Dragon Age: Origins patch 1.05 On It's Way

A few days ago Bioware announced that it's in the early sages of a new patch for the much troubled fantasy RPG. Origins has suffered from bugs and glitches since it's release in November 2009 and despite numerous patches for both the PC and Console versions there are still game breaking bugs in need of fixing. So yet again Bioware customers wait patiently for some much delayed bug squishing. 


I purchased Origins on release day and ever since have had to scour the Bioware tech support forums for answers. Many gamers complaints ranged from CTDs, memory leaks, increasingly long loading times, quest bugs, item bugs, authorization issues and many more. I watched (and endured) the numerous patch releases that at times caused more new issues then fixes, and to make it worse you needed to have an updated game to play the expansion and later the many DLC additions. Minimal community interaction from Bioware, and useless EA tech support didn't help ether, players felt left in the dark and ripped off. I witnessed (and yes added to) the many frustrated and angry voices on the Bioware forums. So many players lost their respect for Bioware, me included despite being a long time fan, the worst gaming experience I have ever had has changed that for good.


Bioware's recent track record of dodgy Origins patches leaves me sceptical as to weather or not this new patch will be a successes or not. Unfortunately their still in the hunting and gathering stage. ie: Still making a list of bugs to fix, so the new patch is a long way off yet.


It would seem the saga continues in Dragon Age 2 with the last patch fixing over 100 bugs and another Dragon Age 2 patch on it's way to fix many more. I haven't played Dragon Age 2 mainly due to the Dragon Age: Origins headaches I suffered but looking at the Dragon Age 2 tech forums and seeing similar game breaking bugs that I and many others experienced with Origins makes me very happy I didn't wast my money for a second time.


Now we wait to see if Bioware can redeem themselves. Better late then never right?


Need a link to the Bioware forum about the new patch? Click here

How to get the Lightning Stave in DoW2

When Dawn of War 2 Retribution was released not too long ago I eagerly jumped back into The Last Stand mode to check out the new war gear that can be unlocked via achievements. It's honestly the first time I have ever cared about achievements in my life and was particularly interested to see what new toys of war the Farseer can unlock. And I must say the new war gear is awesome! The two new items work perfectly together the easiest to unlock is the new armour giving the Farseer a respectable amount of protection and a very nice 0.5 buff to energy regeneration. To complement the armours energy buff the Lightning Staff adds the lightning runes trait that will reduce energy costs of spells so you can fire off those eldritch storms more often! Oh plus the staff has a ranged attack with knock down and it dose decent damage in melee too.


So how do you get this uber killy staff? Well I can tell how I managed to get it and it was not particularly easy. You need to reach a points multiplier of x275. I managed to do this only with the help of two other good players with high level characters. In the Bloodied coliseum map one team mate and I guarded a capture point each while the remaining player jumped around the map helping us or making kills as fast as possible. You'll need to keep the capture points under your control while avoiding any team members becoming incapacitated until about wave 11 to have a chance at scoring your new weapon.


Just a thought, if your having trouble racking up the 75 revives to get the armour I recommend using the teleport rune to warp your incapacitated team members to a safe location then revive them, you'll save the day and get plenty of thanks and in no time have new war gear!


Below is my favourite war gear combo with the new items, built to survive and dish out the pain from a distance or extract team members to a safe location.


Weapon: Lightning Stave
Armour: Mantle of Malan'tai
Accessories: Rune of Warding, Rune of the Warp, Runes of War
Commander Item: Spirit Stone of Eldritch Might