Direct2Drive Turns 5

If you love gaming, even just a little bit, you should check out Direct2Drive.  They are celebrating 5 years of delivering great gaming in a digital format.  Gone are the days of wondering if a game would even be available online.  Due to sites like Direct2Drive, Steam, and GameTap, almost every major release is available for digital purchase.  Buying games online offers a great alternative to hiking our tails to a Best Buy or Walmart.  I personally prefer buying games online as it helps me build a great library without the clutter of boxes to worry about!

Anyway, to celebrate, Direct2Drive has several games for a cool 5 bucks.  Several of the games being offered are VERY good games.  Check out the list and see if there is something you have not had the chance to pick up.  I purchased Bioshock (I know shameful I am just now getting to this game…) and Chronicles of Riddick.  Click the link in the left column of this site to head over to Direct2Drive and check it out.  On the right side of Direct2Drive’s site is a link to their 5 dollar games.  Enjoy!

Everquest: Underfoot

There has been some buzz and many already knew the name of Everquest 1′s next expansion but some of the details were announced at FanFaire 2009 last night.  SOE released the following deatails about Everquest: Underfoot:

1. 12-15 new zones with bonus zones and content released through April 2010
2. Achievement tracking – “You wont go lookin’ on-line to see what you need…it will be in game
3. Twice the weapons than any other expansion
4. New customizable targeting

I always love hearing about new expansion of the games I play.  Usually I like the new progression paths and new zones but the new achievement tracking sounds like a great new feature for EQ1.  I hope they just don’t utilize it for Underfoot and work some older content into it as well.

One of the big answers given (by lack of mentioning it) is that the level cap will NOT be increased.  There is a lot of debate over this – but personally I am happy for it since I am still trying to catch up as it is!

Atlantica Online: I Can Sleep When I Am Dead

Okay, this game is a bit of a surprise to me.  I had no idea I would find it this much fun.  Even though it touts several awards on its front page I was skeptical.  Atlantica Online is a fantasy based (stop groaning!) MMORPG that succeeds in breaking several MMO conventions.  This little gem from ndoors has made combat a turn-based affair that feels very similar to a Final Fantasy game.  This is not a half-baked free MMO folks, this thing is fun!

Atlantica Online: Fighting a group of archers

World of Warcraft: 3.1 Patch – What About Rogues?

I am worried about the shady little buggers.  There are a ton of changes and some content coming in the much talked about 3.1 patch, but the one that has everyone a-buzz is dual specs.  After 3.1 is released players will be able to visit their trainer and pay a one time fee to access the dual specialization feature.  For example, a Paladin could spec retribution for solo play and holy for healing in a group.  The net result is it will be much easier for several classes to fill several roles in a group, but what about Rogues and the other classes that really have only one job?

My main character is a Paladin, so I love the idea of dual spec.  This is not a whine post geared around self interest!  Classes like Druids and Paladins get a lot of love this patch and while Rogues may be getting some love in their combat tree it simply just is not as exciting.  The dual spec feature coming in the 3.1 patch is not the problem though – it just makes the problem more apparent.  Even as a Paladin I think that the severity of the different trees goes too far in WoW.  Some classes, like Druids and Paladins, effectively get three characters in one.  The versatility is undeniable.  This is a valid play style but it doesn’t seem balanced that someone that can heal and tank can spec to compete with a pure DPS class in damage.

Edit/Note: After reading quite a bit I want to stress that, to me, the root of the problem is that the Specialization trees are too severe!  A hybrid should never beat a pure class in any specific role but their advantage comes with being able to do multiple things at once!  It should not be “respec to be good at X role” but more like “at any time I can fulfill my primary roll AND add some of this”.  Either way, this is not an easy problem to fix and has been around a good while before WoW!

I may be missing something here so please point it out if I am.  Maybe my inexperience with Rogues and Mages just is shining through here.  Now, for the overall health of the game – I definitely agree that it is very beneficial to make it easier for the tank and healer roles to be filled.  If you are ever sitting on your thumbs waiting for a group to fill out it is for those roles.  I just hope that the classes with less flexibility are rewarded by being the absolute best in their roles.  With that in mind, the next time you see a Rogue or Mage – be sure to give them a hug and tell them all will be well.

World of Warcraft: 6 Essential Addons

For better or worse, World of Warcraft has probably the most customizable interface of any MMO on the market today.  The level of customization and what you can do with those addons has brought the game both criticism and praise.  Many complain that many of the addons cross or at least blur the line of cheating.  For example, the early days of decursive made curing a raid as simple as spamming one button.  However, I don’t think there are many (if any) serious WoW players that don’t have at least a few essential addons that they need to play the game.

Some of the WoW UI addons I use

World of Warcraft: How it pushed me away and then wooed me back

My WoW Paladin, Jukor, stands outside The Nexus instance

It seems you can’t walk 10 feet these days without bumping into someone that plays World of Warcraft.  If they don’t play then someone they know plays or they at least know about the game.  It is probably one of gaming industry’s most successful and landmark releases to date.  Personally, the game was a blast for me when it first released then it lost its charm and I was pulled into Everquest 2.  Overall I have played Everquest 2 more than WoW but I still think WoW is an amazing game and I can see myself playing it more in the future…especially with all of Wrath of the Lich King to see.  My recent heightened interest in WoW has got me thinking though.  What makes this game so successful and why did I move to something else when more and more people were getting into WoW?

Warhammer Online Patch 1.2 Goodness!

It has been about 3 days since patch 1.2 went live.  I must say it is a very welcome update so far.  Zone Domination, class balancing, and much other goodness.

Crickets and Introductions

You could hear crickets on D.O.G. this past month but there has been some work going on in the background.  First you probably will notice the new theme on the site.  I hope it works for your reading needs – expect several tweaks over the next couple weeks.  There are a few reasons I went to this theme such as the 3 column layout and the tabbed navigation at the top.  The primary reason thoughis that I have added another writer to the site and I wanted it to be easier to identify the author of a post.  Please welcome Skullbert-our resident Warhammer Junk…I mean expert!  Skullbert is going to hold down many Warhammer Online articles and guides.  I got Skullbert started on WAR but moved on after my technical issues with the game did not seem to clear up.  The game runs great on his machine and he has been pretty deep into the game since release.  My interest in WAR is still pretty high but Skullbert is by far more of an expert on the game than I.  Let’s not even mention the fact that I am playing about 92 other games as well!

I am excited to have a second writer providing more guides and other content to the site.  I plan to grow this team to cover interests in other games or sections of the industry.  For now, the team size will be two though.  We have been playing games together for quite a while so there likely will be some pieces we work together on as well.  The guides are by far the most popular articles on the site so we will put some focus on updating and creating new ones for everyone out there.

Keep your eyes out for new content and changes to D.O.G over the next month!

Ding 70 – Welcome to Wrath of the Lich King…almost

In short order I took my WoW paladin from 66 to 70.  It was a fun romp through the levels and I got to see a lot of the solo content the The Burning Crusade had to offer.  I only got to group a few times and one ring event was pretty fun.  So far the things that have impressed me with WoW is the scale and uniqueness of the monsters you get to fight.  Many of them are quite huge.  The word “unique” can be considered pretty relative, since blizzard seemed to reuse a lot of the models that they have been using for years, but the new “dressing” on most of them still made them fun to look at.

The first thing I did when I dinged 70 was switch my spec to protection.  Paladins are tanks in my mind and that is just it – if I want to heal or DPS I just would not think of a pally.  I was retribution to make leveling faster but it seemed to really limit my group options.  Groups were mostly looking for tanks or healers during the time I play, so my desire to tank seems to fit the demand.  After respecing I hit the AH and for about 300 gold got Jukor just about an entire new set of armor.

Jukor in his new duds…

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Free Trial

I am a hopeless optimist when it comes to games.  This trait is probably the source of my severe “game A.D.D.” that I have mentioned on this site a few times.  Even if you don’t have “game A.D.D.” like myself, it would be hard to agrue that WoW is not a great game on many levels.  Its commercial success should be all the evidence you really need to prove this. 

The release of WoW was timed very well for me.  I was leading a guild in EQ1 and had just started a new family.  EQ1 is a demanding game and even more so if you are running a guild.  I handed my guild over to good hands (…I am proud to say they are still doing well!) and for the most part, quit EQ1.  This is when WoW came out.  The game was fresh, clean, all new and did not have the incredible time sink that EQ1 had.  It did have enough pull that if I had the time I could play for long periods and not be bored.