On Running Too Quickly

So the other day, I was testing stupid builds on Volt and seeing how fast I could do low level capture missions. The best I managed was 65 seconds, achieved with a rather basic Speed build, but also requiring a lot of luck. The map I got turned out to be very small so I could get through it super fast. Unfortunately, Warframe is not a great game to speed run because the majority of maps are randomly generated. What I got for the 65 second Capture Mission was not normal, normally you’re looking at about 150-200m to reach the… [Continue Reading]

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They Finally Got Me…

MMORPGs are definitely a genre I’ve steered clear of time and time again. The first time I experienced one was with Runescape, back when I was a kid and the concept was still mind-blowing. But I soon got tired of it and dropped them, for what I presumed to be for good. But while watching a stream of Final Fantasy II by a YouTuber I’m subscribed to, a fan messaged him in the chat asking what he thought of Final Fantasy XIV Online and if he thought it was worth buying. Not only did he say he thought it was… [Continue Reading]

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On Gold Weapons

Humans love to customize things. We want to leave our mark on the items that mean the most to us, and as a warrior culture we especially love to own weapons that have unique, stylized decals. In the programmed world of video games, where one need not worry about firearm maintenance or practicality, the sky is the limit for how many ways we can customize our guns. So why do so many developers immediately go for golden guns? When available (and they seem to be available in almost every game with weapon skins), a golden reskin will almost always have… [Continue Reading]

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The (somewhat) Curious Case of Paladins’ Support Classes

Most of the time, in a class-based game, healers or other support classes do rather pitiful damage relative to their more combat-oriented colleagues. I mean, if you have a guy who only does damage, and another guy who does the same amount of damage but also heals and is similar in terms of bulk and speed, the first guy will really need some kind of very interesting or effective gimmick for him to even be used at all. Aside for that, you will run into a scenario where the support class player went off to do anything but supporting the… [Continue Reading]

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A Bow Pretending to be a Rocket Launcher

All right, this one is a lot less literally a rocket launcher than the one Medic talked about. But since it’s my favorite primary weapon in the entire game, I couldn’t resist writing an article on the Plainsrider Bow with explosive arrows from Payday 2. Long ago I included the Western Pack on a list of DLC I recommend because, since Payday 2 didn’t (and still doesn’t) have any free grenade launchers or poison weapons, the Plainsrider Bow unlocks both playstyles in a single weapon. Firing arrows tipped with dynamite, the Plainsrider has a number of advantages over other explosives.… [Continue Reading]

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A Rocket Launcher Pretending to be a Bow

After a day of doing invasions and assisting the Corpus (and doing the same mission three times over), not only did I incur the wrath of Councillor Vay Hek, but I also ended up with 10 lovely fieldrons. I had a choice on my hands. I could either build myself a new Sentinel – the Helios – which would scan enemies as I fight them, helping me learn more about enemies and enabling me to spawn them in both Captura and the Simulacrum; or I could build the Lenz, a rocket launcher pretending to be a bow. Of course I… [Continue Reading]

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A Fear of Failure

I am not a very adventurous person. Not just when it comes to video games. I’m not adventurous in general. But when it does come to gaming, my anti-adventurous ways get even worse. I stay well within my comfort zones, rarely straying out even for just a moment. I stick with games that I am comfortable playing. But more importantly, I play games where failure is a pretty hard thing to do. Because I hate failing. I’m almost terrified of failing. It’s reflected obviously in the games I play. Take Warframe for example. In Warframe, if you play in public… [Continue Reading]

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Vampiric Vesture

Scream Fortress 2014 brought to us, as usual, a bunch of Halloween-restricted cosmetics. Scout gets to be a zombie from another universe, Sniper’s a were-kangaroo, and Medic is now an angelic being with healing powers. Overall, I say that 2014’s haul of Halloween-themed cosmetics was plentiful and good. Among all of these cosmetics, there is one I would’ve gladly bought and use it daily if not for the fact that it’s Halloween-restricted. I present to you, the Vampiric Vesture. The Vampiric Vesture is part of the Dr. Acula set for the Medic, with the other cosmetic of the set being… [Continue Reading]

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How to Git Gud at Lucioball

The Summer Games are here, and with them Blizzard has brought back the best seasonal game mode Overwatch has ever had: Lucioball! A hybrid of Rocket League and Jet Set Radio, Lucioball takes my favorite character in Overwatch and builds an entire sport around him, and I cannot possibly be having more fun. I managed to place into high Diamond in the new competitive Copa Lucioball, and here are some tips for bringing your game to the next level: 1. Set yourself up for the cross. This is the single most important tip in this guide. When the ball is on… [Continue Reading]

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Cosplay is Hard

An obvious title, but as I nurse a small, burnt finger from a hot glue gun and wait patiently for a bad paint job to dry, it’s something I can rant about. Seriously, cosplay is hard. Well, anything complicated is hard. There’s a lot of piss easy costumes you can do, with just some generic stuff from around the house. It’s a weird, backwards scenario where the more effort you put into a costume, the more quickly things go wrong and you end up wondering if a simple costume made from odds and ends would have been better. For me,… [Continue Reading]

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