Archive for July, 2009

So the last two weeks have been pretty busy. In short I moved house. The other thing that happened this week is I got my hands on a HoN beta key. In short this game is awesome. WoW has been getting a lot less play time lately, and HoN seems to be filling the free time I know have. WoW is not dead to me but it is always good to step away from the game for a few weeks to do other things.

HoN for those who don’t know is a Dota clone. Its pretty much exactly the same. Of course they have got icefrogs blessing to make the game. Dota has a few big problems that it is not able to over come. That is, it is totally dependent on warcraft 3 HoN removes that and is developing a stand alone client for us to play the game so many of us love. The client clocks in at only 243MB. I have only played a few games but man is good. They have taken one of the best games I have ever played and given it all the things I ever wanted that dota could not add in.

The bigest one is match making. It records all your stats on there database and when you create a game you can say who’s allowed in. So no more leavers running games and then just creating a new account to get around there bans. It works very well. They have added screens for hero selection, to make the process a lot better.

Finally we have a tree structure for buying recipes. From anywhere on the map you hit the “b” key which brings up the shop window. Same rules apply, you have to be next to the shop to recieve items, but you do have a “stash” for items brought for base. But the big thing is when you click on a recipe, you can either auto buy all the items needed for it, or you can select individual items and buy them one at a time. No more having to search though different shops to find things!

Also a handy little feature is being able to reconnect to the game if for some reason you disconect. You have a 5 minute window to reconnect to the game after a D/c. Its little things like this that make the game so great. It takes dota to a whole new level. Its like an actual game now.

I haven’t even mentioned the game engine they are now using. Its now very pretty. The graphics are still a bit doggy on the Mac client, water reflection does not seem to be working right. I have also played on my windows 7 machine which runs very well, with everything turned up.
This is where I would normally chuck in some screen shots, but I’m under NDA. We are now free to talk about the game but we can’t post any screenshots or in game video. But if you Google HoN you will fine your self some screen shots and also a video or two.

If you want a beta key then join there face book page. You still have a few more hours before they send out the beta keys so get in while you can. Its also patch day today with new heroes and some game changes that look great.

Thats right 10 mins to go before the raid opens up and its lag city alright. As you can see from the screen shot. I have a 10 man group who all seem like awesome people. This should be good fun. If you cant get on the ptr then check back here latter as ill have a round up of how the new raid zone is shaping up.

*UPDATE*
Well they could not get the instance servers up and testing has been canceled for tonight. Europe testing went ahead and below is a video from Affenjungs INC showing off a Valkyr Twins kill. Enjoy!

So Blizz broke the Worgen pet. But as I mentioned in my last post they could not take it off us. Even though we cant use it at all, we can still have it while walking around Dalaran. I’m sure ill keep him for awhile although he is more than likely going to run away at some point.

In better news Daelo posted the PTR testing schedule for Trial of the Crusader. It starts up tomorrow. I hope to be there for the opening, so will most likely have a post up tomorrow about Eydis Darkbane and Fjola Lightbane depending on being able to get into a raid. I might even get a chance to see the new VOA boss Koralon the Flame Watcher.
Tomorrow is looking like a busy day, I also want to get some numbers from a dps Patchwerk test. To see how the changes to BM are comparing to SV dps numbers.

See you all tomorrow. Catch me on the PTR on the huntard, Toresh. Or your might even find me tanking something on the DK, Stupidhead (you can thank Ariia for that name).

Well as always Blizz are thinking about it.

Thats right Zennie has pop up on the forums and has updated everyone.

It is not intended that Garwal can be tamed while in worgen form and will be addressed via a hotfix in the near future. When we have determined how to handle situations where hunters have already tamed Garwal we will let you know.

Soon you will not be able to tame him, if you haven’t keep trying. Why? Well I’m going to put my neck out and say that it seems Blizz might not be able to fix the ones already tamed. If it was a straight forward fix it would of been included in the Hot fix that is getting rolled out to stop you from getting a Worgen in the first place.
Sure this could still mean that will lose him in a week, when they figure out how. But hey, one can hope can’t they?

My advice to you, go get one.

I went back today to film a quick video of how to tame him. I use the same steps as in my last post and caught about 4 more of these guys. I hope this helps.