tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81824391805861068882024-02-19T09:57:57.189-05:00DrewciferianismsDrewciferianisms: noun- The thoughts, stories, and memories of a man once known as "Drewcifer".
Everyone in life has their PASSION. In my case, it has always been art, music, writing, and gaming. This blog combines at least two of those passions into something tangible, and it is my hope, entertaining.
Each installment is both a look at the virtual worlds I play regularly, and a bit of insight into not just my life, but the world we live in. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-32614779124787877772014-10-04T04:30:00.001-04:002014-10-04T04:30:44.171-04:00From Generation X, With Love... \m/So, it's been a while...<br />
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<i>Malicious Damage- The very first band I was ever in. Death metal as hell, we lived up to our name!</i></div>
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Yeah... it has.<br />
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I cannot even begin to tell you all what a year I have had thus far. If you read the last blog prior to this one, you had an idea at least how my love life was headed, but you had no idea, and nothing could prepare you for the year I have had to date... both good and bad.<br />
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But all of that is for another blog... Actually maybe another couple of blogs. There is no way I can put down the events of this year so far, and simply gloss them over. It is coming...<br />
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But for now, let me enter into this missive that has hit my mind at this late hour... The small hours, as Metallica would sing (even if it was a cover).<br />
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<i>They might not have written it, but they sure as hell lived it.</i></div>
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Dear Generation whatever... And by whatever I mean those born in the 90's, 00's, and onward.<br />
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<br />
On behalf of my generation, your parents most likely... I am sorry.<br />
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Why?<br />
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Well... Let's face it. You were born into a (excuse my english) FUCKED UP WORLD.<br />
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We all knew it. We all sensed it. We all grew up with Star Wars so ingrained in our brains that we knew there was a "disturbance in the force". We still brought you into this world, knowing full well the sins we were about to commit.<br />
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But guess what, I for one, regret none of it. Yes, that is right, I have no regrets. I have a 19 year old daughter who is still the center of my universe, whom I get to watch experience life now as an adult and eke out an existence that may or may not make her happy, yet it is all by her own hand. Not every child is like mine, but I can only hope there are enough of you out there who are old souls, who realize that the world is falling to shit, and your only hope is to be OUR Obi Wan Kenobis! Whether we call you "indigo kids", or something else, one thing is sure... There is more to this world than what we see physically, and a lot of you are born empathic, and not able to reconcile what is going on out there. I hope you find hope. Find your way, and do the right thing.<br />
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But, for now...<br />
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<i>Prophetic,or just full of angst... You be the judge.</i></div>
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Let me take you back to the late 80s. A band by the name of Nuclear Assault... A thrash metal band, once sang the following lyrics:<br />
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<i>"Look around the world you knew, say goodbye, it dies with you. Those who live when we are dead, shall curse our names... You've inherited hell."</i><br />
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Back then when that song was released I thought it was awesome. I never once thought it might apply to our kids, especially since back then I NEVER wanted to have kids... But since I became a father 19 years ago, every year it resonates truer.<br />
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As a matter of fact, it has almost the same effect on me as Pink Floyd's. "Time"... The only song to date that will bring me to tears when I hear it. (Any ex girlfriends reading this can vouch for that)<br />
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But what did Nuclear Assault predict? What did we all know, that we willingly brought you into?<br />
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Well, look around!<br />
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We have people like ISIS, who have taken what to me was one of the foremost Goddesses of the ancient world, and perverted it to mean something so abhorrent it should better be labeled XASTUR. (Look up your Sumerian mythology for the reference).<br />
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Then there is the state this country is in. Do we really need to go there?<br />
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Yes, I have lived long enough to see a black president in the white house, but what of the fallout of that? If nothing else this presidency has proven racism is still alive and well in America, and around the world. I will say for the record I am not a fan of our president, but be that as it may, that is my personal gut feeling, and nothing to do with his race, or anything along those lines.<br />
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If history has any bearing, the next president (or the one after) should be one of OUR generation. Can you imagine this country with a generation X president???<br />
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We as a generation are going to come to power. It is only natural. Yet what have we as a generation learned in our time on planet Gaea?<br />
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We were born in a time where the Viet Nam war was ending, and technology was coming into its own. We helped to build the internet, if not were its foremost users. We now make all the video games you play, after cutting our teeth on pong, pacman, frogger. Hell we were hanging out with Link before Link was even cool!<br />
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We have been the most extreme generation to date. Which other generation can claim music such as death metal as its generational hallmark? Which other generation can say they actively tried to kill each other on the dance floor, all for the lulz? We pushed the envelope so far that they had to issue new envelopes.<br />
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Is it any wonder why everyone is desensitized to extreme violence, sexual assault, etc? Our generation was responsible for bringing this to the forefront. We were the ones who fought the courts to say that Ozzy was innocent, that death metal did NOT lead to burning of churches, that being "weird" was the new normal. WE made it this way.<br />
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<i>Yeah. I remember Brian when he was a lowly worker in Ft Lauderdale. He was weird even then by our standards... Yeah... I knew him.</i></div>
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<br />For what?<br />
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I often wonder if we lost our way. I often wonder if in our fervor to find ourselves, and shock the system into recognizing who we were, that we were not in the process sacrificing the values we were all taught, and which we now desperately try to teach our own kids!<br />
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Is it any wonder a lot of us are now "born again", and please let me know the last time and the last generation that this has ever truly worked to bring about world peace?<br />
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You know the world is fucked up when the biggest satanic death metal vocalist, Glen Benton of Deicide, is a FAR BETTER father, than most of the folks I see on my tv day in, day out.<br />
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I still support my generation. We are all pretty much in our forties or early fifties now. Metallica is now considered the kings of metal, and rock. In some cases they appear regularly as "classic rock". Does this strike anyone else from my generation as a little odd?<br />
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We're getting old, people. Like it or no, those ideals of never wanting to grow up, and never wanting to give in to the system, are upon us now. Sadly, our children, despite our "best efforts" have inherited these traits. Some for good, some for bad. You have only to view the news to discern which is which.<br />
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How many of us have cut our hair. In my case I was never graced with long hair. It's a black thing, I guess. I did have the mohawk and long ass goatee, but even now... I have to keep it in check.<br />
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WHY?<br />
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Inside I am screaming. I WILL NEVER GIVE IN TO THE SYSTEM! THE SYSTEM IS A LIE! WE HAVE BEEN SAYING IT ALL THESE YEARS. WE'RE LIVING IN THE MATRIX!!!<br />
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Is it a self fulfilling prophecy, or did we know all along?<br />
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And... if we did know all along, why bring kids into it?<br />
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I am sorry generations of the now. I am sorry you have not experienced life on the edge as we have. I am sorry you will have no desire to. I am sorry you have to live in a world split by the need to "make things right" and the need to "fuck the whole world".<br />
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Most of all, I am sorry that despite how much I love you, I still subscribe to the Dark Angel motto:<br />
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"For this I don't apologize, because I leave scars."<br />
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<i>Soundtrack to every break up in my life...</i></div>
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Buckle up folks. Generation X is coming into our power really soon. If you think the world is insane now, just you wait. It is my only hope that those of us who held true to the ideals we had as die hard metalheads, will use those powers for good, and at least teach our kids that when you come into your own power, you too can make a difference, even if you have to break some eggshells doing it.<br />
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Right now we as Generation X need to seriously grow up. In so doing, we need to NOT JUST pay taxes, take our kids to school, and become active in our local politics... but we need to remember WHY we warned the world so many years ago about all the bullshit going on now. WHY we decided to check out of the system, only to check back in when it became apparent that our weirdness alone was not going to pay the bills.<br />
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WE need to come together and create the almighty moshpit from hell that will oust the people who are causing the chaos in this world, whom WE have willingly bowed down to and paid into, for the sake of our children not living through the things we had nightmares about, and wrote all those songs about, that will never see billboard's top 40.<br />
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I know some of you are doing great things out there. A lot of you are on my facebook friends list. The rest of us need to have that heart to heart with our kids and remind them why the system is flawed, (and make no bones about it people, the system IS FLAWED. It is designed so none of us can win) and why we felt we were brought into this earth to fix this shit. If we cannot... then one of two things will happen.<br />
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Either we need to teach our kids how to think like we do so that THEY can fix it... or we need to get off our duffs and do it our damn selves. Viva la revolution! Hey... we sang about it so long ago... Or were those only words? You tell me...<br />
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Or, on the contrary... maybe what the world REALLY needs right now...<br />
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is a good old fashioned APOCALYPSE. Ebola, anyone?<br />
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<i>I used to say "death comes to those who wait"... It is more true now than ever.</i></div>
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Why not... Gen Xers have been afraid of this for decades now... ever since the threat of Reagan falling asleep on the big red button.<br />
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Or perhaps... JUST PERHAPS... having kids was our one gift to the world... our saving grace, for a lost generation?<br />
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Next blog- My life in 2014 as we know it, and why I need to write a damn book. Eventually I will get back to writing about gaming.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-86458171552008812952014-02-25T12:05:00.002-05:002014-02-27T21:40:10.557-05:00Tales Of Love and Fear... Because... February.As the old song goes, "love is a battlefield".<br />
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Like just about all battlefields, there are inevitably casualties, that occasionally hit close to home. Perhaps it is that person you went through basic training with, and developed such a deep camaraderie for, who, under the shock and fear of war just... loses it, and does irreparable damage to both themselves, and your bond. Perhaps you may find unlikely bonds from other squad-mates who turn out to have your back when you least expect it, but most need it. Either way, war is hell, and in love, fear is the greatest enemy. Fear kills love, and turns people you trust and know into strangers with no remorse. Any history between you becomes a painful learning experience, with the scars to show.<br />
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It is just such a lesson I have learned over the last few months... And no, this has nothing to do with gaming.<br />
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A few weeks ago, I posted on my facebook profile this picture that reads "Anyone can love you when the sun is shining, in the storms is where you learn who truly cares for you". I posted this because in my recent battle with unemployment, I have taken a casualty... the one woman I thought would be there the most for me. You may remember her from my "<a href="http://drewciferianisms.blogspot.com/2013/07/spoiler-alert-zhaitan-dies.html" target="_blank">Spoiler Alert- Zhaitan Dies!</a>" blog. The one I referred to as Anastasia Merrimox in my games.<br />
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However, in losing this girlfriend of over a year, not only have I been shown the basest nature of women such as her, but I have also come to see the bright light that resides in the women friends I have, who have stood beside me in this trying time, and gone far above and beyond the call of duty.<br />
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You see, I have a tragic flaw... I am an unabashed goddess worshipper. I by and large treat women like gold. It does not ALWAYS manifest in buying lavish things, or spending a ton of money on them; it might be something as simple as cooking dinner, encouraging her to achieve her dreams, immortalizing her in art, photos, or song, and generally going out of my way to be and do for her, often times at the expense of myself. Why? Because I know life's secret. That secret is easy for anyone to master really...<br />
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<b><i>To be truly successful in life, you have to give</i></b>. You have to help others with an open heart, and you have to be willing to go outside of your comfort zone to go where the universe needs you most. Each soul you help, brings you closer to source, and is the basis of growth.<br />
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To be ego serving accomplishes nothing, except leaves you with an emptiness in your soul that can never truly be filled. To be materialistic enslaves you to the things that do not matter, which you cannot take with you when you die. Selfishness traps you in an endless cycle that, when coupled with fear, paranoia, doubt, and self loathing, can be a self fulfilling prophecy of confusion, eventual insanity, loneliness, and a huge dose of karma for the people you have wronged to accomplish your misplaced goals. Shallowness prevents access to the deep well of spiritual truth, in which is our truest selves. The vicious cycle ensures that one will never progress beyond where they are, and as time goes on, could end up losing what they have in a desperate attempt to hold onto it. I know because at one point in my life, I was living it. Now I have seen it manifest in her life.<br />
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Belittling and mistreating your own family, especially the deceased, is a set up for karmic disaster. These are things i saw, which did not sit well with me, and makes me inclined to think perhaps it is better to not be tethered to someone whose lack of faith, let alone respect has them on a crash course for spiritual ruin.<br />
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The universe has a long memory... it never forgets, even if we do.<br />
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So while the woman of my life succumbed to fear, and has returned to being the "cowardly lion", the lessons we both had experienced are now lost... seemingly forever. The only lesson apparently learned by her would be that when the going gets rough, cut and run... but in all honesty, she had that lesson down decades before I came into her life. I guess some folks have to learn the hard way. Much like "The Matrix", some people choose the blue pill, and that is ok... It is their choice. Sleep well, fair princess.<br />
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It was foretold to me by a good friend, so when the eventuality happened, I was prepared... though still disappointed in her, and disappointed in myself for having pledged my heart to someone who scarcely cares about her own, let alone anyone else. This from someone who vowed I was their best friend up till recently. Whether she truly understands the meaning of the term, or even the meaning of love... is a mystery best left to the universe.<br />
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It is when times are darkest that light comes.<br />
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While receiving little to no emotional support from my "beloved", a number of close friends have rallied to my aid, reaffirming my statement above on how to be truly successful. Five in particular have gone above and beyond to ensure that not only could I physically survive the doldrums, but emotionally and spiritually remain intact. Make no bones about it, these women kept me alive, in particular through the last four months.<br />
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A trio of these goddesses even came to visit me, each at different times, and at their own expense, because they knew the deep depression I had fallen into, and realized that what I needed the most at the time was companionship and unconditional love... not to be a hermit. These women- Kristie, Karen R, and Aimie, reminded me of what true friendship is like, when centered in true love.<br />
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They gave of themselves willingly, because they "get it". They were not bound by fear, but instead radiated a love that brightened my soul (and home) in their presence, and left me with hope. While they too benefited from the experience, my gratitude for these amazing ladies is without bounds. Unsurprisingly, two of the three are now good friends with each other.<br />
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The others who were unable to visit me, have made their presence known daily with online check-ins, phone calls, messages of encouragement and love, and occasionally tears shed on my behalf. People like Janean, Jen, Sanja, Stacie, Crissy, Kelsay, Karen M, Misty, Dom, my mom Fiesta, even my daughter Lauren, and her mom Jess, have been instrumental in keeping the connection alive and strong. Life is about the connections. As I have stated before to many... ultimately we are all one soul. Whatever I can do to benefit them, I am happy to oblige, because I have placed great value on the benefits I have received, just by having the connection.<br />
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Even now, months later, I am still being visited by women who truly care. Over the last few weeks especially I have been blessed immensely with love from those who in the past I too gave willingly, without expectation of return. This right here, is also a lesson in karma. It runs both good or bad, highly dependent on your actions, and the motivations behind those actions.<br />
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What I may have lost in losing one "girlfriend" to whom i was loyal (hey, we all make mistakes, right), I have regained manifold in seeing the Goddess reflected in my closest friends. I KNOW I am loved. I am reminded of it daily... and the people who choose not to matter, well... they fall like shed skin into the gutters of obscurity. But you had better believe, when I say I love these incredible women, I MEAN it. If it takes me a hundred lifetimes to prove it, I would. They have been the sunshine to dissipate my storms. And here is the best part... it's not even about sex.<br />
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As I began to turn this corner in my life, I prayed for the universe to remove from my life ALL obstacles preventing me from achieving success and balance.<br />
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My prayers were answered.<br />
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Goodbye Stacy, and thank you for the sobering lessons, the fond memories, and the gifts (especially the pictures).<br />
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Love is a battlefield... I lost my closest squad-mate, when she allowed her fears to change her into someone more dangerous to our unit than the enemy. The rest of my squad rallied to save me from certain doom, and helped us to accomplish our objectives. I owe them my lives (yes plural)... and I intend to pay it forward.<br />
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In other news. my friend Eden and I will be broadcasting a new internet radio show starting Thursday, March 6, 2014, at 11 PM. It will be called "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unslaved-Mind-Radio/1440622509501948" target="_blank">Unslaved Mind Radio</a>", and can be found at <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/unslavedmind" target="_blank">blogtalkradio</a>. Please be sure to tune in and join us as we discuss the realities of what is going on around us, as well as what we can do to help ensure that our light grows brighter in this incredible time of universal and planetary change. Take the red pill, and listen in... We cannot promise you where you will end up, but we'll at least show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-30783184294752131392014-01-31T12:16:00.000-05:002014-01-31T12:40:38.343-05:00Doing What You Love... Can Save Your Sanity!"They" say that if you are doing something you really love to do, it no longer becomes work.<br />
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Think about that statement for a moment, folks. Now think about what it is you TRULY love to do, and whether or not you are making a living at it. I would be willing to bet, chances are, you are not doing it...<br />
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Am I right?<br />
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I have been looking at this all the wrong way, and I readily admit this. After countless job applications where I have been rejected, and more resume tweaking than I care to recollect, I still sit here, without a "job" in the corporate sense of the word. Of course the ramifications of this have been felt, and have indeed left me with quite a few sleepless nights.<br />
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Then it hit me...<br />
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Drew, I said, why are you chasing after a job you will not be happy doing, and will barely keep you "Just Over Broke"? Everyone else is doing it, and the competition is fierce, to say the least. I am a man of many talents, all of which have been used at some point in my life, and have made me happy. SO with that said, why not maximize ON those talents, creating multiple income streams FOR MYSELF, and putting me steps closer to achieving those goals I set so long ago. Goals which, I might add, always have appeared to fall just a little bit further out of reach. Perhaps it is not the goal that is unattainable, but the vehicles I have chosen to drive me to them!<br />
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This is where I stand now. I am a gamer. I am a writer. I have a radio voice. I love to make music. I still have a desire for art. I find joy in helping people, and in ways to educate and counsel. None of these I have in the past gotten paid for because I simply thought, well none of them will pay the bills... I need a corporate job to do that, and can do all this other stuff as "hobbies".<br />
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Wrong answer.<br />
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<i>Bel Geode- Independent Contractor, Tyria.</i></div>
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The harsh reality of this world is that, unless you are in business for yourself, you are a slave to someone else's vision. If you cannot control your own destiny, there are many factions out there who will gladly control it for you. I do not know about you, but I am ready to take the red pill, wake up, and get out of that matrix. The signs have been crystal clear to me over the last few months. Corporate America does not want me... They cannot afford me, and they will never respect me.<br />
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Why deny your Gawd given talents, in favor of a skill-set spoonfed to you as "the only way" to pay your bills? I wish I could tell you how many of my friends have degrees, upwards of masters, who are constantly told they are "overqualified", yet they have awesome innate talents they are not using. It is downright criminal to give up on your dreams and talents, because this degree is supposed to get you the money you deserve... Yet it ISN'T.<br />
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Yoda said- <i><b>"You must UNlearn, what you have learned."</b></i><br />
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I've been reading about the law of attraction. It's pretty profound stuff, but nothing that any of us could not achieve, if we tried. So here is what i have been doing to help my own process along, and in turn save my sanity, and provide a little sleep back into my nights.<br />
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<i>What is Scarlet's obsession with those "sexbots"?</i></div>
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<b>Writing-</b><br />
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Aside from this blog, I began writing in November with a brand new gaming e-zine called <a href="http://www.elitemonster.com/" target="_blank">Elite Monster</a>. I actually found the editor on Craigslist of all places, and we talked about what the goals were, and it meshes with mine. Since my number one game is Guild Wars 2, I have been writing what I call "Living Story Logs", which essentially recap the latest living story updates, and steps to do in order to complete the story steps. Thankfully for me, ArenaNet has those biweekly updates, which gives me a steady stream of work to do. I will also be chiming in on other games, such as Star Citizen; which I would highly recommend any die hard space simulator fans, or aviation buffs check out. It won't be out till 2015, but they are already doing some amazing things over there.<br />
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<b>Livestreaming-</b><br />
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I did it folks. I took the plunge and brought my radio voice to twitch.tv, starting the channel "<a href="http://www.twitch.tv/belgeode" target="_blank">Bel Geode, THE Purple Norn plays...</a>". My viewership keeps rising daily as I take what would normally be a solo endeavor to new heights, with an audience, and of course my part snarky, part witty commentary. Right now the major games I am streaming are Guild Wars 2, and Star Wars- The Old Republic, though I have experimented with other games like Assassin's Creed IV, War Thunder, and even The Secret World. As I get new games, I will have new opportunities to grow my viewer base, and the prospect excites me. There are already "regulars" who check in, each time my SWTOR bounty hunter Ghita, continues her story.<br />
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<i>Ghita and Mako prepare to show 'em how it's done.</i></div>
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I have yet to upload any highlights to YouTube, but to be honest, until they do right by the myriad of gamers they are screwing out of income, with their draconian ContentID system, I am doing a personal boycott. Luckily for me, twitch.tv allows me to archive any highlights of my streams.<br />
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There are other avenues that are about to be explored within the next month, some involving my voice, that I cannot wait to get to experience. As those become public, I will gladly share them with you here, but for now I will keep them under wraps, out of respect for the others involved.<br />
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I am no fool however. I know Rome was not built in a day, nor do I expect this to be an overnight financial miracle for me. One thing I DO expect however, is to be the best I can be at doing what I LOVE to do, and having the universe take care of the rest. When things looked darkest for me, I was able to find a way out, and a way up. I am not about to look any gift horses in the mouth.<br />
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<i>Ghita turns a bounty into a new companion.</i></div>
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I encourage anyone to do the same. Find what you LOVE to do. Find a way to make it work for you, and stop chasing after corporations with no heart. Go into business for yourself... whether freelance, like I have been doing, or a bona fide, brick and mortar business. Back in the day, my mother and I had a flower shop in Ft. Lauderdale. For several years we created our own destiny, because at the time mom realized what I am realizing now... NO ONE is going to save you but yourself. You know what... it was FUN!<br />
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The program we have all been fed is a lie. We were never meant to slave away at jobs that have not got our best interests, or our families at heart. It's killing not only our dreams, but our souls. There IS another way. Every single one of us has talents we were born with. It is up to us to use them to create the life WE want. The rest will sort itself out. The only thing stopping us, is our own programming and FEAR! I won't lie to you, deprogramming and subduing fear is a daunting task, but guess what? IT CAN BE DONE!<br />
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I invite you to come with me on my journey, and see where I go from this turning point. If I can do it, anyone can.<br />
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<i>Bel and the Valkyrie squad get ready for more Dragon killing in Skyrim.</i></div>
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That is my lesson to you today.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-80779712712091910092013-12-04T19:22:00.000-05:002013-12-04T19:22:05.866-05:00A Pirate's Life For Me...You know, the one real danger with video games, especially very immersive ones, is LOSING yourself in them!<br />
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<i>Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag</i></div>
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I know, I know... It seems contradictory to why anyone would ever want to play games in the first place. We all know that people play the games they play to immerse themselves in this virtual world, often, to forget some of the crap going on in real life... Such as being unemployed, and getting countless rejection letters; or even having bad days at work, or in their personal lives.</div>
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I won't lie to you folks, I started honest to goodness GAMING when I was trying to heal the wounds of my divorce; something I did not ask for, but was saddled with nonetheless. Playing Star Wars Galaxies way back then allowed me to put myself in the world I loved, and forget about living in a crappy basement studio apartment, where if I would have died, no one would have found me for weeks. Through that game, I met so many new people who turned out to be real flesh and blood humans with emotions and needs (fancy that), and some of them are among my best friends to this day. That community of people almost literally kept me alive, just by being there for me, and engaging in virtual tasks in a fictitious universe that built real memories and lasting friendships. I cannot thank them enough, and they know who they are.</div>
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Over the years, gaming has supplanted art and music as my number one hobby. It may be argued that in some cases, writing as well, though the fact that I am finding time to write this blog should indicate not entirely. It's an addiction, to be sure, but one I am happy to have. In my eyes, it is far better for me than smoking, though I have yet to get rid of that addiction. I do, however, realize that I spend an extraordinary amount of time gaming... as evidenced by my <a href="http://raptr.com/BelGeode/about" target="_blank">Raptr</a> account, and the number of "Elite" rankings I have amassed. Case in point: Assassin's Creed IV- Black Flag.</div>
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<i>Good thing Cubans never look up... They won't find me here.</i></div>
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This game just came out on November 19th (the day after my birthday), and I got it on the 20th. Since then I have played 71 hours! Do you think I love this game? Haha.</div>
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<i>Hmm, I wonder if this is from Sting?</i></div>
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I have never played any of the Assassin's Creed series of games before, but something about this one resonates with me. Maybe it is the pirate theme, or perhaps the fact that the story is well written, with a protagonist that feels believable to me. I have certainly gotten a kick seeing Kingston, Jamaica portrayed as the bustling colonial town it probably was back in those days. Oddly enough, the buildings still look similar today, from my understanding... well... in the older areas of town.</div>
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<i>Sing that sea shanty again mates, this time with FEELING!</i></div>
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I think another good term for this game would be "Ship Simulator 3000". I have never played a game that actually allowed somewhat realistic LOOKING control over a water vehicle. As you may or may not know, I am no stranger to simulators, having spent years in Microsoft Flight Simulator, in various versions. I will readily admit, I have never played a ship simulator at all... The closest I have come was building and piloting hovercraft in Second Life. All the same, Assassin's Creed has presented this to me in a way that feels comfortable, and a whole lot of just pure FUN! Watching your ship ride the crests and troughs of the Caribbean, and reacting to the doldrums or gale force winds, is that extra bit of icing on a very polished vehicular cake. The only keys you even need to remember are W, A, S, and D... then your two mouse buttons, and occasionally E. </div>
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<i>Brace yourselves! Killer wave bearing down!!</i></div>
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<i>Another damned water spout. That's it, we're out of here!</i></div>
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Side quests abound in this game, and the completionist in me is going nuts trying to capture every fort, hunt every animal at least once, or even harpoon Moby Dick's ancestor. I will say that they certainly put a lot of things to do when NOT doing the story, in this game. I would be lying if I said I did not try to complete at least everything in a given area of the map, before going through the next piece of the tale.</div>
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<i>Herman Melville would be proud of me.</i></div>
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One minor letdown though, is the fact that you only ever get ONE ship. While there is a fleet of ships you can "own", you won't be pimping about the tropics in a "borrowed" Spanish galleon. You can however command your fleet to visit various parts of the new world, or old, in order to trade and build your wealth. Along the way, you can have turn-based battles with enemy ships, as illustrated below. It's not quite as appealing as watching 32 cannonballs smash through the deck, but it is a mildly amusing little side game.</div>
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<i>Monopoly with ships?</i></div>
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If there is a downside to the game, it is going to be in the controls, while playing as Edward Kenway on land. As a PC player, controllers are simply not something I am used to using on my computer. With this game, I do feel like I am penalized for this. The keyboard commands have my fingers doing the tango all over the keyboard, and I have actually had to rebind a few keys to my mouse side buttons, just to ease the pain. It is not game-breaking enough for me to go out and buy a USB game controller... Aside from which, who has money for that kind of upgrade right now. One thing I will say though: After going hours on end in AC4, switching back to Guild Wars 2, I find myself pushing the wrong keys to try and do things.</div>
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<i>Oh yes, and a side order of boobies please...</i></div>
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You know I love a good story, and with this game, you get two for the price of one (which I understand is a common theme in all AC games). First, there is the story of YOU, an unnamed employee at Abstergo Industries; basically a new hire who is stumbling upon something far greater than just your average gamer geek type of job (I wish)... </div>
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<i>Oh really?</i></div>
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<i>OH REALLY??</i></div>
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<i>Oh... Ok...</i></div>
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Then there is the story of Edward Kenway, the pirate you portray while in the "Animus" (think virtual reality times ten). As of this blog post, I am only halfway through the story of Edward, but the plot twists thus far both in and out of the Animus have kept me riveted to my seat. Yes, this is a game I am finding hard to log out of... I want to SEE what happens next!</div>
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<i>Not now Kidd, I am busy...</i></div>
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<i>Where's Lara Croft when you need her?</i></div>
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<i>Hmm, I wondered why this island smelled funny...</i></div>
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I have not tried out the player vs player aspect to this yet, because as I have stated before, I am not really that into it. This is funny because as an amusing sidenote, I have also been playing a lot of Planetside 2, and actually enjoy that game... And that is a game with literally NO story to speak of. Once I complete the story mode however, I may pop in a few times to see what all the hoopla is about. If I like it, more power to me, but I imagine I would play the game considerably less than I am now.</div>
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<i>I'll drink to that.</i></div>
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One thing I am seriously thinking of doing though, is using FRAPS with it, and actually uploading gameplay videos to YouTube. Having enjoyed watching people like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/WoodenPotatoes" target="_blank">WoodenPotatoes</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MattVisual" target="_blank">MattVisual</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/YogscastSips" target="_blank">Sips</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/OMFGcata" target="_blank">Jesse Cox</a>, and others game, I think I could probably do the same thing... Though I don't think I am nearly as hillarious as the above mentioned guys. That is still in the planning stage however.</div>
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<i>Awesome view... Now how the hell do I get down from here?</i></div>
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If nothing else, Assassin's Creed IV, like all the other games I play, is helping to keep me sane at a time when I see more and more friends struggle, and lose their own jobs. In case you have not noticed it... it is happening at an alarming rate lately. It is a wonder any of us are even still surviving! I certainly have not given up the search for the perfect job, and I am actively engaging in other projects that have potential (for example, I began writing articles for <a href="http://www.elitemonster.com/guides/living-story-log-checking-guild-wars-2-nightmare-tower-new-fractal-dungeons/" target="_blank">Elite Monster</a>, about Guild Wars 2). I know good things are coming for me very soon, but I am really glad that I have a way to slip into another world and just forget my worries for a few hours. My problems do not disappear totally, but the key to losing oneself in a game, is to remember to balance one's life WITH gaming.</div>
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<i>Look, we can do this the easy or hard way, either way, you are buying these girl scout cookies.</i></div>
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With that said me hearties, it be time for me to harass the Spanish and send 'em down to Davy Jones' locker! Arrrrr!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-65541011021521539972013-08-21T13:03:00.001-04:002013-08-21T15:08:29.987-04:00Chaos Ensues...It has been a rough week, to say the least.<br />
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I just got laid off last Friday from the title company I was railroaded into transferring to (a long sordid tale of buyouts and sellouts). To say I saw this coming would be a gross understatement, but like anything else that has happened to me, I prescribe to the <b><a href="http://mayaangelou.com/" target="_blank">Maya Angelou</a></b> philosophy-<br />
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<i>"I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it."</i><br />
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Today I am taking a break from the applications, and infinite resume tweaks, to play some much needed Guild Wars 2; just in time for the latest living story update, which reflects the chaos going on inside at this moment. I figured now was as good a time as any to both recap what has been going on in the world of Tyria, as well as kill some time doing something creative. This having been said, perhaps you can indulge me.<br />
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For those who have not been keeping up, <a href="https://www.guildwars2.com/en/" target="_blank">ArenaNet</a>, creators of Guild Wars 2, decided on a two week cadence for their content updates, in the form of an ever evolving story that literally can change the face of Tyria as it goes on. While this began with a more sluggish pace back in winter past, over the last couple of months it has ramped up considerably with new celebrations such as Dragon Bash, and the Queen (of Kryta)'s Jubilee.<br />
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Our man Bel was at the Dragon Bash ceremony with a good friend, Ellen Kiel, when the forces of discord disrupted the shindig by killing one of the members of Lion's Arch city council.<br />
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An investigation ensued, and eventually the culprit was brought to justice... but also revealed was a new enemy faction that would come into play over the next few updates... The Aetherblades (aka Sky Pirates).<br />
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I might also add that their base in the Gendarran Fields is now a permanent jumping puzzle that is sure to tax your platforming prowess... if not drive you mad in the process.<br />
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Naturally, the loss of one council member created a void that needed to be filled. As luck should have it, a curious group of merchants / mystics named the Zephyrites docked their massive air colony (cannot really call it a "ship") to the far reaches of the Deldrimor Front area. During the time that the Zephyrites were anchored, we (the players) were treated to a shopping bazaar the likes of which has not been seen in Tyria before or since.<br />
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The heads of Lion's arch decided to use this to their advantage by brokering a trade agreement with the Zephyrites. Two candidates for the council- Ellen Kiel, our old friend; and Evon Gnashblade, CEO of the Black Lion Trading Company (aka the in game cash shop) vied for the vacated council seat by trying to seal the trade deal.<br />
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The game playing populace on all servers were asked to support whichever candidate they wished by casting as many ballots as possible (democracy runs a little differently in Tyria). Of course during this period, the Aetherblades made brief appearances to remind us that they are still out to cause mischief, but their attacks were sporadic at best.<br />
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In the end, Ellen Kiel won out. With her victory will come a new mini dungeon in the famous Fractals Of The Mist, as well as lower teleportation portal prices for a brief period, and a couple of other various perks.<br />
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With the issue in Lion's Arch settled, and the Zephyrites pleased with the outcome, we left Lion's Arch to continue business as usual, as the Zephyrites undocked their air colony, and flew off to parts unknown.<br />
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Enter Divinity's Reach... last human city on Tyria, ruled by the benevolent Queen Jennah. This year (ingame) marks the tenth year of her reign as queen, and to celebrate, she had commissioned the building of a new sector to the city to replace the huge sinkhole that had been dubbed "The Great Collapse". What she had built was a pavilion to be used for gladiatorial matches, a place to test your mettle against Tyria's best, or at least most infamous foes. It is said to be a monument to humanity's resolve, and their will to survive.<br />
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It is magnificent, to say the least.<br />
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Anastasia Merrimox (my thief alt) made it to the opening day ceremony, where Queen Jennah unveiled the new clockwork guardians for the district- the Watchknights. You know when you just have that "feeling" that this can end in no good way? Let's just say I hate it when I am right.<br />
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A mysterious sylvari figure known only as Scarlet, disrupted the ceremony with what appeared to be asuran based technology- portalling in her vaunted Aetherblades, her minions apparently.<br />
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We were able to dispatch them with relative ease, but Scarlet however always seemed to be one step away, and lived to fight another day. Aside from the Aetherblades attempting to stop emissaries from all over Tyria from attending the celebration, the two weeks of the Queen's Jubilee passed largely without incident after that.<br />
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And now we come to this week, and the closing ceremony for the Queen's Jubilee. With security forces of both Countess Anise (of the Shining Blade; the Queen's guard), and Logan Thackeray's Seraph Guards on edge, the expected happened. During the ceremony, Scarlet made her presence known and felt by placing bombs around the district, attacking in an unexpected way- by reprogramming the Watchknight robots into grotesque killing machines capable of reconfiguring and splitting into smaller entities.<br />
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She also attempted to abscond with the Queen but was stymied by the surprisingly heroic efforts of one Lord Faren (who should be familiar to human players of noble blood). Faren's fate remains unclear, though the Queen was spared any tragic demise.<br />
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Scarlet has declared all out war on Tyria, attacking many zones at random with her portal technology, and it appears she has the following of the steam creatures from Lornar's Pass, the Molten Alliance which months ago assaulted both norn and charr lands, as well as her Aetherblades. It has been discovered by an asura named Vorpp that she is also trained by all three asura schools of magical technology, and utilizes all those skills she has learned to give her army an advantage in both surprise and their ability to reinforce.<br />
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In short... it is absolute chaos right now in Tyria! For new players, there is no better time to jump in and level up swiftly, and for us veteran players, rewards abound in spades! What happens next is anyone's guess, but I am sure it is about to get turned to 11.<br />
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Perhaps it is a good time for me to be temporarily unemployed... at least now I can catch up on the Guild Wars 2 I have not really had the time to play lately. Though I have to admit... the only thing that would make me feel better, is if I could play this game for a living, and be paid by ArenaNet.<br />
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Hey, a man can dream............. right?<br />
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Right??<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-71268156949468628542013-07-20T19:04:00.000-04:002014-02-25T11:22:47.040-05:00Spoiler Alert: Zhaitan Dies!Howdy internet people...<br />
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<i>It's not unusual!</i></div>
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Yeah, I bet you never thought you would see me again, huh? HA! I showed you!!<br />
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I know I have been horrible at keeping anything even remotely related to a scheduled blog, but I am getting better... I promise! I remembered to do one this YEAR!<br />
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All kidding aside, it has been a long year thus far, but I would like to think largely a good one. I have been keeping myself busy with work, the band (who changed its name to <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/chaoticplayground">Chaotic Playground</a>, when we lost our singer), and I have a new computer that is actually up to speed on all these fabulous games I have been playing.<br />
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<i>Belenos Geode and Anastasia Merrimox, Skyrim style.</i></div>
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For example- this one... Skyrim. Just about everyone reading this should by now know of Skyrim. Yes it sucked me in too.... for months. Of course when I found out how to mod things, the first thing I did was take my character Belenos Geode, and couple him with my other main- Anastasia Merrimox. Now whether I play as Bel, or Ana, the other half of the couple is a permanent follower.<br />
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<i>Well that is one way to get me back down the aisle...</i></div>
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So I figured I would make it official. I found that temple of Mara in Riften, and promptly made them husband and wife. I have always said that the family that slays together, stays together.<br />
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<i>Art Imitating Life?</i></div>
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Anastasia Merrimox has been featuring prominently in most of the games I have been playing lately, including Guild Wars 2. In Sims 3, I created her there too, and not surprisingly, she is also married to Belenos in that game. I, of course, have an ulterior motive as to why Ana features so highly. She is modeled after my real life girlfriend of almost a year now- Stacy.<br />
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<i>Stacy Merrison and Drew Bolton- Key West, July 10,2013</i></div>
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Yes folks, I have been trying to turn Stacy into a gamer, but so far the best I have been able to do is play Words With Friends with her lol. I'll get her yet though!<br />
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<i>Anastasia City... looking good, looking good.</i></div>
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When not running around with my virtual partner, or even my real life partner, I have also been making cities in the new Sim City. It will also not surprise you to hear the names of the cities as Geode, Stardust, Shrike, Merrimox, Anastasia City, to name a few.<br />
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<i>My ride, notice the blondes?</i></div>
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I have also been spending a fair bit of time in War Thunder, flying my F-4U Corsair in historical battles to wrest the Pacific from the Japanese, and Europe from Nazi Germany. I have to admit that this particular game has definitely scratched my aviation itch for some time to come, and made me a bit more comfortable about PvP... which I still have yet to do in Guild Wars 2.<br />
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<i>For some reason I just cannot keep away from the dark side...</i></div>
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I even decided to get back on board the SWTOR bus, since it went free to play, and have been working on my Sith Inquisitor- Anat'Alya the Twi'Lek.<br />
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But all things eventually come around full circle. <a href="https://www.guildwars2.com/en/">Guild Wars 2</a> has been my main video game squeeze, and it continues to be so today. So yesterday I decided the time was right to do what I had been putting off for almost a year now... To finish my personal story on Bel Geode, and KILL ZHAITAN!<br />
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If you have never done the end of the personal story, then spoiler alerts abound. Number 1- it is a dungeon... meaning you need a five person group to pull it off. I am still not sure how I feel about that, since it is a PERSONAL story, and a bit disorienting to see someone else star in the role you should have, but hey... I can live with it. I only needed to do it once.<br />
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Number 2- Destiny's Edge guild plays a pivotal role in this, so it is best if you have done all the previous story mode dungeons as you were leveling up. Otherwise you may miss out on some of the inside jokes that ArenaNet spent so much time crafting in the characters' voiceovers.<br />
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Number 3- Plan to spend at least an hour of your time in there! Especially if you have never done the personal story version, I imagine you will want to watch the cutscenes... And there are a LOT of them!<br />
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Number 4- There will be a fair bit of downtime in the middle of the dungeon... while on the airships (yes plural). Use the time wisely. Hopefully you go in there with your build already specced out, and ready to roll.<br />
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Number 5- There is a lot of surreal beauty to see, even with dragons and assorted undead trying to kill your ass! Just the fact that you are actually airborne, on massive airships, over a ruined yet well modeled nation of Orr is enough to make you lower your weapon if only for a moment and say "Wow!"<br />
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And then THIS sucker shows up and has to try to ruin the party. Well I should not be too harsh on him, after all, he IS the guest of honor now. Were it not for him, none of us would have reason to even be in Orr, let alone get a bickering guild crucial to all the racial storylines back together!<br />
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Now I am going to level with you folks... Number 6- This is as up close and personal as you are going to get with big bad mofo Zhaitan. You never actually go mano a clawo with him. A dragon this big can only be brought down by one thing...<br />
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INTENSIFIED FORWARD FIREPOWER!!! With half an airship left, but a full complement of Pact made weapons, you do have the power to kill this behemoth, and it will take all of your 5 person team (plus Destiny's Edge and the other various NPCs on board) to shoot him out of the sky for good.<br />
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Thus, we get to spoiler number 7, the most important one to note- ZHAITAN DIES! Yup, he dead... I say you, he dead... Never to rise again... The rewards are pretty sweet, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you are officially DONE with the personal story... No more needing to hang with Trahearne, you are free and clear to explore Tyria as you see fit, on YOUR schedule... And with good reason. ArenaNet's living story has been changing the face of the continent on a biweekly basis almost. There is still MUCH to do in Guild Wars 2 after Big Z croaks.<br />
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...Including FINALLY getting to dance with Eir Stegalkin.<br />
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It only took 11 months.....<br />
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So where do I go from here? Well... I have been playing with FRAPS, but have not yet had the confidence to upload anything to youtube. I know I still have a ton of SWTOR stories for Belenos to go through, and may decide to revisit that saga... I also thought about doing Skyrim stories, but let's face it... that game is even more immense than some of the others.<br />
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Who knows... I am open to suggestions.<br />
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For now I bid you adieu, it is time to spend some more time with my beloved Anastasia Merrimox, and her real life counterpart. ;-) <br />
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Ahh, amoré...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-67303032636255888752012-09-30T10:47:00.000-04:002012-09-30T11:03:39.316-04:00Tyrian Family ValuesOk I admit it...<br />
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It has taken some work to pry myself away from Guild Wars 2 long enough to actually sit and write my monthly blog. I even had my friend remind me that I needed to do my blog, and instead I ended up editing hers and helping her with her publishing schedule... when not playing Guild Wars 2 that is.<br />
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But I promise I'm getting better! (twitch twitch).<br />
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Ok so it has been a month since release, and to say the game has gone well is an understatement. As expected there were hiccups (no launch is ever perfect). I am sure by now those of you in the know, know about the first couple of weeks where the trading post could not handle the volume of players, and had to be shut down as it was upgraded.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trading post is back up, and not a moment too soon!</td></tr>
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I have to hand it to ArenaNet, for all the griping the playerbase has given them, they stuck their noses to the grindstone, and systematically figured the problems out with multiple crucial areas of the game. They even garnered further respect from this player, by turning OFF their sales of the game when server capacity exceeded what they were prepared for, just so they could ensure that the content was not trivialized by overpopulation. (As a sidenote- sales are ON again, so come on in! There are more servers now and the population caps have been raised.)<br />
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Here it is, September 30, and I have finally reached level 80 on Bel. Yay me! Now this is the part where normally I would get bored with a game and leave it for something else. That will not be the case this time because thanks to the many systems in place, I still have a TON of stuff to do! For starters, I have not even finished my personal story. I am also in the process of getting 100% completion for every single map in Tyria... and no where close to finishing that (I am currently at 54% complete). My crafting skills still need to be upped to the max level of 400 (I am both a huntsman, and a leatherworker). I am still trying to max out my guild- Sanctuary Of Hope [SANC] with guild updates (which is interesting since most of the guild are busy representing other guilds). Not to mention I have yet to really get my alts leveled; especially Ghita, Allyanis, and Tannia Shrike- the three redhead sisters.<br />
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In short... there is still a long way to go baby.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On top of the world ma... again.</td></tr>
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In a game where people seem to be rushing to level 80 so that they can experience "end game", I am one who prefers to take my own sweet time and enjoy the world around me. I think as gamers we have been spoonfed this mindset that a game does not truly begin until you reach this nebulous "end game". With Guild Wars 2 I greatly disagree... It is not what you do after level 80 that decides your end game, your end game begins the moment you step out of the tutorial area for your character's race.... at level 2! How is this possible you ask? Look at it this way- In this game you can freely go back to any zone you have been in, and you are automatically down leveled to the level of the content you have to fight, thus making content still challenging. Let me rephrase that, there is NOTHING trivial about a level 80 going to the starter zone (level 1-15 usually). This greatly enhances replayability, and continues to reward you, should you have skipped content in a mad rush to level 80, and now you have decided you want to see more of say- Kessex Hills (level 15-25 human zone). Even if you have 100% completed the map, and gotten the rewards, there are still numerous events that can still use your help, and I bet my bottom dollar you have yet to see ALL of a given zone's events. There's your end game right there.<br />
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As a case in point of why it is good to go back to areas and immerse yourself in what is going on, I want to tell you a little story of the family I met in Wayfarer Foothills (level 1-15 norn starter zone).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You what? Is this some kind of joke?</td></tr>
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I was running around minding my own business when this girl comes up to me, "compliments" me on my hair... yeah... about that... then proceeds to pelt me with a snowball. My initial reaction was, "Why you little runt!" I gathered up snowballs and began assaulting her and her siblings, of whom there were a LOT!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wife gone, kids running amok... this sounds like a job for super dad!</td></tr>
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I found their father inside the lodge, and asked him why he was so distressed, and especially why his kids were running amok throughout the homestead. He mentioned to me that his wife had gone off hunting and left him to take care of ALL of their kids. Needless to say, it was lunch time and he could not leave to get food for them all, so I volunteered my time to slaughter some Dolyaks, and get him some meat.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's a moral in here somewhere... </td></tr>
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He then proceeded to grill up some of the finest Dolyak jerky I have ever tasted, and proudly shouted to his kids that lunch was here. He also graciously parted with some of the meat for me, as a thank you. At this point, I could have left Gareth and his brood, but the children were so interesting with their antics that I had to stick around and see what they got into next. Sure enough, one of his daughters stuck an axe in the giant Dolyak head mounted on the lodge. Her brother overheard the conversation and decided to take it upon himself to hunt a new epic creature that dad could replace the ruined Dolyak head with. My parental instincts kicked in, and I opted to go with the tyke to help him out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sure kid, we can hunt that.. why not.</td></tr>
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In typical norn fashion, this kid- Jafri, picked the biggest, meanest animal he could find to hunt for dad... and luckily there were other players there to help me before he got gored with any of the four horns that this longshanks had sporting.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah Gareth, he did all the work, I just looked pretty.</td></tr>
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Successful from his hunt, a proud Jafri presented the head to his father, who damn near had a heart attack!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I always say the family that slays together, stays together.</td></tr>
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Another satisfied customer... I felt it was time to leave... except... the girls were muttering about something inside the homestead, then one of the daughters asks her dad where their mom kept the honey. Uh oh, that is never good...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Umm, that's a lot of honey for one bear.</td></tr>
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Not to be outdone by Jafri, the other kids decided to do a ritual to the bear spirit to ask for one of their own to wrestle. If I remember my bear rituals correctly, you only need a teaspoon of honey. Apparently no one told these kids that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When bears stampede, on the next national geographic!</td></tr>
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Instead of attracting one YOUNG bear, they managed to besiege the town with HUNDREDS of bears! All I can say is I am sure glad there were other passersby. It took us almost ten minutes to thin out the bear stampede!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh I am going to make a fortune in fur coats!</td></tr>
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After all the hijinx that these kids got into, it will be any wonder if Gareth ever lets his wife go hunting again! It was at this point, when the calm of the shiverpeaks settled onto the Taigan Groves, that I decided now was the time to leave this peaceful homestead of Victor's Point in search of a beer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tell your wife when she gets home that she owes Bel Geode a case of ale.</td></tr>
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As I left, i noticed that it was literally an hour later. I spent that much time in one area pushing things through to a happy ending, and only when I was sure there was no more danger to those kids, did I decide to take off. It had me thinking about norn family values, and how dedicated the homestead is to their kids. In a norn relationship, husband and wife are truly equal, and both have the same epic strength and desire to have their legends grow together. It's a great concept that I have to admit is something I strive to find in my real life relationships. I am just glad that ArenaNet gave me the chance to see this firsthand.<br />
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I am definitely proud to be norn!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-26571010637872559832012-08-24T20:45:00.000-04:002012-08-24T20:45:34.485-04:00This is where MY legend begins!Howdy strangers, long time no see...
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Well unless you have been under a rock, you must realize that tonight is going to be a very very special night! Tonight is when after 5 years of working on it, ArenaNet will unveil for those of us who have prepurchased- GUILD WARS 2!
I have to level with you folks, a year and a month ago, when I had actually decided to look into this phenomenon known as GW2, I was very much on the fence, and very much disillusioned with the state of MMORPGs in general. I am sure if you have read any of the past blogs you can see that I have been looking for a virtual place to call home after all. SWTOR was a great ride, and while I may pick it up again when it goes free to play, I do have to confess that part of the reason why you had not seen any more on the subject is because the story was over too soon for me. I lost interest, similarly to what happened with Rift.
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Of course this begs the question, well Drew, who's to say the same thing will not happen with Guild Wars 2 when something newer and shinier comes along?
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While this is a valid concern, in the short (REALLY SHORT) three weekend and a couple stress test betas that I have been in, my appetite has been FAR from sated! I think that ArenaNet hit on a perfect ration of Tyrian goodness to keep us all hooked. Come on now, you know that you salivated every time they announced another stress test! Now that the night is at hand, I am about 99% sure if you check most of the social media, everyone is talking about this game. But WHY? Why has this game been so hyped of late? What is it about it that has seemingly converted the masses, both within the media and without?
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Here's what I think it is:<br />
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<b>1</b>- <b><i>ArenaNet themselves</i></b>. In the short time that I was able to log in on those weekends, I noticed players running around with ANet logos above their heads, alongside other regular players. They PLAY THEIR OWN GAME! I have always heard devs (in other games) brag about doing it, and giving it lip service, but actually SEEING several of them running about, helping with events chains, harvesting, even leading dungeon runs at odd hours no less (way past their work time) fills me with a great confidence that not only does ArenaNet take pride in their work, but ENJOY being in the world they have created! They do not look at it as here is a game we made for YOU, but here is a game we made for all of US! That alone has my customer loyalty.
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<b>2</b>- <b><i>They listen</i></b>. I am no stranger to beta testing, and I know the golden rule is to leave detailed feedback... and yes I do get tl;dr (too long; didn't read). However, I was amazed to see some of the things I and others had requested implemented by the next weekend test! Every bug I submitted was fixed, and profession changes I had been saying needed to happen happened! I know they know a lot more about programming and gaming than I do, but the fact that they also know when to admit something is not working the way it should, or is not as FUN as it should be, and they change it... I like that.
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<b>3</b>- <b><i>The beauty of it all</i></b>. There have been many MMORPGs that I have played where I have explored to my heart's content, and been left feeling somewhat blah by what I have found. As time has gone on, and technology has improved, games have started to look more and more beautiful. ArenaNet has taken it above and beyond in this instance. Not content with just having a good looking world, they actually have encouraged you to see some of the best vistas they worked so hard on. I, in turn, would encourage all of you who will play this game, to find every single vista and take a moment to soak in the cinematic goodness. Don't forget you get rewarded for finding them all. I have never in my life played a game that rewards you for exploring... until now.
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<b>4</b>- <b><i>The community feel</i></b>. In three short weekends, I met so many people... some random passers by that decided to pitch in and help me, some who took the time to talk to me and eventually end up on my friends list. Though all characters are wiped now, in preparation for launch, one thing ArenaNet insisted upon, was to leave your contact list intact! This means anyone you met on whatever server you were on over the three beta tests is STILL on your friends list! With cross server communication, and eventually the guesting feature (where you can actually be a guest on your friend's American or European server), this will make it ridiculously easy to play with the people you want to play with. Meanwhile on your home server you can be sure that the people you meet there will be dedicated and proud to be part of their home... especially when it comes time to defend our honor in WvWvW PvP (world vs world vs world).
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<b>5</b>- <b><i>The common sense approaches</i></b>. Why is it in 2012, that no other game has thought of common sense things like mob sharing (no kill stealing... ever), resource node instancing (again no resource ninja-ing), dungeon loot for all (everyone get a full complement of loot, no more need/greed rolls), player re-leveling in lower zones (if you are a level 80 you can go to a level 1-15 zone and NOT one shot everything. It keeps being challenging, so that you can guide your friend who is a level 5 along), shared game economy (when you buy off the trading post, you are seeing listings from every server in existence... whether europe or america), and outdoor raiding (you do not even need to group up to kill a world boss, just jump in)... and on the outdoor raiding, this is as early as the first ZONE! This is not to mention the obvious things such as truly dynamic events that scale in difficulty the more players participate, and consequences for winning or failing any given event. Why has it taken so long for any game to do this? All I can say is I am glad ArenaNet has become the trendsetter in this.
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There are so many more things I could list, but this list would go on forever. Mark my words folks, you are hearing it here first. This game has become the new paradigm that all other MMORPGs to follow will try to emulate. I would not be surprised at all if WoW starts adding some of these features just to keep up.
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It's almost time to begin our legends, and you will find me on <b>TARNISHED COAST</b> server, with my guild- <b>Sanctuary of Hope [SANC]</b> (long time SWG players may remember us from Naritus server). Just look for the huge purple clothed, black norn... and be sure to say hi.
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Going forward my blog will do what I was doing with SWTOR... chronicling my adventures as Bel Geode. I thank you all for reading, and see you on Tyria!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-37393732175744677112012-05-02T21:21:00.000-04:002012-05-02T21:25:17.264-04:00We Interrupt This Program To Bring You... GW2!Friday April 27, through Sunday April 29... Days that will go down in history as the first time I stepped foot in Tyria, 250 years later!
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Howdy all, this has been a long time coming. The first official public beta weekend event just concluded, and those of us who pre-purchased the game (<a href="https://buy.guildwars2.com/">go here</a>), as well as those lucky to be selected by random draw, were invited to invade Tyria for the first time since the game was announced so many years ago! To say it has been exciting is a mere understatement, and a quick google search of the terms "guild wars 2 beta" will pull up a plethora of experiences; whether textual, visual, or otherwise. It is my intent to give my first impressions here, and later on <a href="http://www.talktyria.net/">Talktyria.net</a> I will get into some of the nuts and bolts of what I experienced, if anyone is interested.
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First let me say, this has been a weekend that conspired against me; between my gaming computer dying (mad props to Crucial Computers in Pittsburgh for helping me fix it cheaply), work friends getting together most of Friday, to having to actually go to work, and then band practice on Sunday, I did not get nearly enough time to play the game as I would have liked. I did feel under the gun to get a broad experience, and pick out the key features that need more work before this game can become polished to perfection. What I will present here is no where close to being a compendium of all I found, but a little glimpse into why I feel this game will be THE game for 2012 and beyond. If you are still on the fence, stick around... Maybe I can stoke some of the (now unabashed) fanboy fire for you.
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Guild Wars 2 is indeed everything I expected it to be. I have to admit when I first heard about the game and what they were planning, I was HIGHLY skeptical. You may remember my first blog about it many moons ago. ArenaNet quickly won me over, as I began to see what they were trying to accomplish, and while still carrying guarded optimism, being able to FEEL and SEE the world for myself has made a HUGE impact on my opinion of the game, for the better! So to start with, I decided to make my future main character... my trademark black norn engineer- Belenos.
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Without any real tutorial per se, and very little handholding by the arenanet help system, I was able to get into the game with relative ease. Now I did spend about 45 minutes just in the character creator alone fine tuning Belenos' appearance. What can I say... the dude has to be representative of ME, so he may as well look like Silkyâ„¢ da pimp... Ya know? Once I finally got through the character creator, and into the opening cutscene, I have to admit that there were tears of joy welling up in my eyes. Belenos said "This is MY story", and I did a fist pump into the night (scaring the cat- Luna, in the process).<br />
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I materialized in Wayfarer Foothills, the starting location for all norn characters (each of the 5 races gets their own starting area, racially based). The first thing you notice in the world is just how simply BREATHTAKING it actually is! With the norn living the rustic life, you awaken to a pristine, alpine region that at once feels like old Vinland, as well as a more stylized Pacific northwest motif. Now bear in mind I am still running an Nvidia 9600GT graphics card... definitely an older model, and I was able to get some really impressive detail without sacrificing a lot of FPS (some folks reported their FPS was in the crapper... I did not have this experience). Color me impressed, considering the game is NOT YET optimized, and was running on only ONE of my four chip cores.
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Now in case you have not heard, how you learn your skills is both unique and interesting. You learn by DOING. Let's say you are an engineer with a pistol (all engineers start with a trusty pistol). As you use said pistol in fights, AND successfully kill an enemy, you gain a percentage to your next skill's unlock (in the case of the pistol you get three skills for your main hand, then 2 more skills if you have an offhand pistol). By the time you have explored the tutorial area of Wayfarer Foothills, and fought your first epic boss, you will most likely have all your pistol skills unlocked (not to mention probably have already looted that second pistol). I have to say that I like this system way more than "buying skills" from a skill vendor. It seems more natural to me. Once you unlock your skills for that weapon, you DO have to unlock skills for say a rifle (you always get skill 1 automatically unlocked, which also doubles as your default autoattack). In the case of the engineer, your weapon choices are limited to firearms (pistol/ rifle) and a shield. Underwater you automatically get a spear gun. What makes the engineer shine however are the utility skills you acquire through gaining skill points in the world.
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Skill points are nothing new, a throwback to MMORPGs of old. However you spend skill points similar to purchasing the skill. You do NOT need a vendor, you do it all from your own menu window. As you adventure throughout Tyria, you will encounter various npcs that offer you "skill books" to read (often at little to no charge), or in the case of norns, sometimes you have to prove your mettle by fighting a fellow norn. Let's just say norns love to fight. As you collect skill points, you add utility skills that you can use in your battles later. Skill point holders are easily found on your map btw, and as you load into a zone, the loading screen will tell you how many there are on any given map (the maps btw are HUGE). My favorite thus far has been the rifle turret, and the flamethrower. The rifle turret is a thing of beauty that auto attacks anything that is attacking you (provided you plop it down in range). It does not have a LOT of durability, but I found that little thing saving my arse several times! The flamethrower however... ooooooh mama. The things you can do with that ought to be illegal in Tyria! It has to be seen to be believed. I cannot do it much justice in mere text.
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I just want to point out that Guild Wars 2, while it does have more traditional "quests", in the form of your personal story arc, is meant to be explored and experienced. I found myself outpacing my personal story ahead of time. The next installment being a couple levels higher than I was prepared for. This is where the beauty of the game comes in. You have random dynamic events in the world, and you also have the "reknown hearts" (think of it as gaining karma by helping people out). Between those, plus the random taking out your aggression on the odd flightless Moa, and you can find yourself leveling up well in no time. The world itself is littered with little easter eggs, and your exploration is greatly rewarded by the various things you can find and do. As an explorer type by nature, this game was tailor made for me. As a completionist... well I have my work cut out for me. Unfortunately one weekend barely scratched the surface. I am not going to lie here folks, I found very little to complain about. For sake of argument, I will attempt to list what I can and have found that has me scratching my head:
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Chat- The local chat currently is anything but local. You chat with everyone on the server in your current zone. I think ArenaNet might be better off labeling it a general chat, as local is stretching it mightily. From what I heard, in WvW (world versus world versus world pvp), all three worlds see the same chat. I foresee bad planning issues with that. Imagine your enemy knowing your every move because some idiot on your team decided to announce in chat where you are. By the way, there are no chat bubbles over your head, though if grouped you do see a chat bubble next to the portrait of your group members, in addition to their words in the chat window. It is not far fetched for ArenaNet to add chat bubbles... I am sure they have enough feedback in favor of them. Perhaps that can be local chat.
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Sitting- Non existent in chairs. You sit on the floor, and if you are crafty can sit on the couch... but for regular chairs... nope. I have noticed this trend of late with newer games. I hearken back to SWG where you could sit in any chair, and wish that ArenaNet will incorporate this feature...
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Dancing- You heard it here first folks. Unless I missed it, there is NO /dance with the current build! I am sure it is a major oversight, and in my feedback I gave them this past Monday, I brought this up. I remember days in SWG with our "boy band", dancing in Theed in our stormtrooper gear. Come on ArenaNet, you just HAVE to institute dancing!
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Drunkenness- Non existent. I was a bit disappointed there too, as I remember drinking MANY drinks in Guild Wars 1, and getting the title for being able to hold my liquor. Again, probably a minor oversight.
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Home Instance- I used to be (and still am) big on having a "home" in game. When I played humans in Divinity's Reach, I was shocked to not be able to find where I actually live inside my home instance. I have heard that it is in the works, but I have no idea if it will be there come launch or afterwards.
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Logging Out- In the original Guild Wars, when you logged out, you had the option of going to character select, then picking your next toon to log in. This is currently not so in GW2. When you log out... YOU LOG OUT! In addition to this, the current beta build really does not tell you what server you are on. This proved a problem Sunday night when I wanted to play with a friend, and told them I was on Augury Rock (what I thought I selected), but come to find out I was really on ANVIL Rock. I could group with my friend, though he was on a different server, but I could not see him till I physically transferred my character (thus transferring all of them) from Anvil to Augury. Methinks more improvement is needed there, especially since GW2 is touted as a social game. I kind of want to SEE my friends as I play with them. My bad for not paying attention to where I selected, but the fact that once you select a server, ALL 5 of your toons are there, with no option to create others on a different server, is a bit of a downer. Hopefully this will be rectified in the next beta build.
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All in all however, I will say that the gameplay is sterling! I stated before that Guild Wars 2 is exactly what I expected it would be and MORE! The things I have nitpicked do make a difference, and again you must realize I am only scratching the surface of this gorgeous game. I am proud to have already pre-purchased the game, and can readily see it as my "home" for many years to come. The many lore references will have lorehounds smiling as they explore, and even if you have never even touched Guild Wars 1, you do not need to, in order to understand what is going on in the world around you. IT TELLS YOU! The first time a random npc runs up to you and tells you "Hey, one of those so called farmers just hit me in the face", you will know... ok it is clobbering time. You will feel better about yourself after once the npc thanks you for helping in the form of equipment you can use, and karma points you can bank to get items you normally would not find at the average vendor.
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Is Guild Wars 2 ready for mass consumption? ALMOST! What they have done so far is far surpassing what I have played in the past, and with a little more tweaking, I can see this game eclipsing a lot of the MMORPGs out there... I dare say including the vaunted WoW.
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Should you pre-purchase it? Well... to be able to get into all the forthcoming betas and give your own feedback, yes I say it is worth it. Remember there will never be a monthly subscription, and to me that is the biggest win of all. I personally cannot wait to get back into Tyria... It is going to be a looooooooong withdrawal filled month I imagine.
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I think I have found my new home. I hope to see you there as well!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-52312898356807473192012-03-31T11:33:00.000-04:002012-03-31T11:33:51.567-04:00Tatooine Is Not EnoughCurse that poor excuse for a Sith Lord, Darth Zhorrid. I had no idea why she has insisted on bothering me, but since her father was assassinated, she has been nothing but a pest. This was over the line though. She disabled my hyperdrive remotely, so that I could remain on Nar Shaddaa to carry out a kidnapping for her.<br />
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The bloody nerve... Once more Kaliyo and I are off into the night sky to find Vyord Yanol, and bring him into custody. Luckily for us, tracking him was like looking for a gambling chip in the casino. His trail was so plainly obvious that I was mildly amused when we eventually ran into his shocked personage.<br />
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After dispatching his guards, I decided to take out my frustrations with Little Miss Zhorrid on his pathetic hide. I could not kill him, but I could at least make him regret crossing my path.<br />
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Kaliyo and I were in agreement. We stuffed him in the cargo hold, and contacted Darth Zhorrid to humbly request she remove the limiter from my hyperdrive. Next stop, Drumond Kaas. In short order, we arrived on the Imperial capital world, and brought our unconscious friend to see his new living quarters.<br />
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Ugh... I will never understand the whims and fancies of the Sith. Granted I kill for a living, but my targets are strategic for the most part. This... this is just foolishness. To call people into your room just so you can murder them seems a bit over the top eccentric. Regardless, Zhorrid's appetite was sated, and she had her new toy... so we were free to leave. I think I even heard Kaliyo retching.<br />
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Safely onboard the ship, with light years between us and that mad woman, we were graced with the beauty of Watcher 2. Our assignment was bringing us closer to the Eagle. We were tasked to comb the desert world of Tatooine for the Ghost network, and bring them to justice, Cipher 9 style. I'd heard a lot about the planet, but this would be my first chance to see the land of the twin suns.<br />
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We made haste to Mos Ila, and new adventure. As I set the ship down, our personal droid insisted on packing extra flasks of water for us.<br />
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Mos Ila spaceport... Hmm... for all the Imperial veneer on the surface, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Essentially a lawless world, crawling with Republic agents, this was going to prove challenging to locate the terror cell notorious for sinking into the desert sands without a trace. After a few cryptic leads, we were sent to an abandoned office building to await our contact.<br />
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After some time, she revealed herself as a former Ghost cell agent, working for our side. Mia Hawkins... a scrappy, yet cautious woman who appeared legitimate... well as legitimate as can be claimed on this dustball.<br />
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Our target was clear... we were to infiltrate, seek, and destroy "The Old Man". First we had to go to the Sevarin Mesa wind farms and secure the building to draw out the Ghost cell. Easy enough task... Mia said she would meet us there.<br />
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Off we went into the scalding suns, and through the rugged Jundland wastes... For the record, they are not to be traveled lightly.<br />
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Upon our arrival at the rendezvous point, we were beset upon by Tusken Raiders. They were ferocious fighters, to say the least, but in the end, merely a minor obstacle. Once they were out of the way, we set our explosive charges in preparation for the ambush.<br />
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It was not long after booby trapping the building that a group of ragged men came walking into the trap. Sure enough... they were the Ghost cell operatives we were awaiting.<br />
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This was too easy... or was it...<br />
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I had not anticipated the meaning behind their name- Ghost cell... The ability to turn invisible. Well, I won't be making that mistake again. A protracted firefight ensued, but together, Kaliyo and I unmasked the Ghosts, and defeated them. In short order, Mia appeared. Something was not right, she was more flirty than usual... which is saying a lot, since she has the social graces of a Jawa.<br />
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I decided to test the waters and offer some flirtation back. For my trouble I was poisoned, and it was revealed that Mia was NOT Mia... but the elite leader of this Ghost cell we encountered! Kaliyo to the rescue... she saved my poisoned behind. Thanks girl, I owe you one.<br />
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After the fight, and my recuperation, we left to meet the real Mia in a place called Mos Anek. Naturally I was cautious when we found her, so I opted to flirt with her, and as expected, she rebuffed my advances. Good... it was her.<br />
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We were sent to find Milosh Varta, a noted leader of the Exchange crime syndicate... Supposedly he had leads on where this Old Man could be found. Off to the scorching sands once more... I am beginning to see why people refer to Tatooine as the armpit of the galaxy.<br />
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Milosh was easy to find... and easy to persuade... all I had to do was point a blaster at his most prized asset- his wife.<br />
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The information was flowing like rain SHOULD BE, on this arid world. We now knew where the drop point would be that would take us to the Old Man's camp, deep in the heart of the Dune Sea. All we needed to do now was travel the trackless desert to the correct location.<br />
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After several bottles of water, we finally found the drop point. As expected it was out in the middle of nowhere, guarded by Milosh's exchange brutes. The crates down there looked a decent enough size, so we found our infiltration point. Not surprisingly, riding around in crates was NOT a new experience to Kaliyo...<br />
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As expected, the exchange loaded us into the shuttle, and took us directly to the Old Man's camp. We were to contact Mia once we made it safely, but peculiarly, she did not respond to her comm call. I figured we would run into her sooner or later.<br />
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BINGO! Target in sight... and what's this? Oh no...<br />
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Well I should not have been surprised that they tracked her down, but she did help us immensely. I suppose I owed it to her to rescue her in the process. The Old Man and I exchanged mock pleasantries, and his information on a secret benefactor to the Eagle terror network was most intriguing. Business is business though...<br />
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He knew his lease on life had expired... but he put up a valiant fight nonetheless.<br />
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When all was said and done, we released Mia to fade into obscurity, in the hopes that we might meet again sometime over drinks... In someplace less... thirst inducing... than here. The mission was accomplished, and it was time to check in with Watcher 2 onboard the ship... Only one final stop to make.<br />
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The great pit of Carkoon... resting place of the all powerful Sarlacc monster... and the perfect hiding spot for a dead Old Man. Good riddance to bad rubbish.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-86470628943904797202012-02-14T11:09:00.001-05:002012-02-15T07:14:53.755-05:00Smuggler's Moon (Raker)Nar Shaddaa... Also known affectionately as the Smuggler's Moon.<br />
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</div>Anything a person could want, whether legal, or illegal can be found here. The moon of Hutta was ripe with the iniquities of sentient and non-sentient alike, and it was there we were to seek out a former intelligence operative, now in forced retirement, by the name of Watcher X. I dare say this entire adventure on the city moon formed a bit of a cautionary tale for me... In the Empire, no one is indispensable.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-24_00_14_19_203125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-24_00_14_19_203125.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>As expected, upon arrival there were other Imperials who needed assistance, as this world is contested. The crime syndicates that basically hold Nar Shaddaa together (in a manner of speaking), needed to be convinced of the benefits to siding with the Empire, so it quickly became my job to run as an enforcer... Tasked with taking down The Exchange... consider them the worst of all evils on the moon.<br />
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Naturally I had help along the way, from time to time, when my paths crossed with Sith on similar tracks. The job was easy... done. Unbeknownst to me, and the agent whom we were assisting, we were double-crossed by one of the Hutts we were supposed to be trying to win over. Hardly surprising mind you, but I spared his life in return for his undying loyalty to the Empire. His partner in crime... The Exchange boss, Ukabi... was not so lucky.<br />
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</div>With this business dealt with, Kaliyo and I drove off into the night sky, on our search for Watcher X, and whatever pertinent info he may have on these terror cells of the Eagle's.<br />
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I could not help but notice that the area we finally found him had an eerie resemblance to a prison. Hardly the retirement home I would expect for someone obviously decorated as an operative in the past. As I met the disheveled man, I wondered what crimes he may have committed to deserve such a fate... Or maybe he simply knew too much.<br />
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Whatever the case, Kaliyo did NOT take a liking to him from the start, and that should have been my first indicator that something was not right.<br />
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The first bit of info he volunteered was that the terror cells were using Nar Shaddaa's many factories to produce a powerful adrenal called cyclone, which could essentially turn soldiers into super soldiers, or terrorists into... well... you get the picture. We were given the names of our contacts, and we proceeded to "persuade" them to see things our way and give us what we needed.<br />
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We obtained info on the processing plants and proceeded to the Duros Sector with due haste. Duty called once more as the local commander needed our assistance in dealing with yet another upstart terror cell in the area.<br />
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Among other things, one of our agents was compromised and killed... The secrets he uncovered pinned to his crucified chest as a trophy, and a warning to other Imperial agents. Macabre to be sure, but it had to be dealt with. I was asked to burn the body and retrieve the information before the rabble rousers used it as a rallying device.<br />
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As I suspected... It was a trap. A poorly laid one at that...<br />
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With the anti-Imperial conspirators handled, we went to the labs to use their bioscanner, and see if we could obtain the ingredients to this cyclone.<br />
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As we were about to head back to Watcher X, we received the disturbing news that the local commander had been captured by a nemesis known only as "The Flame". He and his men were being held at gunpoint, following a failed negotiation. I swear if I had a credit stick for every time Imperial commanders muck things up, I could be a Moff now.<br />
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Much to Kaliyo's dismay, we saved his pathetic hide... and his men.<br />
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In gratitude however, we were given more names, to unravel the terror plot. Our next one led us to one of the ritziest casinos on the moon- Club Vertica.<br />
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Of course such an exclusive establishment was not going to simply allow us to walk in and speak to the gentleman in question, so I had to resort to the one skill I know best...<br />
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Charm the pants off his lovely, Twi'Lek administrator. Well, what can I say... It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.<br />
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Kaliyo decided to opt out of the fun this time. I was beginning to think the woman had no sexual desire whatsoever... Oh well, more for me. She waited in the lobby.<br />
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With the job done, I was granted an audience with our contact, and provided what intel I needed to take back to Watcher X, in order to continue further. He made it a point when I was leaving to inform me not to seduce his employees again. With a smirk, I left.<br />
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Watcher X seemed pleased that we were able to get this far along the chase, and offered some assistance for the next part in an unusual form- He offered to implant a device in my spine that would create a camouflage for me, so I could infiltrate the corporation behind both the cyclone production, as well as various other toxins that were being funneled to the terror cells. Reluctantly I agreed to have him perform this augmentative surgery. In retrospect, that was my first mistake.<br />
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I do have to admit though, it is one of the best disguises I have ever pulled off... A labor droid... a common labor droid found all over the galaxy. For an imprisoned, retired agent, the man did have a stroke of genius.<br />
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This was by far the easiest infiltration I have ever executed!<br />
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I was able to get to ground zero, at a meeting of the criminal minds, in the midst of a respectable corporate headquarters. I had ALL the info I needed to prosecute my original orders- dismantle the terror cell.<br />
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It was time to get to work! I summoned Kaliyo in, and we set about making sure that this group of fanatics did not live another day to terrorize the Empire. Only one was left alive, clinging to life, and of course hurling his final epithets at me.<br />
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Watcher X used a highly unusual procedure to glean whatever information he could from the man's brain, and leave him essentially in a vegetative state. I could not have this... No survivors... No witnesses...<br />
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We were then sent by another Imperial commander to destroy an information hub we suspected the Republic was trying to compromise. It took a bit of work as well as droid de-construction, but we were able to make it inside.<br />
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When we got into the main chamber we were met by a peculiar alien who could not be destroyed. I did negotiate with him and agree to his terms. We were allowed to destroy all the hubs, save one that he deemed a failsafe, should the information ever be needed. He agreed to keep it under lock and key.<br />
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We did the job... The Empire gained what info it needed, and the Republic were shut out from ever trying to access it. Quite pleased with myself I took Kaliyo shopping in the Promenade.<br />
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I thought it was quite fetching, but Kaliyo was clearly not impressed. Well, as my ship's droid always says: "You cannot make a shimmersilk purse from a Bantha's ear." As we were beginning to enjoy our tourist diversion, I got the call from Watcher 2... Apparently Watcher X used the info we gleaned to formulate an escape from his "retirement home". My orders were clear... Watcher X was to be terminated.<br />
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We hightailed it back to Mezenti Starport, and bolted through the hallways to the hangar he was headed for. We caught him just in time.<br />
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I told him I appreciated his assistance on this, but business is business. Whatever he may have done to be on the wrong side of Imperial Intelligence, his journey ends here and now. In what has been the most epic confrontation I have had, the man fought like a caged animal. Kaliyo even suffered injuries, which is unusual for her! The taste of her own blood sent her into a frenzy... It could only end one way...<br />
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Before we killed him, his parting words were that he could show me WHY the Empire is not my friend, WHAT they have done to me without my knowledge, and HOW I will be disposed of, just like him, when the time comes. Orders were orders... He never got to give me the information.... When I questioned Watcher 2 about this, she was even more obtuse than he was. Something was not right... but I could not dwell on that now.<br />
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To add insult to injury, when we tried to hyperspace out of Nar Shaddaa orbit, I was shocked to discover we had been disabled remotely... by none other than Darth Jadus' spoiled brat of a daughter- Darth Zhorrid the horrid. She had some task for us to do on Nar Shaddaa to prove my loyalty to her.<br />
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I was fuming, and Kaliyo was as well. Stranded on Nar Shadda, filled with the virulent concoction of anger, adrenaline, and bloodlust... we did the only thing we could think to do to blow off steam...<br />
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We had sex... rough... violent... passionate... sex.<br />
It was the best we have ever had.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-53775501368746092802012-01-31T22:33:00.003-05:002012-01-31T23:29:03.582-05:00From Balmorra With Love...Part two of the Belenos Geode archives:<br />
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Our story picks up with Watcher 2 sending me to the planet of Balmorra, in order to infiltrate the first of many of the Eagle's terror network cells, to dismantle it... by any means necessary. With Kaliyo on hand, we punched it to the war torn planet and headed for Sobrik space station.<br />
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I had always heard about this world, but had never had the chance to see what the Empire was trying to accomplish til now. I have to say I was a bit amazed at the layout of Sobrik city, tucked away in a natural valley, and well protected by a forcefield above.<br />
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Our first task was to check in with the station chief, one Lekern Renald. He got us up to speed on the whereabouts of the terrorist cell, and the best course of action to infiltrate them. I quickly lost my imperial accent, and set about meeting up with these hooligans.<br />
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On the way, we stopped at the local Imperial Authority and were asked to assist in a sidejob for them, covering up a "mishap" in the cantina. Apparently some Chiss notable went and got himself killed, and we needed to make it look like the Republic was responsible. Easy enough task... Doctor some discs. When the job was done, I took in some of the local Twi'lek sights.<br />
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I dare say, I think Kaliyo was even impressed... I had heard she swings both ways... though I have yet to engage her in any, more... intimate endeavors.<br />
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A few missions later, we met with our contact, and were introduced to the female leader of the Balmorra resistance. I had to admit, in a way I was pretty impressed with her ferocity, if not respectful of her natural distrust of me. The job had to be done though, so it was my goal to earn her trust, albeit temporarily... so I could gain the info I needed.<br />
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I did the things she asked of me, to assist her resistance... though I ensured whatever terrorist plans she had somehow were stymied by say, malfunctioning equipment. While the finger of suspicion automatically fell on me, I was able to deflect this by doing JUST ENOUGH to prove to her that I know what I am doing, and was doing it for her cause. Kaliyo being a true anarchist helped considerably in keeping our cover.<br />
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In short I had to kill the right people, to make it look convincing. As luck would so have it, the local commander in the field had a bit of a dilemma that required my subtle touch... His wife had been selling Imperial secrets to her boyfriend. Now I do not need to tell you, that sort of thing is frowned upon highly, and is usually cause for trial and most likely execution.<br />
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If there is one thing my training has taught me, is that your gender does not predispose you to any more or less mercy from me. This far from the heart of the Empire, the law still needs to be upheld... and the military code of conduct is absolute. She was an officer no less... She should have known better. I killed her boyfriend in the cantina...<br />
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And at the commander's urging, "escorted" his wife, Kelara to a "safe place", like a lamb to slaughter.<br />
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She never saw it coming. Normally the killing of a high level officer's wife, let alone a military person would garner a good deal of bad karma for me, but considering my assignment here, it fit the bill to sway the resistance's opinion of me. It did my galactic bank account some good too, from a grateful commander who realized there are more important duties than... love...<br />
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My hands washed clean with the blessing of the commander, I was able to extricate the information I sought from the terrorist cell and locate the prime target of this particular operation... The Eagle's Liason.<br />
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It had not occurred to me at the time just how far the chain of command actually went. The woman whose trust I had earned only led me to the next rung of the ladder, and after defeating the Liason, I was given info about the defense minister, who ALSO was a part of the resistance terror cell!<br />
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Once he was dealt with, we started to get down to the nitty gritty. Not only was the terror cell intricate, and deep, but overt republic troops were also being led by a charismatic general who "could not be defeated". It was time to garner some allies in the fight. Enter one Darth Lachris...<br />
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</div>The soon to be leader of Balmorra, she needed a bit of assistance in securing victory on the planet. I have to admit, though her looks were a bit harsh on my eyes, I admired her passion and charm... Not to mention she flirted with the best of them. Far be it from me to resist a damsel in distress. With Darth Lachris' help, I was able to ascertain the whereabouts of the terror cell leader, Grey Star. But first, I had to get through the General.<br />
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As expected, he was protected by highly trained Republic commandos. No mean feat to get through the gauntlet of crack troops, as well as Jedi that he had on his payroll. but like all "undefeatable generals", his day was coming... He was not prepared for the wrath of Belenos and Kaliyo.<br />
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Not surprisingly, he begged for his life, when all his toy soldiers were broken... Equally not surprising... The mission demanded no mercy.<br />
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What DID surprise me was where I found the Gran... Imprisoned by the Republic, and the charismatic General Cheketta. Not to be deterred, I extracted what information he had on the Eagle and his other terror cells, and ensured that Grey Star would no longer pose a threat to the Empire.<br />
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With the mission accomplished, I returned to a grateful Darth Lachris, to fill her in on the details. To say she was appreciative was an understatement. Not only did my bank account have more deposits, but I also obtained an unexpected, yet quite welcome gift...<br />
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The Sith lord herself, in her bed chambers. I have to admit... that is a first. Now I KNOW what the Sith mean when they say they embrace their passion. The average woman will be hard pressed to surpass her bedroom prowess.<br />
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Another satisfied customer, as I like to say... Our next stop awaited, so Kaliyo and I hopped back on board The Predator (as I have named my ship), and left the rocky world of Balmorra for our next terror cell demolishing assignment.<br />
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As expected, Watcher 2 was a step ahead... our next stop... Nar Shaddaa- the smugglers' moon: casinos, cantinas and of course a nice stiff drink.<br />
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I could hardly wait...........Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-41355345216540992322011-12-31T09:44:00.001-05:002012-01-06T07:50:10.148-05:00Nobody Does It Better...You know... 2011 has been a good year for gaming. Now, on the last day of the year, I can look back in all honesty and say truly- YES... It was an awesome year for gaming! Consider that I started the year playing Rift beta, and wound my way through Eve Online, Age Of Conan, Sims 3, World Of Tanks, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Second Life, Forsaken World, and of course... Guild Wars, only to find myself leaving one galaxy far far away and joining the same... 3000 years earlier (RIP SWG, Hello SWTOR). How about that, I even managed to time travel, to boot. Doc Brown would be proud of me. Along the way, I managed to end my 2 year unemployment stint; was able to get into an awesome rock band by the name of Death Of Adonis; and even have my daughter- "Lolo" up here for the holidays... The last one being significant, since it has been several YEARS since we spent the holidays together. Last but most certainly not least... I have a new roommate named Luna- a gorgeous grey kitten, gifted to me by my awesome coworker, Jaclyn.<br />
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I was going to use this last blog of the year to recap all the fun events, and the not so fun ones of 2011, but after further review... You really do not want to read about that anyway. If you have been keeping track, you already know what life was like this year. So instead, I want to talk a bit more about the surprising level of FUN I have been having in the last month of Star Wars- The Old Republic, as the Imperial Operative- Belenos.<br />
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The name's Geode... Belenos Geode. I have enough swagger as James Bond, with the skills of a master hacker, and the medical know how of Bones McCoy... Not to mention they gave me a kickass British accent! You can find me on the RP-PVE (roleplaying- player vs environment) server known as <b>Lord Adraas</b>. I was lucky enough to get into early access and had 5 days of playing before the mad throng burst through the SWTOR gates... So I started my life on Hutta, deep undercover as a criminal known as the Red Blade.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_21_52_12_687500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_21_52_12_687500.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>My boss- a brilliant strategist codenamed- Keeper, sent me here to see if I could garner the support of the major Hutt cartel, for the Empire. The task seemed easy enough... Do what Nem'ro The Hutt and his lackeys tell me to do... gain their trust, then take it from there.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_23_01_10_125000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_23_01_10_125000.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>As expected, Nem'ro is a slimy piece of worm ridden filth... Aren't they all though. I managed to get into the good graces of one of his lieutenants- a stocky, black man by the name of Karrels. With my charm, and skills I was able to get him to see things my way, without having to disintegrate him. In due time, Nem'ro himself respected the Red Blade.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_23_02_46_203125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_23_02_46_203125.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>I got free run of the palace, and was able to take in the many sights of the place... Let me tell you, for a backwater, poisoned world, there are indeed some sights worth seeing. Turns out I was not the only one keeping an eye out. From the shadows, there was another player in the spy game... an assassin known as Kaliyo. Not quite sure what to make of her, I regarded her cautiously, till she figured out that working for me was going to be more lucrative, not to mention FUN.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-16_21_50_52_890625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-16_21_50_52_890625.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Ok, I think I can get into the Sinead O'Connor look... as long as she can handle herself with a blaster. More importantly, Keeper taught me never to waste a valuable resource. If Kaliyo was willing to tag along while I get my mission done, then the more the merrier.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-16_23_56_59_484375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-16_23_56_59_484375.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>As it would turn out, she became a great asset to have on the battlefield. While I generally prefer to work alone, I have to admit, having the Ratataki by my side makes fights go a lot smoother. Besides... she has a sick sense of humor that I find highly attractive, even if she does repulse my advances.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_00_35_34_640625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_00_35_34_640625.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Belenos and Kaliyo... almost like the high tech version of Bonnie and Clyde... tearing through Hutta like it was made out of rat poison filled cheese. I do have to say that she knows how to handle herself, and has even been willing to sacrifice herself in the pursuit of a target. Luckily for her, I know how to cheat people of death... as well as hasten them to it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_00_37_38_390625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_00_37_38_390625.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>In short order we found ourselves tackling a rival Hutt gang, to aid in Nem'ro's supremacy of his home world, and along the way, picked up some baubles for our trouble... For example, this shining gem is called a datacron (each starting world has 3, the rest have 5 or more). When touched it grants the user a permanent attribute increase, which comes in really handy for gaining an edge on the competition.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_01_54_58_156250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_01_54_58_156250.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>I can assure you, as an undercover agent... there is ALWAYS competition... In any event, having satisfied my mission parameters, and having made Keeper a happy man for it, it was time to get off Hutta to more palatable climes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_22_36_13_968750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-15_22_36_13_968750.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Only one thing stood in our way, as we were to get off world... Unbeknownst to us, the REAL Red Blade apparently heard of my endeavors in his place, and decided to come to Hutta to investigate.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_02_27_55_203125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_02_27_55_203125.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>He was not a happy camper by the time I explained to him that his services and presence were no longer needed. I did thank him for the alias though... It was fun.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_02_35_35_296875.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_02_35_35_296875.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Once that matter had been... dealt with... It was onto the shuttle and off the smelly world of the Hutts, to rendezvous at the Imperial Fleet- my home away from home.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_02_43_44_250000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_02_43_44_250000.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>I took the time to get to know my companion a little better... all the while still amazed at her resolve. Every pick up line I used failed in a major way! I was beginning to think perhaps I lost my legendary charm!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_08_57_03_109375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_08_57_03_109375.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>By the time we landed on Drumond Kaas- Imperial capital world, I had put the issue in the back of my mind, in favor of getting to the task at hand... a meeting with Keeper to discuss my next assignment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_09_26_24_515625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_09_26_24_515625.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Ahh Kaas City- there has never been a more gloomy looking capital city. Always raining, always dark, and full of more intrigue in one sector than in most of the galaxy, save the senate tower on Coruscant. To make a long story short, I was sent on some errands for a Darth Jadus, as well as Keeper, and by the time I got back, I found out that some heavy duty terrorists had succeeded in blowing up Darth Jadus' personal ship- with HIM on it... as well as a thousand civilians. Keeper was livid, to say the least.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_12_03_01_187500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_12_03_01_187500.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>More undercover work... Find out who is responsible... follow the leads and uncover the masterminds behind this plot. Standard fare Imperial agent work, to be sure...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_12_03_12_046875.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_12_03_12_046875.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>But who says the job has no perks? Gathering intel can be a rather lengthy and draining process after all. At least I have not truly lost my charm, even if my choice in women can be limited at times. Speaking of women, after my brief tryst with this daughter of a suspect, I also turned my eye to my coworker- Watcher 2. A tough nut to crack, I put that bug in her ear that she is more than just a pretty voice on the comm, and went about my business.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_14_15_05_781250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_14_15_05_781250.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>One such mission involved me retrieving an ancient mask of Darth Revan, thereby securing my initiation into the Cult of Revan. Once that was secure, I betrayed them and walked away from the fallout and purges that occurred. Silly cultists...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_23_57_00_031250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-17_23_57_00_031250.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>I also had the dubious good fortune of travelling to the Dark Temple, to solve some pressing matters that concerned the Sith council. How I managed to make it out of that spooky place with my mind intact is beyond me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_00_07_32_343750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_00_07_32_343750.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>By the time I returned to Kaas City, a plan was being formulated to locate and eliminate the Terror network run by a shadowy man called "The Eagle". There was just one more thing I NEEDED to do before leaving Drumond Kaas...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_06_27_727995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_06_27_727995.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Seduce Watcher 2. Let's just say, mission accomplished. (wink wink). As part of my bonus for my work with Intelligence, I was granted clearance to fly one of the new X-70 starships.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_11_46_931120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_11_46_931120.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>To call it a luxury yacht is a mere understatement. This slice of paradise is more than just a fancy place to call home, but a mobile assault platform, complete with its own (annoying) servant droid! In short, this ship is the perfect thing to run around the galaxy in!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_13_21_649870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_13_21_649870.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Of course, I had to take it for a test drive...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_21_31_806120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Screenshot_2011-12-18_01_21_31_806120.jpg" width="520" /></a></div>Not too shabby... a brand new ship, a new codename of Cipher 9, spiffy new uniform, got laid TWICE on the Imperial capital, though I still have not gotten into my companion's pants... yet. Not bad at all... and all this before level 20!<br />
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We shall stop our story here, in the interest of length, but I do promise a LOT more to come in the new year, and possibly a spinoff blog, to go more in depth into the story of Belenos the Imperial Agent. For now, I hope you have all enjoyed the story, as well as enjoyed the many blessings of 2011.<br />
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<b><i>Happy New Year to all! See you in 2012 and may the force be with you!</i></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-14949756479606303212011-11-24T10:43:00.000-05:002011-11-24T10:43:18.735-05:00Many Turkeys Died To Bring Us This Information...<i><b>"We thank you, oh lady of the harvest... For the bounteous gifts you have bestowed on us this year... And bless this food and drink into our bodies; bestowing health, wealth, wisdom, and love!"</b></i><br />
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The above words were written by me, when I used to have my band- Dionysos, in Florida (circa 1997). They belong to a song entitled "Harvest Home", which is about the Pagan thanksgiving. It happens to fall on the autumn equinox (really close to Canadian Thanksgiving). I feel the words are also appropriate today- November 24, 2011... American Thanksgiving.<br />
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I have a LOT to be thankful for this year, and I scarcely know where to begin. I suppose first and foremost, I should be thankful I am still alive... I just turned 41 on November 18th, and after an epic weekend of partying and gigging, I think I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. My birthday has always been a time for grand celebration for me, and it feels like the older I get, the more impressive it gets. This past weekend for me, culminated in my new band- <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/deathofadonis">Death Of Adonis</a> playing our first official gig with this lineup, in Pittsburgh, PA. You want to talk about a great birthday gift? That was it right there. It feels good to be back on stage after a 5+ year hiatus!!! I have to thank my awesome band mates for making that a reality.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/shadow02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/shadow02.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>L-R: Frank (guitars), Drew (drums), Dennis (vocals), and myself... Drew (bass)</i></div><br />
This year has found me meeting a lot of new friends online. This actually started last year when I was in the Rift beta, and I seem to have gained quite a few folks whom I both respect and enjoy "stalking" online. To name a few; Jasmine, Gary Gannon, MikeB, and Lore at <a href="http://www.gamebreaker.tv/">Gamebreaker tv</a>, as well as their host of awesome moderators... My old Rift beta friends- Misty, Ciovala, Laughter, Danny and Di, Elisan, Aki, Marilith, and of course my guild leader Charles... Rubi; who got me into Guild Wars, Elixabeth and Izzie; who got me to WRITE about Guild Wars 2, DistilledWill, and my fellow krewe at talktyria.net... As well as many other random people like Toria, Nixie, Mintchip, Sake, Pokket, et al... Not to mention Playboy Playmate of the Year 1988- India Allen, who is still following little old me on twitter. It does not get much better than that.<br />
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Online friends to me are just as valid as friends you see every day physically, and I am grateful to know all of the above, and more. There are so many more people I could mention, but you do not want to read a list of names.<br />
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I DO want to call out some massive thank yous to the folks at <a href="http://www.forcejunkies.com/">Force Junkies</a>; with whom I recently signed on to write for. With SWTOR almost ready to be let out of the gate, you can expect some really good things out of that camp in the coming months. I am sworn to secrecy, but trust me when I tell you... IT WILL BE GOOD! So between what is shaping up here with Force Junkies, and of course my ongoing work with <a href="http://www.talktyria.net/">TalkTyria</a>; in reference to Guild Wars 2, I am pretty sure 2012 is going to be a great year for gaming, let alone gaming coverage!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR18.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Ahh Coruscant, how I have missed thee.</i></div><br />
Speaking of <a href="http://www.swtor.com/">SWTOR</a>... Unless you have been living under a rock the last two weeks, news should have already hit you that the NDA (non disclosure agreement) has been officially lifted by Bioware! This welcome bit of news means that just about everyone and their brother can NOW talk about SWTOR in all its glory and yes even residual bugs (it is still in beta after all). I have been no exception to this. I was in the 11/11/11 weekend beta, and will be logging in again tomorrow 11/25 for this massive weekend test coming up. To psyche myself out for this weekend, I have been watching streams online provided by Laughter, Jasmine, Sake, and Pokket. The links you will find below will take you to the aforementioned broadcasters, all of whom have general beta access, and are happy to show you the ins and outs of gameplay in that galaxy far, far away. I am extremely thankful to these folks for helping me get my Star Wars fix as I wait to get back into the beta test.<br />
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Laughter (Force Junkies)- <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/laughterrift">http://www.twitch.tv/laughterrift</a><br />
Jasmine aka IRLJasmine- <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/irljasmine">http://www.twitch.tv/irljasmine</a><br />
Sake (Red Rancor)- <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/sakevision">http://www.twitch.tv/sakevision</a><br />
Pokket- <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/pokket">http://www.twitch.tv/pokket</a><br />
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Everyone has their own times for their shows, so be sure to follow them, and you will get updated via email as to when they broadcast. Tell them Belenos Stardust sent you.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR28.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br />
You can also look for this guy right here, and his buddy below tomorrow, as these are my main characters that I have been working on.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR06.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br />
I can tell you that so far I have been pleasantly surprised by SWTOR. I was originally on the fence about it, being a 8 year veteran of SWG (translation- disgruntled vet)... But as I made my way into the beta test, and created a Trooper character, I have to admit that the story impressed me greatly, and it did not take me long to find myself WANTING to play more, to see more, to DO more! As I stated bugs still exist, and you can tell there are areas where Bioware could add some more polish, or down the road rethinking of how xyz aspect functions, but overall, the game has impressed me enough to preorder the digital download of it.<br />
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Two more words for you- HUTT BALL... You HAVE to try it!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/SWTOR01.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>What is this I don't even...</i></div><br />
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Lest you think I have suddenly forgotten all about Guild Wars 2... I have been incredibly impressed with <a href="http://www.arena.net/blog/category/guild-wars-2">ArenaNet</a> for the more constant stream of information of late. They have been working hard to get the game ready for closed beta (promised to us before 2011 ends), and the info I have seen coming out on their blog, as well as fan made videos, and of course <a href="http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/">guildwars2guru</a> forums, has me still VERY MUCH interested in my future "life" on Tyria. ArenaNet has made leaps and bounds on such aspects as character creation, and cutscenes, and whether you choose to compare them to Bioware or not, it cannot be denied that Guild Wars 2 is still a strong contender... a tiger waiting to be let out the box! I thank you ArenaNet for reeling me in hook, line, and sinker... and I am even more thankful that as I pay for my SWTOR subscription, I will NEVER have to pay for a Guild Wars 2 subscription. That is a win I can live with.<br />
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In closing, I want to save my most special thanks to my family. Many of you do not know that two years ago I had lost my job... It took about two years to the day for me to get a new one; one that I am very happy with. During that time, my mother and my brother decided to move up to Pittsburgh, PA, from Fort Lauderdale, FL to help make ends meet. To say I do not know how I would have survived without them is an UNDERSTATEMENT! I am extremely grateful for their presence here, and every day I am reminded that family does in fact come first. As you carve up your turkey, twitching nervously because you cannot wait to get back into your game of choice, try to remember to look around at the people you are sharing this moment with... and be thankful that they chose to share it with YOU!<br />
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Many <strike>Bothans</strike> turkeys died to bring you this day... be sure to thank THEM too!<br />
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and see some of you in SWTOR beta tomorrow!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-35190252787842580732011-10-31T20:11:00.000-04:002011-10-31T20:11:37.365-04:00Death Comes To Those Who Wait...We've all lost people in our lives who have touched us at some point... right?<br />
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Family members, significant others, perhaps even children... sometimes all of the above. I am finding that the longer I live, the more aware I am becoming of my own mortality, and what it means not only to myself, but to those around me whom I call friends and family. Yet even with this sobering reminder, on this day of Samhain (that's Halloween to you modern folk), I cannot help but think that, perhaps like in the games I play... Maybe death is NOT the end?<br />
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Back in my death metal vocalist days, affectionately known as "The Drewcifer Era", I used to have this ritual at every show of screaming the words "Death comes to those who wait"! It became a tag line of sorts, as if the sight of a black death metal vocalist with a long goatee and LaVey-esque bald head was not disturbing enough. Back then it was mostly done for shock value... and boy did that ever shock people. As I grew older and started getting into video games, I started to gain a new value to death... since in games, death is hardly the end.<br />
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The first time I died in an MMORPG, was of course, in Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). I was about level 5ish (there were no real levels back then), and running around Theed, on Naboo, doing delivery boy missions. Yes, you heard right... I was a "Fedexer" in that galaxy far far away. I am not quite sure what got into me, but I decided I did not want to wade through a gaggle of gnorts (little pseudo bunny/armadillo looking things), so instead I started pew pewing them with my little CDEF pistol. Unfortunately I missed the part in the game manual that stated that some animals have herd mentalities, and in short order I found myself dead, by bunnies.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/killed_by_bunnies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/killed_by_bunnies.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>2 hours into Star Wars Galaxies... GO ME!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div>It was embarrassing to say the least.<br />
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Since that first "death experience", I have died many many more times in that particular game, and of course in the many others I have played, right up to Guild Wars (GW); my current poison of choice. Now, with GW, I have the pleasure of not only killing myself, but all my other alts as well... an epic wipe to end all wipes! I do this multiple times a night... regularly!<br />
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The common denominator with all the games I have played is, once you're face down in the dirt, your game is NOT over! You always have the option to clone, or respawn... be reborn as you were when you died, at the closest "save point". Now that is a nifty little trick that I earnestly wish real life had! Imagine how many second chances you could get with loved ones if there was that respawn button you could push to bring them back to you? Yeah, I know... wishful thinking. All the same, there is so much I could tell my grandmother, my daughter Deanna, or Heather, or even my Uncle Billy- who passed on this past August (and was the reason why my summer blogs were written in Florida, and not home in PA).<br />
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I often wonder how different games would be if as a death penalty, you simply could not go any further. That's IT... You are gone... poof... end of game, unsub, no more for you. Of course we all know that would royally suck, so let's hope no gaming companies even get that thought in their heads. Speaking of death penalties... even in the games I have evolved with, those have changed. It would appear that gone are the days of corpse running. If you have no idea what corpse running is, let me summarize:<br />
<br />
Your character just died and is cloned. You appear in your skivvies (because well, they could not make you appear naked and keep that T rating). You now have to RUN to your corpse, wherever you left it, to loot yourself and gather the items you had on your person before you died... You know, just the basics like clothes, money, weapons, etc. An annoyance? Indubitably! It only takes a couple of times, if that much before you learn to always insure yourself. (Another lesson I have had to learn the hard way in multiple games... Thanks SWG and EVE Online... not to mention the MAIN reason why I have life insurance in real life... Just in case). I for one, am glad to see corpse running go. I am certain there may be a few out there would wish it would remain, simply for the downtime factor, but you all are on your own on this one. I won't be rallying for the comeback of the corpse run.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Nekkid_Druu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Nekkid_Druu.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I KNEW I should have taken that "accidental death and dismemberment" policy.</i></div><br />
Ok, so no more corpse run... Well there is always "cloning sickness", which takes various forms in different games. Guild Wars, I think, does it the most hardcore; making it an aggregate each time you die. You generally start off with a 15% diminishment of your attributes, and it keeps getting bigger each successive time you die, to the max of 60%. Talk about an incentive to fight smarter! If you kill bosses, or large groups, you eventually whittle this down (or if you are lucky enough to find the trinkets that can wipe out death penalties all together). If you are really frustrated, simply use your map to teleport back to a town or outpost and you will be right as rain once more. The catch being, you have to start all over with whatever you were doing that kept getting you killed... Perfect time to redo your skillbar, and reformulate a strategy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/gw914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/gw914.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Yes, Chicago is one of the bears... Original, I know.</i></div><br />
Usually I see a timer on the death penalty, in most games. X amount of time where you are not quite your full capacity, which is also a good time to relax a little and take that well needed bio break. (We have to eat and use the facilities after all)<br />
<br />
Every now and then a game comes along to challenge what we know... and this time around it appears to be Guild Wars 2. As pertains to death, ArenaNet has purported that you cannot really "die" in the game (ask them, they hate using the word). Instead, when your health bubble goes down past critical, you fall to the floor in a last ditch effort to save yourself. It's called the downed state. It essentially amounts to being mortally wounded, with the caveat that you can get back up to fighting trim if you-<br />
<br />
A- manage to kill an enemy with the skills you are given in this downed state before you "bleed out".<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
B- have someone around who can resuscitate you. (All players, no matter their class can do this... from level 1)<br />
<br />
If none of the above happen, you go into a defeated mode. This "technically" would be what we gamers call death, but even so ArenaNet prefers to describe it as simply being unconscious. You then choose a spawn point nearby and pop back up. Is it semantics? Possibly... Is it annoying, probably not as much as a corpse run, or waiting for a timer to expire on your weakened condition. You rise up no worse for wear, with no after-effects of your... "near death experience".<br />
<br />
In essence this would mean that there is no "true" death penalty in this game... That is if I am understanding this correctly (and feel free to correct me, in the comments if I am not).<br />
<br />
But hey, don't just take my word for it... Here is what ArenaNet has to say on <a href="http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/healing-death/">THEIR</a> website about death penalties:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Players who have recently been downed several times will take longer to revive each time. If no one revives you, you can spend a small amount of gold to come back at a waypoint. It's as simple as that, and why not? Why should we debuff you, take away experience, or make you run around for five minutes as a ghost instead of letting you actually play the game? We couldn't think of a reason. Well, we did actually think of a reason--it just wasn't a good one. Death penalties make death in-game a more tense experience. It just isn't fun. We want to get you back into the action (fun) as quickly as possible. Defeat is the penalty; we don't have to penalize you a second time."</span></span><br />
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</span><br />
Hardcore RPG purists may have a tricky time coming to terms with this new mechanic that seems to take all the hassle out of something so bothersome as death. It's unheard of! There has to be some kind of penalty!! Well, unless I am totally off base... Nope... No penalty. They did it this way to add more fun to the game, and reduce a lot of the tedious things that turn gamers off to MMORPGs.<br />
<br />
Of course we are all still waiting for closed beta to test that theory... Hint hint, ArenaNet.<br />
<br />
While death still comes to those who wait, it is apparently just a passing phase anymore. It's a shame real life could not operate this way, but then... the world is overpopulated as it is. I have always felt that those who die make room for those who come after. Might seem a little odd to think about it that way, but if as a species our job is to perpetuate itself... It seems only natural to me.<br />
<br />
I only hope that when my time comes, if there is in fact an "Other side" (I have no concrete proof yet), I sincerely hope it looks like this.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/101/1015971/guild-wars-2-20090819061412528_640w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/101/1015971/guild-wars-2-20090819061412528_640w.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Yeah... I could live here... What dreams may come...</i></div><br />
If it does, I won't be coming back for another run!<br />
<br />
A very happy Samhain / Halloween to you all, and try not to eat too much candy... <b>What are your thoughts on death, whether ingame or as touched you in real life? </b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-79818560828282382092011-10-06T02:37:00.002-04:002011-10-06T03:08:27.652-04:00I am Unique... Just like EVERYONE ELSE!A long time ago, in a childhood far far away, I decided to beg my mother for her last $20.00 that week because something profound had occurred in my school. A couple weeks before, we had just gotten in about 4 or 5 of a brand new item known as the Apple IIe. All the nerds at the time were going gaga over this new bit of technology and the list of people signing up for "Computer Class" was long and distinguished. Thankfully, my mother decided it might be a good idea (translation: It will keep me out of trouble), and I learned how to program in BASIC.<br />
<br />
The rest, they say, is history....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/original.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>How it all began...</i></div><br />
<br />
Since that time, my life has been changed dramatically, setting me on a path that would end up with me being a huge gamer geek, and tech guru of sorts. The by-product of this is of course, being labelled a geek or a nerd for most of my life, a moniker diluted by the "cool factor" of being a working rock musician. In essence, I have thus far lived a life that makes me unique... just like everyone else.<br />
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It's hard to say when EXACTLY I got into gaming... Perhaps it was when I first played Karateka on the Apple, or maybe it was the Pong game my dad bought for us one xmas, but one thing is clear. I have had a love affair with gaming since those mist enshrouded times in my past, and through said gaming I have learned a lot more about the human experience, albeit encased in the virtual one. Apparently we are a lot alike, us gamers. We are all at heart social beings, reaching out through this medium to form connections, even briefly to other people we have never met. We judge people based on their virtual actions (or lack thereof in some cases), and we discover a diaspora of psychological conditions in the people we choose to game with, even for a hot second.<br />
<br />
It can be staggering at times, and I have to admit that there are often moments where in games that I play, ESPECIALLY MMORPGs, I opt to travel solo through the pixellated world... the hermit with +10 to dexterity armor. I have come to learn that for the broad cross-section of people who play games, in particular MMORPG games, we seem to fall somewhere in the three categories I am about to discuss below:<br />
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The lone wolves, the socialites, and the outcasts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Canyons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Canyons.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>"Yeah Mom, me again... Yeah... top of the world again... Yes, I'll be careful coming down... Love you too. Bye Mom."</i></div><br />
<b>The Lone Wolf</b>-<br />
<br />
<i>I walk alone... If you see me, it's once in a blue moon... Don't get attached, because I will be gone again really soon.</i><br />
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Lately I have found myself falling into this category. Perhaps it is because age and cynicism has pushed me to this point, or maybe I am just getting tired of the interaction. The irony of this is, if the latter is true... I should NOT be playing MMORPGs at all. I'd probably be better off playing single player RPGs. The reality of it is that, there are games out and games coming out now that cater to the lone wolf "crowd", allowing massive worlds for us to explore solo, and a plethora of content to rise up the levels, and experience MOST of what the game itself has to offer. This is a good thing! In my short time playing Guild Wars (since late June/early July), I have to say that I have had such a blast playing through the campaigns, and even more fun being able to group with my own alts and push the stories ever further. It may well be an altaholic's dream, as I wrote in an earlier blog! For those of us who are lone wolves, we KNOW there are many others in the world, but we often choose to distance ourselves, because nine times out of ten, the story and the exploration of the world the devs have made for us is more important than making friends and hanging out in xyz city.<br />
<br />
In Rift, some of my fondest moments WERE being on top of a mountain no one had the cajones to climb, and finding a cairn full of elite items just for me. I explored so much of that map that I had the very edges filled in, and a screenshot of it shows as a chronicle of the places I have been, the monsters I have fought, and the things I have seen. For a lone wolf, the journey is as important, if not more so, than the destination... This is something I resonate with in real life as well, when I go into hermit mode to shut off the world... and simply BE. Friends and family hate when I do so, but were it not for those moments, I might have lost my sanity decades ago. As Guild Wars 2 slowly plods along to inevitable beta and release, the promise of a vast world to explore solo opens up to me once more, and I have to admit... I am excited to see Tyria, 250 years later.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Wiggi_Wugga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Wiggi_Wugga.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">"Can you guys play that one song again... You know the one."</div><br />
<b>The Socialite</b>-<br />
<br />
<i>I am defined not only by who I am, or what I do, but by the company I choose to keep.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Any good guild leader is part socialite. The entire basis of guilds in games is the coming together of like minds for the express purpose of gaming together and experiencing what the virtual world has to offer en masse. Guilds come in all shapes and sizes; ranging from the close knit, real life family that plays together, to the 200+ juggernauts of pvp, pve, and raid nights. As I have stated in past blogs, I used to run one of the latter types of guilds. Sanctuary of Hope, formerly of the Naritus server on Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), was well known for its helpful people, its strong Imperial presence, and its ability to get the job done, and have an amazingly fun time in doing so. As a matter of fact, were it NOT for Sanctuary, and the guild I joined after Naritus died- FEAR, I would not have met most of the people on my Facebook, and Twitter friends lists. Some of these folks I have even met in person, and had the pleasure of running around in RL with! One of whom I even fell in love with, though that story had a tragic end, in her death years later.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/heatherni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/heatherni.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Heather, gone but not forgotten... Everquest II will never be the same again.</i></div><br />
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As a socialite, meeting people IS the game. It is the heart and soul of MMORPGs, and a chief reason why some who otherwise might be awkward in real world settings, end up forming long lasting friendships from their games. Make no bones about it folks, one of the best ways you can meet people IS to play video games such as I play. If I told you how many couples I have seen come together in RL through gaming, or how many wedding ceremonies I have performed in the games I have played, you would probably not believe me.<br />
<br />
When I was a child I used to lead "clubs" in school. My peers would sign up to be a part of the club, we would pool money together to buy things we needed (usually toys, soccer balls, occasionally food at the restaurant near my childhood home... aka KFC. This was back when kids could actually walk into a restaurant unescorted and sit down to have lunch with no one the wiser). Little did I know that would set the pace for the virtual me becoming a guild leader, and somewhat "internet famous" for my disposition, leadership ability, charisma, et al. The sad part to being such a socialite was that it eventually left me no time to BE a lone wolf, and I had to actually divorce myself from any and all guilds, just to be able to enjoy the game I wanted to play. With SWTOR impending, and GW2 not far behind I have already made it known that I do NOT plan on joining a guild anytime soon. My friends know how and where to find me... I am only a /tell away.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/gw867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/gw867.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The Guild Wars krewe... Outcasts in Ascalon, Kryta, Elona and other fine places we get kicked out of.</i></div><br />
<b>The Outcast</b>-<br />
<br />
<i>I really do not care what you think of me... I'm going to do what I do, and damn the consequences. QQ moar nub, your tears sustain me.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
This category is one I have rarely even entered. The outcast carries with it a stigma that is worse than even being labelled a nerd in real life. The outcast is not only someone who may or may not have been shunned in real life, but also shunned by their gaming peers... Often due to their OWN actions, or some times misinterpretations thereof. Who knows why someone chooses to grief? Is it a cry for attention; as if they were socialites who have to resort to "bad puppy syndrome" to get some of the limelight? Are they lone wolves simply due to being anti-social in RL and in game? Are they truly sociopathic individuals who have luckily chosen the best path to keep themselves out of trouble... After all, who can arrest the dude who kills you over and over at the spawn point?<br />
<br />
Whatever the case may be... get used to seeing the outcast. EVERY MMORPG HAS THEM. Some more than others (WoW, I am looking at you). Whatever their reasons are for running against the grain, you can be sure to run into them at some point in your stay on (insert game planet name here). Does it make them intrinsically "bad people"? I am not so sure about that. In my time gaming I have actually met a couple of would be griefers; outcasts even by their own standards, whom, upon further discussions, end up being average people acting out their frustrations with the real world, in this virtual realm where no one knows their name, and will shortly forget who they are anyway. I call this kind of behavior "internet muscles". It is not exclusive to gaming. I am sure everyone who reads this has met people like this who apparently type first and think later, with the goal of stirring that hornet's nest, then sitting back and watching.<br />
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Happens every day... With the relative anonymity that can be garnered here on the web, or in game, I am not surprised that people act this way. Of course in a perfect world, we would not have to deal with it... but then, even the virtual world is not perfect. The outcast is a reminder of this. The most ironic part of it, is that often times, the outcast is a mirror of the bad in ourselves... and THAT is the part we hate to see the most.<br />
<br />
It's easy to vilify, but it takes real talent to understand.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
As I look back on my life over these (almost) 41 years, I am constantly amazed at what I have learned about people, and the venues in which I have learned it. it comes as no surprise to me to see similarities in the circles I have been in... musically, game-wise, work related, etc. In just about all aspects of life you can find people in these categories, and every single one of us is indeed unique... Just like everyone else. <b>So where do YOU factor in? Are you a lone wolf, a socialite, an outcast, or some of all? Sound off in the comments.</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Sanct_Crew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Bunch%20O%20Stuff/Sanct_Crew.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Somehow we looked more impressive in pixels... Go Figure.</i></div><br />
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Addendum-<br />
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By the way, I want to take a moment to give a heartfelt <b>"THANK YOU"</b>, to my longtime idol, Steve Jobs. Were it not for you and YOUR peers, unique to say the least, I would NOT be the gamer geek I am today. May you sleep and dream in peace... and we'll see you on the other side, when our game is over. Thanks for changing my life.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-13411154172907973792011-08-25T02:22:00.001-04:002011-09-01T01:31:14.191-04:00These Are The People In Your Neighborhood...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you remember when you were little, there used to be this segment that would air on Sesame Street (for that matter do you remember Sesame Street), called "The People In Your Neighborhood"? It was a little song that basically told you about some of the people you might find around town, usually notable figures such as fireman, policeman, bus driver, etc. It was cute, and the song of course was so catchy that it was partly instrumental in my developing an early love of music.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/V2bbnlZwlGQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you have been following my blogs with any level of frequency, you should know how random I am. Generally I pull from something in my childhood that loosely ties in to what I am about to blog about today. Well, as I had this song rolling around in my head, I stumbled across a post on Google +, sent to me by a new friend about notable gamers that she suggested I should follow. Naturally I already had most of the list on my friends list, as I have been talking to them whenever I get the opportunity to... Thank you social networking sites. It suddenly dawned on me that with all these gaming conventions going on, and every article, blog, comment, or random musing either panning or praising the various games and their creators, NO ONE really ever talks about US, the people who actually PLAY these games, or devote our time to talk or write about these games! That, dear reader, is where I come in. If nothing else, I would like to present to you some of the people in MY "neighborhood", whom I have grown to admire, not only as real persons, but competent gamers, and people who should be looked up to in the gaming community (especially the MMORPG gaming community). Some of these I may even go so far as to say, I have a schoolboy crush on. Without further ado, I present to you the people in my neighborhood... In no particular order:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Jasmine "IRLJasmine" Hruschak</b>-</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/JediJas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/JediJas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I put Jas first because when I first thought of this blog idea, I bounced the idea off her, and she agreed that it would be a cool thing to do. Jasmine is the definitive "ginger" gamer. I have told her she reminds me of Lucille Ball reincarnated, in her facial expressions, her mannerisms, and her decidedly pointed humor... which at times borders on slapstick. Jasmine spends a lot of time gaming in such titles as Rift, LOL, WoW, and many others; and when not gaming she can usually be seen on gamebreaker.tv, on the show "The Sanctum". What makes Jasmine so special, aside from her amazing eyes, is her extremely personable character. She thoroughly enjoys talking to fellow gamers on and off camera, and every Sunday on justin.tv has dedicated an hour of her time (often an hour and a half plus) to simply answering questions from her adoring fans, who have now dubbed ourselves "Jasminions". (My idea by the way) From my understanding she is also a keen shot with the bow and arrow in real life. You can follow her on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/irljasmine">@irljasmine</a> (I know that did sound a bit redundant), or you can go to her website and "watch her make words at you" <a href="http://jasminehruschak.com/">here</a>. It's no secret, I am totally enamored with Miss Hruschak. Watch her once, and you may very well be too.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Gary "V-Neck" Gannon</b>-</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/GaryG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/GaryG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gary is rapidly becoming a superstar, simply for being the mastermind behind gamebreaker.tv. With a solid background in broadcasting, and his very own entry on iMDB, Gary has made it his singular mission to keep the gaming community up to date on all the happenings in the game worlds. Having been a veteran of many games including WoW, Rift, SWG, et al, his unique perspective on the varied games we play- whether console or PC, puts him in the envious position of being a "go to guy" on matters of gaming. In the shows he hosts, he tries to maintain a neutral perspective, though he will generally call things as he sees them- a trait which often endears him to fans and the casual viewer alike. You can be sure if there is something on the internet about XYZ game, Gary is going to talk about it at some point, and will invite many guests and cohosts (such as Jasmine above) to be a counterpoint on his shows. The shows themselves have become a weekly ritual, as the selection grows, and the fandom spreads. You can find them all here, on <a href="http://www.gamebreaker.tv/">http://www.gamebreaker.tv/</a> . If he says the acronym SWG on any show, you have to drink, and always ask him to wear a v neck shirt. He's also on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/garygannon">@garygannon</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hillary Nicole, or "Pokket" as she prefers, has quickly made a name for herself as being the most congenial video game guide maker for the MMORPG- Rift. A relatively recent addition to the gamebreaker.tv crew, her definitive turquoise hair has graced the internet screen many times, and her lilting voice has managed to entrance her fans, dubbed "Pokketeers" (Not my idea). Hillary has been playing games almost as long as she can remember, and from the old school games such as Ultima Online, to her favorites, Rift and LOL (League Of Legends), she has become a force to be reckoned with in pixels. It is no doubt that Pokket stands out anywhere, but she often does not have to even do anything to be noticed, let alone be respected in the gaming community. She is well loved by many, and oft desired by even more. Pokket is on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Pokketsays">@Pokketsays</a>, or of course on gamebreaker.tv, and on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/PokketProductions">Youtube here</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;">A gifted musician in his own right, as well as a photographer, Mike B has also gained internet fame as being not only member of the gamebreaker.tv crew, but also hosting his own internet tv show called <a href="http://blip.tv/bff-report">The BFF Report</a>, where he gives insightful, if not swiftly delivered information on the game chosen as the show's topic. Affectionately known as "Chinhawk" by fans and friends alike, Mike B is as real as the day. He generally tells it like it is, and is not afraid to disagree if he thinks something is sub par. A regular wearer of the tinfoil hat, Mike's presence on any show is to bring it down to earth somewhat, and deal in the facts of what a game is and represents to the community. If you want a straight answer on any game he has played (and he has played a LOT), you have only to follow him on twitter here- <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/akamikeb">@akamikeb</a>. Mike also moonlights as the WoW character Darnell, who is a hillarious character that often gets himself into strange situations.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Who cannot help but love the quirky, random, and apparently ditsy Mintchip! (Don't worry, the ditsy is just an act) Is she good, or is she SO good, as she likes to say, Mintchip has gained notoriety for being a vocal part of the vast world of Eve Online. Often times gaining as many detractors as followers, her charm is still undeniable. They say even bad press is good press, and Fjola takes it in stride, shrugging off her naysayers with the grace and charm of a Southern Belle who "just doesn't give a damn". Don't let her fool you though, this highly intelligent woman, and avid gamer is well informed on the subject of gaming, and is not afraid to cap your virtual ass if need be. Recently also featured on gamebreaker.tv (notice a trend here?), Mintchip is fast becoming one of those faces you love to watch, just to see what the hell she is going to do next. Her Youtube is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Mintchiplol">here</a>, and you can find her on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Mintchiplol">@mintchiplol</a>. Be sure to give this video game nymph a looksee.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Josh "Lore" Allen</b>-</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another of the vaunted gamebreaker.tv crew, Lore, or Devolore is well known, not only for his vast knowledge on games- in particular WoW, but for his trademark "fro" hairdo. Ok so it's not really an afro, since he is not black, but I can tell you with all certainty that the brothers respect him for keeping it real. Lore is often picked on for his lovely "herpderp faces" whenever his screen freezes, and has been a victim of the "jeopardy tune"; a gift bestowed by Gary Gannon on those cohosts who ramble on and on. If you are going raiding however, you do not want anyone else by your side, as he has become one of the kings of raid group organization and implementation. He can be found on gamebreaker.tv as cohost for both Legendary (about WoW), and The Sanctum (about Rift), or you can follow him on twitter here: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/devolore">@devolore</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">If the game Guild Wars could have an official spokesperson, it would be Rubi. Her knowledge of the game is extensive, and you had better believe she has followed the progress of Guild Wars 2 since it was first announced. A working mother, who splits her time between her family, her games, and her job writing and editing for the popular internet mag- <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/">Massively</a>, Rubi has one of the most down to earth attitudes, and a personality that is so relaxing that it almost lulls you. Her bubbly enthusiasm has made her a household name in the Guild Wars community, and lately the gaming community at large, and make no bones that there is already a huge following who would like to see her on gamebreaker.tv as a regular cohost of a Guild Wars 2 show. Pretty much, all we are waiting for is Gary Gannon's decision on when to do it. Followers of Rubi will love her insight on life and gaming on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Rubi_">@Rubi_</a> . You can also hear her on <a href="http://guildcast.wordpress.com/">Guildcast</a>, as well as see her on occasional episodes of TWIMMO (This Week in MMO) on gamebreaker.tv.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Larry is a regular cohost on the gamebreaker.tv show- The Republic, which is all about the upcoming Star Wars- The Old Republic. Often known as "Mr. Star Wars", Larry is easily recognized as one of the biggest Star Wars fans out there (well, aside from myself anyway). When not appearing on gamebreaker.tv, you can also read his articles on Massively. Another down to earth person, Larry has had many years in SWG (Star Wars Galaxies, by the way), and is definitely looking forward to playing SWTOR. Unlike Gary Gannon, who plans on tormenting his companion NPC characters, Larry is there for the story, and will likely be smuggling his way from one end of the outer rim worlds to the galactic core. The big question is... can he make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs? Larry can be followed on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Shaddoe">@Shaddoe</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">They say sex sells. If this is indeed true, no one exudes it more so than Nixie. A self professed gamer geek, and lover of all things Linux, San Francisco based Nixie is more widely known for her photos of herself, than her great prowess in gaming. I am pretty sure it is safe to say that she represents a lot of gamer nerds' "fantasy girl". From her red hair, to her decidedly "come to bed" eyes, everyone loves Nixie. She cannot post anything anywhere without at least a hundred men mobbing her posts... and some women. Far from being the unapproachable super model however, Nixie is a real person, with real emotions, and a sharp mind. If you are going to speak to her, always do so with respect, even though we both know you are looking at her chest... Don't worry, she knows it too. You can see the fabulous Nixie Pixel here on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/NixiePixel">YouTube</a>, or on her own website, <a href="http://www.nixiepixel.com/">here</a>, and if you are brave enough... follow her on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/NixiePixel">@NixiePixel</a>. Talk nerdy to her, and she may actually talk back!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"><b>Izari "Izziebot" Aljen</b>-</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Quite possibly the most personable New Yorker you will ever meet, Izzie is the creative genius behind the online blog I write and edit for- <a href="http://www.talktyria.net/">TalkTyria</a>. This beautiful lady lives and breathes journalism, working "her day job" for a notable magazine company in the Big Apple, and spending a good chunk of her time editing and contributing to her baby- talktyria.net. She is, like everyone else on this list, a die hard gamer, who is also waiting (not so) patiently for Guild Wars 2, while racking up a ton of time in the original Guild Wars. One of the chosen few who has gotten to see the inner workings of ArenaNet's Bellevue, WA studios, (along with Rubi and Elisabeth), Izzie has even been featured on ArenaNet's very own fanday video. Andy Warhol always said everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame, and it is my hope Izzie gets more than that. Follow her on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/izziebot">@izziebot</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Elisabeth is the counterpoint to Izari. Both are the powerhouse behind TalkTyria.net, and both are well educated writers and editors. Where Izzie is often the face of TalkTyria, Elisabeth is often the HEART. Her articles are always well informed, not to mention well punctuated, and her personality is very easygoing and engaging. Another long time Guild Wars afficionado, Elisabeth is also one of the few and the proud who got to go to ArenaNet's studios, and she came back with a wealth of information that us fans of the Guild Wars franchise have gobbled up and happily asked for seconds. This unassuming lady has more heart than most folks I know, gamers or otherwise, and you would be wise to follow her on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/elixabethclaire">@elixabethclaire</a>. Tell her Belenos sent you!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">Jewel is an old hand at gaming, having been all over Azeroth, and Telara (which, by the way... it ain't Azeroth). Laughter was a staple when Rift was in beta, and now that it has been released she has made a name for herself as being one of the friendliest people you will ever find on any shard... The only problem is, figuring out which shard she is on THIS week. I often call Jewel the Rift gypsy, as she carries on her quest to find the server with the best community, but rest assured she is an asset to ANY guild she ends up in, and you will not regret talking to her. She is also cute as a button, but don't tell her I told you that. As a mother, she understands how to interact with folks in a manner that leaves them feeling good about themselves, and her... and you cannot help but go awwww at some of the pictures she posts. She has her own website and blog <a href="http://www.confessionsofagamergirl.com/">here</a>, and is going to be very active when SWTOR comes out, already endearing herself to the Cantina podcast folks.You can always find her on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/_Laughter">@_Laughter</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;">So there you have it folks, some of the key gamers that I have come to know, admire, love, and respect. Be sure to follow them all, and while you're at it... You can find ME on twitter too at <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/belgeode">@belgeode</a>! While I do not plan on doing any tv shows anytime soon, I DO plan on being more involved in the gaming community at large as time goes on... As long as I can fit it in between work and band practice / gigs. You can hear <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/deathofadonis">my band here</a>, by the way.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-69352145983056366792011-07-20T12:24:00.001-04:002011-07-20T12:44:56.285-04:00Playing With Myself- Or... Altaholics AnonymousRaise your hand if you have voices in your head ALL the time.<br />
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Ok good (I am assuming a few of you did... I can tell these things you know).<br />
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Now raise your hand if those voices often manifest themselves by certain names! Yeah, I know, we are treading into the realm of multiple personalities here. I think at least on a subconscious level most of us have it. Think about how many of us have had "imaginary friends" as kids. Possibly the only difference between "us" and those of us whom society deems as having "a disorder", is that fine line between making the connection between ourselves in different aspects, and compartmentalizing said different aspects into their own entities. Do not get me wrong, I am not here to debate the whys and wherefores of schizophrenia, mind you... Merely pointing out my opinion as it relates to today's blog.<br />
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So let's get right down to brass tacks here:<br />
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<b>My name is Drew, and I am an ALTAHOLIC.</b><br />
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For those of you who game like I do, this term is very familiar. For those of you reading who are not avid video gamers, I shall define:<br />
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An "altaholic" is a player who enjoys their game so much, that they create multiple characters in the world to explore all different avenues of gameplay. The reasons of course are varied. Perhaps some folks are just not happy with their first character, perhaps the game has different races and stories to choose from, or perhaps they like to roleplay and have created multiple characters to do so with. I generally fall into the latter category. As you are no doubt aware, I love to tell stories, and being in game with multiple characters (especially if some are related) gives me the impetus to do so.<br />
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Since Star Wars Galaxies (my first MMORPG back in 2003), I have always had one character that has definitively been my "main character"; the one I spend the most of my gaming time on, and several characters that are considered "alts"; or alternate characters that I log into when I feel for a change of pace, or have a specific story in mind I want to tell. Throughout the years, some of the names may have changed, but the underlying theme has always been the same. I have to have many characters to get the full experience of the game I am playing. I believe in my last blog I related the reader's digest version of the Druu Scandana story, and you can see in the accompanying picture (<a href="http://drewciferianisms.blogspot.com/2011/06/so-i-hear-you-boys-love-good-story.html">in that blog</a>) that my alts in that instance were brothers to him. Since the Scandana brothers, I am afraid my altaholism has amped up a notch... or two... or four.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Yolomorning_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Yolomorning_004.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The staff of Stardust Enterprises INC- (L-R)</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Alexia Ogleby, Anataliya Innovia, Belenos Stardust, Allyanis Breen</i></div><br />
<a href="http://secondlife.com/">Second Life</a> in particular has been instrumental in not only pushing me over the edge in altaholism, but virtual genderbending as well. I am proud enough, and secure enough in my masculinity to admit that YES... I do have female alts. Without you needing to go to my other blog on <a href="http://stardustenterprises.blogspot.com/">Stardust Enterprises</a>, I will tell you that the virtual company was started to sell... well... virtual helicopters, hovercraft, and airplanes to the SL public. On my main character- Belenos Stardust (a name i use often on the internet and in games) I do the actual building of the vehicles, as well as the packaging and marketing. I created Alexia Ogleby to be the "pretty face that sells", since we all know that sex sells. Till recently I was headquartered on an island by the name of Yolo Island (YOLO is an acronym for You Only Live Once), and Alexia also doubled as the bartender and greeter to my customers, and other visitors. Anataliya was added to the lineup to be the "tech guru", and is often the go to person if a customer has a technical issue about the vehicle that they cannot figure out from reading the manuals I ship with each. (Believe me this happens from time to time) I felt it was appropriate to dress her as a mechanic hailing from Russia. Hey, don't knock it... it works. However, the crown jewel in my alt lineup is Allyanis: my pursestrings and vice president. I am going to touch on her for a moment here.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/gorgeousAlly_009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/gorgeousAlly_009.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Allyanis- The closest thing I have visualized to MY perfect woman.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Allyanis was created at a time when I was interested in selling plus sized female shapes to residents in <a href="http://secondlife.com/">Second Life</a>. While that business never truly "got big", as evidenced by the plethora of skinny waifs in the game, as I kept tweaking her shape, she became more to me than simply a selling tool. Allyanis as she is now, represents all the things that I find absolutely attractive in real life women: the flowing red hair, green eyes, large bust, bubble butt, and of course her BBW body type. I cannot stress that last one enough. I have had her weight fluctuating over the years, and the picture above is in her "lighter" days, but the overall visual is the same. Imagine my surprise when my daughter had me watch the video below, of a very popular singer named <a href="http://www.adele.tv/home/">Adele</a>. As I checked the internet for more pictures of her, it became apparent that this real life woman bears more than a passing resemblance to my Allyanis.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/adele_2_wide_wallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/adele_2_wide_wallpaper.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I am pretty sure if Allyanis were flesh and blood, she would look like this.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Needless to say, I am now naturally infatuated with this singer. Of course she far surpasses anything my altaholic mind could dream up, but I am still amazed that such a person even exists. I suppose the odds were good that there would be someone who favors Allyanis, with several billion humans on the planet. I just never expected someone famous to match. I'll post her music video at the end of this blog by the way.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">In any event, back on topic. I do love my alts. Now please bear in mind, that the kind of roleplaying I do with them is not the same as you might expect. I will not engage in any sort of cyber shenanigans with anyone, as I do not play video games to find dates. I can do that well enough without them. In a lot of the cases, the alts I make end up taking one aspect of myself and magnifying it. For example, in the case of Druu Scandana's brother Korenn, it was my cynicism. In <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/">Guild Wars</a>, my alt Ghita is known for being stubborn. In fact, probably the only game I play where my alts literally have a life of their own is <a href="http://www.thesims3.com/">Sims 3</a>, where instead of the trio of Druu, Korenn, and Danton, there are the triplet sisters Ghita, Allyanis, and Tannia, who are counterpoints to Belenos. Oddly enough, Allyanis always seems to end up marrying Belenos. It should not surprise you then that Belenos or Bel Geode (depending on the game) ALWAYS looks like yours truly... right down to the goatee.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Screenshot-226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/Screenshot-226.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Who knew playing foosball could be so much fun!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>(L-R) Tannia Shrike, Allyanis Stardust, Ghita Shrike, Belenos Stardust</i></div><br />
It is probably safe to say that in just about every MMORPG I play, there will always be the trio of sisters, as well as a Korenn, and of course a Bel. It goes without saying that there are other minor characters that seem to migrate from game to game with me, but they are usually less played than any of the aforementioned names. If all of this has your head spinning, consider this: I have multiple computers, and have in the past logged in multiple characters at the same time for the express purpose of playing them all. Thank Gawd for multitasking! This is where I am finding a real joy in <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/">Guild Wars</a>. There is an in-game store item you can buy that allows you to actually use your level 20 alts as party members in whatever adventure you decide to partake in. Imagine that... an altaholic's dream. Instead of having to log in multiple accounts, I can now log in my characters on my one account, sign them up as "mercenary heroes", then recruit them to MY OWN PARTY for the purpose of questing and dungeon running! How cool is that?! Instead of having Koss, Cynn, Dunkoro, et al, I can actually play with Allyanis, Ghita, Tannia, and Korenn!<br />
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Sadly, for the successor to Guild Wars- <a href="http://www.guildwars2.com/en/">Guild Wars 2</a>, ArenaNet has decided NOT to go with the heroes mechanic for the game, instead preferring to foster a true community feel, as well as a desire to WANT to group up with other real people (and I use the term group loosely, as there is no real need most of the time... There is no danger of kill stealing, and everyone who attacks a monster gets full xp and loot). More than likely once GW2 goes live, I will be back to buying multiple accounts so that I can "double box" (play multiple characters at once). Altaholism is alive and well in the gaming world, and I do not plan on quitting my addiction anytime soon! So what about you? <b><i>How much of an altaholic are YOU?</i></b><br />
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In closing, for your listening and viewing pleasure... I present to you, Adele, with her smash hit- "Someone Like You".<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='520' height='366' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/NAc83CF8Ejk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Now if only I could get her to legally change her name to Allyanis, and marry me...</i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-87423887602784388722011-06-27T00:34:00.007-04:002012-02-12T10:19:43.710-05:00So I Hear You Boys Love A Good Story...Some may think it kind of odd when I tell you where that title came from... It is a quote from Hermann Goering... Yes the dude who was in charge of the Luftwaffe in WWII. Now don't let this fact scare you, it is only being used as a tie-in to today's blog. (Besides which, it is kind of odd anyway for a black dude to be quoting Nazis.)<br />
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In any event, Goering did get one thing right, if by proxy... a good amount of us MMORPG players LOVE a good story! Since the days of sitting in a basement or otherwise designated gaming room- poring over photocopied character sheets, and marking down our stats, as well as whether we are lawful good, or chaotic evil, we gamers have reveled in the story itself. Making the characters was only half of the fun, and ultimately we were rewarded when our GM (gamesmaster) found new and interesting ways to tell our tale, and sometimes KILL US. A lot of time has passed mind you, since those auspicious days when RPG meant four or more folks sitting at a table speaking in a bastardization of "olde english", but in today's enlightened, digital world, not much has really changed. We still relish a good story.<br />
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Now for those who live for pvp, or min maxing, you will probably want to browse away from this blog right now, because it could get long winded, and could have quite a great deal to do with how stories have progressed over the years. Admittedly, not every gamer will fall into the category of the "lore hound", as the demographic has changed in only the last ten years alone. It is however refreshing for me to meet younger folks who have the same desire to see a well thought out story with us at the center of it. For me it goes even deeper than that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIjtaKmLQAMM29WVmtrJLCICiQKIPtMjXcLtNW9qiIP5IpCXz8hCsL-M2-jWO0NM6rlYJylTm-l5LY9ROCBS5_1s8t-lFL8HlnrbkD8MyWGV4iNbYTocmtQtDuXl4I-fdyDGUlTWBvHSk/s1600/Gloria+Bolton.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIjtaKmLQAMM29WVmtrJLCICiQKIPtMjXcLtNW9qiIP5IpCXz8hCsL-M2-jWO0NM6rlYJylTm-l5LY9ROCBS5_1s8t-lFL8HlnrbkD8MyWGV4iNbYTocmtQtDuXl4I-fdyDGUlTWBvHSk/s400/Gloria+Bolton.JPG" width="302" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Gloria Bolton- My grandmother, my inspiration</i></div><br />
When I was a wee lad, my grandmother used to write stories for me. Often they were about a young boy exploring his world, and she would change the setting. One story may find the protagonist in ancient China, one may find him in old Europe, and so on. The key thing that she tried to get across to me was that the imagination is set loose when you are engaged in a really immersive story. You BECOME the protagonist, you feel what they would feel, and react the way they would react, provided the story is told well. My grandmother never disappointed, and it was a lesson that would remain with me to this day. In fact, my love of the arts (music, literature, visual arts) is a direct result of her influence in my life, and though she has been gone now about 10 years, she remains the pinnacle of my experiences with the spoken, and written word. Unfortunately for her, she was not around to have ever played an MMORPG.<br />
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So fast forward to about say..... 2003. Along comes a little game some of you all might know, called Star Wars Galaxies. We already knew the stories of Luke, Han, Leia, et al, but now here comes this game professing to tell the greatest story of all.... OURS. Words cannot express the nerdgasm I had about the time I saw those words flash on my screen as I installed the collector's edition version of the game. For all its headache and heartache, as SWG now lays on its deathbed, waiting for December 15th, and the pulling of the life support plug... SWG left one great impression on me. It gave me a chance to tell my story... and tell it I did. The stories of Druu Scandana became legendary, if only to a niche audience.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/scandanabros.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/scandanabros.jpg" width="580" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Left to Right: D'Anton Scandana- Smuggler, Druu Scandana- Combat Medic, Korenn Alya-Scandana- Droid Engineer</i></div><br />
Druu Scandana was one of three brothers orphaned and sent to live with their grandmother on Naboo, near Theed. When SWG began for me, Druu (yours truly) had received word that his grandmother had just died, and she put him in touch with an old friend of hers named Maximillian Veers. (You can see where this is going right?) Before Druu knew it, he was in the Empire as a stormtrooper commander, then an Imperial fighter ace. Before long he got involved with Sanctuary Guild; one of the Emperor's beloved on Naboo, and next thing you know, he ended up being elected President of said guild. When Restuss was destroyed, Druu was there, leading a veritable garrison of Imperial troops to fend off the rebel incursion for about a week, before the city was razed to rubble. The accolades were impressive, the legend grew. Druu eventually married; first to a twi'lek girl he rescued from certain doom, and had his share of tragedy when said wife ended up dying (ie- unsubbed after NGE), as well as a dubious relationship with a childhood sweetheart after, ending in divorce and a long lost daughter in his care... and more drama than he could shake a stick at. In the end, Druu finally remarried to a combat medic named Ademia, retired from service with the Empire, having never fired a shot on Endor, and essentially faded off into the sunset with his family on Corellia. He would go on to survive the Rebel victory at Endor, and live his life peacefully in the mountains of Doaba Guerfel with his wife, his daughter, and his two brothers.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/firstship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/firstship.jpg" width="580" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Nothing like a little dad - daughter bonding time...</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I thank SWG for the opportunity to tell my story, even if it was riddled with events I would rather forget, not all of which player caused. My story was indeed an epic one, and somewhere on the internet there are still those <a href="http://doctorwest.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Who">pre-CU stories floating around</a>, as well as some of the ones I made post NGE, when things got a BIT more dramatic... to say the least. Sadly that story does indeed have an end... but as my life continues, so do the stories.<br />
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Now we look at the future. Two games in particular appear to offer story in the quantity I am looking for. No disrespect to games such as Tera, but you did not make the cut this time. I think more folks are focused on the video below, than what stories Arborea could have to tell. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='520' height='466' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9sGfhjJNvxk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I just know there is a story here somewhere... but I cannot seem to find it.</i></div><br />
The two games I am referring to, in order; are Star Wars- The Old Republic, and Guild Wars 2. Without a doubt those two games are THE most anticipated games of the year! Neither have release dates, though fan speculation has SWTOR around November of this year (which is great, would be a birthday gift to me provided it is out by the 18th), and GW2 going into beta before this year is out, with wild speculations of as long a wait as June of next year. Bear in mind this is all just hearsay and should be treated as such. Until their respective companies say, HEY we are coming out THIS DATE... treat everything you hear with an entire case of sea salt.<br />
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SW-TOR:<br />
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Ok I am going to be THAT guy... SWG will be a tough act to follow. While Bioware is well known for its ability to tell a damn good story, there are a lot of things that cannot match up to the pure sandbox feel that SWG had in its heyday. Before the introduction of the legacy quests, SWG was as open as you could get, and it felt at once really good as well as overwhelming. So many stories to be made, no clear definition by the devs as to which way to go, other than the occasional story arcs that were thrown in for a brief period, and of course the holiday celebratory quests (something stolen from EQ btw). SWTOR plans on immersing you in the story from level one, and this is indeed a good thing. You are now 3000 years before the age of Druu Scandana and his more famous compatriots; Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine. The galaxy is different then, and in a way Bioware had carte blanche to tell a raucus story that would have little bearing on what we know as "canon" in the Star Wars mythos. In a sense, the route Bioware has gone is very "theme park"; a phrase bandied around often to mean your hand is being held as you are led through where you SHOULD be, rather than encouraging you to go where you WANT. Where Bioware shines however is that they have in the past, made where you should be,and the subsequent stories to be told there, more compelling than the desire to wander off and end up being "Uncle Owen", as one John Smedley was afraid of SWG players doing. From my reckoning, with 8 professions to choose from, Bioware is essentially offering us 8 stories to play out. Not too shabby if I should say so myself. How long it will take to get through them to endgame remains to be seen, but it would certainly keep me busy for a while.<br />
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Then we come to Guild Wars 2.<br />
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Ok, I am going to level with you all here. I am very much NOW on the bandwagon for GW2. I have yet to see anything major that has turned me off from this game, and story being one of my key drawing points, GW2 has delivered, even if only secondhand.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mrFm1avlfE0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
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The above video is of the human experience in the beginning of GW2. Bear in mind this is subject to change as the game reiterates to final publish, but already you can see the kernels of story being formulated, just in the opening cinematic. Now here is the fun part... Out of that one human story, you can have it portrayed in different ways depending on what YOU choose as your answers to what I call the "background creator". I have been around the MMO block many years now and I have yet to see a single game incorporate as part of its character creation a background creator. This is groundbreaking as far as I am concerned. (If there are minor titles who have done this, I doubt they count, as this game is definitely aiming for the mainstream) So already there are at the very least three ways you can start out your story (per race, of which there are 5 total). Now your personality plays a part in how your story plays out. Ok so now we are looking at three more possibilities here; charming, dignified, and ferocious personalities... That will affect how you react or act towards NPCs you encounter. This is not to mention that you also have the dynamic stories going on throughout the world, whether you are there or not... event arcs that replace traditional "quests", and make you feel like you are an active part of the world, and not just killing the proverbial 10 rats, for the sake of doing so. Of course there is the piece de resistance... the personal story, which a lot of this ties into. THIS is where I sink my teeth.<br />
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I want to know what happens to me in Tyria, or Shiverpeaks, or the Charr Lands, etc. I was one of those kids who used to read the "choose your own adventure" books, and the feeling of where will this world, or road take me, is still very much a strong feeling for me. For me the story is so important that I actively went out and bought the original Guild Wars Trilogy this week (while on vacation in Florida), just so I could play through the campaigns and learn the lore. As an aside, ArenaNet, if you are reading, I AM COMMITTED NOW! I am sure the books will be purchased before I head back home to Pittsburgh as well.<br />
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To make matters worse, this week, we all got treated to this video; showcasing the story in the dungeons we will encounter on Tyria. With the story pervading all, there is no doubt in my mind I will be as engaged as when I read those stories my grandmother wrote, or the choose your adventure books, or even the stories made up by my gm at that gaming table with a few other gamer geeks, and a bunch of dice.<br />
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...But I digress, bottom line here. Guild Wars 2 is thus far offering me the MOST opportunities to tell stories of my "life". This is even more so than with SWTOR. While I still intend to try TOR, and if accepted into beta will gladly play it, I cannot help but think there is something compelling about the Guild Wars story that has me salivating like a pavlovian experiment here.<br />
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Could it be that Guild Wars 2 has actually tapped into that same spirit that my grandmother would exude so long ago for me? It is hard to even write this without coming off sounding like a fan boy at this stage, but you know what... I am not even sure anymore that I care what anyone thinks of me LOL. I want, nay demand a good story. I want to be in the center of it... I want to be able to post my stories here on blogger... I want to be able to inspire others to do the same.<br />
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I did it before in Microsoft Flight Simulator (yeah lots of stories there eh?). Though the pictures may not show up, I have many stories about my "life" as a virtual US Airways pilot that were a joy to read by those into aviation, whether virtually or otherwise. Story goes to my core.<br />
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Stick around folks... There are many more stories to tell, and some of them will be YOURS.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-84967547008626058942011-05-26T12:04:00.008-04:002011-06-07T16:13:20.013-04:00Guild Wars 2- The NEXT Big Thing?I am a lousy blogger. There, I have said it.<br />
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It has taken me this long to relate what has been going on in my gaming (and otherwise) life, from the time I was in Rift beta, until now. I apologize for this, and promise that it will not happen again... I hope. I find it odd that someone who LOVES writing and blogging, should be so lazy as to not even update his own blogs (of which there are three currently). I have no excuses... I offer no reasons but to say, I am a lazy so and so.<br />
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Please accept my humble apology, and let us move on. What I want to talk about today is BIG... Could revolutionize the whole MMORPG industry as we know it. So, are we cool now? Yes? Ok... good. Let's move on.<br />
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Rift is now in the rear view mirror. Do not get me wrong, it is a spectacular game. It is functionally beautiful, masterfully created, and aesthetically eyecatching. Rift was a lot of fun! I really do admire Trion's commitment to excellence, and desire to set the MMORPG world aflame with something better. They have succeeded in many ways, and deserve all the praise and accolades they have garnered thus far. I cannot recommend the game enough to people. So where did I go wrong in Rift?<br />
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Well... I got bored.<br />
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YEAH REALLY! I got to level 50. I explored all zones, and got the badges for them. Did all the missions in all the zones, till I could not find a single NPC with a (!) over their heads... Went through the instances dutifully, some a bit more than others mind you, and came out the other end of the leveling grind with the title "Level 50", and the feeling that instead of gearing up for the "real start of the game", that I just wanted to lay down right here and take a long nap. That is just what I did... I laid Belenos down... and took a long nap. Subscription quietly lapsed... and never looked back.<br />
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Suffice to say, I have NEVER had this happen before in any game. I am not one who simply bounces around from pillar to post on a whim. I do not have ADHD, no offense to anyone who does, but I am capable of focusing sharply and intently on something I desire. I stick to things for the LONG term... Not as a passing fancy. So what went wrong with Rift? It felt like more of the same.<br />
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I went through seven years of grinding in SWG (and EQ2), and while in those games I did feel a sense of accomplishment for eventually reaching the top level, when I was able to reach 50 in Rift within a month, what I thought would be opening the floodgates to the rest of the game, resonated differently with me. Instead of WANTING to experience all that lvl 50 had to offer, it had just the opposite effect to me. I realized once I hit 50 there was no real goal for me at that point. I did not fancy running tier 1 or tier 2 instances. I am not a huge pvper, so the prospect of doing that ad infinitum is a turn off for me. The world was explored.... so now what? Even the guild had gotten so big that I really did not fit in the scheme of things anymore. Granted I did say I wanted no part in the actual running of it. It lessened the shock when I told them I was not going to be in Rift for an extended period of time.<br />
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Just like that, Belenos the legend of the Trion Forums... man with over 5000 posts... disappears silently in the night.<br />
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So what have I been doing? Well... EVE Online for starters. Most folks cannot get into that game because its steep learning cliff appears insurmountable.<br />
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For the most part they are right. CCP (the company behind EVE Online) is known for taking the high road, and doing things that most gaming companies would consider shooting themselves in the foot. Yet somehow EVE still retains a cult following. They still manage to grow in leaps and bounds, despite the love it or hate it attitude that seems to pervade the community at large... and let me tell you, the EVE community is at once visceral, and vicious! I have to admit, I like EVE Online, and especially with the coming introduction of the Incarna update (where for the first time in the 8 year life of the game, characters will get to walk around OUTSIDE their ships), I can see this continuing to gain my meager monies each month... If only to log in and see just what is going on in the galaxy. I have plans of opening my own Gallente Nightclub... We'll see how well that works. Granted I will never be a huge megacorp with tracts of galactic "land" many systems wide... But I have my own plans to eke out my little slice of EVE Pie. Let's just say EVE appeals to the back room capitalist in me.<br />
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A couple weeks ago, something caught my eye...<br />
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Back in Rift beta the question was asked a lot about which games were most anticipated, and repeatedly the acronym GW2 kept rising to the forefront. I did not give it a second thought. I was there for Rift. Like a mosquito, determined to get past my ears and into my bloodstream, i kept hearing it... GW2... GW2. Ok what the hell is GW2?!?!<br />
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<a href="http://www.guildwars2.com/en/">Guild Wars 2</a>. Ok... big deal... it's another freaking MMORPG. Probably another "WoW Clone" (I am so sick of those two words by the way. I have never even played WoW!). Then I started watching the little profession videos they have up on their website... and reading some of the lore they have going on in this little game of theirs. Hmm...<br />
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Then I run across this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='520' height='466' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/he3jqbDq5hA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Whoa. Are they for real? Are you kidding me? Let me summarize the points going on in this video, and how it seems way too good to be true!<br />
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So let me get this straight. Here are a bunch of gamers who just HAPPEN to also know game code (due to working at Blizzard), and they decide to question everything that has for over a decade been considered the holy grail of gaming? They want to take out the holy trinity of Tank / Healer / DPS, giving every single class the opportunity to have a bit of all three embedded within. They want to give ME my own personalized story to follow that is intertwined with the grand story arc of the game itself? They want to remove the old "kill 10 rats" paradigm and replace it with TRULY dynamic content that not only has an impact on the world around me, but scales in relation to the parties involved?!?! They want to create a community that cares about itself and its world???<br />
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Ok what kind of drugs are you on Arenanet?!?! How is this possible? How can you be espousing ALL the things that have frustrated us as gamers with games even as recent as Rift itself, claiming to have the solutions. How can you build a world based on concept art and have it look even remotely gorgeous as I see this one is. It looks as if I would be walking through a masterpiece.<br />
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More importantly, why is it that someone like Ree Soesbee does NOT have her own dedicated temple and shrine yet??? WTS- ME!<br />
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Needless to say, I have begun in earnest to learn everything I can about Guild Wars 2. I want to know it all... the professions, the languages, the backstory, the maps, everything. So far I have discovered 10 things about Guild Wars 2 that not only turn me on to the game, but has me riveted, thinking this JUST MIGHT be the one I have been searching for. In no particular order, here they are:<br />
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1- There are children. Yeah, you read that right... there are CHILDREN! I made the mistake of asking on the Trion forums why there were no kids on Telara... and basically got ridiculed and all but accused of being a pedophile. I am a parent, as those who are familiar with me already know. As a gamer, and a fan of fantasy and lore, one thing that to me determines a healthy world over a doomed one, is the presence of children. Children denote the future, and denote hope! Telara has none. The many worlds of SWG had none. There are quite a few games that have no children at all. Guess what... Guild Wars 2... has children. They do not even need to explain why they are there, merely their presence indicates to me that this is a company that has thought about the future of their product and their fantasy world in general. A world with children is a world worth saving.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/7/77/GDC_2010_children.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/7/77/GDC_2010_children.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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2- I see black people. OH LAWD HERE HE GOES! Drew is playing the race card again!!! For all the forum controversy of "why are there black Norn", merely the fact that there are indicates to me that Arenanet is looking at the big picture. Not every gamer has porcelain skin, and teutonic features, and some of us MIGHT want to have our avatars look just a little like our real world selves. Perfect example of this is my avatar in Eve Online. (see below) If you recall my blogs on Rift, I basically went through two whole beta sessions before concessions were made to allow me to create a character as dark as I wanted him to be. When it was introduced, it was done with zero fanfare, and was not even listed in the patch notes as being possible. It was a "pleasant surprise". It should have been there from the get go.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/90656462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/Drew_Bolton/90656462.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Handsome devil, isn't he?</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div>3- Epic city is EPIC! One of the major complaints about Rift was in the size (or lack thereof) of the major cities. Both Sanctum and Meridian could be explored completely in less than five minutes, and a large number of players were left thinking that perhaps Trion may have left out the remainder of the cities in favor of the little villages that made the final cut. I make no bones about loving architecture. It was my first major in college, and although I eventually switched to art, I have had a love of buildings to this day. It stands to reason then that in my gaming, I love to explore cities. I want to be floored by something larger than myself. I want to get lost in dark alleys, or stand atop citadels looking out as far as I can see. I want to get to know the personality of a city, and feel like I am in the midst of something bustling, something alive, something BIG. Guild Wars 2 appears to be delivering on this. The scale of the cities is nothing short of massive. While other new games such as Tera also boast huge cities, there is something aesthetically pleasing about what Arenanet is offering us to call home. Even the gateway town of Lion's Arch is nothing short of jawdropping. (see vid below)<br />
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4- Care about your world. This one is vastly overlooked by many MANY companies and games. When was the last time you actually cared what happened to an NPC, let alone a vendor? Well NPC... no not really Drew, he could drop dead for all I care... As for vendor... depends, is he selling anything I need? That is the kind of attitude I see a lot in games. No one cares what happens to the game assets unless there is something in it for them. As part of the Guild Wars story, there is such a thing as KARMA! Brilliant... who would have thought. The vendor you help today, may just give you a deep discount, or better yet goods for free, because he REMEMBERS the time you saved his ass from the horde of marauding centaurs. He remembers how you revived him from near certain death! He's gonna tell others and they are gonna like you too! Pretty soon the whole damn town is erecting a statue in your honor... all because you actually took the time to care about your world and the people in it. Who thinks of this stuff? Why has it not been done before in games to this level?<br />
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** Note- Karma is a currency that is earned and can be used in some cases exclusively to purchase goods at vendors.**<br />
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5- Less UI = Happy screen. Ok Eve Online, I am talking to you... how you take so much screen? If there is one thing I hate, it is when my UI and chatboxes take up soooo much room that I can barely see myself or the mob I am supposed to be fighting. I can multitask like the best of them, but seriously, does everything need to be on a HUD for me? Can't I just enjoy the world, and keep the key elements that I need visible? GW2 shows me 10 icons on my hotbar. Yes, 10. 5 of them change depending on what weapon I have equipped. Yes.. they CHANGE! If I pick up a bucket of water... I now have a hotbar skill to use said bucket. I do not need 10 hotbars (thanks though Rift)... just one. Not to mention that one button is ALWAYS a heal!<br />
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6- Sick of being "the Healer/the Tank". The straw that broke the camel's back for me in Rift was when I did Abyssal Precipice twice. The first time with all guildies, and we managed to get about halfway through before our inexperience with the instance caused us to epic fail. The second time we completed it with a PUG (pick up group), but it was hardly exciting for me. Both times I went in as "the tank". I have never claimed to be sterling as a tank, and I am totally lost if it is my first time in somewhere, as I have not had the chance to learn what to do and where to go. I could not be the healer because there is always a dedicated healer, and let's face it, being DPS, you may as well just say you are along for the ride. You have no real purpose. In the second run I was replaced halfway as tank because, well... I could not tank satisfactorily. Ok I get that, I sucked as a tank in that instance. Now I have no purpose. So here we have Guild Wars 2 saying, the holy trinity of tank- healer - dps has been rebuked! You have all the skills you need, are responsible for your own healing, can coordinate with anyone around you to achieve common goals and do NOT need to sit around spamming LFG TANK! This means I can learn my class to MY liking, not to yours. I can play my class with the expectation that I will help in any situation, and not feel beholden to anyone for being there "taking up space". I like this. Did I mention anyone can rez anyone?<br />
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7- Not my node, my loot, my mob, but OURS. What kinda hippie lovefest, carebear crap is this? Are you telling me that I can tag the nearest mob, burn it with fire, and you burn it with lightning, we BOTH kill it, we BOTH get full xp for it, AND BOTH get full loot? Do you seriously want me to believe Arenanet, that I can mine this here rock with the copper stripes, and have joe and bob over there also mine the same rock, and we ALL get the full amount of resources contained within, without detracting from the others' experiences? That is literally unheard of in MMORPGs today. That alone is a win.<br />
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8- Wait... Races get starting areas? Number one complaint in Rift was that you could play one of three races per faction. Each race started in the same exact area... making replayability akin to Groundhog Day. While I totally understood WHY this was done, there was no real attempt to make you understand why you are a part of said race that you chose. There was no connection to your culture, nothing other than the fact that you look different from the next guy, and are on the same side because you started in Terminus over Mathosia. Well you know what? It is NOT alright for me to not know the ramifications of my choosing a race. I want to know that race's history. If I decide to be the aforementioned black Norn, I want to know more about why the Norn are the way they are. I want to experience life AS a Norn. I want to understand where they fit in the big picture, and most importantly, I want to see the world and my home through Norn eyes. Wait... what? You can do this in Guild Wars 2? SOLD!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='520' height='466' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/1tZ92v3WKD8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Notice the black Norn... That'll be me.</i></div><br />
9- Giant polar bears with swords. I want to see them. I find myself more and more intrigued by the NPC races in the game, as much as the playable races. The fact that this company is going to great lengths to tell us more about the species and races we will encounter in our travels, not only impresses me, but makes me feel like this will in fact be a living, breathing world. If I can be that dude who functions as ambassador to the giant polar bears (the Kodan), I will seek them out. Anyone who has ever read the children's book Snowland (I think that was the name of it), can attest to this... giant, talking polar bears are cool.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Kekai-Kotaki-Kodan-Attack-655x217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://www.arena.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Kekai-Kotaki-Kodan-Attack-655x217.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br />
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10- Big freakin dragons. Have you seen most of the dragons in other games? What should be epic seems... well... lacking. When I saw the above video, with the visions of "The Shatterer", the big purple and metal dragon coming down, I was impressed. Now I hear, oh that is just a lieutenant. The Elder Dragons are way bigger than him. <b>SAY WHAT?!?!??!</b><br />
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I just fell out of my seat.<br />
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Watch this and you tell me... are they confounding us with "bovine excrement", or are they for real? By the way Arenanet... if you are for real... how bout you hire me please. At this point I do not care if I am the janitor, or quality assurance, or customer service. Just hire me! I am so not even kidding either. I have no college degree to speak of, but I know video games like a first language. Let me do for you what I know I can... that is help make this THE next big thing! It just might be worth moving from Pittsburgh to Seattle, if this game is as real as I think it is. This could revolutionize the entire gaming community.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='520' height='466' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FDxI5GFTuq4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div>At the very least, can you tell Ree that I'd like to worship her?<br />
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<i><b>Guild Wars 2 is slated to go into beta testing some time in the second half of this year, 2011. I can hardly wait.</b></i><br />
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Did I mention this sucker is going to be <b>FREE TO PLAY</b>????<br />
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(Addendum, thanks to comments below. You DO need to actually BUY the game, but you will NOT pay monthly fees for access to it. That is free to play I can live with!)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-66289835388051495742011-01-03T17:56:00.000-05:002011-01-03T17:56:04.669-05:00Rift Beta 3... Or "Greetings fellow Air-Breather" PART TWOAct III- Freemarch Under Siege<br />
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I awoke the next day, and met up with Swiftsure to do some more missions, and make our way to Meridian. Unfortunately she had left before me and ended up someplace else, so I did not physically get to fight alongside her till a bit later on. In the interim, I amused myself with the destruction of more water rifts, and a few death rifts.<br />
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One thing I will say about Telara, there is no shortage of people to help you. Just when you think you are up the creek without a paddle, on a rift that will KILL you... again... along come a few brave souls to help you seal that particular rift. The up side is that with everyone contributing, the enemy that spawns is even stronger, but the rewards are greater. There is a downside though, especially for a healer.<br />
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Oftentimes it gets a bit confusing when you have multiple groups of people repelling an invasion or a rift, and you may get the call from someone to "HEAL ME!!!!". Currently there is no real way of identifying who is who in a mass of ungrouped people so finding the person in time and healing them is a tricky proposition at best. Hopefully someone creative will think of a plausible solution to this dilemma, till then, we Clerics may get a bad rap for not healing people in time.<br />
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Aww so close to Meridian, yet so far.<br />
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I found a little farm overrun with boars not unlike the domesticated one Swiftsure always ran around with, and in this farm there were actually some settlers who needed some things done. Granted, this would not be epic uber missions where the fate of Telara is in the balance, but the little things... the feel good missions that make you proud to be a Defiant, and happy to be of service to a fellow citizen. Not to mention it was a great way to meet other Ascended, and see some rather interesting hairdos...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJeaRN1o4sJWujqKR0sMOekR1C1vHINygVcSLOA5ps648zUyBi9zMNXai-E1EXGanOygTt_vtQzFqMDd6IEIX5SIPHIwo0zyGDRqd9p8Y39JaJ1O5hroQderq5frkInnY28KN_yEi4CU/s1600/AwesomeFroChick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJeaRN1o4sJWujqKR0sMOekR1C1vHINygVcSLOA5ps648zUyBi9zMNXai-E1EXGanOygTt_vtQzFqMDd6IEIX5SIPHIwo0zyGDRqd9p8Y39JaJ1O5hroQderq5frkInnY28KN_yEi4CU/s320/AwesomeFroChick.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Oh I see how it is.. the Bahmi chick gets a banging 'Fro, and I gotta go bald eh....<br />
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It's ok Trion, you can keep your Afro, I like being bald thank you. :-p<br />
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I digress again...<br />
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During my daytime travels I actually found Telarans resting... taking a break as it were from the constant sieges of the planar enemies. Believe me, any chance you can get to rack up some Zzz's on Telara... TAKE IT! All too soon your sleep can be rudely interrupted.<br />
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I did encounter all sorts of odd occurrences on my way to Meridian to wait for Swiftie... including this phenomenon that only happens once in a blue moon... lightning striking twice!<br />
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By nightfall I had made it to Meridian, and I opted to spend a good deal of time there exploring.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDp9cQ2RRQ2E9K4d6RmbsZzwrJSDvZrxtqz20lahmHsbEf45_bEay4Xi6GHSzgviumOhxkv-PEs2bzeIzTNcbtBD_y1IrJvDowQCBhPIUW779c5i270floiVXGhzf-M1K5qMfJP9KIbw/s1600/IHateStairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDp9cQ2RRQ2E9K4d6RmbsZzwrJSDvZrxtqz20lahmHsbEf45_bEay4Xi6GHSzgviumOhxkv-PEs2bzeIzTNcbtBD_y1IrJvDowQCBhPIUW779c5i270floiVXGhzf-M1K5qMfJP9KIbw/s320/IHateStairs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I met Orphiel Farwind in his observatory, and carried on a brief conversation with him. I dunno about Orphiel though, something about him does not seem right... I cannot quite put a finger on it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0oRf3bwDteX04qJJfcQECNHz4J6VkFDaUfJKe5E0OamrnPwc7TJTt8-sDVh8es04m_LOL-EGjqvNWiJ4cR0BEgkpzA64rBu6DSeKAKRMPhpzLosryIewJr5g_xACHjE9td1oP62UuC4/s1600/DontYouGetLonelyUpHere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0oRf3bwDteX04qJJfcQECNHz4J6VkFDaUfJKe5E0OamrnPwc7TJTt8-sDVh8es04m_LOL-EGjqvNWiJ4cR0BEgkpzA64rBu6DSeKAKRMPhpzLosryIewJr5g_xACHjE9td1oP62UuC4/s320/DontYouGetLonelyUpHere.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
His Tower is incredible though, as these next couple of pictures show.... Quite an impressive feat of technomagical wizardry!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWmqXAt5rBU7Xrvc5DuYZObns8wr607juR585iUW1TNHznM57-nQ4kXWao9pkGD6YUXuggWIXHTpIB2V0C6kLD2_tJe238U1FqQp23EZP_jOcdElnHmF-3NAPbCoUMC-1gs_R6VnWKdo/s1600/OrphielsSpire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWmqXAt5rBU7Xrvc5DuYZObns8wr607juR585iUW1TNHznM57-nQ4kXWao9pkGD6YUXuggWIXHTpIB2V0C6kLD2_tJe238U1FqQp23EZP_jOcdElnHmF-3NAPbCoUMC-1gs_R6VnWKdo/s320/OrphielsSpire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnqLkuZPMDB_vc8OBCw6DCjdm0udn4Iyx3Udy4uyWkcujkeKZu_e9l86Ymu7ZFEx8gnKlDeDC3a8ZDjcoq0FK_yPLYsWnXVWd7Xj3tJziNvP82kpiol8wwN8fnR5xA3CZMSVaobFZyLY0/s1600/HallsOfKnowledge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnqLkuZPMDB_vc8OBCw6DCjdm0udn4Iyx3Udy4uyWkcujkeKZu_e9l86Ymu7ZFEx8gnKlDeDC3a8ZDjcoq0FK_yPLYsWnXVWd7Xj3tJziNvP82kpiol8wwN8fnR5xA3CZMSVaobFZyLY0/s320/HallsOfKnowledge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I was indeed impressed, but not nearly so much so as when I met HER...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOSQQe_dE3JXXdOWZVRkub_idWCkkyjC_L_cznilptlYbo1cnGzuquBQlSRYm57cKpPJjYIexjWW-QYkFysPq0AX_HwfXGaVVoAM4etNykKJc7LdSj-DhTbIaDkaLeEedFndX6zk6duVI/s1600/PleasedToMeetYou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOSQQe_dE3JXXdOWZVRkub_idWCkkyjC_L_cznilptlYbo1cnGzuquBQlSRYm57cKpPJjYIexjWW-QYkFysPq0AX_HwfXGaVVoAM4etNykKJc7LdSj-DhTbIaDkaLeEedFndX6zk6duVI/s320/PleasedToMeetYou.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Pleased to meet you, again... for the first time... Whatever it is... I made a pledge to you, and I intend to honor it. My mace and my conviction are at your disposal General Catari. You don't know it yet, but you are going to save my life.... errr... well maybe I am here to save yours.<br />
<br />
We'll figure it out later. For now, it was time to learn all I could about being a cleric. Including the highlight of this beta test... getting ALL the cleric souls (8 of them) so that I can mix and match.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdeKxGw7lTVUonb_o7QrPkILAFLWAW6IdHQ1L9u9cFmsY_Mi6wzwyMSzNYz8zE7FEjBAXXlpbp2XdmcNc4Zc1EGG3OeIS8KM6Cq2YA9lDQHtBm4DDoRE8kT3eLEWMlwIb1HFVt0q4CnY/s1600/EpicPart2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdeKxGw7lTVUonb_o7QrPkILAFLWAW6IdHQ1L9u9cFmsY_Mi6wzwyMSzNYz8zE7FEjBAXXlpbp2XdmcNc4Zc1EGG3OeIS8KM6Cq2YA9lDQHtBm4DDoRE8kT3eLEWMlwIb1HFVt0q4CnY/s320/EpicPart2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Yeah... Trion's idea of a joke LOL. The technical reason is that the quests you have to do to get all 8 souls are not ready yet, so this is just the filler text you see for the time being. Makes for a funny read. Personally I think they should just leave it like this, but I suppose they HAVE to change it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Eventually I found the bar, and an NPC with a chest twice the size of any player's. I had to sit down and hang out with her for a while.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBN5szFdn_Vn7cwu9A6pRK-t_aRnYlzi4-9Dmbm3DSW3-pclu5uCWyvHX3K0_cX2t2TSFYGduNs7zVaH1JZeIAFOBHRj1Gch94Ig1XXLfKyS9OOAfw-fZKfCMVXxe5xnFQjc7bp_sZwU/s1600/YeahBabyKilledItAllByMyself.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBN5szFdn_Vn7cwu9A6pRK-t_aRnYlzi4-9Dmbm3DSW3-pclu5uCWyvHX3K0_cX2t2TSFYGduNs7zVaH1JZeIAFOBHRj1Gch94Ig1XXLfKyS9OOAfw-fZKfCMVXxe5xnFQjc7bp_sZwU/s320/YeahBabyKilledItAllByMyself.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div> Of course during my distraction with her, a Water rift spawned outside that I had to take care of... I will tell you I was none too pleased about this. Not to be deterred, I took out the water rift with a quickness.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHlFHe20s0Z8ltGhoCfrgBRMCp_UupALKn1-biti1ud3cjJReGEUQr5y98s7eYK9aidDAXb2jrhpkvkl_4VJvHzvsNDXTnwJGcPbD7vF8-ENP0ojIz3LwvMrAGqW8Kp6Y8cpXL2XtMQg/s1600/NothingToSeeFolks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHlFHe20s0Z8ltGhoCfrgBRMCp_UupALKn1-biti1ud3cjJReGEUQr5y98s7eYK9aidDAXb2jrhpkvkl_4VJvHzvsNDXTnwJGcPbD7vF8-ENP0ojIz3LwvMrAGqW8Kp6Y8cpXL2XtMQg/s320/NothingToSeeFolks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
After all was done, I promptly went back to my NPC hostess.<br />
<br />
At some point in time, I do not remember how long, Swiftie showed up, and I ran her through some of the things I have seen in Meridian thus far so she could catch up, including telling her how to get all 8 rogue souls. May as well take advantage of the free souls while they are there. With that done, we opted to get some more missions done.<br />
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Our next major one took us to a place called Lakeside.... an ODD little town.<br />
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First thing I noticed was a scout kneeling by the roadside.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmt3HDHM5IWZN53zCgC6la0zuqc9dtRBzlB7GeC2U0S9SP4bzwgHL96DJw_v8Trh2bCzvUiqTQkElm6CVGPnKDHxaBYVOgLLobloNUNWY21JrsUXlC-CQlv3_xvpE5UBQ97b-tIsS-IGk/s1600/WeIsSneakySneaky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmt3HDHM5IWZN53zCgC6la0zuqc9dtRBzlB7GeC2U0S9SP4bzwgHL96DJw_v8Trh2bCzvUiqTQkElm6CVGPnKDHxaBYVOgLLobloNUNWY21JrsUXlC-CQlv3_xvpE5UBQ97b-tIsS-IGk/s320/WeIsSneakySneaky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Ziara informed me that there was something suspicious about this town that she could not quite figure. For some reason, she wanted me to investigate by talking to the townsfolk.<br />
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Seems easy enough... Here were my findings.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7SPK76brG-KVEBdTFZ53kFdijiUpso_wC_gqXZajS43JdByBYS7L8jr98UWKE6sLc5OqCTFBhG7W9MvnA2pOSaRg8X5IaR2eAH4z9-w-WwVyb8EBsB76z7Ut0d5IWzf6WXVNgl8jwiM/s1600/YouAreNotNormal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7SPK76brG-KVEBdTFZ53kFdijiUpso_wC_gqXZajS43JdByBYS7L8jr98UWKE6sLc5OqCTFBhG7W9MvnA2pOSaRg8X5IaR2eAH4z9-w-WwVyb8EBsB76z7Ut0d5IWzf6WXVNgl8jwiM/s320/YouAreNotNormal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Umm... ok?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkoJBT5yrqkZdo67C3ygLqCjQ7dsL-JMuQdUDiEd-7yDcCB_tkO3BLheqgtleX-biUHH2UHgT8E5uEaKYJI9BBu28lVsK5djxz7LxnAmMNswmc7TJCHzE1GZIFY4kyESjM3ooZw_m-5nQ/s1600/UmmYouAreNotHumanAreYou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkoJBT5yrqkZdo67C3ygLqCjQ7dsL-JMuQdUDiEd-7yDcCB_tkO3BLheqgtleX-biUHH2UHgT8E5uEaKYJI9BBu28lVsK5djxz7LxnAmMNswmc7TJCHzE1GZIFY4kyESjM3ooZw_m-5nQ/s320/UmmYouAreNotHumanAreYou.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Uhhhh... Yeah, whatever you say there...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLn72wvOyFfvROH7HSLKCc6JvZIC73qboWJf47-Mv2P_OxWly2bQaCfysjn5qunlGppD_yBPMW3v86GX4PigjOVbkT688xCDGADkg9Bw4QpYxYV2CUoxsz8STYKeyNuaYA2f7GWAUOA4/s1600/YouAreSoNotFoolingMe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLn72wvOyFfvROH7HSLKCc6JvZIC73qboWJf47-Mv2P_OxWly2bQaCfysjn5qunlGppD_yBPMW3v86GX4PigjOVbkT688xCDGADkg9Bw4QpYxYV2CUoxsz8STYKeyNuaYA2f7GWAUOA4/s320/YouAreSoNotFoolingMe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>OK THAT'S IT! You are SOOOO NOT fooling me here!<br />
<br />
The whole town was a front for the Abyssal cult! Somehow they got their hands on some kinda polymorph potions and were pretending to be humans. They took the entire town over and were gaining a foothold in Freemarch. I knew just what to do... I called upon my inquisitor's fanaticism, and SMOTE them down with all my fervor!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtNmf1STzLG53pE75Aj941R7Roo-gtGKEr8EABpm-GhNOBW8Wj6tpqTGcUXNYRqV4LwzIU_yyX-DkRm0syx48pxIodaFTLkb4uEUDsacfRGBlU0ntxeSYkDuuu2QsQsXkO4D3rD3dxS4/s1600/ComeAndDieSinners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtNmf1STzLG53pE75Aj941R7Roo-gtGKEr8EABpm-GhNOBW8Wj6tpqTGcUXNYRqV4LwzIU_yyX-DkRm0syx48pxIodaFTLkb4uEUDsacfRGBlU0ntxeSYkDuuu2QsQsXkO4D3rD3dxS4/s320/ComeAndDieSinners.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnVyKEaej_tjXCD-nNcsouFpfwFN8BlpUxSCy8IL9NiZZoo5ZYv1gdOsflcS4T92XeNtDKlinFK78_zuI3kuI5KT-9AVjxVRiNzUVcX2sxG108ctx9xFPiwebYGCRp7Ci2YliEVQsvXE/s1600/DisgustingSinners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnVyKEaej_tjXCD-nNcsouFpfwFN8BlpUxSCy8IL9NiZZoo5ZYv1gdOsflcS4T92XeNtDKlinFK78_zuI3kuI5KT-9AVjxVRiNzUVcX2sxG108ctx9xFPiwebYGCRp7Ci2YliEVQsvXE/s320/DisgustingSinners.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><br />
When that was done, I had to take the fight underwater to their hideout. At this point in time Swiftie was not present but another lovely lady came to my aid. For the life of me I do not remember her name though, so though she was lovely, she apparently was not memorable. :-(<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyb1CGFWgA_ez4m1xw64OYqdrAOwuenZ9nXmUx9xKMtncr7ItQi6RipODnBwyAebE50OVYkAbTD1dMWkybTK41vtTTYSNw220sim_V3z3p2k4Svfo3hYkS-yC059O5LwYsS2WwQcCSg0/s1600/UnderwaterShrine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyb1CGFWgA_ez4m1xw64OYqdrAOwuenZ9nXmUx9xKMtncr7ItQi6RipODnBwyAebE50OVYkAbTD1dMWkybTK41vtTTYSNw220sim_V3z3p2k4Svfo3hYkS-yC059O5LwYsS2WwQcCSg0/s320/UnderwaterShrine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A note about underwater... I have not really shown it in my tales thus far but just like RL, you have only so much breath before you begin to drown... and I do not have the magic spell to make me breathe underwater... I am only a silly air breather afterall. By the way, to swim up or down either press the right mouse button and move your mouse, or press both mouse buttons and move your mouse. You'll thank me later.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_MugaIietWtf5yhhQN094cJO5VJ2W8ZTsiEt_mFXNfYyLni-RWqX52zSrQqY9NqA2CGXmx3B7cJCA-bKz8SVnrf35pN2IrMedRcXREEP3i0AE9mHIK1TUFzgHkPr1uj9lwSyZxxf3j8/s1600/CherNI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_MugaIietWtf5yhhQN094cJO5VJ2W8ZTsiEt_mFXNfYyLni-RWqX52zSrQqY9NqA2CGXmx3B7cJCA-bKz8SVnrf35pN2IrMedRcXREEP3i0AE9mHIK1TUFzgHkPr1uj9lwSyZxxf3j8/s320/CherNI.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Several levels later I finally ran into Swiftie! Yay! I must say I like her wardrobe upgrade. We made our way to Smith's Haven, another town under siege, this time by the cult of Death- The Endless Court.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPXK5pEDsL4B9Vf799TH0gdPwLG2bES2-DwBnyPCdWrFviarpU33VQolWhL7ZLMWHhyphenhyphen7DbtDxUuOpDSV2RTVy6rBLmOzyS0a3MPeMBSRgZHPNDoaXdy3jnGyAEqh4v4e-qdVt9jPcYM8/s1600/LotOfNPCs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPXK5pEDsL4B9Vf799TH0gdPwLG2bES2-DwBnyPCdWrFviarpU33VQolWhL7ZLMWHhyphenhyphen7DbtDxUuOpDSV2RTVy6rBLmOzyS0a3MPeMBSRgZHPNDoaXdy3jnGyAEqh4v4e-qdVt9jPcYM8/s320/LotOfNPCs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The missions in here were noticeably a bit more challenging, but doable, and we were able to make some serious headway rescuing the town, some of the priceless artifacts that random citizens wanted is to retrieve, and even saving the lives of a few trapped citizens in a cave.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiadKIiboAlhgmfxZNpsEsIemHAjViSxEc_evE1OtCJ3MV4VuFCxSG4pmwQ4jWtSGvBO4FQbXPgW-zeSogKzdXaSS6lMSjscJOO-qp5XDS-iaBQLKncg8BZsNXLlH6bhj0E129ygMvXM/s1600/WhereAmI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiadKIiboAlhgmfxZNpsEsIemHAjViSxEc_evE1OtCJ3MV4VuFCxSG4pmwQ4jWtSGvBO4FQbXPgW-zeSogKzdXaSS6lMSjscJOO-qp5XDS-iaBQLKncg8BZsNXLlH6bhj0E129ygMvXM/s320/WhereAmI.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>After we got out, and got over the smoke inhalation from the town on fire, we could see in the distance an Air rift in a far off area of Telara... a promise that we have only just begun to walk this road, and that more was yet to come.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_CQOwuU8HWSWYdvGO1icyLGkykqrWWgyFaXpzxkMo8QctOt9xkCSuxtr_TosiYwqAmpbbC9oxe8KjpYUudJnRrKoIQ79XuUx9zl56IX1HbqtGGqwTAf9iZv7x4YyxKTsV_YSBpr1mJ_o/s1600/SoCloseYetSoFar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_CQOwuU8HWSWYdvGO1icyLGkykqrWWgyFaXpzxkMo8QctOt9xkCSuxtr_TosiYwqAmpbbC9oxe8KjpYUudJnRrKoIQ79XuUx9zl56IX1HbqtGGqwTAf9iZv7x4YyxKTsV_YSBpr1mJ_o/s320/SoCloseYetSoFar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We did not have time to mourn our inability to get to the rift as the best was yet to come. Once more the developers spawned an epic rift event that damn near caused the end of the world.... again...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GfrRBznWe22cfkPM4iLM6r0Va3JneJjh7E2IBaV9-5LHrfDcx3RDacnQwvTJMxjVv-6jtfFX1gi52GmoxxMNo8ElJiblZ_BMf_iB_cyyIF3qQUYk5NvSfJ6k9m_3JVLtFnwHv5xKGHk/s1600/Armageddon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GfrRBznWe22cfkPM4iLM6r0Va3JneJjh7E2IBaV9-5LHrfDcx3RDacnQwvTJMxjVv-6jtfFX1gi52GmoxxMNo8ElJiblZ_BMf_iB_cyyIF3qQUYk5NvSfJ6k9m_3JVLtFnwHv5xKGHk/s320/Armageddon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>With Regulos one step away from taking over, we did everything we could to beat him back. It took us the better part of a couple hours, but we did it. When we were done we celebrated by entering the Iron Tomb and slaughtering the undead in there too.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlkqCkyZ4wuHiwpA4gJUU3yX_V27qrVY01q-5hrf_KWmchHyHB46bYOMfgUgiPI2SERCWLukJSYUSNCrUFW2InmeKodF2rmJbhJxQeFXFs3YbKFQXzDIyi8v-UKgA7oAYwY5eWQlDQe0/s1600/YanniConcert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlkqCkyZ4wuHiwpA4gJUU3yX_V27qrVY01q-5hrf_KWmchHyHB46bYOMfgUgiPI2SERCWLukJSYUSNCrUFW2InmeKodF2rmJbhJxQeFXFs3YbKFQXzDIyi8v-UKgA7oAYwY5eWQlDQe0/s320/YanniConcert.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGV4GkBOqnKgp7jwvWUebYD2AHYoM_tIpWLLYixYxi5Xqh4dFRiARCTym3aF2BrC7t3lSQ8B-R1LmthT-hIj45_zJZOL34WAOJUNK8SeiW8-GTitL36Pe_X0Tg9vZ51Z5Ubm47H32zMI/s1600/ThisBishAgain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGV4GkBOqnKgp7jwvWUebYD2AHYoM_tIpWLLYixYxi5Xqh4dFRiARCTym3aF2BrC7t3lSQ8B-R1LmthT-hIj45_zJZOL34WAOJUNK8SeiW8-GTitL36Pe_X0Tg9vZ51Z5Ubm47H32zMI/s320/ThisBishAgain.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div> Truly an epic experience, this continued over the next day as we not only ran Iron Tomb but also I was privileged to go back to the Realm Of The Fae in Silverwood, and show the Satyrs that I was back. I have to admit that was the best part for me was being able to teleport to Silverwood, in Guardian held territory and slaughter those Satyrs, with no remorse.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxFpVf-DeCA0R7KcICuO9DNEhtyV3B-OY-yruBg9NM-KHMA2wSA865pcypE-Ts2hxKJHdU_MU8lZQXTQaM7LgfFhMzDJ2YWY5XXWfg6vKN5-iDWKXIGvMNKSNmIYfKx1-FjqQkW5UIzQ/s1600/HelloSatyrsImBaaack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxFpVf-DeCA0R7KcICuO9DNEhtyV3B-OY-yruBg9NM-KHMA2wSA865pcypE-Ts2hxKJHdU_MU8lZQXTQaM7LgfFhMzDJ2YWY5XXWfg6vKN5-iDWKXIGvMNKSNmIYfKx1-FjqQkW5UIzQ/s320/HelloSatyrsImBaaack.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When it was all said and done, I rested on the mountain in Silverwood, to look at the world I once knew through guardian eyes, but now see through my ascended Ethian eyes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfd90sn64v-m7_PCKgM3r2blgE6zCPj9aMtObg1g3OgeA9jt0Q6RvlOTcp5ueY73fYRL6rJ_c_gPHhS2uqVaw6I5HrghtmCHE1-uyXV8vSgmdDueaa9ePISuTa-mnI873Rd14XGCPmzi8/s1600/ONDaMountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfd90sn64v-m7_PCKgM3r2blgE6zCPj9aMtObg1g3OgeA9jt0Q6RvlOTcp5ueY73fYRL6rJ_c_gPHhS2uqVaw6I5HrghtmCHE1-uyXV8vSgmdDueaa9ePISuTa-mnI873Rd14XGCPmzi8/s320/ONDaMountain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>When Swiftsure made her way to Silverwood, we fought side by side once more, and joined a Raid on their way to take Sanctum by force.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5puQDWxlA73Tty9ggPmpfETksXzOCPUDtcQtWZ8Wi8p_THIlHmwUlHKG6OCiAqRiyTK1TNdU412cieEUDHwnLTkhuYnsrda5ho5u1uFm6vJIQwYQZJCFOGWFF7FKVKULNWWfdBOhuTU/s1600/SneakySneakyPewPew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5puQDWxlA73Tty9ggPmpfETksXzOCPUDtcQtWZ8Wi8p_THIlHmwUlHKG6OCiAqRiyTK1TNdU412cieEUDHwnLTkhuYnsrda5ho5u1uFm6vJIQwYQZJCFOGWFF7FKVKULNWWfdBOhuTU/s320/SneakySneakyPewPew.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The raid mind you was a partial success. We were able to take a few strongholds, and pvp with a few guardians, but we learned in short time that against the NPC guards of Sanctum, we stood no chance, even as an amassed force of players. It was sooo much fun to do however, and we got to see their mascot....<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUh6aZKOxhpfSKnydSYJhKow_bdOh9Mz2_nKRHrmC0K1RO9pXeWuQc8RGBtNZUWarsQdB_iezLRS8WjIL34ZMSs_8Oz5cwuF_jlbPdPZDNAE1T_B2CUkruWNV-Cz3CYdT6xV8HuTJXhVQ/s1600/GiantSquirrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUh6aZKOxhpfSKnydSYJhKow_bdOh9Mz2_nKRHrmC0K1RO9pXeWuQc8RGBtNZUWarsQdB_iezLRS8WjIL34ZMSs_8Oz5cwuF_jlbPdPZDNAE1T_B2CUkruWNV-Cz3CYdT6xV8HuTJXhVQ/s320/GiantSquirrel.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
WTF? A giant Squirrel? Leave it to the Guardians...<br />
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When it was all said and done, we had an amazing time and I explored so much of the world. I did not want to leave when the time came. I enjoyed my life as a Defiant and am committed to the cause.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnHXM8JBjB8cqAwR_8COMnnhmh9LDPcQYs46-RcLhHv0f4AktlEoBZb43mYH0Gtc2_-t-DlVAlaHRur1rUPKgKVOBLWi5vrE984XNgnbi4nfiHf1SD342KsMNYXxVgru0AbSvJ-CFrjl4/s1600/WhereIBeen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnHXM8JBjB8cqAwR_8COMnnhmh9LDPcQYs46-RcLhHv0f4AktlEoBZb43mYH0Gtc2_-t-DlVAlaHRur1rUPKgKVOBLWi5vrE984XNgnbi4nfiHf1SD342KsMNYXxVgru0AbSvJ-CFrjl4/s320/WhereIBeen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I can only hope the next phase of beta takes us to uncharted places, to experience more unique vistas, meet exotic people, and kill them.<br />
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Till then, I await inside the halls of Meridian... right next to my Leige- Asha Catari.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NawscoDtPoTTpYOc3sl_46gc-V6BhWYp-3Wh7BWY67-5vgGmcMyal3yow2iKjCI9VxUtBdJrQhOfwy99no37nfZpPbkaBGu0gPFuArusacJFp6K2hRp86f-XzR4Xpdwb2i1ad4Stt7o/s1600/MeAsWorkOfArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NawscoDtPoTTpYOc3sl_46gc-V6BhWYp-3Wh7BWY67-5vgGmcMyal3yow2iKjCI9VxUtBdJrQhOfwy99no37nfZpPbkaBGu0gPFuArusacJFp6K2hRp86f-XzR4Xpdwb2i1ad4Stt7o/s320/MeAsWorkOfArt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>----------------------------------------------------------<br />
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Next beta is January 7, 2011 at 10AM Pacific Standard Time. It lasts all weekend till the 10th which is that Monday following. Join the Rift game site <a href="http://www.riftgame.com/en/index.php">HERE.</a> I am sure they are still giving away beta keys if you would like to see Telara as I have been, and keep your eyes out for the elusive VIP keys which allow ALL access to all betas from here on out!<br />
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See you on Telara, thanks for reading.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-53469159069166336642011-01-03T16:26:00.001-05:002011-01-03T16:41:29.015-05:00Rift Beta 3... Or "Greetings fellow Air-Breather" PART ONEThis past week, from December 28 - December 31, was the latest closed beta session for RIFT... Beta 3. Now during this beta we were asked to play EITHER Guardian OR Defiant from level 1-20 and evaluate both the leveling system, all the soul class options available, and perhaps engage in a little pvp and major world events.<br />
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I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun this entire experience was. Added to my enjoyment was the fact that one of my dear friends from Second Life, decided to join me on this endeavor. She was lucky to have gotten a VIP beta key, so she too was in like Flynn. This short tale will recount our story as we leveled to 20 and had a blast in the Defiant side of things...<br />
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First thing I did was kill off the old, guardian Belenos. No offense to anyone but I am not white... the toon looks nothing like me, so it had to go. Besides, I wanted to be a defiant anyway, so this gave me the perfect opportunity. If only we had such redos in life...<br />
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Behold the NEW Belenos-<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuQgEEyOH_NUzV6Q2tqww91phGcLeUjnnzjfR44ZGmsG5twYsLhyphenhyphenpZxld81XqaTcCfismHh1fNt9Y1f3gHweBghL14YchnmqqER25y6CQZc4WBn1LOByJx5lTjLNqpU4z9y0bifzm1NE/s1600/BelenosDefiant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuQgEEyOH_NUzV6Q2tqww91phGcLeUjnnzjfR44ZGmsG5twYsLhyphenhyphenpZxld81XqaTcCfismHh1fNt9Y1f3gHweBghL14YchnmqqER25y6CQZc4WBn1LOByJx5lTjLNqpU4z9y0bifzm1NE/s320/BelenosDefiant.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Still a cleric, still decided to go with Inquisitor as my main soul... partly for RP purposes, partly because the skill tree actually looked pretty offensive (as opposed to defensive).<br />
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Now I might segue to add that even though the Eth race are a bit darker than the Mathosians from the last beta, I am still not quite seeing "African" colors yet... I still hope the devs can add that in. Black players may be a minority in the gaming community, but it says a lot to us that we can at least have something that looks like us... regardless if some of us are "white boys trapped in black boys' bodies".<br />
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I digress...<br />
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Ok so... new cinematic aside, and with Swiftsure (my SL partner) on her newly created toon, we both awake inside the appropriately named Life Factory.<br />
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Act I- The Uncertain Future<br />
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Map of Starting area- Terminus<br />
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For the Defiant side, our game starts in the future. (Guardian is in the past). When we are brought back to life we are brought smack dab into the apocalypse, armageddon, ragnarok if you will.... Or to put it bluntly... the world is FUBAR! The Guardians are all but dead, the cities destroyed, the world torn apart and only a small group of Defiant remain steadfast in this grim scene. We are immediately told that the last great hope for civilization lies in our hands. As engineered Ascendants we are tasked to getting to a time machine they have created for the sole purpose of putting us back in time to a point where it is believed that future, that present could be CHANGED. Yes it is the classic paradox, except I do not meet my own grandfather and kill him.<br />
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With our mission clear, Swiftsure and I walked out to greet the dawn of the last day on Telara.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZjiUmvT8PayH8jDGg_qLpCBbHY5S3SYsV_AhBFe8HCIdERniX66KqMdLLlw-XTk4s5ZqtRe-4b9YUwWF5xHhL6pGG9TixcnBzP9zuaLG3tLrXLv_EUdYtW-uJwFtzzQknzRo7wdM6JA/s1600/WorldIsDying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZjiUmvT8PayH8jDGg_qLpCBbHY5S3SYsV_AhBFe8HCIdERniX66KqMdLLlw-XTk4s5ZqtRe-4b9YUwWF5xHhL6pGG9TixcnBzP9zuaLG3tLrXLv_EUdYtW-uJwFtzzQknzRo7wdM6JA/s320/WorldIsDying.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
First thing we did was group up. As two of the last survivors on Telara, we may as well stick together. We made our way through a perilous course of insane Telaran husks, and other citizens who have gone mad in the apocalypse, eventually reaching the place where Asha Catari had rounded up the remnants of her guard. Our first task it would seem was to get the time machine working again. All the efforts of the Defiant technicians, including whacking on the machines they were attempting to fix, did naught to get everything fully functional again...<br />
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During the chaos it looks like something happened to cause the power supply to go out. Perhaps an attack, all I know is it was burning and we had to put it out. Along the way we had to rescue a few trapped people, and try our damnedest to retain some semblance of order and sanity amongst this withering civilization.<br />
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Eventually we reached the machine, and I doused it with water as Swiftsure turned it on.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdTMkTzC26yu9qqt9qzvPtO8Yvr0ZVpfdYnoIdZdCBX6Kt46OB0S2yrCut6GHpED6hUrGZctCgU-yNWyiH3molPl6wgs1yKJiSeHZSy7hIVgV4o8-pSRuaVqJjqdhwN56RvMT_c1yS24/s1600/Technomachine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdTMkTzC26yu9qqt9qzvPtO8Yvr0ZVpfdYnoIdZdCBX6Kt46OB0S2yrCut6GHpED6hUrGZctCgU-yNWyiH3molPl6wgs1yKJiSeHZSy7hIVgV4o8-pSRuaVqJjqdhwN56RvMT_c1yS24/s320/Technomachine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Ok great!<br />
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We got that working... now what. Well now we had to report to some dude named the faceless man. Apparently he used to be an Abyssal (water plane cultist) who saw the error of his ways and sided with the Defiant. Nice guy, even if he is a bit touched. I should say that I know how he feels too, since I am feeling a bit touched myself. One cannot stare death in the face and witness the end of the world without being a little off kilter after that.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_APWdq4TjUgjPqZJcPmu-IhmH9M3LUrd7rEp-zpuncuJbuLFh-D6nXNkALKoOIvziHOou8TeWYLtmlQX6psOxn0sKyyC5gIjtkBR_klB-dHA9FYmcS1e2lo9WNt2mNKro3asi2X4J00/s1600/LookDeathInTheEye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_APWdq4TjUgjPqZJcPmu-IhmH9M3LUrd7rEp-zpuncuJbuLFh-D6nXNkALKoOIvziHOou8TeWYLtmlQX6psOxn0sKyyC5gIjtkBR_klB-dHA9FYmcS1e2lo9WNt2mNKro3asi2X4J00/s320/LookDeathInTheEye.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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In any event, one of our next tasks was to take down a rogue Guardian... Not just any Guardian mind you, but none other than Shyla the Pentarch of the Vigil.... now turned Shyla the Fallen. For those who do not know, Shyla was the High Elf matriarch on the Guardian side... Well apparently (and it has been a while since I saw her) she has gone mad. She very nearly killed us all, and it pained me to do so, but she had to die. After my grim deed was complete... I have to admit... it touched me. How such a good elf could go bad... beyond me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWfVxOkIDTsED2YlJIYvxy9TCs-uieSY_LqQIjXBJ7UpBKwGhFY_jRtgbPhWvf823lspMmym5pYdAhEWyvZucXKT_Sor6A0_5OjY5HnAs_BI5vN9xmCvRYHpPhGdVNcKdiVGImgd_Hbk/s1600/JustaRest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWfVxOkIDTsED2YlJIYvxy9TCs-uieSY_LqQIjXBJ7UpBKwGhFY_jRtgbPhWvf823lspMmym5pYdAhEWyvZucXKT_Sor6A0_5OjY5HnAs_BI5vN9xmCvRYHpPhGdVNcKdiVGImgd_Hbk/s320/JustaRest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I had to rest for a while. It was probably just as well as Swiftsure needed some downtime also. I would not see her again until after I had completed our objectives ahead of her. As it was, fighting without her was going to be difficult. Many times over I had to back off and try again, as even though I had gained a second soul (Justicar, to add to my Inquisitor), I was still not quite powerful enough to defeat the many hordes of death.<br />
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When I got back up I was given the task of heading up to the camp halfway up the hill... Just shy of the time machine. There I met Isach, who told me how dire the situation was, but thanked me for my assistance on the way up in getting his reinforcements through the battle unscathed.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSLzdh_CTdqJpr2eVZl_5KqnXYFEWfiP6aFH_KYbCximEx20eVmGkcX86g17LLjkN-rOy6dWXAklm-SKhzXhlKfpEeX-Pe7-Y7D2InP0qe6x9SCN72a8vIY8LHpbWfIerkRQkoolfXwU/s1600/Isach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSLzdh_CTdqJpr2eVZl_5KqnXYFEWfiP6aFH_KYbCximEx20eVmGkcX86g17LLjkN-rOy6dWXAklm-SKhzXhlKfpEeX-Pe7-Y7D2InP0qe6x9SCN72a8vIY8LHpbWfIerkRQkoolfXwU/s320/Isach.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div>Almost there... I could feel the hands of death closing around Telara... the closer I got to the top of the mountain, the worse the feeling became. I was consumed with many thoughts... Why did the Guardians betray Telara by destroying the Defiant devices? Where were the Gods that at one time demanded my worship? They made the world, why were they absent at its near destruction? How could they let an entire world just simply DIE?<br />
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My faith was shaken to the bone as I mounted the crest of the hill and met Stavel Rosso, operator of the time machine.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-hMe3eiVzLd0SbVWmwRmg0A88UwbDdQzsPz2YYjAoAWwwteoTDBsfdL-9OoDkKqCNbC43otRT9C2PSm_jHsDcFAZoK-Dm4ueE8oyn-NlzeiJBiLNJc01tP4f1afTAmygzca3wAkOcvY/s1600/StavelRosso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-hMe3eiVzLd0SbVWmwRmg0A88UwbDdQzsPz2YYjAoAWwwteoTDBsfdL-9OoDkKqCNbC43otRT9C2PSm_jHsDcFAZoK-Dm4ueE8oyn-NlzeiJBiLNJc01tP4f1afTAmygzca3wAkOcvY/s320/StavelRosso.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We were just about to get started when I met for the first time the woman who would become a constant thorn in my side this entire beta event.... Alsbeth the Discordant. Better known as Regulos' personal witch concubine... Words cannot express how much hatred I have developed for this "woman".<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0GhmcYf34mpx4FHAzW2Fo70l-FhSLJiyU_LJpWS1g0-J-42BnMM8Yq5iWEP2A1ZVxIMgdWRZJxKSgVfYYjEJqBttpfJB9yN2HgycA06qddsMN5p_3ezDAerN_g69Jgw7fNWZycyfq1T0/s1600/OHSHIT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0GhmcYf34mpx4FHAzW2Fo70l-FhSLJiyU_LJpWS1g0-J-42BnMM8Yq5iWEP2A1ZVxIMgdWRZJxKSgVfYYjEJqBttpfJB9yN2HgycA06qddsMN5p_3ezDAerN_g69Jgw7fNWZycyfq1T0/s320/OHSHIT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
After much monologuing, she decided to give me some undead creatures to keep me busy. No problem, I took them out with relative ease. A couple more spawned... again, no issue. Done in no time. Then like most villains, she decided she wanted to simply do the job herself.... uhh problem.<br />
<br />
Enter my savior! Asha Catari and her personal guards!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDOMlehyHKoLRJCftHmcxOY_uLkFB4Zo5ITggxblGD8vF7dg6fOX2c8L6jJY9YAvXA91QUsn3_NRlykAtB0f1WJwbn2bbJYHgy1GPZ7IsyuEcZE_S2lS3Sw2y-vuF7dEv-fLzFBF-hQ0/s1600/AshaAndIAtEndOfTime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDOMlehyHKoLRJCftHmcxOY_uLkFB4Zo5ITggxblGD8vF7dg6fOX2c8L6jJY9YAvXA91QUsn3_NRlykAtB0f1WJwbn2bbJYHgy1GPZ7IsyuEcZE_S2lS3Sw2y-vuF7dEv-fLzFBF-hQ0/s320/AshaAndIAtEndOfTime.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I knew Swiftsure was on the way, but this could not wait, I had to work with Asha to get this witch bitch back to the hellhole she spawned from. WE did just that. By the time Swiftie made it up the hill, Alsbeth was a memory and we were facing the progenitor of doom himself... REGULOS, the Destroyer of worlds.<br />
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Asha Catari bought us all the time she could muster, and one by one Defiant ascended plunged into the time machine. I thanked her and made her a vow that when I saw her in the past I would pledge my maul, my conviction, and my life to her.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1fw7MKyXPblYTMrLHBGVLHOyHF0OSzFEGCUogX2oD9Y5vqw52P8BJ4X5jLXnCypWAqFYoMlY41txEgnpfuFRBEt-LFLeBGRxKTm820W7yQvoILd_Pxz-rzvK_IN36yG1GRYs2lJCu-4/s1600/AshaSavesMyLife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1fw7MKyXPblYTMrLHBGVLHOyHF0OSzFEGCUogX2oD9Y5vqw52P8BJ4X5jLXnCypWAqFYoMlY41txEgnpfuFRBEt-LFLeBGRxKTm820W7yQvoILd_Pxz-rzvK_IN36yG1GRYs2lJCu-4/s320/AshaSavesMyLife.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Then my world turned black. Asha Catari gave her life (again) so that we might live.<br />
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<br />
Act II- The Present Day<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjql6HdXSmBV9CF8lfflNYKvB9ZWIn3axfn9TZqXbIzoaxMCLHr25FW8rUXkEaFkyWqCTPJPZq1Ua4eFf19LocDGPVk7U_Trs9ez0XZyMKnQ8bficFJTItZBML4PMIBIK0W0GL6qrI61zE/s1600/WeAintInKansasNoMo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjql6HdXSmBV9CF8lfflNYKvB9ZWIn3axfn9TZqXbIzoaxMCLHr25FW8rUXkEaFkyWqCTPJPZq1Ua4eFf19LocDGPVk7U_Trs9ez0XZyMKnQ8bficFJTItZBML4PMIBIK0W0GL6qrI61zE/s320/WeAintInKansasNoMo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I don't think we are in Kansas anymore Toto...<br />
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All things considered, it was better than being at the end of the world! I waited several minutes till I finally got my bearings and saw Swiftsure materialize from the time machine, no worse for wear. In short time... pun intended, the other ascended survivors also appeared. Our presence there startled many, who were unsure if the machine would even work, but seemed like a blessing to others seeking justification and confirmation that the technology was sound.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lGUA0i_kkrqFz6pJ9KU5R8s8v_IZjZmuD7XA3DlywCJkKIW7dp9x7CJsHwXrx5TsDkBR-8DauHl16eKQ66dYDaIarCXTnbwfYKOAW7KTLRzqctNmW7Qcq6YrBARc0myOx8kn7iGutlc/s1600/ShesCuteCanIHaveHer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lGUA0i_kkrqFz6pJ9KU5R8s8v_IZjZmuD7XA3DlywCJkKIW7dp9x7CJsHwXrx5TsDkBR-8DauHl16eKQ66dYDaIarCXTnbwfYKOAW7KTLRzqctNmW7Qcq6YrBARc0myOx8kn7iGutlc/s320/ShesCuteCanIHaveHer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We made our way to a built up cavern that housed some key people we needed to see, and informed them of who we were. They appeared satisfied with our identities and bade us well on our quest to get to Meridian to report to Asha Catari.<br />
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Like any good mission, it involves a LOT of side trips, whether helping other citizens, taking the time to learn how to craft, or even defeating opening water or death rifts! The Water Rifts brought me flashbacks of my time as a Guardian Inquisitor, in another life... and the many crusades to crush the cult of the Abyssal, followers of the dragon of water, Akylios the depraived. Fighting his minions brought my religious fervor back somewhat, and steeled me in the coming battles, even if I still resorted to drink after the battle was done to soothe my frazzled nerves.<br />
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The Water rifts in particular were to play a major part in my life as an ascendant this past week... as I was soon to find. I took every opportunity to destroy every single water rift, invasion, or random npc I saw in Freemarch.<br />
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EVERY opportunity...<br />
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We found our way to King's Retreat, where we made some new friends, and we were able to learn some needed crafting skills. I will segue to say that crafting in RIFT is ridiculously easy. This can be good or bad to the average player. DO NOT come to Telara looking for a challenging crafting system that will have you solving puzzles or putting your life at risk to make 10 items... But do expect to be able to craft with great ease, so much so that you could in theory put yourself on autopilot to craft and "soul walk" around your rl house while your avatar does all the work. For the record, I do not recommend the latter as the chances are great that when you return, a planar invasion may have come through, and killed you!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoKY92vvjikwx1Of7saXHekpywiWQXC5u8zLMIhiQ-q8lGroCLJgRo9VMU7AV8xU7ws5dpDqTzeWvjmuUJOFUr2HqjXyV0P1_XwHNNUh_Fef4g909g_bIsEdgqF4zgIgAMFWfQHZvv6Q/s1600/Stretching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoKY92vvjikwx1Of7saXHekpywiWQXC5u8zLMIhiQ-q8lGroCLJgRo9VMU7AV8xU7ws5dpDqTzeWvjmuUJOFUr2HqjXyV0P1_XwHNNUh_Fef4g909g_bIsEdgqF4zgIgAMFWfQHZvv6Q/s320/Stretching.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
As time went on, we found that doubleteaming rifts, and enemies, as well as doing missions together was in fact the BEST way to level up in Telara. Since Swiftie is a rogue, and I a cleric, we make a great combination that could handle MOST things that popped up to try and kill us. Just as it was going oh so well for us, we ran into an old friend again....<br />
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This witch.<br />
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OMG! I want to kill her... AGAIN! Perhaps if I could kill her that would have saved us all the problems in the future we just came from. Sadly... she disappeared before I could put my maul in her head. Her demise would have to wait...<br />
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By evening time we had made it to Kelari Refuge, a startling little shantytown on the beach, encased within a natural U shaped bay, and definitely off the beaten path enough so as to not be TOTALLY overrun by rifts.<br />
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It was here I decided to call it a night, as did Swiftsure. We agreed to meet up the next day for more fun adventures.<br />
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As I sat watching the glorious sunset at Kelari Refuge... I was reminded that at times... yes, Telara can be absolutely beautiful.<br />
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PART TWO COMING UP!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-68569434681677613992010-12-22T21:28:00.003-05:002010-12-26T03:36:53.224-05:00Into the RIFT... Or, My life as a White Dude.Boy am I glad the NDA was lifted today...<br />
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I have been chomping at the bit to tell everyone about RIFT, and finally I now have the opportunity, with pictures I hope (I really need an online storage space).<br />
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Last blog I spoke a bit about Rift, the new MMORPG (massively multiplayer, online, role playing game), in the hopes that I would be one of the chosen few in the closed beta testing sessions. Actually I think when I wrote it, I had JUST gotten my VIP beta key. Now I have been on the other side of the login screen, and man have I got tales to tell. Where to begin, where to begin...<br />
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First of all, What IS Rift?<br />
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You could simply click <a href="http://www.riftgame.com/en/">here </a> or, I can give you a brief summary. Rift is about a world named Telara that is under siege. Telara was a world built near the nexus of the elemental planes (earth, air, fire, water, life, and death), and as such is in a prime position from all these elements, who desire to conquer it for their own gains (except for death, the lord of death just wants it wiped out.... no surprise there.) Now on this world under attack are a few races, separated by geography, but united in their belief that their world will die if they do not do something. The problem is, some of the races feel the only way to do it is to rely on their Gods (who are living dieties, no guessing games as to whether their Gods exist), and the other races would rather look towards science and the research of the planes themselves to find a way to "fight fire with fire". These factions are thusly called The Guardians, and the Defiant, respectively. Things really got to a head sometime in Telara's past, and when the player is thrust into what is unanimously considered "present day", the world is at a point where both factions are at war with each other, as well as at war with the elemental planes, in a dog eat dog bid for survival.<br />
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I know, pretty intense huh?<br />
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Now for this past weekend's beta testing, we, the players, were asked to become part of the Guardian side of the fight. From that standpoint we could get an idea of what the world was like through the eyes of the faithful of Telara, who look to their Gods for help. I did not have issue with this since I want to play an Inquisitor, so religious fervor it would seem would play into my roleplaying hands perfectly. To begin with, we are treated with this video:<br />
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Pretty good setup. Ok so I am reborn by the Gods into a world at war.<br />
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Now my first and probably only major beef with the game was that as I created my character, it dawned on me that none of the races really gave me an option to create.... a BLACK dude! According to the lore the human race in this faction (The Mathosians) are from the north, and as such, are caucasian, to almost olive skinned. Nothing darker. Needless to say I was a bit taken aback. You mean to tell me no black folks have the spirit of the Gods moving in them? Wow... Apparently there are no Baptist churches in Telara, at least near the Guardian city of Sanctum. Of course, the Defiant side have humans called the Eth, and since they are from the south, they can get pretty dark. No worries when the game goes live, but it meant that I would have to live with being a white dude this weekend. There's a twist, the whitest black dude... literally. (Note- the next beta event I will have the option of choosing Defiant if I want, so I can be as black as i choose to be.)<br />
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So armed with the "holy spirit", Belenos the cleric began his journey. The first thing I noticed in the keep of Sanctum was that not all the souls (ie- professions) were available from the get go. Granted MINE was, since I wanted to go Inquisitor, but there were a number of folks that were a bit miffed that they could not get straight to the soul they wanted to be. This is an issue that will also be rectified in the next beta, which already is a plus for Trion, since it means they actually LISTEN to their player base.... +1 to Trion.<br />
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The starter area was well laid out for the Guardian side... and it took me a while before I came to the realization that I am actually placed in Telara's PAST! I was able to gain levels as well as understanding about the war going on, even if at times I felt I was not really doing much to save the citizenry from almost certain doom. At this point I opted to go it alone, since the world was bright and new, and I needed to concentrate on what I am doing. Probably just as well, since just as soon as I start getting to the crux of the problems on Telara, I am asked to fight an epic battle against the lord of Death, Regulos, and though it takes my life, I end up winning.<br />
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Suddenly I awoke.... and found myself here.<br />
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A place called Port Scion. (That's me with the huge hammer on my back, sitting by the water's edge). I was informed that many years had passed, and once again the world is in peril. The most important thing I noticed this time around was there were way more PLAYERS than NPCs in this zone! The quest NPCs by the way show chat bubbles or quest icons over their heads, so in a way it was easy to figure out where to go, or whom to see in order to advance myself to the next area. Some might see this as handholding, but considering it was my first time in the world, I kind of needed that. I get distracted easily and might have spent all of Friday night simply swimming in the bay. (It was pretty sweet looking). I eventually made my way up into Silverwood Forest, where the bulk of my adventuring would be, and my leveling.<br />
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At this point I should pause to explain one of the key differences between Rift, and other MMOs. The soul tree. Most MMOs will have you choose one path, and you get leveled along that path till you are max level, and that is it. If you want to experience another path, you have to make another alt. If you are lucky your game has in it an expertise tree so you can add some extra skills and attributes as time goes on.<br />
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Rift does it differently. The soul tree is your path, but here is the kicker. You can have THREE! Not to mention there are 8 souls, per calling (the callings are Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, Mage), and you can save 4 loadouts of your trees, making the possibilities pretty impressive for whatever you want to be. You can also change this at any time. SO let's say I want to be a healer who also does some wicked melee attacks, and does some ranged DPS. Well I can be an Inquisitor / Justicar. Justicars heal the more they attack using their hammers, or mauls. Inquisitors do ranged DoTs and so on. Now as time goes on, if I wanted to add a third soul I could pick any of the other 5 available to me, and level up in that, adding the skills of that soul to my existing tree. Pretty darn ingenious if you ask me. The system is not yet perfect, but for what it is, it is really well thought out considering the game is only in beta.<br />
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As i journeyed onwards, I was treated to the meat and potatoes of the game in a most exciting way. I was standing in the forest, having just finished organizing my new skills, when suddenly the sky darkened, the sound boomed, and lo and behold, a rift opens up above my head! There is nothing to prepare you for the sheer awe that is a rift opening! One moment, it is a beautiful afternoon with birds chirping, next, you are standing amidst a lava strewn land with demons and goblins spawning all around you.... and worst of all, THEY SEE YOU! Only one thing for it... RUN!!!!<br />
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The above picture is an example of what the goblins look like. Some have stayed on Telara to start a foothold for their elemental plane (Fire), and are part of the quests you have to kill, but these goblins are nothing compared to the invasions that pour in when a rift opens. Since rifts are dynamic, if players do not seal them off post haste, they will eventually spawn enough invaders to take over the towns, villages, etc... and let me tell you that is not a pretty sight, especially if they are stronger than you, travel in numbers, kill you multiple times, then camp the spawn point when your soul is revived... AND kill the soul healer woman who removes your death penalty. I had just such an experience with the Satyrs that spawn from the life rifts. They hate me with a passion for some reason, and took every opportunity to wipe me out, especially if I was travelling alone, or decided, "let me sit for a while and enjoy the countryside". Luckily the chat system is pretty robust, so at any given time the call can be sent out to general chat, level specific chat, profession specific chat, guild, group, or just plain yelling that help is desired. Not surprisingly, in short order, a bunch of players will drop what they are doing and run to help seal off the rift. Talk about a community effort. I am sure I do not need to tell you that those sinister Satyrs did not last long enough to revel in destroying little old me the first time.<br />
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It was indeed impressive to see so many players run out to help whenever the call went out, and when it was all said and done, and the world peaceful again, you can TELL the calm has returned. If only for a few minutes... the world went back to being serene, the NPCs came back out (respawned if they were killed), and life returned to that relative normalcy on Telara that would allow you to go on your merry way questing and leveling your character.<br />
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Speaking of the world, I know I only got a small taste of it, one zone to be precise, but can I just say WOW. I am a visual person. A game has to have incredible graphics to interest me, and I admit that was part of what drew me to this particular one... It is also one of the main reasons why I will never play World Of Warcraft. I cannot stand their graphics. In Rift, everything looked like it was done with some degree of intricacy and care, right down to my garb. Chainmail rings glinted in the sun, while the sun dappled through leaf canopies overhead. My Maul of doom looks like it has been through some battles but is not much more tarnished than I would expect it to be since I take care of my items. The buildings fit the scenery, and although doors on the buildings do not open (a minor letdown), You really do not need to get inside the buildings to appreciate their architectural beauty... Except the INN... You HAVE to see the Inn in Argent Glade. I was hanging out in there for a couple hours in between life rift invasions. My favorite though would have to be the lush countryside. As I stated a little earlier there were times I just wanted to sit by the road and take in the scenery. Of course my mistake was to sit in areas that would happen to have a significance to any invading elemental armies. Quite a few times my rest was interrupted by these interlopers.<br />
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Now unfortunately I missed most of Saturday's game time, since I had a party to go to where I had promised I would cook. (It was great by the way), but Saturday night I was back on Telara, smashing and smiting my way to the capital city of Sanctum, as well as joining forces with some really great people for the good of getting a bunch of story related missions done, as well as sealing the occasional rift or ten.<br />
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One of the few complaints I had being a Cleric was that my healing skill was not up to the par of some of the other clerics, but I realize now that the way I meted out my skill points in my two soul trees (Inquisitor and Justicar, remember) left me in the position of being mainly offensive with no real strong defense, let alone the all crucial heal. Come next beta session I intend to revamp that. Some have told me that I chose two professions that really do not mix well with each other, but I beg to differ. I still believe it can work, and I intend to prove it. Had I been able to play Saturday during the day, I might have gotten to level 20 and done the quests I needed to get that all important third soul (I only got to level 19 by Monday morning), but since this was all a learning experience for me, I took it in stride.<br />
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</div>When I finally made it to the capital city of Sanctum, I arrived just in time to help seal off a rift and stop a major invasion headed straight for the citadel. One of the things that impressed me about the NPCs there is as soon as it was all over, they CELEBRATED! For several minutes they danced, screamed in joy, played music, and actually gave you the feeling that they were grateful for the work you and the other "Ascended heroes" (players) did to save their way of life. It did not just feel like a bunch of NPCs standing around doing nothing... They actually gave me a real reason to roleplay it up. Other players celebrated as well, and it created the kind of feel good community spirit I have not seen since the good old days of Sanctuary guild in SWG. My hat goes off to Trion for creating a world with NPCs that actually respond to the world itself.<br />
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It seemed the best was yet to come on Sunday however...<br />
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I greeted Sunday with missions to the marsh to reclaim some items stolen by Boglings. I took my trusty maul and made the sinners repent, before I absolved them of both sins and life.<br />
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The quests themselves were easy since I had leveled up a little bit and was actually a higher level than the quests I was doing. That worked for me. However, the devs had a little surprise for us as I made my way back to the town of Argent Glade, and the mission givers.<br />
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What you are seeing there is a giant tree. A Treant to be precise... and a nasty one too. This sucker took us almost 30 minutes to kill, and had some very impressive attacks, including a "knockdown" that literally threw players back a good 100 or so feet. I am sure I do not need to tell you that once this bad boy made his way upon Telara, everyone and their uncle from one side of Silverwood to the depths of Sanctum came RUNNING over to get a piece of this tree. Apparently this was the secret goal of the developers this weekend, was to test out the epic monsters, and see how well the servers would handle 20, 30, sometimes 50 people in one place trying to kill a monster that habitually simply STEPPED on players to kill them in one go. When one Treant was not enough, they had to spawn two (one a few hours later), and when both Treants went the way of the wood splinter, they decided to bring out a third one when we least expected it... in the dead of night. (Day and Night last roughly 3-4 hours real time a piece). The night time tree even had the ability to turn us all into deer.... which was really funny to see, if not annoying to be fighting as.<br />
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No matter what the devs threw at us, our combined community effort repelled it... Even if it took us upwards of an hour to do, we never gave in, never gave up. It was truly epic. When trees just were not enough, they decided to spawn a giant goblin named Cinderon, who took us even longer to kill. In short, it was an impressive battle royale that made me glad the player community is as active as it was, and glad I had gotten those skills ahead of time that I was working towards.<br />
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The piece de resistance came on Monday morning, two hours before the server had to be closed, marking the end of beta session two. All weekend people had been talking about the Fae instance, a sub section of the world called the Realm Of The Fae, where each section was a season of the year, and the fairy denizens within all wanted to kill you in the name of their lord, Lord Twyl, and ultimately the Dragon of the plane of Life- Greenscale. I quickly gathered a group of 5 (the max you can have in a group), and we went into the Realm of the Fae to dispatch this Lord Twyl.<br />
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Through Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter we fought valiantly. We did have some problems with Spring, as our strategy was not as sound as it should have been and we spent a few tries just to get it right. Unbeknownst to me, there is a certain order that the boss monsters should have been killed. I will not reveal that secret to you though... You gotta find out on your own.<br />
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Summer was pretty straightforward, but also required some careful planning, lest we call upon our hides way more enemies than 5 people could handle. A couple tries at it taught us what to do, and in short order, Summer was history... even the disgustingly amphibian looking boss monster that had a nasty habit of farting on us.<br />
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Autumn was by far my favorite. As it should so happen, the natural denizens of this particular zone were none other than my favorite enemies... yup... the damn Satyrs! They were more concerned with getting drunk on wine and hosting their Dionysian themed festivities to notice as we intruded on the sanctity of their revelry and got to the business of cracking skulls. A plus to this zone was that the boss monster had a voice over, which added a bit of immersion to the whole section.<br />
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By the way, here is the finalized group I went with... awesome awesome people.<br />
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With Autumn taken care of, it was time for winter. Now if I was impressed by Spring, Summer and Autumn, I was damn near blown away by Winter! The moment we made it up the hill from Autumn's terrace, the wind began to blow, and with it the snow... next thing you know, we are in a veritable blizzard!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3UPxYKuQiCJrJVcI4eTfgFNW-7vBNt3ywr7wx0PfysASozYziATJoQqRyx9D98TTRhWv0mXsrYzRxLSh95bw3Q5Qt2E-CNXuBAUOGNQmeJPNWssFOFwR70gazS7KJcKuqdXoYQTCJ6c/s1600/EndInSight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3UPxYKuQiCJrJVcI4eTfgFNW-7vBNt3ywr7wx0PfysASozYziATJoQqRyx9D98TTRhWv0mXsrYzRxLSh95bw3Q5Qt2E-CNXuBAUOGNQmeJPNWssFOFwR70gazS7KJcKuqdXoYQTCJ6c/s320/EndInSight.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
When I tell you I FELT COLD, it is no exaggeration. This section of the zone had such an impact on me with the howling winds, and impressive graphics that I literally started shivering. It almost looked like my character did too!<br />
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Sure enough we killed the winterized Treants and made our way to Twyl himself. It was a huge battle but unfortunately time was not on our side, so we wiped out the first time and could not kill him before we had to leave the zone in preparation for the server shut down.<br />
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Next time baby... next time.<br />
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With 19 levels under my belt, a little more understanding about Telara, the war, and the life of a white Guardian of Mathosia.... I decided to head back to Sanctum, and log out. I made my way to see the leader Cyril, to turn in one final mission I had done, when my chat started buzzing about some kind of HUGE invasion heading the way of Sanctum!<br />
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I left my Liege in the throne room and made my way outside to see the entire plane of Life attacking us all at once it appeared...<br />
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Without warning a huge, hulking form appeared from the forest, the green behemoth, the lord of the plane of Life himself... Greenscale the dragon!<br />
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Then all went grey...<br />
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Greenscale made short work of all the players in a 100 meter radius. Eventually he was repelled, and once his attack subsided we were treated to our last epic vision of the beta, on Faeblight server...<br />
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The one and only leader of the Defiant, Asha Catari, came to fight against the guardian leader Cyril Kalmar. To my surprise and in fact great pleasure, SHE BEAT HIM! She kicked his ass from here to next tuesday, even with a ton of players attacking her as well, she was able to hold EVERYONE off. I consider it poetic justice... That's what the Guardians get for turning me into a white boy all weekend lol. Any woman who can kill the leader of the other faction is a woman I WANT to follow! My mind is made up, from here on out, my life in Telara is DEFIANT!<br />
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The next beta session is December 28 - 31. I am in no way affiliated with Trion, but I guarantee you, I will be on Telara on Faeblight Server if it will let me...<br />
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If you are lucky enough to get into the beta, I will see you there!<br />
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Addendum- Known places you can get a beta key right now!<br />
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<a href="http://rift.ign.com/articles/news/6882/Participate-at-the-Rift-Kingdom-and-Win-VIP-Beta-">IGN Rift Kingdom Giveaway</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.gamesector.net/2010/12/22/rift-beta-key-giveaway/">Game Sector Network Giveaway</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-82790670954174327612010-12-15T13:46:00.002-05:002010-12-15T14:28:12.465-05:00The Joys of being a Gamer GeekOr... Thank Gawd for small mercies.<br />
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So I sit here elated. I have not been this elated for a good 7 years. Why Drew, are you elated, you ask?<br />
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I got accepted into the beta for <a href="http://www.riftgame.com/en/">RIFT: Planes Of Telara</a> !<br />
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Now you are probably wondering also, ok what's the big deal... Why does this even matter to you when the world slowly rots, when you are STILL unemployed, and when the days seem to zip by with no real sense of accomplishment?<br />
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Well... RIFT, is a MMORPG. A massively, multiplayer, online, role playing game. I LIVE for these. Why I have no idea... Maybe I have some kind of escapist thing going on, or maybe since I have an addictive personality, this is my kind of crack. Whatever the case, I am looking forward to this beta in a way I have not looked forward to a game for all of seven years. I feel like Codex! More on her later.<br />
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Seven years ago, I joined my first TRUE MMORPG... a title by the name of Star Wars Galaxies. SWG, as it is called, was an eye opener for me at a time when I really needed it. I had just gotten out of a nasty divorce, and found myself on my own in a strange land NW of Pittsburgh, wondering why I had ever left Florida to come here. I had nothing to do to occupy my time except dwell on all the evil thoughts of the divorce, and the things I could have, would have, or should have done. I had always been a Star Wars fan since I was a little kid, having cut my teeth first on Empire Strikes Back, before actually seeing A New Hope. When I first perused their website I was intrigued... The chance to live MY story in the Star Wars universe! Wow! I could run toe to toe with the likes of Vader, Solo, even Mr. Fett! I was intoxicated with the possibility... so much so that I promptly ordered the special collector's edition the moment it became available for pre-order. A week and a half later, I was logging in for the first time as Druu Scandana, into Theed Spaceport, awestruck with the world that unveiled itself around me in rich color and glorious, John Williams sound. I was in essence, living my childhood fantasy. I was now OFFICIALLY a character in the Star Wars universe!<br />
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As time went on I found myself more and more immersed in that "galaxy, far far away", and it was indeed therapeutic. I had all but forgotten my attachment to my ex wife, and gave her the space she needed to rebuild her life as I rebuilt mine, I found a common bond with my son, who loved watching Daddy run from big animals "RUN DADDY RUN!!!!", and I started to meet awesome online people and got into this thing called a guild. Who knew guilds existed?!! A group of real people who band together for a greater good in game, and actually have FUN at it! Amazing! I did not know it was possible, but sure enough I was soon inducted into SANCT (Sanctuary Of Hope) guild, and started making some real friends online!<br />
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I can see you now... You are saying... Whoa whoa whoa... Stop a sec Drew... REAL FRIENDS??? ONLINE?<br />
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Yup. See to the majority of the world, gamers are a subculture of nerds and geeks, with no life.We apparently were the ones you used to give wedgies to in high school, or steal our lunch money in elementary school. This is NOT entirely accurate.... (I for one, have never had a wedgie... and I used to DO the lunch money stealing!)<br />
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The people I have met online come from such varied backgrounds that it is hard to pigeonhole what a true "Gamer Geek" is! I have known State Troopers, active duty Army Sergeants, Nurses, Lawyers, Fashion Models, Teachers, High School students, the list goes on and on! Pretty much all elements of humanity come together under the banner of XYZ game, to have fun, to socialize, to achieve virtual goals that result in REAL memories of great times. It is a community without equal. So when I say I have found REAL friends in the gaming community, you better believe the people I count as friends have gone beyond "Let's group up and kill this boss monster", and have become, "How're your husband and kids doing today?" It is a really good feeling to have met such amazing people, all because we have a common bond of loving Star Wars.<br />
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A perfect example of the dynamic of a guild is the infamous web tv show of the same name- <a href="http://www.watchtheguild.com/">The Guild</a>! Created by (in my opinion) the ultimate Geek Goddess, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/FeliciaDay">Felicia Day</a> (better known to viewers as the super nerdy yet insanely gorgeous "Codex"), this brilliant tv show is a must watch for ALL gamer types. There is so much in there that cuts to the heart of what it is like to be a gamer, and to experience the social networking and dare I say, family, that is a guild. Aside from the fact that I would just about worship Felicia Day's character, this show puts into sharp relief what my life has been like for the last 7 years, through Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest II, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Lord of The Rings Online, Rappelz, and now soon to be RIFT- Planes Of Telara. Truth be told I'd probably worship Felicia herself too, but she'd probably tell me to get off the floor, and then she'd get beet red. Nevertheless, Codex is my idol. She defines who I am, and who a lot of people I know are in the virtual community. I cannot recommend that show enough! Once you watch it, you too will be hooked.<br />
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But what does gaming do for me exactly, you might ask?<br />
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Well as mentioned above, the first benefit was helping me to get over my ex wife. Let's face it, prior to SWG I was getting pretty obsessive and downright stalker-ish with her. Definitely NOT me... So by immersing myself in guild and game, I was able to break that spell and actually get on with life, even if life was mainly virtual. I may even go so far as to say, that anytime I have felt stressed, or otherwise depressed, I have used the virtual realm to get out frustrations, to talk through problems, to get time to "think", and usually come out of a gaming session feeling better about myself and about my life. Granted, problems do NOT just disappear because you are on Dantooine, or in Thundering Steppes, and at no time is this more evident than when one simply "forgets" to pay one's telephone or electric bill that week, and suddenly one is thrust into that often embarrassing situation of Game Withdrawal... oops. It happens... key is to work with it, or at least call to make payment arrangements in time. (I am still trying to master that lesson).<br />
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Do not get me wrong though, it has not all been rosy for me in these virtual worlds. For starters, not everyone subscribed to the family environment of the Sanctuary Of Hope guild... and those who did not, did their best to try and tear the guild apart, or even to discredit long time members in standing. It is that kind of drama I loathe, and it has taken its toll on many victims over the years, before and even after I took the reins of the guild (more like was thrust the reins). Names like Anneke Rose, Shyloh, and Rhoda Rambala come to mind, as people who brought a lot to the game, but were eventually ostracized simply for being who they are. The other major thing was, over the 7 years Star Wars Galaxies has been out there have been two critical changes, fundamental changes to the game that caused a lot of disillusionment and canceled subscriptions from members of my former guild. It came to a head a couple years ago when our server was closed down, and as the last SANCT standing, I migrated my "toons" (characters) over to a new server, only to find the same steady decline in active players, and a guild that reminded me a little TOO much of the old days of the guild I loved and even presided over for a couple of years. The heartache was becoming too much to bear, and I still to this day see a steady decline for SWG that may eventually lead to its being closed down alltogether as soon as a suitable Star Wars MMO replacement hits the streets. It was no wonder that other, more seductive MMORPG's such as Everquest II flirted with me and got me to commit to them in a forbidden relationship that only worsened my marriage to SWG. Let me tell you boy that Everquest, aka Evercrack, is a difficult mistress to turn down. Her ways are far more seductive than any flesh and blood woman I have met thus far in my 40 years of existence.<br />
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... And we won't even begin to discuss my constant battle to make a profit on Second Life... You can go <a href="http://stardustenterprises.blogspot.com/">HERE</a> for that story.<br />
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Now while I cannot speak for anyone else, I have always been under the firm belief that if there is life on the other side of death, it should be a world of our imagining... Which is probably the only rational reason why some would condemn themselves to a "Hell" for the guilt they wrestled with in their lives. For me, my other side is more than likely pixelated... in sharp resolution, with photoreal skins, and endless questing and powerups. I'd probably have to go with the role I have in this life's gaming... the cleric with a little bit of the rogue thrown in for good measure. I exist to heal others, but can throw out some decent DPS myself (And kudos to you if you even understand a word of what I just said). When my time in the light is over, I hope to meet the grand game architect and ask for a couple rounds in that instance called afterworld... and we'll see if all this practice I am getting in this world may pay off...<br />
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Till then, I plan on beta testing RIFT, and hoping it is the game I have been waiting for that will take the place of SWG (which has changed so much since 7 years ago, so as to be a totally different game today). Ok, so I still do not have an actual PAYING job (Other than what I am doing in Second Life.), and let's face it... I don't actually have a steady girlfriend (well none closer to me than 900 miles or so), but thank Gawd for small mercy! Another MMO is coming out, and I get to be on the cutting edge helping them polish it for public release. That is an incredible honor and something I do cherish. Just don't ask me to talk about it though... I'm under an NDA (non disclosure agreement). I can still brag about it though! I got a beta key and youuuu don't. nyah nyah!<br />
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There that felt better...<br />
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Now if only I could figure out how to translate my love of gaming to something that actually PAYS ME MONEY! Hmmmm...... Or maybe Felicia is hiring on the set of The Guild? hee hee. Probably would mean I would have to move from Pittsburgh though... sigh.... maybe if there was a wedding ring involved. Nah probably would not work out... besides, I am still holding out for India...<br />
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Oh well, there's always game.<br />
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Game on people!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8182439180586106888.post-9416833476658104802010-12-12T03:31:00.000-05:002010-12-12T03:31:14.514-05:00Top Ten Ways to Beat Old Man Winter (reprint from my MySpace)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An oldie but goodie... Thanks again to Daaaaaaawn for the awesome recipe... my fictional St Bernard loves it!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's Christmas! YAY!!!!<br />
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For those of us here in the USA, as well as many other countries (except Australia... those lucky folks get to go to the beach), it is pretty darn cold. Scratch that... it is GAWDDAMN COLD!!! If you are lucky... and I use that term loosely, you will have a white Christmas. Personally I would settle for the blue Christmas... complete with the tropical island beach, a corona (with lime) in my hand, and some steel drums playing in the background, but you take what you can get, right?<br />
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Cold weather seems to bring out the bear in a lot of us... as it is hibernation time, not to mention the moods we seem to get in when Ma Nature dishes out some bitter cold and stinging snow, making our daily commutes to work, school, wherever that much more of a chore. Not to MENTION the scraping of ice, the shovelling of snow, and the salting of driveways and sidewalks. In short... Old Man Winter is laughing at us. LAUGHING I SAY!!!<br />
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Well enough with him, I have hit on some great ideas to BEAT Old Man Winter at his own game, and I want to share them with you today! Now some of you are not old enough for all these suggestions so don't even think of it, or I am reporting you to Santa, and next year you know what you are getting... a gift only fit enough for a barbecue grillmaster like myself.<br />
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Without further ado... Drew's Top Ten ways to beat Winter:<br />
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10- Turn your house heat up to 90 degrees... This one is a popular favorite with kids, but not so much with parents... who have to pay the gas/electric bill... But nothing says tropical loving like walking home from a 5 degree day into a sauna. When you start seeing palm trees in your living room and dolphins swimming in your bathtub, you know you have done it right.<br />
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9- Brandy. (Not for the under 21) This warming liquid is the elixir of life... and there is a reason why St Bernards hang it from their necks... talk about man's best friend! (Now where the hell is that dog... Here Boy... Here Rover!) I think he might have drunk it himself... stupid dog. Provided you can catch the dog, or go to the liquor store on your own, stock up on this useful drink. It'll go great when they turn off your heat for non-payment of the bill in January.<br />
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8- Hot chocolate... Nuff said. Who does not love hot chocolate? I mean seriously... you have to be dead to not appreciate the warm feeling, the sweet aroma and taste, and shove some marshmallows and the aforementioned brandy in there and you have a winner suitable for ski lodges EVERYwhere! By the way, some of the best chocolate comes from Jamaica... wink wink. Winter is a perfect time for a road trip I think.<br />
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7- Cuddling... Now a note about this one. This only works best when you actually have a partner... wife or girlfriend if you are a man, husband or boyfriend if you are a woman... Don't ask don't tell, if you are of a different persuasion... If you have none of the above and are faced with nights alone... you have my sympathy. Try the pillow... Not a very good substitute, but it may keep you from freezing to death. Another note on cuddling... it seems to be better at night, since at morning... morning breath kinda throws the whole thing off... ugh. Also do NOT use the dog... dog breath is the worst any time of day. Btw, cuddling is best after brandy... unless your wife/girlfriend's name is Brandy, then it is a win-win.<br />
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6- Vacation... I am sure you have all heard of snowbirds... well it is not just for the birds. If you have the money... Get the hell outa dodge. Jamaica is nice this time of year! So is Australia!! Be sure to call your local phone company to put your phone on "vacation service"...trust me on that... and make sure you turn the heat back down from 90. Don't take the brandy with you... unless your girlfriend/wife's name is Brandy... in which case... YEAH, you wanna take her.<br />
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5- Snowball Fights... Now I know what you are all thinking... Drew are you nuts? That's a cold thing to do. Nope... Yeah the building of a fort and the amassing of your "cold war" arsenal of snowballs is on the cold side but think of the physical activity of building then pelting your neighbors, the postman, cars coming down the street, your mom, the cops that come to arrest you for drunken disorderly behavior after so much brandy and so many neighborhood reports. You get to spend the night in a nice warm cell that is probably set to 90 degrees as well. Ok so the view kinda sucks... you'll be warm!<br />
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4- Carolling... this is great! Especially after brandy and even BETTER after Christmas! Nothing says peace on Earth like walking around the neighborhood after Christmas singing Christmas carols at the top of your lungs and dodging all sorts of missiles from neighbors... not to mention the heated physical activity running from the cops later. You can't miss... Old Man winter will never chill you out with this plan.<br />
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3- Throw a Party... Everyone loves Christmas parties... but let's not just stop there. Instead of a Christmas party, make it a Winter party! Make sure you have plenty of brandy on hand, and invite all the people you know to your house. Set the temperature to 90 (do this after about an hour at temperature setting to 60) and enjoy the fun. There is no greater joy than watching all your drunken guests disrobe and go to walk outside in the subzero temperatures to cool off. It's magical I tell you... magical. Be sure to prop the drunk girl up away from your computer... you know she is going to puke on it before the night is out. A great party trick is to get the St Bernard drunk on his own brandy... HOURS of fun! When the cops come... blame it all on the dog.<br />
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2- Sled riding. Now, while I will not condone driving while drunk, there is no greater fun than sledding after a nip of brandy in your own backyard. Watch out for the house... the dog... the partygoers... the junk in your backyard covered with snow. If your backyard is flat... I feel sorry for you... maybe your neighbor has a slight hill... Hop the fence and try it out... time to get some powder man. Just make sure when the cops come you do not run with the sled... humans run faster with no weight dragging them down... But hey, it will keep you warm!<br />
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and finally... the NUMBER ONE THING YOU CAN DO TO KEEP WARM IN THE WINTER....<br />
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1- BAKE A CHRISTMAS CAKE!<br />
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No I am not kidding... in fact... in the spirit of the holiday season, I want to share with you a recipe I have for the absolute BEST Christmas cake that is SURE to keep you warm all winter long!<br />
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Christmas Cake<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
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* 2 cups flour<br />
* 1 stick butter<br />
* 1 cup of water<br />
* 1 tsp baking soda<br />
* 1 cup of sugar<br />
* 1 tsp salt<br />
* 1 cup of brown sugar<br />
* Lemon juice<br />
* 4 large eggs<br />
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* Nuts<br />
* 1 bottle brandy<br />
* 2 cups of dried fruit<br />
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Sample the brandy to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the brandy again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the brandy is still OK. Try another cup... Just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.<br />
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Pick the frigging fruit up off floor. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the brandy to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Check the brandy. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or some fink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Scream at party guests. Turn heat up to 100 or some fink. Finish the brandy and wipe counter with the Baint Sernard. Escape to Jamaica...<br />
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I FEEL WARMER ALREADY!<br />
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Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!<br />
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(disclaimer- Drew does not hold any liability for you getting in trouble with the law by trying any of these ideas... You on your own there buddy...) </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14095465344371905508noreply@blogger.com0