Posts with tag uk

Greetings, fellow achievement hounds. This week we return to the Glory of the Hero series and tackle two dungeons at once: Utgarde Keep and Utgarde Pinnacle.

This is the full Glory of the Hero guide, organized by dungeon:

• Part I: Ahn'kahet
• Part II: Azjol-Nerub and Culling of Stratholme
• Part III: Drak'Tharon Keep
• Part IV: Gun'drak
• Part V: Halls of Lightning
• Part VI: Halls of Stone
• Part VII: The Nexus
• Part VIII: The Oculus

I've been leveling my Restoration Shaman through Northrend, and the closer he gets to the level cap, the more I find myself getting unnerved comparing his group experiences to those of my main, a Druid tank. This past week, for example, I've healed normal 5-mans on my Shaman, then relogged and tanked heroic 5-mans on my Druid (in some cases, the very same content my shammy just did on normal). With very few exceptions, my shammy's had a tough time of it, whereas my main has sailed through her pugs without a care in the world. Initially I chalked this up to having a lot less experience playing a Shaman, but I think it was around the time that my shammy's second Utgarde Keep PuG quit at Ingvar after wiping for 30 minutes* (no joke -- and yes, this was on normal) that I had a small epiphany; maybe the reason I've enjoyed pugs so much is that I've almost always played a character who's largely immune to their faults.

You know, our characters take a lot of punishment on a day to day basis. We may get roasted in hellfire, sliced nearly in two, buried alive, or disemboweled in the course of a regular game day. Yet through it all, our characters just keep coming back for more.

Haven't you sort of wondered how our characters must feel at the end of a long day of punishment like that? Haven't you ever wanted to feel just for a moment, what they go through?

Okay, neither have I. In fact, I'd have to say that I'm allergic to pain. But just in case we ever get the bug, here comes the next evolution of the good old rumble pack: The TN games 3rd Space Vest which uses a system of 8 pneumatic cells to deliver blows with varying levels of force based on action in game.

Sure, technically rumble force vests aren't exactly new. In fact, this one came out back in March. But as our Sister Site Massively mentions, it's WoW-compatible. Specifically, it's being demo'd with WoW at the E for All Expo.

Before you make plans to see how it feels to forget to activate your Tears of the Goddess though, be warned: It currently only sells in the UK. Of course, if they're demoing it at E3, maybe they'll get us a version out here sooner or later.

One thing that your average WoW player probably doesn't think about much is the sheer processing power that's needed to play the game. I don't mean your gaming rig personally. WoW's actually pretty forgiving on that front. I mean the server hardware over on Blizzard's end, the stuff that makes us miss some gaming every other Tuesday or so. Do we really stop to think about how powerful it is?

It turns out that it's powerful enough to dominate a list of China's top 100 supercomputers. The Register reports that 5 of the top 10 supercomputers in China are owned by The9, WoW's China distributor. Not only that, it also owns at least 12 of the top 100 overall, and perhaps more. That means that more than 10% of China's best supercomputing power is directed toward MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft.

With all the issues regarding player connectivity & realm stability lately, it was just a matter of time before even the oh-so-polite British had to stand up & say something. This weekend's edition of BBC news online ran an article detailing all the damage caused by the lag monster on their side of the pond, and how it's not only homegrown gamers who are unhappy.

Maybe they should stage a good old-fashioned soccer riot; that'll might really get Blizzard shaking in their boots...