Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com’s arena column.

Listening Music: Stevie Wonder. I listen to this stuff when I play arena — teammates think I’m ridiculous. I think they’re ridiculous for not appreciating Stevie. Although, I guess it is a bit weird to hear kill targets shouted while You Are the Sunshine of my Life … is blaring in the background.

Understanding the big picture

Gladiators look at arena battles very differently than most. This isn’t because they’re naturally gifted at solving complex riddles or puzzles — they just have enough arena experience to understand things that others might not. Well, get ready, because this is the start of your crash course in seeing what we see, how we see it.

So sit back, relax and crack open a cold one.

Continue reading Blood Sport: Good momentum

Blood Sport: Good momentum originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com’s arena column.

Listening Music: Stevie Wonder. I listen to this stuff when I play arena — teammates think I’m ridiculous. I think they’re ridiculous for not appreciating Stevie. Although, I guess it is a bit weird to hear kill targets shouted while You Are the Sunshine of my Life … is blaring in the background.

Understanding the big picture

Gladiators look at arena battles very differently than most. This isn’t because they’re naturally gifted at solving complex riddles or puzzles — they just have enough arena experience to understand things that others might not. Well, get ready, because this is the start of your crash course in seeing what we see, how we see it.

So sit back, relax and crack open a cold one.

Continue reading Blood Sport: Good momentum

Blood Sport: Good momentum originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

It’s been nearly a year since Turbine re-launched Dungeons and Dragons Online as a free-to-play MMO, and this weekend at PAX, the company is proud to announce that the game has gained two million new players since its re-launch. Turbine also chatted with us about the details of theirnewestcontent patch, Update 7, coming this October.

Update 7 will provide lots of new content for subscribers and free players alike, including:

• The introduction of two new races, the beautiful Half-Elvesand thebrutish Half-Orcs. Both races will be highly customizable.
• A free Adventure Pack, including new 12-man raids for players under level 10.
• A new public event called the Plane of the Night, including a special event boss.
• Multiple performance and bug fixes.
• Easier inventory management provided by a newinventorysort feature.
• Easier auction house usage provided by an auction house search system.
• A new UI look.

And lots more!

With so much new content, it seems like it’sdefinitelya great time to check out DDO! You can learn more aboutDungeonsand Dragons Unlimited at http://www.DDO.com.

It’s been nearly a year since Turbine re-launched Dungeons and Dragons Online as a free-to-play MMO, and this weekend at PAX, the company is proud to announce that the game has gained two million new players since its re-launch. Turbine also chatted with us about the details of theirnewestcontent patch, Update 7, coming this October.

Update 7 will provide lots of new content for subscribers and free players alike, including:

• The introduction of two new races, the beautiful Half-Elvesand thebrutish Half-Orcs. Both races will be highly customizable.
• A free Adventure Pack, including new 12-man raids for players under level 10.
• A new public event called the Plane of the Night, including a special event boss.
• Multiple performance and bug fixes.
• Easier inventory management provided by a newinventorysort feature.
• Easier auction house usage provided by an auction house search system.
• A new UI look.

And lots more!

With so much new content, it seems like it’sdefinitelya great time to check out DDO! You can learn more aboutDungeonsand Dragons Unlimited at http://www.DDO.com.

This convention season, En Masse Entertainment has been showing off all the true action combat TERA has to offer through engaging, hands-on demos. The new demo the team showcased at PAX was no exception!

To start, producers Stephan Ramirez and Sam Kim guided the team through some of TERA’s lore and backstory, each playable character having a role andpersonalityof their own. We learned that we would be fighting our way to a very destructive boss and we learned a little about each class we were going to be playing.

The demoutilizeda brand new UI, containing updated icons and a new default position for keybinds: the bottom right corner of the screen. This new UI set-up lends to TERA’s goal of keeping player’s eyes in the center of the screen, where all the action is.

The instance we explored for our demo was full of all kinds of monsters, from large groups of tiny monsters, to giant monsters with lots of HP. There were usable structures that triggered events, spike traps in the ground, and NPCs that tricked the party into helping them. The instance wasoverallvery immersive.

The final boss fight took a lot of coordination from the party, but we managed to best her! For our good work, we were awarded a hoodie and t-shirt, pictured above.

For more information on TERA, check out TERAFans.com!

This convention season, En Masse Entertainment has been showing off all the true action combat TERA has to offer through engaging, hands-on demos. The new demo the team showcased at PAX was no exception!

To start, producers Stephan Ramirez and Sam Kim guided the team through some of TERA’s lore and backstory, each playable character having a role andpersonalityof their own. We learned that we would be fighting our way to a very destructive boss and we learned a little about each class we were going to be playing.

The demoutilizeda brand new UI, containing updated icons and a new default position for keybinds: the bottom right corner of the screen. This new UI set-up lends to TERA’s goal of keeping player’s eyes in the center of the screen, where all the action is.

The instance we explored for our demo was full of all kinds of monsters, from large groups of tiny monsters, to giant monsters with lots of HP. There were usable structures that triggered events, spike traps in the ground, and NPCs that tricked the party into helping them. The instance wasoverallvery immersive.

The final boss fight took a lot of coordination from the party, but we managed to best her! For our good work, we were awarded a hoodie and t-shirt, pictured above.

For more information on TERA, check out TERAFans.com!

It’s time again for Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column known for its special five-alarm chili recipe. It’s a delicate blend of three different conjured beans, spiced up with Fireballs, Scorches, and slow-cooked over a smoldering Flamestrike, loaded with lamb, bacon, and the occasional roasted monkey, glazed with a dusting of Frostfire, then lit aflame with a Pyroblast. And the secret ingredient? Warlock tears.

If there’s one thing mages have been known for during the course of this fine game we all play, it’s mass murder. We have at our disposal a wide array of spells that wreak havoc over a large area, perhaps more so than any other class. When it comes to killing things in large numbers, mages are remarkably adept. It’s a role we embrace wholeheartedly.

AoE has evolved quite since the inception of the game. In vanilla WoW, AoE was a great way to get yourself killed in an instance, a method of attack that was mostly limited to solo farming and certain trash pulls. These days, with the ability tanks have to hold multiple mobs with relative ease, AoE has morphed into the go-to way to deal with multiple-mob pulls of all shapes and sizes. Crowd control has gone the way of Wand Specialization; it simply isn’t required in most situations in Wrath.

Cataclysm is bringing with it some fairly sweeping changes to the way we utilize our AoE repertoire. The developers have stated their intention to return us to a time when we actually had to worry about things like crowd control and pull-sizes, and though we’re not reverting completely, pulls on the beta certainly feel more like vanilla or Burning Crusade pulls than anything we saw in Wrath. Join me after the break and we’ll go over how our AoE spells will work in this coming era.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Mage AoE in Cataclysm, part 1

Arcane Brilliance: Mage AoE in Cataclysm, part 1 originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Subtlety is the name of a Subtlety Rogue’s game. It is always hard to make your initial step towards becoming a Subtlety Rogue. The problem is, unlike with so many other classes, Subtlety tier one talents are just awesome. So be ready to invest more than a few points on tier one.

Relentless Strikes is a really good choice as this could help you recover as much as 25% of the total energy you spent on attacking. Opportunity is also not to be missed since it allows your bread and butter talents to do a lot more damage.

At the second tier, you would have to pick up the Camouflage to enhance your Stealth abilities. This helps a great deal in lessening the downtime when returning to your Stealth mode. But that’s not all Camouflage can do. It also helps with increasing your speed when in Stealth mode. If you’re choosing Sleight of Hand or Dirty Tricks over Camouflage, just think of one thing – you need stealth more than anything else.

The Elusiveness is the talent that makes most Rogue tricks even more exciting to use. You see, Rogues are dependent on their tricks to win fights. Make the most out of your tricks by using the Elusiveness. Another good talent to pick up at this tier is the Ghostly Strike. Stealth-wise, this offers nothing significant but it helps a great deal in improving your dodging capabilities. It will also pair up nicely with the succeeding talents.

If you went for the Ghostly Strike at the previous tier, you’d do well to pair this talent up with Setup, which basically gives you insane dodge abilities as well as the opportunities to stack up on combo points every time you dodge attacks. Perfect for melee encounters.

Initiative also benefits you in terms of combo points especially when combined with Cheap Shot. If you already have Cheap Shots, you can invest some points on Dirty Deeds. Otherwise, you can roll the Hemorrhage way or the Preparation’s way.

The succeeding tiers are pretty much self-explanatory. Your PvP Rogue can never go wrong if you just stick with the path leading to the Shadow Dance.

Sure, other builds have a good share of talents for stealth and trickery, but no other talent tree can dish out as much subtle and surprise attacks as the Subtlety tree for a PvP Rogue. After all, that’s the name of their game.

PAX 2010 has just begun and the curse team already had a chance to demo Arena Net’s Guild Wars 2! The star of the demo was the revolutionary ipad and smart phone application currently in development.

At launch, the app will have tons of features available, designed to help offline players connect with their friends in-game. Along with the ability to chat with your friends and guildmates from your portable device, players will also be able to view the location of their friends via a fullscreen map, showing their actions and movement in real-time.

Other planned features of the app include a remote auction house and the ability to add new friends straight from your portable device. The app will be available to Guild Wars 2 players for no extra charge.

Keep an eye out for more Guild Wars 2 PAX coverage at GW2guru.com!

At SC2Replayed, we want to see awesome replays. So, we’ve decided to hold a contest to see who has the awesomest, funniest, or perhaps quirkiest replays!

How does it work?
The replay can be on any subject. Seriously epic matchups, unique builds, tutorials, or just plain humorous replays are all welcome.
Once your replay is uploaded, you don’t have to do anything! We will be able to keep track of your replays automatically.

How do I win?
Very simply, the prizes will go to the replays that has the most downloads. Again, we will be able to keep track of the replays automatically.
One of the best ways to get your replay viral is to post and link it in community forums (not just SC2Replayed’s forums). You can post your submission (just include a link to the replay on SC2R) in the official Replayed announcement.

When does it start?
Make sure your epic replay is uploaded between Sept. 3rd, 10 AM, CDT and Sept. 17th, 10 AM, CDT. That gives you two weeks to accumulate your downloads.

What’s in it for me?
First place: 1-Year Subscription to Curse Premium, plus a feature spot on SC2Replayed.
2nd place: 6-Month Subscription to Curse Premium, plus an honorable mention.
2th – 5th: 3-Month Subscription to Curse Premium, plus an honorable mention.
6th – 10th: 1-Month Subscription to Curse Premium.

Curse Premium membership grants you no advertisements on all Curse sites and pushes your uploads to the top of the queue (with other premium users). To see the other benefits of becoming a premium member, go to Curse.com/premium.

We can’t wait to see what the community produces. Good luck!