Posts Tagged ‘class’

Guardian Fighter Earning its Name in New Neverwinter Trailer

15 February 2013 | 1 Comment » | iTZKooPA

The Guardian Fighter, Neverwinter’s tanking side of the holy trinity, is back in a new trailer showcasing a montage of its destructive capabilities. Neverwinter isn’t your typical Dungeons & Dragons property focusing on fast-paced combat and that means the Guardian Fighter isn’t your typical tank to stand there and take it. The class can give as good as it gets.

The Guardian Fighter supports its abilities with medium melee weapons, such as battleaxes, and a large base health pool. Dodging attacks in general is critical to battle, so it’s important for players to maintain the delicate balance of dodges and stamina.

Playable in last week’s closed beta session, I can tell you that the class was far more enjoyable than tanks in most MMOGs. Check out the action after the cut.

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Ragnarok Online 2 Open Beta: First Impressions

8 January 2013 | 3 Comments » | pixiestixy

There’s just something about the cuteness factor of Ragnarok that made me want to come back. It was probably about 10 years ago that I first played the original Ragnarok Online, my first experience with an MMO.

A super-deformed sprite of the original Raganarok Online, fighting the same creature type pictured in the background of the RO2 screenshot above.

I’ve gone back and played the original game many times through the years, and even picked up the game for Nintendo DS a couple years back, but never really got back into it after having experienced the updated graphics and gameplay of World of Warcraft.

But now, the long-awaited and once-scrapped sequel is finally in open beta, and I was keen to get back into the game. But just as I was about to download the client, an unexpected announcement from the game administrators seemed to thwart my attempts:

“…It’s with our deepest apologies that we announce we will not be able to provide the RO2 game service to players outside of our optimized countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – due to our license agreement with the game’s developer, Gravity Co., Ltd.” — RO2 Administrator, AsiaSoft (source)

This announcement sent huge shockwaves throughout the RO2 community. Many players on the official forums have expressed disappointment and even anger, saying that they feel like they’ve been strung along for years, only to be told at the last second that they wouldn’t be allowed to play the game. But we also have not yet heard any clarification on the topic from the admins — is this a temporary thing? Or maybe just for the beta period? Will the full game eventually be released worldwide? I’d assume yes, but like I said, we’ve not heard that officially.

Regardless, I suppose the game servers have only intermittently received the message that only players in certain areas should be allowed access — I and many others located outside of those areas have still been able to sign up, download and patch the client, and play the game since after that announcement was made. I’m unsure whether that will continue, but I’m happy that I can at least review and share a few screenshots from what I’ve seen so far.

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How Will Transmogrification Steer WoW and Its Design?

12 July 2012 | No Comments » | Heartbourne

World of Warcraft’s patch 4.3 brought about a popular new feature – transmogrification – that allows players to change the appearance of their equipped armor to other armor they may have. The feature has proven to be a popular way to customize characters, as previously a lot of people looked the same if they were sporting the most recent and powerful items. There are dozens of websites that you can explore to assemble the best looking set. It has incentivized players to explore and farm old content to obtain nostalgic and unique looks, and it has created an extremely profitable market for players dedicated to collecting and reselling popular items.

With transmogrification as popular as it is, introducing cool-looking armor might be as popular a reward as powerful gear.

Mists of Pandaria is testing this right out of the gate. The new challenge mode dungeons seem very difficult, but they offer a great reward if completed on the highest difficult: a unique armor set used for transmogrification. Most of the difficult raiding and PvP achievements have been rare and unique mounts and titles, but this new type of reward could be a new standard. The mounts have made the “glory” achievements very sought after, but they haven’t worked too well for getting people into rated battlegrounds. What’s the point in getting a new mount every couple of months if you are just going to replace it with a shinier one in the near future? Special armor rewards offer another factor to work towards, especially since the raid finder has made obtaining gear that looks similar to the normal and heroic raid’s models very easy.

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The Dungeon Master: The Rogue Class

25 January 2012 | No Comments » | Randy Denosha

In this Dungeon Master, we are going to sneak around DDO, gather some information, maybe even grab some items that are not ours. The class this time is, the Rogue.

Lore Bites: The Rogue comes in several different ways. Many thieves you find in the prisons of Eberron are of this slight-of-hand clan, but tales have been heard of noble men and women recruiting these shadowy figures to spy on the rival noble house. The rogues that become thieves mostly had a hard life living on the street resorting, stealing was a means to survival. Rogues that are more honorable – and take honorable lightly – become spies, working for kings and noblemen and women. Many people who tried were not able to find them, but there are stories of a rogue guild where both honorable and dishonorable of their  ilk find employment. Well-paying employment. Continue Reading

The Dungeon Master: The Sorcerer Class

12 January 2012 | No Comments » | Randy Denosha

In the first Dungeon Master of the year, we are going down the road with one – of two – arcane masters in the D&D Eberron universe that DDO is situated in. I am, of course, talking about the Sorcerer class.

Lore Bites: The Sorcerer is in many ways the same as the Wizard class. The biggest difference between the two is that where the Wizard learns his spells via study, the Sorcerer is born with the arcane powers inside themselves. This power usually comes out at an early age, and is uncontrollable by the young child.

After becoming older, and getting taught by another Sorcerer, they learn the power to harness their arcane power that is inside them. When they gain more experience in their life, and hone their skill with magic, they eventually develop more strong arcane powers; eventually becoming able to throw around the fiercest of spells. On a side note, even though the Sorcerer doesn’t have to study, this comes with a side effect – mainly, they have a less overall number of spells than a Wizard at their disposal. Continue Reading

The Dungeon Master: The Fighter Class

21 November 2011 | No Comments » | Randy Denosha
This time in The Dungeon Master we are going to suit up in an armor and grab a door for a shield because it’s time to get into the deets of the Fighter class  from Dungeons and Dragons Online.

In the earlier Barbarian post, I stated that I enjoyed fighters more than barbarians, stick with me and you’ll learn why.

When a player wants to start a fighter, almost any race is available and viable. For those min-maxers out there, the type of fighter you wish to make may sway the race selection. Going fr a ranged fighter with a bow? You’d be best off rolling, wait for it, an elf. Is two-handed face smashing more your forte? Then a half-orc is your best bet. There is one race that might favor the fighter a bit more and that is the human. Humans edge out other races thanks to an extra feat and the fighter gets an extra feat to select every 2 levels. Continue Reading

The Dungeon Master: The Barbarian Class

21 October 2011 | No Comments » | Randy Denosha

This time in The Dungeon Master column we are going to rage our way into the depths of the barbarian class from the game Dungeons and Dragons Online.


So let us get into it, shall we?

For everyone that wants to begin a Barbarian, they have to keep some things in mind. One is your weapon; it doesn’t matter if the player is an half-Orc, a Human or a Warforged, the player will be using two-handed weapons. Any generic “just-found-it” two-handed weapon will do.

Now the half-Orc does loan itself the best for making a barbarian, but making it a Warforged or Human is not that bad of an idea either. Warforged do get some enhancements that boosts the usage with two-handed weapons and the extra feat the player gets when they are a Human can open up some nice possibilities with feats.
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Patch 4.2 Overload – Armor Colors, Pets, Mounts, Models, Set Bonuses, and More

6 May 2011 | 2 Comments » | pixiestixy

With the first version of Patch 4.2 hitting the Public Test Realm less than 24 hours ago, the floodgates have opened on tons and tons of new content to feast upon. We hope to take a more detailed look at the items that most interest us, but for now let’s do a quick rundown of what’s available — both via official announcement and via datamining efforts at WoWhead– for players to enjoy:

  • First of all, for an early look at what the big upcoming content patch will bring, take a look at the official Patch Notes. They have yet to be updated since the opening of the PTR, but keep an eye out for inevitable changes that will come about as testing gets underway. Some of the big items that are getting early attention include: the ability to reorganize characters on the Selection screen, changes to many crown control abilities, and the usual back-and-forth on class balance.
  • WoWhead has put up a set of fun new models from the PTR, complete with four new mounts and four new pets (I’m especially loving the kittens in witch hats, the whelpling and the Horde war wolf). Also included are models for bosses, NPCs and a few select objects. And for those items that still lack a model, you also can browse through the WoWhead listings of more than 800 items added in the last day alone. Icons and maps are covered in a separate post. That’s a lot of cool new stuff!
  • Perhaps even more awesome than the Tier 12 armor previews that Kershocker covered earlier this week is the fact that we now know that each set has multiple color variations. We’re not sure exactly how or why yet, but the variations are significantly more apparent than slight color changes for higher-iLevel pieces that we’ve seen lately. I am really digging this option, as I’ve always loved the idea of a higher degree of armor personalization. Now we just need to wait to find out if the color changes by spec, by iLevel, PvE versus PvP — or maybe just player choice. But probably not.
  • Also regarding the Tier 12 armor sets, WoW Insider rounded up the set bonuses for each class. And given the theme of the Firelands, I must say the bonuses do not disappoint. I love how most of the bonuses have something to do with adding fire damage or some kind of fire-related ability. FIRE!

So much to go see! Out of all this information, the armor color variations are probably my most anticipated. I can’t wait to get more information on what this change entails. What are you excited to see in-game?