Guild Wars Bard

Quest Hard Audio Blog – Shot from the hip

2011-04-06T04:46:00.001-07:00

Quest Hard 'Shot from the hip'
The Quest Hard Audio Blog is a UK based discussion about MMO and PC gaming from an adult perspective. ever episode we procrastinate about games and chat about the things we did in them, after all gaming is about building story’s to tell.

This week we talk about Fish’s new found love of Dragon Age Origins. Why we have no show notes, DCUO. Blog Politics. Face book. Rift and why we never stuck with it and how we all love keyboard cat.

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Be Creative, put a fish in a light bulb

2011-01-15T03:27:00.001-08:00

It has been said may times through the ages that true genius can be measured by a fish in a light bulb. No, that’s not true. Creative urges are something i have had throughout my life and even though i am not an artist or performer these creative urges have manifested in the form of maybe decorating a room or (like now) writing a blog.

With the Joy that can be found within our video games, the sense of satisfaction from a new character level to a completed challenge in paradise city i wonder how many potentially world changing ideas are not being manifested because of the high quality entertainment that we have access to.

I know this sounds like a random and strange idea but while playing video games or even watching a really great movie any creative urges (for me its writing) are simply lulled into silence for the duration.

Imagine if Einstein had not had that free time to think up the theory of general relativity because he was pwning n00bs in Halo. Does the world benefit from the quality of entertainment available to it? Buy maybe Hitler would have chilled the hell out had he been able to play SimCity 3000.

The amount of my free time i spend being creative vs enjoying entertainment is something that i am very aware of. i some times listen to audio such as gaming podcasts or Red-Ice-Radio speakers while playing Lord of the Rings Online to offset education/creative thinking vs mindless play. but what being said i sometimes stop a session of writing because its making me over focussed and just play Air Control HD for an hour.

I Wonder how many things would have been accomplished if people where simply bored more and had more time to think. All this said there is the idea behind the sand mandala, the idea that sometimes just creative thought and play are the best things for your mind and soul. some times its okay to just play.

I urge you to think about how much time you spend tapping your creativity.

Guild Wars and the sharpened pencil.

2010-10-22T13:44:00.001-07:00

I have again been playing Guild Wars with some little buddy’s I like to call ‘Team Quest Hard’ (they don’t like it when I call them that. I say it in my finest movie voice). Some thought about the game have popped into my head recently. I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t play allot any more or because my gaming habits are more diverse than when I started originally but i will try and articulate my thoughts using words of the finest quality.

Guild Was is not an MMO, I only realised this the other day. The best way i can describe it is as a single player game that you can play with as many mates as you want to. That sounds strange but i have played guild wars alone with AI team mates and with full groups of friends and honestly its a great game and either way its lots of fun.

In my opinion guild wars is an anomaly in the gaming world. its a Co-op Role play game with persistent characters, not an MMO, not a single player game, not a traditional single player game as you have a group but its not squad based.

with all this in mine here are three reasons you should love Guild Wars, even all these years later…..

Its epic – I know that sounds like a fan-boy thing to say in every way you can think of i agree with you but its worth saying anyway. Everything about guild wars is EPIC with caps lock turned on, totally.

Look at this picture (left) its epic, every character is epic, the way they are standing is epic. the game is epic! – Okay fan-boy moment over. the game is epic thought, you are the hero, the key to everything and through 4 entire story arch’s you get to be just as important and as you play thought you meet characters, real ones with personality and voices (thank you regular cut scenes) the plot makes you feel, well, epic.

How many MMO’s are there that actually make you feel like this? in LotRO you get to be a little person in the story of larger people and in WoW, well no one i know can tell me the plot to that game in less than a million words (that make little sense) but in guild wars i am he chosen one (depending on campaign) and hand picked by the gods to be the one to change the world (three times at least anyway)

Environment – again, this is a bias and fan driven post but the world crafted in guild wars has a read feel to it, granted I'm thinking ‘epic’ but the game does show you things that make you stop and just look at for a moment.

In Prophecies we see lush jungles and ice planes and desert wastelands, that’s every variation that we can think of when we have to list different places.

In Factions we see an urban maze and an eastern land of adventure that we imagine in legends. a little later in the game we see this magical forest that;s filled with strange wonders.

In Nightfall we see a swash buckling land of possibility and the struggles of a nation at war. as the game progresses we see an almost pre-historic desert with huge stones and planes of water with occasionally breaks for oasis’s. we even venture into a plane of torment where its dark and sinister in ways we never before imagined.

The unexpected - the first time i played the game i was forever seeing unforgettable sights and talking to new NPC’s who want to give me quests of push me to the core plot of the game but then when ‘Eye of the North’ came out we met something new. the Asuran race. and the game took a new spin, with portals (star gates, i don’t care what they say, those are star gates) we get to see our would of fantasy take a sci-fi twist in a very subtle manor

Vekk was just one of these new people that we meet. he uses magical energy to power robots and in so many subtle ways the story of the Asuran is woven through him. we know they are an old and xenophobic race, its even hinted that they come from another plane of existence (possibly even aliens).

The point is here that Guild Wars is a twist it has so many strange and wonderful twists and turns that the unexpected in visual aspects, story and character depth is astounding.

One last thing – Guild Wars two will be out relatively soon and with lore as well thought out as it is in this game allot of the lore is going to be subtly built into it. so if you have never played guild wars but want guild wars 2 its worth playing it even just a little bit as a taste of things to come.

so, stop reading and go play it NOW.

Guild Wars, an addict is never cured.

2010-10-16T03:27:00.001-07:00

Guild Wars. I have loved that game since the day I first slapped eyes on its loading bar. According to X-fire i have played 1,194 hours of it and that number is way off as for a good portion of my Guild Wars time I was playing without X-fire as for whatever reason it was not detecting the game correctly. whatever way you look at it though over a thousand hours is a huge amount of time for any single form of entertainment.

Recently however i have had some account issues with some mean people hacking my account (nothing was lost thankfully) so being unable to play for a week gave me the urge to play that i had not had in months (even thought without the hacking i would not have given it a second thought). last Night Mr Fish(HangmansJoe), Fleata and i loaded into the game and quested our way through some Eye of the North content (i was in it for Title Grinding) and we had a GREAT nights play.

Its strange that a game as old as guild wars is still a wonderful evenings game play and no one complained about the lack of jumping.

All in all, i think its safe to say that my love of the game ahs been fired up again and i just cant wait for GW2.

Also if anyone does not know, all those accomplishments you have in the Hall of Monuments will not be going to waste as we now know what your working towards in Guild Wars 2 thanks to THIS site.

If you want me in game I usually play ‘Laird Hex’ and am happy to play with anyone who whispers me (and has Skype)

stereo typing, Drama + 2, Truth - 6

2010-09-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

Last night I watched a documentary called Dungeon Masters made back in 2008, chronicled a few months in the life of a handful on serious pen and paper role players. It was in short terrible. Like many of these documentaries it made the mistake of making these people appear to be deeply unhappy and obsessed with escapism. There was a documentary about WoW players a few years ago that did the same thing. Strangely the only people who would be interested in this type of film are the exact same types of people that it disparaged.

A long time ago I was a pretty serious pen and paper role player myself (White Wolf World of Darkness games such as Vampire the Masquerade, Mage the Ascension and others) the inability to find a regular group was the thing that killed my love of the games in the end (still have all the books, they are awesome). As I became more of an MMO gamer I took some of these skills with me.

Just last night I was taking on the role of ‘Gabrielleah’ Guarding of Bree while playing LotRO, I play on a Role-play server and some times like to stay in character while playing in the world. In real life I am married, I have a beautiful daughter, a Job, friends (well one or two anyway) and am generally happy in life, so are many of the more serious role players I know. So why do these films make us all out to be crazy?

Even some of the hard core character obsessed players I know are happy people who know the difference between reality and fiction. Role playing is a chance to exorcise your imaginative muscle, it is a creative act no different to writers crafting stories or actors practicing emotion.

How many of us know deeply troubled and unhappy people who use role play in games as escapism? Not very many I bet, I personally know more people with drink problems that are much more destructive than role players getting a little serious.

All these years after the popularisation of role pay from Dungeons & Dragons and the social phenomenon that World of Warcraft role playing is still considered a hard-core geek pass time for the particularly strange and socially inept.

I even created a short You-tube video a while back to see if I could get some feedback on public opinion.

People at work think its strange that I write about video games and record podcasts without getting paid, I tell them its an experience that I find rewarding, would they think I was insane if I told them I like to get inside my character mind while I run around in high fantasy worlds? Yeah, Probably. Are they right in their opinion? No, I don’t think so. I think it’s better than any other interest or vice I could have.

So what if people think it’s strange that I know what THAC0 means and own a bag of dice. I don’t drink and have strong morale fortitude and a love for life, does that matter?

I do however think that the morons who create these documentaries and new articles work against us by melding public opinion in a negative way. Why is there never a good looking well rounded person who also role plays on these films? – Because people love a stereo type.

Am I the only one who thinks its about time things changed?

The One True Cast – Bree Cast?

2010-08-31T13:38:00.001-07:00

Its True, your not going insane, that logo above does signify the epic return of the Bad Panda HexDSL Tag team of pod-win. The One True Cast is Back!

This Episode is the return to form for the One True cast with the new pricing model explained really slow for the tem billion people on the forums who don’t ‘get it’ as well as a chat about the item shop, the future of the game, our static group and all sorts of other wonderful things LotRO related.

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To Alt is human.

2010-08-29T06:00:00.001-07:00

MMO’s are great aren't they? we get to take on the role of a new character in a new world and explore, adventure and change the face of the world. This is great and usually I do this by playing one character until i feel like I have experienced it all, i have never been an end game junkie but have always been a slow leveller so it has never mattered.

I have developed a new play style recently though, recently i have loved to play those Alts (alternative character's, as in, not my main) i have done this in both Guild Wars where i have created a new elementals to play from the start and in Lord of the Rings Online where i have created a Guardian and a Hunter.

for the last few years of MMOing i have not seen the appear of Alting as i have always felt that my focus would be best spent making a single character ‘legendary’ but now i am older and more jaded i can see the light. with a new character it can be like a new game, new UI components to look at and play with, new ways of doing things, and a whole experience that is new.

In many ways i think of its as ‘different flavour crisps’ they are all potato snacks but some taste like chicken while others taste like onions. different but the same, not better or worse just different.

I one problem with Alting is that it gets expensive as i am splitting my time between characters i never have chance to craft or farm or generally make money the way i did when i had just the one character. maybe different classes are actually there to add content in this way on purpose.

I wonder if a new character would rekindle my love of Global agenda (now its soul has been patched out of it)

how many times have you played and MMO and not liked it after just one character? maybe a different class would have changed your mind totally.

anyway im going to enjoy an Alt now, maybe one day one of these will be my new main after all is the main the one you play the most or the one you like the best?

Quest Hard #6 'Legend of the Horse Cannon'

2010-08-22T07:28:00.001-07:00

No horses were harmed in the making of this episode. we talk in great depth about Age of Empire the MMO-ish version, Bilzzard’s epic lawsuit we also discuss the possible closure of Earth Eternal and how Hex does not care about Duke Nukem forever, there is also yet another tear shed for Spellborn.

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Guild Wars 2, Some questions.

2010-07-14T12:00:00.001-07:00

With the launch of Guild Wars 2 on the very real horizon now there has been a good many posts all cross the internet speculating about the mechanics and story of the new game. With all this buzz and interest I have waited to write my thoughts on the whole topic. So, I have prepared the following ramblings that really is designed to raise questions about they day to day experience…

There are going to be many changes to the Guild Wars game play, this includes everything from the skill bar selection method to the lack of healers and tanks to the new death penalties and all the undisclosed stuff in-between.

I am sure that the game will be a great improvement upon the first, I mean no disrespect to the first game as it was one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had but its getting a little old now and most of us serious players have finished all of the content at least once and there are some things missing from the game that are standard in newer games.

However with all this said there are specific nuggets of information that I am interested in that have not yet been disclosed.

Servers
Even though ArenaNet have spoken in some detail about persistence and such like, they have not addressed the method they are using to accomplish this, will the outposts and cities still be separate zones/instances or will the be in the centre of the instance? Sounds like a small question I know but the dynamics of this effect a great deal how the day to day travel and socialising will work.

Will I be able to ‘map’ somewhere in the same way I can with with the first game or will I be relying on mounts like in other games? If I am going to need a mount or something similar will there also be fast travel routes?

Will I be able to switch instance like I can now to play with a friend or is my server choice going to be more restrictive than that? In a lot of new games like Champions online there is a limit to about 100 people in a single instance will this be the same with Guild Wars 2?

Will there still be hard mode, will this be a hard mode instance/server that I have to switch to or will I be able to make the choice when out in the wilderness?

Will there still be a structure like the hall of Monuments that is a personal instance or will this be expanded to player housing?

Social
I have already mentioned my concern about server choices restricting who you can play with but will this new game have a buddy system that lets me play with anyone I like or will the new levelling system already account for this in some way that we have not yet thought of?

Will the game have social tools like Twitter or Face book integration of any kind, I know it may not ‘fit’ a fantasy MMO but if LotRO can have a player blog system (my.LotRO) then I think the options are a little wider than they used to be. I for one would like to be able to see a twitter feed in every game I play.

Will your characters ‘stats’ be available on a website like the WoW Armoury system? Even if not at launch is this planned at some point?

Will the friends list offer more information than online and offline, will I be able to see character details and titles for people who are offline?

Price
I know that they have used the phrase ‘Guild Wars pricing model’ but what exactly does that mean? At the moment we can buy unlocks, costumes and character slots in the store and campaigns come in massive chunks in the future however will we be buying campaigns or area’s. Will the campaigns come with new slots and races or classes or are all these things going to be separate?

As you can see I have some pretty specific questions about the game that so far have not been directly addressed. So, I am letting the more skilled news outlets tell us about classes and lore while I wait for the quality of life stuff to surface.

I am sure that ArenaNet will make the sequel that we all desire so badly, I’m even sure that it will live up to expectations. I just hope that the tools to build a community will be there.

Guild Wars 2 Hype machine - Warrior

2010-06-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

Once again the GW 2 Hype machine has had a mighty blast of awesome released with the confirmation and video of the Warrior Class.

Sure we all knew it was coming but now its official. the Warrior is officially announced as a Guild Wars 2 profession. there is even a video to prove that they didn’t just throw this in at the last minuet.

If your want more news about Guild Wars 2 then check out GuildCast podcast (its really the best one out there) or the games official home page over at www.guildwars2.com

write on

2010-03-10T01:28:00.000-08:00

On thing that has always fascinated me is people ability to write. I real allot and as I read I am always mesmerised by the concept that a single person crafted the novel in my hands. Even a bad book is a feat of dedication and imagination. I don't get the same impressions when watching a movie however, I'm never struck by the skill of the writer, I am fairly sure its the delivers, you watch a film and your not constantly reminded that the words are written, the actors do their job's and everything looks natural, like its really happening.

What about games then? How often do we give thought to the writers in the games we love? I think it maybe about time that these writers got more public about who they are. For instance Guild Wars is a game that has strong cut scene dialogue as well as many interlocking quest based story's. Who writes this stuff? Do the writers have a history as novelists or are they just people off the street who say “I work cheap”

According to the Guild Wars Wiki the head of the writing team is called Bobby Stein who graduated university with a degree in film. What strikes me as strange is that I had to look that up. I think games should showcase these people after all how are the writers of guild wars any less important that the writers of the books we love.

Maybe with the fully acted dialogue in Dragon age and the up coming Old Republic we will see greater appreciation for writers and voice actors.

An epic picture and some Myst.

2010-02-28T02:23:00.001-08:00

okay, I have been a bad blogger recently, I’ll take that. This is partly because of real life commitments and party because of another writing project i am working on (can’t go into that right now, sorry) but i did go to the launch event for the new ATI graphics card that was at Eclipse Computer store in Coventry. imagine my shock when i ended up on their web page.

I’m the grownup (not the random passing child) its just a shame that the real Predator and Alien where booked that day and we had to make do with statues made of motorcycle parts (really!)

This post is not all self congratulating randomness its also to let anyone who does not know that Myst Online is back!

http://mystonline.com/en/

Its back, its free and its still pretty! so go and play it you don’t know what your missing (says I, who has not had chance to play it yet!)

Anyway, I’ll be blogging again properly soon and hopefully won’t miss anything that i cant catch up on, like a one day only Guild Wars level 21 day of something.

Fresh eyes

2010-02-14T04:20:00.001-08:00

The other night some one i know through gaming decided to make the jump and buy Guild Wars, he purchased the trilogy from the Steam service and then purchased the Eye of the North from The GW-Store.

The individual in question comes from a WoW background but is branching out with games like Global Agenda (the current hot pick) so i was quite shocked when i was asked to join him in Guild Wars.

What i noticed straight away was that he was talking in WoW terms and trying to compare everything in the game to something familiar. so in an effort to help the new players who are familiar with other MMO titles i will try to explain a few things.

End Game, Raiding.

In Many MMO’s the part of the game that takes place once you have taken your character to the highest level you begin to experience what is known as the ‘end game’ however in guild wars this throws people because max level is only a few days play away for a serious gamer.

once you reach the maximum level for a guild wars character you still need to finish the fantastically constructed story (missions, primary quest line) for each campaign, this gives you XP (that you still need to buy skill’s) and gold (always useful) as well as a deeper understanding of the games lore.

once you have finished this portion of the game the ‘end game’ really starts, this is where you can start playing through the massive dungeon area’s of the Far Shiverpeaks (Eye of the North area)

Another Part of the ‘end game’ is ‘skill hunting’ that's finding a skill you want and then hunting it down from the relevant boss. once you feel your at your best you can take that PvE character and experience the brutal PvP portion of the game.

This a swell as minor portions of the game such as title farming and vanquishing had given me many hours of ‘end game’ enjoyment without the stress of traditional ‘raiding’ that you find in other games.

Auction house

Most MMO’s have an Auction house, a place where you can sell your unwanted ‘gear’ to other players for a profit.

Guild Wars does not have one of these. The reason for this is that Guild Wars is free to play, there is no monthly subscription fee so its an expense to host that arena net avoided

What you do have is ‘Trade’ chat channel that works surprisingly well. its not ideal but for the most part you will have little difficulty selling good quality items

Item Rarity

Many players who come from WoW are baffled by the colour coding of item rarity. okay, Light Blue items are the first step of rarity, then Purple, Gold and finally the Green items are the most voluble and unique, this is not ‘stupid’ or ‘pointless’ this game did not follow the trends of other MMO’s and if the colour coding of items irritates your too much then you have issues of your own to work out. its a design choice nothing more. (i have had that conversation many times)

You can not jump

i know, but the game is not designed with jumping in mind so your not missing out. complaining about it wont help. the game was designed from the ground up to work a specific way, jumping was not designed into that, again a design choice.

Servers

There are no servers as such you can switch your current regional location by using the menu in located in the top left corner of the screen. so, you can play with any of your friends, there are no restrictions like in other games.

PvP Characters

you can choose to create a PvP only character, you will have limited skills to pick from (only those that you have unlocked on your account) but you will be given a level 20 character and allowed to take part in all of the PvP content. however that character can not be used for PvE play.

Hello everyone, its me, again.

2010-02-05T04:14:00.001-08:00

Hello, it would appear that thanks to the Guild Wars community management guys that a link to this blog has been posted on the Guild Wars Community page.

So, to all new readers I would like to say hello. This blog is a collection of Guild Wars themed thoughts, tutorials and general observations.

I usually post fortnightly and provide wiki links whenever possible. This blog has been running for quite some time now and you may find some of the older posts of use.

if you have any thoughts or question please feel free to post comments or get me on twitter @HexDSL. I hope you enjoy the posts (and hit the follow button).

thanks for taking the time to read.

I’m not ignoring you!

2010-01-31T15:41:00.001-08:00

Hey guys. I’m not ignoring you.

I have noticed the comments i have had on my posts but for some reason that i just can not figure out i can’t reply to comments.. there is just a big white gap where the comment window should be :(

I will try to figure it out and respond to all the comments.

for now though i would just like to clarify, i don't have an innate hatred for guilds or anything. i was asked by ‘Himemiya’ in a comment why i don’t stay in guilds.

well, i play in the mornings usually on my free days (about 8AM GMT) and most of Europe is sleeping, so i play on the American based servers, so eventually some one will ask me to join their guild, so I do…

then I’ll play at more reasonable time when there are people playing in Europe and I’ll end up joining a UK or France based guild, thinking hey, this is great, people who play at the times i do… then i play in the AM again, and they cycle continues…

I think its all because i haven't found a really great guild in a while. if anyone does have a chatty bunch of players though do send me an invite if you see me on. after all i am still looking.

also, thanks for the comments and e-mails i do read everything even if i cant respond.

as usual, you can get me on twitter @HexDSL or on the 404 Radio Podcast. Thanks for reading.

Kurzick or Luxon?

2010-01-30T14:27:00.001-08:00

This evening i joined a small guild, nothing permanent i don’t think but just something so that i can play alliance battles, i always like to play the Kurzick side of the war and have fell into the trap of thinking of myself as a member of the Kurzick war.

Isn't its strange how we fall into the trappings of taking sides in a virtual war and more importantly actually start to loathe the opposing team.

For games like World of Warcraft with its choice of ‘side’ being a massive influence in the daily life of a character its easy to understand this sense of team but in Guild Wars its really only one of two missions in the Factions campaign that is effected by your choice.

When it comes down to the actual meat of the PvP your choice of ‘side’ really does not influence things that much, so why do we feel this alliance?

I think the answer is because of the fantastic cut senses and strong story that the game guides us through. that and the PvP title track that appears when we first hand in some of those glorious faction points, i mean, once you are ‘Friend of the Kurzicks’ your hardly going to stab them in the back are you?

Anyway what side are you on and does it mean much to you?

Ahead of the curve

2010-01-22T01:42:00.001-08:00

It is true that since Christmas i have played very little Guild Wars, this is mostly the fault of Borderlands and Torchlight, that does not however mean that i have been any less obsessed, with some Guild Wars Related thoughts plaguing me night and day.

Recently we have seen the release of Champions online, one of the first games released that has single server architecture. meaning everyone can play together. – Guild Wars does this already, and always has.

We now hear that Star Trek Online has 50-60 player instanced areas, and a single server architecture. – Guild Wars does this already.

There are rumours flying around the web, unsubstantiated at this point but none the less a popular idea that the up coming Star wars The Old Republic MMO will be free to play after an initial box purchase and that it will have a Real money shot to unlock things. – Guess what game has done that for years already?

I can now say (as the NDA has been lifted) that i am playing Global Agenda, a game that is very different from other MMO’s (and barely an MMO if we are honest) is a PvP game with factions dominating areas of a map (GW, Alliance battles style) and a minor PvE segment that is little more than scenario's (but fun) – Guild Wars PvP is just like this (granted less sci-fi action based) and the original design model for GW was PvE scenario, it was only when the developers fell in love with the environments that it became a more full MMO

what i am trying to say is that Guild Wars has not only been ahead of the curve for the last four years but people actually used these now mainstream features of the game as a reason NOT to play it.

maybe ArenaNet should engineer a re-launching of the game, after all it has all the features of a brand new cutting edge super popular game.

Guild Wars is still playable, still populated and still fun, i hope you see my point here anyway.

A Guild Alone

2010-01-11T01:19:00.001-08:00

Apologies all, but over the Christmas period i have had family responsibilities (the down side of being a grown up) and have not had time to write a blog but we are well into the new year and now i can get back on track.

Dont forget to check my other blogs though, i have been writing just not about guild wars.

My General Gaming blog (and a load of other stuff) is http://lairdhex.blogspot.com/

My Alternative view blog is http://rabbitholeexpress.blogspot.com/

But as your here your probably more interested in Guild Wars related blogs. and for that i have nothing. i have a mass of followers but very few comment of the blog so if there is an aspect of the game you would like to go into depth on please comment.

I am currently without a Guild in the game (got to stop joining US based ones as there is no one online at the times when i play) i am going to write a post about guild’s and all things related over the next few day.

once again, sorry for the lack of updates but I will be posting more soon.

MMO Voices Guest spot.

2009-12-22T14:54:00.001-08:00

For anyone who did not know i did a guest spot on the MMO Voices podcast the other day,

Is now released and can be found here http://mmovoices.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mmovoices-14

I mostly talked about Guild Wars and the coming sequel, then i rambled about feeling sick…. anyway if you care its all at the above link.

its time to forge new legends?

2009-12-04T08:40:00.001-08:00

yes, there is a new Guild Wars 2 trailer out. and yes it IS epic.

being something of a purist i have to say i will be playing human and my main will be a Mesmer (or equivalent)

the scope of this game is astounding.

Gaming etiquette

2009-11-26T02:55:00.001-08:00

The other day i jumped into Guild Wars with the intent of doing a mission (it was Jokanur Diggings if anyone was wondering) but upon loading i saw the elusive ‘LFG Mission’ being spammed into the chat, so, i joined a PuG.

in-case you don’t know, a PuG (Pick up Group) is the common name for those random people you meet and group with, the ones who you don't know, the ones who almost all the time turn out to be on the edge of sanity and often could be more accurately described by the bellow image.

now we are at the point where i am going to give newer Guild Wars players some simple tips to make them better PuGer’s (is that a real word?)

When you get into a new group, find out who the leader is, ask the question ‘who’s going to choose/call targets?’ this makes life easier.

you should make sure that everyone knows everyone else's ‘build’ this is done by ‘pinging your build’ you do this in an outpost by holding ‘CTRL’ and double clicking your skill bar.

the reason that this is important is not to judge people on their builds but to see what people have equipped, for instance it may be of use to know that an Elementalist-Monk has a resurrect equipped, or that a Monk is a smite monk not a healer or protector.

Don't judge those builds people show you, just because you don't understand how skills relate to each other does not mean they don't, often a complicated build that requires deep understanding of skills can look like a random mash of skills to the uninformed.

However all this said, if some one has no resurrection skill equipped then that can be a problem, maybe worth pointing out as most people do not equip a ‘res’ for solo play. they may have forgotten to switch it in.

Looking at a ‘Pinged’ a build is also a great way to learn how to construct your own build, you can get a sense of how they are constructed and how different professions work (great for your heroes')

You can call targets by selecting a target and holding the ‘CTRL’ key while double clicking, or holding ‘CTRL’ while pushing the space bar. The target can then be selected by the whole group (push ‘T’ to select it) making battling faster and more usefully take out healers fist.

The next thing to remember is to keep an eye on that compass, anyone who is not on voice communication with you (99.99999% of all PuG’s in GW will not join you in voice chat) will franticly draw directions on the compass to get your attention quickly.

Examples of this are lines over a portion of the map (do not cross) or an arrow (this way) or even pinging the map (double click on the compass to make it show something as a red expanding circle, known as pinging) there are lots of other reasons to use the compass as well, such ass seeing approaching enemy.

Drawing on the compass is a great way to get attention to a specific thing and to get everyone travelling the same path, because its no noticeable and fast it is more effective than typing.

The most important thing i can say about PuGing is that you do not leave (or Rage Quit), there is nothing more frustrating than gathering a group of people for a mission or quest and then two of them leave half way thorough for no reason. its irritating as hell.

The other thing is that you should listen to other players, just because you think your a good player does not mean that the people your with aren't better. in some cases the people you have PuGed with maybe fantastic players who know the game better than anyone you have ever played with before. imagine how irritated this person would be if you ignored their called targets.

I hope this was was informative and remember, play nice and get the job done.

Unlocks?

2009-11-20T01:41:00.001-08:00

There is allot of talk in the Guild Wars In-Game shop about Unlocks. but what does this really mean? well let me explain this and how you can get your unlocks for free.

When you load Guild Wars for the first time you have only the most basic skills for each profession and through playing you ‘unlock’ more from skill trainers and quest rewards.

Every time you unlock as skill its available account wide, this confuses people because every new character has to get the skill from a skill trainer, but ‘unlocked’ does not mean its given freely to any PvE character, it means that its available for all your AI heroes and for all your PvP characters.

Buying those unlock packs from the store would not give you instant access to every skill on every character but it will make you a much better PvP player as well as give your Heroes more snap crackle and pop

But here is the good news, you don't have to pay to unlock skills. your skill unlocks are for the lazy player, because you can unlock the skills by playing PvP and winning Balthazar Faction points. you can take your faction points and talk to a priest, yes, a priest, he can be found in your guild hall or in the Great Temple of Balthazar (Battle Isles)

You can use your points to unlock skills, Elite skills, items and heroes. you may not have the time or desire to unlock every skill the way the shops unlocks do but you can probably get all the skills you need for your heroes builds with little effort.

Its especially useful for getting those elite skills for your heroes, after all capturing every elite skill you want may take you a while and at 1,000 Gold her signet of capture it can be expensive. saying that though at least the signet of capture will give your PvE character access to it.

They never respawn.

2009-11-18T02:35:00.001-08:00

often people have said to me that instancing is not a good thing, that instancing detracts from the immersion of a game. well, i can see why some people would say that but here is my take on it.

What’s an instance?

An instance is a private version of an area that just you and your party share, you will not bump into random players like you will in World of Warcraft or other more persistent MMO’s.

You would think that when you exit the outpost and neater an instance that it would be a lonely feeling but far from it. Because you can still access guild and alliance chat you you still feel engaged in the world, even when you are in a party of AI henchmen you do not feel alone.

In fact because of instancing you never have to queue up in line waiting for a ‘boss’ to spawn or continually miss those kills you need because some one else has come and murdered everything in an area.

I fact, there is one wonderful thing that instancing does. when you will something it will no respawn, once you kill something it stays dead until you exit and re-enter the area. meaning that if you are doing badly you don't have to battle your way through never-ending hordes of enemy's, just the 200 or so that are populating the instance.

It’s possible in Guild Wars to entirely clear an area. in fact thanks to hard mode vanquishing titles its actually encouraged.

once you have completed a campaign (finished the primary quest/mission line you unlock a little button that is visible in the party window called ‘hard mode’ when you click it you enter the instanced wilderness in a more difficult mode of play.

but once all members of the party reach –60DP (maximum death penalty) you are all tossed back to the outpost.

there are two major reasons to tackle an area in hard mode, the first is to clear the area for your Vanquisher title (that you get once you have cleared EVERY area in a campaign) or to get a bonus on your title points. for example if you tackle an Asuran area you will get extra Asuran title track points (double in some cases) for the same number of kills.

This has been a very basic article regarding Hard Mode and Instancing, it is by no means all i have to say on the topic but it is all i have time to write at the moment, i will give a more in-depth look at Hard Mode (HM) at a later date, after all, its almost an art clearing those area’s.

Note: this weeks 404 Radio (Episode 36) will have an in-depth talk about the GW Bard posts. you can get 404 Radio from the RSS feed, here http://feeds.feedburner.com/404-Radio

PvP Thoughts, part 2, RA and the PvP dude.

2009-11-16T13:39:00.001-08:00

For the second part of my PvP discussion I have chosen to talk about my second favourite PvP type in the game, this seamed to make sense to me.

The Random Arena is one of the first PvP arenas that most people try, this is partly because it is a part of the first game and partly because you don’t require a group for it.

Once you enter the random arena outpost (in the battle isles) you have a nice and clear button that allows you to enter a battle. you will then almost instantly be doped into a team (of 3 other people) where you will do anything from a kill count game mode to a flag stand game

Because there is no need to get into a team for this mode it has stayed very popular and you can usually enter a game within seconds, if your team wins then you stay in that group for another round, if you fail you are kicked back to the outpost.

As simple as this sounds there are some really basic tips that increase your survivability.

Take a fast healing skill. the faster you can raise your downed team mates the better chance you stand.

have a surprise build, don't go in there with ‘cookie cutter’ builds if people have a good idea of your build there is a good chance they will have a good way to ‘down’ you.

Talk to your new friends, these maybe random strangers but if you can work as a team then you WILL always win.

Not a deep talk through I know but there is not much to say really, its pretty straight forwards.

The PvP dude.

This is pretty straight forwards but there is some confusion about it. if you want to play PvP you do not need to level a character from scratch.

You can simply create a new character and select ‘PvP Only’ from the menu when offered the choice.

There you go, you have a level 20 PvP character, you can then enter the inventory and select the ‘equipment’ button and get access to anything unlocked on your account. Easy, I know, but that new character can not access any of the PvE content, its a real PvP only dude.

Its worth playing PvE with any class to unlock new skills unless you want to pay some money in the in-game store to unlock skills.

If you are new to the game there is no need to hold back. try that PvP, its awesome i promise.

Also, remember guys some kills have different effects in PvP mode, this is indicated by the PvP tag in the skill selection menu.

PvP thoughts, part 1, AB

2009-11-15T10:45:00.001-08:00

Last night tired of playing my new Ranger and fetched my main character from the bench, he is a Mesmer primary and the secondary changes almost every time I play him. this is because i have seven Mesmer skills equipped and the eighth skill can be anything from an elementalist AoE skill to a resurrection skill.

but last night i joined my small but friendly guild in a spot of Alliance battling. Alliance Battles or AB as they are commonly known are a wonderfully fast pace PvP Type. (Player Vs Player Combat)

In this mode 12 people (that's 3 cooperating teams) face off in a king of the hill style match against 12 people from the opposite team.

There are 5 large maps that are chosen from the current wins and losses of each faction in the game.

for instance if the Kurzick aligned player win more than the Luxon aligned player the a map that gives the Kurzick players a slight advantage will load, and vice versa. then there is a neutral map for if the wins and losses are evened out.

Each capture is worth points awarded every few seconds, the game is over when one side reaches 500 points. There is no loot in AB and only level 20 PvE or PvP characters can play.

AB is part of the Factions campaign and only accessible to players with access to this or the PvP access kit.

To gain access to AB you have to talk to the Alliance Battles representative NPC who is found within your guild hall. the side you play for is dependant on your guilds allegiance.

Common tactics and tips for AB.

Mobbing – this is when all 12 player group together and take the various points on at a time. good if your opponents are disorganised but an organised opponent will capture many points in alternating order making it ineffective (you cant mob and be in two places at once)

Split Capping – this is when each of the three teams takes a different point as fast as possible then moves on to the next one.

Do not equip a resurrection ability for AB as player are resurrected every 20 seconds, also resurrection abilities are catered for a single group not cooperative team so they are largely ineffective anyway.

Necromancers are especially useful as the death toll mounts up very fast leaving many corpses to exploit.

There is no death penalty in AB so dying is acceptable as long as you are scoring points with each life.

Due to the large teams there tends to be a very diverse mix of professions so ‘monk 55’ characters are not very useful and die often (i will go into the 55 builds in more detail at a later time)

Rewards.

Every member of the winning team receives 1000 faction points (Kurzick or Luxon) they also receive points based on their end score. each kill is worth 10 faction points and 10 Balthazar points. (points are used for unlocks of skills and equipment for PvP among other things)

battle also effect a regions control line on the main world map that effects prices at merchants and in some cases access to outpost.

AB is allot of fun and as a PvP arena is stands up against the likes of Warhammer Online’s Scenarios battles and the combat found in LotRO’s ettinmoor area. if you have not tried it then please do, its fun.

if anyone is interested in some AB and does not have a guild or would like some help then please contact me in game as ‘Laird Hex’ or through Xfire as HexDSl

What happens to my dude in GW2?

2009-11-14T11:12:00.001-08:00

There seams to be some confusion among some Guild Wars players regarding what happens to their character in Guild Wars 2. I have taken it up on my self to champion the war of education and get this straight.

When Guild Wars 2 is released it will be an entirely new game, you will need to create another character from scratch, this is a blanket rule, no matter how good you war at Guild Wars you will have to start with a new character.

The reason for this is that Guild Wars 2 will be using an entirely new system of game play and your little character will just not work. i am no game designer but i am sure this is a genuine issue and not a made up excuse for anything.

However when Guild Wars 2 was announced along side The Eye of the North (GW:EN, GWEN, TEotN, or whatever other abbreviation you may know) it was made clear that all your hard work would not be wasted.

An area was added to the game called ‘Eye of the North’ and this area connected to an instanced area called ‘The Hall of Monuments’ this area allows you to forever entomb ‘monuments’ ensuring they last forever, or at least the 250 years later that Guild Wars 2 is set.

It works like this, you enter the hall and place items, weapons, statues of Heroes and titles on the monument stands.

The hall can house destroyer weaponry (not green items), Mini Pets(miniatures), Heroes who have acquired upgraded armour, prestige armour sets and certain maximum level titles (as statues)

All of these things give descript ‘bonuses’ to the descendents of your characters in the future. This means that when you create a new character in Guild Wars 2, you can access the ‘hall’ belonging to a character and ‘claim’ the rewards. it is assumed by player that rewards will range from cosmetic titles to levelling advantages (XP boots) it is also assumed that the Mini Pets will be usable as the yare in the current game. This is all assumption however as little has been confirmed at this point.

In order to unlock all this wonder of course you must finish the majority of the Eye of the North Primary quest line, this gets you the ‘tapestries’ that unlock each monument area.

Another miner detail regarding The Hall of Monuments is that if you fill certain requirements you can get a unique pet companion called a Rainbow Phoenix, all details are at THIS web link.

so, in a nutshell, your current Guild Wars character will not be able to come with you to Guild Wars 2, but you will be able to show that you where a serious player of the original game and even gain some benefits from your hardcore Guild Wars playing. i know it is hard to let go of a character you play for such lengths if time but I'm sure the glory of Guild Wars 2 will make up for it…. eventually.

Here is all the current Guild Wars 2 news, this article is updated as new news is released and confirmed.

Meet my little friend.

2009-11-13T06:13:00.001-08:00

All hail Tod! yes Tod, i went from level one to level 20 with the little fella, so i had to call him something.

But who is Tod and why am i so attached?

Tod or ‘Fire Imp (Summon)’ ah he is better known is an allied NPC that is available to players who have specific versions of the game, the list is pretty long but basically if you have all the campaigns (And the expansion) you get a Tod. You can also get a Tod by purchasing him from the in-game store, or having Guild Wars One Million edition (variant of the game that was released to celebrate 1 million sales) there are other ways to be eligible for one but those are the most common ways.

so once you have an account that's eligible you can log in on many character that is NOT maximum level (level 20) and in the chat box you can type ‘/Bonus’ this will add some various items into your inventory (depending on your account perks)

The item you should be interested in is something called an ‘Igneous Summoning Stone’ it looks a little bit like this…

Okay, it looks exactly like that does (as that is a screen shot). now once you are in a combat area (not a town or outpost) you can double click the item in your inventory to summon Tod. Tod is always your level and you can summon him once an hour (unless your change zone, that resets the timer) and only one Tod can be summoned at a time, so you and your friends can not have one each, well, not at the same time. It is also worth knowing that you can not use the stone at level 20, its a levelling aid nothing more.

Well, are you following so far? yes, great ill get to my point.

Tod, is a fantastic levelling aid, he is attacks your enemies with little remorse but in the process of doing this it becomes apparent that he makes your party (a good party at least) a little over powered for same level content.

Granted he is not a crazed killer Ninja with combat armour and a minigun but he does tip the balance in your favour, just enough to make mission’s easier and general XP gathering faster.

i am not sure i object to this in principle but while levelling my ranger i really did feel like the content had gotten easier. don't misunderstand i am not complaining about it, its nice to see content with less stress and this is probably a better way to get people to maximum level than an XP curve change.

you still have to go through all the content but you get to be it faster and with more success generally.

my only concern is how Tod effected the small percentage of pre-searing community. They can now use Tod to gather XP easier and die less. meaning its a definite aid to the Survivor and Legendary defender titles.

My other observation here is that with this kind of game addition making content easier (i know, not vastly) then ArenaNet are actually doing the opposite of keeping people playing until Guild Wars 2.

this about it, lots of people finish content and switch game or at least play it less, so shouldn't ArenaNet be adding one or two near impossible dungeons or making hard mode harder?

What is their game plan here? are we going to see some additional content like we did with the Codex Arena or the Zaishen Menagerie or is the game at the point now where they are simply leaving things as they are until the sequel is released?

This post is of course little more than the thoughts of a single player, and I'm sure there are many people who have still not touched the content that is already there.

The levelling curve

2009-11-12T05:18:00.001-08:00

As you know i have come back into Guild Wars with a mission, and as part of that i have been levelling my Ranger, i rolled her out about six months ago and got her to level 3 before loosing interest in her. but now i am back into the game i have decided to get her through factions content (if only for ranger skill unlocks, i don’t want to but the unlocks, earning them would mean more)

so in three days i am at the Arborstone mission and am level 19 (click image for larger view)

I intent do be finishing the mission and hitting level 20 by the end of the day. It really is a wonderful thing to be able to create a new character and hit max level in two days, i know the GW levelling process is not at all like other games but lets not take anything away from it, at level 20 i can go into PvP arena’s with my PvE Ranger and be effective, that's great.

As I have not yet visited the Kaineng Center as I am following the main plot line and not ‘cheating’ by unlocking area’s early. i will get some max point armour and then try her out in PvP, this should all happen this evening (after i record a new episode of 404 Radio)

also i would like to take this moment to say that yes… i too heard that GW2 wont be launched until 2011, as much as it hurts i have to think, this gives me more time to collect stuff for my Hall of Monuments, but really, how can they expect people to stick with this game for this long with no new content? i think we may see a surprise digital download expansion within the next few months. That would be nice.

What do do now?

2009-11-11T06:18:00.001-08:00

I have been playing Guild Wars for about 3 years, I have gone through all the content, I have enjoyed every mission more than once, and I have met some great people.

then came the GW burn, the GW burn is what happens when you have done all that you want to do in the game, its what happens when you realise that as this game is free to play and they are making a sequel that there is no new content on its way, sure they may shake up the PvP arena’s occasionally but as for story, lore and general content, there is nothing coming.

so, I took a break, not meaning that I stopped playing GW but I only popped in occasionally while i played LotRO (Lord of the Rings Online) and i tried a few other MMO’s but in the end, the way GW is played made it my spiritual MMO-Home.

new, after almost a year of GW not being my main game, I am back, I logged in and once more found the ‘love’ i have given my self a mission, and in doing so i have reignited my dedication to the game.

I have a few things to accomplish before GW2, and I’m in no rush.

1) Fill all my character slots with lvl 20' PvE characters. and have those character experience all of the content. (main storyline)

2) On my ‘Main’ (Laird Hex, Mesmer, badass) i intend to get all skills unlocked for every class.

3) my ‘Main’ will Capture every elite skill.

4) PvP my way to Max Kurzick title. (no FFF, that’s cheating)

anyway i will post diary style entries once a week (ish) updating you all on my experiences in game as well as my desire to find a truly great guild again

also, when i play GW i tend to jump in a little heavy so im going to be playing Spellborn as my ‘alt’ game.

its new

2009-11-10T06:35:00.001-08:00

its a new GW blog well actually its just a mirror of hte GW posts on my Lairds Lobby account

its new

2009-11-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

its a new GW blog well actually its just a mirror of hte GW posts on my Lairds Lobby account