Parko

So, I ended up playing on Sunrest with a bunch of folks from LotRO and was thrilled to see you guys were on the same server too. Unfortunately, it seems that you all elected to be Guardians. We have a small Guardian chapter opening up too, but I don't know when I'll find the time to roll another alt. For now, look for me as Asclepias, the Defiant Rogue (primarily MM, for now). If you see me, take cover.

Actually, try this link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14031925/rift/index.html# It's more up to date, I believe.

The really attractive thing about Rift, for me at least, is the class system. When you create your character, you pick on of the main four archetypes (Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, Mage). Each of these four archetypes support eight different 'souls', which are class specifications. (Tanky Warrior, Anti-magic Warrior, DPS Warrior, etc.) You pick three of those souls for your build at any particular time and can pick and choose which skills to take from them to combine your own personal build, based on points which are awarded through leveling up. Now, the nice thing is that you can have access to all eight of the sub-classes at any time and can save four different combinations of them and then switch back and forth as needed. I can set up my rogue to tank with one build, have a different set of souls and skills for PvP, and yet a third for PvE DPS. It's really a great thing. No respec cost either, from what I understand. Once you've purchased and set up the roles, you can switch back and forth as often and freely as you like. So, in that way, you really only need four characters to have access to every possible combination of skills in the game. You can play your rogue as ranged DPS one day and as a stealther the next. Your Mage can focus on CC on Tuesday and on Wednesday be pure DPS or even backup heals. It's a really novel idea and I'm fired up about it. As for the rest, yeah, it's nothing ground breaking. Quests are quests. Mobs are mobs. I only dabbled in the PvP, but I was far underleveled and undergeared and just got destroyed repeatedly. I'm sure that there will be essential PvP builds that outperform the rest. Fortunately, you'll always be able to adapt to the flavor of the month by changing your build around a bit and won't have to reroll.

Hello SoH! I've more or less given up on WAR after the last big patch. So, I've been puttering around in LotRO a bit and over the weekend, I participated in the Beta event for Rift. Rift seems like it may end up being a pretty cool game. I leveled a few characters up to the Level 5-10 range, just to get a taste for the class system. Anyway, I had a good time and was wondering if any of you folks will be trying it. See you around, P

I get your point, but there are tight restrictions on what you can use for your appearance. You can only reskin items with the appearance of other similar item types. In other words, you can't make your Swordmaster look like an Archmage. What you can do is make one piece of heavy armor look like a different piece of heavy armor. There is no risk of mistaking the class that you're up against. Yeah, that still happens. I love the Daft Punk avatar, by the way! WAR started up a big re-enlistment campaign thingy yesterday: http://www.warhammeronline.com/call_to_arms/re-enlist.php You get two weeks for free, plus some bonuses and in-game XP/RP buffs.

Yeah, they added an appearance system that lets you overlay the appearance of any similar item on top of the usual appearance for that item. Say, for example, that you really like the look of those Tier 1 shoulders and want to use that appearance instead of your Conqueror piece. You just go to the Appearance tab and drag the T1 piece over on top of it. Sounds good so far, right? But wait, here is the lameness...The appearance only works for your own Faction. How you see yourself will not be how your enemies see you.

Monolith died a lonely death ages ago. The US servers have been consolidated down to only four now (Badlands, Gorfang, Iron Rock, Volkmar). It seems like many of the order guild that hung around went to Volkmar. I think Tribe went to Badlands, but I'm not sure. The game has vastly improved from what it was, but there are still plenty of inequities. Most recently, they've added an underdog bonus system called All Out Assault (AAO) that gives you up to 400% increases in XP and Renown when you're outnumbered and that's really encouraged players to fight even when the odds are against them. (Or, more specifically, to set up ambush groups and gank solo players whenever possible. ) Badlands is currently the game's busiest server, so much so that it's being crushed under its own weight and has frequent outages. They're going to start prohibiting trial accounts from playing on it to reduce the strain. My Destruction characters (40 Shaman, 40 Choppa) are over there. Anyway, they have a re-enlistment campaign thing that gives you a free 10 day trial period, plus some bonus quests and items if you want to give it a try: https://accounts.eamythic.com/war/reactivate See you around.

I like that. I claim this spot of the Internet in the name of vanity! Just an update or two. I'm still moderately active in WAR. I ended up joining a good guild on my Shaman and took him to R40/RR45 in full Conqueror gear and then decided that I was tired of idiots mouthing off to me about my healing. So, I rolled up a Choppa and took him to R40 too. Choppa is a great class, but squishy as hell without a guard and a healer and since I couldn't get a dedicated premade group going, I shelved him for the time being too. For the last month or two, I've been back on my Ironbreaker. After the latest server transfer, he's been renamed Pipra now, no longer Parko. I'm almost RR60 with him. I'm on the Volkmar server, but we've still got a lot of the same old names and faces from Monolith, both on Order and Destruction. Anyway, take care, I'll probably log back in in six months and say hello again.

Well, I got burnt out on WAR after a couple of months and then went back to LotRO for a while once their Mirkwood expansion came out, but that only held my interest for a couple of months too. Needless to say, as of this week, I'm back in WAR...again. It's been an interesting experience. I'm still playing my Shaman (R32/RR32) at the moment. Without a guild, I've just been doing scenarios, which are more rewarding than ever. On Badlands, they really are popping instantly in T4. Seriously, at 6:00am this morning, I got three instant pops in a row. Anyway, I likely will get bored and move on again before long and I thought that I'd just check in and see how Aion was treating you. It looks like you're all doing well enough in there. Take care, Parko P.S. Discofire, I just saw your post. I certainly remember playing with you in SC's back on Volkmar! Unfortunately, I've grown tediously bored of my Order alts. Destro is more fun.

Hi guys. The pendulum of boredom has swung and I'm currently back in Warhammer. Monolith apparently went caput in my absence, so I've transfered over to Volkmar instead. Anyway, it looks like you've all left for Aion. I can't say that I see much there to interest me, but I wish you all the best of luck with it! Take care, I'll drop by again in a few months to say hello.

It's been a couple of months since I dropped by, so I thought that I would and say hello. I'm still pretty involved with LotRO at the moment. How are things in WAR? Have the new MDPS classes improved the game?

Well, my subscription expired over the weekend. If Mythic can get it together I may revisit the game in the future, but for now, I'm heading back to LotRO. I'd like to give a big, "Thank you" to all of you who were so welcoming to me in my short time with SoH. Happy trails.

Hey Juju. I'm glad that you found your way over here and congratulations on hitting 40!

What server are you on in LotRO? I have a number of characters gathering dust on Elendilmir.

All right, I'm up to 36 on Raffle now and am starting to feel useful again. After being abused by Rank 40 Witch Elfs for the past eight ranks, it's nice to be able to finally feel marginally effective against them. I hope to hit 40 by the end of next week and then I expect that I'll come and ask if I can tag along with you all some.