RIFT beta #2 - "Guardians of the Vigil"

I had a lot of fun during the first RIFT beta event which occurred two weeks ago & I am looking forward to testing the Guardian faction this upcoming weekend. During the first beta I tested out four different classes/soul combinations all past level 10. I also tested out some crafting as well as a bit of PvP in the form of duels. This weekend I will be focusing on testing a few other soul combinations as well as possibly experiencing some raid content. Check out the amazing class/soul system at: www.riftgame.com

RIFT VIP Beta key

The MMO industry has been somewhat stagnant lately for me. Yes there are a lot of things going on with nearly every game (Warhammer RvR packs, World of Warcraft Cataclysm Expansion, etc.) but none of which really excites me....'TIL NOW!  Sure, I might still test out rolling a Worgen Warrior in Cataclysm (I have an unopened copy of the expansion sitting on my shelf awaiting my return) & I may even try out the Skaven in Warhammer Online...heck, I might even be tempted to check out what is new in Aion or Age of Conan but in the long run none of these games truly peak my interest compared with the thought of testing out an entirely new title by the name of RIFT, developed by a relatively unknown company named TRION. Get ready for that to change in the coming months though. I have been watching the game RIFT for quite some time now. In fact I have been watching it ever since it was called "Heroes of Telara". The reason is mainly due to the vast array of class selections that peak my interest (read: drooling) and the incredible looking "Souls" system. I enjoyed multi-classing in DDO where I made a Fighter/Barbarian which was quite fun but with RIFT you can go the extra mile and splash in a third "Soul" leaving the possibilities quite broad in terms of player customization. Needless to say I have watched this games development for quite some time and over the last few weeks when beta was announced I have been scouring the internet in hopes of finding a RIFT VIP beta key.  There were two keys available for the closed beta. One was the RIFT "chance" beta key and the other was the RIFT VIP beta key. When applied to your account the RIFT "chance" key gives you a chance that you will be invited to one or possibly a few of the events. The RIFT VIP beta key guarantees that you will be invited to participate in ALL of the beta events with the first to be held this upcoming Friday, December 3rd, 2010. This first beta test will allow beta testers to experience levels 1-20 and also includes some nice perks for completing some in-game requirements including the chance at winning a very nice NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card.

Acquiring a "chance" key took me a little bit of googling & was quickly applied to my account. Afterall, a chance at beta is a lot better then no chance at beta. So began my hunt for a VIP key to ensure that I would be included in all of the beta events. After becoming an active member of the RIFT forums to my surprise I was offered a VIP key sent to my private message box within a few days of posting & creating a few connections. Incredible! Somehow I have slyly made my way into ALL beta events and I couldn't be more excited.

So here I am currently downloading the client & I simply cannot wait to test out RIFT two days from this post. In my opinion & many others this game is currently the industries hidden gem RIFT is a hidden gem (Massively)  & I will be there from the beginning assisting in it's development to launch.

I will be sure to update my blog in the coming weeks with bits of information. As you know when beta testing you are required to sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) so I will obviously have to keep my tongue sealed on certain things so that I don't have my privileges revoked but I will do my best to share things that do not break my agreement.

PvP videos Old & New

I have been a fan of PvP for many years now & have created many videos outlining my trials & tribulations engaging in combat with other people across the world. To me it has become a new-age version of multiplayer chess where a collection of minds compete using the tool sets provided to them. Sure some would say that a chess game is completely fair from the start where each player has the exact artillery to offend & defend with versus as an MMO which would have advantages & disadvantages due to gear & class imbalances. I loosely defend my comparison by saying that on the launch day of any MMO everybody starts out of the gate with choices that can either cripple or advance them to success. To put it in perspective, if you joined a chess match halfway through the game I can assure you that a fair portion of your army would be defeated & that it would be your responsibility to outsmart your opponent against all odds. Also, a majority of your opponents are not constantly progressing either. Picture a million chess tables where players are constantly joining late or getting up & leaving the table while their opponents continue playing. So although PvP is typically an imbalanced game I offer that each player has the opportunity to compete if they are willing to figure out how & why others are successful. Though I can enjoy PvE experiences quite a bit I tend to spend most of my time in the MMO world participating in PvP due to the unpredictable nature of playing against real human beings & I thought I would drop off all of my past videos here. Though I have been involved with the PvP systems in many MMO games I have created most of my videos during my experiences in World of Warcraft as their PvP system has always provided countless hours of fun. I did however create one Warhammer Online video which you can see below. You can find the full collection of my gaming videos at my youtube channel: www.youtube.com/playerversusplayer

Be sure to watch in HD either from this page or as larger HD videos directly from the youtube channel. For this blog entry I will start with my newest video & progress down to my older videos:

"Knight of the Living Dead" lvl 70-79 World of Warcraft Battlegrounds (Wotlk)
featuring Nightkeeper - Blood Spec Death Knight


"Feral Shifter" lvl 30-39 World of Warcraft Battlegrounds (Wotlk)
featuring Anxient - Feral Spec Cat Druid


"Master Assassin" Tier 2 Warhammer Online Scenarios & World PvP
featuring Acid - Skirmish Spec Shadow Warrior


"Deadly Vending Machine" lvl 70 World of Warcraft Battlegrounds (Burning Crusade)
featuring Hologram - Arcane/Fire Spec Mage


"Soul of Fire" lvl 30-39 World of Warcraft Battlegrounds (Burning Crusade)
featuring Hologram - Fire Spec Mage

The Laws of the Jungle (PvP servers VS. PvE servers)

The following article was taken from a gaming forum where the poster credited these words to an old thread from yet another gaming forum from several years back.  Basically I am saying that the original writer remains a mystery.  I definitely agree with many of the points regarding the differences of PvE servers vs. PvP servers & felt that this great post should be documented for future generations. Enjoy!

"This is going to be long, opinionated, and blunt, but I've been reading a few too many posts from people who don't seem to understand what it is that they got themselves into and are attempting to "carebear" the game to suit their particular idea of what "fair" PvP is. This is coming from a long-time PvP player, but by no means am I claiming to be an expert on game design or marketing. I'm just a hardcore player who understands what real PvP is. Take my words for what they are or ignore them.

Now then, who I am: I started my gaming life by playing text only MUDs (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD ) in the 90s and played UO as my first graphical MUD. I played EQ1 on Rallos Zek back when it was EQ's only "red" server. I played Star Wars Galaxies pvp as a per CU Jedi and lost my character forever when he died. I played L2 on and off for a while until Eq2 pvp caught my attention. I was mediocre at best, hardly a feared PKer, but I learned to survive and enjoyed what I played, no matter if I was outmatched or not. I understood what I was playing.

          So let's get this started with the fundamental laws of the jungle. 

Law of the Jungle #1: You are going to die.

There's no getting out of it. You did not come here to be safe. You were safe before. Now, those strawberry fields of treasure and experience are crawling with cutthroats who know where you used to go, what you used to do, what you used to seek there, and how to use this knowledge to catch you and inflict death on you. They aren't going to wait for you to get ready. They aren't going to play fair. They aren't going to care if a particular move or tactic is too devastating if they catch you with it. Your only way around it is to learn them- learn where they are, learn what they're after, learn what they're going to do, and prepare yourself ahead of time. And no matter how well-prepared you are for what's out there- you are still going to die. There is no way out of Law #1. Whether it's at the hands of someone at the top picking you off just because you're there, whether it's a group of players lower than you who gang up and tear you apart, whether it's an even-con, similar class who just happens to get that last shot in before you, whether it's some punk who sucker-punches you right after a tough fight, or whether it's someone whom you thought had no chance in hell who happens to get lucky, you're going to be killed. If this bothers you, you made a mistake.

Law of the Jungle #2: This isn't a PvE server

You can't play the same game you played when they weren't after you. The skill and tactics that were good enough before because of its effectiveness against the mindless MOBs isn't worth squat- you have to outfit yourself with your most dreaded foes in mind being actual players who are out to kill you. You can't just trot over to your favorite hunting grounds to knock out that quest anymore and hope for the best. They know that those spots attract people who still think that they're playing the same game, and they will be waiting for you. (See Law #1) You have to forget everything you learned on the PvE servers, and be prepared to learn it all over again. There are new rules for how to get a level. There are new rules for where to hunt, and there are new rules for which routes to take through the lands. If it's something that many people used to do or where many people used to go, it is now bait that will lead many people to their deaths. If you thought that you were going to play the same route you played before on PvE except that you can kill people now, you made a mistake.

Law of the Jungle #3: Cover your rear

All players have advantages in certain situations. If you find yourself in one of these situations and you aren't the player in question, see Law #1. So, such-and-such can take you down solo if they get the jump on you, if all they do is X and Y? Well, yes. That's what they do, and you were there. The essence of pvp is that all players have advantages and weaknesses, and the way you overcome these weaknesses is by grouping with someone who can complement them. You're not here to run around solo and have a fair, balanced even 1v1 match against everyone you meet. That's not PvP, that's dueling. Running around alone isn't something you have the right to do. This is not, nor should it be, a game where you always stand a fair chance. There's more to PvP than who has what nuke or how many hitpoints or what dps rate is. PvP is about knowing everything you can do and how it works, not just what numbers popped up when you fought mobs before. If you can't fight them, learn how to. If you can't learn and expect others to change everything around to suit you, you made a mistake. Learn, Adapt, and Grow; if you can't do that then you're not cut out for this.

Law of the Jungle #4: Success is measured by survival

Any idiot can PK another, that doesn't make them skilled. Your skill isn't determined by how many people of what level you can take on. And the little punk who ran away, or avoided you altogether, he's not a coward, he's smart. Just because you pvp someone doesn't mean you have the right to kill them. You have to earn that kill. If they get away, they survived. If they fight back too hard and you're outmatched, sticking around and letting them have you isn't brave or honorable, it's stupid. Make them earn it! If you can get away, you deserved to. If you can't out-damage them because they are jumping around and dodging your attacks, it's not unfair- they're just thinking ahead of you. Don't lower your defenses just because you think that extra bit of dps that you used to get against mobs is going to turn the tide- because you're thinking in terms of a kill you haven't earned yet and not thinking with survival in mind. It takes time, patience, and smarts to figure out all the little tricks, tactics, and moves that help you survive in PvP. It's not about killing- it's about depriving your enemy of the kill. If this isn't your primary thought when planning every last detail of your character , see Law #1. You aren't a good PvPer because of who you fight and which fights you win, you are a good PvPer depending on your overall level of preparation and how many times you can count that that preparation saves your rear.

Law of the Jungle #5: You are never going to be a God

Too many people have those cute little adolescent fantasies about being a powerful, unstoppable killing machine with the title of "Overlord" while wielding the shiniest, largest and most phallic weapon in the universe and laying out every single foe you happen to encounter through sheer invincibility. It ain't gonna happen- ever. (See Law #1) PvP isn't for people who like to play single-player games in godmode. You didn't come here to be godlike, you came here to embrace mortality. You aren't just here to kill other players- you came here to give them permission to kill you, to utilize advantages over you, to take advantage of your weaknesses, to leave you broken and bleeding while they dance on your corpse. If you came here planning on becoming the all-powerful king of the hill that no one can topple, you made a mistake. Coming here means the players are going to be after you more than ever. You will never be safe again. The safe servers are still where you left them.

Law of the Jungle #6: It's still just a game

Playing on a PvP server doesn't take supreme courage or large testicles. It doesn't take an iron will, or an asbestos stomach. It doesn't make you a man. You're still a geek just like the rest of us, it's just a lot more difficult. If it's too hard, too frustrating, too unfair, too immature, too cutthroat, too inconvenient, or if you're just not that good at it or if you think that so-and-so shouldn't be doing such-and-such because it "ruins" your fun, then it's not for you. You're here if you enjoy what you're playing. PvP is what it is. It's MEAN. And if someone PKs you and dances on your corpse while you are on your way to turn in a quest, or whatever else it may be that spoiled your plans, well, you either suck it up and keep playing or you're on the wrong server. It's only "griefing" if you let it give you grief. If you can't laugh it off, you're the problem. If you're not having fun, you made a mistake. There is no shame in playing on the PvE servers if that is more your cup of tea, we're all here to play games, and the game you play isn't a reflection on your status as a human being. However, PvP is a different game. If you could go live in a beach house with central air and a plasma-screen TV for the same price, why would you move into a shack with no plumbing or power and complain about the leak in the roof? You have to want to live in this shack. Don't expect them to turn it into a Carebear resort, they've already built those for you. (PvE servers)

There is only one thing that should be on your mind when you think about all the problems with PvP. The final, and truest Law of the Jungle:

Law of the Jungle #7:

You can't spell slaughter without laughter."

World of Warcraft Battleground Bots

World of Warcraft Battleground Bots - How to identify bots & how they affect stealth classes:

direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU6ntX7Dar4

We created this video to outline the current state of World of Warcraft Battlegrounds. Bots have bypassed the Warden system in place by WoW and are running rampant. It seems that people don't seem to understand just how complex bots have become so in this video I give some key identifiers to help you know the difference between a bot and a real player. I also outline how some of the bots that auto-follow teammates can severely affect the gameplay of stealth classes. I hope this video convinces the community to understand just how bad the problem is right now & urges the developers at Blizzard to take this issue seriously. Personally I don't enjoy investing time in developing characters while being passed in levels by botting software. On top of that, half of my battlegrounds don't feel like an MMO experience anymore. They are more like a mix of humans versus bots. If I want PvE in Warcraft there are far more challenging experiences available compared to these repetitious, predictable BG bots. I play the Battlegrounds for PvP and this is not what the current state of World of Warcraft is offering in Battlegrounds.

Feel free to read the thread that I had started on the official forums:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24702152833&sid=1
(23 pages of discussion - 443 posts)

Unfortunately after 23 pages of discussion from a concerned community Blizzard decided to lock the thread with no comment or explanation. In my opinion this was a sad day in the gaming world because this somewhat proves to the community that they would rather sweep the evidence under the carpet instead of face the problem directly. The conversation was positive & held many creative suggestions to assist Blizzard in the fight but instead of addressing the 23 page (443 posts) thread they locked it with no explanation. This leaves me under the impression that Blizzard is no longer concerned with the fight for gaming integrity because after everything is said and done these botters are paying a subscription fee. So it is either a financial decision to allow these gaming practices or they simply just don't know how to battle the problem anymore.

In these modern times these botting/exploiting issues are a very common problem in the MMO gaming world & I am really praying that a company steps up to the plate and truly battles these issues vigorously & relentlessly. The lackluster approach to this issue by major gaming companies is making the trend more and more common. With no repercussions in sight I am noticing that the "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality in regards to botting & exploiting is spreading at an uncontrollable rate.