((
My internet connection is technically set up. All the wires are there and the cable modem and router and all that stuff. Problem is: it’s not working. There have been intermittent connection issues for the past couple of weeks which have grown steadily worse to the point where I’m pleasantly surprised if I can play WoW for half an hour without a crash. I don’t dare attempt to run an instance for fear I’ll d/c in the middle of some nasty fight and won’t be able to come back on for another fifteen minutes. The cable company is sending someone out this Saturday to take a look at it and test the lines and signals.
In the meantime, I am reading George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones. It’s a great read and I’m enjoying it immensely. Unlike Salvatore, you get a feel that any character can be killed at any time and no one in the book is invincible. It’s well-written and the characters with all their differences and flaws seem much more realistic than Drizzit or some of the other popular fantasy characters. If you’re into reading fantasy novels and want a book a little more focused on realism than magic, you may want to give A Game of Thrones a try.
))
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
((The World of Whinecraft))
((
Lore Sjoberg, in his column in Wired Magazine online has some interesting, and funny, things to say about video game forum goers. I think he’s right on the money. See http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72119-0.html?tw=wn_index_5 for the article.
I enjoy looking over the WoW forums. I like checking what other people have said about playing whatever class it is I’m playing (currently Shaman). It’s interesting getting other people’s takes on what the class is about and how to make the most of it. But the whiners … oy.
For every class in just about every forum, there’s a select few that have decided that the game mechanics don’t serve them enough and that, somehow, their $15 a month entitles them to more than everyone else is getting. They’ll whine about their class not doing well enough verses another class or how in situation x they should be able to do y but can’t or whatever. Some are legit complaints by people that are just passionate about the game but others are thinly veiled attempts at making the game compensate for their own inadequacies.
Since there is still a lot of good information out there, I will keep on reading the forums, but I will continue take the comments with a grain (or a dumptruck) of salt.
))
Lore Sjoberg, in his column in Wired Magazine online has some interesting, and funny, things to say about video game forum goers. I think he’s right on the money. See http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72119-0.html?tw=wn_index_5 for the article.
I enjoy looking over the WoW forums. I like checking what other people have said about playing whatever class it is I’m playing (currently Shaman). It’s interesting getting other people’s takes on what the class is about and how to make the most of it. But the whiners … oy.
For every class in just about every forum, there’s a select few that have decided that the game mechanics don’t serve them enough and that, somehow, their $15 a month entitles them to more than everyone else is getting. They’ll whine about their class not doing well enough verses another class or how in situation x they should be able to do y but can’t or whatever. Some are legit complaints by people that are just passionate about the game but others are thinly veiled attempts at making the game compensate for their own inadequacies.
Since there is still a lot of good information out there, I will keep on reading the forums, but I will continue take the comments with a grain (or a dumptruck) of salt.
))
Monday, November 06, 2006
((Back in Black - Return to the Horde))
((I managed to get my internet connection back up and running last week and, after some hemming and hawing and goofing around with alts, I’ve decided to make a return to the Horde side of the WoW equation. I won’t be deleting any of my Alliance characters, of course, and there may come a point in time where I will return to them. For now though I’m having way too much fun on my Tauren shaman and my Tauren warrior to think about heading back to playing a raiding paladin again.
I’ve been enjoing playing my shaman for many of the same reasons I used to like playing my paladin: group versatility. I can heal, buff and fight fairly effectively and will probably doing all three of those things during the course of any fight the group is in. My raid pally, on the other hand, is pretty much limited to spamming heals and / or buffs with the occasional melee break from the norm. YAWN. My short-term goal is to get my shammy to 60 before the expansion. Seeing as how the expansion is coming in January, I think I should be able to make it in a reasonable amount of time and still be able to take some time to get better gear, etc.
))
I’ve been enjoing playing my shaman for many of the same reasons I used to like playing my paladin: group versatility. I can heal, buff and fight fairly effectively and will probably doing all three of those things during the course of any fight the group is in. My raid pally, on the other hand, is pretty much limited to spamming heals and / or buffs with the occasional melee break from the norm. YAWN. My short-term goal is to get my shammy to 60 before the expansion. Seeing as how the expansion is coming in January, I think I should be able to make it in a reasonable amount of time and still be able to take some time to get better gear, etc.
))
