WAR tops 750k but still feels a bit empty

According to 1up.com and a number of other sites, warhammer has topped 750,000 users since it’s release on Sept. 18, 2008. The game managed to pull off the initial 500k subscribers in its first week but since then had slowed down in sales. Still my medium average population server (Magnus), feels very empty at times. The biggest RVR for capturing a keep had a total of 25 people each side. It was an excellent experience as you and four other guys who are still alive watch 25 destruction players charge your keep, you just can’t help yourself and not yell “This is Where we FIght! This is where they DIE!!” The coolest part was the players beside you didnot yell ‘dork!’ – or just start ripping into a dude for getting carried away in the game like in they do in WoW - instead they roared, “HAAAOOOHH!!” just like in 300. The game is truly immersive even at this small scale. There is only one word that describes RVR in this game and that is “Glorious.” I find myself sometimes not falling back on my dwarf Ironbreaker simply because it would be a dishonorable act.

Although i have still not figured out how construct a siege weapon. But i saw one player create a burning oil cauldron and WOW that was kick ass. Those siege equipment can put the H in hurt at lower Tiers. Can’t wait to see what happens in Tier 3.

Regardless of how low the population is, RVR is still pretty fun. What’s really hurting because of the low population are the Public Quests. You can farm influence by grinding through stage I and IIs but for Stage III+ nearly all PQs need a full group and if you want the kickass drops quickly you’ll have to do Stage III. Never the less the influence rewards are sometimes worth the grind. They are just a slap in the face when a rare item, twice as powerful, drops in your first scenario of the day right after you spent 3 hours grinding influence.

The good thing about the few people that are playing the game is that they are all mature decent people, who don’t mind helping you or start making fun of you whenever you make a grammatical or spelling error in chat. The players, for now, are pretty mature and laid back and gives WAR a warm fun experience.

However, the game still needs atleast another 500k subscribers before becoming a truly exceptional game.

I Hate THEM Fundamentalist for delaying LBP!!!! And I’m Muslim

Apparently Little Big Planet was delayed because one of the background tracks contained verses from the Qu’ran. Since I am Muslim, I found this to be really kickass. Finally some positive publicity for a religion marred with image of exploding psychopaths. What better way to integrate into the global society than through means of an ever-growing industry. BUT NOOOO!!!! Them psycho-extra-crazy-longbearded nutcases had to raise hell and get the game delayed. The official reason given by Sony is listed below, courtesy of IGN.com

During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused.

Little Big Planet delayed, awwww…

I love hardcore action games. I like things blowing up, but i prefer seeing them get ripped to pieces in a blazing storm of axes and swords that leaves behind a river of blood made from hordes upon hordes of enemy foolish enough to stand in your way. So even I was surprised when i found myself actually looking forward to Little Big Planet, I mean come on!!! look at these…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Snake Sackboy sent a coil of pleasant breeze into my raging bloodthirsty heart, and replaced the burning desire for death and destruction with hope of jumping around in a cartoonic recreation of Shadow Moses Island from Metal Gear Solid 1 and 4.

I was looking forward to getting the game until I read this on Ign.com.

Apparently the game has been delayed to Oct 27 from the original Oct 24 release, not a big shift but still a kick in the you-know-what. The game has so much potential, the game-play is best described as Mario with the player being in-charge of what the level going to look or what even Mario is going to look like. Simple interaction functions and easy jump and timing mechanics make this game easy enough for anyone to pick and learn. The challenge for hardcore gamers comes in the form of user generated content where the levels can be customized to range from difficult to outright, mad shit, rip your hair off, make you want to smash your remote and TV, insane. The the most slick thing about this user generated content is that it can shared with anyone with a Playstation 3. That means the game-play will only end when the numerous millions of PS3 owners have run out of creative ideas for this game.

Regardless of its simple and childish theme, this game will win hearts of everyone who gives it a shot. I am glad that it has been delayed only by a few days.

Thoughts on First Tier RVR in warhammer online

Let me start of by describing my characters that i have created on warhammer online. The first is a level 14 warrior priest with who I am trying to have the full warhammer experience, that is RVR, PQ, dungeons, crafting, questing and scenarios. Then there is the rank 10 Bright wizard with who I just like burning kids in scenarios and RVR (I really love pvp and so i love this game). And then i have a Dwarf ironbreaker with who I am experiencing scenarios, PQs and questing along with my friend’s Engineer.

That said, i have experience first tier RVR thrice over. However this experience has severely been limited because of the low population of our server. The only scenario that pops up is Nordenwatch; I have probably played Khaine’s Embrace once and watched my roomate play Gates of Ekrund. I don’t know whether this is a result of this low population or that people don’t like the other two scenarios. The one time I did play Khaine’s Embrace, I truly enjoyed it because as soon as one team captures both altar’s, they have 10sec to get as much distance as they can or be killed in this massive burning shock wave unleashed by the fury of Khaine. My favorite thing to do is to ensnare as many people as i can with my Ironbreaker, slowing them down just enough that when Khaine unleashes his fury I can take them down with me.

The Warhammer moment that killed my WoW addiction.

The following transpired in actual gameplay, during an Empire vs. Chaos tier one scenario. What you are about to read is 80% fact and 5% exaggerated truth, 15% dramatization and was only possible because of the collision detection system in WAR.

And so they stood side by side, the human Warrior priest and the Dwarven Ironbreaker, on a bridge three breast wide.

The priest was an avatar of Sigmar’s fury, reigning righteous vengeance for all those who defile the sanctity of the Empire. And yet scion of his mercy, bring new strenght to the innocent and the courageous.

The dwarf was a mountain given life, clad in heaviest armor forged in the belly of the mountain hold Ekurnd, it would take the full strength of the hell to move him.

And indeed it was the full fury of hell that stood in front of them. Mighty Chosen warriors summoned dark gifts upon themselves and blessed their oversized armor and weapons with malign powers. Marauders called upon their dark god and had their prayers answered with gifts from the Changer of Ways, their Lord Tzeentch. Their arms twisted and turned mutating into demonic pincers and claws, foul be the blessings of the Raven God. Zealots called down curses and Magus summoned foul demons. The followers Tzeentch even brought allies, massive Black Orcs, sadistic Dark elves and their Disciples of Khaine, God of Murder.

Behind the two heroes stood a High elf Archmage, deep in concentration, fine tuning the Winds of Magic so that he may mold into life giving spells. A dwarven rune priest stood beside the elf, carving runes into stones creating ones that would protect the two heroes who will hold the forces of destruction at the bridge.

Both sides prepared, both sides calculated, both sides waited. The Dwarf turned to human, raised his axe and said “You honor the ancient bond of friendship between dwarf and men and I honor you by declaring you my Oathfriend. Wretched is the fate of he who strikes me, far worse is the fate of he who strikes you.”

“The strength of Sigmar will flow through the both of us. By His grace we will do to them what an apprentice blacksmith does to a sword” the Warrior priest replied cracking a small smile.

“Aye lad! For Grimnir!”

“For Sigmar!”

Warhammer Online: Was it worth it?

After numerous failed attempts to play WAR – emulators, playstation 3 to downright wiping my MacBook Pro clean of everything – i discovered the only way to play this game at its full potential is by installing Leopard and then install windows. I managed to get leopard from my University Bookstore at a student’s price of $69, also i had a free copy of Windows Xp. Along with the first month’s subscription, it cost me around say a head-stompin, bone-breaking, wallet-burning, heart-pounding, soul-crushing price of $134, for one game.

So was it worth it?

It has only been four days since I started playing the game and i must say that I absolutely LOVE it. Lets just say the past four days have been a glorious whirlwind of hammers, drunken dwarves, stupid goblins, crazy squigs being smashed together in the brutal storm that is Realm vs Realm (also known as PvP on steroids), all in the hopes of acquiring enough bragging rights to make a little girl cry.