In Which Surviving Humans Are Worse Than Zombies

Now that I've spent about a week playing DayZ I feel comfortable enough with it to publish a few observations. Here are my conclusions thus far:

• DayZ is fun when played with friends, okay solo, and downright evil with strangers.
• This isn't really a game so much as it is a toy. There is no "win" objective or competitive goal. It's even less directed than EVE.

My first character stumbled through dozens of empty houses, sneaking around and trying to evade zombies all the while. Eventually I located an open barn which contained a number of canned food and soda items to quench my hunger and thirst. In the loft I located my first weapon: a Lee Enfield rifle with three full magazines. Awesome!

I shot a few zombies to see how the gunplay works. It's fun, but guns are loud and attract attention. I expected zombies to show up and investigate the noise - and they did - but so did other players.

Over the radio I heard some chatter about a group of guys driving around in a "party bus." They sounded friendly, so I tracked down the bus by following its engine noise and approached cautiously. Unfortunately they were being tracked by a sniper in a ghillie suit. This uncouth player shot one of the party-goers and stole his ATV. At the time I was hidden in the bushes less than 100 meters away from the murderer, so I gritted my teeth and aimed down my sights at him. I opened fire and put two shots in the killer's head. His body spouted blood and went down like a sack of bricks, then disappeared as if by magic. It seems the player logged off suddenly. I retreated deep into the woods to dodge the impending zombie investigation.

About two minutes later the "dead" player suddenly appeared again, right in front of my view. He shot me twice before I could react and my character fell down, dead.

I don't know his lame loggofski exploit so I had to start a new character. Anyway, this should tell you the number one rule of DayZ if nothing else: trust nothing. Don't trust other players, don't trust the game's feedback, and by golly confirm your kills.

Weekly Report - 10/26/2012

I spent most of last weekend playing Torchlight 2 on HCE with some friends. We started over with fresh characters (see my latest build) in Act 1. Everyone died along the way - some of us more than others - but a good time was had and we made progress. We were most of the way through the Frost Hills area when my Embermage succumbed and, it being Sunday evening, we called it quits for the weekend. I hope to rebuild the character with a few changes for our next multiplayer romp.

Throughout the week I focused on Arma 2, which I'm enjoying rather more than I expected. I haven't even played much DayZ due to having so much interest in the core game so far. That said, the game certainly has a number of technical issues. Hopefully Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead resolves some of these issues. I haven't played multiplayer yet, but I suspect that's where the game will really shine.

Eyes Peeled

I've experienced enough of Arma 2 to share a few conclusions I've reached about the game and, perhaps, the world in general.

There are three NPC soldiers in this shot. Can you spot them all?

It's really hard to see people out in the field. I work in an office environment where I normally encounter other humans at a maximum distance of five meters. In Arma 2, they may start shooting at you from 500 meters away - and that's not even counting designated marksmen (snipers), mobile armor units, or static equipment like artillery.

Believe it or not, all three NPCs are less than 70 meters away.

That said, the realism is one of Arma 2's most appealing factors. I actually enjoy the challenge of tagging targets in the wilderness before they spot me. It reminds me of playing paintball in the woods, only at super-exaggerated range.

Anyway, I leave you with this piece of advice: keep your eyes peeled.

Eyes on!

Torchlight 2 Embermage Build for Elite Hardcore - WIP

This is an ice-based Embermage for Elite Hardcore mode. This build is challenging early on, but it really begins to shine above level 10 with the Hailstorm skill - especially when you have some Engineer friends using Overload for extra damage against stunned enemies.

Here's the build: every level, assign three focus and two vitality. I chose three focus, one dexterity, and one vitality the first time I built this character, but it didn't work out. The paltry dodge chance you get from the dexterity investment just isn't worth it; the Embermage is highly susceptible to being one-shotted and you can't risk it hoping for a lucky dodge.

Embermage Eldritch - level 18

I chose ice for crowd control and damage reasons. Many of the ice skills freeze, immobilize, stun, or reduce enemies' elemental damage resists which serve to make your attacks even more powerful. Start by recovering your single Magma Spear point and spend it on Icy Blast. Spend your next three points on Charge Mastery, Staff Mastery, and Prismatic Rift. Once this is done, start leveling Charge Mastery and Icy Blast up to five. When you reach level seven, skill up Hailstorm to five and put one point in Frozen Fate. At level 14, put one point into Frost Phase - this is your bug-out skill - and begin leveling Frost Brand, and Hailstorm to 10. Once Ice Wave is available level it along with Hailstorm and Frost Brand to 15. You can then branch out and take higher Charge Mastery or whatever other skills you want now that you have the core ice Embermage build.

The major disadvantage to this build is survivability. It is in grave danger of being one-shotted, so look for gear that increases your health and decreases damage (e.g. Eye of Grell). I played this build along with a poison Outcast and a tanky Engineer with great success until a champion monster one-shotted me through a wall right before Chillhoof. However, I built with a mix of focus, dexterity, and vitality so I need to rebuild again with focus and vitality only.

Weekly Report - 10/19/2012

It's been a week since I beat Torchlight 2 and while I haven't stopped playing it altogether, I have definitely slowed down. I'd like to reserve my remaining interest in the game for playing with friends (if we could ever arrange to be available at the same time). That said, it's entirely possible my interest will spark again and I'll try out an embermage or berserker in HCE. Who knows?

I eventually caved and purchased Arma 2 late this week. I've only played the first two missions but I can already report it's a fun game. The multiplayer components look even more entertaining; Shack Tactical in particular looks like a blast.

Since I bought Arma 2 primarily to play DayZ it should be no surprise that I downloaded it on my first day with the game. How is it? Well, it's something else. Stay tuned for further details, but for now I'll say this: it's a jungle out there.

Head Tracking in Arma 2

Having just purchased Arma 2, but unable to play it during the 15GB download, I started browsing the web for some tips and tricks regarding the control scheme of this exceedingly complex game.

I'm not a fan of gimmicky motion tracking and alternative methods of player input. However, what I found in terms of motion tracking for Arma 2 is actually quite interesting. The TrackIR 5 from NaturalPoint is a piece of hardware which clips on to your monitor and tracks your real-life head movements to adjust your in-game character's view accordingly.

The TrackIR 5 tracks your head movements

The TrackIR 5 apparently taps into the game's free look control scheme and allows you to move your character's head without moving your character's body. That means you can look back over your shoulder while holding your weapon toward the enemy. I can imagine a number of uses for this in a complex, realistic military simulation such as Arma 2. Imagine being able to look around dynamically while running and gunning, or while driving a truck or flying a chopper.

The TrackIR 5 features excellent support for Arma 2 as well as a number of flight sims and racing games. The cost is a bit inaccessible at $150, but the link above offers a $5 discount.

Eye of Grell Farming in Torchlight 2

The Eye of Grell is an interesting socketable item I found during my third or fourth time through the Grell boss at the bottom of the Wellspring Temple dungeon. This is one item well worth farming. Why do you want this item? It offers a +3% critical hit chance when socketed to a weapon, but that's not particularly amazing. The proper use for Eye of Grell is in armor and trinkets, where it offers a 3% reduction to all damage taken. This is a literal life saver in HCE, especially when you use multiple eyes together. The game caps you at 75% damage reduction, but that's a lot of eyes. How do you farm them all?

1. Re-roll your world in a LAN or Internet game.
2. Warp to the Temple Steppes in Act 1.
3. Run to the Wellspring Temple. It's always located on the edge of the Temple Steppes map. I usually find it to the southeast of the entrance to the area. It's typically - but not always - located near Skull Hollow.
4. Enter the Wellspring Temple and blitz through the top two floors until you reach General Grell. Depending on your level it may not be worth killing any enemies. I usually stop only to kill Elites so I can pick up their Fame.
5. Defeat General Grell and hope he drops the Eye of Grell. Place it in your shared stash and repeat from step 1. Note: the non-hardcore shared stash is different from the hardcore shared stash. Make sure you farm as a hardcore character if you intend to use the eyes in hardcore.

General Grell

The game seems to drop the Eye of Grell roughly 20% of the time, so it's well worth farming for a few hours.  Equip some magic find gear to improve your chances (fortunately, Grell frequently drops a 9% magic find helmet). The amount of defense your character will gain by stacking 10+ eyes is phenomenal and it makes HCE much more survivable.

Weekly Report - 10/12/2012

In between long hours of Elite Hardcore sessions in Torchlight 2 this week I finally squeezed my Normal Engineer through the game, so I can at least consider it beaten.

Riff died at level 31 last night. She was smashing through an infinitely spawning horde of sand rats when a vile gnasher showed up. Suddenly the two dozen sand rat corpses became vile gnashers and Riff was literally surrounded and couldn't physically remove herself from the situation. It was an atrocious set of circumstances.

Kya still lives at level 19, but she's a terrible build and I don't think I'll play her much anymore. I may push forward recklessly just to see how far she can make it.

I started Riff II last night with a new build; more details on that soon.

There has been no progress on Dark Souls this week. I'm still standing outside New Londo, ready to battle the Four Kings boss.

I've been extremely tempted to purchase Arma 2 and download the DayZ mod this week. I'm spending so much time on other things right now, though, that I might be able to wait for the standalone DayZ game.

Torchlight 2 Builds for Elite Hardcore - Update

Riff is now level 31 and going strong. This is my first foray into Act 2 in Elite Hardcore, so I'm taking it slow and cautious. As planned, I started adding 1 Strength, 1 Vitality, and 3 Focus per level after 20. As a result Riff deals a ton of fire damage thanks to Flame Hammer, Seismic Slam, and my greathammer which happens to deal roughly 50% of its attack as fire damage (unique drop from the Manticore boss in Act 2).

One thing to note about Act 2: floor traps are much more deadly than anything else you might encounter. Avoid them at all costs.

Kya is stagnant at level 19. I don't think she's gonna make it. In fact, I cannot recommend her build at all. If I try another Outlander, it will likely be a glaive-throwing focus build with high poison damage output and high damage resist equipment.

DayZ of EVE

Disclaimer: I haven't had an opportunity to play DayZ first-hand yet.

DayZ places players in a massive, open map filled with the walking dead. Other hazards - including fellow players - are sure to appear along the way. Other players are likely to represent the biggest threat. Once you learn to protect yourself from the AI undead, how do you protect yourself from living, thinking humans?

The freedom and extreme potential for total, absolute loss is surely a big draw for EVE players. A few days after coming to this realization, I ran across an article in an issue of Game Informer in which DayZ creator Dean Hall is interviewed. His goal is to make a standalone DayZ game - preferably an MMO - and model the game and supporting business around CCP's EVE Online.

Why EVE? It's a perfectly viable niche game with a ridiculously loyal subscriber base. DayZ likely hopes to fulfill a similar niche market. EVE may not be as staggeringly popular as World of Warcraft, but EVE players are almost unilaterally more dedicated and tend to stick around longer. Besides, there are obvious similarities between EVE and DayZ: both offer a wide-open world with myriad opportunities to create - and destroy - value. In both games, the content is player-driven. Players create the experience rather than click through scripted events.

I've been meaning to write about this for a while. Of course, I should have jumped on it sooner. Immediately upon beginning this post I found at least one other article covering the topic.

Did I mention Dean Hall intends to release a standalone version of DayZ as soon as possible?

Weekly Report - 10/05/2012

This was a light week for gaming. I spent the entire weekend outdoors followed by a week full of birthday dinners and around-the-house chores. That said, some progress was made after all.

In Dark Souls I'm about to face down the Four Kings in New Game Plus. Last time I ended up fighting five four kings, so who knows what I'll run into? After that I'll try to crash through the rest of the game more quickly; I've really lost steam on this title over the past two weeks thanks to Torchlight 2.

Speaking of Torchlight 2, I became so frustrated with Kya, my Elite Hardcore Outlander, that I quit playing her and created a new Elite Hardcore Engineer, Riff. It's going so much easier this time around; I've spent less than half the amount of time as I did on Kya and I've already passed her in the game. I'm eager to reach Act II in Elite Hardcore for the first time.

I haven't played much multiplayer Torchlight 2, but I'd really like to. A Hardcore group run could be fun, though time-consuming and dangerous (I'm loathe to leave a friend behind).

Torchlight 2 Engineer Build for Elite Hardcore - WIP

In my ongoing experimentation with Torchlight 2, here is another work-in-progress Elite Hardcore build - this time for the Engineer. The first thing I'll say is that this probably isn't the safest Engineer build. He uses a two-handed weapon and attempts to balance tank and gank. If you want to play it safe then go for a one-handed weapon and shield with high vitality and tank skills.

Engineer Riff, Level 17 on Elite Hardcore

So here we are; up to level 20 or so I have kept Strength and Vitality as even as possible. Use enchanted gear if you need in order to buff these stats as high as possible. Once I hit level 20 I'll start putting points in Focus to improve skills like Flame Hammer.

Skill-wise I'm focusing on Flame Hammer, Seismic Slam, Heavy Lifting, Healing Bot, Bulwark, Forcefield, Aegis Shield, and Charge Reconstitution.

How's it going so far? Incredibly well. This build is so much easier to play than my Outlander it's ridiculous. I'm 3 hours and 45 minutes in and I've caught up with my Outlander (8 hours and 21 minutes) in the Frosted Hills. I begin to wonder if my Outlander is a poor build or if the class itself is just more challenging. Where the Engineer can simply run into a crowd and mow them down, the Outlander must skirt the crowd and kite every single enemy out while slowly dwindling their health away.