FIRST

So a milestone was broken today on my blog: the first comment, from the nice man over at Asuryan's Flames. Who you should really go check out if you haven't already seeing as he was one of the receivers of Valentine's day cards. The awesome thing about blogging isn't just writing for others to see and enjoy, it's also enjoying other people's writings, styles, ideas and opinions. And if you enjoy another's post, or if you don't agree with the post, pop a comment, as it goes a long way to making the blogger's day.

What Really Excites Me

Everytime I see one of these I get more and more excited for this game. It has something that WAR lacks: playable Skaven. Even though there hasn't been any gameplay details, it looks to be a mix of my favourite things: Games Workshop IPs andd football. Screw not being able to wait for the Call to Arms, I can't wait for Blood Bowl.

Just Giddy. Some Worries

For someone who never played DAoC, or experienced Darkness Falls, this interview has me totally giddy for June to finally come around.

But then there's this quote:

"Their abilities do more damage, their weapons hit harder, they might swing faster, and as they're filling their Berserker rage they're also unlocking more abilities. But that's only good until a certain point. At around fifty percent, they actually start to overextend themselves and while they're still doing more damage they become much easier to kill. They start taking more damage and their defense start going down."

Considering all of the players that are annoyed about Bright Wizards and Sorcerers doing damage to themselves I'm sure that there will automatically be a contingent of forumites (on the new official forums) complaining about how they have to hurt themselves to do damage.

A Fight That Wouldn't End.

WAR is full of stories of battle. 1V1s where you survive with 100 HP left, pulling off a big heal just in time, unstealthing and stabbing a RDPS to death in 3 seconds, and lots of other things to brag to your family about while they stare out the window and sigh heavily about being related to you. This is not one of those exciting stories.

Have you ever seen, or taken part in a duel between a Zealot and a Rune Priest? It is just awful. High healing, low damage (with no damage spec tree), and limited CCing, there's just no killing potential. I got into one once and it took over five minutes until the Rune Priest just ran into the warcamp, meaning it hadn't actually ended. And it never would have. There are some classes that weren't meant to win one-on-ones, but now I know that there are some classes that were never meant to fight each other, lest they battle until their subscriptions expire.

Missing Out. Age of Speculation

Jeez, I go on vacation for a few days and look what happens: Asuryan's Flames, Rainbow MMO, Epic Slant, Keen. So it seems that Mythic is setting up a puzzle for the blogging and blog reading faithful. It all looks to be centered around either a Valentine's day event, or a Valentine's day reveal, but there is some speculation around it being a Dark Elf/Death Night live event. More clues are incoming for when the 13 letters arrive.

This all makes my Nostradamus post look silly now doesn't it?

Stategies Part 1. Bulk Yourself Up

Feel like you're not getting the most out of your time in Warhammer Online? Need a killer, no frills guide on how to gank Chaos scum, or how to scatter Dwarf parts to the winds? Then let me help you with PQQ's Strategies in 64 Parts.

Part 1: A Proper Gaming Rig

This may seem obvious but most people don't realize how important a top of the line PC is to your gaming. Now what you're going to need is a big screen monitor, 30 inches or above would be tops. The latest video card, GPU, and the most GBs of memory and hard drive space available. Choose the mouse with the most buttons on it. A neon-green backlit keyboard can't hurt either.

But there is more you can do! That is only the pedestrian way to upgrade your rig. There are other, more drastic ways to increase performance that only the elite know, which I shall now share with you.

Processing power/speed is everything. If you need more than your standard GHz, and don't mind noise or taking apart your car, then after buying my specialized port cable (99.95$), you can easily hook up your PC to an engine. Let all of that internal combustion add hours to your clocks.

Easy

Now this rig is going to get hot so proper cooling is a must. Here is another trick of the trade you probably don't know, as I have patented it only yesterday. See you can't just cool your PC from from tubes on the inside, and fans definitely won't take the heat off of your engine. Even more drastic measures will be needed. Wrap up your case in hard plastic and make sure it is sealed tight as you will be submerging it in water. For a proper amount of space a kiddie pool has been reported to be large enough. Everything but your monitor, keyboard and mouse should be underwater. If you were using a laptop I suggest you step up your game and use a real gaming rig.

Easier

Now this may be all too much to handle but don't worry! The how-to-play portion will be coming soon so stay tooned.

The Real Way To Thank A Healer: by Obliterating Them

There was a happening recently. Something to change my views about playing my zealot and making it all seem worthwhile. See I was the only zealot in a full T2 warband (but there were shamans and DoKs). Out of nowhere a squigherder sends me a tell: "Need Obliterator boots?" and a trade window popped up. I asked for how much but he said it was free. Now that is what I call going above and beyond for thanking for a rez.

His reasoning: It was as thanks for rolling a healer. His personal policy is to not charge healers for anything as they should be respected. So hats off to this sguigherder, as he knows not to blame the healer.

Also, I'd managed to get a gold bag in one keep take so all's I need are the gloves from a vendor and 2 levels and I've got the Obliterator set. Though a 2 level bonus to scourge is a shitty deal, as I haven't used that skill for about 10 levels.

Can you believe this is the first image result for "Obliterator"?

A Blog Gets Noticed. Take His Bait

I have to commend Biel's blogging goals as it seems like exactly what Paul Barnett mentioned in his interview, specifically the "How to get noticed by Mythic" question. A blog dedicated to posting about issues that need addressing while trying to also be a platform for every body's 2 cent's worth.

If commentors can come out of the woodwork and voice their opinions in a non forum-whining way, this could end up being a great resource. It will reduce the awkwardness of trying to wade through the countless WarhammerAlliance posts, and be a central area to gripe and make constructive criticisms. If it can stay organized and get a good community of posters around it, I do believe it will be the bees knees. More power to ye Biel Warbringer.

This is how I picture Biel in my mind, due entirely to his last name.

Also, how can you not get replies when you start off with such bait as What parts of Order are OP? Especially since everyone and their little sister seems to be rolling a Warrior Priest right now.

I Love A Challenge.

This is the post where I give a shout-out to my favorite ability in the game: Champion's_Challenge. I love Champion's Challenge to the core of my being. I love the little electric fence that shows up, seeing your target jump and use Flee futilely, and making yourself immune to knockbacks for ten seconds (a use that many overlook). My favourite strategy in Tor Anroc with it is too stand near an edge, capture the first enemy to come by, squishy or not. Now that I'm Knockback immune, I wait for other targets to run by me and knock them off into the lava. I know this is against the popular view of hating CC, but I'm a rebel anyway. Seriously, I shower in my aviators.

Above: Success

Dire Signs. A Disclaimer of Lies

Signs You've Been Playing Too Much WAR

• You go to church and are genuinely confused about the priest's lack of a hammer. You then call him a wuss and leave to follow a "real priest".
  
  
• In a group project your boss/teacher says that everyone has to pitch in. You tell them that contribution is broken anyway and it doesn't matter how much work you do, the new guy will get all of the credit.

• You watch the Van Helsing movie, and wonder why he never goes stealth.

• You horde black and white food coloring, thinking that you can sell it on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

• You think clock towers gain twelve levels at noon everyday. You then tell it 'gratz'.

• You are immediately opposed to any political campaign promising change as your quest to stop Tzeentch is never ending.

• You happen by a raven in the street and bow to it, asking for gifts.

• You fear to be around all redheads unless a fire extinguisher is within 100 feet.

• You wear all silk clothing, thinking that the set bonus will make you stronger.

• You've considered jumping off of a cliff to get bragging rights.

Disclaimer: None of these examples have happened to me. If you identify with any of these, or know someone that does, I feel for you.

A Horrible Person's Lament. Bring Back The Hammer

I know I'm terrible for thinking this but there's something I miss from the game right now. Gold spammers in chat. Not for what they are but for what they caused. It's great that they're gone but anyone playing from launch can vouch for one thing that really increased immersion, they're faith in Mythic and the awesomeness of WAR: the banhammer messages. They were sweet, stylish and badass. If they were brought back to, say, announce the banhammering of the mailbox goldspammers I will be a very happy man.

Nostradamus Is I. Serously, I Expect The Back-Patting

Right here, right now I am predicting it. Mark your calenders. The January 29 announcement will involve a live event to usher in the new classes. When it's announced it will all seem so obvious because that's what happened the last time there were new classes on the way. But this way I can feel smart about it. And you can all pat me on the back later.

In more specific predictions, the live event will involve tasks, and an influence bar. Calling it right now.

Keep Chaos. I'm Not Sorry

Last night there was some intense T2 keep taking on the Badlands server. It was great fun, but also impossible for either side to take a keep that had a defense up. The picture on the right there shows how all of the sieges ended. The defense ticks were worth a lot though.

So our Warband went to take an undefended keep. I single-handedly caused all of the planning to go out the window. It was going fine until half the group rushed the lord while the other half ran to the balcony. The thing is that the lord and a champion decided to follow the balcony group, of which I was a part. So the lord finished off a bunch of us before running back to the middle, where everyone was wiped. Thankfully a healer was alive and slowly, everybody got rezzed. But that wasn't where I messed up. No, my Story starts now.

See the group was all planning about who to pull, when and whatnot. I, being bored, decided to look in on the lord room to, you know, scout the going-ons and happenings and stuff. I also happened to walk into the Lord room because that's where the best view is. After getting my eyeful I then decided to report back to the group so they could finish their plans. Little did I know, I had attracted some followers who didn't want me alive. They then proceeded to attack my group, who fought back valiantly to win the day, with me as the only casualty. The chat after that was hilarious. Cries of "Who did that?" "don't pull yet! stop fighting" "FUKKEN NOOBS!" were the order of the day.

Nobody appreciates scouts these days.

Naked in Altdorf. Dresscode I Can Get Behind

So on my way to get my mount in Altdorf I noticed this Greatsword just having an off-day. It seems that she got the casual Friday memo, but didn't understand that "wear less armour" still meant that she had to at least put on some platemail. Instead she opted for a cape and some pasties (If you click on the picture, you can see that the pasties are of the star-shaped, wardrobe malfunction variety).

Unless this is a new dress code so that Order can out-sexy the witch-elves. Which is working.

Order Gets No Waaagh! Doesn't Cry About It

Despite what I said in my last post there are still more Destruction players than order, and at release there was a lot more. I have a theory for why this is true. The answer is about Waaagh!. And Order's lack of it. At the end of most promotional materials for the game, such as herald posts, the warcry Waaagh! is put. This is great fun and all and it gets your blood pumping and ready for a fight, but does it make you want to kill orcs? Or be an orc and chop everything in your path?

What Order needs is their own warcry, like the dwarves' "For Helga" or maybe even just a rousing call of Aaaaaargh! That should do the trick.

Population Balance. Order Just Average Bears?

So the herald has a post up about the population balance in WAR. It seems that its cause is to put out the forum fires of "destro always fields more than us so we can't win". The average for all servers in exp and rp gain is 50/50, the only sticking point being a slight 49/51 population in favor of destruction. Does this mean that Order just whines more?

Also, since the populations are so equal, this quote needs some consideration:

"The most successful groups in any game have appointed strong leaders who give orders, players who listen to those orders and react quickly, loyal guild Alliances that work together, carefully calculated strategies"

With negligible population differences, and destruction winning all of the time, does this mean that the destro players fly against the stereotype of being noob zergers? Are they actually smarter than the average bear? because it seems now that they just have more organization than Order. Maybe the people that roll Order are just PvE carebears.

The Introduction. Embracing the Plague

Hello, and welcome to my new blog. I'm jumping onto the Age of Blogging wagon here, but I'd been thinking about it for a while now anyways. I'm going to keep my posts fairly short, sharing my stories experiences and thoughts. You may find that I'm a bit of a screenshot fiend but there's nothing wrong with that.

The name Wide-Eyed newb may require some explanation. It's because, believe it or not (you'll probably believe it) this is my first MMO. I avoided them like the plague until the great hype, and my love of Dawn of War, made me take the WAR plunge. I can now say I have become a follower of Nurgle and won't turn back anytime soon. I also don't think he'll let me. The plague is incurable.

So in closing, look forward to reading about the thoughts and adventures of an MMO newb, with his eyes wide open in excitement and anticipation.