Update: BTW, this is the feat build I’m planning to have at 80 atm.

So, the early access started yesterday, they delayed it by 4 hours but then it went pretty much smooth. I’ve no idea why Funcom decided to put only 2 FFA PvP servers per region - 15 minutes after the launch there was a 3 minute queue to login to our server (EU Fury), but other than that I’ve no complains on technical site. They just started the very first maintenance (there was a short one today in the morning but it resulted just in one d/c for everybody and servers were up and running) estimated for 2 hours - thus I’ve got the time to write this post ;).

I’ve slept for like 4 hours after playing whole night, I’m not the king of grind and I don’t know what quests to take and how to level the most effective way, but I’m sitting at 24th level atm, which is pretty average for people playing since the first hour of early access. So far I’m very happy about how it turned out, I’ve tried barbarian in closed beta and I’m very happy to see many concerns with the class fixed.

I was expecting a total bloodbath with FFA PvP, and I’ve say that I’m surprised. Sure people are killing each other, a lot, but many times I’ve been on one spot hunting for quest mobs with 3 other people and we somehow didn’t kill each other. Guilds are formed and getting members, some are quite big and already recognizable like RUScorp (pretty much on my KoS list :P). The climate that Funcom has built in the game is perfect, it’s just brilliant, I’m not an expert on the Conan lore, but I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s supposed to look like. There are those little awesome things around, like fatalities, I was afraid (and not only me) about fatalities, since you loose control over your character while doing a fatality, but that’s nothing for the pure awesomeness of chopping someone’s head off, or impaling him with your axe and laughing into his face (literally, the character laughs) while getting 20% damage boost and huge stamina regen that allows you to annihilate everything else that’s still alive`. A simple quote from chat channel really captures what’s going on atm:

Guy1: So, people don’t get PK tagged for senseless killing?
Guy2: Senseless killing = Conan.

No one will be sad if you die, and if you get in somebody’s way, be ready to get annihilated, unless you are better. The problem with sandbox style PvP is that it’s heavily Dependant on the community, much more than controlled PvP like the one in WoW is - there are no factions, it’s players who decide who is your friend and who is your enemy. It has potential, and so far it seems to be a running success, it’s not a WoW killer, it’s something much different - in fact I think it would make a better game if they removed the PvP minigames completely (CTF and team annihilation), been there once so far and I’m not temped to play it again.

Terhix

So, getting my rating high enough to have guaranteed drake and title (2300 - 2320 should let us sleep calm about getting to top 0.5%, which according to arenajunkies calculator is top 63 teams in 2v2 in our battlegroup), with still at least 3 weeks ahead of us before the end of the season, it’s just a grind factor before we get there.

Age of Conan is starting 17th of may with early access programme, allowing people who preordered the game to download the client (d/ling as I type this) for 4.35 euro (or $5 for US player I believe). This is going to give people with preorders HUGE advantage, not because those few days will matter much in the end, but because with much lower population it will be much easier to level up. When the game actually starts and there will be bunch of level 5 guys running around starting zone, with 5 people to 1 monster ratio, FFA PvP servers will be simply unplayble for at least a week, it will be just one huge blood bath. Going ahead with early access me and my guildies are pretty much going to stick with each other, we are not really social people, but running around and questing in group is a good thing to do in enviorment where everybody can kill you everywhere. For the same reason, the ‘full stealth’ (the ones that don’t loose stamina while stealthing) classes (all from the rogue archetype: Assassin, Barbarian and Ranger) will be probably very popular. Heck, it seems that our main group will be 5 assassins, 3 barbarians and one priest of mitra.

I did play for some time in beta, got 17 level or so on my barb. I pretty much like the idea that there is a two-handed fighter considered as a melee dps class (hence the rogue archetype) and not a tank. It pretty much have all the tools I’d like to have - stuns, knock backs, health regens and things like no-escape (ranged weapon throw that disarms you but stuns the target and deals damage) or unstable mind (removes all stuns, roots and slows and gives a short immunity) make a perfect PvP class, stealth is just a cherry on top of the cake. Sure it won’t have the hp or armor (light armor only) of the solider classes, but I guess we can all agree that the “soft” classes aren’t always the ones that die fastest (demo locks or ShS rogues in WoW can be pain in the ass to kill).

I’ll post here how my AoC progress goes, not quitting WoW, I’m playing arenas only atm, so it’s not really time consuming and shouldn’t be a problem to handle those two games at once. I will eventually stick to one game, and I’m not judging AoC untill I play the endgame, at which point of time WotLK will be probably out, so it’s a good idea to stay up to date with WoW. I also expect AoC to be pretty much imbalanced and bugged as funcom rushed for the release (they didn’t have the choice to move the release date like Warhammer), so yeah, I’ve to see what the devs are up to and what directions they take.

Terhix

Hey there folks, im new editor of warriorspwn.com
Its not like im extraordinary warrior, skilled player or anything like that. Only reason that i was allowed to write here is that i know Terhix for quite some time, we played various of MMOs together.
Im 3 days older than dirt and i like to bitch all day long. Dont expect me to post to much since im lazy as hell.
So give me warm welcome.

Your master, S.

SandMan

Why do we need hotkeys? Only if you want to pwn with your warrior.

For instance, if you’re in Berserker Stance and your target dodges, you would have to move your cursor to the Battle Stance icon, click on it, move your cursor to the Overpower icon, click on it, move your cursor to the Berserker Stance icon, click on it, and then finally move your cursor to Mortal Strike or Berserker Rage. But wait, you’ve accidently clicked on the Defense Stance icon because it’s so tiny so you’ve just wasted a second and the Overpower Icon stops lighting up. You were also too lazy to organized your skills for clicking efficiency, so you have more travel time in between skills.

Or

You can just enter shift + F, then F, and then T. Huh?

Having hotkeys is one thing, but having convenient hotkeys is another. For example, since I’m sitting in Berserker Stance, but I like to make my transition really easy and quick to Overpower if my target decides to dodge my attacks. My Battle stance hotkey is “Shift + F” and my Overpower is just “F.” I can easily hold Shift and spam F, then let go to Shift and continue spamming F, since my finger is already there, until Overpower hits. I then hit “T” to go back to Berserker Stance.

I would hotkey Revenge to “F”, simply cause it’s on the same cool down and it’s easier to remember since they serve the same function. As for shouts, since you can only have 1 of your own shouts, I’d hotkey “B” for Battle Shout and “Shift + B” for Commanding Shout. Pummel and Shield Bash can be have the same hotkey, etc.

You want to hotkeys skills that you use often to be as close as possible to your hand. For example, you’d want R to be hamstring and C to be Mortal Strike, something close, and you’ll want Intimidating Shout or Challenging Shout to be something like shift + 4 or H, something further or harder to press.

Leh

Ok, maybe I’m not playing WoW that much recently and don’t really have anything to post about (yes, I know patch 2.4 is on the way), I can at least show you guys what I’ve been working on recently:

Being a web developer and MMO player, it’s a natural thing for me to make a browser-based MMORPG. Vanthia, coz that’s how it’s named, is built with JavaScript on the client side with a backed PHP server, communication between the two is done with AJAX (the game just launches as every game and runs inside a single website, no refreshes, links or anything). This week I’ve launched a new website and forums for it, so I’m not going to write an essay here, you can jump there to learn more.

Terhix