to understand and we weren’t getting much gameplay out of it. Now taking a step back, we can imagine how to develop a game where you’d want various forms of resist gear for certain situations and opponents. Resist gear could potentially be interesting, but it isn’t currently in World of Warcraft -- the game has just been moving away from that sort of thing for years.
    In the absence of spell resistance, there is no need for spell penetration on gear, so we’ll remove it as well.

Hit and Expertise

    We still think having stats that can be capped is a good game design. Rather than focusing solely on stacking your best stat, you have to decide how valuable it is to hit your target before you go back to stacking your best stat. However, we are making some changes.
    Hit and spell hit will no longer be separate stats. The hit stat negates melee miss and spell miss.
    Expertise will negate dodge and spell miss, then parry.
    Expertise will be listed as a percentage, just like hit, instead of having an intermediary stat. 
    We are normalizing hit with expertise, so that 1% of each stat will require the same amount of rating.
    We are normalizing melee and spell hit, so that spell miss is equal to melee miss plus dodge.
   
        Against an equal level creature: 6% spell miss, 3% melee miss, 3% dodge, 3% parry (from the front only), 3% block (from the front only).
        Against a +1 level creature: 9% spell miss, 4.5% melee miss, 4.5% dodge, 4.5% parry (from the front only), 4.5% Block (from the front only).
        Against a +2 level creature: 12% spell miss, 6% melee miss, 6% dodge, 6% parry (from the front only), 6% Block (from the front only).
        Against a +3/boss level creature: 15% spell miss, 7.5% melee miss, 7.5% dodge, 7.5% parry (from the front only), 7.5% block (from the front only).
        Ranged attacks will be able to be dodged. Hunters will benefit from expertise and will have it on their gear, which will also allow hunters and Enhancement shaman to share gear more easily.
   
   

Block

     The chance to block will be handled by a separate combat roll for each attack that is not avoided. In other words, we first determine if an attack misses, or is dodged or parried. If it is not, then the attack has a chance to be blocked.
    This gives block a consistent value, regardless of avoidance. Currently block becomes more valuable the more you have.
    Block will also have diminishing returns, much like dodge and parry. This doesn’t mean that the value of block will go down as you get more block. It means that it won’t go up by as much when you get more block.
    We don’t expect Protection warriors or paladins to get “block capped” other than during temporary effects, such as mastery procs on trinkets. Block tanks will be balanced around this change. Our intent is to make playing block tanks more fun, not to nerf them.
    Also notice how Shield Block and Shield of the Righteous have changed in Mists.

Criticals

    All spells and abilities will crit for double damage, baseline. There are a few exceptions where crits can get larger, but the default is x 2.0 for everyone.
    This means that Enhancement shaman spells and rogue poisons will crit for double damage. Rogue poisons will also use the melee hit chance.

Resilience

     We are renaming this stat to “Defense (PvP)” or possibly “PvP Defense.” All players will have 30% base Defense, the same way all characters have some base Stamina.
    PvP gear will have Defense on it, as well as a new stat, “Power (PvP).” Power increases the damage you do to other players as well as the healing you do to other players in PvP situations.
     If you have a lot of Power, you’ll do more damage to other players, but they likely have Defense as well. If you fight players in lots of PvE gear, they’ll take more damage. Likewise, a player in PvE gear won’t have enough Power to effectively penetrate your Defense.
    The names PvP Power and PvP Defense may not be final, but we’re leaning towards going with stat names that are obviously PvP-related, rather than “fluffier” names that might not be as easy to grasp. We want it to be clear to players that neither Power nor Defense have any relevance when fighting creatures, such as in dungeons or raids.
    PvP gear will be lower in item level than PvE gear of an equivalent tier, however the Power and Defense stats will make sure that PvP gear is more powerful in PvP (both offensively and defensively) than PvE gear. In our budgeting system, the PvP stats will be free rather than causing other stats, such as Strength or haste, to be smaller as a result of including Power or Defense.
    The goal of this change is to make it easier for a PvP player to participate in PvE, or for a PvE player to get started in PvP. Currently, we feel it is too large a barrier to go from one to the other, and the result has been that we see more and more players choosing to focus exclusively on only PvP or PvE. In earlier expansions, it was more feasible to use PvE gear in Arenas or Battlegrounds until you acquired the more useful PvP gear. The same was true of being able to use your PvP gear in a dungeon or raid until you acquired something better. In Cataclysm, stepping into PvP with no PvP gear would result in a player being so ineffective that it was difficult to even make progress towards acquiring PvP gear.
    For the higher-end of PvP or PvE (say Gladiators or heroic raiders), we believe those players will still gravitate towards the dedicated PvP or PvE gear. It is the players who are working towards those two end games that will benefit more from some cross over.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Minecraft 1.2 is out

Time for me to start a new world. The cats will be awesome especially since they scare Creepers away.

http://www.mojang.com/2012/03/minecraft-1-2-is-out

Minecraft version 1.2 (actually 1.2.1) is now officially released! Get it by updating the game in the Minecraft launcher. Features include:
  • New jungle biome
  • Added ocelots
  • Added cats
  • Added iron golems
  • New AI for mobs
  • Tame wolves can have puppies
  • Villagers will have children if there is room in their village
  • New map height limit (256 instead of 128)
  • New items and blocks
  • Doors have been updated so that double-doors work better with redstone
  • Added rare drops for mobs
  • Many other minor tweaks and fixes

Raptr tells me I like action games but I really dont

I mostly play MMO's or strategy games but oddly enough my older achievements and tracked time from Steam, probably because of games like Just Cause 2, Rage and Crysis are telling me that the ACTION genre is my number one genre. Also some PS3 things are thrown in there as well but for the most part I have not touched a shooter in a long time. Still Raptr had an update and it is rather glitzy and cool now and heavily into the comparisons. Since I took a year off of World of Warcraft and have played mostly MMO's since last September I am way behind the curve on things I have accomplished.

Who would have thought that being a gamer could be so much work!