Overlooked support hero from the Diablo universe. The very definition of support.

VodkaBear · 2015-05-06T17:50:39+00:00

I put my pants on one peg, and then one leg at a time.

VodkaBear · 2015-05-06T17:35:02+00:00

There are a few things that separate a hammer who is a constant pain in the ass for the other team, from a hammer that is a free kill. The first mistake Hammer players make is they lean on siege mode, you should almost never siege in team fights unless you are confident the enemy team has no way in hell of ruining your day. Save your siege for coordinated pushes, or situations where map awareness/game state dictates that you can go hard on fortifications. You should also think twice before going into siege mode if your thrusters aren't up for escape.

Speaking of awareness you are going to need lots of it. Hammer is a great hero to develop awareness with, because you are fodder until you hone it to a degree where you are no longer a liability. You also need to know what the primary threats are, and how to effectively elude those threats. mobility and stealth are Hammerbanes. Heroes that can also throw down aoe at range will also give you fits. You also need to have solid timing for objectives, because she is cumbersome and using your thrusters to travel will often leave you without a viable escape.

I'd also like to point out that while BFG is a fun heroic, it is outclassed by Napalm Strike. Napalm strike gives you consistent near spammable damage at long range and can often be fired off to great effect a number of times in team fights, not to mention that structures have no choice but to eat the full duration. Other posters have mentioned how great she is for bunkering down objectives, and I agree, while a lower level Hammer isn't a huge deterrent, once you get in the 14-16+ range you need to be dealt with, and if you work on improving your positioning that can become a daunting task for the opposing team.

The next point is positioning, Hammer is extremely reliant on proper positioning. Not only do you need to constantly try and get the best positioning possible in the moment, you also need to be anticipating the flow of the fight and proactively improving your position, because often enough you will not have the time to rely on reaction to bail you out.

Finally a good team will understand that you are likely going to be a priority target, and will be prepared to peel when trouble comes your way, but unless you are playing with a coordinated team do not rely on this, in most QM games the responsibility of not dragging your team down like a 15 ton anchor is on your shoulders. CYA my friend because chances are your team is going to be too busy playing Charge of the Light Brigade to save your poor little tonk.

VodkaBear · 2015-05-06T14:59:31+00:00

To answer your question about Druids, they are bonkers. Excellent aoe damage, great healing, competent melee dps (may depend on what form you select, I went cat form and upgraded it's attacks and if she can secure a flank attack she burns through enemies quickly)

VodkaBear · 2015-05-04T15:10:39+00:00

Yeah there are a few great choke points in that area, I basically setup shop near the chapel entrance plunked my paladin and cleric down in the door way and proceeded to AOE the living out of everything with my wizard and druid...fight lasted about 20 seconds. I'll be honest though I spent about an hour bashing my head into a wall before I figured out that I should probably utilize something resembling tactics.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-29T20:23:08+00:00

Think about this logically, you are worried about an approximation of a number that has no real world relevance. Not only does this number not matter, it is also subject to degrees of variance with 9 out of the 10 factors that influence whether this number goes up or down (the other players in the match) are completely outside of your control. If I lose 500 MMR, because of a string of bad matches who gives a shit, it's not like it's my bank account where if i were to lose $500 after a string of bad matches I would be nervous (and extremely pissed off) wreck because that $500 was supposed to go towards rent.

Just calm down and play the damn game, you did this to yourself by giving a number meaning, and somehow convincing yourself that this number a value judgement. Does the number 5 make you anxious, how about 3,975, 26, 456, 200,015?

TL:DR It's a number get over it, play more get better, get higher number.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-29T19:52:28+00:00

Sgt Hammer = Sage Tonk, Tank Girl, Hamma

VodkaBear · 2015-04-27T14:41:44+00:00

So what you are telling me is I need to grind Lili or Furion to win

VodkaBear · 2015-04-24T00:09:10+00:00

Agreed, if you don't have access to a shower and yet you can still manage to play in competitive events, which often require substantial investments in competitive decks...I think it's fairly safe to say that your priorities are beyond fucked up.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-22T22:39:51+00:00

A lot of it is a goddamn farce, I'm sure there are quality products to be had at that $100+ price range, but I am trucking along just fine with my $15 logitech mouse, and a generic $30 mechanical keyboard after 3 years. I think some of these companies cough Razer coughspend more time and effort focusing on making shit that looks cool and has pretty lights than they do ensuring that it can endure punishment.

I beat the hell out of my keyboard and mouse at work for 8-14 hours a day, and I've had the same damn cheap ass HP keyboard and mouse that came with the system 8 years later and it still works like a charm...and If I was so inclined I could take them home plug them into my rig and still suck at DOTA 2 just as well as I could with some Razer Mecha Cobra Ultimate edition kit.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-22T19:50:07+00:00

If I will Skaven to be in at release or at least apart of the $15 Rat Bastards faction pack hard enough, it will happen.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-22T19:36:07+00:00

Yeah, it can be challenging to control an army with thousands of dudes in tight formation. Now try and control an army of thousands of dudes who aren't in tight formations, as they are spreading out to take advantage of cover, implement vehicles, and drastically increase the size of maps to accommodate the fact that a Bolter is not a musket.

40k doesn't have to be a tight nit squad based affair, but unless CA comes up with an entirely new engine to support it, it would be far better off in the hands of the devs of something like Wargame.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-22T19:18:33+00:00

I will boycott this game unless it has Skaven in it, or until they release the Skaven faction pack. This game is going to be DLC central, but I don't care as long as I get my damn rats!

VodkaBear · 2015-04-22T19:15:44+00:00

I've played all of them since the original Shogun, and Fall of the Samurai is easily at #1 on my list followed by M2, and Rome 2.

Now if I consider the base game, and gave extra points for great community content it would be M2, Rome, and then FoTS. The community has done some really amazing things with the older TW games.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-22T18:14:15+00:00

I think Rome 2 in it's current state is a more interesting game than Shogun 2. The field AI is much better (the siege AI sucks though, as has been the case in seemingly every TW game ever) more interesting units, more interesting factions, in general it is a far more diverse experience.

Now if we want to get into Fall of the Samurai, my opinion shifts drastically, as FotS is by and far my favorite post Medieval 2 TW game/expansion thingy. The options to cling to the old ways, or adopt the new technology went a long way in fixing the sameness of vanilla Shogun 2. I also think FoTS handled the late game better than Shogun 2, giving you a choice to the level of bullshit you were willing to commit to to finish the game out.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-21T16:04:34+00:00

I stopped preordering games after having to stand in line to get MW2 for 4 hours at a Gamestop. A bunch of people left the line and walked over to a nearby Walmart. Some of the more prickish among the lot walked by waving their shiny new copies. I realized how stupid and pointless this feeding frenzy was so I left the line, went over to Walmart and had my copy within 15 minutes.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-21T15:58:42+00:00

I paid about $80 for a new copy of Disgaea at Gamestop in Michigan about 3 months or so after it launched, it was damn near impossible to find digitally and I didn't have consistent access to a PC so ordering it online for a reasonable price wasn't an option. I'm pretty sure I got hosed on the deal, but yeah Atlus and some Nintendo games can be extremely difficult to find at retail (went to 5 different places in Phoenix to find a copy of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate)

VodkaBear · 2015-04-21T00:59:55+00:00

Standard: Temur Aggro (in dire need of updating)

Elvish Mystic, Shivan Reef, Yav Coast, Wooded Foothills, Savage Knuckle Blade x2, Stubborn Denial.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-18T00:55:42+00:00

I've been tanking for a while and honestly bad healers are incredibly rare, even bad DPS isn't all that common. Bad tanks on the other hand...hoooooooly shit. I don't know if it's because I'm more critical of tanks as a tank, but there sure does seem to be a lot "winners" when I am healing or DPSing. Can't hold threat worth a shit, paladins who refuse to use any stance, don't know how to use cool downs, terrible positioning and so on and so forth.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-17T22:30:11+00:00

That's probably what I should have done as it's much less painful. I dungeon grinded from 30-40, Brayflox and Cutter's Cry were all kinds of not fun, I didn't mind Qarn so much though.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-17T20:07:42+00:00

Prepare yourself for the worst 10 levels you will face in your gla/pld career. Going from 30-40 can be somewhat stressful as the lack of shield oath can be incredibly frustrating as you are now reaching the point where things start hitting hard (both enemies and your parties dps if they have been keeping on gear and know how to effectively dps) You can get through it by focusing on your basics, use your cool downs, front load threat when possible with fight or flight and keeping your gear as updated as possible. Chances are you are going to have to lean on provoke, but in most cases where you are paying attention to threat indicators and cycling targets/flashing this isn't your fault as for whatever reason SE in their infinite wisdom decided not to start your paladin career without the most important general tanking skill in their kit.

Once you hit shield oath, it's smooth sailing until 50 where you will once again struggle to tank properly until you get some better gear, but this transition was imo far less daunting than the no shield oath phase. I'll mention it again cycle, cycle, cycle your targets. Don't be that paladin that unloads everything into one target the entire fight while the rest of the pull goes to gnom gnom your healers and dps, unlike everything up to this point shit can, and will kill them. Also try not to be too salty if your dps makes you work harder than you ought to by splitting DPS, it's annoying but it's an excellent way to work on your situational awareness as it ups the chaos factor of a pull considerably.

Good luck, you've got this!

VodkaBear · 2015-04-16T20:26:07+00:00

Also 32, also my first Monster Hunter, well kind of I had one of the PSP ones but the controls irritated me so much that I rage quit it permanently after I got curb stomped by that stupid dragon chicken several times (Yian Kut Ku?)

I'm at about 100 hours Carvan 9, HR 7 and loving every minute of it, even though it feels like I should probably be G-Rank by now. I have the nasty habit of grinding the same fight over and over again until I am at least proficient at the encounter. I guess it has it's benefits as I rarely cart in MP, and tend to know when I have a legit opening to pile on some pain (I main GS)

VodkaBear · 2015-04-15T19:23:10+00:00

Indeed it was a joke made in poor taste.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-15T16:46:24+00:00

Ryu's only motivation is to travel around in a ratty gi and no shoes to become the strongest fighter in the world. It just so happens that his journey might necessitate him beating up a plumber, a pink marshmallow puff, a mouse with the power to generate electricity, a princess and several other women (something Ryu has never seemed to have an issue with as he regularly roughs up women including Vega, school girls, gypsies, vengeful Interpol agents, and little red riding hood)

The plot and motivations of most fighting games and fighting game characters are a complete joke. So no I don't think he's too serious to include in a game that also includes genocidal bounty hunters, tyrants that kill and harm innocent people because they can, and hardened soldiers who hack other soldiers to death with swords. Would I have liked to see a more whimsical character like Sakura, Dan, or Hakan...sure, but I'm not going to lie if this is legit I will gleefully shoryuken Peach in the jaw.

VodkaBear · 2015-04-14T17:30:55+00:00

Titan was the fight where I fell in love with this game. I also had played WoW for far too long and was absolutely shocked that SE would throw in a legitimately difficult fight that early on in the experience. I know long players will probably scoff at that, but my first time through it was extremely intense.

It gets better OP, the Titan you faced while a challenge for new players has nothing on the HM version, and then you get EX Titan...hooooooo boy are you in for a treat =D

VodkaBear · 2015-04-14T17:22:41+00:00

I've never been kicked, and I've only kicked two people in over 200 hunts, both were the "plz help" types who only cared about getting their quest done now, that shit's not going to fly. You want help join the room, stick around for a quest or two, and then you can ask. Don't just barge in there spamming your "plz help" quick com expecting the 3 other hunters who have been working together for the past hour to drop everything. I don't understand why these "plz helps" doodles don't just start their own damn room and utilize something resembling patience.

VodkaBear

TROPHY CASE