Kamis, 22 Desember 2011

MapleStory Mercedes Skill Guide

MapleStory Mercedes is a new class included in the latest update of the game, Legend, along with Cannoneer and Demon Slayer. MapleStory Mercedes is an alternative to Archer class. MapleStory Mercedes is well known for her title, The Queen of Elluel Elves. MapleStory Mercedes is unique because it holds a new, exclusive weapon dubbed the Dual Blowgun. Even though the name is MapleStory Mercedes, you still can choose male for this character. But I think the word “male” does not suit him, I would rather call him “Pretty Boy” due to his girly appearance.

Of course there are a lot of reasons, why you should choose MapleStory Mercedes instead of other classes. First thing first, MapleStory Mercedes starts at level 10, unlike other heroes that start at level 1. She moves like crazy and she has linked skills that increase the exp earned by 10 percent. MapleStory Mercedes is undeniably unique; no arrow is needed to fire her Dual Blowgun, instead magic arrow is used. And this thing will absolutely convince you to create a MapleStory Mercedes, she has unicorns. I meant the horse with wings and a horn on its forehead! Sweet son of a gun!

MapleStory Mercedes


MapleStory Mercedes

MapleStory Mercedes is not a perfect class. Instead of the level advantage that MapleStory Mercedes has, unlike archers that get extra 40 percent health points, MapleStory Mercedes only has around 3700 max health points. Period. There are still other problems, but I can’t see any problem more serious than this. Just be careful that malicious players tend to bully and discriminate MapleStory Mercedes because the class is considered to be over-powered. And prepare to be called gay by playing as a MapleStory Mercedes.

For the attributes, it is just like archers. The primary attribute is dexterity and the secondary is strength. It is advised to put 1 point to strength every 4 points spent on dexterity. Now, what skills to improve? From level 10 to 30, there are 2 recommended builds. But all of them will get the same final result, which is all skill at max.

Build A
Level 10 = Glide Blast + 4 [4], Swift Dual Shot + 1 [1]
Level 11-12 = Glide Blast + 3 [10 MAX]
Level 13-18 = Swift Dual Shot + 3 [18]
Level 19 = Swift Dual Shot + 2 [20 MAX], Sharp Aiming + 1 [1]
Level 20-25 = Sharp Aiming + 3 [18]
Level 26 = Sharp Aiming + 2 [20 MAX], Potential Power + 1 [1]
Level 27-30 = Potential Power + 3 [20 MAX]

Build B
Level 10 = Glide Blast + 4 [4], Swift Dual Shot + 1 [1]
Level 11-12 = Glide Blast + 3 [10 MAX]
Level 13-17 = Potential Power + 3 [15 MAX]
Level 18-23 = Sharp Aiming + 3 [18]
Level 24 = Sharp Aiming + 2 [20 MAX], Swift Dual Shot + 1 [2]
Level 25-30 = Swift Dual Shot +3 [20 MAX]

Now, for the second class advancement skills build. This build will get all your skills to max except for Piercing Storm since it will be replaced by a better skill on the next class advancement. This build will leave either Gust Dive or Unicorn Strike at level 16. Use Rushing Rush prior to the Final Attack for higher damage.

Level 30 = Piercing Storm + 1 [1]
Level 31 = Rising Rush + 1 [1], Parting Shot + 1 [1], Physical Training +1 [1]
Level 32-34 = Physical Training + 3 [10 MAX]
Level 35-39 = Spirit Surge + 3 [15 MAX]
Level 40 = Parting Shot + 3 [4]
Level 41 = Parting Shot + 1 [5 MAX], Dual Bowgun Mastery + 2 [2]
Level 42-47 = Dual Bowgun Mastery + 3 [20 MAX]
Level 47-51 = Rising Rush + 3 [13]
Level 52 = Rising Rush + 2 [15 MAX], Final Attack + 1 [1]
Level 53-58 = Final Attack + 3 [19]
Level 59 = Final Attack + 1 [20 MAX], Piercing Storm +2 [3]
Level 60-63 = Piercing Storm + 3 [15]
Level 64 = Piercing Storm + 1 [16], Dual Bowgun Booster + 2 [2]
Level 65-70 = Dual Bowgun Booster + 3 [20 MAX]

For the third class advancement recommended builds:
Level 70 = Stunning Strikes + 1 [1]
Level 71 = Gust Dive + 1 [1], Aerial Barrage + 1 [1], Leaf Tornado + 1 [1]
Level 72–77 = Ignis Roar + 3 [18]
Level 78 = Ignis Roar + 2 [20 MAX], Unicorn Spike + 1 [1]
Level 79-82 = Aerial Barrage + 3 [13]
Level 83 = Aerial Barrage + 2 [15 MAX], Stunning Strikes + 1 [2]
Level 84-89 = Stunning Strikes + 3 [20 MAX]
Level 90-95 = Water Shield + 3 [18]
Level 96 = Water Shield + 2 [20 MAX], Leaf Tornado + 1 [2]
Level 97-102= Leaf Tornado + 3 [20 MAX]
Level 103-108= Elemental Knight + 3 [18]
Level 109 = Elemental Knight + 2 [20 MAX], Gust Dive/Unicorn Strike +1 [2]
Level 110-115= Gust Dive/Unicorn Strike + 3[20 MAX]
Level 116-120= Gust Dive/Unicorn Strike + 3 [16]

Handy MapleStory Mercedes guide huh?


Source: MapleStory Mercedes - BasilMarket.com

SWTOR Talent Calculator is Essential?

SWTOR talent calculator is a very useful tool. Well, generally, a talent calculator is used to plan a build. This is not a rare tool for games, especially for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game that requires you to be careful in choosing skills and classes as it impacts your style of play greatly. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, there is indeed a respect feature, meaning, you can take back all your skill points spent at skill tree to re-spend them at other skill tree for a price. Respec cost will scale up each time you respect, so, to avoid further credits spent in vain, SWTOR talent calculator comes in handy.

There are a lot of websites that offer SWTOR talent calculator to help you plan your character final build that fits your style of play well. The tool usually has an option to embed it to your website, making it a great tool. But, to maintain its quality, every talent calculator developer has to update their calculator every time a new update is released. Every talent calculator is different in style and shape, but has the same general purpose. This is 3 out of many sites that offer SWTOR talent calculator along with the quick overview:

SWTOR Talent Calculator


SWTOR Talent Calculator

Torhead
This is my favorite SWTOR talent calculator site. The design is stylish and simple and it is user-friendly. There is an option to reset skill points in a skill tree and even reset all. Tooltips are available for all skills, though the cooldown time is not included. To see the tooltips, just put the cursor over your chosen skill, and there you are. The link to share your build is always available in your browser’s address bar and always updated every time you spend a point on a skill to make it easier and simpler to share links. Your build can also be embedded to your site! The downside is that you cannot use the backward or forward feature of your browser because it breaks the calculator’s behavior.

R2-DB
R2-DB provides you with an exceptional talent calculator. This site’s calculator is similar to Torhead’s, but with different layouts. This one does not get behavior-break when the history traversal feature of a browser is used. The tooltip is underlined so that it will be easier and more comfortable to read. It has a big design. The downsides are, not all skill images are available and there are some uncompleted tooltip. R2-DB seems to have joined with Torhead.

Darth Hater DB
This is calculator has the same weakness as Torhead’s, history traversal with the backward or forward button will break its behavior. The URL will also be automatically updated in the address bar every time the user changes the skill point usage. It is also the only talent calculator with full tooltip information, including cooldown time. The layout is neat, mirror advanced classes are paired at the bottom of the page. But, there is a typo and wrong pairing. Like the Maruader which is supposed to be Marauder and the Jedi Sage/Sith Assassin pair that should have been Jedi Sage/Sith Sorcerer or Jedi Shadow/Sith Assassin. Embedding it to your website is possible.

Since SWTOR talent calculator is important, you got to choose the best site. Which one is your website of choice?

Small Egg WoW = Bags of Golds!

Small egg WoW is an item that is dropped mostly by bird-like monsters. Even though it is small, this item has a high reputation. Small egg WoW is one of the most searched items in the game especially in this kind of time, Winter Veil 2011. Because of that, you can take advantage of this situation to get as much profit as you can with this small egg WoW before the event ends.

Why it is pretty popular? Small egg is one of the ingredients needed to cook Egg Nog and Gingerbread Cookies. Those two foods are 2 out of 3 requirements for the legendary achievement, The Winter Veil Gourmet. And this achievement is needed to get the Merrymaker title, which is essential to get the Proto-Drake and 310% flying skill freebie. Other than that, Gingerbread Cookies are also the requirement in completing “Treats for Grandfather Winter” quest. Small egg WoW is highly-valued in the Winter Veil event.

Small Egg WoW


Small Egg WoW

In order to complete the quest and the achievement, players are forced to farm or to buy it in the Auction House. Because the demand is much higher than the available stock, the price is “profitable”. There are two types of player regarding this problem. The lazy players, freebies lovers, and opportunity chasers. The lazy players are too lazy to move their ass out of the city. So, they rather spend their hard-earned coins to buy small eggs in a high price than going out in the wild fighting some guy over a small egg. Freebies lovers don’t want to spend their coins at all, so, they go kill under-leveled poor birds for their eggs and will stop hunting when the required amount of eggs is reached. The plan is to be the opportunity chaser. You will be getting eggs from birds with the best drop rates, and sell it in the auction house. If you are brave enough, you can be a monopolist of small egg WoW in the 12 days of Winter Veil.

First, you got to know where to look. Hunt the Dragonhawks in Eversong Wood just out of Silvermoon. Look for Feral Dragonhawk Hatchlings and Crazed Dragonhawks. They are only level 6 monsters and bound to drop small eggs. Don’t forget to clear some space in your bag because this will be an egg fiesta! The dragonhawks are usually found in packs and groups, they respawn relatively fast, and has the drop rate of small eggs at 100%! And sometimes, they even drop 3 small eggs at once! Your bag will be full of small eggs before you know it.

Now that you have got the things to sell, go sell it in the Auction House. Set the price in the average range, not too cheap and not too expensive. Sell them in a pack of five and one. The lazy players will of course buy the pack of five because that will fulfill their need instantly. While the lazy-freebies hybrid type of player will buy singles because they already got some in their inventory and cannot stand the boringness of farming. Voila! You will net a good amount of money, nice and neat! If you have lots of small eggs or the time for the end if Winter Veil is drawing close, you should set a wholesale price instead of average price.

So that was it. But if everyone is selling small egg WoW based on this guide, who will buy?

SWTOR Builds: Deceiver Sith Assassin

One of the most versatile classes that has the best SWTOR builds is the Sith Assassin, Sith Inquisitor’s advancement class. Assassin can be played as a tank, a stealth damage dealer, or unique SWTOR builds that combine melee and ranged attack. This article will tell you about the SWTOR builds of Deceiver Sith Assassin.

Deceiver Sith Assassin has the strongest damage dealer build among other mirror SWTOR builds. Stealth Sith Assassin focuses on the Deception skill set. Stealth Sith Assassin mainly utilize the skill Surging Charge to stealthly kill the opponent. It is a class made to serve the sole purpose of close-range battles because it does not have any good 30 meters ranged attack and no skill to quickly close the gap between players. In exchange, Deceiver Sith Assassin has the control in a battle and the strongest damage dealer among other Assassin-like specialization.

SWTOR Builds


SWTOR Builds

There is 6 SWTOR builds that are best for this style of play. They are Chain Shock and Armor Piercing for PvE and Variant, PvP Chain Shock, PvP Armor-Piercing, and High Regeneration Backstab Spam build.

PvE Chain Shock (2/31/8)
This build uses the Shock and Thrash ability along with Induction, Maul, and Chain Shock. Hence, the name, this build will deplete the opponent’s health with chain of Shocks continued with Thrash and extra damage by using the skill Maul.

PvE Armor-Piercing (5/33/3)
Armor-piercing build is a build designed for stealth single-target kills. But, the build is unbelievably good at Area damage for a single-target playstyle. Using this build means you will be a backstabber a lot. With the Exploit Weakness plus Maul in the stealth mode or blackout, you will cause a catastrophic damage to your target of assassination.

PvP Armor-Piercing (5/33/3)
Armor-piercing for PvP is not bad. It is similar to the PvE SWTOR builds. For the first attack, you can use Maul, Voltaic Slash, or Spike for opener. Maul will hit your target really hard and you can start attacking your target with chain attack. With Spike, you can stun your enemy and plan your attack carefully. Voltaic Slash is the alternative of Maul, it inflicts a rather good damage with lower cost. Just remember to slow your target every time the skill is available because your area of slaughter is only 10 meters, beyond that and your victim is out of your reach for good. Also, you are possible to be a team player with this build. Use Mind Control when the enemies are frantically attacking your mates. This ability will weaken the victim’s damage by 30% for 6 seconds unless the victim attacks you. To prevent that, disappear into thin air by using the Force Cloak and you can continue Mauling you targets.

PvP Chain Shock (0/33/8)
Very similar to the PvE build. It is better for PvE, still outpowered by Armor-Piercing.

PvP Variant (11/30/0)
The system is similar with armor-piercing, but it sacrifices bursts in trade for speed.

PvP High Regeneration Backstab Spam (18/23/0)
This build works just like the name. Spam Backstabs with this build to humiliate your enemy and yourself. You will get extremely powerful damage output. But, your force points will regenerate far slower than other SWTOR builds, making Backstab Spam a short-time monster.

That was the SWTOR builds for Deceiver Sith Assassin. But, you can experiment with your own SWTOR builds if you want to!

Merry Winter Veil 2011!

This year’s WoW Christmas holiday event is called Winter Veil 2011. Winter Veil itself is an annual event in World of Warcraft in order to celebrate Christmas and New Year. Winter Veil 2011 will provide new silly quests, challenging and fun achievements, exclusive gifts, non-combat pets, and unique costumes. Even though it is an exclusive annual event, each year, the contents and features in a Winter Veil event are not always different and exclusive. Winter Veil 2011 started on Thursday, the 15th of December and will end on Monday, the second of January 2012.

World of Warcraft - Winter Veil 2011


World of Warcraft - Winter Veil 2011

Winter Veil 2011 is one of the holiday events of World of Warcraft that nets us the most benefits. Not only that it is fun and only appear once a year, it involves things that are possible to sell in the Auction House, like the Ice Cold Milk and Small Eggs, thus making it profitable. And the quests are not only for high-leveled player, every player over level 6 is possible to complete the quests to get items. This event changes the atmosphere of World of Warcraft.

Winter Veil 2011 holds one of the requirements to get the Violet Proto-Drake and free 310% flying skill, which is the Merrymaker title. Like always, to get the Merrymaker title, you have to complete all achievements required. The quests required to complete for the Merrymaker title in Winter Veil 2011 are not much different from last year’s:

On Metzen!
Last year, this poor reindeer named Metzen was abused by naughty little gnomes. And in Winter Veil 2011, the reindeer is back again with mad gnomes still whacking him. Heroic rescue is essential! You know what, the Reindeer name is based on Chris Metzen, the artist, voice actor, and game designer of World of Warcraft.

With a Little Helper from My Friends
This one is sort of fun. You have to kill 50 players of the opposing faction while in the form of a Winter Veil gnome. First, you gotta put the costume first from the one of the Winter Wondervolt Machines. This Winter Wondervolt Machines are located in big cities such as Orgrimmar, Undercity, Ironforge, Booty Bay, Dalaran, et cetera. Take note that the gnome costume won’t last forever. You will lose your disguise in an hour or upon death. If you died in a battle, just get another costume again and continue rock-’n-rolling in the Battlegrounds as long as Winter Veil 2011 is still happening.

Tis the Season
To complete this, you have to wear 3 pieces of winter clothing and chomp Graccu’s Mince Meat Fruitcake. But, it is not as easy as it sounds. While the Winter Clothes and pair of Winter Boots are not hard to get, the hats are all drops from high-level 5-men dungeon boss monsters. When you have the clothes, boots, and hat, now what you need is just Graccu’s juicy Mince Meat Fruitcake. You’ll get it in the Smokywood Pastures Extra-Special Gift that will be automatically delivered to you a few hours after saving the poor reindeer, Metzen. Now, you are Mr. Grandfather-Winter-wannabe chomping some disgusting fruitcake. Perfect.

Scrooge
Snowball time! You just need to throw a snowball either to Muradin Bronzebeard in Ironforge for Alliance or Baine Bloodhoof in Thunder Bluff for Horde. Where to get snowballs? You can buy it at Winter Veil NPCs just for 10 copper. Freebies lovers, don’t you worry! You can get your own snowball with no extra charge in Alterac Mountains, Winterspring, and Dun Morogh.

Simply Abominable
This achievement requires you to slay The Abominable Greench in Alterac Mountains and loot the Stolen Treats. Once you’ve got one, get back to the Winter Veil NPC that gave you the quest.

Let it Snow You have to search for other races to finish this achievement. The requirement is using a Handful of Snowflakes (get some from /kissing Winter Revelers) on certain races and class combinations which are: Human Warrior, Undead Rogue, Tauren Shaman, Orc Death Knight, Troll Hunter, Dwarf Paladin, Draenei Priest, Blood Elf Warlock, Night Elf Druid, and Gnome Mage. Good luck searching in Winter Veil 2011!

A Frosty Shake
Shake your frosty body with fellow frosty dancers in Dalaran! That’s the requirement. What you need is the disguise kit to become a snowman. A snowball is also essential. The kit is obtained from the quests in Simply Abominable achievement. Be sure to complete this one in the early time of Winter Veil 2011 because the number of dancing snowbuds will decrease gradually in time.

Fa-la-la-la-Ogri’la
You will need to complete the Bomb Them Again! quest while riding on flying Reindeer. Sweet! First, you will need to complete several quests to unlock Bomb Them Again!, after that, you gotta change your ride to a reindeer using Preserved Holly or Fresh Holly. Hollies can be obtained by /kissing Winter Revelers in Inns (random present) or you can buy it from holly machines. Now, enjoy the scenery while you drop bombs on the demon cannons from high up the sky on a flying badass reindeer.

The Winter Veil Gourmet
Cook all the way! Cook the Winter Veil Gourmet that consists of Egg Nog, Gingerbread Cookie, and Hot Apple Cider. Buy the recipes at Winter Veil NPC on Ironforge or Orgrimmar. If you have leveled up your cooking skill, this won’t be a problem. But if you haven’t, you need to train and level up your skill first because 325 cooking skill is needed to cook the cider. The ingredients can be easily bought from the Auction House if you are too lazy to look, and of course in a price. If you don’t have the money but you do have the time, buy 1 Ice Cold Milk at the Inns, Sparkling Apple Cider, 3 Holiday Spices, and 2 Holiday Spirits at Winter Veil NPCs. The last ingredients, 2 small eggs can be looted from Moonkins for Allience and Eversong Dragonhawks for Horde. Happy cooking!

Bros. Before Ho Ho Ho’s
Meet all the brothers! Don’t forget to use Mistletoe, get one from /kissing Winter Revelers. The Alliance’s brothers are: Karman in Theramore, Anton in Desolace, Kristof in Crusader’s Square, Wilhelm in Goldshire, and Nimetz in Stranglethorn Vale. There are only 3 bros for Horde: Durkot Wolfbrother in Warsong Hold, Malach in Undercity’s War Quarter, and Keltan in Orgrimm’s Hammer that patrols the northeastern part Icecrown.

He Knows if You’ve Been Naughty
This is the last achievement required to get the Merrymaker title in Winter Veil 2011. Very simple, just open one of the presents under the tree in Ironforge or Orgrimmar. The presents will start spawning on the Christmas day through holiday’s end.

That was the quick overview for each achievement required for Merrymaker title in Winter Veil 2011. Don’t miss it guys!

Rabu, 21 Desember 2011

Romance with SWTOR Companions

SWTOR companions are available as a system that will help you in various conditions in the harsh world of MMORPG. They serve like minions that will do whatever you order them to do. SWTOR companions are the key in the crew skills system’s mechanic. You will be able to command them to do crafting, complete a mission, gather stockpiles and materials, and also help you in combat (only one companion is allowed to be taken out).

SWTOR companions aren’t give-and-take gifts from the developer. You will get a companion early in the game with no extra charge. But, to get other companions, you will have to put a good amount of efforts to look for them in the whole world since they are well-scattered. Like the rest of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, there are moral choices, alignment, and affection. You can influence an evil companion into a lovely happy hippie or pervert your good, righteous SWTOR companions into a scary poker-faced villain that is capable of scaring children to death with pedo-smiles. So, your status and choices that you made will decide who will be your friendly SWTOR companions and who will be your greatest band of silly, hating SWTOR companions. You can also be friends with them. You can get one of them at a time to be your lover or simply your digital fantasy shagging partner (no gay relationship for now). It depends on what you do to them and how you treat them. You can give presents and talk about what they like to get positive affection points. For your info, you can see what the SWTOR companions like and dislike by going to the codex menu in the quest log and choose “Person of Note”. Further relationship with the SWTOR companions will get you unique rewards that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Other than that, you can also open new conversations and dialogs that can reveal the SWTOR companions dark secrets and past. Every companion has their storyline and secret quest if you can manage to make them tell you. Just what to expect from BioWare.

SWTOR Companions


SWTOR Companions

There are total of 42 companions, half for the Empire and the other half for the Republic. Each job gets 5 companions with various default alignment and one default droid companion. Every SWTOR companion has their unique skill and crew skills bonus. They also has their own class and equipment. For example, one of the Sith Warrior companion, Broonmark, is a melee tank character that will give you +2 Bioanalysis critical and +10 Scavenging efficiency.

Bored looking at your companion in a form of blue-colored alien chick called Vette? You can recolor your favorite blue-colored alien chick into a yellow-colored alien chick with a tattoo. But, extreme body modification is impossible. BioWare has prevented it so that you can’t ruin the gorgeous Jaesa Willsaam into a bad, ill-smelled, obese girl with a goatee. You are limited to only modify the appearance and customize the battle tactic of a companion, for a price. It will cost you 12,500 credits for a modification tool at the Smugglers Corso Rigg’s!

Feeling like you need some company? Be sure to play around with your SWTOR companions!

SWTOR: Respec Time!

Okay, we are back again in a Star Wars: The Old Republic article, this time I want to talk about respec. So, Star Wars: The Old Republic is a new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game based on the movie Star Wars and a single player Role-Playing Game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series. This time, the third installment of the series is developed by BioWare, that is responsible for spawning the revolutionary breed of Third-Person Shooter and Role-Playing Game, the Mass Effect series. This is the first time BioWare is developing an MMORPG.

Respec - SWTOR


Respec - SWTOR

Star Wars: The Old Republic offers fresh idea for MMORPG. Like the companion and crew skills system, and also, respec. So, what does respec means? Respec comes from the word respecialization. Respec is the ability to reset your skills back to zero so that you can “reshape” your character or undo the mistakes that you have made. It is a common system these days, seen to be used in World of Warcraft, Massive Action Game (M.A.G. PS3 exclusive FPS), and other games.

Maybe this is the situation that you are in. You chose to be a Sith Inquisitor and advanced your class to Sith Assassin. You thought that playing ninja style and decapitating republic dogs from behind is fun so, you leveled up the Deception skill tree. And you finally found out that sneaking is not as easy as chewing bacon sandwiches. You figured out that tanking is your real way of life, and here’s where the respec feature comes in. You can respec your character and level up the Darkness skill set instead. After a few hours, you feel like tanking is uncool unline assassin. And well, the awesome respec can come again. But, it doesn’t mean that you can change your class advancement. Choose your class advancement carefully.

Respec seems to be too good to be true. You can switch back and forth and try another sub-class or skills how many times you want. Well, the first time you respec your character, you needn’t to pay anything, not even a single credit. But the second time, you have to pay a small amount of credits, and it becomes more and more expensive each time you respec because the it is not something that you should do over and over again. The most expensive cost that I have ever seen is about 36 kilocredits. Whoa, that means the guy is a respec addict!

How to Respec Your Character in SWTOR?




So, how to respec your character? If you think that it is done just by opening the talent menu and clicking a respec button, you are wrong. There is no button called the respec button in the game. Instead, you got to find an NPC to respec your character. You can find the NPC in the same room with the class trainers in the Fleet Station. It is in the combat training area. And there is another one in Coruscant behind trade stands down below the Senate entrance.

Respec is proven to be very useful. You can use respec to change your specialization when you are going to slay monsters in PvE server or wreak havoc in PvP server. For example, you are a Sith Sorcerer. You have planned your character to be a damage dealer. So, you leveled up the Lightning skill tree. One day, a friend asked you to help him and his guild to raid a dungeon. But, the guild is already full of damage dealers and in need of a healer. In this kind of situation, you can shift to a healer by doing the respec thing and level up the Corruption skill set. Just don’t forget that respec is not freebies.

Deciding to respec your character now?

Selasa, 20 Desember 2011

Then I Took Skyrim 1.03 Patch in the Knee...

Skyrim is the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls series. A few days ago, Skyrim 1.03 patch was released and successfully took an arrow in the knee. No game is perfect (except Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots :p), Skyrim was born and sent to the wild lacking sugar. Of course, to sweeten it and protect the dignity of her fifth son, Miss Bethesda has released a couple of patches to fix things here and there and add some low-calorie sugar so that the massive sweetness won’t kill anyone with diabetes. The newest Skyrim 1.03 patch was released to all platforms. But not on the same day since Microsoft and Sony need to “certify” it first before deciding to fetch Skyrim 1.03 “certified” patch to their hungry customers. The first Skyrim 1.03 patch release was for PC, on the 7th of December 2011. It was released in the Steam. Then, the Xbox 360 patch came on the 16th of December 2011, about more than a week after the initial PC release. Don’t want to lose to Microsoft, Sony decided to quickly “certify” the Skyrim 1.03 patch and released the PS3 version in the PSN just the next day. Thank God and Mr. Butler that it only took Sony about a week to get the patch certified. I can still clearly recall the infamous “Mass Effect 2 patch-certifying” nightmare I went through. It was too horrible and painful that I don’t want to talk about it. Even Mr. Butler will wet his pants if he remembers this.

Skyrim 1.03 patch is a divine gift and salvation from God for us, gamers. Skyrim 1.03 patch has repaired disturbing bugs in the game. So what has been fixed for good?

Skyrim 1.03 Patch


Skyrim 1.03 Patch

Ahoy #1 stability has been enstabled!
A more stable game means more hours per sitting!

Ahoy #2 Radiant Story incorrect roles-filling fixed!
Well, I honestly don’t understand which role is fixed. But what I know is, put a bucket at someone’s head, and Mr. Bucketman and Mrs. Bucketman won’t give a damn about what you are doing.

Ahoy #3 Book-placing to the bookshelves in purchased house issues fixed! What issues exactly? I haven’t tried placing books yet.

Ahoy #4 Y-input fixed to correctly scale the framerate!
Umm, Okay.

Ahoy #5 Magic resistance miscalculation fixed, yo!
Now this is crucial. Before Skyrim 1.03 patch was released, “homo-genocide” is possible. Spawn your Flames Atronach and punish her flaming body with flames and she will die. Summon the Frost Atronach and put her back to her sleep with Frost and she will surely sleep in no time. See? Flames burn flames, ices freeze ices, how is that even possible? But then, this awesome Skyrim 1.03 patch came and everyone wins. No more iced ices and burned flames. Win-win situation.

Ahoy #6 Core 2 Duo users, you are blessed!
Don’t really care, mine’s not a Core 2 Duo (troll mode)

Ahoy #7: The Last Ahoy, No more idiotic, backward-flying fire-breathing lump of meat!
The last patch, 1.02, sent dragons flying backward with one wing with the speed of light like some two-headed, one legged onion man, taking a sh*t inside a toilet in a burning space rocket made of bouncy giant green dried snot going in a suicide mission to the sun.

Aye aye, Miss Bethesda has fixed that with the Almighty Skyrim 1.03 patch. Now you can slay the dragon in the Battle at Bonestrewn Crest without the need to puke!

But speaking of which, the Skyrim 1.03 patch did not remove the “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee..” just so you know.

I used to give a damn, then someone covered my head with a bucket...

SWTOR Inquisitor: Elegant Sith Class

SWTOR Inquisitor is one of the eight default classes and one of two Sith Empire classes that utilize Force. SWTOR Inquisitor seems to be a light-armored class similar to the Republic’s Jedi Consular. Sith Inquisitor uses the power of the Force along with lightsaber techniques. Inquisitors are fast, swift, and rather strong. SWTOR Inquisitor proves to be one of the strongest jobs in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Inquisitor is the type that can play all kinds of role. Be it a powerful assault caster, a party healer, or a tanker in a massive raid. Inquisitors harness the dark side of the Force to either crush their enemies or support their allies. SWTOR Inquisitor is a genius in force channeling and manipulation, and also has outstanding swordmanship. Inquisitors study the philosophy and dark past of the Force. Force Lightning is their well-known feared weapon.

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor


SWTOR Sith Inquisitor

SWTOR Inquisitor has 5 companions, 4 of them are evil, and 1 of them has the good morality. They are Xalek, Khem Val, Talos Drellik, Ashara Zavros, and Andronikus Revel. Their starships are called “Fury”. There are 5 races available to choose: Human, Twi’lek, Sith Pureblood, Zabrak, and Rattataki.

Inquisitors use the double-bladed lightsaber with an unbelievable speed. Even though you are a bad guy here, you can rebel and be a hero instead. First, choose your style of play. You can be a frontline tanker with your extreme agility, making you a hard-to-hit decoy. A sneaky little venomous deadly snake with unrivaled stealth skill. If you want to be a supportive player, be a healer. And you can improve your Force to be a PvP Force-based Inquisitor.

There are 2 class advancements of SWTOR Inquisitor. They are Sith Assassin and Sith Sorcerer.

Sith Assassin focuses on the melee skill. Sith Assassins use double-edged lightsabers. They have super-fast speed and agility. There are 3 skill trees for Sith Assassin. Darkness, Madness, and Deception. Darkness skill tree is full of defensive abilities that will make you an excellent tanker. Madness offers Force ability to drain and corrupt enemies, but Madness is a shared skill. The last skill tree of Sith Assassin is Deception. Deception includes stealth skills to kill enemies without them even realizing. Force Lightning can be imbued into the double-edged lighsaber using the skill from Deception skill tree.

Sith Sorcerer is the last class advancement of SWTOR Inquisitor for now. Sorcerers harness the power of the dark Force to dispatch their foes without mercy. This class is Force-based. There are 3 skill trees, 1 of them is a shared skill, Madness. The other two are Lightning and Corruption. Lightning skill tree focuses on the Force Lightning. Choose it if you want to be an assault caster. You will get healing and support abilities if you improve the Corruption skill tree.

SWTOR Inquisitors are way too powerful that they are often hated by bullied players. So, overall, SWTOR Inquisitor is a deadly class, versatile, and handy in all kinds of condition. You love Darth Maul, you will surely love the Sith Inquisitor!

SWTOR Crafting – How to?

SWTOR crafting feature is exceptional. This kind of crafting system that involves NPC is rarely seen in other MMORPGs. SWTOR crafting allows players to craft various items like implants, guns, high-tech armors, lightsaber parts, and more. Crafting skill is included in the crew skills. Crafting is essential and important if you want to maximize your character’s potential.

First, I will introduce SWTOR crafting in general. Crafting can be done by either the player or NPCs called “companion”. Crafting is a special crew skill. Provided that you can only assign 1 crafting skill to the skill slot and leave the 2 other skill slots to other crew skills while you can use 3 gathering skills or mission skills at once. And if you change the crafting skill, it will be reset back to level 1 and you will lose all your hard-earned recipes.

SWTOR Crafting costs some time. While crafting low-level equipment only takes less than 10 minutes, high-level and sophisticated items will need more. That is where the NPCs come in. You can assign up to 5 companions to do crafting tasks. Each companion can only queue 5 crafting tasks. They will continue working when you are out doing some quest with your guild and even when you are offline. Your companions work tirelessly and will make sure that you sleep safe and sound when you are not in the game. Still, the companions don’t provide you 100 percent cashback guarantee. To prevent failures, you have to be good to your companions. It is recommended to give presents and talk whenever possible. Your companions will perform better SWTOR crafting with higher affection point.

SWTOR crafting is divided to 6. There are Armstech, Cybertech, Armormech, Biochem, Artifice, and Synthweaving. I’ll give you the quick short overview of each sub-profession. For non-Force user tanks, you should choose the Armormech since it mainly produces armors. Cybertech is a credits-making crafting skill. For any raiding guild member, you can get profit by selling potions and implants from the Biochem skill. Non-force users that choose to focus on crafting are best to choose Armstech since time is the essence to be able to construct good weapons. Force tanks is better to choose Synthweaving, the sub-profession is used to craft force armors. And aggresive non-tanks Force users are recommended to equip Artifice to make unique and special lightsaber parts.

Let’s get to the how to. First step....

SWTOR Crafting


 SWTOR Crafting

1. Craft-learning
Learning is the key to success. That is what my teachers used to lecture me. In SWTOR crafting, learning is essential. Choose the suitable crafting skill for you. You learn it in your capital home city, just take a stroll around the storage area, auction house, and skill trainers. Remember that only 1 crafting skill can be learned per time. But you are free to learn another crafting skills by forgetting the one you learn now. Forgetting means you will lose all recipes and level of that SWTOR crafting skill.

2. Craft!
Open the crew skills menu (‘n’ is the shortcut). Give a click-click on the craft icon beside your companion. Then, you can choose what will your companion craft. The maximum queue is 5.

Bam! You (and your companion) have successfully crafted an item! Be sure to keep crafting since there are still a lot to uncover on SWTOR crafting.

SWTOR Server Status Overpopulated?

How is SWTOR server status doing now? Players that got no time to play must be wondering when they will play and whether they will get a seat in one of the servers or not. Even before the official release date, which is today, most of the servers were already swarmed.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game developed by BioWare and based on the epic space opera, Star Wars. The game is the latest installment of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series. It takes place centuries after the events of SW:KotOR. Unlike the previous installment that was a singleplayer role-playing game, this one will surely satiate MMORPG lovers, especially the ones that played the previous games. To be able to play this game, players have to pay monthly subscription fees. A month subscription will cost you $14.99. While a 3 month subscription will cost you around $42 and even cheaper for the 6 month subscription, which is about $78. You won’t even believe that SWTOR has already attracted a lot of gamers attention. Try visiting the SWTOR server status page in the official website.

There are 4 types of server: PvE, PvP, RP-PvP, and RP-PvE. PvE stands for Player versus Enemy, meaning, no killing between players, only in some area and battleground. PvP = Player versus Player. Players can freely spar in this server. The RP in RP-PvP and RP-PvE is the same. RP is the abbreviation of role-playing, more like hardcore mode where everything is made as real as it can be. Statistics show that players love PvP more than any other server type. Now, does it also affect the SWTOR server status?

SWTOR Server Status


SWTOR Server Status

The SWTOR server status page in the official website of Star Wars: The Old Republic shows more than a hundred US servers and about 90 European servers. The SWTOR server status page shows extreme traffic in European servers. Most European servers are full and in heavy traffic, while US servers are not really that crowded. When you are trying to join a full server, you will be queued. The queues could take minutes or even hours. I saw my friend that queued in the Swiftsure server, a Player versus Player server, and he had to wait like nearly an hour. I am very sure that from day to day the amount of players will increase gradually. Is it gonna be a problem?

Nah, of course not! The players will surely increase, that’s not deniable. But, the players will be evenly distributed. Yesterday, there were only like 80 US servers and 60 European servers, but today, there are more. BioWare will open more day to day, so don’t worry.

And if you have a wordpress blog and you want to share the information about the server where you are currently playing at, you can keep track of the SWTOR server status and show it at your wordpress blog with the wordpress plugin. Even though the plugin is a first draft, it works well so far. The plugin will show the population, status, language, server type, and queue size.

Now, that SWTOR server status is not a problem anymore, you can buy the game without any doubt!

SWTOR Crew Skills: Unique!

SWTOR crew skills is a new system and the first time in the series. This system allows you to order your companions (friendly, hired NPC) to do things for you while you are out on a quest with your friends or even when you are offline. Companions can be ordered to do three kinds of things. You can command them to craft weapons and useful items, go gather resources, and complete solo missions on your behalf.

Since we can’t do everything alone, BioWare invented the SWTOR crew skills system to ease your pain in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now, how does the SWTOR crew skills system works? First, the companions. You will need at least a companion (more likely a slave) to make use of the SWTOR crew skills system. Companions are scattered around the world. The first companion that you will meet is more likely to be the most helpful to your class. You can only “own” 5 companions at once. You can abuse their tirelessness to craft items in your ship, or take one out with you to help. Though you can only take one companion out, and leave the rest in the ship.

Before you are ready to boss your companions around, you have to understand the SWTOR crew skills system fully. There are 3 types of crew skills, which are Crafting, Mission, and Gathering. The assigned tasks are limited. Only 3 can be assigned to your whole crew. You can freely assign any crew skill you want, but only one crafting skill is allowed.

SWTOR Crew Skills


SWTOR Crew Skills

Gathering is one of SWTOR crew skills. You can give gathering errands to your companions. If they were successful, they would bring you rare items. Gathering can be done by the companions alone or rather with you. There are only 4 gathering skills, which are Scavenging, Slicing, Archaeology, and Bioanalysis.

Gathering - SWTOR Crew Skills


Gathering - SWTOR Crew Skills

Scavenging
Scavenging allows your companion to scavenge materials from damaged or rusty technology’s parts. Usually assigned alongside Armormech, Armstech, or Cybertech.

Slicing
Slicing means breaking through locked boxes and high-security computer systems to get datas, schematics, and blueprints. Rarely used.

Archaeology
Archaelogy is one of the SWTOR crew skills in the Gathering category. When you assign the Archaeology crew skill, your crews will get the ability to search for ancient artifacts. You can use this skill with Artifice or Synthweaving.

Bioanalysis
Bioanalysis means that your companion will get you genetic material samples from plants and animals. Best assigned with Biochem.

Other than Gathering, there are still SWTOR crew skills. Now it is about Mission. Mission consists of errands on getting loots, seeking information, and other things that will benefit you. This crew skill consists of 4 sub-professions:

Mission - SWTOR Crew Skills


Mission - SWTOR Crew Skills

Underworld Trading
It is all about illegal trades and transactions. Like trading in a black market. Recommended to be paired with either Armormech, Synthweaving, or Cybertech.

Diplomacy
Diplomacy means negotiation. It affects the moral side. Assigning Diplomacy with Biochem is a good idea.

Treasure Hunting
Treasure Hunting skill can get you rare crafting recipes. Usually taken with Artifice.

Investigation
Letting your companions to investigate will net you some sweet secret and information. Actually, it is effective to equip with any crafting skill, but it is better to assign with Armstech.

Crafting involves raw materials. Your companion can craft armors, implants, and weapons. The raw materials can be obtained by gathering it yourself or by assigning Gathering task to one or more of your companions. Crafting is not only about constructing things, but you can get materials too. Using the reverse engineering, you can destroy items and get the materials. But, you can only reverse-engineer items if you have known the recipe before. Crafting could take only a few minutes of your time, but it is also possible to take many hours. Crafting skills are six, they are armormech, armstech, artifice, biochem, cybertech, and synthweaving. The quick description for the crafting skills are below:

Crafting - SWTOR Crew Skills


Crafting - SWTOR Crew Skills

Armormech
This is the crafting skill to craft non-force armors and electrical shieldings. It is best assigned with Scavenging and Underworld Trading.

Armstech
Armstech skill allow the companions to craft weapons. Scavenging and Investigation are the recommended crew skills to take with Armstech.

Artifice
It is the crafting skill to make Jedi and Sith artifacts. Using this crew skill, you can produce lightsaber parts, modifications, and enhancement. Archaeology and Treasure Hunting are the best skills to assign along with Artifice.

Biochem
Biochem is the art of crafting bio-chemical items like serums, medical packs, and implants. They are mainly used to boost the user’s strength. Assign Bioanalysis and Diplomacy with this crew skill.

Cybertech
Companions assigned with Cybertech skill are capable of crafting gadgets also parts for droids and high-technology armors. Best taken with Scavenging and Underworld Trading.

Synthweaving
Synthweaving is crafting light armors with extraterrestrial elements. Armor that is crafted with the Synthweaving skill is suitable for Jedis and Siths. Archaelogy and Underworld Trading are the effective skills to accompany Synthweaving.

SWTOR crew skills system is a magnificent improvement, nuff said.

Senin, 19 Desember 2011

Battlefield 3 Guide for Dummies: Jobs

Honestly, I’m not a kind of pro or maniac or something else in Battlefield 3. I did not play Battlefield from the first game, I started playing from Battlefield 2. I skipped Battlefield: Bad Company due to savings crisis and continued playing Battlefield series from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 up to now. And here I am, sitting on my desk, writing a guide about jobs in Battlefield 3. Even though I’m not that MVP guys in Battlefield 3, but I can give you some explanation and quick tips on how to play your role. Let’s begin. Ready, steady, go!

To be a useful soldier in the multiplayer battles, you must have the ability to adapt. You have to change your job depending on what’s happening out there. You have to observe your surroundings, your enemies, and your teammates. I mean, when you are in a vehicle-based map, it is best to be an Engineer whether to support your team or to destroy the opposing team’s arsenal of vehicles. But, if there are already a lot of engineers in your team, it is better for you to choose another job to further effectively support the team. A medic to revive downed teammates or maybe a support to resupply your team’s rockets and ammos is not a bad idea. Don’t forget to remember my theory of adaptation: Surroundings, Friendlies, Enemies. Here are the detailed jobs descriptions and guide:

Battlefield 3 Jobs


Battlefield 3 Jobs

Medic
The docs play a huge role as the attackers in rush or in infantry-based conquest maps. They have the defibrillator, the tool of ultimate salvation. The assault rifles are their main weapon while they have medpack that can be replaced with the M320 grenade launcher or the M26 Mass shotgun.

In my version, there are 2 types of medic depending on their role and equipment. But regardless, medics still have to stick to the team. The first role is the Assault Medic and the second one is Support Medic.

Assault Medics are the docs that trade the ability to heal with an ability of destruction. They exchange the medpack with M320 GL or the M26 Mass shotgun. If you are this type of assault, an assault rifle equipped with underslung rail is highly recommended as an underslung M320/M26 is faster to switch to and has a faster reload time. Assault Medics’ job is to help breakthrough the frontline while still reviving teammates. M320 is used in a situation where the enemy is hiding behind a cover or hiding indoor. The M26 Mass acts as close-quarter battle weapon while the M320 also acts as a backup weapon.

Support Medics or Pure Medics are docs that dedicate their lives to heal and support the team. They don’t have the sheer force of destruction, but in exchange, they have the medpacks. If you play as this type of medic, make sure that you stay real close to your teammates. Killing is your second objective. Always provide medpack to teammates after gunfights or when taking cover. You have to be careful because you are the key of survival for your team.

Engineer
Engineer are mechanics and the master of destruction. They are specially equipped with the rocket launchers. They also has the repair torch to repair tanks, the anti-tank mines, and also awesome EOD bot. I think engineers are engineers, no need to categorize it.

Use anti-tank mines when you are a defender. Place it in the main road where the tanks and vehicles usually pass. I would rather use a rocket launcher because it is more manageable. You will never know where the vehicles will go and which route they will take.

If you are in match with crazy pilots that kill a lot in the opposing team, use the STINGER or the IGLA to destroy the aerial vehicles. I don’t guarantee that every shot will hit, but if like 4 men are targeting and shooting the same vehicle with it, it will go down anytime soon. Only use the STINGER if there is SOFLAM around. STINGER is the worst launcher without the help of laser designation but the best on laser-designated targets. Don’t forget that if you are using RPG or SMAW, your targets are not only vehicles, but also buildings and covers with enemies in it.
If you seem to have trouble on planting charge or the armed M-COM that you are defending is filled with enemies, you can try the EOD bot to do the arming and disarming in the behalf of you.

Support
Support soldiers are heavy-armed soldier that bring packs of ammo along with a light machine gun. Their main job is to support the assault medics and provide ammo resupplies to the team. Supports also have some exceptional equipment like C4, Claymore, and the mortar. I categorize it into 2: The passive supports and aggressive supports.

Most passive supports use LMGs as they main weapon instead of PDWs and shotguns. It is better to attach the bipod instead of foregrip to the LMG. They utilize all gadgets. You will wait a lot or move slowly and carefully when you choose this job. If you are a defender, it is best to place claymores in different places. It is recommended to place claymores on the corner of a turn or in narrow places. You wait calmly for the enemy with deployed bipod. And you can set the C4 around the M-COM area to trap the enemies. When you are in the attacker team, you can use mortar to provide support with smoke shells or bombard the M-COM area with explosive shells. Stay close to your mates and go prone a lot. You are not the front-most soldier. But you are the supporting one. But don’t forget to give ammo to every friendly that you meet.

The aggressive ones use the LMGs and sometimes the shotguns, mostly seen the USAS-12 with frag rounds. If you choose to be an aggressive support, your main objective is to plant the charge or take flags in Conquest. You can use C4 to blow up tanks or guard armed M-COMs. Claymores are also useful to trap charge-defusing enemies. The mortar is not needed. Remember that you often drop ammo packs.

Recon
The last job is recon. Recons have gadgets that are used for the sake of spotting and targetting. The sniper rifles are their primary weapon. You can choose between MAV, SOFLAM, and T-UGS. There are 2 kinds of recon, the stealth recon and the sniper recon.

Stealth recons give the team a really big advantage. They use the T-UGS along with the Spawn Beacons to help the team. Stealth recons are going behind the enemy line without them knowing. Then they place the radio beacon somewhere hidden without the enemy realizing. And boom, the enemy M-COM will be full of friendlies in no time and the enemy will be surprised. You can use sniper rifles with ACOG or red dot sight. The Laser attachment is recommended for easier and stable hipfire or if you are confident enough, use the suppressor to hide your gun’s muzzle flash and noticeable sound. But if you can’t do the quick-snipe thing, you are free to use your favorite PDW instead. Don’t kill a lot of enemies when you are sneaking, but if you want to kill one, make sure that the opposing team won’t realize. Place T-UGS near the M-COM or around the flag area in Conquest mode.

The sniper recons are the dwellers of the back-most line. Prone, looking for prey with their zoom scope. Like the name, sniper recons use sniper. They are the long-range warrior. If you feel that you are a good sniper, you can try to do marksman headshots from afar. My record is silly, only 420 metres. To support your team, use MAV to spot enemies and SOFLAM to designate target. The combination of mortar and MAV is indeed deadly. I’ve seen it in a lot of battles.

PS Vita will Storm Uncle Sam Next Year!

Two days ago, on Saturday, the 17th of December 2011, the long-waited PS Vita was finally released in Japan and netted a total of 728,000 sold units on the first day of release. PlayStation Vita or commonly known as PSV is the successor of Sony’s previous handheld console, PSP. PSV is capable of producing game graphics equal to the PS3. The Japan release only include Japanese in language selection. Hongkong gamers will get it on the 22th of December 2011 and it will be available in Taiwan the next day. But fellow American, European, and Australian gamers have to wait a bit longer. PS Vita will hit the stores in America, Europe, and Australia on the 22th of February 2012. But if you understand Japanese, why don’t you import it instead of waiting? It is not a bad idea to get your hands on PS Vita earlier than your friends.

PS Vita


PS Vita

Sony is really working hard on producing a real successor. And their effort is worth the time. PS Vita has a lot of new features. Even though the shape is not really different, it is proven to be really different with its predecessor. It has a 130mm OLED touchscreen and 2 analog sticks (PSP only has one single analog stick located just below the directional pad). PSV is also included with Sixaxis motion system like PS3 controllers, making possible motion-enabled games. Other new features are like Bluetooth, also front and rear camera capable of detecting faces, heads, and tracking heads. And the 3G version will have a GPS and digital compass. The 4 core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore installed in PSV allows it to produce high quality graphics similar to PS3’s. PSV also has 512 MB RAM and 128 MB VRAM. The size of the RAM is enough to make cross-game chat possible, unlike PS3 with no cross-game chat feature. The battery is not removable. Universal Media Disc (UMD) is not used anymore in the PSV, instead, a new media called PS Vita card is introduced as the replacement of UMD.

So, what’s new in PS Vita’s software? The Xross Media Bar (XMB) is replaced with LiveArea, the new touchscreen-based user interface. Users of PSV will be able to update their status and socialize in social networks from the PlayStation Networks. Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, and Skype applications is available for download at the Stores with no extra charge. PSV also has the backward compatibility. PSP games are all playable in PSV along with all PSP-compatible downloadable contents from PSN. Playstation 3 games are also being ported to PSV with the same quality.

Games for PS Vita are also already available on the first day of release. The launch titles are Shinobido 2: Tales of the Ninja, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, F1 2011, Touch My Katamari, Ridge Racer, et cetera. You won’t be bored with PS Vita! And PS3 games like Lost Planet 2 and Yakuza: Of the End has also been confirmed to be available to play on PSV.

There are 2 version of PPS Vita for now. The first version is the PSV with 3G included, bundled at $299 and the cheaper one, the WiFi version, which is bundled at $249.

I will include PS Vita in my first-day-buy list.

Minggu, 18 Desember 2011

Old-School Wrestlers Return in WWE ’12

The time has finally come! The next pro-wrestling game is out! WWE ’12! THQ has been releasing a lot of wrestling game titles like WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw series and WWE All Stars, and this year, THQ decided to release another pro-wrestling game based on PPV program, dubbed WWE ’12. WWE ’12 has been out for about a month since it was released on the 22th of November 2011 in North America. This game is released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii, making it an exclusive release to current generation game consoles. WWE ’12 gives die-hard wrestling fans a good time. WWE ‘12 will give you wide variety of roster, starting from 80s and 90s wrestling superstars to the newest superstars. The Rock, Kane, The Undertaker, Vader, Shawn Michaels, and much more superstars are playable in this game.

WWE ’12


WWE ’12

There will be also new grapple system. The previous installments allow you to choose whether to use a strong or weak grapple on the opponent. The developer, Yuke’s, has removed that feature in WWE ’12. Instead of that, WWE ’12 will grapples will vary depending on the opponent’s physical states. A wrestler in downed state is not completely a sleeping beauty. We have the chance to attack when in the downed state. It is harder to knock-out or be knocked-out because wrestlers take more damage. Wake-up taunts can make downed opponents stand for a finishing move. The pinning meter and submission meter has also been improved to make it harder. More importantly, Yuke’s has also improved the crappy artificial intelligence so that we cannot abuse the AI so easily with the same move over and over.

Now what about the modes? Ahoy, the old modes are back along with new, brilliant modes, kids! In the “WWE Universe” mode, you can play various type of event with random superstars. Imagine Mark Henry, Kharma, and Kane in the same ring. A 2 vs. 1 event, Mark Henry and Kane versus Kharma alone. What will happen guys? Fantasize that yourself. In WWE ’12, there is also a mode with storylines called “Road to WrestleMania”. You can choose one of the three storylines. Each storyline last for about 12 hours. The first storyline is about Triple-H being a hero that saves the day, a villain superstar called Sheamus, and I personally love the final storyline, which is the story of your custom wrestler named Jacob Cass. And the last mode that I like the most is the creation mode. You can create your own superstar along with the moves set, entrances, and storylines. You can also make your own arena. I can spend hours of my free time just messing with the creation mode! I used to make bald girls with oversized muscles and a body full of gay tattoos.

WWE ’12 now has a grand total of 77 rosters, 14 of them are DLC and 4 of them (Batista, Macho Man, Brodus Clay, Mick Foley) have not been released yet.

I believe that some of you will fall in love with this game at the first sight, but others may loathe this game at the first minute of gameplay. But WWE ’12

MGS + Bayonetta = Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a spinoff of the well-known, legendary, tactical espionage action games, Metal Gear series. Instead of the being a tactical espionage action game, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will be a game of frantic crazy-ass packs of action. The genre is hack-and-slash featuring ninjas! Sweet! Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will be available sometime next year.

The title was supposed to be simply Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Kojima designed the game as a part of the main game Metal Gear series, Metal Gear Solid. Events in the original Metal Gear Rising was supposed to happen in the time interval between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriot, story-telling Raiden’s personal story. But the project was dropped last year because it was difficult. Then, Kojima decided that to create a badass action game with ninjas and robots, an experienced game company from Japan is essentially needed. So, Kojima contacted Platinum Games, responsible for their famous Bayonetta. Platinum Games quickly agreed and they started to collaborate. Kojima Productions hold the responsibility for cutscenes and story, while Platinum Games handles the gameplay using their own engine. Kojima changed the setting to post-MGS4 just to make sure Platinum Games can do their best in developing Metal Gear Rising without disturbing the main storyline and causing time paradoxes. Then, a few days ago, Kojima announced it along with the title change from Metal Gear Solid: Rising to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It is also stated that it will be available in PS3 version and Xbox 360 version, no PC release though.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance


Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance follows the story of Jack a.k.a. Raiden, the main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2. In the meantime, Raiden is a badass cyborg ninja that can deflect bullets with his sword. Raiden eventually got himself jobs by joining private military companies, which are slashing people and smacking giant robots in rescue missions, VIP protection missions, et cetera. He seems to be satisfied with his full-of-action job.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance let us take control of Raiden. In the trailer, it is seen that Raiden is highly capable for almost anything. He can do high-speed runs, crazy-fast katana-swing action, and even the Matrix’s bullet time! Gameplay-wise, this game is revolutionary. Unlike other Metal Gear series that uses “waiting stealth” system, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is only made for pure swordfighting and a new cutting system. Raiden can slash through anything with his high-frequency futuristic katana. You can cut through tanks armor, slice pillars to collapse buildings, and also severe robots’ limbs that bleed the same white blood as Raiden. It was also revealed that Raiden can throw giant robots around smack-down style. Another key feature is “zan-datsu”. Literally means “cut-and-take”. Raiden can get items and heal himself by cutting through robots and taking parts of their body. But there is still a similarity between Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and other Metal Gear series. You are better to leave human targets unharmed. Killing people won’t get you anything good. Instead of killing, you can “neutralize” the enemies.

A great reboot title! I will surely buy Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on day one!

Guild Wars 2, No Subcription Fees Needed!

Guild Wars 2 is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) that is currently being developed by ArenaNET. Guild Wars 2 is the sequel to ArenaNET’s original Guild Wars that was released in 2005. The story takes place 250 years after the event of “Eye of the North” expansion pack, in a fantasy world called Tyria, where special guild dubbed “Destiny’s Edge” that is in the process of emergence. “Destiny’s Edge” is a guild that only fight and slay a tyrant species, Elder Dragons, that have successfully controlled Tyria since the age of the previous installment, Guild Wars. Like its predecessor, Guild Wars, subscription fees are absolutely not necessary. The game will be released in 2012. What is new in Guild Wars 2? Check this out!

Guild Wars 2


Guild Wars 2

ArenaNET uses the extremely modified version of Guild Wars engine. Havok physics system is used to better support the game physics. The animations and graphics are also enhanced, real-time 3D environment will also be available in the game. Guild Wars 2 will have a quite unique storyline system that is rarely used in MMORPGs but commonly seen in singleplayer RPGs. The quest system is innovational for MMORPGs. This game will provide cutscenes, an uncommon thing to see in MMORPGs. The battle will be more dynamic. Players can use environment as weapons. Like rocks, branches, and other things. The level cap is also higher, which is 80, while Guild Wars is only 20. Guild Wars players, don’t be sad! Although your character cannot be transferred to Guild Wars 2, you will get exclusive items, titles, animal companions, and mini-pets depending on your character’s achievements.

Guild Wars 2 has an exceptional party system. When killing a monster, everybody that participated in the battle will get experiences and items from the monster. So, it is not restricted to party members only. That was the PvE system. The game also provide colossal PvP battle that will take place in a world, where everybody can join and leave the world every time they want to.

As usual, it has the job and race system. Guild Wars 2 will let you choose from 5 races and 8 jobs. The races are humans and charr like the ones in the original Guild Wars, asura and norn that was first revealed in Eye of the North expansion pack, and the new race called the sylvari. Every race has their own unique skills. The jobs are divided into 3 categories, 2 heavy-armored jobs in “soldiers” category, 3 medium-armored jobs in “adventurers” category, and 3 light-armored jobs in “scholars” category. They are:

Guild Wars 2 Jobs


Elementalist
Scholar-typed job that uses magics.

Necromancer
Scholar as well. Instead of magics, Necromancers use manipulation of death.

Mesmer
Hypnotic scholar that masters trickery and mind manipulation.

Ranger
Medium-armored job. Uses bows and fast melee weapons. Rangers can have animal companions that can be equipped with skills.

Thief
Adventurer job. Thiefs can use melee and ranged weapons including pistols. Specialize in traps and theft.

Engineer
Another adventurer job. Engineers can use all types of guns, be it pistols or rifles. They also can places turrets, mines, and other gadgets.

Warrior
Heavy-armored job. Warriors can use both melee and ranged weapons that focus on direct damage. They can buff allies. Adrenaline enables them to execute special ability when the meter is full.

Guardian
Soldier job. They have good passive abilities. They provide defense buffs and skills to aid allies.

It is a shame that there is no job advancement. But it is not a big deal. Guild Wars 2 will still kick ass!

What are the Skyrim Classes?

Hey, you want to know the Skyrim Classes? Then, your decision to visit this website and reading this awesome article is right. But before I start revealing the Skyrim classes, are you sure that Skyrim has classes? Think twice man. This 5th installment of Elder Scrolls series removed the class system. Instead of Skyrim classes, it is more like Skyrim races because the skill is now based by which race you choose.

From the first Elder Scroll game until the fourth, Oblivion, has the classes system. It is a system that will shape your character’s status. Like Assasin that has sneaking specialities, Barbarian that has extreme brute force, or the custom job that you can create by choosing your favored skills that are available in Oblivion. Skyrim classes are exceptional. Skyrim classes is more like a system of classes without classes. The Skyrim classes depend on the race you choose whether you will be good on Pickpocket or sheer power. And there is no speed attribute in Skyrim classes. So there will be 18 attributes instead of 21 like in Oblivion. The base attribute that is at 25 means primary skill of the particular race and attributes at 20 mean the skills that they favor. How fast you run, how high you jump, and how strong are your fists are now stated hiddenly in the hidden stats of Skyrim classes. A taller character has higher base stat that means the character can inflict more damage, run faster, and jump higher. Skyrim classes are also about Guardian Stones that will give you extra attributes and bonuses that can be activated only one per time. This is the complete list of races/Skyrim classes along with descriptions is stated below :

Skyrim Classes


Skyrim Classes
Argonian
Argonian is an amphibious reptilian humanoid race. They are one of two beast humanoids of Skyrim classes. Argonians live in Black Marsh. They have natural immunities against poisons and diseases. Breathing underwater is their specialty. Healing and Flames spells will be available from start.

In the attributes list, Argonian has primary skill of Lockpicking. The favored skills are Light Armor, Sneak, Pickpocket, Restoration, and Alteration. Males has the base stat at 1.01 and females at 1.00

Breton
Breton is the best conjurer among the Skyrim classes. Human and Elves are this race’s ancestors. Though this race is more like human than elves. However, they have high magicka resistance. And Bretons also have the skill to absorb magicka from the enemy’s spells for 60 seconds. Their base spells are Healing, Flames, and Conjure Familiar.

Breton is very good at Conjuration. Speech, Alchemy, Illusion, Restoration, and Alteration are its favorable skill. Male’s base stat is 1.00 while female’s is at 0.95

Dark Elf
The Dark Elves are dark-skinned elves that populate the province of Morrowind. They are highly intelligent, swift, and strong. Dark Elves have 50 percent resistance of fire and has the skill to burn anyone that approaches you for 60 seconds. But the skill is only activated once a day. They have early access to Healing, Flames, and Sparks.

They are extremely handy with Destruction and fair in Alchemy, Restoration, Light Armor, Sneak, and Illusion. The base stat for males is 1.00 and females’ is the same.

High Elf
High Elves are the best with arcane arts among Skyrim classes. They live in Summerset Isle. They have the ability to regenerate Magicka faster for 60 seconds once per day and they have a bonus of 50 magicka points. High Elves got Helaing, Flames, and Fury spell from the start of the game.

They are the best with Illusion and good in Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, and Enchanting. They have the highest base stat among Skyrim classes at 1.08.

Imperial
They are the well-spoken and well-educated citizen of Cyrodiil. They conquer most of Tamriel. They are alike with Bretons but the Imperials have darker skin complexion. They got the skill to calm nearby people for 60 seconds and seem to find more gold compared to other races.

Imperials are well-known for their skill in Restoration. They favor Heavy Armor, Block, One-Handed, Destruction, and Enchanting. The base stat is the same for males and females, 1.00.

Khajiit
Khaijiits are a humanoid race with a cat-like face. Their eyes allow them to see in the dark for 60 seconds and because of their claws, they can inflict 15 damage unarmed.

Their primary skill is Sneak. And their favored skills are One-handed, Archery, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, and Alchemy. Their males have the base stats at 1.00 while females’ are slightly lower at 0.95.

Nord
Nord is a kind of normal human race of Skyrim classes. They have 50 percent resistance to Frost and have the ability to make enemies flee for 30 seconds.

Two-Handed is what they are good at. Although they can perform some good Smithing, Block, One-Handed, Light Armor, and Speech. Their base stat for both genders are 1.03.

Orc
This ogre-faced humanoids live in Wrothgarian and Dragontail Mountains. They are known for their craftmanship. Orcs in heavy armor are the best frontline soldiers that ever exist. They can activate the skill “Berserker Rage” and it will double their damage and defense for 60 seconds.

Orcs are very well-known for their great Heavy Armor skill. They are rather good in Smithing, Block, Two-Handed, One-Handed, and Enchanting. Orcs have higher base stat at 1.04 for all genders. I like this race more than other Skyrim classes.

Redguard
Redguards are the inhabitant of Hammerfell. They breed the best sword-and-shield warriors. They have 50 percent resistance to poison and the skill to regenerate Stamina ten times faster for 60 seconds.

Redguards’ primary skill is one-handed. Their favored skills are Smithing, Block, Archery, Destruction, and Alteration. They have standard base stat at 1.00.

Wood Elf
This race is the third elves race in Skyrim classes. Wood Elves are elves that come from Valenwood. They can command animals around them for 60 seconds and they have 50 percent resistance to disease and poison. They have Healing, Flames, and Command Animal spell from the beginning.

They are best at Archery and fairly good at Light Armor, Sneak, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, and Alchemy. They have the lowest base stat for males at 0.98 and standard base stat for females at 1.00.

That was the last of Skyrim classes. My personal choice of Skyrim classes is Orc. Which one will you choose?

Zynga IPO: Largest since Google’s

Last Friday, the 16th of December 2011, Zynga IPO started to be traded. Zynga IPO is sold at $10 per share and will be open until it reaches approximately $1.15 billion. Because of that, Zynga IPO is the largest initial public offering from a United States internet company after Google’s initial public offering raised $1.7 billion. Wow amazing numbers! So, what makes Zynga so confident? Continue reading.

Zynga is a game company located in San Francisco, United States of America. Zynga makes web-based games. This company is fully responsible for Mafia Wars, FarmVille, CityVille, Texas HoldEm Poker, and other web-based games that are available in social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Even though they make web-based games, the games are also available in iOS and Android as stand-alone apps. Five of Zynga’s exclusive Facebook games are also the five most-played game application in Facebook. They have about 200 million monthly active users. Now, Zynga has 15 official studios worldwide and about three thousand employees. Zynga gets money from in-game balance purchases via credit cards or PayPal payment processor. They sell in-game decoration, skills, earlier stamina refill, and much more. Even though Zynga has hell a lot of monthly active users worldwide and increasing every day, it does not guarantee more balance buyers because only 3% of total players that buy things in-game and Zynga apps with no advertisement.

Zynga IPO

Zynga IPO
On the first of July this year, Zynga filed with SEC to raise $1 billion in Zynga IPO. And on the 16th of December, Zynga started trading Zynga IPO under the name ZNGA in the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) stock market that is the world’s largest stock market exchange after the New York Stock Exchange. Zynga IPO is in the market with couples of other high-profile tech stocks like LinkedIn (LNKD), Pandora (P), Zillow (Z), Renren (RENN), Groupon (GRPN), and Angie’s List (ANGI). Zynga plans to sell 100 million Zynga IPO shares, each sold at $10. It is about 14 percent of Zynga’s common stock. Investors are really interested in Zynga IPO since the company is the largest game maker for Facebook. But the fact is not that simple. Even other big tech company like LinkedIn has suffered from severe initial public offering drop. And it is true because Zynga IPO were closed down 5 percent the first day of trade.

The fact did not shock Zynga. They are still capable. Zynga’s Chief Executife Officer and Founder, Mark Pincus, said that the amount of players will surely double in time. Thay also has signed and filed S1-Form with Facebook about its relationship with Facebook. It is stated that Zynga has to make exclusive game titles for Facebook. In return, Facebook has to help Zynga to reach a determined growth targets for monthly unique users of Zynga games. This agreement lasts for five years starting from last year. They also announced on the 11th of October 2011 that they are planning to create their own platform that allows users to play Zynga games called “Project Z”. But it will be still tied to Facebook.

So, how will Zynga IPO survive? Buy packs of popcorn, sit back, and watch.

Sabtu, 17 Desember 2011

Chrono Trigger on iOS = FAIL?

Chrono Trigger (in Japanese accent = Kurono Toriga) is a classic Japanese Role Playing Game originally released for Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1995. It was produced, developed, and published by Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix). This legendary role-playing game was designed by three legendary designers too. Squaresoft called them the “Dream Team”. It included Akira Toriyama, the legendary mangaka (Japanese manga artist) that’s well-known for his work with the Dragon Ball series and Dragon Quest series. There was also the creator of Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Yuji Horii, a designer and the maker of Enix’s Dragon Quest series. The composer was supposed to be Yasunori Mitsuda, but because of an illness, the remaining tracks were deferred to Nobuo Uematsu, the world-famous Final Fantasy composer.

The game is considered the one of the best classic Japanese Role Playing Games in the history. The story is about a group of adventurers that travel through time to do heroic action of preventing global-wide catastrophe. There seven playable characters in the game. There are Crono, Marle, and Lucca that comes from 1000 AD, Robo the highly intelligent robot from 2300 AD, Ayla the primitive, demonly strong village chief from 65 million BC, and the last two are Magus and Frog from the era of AD 600.

Chrono Trigger


Chrono Trigger

The thing that made Chrono Trigger so special are its innovations. Like the encounters. Different from other classic J-RPGs, the monsters are visible. When your character bump the monster, the battle will start on that map, not on other battle screen. The battle system is notable. It is called “Active Time Battle 2.0” that was created for Final Fantasy IV. But this game’s battle features differ from Final Fantasy’s. Chrono Trigger has a Tech system that combines two or even three different techs from different characters like the Rocket Roll that is done by combining Crono’s Cyclone with Robo’s Laser Spin. Chrono Trigger also has exceptional gameplay elements like the time travel. Players can explore different eras. When time-travelling, players complete sidequests and find new allies. Even what you do in the past will affect the future like the Butterfly Effect. The game has 13 different endings. It depends on how you complete the last boss battle. It is also one of the first J-RPG that applies the New Game+ system.

Chrono Trigger has been ported to numerous platforms. In 1999, it is ported to Playstation just before Squaresoft released the sequel, Chrono Cross. The Playstation version got anime cutscenes. The Nintendo DS version was released in 2008. It has new user interface and added contents like new dungeons after the final boss called the Dimensional Vortex and the Lost Sanctum. This year, Chrono Trigger was also released for Wii that can be bought from Virtual Console download service. The PSN version was released on October 4th. Finally, comes the iOS release just about a week ago (December 9th). It costs $9.99. Compatible with iPhone 3Gs and above. Users of the 2nd generation iPods can’t play it in their iPod because it is only compatible with iPod 3rd generation and above. It includes the Dimensional Vortex and the Lost Sanctum. The description says that the Chrono Trigger will have optimized graphics for iOS. And the so-called “optimized” happens to be only user interface. The control is awkward and seriously not comfortable. Even though it will eat your drive space about half a gigabyte, the graphics even seems to be worse than the original.

Gonna spend your hard-earned money for the iOS version? I suggest you don’t! Buy another platform version or at least wait for Square Enix to fix the issues. After all, Chrono Trigger still is a high-quality game.

Latest Star Wars MMO : The Old Republic

Star Wars is not only an epic opera, but it is also a game. Recently, Star Wars MMO game is really popular. Actually, there are a lot of Star Wars game, starting from the infamous funky adventure game, Lego Star Wars, to the complex W-RPG, Knights of the Old Republic that is aimed to mature gamers. And in 2003, the first Star Wars MMO debuted. The title is Star Wars Galaxies that was developed by EA Japan and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) North America. The Star Wars MMO takes place in a time between Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back. Finally, the game ended the day before yesterday. LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment agree to close the server and made the ending.

SWTOR - Star Wars MMO


Star Wars: The Old Republic - Star Wars MMO

Three years before the server shut-down, a new Star Wars MMO was announced. It is called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Seeing that BioWare develops this game, I think it would be awesome. The Windows version of the Star Wars MMO is dated to release on the 20th of December 2011 in North America and the 22th of December 2011 in Europe that is just a few more days! I also heard that it costs around $135 million to develop this game, that’s the largest production cost of a video game in the history! Will the sales cover the production cost? I think so!

This Star Wars MMO is the next installment of Star Wars: Knights of Old Republic (often abbreviated as KotOR) series. Since Knights of the Old Republic series are W-RPGs and The Old Republic is Star Wars MMO, it would be interesting. The Old Republic takes place 300 years after Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic event. There was a massive war between Sith and Jedi where the Jedi end up being the lightstick-wielding loser. They relocate from Coruscant to Tython to found a new Jedi Order while the Sith built a Sith Academy in Korriban. The story starts 10 years after that event when something goes wrong. Obi-Wan is still a dream at this time.

Star Wars: The Old Republic offers players with two factions to choose and a variety of jobs. The factions are the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. The Galactic Republic consists of good men that protect the peace in the galaxies by battling the Sith Empire. And Sith Empire consists of bad guys that are destined to conquer the world. Bam! Cliche!

The currently officially announced jobs are Smuggler, Trooper, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular for the Republic. Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent, Sith Warrior, and Sith Inquisitor are the jobs of the Empire people. They all each has 2 branches of job advancement you can choose. For example, you can choose between Juggernaut and Marauder for Sith Warrior’s job advancement or Gunslinger and Scoundrel for Smuggler’s job advancement. Playing as the Empire soldier doesn’t mean that you have to be a kind-hearted lightstick man. BioWare gives players choices of moral that will affect NPCs. And you can be a hippie Sith that loves to shout “Make Love not War”

What about that? Are you sold yet? Me? Yeah I’m very sold out that I’m very anxious to get my hands on this Star Wars MMO!