My baby's first birthday

Well I'm a bit late but I just realized that this blog has existed for over a year now. It seems forever since I first began writing, and looking back I'm really glad I did. I'm not sure whether my writing now would have been as bad as it was back then if I hadn't done this blog, but I like to think so. :P
Hmm, that's assuming it has improved at all, eheheheheh.
It sure had its ups and downs, and long absences but we made it.
Normally people would go about quoting how many views they've got, and how many comments but I stopped using the counter on my blog a long time ago. So I really have no idea how many people visit this blog, but nevertheless its comforting to talk to empty space and imagine someone is there laughing at all your jokes. *cough* This is getting embarrassing...

Because its nostalgia for me I'm going to go through the ages, talking about how the blog developed and linking embarrassing posts.

June 3rd: My first post. An innocent beginning into the bright harsh world of the internet.
June 7th: My first venture on youtube, and added a short-lived feature of featuring youtube videos on my blog.
June 8th: Myself being an experienced blogger of five days I felt it necessary to impart my knowledge with the inexperienced horde.
June 18th: Realizing my destiny of blogging about games.
July 8th: Talking about WAR, and getting my hopes bloated on hype.
August 3rd: Only about 19 years now...
Sep 7th: It didn't work out. /sigh
Jan 21st: Mm, not bad, lotta brown buddy.
Fed 24th: Discovered the game that would make me a youtube celebrity :D (Yeah right)
March 15th: Still playing it, my record is 6 wins against my brother in just over a half hour. Great game. :P
April 9th: RoM marathon, good times
May 2nd: New record is over 12 million I think.
June 4th: I didn't do that well in those exams, and completely forgot it was my blog's birthday +1 day.

Well that was interesting. I'll see you in another year. :D

In a perfect world there wouldn't be blogs

In the past month there has been many new blogs popping up all over the place, some bloggers begin to post more, others slack off; enjoying the game. But a large majority of the posts around are ideas to improve the game, complaining about an aspect of the game, or just giving a autobiography of their toon. A month in and there is still plenty to talk about, the 'State of the Game' announcement, scenarios, PQs, population woes, and on and on and on. My point is that without the problems in game we bloggers wouldn't have a whole lot to talk about. If everything about WAR was great then we would only need to make one post 'Grats Mythic' and close our blogs.

So I guess some of the bloggers could thank Mythic for having the many problems, that it is only to be expected, but problems nontheless, for without it every WAR dedicated blog would have shut down a few weeks ago. Because we all know that rage posts and frustrated posts are a joy to read we should all thank Mythic for being only human (Or as human as a compnay can get) and giving us bloggers something to write about.

A WAR interrogation; how elite are the bloggers? Part 4

Today we get to learn the ins and outs of WAR's most pimping blogger; Syp. The scores I have been giving for the past couple of ones haven't been too impressive (*I-expected-more-from-you-son-look*) but we're not over yet and someone could still get some truly awesome marks. Enough procrastinating, lets dissect Syp the blogging fiend!

WAR interrogation - how elite are the bloggers?

Identify yourself! (Blogger name – what blog – class)

Syp, WAAAGH! A Warhammer Online Blog, Playing Syp, Dwarf Engineer

1) Where you at? (Normal rank – renown rank) - 3.5/5

Rank 24, RR 19

2) We want dedication soldier! (Average playtime every week) - 3/5

18-22 hours (a few a night, plus a few extra on Thursdays)

3) On a scale of 1 to 10 how skillful would you rate yourself? - 2.5/5

Ability to die heroically - 9.5

Ability to jump around Destruction players and be an annoying fly in their ear - 8

Ability to make a thick stew - 4

4) Who are you working with? (Class you like the most aside from your own and why) - 4.5/5

Probably Runepriests, because they take pity on my broken corpse and rez it so that it may receive more punishment. Plus, they look like short fat Jedis with wooden lightsabers.

5) Give me names (Class you dislike the most and why) - 4.5/5

Witch Elves. Witch Elves. Witch Elves. A cuter rogue in form, but a rogue nonetheless -- and just as cowardly, overpowered and unforgiving as rogues in other titles.

6) What do you really want? (If you could make up one ability what would it be?) 4/5

A puppy cannon. The enemy would never be prepared for a face-full of puppies, and it would give me the psychological edge.

A good start Syp, quite a good level although you don't seem to be grinding enough scenarios to get your renown rank up there. :P
Reasonable playtime but I guess we can't expect something like 80 hours a week because of your obscene post rate.
I would like to think you could be a bit more awesome then an annoying fly..
Runepriests are apprentice jedis with wooden lightsabers, protecting use fom the evils of Destruction!
Too true, my pocket runepriest only has time to open his mouth before those Witch Elves have hammered him into a stunty pulp.
A psycological edge over something like a black orc may not be that much of an advantage as it has no brain, but still bonus points for creativity.
You have reached rank 40, you gain 22/30 points of 1337ness!

A WAR interrogation - how elite are the bloggers? Part 3

Part three and today we get close and personal with Brent. Not only does he produce a great blog but he also made a bunch of vids on youtube before the NDA was lifted and they are some of the bet warhammer gameplay videos around, you can check them out here. But what is really important is the score so lets put brent through his paces.

WAR interrogation - how elite are the bloggers?

Identify yourself! (Blogger name – what blog – class)

My name is Brent, my web alias is br3ntbr0. I run the blog "A Wall of Text" at http://textwall.blogspot.com. I play a Goblin Shaman on the Thorgrim server and a Dwarf Ironbreaker on the Averheim server in Warhammer Online.

1) Where you at? (Normal rank – renown rank) - 4.5/5

My goblin shaman is level 22/20 (lvl/rr) on a low population server, so the PVE leveling has been slow. On a higher pop server my order characters are able to level via scenarios and I have a 14/14 Ironbreaker, 9/9 Rune Priest, 10/10 Warrior Priest and 8/8 Bright Wizard. I suspect my Shaman would be in his 30's right now if scenarios would only pop more for Destruction on my server ><

2) We want dedication soldier! (Average playtime every week) - 3/5

I play 2-3 hours nearly every night, and slightly more on Sat/Sun if schedule provides the time. I'd say I'm probably around 20 (give or take 5) hours a week, which I consider to be alot (probably too much) time with gaming.

3) On a scale of 1 to 10 how skillful would you rate yourself? - 4/5

I'm not a great twitch gamer, but I try. I might give myself an 8 simply because I have alot of experience with these kinds of games, and I'm an IT professional and I understand software a bit more than the average gamer. I try to be a student of any game I play and am constantly on the look out for new information that might help me be more competitive, especially with PVP based games. If there's a mod, macro, or piece of hardware that might help, I'll probably try it.

4) Who are you working with? (Class you like the most aside from your own and why) - 2.5/5

I like the Shaman and Ironbreaker the most right now, closely followed by Bright Wizard and Rune Priest. The Shaman is a really flexible character. He does good dps for a healing class, and since he's a healer he's a welcomed sight in just about an aspect of the game. The Ironbreaker is just the most annoying class to the Destruction side I can think of. Hard as nails, knocking people all over the map, snares, knockdowns...just fun. The Rune Priest is the best healer in the game (zealot too) and the Bright Wizard will absolutely wreck people if left alone.

5) Give me names (Class you dislike the most and why) - 4/5

I dislike the Witch Hunter, because they have crap survivability, and in these kinds of games survivability is my thing. With those classes, once you come out of stealth to attack someone in anything other than 1v1, you'd better pray you get spam healed or you pretty much die as others will turn to focus on you since you are squishy. There's no vanish-like mechanic to get in and get out. I'm not big on low survivability classes, which is the only reason the Bright Wizard isn't my main character in War either. The very first class I ever made in War closed beta long ago was the Witch Hunter and loved everything about the class...until I started doing RVR with him. The next one I made was the Bright Wizard, and while better in RVR (since he's ranged) but he was even less able to survive.

6) What do you really want? (If you could make up one ability what would it be?) - 2.5/5

Like I mentioned in earlier, if Witch Hunters had an emergency escape skill like the Rogues have in WoW...something in addition to their normal stealth...then I'd probably start playing one instantly. To the same end, if Bright Wizards had a 2nd crowd control skill I might consider playing him as well, something like the Blink spell that WoW mages have. I know the War/WoW comparisons have been beaten to death, but I think those classes in War would be well served to study thier WoW counterparts and bring something like those abilities in to War.

Time is up and the results are in, but just a few comments first.
You got good marks for keeping your RR up with you normal rank and pretty good leveling considering your play time.
Not a bad play time but not a particularly good one.
Go on...give youself an 11, you know your worth it.
I said aside from your own!!!! You named all the ones that you were playing!!!! If you can't listen to instruction then you had seriously better consider whether you belong here! *Stand over your cowering frame and leer*
Everyone hates Witch Hunters so you get good marks for that one.
Bright Wizards are already the most over powered class in the game except for their squishieness which stops them from being absurdly op, a blink ability would just make 50% of Order who doesn't already have a Bright Wizard main roll one.

Overall great job Brent and you have been awarded with; 20.5/30

A WAR Interrogation - how elite are the bloggers? Part 2

Receiving various bloggers' responses to my 'questionnaire' it was interesting to see how much each wrote, some wrote a fair amount while quite a few wrote one liners. But I will mark them all as equal! Today I decided to fit in two, yes two, different bloggers answers because they were short enough to do so, and also that Thallian didn't look so lonely up there on the leaderboard, so with out further ado; Tobold and Crimson!!

WAR interrogation - how elite are the bloggers?

Identify yourself! (Blogger name – what blog – class)

Tobold - Tobold, http://tobolds.blogspot.com/, shaman
Crimson - Crimson Starfire, Word of Shadow (http://word-of-shadow.blogspot.com), Warrior Priest (Starmantle) and Archmage (Bloodfire)

1) Where you at? (Normal rank – renown rank)

Tobold - Rank 20, RR 17 (3/5)

Crimson - Starmantle - NR:20, RR:18 , Bloodfire - NR:21, RR:20 (4/5)

2) We want dedication soldier! (Average playtime every week)

Tobold - Around 20 hours (3/5)

Crimson - 35 - 40 hours (4/5)

3) On a scale of 1 to 10 how skillful would you rate yourself?

Tobold - What's your definition of skill? I rate high on knowledge skills,
understanding game systems, knowing what to do. I rate low on fast
button mashing skills. (4.5/5)

Crimson - Nine (The most arrogant - lol) (4/5)

4) Who are you working with? (Class you like the most aside from your own and why)

Tobold - Tanks, obviously. I like to hide behind a black orc and keep him alive. (2.5/5)

Crimson - Like working with the Ironbreaker because they are easy to heal, hard to kill and deal and enormous amount of damage when needed. The Ironbreaker/Archmage make a great combo. (4/5)

5) Give me names (Class you dislike the most and why)

Tobold - Witch hunters, because of their invisibility. (5/5)

Crimson - I like all classes. I do enjoy killing Witch Elfs the most though :) (2/5)

6) What do you really want? (If you could make up one ability what would it be?)

Tobold - I want a knockback ability, shamans only get one very late, and only
if they specialize in one talent tree. (3/5)

Crimson - Teleport (Like blink from WoW) (3/5)


Well done bloggers, short and to the point makes good reading. Crimson gets brownie points for having two characters at a reasonably high level, would like to see a bit more commitment in a single character, however, to get more points.
Answering a question with a question Tobold; you know how to play this don't you? Crimson, if you are going to be arrogant, you might as well go all the way, but a good self assessment there. I was going to mark you both up on question 4 because you both said you love tanks, but then I realized Tobold was talking about a Black Orc/Shaman tag team which lost him all his points, I hate those creeps; impossible to take down!
Tobold hit the money on the head, but there is a Destruction class who also has invisibility and you didn't mention them - I'm starting to think you favour Destruction...Crimson, your message of world friendship is disgraceful but since I can relate to you with WE (Always killing my healers) you didn't do too badly.
Nothing too creative on the last question which was a bit disapointing but overall you guys did pretty well!

So the final score is;
Tobold - 21/30
Crimson - 21/30

Its a tie! We have just a few more bloggers to go but things are beginning to look very close!

A WAR interrogation - how elite are the bloggers? Part 1

Partly because everyone loves interviews, and partly because I thought it would be interesting, I have gone about and asked/interrogated various blogger about them and their WAR experience.Some were enthusiastic and wrote a short novel for each question (Thanks brent) and others kept it short and sweet, while others probably deleted the email as spam. :P But the aim of this is to find out just how elite are the bloggers, there are six main questions which each will be marked out of 5 for a total of 30 points, after a couple of days we should find out just who is the most elite blogger! First off the plate we have (drumroll please) Thallian!!

Identify yourself! (Blogger name – what blog – class)

Thallian is my pen name-Thallian and Anton's MMO and random rambles blog

1) Where you at? (Normal rank – renown rank) - 3/5

I have three "main's" Rumples the IB is rank 13 on Praag, Thallian the SM is rank nine on Averheim (hes in COW) and Erustark the RP is rank 8 or 9 on an rp server which is some thing I'm trying out for the first time. Really, I've come ot the conclusion so far that they aren't that special. I dunno my pvp rank but its pretty on par with everyone else's at these low levels.

2) We want dedication soldier! (Average playtime every week) - 2/5

Ummm yeah dedication lol. Obviously not a lot of that other than the dedication to not quit!!! I play about 2 to 4 hours of warhammer a week and 2 to 6 hours of Lotro if I get permission from my gf (the boss)

3) On a scale of 1 to 10 how skillful would you rate yourself? - 4.5/5

On a scale of 1 to 10 I am super great.

4) Who are you working with? (Class you like the most aside from your own and why) and 5) Give me names (Class you dislike the most and why) - 3.5/5 and 3/5

Sure, I hate fighting Disciples of Kain, they are too beefy. I also hate fighting shamans unless I have them outnumbered and outgunned. Marauders are powerful but quite killable so I don't mind them I think thye are neat. On the Order side I dont like archmages, they are too hard to kill and wonky. I bet I wouldnt like warriori priests too if I played destruction more often. I have two destruction chars I'm toying with playing, a zealot and a DoK. Maybe a marauder. I love the Ironbreaker. Undecided on the Swordmaster but I like how he's different than the ironbreaker. Lastly I dont think the runepriests are super cool but they are ok and I need to try the engineer

6) What do you really want? (If you could make up one ability what would it be?) - 4.5/5

If I could make up an ability or two, one would be the ability to domino effect. Push one person with a move and it pushes the people behind them. This would make for some great fights in crowded places. Umm Second I vote for full collision detection with no pushing through against the enemy. You want to push through you gotta kill em. Nuff said. Not enough thought went into the lameness of the push through decision.

Congratulastions Thallian, you have completed your exam...I mean interrogation. Kudos for you trying ou all the different characters, points were deducted for saying 'pvp'....its RvR! Play time is a bit disapointing but the gf saved you from a complete embrassment. I like the fact that you answer a simple number question with a sentence - bonus points - its what we want to see in our men. Good coverage of classes, but its uspposed to be that you hate all Destruction and love Order, but anyway. And chain knockbacks is a brilliant idea and it should definitely be given to Ironbreakers.
You final score is 20.5/30 which puts you in the lead! One down several more to go...who will be the most elite blogger?