Champions Online, fix your game before asking me to pay for expansions.
by Steady on Jan.29, 2010, under Champions Online
As a gaming junkie, from time to time, I have to draw a line in the sand. I have to ask myself, how much money Will I pay to play a game. How long will I pay for a game, that lacks content. I asked myself this question this week in regards to Champions Online. In case you missed it, they announced an expansion, Vibora Bay. This will be a new level 37-40 zone. The problem is that they are going to charge players for this expansion. This has caused a really big firestorm on their forums. It is a huge problem, I would say for about 90% of the players. The lifetime subscribers are really upset. So I have a few thoughts.
First, the lifetime subscription covers the monthly fees; it does not cover expansions to the game. So lifetime subscribers, get over it.
Second, shame on you Cryptic, this is total nonsense, to make people pay for additional content, and here is why.
1. Your game already lacks content. My highest character is level 33, and the reason is lack of content. I have ran every level 33 mission I can find, and still need over two hundred thousand experience to make it to level 34. I have already ran several public quests, and I am so tired of running the zombie apocalypse PVP map, that I am have having zombie nightmares. The game lacks content; fix it before you start charging me for more of it. How can you charge me more money for an already incomplete game, come on be real. This is just being unreasonable.
2. Don’t get me wrong, I will pay for an expansion. I just have one rule. I will pay more when the level cap is raised, like World of Warcraft. If this expansion raised the cap to 50, and solved the lack of content problem, I am happy to pay for it.
3. You need to fire someone over there, this is a game killer. Do you have a marketing department, if you do, they need to wake up. Your game is dying, look at sites like Xfire, and Raptr, your game is already dead. I mean come on more people are playing City of Heroes, then your game. Star Trek Online is being released this week; I see were it already has several free expansions listed. The way you are treating your Champions Online player base, does make me want to rush out and play Star Trek Online. I find it hard to believe that you are this stupid. I am beginning to think that Champions Online is being set up to fail, so you can move on. Trust me, this is a bad move. Gamers don’t like being scorned; we will bitch for years and year about bad games.
4. I cancelled my six month subscription. The game just lacks too much content, plain and simple. I still have a month of game play left, and I am really not sure if I am going to keep playing. Cryptic really does not seem to interested in fixing this game anytime soon, I will be surprised if it lasts until the end of the year.
5. While I am on my soapbox. Another sinner in the gaming world is Gearbox, and Borderlands. I still cannot save the damn progress on your overpriced game on my PC. Like all good bloggers I track how many visitors I have, and what search term they use to get here. By far the term that brings the most people to this blog is “borderlands can’t save”. Shame on you for putting out downloadable content for a game that does not work for PC players, that is sad.
Torchlight -Destroyer build
by Steady on Jan.23, 2010, under General Gaming Discussion
I have been playing a destroyer in the great new dungeon crawler Torchlight. I have been working on a build, and thought I would post it here to see what everyone thinks. I am running on the hard difficulty setting.
First my skills, I plan on putting 10 point in each of the following skills.
Tier 1
Shadow Armor- Summons a phantasm which will attack foes
Dual Wielding- Improves damage of all weapons when dual wielding.
Tier 2
Armor Expertise- Mastery of all forms of armor, reduces requirements and improves armor absorption.
Martial Weapons Expertise- Mastery of swords, axes, maces and polearms.
Tier 3
Defensive Spell Mastery- Increases the levels of all defensive spells.
Tier 4
Frost Shield- A protective shield that absorbs physical and elemental damage, freezes foes when they strike.
Tier 5
Critical Strikes- Increases the chance and improves the damage of all critical strikes.
Block and Parry- Increases the chance to block, either with or without a shield.
Tier 6
Devastate- a rush attack using all equipped weapons.
Spectral Decay- Disrupts the armor of foes, increasing the damage that you deal.
I think I will spend my points evenly between defense and strength.
I will try to socket as many +crit gems as I can.
I will concentrate on resistance with my rings, amulet and armor.
My main spells will be haste and resist all, not sure what else I will pick up.
I am just starting out on this build, so any feedback is welcomed. I always tend to build towards defense, and I am a bit worried about being a bit underpowered with this build, so I will see how it works out and keep everyone posted.
Combat Engineers – Global Agenda, and Star Trek Online
by Steady on Jan.22, 2010, under General Gaming Discussion
Will we are only about a week away from two of the most anticipated MMO releases for the first quarter of 2010. Global Agenda and Star Trek Online will both go live on the 1st of February. The Combat Engineers Gaming Community will be starting a group in both games. So if you’re looking for good group to join in these games, check out the Combat Engineers, Global Agenda, and Star Trek Online groups.
We feature a 24/7 vent server, and an established gaming community, give us a try. We prefer mature 18+ year old members. We will be looking for leadership in both games. Visit the our Global Agenda, or Star Trek Online webpage’s for more information.
Champions Online – Might/Tank Build
by Steady on Jan.19, 2010, under Champions Online
This is yet another tank build. This build has evolved several times. Let me know what you think, or have any comments. I am using mostly might powers; they just seem to work best. Don’t be shy, any comments good or bad are welcome.
Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Constitution
Powers:
Level 1: Kinetic Dart — Accelerated Metabolism
Level 1: Experimental Blaster — Crippling Challenge, Rank 2
Level 5: Nanobot Swarm — Rejuvenating Injectors
Level 5: Flight
Level 8: Defensive Combo — Surge Of Strength
Level 11: Bionic Shielding — Overloaded Circuits
Level 14: Force Shield — Force Sheath, Rank 2
Level 17: Resurgence — Evanescent Emergence, Rank 2
Level 20: Lightning Reflexes — Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 23: Haymaker — Nullifying Punch, Rank 2
Level 26: Shockwave — Challenging Strikes, Rank 2
Level 29: Masterful Dodge — Rank 2
Level 32: Enrage
Level 35: Havoc Stomp — Rank 2
Level 35: Teleport
Level 38: Psionic Healing — Rank 2
Talents:
Level 1: One Of Mind And Body
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Enduring
Level 12: Acrobat
Level 15: Covert Ops Training
Level 18: Survival Training
Level 21: Impresario
Happy New Year – End of Year Review
by Steady on Jan.01, 2010, under General Gaming Discussion
Just a few thoughts to start the new year. These are my top three games of the year.
1. Team Fortress 2 . I am as shocked as you are, I never thought a FPS would make it to the top of my favorite game list. This one has, I really enjoy this game. It is very well done; Valve does a nice job of adding content. I do not have to pay a monthly fee. I think I only paid $19.99 for the game. So when you consider the hours I play this game, cost, and content, it is my number one game for 2009.
2. City of Heroes. Pretty much still my most played MMO. I have put in well over 1,000 hours of game play this year. Mission Architect almost killed this game off for me. At the height of the AE farms, where you could not find a team that was not farming. I almost stopped playing. I enjoy the holiday events in this game; they add something new each year. I still run a Task Force once a week with my SG. I still find new and fresh things to do. Mission Architect extended this game for me. It gives me endless new content to explore. I have switched to the Freedom Server, from the Liberty. This game will have to raise the level cap, and find some type of endgame, to stay this high on my list of games. I am hoping the expansion planned for later this year “Going Rogue” will keep this game fresh.
3. World of Warcraft. I enjoy the vast content, and constant updates. It is a great game, one of the most popular games ever. So why is it only number three on my list? The elitist in this game make me crazy. Gear scores and DPS checks drive me crazy in this game. Being asked to join a group, and telling them before hand, I do not have the highest gear. Oh no problem, join anyway. Then being berated by party members because of my gear. I also do not like that most of the holiday achievements; you have to be level 80 to complete them. I do like the new dungeon group finder. I also like the changes in PVP battlegrounds; I no longer have to fight those nasty twinks. The community in this game keeps it from being higher in my game play list.
Most disappointing game of 2009.
1. Borderlands for the PC. This game is just terrible. I cannot save my progress in this game. I cannot update it. You cannot play multiplayer over the internet without having a degree in computer programming. I spent $50.00 on a game a few months ago, and I still cannot play the game. Just an epic fail all the way around. I thought maybe it was just me, but one of the most searched terms that I get hits on this blog from is “borderlands cannot save game progress.” Really disappointing.
Best New MMO for 2009.
1. Fallen Earth. Score one for the little guys. A very nice game. The content seems to be vast. Lots of area to cover in this game. The leveling system is different. Lots of collecting and crafting. It is not without it problems, my Frames per second is pretty bad sometimes. Has a very small gaming community, but it is growing. It is rare be in game and not see a GM helping someone. The devs seem to be a small, passionate group that really cares about the game. Something that some of the big boys like Champions Online has failed to do.
Most anticipated game for 2010.
1. Global Agenda. I am tired of reading about it. Pre-purchased on Steam, you know were I will be on 2/1/2010, playing Global Agenda.
Every one have a safe and prosperous New Year. Have a great gaming year, looking for a good gaming community to join check out the Combat Engineers; we are always looking for a few good gamers.
Nice City of Heroes YouTube Vid
by Steady on Dec.30, 2009, under City of Heroes
I do not visit YouTube very often, this one actually came to me via Twitter. It is very well done, and funny. I love the ” COH pawns CO News at 11 “, totally ROFL.
A tip of the cap to samuraiko, very well done, if you get a chance check out he rest of his work, it is all very well done.
Steady’s Year End Picks, Part 1
by Steady on Dec.28, 2009, under General Gaming Discussion
As the year draws to a close, I decided to blog a bit about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Best tool or content update.
1. It has to be the new dungeon finder in World of Warcraft. I am not a raider, but I am a 5 man dungeon crawler. This tool is by far the most useful tool that I have seen introduced in any game this year. You no longer have to hang out with the trolls in order to find a team for dungeons. Have I had a bad group or two, you bet, still I have had more good groups then bad. I like the fact that each group has to have a healer and a tank to start, or continue.
2. Mission Architect Arcs in City of Heroes. Yes, it had some problems when it first came out. Yes, since they made it so you could no longer make killer farming missions, it is largely being ignored. People are missing the point here. It is a great artistic outlet for some players. If you take the time to look, there are some really good missions. It extends the game for some players. I no longer have to run the same story arcs to level, lets face it. I have ran most of them. I can now go to the Mission Architect, and find some fresh arcs to run.
Worst tool or content update
1. Champions Online is the big winner here. First, the new chat features were I have to listen to every idiot in Millinimun City talk at the same time. So if there are 15 instances of MC, I have to see the chat for all 15. That is annoying, so annoying in fact that I have turned off zone chat. If you leave it on, it moves too fast, and your friends and Supergroup mates think you are ignoring them, because you never see your chat. Plus, the trolls take over the channel, and it has become useless.
2. Champions holiday content. Nothing new, the Christmas content is just a City of Heroes rip-off. Run around and open presents, lets see where have I seen that before. The whole Clarence thing was a giant bust. Travel from instance to instance killing him, in hopes of some loot, boring. The Halloween content, was repetitive, did not scale to your level, and no fun at all.
Merry Christmas
by Steady on Dec.24, 2009, under General Gaming Discussion
I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It looks like the weather outside is frightful, so please stay safe. Also like to wish those that do not celebrate Christmas a happy and safe holidays. This is the time of year for good food, and family. It is a very exciting day for children. As I am writing this a 9:00 in the morning, my three small children are already tracking Santa on the NORAD website. It will be a joyous few days, everyone enjoy yourselves. I am off to the basement to begin that honored tradition of putting together toys. I will leave you with a short poem. It is not my work, I found it on the Internet, but it is rather funny. Have a great day.
‘Twas the night before implementation
T ‘was the nite before implementation and all through the house,
Not a program was working, not even a browse.
The programmers hung by their tubes in despair,
With hopes that a miracle soon would be there.
The users were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of inquiries danced in their heads.
When out in the machine room there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.
And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a super programmer ( with a six-pack of beer ).
Her resume glowed with experience so rare,
She turned out great code with a bit-pusher’s flair.
More rapid than eagles, her programs they came,
And she cursed and muttered and called them by name.
On Update! On Add! On Inquiry! On Delete!
On Batch Jobs! On Closings! On Functions Complete!
Her eyes were glazed over, fingers nimble and lean,
From weekends and nites in front of a screen.
A wink of her eye and a twitch of her head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
Turning specs into code; then turned with a jerk.
And laying her finger upon the “ENTER” key,
The system came up and worked perfectly.
The updates updated; the deletes, they deleted;
The inquiries inquired, and closings completed.
She tested each whistle, and tested each bell,
With nary a bomb, and all had gone well.
The system was finished, the tests were concluded,
The users’ last changes were even included.
And the user exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt,
“It’s just what I asked for, but not what I want!”
Team Fortress 2- adding bots, what are the knuckleheads going to do.
by Steady on Dec.22, 2009, under Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress is really one of my favorite games. We have a server in the Combat Engineers Gaming Community. It is hard to populate the server sometimes. One of the things that really annoys me about a dedicated server, are knuckleheads. Knuckleheads come in two shapes and sizes.
Knuckleheads that use my server to farm achievements really piss me off. You know that knucklehead who cannot read the server rules, and when you log in, tells you to leave because he and his buddy are farming achievements. Sm_admin, ban knuckleheads for a few. Really, it is stupid, go earn the darn things, play the game right.
The second type of knucklehead is the one that tells you how good he is, how bad you are, and exactly what you are doing wrong. Sm_admin, silence knucklehead. This week as I was reading the TF2 blog, they might have found a way for me to never have to play with knuckleheads again.
It seems that with some of the AI from Left 4 Dead, they have found a way to add bots to Team Fortress 2. It currently only works on King of the Hill maps, seems they cannot handle more then one control point yet. So today after having to hear some knucklehead play his “Bill Nye the science guy” (I was playing on another server, so I could not silence them) music for like the fifth time in five minutes. I decided to give the old bots a try.
I have to admit, I did not expect much, I figured the AI would not be all that good. So I dialed up a King of the Hill Sawmill map. I spawned nine bot buddies, and away we went. My team moves out, no stupid jumping around, or idiots bouncing off walls. None of them had names that told me what they were going to do to my mother. The next thing I know, the other team is taking the control point, what being beat by a bunch of bots. To make a long story short, this was one of the most entertaining hours of Team Fortress 2 that I have played in a long time. The AI seems to work pretty well. The game was not one sided, it was actually rather balanced. None of the bots told me how to play the game, or how good they were. Bill Nye the science guy was no longer a part of my life. Hey, this is pretty fun; it was a pretty good game.
I really hope that they add this to dedicated servers. It would be a great addition to the game. I could round up four of five of my non-knucklehead friends; we can play on our dedicated server with some of our bot buddies, and start to really enjoy the game again. So I have to tip my hat to the folks at Valve, from what I have seen the new bots look pretty darn good. I am pretty sure that Valve is not done with them yet, and they will make them much better. I am a little concerned however, what are the knuckleheads going to do when they have no place to play Team Fortress 2.
If you ever want to play on a non-knucklehead server, (at lease when I am on there), join server 69.12.111.20:27015. I am also looking for some non-knucklehead admins to help populate the server, if you have any interest, post a comment and I will get back to you.
City of Heroes- Winter Event is Live.
by Steady on Dec.18, 2009, under City of Heroes
The holidays are always a busy time; I really have to make a few more posts this month.
The winter event went live yesterday in City of Heroes. The ski slopes are open, the baby new year mission is live, and presents have spawned in all zones. The only new badges this year are the festive badge, which is the annual badge for the event. The other new badge is the lord/lady of winter badge for defeating Lord Winter. If this is the first time your character has logged in during the winter event, you will receive a temporary power, holiday sprit, which offers debt protection for two days of game play. This power is really a bit outdated, with patrol xp, debt is really no longer an issue. It is however a nice power to have. You will also receive the temp power, holiday cheer, you can give this to another player, and they will receive a mystery gift. You will also receive ear muffs, a must have for all of those holiday costumes.
The new winter lord event is something that I really like. When a certain amount of presents have been opened in a zone, a winter lord will appear. When the winter lord is defeated, he leaves behind a huge present (marked on the map) and a timer starts counting down. Anyone who clicks on the huge present before the timer reaches zero will be teleported to Lord Winter’s realm. The main objective is to defeat Lord Winter. When his health reached 75%, 50% and 25%, he will phase shift, and will not take any damage. He will summon a winter guardian that must be defeated before; Lord Winter will then take damage again. The rewards are pretty sweet. You will receive 20 candy canes, and 8 reward merits for 15 minutes of work. On some of the larger servers like Freedom. There will be more then one instance of the Winter Lords realm. After defeating the Winter Lord in the first realm, quickly move to the second realm, and you can double your rewards rather quickly. This is by far the fastest way to collect candy canes.
The candy keeper is located in the Chalet in Pocket D offers two new rewards this year. One is a holiday respec for 500 candy canes and 250000 influence. A bit pricey for a respec if you ask me. He also offers a new emote, throwing snowflakes for 25 candy canes and 1000 influence.
Overall I have to rate the new Winter Lord event with an A+, it really gives you a fast way to earn good rewards. The sprit of the holiday season is to give good rewards/presents, and this event does that.
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Armory for Steadyc
Equipment
Professions
Achievement Points
Recent Achievements
Armory for Steadyei
Equipment
Professions
Achievement Points
Recent Achievements
Nothing Boring About Borean
1000 Quests Completed
WoW's 5th Anniversary
Dead Man's Party
The Right Stuff
Professional Artisan
Dual Talent Specialization
Fast and Furious
Level 40