Is there any form of PvP in LotRO?
There sure is. But it’s different from what you might expect. Being that the notion of elves mass killing hobbits was distinctly un-Tolkien, Turbine has created Monster Play for players to help them free the beast within.

What is Monster Play?
Monster play, or PvMP, is Player versus Monster Player. What that means is instead of hobbits and elves fighting it out among themselves, a system has been created that lets players take temporary control of “monsters” and fight the higher level regular player characters of LotRO.

Great, so now instead of worrying about an elf killing my hobbit, I have to worry about roving bands of Monter Players?
Not at all! The PvMP system is 100% consensual in nature for just that very reason. Anyone who does not wish to partake in the PvMP never has to, not even for a second. The ongoing battle takes place in the isolated world area of the Ettenmoors, and you won’t find yourself accidentally stumbling into the area either. It’s only accessible through talking with specific NPCs.

Hmm… okay, I’m intrigued. Tell me more about PvMP.
Well let’s give you a run-down of its features, and we’ll go from there.
- The Ettenmoors is a large, fully-developed region, about the same size as the Shire.
- Players on each side start in a “no-kill zone”. You won’t be thrown into the Ettenmoors, and immediately waylaid by opponents.
- The objectives that either side must strive to attain are defeating the enemy in combat, completing PvE and PvP driven quests, and of course, maintaining your sides hold on several Keeps and Towers.
- There are five monster classes to choose from when creating a Monster to patrol the Ettenmoors with.

The Monster Play Zone: The Ettenmoors.

What classes are available for creating a monster?
The five “classes” of monsters are as follows:
The Uruk Warleader – The main tank of the Monster side, this hefty orc is directly intended to be the leader in groups. With powerful in combat and out of combat buffs, as well as the ability to heal and do moderate damage per second, the Warleader is sort of a jack of all trades.

The Orc Reaver – The Champion class for Monsters, the Orc Reaver is your most essential damage doer. Also with the ability to de-buff, interrupt skills, and do some tanking, he’s a crafty foe not to be taken for granted.

The Uruk Blackarrow – And expert Uruk orc Archer, this class is a ranged damage dealer with some crowd control abilities, and a sprinkling of area of effect damage dealing.

The Warg Stalker – A stealthy canine abomination of the Dark Lord’s army. These pups are proficient in doing high burst damage, they can serve as a tank in some pinches, and are capable of interrupting opposing players spells and skills.

The Spider Weaver – Similar to the spiders often found giving travelers trouble across Eriador, these little 8-legged freaks are efficient at crowd control, damage over time, some light damage dealing, and even some ambush attacks. It should be noted that you can’t have alts of your monster characters. You can play one of each class though, and their names are permanent upon creations. So choose wisely.

The Monster Selection Window

How do I play as a monster in the Ettenmoors?

Making a monster character or “creep” as they are so lovingly called is easy!
Start off by leveling a regular player aka “freep” to level 10, once you have done that, monster play is simple! Before log in to your freep,
you will see in your character window a red bar labeled “Monster Play”. Once entered on that side, you will have a choice of several
different types of Monster Players to chose from!

Monster Player Tab

Can I level my monster and make him stronger over time, like a normal character?
Yes and no. Your monsters will start as level 50 regardless of what level you first step into its skin. They’re not on par statistically or skill-wise with a level 50 player, but more so like a mob that a player would be fighting at that level.

This was done because Turbine anticipates at all times there being more monsters than players (who must be upper-level to play in PvMP) and therefore the fighting field should be level. Monsters can grow in strength though, through the acquisition of Infamy and Destiny Points.

The Orc Reaver craves the blood of fat hobbits…

What are Infamy and Destiny Points?
Sort of like experience for monster players, these can grant or enable things like additional skills, improvements to current skills, bonuses to the monster’s Morale, regenerations rates, armor mitigation, and so on. Players can also gain additional appearances to change the look of their monsters over time via the Infamy system.

I heard talk about maps… where do I get these?
Glad you asked! One of the most important things to have out in the ‘Moors are your maps. There are a total of 15 maps you can get on the Creep side. 3 maps for each Keep:

*Lugazag
*Tol Ascarnen
*Tirith Rhaw
*Isendeep
*Grimwood Lumber Camp

Each map can be obtained by doing quests for each keep. Starting, you need 10 quests to obtain your Crude map to the Keep, followed by 25 quests for your Poor map to that keep, then finally 50 quests total for your Good Map. The Crude and Poor maps all share the same timer, so if you use your Crude Grimwood Map, the timers for the rest of your Maps will start the cooldown also. The only maps that do not share a cooldown are the Good Maps, they are all on a seperate timer.

There is also a Gramsfoot Map you can obtain by “scounting” out the different keeps or (depending on the keep) talking to one of the NPC’s there. this you have to do without dying so make sure you steer clear of the fighting!

Okay, now I know how to be a monster, but how do I play my main character in the Ettenmoors?Glad you asked! Of course, you’ll first need to level your character to level 40 though, as that’s the lowest level you can enter the Ettenmoors as. It’s probably a better idea to level him or her a bit higher though, as everything in the zone is geared towards top level players. Once you’ve done this, here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Travel to Rivendell by any means possible
- Find the Horse Stables in the Western section of the area (known as Elrond’s Stables).
- Right click on Stablemaster Remros then select Ettenmoors and click the “Go!” button. You’ll be taken to the Ettenmoors, where you can begin your quest to rid the area of Sauron’s forces. The objectives for the player character side of things are similar to the monster side. Kill the monsters, complete the quests scattered across the zone, and attain and keep control over the keeps and towers in the area. Doing all of these things will reward your player with Destiny Points.

What can my character do with Destiny Points?
Destiny Points are earned for the player by completing quests and generally waging war with the Monster Players in Ettenmoors. They can be used for special buffs and traits for your character as well as “per-session” buffs upon entering the Ettenmoors.

Will my weapons and armor take damage when I die in PvMP?
Your character’s items will not take damage when he or she is killed by a Monster Player. It is important to note however, that they will take damage if you are killed off by one of the many mobs patrolling the area. But worry not, for no matter who defeats you, revenge is only a few minutes away. You simply need to “rez” at a nearby respawn point and head back into the fray.

What about player character rewards, like items and other things of that nature?
Oh, they’re available. Destiny points and general partaking in Monster Play will help you acquire the necessary things needed for acquiring such rewards. I’ll leave it up to you to find out just what is available for your acquisition. Here’s a pick of some of the perks available, just to wet your whistle…

Some Monster Play Perks

Is there anything else I need to know, before I go smiting the evil (or the good) of Middle-Earth?
Just remember to travel in packs, be you on the bad or the good side. A solo-player will likely be eaten up in the Ettenmoors, as most players go with the mob mentality when indulging in PvP. Secondly, remember that defeat is not permanent. If you fall in battle, all you need to do is run back to the fight, and give it another shot. No shame in being beaten. And lastly, remember to have fun. That’s what the game is about. Friendly competition, with the added perks of rewards from all your bloodshed.

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Heal skill can be classified in many type; channeled heal, direct heal, group heal, group HoT (heal over time), reactive heal, spread heal, vampiric heal and some improved heal skill that have some added effects. All those skills are very useful if you use it properly. But which of those skills is the best?

The best heal skill that I’m talking about cannot be found anywhere in game… because it is the MMORPG itself. It is not about heal or any buff skill that you often cast to your characters in game, but how MMORPG heal a fading soul back to life… how this modern medium of amusement saves a life of a boy from being caught up with his sickness and refused to live his life the way it should be.

It’s almost half a decade now since he was diagnosed with his curse; the smile on his face was replaced with sadness and regrets. He chose to live his life alone as if the world turns its back on him and never want to see the bright side of life again. He accepted his fate in a way that he prevents himself to taste the life of every other normal people can have.

But all of those afflictions turn into bliss when he played his first online game and met his first buddy in game, which eventually became his best friend. The boy started to socialize and make friends with other players, joined a guild and even met his guild mates in real life. He even surpasses other normal players’ abilities and competes in international tournament.

From there, he started to see the bright side of life again and made a vow to have a life well spent. The boy may not be healed physically but being healed mentally and spiritually is enough for this beautiful soul to enjoy life because it is not how long or short your life is, but how you live your life. A short life well spent is far better than a dull life long lived.

Playing MMORPG for most people are just a mere entertainment and pleasure, but sometimes, a mere entertainment for us is a life saver to someone. Now, is there any skill in MMORPG that is better than healing?

Diablo 3 looks just like it should. Stunning.

Everything I’ve seen today about D3 has got me interested. I’m a fan of D2, played it in battle.net a great number of times and it kept me consistently entertained, be it the loot grabbing rushes or the neverending hordes of demons getting their ass kicked by my party.

But it was never my favorite game. It lacked dialogue, it lacked branching paths. The story was nice, but it always took backstage to the mayhem. You’d get rewarded with gorgeous cinematics, and then you’d move on to the next chapter, finishing those quests any battle.net diehard knows by heart. It got repetitive, but the skill tree, the bosses, the hundreds of items and gems and socketed items made it interesting, and the random maps kept the experience from becoming dull.

Diablo 2. Besides the change to 3d of Diablo 3, can you spot any difference?

And now we got D3. It looks the same as D2 and D1. Two orbs. Mouse clicking. Iconic classes. It looks gorgeous as well. Using the same isometric (sic) perspective. And from what I can see, people are lapping it up. People are loving it, me included. Why? Well I guess it’s reassuring to see a team that is made up of several different members from D2′s team (even though it’s still Blizzard) behind the steering wheel of this game, and how they managed to make the game be like what Diablo III SHOULD be like, in the hearts of fans and gamers in general.

All of this disturbs me. Why? Because I’m a fan of another franchise. One where action takes a sidestep into turn-based chaos, and dialog, options, different routes, take the center stage. A game whose setting was, and still is, unique.

You may know the series called Fallout. But what the gamewebs and the magazines and the boards are feeding you, isn’t what Fallout is. That’s a definition I’ll leave for the fans of the franchise, known throughout the net as the most rabid fans there are, “glittering gems of hatred” as one has called them.

Oblivion’s speech wheel: it makes absolutely no sense.

What made me think about Fallout is that now its being handled by what I consider to be some of the worst collection of developers in this gaming age. They bring out Oblivion, with it’s clunky AI, the lack of proper dialog options, the laughable speech skill, the poor combat, the repetitve content (caverns and caverns and caverns and THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!), and everybody applauds them as the saviours of the RPG genre.

Fallout 2. Oh, how I remember the days…

They decided to scrap turn based, scrap the isometric perspective of Fallout, and are basically modding their Oblivion game with new textures, models and weapons, turning it into, you know it, Oblivion with Guns. And everybody is lauding them for it. No one is recognizing their lack of creativity and courage to bring out Fallout 3 as a turn based isometric rpg. Instead, most people are accepting their excuse that Fallout was only originally like that because of “technological impairments at the time”.

So what is it Bethesda? Do you think Blizzard doesn’t have the resources to pull of a Diablo III in full 3d mode, with a third person perspective? They tried something like that with StarCraft: Ghost, and when they realized it wasn’t working out, they abandoned that concept. Now we have StarCraft 2, completely recognizable as a true sequel to the first RTS gem, and Diablo 3 which is shaping up to be exactly what the fans were clamoring for.

Here’s how Bethesda is honoring the franchise. By using the vault suit. If it wasn’t there, would you recognize this as Fallout?

Before Bethesda unleashed their screenshots and their trailer, I still held hope that they would create a new engine, and shower us with isometric turn based goodness. But I was wrong.

It would take Blizzard to show them how to do a proper sequel.

But now it’s too late.

Games today revolve around playing with other people online. Whether that mean playing an Xbox 360, or something downloaded on the computer, young people today are hooked on online games. Why that is well known to most people, what has not occured for some people to ask is the simple question, “Why?”.

Given the opportunity, the average person today forms habits as often as possible. Sometimes these habits exceed casual attention, and become addictions to which devotion is required. Smoking, dipping, drinking, etc., are all considered common addictions. But what is not really noticed is addictions that involve buttons, a mouse, and a screen.

According to a study done by Harris Interactive, about 8.5% of today’s youth ages 8-18 “can be classified as pathological or clinically “addicted” to playing video games.” More than that, about 40% of the students that were interviewed in the very same study said that they “felt addicted to video games” and 80% of kids say that one of their friens are addicted to video games. The big twist to this is that it only includes ages 8-18. According to blizzard, it is estimated that about 55-60% of their major players for the game, World of Warcraft, are at least 20 years old.

Given this information, it is almost certain that there is a major addiction of games across the country. That still doesn’t cover why though. According to the researchers at the University of Rochester and Immersyve Inc., extremely active game-players play for more than fun. The play for the freedom, the rewards from advancing in the game, and the connection of playing with other people. With a different spin on the same answer, Dr. Brody, head of the media committee at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, says that addicts seek a way to escape reality, and to immerse themselves into a fantasy world where they can put on a whole new persona. This gives the players a world where they can be anyone that they want to be. A world where they can forget the reality that waits away from the screen.

People who are addicted to games are widely accused of having no life. It seems that things are quite the contrary. People who play online games in an excessive amount have more in their game life then any normal person would ever experience. While the emotions that come with the success or failure in the game or some what more misted than they would be in a real life experience, it is still there.

Given this information, addiction to games loses some of its propaganda. It is no more than people who smoke or drink to alleviate some of the feelings that come with every day life, or to relive some of the stress that drama and crisis brings into the feelings of the average person. On another note, addiction to games can get out of hand just like an addiction to alcohol that drives someone to stay in a constant state of drunkenness. Whether or not the addiction gets as far as that is not the fault of the game, but the person playing it.

So, just like any other addiction that people get, playing games is nothing more than a release, that, if not watched, could go into a full blown obsession.

These days, even video games drinks get their own countdown clock!

That’s right, for those of you who are eagerly anticipating the launch of the World of Warcraft flavoured Mountin Dew now have a clock to watch with baited breath over the next 8 days!

Isn’t it bad enough counting down games? I think they’ve gone a little too far with this one! The clock at MountainDewGameFuel.com is really counting down the start of the companies new “Choose Your Sides Sweepstakes”, which basically means we collect tokens to win fantastic prizes such as headsets and keyboards from Alienware, Razer and J!nx. The clock does coincide perfectly with the drink release. Which leads us to question – is this really worth it?

Thirst For more?? Click Here

happy gamer

One of the best thing that I experienced in my MMORPG life is when I interact with other players, sharing thoughts and knowledge in-game and in real life which results in learning new things that can enhance my gaming experience and my real life as well. For almost 10 years of my MMORPG career, I can say that if players play wisely, it can be a good ventilation of stress and boredom for them especially if they need to relax and no time to go outdoors. But if you played too much, it will reverse the result and you can be stressed like you lost a million bucks in a Casino. So manage your time well and don’t get too attached to your character.

broken-heart

If there is best, of course there’s worst.. I remember my friend once told me “if you get too attached to something, there is a strong possibility that you may lost something in return”, and he was right. Getting too attached in playing in the virtual world, I didn’t noticed that I’m beginning to spend less time to other things that I love.. I got too hooked in my virtual friends that I almost forgot that I also have friends outside in real world. It even came to a point that my girlfriend got jealous in MMORPGs and we went to a near break up situation. So I came to a realization point and I quit playing for months and get back to my real life activities.

At present I’m playing MMORPG again but the difference is that I learned how to manage my time and keep the balance of my real and virtual life. Just learn the “law of balance” and you will never go wrong in your real or virtual world activities.

Irie Rastafari,
Gamerce CGS

http://gamerce.com/sub.php?mid=471&r=view&uid=17635

50 Sexy Video Game Babes You Should Drool For

Check out the hot sexy video game babes

50. Shiki – Samurai Showdown – More Pics!

Wielding twin kitanas and going toe to toe with other samurais has always been an attraction for me.

49. Reiko Nagase – Ridge Racer – More Pics!

Made RR worth buying just for her introduction scene.

48. Faith – Mirror’s Edge – More Pics!

Running around and jumping off rooftops while using her fist to do the talking.

47. Julia Chang – Tekken – More Pics!

Fighting to preserve the world’s forests by kicking people’s ass makes her sexy in a global friendly way.

46. Hana and Rain – Fear Effect – More Pics!

Lesbians, how can they possibly be excluded from this list?

45. Helena – Dead or Alive – More Pics!

A world class soprano opera singer turned fighter makes her classy and sexy at the same time.

44. Tina – Dead or Alive – More Pics!

Winner of the G4 Video Game Vixens for overall and dirtiest dancer.

43. Rikku – Final Fantasy – More Pics!

Wearing only her bikini top and mini-skirt to save the world.

42. Asuka Kazama – Tekken – More Pics!

Fighting everybody she sees just for the love of it.

41. Taki – Soul Caliber – More Pics!

TOP TEN HERE!

Mountain Dew will have a new face for it’s soft drink, the face of Blizzard’s behemoth World of Warcraft. Pepsi the company of Mountain Dew will try to target 11.5 million gamers on World of Warcraft.

Reported by Kotaku :

View Source. . .

Not only is Mountain Dew switching genres and publishers, they’re also switching up their strategy for the World of Warcraft Game Fuel releases, introducing much-needed player-versus-player combat to the sugary soft drink market. Do you choose the cherry-citrus tang of Horde Red, or the smooth wild fruit taste of Alliance Blue? Does in-game allegiance carry over to the soft drink aisle, or can a player rocking a Gnome Warrior online partake of a drink with an Orc Shaman plastered across the label?

Call me a old timer, but I like the old green bottle of Mountain Dew already when I play WoW.

Gamerce.com

By the way they are giving away 10 Ipod Touch heres the details:

- For more inquiries, please email us at support@gamerce.com

- Event for: All new members of GAMERCE who joined during the event period. 10 winners from raffle event!
- Event Period: April 7, 2009 ~ June 7, 2009
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- Winner Announcement: June 14, 2009

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