Best of Facebook Apps - D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter - Full Review

Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter is a fantastic game playable on Facebook. It has enough features to keep the gameplay simple and fun and feed those D&D addicts. You create a character and play through the game in a classic dungeon crawl theme. If you're new to the D&D scene, be sure to check out my introductory post for Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter here.

Heroes of Neverwinter Rundown

This particular Facebook game doesn't necessarily require a lot of friends, although it does help. Heroes of Neverwinter breaks off from the traditional theme of requiring you to have a boat load of friends. In fact, the entire game can be played and you can progress through it just fine without needing a single friend. You start by creating your character. You choose between one of 4 races and 1 of four classes. After that's out of the way, you can begin doing adventures, killing mobs, killing bosses, collecting loot and outfitting your house with all your achievements. The majority of gameplay lies solely in dungeons. You move your party, room by room, killing everything in your way to complete the small storyline that is specific to the dungeons you are in.

D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter - How to Dungeon Crawl
Once you set up your character, recruit a few friends (or AI controlled characters) and stock up on consumables, you're ready to set off into dungeons. There are hundreds of dungeons to play through, however, most have level restrictions and energy costs associated with them. If you have the energy and meet the level requirements, you can join the dungeon.

Heroes of Neverwinter is a turned based game. Which means that each of your players will make their move and/or attack and then its the bad guys turn to do the same. Attacking an enemy is as simply as clicking on them and picking the skill/ability you want to use on them and assuming you are in range, the action will be done. Using abilities on yourself, such as healing, require you to simply click on the character and then the skill/ability you want to use. This continues until you complete the quest and clear the dungeon.

Heroes of Neverwinter - Tips and Tricks
Watch out for traps and try to always bring a rogue to disarm them and help with unlocking locked doors and treasure chests. While you can purchase items that will unlock them for you, it will cost you Astral crystals, which in turn cost real life money and we don't want to spending real money on a game. You also run out of energy fairly quick in Heroes of Neverwinter. One or two dungeons will quickly expend all of your energy. Energy automatically refills per 1 point every 6 minutes, which means you could use a full energy bar doing dungeons every 1.5 hours.

Aside from purchasing energy refills and the unlimited energy bar (that will set you back about $50!) you can add some friends and get them to use you in dungeons. This opens you up to being able to enter a spectator mode where you can watch your friends dungeon and see how they did with your character. During that time, your energy is regained faster.

Recruit either computer AI companions or real players. There is no benefit over one another aside from the fact that you have to purchase computer AI companions with gold. Try to have an even party with at least a rogue and a cleric in every party so you can have a healer and someone to help disarm those pesky traps and unlock doors and treasure chests.

Best of Facebook Apps - D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter - Getting Familiar With the Ruleset

Dungeons and Dragons have been around for an extremely long time. Whether you know it or not, the majority of all games ever made use the D&D combat system to determine the outcome. Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook use the D&D system in a flawless and extremely simple way so anyone can jump right on in on the action. If you're new to D&D or a seasoned veteran to D&D, Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook can help feed your curiosity or your thirst for campaign play. The stories are compelling, the combat is spot on and there is enough loot to fawn over that it will keep you busy for days at a time.

Understanding the D&D realm
Now, before you jump right in and start playing, you may want to brush up on your D&D rulesets. Albeit, Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook use a very slimmed down version of the traditional ruleset, at it's core, it remains almost untouched. RPG fans alike should be able to jump right in and go to town. However, new players need to be introduced into how it all works.

About Stats
There are 6 basic stats that govern a characters ability to perform in Heroes of Neverwinter. Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intellect, Wisdom and Charisma.

• Strength directly effects the amount of damage melee characters do with melee weapons.
• Constitution relates to health. The higher your constitution, the more health your character will have.
• Dexterity is a stat for increasing ranged damage and melee damage by Rogues. Dexterity also plays a roll in helping rogues pick locks or doors. There are plenty of those in Heroes of Neverwinter on Facbook.
• Intellect is a wizard stat that directly relates to the damage any of their spells do and it also helps all classes with trap detection.
• Wisdom is a cleric stat that increases their damage via spells or melee abilities. Wisdom also contributes to trap detection.
• Charisma is another cleric stat that increases their damage output and it aides rogues in doing more damage with their abilities as well.

Now, Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook also have less apparent stats that really effect each of the characters. The 5 stats are AC (armor class), Speed, Fortitude, Relfex and Willpower.

• AC (Armor Class) is a stat that used to determine if a hit against you is successful or not. Any time an attack is made, a 20 sided dice is rolled. The outcome of that roll is compared against the targets AC. If the roll is higher than the targets AC, the hit is successful and damage can be calculated. A roll of 20 always results in critical hit and a roll of 1 always results in a miss.
• Speed is a global stat which is the same for all class. Defaulted at 6, it simply means that a player can only move a maximum of 6 spaces.
• Fortitude is a stat that works like AC. But instead of determining if an attack lands, it determines if a status effect lands (such as fear, charm, stun).
• Reflex helps the player dodge AOE attacks
• Willpower is a stat is used each turn if a player happens to have a negative status effect on them. For example, you get stunned, at the beginning of each turn a dice is rolled and if its over 10, the status effect is removed.

How Damage is determined

In Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook, every time an attack is issued, an invisible roll is made that you can only see after the attack either misses or hits. As stated above, a 20 sided dice is rolled first, and compared against the targets AC to determine a hit or miss. After that, damage is calculated. Damage varies from weapon type to weapon types and between spells and abilities. 

In Heroes of Neverwinter you will see stats on weapons and spells that will say something like, Damage: 2d6+Con. What this means is that 2 six sided dice are rolled and then your constitution is added to the value to get the damage. The first # tells you how many dice are rolled, the letter d simply indicates that die are rolled, the second # indicates how many sides the dice have. The + CON is simply a mod that is added to the roll. It can be + "any of your 6 basic stats".

Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter on Facebook - Go forth and adventure!

Now that you have a basic understanding of how it all works, log on and start enjoying of the best Facebook Apps today!.

Best Of Facebook Apps - Zombie Lane: Yet Another Zombie Game

Zombies are fun no matter how you slice it. Whether or not they are overly aggressive type of zombie or the lazy, stupid and slow zombie you're used to. In case of this game, Zombie Lane, the zombies are slow and relatively stupid. Zombie Lane is a combination of a time management game, quick reflexes and a quazy strategy game. All these elements combine to make one hell of an addicting facebook game that will have you playing for hours.

Zombie Lane Rundown

First and foremost, to get most out of this game you're going to need a lot of friends to play with. By having a lot of friends in Zombie Lane you can visit them for energy and you can send items that will really help progress your game experience. You start out making your avatar. Your initial variations of the way your avatar looks is slim but you unlock more features to equip your avatar with as you play the game. After making your avatar you are brought to your yard that happens to be swarming with zombies. The zombies have trashed your yard and its up to you to restore your house, find your dog and get things back into order before your wife returns from.....well, wherever she went.

How To Play Zombie Lane

Throughout the game you will find yourself killing zombies, repairing your house, harvesting crops, visiting neighbors, sending gifts, decorating your yard and equipping your avatar with all sorts of equipment. Perhaps the most fun thing to do in any zombie game is to kill zombies. Zombie Lane does a great job of filling your every need for zombie slaying. You have a huge variety of ways to kill zombies with hundreds of different weapons to do it with. By killing Zombies you are rewarded coins, experience and an occasional random item. You spend your coins at the market which sells everything from farming plots, buildings that open up different crafting options, weapons, more energy and decorations. That’s right, Zombie Lane has crafting!

Crafting in Zombie Lane

Crafting is a very simple process that has almost no depth. With that said, you will be required to craft certain items if you plan on progressing the storyline at all. Some zombies that you need to disperse of for certain quests require you to kill them with a crafted item. To craft you simple have to find the required items needed for an item and click a “craft item” button once you are in the building that allows some sort of crafting to take place. As simple as it sounds, its still a feature that pretty much every other facebook game completely ignores.

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

Zombie Lane is simply an addictive and fun game to play on facebook. While the first few levels go by painfully slow, once you start getting friends and are able to start planting your own crops the gameplay really starts to speed up. When you're low on energy, simply visit a neighbor and earn 1 energy and expend energy that is neighbor specific. Or, buy energy drinks with real life cash, coins or from chicken wings you harvest from your crops. With enough friends, a large enough farm and the right know how, you could play Zombie Lane for hours on end!

Best Facebook Apps – CityVille: Building the Ultimate City Tips

CityVille Game

So I have bee getting a lot of questions about my city and why I built it the way I have. In this post I will spill the beans and let everyone in on my secrets. My city has a max population of just over 12,700, I have just over 40 million in coin. I am currently level 62 and my population is so low because I am trying to staff more observatories. Appster's Town is just about out of room and I really need to focus on getting more permits really soon. However, waiting for permits isn't a bad thing, it's actually a good thing.

Tip #1: Less is more, smaller is bigger

I've seen so many players rush to expand their city as much as possible. While this is the eventual goal all players should work towards, it isn't something everyone should immediately strive for. When you purchase all expansions for your city, there is no possible way you could get enough energy to do all the things you need to do in your city. You can only do a maximum of about 110 action if take into consideration neighbor visits, energy packs, energy bonus from community buildings and the amount of harvesting you need to do. Unless you have a group of neighbors who harvest for you, collect your house rents when they are up, it's just impossible.

CityVille Game

Its for this reason that it becomes necessary to destroy older homes and businesses. For example, when Atrium Lofts unlocks for your city, there is no need for all houses before atrium lofts. Get rid of all homes that don't match the population of your highest population home. Your entire city should only consist of homes that have the highest population. This keeps your population high, saves you energy to do other things and gives a huge boon to your businesses. Instead of buying expansions to place more country homes and bike shops, get rid of older buildings and replace them with newer ones.

Appster currently uses Atrium Lofts and when the next highest population home opens up (parkside villas) I will destroy all atrium lofts and replace them with the villas.

Tip #2: 270% Payout Bonus increase layout

CityVille Game

The key to making more money with less is through decorations. The plan used in Appster's town is a 4x4 business surrounded by two layers of 1x1 flowers and then surrounded by either 11 arboretums or rocky hills and 1 3x3 playground. My highest payout bonus is 277%. You can go much higher than that if you use cash shop items. Its important to use this design for your highest paying business. Appster currently has tower eats as the highest paying business so its used. Simply build these layouts and surround the businesses with your homes. Closer homes will make your businesses cash out faster!

Tip #3: Stagger your crops, shipments

Don't build 40 plots of the same plant and don't send all your ships to the same place. If you do, crops will wither because you will run out of energy collecting crops. Stagger them! Plant 5 of each plant that takes more than 1 hour. Replant immediately after harvesting.

The whole idea of playing Cityville comes to being able to play and getting as much done as possible. Players should strive to keep the city as small as possible. There is no need to purchase all expansions to have 40,000+ population, you can do it just fine with a third of the size. If you're going down the wrong road, stop now and reorganize your city before it is to late.

Do you have any more tips? Post them as a comment! Help out your neighbors!

Best Of Facebook Apps - NOVA: The Black Ops of Facebook!

MMORPG, Game, FPS

N.O.V.A, or Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance is a fast paced competitive FPS that comes bundled with everything you would expect from a modern day FPS. Did I mention it was an MMORPG? In fact, you can mark N.O.V.A. Down as an MMOFPS! Leaderboards, hundreds of armors for a unique look, shops, group play, solo play, thousands of guns, forums, gifts and facebook cash, NOVA has it all. The competition is stiff and it takes a bit to get used to, but once you do, you will become hopelessly addicted.

MMORPG, Game, FPS

What Is NOVA all about?

Anybody who calls themselves a gamer is no doubt aware of what Black Ops is. You've either heard of it, played it a few times, or your working on your fourth prestige. NOVA is a game that takes so much from Black Ops and crams it into this amazing MMOFPS. You start by creating your avatar and buying your starter weapons with the currency you are provided. If you're a fan of Halo, you will see quite a bit of resemblance here. But that’s only in appearance as the leveling aspect tends to lean more towards the Black Ops side of things. You get points and coins for killing other players. The amount of points, coins and experience you gain all depends on your performance while in game.

You are set up in a deathmatch free for all, the first player to get a set amount of kills wins. The player who scores the highest will be rewarded the best. That’s pretty much NOVA at its core. Its just plain simple fun. Any fan of Halo, Black Ops or any other competitive FPS will fall in love with this. Players start with two basic weapons, a pistol and a rapid fire weapon. Throughout the various maps you can pick up other weapons. However, to truly rack up the damage in NOVA you should strive to purchase the best weapons for your level from the shop.

MMORPG, Game, FPS

Ranks and Coin

You spend the coin you earn in game on gear. Everything from weapons to armor and melee weapons or grenades. It has everything you would come to expect. A unique aspect to NOVA is the upgrades you can purchase. Upgrades give you certain benefits or buffs for a particular aspect. Upgrades come in the form of weapon modifications, weapon add-ons such as scopes, buffs to your radar, debuffs to your enemies radar, and general buffs to your character. All things purchasable are bought with either coin or facebook cash and are restricted by level. The higher your level more gear you character is opened up to.

NOVA – Basic Tips and Tricks

Above all else, practicing is the best way to get better. However, there are a few more tips that can give you an edge  and improve your game over your enemy when you are just starting out. You are going to want to purchase a knife and some grenades as soon as you can. Knifes are great for when you're weapon is reloading and you've got someone on you, its a 1 shot deal that no one should live without. Grenades are great for throwing at others who are fighting each other. When you hit level 4, purchase Enemy Radar so you enemies will show up on radar when they fire, it makes hunting them down easier.