daveGoyette

It seems as if ArenaNet is closer to an open beta that I thought. Lead designer Eric Flannum talks about the revamped combat system in place for Guild Wars 2 as well gives a preview of updated skills for the Elementalist. This, along with World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm, are my most anticipated released for Q4 2010/Q1 2011.

Elementalists have a number of special spell types:
Glyphs—These arcane spells enhance or modify the natural power of the Elementalist. She uses the Glyph of Elemental Power to increase the damage, range, and duration of her spells.
Signets—Signets provide an ongoing benefit to the Elementalist, but can also be activated for a greater effect. An Elementalist equipped with the Signet of Earth has increased damage resistance, but activating the Signet sends out a wave of stone, stunning nearby enemies.
Conjure Spells—The Elementalist uses Conjure spells to summon useful items and potent weapons that she or other party members can use. For instance, she uses Conjure Flame to create a fiery rock to hurl at the enemy.
Area Spells—Using Area spells, the Elementalist creates hazards and mayhem all over the field of battle. The Elementalist fires lava arrows in a cone-shaped blast or creates walls of fire that scorch any enemies passing through.

Visit the GuildWars2 website to learn more about the new combat system and videos of new elementalist spells.

This is the first time a non-electronica track will be the Track of the Week. K’naan has been on fire, and was awarded the song for the South Africa World Cup and has been the number one song March 27, 2010 – May 8, 2010 on Canada Hot 100.

Have a listen!

I’ll never say that I’m up to date with all the new tracks; I usually have thousands of tracks on my harddrive that I have yet to listen to, but Ben Gold’s Starstruck (Jochen Miller remix) caught my ear as I was shuffling through my library.

I decided to give it a whirl on my iPhone so that I can drive to it… it’s a GREAT summer driving song, even though it’s almost a year old.

Have a listen!

I haven’t been the biggest Tiesto fan since the release of his Just Be album, but I decided to give him another shot and got my hands on Kaleidoscope when it first was released. Although it isn’t what I’m accustomed to, Feel it in My Bones ft. Tegan and Sara does have a catchy tune, and overall gives a more mainstream sound.

Living in Ottawa no one really knows any trance artists except for Tiesto and David Guetta (two of my least favourite artists) but ever since this track has hit the airwaves more and more people will come up to me and have some knowledge of other artists out there.

Overall I enjoy this track when I’m out with friends, I just can’t wait until more and more tracks are played on the radio without having to purchase Sirius.

With the weather heating up, I’ve loaded my phone with older tracks. One track that has been on continuous play is Paul Oakenfold’s smashing hit, Southern Sun remixed by DJ Tiesto. Originally released in 2002, and again in Tiesto’s In Search of Sunrise: Panama compilation.

This track brings back many memories, have a listen!

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities across the board. Here, you’ll get a glimpse at what’s in store for the rogue class, including a look the new high-level abilities and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the rogue’s different talent specs.

New Rogue Abilities

Redirect (available at level 81): Rogues will be getting a new ability to help them deal with changing targets. Redirect will transfer any active combo points to the rogue’s current target, helping to ensure combo points aren’t wasted when swapping targets or when targets die. In addition, self-buff abilities like Slice and Dice will no longer require a target, so rogues can spend extra combo points on those types of abilities (more on this below). Redirect will have a 1-minute cooldown and no other costs.

Combat Readiness (level 83): Combat Readiness is a new ability that we intend rogues to trigger defensively. While this ability is active, whenever the rogue is struck by a melee or ranged attack, he or she will gain a stacking buff called Combat Insight that results in a 10% reduction in damage taken. Combat Insight will stack up to 5 times and the timer will be refreshed whenever a new stack is applied. Our goal is to make rogues better equipped to go toe-to-toe with other melee classes when Evasion or stuns are not in play. This ability lasts 6 seconds and has a 2-minute cooldown.
Read the rest of this entry »

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will bring with it several changes to class talents and abilities. In this preview, you’ll get a glimpse at some of the new abilities, spells, and talents in store for the death knight class, along with an early look at some improvements we plan to make to the rune resource system.

New Death Knight Abilities

Outbreak (level 81): Outbreak infects the target with both Frost Fever and Blood Plague at no rune cost. This ability allows death knights to apply diseases quickly when they are switching targets or when their diseases have been dispelled.

Necrotic Strike (level 83): Necrotic Strike is a new attack that deals weapon damage and applies a debuff that absorbs an amount of healing based on the damage done. For context, imagine that the death knight can choose between doing 8,000 damage outright with a certain ability, or dealing 6,000 damage and absorbing 4,000 points in incoming heals with Necrotic Strike — the burst is smaller, but a larger overall amount of healing would be required to bring the target back to full health. Read the rest of this entry »

The vocals behind trance hits such as: Armin van Buuren’s ‘Shivers’, Ernesto vs. Bastian’s ‘Dark Side of The Moon’ and Rex Mundi’s ‘Nothing At All’ is back; this time releasing a solo album. Artists collaborating with her will be: Dash Berlin, Omnia & The Blizzard, Mike Shiver, Josh Gabriel, Julian Vincent.

The first single from this album is Closer featuring The Blizzard and Omnia, a video for this single will be out shortly according to Armada.  This track has already been featured on A State of Trance, and will be part of Armin van Buuren’s 2010 compilation (Disc 1 – On the Beach).

The album will be very vocal driven with a melodic, down tempo trance.

“My experience is that losing yourself in a song can actually bring you ‘Closer’ to yourself, as it awakens certain underlying emotions and, in a sense, at least that’s how I feel, sets you free for a while by relieving you of daily burdens. I hope my album will do the same for those who listen to it.”

- Susana

Expect ‘Susan – Closer’ to be released on the 7th of May 2010.

Official news release: here.

This track is featured on Armin van Buuren’s latest A State of Trance compilation. Like the 2009 compilation this years also has two disc, one for the club and one for the beach. M6 – Days Of Wonder has a great vibe to it and I can picture myself enjoying a – couple – of drinks on the beach while relaxing to it. Enjoy.

[I will do my best to give a review of the changes done to each class. Although I am no expert in every class; I still will attempt to form some sort of logical opinion.]

Beginning Wednesday, April 7 we will begin releasing class previews containing an overview of some of the changes currently being planned for each of the 10 World of Warcraft classes. The type of information you can expect from these posts are a list of the new spells from 80-85, the new passive mastery bonuses for all talent trees, a brief outline of some of the talent changes we’re currently planning, and in some cases new low level spells for select classes.

These changes will by no means be comprehensive, and are subject to change between now and the launch of the expansion. It’s also important to understand that some classes are currently further along in the development process than others, and as a result the amount of information will vary from class to class. Please do not let this frustrate you should your class be amongst those which are on the “lighter” side of things, as all classes will receive the same level of design attention before the expansion is released. Additionally we’ll be providing more information for all classes, especially as we move into the beta phase.

Below is the schedule for each class:

Shaman – April 7
Priest – April 7
Warlock – April 7

Warrior – April 8
Death Knight – April 8
Rogue – April 8

Hunter – April 9
Druid – April 9
Mage – April 9

Paladin – April 16*

Source: World of Warcraft