Praise from Van Hemlock

Lately, I've been busy as one of the leaders of Pathos Hammer on Twisting Nether, along with Tomas and Elzandra. I've also been co-writing on Tomas' blogsite, rofkahr.com. Thus from what little attention I retain from having devoted time to that as well as my WoW time, I've lacked the opportunity to provide regular updates to WoW Et Cetera, much to the dismay, I'm sure, of my regular readers.

However, it's nice to know that someone out there not only appreciates my dedication, but also advertises for me! (for free, no less!) Can't beat that with a stick! Maybe a mace. But not a stick.

Van Hemlock (see link to right) recently "introduced" his list of "Monster-Hunters," among them is Psyae's WoW Et Cetera. Here's what he had to say about this blog:

Psyae’s WoW Et Cetera: A long running World of Warcraft blog run by Psyae who, like Aggro Me, often opens her scope out well beyond the mere game itself. Some fascinating article-type posts there, in an accessible style that doesn’t require two years of prior WoW experience to appreciate.

Thanks, Van Hemlock!

I believe in an earlier post here, I introduced his site, and actually referred to it on some posts at rofkahr.com. I'll just briefly say, though, that I enjoy his site and look forward to his fairly frequent updates about his goings on in the virtual world. Recently, he's been experimenting with Second Life, a virtual world somewhat Sims-like, but with much more flexibility. Van Hemlock has some coding background, I believe, and he's been taking it slowly. Although I've considered venturing into the Second Life world, my lack of extensive coding experience has given me pause. I think at this point, I prefer to read Van Hemlock's account of his experiences there.

Again, thanks for the plug!

[look forward to an upcoming article on the pangs of starting and maintaining a guild in WoW]

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Quake CTF vs WoW

Back in the day, I primarily played a sniper in Quake CTF (Capture the Flag). I played it like a rogue with a one-shot, one-kill distance weapon. In CTF, as a sniper, you had to use the shadows, nooks, and crannies for your hiding spots so that you could take out that scout speeding across the bridge to snag your flag. (or, if you were an "offensive" sniper, you'd be out on the ledge, exposed, dancing back and forth to avoid getting hit, yourself, or even invading the enemy fort).



If you've never played Quake CTF, it's a simplified version of Warsong Gulch. Just imagine you're a hunter, and while standing on the top of your base, you are within range to shoot an enemy standing on the top of the opponent's base. That's how close it was. The earliest and most basic map had two walled forts, divided by a bit of very flat earth and a "river," spanned by a short bridge. There were two access points into each fort, and they were identical on both sides. You could cross the bridge and enter one of two front doors, and then either take the middle ramp down or jump down the "elevator" shaft, then wind your way to the flag and hike back up the ramps. Or, you could take the underground tunnel, which led from basement to basement, under a fairly vast amount of water (you cross the river this way, but underneath).

This setup guaranteed fairly quick rounds and constant action. There were a few common offensive and defensive techniques, one of which was to let a single scout rush into the enemy base, snag the flag and rush out (scouts were fast... too fast!). This somewhat reminds me of letting the rogue in WSG snag the flag, grab the speed boot in the tunnel, then when that wears out, kick in sprint. (I've done that a few times).

I suppose the primary difference would be relative lifespan. In Quake CTF, it was pretty easy to kill or be killed. Scouts get taken out by snipers in one shot, but they're hard to hit. Snipers have pretty shoddy armor, and if cornered are toast. Soldiers are the hardest to kill, in respect to armor. Of course, when you die, you instantly respawn in your base, and have at it again. Dying was par for the course. It was capping and killing that led you up the scoresheets. I was decent enough a sniper that my kill tally kept me near the top of the ladder more often than not.

The Questions of the Day are, What Quake CTF Class did you primarily play, and what WoW Class do you currently play? Is there a connection? Also, which Quake classes line up the best with WoW classes?

Quake CTF Classes:
Heavy Weapons Guy
Scout
Medic
Sniper
Soldier
Pyro
Demoman
Spy
Engineer

WoW Classes:
Rogue
Mage
Priest
Warrior
Warlock
Druid
Shaman
Paladin
Hunter

Here is the info for each Quake CTF class, to help in the determination:

Scout
Special: Displays the status of each team's flag on CTF maps
Speed: Very fast
Health: 75
Armor: 50
Weapons: Single-barrel shotgun, nail gun and crowbar
Grenades: 3 caltrop canisters and 3 concussion grenades
Abilities:Disarms detpacks set by enemy demomen by touching them; Unmasks spies by touching them

Sniper
Special: Toggles the sniper rifle zoom
Speed: medium
Health: 90
Armor: 50
Weapons: Nailgun, auto rifle, sniper rifle, and crowbar
Grenades: 2 hand grenades

Soldier
Special: Reloads your currently selected weapon
Speed: Slow
Health: 100
Armor: 200
Weapons: Single-barrel shotgun, double-barrel shotgun, rocket launcher and crowbar
Grenades: 4 hand grenades and 1 nail grenade

Demoman
Special: Detonates all your pipebombs
Speed: Medium
Health: 90
Armor: 100
Weapons: Single barrel shotgun, grenade launcher, pipebomb launcher, and crowbar
Grenades: 4 hand grenades and 4 MIRV
Abilities:Can set large explosive "detpacks" to clear new entrances to enemy base

Medic
Special: Selects the medkit
Speed: Fast
Health: 90
Armor: 100
Weapons: Medikit, single-barrel shotgun, double-barrel shotgun, and super nailgun
Grenades: 3 hand grenades and 2 concussion grenades
Abilities:an heal teammates with the medikit; Can automatically heals himself over time

Heavy Weapons Guy
Special: Selects the assault cannon
Speed: Very slow
Health: 100
Armor: 300
Weapons: Single-barrel shotgun, double-barrel shotgun, assault cannon, and crowbar
Grenades: 4 hand grenades and 1 MIRV grenade
Abilities:Doesn't get blown back as much by explosions

Pyro
Special: Selects the flamethrower
Speed: Medium
Health: 100
Armor: 150
Weapons: Single-barrel shotgun, flamethrower, incendiary cannon, and crowbar
Grenades: 1 hand grenade and 4 napalm
Abilities:Wears flame retardant armor, making him impossible to set on fire

Spy
Special: Shows the disguise/feign menu
Speed: Medium
Health: 90
Armor: 100
Weapons: Tranquilizer gun, double-barrel shotgun, nailgun, and knife
Grenades: 2 hand grenades and 2 hallucination gas grenades
Abilities:Can disguise himself to look like any class, team or both; Can feign death loudly or quietly

Engineer
Special: Shows the build menu
Speed: Medium
Health: 80
Armor: 50
Weapons: Railgun, double-barrel shotgun, and wrench
Grenades: 2 hand grenades and 2 EMP grenades
Abilities:Can build automatic sentry guns; Can build ammunition and armor dispensers; Can repair teammates armor by beating them with the wrench; Can create ammunition

So, what do you think? What's the best matchup?

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NiN Update

Well, the concert was a smashing success.

After some band opened for 30 minutes, the Queens of the Stone Age re-opened for about an hour. Then, after a short wait, we were treated to Trent, himself. NiN played for two straight hours, with no breaks longer than 10 seconds. Trent covered nearly all of his (what 4?) albums, mostly concentrating on earlier stuff, but definitely hitting some of his "With Teeth" songs. Near the end, he incorporated a neat overhead projector movie overlay with images of animals, violent humans, and other politically charged visuals while playing some of his new presumably protest songs.

He satisfied all the NiN fans by closing with Trent's likely most well-known song, "Head Like a Hole," in which he let the clamoring audience chant the chorus, "Head like a hole, black as your soul, I'd rather die than give you control... (x2)... bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve (x2)." For NiN fans, I don't think you could ask for a better show, unless you wanted Trent to jump into the mosh pit or something...

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Nine inch gNomes?

What do Trent Reznor and WoW have in common?
Not much, really. Only that my absence from WoW tonight will be excused by my attendance at the NiN concert at the Washington, D.C. MCI Center.

Envious?

I hope so.



[Actually, if you'd been paying attention the past dozen years or so, you'd know that Trent created the original Quake soundtrack and was the (original) sound engineer for Doom 3. He was also apparently fond of playing some of those games. Perhaps he's got a character on WoW! Heck, maybe I'll ask him tonight.]

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Battlegrounds Tactics

Check out the Battlegrounds Tactics post I started on Tomas Rofkahr's blog (in which I dutifully co-contribute).

There are some interesting comments so far, and more input is encouraged, as the battlegrounds issues are becoming increasingly popular with the advent of newer battlegrounds and lower level requirements. Have some of your own BG strategies? Feel free to share! See you on the flip side!

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