Now, Where Was I?

Yesterday, I logged into Rift for the first time in a long while.  Probably since launch.  I just can't resist a new expansion, plus I liked what I saw during my tour of the new content.  It's a bit jarring logging into a game after so long, I didn't even know what kind of character I had.

Turns out I had a level 12 Warrior on Seastone (PvP Server).  I thought I had a rogue, but that must have been beta.  He had his points reset and bags full of I don't know what.  Plus, he looked a little bit chilly.

I really need to get him some decent looking armor.  It also looks like I have a free server transfer, so I may get off of the PvP server.  Really don't feel like getting ganked.  When I logged in, I decided to give the Instant Adventure system a try.  It was.... interesting.

It put me in a group very quickly, and before I knew it I was getting experience and quests were advancing.  I was not even with the group yet, so I had no clue what was going on.  I finally caught up with them and they were just slaughtering the quests, must have been mentored down?  Anyway, I finished off level 12 by just doing what I could with my un-allocated souls.

The expansion goes live today, so I'll spend a some more time with the game and see if I can get myself a nice soul build.  Going to hard to resist the tempest soul as it adds a ranged component.

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WAR Game Time Giveaway

It's time for another giveaway!  This time it revolves around Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.  I've got a bunch of codes to giveaway: 1 60-Day WAR Game Time Code, 3 Specialized Training Codes, and 3 Booster Pet Pack codes.  So, how do you get your hands on these bad boys?  Why do Sites with Benefits missions of course.

The giveaway will end in 2 weeks, on November 26th.  Note:  The codes will be given out via lottery, so buy as many tickets as you want.

The Sites with Benefits widget is on your right.  Just Sign In and get started on the missions.  Use the points to buy lottery tickets. 

There are plenty of missions to do even if you don't currently subscribe to the game.  Spreading the word and sharing videos will earn you enough points for a chance at the Game Card.

This time around we have some special additions.

WAR Easter Egg.  Follow the clues, grab a screenshot, submit it, and win 150 points!  That will buy quite a few lottery tickets.  I'll give out more hints over the next two weeks.  Here is the first hint:

In the land of the Dark Elves, five horned creatures gather for a feast under the cover of night by a Menhir Stone. 

First Hint:  The event can be found in The Blighted Isle.

Second Hint:  Some things only happen at night.

Create a Video.  Record some footage of you doinging whatever it is you do in WAR and upload it to youtube.  It'll net you 100 points and provide some promotion for WAR.  It will be automatically added to the Share Video mission to help get it out there.  Remember, for the system to know it is yours add Sites with Benefits to the video description.

Want to try out Sites with Benefits on your site?  Just log in and check out the Publisher tab.

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Choo Choo

I'm weak.  When I get an idea in my head, I just got to make it happen.  This time it was to play Sid Meier's Railedroads! It all started when I started to watch The Men Who Built America on the History Channel.  It's a neat show about people like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Ford and the like.  Railroads play a prominent part of the show, so I had to play a game about them.

I know that sometime in the past I bought the game, just like everything else with Sid's name slapped on the box.  I searched my house high and low, found many other old games, but no Railroads!  I still believe it is somewhere around here, but I gave up my search.

The next place I looked for it was on Steam and other digital download sites.  Other than a new Mac port, I was left empty handed.  For some reason they have most other Sid Meier games, but not Railroads!  Not even GOG had it for sale.

I finally went to Amazon, who did have copes for sale and bought one.  Thanks to Amazon Prime, it arrived yesterday.  Initially, I was concerned because it was clear by the packaging that it was not an original copy.  Instead, it was from something called Sold Out Software.  They turned out to be a publisher in the UK, who sell physical copies of old games.  They have a ton of old titles for sale.

Anyway, my quest came to an end as I loaded up the game.  I only was able to play it for a little while, but it is a lot of fun especially since I have been jonsing for some railroading actions.

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A Robot, a Tank and a Superboss

In the latest Developer Dispatch, BioWare lays out some of the details about the upcoming 1.5 patch.  This one is pretty exciting if I do say so myself.  First we have the robot: HK-51.  We'll be able to obtain, probably the best character ever made for a video game, in the upcoming patch!  He looks to be a tank and dps companion.

The video also mentioned a new kind of mount, a tank!  Sure, it is a rare drop from the upcoming Nightmare mode Explosive Conflict Operation, but that doesn't make it less awesome.  Oh how I would love to own one of those, but as a non-raider that isn't going to happen.

Or is it?  Bioware, you want to know what I would buy in the Cartel store?  A tank mount!  Not seen is me virtually throwing my Cartel Coins at the monitor.  I can understand why it might have to be a very rare mount though.  Can you imagine the Fleet packed with tanks?  I still want one though.

There is also a new area opening up for players, Section X.  It's for capped players to do dailies, group quests and take on a world boss (Dreadtooth) who gets bigger and badder with each defeat.  The HK-51 questline also starts here.





Is Free to Play coming with 1.5?   That's a big question which I don't know the answer to.  Ther are talking F2P up, and it is on the PTS... so there is a chance it might be.  What better time than with the HK-51 content?  There is a rumor floating around that F2P will launch with it though.

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There is no BioWare Mythic, there is only Mythic

It looks like BioWare Mythic has gotten itself newish name: Mythic.  Not Mythic Entertainment, just Mythic. It appears this re-branding is based on the studio's new mobile-centric focus :(  Otherise, it means nothing for us WAR/WoH/DAoC/UO players.

http://uo.com/article/BioWare-Mythic-now-known-Mythic

In the wake of a new focus our studio has recently changed its name from BioWare Mythic to Mythic. Everything else stays the same - our passionate teams will continue to support and develop our existing titles as well as working on some new and exciting projects.

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ARAM and League of Legends

ARAM, which stands for All Random All Middle, is a new un-official game mode for League of Legends.  It usually takes place on the Proving Grounds map (used for the tutorial).  Basically, everyone is assigned a random Champion from their pool and they fight it out on a single lane map.  There are some small rule adjustments, but the goal remains the same.

I had heard about this mode of play, but never really tried it.  that was until Gaarawaar started to talk about it on twitter.  He mentioned it was quick and fun, and I'm all about that.  So I went to the custom game list and found a match.  Here is how it started off...

Dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge, MATCH!

In a custom game, there is no penalty for queue dodging.  Luckily spots filled up quickly, but it was still a crazy amount of dodges.  ARAM's I have played since then have been pretty much the same.  

Once in the game I had a lot of fun.  Just a lot of fighting, and very little pressure.  Since champions are random,  there might be a bit of a learning curve if he has gone unused.  The same goes for everyone else, so it felt a lot more laid back.  I really liked playing new champions too, which I wouldn't if I was in ranked Summoners Rift. 

My hope is that Riot makes this an official game mode soon.  That way we can queue up for it and hopefully lessen the amount of dodges.  I like it more than Dominion and it's quicker (usually) than a Summoners Rift match.  I just don't see myself playing un-ranked SR matches, so this could be my go to type of game when not playing ranked.

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New and Improved

If you have been to the blog in the last couple of days you might have noticed the new Sites with Benefits widget.   If not, it is on the right hand side of the page.  I think it looks much better than the old version, but I'm sure there is still room for improvement.  What do you think?

Beta!  Sites with Benefits is now in a state where I feel comfortable having other people use it on their sites. I added a several beta codes as a Reward, so if you are interested you can grab one and get started.  Just logging in will give you enough points to obtain one. 

Missions.  Sites with Benefits is up to 13 mission types.  Those include Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Google +1 sharing along with Polls, Video/URL Submissions, Trivia and more!  

Next Giveaway.  Next week (Monday), the WAR Giveaway will begin.  The big prize will be a 60-day time-card, but I hope to have some other rewards you can choose from as well.  I'm also going to be trying out a new kind of Mission which involves doing some tasks in the game. 

Overall, I think the project is going well.  I find it pretty useful, and I hope others will too.   

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Unified Currency, Take Two

As I mentioned last week, WAR is moving towards a unified RvR currency instead of having 25 or so separate ones.  Lead Developer Keaven Freeman has been on the forums discussing the issue with players, which has resulted in a new plan.

The nice thing about this plan is that vendors would not have their own conversion table, which ended up making items more expensive.  You may notice the Early Adoption column, this would probably be a weekend (announced beforehand) where you get a special conversion rate in order to encourage people to convert their currency.

As with most any change, not everyone agrees with this route.  I doubt there will ever be a consensus regarding any change in WAR, but at least there is a dialog going on between players and developers.  In the end, that is what really matters, even if it doesn't go your way.

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Garden of Morr

A couple weeks ago, the Durrig's Secret Stash giveaway was held for Wrath of Heroes.  One of the missions for it was to create a video.  When the giveaway finished up, we had 16 new Wrath of Heroes videos!  Thanks to everyone who submitted one.

Here are the video submissions having to do with WoH's newest map, the Garden of Morr.

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Werit Goes to the Dogs

One of the rewards for WAR's Daemonic Gifts of Khorne event is a scroll that turns you into a Flesh Hound.  It isn't just for show, as you get a whole new set of abilities to use.  There are actually 3 scrolls you can choose from, the other two being a Bloodletter and Juggernaut.

Here are the hounds abilities...

The abilities do not do much in the way of damage, but the effects are very nice.  Crush Hands cuts the targets outgoing damage by 50%.  Bloodthirsty Howl is an AoE Action Point Drain.  Savage Lunge is a knockdown.  All very useful.

And, of course, a video!

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