Left 4 Dead 2

Alright, since I do not want to learn my new chinese characters I decided to give you an overview of my exp so far with the game!
First of all: It ROCKS! Alright, I used to say that about Aion as well and didnt like it that much after endless sessions of grinding at all, but L4D2 is just awesome!!
If you were a fan of the first L4D you will for sure love the 2nd one since it has a lot more weapons (like the Ak-47, nice sniper guns and some Tactical Shotguns just to mention a few) and also introduced the melee weapons! So my first question was: Ta fuck, I am play a shooter, why should I use a katana, guitar or chainsaw to fight those zombies? Answer is easy: Best to use those low range weapons when a boomer got you and the horde is coming for you! Just swing your weapon all the time and you wont get and or at least little dmg!! Great idea!
But of cause the most interesting new features are the new zombies. There are 3 of them called Charger, Jockey and Spitter!
First the charger: He looks like an overgrown 14 year old boy who made too often use of his right hand in special moments. Left hand tiny and weak, right hand overgrown muscle "weapon" which he uses to grap a survivor while charging at them (Yeah, thats where the name comes from) and dragging them away of the other survivors! He does incredible amount of dmg once he took one victim with him and bouncing it constantly on the ground! Also the charger can be used tactically since he gives all survivors which stand in his way a body check knocking them on the ground. Quite useful in stressful moments! But all those with all those benefits there is of cause a disadvantage: Once you started the to charge your toon runs just straight and if you fail to grap one survivor because your aim wasnt good enough you are an easy victim for the bullets of the other team.
Then there is the Jockey. I am quite indifferent to that zombie! In some moments he can be great in others he is just useless. But first to explain his attack! That little creepy zombie runs up close to a survivor and jumps on his/her back which makes you able to "control" the victims movement and dealing constant dmg. So it is great fun to lead it into fire or let it fall out of the window or a cliff! Bad moments are when the survivors are walking in "teamwalk" so none of them is alone or stays behind. Then it is almost impossible to jump on one.
At last there is the Spitter! She looks like a 12 year old, very VERY ugly girl and spits toxic out of her mouth! I have to admit: That is my totally favourite zombie of all!! Because best idea to spit at is in rooms where the survivors have to go through or cant get out too fast! So you deal a great amount of dmg for about 15 seconds! And the best of all, the longer your victims stand in your "spit" the more dmg they get. Also great idea is: If one of the survivors is already knocked out and laying on the ground and on of the others is trying the poor devil up: Spit on them and you got 2 persons knocked out!! :D
Of cause there are lots of nice combinations now: first use the good old boomer in a closed room with all survivors in it. Then spit in the room for dot dmg since they cant get out too fast with all the horde around them and at last grap one with a jockey and lead them back in the spit for imber dmg!! Just love such moments!!

Paranormal Activity Part 2

So I saw "Paranormal Activity" with my girlfriend and I have to admit it wasnt that bad. Some quite nice ideas that movie got like the onewith the camcorder which makes the audience to a silent observer in the night while the actors are sleeping and not recognizing the "Activities" they have to suffer!
Still the idea of "the whole movie is a home video and not a movie for cinema" was a blast when "Blair Witch Project" came out and is not that smashing twice and so "Paranormal Activity" is not really new if it comes to that point.
Also the real nice moments of the movie where shown already in the trailer...what really sucked in my opinion. Here the is the link to the tailer on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

All in all id say: If you want to see an entertaining movie with some scary moments go and watch it yourself...but if you expect some hard horror better see something else!

Paranormal Activity

Unexpected things happen! And I am glad about that! I am talking about the new horror movie "Paranormal Activity"!

Since High budget movies pumped up with special effects like a boomer with vomit often forget about a nice story or a red line to follow so I am quite happy to see that low budget movies like "Paranormal Activity" can break out of the Hollywood mainstream and show those weirdos called Spielberg or Emmerich that it isnt all about the money or so called "stars". (Which most times just look nice but act like a troll trying to imitate a ratonga)
Or take a look at the 2012 movie...I mean I hate the trailer already...I am really fet up with those earthshaking -breaking, everything is destroyed, burning and exploding bullcrap of a movie without any logic nor sense!

By the way: Isnt it insane that "Paranormal Activity" just cost about 12.000 $ (what is around € 10.000)? You got to know that the producer earned so far around 104.000 $ / € 70.000!! And the movie didnt come out in EU so far!
Hell yeah, I got loads of ideas to come up with for a nice Horror movie!! Damn...

Anyway, so far I have just heard good things about that movie and since Horror is exactly my thing if it come to movies I cant wait to watch it!
I am remembering all the other great low budget movies like "Saw I" or "Blair Witch Project" and get almost horny! ;)

Is this the end?

I am quite sick of Aion at the moment! Why? Well, it is just grinding, grinding and grinding again. The quests are almost always the same. There are like 2 categories: Quest type one is (what a suprise) grinding. Quest type two is like running, flying and even teleporting around endless ways just to end up at the NPC who gave me the quest task. That just sucks. And if I once run out of quest I have to...huh, would anybody like to guess? Yeah, grind! It just seems a bit dull to me.
I saw about 5 Elyos which got killed by the hungry horde of Asmodian fellows in seconds...I went through 2 rifts (what was a journey itself to find them) yet and ended up in way to high elite mobs and got killed by the hungry horde myself.
So I am crawling up my way till 25 hoping that PvP in Abyss might be a bit of fun. It better is a blast otherwise I will chancel my account and go back to Guild Wars. As well a dull game but at least its for free.

Although I am quite sad about my feelings about Aion since it has so much to offer!
I really like the flying around feature with my wings! Still that feature should be doable in more areas not only those few I recognized yet. Well, gliding is always possible but gliding isnt flying to me.
Also the great class balance is honourable I think! Every class got its weakness but also its very own strength. Havent seen such a great balance in any other MMORPG yet.
As well I really like the character customization! One can really create some monsters out of the great looking toons!
That brings me to the graphics! I just love it! So many details which can be found! Sparkling blossoms, funny looking foes, the great looking sky and much more!! Still there could be more done with the graphics. Especially the armour should be looking more different. Like in EQ 2 where almost every armour looks different and one could not find a toon looking the same because of the different cloths one is wearing. Plate looks like any other plate of the same level in Aion. Maybe the one is more greenish as the other but still little difference.
And if it comes to quests I already told you my opinion.

So, hopefully the PvP is great...otherwise my Templar Hammerfall will never see the little light of Asmodia again...

The Secret World

So I checked my mailbox and got a nice newsletter of FunCom (Age of Conan). I dont read such things usually but by accident I clicked on it and I was surpised:

FunCom is about to create a new MMORPG called "The Secret World" (http://www.darkdaysarecoming.com/?utm_id=478&activate=PT1RYnZObUxzbFdZdFIzYm9CRU40Y25iaGxtY3Z4bVo,). Quite cool feature of the newsletter: A facebook-like-quiz which tells you what secret power (Templars, Iluminati or Dragon) fits best to you! Quite liked that! (I am a Templar a member of the Templars by the way)
After I finished the quiz I had access to the homepage of the game.

Quite interesting facts I found there like
- no classes or levels.
- real world areas such as NYC, London and many more
- players are able to customize their characters absolutely free (head that quite often the last few games)
- PvP is a must these days so as well in that game
- absolute freedom which weapon one want to wield (shotgun, pistol, swords, magic and so on)
- next gen graphics! Check out the screenshots - looks damn nice!!
- no fantasy world or sci fi crap...seems like that kind of "apocalypse" world people are asking for!

I am quite looking forward to get more infos about the game! Seems as if that game could finally be one step ahead of those "wanna be like WoW games" which annoy me so much!

Mixed stuff

Since the last few levels I am quite struggling with the hardcore grinding quests so I thought I'll give the sorcerer a try to first check out if the class is any good and second if the templar is just that slow in killing mobs.

My sorcerer is just level 12 so I am really not able to answer my second question yet but honestly I like the finger wiggling bastard with his bolts of fire and amazing roots! Soloing against one mob is up to now very easy still I am not good enough for 2 mobs the same time because I panic most times and target the wrong mob. But it is definitely doable for more experienced player than me.
So I will for sure stick to that class at least till level 20! Till the grinding begins again I guess...

And here are my competition screenshots Toothy! Got some really crazy toons mate!! Hope you like them! Inbreeding ftw! ;)

Change

Since Gordon wrote in his latest article about the topic "raids" on his blog http://networkedblogs.com/p13935605 and the fundamentally change ("Change - I can't believe in") one has to face in a MMORPG in high end level I have to admit that this is absolutely true!

I recognized the problem especially in WoW. People I had to group with were totally unable to lead a group, act as a group or even stay long enough in one to complete a quest. Although WoW has so many group instances even in lower levels people just seem not to be willed to group with others.
Why could that be?

My opinion is that players just dont want to spent their time with the problems others. Groups are just a nice and (most important) faster way to get MY quest done! Others need my dps/healing/tanking for their quest although I am already done with mine...pfff who cares about them? I have to hand in mine and get my exp!
"What, killing Black Claw High Priests because just one of my group needs them? No time for that stuff, dude." *Dude-got-kicked-out-of-group*

I guess people just want to grind as fast to high level as they can! And MMORPGs of the latest generation are quite suitable for that. Kill 10 rats -> get a lot of exp. Kill 10 shadow wolves -> get even more exp!! Kill 10 fire beetle -> welcome to next level!! Cant find any rats or wolves? No problem just press "locate" and games shows you the direction! Of cause you can kill them on your own!
Back in the old times of Everquest I had to spend weeks in Oasis to get one bubble of exp out of, ah I cant remember, 20 bubbles for one level. There was no locate system, you actually had to read (oh my god, yes, READ) the text of the quest npc to get the slightest clue where to go...
I even know a Bard in EverQuest who managed it to reach level 14 after 2 years constantly playing! Still it was fun for that person!

Back in the old times of Everquest one had to wait at a group which was camping an orc camp to get a spot in it!! Hell, I waited for hours just to get my spot in the group while I was jumping around in the green grass hoping somebody leaves group to get at least some exp. And most of the time it was waiting again for the respawn after you were lucky enough to be allowed to join!

I am not saying that this was better or worse than the system of today but it was for sure more time consuming.
Not like fastfood -> fast done but feels strange in the belly.
And yes, of cause I prefer those fastfood mmorpgs of today more than the old once!
Because:
Who has time/will to do such waitings orgies in his free time?

Point is: people want action! They want fun as fast as possible! There is no space anymore (as it seems) to create a nice roleplaying character and interact in "strange" lines like "I am the royal paladin of the glorious city of Rivervale! Tell me stranger, do you have business to do in that area? I for myself need to kill those nasty bastards known as the gnolls! They attacked the royal family during a hunting session! Now they shall pay with their death!"
Unfortunately nobody but geeks do so since one can say instead "U need gnolls? yes?" *Invite*.

The same problem I see with raids! Raid used to be VERY time consuming like everything in the old mmorpgs! I know people who just camped the respawn place raid monster for weeks! I am not joking! There was a timetable for the whole guild when person x had to camp and when person y had to take over the camping! Most of the time the raid was an epic failure and all the waiting was for nothing! But that was why raiders were those rockstars like "Longasc" said on Gordons blog! It was because of the time such raids stole! Because it took more than a stack of potions and a person who shouted - 50 dkp on Vent!
Raiders were perfectly organized! People met outside of game in real life just to talk about the next raid mob, how to take it down, what would be the best gear and such stuff!
A guild was a platform of socializing!

But back to the main topic.
As I already said: People want to have FUN in games. Thats why they play that game. Some define FUN differently. Some like to raid some not! Others love groups - others just want to be high end level as fast as possible! And again some others love to explore the world and create endless alts...
But as always in life it is damn had to create a game for all of those individuals. And since it is all about the money the creators of mmorpgs want there cant be the perfect version of a game for all of us.

Ups and Downs in Aion

Playing Aion quite regularly the last few days I hit level 19 yesterday and finally gave that Black Claw Tribe a slab! I also destroyed the "Starga..." oops sorry I mean the Gate to the Abyss (what was a quite rough looking area - liked that) and am now out of Altgard. I had to kill bosses, collect bones or what ever and deliver those things long distances just to recognize the person to whom I spoke first is also the last person to hand in the quest. I had to grind through some Pokemon like looking monsters and catched em all. Also there where some group quests which I really enjoyed since I ran most of the time alone around in Altgard areas. Most of the time was real fun but
still there are some points I am missing.

I haven't seen any dungeon so far. Now zone under earth which belongs to a certain race like Black Burrow belonged to the gnolls in Everquest 2. A zone where I am the intruder, where I can just slaughter mindlessly alone or with a group. Would be nice!
Also there is no instance so far till level 19! No zone with some boss monsters which drop certain gear what one could farm with a group. I am thinking about zones like "Ruins of Varson" and "Castle Mistelmoor" in Everquest 2 or "Lower Guk" in Everquest 1! That was a point I really liked about World of Warcraft! First instance was doable at level 12-14! Very nice quest with sweet gear drops!
I really hope that Aion gives me some instances at the next few levels! Would be necessary to be honest!

As well I miss the freedom in Aion! In any other MMORPG I played so far (From Everquest 1 to Asherons Call to Everquest 2 and Age of Conan till World of Warcraft) I could decide where I want to go along! Where I want to hunt! Aion is quite similar to Guild Wars in that certain point. (Or to Dungeon Siege) Most of the time one is walking/flying in a Canyon to the left and the right are mountains where one cant get up and one is forced to walk in that Canyon...boooooring!! What I would love to see are huge areas (like the Commonlands or the Barrens) where I can chose the direction I would like to go. And not just forward or backwards.

Any ways: Still I love Aion! Especially since I killed my first Elyos yesterday!!
But now I need to get the hell out of my place to study chinese...I am planing to get my own troop of chinese farmers in Aion since it is so easy these days! ;)

PS: Picture one shows my Titan like Templar! Level 19 gear!
Picture two isn't a Vampire! This is my Cleric of fear in her Abyss adventure!

Level 17 Gear

Thats how a level 17 Templar should look like! ;)

Group Tanking

So I hit level 17 today and I had to face the challenge of the real group quests in the story line!
Till to that certain quests against elite mobs I had no trouble to complete all quests solo even 3-4 levels higher than my current level was.
But elite mobs are of cause not ment to be soloed so after the first try I ran ungracefully away and had after seconds a nice lovely train of mobs behind me! (check that article for further informations to trains http://networkedblogs.com/p13368441)
But since all people on the server are quite in my level range I had not much trouble to find a group. Finally I had the chance to learn how to group tank! Yay! And I assume I did quite well since no one died and I hold aggro very well!! Even with more mobs same time! The taunting spells have a rather short recast time so it isnt that difficult! Just the usual problem with people not attacking the same mob but thats an other story!
So I was surprised again what a good job NCsoft made on the taunting! Great again!

Priest vs Templar

I created a priest on the Kahrun server! Called Albea and is a horrible looking witch. I am quite interested in healing classes since I usually play them in any mmorpg so I thought it might be nice to try that class as well in Aion.

Surprisingly combative they are (with spells and weapon) plus (even in low levels) nice healing spells. Even healing over time at level 5. (If I remember right). Also they got good buffs! So I never died yet not even close without ever being in a hurry! I guess I will go down with the Chanter since that class seems to be smoother to solo.

As well I leveled my Templar. Now, since I got my new spells at level 13 I really see the positive aspects of that tower of terror if it comes to tanking! I got a new shieldbash, upgrades to my dmg strikes and even a healing spell!! Just awesome! Heals me for 25% of my health, gives a HP plus a period of time and powers up my regeneration! What better could happen to a tank?!
I am really looking forward to level that toon. It seems that I will change my happing of being an altaholic to a mainiac! ;)

All in all I can tell that NCsoft made a very good job with the classes.

Templar

Alrighty.

After some hours I made it finally to my next class choice in Aion! As a warrior I could chose between the Gladiator and the Templar.
The Gladiator (http://aion.ign.com/wiki/Aion_Classes_Gladiator) seems to be the damage dealing tank. Like the berserker in Everquest 2 he is more offensive than the Templar and is also able to deal a lot of damage to more targets at the same time.
The Templar is the counterpart (http://aion.ign.com/wiki/Aion_Classes_Templar ) The typical tank as I would say. More defence skills and even healing spells and buffs make him to be the raids first joice as maintank and perfect meatshield.

So far I can tell you that I use a sword and of course a shield. By the way: Aion is the first mmorpg where you can see the effect of a shield. That means your toon holds the shield in front of its body to protect itself! Quite nice!
As a Templar I can use my shield as a "weapon" for stuns/dazes shieldrushes and knock-downs. I for sure deal less damage with the Templar compared to the Gladiator but I can handle 2-3 mobs same level quite easily. And I like the fact that Templars can improve their flight speed and airtime! (Not yet at level 11 but with higher levels)

Talking about flying: My chickenwings are just looking great and I really love to fly around and explore the places from high up in the air! It is even nice to take shortcuts from one npc to an other. Great idea and works fine!

Oh and I am so glad that I chose Kahrun server! No waiting time so far before logging into game! Although I got kicked out during the prime time - still no waiting! 2 thumbs up!

I also created an alt already...a priest on Castor server named Hammerfaust (but I can hardly play him because of the waiting) and a mage on Kahrun named Flameheart. Cant tell anything about the classes yet - no experience.

Aion

So I got Aion yesterday.

First of all: It is great!!

Alright. Installing and getting an account wasnt that difficult, patching worked fine for me. So I was ready to play after about 1 hour doing all the boring business.
Intro video was just awesome and really made me excited!! Nice story and great graphic! Quite catchy. But still I wasnt sure if to like it already or not but then I had to create my...
...character!! And I was just overwhelmed by all the tools and choices one has!!! I think like 37 (or more!!) different faces!! Almost as many beards, eyes, noses, mouths, ears and so on!! That is so great! Plus you can make your toon really big or small like a gnome!! A lot of different colours for your skin - green to violett or do you prefer grey or brighter?
So I guess you might already recognized I really loved the game from that point!! I could spend hours only creating different looking toons!!
Well, I created a Hulk of a warrior and was ready for my first steps in game!

So when I got in the game I was totally confused! So many toons of people who started in the same time like me. Quite a mess! But soon I was able find the first npc (who was just 2 steps ahead) and got my first quest! Awesome! If I remember right I had to kick some butts.
I really had no problem to get familiar with the interface so I could enjoy the lovely graphic!! I just love it! There is just too much to say about the beauty of the green grass or the colourful sky! Even the water is just perfect!!
Also nice effect: when I first drew my weapon the quite arabic music of the background changed to a battle chant I really like! Nice stuff!

Well, I am lvl 8 now after playing 3 hours. I guess I havent seen enough to tell if the game is really that great as it seems to be. But the story line is as far as I can tell good! The quests arent just grinding! It is also about stealing fruits or kicking some ghosts out of their graves by shacking their tombstones! (Really loved that quest).
The combat system is like the one of Everquest 2 (so far as I can tell) and seems to be good to me! Easy to handle and nice effects.
I also like the fact that you get quite fast good gear. Like I got a sweet shield, nice blunt weapon and good money! Also one can upgrade his gear with special stones which power up your health or parry changes!! Nice tool to be honest!!

I guess there are a lot of more things I could tell you already but I dont want to...Aion is waiting!!!
Oh and by the way: My name is Hammerfall, mighty and already feared warrior of the Asmodia. (Kahrun server)

Nightfall - Guild Wars

Last evening I decided to buy the latest expansion pack of Guild Wars - named Nightfall!
Since I could not get it in any shop, I had to order it via internet shop. (NCsoft - creators of Guild Wars and Aion) I expected the same (if not worse) conditions like I had to experience lately with SOEs Everquest 2 after I bought the "The Shadow Odyssey" pack. Talking about endless patches and so on.
After I finished my order the game asked me to restart it. So I started it again and very surprisingly there was NO patch, NO download not even an other click to do! Just entered password and I already had access to the Nightfall features like the two new classes, new starting area and so on!
That was a very shocking moment for me! Hey, I do not have to pay monthly fee of like € 15.-to play Guild Wars but get better costumer service than in other online games?! That is the way I want to play computer games!! No loss of time because of 12 GB patches! No loss of time because the game cant handle Vista! It is just awesome!
Hurray for NCsoft!!

In game I already tried the two new classes. First the dervish who is really not my type of playing so far because I have to keep up all the buffs and to me it seems that this class has way too many buffs...but maybe it is just at the beginning and after some levels I am quite comfortable with that brute warrior!
Then I tried out the Paragon. His weapon of choice is a spear which he throws. Seems very uncool to me but so it shall be. So my first impression wasnt that good as you can guess. But some foes later and a lot of "This is Sparta" battle-shouts in my head I really started to like that class! Anybody who didnt play Diabolo 2? Well, imagine the Amazone of that game and the paladin of Everquest 2 in one toon and you get the Paragon of Guild Wars. Quite funny to be honest!

So at the end I was really happy and pleased with my investment and will for sure stick quite longer with the new classes.

Shops

What I really do not understand is the fact that you hardly find any other MMORPGs beside around 100 World of Warcraft CD/DVDs/Prepaid Cards in most game shops.

I just checked out my local game store because I was about to buy an expansion pack of Guild Wars. Unfortunately there was not even one pack of GW. Nor of Everquest. I found 1 (!) LoTR online game, 1 (!) EVE online, 5 Warhammer online and about 10 Champions packs. And that's it. Thats it! Quite frustrating to me. The online world isn't just about WoW.
Well, I know that shops have to show an amount of World of Warcraft packs because of a contract with Blizzard as far as I know. But still there should be enough space for other games of that sort.

But even more annoying was that they weren't even able (nor willed) to order EQ 2 TOS or an expansion pack of GW. Thats quite a poor customer service.

So I got home and tried to order EQ 2 TOS on Amazone - same problem. "The game to want to order is not available."
Whats is going on with SOE? Dont they want to get new players? Or even keep old players like me? Downloading the game isn't possible (and for sure not my favourite style since I want to have the game as a DVD at home...hey, I grew up with the good old disc!) as far as I recognized the last 1 week. (Game kept patching and downloading endless data...)
ebay was my last chance and I am glad that I got the TOS there.

Hopefully I will get GW expansions easier...anyway I am going to shot some zombies in L4D...

Thinking about the problems I got with the installation of EQ 2 on my new PC, I am at the moment quite often playing Guild Wars 2. For sure its a nice and entertaining game. Thinking about the story line and the missions I have to master. I also really like the idea of playing with an NPC group instead of seeking players who are on the same mission as I am.

But still that is the biggest problem I got with GW (beside the old graphic engine and the lack of any race to chose). I play MMORPGs to meet and interact with real players. To get to know them and master the game with their help. Since I am a quite noobish player in GW still I dont care about the skill others have because for me its always more fun in a real group. Up to now (beside grouping with my RL friends) I grouped only one time for about 10 minutes with an other player...

I also really dont like the lack of a broker / auction house or however you would like to call it where players can sell their items to others. Such an economy system is for me a "must have" talking about MMORPGs.

What I definitely like about GW is that you can have a primary class (in my chase a warrior) and a secondary class (like I chose the monk). Its a great idea in my opinion since the primary class gives you the look (armour, weapon etc.) and you can still chose between a huge variety of skills you would like to use. And there are a lot! As far as I recognized I could have 6 different playing styles with my Warrior/Monk toon. That just awesome! At the moment I am deciding what would be the better combo. Paladin like: with a lot of self/group healing skills beside my warrior slashing skills or more like the Shadowknight of EQ 2 with his damage spells.
It is also a nice idea to combine the Paladine/Shadowknight skills what gives me a all in one warrior who is quite capable to deal with every situation but still weak thinking about the skill points I have to deal with...

Anyway, I guess I have to meditate about that while walking with my dog.

Blog startet

Teifl.

Jetzt mach ich mir doch die Mühe und starte einen Blog...
Keine Ahnung warum ich das mache. Vermutlich da ich zu feige bin und nicht die körperlichen Vorraussetzungen erfülle um als Stripper zu machen, da bringts vielleicht ein Innenlebenstrip auch. Wer weiß.

Nun, als Ziel setzt ich mir vor allem über meine Gedanken bezüglich PC-Games speziell MMORPGs und meine ganz persönlichen Entdeckungstouren durch Wien zu schreiben.
Mal sehen was daraus wird.

Greetz