TSW Starter Decks

The Secret World in the last patch added nine new Starter Decks, which are the inner ring abilities.

The new Starer Deck builds are Cage Master, Champion, Commando, Enforcer, Haruspex, Maverick, Polarizer, Punisher and Trickster.  Reading the posts on the TSW forum, all appear to be viable to use in Kingsmouth questing.  I haven't tested any specifically, but am glad FunCom has given more starter ideas for those new to the game.

Each new Starter Deck gives you a Multislot outfit which is really cool.  The variety of clothing in The Secret World is really one wonderful feature. (The outfits are the same for all three factions.)

As I had filled in the inner ring already, (30% completed the whole deck so far!) I claimed all the outfits last night and took some screenshots to share.

I borrowed InfamousBrad's (from the TSW forum) information on the abilities and builds. Thanks for all your hardwork InfamousBrad!

>>I went to the trouble of typing this information up specifically so that the builds-forum gurus could pick it over; my personal remarks will follow in a separate message. So, with no further ado, here are the nine "starter decks" from yesterday's testlive patch:<<

Cage Master (fists/blood): 51 AP
Active Abilities: Claw, Blood Spike, Wild at Heart, Hog Wild, Angelic Aegis, Pack Leader, Go for the Throat
Passive Abilities: Sharp Claws, Predator, Lick Your Wounds, Dark Potency, Unholy Knowledge, Angel's Touch, Out of the Woods
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#34v30040...10403410414316





Champion (blade/fist): 50 AP
Actives: Blade Torrent, Wild at Heart, Balanced Blade, Nurture, Surging Blades, Martial Discipline, Stunning Swirl
Passives: Perfect Storm, Regeneration, Immortal Spirit, Lick Your Wounds, Nurturing Gift, Sharp Blades, Fluid Defense
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#13v11131...10310312105116




Commando (rifle/shotgun): 62 AP
Actives: Safety Off, Fire at Will, Both Barrels, Buckshot, Lock & Load, Anima Shot, Slow the Advance
Passives: Extra Bullet, Eagle Eye, Hit & Run, Rapid Reload, Extra Clip, Anima Boost, Experience
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#97v90090...10705914912916




Enforcer (shotgun/chaos): 49 AP
Actives: Pump Action, Both Barrels, Call for Eris, Buckshot, Illusion, Breaching Shot, Kneecapper
Passives: Sawed Off, Gnosis, Dead on Target, Rapid Reload, Master of Illusions, Breach Party, Authority
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#75v70071...03705514714716




Haruspex (blood/elemental): 51 AP
Actives: Boiling Blood, Blood Spike, Infection, Combust, Angelic Aegis, Anima Charge, Molten Earth
Passives: Volatile Current, Elemental Force, Mind over Matter, Vigilante, High Voltage, Coup de Grace, Toxic Earth
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#46v40040...05603414614416




Maverick (pistols/blade): 54 AP
Actives: The Business, Shootout, Dancing Blade, Wanted, Above the Law, Martial Discipline, Dirty Tricks
Passives: Magnum, Straight Shooter, Immortal Spirit, Coup de Grace, Vigilante, Regeneration, Rapid Getaway
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#81v80080...10803812114816




Polarizer (elementalism/pistols): 46 AP
Actives: Shock, Shootout, Electrical Storm, Thor's Hammer, Above the Law, Anima Charge, Molten Earth
Passives: Volatile Current, Elemental Force, Mind over Matter, Vigilante, High Voltage, Coup de Grace, Toxic Earth
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#68v60080...10812614803616




Punisher (hammer/rifle): 44 AP
Actives: Smash, Haymaker, Fire at Will, Hell to Pay, Anima Shot, Stonewalled, Shockwave
Passives: Below the Belt, Street Fighter, Hard Impact, Righteous Fury, Anima Boost, Stone Cold, "Cool, Calm & Collected"
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#29v20020...05203912214216




Trickster (chaos/fists): 53 AP
Actives: Escalation, Call for Eris, Wild at Heart, Hog Wild, Paradox, Illusion, Domino Effect
Passives: Intensity, Lick Your Wounds, Paradigm Shift, Chaos Adept, Gnosis, Master of Illusions, Probability
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#53v51150...03505510514516

Starter Deck build information and links/builds from the TSW forum, InfamousBrad .

http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=60952http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=60952

TSW - Just A Flesh Wound

The Secret World added another auxiliary weapon with 4.1 - a chainsaw.  The quest, Just A Flesh Wound, is simple and fairly easy if your Q10, I tried it at Q6 and the 8,900+ health mobs were a bit hard to solo

A few days later, a couple of guildies, Law and Charney were on and as Law hadn't done the quest either we were going to go in, Charney came along to help kill things.

The quest starts in New York with Dr. Aldini (the plastic surgeon for remaking your characters looks) at his 'shop' Modern Prometheus.  It is an instance within his shop and is very short quest chain.

Dr. Aldinin requests body parts from his Meat Locker (instance below his shop). Pick up his bag of tools (in the corner) and head into the Meat Locker. 

You kill rotten nurses, and then use a different tool on each body to remove parts for the good Doctor.  

After we'd killed and hacked off body parts using the different tools provided by the Doctor, we sent them up to him via a drop box by the entrance.  He examines them, only to let you know they weren't fresh.

We went back into the instance (btw the rotten nurses do respawn) and at the end of his 'meat locker' we found the Flesh Blob behind a Flesh Cordon that you hack through.  The Flesh Blob looks just like what it's called, a blob of flesh.

As there were three of us, we started beating him down quickly and hacking partoff. 

 Sadly we found it would have been a straight up quest with two of us in Q8 and Q9 gear (easily soloable by anyone in Q10), but with our third person in NM Q10, we killed the Flesh Blob too fast.

We  had to reset the whole instance twice to get it to properly update.  But it was a good XP killing the rotten nurses and lots of drops to be broken for materials. Besides its always fun hanging out with guildmates.

 The key to completing this for us was to hack limbs off slowly at a predetermined percentage.  Our solution was one person kill, one person healed and did a little DPS, Charney being the best geared, stood there and looked cute.

Quick quest with an interesting new weapon.  Now to get the points to actually be able to use it!

SWTOR, BioWare and Customer Service fail

Admittedly I was tempted to jump back into the TOR F2P, especially after receiving their email withe the extra Cartel coins, etc.  So, last week, I tried to login to my account and the fun began.

As I originally had a security authenticator thru my old iPhone, I hadn't added the app to my new one.  It was dead and in a drawer somewhere, so my silly thought was get a hold of Customer Service and have them remove the security feature.

My first email was met with this interesting response:

>>Greetings,

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Star Wars: The Old Republic Account.

In order to better protect your account, all Billing, Subscription and Account Security issues are dealt with via our Customer Service telephone support.

You can contact our Customer Service team using a mobile phone, landline or VoIP (such as Skype, Viber, Google Voice etc.).

Please note that international call charges can be avoided by using a VoIP programme, as most major VoIP programmes offer free calls to US '1800 numbers'. If you have access to a VoIP with this option, our number is +11-855-467-9867.

You can contact us using a mobile phone or landline by clicking on the following link and finding our customer support telephone number for your specific country: http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/5200

Customer support will be provided in English, French, and German only.

You can also avail of our self-help section on the website which contains many articles which can provide you with further information on our most frequently asked questions. For Account and Billing enquiries, you can visit our Help Center here:

http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/1863.

If you have any questions relating to our recently announced Free To Play option, you can view them in our Help Center here:

http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused. Should you require further assistance with any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact us again.


Regards,

Protocol Droid M0-T0,
Star Wars (tm): The Old Republic(tm) Customer Service&lt;&lt;

Call overseas? Yeah right. Apparently not the Droid I was looking for.

Second email sent, no response - five days and counting.

Last night a third email and today a phone call to their  USA, Canada: 1-855-GO-SWTOR (1-855-467-9867)  number. Forty-five minutes later I finally hung up.

Their online Help Center has been down 3 out of 4 times I've tried to access that. Apparently it is not meant for me to jump back into TOR at this time.  Bravo BioWare, I do believe your Customer Service is the worst ever.  

SWTOR Free to Play

BioWare finally released the launch of it's Free to Play model for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), it goes live Thursday, November 15th.

I've been tempted to jump back into TOR to finish some of the class quests I hadn't completed.  Fortunately the F2P option is not limiting that.  It is limiting Warzones, Flashpoints, etc., and even removing your head piece.  Interesting.

Those that did have a sub previously though, 

According to the FAQ on the TOR site, if I do go back under the F2P model, I would be listed as a "Preferred" client.

===========

What happens if I decide to change from being a subscription player to a Free-to-Play player?

Once your subscription has ended and you no longer have paid game time remaining on your account, your account will be changed to Preferred Status.

As a Preferred Status player, access will be unlocked to the following features: 

 

• The ability to run faster (Sprint) starting at Level 1.
• Cargo Hold access (Bank Slots) and higher login queue priority.
• Increased access to Chat and Secure Trading.
• Post more items for sale on the in-game Galactic Trade Network.  

 

If you convert to Preferred Status, you will need to choose which two (2) of your characters will remain active, and play those characters within the limits of Free-to-Play access.

For more information on Free-to-Play features, please see www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/free/features

Versus the Subscription model:

What are the benefits of a subscription account?

 

In addition to unrestricted access to the full game and features there will be several benefits to a subscription account, including: 

• Unlimited access to regular Game Updates such as new Nightmare Mode content, a brand new Operation on the planet of Asation, a new Heroic mission series on the prison planet of Belsavis, and a brand new Warzone for our PvP lovers. Subscribers will also receive an automatic monthly grant of Cartel Coins for use in our new Cartel Market.

• The Cartel Market will offer a variety of in-game items including cosmetically customizable gear and convenience features that will enhance the game play experience. Subscribers will receive Cartel Coin rewards for every past and ongoing month of subscription.

• Subscribers will also receive a special bonus “Fan Favorite” Party Jawa. Celebrate your status as a veteran of the galaxy anytime with this animating Jawa, who starts a party every chance he gets!

===========

I did find the 'login queue priority' a bit humerous, are there really queues to login now?

So, the option would be to re-up my sub or try the F2P version.  I'm concerned on the restrictions of the F2P, but honestly I might dabble with TOR at best, but can't see going back and really spending time there right now.  There are just to many MMO's begging for attention - WoW, LoTRO, TSW, Rift, GW2 - to add TOR to the mix.

I think put this on the wait and see how the new model works out before making a decision.  Besides there is Storm Legion launching next week.  Dimensions, 10 levels and two new continents - I think that will keep me busy for awhile.


SWTOR F2P FAQ: http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449

Rift Free Weekend - Return to Telara

Return to Telara

Play FREE Nov. 7-11 

Ascended of all levels* can play FREE over the long weekend leading up to launch! Join the earth-shaking World Event and defend Telara from the legion’s vanguard troops. Try out the comprehensive Soul updates, as well as any of the new content features that you may have missed since RIFT debuted.

Being Polygamerous

I'm definitely a polygamerous gamer. 

I usually carry 2-4+ MMO subs at any given time as I like to jump around in different games and play the plethora of characters I make in every game. 

Right now I'm kinda/sorta sub free (I tell myself that at least) as
Rift: paid through 6/2014
TSW: lifetime sub
LoTRO: annual sub through 8/2013
WoW: annual sub through 4/2013
GW2: no sub

So no monthly subs (I generally pay 6-12 months if possible), and no F2P currently active either.

I guess the one difficulty with multi-gaming, is deciding which one to play and which character to play.  Some days, its jumping between games and characters. Other times it can be a steady diet of one game for weeks if something really catches my interest.

It's really hard, apparently for people that max level one toon to understand the "need" to play a variety of characters in a variety of games.  Diametrically different thoughts there!  As I would find it hard to ONLY play one character all the time.  I mean, I do plan to eventually get to max level, but I don't feel a rush.  There are just too many things to do in any given game.

The way I see it, whichever character I'm playing is my "main" at that time.  I guess I kind of RP in my head how they're progressing through the world and what they will/won't do.  Each seems to have distinct likes in gear (dye colors, etc.), mounts and pet companions and reactions to different NPC's, zones and other races.

Add that to the fact, I truly love collecting mounts, pets, and housing (can't wait for Rift dimensions, I miss EQ2 housing), crafting and PvP, well "End Game" will get there when it gets there!

Right now with new games and expansions out, it's been tough trying to juggle games/time, though.  But I'm working on it!

Monday/Tuesday are Rift raid days. I usually do a bit of crafting, instances after or jump to another game

Thursday is devoted to The Secret World.  Love this game, but 2-3 hours the creepiness gets to me, but FunCome did a great job with making a game truly different!

Saturday/Sunday is WoW and TSW. We're working on doing some of the old content with the WoW guild and TSW the team seems to have more people on to get through group content, so juggle juggle those two!
 
The rest of the week, depending on what's going on, LoTRO gets played too. This is the slowest game I play, as years later I've just got to 30 on one character, the rest are scattered in their teens. 

I was playing GW2, but think that game is going to be on hiatus for the next couple of months with all the fun I'm having in the other games.  Thankfully being sub-free I won't be bothered with parking it until 2013.

If I had the time, I'd love to add EQ2, TOR, Warhammer and AoC back in, but haven't won the lottery yet or had some rich long lost relative leave me independently wealthy so, must make do with the games I have.

WoW Pet Battles: The System

World of Warcrafts, pet battle system is truly a fun mini-game.  There are some great sites out there with information on the pets, how-to's, and even addons for pet management.

According to WarcraftPets there are 497 companion pets available from all sources. I'm currently standing at 163 of 497. 

Further down is a discussion on building teams, which is going to be a learning process.  You have to consider the abilities of your individuals and what the opposite team is bringing.

So far though, it's been great fun.

Here's a compilantion of them from WarcraftPets, Wiki, WoWhead, TenTonhammer, etc.

WoW Pet Battles: The System
The new WoW pet battle system will be accessible to all players from a low level. There will be both PvE battles against Wild Pets (see below) and PvP battles against other players and their battle-ready companions:

• The battle system will be simple turn-based combat and is intended to allow battle with almost every existing pet.
• All new pets introduced in MoP will be able to battle.
• Entering into a Pet Battle, you will see your opponent and the three pets you will be fighting against, but you will NOT see your opponent's name or be able to communicate with them.
• While in a Pet Battle, you will be able to switch between the three pets you've chosen to fight, and they will dutifully run up to your opponent's pet to attack it.
• Challenging another player in the open world will switch you into a unique zoomed in view. Once combat is over it will return you to a normal gameplay camera view.
• No one will ever have a significant advantage based simply on the rarity of a pet.
• You can battle with your pets in solo matches or teams of up to three pets that you can create and perfect.
• There will be a queuing system (like PvP battlegrounds) so that you will be able to find a match relatively quickly. You will also be able to duel with nearby players.
• In addition to being able to queue into a queuing system and duel other players in the open world, there will be NPCs and critters that you can enter combat with to help level your mini-pets.
• Unlike PVP, your Pet Battles stats will only show you how many games you've won. Information on losses will not be available.

Pet Leveling and Abilities
Every pet can use up to three abilities in a given battle with a total of six abilities to swap around in between battles. Here are some additional hightlights:

• The pets that you own will have a corresponding "pet card" that will show all the information about said pet. Such information includes mini-pet health, level, attack, defense and movement speed values.
• Winning pet battles will earn experience for your pets and help them level up.
• Each mini-pet will have 6 abilities that players can choose pre-battle. Much like player leveling, as your companion levels up it will unlock more abilities. Also like a player talent tree, you can only choose one ability per row of talents for your pet.
• The intended pet level cap is 25.
• Every time you level your pet, you will also increase its stats.
• There will be Pet Masters throughout the world who will let you earn Master abilities when you defeat them. These abilities can be taught to any pet.
• You'll be able to manage your teams and battle abilities using a new UI widget known as the Pet Journal.

Pet Collecting Improvements and Customization
Your Pet Journal will display info on all your pets, including stats, skills, drop locations and lore. Through your journal, you'll be able to further customize your pets:

• The pet UI will be updated to show you a list of all the pets you currently have and the pets that you don't have. In the case of the companions that you're missing, it will show you where to find those pets.
• Account wide pets have been confirmed. All your characters will have access to all of your pets. This will cut down on switching between characters to level up a certain pet.
• Developers are considering allowing players to grow their own mini-pets on personal farms within the Valley of the Four Winds.
• Most pets will become tradable (even after being leveled).
• You will be able to customize the name of each of your pets. This name will appear in battle.
• You can obtain vanity items for your pets. Some of these items may offer combat bonuses.

Wild Pets
Wild Pets are discovered throughout the game world, some being more rare than others. To collect one, you'll need to engage it in battle (with one of your current pets) and defeat it.

• There will be about 100 wild pets all over Azeroth you can collect.
• There is likely to be at least one unique wild pet per zone.
• Wild Pets will have random stats.
• Many wild pets will be good at filling a specific role on your battle team, such as tanking or crowd control.
• Some wild pets will only be found under certain conditions. For example, some of them will only spawn in the spring, or while it's raining, or during the nighttime.

http://www.warcraftpets.com/wow-pet-battles/


List of all Companion Pets

WoW-Wiki on Pet Battles

Trainers: *** Cost to Train 95 gold ***

Location	Battle Pet Trainers
Razor Hill, Durotar	Narzak
Bloodhoof Village, Mulgore	Naleen
Brill, Tirisfal Glades	Ansel Fincap
Falconwing Square, Eversong Woods	Jarson Everlong
Goblin Slums, Orgrimmar	Matty
Orgrimmar	Varzok
The Golden Terrace, Vale of Eternal Blossoms	Gentle Sanω

Quests
Once a player visits a Battle Pet Trainer and learns Pet Battle Training, they learn how to battle, level, heal and capture pets with a short questline.

1. [85] Learning the Ropes
2. [85] On The Mend
3. [85] Level Up!
4. [85] Got One!

Notes
Although classified as one of the above types, companions such as humans, orcs, kites, and balloons will not fight. Those that will not fight are:

• Argent Gruntling and Squire
• Guild Page and Herald
• Alliance, Horde, Darkmoon, Green, and Yellow Balloons
• Chi-ji, Dragon, Tuskarr, and Yu'lon Kites

-------------------
***** Extra companion pets can be caged and traded or sold on the Auction House.

 Wowhead now has a map of locations:

Capturing wild battle pets is a new way to obtain companion pets in Mists of Pandaria, and it is one of the primary ways of acquiring pets for your pet battle team.

Wild battle pets can be tracked on your minimap: you can have your team fight them for experience, or capture one at low health to add it to your collection. Pet families have strengths and weaknesses against other types, so choose your opponents wisely. There are different versions of each pet--some with more stats than others--so you could get lucky and end up capturing a really strong version! There's also many achievements for capturing wild battle pets.

We've made tables below of all the wild battle pets, organized by continent and color-coded by type. With this chart, you can see what pets are unique to various zones, and also which pet types are pretty scarce--Dragonkin and Mechanical especially. All the data was taken from our interactive battle pet map and our visual battle pet database, so be sure to check them out for more information!

Pet Battles: Wild Battle Pets by Zone - Wowhead News


======================

WarcraftPets (best place for all things companion pets!).


Recent article adds info on the dailies available.

Pet Battles Dailies and Strong Traps Investigation

October 09, 2012
Two notable Pet Battles bugs have been stubbornly sticking around for some time now, but developers are currently investigating both.

Players are reporting that the dailies that should be offered (from every Tamer on a continent) after defeating the Grand Master Tamer are either not being offered or are not resetting properly.

In addition to this, the Strong Trap is not being awarded to eligible players. Instead of an updated trap model and trap icon with a new tooltip, many are still seeing the original ones, despite having completed the achievement Going to Need More Traps.

Pet Battles Dailies
If you're not seeing the daily quests for a continent, have you earned the Taming achievement to unlock them for that continent? Did they show up once and then never come back? (not resetting) Are any working at all, and if so, which ones?

Note: Taming Kalimdor is Horde only, and Taming Eastern Kingdoms is Alliance only. This was done via hotfix so the UI in-game will not update until 5.1, which is why you may see completion swap between the two. Not to worry though, the data is all there and will be resolved with the 5.1 patch. [source]

Strong Traps
We applied a hotfix to attempt to resolve issues of not properly receiving the upgraded Strong and Pristine traps. Please let us know if you're still having the issue, what character and realm is seeing the issue, and once you received the achievement, did your trap art, tooltip or icon change to reflect an upgraded trap? [source]

If you have additional information or details regarding Pet Battles dailies not resetting or not being offered, and Strong Traps not being awarded, leave a response on the appropriate threads linked above.

Let's help developers squish these bugs!

============================
 Top 5 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Pet Battle Addons

One of the things I was most looking forward to with the launch of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria was the addition of Pet Battles. I was already fond of my vanity pets and the fact that they would now be more than just showpieces almost made me jump up and down and squeal like a schoolgirl. I fully anticipated that when the expansion launched I would dive headfirst into Pet Battles and become a master in no time at all.Sadly, that is not quite how things worked out. I haven't given much time to Pet Battles and have instead spent most of my days happily leveling up my Pandaren Monk. I have decided that now is the time to change that. However, I refused to dive into the world of Pet Battles totally unprepared. To help me along the way I wanted to seek out some handy dandy addons that would make my Pet Battle experience in Mists of Pandaria just a little bit easier.To do this I searched various sites around the web for suggestions and then loaded them up into my game to try for myself as I embarked on my Pet Battle journey. After much trial and error, I have discovered what I believe to be some of the most useful Pet Battle addons currently available. Below you will find the fruits of my labors with a listing of my top 5 Pet Battle addon finds. Hopefully these addons will prove to be as useful to you as they have been to me.Top 5 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Pet Battle Addons

BattlePet Count

While Blizzard has a knack for getting things right, sometimes things don't turn out quite as we may have dreamed. The Pet Journal is inevitably one of those things. Somewhat difficult to navigate and rather unwieldy, I can say with certainly that I am not alone in my wishing for a simpler way to find the information I need. The addon BattlePet Count provides us with exactly that.BattlePet Count ignores the Pet Journal totally and instead provides all pertinent information in the form of a simple tooltip. When the player hovers over a pet, it not only lets you know if you already own that particular pet, but also what level it is, and what quality it is. BattlePet Count also works with vendors who sell pets, as well as the Auction House, letting you know if you are currently the owner of any pets available.Pokemon Trainer

When it comes to Pet Battle addons in Mists of Pandaria Pokemon Trainer really takes the cake. This addon single-handedly adds a ton of useful features that will be sure to aid every Pet Battle enthusiast. You won't believe it till you try it yourself!For the first of its tricks, Pokemon Trainer delivers upon you a handy tooltip when you hover over any opponent. This tooltip informs you whether your current team has any pets in it that are stronger than the opponent's. The tooltip appears no matter what type of pet you hover your mouse over.Battling against teams of pets? No problem! Pokemon Trainer provides a similar tooltip whether you are battling NPCs or other players. Pokemon Trainer also accounts for those of us who lose our heads in battle and forget which pets do well against others and provides a handy tooltip when the Switch Pet button is used showing your team and when you mouse over each of them shows their viability against the current opponent(s).For its final trick, the Pokemon Trainer addon also shows the possible abilities of your enemies which means you can easily prepare for and possibly counter attacks even before they happen. This addon is in development stages and while I did not personally encounter any glitches or bugs, don't get discouraged if you stumble across some. With even more useful features planned in the future, when Pokemon Trainer is released in all its glory it will be even more magnificent than we can imagine. This mod is a must have for any Pet Battle lover in Mists of Pandaria.PetJournal Enhanced

Have I mentioned that I feel the Pet Journal could use some improvement? Pet Journal Enhanced is another addon that improves the rather awkward feeling journal. This addon adds several additional filtering options to the journal that make life in Mists of Pandaria run a little bit smoother. Pet Journal Enhanced also shows each individual pet's specialization as an icon that shows that pet's highest stat as well as that pet's rarity (works on non-wild pets only). This addon is also in a beta stage, so once again, some bugs and glitches are to be expected.PetBattle Teams

While I am not quite ready for creating any serious teams, since I've only recently focused on Pet Battles, that doesn't mean that I can't prepare for the future. The addon Pet Battle Teams is for the player who has more than a few teams at their disposal and wishes for an easy way to load them up. With a single click a team can be loaded and ready for your next Pet Battle. My only complaint with this addon is that it seems you can easily overwrite any saved team, however, the benefits of this mod make this slight downfall easy to overlook.BattlePetsList

While actually battling our pets is what most of us focus on, it stands to reason that to battle we actually need to get out there and collect pets. No matter if you are a newbie like me or an old hat, we each need to get out there and expand our pet collection to create the best teams possible. Wild Pets are one of the major sources we have to turn to in our efforts to "collect 'em all"BattlePetsList makes this process just a little bit simpler. 

 

This simple addon allows the player to use a slash command to determine what pets are available in the area your character is in. When used this slash command (/bpl) BattlePetsList brings up a listing of the battle pets in the area, and goes an extra step by coloring the pets you have already collected a delightful red color.This addon can also check other zones for battle pets, however, there is a slight pitfall. BattlePetsLists requires you to be amazingly accurate in your spelling of the zone name and is also case sensitive. 

 

Thankfully this will hopefully not always be the case as this addon is currently in the development process and hopefully this issue will be resolved in the near future.That is it for my selections for top 5 Pet Battle addons. What addons have you found particularly helpful for Pet Battles? Have you discovered any that are duds? Help increase the knowledge of our community by sharing your experiences with various Pet Battle addons in the comment section below!

http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/feat...m_medium=email

Rift Storm Chaser Edition.

TRION has a great offer right now for the RIFT player.  Which I had to of course purchase.  Love the new mount, in a OMG it's creepy way.   So my sub is paid up through June 3, 2014!

 
Rift Storm Chaser Edition

Get incredible bonuses with a year of RIFT™

12 MONTHS OF GAME TIME FREE EXPANSION, MOUNT, & TITLE WITH PURCHASE $119.98

Be the first to reserve your place in the massive Ascended war against Crucia and her mechanized legions!
Our special 12-month offer works like a game time card – buy now to get a year of RIFT™ access PLUS:

• A FREE copy of our Storm Legion expansion (Coming Fall 2012)
• “Landslide” – an Earthen Juggernaut who matches your swiftest mount’s speed
• The “Stormbringer” in-game title

Prepare now for the incredible battle for the Infinity Gate … and all that lies beyond!

Kingsmouth Quests - The Secret World

Still working my way through the myriad of quests available in the Solomon Islands. I had just left to Egypt, when a rousing debate in Mumble made me decide to backtrack to see if a few of the guild members and myself could uncover ALL the quests that FunCom has planted throughout the first three zones. 

This is the list we've come up with so far for Kingsmouth - 62 quests.

I do love how The Secret World you can actually go back and repeat quests (for AP/SP), so 'running' with a friend is actually fun and worthwhile.

**This does include the quest for Polaris (Dead in the Water and Dead in the Water revisited) that apparently counts as two separate quests.

GW2 Race sizes

Admittedly I'm a total fan of GW2 (Guild Wars 2).  I hadn't expected to be so thoroughly drawn into a game.  There is so much to do, I'm going to be totally surprised by those that say it's boring or a 'fail' game.

One of the items on my 'to do' list this past beta weekend (BW3) as to see which races I wanted to play and come up with something that will work for launch race/profession wise.

Many people I'd spoken to were convinced they wanted to play Asura (especially for PvP) as the smaller size would be an advantage.   This would have made all sPvP and WvW full of Asura only as the male Norn would have been so easy to spot and kill if it's hitbox was the size of the actual character.


From an interview on GuildWars2 Junkies:

Eric Flannum: Every player character in Guild Wars 2 has the exact same sized collision cylinder. For asura this means that the cylinder is larger than they are and for norn it means that it is smaller. Very early in the process of making the game we knew this was going to be the case, so the min and max sizes of our races are heavily influenced by this. 

I'm glad of this specifically for PvP.  There will be some tactical advantage playing an Asura as far as sneaking around the map, but there won't be an advantage to being smaller as far as targeting goes in PvP.  One of my guildies made a male Norn Warrior one BW and we still laugh watching him run across the map in the Borderlands - Sasquatch on the move!


For my own reference, I did do some size comparison screenies using my Sylvari Thief right before I lost my Internet on Sunday night.  Here are a female Sylvari against a few of the other races.

Sylvari and Asura

 Sylvari and Charr

 

Sylvari and Norn

(this is from a previous beta weekend but shows the size difference of the Male and Female Norn)

So, based on playing around with the professions and start zones I've pretty much mapped out my race/professions.  The only race I won't be playing - but will do the start zone - is the Charr.  I love the lore, but I can't stand the way they move.  Reminds me to much of Worgen in WoW, which IMHO run like rabid dogs and was the only Alliance Race I couldn't play.

For launch:
Norn - Ranger
Asura - Necromancer or Elementalist (I'm still not sure which I prefer)
Human - Mesmer & Guardian
Sylvari - Thief

I'll be adding the additional three after launch.  Engineer, Warrior and the other caster will be added post-launch.

Only a month until Head-start for GW2 - w00t!

The Secret World (TSW)

TSW Links, Writeups and Blogs

FunCom Links

The Secret World | Funcom website
TSW Wiki 
CGN: The Secret World Uncovered
FunCom YouTube Channel
FunCom News
FunCom Store
FunCom Community Site


Dulfy.net - individual articles on zones, instances, etc., listed below (personal favorite site)

Decks and Builds

TSW Loot Table
The Deck Builder
Yokai's Guide to Talismans
Bad Omen:  Calculators - abilities, gear (talismans)
End Game Gearing


Blood/Assault Rifle - Healing Build



Missions, Quests and Zones  (some spoilers)
Yokai's Guide to Understanding the Mission System
Kingsmouth Quests Walkthru (hints; uncoverable spoilers)
Savage Coast Quests Walkthru (hints; uncoverable spoilers) 
Blue Mountain Quests Walkthru (hints; uncoverable spoilers)
Scorched Desert Quests Walkthru (hints; uncoverable spoilers)
City of the Sun God Quests Walkthru (hints; uncoverable spoilers)
Besieged Farmlands Quests Walkthru (hints; uncoverable spoilers)

Mortal Sins (Transylvania) Quest Walkthru
The Shadowy Forest (Transylvania) Quest Walkthru
Carpathian Fangs Quests Walkthru



Illuminati Faction Missions

TSW: Gravity - Investigation Mission

Instances

TSW Guides - Instance Guides
Polaris Dungeon Guide  
Into The Inferno - Guide for Dummies!
Hell Raised (Inferno) Guide
The Darkness War Guide
Ankh/Pandora's Box Guide
Hell Fallen Guide

The Facility (Elite Dungeon Guide)
Hell Raised (Elite Dungeon Guide)

Polaris - Nightmare Mode
Inferno - Nightmare Mode

PvP 

Fusang Projects Guide for Dummies!

Crafting

Crafting Guide (TenTonHammer)
Almars Crafting Guide
Gadget Crafting
Crafting Consumables
Stylish Corpse Crafting Tips

Fashion and Wardrobe

Sephoras Closet - clothing info
Women's Fashion's at Pangaea

Quests with Clothing Rewards

Misc 
Agartha Map and Portal Locations

Direct X11 Graphic Comparision
Secret UI - addons
Curse.com - addons
Rare Spawn Compilation Thread

GW2 BW3

Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend 3 (BW3) gave us the opportunity to try the Sylvari and Asura races.  Both zones are fantastic definitely different, but lots of fun.

As our characters from the previous BW's were wiped and personal time didn't allow for much actual game play, I just did some exploring and locating of charmable pets for the Ranger once it goes live.

Juvenile Saimoth (Flamingo's were also in this area)

 Location for Juvenile Saimoth

 Juvenile Red Jellyfish

 Location for Red Jellyfish

Juvenile Marsh Drake

Location for Juvenile Marsh Drake

 I did find the Jungle Spiders, but didn't get screenshots.

Other than that I spent some time taking screenshots of the gorgeous vistas (which is another new addition this weekend). 

I found this one while exploring for pets.  I didn't get the exact location, but it was in the Asura area after you leave the start zone. When you locate what looks like old money hanging in the air, you interact with it and you'll get a beautiful cut scene of the well - vista!

ArenaNet has outdone themselves on the beauty in this game. The details are everywhere and totally incredible.