The Rising Force

Oh hey, I have a blog

2011-03-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Who the hell knew?

Sitting at Work

2010-02-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

Building our current project. I sincerely hope that I can catch up to where I'm supposed to be within the next week.

As is, I'm not pleased with my progress for tomorrow's milestone .

Random WoW Stuff.

2010-01-20T01:53:00.000-08:00

Impromptu Dance Party!
Bear druids have the best dance parties.

New Challengers Have Arrived!
The Celestia Sisters. Blood Elf Paladins all.
Asterria the damage, the non-conformist older sister.
Solarria the tank, a bit of a flirt.
And Lunarria the holy, keeper of bloodthistle.

But How Are The Rest?
Parrista and Knigett are geared for heroics.
Jillien reached 80 tonight.
Strael and Contrae are taking advantage of the new dungeon-finding system.
And Strael also became an Ambassador, Crusader, and of Thunder Bluff in one fell swoop.

Also, we've lured a friend from another realm who actually plays with regularity.

Project Goldengloves: Release Day

2009-10-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

Goldengloves release date has been pushed up to today!

Currently in limited release, only to friends and family.

Current Specs:
4 pounds, 15 ounces.
18 inches.

Project Goldengloves: Week 33

2009-10-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Despite visibility issues, Lead Engineer Goldfire is still able to equip her ambulation devices.

Project Goldengloves: Week 31

2009-09-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Goldengloves release date is scheduled for November 20th.

Project Goldengloves: Week 19

2009-06-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Goldengloves is active today. She is still on target for a release date in November.

Project Goldengloves: Week 17

2009-06-16T20:47:00.001-07:00

Update: Goldengloves is rocking the mic.

Project Goldengloves: Week 16

2009-06-11T09:54:00.001-07:00

Movement detected.

Project Goldengloves: Week 12

2009-05-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Around 157 BPM.

Project Goldengloves: Week 8

2009-04-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

Scanning reveals around 172 BPM.
Project completion estimate remains at or around November 28th.

Project Goldengloves: Week 6

2009-04-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

Excitement!
Estimated project completion at November 28th.

Status Update!

2009-03-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Project Goldengloves is GO!

I would love to update

2009-01-22T14:50:00.001-08:00

But things are busy.

We Live! Busy though :)

2008-11-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the New Xbox Experience!

We're still playing Wrath. We're both at 74 and trying to get to 80. It's fun, but I'll talk about it later.

I know he's making fun, but...

2008-08-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

BRK said something in one of his most recent posts, which I totally want to steal.

Paladins: Light, Might, and all that's Right.

He used it in the same virtual breath as calling them "cockroaches", but that's neither here nor there.

Return!

2008-08-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Life happened.

Here's what you missed:
* Weekend Camping: Goldfire gets a Dragon Kite
* Strael and Contrae raid Karazhan a few times
* A friend gives up on WoW and then returns a few weeks later
* Naxxramas Approaches: Saturday Run This Week
* My game gets announced
* And More!

And now that that's out of the way, I think I can go back to posting random stuff without feeling like I'm missing a lot.

Opps...

2008-04-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

So apparently I'm an official WoW pusher. I have a really good friend who spent several of her college years on MUDS. She has been trying really hard to not do another one cuz she has a life and honestly enjoys it. (we both have an addictive personality when it comes to games) So last week I installed WoW on her fiance's laptop... At least now they aren't fighting over the television cuz she wants to play 360 and he wants to watch a program. Although he did threaten to turn off the WiFi when it was bed time the other night >_<
By the way... this is the same girl who got me hooked on Oblivion & Mass Effect. Turn about is fair play, right? And tonight I'm gonna help her get her druid bear form! So exciting!!

We are also going to see a concert tomorrow night with them (the same couple as above) at a super cool theatre (where you have a sit down dinner while you watch the show). I am super excited. The last time I saw Jonathan Coulton was at PAX 2007. Such a great time!

I have a new job. It has been 2 weeks and I still like it. I hope the job continues to be enjoyable. The best part: my Love drives me to work every morning (even tho my job is across the street... that is just too cute!) on his way to work. That means because he leaves for work early he gets to come earlier than he usually does! Plus we get to eat breakfast together and get ready together... I just re-read that and wow... I fear we are too cute. heheh... I just love him so very much!!

Last week a friend of ours lent us the new Smash Bros. game for the Wii. We've been trying to finish off the plot before tonight cuz we're scared he's gonna try to reclaim it when he comes over to watch Gundam Seed. We're almost done... I hope Gauntlet gets to come home a little early to play before our friends show up so we can finish it off!

and one last thing... Kirby!
(>^.^)>

[WoW] The Plan - Interrupted Progress

2008-04-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Interruptions
We hit beta at work and Goldfire started her new job.

The Tank
Strael ran Karazhan, off-tanking and very off-healing... at level 68. He has some cool gear now for an okay healing set when he hits 70, and has some Badges of Justice to be saved as well. Unfortunately, the guild-mates were unable to be talked into bringing two level 68s, so Contrae and him were separated for a bit, which was very sad times.

The Healer
Parrista and Knigett two-manned Ragefire Chasm at 17/20, which isn't a huge feat, but it was one of our unwritten goals to help us learn our swapped roles.
They also finished up everything in the Ghostlands with the exception of Dar'kahn and his Lieutenants.

The Friends
We ran Scarlet Monastery. Completely. It was pretty fun, although there were a few issues.

The Alliance
Laheth purchased most of the new PvP rep-gear (not high enough to get the hat or the chestpiece, and I'm quite happy with his current head-gear). Also picked up a cheap Crystalforged Waraxe, and threw a tabard on him to cover up his red chest. He looks halfway decent now, which is a big deal for him.

[WoW] The Plan - Progression 2

2008-04-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Tank
No real progress: Beta approaches this week at work, and I've been spending many hours on it. Otherwise I would be having more frequent updates. Regardless, tonight we plan to do our part in the Netherstorm with Strael and Contrae.

The Healer
Parrista wandered over to Brill and aided them somewhat, whilst Sonnik was clearing out Karazahn last night. This also lifted the informal ban on allowing Knigett to perform quests for Tranquillen/Silvermoon City. Which is what Goldfire is occupied with right now.

[WoW] The Plan - Progression

2008-04-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

The Tank
Strael: Stayed up too late and dinged level 68 last night. Also, thanks to support from my guild and my wife, I am now the proud possessor of Tankatronic Goggles. So very cool!

Secondary Goals:
Spec: Redo talents for a recommended tanking build. I plan on trying out the one which is recommending on our guild forums by my good friend and fellow tank.

Gear: Gear up for Karazahn. Possible route: Off-tank for late-night Kara tuesday once I hit 70.

Flight: Save enough gold for flying skill, and build my own Flying Machine.

Guild-mate's goal for me: Tank Magisters' Terrace for his alts so he can get up to Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive with them as well. His primary (a protection paladin) is already Exalted.

[WoW] The Plan

2008-04-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Goals are important, but goals without planning are harder to achieve. So here are my goals, in brief.

The Tank
Strael: Currently a little more than half-way through 67. The goal is to gain at least 1 level each week until 70, including this week.

The Healer
Parrista: She will support my wife's Paladin while he aims for 20, and beyond if she is near enough in level to him. Other goal? Learning to heal, and seeing if I like it.

The Friends
Red Moon Requiem: When our friends have time, Vandren and Jillien will run Scarlet Monastery with them. It will be entertaining.

The Alliance
Laheth: Pending extra playtime after the Tank, the Healer, and the Friends, this hunter needs some good gear. He's pretty much on hold until Wrath of the Lich King PVE-wise, so my thoughts are to get him some nice PVP gear and run around the battlegrounds. He has 1 piece of Season 1 honor gear, and purchasing the rest is supposedly going away when the next Arena Season starts. Realistically, this means I should focus on another PVP set for him, possibly the new cash/rep ones.

The Rest
They have no goals, and splintering myself further is fool-hardy at this point.

Hi everyone!! Remember me?

2008-03-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

I feel kinda bad that I have not posted in a very long time.

So as my loving husband mentioned a few posts ago... Sonnik & Strael joined a new guild. A very active guild. This has turned into a very time consuming activity. I never realized how many requirements go into playing the end game. When my other characters hit lvl 60 pre BC, I just stopped playing them and played a new character. I've never been around the vast opportunity of all that end game content.
I've also never really had purples before. (I got the Leigh of Lillys from Sunken Temple) Other than that... one run thru Kara and I got a completely new outfit!!
I finally followed around a group who killed all the guys needed so I got access to Ogre'la. Enter dailys.... never did any of those either. Now with the 2.4 patch... You'll never see me again. All that daily work to rebuild the sun well?? I can't wait to participate. Course its patch day which means all the servers are off line... sad times.

[WoW] Quick Post 2

2008-03-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Still haven't gotten around to a more meaty post, and it will probably take some more time. We have another build due out tomorrow, so I'll be staying late both today and then. Which is a shame, since 2.4 hit.

Quick Notes!

Sonnik has cool stuff from Karazahn. She had a very nice run.
Strael and Contrae are either very near to 67 or at it. Hooray!
[2.4] I look forward to respeccing to a better tanking spec without having to repurchase skills.
[2.4] Sunwell Plateau comma woot.
From the hearsay, I need to grind some Battlegrounds with Laheth or else I won't be able to finish the S1 Arena gear, since when S4 hits it will disappear. Sad times.

Right. Back to work before lunch. Lunchtime gaming was N+ last week, and is Army of Two this week.

[WoW] Quick Post

2008-03-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

No meaty post yet - I'm too sleepy for that.

Sonnik can now enter Karazahn. Hopefully she'll get her hit rating up a little higher and then get invited on a run sometime.

Strael is level 65, and is trying a new talent spec. Shifted a couple things around... still not super-pleased with it, but I'm going to hold off on respeccing him again until 2.4 hits, because re-purchasing all the prot skill upgrades hurts. I'm bad enough at saving up cash that I don't want to drain it on respecs right now.

*Yawn* Back to work.

[WoW] So much to talk about

2008-03-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Brief run-down, with more in-depth posting coming soon:

Vandren (my Belf Hunter) and Jillien (Goldfire's Belf Mage) broke off of our old and pretty much empty guild and formed a new one with just friends. The new guild is named Red Moon Requiem, which is a name with quite a few meanings wrapped up in it.
Strael and Contrae are finishing up Zangarmarsh... ran Slave Pens and Underbog (which I kept calling Underblog, because I'm hilarious).
Strael and Sonnik joined up with another, and very active, guild (Angst) to try and do some high-end content. Our in was my good friend Mightbe, and his sometimes holy, sometimes prot paladin Flowana.
Sonnik is only one Black Morass run away from being Karattuned. She finished up Durnholde last night.
We've been playing pretty hard-core even for us recently. I'm hoping that it isn't going to burn us out, since I know Goldfire is really looking forward to trying her hand at a raid, and I would love the opportunity to try tanking in end-game situations.
Also, Strael is 325+ Engineering. Getting closer to his roflcopter. And the Zapthrottle Mote Extractor is happiness in one tiny item.
And finally - I need to research and ramble about talent specs and gear.

Woo, LEGO!

2008-03-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

I am ridiculously looking forward to both LEGO Indiana Jones: The Video Game and LEGO Batman: The Video Game.

The only real issue? Both are coming out this year, and we have had a 3-year streak of playing the LEGO Star Wars games over Christmas break.

So, since Batman will be out in September, that'll probably be our Christmas game. I'm thinking of seeing if we can play Indy the middle of this year around my birthday potentially, but we'll see how it goes.

Azeroth: Progress is Made

2008-02-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

Chimmery and Tremmery, the gnomish brothers, have come out of retirement and run around making little power-boat noises. Apparently, a day's worth of questing (I was sick at home for part of this week) was enough to get both of them up to legal driving age, and they now possess a pair of Red Mechanostriders, which is awesome.

In addition, Sonnik braved the wilds of Netherstorm and achieved her final level before Northrend. A quick hop to Shattrath and following directions from there and she is terrorizing the skies of Outland on an Official Horde-Approved Wyvern Flying Mount.

And finally, the paladin firm of Starrlia, Starrlya and Starrlea has been methodically clearing the Plaguelands of the undead. They've started at the Western edge and are hoping to reach the Eastern area soon.

The Continuing Adventures of Me

2008-02-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Recap:
Wednesday - Get hit by car.

Since then:
Thursday - Took the day off. Went out and had a lovely dinner date with my wife. Steak dinner is very nice, especially when discounted via gift cards ;)

Friday - Got a ride in to work from my producer, and got a ride home from my best friend. Hung out and chatted, then went to sleep. SUPER EXCITING DAY TO READ ABOUT.

Saturday - Played WoW. Broke a thousand gold with Laheth (Yay! 1/5th of the way to the epic flying mount skill), although I'm running out of non-daily solo quests to do. Then had some friends come by and with our combined might we went out and purchased Rock Band. Tested it out to make sure it worked, and then watched Stardust, which was a fantastic movie.

Sunday - Played Eve Online with friends. It was the equivalent of a fishing trip: We were looking for macro-farmers or gankers and we were going to try our hand at giving them a hard time. Not very altruistic, but it would have been entertaining enough. Unfortunately, we found nothing for hours upon hours and then had to run away from a guy who was way better than us at fighting. That was pretty much all that happened on Sunday. It's a good thing I'd already decided I didn't care enough about the game to continue past the trial period.

Monday - Played Rockband. All day. Sang for half the time, and my awesome wife played guitar. Then we swapped instruments. Managed to get Bodyguards, a PR Firm, and got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Then we checked out the online community site, and came away with dissatisfaction. Seriously, it should give us the option of generating wallpapers or something, I don't know.

Ongoing - I am sore. Ankle, shoulders, sometimes my arms, and my neck. Mostly my neck. It means I need to turn my head less than usual, and sleep on my back with pillows propping me up. Bah.

Today - At work, working.

Ah, driving.

2008-02-13T11:20:00.003-08:00

I got rear-ended! Boo!

Now I have to deal with all the insurance and crap.

Azeroth: Chores and Desires

2008-02-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

So, I've started playing WoW more regularly again.

On Sunday the Starrl*as finished up their Timbermaw Hold grind, ran into Winterspring, and are almost done with their Linken's Boomerang quest chain. Fun times, but a lot to cram into one day.

Last night I blew the dust off Laheth and took him into Skettis to do his first Skettis Skyguard quests. It was actually pretty frustrating... I ended up dying a couple times trying to kill those named ghost bird-men and had to grab another set of dust to finish it off, because I got caught with about 5 adds and couldn't jump off a damn bridge to get to safety. Seriously, it's a bridge, and it looks like I should be able to jump over the stupid rope, but I couldn't.

Busting those eggs up was alright, except that there were at least three other people in the area doing the same dang thing. I think I'll go back and finish up Netherstorm and Shadowmoon Valley quests next time if there is going to be overlap.

Also! Desires, like it says at the top of the post: I want to get the full set of Gladiators armor, but I'm going to not push for it until 2.4 hits... just because the lack of diminishing returns on honor (and being able to use it immediately) is going to help my peace of mind so much more. It sucked playing a bunch of matches where we were getting rolled until I had enough potential honor (with a generous buffer of a couple thousand extra) only to learn the next day that even with the buffer my actual honor was a few hundred short. That's what I get for trying to play defense -- screwed over.

Right, got sidetracked. Summary: Gladiator Set is the goal. I have the shoulders already, and I have 48 AV tokens, 3 WSG tokens, and 3 EotS tokens in my bank. I think I need about a hojillion of all of them to grab the shtuff, and then I'll look into weapons and rings and all that jazz, because I should seriously upgrade my Survivalist's Pike by now, although my Lohn'goron and Valanos bows are pretty nice.

Totally Forgot the Title

2008-02-07T19:40:00.001-08:00

So, I was thinking of putting something like this at the top of the page, but the template is super-weird to modify, and I'm not sure that this is quite up to snuff yet. I am certainly not a pixel-artist myself.
I'll tool around with stuff some more later though. I like the current layout, but I want to personalize it more.

Ooh. Shiny.

2008-01-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

Redone, using the WoW Armory official links.

Parrista and Knigett:

Strael and Contrae:

The Celestia Sisters:

What to talk about?

2008-01-28T11:45:00.001-08:00

Haven't been playing WoW recently, and that's mostly what I talk about here...
...been working: Just hit a milestone last week.
...been playing 360: We ran through Marvel Ultimate Alliance over the weekend. Goldfire ran as Thor and Ms. Marvel, while I used Deadpool (and occasionally Spiderman) and best-friend ran as Thing.
...beat Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright: And Justice For All recently. That was fun. Now it's on to Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. Looks good thus far, but I'm always a fan of going back and exploring more information about characters that I like.
...role-playing hasn't happened in a while, due to Work and Holidays and Football and More Work.

Yeah. I should go back to jotting down ideas to talk about and then writing about them, although I'm sure everybody (all 3 of you) who visit here love hearing about games I've played recently :)

Hi Internet!

2008-01-18T12:33:00.001-08:00

How's it going? Pretty good, you say? That's nice.

Oh? You want to know what I'm up to? Just working and waiting for my build to finish so I can see if I broke everything. Looking forward to lunch in half an hour, where we will continue our quest to save that Dyluck guy in Secret of Mana. Also, thinking about WoW and role-playing and listening to Jonathan Coulton.

Also, thinking that I should totally link to Scott Campbell again (despite him being linked on the side-bar) just because he has this picture on his blog:
How awesome is that? Very, that's how.

The Next Wednesday

2008-01-16T16:59:00.001-08:00

Laheth has his flying mount, marking the first time I've been able to go airborne on my account.

Goals Are Fun

2008-01-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

I tend to accomplish more if I write stuff down and pursue it. So I'm going to do that. For video games.

Mega Man ZX:
Game completion. Play while Goldfire is ahead of me in Mass Effect with major spoilers all the time.

Mass Effect:
Complete next story segment so that the wife doesn't explode with wanting to tell me about it.

World of Warcraft:
Run Ramparts again with Strael and Contrae and a pick-up group. No real reason, other than to see it without the idiocy (yes, PUGing to be less stupid)... and to get that stupid letter that I forgot to pick up (I think dude's corpse was under his dragon).

Farm (bleagh) for a few things with Laheth: Money for flying mount; Honor and Marks for more gear.

Train up Engineering (Strael) and Leatherworking (Laheth). Laheth needs some high-level gear stuff, and Strael needs to get closer to being able to make his zoom-o-copter.

Xbox Live Problems

2008-01-08T17:14:00.001-08:00

It's always sad when Xbox Live has issues. I like being able to check on my wife's progress in Mass Effect via her Gamertag while I'm waiting for things to happen (building, downloading, et al).

Oh well. At least I can watch her progress on my Friends page, if not her actual profile.

Incoming Patch

2008-01-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Double Trapping is Back, Baby. Woo!

And faster pet leveling? Guess that means I'll boost Daybreak up to 70 sometime!

There's probably some other cool stuff that isn't hunter-related, but I'll check that later.

Ranting (WoW)

2008-01-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

Note: Explicit Lyrics

Corpse-Camping
Why the fuck does anybody camp a corpse? Stop being an asshole and go do something else if a person doesn't respawn in a few minutes. You frustrate my wife and you piss me off.
NOTE: If you're 6+ levels higher than your target then you're not just an asshole, you're a bully. Nobody ever liked the bullies in school. You do know that, don't you? You're the guy who has to reform after a couple years so that you can accomplish anything worthwhile in life.

Assuming Shared Etiquette/Loot-Rules
State what the rules are prior to when they are going to be used. Some people do use the built-in Need/Greed rules even for Bind on Pickup. If you Need it, you fucking click the Need button.
I'm fine using other systems, but don't you get on your damned high fucking horse and yell at my wife for making your own damned assumptions. And if you are the only one pissed off, and everybody else is trying to explain it to you/calm the situation down, and you refuse to listen? Up Yours.

Mittens

2008-01-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

Occasionally you may read me mentioning that somebody seems to have mittens. I am, in no uncertain terms, saying that they are slow in the brain.

These are the kind of people that have mittens attached to their sleeves year-round.

Ramparts

2008-01-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

A Ramparts run should not involve:
3 deaths in the first 3 pulls.
Over an hour of time spent.
A near 100% failure rate on trapping.

We ran it with our hunter friend and 2 of his guild-mates. In total, we had a Protection Paladin (being the healer) played by myself, a Beast Master hunter (as the only crowd-control), and three Demonology Warlocks (one of which was played by my wife).

At the end of the run, we (Goldfire and myself) disbanded from their group and logged off. It wasn't fun, and I have no remorse for those who upset my wife.

Seriously, I need to send my hunter friend a couple pieces of strategy (kiting, trapping with positioning in mind, chain-trapping) and I also need to explain about mittens, because this group had 'em.

Two Thousand And Eight

2008-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

What I did over Christmas Break
by Gauntlet

Over Christmas break, I did lots of fun and enjoyable things.

We went to Leavenworth, and bought cheese and fudge. It was snowy and I got a hot chocolate.

We went to Deatholme with our mid-20s hunter and mage and wrecked the place up for our low-20s paladin friend.

The wife and I rented Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga for free (because our Hollywood Video likes to rent us super-scratched movies that we have no hope of viewing) and got 980/1000 gamer points in 5 days. That's everything except playing it online, since neither of us wants to pony up the cash for Gold memberships since it's pointless right now to us.

We went to my brothers and the wife and sister-in-law made Christmas Kringle on Christmas Eve. It was tasty and I liked it.

At our friend's for New Year's Eve we played Rock Band on the PS3. Drumming is hard, and I can't sing along with The Hives very well. Main Offender didn't sound the same as on CD, so I'll have to look into that.

In short (although you've already gone through all the long to get here), vacation was fun.

Various Screenies

2007-12-18T08:43:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Lovely Un'Goro Crater! We Hope You'll Be A Crater Too!
The Princess Trumped
Contrae has a Pony and some very pretty Robes

Gong! Carrots for Everybody!
Spinning with Herod

Sunken Temple Defeated

Moments before going to Outland

So, basically, this post was me finally sharing some shots I've had lying around. A few of which were actually taken so I could talk about them on the blog!

Alright, well... the servers are being maintained right now, so I can't continue leveling my engineering or making enough gold to plow through the Paladin mount quest. I guess I could head in to work or something.

Azeroth in Brief - Follow-up

2007-12-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

Strael and Contrae are now both 58, after a successful Sunken Temple run. Our hunter friend, however, is only 57, so we're holding off the Dark Portal run until he dings.

Carry on.

Azeroth in Brief

2007-12-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

I keep wanting to grab pics and do a post, but I've been busy. So, I'll just sum things up for now:

Laheth has his Season 1 Shoulders - They look good, and they were definitely an upgrade. Unfortunately, now that they are on, it highlights that most of the rest of my outfit also looks clownish.
Strael, Contrae, Hunter-Friend, and Warrior-Friend finally have all their quests ready to delve into the Sunken Temple. Humorously enough, all but the warrior are now at 57, so it should go by really fast. And then we can hit the Outlands, which our hunter friend has never seen.
Laheth is about a quarter of the way to getting his standard flying mount. Frustrating that as a non-flying, non-fishing, non-cook the only daily quest I have accessible is battlegrounds.
And there was probably something else I can't think of.

New Armory Listing

2007-12-05T00:59:00.000-08:00

I know I was complaining about how long it takes for the site to update but still... I talk about em and I figured you might want to know what I was talking about!

So I'm an alt-aholic... we just added a few of my characters... Just the ones I play the most, not even all my high level ones. I have MANY more! *blush* I play a lot of WoW ^_^

2007-12-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Angela!!!
There, with that said... I hope you are having a fantastic day out there on your day off! Enjoy it shopping or doing something just as fun!! ^_^

The WoW Armory is really slow to updating. Strael and Contrae are around level 55 now! I even respec'd out of affliction (but I kept the insta-cast Corruption). Gonna get a new pet. We'll see how I like it. Also, saving up mats to make my new Robe of the Void. I sure hope it's worth it! Got most of it except I need 15 more demonic runes and tons more essence of undeath. Anyone wanna donate an essence or 3?

Shoulders for Laheth

2007-12-01T00:34:00.001-08:00

~2000 honor and 4 Arathi Basin marks of honor left to obtain. I just can't stomach any more AB tonight, and the honor will come much easier from pretty much anything else.

Also, I'm counting this as my final NaBloPoMo post (since I started a day late) even though I missed one, and it's short because I'm not sure I'll have a chance to post again today.

In the words of Yakko Warner: G'night everybody!

Musing about DLC

2007-11-30T12:27:00.001-08:00

Today, we're going to talk about DLC. DLC stands for Downloaded Content. This ranges from free user-created modifications and maps on the PC to purchasable PS3/Xbox360 add-ons for games. I'm mostly going to be talking about PS3/360 stuff, because I was thinking about it this morning.

So, Rock Band just came out, and extra songs available for download showed up either the same day or right after. Now, this is a good thing, but people still clamored about the fact that the developers/publishers could have been withholding this stuff from inclusion in the game to get people to pay for it after and that it's not fair.

...And you know what? They could be right or not, but it doesn't matter. Let's look at two possible routes.

Route A - Harmonix/MTV had the songs ready but didn't include them
The game was designed with the idea of having downloadable content available at some point. So, some set of people were already deciding what sort of stuff to include post-shipping, and the best thing to do in that instance would be to develop some of it concurrently with the project, so that the systems were assured to be in working order.
And you know, from what I've heard, the game is a complete game before getting anything extra, so there's really no reason to complain if they chose to think ahead and prepare things for the future. There's profit to be earned from micro-payments, and although I may not like paying for them myself, I wouldn't mind getting paid for them.

Route B - Harmonix/MTV did not have the songs ready
This is the one that will confuse some people initially. How could they have not had the songs ready but they were by the time the game came out? Most people won't think very in-depth about that, but as with almost every product imaginable, games are finished MONTHS before they hit shelves.
They have to be manufactured, marketed, and packaged. And even before they are "done", there is usually a content-lockdown in place around beta, wherein no new content is supposed to be allowed in the game other than bug-fixes and localization. There's almost always some stuff that gets put in, but the guideline is there to prevent introduction of new bugs and extending testing times.
So, it's entirely possible that the game was locked down and then the extra songs were worked on after that period.

Either way, there's nothing to complain about. It's cool that they already have content available, because otherwise you end up with a menu option that goes to a blank page, and those suck.

More PSO

2007-11-29T15:12:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly, we made it up to the end of the Caves at a mere level 10. Of course, the boss one-shotted both of us, so we're not quite up to taking him down.

Goldfire is still enjoying her hunter lots, especially now that she has a Sword and a Partisan to play with, so she doesn't have to worry about not hitting guys before I take them down.

We're probably going to play it some more today (I took yesterday and today off -- sick days), although I'm not sure when we're going to start.

Leveling with Friends

2007-11-28T20:31:00.000-08:00

So, our hunter friend, who was practically the same level as us, decided that he was going to take a break for a few days. In preparation for this, he ran through "a couple of the Hinterlands quests" and managed to hit 50.

Huh. Well, Strael was at 48, and Contrae was at 46. So, we ran up to the Hinterlands ourselves and got a level each.

But! We've been eying a few other games to play sometimes, so now we'll probably be a bit behind when we run with him next. Not that a few levels is a huge difference, but it creates a little rift in my head.

Anybody else have issues with this? It's only sort of tangentially related to what the Egotistical Priest was talking about the other day (Although I now realize that the title was stolen almost directly from her).

Oh well. I'm going to play some more PSO with my beautiful bride.

Woo! PSO!

2007-11-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

Last night, I decided I wanted to play something other than World of Warcraft for a bit. So, I sat down in front of our rack of games, and asked my wonderful wife if she wanted to join me in playing any game. She said sure, and we settled on playing some Phantasy Star Online for the GameCube (split-screen FOR THE WIN).

Now, I've dropped easily a couple hundred hours in this game in the past. I have a level 131 ranger (RAmarl for those who know what I'm talking about), a couple other characters ranging from 14 to 50, and I've beaten practically everything that you can offline (I can never remember if we took down Olga-Flow on Ultimate... I think I did solo, but he hit my friends Force too hard even at level 129, so we weren't able to knock him out) and yet I still enjoy the hell out of it.

So! I rolled up a ranged guy (woo!), and she made a close-range girl, and we got to it.

We died. A lot. But she enjoyed herself, and so did I, and that's what really matters. Plus, she's really enjoying raising her very own MAG.

Yay!

Mr. T and the Night Elf Mohawk

2007-11-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

Alright, everybody has posted about it, but they've all failed to talk about the thing that interests me the most.

Wait, you missed it? Alright, go watch Mr. T talk about WoW HERE.

Back? Good. So, here's what interested me the most about that video: New Night Elf Haircut and Facial Hair. Why wouldn't they use that and make it accessible when Wrath of the Lich King hits? There's absolutely no reason - it's already on in-game models. Now, I don't really care about the mohawk (sorry, I've got a long-haired elfy guy and that's how he's gonna stay... although if I can change his hair color ever I'll do it in a heartbeat. Why did I ever choose that bluish-green?), the facial hair is a completely different matter.

Laheth has the old-style close-to-the-skin-full-beard, and Mr. T's Night Elf Mohawk has a sweet fairly close beard that I don't recognize at all.

I want the new one.

The End of Vacation is Nigh! Also: Fake Guitars.

2007-11-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'll have to resume work. I like work, but it'll probably be the end of the week before I'm back on a project, so I'll get to continue doing random tools tasks.

Of course, this doesn't count as musing (not that many of my posts in the past have), so I'm going to stop right here and change tracks entirely.

You guys have heard about Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution, Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, et cetera, right? Well, I dig those games. I dig them because they offer a facsimile of musical/rhythmic talent while not actually requiring me to know how to sing, dance, play guitar, and so forth.
The one exception I can think of to this is that Rock Band's drum set (the part of the game I'm least interested in) is functionally equivalent to actually playing drums. Given that all the instrumental parts are input by a series of button presses timed to the music, I can understand why it's practically the same, but it's just not for me: I tried to learn playing drums before, and that didn't turn out great.

Now, last night, while hanging out with some of our friends who aren't as video gamer as others, I heard an opinion that just seemed strange to me: Somebody didn't ever care to play any of the guitar facsimile games because it wasn't like playing an actual guitar.

I can see his point, but (as I just stated) it's completely opposite of my own reason for playing them, and I'm not sure if a title that was playing an actual guitar, or something that was just like playing a guitar, and being scored for it, would ever be more than completely niche.

Gnomes Make Tiny Posts

2007-11-24T17:40:00.001-08:00

Blogging on vacation? Is hard work.
Blogging on weekend? Is also hard work.
Blogging on weekend during vacation? You're out of your mind.

We played our warrior/mage combo tonight - getting ready for the Scarlet Monastery. Don't know when we'll tackle that, but it should be fun.

And now, I need to go put warmer clothes on so we can head to a friends and watch The Fifth Element on Blu-Ray.

Dustwallow - Completed

2007-11-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

As far as I am aware, Strael no longer has any quests in Dustwallow Marsh. And neither does Contrae.

We're going to attempt running through Razorfen Downs with just the 3 of us (with the hunter) tonight, which will probably be fine since we're levelled 44-45. We've been having a lot of fun running instances when we're at the very top end of them with our group. We hit up Scarlet Monastery earlier this week, although we added our warrior orc friend to the mix as well.

Alright - we're assembled in Camp Taurajo - time to boogie.

Turkey Day - and I'm Late

2007-11-23T01:02:00.001-08:00

So, we just returned from the second of our two Thanksgiving outings... and in the hustle and bustle of preparing food this morning and me preparing myself while that was being done (shaving, showering, and so on), I totally forgot to post to the blog explaining that I wouldn't be able to post to the blog.

So, according to the letter of NaBloPoMo, I've technically not reached the goal. I will continue to follow the spirit of it and post daily until a month has elapsed, and I will (in that vein) count this post towards yesterday (since I haven't gone to sleep yet -- in fact, I haven't done anything else yet since getting home).

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrated, or a wonderful Thursday if you didn't.

G'night, I'll talk at you all tomorrow. Technically today. Whatever -- after I sleep and awake.

Where the Blog Got It's Name

2007-11-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have been wondering why this little corner of the web is referred to as The Rising Force. Well, it's actually tied into the monikers that my wife and I use to mask our identities.

A few years ago, our friends and us got onto a little bit of a superhero kick, spurred on by watching the Teen Titans animated series. Now, this same group of friends are actually the ones we role-play with, so we ended up starting a game of Mutants and Masterminds where we all took on the roles of super-powered teenagers brought together to form a group. That group was eventually dubbed "the Rising Force", although it took us a damn long time to come up with that.

When I decided that I wanted to start a blog, I decided that I wanted to have it disconnected from other sites that I maintain, and so I borrowed elements from that game, including my character's moniker (Gauntlet) and the name of the group itself. My wife posts here under the name of her character (Goldfire) as well, and if any of my friends who were involved ever want to post here, you might hear from Sparkshot, the Flash, or the Runic Soldier. Although the most likely person to guest-post here didn't have a character, since he was the GM. Maybe he'd want to go by Ignition, one of the more sociable of the villains.

Three Days To Save Dyluck: Day Two

2007-11-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Well, that was short.

No, we haven't saved Dyluck yet. You're supposed to work on this for most of the game, so it was a ridiculous title for this week anyways... but we're not going to get anywhere near that this week, since the player of JOE, who owns the game, is taking tomorrow off.

Oh well, at least we got to take down a couple of bosses and make some headway.

Also, I'm tired today.

Three Days To Save Dyluck: Day One

2007-11-19T14:02:00.001-08:00

Our intrepid adventurers (JOE, GIRL, and TRUFFL) made their way to the royal castle at Pandora and met their foe, Thanatos, who has captured Dyluck (and somebody else, but we don't care). Before being able to retrieve him, however, we were dropped into a pit, where we were set upon by...

WALL FACE

Dispatching it at the last moment before being crushed against spikes, we rushed back upstairs only to see Thanatos escape again.

Dyluck Status: Still Captured.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Three Days To Save Dyluck

2007-11-19T09:50:00.000-08:00

At work during lunch, we've been playing Secret of Mana. We had some setbacks last week with getting our group together (I was taking care of pets during lunch for 3 of the 5 days, and one of the other players was occupied with some official company visitors), so Dyluck has remained captured.

But no more! During this abbreviated week we have a goal: Three Days To Save Dyluck has begun!

Mahna Mahna

2007-11-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

So the child I watch during the day seems just as entertained by watching the ROFLMAO clip and the classic Mahna Mahna over and over again as I am. Maybe I should add a few other videos in like the one my loving husband posted a few days ago or even the zombie one... See? Even 6 month old babies can be corrupted ^_^ Never too early to start!

WoW Short-term Plans

2007-11-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

Strael has hit 43. Our hunter friend Krowjin has hit 41 or 42. Contrae is more than halfway through 39.

Tomorrow, we'll get Contrae up to 40, grab her mount, and then group with Krowjin to conquer the new stuff in Mudsprocket and to finish up Brackenwall. We might take a detour through Razorfen Kraul to upgrade Krowjin's pet to one of those shiny armored boars.

Yup. We has plans.

The Weekend Thus Far

2007-11-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

...we slept until 1:30 pm, because we didn't get home until after 3 am.
Thus far we've done practically nothing :) We set up the guild bank, populated it, set up some auctions, and now we're having breakfast/lunch/dinner ("The Meal Du Jour") before we go to role-playing.

We also spent a little bit of time browsing Kaliban's Loot List and the WoW Armory, because my wife wants her resto-druid to have better gear. At 70 she's still wearing most of the Wild Draenish set that I made her so long ago. Unfortunately, the Armory suggested a bunch of non-resto junk from instances, and it doesn't look like there's a whole lot to choose from anyways.

Any druids out there who have any thoughts?

I might be a jerk driver

2007-11-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

My comfortable following distance for other cars is a few seconds worth (varies depending on speed, blah blah blah)... but I rarely ever strive for it.

Instead, I strive for being close enough that other cars would be uncomfortable merging in front of me. If they do merge in front of me, they're obviously assholes.

Why would I do this? I do it because I get annoyed easily. If I were following car A comfortably, and car B merged into the nice open area between us, then I have to slow down not just to a comfortable space from car B, but even more so that he can be at his comfort level from car A. And I hate slowing down. It wastes my gas and my time.

Yeah, I'm probably a jerk.

Thursday

2007-11-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

So, I was working on a post which was about sharing various ideas I've had regarding games recently... but I didn't finish it yet, because I got distracted. I'll save it for another day (hooray for auto-saving drafts).

In the meantime, I'll distract you guys with a video you've probably all seen before.

What? You're still here? Dang. Go do your daily quests. The Alliance/Horde needs YOU.

Shinies

2007-11-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

Thus far, after a few hours of messing around, I like the 2.3 changes.

UI improvements? Fantastic!

Daily Play Battlegrounds quest? I played a match of Arathi Basin that didn't suck, and we won!

Guild Bank? Looks pretty, but we haven't set it up yet so I didn't get to poke and prod and use it. Right now our plan is to use it for passing items without the 1 hour delay (if we need to), or to store stacks of things that everybody uses (potions and such).

Multiple Items in a single piece of mail? Hooray! Now I can clutter my alts mailboxes that much easier!

Leatherworking Bags? Finally.

Shiny Clickies? So much easier to find herbs.

Anything else? Haven't seen it, or didn't know that I did.

Hopefully I'll have some time to group tonight.

Tuesday is Monday this week

2007-11-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

Which means my brain hasn't entirely switched on.

This week's random task at work has me learning Perl (it was that or Python, and I already have a little bit of Perl knowledge). I'm actually enjoying reading through it more than I was while I was poorly attempting to learn C# for the past few weeks... just wasn't grabbing me, although some of that was (and still is!) post-vacation-relaxation.

Otherwise I don't really know what to say today. We played a hunter/mage combo last night, gaining a level each... but there's not a whole lot to say about that right now. We were tired, so we didn't play much.

So, I'm going to go back to listening to YouTube Muppet Show videos while I read about syntax. You should go play some WoW. I hear 2.3 has landed.

Battlegrounds and Me

2007-11-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Arathi Basin
Available at level 10. 5 capture points which also function as graveyards. While any point is captured, points are being awarded. First to 2000 points is the victor. On our battlegroup it's usually the Horde.

I played it some today with Laheth, because I want the Arena 1 shoulders (they look super-rad) but I'm still seriously lacking AB tokens and I'm only running around with 5000+ honor.

Verdict: Still not much fun, and today the second match was filled with whiners. We won, but anybody reading the battlegrounds chat lost.

Warsong Gulch
Capture the flag. Not much else to say.

I used to love WSG. It's the only battleground I've played with friends (and against once), and it helps showcase each class (IMO). Unfortunately, I stopped enjoying it as much once mounts were introduced. There was just something about having to run. It meant each encounter needed to be handled better. Or something.

Alterac Valley
Go kill the enemy leader guy. Also, capture some places so you can resurrect and so the opposition is weaker, but only if you feel like it.

Honestly, I'm a fan. We'll see if I still like it post 2.3, but I really enjoyed just running along in a Raid group and smooshing NPCs (and the occasional player when we saw them). This might be partly because I don't raid... but there wasn't a whole lot of strategy involved in AV either: go forward and kill the way you do best. Teamwork was sort of coincidence. That's something I'll talk about more when I babble about co-operative game design.

Also, every guy is worth honor points, and so are objectives, so you actually get a decent amount relative to how much crap costs.

Eye of the Storm
What happens if we cross Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch, but put it in the Outlands? There's a flag in the center and you take it to one of the captureable objective points. Honestly can't remember if it was a point-based system with the flag counting as some amount of points or not.

Played it a few times and encountered zero opposition. Seriously. We had a game fail because the other side quit. That's pretty damn bad. Plus - nowhere near as much honor gained as Alterac Valley.

Huh? What?

2007-11-11T22:00:00.001-08:00

NaBloPoMoWhat? I'm supposed to be writing a post today as well? Oh. Right.

Hm. Played with puppies... no, as cute as they are I can't really think of too much to write about them.

Played WoW... Taking the 'lock and hunter through Arathi/Stromgarde stuff. Wearing plate. Kicking ass.

Stayed awake pretty dang late last night because we had some friends over (roleplaying didn't happen due to illness and business). We ended up browsing YouTube for nostalgia in the form of Cartoon and TV Show Intros we remembered from our childhoods. That mostly turned to all of us realizing that we watched a helluvalotof cartoons as kids/teens.

And now, since my wife needs some sleep before waking up early to get to her job tomorrow, I'm going to go to bed. Night!

Weekend Posting!

2007-11-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Alright, I gotta write this quick, since I don't know if I'll be back near my computer before it's Sunday.

Gitaroo Man is awesome. We played it with some friends of ours last night after our standard Friday Night Anime, because we needed to stay awake so we could go get the parents-in-law and take them to the airport around 4 in the morning.
Now, after a few hours of sleep, we're getting ready to head into the city to catch lunch and a play. That's going to be the bulk of our day, followed by checking on the in-law's pets (puppies! kitties! and a bird and fish I guess!)... and then we head over to play Burning Wheel (in theory - we'll see how that turns out).

Ha! I almost signed this like an e-mail. Then you would've known who I am. Oh noes.

Woo! Friday!

2007-11-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

I'm having a hard enough time focusing on work and all the stuff that we're doing this weekend that I can't come up with a single thing to talk about.

So I'll talk about multiple things! Solution!

Reading about the science of science fiction is heady stuff. I submit to you: Atomic Rockets. Be warned - this site covers much physics and sciences.
I'm looking forward to Rock Band but I'm torn... we have a 360 and it is shiny. Plus - achievements are awesome (someday I'll link my Gamertag, but not yet). However, we also already own two guitars and a couple of microphones for the PS2, since we are fans of Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution. Ah well. We won't be getting it until we don't have to deal with the bundle anyways (I'm not super-excited about the drum-kit).
I need to find a good site for tips on grammar. I tend to want to write little asides when I'm blogging, and I also would love a reference guide for apostrophes and other punctuation.
Secret of Mana is fun with three people. It's what we're playing during lunch these days.
I want to draw a bunch of stuff, but my sketchbooks are all at home since I stopped bringing my briefcase to work. I need to draw superheroes and spacemen. Seriously.
Also, I could fill several posts with things I want to talk about that I'm doing at work. But then I'd be in trouble, and that's not good. I should write down drafts for when I am allowed to say stuff. Or I could just wing it when the opportunity arises. I'm a fan of winging it.
And finally - I'm a little sad that the bits of plate mail I have for Strael are light gray or dark blue-greenish. He was looking pretty bad-ass in black and red. Our tabard doesn't go with anything either.

Looking forward to 2.3

2007-11-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

So, as we're all aware, patch 2.3 is supposed to hit next week and be totally sweet.

And since I love making lists and planning on stuff to do (even if I only intend on using said plans as guidelines)... have at ye, blackguard!

The Alts:
This patch is totally alt-city. I mean... improved experience? New mid-level content? Hooray!

Chimmery -- Clocking in at the low 30s, this tiny marvel of magic gets to blink hisself around with his brother Tremmery and check out the new sights and old swampiness of the Dustwallow Marsh area. Should be fantastic.
Ashcraft -- I admit it: I want to play my 'lock again after watching my wife run around and DoT everything to hell and back. Plus, having just gotten my shiny pony with my paladin, and I think having a horse on fire sounds like fun times.
Djellin -- We're still working towards our toys, so we'll probably throw down with the shaman/warrior combo meal and get there faster. After we've gnomed it up though.
Vandren -- Go go lower hunter! You're the lowest of the top listed for choice of play though.
And the Rest: While I'd like to play my rogues a little bit I just don't care enough to change them from being bank alts. And my super-tiny druid will wait until the wife has interest.

The Mains:
2.3 means some changes that'll affect all 3 of my main characters... let's go over them.

Laheth -- No deadzone! Yay! Now if only I had stuff to do other than farm. I guess there are instances and gearing towards raids, but there is no way I'm that social. It'll wait until some of our friends hit 70 as well. However, he will need to upgrade his quiver and leatherworking stuff (24 slot bag! Want!). I do want a flying mount, but farming for cash is not my thing.
Starrlia -- She's still in the range of experience bonus, so we'll probably group and try to hit 60. Plus we'll need to see if the changes I'm just about to talk about for Strael benefit our group.
Strael -- My blood elf pally is retribution spec. So... he's going to need a respec and then I'm going to have to see how that is. Also: we're having a lot of fun playing with our Horde group (we added a warrior friend last night) so we'll probably keep doing that.

And Finally, Our Guild:

Our friends-only Alliance guild will need to figure out what we're doing with the new guild bank. I hope to offload some of the materials I have, but the wife and I (she's the leader and I'm co-leader) will need to come up with a plan of action.

There. I used the WoW prompt of the day. Happy now, TJ?

Oh noes!

2007-11-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

Silly me, I spent the day working. Um... C# is sort of neat? Naw, that would be a boring topic for most of ya'll.

Ooh! I know! I'll say how we did last night! That'll fill some space :)

Last Night In Azeroth:
We were joined in our Stranglethorniness by my East Coast Time Zone Raiding Friend (henceforth known as whatever the heck I feel like calling him moment to moment) who joined us with his level 70 holy paladin. Man. Things died super quick. That was entertainment.

Our little group is much closer to each other quest-wise now. Especially since we're a trio of 32 (Warlock!), 36 (Hunter!), and 39 (Paladin!). And I know at least myself and the wife are pretty darn close to levelling (3-6 bubbles left).

So, I'm going to finish my wonderful Ikea Meatballs in Ikea Gravy over White Rice and then get me some experience.

How the hell are my characters?

2007-11-06T15:43:00.001-08:00

Let's take a look at my mains on the Alliance and Horde, shall we?
And some of their skills at random, when I feel like it.

Laheth - Sittin' Pretty at 70
* Leatherworking - 350. AKA Primals for skillups.
* Skinning - Maxed at 375, just like it has been for the last... 8 levels?
* Cooking - Abyssmal. Although he can make Gingerbread Cookies.
* Fishing - Worse than Cooking.
Plan:
Since I don't group with folks I don't know unless the wife wants to, he's pretty much on hold until I can muster the strength to go grind for cash and mats. Neither sounds fun right now, so he's a landbound goofy-looking fellow. With a chainmail eyepatch that has a skull on it. Gyar.

Strael - 39! That's Like 40, Only Not Quite
* Engineering - a little behind because I don't know what to make, since I value the materials more than the product. Woops.
* Mining - I can mine mithril! EXCITING AND SHINY.
* Cooking - He can cook pretty much everything he kills.
* Fishing - 1. Seriously. Why do I even have that fishing pole in my inventory? I'm gonna sell it.
Plan:
He's gonna run around with the wifelock and my hunter friend in Stranglethorn tonight, visiting stolen-holy vengeance upon dinosaurs trolls and cats. And monkeys. Heh.

Weekend Happenings in Azeroth

2007-11-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

This weekend was super awesome in WoW. My wife and I decided, on a whim, to play as some of our neglected Blood Elves. So Strael (the paladin) and his lovely cohort Contrae (the warlock) ran around Hillsbrad, joined fortuitously by our friend's troll hunter.

That was great - they were both self sufficient enough that I didn't have to do much tankery or healery with my retribution-spec, and when the need did arise my extra seven-to-ten levels certainly came in handy :)

We actually made a whole weekend out of that little group, and we all got set up with the in-game voice-chat stuff and ran just the three of us through Shadowfang Keep and Blackfathom Deeps. Not much (read: no) experience for me except for a couple quests I hadn't done in BFD, but it was still a lot of fun to go through them.

Now I'm home after a slow day of work; I'm fed with pizza and pie; and it's just about time for me to play some video games.

Talk at ya more tomorrow!

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

2007-11-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

It could be a fun game... but it just doesn't like my wife's computer. I don't know why - her machine is superior to mine in almost every aspect, but she was experiencing constant lag to the point where it looked like she was freezing half the time. Oh well - at least we weren't paying money for it, right?

So! We made two pirates, named James and Kate Shorebane (zero relationship to our actual names, so no tricky thinking by you crazy internet folk), and we ran around as part of the same crew. We also named our ships Crimson Defender (mine!) and Shadow Dancer (hers!)... although we tended to use her ship for most of our travels, and just swapped who was driving every once in a while, since you gain experience by doing things (cannons, piloting, guns, swords - use 'em to gain new skills). The free trial didn't let us do any non-main-storyline-thing-quests, so yeah, but the story stuff has the actual actors performing their roles in a weird storyline that has no place in the actual canon. You start off in jail with Jack Sparrow, and he busts you out - then you head to Port Royal (after a run-in with Davy Jones, the Skull-Faced Pirate Who Has It In For Jack Oh It's Funny You Should Think He's Like the Squid-Faced Guy But He's Totally Not!) to get a sword from Will Turner, and then you go talk to Elizabeth Swan to get a boat (she's waiting for her dad - when could this have possibly taken place?). Yeah, it's weird, but it's cute in it's fan-dream-ish-ness, and it's got a sort of nice interface. The graphics are a little lower-end, and all the males are shaped funny.

I have no idea where I'm going with this. It's not like I'm trying to review it or anything. I think I'll stick to talking about WoW.

Here's a picture of my pirate! Gyarr!!

Holiday Stuff!

2007-11-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving is not yet arrived, and already we're looking towards Christmas. There's a holiday bazaar going on at the high school a few blocks away, so we're going to hit that up and see what they got... right after we start the background downloader for WoW, start installing Pirates of the Caribbean Online on my wife's machine, and have the soup be all cookin' (which it is!).

Here's what we need (non-gift-wise) for Christmas:

Something visible in our house from outside
Maybe something for the wall on the stairwell
To clean up some of our (read: my) junk that is cluttering the surfaces downstairs

And now, I'm going to pay some bills and put my socks'n'shoes on.

Perhaps I'll talk about Pirates tomorree. How's that sound?

Let's Go For a 30 Chain!

2007-11-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

So, on a whim after reading this, I've decided to try my hand at updating this ol' blog everyday for the next month.

We'll see.

We played WoW!

2007-11-02T09:27:00.001-07:00

In a surprising turn of events, my wife and I sat down and played some World of Warcraft for the first time since we left for vacation.

As a result, our draenei duo (Djellin and Wallase) have both gotten 1 level closer to their shiny toys (Ardent Custodian for me... and like a ring and something else for her. Seriously, I should be able to remember. Maybe a hat?) and all the associated coolness of being 40 (mounts! And we both have 70s who, despite very much needing all the cashes ever, badly, for their flying and then epic flying birds, will gladly donate whatever we need to run around on something at 40... gosh, it's too bad we've got so far to go before we can have anything other than those silly heffalumps).

Also! We both ended up with Pirate Costume wands for Hallow's Eve funness (funituity?). So we pirated it up for a bit. I have pictures! I will crop them and attach them! You'll see! Edit: See, I did!

...yup.

Thoughts while Driving

2007-10-29T19:00:00.001-07:00

So, I always tend to think of things that I could blog while I'm driving to or from work, and never manage to actually pen them down (as it were). Here's some of the things I've thought about, which maybe I'll hit up sometime when my wife isn't sick and I'm not trying to get things back together after a week's vacation:

1) Theory on co-operation in video games
2) Thoughts on multiplayer coding (although this will probably have to wait until much later, or not happen at all, since it crosses into the territory of "stuff I do at work that I'm not supposed to talk about".
3) We don't have kids, but thinking ahead about teaching them math as a more abstract concept (using the Chisan-bopp method, however it's spelled, for counting on your fingers)
4) My thoughts on random games that I've played, want to play, or am playing.

Dear Rare:

2007-10-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Why did you put co-operative play into Kameo, but not let us see the story mode or advance the game while we're in it?

Fortunately, we're only borrowing it from a friend, otherwise I'd be much more vexed. I wanted to play through it co-op with my wife. Now we have to swap in single-player to unlock the levels. Sad times.

Why the WoW posts aren't coming.

2007-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

My wife has a new 360 controller (it is indeed pink). She's been tearing it up in Oblivion for the past few weeks, while I've been playing Halo 3.

I've poked around a bit in WoW myself, upgrading lots of bags and giving Laheth a shirt... and I'm super excited for when 2.3 goes live and I upgrade all my alts to 30 or more.

Oh, and we're nearing the end of our project cycle at work. That hasn't interrupted gaming at all :)

Loves!

2007-10-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

I just wanted everyone to know how much I love my husband...
Our Anniversary was a few days ago. I guess that means we are no longer newly weds *pouts* Our first year went fast but was full of many blessings. A nice house, a beautiful trip to Italy and France, a Wii, a 360, a loving new family, and most of all the many loves and tender moments we've shared together.
He loves me so very much and for the icing on the cake... he is buying me a pink 360 controller! I can't wait to play co-op with him ^_^

How's it going?

2007-10-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Since hitting 70, Coperiana and Laheth have gotten a bit less play-time, and we've been catching up on other things. Since I do so love lists and ramblings, I'll combine them now, for my pleasure:

Sonnik is at a very respectable 66 now.
I've been crunching for the last week, so I haven't played many games at home.
We have our 360 now, and just rented Oblivion, which Goldfire is enjoying today.
Halo 3 multiplayer has dominated my lunch hours since it came out (and a bit of at-work dinner breaks), and I finally have a copy to call my own.
Our last session of Burning Wheel was... interesting. Almost a total party wipe (unconscious and not dead, fortunately). We'll see how things turn out later.
I finished a couple of books. Re-read Soul Music and finished If I Pay Thee Not In Gold, which I was apparently borrowing for over two years. Fancy that.

Alright - the build is nearing completion, so it's back to work for me.

Exciting Times!!

2007-09-20T01:31:00.000-07:00

Coperiana and Laheth are both 70!

We did some neat things... Got some fun stuff... Made some new friends...

Swoot!

There and Almost There

2007-09-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

My wife has hit 70 with her main. I'm at 69, and have a little more than 2 bubbles left.

I'll let her talk about her 70, or I'll take some pretty screenshots and make a big hullaballoo about it once I hit the cap as well.

Burning the Bloody Hills... the begining

2007-09-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

So we are starting another new game in Burning Wheel... Exciting times! It is a combination of generic B horror films, Castlevania, and classic Romanian culture surrounding the real Count. We are calling the area in game the Bloody Hills. All based on the in game local history of the Red King and the battles fought in the area to try and take over... However, the legend goes that if you conquer the castle, you claim the kingdom. Entire armies have gone in trying... None have been heard from again.

This is actually the first game where me and Gauntlet actually play husband and wife. We have always tried to keep the personal stuff out of games so we don't make our friends uncomfortable or change the feel of the game... Slightly different group of players and we stated upfront that this is what we wanted to do. I hope it works out well since we are hoping this will be a long running game.

Random Updates while Building

2007-09-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

World of Warcraft

Vandren (and Sutcha) got new stuff - Vandren's outfit was updated to be pretty close to his level, thanks to my wonderful wife and her (now level 60!) hunter Sonnik. Also, Vandren hit 24.
Ashcraft ran around with Belgore the Voidwalker and hit 22.
The Paladin Triplets are playing in Un'goro Crater, and are between 48 and 49 now.
Untraining a leatherworking specialty costs 100 gold!? Crazy.
Strael is getting close to 40... so very close. A few more sessions and he should get his mount, which will alleviate some of the issues with playing as him (Aspect of the Cheetah spoiled me).
I'm not allowed to make a dwarf, because my character slots on our preferred server are full. Which is probably a good thing, since I'd be making a class I already have 1 or 2 of (Because he'd have to be a hunter or a paladin, more likely a hunter). Maybe when I hit 70 I'll drop one of my two rogues who sit at 21 and hold things in their banks, inventory, and mailboxes for everybody else.

Other Stuff

We're getting a 360! Yay!
Earth Defense Force 2017 is a hilarious game.
I love adventure games. And I appreciate those who continue to make them.
For the next book I read, I have to decide between a Mercedes Lackey/Piers Anthony book, the next Wild Cards volume, or re-reading some more Discworld stuff. Tough decision.
My build is done - back to work.

Tusk the Tank

2007-09-02T09:19:00.001-07:00

Last night my wife and I (running as Coperiana and Laheth) put together a pick-up-group to take down Durn the Hungerer and Major Jerk. Our three other members were a ~~Priest (Holy)~~ Mage (Frost), a Paladin (~~Not sure, but not protection~~ Holy) and a Rogue (probably something to do with DPS).

Our first attempt was premature - one person asked if everybody was ready, another said yes, and they ran at him, without being blessed or waiting for anybody else. Also, Gava'xi the Bandaged Jerk came by and stabbed the hell out of my wife after he broke free from his ice trap I dropped when I first saw him coming.

Our second attempt was having the Paladin tank... when it got dicey he bubbled and then the rogue went splat, followed by everybody else.

Our third attempt was hilarious and worked - we buffed, we waited for him to come to us (away from all aggressive creatures), and then we had Tusk the Handsome Boar attack him and tank him. He never lost aggro, and he had a priest and restoration druid and mend pet healing him constantly.

I've never been more proud of him :)

Edits: My lovely wife remembered what the people in the party were. Color me attentive :)

Group Specific Talent Builds Follow-up (And More!)

2007-08-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

So... sorry I didn't get back to the comparison like I said I was going to. I had a lot to do at work, and that segued nicely into my mini-vacation surrounding PAX which involved very little playing World of Warcraft, and more hanging out with people and other stuff.

Although, I did end up going back and respeccing my Starrlia to follow a more standard protection build, to see if a couple of my choices (Improved Devotion Aura for one) were missed too terribly much. Verdict thus far? Very little difference between my playing, although our Retadin takes hits a bit more, and I proc Reckoning a bit more.

I'll try and give a write-up of some PAX-related stuff too, but I'll give the short of it now:
- Jonathan Coulton was excellent to see in concert.
- Halo 3 is very shiny and I wants it.
- DS is super-best convention gear.
- The WoW TCG is fun.
- Proper hydration is important.

Group-Specific Talent Builds

2007-08-22T10:48:00.001-07:00

So, my best friend was checking out our paladins in the armory, and he brought up some questions about our builds which led to a few thoughts I'd like to share.

First up, he didn't have any questions about my wife's Holy Paladin build, but he wondered about some of the choices myself and our other friend had for our Protection (me!) and Retribution (friend!) builds, and the honest answer was a combination of "we built without a distinct plan", and "we built our builds only to play with each other - not for soloing or general group play".

Now, my thoughts I'd like to mull over are: Is it better to have a proven build for each of us, and are our builds as they are effective for ourselves and each other?

1) Is it better to have a proven build for each of us?
There are a few reasons why I prefer our current builds - we all share the same drops (so having us pigeonholed makes it much easier to decide who gets what, itemization-wise), we never solo* so we can each sacrifice things we don't need in favor of maximizing our specializations, so it seems like the things those proven builds are for don't entirely apply.

*(except when the other two are off gathering materials, which is why I lag a little behind in the experience)

2) Are our builds as they are effective for ourselves and each other?
This will probably involve some comparison, and since I'm just waiting for a build to finish, I'll come back and tackle this later.

Character Updates

2007-08-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

At some point I should really say stuff other than what's going down with our characters, but that point isn't here yet. So, on to it!

Strael has done much in the aid of Desolace, and is now seeking to tame the wilds of Stranglethorn Vale, though his services have also been requested in the Arathi Highlands. Level 35. His goal beyond aiding those who ask it of him is to get himself a pretty pony.

Starrlia, Starrlea, and Starrlya were joined by their unholy compatriot Violate recently, and managed to get through most of Zul'farrak without any other aid. All but Gahz'rilla and Sergeant Bly done.

Sonnik continues to advance on her inexorable path to 70. Level 53. Also, she picked up a kitty cat who was once called a king, and he now serves as her Backup.

Status: Azeroth

2007-08-14T08:15:00.002-07:00

Laheth has gone and grabbed his new pet, a pretty kitty now dubbed Daybreak that he snuck into ZG by his lonesome for (although he needed to form a raid of 2 to be able to enter). I've got pictures to share of all the others he tamed to learn skills for the new pet, but I'd rather do that in it's own post.

Vandren got some playtime recently as well when a group of us decide that our Blood Elves (and one undead - the healer, humorously enough) needed to run Shadowfang Keep. We tore through it, wiping only once at the beginning when we hadn't gotten into our stride, and then falling to Arugal when he noticed us before we were ready. It was a blast. I think everybody levelled at least once. Even Sutcha the boar did.

The Paladin Triplets (Starrlya/Starrlia/Starrlea) ran around the Hinterlands last night, and a few were spotted in Tanaris and Feralas the night before that... they're prepping themselves for a Zul'furrak run in the (hopefully) near future.

And the rest in brief - Strael (Belf pally) is now retribution, and needs better gear. Sonnik (Wife's Belf hunter) is nearing the end of Un'goro Crater, and will shortly need to find more suitable hunting grounds. And I think all the others have been cooling their heels.

Petopia (and Mania) to the Rescue!

2007-08-07T16:17:00.001-07:00

So, after pondering what I would do at 70, I stopped pondering, thanks in no small part to Mania (of Petopia fame).

See, here's what happened: I'm at work, doing work-stuff (Non-Disclosure Agreements prevent me from saying anything beyond that I work on video games) and reading Mania's Ongoing Saga of Kaet, and I realize that what I want to do with Laheth is improve his pets.
So, I'm going to go grab a creepy boar from the Eastern Plaguelands to grab Charge Rank 6 and Gore Rank 8 for Tusk, and then I'm going to go grab a Rip-Blade Ravager for Gore Rank 9, and then I think he's pretty much set.

Then it's on to either upgrading my level 50-something kitty Nocturne, or maybe grabbing a new shiny kitty of a higher level and whoever else I need to get the mad kitty skillz.

Thanks Mania, for speaking about your wee dwarven lass!

From Zangarmarsh to Nagrand

2007-08-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Coperiana and Laheth are questing together in Nagrand... they've both hit 67, and we're excited by the prospect of flying around (although Coperiana will get to fly sooner, being a druid).

But talking to Goldfire this morning got me thinking... what am I looking forward to when Laheth hits 70? I don't raid, and I don't do pick-up groups very much. Battlegrounds are something I might play around with, but I'm more likely to start playing an alt than that (especially since I really liked Warsong Gulch, but only pre-mounts). I could grind rep and farm mats, but I've been warned that those are not so much fun when you're not also gaining experience, and I can believe it.

I think I'm looking forward to having a max level character (until the expansion comes out), but I think that once I hit there I'll start looking around for something else, since that's what I did in City of Heroes.

What is there for a casual to do at 70, other than play around?

Draeneiregan

2007-08-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

Ran Gnomeregan with our Draenei tonight... just finished (it's a little after 4 AM). We only had 4 people (the 3 draenei and our friend who was running a 37 Warrior and then swapped to a 44 Pally for the final boss). Until we got to the final guy, we hadn't wiped, although we weren't going super-fast or anything.

But man... once we got there? Everything fell apart. So, we had one person hop out and fix their equipment, and we died a few times rushing out to summon them (bad idea - sleepy, impatient, and unwary), and we had our friend swap to the paladin then as well.
Once we had the paladin, it went pretty well, but the bombs still knocked us out. What a pain in the ass encounter to get to when you're in the 27-30 range... which can easily take out the rest of the place.

Now I'm just rambling... so I'll wrap this up: Djellin is 29 (and a healthy half!), she's got new shoulderpads, new pants, new gloves, a new sword, and a new shield that she'll use in a few levels once she's able.

And a final note? Playing WoW with a party of 4 in the same room is great fun.

Night!

Wrath of the Lich King Announced: Productivity Down

2007-08-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Yup. It's official.

There's lots of information at various places (I've been checking out the live blogs at WoW Insider), and that's hitting my productivity a little bit today.

Although having ReMaze running in the background with it's massive cycle eating effects doesn't help either.

And now, Pipe Dreams:

Possibly changing Laheth's hair color from wonderful green-that-doesn't-go-with-anything.
Possibly changing Djellin's hair color from similar.
Arthas related content.
Death Knights... of any race (I'd be tempted by making a human male, if only I could stand their old-style faces and texturing... they've learned so much since then).
Pre-ordering instead of waiting in line. That was a silly mistake I don't plan on making again.

Good Times: Pick-up Group Instancing

2007-08-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last night, Coperiana and Laheth (and Tusk!) were invited to run with a couple warriors (both 64) and a mage (61) through the Underbog. Having not done that branch and having some quests there, we went along. Didn't finish it, but had a lot of fun while we were there.

And I gotta say, it felt really good to be #2 in damage meters and to be complimented on trapping. Hooray for the BRK School of Research and Implementation.

We might run it again tonight with the same group and try and finish it off. We started too late last night (and the Salsa Carpet Explosion was a bit distracting in the middle of it).