OMG RPG

Happy Midsummer Fire Festival all! Ironically, I say that despite feeling the exact opposite way about it. There are few things in World of Warcraft that SlashNoob doesn’t like. However, there are a few, and probably one of the biggest is holidays. Now before you get all righteous on me, let me explain.

First off, I will concede that the idea of holidays is brilliant. Providing different gaming opportunities only once a year reminds me that my life is truly dedicated to WoW as missing any great length of time can cause you to miss a lot. The festivals themselves are wonderful, mostly merrymaking and fun ensue as players get to dress up in outrageous outfits, throw stuff at each other and do things they can’t normally do the rest of the time.

But that’s where it stops for me, and I’ll tell you why. There are two reasons, #1. Achievements for holiday quests are exclusive to the end game player only, and #2 with that exclusivity comes wonderful bounty that only few can enjoy. I’m not a hater, at least I don’t want to be, but I feel this time like WoW is giving me no choice. Alright, maybe I am a hater.

I saw this article a few days ago and could not stop thinking about it. Do gamers really care whether JRPG can be played in Japanese or English? Considering that we RPG gamers usually spend at least 40 hours on a game, would we rather hear it in our native language or in the language it was written in? It’s a tough question especially since the tone and sound of a character helps determine his/her likeability, which in turn affects the gamer’s perception of the plot.

To me, the best example of a bad voice dubbing is Final Fantasy X. Yuna and Tidus are the most annoying characters I had ever heard. Wakka, on the other hand, sounds glorious. In the end, regardless of how bad or how good the voice subbing is, I still love the game and the entire motley crew. To me, it all rests on the characters really.

There I was, Tuesday morning, business cards, notebook and a huge grin on my face. I was standing outside the Los Angeles Convention center staring at the largest picture of Desmond I’d ever seen. It wasn’t the nicest of days in Los Angeles, but who cares when you’re inside a mighty convention center right? Right.

In I walked into a vast array of all things gaming. With a plethora of posters scouring the next 12 months of gaming it was certainly a gamers’ paradise. It’s the kind of place where one can see gaming miracles happening at any moment. But before I could enjoy all that E3 had to offer, I had to check in and get my “credentials”.

Now this is a new experience for me to be granted credentials as honestly I don’t see myself much different from the common gamer. Perhaps with the exception that I get to write for GamePro there is very little that differentiate us. However, rolling up to the “press entrance” I got a taste of my immortal status by just standing in the same room as other industry celebrities, the pure proximity making me feel cooler than a dude with four popped collars. Unfortunately I was brought back to reality by the unimpressesed lady at the front desk who greeted me with “Business card, byline and ID please”. I gladly gave her my credentials and received the all important access badge!

Whew, E3 is officially over and I have to tell you, not a moment too soon. It was an intense three days of gaming bliss but it came at a hard price. By Friday I was feeling completely deflated and ready for a two day long spa visit. Unfortunately there isn't room in the budget for that, but fortunately for you, it means I have plenty of time to pump out E3 previews and hands on demos for your reading pleasure. Here's what to expect over the next week:

• Interview with Bio-Ware Co-Studio Directors on Star Wars: the Old Republic: Two of BioWare's best and brightest share their busy E3 time with us to talk about all things Old Republic. They were willing to give lots of great information including a couple of "hints" at future classes and companions. This is an interview you won't want to miss :-)
• Hands on preview Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: We got our hands on the next installment of the franchise that has the same look and feel as its predecessors, with still a lot of new additions that will surely have you going "whoa". If you're a fan of the franchise, you'll not want to miss our preview! 

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Noob Files, thanks in large part to the E3 Expo. Instead of ranting and raving about my noobness,  I will do you all a favor and cover the games/developers you know and love from the floor in Los Angeles.

Check back next Tuesday for a full round up of my noobish self and my musings on my first ever REAL E3 (last year didn't count). You can bet it will involve the following: Star Wars: The Old Republic, Milo, Project Natal, Dragon Age: Origins, Avatar, Final Fantasy XIII, Mass Effect 2 and Brink.

It's a funny thing about World of Warcraft that I've been learning as I go, the higher level you get, the more you rely on others to improve. But how does one find others outside of his guild that he/she can group with? Well apparently there's a nifty invention called: Looking For Group (LFG).

For the longest time, I was always super impressed with how easily Arturis and Mandifesto were able to grab extras for the low level instances we pugged. I had no idea that such a channel as "looking for group" existed. It's not something that is mentioned anywhere, nor is it necessary for soloing. So how is it that I was supposed to find it? 

Greetings on another happy maintenance day to all of you out there. Last week, I made a fateful decision that solidified my life as a World of Warcraft enthusiast. Stepping back a bit, there are a number of other topic areas, I'd like to discuss still as there is much this noobish player hadn't experienced. One of those items is raid chat.

Typically used through a program called Ventrilo raid chat allows users to literally talk with each other using microphones. There are a number of really interesting dynamics that immerge from this, all of which I plan to talk about. As always feel free to comment with your favorite Ventrilo stories as I'm sure many of you have more than one golden nugget.

This week has been an epic week for me. I have finally made the switch from casual player to full blown WoW addict. I've learned the ropes of grouping, running instances and etiquette and hopefully am therefore ready to join a raiding guild.

This has been something I've been working towards for sometime. I've always had the desire to one day join a group of people whose dedication and devotion surpassed even my own. To join a group where I can grow from the simple noob that I am to a full grown raider; one who is easily annoyed by the lack of efficiency of others. Someone who has completed the meta achievements like the undying and Epic. To understand World of Warcraft jokes and to be able to tell others why they wiped the raid. I got that opportunity by joining the Elune guild: Noctambulists.

It is my firm belief that while instances are amazing, playing with a group tends to suck. Why the hard stance against groups you ask? Well it is my belief that they tend to bring out the worst in people. There are many reasons why I despise grouping, but most of them come down to the simple fact that relying on others is not my strong suit. Regardless of that fact, there are MANY other reasons why I think groups are terrible (at least in the World of Warcraft universe) and I intend to list them to you OMG List style and then explain how exactly you can become a better group member:

1. You can never find the right group of people – More times than I can remember I have sat and waited, 10, 15, 30 minutes for a healer to come along. Granted I know a few healers but to ask them all the time to run low level instances is really a stretch of our friendship. My favorite the other night was, our 25-man Naxxramas group needed DPS, that’s right DPS, and spent 20 minutes waiting before picking up a couple of extremely under geared players who promptly wiped the whole raid, twice. FAIL!