Life is beautiful (on the PTS)

Well yes, I tried Aion 2.0 on the PTS. /blush

But it's a secret, don't tell anyone, ok?

 

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Comic from Scott Kurtz, creator of PvPOnline

No, not seeking knowledge or excitement, not dying to know the little secrets which will make me level faster on the 7th of September, when Aion 2.0 launches. No, I did it for another reason:

Fun.

I have to admit, it's fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun leveling on the PTS. Something like playing bombjack (ancient arcade game) with 99 lives, or like playing civilization II after you have taken up all resources from the enemies. Plain cheating, yet.. fulfilling.

Examples include:

• Lots exp from each mob (the multiplier must be something like x3?)
• Tons exp from each gather (the multiplier must be something like x10?)
• Plethora of drops (x5?)

I know, i know, that's not the point (see pic below).

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Comic from Scott Kurtz, creator of PvPOnline

But contrary to any game mechanics and urban believes - I do enjoy it! La vie est belle (on the PTS).

Shopping funny t-shirts

Today I decided to spend some money on one funny, game-related, t-shirt. The advantage of such shopping is that you can do it anywhere, without anyone knowing, and it always makes you feel better!

So I searched for MMO-RPG related shirts. Some are not exactly funny, like the exclamation mark, but they do send a message to all other followers of the cult.

I guess the best "generic" one for me would be .. "Gaming Goddess - You may bow before me"!

Well ok, maybe not a goddess.. But I do definitely save myself ! "This princess saves herself".

Alternatively I could concentrate on cleric and healing specific t-shirts. "Cleric - I rez dead ppl" and "No, I will not rez you".

But browsing through the previous one, I found an even better one - "If you can read this, rez me!" written upside-down.






Back to the misc-RPG ones (click any picture to enlarge it):
- I Stab Shit
- I went AFK for this?? <--- WTB
- Non-Player Character

There was one Aion-specific that I liked!
The shugo one :-)
"nyerk, nyerk!"

                        Some sexier references are also found - check the comic about a girl, at the end of the post (click to enlarge the pic - you need to read the caption)!

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Comic from Abstruse Goose

WTB Katana

WTB Katana

I would fall on my sword, but then again I have no sword, only a mace, and you know falling on a mace is no quick death!

But let me explain how I got to this point..

Once upon a time, I was in a small legion with some real life friends. We were adopted in a larger legion, but most of my friends took no active role in the new legion. I soon though felt at home. Some disturbances in the leadership and - out of the blue - one of my alts is temporarily appointed brigade general. My goal? just stopping the legion from disintegrating until a proper leader found.

WTB Katana

My real life friends decide to join a stronger legion, in order to get medals from fortresses. I am asked to go too, but I prefer to stay behind. They leave without even saying goodbye to the other legionmates, or leave a message at the fora, or .. something.

WTB Katana for Seppuku

So, there I am, ashamed from their behavior. At the same time, my goal of keeping the legion from disintegrating and finding a proper leader is also failing.

So, as I said, WTB Katana. A really really good Katana.

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Fight on the Right Side

Drive on the Left Side!

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Essencetapping the world

OMG OMG OMG yes yes yes Dooooooooooone it!

Today I found the third necessary item (the diamond actually) in order to complete the Expert Essencetapping Quest. For those of you who do not know - this quest requires you to keep harvesting diamonds, rubies and sapphires, wearing a specific ring, until an ultra-rare item appears. After (only!) 600++ diamonds, I got the (@#$* "Starry Diamond".

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Next time I log on, I will be delivering the quest. I will get a new hat too, which displays ground gatherables on radar (yay!)

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Streaming demo of Aion 2.0

Go. NOW! Live Stream has started.

http://eu.ncsoft.com/en-gb/events/gamescom.html#live-stream

Soon Jiho Lee & Seungwuk Baek, members of Aion's development team in Korea, will talk about Aion and answer questions. You can pose your questions by twitting to @aion_ayase, using #aion and #gc2010, join Aion on facebook, or just visit the expo :-)

NCSoft Live Stream from Gamescom 2010

Just a quick note - NCSoft West is transmitting live from Germany right now. It's the press release @GamesCom 2010.

NB Sound quality is low.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ncsoft-west

Faction Imbalance

I have heard many arguments why Elyos [or Asmodean] side is favored. Examples include:

Pro-Elyos:

• Elyos have Jeshuchi and Zapiel, dropping uber-weapons.

Pro-Asmodean:

• BB Stains (an item needed for miragent armor) are easier to farm.

Naively, I was imagining that life is fair, men are kind, and factions are balanced, no matter the arguments.

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Comic from PvPonline

 
Recently I read a very interesting post on the subject, at yetanotheraionblog (check it, it's worth reading). In this post, Mojeaux first summarises the feelings we all have regarding server merges and free transfers:

There aren’t any Asmos left to fight!  Thanks NcSoft… once again you’ve managed to not only screw yourselves over, but also your dwindling die hard supporters.  

Then he goes on explaining that the two factions are not balanced, giving the entrance to FT requirements, as an example.

It’s pretty much a given fact that being Elyos is the way to go because the developers favor them. 

That made me think that no matter the pro or con arguments on the subject, truth is that given enough time, Elyos do dominate any server. That's the end result. According to statistics, even if we incorporate 'avalanche effect' in our calculations, this can not be a random outcome. Thus I will have to agree that Elyos are (so far) easier to play.

3 Good Excuses for 1 Bad Night

Yeap, it was bad. Being a healer is all about keeping the group alive, and when the group wipes, at the final boss, of a simple B-rank DB run.. well, probably you are having a bad day night (*).

You need a hug. A big hug. And a kiss.

(*) The explanation of "having a bad night" is only valid if you usually do better. In the unlike event of this being a regular night, then you are probably a bad healer. And under-geared. And you suck. Better stop gaming.

Still though, since this can happen, here are some ready-made excuses for you to use:


1. The dps was low.
Yeap, it does make sense.
Low dps => A long time fighting => No skill reuse, mana depletion.
It's only natural that your healing gets worse as time passes. You use all your "tricks" (skills) and so do all group members. So you can not repeat your DP skill, you can not do the 6m cooldown groovy heal, the ranger/sin can not escape any more attacks, the tank has no other armor to use. Thus the same healer, who does very well with a high dps group that kills in few minutes, might fail when the dps is not enough. Same goes for mana - sometimes all the pots of the world are not enough, you even get a crystal, and yet..



2. You (or the tank, or someone else) lagged.
Well that needs no explaining. Obviously if you lag, you are reacting late and probably wrong.


3. You had a pug/noob/new group member.
You can blame  him or her for everything! Examples include:
- No armor (e.g." the ranger took a lot of damage in each hit, he would die if you didnt spare him a heal")
- Bad gameplay (e.g. "the ranger did not know to avoid hits/reflects/*")
- No weapon (e.g. "the ranger did not do any damage, what the heck?")
- Lots of dying (e.g. "the ranger died 5 times - the sorc lost so much time rezing him and i had to heal at least once - we better leave him dead next time")

So there you go - you have some suitable, fit-all, ready-made excuses ;-)