Anonymous Defender

New SWTOR blogsite

2011-12-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

I've imported all posts to a new blog dedicated to SWTOR.

Oozo Strikes Back

I'm going to try to stay active with this blog. Liking the PvP so far.

SWTOR Movies

2011-12-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

by Raggok

This will be the SWTOR Movie Library page.

Back to the Lichking Nostalgia Movie

2011-12-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

Back to the Lichking has been posted to Warcraft Movies. Unfortunately, it's a bit too long to upload to Youtube. The movie is a mixture of 1vNs, tricks, and humor from the WoTLK era of World of Warcraft.

It's a follow up to Back to the Vanilla and Back to the Crusade.

I've been uploading my old movies that are under 15 minutes in length to Youtube over the past couple of days and updating the Movie Library links to the right. Longer movies would require me to re-render into two parts, which is something I don't have the time to do right now. :(

New computer is supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope it works. ;)

RIFT Movies

2011-12-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

I did not play RIFT for very long, thus only one real movie.

Champions Online Movies

2011-12-11T06:13:00.001-08:00

by Oozo

I didn't play this game for long due to my friends having no interest. Here are a few movies from that game.

Coming Home.

2011-12-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

I stopped playing World of Warcraft back in April of this year. I stopped due to a loss of interest in the game and also because of some computer problems.

With a new computer and a new game on the way, I'll be coming back home. I plan on doing both informational and entertainment movies for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I'm eager to jump into a new game to learn a new system and learn some new tricks.

Before that happens, I hope to finish my last World of Warcraft movie. It will be a follow up to Back to The Vanilla and Back to the Crusade. Yes... Back to the Lichking. What else?

I'll be adding movies I've done to the Library over the next few days.

ThundahCatz

2010-11-26T11:56:00.001-08:00

by Oozo

I've joined a guild focused on doing rated BGs for Cataclysm. I'll be posting content on their guildsite: http://thundahcatz.guildomatic.com/

I've put together an intro clip for my next movie featuring the guild.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j2yNiNRhRE

2010-11-16T16:21:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

Working on some logos for THUNDAH CATZ.

I found the red cat emblem online with no attribution. I'll look around to see who deserves the credit. It's quite nice, IMO.

I Hate People

2010-11-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27607274991&sid=1

I guess I never learn. Once again I get drawn into a flamefarce on the WoW forums. :P

I find it quite amazing that some people who are extremely accomplished in the arena setting don't realize the importance of mobility in the battlegrounds. Being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing is HUGE. Being out of position is what costs you games.

But, of course, I'm wrong because my arena rating rating (null) is low.

Oh yes, and I'm bad and do gimped damage, etc etc yadda yadda.

FUDK4: Enjoy The Pain

2010-11-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=167725

WARNING: You are about to enter the faceroll zone. If you do not like protection warriors, do not proceed. If you do not like twinks, do not proceed. If these things don't bother you, then by all means continue onward and ENJOY THE PAIN.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

ONE vs. AV ZERG
BADASS DANCE MOVES
HATE CRIMES
ENEMY TWINKS
PUSSY. LOTS OF IT.
ENEMY RED AND ORANGE CONS.

This warrior was levelled to 60 in a few days via friend link. It was the first time I've played a warrior, so you will see some mistakes as I was working out my keybinds, macros, and timing. The protection warrior was very unbalanced when compared to fury and arms. Those builds couldn't compete as a twink, since they did less damage... at the cost of having less survivability and less mobility. Hold it, what did I just say? Yeah, right. Stupidly unbalanced. I'm glad to see that Blizzard has come to their senses with regards to the changes coming to warriors in Cataclysm.

SONGS/CONTENT:

ENJOY THE PAIN - 16 VOLT
Intro
1v2 - 69 Warlock/65 Hunter
Interrupted 1v3 - 68 Death Knight/64 Death Knight/62 Druid (already low health)
Chain 1v8 - 60 Death Knight/52 Warlock (x2)/53 Rogue/60 Warrior Twink (DEoI)/56 Mage (runs away)/58 Druid/56 Mage/60 Hunter Twink

JUST ONE FIX - MINISTRY
Chain 1v6 - 60 Warrior/56 Rogue(x2)/54 Warlock/52 Rogue/55 Shaman
1v3 - 62 Druid/69 Hunter/64 Warlock - 3 more kills after INC heals
Chain 1v6 - 54 Warrior/57 Paladin/58 Warrior/60 Warrior/59 Rogue/58 Death Knight

THE DREAMS THAT ROT IN YOUR HEART - 16 VOLT
Interrupted 1v5 - 69 Mage/64 Warrior/68 Paladin/63 Druid/60 Warrior
1v2 - 64 Rogue/62 Rogue
1v2 - 60 Warrior Twink (Sulfuras)/60 Paladin Twink (bad) - defensive CDs on cooldown
1v2 - 64 Warlock/66 Rogue

TWO WIRES THIN - 16 VOLT
1v2 - 68 Hunter/65 Death Knight
1v5 - 51 Hunter/54 Rogue/58 Rogue/60 Rogue/53 Shaman
1v2 - 66 Death Knight/67 Warrior
1v3 - 61 Mage/61 Druid/68 Shaman
1vWTF - 59 Seasoned Defenders (x4)/51 Hunter (x3)/54 Rogue (x2)/55 Shaman (runs away)/57 Warrior (x3)/57 Rogue/59 Dirk Swindle/58 Warlock (runs away)/55 Lana Thunderbrew/60 Murgot Deepforge/ and a few others

ALKALI - 16 VOLT
1v1 - 60 Druid Twink (trolls be flippin' out, mon)
2v4 - 61 Warlock/66 Shaman/67 Rogue/67 Warrior
2v4 - 60 Twink Prot Warrior with 20K HP buffed in last stand. This fight was won before the adds, he had used his defensive CDs while I still had mine available.
Some 60 Rogue Nostalgia

I've been entertaining the idea of doing a 60 nostalgia video before Cataclysm hits. I added these clips so you know that I've been on the other side of this gear disparity. I know what it's like. I have no disrespect for the people killed in this movie, in most cases they had absolutely no way of winning the fight. But, hey... that's the World of Gearcraft for you.

Sunspots (Moonkin PvP)

2010-06-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

FULL movie is here: http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=158561

I was disappointed in the feedback on this one. I put a lot of effort into the editing, but apparantly it was too much. That many people with consistent negative feedback can't be entirely wrong. Because of this feedback, I toned down the editing in the my new warrior movie. I also made sure that my health was always available for the viewer no matter how I was zoomed in. That's a good thing. I learned a new technique which I will apply to future movies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a segment from an upcoming L80 moonkin PvP video. There have been some moonkin videos put out recently that don't even come close to showing the full gameplay that is necessary to solo PvP successfully with a moonkin. The moonkin is by far the most challenging class/build I have solo PvPd with, but recent movies are doing the moonkin a serious disservice by portraying them as nothing but starfall and typhoon.

Some people actually believe that all you have to do is press starfall, run in and win. This, obviously doesn't work. If you don't get chain-CCd, they will just pop their defensive cooldowns and laugh at you. You have to set starfall up against any opponent with a brain. That means trying to survive while they work with superior tools against yours. And, by superior tools.. I mean things like offensive dispels (which moonkins don't have), instacast silences and interrupts (which moonkins don't have), get out of jail free cards (which moonkins don't have), get the picture?

Of the two more recent moonkin videos, one is a pure editing movie that doesn't showcase shifting, cyclone/starfire, kiting, or fighting against our hardest matchups (other casters). The other movie is by a top-end arena player that doesn't show these things either. After the arena player got flamed he went back and changed his introduction to the movie to appease the viewers. Quote:

Moonkins CAN'T do anything else but dmg. Look at the talent tree: dmg, dmg, dmg, range, dmg, a new skill with dmg, dmg and ultimate: DMG!

This... from a top arena players. Pathetic might be the word I'm looking for here. I'm going to try to refute this perception, but I doubt I will successful as the "moonkin don't take any skill" mindset has taken strong root.

Be sure to watch in highest definition. The quality is pretty good.

FUDK2: Battleground Hero

2010-05-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

Update: The movie is published at http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=152675

As expected, the ratings are all over the place. Some like it, others hate it. Most that hate it, hate it for lame and/or incorrect reasoning. But, that's just the way it goes. :) What was unexpected, is that they decided to feature it. Pretty risky, given that a good portion of WCM viewers dismiss this kind of movie out of hand.

--------------------------------------------------------

The movie is rendering now and should be uploaded to WCM within a few days. This movie will focus more on objective-based PvP than the 1vN PvP bloodbath featured in FUDK. I've also decided to add some humor segments to the movie, similar to what I did for the Huntard movie.

ATM, I'm inclined to keep a humor storyline going as it opens up avenues to talk about different elements of the game. Are DKs overpowered from 50-79? Can a lowbie contribute in his PvP bracket? How do you jump warrior charges and intercepts consistently?

It would also allow me to tie in my shadowpriest, hunter, druid, and rogue 70 movies and even go waaaaaaay back and do a "best of" nostalgia movie from my Chromed/Oozo pre-TBC footage. I am missing a few of the fullsize movies (Oozo's Fear and Chromed's Poison most noteably), but I should have enough to put something interesting together.

But, I digress. Breakdown and credits for the movie follow. Again, it is heavily edited such that the action and events in the movie sync up with the music. In order to do this I have to zoom, fast forward, slow mo, cut, paste, etc. etc. Lots of work went into this.

PART 1 - Scrubs Anonymous (humor intro)

- Toasty Loop by Jimbob

- Stealth Game Over by Jimbob

- Badass Theme - Loopmaster

- Eeeeeeeeeee! from Austin Powers "Goldmember"

PART 2 - Return to Bass by Meat Beat Manifesto (pvp segment)

PART 3 - Tzolk'in by Imprintz & Kleo (pvp segment)

PART 4 - Showdown (Excision Remix) by Pendulum (pvp/dance segment)

PART 5 - Industrial Love by ISTW (humor segment)

PART 6 - Montage from Team America (pvp montage, duh?)

PART 7 - Ray's Whipass by Mike O'Connor and Ray (credits)

Will update with link when it is published.

Summer Vacation, Finally

2010-05-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

Work has been rough since I released FUDK, but now I'm on summer vacation so I can get back to working on some movie projects. I've already started work on FUDK2. This movie will be more about actual battleground objectives than the first movie. WSG flag returns and flag caps will be the main focus. I'm also going to be adding some humor commentary, similar to what I did for my 70 hunter movie.

I don't really see the benefit of busting my ass to gear up my 80s with Cataclysm right around the corner. That work would effectively be wasted once the level cap moves to 85 and gear inflation strikes once again. So, I am planning on getting as many of my toons to 80 as possible and doing BGs with friends so I have flexibility when Cataclysm arrives.

For future movie projects, I'm thinking of doing some humor/tutorial types of videos for entry-level PvPers. I'm also thinking of doing some nostalgia videos for Oozo and Chromed. It's funny, I look back at some of those videos and see me vanishing charges, knocking rogues out of stealth before they can open on me, restealthing for openers with dots on me, 5-8 kiting warriors etc. None of which I got much credit for, but other rogues were celebrated for doing. One of the mistakes I made when doing those videos is I thought people would watch the movies carefully enough to notice these things so I did not emphasis them. That was a mistake, and it's a mistake I corrected when working on FUDK. I made a point to emphasis the key elements of the fight and that strategy paid off as the movie was well-recieved.

iFyoUDeathKnight (FUDK)

2010-03-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

UPDATE: http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=143667

FUDK is an L70ish Deathknight 1vN movie focusing on action, entertainment, and music.

Many of the 1vNs in this movie are 1v4+ with some sustained fights reaching up to 8-10 kills. I'm not trying to make a statement with these fights. They are for entertainment, as 1vNs typically make for exciting and visually dynamic clips. My DK/gear was definitely OP in the 70 AV. But, I also know that means little to nothing with respect to L80 balance (and so should you).

Here is what you can expect:

keybinds (everything except for food, sorry)
strafing (yeah, I know.. I'm amazing, right?)
engineering (pyro & lightning, very very frightening!)
1vNs (lots of them)
a few 1v1s against arena-geared-perma-AV-twink hunters (level-capped FTW)
editing such that the action fits the music (or maybe it's the music that fits the action)
some pro-deathgrip action (sarcasm)
no arenas (yeah, I know... L70, duh)
no duels (what? and give away the advantage of SURPRISE!?)
no mercy (many green cons were hurt during the making of this movie)
humor & humility (I am not GOD and I know it)

Movie Outline:

Part One - "Omen" by The Prodigy (Noisia Remix)

intro
1v5 (69 hunter, 70 deathknight, 63 rogue, 70 rogue, 67 mage)
I gots death runes
1v5+ chain (70 priest, 70 priest, 68 warrior, 67 mage, 62 deathknight)
TIME FILLER 1v1 hunter (meny snaeks kilt!)
1v5 (70 hunter, 66 shaman, 70 mage, 61 hunter, 70 rogue)

Part Two - "Poison Arrow" by ABC

1v1s versus arena-geared L70 hunter twinks
and a bizarre love triangle?

Part Three - "The Great Destroyer" by NiN (Darkstar Remix)

raw footage with minimal editing
11-man chainkill (64 priest x2, 63 warrior x3, 66 warrior x2, 70 druid x2, 62 paladin, 70 paladin) with some assistance from a suicidal holy nova spamming L64 priest (I tried to save her, really - I did)
1v4 chain (67 druid, 62 warrior, 70 shaman, 65 paladin)

Part Four - "Scorpion" by The Immortals

GET OVER HERE
1v4+ (63 shaman, 62 deathknight, 70 rogue, 65 hunter)

Part Five - "No Man Army" by The Prodigy

hungering cold+parachute+cliff = lulz
1v5+ (70 priest, 62 rogue, 66 deathknight, 64 deathknight, 68 paladin)
BERSERKER BUFF E-PEENERY
1v8 chain (70 hunter, 64 hunter, 68 rogue, 64 deathknight, 65 shaman, 66 warrior, 61 deathknight, 61 ALTERAC RAM)
FUDK2 preview?
will I get crushed when I'm the green/gray con?

Part Six - "I'm About To Whip Somebody's Ass" by Ray (Acid Jazz Remix)

outro/credits

Movie link will be given when movie is uploaded and accepted.

FUDK INC

2010-03-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

As I type, iFyoUDeathKnight (FUDK) is uploading at Warcraft Movies. There is a risk that they will reject it because of it's filesize (930 MB for 23 minutes). I wanted to keep the movie HQ for those who stream. I'm crossing my fingers on this one, because I really really really don't want to sit through another 15 hour render hoping some error doesn't occur 10+ hours into the render (which has happened a few times on this movie already).

I'll have a full write-up for this movie later tonight.

iFyoUDeathKnight Trailer

2010-03-08T17:08:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

By far, the Death Knight has been the most dominating class I've played in 70 AV. This had led to many 1vN clips, many of which are 1v4s or 1v5s. Also, I've had some crazy kill chains up to 8 to 10 people back-to-back.

Now, the question is: how do I present this material?

I could go documentary style similar to my Warhammer Choppa movies with added commentary. Or I could go for editting and pure entertainment value. Either way I want to give the viewer some way of understanding what happened and how my enviroment affects the decisions I make. In this trailer I am going for editting, but also do some slowmos and zooms to help the view follow the action, particularly for those who only watch movies via streams. Without zooming, stream-viewers would miss so much of what is happening.

But, does trying to accomodate both types of viewers lead to overall failure? I could go for a movie that is a mixture of what I do in this trailer but also uneditted footage with commentary. This might be the best approach. Otherwise, I fear most viewers would miss the little things I do that help me win these 1v5s. It's not facerolling. There is a lot of thought put into my actions here. But, how should I convey that without coming across as a pretentious ass?

Wait. I am a pretentious ass. Ah, nevermind then.

You can get a fullsize download at Warcraft Movies. Don't forget to rate! (even if you think it sucks)

Allods Grounded for Bad Behavior. Back to WoW Again

2010-02-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

Taugrim and Keen have covered the Allods cash shop fiasco in its entirety. I'll just say that once I lose trust in something (or someone) they have almost zero chance of getting me back. However, I'll still keep an eye on the game in case a miracle occurs.

As far as the positives for Allods for me? The game is very pretty and runs extremely well on my machine. I never dropped below 30 FPS while recording with FRAPS. No other game has performed that well under FRAPS for me. It would have been a pleasure making Allods movies. Also, the character development system intrigues me.

Besides the cash shop, there were other significant negatives for me. The character development system is intriguing, but also slow. It takes a good bit of time before your character "progresses" by picking up new abilities. So, you have to spend a lot of time using the same abilities over and over and over and over. That's not so bad at upper levels where you have many abilities to learn and explore synergies. However, it's not good at low levels where you only have a few abilities. Tedium set in pretty fast for me.

Another thing I did not like was melee movement. It felt clunky to me. Then again, pretty much anything is going to feel clunky when you are coming directly from playing WoW. It took me a long time to get used to the clunkiness of Warhammer. So, that is something I might have gotten used to over time. One thing I would never get used to is one of the Scout abilities. It causes you to vanish and appear behind or at the side of your target. Unfortunately, it also drops mouse look when you use it. I use my mouse for circle strafing. Using that ability takes you out of strafe mode. You actually have to release the mouse button and then hold it down again to continue strafing. By that time your movement has been compromised.

If I was to play Allods, I'd probably play a caster.

For now, I'm back to playing WoW. This time I'm checking out the Death Knight. It's easily the most powerful of my twink projects so far. Even surpassing the rogue who had quite a bit of arena gear. 1v3s are common and 1v4+s are doable in the 69-70 range. I've thrown up a clip as a preview. There are a few things I still need to fix with the editting, but it gives a pretty good idea what the DK is capable of in the 61-70 AV.

edit: Clip removed as I've added a legit trailer for the movie.

Allods Online (pregame thoughts)

2010-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

As mentioned in the previous post, this game shows promise based upon community reviews and youtube clips. There is no doubt that it borrows heavily from WoW, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. WoW runs very smoothly and has many player friendly features.

Where WoW fails for me is in longterm PvP. I've had a lot of fun playing different toons in the 70ish brackets. Why? Because I know that my gear relative to other players is not hampering me or a disadvantage in any way. When I die, I have no excuses. If someone beats me 1v1 at that level, it's because I got outplayed.

What do I have to look forward to if I level to 80? Months and months of grinding PvE and PvP just to be competitive (but still be at a disadvantage to many players due to gear). There just doesn't seem to be much of an incentive for me to reach level 80 in WoW, which is why I have considered it a stopgap. I'm only playing it because that is where most of my friends are. I don't see longterm potential in WoW for a player with my RL responsibilities and my playstyle.

So, if there is a "WoW-clone" which doesn't have these flaws (as I see them) then I'm going to be interested. Allods has a PvP system based on gaining "glory" (cough-honor) on a weekly system. It sounds a bit like, oh - I don't know... WoW's original PvP system. The game should have World PvP, but it won't be forced. If you PvP flag, then you will gain exp at 110% rate. If you don't PvP flag, then you will gain exp at 90% rate. This can work well as long as the game population is high enough to sustain it. All you need are a few people to PvP flag. When, not if, they get attacked some of their faction will flag to attack the attackers. Next thing you know, the zone is full of flagged people.

This is how Tarren Mill and Southshore became PvP hubs even on PvE servers. Except with Allods system there will be more incentive to actually flag to begin with.

One of the things that killed WoW for me was the move to cross-server battlegrounds. To me, server community is a main draw for MMORPGs. The move to cross-server battlegrounds destroyed server community overnight. I'm not sure what system Allods has in mind here, but it is my hope that they keep most (if not all) PvP local.

The main concern that most have with Allods is that it is a F2P game and thus must generate income via an online cash shop. People are concerned that you will be able to pay RL cash to win or gain unfair advantages. My gut reaction to cash shops is /ew. However, for the most part the nonF2P games already have built in unfair advantages given to those who have more time to play the games. Or for those more willing to be in a guild full of asshats just because they can clear certain content. For the record, I hate asshats and no amount of phat lewt can overcome that particular distaste.

I gave some more thoughts on the cash shop on Taugrim's blog:

My main concern is being able to remain competitive in PvP. My guess is
that it would be easier to remain competitive via cash shop than it would for a
WoW-type system which requires a horrible PvP gear grind, in which the rich get
richer and those with more free time have a huge advantage.

The question is, how much money has to be spent to remain competitive?
Well, if it’s under the amount you spend on a typical subscription to a game
like WoW it would actually be a better system for people who treat PvP seriously
but have RL responsiblities which force their playtime to be more
“casual”.

Here is a talent calculator to get an idea of what kinds of skills and roles are available.

The following video (not by me) gives a good idea of the graphics, animation, and gameplay for AO:

Another vid from the same player (good quality in HD expanded view)

Astral spaceship

Update

2010-02-13T08:57:00.001-08:00

by Oozo

I've been very busy with work starting back up in early January, but should be having a bit more free time to work on some projects. There is a fullsize download of my last movie available at warcraftmovies if you have a membership. It went through the listings so fast it didn't get many views, which is probably a good thing. As views for me in the warcraft community = flames. ;)

http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=135705

When I have had time, I've been messing around with a Death Knight in WoW. It's extremely powerful in PvE. Soloing elites that outlevel me is nice, I guess. :/

A couple of days ago I learned of a game I had never heard of before via Taugrim's blog. The game is called Allods Online and it's a F2P game. I typically totally ignore F2P games, which is most likely why this game never made it onto my radar screen. However, there are some good reviews from what I consider to be reliable sources and the youtube clips I've seen of it's gameplay do show promise.

The open beta for the game starts on 2/16. I've already downloaded the client and will be checking it out. More thoughts on the game incoming.

Centurion Xö

2010-01-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

The full movie is up on Youtube and will be up on Warcraft movies soon. I'm curious to see what the comments will be. I suspect that there will be a number of flames, just because... well, it's me. I also suspect that there will be negative comments on the number of green cons squished in this movie. :)

As stated in the intro, I outgeared most people in the AVs that I did. I tried to compensate for that by singling out the alliance twinks and putting myself into some crazy 1vN situations. Unfortunately, the alliance twinks didn't present much of a challenge in 1v1 situations. The warrior with the Brutal 2Her used none of the tricks an experienced warrior would use (how did he get that weapon?) and the perma-twink warlock trinketed my, erm... nothing and then shadowfuried straight into my cloak of shadows. They no doubt had a macro that did trinket-->shadowfury. Which would work against the standard rogue vanilla opener cheapshot-->kidneyshot. Not so hot against against cheapshot-->cloak of shadows-->kidney shot. That's the danger of letting your macros play too much of the game for you.

Of course, the best players don't make these kinds of mistakes. Then again, you aren't going to find the best players doing 70AV. Myself included.

Now, back to the green cons. I will probably get flamed for this, but the thing is... gear > level. I have clips doing 70-79 WSG with this rogue, but decided to exclude them for consistency and length (damn that 10 minute restriction on Youtube videos.) To atone for the sins of this movie I might be persuaded to do a followup with me being the green con, if there is interest.

And again, always remember: i hope u enjoy this movie as much as i enjoyed making it! and be nice! this is my first ever pvp movie. also im a girl irl lol!!!

Gear and Centurion Xö

2010-01-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

One thing I've come to realize in my return is that gear really does matter. Yes, that's my tongue you see in my cheek. I find it curious (not really) that many people, who claim to seek competition, fight so hard to keep others from getting equivalent gear. On one hand, they say BGs are boring because of all the undergeared opponents and on the other hand they say those people don't deserve gear because they are all "bads." They seem to lack the self-awareness to recognize the logical dissonance of their position.

Why should they care if the "bads" have the same gear as they do? I mean, they are bad, right? A good player with great gear beats a bad player with great gear, so why the dire concern?

In Beta, Blizzard stated that there would be PvP areas in the game with special rewards. They said that those rewards would be no better than items you could get through other aspects of the game, but that they would have special, cooler looking models. And, that is exactly how it should have been.

People who excel at PvP should be rewarded the most badass looking gear in the game for the bragging rights. They should not be given a huge gear advantage over the people that they already crush. And to those who bitch about not having enough geared opponents while at the same time arguing that those opponents should not have gear? You fail, IRL. And, that is much worse than failing in-game. Because that kind of fail stays with you no matter where you go or what you do.

I've taken some of the feedback from the Iwl short movie and applied it to the following short preview. I've moved the player health to the bottom center of the screen and removed the opponent health, since you can track their health via nameplates. I couldn't do anything to fix the buff/debuffs issue and the SCT feedback can get really obnoxious when you are doing 1v5s. ;P

So, I'll have to work on fixing that as well.

Iwl Reborn

2010-01-01T02:55:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

With time off during the winter break, I have decided to invest some time to learn some new tricks using Sony Vegas to make movies. You can probably tell that I generally don't like the UI taking up a lot of screen space. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, I personally don't like cluttered UIs from an aesthetic viewpoint and I think they can distract from the action and movement of the clips. Second, by zooming in it makes it easier for those who only watch streams to see what is going on better.

That was the idea behind the massively flamed "Oozo Lives" experiment.

The main reason that movie failed, IMO, is that it left the viewer detached and not understanding what was happening in the movie. They couldn't see my health and they often times completely missed key events in the movie (through no fault of their own). For example, I got flamed for missing a kick on some warlock. The thing is, I didn't miss the kick. I nailed it. It just so happens that the warlock was wearing a battlegear set that gave them a chance to resist interrupts and that is exactly what happened. You could see that in my combat log, but the viewer couldn't see it because I had (naively) cropped it out.

And, of course, people will latch on to those kinds of things like a bulldog (you see the same thing in politics) to discredit and defame even when they are completely wrong. Not that they would care even if they did know that they were wrong. But, I suppose that the ever-increasing decay of our society's morality is a story for another day.

In Moozo's movie, I made a compromise by zooming in but leaving the combat log in place so people could doublecheck to see exactly how badly I was playing. But, character health and abilities used could still be hard to track. I play at a high resolution, so they are hard to see at times on a youtube stream.

Iwl's movie is meant to correct that. Check it out and feel free to give positive/negative feedback on the presentation of content.

Moozo - 68-70 Feral Druid PvP (w/ special introduction by Matt Damon)

2009-12-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

by Matt Damon

Okay. First thing we need to clear up is that I am bipolar with a touch of multiple personality order as well. My name is Matt Damon and I serve as an impartial observer to Harmony and Grimshank who are two of my many multiple personalities.

Harmony usually plays a Holy Priest and wants everyone to love her mangina. Grimshank typically plays a rogue and really doesn't give a flying fuck what you think. We've, I mean, I have been having a hard time coming up with an introduction for this movie.

Harmony and Grimshank have both come up with suggestions. You can choose whichever one you like most.

Harmony:

Hi guys!

This is my first ever pvp movie. I just did it for the lolz not to show massive skills or anything like that. And this is my first time using fraps and vegas to do a movie so please don't be mean lol.

I've been gone from the game for a loooooooooooong time and I'm just coming back. Having fun relearning things and the druid is so much fun! So, take it easy on me hehe. I just put this together for a few of my friends. They are the bestest! But maybe it will entertain you too! Everything was frapsed in one day so I didn't take this too seriously lol.
If you all like it I'll put up a fullsize HQ version up somewhere!!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I had fun making it!! Oh, and I'm a girl. So be nice!
hehe.

Grimshank:

Heh, What a pussy.

The movie you are about to witness contains some of the highest levels of PvP ever recorded. All opponents within can be said to be nothing but the best of the best.

Just kidding. All of these people are noobs. But then again, to me, everyone is a noob. And, noobs can't beat me.

Frankly, I hate making movies. It's a boring and tedious task, but people keep pestering me and asking "When are you going to make another movie? When are you going to make another movie? Waaaaaaah!" And then I remember and say to myself... It's not about them, it's about you... it's about you.

Let's get one thing straight. I could fucking care less if this movie entertains you. Am I getting paid to make this fucking shit for you? Hell no. Is it about the music? Heh, no. Even though the music in this movie is vastly superior to the stupid crap you listen to, it's not about the music.

No, this movie is about one thing, and one thing only. Inflating my already enormously huge e-cawk.

And don't even get me started on Arena. It's nothing but a bunch of prancing faggots running around covering up for each others' mistakes and touching each other's asses. The real measure of one's skill in PvP is solo PvP. How do you do without a support net to catch you when you fall, prissyboy?

I'd have 2700+ ratings in all brackets if my friends didn't suck so much. They are all a bunch of mouth-breathing mouse-clicking retards. But hey, they are my friends, and I stick by my friends. Even if they do hold me back. Bunch of fucking losers.

I'd make a HQ version of the movie so it would be easier to see what's going on, but it really wouldn't matter because you wouldn't understand the complicated manuevers I'm pulling off in the movie anyway.

Get bent.

If the embedded players are running slowly, try clicking on them to go to the main youtube page. This sometimes helps.

Moozo

2009-12-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

Coming back to play WoW after nearly 2 years away means there is a lot to relearn. These are some clips from my feral druid mostly in the 58-60 level range.

At this level many people complain about the death knights being OP. Of course, it's not the class that is OP it is their relative gear that makes them that way. They get good starting gear for free. However, the tables are quickly turned when you get gear to match.

There are a few "tricks" shown in here. Feral charge in cat is great, but it puts you behind your target forcing you to root. If you have a specific target in mind, you can charge an enemy in front of them and then target back to pounce. And, of course, the old drop flag and pick back up to avoid getting opened on by a stealther.

My 68-70 feral druid movie is rendered and in the process of being uploaded. Due to a gear advantage over most players it will have several 1v3+.

Because in World of Warcraft, gear matters. Too much.

Warhammer Farewell Movie

2009-12-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

by Oozo

I had a great time in Warhammer. It was, by far, the best PvP community I've played in. People were, for the most part, much more mature than in other games. People understood the meaning of the word respect and appreciated those who played for the challenge and competition rather than just playing to win.

This movie captures some of the closer fights I had that did not make it into other movies.

The main difference between WAR PvP and WOW PvP is the pace of the fights. Things are much slower in WAR. There really isn't much in the way of "quick reflex" skills needed for the game. There are a few situations, knockdown on spell casts but there just aren't that many quick skill reactions involved in the game. Sorry, but that is truth. The positive thing about WAR is that it does take some time to kill someone, so you actually have a chance to execute strategy before you get CCd and instagibbed as happens in WOW quite often.

In order to execute strategy in WOW, you must have survivability via talent build AND gear. Gear is absolutely essential to actually *play* your character as it should be played in WOW. That was not the case in WAR where the gear gap was much more lenient to the undergeared.

The first thing I noticed coming back to WOW was how fast the PvP was compared to WAR. You really need to think and react fast to changing situations. WOW PvP takes more skill. Unfortunately, gear differentials ruin it's overall balance.

Perhaps, someday, somewhere, some game will get it completely right.

WOW Feral Druid PvP movies INC, but for now my WAR farewell movie:

Update

2009-11-05T10:36:00.001-08:00

by Oozo

Still here!

Between work, gaming, and some video card issues I haven't had much time to devote to updates. Champions Online didn't work out due to lack of interest from my friends. They felt the game was too easy and there wasn't much connection to their character for that reason.

On the other hand Aion is too grindy. It's not just the levelling, but the trade skills. It's not a bad game, but it requires a heavy time commitment and a great deal of interdependence between players (which isn't a bad thing).

So, I , along with some others have done the unthinkable. We've gone back to WoW. At least until Global Agenda and/or The Old Republic betas roll out. It's been around two years since we last played WoW, so there is a lot to learn, levels to be made, and we are way behind the curve with respect to gear. In other words, SNAFU.

Some people have been requesting some of my old Oozo videos. I'm going to start putting them up on Youtube, but I have to split them, rerender, and upload them which takes time. For now, I've put up the first half of Oozo 7 - Original Control. More to follow.

Gallery of Villians

2009-09-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

Here are some of the characters I made for the Champions Online Open Beta. Most are really villians. I guess I'm really just not a very nice guy. It's much easier to be a villian than a hero, IMHO.

And, of course, my favorite...

Champions Online: A PvP Short

2009-08-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

As mentioned previously, I love the animations in Champions Online. This short movie gives emphasis to those animations from the point of view of a duel swords hero. The big hitting ability you see in this movie has a 6 second buildup. It is extremely hard to land with all of the knockdowns and interrupts in the game.

It does continue to build while you move though, so with some good timing and a bit of luck you can land it. And it's quite satisfying when it does. :)

Champions Online: First Impressions

2009-08-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

Looks like I will be making the move from Warhammer Online to Champions Online. Champions Online has it's problems in the area of PvP balance, but it has one BIG intangible going for it. It's fun, despite it's PvP flaws.

The animations and pace of action is very good IMO and should be enough to keep me going for awhile. I'll see what I can do with the PvP aspect of the game. I'm not really a FoTMer type of personality and this game is going to be all about the FoTM if you want to do well in PvP.

Below is a short movie with commentary I did from first day open beta clips. There are anti-kiting melee abilities. The one thing you will absolutely need to avoid if doing a melee-concept for your character are melee energy builders. You must use a ranged energy builder or you will be severely gimping yourself for PvP. And, that's unfortunate.

The last fights with Oozo are done with an ability called Thunderbolt Lunge. Honestly the ability was on the OP side of things. It has been nerfed recently and given a cooldown, so it's no longer spammable.

MOVIE: Oozinator #7 - Choppa vs. Witch Hunter

2009-08-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

As I mention in the movie there is no real pre-set strategy that you can use against a Witch Hunter. There are just too many things that can happen in this fight to change it's dynamic. Does the WH get the opener on you? Or do you get the first shot in? Does the WH play aggressively or do they play cautiously?

There is no pre-set strategy but there are guidelines to how you should react to different events.

You should always try to prevent the opener or at least initiate combat with the WH before the opener. If you can get a throwing weapon in before the opener it will give you a head start on rage, and this is important because our knockdown goes a long way to helping us win this fight.

Use your detaunt if you get opened on. What usually follows is Pistol Whip and you can save some damage to yourself if you get the WH detaunted right before PW.

Keep your eyes and ears open for Repel Blasphemy and Disarm. To counter you can detaunt and charge away. Always protect your charge with Shrug It Off to keep the WH from snaring you with Snap Shot. If you can't run off Repel Blasphemy, then do your best to get to the Witch Hunter's back (something you should always try to do anyway).

Whatever damage you can do with AoEs while staying out of the reach of the WH the better. The range on our AoEs allows us to melee-kite to some extent. Also, by keeping your distance or using the dreaded S key to backup you help to prevent the WH from getting to your back. Of course, a good WH will recognize this early and try to use Feinted Positioning to land Pistol Whip but, again, any free damage you get is good.

Scratch and claw to survive until your knockdown is ready. The knockdown is almost always a key factor in winning a fight against a WH.

IMO, this fight is the Witch Hunter's to lose. A WH with good gear and a solid build and strategy is going to win this fight more often than not if they get the opener. And, even if they don't get the opener a good WH can still beat you. Due to the amount of anti-melee abilties they have, they are in the driver's seat. You have to stay alert and look for any mistakes or openings that they might give you. If they don't give you any openings you have to do your best to stay alive, which includes kiting if possible. Once you get enough rage for your knockdown, it is possible to turn this fight around.

An important thing to remember here is to not get discouraged and frustrated if you get faceplanted a few times by Witch Hunters. Look upon them as a challenge. There is no glory without overcoming challenge.

CoH Comic - The Debater Episode 4: Fascist Faceoff

2009-08-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

In this episode the Debater discusses the merits of free speech with some well-meaning fascists.

CoH Comic - The Debater Episode 3: Raving Mad

2009-08-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

The Debater crashes a rave to teach kids that late night sex and drug parties are bad, regardless of the consequences it could have on Denny's revenue stream.

Continue to Episode 4: Fascist Faceoff?

CoH Comic - The Debater Episode 2: Official Superhero

2009-08-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

In order to fight crime in Paragon City you must have a Superhero Registration Card.

Continue to Episode 3: Raving Mad?

City of Heroes Comics

2009-08-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

The following is a collection of comics that I did when playing City of Heroes. They were made to make me laugh, if no one else.

Episode 1: A Fowl Plot
Episode 2: Official Superhero
Episode 3: Raving Mad
Episode 4: Fascist Faceoff
Episode 5: H.E.L.L. to Pay
Episode 6: Survey Says, Trouble Ahead
Episode 7: I'm Not the Bad Guy
Episdoe 8: The Vegan Vigilante

CoH Comic - The Debater Episode 1: A Fowl Plot

2009-08-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

In honor of the upcoming release of Champions Online, I have decided to dust off some old comics I did for City of Heroes. In this episode the Debater gets more than he can handle trying to convince the citizenry that fried chicken is bad for you.

In total there are 8 episodes. The story line got cut short prematurely by the release of World of Warcraft. Perhaps the Debater will make a return in Champions Online?

Continue to Episode 2: Official Superhero?

MOVIE: Oozinator #6 Choppa vs. Slayer

2009-08-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

It's that time again!

This movie (watch in HQ) covers the Choppa versus Slayer matchup. The two Slayers featured in this movie are Zulbin and Ghaern. Zulbin is the current number one renown Slayer on Iron Rock and Ghaern is considered by most to be the best 1v1 Slayer on Iron Rock.

The first three fights in this movie are against Zulbin. In each of these fights he is using a Trollslayer build and thus has Rune of Absorption. I am, as always, using a Da' Savage tree build. So, I have Furious Choppin. I am not using Wot Rules in these first three fights.

In fights against Slayers where I don't have Wot Rules my general strategy is to debuff and then use Furious Choppin early. If the Slayer is starting the fight with zero rage then you want to use Furious Choppin early since this is the safest time to use it against a Slayer. The only way a Slayer can stop the heal is with their knockdown and that only becomes available to them when they have red rage. The other advantage of using Furious Choppin early is that if you get into an extended fight you will be able to use it more than once.

After using Furious Choppin I will kite until I have red rage so I have access to my knockdown. Many Slayers make the mistake of not using Rune of Absorption early. If they don't use RoA early and try to save it then they will almost always lose since when they do try to use it, I will be able to interrupt it with my knockdown. You see this strategy play out exactly as such in the last two fights with Zulbin.

If the Slayer is not starting out the fight at zero rage and already has rage built up, then you should wait until after you get knocked down before using your Furious Choppin as demonstrated in the first fight of this movie.

The next two fights are part of a dueling series I had against Ghaern in Chaos Wastes. In these fights I am using the same build as the fights against Zulbin and Ghaern is using a Giantslayer build with Power Through. This allows Ghaern to spam his exhaustives and, in particular, spam Spellbreaker once furious. You wouldn't think that a non-Trollslayer build Slayer could beat a Savage build Choppa, but I did lose this series of duels. The pure damage a Giantslayer can put out is very impressive and in several of the fights he was able to overwhelm the healing I got from my Furious Choppin. The thing that won him most of the fights was that he was able to dump all of that damage and then follow it up with his knockdown.

This series of duels against Ghaern is the reason why I changed builds. I decided that being able to dump damage with exhaustives and still maintain the ability to do an early knockdown was just too good to pass up. However, instead of going down the 2Hand tree like Ghaern did I was going to couple it with Furious Choppin for the heal. Thus was born the build that you see me using most often in my movies.

The last fights in the movie are with the Furious Choppin/Wot Rules build. The strategy now is to debuff, use Furious Choppin early, spam whatever exhaustives you have, and then use knockdown as necessary if they live through the inital damage burst. This build and strategy is extremely powerful against Slayers. The only counter they have is to use a mirror build and the same exact strategy. If they don't then you end up with fights like the last three in this movie. Blow outs.

Both Zulbin and Ghaern ended up moving to this build and strategy. The last fights I had with both of them were mirror fights that came down to the last blow. Unfortunately, I was not able to fraps the fights as I was having some performance issues for a month or so.

In conclusion I find the Choppa versus Slayer 1v1 matchup to be relatively balanced if the fight is ended before morale can be built, after which the Choppa has the advantage in my opinion. Also, I feel that Choppa is a better overall oRvR solo career than the Slayer. There are three main reasons why I feel that is the case.

I'm Da Biggest is useful against all enemies. Ancestral Inheritance is only good against melee-based enemies.
Go For the Soft Spot is useful against all enemies. Deep Wounds is only good against healers (w/r to 1v1s).
Dat Tickles! is superior to Untouchable, which grants 5 seconds of defense.

In terms of group play, I consider Choppa and Slayer to be in the same equivalence class. The reason why Slayers did not gain the notoriety of Choppas is because whatever a Slayer could do was simply overshadowed by what a Bright Wizard could do in terms of group PvP. Hopefully, that dynamic will change.

For a full file download use http://www.filefront.com/14288883/Oozinator6.wmv

Movie Libraries Almost Complete

2009-08-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

I've always wanted to get a central "storage" point for the movies I've made going all the way back to my World of Warcraft days. It's not a complete library, but I'm happy with the amount of old movies I've been able to salvage online. Since Youtube and Google don't allow for movies over 10 minutes long anymore it would be a chore to upload my longer movies. I could use something like Filefront, but Filefront is really only a temporary storage point and it is quite often prone to frustrating uploading errors.

Now that I've got most of what I want done, I can turn my attention to finishing off some more Warhammer PvP movies with the Fraps footage I still have available. My next movie will be on the Slayer vs. Choppa matchup. After that, I'd like to do something on Witch Hunters and then, perhaps, a movie featuring a montage of 1v1s against some of the finest solo PvPers Iron Rock has to offer.

At this point, I am not sure if I will be sticking with Warhammer. I like the game, but sometimes it is hard to find action and the action you do find is often times just too "zergy" for my playstyle.

I've tried Aion and, although it seems like a decent game, I can tell that it is just not something I would be personally interested in for a long haul. Right now, my eye is on Champions Online and the PvP Cage Match footage I've seen just today has piqued my interest.

Warhammer Online Movie Library

World of Warcraft Movie Library

Champions Online PvP: Cage Match

2009-08-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

Well, this is very impressive footage to say the least. The movement animation is just superb. The spell animations are very good. The gameplay looks to be very smooth. It's seems to be fast-paced, but people also seem to be fairly durable.

There are points in this movie where you see the character get CC'd. A message comes up that they can hit F to remove the CC. Interesting.

I'm looking forward to checking this game out.

MOVIE: All By Meself 2

2009-08-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: All By Meself 1

2009-08-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: All By Meself 3

2009-08-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: Fear

2009-08-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: The Beast

2009-08-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: Oozo Lives

2009-08-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: R30 T4 Choppa Epic Failures

2009-08-10T04:25:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

Things don't always go well for a R30 Choppa in T4.

MOVIE: R30 T4 Choppa 1v1s

2009-08-10T03:39:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

This is a short collection of some 1v1s against some of the top players on Iron Rock on my R30/31 Choppa.

MOVIE: Death Is Not The End 3

2009-08-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: Death Is Not The End 1

2009-08-10T02:58:00.001-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: Poison

2009-08-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: I Can Only Beat Noobs 3

2009-08-10T02:44:00.001-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: I Can Only Beat Noobs 2

2009-08-10T02:30:00.001-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: I Can Only Beat Noobs 1

2009-08-10T02:15:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

MOVIE: I Can Only Beat Noobs 4

2009-08-10T02:06:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

World of Warcraft Movie Library

2009-08-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

This is a collection of my World of Warcraft PvP Movies. (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

ROGUE

Oozo 1
Oozo 2
Oozo 3
Oozo 4
Oozo 5 (Cooldowns are for Noobs)
Oozo 6 (PVP Made Easy)
Oozo 7 (Original Control)
Oozo 8 (Combat Daggers)
Chromed 1 (ICOBN)
Chromed 2 (ICOBN2)
Chromed 3 (ICOBN3)
Chromed 4 (ICOBN4)
Chromed 5 (ICOBN5)
Grimshank (NCBM)
Centurion Xo

SHADOW PRIEST

Iwl 1
Iwl 2
Iwl 3

DRUID

Moozo 1
Moozo 2
Moozo 3 (FUDK3: Gamma Ray Burst) 80 Balance Druid

DEATH KNIGHT

Effrin (FUDK1)
Effrin (FUDK2: Battleground Hero)
Raggok (FUDK5)
Raggok (FUDK6: Part 1)
Raggok (FUDK6: Part 2)

HUNTER

Arborel 1 (Salmon Dance)
Arborel 2 (The Huntard Files)

WARRIOR

Ial (FUDK4: Enjoy the Pain)

MISCELLANEOUS

Warhammer Online Movie Library

2009-08-10T00:29:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

This is a collection of some of my Warhammer Online PvP movies.

CHOPPA

SQUIG HERDER

All By Meself 1 - Squig Herder vs. White Lion
All By Meself 2 - Squig Herder vs. Witch Hunter
All By Meself 3 - Squig Herder vs. Iron Breaker

CHOSEN

Hellbent - T2 Chosen

MOVIE: R30 T4 Choppa 1vNs

2009-08-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

by Oozo

This movie contains some clips of my R30/31 Choppa doing some oRvR in T4. It is part of an unfinished project from earlier in the year. Rather than destroy the clip, I decided to upload it in case anyone was interested in seeing what things were like for in the early 30s.

All clips are 1vNs except for a single 1v1 fight against a Witch Hunter. All opponents are R40. No commentary, purely for entertainment.

What is Anonymous Defender?

2008-07-29T10:58:00.001-07:00

by Oozo

This blog will be dedicated to the PvP/RvR aspect of MMORPGs. The current focus is on Warhammer Online. Warhammer Online is a fantasy MMORPG featuring full scale combat involving battlefield objectives and keeps.

Upcoming games of interest include Global Agenda, Champions Online, and Aion. Past games of interest included WoW and DAoC. People familiar with DAoC will know where the blog name is coming from. :-)