Writing always accrues detritus so here’s some bits and pieces from Looking for Group
Heroes of Legend Wikipedia Page
Heroes of Legend
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“HoL” redirects here. For other uses, see HOL
Heroes of Legend (HoL) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2008 by Tempest Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Legend universe, which was first introduced with Legend in 1995. Heroes of Legend takes place within the Legend franchise world of Sendoc, approximately ten years after the events of Legend III: Ascension.
The first expansion of the game, Maelstrom, was released on October 4, 2010. The second expansion, Rise of the Underworld, was released on March 12 2012. The third expansion, The King of Shreds and Patches, was released on June 27 2015. The fourth expansion, Genesis, was announced at TempestCon on August 29 2016 and is scheduled for release in late 2017.
Gameplay
Main article: Gameplay of Heroes of Legend
Plot
In a world still reeling from the rise of the great wyrm Jorumgand, Torias Rayne (King of the human city of Whitepeak) and Agrax Skullcrusher (Warlord of the orcs of Vala’Threk) form an uneasy alliance against their new enemies. With the support of the Dark Elves of the City of Ash and the High Elves of the City of Stars, the Medusas of Minea and the Kobolds of Koboldeep, they begin to recruit young heroes to go out into the world and fight the rising darkness.
Spawn of the Wrym
The first threat to truly challenge the heroes of legend was the draconic children of the World Serpent Joumgand. These four mighty dragons oversaw nefarious plots against the people of Sendoc from their lairs in The Caves of Shadow, The Temples of Storms, the Isle of Mists, and the lost dwarf hold of Karad-az-Karaz.
The Fall of Karad-az-Karaz
With the deaths of his three siblings, Magmarion the fire dragon arose within the halls of Karad-az-Karaz and waged war on the overland. The armies of the orcs, humans and their allies were sent against him in his haunted fortress where he was ultimately destroyed by the heroes of legend.
Horror from the Stars
The threat of Jorumgand temporarily averted, the heroes of legend are challenged again when a strange meteorite crashes in the extreme north of the Bone Wastes, unleashing an army of strange alien beings under the command of Exalted Prophet Xi’il. The prophet is finally defeated when the heroes board his vessel and destroy the core of its Wyrdstone Reactor.
Reception
Heroes of Legend received very positive reviews on release but some fans of the Legend series considered it to deviate too far from the canon laid down in the first two games [citation needed]. Early commentators praised the game for its improvements of existing entries in the MMO genre, including streamlined questing, more intuitive inventory management and wide range of playable classes and races.
The game received some criticism for the lack of variety in its early endgame content, with Sebastian Detweiler in That Other PC Games Magazine commenting “If I have to kill one more bloody dragon, I’ll beat myself to death with my own keyboard.”
Extraplanar Pestilence Incident
Certain enemies in the final raid of vanilla Heroes of Legend (Vessel of the Herald) would place a debuff on players called Extraplanar Pestilence. This was a long-lasting damage-over-time effect that would spread rapidly to nearby characters. Although the debuff was supposed to be removed on exiting the instance, players discovered that if a pet, or summoned creature, contracted the pestilence and was then dismissed it would retain the debuff if re-summoned after leaving the dungeon. This allowed players to spread Extraplanar Pestilence into the wider gameworld where it would wreak havoc in major settlements and quest hubs. This incident has been widely studied by both videogame theorists and epidemiologists for the insights it provides into emergent gameplay and transmission of pathogens.
Guild Roster
Character: Morag, Dwarf Champion
Role: tank / heal
Info: Your long-suffering guild leader. My alts include: Fiona (dwarf Myrmidon), Annis (dwarf assassin) and Sorcha (dwarf elementalist). Yes I have a lot of dwarves. Lady dwarves are hot and I’ll pwn anyone who says otherwise.
***
Character: Ialdir, High Elf Ranger
Role: DPS
Info: I’m an officer in the guild. My professions are leatherworking and enchanting. /w me if you need anything.
***
Character: Solace, Dark Elf Theurgist
Role: heal / different sort of heal
Info: Officer, tailor, and the only person in the guild who actually likes fishing. /w me if you want help keeping the green bar up while you make red bars go down. Also fish.
***
Character: Heurodis, Medusa Diabolist
Role: Imba DPS
Info: bow before the might of bjorn. Officer, raid leader, thrower of DoTS and pwner of noobs. If you need help whisper me because I’ve been playing this game since vanilla and I will be able to tell you exactly what you are doing wrong
***
Character: Prospero, Human Elementalist
Role: DPS / heal
Info: If you’re a healer, please please join our guild. I am sick of earth spec. I really want just want to burn stuff.
***
Character: Jargogle, Kobold Assassin
Role: DPS
Info: My name is Magda, I play a physical DPS class, that is all you need to know about me.
***
Character: Dave, Orc Dreadknight
Role: dps and I really will get a tank spec but I got no gear
Info: hi im dave 🙂
***
Character: Ignatius, Human Theurgist
Role: heal / DPS
Info: I’m Helen, I have a hench beard, a rockin’ robe and do heals.
***
Character: Sinderella, High Elf Elementalist
Role: DPS / tank (storm tanking is totally viable you guys)
Info: I’m Mike, I’m married to Helen and the moment they buff storm we’ll make an awesome healer / tank combo.
***
Character: Mordant, Human Diabolist
Role: DPS
Info: I am a master of the dark arts. Witness as our enemies fall in unholy fire.
***
Character: Caius, Orcish Myrmidon
Role: Tank / DPS
Info: wtb off-hand that doesn’t look like a dildo thanks
***
Character: Orcarella, Orcish Dreadknight
Role: Tank / DPS
Notes: best geared tank on the server 😛
MMO Glossary
Achi
Abbreviation for achievement. Basically, sometimes when you do something in a game, a little text box will pop up telling you that you’ve just done the thing you just did. This is disproportionately satisfying. And often they have amusing names.
Aggro
The attention of monsters. Traditional MMO gameplay places a high importance on making sure enemies are attacking the right people and are not attacking the wrong people. See also: tank, threat.
Alt
Abbreviation for alternate or alternative character. A character you play who is not your main. Some people have far, far too many of these, an affliction known as altaholism. See also: main.
AoE
Abbreviation for area of effect. These are the cool spells that let you do a thing to lots of things all at the same time. This is disproportionately satisfying.
Buff
Something that makes a character better at something. See also: debuff.
Cooldown
After an ability is used, there is usually a period of time during which it cannot be used. This period of time is called the cooldown. It is always longer than you would wish. This is disproportionately frustrating. Somewhat confusingly, the word can also be used to describe the abilities themselves, especially powerful abilities that have long cooldowns. This can often lead to such interesting constructions as “all my cooldowns are on cooldown.”
Crit
Abbreviation for critical hit. This is a hit that does more damage than usual. For players of DPS character, these are basically the only reason to get out of bed in the morning. See also: DPS.
Debuff
Something that makes a character worse at something. See also: buff.
Deeps
Abbreviation for DPS. More specifically, DPS is quicker to type, being three characters, but deeps is quicker to say. See also: DPS.
DKP
Abbreviation for dragon kill points. This is a loot distribution system dating back to the first ever MMOs. Please note, the guild in this book does not actually use it. This does not, however, stop them joking about it.
DoT
Abbreviation for damage over time. Something that causes a small amount of damage repeatedly for a set period. The experience of watching your enemies slowly wither away from innumerable tiny injuries appeals to a certain sort of player. See also: HoT.
DPS
Abbreviation for damage per second. Confusingly, the term is used both to describe the actual damage done by characters and also characters whose primary role is to deal damage. For example, “The DPS need to do more DPS.” It can also be used as a verb. For example, “We need more DPS on the boss, so the DPS need to DPS the boss more.”
Farming
The laborious or oddly relaxing and Zen-like (depending on who you talk to) process of collecting resources within the gameworld in order to make cool stuff. Or, more commonly, pointless stuff that you need to make five hundred of before you’re allowed to make the cool stuff. See also: grinding.
Gear Check
A fight that is mechanically simple but which can only be beaten if the players have good enough equipment to survive their enemies’ attacks and kill them quickly.
Greed
In loot distribution, wanting an item that you cannot use immediately, either because you wish to sell it, give it to an alt, or use it in a different spec. See also: alt, need, spec.
Grinding
Playing the same content over and over again in order to acquire money, experience, or materials with which to make cool stuff. Distinct from farming in that it usually implies content that is actually challenging. See also: farming.
Healer
One who, well, heals. Tanks, healers, and DPS form the “holy trinity” of traditional MMO gameplay. See also: DPS, tank.
HoT
Abbreviation for heal over time. Something that causes a small amount of healing repeatedly for a set period. Common design is for one healing class to rely more on heal over time effects than other classes. It is traditional for players of this class to enquire whether their fellow players wish their girlfriends had HoTs like them. See also: DoT.
Imba
Abbreviation for imbalanced. Generally, and counterintuitively, used as a term of approbation. Essentially, since the purpose of the game is to excel in your chosen area, performing in an imbalanced way is desirable, hence imba is good. Confusingly, OP, which has similar connotations, can be either positive or negative. See also: OP.
Instance
A self-contained bit of the game of which a unique copy will be created for each group that enters.
Kiting
Moving away from an enemy such that it cannot reach you. Ideally, either you or your allies should be killing the enemy while this happens, otherwise it is something of a short-term solution.
Line of Sight
Sometimes abbreviated to LoS. As a noun, the parts of the virtual space that a particular creature can see. As a verb, the practice of attacking a ranged weapon-wielding enemy and then moving out of that enemy’s line of sight so that it will approach you, allowing you to fight it in more favourable conditions.
Macro
A means by which a complex set of commands can be tied to a single key. This has practical uses such enabling rapid target switching or the casting of healing spells on characters you have not currently selected. It also has less practical applications such as being able to shout “I shed the blood of Saxon men” at a moment’s notice.
Main
Your highest level and best-geared character. Strangely, people you meet in MMOs are hardly ever playing their mains, who are always much better geared than the character they are currently playing. Or than you. Or than anyone else on the server.
Mainspec
The spec you primarily play or that you play most often with your guild. See also: offspec, spec.
Mana
A resource used to cast spells. Traditionally blue. Traditionally in short supply.
Mats
Abbreviation for materials. Many MMOs contain elaborating crafting mechanics that allow players to manufacture a wide variety of strange and wonderful items, none of which anybody wants or has any use for. Crafting these items requires raw materials (“mats”).
Melee
Not an abbreviation for anything and actually quite hard to explain without using the word. Fighting things when you are close to those things using sharp things or heavy things.
Mob
Usually an enemy. For those who are interested in the very specific etymology of video games, the term is actually an abbreviation of mobile object.
MT
Abbreviation for main tank. Usually your best-geared and most experienced tank, who will demonstrate this experience by letting the boss punch them in the face. See also: OT, tank.
Need
In loot distribution, to have immediate use for an item. That is, to be able to use it on your current character in their current spec. See also: greed, spec.
Nerf
To reduce in power or efficacy. Nerfs in MMOs offer a fine example of cultural relativism in microcosm. Nerfs directed at other people’s classes are fair, proportional, and justified. Nerfs directed at your class are nonsensical bullshit and evidence that the game developers have no idea how to do their jobs properly.
Offspec
In games that allow switching between specialisations, your offspec is the specialisation with which you are less familiar and for which you have less gear. See also: mainspec, spec.
Oom
Abbreviation for out of mana. An unfortunate condition that afflicts healers everywhere, leads to wipes, and is caused primarily by DPS standing in fire. See also: DPS, mana, wipe.
OP
Abbreviation for overpowered. Used with about equal frequency as admonition and approbation. For example, “lightning spear is flat-out OP. They should nerf it” (negative). “Omg, I am loving how OP lightning spear is right now” (positive). See also: imba.
OT
Abbreviation for off-tank. Usually the second best-geared tank in a raid. The OT’s job is to get hit in the face by all the things that aren’t hitting the MT in the face. See also: MT, tank.
Pb AoE
Abbreviation for point-blank area of effect. These are slightly less cool spells that let you do a thing to lots of things all at once but only if they’re standing right next to you. See also: AoE.
Proc
For those who care about video game etymology, proc is an abbreviation of spec proc, which is an abbreviation of special procedure. Basically a proc is a thing, usually a cool thing, that happens when something else happens. Sometimes it only sometimes happens when the other thing happens and sometimes it always happens when the other thing happens. For example, “when Unrelenting Darkness procs cast Shadow Weave” (this implies that Unrelenting Darkness only happens sometimes, and when it does happen, you should cast Shadow Weave) versus “cast Kidney Stab to proc Blood Frenzy” (this implies that casting Kidney Stab causes Blood Frenzy to happen).
PuG
Abbreviation for pickup group. Randomly assigned players put together by the computer to do group content. Sometimes executing tricky tactical encounters with a collection of strangers you will meet again, some of whom may not speak your language, and all of whom are restricted to communicating entirely in text, is more fun than it sounds. Sometimes it really, really isn’t.
Pull
To attract the attention of a group of enemies. For the initiated, a convention of the medium is that packs of monsters will obligingly stand around, minding their own business, until the players are ready to attack them.
Raid
A large group of players, often but not always drawn from within a guild, who work together to defeat difficult group content.
Spec
Abbreviation for specialisation. Most classes in MMOs can be played in more than one way. Each way of playing the class is a specialisation. Some classes can spec for multiple roles (DPS, tank, healing), others can spec to do damage of different sorts or in different ways. See also: mainspec, offspec.
Solo
To kill an enemy or group of enemies with no help from other players.
Stack (1)
A number of mechanics in this kind of game are proximity related and many of them require all of the players to move close to a single player forming a sort of giant pile of particle effects and ridiculous shoulderpads. This is called stacking.
Stack (2)
A number of buffs and debuffs can be applied multiple times, having a cumulative effect. This process is known as stacking and the number of iterations of the buff or debuff that have been applied is referred to as the number of stacks. Although this terminology with the first sense of stack (see above) it is still far more effective to say “wait until you get 10 stacks of pyroclasm” than “wait until the pyroclasm buff has been applied ten times without any the previous applications expiring, thus resulting in a cumulative effect ten times stronger than the original buff.” See also: debuff, buff.
Tacs
Abbreviation for tactics.
Tank
In traditional MMO gameplay, enemies will ignore all sensible principles of warfare and strategy to focus their attentions on the least vulnerable and most heavily armoured character in the party. Players will ignore all sensible principles of warfare and strategy by arranging for damage to be concentrated on a single character rather than the burden being spread amongst the group. Somehow this works. The character, in both instances, is said to be the tank. See also: MT, OT.
Tempest
The fictional entertainment company responsible for creating and maintaining the fictional MMO played by the characters in this book. Any similarity between Tempest and the real world organisation to which it is obviously a thinly veiled reference is purely coincidental.
Threat
A game mechanical measure of how much a monster wants to murder your face off. Tank characters are good at generating threat and also good at dealing with the resultant face murdering. DPS characters should be good at mitigating threat but often aren’t. They are very bad at the dealing with the resultant face murdering, which is why they should also be nicer to healers. See also: DPS, healer, tank.
Vanilla
The original version of a game before it was ruined by expansions and dumbed down for the noobs.
Wipe
The tragic but ultimately unavoidable death of everybody in a group or raid.