Rise of the Godslayer expansion launches May 11th

[Falwell]

I might take you up on that offer later in the week/next week.

Right on, just flag one of us down if / when ya get there.

Edit: I just changed our recruitment up so even if one of us isn't on, go ahead and apply in game and I'll accept the app next time I log in.

[Draegan]

I went out and got it this afternoon.  I remembered I had some Gamespot dollars sitting around and that basically covered the expansion.  Installing now.  I have the disks so it should take 4 hours instead of 8.

[Stormwaltz]

I'm going to be giving this a spin. The expansion's is in the mail from GoGamer. I got the Collector's Edition back when it released and then - as with so many games I buy - it sat on my shelf collecting dust. But damn if they didn't make a gorgeous Asia that never was.

What server is everyone on?

EDIT: Looks like Wiccana is the PvE server of choice? Sounds like a good name to me. (But then, I married a witch.)

MMORPG.com is giving away codes for a free non-combat crocodile pet here. Grab one before they disappear.

[Falconeer]

Sweet Stormwaltz, thank you! And 3000 more keys left.

[Cadaverine]

10,004 keys left is what it just said when I grabbed one.

[Draegan]

I got to play a bit late last night, about 20 mins, and all I did was run around real quick, play with the character creator and  mess around with the graphic settings.

I'm trying to get the dx10 client to work well with my two 4850's.  I got a ton of shadow flickers.  Might just play in dx9.

Tonight I'm going to start in earnest and try a Ranger (I hope I don't regret the class).  If I hate it, I still have my free level 50 boost.

[Riggswolfe]

Hey Falwell, if you're not on who should we contact? I'd like to get in a guild but also don't want to be roped into raiding and stuff all the time. My character is only level 28 right now since I just started playing a month or so ago.

[Falwell]

Hey Falwell, if you're not on who should we contact? I'd like to get in a guild but also don't want to be roped into raiding and stuff all the time. My character is only level 28 right now since I just started playing a month or so ago.

Any Grub can get ya an invite. Just tell em you're from f13.

[Nija]

Since people are having trouble with DX10, I'm going to share the settings that work for me.

Video options / Basic

Display Res: 1680x1050
Enable full screen: Unchecked
AA Quality: 4x
...
View distance: 1000 m

Video Options / Advanced

DX version: DX 10 Test
Shader model: 4.0

Shadow quality: From everything
Shadow res: Low
3d ambient occlusion quality: Disabled

HQ view distance: 50%
Particle view distance: 250m
NPC view distance: 201m
Grass view distance: 20m
Ground quality view distance: 32m
Animation hq view distance: 75m

Texture filtering quality: Anisotropic
Texture res: High
Anisotropic filtering quality: 2
Enable parallax: unchecked
Enable advanced transparency: unchecked
Remove foliage around character: checked

Enable grass: checked
HQ grass: unchecked
Grass physics: unchecked

Water reflection quality: From ground only
Enable world particles: checked

Video options / DirectX 10 Test

Adv Shadows: unchecked
Screen space ambient occlusion lighting: unchecked
Godrays: unchecked
Godray Intensity: 25%
Specular on Ocean: unchecked
Underwater Caustics: HQ
Enable Caustics only while submerged: checked
Volumetric light: checked
Wind in Trees: unchecked
Shockwave Distortion: on all characters
Radial Blur: checked

[Draegan]

Ooh thanks for that, except my resolution is 1920x1200.


I've made like 4 character tonight to level 6.  Gotta find the right fit.

[schild]

I have made my 6th Priest of Mitra.

[Lum]

I'm in as a baby Khitan Necromancer, because I hate fun. On Wiccana, because I hate witches. And fun.

[Lum]

You know, if you use the DLC 100% XP potion, you can go through Tortage without ever doing a single day quest (at least so far! I'm at level 11 after a few hours).

And yes, I know I'm skipping the best part of the game, because I've played the best part of the game.... quite a few times now.

[Ollie]

I resubbed too, and just in time to enjoy the massive Euro server downtimes. The game has been down a good 24 hours here since the 11th with various patches and fixes. Go team! 

I did have time to run around Keshatta briefly and tickle a few mobs just to see the PvE combat changes. Boy, have they changed the classes since launch. My bear shammy seemed pretty solid with my old spec, handling groups of three to four on-level mobs with little downtime between pulls. (After the appropriate amount of practice, of course. The first few pulls – not so pretty.) My poor guardian, on the other hand, has been reduced to a simpering wuss. Going sword and board and stacking counterstrike really doesn't work anymore. At all. I guess it's polearm all the way, though I need to do a bit of forum digging to really get up to speed. Too bad that would mean mandatory re-specs between PvP and group PvE, which is far too nerdy to even contemplate. I want to be soothed by violence and gore, not agonize over builds.

I know I'm skipping the best part of the game, because I've played the best part of the game.... quite a few times now.

There are only so many times a sane person can listen to Saddur's "You will not sacrifice yourself to the Deeeeemon?" before swallowing one's face.

[Velorath]

Wish I could join you guys.  Too much other shit to play though.

[Shatter]

Been reading there have been issues, bugs and other crap going on.  True/false? 

[Ollie]

A bit of crashing has been going on, mostly while zoning. The new zones are seeing horrid performance, which is to be expected as people hammer them constantly. Other than those boo-boos, nothing major here on the EU servers.

To Funcom's credit, they've been pretty above board about the whole thing and haven't tried to sweep anything under the carpet. Morrison came out early on with an announcement that they're working on it.

[Brogarn]

I've run into the occasional lag spikes, but nothing "ZOMG FAILCOM!" yet. I'm on Cimmeria, though, so there might be population differences.

[Pennilenko]

I am downloading as we speak, I am pretty sure all of my characters are on a pvp server. I just don't remember which one.

[Draegan]

After making my second Bear Shaman last night I got up to level 13 and into the guild.  We'll stick with this guy for a while.

[Stormwaltz]

Boy, it would be great if my fucking preorder box would get here sometime.

[Nebu]

I'm very tempted to give this expansion a try, but I'm waffling between this and a resub to LotRO.  

Can any of you here break down what might push me toward one game over the other?  I prefer to play casters/support and primarily solo/duo most content.

I've actually been playing DDO recently and it's making me crabby. 

[Draegan]

Well I just recently went LOTRO -> DDO -> AOC (currently subbed to DDO and AOC now).

LOTRO is just the same thing again, though I never got far in the game, you guys have.

DDO is great but I got my sorcerer up to level 9 and the solo-ness got real slow-grindy or nonexistent.  I didn't want to pug and didn't wait around for guild groups.

AOC, you can solo all you want.  The holes have been filled and if you pick a class you can have fun with you should have a good time for a while.  The game looks gorgeous and I want to check out the new 20-40 areas.  The only reason I quit the last time F13 got together was because my Dark Templar was starting to be boring and something shiny caught my eye I think.

Also, the population should be decent with server mergers and the expansion bringing people back.

So, AOC has shinier graphics, different gameplay, more solo-ability and it's something you haven't played in a while.  DDO the solo stops at level 10ish.  And LOTRO, though a good game, doesn't grab me (not sure why it doesn't grab you).

Also, AOC has Asian boobs now.

[Lum]

It's great how Moore's Law has caught up to AoC. I can actually run the DX10 engine at 1920x1080 at 30fps!

[Falwell]

You'll also be happy to know that the wonderful mechanic of falling about two feet and receiving a roughly twelve hour snare for your trouble is still alive and kicking.

[Draegan]

Can someone suggest a piece of software I can use to map buttons to my mouse for AOC only?  I really don't want to install my lachesis software.

[Nightblade]

Can someone suggest a piece of software I can use to map buttons to my mouse for AOC only?  I really don't want to install my lachesis software.

I'm pretty sure the game has support for mouse binding now... Or am I thinking of something else? Last time I played this I dont remember having to install any additional driver software.

Im curious about these changes, does combat still require a ridiculous amount of micro managing? I still have a free product key from an MMORPG contest I won a few months ago.

[Draegan]

I can't bind mouse buttons as of two nights ago.

Also combos have been cut down.  They're all 1-2 now and I think the highest may be 3, I can't remember.  If the game released in the shape it is today it would be much more successful.

[Nightblade]

I can't bind mouse buttons as of two nights ago.

Also combos have been cut down.  They're all 1-2 now and I think the highest may be 3, I can't remember.  If the game released in the shape it is today it would be much more successful.

The cut down combos are nice, however I'm talking more about the

"Barbarian Damage ability"
"Barbarian Damage abilitty 2!"
"Barbarian Damage ability 3 with speed buff!"

"Barbarian anti CC 1"
"Barbarian anti CC 2"

[Ollie]

Well, you could always play a necro or a demo. You get to press about four buttons all the way to the level cap, which is exactly as exciting as it sounds.

No, really, it is. 

All melee classes require a bit more button mashing, though some are less of a fuss to play than others. Brute specced conqueror and berzerker barbie are still the faceroller's solo PvE options of choice. It takes considerable skill to fail with those two.

[Draegan]

I can't bind mouse buttons as of two nights ago.

Also combos have been cut down.  They're all 1-2 now and I think the highest may be 3, I can't remember.  If the game released in the shape it is today it would be much more successful.

The cut down combos are nice, however I'm talking more about the

"Barbarian Damage ability"
"Barbarian Damage abilitty 2!"
"Barbarian Damage ability 3 with speed buff!"

"Barbarian anti CC 1"
"Barbarian anti CC 2"

There are different attack abilities.. yes and each one gets extra ranks.  They all attack different directions but they also don't share a GCD so you can use rank 2 and 3 right after each other.

[Riggswolfe]

All melee classes require a bit more button mashing, though some are less of a fuss to play than others. Brute specced conqueror and berzerker barbie are still the faceroller's solo PvE options of choice. It takes considerable skill to fail with those two.

Ok. Why is Brute spec so awesome? I've been looking between the trees and Brute seems more 2h oriented whereas Carnage seems more DW. Is 2h just that much better for some reason?

[Nightblade]

I can't bind mouse buttons as of two nights ago.

Also combos have been cut down.  They're all 1-2 now and I think the highest may be 3, I can't remember.  If the game released in the shape it is today it would be much more successful.

The cut down combos are nice, however I'm talking more about the

"Barbarian Damage ability"
"Barbarian Damage abilitty 2!"
"Barbarian Damage ability 3 with speed buff!"

"Barbarian anti CC 1"
"Barbarian anti CC 2"

There are different attack abilities.. yes and each one gets extra ranks.  They all attack different directions but they also don't share a GCD so you can use rank 2 and 3 right after each other.

I'm talking about the overlapping and redundant abilities that would compel someone to just have them all trigger from a single button; it becomes more apparent once you get closer to the level cap; so I guess not many here know about it yet. It also may have been purely a Barbarian issue.

[Ollie]

Nightblade lost me there. A weapon-swapping hybrid Barbie at 80 would do a rotation that goes something like:

Staggering Blow to get Reverse Swing ticking
Stunning Punch
Weapon swap
Wreck Armor
Jagged Cut
Whirlwind (depending on mob number)
CoS what's left, using highest rank first followed by next highest rank.
You could also do a couple of Butchers with the two-hander after CCing, if needed.

I'm a bit lost as to what redundancy you're referring to. Maybe I'm just dense. 

Why is Brute spec so awesome? I've been looking between the trees and Brute seems more 2h oriented whereas Carnage seems more DW. Is 2h just that much better for some reason?

Two-hander is a much easier spec to level in than dual-wield. You have better survivability, more range, so hitting multiple mobs is easier, and most importantly you have better CC options. Carnage does more damage, but becomes more viable at cap and with better gear. (The same reasons hold true for barbies; reaver is a really poor levelling spec due to limited survivability.)

A basic brute levelling spec would go something like this. That's mapped out to level 67.

[Nonentity]

What the hell? When did everyone start playing AoC when I wasn't looking?