zeroinitiate - A World of WarCraft Rogue Blog

The dreaded Archdemon has been slain and the advance of the darkspawn halted by a lone, heroic Grey Warden. The kingdom rejoices, but at least one question remains: what happened to Morrigan? The sorceress joined the Wardens cause, but it is said her true purpose was not revealed until the eve of the last battle. She vanished into the shadows, and while rumors claimed she crossed over the mountains into Orlais no trace of her path could be found. She was never heard from again… until now. Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon’s death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. She has been sighted in the southern wilderness where she was first encountered. Is it truly her? If it is, then why has is she here and what secret does she carry with her? The Warden heads into the forest to find out and tie up this last loose end once and for all.

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We are pleased to announce this morning that the next Mass Effect 2 DLC episode The Lair of the Shadowbroker will be available on the PC and Xbox 360 on Tuesday September 7 and will cost 800 BioWare/Microsoft points. Not only is this an excellent adventure through Illium and the shadowbroker’s secret lair, this new DLC will add the Shadow Broker intel center, new research, and five new achievements – and give fans from Mass Effect 1the chance to continue a relationship with Liara.

To help whet your appetite, we have added 4 new Shadowbroker screenshots to the Mass Effect gallery. You can check them out here: http://masseffect.bioware.com/media/screenshots/

[Source]

[Joystiq]

Blizz has announced the upcoming changes to our class. Here are the details. My comments are going to be in a separate post.

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities across the board. Here, you’ll get a glimpse at what’s in store for the rogue class, including a look the new high-level abilities and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the rogue’s different talent specs.

New Rogue Abilities
Redirect (available at level 81): Rogues will be getting a new ability to help them deal with changing targets. Redirect will transfer any active combo points to the rogue’s current target, helping to ensure combo points aren’t wasted when swapping targets or when targets die. In addition, self-buff abilities like Slice and Dice will no longer require a target, so rogues can spend extra combo points on those types of abilities (more on this below). Redirect will have a 1-minute cooldown and no other costs.

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Happy holidays to everyone! I hope that you guys got your Merrymaker title by now. Icecrown is on its second week and we’re all going to have to catch up with the content once the holidays are over.

I find it odd that I’m actually nursing a toothache right now. I first felt it a couple of weeks ago and when I finally consulted my dentist, I was told that an extraction was necessary. I’m fine with that. However, she was going to go on vacation which meant that we would have to postpone the procedure until Monday. In the meantime, she gave me painkillers to medicate through the problem.

So here I am, spending Christmas with a tooth that’s nagging me worse than any mother-in-law would do. If the pain becomes unbearable, I reach for my pills. This isn’t exactly the way I pictured my holiday to turn out.

Back to rogue matters: make sure that you check the EJ forums regularly as 3.3 progresses. A recent example of why it’s important is Instant Poison’s rise to becoming the main hand poison of choice, even if you’re running Combat. I tested this on my last 25-man raid and the results were very, very clear. I was even asked by two of the people we PUGged in how I was doing that much damage. Funnily enough, the point I was trying to bring up in my last post was raised.

PUG rogue: What’s your rotation? (Note that out of personal pride I never ask this from a fellow rogue. I feel like I’m not doing my job if I’m getting out-DPSed and I don’t know why. I don’t mind getting asked though, like in this case.)

Me: SnD, HfB, Mutilate, Envenom, Mutilate, Envenom.

PUG rogue: Oh. You changed specs.

Apparently, he was asking about my rotation as Combat. By the time he asked, we just downed a boss so I was in my Assassination spec. I then told him that I go Combat on trash and use whatever cooldowns are available during the fights, which is exactly what I wrote about last time.

So, how have your fights been? I like the changes because rogues are doing so much damage right now. Still, either Blizz nerfs Assassination or they buff Combat. I’m hoping for the latter. Our hunter is starting to complain though. He made a comment about how poisons are “cheap damage” at the moment. It’s actually a little funny. Back when Ulduar was relevant he was saying my damage was “all from Fan of Knives”. If it isn’t one thing it’s another, I guess.

Enjoy the holidays, folks. See you after the break.

I’ve decided to turn this site into another WoW blog. Not that I have an existing one out there already, but considering how many of them exist, this is just another dot on the line. The reason behind the change is that WoW is the only game that I’ve been playing for the past year, and since posting on this site is a one-man job, I’d rather write about something that I’m really into. That doesn’t mean I won’t be talking about other games. I still will, but most of the content here will be WoW-centric.

Now that we have that out of the way, I’m looking forward to writing more enthusiastically this month. Think of it as a soft re-launch with a better focus.

Technorati Tags: world of warcraft, blogging, announcement

Infinite Undiscovery is the curiously-named, non-Final Fantasy RPG by Square Enix. To further deviate from the usual formula, the game is set to be released on the Xbox 360 instead of the PS3. A recent press release revealed that the game is set for a September launch.

Square Enix sent out a surprise announcement today of the release date for Infinite Undiscovery in North America and Japan. RPG fanatics will be able to get their hands on the tri-Ace (makers of Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile) developed title on September 2, 2008.

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Handango, a smartphone content provider, and famous games developer Capcom Interactive, a top developer today announced a partnership to distribute top gaming titles to North American smartphone users. Capcom’s top franchises include Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Street Fighter and Mega Man among many others.

I wonder how players will be able to input moves like the Dragon Punch and Flash Kick.

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The movie site totally called Jake Gyllenhaal nabbing the leading role of Dastan in the Jerry Bruckheimer produced movie adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Also confirmed to appear is Gemma Arterton as Tamina, a "feisty and exotic princess" according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Metal Gear Solid IV will not be the last Metal Gear title, as revealed by associate producer Ryan Payton in a recent interview with MTV.

Fans can stop worrying, though; this isn’t the last “Metal Gear,” explained associate producer Ryan Payton in an interview with MTV Multiplayer. “I think there’s been some misconceptions that this is the last ‘Metal Gear,’” said Payton. “This is really just the last chapter of the saga of the Solid Snake story.”

I just hope Solid Snake is given a send-off worthy of remembrance.

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