Let's fight like gentlemen

Hey again, more Street Fighter stuff. This will be old news for anyone already following the game, but considering Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition is out (finally!) and its console version updates hopefully right around the corner, and (wishful thinking now) maybe a PC version release.. It doesn't seem like such a bad time to work some hype.  Arcade Edition of SSFIV will feature several new playable characters characters (should say returning characters from 3S) and a large number of balance tweaks to the existing cast.

If that's not enough, Street Fighter VS Tekken is still being plugged away at and I expect we'll hear more news as it comes closer to release. AND There's ever more sharp looking Marvel vs Capcom 3 coming up in hopefully not that long now as well. And here I thought 2010 was a good year for fighters.. This just keeps getting better!

To whet appetites for fighting like gentlemen (or the opposite) I'm including some footage for Super Street Fighter IV which has been out for a while already but is still going very strong:

Aw.. I can't leave out Hakan, can I ?

Super Street Fighter 4 3D

Ok so I just read that Super Street Fighter 4 3D will be one of the launch titles for the 3DS. Suddenly getting one of those doesn't seem like such a bad idea...  The new features sound pretty cool! Andriasang.com has written about their first impressions of the title.

What is the price tag for a gaming community?

I've been a bit slack on following the Street Fighter 4 community the last couple weeks given the holidays and all, so I was shocked tonight to see that one of the new owners of www.streetfighter4forums.com was auctioning it away to the highest bidder. Reason was I'm told a sick mother who needs surgery. Its very hard to get any info at this point since most topics discussing the auction have been deleted.  (I totally 100% agree with the recent surveys that show a big decline in global democracy over the last few years) We're taking big steps back in terms of development.

But it hasn't even gotten interesting yet:

A forum user at said forum put in a pretty hefty bid to preserve the community, only to see the flippa.com auction closed a brief moment after the bid was placed. I've seen screen prints of another user saying he is getting the site and intends to monetize it, most probably selling the domain for a blog. Meanwhile the auction holder has claimed he was hacked, and I can't find out at this point what that means. He wasn't the one selling the site, for the sake of his sick mother ? (And this is where I have to add, hate to say it but I have big reservations against believing this story. We're on the internet, after all.)

I've been sent some juicy screen prints that confirm what I've stated so far (not my speculations). Another speculation is that once the owner saw he would never get the kind of bid he wanted for the site ($10k) he created false accounts that as beforementioned said they were getting the site and selling it as a blog. (as a sidenote, what kind of blog would be worth that kind of money out of the blue?)

Such drama. I'd love this if it wasn't for the fact my favourite fighting game community's survival depends on the outcome.

This was a lot of typing for what I wanted to ask when I set the topic though. How much do you reckon a gaming community is worth ? I don't have the numbers, but I've been a member more or less since the start and I reckon the site has around 3000 members, with 300-500 returning users on a weekly basis. For some reason the site isn't google indexed at the moment, but when it was it generated a LOT of traffic as well.  Is it worth $10k ?

Seems I'm the raid failer type after all!

Landed into a rather awesome surprise tonight heading to Gadgetzan to do some archeology, just as Deathwing was busy roasting the town... I Stood in the Fire. :(

WoW: Baradin Hold

Did a writeup mostly for my own use on the so far first and only boss of Baradin Hold, Argaloth and figured I might as well post it here as well in case it helps anyone. This will be for the 10 man version, don't know yet how things change if at all in 25.

Argaloth is a Pit Lord demon imprisoned in Baradin Hold.

Boss abilities:

Meteor Slash - 200k attack divided among anyone in front of him. Leaves a 100% increased fire damage debuff.

Consuming Darkness - Random targetted dot dealing ~8k per second over 15 seconds. Can and absolutely should be dispelled quickly.

Fel Firestorm - Cast at 66% and 33%, players will have to move constantly while he is casting to avoid fires landing at their feet.

Berserk - 5 minute enrage timer, increases his damage by 900% and attack speed by 150%.

Suggested tactic:

Raid splits into two groups consisting of 1 tank, 1 healer, 3 dps which will be positioned at opposite sides of Argaloth during the fight. It is very important both groups pile up on top of their tanks to even out the Meteor Slash damage. No standing a bit outside to the side, it gets us all killed. :]

At 66% and 33% players leave their "groups" and spread out and keep moving while Fel Firestorm is being cast, but its important everyone gets back to their respective groups on their tanks immediately when its over. The Fel Firestorm is fairly short, but you can also watch Argaloth's cast bar to see how long is left before returning to positions.

Tanks:
Tank swap after each Meteor Slash to avoid the next one hitting players debuffed for extra fire damage. The absolutely easiest way to swap smoothly is to just watch for Argaloth's cast bar on Meteor Slash and switch right as it finishes.  Be sure to be in position to resume tanking shortly before the Fel Firestorm ends. Use damage mitigation cooldowns agressively to help healers save mana!

Healers:
The Consuming Darkness must be dispelled or it will burn healers dry very fast trying to heal it. Probably best to have a dedicated dispeller in addition to the two healers, as the fight is very taxing and mana intensive for healers as it is. If healer mana runs out too soon, 3 healers is an option especially while learning the fight, but it puts even higher dps requirements on the remaining 5 dps.

DPS:
DPS'ers should use their cooldowns to increase damage early and often! with 6 DPS in the raid it is expected each one will do somewhere between 8-10k dps in order to get Argaloth down before Berserk. Healers will be very strained through the entire fight and they will love every little thing you can do to reduce incoming damage or light self healing. Don't expect a whole lot of healing during Fel Firestorm.