22 May 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
My guess, Hi-Rez will modify for added sex appeal.
SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a new column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive backstory of lore. From the Greek to Hindi, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios upcoming MOBA.
Lore: Arachne’s history delivers a classic message to the people of Greece, “Do Not Mess With Gods.” A weaver that believed herself superior to Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy, she had the audacity to tell other mortals about her prowess. Being easily offended by lesser beings as Greek gods often were, Athena organized a weaving challenge, assured she’d win due to Arachne utilizing Athena’s own knowledge as part of the her craft.
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15 May 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a new column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindi, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios upcoming MOBA.
SMITE isn’t just another DotA knockoff. The developers at Hi-Rez Studios has put its own massive spin on the genre, aside from cherry picking from previous legendary lore. The title will be familiar, featuring lane pushing, towers, creeping, item building and personal spell selection. The major change is the camera. The camera will not be presented in the typical isometric view, like most MOBA games, but locked behind your player in a third-person perspective. This allows for complete ganks – no need for weeds to “hide” in – forcing players to keep tabs on blind spots and use them to their advantage.
The full list of characters and their titles are after the jump along with a video interview by iTZKooPA with a more comprehensive introduction to the title from COO Todd Harris.
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3 April 2012 | |
Randy Denosha
The Dungeon Master is going to take a look at the third Adventure Pack that crossed his desk, this being The Sharn Syndicate for DDO, a pack that is for characters around level 4.
This pack has six adventures in it, each revolving around the local crime organization The Sharn Syndicate. It starts off slow, with the player defending a bar from low-level thugs. The slow start is deceiving, leading one to believe it’ll be a run-of-the-mill adventure, but it ends in an all out warfare in the streets of Stormreach where the player will have a hard time getting away. Many players argue that the end rewards for this adventure pack are a must around level 4. I agree to that only if the player can actually use any of the weapons they give at the end. The weapons are, Greatsword, Heavy Mace, Kama, Longbow, Longsword, Scimitar and Shortsword and all of them have an energy type on them doing an extra 1d6 of damage. Continue Reading
2 December 2011 | |
iTZKooPA
This review of the World of Warcraft: Wolfheart novel by Richard A. Knaak is of the spoiler-free variety.
The latest novel for Warcraft’s Expanded Universe sits firmly in the current timeline of the game, as most recent novels have. Readers are placed in a small window after the Cataclysm and the events of Lord of His Pack, but before the official induction of the worgen to the Alliance. This is notable because the author, Richard A. Knaak, tends to write in his own timeline. Nearly all of his work has been set in the game’s past, including a handful of plots that few living beings would have intimate knowledge of. Knaak’s other common trait is the inclusion of “his” characters, Tyrande Whisperwing and Malfurion Stormrage. Both of these characters play an integral role to the dual plot.
Yes, a dual plot. Interested?
Knaak weaves two distinct threads throughout Wolfheart. Not so shockingly, one tale features the struggles of the Alliance, while the other showcases the audacity of the reinvigorated Horde. Making this novel fully capable of playing a fantastic Benedict Arnold (overall, more Alliance focused).
Hit the cut to find out how the novel comes together and if Knaak has finally won over one of the Lore Hounds. Continue Reading
2 November 2011 | |
Randy Denosha
The Dungeon Master returns with a look at a second starting instances. This time venturing into The Seal of Shan-To-Kor, a level 3-5 pack inside Turbine’s ever-growing Dungeons and Dragons Online.
The Seal of Shan-To-Kor consists of just four adventures, which is a bit less than normal in the Turbine’s product. Three of the four are follow up dungeons, so the player completes one dungeon and can go through the rest of the adventures in order. The final instance is a disappointment relative to the rest. It plays like a throwaway side quest. One that can be skipped and still earn the final rewards.
Speaking of, those end rewards consist of a nice rune arm for the Artificer, a nice bracer for tanking characters, a sweet docent for the Warforged or the pet of the Artificer and several other items. Continue Reading
17 October 2011 | |
iTZKooPA
This review World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects novel by Christie Golden is of the spoiler-free variety.
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects opens like many other recent World of Warcraft novelizations. We’re introduced to the star character, Thrall. Said character is then introduced to a challenging force known to any player that has been following the overall storyarc. Today, that’s Deathwing and the devastation his reentry left on Azeroth. Readers are quickly shown how inept Thrall is at his new craft, shamanism. An adjective rarely applied to the renowned – on both sides – leader. Despite his spiritual growth at he hands of Draka in The Shattering, he can barely keep up with his Earthen Ring brethren, leading them to dismiss him, a former Warchief.
Thrall. He’s known by many names, for many reasons. The greenskin is known by both factions, loved and hated independent of such fissures. Warcrafters know more about him than any other faction leaders, quite possibly any other figure in the decades-long universe. And yet, fans don’t know him. Fans know his deeds, the legends, what he’s created and what he has left behind. Golden rectifies this in Twilight of the Aspects. Continue Reading
19 September 2011 | |
Randy Denosha
If you have been living under a rock you may not have noticed that the newest update has hit the live servers of Dungeons and Dragons Online. Naturally, I bought the currently-pay-only Artificer class and created an elf artificer that is based on the mighty repeating crossbow. After the first couple of dungeons, I noticed one thing that stuck with me till the end – the new class is a pretty power-playing class. At least, that is what I have noticed from it in my build that I did. The build focuses on the crossbow and supporting it. My feats were selected to maximize crossbows, and are support by healing spells and/or buffing spells. Let’s not forget my little Iron Defender – the first pet available in DDO – you get as an Artificer. He handles the tanking aspect of battle. This combination is quite the power full one. As of this posting – knocks on wood – I haven’t died once. In some dungeons the pitiful monsters haven’t even scratched my armor!
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