Death is in the air....
From my perspective, Kirk was the first major blogger to call it quits. I learned almost all I know about priestly healing in WoW from him.
It was a while after that (and more recently) that other WoW bloggers slowly but surely closed their doors. Most of them, I didn't read, but I knew they were very popular among the WoW blogging community. And then my fellow Poxer, Nas, said farwell.
I've also seen a bit of a slow down in some people's posting.
And now, the Big Red Kahuna has announced his moving on. (There is some speculation about this being a big April Fool's joke, but if I've learned anything about the man, I've learned that he's dead serious when it comes to his family. And I can't imagine the wrath of the Redhead if BRK were to toy with her on his blog..../shudder)
I have to admit that I have lost my will to play WoW. While this may come as a shock to some, I'm sure others have seen it coming. And, no, I don't expect EVE to take its place, either, although I did purchase one month of play to fully evaluate the game.
So, what does that mean? I don't know. This is definitely not a farewell post; I'll be stinkin' up the interwebs for a while yet. I just don't know if it'll be about WoW. Time will tell.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Back from the Weekend
Ahhh, 18 years in the books!
We ended up not going to Mitchell's for lunch; instead, we went to the Istanbul Cafe. We both had the lunch special which included Hummus and an entree. The food was very tasty!
The rest of the evening went as planned, except for the dancing part...we just didn't have the energy to make it down to Southport for the dance party.
We weren't all that impressed with the Canterbury. It's an old hotel, so I expected some...uh...how do you say, "character". Yeah, that's the word. But, usually that presents itself as old fixtures, worn (antique-ish) furniture, and outdated carpet/wallpaper.
Our room had a queen bed with a mattress that sagged in the middle (totally unacceptable), pillows that were lumpy (unacceptable), and sink fixtures that leaked. LEAKED! For crying out loud.
On the plus side, the room set up was perfect! I had called ahead for fresh flowers and the person who took the call asked if I'd like rose pedals on the bed. Sure! was my response. Well, he did an excellent job of spreading the rose pedals on the floor (with a "I <3 U" on the floor) and made a big heart on the bed with a single rose in the middle. There were also a dozen roses in a vase on the coffee table.
PURE WIN!!!!
In other news, I downloaded the EVE Online trial deal on Thursday to check it out. Yes, I've been getting bored with WoW again, and Ess and Wara have started in on EVE to check it out. Since everyone plays on the same server cluster, I figured I'd check it out and see if I liked it. Oh, and Jay is checking it out as well!
My first impressions are somewhat good. I like the graphics, and the tutorials are helpful....also I had to use the Petition system to resolve an issue with a mission, and the staff responded very quickly (within 5 minutes or so).
The learning curve is huge, though. There are a lot of differences to WoW, one of which might just put me off of the game. Namely, the utter lack of freeform movement. In EVE, at least in my limited experience, you always have to pick a point to move to. There is no piloting the ship by hand as in Freelancer or character movement in WoW. If you want to "RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY!!" from a fight, you need to pick a point that's in the distance to run to. I'm not a big fan of that.
The mining and crafting part is ok. I'm sure that with time, I'll figure out which ore reprocesses into which metals; it's not intuitive like WoW (ie, copper ore makes copper bars). In EVE, while it seems that a certain type of ore (there are several different grades of a particular ore) always reprocesses into the same metals (and the same proportions of those metals), there is absolutely no indication of which metals a particular ore will reprocess into if you don't already know. I've had to find out by trial (no errors, just laaarnin').
I'll really be disappointed if the higher grade ores (and metals) are only available in the low security (lowsec) space where law enforcement is nil, and PvP is king. I will just stop playing if that is the case.
Another beef I have is travel time. I mean, WoW has its issues regarding travel, especially at the lower levels, but from what I've seen, EVE travel is pretty much the same for high level and low level players. One has to use the jump gates to travel between systems, and most of the systems are only connected to a few other systems.
The only advantage for high end players in regards to travel is that they must be able to get from jump gate to jump gate faster, but I can't see any way for them to skip jumps. So a 20 jump journey for me is a 20 jump journey for them, and the only time savings comes in when traveling in-system between the jump gates. Hmmm...don't know what to think about that.
BUT! I'm only two or so days into the trial; I have much to learn and experience before I make my verdict (buy the game or keep looking). I've finished the tutorials, so I'll be following the next bread crumb that's been laid out for me after I've done some mining. I might just buy the game and use the free thirty days to continue my evaluation before committing to a subscription. I mean....I have a ship that I can't use unless I have a paying account....BOO!! HISS!!!
We ended up not going to Mitchell's for lunch; instead, we went to the Istanbul Cafe. We both had the lunch special which included Hummus and an entree. The food was very tasty!
The rest of the evening went as planned, except for the dancing part...we just didn't have the energy to make it down to Southport for the dance party.
We weren't all that impressed with the Canterbury. It's an old hotel, so I expected some...uh...how do you say, "character". Yeah, that's the word. But, usually that presents itself as old fixtures, worn (antique-ish) furniture, and outdated carpet/wallpaper.
Our room had a queen bed with a mattress that sagged in the middle (totally unacceptable), pillows that were lumpy (unacceptable), and sink fixtures that leaked. LEAKED! For crying out loud.
On the plus side, the room set up was perfect! I had called ahead for fresh flowers and the person who took the call asked if I'd like rose pedals on the bed. Sure! was my response. Well, he did an excellent job of spreading the rose pedals on the floor (with a "I <3 U" on the floor) and made a big heart on the bed with a single rose in the middle. There were also a dozen roses in a vase on the coffee table.
PURE WIN!!!!
In other news, I downloaded the EVE Online trial deal on Thursday to check it out. Yes, I've been getting bored with WoW again, and Ess and Wara have started in on EVE to check it out. Since everyone plays on the same server cluster, I figured I'd check it out and see if I liked it. Oh, and Jay is checking it out as well!
My first impressions are somewhat good. I like the graphics, and the tutorials are helpful....also I had to use the Petition system to resolve an issue with a mission, and the staff responded very quickly (within 5 minutes or so).
The learning curve is huge, though. There are a lot of differences to WoW, one of which might just put me off of the game. Namely, the utter lack of freeform movement. In EVE, at least in my limited experience, you always have to pick a point to move to. There is no piloting the ship by hand as in Freelancer or character movement in WoW. If you want to "RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY!!" from a fight, you need to pick a point that's in the distance to run to. I'm not a big fan of that.
The mining and crafting part is ok. I'm sure that with time, I'll figure out which ore reprocesses into which metals; it's not intuitive like WoW (ie, copper ore makes copper bars). In EVE, while it seems that a certain type of ore (there are several different grades of a particular ore) always reprocesses into the same metals (and the same proportions of those metals), there is absolutely no indication of which metals a particular ore will reprocess into if you don't already know. I've had to find out by trial (no errors, just laaarnin').
I'll really be disappointed if the higher grade ores (and metals) are only available in the low security (lowsec) space where law enforcement is nil, and PvP is king. I will just stop playing if that is the case.
Another beef I have is travel time. I mean, WoW has its issues regarding travel, especially at the lower levels, but from what I've seen, EVE travel is pretty much the same for high level and low level players. One has to use the jump gates to travel between systems, and most of the systems are only connected to a few other systems.
The only advantage for high end players in regards to travel is that they must be able to get from jump gate to jump gate faster, but I can't see any way for them to skip jumps. So a 20 jump journey for me is a 20 jump journey for them, and the only time savings comes in when traveling in-system between the jump gates. Hmmm...don't know what to think about that.
BUT! I'm only two or so days into the trial; I have much to learn and experience before I make my verdict (buy the game or keep looking). I've finished the tutorials, so I'll be following the next bread crumb that's been laid out for me after I've done some mining. I might just buy the game and use the free thirty days to continue my evaluation before committing to a subscription. I mean....I have a ship that I can't use unless I have a paying account....BOO!! HISS!!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Who dat Troll?
Why it's Rysteranch, my very first character! He got out and about yesterday with his brand new level 60 ape named....Deathrender! (Jay wasn't so amused....).
So, DR the PooFlinger dinged 4 levels and Rysteranch dinged one level tearin' up Terokkar. Two more levels to Northrend! Yay! And all of this level is rest XP too!
This weekend, my wife and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary (on the 29th) by heading up north on Friday to go to some appts, do some shopping, and eat (probably at Mitchell's....mmmmmm.....Mitchell's.....).
Then, we'll be headed downtown to check in at the Canterbury for the evening; we've never stayed there before, but it looks really nice!
After a nap, we'll be headed out to Shula's for dinner. Once again, we've never been to this place either, but have heard nothing but good things about it.
And finally, we hope to make it out to Dance Master's studio for their Island Evening dance to get a little group lesson and do some dancing! I'd really like to try out our new dance, even if we only know two moves! TANGO!!! WOOT!!
Some time on Saturday, we'll return home. And, no, there will not be a laptop accompanying us on this little mini-vacation. So, no posting, no WoW, but lots of fun!
18 years!!! WoooooT!
So, DR the PooFlinger dinged 4 levels and Rysteranch dinged one level tearin' up Terokkar. Two more levels to Northrend! Yay! And all of this level is rest XP too!
This weekend, my wife and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary (on the 29th) by heading up north on Friday to go to some appts, do some shopping, and eat (probably at Mitchell's....mmmmmm.....Mitchell's.....).
Then, we'll be headed downtown to check in at the Canterbury for the evening; we've never stayed there before, but it looks really nice!
After a nap, we'll be headed out to Shula's for dinner. Once again, we've never been to this place either, but have heard nothing but good things about it.
And finally, we hope to make it out to Dance Master's studio for their Island Evening dance to get a little group lesson and do some dancing! I'd really like to try out our new dance, even if we only know two moves! TANGO!!! WOOT!!
Some time on Saturday, we'll return home. And, no, there will not be a laptop accompanying us on this little mini-vacation. So, no posting, no WoW, but lots of fun!
18 years!!! WoooooT!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
#400 post. Big deal....
...But!! There is a big deal that happened today!!
Yeah, the Pox Redux group got together, and I showed everyone what a noob I am. Sure, I can charge into a bunch of level 18s when I'm 15 and die. Yay on me.
We were able to get all of the Defias questline done up to completing Deadmines, and we did have time to take down the first two bosses. I had to jet really quick after the second boss, so I'm not sure who picked up the drops (they weren't pally friendly). But other than my stupid mistake, I think we all had a good time. I'll try to write up more later.
The real big deal that happened today is.....
We learned the TANGO!!!! WOOOOOOOOT!!!!
Yeah, we only know the basic step and one little move, but still, WE CAN DANCE TANGO!!! So far, I am loving this dance! It's sort of a "I love you/I hate you" kind of dance. Lots of attitude. And loads of fun!
TTFN!
Yeah, the Pox Redux group got together, and I showed everyone what a noob I am. Sure, I can charge into a bunch of level 18s when I'm 15 and die. Yay on me.
We were able to get all of the Defias questline done up to completing Deadmines, and we did have time to take down the first two bosses. I had to jet really quick after the second boss, so I'm not sure who picked up the drops (they weren't pally friendly). But other than my stupid mistake, I think we all had a good time. I'll try to write up more later.
The real big deal that happened today is.....
We learned the TANGO!!!! WOOOOOOOOT!!!!
Yeah, we only know the basic step and one little move, but still, WE CAN DANCE TANGO!!! So far, I am loving this dance! It's sort of a "I love you/I hate you" kind of dance. Lots of attitude. And loads of fun!
TTFN!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Back to WoW
I reengaged with WoW last night. Daxynn is up to 33 and tearin' up Thousand Needles. Her professions (Mining and Blacksmithing) are commiserate with her level, so I'm pretty happy with that.
It's been fun doing the new (to me, well, kinda....it's been a while since I've done them) quest lines for the Horde. It's also fun leveling a pally. I'm hoping that the patch hits soon to tweak the BS crafted items to be more useful to pallies. I mean, Spirit...on plate? Come on....!
Ok, gotta get back to work. Hopefully I'll have something of more substance to post later on.
It's been fun doing the new (to me, well, kinda....it's been a while since I've done them) quest lines for the Horde. It's also fun leveling a pally. I'm hoping that the patch hits soon to tweak the BS crafted items to be more useful to pallies. I mean, Spirit...on plate? Come on....!
Ok, gotta get back to work. Hopefully I'll have something of more substance to post later on.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Shhhhhhh....
So, I didn't log onto WoW at all yesterday.
This is the first day in a while that I haven't logged in. What happened? A couple of things.
First, maintenance day took out play until at least 2 pm Eastern, and while I took some time off yesterday to rest from working the weekend, I couldn't play WoW.
So, I installed Freelancer on my laptop and screwed around with that.
At 2:15 pm, I picked up my wife for an appointment on the North side (of Indy) and took her out to dinner at Mitchell's. I.....LOVE.....THAT......PLACE!!!!!!!!!!
/weep
Mitchell's......mmmmmmmmmm.........Oysters.......
/sigh
....
....
huh?
Oh, yeah, where was I? Mitchell's? mmmmmm.......Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitchell's.......mmmmmmm.......
I know, don't start that again. Anyways, by the time we got back home, it was around 8 pm, and I really wanted to mess around on Freelancer some more. Flyin' around in space, shootin' up bad guys and blowin' things up. Oh...YEAH!
But, today after work, I'll be back on Daxynn, grinding out the levels. She still needs to catch up to Feudkiller, and playin' Freelancer ain't gonna do it!
BTW, does anyone know why I couldn't access any Multiplayer servers on Freelancer? I installed my own server on the same laptop I'm playing on, but the game never did see it. idk...
This is the first day in a while that I haven't logged in. What happened? A couple of things.
First, maintenance day took out play until at least 2 pm Eastern, and while I took some time off yesterday to rest from working the weekend, I couldn't play WoW.
So, I installed Freelancer on my laptop and screwed around with that.
At 2:15 pm, I picked up my wife for an appointment on the North side (of Indy) and took her out to dinner at Mitchell's. I.....LOVE.....THAT......PLACE!!!!!!!!!!
/weep
Mitchell's......mmmmmmmmmm.........Oysters.......
/sigh
....
....
huh?
Oh, yeah, where was I? Mitchell's? mmmmmm.......Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitchell's.......mmmmmmm.......
I know, don't start that again. Anyways, by the time we got back home, it was around 8 pm, and I really wanted to mess around on Freelancer some more. Flyin' around in space, shootin' up bad guys and blowin' things up. Oh...YEAH!
But, today after work, I'll be back on Daxynn, grinding out the levels. She still needs to catch up to Feudkiller, and playin' Freelancer ain't gonna do it!
BTW, does anyone know why I couldn't access any Multiplayer servers on Freelancer? I installed my own server on the same laptop I'm playing on, but the game never did see it. idk...
Monday, March 16, 2009
Didn't play with other Others
No Pox group this weekend, the MRI at my work decided it wanted my attention. Boo.
And posting today is probably shot cause the magnet still is being needy.
Oh, Daxynn, the BE pally is up to 31. yay.
And posting today is probably shot cause the magnet still is being needy.
Oh, Daxynn, the BE pally is up to 31. yay.
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