Having too much fun to post!

Tier 1, when full of players, is incredible fun. The free trials, the Slayers and the Choppas and server consolidation have all meant for a return to the feeling of release week. And it’s too much fun to stop and post (especially when I’m supposed to be packing to go see Spinks and rest of family). Again, playing the game takes priority over blogging. Bad me :-p

So instead, here’s a picture of how I’d like my office decorated, showed off by Magnus:

Annnd, in lieu of any pics of the crazy pub-ness, here’s a pic of the lovely little FEMALE RUNE PRIEST miniature Magnus and Nic put together to give me for my birthday. It’s pretty awesome, and I meant to post it before now, but as I said before, time constraints. It now has pride of place where the cats can’t attack it!

(the Book of Grudges she’s holding even has blood splatter on it! Rar!!)

Confessions of a Cheerleader

I love my Rune Priest. It really does feel like Mythic managed to make a class that hit all the things I like about playing a healer. I get to buff, I get to heal, I even get to do a little damage and hit things with a big staff. Sometimes I twirl my staff and it’s all glowy and pretty. Then I feel like a proper cheerleader! Save the cheerleader…

No, I’m not going to write about why I personally love the Rune Priest. Accept it, I just do. I get to be short, stout, with big braids I’d never have in real life. I get to hit things, to buff things, to zap things and well.. to heal – which is all I ever really wanted from a class. Even the rune dress/robe (when you first get one) is pretty damn cute. I hate dresses, but I would even wear one of those in real life. Not the skullcap though, it ruined my whole braidy look. Bah!

I played one to rank 17 and then one at rank 31 in beta, and both times I just felt at home with the class. It has a nice mix of heals (HoT, fast low heal, longer big heal, bouncy heal), some decent damage (including a couple of AE spells), cool rune buffs and some nice utility bits and pieces, such as an AE knockback which is hilarious in RvR and useful in PvE.

Nothing I discovered in beta changed my mind once I fell in love with the class. It’s perfect for me. I can stand where I want and either concentrate on healing, or add to the overall damage the group is doing. I can berate and nag my groupmates to use the runes I put on them – hrrm, you need an explanation? Ok, think of a rune as a buff with a trigger-able aspect. So I can buff your Strength and Intellect and then every so often, if you click on the buff, you get to do some extra free dps that doesn’t cost Action Points. Master Runes, which are gained via masteries are ground runes, which have an AE effect – I found them pretty useful and used the healing one when me ad my over-powered group were bopping skaven on the heads in the Altdorf sewers, meant I could join in the fight while the pulsing rune kept my group topped up! (of course, if we hadn’t have been so over-powered I would have needed to do some additional healing)

I also mentioned the bouncy heal back at my basic run-down. It’s quite cute. You heal someone and then the heal bounces around healing others nearby. It’s not the most useful heal in the Rune Priest arsenal, but it’s one that I was excited to get and read the description of. Because it was a bit different, not just a single heal or normal group heal. Both of which the Rune Priest has too.

Should you make one?

No idea! Do you like being a dwarf with a neat gyro-harness and dangling legs, and some nifty staff-twirling animations? Then it might be for you. It’s a healer sans mechanic, which means it may be seen by some as a little bit less interesting, but I didn’t find myself bored with it (and I have been bored by healing classes, honest – that’s why I usually play a hybrid).

We’re not as sparkly-pretty as the Archmage, nor can we do their damage. We’re not as furiously righteous as the baldies Warrior Priests, but when it comes to being short, round, and bouncing along the ground – we have it covered.

The class will, by now, already have many guides to it. I’m sure they’ll dissect the masteries and skills quite adequately – if you like numbers and have crunchy teeth, then you’ll happily pour over them and will be able to feed back some info to me. I’m terrible with numbers and I get a little funny about reading descriptions too closely.

I’m happy to answer any questions I can about my time as a Rune Priest, but I really did try and save some things for retail – including detailed opinions on every skill and mastery, until I’ve really played with them a lot.

And now.. the newsletter

With thanks to one of our readers, cb, who forwarded me hers to read!

• The newsletter starts with the news about release date and pricing
• As of 28th August, European players will be able to pre-order the regular/standard edition of Warhammer Online and receive headstart and in-game bonuses
• Almost all of the European CEs have been reserved, but there are still some left
• The second WAR trailer is due out on 19th August and will be shown on MTV and Game One after 5pm. After the debut it’ll be available on the European WAR website as well as at the Games Convention in Leipzig. ps. it’s over 5 mins long!
• The Leipzig Games Convention is on 21st August and the WAR stand has 360m2 of space devoted to it. Iain C, Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and Mark Jacobs will be there, offering prizes for puzzles and challenges.
• Mythic is returning to its name of Mythic Entertainment
• Links to E3 coverage
• Intro to Gunbad (dungeon in Badlands) with three wings, each with three PQs, as well as instanced wing bosses, as well as a big boss once you’ve completed all three wings
• Guild beta opening and what’s being tested (all pairings through tier 2, mounts, etc)
• Little overview of Rune Priest and Squig Herder (yay!)
• Screenshots of some named NPCs and some more generic ones (ie. bankers)
• Grab bag on the Magus
• Screenshots, beta journal, podcasts, and Paul’s video phone blog as detailed below

Because it was forwarded I didn’t get to see the pics included. But that’s a quick summary for now!