Archive for October, 2009

For all you number crunchers

1
2 years ago
by DocHoliday in ,

There’s a tool out there called CStats that parses your combat log and allows you to calculate how much damage you’re doing.  Lots of you may already know about it, but I just saw on the forums there’s a beta teaser (upcoming version 1.1) that will allow you to break out your DoTs and procs as separate lines from your attacks.  This will be a huge help for us wardens as we can get a better feel for where our damage is coming from.

Forum Article

CStats Lorebook page

CStats 1.0 download

 

Mirkwood thoughts and expectations

2
2 years ago
by DocHoliday in ,

So there’s been a bunch of news released this past couple of weeks regarding the expansion and I’ve mainly just been reviewing the pieces and not the whole of it.  So I thought I’d step back and give my thoughts on what we know so far.

I’ll start with my concerns: (in no particular order)

  • I’m not entirely thrilled about having another barter item (skirmish marks) – but it at least sounds like initially there are enough things to purchase.  And I’m not terribly concerned if they do take up an inventory slot – sure there are potentially more elegant ways to deal with it, but honestly a couple of slots isn’t that huge of a deal.
  • I’m bummed our current legendaries will be going away and that they’re handling the IXP like they are.  I can understand why they’re doing it, but this system still isn’t quite what it could be.
  • I’m concerned that we haven’t heard anything regarding character development.  We’ve seen a lot about everything else, but none of the walkthroughs have said anything like “ooh, that’s an awesome new attack/skill/whatever” or commented on new traits, etc.
  • I’m a little worried about the end-game options as the set and drops from DN are less then inspiring, hopefully they get back on the right track and make the end-game rewarding.  It isn’t the main reason why folks start to raid, but the hope of a cool drop is what keeps them continually raiding.  I think that’s one of the reasons why many continued to farm the rift – there were lots of drops people really wanted.  I can’t think of a single “must-have” from DN.

As for the things I like so far: (again, no real order here)

  • I’m 100% sold on the storyline of Mirkwood, the reasoning behind us being there and the path we’re walking down with the epic lines.
  • The area looks amazing, not that I’m surprised based on the rest of Middle-Earth.
  • Skirmishes and the reward structure sound like all sorts of win – not just for max level toons but for leveling as well.
  • I’m excited about the new mechanics inside the instances, I’m glad we’re continuing to get variations there.
  • I can’t wait for the horse changes – zoning and using items while mounted are probably my two favorites.
  • I struggled with where to put the LI changes as overall the system is still a bit of a let down.  However, I think SoM will make the system overall better.  The transition will be tough but in the end I think we’ll be better off.  It still isn’t perfect, but it is better then when it launched.
  • more instances and another 12-person raid
  • 2 new char slots and a goat! ;)

And things I’m on the fence about:

  • the combat system sounds good – but we’ll have to wait and see how the mechanics work.  It might be another Moria like change which will take us a while to get used to – and potentially re-grind traits for.
  • There’s the potential skirmishes could make it harder to find groups (I do pug frequently) but only time will tell on that one.
  • The changes to radiance gear tokens – we’ll have to see how the specifics work.  I like the possibility that it could take me 1 run, not the requirement to do 10 (or whatever the number is).  I put this here as if it is a low enough requirement or I really like the instances it won’t be a problem and could make it easier to get raid gear.

Overall, I’m still excited about Mirkwood as there’s more then enough positive things we know that will be worth it for me.  Most of my concerns are centered around just not knowing and pure speculation.  I guess I’m just a little nervous as there was a great buildup surrounding how we’d advance our characters to 65 but nothing regarding what that actually means.  Hopefully (like many of the podcasts) as soon as I write this, Turbine will have a new dev diary out ;)

 

Inn League Reputation

0
2 years ago
by DocHoliday in

Holy cow, so I just started working on this on my warden – and I have to say there’s a whole lotta drinkin goin on.  I did the pub crawl, all 23 drinks, and all the quests – I’m still 11 pub-crawls from Friend with the Inn League.

Too bad RL actions can’t carry over, or wait – maybe its good that in-game actions don’t carry over to RL ;)

 

Dev Diary – Skirmish Rewards

2
2 years ago
by DocHoliday in ,

Latest dev diary from Zombie Columbus (ZC) is up with the highly anticipated rewards information on the skirmishes.  First all the info, then my thoughts at the end.

Monster Loot

  • Only end boss will drop coins (silver) and in ZC’s words, a rather large amount
  • Lieutenants, Bosses, and optional encounters will reward skirmish marks
  • Daily quest rewards for completing the skirmish
  • all other mobs have zero loot
  • Experience and Item XP will be rewarded as normal for mob kills

Skirmish Marks

  • Barter items that can be traded at the skirmish camps (explained below)
  • Awarded for
    • control point taken
    • NPC ally survival
    • Boss Kills
  • Calculated on a per player basis, so they’re not divided amongst the fellowship
  • Vary based on
    • Level of the skirmish
    • Fellowship size
    • Difficulty

Special Marks

  • Drops from LTs and Bosses in skirmishes
    • required in addition to normal marks for better items
    • tooltip on the mark will detail the level and size skirmish that has a chance to drop
    • upgradable and down-gradable via vendors
  • Skirmish Campaign Marks
    • Skirmishes are broken into 4 campaigns initially with Mirkwood release
    • drops from optional encounters
    • used for cosmetic rewards

Each skirmish will have a daily quest that’s available and rewards almost as much as the entire skirmish such that it becomes more rewarding to do each daily quest tied to skirmishes as opposed to the same one repeatedly.  This is a good way to get us to try them all!

Skirmish camps are the hub for skirmishes and are outside of all major cities or travel locations.  They’ll have various NPCs related to the system including places to barter your marks and the Skirmish Captain who is the “bard” for you soldier’s traits.

Soldier Traits

  • Rankable up to 20
  • Categories
    • Attribute – soldier’s role and cosmetic appearance
    • Skill – role specific traits that grant new abilities
    • Training – passive bonuses like crit, morale, etc.
    • Personal – bonuses to the PLAYER, but only inside of skirmishes
  • All gain strength as you rank
  • Some will need to be unlocked via scrolls from the vendors
  • Rank upgrades are level dependant to keep the soldier scaled to the players level
    • in summary the higher the character level the lower the upgrade cost

Specific rewards

  • idea is to complement not replace normal gameplay
  • use skirmishes to fill in the gap, and will be of lower quality then top tier crafting/end-game
  • nice part is there’s no variation as compared to the AH
  • Some rewards (Veteran rewards) will require marks from fellowship skirmishes, but since the marks can be upgraded it is feasible to get them via solo play – it just might take a while longer
  • Vendors:
    • Armor – various level ranges and also veteran items.  As strong as same level quest rewards, with veteran pieces being a little stronger.  Start at level 30 and progress to level 65.
    • Jewelry and Cloaks – same as armor
    • Weapons – same as armor but after 50, only off-hand weapons
    • Legendary Items – runics, IXP runes, scrolls, and the various new goodies mentioned in the previous LI dev diary
    • Crafting – scroll cases, crit components, and some new components with SoM
    • Cosmetics – housing, clothing, and solider items
    • Curiosities – reputation rewards, various items from old quests, and mark upgrades
    • Provisioner – sell/repair, and barter for potions

Good read, check out the full post over here – Dev Diary from ZC.

Overall it looks like some really good stuff.  I like that not all the traits are focused on our soldier but us as well.  As for the rewards, I think they hit just about everything I’d want.  It will be very nice for leveling as you can pick and chose what items from skirmishes and what items from quest/crafting you want.  We’ll have to see how this plays out at the end game.

I’m guessing, and @arbitrarygenius mentioned the same on twitter that the “various items from old quests” are talking about the level 45 class items – which if true would be AWESOME!  I also love being able to barter for reputation, that will be another very nice way to augment that system – especially with all the new reputation changes coming.  And of course, we can never have enough cosmetic items, hopefully there will be some new ones!

The rewards wouldn’t be complete without some LI options, which I’m glad to see another way to get runics (which I’m assuming are the relic cases) as that grind can be painful to get the tier 6-8 relics.  I’m also glad to see the various scrolls added as well, that will be nice to have a guaranteed way to get them as opposed to random.

Granted, with all these rewards we haven’t seen the numbers nor how many Marks drop per skirmish, but I’m all for the idea of knowing exactly how much I’ll have to do to get something I want.  This takes a lot of the random-ness out of the game, and really helps the LI system which is plagued by the “lottery” feel.

 

Fall Festival Fun

3
2 years ago
by DocHoliday in

So I decided to have some fun and pick up some of the festival items and work towards the Jig on my warden – she has all the other dances, so figured I’d complete the set.  I didn’t go full out, but enough to get the pumpkin mask and the tavern quest chain.  Thanks to Goldenstar over at the Casual Stroll to Mordor for the excellent walkthroughs of the festival quests and also Tavern rep.  You can find them over here – Fall Festival and Other Festival Quests.  The tavern quest chain probably is one of my more favorite quests as the drunken graphics are pretty impressive.  I captured a video of the last stage of the pub crawl and posted it as well (and yes, that’s Jimmy Buffett as the background music, not planned but fitting).  I did it earlier in the day on my captain and was suffering from the Forochel Fog bug plus the drunken state – talk about hard to see!

I then figured I’d take a couple of snaps from the chairs outside of Bag End to wind down from my afternoon of intoxication.

Taking a break ScreenShot00101 ScreenShot00103

ScreenShot00104 ScreenShot00105 ScreenShot00106

Finally, I went on a hunt for the Black Rider terrorizing the Shire, but he slipped by me :(

 
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