[Update] Assassins Creed 3, Mists of Pandaria, Video Content, and more

So, I decided to make this just so that I didn't go all ranty in my Dishonored post about everything that's going on. My family emergency is still going on, life is a little hectic, and because of that I have decided to go on as much of a vacation that a broke college student can. I'm going to visit my father in California. I have no idea what my access to the internet will be like, but rest assured if I have access I will be posting like normal.

I am a massive Assassins Creed fan so I will be at least renting that no matter what when it comes out on the 30th. I will play through it, and will be posting about it at some point.

This blog has always been a test for me, to see if I can stick to a schedule, and even if I can't it was meant to work on that because I will need to learn at some point. I think I am getting better about it, so yay me. If only I havn't been spending so much time in Mists of Pandaria.

I realize these update posts may not be for everyone but I'm the type of person who likes being as open as I can about whats going on with my work, and if anyone at all is curious these are here for that purpose.

[WoW] Mists of Pandaria

So, I caved in and got Mists of Pandaria, if only for the nostalgia it's sure to bring, and so far I'm having a lot of fun with the questing. I said this back in beta, and I'll say it again: Mists of Pandaria has all of the potential to be the best expansion WoW has ever had. It's added a mini game, an 18 boss raid tier, a ton of daily quests, 5 new levels, a new race, a new class and lots of new lore. As Blizzard has said, this is the most they have ever added in a single expansion launch.

Obviously I have to say that it has the potential to be the best because you never know, the raids could completely suck, or something else could randomly be wrong. Also, as we should all know, launch content doesn't determine how the entire expansion will be viewed.. but it's a good indication of Blizzards plans going forward.

Things that I am looking forward to at the moment include: Challenge modes, the raids, and just generally playing the game with some old friends.

What this means for this blog? Well, I'll probably write a bit more about Mists now that it's out, but I make no promises.

Update: World of Warcraft, GW2, and Borderlands 2

This is just meant to be a quick update on what you can expect within the next few days on this blog. The first big one being my Borderlands 2 full review, I just need to sit down and put a few more hours into it before I feel comfortable giving it a full review. Another huge thing is some kind of World of Warcraft expansion article, now I don't have the expansion just yet, but I was in the beta, so I do feel like I know enough about it to talk about it.


Now the big thing I wanted to mention is my Guild Wars 2 content, I might make another post to just sort of throw out there and see what happens with it, but as for now it's sitting in a weird spot. Pre GW2 release my GW2 content was my highest viewed content, post GW2 release it's actually my lowest viewed stuff, so I don't know if it falls on me not marketing it well enough, or what, but yeah as for now I've gotten the impression that people just aren't that interested. So we shall see what happens with that.

What's New: Pandaria,Soccer, Angrybirds

Whats new this week in gaming? Every Tuesday I'll be writing about it!

First up we have World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria which actually released today on the PC and Mac. I'll probably be talking about that a little later on. That was the big release of the day, but along with that we have 2 soccer games. FIFA:2013 on everything imaginable, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 on the PC, 360 and PS3. We also see Angry Birds Trilogy on the 360, PS3, and 3DS, as much hate as Angry Birds gets it's still an addictive game, although I think I'd prefer to just play it on my phone when I have a spare minute or so, I don't know how well it would do on the consoles.

Other games include:

Tokyo Jungle - PS3
One Piece Pirate Warriors- PS3
Garshasp: Temple of the Dragon - PC
Dead or Alive 5- PS3, 360
Heart of Iron 3: Their Finest Hour - PC
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes - PC, PS3, 360
Final Fantasy 3- PSP
Castle Crashers- PC
Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy

[World of Warcraft] Are other games, like LoL, GW2, and Day Z "killing WoW"?

As many people know, in this last quarter World of Warcraft is down another 1.1 Million subs, bringing the total down to 9.1 million subs a total of 3.5 million lost over the course of Cataclysm. However, I want to discuss this most recent 1.1 million lost. Where did they go?

I would say that what we are seeing is wear and tear on an aging game. Other games chipping away on it slowly. As crazy as it sounds, not everyone hated SW:ToR, it's sitting on 700,000 subscribers itself. Add those people to say the millions of league of legends players, and the people caught in the Day Z craze, gamers just have a lot more to do now a days. Diablo 3 was a huge release, they mentioned that they sold 10 million boxes for it.

Another big thing to note is that over the last year or two we have seen many, many MMO's go free to play. We have seen Lord of the Rings: Online, Dungeons and Dragons: Online, Everquest 2, DC Universe, and many other lesser known games not cost a dime to play. To a lot of people who maybe don't care about quality as much, these games (once they went free) where much better options then World of Warcraft.

Now, you weigh all of that, against the fact that WoW hasn't had a content update in 8 months now, and you get a very bored player base. Dragon Soul was not an epic enough raid that got nerfed far to quickly to last the majority of people 8 months. WoW has hit a weak point in life cycle, and while no one game could rise up and deliver a massive blow to it, I think that all of these little blows, are starting to add up. People who were playing a few months ago (i.e last quarter ) have now finished the content, and been left with nothing to do but wait for Mists of Pandaria. A lot of these people probably unsubscribed, and starting using there time and money elsewhere.

WoW also has a massive competitor right on the horizon in Guild Wars 2. This is a game that a lot of people have gotten into, and loved. Most people are calling it the World of Warcraft of the modern day. And a lot of people I have seen have said that they can't play WoW, or SW:ToR, or any other traditional MMO after playing it.I don't know what impact it will have on WoW, but I have played both Mists of Pandaria (in beta) and Guild Wars 2 (in beta) and I can tell you that I like Guild Wars 2 slightly more. I don't know what the endgame for GW2 will be like, so WoW might still win out, but as far as the gameplay itself, I find GW2 the winner in that regard.

Only time can tell if Mists of Pandaria will stop WoW's subscription leak. What do you all think?

[WoW] The Black Market Auction House and Raid Design Concerns

As a bit of a note, I am an avid WoW player. I have been for years now. These are, like most of the other things on my blog my opinions. They could be, and are likely wrong.








Blizzard has been making big changes to World of Warcraft in the recent years, and with change, comes. I just wanted to take a few minutes to describe one of the more recent changes in the beta to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, the latest expansion that is set for a 2012 release.






First I want to say kudo's to Blizzard for making the world look so artistic and beautiful, even on the 8 year old engine that WoW is running on. Pandaria is massive, the scenery is great, and they seem to have an eye on the story this time around. However probably there most controversial change has been the Black Market Auction House. The first screenshot that showed up of it showed the "Ashes of Alar" a pretty rare mount that requires a lot of farming (doing the same thing repeatedly until you get what you are after) to actually obtain. It had a 0.01% chance to drop off of a boss that can be for the most part soloed by max level characters. With this anyone with the gold (in game currency) would be able to buy that mount.

The mount in question

Now, to some people that wasn't so bad. Sure it was like "Um, I don't think you should be able to buy that, but whatever." However the way that the Black Market Auction House works is that every so often items cycle in and out. And in one of the more recent cycles? Heroic mode raiding gear showed up. Not just one piece, but two. This is gear that takes a lot of people time and dedication to obtain, being bought. It begs the question: "What can't  show up on it?" Is Blizzard just testing the waters because it's beta? Either way, the best gear in the game can be bought for in game gold at the moment.


Blizzard is pushing new features, and the revitalization of PvP, but what are they doing with raiding? Allowing you buy the gear for gold? That kind of undermines the purpose of raiding to get the gear. Why not just save up the gold and buy it when it shows up? Why do people need to be able to buy the best gear in the game? We also haven't heard Blizzard talk about raid design at all. Maybe it's still to come, I mean, I doubt the game is near release at the moment. They have plenty of time to talk about raid design, and to say that raid gear won't be buyable.


Rest assured, this is one of many articles to come about WoW. As long as I am playing it, I will be covering it. I might even make it a weekly Friday thing.