Real Life Highscore

In this video I show you where to farm the rare crafting drops Vials of Thin Blood, Small Venom Sacs and Small Claws. You will also get a bunch of bonus Leather Salvage Scraps and Fine/Masterwork gear to sell.

This farming run is recommended for players who are at least level 28 as most of the mobs are level 30. The farming run will go much faster if you are a few levels above.

Drops:

• Fireflys: Small Venom Sacs.
• Spiders: Small Venom Sacs.
• Grubs: Small Venom Sacs.
• Cliff Bats: Vials of Thin Blood & Leather Salvage Scraps.
• Eagle Raptors: Small Claws.

Read More »

A sneak peek for diablo 3’s patch 1.0.5 has just been released by blizzard showcasing three of the changes in the upcoming ‘Trail of Cinders nerf patch’.

The first of the three sneak peeks is on planned defensive skill changes. Lylirra writes that they will be making changes to defensive skills across the board ending in a net buff to survivability for players whilst making some skills less mandatory.  In my opinion defensive skills do need some work though I am sad a part of these sweeping changes will be the nerf to trail of cinders on the demon hunter’s vault skill.
Read More »

Arenanet has stirred up a lot of controversy recently with the actions they’ve taken against “exploits” in Guild Wars 2 and those taking advantage of those exploits.

Many users, including Youtube’s Kripparrian, have been banned by Arenanet for multiple different breaches of their terms of service. In Krip’s case, he was banned for buying items with karma and then selling it for a profit in gold. 

Although most of the permanent bans that Arenanet dealt out this past two weeks have been revoked, it does bring up an interesting conversation about what should be a bannable offense in online games and whether or not a company is just in revoking someone’s rights to play a game that they purchased and now own. Not many other entertainment mediums have this problem of dealing with terms of service after purchasing the service.
Read More »

World first paragon level 100 was recently achieved by a player named Alkaizer. What’s more impressive about this feat is that it was achieved completely legitimately and without botting or exploits. Alkaizer did exactly what you are supposed to do in a video game like Diablo 3; he found an efficient build, a brilliant farming route, and had perfect gear. He also spent a lot of time playing each day (unsurprisingly).

Here is the farming route he used to achieve level 100 quicker than anyone else:

• Head to the Kill Azmodan and grab the checkpoint right before the fight. Leave the game to save your progress.
• Log back in and clear the Core of Arreat back to the waypoint.
• Waypoint to the Tower of the Damned and clear the top circle of level 1.
• Waypoint to Arreat Crater level 2 and clear it.
• Town portal and waypoint to the Bridge of Korsaikk. Clear the Fields of Slaughter.
• Town Portal and waypoint to the Keep Depths level 1. Go straight to level 2 and clear it.
• Town portal and log out.
• Repeat.

If you want the same speed as Alkazier then you are going to need tenacity, some impressive gear and the fortitude to not pick up any rares at all. None. Alkaizer only picked up legendaries and set pieces, and only if they were easy to get to.

I have never really been interested in playing MMOs, the subscription model felt like a lot of pressure and commitment to me. However, the Guild Wars 2 system of buying the game and being able to play it forever without a subscription feels awesome to me and is really tempting me to buy the game.

I would never even consider subscribing to an MMO because what if I don’t end up playing it? I am essentially wasting my subscription fee. Every time I feel like going back to it I would be worried that I would end up wasting my fee again. Worse yet, the fee makes it feel like I shouldn’t be playing any other game but the one I am subscribed to.

I think Guild Wars 2 is doing it right. It’s all about risk. I see the risk of $60 or so dollars the same as I see buying any other single player AAA game. Even if I only play Guild Wars 2 for a week I have gotten the same value I would have gotten with a normal single player title. However, I also know that there is a good chance that I will get far more value than that, especially if I hook up with some friends and play in a guild setting over Skype.

The ‘pay once’ model is essentially the free to play model for AAA games. It allows them to have a decent production budget with some confidence that they can cover their initial costs. ArenaNet may have even made a profit on initial sales but I think there is very good potential for profitability just through the microtransaction system.

In fact, Guild Wars 2’s entire micro transaction system is pretty well thought out. You can essentially buy in game wealth and yet I have heard very little complaint about this as being pay to win. The reason for this is that the stigma is removed by the fact that the system goes both ways, you can buy micro transaction currency with in game gold as well. People who have time to grind gold but no money to pay for gems can get gems just like people who spend real life time grinding 70 hours a week at a job. There may be some power inequalities but the potential for everyone to have the same access to advantage is there, regardless of their life position.

I think I have just talked myself into buying the game…

If you are interested in buying Guild Wars 2 then you can do so over at Amazon.

What are your thoughts on the payment model for Guild Wars 2? Are you a fan of the micro-transaction model it features? Let us know in the comments below!