Guild Wars 2 - Southsun Cove Survival Guide

Welcome to Southsun Cove! A tropical paradise with miles of pristine sandy beaches, spectacular coral reefs for diving, and face-eating crab monsters!  So the Southsun Cove Living Story is in full swing, and we're all descending upon the newly revamped zone to help the settlers get resettled and to put down the frenzied wildlife.  And for many of you, this may well be the first time you've been to the southern isle.  And if this is your first time, you might have found yourself in for a unpleasant surprise, because Southsun Cove is, without question, the most difficult general PvE zone in the game.  The monsters of Southsun have more hitpoints, hit harder, and use nastier abilities than those you'll find anywhere outside of a dungeon instance.  So if you've found yourself making trips back from the waypoint after taking on a single, general mob, I thought I'd throw together a few tips on the things to look for when fighting some of these nasty denizens.

Guild Wars 2 - A Recounting of Flame and Frost

In which Syrene Harmony, she who fought alongside the members of Destiny's Edge to bring down the dragon Zhaitan, recounts the events leading up to and through the Molten Alliance Uprising.

Guild Wars 2 - Choose your Experience

This morning I was watching the PGA Championship while exploring Snowden Drifts in Guild Wars 2.  And it occurred to me one of the things I really enjoy about this game is what a good job they do of providing not just a variety of experiences, but experiences that require different levels of intensity.  And it is that variety that is part of the game's appeal.

Seven Nights of Neverwinter

Last week Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment took the wraps off of their take on the Dungeons and Dragons universe, releasing Neverwinter Online for everyone to play that hasn't yet ponied up some cash for the title, in what they refer to as Open Beta.  That is to say - they launched the game.  I wanted to take a bit of time with the game before writing up the prerequisite blog on it, and while level 21 is hardly anything that resembles mastery, I do feel comfortable enough now with the game's systems and mechanics to put up some impressions.  So let's get to it!

Guild Wars 2 - Casual Crafting Guide

I'm always a little hesitant to write posts like these, because you think well six months into the game, who needs a crafting guide?  But the fact is Guild Wars 2 crafting system can be more than a little obtuse.  It feels similar to crafting in other MMO's, but it's just enough different that you get into and you're all.. wait.. I can't progress at all!  And even now, I still see enough myths being pushed around, things like crafting is worthless before you're level 80, or you can' produce anything useful while crafting, that I have to think perhaps a fundamentals guide is, in fact, still useful.

Defiance Beginner's Guide - Arkfalls

So once again, granted, this may be a bit late, and most of you folks that stop by probably know everything I'm putting out here already.  But it does seem like more people are purchasing Defiance and checking the game out, so I'm hopeful that at least some of this may be useful.  Arkfalls, unlike the weapon modification system, are actually pretty straightforward.  But there are some finer points to them, and there are certainly plenty of opportunities for confusion when the skies darken, the wind blows, and red icons start popping up across your map, so hopefully this will get you on the right track and have you rackin' up the damage numbers like a pro!  Or, if nothing else, at least allow you to have a good time.

Defiance Beginner's Guide - Weapon Mods

So quite honestly, I think most of you that read my blog (all six of you), that are also playing Defiance (a subset of two) probably already have this all figured out.  But I'm going to go ahead and write it up, because well really, for no other reason than I when I was trying to suss this out, I wished someone else had written something like this up already.  So if you are actually just getting started - if you've seen enough screenshots and tweets or whatevever and the post launch discussion has got you interested enough in giving this a try, then maybe this will help you with what is probably one of the more useful, but least well explained aspect of the game - modding your weapon.