Project Lore

MythWare, BioIc, thicWare, BioMyth? Have you heard the news?  Electronic Arts is merging Mythic Entertainment, maker of Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, with BioWare, creator of Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.  EA's announcement, first officially confirmed by Mythic, followed another huge announcement in the video game industry, the purchase of id Software by ZeniMax (the parent company of Bethesda Softworks and Game Studios).  After nothing since E3, the pair of announcements on the same day caught everyone off guard. EA's bombshell was short on details, but here is what we know:

• The "studio group" is still unnamed.
• BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka is now the Group General Manager.
• BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer.
• Mark Jacobs, former GM/VP/CEO of Mythic, will be leaving EA.

The Mythic/BioWare merger isn't exactly surprising, specifically because it makes business sense to have the developers of MMOGs close together.  On top of better using one's resources, there is also that little issue with Warhammer Online, it simply didn't meet Mark Jacobs' standards for success, 500,000 subscribers and no server mergers.  EA last stated that WAR was around 300,000 and Mythic has already merged servers.  Thus, as part of the on-going restructuring at Electronic Arts, the company has smashed Mythic and BioWare into a “MMO/RPG studio group.” The brevity of the announcement has left me with a few questions:

• Was Mark Jacobs axed for his title's, he was Lead Designer after all, shortcomings, or did he walk?
• Will WAR's post-launch development be hampered by Jacobs loss, or the merger?
• Is BioWare going to take any advice from Mythic, who is far more experienced at MMO developing, or go it alone?  Will they have any impact on SW:TOR?
• Any chance the merger will hinder the development of BioWare's RPGs, Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age: Origins?
• Does the select wording of the new entity, studio group, mean there will be no further layoffs at Mythic?  Perhaps just a new management chain?

Here are my expectations in short; he was likely asked to leave due to the "failure" of WAR and development will continue per usual in the short term. BioWare would be stupid to ignore launch advice and community ideas from Mythic and the company's RPG titles will be unaltered by the merger.  No further layoffs, just a change at the top. From following Mark Jacobs' career at Mythic I would speculate that his departure was a little from column A and a little from column B.  The man played nearly every roll in his formerly small company, which would lead one to believe that he's a workaholic perfectionist and likely a control freak, for better or for worse.  For someone like that selling his company to Electronic Arts must have been difficult, and merging with another developer would be impossible.  So with that in mind, and the sluggish adoption of WAR, Mark likely took an offer to walk out.  Knowing that one of the studio heads, himself, Muzyka or Zeschuk , would be demoted or asked to leave, the choice was probably easy.  No matter which way it went down, we'll likely never know, I wish Mark all the best and thank him for his contributions to the video game industry as they stand. This is by no means at the level of the "Another One Bites The Dust" column, but it is still huge, far reaching industry news.  Are there any other questions that you feel have been left unanswered?  What do you think the company should be called?  Could the move actually make WAR better? For the FPS/RPG fans out there, id Software has detailed exactly why they sold out.  Now for a little bromance; I love John Carmack.  He's clear and concise when discussing business or pleasure, which to him is building unheard of technology, without being arrogant or coating his statements in sugary PR lingo.  Quite possibly, the coolest uber nerd ever. <3 Not to be outdone by a simple WoW blogger, John Romero also chimed in with his thoughts on id. Note: EA responded to the departure of Jacobs this morning.  A spokesperson for EA stated that Jacobs is "a visionary thinker, and one of the pioneers in online gaming and is, at heart, an entrepreneur."  Sounds amiable enough.

Click to read more ...

It's been more than a week since Blizzard's deadline to personalize your Blizzcon 2009 tickets has passed, yet there's still a whole bunch of ticket holders trying to sell off their spares on eBay. Earlier this month was the last date for ticket holders to make changes to the names for Blizzcon tickets. Here's the process they required, as detailed on the official events FAQ:

You will have up until Saturday, June 13 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time to make any changes to attendee badge information in Battle.net Account Management. After this point, no further changes can be made. If you have not entered any information by this time, all attendee names will default to the full name of the Battle.net account holder. If you do not know the names of the guests you are bringing to BlizzCon and will not know by June 13, put all of the badges under your own name. Bring *all* of the printed bar-code emails, along with your photo ID, to BlizzCon, and you will be able to pick those up all of the badges yourself and distribute them to your guests. Photo ID will only be checked at the time of badge pick-up... In order to receive a badge, the name on the bar-code e-mail *must* match the name on your photo ID.

So how, exactly, are the ticket scalpers getting away with it if they can no longer update the names of the ticket holders? Some say they will show up at the convention center to pick up the tickets, then distribute them to auction winners. And I'm sure there will be some who will honor that promise (as long as you show up on time and in the pre-arranged location). I'm betting a handful won't. Other sellers say the tickets will remain under the auction seller's name, but say something shady like "Your badges will show my husband's name (or if you're a female, my name) but you will be able to get in and out without a problem." I'd rather not take chances with hundreds of dollars with that guarantee. And some sellers make no mention whatsoever that the June 13 deadline has passed. Now I'm sure that not everyone has evil intentions when they sell their tickets, but I do question the nature of sellers who want to sell their tickets for a crazy profit. Even a whole bunch of official fansite contests I've seen this month have all ended (as far as I can find out of the ones listed in the official forums). However, if you want some WoW-related entertainment, take a look at some of the WoW limericks submitted for WoWWiki's contest. Some are good, plenty are bad. But you'll definitely find some hilarity in there. But back on topic - there's not too many options left for those of us still without tickets. That only furthers my over all recommendation: Buyer beware! What's one to do? Well, first off, don't freak out. You, of course, should check back regularly here at Project Lore for news from the convention. If you want to live through Blizzcon without attending, check out the Directv offer to watch the event from home - murloc included. So, we have a little more than 8 weeks to go before the big event. I know there were a lot of you who didn't have luck with getting a ticket on the official sale dates. Did anyone try their hands at a contest, and perhaps even win some tickets? Anyone taking your chances with a ticket auction? How many of you are opting to watch from home?

Click to read more ...

A dark, stormy night. The thunder of cannon fire ricocheting off the rocky cliffs. A lurching behemoth moves across the sky, ready to rain destruction upon the ground below. Fireballs burst forth from the vents of a nearby manufacturing plant. If nothing more, you could say that the Isle of Conquest is appropriately moody. Atmospheric, even. In my opinion, probably one of the finest works of visual design in the game. Which is why it's such a shame that, for all its bravado and promises, it doesn't really seem to move the concept of the Battleground forward. I regaled you in a previous post with the things I desired to see in the future of PvP combat, and the initial previews for the Isle of Conquest suggested that it might just be headed in that direction. A brief reminder: resource collection, enforceable objectives, hard modes, and an epic scale. Of all those, the end result  seems only to incorporate the last. Standing in front of the imposing Horde Keep. Now, I shouldn't say "end result." After all, IoC has only seen a day of public testing, and there's plenty of time to tweak and change it before Patch 3.2 gets tossed out on live servers, but that may not be enough if the fundamental mechanics are potentially broken. With a couple dozen matches under my belt, I've noticed that zerging still hasn't gone out of style. Just like Arathi Basin, people burst forth from their starting gates and scramble to capture several objectives strewn about in the middle of the map (even the icons are the same!). Controlling the Docks will give you access to the new Glaive Thrower vehicle (which, I have to admit, is pretty bad ass; it's physically weak, but has a lot of range and reminds me of those cool little foam disc shooters I had as a kid). The Siege Workship, which sits square in the center, allows you to ride the now-familiar Demolishers and Siege Engines (the latter of which will activate after you've maintained control for awhile). And then there's the Airship Hangar, which is the objective du jour. Hold onto this building and your faction's got an automated battleship ready to unleash chaos on your enemies. Taking a portal at the Hangar transports you on top, allowing you to either man the powerful on-board cannons or take a flying leap into the opposing Keep (don't worry, a parachute will guide you down safely). As absolutely cool as this mechanic is (and it may account for some of its current popularity), it's also evidence that zerging has certainly not gone out of style. Currently, Isle of Conquest seems to consist of two things: rush the Hangar, assault the Keep. Capping doesn't take very long, and there are no other towers to take down to delay the process. The only other pre-condition is that you blow up the front gate (which can be done from inside after your paratroopers land) in order to make the enemy commander appear. Wide shot of the two airships hovering just above the Hangar, one of the Isle of Conquest's capture points. The Oil Derrick and Cobalt Mine (which sit on opposite diagonals of the map), thus far, seem to attract far less attention, and I can see them becoming just like the mines in Alterac Valley (i.e. a random, lonely player looking to stay away from the main action will likely cap them in order to make themselves feel like they're actually helping). With all the zerging going on, who needs reinforcements? Essentially, there's nothing offered in IoC that pushes people to create new strategies or think about Battlegrounds in any way different from before. The matches I played last an average of 8-15 minutes, which is criminally short for something that's supposed to be this epic. Where are the stop-gaps? The objectives on the Isle are more like various options to complete the same objective, whereas they should be working in tandem to open up or shut down the enemy's Keep. The Workshop, for instance, could control a forcefield that either keeps people from parachuting into a  base or greatly reduces the amount of damage that can be done to its walls. They'd have to hold it in order to make the Airship Hangar a worthwhile choice. Or how about the Derrick and Mine? Make them spawn resources (not mere reinforcements) that, when accumulated over time, allows your faction to purchase the vehicles (instead of having them simply sitting there once the objective is taken)? Looking clear across the battlefield, you can see the enemy Keep. Mechanics like this would force players into a multi-step procedure for winning the fight. You must complete Phase 1, to even access Phase 2, and Phase 2 must be completed before you can finally assault the opposition. But the more I think about it, the more I consider that there's an alternate motive for the speed at which IoC moves along, and that is, quite simply, its sister Battlegrounds. In order to keep it fresh, current, and well-played, instead of quickly forgotten, it must offer something to appease the mass of players that cares more for accumulating Honor than a fun, well-fought battle. Alterac Valley, in zerg mode, is the fastest way to earn the (not-so-)precious commodity. For the Isle of Conquest to take over as the premiere venue for PvPers, it must be even faster. Beyond that, it's just catering to those with short attention spans and the desire for instant rewards. And this seems like a bit of a defeatist attitude for the Battleground designers to have. Their aspirations seem like mere window dressing, a thin coat of "cool" to hide the dirty truth about what players really want, and reluctantly or not, they're letting them have their way. But hey, that's business, and as much as I'd love it, they can't simply kowtow to people like The rising smokestacks of the Oil Derrick/Docks area. me, who are far more involved in the raiding and questing aspects of the game anyway. I'll say it again, it's a beautiful setup, and the vehicles add a much needed layer of scope to the proceedings. There are a lot of things I like about the Isle of Conquest so far, but that makes the underlying issues even more glaring. I was hoping that this would be the one to sell me on the concept of Player versus Player again, but unless sweeping changes are made to the basic mechanics of the Battlegrounds or the philosophy upon which they are conducted, I think I may have to pass. Nonetheless, we have a whole test period ahead of us to see what changes. Perhaps some of the problems can be corrected through tweaks, while others can be rectified by players simply getting used to the Battleground and molding it into something different than what I've seen thus far. Then again, learning to zerg is something that comes later on in the cycle, and if its already appearing, people have either already exploited some glaring holes, it is designed as I've speculated in this article. Speak out, readers, and let me know how you feel about the Isle of Conquest, especially if you've put some actual time into on the PTR. Are you a lapsed PvPer looking to get back into the game? Does the new Battleground look like it could whet your appetite, or is it more of the same? Or are you dedicated to the fine art of ganking? If so, are you happy about these developments and the ease of farming Honor? You can also tell me to sod off with my sour grapes, and go raid something if I don't like having my butt whooped in PvP!

Click to read more ...

Blizzard's raiding model has seen its share of changes over the years. First, it was raids that catered to 10-man, 20-man, and even 40-man groups. Then, with Burning Crusade, a curious mix of 10s and the new 25-man raids. And now, with Wrath of the Lich King, dungeons that can accommodate runs 10 and 25 strong in tandem. Like so many other things in the game, the idea has been to make end-game content accessible to as many people as possible. But I think they're onto something else, something beyond the mere ability to PuG the toughest dungeons in the game. You see, I think I've become addicted to 10-man raids. Forced into them due to low turnout from the membership, it's basically all our guild has been able to run lately. And you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm perfectly peachy. I've learned that the tighter, more intimate setup has led to a relatively stress-free experience. I don't think I'm the only one, either. As my server's population plummets over the Summer (and I'm sure it must have on many of yours, as well), I've found that several notable raiding guilds have fully converted to lean, mean 10-man raiding machines. It makes me think: would the whole game be better off this way? The immediate results would be obvious. Less people to deal with means less fighting over gear, less drama, and less people to round up for the nightly raid. On the flip side, if the "drama dragon" rears its ugly head, the impact on a smaller guild could potentially be devastating. But I find that, out of all the people I've actually played this game with, I feel like I could trust oh, about, ten or fifteen of them, and that means that I can deal with the occasional outburst and tense situations between members can be more easily defused. After all, the number one killer of WoW guilds isn't a raid boss, it's the "d-word." Urging guilds to operate on a more compact skill would be a long-term benefit for the health of the game, in my opinion, though that wouldn't help with cleaning up the messy business that would need to be carried out beforehand (I'm talking about trimming rosters and restructuring, which would no doubt leave many players homeless for awhile). The more people there are in a guild, the more they're going to feel devalued. When people feel devalued, they stir the pot to get noticed, and that's not good for anybody. It would be infinitely easier to understand what every person can bring to a raid when there are fewer bodies to consider. Another thing to take into account would be difficulty. With the exception of several fights (like Grobbulus, where an exponential number of targets decreases the chance of any one person being afflicted by a poison cloud), most encounters are, indeed, harder in their 25-man versions. Currently, 10-mans seem to be tuned chiefly through tweaking of "soft" numbers (reducing the min-max damage of a boss' spell) or "hard" numbers (4 adds become 2, 2 adds become 1, etc.).

If 10-man raids were to suddenly become the standard, Blizzard would have to take a more careful approach tobuilding encounters. I feel as though they could create bosses with more interesting mechanics, or ones that at least require a lot more strategic planning. With ten people, you're forced to "do more with less," but when that number goes up, raiding becomes more about "how many people can you throw at the boss." If you ever went through one of the classic 40-man raids with a full group, you'd know how often players simply got lost in the shuffle. Not to mention the problems with gear distribution. It could take ages to win a single upgrade! Besides, some of my best memories come from 10-mans. Countless runs through the atmospheric ruins of Karazhan or intense bear mount attempts (came as close as one minute) in Zul'Aman are among my favorite experiences in the game. All of this may sound strange coming from me, someone who just recommended not too long ago that Blizzard super-size their battlegrounds. While that may work for a grand melee, I feel that smaller raids empower individual players and make the experience a whole lot more fun for everybody involved. After all, it just seems kind of weird to march into a "dungeon" with an entire army. Haven't you always wanted to be "that guy," the one who just saved the world from utter annihilation? Making this sort of change, permanently scaling down the size of dungeons, would no doubt cause a temporary uproar in the community as guilds deal with shifting membership, but I honestly think it would help maintain the health of the game in the long-term. What do you think, perusers of Project Lore? My opinions on game design have historically been controversial, focusing on streamlined, semi-linear experiences. Do you agree that 10-man raiding is a viable prospect for the future of the game, or is it always better to have more options, even if that means diluting certain parts of the game (i.e. forcing the designers to effectively double their workload when producing both 10 and 25-man versions)? The comment section is, as always, open. I leave the floor to you!

Click to read more ...

Fighting in Lake Wintergrasp is among the most effective ways to obtain honor. With the addition of the weekly quests, you can jump in once or twice a week for an absurd return on time invested. Its no wonder that there is such immense lag whenever the battles start. In addition to honor, there are many other rewards to be had in Wintergrasp! Just like in a battleground, you recieve Marks of Honor upon the conclusion of the battle; 3 for a win and 1 for a loss. These can be exchanged for a variety of great gear. The first set of gear to note is the variety of trinkets, which will run you 25 marks each. There are the "Titan-forged Runes", which provide the "PvP Trinket" effect of being able to remove all movement impairing effects every 2 minutes, but also give a PvE stat. I don't really understand these items to be honest or why anyone would use them over a Medallion of the Horde/Alliance. The next trinkets are the Anvil of Titans/Flow of Knowledge, which provide 84 resilience and a chance on a successful melee attack/spellcast to increase attack power/spell power by 1000/590. Some players may recognize this as the PvP version of the Mirror of Truth/Sundial of the Exiled. You should note that they all share the same internal 45 second cooldown. Finally, you can acquire the Platinum Disks of Battle/Sorcery/Swiftness to increase AP/SP/haste on use, as well as provide resilience. Since I usually burst down targets once I open on them in PvP anyway, I use the Anvil of Titans and Medallion of the Horde. Next up are the Titan-forged belts. These are iLevel 213 and are nearly identical to the Deadly Gladiator's series of belts. You can pick them up for a mere 15 marks. The Titan-forged chest pieces are also on par with Deadly Gladiator's chest pieces at 40 marks, while the Titan-forged helms are on par with Hateful helms, also at 40 marks.  The  Cloth wearers can choose between haste (Salvation) and hit (Dominance). Rogues get armor penetration (Triumph), while druids can pick between the rogue piece and hit or haste. Hunters and Shaman also get to pick between Dominance, Salvation, and Triumph, while Warriors and Death Knights get only Triumph. Paladins get the choice of Salvation and Triumph. These provide great alternatives to spending honor on your entry level PvP gear. However, note that by using Titan-forged pieces, you don't get the Gladiator's set bonus from those pieces. Choose wisely!

Click to read more ...

Zand and our favorite hunter Dorkins are back, this time doing dailies for Knights of the Ebon Blade. Dorkins heads over to Death's Watch to pick up three dailies and heads over to Onslaught Harbor to take care of business. Find out how in this episode of Project Lore.

Click to read more ...

Last week, iTZKooPA touched on the information overload we're seeing with patch 3.2, which now is live on the Public Test Realm. One area that I thought it'd be fun to expand a bit on is the new experience changes related to battlegrounds. Patch notes for the PTR informed us that players now will gain experience for actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds. Pretty neat idea. But here's the kicker: players who don't want to gain XP now will be able to turn it off - both for within battlegrounds and for any other means available in the game. This is a huge change for anyone who enjoys the practice of twinking. In some ways, the practice will become much easier to do. You won't have to rely on your higher level character to provide you with all the best gear available at level 19 (or your preferred twink level) - you also will be able to seek out rare drops and quest rewards without worrying about the XP gains. You'll essentially be able to get all the best gear possible and never level up and out of your battleground bracket. Blizzard comically makes light of this - the NPCs who you pay 10 gold to in order to turn on or off XP gains are named Behsten and Slahtz (Best-in-slots). But it's a give-and-take situation. Players who choose to turn off their XP gains and compete in battlegrounds will only face off against other players who also have turned off their XP. Now, some people will be happy for this change - twinks facing off against other twinks would probably make for a more interesting fight. And non-twinks will no longer be battling against twinked out toons with double the stats. I'm certain there also are those twinks out there who are ticked off that they'll never get to beat down on the other unsuspecting battleground fighters. Perhaps those players will move on to world-wide PvP gankage. A lot of people would argue this change effectively nerfs twinks. And it also might drive up the prices for twink gear. I wonder how many players will exploit the changes by turning off XP just barely into their preferred twink level, then getting all the best gear and turning on the XP again for a limited number of glorious battles against weaklings. Meanwhile, a lot of non-twinks out there are rejoicing. The prospect of entering a battleground may be a lot less intimidating if you are more confident that you'll face off against others in similar gear. Then again, I cringe to think of what this change might do to already-long battleground queues. Another unrelated way in which turning off XP may change the game: Classic raiding and role-playing. Blizzard blue poster Nethaera pointed out that many players may have a purpose for turning off XP entirely separate from twinking. If you cap at level 60 or 70, you can raid to your heart's content in that Vanilla WoW or BC content you love. Or, you could turn off XP until a friend you'd like to play with reaches your level. Or, you may just wish to role-play a character at a particular level. Oh, the possibilities. What does everyone else think that these changes will mean for the twink population? Will you keep your twinks after 3.2? Anyone think you're more likely to create a twink? If I had to guess, I'd predict that the twink population may decrease a bit after these changes. But like many things in life, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Click to read more ...

Patch 3.2 is finally available on the PTR, which means that players will be able to find out all sorts of fun information about what changes lay ahead for us. Most of the changes are covered in the patch notes, but MMO-Champion found a bunch of new achievements to go along with the new patch. I, as an achievement whore, am very excited about these new (pointless) goals. Browsing through the list of achievements, they come out in a few different categories, covering the 10- and 25-player versions of the Crusader's Colloseum along with their heroic modes, Isle of Conquest (the brand new battleground), Koralon (the new Vault boss), and Pilgrim's Bounty and Pirate Day/Day of the dead. Wait, Pilgrim's Bounty? Pirate Day? Day of the Dead? New world events! Since Pirate Day and Day of the Dead only have one achievement listed for each of them, I'd assume they'll occur for only one day and have minimal impact on the world for their duration. But Pilgrim's Bounty raises my excitement level! There are a number of fun looking achievements to go along with the new holiday that I'll assume will take place over Thanksgiving week. For those of you unaware, Thanksgiving takes place on the fourth Thursday of every November in the United States. Of course, Blizzard could always adopt the Canadian version, which takes place on the second Monday of October each year. The only question I have is whether or not we'll have to participate in this new world event to get our Violet Proto Drakes from the Long Strange Trip achievement. If it's anything like the new and improved Noblegarden, then we will. I'm OK with that, but I'm sure some of the other players hoping to get that 310% mount might get upset. In addition to those new holiday achievements, there are a few new Feats of Strength, which hint at some more free pets for logging in. A Jade Tiger sounds like fun! What are your thoughts on these new achievements? Anything in particular draw your interest? What about the new world event? Can't wait or sick of holidays?

Click to read more ...

As I recently lamented, questing in Zul'Drak has brought out a huge need for healing my leather-wearing rogue. The other day after a particularly close call, I called up a Heavy Frostweave Bandage, and my screen lit up as that familiar, lovely sight of an achievement flashed across my bandaged figure. Ultimate Triage. Apparently, it was a closer call than I had realized, and just through that simple action of healing my character that had less than 5% health, I had earned an achievement. It was easy. Perhaps too easy. And if I was as big of an achievement whore as some of us out there *cough* Juggynaut, I certainly would have already completed it, even if it meant intentionally waiting until the last second possible to make a killing blow on a mob while it beat me senseless. But, like many aspects of WoW, achievements are like candy. And once I got the one easy fix, I started searching for more. I've come to expect certain achievements - exploring areas here, completing X number of quests there. And I'm sure you have, too. So I won't detail those. The achievements that seem a bit more random, and still relatively simple, are what I'll focus on for now, since those are the ones I'm going after myself. For one, there's It's Happy Hour Somewhere. I had seen this one on the list before, but I didn't look too much into it previously. Turns out not to be too tough if you've made it to Outland. A quick trip to the Shattrath bar yields 13 different drinks from the two different barmaids. While your there, buy coffee from a roaming vendor in the Lower City. If you have any mage friends (or are a mage yourself), each of the 9 conjured waters counts. Find any remaining drink needs from a general goods vendor. Cha-ching. One warning: I do not recommend drinking and riding (your mount). The simulated dizzyness can make you feel sick IRL (or maybe I'm just too sensitive!) Another achievement that I didn't intentionally go for but was happy to get was a while back when I visisted the barber in the Undercity. Style your hair, and you get Shave and a Haircut. So simple. Then, there's Going Down?, which you get for falling 65 yards without dying. I got it a while back after an accidental fall, but as you can see from the WoWhead page, players have figured out plenty of high spots to jump off of for the achievement. And regardless of whether you like tabards as a fashion accessory, buy one and you get the Represent achievement. Of course, if you collect 10 tabards, that's another achievement. But if you're just starting out with achievements, you may not want to jump for that one just yet. I would consider these at the bottom of the difficulty scale for achievements, but a good place to start if you want to up your achievement points. WoW may make an achievement whore out of me yet. So who else out there loves achievements? What other achievements would you recommend for someone starting out? Any achievements you're stuck on? I'm still /love-ing and then killing all the critters I see in hopes of one day getting them all!

Click to read more ...

In an effort to cover World of Warcraft's extended Extended Universe I drank not one, not two but four Game Fuels recently, two of each flavor.  Now I know the Horde is going to freak out about this with claims that Project Lore hates hordies, but your drink taste exactly how I would imagine Cherry citrus-flavored death to taste.  The stuff is absolutely awful.  It should be pulled off the market as fast as Zicam and its creators forced to drink it, and only it, until they beg for mercy.   Screw waterboarding, just force terrorists to drink this concoction of chemicals and "flavor!" As with most things, the Alliance is better.  Well, that is simply relative to the Horde mockery of a refreshing beverage.  This pop is only mildly less appalling than its co-branded cousin, offering gamers a Wild Berry-flavored potion of high fructose corn syrup, caffeine and almost the same collection of chemicals that are difficult (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid), and scary (Glycerol Ester of Wood Rosin), to pronounce.  I've yet to meet someone who drank the disgusting tonics out of something other than curiosity, but the shocking thing is that they have both been around the block before. As unattractive as I find Horde Red, the carbonated catastrophe is a re-branding of Mountain Dew's Halo 3 GameFuel which debuted in 2007.  Not to be outdone by unoriginality, the Alliance Blue is also a re-branding, this time of Mountain Dew's election tie-in flavor, Mountain Dew Revolution. Something good did come of the cross branding though, IRL dailies.  Again, I am not a marketing mastermind, but forcing us to view the same junk, much of which has nothing to do with the sodas, day in and day out seems like an odd marketing strategy.  Even money says it has to do with the act of repetition forcing the human brain to remember things more accurately (see Navi). In all seriousness the good aspect is another vanity pet!  After this morning's failed attempts at the Scorched Stone, my GM and I took out our frustrations on each other's Battle-Bots.  Once fueled up (you have to reboot WoW after requesting your fuel) these guys duke it out for a bit and then one explodes in a great show of leakage.  Glad Blizzard gave the animators some time to play with these machines, but it makes me want a mini Diablo vs. mini Tyrael battle even more. I'd say that between the chance for IRL rewards, even if the token collection system is absolutely stupid, and the in-game combat pet, the co-branding has been a success.  But Blizzard, next time make the other company create interesting IRL dailies.  It really shouldn't be that difficult, some guerrilla marketing, puzzles we have to solve, trivia, need I go on? There are a ton of things more entertaining than "watching" videos over, and over again. Here I thought reading numerous Knaak novels was the worst thing that could come from the Extended Universe!  I kid, I kid, the story arcs are entertaining and leave absolutely no aftertaste (of death). I am sure many of you out there actually enjoy these deviants of ahh, but are you proud enough to admit it?  Me?  I will stick with my Pepsi/Mountain Dew Throwback, as I cannot stand the aftertaste left on my palate by High Fructose Corn Syrup.  The Throwback stuff is awesome, as far as soda goes anyway.  Anyone else get a kick out of the Battle-Bots? Edit: Yes the Horde Drink is the Halo 3 GameFuel, not Code Red. Thank you readers!

Click to read more ...