the net raiders

In my recent memory I cannot remember a time when I woke up before my alarm clock went off and sat upright in bed with the feeling of excitement I use to get on Christmas morning as a child.  Except for this morning.

New Monk Class for Diablo 3 -
I really like the combo system that Bizzard has developed for this class. Several of the Monk’s skills have multiple effects as you continue to use them.  For example, for one skill the first effect might be a movement debuff, the second a damage debuff, and the third an aoe that resets the timers on the first two debuffs.  What adds a nice bit of complexity to the monk;s gameplay is that you can use multiple different skills in different orders to get the desired effects you want from the respecitve skills.  Perhaps you want the first effect from one skill, then the second effect from another skill, then the third effect from yet another skill.  You can do that, or any other variation that the situation dictates.  Sure it makes the class somewhat more difficult to play at first, but it also adds a layer of depth that makes playing the game just that more engaging.

Plus they can make mobs’ hearts explode in an orgy of blood, awesome.

New races for WoW
I will start with the Goblin.  This is a race I have been wanting to play for a long time in this game, and I am really happy to see they are putting it in the game.  The demo they had setup was for level 6 onward, till about level 8 or so, which is the farthest you can make it in the 20 minutes of time you get to play each session.  Every class was available with the exception of the death knight and paladin.  I am pretty sure the death knight will be an available class for the Goblin, but obviously they wouldn’t start at level 6.  The paladin is a no go for the gobbies.

The demo starts with you at level 6 floating on a bit of flotsam and another goblin starting your heart with a set of jumper cables.  Which makes me wonder what happens in the 1-5 portion of the game for the Goblins which we did not get to try out.  (I am guessing you level up on a ship which subsequently wrecks).  There are a couple basic quests in the beginning.  You have to swim around the water (thankfully you have some rocket boosters) and release goblins from these crash survival pods, throw some bananas at bomb throwing monkeys, kill some velociraptors and gather some tools.  There are also some nice “phase” quests however.  Such as one where you get a weed wacking tool that puts you into a whirlwind and you have to kill 100 plants.  After you turn in the quest and return to the same area all of the plants are dead and you get to move on.  A nice touch.  I really like what they are doing with these new starting areas, and combined with the redoing of Azeroth with the Cataclysm (nice move Blizzard in addressing the staleness of the 1-60 content in the game), it makes me excited to level a new toon.

As far as the Goblin racials go.  First the mundane; a 15 point passive increase to alchemy as well as a 1% increase to casting and attacking.  Nice, but nothing too impressive.  The other racials however, kinda awesome.  First, the ability to get the best prices when buying and selling to npcs no matter the faction/reputation (basically as if you were exalted with everyone).  Second, the ability to summoun a personal servant for 1 minute who allows you to access your bank (on a 30 min timer).  Third, a rocket belt which either allows you to shoot forward instantly a decent ways or shoots rockets at your target (timer was I think 3-5 min on that).

The race is a very cool and long overdue, if not very original, addition to the Horde.

Now to the Worgen; a very original addition to the Alliance.  Unfortunately everyone and their mother was playing a Worgen so my experience with this race was far less appealing than with the goblin, through no fault at all of the race itself.  The issue of mobs being overcamped plagued my limited (20 min) playtime and hindered me from progressing very far in their quest line.  I did however like the Charles Dickens like atmosphere of the starting area and attire of the npcs.

Worgen’s racials were also pretty interesting, especially the ability to sprint (+70% movement speed) for a brief period, which I can already forsee many people bemoaning on the Blizzard forums when the expansion goes live.  In addition to the sprint, they also get the ability to change back into a human form, a bonus to skinning, and a 1% increase to all damage.  Not bad.

All and all, it seems that the Worgen’s racials might be more beneficial to pvp, esp with the sprint, while the Goblins will have a lot of benefits to pve.

Oh and let me just add that in true MMO fashion as I was playing my Goblin the server got reset.  Nice.

Starcraft 2
Two words.  I want.