Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

Random DDO thoughts: 1. I love it when the moving blue borders around my metamagic feats are moving in unison. 2. Why is the divine spell Prayer a luck bonus? I guess my cleric doesn’t have much faith in her chosen deity. 3. If prisoners can teleport out of dungeons, why do we need to [...]


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

I have been skipping my friday runs on Cannith for irl stuff a few times lately, so this friday I skipped a party for DDO On Cannith, we have a static group, we used to be 5 and now we’re down to 3: clonk (me), rogue and druid. This friday we ran some Necro 4 (again) to get the last pieces for the sigil, one run of Litany, took lvl 18 and started running the Web of Chaos chain.

Saturday, after swim practice and other stuff, I logged on to DDO at 8pm and lfm’d for ADQ. Zoolo and some others joined me. After a failed hard short man raid, and the loss of one party member, we just ran it on normal. After, I lfm’d for CitW, and Zoolo stayed on.  Ppl hit the lfm rather slowly, then suddenly we filled and off we go. I will talk ppl through, if they let me know they haven’t run it. I believe I had one guy who hadn’t run it before, so I kept talking, lol. Only a few ppl got kicked off in the leg fight, and only 1-2 fell off after that, which to me is a good run. We had some deaths, dps was a bit low, but ppl were communicating and listening to instructions, so the run was over all very smooth. In the end fight, I always want to not prep anything, but kill everything but the necro, then kill then necro. That way, u don’t have to worry about timing, or ppl killing too soon. Only works if ppl listen, and do what they’re told, though.

I had 45 min before I was supposed to switch to my druid, so decided I’d try to get a FoT party going. Cleazy had just logged and joined me. I got ppl, but no Reaver tank. We ended up waiting a good while for the Reaver tank, then finally got one, only to have one guy dc and then as we’re about to start our TO tank dc’d. Restart. Again, for the most part ppl were doing a good job, except I forgot to assign a TO tank healer. I usually do that (TO tank healing), but assumed Cleazy would, so didn’t pay attention. Then he tells me I told him that he was Reaver tank healer. Oops. (TO tank died because no one was healing him). And then when it was time to prep Reaver and TO, I wanted TO well prepped, but that was a bad idea. Twice he died before any kill order had been given. And both times the Reaver team tried to kill him fast enough to catch it (bad idea). We should have just let the TO reset (he resets to about 20%), and prepped the Reaver. 3rd try I was getting very frustrated, ready to leave. I had used several pots and I forgot to buy more mass cure scrolls. 3rd time we prepped the Reaver only, then killed them both. and success finally. I wanted the named morningstar (Braisingstar) and the boots, got the morningstar as no one wanted it (Thaz didn’t have a good bludgeoning weapon for skellies).

Switch to my druid to run with my sister and Kudesnik, and Cleazy joined on his TR’d wizard. We ran the mines in sands elite, then Tempest spine. I’ve only run Tempest spine 2 times before, and that was when Thaz was lvl 10-12, which was 2011. Shindurza joined us as we were ip running the mines and stayed for the raid (I had told him we’d be running, so I believe that’s why he showed).  All 3 (Kudesnik, Cleazy and Shin) know  TS really well, so I wasn’t worried. I lfm’d, and quickly got ppl, left last spot open for a healer. Both me and sis’s druids run in wolf form, and except for me casting mass vigor once in a while, we don’t really heal ppl. Run was a bit messy and confusing, but ppl in the group were nice and helpful

Back to Thaz, I wanted to run ToD, had the lfm up for  good while, but no joiners. So I asked Cleazy to put up a VON, we ran that and then I tried again. Still no joiners. I was contemplating taking it down when I got the first joiner, then one more, then Geria and her husband, and slowly we filled. Except for some minor hiccups, run was very smooth.

On Sunday we had planned to flag for CitW with Grim, and I asked Cleazy if he wanted to run too. I lfm’d, we got some ppl, and ran the quests including the optionals. I think we had a few deaths in the first chain, while the second was very smooth. After the second chain I was tired and decided I’d run the last chain some other time.

That’s all I have for you for this time.   Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week.

Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

Schir Gold has found wyrm blood to be an insatiable taste.  Way more than i mentioned before, i feel like the Monster Manual contains a collapsed portable hole where there ought to be dragons.  Seriously!  The awesome bunch of guys in Sacred Flame Guardians have been running Wrongside and i ragged in the quest for scales/loot/flagging and the trump of them all – fun.

A horde, devoid of it’s draconic guardian courtesy of SFG

In the last week, let’s see…we ran another EH Vault of Night (what was i scared about all these years?), Don’t Drink the Water – first time running with an Epic Monk…yowza, and EH Tor (two?  three?  i lost count).  Plus a jaunt through the Gianthold for another green dragon.  So that’s like, what, 9-12 of the great beasts?  My head is spinning underneath my Minos Legens (haven’t pulled the Epic Blue Dragon Helm yet).

Earlier tonight, SFG had a hearty laugh at my expense thanks to my rolling-for-loot naivete.  Our erstwhile guide to all things high level: Abbigaal/Celleste/Reikenn/Boeregard was dual-boxing and we were all rolling for his alt’s loot.  Slow on the uptake as i am wont to be, i see Wrongside win the roll so i pass all my good stuff to him – a couple of Flawless Black Dragon Scales.  As it turns out, the proper protocol there is we were rolling to see who got the alt’s chest pulls.  What do i know?  i didn’t want to be a jerk.  All this raiding and Epic what-have-you is new to me so i figured someone would just get really lucky on each chest.  On top of that, i know Wrongside is looking to upgrade to a Flawless Black Dragon Docent; if i could help him get there, why not?

That being said, his current PDK docent looks incredibly killer, especially with whatever he does that makes him look thus:

Made out of light?!

i can’t tell you how relieved i was to learn he was supposed to look like that.  At first, when i turned around i thought “what the heck is that?  some kinda super Animated Armor?”  No, it’s Wrongside.  Uh-oh – my monitor just went wonky.  Turns out it’s some Destiny thingie he has now.

Speaking of which, i got a chance to run Caught in the Web that i’ve been slavering over since laying my eyes on Twilight and Sireth.  Boeregard – a fire savant in full-on red dragon gear – led us through that one.  Another awesome looking toon.  i’m starting to change my tune when it comes to what i’ve decided are aesthetic displeasing Warforged all these years.  Once you start slapping some cool looking armor and helms on them, they’re pretty frickin’ sweet looking.  Additionally, since i’ve gotten so much more involved with the guild and grouping in general, i’ve come to realize that it’s not so important to me anymore what my character looks like.  Don’t get me wrong – i’m vain and i want my virtual adventurer to look perfect.  But when you’re running through these crazy quests with friends, it’s more about their real life personalities and the fun we have chatting and stuff, and i don’t really have time to get caught up on staring at my little dude like i did when i was a pretty strict soloist.

Yo Demon Queen!  i’m coming for your phat lootz.  Consider yourself on notice.

Caught in the Web was insane.  It was quite a challenge to keep up, both in terms of DPS and just literally keeping up with the party that rolled through this thing.  Boeregard was great, doling out sound advice and tons of fiery hurt.  And huge props to Rette, our bard who led Ana through the Demon Web.  It was his first time too, and he did terrific.

Success!  Nevermind what that ice mephit and Wrongside are up to…

We made it!  What a blast.  i was so caught up in it (pun intended) that i really didn’t have time to think too critically about it, but talking afterwards i will agree with Onigem in that it’s a bit anticlimactic to battle your way through this tough quest…and then watch from the sidelines while the NPC fights the BBEG.  But hey – sometimes being the hero means letting the little guy have a victory too.  Besides, she’s like the avatar of Mystra or something, right?  If the Sage of Shadowdale can stand there and be content, who am i to argue?

And the chests!!  Once the sea of adventurers ebbed a little and i saw them all spread out there, i couldn’t believe it.  Never seen that many chests in one place before.  Surely, the loot i sought would be contained therein.  But alas, no.  i was really happy to pull a Pinion though.  Not for me, but guildie Onigem, who’d mentioned it several times that night.  It was my pleasure to pass it on to him and i’m looking forward to seeing it in action.  Other than that, it was a lotta dimp.

Oh!  i almost forgot – my pipedream of the air savant melee sorcerer crystallized a little more watching Bo in action with his Draconic Incarnation Destiny.  i did not realize all the different things available there.  The energy sheath, added energy effects…and wings!  Not just any old wings though – it’s actually a flyby attack.  So, yeah.  Once i get my hands on Sireth, i think it might be time to TR…and maybe even try life as a Warforged.  Before i do that though, i’d like to bring another toon up to 20 so i can still run the Epic stuff.  And to that end, i rolled a monk the other night.  Can you say confusing?  Wow, that’s going to be a trip.

i’d like to think i’m a bit of a bard, as it were.  Maybe?  Just a little?  Not the Bard.  i’ll settle for the lowercase.

Media Link

Posted in DDOcastDDOcast Podcast

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

The DDO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, April 29th from 12:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) for an update to the game. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon! Patch notes will be available during the downtime.


Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

The DDO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, April 29th from 12:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT) for an update to the game. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon! Patch notes will be available during the downtime.


Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

Click here for the latest community news, events, and more from the world of Dungeons & Dragons Online!


Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

The DDO Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for maintenance on Saturday, April 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT). The forums and wikis will remain up, but players may not be able to log in. Thanks for your patience, a...


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

In group her performance improved, but I need practice at being the archer without pulling things to the rear of the party.


Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

Click here for the latest community news, events, and more from the world of Dungeons & Dragons Online!


Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

The DDO Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for maintenance on Saturday, April 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT). The forums and wikis will remain up, but players may not be able to log in. Thanks for your patience, a...


Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

Get +15% Heroic and Epic XP, now through April 28th!


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

"Edit wars" are ugly, nasty things, and I've seen them result in many hurt feelings. We try to avoid them as much as possible.


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

Let’s start this section with a disclaimer: I am comparing apples and oranges. Sure, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Neverwinter are both RPG MMOs that take place in Dungeons and Dragons campaign settings, but DDO is over seven years old. It’s had time to expand,


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

Just like every other decision in my life, I sit here agonizing over the supposed gravitas of this moment.  So let me say this: I am now a mewling babe of the blogosphere, here me roar

The inspiration of such an endeavor as this must have an epic origin story right?  A germination of life events worthy of Homer?.  Well, stuff happens in life, and my life is probably no more different than most.  I could of course fabricate some sort of mythos that has brought me to this point, but that would undermine the banality and pedestrian nature of the truth…

I lost my job, or as my outplacement 1-on-1 career counselor advises me to say, “I’m in transition”.  Oh, I also play and love a MMORPG called Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO), and recently the game’s hosted blog MyDDO went away.  It isn’t like I posted much on MyDDO (I’m not sure if I ever posted anything, actually); but with so many talented bloggers scattered across the internet like a galactic game of Jacks, there are a few who are trying to pickup the ball and all those displaced jacks, collecting and storing them in an awesome cosmic dice bag.

Which brings me to this:

DDO has cultivated such a rich and wonderful community in its 7 years, and me with some newly discovered time to both game and write, I feel compelled to contribute to this incredible tapestry.

So why couldn’t I just say this to begin with, along with being indecisive, I’m also pretty circuitous

See you all soon!

.myrddinman

Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

After Monday’s exercise in tilt dodging and xp grinding I logged 13k xp short of 20 on Samiusbot. Don’t get me wrong Monday was a huge push like 200kish push, but when I hit 13 short I was mentally done even though I wanted to push through. So I hit an untouched explorer zone for me the Erie Forest. My slayer was about 130 for the Reaver’s hidey-hole… I thought the 400 kill slayer xp + the explores + hit a few of the rares would put me over no problem. I was rightish… but that is what happened last night not on Monday.

Monday I ran out summoned the Vamp got 12 kills and failed a destruction spell and died… Reupped my ship buffs and got back in the zone swapping out the Alchemist’s Pendant for what I meant to be my Silver Flame Talisman aka a death block item but turned out to be my Golden Cartouche aka not a death block item…  But I was able to quickly defeat the vamp who was still spawned from my first attempt to clear the zone.  Which I totally do on my second crack at it but I get no other rare spawns. Reset, which you need to do the old break and reform tick on this explorer btw, and repeat run one were right out of the box I fail a destruction spell fighting the vamp and die.

I start to see red as I put on a death block item, which in my rage I noticed that I had swapped around as I talked about above… But I was done the rage machine was running on all accounts.

Last night DDo started late.

First of all it was snowing again Tuesday morning, late in the year for snow but totally out of the blue. But this nice 2-4 days then snow/ice for a day or two then nice again thing is getting old.  Spring can just take hold already. Any way a friend of mine had an accident and needed my help in the morning and needed a place to wait out the day until his wife could rescue him, about 6 pm… It would have been rude to have logged on while he sat totally still as to avoid the dogs barking wrath.

Second of all as I said it was snowing so Monday night in the rain the family and I bundled up the green house to ready for the cold… again. And as I really love to do I went into the green house with snow and the wind blowing and just am amazed at how warm it is with very little light and no outside heat. It was about 25 degrees (f) warmer inside then out. And I found it very comfortable. Although the wife thought it cool.  So that took time.

So at about 7 I finally logged on and finished my runs in the forest. Hit the slayer mark and the vamp and the wagon train a few times and found myself 14 xp short of 20. Isn’t that always how it works….

Anyway I debated on running something WAY under level for that last tiny bit of xp. But instead the wife said just goes find a rare some place else and shut up! Unable to argue with her logic I saved some dwarfs from some dogs and became a hero just in time to realize I have 0 gear plans or play goals other then to have a main account arty ready to go… But I really enjoyed leveling it up for the most part. And I think I can come up with a gear list soon.

While my brain is doing that I also have a ton of work to do and I need to find another project to play while dualing with the wife’s dps alt she is gearing up for a TR at any moment….

Anyway back to work/planning/gear listing…

<3s

Oh and not that I think he reads this but if he does one of my younger brothers turned 30 yesterday and while I knew it was yesterday on Monday (thank you Facebook the exact date always escapes me..) I got swamped at work and helping a friend and then getting that last little bit of xp it slipped my mind. So happy belated Bday little bro. I think this will be a banner year for us all.

Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

The usual starting blog entry: DDO is down so I have nothing to do but write about it. So hi there! I go by the name Stoerm on official forums and on MyDDO, but am known as Izaak to my guildies. Geoff was kind enough to take us MyDDO ejectees under his wing, and for some reason [...]


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

Whatever else you can say about me, you can never say I am without an opinion. Or several!


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

I couldn’t help but to write one last post on MyDDO before it dies a lonely, frozen kobold-in-a-corner death sometime tomorrow. “Last person leaving: Please turn off the lights.”     Filed under: Gameplay


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

Top Ten Villains: in ranked order from 10th to 1st, my favorite comic book villains.  These are the characters whose motivations i most understand, enjoy tales about, or consider just plain cool – in a diabolical way.  The list is not limited by publisher.  If i’m honest, my comic book habits gravitate mostly around the Big Two.  Jumped on the 90′s Image bandwagon (only blurry memories remain, but i did like Union for the Texiera art), and i’ve dipped a toe in other waters from time to time.  But for the most part i’m a mainstream comics fan at heart.

While organizing things at The Long Shot, i noticed a glaring omission from past topics.  The good guys, whose adventures regularly revolve around saving the day/city/world/universe got their time to shine.  But what about the dastardly deviants whose exploits give them the opportunity to show their stuff?

Compiling this list was much more difficult than its do-gooder counterpart, let me tell you.  While there are a lot of bad guys who hit all the marks like great costumes, terrific powers, and believable motivations, it’s actually pretty tough to pin down ten of them and say they’re my favorites.  But i gave it a [long] shot anyway.

#10 – Ozymandias

While i’m far from an expert on Watchmen, i would be remiss as a comic book fan if i’d never read Alan Moore’s seminal series.  i will admit that i glossed over most of the “story-within-a-story” Tales of the Black Freighter sprinkled throughout the series.  Maybe it’s worth a return read though, as i’ve since learned that its plot is meant to correlate with the character arc of Adrian Veidt – also known by the costumed crime-fighter name Ozymandias – the very character i’m talking about right now.

Before Watchmen: Ozymandias artwork by Jae Lee.  Can’t go wrong there.

So how does a character that, at least previous to 2012′s Before Watchmen series by DC Comics, had only appeared in the 1986 series make it only a Top Ten list?  That’s the easy part.

“I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”

Turning the classic villain convention on its ear, Ozy follows the pattern almost to a tee during the story’s climactic battle against the heroes.  After their investigations lead them to the culprit pulling all the strings, the nagging loose threads are conveniently explained by the antagonist.  Unfortunately for our heroes, the new-found knowledge and accompanying time taken to explain it – that would have given anyone else just the chance they needed to eke out a victory – falls flat right here.

You’ve got to love a villain like that.

Self-aggrandizing without being pompous.  Arrogant but soft-spoken.  A figure who recognizes his superiority over others, but doesn’t lord it over them.  It’s just a matter of fact.  And with that intelligence comes the smarts to know you never let your enemies in on the secret if there’s a chance they could use that info to foil your best laid plans.  The engineers of the Death Star would have done well to take a page from Veidt’s playbook and sealed off that ventilation tube once they realized they had an info leak, and that their entire operation was in jeopardy because of one little architectural flaw.  “We sealed that shaft 12 parsecs ago.”

#9 – Black Adam

The dark counterpart of the Big Red Cheese, Teth-Adam is the fictional son of Ramses II, born in the equally fictitious neighboring country of Kahndaq.  If this and my previous pick are any indication, then Egyptian mythology and mythos is  a wealthy source to plumb for comics material (Ozymandias is steeped in Ramses II references).  Like his heroic foil Captain Marvel – now officially dubbed Shazam – whenever he utters a magic word, Black Adam channels the powers of several Egyptian gods.  Stamina, speed, strength, wisdom, power, and courage are ramped up to godlike levels.  Originally, Adam was meant to be the champion of the goodly gods of Egyptian lore.  However, the machinations of the demon Blaze cause his powers to come from the dark gods of the pantheon.

Striking an iconic super-villain pose – the throne slouch. It’s no Buscema, but still…

How did Black Adam make the list?  If i’m honest, most of my picks are based more on impulse than any deep-rooted familiarity with their deeds.   Most of my hard experience with Black Adam comes from his appearances in Villains United as one of the founders of the Secret Society of Supervillains, and from The Dark Age, his own miniseries wherein he strives to revive his murdered wife Isis and regain his powers – lost as the result of events in World War III.

Prior to those tales, i really didn’t know a whole lot about Black Adam so i couldn’t regale you with favorite stories from the past.  One of the things i enjoy most about the character is his costume.  It’s simple and striking and,while buccaneer boots and a lightning bolt emblem on his chest don’t exactly speak to his Egyptian roots, his ensemble does give you the impression that he is powerful.  And, while i am a fan of capes and cloaks in general, his lack of over-the-shoulder wear is the smart choice.  On the other hand, he would look kind of cool with a short mantle like Shazam, no?  Very lordly.

Fashion choices aside, Black Adam appeals to me because, at least as far as i can tell, he doesn’t have the sort of base motivations of your standard comic book villain.  He doesn’t scheme for money, glory, fame, or even power really.  He’s got all of those things in spades.  What is material wealth to an ancient, immortal, god-powered magical superbeing?  Even if he needed some ducats, the coffers of Kahndaq (the Middle Eastern nation he rules) are likely more than sufficient.  Glory and fame?  A millenia-long warrior legacy has provided accolades aplenty.  And power?  The guy can go toe-to-toe with Superman, and is single-handedly his homeland’s military force.

So what’s a guy like Black Adam want?  In that, i’d say he’s kinda like the Hulk.  For the most part, he just wants to be left alone.  But more than that, he’s got the heart of a warrior poet, and when you strip away all the braggadocio, haughtiness, savagery, cunning, and guile, he wants the same thing most of us really only want.  Yep, ol’ Teth-Amon is a big softie when it comes right down to it.  i’ll let LL Cool J break it down for you..

i guess you can call him the Big Black Cheese (but that sounds both yucky and maybe even a little offensive?)

#8 – Juggernaut

Want to know why i enjoy Cain Marko so much?  Because everytime i think of this character, this flashes in my mind:

Believe it or not, Juggy was headed to the bank for a legitimate business transaction!  But look at that smirk – he knows people are scared silly…and he kinda likes it.

The more i research this stand-out issue from my childhood, then more i realize how impactful it was to me as a comic fan – or an X-Men fan at least.  Most of my favorite mutants and two of my favorite members of their rogues gallery are featured in Uncanny X-Men #194.  Skimming through the era, i certainly see how the Claremont years formed the basis of my X-Men knowledge and nostalgia.  In this ish alone we’ve got Juggernaut or course, and also Nimrod - a highly advanced Sentinel from a possible future programmed to wipe out mutants (why was he after Juggy then?  Hmm…).

On the side of the angels: Wolverine, Shadowcat, Colossus, Rachel Summers, Nightcrawler, and one special lady who combines the best of all of them:

Rogue, with borrowed powers from several teammates.

Sometimes a good guy, sometimes a bad guy, Juggernaut always came off as sympathetic to me.  Raised by an abusive father, Marko’s life only got worse when he gained Charles Xavier as a step-brother, and his already crappy dad took to this new kid so much that Cain went largely ignored.  i imagine in some twisted way, even the negative attention was better than none.  Just to make it worse, the not-yet Professor X and his emerging telepathic powers allowed him to learn about Cain’s jealousy, which drove a permanent wedge between the two.

Fast forward a few years, after Marko stumbles on the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak with the inscription “Whosoever touches this gem shall possess the power of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak! Henceforth, you who read these words, shall become forevermore a human juggernaut!”  Now we’ve got an abused child with resentment issues towards a telepathic step-brother who violated his private thoughts.  What do you think happens next?

Stuff’s gonna get smashed up, that’s what.

One of the things i like most about Juggernaut is his simplicity.  That is not to say he is simple-minded, however.  Far from it.  But i’ve always enjoyed the fact that his plans and goals aren’t steeped in layers of innuendo and mystery.  Beat up a hated sibling.  Help a friend.  Get money.  Become a better person.  These are not difficult motivations to understand.  And he has a pretty simple power with which to accomplish these easy to fathom goals – straight-up super strength and invulnerability.  A lot of it.  Want some proof?  Here’s a handy compilation of his feats.  Show some respect.  If you don’t have the time or inclination to peruse that, here’s a brief summary to give you a rough idea: Juggernaut has brawled with, held his own against, and nigh-bested some of Marvel’s heaviest hitters like Thor and the Hulk.

Which isn’t to say he wasn’t left the worse for wear, but still…

What is the “something” that can stop him?  i sense a trip to the comic book store is in order.

My favorite Juggernaut moment, which not surprisingly features the same X-Men lineup as the battle with Nimrod – plus throws Spidey in the mix – is from Marvel Team-Up #150.  This time, Juggy decides the perfect b-day gift for his BFF Black Tom Cassidy is the awesome power of Cyttorak.  So he retrieves the magic ruby from a hidden temple and brings it to his bud in NYC.  Black Tom doesn’t quite see the gift as all too great, and the two friends get into a brouhaha which draws the attention of the X-Men as well as Spider-Man (who hopes to snag some good pics – he’s down on his luck and rent is due, ‘natch).  At the end, Juggernaut proves he’s got what it takes to make it in the MLB when he pitches the ruby into orbit so no one else can have it.  Okay so maybe he is a little bit simple-minded.  You know even “normal” people can reach space, right Cain?

After fighting with Juggernaut for a while, mutant strongman Colossus finally managed to pry the dome-shaped helmet from Juggy’s head, the helmet that protects him from mental assault.  But crafty Cain Marko has a trick up his sleeve so to speak.  Check it out:

A second helmet underneath his helmet!  Not so simple-minded now, is he?

#7 – Deathstroke the Terminator

If you’re a comics fan yourself, you’re probably thinking i’m a Teen Titans fan right now, i bet.  Ol’ Slade Wilson here is one of their most well-known and deadliest enemies, and more than one of his children have been on the team’s roster.  But, no.  Don’t get me wrong – i like more than a few incarnations of what was originally a team of iconic hero sidekicks.  And the cartoon was pretty good too.  But i grew up mostly with Marvel comics (except for Bats and Supes) and i missed the whole Marv Wolfman/George Perez days.

It wasn’t until the late 90′s that i got into DC Comics with any sort of vigor.  For that, i have Grant Morrison’s JLA to thank.  Specifically, i jumped onboard with Issue #14.  Why, i couldn’t tell you for certain.  Not because i was a huge GL, Flash, or Aquaman fan (i have since become a fan of the latter two – GL never really charged my ring).  Probably had something to do with Howard Porter‘s art, which really caught my attention.  It still looks pretty damn cool today, i think.  Back in those days, i really enjoyed embarking on a back issue quest as well.

Darkseid as the villain piqued my interest, too.  Always thought he was terrific.  And it’s no secret i’m a Fourth World fan.

What does any of that have to do with Deathstroke?  Not much, admittedly.  Just wandered off on a tangent about my history with the Distinguished Competition.  If i’m honest, i was hoping to remember when i first became interested in Deathstroke too.  In the mid-80′s, when i started reading RPG rules books as literature, i had the boxed set DC Heroes game and if i recall correct he was featured prominently there and looked pretty cool.

Great costume!  Lots of tweaks and changes over the years but it’s always blue and orange with the single-eye cowl.

You know what?  i really cannot figure out how, when, or why i started digging Deathstroke.  My best guess is actually out of left field – through the now-defunct Vs System TCG.  From the original DC release, he was represented in cardboard crack form by a pretty useless high-cost character card.  Thankfully for him, my deck-building typically revolved around whether or not i liked the artwork on the card, and i really liked this one.  At the time, my friend and i were convinced we could win a million dollars flopping cards, and i was obsessed with deck-building.  Everyday, i put together a new set of cards.  And everyday, my friend would kick my ass with what i later came to understand was a top tier deck (neither of us knew that; we didn’t even know what ‘top tier deck’ meant).  Hey, wait a minute…maybe he did know, had researched it more than he let on (which was not at all) and secretly laughed with glee and my frustrated attempts to overcome him?

From that point on, to level with you, i really haven’t read a whole lot of comics featuring the world’s deadliest assassin.  But there were several future iterations of the character in card game form and i eventually built an entire deck around him.  One version featured a lot of burn, which my girlfriend who was cool enough to actually get into Vs. found to be “bullshit.”  Nevermind that she used Doom exclusively.  Yeah…no bullshit there!

But i have read a lot about the character and his history and stuff, which is quite interesting.  Most recently, i had a geekgasm when i started getting into Arrow at my brother’s suggestion and saw a ragged Deathstroke mask in the very first episode.  It has turned out to be a pretty cool show, and i’m looking forward to seeing how CW version of Slade Wilson turns out.  Not sure about their use of Wintergreen though.

#6 Kang the Conquerer

The chronal cahones on this guy, calling himself “The Conqueror”

Now this one, i can tell you exactly when i first heard of and saw him.  He was in a line-up of bad guys and was one of at least four that my young self saw and thought “who the hell are those guys?”  My favorite part: how they all instinctively line up, except for Dr. Doom who surveys the group and acknowledges their collective power…then of course points how much more dangerous he is than any of them (including Galactus, which he later proves true).

Kang, along with Cannonball, Piledriver, and Bulldozer – the ‘who the hell are those guys’ guys.

Now, knowing what i know of Kang today – that he is a master of time travel who has conquered more than a few realities and caused so many divergent timelines that there is a Council of Cross-Time Kangs just to keep his own conquests in order – why he was relegated to a dude with a blaster gun during Secret Wars is Beyonder me.  Nevertheless, as both a completionist and amateur thief specializing in RPG rulebooks and action figures, my childhood collection most certainly included Kang.

My most involved experience with Kang comes through the Avengers Forever limited series from the late 90′s.  Following my usual M.O., i dove into this series starting with Issue #3.  i’ll give you one guess why.

More often than not, you can judge a comic book by it’s cover and this one had two things going for it: awesome Carlos Pacheco art, and Kang.

After a battle that spans across numerous time periods and plucks Avengers from various points in time, Kang (this time fighting with the good guys against a future version of himself) causes a temporal rift through sheer force of will.  He did not want to evolve into the man called Immortus, and even though according to the powerful Time-Keepers it was his destiny, he was like “screw that noise!”  For a guy who has left not only the afore-mentioned time-clones of himself all over the place/time, as well as variations like Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, and Iron Lad, i sort of wondered why he even cared.  My guess is that, to a 30th century man who carries the legacy of both Reed Richards and Victor von Doom, doing what other people tell you probably chafes worse than superhero tights after an extended crime-fighting endeavor.

Kang also holds the distinction of being the only super-villain to have overtaken Earth completely by force during the Kang Dynasty event.  No mind-control or anything like that – just brilliant tactics.  And the best technology from across all of time and space.  Don’t worry though – he only conquered the planet to save it.

Like any good villain worth his salt, Kang has mastered the Buscema Slouch.

*     *     *     *     *

Whoa, what’s this?!  Long Shot giving you the short shrift?

With such a dastardly dossier already complied, how villainous must the rest of these rogues be?

Bad enough to force me to take a break, that’s how.  ”If you stare into the abyss,” and all that.

Plus i’ve got to keep my DDO peeps up-to-date on some goings on there as well.

This, my friends, is called a cliffhanger.

Thanks for visiting!

Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

i teased this about a week ago, and now i will tell you the tale.  For the typical DDO’er this is probably not anything to write home (or online to share with the world) about, but for me it was a HUGE deal.  See, for all that i’ve been grinding through lives and levels almost since the very beginning (regrettably just a tad too late) i was never much of a raider (i.e. never ran any except a Tempest Spine six years ago, severely under-level Chronoscopes, and 2 Shroud runs).  But thanks to some serious time dedicated to a single character, and inclusion in a really active and vibrant guild, i finally felt like i could carry my weight in a 12-person group battling for epic supremacy.  Since then, i’m happy to say i can hang with the big dogs (or Wolfies) on Monday nights.  By “hang with” i mean “not be a huge burden” – these skilled vets are rolling along and defeating evil with aplomb.

So there i sat last week, tapping away about the awesome achievement of facing down an EH green dragon and overcoming the challenge.  i get a few lines in when my phone starts blowing up.

“Epic VON with the guild!” 10:09pm

“They are already on VON 2 but there is still room” 10:10pm

“On three now…” 10:11pm

By this point i’m like WTF is going on?  How are they doing it this quickly?!  i thought maybe they were blowing through flagging at the Heroic tier, something i did solo in about 20 minutes the other day so i’d be ready for this moment.  What was i to do?  Sit there and finish writing about a game or jump in there and do something?!

Well, as you may have surmised by now – both!

If you stayed up extra late to read about our time purging the poisoned well, thank you.  This is what caused the delay.

By the time i logged on, my guildmates were standing around waiting to start the boss fight in VON2: The Prisoner…which took about 10 seconds on EH.  After that, we blew through VON4: Haywire Foundry, where i was happy to note that when we split up, i could still hold my own and contribute meaningful DPS.  At least, it seemed so to me.  It’s all relative – i was seeing way bigger numbers than i ever had before.  Note to PnP players – “splitting the party” does not equate to “guaranteed TPK” in this game.

So within a couple minutes, everyone is flagged.  All of this is old hat to me (not the Epic part, but the quests themselves).  Every toon i’ve ever brought to level range has been flagged just in case the opportunity arises, but the stars just never aligned for me.  To put it another way, i was too chicken to PUG it not knowing what i was doing.  i will admit that Wrongside, myself, and our buddy Daniam once entered the Vault of Night just to see what we could see.  Believe it or not, we managed to complete VON5 – the actual vault portion of the raid.  IIRC it took about oh…two hours or so fumbling and stumbling through it.  We were so jacked after that, ready to fight what at the time was the game’s only red dragon.  No problem, right?

We enter the Plane of Night.  Oooh.  Ahhh.  What a sight!  A pocket dimension basically in orbit around the planet far below.  Far enough below to see the curvature of it.  Armed with the knowledge that there are 3 pillars to be destroyed simultaneously, we split up and each head for one.

And then we got annihilated in short order.

“She breathes fire on you before you can fight her?  What’s going on?  The bridge is burning!  Uh-oh, i’m getting hit…”

Ding!

Ding! Ding!

Let’s put all that behind us, shall we?  This night was different.  Rolling with a guild in a full party rounded out by a pair of PUGgers, i had zero doubt we’d succeed.  If there was one downside, it’s that everyone knew the quest so well, i didn’t really have time to absorb any of what was going on while we ran it.  i did experience a moment of dread when i greedily clicked to pick up the enticing treasure bag i spotted and realized it was some sort of quest item signet ring.  Was i stuck with it?  Could it be traded to someone who knew what to do with it?  Thankfully, yes.  Whew!  Off the hook.

Finally, the big fight!

Please ignore the party chat window – that was a technical error for Wolfie i swear!

Honestly, i don’t want to say i was underwhelmed or anything, but this was so much easier than i anticipated.  Over the years, i’ve read guides and strategies, tactics, what to expect, and so on and so forth.  But when it came right down to it, the great wyrm went down after a few minutes of the tanks whacking at her while the rest of us blasted the living heck out of her.  However, we did have to hide behind a rock for a few seconds every so often when someone would yell “Inferno!”

Remind me again why there’s no dragons in the Monster Manual.  Seems like a glaring omission, no?

And that was that.  Two dragons in two days – i was pretty darn proud of myself.  The green one went down through a combination of guile, cunning, and frantically Wind Dancing around the cavern.  This red one went down through sheer overwhelming force.  And it was awesome.  i know it’s just a game, and this particular raid isn’t anything new, but man it felt freakin’ fantastic to run this one!

Pwned.  Got a Flawless Red Dragon Scale too.  If only you could craft iridescent armor…

Afterwards, me and Wrongside hung around the Plane of Night to get some screenshots.  i didn’t realize there was a perfect vantage point underneath the battlefield, but thankfully Wrongside did and got a great one.

You’ve come a long way, Wrongside Redd of Sarlona.

Since last week, Schir has acquired quite a taste for dragon slaying.  We ran another Epic VON just last night as a matter of fact, and this time i took advantage of the sweet spot as well.

Master of Reality…getting there anyway.

We also got a guided tour of the Epic Gianthold courtesy of Reikenn, one of our guildmates.  He surprised us by plunging us into another pitched battle against a red dragon.

I am Schir, and I am indeed Eberron’s mightiest Sorcerer!

What have i learned from all this dragon hunting?  Probably the most profound lesson is that it is good to find a group of cool people to game with.  My enjoyment of DDO took a quantum leap forward since getting recruited into the Sacred Flame Guardians, and running with these guys is such a blast.  Apologies to their alts (i’m still trying to figure out who’s who) but people like Wolfie, Reikenn, Aunslaut, Abbigaal, Celeste, Scentinel, Kantril, Carvur, Tuducken, Wyrmbud, Vladamirre, and many others have really amped up the fun factor for me.

Thanks for visiting!

*     *     *     *     *

Coming up in the near future, i’ve got a great opportunity to interview our guild leader Wolfie right here on The Long Shot.  If you’ve been playing any length of time and PUGging any of that time, there’s a good chance you’ve run with him already.  He has been involved with gaming for quite a while.  He’s a great guy, terrific guild leader, and i don’t think you’ll be surprised to learn he’s pretty damn cool out of game too.  So i hope you come back around to learn more about him in the next week or so.

i’m still learning the ropes of this sort of gaming coverage, so my apologies for the awkward structure and whatnot.  i definitely want to give a huge shout out and big ups to EvenNote and the entire OurDDO project, and Gamer Geoff for helping keep a great community alive, and for including me in it.  Thanks so much!

Media Link

Posted in DDO NewsSyndicated

UPDATE: The downtime has been extended until 2:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT.) The DDO Game Servers, web sites and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for maintenance on Monday, April 22 from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern (-4 GMT). Thanks for your patie...


Media Link

Posted in OurDDOSyndicated

I went out on Friday night for the first time in a long while, slept in on Saturday and then had a bunch of chores I wanted to do before logging on to ddo. So, I didn’t log on til 10pm. I saw Supergimp on an lfm for ee FoT, sent him a tell that I was considering it, no reply, so lfm’d for CitW Normal. I barely got it up before Super sent me a tell asking me to join him instead, and when Demonnibler joined me I asked if he wanted to go join Super instead.

First try, we enter with a full group and plan was to follow the same tactics as on normal or hard. Things got messy and the dragons killed us, one by one. Divine intervention saved me, but as everyone else was dead, I didn’t last long after getting up.

Second try, new tactics. Millusia told us that the ee tactics he knows of, is to take all the dragons to the Stormreaver while we prep the giants, so we decided to try that. As we fell down in sneak mode by the wall, Super stayed in middle to grab aggro and pull the dragons to the Stormreaver. This tactic worked better, but lag tore us apart. We hit such bad lag after the first pair was killed, that we couldn’t do anything. I was trying my best to survive, but after I got one of the giants beating on me, I didn’t last long. I was the second last to go down, though, before River.

I had made plans to run with some ppl, so I switched toons after this, ran with them about 2.5 h, then switched back to Thaz and lfm’d for CitW normal. I got 2 trees in the group so I suggested we do hard instead. Was a very smooth run with only a few deaths and in the last area we got it so the only portal keeper was the necro. Ana got through on first try. Only one item dropped, though and only a few comms. I got nothing.

I saw Super lfm’ing for ee FoT again, and joined him again. He only let in ppl he knows, or ppl who ppl in the group could vouch for. He also spent a long time talking through tactics, too long apparently as some ppl had to leave. In the end we entered 11 man. Same tactics as before, take dragons to Reaver and prep the giants. We had some deaths, but we got the 3 pars down and the crystal. After that came the difficult part. We had a good enough group, but lag’s a killer. I was trying to keep ppl alive, but would freeze up for a second or two very so often. I was using divine intervention again, and it saved me once from dropping from lag. Super who was tanking the Reaver died, and his backup got him back up while keeping the Reaver from running off. Then ppl started dying and Reaver was off.

I was running in Unyielding Sentinel, I had energy sheath electricity from Draconic and the electricity resist from GMoF twisted in, and an e normal ring of djinn, I was doing good against the electricity. But as ppl started dropping, and with the 2 minute death timer, we were in trouble when ppl started dying. I was kiting trash while trying to get ppl back up. I threw one guy a raise 4 times before I finally got him up, and the whole time I was lagging on and off while getting hit in the back by trash. As I went down I thought we had wiped, but the fvs was still standing (he must have been incapasitated or just at little hp, because I didn’t notice him at first). But as last man standing he didn’t last long and it was a wipe.

I’d say the biggest issue we had, was the constant on and off lag. If we could have had a lag free run, we would have pulled it off.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day/ week.

Media Link

Posted in DDOCast Site News

Posted in DDOcast PodcastExtras Audio

Play Audio

DDOcast 278 – D&D LIVE! “The Rescue of Mr. Tibbles” Hey! its a Special DDOcast! Flying kobolds, a kidnapped elvish cat, Quickfoot ruffians on the loose! Will the party be able to save the day? Join Tolero, Cordovan, Geoff, Anne and Sig as DM on their D&D Live game on G+ Hangouts!