One of the things that struck us as we were reading about the game, was that many classes have healing abilities. Healers have direct heals, obviously, but there are several classes which have a chance of proccing some sort of heal on hit. There were so many, we posited that some fights might take awhile to finish up. I’m sure it works out fine, but it’s a rather amusing thought.

Somehow, whether it be the fact that nothing spectacular has come out to draw us away, or that it’s just a really great game, we still play it, and we still play it regularly.  The fact that really good play requires a high level of teamwork draws us into the game and at the same time is the very thing that prevents us from being really good.  We have our moments certainly, those rare games when everything falls into place and we completely demolish the opposing team, but those are often over-shadowed by our losses.  We, five players on Ventrilo, somehow manage to lose to five people who can only communicate through type, and often do not know each other at all.  Maybe there is a certain strength in the unfamiliarity.  Thrust into the world of DotA alone, one must learn to play, or one will be tagged a noob.  In order to be seen as someone who doesn’t suck balls, you have to know what the hell you’re doing.  In the safety of our gaming clan, fairly poor to mediocre play is looked over, and ridicule is only reserved for the truly bad.  Perhaps each of us should strike out on our own for awhile and learn to play with people who aren’t our friends.  Unfortunately doing so would pretty much negate the reason we do play.

Today’s comic spawned from a rare clan LAN event. I had the privilege of sitting next to my buddy Skizzler, and good times were definitely had by all. Not a giant fan of the dialogue here, in hindsight it seems rather stiff and unwieldly, but as we get back into the habit of making comics I think it’ll start flowing more naturally.

So enjoy and feel free to hit up our forums.

~Base

We’re getting things situated over here, but I’ll try to get some random sketches up for you guys at the very least.. Things will be back on track soon hopefully.

But on a side note, I spent New Years over at the lady’s sister’s apartment where her boyfriend has Guitar Hero III.

Let me tell you. THIS GAME IS THE SHIT! I’m sure most of you know it already. But I must reinforce it’s awesomeness. I played it a bit that day, and I got up to playing on the Hard difficulty.  It is amazing. Of course at first people start out on Easy which is only 3 keys. And it’s ok at that level, but when you get to Hard, it starts feeling like you’re badass. Like you’re playing fucking METALLICA or WEEZER baby. If you haven’t tried it yet, they always have them set up at game shops and electronic stores. I highly recommend trying it out. I hear Rock Band is equally amazing with some neat multiplayer funness. Basically like playing in a band, but for instrumentally challenged musicians. Anyways..

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holidays.

~Base

I’m really looking forward to hearing more about Raynor as more Starcraft 2 info comes out, though I’m not horribly optimistic about the quality of the story. The storyline in Warcraft 3 was, in my very unhumble opinion, crap compared to the likes of Starcraft or Warcraft 2. Warcraft 2 was a dark and gritty world, the orc and troll forces pressing hard on the human alliance. You were in the fucking action too. The alliance or the horde were depending on YOU to get those farms up and running, to rescue Zul’jin, or whatever the fuck. And as you played, you rose in those ranks. They trusted you with more dangerous missions until you were ready to command their most sensitive operations. I mean, I realize it’s just a way of rationalizing a ramping difficulty scale. However, they just did it so well. That element was of course nowhere to be found in Warcraft 3. Aside from the extremely cartoonish look, and the addition of pandas and cows and who knows what else, you disappear completely from the game. Arthas doesn’t depend on you to help him be gay, you’re just the player who has to get Arthas from point a to point b. You weren’t involved anymore, a level of removal that really wasn’t warranted.

Yeah, their engine allowed them to not have to bother with the briefings beforehand anymore. But those briefings weren’t a chore. They weren’t things that took you out of the game but in fact just the opposite. Getting those briefings before every battle kept you in the action. Those algorithmns may bicker and quarrel amongst themselves, but damnit, they NEED you. Why did Blizzard get away from that? They had a damn good thing going. I hope they don’t ruin the Starcraft world like I feel they ruined Warcraft.

Lord Lothar didn’t run his spirit over to his murdered body and rez up. He stayed dead. I could go on and on about this topic, but ya know, I’ll stop there. Long story short (even though you heard the long): I’m praying Starcraft 2’s storyline is just as immersive and serious as its predecessor.