Kyt Dotson, Author at GameOgre Online Game Community Fri, 06 Nov 2015 12:16:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.gameogre.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/favicon.png Kyt Dotson, Author at GameOgre 32 32 246904748 Star Trek Online ‘Season 11: New Dawn’ Goes for Exploration https://www.gameogre.com/star-trek-online-season-11-new-dawn-goes-for-exploration/ https://www.gameogre.com/star-trek-online-season-11-new-dawn-goes-for-exploration/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2015 02:11:06 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/?p=14228 The war in Star Trek Online is over, if you want it. With the end of the 5-year Iconian War, Cryptic Studios’ Star Trek free-to-play MMO STO will be moving on from warfare to the standard modus operandi of Trek with Season 11: New Dawn, according to Kyt Dotson at SiliconANGLE. Up until now, STO players have seen a great deal of conflict and combat and […]

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The war in Star Trek Online is over, if you want it.

With the end of the 5-year Iconian War, Cryptic Studios’ Star Trek free-to-play MMO STO will be moving on from warfare to the standard modus operandi of Trek with Season 11: New Dawn, according to Kyt Dotson at SiliconANGLE. Up until now, STO players have seen a great deal of conflict and combat and soon, sometime this year, all that will come to an end.

Amid the additions coming in New Dawn, players can expect a focus on exploration over conflict.

This means that STO will be moving towards a new exploration system–and something to replace the old one, removed in 2014, is most welcome.

The old exploration system provided a much-needed respite from other portions of the game, but it also had some odd flaws:

The system worked by asking players to fly around unexplored spaces and visit planets. At these planets a number of pre-scripted events could occur: a civilization might ask for aid and the captain would deliver medical supplies or perhaps entertainment provisions (the latter felt a bit silly), perhaps foes threaten a colony or planet that needed to be fought in space or on the ground, and sometimes strange energy readings would be detected and an away party would go down to scan them.

In all, the number of scripted events were extremely limited and repetitive. And sometimes—due to the mad-libs style of randomization—the scripted events were extremely silly. Why exactly would the Borg—a hypertechnological collective that destroys what it cannot assimilate—be messing in the petty politics of some backwater city in a distant star system?

Season 11 will also introduce new voice acting from Chase Masterson to reprise her role as Mirror Leeta. It will bring a new system called the Admiralty System that will allow players to send ships out on missions (similar to the Duty Officer System but with longer missions and greater rewards.)

News tip via SiliconANGLE.

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Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns Reveals Pact Commander Mastery Track https://www.gameogre.com/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-reveals-pact-commander-mastery-track/ https://www.gameogre.com/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-reveals-pact-commander-mastery-track/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2015 01:57:10 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/?p=14223 The much anticipated Masteries from Guild War 2‘s upcoming expansion Heart of Thorns just got an announcement from ArenaNet. The gist of the announcement and some analysis is available from Kyt Dotson at SiliconANGLE, but here’s the juicy bits for the ogre’s who play the game. First, here’s a rundown of the Pact Commander mastery track, which […]

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The much anticipated Masteries from Guild War 2‘s upcoming expansion Heart of Thorns just got an announcement from ArenaNet. The gist of the announcement and some analysis is available from Kyt Dotson at SiliconANGLE, but here’s the juicy bits for the ogre’s who play the game.

First, here’s a rundown of the Pact Commander mastery track, which delivers some useful social elements to the game:

At one mastery point players will receive access to Pact Mentor, which provides a special mentoring tag and chat icon. While the mentor tag is on the player will be visible on the map and marked as a “mentor” or a helper, and when they speak in chat it will highlight their messages. Having this track active also adds 5 percent swiftness to the commander and their party when in a player city (which act as in-game social areas). More swiftness in cities comes from going further down this track.

Also at one mastery point players will receive access to Productive Downtime, which provides a crafting XP bonus for every item crafted. Guild Wars 2, like most MMOs, has an item crafting system that has players gather resources and make them into useful items (weapons, armor, equipment, other consumables, etc.). Like everything else in GW2 crafting must be leveled, this will make that go faster.

At two mastery points players get Supply Line Management, which provides “access to a network of regional merchants across Tyria.” There appear to be seven merchants and total and they will randomly move around the world of Guild Wars 2and will provide new strange items and perhaps old crafting recipes that have been retired. This mastery point also provides 15 percent swiftness in cities.

At three mastery points Noblesse Oblige opens up, which allows players to revive lower-leveled players faster, and revives also remove downed penalties such as armor damage. This is another socially-oriented track element that means that veteran players can assist lower leveled players more easily when they get killed. Although there is no “cost” to armor damage (just time to get it fixed) so the social element here is that it keeps new players in the field faster by resurrecting them faster and making it so they don’t need to visit a repair station as often.

Finally, at five mastery points Advanced Logistics is opened up, which allows players to turn on “auto-loot.” This is more of a quality-of-life user experience enhancement than anything as it means that GW2 players no longer need to press ‘F’ to pick up items dropped by slain enemies and it is just vacuumed up into their inventory. It also adds 30% swiftness to the player in cities.

Looking at the the track and it’s adjoining rewards, going all the way up the track will give players (and their parties) up to 30% swiftness in cities just by themselves. This means that Pact Commanders (people who go up 5 in this track) will be flying around Lion’s Arch, The Grove, Rata Sum, and everywhere else players might gather in the game.

The addition of specialized vendors will also mean players with this trait will be able to give interesting precipices to their friends (or maybe make a killing on the Black Lion Exchange, aka the auction house.)

And World vs. World players will likely love the top tier Advanced Logistics, because it means no more needing to pick up bags during massive zerg vs. zerg fights.

Looking forward to those other Masteries? Let us know here at GameOgre.

News tip via SiliconANGLE.

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In World of Warcraft You Can Now Have Your Cat Sit in Your Lap https://www.gameogre.com/in-world-of-warcraft-you-can-now-have-your-cat-sit-in-your-lap/ https://www.gameogre.com/in-world-of-warcraft-you-can-now-have-your-cat-sit-in-your-lap/#respond Tue, 21 Jul 2015 22:29:57 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/?p=13685 World of Warcraft players have gotten themselves a little treat from Blizzard: if you have a cat minipet in the game, you can get the cat to sit in your lap with you sit down. You can catch up on the details over at SiliconANGLE, but getting to to work is pretty simple: target your cat, […]

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World of Warcraft players have gotten themselves a little treat from Blizzard: if you have a cat minipet in the game, you can get the cat to sit in your lap with you sit down.

You can catch up on the details over at SiliconANGLE, but getting to to work is pretty simple: target your cat, type /sit, and wait for your cat to wander over and hop into your waiting lap!

As a game and an MMO, WoW has always offered a social setting with a lot of “little things,” that change the environment for players. From details in the textures, lore, or the minipets, WoW continues to be a social juggernaut with 7 million subscribers (although this is down from 10 million last November, 2014.)

The addition of the cat-in-lap may be a cheerful addition for those people who happen to own cats in the game.

Those who do not, however, may want to grab them from the Auction House now before prices go up!

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Explosion time! Ogre Game Time Minecraft explosions for everyone https://www.gameogre.com/explosion-time-ogre-game-time-minecraft-explosions-for-everyone/ https://www.gameogre.com/explosion-time-ogre-game-time-minecraft-explosions-for-everyone/#comments Wed, 20 May 2015 03:04:24 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/?p=9995 For those who don’t know, the Ogres get together every Wednesday at around 1pm MST and play games together. Ordinarily we play Minecraft. You should join us at GameOgre‘s Twitch.tv channel when you can and we can build an ogre world together. Everyone else: you’re missing out. So let me bring some of Ogre Game Time […]

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For those who don’t know, the Ogres get together every Wednesday at around 1pm MST and play games together. Ordinarily we play Minecraft. You should join us at GameOgre‘s Twitch.tv channel when you can and we can build an ogre world together.

Everyone else: you’re missing out. So let me bring some of Ogre Game Time (OGT) to you with two short clips of what our editor-in-chief, Ogreman, has been up to in the blocky, virtual world of Minecraft.

One hint: It’s explosive.

And the next one is just as fun…behold, yet another tunnel of love, blown out of the side of a mountain!

This level of amusement awaits you at the GameOgre Twitch.tv channel. Come and visit with Aaddron, Amerist, ArcadeKnight, Ogreman, and others and get your groove on.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, after all, and we’ll be playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive for one hour. Just hop onto GameOgre.com, check the chat, we’ll inform everyone when we’re starting and maybe you’ll get a chance to shoot someone you know!

Just don’t shoot me too hard, okay.

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Aaddron and TheLadySeraph Interviewed About Giant Minecraft House https://www.gameogre.com/aaddron-theladyseraph-interviewed-giant-minecraft-house/ https://www.gameogre.com/aaddron-theladyseraph-interviewed-giant-minecraft-house/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2015 14:20:25 +0000 http://gameogre.com/mmoblog/?p=8166 Ever wondered what it takes to build something climatically awesome in Minecraft? Look no further because veteran Ogre and all-around-amazing-person Aaddron (am I buttering him up too much?) and TheLadySeraph built a gigantic house in Minecraft. Seraph speaks to the ins-and-outs of building this colossal house in this MMO Anthropology interview. Be sure to visit […]

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Ever wondered what it takes to build something climatically awesome in Minecraft? Look no further because veteran Ogre and all-around-amazing-person Aaddron (am I buttering him up too much?) and TheLadySeraph built a gigantic house in Minecraft. Seraph speaks to the ins-and-outs of building this colossal house in this MMO Anthropology interview.

Be sure to visit the video and leave a comment for Seraph or Aaddron, I’m sure they’ll appreciate your support.

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Neverwinter Online Beta coming to Xbox Live https://www.gameogre.com/neverwinter-online-beta-coming-to-xbox-live/ https://www.gameogre.com/neverwinter-online-beta-coming-to-xbox-live/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2015 12:02:18 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/?p=8142 If you’re an MMORPG player you’ve probably started to see advertisements pop up about Perfect World Entertainment’s free-to-play title Neverwinter Online coming to Xbox One as a beta. Plans have been announced by the publisher for Neverwinter to launch in closed beta beginning February 5 – 8. Beta signups are currently available on PWE’s Arc […]

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If you’re an MMORPG player you’ve probably started to see advertisements pop up about Perfect World Entertainment’s free-to-play title Neverwinter Online coming to Xbox One as a beta. Plans have been announced by the publisher for Neverwinter to launch in closed beta beginning February 5 – 8.

Beta signups are currently available on PWE’s Arc Games website.

The beta on Xbox One will contain all classes, races, and features already available as of the Tyranny of Dragons expansion, but also include some console-specific functionality. This includes optimized controls and friend’s list integration.

The completed Xbox One release of Neverwinter Online is expected to launch for all Xbox Live Gold members sometime early 2015.

Read more in GameOgre’s first impressions review of Neverwinter Online.

Neverwinter Online well-built for console

The launch of Neverwinter Online revealed an MMORPG with controls that appeared designed to work well with console controllers: limited action sets, open-targeting, and simple movement controls.

Limited action sets has become a trend for many MMORPGs to reduce the total number of total controls available to players during combat to make skirmishes more concise and let players “build” around actions rather than just armor and weaponry. It’s also the hallmark of games such as DC Universe Online, which was designed from the drawing table to be released on console.

As a platform shift, heading to console may give Neverwinter Online a boost over other free-to-play PC games because of its multi-platform capability. Few other free-to-play MMORPG games on the market cross platforms with examples such as DCUO and Warframe becoming stand outs.

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Gritty, pixelated cyberpunk Metrocide first impressions https://www.gameogre.com/gritty-pixelated-cyberpunk-metrocide-first-impressions/ https://www.gameogre.com/gritty-pixelated-cyberpunk-metrocide-first-impressions/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:54:28 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/?p=8089 Cyberpunk as a genre mixes a sort of noir sense of industrial-ruin or urban decay with the uplifting power of computer technology. Many cyberpunk novels display a tremendous disparity between the cultural elite—hidden in skyscrapers filled with every creature comfort and amenity, protected by bulwarks of corporation and society—and the dregs on the street—surrounded by […]

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Cyberpunk as a genre mixes a sort of noir sense of industrial-ruin or urban decay with the uplifting power of computer technology. Many cyberpunk novels display a tremendous disparity between the cultural elite—hidden in skyscrapers filled with every creature comfort and amenity, protected by bulwarks of corporation and society—and the dregs on the street—surrounded by gang warfare, violence, and the ever-present glow of venial reliefs.

Metrocide, a new indie game released by developer Flat Earth Games, manages to mix these together in an interesting way by presenting a character who barely registers as a person walking pixelated streets.  He or she (gender can be chosen) looks a bit like a noir detective, replete with hat and trench coat to shrug off the never-ending rain, and carries a gun. Metrocide a single-player game that hearkens back to the heady days of early Grand Theft Auto, but situates itself in a futuristic city.

As it turns out the name of the game “Metrocide” explains exactly what the game is about: killing in the city.

The objective: escape the city before it’s “too late” by making money. Of course, you make money by shooting people (and sometimes stealing their wallets.)

At first glance the gameplay feels fairly simple: go get a contract to kill someone, shoot them dead, hide the body, return for another contract.

However, even in this pixelated urban wasteland killing someone isn’t just-so-simple. There are two control methods, WASD with ‘W’ leading towards the mouse cursor (or WASD with mouse to aim.) Moving the character around the top-down-ish pixelated streets is quick to catch onto and it’s not hard to figure out how to interact or fire the weapon. The starter gun has a warm up, however, so it takes a few guesses on how to aim the gun to hit targets (especially fleeing people.)

Getting caught is bad. Metrocide is an ironman game and you have only one life. Meaning: if the police, or a vigilante shoots you, you’re dead and need to restart.

Why might the police or a vigilante shoot you? You might ask. Well, they could see you shoot someone. The city is peppered with cameras (sweeping beams of blue that you need to avoid when killing someone or carrying a body.) Worse, if a normal citizen sees you they’ll freak out and report you. Then a police drone will patrol and look for you. Much of this game is about patiently tailing some poor sucker into a bad part of town to gun them down and throw their body in a sewer.

For the beginner this is actually a difficult task. Not to say that the learning curve is too steep—but it takes some getting used to.

In this way, Metrocide really does a good job of hearkening back to when games did not coddle users very much. The mechanics of the game stand out, they’re easy to understand, but take timing, thinking, and patience to deliver when a contract is on the line.

As the player earns more money and unlocks more things, of course, contracts get more tricky but the tricks also get better. There are more (and better) guns available, EMPs to knock out drones, even lures to get targets to leave the sidewalk (and all those pesky witnesses!) so that they can be more easily disposed of.

Metrocide is currently selling for only $12.99 on Steam and at that price it’s got the content, gameplay, and a fun noir cyberpunk atmosphere to keep most players occupied for a while. The puzzle-thinking portion of the game should keep neurons firing for a while as well and it will appeal to both new gamers and nostalgic gamers alike. It will likely appeal especially players who are not trigger happy, but thoughtful and meticulous about how they approach and resolve game-style problems.

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Winter is Coming: A 2014 guide to seasonal events in the MMO community https://www.gameogre.com/winter-is-coming-a-2014-guide-to-seasonal-events-in-the-mmo-community/ https://www.gameogre.com/winter-is-coming-a-2014-guide-to-seasonal-events-in-the-mmo-community/#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2014 15:26:12 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/?p=8067 Across most MMO games, winter is perhaps the best-celebrated seasonal event, especially for the gaming community who live in the northern hemisphere. In the more northern climes, winter means a brisk cold breeze, followed by blizzards, snowdrifts, and blankets of white as far as the eye can see. This usually means warm clothing, nippy fingers, […]

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Across most MMO games, winter is perhaps the best-celebrated seasonal event, especially for the gaming community who live in the northern hemisphere. In the more northern climes, winter means a brisk cold breeze, followed by blizzards, snowdrifts, and blankets of white as far as the eye can see. This usually means warm clothing, nippy fingers, and traffic jams. Of course, it can also mean power outages (but the hardcore gamer in you has battery backup, right?)

MMO games take this in stride and many produce events that rival even Halloween in splendor. Here’s a few of the winter events that we expect are coming to the MMO landscape this December.

As a result, the winter holidays have concentrated a long, storied tradition of taking the celebrations of cultures external to the MMO worlds and bringing them back in with a bit of a flair fitting the cultures of the game world themselves. Players themselves, of course, recognize traditions from their own cultures and join in the festivities to greater or lesser extents. What interesting winter-related traditions will we see this year?

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Star Trek Online: Q’s Winter Wonderland

December 4th – January 15th

Meet the ever-present Q in Earth Space Dock, Qo’noS, or New Romulus to be transported to his seasonally appropriate Winter Wonderland where you can participate in snowball fights, defeat evil snowmen, and save gingerbread people from invaders. In what feels like something of a diversion from the usual science fiction shenanigans, Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios bring winter to Star Trek Online by producing a whole new world.

A post full of details can be read on the ArcGames website or keep reading for a summary rundown of what to expect.

Like last year, slippery ice races can be run to earn epohh tags or photos of Q that can be turned in for a massive Breen carrier. Snowmen still invade and attack the winter region and must be fought back with snowballs and winter-themed snowball weaponry (from dual pistols that fire snowballs to a new sniper rifle loaded with icicles.) This year, Cryptic added a tower-defense horde game with Borg assimilated snowmen that must be stopped before they invade the Winter Wonderland.

As with previous years there are still winter-themed clothing sets, foods related to the cold holidays, and interesting gear to warm the hearts and hands of players in these cold days.

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Guild Wars 2: Wintersday

December 16th – January 13th

During the Wintersday celebration in Tyria the resplendent Master Toymaker Tixx visits all the cities of the land to deliver his workshop and wares to all the people. It may be a human holiday, but the asura and other races and cultures have managed to bring their own particular cheer to the festivities—this means food, outfits, and accessories to match. NCSoft and ArenaNet have released numerous breadcrumbs revving up to this event so it should be a fun-filled holiday.

For more information read this blog post about upcoming features, visit the Guild Wars 2 wiki or keep reading for a chilly summary of the festivities.

In previous years, Tixx and his floating workshop have hovered over major cities enabling players to join him and assist with preparations. However, of course, Tixx being asura something always goes wrong and Wintersday golems need to be adjusted back to proper working parameters often with the application of sufficient violence.

In previous years, the city of Lion’s Arch was the seat of the Wintersday event–but recently it has seen ruin and devistation at the hands of an in-game villian. As a result another city, Destiny’s Reach, will see a transformation into a winter wonderland filled with falling snowflakes, a white dusting on the ground, with snowmen and ornaments hung amidst the cheek-and-jowl houses. In the past the Mystic Forge in LA also dressed up as a giant snowglobe with a snowman inside (perhaps we’ll see something similar in DR?). Weapon skins matching various winter-holiday related items and costumes will also arrive from candy cane hammers to slingshot bows.

There will be a jumping puzzle involving melting snowflakes and giant snowmen for those with the dexterity as well as the Tixx dungeon instance. Last year also included a number of minigames including one for the musically inclined that involved a sort of Simon Says with bells on to ring in the season.

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DCUO: Winter Holiday

December 10th – January (?)

The past two years the Orange Lantern, Larfleeze, adherent to the emotion of avarice, found that the winter season of gift giving would be perfect for him to obtain all the presents for himself. The Green Lanterns, not wanting the Yule holiday not ending in ruin, prepare a defense and ask the players to participate. Sony Online Entertainment has kept the winter seasonal fires burning for two years now, and this year everyone hopes will be just as spectacular.

For more information on this event visit the DCUO wiki or keep reading for a summary of what to expect.

Both Metropolis and Gotham City receive a little bit of a makeover with Christmas lights, and both cities get city-wide missions to hunt down and stop the minions of Larfleeze who are stealing presents and Yule trees from the inhabitants. A vendor appears with a multitude of Christmas-themed items, trinkets, and costumes. And there is also a set of Christmas-themed armor sets obtainable from Skeet’s Workshop in a sort of Holiday Elf and North Pole styles.

Last year saw the addition of the Secret Research Facility alert for superheroes to save the holiday from the Orange Lanterns by taking the fight to them.

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World of Warcraft: The Feast of Winter’s Veil

December 16th – January 2nd

In the grand scheme of winter holiday events, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft has one of the longest-running in the industry starting way back in 2007. The land of Azeroth also has a cycle of seasons and a different variety of cultures that celebrate the shortened days and lengthened nights as well as the chill of winter’s bite. This means a few adventures added, a lot of winter-related foods, and perhaps a little more lore for the long running MMORPG.

For more information see the World of Warcraft wiki or keep reading for an eggnog filled review of what to expect in this event.

The Feast of Winter’s Veil is a very long running event and it has transformed repeatedly over the years. Content continues to get added as Warcraft’s expansions change the game. For the most part, players can expect that winter-related clothing will start appearing from coats to hats as well as a large variety of toys. Each year, new toys and minis get added to the game that are obtained by joining each day of the Winter’s Veil celebration and collecting them from beneath the tree in the faction capital. That would be Orgrimmar for the Horde and Stormwind for the Alliance.

A number of achievements are also accessible during Winter’s Veil that involve participating in wintery festivities or doing odd things while dressed like a holiday gnome.

There’s even an evil Greench who steals presents and kidnaps reindeer who needs to be struck down by the players in a quest chain that delivers goodies and achievements.

Be sure to visit the goblin and gnome vendors in order to get horrible food (and eat it). After all, who doesn’t like grandma’s meat pie?

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RIFT: Fae Yule

December 12th – January 1st

Trion World’s has gotten into the winter seasonal events for a few years now with RIFT: The Planes of Telara and the Fae Yule event. This means wreathes, yuletide gifts, and a great deal of instant adventures. Players are treated to what is basically a Yule event with gift giving, seasonal garb and items, holiday dimensions, and a change to PvP called the Very Merry Warfront.

See this blog post for last year’s Fae Yule on what to expect this upcoming season in RIFT.

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Neverwinter Online: Winter Festival

December 19th – January 9th

Dragons may be terrorizing the Dungeons & Dragons game of Neverwinter Online right now but soon will be time for the seasonal respite and celebration with the Winter Festival. Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios brought the Winter Event out last year by bringing adventurers to the small hamlet of Twilight Tor.

See Cryptic’s preview blog post, the Neverwinter Online wiki for further information about previous events or keep reading for a short summary of what to expect.

Twilight Tor is an icelocked settlement in the mountains where magic happens during snowfall. The winter holiday celebration comes with a celestial event called the Lights of Simril, where star-stuff falls from the sky. Astrological tidings are mixed with seasonal fetters from Yuletide story all the while ice trolls arrive to mess everything up.

Players can choose to participate in races in order to earn Light of Simril and trade it for a multitude of winter items including a sleigh mount, a fawn companion, and a multitude of ice-based weapons—or, of course, our favorite Frost Mimic (an icebound treasure chest companion with teeth.) Amid the other prizes from this event are a large number of clothing items and other wintry-styled skins for players to capture the aesthetic of the season.

For people not into racing or fighting, ice fishing is also available. As it turns out, the fish are mightily prized by the inhabitants of Twilight Tor and can be traded for event currency and items.

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The Life of a Warlords of Draenor Casual Warcraft Player https://www.gameogre.com/the-life-of-a-warlords-of-draenor-casual-warcraft-player/ https://www.gameogre.com/the-life-of-a-warlords-of-draenor-casual-warcraft-player/#comments Wed, 26 Nov 2014 20:01:06 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/?p=8050 Blizzard recently released an extremely popular expansion to the most-popular-ever MMO game World of Warcraft recently with Warlords of Draenor. So popular it brought the flagship back up to 10 million players from a dip of 7 million just to experience the changes that happened under the hood and in the world of Azeroth. Over […]

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Blizzard recently released an extremely popular expansion to the most-popular-ever MMO game World of Warcraft recently with Warlords of Draenor. So popular it brought the flagship back up to 10 million players from a dip of 7 million just to experience the changes that happened under the hood and in the world of Azeroth.

Over the years, Warcraft has only become more friendly to casual players and worked to deliver a richer, more fulfilling play experience for people with less time to raid every night. Blizzard has managed to this not by building the end-all-be-all MMO to dominate the marketplace, but by borrowing the best practices of other MMOs (and player modders) and implementing them in the game to make the game more accessible and ready to please.

I have been playing in Warlords of Draenor now since the launch and, as an MMO journalist, I am a very casual player. I have a multitude of alts (across more servers that I can count) and this means that I tend to experience content slower than the most aggressive players.

Warlords of Draenor is a storied expansion

Before getting into the nitty-gritty about the expansion it’s worth explaining that Blizzard spent a great deal of time building the world and the story of Draenor. Before the expansion dropped, Blizzard released an amazing series of videos that told the story of each of the Warlords—each video explained in exquisite detail what makes each warlord such a badass, and why they should be respected. This is a savage land, with savage peoples, it’s also an alternate timeline of this shattered-world’s past.

Entering into Draenor itself is a cut scene that reimagines numerous villains of previous expansions and leads the player through a story line that takes them into the brutality of the political and tribal landscape of this land before our time.

This story leads to the milestone of setting up the players Garrison (see below) which is a beach head on the edge of the sea of war crashing against the Dark Portal threatening Azeroth. The quests leading up to the construction of the Garrison feel like a cinematic experience that gets played through, with major actors such as Thrall—and his mighty green thews—speaking about his experience and fears or Khadgar the great mage wielding arcane forces to burn a path.

As Draenor opens up, so does exploration, as with every expansion to WoW Warlords adds a nice chunk of zones to move through. Each one delivers real attention to story, new characters to enjoy, and a great deal of phasing. You’ll find yourself fighting amidst the bones of a titanic cyclops and meeting half-crazed orcs who wear the skulls of their victims like masks.

This is a hero’s journey, but at the same time it’s Thrall’s journey into the past of his people and an exploration of a place he’s never known. I’ve been enjoying Durotan (the land of Durotar is named after him) and his take on the untamed land and its people.

The Garrison

Possibly one of the most interesting ways that Warlords of Draenor changes WoW it is the Garrison.

Garrisons are not-quite-player-housing while at the same time providing a home base and a resource for players to move into Draenor. It seems to combine both house-building elements and a duty-officer system similar to what we’ve seen in Star Trek Online. Players can now collect Followers, NPCs who will do missions for players to gather supplies, XP, gold, and sometimes extremely useful items.

It’s also possible to expand crafting and make it easier to conquer Draenor with a well-equipped and stocked Garrison.

As part of the story, the player’s Garrison provides a central location to return to, a place to recuperate, and it can also provide many of the amenities of a capital city (bank, repairs, etc.) It will also be the place where some new storyline missions come from as it guides the player to do what needs to be done next.

In many ways, the Garrison is better than player housing in WoW because it doesn’t take away from the massively multiplayer aspect of the game while at the same time having a sensible purpose. A land filled with marching armies and terrible enemies? A home base with all the comforts of home and enough cannon and standing warriors to repel them is exactly what I ordered.

Warlords of Draenor is just as accessible and adds new horizons

For the casual player, WoD gives an experience of following the story and becoming part of the war, but it also adds a lot of quality-of-life improvements and even more bars to fill up (thought that pet collection exploded with Battle Pets? Well, now collect Followers.)

The addition of a Reagent tab to the Bank has been an amazing boon. A single click and I got most of my bag space back. It costs a few gold to unlock, but the amount is a pittance compared to how useful a 98-slot Bank tab that will take my reagents out of my inventory happens to be.

Trash items in the inventory are now marked with a little gold coin (making them easy to find and dispose of.)

All those odd toys that we’ve been picking up from all across Pandaria also have a new place now: a Toy bag in the UI. Once learned, you can get rid of them, freeing up bag space, and should you want it back you can pop it back out.

This will most certainly only add to the whole pet-mania. Now players can collect: mounts, pets, toys, and followers.

Talk about a whole new horizon for achievements.

Onwards into Draenor

I have three characters in Draenor, with Garrisons, and one that I’m slowly taking through storied content. It may take me a while, but I’ll get through and so far it’s been a journey filled with all the usual obstacles of a Fantasy world with welcome and interesting companions. With Thrall, Durotan, and others to keep me company I expect that there’s a lot more to offer.

As with all things, I suggest bringing a friend, the quests go faster and the story is just as good.

 

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Virtual Item Spotlight: Intellect Devourer https://www.gameogre.com/virtual-item-spotlight-intellect-devourer/ https://www.gameogre.com/virtual-item-spotlight-intellect-devourer/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:00:31 +0000 http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/?p=8009 The game of Neverwinter Online has a number of item types that could effectively reviewed as part of a virtual item spotlight, but really the Companions fit the best. Everyone gets a Companion, an AI-controlled NPC who fights beside your character, which can be customized to a certain extent. Any given Companion can be upgraded […]

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The game of Neverwinter Online has a number of item types that could effectively reviewed as part of a virtual item spotlight, but really the Companions fit the best. Everyone gets a Companion, an AI-controlled NPC who fights beside your character, which can be customized to a certain extent. Any given Companion can be upgraded with three pieces of equipment and three runestones—as well as raised to a maximum of level 30.

The Intellect Devourer is a very interesting Companion. Ostensively, this brain with legs is a horrifying monster that, once being human, has turned its life-goals to doing good and has chosen to adventure with the character who owns it. It is a striker-type, which means it has a powerful attack and fights fairly aggressively.

The back story for the Devourer is also excellent:

This poor wretch still retains some humanity after its dark transformation by evil sorcery was interrupted before its horrible consummation. Now it strives to do good deeds and honor what it remembers of its former existence.

Aww, isn’t that cute? It strives to do good deeds, even though it’s become a horrifying mockery of humanity and can no longer go back to its former life and holds a quasi-human existence.

Acquisition

The Intellect Devourer companion can obtained as a very rare reward from the Call To Arms: Gate Crashers skirmish. The last time this took place was July 17th to July 21st, 2014 and any future date has not yet been released by Cryptic Studios.

If you did not get one then, you’ll have to buy one from the auction house in Neverwinter Online. The companion runs approximately 200,000 Astral Diamonds. At the current exchange rate to Zen (500 AD per Zen) that’s approximately 400 Zen or about $4.00.

Aesthetics

It’s a brain with legs.

The Intellect Devourer is described as a glistening brain with four, clawed legs. The one in Neverwinter Online is exactly as gruesome as described, although the brain does not glisten so much, the legs thrust out quadrapedal from the cerebellum, and they end in sharp, gristly claws.

As with most companions, the Devourer has four skins available—but sadly they don’t seem very imaginative. Each progressive skin simply changes to a darker hue, but does not add any sort of glisten, psionic glow, trembling brainwaves, or anything all that really says, “Ghoulishly transformed murderbrain.”

intellect-devourer-detailsAbilities and Training

The Intellect Devourer starts with points in Power, Critical Strike, and Armor Penetration and three defensive slots for runestones.

When this companion is in an active slot it provides +2/3/5% to Combat Advantage depending on the rank of the Devourer.

An important thing to note about the Devourer is that it’s a green quality companion, meaning it has a max rank of 20. Massive amounts of Astral Diamonds must be spent to get it up to a purple quality to raise the max to 30. This can make it somewhat costly in the care and feeding aspect.

Its two primary abilities include a mind blast power that appears to fire on a single target inflicting moderate damage, it uses this attack quite often; and a cone-of-effect control ability called mind shock. Mind shock inflicts cone AoE damage on enemies in front of the Devourer and stuns them for 2 seconds. Upon reaching rank 30, mind flay becomes available which upgrades mind shock to a 4 second hold.

The mind blast is nice and provides a fair amount of extra DPS; but the real joy of the Devouer is from the mind shock ability that provides some crowd control.

When the mind shock ability goes off, everything struck (sometimes even bosses) stands in dazed horror, sparkles glittering around their heads, as you continue to hammer away at them. The crowd control from mind shock comes as extremely useful for both solo and group with any class that tends to fight at range as it allows an easy escape.

Even without many runestones, the Devourer is somewhat resilient and does not get killed often. However, the three defensive slots do mean that it can be used to build up some strong defenses, deflection, or increased hitpoints. Getting better firepower out of this critter will need to be done with glyphs and equipment in its wardrobe slots.

The Devourer gets a neck and two waist slots (two belts), which does mean there’s still a lot of chance to outfit it with nice gear to up its damage scores.

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