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! - Sunday April 22

This week I stumbled back into an old game that I haven't played in a few years. It's a free to play MMO entitled Neverwinter and I used to play it before I found Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, and few other games.

In case you weren't familiar, Neverwinter is an MMO set in the Dungeons & Dragons world where I play a Drow Elf Trickster Rogue. Another interesting point of note is that I often find myself playing a rogue in D&D games (including the Tal'Dorei campaign I'm currently in.)

It was quite a shock to discover some of the changes after I quit playing due to my pathetically low graphics card abilities. The company had raised the level cap and included a few new features. For example, instead of racking up all kinds of runes that leveled artifact equipment, a player now converts items into refinement points to serve the same purpose. Changing this widely used ability has now freed up a ton of space! They've also changed the game to allow refinement of all gear pieces. It negates the need to run off to a vendor every time bags are full. Although, because I would always run out of bag space years ago, it was the singular factor in getting the Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue artifact. Not only am I able to buy potions when I need them, but I can sell all of those pesky green armours if I wanted to. Although, converting those into refinement points is more beneficial at this point in time. Therefore, I don't need to activate my little shopkeeper as much as I used to.

Earlier I mentioned that I had quit because my graphics card couldn't handle the game. At the time I was max level, which was 60, and I had been working my way through the new campaign setting Well of Dragons. When five dragons descended upon the area, it lagged my computer. Also because it was the newest content, there were massive raid groups of people flocking to each of the dragons at any given time. Today, the game has a higher level cap and changed all of the zones I've completed to level 70. In short, I have boons that I shouldn't technically have for my newly found level status. Needless to say, when I logged back into Neverwinter after four years of inactivity, I was still inside the Well of Dragons, a now lethal place for my undergeared character. I tried to make a clean escape and I think I died at least four times before I made it to the exit. It wasn't pretty. Actually, while I think about it, it'd be nice to have the game allow to run back to your body similar to World of Warcraft if only to save a person from such a situation...

Basically, this week I spent a great deal of time getting myself back up to max level so that I could go back to the zone I had left years earlier. I achieved this goal. I made it to level 70 the other day then proceeded back to the Well of Dragons. This was a mistake. I had my ass handed to me by a trash mob. Yes that's right. I had to determine where to get gear that would boost my survivability so I went back to the Fiery Pit. Currently I'm in the process of completing the Elemental Evil Campaign so that I can acquire some appreciable gear. Also, I've been grabbing a couple of blues, or epic quality, that gives me defense and health.

Neverwinter is certainly not the greatest game known to man, but if you like Dungeons and Dragons, this free to play MMO isn't bad. The leveling isn't insanely difficult in terms of other MMO's and the zone only events are amusing. I'm particularly fond of the mushroom event. Yep. I should include in my characters backstory that she is addicted to shrooms. Although, I have good reason for this! That event used to net a player a ton of those old refinement runes used to increase artifact gear or companion stats. I can't think of other zone events like that which net you the same runes. I have no idea if those things still drop from that event. I shall have to investigate. cackles

To sum up my thoughts, I like the changes to the game. I would love to see a way to get at least 20 slot bags without needing to convert gold to zen (real world money). Even in other MMO's players can get at least a respectable bag without needing to fork over cash. But such is the free to play model.

What do you think about MMOs? What are your top favorites and why do you like them? My top three list consists of Guild Wars 2 (In a move that shocks no one), Secret World Legends, and Neverwinter.

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

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