Why commuting is bad.

I've made a few comments, both on the Book of Grudges and on Waaagh! as to why there is often miscommunication with regards WAR. My theory is Timezones.
GMT is 5 hours ahead of EA's East Coasty people and 8 hours ahead of Mythic in California.

EDIT : Ardy is a bit daft and has been obsessed with the idea that Mythic is in California. No idea why. As a helpful comment pointed out, they're actually in Virginia, thus EST and thus I fail. No more defending them! Bah :P

That means that at 9am Mythic Office time, it's 5pm here. Time for GOA to bugger off home.
Time for me to do so as well.

So.... for an entire hour I am out of touch while I make my way home. No fancy iPhone here. So things happen.

Here is the result.

6:21 PM
me: It's a me
arbitrary: NDA drop tomorrow ;p open beta ready to download
me: o.O
arbitrary: hrrm.. what else did you miss? UK prices reduced ;p
6:22 PM
me: *flail* Remind me to stay in work late in the future
arbitrary: :-)
me: I told you it'd all happen around five :P
arbitrary: yeah, Mark posted over at the Vault
6:23 PM
me: Aaaand now I have a problem. Do I continue my campaign of random emails to get into Closed beta and only have to patch that client, or do I download Open Beta now...
arbitrary: I'd probably download open beta
6:24 PM
me: Yeah. Likely for the best.
6:25 PM
arbitrary: I want to know from you if the download goes smoothly (unlike CB one) and when the NDA drops, you'll be able to say!
me: Ahhh good point!
6:26 PM
arbitrary: cos we know GOA won't put it up for a while
6:27 PM
me: So far, Ive had to refresh Fileplanet twice :P
6:29 PM
arbitrary: :-)
me: And back to the start
arbitrary: and so the frustration starts!
6:30 PM
me: Pardon the following french. WORK YOU BASTARD
arbitrary: ha ha
me: aha! I may be progressing to step 3 of 3
6:33 PM
me: So Fileplanet.
Step 1. Enter or create a fileplanet account.
Step 2. Enter your pre-order open beta access key. Expect delay.
Step 2 and a bit. Image code validaty thingie.
arbitrary: yay!
6:34 PM
me: Step 2 and a little more, dont forget the image thing likes Caps lock.
Step You're kidding. Site times out, press refresh and pray.
arbitrary: ha ha, you should just blog this conversation to save writing it all up again
6:35 PM
me: I think I shall
arbitrary: including the swearing, of course
me: XD

It's now 7.04 and I continue to wrestle with Fileplanet. Updates as I possibly maybe beat someone to them.

Act your shoe size

A thought occured to me a little bit after finishing my previous entry.

Maturity is a bad thing.

Sure everyone wants to play with people they can get along with and more often than not that means peers. There has always been trends in MMO guilds to require that applicants be over a certain age. I've seen them, you've seen them. Surely an older player base is a better player base. Less chance for immaturity or drama. Or at least that is the theory.

A comment made on Tobolds blog (link on the side) about FFXI got me thinking. The idea of Japanese only groups in the game. I've also listened to a friend who has played the game for a long time. In Final Fantasy, there are expectations of how you will act, how you ask for groups and behave within them.
Obviously that works for the game and the people there, but at the same time such ... expectations and required behaviour results in the type of people who will run into a brick wall for 18 hours.

Also take the current trend in City of Heroes. Previously "Mature Roleplayer" basically meant put on your robe and wizard hat. Of course now there's been a shift. That lot are either ERP or "All-RP" tagged players.
People have claimed the mature roleplayer tag back to indicate edgy or dark or generally grown up storylines. The difference between Adam West's Batman and the Dark Knight really.

All of these things require that people must act in a certain way and show particular traits or a supposed level of maturity.

Frankly I think such things are killing our games.

Don't get me wrong, I am not calling for everyone to start acting like five year olds. But when the atmosphere in which you are playing does not permit you to be just a little loony when the mood strikes, why are you there?

Inevitably everyone in an MMO, even in the most laidback of guilds/fleets/warbands/supergroups will have to deal with group drama. No amount of "18+ players only" or "Mature Guild" in the world will stop there from being people who don't get along.

If you find that such restricted groups or enforced manners work for you, then good for you. However, I would sooner be in a group who will run through the newbie zone in underpants than one demands I play a certain way or would have me spend hours on a fruitless task.

Disclaimer, I currently have a problem with a wisdom tooth and haven't really slept. I know I had a point, but Im not entirely sure I made it. Sorry folks!

How long can you go?

18 Hours

The above link to Escapist came to me via Tobolds blog. He asks a fair question of when is a boss fight too long.

Also some of the commenters make good points, both on the state of FFXI and the idea of an unbeatable boss as a brick wall between players and closure. A means to keep them always around in case they really could pull it off.

I however want to have a quick word about a quote from the article.

"People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before
we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people's
lives," said Beyond the Limitation member Sylphet. The fight caused vomiting and
fainting among Beyond the Limitation's ranks.

So... they ended it because some of their members couldn't go on. Instead of a news article of a FFXI player horking up a lung after the battle, they consider an article on the fact they went at it for 18 hours better.
To me it certainly implies that if the members involved hadn't been suffering physically at 18 hours they'd have continued smashing their heads against the wall until someone did.

What could you have possibly learned about the boss encounter after the majority of a day that you didn't know after three or four hours?

Also

Before loading the game, Square Enix displays a health warning: "During your
time here, you will be able to talk, join and adventure with many other
individuals in an experience that is unique to online games.That being said, we
have no desire to see your real life suffer as a consequence. Don't forget your
family, your friends, your school, or your work."

Weeeelllll...I've heard from some FFXI players. They don't forget about those things Squenix, but to get past your challenges, they sometimes have to ignore them. That's one of the major reasons I've never set foot in Vana'diel

Open ze gates

The EA Account management site is up and running!

By all means, descend upon it before the SE preorder folks are forced to fight to the death for the limited Preview Weekend spots.


As an aside. Am I the only Collectors Edition guy I know who hasn't gotten into closed beta?
Mythic if you're watching, bahrae at yahoo dot com. I'll have my invite thanks.

Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls

Waaagh! had a piece on "gender bending" in MMO's.

Herein is the blog whereby Ardy elaborates.

Syp makes a handful of good points. The actual avatar you play is not a commentary on you as a person. Sure if you roleplay or imagine the life of your character, you will invest portions of your self into the character.
I have often argued that I am not a particularly good roleplayer, my basis of the arguement being that I more often than not tend to create characters that are for all intents and purposes "me". Sure they are different and may in fact represent different aspects of my personality, but I never play very far outside my own experience. Hearing people say "I felt really bad for X but my character is a bastard so he laughed instead" has always confused me.

Does your digital dolly imply that you're anything other than the person in the chair? Not at all. That doesn't mean you cannot try out other options and play.
In the end, my good friend Seph from CoX said it best.

Feh. We're playing a game in which every character does something we
can't. Last I checked, I don't shoot fire from my hands, nor am I
unkillable, nor can I fly. Why people get so hung up on different gender
when there's all of these other differences in chars is beyond me.

People shouldn't be hung up on the fact that there are only girl Witch Elves or male Orcs or that their friends may catch them playing a Dwarven laaaady.
Don't you think the soul of the player by your side is more important than digital skin?

Secret Lives of Mobs

A while ago the very entertaining comic site The Secret Lives of Mobs was hacked.

To the Hacker, long walk, short pier, do the math.

To Rory/Father Jack over at SLoM, everyone on Blog Warhammer wishes you the best and hopes all's going well for you.
Here's to your eventual triumphant return.

News according to Ardy

Lo folks. I know I've been a bit quiet as of late.

First a little not MMO news, my girlfriend Shannon is flying home tomorrow for the last time. Come January she's here to stay. So the quietness has been me spending quality time.
Also for those interested, yes, a long distance relationship between Sacramento, California and Dublin, Ireland for five years. Insanity, I has it.

So onto the WARworld (Sorry DC).

Characters and the people that love them.

Over on Werit's blog there's the wee piece on why he can't play female characters. Folks have chimed in with the reasons behind online gender bending (myself included). I hereby encourage everyone to not only try the sex restricted classes/races in WAR, I suggest that everyone have at least one alt of the opposite sex to their own. If nothing else it will be a lovely social experiment. Stropp pointed out that on a male character in WoW he's never recieved random gifts of money.
So folks, go on, play the opposite gender as well as the opposite faction. Use it as a barometer for the maturity of your chosen server.
Oh and as I write this I'm also catching up with the various blogs I normally sta... read often. So Waaagh! has a piece on it as well.

The where and the why of it all.

Obligatory link pimpage. I'm on board with the Casualties of WAR. One day I shall rise to supremacy and eliminate an officer so I may burrow into their fleshy husk and ... right. I need to read the Evil Overlord List more.

Aaaanyway. The question has come up both in the guild and in the blogosphere at large. Where to play? Where oh where indeed?
For myself, there's not really an option. I'm going to play everywhere. You see I, like many of my friends in CoX, suffer from chronic Altitis. It is an incurable disease that causes you to run off and roll yet another version of oneself for whatever reason. More often than not for me, because it made me laugh, or will when someone sees it.

Where would I prefer to go? RP
That's where my City Of friends will be. We all come from Virtue which as some may know is the RP server (unofficially) over there and thus well.. we're going to keep up with it. It's fun.

Where will I end up? More than likely Main #2 will be with CoW and my money is on them ending up on a Core server.

What will I do then? Late October, after I've gotten my feet wet I've another friend joining the game. Seph and I are likely going to still play on RP servers, but Im considering examining an Open RvR or Open RP RvR server for the purposes of a small team of stealthy shankers, for when you just want to blow off steam (or someones head in the case of Witch Hunters).

As with the sex locked races and the typed servers and the two factions and on and on and on, I most certainly am going to try see as much of the game as I can.
Sure I may end up always retreating to a certain server much as I do in CoX. I rarely am off Virtue, but that said, it never hurts to see how the other guys live. Even if in the case of Open RvR the answer is "briefly".


UUUNDERDOG!

Regis, our blogging Lord and Commander, has put something up at Wizards & Wenches showing the numbers on the Warhammer Alliance forums for various careers.

My main will be a Runepriest. Guess who is bottom of the list?
My beta main will be an Engineer. Guess who took second last?

Honestly I welcome this. I want to be outnumbered. I want to be rare. I want to be a virtual unknown wild card to most of the opposite realm. Waaaay back in the day when I first started City of Heroes and before I contracted altitis, my main Ortus Sapienta was getting into the 40's.
This is before the Global Defense Nerf and ED. This is before xp changes, mission bonuses or hell before Kheldians (my favourite AT). I played a Forcefield Defender.
The number 1 thing I heard more than anything when getting on teams (after yes the inevitable R U Heelor) was "wow... a bubbler. I haven't seen one in 10 levels. You guys get this high?".

Boatarious said it best about when losing is fun. I am looking forward to being a probably rare and misunderstood class. Not because I want glory and recognition for myself, though that'll be nice. Rather I want to have to make a fight of it, and I want to show people what I or my chosen class/race/other can do before it becomes Flavour of The Month.

There'll be more Chosen than you can shake a stick at. Good thing my stick has runes and will really mess up their day.


The Book got a sequel.

The Book of Grudges recently got a new author. Join me in welcoming Hawley/badjawa on board.
Hey Arb, if ever you need a WAR Correspondant in America, let me know :P

Ode to WAAAGH!!!

I have crawled out of bed this morning. Stupid cant turn you off alarm.

Still no email. Nor shall there be. With regards Closed Beta Mythic has this to say.

James Nichols General News 08/11/2008 @ 04:03:38 EST
While you might be
getting sick of my terrible headlines I hope you still got a fevah for more Beta
Invites!The last batch of CE Beta invites have just been sent out to all
eligible CE Open Beta card holders.We'd love to let everyone in but we still
have a few more roofs to thatch before we're ready to have you move in. Look
forward to the announcements on the preview weekend...they'll be coming to a
Herald near you!

So that's that for now.

There's still the preview and open beta to go. But no CB for Ardy. Sadface.
I'm going back to bed...

Closed beta

Why must you tease me so?

Werit has his code as do a few other Casualties of WAR now.

Don't make me go over there.


Also... I'll uhhh... get back to that blogging thing soon. Like Arb mentioned on the Book of Grudges, after so much good news, the brain is somewhat in neutral.

Coming soon : New Blogroll

Just copying this from my post on Blog Warhammer to update the Blog.
God I'm lazy.

Warhammer Age of Reckoning

/random
Anonymous Defender
Archmagery
Bloghammer
Boathammer
Book of Grudges
Champions of Stuff
Doomdiver
Echoes of Nonsense
Keen and Graev's Gaming Blog
OMGompers
O Rly?! Ya Rly! No Wai!!
Tales of War
The Cogworks
The Frozen elf
The Greenskin
The Order of Destruction
The Secret Life of Mobs
The Tome of Ignorance
The War Corps
The White Lion
Tobolds Blog
Warhammer Alliance
WaaaGH!
Waaagh Insider
Warhammer Insider
WarhammerOnline.tv
Werit Blog
Wizards & Wenches

Blogger and Blog Friend Guild

Casualties of War

Dev/CM Blogs
Paul Barnett's blog
Josh Drescher's blog
Doubt the Stars
Elvish Parsley
Fierce Kitten
Adventures in MMO Community Management

MMO News Links

Massively
Ten Ton Hammer


Updated : 08/08/08

Warhammer Online Newsletter - you saw nothing.

Errr.... It seems I can forward the news letter to display in living colour here.

However it swamped everything else and I'm sure you've all had a copy. So... nothing to see here. Certainly no blunder caused by tooling around with email publishing. Nope.

Rune Priests

The blog wherein Ardy stops giggling like a loon and actually discusses his desired class, Rune Priests.

At the risk of reiterating anything I may have stated before here or elsewhere, I have always found when starting a new MMO I gravitate to whatever represents the support classes. I was a Jenquai Explorer in Earth & Beyond, a good corp miner in EVE, my first City of Heroes character was a Forcefield defender (before the global defense nerf and ED, I was epic). In any other games I go the same way.

So having read the original career choices when I was pointed back at Warhammer Online, I found myself drawn to Dwarves, and the Rune Priest in particular. Finally though, with a release date set and beta drawing ever closer for me, the newsletter has released the Masteries details.

Rune Priest Career Masteries

Path Of Grungni
A master of this path focuses on powerful and direct effects, learning to both restore his allies and smite his enemies with equal skill. The path of Grungni is for those who prefer to focus on a single target at a time, be they friend or foe, and unleash powerful effects upon them.

Follow Grungni, learn to heal the crap out of your friend. Blow up the other guy. This does sound like an interesting path, and I am sure for duo play or in particular situations it will shine through. Main tank getting a little ragged? Bam! Healed up to the gills.
Add to this the little thing we got from the Gamespy Beta preview, you can target an enemy and an ally at the same time, and the various powers will only affect the appropriate targets. You become a frontliners best friend, debuffing and healing/buffing the same one on one combat.
Not for me though, though I am sure there are fantastic options in it.

Path Of Valaya
An arguably more subtle mastery, the path of Valaya is focused on effects which continue to linger after they've been invoked. A master of this path prefers to stick to tested, tried, and true slow-and-steady abilities, whether he's building up his allies' strength until they become unstoppable, or whether he's grinding his enemies down with inevitable and unescapable doom.

Valaya the Healer. Valaya the DoT path. Valaya the Siege preferred mastery. When time isn't an issue, endurance is. Again, probably not for me. There are those who like subtle effects and gradually changing the course of things. I though, I am called lemming in City of Heroes. No, my path seems to be...

Path Of Grimnir
This path is concerned with runes which affect large, sweeping areas as they unleash their innate power. A specialist in this path is an expert at changing the ebb and tide of combat by either bolstering his allies' entire front line, or by sending vast swaths of crushing power across the enemy masses.

If this works how this reads, I've found my path. I'm going to get stuck right in there and help change how things are going. I think it was Boatarious who blogged about how it can be just as much, if not more so, fun to lose the battle. To have to fight for every step, even though the fight is doomed. This is where I'm going to try and be. The last desperate defenses, the first mad rushes, the front line of the battle. Doesn't matter if we're winning or losing, I'm getting stuck in and having fun.

And who knows? I may even be able to change the tide of the battle once in a while.

Woo and a hoo

Mark Jacobs I love you.

People who doubted the Collectors edition? Ha!

From the VN Boards

• CE Preorder Preview Weekend. Without the closed beta testers.


• Extended headstart period.


• I quote "Regarding the pre-order, Collector’s Edition and the Standard Edition, we are pleased to announce that we will also be inviting our pre-order CE buyers into our Closed Beta test starting next week. "


• NDA lift hopefully in a week.

And lo the Ardy became a happier bunny than he already was. Thanks to Werit for linking this over on Blog Warhammer.

To do : Preorder site

To register for Open Beta:

1. After August 15, 2008 visit the Mythic Entertainment Account Management website.
2. Create a new Warhammer Online game account.
3. When prompted, enter your Open Beta code.

To register for the Head Start and claim your in-game bonus items:

1. After August 15, 2008 visit the Mythic Entertainment Account Management website.
2. Create a new Warhammer Online game account or open your existing game account.
3. When prompted, enter your Head Start and Bonus Items code.

Everyone and their dog will have read the site for that. This is as much for the one guy who forgets (me) as it is for the rest of you.

Friday the 15th.

So bets on NDA drop people?

The time is nigh!

Spinks over at the Book of Grudges (link in title) gives the best news I've had all day.

We have a release date!

Woohoo!

Edit : Slight Ego stroke here. I did say it'd be after Games Day! So... Sunday kiss Mythic. Take Monday off for headstart.

Forums abound

Two new links on the left today.

Firstly I'm now on the Blog Warhammer forum, see the post below for all the details on that. Come by, have a chat, it'll be fun.

Secondly, Jo Bildo has posted the link to the Casualties of War guild which unless I'm completely wrong is the Bloggers/Blogfriends starting guild. Hop on by those forums and have a gander.

Blog Warhammer

Regis from Wizards and Wenches has set up a new forum. Link in the title or on the left. I'll let the man himself explain (in other words copy/paste ftw)

Introducing: Blog Warhammer by Regis on Tuesday, August 05, 2008

I wrote in the last post that I was working on something, and I'm proud to announce what it is now!A while ago I posed an idea I had: to create a community specifically for Warhammer bloggers. Since I only got positive responses I was hoping to make it reality. Before this weekend I was writing a new post where I was looking for someone to host it. I got halfway in the post, and then I wondered "why can't you do, you lazy bastard?". So I did. And I spent the last days in setting up a forum (setting it up is easy, finding a style that looks good is the hard part), and I just finished.

What is it? Blog Warhammer is a community for people who blog about Warhammer. It's that simple; if you got a blog and it's about Warhammer, then
you are welcome to join!

What is it good for? Some people have been blogging for a long time, some have just started, and some are thinking about starting - hopefully the site will satisfy every type. Join into a tighter and friendlier Warhammer blogging community. Share your experience or advice with the community, and hopefully learn something in return. Announce your blog to people who can spread the word.

Only bloggers? Bloggers are not the only ones who can take advantage of Blog Warhammer. If you like to read blogs and Warhammer, then this is the place to find them.

Sounds good? Go there and take part in the community, and help spread the word to other bloggers. I'm also looking for active members that want to serve as moderators, so PM me or something with interest.

With thanks to VG Cats

As Arbitrary pointed out in comments. The Preorder page has changed again. To the 6th.

Thanks to VG Cats for expressing what I feel.

Momentary Rant

Dear Warhammer Preorder Page it is the 5th.

You previously told us the 4th, then changed. It's now 9.15am Californian time. Do not make me go over there and hurt you.

MetamoRTSis

Consider for a moment the type of people you play with. Apart from Casual gamers who go all over the place, alot of people have a preferred genre. MMO, RTS, FPS and so on.

Then consider the draw to certain IPs. There are Star Wars RPGs, FPS', an MMO and quite probably an RTS that I cannot bring to mind.

Warhammer Online poses a question for me.
The offline fans, the tabletop fans, they are more akin to an RTS player than an MMO. Warhammer on the model level is about massed units, different abilities and knowing which unit to send against which. What move to make to deal with a live opponent and as always, how to live with the whims of the dice.

MMO fans are a varied bunch. Sure we all play different things, but even the most team centric guild and group minded person doesn't operate on the same scale as an RTS battle.

Given that RvR is all about constant on going warfare, up to and including the point of sacking the enemy home city. Given than the open grouping mechanic is (I think) intended to make groups form organically and easily.
Given that we're all going to have a stand up brawl someday in a world RvR zone.
Who will come out on top?

The player used to dealing with small groups of certain classes who can win a battle? Or the player used to dealing with massed groups of various strengths who can win a war?

I guess the question is this. As much as it will be and as much as I will enjoy it, will the game be an unruly mob fight or are we going to see guilds arrange themselves in such a way that we become the regiments we take our characters from on the table top?

I for one would adore to see an army on the march, seeking victory, over the still inspiring sight of half my realm zerging the nearest warm body.

Playing Chicken

Pride goeth before a fall.

Right now I am currently playing chicken with Amazon (yes yes, I can hear some of you sniggering).

The details.

• I bought/pre-ordered my CE at the end of March.
• The Warhammer Herald is telling people to look out for an email from Amazon.
• I've had no such email, does that mean I am safe?
• My Amazon page says I get my stuff shipped October 6th.
• The Amazon page for the CE says it ships September 16th.
• To top it off, I have bought two, one for Fluxie in Canada, one for me in Ireland. They are now permitting shipping outside of the US whereas previously they were not.

So the problem is this. Is there a problem?

On the one hand, it's likely that there isn't anything the matter with my order. But I don't know when it will ship. To make matters worse, I'm relying on not one, but two shippings. The item to California and then to me in Ireland. Mythic have said they will have a reasonable grace period between the end of the HeadStart and when people must enter their DVD key.

Should I fork over another $40ish to get it directly to Ireland? I don't know. At any rate, things won't have to be changed on or charged to any credit cards till at least after payday. Gives me the time to either nerve up and see what happens, or chicken out and pay extra for direct shipping in the hopes that nothing is wrong and that I get the game sooner rather than later.

In other WAR news, I forgot to mention it, but the Secret Lives of Mobs comic was hacked a while back. Why people do that, I don't know. All I can do is wish the creators my best and hope that they get everything back that they lost and hopefully aren't too put out by the experience. Frankly it was the best Warhammer/Fantasy MMO comic I'd seen in ages. Good luck lads.

Choose your battles

I return!

Recently (read : all weekend, and I had taken days off too) I came down with a massive headcold and couldn't really take part in all that went on with WAR lately.

To recap

• People got butthurt because Standard Edition (SE) pre-orders are getting Warhammer Open beta as well as the Collectors Edition (CE) folks.
• There's been bugger all news otherwise.
• Still no newsletter.

So! Where do I stand on all of this?

You know, I don't much care. I bought the collectors edition not for the leg up on other players, I bought it for the loot. The swag. The gubbins inside. I justify my $80 (€51.32) quite a few ways. Primarily, I'd end up paying almost as much for a standard edition in Ireland as I will for a CE in America, where I play. Then, €50 is well worth it for a limited edition miniature, art book, graphic novel, in game quests, xp boosting spell, character heads, portable camp and the enjoyment I will get from same.
The pre-order? Well that just is icing on the cake. I get a special power (Guardians Sapphire band iirc), open beta and live game headstart.
Sure there will be standard edition pre-order guys there, but they dont have my toys.

That and honestly now, it's not much of a stress test if there are only 60,000 people plus current beta population. Of course the Standard guys should get in. They're likely paying a pre-order cost anyway.

The other recent news.

First, the Road to War site.
Maybe it's because it is Monday (and there are supposed to be things coming today) but the site is currently rather slow. At any rate I have declared my allegiance. Dwarf and Order. I have also nabbed their little vote thing and bunged it in a post below, which is now also linked on the left. I can has gold please? On that note, if you want to claim I "recruited" you, the email to use is bahrae@yahoo.com.
Also for interest, I have put my little marker thingy in California. Yes I know I am from/in Dublin but that is where my game is shipping to, so why not?

Second.
Boathammer has passed the mantle/ball & chain of the Warhammer bloggers guild to Jo Bildo. I'm the token European and I shall be there!

Road to War Daily Vote

WAR Minimum System Requirements

I know this comes from the Herald (link in title) but thanks to Book Of Grudges for their little news widget thing.

The minimum specs for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning:


PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

For Windows XP

· 2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
· 1 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

For Windows VISTA

· 2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
· 2 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

Supported Video Cards

ATI Radeon(TM) series

· 9500, 9600, 9800
· X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
· X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
· 2400, 2600, 2900,
· 3650, 3850, 3870
· 4850, 4870

NVIDIA GeForce series

· FX 5900, FX 5950
· 6600, 6800,
· 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
· 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
· 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
· GTX 260, GTX 280

Intel(R) Extreme Graphics

· GMA X4500

Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slowly. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.

Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn’t listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.

I have one question. 15 GB? For what? o.O

Unity and the space/time continuum

Ahh blog titles. What fun we have together. Also a technical note, while I fiddle with the html, any links needed are on the sidebar or in the title.

For a great many people who may read this (honestly I've no idea how many do), the point may at first blush seem pointless.

Servers! Then when and where of them.

This is nothing to do with rulesets like core or Pvp or Rp or what have you. This is more to do with geographic separation, time differences and why I play where I do.

The where I play comes from a quick history lesson. My very first MMO was EA/Westwoods shortlived Earth & Beyond. There were three servers as far as I recall and all of them American. Galileo (my server and later I discovered the rp inclined one), Andromeda (An-drama-da) and you know... I don't recall the last one.

I live five hours ahead of the east coast of America and have always done, barring a two year stint in Canada. This oddly worked out very well for me playing an American game on American times and servers. When I had had my dinner, been with my friends and all the other little bits of life, people were home from work or school and getting their game on. Weekends if I stayed up late, Pacific people would show up and I was garunteed things to do pretty much all the time.

Fast forward to recent times. I'm playing City of Heroes. In the coalition we have British people, me from Ireland (honestly are there any other Ireland based mmo players?), EST people, PST people, a handful from Brazil and a bunch from Australia. Because of the time differences, sure it can be hard to get us all in one spot at one time. Inevitably someone ends up losing sleep. On the other hand, the world for me is collected in my coalition and there is almost always something to do, be it roleplay or teaming without me having to PUG it.

That's not going to be quite the option in Warhammer though for me. Mythic, for whatever reason they have, is separating servers. There are going to be Oceanic, EU and NA servers. Sure it may cut down lag as people wont have to connect to a computer half the world away. Sure it may concentrate the number of servers so more people at your play time are available in your timezone. It seems the best way from a technology and numbers standpoint.
Is it the best way for the rest of us? I don't think I'm sold on it.

They already recognise that gamers are going to connect at any time no matter where they are. I interviewed for the position of English GM for Warhammer here in Dublin (and I'm still waiting for a yes or no GOA) and it was asked if I minded doing late night shifts as the customer service and GM positions are 24 hour jobs. People will play through the night, all day and everywhere in between.

Obviously there are merits to separating servers, be it by load limit or by geography. Otherwise why would they do it? Not everyone feels the need. Eve, even though it is a different beast entirely, for the longest time had one main server. Tranquility. All the world was welcome to make a quick ISK or shoot down someone else chasing that New Eden dream all in the same place.

However because of this separation, arbitrary and spinks from the fantastic Book of Grudges wont be able to participate in the Open Beta blogger guild organised by Boathammer.
Because of the separation, I may find playing on NA servers a little quiet when I get home from work, and find I miss some of the best battles because I have to sleep sometime.

For the North Americans reading, you face the same question but in a smaller way. Do you pick a predominantly pacific server when you live in New York because you work late? Do you make do with lower server population because you are on at, for America, an odd time? Do you then do what I am doing, only backwards. Do you pick an EU server or Oceanic server so that despite odd working hours you will still have people to play with?

In the end it comes down to something Tobold mentioned on his blog about the future of grouping. Warhammer is making it easy for you to hop on and hop right in to a group doing what you want or join a public quest instantly so even the most casual of gamers can feel as though they took part in a meaningful manner.

But in the virtual world, where all are supposedly equal before the 0's and 1's, is the future of grouping still divided by geography?

Personally I will always go for NA servers. It's where my friends are. Friends I am only going to meet in person for the first time this January. Distance has never mattered before, it's just a pity it may matter now.

IP (Freely)

Intellectual properties are a wonderful thing.
When you are starting a game, there are many hurdles. Too much exposition and fluff and people will get bored. Too little explanation of the why of your gaming experience and people will find it shallow and unmemorable. So IP's with their already established stories, fans, rules and reasons are great right?

Welllll....I suppose it depends on the medium. Take Star Wars. The movie franchise (love or hate the new ones) is hugely popular. The books are fantastic (YMMV). The games are hit and miss and the MMO .... well all I will say on that is NGE.

Two big IPs are coming to an MMO near you soon (for a given value of soon). Star Trek and Warhammer.

First we'll deal with a question on Star Trek.

Originally when Perpetual were running the game, they had decided to move the setting for the game 25 years beyond the end of Nemesis. This was a fantastic move I think. It put it far enough away so that familiar faces would exsist, but still left expansion room for current books, movies and shows. It also put it just far enough in the future for the lads at Perpetual to make up any damn story they wanted.
So far I have heard nothing, though granted I've not yet looked hard, to suggest Cryptic is retaining that story, making a new one or just plonking every new player in the universe ten minutes after the end of Nemesis.

Warhammer on the other hand is being created with huge input from Games Workshop. They are helping the lads at Mythic pick the classes, the look and feel of the world, even having final say on certain things (as far as I understand it) like the removal of the Dwarven beertractor.

I wonder how far the interaction from Games Workshop can be taken, or the creative control that Paramount may exert on Cryptic. Take the other big Cryptic game, Champions Online. Cryptic can do pretty much anything they want as they now own the IP. What happens in their game setting is now lore and the books that will be released in tandem and after the game launch will reflect that. Cryptic can manipulate that IP any way they want. Mythic cannot however suddenly declare that all Dwarfs adore pink and should ride bunnies and that Chaos really isn't that bad, they just need a /em hug once in a while.

What do you think is best for an MMO? Free reign to manipulate the world anywhich way? Or should the companies have a fluff bible and strict guidelines?

Personally I favour the guidelines. As much as I trust Mythic, the majority of my interest in Warhammer Age of Reckoning isn't the RvR or Living Guilds/Cities or any of that. It's the fact that it is Warhammer. A game and universe that I love and enjoy playing in.

Another universe that I enjoy is the setting for World of Warcraft. I am currently re-reading Richard A. Knaak's War of the Ancients trilogy. It's a good fun read I think.
I however made the mistake of looking over http://wowwiki.com earlier.
Blizzard have not retained a strict control of their world and as such I see chaos creeping in. Print media is not agreeing with the RTS which in turn is different again in ways from the MMO. Sure the little separations are that, little. Sure this happens all the time, look at comic books and the Infinite Crisis idea.

For me though, for my immersion in the game, for my stories that I play out and for my own enjoyment, I am glad there is someone there watching Mythic and helping them keep the corners tidy (or as tidy as they ever are in the Games Workshop, 25 years is alot of backstory). An ordered universe can only make it easier for us to play surely?

That said, maybe WoW needs to release the Crisis of Infinite Azeroths and Cryptic release something that tells us what stars we'll be trekking.

Warning : If you click on the WoW wiki you are subject to the wiki effect (link in title).

Coming up for air

Previously I have blogged about how I would love to be involved in Community management amongst other things. To be there with a game as it grows, evolves, stabilises into a community and progresses.
If there is one community that can give me pause, it is the legions of Star Trek fans.

I love watching Star Trek. I was raised on the original series and on the Next Generation. I enjoy the books (New Frontier series in particular) and the other series. I am a born and bred sci-fi geek.
However, I cannot stand the majority of the Star Trek community. I'm on that narrow ledge, knowing enough about MMO's to know when people are talking rubbish, knowing enough about Star Trek to know when people are being daft and knowing enough about the mindset of "fans" to know I need to be careful.

There was a chap on the www.startrek.com boards when Perpetual were doing the game that thought a) the cell processor was a gift from God himself and could do anything we demanded of it and b) that as such Star Trek Online shouldn't be a game, but a fully interactive, 3-d modelled with real time star placement from Nasa computers enviroment where we could live Star Trek. Not play it, not imagine it, not toy with it, but have it as a virtual world as advanced as possible.
I thought he was a freakin loony (and if you're reading this mate, you still owe me $1, I told you the comet wasn't antimatter).

What was scary? People hmmed and hawed and found merit in his suggestion.
The kind of people who think that an IP should be taken so far beyond Roleplay and interactivity to the point where you reading the blog is considered work and your character in a virtual world is the "real" you, they scare me. I sure as hell don't want to answer any lfts in a zone I know they're in.

On the original topic, I wish the community manager of Star Trek Online well. They have a hell of a job ahead of them. Star Trek fans, MMO fans and the darker side of each. For once, I don't want the job for myself.


As an aside...
I may be blithingly oblivious to the same sort of underbelly in Warhammer Online, but I'll change that soon enough by watching forums more. The blogs related to WAR though fill me with confidence. Also I think the transition is easier as you are going from tabletop game or role playing game to online game.

Prediction : Star Trek Online vs Star Wars KOTOR MMO blog posts inside the next two weeks.

Something on sensors....

So it hath arrived!

Star Trek Online has been officially unveiled by Cryptic Studios.

Bullet point time!

• There is a quite obvious change from the Perpetual version, Klingon and Federation starting races rather than just the Federation
• There seems to be the implication we're all going to captain our own ships.
• Customizable ships as well as characters.
• User generated content.
• ... Console release.

So then. There are some good sounds coming from it. The two empires at start will please all those bloody noisy people from the old boards (I swear, if I see one serious "I want to be Borg", I will lose all reason). The Cryptic touch from City of Heroes of letting you customize everything!

Then there are the things that give me pause. I know MMOs are making a push into consoles, hell FFXI has been on them for years. I know Champions Online is doing it too. The reason I am wary is simple. Cryptic made a great game in City of Heroes in that you can pick it up for 10 minutes and feel good walking away after. Immersion is what you make it. Consoling this up ... how much of an impact will your ship really make in the universe if it's a 10 minutes here, 30 minutes there console accessible game? That may just be me being paranoid.

The only other thing that sticks out in my mind at the moment is Jack Emmerts letter to the community. Now, he may be perfectly honest and if so I am sorry for being a doubting Thomas, but why do I get the feeling if Cryptic made a game on bread mold, he'd post about what a huge lifelong fan of mold he is? That's my potshot at Jack "Forcefields are fine, lets not fix it" Emmert. I'll behave for now.

It's the final countdown

It's no secret I am a sci-fi geek.

It is also no secret that Cryptic Studios have taken on Star Trek Online from Perpetual (a game I used to follow on the official boards).

So... with some 30 odd minutes till the timer runs out, I wonder what they'll be announcing.
Sadly, I've got to go to work right now, so I suppose I'll find out closer to an hour from now.

Would like to buy : Patience

A quote from Wiki

Development history
Warhammer Online game development began under the company Climax Online. The project was officially canceled in June 2004 when Games Workshop determined that the roll-out costs would be too expensive. However, work on the game never actually stopped as Climax Online continued the project using their own funds until the company reported in late 2004 that the Warhammer Online project was shut down due to difficulty in securing a publishing agreement.
With the license available again, Games Workshop was approached by Mythic Entertainment, who were interested in acquiring the license and starting a new project from scratch. A long-standing relationship between several Games Workshop managers and the CEO of Mythic Mark Jacobs ensured that a deal was quickly reached. The Warhammer Online license was acquired by Mythic on May 18, 2005.

And with regards Beta

Beta timeline

• In the May 2007 newsletter, http://www.war-europe.com/ was announced live. It contained a beta signup section that allows players to sign up for a chance to enter the closed beta. According to the newsletter, the chance of entry is increased when the email address used in the sign up is the same as the address for the newsletter itself.
• In the April 2007 newsletter, a guild beta application was launched which allowed guild leaders to submit their organized pre-launch guilds.
• On October 10th 2007, the public beta servers were taken down and Mythic confirmed that the beta will return to alpha testing until December. Mythic will use this down time to incorporate community suggestions, rewrite code, finish work on character customizations, and polish the end game RvR content.
• In the first week of February 2008, three waves of beta invites were sent out.
• In June 2008 Beta 2 was officially closed, and preparations for the next phase, which would include the so called "Guild beta" begun.
• On July 11th 2008, "Guild beta" keys were officially activated and the next phase of the Beta began

That's just a quick glimpse for any who don't know, just how long this game has been coming. Earlier in the year (or last year, my recollection is fuzzy) we heard of another Warhammer project. A Warhammer 40k MMO. Now that itself doesn't even have more than a blurb on the THQ site. It will be ages yet while they flesh out the art, the systems to be used, the graphics engine, everything. In the world of top notch games, that's life. Quality demands time and time costs money.

What had me thinking of this all is the upcoming Jim Butcher Novels "Princeps Fury" and "Turn Coat", from the Codex Alera and Dresden Files series respectively. I love Jim Butcher! I love the two styles he uses, the two totally different settings, the different characters. I accept that for quality reading like I've had from him, I must wait about a year between books. White Night was released in April, Princeps Fury will be December and then Turn Coat will be April again.
I get two fantastic books from that author every year.

If he went faster they'd be shite. No two ways about it.

On the flip side, there is another author I enjoy. Peter F Hamilton. I very much enjoyed his Nights Dawn trilogy, his Greg Mendel stuff, a few of his standalone and I loved the Confederation Saga. He is currently writing the Void trilogy which is set in the Confederation saga universe, but some 1000 years in the future.
My problem? Hamilton does space opera. While I do enjoy it and while each of his books are meaty, they apparently take quite a bit longer to write. I got the first Void book, the Dreaming Void, last year. I am not due part two until next year. As a result, I've rather lost interest. Too much was left hanging and will be left hanging for too long. I will still get the books when they come out, but more for the sake of completing the story than any remaining Fan-boy WAAAANT!

Going back to WAR, some of the cities and classes were removed. I've not played in the Beta so I can accept the official stance that it is for the best. After all, I have no information to the contrary and while in beta, games can and will change. Everything is a sandcastle before the tide in Beta. It may last, it may not, it may even melt into an unrecognisable lump.

People called for Mythic to take more time, to finish what they thought they were owed. Not wanted, but owed. Do I think they should take the time? Nope. I have patience, I can wait for the game, I just really don't want to.

Sooner or later the hype/hope/happiness would fade and I wouldn't be as ready for the game then as I am now. There is a balance to be had between time spent crafting and quality.

Am I a fanboy? Or do I just need more patience?

I have the best toys

Imagination. That's where it is at.

That is what helps us play. What turns a stuck out index finged and thumb into a gun for Cops & Robbers. (As an aside thought, why is it called Cops & Robbers even in Ireland and England where "cops" isnt exactly the most common term for Police?)
With imagination and passion and ability, we are brought our games. We make our games great. Anyone can click buttons on a computer, but it is far more engaging to feel as though you are that Space rouge/Wizard/Dwarf/Superhero.

I have a fantastic toy right now. It is a Canon iRC5185i black toner cartridge. I removed it from the photocopier because it was finished, obviously. It is black, has a hand grip where you are supposed to hold and rotate new ones to loosen the toner. It has a sliding plastic piece at the top that moves back. Rather like a shotgun being racked.

You know what? I have a freakin plasma gun. Sure it may only amuse me for a few minutes, what with me apparently being an adult, but for those few minutes it is mighty. I can slay foes, defend innocents, change worlds.

It is one of the things I wonder if I can do in Warhammer Age of Reckoning.
In City of Heroes I have serious roleplay characters yes (or as serious as I ever get). I also have various, a small giant insect (4' tall as opposed to other giant insects), a mutated puppy dog, three versions of a rampant AI childs toy (see below for Robo-Buddy) and a guy who gets covered in rocks because they really really like him. Roleplayers are varied. A friend recently told me she was for once glad not to be playing with me due to my latest incarnation of Robo-Buddy. To each their own really. It may bother her, but it amuses me and keeps me playing. I tend towards daftness rather than darkness more often than not because I enjoy being happy. My roleplay isn't necessarily right, nor is it technically wrong. It simply is what I enjoy. Why play a game you are not enjoying?

I know that in the grim darkness of the far future or the distant past, in Warhammer, there is only war.

That is fine by me. I however know there will be smiles, jokes, things to amuse and I hope very much, some methods whereby I can be as silly as I want or imagine as much as I want to give myself another few moments of fantasy funnies. Imagination is the ultimate sandbox.

Legion : Delivery Charge

Robo-Buddy Mk I v3.2 Upgradable model.


>AI system start.

>Delivery phase complete.

>>Accepting new modules
>>>Obtaining mace replacement
>>>Updating firmware. . . . complete.


Armor modification detected. Integrating systems. Redesignating Mk III v1.0


> Online

"Bob we're never going to get away with this..."

"Look, someone upstairs ordered the damn thing. The Widow doesn't have any kids, I'm not even going to ask about the Lord and the 'recruits' for widow and spider training don't get toys."

"..yeah but I mean sticking it in a Crab-can? The damn thing already grabbed my gun"

"There's talk, I've seen the guys out near Kalinda. Some of the soldiers and widows are breaking ranks and doing that Destined One stuff...no one will notice another ...errr short spider. C'mon it's not like he can get out"


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


So! Double XP Weekend went rather well for me. Played a bit with Werit of http://werit.blogspot.com/ and worked my ass off on my (at the time) level 39 Ice/Cold corruptor. Several ITF's, one LGTF and a farming team later I hit level 50 and unlocked VEATs.

Thus for my own amusement and to the horror of my friends, there is now a Robo-Buddy Soldier of Arachnos running around at level 14 (I knew taking Monday off would pay off).


Thanks to everyone who helped!

I do have a personal list of goals before I ever leave the game completely. They are to get one level 50 for every heroic AT and one villain at 50. That's 8 level 50 characters.


5 down. Next up Warshade (lvl41) and Scrapper (lvl42). The final 50, a blaster, will likely be the hardest for me. However I have found the silliest concepts usually make characters more playable for me after all this time. Hence, the Puppy make make the change from Claws/Regen scrapper to Sonic/Devices blaster. We'll see.


In conclusion, Robo-Buddy watches you.

How close are your friends?

A topic was mentioned on the Book of Grudges (Link in post title) recently that has suddenly come to mind for me for two reasons. Firstly someone recently decided that I am no longer their friend and secondly, I saw an article a while ago on how Facebook and such sites are eroding peoples concepts of "friend".

So I have to ask, what defines a friend for people? Is it time spent? Is it an on going thing? I know someone that I haven't spoken to in years but still consider a dear friend, yet I also know people I have talked to recently and often, yet consider them little more than aquaintances.

In a wired world where popularity is less how well received you are by your peers and more by how large your Myspace count is, how does one work out who is there for a chat and who is there to, as the joke goes, help you hide the bodies?

I've played City of Heroes for almost four years now. I have met in the course of that mmo probably hundreds of people. Possibly thousands. I've found a niche in a coalition and through global channels and teaming, I seem to be rather well known and liked. I have friends I have made there, some I have even invited to my wedding. However, like in the Book of Grudges, how many of these friendships, built upon playing a game will survive if or when one of us moves to another game, or CoX closes?
People are social creatures, that is how MMOs get any play at all. The idea of playing with real people in a game that you both enjoy. Perhaps that is all the seed that friendship needs, but for any mmo players, look at your good buddies and guildmates you met in the time you've played whatever game you are in. Have a look at your lists and have a moment to think about them.

I, myself, have started cleaning my lists for my various online means of communication, networking and conversation. It isn't that I don't like some of these people anymore, it is more I need to be honest about the relationship. I need to know myself who I am going to make an effort for and who I am not.

In the end it comes down to a simple fact. No matter if they are Facebooked, met on a raid, randomly im'ed or someone from Meatspace with a computer that you know from work.

Will they help you hide the bodies? Or are they just one more number on a list.

All the cool kids are doing it

So a fair few blogs out there that I have taken to reading recently are doing "playlists".
Specifically the list of characters they are most likely to try in Warhammer : Age of Reckoning.

Now, this isn't a dedicated MMO blog (God I wish I had the time to make it so) or a WAR blog (See previous brackets) or hell... even read by anyone.

Still here is Ardys playlist.

ORDER!

1. Dwarven Runepriest. I have a hammer on a stick, kick ass robes and runes just sound like a barrel of fun.
2. Dwarven Ironbreaker. They call me Lemming in City of Heroes. Hell I can get aggro just by being in a zone. So a tank who gets better the more people who focus on him? Sign me up!
3. High Elf Shadow Warrior. Quite a bit further down my "zomgwant2play" meter but still sounds like fun.
4. High Elf Archmage/Human Bright Wizard. Ardy likes to nuke. I'll probably lean towards the Bright Wizard seeing as my main will be a healer. That and the chance to explode because I fired off that much magic? Hilarious.

DESTRUCTION

1. Black Orc. I get to be big. I get to grunt. I get to smack my own side back out of a battle. How fun is that?
2. Dark Elf Sorceress. See Bright Wizard. Same rationale, this time with boobs.
3. Chaos Magus. If for no other reason than the disc amuses me.

C'est ca. So if anyone out there does read the blog and is going to play WAR, what'll you play?

Busy busy

You know... When I woke up Monday, the week was ahead of me and there were identifiable points.

Monday was to see Dad off to England. Tuesday was to see me getting money. Wednesday and Thursday were groups. Friday is the start of Double XP in City of Heroes. Then weekend. Glorious weekend with the Monday off (and not just because of double xp).

Oh how things can change.

Monday

• Shannon put her back out quite badly. I rushed home from work
• 4pm : The pain isn't subsiding so we call the ambulance. Shannon loved the gas they gave her.
• 5.30ish : Shannon is laid up in agony in hospital.
• 6-8pm : We sucessfully get Shannon a) medicated and b) from laying to sitting. Ask her about the bonding experience
• 9pm onwards : We get home. I spend the rest of the night helping a very very sore woman
• Fortunately Dad did not go to England as planned and instead went Tuesday

Tuesday

• Jonathan had slept maybe an hour. By sleep we mean, passed out, drooled, woke shortly after.
• Shannon discovered the ability to walk
• Jonathan was called into work despite ringing in "zomg broken person"
• Milk is delivered to work between 10 and 11. I found it in my hall, still, at 2pm. Oh well.
• Glorious sleep was achieved that night

Wednesday

• I stayed home for a little bit to make sure Shannon had mastered the concept of getting up and down. Otherwise ... how could she do anything for the time I'm supposed to be in work. Thankfully she's recovering quickly.
• I almost squished a mouse.
• I captured said mouse and tried to feed him. That whole cheese thing is a myth.
• He's living in a box at home and will be released later on. At the time he seemed injured and I didn't want to kill him or leave him in the backgarden as easy prey.
• Mouse has however shown improvement (or so I'm told).
• I discovered a love of bullet points

That's three days down. Two more to go this week. Annoyingly, I still need money. Hopefully, David will come through. If not, I have a plan.

Time management and community presence

Right now MMO communities and social structures fascinate me. It's already pretty much a goal of mine to make a name for myself in Warhammer Online.
A question I have though is, how?

Sure there are the various feats, blagging rights and so on one can do. However from what I've seen, the most renown comes from a presence on the forums. Any kid can button mash, catch a break and kill the big bad monster. The boards however are where the vocal minority and really, the cream (or to steal a joke from Discworld, the stuff that floats to the top) of the crop is.

Where though does everyone find the time?

Brendan Perry (Munky) is a chap I know from way way back in Earth and Beyond. I got a bit vocal on those boards and made friends through the irc service run. It was all rather nice really. I never understood where Munky managed to find the time however to a) run the site, b) read everything, c) play the game and d) still have time for anything else.

Take the recent "Black Friday" for Warhammer. By the time Massively reported the thread on the Warhammer Alliance forum, and by the time I read it, the thread had become some 105 pages long. I missed a day on a hot topic and fell behind by 100's of posts.

Things like Eves Stellar Council and fansite boards represent, to me at least, an awfully large investment of time, one well worth making when you love a game. But I don't know where all that time comes from and still leaves some for the games we play.

As a result I look at the boards there at WHA and my own current City of Heroes. To all you board Gods, I salute you.
You have achieved presence and status. You have opinions and voices that can sway many. You post, you read, you help, you link and at the end of it all, you still find some time to play the game that was the reason you posted in the first place.

I want to be one of those guys, but I don't think I have the time skills for it.
That or I need a job doing it...

Hey Mythic, want another Community Manager?

Some feature cuts and a comment

A comment rebuttal to recent Warhammer news. (Link in the post title)

Suffice to say, Mythic put on the big boy pants and announced that some stuff just wont make the launch of the game.

Rather than push it back again, rather than push it out half baked, rather than not tell anyone (á la Funcom), they came out and announced the bad news.

Naturally the blogosphere is being riddled with comments along the lines of "WTF MYTHIC SUX cancelling CE 4eva"

My comment on the Massively blog (page 2)


I can't believe some of the complaints here.

Everyone wanted to know if Mythic had paid attention to Funcom and the AoC launch.Guess what, they did. Rather than balls up their game, they're telling us the bad news now rather than waiting till after launch and then admitting things aren't done.

Everyone should calm down. Like most, yes I find the news a little saddening.However I'd rather, as Mark put it, a fanbleedintastic game with some more bits to come post launch.
Also look at it this way, rather than 6 randomly populated cities, the moment they release the final four cities, there will be a huge boom in tourism there.

I bought two CE games. I'm keeping both and thumbs up to Mythic for having the balls to make the annoucement.

The clothes maketh the man

I need a suit. This is quite obivous.

So Shannon and I went to Black Tie on O'Connell bridge to obtain said suit.

Two positives, there was a competition one could enter to win a €3000 holiday voucher, and we found a suit that worked.
Negative, nothing in the store fit me, but I'm used to that.

So we made an appointment to come back and try on properly scaled items. I was measured and we were told we could enter the competition on our return as there was "no rush".

Yesterday we went back.
The competition was over and one lucky couple won the €3000 voucher. Turned out the last day for entry was the 30th of June and the guy who helped us previously neglected to mention that.
Secondly, despite having measured me, no one ordered in a sufficiently large white shirt, so we need to do it all again. I dont mind, I found the waistcoat rather amusing (though that too was too short).

Fun fact : I can't say waistcoat for some reason recently. It comes out as waistcoast.

Legion : Transit

>>Audio sensors active.. .. .. .. two users detected.
>>Power plant to 75% >>>Optical offence not installed
>>Set condition: Play

>Directive check

1. Operative mode
2. Transit mode
3. Low power mode

> Directives for Tranist mode loading.. .. .. ..

-Transcript from Sky Raider aquisiton party. 15 Miles off of Striga Isle.-
-Participants: Cpl Steve Jansen. Cpl Larry Cox-
-Whereabouts: Zigursky Penitentary. Reports of crushed ribs and ankles-
"Steve! Over here man, here's all the Crey stuff"
"Anything for Uqua? She's been buyin in all the goods lately I hear"
"Nah.. nothing. We ha.. wait a minute, this one here s'for Lord Recluse"
"You're shittin me!"
"Seriously, says right here. I think I hear something inside"
-Noise of wooden box being prised open-
"irective 2 : Garuntee delivery"
"The hell is thaaaaaAAUGH! OH GO"
-Transmission terminated at source-

Bartle Test for MMO's

Based on your answers you are ...
ESAK
ESAK players often see the game world as a great stage, full of things to see and people to meet. They love teaming up with people to get to the hard-to-see places, and they relish unique experiences.
Breakdown: Achiever 33.33%, Explorer 80.00%, Killer 13.33%, Socializer 73.33%

Legion : Tracking

Welcome to Red-Ex, where X marks the spot
Login : crtyind
Password : ########

... ... ... login confirmed

Track item : 456821937-d

Item shipped!

Last scan : Independance Port

Destination : Mercy Island



Despite all the tracking systems in the world, regardless of all the positional data available, no matter what information is given, sooner or later, everything shipped enters a Heisenberg state.

You either know exactly where it is, and it isn't moving, or you haven't a clue where your post or parcel has gone, but it's definitely in motion.

Passive sensors were kept running throughout the shipping process, but the package only awoke on the ship after the echoes of the first shot had died away.
Someone was on board the vessel. Someone who was clearly armed and .... may delay delivery!

The Sky Raiders had come across the ship as it passed reasonably close to Striga, and that made it fair game. Rumours of new technologies on board and headed to Arachnos made it irresistable.
They simply made the mistake of delaying the package.

Legion : Information gathering

###Unit 63 Online###
>> Monitoring registered user
>Monitoring television

...Feed active

*kssh*
"And today in Steel Canyon, the Hellions gang have tried once more to set several buidlings bordering the financial district alight. They were thwarted by a number of he"
*kssh*
"umours abound of a creature in the lake in Salamanca. This reporter stopped a passing hero to ask about the truth of the matter, but was left facing a large mutant dog as she disappeare"
*kssh*
"ro Corps! When you need a hero long term and always on hand. We can provide vetted and insu"
*kssh*
"Now on Vox Movies, FRANKENSTEINS Brother!"

"Ooo! Monsters yay!"

...Feed disabled. Registered user requesting snack.

Legion

This simple basement is lit up like a galaxy. Stars twinkle here and there, glowing in the darkness, winking in and out of view. It is no light display however. A gaze that could penetrate the dark would spy squat forms moving here and there. Eyesockets glowing and giving the impression of stars in a field of sky.

This is where the Robo-Buddies sleep, or what passes for sleep in these bizzare creations.

Unit 1 remains active at all times. The prototype, and the central controller. This is the source of all the directives, all the models, all the ranks of supposedly cute robotic companions. In this AI core, information leaps and dances like a thing alive. Only now, there is a blip in the data. An error to correct.

AIcre Unit1-A Cmd Mdl >> Directive update >> All units >> All models
>Etoile Islands now declared viable source of revenue. Mk II unit with stealth function and Staticplay system dispatched as pathfinder.
>>Network intrusion detected from Grandville. Countermeasures employed. . . .
>>>Credit Card registered to Stefan Richter sucessfully debited $799.99. Mk I (v3.2 upgradable programming model) dispatched to Arachnos Shipping & Receiving, Mercy Island.
>>>>Mk I series Unit 63 reports variable density mace toy effective in promotional advertising. Mk I units with Mace sold separately directed to obtain substitute.

Kids at play

To start with I suppose I should pimp the link in the title. Tis to one of my new favourite sites, Massively.com and an article on EVE Online.

I was in McDonalds the other day with Shannon and there was a small party of kids that arrived. I don't know if it was just a group that reserved the bright kiddy area or actually a birthday, but it's not relevant. The kids started playing make believe, as they are given to doing. They were, as near as I can tell, playing School, with one child as the teacher. The others had to put their hands up to ask questions and speak and so on.

After reading the article linked, I remembered that game and games I used to play as a kid. Then I got to thinking about the supergroups I am in, in City of Heroes.

Obviously we're given to heirarchies. Children will assemble themselves behind a leader, games will follow rules and in teams, someone is invariably in charge.

So what then is the best way to organise an MMO guild or governing body? Is it the popularity vote (Which in the EVE example, only 11% of the playerbase voted)? Is it through rules and regulations and an edifice people can work for and around? Is it through sheer force of personality?

I'm hoping to take a quite active part in the guilds in Warhammer Online, and it seems that little guilds are just as useful and worthwhile as larger ones.
So what way to go about it?

Shall we all just play kids games and see who takes charge day to day for fun?
How would you organise a guild?

Restart

Time to get back to blogging.

A recap for anyone who doesn't know.

My name is Jonathan. I'm an internet geek from Ireland. I've a wonderful girlfriend (and soon to be more) Shannon. We've been going out 5 years now, the entire time no less than 3000 miles apart.
I enjoy Warhammer, City of Heroes, Warhammer 40k, MMO society, science fiction books, fantasy books, popular science books, physics, astronomy, travelling, chatting, going to the cinema and making everything sound like a personals ad*.

So, that's the quickie recap to me.
Now to remember to blog constantly.

*= Not really

Email post thingie test

And a big old rawr for the test.
RAWR!

Geek out

Preparations continue for Warhammer Online.

I have an interview with GOA this Friday for the english GM position for WAR : Europe \o/
I've read 6 of the what... 9 Gotrek and Felix books and started in on Malus Darkblade (soon to be followed by Heldenhammer)
I downloaded all the old Warhammer RP books thanks to Cryo, and I'm looking into some means of obtaining a code for the Skaven skin cloak.

Suffice to say, my geeking out is in progress well and truly.

With regards City of Heroes. Assuming I leave the moment WAR is out, that'd be October. That also happens to be my personal 4 year point in CoX (though not the 48 month badge as I did miss the occasional payment).

Hopefully I'll have met my personal goals by then.
One of every blueside AT at 50.
(Peacebringer, Warshade, Scrapper, Tanker, Controller, Defender, Blaster)
One redside 50 and Veats unlocked.

So far I have four of the seven blue 50s. I have a Warshade at 41 and a Scrapper at 42. The hardest one for me, oddly given my playstyle of lawlnuke, will be the blaster.
As for the evil side of things, 12 more levels. 12 wee levels.

Time to get the thumb out.

WAR!

Good news today. Amazon emailed me to let me know that the Collectors Edition of Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning is shipping a wee earlier than they originally thought.
Not massively earlier, but hey every little helps. Plus it's a good sign on how closed beta is going.

So for anyone who doesn't know, the CE of WAR is limited to 60,000 units in North America and 55,000 in Europe. Included in it are several nice touches.

• Limited edition minature
• Graphic novel
• Art book
• Quests not available elsewhere
• 12 exclusive face models
• A temporary bonus power to increase xp gain
• A permenant power to add (occasionally I think) damage to your attacks
• A permenant power to allow groups to rest
• A headstart on the live game

And my favourite

• Open Beta access to what they have said will be a limited open beta

As for CoX people, right now I know at least five, maybe six others who will be right there with me in October.

Possibilities

Rawr.

So there are a few things bubbling in my mind, and I may as well jump in without preamble.

• Blogger is good, but I do not blog nearly often enough
• City of Heroes continues to be fantastic, but my "Hero blog" idea never took off due to personal laziness
• Digiweb offers some pretty sweet and pretty affordable hosting and I can't shake the urge to have my own website
• Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning looks fantastic.
• Thanks to Cryo, I bought the Pre-order Collectors Edition
• WAR has fansite kits
• I need a hobby

So I am sorely tempted to get my own domain and webspace and export this blog to it. Ideally it would persuade me to blog more about WAR and CoX and maybe even myself.

Who knows? Maybe.

In the news of me : Shannon arrives in under four weeks \o/

We who are about to...

"What is that on your badge, Captain Carrot?"

"Mission motto, sir," said Carrot cheerfully. "Morituri Nolumus Mori. Rincewind suggested it."

"I imagine he did," said Lord Vetinari, observing the wizard coldly.
"And would you care to give us a colloquial translation, Mr. Rincewind?"

"Er..." Rincewind hesitated, but there really was no escape.
"Er...roughly speaking, it means, 'We who are about to die don't want to,' sir."

"Very clearly expressed. I commend your determination..."

- Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero

RAWR!

It's my Birthday!

25 down.

I feel like an idiot

This morning at around 6.20 (GMT) the company was broken into.

As near as anyone can tell, they came in the window in my room.
A window I haven't touched in weeks and cannot say for certain was locked.

Ian and Ultan have told me it isn't my fault. Maybe. Maybe not.
Either way I feel two inches high. I am such an idiot.

Teh Updates

Rightio. I haven't really been blogging much, that is my bad. I should try harder to keep up with it.
And for reminding me, *waves to and hugs Lilith*

So lets see.

Bad News

• We are behind on the rent to a silly degree
• Work is very very tiring
• It is only October
• My cat ( called Cat ) was ill

Good News

• We're clawing back on the rent and the Landlord, Tony, is a gem.
• I have a 9-5 Monday - Friday proper job in the Dispatch department of Behaviour and Attitudes. Yay for having money and saving!
• Shannon will be getting her ticket shortly for the Christmas stay \o/
• My cat got better

I really am incredibly boring at the moment heh. As for gaming, I still keep up the occasional Renegade match and am quite happy on Virtue in City of Heroes. Tabula Rasa is out soon and I dont know if I will snap it up right away. Perhaps the pre-order pack. We'll see.

Still very much in love with Shannon and I hope to apply (once I get over the anal regulations) for the Green Card Lottery in America. While we'd both prefer to live in Ireland, it can't hurt to keep options open and try for it in America.

Other than that, nothing springs to mind. I will however try write later.

Updates!

Right so. Time for updates.

• I have, for the month of August, a job in dispatch in B&A.
• I have applied for said job full time and here's hoping.
• I'm sadly not going back to college this September, but I has a plan!
• Shannon has been here nigh two months, it's been a good summer.
• Sadly Shannon has to go soon, but we're already plotting and planning the next trip.
• I want a PalmTx pda. Just do.
• Transformers = awesome. So much so I'm going to go see it again instead of the Simpsons.
• City of Heroes is on hold for a tad as I've been too busy to renew my account. Maybe on Thursday. I wants Invasion damnit.
• Seph, if you're reading this, you're a bastard <3
• Re: Previous point. Tabula Rasa is in Beta, but I am not. It will be out in a few months and I can't wait.

That's about it for now. I'm sure I'll add more later.

Hmm

Last night, I hurt a friend.
I didn't mean for it to happen, but it did all the same.

Hopefully I can take what happened and learn from it. Hopefully Ill be a better person for it, even if I do feel like crap now.

Sorry.


In other news, I has a chocolate egg and Dalek cup.

Vows every Starfleet captain should take...

Vows every Starfleet captain should take...

I will design my ship's tactical systems so that I do not have to personally direct every single shot fired.

I will put surge suppressors in the circuitry of my ship, so that a shot striking some distant portion does not cause a control panel on the bridge to explode.

I will design my ships so that command and control functions cannot be hot-wired from a wall panel in the recreation bay.

I will design redundancy into all ship systems, so that the loss of one component will not cripple the entire vessel.

When combat is imminent, my ships' computer will be programmed so that enemy troops that beam aboard will be immediately beamed into empty space, or the originating ship's reactor core, if that is accessible. It will also deliver a kilo of antimatter to the bridge of the ship in question.

When the enemy ship decloaks and is arming weapons, I will immediately open fire on it, instead of waiting for it to fire three or four times.

When a comrade defects to the enemy, I will have all passwords changed, and as soon as it is practical I will have the computer disconnected, its memory flushed, and the approved software reloaded from the original secured CD-ROMs.

Anyone who cannot be entertained by books, music, a good game of cards and a well-stocked bar will not be allowed to crew my ship. Hence there will be no need for a holodeck on my ship.

After capturing a space station from an enemy, I will have the enemy's computer systems completely removed, melted down into slag, and dumped into the nearest stellar object. A new computer will then be installed.

If a crew member is a sanctimonious coward who continually gets us all into trouble through his greed, I shall, after the third or fourth episode of this behavior, act to preserve myself and other comrades only, and let him be destroyed by the mess he made for himself.

Under no circumstance will I agree to not develop or employ any particular technology.

If I have a technologically superior foe who is intent on eliminating my whole civilization, and I am offered a means of utterly annihilating this foe for all time, I will use it.

I will install seatbelts in my space vessels, and have pressure suits and pressure locks at regular intervals.

Technology that chronically malfunctions will be removed from my ship.

To prevent my on-board computer from being reprogrammed by every Tom, Dick and Harry that sneaks on board, its software will be stored in ROM chips that are soldered to the motherboard; RAM will be reserved for data only.

I will design the greatest possible degree of manual back-up into my space vessels, so that when my on-board computer begins to act strangely, I can power it down via a switch located next to my seat on the bridge, and yet not be left totally helpless.

I will never allow someone to read the technical manuals and blueprints of my ship unless they work in engineering or operations and therefore have a need-to-know. All personnel will be properly cleared prior to assignment to engineering or operations. The technical manuals and blueprints of totally fictitious craft will be freely available.

If my starship's drive or weapons systems require lengthy charge times between uses, I shall research and develop equipment that can handle a heavier duty cycle.

My ship's computer will have a clock rate of at least one megahertz and be programmed in C or assembler so that important calculations take a few milliseconds instead of an hour or so.

If a member of my crew can perfectly mimic my voice giving the commands to take control of my ship, additional security measures they cannot mimic will be added, such as palmprints or retinal scans.

If my ship is constantly being bugged/robbed/invaded/taken over, I will replace my security officer, no matter how cool a character he is.

If knowledge of the operating frequency of a ship's system aids in efforts to disable that system,

I will employ an arcane development known as "frequency-hopping."

Before allowing crewmembers to take leave on a planet, I will ensure that they are welcome and that its government recognizes legal precepts like The Rule of Law, Trial by Jury, Presumption of Innocence, and so forth. I will also learn all of the local laws so that one of my crewmembers doesn't end up on death row for scratching his nose in public or some other stupid thing.

If one of my crewmembers is unjustly imprisoned and/or condemned, and the officials with whom I speak express a marked disinterest in his actual guilt or innocence, I will not waste time trying to gather evidence that will exonerate the crewmember. Instead, I will immediately mount a rescue mission.

When beaming into hostile territory I will instruct my transporter chief to beam me into a defensible position, with the landing party facing outwards in a circle. I will have my weapon in my hand (not my pocket) before I beam down.

If I beam off of a vessel that is still hostile, I will arrange to leave behind as large an explosive device as I can obtain.

I will not have both rotating and non-rotating sections on a ship. If I need rotational gravity, I will spin the whole ship. Any navigational computer that cannot deal with this will be replaced with one that can.

I will follow the advice of my Chief Medical Officer. If I am not at 100% of my usual level of physical fitness, I will stick to desk duty unless the fate of something genuinely important hangs in the balance.

I will assume that all super-weapons are operational until proven otherwise, especially if they appear to be unguarded.

All critical data and software will be backed up in off-line storage.

A random alien's claims about his/her/its race's cultural values and attitudes will be given no more credence than a random human's claims about human cultural values and attitudes.

My crew shall be trained in the fine arts of tactical combat, such as dispersing assets, walking point, advance guards, flank guards, rear guards, etc.

I will not throw infantry into close-quarter combat with creatures of leviathan stature, but shall turn such affairs over to the artillery crew.

If my ship is whisked to the far side of the galaxy, leaving us with a seventy-year journey home, and a super-being offers to take us home instantly in exchange for having his baby, I'll agree and ask what we can get for two babies.

If anyone beams down and their personal communicator drops carrier, all life forms within ten meters of the last known location shall be beamed directly to the brig. A large well-armed security detail will be waiting.

The people in charge of Sick Bay, Engineering, and R&D will not be the only people staffing those functions, nor shall they accompany away teams.

I will not ask "What does God need with a space ship?" and then order a torpedo strike. I will order the torpedo strike first, and ponder theology on the trip home.

My people will be assigned duties commensurate with their skills. I will not task pilots with leading a ground assault, infiltrating enemy camps, etc.

If I board a derelict ship, and it appears that the former crew and passengers all died in some horrible fashion, I will immediately leave the ship, destroy it, and toss the wreckage into the nearest stellar object.

If I am in red alert status and discover that it was a false alarm, I will stay in red alert for a while before standing down.

Anyone I imprison will be stripped, scanned, and given a prison uniform. This will prevent them from assembling weapons from pieces hidden in their regular clothes.

Any crew member who begins to act strangely will be immediately relieved of duty and confined to the sick bay, pending a complete screening to determine if their personality has been subverted.

I will not let the Whiz Kid conduct research aboard my ship. If he's got a theory that he's itching to test, I will deposit him on an uninhabited planet in friendly space, and make sure that I'm out of the system before he's done unpacking.

I will not depart the starbase unless my complement of Marines are on board.

I will hold repel-boarders drills on my ship. These drills will be held at random hours so that everyone learns what they're supposed to be doing, no matter what the circumstances.

My junior officers will be notified that Academy cadets cannot be field-commissioned, and should they come upon a ship crewed entirely by such, they will immediately take command and return them to where they can receive adult supervision.

I will never send the infantry down on missions that are better suited for orbital bombardment.

If the issued zap guns have "stun" and "kill" modes, they will be set to the former only when the user is about to fire at something that is wanted alive.

If my opponent can adapt to various forms of attack, rendering them useless, I will use some imagination and start attacking in as many radically different ways as possible.

© 2002 by John VanSickle from http://enphilistor.users4.50megs.com . Permission to quote for non-commerical use is granted, provided that this copyright notice is included. Permission to link from non-commericial Web pages is granted. All other rights reserved.

Catch-Up

Its that time again. Bullet point blogging for teh win!

• Shannon has a new blog open that I suggest ye visit. http://randomwikiness.blogspot.com/
• Tabula Rasa beta is now open for applications. Mmmm NcSoft.
• Chris in work, well Im covering for him for two weeks as he and his girlfriend have recently become parents. Grats to them for sucessful spawning.
• I am a tired bunny.
• Shannon is coming back this summer for a visit and we hope to have a nice italian break ourselves. More below.

Because Shannon and I are well... lets say anal, we plan ahead sometimes for the bizzarest things. We now have all our summers planned up to 2010, but not the Winters. So this summer she is coming back to Ireland and we are going to have hopefully two lovely months together with a break in Italy to see the sights. Next year we're doing separate things for the most part, so anyone in North America who wants me to visit, do yell. 2010 we're coming back to Europe for a history type trip. Again, anyone who wants in, feel free to shout.

Another one down

The new year came. Here I am.

Shannon recently celebrated her birthday and now its my turn. Woo for 24. I think.

In other news, some things that I shall see to this year.

• Vacation to Italy with Shannon
• New job (B&A is great but I need something more stable/more money)
• Make college rue the day. RUE!
• Get Ardua to 50
• Get Final Fantasy 1-4 for the DS.
• Destroy any and all who stand in my way for the Tabula Rasa beta.
• Study
• Examine the posibilty of if not a Christmas in Canada, certainly some form of winter flyby to hug sg mates.
• Improve my lot or else.

Rawr

Shannon is here.

Unfortunatly I was ill before she arrived and still am.

No more need be said at the moment.

Wooties!

Woohoo!
I have my new computer. Granted its my Christmas present, but Im sorry, there was no way I was letting it sit in boxes for the better part of a month.
I shant bore you all with the specs, suffice to say, its yummy. Also I learned not to play games with a head cold. The larger monitor and better resolution on City of Heroes coupled with illness resulted in a size headache. I couldnt cope.

In other news Shannon sent me a link recently that pretty much consistently had me laughing my ass off.
On teamspeak.

Seems my giggles and fits are most amusing for all the lovely folks there. Damn them :P
http://overheardlines.blogspot.com/

Tis the season

It's the first of November and thus Hallowe'en is officially over.

So now we may begin looking towards Christmas and all that holds.

I will be doing Christmas cards this year. Some of you I have addresses for, others I do not. If you want to sling an address my way, send it to the Gmail.

Other than that, here's to one holiday down and one to go.

Life in motion.

Art is a tricky thing.

Is it the painted masterpiece? What is a masterpiece?
Is it the wrought metal and carved stone? What makes a sculptre?

Sometimes art is as simple as a moment of time frozen for all to see. An artist friend of mine found this site enjoyable. I have to say I am impressed too. Thus I bring it to you to peek at.

http://pedestria.joshmillard.com/

Fear me blogosphere

After a long and difficult association.... Skytel Ireland has finally become useful.

I know in an office of only apparently 5 people it can be hard to deal with customers on an individual basis but some of their mistakes were elementary.

• They use a previous and slightly harder to find version of the softphone for computer dialing than what they link to. This renders their support screenshots useless.
• They are either bogged down suddenly at times or dont take account of workload. Just don't say you'll call and then don't. It's bad for business.
• The main reason we couldn't get the software to work? They put leading zero's in all the stuff we were supposed to enter and never told us to remove them. Heck why even put them in if you know they aren't supposed to be there?

Still after all that we now have a VoIP system at home so I can call whomever I please.

As with all things though there is a snag. Until we either fork out the €100 for their Sipura ATA or find another cheaper one, we cant make calls unless the computer is on and things like ohhh say Teamspeak or games are off. We did get a VoIP usb connector from Maplins, but they are obsessed with Skype. Yes it works after a fashion, I can now use the walk around phone, but its not quite what we wanted.

In a week or two we will have the perfect system. Walk-around phone -> ATA -> Clearwire wireless modem -> Skytel's Unlimted World calling package.

Who wants a call?