What kind of gamer kid spends all their time writing, instead of playing games?
I spent the entire week playing games, being stuck at work, and getting ready for the ren faire.
Have this.
Jess really likes its voice changer.
I kinda suck.
Spoilers: I managed to pull neutral. It's awesome.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
I think we can honestly admit that the schedule is actually Tues-Weds-Fri where I occasionally post on Monday now and then.
/koff.
Sorry, Monday is one of my days off from my Real Job OMG, so I tend to not do anything worthwhile on Mondays.
This Monday, though, they released Dominion. So it's less that I didn't do anything worthwhile - I made a whole bunch of stays for the corset I'm helping to craft - and more that the entire day was spent pwning - and getting pwned by - noobs.
It was awesome.
What can I say about Dominion ... it's very, very fast paced. That's the main thing. Slower champions, champs that only have a good lane phase, and support are generally kinda boned in favor of A) Backdoorers like Shaco and Eve, B) TankyDPS (as always), C) Movespeed champions (lookin' at you, Janna/Rammus). Stealth gets a huge buff because of the Oracle's nerf/total absence of wards, making all stealth champions infinitely better than they were in TT (since most of them are also carries and very squishy besides), and SR, where everyone with a brain will buy pink wards and pinkeye to curbstomp stealthers. Plus, both Twitch and Evelynn need to do very, very well within their first three to six levels to accomplish anything in Summoner's Rift - in Dominion, the first four levels pretty much are given to everyone, with gold to match.
Everyone dies a lot, because the entire game is teamfights, skirmishes, and running around the map killing everybody else. A pro Rammus player will pretty much carry the entire game due to being essentially omnipresent.
Rather glad I've got a friend who plays a pro Rammus, though.
Because of the fast pace, games snowball pretty hard - even worse than Twisted Treeline, actually. If you start the game and someone disconnects, it's pretty much a given that you're going to lose. On the plus side, however, that means that the game is usually over one way or another in about twenty minutes - exactly how long games that snowball that badly take in Summoner's Rift before the other team surrenders, actually.
I do like the personal score feature - it lets you know who's actually contributing one way or another, providing you a little info as to what you actually did to earn personal score as you do it. For instance, capturing a point is +40 personal score, where you periodically get an additional +5 score when defending a point. The most amusing one to me so far is the 'martyr' points - I suspect it has something to do with dying while defending or supporting an ally, though I'm not really sure.
So far my favorite champion for Dominion is pretty much Singed, though I did pick up Janna, play her, and win all in the span of about thirty minutes total (including buying the champion.)
Favorite quote from Dominion so far: "Dominion has been out for less than a day and I've already forgotten what Summoner's Rift even is, lol."
(So tired, I stayed up until derp o'clock playing League of Legends.)
/koff.
Sorry, Monday is one of my days off from my Real Job OMG, so I tend to not do anything worthwhile on Mondays.
This Monday, though, they released Dominion. So it's less that I didn't do anything worthwhile - I made a whole bunch of stays for the corset I'm helping to craft - and more that the entire day was spent pwning - and getting pwned by - noobs.
It was awesome.
What can I say about Dominion ... it's very, very fast paced. That's the main thing. Slower champions, champs that only have a good lane phase, and support are generally kinda boned in favor of A) Backdoorers like Shaco and Eve, B) TankyDPS (as always), C) Movespeed champions (lookin' at you, Janna/Rammus). Stealth gets a huge buff because of the Oracle's nerf/total absence of wards, making all stealth champions infinitely better than they were in TT (since most of them are also carries and very squishy besides), and SR, where everyone with a brain will buy pink wards and pinkeye to curbstomp stealthers. Plus, both Twitch and Evelynn need to do very, very well within their first three to six levels to accomplish anything in Summoner's Rift - in Dominion, the first four levels pretty much are given to everyone, with gold to match.
Everyone dies a lot, because the entire game is teamfights, skirmishes, and running around the map killing everybody else. A pro Rammus player will pretty much carry the entire game due to being essentially omnipresent.
Rather glad I've got a friend who plays a pro Rammus, though.
Because of the fast pace, games snowball pretty hard - even worse than Twisted Treeline, actually. If you start the game and someone disconnects, it's pretty much a given that you're going to lose. On the plus side, however, that means that the game is usually over one way or another in about twenty minutes - exactly how long games that snowball that badly take in Summoner's Rift before the other team surrenders, actually.
I do like the personal score feature - it lets you know who's actually contributing one way or another, providing you a little info as to what you actually did to earn personal score as you do it. For instance, capturing a point is +40 personal score, where you periodically get an additional +5 score when defending a point. The most amusing one to me so far is the 'martyr' points - I suspect it has something to do with dying while defending or supporting an ally, though I'm not really sure.
So far my favorite champion for Dominion is pretty much Singed, though I did pick up Janna, play her, and win all in the span of about thirty minutes total (including buying the champion.)
Favorite quote from Dominion so far: "Dominion has been out for less than a day and I've already forgotten what Summoner's Rift even is, lol."
(So tired, I stayed up until derp o'clock playing League of Legends.)
Friday, September 23, 2011
Minecraft 1.9 pre - Seed Water
You know, the only reason - the only reason - this entire post is not dedicated to gibberish about how awesome Dominion is (oh my god Dominion is awesome it's so fast and so much fun if you get a chance to try it you have to try it oh my gods and goddesses) is because the Minecraft 1.9 prerelease also came out and I got more time with Minecraft 1.9.
Oh my gods and goddesses Dominion is amazingly fun. It's just BAM POW ZOOM. I need to be over there! Now I'm over there! Oh damn the base ate my face. I'm alive again! KILL! So fast. Ridiculously fun. I got an hour with it and played three matches. Lost one because Dez DC'd early. :( AT&T did not want me to achieve victory. Dominion snowballs really hardcore. If you're losing to start with you'll prolly keep losing. If you're winning to start with, curbstomp harder so they can't get up.
Anyway, Minecraft 1.9, what to sayyyy ...
Well. First off, there's enough of a problem with the FPS just tanking for no reason that somebody already coded a fix for it. Two different people did, actually. If the first one doesn't work, try this one.
All the seeds changed, so that sucks. For example: I had an amazing Survival Island style seed I was mucking about with with the incredibly appropriate seed Water. It had a tree, enough grass you were guaranteed at least one seed unless you're just the unluckiest person on the planet, enough coal and clay that you could build a house out of bricks without too much trouble, and a massive hole that led into one of the biggest cave systems I've ever seen.
Just amazing.
Now, the Water seed takes you to a slightly different location.
This is what you see when first loading it - a very nice little pumpkin patch. There's also a bunch of sugar cane, a patch of red mushrooms, and enough brown mushrooms to seed your own mushroom biome with.
Nearby, there's a lovely little lava lake about here:
Oh my gods and goddesses Dominion is amazingly fun. It's just BAM POW ZOOM. I need to be over there! Now I'm over there! Oh damn the base ate my face. I'm alive again! KILL! So fast. Ridiculously fun. I got an hour with it and played three matches. Lost one because Dez DC'd early. :( AT&T did not want me to achieve victory. Dominion snowballs really hardcore. If you're losing to start with you'll prolly keep losing. If you're winning to start with, curbstomp harder so they can't get up.
Anyway, Minecraft 1.9, what to sayyyy ...
Well. First off, there's enough of a problem with the FPS just tanking for no reason that somebody already coded a fix for it. Two different people did, actually. If the first one doesn't work, try this one.
All the seeds changed, so that sucks. For example: I had an amazing Survival Island style seed I was mucking about with with the incredibly appropriate seed Water. It had a tree, enough grass you were guaranteed at least one seed unless you're just the unluckiest person on the planet, enough coal and clay that you could build a house out of bricks without too much trouble, and a massive hole that led into one of the biggest cave systems I've ever seen.
Just amazing.
Now, the Water seed takes you to a slightly different location.
This is what you see when first loading it - a very nice little pumpkin patch. There's also a bunch of sugar cane, a patch of red mushrooms, and enough brown mushrooms to seed your own mushroom biome with.
Nearby, there's a lovely little lava lake about here:
It's nice.
Oh, there are a bunch of sheep and more grass than you can shake a stick at, so you'll be able to get a bed. Even if you kill three sheep, you'll still be able to shear the rest later on for a plush bit of carpeting.
Finally, there's The Ravine:
All coordinates are approximate.
I like that the vines continue down into the ravine itself, too. There's at least 35 iron exposed in the first little chunk of exposed ravine, and more coal than you can shake a stick at.
All in all, it's now a very nice little starter seed, it's just not the Survival Island it used to be. Didn't actually get around to exploring the ravine, though - I got killed by my FPS tanking for no reason.
Oh, and apparently they're coding in Hardcore mode! Now Minecraft itself will keep me honest when I play hardcore. Yay!
More reason to hate creepers though.
Some Nether changes, a new automaton to make mob grinders more epic, more useless items, a massive Enderman nerf, three new mobs (one of which being the passive mobs that are holding the place of NPC Villagers), and of course it broke all mods and texture packs again, lol.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
R.A.R.E.
Recording.
Warning: No network connections found.
This is the Remote Autonomous Resource Extraction Unit 01.
The Remote Autonomous Resource Extraction Unit has crash-landed on a large, tier-three oxygen-rich planet. Preliminary analysis indicates that there may be sentient, carbon-based life-forms already inhabiting this planet. Investigation is required.
Preliminary analysis also indicates that this specific island, though resource-poor above-ground, appears to be situated above a large quantity of subterranean resources.
To better facilitate interaction with organic life-forms, and as part of the company's ecological initiative, the R.A.R.E. Unit 01 is composed of 35% organic material and can convert certain key organic materials into fuel.
During the landing sequence, all pre-processed fuels, all nonsentient technologies, and all purely organic life-forms stored in the R.A.R.E. shuttlecraft were lost.
Until the R.A.R.E. Unit 01 receive further instructions, it will continue with its mission alone.
Warning: No network connections found.
Objective one: Establish a base of operations suitable for long-term habitation by organic life-forms.
Secondary objectives:
A) Obtain a reliable source of organic materials for use as fuel.
B) Obtain a renewable source of organic materials for use in constructing temporary habitation.
C) Secure base of operations from hostile life-forms.
D) Report progress at earliest possible opportunity.
E) After initial report, report progress at least once every fourteen days, galactic standard time.
Objective two: Begin collection of valuable mineral resources.
Secondary objectives:
A) Craft tools of sufficient strength and durability to facilitate efficient collection of materials.
B) Craft some form of weaponry and/or body armor in case of hostile interactions with native life-forms.
C) Report progress at earliest possible opportunity.
D) After initial report, report progress at least once every fourteen days, galactic standard time.
Objective three: Deliver resources to home planet after sufficient number have been collected.
Secondary objectives:
A) Report progress at earliest possible opportunity.
B) After initial report, report progress at least once every fourteen days, galactic standard time.
C) Construct some fashion of interstellar travel if no crafts of sufficient size and power are able respond to S.O.S.
Warning: No network connections found.
Warning: Low power. Please recharge Unit 01 soon.
Transmitting on all frequencies: The Remote Autonomous Resource Extraction unit requests assistance. The R.A.R.E. Unit is almost completely out of fuel and a number of organic functions have already been suspended. All purely organic members of the R.A.R.E. Unit were killed during the landing sequence. The landing sequence also destroyed all methods of transportation, tools, and technologies save for R.A.R.E. Unit 01.
Warning: Data corruption detected in main hard drive. Transferring data to organic processors ... no organic processors detected. Attempting to synchronize with network database ... no network database found. Please restore Unit 01 to a good backup.
Warning: Organic functions temporarily suspended. Please resume functions immediately to avoid atrophy.
Warning: No network connections found.
Warning: Low power. Please recharge Unit 01 soon.
Warning: Hostile life-forms detected.
((This should be fun. I need to stretch that out at least ten minutes, possibly more. Pfeh.))
Warning: No network connections found.
This is the Remote Autonomous Resource Extraction Unit 01.
The Remote Autonomous Resource Extraction Unit has crash-landed on a large, tier-three oxygen-rich planet. Preliminary analysis indicates that there may be sentient, carbon-based life-forms already inhabiting this planet. Investigation is required.
Preliminary analysis also indicates that this specific island, though resource-poor above-ground, appears to be situated above a large quantity of subterranean resources.
To better facilitate interaction with organic life-forms, and as part of the company's ecological initiative, the R.A.R.E. Unit 01 is composed of 35% organic material and can convert certain key organic materials into fuel.
During the landing sequence, all pre-processed fuels, all nonsentient technologies, and all purely organic life-forms stored in the R.A.R.E. shuttlecraft were lost.
Until the R.A.R.E. Unit 01 receive further instructions, it will continue with its mission alone.
Warning: No network connections found.
Objective one: Establish a base of operations suitable for long-term habitation by organic life-forms.
Secondary objectives:
A) Obtain a reliable source of organic materials for use as fuel.
B) Obtain a renewable source of organic materials for use in constructing temporary habitation.
C) Secure base of operations from hostile life-forms.
D) Report progress at earliest possible opportunity.
E) After initial report, report progress at least once every fourteen days, galactic standard time.
Objective two: Begin collection of valuable mineral resources.
Secondary objectives:
A) Craft tools of sufficient strength and durability to facilitate efficient collection of materials.
B) Craft some form of weaponry and/or body armor in case of hostile interactions with native life-forms.
C) Report progress at earliest possible opportunity.
D) After initial report, report progress at least once every fourteen days, galactic standard time.
Objective three: Deliver resources to home planet after sufficient number have been collected.
Secondary objectives:
A) Report progress at earliest possible opportunity.
B) After initial report, report progress at least once every fourteen days, galactic standard time.
C) Construct some fashion of interstellar travel if no crafts of sufficient size and power are able respond to S.O.S.
Warning: No network connections found.
Warning: Low power. Please recharge Unit 01 soon.
Transmitting on all frequencies: The Remote Autonomous Resource Extraction unit requests assistance. The R.A.R.E. Unit is almost completely out of fuel and a number of organic functions have already been suspended. All purely organic members of the R.A.R.E. Unit were killed during the landing sequence. The landing sequence also destroyed all methods of transportation, tools, and technologies save for R.A.R.E. Unit 01.
Warning: Data corruption detected in main hard drive. Transferring data to organic processors ... no organic processors detected. Attempting to synchronize with network database ... no network database found. Please restore Unit 01 to a good backup.
Warning: Organic functions temporarily suspended. Please resume functions immediately to avoid atrophy.
Warning: No network connections found.
Warning: Low power. Please recharge Unit 01 soon.
Warning: Hostile life-forms detected.
((This should be fun. I need to stretch that out at least ten minutes, possibly more. Pfeh.))
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Ren Faire Prep
Because ya gotta have blue hair. (will write more on that tomorrow).
--
Or I planned to but then I decided to put on fake nails and I remember why I keep them - my real nails - short. Typing is just really hard right now. I normally type with the very tips of my fingers and so I'm down to like 10 wpm trying to manage these fucking things.
Anyway I need practice because typing is a key part of my job and I wanna play my games so I'm gonna just keep at it.
So I'm prepping to play as a kind of stereotypical faerie with the wings and everything. Did a lot of wirework and stuff then spraypainted them black. Going for a kinda postcard-goth fairy look. Blue wig because hair does not take that color in dye well, fake nails for the lulz and because mine are all gnawed down.
It is very hard to type.
Trying to finish the stays for a corset and Mom's sewing a dress and boots and stuff. It's neat. I'll get to spraypaint the corset with fabric dye too! It's fun.
qwerqwerqwerqwerqwerqwerqwerqwer Looks like I'm gonna be playing auto-attack champs for a bit, LoL.
Of course, it could be worse.
--
Or I planned to but then I decided to put on fake nails and I remember why I keep them - my real nails - short. Typing is just really hard right now. I normally type with the very tips of my fingers and so I'm down to like 10 wpm trying to manage these fucking things.
Anyway I need practice because typing is a key part of my job and I wanna play my games so I'm gonna just keep at it.
So I'm prepping to play as a kind of stereotypical faerie with the wings and everything. Did a lot of wirework and stuff then spraypainted them black. Going for a kinda postcard-goth fairy look. Blue wig because hair does not take that color in dye well, fake nails for the lulz and because mine are all gnawed down.
It is very hard to type.
Trying to finish the stays for a corset and Mom's sewing a dress and boots and stuff. It's neat. I'll get to spraypaint the corset with fabric dye too! It's fun.
qwerqwerqwerqwerqwerqwerqwerqwer Looks like I'm gonna be playing auto-attack champs for a bit, LoL.
Of course, it could be worse.
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Friday, September 16, 2011
Hm. What to say, what to say.
I should really try and plot these out ahead of time, huh?
Still sick. Not much to report.
Oh, I got a pet rock!
It's actually a cactus and I think that's cool. Well not really a cactus, but a desert-ey kind of plant anyway.
Apparently it's snowing outside. I find that absolutely ridiculous. It's not even October yet!
I have a friend who's plotting out a really kind of awesome looking thing. I have a curiousity as to whether or not it will ever get off the ground, but it still might be interesting to play around with.
Dez is also considering running a D&D group. That would be nice I think.
I hate being sick.
I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't even eat that much really. I don't do any kind of illegal drugs.
I don't even know.
Meh.
Apparently you can't use an ampersand in the tag cloud. Who knew?
Edit: So I guess I was lied to about the snow bit. But it is balls cold outside. :(
I should really try and plot these out ahead of time, huh?
Still sick. Not much to report.
Oh, I got a pet rock!
It's actually a cactus and I think that's cool. Well not really a cactus, but a desert-ey kind of plant anyway.
Apparently it's snowing outside. I find that absolutely ridiculous. It's not even October yet!
I have a friend who's plotting out a really kind of awesome looking thing. I have a curiousity as to whether or not it will ever get off the ground, but it still might be interesting to play around with.
Dez is also considering running a D&D group. That would be nice I think.
I hate being sick.
I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't even eat that much really. I don't do any kind of illegal drugs.
I don't even know.
Meh.
Apparently you can't use an ampersand in the tag cloud. Who knew?
Edit: So I guess I was lied to about the snow bit. But it is balls cold outside. :(
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Sick Again
Sorry, not much to say.
Apparently I've got a sinus infection and an ear infection. I'm really kinda prone to that sort of thing.
'sgreat. Back at work today though.
Uh. So.
Riven is really fun to play, on LoL. Bouncing everywhere. 's worse than WuKong. 's pretty cool though. Honestly I kinda dig her splash art & model, y'know? Don't see what all the bitching is about. Biggest problem is how easy it is to unintentionally towerdive. She's got an excess of forward momentum at all times.
The dash is cool. Manaless champion is also cool.
Bet she'd be amazing in a lane with Maokai. He gets that passive, where spells cast around him let him heal, right? She is constantly in motion and constantly casting spells.
Her voice sounds kinda ... odd. Girly. Which, y'know, female. But like girlish, rather than ANGRY WOMAN 'KGO. I feel like she's from some shoujo anime - like the tomboy bruiser to Lux's girly girl caster or something. (Amusement, Riven is ex-Noxus ... ish?, and Lux is from Demacia.)
Wonder how they'd do in a lane together, lol.
Things to try later on (assuming I ever get to play her because jeez everyone wants to):
How's triforce on her?
How's Sheen specifically on her? Manaless with no AP ratios at all, but that on-hit with her ability spam might be neat.
What's most effective - more attack speed or more attack damage, and I bet phantoms would be just silly on her for the move speed. Prolly depends on her AD ratios. Very spammable abilities though. Eh.
Oh - Also Minecraft 1.8 went live as opposed to leaked-and-promoted. So that's cool. SMP still has the Endermen bug (they literally can not see you right now on SMP).
Endermen ... I wish they weren't so easy to kill. I like the tie-in with the original mythos that they're affected by water, but really, two hits with a sword? In relation to that, I wish they weren't so common. Instead of one enderman screwing with the landscape, there's basically an army of them.
And they burn in sunlight. I don't really like that part either. One of the bigger scares of the Mythos was the fact that He didn't give a damn if it was day or night, y'know?
Eh.
Creative mode is hella fun.
Some of the lighting is still bugged.
Still waiting for a good, basic texture pack that's 1.8 compliant.
Gonna go try out single player now. Bet they're significantly scarier there when looking at them could actually hurt me. lol.
Oh, I also wish they didn't move around logs, wood, or cobblestone. Dirt, sand, gravel, sure, but random trees all over the landscape missing their middle bits is kinda disconcerting. And messy.
Apparently I've got a sinus infection and an ear infection. I'm really kinda prone to that sort of thing.
'sgreat. Back at work today though.
Uh. So.
Riven is really fun to play, on LoL. Bouncing everywhere. 's worse than WuKong. 's pretty cool though. Honestly I kinda dig her splash art & model, y'know? Don't see what all the bitching is about. Biggest problem is how easy it is to unintentionally towerdive. She's got an excess of forward momentum at all times.
The dash is cool. Manaless champion is also cool.
Bet she'd be amazing in a lane with Maokai. He gets that passive, where spells cast around him let him heal, right? She is constantly in motion and constantly casting spells.
Her voice sounds kinda ... odd. Girly. Which, y'know, female. But like girlish, rather than ANGRY WOMAN 'KGO. I feel like she's from some shoujo anime - like the tomboy bruiser to Lux's girly girl caster or something. (Amusement, Riven is ex-Noxus ... ish?, and Lux is from Demacia.)
Wonder how they'd do in a lane together, lol.
Things to try later on (assuming I ever get to play her because jeez everyone wants to):
How's triforce on her?
How's Sheen specifically on her? Manaless with no AP ratios at all, but that on-hit with her ability spam might be neat.
What's most effective - more attack speed or more attack damage, and I bet phantoms would be just silly on her for the move speed. Prolly depends on her AD ratios. Very spammable abilities though. Eh.
Oh - Also Minecraft 1.8 went live as opposed to leaked-and-promoted. So that's cool. SMP still has the Endermen bug (they literally can not see you right now on SMP).
Endermen ... I wish they weren't so easy to kill. I like the tie-in with the original mythos that they're affected by water, but really, two hits with a sword? In relation to that, I wish they weren't so common. Instead of one enderman screwing with the landscape, there's basically an army of them.
And they burn in sunlight. I don't really like that part either. One of the bigger scares of the Mythos was the fact that He didn't give a damn if it was day or night, y'know?
Eh.
Creative mode is hella fun.
Some of the lighting is still bugged.
Still waiting for a good, basic texture pack that's 1.8 compliant.
Gonna go try out single player now. Bet they're significantly scarier there when looking at them could actually hurt me. lol.
Oh, I also wish they didn't move around logs, wood, or cobblestone. Dirt, sand, gravel, sure, but random trees all over the landscape missing their middle bits is kinda disconcerting. And messy.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Youtube
Lots and lots of minecraft-related youtube vids. You should check them out. Mostly the new ones relate to 'things I'm wrapping up before 1.8 forces new worlds on us.'
Goodbye 1.7.3. Welcome 1.8 in all its buggy glory.
I am so sick right now my head asplode. :(
Goodbye 1.7.3. Welcome 1.8 in all its buggy glory.
I am so sick right now my head asplode. :(
Friday, September 9, 2011
Let's Play Minecraft!
Or: Neko Has No Sense of Self-Preservation
This one should actually get finished because a) I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun with it, b) like Nethack, there's the "I could die at any time from doing something retarded" factor, and c) I've got a rather tight deadline before I delete EVERYTHING to make way for 1.8.
Also goals. Actual goals should help keep me on track.
Also my computer died a while ago and ate my VtM - B save and that was kinda demoralizing.
Besides, it's not like I'm gonna use F3 to check mob positions or see-through ground or anything.
Keep an eye on this post; I'll post the other videos here as they come.
This one should actually get finished because a) I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun with it, b) like Nethack, there's the "I could die at any time from doing something retarded" factor, and c) I've got a rather tight deadline before I delete EVERYTHING to make way for 1.8.
Also goals. Actual goals should help keep me on track.
Also my computer died a while ago and ate my VtM - B save and that was kinda demoralizing.
I really do sound kinda emo, huh?
Technically, with the challenge as it was posted, you're not supposed to use any mods, but I am far, far too lazy to clean out my %appdata% for something random like this, especially with how much work I had to do to get Xie's and Plasticcraft to work together in the first place. The only appreciable point where my small selection of mods helps me is in this video, where I get health returned on par with hunting down a couple of pigs and stabbing them for chopping down a tree.Besides, it's not like I'm gonna use F3 to check mob positions or see-through ground or anything.
Keep an eye on this post; I'll post the other videos here as they come.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Lord of the Rings Online
This space would be occupied by Guild Wars 1, except for the fact that when I went to try the free trial, I had no problems whatsoever (other than the usual 'wtf NCSoft master account? I don't remember my password for that asdf' that I usually get) ... but Myk and Dez both had lots of problems.
Like, Dez picked up the free trial and got stuck on a loading screen. He decided to leave his computer on overnight to see if it got past the loading screen.
He comes back to find he is out of free trial time, so sad.
Myk had problems with long load times as well, so ultimately he never tried it either.
Ah well.
So, LOTRO. My opinion has always been kinda 'meh' about LOTR. That's part of why I hadn't gotten into LOTRO in its prime - I just didn't care, and besides, I had certain other games that won't be mentioned here to occupy my free time (for the last five years). The movies were fantabulous. I got through 2 1/2 of the books before I gave up on them due to massive ending fatigue (IT JUST WON'T END WHY WON'T IT END). Over all, I appreciate what Tolkein has done for us (creating the entire modern fantasy genre as we know it) more than I appreciate his actual works.
The game is ... not bad. The graphics haven't aged well, but hell, certain other games which we won't mention here (with over 11 million subscribers) graphics haven't aged well either. Besides, LOTRO's landscape is quite pretty. The character models are where it falls squarely into the 'meh' department. They'll do, anyway.
Since it didn't start as a free to play game, it has a lot going for it that most free to play games don't - it has a lot of content, for one. Like, a lot. And it's all free to play, for various degrees and quantities of 'free.'
Since the best features of the game require at least some interaction with it, I'd like to take a moment to discuss the store. Ah, the store.
The store is well-integrated with the game. Sure, it's just a system of menus and it's nothing fancy, but it does the job it needs to do well, and for the first time ever, the company isn't based out of Cali so I can actually buy shit without any hassle. You don't have to leave the game to purchase things - it's just a pop-up window. So that's nice.
I would like to now address something that bothers me.
Why, in the name of every God to ever walk the earth, do we allow ActiBlizzard to get away with such a flagrant disregard for what the players want when every other game on the market took a clue or ten and caught up ages ago?
I'm speaking here about Player Housing and Cosmetic Gear.
Player housing has its upsides and its downsides. On the upside, it's the ultimate expression of player creativity. Hell, 99.999% of the fun I've had, continue to have, and will have in the future with Minecraft involves customizing my own space which I have carved out of the living stone of a billion-foot-tall mountain. Entire games have been made from the concept of 'let's allow you to shape the world.' Why can't more games implement something as simple as player housing? Like, even how Conquer Online - something I haven't played in literally years - handled it, where there's an NPC, and you talk to them, and they teleport you to an instance where your house 'is' - not even a real place in the world!
Hell, if I could have a house to decorate in WoW, I'd probably even consider buying the damn thing with real money ... if I still played.
Which brings me to another thing that WoW is just now - just now - catching on to, which is 'cosmetic gear.' It isn't hard to implement - just allowing one to appear to wear an outfit, y'know, cosmetically, that you aren't wearing stat-wise.
Sure, it's exploitable in PvP.
Does anyone really give a shit? I mean, do people really look and see 'oh that person is in x clownsuit, therefore they have just rammed a bulldozer up my ass so far I can see metal protruding from my forehead'? I can appreciate that there's a psychological factor to consider, but if it's that much an issue, give the PvP crowd the ability to turn it off - or better yet, allow everyone to do so.
Problem solved.
Both of those things, they are available in this free-to-play offering.
Why not other games?
Rant time off.
Anyway. I'm enjoying LOTRO, when I get to play it, it isn't hard, it's pretty standard MMO gameplay fare, I shelled out $20 on it to remove a gold cap and get two extra bags for all my characters. Do I see myself playing it ten years from now? Well, no, not really.
Is it amusing right now?
Sure.
Do I see the game itself persisting for a year or two at least?
Sure, why not?
Like, Dez picked up the free trial and got stuck on a loading screen. He decided to leave his computer on overnight to see if it got past the loading screen.
He comes back to find he is out of free trial time, so sad.
Myk had problems with long load times as well, so ultimately he never tried it either.
Ah well.
So, LOTRO. My opinion has always been kinda 'meh' about LOTR. That's part of why I hadn't gotten into LOTRO in its prime - I just didn't care, and besides, I had certain other games that won't be mentioned here to occupy my free time (for the last five years). The movies were fantabulous. I got through 2 1/2 of the books before I gave up on them due to massive ending fatigue (IT JUST WON'T END WHY WON'T IT END). Over all, I appreciate what Tolkein has done for us (creating the entire modern fantasy genre as we know it) more than I appreciate his actual works.
The game is ... not bad. The graphics haven't aged well, but hell, certain other games which we won't mention here (with over 11 million subscribers) graphics haven't aged well either. Besides, LOTRO's landscape is quite pretty. The character models are where it falls squarely into the 'meh' department. They'll do, anyway.
Since it didn't start as a free to play game, it has a lot going for it that most free to play games don't - it has a lot of content, for one. Like, a lot. And it's all free to play, for various degrees and quantities of 'free.'
Since the best features of the game require at least some interaction with it, I'd like to take a moment to discuss the store. Ah, the store.
The store is well-integrated with the game. Sure, it's just a system of menus and it's nothing fancy, but it does the job it needs to do well, and for the first time ever, the company isn't based out of Cali so I can actually buy shit without any hassle. You don't have to leave the game to purchase things - it's just a pop-up window. So that's nice.
I would like to now address something that bothers me.
Why, in the name of every God to ever walk the earth, do we allow ActiBlizzard to get away with such a flagrant disregard for what the players want when every other game on the market took a clue or ten and caught up ages ago?
I'm speaking here about Player Housing and Cosmetic Gear.
Player housing has its upsides and its downsides. On the upside, it's the ultimate expression of player creativity. Hell, 99.999% of the fun I've had, continue to have, and will have in the future with Minecraft involves customizing my own space which I have carved out of the living stone of a billion-foot-tall mountain. Entire games have been made from the concept of 'let's allow you to shape the world.' Why can't more games implement something as simple as player housing? Like, even how Conquer Online - something I haven't played in literally years - handled it, where there's an NPC, and you talk to them, and they teleport you to an instance where your house 'is' - not even a real place in the world!
Hell, if I could have a house to decorate in WoW, I'd probably even consider buying the damn thing with real money ... if I still played.
Which brings me to another thing that WoW is just now - just now - catching on to, which is 'cosmetic gear.' It isn't hard to implement - just allowing one to appear to wear an outfit, y'know, cosmetically, that you aren't wearing stat-wise.
Sure, it's exploitable in PvP.
Does anyone really give a shit? I mean, do people really look and see 'oh that person is in x clownsuit, therefore they have just rammed a bulldozer up my ass so far I can see metal protruding from my forehead'? I can appreciate that there's a psychological factor to consider, but if it's that much an issue, give the PvP crowd the ability to turn it off - or better yet, allow everyone to do so.
Problem solved.
Both of those things, they are available in this free-to-play offering.
Why not other games?
Rant time off.
Anyway. I'm enjoying LOTRO, when I get to play it, it isn't hard, it's pretty standard MMO gameplay fare, I shelled out $20 on it to remove a gold cap and get two extra bags for all my characters. Do I see myself playing it ten years from now? Well, no, not really.
Is it amusing right now?
Sure.
Do I see the game itself persisting for a year or two at least?
Sure, why not?
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Not for social recluses.
I don't fully understand the point of it. If I want to see if someone's online, I check my IM services. If they're not online, I leave an offline instant message. If I want to talk to >1 at a time, I talk with 'em on Vent 'coz dammit, Dez, I bought you a damn mic.
I guess I don't get why you want to have 200 'friends' who you know through other 'friends' who you maybe knew one time in high school ... oh wait, no, that one's a very nice camwhore.
The only use I found for Facebook was to while away hours on the games, which there are better free-to-play games on the market, and most of them don't depend on forging false friendships with random strangers, either.
I just don't really get the point.
Sorry for the late post, I'm feeling very under the weather.
Not that anyone particularly cares.
Expect a review on Guild Wars 1 sometime after I've formulated a distinct impression of it. I'm trying it out in anticipation of GW2 which looks fuckin' badass.
Yes, I do live under a rock.
Why do you ask?
Oh! And apparently WoW is jumping on the bandwagon for armor recustomization. Fuckin' finally, doodz.
I don't fully understand the point of it. If I want to see if someone's online, I check my IM services. If they're not online, I leave an offline instant message. If I want to talk to >1 at a time, I talk with 'em on Vent 'coz dammit, Dez, I bought you a damn mic.
I guess I don't get why you want to have 200 'friends' who you know through other 'friends' who you maybe knew one time in high school ... oh wait, no, that one's a very nice camwhore.
The only use I found for Facebook was to while away hours on the games, which there are better free-to-play games on the market, and most of them don't depend on forging false friendships with random strangers, either.
I just don't really get the point.
Sorry for the late post, I'm feeling very under the weather.
Not that anyone particularly cares.
Expect a review on Guild Wars 1 sometime after I've formulated a distinct impression of it. I'm trying it out in anticipation of GW2 which looks fuckin' badass.
Yes, I do live under a rock.
Why do you ask?
Oh! And apparently WoW is jumping on the bandwagon for armor recustomization. Fuckin' finally, doodz.
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