Monday, December 1, 2014

More Coming Soon!

I apologize for the long break in between posts. I know that I have neglected the blog lately, which is what I was trying to avoid. There will be more posts coming fairly soon, with more helpful information on some of today's best games. Whether you're an MMO fan or Call of Duty all day, I will try to provide a variety of games and helpful information that may or may not make your gameplay experience even better. With the holidays underway, expect a few delays with posts, but know that I will be back in business soon with more for you, my readers, to enjoy!

Have a happy and safe holiday this year, and remember not to neglect the games!!! :)

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Call of Duty Beginner's Tips

How many times have you logged into your Xbox or Playstation itching to play some Call of Duty, only to log on and have to deal with the frustration of dying over and over again? I know when I first picked up Call of Duty (when World at War was new), I would lose interest in the game so quickly that I was almost tempted to drop the game and use the disc as a coaster. I felt like every time I spawned, it was only a matter of seconds before somebody found me and killed me before I even realized they were there. Over the years I have learned some simple steps that have allowed me to increase my kill to death ratio and finally begin to have some fun with the game, and I want to share them with my readers to help those of you who have been in my shoes and felt the frustration. Let's start with the most important.

Don't Camp

This one should be a no-brainer, but many people feel as though camping allows them to draw enemies to them and get the upper hand. Not only is this incredibly annoying for everyone else, it's also one of the worst tactics anyone could use in Call of Duty. Camping may be nice to get you a few kills, but I can guarantee the longer you stay in one spot, the greater your chances of being ambushed and killed. If you're going to camp, move after every 1-2 kills. This way, the enemy doesn't have time to hunt you down and exact his revenge.

Aim

This one is a two-parter. Increasing your aim coincides with your settings. You need to mess with your aim sensitivity until you find a level that is comfortable for you. It should be slow enough that you're not always overshooting your targets, but fast enough that you can turn around fairly quickly to check behind you. This is probably one of the harder tips, as it requires a lot of trial and error, but when this is done properly, it can be the difference between winning and losing. Once those settings are in place, aiming is the next important step. Make sure that you aren't always firing from the hip. I typically begin firing before bringing up the sights, but I make sure that I am bringing those sights up almost immediately after seeing my target. Firing from the hip decreases your accuracy greatly, and while you are missing, you're giving the enemy time to bring up his sights and take you out. It will take time to better your aim, but it's not something that you necessarily have to think about to get better. Remember the old saying, "practice makes perfect".

Calm Down

This is an important step as well. If you get too worked up over the game, it can really make it harder to play. Try to sit down, relax, and breathe. The more calm you get, the more you can focus on your surroundings within the game. Just keep in mind that this is a video game and you can't die in real life by getting shot in the game.

Know the Maps!

I cannot express this enough. This is an extremely important step toward better kill/death ratios. This goes hand in hand with camping. If you spend your time camping, you will never be able to fully explore and truly "know" every map. Think of each map like a city. Knowing the map allows you to know where the busiest areas are and where the best cover is located. This is a long process, and can take days or even weeks to fully understand how each map works. The more you know about the map, the better you can perform. Many of the greats in Call of Duty get that way because they know the ins and outs of every map, and how to maneuver through the low traffic areas to get a good vantage point. It's imperative that you take your time here, and you will be surprised by how well you play just following this step.

Use Cover

When I first began playing Call of Duty, I was such an easy target. When I joined the military, I thought to take my tactical knowledge and apply it to my gameplay. I noticed that just by using cover, I was able to remain undetected much longer, and in many cases, it allowed me to get the jump on my enemy. The best thing you can do when moving through the map is to move from cover to cover. This is where sprint comes in very handy. Always try to stick to routes that allow plenty of cover, and don't run into open areas unless you feel comfortable enough with your ability. If you are in the open most of the time, you had better hope that you are the best player on the server, because you're making yourself an easy target.

Use Sprint Sparingly

The only reason behind this is the fact that when you are always sprinting, you're slowing down your ability to react when you see an enemy. Sprint is a wonderful tool when travelling from cover to cover, but if you sprint all of the time, you're making it harder on yourself to kill the enemy before they kill you. When not using cover, try moving with your sights up so that you're already set to pull the trigger. When travelling around corners, keep your sights near the corner and "pie the corner", as we called it in the army. What this means is that you should take a wide angle around the corner instead of hugging the wall, and make sure that you are watching the corner in case there is an enemy.



I hope that you've found my tips helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will see what I can do about finding an answer. Don't forget to comment, and if you like what you see on my blog, go ahead and subscribe so you can be updated every time I make a new post here.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Most Helpful Economy Add-ons for World of Warcraft

Auctioneer

 

Auctioneer is an add-on I have been using since I first learned of add-ons. This has has several changes over the years, making it into a very powerful tool for auction house shopping. Be sure when using this to keep frequent scans of your auction house, as this add-on functions based on these scans. My favorite feature of this add-on is the search tab (shown above). This allows you to find items for low prices and flip them for a profit in several different ways. If I were to recommend a wonderful stand-alone auction house and gold add-on, this would have to be the one. You can do just about anything with this add-on.

Tycoon


Tycoon is an add-on I have been using for over a year now, and I have to say, it has worked its way up to my list of favorite add-ons. This add-on has four different ways you can earn gold. There is the auctions tab, which finds items at a low price and shows you what days they sell for higher so that you can profit. Next is the gathering tab, which takes into account your mining or herbalism skill and tells you what items you can gather for the most profit. This tab looks similar to the farming tab shown above, and includes competition for that item, how well the item is currently selling, and how much you stand to profit after an hour of gathering. The best thing about this is after you select what you'd like to gather, Tycoon draws a route for you to follow in the suggested zone that takes you passed all nodes within the zone. This, used with gathermate, make for an extremely powerful tool for building up your wow coin purse. The next tab is farming, which anyone can do. This tab shows items that drop off of certain mobs, and shows the same information as the gathering tab. This tab also covers your skinning profession, if you have it. When you select an item for this tab, it shows you the whereabouts of the mobs you need to kill for the item. Lastly, there is the crafting tab. This is exactly what it sounds like. It includes the same information as the gathering and farming tabs, but instead of gathering, this tab is for your crafting professions. It tells you the best items to create and sell for high profits. Ultimately, I have to say this is the single most useful tool in my arsenal when it comes to World of Warcraft. If you'd like to check it out, I have a full review on my website, but to skip that and go straight to the add-on's site, click here.


Auctionator


Auctionator is yet another auction house add-on. Although less complex than Auctioneer, this add-on still has some useful features. This is yet another add-on that requires you to scan the auction house frequently. This then uses those scans to find average prices and makes it incredibly easy to buy and sell items on the auction house. My favorite thing about this add-on is that it works very well with Dynasty's Tycoon WoW Gold Add-on, mentioned above.

TradeSkillMaster 2


TradeSkillMaster is last on my list for only one reason--it's not plug and play like other add-ons. You have to know how to set up groups and operations, but when you figure out how to set the system up, it's one of the most useful add-ons that exist for World of Warcraft. When set up, this add-on allows you to craft and even sell multiple items with just a few easy clicks. This is about as close to automation as you can get with crafting and selling. I have loved every moment of this add-on, as it has made my life (or World of Warcraft life) much easier.



If you've found this list helpful, be sure to subscribe so you can be updated as I put out new posts. Also, I know that my list doesn't include everything. If you have any other suggestions to throw out for helpful economy add-ons, feel free to share! Comments are welcomed.



Friday, October 24, 2014

Most Helpful Websites for World of Warcraft

WowWiki

This one is fairly helpful. There's plenty of useful information here, posted and edited by the players. This site is similar to the famous Wikipedia, but altered to include only World of Warcraft-related information. You can get to the site by clicking here.

Wowhead

This is my favorite and in my opinion one of the most useful sites out there related to World of Warcraft. This site has just about anything you could possibly need, from spell descriptions to quest objective locations and more. This site should definitely be in your bookmarks if you're a WoW player. Wowhead can be found here.

Battle.net

This is the home page for World of Warcraft. Although I do not use this regularly, I know that the forums on the site are packed full of useful information posted by fellow World of Warcraft players. If you are unable to find the information you need elsewhere, this is the place to go. I can't think of anything you wouldn't be able to find here posted by other players. Click here to access this resource.

AskMrRobot

I find myself using this site more often than not. This is a great place to upload armory information on your characters and gather lists of potential upgrades, as well as optimized specializations, reforges, and more. This site will help you to fully optimize your max-level characters for any situation. Click here to get started.

Noxxic

Prior to discovering AskMrRobot, this was my go-to site. It is very similar to AskMrRobot, except it does not allow upload of characters to optimize based on what you have. This is general information on the best class/spec combinations with more of a 25-man raid mindset. If this is what you're looking for, you can find Noxxic here.


Closing Statement

Ultimately, I have to say that these are some of the frontrunners when it comes to finding useful information on this popular MMO. Of course, there are probably many more that I have not listed here. If you have any other useful sites that you personally use, don't be afraid to leave a comment and let me know. I am always looking for new and useful sites! And stay tuned, as I will be releasing lists of useful add-ons in the near future.

5 things to do after you've hit level 100 in World of Warcraft


  • Dailies

Repeatable quests, or "dailies", are one of the most popular end game activities to do, and as of Mists of Pandaria, there's no longer a 25 quest limit on how many you can do a day. The only drawback is that with so many options it can be confusing to know which ones to do or how to unlock the prerequisties for each set. That is why I recommend picking up an in-game guide like Zygor's Dailies and Events guide.


  • Events

All throughout the year you can partake in seasonal events in World of Warcraft, usually centered around a real world holiday. These events usually have something for everyone regardless of level including unique quests, mini-games, and special rewards. If you want to see just how awesome Zygor's Dailies and Events guide is, their free trial always includes the latest event guide for the current month.


  • Get Yourself A Zygor Guide

Zygor Guides is one of the most well known and respected names in the World of Warcraft community and for good reason. They are the creators of some of the best strategy guides that will help you with almost every aspect of World of Warcraft. These guides actually work inside of the game, telling you exactly what you need to do and where you need to go.

If you're wondering what to do after reaching level 90 then Zygor Guides has you covered. Their Dailies and Events guide is the perfect end-game companion, covering all the content mentioned in the Dailies and Events sections.
These guides are unlike anything you've ever seen and you can try them out today over at this link: Zygor WoW Guides


  • Heroic Dungeons/Raids

Once you've maxed your characters level out you can begin the hunt for the top gear. The best pre-raid gear is typically found in dungeons, or more specifically heroic dungeons. However, now you can skip the dungeon runs and go try your luck digging through chests on the Timeless Isle. This is an island full of one-use chests that typically provide pre-raid quality gear, as well as loads of elite mobs that spawn all over the island. If you are lucky enough to have a good guild, or even a lot of friends, you can get together at this point to run some raids and grab some of that tier-quality gear.


  • Create A New Character

Sometimes the best thing to do is just create a new character. Some people just enjoy the thrill of questing and levelling, and once level 90 (soon to be 100) hits, it's just not as fun anymore. At this point, you have the option of creating a new character. If I may make a suggestion, make a character to fill a role you have not already played. This helps to keep the game feeling brand new with each character.