This week my video highlights surround the still-in-Beta title Mythos. I have been really crunched, mentally, as I juggle my last weeks of Slashdot with ramping up to full power at Massively. The in-and-out quickplay of Flagship’s Mythos, as a result, has been the perfect way for me to get some happy-fun-time in. I have to say: I’m liking Mythos a lot more than I ever enjoyed Dungeon Runners, another F2P Diablo-clone I’ve played quite a bit of. I’m not sure I could tell you why exactly; I really like the art aesthetic in Mythos, for one. My little Gadgeteer Gremlin dude, with his flintlock rifle and smoking cigar, is really evocative somehow. Today I’ve got three videos for you. Two are random combat snips, and the third is a more lengthy combat encounter with a boss - Zuriel the Kindler of Discord.

My random screenshots for the week touch on my time in SWG gathering screens for a Massively guide. They also cover some Alterac Valley sessions with my rogue, and the (to me) hilarious shot to the right of my baby Belf hunter standing over some dead spider-dudes.

Story of the week: I’ve been enjoying playing with the Hunter as an easily alt-tabbed distraction. As weak sauce as they are in PvP Arenas right now, they still are the kings of PvE soloing. I’m in Suncrown Village, on the edge of the Ghostlands, killing Nerubis guards. There’s one elite in particular, Anok’suten, that I have to down. To my surprise, he’s actually still an elite. I was under the impression most overland elites were taken out of the game a while ago. But I figure I have three levels on him so - what the heck, right?

I sic my kitty on him, and he immediately calls another guard to aid. I pull the guard off the cat, and immediately go back to helping him burn down the elite. At this point a patrol spawns in on me (I saw a warlock leaving the area as I approached, must have been her kills). So me and the cat are now taking on an elite and three guards. The result is as you see there: four dead, a ragged hunter and pet, lots of sparkely loot piles. And people say Paladin is EZ mode.

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Two things, and I apologize because it’s normally rude to poke so sharply, but I just had to:

1. RPS put up this blurb on their site, and then quickly pulled it down: “The Warhammer Online open beta isn’t far off. It’s so close, in fact, that pre-ordering for the retail version of the game will commence today at 3pm, or thereabouts. If you want to get a guaranteed place in the beta then keeping an eye on the WO site is a pretty good idea. Pre-ordering also gets you a couple of rare in-game items, while the slightly more plush (and pricey) collector’s edition will come with a unique Games Workshop figurine, a book filled with luscious artwork, a graphic novel, and - rather more importantly to the gamer - in-game quests that can only be undertaken by collector’s edition owners. Not a bad little package.” Yay pre-orders!
2. TenTonHammer has started doing something almighty dumb. They’re offering ‘premium’ content behind a subscription wall. Case in point, coverage of the WAR Collector’s edition just mentioned above, and a ‘better’ version of Mythos trailer. Guys - this is retarded. C’mon, Gamespot doesn’t even do this with their subscription. They just offer extras and higher quality video. I’m never, ever going to pay you to see news. Ever. It’s going to be all over the internet very, very soon anyway. You can’t keep anything locked up forever. Hell, your subscriber Mythos video will probably be on YouTube by the end of the day. The Collector’s edition info will be released by EA Mythic at some point. This is a bad idea, kind of staggering in its hubris. I paid for Gamespot two years ago, when it was -almost without exception- the finest source for videogame news in the US. You, sir, are no 2006-era Gamespot.

I even wonder if perhaps 1 and 2 aren’t related? Mayhap RPS pulled down the post because EA gave TTH a timed exclusive, and got tweaked when they saw Jim’s post? If so, I’m going to go ahead and say that’s pretty dang stupid too.

Update: Of course, maybe it’s because of the NEW delay, putting WAR out to autumn. Oh mans …

Update 2: Radar notes in the comments that apparently the WAR news being behind the price barrier was a glitch. Which is good!