The universe.

I'm absolutely fascinated by the universe.

Here we are, humans, every day learning more and more about this place. It's incredible that we can know that we exist on a planet that is circling around in a solar system. That other solar systems exist, even other galaxies. Science every day seems to be uncovering something magnificent about this place. Yet even more questions remain. Why are we here? Why does the universe exist? Does other life out there exist?

We are like children left to ourselves in a giant building. We could dedicate our entire existence to working together to uncover all there is to know. Instead we are fight amongst eachother and are being selfish, just like children. If we decided to all work as a team, team humanity, we could achieve so much. Instead we steal from eachother, kill eachother, and care only about self rather than the group. We come from animals, but we are no longer animals. We must fight what animalistic tendencies we still have, and embrace what makes us humans. Embrace what separates us from the animals we once were.

Altruism. Love.

Ghost and the Super Pals [Part ? Rough Draft]

Intro.

Something happened. No one knows what, but for some reason a small percentage of the human race gained super powers. Some say it was an act of god, others swear it was aliens. A few think it is mankind's next evolutionary step, but who the fuck would believe that? I mean seriously, evolution is to get a bigger brain, to walk on two legs. Never heard of any animal evolving to shoot lasers out of its eyes. Read a book people.

Anyways, my name is Ghost. People call me that because I can become ..phased out, like non-physical. Also, I can sort of float around. As such when people see me do this, they are prone to yell out "Ghost!" so I guess I took the name just so I can pretend everyone knows me. I also get called demon, the chupamecabre, peeping tom, etc but I'm not going to call myself that.

Anyways, the whole event happened and now a lot of people have some powers. Nothing like shooting lasers out of their eyes, that's just ridiculous. Still pretty strange stuff. No big flash, no crazy thing going on, just poof, people wake up with powers. Fairly anti climatic. Afterwards, humanity reacted to it as they would with anything else. It became a political issue to be debated on, and another us versus them mentality sprung about.

Still, this is the 21st century, so no pitchforks and torches were raised. There was a lot of debate if they were to mandate that we register our powers. Just like you need a licence to drive, fish, and get a gun, we would be required to get a licence to have powers. Most of us however were pretty opposed to it, and there was lots of support for us from the LTBG community. They were experienced with how it feels to be prosecuted and hated, so they really had our backs. We were the next BLTG.

Anyways, so an amount of people had super powers. What they did with them is about as unique as they are. Some joined the police force or armed forces to help serve their country the official way. However considering the popularity of super heroes in our culture, most went the vigilante route with varying degrees of success. Some didn't really appreciate the change, they wanted to just ignore their powers and just resume their normal life. This was harder for some than others.

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Phil Chapter 1

Phil was a thirty year old divorced accountant. He tried to live as normal and routine a life as possible. He enjoyed boring, he treasured monotonous. As such, it was to his disdain that he had been transformed into a giant furry monster. Phil woke up in the morning at 6:30 am as he had the day before, and the day before, and so on. Unlike all those other days however, this day his bed lay on the floor, his new weight having mercilessly ended the life of his bed frame.

Also unlike other days, his Star Wars pajamas were torn and stretched to their limits trying to fit a body they were never meant for. Yawning as he awoke, he briefly wondered about things. He wondered why his yawn sounded different, he wondered about the TPS reports today. He also wondered why his arms were large and...furry? That last thought snapped him out of his half-asleep like state and into a reality were his arms were indeed large and furry!

Jumping up out of bed he quickly stumbled to the bathroom, smacking his head right into the door frame and breaking a head-sized chunk of it off. He looked into the mirror. Where there would normally be a short, balding, overweight man, there was now a hulking seven foot tall monster covered in purple fur staring back at him. Terrified of his own sight, he shouted out a powerful monstrous howl where there once would have been a girlish scream.

Just as a truly amazing panic was forming, his coffee machine let out a long beeeep. The all-too familiar sound snapped him back to reality, as he realizes "I'm running behind schedule!". He grimaced as went to get his morning coffee, and turned on the news. Apparently some sort of thing had happened, and people had been experiencing changes. Change. That word triggered in him that regular feeling of dread.

Quickly finishing his coffee he goes to get ready for work. He dismisses the idea of trying to take a shower without a blow dryer, and instead heads off to his bedroom. Looking in his closet, he grimaced as he realized that none of his clothes would fit him. In the back Phil spots one of his wife's...rather ex-wife's..gowns. One she wore before she lost all that weight and realized she could do better. With no other alternative available, he hesitantly dons it.

Grabbing his stuff he walked out of the house and hurriedly closed the door, pulling the door knob right out of the door. He gave an impressed look at his grasp on the door knob, only to have the moment ruined by the creaking of his door as it careens to the ground. Walking to his car he could hear the screams from his neighbors. He tried to smile and wave at them, but from their point of view the monster was bearing its fangs and brandishing its claws threateningly. Realizing it was just making them more frightened, he went on his way.

Phil tried to phone in to his boss to let them know he would be late. Trying to carefully push the right buttons, he ended up jamming them deep into the device. Frustrated, he accidentally splintered the cell phone into bits, and got to his car. It was nothing fancy, just a dinky gas efficient car to get from point A to point B. He wasn't too sure how he would get to point B though, considering how small inside it was.

Moving the seat all the way back, he ducked down and tried to enter the car. Trying fit in he grimaced at the loud tearing sound. Poking his head through his new sun roof, he crammed the rest of himself in the vehicle. The car creaked and moaned as if it was in its death throes, and the bottom almost touched the ground. He was in though, and determined to get to work.

Starting her up, he drove to work, causing quite a stir amongst the traffic. Having some time to think to himself, he wondered just how long this..thing..would last. "I'll stop by work, ask for a sick day, then head to a doctor. Surely this isn't the weirdest thing they've dealt with. I'm sure they can fix this." he thought, trying to delude himself. He grimaced as he rolled into the parking lot, imagining how terse his boss would be with him.

Story time.

There are by the looks of it tons of official places to put your writing, but I have this space here that I rarely use and figured it might be a good way for this to get some more use.

I have a tendancy to imagine stuff in my mind. Something will get me going and before I know it, I have an entire story in my mind. I usually try to write it down, and then later refine it, but often it gets left as a rough draft. What I intend to do is put my writings down here rather than on some random site, or at least here first. With that, I give you some of my writings. Beware, I'm no professional in any means. :)

The most fun I've ever had in LoL.

Quite a long time ago I used to play League of Legends pretty seriously. I tried hard to win, and would get angry if I died or lost a game. I eventually decided to quit playing because I was tired of raging, as well as was tired of the general hostility I experienced from other players in the game. I realized I wasn't having all that much fun. So I started a new philosophy, only play a game if you are having fun doing so.

Eventually over time I started to miss LoL, and would play a game here and there. However I kept with my philosophy and didn't play seriously. I picked whichever champion I felt like playing, ignored any meta and just played for fun. This often caused issues with teammates who were playing to win. I often ran into people that were rude, bossy, trolling, etc. It was still a bit stressful, and I lost often as I was never that great at LoL.

More recently though I've still had a desire to play LoL, just to enjoy playing around with a champion for fun. I didn't want to deal with the usual hassle that comes with a pvp match, so I decided to play against bots in the beginner setting. The games were easy and stress free, I was able to relax and just enjoy the game. I was able to try out all sorts of various champions I was inexperienced with, and discovered which ones I liked.

As for my fellow teammates, they were usually a pretty friendly sort. It was all very casual and no one cared if I screwed up. I got to meet a lot of newer players, they were often surprised they were teamed with a level thirty. I became friends with one of the newbies and we now team up often. I was telling them the other day that "This is the most fun in LoL I've had in..." and I realized that this is the most fun I've ever had in LoL.

A story I found.

I found this story on reddit, written by HobbitFoot. With his permission I am posting it here for others to read. You can find the original article here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

________________________________________________________

A lot of modern games have terribly written rules, even games that are made for children. They usually rely on someone who knows how to play the game and a set of rules provided to clarify small issues.
Case in point, when I went to high school, I saw a group of developmentally challenged kids huddled around a pair of twins trying to play a game of Pokemon: The Card Game one morning. I say trying because what they were playing obviously wasn’t how to play the game. I knew how to play the game, and I had time to kill so I started to teach them. They seemed to pick up some of the basics of it.

My group of friends, all in AP classes, were getting into Pokemon as a small break from Magic: the Gathering. So, one day, those kids saw us playing and started hanging around. They would watch us play, get help from us to play each other, and even played us. We all knew that they were taking classes to go work at the local supermarket and would say some odd things, but they weren’t crazy and it wasn’t like we were winning any popularity awards ourselves.

Eventually, we switched back to Magic; Pokemon was too simple and didn’t mesh well with the large multiplayer games we would have at lunch. The twins saw us play Magic, and wanted to learn. We would teach them, starting with the basics. Soon, they were playing games with our decks with us correcting them if they made any mistakes. They got better, and soon wanted their own cards. I sold the two of them some simple decks with mainly commons in it for a couple of bucks each; one was a blue deck and one was a red deck.

The lunch games I had with my friends were great. Some people would die, but the games rarely finished; we didn’t care. However, one day, I was just getting pounded on. I was down to four life. Then, it was one of the twin’s turns. He had the red deck; he had a Lava Axe; he dealt five damage to me. I tried to convince him to keep me alive, but he didn’t want that. He wanted the victory, and my friends backed him up saying the win was fair and square.

He beat me.

This was a guy who was literally near the bottom end of intelligence at the school; he was segregated out to take specialty classes because he couldn’t handle normal ones. I was one of the school’s brightest, acing the AP classes I was taking without breaking a sweat and earning academic awards from the school and from outside events.

He beat me at my own game.

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MMO vs Multiplayer

This is a topic I've been thinking about lately.

In my past mmo's have been a large chunk of my gaming time. I played games such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft, which involve countless hours of "grinding". Grinding for xp to reach max level, doing dailies for money, doing heroics for valor, etc. Then there are the raids which can take hours, with chance you might not get a single drop. All of this is so that I could get a small increase in my characters stats.

Vinzulu - 19 Troll Rogue Twink - World of Warcraft

It seems in mmo's that you have to put in an incredible amount of work to have a little fun. I've read before that mmo's are designed to get you to play as long as possible. This means dragging out everything as far as they can. In 2011 I started slowing my grinding to an eventual halt. I first stopped raiding, then heroics, then dailies. I still enjoyed pvp doing battlegrounds, but since I didn't grind for honor points I didn't fare very well.

Then in 2012 I eventually stopped playing WoW, and pretty much swore off grinding. So what had brought on this change to reduce and eventually remove grinding from my life? I came to a new philosophy. If I am playing a video game, I am playing it to have fun. As such, I am only going to play it if I am having fun. What I realized is that I wasn't really playing at all, I was working. Doing dailies, heroics, etc was work, not play.

Since then I've rarely played an mmo, except for Guild Wars 2. I'm mostly playing single and multiplayer games, such as Skyrim, Tribes Ascend, Farcry 3, and Chivalry. These games can be immensely enjoyable, and have a high fun for your time ratio. Have half an hour to kill? You could do a heroic you've done fifty times before, or you could rack up a great kill count or go on a quest to save a town from pirates.

Zappi - Asura Engineer - Guild Wars 2

Writing this article has brought up a few questions however. Leveling up is found in both an mmo and in multiplayer/single player games. So what is the difference? Why does one seem like a chore while the other is often just a byproduct of having fun? One of the answers I think lies in an earlier statement of mine, that mmo's try to stretch things out. Why are there so many games coming out as mmo's?

Also, what MMO would you like to have been a multiplayer game instead? What would it be like?

Chivalry - First Impressions

Chivalry is a new game made by Torn Banner Studios. It's an FPS game that takes place in medieval times, as such players use melee weapons instead of guns. While that alone is something that sets it apart from most other shooters, its combat is where things really start to get interesting. There are several types of attacks you can perform, such as overhead chops or stabs. You can also block a players attack if your timing is right. It is all very skill based, meaning it takes time to master and good reflexes help.

It's better to watch a video or play the game yourself to get a better understanding of how fun the combat and gameplay is. Chivalry offers several types of pvp, such as arena deathmatch, or team based objectives. There are four classes, Archer, Man At Arms, Vanguard, and Knight, each have their own play styles and weapons. As you further play a class, you can unlock even more weapons for them use. These weapons you can unlock seem to be sidegrades, each having different pro's and con's.

As mentioned in the title, I am still new to the game. I purchased it during one of the steam sales and had been putting off playing it. I finally started playing it this past week. First thing I did was use the handy tutorial that came with the game, then rushed to a game. It was a team objective type game, meaning two teams with an objective such as pushing a cart. Somehow I feel as if I've done this before somewhere.

I didn't fare too well of course, as to be expected of a noob. I didn't have the timing down for blocking attacks, and I only managed to get a few lucky kills. After getting thoroughly owned for a good while, I decided to hit the showers. While the gameplay was certainly interesting, there was a bit of a rough start. Then a few days later some steam buddies wanted to play the game, and we hopped onto an arena server.

I tell you I laughed so much I couldn't count the times I almost peed my pants. Afterwards not only did I learn some pretty decent fighting skills, but also had unlocked several weapons for the knight class. So I guess the moral of the story is to hang in there, and bring your friends if possible. Thank you, and I hope to be dismembering you in the game soon!

[All video and pictures courtesy of http://www.chivalrythegame.com/]

Quitting Smoking - Six months and counting.

This story isn't geek-related, but it might be very useful for some.

I've smoked cigarettes for over ten years, since I was a young teenager. I bought my first pack along with a friend from a vending machine. I was a bit of a troublemaker back then, so anything illegal naturally seemed cool and something I wanted to try. What kept me smoking was that over the course of high school, most of my friends also smoked.

I've since then become very addicted to cigarettes, and have tried quitting multiple times. Every time I tried it was cold turkey, except once I tried some discount brand patches. I made it two weeks once due to being sick, but I always picked back up the habit. It was something that had become ingrained into my lifestyle, I felt like I was never going to quit smoking.

Earlier this year I started thinking about quitting smoking again. I had lost my job and my finances were in trouble. I started reading online at www.becomeanex.com on how to better my chances at actually quitting smoking. It helped me plan things out, and through it I decided to use a stop smoking aid product. I previously tried patches, so I settled on using Nicorette gum.

On my birthday, July 3rd 2012 at 11:59, I had my last cigarette. The first few days weren't easy, but it was a lot easier than previous attempts. I used the gum as directed, and kept busy at all times. I followed the advice on the  website, and eventually days turned into weeks. Things got easier over time, and I stopped using the gum one day. No relapses have occurred since then.

Since then I've pretty much forgotten that I even used to be a smoker, it's as if it was never a part of my life. When I see people smoking, I don't suddenly have an urge to light up. I thought I'd always have cravings, but they are a thing of the past. I felt that I should share this with others, I thought perhaps it might help smokers who have been thinking of quitting. 

Anyways, for those thinking of quitting, you can do it! It gets much better after just a bit of time. It is worth it, as smoking takes a huge toll on your health and on your wallet. There is help in the form of gum, patches, etc. Keep trying different things if one way doesn't work. Also be sure to check out www.becomeanex.com for help quitting smoking. Thank you for reading!

Dark Age of Camelot

Dark Age of Camelot is an MMORPG that people to this day still think of when talking about what great PvP is. Unlike many MMO's that only have two sides to fight for, DAoC had three. There was the Norse mythology based Midgard, the Arthurian Albion, and the Celtic Hibernia. Each realm fought a constant battle against each other, which was called Realm vs Realm, or RvR. This RvR is what kept me and many other people playing it for many years.

I recently started playing it again as I was feeling nostalgic, and shortly afterwards I was very glad I did. I've previously gone back to the game before, but this time it was different. It seems that the Mythic team have made some great improvements to the game, making it better for first timers and returning veterans alike. I also found some new additions to the game that addressed issues when I was originally playing.



First things first, the controls were much easier than before. I found I could move my character and camera with ease, thanks to the MMO control scheme. Everything feels much more smooth and fluid than before, which is really nice. First time players may still notice a difference if used to more modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft though. As well, there are some unique controls and mechanics that they will need to learn.

As I delved into the game and wandered about, I met plenty of players both in and out of the battlegrounds. I am proud to say that this community has and most likely always will be the best there is. The people there are an astonishingly friendly and helpful bunch, and I've made several good friends already. When an enemy player killed me and typed /bow as a sign of respect to the enemy, I knew I was home. It was a nice change of pace from the /spit you get from enemies in other MMO games.



As to the core of game, not too much has changed. The PvP, or RvR, is still a lot of fun. Leveling up is fast and easy, the quests here are actually really good. Mythic added an npc to battlegrounds that provide buffs for coin, which helps resolve the buffbot issue. Also, my favorite addition to the game, they added an npc that sells you PvP gear you can purchase with currency you get while in the battleground. The gear might not be exactly equal to spellcrafted, but it is still pretty nice.

So unlike all the previous times I have revisited DAoC, this time I actually think I will be sticking around for a while. I would definitely recommend revisiting if you have not been back in a while. I would also welcome any newbies that want to try it out. It's like a fine wine, it's old but has aged well and is a bit of an acquired taste. You can sign up for their Free 14 Day Trial below. I'll be looking forward to pwning you if you don't roll Midgard.

http://darkageofcamelot.com/trial

New Player Guide

The Mages of Warhammer

Heyo.

I sort of took a leave of absence, both from WoW and my Mage. Every now and then I get bored of the norm, so take a break and try something new. It's something I recommend everyone try when they feel they are getting burned out from WoW. It brings in new experiences, and can give you some appreciation when you come back to WoW (if you do). So what have I been gaming up to?

Warhammer Online, was one of my major pit stops. I had always wanted to play it, so play it I did. They currently have a free trial that never ends, so I took that up and tested it out. First things first, I made a High Elf Archmage (of course), and found myself in for a big change of pace from normal magery. Not only could I pwn faces, I also had pretty good healing abilities.

It was odd at first, but I got into it pretty quickly. I mostly leveled up through world pvp and scenarios (battlegrounds). Some fights I would mainly dps, some fights I would heal alot. I of course typically preferred dpsing, but there was a built in game mechanic to promote switching back and forth. The more you dps, the better your heals get, and the more you heal, the better your dps gets.

This turned out to be quite nice. I would actually want to heal people, so that I could pwn more face. Did I mention that Archmages have a giant lazer beam spell, that has like a 60 yard range? Yeah, it was pretty awesome. I got him to level 10 fairly quickly, and twinked him out in the best level 10 pvp gear available. Afterwards, I decided to see how things were on the evil side.

I made a Dark Elf Sorceress (Dark Elf chicks are hot, okay?), to see how their version of the mage was. Unlike Archmages, this class was not also able to moonlight as a healer, but a pure dps class. They have a unique class mechanic like most classes in WAR do, theirs is Dark Magic. As you cast damaging spells, your dark magic builds up (like an empty rage bar), causing you to do more damage. However, there is a drawback to this.

Each damaging spell that you cast has a chance to backlash and do some damage to you. The higher amount of dark magic you have, the higher the chance. So while you are pwning people, you may just suddenly die if you are not paying attention. There is a spell that allows you to release your dark magic though (I love releasing my dark magic all over archmages). So you have some control over how much dark magic you want to build up.

Unfortunately, while the Sorceress seems really cool, she doesn't hold a candle to the Archmage. The fact is that classes with healing ability will outshine those that don't most of the time. As well, half the time you are trying to fight as a Sorceress you are helpling the enemy by lowering your hp. As well, the class doesn't seem to be doing the damage for all that backlashing to be worth it (imo).

Next blog I will be covering the other game I played, Hellgate London, as well as updates to what I have been dabbling with in WoW now that I've come back.

Insert Topic Here

I've no idea what to blog about this week. I am welcome to your suggestions. I've had thoughts about delving into benefits the new mage races racials may bring, or about another game I've been playing. Honestly though, I've not the foggiest. I've become rather bored with gaming lately, which makes me a sad panda. I need to expand my horizons and pay my console (PS2) some attention perhaps.

I guess all of us need a break now and then from the norm. I've a good book I could read, perhaps I could..gasp...go outside...naaaah.

Blue Plz!

One of my favorite shows on warcraft radio, Blue Plz!. Sure the TotalBiscuit sounds like an elitist jerk, but it is a very amusing show and he can make an intelligent point. Some of this conversation I felt matched some of my feeling in my previous blog.

http://wcradio.com/shows/6-Blue-Plz-/episodes/1775

Why I WoW

I got to thinking, why exactly do I play WoW?

Sure, it's fun (sometimes) but it often seems like a frustrating second job. When starting a char you have to go through eighty levels, which takes far too long even with questing. I can barely stand it with RAF, having to go kill boars over and over again. Repetition is not something I am into. Then once you do reach 80, it's just another grind all over again for gear.

I guess what appeals to my nature, is being able to create characters. I have a fascination with playing a character. You can act out through this little avatar, give him a name and a history and act as if you were them. Though I mainly play one character, I have several other characters and more I want to make just because playing as them seems appealing. All these characters have their own personality, and lure to play them and be in the world with them.

If that didn't scare you off, there is another reason or two. The second one being competition. I love player vs player, and WoW is a fully fleshed out world to pvp in. Though to me it seems that it is horribly imbalanced in many aspects *cough*DK's*cough* that I'll blog about later. It is still skill based somewhat, and I find the fast paced think or die pvp situations are fun. I mostly like battlegrounds, where its not always people looking directly at you to kill, and Wintergrasp.

The last aspect is the progression of character. You fight a boss, wipe a few times, finally kill it, and get an upgrade. I don't raid too often, but I find it fun sometimes. Progression feels good, I can confirm that as I got better at Starcraft. Though lately I have lost interest in raiding, I feel the raiding for epics so we can raid for better epics is kind of redundant.

So all of this I could still find in any other MMO. Why WoW inparticular? I don't know. Honestly I prefer D&D type worlds, but this world has it's own unique flair. I guess because it is a fairly decent game, casual friendly, and well fun (sometimes). In short, there really isn't anything better.

Once there comes D&D Forgotten Kingdoms Online, I am so leaving WoW though.

Survey Says!

Apparently some Death Knight *cough*dieinafire*cough* is conducting a survey of some sorts. Since I need all the free publicity I can get, I figured I'd fill it out.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?

Tiberan, Blood Elf Mage, Arcane.

What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

40% battlegrounds, 30% raiding, 10% arena, 10% ganking lowbies. The final 10% I slack off.

What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?

The one that kills you. Oh wait, you're a Death Knight, silly me. :p I guess Arcane Barrage, it's so pretty but it's hardly ever used post nerf.

What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?

I just answered that question. Arcane Barrage, and because it was nerfed. No one uses it when standing still unless they want to lose dps.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?

The biggest strength is that if someone lets me stand still for ten seconds they are dead.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?

Who the hell lets you stand still for ten seconds in pvp?

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?

I do my best when given the ability to concentrate on one target and just pump out dps, so the boss or highest hp target?

What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?

Er, my Mage. Why else would I play one? Though shadow priests and balance druids come close.

What tanking class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?

What tanking class do I enjoy dpsing WITH? I guess Paladin, we share a blue bar bond.

What is your worst habit as a dps?

Dying?

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?

Morons.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?

I should kill DK's with naught but a glance.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a damage dealer?

I look at the pretty colors I am radiating for a gauge of my awesome meter.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

That I will give them a portal. Sorry, but you need to be this intelligent to ride my ports.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?

Running from DK's?

What dps class do you feel you understand least?

Warriors. They should all just man up and put on a sword n board.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?

I use an arcane power/icy veins/trinket macro, also known as my PWN button. I also use a Blizzard/Flamestrike macro, Fireward/Frostward macro, conjuring/using food macro, conjuring/using mana gem macro, polymorph macro. I use no addons except DBM.

Strength over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Idk my bff jill haste?

Night Elf Mages Revisited

Okay, it's been a while. I have a job, been trying to level a druid in the battlegrounds, and watching anime such as Bleach. You can see I have a busy schedule. Anyways, for today I was thinking about going more in-depth regarding post Catacylsm. My topic, at least today, is on Night Elf Mages. If you are a roleplayer as I am, as well as a pvper, it brings up several trains of thought.

Once I unwrap my shiny new expansion game box, install it, and log in, in the character creation section in the Night Elf race will be the new Mage option. The thing is this. When you make this character, pick out it's looks, name, and enter the world, what are you? Are you a fledgling mage, newly learned of the practice previously forbidden by your peers? Or a Highborne?

Technically, we would have to look at what makes a Highborne. By my knowledge, Highborn is one who practices arcane magic, that is a Night Elf. Now most Highborne had certain traits, such as lightened skin and hair, from their exposure to magic. Is that really a requirement though, to be physically altered to be considered Highborne. Certainly Illidan knew magic but has dark skin and hair.

So perhaps even if you are new to using arcane magic, you can still consider yourself Highborne. However, you could also potentially claim to be originally a Highborne, one of the ones that were not killed. Though there are few of them left, you could potentially still roleplay to be one. You'd have to be quite old though, and powerful. Or, you could just be relearning your ancient heritage.

It will be an interesting time. Let's cut to the point of being a Night Elf Mage from a PvP aspect though. Playing a Night Elf Druid right now I know how useful Shadowmeld can be, even if I can stealth in cat form. Having an instant vanish is quite nice. While Mages have invisibility, unless you spec for it, it is not instant. As well it can come in handy while leveling before you get invis.

If you have warlock/hunter pets on you, a quick Shadowmeld gets them off you. As well, it can be used to confuse dumb opponents, lose LoS, interupt casting on you, and multiple other uses. Quickness, Elusiveness, Wisp Spirit..are all alright but Shadowmeld is the real winner. There are only two downsides to Night Elf Mages. Their on the alliance side, and their males are fugly.

That's it for tonight, later on I may cover the other races further.

New Mage Race Options

Once the new expansion "Catacylsm" comes out, more races will be able to become Mages. Really though, you only need one race. Blood Elves, or as I like to call them, Awesome Elves. Anyways, let us go through each new race that will be able to enjoy the experience of getting facerolled by DK's.

Orc: You're kidding, right? Who the hell would try to teach orcs the arcane arts, and how could these green creatures learn it? I know I certainly don't want them stinking up the Mage hangouts. From a lore perspective, it does not make much sense to me. Most of them are incredibly dumb, and orcs that want to use magic either have to bow down to elemental spirits, or make pacts with demons. Arcane tree should be greyed out for them.

Dwarves: They are slightly more intelligent than orcs, but not by much. Also dwarves, similar to orcs, are mostly a warrior society that fears and distrusts arcane magic. At least lorewise, they would typically not become Mages, those that did would be kicked out of Ironforge. Also they are typically too drunk to cast advanced spells, since their version of conjured water is conjure beer.

Night Elves: Well, well, well...(of eternity). Look who's coming back to arcane magic, groveling on their hands and knees? Oh no, magic is bad and we must swear it off and hug trees instead. Ha! I knew it would only be a matter of time before the race realized what it was missing. Lorewise, they did swear it off as a race, but they are the original mages, well..the highborne are. Out of all three new mage races, this one makes the most sense. I may play one as an rp character.

Then there are the two new races, Goblin and Worgen.

Goblin: Magic along with technology seems to be a natural selection for goblins. It is a source of power, something to be wielded as a gun or a tool to them. I'm not too fond of goblins, they are short and green and ugly, but I plan to make one purely as a banker alt with rocket boots!

Worgen: They don't get to be mages, and I am fine with that. Arcane power isn't something to be handed out to everyone like candy on haloween. I may level one, for the coolness factor of the worgen form, their starting city, etc. After that, I will stop as I hate the alliance so much.

Aion Gives You Wings (continued)

Okay, so my last post regarding Aion may have been hasty. I hear that flying becomes much more cooler and important later on in levels. I just could not stand the meager leveling on my Sorcerer.

So I went to the bad guys side (Elyos or something, I don't pay attention). I made a "scout" which is just another word for rogue. Of course looking like a Dark Elf. I enjoyed the scenery a bit more this time around, everything seems darker and edgier instead of happy lala land.

The quests are pretty much the same as all other mmo quests, gather ten pork butts. Though they do try to make some effort in producing a good story text in them. There is the overall story arc that progresses to your ascenscion, and then there are side quests. There is some flavor differences between questing light side and dark side, but nothing that favors one over the other.

As for the actual combat and leveling, I loved it. The melee attacks you get as you advance get flashier and more awesome looking. Soon you will be letting out bitchin' combos of dagger slashing doom. As a scout, I also got a few rogue abilities such as stealth and surprise attack. I find myself dying a lot less than on my Mage, but it still feels like some mobs take too long to kill.

I am looking forward to getting my black wings and getting to the bad guys sanctuary, perhaps a bit more than my first time. Will I loose interest shortly afterwards? It depends. If there is any particular move, or something else that I really want to do, perhaps. Also the power curve will be a deciding factor, as right now sometimes I am getting to med-low health as mobs die.

Of course except when my surprise attack one shots them.

Aion gives you wings...

..then you can't use them hardly anywhere.

I recently took a chance, and bought Aion. I logged in, selected a server, and went about creating a character. I liked the idea regarding four basic character classes that expanded out into other classes. I selected the good guys for my Mage, and the bad guys for my Rogue.

The characcter customization is pretty well done, with options for skin, hair, and eye color, scars, hair styles, different faces, body types, and even your in-game voice. I made a pale skin, blue eyed, and blue haired elf looking Mage. After going through some starting movie, I went about questing. There is an overall campaign quest line, with many side quests to do such as collect 100 pork butts.

Every creature here looks like a pokemon or digimon, I swear. As I went about questing, the carrot danging was getting that next level, getting that next spell, but most importantly, getting to level 10. At level 10, you get a quest to ascend to become a Daeva. Once you do this, you get the ability to fly that was used as a big selling point of the game. Several in-game cutscenes later, I finally ascended.

I got my wings, and entered the Sanctuary. Which of course I could not fly in. So I teleported to a city I could fly in, to find out I can only fly for one minute. If you are in the air after that, your wings disappear and you plummet to your death. No parachute, no slowfall, no nothing. Also, you can not fly over water, or over mountains. The next leveling area I walked to, you could not fly there either.

So I was walking about doing questing with my same ol spells, my same ol gear, and my same ol crappy one minute or you die wings. I could continue questing, getting more levels, getting more spells, but why? I no longer had motivation to do it, it's as if the entire goal of the game is to get to level 10, play around with wings, and get bored of it. I'm sure the spells get flashier, but all in all the carrot was gone.

So I logged out. I am considering still playing my Rogue on the bad guy side some, the quests and areas will likely differ. As well, it is a different play style, so perhaps it will give me at least another ten levels of enjoyment. I can't say though that I care enough about this genericy game to try to make it to max level. All I need is for them to introduce a flight spell to Mages in WoW.

Arcane Changes

Likely, many other Mage bloggers have already covered the details regarding this latest patch changes (3.2.2 or something like that, I don't bother to count). If you want to read them all, go check the patch notes you lazy bastard. Since I am a kind and benevelent soul, I will link you to one of my favored bloggers, Critical QQ.

Myself being a fully devoted Arcane Mage, and owning a blog, it comes to my responsibility to enlighten all on my views. All in all, I think we went two steps forward and one step back. One great leap forward for standing still (How is that possible? Magic, bitches.), in that you get to stand still even longer (Yay!) and do supposedly more dps and save more mana (Again, magic.).

It is however quite a standstill (Yes, I went there.) for those in need to move, such as when a Death Knight is on your rear (quite literally). As well, there are many PvE encounters that need either minor movement (void zones), or to move most of the fight. Since you now have so little cushion time, expect to have your dps gashed. But wait, there's Arcane Barrage!

Now don't expect me to do any math, because I'm not one of those types. I just mash my big ol PWN buttons (I macrod all my buttons) and see the fireworks as a Warlock dies. However, Arcane Barrage has went from being THE rotation, to being something you only cast if you want to lose DPS. It still is the most amazing instant cast spell there is (It sure is purty too!), but it has no place in rotations anymore.

So after going and making a hodgepodge attempt at covering what is important about these changes, my opinion on them, I have some suggestions. One, is that Arcane Barrage when cast increases the duration of the Arcane Blast debuff. This way you can cast your AB and if you have to move suddenly, cast Abarr and then get back into your AB stack. This would have to be on a time limit, otherwise you could keep the debuff on a target all day.

Either that, or make a mini rotation. Give Arcane Barrage increased damage or some other benefit, when you have one stack of the Arcane Blast debuff. This is not so great as the idea I just had above which I just thought of on the spot (Go me), but could possibly work. You know what else would work? Having Arcane Barrage with one stack of AB refresh Slow on the target.

Enough, I have to stop now or I will continue to babble out ingenious ideas for free. I should be charging you all for this! Consider it your birthday and xmas gifts.
-Vinven

Class Difference.

Currently, I play an Arcane Mage. It is quite fun as I get to shoot purple arcaney fireworks at people. My rotation is fairly simple but can be based off several variables. Now I originally started with an Elemental Troll Shaman, and still have the char. Problem is when I started shooting bolts of lightning, I realized I was just playing a not as awesome version of my Mage.

Besides different spell icons and graphics, it's mostly the same feel to me. I figure if I am going to be shooting anything from my hands, it might as well be arcane goodness. This is why I respec'd my Shaman enhancement. Not every caster class is the same I understand, but it seems that the game is trying to move forward to everyone being the same.

I'm currently leveling a Troll Priest (female, shadow), and this class has some uniqueness to it. It has dots, some dd, some channeled spells, it seems pretty diverse for a 'hybrid' class. Of course it is not quite as unique as it used to be. No one really needs a shadow priest for anything but their dps, in a world (of warcraft) filled with everyone being dps.

How do you give a class unique-ness then, without making it so that they are near mandatory? Perhaps some unique mechanics? One example, is Warlocks. They use an additional resource system (soul shards), are a pet class (one out of two in the game), and add something to the raid that can assist in making them wanted (healthstones, soulstones, summoning).

I realize now that I went from how nuking feels the same on most classes, to how each class should have something that makes them wanted in raids. My next post will be concentrated, I swear!