Showing posts with label Yakisoba Faction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yakisoba Faction. Show all posts

Monday, August 6, 2007

Colony Wars (8/5/07): The stuff of dreams and fantazzzies + GE advisory

While choosing to revive my otherwise non-existent social life last night, I missed the greater part on what seemed like the biggest story of all time in the history of Cervantes' Colony Wars. I was able to log in with 45 minutes left in the clock, landing me smack in the middle of the CARNAGE faction chat without any clue of what transpired before.

As usual, everyone was in a buzz...organizing and mobilizing all troops for proper dispatch to defend the CARNAGE colonies. While still trying to reconnect myself from all the hoopla, NineMoons gave me a rather surprising news. I was only expecting to see the guys defend our 4 Colonies from last week, but when I popped in the world map...

5 FREAKING COLONIES!!!!

Not too long after I was conversing with NineMoons did she once again alert me that CARNAGE got its 6th Colony that night. I very nearly jumped from my seat with this great news! Then i checked out how many people went online that night—54 families! W00t!

With only a few minutes left until the end of the war, I saw a server-wide broadcast urging all Factions to converge in Lago Celeste to attack Yakisoba's last standing Colony. And with that news, I did a double take.

Yakisoba's left with 1 Colony after last week's 10? What the eff happened?

NineMoons and I definitely agreed something was amiss with Yakisoba. And just now I checked their faction blog...I still couldn't figure out why there were only 44 families who joined CW, given the fact that they had a lot of Colonies to defend. Having 9 Factions gang up on you wasn't exactly easy to fend off as well.

Nevertheless, Yakisoba retained their last Colony with only 15% stamina left before the tower could collapse. Talk about being saved by the bell!

The end of this week saw CARNAGE bagging 6 Colonies all in all, giving everyone 45% max HP boost. Everyone agreed this was a war well fought.

Big congratulations to CARNAGE, as well as to our friends in Dominion for getting 5 colonies. Take a look at the world map to see the arrival of new faces in the war zone.

OWNED: El Canon de Diabolica, The Rion Praire, El Tejado Verde, El Lago de Tres Hermanas, Porto Bello's Deserted Quay & King's Garden

Yakisoba: The last stand
Screenshot c/o Overseer

I'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome the merging of Wetworks Faction (headed by GE Team PH member Arcleaumont) with CARNAGE. The added strength of Wetworks certainly worked magic for the Faction this week. Welcome to the CARNAGE family! ^0^

===

Granado Espada will have its weekly server maintenance tomorrow, August 7, instead of the usual Thursday schedule in observance of the Singapore National Day on August 9. And as such, the GE Team will extend the 2x EXP boost till tomorrow, 9AM (+8 GMT). The servers will be down from 9AM until August 8 at 1300.

Until then, grind like crazy, people!

Monday, July 30, 2007

war of the factions report + GE stuff!

I was in the office on a Saturday to particularly witness a first in the world of GE, and that of course was the War of The Factions. IP-Interactive, the premium brand under IP e-Games and the exclusive distributor of Granado Espada in the Philippines, was the one who hosted the event. So that meant it was me, pCM Veya, ninja GM Wisschenschaft and GE Product Manager Ivee who were the only noisy souls in the office that day. Naturally, we were as psyched as all GE gamers who expressed their excitement over this in-game event.

Basically, the War of the Factions was conducted with 15 of each Faction’s best representatives pitted against another Faction of the same number of members from all servers. Imagine the tall order we had on our hands, but we delved into the nitty gritty part of coordinating all Faction Leaders into organizing their teams before entering the battle arena (well, that was GM Wisschenschaft’s job, but I was an avid spectator nonetheless).

The 15 v. 15 matches were held in the Liberty Colloseum, which was with the City of Auch’s PvP Officer. The area itself was quite spacious and has a lot of room to run around (and hide XD). The place reminded me of the Colony areas wherein the main objective was to eliminate all enemies and at the same time grab as much Colonies as one can to provide the necessary buffs. Getting all Colonies without bringing down the opponents won’t help much though, so really, the real deal here was massive enemy wipeout. Plain and simple.

A tiny angel passed by, and stars lit up the sky.

The first match was held in Vivaldi, which had 5 participating Factions. The first few matches seemed like a blur to me…people were dying by the score by the time we got to where the action was. Some Factions, such as the Republicans, quickly wiped out their opponents in less than 5 minutes. Some opted to spread their troops around the area instead of meeting their contenders head on, perhaps hoping to score a few buffs by conquering Colonies. Some waged war the old fashioned way, that is, meeting the wave of enemies smack in the middle.

The battle in the Pachelbel server was not that taxing compared to the first, for there were only 3 Factions who joined. Despite the server being a non-PK environment, we had to hand it to these brave families who took on the challenge and gave a good fight.

However, it was probably at the start if this match where we saw that some groups had incomplete members. For instance, the Nemesis™ Faction had to make do with only 6 members, whereas their opponent, †PINOY†ALLSTARS† had twice their number. Naturally, the one with the most number of troops vanquished the other. However, the †PINOY†ALLSTARS† Faction were not able to stand up to Destroth, who strategically went around to enclose the enemy, then proceeded to decimate their troops by the score. That was one cunning move if I do say so myself.

Meanwhile, we had the most number of participating Factions in Caravaggio, which totaled to 8. The first match was interesting to watch, as the Families from PasawayProphecy Faction did the unthinkable—sacrificing a few of their members, and then resurrecting them all when the IAMVIETNAMESE Faction thought of going in for the enemy Colonies. When majority of then were revived, they turned the tables on the enemy, thus rendering the remaining IAMVIETNAMESE members at the mercy of almost 40 opponents.

Some Factions were actually a tough nut to crack, even with the full force of an opposing group. TheCore, for instance, lost only 2 members battling against the Unholy. EpicSynx Faction meanwhile, baited a lone Fighter against the rampaging Rebirth Faction. This was actually an effective strategy as the other Faction members went in for the kill once they spotted Rebirth right where they wanted them.

The final match between TheCore and Reborn was a fast one. As previously mentioned, TheCore was an impenetrable wall, but nevertheless, Reborn did not go down without a fight. The match was short-lived, but exciting nonetheless.

Over at Carracci, we had 7 Factions competing, and perhaps this was the server with the lowest turnout of Faction members, that being the ScotlandWarriors who only had 3 members when they fought against TITANS who had 10. Regardless of their number, the ScotlandWarriors were aggressive in their fight to even push the TITANS to defend their home base.

On the other hand, there were also even-matched battles, one such thing was the GodLike versus Merlion. These two groups went for an all-out attack, killing quite a number from each contesting troop. In GodLike’s other matches, some of the group’s Scouts were on an enterprising mode as they set traps in pathways leading to their base. I believe Council and Honor had a roll when they stepped into a virtual landmine of sorts, but then again, some people from Honor actually weaved past the traps to confront GodLike at the end of the road.

Last, but definitely not the least, was the Cervantes server, which was participated by the popular Factions such as Yakisoba, Vradical, GoD, CARNAGE and Dominion. Yakisoba took down GoD quite easily during the first match, leaving 13 people versus an army of 43. CARNAGE Faction was likewise quick to conquer some of Vradical’s Colonies, thereby providing the much-needed buffs to their allies, while they quickly decimated their opponents without much ado.

One of the more interesting matches happened with GoD and Dominion, with almost each Family having skirmishes of their own. Dominion spread its troops, while GoD took them on equally and with much force.

Still fresh from their first victory, CARNAGE had to deal with a loss after getting pummeled by Yakisoba. Subsequently, they lost to GoD after meeting them head on in a deafening clash of swords and magic.

The last match saw Yakisoba and GoD face to face once more, with the former living up to its reputation of dealing fast blows and swift attacks. GoD put up quite a fight, but had to concede as their numbers lessened.

Whew! That was one rundown that had me reliving the action once again. We’d like to thank all Factions who participated, as well as a big congratulatory whoop to the server champions of War of the Factions!

Vivaldi: IntrudeRz
Pachelbel: Destroth
Caravaggio: TheCore
Carracci: GodLike
Cervantes: Yakisoba



As for me, I’ll be posting the details of yet another in-game happening—the first official Colony Wars event!

Stay tuned!

P.S.: Here are some last minute screenshots I took (most of them were matches from Cervantes ^^). Not to worry though...videos will be up soon!

CARNAGE takes a beating out of GoD

Infernalz Family pummels Vradical base

Sweet victory for GoD

===

On a side note, some great news came to the office in the form of a package. CM Veya and I were giggling like a bunch of school girls over these:

GE Doorhangers! FTW!

Of course I felt the overwhelming need to decorate my bedroom door with my personal pick from the lot...

Get out of my fantazzzies!!!<<--winning line ever!


Tuesday, July 10, 2007

day 2 of colony wars: strategies for defense

The 2nd Day of the said in-game event was actually twice the fun and anxiety as factions with Colonies had to defend their keep from invading factions. One such group is the strong force of the Yakisobas. Fresh from their Saturday EB, this well-known faction went on an all-out assault for Colony takeovers and war declarations.

Of course, CARNAGE Faction did not disappoint as they gathered their forces for the defense of their 6 Colonies. I chose to let the girls stay behind and support the faction from the sides, as well as to chronicle the events as they happened. Again, I noticed a low attendance of CARNAGE member families, considering the fact that defending the Colonies were a lot more work.

Anyway, Lolo Seer mobilized everyone to assemble at the usual spot (Port of Coimbra Ch. 1). I was at Reboldeoux watching the faction chat for any developments. Platoons were soon given orders to meet in a particular area to defend nearby colonies.

I killed time by leveling the girls in Porto Bello, but I was still watching for any updates. Perhaps at one point I became engrossed in my own activities that I missed a few developments. Although I did learn that the Colonies in the Porto Bello Deserted Quay and King's Garden were soon occupied by Yakisoba and VIRLEAD Factions respectively. And naturally, the faction's HP boost went down from 45% to 27%.

It was then that the action started kicking in.

Lolo Seer gave orders to abandon the Colony in Porto Bello's Desolate Cliff to defend the ones in El Lago de Tres Hermanas and El Tejado Verde. It was then that VIRLEAD took the Desolate Cliff Colony as their property.

Faction Leader Overseer divulged the main strategy during that time: take the Yakisoba territories while they were busy claiming other lands.

Wow. Heavy.

To the rescue

Anyway, I later found out that the Hermana Colony was safe, and that the next stop was the Deserted Quay. At this point, I made a stupid move of going there to help out. I encountered a faction mate on the way to the area, but was later on taken by surprise at the appearance of several Yakisoba families awaiting us on some sort of ambush. And because there were only the two of us in the area (and the lag started to kick in at this point), we were easily taken down. I believe it was RavaNa who pwned the girls without so much as batting an eyelash.

Death by Yakisoba

An in-game shout-out announced that the Tejado Colony was successfully acquired by the VRADICAL Faction. Lolo Seer then ordered everyone to move to the area to reclaim the Colony, and then someone from the faction announced that another platoon's efforts to reconquer the Quay Colony was already on its way. After the success of getting back El Tejado, Overseer announced the defense of Tres Hermanas next. Scouts were ordered to equip daggers and install traps for an all-out defense of the territory.

After the dust has settled, I'm proud to announce that CARNAGE got 3 colonies after the gruelling two-hour battle. Not bad at all. Congrats to the mamaws of CARNAGE for a successful defense!


And another congratulatory shout out...

CARNAGE ATTAINS LEVEL 52 FACTION STATUS!

Great work, mga paps! v^0^v

Sunday, July 8, 2007

colony wars: a first-hand experience

The DeSanggrias got their first taste of Colony Wars yesterday, and I have to say that the experience was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time! If I had serious hypertension concerns that time, I'd have died writhing in my seat. XD

Anyway, I went off to i-Hooked Net Cafe in Katipunan just to play GE and to have a first-hand experience of what it's like to go to war with one's faction. Despite the fact that the place was not that cold, I was freezing with anxiety. In fact, I was a bit adamant to join because of my family's level, but I figured it was worth a shot to try it out just to see my faction mates all together.

The attendance for the CARNAGE Faction was surprisingly low. Most of the resident faction mamaws were particularly missing, like Estradz and Infernalz among others. I just remembered then that some of them had an EB together with the wildboyz Faction that night (which also meant that these guys were probably drinking booze until the wee hours and would not wake up until late in the afternoon..LOLZ!).

In spite of the shortage, everyone was already on their toes, waiting for faction leader Overseer to start issuing orders. At 30 minutes before the start of the war, Lolo Seer (as we fondly call El Capitan XD) finally organized troops and gave orders for the platoon leaders to mobilize their members. I was able to tag along Quicky & Seighart's 3rd platoon and we all decided to meet up in Port of Coimbra.

CARNAGE Faction converge in Port of Coimbra Ch. 1

Upon arriving at the said location, I was surprised to see a lot of my faction mates—all eager for the battle to commence. I also noticed that I was the lone lowbie in the group, much to my embarrassment XD. Anyway, I learned from Seighart that our platoon was supposed to meet up in El Lago de Tres Hermanas. And since I didn't know how to get there, he offered to lead the way from the City of Auch to the awaiting colony.

The 3rd platoon contingent arrives

It's clobberin' time!

Making room for Quicky to do his thing XD

The first contingent of the 3rd platoon arrived at El Lago sometime after the start of the Colony War. I was with Seighart, Quicky, AquinoYap, Hawksmoor, Foxhoundz and Bushma before the rest of the group came in. The main objective was to whack the colony tower in the middle of the surrounding structures before any other faction beat us to it.

Little did I know that little tower sure took a long time to give in despite the fact that I was with a bunch of high level families. XD

A few minutes after we started ganging up on the Colony, Seighart told us to back off to give room for Quicky to do some serious damage. Then after, we got back to hacking and slashing and before long, El Lago's Colony became property of the CARNAGE Faction!

El Lago Colony: OWNED!

Our next stop was at Porto Bello's Deserted Quay. I decided to move back to the barracks and to use the Waypoint on the way to Porto Bello, but when I got there, several Thoracotomies (lvl 100) populated the area and I was dead in an instant. I went back to Reboldoeux, let Cyradis heal the group and then trudged back to Porto Bello. I took quick steps and veered away from the path of the high level monster until I reached my destination and waited until some of the squad members arrived.

The conquest of Porto Bello's Colony

Like in El Lago, the conquest of Porto Bello's Deserted Quay Colony was an easy one. I was able to use Verdandi's newly-learned skill, Meteor Strike, without any disturbances from enemies. Damned skill took quite some casting time, which made it hard for me to use in mob attacks, but thankfully I was able to see up close what it looked like while it dealt a bit of damage on the colony.

CARNAGE Faction at its best form

Spot the clones! LOLZ!

There were a lot of CARNAGE peepz in that location and I saw quite a handful of Claude Baudez and levitating Wizards in Clara Mago outfits. Wah! Seeing those floating Wizards made me wish I'd gotten myself one. But then again, it was nice to see Elementalists in Rosa Matrimonia outfits...the very same gown I want Verdandi to wear when she gets to a much higher level.

Next colony in line: Jezebel's Glen. Well, at least I knew how to get there so I just used a warp scroll (thank God I was able to save that location) so the girls went on to help the rest of the group. I saw a few families from other factions trying to worm their way in getting the colony, but due to the overwhelming number of CARNAGE mamaws (hehehe), it was inevitable that we claimed Jezebel's Glen.

CARNAGE claiming Jezebel's Glen Colony

Afterwards, someone from the squad (forgot if it was Hawksmoor or Seighart) announced that we were to head next to King's Garden. I took the long trip of going to Al Quelt Moreza then Cathari Falls before finally arriving in the designated area. I was surprised to know that VIRLEAD Faction already owned the place, and even more flabbergasted when I was the first to arrive there. Imagine the shock on my face when I met the faction's full force—and I was the lone CARNAGE family (and a lowbie one at that), so naturally I got pwned. LOLZ. Now I knew what it's like to be surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. XD Man, I should've gotten a screenshot of that...it would've been priceless!

In between missions to claim Colonies, CARNAGE engaged in Faction Wars as well. As far as I can remember, we've declared war on CloudNine and VIRLEAD Factions. Also, some of the Colonies we acquired soon underwent attack from other factions, so Lolo Seer called out members to help in protecting our Colonies. And since time was running short as well, our faction leader was bent on defense rather than getting more Colonies from other factions.

There was one point when I went back to the Deserted Quay that we encountered a Sabel Tiger ganging up on enemy factions. Hehehe. It was as if the monster was there defending the Colony for us instead of the other way around. And there was another moment when I ventured back to El Lago that I got chased by an enemy faction who was out for CARNAGE blood. Seeing that I was no match for a high level family, I retreated and saved my girls from utter pwnage. XD

All in all, CARNAGE owned 6 Colonies at the end of the 2-hour war. Dominion Faction got the most, but the excitement's going to be several notches higher in today's Colony Wars as the Yakisoba Faction's bound to make an appearance.

I'm not so sure if I can cover today's war, but I doubt I'd be much help in defending our Colonies with Yakisoba in the run. Nevertheless, I'm just happy to have been able to participate in such an exhilarating event.

Until next CW! CARNAGE FOR TEH WIN!!!


Much thanks to Seighart, AquinoYap, Hawksmoor and everyone at CARNAGE for being a big help in the DeSanggrias' first CW adventure. Go Go Go Paps! Hehehehe.