As you might have heard, Zenimax Online Studios is taking a crack at the MMO game. Recently, The Elder Scrolls Online was officially announced and not surprisingly not too many people seemed to be on board with the game. At best, people, myself included wanted a co-op version of Skyrim because I personally feared that the things that I enjoy about The Elder Scrolls series would be lost in a MMO. I like to explore, I want to find some random dungeon or cave to fart around in. Some unique gem out in the middle of nowhere that leads me on a grand adventure that somehow ends with me talking to a god or being suspended thousands of feet into the air.

Safe to say, I was lukewarm about the announcement but I decided to see what it was all about, with the bits of information that was sure to trickle out from the various Game Informer articles and plenty of leaks found on the internet I would not have to wait too long to form an idea.

So what do we know so far? The game is set around a  thousand years before the events in Skyrim. Tamriel has no clear ruler and with recent wars degrading of Imperial presence, Cyrodiil is marked by constant warfare. Three alliances have emerged each containing three of the races we know from the series. The Ebonheart Pact consists of the Norn, Dunmar, and Argonians. Although they hate each other, they forged a pact address the threats posed by their unified enemies. An interesting dynamic set up for this faction, I would love to see how that hate but unified story plays out.

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So, apparently I’m out of the loop. Syp over at BioBreak has spearheaded a month long community event called the Newbie Blogger Initiative. The goal of NIB is to inspire those who are on the fence about starting up their own MMO blog, by providing a medium for them to ask questions and receive advice.  It’s no small effort as there are countless bloggers already registered and prepared to dispense knowledge to anyone with questions.

I remember when I first started to blog, I sort of fell into it after being part of the now deceased MMOVoices community. I remember stumbling across the site looking for MMO specific podcasts; I liked what I saw and heard, and decided to try my hand at participating in the community. Reading everyone’s work about the games they love, they wrote anything from game journals, editorials, to plain screen dumps. I just had to try my hand at writing. Mind you, I have absolutely no background in writing aside from the crud I churned in school for a decent grade.

I launched my own WordPress based blog titled, Steel Harmony. At the time I didn’t even know what I wanted to write about let alone think how bad I was at writing, I didn’t know any HTML, barely did any image editing, and no idea how much of a command I had over the English language, but damn it, I was just determined to do something if anything. My first post was about a game that just launched recently, TERA. I don’t even recall what I wrote about, but the goal was to shed some light on the game since back then it was just a pipe dream for a few dedicated fans that were able to dig up information on the game.

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The long awaited beta for Guild Wars 2 is almost here. Many of us have watched from the sidelines for many years, a fortunate few, myself included had the opportunity to play the game at conventions, while others were stuck living vicariously through others via Youtube videos. Our patience is about to pay off. The first beta event kicks off this weekend allowing everyone who prepurchased the game or was lucky to attain beta codes at PAX East to play the game all weekend long. No more time-limit demos! For three days we have open access to a highly anticipated game that has plenty to offer.

Naturally some of us need a plan to gain as much insight as we can possibly muster and some of us just want to play the game and wring it for all that it’s worth .My plan of action is to focus on figuring out all the different professions as well as, testing my opinion of ArenaNet’s style of presentation in terms of the leveling game(journey). Will the Renown hearts areas and dynamic event bring a refreshing experience to the genre? The hot spots and dynamic events allows players to naturally explore the world and get involved instead of that ‘daily grind’ feeling when it comes to leveling using the traditional methods.

Along with that, I plan to play around with most of the professions and figuring out how they work in general and form a real understanding of how the function. I also want to mess around with different weapon combinations and fiddle with the trait system. I want to see how all the different professions perform when they try to fill certain roles. How can a Necromancer be tanky? Not in the “tank and spank” way but survivability and hardiness. What tools does a Thief have that allow it to support allies. So I’ll be doing plenty of profession digging throughout the beta.

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It has been a while since I’ve spoken about Final Fantasy XIV. Ever since they announced they were making major changes to the game leading up to version 2.0, I decided to watch from the sidelines and monitor the progress of the game.

For a while now, they have been introducing a lot of content to the game. This includes a healthy amount of quests, so players did not have to grind it out in the wilds since there was nothing else to do once you completed the daily quests from the levequest system. On top of that, they introduced dungeons for mid and high level characters; each has their own story to tell. Notorious Monsters have made a comeback and drop unique loot. Also, avatar battles are in the game. So far, it is just the Ifrit and Moogle fight, with Garuda on the way. A number of quality of life adjustments have been made to the game.

Players can now have their own personal inn similar to the mog houses of old as well as, an armoire to store gear and the marketing system is drifting closer to that of an Auction house. The retainer system is slowly becoming an element of the auction house.

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I wasn’t sure how I would open in this but, this experience is something I wanted to share with everyone who reads my blog and those who are a part of developer appreciation week. During Pax East, I had the opportunity to attend both BioWare panels, one regarding the future of Dragon Age and the other about the Mass Effect franchise. The one in particular that I am going to talk about today is the Dragon Age panel.

It is easy to get absorbed in the internet and hop on the bandwagon to hate everything that ever existed, that developers are out to get gamers but sitting in on the panels reminded me of the fabulous side of the relationship between developers and players. Mike Laidlaw, David Gaider, Mark Darrah, Jessica Merizan, and Shane Hawco took the time to share their ideas for the next Dragon Age, as they since canceled the expansion for Dragon Age 2.

Mike Laidlaw and crew talked about some of the feedback they received from Dragon Age 2 and how they planned to implement it in Dragon Age 3. The three topics they focused on were equipment for followers, decisions that matter, and the reuse of levels. I guess one of the big things people missed was being able to gear up their companions. In Dragon Age 2, you just give them weapons and accessories but their look doesn’t change.

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So, Pax East has come and gone yet again. I’ve come a ways since last year’s Pax East, which was my first time I attended a video game convention. I’m blessed with being able to write about games, although it’s not a paid position it helps me stay focused and work on improving myself. This year I was able to schedule a few appointments to check some of the  higher profile games as well as get some hands on time with around some of the smaller titles sandwiched in the convention center. Along with checking out  the games, I had the pleasure of meeting up with friends at the yearly tweet meet up. As you might have guessed, a few of us got into a rousing debate about the Mass Effect 3 endings and of course, MMO talk in general. Even with all that, Pax East almost never happened for me this year.

When I got in Thursday, I was shocked to have found out that something was amidst with my credit card that I was using to pay for the hotel. One thing lead to another and the money that I needed to check-in with was locked away until Saturday morning. I was very close to losing out on my reservation and would have been left waiting or at least scramble around looking for a place to stay. The ultimatum would be to turn tail and head back home because of my stupid mistake.

Fortunately, Steven, one of Jason’s buddies that I was rooming with could cover the costs when he arrived late in the night until I had access to my digital stash of greenbacks. After that, everything went smoothly but needless to say, I wish I had a better Thursday night.

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Being able to create something unique, to be able to set yourself apart from the crowd is what character diversity is about. It can be a unique look, playstyle or story but, it also means much more than that. Depending on how the game allows you to put your spin on something it can often lead to something more than a personal creation. If you are allowed to make choices in a story, it can lead to excellent dialogue between players when discussing the specifics. Allowing a player to tweak how there character performs allows the spreadsheet masters to create something they are satisfied with and allows them to discuss the different ways a character can be optimal. Even a certain playstyle can shed light on something you never would have experienced with the way you play. Guild Wars 2 allows players to do all of the above.

Obviously, the first step in character diversity is creating a character. As you know there are five races to choose from, each has their own special characteristics. You will be able to choose the fur pattern of a Charr character while the Norn allows you access to unique body tattoos. Along with this, you also get all the bells and whistles. You can select body type, hair, face type, facial features, and dyeing your starter gear.

Aside from a unique look that allows you to create a bond with that character there are also a number of professions to choose from that dictate how you play. There are eight professions in the game and they range from the powerhouse Warrior, the protective Guardian to the Mesmer, an illusion specialist. Each class has something that sets them apart e.g., the Mesmer creating illusions, a Necromancer using pets and death shroud, the Engineer using a variety of gadgets including turrets.

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This week and the next I’ll be going swapping out games left and right. Currently there isn’t a game that is holding my undivided attention and I have to opportunity to pick and choose how I please. I’ve been dabbling in LoL, reading up on Game Update 1.2 for SWTOR, anticipating the next Guild Wars 2 beta, and a healthy sprinkle of Mass Effect 3 mulitplayer.

Farming the IP [LoL]

Nothing new here for me in League of Legends, but I have been spending a bit more times with a variety of champions and tinkering around with some builds. My new shiny has been Fiora, a new AD carry champion. She’s built to excel in one on one fights with the ability to parry a physical attack. Her ultimate skill allows her to deal damage and become untargetable for the duration. Since one of her abilities grants her a powerful attack speed buff all you have to do is build attack power, which makes her easy to understand. The downside however, is that a smart player will learn when to control her movements to make her less effective and if you play PvP expect to be targeted in team fights early and often.

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It has been almost 5 years since we first met Shepard and their ongoing struggle to combat the Reapers, a machine race that harvests all organics in the galaxy. We have gone from stopping a rogue agent to dying and being rebuilt. Force to work with a powerful terrorist organization to uncover the truth when everyone else has turned their back on you. Soon, all of things we worked for, the decisions we made is all coming to an end with Mass Effect 3.

Investing 5 years on one franchise it would not come as a surprise that people were skeptical when BioWare announced that they would have a multiplayer component to Mass Effect 3. Up until now, they never found leeway to fit it in the franchise. With Shepard’s final story being all about gathering allies and power, they found place to create a standalone multiplayer and still maintain a sensible story element. While Shepard is out doing their thing, there are objectives, resources, important artifacts that need to be secured to boost the overall success of the allied forces. Players will play as an elite solider for the allied forces and with three other people go to various hot spots to secure these resources.

All of the classes that Shepard can play as are available to players in multiplayer. In addition, each class has different races attached them that you can unlock from purchasing packs from the in-game store. Finally, you will have the opportunity to be that unstoppable Krogan Soldier or the crafty Quarian engineer. Each race has their only abilities when compared to other races of the same class, for example, a Quarian infiltrator with have the ability Sabotage whereas a human will have the ability Cyro Blast.

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This week on the ArenaNet blog, combat designer Jon Peters took the time to explain the new traits system in Guild Wars 2 as well as, new attributes to provide more choice on how players can build their character and retain their viability when compared to others.

If you recall a while back they tweaked their attribute system into the four existing statistics we know today, power, which increases damage down by all attacks. Vitality increases the players’ maximum health. Increasing the critical hit chance of attacks is Precision and Toughness increases the armor rating of a character.

To help promote unique character building they thought it was best to add some more attributes to promote flexibility. This provided different bonuses to the main stats. For the offensive minded person there is the Prowess, Malice and Expertise attribute. Prowess increases the damage of your critical strike, similar to Surge in SW:TOR. Malice increases the damage done by conditions such as, poison, confusion, and bleeding; a must have for Necromancers. Lastly, Expertise extends the duration of all conditions inflicted by the player.

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