Strider Hiryu

Sullust Walker Assault favors Imps in my opinion. I've never lost an assault on it as an Imp as long as your team knows what they are doing (and you have me as Boba Fett, I absolutely own that map as Boba). Hoth is more balanced and I've seen both sides win (at least while I was on them). Endor is a bitch and favors whatever side can get the high ground first (I lost as Republic the only time I played it), this is probably my least favorite map for Walker Assault. The only match I did on Tatooine made me think it's Republic favored since my team lost but I yet again wrecked face as Boba (my god the guy is OP). I'm going to be trying out Supremacy and Fighter Squadron tonight since they seem like they'll be fun (plus Fighter Squadron just keeps calling my name, did I mention I love the flight mechanics of this game). Boba is a beast in this game and I sense a nerf incoming for him. Not only does he have a ranged attack he has a Jet Pack to get around faster, a Flamethrower for close range attacks, and he can shoot a rocket out of his jet pack that's an instant kill if it hits you. Plus the guy is packing AT-ST armor because he can take a huge beating before he finally goes down. Did I mention his blaster can kill in 2-3 shots depending on where you hit an enemy. As much as I'd hate to see him get nerfed it's going to happen. I haven't tried Han but if he plays like Boba I can see where he'll get nerfed. Palpatine is a beast if the person using him knows how to (I've been wrecked by him more than once) and Leia is more of a utility hero as she drops a pretty powerful squad shield (she's a pretty easy kill though). Honestly Boba/Han are the best heroes in this game with Luke and Darth bringing up second if you know how to use them (I'm pretty good with Luke but suck with Darth). I'm honestly impressed with the game overall. I'm still a little pissed that they didn't put squads in (still that damn partner system) but it's still fun as hell.

Its always weirded me out that his father is a brown skinned orc and he's green skinned. The green skin didn't come about until the clans drank the demon blood of Mannaroth which Durotan and his wife didn't drink so how in the hell is he green? Depending how well this one does there might be a series of movies. From the cast list it seems they have all the major players from the first game (from Garona to Medivh) so we might get a faithful retelling of the first game to a point (Durotan's story wasn't written when the first game came out so that looks to be retconned in). I'd like to see how they'd pull off the Warcraft II story line (mostly because some of my favorite characters come from this time frame). Sadly Warcraft lore is only starting to get as big as LotR lore but Blizzard seems to find more pleasure in rewriting all that lore to fit in for their plans for WoW. I know they're trying to call Warlords of Draenor an alternate universe setting but they've changed so much that as it stands now the first war never happened (or at least not in the way we experienced it). I just hope, for the sake of these movies, they stick with the original lore from the first three games.

Looks like it's using the original Warcraft as a base and mixing in Thrall's origin story (if that baby orc is Thrall). Can't really tell but I'm definitely going to see it, that trailer was freaking awesome (plus I'm a huge Warcraft lore nut).

When they give me a compelling reason to upgrade I will but until then I will stick with 7. I honestly don't see a reason to drop a great OS for something that hasn't, imo, proven itself to be better.

Well that confirms almost everything we've read, heard, and talked about. I really wish we could of seen Staten's vision but I think the success of Halo went to Bungie's head (well the top executives heads) and made them think they could pretty much take, what sounds to be a well written and thought out story, and hack it up for their own purposes. I honestly don't think things would of been better for them at EA (I mean look what happened to TOR in the beginning months when EA bought BioWare out and, even though it was a good game, what they did to ME2) but they honestly couldn't of been any worse (hell they'd of probably been better off going with Ubisoft). After reading that I've lost almost all faith in Bungie. I just don't understand how you can go from releasing one of the best game series of the last two generations to releasing a cluster fuck of a game that just fails in almost every respect. Then again they do work for Activision but I think a lot of the problems still stem from Bungie's upper echelons (I mean look at the messy legal battle they had with Martin O'Donnell when he left the company. They owed that man a lot for the amazing soundtrack he wrote for Destiny and all his work with the Halo series).

Pfft, they're still failing to grasp my attention. Maybe I am jaded that they threw out all the extended lore for this but this movie just doesn't look that good to me.

I'm looking at Fighter Squadron intensely because I love the flight mechanics of this game (easy to use and understand, right up my alley since I hate Battlefield flight controls) and even more so because we'll get to fly Slave 1 by the looks of the trailer (gah my fanboy side is starting to come out). Cargo sounds like it'd be fun too. Yes they really need to add squads because without them this game is going to suck massively for playing with your friends.

The one thing I really enjoy about Walker Assault is the air vehicle play. DICE has finally made a game where I can be a pilot (I have yet to master piloting in BF4, it's just so freaking hard for me to get the hang of). I'm an absolute monster if I get an Interceptor or an A-Wing. Sadly I never seem to get the power-ups when there down. I was severely disappointed with the lack of squads. DICE is known for Battlefield, a game that takes squad play seriously, yet they make Battlefront a partner system. This makes absolutely no sense to me as you know in SW stormtroopers always moved in squads of 5 or 6 and never acted alone. It's just confusing why you wouldn't put a squad based system into a game that's all about working as a team to take and keep objectives. Plus how the hell do you coordinate an attack on an uplink as the imperials when you can't even communicate with the rest or your team. DICE really dropped the ball here and I really hope they get enough feedback to make them see their failure here. Squads are essential to make this game so much better and they better see that or they'll probably loose a lot of potential players (then again I've noticed almost everyone treats Walker Assault like TDM and are just trying to get kills). I'll keep my pre-order for now unless something else pops up that I really want. I've got plenty of games to play but Battlefront should satiate that need for shooter based combat until The Division hits (and honestly BF4 has turned into nothing but custom server games and is getting rather boring).

Meh, Drop Zone is so so. It's fun if you're into straight infantry combat but it's basically Conquest without Tickets/King of the Hill. The Blaster Pistol is king in Drop Zone as it's probably the best close range weapon in the game. I like it more than Walker Assault only because it doesn't favor either side, you have just as good of a chance of winning as imperials as you do rebels. My only real gripe with Walker Assault is that it's so Imperial sided that it's not really fun to play if you're on the Rebels side. It's still fun but it sucks getting stuck on the Rebels side if you don't have people who'll play the objective. Heroes are so so for me. I've played Luke 3 times now and while powerful if you're not paying attention to your surroundings you'll get your ass handed to you by enemies shooting you from behind. Still haven't found the power-up for the imperials yet so I can try Vader out. Sadly this game is way to arcade-y for me. I'm having fun but I find myself wanting to play Battlefield more. I really don't know what it is but Battlefront just isn't really doing it for me. I'll still get it because the retail game will probably be so much better than the beta (only because we'll have more maps to play on and just more to do) but I just don't like the arcade feel to it.

The bolded part bothers me sir, how can Baccano! not hold your interest? The show has humor, seriousness, is set in an extremely awesome period, and it has Isaac and Miria (two of the most awesome characters ever, this can not be contested). Not to mention the story is just full of randomness. Maybe I just have a special place in my heart for this series but I thought it was awesome. Blood+ ruined the Blood universe for me, nothing will ever be as good as it was (the movie was good and Blood-C was the biggest disappointment of my life). On Fate/Zero I'll end up watching it as I've had interest in watching it but I'll do so after Fate/Stay night and Unlimited Blade Works (hell I just went and downloaded them the other day). I have this thing with watching them in the order they aired and I want to get the complete story, not just the prequel story.

Oh sure, GW is more important (j/k). Heh, I probably won't get on this weekend anyways since they're still having matchmaking problems and as fun as the game is I got other stuff to play and do.

Heh, well at least it's cheaper than this: http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/starcraft-ii-legacy-of-the-void-collectors-edition/123541 Yea I pre-ordered that version. I don't even play WoW anymore, will never pick up Heroes of the Storm, will probably never pick up Hearthstone, and I probably won't play D3 again anytime soon since I beat it a month or so ago so yea those are all worthless to me. Sadly I have this thing about Collector's Editions in that if a game I want has one I will buy it (if I can). This might be the reason why I'm always broke.

So I just got 4 beta codes that I can give out to friends since they extended the beta until Sunday. If you guys want to try it let me know and I'll PM you a code.

That thing will definitely be nerfed, the range on it is ridiculous (even for a weapon that shoots plasma). I just hope it's not before beta so we can enjoy the hell out of it.

It's pretty hit or miss with the mics. People who are trying to seriously play the objective will use mics (in Secure and Bomb modes) however you won't see many run mics in Terrorist Hunt. I've actually run into mostly adults playing Siege (hell my new friend Snowmac was one of the first people I met playing) and using mics. This game seems to draw in more of a mature crowd though I'm sure there are plenty of 12-14 year olds playing this (as there are a lot playing CS:GO).

Which is a good thing. The snipers I saw ran with the scopes on but they did a lot of close range sniping and even then most just switched to DMR's since they're a better choice if you're not going to run assault rifles or carbines (or shotguns in my case, yea FLIR's are a little op for shotguns but so much fun to use).

I played one match of Zavod Graveyard Shift. It's fun but it's kind of a bitch to find anybody if you're not using an IRNV or FLIR scope. Thankfully snipers are at a huge disadvantage if they don't have those scopes unlocked so sniping is pretty much non-existent or at least it was in the match I played. Sadly to combat the scopes people constantly use Flares and Smoke Grenades (hasn't been implemented yet but they are buffing Smoke Grenades so IRNV and FLIR scopes can't see through them so this will change eventually). Overall it's an interesting concept and certainly changes how you view the map but it's not really my thing (though I could see this map being fun on Rush or CTF).

Average match is no longer then 2 minutes a round (you are timed) and if you go for 5 rounds than 10 minutes in all. Terrorist Hunts are 10-15 minutes a match (not sure, never payed attention to the timer). Health does not regen, once you take a hit the health is gone for good (there is a special operator known as Rook that can drop armor bags for his team so I think that may constitute health regen but only for the defending team (he's a defender) and I haven't used him yet so I don't know for sure how it works). If you take just enough damage to take you to 0 you can be revived by a team mate but that only brings back 25 health and you will be dead the next time you get dropped to 0. Head shots are of course instant death so there is no coming back from that. Got some time in on Terrorist Hunts last night and earlier today. Just the same as Vegas 2, fun as hell and a bitch on realistic difficulty. I think this will be my preferred mode in the game when I buy it (I decided to get it last night, just need to pre-order it) because it brings back fond memories from my terrorist hunt days in Vegas 2. Depending on difficulty you are put up agains 20-41 AI controlled terrorists who you have to completely kill to get the win. Can be a bitch with a team of lone wolves who act on their own but that's its own fun (I like running lone wolf in terrorist hunts). One thing I will warn you about is that there are up to 2 Suicide Bombers on the AI side who will run at you and instantly kill you if they succeed. Cheap as fuck and depending on the gun you're using can take up to a 2 full clips to kill. Also learned you can actually modify your guns on the special operators (something I didn't know until this morning). You can add attachments like new sights, suppressors, laser sights, grips, etc. A whole new aspect I'm glad I now know about as it will make not only Secure and Bomb modes easier but will also make Terrorist Hunts on realistic difficulty so much easier (Enemy AI will come find you if they hear you fire your gun, suppressors will be key to realistic difficulty wins). Honestly I highly recommend this game especially if you like Search and Destroy in Call of Duty as the mechanics are the same. The single life and no health regen sucks but this game is mirroring CS:GO in that aspect. This will be a major contender for competitive gaming and will be as big if not bigger then CS:GO (not a reason to buy it but that's honestly what I feel).

So I'm reviving this dead topic since having a conversation in the status area will get hard. My initial impressions of the beta based off of four matches is: Fucking Love It! I've only played the Secure and Find the Bomb/Defuse the bomb (don't remember it's actual name) modes and they just released Terrorist Hunt today (which I'll most likely try out tonight or tomorrow). Game play is pretty intense since you only have one life and knowing the maps and good teamwork (and communication) is key to victory in the two modes I played. Thankfully I got grouped up with a great bunch of guys an we all worked well together securing 2 wins out of the four matches. Secure has you securing a position with a dirty bomb (of sorts) from a group of attackers. This is probably my favorite of the two modes I got to play as its a lot easier to pick up the mechanics of the game from it. Defending is pretty nice as you have unlimited barricades that you can put up (and repeatedly if one gets destroyed) and you can reinforce walls up to once per character (honestly this should be up to three as almost every wall/door/etc is destructible. Defending is also a lot easier to win since you don't have to run through the whole building looking for the bomb site and can pretty much shoot anything that moves as long as the team is near each other. Attacking can be a bitch but is fun as well (I love fucking with the defending team using breach charges. throws them off when two people detonate charges at the same time). I've noticed attacking takes a lot more coordination and communication to win because if everyone does as they want it can turn into a cluster fuck quite quickly. The Bomb Defusing mode sucks. Not only does it split the defending team into two smaller teams (which really fucks with coordination) they place the bombs so close to each other that defusing one bomb can defuse both (something I hope they fix, it doesn't happen all the time but if one bomb is up stairs above another it will defuse both). The one thing that majorly sucks is you have to unlock those operators they show in the gameplay footage and trailers (using renown that you gain for killing people, placing barricades, spotting enemies, etc), they're not usable right away. Your given a recruit with a minor selection of weapons, gadgets, etc when you first start out which is fine if the people your facing have the same options but once you get a group of people with the special operators it's a bitch to kill them if you're on a recruit. I'll be trying out the operators later as I unlocked two before I got off. Another gripe is that there is no hit markers in the game for if you hit an enemy or not. I honestly don't like it but considering this will probably be the next CS:GO for competitive gaming I understand the choice. Still sucks when you can't tell whether you hit the enemy or not. I'll post more about this once I play some Terrorist Hunts and more of the other two modes but besides my few gripes I actually like the game. I might even pick it up in December when it comes out if I'm not hopelessly addicted to Battlefront or BOIII (if I buy it). When I get on again to play I'll stream it so if you guys want to watch me suck it up you can(http://www.twitch.tv/ unhalloweddeceit (without the space of course)).

I'm off every Friday so we're definitely going to have to get some Battlefront play in when the Beta starts. Totally looking forward to this (so much so that I've been playing BF4 almost everyday just to hone my FPS skills for this).

Gah, quit talking the game up DX. I really want to buy it but I'm trying to save money for other things right now (plus I just bought Dishonored) and you're making it really hard to resist. I'll say this I wasn't happy with the suppressors in GZ. That one on the weapon they start you with barely lasts long enough to kill someone. Kinda sucks that carried over into MGS5. Hmmm, maybe I'll pick this up on Black Friday if it's on sale (and if I'm not too addicted to Battlefront).

It's actually more of a reference to MMO raiding in general as most MMO's suffer from the "Do raid 1, get the phat epic lewtz, do raid 2, rinse and repeat" mentality. This is the reason most, if not all, MMO's get boring and repetitive once you hit max level. I run into the same problem in FFXIV every few months as once I gear my Ninja completely I have nothing to do unless I level another job or start gearing my other jobs that are max level (however I don't raid in FF, I'm not the raiding type which is why it's good you can gear your character without doing any of the raids/endgame content). It's the reason why so many people have quit playing WoW. 10 years of doing raids, gearing up, and then waiting for new content to do it all over again gets old real fast. I'm actually quite curious to see how this works out for GW2. It's a complete change of the normal formula so it should be interesting to see how the user base takes to this new approach. If it works this could change MMO's for the better.