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Guild Wars 2 | Getting Started

You've seen the videos, or maybe a stream. You've heard the hype. You want to try Guild Wars 2. This guide should help you get started.

Do I need to have played Guild Wars?

No. There are some minor benefits from having played Guild Wars. You can get a cool title and you might get a few of the lore references. But thats it. Theres no direct impact and, given Guild Wars 2 is set a long time after the first game, theres no direct continuity to the story. Guild Wars as a game feels very clunky these days, so feel free to skip straight to Guild Wars 2.

Getting the Game

Guild Wars 2 comes in three editions: 

Guild Wars 2 base game - this is completely free. There are a few limits on it, but these are mostly aimed at kicking the gold sellers to the kerb. You can play to max and access all content that came with the original game including all maps, story and both PvP modes.

Heart of Thorns expansion - this adds new maps and story, and all Masteries associated with Heart of Maguuma or Central Tyria, including Gliding and making legendary precursors, needed to craft weapons (you can still get them to drop randomly without this).

Path of Fire - this adds new maps and story, and all mounts and their associated Masteries.

You might notice that neither Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire have 'new levels' against them. This is correct - expansions in Guild Wars 2 add no new levels. There are also no new tiers of gear.

There are also two DLC type packs you can buy to access more story content and maps, called the Living World. You can buy Living World Season 2 and 3 in the gem store if you don't have them. These episodes are made available for free as long as you log in while a given episode is 'live'. You needed to own Heart of Thorns to access Living World Season 3, so likely you will need Path of Fire for Season 4. You can unlock a chapter even if you don't own the prerequisites - you just can't play it until you buy the prerequisite expansion.

What this means is that if you are levelling, you should just grab the base game. Once you hit 80 you can consider whether you want to buy more content. You can buy the expansions as a pack, and you can find the Living World packs on offer. The story order is: 

Base Game

Living World Season 1 video (it's no longer playable) 

Living World Season 2

Heart of Thorns

Living World Season 3

Path of Fire

Living World Season 4

To read the lore to Guild Wars 1 through to Living World Season 3, you can read The Story So Far.

Character Creation

Time to make some choices:

Region - unless you have a reason to do otherwise, select your home region for low lag. You cannot change region or play across regions, though guilds and mail work across regions.  You cannot easily change this later.

Server - the server has only one impact and that's on World vs World (which is Server vs Server PvP). If you want to do a lot of WvW, consider your server choice (check the forums for advice on this at the time). Else you can just pick a name. You can change this later, but it costs.

Race - this is purely an aesthetic choice in the long term - it does determine your starting city and early story, but ultimately the best choice is the one you want to look at the most. You cannot change this later.

Profession (class) - This determines how you will play the game. All the professions are viable in all content types, but not all specs of all classes. A class has a limited list of weapons they can use and each weapon has different skills. All classes have a melee and ranged option. Some classes can tank or heal, but this is largely only relevant in raids. You cannot change this later. Easy classes include the Necromancer, Warrior, Ranger and Guardian. The Elementalist and Engineer are the most challenging classes. The Revenant is only available with Heart of Thorns.

You then make some other choices that will impact a bit on your very early story, but really mean nothing later. 

Starting Out

The game will try to guide you to content. Let it. It will show you how the basic leveling experience works. There is a single main storyline you can follow, but that is not enough to level you up. The rest of the time you can just spend exploring the world and completing whatever content you come across. 

You are scaled to the level of lower level maps, so a map that's tagged as being for 15 to 25 will still give experience at 40 because you will be scaled down to 25. 

Hearts require you do do something until they are full. The heart will then sell you gear, which is the main source of gear while leveling. 

Hero Points give you points with which you can learn secondary skills. These don't change with your weapon (though other things may change them).

Experience is always awarded for all players involved in a kill or event, based on their participation level. Other players are always a good thing to come across.

When your inventory starts to fill, click on the cog in the top right hand corner and select Deposit All. This moves all crafting materials into your bank automatically. 

Your bank has two parts - the open slots and slots for crafting materials. You can store up to 250 of each crafting material in the crafting materials bank.

You can do dungeons as you level, but they can be challenging with lower level, undergeared players so its not always the best choice with a random group. Arah, for example, is a challenge with well geared level 80 players!

Each zone has a story of sorts, but not in the way that a traditional quest based MMO does. However, most have hidden things to find. 

Getting Gear

There are five levels of gear you will come across while you level, plus two more at end game: 

Grey/White - you can ignore this gear after the first couple of levels.

Blue - this is better than grey

Green - again, this is better than blue

Rare (yellow) - this gear is better than green

Exotic (orange) - this is the best gear you will come across during leveling. You can do almost all end game content with Exotic gear. 

Ascended (pink) - this is the best gear in the game stats wise. You can only get it at level 80. It takes a while, but you get to keep it forever and it is account bound, so you can move items between characters.

Legendary (purple) - this has the same stats as Ascended gear, but looks prettier. Legendary items normally have a cool visual effect and look. They are also account bound, and you can change the stat combination on them. So again, you can keep them forever. 

As well as your normal gear set, you will be able to have two weapon sets you can switch between in battle (for most classes) and you need a seperate weapon and an Aquabreather for underwater combat. 

Gathering, Crafting and Salvaging

You can learn two Crafting professions per character (you can add more with a gem store purchase). These can be changed for gold and you will keep the progress in the old profession if you deactivate and reactivate it.  Professions make gear, apart from Cooking. Cooking is hard to level at first, so don't rush into that one. Don't rush into crafting at all, in fact. All of the content you do while leveling is still a part of your end game, and if you are missing materials now, odds are you will have them later. Also, some low level materials are very expensive because they are used in high level gear.

You can Gather all the three types of items (ore, wood and plants) on a given character. All other materials drop from mobs. You need to buy Gathering Tools and equip them. They have a limited number of uses, so you will need to keep replacing them. They are cheap to buy and better ones are available as you level, so don't buy loads at first. 

You can also Salvage many items to gain materials. You buy Salvage kits for this. You nearly always want to Salvage Green/Blue items and low level items, but do check on the trading post. Near top level (68+), salvaging Rare and above can give you a crafting item called a Glob of Ectoplasm. You should salvage any Rare item that sells for less than a Glob of Ectoplasm (check the Black Lion Trading Post).

What do I need to buy from the gem store? 

The quick answer is nothing. You do not need to make any purchase to play the game. The only thing you will feel pressure to buy, in my experience, is bank slots. If you are playing the game enough that you feel desperate for bank space, then you won't really mind paying out a bit. In the first instance, you should sell stuff and stop hoarding it in your bank!

Other than that, its all completely optional. Its pretty outfits and cool things for lazy people. You can save a few silver by buying the everlasting Gathering tools, and you can buy the Copper-Fed Salvage-o-matic which saves you needing to buy low level Salvaging tools, but is probably more expensive.

On top of all that, you can buy gems for gold you make in game (if you spend a LOT of time playing). You can also exchange the other way around, but, because Ascended gear is fairly easy to come buy, it never reaches pay to win. Instead its pay to save a bit of time grinding.

Is Guild Wars 2 a grindy game?

Not really. A few things are a grind to do. Legendary gear is one hell of a grind. But, that is what makes them Legendary. And because there are no new levels or tiers of gear, you get to keep using them forever. So grind is commensurate with reward, and that holds true of the game as a whole. Also, the game has few ways to grind a specific thing. You can't really farm mobs for high level crafting materials effectively, and theres no one source of gold. Because of that, you can choose your poison. If you want to run the high value mining nodes every day, you can do that. Or, you can run Fractals, or farm events, or do any of the things you enjoy. In fact, most of the grinds force you to vary your content (you need to do some PvP for a legendary, for example).

Above all in Guild Wars 2, just have fun while you level. There is far less need to race to max level. An awful lot of the content you can do at end game is accessible long before you hit level 80. So enjoy the world. The Personal Story is not the strongest leveling content in an MMO, but no game beats Guild Wars 2 for the enjoyment you get from just exploring the world.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Guild Wars 2 | The Story So Far

The Story So Far series is designed to bring you up to date with the current story of a game. These posts will cover previous games and all game content up to the latest release. This post covers the history of Tyria until just before Path of Fire. Unsurprisingly, SPOILERS!

Ancient Tyria

According to lore, the Gods created the world of Tyria (Tyria is both the world and a continent on the world, just to be confusing). Of course, the Gods were likely to say that, given they were Gods and wanted to be worshipped. They were also the Gods of the conquering Humans and we all know conquerors write history.

We do know the Elder Dragons are ancient. They rise and fall in eras that span 10,000 years. Awaking from slumber, they eat everything in sight, thus reducing the amount of magic in the world. Then they go to sleep, the magic seeps out, and the cycle begins again. Likely that's what killed the giants who once populated the continents. And since the Gods didn’t show up until 786 BE (Before Exodus), the whole world creation claim is suspect.

The Gods show up in 786 with Humanity and serpent people in tow. The serpent people, or Forgotten, were once the guardians and peacekeepers of the lands. Gradually, Humans expanded and create a new peace forged by domination. The Forgotten disappeared and Humanity and their gods dominated the world, re-writing history as they went.

In 1 BE (Before Exodus) magic became an issue. It was now freely available and being used as a weapon of war. After pleas from King Doric, the leader of Humanity, the Gods sealed much of it away into Bloodstones, giant red crystals, by some of the other Gods. Then they left, and the modern era began.

The next 1,000 years or consisted of Humans fighting wars. They fought amongst themselves. They fought centaurs. They fought the undead Lich Palawa Joko and his forces. They fought Charr. All the while the Elder Dragons loosed more magic into the world.

Guild Wars Prophecies

Then The Searing happened. This is the start of the player journey in the original Guild Wars, with the introductory content happening just before The Searing. The Charr found their own gods, the Titans. Of course the Titans weren’t actually gods, they were twisted souls from Tyrian hell. Using the powers of the Titans, the Charr enacted the Searing.

Burning crystals rained on Ascalon, destroying its people, its cities and even the land. With Ascalon defeated, the Charr marched south. The King of Ascalon, Adelbern, refused to give up, but after his son, Prince Rurik, failed to turn them back, Rurik and many of his people, including the player, fled to Kryta (a journey Rurik did not survive).

Kryta at this time was led by the White Mantle and their leader Saul D’Alessio. Saul was once an outcast, but, in his wanderings, he found the powerful magical beings known as the Unseen Ones who helped Kryta defeat its enemies. The player joined the White Mantle and rose through its ranks.

At the time there was a rebel faction in Kryta - the Shining Blade. The Shining Blade eventually showed the player that the White Mantle would destroy Kryta. However, the Shining Blade still needed stronger allies, and to deal with traitors from within, before it would be ready to fight back.

As a part of this prepartion, the player visited the Crystal Desert, seeking to Ascend. Years before a man called Turai Ossa, who had defeated the Lich Palawa Joka, had done the same thing with many of his people. He had failed, but helpfully his ghost was still hanging around, ready to help the player. The player passed the tests of Ascension and met with the dragon Glint, who revealed Unseen Ones were the Mursaat, and planned to enslave humanity.

The player managed to find the Shining Blade, defeat their traitors, help them ally with the Dwarves and start to win victories, as players in MMOs are wont to do. The Mursaat were rumoured to have a secret weapon, hidden behind the Door of Komalie. The player attacked it and opened it, only to reveal the Charr's false Gods, the Titans! And then the Vizier betrayed them. He was in fact a Lich Lord who had been attacking Kryta for years, seeking to control the world. The Titans were just what he needed to do so. The player stopped him, but the Titans were freed and rampaged across Kryta., giving the player something else to fight now the Big Bad was gone.

Only Khilbron wasn't entirely gone. With the Char still threatening Orr, and his still being evil, the Vizier unleashed a forbidden spell. It killed the entire Charr army in an instant … and sank Orr and all its people into the Sea.

Guild Wars Factions

Factions moved the action to Cantha. Cantha was suffering a deadly plague that turned people into monsters called Afflicted. It was caused by the spirit Shiro Tagachi.

Long go, when Cantha was divided into three warring factions, Shiro Tagachi met a Fortune Teller. A loyal protector of his Emperor, the Fortune Teller told him that Emperor would kill him on the Harvest Festival. The Fortune Teller was, in fact, a minion of Abaddon, the demonic lord of the Realm of Torment. Driven mad, Shiro killed his Emperor at a peace conference on the Harvest Festival. Ironically, the three factions then allied to kill him. His death released a destruction known as the Jade Wind, but this seemed to be an end to it.

Shiro, however, remained mad in the afterlife. Given the role of an envoy, to ferry the dead, he instead amassed an army and brought it, and the plague of the Afflicted, back to Cantha. Through various trials the player gained the power to defeat Shiro and save Cantha.

Guild Wars Nightfall

Then we went to Elona. Guess what? Elona was having a problem with Abaddon worshipping pirates and military leaders who wanted to destroy the world! This time the player joined the Order of the Sunspears and one of their leaders, Kormir.

The player gathered together allies (the Order of Whispers, pirates, Ishtan and Vabbi) to fight back. Their enemy was Varesh, who was determined to free Abaddon from the Realm of Torment. As she got closer to her goal, various rifts started opening across the world. These had two significant effects - sucking Kormir into the Realm of Torment and awakening the Lich Palawa Joka. This turned out to be handy, because the Lich taught the player how to cross the Desolation to reach Varesh and Abaddon.

After crossing the Desolation, the player defeated Varesh, but was drawn into the Realm of Torment. Here the player found Kormir and received the blessing of the Gods and make a startling discovery. Abaddon was, in fact, the sixth God. In legend Abaddon gave magic to the world (or at least, claimed credit when in fact it was seeping out of the Elder Dragons). He declared war on his brethren when they sealed so much magic away, and they stashed him in the Realm of Torment as punishment.

The player defeated Abaddon, but a God cannot simply die. Its power must go somewhere. The power went to Kormir, who became the Goddess of Truth, Knowledge and Secrets.

Guild Wars Eye of the North/Beyond

The Biggest of Bads was dead. It turns out that Abaddon was pretty much behind everything - the Titans, the Vizier were all his doing. So what next? The answer is not one but TWO expansions spent pottering around tying up lose ends. It probably felt very heroic, but lorewise its a bit limp.

The player returned to Tyria to find it overrun with Destroyers. The Dwarves came up with a way to kill them, but it had the nasty side effect of turning most of them to stone. Then they went and cleared out the White Mantle and crowned Salma Queen of Kryta (oh look, an heir hidden away where you'd least expect). They followed Gwen around until she got married ... it just sort of fizzled out.

The Preparation Phase

Quite a lot happens in the 250 years between the games:

Ascalon was still at war with the Charr, having entirely missed the near end of the world and all that jazz. King Adelbern had gone a bit mad with vengeance and faced defeat. Once the Charr were inside his city, he called down a magic called the Foefire. A bit like the Vizier's magic before him, it did kill all of the Charr. It also turned every human in Ascalon into a ghost - a vengeful, murderous ghost.

The Charr claimed Ascalon and founded the Black Citadel. Eventually the shamans who had worshipped the Titans were overthrown. It was 1116 AE and the Charr were now ready to become a playable race.

In contrast, the Dwarves all turned to stone in 1125 AE. No playable race for them!

The Norns fled south from Jormag and founded Hoelbrak and the Asura lost both Rata Novus and Rata Arcanum, leaving them focused around Rata Sum. Both had a capital city and a focused area of play. More playable characters.

If you've wondered where the Sylvari were all this time the answer was nowhere - they didn't exist. In 1180 the Centaur prophet, Ventari, died by the Pale Tree, leaving the Ventari tablet that was to become the core of Sylvari philosophy. The Sylvari themselves first appeared around 1302.

Tyria was now nicely carved up into map sections for Guild Wars 2. In contrast, Elona and Cantha both suffered the same fate of being taken over by despots. One of which should be familiar - Elona was conquered by Palawa Joko by 1175.

Destiny's Edge and the risk of Bickering

Then the events leading up to the main game began. In 1219 Zhaitan awakened. The Elder Dragon of Death brought Orr and its undead back to the surface. They began to spread very, very slowly. It took another 100 years before Destiny’s Edge forms with the express goal of killing Zhaitan.

Destiny’s Edge would become key characters in your personal story in Guild Wars 2. They represented all the races - the Charr Rytlock Brimstone, the Human Logan Thackery, the Norn Eir Stegalkin, the Sylvari Caithe and the Asura Zojja and Snaff. They had all sorts of skills and a cool name and everything.

Before facing Zhaitan, Destiny’s Edge went to face off against Glint as a practice run. Glint was technically the dragon champion of the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik. Unlike the other Dragon champions, she had broken free of her master and sought to help Destiny’s Edge when Kralkatorrik rose. At the last minute, however, Logan was called away. The remaining members of Destiny’s Edge and Glint fought Kralkatorrik, but, while they drove off the Elder Dragon, both Glint and Snaff died. The guild fell apart. Zojja blamed Eir for making the decision to fight down one person, and Rytlock blamed Logan for leaving them one short.

Now, call me cynical, but Logan’s presence likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome. He's a good fighter and all that, but one more small human with a sword against an Elder Dragon? Really? And then Zojja blaming Eir is a bit rich because a) the others could have refused, given that the all powerful Logan was gone and b) there were two Asura in a guild with a single member of every other race! Essentially, one of them was a red shirt*. And for a guild with the goal of killing an Elder Dragon, they gave up really easily. Was the threat of Zhaitan not worth overcoming their differences for? Did they think they could face up to Elder Dragons and lose no one?

Guild Wars 2

This is the world into which the player arrived when they started Guild Wars 2. The personal story, as the main thread is called, started differently for each race and is dependent on the choices you made when you started the game. But they all ended up in the same place. You do some heroic stuff and end up coming to the attention of the three bickering organisations who are trying to fight Zhaitan.

The Order of Whispers (spies), the Durmond Priory (Indiana Jones wannabes) and the Vigil (grr, hit things) all wanted to destroy Zhaitan. But they want to do it their way and they won’t play with others. Leading to one inescapable conlusion. All the NPCs in Guild Wars are actually 10 years old and the player is the only one with any sense at all. The player ended up being the peacekeeper and found an ally, the Sylvari Trahearne. That should have meant he was the only one who doesn’t irritate you, right? Nope.

Anyway, the player eventually got the orders to ally in the Pact. They foisted leadership onto Trahearne because who wants to deal with the bickering? And then they went to Orr and got stuff done. Ultimately, they killed Zhaitan.

Living World Season 1

It's a bit quiet for a while (while the devs try to figure out where Trahearne went wrong). Then things moved along again. Various monsters became more active in Ascalon and the Shiverpeaks, leading the player to be asked to take a look into it. They stopped a really dodgy company exploiting people in Southsun. They solved the mystery of the murder of a member of the Captain's Council in Lion's Arch. By this point, a lot of new people have been introduced. Namely:

Rox, the Charr, who wants to join Rytlock's Warband.

Braham, the Norn, the estranged son of Eir Stegalkin.

Marjory, a Human detective and her partner Kasmeer, a Human noble of a disgraced house.

Canach, the Sylvari, a sardonic criminal

Taimi, the Asura, a child prodigy with a disability she overcomes by riding around in her Golem, Scruffy

The Aetherblade pirates who were up to No Good

The Zephyrites, who wander around in their airships and put on big festivals

E, Majory's mysterious benefactor who seemed to have the inside line on a lot of the bad stuff going down

Then Queen Jennah decided to celebrate her Jubilee by unveiling a new invention (and no, it hasn't been explained who the inventor was) the Watchknights (clockwork knights) to protect Kryta. The Aetherblade arrived to disrupt things and with them came a new figure - Scarlet Briar.

Scarlet Briar was a Sylvari, given the name Ceara at her birth. She rejected the idea that the Pale Tree would direct her life’s purpose and went out into the world to study. She learnt smithing and metallurgy from the Norn, and about firearms from a Charr, before going to the Asura. In Rata Sum she quickly progressed through the courses the Asura gave her and joined Headmaster Omadd of the College of Synergetics, working on his project to solve the Eternal Alchemy. However, his machine drove her mad.

Throughout the season, Scarlet continued to work towards her mysterious ends. It becomes clear she was behind most of the recent troubles. She brought together various groups - the Krait, the Aetherblade, the Nightmare Court - who rejected the current order and had them working on … something. She raised a massive tower in Viathan Lake, she constructed a mammoth Watchknight. Then she destroys Lion's Arch.

Yes, ArenaNet blew up their capital city. The Lion’s Arch you see to today is the rebuild. The original is gone. It turns out Scarlet had been tracking ley lines and was seeking to access one that ran right under Lion’s Arch. The team defeated her, but her machine had already hit the leyline.

Sadly, you can’t play this part of the game now, but you can watch this cool video.

Living World Season 2

The next season follows what is now the established pattern for the game, this season was released gradually in a series of episodes. You got each one for free as long as you logged in at least once during the period it was current. If you missed them, you can buy them on the gem store or get a friend to take you into their version. Or you can read this.

The characters from Season 1 were back and investigating a letter from E. It directed them to investigate the newly found entry into the Maguuma Wastes. Travelling to a new zone, Dry Top, the player discovered a crashed Zephyrite airship. The ship appeared to have been sabotaged and the Master of Peace, their leader, was now running from another crazed Sylvari. The player defeated him, but, whilst hunting for more details about him, they instead discovered a secret lab that had belonged to Scarlet Briar. Various waypoints were suddenly attacked by vines and vine creatures and this, alongside Scarlet's finding led to one inescapable conclusion - the Elder Dragon Mordremoth was rising. I say inescapable conclusion, but probably that was only true for Taimi. You see, if you have a genius handy, its totally fine to present only a few sparse clues and have them put it together because, they are a genius!

After accidentally ending up in the machine Omadd designed to see the Eternal Alchemy (totally Taimi's fault), the player saw a vision.

 The player visited the Pale Tree who agreed they needed to get all the people of Tyria on board with the dragon killing this time. She agreed to host a meeting to discuss the threat of Mordremoth. In attempting to get everyone to attend, the player did various tasks. Notably, they tried to help Rytlock attempt to lift the curse of the Foefire from Ascalon. It didn't work and Rytlock disappeared into the Mists. Ooops. The summit did, eventually, happen. Of course it was attacked by Dragon Minions, leaving the Pale Tree injured.

Investigating the Modrem, the player discovered the mysterious purpose of the Zephyrites - they had an egg from the dragon Glint. Of course, that egg was a target for many enemies including the Mordrem. They player tracked him down, only to watch him die and watch the egg being taken … by Caithe.

Hunting Caithe, the player learns a little more of her history and the history of the Sylvari. Caithe was another of the Firstborn Sylvari. She was in love with her fellow Firstborn, Faolain who was a bit of a rebel. Faolain was obsessed with a secret apparently known to a third Firstborn, Wynne. She attempted to discredit Wynne, and then torture her. In the end, Wynne asked Caithe to kill her so Faolain could never learn the secret - that the Sylvari were created by Mordremoth to be his minions. Caithe did so, and Faolain left to become the leader of the Nightmare Court.

While the player followed Caithe, the Pact airships flew to the Heart of Maguuma. They were instantly struck down by the vines of Mordremoth. He was awake and, as the ships fell, he took control of many of the Sylvari, leading them to attack their allies.

Heart of Thorns

Heart of Thorns continued where season 2 left off. The player traveled to the Heart of Maguuma, looking to find the Pact and Destiny’s Edge. The area was overrun by Modrem, but that was okay because Rytlock, imbued with new powers, appeared from nowhere to defeat them. The player managed to find Eir, trapped with Faolin. Faolin rejected Mordremoth just as she did the Pale Tree - she wanted no master. Attacked by Mordrem, however, she betrayed the player and their allies and killed Eir.

The player continues on to find Caithe, being attacked by a Faolin Modrem Monster Thing. They grabbed the egg and ran, travelling south to Tarir, the city of the Exalted. Tarir was founded by the Forgotten and the Exalted in 1128 AE for one purpose - to protect the legacy of Glint, the egg. Now that's planning. The player leaves the egg in the chamber beneath the city. The same city that gets attacked by Mordrem every few hours. Good plan.

Next, the player rescued Zojja and Logan who were being used as templates for new types of Mordrem and finally killed Faolain. They also found, Trahearne, who was fused to Mordremoth, and through him entered its mind and defeated it. In order to rid the world of it forever, they player also has to kill Trahearne, within whom its remnants reside. As they do so, the magic it absorbed exploded out along the ley lines.

Living Story Season 3

This sought to tidy up the threads of Heart of Thorns, but also to lead you to the next threat. Which Elder Dragon was next? Well, it turned out that there would be two of them - Jormag and Primordius were stirring. And even worse, it turns out that when you kill one Elder Dragon, all of the others get some of its power. So Jormag and Primordius now also had some of the powers of Zhaitan and Mordremoth. Ooops.

Meanwhile, the White Mantle were back. They manage to destroy a Bloodstone in an attempt to raise their former Mursaat overlords. They seemingly succeeded, bringing back Lazarus. Lazarus wasn’t that impressed by the White Mantle and promptly vanished.

Some better news now - Glint’s egg hatched. The baby dragon, Aurene, was immediately attacked by Destroyers. Only for Lazarus to show up and help protect her. He claimed he wanted to help. It wasn't entirely convincing. In the end, Marjory and Caithe agreed to shadow him. Braham stomped off, having seemingly been infected by the whole heroes who act like children virus when the player won’t agree to rush headlong into the frozen north to kill Jormag and, in dismantling the White Mantle, they discover that whatever Lazarus is, he is not a Mursaat brought back from the dead.

He is in fact, they player next discovered, one of the Human Gods - Balthazar. He escaped with a device Taimi built to kill both Elder Dragons at once. While the player tracked him, Taimi did some further research and discovered that killing another Elder Dragon would probably destroy the planet. Another ooops. The player stopped Balthazar using the device to kill Primordius. Balthezar did manage to steal some of its power, but only enough to send it back to sleep. Jormag, likewise, goes back to sleep (though Braham is still hellbent on killing it, destroying the world not being too high a price apparently).

The player finished up by joining the Shining Blade. Alongside another hero who lived a very long life, Livia, they defeated the real Lazarus - the last of the Mursaat. And discover the location of Balthazar. Hes in the Crystal Desert. Which brings you right up to date.

*For anyone who has not watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, you can go and watch it to get this reference because it's awesome.

[meta-gamer-blog]

WoW | World of LeakCraft

Another Blizzcon looms as we experience what will likely be the last major content patch of Legion. Where, then, will we be going next?

If the discoveries of the data miners are to be believed, Sargeras will soon be gone and the Burning Legion with him. What, then, do we have left to fight? Will peace descend upon Azeroth? That seems unlikely. The rumour mills are hard at work, spitting out fake expansion after fake expansion (which consists of recycling all the things that were suggested for this expansion it seems). Is there any grain of truth to be found in any of them?

Reality, or the machinations of the void?

Most of the so-called leaks have a grain of likelihood in them. There are two common themes that we have other evidence to support - the new level cap of 120 and the connection to the Old Gods. The level cap is a logical extension of where we are now. Apart from the brief flirtation with 5 levels, each new expansion brings 10 levels. Why change that now?

The Old Gods suggestion also has a certain amount of logic to it. If the Burning Legion has been finished off, then we need to look for new enemies and the Old Gods are an obvious example. We've also had warnings in the game that our actions might have unintended consequences.

Five keys to open our way. Five torches to light our path.

If you've been to the Emerald Nightmare raid, you'll know that one particular boss, Il'gynoth, is a talkative chappie who spends the entire fight whispering cryptic secrets to you. Il'gynoth's prophecies suggest, if you assume they are about the Old Gods, that in defeating one enemy we have opened the door to another.

The Whispers of Il'gynoth

Assuming Il'gynoth's whispers are not the rantings of a mad ... blobby thing, we have some further clues to what might come next.

Your coming was foretold in the rings. The long circle is nearly complete.

Whatever is coming is soon as our arrival is apparently a sign. And the circle? This would likely be the circle back to the Old Gods holding power.

Flesh is his gift. He is your true creator.

To find him, drown yourself in the circle of stars.

These likely refer to an Old God. The Curse of Flesh was the name given to a curse the Old Gods (Yogg-Saron in particular) used to curse their jailers, the creations of the Titans. It took what were essentially magical machines and made them flesh. Gnomes and Dwarves, for example, were originally Mechagnomes and Earthen. And Humans were originally Vrykul. The Old Gods are, quite literally, our creators. To find them we must find the circle of stars. More on that later.

The king of diamonds has been made a pawn.

This one is fairly simple. Magni Bronzebeard, King of the Dwarves, is now literally made of diamond and is the translator of the titan soul Azeroth. We know she is being driven mad by visions of horrors. The very purpose of the Old Gods is to corrupt the titan soul of Azeroth, and so, in their success, Magni becomes their pawn. Also, Magni suggested the Pillars of Creation which, if they unlock the Old Gods, means he has already become their pawn.

The lord of ravens will turn the key.

The most likely lord of ravens is Khadgar. Khadgar can turn himself into a raven - an ability that comes with Atiesh, the Greatstaff of the Guardian. There are other options - Medivh is possible, obscure raven associated lords being less likely.  If the Pillars of Creation free the Old Gods, Khadgar, who hunts them and and uses them, has turned the key. So this part may have already been fulfilled.

The boy-king serves at the master's table. Three lies will he offer you.

There are some suggestions that this could be Wrathion. However, hes not a king, so this seems to be on the basis that hes young and vaguely important. The most likely suggestion for this is actually Anduin Wrynn. Anduin is priest, and, in case you've not played one, the Shadow Priest spec is most definitely filled with the madness of the void. In Legion the Priest class hall directly addresses this in several ways. All priests who use the powers of the void are put at risk by them. What if Anduin, seeking to fight the Legion, takes things a step too far?

Her heart is a crater, and we have filled it.

At the hour of her third death, she will usher in our coming.

From the earth, he draws strength. Our earth. Our strength.

Now if one faction hero can go mad, why not others? What about Jaina, driven mad by her losses? Or Sylvanas, unable to secure a future for her people? Or Thrall, having become the Aspect of Earth, being at risk of the same corruption that destroyed his predecessor?

Or, if one buys the Wrathion theory, one or more of these could refer to other dragon aspects and we could see the corruption of the dragons. And in reality, there are lots of potential choices for this. Azeroth's heart would be a crater if the titan soul were dead. Azeroth could die three times. If Aegwynn is not dead, she could die three times. Wrathion is an Earth dragon, drawing strength from the earth. The list goes on.

Its surface blazes bright, masking shadows below.

Could this be the Light? The Naaru, beings of light, can become corrupted into shadow. Or Azeroth?

N'Zoth, I journey to Ny'alotha

This isn't normally mentioned, but has he dies, Il'gynoth says this line. Ny'alotha has been mentioned before in World of Warcraft. Is is the sleeping city mentioned by the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron and by the shadow priest Artifact, Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire (which likes to talk to you, because madness).

In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep ...

In the sleeping city of Ny'alotha walk only mad things.

Ny'alotha is a city of old, terrible, unnumbered crimes ...

Sounds like a charming place to visit, according to the Puzzle Box. Xal'atath, however, seems very fond of it.

The city of elves pales in comparison to the sleeping city ...

Do not be impressed by tall icons of the titans which stand here. The towers of sacrifice in Ny'alotha dwarf these pathetic temples.

Further to this, Ny'alotha may well be the prison of the Old God N'Zoth, and may be sunken under the ocean at present. This would suggest that perhaps the circle of stars might be certain conjunction of the stars reflected on the ocean (could the circle be created by Argus appearing in the sky and blocking stars to create a void surrounded by stars?) And the idea that Il'gynoth will travel to Ny'alotha on death suggests that there is some kind of resurrection aspect to the city, at least for the old gods. Perhaps C'thun, Yogg-Saron and Y'Shaarj also can be found there? This might support Sylvanas being at least one of the quotes mentioned above - shes desperately looking for some way to continue the undead.

This is just my take on the Whispers and others suggest different things. But if the Whispers are in fact prophecy, the Old Gods are coming and this leads to our next expansion. The Argus quest line so far backs this up.

What else do the 'leaks' suggest?

Theres been a lot of talk about Kul'Tiras. Kul'Tiras is a human city-state and the original home of Jaina Proudmoore. Like the whereabouts of Turalyon and Alleria, this is one of the Great Mysteries of WoW. Since one of these has been solved, then perhaps another will be too? If they keep on saying it, one day they'll be right. The only other reason to suspect Kul'Tiras is the data mining of some Kul'Tiras leveling armor.

If Ny'alotha is under the sea, of course, Kul'Tiras makes more sense as a jumping off point. A kind of Dalaran for the lands of the Old Gods. Maybe with a sideline of locals being irritated by the rest of the world stampeding over them? And something piratey.

Beyond that there seems an obsession with Nazjatar and boats. Aszhara will rise to power again and ... wait didn't we do this already? I sort of feel that between Vashj'ir and Azsuna, we've fought Azshara a lot. And the suggestion of player ships really came about at the end of Draenor after we got the ship yard as a new version of Garrisons. We've established that Garrisons are Bad, so why would they create new ones now? Our run of luck with ships/airships has been pretty poor and I want to invest in one just about as much as I'm willing to invest emotionally in any remaining dragons i.e. not at all (I'm still bitter about Ysera)!

As a quick aside here, I don't believe that Ny'alotha or any other suggested underwater land will be an underwater kingdom in the vein of Vashj'ir. At most, there will be some kind of underwater transition area before you get into some kind of cavern/bubble. Or Ny'alotha will just rise up to the surface.

Then theres the attempts to find new races. Ogres, Naga, Murlocs, Centaur, Ethereals, Kvaldir, Vyrkul. Basically any race that has appeared in WoW and is vaguely humanoid. Apart from the Mogu. No one has suggested the Mogu yet. Clearly an oversight. Odds of any of these being true? Slim to none. None of the races mentioned would fit in well with the existing races. They aren't going to happen. I imagine we won't see new races unless they are new to WoW. The suggestions for sub-races are more likely and that would be a lot of art work! Imagine the sheer resource needed to make all historical armor fit Naga? The best suggestion is in the Black Empire leak where the new race is the 'Dragonsworn'. This is a Hero Race that starts at 108 - you select an existing race/class and Wrathion alters you to become part dragon. I quite like that idea, even though I doubt its authenticity.

Of course there are also new class suggestions, and new professions. We could see new classes  or professions in the game, but none of the suggestions really ring true. Carpentry and Wood Gathering (Dark Side of Azeroth), really? Tinker? Um, don't we already have Engineer? Oh as a class? So you want to make Engineering a class?

When I tried to think of a new class for the Old God/corrupted Faction Leaders/Ny'alotha expansion, it was almost impossible to think of one that wasn't very similar to existing classes. Which then led me to think that an easier route would be to add additional specs. We see Alleria experimenting with the void - what about a void pet hunter spec? Or a pirate themed rogue spec with guns? Adding a few specs each expansion would have the same overhead in terms of balance as a new class, but with far less art/story required (no starter zone, just a simple intro quest).

Then there are the rarer suggestions. Veil of Shadows, one of the better 'leaks', has a few fun things.

The Dragon Isles, an island of dragons that has been taken over by the Infinite Dragonflight.

The Codex of Creation as a very unspecific new version of Artifacts.

Faction Campaigns (whatever these might be).

More trolls. Because trolls.

Echoes of Nazjatar also suggests a pirate themed open world PvP zone called Battle for Plunder Isle which could be fun (if it didn't sound suspiciously like Tol Barad with a lake).

What do I want?

I'd like to see the expansion I suggest against the Whispers of Il'gynoth where half the faction heroes go mad and the rest of us travel to Ny'alotha to deal with it. Perhaps Anduin and Thrall have to be restrained whilst Jaina runs head first after Sylvanas, neither of them realizing they aren't acting under their own volition. Thrall would of course volunteer himself to be restrained. Anduin would just start hearing voices like every other poor shadow priest. But thats not really likely. I also think Ny'alotha sounds cool, but again, thats more hope than reality. I'd also like pirates because, pirates.

But then I'd also like to see no new levels, sideways progression, no more gear inflation and several of the other things I love about Guild Wars 2 (like a dodge key). And more treasure hunt/exploration type content (as per Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy XIV). Basically, I want all the MMOs to merge into one giant perfect mega MMO.

What do I think we will get?

Level to 120 (highly likely)

Old Gods as the big bad (likely)

Expansion of level adapting content (likely)

More trolls, more Thrall (likely because this is Blizzard)

Kul'Tiras (possible)

New class (no way to know as it depends on the expansion theme)

Pirates (who knows - pirates are cool)

New races from the murloc/naga list (highly unlikely)

Sub-races (unlikely) or hero races (also unlikely) but both more likely than freaking naga

Personal ships (highly unlikely)

Any kind of new/neutral faction or faction merge (highly unlikely at this point)

Queen 'I'm never gonna go away' Azshara (please no?)

And finally ...

Want to see a real expansion leak? Look no further.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Guild Wars 2 | The Head of the Snake

It seems the storyline of Minister Caudicus will be coming to a head with an attack on Lion's Arch and Queen Jennah herself. It arrives Tuesday 7 February.

What can we expect?

Potentially, an event similar to the destruction of Lion's Arch, ending in a rebuild of Divinity's Reach. Which sounds good because most of that city is just deserted. However, I don't think this will be the case. Instead, I think we will get:

A revamped 'Festival' to prepare people to fight.

The siege taking place in one of the empty areas around Divinity's Reach (there lots of nice open space there). This will be the new map for this episode.

Possibly the map will encroach into one area of Divinity's Reach (as I said, theres lots of boring real estate there) which will get a big fat Bloodstone in the middle of it.

Some instances where we find a traitor amongst the elite of the city.

We might see Logan. He'll be useless though.

Maybe Marjory and Lazarus will show up?

Some events in other areas around the encroachment of the two dragons (small world events similar to the Current Events). They need to start impacting on the world if the world is going to respond, as they did with Mordy.

Canach will finally complete his debt to Anise and join us properly. This is good because hes the only Sylvari main character I don't want to kill every time I see them (other than the Pale Tree, gotta love momma).

[meta-gamer-blog]

Heroes of the Storm | Valeera Sanguinar

A new Hero has arrived in the Nexus - Valeera Sanguinar. A World of Warcraft character, she is a key part of the Rogue class hall story and the story of Varian Wrynn.

Early Life

Valeera is a Blood Elf. After being orphaned by bandits and surviving the Scourge plague, she ended up in jail before being brought by Rehgar Earthfury to fight as a Gladiator, alongside Broll Bearmantle and an amnesiac human called Varian.

In Dire Maul the three fought and won. Varian earned the name Lo'Gosh and Valeera? Valeera was sold to Helka Grimtotem for her troubles. She escaped her new mistress, and went looking for her friends. It turns out they had escaped too, but were now being hunted by an assassin. Valeera defeated the assassin, barely, before being rescued by Aegwynn, the former Guardian of Tirisfal.

Journey to Stormwind

Aegwynn reunited her with her friends. Lo'Gosh's true identity is revealed - he is the King of Stormwind. Heading home to reclaim his throne, the trio are attacked by Naga. During the fight she absorbs the magical energies of a Naga Trident. Like all Blood Elves, she was born addicted to magic and this act brought that back to the fore.

Landing in Menethil Harbor, the three headed towards the nearest Alliance capital, Ironforge. Another assassin took aim at them - this time a warlock who exploited Valeera's addiction with the Mark of Kathra'Natir. This mark allowed the demon to possess her and she struggled to maintain control. In Ironforge, she attempted to overcome the addiction and the possession. Aegwynn intervened to help her.

In Stormwind, the trio faced off against Onyxia, who had orchestrated the disappearance of the King. He was reinstated, and Valeera became a bodyguard and advisor to the King. Broll and Varian had become the family she never had.

Meryl and Med'an

During the fight against the Scourge, Valeera undertook a mission to save Med'an. He was the son of Medivh and Garona and his mother offered key intelligence in return for his life. She worked with Meryl Winterstorm, an undead mage and the foster father of Med'an. They rescued him, but then found themselves facing Cho'gall. Cho'gall killed Meryl, and Valeera knew it would take an exceptional act to save them.

Valeera absorbed magic from Meryl and Med'an in order to activate the demon within her. Unleashed, he could fend off Cho'gall. Med'an healed Meryl, who teleported them to safety. Med'an, as the son of a Guardian of Tirisfal, had an enormous amount of power. Seeing an opportunity to gain it, the demon Kathra'Natir attempted to gain control of Med'an, but could not. To free Valeera, Meryl took the demon, which he managed to repress (mostly).

Character

Despite all of her connections to both the Horde, through her people, and the Alliance, through her friendship with Varian, Valeera considers herself independent. She becomes part of the Rogue order in Legion.

Valeera's Future?

There is at least one major unfinished storyline for Valeera - her connection to Aegwynn, the now-maybe-this-time-deceased Guardian of Tirisfal. Aegwynn saw greatness in Valeera and she has yet to do anything that would truly fulfil that.

The death of Varian may also impact Valeera. The shadow of her addiction to magic remains over her and grief makes people do crazy things.

In the Emerald Nightmare raid, Il'gynoth the Heart of Corruption whispers cryptic hints to the player.

Her heart is a crater, we have filled it. Valeera has been possessed before. She is a potential candidate for this, though others (Jaina or Azeroth herself) are more likely. Could Valeera be possessed by the Old Gods?

The boy-king serves at the master's table. Three lies he will offer you. If this turns out to be Anduin, Valeera will could well be a key player in dealing with it by rescuing or defeating Anduin.

In the hour of her third death, she will usher in our coming. You know who has died twice? Aegwynn. You know who might not really be dead? Aegwynn. Valeera and Aegwynn's connection could be developed by Aegwynn herself being alive and Valeera being involved with this storyline.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Overwatch | Lunar New Year

Another new event for Overwatch is now live - the Lunar New Year. Its following the same route as the Christmas and Halloween events - skins, victory poses, etc. and a Brawl.

Top Tip

The new brawl may remind you of Warsong Gulch (for good reason). But unlike flag capture battlegrounds in World of Warcraft you can capture the enemy flag even if your flag is not in the base. This is what makes the map so fast.

The Brawl is capture the flag - grab the enemy flag and return it to your point. Its on the Lijang Tower map. The match is very quick and does not reset between flag captures so it feels even quicker. With a few tweaks it could be a new type of map.

Highlights include a skin for Mei in two different colours, an awesome D.Va skin and a fun skin for Reinhardt where he looks a bit like a Mogu.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Guild Wars 2 | Sparkle Roosters

Have you ever dreamed of flying through the air, suspended by sparkling threads by four spectral, golden roosters? Of course you have.

[meta-gamer-blog]

FFXIV | Getting Started

Final Fantasy XIV is the phoenix of MMOs. It rose from the ashes of a disastrous first release to become World of Warcraft's closest subscription-based competitor (and quite possibly its overall closest competitor). Its a beautiful game with lots of content and frequent releases.

What is Final Fantasy XIV?

Final Fantasy XIV is the 14th entry in the Final Fantasy series and, like Final Fantasy XI, it is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game). Also called A Realm Reborn, it is set in the world of Eorzea, five years after a cataclysmic battle came to a strange end. It is a largely fantasy setting (with a little bit of magitech) and something of a classic MMORPG, focused on doing the job well rather than radical changes. It does, however, incorporate elements of the Final Fantasy gaming series.

Strengths

Story rich

Lots of mini games, collections and PvE content

Cuteness everywhere

Regularly updated with new content of all types

Huge range of activities

High level of polish

Weaknesses

PvP

Can be grindy

Immersion breaking cuteness

Nothing radical or new

Activities can be a bit too similar

What do I need to get started? Can I try before I buy?

There are often free weekends/weeks for FFXIV. Some are limited to a few days, others take place over a longer time but limit the total hours you can play. So you can try before you buy if you wait for a bit.

After that you are going to need to buy the game and pay a subscription. That might seem horribly old fashioned, but FFXIV does push out a lot of content for its subs. Updates regularly include new dungeons, main storyline quests, expanded or new gameplay in one of the many systems of bounties, leves, etc. mini-games, etc. There is also an in-game shop, but items are very cheap and quite niche. You also get subscriber rewards for the total number of days you have subscribed.

You can get started with just the base game. You may, however, want to buy Heavensward (the first expansion) early if you want the new race it added. Other than that, it can wait.

You can play on consoles and PC and, uniquely amongst MMOs, those players play together. The experience is definitely superior on the PC, however. This is a traditional MMO with a lot of buttons to press and an in game text-based chat and the keyboard definitely helps.

Character creation and early choices

The first thing you have to do is select a data centre. You should always select the data centre recommended for where you live. As a result of the way FFXIV communication between the server and the client work, you will notice more lag than in other games if you choose a different server. You have been warned.

Character creation in FFXIV is a fairly extensive experience. You get to change a lot of features, but only to pre-sets (no sliders). However, the sheer number of them gives a lot of variety. You need to choose a race and a gender, followed by physical appearance. You can then save that appearance to re-use later.

Following appearance, you can choose a date of birth and a deity which have no effect on the game. Finally, you choose a Job. Sort of.

FFXIV's unique Class system

FFXIV has a two-tier Class system. You choose a starter Class which leads to one or more possible Jobs. During creation you want to pick a Job and then select the starter class that leads to it. This decision will radically affect your game. It defines where you start and some of your early quests. It defines what role you will play in parties (tank, dps, healer). What it is not, however, is irreversible. In FFXIV you can be every Class. Your level is not a character level, it is a Class level and all Classes, Jobs and professions (also called Classes) use the same system. You can, after reaching level 10 in your first Class, change your mind. In fact, all Jobs require more than one base Class - normally level 30 in your main class and level 15 in another.

Leveling all the Classes is not as easy as it might sound, mainly because of quests. Each Class has its own quest line, but the main story quest and side quests are not repeatable. The more Classes you learn, the grindier they are. The exception is what would be called professions in most games, they have a completely separate leveling process for each (all equally grindy).

Disciples of War

Job

Role

Required Class 1 Required Class 2 Also uses skills from

Main Attribute

Warrior

Tank

Marauder L30 Gladiator L15 Pugilist

Vitality

Paladin

Tank

Gladiator L30 Conjurer L15 Marauder

Vitality

Monk

Melee DPS

Pugilist L30 Lancer L15 Marauder

Strength

Dragoon

Melee DPS

Lancer L30 Marauder L15 Pugilist

Strength

Bard

Ranged DPS

Archer L30 Pugilist L15 Lancer

Dexterity

Disciples of Magic

Job

Role

Required Class 1 Required Class 2 Also uses skills from

Main Attribute

Black Mage

Ranged DPS

Thaumaturge L30 Archer L15 Arcanist

Intelligence

Summoner

Ranged DPS

Arcanist L30 Thaumaturge L15 Archer

Intelligence

White Mage

Healer

Conjurer L30 Arcanist L15 Thaumaturge

Mind

Scholar

Healer

Arcanist L30 Conjurer L15 Thaumaturge

Mind

Advanced jobs

Job

Role

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3

Main Attribute

Note

Ninja

Melee DPS

Rogue L30 Pugilist L15 Lancer

Dexterity

Rogue is not available until L10 so you will need to start with something else

Dark Knight

Tank

Gladiator Marauder -

Vitality

Heavensward + L50 to start, no official base Class but uses skills from the above

Machinist

Ranged DPS

Archer Lancer -

Dexterity

Heavensward + L50 to start, no official base Class but uses skills from the above

Astrologian

Healer

Conjurer Thaumaturge -

Mind

Heavensward + L50 to start, no official base Class but uses skills from the above

Attributes

Early on, you only really need to worry about the basics with attributes, so this does not cover end game. You should know what attributes your class uses, and what attributes to put your Bonus Points in. Always put your Bonus Points in the main attribute of your intended job.

Gear

Whilst leveling, just grab the best gear you can find. You will look ridiculous, but your gear will change so often you might as well just go with it. The higher level you get, the better your gear will look.

Key Levelling Milestones

Some of these are dependent not on your level, but on your main scenario quest chain, so levels are approximate. These are marked with a *.

From the start

Minions (non-combat pets)

FATEs (Full Active Time Events)

Moogle Delivery Service (mail)

Achievements

Aethyrite, Return and Teleport*

Palace of the Dead

Hall of the Novice (practice your role)*

Level 10

Accessing other classes

Crafting Log

Gathering Log

Fishing Log

Bonus Attribute Points

Leves and Guildhests*

Level 15

My first dungeon*

Challenge Log*

Gold Saucer

Dyeing gear

Level 20

Mounts*

Grand Companies

Materia*

Retainer*

Sightseeing Log

Level 30

Jobs

Chocobo Companion

Desynthesis

PvP

Level 40

Treasure Hunts

Beast Tribe Quests (41)

Level 50

Housing (owning)

Adventurer Squadrons*

The Hunt

Glamours

Relic Weapon

Delivery Moogle quests

Master Recipes

Flying mounts (51)

Clan Hunts (53)

Level 60

Exploratory Missions

Anima Weapons

Things to do while you level

Do a variety of content. The game leads you fairly effectively to different content types.

Let your main scenario and Class quests lead you around.

Always do Hunting Logs. These are Class specific so there is no point saving them. They offer a good chunk of XP. Mostly you will run across the mobs, but you might need to hunt down the last couple of creatures in each level of log.

Practice your intended role. Do group content that will allow you to try tanking, dps and healing.

Watch your aggro in group content. Seriously, trying to tank in FFXIV is lunacy when everyone is going all out on dps or healing early.

Pick up gathering professions. You don't need to worry so much about the others, though you might find yourself tight on bank space.

When you hit 30 on your main Class, go and get 15 in the other Class you need for your Job.

Do holiday events. These are normally available at lower levels and are another source of XP.

And things not to do:

Don't do all the quests. There are far more quests than you need to do. The more quests you save, the easier it will be to level another class. You can supplement your Class content and the main scenario with repeatable content such as FATEs, leves and dungeons.

Don't try to do all the Classes (combat and professions). Profession type Classes are a huge time sink. You'll have time to do those later. Classes get bonus experience the further your level is from your highest Class level.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Blizzard | BlizzCon predictions

Once again, we ask the Mystic Frog to part the veils and consider what BlizzCon 2016 might hold.

Something completely new?

There are lots of games to consider the in Blizzard stable. But first lets address the spectre of a new IP. This is highly unlikely this year. They still have plenty of scope in the existing IPs and these take a long time to develop. The only chance of a new IP right now is if they are making games for an existing IP outside of their own (i.e. a film IP or the like) and this seems unlikely at this time. Its never been something they have done and all the major IPs are already tied to other studios.

But a new game? This is more likely. It would have to be based on an existing IP and would have to add something new to its stable. You aren't going to see a StarCraft themed version of Hearthstone, for example. Your options are an upgrade, or a new genre. So lets look at the existing games and IPs.

World of Warcraft

Given where we are in the Legion cycle, its highly unlikely we will see a new expansion announced. They have stated recently that they are moving away from faster expansions and are going to focus instead on frequency of content within an expansion. Also, Legion is very new, and to announce an expansion now would undermine it.

Instead, I would expect to see detail about the content coming after 7.1. Also, I would hope to see some of the social changes that were delayed from Legion launch. I am still hoping for cross-realm guilds and multiple guild membership in particular. Even better would be Blizzard Clans.

Blizzard Clans?

Clans would be cross-game and provide you with a communications space via the launcher. You could see what games your clan members are playing and join up with them. You could organise events. You could chat via Blizzard Voice and see when your clan members are streaming. How awesome does that sound? Lets hope it happens.

Hearthstone

We may well get an expansion announcement for Hearthstone at BlizzCon, simply because they are normally quite frequent. I'm not sure where else they can really go with this game in terms of new features, but I would like to see achievements.

StarCraft II

Various bits and bobs have been added to StarCraft over the last few months. New announcers, tweaks to competitive play. I don't expect anything major for StarCraft II this year beyond a new MIssion Pack of some kind. Blizzard Clans would be useful for some of the group play options ...

We could potentially see a new game in the StarCraft IP in the future. Logically, a space fighter game would be an addition to the stable. More likely, however, is something that can re-use the StarCraft tools the way Heroes of the Storm does. If they can do this, it ups the chances of a new game significantly.

Overwatch

We're expecting a new hero at least (Sombra), but what else could Overwatch add? Theres actually a huge amount of potential in this game. Remember they started with this as an MMO, so there are likely other assets kicking around out there. A PvE campaign is what I am hoping for. It would attract a whole different player whilst re-using some art assets. Thats a bit hopeful, however. We may well see a new map (maybe even with a new objective type) and some kind of other new tweak such as weapon options or ability options or skills, etc. Maybe daily quests or something similar.

Diablo

This is where all the speculation seems to be at the moment. The rumours say Diablo IV. I sincerely doubt this. Firstly, Diablo III is not that old technology wise. What would Diablo IV look like? Well, a lot like Diablo III. Thats right, draw all new art and build new game systems so you can make a game that looks just like Diablo III! Er, no.

Thats not to say there isn't likely to be something big in the Diablo space. There are a few options here:

A new expansion to Diablo. Theres only been one so far and this would definitely be more logical than a new game.

A new game mode of some kind in Diablo III. This could work very well, but it we're going to get something like this its going to be monetized in some way, or be a variation on a theme.

A mobile version of Diablo (possibly of Diablo I or II). This is the most likely option given they hired some developers a while back to work on older games. Diablo would work well on mobile.

A new game in the Diablo IP, but of a different genre.

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes has really been going for it recently. I would expect to see another campaign following the current StarCraft based one. In particular I think an Overwatch themed one could work. Perhaps with some kind of payload escort or capture the point mechanics. The way Overwatch heroes have been ported in is very consistent in its use of Overwatch style mechanics (reload, etc.) so Overwatch style map objectives seems likely. Alternatively, a Warcraft themed campaign could work as that still has loads of material ripe for use.

What other genres could Blizzard take over?

So far we have an MMO, an action RPG, an RTS, an FPS, a MOBA and a collectible card game. What could be next on the cards for Blizzard?

A space fighter - likely in the StarCraft universe.

A racing game - likely in the Overwatch universe.

A beat-em-up - any IP would work (or a combination of IPs), perhaps with a retro feel?

A stealth game - likely in the StarCraft or Overwatch universes.

A sim game - any IP would work but Overwatch seems the most likely? Perhaps run your own Omnium ... (I would LOVE to see this)

A music/party game - Warcraft: Dance Studio?

A story driven adventure game or puzzle game - any IP would work

A platformer - any IP would work and this could exploit console and mobile

Overall I expect some will be disappointed with BlizzCon 2016. Theres unlikely to be something big and unexpected in any game. A big development to the-software-formerly-known-as-battle-net is the most exciting option, consolidating their player base which is now split across many games. Blizzard know that few players restrict themselves to a single game these days. Rather, they will want to optimise gamers coming into their overall system and encourage them to move around from Blizzard game to Blizzard game, rather than leave for pastures new.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Overwatch | Love is in the air?

The love of one insane scientist for his monstrous creation. The adoration in his eyes ...

Yes the Overwatch Halloween event is here. It seems the hype train led to expectations that were a bit high, but there are lots of good features in this holiday.

Skins

This is what everyone was hoping for and the skins are cool. There have been a few people saying they are just recolours or not very good. This is partly a response to the hype but also I think to people not taking a good look at them.

The Bastion skin, for example, might look like just a recolour until you realise that all his metal has been turned into tombstones. Pharah's skin adds some nice glow effects that aren't available on any other skin. Some are definitely better than others, and this is reflected in their rarity. However, they also cost three times the normal price for each skin of a given quality. Thats 3000 gold for a legendary skin. I would guess this means theres a lot of gold in the market.

The four legendary skins (Junkrat, Roadhog, Reaper and Mercy) are also the enemies you face in the special Halloween Brawl.

Halloween Brawl

The highlight of the patch is the awesome PvE brawl. A team of four heroes faces off against the four legendary skinned heroes and their army of zomnics (zombie omnics in case you really didn't spot it). You have to defend a gate from their attacks.

And did I mention you can only play Ana, Soldier: 76, McCree and Hanzo. Oh and you can only have one of each. Its available on Easy, Medium and Hard difficulties and Hard is a real challenge.

Emotes

Skins aren't all that you can get there are some ... interesting emotes. Am I the only one that finds the Ana one particularly odd?

Ana - drops candy and looks really creepy

Reinhardt - smashes a pumpkin with his hammer like its a baseball

Winston - Does this odd shadow puppet thing with his feet that you can't really see

Victory poses

All the heroes also get a victory pose. These are all variations on a theme - a grave with something reaching out of it. What isn't immediately apparent is that these reflect whatever skin you have on at the time.

Voice Lines

Everyone got a voice line too. Some are unimaginative, others are a little odd but some are very good.

Ana - Are you scared?

Bastion - W-W-WOOOOO...? [only it doesn't sound like this at all]

D.Va - Happy Halloween

Genji - My Halloween costume? Cyborg Ninja

Hanzo - You are already dead

Junkrat - Happy Halloween

Lucio - Killed it!

McCree - It's your funeral

Mei - Scary!

Mercy - Superstition [said in a derisive way, rather than sung]

Pharah - You're going to come with me, dead or alive

Reaper - I work the graveyard shift

Reinhardt - Smashing

Roadhog - Want some candy?

Soldier: 76 - Knock knock

Symmetra - What a frightening thought

Torbjorn - If you build it, they will die

Tracer - Ooh, scary!

Widowmaker - The party is over

Winston - This is not a costume

Zarya - Never forget the fallen

Zenyatta - Trick or treat?

Sprays

There are also some sprays. As well as some generic spooky sprays each character gets a trick or treat spray.

Highlight Intros

Finally there are a few highlight intros you can get:

Mei - is scared by a cute little ghost and ice blocks

Genji - carves a jack'o'lantern ninja style

Reaper - kicks his way out of his coffin

[meta-gamer-blog]

Guild Wars 2 | Taimi Outfit and Halloween coming soon

New additions to the Gem Store include the chance to look like everyone's favourite Not-a-gnome, Taimi and Halloween themed items.

Most of the Halloween items will be the return of old favourites (I can see the Phantom's Hood and Witches Outfit right now), but the glider is new and rather awesome (and dyeable). And with Halloween items in the Gem Store comes the Halloween event.

[meta-gamer-blog]

Heroes of the Storm | Brawl

Heroes has announced a new game mode - the Heroes Brawl. Learning from its other games, its a new way to play that will help alleviate the grind and challenge you to do new things.

Blizzard sharing good practice

I suspect that there was a big workshop at Blizzard a while back where all the teams got together and answered a single question - what features that work in one game can be re-used in other games? Leaving aside the fact that some of these ideas come from other games originally, we've recently seen WoW picking up Mythic + dungeons (Greater Rifts) and the transmog system from Diablo 3. A recent revamp to Heroes brought in the MVP, highlighting good play and voting from Overwatch. Now we see the Heroes Brawl.

The Brawl comes from Overwatch and Hearthstone. The idea - take the game and add a twist to it that changes each week. This mitigates grind. It also pushes players out of their comfort zones and teaches them to think differently about the way they play, which helps them to get better.

Hearthstone Brawl

Its hugely successful in Hearthstone where the incentives are clear. You can complete your dailies in their Brawl, plus you get a card pack each week for winning. Given a part of the gameplay is grind (grind gold to buy cards, which in turn you need to turn into dust to get the cards you haven't been lucky enough to get) then this counters it. The match ups are really varied - decks may be pre-built or you build them, you might play heroes or other random characters, certain card types may do special things. Can't beat one week? Go ahead and try again next week. One of my favourites is a cooperative mode that sees two players try to defeat an uber boss card.

Overwatch Brawl

The Overwatch implementation is probably not as successful (I don't know for sure) because it lacks some of the motivations. There is no grind in Overwatch other than for pure cosmetics. In Hearthstone and Heroes you need to farm a currency to open more options. In Overwatch the only grind is to level 25 to access ranked and it doesn't take long. It adds random features to the fight - you can only use tanks, or you respawn as a random character every time you die. It does, however, challenge the accepted ways of doing things and this gives you a new way to learn.

Brawl in Heroes

Brawl looks particularly good for Heroes, because it has the same incentives as Hearthstone - daily quests and a currency to buy Heroes is grind. As such they've gone all out on this feature. It will likely count toward dailies and give you something new and fresh to do if Ranked is not your cup of tea.

There are three kinds of Brawl:

Arenas

Mutators

Single Lanes

Arenas

They've customised three of the maps to provide mini game versions - Punisher, Sky Temple and Garden Arenas.

"Rack up points by killing enemy heroes and Punishers. The first team to score 100 points wins!"  -- PUNISHER ARENA "Capture temples and use their energy beams to destroy the enemy core!"  -- SKY TEMPLE ARENA "Kill the Garden Terrors and Shamblers, then collect their seeds. The first team to collect 100 seeds wins!"  -- GARDEN ARENA

Mutators

Theres not a lot of detail here because they don't want to spoil it. This is somewhat understandable given part of the joy of Brawl features is never knowing what comes next. There are some clues, however, in the video. Theres a lot of water elementals in one screen cap, for example, suggesting something that involves a lot of Jainas, plus an all Illidan team. Oh and ...

Thats a Murloc army. Looking to Hearthstone and Overwatch for inspiration you could see increases to character health and damage or certain types of abilities causing unusual effects. I can imagine something around having hundreds of minions. One likely mutation might be more about defensive play - perhaps an AI spawns hundreds of minions and/or bosses and you need to defend both bases for a fixed time (which would feel very StarCraft like).

Single Lanes

Well, I suspect they are single lanes. Its not clear if they will have map objectives or just be a pure single lane to push. They will encourage lots of team fights, given theres nowhere else to go.

How you select Heroes will also change. I suspect that random allocations, random respawns and  Heroes all from one type might be used here. The images seem to suggest each player picking one of three might be a feature too. There will also be rewards in terms of both gold and unique items (portraits seem likely for this, though it may include other things later).

The Bigger Picture

Whats even more interesting than this announcement? Its timing. Its a month to BlizzCon and they've not saved this announcement. Theres even going to be another pre-BlizzCon announcement of a new Hero (drawn live by Samwise Didier on Thursday 6th October and streamed via Facebook). They try to announce something for every game at BlizzCon. The question is - what do they have planned at BlizzCon such that they felt releasing this a month before didn't have any effect on it? Its either nothing at all, or something huge.

On a final note, I really want to play D.Va in Heroes of the Storm. Nerf this!

[meta-gamer-blog]

The Content Conspiracy

There is a conspiracy at the heart of gaming. It needs to be destroyed. It is being perpetrated by evil game designers so they can enjoy watching their gamers suffer.

Games companies collaborate to release their content at the same time. 

About a month ago in a small town in California a meeting took place. The participants were known only by code names.

Vader: Well we've to this limited time Dark vs Light event running at the moment. So we're going to start by dropping hints that its going to end soon.

Taimi Hoodie: Good idea with the limited time thing. Living World Season 3 is doing some of that too. We've left more of a gap, but we've made more content and one hell of a grind in each episode.

Vader: Nice! We've got a whole new expansion to drop. I wish we'd managed to get it out sooner to really coincide with your work, but it just wasn't to be.

Taimi: Thats okay, man. Everyone knows you can only really get the achievements done in that release time period so we'll be keeping them very busy. That will add some pressure. 

Gul'dan: And then we'll swoop in. I've got so much content across the games. We've managed to make raid opening time almost exactly with Living World Episode 2.

Taimi: Nice! We've got some WvW changes and a new PvP map with limited time achievements. Plus we are literally sending our players to hell ...

Gul'dan: Good idea on the limited time PvP achievements. And of course plenty of people will still be leveling or gearing. Hell, they've had almost no chance to finally clear their quest logs. Then we've got a new competitive season in Overwatch and the PvP season starts in WoW.

Vader: OMG the howls of pain! I was impressed you got the patch on the PTR already. That should coincide nicely with our expansion.

Taimi: Oh, and guess when the next episode of Living World is due?

  The door opens suddenly and a hooded figure sweeps in. He draws back his hood and everyone cowers before him.

Sid:  You pathetic mortals with your secret meetings. You will all be swept away by the power of Civilization VI.

[meta-gamer-blog]

MMO Metaverse News Round Up | Friday 17 September 2016

Its been a busy week at Blizzard and for trailer designers everywhere. Lots of new content coming your way.

Heroes of the Storm

Season Two of ranked play kicked off on Monday and will run until w/c 12 December 2016.

Changes for Season Two

Grand Master League is only 200 players (down from 500). It wasn't really working out to be elite enough.

Promotion/demotion match wins or losses will now only adjust your ranking points by the same amount as usual. Kicking you in the teeth with a 250 point loss was a bit harsh.

Even better, on a promotion match any points you had stored up because they went over the cap for the division you are in will be applied. This means if you win, you get those points as well and if you lose, they count against a points loss.

You'll have 10 initial placement matches to get your first ranking, but this will be a bit more flexible so you will move up or down quickly in your first few matches.

Rewards for Season Two

Snazzy looking portraits. The only really special one is the diamond, which I would assume means getting Diamond ranking.

Some gold. Not a huge amount.

Elemental Lion Mount (you need minimum Platinum in Hero League or Bronze in Team League). Thats right, you get rewarded just for showing up in Team League. Suggesting there are a lack of teams. The requirements to do Ranked Team play are quite high (to enable drafting) so this isn't a massive surprise.

In addition to this, there is a free Hero if you log in after Wednesday. You can choose between Anub'arak (warrior), Thrall (assassin) and Tyrande (support). If you have them all, you can choose between Nazeebo (specialist), Sonya (warrior) and Uther (support). And if you have all of them? You get 4,000 gold, which is what each of these cost.

If you do get that 4,000 gold you could spend it on the new hero, Alarak. Or as I like to call him Absolutely-Not-The-Sith-Emperor. His abilities include telekinesis and the ability to shoot lightning at his enemies. And his trait? Sadism.

Not enough Heroes for you? Theres more. The new Machines of War patch dropped this week as well. Key features include:

In game quests - a daily quests awarding stim packs and an event quest rewarding a unique portrait.

A new battleground: Braxis Holdout: Hold the beacons to generate an army of Zerg. When the army is full, it will rush down the lanes against your enemies.

Another new battleground will be coming: Warhead Junction. You'll have to gather Warheads and use them to nuke enemy fortifications.

Machines of War Bundle - this includes some StarCraft themed skins, their associated heroes and new mounts. If you are interested in Queen of Ghosts and the Ghosts Speeder check out the detailed post about them as they are only temporarily in this bundle.

Another new Hero will be coming - Zarya from Overwatch.

Hearthstone

Blizzard must be exceptionally busy this week, because there are more updates from their games. Hearthstone added the Welcome Bundle - a cheap set of 10 Classic Card packs plus a random Legendary card from one of the classes. This is a nice deal for new players and even existing players who want to boost their deck.

Then there is a new priest hero - Tyrande. She and her associated card back will be acquired via a 'special promotion'. I would guess this will be linked to BlizzCon or Legion (in which she plays a big part). Probably BlizzCon.

World of Warcraft

Legion continues to move towards the release of raids and Mythic + dungeons next week. Blizzard released a primer for Mythic + which is a completely new type of gameplay (unless of course you've played Greater Rifts in Diablo III or, their inspiration, Fractals in Guild Wars 2). In summary:

Get a Mythic Keystone by completing a Mythic dungeon each week. You only get one. It doesn't matter which dungeon you run, but the stone will only be for a dungeon you can access.

Your first stone will be for Mythic Level 2. You need a premade team to enter the dungeon of which one player needs the Keystone. You put it in the font just inside the door and a timer starts. Its a generous timer - nothing like Challenge Mode ones.

At the end of the Mythic dungeon (if you complete it) you get some extra loot in a chest.

If you beat the timer, your Keystone is upgraded to Level 3 and attuned randomly to a Mythic again. Repeat.

If you fail the timer, your Keystone becomes 'depleted'. You can run Level 2 of the same dungeon again and again until you beat the timer to upgrade it. You only get loot the first time.

At level 4, 7 and 10, modifiers are added to provide an additional challenge. This could be trash that enrages, or doesn't pay attention to taunt.

Drops start at 845 and go up with Keystone level. The theoretical maxmimum with Warforged/Titanforged is 895.

You get a bonus chest in your class hall with an ilevel that reflects the highest level you got to in the previous week.

Sounds complicated? It is a bit, but Blizzard are masters of making the complex seem easy, so I wouldn't worry too much. This is designed to bring real progression to 5-man content. It serves that purpose in both of the games mentioned above.

Blizzard Overall

There are a couple of pieces of news coming out of Blizzard that relate to more than one game. The first is the announcement of the BlizzCon ticket in-game goodies. These come with both the real ticket and the virtual ticket.

In World of Warcraft you can choose between Legionnaire or Knight-Captain Murky as a pet

In Overwatch you get this rather nice Bastion skin. Take a closer look and you will realise the bird is now Pepe!

In Diablo 3 you get a pet.

In Hearthstone you get the Welcome Inn card back.

Heroes players get this cool mount.

And finally StarCraft 2 players will get ... an unlockable piece of content to be revealed at BlizzCon.

You can buy the Virtual Ticket now.

If that is not enough virtual goodies, there are also goodies packed into Warcraft: The Movie. People who buy it will get the Medivh mage skin in Hearthstone, the Gul'dan Hero in Heroes of the Storm and a free copy of World of Warcraft with 30 days of game time for new players. The movie will be released through late September and October, depending where you are. There is also a graphic novel prequel, telling the story of Llane, Lothar and Medivh (the link is an associate link).

Want to change your BattleTag? Maybe you want to remove your name, or use something else that you wish you had used before. You can. You get one free change (which you may not have known about) but, after that, you can now pay for further changes. At £8.00 its not cheap though, but if you made a major mistake you now regret, you might want to pay it.

The final piece of news is that Chris Metzen will be leaving Blizzard. Hes not going elsewhere, hes retiring (at the grand age of 42) to spend more time with his family. Metzen has been a vital creative force within Blizzard and is responsible for much of the Warcraft lore, amongst other things. His enthusiasm is always apparent and he exemplifies the fan turned developer better than anyone. His influence at Blizzard will undoubtably be missed.

Guild Wars 2

Its not all about Blizzard this week. ArenaNet confirmed the information posted last week about the new Living World episode. Rising Flames is full of fire and will include Ember Bay and the Mursaat. We also will be seeing the Elder Dragon Primordius. My guess is, as last time, the Living Story will lead into an expansion in which we get to face said dragon.

Ember Bay has fire, lava, pirates and the alternative Mount Rushmore (skulls in mountains weeping lava). Theres a leyline rollercoaster and your new mastery is essentially you being fired out of a lava cannon. Theres also Karka! This is great news for anyone making Bolt (and probably other legendaries too). Theres also an insane jumping puzzle, Chalice of Tears, which is designed to be hard.

Elder Scrolls Online

Apparently its a week for trailers. ESO has one for Update 12: Return to Craglorn:

Its a gameplay/scenery video. Craglorn is already in the game as a max level, group only area, but this update takes players there with a new storyline. It also adjusts the zone so that solo players can access it and, with One Tamriel, players of different levels. Still no mention of anything other than One Tamriel and the revamped Craglorn.

Final Fantasy XIV

More trailers! This time for patch 2.4 Soul Surrender:

SquareEnix does a good trailer. In addition to the dungeons mentioned last week, you will see (in this video or the patch page)

New main scenario and side quests

Alexander: The Creator - a new raid

Apartments - this is personal housing. Its long been a request and will be a nice addition.

Aquariums - where you can display fish you've caught

Duels (why is everyone obsessed with these?)

A spectator mode in PvP (not in the trailer, but in the producer's letter)

New season of The Feast

New Kildegard quests

Adventure Squadrons - a simulation mini game where you assemble and train a squad. This will likely be expanded upon so you can take them out to do things - maybe a solo dungeon option? The letter mentions dungeons as somewhere you might take them.

New content for Palace of the Dead

Containment Bay - new content will be added to this.

Wondrous Tails - something to do with squirrels

Star Citizen

We finish the round up with Star Citizen. The Aegis Vanguard won Combat Ship of the Year and the next vote is for Bomber of the Year between the Aegis Retaliator and the Anvil Gladiator. There is also a preview of image stabilization gameplay video. This is very weclome as I find the bouncing up and down when I walk makes me feel ill. Movement still looks real, its just less bouncy.

The rest of the news is a set of videos giving you some insight into the game development process:

[meta-gamer-blog]

World of Warcraft | Legion Review

The Good

Val'sharah. The best quest content in Legion and some of the best ever created. I worried, I cried. Its awesome.

Aszuna. Also good questing and storylines. Its not as tight as Val'sharah and lacks the feels, but is still a lot of fun.

Level scaling. It worked like a dream, spreading players out across the content. It allows disparate levels to work together. It lets you do whatever dungeons you prefer when levelling. All in all, a good addition (special thanks go to Guild Wars 2 for starting the trend).

Khadgar the Troll. Who ever got sent to Dalaran Crater by a mage playing portal roulette? Seems Khadgar wanted in on the fun and the portal to Dalaran Crater used to access some areas in the Order Hall stories makes you appear, as with the mage portal, where you would land if Dalaran was still there. And then you fall.

Positive play and tagging. I have long believed that the lack of tagging in Guild Wars 2 leads to a more positive player base. Other players are always good - they help you get where you want to go quicker. This is borne out by the experience in Legion.

Artifact and Order Hall quests. I now have to play every class this expansion to see the different quests. The paladin one was excellent. All three weapons were fun and I liked how the quests were designed to allow you to use the spec you were gaining a weapon for.

Storyline. I've mentioned some specifics, but actually the overall expansion story is very strong. Some of the very best characters are back. Maive, the Naaru, Illidan. In fact, most of the Alliance leaders have had some good storyline (apart from the gnomes, but they got Hunters so thats enough love). I haven't seen the Horde storyline yet, but Sylvanas definitely made an appearance.

Artifacts. I suspect not everyone would put these in the good (maybe another entry under mixed), but I'm wielding the Ashbringer. Nuff said. Actually, the system seems good, but I suspect it will be short lived unless they add to the existing content in either depth or breadth. Still, with transmogging in place and lots of awesome weapons out there, I won't be sad if I can just ignore that slot for most of the expansion.

World Quests. There is a huge variety of end game content and its all packed up into little bit sized chunks. The overarching sets give you a good set of structured goals, whilst still allowing you to wander around and do what you want. There are quests of almost every kind too - pet battles, PvP, dungeons, world bosses, elites, kill 10 rats, etc. Theres something for everyone and it definitely alleviates some of the grind. It is, however, still a grind. But this is still an MMO and grind is a part of the genre.

Professions. There are quests, levels of recipes, mini games. Definitely a huge improvement for the primary professions in particular. And there are new coins in the Dalaran fountain.

New content. The first patch has already been announced and it looks rather good. The nostalgia for Karazhan ties in well with the new Mythic dungeon approach. It also appears to have been given the love it deserves with more than just a basic update. There will also be an ongoing weekly storyline. If they can sustain that between patches, then this will be impressive.

Music. If one thing has gotten better and better in WoW, its the music. Especially Val'sharah and the way they built a variation on the Teldrassil music. Its not original, but it evokes the connection between Val'sharah and the rest of the Night Elves really well. I think all the zones have good musical themes that really suit them.

The Mixed

Stormheim. Its both good and bad. Some of the storylines will send you to sleep, whilst others are very engaging. The mini-game in the zone is good, but can also be buggy. In the end there was enough good that I forgave it. That, and discovering that Hightmountain was so much worse.

Order Halls. They look awesome. They're full of character. The quests, as I mentioned, have been great. The missions mechanic isn't great (though this is perhaps saved by the companion app). The upgrades are a bit 'meh'. And having to go to your Order Hall to change your weapon look and then a transmog person to change the rest of your gear is irritating when you are trying to build a complete look. I think this one is up in the air until we see how they play out across the expansion.

The Bad

Highmountain. A friend suggested it should be 'nuked from orbit' for the sheer level of dullness achieved by the questing there. I'd invite the Burning Legion to do just that. Please.

Dungeon groups. Reaching new lows. Apparently since they are unable to behave like asshats as much in the open world with tagging gone, they go to special lengths in Dungeons.

Dragons. You don't want to be a dragon in this game. Another aspect bit the dust. We found some wonderful blue dragons and some storm dragons, but I refuse to emotionally invest in dragons any more. It hurts too much when I have to kill them later.

The Buggy

Legion had a very smooth launch. The spreading of players across all four levelling zones, as well as in Dalaran, Order Halls, etc. seems to have worked. But a few bugs could be found.

Being Hated. A couple of players have found that being Hated by a faction stopped their Order Hall/Artifact quests. The people hated by Booty Bay because they were farming Bloodsail Buccaneer rep? Fair enough. The people hated by Cenarion Circle because they though it was funny? Not so much.

Stormheim mini game. Why? Why create content thats so much fun and then leave bugs in it that were there in July. Why?

DDOS attacks. There is nothing Blizzard can do about these, so we the players just have to ignore it as best we can. Don't give the trolls the satisfaction of being angry. The attacks don't last long and they'll be sad for far more of the time than us. In fact, the DDOS attacks were so noticeable only because of the lack of other major issues in the launch.

In conclusion

Like most reviewers out there, I'm cautiously optimistic. Optimistic because the content at launch is great. Cautious because, no matter how good the launch is, it will be how well its sustained across the expansion that define the success of Legion. They are starting from a good place with lots of strong underlying systems. So we'll just have to wait and see. For now, we can just enjoy what is on offer because, for now at least, the World of Warcraft is at its best.

[meta-gamer-blog]

MMO Metaverse News Round Up | Friday 9 September 2016

A weekly round up of all the news in the MMO metaverse. This week we have:

World of Warcraft

Guild Wars 2

Heroes of the Storm

Hearthstone

Final Fantasy XIV

Elder Scrolls Online

Star Citizen

World of Warcraft

Probably the biggest players this week are Blizzard with Legion being in its second week since launch. After a smooth launch, Blizzard got right back on the bandwagon and launched the Legion companion app.

Now you can review available World Quests, complete Order Hall Missions and Order Hall Upgrades and recruit minions from anywhere with an internet connection. I think Alternative Chat said it best (with a gif):

There is also a preview video for the first patch of Legion, 7.1: Return to Karazhan:

The real news? No one appears to be declaring WoW is dead. We don't know what the subscriber numbers are at the moment. We do know that WoW sold as many copies on the first day (3.3 million) as it did on the first day of Draenor. We do know that concurrency rates (the number of users logged on at the same time) were higher than they've seen since Cataclysm. The numbers are, therefore, very similar to the reviews. Cautiously optimistic. Legion will not live or die by its launch. It will live or die by how much content they continue to generate. The doomsayers are still standing in the wings, waiting to pounce.

There was also a developer Q&A today (Friday 9th September) where Ion Hazzikostas could comment on all the things he wasn't allowed to say in the pre-release Q&As. Highlights include:

There will be a minor balance patch before raids open

Order Hall story won't advance in 7.1

Order Hall stories were meant to be time gated, but a bug meant only the Warrior one was.

They are looking at the quest log limit of 25, but don't just want to flat increase it as they are worried it will get confusing. [This is actually kind of silly as its very well organised by zone. A better fix would be to increase the number of quests and make tracking pop up by zone.]

You aren't meant to be grinding Nightfallen Rep as its a way of tracking an epic storyline. [Also silly as they've gated key pre-raid gear behind it.]

Knowledge Work orders get shorter if you don't play/log in for a while.

You should care about Artifact power for the entire expansion. They've not yet decided how the system will be expanded.

You will not be able to transfer Artifact Power between weapons. But Artifact Knowledge will cause much larger drops of Artifact Power, meaning catching up will be fairly easy.

The Guild Finder and Auction House are in need of revamps.

Dalaran Underbelly was a bit overpopulated. You can opt out of PvP via the Guard Captain, or buy a bodyguard.

Tomb of Sargeras will be a raid [probably the final raid].

Future holiday events might scale.

They really think they can get content pacing right this time. Really.

Guild Wars 2

Elsewhere in the MMO metaverse, ArenaNet announced (via MMORPG) the second episode of Living World Season 3: Ring of Fire. With the first episode arriving in July, it seems their planned pace of every two months is happening. Like the last episode, this one will bring a new zone called Ember Bay and a new Mastery, Thermal Propulsion.

Important: You will want Ley Line Gliding for this one. As if you didn't want it for the last episode.

There will be a number of features in Ember Bay:

We'll be visiting the Mursaat Fortress

Heart dailies

Skritt, everywhere

Weapons and armor from achievements and gameplay (rather than the gem store)

A new jumping puzzle

New world bosses, one of whom, if defeated, opens up other map areas

A new PvP map - Eternal Colliseum (5v5 conquest) where you can collect items that help you Finish or Revive downed players

On September 20 you'll be able to continue your campaign to kill yet another dragon. I'm starting to think dragons get a raw deal in MMOs. Additionally, today, you'll see changes to the scoring system in WvW designed to help keep match scores low so there is more chance of come backs. The Skirmish system divides WvW into 2 hour blocks with scores added to the overall total following each block. Its not going to solve all the problems in WvW, but its the first step on their planned overhaul.

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes has released two new voice packs for Twitch streamers. These are particularly awesome as they are Alarak and the Terran Adjutant.

Alarak is voice by John de Lancie, who you may remember as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is brilliant as Alarak, someone you ally with only reluctantly in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, and will definitely sound good on your stream. If evil psychopath isn't your thing, the robotic voice of the Terran Adjutant is a (slightly dull) alternative. If you want something different to these two, I also recommend looking at the Darkest Dungeon game website which has a similar voice pack.

Hearthstone

Hearthstone have been talking about Arena, and are going to make some changes. Those changes are designed around balance. Balance when you have limited control of card choice is especially challenging. With that in mind, they are going to remove cards that require particular synergies (such as C'thun and Purify) and weak cards which bring your deck down. What they don't want to do is remove the powerful (read also fun) cards. Disappearing cards are:

Mage:

Forgotten Torch

Snowchugger

Faceless Summoner

Rogue:

Goblin Auto-Barber

Undercity Valiant

Shaman:

Vitality Totem

Dust Devil

Totemic Might

Ancestral Healing

Dunemaul Shaman

Windspeaker

Warlock:

Anima Golem

Sacrificial Pact

Curse of Rafaam

Sense Demons

Void Crusher

Reliquary Seeker

Succubus

Druid:

Savagery

Poison Seeds

Soul of the Forest

Mark of Nature

Tree of Life

Astra Communion

Warrior:

Warsong Commander

Bolster

Charge

Bouncing Blade

Axe Flinger

Rampage

Ogre Warmaul

Hunter:

Starving Buzzard

Call Pet

Timber Wolf

Cobra Shot

Lock and Load

Dart Trap

Snipe

Priest:

Mind Blast

Shadowbomber

Lightwell

Power Word: Glory

Confuse

Convert

Inner Fire

Alas, Lightwell. Will you ever be wanted? Oh, and Paladins are missing because they are getting 0 changes. Thats right, Blizzard are NOT nerfing paladins.

Final Fantasy XIV

Yo-kai Watch will be drawing to a close soon. This is absolutely not Pokemon Go without the battles. Absolutely not. If you get all 13 Yo-kai during this event you also get a mount. There are Yo-kai themed weapons and all sorts of odd things.

The Rising event is also going on right now. This is a theatrical themed event with some quests and items you can gain, including Minions and an Orchestrion Roll.

Its a busy month in FFXIV. Theres a new patch arriving on 27 September (3.4: Soul Surrender). It includes new Dungeons Xelphatol and The Great Gubal Library (Hard Mode). Expect to see more about this over the coming weeks.

"After a thousand years of bloodshed and sorrow, the shade of Nidhogg, rage incarnate, fell at last to the Warrior of Light. So it was that the Dragonsong War drew to a close, and the survivors, bloodied but unbowed, could begin to pick up the pieces. A new day dawns in Ishgard, and her champions may rest easy─if only for a moment. For every ending marks a new beginning."  -- Soul Surrender description

Elder Scrolls Online

If you've not brought ESO before and fancy trying it, theres a new Gold Edition out with the first four DLC packs included alongside the base game. Thats a hell of a lot of content. Plus you get a horse and some Crowns to spend.

And if you want ESO to look very, very pretty, its also going to support the PlayStation 4 Pro with 4K. This won't cost you anything extra (other than a PlayStation 4 Pro of course).

Now they've stopped trying to sell you things, theres some new things to do coming soon. Update 12 will include level scaling across the game (the latest MMO fad, and one that seems to enhance every game its been put in so far), dueling, holiday events and Crown Crates (random store boxes). This week they did an overview of dueling.

For some reason, dueling is a much beloved MMO feature. However, be aware that balance is never good in duels. If you balance around 1v1, you end up screwing up large group PvP. That being said, it can be fun against friends and, as long as you accept the limits, its a nice little feature to the game.

Star Citizen

In Star Citizen news, subscribers are getting their September flair item. Its called Conner's Beard Moss and its ... unique. Totally worth the subscription?

You can also vote for the Combat Ship of the Year (as hosted by Jax 'Not Jeremy Clarkson' McCleary) right now, if you are so inclined. Your choices are the Aegis Vanguard Warden or Anvil Super Hornet F7C-M.

"Like something out of the pages of ancient mythology, the Vanguard Warden is best described as a winged beast. Often seen leading the charge, don’t be too shocked if the Warden has single-handedly finished the fight before the rest of the squad shows up. This long-range fighter can cover more ground and mess more stuff up in a single day than the Imperial Senate. An impressive feat for sure."  -- Aegis Vanguard Warden "Delivering a taste of the military direct to your private hangar, including the experience of being able to give orders to someone else, the two-seater Super Hornet lives up to its name and then some. Massive guns, big thrusters, thick armor – the specs on this top-of-class fighter are nearly X-rated, but the ass-kicking it routinely delivers is fun the whole family can enjoy."  -- Anvil Super Hornet F7C-M

This follows the victory of the Origin Jumpworks M50 over the Origin Jumpworks 350R in Racer of the Year. 

If you want to know more about what's going on behind the scenes of Star Citizen you can check out their shows. What is unique about Star Citizen right now (with us not really knowing what the final game will end up being like) is the opportunity to see behind the scenes of a games studio. Bugsmashers should be required viewing before you are allowed to whine about how easy bugs are to fix on the forums.

Thats it for this week.

[meta-gamer-blog]

World of Warcraft | Are you ready for the Legion?

Its just a few hours now to the Legion launch. Are you ready?

Now theres definitely some things you should have done by now that you won't be able to do from tomorrow. But, realistically, its a bit late for that.

Have you done the pre-quests?

Theres a whole bunch of storyline that goes with this new content. First, theres the scenario. This takes you to the Broken Shore to fight the invading demons. Its not the most exciting scenario, but the story is full of twists and turns.

Then theres the invasions. These aren't as story rich but are a really good implementation of world activities in WoW. Better than they have managed before. You turn up and kill stuff. No need to faff with groups, no need to organise roles. It feels more like the Guild Wars 2 world boss experience.

Even better, the new technology that changes mobs to your level is also present, so if you are level 12 and levelling in Westfall, you can still take part. Its a bit overtuned if you are below 100, but, if you can manage to stay alive, it gives a lot of experience. Its definitely the best thought out pre-expansion event so far, because its as engaging as the pre-Wrath event but less disruptive.

Theres even a currency, vendor and reward chests. You'll quickly get a set of ilevel 700 gear that will see you crushing your new enemies from day one, as well as a pet and some new looks.

Then theres the Dalaran questline. Unlike normal quests that either pop up whether you like it or not, or require you to go somewhere, this one is a little different. Rather, you will be stalked by a freaking elemental until you give in and finally take the quest. Its quite a nice little storyline, that leads into why you are going to the Broken Isles. It helps if you've watched the Warcraft movie because its Khadgar centric (at least for the Alliance) and if you've seen the movie its clear hes the best character in it.

All done? Onto the next step.

Don't forget that boost to 100.

It came free with Legion and theres a couple of things you could do with it. Either level a class you fancy trying this time round or level something from the opposing faction to see their storylines too.

Have you played a Demon Hunter?

Even if you have no intention of touching it again, its worth playing through the Demon Hunter class once to see the storyline. As with the Death Knight story before, its relevant.

 Have you done your chores?

You likely did this when the pre-Legion patch hit, but in case you didn't you should:

Clear out your bank. Sell things. As many things as you can. You will need the space. Pay attention to the Reagents tab as that's likely full and about to fill again. Use an alt if you want to keep things or sell them on the AH/to a vendor.

Clear out your inventory. You will want to maximise your levelling time by not having to go back to sell. Make sure you have decent sized bags and they are fairly empty. All you really want is your hearthstone, some food and spare items for your alternate spec if you are going to queue for dungeons.

Clear out your quest list. By this I mean delete or finish any quests you can. You will want this to be as empty as possible. The vast majority of quests can be picked up again, so you should only hold onto any special ones that have been removed if you don't have them (now very rare).

Optional - fill up your quest list. With max level quests ready to hand in just as the Xpac launches for an initial XP boost.

What do you need to know to get started?

Here are the things that will make your life easier if you know about them before you start levelling.

Zones now adjust to your level, so you can level where you want and level with your friends no matter what level they are.

You will not get much in the way of weapon drops - instead you will get an Artifact unique to your class  and specialisation. hat's Artifact. Singular (and with an I rather than an E). Though you will be able to get others later (from your Class Hall at level 102), they will be behind your main so pick carefully.

The single Artefact issue also affects alts, so choose your class wisely.

A Class Hall is not a Garrison. There are other people in there and everything.

PvP gear went poof. As did Honor. That's why you can't find them.

Here are the when certain content will be made available:

The weekly holidays are taking a break for a while.

Raids won't be open yet. They are never open at launch any more. Stop complaining. The first raid will be open on 20 September 2016.

Mythic dungeons will open after the weekly dungeon reset. Mythic + dungeons (gradually tiered dungeons of increasing difficulty) will be open on 20th September 2016. These reset weekly.

Here are some strategies for maximising your time.

Artifact Power - you want it. All of it. And Artifact Knowledge. Gief. Oh and Relics. You want those too. Theres a lot needed to make your super-awesome weapon of doom actually live up to the hype.

Keep up with your Class Hall quests for some early gear.

MMO launches are never perfect.

With the best will in the world and all the preparation they can manage, there will be issues come launch night. In the very best case scenario, the zones get clogged with players. Odds are there will also be some technical demons to slay. Theres also the fact that a lot of players come back to WoW for launches. I therefore suggest the following:

Beer or alcohol of choice or non-alcoholic beverage of choice that you really enjoy

Snacks

Caffeine if you plan to stay awake

If you have some fellow players you can get on voice chat with, get on that voice chat. Pain is always better shared.

If it all goes really badly, you can just go to bed (in the EU) and the odds are it will be better in the morning. If not, you can always get more alcohol and snacks and laugh at people raging on the forums like this is the end of the world. If you run out of those and its still bad I suggest:

Go play another MMO for a while: Guild Wars 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Elder Scrolls Online and Tamriel Unlimited are all FREE. Guild Wars 2 in particular has several of the systems WoW is stealing for Legion. Just sayin.

Go play another Blizzard game for a while. Smashing opponents in Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone or Overwatch is very cathartic. A new season of Diablo III started a few weeks ago and there were some extra chapters released for StarCraft II if you haven't tried them. You'll still be on BattleNet to complain with your friends.

Go play another smaller game that will keep you occupied for a while. I recommend Dead by Daylight, Prison Architect or Darkest Dungeon.

Apparently theres this world outside of games you can engage with? I'm not sure if that's real or just a myth though.