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About David

David Holloway has been involved with gaming since the early 1970′s and with virtual worlds since heavy use of a MOO in 1993 – he even admits to having owned a Vic 20 and used it heavily to play cassette-based roleplaying games. As far as Star Wars goes, he still owns his original set of Star Wars figures and can vouch for the fact that a 1978 Stormtrooper can be blown to bits by shooting it with a slug gun from a distance. He’s also played Star Wars games as far back as the Super Nintendo console and to this day is devastated by the accidental erasure of all his progress on Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

Podcast Feedback: We Need You!

July 3, 2013 by

cat-hate-surveyThe time has come to get some all-important feedback from you on our Flashpoint podcast. With nearly 60 episodes in the can, we are really keen to find out what we can do better and what we can change to make things more enjoyable for you. We are particularly interested in whether you’re enjoying the broader focus or whether your liked things better when we were a SWTOR-only podcast.

All you need to do is answer the handful of questions below and you’ll be helping us in a big way. The survey is absolutely anonymous and we’ll let you know the results once it’s finalised!

Here’s the survey: (if you can’t see it for some reason this is the direct link)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Filed Under: General News, Podcast, TOG News

Flash Point 59: Global Dumbening

July 2, 2013 by

flashpoint-podcastApologies for the break, but we’re back to cover off plenty of MMO news and some deep and insightful Ewok discussion!

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– 2.3 on PTS
– Treek and assorted ridiculous companion races discussion
– Subscriber Appreciation Program
– PvP space discussion
– Bounty Collection Event

Secret World
– Celebration and Issue #7

Others
– Viewer feedback
– Pax Oz
Please send us a question for discussion on the next episode!

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

Listen via iTunes or right here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:27 — 23.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Filed Under: General News, Podcast Tagged With:

The Secret World Issue #7 On The Horizon

July 1, 2013 by

The_Secret_World_-_Issue__7_Teaser_-_YouTubeAn interesting update from The Secret World’s Game Director Joel Bylos, concentrating on the upcoming content update, Issue #7.

Before he gets to that though, he’s flagged we’re in for some fun to coincide with the first anniversary of TSW’s launch:

From July 3rd, the Guardians of Gaia will be awakening in areas all across the game. These massive creatures, formed of the primal elements, are the second line of defense for the planet against the strange infection known only as the Filth.

Such powerful creatures can only be brought down by banding together with others and lucky players will be able to capture a portion of their essence – a earn a Guardian of their very own.

Throughout the event, we will be offering a 30% discount across almost everything in the store and every day we will provide a different bonus to anybody who logs in – Double Experience, Double Ability Points and Double Skill Points.

We’ll be offering free gifts to all of our players and a little something extra for our members and Grandmasters.

Now onto Issue #7, A Dream To Kill. All that’s being said is that it obviously continues the main storyline, with Tokyo the focus. Beyond that, you’ll have to satisfy yourself with a short but spooky little teaser vid:

Finally, there’s a mention of Issue #8 plans:

Looking forward again, the team is hard at work on the content of Issue #8, which includes the very exciting new Scenario and Augment systems which will allow us to extend our in-game in new ways. In addition the writers are hard at work on the new characters in Tokyo and we will be recording VO and motion capture for those characters right after a well-earned summer vacation.

So there you have it – lots to look forward to. If only I could free up some time to get beyond the Savage Coast……

Filed Under: The Secret World Tagged With:

Mentors Needed At The Lab!

June 21, 2013 by

thelabWe love the team over at The Lab, who run a program for 10 to 16 year-old young people with Asperger’s Syndrome who enjoy working with computers.

They offer one-to-one tuition by technology professionals in areas such as programming, 3D, digital design and gaming. They’ve gone from strength to strength over the past few years and they’re looking for more people to be mentors from a range of areas around Australia.

The details:

The Lab is just about to expand (quite significantly) and we are just about to advertise for mentors for locations around Australia.

We are currently seeking mentors in the following areas:
Darwin (NT)
Blacktown (NSW)
Northern Beaches (NSW)
Hunter Valley (NSW)
Canberra (ACT)
Manningham (VIC)
Melton (VIC)
– as well as looking for interest from around the country so we are ready to go when new locations start.
http://thelab.org.au/jobs is where to go if you want to find out more and apply!
Filed Under: Game-Related Tagged With:

Leeroy Jenkins Can Still Be Funny

June 16, 2013 by

First, I’m sure there are plenty of non-World of Warcraft players who haven’t heard of the legend of Leeroy Jenkins – if you fall in that category then read the background here. Otherwise enjoy Leeroy in some American Civil War action (click on image for full size):

 

A2YK1sp

 

[As found here]

Filed Under: Humour, WoW Tagged With: ,

Marvel Heroes 1.10.0.186 Patch Notes

June 13, 2013 by

swtor-patch-incoming-banner

The folks at Gazillion are beavering away with ongoing patches and this one has a bundle of additions and bug fixes. Browse at your leisure! Give us your thoughts in comments on the patch – any big things you’re excited about?

Patch Notes: Game Update Notes 6/13/2013 – 1.10.0.186

Content Additions

Supergroups (AKA guilds) are now available in Marvel Heroes. This is the first iteration of supergroups, with more features coming in the future.

To create a supergroup, purchase a supergroup sanction from War Machine in Avengers Tower. A supergroup is a way to create a persistent social group with other players. Most supergroup commands are currently accessed via / commands with the ‘guild’ prefix – this will be updated in the future.

Supergroup sanctions (the ability to create a supergroup) cost 10,001 credits. This grants you an item that can be traded with other players if you wish. Right click the item to unlock supergroup commands. To create your supergroup, type /guildcreate [name]

Supergroup names may only contain the letters A-Z, one apostrophe, one hyphen, and have a limited number of spaces. Certain words are restricted from use in supergroup names.

Supergroups are limited to 100 members in total.

Upon creating a supergroup you will gain access to a supergroup chat channel for your supergroup. To access it, type /guild or /g in the chat channel.

Other supergroup related commands are as follows – type these into the chat channel, substituting [username] or [name]:

/guildcreate – Create your supergroup. You can only create one supergroup per account.

/guildinvite [username] – Invite a player to your supergroup. You can also right-click their name in the Social panel (press U) if they are a friend or nearby.

/guildpromote [username] – As a leader or office, promote a member of your supergroup to the rank of officer. Officers can invite other players to join the supergroup.

/guilddemote [username] – As a leader or officer, demote an officer of your supergroup to the rank of member, or remove a member from the supergroup.

/guildleader – This command is currently non-functional, but will eventually allow a supergroup leader to be changed.

/guildrename [supergroup name] – Rename your supergroup. All guild renames are logged for Customer Support purposes.

/guildleave – Leave your current supergroup.

Content Changes

The overall chance for heroes to drop as loot throughout Marvel Heroes has been increased.

As a reminder, heroes can drop as loot from:

  • Standard enemies (Any enemy in the game)
  • Elite enemies (Enemies with a blue/yellow aura)
  • Bosses (Supervillains found inside instances (eg Shocker, Doctor Octopus, The Hood, etc), and in Public Combat Zone Event Missions (eg Venom, Rhino, Green Goblin etc))
  • Endgame bosses (Found at the end of in Daily Missions, Group Challenges and Survival Challenges)

The highest chance to get heroes or costumes is from Survival Challenge endgame bosses, who have a significantly higher drop rate. You also will have a better chance of getting heroes and costumes as drops from enemies that have a green or orange ‘threat level’ (see the nameplate above an enemy’s head to check). Green-level enemies will be slightly below or slightly above your hero’s level; orange level enemies will be even further above your hero’s level.

Endgame bosses now have a bonus chance to drop a hero token for the character you are currently playing, in addition to a random hero token. These can be used to upgrade your Ultimate Power.

Gameplay Changes: Defense

We’ve heard community feedback on defense, and have begun making changes with this patch. Defense has not been helping tanks enough, especially against higher level content.

With this patch we are improving defense for all heroes, but heroes that do not have dodge and/or do not have any ranged attacks will benefit more from the change.

To improve defense further, we will be adjusting powers and items and tweaking how defense works slightly in the future. This first step buffs items that provide defense:

  • Defense has been increased on items for all heroes by +30%.
  • Defense on items for Deadpool, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, Ms Marvel and Thor has been doubled (x2).
  • Defense on items for Thing, Hulk and Colossus has been quadrupled (x4).
  • Defense on artifacts and medals has been significantly increased.

UI Changes

In an effort to make it clearer that additional S.T.A.S.H. tabs cost Gs, the size of the G symbol and button have been increased to make them more readable.

Administrative announcements (talking about game servers going offline, for the most part) have been made more noticeable in chat.

Item Changes

Artifacts: Some artifacts have been renamed:

· Bannertech Force Field is now called Fantastic Force Field
· Flames of the Faltine is now called Flames of Zarathos
· Cyttorak Torch is now called Flames of the Faltine
· Personal Arc Reactor is now called Mark of the Odinborn
· Smoke of Zarathos is now called Fog of Wundagore

S.H.I.E.L.D. Motion Tracker: The bonus damage given by this artifact has been slightly reduced.

Tombstone Medal/Medallion: Armor bonus has been increased. Added health bonus.

Balance Changes

The overall range at which players get experience from enemies has been increased.

Endgame Changes

Auto-Party is now turned on for Green Daily Missions if you have auto-party enabled in your Options (it is on by default).

Endgame bosses now have a bonus chance to drop a hero token for the character you are currently playing, in addition to a random hero token. These can be used to upgrade your Ultimate Power.

Cosmic Cube Shards now drop once per boss, per day, per account.

’Base’ costumes (which are equipped on a character when they are purchased) will no longer drop as loot in the game.

Boss Changes

Magneto: Magnetic Blast – damage reduced.

Magneto: Metal Storm – damage reduced.

Enemy Changes

Maggia Gangsters now attack faster.

Maggia Thugs now attack faster.

Mission Changes

Chapter 1, Hell’s Kitchen: The number of enemies you must defeat in the ‘Save the Police’ and ‘Arson’ Discovery missions has been reduced. However, all enemies are now elite.

Chapter 2, Jersey Docks: The number of A.I.M. robots you must defeat in the ‘Unfriendly Cargo’ event has been reduced. However, all robots are now elite.

Hero Changes

Cable Changes:

Cable’s statistics progression has been updated.

Bold Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers.

Concussion Blast: Now gains duration synergy from Vortex Grenade.

Devastating Beam: Increased damage. Increased cost from 20 to 25.

Dynamic Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers.

Eye For Weakness: Reduced cost from 17 to 15.

Kinetic Repulsion: Now gains duration synergy from Telekinetic Shield and Psychokinetic Barrier.

Plasma Barrage: Increased damage.

Psychic Trap: Reduced cost from 40 to 36.

Psychokinetic Barrier: Reduced damage. Now gains duration synergy from Kinetic Repulsion and Telekinetic Shield. Reduced cost from 30 to 27. Now unlocks at level 8.

Quick Bodyslide: Slightly increased starting range. Reduced cost from 25 to 21.

Telekinetic Shield: Now gains duration synergy from Kinetic Repulsion and Psychokinetic Barrier. Now unlocks at level 18.

Vigilant Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers. Slightly increased cost reduction scaling with ranks.

Vortex Grenade: Now gains duration synergy from Concussion Blast.

Colossus Changes:

Battle Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers.

Bulwark of Steel: Now gains defense synergy from Metallic Warrior.

Colossal Punch: Lowered damage synergy from Crushing Smite and Osmium Champion from 2.5% to 2%.

Crushing Smite: Lowered damage synergy from Colossal Punch and Osmium Champion from 2.5% to 2%.

Metallic Warrior: Now gains damage synergy from Bulwark of Steel.

Osmium Champion: Now gains duration synergy from Crushing Smite and Colossal Punch.

Osmium Charge: Lowered damage synergy from Steel Splash and Spinning Fists from 2.5% to 2%.

Osmium Punch: Lowered damage synergy from other basic powers from 2.5% to 2%.

Protective Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers.

Reeling Punch: Lowered damage synergy from other basic powers from 2.5% to 2%.

Spinning Fists: Lowered damage synergy from Steel Splash and Osmium Charge from 2.5% to 2%.

Stalwart Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers.

Steel Punch: Lowered damage synergy from other basic powers from 2.5% to 2%.

Steel Splash: Lowered damage synergy from Spinning Fists and Osmium Charge from 2.5% to 2%.

Sustaining Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers. Slightly increased regen scaling with ranks.

Deadpool Changes:

Shoot All the Bullets: Now properly deals extra damage with synergy.

Hulk Changes:

Meteor Strike (Ultimate Power): Now costs 25 spirit.

Jean Grey Changes:

Bolstering Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers.

Dark Phoenix Wrath: Explosion now hits full 360 around the player and causes enemies to burn, taking damage over time. Also grants +2 bonus ranks in all powers at power rank 1.

Kinetic Bolt: Slightly increased projectile speed.

Kinetic Tempest: Now gains duration synergy from Kinetic Wave and Psychokinetic Implosion.

Kinetic Wave: Lowered damage synergy from Psychokinetic Implosion and Kinetic Tempest from 2.5% to 2%.

Kinetic Wave: Slightly increased area size.

Mind Crush: slightly increased starting damage. lowered damage synergy from Psychic Lethargy and Neural Panic from 2.5% to 2%. Decreased cost from 25 to 21.

Neural Panic: Now gains duration synergy from Psychic Lethargy and Mind Crush. Now unlocks at level 22.

Phoenix Transformation: Phoenix Force no longer depletes on defeat.

Psychic Hammer: Slightly increased projectile speed.

Psychic Lethargy: Now deals damage over time instead of making enemies more vulnerable to damage. Now gains damage synergy from Mind Crush and Neural Panic. Increased cost from 13 to 20.

Psychokinetic Implosion: Reduced cost from 33 to 31. Lowered damage synergy from Kinetic Wave and Kinetic Tempest from 2.5% to 2%. Now unlocks at level 14.

Reinforcing Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers. Now unlocks at level 18.

Rejuvenating Aura: Now gains an increased effect from other aura powers. Slightly increased regeneration scaling with ranks.

Telekinetic Flight: Now unlocks at level 20.

Telepathic Detection: Now also adds bonus damage to all Mental powers when not in Phoenix Form. Now unlocks at level 12.

Punisher Changes:

Deadly Barrage: Increased damage.

Rocket Raccoon Changes:

Big Flarkin’ Gun: Increased tick rate. Fixed a bug that caused the power to tick more often per second than intended.

Spider-Man Changes:

Spider-Man’s fighting and strength statistics progression has been updated.

Corrosive Web Fluid: Now gains duration synergy from Web Spray.

Evasive Websling: Now gains duration synergy from Sensational Escape.

Sensational Escape: Now gains duration synergy from Evasive Websling.

Web Spray: Now gains duration synergy from Corrosive Web Fluid.

Storm Changes:

Storm’s fighting statistic progression has been updated.

Sirocco Rush: Now gains stun duration synergy from Lightning Rush.

Thundering Tempest: Screen darkening effect now only occurs on Storm player’s screen.

Bug Fixes

Endgame Fixes

The Red Daily Mission against Doctor Doom now spawns and completes correctly.

Moondragon, Rogue and Invisible Woman will now accept Cosmic Cube Shards in exchange for Fortune Cards.

Rhino will no longer have a sliver of infinite health in PvE endgame modes.

The Red Daily Mission Terminal now correctly takes you to Hydra Island.

The Green Daily Mission Terminal on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier will no longer deposit you outside the boss room.

Only missions that require Cosmic Keys should have the ‘Requires item: Cosmic Key’ tooltip displayed now.

Enemy Fixes

Elite (Blue/Yellow) enemies now have their correct, as designed, health.

Enemies will no longer attack summoned crafters and vendors.

Fixed an issue where enemies would switch targets unnecessarily.

Fixed an issue where affixes prevented some enemies from using their normal powers.

The ‘Freezing’ enemy affix’s effects no longer fire prematurely during certain powers.

Fixed some enemies that spawned within an area of effect not being affected until they left the AoE’s radius and returned.

Boss Fixes

Bullseye: Fixed an issue where Marked for Death could still target entities summoned by players.

Doctor Doom: Fixed an issue where he would become invisible and untargetable.

Doctor Doom: Fixed an issue where ricocheting shots would not work in his final battle.

Doctor Doom: Fixed an issue with medal and medallion that was allowing an inaccurately long duration increase on heroes’ powers.

Mr Sinister: Energy storm power now correctly does damage repeatedly throughout its duration.

Shocker: Fixed an issue where Shocker would switch targets too frequently.

Venom: Fixed an issue where Venom would leave battles early.

Hero/Power Fixes

Black Panther’s Savage Strike, Black Widow’s Elusive Kick, and Daredevil’s Evasive Kick can no longer knock turrets (and certain other resistant enemies) into the air.

Tumbling powers such as Black Widows Tumbling Assault and Spider-Man’s Agile Attack will more accurately place you behind targets.

Cable: Fixed a visual bug with new duration synergies on Kinetic Repulsion.

Cable: Fixed an issue with Plasma Barrage that caused the damage synergy to not apply.

Cable: Fixed an issue with Psychic Haze that caused the damage synergy to not apply.

Cable: Removed the ‘Fighting Power’ keyword from Veteran Warrior as it was confusing on a passive power.

Cable: Removed the fire rate tooltip on Vortex Grenade’s tooltip, as the cooldown on the power made it confusing.

Captain America: Buffs from Fighting Spirit no longer stack from other players using the same power in the same area.

Captain America: Fixed an issue with Quick Block which could make Cap invulnerable when repeatedly using the power.

Captain America: Shield Bounce and other bouncing powers should no longer target invisible entities in Doctor Doom’s battle area.

Captain America: Shield Swipe can no longer be used while shield is thrown.

Colossus: Fixed an issue with Stalwart Aura where the knock resistance was not being correctly calculated.

Colossus: Osmium Punch no longer disables spirit regeneration when used.

Hawkeye: Ronin Assault (24) and Ronin Lunge (30) should now unlock at the intended levels.

Iron Man: Fixed an issue with Reflective Shield where the tooltip did not display the percentage of damage reflected.

Jean Grey: Fixed a minor animation hitch when repeatedly using Psychic Lethargy.

Jean Grey: Interplay voiceover will now trigger correctly.

Punisher: Movement is no longer interrupted when he gains Vengeance.

Rocket Raccoon: Clarified duration tooltip on Burrow.

Rocket Raccoon: Increased the tick rate of Big Flarkin’ Gun. Fixed an issue that caused the power to tick more often per second than intended.

Spider-Man: Clarified description on Stick Around to indicate that the enemies need to be currently under the effect of a web power to be stunned.

Spider-Man: Fixed an issue where bonus damage was not being applied to Amazing Smash. Added missing cooldown tooltip.

Spider-Man: Fixed an issue with Web ‘Em All that caused the damage synergy to not apply.

Spider-Man: Fixed an issue with Web Spray where the slow effect would fall off early when the ground webs disappeared.

Thing: Fixed an issue with Jagged Defender where the tooltip did not display the percentage of damage reflected.

Wolverine: Adrenaline Rush should now display the standard haste trail VFX for the duration of the buff.

Crafting Fixes

Some artifacts with visual effects were not allowed in crafting recipes that wanted an artifact with visuals. This has been fixed.

Clarified effect of Transfer Costume Affixes recipe – destination costume loses existing affixes.

Clarified effect of Transform Epic Item recipe – can’t use it on items already useable by your hero.

UI/VFX Fixes

Hero tokens can now be stored in the appropriate S.T.A.S.H. tab for that hero, if that tab has been purchased.

Fixed an issue where /reply in chat was behaving strangely in some circumstances.

Fixed an issue that caused Storm’s powers to be too transparent when graphics settings were set to ‘low’.

Toggled powers that are slotted in the left/right mouse button slots will now show their toggle state properly.

Certain Iron Man costumes in lower graphic settings will no longer show incorrect thruster VFX while flying.

Fixed an issue where power tooltips would not display the damage bonuses from buff powers (Colossus’ auras, etc.)

Base defense values (white text) including bonuses given by defense affixes will now display correctly in item tooltips.

Fixed an issue where players have completed missions, but they show the “in progress” stripes in the mission log, not the expected “completed” check mark.

Fixed an issue with the ‘Show Party Member Arrows’ option. When turned on, this will now correctly show arrows for all party members in your zone.

Fixed an issue where newly added entries in the Social Panel would take a long time to show up.

Items for sale at a Vendor which cannot fit their entire name in the list will now be truncated with a “…”. The full name is always visible in the tooltip.

Clea’s door now has a minimap icon.

Correct VFX/SFX will now play when gaining a Boost buff from a Fortune Card.

When switching between characters your character sheet will now show the correct equipment for the character.

Options Fixes

Keybindings should now persist between patches.

Cancelling out of the keybindings menu with pending changes will now cancel all changes.

Changing an existing keybinding will now be properly displayed.

Miscellaneous Fixes

Marvel Heroes will now correctly refuse to run on all graphics cards that don’t fully support Shader Model 3.0. Previously, the game was trying to run on these cards and crashing.

Bodysliders will now immediately be usable after their cooldown expires.

Rested experience will now be deducted correctly.

Fixed an issue that could cause Retcon Devices to fail to refund mission-awarded Power Points until you next logged in to the game.

Many fixes for erroneous collisions when flying over environmental objects.

Items that increase the duration of powers now do not affect consumables.

When being revived in Hydra Island, you will now appear in the correct location.

Players can no longer use flight to leave the level in the Subway.

Artifact Yukio’s Charm now boosts ranged attacks instead of melee attacks.

Fixed an issue that made the travel confirmation dialog from NPCs stay on-screen forever.

Fixed an issue that caused players to be stuck ‘behind the world’ in Mutate Caves.

Known Major Issues

French and German localization is almost, but not entirely complete; some English text may be found.

Store icon for Spider-Man displays an incorrect costume; Spider-Man comes equipped with his Modern costume, not the Classic costume shown.

Powers that deal damage over time currently cannot score critical hits.

After being defeated by Pyro, there is a chance that players will be brought back to Xavier’s School rather than the beginning of the instance where Pyro is found.

Cars may not respawn in city environments.

Audio

Sound may be lost intermittently after changing locations.

Missions

Find Agent Baker: Agent Baker does not spawn, so mission cannot be completed.

Some ‘Discovery’ missions may not trigger correctly.

The Army Base sewer Treasure Room has no Treasure Chest.

Some of the Missile Silo Treasure Rooms have no enemies.

Some versions of the Cliffwalker Shrine Treasure Rooms have no enemies.

UI and In-Game Store

Red Mission Arrows do not trigger until getting extremely close to the appropriate mission objective.

When buying Gs, the United States state selection list cannot be scrolled past ‘Tennessee’ without using the keyboard.

Endgame

Avenger’s Mansion:

o Green Daily – Castle Doom – Mini Map appears to be unpopulated and shows nothing.
o Red Daily – Abandoned Subway – Shocker’s AI intermittently stops working. He won’t attack, but he’ll turn to face you.

Xavier’s School/SHIELD Helicarrier:

o Green Daily – Castle Doom – Doctor Doom’s number of affixes change depending on his form rather than staying constant as intended.
o Green Daily – Castle Doom – Doctor Doom’s number of affixes change depending on his form rather than staying constant as intended.

Limbo: If Sabretooth spawns as the end boss in Limbo, he sometimes stops moving and attacking half way through the battle.

Limbo: Players may sometimes be placed upon entry you in an instance that’s almost completed, toward the end of the waves or at the boss.

Items/Artifacts:

Phoenix Feather: There is no UI indication on cooldown timer.

Vita-Ray Projector: There is no dodge chance bonus given on critical hit.

Darkhold Scroll: Does not give bonus damage versus taunted enemy.

Latverian Regalia: Pets do not do extra damage when artifact is equipped, as intended.

Green Goblin Medal: Green Goblin Medal poison cloud is invisible.

Characters:

Some emotes are not working for Cable and Deadpool.

Flight powers can get locked when flying over food trucks.

Black Widow

Acrobatic Assault: This power can miss if the enemy is running towards you.

Black Panther

Some gear icons are black silhouettes – gear can still be equipped.
Captain America

Aggressive Shout: The power has both a 10 second buff and an ongoing (lasts until turned off) buff. Only one of them is shown.

Invigorating Shout: The power has a 10-second buff and an ongoing (lasts until turned off) effect, but it does not show either of them. Health regeneration does not show up on character sheet.

Cable

Searing Shot: Visual Effects when hitting enemy are not seen.


Colossus

Lingering Boon: Tooltip is incorrect. Each rank actually extends aura duration by 2 seconds.

Rocket Raccoon

Forceful Shot: Power unlocks at level 12 and should unlock at level 10.

Tactical Destruction: Tooltip does not correctly display bonus damage from shield cost.

Spider-Man

Evasive Websling: If there is no enemy targeted, power will land in incorrect location.


Wolverine

Regeneration Boost: Tooltip is incorrect. Power does not spend Fury to gain health faster as described.

Smell Weakness: Damage vulnerability is causing the enemy to take less damage rather than more.

Character sheet does not reflect health regeneration from Healing Factor (but displays resistances from passive powers).

Filed Under: General News, Marvel Heroes Tagged With:

SWTOR 2.2 Full Patch Notes

June 12, 2013 by

swtor-patch-incoming-bannerSWTOR Patch 2.2: Operation Nightmare has dropped, so here are the full patch notes to peruse at your leisure!

Game Update 2.2: Operation Nightmare

6/12/2013

Highlights

  • Nightmare Mode is now available for Terror from Beyond!
  • New Vehicle! The Helix Hyperpod is now dropped in Nightmare Mode Terror from Beyond.
  • New Rewards! New items have been added to several Story Mode encounters for the Terror from Beyond and Scum and Villainy Operations. (Additional Details under Operations.)
  • New Feature! Characters in a guild will receive an XP and Reputation bonus based on the number of characters from unique accounts in the guild. (Additional details under General.)
  • New sub-tier of Gear! The Kell Dragon gear can be obtained from Nightmare Mode Operations at level 55.

Cartel Market

New Items

      • A new Contraband Pack, the Archon’s Contraband Pack is now available on the Cartel Market. Cost: 320 Cartel Coins
      • Players can now purchase Hypercrates containing 24 Archon’s Contraband Packs and a bonus Fortuitous Dye Module Kit that contains an increased chance to receive the rarest dyes. (Discounted by 10% for a limited time!) Cost: 6,912 Cartel Coins

New Discounts

      • Appearance Options: Mirialan Tattoos 1 is now discounted by 50%. Cost: 45 Cartel Coins
      • Appearance Options: Human Hair Colors 1 is now discounted by 25%. Cost: 135 Cartel Coins
      • The Valiant Jedi Armor Set is now discounted by 25%. Cost: 1080 Cartel Coins
      • The Sith Raider Armor Set is now discounted by 80%. Cost: 288 Cartel Coins
      • The Noble Commander’s Armor Set is now discounted by 75%. Cost: 300 Cartel Coins
      • Unlock: Inventory Module is now discounted by 40%. Cost: 105 Cartel Coins
      • Unlock: Inventory Module (Account) is now discounted by 40%. Cost: 234 Cartel Coins

Items Removed

    • An Embargo has been placed on all Shipment 1 Cartel Packs. The following packs (and any corresponding Hypercrates) are no longer available in the Cartel Market:
      • Black Market Cartel Pack
      • Crime Lord’s Cartel Pack
      • Blockade Runner’s Cartel Pack
      • Skip Tracer’s Cartel Pack
      • Space Pirate’s Cartel Pack
    • The Gree Solus Secant vehicle is no longer available.
    • The Gold Scalene Armor Set is no longer available.

General

  • New Feature! Characters in a guild will receive an XP and Reputation bonus based on the number of characters from unique accounts in the guild:
    • For every five active unique accounts in a guild, the XP bonus increases by 1% (on top of the base 5%) for the entire guild, up to a maximum of 10%.
    • For every five active unique accounts in a guild, the Reputation bonus increases by 1% for the entire guild, up to a maximum of 10%.
    • An active unique account is defined as a Preferred or Subscriber account that has logged in within the last 720 hours (30 days), and only one character per account will be applied to the guild’s member count.
    • The qualifying member number will only count accounts that log in after Game Update 2.2; the system will not recognize accounts that logged in in the 30 days prior to the update.

Classes and Combat

Jedi Knight

General
        • Introspection’s tooltip no longer incorrectly indicates that taking damage causes the effect to end prematurely. The ability’s functionality has not changed.
Guardian
Vigilance
      • Shien Form now increases movement speed by 15%, in addition to its other effects.

Sith Warrior

General
      • Channel Hatred’s tooltip no longer incorrectly indicates that taking damage causes the effect to end prematurely. The ability’s functionality has not changed.
Juggernaut
Vengeance
      • Shien Form now increases movement speed by 15%, in addition to its other effects.

Jedi Consular

General
      • Meditation’s tooltip no longer incorrectly indicates that taking damage causes the effect to end prematurely. The ability’s functionality has not changed.
Shadow
Infiltration
      • Breaching Shadows, granted by Shadow Technique, has a new visual effect that persists while 3 charges of Breaching Shadows are active.

Sith Inquisitor

General
      • Seethe’s tooltip no longer incorrectly indicates that taking damage causes the effect to end prematurely. The ability’s functionality has not changed.
Assassin
Darkness
        • Dark Ward has a new visual effect that persists while active.
Deception
      • Static Charge, granted by Surging Charge, has a new visual effect that persists while three charges of Static Charge are active.

Smuggler

Gunslinger
    • Hightail It’s tooltip has been reworded to properly indicate that the ability only frees from movement-slowing effects, rather than all movement-impairing effects (such as immobilize).
    • Hightail It can no longer be used while exposed by the Diversion ability that removes Gunslingers from cover.

Imperial Agent

Sniper
    • Covered Escape’s tooltip has been reworded to properly indicate that the ability only frees from movement-slowing effects, rather than all movement-impairing effects (such as immobilize).
    • Covered Escape can no longer be used while exposed by the Diversion ability that removes Snipers from cover.

Trooper

General
      • Hold the Line now properly grants immunity to follow-up movement-impairing effects. (Example: Leg Shot in combination with the Debilitating Shots skill)
      • Recharge and Reload’s tooltip no longer incorrectly indicates that taking damage causes the effect to end prematurely. The ability’s functionality has not changed.
Commando/Vanguard
Assault Specialist
      • Sweltering Heat now slows properly when Plasma Cell is refreshed on a target.

Bounty Hunter

General
      • Made visual improvements to Flamethrower.
      • Hydraulic Overrides now properly grants immunity to follow-up movement-impairing effects.(Example: Leg Shot in combination with the Debilitating Shots skill)
      • Stealth Scan now requires the Bounty Hunter to have line-of-sight to the target’s location.
Mercenary/Powertech
Pyrotech
      • Sweltering Heat now slows properly when Combustible Gas Cylinder is refreshed on a target.

Companion Characters

  • Jaesa Willsaam’s Leap ability now displays the correct animation.

Crew Skills

General

      • Players who go from Subscriber to Preferred and then back to Subscriber status now have their Crew Skills automatically reinstated without needing to speak to a trainer.

Crafting Skills

General
        • Underworld gear and rating-equivalent Armorings, Mods, and Enhancements can now be Reverse Engineered and learned as a schematic.
Biochem
      • The Rakata Medpac has been rebalanced; this reusable medpac no longer increases health by 15%.

Flashpoints and Operations

Operations

Terror From Beyond
        • Nightmare Mode is now available!
        • Story Mode drops have been updated to include the following in addition to current rewards:
          • The Writhing Horror now drops the Arkanian Bracer Token
          • The Dread Guard now drops an additional random Black Market Item
        • [WEEKLY] Terror From Beyond now correctly grants 12 Ultimate and 20 Elite Commendations for both Factions.
Scum and Villainy
      • Story Mode drops have been updated to include the following in addition to current rewards:
        • Dash’Roode now drops the Arkanian Waist Token
        • Titan 6 now drops the Arkanian Implant Token
        • Thrasher now drops the Arkanian Earpiece Token
      • [WEEKLY] Scum and Villainy now correctly grants 12 Ultimate and 20 Elite Commendations for both Factions.

Items and Economy

Items

      • A new sub-tier of gear is available! Kell Dragon gear can be obtained from Nightmare Mode Operations at level 55.
      • New vehicle! The Helix Hyperpod, is now dropped in Nightmare Mode Terror from Beyond.
      • The Weaponmaster and Vindicator set bonuses are no longer incorrectly named.
      • The Dr. Oggurobb Holostatue once again laughs when used.

Vendors

    • New vendors have been added to the Gav Daragon and Ziost Shadow where players can exchange unassembled Kell Dragon tokens for gear.
    • New Rated PvP Weapons have been added to the PvP Ranked Gear vendor. These new Weapons cost 400 Ranked Commendations, and require a PvP rating of 2400
    • Twist, the Republic PvP Warzone Gear vendor, has been granted legs.
    • The Primeval Artifact Storage box located on the Makeb Commendations vendor has been replaced with a Makeb Storage Lockbox. This lockbox provides a randomly generated rating 144 Prototype Quality item. The cost has not changed.

Legacy

  • The Achievement for Defeating Titan 6 (16- Person Story Mode) no longer incorrectly displays as 8-Person.
  • Alderaan Achievements for “Organa Forces Defeated” and “Thul Forces Defeated” no longer have inconsistencies between the titles and descriptions.
  • Legacy Name Changes now succeed as intended, rather than fail and prompt again perpetually in some instances.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Macrobinoculars and Seeker Droid Missions
        • Seeker Droid: Dig sites are no longer deplete when players find Dreadseed or Star Forager armor pieces.
        • Macrobinoculars: IR-77 will now properly draw his weapon when attacking.
Class Missions
Jedi Consular
          • Find the Ancient Artifact: This mission on Voss is no longer incorrectly listed as optional and now provides a greater credit reward.
Imperial Agent
          • The Chronicles: This mission on Taris is no longer incorrectly listed as optional and now provides a greater credit reward.
Smuggler
          • A Brother’s Request: This mission on Voss is no longer incorrectly listed as optional and now provides a greater credit reward.
          • Playing Your Debts: This mission on Voss is no longer incorrectly listed as optional and now provides a greater credit reward.
Trooper
          • A Cultured Approach: This mission on Voss is no longer incorrectly listed as optional and now provides a greater credit reward.
World Missions
Alderaan
          • Alderaan Bonus Series: “A Spy in House Organa” and “Shipment of Weapons” now progress as intended if players log off while completing one of the two missions.
Belsavis – Section X
          • Alert: Hostiles Imminent (Republic)/Warning: Rivals Detected (Imperial): Players who log out inside of The Fatality after completing the last mission step will no longer be stuck and required to use a Fleet Pass or travel ability to leave.
Corellia
            • Corellia Bonus Series: The holostatues in Axial Park used in the Republic bonus objective “Restore the Statues” now display their holograms.
Makeb
            • Reallocation: Medical Supplies collected for this mission will now stack appropriately in the Inventory Window.

PvP

Warzones

General
          • Players that are backfilled into a Warzone are now awarded a Reinforcement Medal that will count toward their total medal count for the match. This prevents backfilled players from being placed into a match without enough time to get one medal, thus missing out on the Warzone rewards at the end of the match.
          • Crit rating, accuracy rating, absorb rating, defense rating, and surge rating now respect diminishing returns for low level Bolstered characters.
          • The base damage and armor value granted by Bolster have been slightly increased to account to the most recent item power available to players
Alderaan
          • Turrets (Objective Control Points) are no longer interactable while changing ownership.
          • Players are no longer backfilled into Alderaan Civil War Warzone when one team has twice as many points as the enemy team.
Ancient Hypergates
          • Players are no longer backfilled into Ancient Hypergates after the 4th explosion.
Huttball
          • Players are no longer backfilled into Huttball Warzone after 10 minutes have elapsed in the match.
Novare Coast
          • Players are no longer backfilled into Novare Coast when one team has less than 25% remaining on their shields and the other team has 75% or greater remaining on theirs.
          • Characters with body type 1 can no longer hide in the corners of bunkers to prevent others from seeing their nameplates.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

    • Female Bounty Hunters and Smugglers with Body Type 2 will no longer have incorrect leg animation when near other players or NPCs.

 

Filed Under: General News, Patch Notes, SWTOR Tagged With:

SWTOR Server Maintenance June 11th 2013

June 10, 2013 by

swtor-server-down

It’s a 5-hour SWTOR server maintenance this week to get Game Update 2.2 up and running. While you’re waiting you can always listen to our latest podcast which is hot off the tape recorders.

Here are thelocal maintenance time conversions:

AEST: 8pm-1am

AWST: 6pm-11pm

NZST: 10pm-3am

 

And finally, the official blurb from BioWare:

On June 11th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher, will be unavailable as we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.2: Operation Nightmare will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows:

Date: Tuesday June 11th, 2013
Duration: 5 hours
Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 8AM PDT (3PM UTC)

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

Filed Under: Servers, SWTOR Tagged With:

Flash Point 58: Leaving No Something Unturned

June 9, 2013 by

flashpoint-podcastA nice laid-back podcast with just Simon and David, covering off SWTOR and Marvel Heroes in particular given its launch last week.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Server transfers
– plug for the SWTOR Gamers Of The World Facebook Group
– brief general news update

Marvel Heroes
– Our joint review! (written review from David here)

Others

– Oz ComicCon giveaway
– is there any real reason to be excited about the upcoming PS and Xbox releases?
– calling all SWTOR (or other MMO) oceanic guilds: we want to get you on the podcast

Please send us a question for discussion on the next episode!

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Twitter account.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

Listen via iTunes or right here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:49 — 18.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Filed Under: General News, Podcast Tagged With:

WoW 5.4: Flexible Raiding Announced

June 7, 2013 by

pandaria15Anyone under the impression that the folks at Blizzard are easing up in regard to World of Warcraft should have a closer look at today’s announcement of a new feature coming in the WoW 5.4 update.

Called flexible raiding, it will be a new option for different sized groups of PUG’ers or smaller guilds:

 

…. we’re in the process of developing a new Flexible Raid system, which includes a new difficulty that sits between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty, while still allowing friends, family, or pick-up groups to play together. This difficulty will be available for premade groups of 10–25 players, including any number in between. That means whether you have 11, 14, or 23 friends available for a Raid, they’ll all be able to participate.

The Flexible Raid system is designed so that the challenge level will scale depending on how many players you have in the Raid. So if you switch between 14 players one week and 22 the next, the difficulty will adjust automatically. Keep in mind that unlike Raid Finder, no matchmaking is available, so you’ll need to make sure you invite people to attend—but if some can’t make it, it’s not the end of the world (or the Raid). You’ll also still be able to invite Real ID or Battle.net friends cross-realm. Who you choose to bring and what Item Level gear they’ll need to join your merry band is up to you, too—there’s no Item Level requirement for this Raid difficulty.

You can read the full explanation of flexible raiding over at the official site but in the meantime, what’s your take. Is this going to increase the likelihood of you raiding in WoW and do you think it’ll have effects on current raiding tiers?

 

Filed Under: General News, WoW Tagged With:

Review: Marvel Heroes

June 1, 2013 by
mh3

Event boss Venom gets a thrashing

It’s been a while in the making, but Gazillion have released Marvel Heroes into the wild. I’ve spent about a dozen hours playing this game at time of writing this review, and I can tell you I’ll be playing more, but I’m not sure for how long.

A disclaimer before you read on: I’ve been a Marvel Comics fan for over 35 years, so I expect a lot from a Marvel MMO and as a show of faith I forked out $200 for the Ultimate Pack months before launch.

How Does Marvel Heroes Work?

MH is a Free-To-Play MMO, and the very obvious (and valid) comparison that can be made is in relation to Diablo, particularly in its style of gameplay. It’s an isometric game navigated by clicking the mouse in the direction you want your character to move. None of this is surprising given Gazillion Entertainment’s President is David Brevik, former Blizzard North co-founder who worked heavily on Diablo and Diablo 2. The similarities with Diablo move much beyond that though – as a D3 player, the whole interface is essentially the same, power-ups are similar, as is gear and inventory. None of this is a bad thing in any way – it’s all tried and tested stuff that works well and ensures you get into the action without spending too long orientating yourself to the interface. It just takes some of the excitement out of that initial hour or so although some will say it’s usually more frustration than excitement learning a new interface.

Getting Started

Once you’ve downloaded the client from MarvelHeroes.com, you choose the hero you’d like to start with. There are a decent number to choose from, with a good mix between the genders and types of powers. If you’ve bought one of the more expensive packs then you have even more to choose from. For each character you can also buy alternate costumes from the in-game store. There is no cost to play unless you’re unhappy with the base set of heroes or you want to change costumes or buy some cosmetic items or experience boosts on the store. I was amused to find that although I’d purchased an Ultimate pack giving me access to all heroes, my absolute preference was Daredevil, who is one of the basic roster ones anyway.

Playing The Game

Once you’ve got your character it’s time for the first cut-scene explaining the story-line. The cut-scenes are lo-fi, comic styled ones and I actually like them a lot. As you progress through the story there’s some great scenes – I love the Taskmaster Institute video – that’s definitely been a highlight for me so far. Like a lot of isometric games you use your mouse to move and the same goes for fighting, with your left and right mouse buttons getting plenty of love. You live and die by your health and spirit levels. Your spirit is used when deploying any non-basic fight moves and your health bar declines with every hit you take and doesn’t replenish in any way unless you use a Med Kit, you pick up some gear with health regeneration or one of your foes drops a health blob to pick up . Sound familiar?

The mini-map does well to ensure you know which direction you’re going whilst still giving you plenty of scope to explore. Fights are fairly fluid and there’s enough different animations to keep it pretty interesting. There’s some good spontaneous comments by NPCs to add to the atmosphere, and graphically I like a lot of the areas I’ve seen so far though like any isometric game there’s always a little bit of same-same feel in areas.

Boss fights are fun but generally challenging as the dozen or so I’ve done all have some unique fight mechanics that take some working out. That said, I’ve only died once in total fighting bosses (with a healthy reliance on med kits), so it’s not too arduous either. Any MMO also depends to a large extent on social features and Marvel Heroes has the bases covered. The event bosses (like Venom as pictured above) are good fun though once you get more than half a dozen heroes fighting it all becomes a clicking blur with your enemy very difficult to pick out.

Beyond the main storyline there’s a few other play options, once you’ve completed eight chapters of the story. There’s repeatable missions and end-game PvP  is in development to name two. Crafting is also a key component, allowing you create a range of items from materials you pick up when fighting. None of it is particularly innovative but they’re all key components of an MMO hoping to have some longevity. Which leads me to…

mh1

Hmmm what shall I wear today?

Is It A Keeper?

I’m not so convinced that Marvel Heroes has the ‘replayability’ to keep me engaged over a long period of time, unless Gazillion are going to release some fairly regular content updates. For me, and I can’t emphasise strongly enough that this is probably very specific to me, I really struggle with how similar everything is to Diablo 3. I played the whole D3 storyline through (on normal mode only though) and really, really enjoyed it. And since then I’ve never been back – and so the similarities being so strong with Marvel Heroes I’ve fallen into the mindset that I may do the same here. That said, I’m very much hoping to be proven wrong.

Other Bouquets and Brickbats

– The game seems to run fine of relatively low-spec machines i.e. I’m running the game on a 3+ year old iMac with Boot Camp and aside from the odd stutter in the cut scenes and entry into new zones, it’s been fine.

– On launch you will get driver error messages if your drivers are up to date – this can be a good thing in some ways but some will find it frustrating.

– I do like the option to donate loot to a vendor to gain vendor experience that leads to them offering more gear for sale.

– I know it couldn’t easily be avoided but I dislike the immersion-breaking aspect of picking up gear and it not changing your appearance. It’s a unique challenge for a game involving costumed superheroes, but it still grated on me nonetheless.

– It’s early days but there’s been some serious issues with frequency of server maintenance periods and the patch updates are still large so those on broadband plans with lower data allowances may get annoyed.

– You can’t log out anywhere and expect that’s where you’ll be when you join the game next. Like Diablo 3, you’ll become obsessed about waypoints so you don’t have to replay huge tracts of the game to continue your progression.

– I’d like better enemy targeting options – flame away in comments if I’ve missed something but I’d like to be able to hit a key to target the enemy rather than having to click – particularly event bosses.

– The Marvel Heroes forums seem one of the better MMO communities out there. So far.

The Verdict

If you’re a comics fan or an isometric gaming fan looking for something new to play, then Marvel Heroes is well worth checking out given it’s free to play. If you’re an MMO player looking for something innovative to devote the majority of your gaming time to, I’m not sure Marvel Heroes will fit the bill but again it won’t cost you anything to give it a go.  For casual players looking for some Marvel-tinged gameplay that sticks well to the comics universe, then you’ll definitely want to spend some time with this game. The cutscenes alone are fun enough in parts to make it worthwhile.

Plus, I always wanted to kick Venom’s butt.

Now it’s your turn: have you played Marvel Heroes yet and if so what do you think? As alwaysI’m also more than happy for people to rip me a new one if I’ve got something factually wrong.

Finally – we do discuss Marvel Heroes on our fortnightly MMO podcast, called Flash Point – we’d love to have you on board.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Marvel Heroes Tagged With: ,

SWTOR Oceanic Server Free Transfers Announced

June 1, 2013 by

makeb5It’s been a while coming, but Eric Musco from BioWare has announced that the free transfer option for Oceanic players who want to get their characters off the three local servers, will be an option from June 4th.

Additionally, you’ll be able to transfer to any SWTOR server worldwide rather than solely North American servers:

Hey everyone,

I know you have been waiting a bit for an update and I wanted to pop in and do exactly that. Starting on Tuesday, June 4th, you will all be allowed a free one time transfer for each character you have on an APAC server. In the last update I gave I told all of you that we were expanding where your one-time transfer could go to include all NA-West servers. After seeing quite a few requests to expand it further, we are going to allow you a one-time transfer to any SWTOR server. To reiterate, starting on Tuesday, June 4th, you will be allowed a one-time transfer for each character you have on an APAC server to any other non-APAC server.

Thanks!

-eric

So there we have it: next week will see the beginning of the end of local servers as the populations further decline. There’s still some questions to be answered on how this will work for Guilds etc, so we’ll keep you posted as further information is given.

Over to you: will you be transferring immediately?

Filed Under: Servers, SWTOR Tagged With:
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