Chaos Rising: List of DLC stuff

I just restarted the campaign mode on Chaos Rising once more just to double-check exactly what it was that I got in the supposedly "Exclusive Wargear Pack" from the myTHQ promotion. Now depending where you live, it might be limited (I read somewhere that for THQ UK, only the first 50'000 people who register will get the code to redeem the DLC). On the little insert that came in my retail box (I'm based in Canada, by the way), it simply says "while supplies last" which is kind of funny to think about since these are virtual goods.

So everybody's published and republished the list of items for the Librarian Wargear by now (if you pre-ordered your game as a soft-copy from THQ.com). You get the following 4 items in that one:

1. Sword of Codicier
2. Mantle of the Codicier
3. Tome of Displacement
4. Obsidian Raven

I don't have any further info other than their names. But I suppose they are a power-weapon, an armour, an accessory, and a command-accessory. And of course, probably all useable only by the new Jonas character who happens to be a Librarian.

Now everybody keeps referring to the other DLC pack as being a Force Commander Wargear pack. It is never stated anywhere in the official literature. The only clues given by THQ is the little set of previously existing icons printed in black and white on the paper insert. I also go by the assumption that while the Techmarines stock your inventory at random when you start a new campaign, the DLC items appear at the bottom of the grid. You should find the following items:

1. Axe of the Ravens
2. Fist of Valhalla
3. Golden Fury of Terra
4. Pistol of Ideus
5. Venerated Zeal
6. Helm of Command

The first five are in the weapons (respectively: power axe, power fist, plasma gun, plasma pistol, an auto-cannon for a dreadnought) and the last is a command accessory (a white helmet).

So you ask, are they worth it? To be honest, I'm sure yet. At a glance the new weapons don't have much higher stats that the others you might find during play. For example, my version of Davian Thule as a Dreadnought imported from the first Dawn of War 2 game save already had a powerful auto-cannon equipped with exactly the same stats as Venerated Zeal. However Venerated Zeal also gives a couple of boosts to the percentage chance "Scatter". And one could safely assume that the other items also have such minor boosts compared their same-stat counterparts. The item I'm torn over is the Helm of Command which sounds great (gives boosts to nearby units) but I just love my Force Commander wearing his jump-pack...

Chaos Rising is out... and I still can't enjoy it

I still have this bitter taste in my mouth 2 days later.

All of it thanks to this annoying screw-up with Games For Windows Live to get my free exclusive DLC. This Dawn of War release did not force you to pre-order like the original DoW2. Instead all you need to do is register your game at the publisher's site at http://www.thq.com - you'll need to sign up for a "MyTHQ" account, but that's free anyway and you'll never need it again afterwards.

THQ promises exclusive content and free stuff when you sign up, but in reality thus far I've only downloaded a free wallpaper JPG and a PDF for a print-your-own poster for Soulstorm. And that was two years ago. Lame.

Anyhow, the way it works is that when you register your game (it's listed under "W" for "Warhammer" so don't panic if you don't find it in the drop-down list under either "C" or "D"), a new code will appear next to your listing for Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising.

Then go to Games for Windows Live - you remember that applet from when you installed the first game and tried to get the exclusive pre-order content, don't you? I sure remember. But you know what's funny? GFWL didn't seem to remember ME!

That is, it would not recognize my password. No, I'm not some kind of computer illiterate. But I think I should be allowed to complain. I logged in before, and I'm not in the habit of altering the settings on my machine. So whatever between the installation of the previous game and this one, shouldn't be my fault in any way. I say this because...

Well, PC gamers tend to be somewhat elitist. There was a time when you had to know your way around an OS (DOS!) if you wanted to get into gaming. PC gamers had a certain right to turn their noses up at consoles because it honestly did take more effort than to pop a cartridge into a slot. But here's the thing: life just shouldn't be that difficult. The days of rudimentary interfaces requiring a knowledge of low-level configuration should be over.

I was appalled when my research into this login failure turned up forum threads (strangely, forums in the GFWL site but not linked to via the Help area) with dozens of users all in the same problem. Clearly others were having more difficulty (such as getting the game to run multiplayer), but I was one of many working all evening on GFWL. Even worse, making my eyes just about pop out of my head, were the suggested solutions like running REGSRV32 on a variety of DLLs or even resetting WINSOCK. I wanted to check my calendar to be sure it wasn't still 1995.

I think the point I'm really getting at is that GFWL is basically just a glorified browser. It shouldn't this complicated. There's another app out there doing something very similar... you may have heard of it. It's called Steam. And it does it well. I've never had a configuration problem with Steam. So I have to ask, why is the code in GFWL so low-level that it's depending everything from OS-level services to port-forwarding on your router?

For the record, I eventually did get GFWL working. I had to get into Vista's Network settings via IE6's Tools and Options menus. Then in Connections, I checked Auto-detect LAN settings, then unchecked it again. And suddenly (no this is not logical to me either), GFWL let me log in.

I haven't been much in the mood to play this game since Tuesday.