MMORPG

Combat Rating – “CR” – in DCUO determines where you can go, what you can do, and what kind of groups will want you. Shouting “103 DPS LF TD” will get you a group in a moment. I don’t know what TD is. I don’t know because I don’t have 103 CR. 105 is the current target; the elites have 107 or more. Every point is incredibly important, and you can upgrade several pieces of gear without seeing any improvement in this vital stat. To bring some clarity to this problem, many independent programmers have published CR calculators, which take your current and future gear choices and explain just how much CR you can get from them – and if they’ll be worth the effort. ...

Today’s weekly Foundry run was a mixed bag… some good, some bad, and some we’d done before. We’ve been running these things so long that we’re getting into these foundries and after a couple minutes, feeling almost positive that we’ve played these before. And we have! It’s actually a kinda sad commentary on just how similar some foundries are. But, we had a couple bright spots… and one really low one. ...

Soooo…. in DCUO , killing Brainiac was a thing that happened. Which very much confused me. Last night was a feat-farm for Team Spode; we went around doing older raids in order to kill stuff in such ways as to get achievements (feats) we didn’t get before. Feats lead to skill points, and skill points are the alternate advancement points in the world of DC Universe Online. ...

Teal Lantern blasting at something you can't see but would go OOOOOOOO if you could. If only! Today was going to be the day I leveled up enough to group with the league again – without holding them back. I did enough Circe dailies to get a weapon upgrade I could actually use and BAM, CR 100. Stingheal took me on a tour of the duos and dailies in Gotham Under Siege, which Amazons are attacking for no reason I can fathom. I know, the OTHER solo daily would explain it. ...

Chartilifax is Dead I like to think I enjoy dungeons in MMOs when the group I’m in isn’t depending upon me for anything. All I have to do is some simple task, and then everyone else does all the hard work. I LIKE to think that – but it isn’t true. I’m a team player. At work I’m a team player. I really do enjoy it when, as a team, we accomplish something of which I was a part. I wasn’t always that way – when I was young, I was always looking to stand out, to be better than anyone. ...

Kasul makes an astute observation Another week, another quartet of questionable quests – one of which is mine! MINE! Bwahahahaha! Feast of the Moon – NW-DCWHIKFXA by @XHRIT But we start out this week with one of the new featured quests, Feast of the Moon. “You have been cordially invited to attend the annual Feast of the Moon celebration, by Lady Neverex of Neverwinter. Formal attire is requested.” Formal attire was requested, but we just came in wearing our tired old armor. Didn’t even polish it. ‘Twas okay, they let us in, they even seemed to know us. We mingled with the guests a bit, did some dancing in the disco, chatted with Neverex herself, and then – and then the bad things started. We found ourselves in a deep cave system, overrun with kobolds. Kasul found a hilarious new way to die! Which is to go crazy backstabbing every monster, even the one I just shoved off a walkway into oblivion. ...

The Goblin Feast Last night’s Monday Night Foundries were a mixed bag of awful and awesome, but more than that, I think we finally distilled the essence of what makes a successful Foundry – and what makes a good one. These aren’t necessarily going to be found on the same Foundry. I also gave Kasul a first peak at the Foundry mission I’m writing. It probably won’t be either good OR successful, but you need to learn to walk before you can learn to run … and you need to learn to crawl before you get to walking or running. I’m still at the “Legs? What are they good for?” stage. Trying to wring a story out of the Foundry tools gives me a better appreciation for those that manage anything at all. And for those that do it well….. ...

Kasul gets ready for his exam as Nina looks on Since Kasul and I hit max level and got geared up, our weekly group nights are no longer about quests and dungeons and stuff. It’s all about the Foundry, running the boundless stories players create. Sometimes they have well-designed locales and the writing is spot-on funny and clever. Usually… not. Last night’s adventures included one of the strangest stories we’ve ever played – “The Frosty Proctologist”. This titular doctor has more fingers than is comfortable (er, “confortable” according to a lesser adventure we played). He’s set up shop in an inn that contains, along with the usual assortment of characters, an infestation of orcs, sex-crazed halflings, and a demonic episode of Iron Chef: Faerun. ...

Team Spode plot with Dr. Fate Until Kaptain KY returns from his long sabbatical in the wilds of Canada, his spot in Team Spode is being kept warm by Stingheal’s wife, Stingharm. Sting’s original character was named Stingite. When he re-rolled as a healer to fill that necessary spot in our group, the new name was Stingheal. Spode joked a couple weeks back that Sting’s wife should roll a DPS and name her Stingharm. Fast forward to last night, where Stingharm exists and was CR 70. The combat rating it took me months to achieve, she managed in a couple weeks. ...

Teal Lantern hits 70 -- FINALLY! What if there was a popular MMO where it wasn’t clear how to level? Completing quests wouldn’t do the trick. Defeating enemies would not bring you one bit further. Even collecting gear upgrades would, most of the time, not fill the till. What if you were stuck at level 65 in a level 100 game and nothing you did seemed to make any difference at all? ...