Do I suddenly misunderstand the English language? Or did I just read a review that somehow missed the fact that Torchlight 2 has taken D3 out behind the woodshed and buried the body.

D3 is an utter joke compared to TL2. Itemization, customization, endgame, difficulty, grind, there is not one facet where TL2 doesn’t utterly annihilate it. Blizzard crushed my dreams with D3 when they decided to make your odds of gearing up the same as winning the lottery, and to let the AH dictate 100% of the economy and pacing. Complete. Utter. Fail.

Thank god for TL2. It’s more fun, takes a hell of a lot more skill, and will last 100x longer. Blizzard already admitted there is no endgame for D3 in an interview lol… So at least they know a steaming pile when they see it?  XFire has D3 at 40k regulars now… which is 33% of where it used to be.  With games like League of Legends and TL2 so popular maybe it’s time for devs to realize that whipping your players with chains dipped in vinegar will no longer pass for content.  EVERGRIND is so 200X.  It’s time to move on.  Even the gamiest gamer has other things to do, so don’t waste my f–king time.

TL2 is win

I hate when people don’t give you closure… especially in business deals so here it is: Taransula has retired. The accounts are closed.

No you can’t have my stuff, and yes it’s been fun. It really has in fact- I got more out of WAR than any MMO I have ever played, actually I got about 1000 times more; more friends, more good times, more experience, more shiny lootz, and more HOURS lol. I think Warhammer is the most powerful fantasy IP in games today- it is the godfather of digital fantasy content the same way Tolkein is the godfather of literary fantasy. But the darker, nastier world that inspired Blizzard to create WoW was date raped by Mythic and hasn’t felt the same since.

I still hope that some day we’ll see a real turn around; some inkling of the promise of what might have been, but the only way that will happen is if Mythic sells the property to someone else or GW compels them to. This latest stunt “Wrath of Heroes” which has NOTHING to do with Warhammer Online is a real gas- it could be a cheap mini-game on xbox live arcade, but instead they are going to put Warhammer Online right in the title like it’s an expansion… An expansion that asks you to forget you already had characters with years of time invested in? You really can’t make this shit up.

Now although the WARBITS are probably extinct by now I’m still going to put them up; and I don’t need an active account to do it. And with that I wish you all a fond farewell; and to the working witches out there keep fighting the good OMFG NERF WE fight

So things are looking pretty bleak for Warhammer these days, there’s a million reasons to quit out there. Those of us who still play only do so because of the people we play with- if not for my guild and my friends I wouldn’t last another week. As for the gear gap, it’s always struck me as odd that people would whine about it. Back when I played WoW you wouldn’t dare whine that you can’t beat someone in tier 7 armor with your tier 4. Gear is god in MMOs, and always will be.

The reason is simple: Gear = content. Most companies simply don’t have the money to content-cycle with anything else. If gear was not the reason to keep grinding, it would have to be a constant chain of new zones, new dungeons, new mobs, and new fluff (mounts, appearance mods etc). Mythic is the LAST company in the world with that option; therefore gear is the one and ONLY thing people can level grind for.

And the first person who says “you should pvp just for the fun of it” is gonna get slapped. That only works on NPCs. Real humans need satisfying gameplay married to that feeling of material progression; especially in MMOs that look and feel like 15 year old console games. This ain’t WoW (since there’s no money), or Dragon Age 2 (no lateral content, eye candy, or meaningful pve), or FPS (visceral pvp that relies exclusively on skill) so the gear grind is all we have. Every 10 realm ranks should make you feel like you have a real edge. The best way to retain people at the bottom of the pyramid is to make the grind EASIER. Not to nerf the gear.  Yet so far it looks like Mythic is trying to do both- lessen the grind AND nerf the gear…

Is it too late? Of course it is. But I’m going to play till I hit 100 at least; though I can’t play every day anymore.  At this point I really don’t have a clue what Mythic could do to reinvent the game, or at least encourage new players to sign up- simply because every option I could think of requires cash, which I’m pretty sure Mythic is all out of at this point.  So for those of us that are left, it means we just have to take the good with the bad, and enjoy it while we can.  I’m still having fun, but when I finally do hit 100 I’ll be curious to see what kind of shape the game is in… who knows, maybe miracles aren’t dead yet.  Maybe someone will buy the IP off of Mythic/EA, and remind everyone why Games Workshop’s Warhammer is the godfather of fantasy gaming.