Planetside 2 - Harrasser

The Harrasser is a three-man vehicle currently on the Test Server in Planetside 2. 

It will make a great vehicle for getting around bases quickly (hopefully with excellent climbing upgrades!) and apparently some sort of thruster ability to get some air.

The current model has room for the driver, a gunner and a rumble seat that will accommodate a Max unit.  It will be available for all factions with (so far) no faction specific upgrades.

The Secret World Companion Pets

TSW (The Secret World) has a variety of companion pets available in game.  They do not offer any stat benefit (there are a few that do for the first few levels in Kingsmouth), but are a fun, fluff addition while traveling through the world.

Most are purchased in the Item Shop and range in price 300-700 points ($3-7), a few are available as veterans rewards and quest rewards.

I haven't purchase all of them (I have 15 so far), the ravens remind me to much of an oddly colored seagull and the owls, well a tad boring.

My favorite Draug Lord Puppy.  He has a few cute animations as well as just being cute!

The Secret World - Men's Outfits

 The Secret World has a great variety of clothing options to individualize your character.  There are quest rewards, free Tshirts from some vendors (Razer, Curse, MMORPG, etc.), faction rewards and the cash shop.

Below are some of the Men's Outfits from the cash shop.  They've separated the pieces so they can be equipped separately versus the outfits from completing a specific deck build.  They cost anywhere from 600-1200  or $5-10 if you buy points.
 

 

 

 

Spark a replacement for Google Reader?

Spark may be the way to go for keeping current on your favorite game info. 

Here's what TenTonHammer had to say today:

The Google Reader is riding off into the sunset this summer. For gamers, at least, there's an alternative. 

Last week Google announced that the Google Reader would be sunsetting, leaving users without a convenient tool for aggregating their favorite content feeds. In the wake of the Reader's impending demise, lovers of collective content have been forced to do one of two things: fight to save it, or find an alternative.

For gamers, at least, it seems Spark is the Google Reader alternative. Thousands have flocked to Spark as a source for timely and relevant gaming news.

"This is my go-to source for gaming news now," says Spark user Mike Perry. "I used to spend a lot of time browsing the web for information on the games I was following, and I ususally missed stuff. Spark does a better job than I ever did of keeping me up to date."

Unlike Google Reader, Spark offers a collection of hand-picked feeds specifically related to gaming and geek culture, with new feeds added regularly. Learn more at the Spark website. You can also vote for your favorite feeds to become part of Spark.

I've tried it and the format is interesting and can be customized to deliver specific gaming news or everything.  So if you want to just follow Blizzard or NCSoft or the current gaming comics you can.

There are limitations currently as you can't add blogs you may follow that have not been included yet, but Spark is still in beta.

But there is hope. TenTonHammer is running a poll for other news feeds to add - vote here You can write in your own personal favorites too.

So while Spark isn't perfect, it may be the interim answer for keeping up on gaming news.

World of Warcraft recruiting

It's been a bit of a dilemma taking over team lead of our WoW team, as at times it feels like it's on a respiratory and just needs the plug pulled!   The team members that are playing seem fine with how things are, but it is an MMO and I'd like to see more people ingame.

Besides, I still enjoy WoW, and if you overlook trade/general chat, it has ALOT to offer!  So, I'm going to see if I can breathe a bit of life into the team by trying to recruit.  As I hate being deceived/lied to, I don't want to misrepresent our team, so put together a very non-recruiting, recruiting thread.

 
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Here's what I put on the WA forum and on the main guild recruiting thread (it's long!):

Greetings Accordians.

Sassi here from HFC (Hammerfist Clan). We're kind of recruiting, in a round-about-way.

As, I'd rather be upfront about what our guild is and what we're looking for than misleading, this may be a tad long. For one we're not looking for guild hopper types, but adult gamers that play WoW and would like to help form our WoW team into a wonderful gaming experience, but are also not the "50DKP-" types either.

Screenshots - The Last Train to Cairo

Completed the Last Train to Cairo over the weekend, and yes FunCom did a superb job on Issue #6!

There were a few bugs and we didn't know what to do with our "whip" and need to go back in to get that corrected (Unfair.co has a walkthru if needed), but all in all a fun quest chain.

They've tied in the quest chain beautifully with what is going on in Egypt while adding more "possible" future things for TSW to explore.

The side quests (dailies) aren't difficult, but if you're less than Q10, go in a group!

The Secret World sale Amazon

Amazon has TSW on sale for $19.99 AND is including 1200 bonus points of in game store currency.

$19.99 Game + In Game Currency
Customers who order The Secret World will receive 1200 bonus points ($10 of value in the in game store) to celebrate the release of Issue #6: Last train to Cairo. Get immediate access to The Secret World environment. Play all you want, subscription is no longer required! Receive 1200 Bonus Points (worth $10) and use them in the online store, for example to buy Issue #6: Last train to Cairo. More information about Issue#6: Last train to Cairo can be found here: http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/issue_6_cover_and_preview. Amazon reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time. Limit one per customer.

The Secret World Issue #6 launch

TSW's Issue #6 launched today for GrandMaster level and monthly Subscribers (March 14th) and will go live for F2P gamers on Saturday, March 16th.

It contains a fun quest chain in the Scorched Desert culminating with the "Last Train to Cairo" (Indian Jones here we come!), and getting the new auxiliary weapon the Whip.

The quest chain starts with Nassir (900,310).

Access must be purchased from the ingame store (960 for GrandMaster, 1040 Subs and 1200 for F2P players).  The quest is marked with the Funcom "F" is called "The Mean Streets".  Unfair.co has a walk thru for the quest chains if you get stuck.

There are more changes in Issue #6 to PvP and a Raid type Lair.

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Complete Patch Notes:

Back in WoW

I've been playing more WoW (World of Warcraft) as of late after taking over Team Lead for the Hammerfist Clan guild.


HFC is a casual multi-gaming guild that only started in WoW July of 2012, so yeah, we're a late start to the MMO of MMOs!

The guild is pretty slow paced and primarily a place for the Clan members to hangout and play when they need their WoW fix, as we all do from time to time. We haven't really determined what the goal of the guild is - end game, pvp, leveling - and with the plethora of new games out there to spend our time/money on it's been a slow process figuring this out.

But I'm enjoying being back in WoW regardless.  Over the past few months I've moved a number of toons over, deleted/rerolled a few others, so I have quite a selection in the guild now from level 85 (Sassrani)  down to resently re-rolled Ziboo level 16.

There is one more to go, as the Night Elf druid is likely to go to toon heaven and reroll as either an Undead Hunter, Mage or Warrior or an Orc.

Sithi and Frothe (my original Alliance) can't be turned to Horde so will stay as they are.

Last Train to Cairo - TSW Issue #6

The Secret World Issue #6 should be ready to play the beginning of March.  It's bringing some changes to TSW along with the new mission in Egypt.

The darkness in Egypt is ancient and its malevolent tendrils work tirelessly to spread their influence across the world. Issue #6; The Last Train to Cairo, will call upon you to contain this dire threat once again.
In this update you will play through a new, deep and revealing story within Egypt. Travel back in time to unearth powerful artifacts which can help you in the future, and see how the wondrous locations of The Scorched Desert looked in ages past.
Enjoy the Issue #6 cover here, and read more details about the upcoming content below.

As exciting as the new Issue quest will be, I think I'm equally excited by the new Auxiliary Weapon - the whip!  It sounds very Indiana Jones and fun.  DPS, buff or cc - sounds interesting!

A new 10 man raid can be started from items dropped in Lairs.  Set in the South Pacific this is a new adversary.

Veterans will be getting rewarded with Issue #6 as well with new points rewards to purchase useable items.  Recruiting will also give points in this system.

PvP is getting a ranking system.  Rank up and receive new tokens to buy new PvP gear (uniforms).

What I didn't read was the hoped for changes to the Cabal Management.  It's still dreadful (I had hoped for some creative person to write an addon that worked for it!).