Support = Thankless Role

Hey. Just a little rant here in place of a review. Only reason I’m doing this instead is because the game I was reviewing has moved its full release back a month and some change so this will give me more time to write a more full review on it. Also I need to bitch about this or its going to drive me insane.

Why do I bother? WHY do I bother? I now know why there are so few supports in games like League of Legends or any other games that have them. It’s thankless work. So much insults, it’s ALWAYS your fault even when the Carry is really to blame. I tried a Ranked game last night and let me tell you it was an absolute nightmare. It was the first time in a League of Legends game where I had to place everyone on an ignore list (my team and the entire enemy team) AND the first time I had to report my entire team.

I was playing as Soraka and went down in Bottom lane with Graves who seemed like a decent person (then again ALL sociopaths mimic human behavior well). He wanted to start by getting these double Golem so I was to leash for him (hit the enemy to start things off then run). It didn’t go too well according to him so we went into lane. He was farming and the enemy was harassing. Like the “good support” is supposed to I purchased Wards to place in the brush to give him more harassing power and to take away any surprise attacks the enemy could make He was farming and I decided to take whatever he couldn’t possibly get to. Then he starts yelling at me for taking his farm and called me a noob for it. Now first of all I was aiming at stuff you couldn’t get at in time, also Wards cost Gold so the more Gold I get the more Wards I can keep on me to keep you safe. He told me I was ruining HIS lane. This is what got me. This as I was lead to believe is supposed to be a TEAM GAME so that would make Bottom Lane OUR lane, not HIS lane.

Of course by this point I got sick of him and said “you can solo lane you know.” As a threat of sorts, perhaps something to make him realize that I’m important too. Of course as I have learned anyone who plays a Carry is a selfish prick who blames everyone but themselves for any failings and see everyone else (especially the Support) as trash they have to put up with or meat shields to let die so they can get away. The insults kept flying and I demanded some decency and an apology. He said “not going to get it”. He goes into fight the 2 enemies in Bot. I was trying to type out something in response to his crass behavior and then he gets killed because I had the chat window open trying to defend myself from his verbal abuse. Then he insults me more. Yeah, I got steamed and made his mortality rate absolute zero, that was my fault entirely but I’ll be honest I SMILED when he died (usually I’m remorseful and broken up if a team mate dies ESPECIALLY if I’m playing a Support because I feel I could have done more to save them even if I really couldn’t have).

I’m not going to try to protect someone who treats me like garbage. The MOMENT you flip out on me and refuse to take it back I don’t care what happens to you. I refuse to enable terrible behavior especially if enabling leads to a win then the jackass will think that you can treat people like crap and still produce a positive result for yourself. Well I’M NOT A DOORMAT! I have self-respect and if you treat me like garbage then you will not receive my help. I’ll lose with my self-respect intact before I secure a win by forfeiting my integrity. Anyway things went further downhill and everyone else on my team starting with our Gangplank (ANOTHER character that is a Carry, which in turn was also an ass…I’m starting to see a pattern I have yet to meet a Carry I DIDN’T want to beat senseless). It got so bad that after I called them out for being Sociopaths I ignored all of them and asked then enemy team if they’d be willing to report my “team” for Verbal Abuse especially since they threatened to report me. I did this repeatedly and I finally got a reply. They said they wouldn’t do it. I tried to play out the game but my heart wasn’t into it. Why should I TRY for those “people”? After a futile struggle we lost and the nail in the coffin…? The enemy team said “Sorry you had to deal with that annoying Soraka.” What little faith I had in Solo Queue Ranked died the moment it was typed.

Long story short I really am starting to hate people. I see why God allowed us to make weapons because let’s face it, some people are so stubborn/evil/uncaring that the only way I could see to correct the problem would be to just pull out your weapon of choice to murder them if all reasoning fails. Why have that stuff going through the gene pool to possibly harass my children and my children’s children? If I am to climb rank I must from now on play with people I know and trust. Not just one person a FULL TEAM because if I leave it to chance odds are I’ll get the remaining spots filled with maladjusted people who should be on my plate instead of being allowed to live and breed. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET SOILENT GREEN APPROVED!?

Really, really sick...

As it says. Sadly, I have fallen very ill and was unable to complete the article in a timely manner. I'll make up for it as soon as I get better.

Short Review: Nintendo 3DS

Hello. So, how are all of you doing? I’m alright. Christmas was okay. I ended up getting some nice stuff under the Christmas tree. One of which I will do a quick review on right now.

Yep…I never had a 3DS till now. This is my impression of it. I will only be covering functions I have actually gotten to use so far.

The Feel: I’m not sure if all Nintendo 3DS’s are like this, but mine feels pretty slick. As in slippery. I wonder if some people haven’t already dropped this thing at least once due to sweaty palms. The control pad feels odd, but using the stick feels oooooh so right. Not sure why though.

The 3D Effects: I received four games for the system. Those are Sonic Generations, Super Mario 3D land, Mario Kart 7 and Dead or Alive: Dimensions. In Mario 3D and Sonic Generations the 3D effect was more burden than fun feature. You probably won’t have an issue with it, but it was a big enough to convince me to not use 3D in those games if I’m actually trying to win. It’s like trying to shoot an armor piercing arrow at an apple on an infant’s head while drunk off your ass and sand is in your eye. I’m sure there’s games where it won’t ruin things for you.

Backwards Compatibility: If you have not already tossed out your Nintendo DSi you better not let it go if you still like your DS games. When I inserted a standard DS title it was fuzzy and saturated. How the fuck can this thing render 3D and NOT make original DS titles show clearly? This is also true for games that are older than DS that are repackaged for the 3DS through Nintendo’s App store. I got Zelda Four Sword Adventure (which is free till February 22 if I’m not mistaken so if you don’t have it NOW, get it soon). It doesn’t detract from the gameplay (unlike the D-Pad which feels VERY awkward) but it is an eyesore for me. I can see part of the reason why the CEO of Nintendo took a severe pay cut for. Should have been forced to commit seppuku for that. I kid, but really Nintendo couldn’t you have taken some more time with this system?

Motion Controls: Not going to lie, these feel funny. I would not play any games that require the motion controls in public in fear of accidently hitting someone. I’m sure something will come along to make the most of it but right now it feels silly in a public place and would be annoying to explain that you’re playing a game to people who think you’re going nuts.

Play Coins: A new, and interesting feature. There are some things you can unlock in some titles with Play Coins. These are obtained by walking with the 3DS on you while closed (not sure if it works when open) or when the system is in standby mode. Each 100 steps gives you 1 Play Coin and I heard that the amount is capped at 300 for some reason. Here’s hoping a firmware update expands this by…a lot.

Judgment: Not too many titles worth playing right now, but I’m sure that will change. If you get the 3DS get it for 3DS games. You might get annoyed by the washed way original DS games look on this. Here’s hoping an upgraded version fixes this issue.

Finally Got A Schedule & Musing

Well, I’ve finally gotten off of Holiday mode and am now back in class and finally got a time table to post new content. It’s not set in stone as an ever constant because every semester my days of attending class shift, as too must my weekly time table, but I will announce the change ups as they come so it won’t come as a shock. Of course just because I’m now on a post-a-week regiment doesn’t mean I’ll only be posting once a week.  I’ll get in other stuff as my schedule allows. This change comes into play as of this post.

Now for my musing. I’ve made it a quest to find a game that has the most of everything I’m seeking. Recently I tried to pop in on Aeria Games to see what was up for the hell of it only to find that my account was banned (they probably found this post I made about them and decided to be petty little shits and ban me for blaming them as I did). With Aeria no longer on the list I suddenly realized that it cut some things out of my pool of options to play. To expand it I’ve decided to give Nexon another chance if only so I could get something meaty to add.

I know I promised a few reviews on some games, but I decided against it since they bored me to tears in one way or another. I won’t touch on Mabinogi since that game frustrated me so much I couldn’t be bothered to write a review on it (ain’t that a kick?) because every time I thought about the game I got a killer migraine. So I’m seeking around for stuff that does interest me be it for good or bad reasons. At this time however I find myself growing weary with the whole MMO scene. Too much of the same and not anything which remotely sticks out. Stagnation is the word of the day and we need it to be gone in a heartbeat.

The more I try to find something to satisfy all my desires in a game the more disappointed I became. Perhaps it’s time to just give up on finding the next big thing and just park and wait for it to come to me. I watch sites such as MMOHut and MMOBomb looking for something to dig into. Here’s hoping 2012 gets more promising. Yeah, I liked Shadow Era but I hate how damn long they’re taking to finish set 1 and how they seemed to have abandoned Phantom Sprit Battle Academy since we were supposed to have testing during the SUMMER/FALL OF LAST YEAR and have heard nothing in relation to change of plans. They’re already printing physical copies of the Shadow Era cards AND WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A FINSHED SET YET! WHAT THE FUCK WULVEN STUDIOS!? Sorry about that I’m just so disappointed in them right now, and it’s going to take a bit for me to look at them in a better light and this is before the nerfs/buffs/reworks that took place which I’m not even going to touch on.

At the rate things are going I might as well settle with a little something until I find something with substance. I might just try to get further in Crystal Saga despite its non-existent character customization but seemly deep character customization. Oh well, back to my studies. Who knows, I might just try Urban Rivals one more time.

Rant: More Like League of Sociopaths

As the title states I think this game attracts a lot of these people. Well, “people” being used in the loosest sense of the word. I’ve ran into at least one jerk a game today. It’s bad enough all my games today have been losses but it’s made even worse by “people” who think it’s okay to blame others for their failings or to tear into someone who is already having a terrible game. None of them EVER take it back, they ALWAYS believe they’re right and I’m beginning to think if they showed any sign of being a decent human being they’d die on the spot.

At first I saw the biggest concentration of these “people” on at the late night hours. It wasn’t even like I was in a RANKED GAME. This was NORMAL GAME! What is it about this kind of game that makes people think that being a decent human being is an awful thing and acting like an ass is a virtue? Is there a full moon? Something in the global water supply? Or are these “people’s” parents so God damn awful that they never got around to teaching their little dick/cunt IT’S NOT OKAY TO BE AN ASS TO OTHER PEOPLE!?

In every game I’ve played today I was hard pressed on not having someone to report. Of course all the hostility made my already bleak performance even worse. Apparently seeing myself die a lot doesn’t seem to be enough of an indicator that I suck today. NOOOOOO, they got to rub sulfur in the wound with cut glass and acid. I pause momentarily wondering how fucking awful their real life must be if they feel they have to be validated by tearing someone down behind a computer screen, and how these people don’t see that their verbal abuse and refusal to even attempt to make amends has an impact on others.

The more I play, the more I wonder if League of Legends is a game and not some kind of cyber zoo for these “people” to act out on their destructive tendencies without getting themselves killed. Being better than me should never warrant being an ass about it. Being worse than me should not allow you to blame me for your failings. Having a terrible game shouldn’t mean you get to beat on me with your tongue. The bans can’t come fast enough in League of Legends. Account banning isn’t good enough. They’ll just make ANOTHER account and treat lower level people like garbage. Riot…your bans must come sooner. It would be nice if the person/people who reported the person would get an E-Mail stating that the jerk was banned (so we could have some closure). You need to look into harsher ways of punishing these people. Like an I.P. Ban (they’d just use a new IP, but you could make it impossible to connect via proxy servers) or a MAC ban.

As much as I’d like to believe that this is a game for people to play, I feel the only people who can get any enjoyment out of this game are the collection of misfits that like to tear into people who would more than likely get hospitalized or killed for their atrocious behavior.

Will Resume Activity Soon & Major News

I know things have been in a slump to say the very least, but I'll be active again soon enough. That's one part of the news. The other involves the BattleCraft post I did awhile back. In a chance meeting I got to chatting with one of the developers of the game and he will be granting me access to the test server. This means I'll be able to give reviews on any and all cards BattleCraft will be producing so my reviewing potential won't be inhibited by lack of collection, only lack of play testing.

I will also be writing up an effect cheat sheet so newcomers (and those just curious) will be able to dive right in knowing what everything does. Who knows how far this will go. If this gets big enough I might have to start another blog just for BattleCraft alone...okay I'm getting ahead of myself. Long story short, the hiatus is nearly over and I'll be working on an updating scheduled.

BattleCraft – A Game For People Too Busy to Hardcore Game But Want To

I needed to show I’m still alive and College hasn’t fully eaten me yet. As some might know I LOVE card games but my love of them won’t stop me from tearing a shitty one a new hole if it proves it needs one.  This so happened to be in Beta testing so I decided to give it a shot.

With that in mind I will not be giving anything resembling a Final Judgment until the game is in full release, at which point I will reveal the gamer name I play under on the site in case you want to challenge me to a fight. Battle Craft is a card game that presents itself as a “game for busy people” ( so let’s keep this in mind before I go further) and it shows. The battles are quick and furious. Once you sign up you get to pick a deck to start with from a few Clans. Once then they game will fling you into a tutorial mode where you’ll be taught the basics and given cards for advancing through the tutorials so you can start tweaking your deck with new cards- Oh, where is my head!? Let me show you the two kinds of cards you use in game to build your fighting machine. You are to have 8 of both kinds in your deck.

This is one of the Hero cards. Hero cards of course are your foot soldiers who will deal the bulk of the damage to your opponents Heroes and your enemies Morale while trying to keep yours high. Four of these are picked at random from your deck. Before I go further let me explain a basic of the game. You and your opponent start off with a set amount of Morale and Energy depending on your level  (30 until you hit level 15, then it becomes 50). The goal of course is to get it to 0 or lower. Each time a Hero attacks they eat into your energy (indicated amount by the green lightning bolt). If you run out of Energy all other attacks and abilities will come out of Morale. The fight ends of course when this hits 0 or you kill all your opponents Heroes. The Fist shows how much attack power the Hero has and the Heart is HP. The icon on the upper right hand side shows what faction it belongs in and the one on the upper left hand side would have a B in it if the card is bound to your account.

This is a Support card. You attach these to your Heroes to help turn the tides of battle. You will notice four symbols on these. In descending order we have Clan (the one on this card is Unaligned so it may be used by any Hero), an Hourglass, A Blue Lightning Bolt and a Green Lightning Bolt. The Hourglass will have a number on it to show what turn it activates (these can only have their effect activated one time), the Blue Lightning Bolt will show its Energy cost if it takes effect before your Heroes slug it out and the Green Lightning Bolt works when your Hero attacks. Unlike the Hero cards, all of your Support cards are available before all Hell breaks loose but keep in mind you can only assign one per Hero.

Once all cards are positioned and confirmed the fight begins. Each Hero takes swings at the one across from them until a winner is decided. It can get more complicated than that, but I wanted to keep things simple for now and save a more in depth explanation once it comes out of Beta.

The game does have a Marketplace where you can buy AND sell cards on Auction for Shards (the in game currency) or use Hydra Cash (the premium currency) to buy booster packs (most boosters can be bought with just Shards) or Shards. If you want to play in the higher ends of play you’ll need cards from Booster Packs, but fear not, the game has implemented a Ladder System insuring you won’t be constantly bullies by higher ranked players. If you got someone in the low end with a really powerful deck, don’t worry, they’ll be out of the lower end soon enough unless you get silly and join a Tournament then prepare to see that dude again.

If you want you can craft some cards you need, but the materials required are other cards and materials that you could find in Daily Challenges. They drop randomly, so unless you got the patients of a Saint you might go mad hoping the Random Number God will toss you a bone.

Now for a point of concern. The packs. As of now I feel that they might be asking for too much money for the packs (in terms of Hydro Cash). $3 for 6 Cards in the Platinum pack sounds like a sweet deal but I wouldn’t mind getting at least 2 more out of it. Players can offer you cards in Private deals (for free if they’re generous enough), but in order to get these you must become a Member. Yeah, I know that look on your face going “HOW ARE THESE FIENDS GOING TO MILK ME DRY!?” Fear not, you only need to buy Hydra Cash at least ONCE and only $5 at the very least (smallest amount they’ll take) and you’ll have access to everything Marketplace wise.

Another grievance I have is with the card art. Once you get in you’ll notice in a good deal of cases the background is repeatedly recycled which drove me INSANE. It still does grind my gears, but it’s in Beta (and an Indie Project) so I’m hoping the backgrounds will become FAR MORE VARRIED once fully released. If any of you developers are reading this the same-y backgrounds aren’t professional and make your game seem like a “fly by night” operation. This ALMOST turned me off from the game before giving it a shot because I couldn’t help but wonder “if they’re too lazy to change up the background on each card do they really have faith in their product? Is this a real project or a scam?” Varied backgrounds means you care enough about the details to get me to invest and not changing up CONSTANTLY is sending the wrong message on a subconscious level!

There’s a bunch I left out, but that’s only because if I told you EVERYTHING I think you wouldn’t try it or yourself. Go ahead, sign up and give it a shot. The game is seriously starved for a strong player base, and if you like it then you could pass word to another friend and get things rolling. The place is small, but I have yet to run into any douchebags.

P.S. The lower in rating you are the more Shards you get. You’ll get a lot more Shards in the lower ranks, so don’t get discouraged if you keep losing. That will pay for itself with access to more power.