Our Most Satisfying Victories: Part 1 – Gaming Thoughts

Whether it's watching the credits roll at the end of a game, besting a super secret hidden boss, reaching max level, completing a particularly taxing puzzle or something altogether different - what video game moments were the most satisfying for members of the CGR team, and why? We capped it at four entries each, and here's the first round of them.

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Jaggy's Corner - March 7th, 2020

Welcome Back to Jaggy's Corner where I discuss various video gaming topics like seasons and episodes!

Today, I'm going to talk a bit about two games that I play a fair amount of. The first is Destiny 2's new seasons launching on March 10th. The other is Guild Wars 2's latest episode release which comes out soon (I hope).

Destiny 2

So! Season of the Worthy launches THIS TUESDAY and I can't be more excited. Some of you may not know this but Season of the Dawn is the first season that I've done everything to get the seal and the title of Saviour. Plus, my pin is already ordered! It's the first of its kind! I WILL HAVE A THING FOR DESTINY. Because I'm still looking for Cayde with a Chicken in Canada... I WILL HAVE HIM ONE DAY. And let it be known that this is the only shooter I play, so this is an achievement for me.

Anyways, with this season comes a bunch of new activities, balance changes, and a much-awaited returning event. That event is Trials of Osiris, which is a PVP mode that many Destiny fans have been waiting for. I'm excited to give this mode a shot (pun not intended), but I won't do that until the second week of it. The reason for that has to do with the most recent TWAB where Bungie stated that they wouldn't be able to disable the artifact boost for the first week but will be able to for the second week and onwards. Since I'm terrible at PVP events, I want to make sure that I only enter modes that are fair for everyone. Having a huge artifact boost in the first week will drastically imbalance some of the teams, and we already have to deal with a ton of cheaters as it is...

In Season of the Worthy, we get to save the last city, get access to new events, and some awesome looking armor. Along with Season of the Worthy are some nerfs to different exotic armors, some of which are surprising while others are not. Here is the TWAB which outlines the Season roadmap, changes, and more! But, for those of you that just want the list of changes to exotic gear, I copied it below:

• Hunter

  • Assassin's Cowl

    • The invisibility and healing effect now triggers on powered melee (both against combatants and Guardians) and finishers.

    • The duration of the invisibility granted by this Exotic increases based on the tier of the enemy defeated.

    • Arc Staff kills no longer activates this perk.

  • FROST-EE5

    • Changed the ability regeneration so that it no longer stacks multiplicatively with other class ability energy-generating perks.

  • Khepri's Sting

    • All smoke bombs deal 150% damage while wearing this Exotic.

  • Orpheus Rig

    • The maximum amount of Super you can regain from this Exotic with a single use of Shadowshot is 50%.

  • Young Ahamkara's Spine

    • Increases the explosion radius for Tripmines by 14%.

• Titan

  • Ashen Wake

    • Killing an enemy with a Fusion Grenade while wearing this Exotic now refunds grenade energy. The amount of grenade energy refunded scales based on the tier of enemy killed.

  • Anteus Wards

    • The shield created during a slide no longer allows chip damage through.

  • Doomfang Pauldrons

    • Fixed a bug where Doomfang Pauldrons would sometimes grant Super energy from melee kills while in your Super.

  • Dunemarchers

    • Increase the radius of the static charge to 20 meters, up from 12.

  • Mk. 44 Stand Asides

    • Reduced the delay from the start of sprinting until the overshield comes in to 0.5 seconds, down from 1.25.

  • One-Eyed Mask

    • The target marking from this Exotic has been replaced with target highlighting, eliminating the ability to detect targets through walls.

    • No longer provides a damage bonus when defeating your marked target.

    • Restored the previous overshield granted by defeating your marked target, which now has a duration of 6 seconds, down from 8.

  • Severance Enclosure

    • The explosion now triggers on powered melee (both against combatants and Guardians) and finishers.

    • The radius and damage of the explosion created by this Exotic increases based on the tier of the enemy defeated.

• Warlock

  • Apotheosis Veil

    • This Exotic is now guaranteed to drop with a minimum +16 to Intellect.

  • Contraverse Hold

    • Reduced the damage reduction granted by this Exotic to 20%, down from 40%.

  • Sanguine Alchemy

    • Sanguine Alchemy has received a complete redesign. Its new perk, Blood Magic, allows the wearer to pause the countdown timer of any Rift they are standing in by getting weapon kills, extending the Rift's duration.

  • Ophidian Aspects

    • Now increases the lunge range of all Warlock melee attacks, even if the ability is on cooldown.

  • Verity's Brow

    • The buff provided by this Exotic now increases your grenade damage by 10% per stack.

    • The buff to allies' grenade recharge rates now kicks in when you cast your grenade.

    • This Exotic now provides a buff text notification indicating how many allies are currently benefiting from your increased grenade recharge.

More details about Season of the Worthy can be found right here.

Overall, I'm excited to see what this season brings. Some of those changes will affect a bunch of players but I'm more of a PvE'er. And perhaps one day I will be better at this game, but right now my hunter is still a scrub. *cackles*

Also, check out this SICK trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/p7Z1ufrNUns

Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 has had its ups and downs in the last year or so, but that hasn't stopped the content from coming out. In fact, in the last week, the game devs made some changes to WvW and PvP builds. Players have enjoyed these changes from what I've gathered. Then, a new trailer released a few days ago, and we can't help but notice how much faster this episode is releasing. Personally, I'm hyped because of the content we will receive once it launches! (I expect that will be in a week or two because that is how long players have between a trailer announcement and release) Below I've listed some of the exciting additions along with the story episode:

• Five new greatsword, sword, rifle, pistol, and staff variants

• Eye of the North upgradable hub with strike mission

• Four story missions from Season 1 which are available to play for the first time since the Scarlet War

• New Stone Summit and Runic Armor

• Play as Ryland in Darkrime Delves

• And the latest story episode!

All of these things are super exciting but only one of them is the most surprising. For the first time ever, I'll be able to experience Season 1 episodes! It may not be the whole storyline, but I started my GW2 journey in Season 2. I missed out on the glory days and have been told about how interesting the Scarlet War content was. Along with the next bit of story (which I'm truly excited about because of how the last episode ended...), that is something I look forward to.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FDqMNlISdi4

Since both of my regular games are getting more content very soon, I'm going to be a busy bee! However, I'd love to know what you guys are excited about? Do you play either game? Is there something coming out soon that you want to discuss? Hit me up on Twitter!

Until next time peeps!

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PlanTechtor to launch for PC VR devices in February 2019

So while I may still not actually have a VR headset, PlanTechtor may be a good reason to get one. VR'ed tower defense from one of the developers of Guild Wars 2? It has our interest!

--

6 DECEMBER 2018 - VR game studio FunnerSoft today announces that its strategic VR action game, PlanTechtor, will launch via Steam on 27th February 2018.

To celebrate the news, the developers have unveiled a brand new teaser trailer, which showcases the game's blend of in-depth tactics with high-octane VR action.

PlanTechtor is the brainchild of former ArenaNet developer Lester Bloom. Now a full-time indie developer, Bloom enlisted the help of great friend and Guild Wars 2 design director Isaiah Cartwright - and over the past two years, the pair have been hard at work crafting a highly strategic take on the VR wave shooter. [Continues below]

 

In PlanTechtor, players must design a plan that lets them exploit each level and overcome waves of invading enemies. From a tactical pre-game phase - which involves analysing hints about the incoming forces and devising a plan accordingly - players move into an action-packed wave shooter in full, immersive VR. Fast reflexes, quick decision-making, and expert skill will be required to overcome each stage.

Wrapping up the action is a striking aesthetic that combines colourful cartoon visuals with a raucous heavy metal soundtrack.

Creator and developer Lester Bloom said: "I wanted to play something that was easy to pick up, had the depth of an ARPG, and allowed me to visit the immersive worlds of VR. I couldn't find anything that was exactly that, so I sat down to make it. I'm happy to say that after two years of development, I'm still having fun with PlanTechtor!"

Designer Isaiah Cartwright added: "When I played the prototype I was surprised how much depth there was to the game. A lot of VR games are very pretty tech demos, and I was happy Lester was making something with more depth of play. I couldn't wait to get involved!"

PlanTechtor will be released via Steam for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality on 27th February 2019.


Article by Pierre-Yves

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Jaggy's Corner - Saturday October 27

As I mentioned last week, I'm covering Halloween game events. This week I'm covering Guild Wars 2's Halloween event which has seen some pleasant additions to this year's festivities.


In previous years, players could only do Mad King Says, the Labyrinth, the Mad King's Clocktower JP, and the Ascent to Madness Dungeon. This year ArenaNet included a couple more activities for players to take part in.

New Activities

First up is the new Mad King's Raceway where players speed through gravestones and fields filled with exploding pumpkins. Its inclusion is meant to showcase the drifting skills of the Roller Beetle mount. That said, I discovered that players can use any mount to win the race since some of us haven't yet mastered the beetle skills. (Believe it or not, I tend to use my precious Griffon for most of my adventuring.) It's fun, it's challenging, and I like that the race has its own map. Though, don't mistake it for taking the place of the race within the Labyrinth! That still exists.

Second up is the Lunatic Inquisition! Players in this area are PVPing but it is designed very differently than other holiday PVP matches like the Dragon Ball event or the Wintersday snowball fight. Players begin alive but without combat abilities. And instead of trying to get a certain number of points to win, players are trying to save the towns people by bringing various supplies. At the same time, players can still pick up items to fight other players who are also trying to save the towns people. Once a player dies, they are transferred to the other team which consists of the now dead players. Eventually the dead team of players will over take the towns helpers, but that doesn't guarantee a win. The objective of the dead players is to kill the players helping the town.

Did that make sense? If not, check it out in the game! I promise it is far more fun to experience than to describe. The concept is neat and I've enjoyed playing it when not farming for candy corn.

Thirdly, another skirmish called Reaper's Rumble was added to the game which requires the assistance of skeletons to assault the other team. There is some strategy to this game mode where players have to decide whether they are going to focus more on the skeleton army or raw pvp skill. Either the skeletons run across the map to take weaken the enemy base or players duke it out on the map. Perhaps the players will use both to their advantage. Stealth based players can hide in the fields which gives players invisibility only while in cover. The moment players step between patches or in the open, they lose their invisibility. As a result of the game mode's different style, it feels MOBA-like and certain savy players would recall that it was originally introduced in 2012!

On top of those new things, players have access to mount skins, new minis, and brought back favorites like the three Halloween Choya mini. If players don't want to spend money in the Black Lion Trading Company, they can get a single Halloween Gourdon Choya for 20 Candy Corn Cobs at one of the vendors in Lion's Arch.

As an aside, if you don't recall Gourdon the Choya, he's the one that wore bikini bottoms during the Festival of the Four Winds. *cackles*

Final Thoughts

I love participating in the Halloween event. It is my favorite time of year and I need that Choya mini in my life! It runs until November 2 and so don't miss out on all the fun activities!

And just to make this time of year extra special, for a limited time Guild Wars 2 is 50% off! Go buy it here if you don't have the new content in Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire.


Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner - Sunday September 2

This is a stroll down memory lane. At the end I cover a couple of quick additions to the game and the anniversary stream that occurred earlier in the week. Keep reading!

The Beginning

One day, long ago, I was playing Neverwinter when a friend of mine told me that I should consider playing Guild Wars 2. My response wasn't great. “But I hated Guild Wars 1. Why would I play the second one?”

He effectively started a conversation which altered the course of my gaming experience.

Why did I hate Guild Wars 1? That's easy. I was an elitest WoW head. I would spend 12+ hours learning builds, reading elitiest jerks, getting potions and buff food, and watching videos on boss take downs. In a couple of the guilds, I was a raid leader. My raiding guilds were basically family. Many of us had played since Vanilla. We raided together, PVPed together, gave discounts on pots, and would help each other through real life issues. I couldn't just leave my family for another MMO. Sadly, when Mists of Panderia was slated to launch, many of my guildies left forever.

I missed those times and I thought to myself, “Maybe I'll give it a shot.”

Guild Wars 2

After my friend convinced me to play the game, I asked to try it. I made a character on a friends account with them present and played it while they were there answering questions.

I told this friend that I would give it until level 20 before I made up my mind. And suddenly, within a few days of time, I was somewhere between lvl 40 to 50. Apparently, I was having fun.

That friend bought me the game. They sent me the materials I collected and a few things to get started. And that friend also laughed at me as I tried my hand at my first jumping puzzle. It was Morgan's Spiral. It took me a long time before I finally got it, but I felt accomplished.

One of the reasons I came to love Guild Wars 2 is actually because of the jumping puzzles. There is a variety of underwater ones, cave jumping puzzles, and specific jumping puzzle instances. There is even one that a player can literally fall into. Just run around in a bush...

Memories

One of my favorite memories from Guild Wars 2 comes from the friend that convinced me to play. They needed another person who would be interested in doing fractals. I didn't even know what those were until I reached level 80.

I'll never forget that day, the day that I first walked into a fractal. I had spent a week and a half playing the crap out of Guild Wars 2 to get level 80. Yes that's right. I powered through a week and a half of playing to get max level. That's how much I enjoyed the game.

After I had hit the magical level 80, my friend asked me if I could join them. He told me, “Don't worry if you die, we'll rez you. We just need another person.” I think it was because you needed a certain number of players to hit some buttons... Anyways, after I died only a couple times, the group leader said something about needing to pay attention to particular abilities. He followed up with a statement about doing well for no agony resistance. My friend chimed in with, “Dude. She just hit level 80 two hours ago! I think she did well.” The group leader was impressed and I laughed my guts out.

One time during Guild missions, my lovely Aussie friends were grouped up to do Crab Toss in Southsun Cove. Basically, one person is the guinea pig, running with the baby karka, while the rest of the group kills all of the bigger ones. It's not supremely difficult but we were only five people on this day. And on this day, we failed hard. What I mean is, we failed at 1 second left. If you don't believe me, I have a highlight video which can be found here. That was pure gold.

When Heart of Thorn launched, I finally set out to change my build. Heart of Thorns introduced a new mastery system and required players to adjust their builds. After all, we had access to specializations now. The zone also introduced the concept of gliding which saved my butt.

In the new zones, I had come across a veteran on top of a pillar. There were three bridges that lead to this platform and I decided to take the creature on. I managed to get the thing down to half health before I blew it and dodged off the edge of the bridge. I was streaming at the time. Instead of saving myself, I think I just laughed while I plummeted to my doom. Good times.

Anniversary Stream of Guild Wars 2

On Tuesday, Guild Wars 2 hosted a long stream where they let the audience hear from various developers and voice actors. Each section was chalked full of information from a developers' point of view.

We heard about how ArenaNet takes care of its voice actors by letting them know about intense character moments. Anyone who played a particular episode with Taimi will recall the heartfelt performance. From a player perspective, that was crushing.

Viewers also heard from legends like Yuri Lowenthal and Matthew Mercer who have done amazing work in many video games. I won't say alot about that because it's better to listen to their comments on the VOD (linked below).

On the official 6th year anniversary, players received a few free things like a novelties chest. In it was a choice of various balloons, kites, and instruments. With the inclusion of the novelties giveaway was a patch that included a new souvenirs tab where players can now store all of their novelties. Yay inventory space!

Down the line, ArenaNet is finally releasing a personal character instance called Sun's Refuge. Unfortunately, since its origins come from Guild Wars 1 outside of the base game, I have no idea what to expect but I'm excited for the new content.

If you missed the anniversary stream, you can catch the VOD on Twitch.

Try the game for free! The details can be found here.

What are some of your favorite moments from Guild Wars 2? Let us know in the comments below.

Until next time.

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner - Saturday June 23

This week I'm going to talk about two things. The first will be about the new story content launching for Guild Wars 2 and the second is reviewing the World Health Organization's ruling on video game addictions being classified as a mental illness. Let's get started!

Guild Wars 2 Story

Earlier this week ArenaNet finally launched the long awaited story trailer for Season 4 Episode 3 titled "Long Live the Lich" and fans have been patiently looking forward to it.

I've covered previous episodes of Guild Wars 2 in other Jaggy's Corner's and we're picking up where we left off. Joko and his minions are still wreaking havoc on Tyria. The other few times player's have faced this enemy, he has bested them and run off. Now, players are going to war with him.

Let me just say that ArenaNet continues to amuse me with their presentation. Joko has a sense of humor, "10 seconds to curtain. Places for act one please! Places for act one. Break a leg people." Already, viewers are sucked right into the trailer's story because Joko is waging war. This is the moment we've been waiting for. (Hopefully. I want to take down that little pansy.) Of course, our plan is to meet him head on. It's going to be nuts.

In this next episode, players gain access to a new Legendary Warhorn called Verdarach. A new map releases called the Domain of Kourna. A new fractal called Deepstone launches where players will kill an ugly spider. Also, the fractal contains some interesting looking traps. New story content will push forward the narrative. The Tyrian champions hopefully come together to face Joko and his undead army. Finally, there is a new roller beetle mount. A beetle! Honestly, just check out the trailer to see what it looks like. It looks awesome and I want it! Anyways, the trailer ends with Joko saying, "End scene."

I love the general design of this trailer. Players likely won't get a chance to face Joko just yet (we are only on Episode 3 after all), but I can't wait to beat him into the ground. The people of Tyria have taken down the elder dragons and before that, Scarlett, and we'll succeed in defeating this foe.

The new story will release for players on June 26th but be prepared. Historically, when Guild Wars launches new content, the servers have been a bit wonky. Be prepared peeps! There will always be day one bugs.

Check out the full trailer,

World Health Organization Ruling

Earlier in the week I was hoping to cover this particular topic. Instead, I will cover the topic here. Buckle up peeps!

The World Health Organization (WHO) made a ruling. Gaming addiction is now categorized as a recognized mental illness. The BBC originally announced the new ruling and the outcry has been astounding.

• Video gaming is about as dangerous as Beatlemania
  - The Irish Times
• World Health Organization says video game addiction is a disease. Why American psychiatrists don't
  - The Lost Angeles Times
• Video game addiction listed as a mental health problem by WHO
  - Global News
• Gaming disorder: What parents should know about video or online game addiction
  - Des Moines Register
• The internet is doing physical damage to our children who are addicted to gaming and social media
  - The Telegraph
  

First, I'd like to chime in. Yes. I do believe that gaming is also an addiction that can cause people a lot of harm if not dealt with properly – like any other addiction. I once knew someone that had issues functioning if there was no internet connection (although, that wasn't just because of gaming. It was an addiction to the internet itself.) When I say 'issues' in this case, what I mean is that this person had full on panic attacks, crying fits, etc... It was as though nothing could be done to fill the void left by the power outage/internet company updates/etc...

As with many addictions people are subjected to, there will be different reactions. Some can't function properly, as I explained above, while others become violently hostile. Plenty of people have highly addictive personalities. If it isn't gambling, it's smoking. If it isn't smoking, it drinking... People become stuck in patterns of behavior much more easily than others and gaming is just another medium.

If that seems weird with video gaming, think about years ago when Blizzard included a system message in World of Warcraft that said, "You have been playing for 1 hour. Go take a break." Today, in Twitch Streams, people have become so focused on their stream that they have forgotten to eat or drink. In fact, streamers have died because of it (although, keep in mind that those people died due to years of poor habits.) As a result, there are bots specifically designed to remind people to perform basic functions like drinking water. So yes, I do recognize that gaming addiction is just as real as any other addiction. It does have some negative affects for people in all age categories. Thus, I'm not discrediting the need to deal with such an issue.

My issue with the BBC article and WHO ruling, is the amount of time they deemed to qualify gaming as an addiction. The ruling given was that 20 hours is enough to warrant such a harsh reaction. It is significantly less time than what most gamers consider to be appropriate. In fact, while I'm about to reference a Twitlonger post written by a friend, I would like our readers to understand the gravity of the determination. In this post, Alex details his own life and mathematically calculates how much time he spends on various social and school activities. Based on his explanation as well as my own personal experience, I tend to agree with his thoughts on the matter.

When I was younger and in high school, I spent significantly more time than 20 hours watching Television. If not that, I practiced playing my Clarinet rather than completing other homework (though playing the instrument was part of my homework, so it wasn't necessarily an excuse). I also spent a lot of time riding my bike, socializing, dancing, and learning to program in computer languages. I spent time painting models (like Warhammer figurines and cars), beading, and learning how to play board games. Yes. I spent a lot of time around and on computers. An argument could be made that I too am addicted to gaming. However, as most of you many know, writing for video games is effectively my main profession. Even with all the time I sink into video games (for fun or for review), I spend a fair amount of time volunteering, attending writing events, getting together with friends, and watching movies. I can guarantee you that I spend infinitely more than 20 hours a week on video games. Yet somehow, I still have plenty of time to do other things. Tell me, am I addicted too? In my case, it's not something I do for fun, it's also my career path. However, I'm old enough to know that bills need to be paid, chores need to be done, and exercise is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Many people are going to argue that because playing video games is my profession, that it makes sense to play more than 20 hours per week on them. However, others will play more than that time because they are trying to make video gaming into a profession. People who watch a ton of television aren't trying to make that into a career. Just because the rest of the world outside of gaming doesn't understand why the industry is so large, doesn't mean it should be discredited as a valid means of escape. To date, the video games industry has brought in millions of dollars to businesses, fostered tourism, and has helped many young adults learn life skills. Video gaming as a career teaches the younger viewers about professionalism, major issues in the world (like net neutrality and the importance of voting), and forces them into running business (like being self employed through streaming). ESports has become large enough that the Olympics will have a eSports division in 2024. (And there are many websites that covered the pros and cons of this particular topic). So, while WHO makes the video game industry seem bad with their ludicrously low ruling, video gaming has some major benefits.

Here's the problem: people want to find creative ways to blame video gaming for everything from violence to attention disorders to depression. None of those things can be blamed on video gaming. Parents are responsible for their children's upbringing and often (not always) people turn to video gaming and television as a way to escape reality. People are depressed. People are upset with the political climate. People are disgusted with complacency. Yet no one stops to think, 'maybe these escapisms are becoming more prevalent because the world fucking sucks.'

"What we're doing then is over-diagnosing, we're sort of pathologising a behaviour that for many people is not harmful in any way."
- BBC News, WHO gaming disorder listing a 'moral panic', say experts

Video gaming at 20 hours is not an addiction for plenty of gamers. In my opinion, that low of a number serves as an easy way to over medicate the populous or to force people into paying more money for treatments too early in life. Video gaming is not the root of the problem, so stop using gaming as a scapegoat for bad parenting. Again. (The industry has gone through this kind of thing before).

At the end of the day, people are pushing their problems onto other people instead of taking a stand against actual video gaming addictions. I'm talking about the kinds of addictions where people aren't going into work, paying their bills, or medically suffering as a result of their gaming habits. Even then, the issue is more likely depression or anxiety or other such legitimate mental health issues. I don't believe that the BBC and WHO did enough research to back their diagnosis, and several sites have called them out on it. I'm inclined to agree with the same article quoted above, where the author states: "The decision to class gaming addiction as a mental health disorder was "premature" and based on a "moral panic", experts have said."

I'm inclined to agree in this case.

Final Thoughts

I'm super excited for the new episode in Guild Wars 2. I want to take down Joko after all the harm he has caused. So remember, it releases on Tuesday, June 24th and it's going to be an awesome time.

I don't think the BBC and WHO did enough research on video gaming professions and how that could affect the ruling. I want to know what happens from this point to see whether or not WHO imposes solutions. Video gaming addictions can be difficult to diagnose, as with any medical ailment, and I think more research needs to be done before a true ruling could be made.

What are your thoughts? Do you think 20 hours is too low of a number? What should be done about it? Let us know in the comments below.

Until next time.


Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday May 12

This week I'm going to talk about all things MMO starting with updates to Guild Wars 2 and then following it up with Neverwinter's new module.

Guild Wars 2

Earlier in the week ArenaNet let the community know about patch updates, which is less exciting than the bigger news they announced. In the near future, ArenaNet has been working hard on updating something that has been ignored up until this point. While they've been great at keeping their promise to add new content every quarter, they've slacked on other things like guild missions, dungeons, and underwater combat.

As you may know, underwater combat has always been despised by the masses. For example, I used to do weekly guild missions where the easy bounty would always be Brekkabek or Poobadoo. Poobadoo wades through water on his path and if a guild starts the fight in it, he becomes MUCH harder to defeat. It's partly due to the lack of mobility underwater and partly due to the lack of weapon choices and/or abilities on those weapons. To summarize, it's not an experience that most people enjoy, myself included.

On the Guild Wars 2 channel, Rubi had the devs talk about why they chose to focus on the underwater aspect of the game. Hopefully, they do this system justice because other MMOs have not served the underwater combat system well.

My case and point is a zone called Vashj'ir in World of Warcraft. The whole place had quests completely underwater and many did not like the zone.

Another zone that Blizzard changed in WoW was Thousand Needles. It went completely underwater because of the Cataclysm (an expansion that many felt led the game down hill. Personally that wasn't the expansion that led me to quit the game.)

This isn't to say that underwater combat is terrible, it's to say that I'm skeptical about it walking in. Regardless of my skepticism, I will keep an open mind with the update when it releases.

More information about the update can be listened to on Guild Chat

Watch Guild Chat: Underwater Combat from GuildWars2 on www.twitch.tv

Neverwinter Module

A week or two ago I picked up Neverwinter after four years of absense. In those couple of weeks I've done a ton of research on gearing up my character, finding the best zones to explore, and pulled out my hair trying to find an appreciable guide or map. WHY DON'T THESE THINGS EXIST?! All I want is a map to say “Underdark (iLvl 8k+)” because when I first came back, I walked into places that kicked my ass so damn hard that I had to use a scroll to GTFO. Truly.

As for the guides, all I was looking for was something to say, “By the way, if you don't have 85% ARPen, then it's not worth walking into this zone.” Seriously! Knowing that ONE THING would have saved me 40 gold and a stack or two of potions!

Anyways, the reason I'm talking about Neverwinter is because Perfect World is launching a new module in a little over a month!

This module is set in Ravenloft. (Keep in mind that Neverwinter is based in the Dungeon's and Dragons universe. If you aren't familiar with Ravenloft in D&D, do some research. The campaign setting has been around since at least AD&D with the dreaded THAC0 system... But that's a whole other conversation.)

Here is the official announcement page though I'm going to briefly highlight some of the changes.

This is what I've uncovered about module 13 “Ravenloft”.

• Players start in a zone called “Barovia”
• The home screen has been revamped. In fact, it even gives tips for new level 70s
• AD maximum is 100k per account (up from 25k per character to infinite characters. The 100k per account is meant to curb botting.)
• Features a new day/night cycle which affects the mobs depending on the time of day
• New hunts are available
• A new dungeon called “Castle of Ravenloft”
• A new swarming bat mount which sports a new ability
• Will release on June 26th

After jumping through some hoops, I managed to jump into the public test server to try the new zone out. So far I'm super excited, I mean, you give me vampires and I'm all over it. When guildies mentioned the new bat mount, I became more excited. We know where my priorities lie...

Creatures in the new zone were much tougher than I expected them to be, even with the higher level gear to help survivability. And I like the new story direction, despite not having caught up to the current module. (Soon! I can get into Chult without dying horribly now.)

I especially like the addition of the Tarokka Deck which is modelled after a traditional Tarot Deck. There are 54 cards in the deck which consists of High Deck cards, Swords, Stars, Glyphs, and Coins. Each card allows player to get a different boon OR a different challenge. Some of these cards will increase the amount of damage the creatures will do to your character. If defeated at a higher difficulty, then players earn higher rewards. Once you complete the deck, you gain an artifact. It's a nifty addition in my humble opinion.

Anyways, I think that I've given enough of information without spoiling much of the new module. As a returning player, I'm excited for module 13. (Also, module 13?! A factor that isn't lost on me...)

There are lots of exciting additions to MMO's lately and not enough time to play the ones I enjoy.

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday April 14

Hoboy what a week! It's been filled with two things:

• Facebook on trial for privacy issues; and 
• Guild Wars 2 chaos. 

Since the Facebook issue is only somewhat related to gamers, I'll focus on the massive situation with Guild Wars 2.

Earlier in the week ArenaNet announced that they banned over 1600 accounts for using illegal third party software.

Many people have expressed confusion as to which programs are considered to be illegal according to ArenaNet's Terms of Service. What angered many in the community was the fact that this ban explicitly stated that there would be NO APPEALS. As in, it didn't matter if players had a CheatEngine installed on their computer, they would still be banned for SIX MONTHS.

For the record, CheatEngine is used by game developers to change a games code to gain unfair advantages. It is open source and functions as a memory scanner, a hex editor, and a debugging tool. It is used for having infinite health or ammunition in game and it is also the program that allows players to create aimbots which are commonly found in games like CS:GO.

Passionate GW2 players did what all internet warriors do, which is to QQ on Reddit. By doing so, the Reddit moderators deleted all account complaints from the site, and started a mega thread discussing the ban itself. People were kind enough to be civil which is a shock considering the horribly toxic PVP community base... I'm not even joking, I read through the entire thread.

One developer who had open dialogues with Anet staff ended up in the cross-hairs of the banwave. It was an interesting read but it shows that even testing mods without waiting for confirmation is bad news. In fact, while I think this person should get an appeal, he was pretty humble in his post even if the ban were to stand. We'll see what happens later.

Why is this huge?

Let's consider that in the MMO world, the reigning champ has been and will continue to be World of Warcraft. The fan base in GW2 isn't nearly as large despite its devoted player base. In fact, it has a thriving, largely passionate – and toxic – PVP community. (I'm sorry. I'm not a PVPer.) The thing is, there are some people who have been hit with this ban that perhaps shouldn't have. Apparently, that didn't matter when it got rolled out.

I see this as Anet taking a positive step by banning wilful cheaters, despite not telling what programs triggered the mass ban. They gave a generalized statement, leaving users to guess at which ad-ons were the culprits. It makes sense though. Why would Anet say which mods are acceptable and which aren't when people could easily attempt to circumvent the TOS? They wouldn't. (Although, I will eat that statement later in this article. Keep reading.)

Anyways, after I thought I knew enough about the situation, I stumbled across a different Reddit post written by someone who works for an anti-virus company. In the course of his day job, he uses certain programs that are meant to catch viruses and they achieve this by reverse engineering code. He explains how users in GW2 were likely targeted as a result of spyware installed from a patch, which checked the programs running on everyone's whole computer! You can read the post about that here.

He does provide a TL;DR version at the top of the page, so you don't have to read the whole thing to get the gist of it. Anyways, if his post has any merit, it's mildly horrifying in the wake of the privacy breaches on Facebook, but I digress...

So, on one hand, Anet used a method of discovering cheating programs in order to initiate a mass ban, and yet they failed to deal with the blatantly obvious PVP cheaters who were boosting people's accounts after payment had exchanged hands. These players were only given a three month ban but didn't receive any dishonor, much to the outcry of GW2 players.

I feel as though Anet is being rather contradictory here when it comes to PVP and perhaps has driven away some of its fan base. They are trying to find solutions to a problem with their PVP player base and yet has gone about it in a strange way. At least to me. This might be common practice for all I know... As I said, I don't tend to PVP so what do I know?

But Wait! There's More!

Anet released another statement this morning listing the culprits that earned people their bans. As I previously made mention, one of those is called CheatEngine. So even if the program wasn't used in GW2, game devs still received a ban just by having it on their system. Take a look at the post here:

So while I'm upset that Anet would take a blanketed approach to stopping cheaters, I'm also not comfortable with the idea that they feel they have the 'right' to check over whole computer systems. If in the coding one can prove that programs were used to cheat in GW2 - because that is the property that Anet owns - then you have a justified reason to ban players. However, checking out whole systems to see if there are cheats anywhere that CAN affect GW2 is NOT alright with me. Your EULA should not be extending that far, regardless of other companies following the same practices. One cannot ban people because of a potential threat!

Final Thoughts

In short, Anet, I love you, but for the love of gamers please find a better way to take such severe actions.  Ban the known account sharing PVPers like you should have long ago which is taking REAL action against them. And don't snoop on people's systems! The GAME is your property, not the computer.

To the cheaters, GET GUD SON or STEP OFF. Learn how to play the game properly. Otherwise, what's the point of playing the game then? You aren't owed anything. You aren't some PVP God that entitles you to money or items. You're pathetic and should move onto something else. I don't care.

And to those of you that earned yourselves a lovely ban because you willfully cheated, GOOD. You get no sympathy from me.

Until next time peeps.


Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday March 17

Last week I decided to talk about Guild Wars 2 because the new content always hypes me up. I could have talked about Life is Strange but chose to do a review for the game instead. That brings us to what I actually want to talk about which is Rocket League (surprise, surprise..)

Rival Series Play Ins

The first play in matches were streamed on the weekend and it was quite the show! Let me just say that we missed our talented casters and their witty banter. So, over the weekend we were able to watch some professional level Rocket League and listen to excellent casters.

Kicking off the weekend was the North American play ins and there were familiar teams heading the pack. Teams like Relentless, Incognito, Zaboomafoo, Manhattan, Genesis, Lights Out!, The D00ds, and Splyce made it far in the competition. All of the teams had one mission, which was to qualify for the Rival Series. The four teams that made it through the NA bracket are:

• The D00ds
• Incognito
• Manhattan
• Splyce

But don't let me undersell this. All four teams had phenominal games. Honestly, watching Karma murder the field was quite the event. The team chemistry for Splyce is so on point that they excelled beyond expectations. Up until the play ins, there were people who doubted the teams abilities but with this next clip, you'll see why Karma is a fan favourite on the roster. (On a side note, I love the names of these clips...)



Even The D00ds had a great run to the Rival Series. This is a team that has been so close to qualifying for the Rival Series but never quite made it. In season three they were a top 48 team. In season four they made it to top 24. Here in season five they are a top 8 team. Last year, many people talked about The D00ds being a solid bubble team, but this year it seems they've got the right chemistry. AxB, Joro, and Ralph even bested the favourites, team Lights Out!. Though, that doesn't exclude them from a stellar incline of player skill. In the series with Lights Out!, Joro scored an important goal in game one.



For the EU side of the play ins, there were teams like Method, Hashtag United, Triple Trouble, Nordavind, Placebo, Epsilon Esports, and Classic. Like the NA bracket, there were some amazing games played. In fact, based on the results, the four teams to qualify for the EU Rival Series are:

• Placebo
• Method (New roster)
• Triple Trouble
• Zebra Nose

Keep in mind that team Method is actually made up of players Rix_Ronday, Shakahron, Borito B, and Flown Ciesta. The old Method team now runs under compLexity Gaming which consists of Metsanauris, Mognus, and Al0t. So to show you guys the new Method team under the leadership of Rix_Ronday, I decided to grab a clip from one of their games.  



Don't discount the other teams though, Triple Trouble had some crazy games to qualify for the Rival Series. While I didn't get to watch the whole weekend, I'm sure the other qualifiers were just as hard hitting. Don't take my word for it, check out the VODs on Twitch. And if you needed more reasons to watch the broadcast, there are new drops available this season. For example, check out my smexy new reward banner!

Other Rocket League News

March 14th marked a new team to join professional Rocket League. Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) hits the scene with players Timi, Dappur, and Mijo. These three players have been around the block for quite some time, and I'm excited to see how they do this season. Last year, I had Timi as part of my fantasy league, but at the time he was with team Renegades. Anyways, the future is bright for these players as they enter the fray once again.

Let's not jump to conclus- Counter Logic Gaming it is then...

Please give a warm welcome to our new Rocket League roster: @Dappur, @timifalodun, & @MijoRL! #CLGFIGHTING

Read ➡️ https://t.co/OpgI6NpipT pic.twitter.com/r8A21RgXmj

— Counter Logic Gaming (@clgaming) March 14, 2018

In addition to CLG joining the ranks, it was finally announced that team Evil Geniuses (EG) has entered the Rocket League esports scene. It is made up of the old eQuinox roster with players Chrome, CorruptedG, and Klassux. Hopefully, this season will bring them some great success since last season was a little rough for these three players. That means it's time for us to #BleedBlue, though, I do speculate as to the direction of EG as a whole. Don't get me wrong. For years I was a hard core Starcraft EG fan. (I mean, I do still watch Demuslim and Stephano play the game). I simply hope that EG maintains their top level status that I've come to enjoy over several years of being an esports spectator.  

Final Thoughts

The play ins continue this weekend starting March 16th at 10am PDT or 1pm EST, so watch all the action on Twitch. Be sure to follow on Twitter for any updates to the bracket as the weekend progresses!

That's all I have for you this week!

Until next time peeps!

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday March 10

This past week was a doozy because two big updates launched for games that I love. Guild Wars launched its newest episode on March 6th. Life is Strange launched their highly anticipated episode entitled "Farewell". I'll spare you on the spoilers for LiS which means I'll talk about Guild Wars this week.

That said, DAMN YOU SQUARE ENIX!

For the next episode in the storyline regarding the questionable leadership of Palawa Joko, I found it to be enjoyable. We received the new story quest along with a brand new zone. I'm all about exploring new locations in a game. It's fun to see what innovative scenarios game developers come up with. That said, because of the addition of mounts, I felt this one was smaller.

The new meta achievements are inside buildings forcing players to find the entrances, which is entertaining. And of the new zones in Path of Fire, this one was the easiest to navigate for me. I managed to get all the vistas and points of interest fairly quickly. Even the masteries were simple to obtain. (Did I mention how much I love my griffon? It may not be as pretty as other people with the fancy skins but it's mine and it's awesome.)

I really enjoyed the part where you get the ability to float around an area on the map. Anyways, I'm not knocking the zone or the episode at all. It is always fun to explore new places for me. This is half the appeal of an MMO!

The storyline was interesting even though it felt a little short. The episode was not as epic as I expected because in previous episodes, I died a lot. This episode only killed my character when I failed to sneak around as a robot in the four minutes you get for the achievement. Other story episodes have been challenging and took me much longer to complete but even with real life distractions, this next addition didn't take as long.

Even still, the episode was fun. We tied up our friends to have a convincing undercover operation. The little light puzzles were easy to understand and therefore easily solved. That said, my favourite part of the whole story was being in a place where I took all kinds of screenshots. It was just too pretty.

For me, the biggest thing in this new episode was the addition of the new legendary dagger. I'm excited about it because I'm a thief! Not only does it look good, but it's useful to my class. To craft it, a player needs to work on making the Claw of Execution, Claw of Retribution, and the Claw of Resolution. That is to say that there are many other materials that need gathering. Legendaries take a lot of time to craft and other players know that it takes dedication to make one.

Anyways, overall I enjoyed this latest installment of Guild Wars 2. I must now achievement hunt!

Until next time peeps!

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Sunday March 4

A couple weeks back ArenaNet, the creators of Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, announced that there would be a delay on the new episode for Path of Fire. The latest enemy which threatens the citizens of a new place called Amnoon, is Palawa Joko.

Of course, ArenaNet decided before Path of Fire launched that they would provide players with new content every quarter, allowing for constant playability unlike other MMOs. In Guild Wars 2, the player base is much more loyal to the game because of its frequent updates. Although, the PVP content has been lacking in desirability by those who solely PVP, but that doesn't mean ArenaNet hasn't considered balance possibilities. Even still, the majority of the players consistently return to Guild Wars 2 because of the regular content and special events. In fact, many have been enjoying the new raids.

Anyways, February 27th the Guild Wars 2 Twitter account graced us with a new trailer for Episode 2 of The Living World:

Gear up Commander, Lab Alpha-One-Nine awaits! ~RB2 #GuildWars2 #GW2 pic.twitter.com/zyrqfcLEOs

— Guild Wars 2 (@GuildWars2) February 27, 2018

Unlike the other trailers, this one starts off almost like a game show contest, but that doesn't last long as we are introduced to new characters. In the meantime, Taimi is telling us about the discovery of a scientist crucial to Joko's ultimate plan.

Through the course of the trailer, we discover that players will gain access to new masteries, a new legendary dagger (I want it!), a new map to explore, and more information about Palawa Joko. We must stop him! If the previous episodes are any indication, this story is going to have tougher bosses and more information about Joko and his army; at least, that's what I expect.

That said, the additions of mounts in Path of Fire, has created interesting new ways to explore, which is a concept that ArenaNet explored in the expansion 'Heart of Thorns'. In those zones, along with gliding, we were able to train different gliding abilities, use speed mushrooms, and use vine abilities, in order to traverse the new areas effectively.

In the trailer, the music changes to a song called 'Fear Not This Night', which players are intimately familiar with due to the Wintersday festival. This song has a dramatic 'musical' sound (a la movie/musical Phantom of the Opera), and is befitting of this trailer.

(As an aside, the singer for Fear Not This Night only recorded the small section used in the trailer. There isn't a longer version of the song and any searches for it give hundreds of results to other covers that are not the same. That said, here is his Twitter handle.)

A singular portrait of Palawa Joko completes 'A Bug in the System', which is a sign that someone has been naughty. The new episode will launch on March 6th, so I hope you are all excited!

Other News

Also launching this week is the bonus episode to Life Is Strange: Before the Storm called "Farewell", which will take place when Max and Chloe first meet in the base game. While I was underwhelmed with the ending of Before the Storm, this will tie things up in the way that I was expecting originally. But don't mistake me for disliking the prequel, I actually enjoyed the story as a standalone but I felt that it fell flat when it came to explaining certain things to bridge the two games.

March 6th also marks the day that this game releases and you better believe I'll be playing it. It's going to be a busy gaming day. That said, if you are interested in a behind the scenes look of "Before the Storm: Farewell" look no further.

With Farewell releasing this coming Monday, you can currently pick up the full Before the Storm package or upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition for up to 42% off on Steam!

>>> https://t.co/wbhPTE6ayg <<<

Countdown to Farewell here: https://t.co/rwGRRo2GYh pic.twitter.com/tKyVzpYWcf

— Life is Strange (@LifeIsStrange) March 3, 2018

As always, I can be found on Twitter and Twitch (@Jagtress). What do you think about either update? Let me know!

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

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Guild Wars 2 - PC Review

When I played the first Guild Wars, I really did not know what to think. I won it in a contest and gave it a shot - but it never really resonated with me the way World of Warcraft did.

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Wow... so it's 2013 now

And just like that - 2012 is done. Over. Gone. Onto newer things - like 2013.

Seriously though - it's amazing to me how fast we shot through last year, and that we're already through the first week of 2013. I had some time off to kick off 2013 and I enjoyed it thoroughly. If I had to say which gaming endeavor of mine took up the bulk of my time, it would be Guild Wars 2, but I dabbled in a LOT of stuff over the last couple of weeks.

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