Knocked out a few more sigs.
Still got a few more to do. Oh, procrastination! You have no power against the might of Netflix and Ramen!

D r a m a | QQ for OO

But probably not the kind you might have hoped. This has to do with my guild, so..


ANYWAY, so a couple weeks ago we merged with a guild called Testament. The guild leader came to us and said he didn't want the responsibility of it anymore and was trying to find a good guild that would take them in.

I'm not a higher ranked member anymore (I quit, twice now) so I don't have a say officially on things anymore, which is fine. But i immediately didn't like the idea. (I love lists) Here's why;
 

1. They seem like they wanna raid now
2. Resentment of higher ranks who would just be ordinary members
3. The former Testament guild leader would automatically be an officer -- but not held to the same standards as the other officers. (a title handed as a thank you card is not cool)
4. Segregation will be there no matter what, especially with two such different goal oriented groups. They won't become OO. They'll just be Testament in OO. and this will cause drama.
5. We have our pace, and they WILL try to push us faster

SO ALL THIS (negative) SHIT I saw coming from miles away, was totally and utterly, deliberately overlooked for the sole fact that they are just numbers to our roster. Rodney has been made guild leader of OO, and I went over these things with him before, in hopes that they (the elders) would consider it a little more, but... Rodney is trying to be optimistic. It's cute and all, but sometimes I wanna just smack him. Because optimism tends to be... not realistic. You're just hoping for the best, and not looking at whats presented in front of you. So.. by this point, they're not even in the guild yet and they're already making me uneasy.

if you're bored yet and don't wanna keep reading, fast forward a couple paragraphs: WEEKS LATER, I CALLED IT FROM THE START.

OO is more casual friendly, and not elitist or pushing for hardcore play style. I had a huge feeling that Testament joining OO would force us to rush things faster than we wanted to and were even prepared for. But optimistic little Rodney decides HAY, IM RODNEY AND I'M GONNA GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT BECAUSE I'M RODNEY AND IT'S WHAT I LIKE TO DO. <-- it's.... adorable when it doesn't waste my time. or like, make me move to other cities and stuff. So we group with them for our first raid-- and a whole new set of problems arises. (a new set is singular form, not plural because it's one set. it reads awkwardly, but trust me. it's correct)
we have people in there that aren't geared enough for the raid, and bringing in people who just hit level 50 and blah blah. because, cut corners and not hit the learning curve yet. again... numbers for our raid. we're rewarded with DKP, which means 'Dragon Kill Points.' It's a currency earned in raids for those attending. however, we're also rewarding people who get benched. there's a requirement for that, but rodney wants numbers. so if you wanted to raid, and you couldn't because it was full. then you're benched. and you get an extra DKP than the raid attenders.

DRAMA
 

drama because the requirements aren't set. so for this last raid, yesterday, someone who was benched for the last raid, who recently hit level 50, and wasn't gearing himself up the way the other raiders have by running dungeons, got raid loot. because he had more DPK than the people who actually attended the raid. so, one guy from Testament says our DKP system is retarded and g-quit. (Guild quit)

then the former Testament guild leader left OUR ventrillo channel, and went into his old guild's channel and talked (kinda disrespectful imo... i mean hello? you're Obsidian Order now. and you're an officer. and we let you in. aaaand we're raiding ahead of schedule w/ unprepared people because of you SHOW SOME RESPECT) with the guy that quit, then came back to our channel and said he was leaving. so then Josh g-kicked all the Testament people out of the guild.

Unfortunately... my sorta gal pal also got kicked because she felt the same way they did about loot. Which... sucks because it shouldn't be about who gets loot first. The goal is to get EVERYBODY geared out so we can mow through the place easy. Not complain about who gets what first. But I can also understand their point of view-- someone undeserving and unprepared getting raid gear. But that's the part where I come in and say

WTF DID I SAY
 

they were also very cliquey. they stayed with their own and didn't really mesh w/ us. or really tried. we have a color theme for our armor sets which is Black and Purple, and they stayed with their Black and Yellow. Very segregated. again

WTF DID I SAY

And this sucks because we were having straight up arguments about this shit, lol. It's comical. I guess when you're so passionate about something, you do your damnedest to protect it and make it work. funny how.. that applied to my guild and not my relationship LOL. ah, gamers. that's not funny =\
yeah it is. XD. just kidding, I love Peempurs muy much. it just sucks when he tries to be optimistic and ends up making retarded decisions based on stupid shit like a bigger roster, for a casual guild. Yanno? it just... it's retarded.

So there was that, and then there was... that guy.
everyone knows a "that guy."
you know... that guy that's too important to give a shit about stopping at a stop sign with oncoming traffic? that guy that just cut in front of you at the check out line because he has a rolex? that guy that eats your food and doesn't have rent on time? yea-- no one wants to be that guy.

THAT GUY. we have one. and let me tell you.... that guy.. will NOT ruin this for me.
we've had people g-quit over that guy. I quit a second time over that guy not being dealt with properly after loads of people complained about how much that guy was such a that guy. SO. MUCH. DRAMA. over that guy.

He's the raid leader. And he's good at it, when he's not routinely fucking everything up for players. he's just so damn.... that guy. He yells and was rude, overly bossy, inconsiderate, puffs his chest out type of dude, right? totally laughable. probably drives a sports car. anyway, so because this guy was in a leadership position and is an elder, he was throwing his weight around and playing favorites. for a while, rodney was pretending that this type of thing didn't matter, and almost denying it. it sucks that rodney is so damn passive lol. but eventually... he was addressed, again, and has improved. i believe the term 'reprimanded' is appropriate. but with like, an ultimatum. those are the best kinds. but this guy... ugh. man. he didn't even play as much. so the issue really was that he came online to lead stuff, demanded people drop whatever it is that they're doing and do what he asks. and since he's not online as much, people see this guy come on and start barking orders and shouting "shut the fuck up" in vent and everyone's like who the fuck is this guy and why is he such a massive douchebag?
not to mention he used to just do shit w/out consulting the other elders and had a "what's it to you" attitude when, even the guild leader - Rodney - went to him about something. so just... no.

the best part of it was that all these people that had a problem with him came to me about it, instead of the officers and elders. because i'm awesome. jk, no because they know me and are comfortable with coming to me about shit. and that in itself was another issue. members should feel comfortable to go to the officers and elders about these kind of things. but they weren't. and that's where the gossip and grapevine, he said-she said crap comes in. and that's never good! that's why i take screenshots ;D so there was also that. you want your guild to be happy and come to you about concerns and stuff, and it was also overwhelming to me that all these people came to me about all this, and i, in the end, didn't really have a say. all i could do was pass on the message to Rodney and hope he didn't try to be retarded, i mean optimistic.

stressful stuff, let me tell you. people forget this shit, but these games involve real people, with real egos and personalities, and especially in guilds... when you're a leader in their eyes, or someone of authority, you have to get shit done. you're like a real boss to these people. they want results, and problems fixed. they want to be updated and know what's going on. they want to be directed and also rewarded. so, all these people that i deal with over this shit -- is very real. very, very, real. and it takes its toll because it can become so emotionally draining. and i'm not even the guild leader! or an elder, or an officer! lol. they're the ones that have to organize shit. i'm just kind of like the messenger that guildies trust to go to w/ any problems they have. i didn't choose that role, it just sort of is that way. but it sucks at the same time because instead of playing another character that i'd like to level, i have to sit there and talk to these people and see what can be done to remedy the situation, or explain things and why they're done a certain way. it's crazy stuff. fuckin... managerial experience! seriously! lol

things are all patched up though. now that Testament's left, and we're not pressured (i told Rodney not to let them pressure us but he's too optimistic) to do shit we're not ready for, maybe things will calm down now. That guy also got done got, so he's calmed down too. It is what it is. We are at peace now. I'm just so glad I can vent this shit now. Where as before, I couldn't. That would've been considering shit talking our guild. So I refrained... and called Josh and ranted to him instead. He put some things into perspective for me too that I hadn't realized before. Yay friends :D

and Yay ramen!

Icchae!!

MKAY, so I've been wanting to play with photoshop for a while, but haven't taken enough photos of myself to justify it. I remembered though that Photoshop isn't just for making girls like myself over-zealously hotter, but also for useful things like MMO forum signatures! 

 

 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*}{*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
 

I have been slacking in the screenshots department, because being that Rift isn't as in-your-face cartoony like WoW is, it takes more skill and patience to capture something worthwhile- both of which I have, just don't want to invest in when I could be completeling my dailies for artisan plaques. So instead, I'm making pretty forum signatures.

these are the two I've done so far. The top is my toon. Thanks to this sig graphic, you'll know much about her. The one below Azu's is my guildmate's sig. You'll learn much of her from it as well. Aaaaand now a bunch of my guildies want me to make them one too. So I'm gonna be working on that when I'm not playing. They're fun to make. I get to run around and give them photo shoots wherever they want.
They pose and strut in all their neato gear and glory.

I have one to work on tonight.  Woot. All the while watching every Harry Potter movie and tormenting Rodney as he tries to lead our guild.
Oh! There was a podcast interview about our guild that features an interview w/ Rodney and our friend Josh. Just about how to lead a PvE (player versus environment) guild with the amount of people in it and types of players that are encountered in these types of games. If you're interested: OO Podcast
This is Rift related. Not Psyclon Nine related for you Rotny fanboy stalker bitches. Like,... K?!




some screen shots taken during the "photoshoot" for the signatures.








Rodney just took us to McDonald's for some sugary goodness to make me feel better about the whole job thing. Some things are up in the air and it's making me feel uneasy. Seriously though, if it's not one thing it's another. Just my luck. Sucks I can't just find a job that'll let me sit there and edit shit in photoshop all day. I'd be awesome at it. But you gotta be friends w/ someone to get into something like that. Otherwise you need some bullshit degree. Oh well. We'll see what happens. Was fun while it lasted I guess.

Pixelated relationships charm the crap out of me

Forever and ever, as far as I can remember being into online gaming, there was always something about the relationships with people online that you can't replace with someone of the flesh. More specifically, through a video game. Although I have met many people through the internet over the years, the ones that I feel hit closer to home are the ones I met through gaming. Here's my analysis;

Social Networking Relationships:

• Your looks say who you are
• You use people to get yourself popularized
  
• There's no way to really get to know someone because there's always a facade
  
• Rumor City
  
• It's basically Los Angeles and if someone takes something the wrong way, you're fucked

Online Video Game Relationships:

• You must cooperate to achieve a goal within a matter of time
• There is no face; just text, pixels, and a voice
  
• Peoples' personalities stand out more than physical features
  
• There's a sense of community to help one another, work together in teams
  
• You can leave whenever you want
  

 

 

-- I compare the two, because they are similar in the way that we communicate w/ others, but not the relationships that are formed.--

 

The irony of this is that those of us gamers that are guilty of "not having a life" form lasting friendships through these kinds of video games that makes me wanna run around in Hollywood going LOOOOL at your fail backstabbing real-life "friendships".
I'd also like to address why I'm such an introvert. It's not just because I rather not spend money to be in the company of vain, backstabbing, drunken, assholes that are full of themselves and all look alike, no. It's because now a days, many of these networking relationships are so shallow. Truly, they are. The very term "friend" has been degenerated to define a person you've encountered over the web, as well as defining a person who is close to you that you genuinely care about and feel Love for. It's, in my opinion, sickening.

Sickening; when someone who doesn't know anything about me, refers to me as a friend, because I'm a number on their profile. Sickening; when someone refers to "Rotny" as their friend because they're a number on his profile. And this is all stemmed through the ideal that attractive people are worth being connected to, because they are more attractive to the eye, making yourself more attractive for being in connection with attractive people, as well as socially attractive people, and not just physically attractive, but attractive to where they themselves have connections--which makes them attractive. It's all a race to be the most attractive person in a circle of attractiveness. All from social networking.  SO....
 

 

Online Gaming communities sort of hold that standard, but in a way that demonstrates capability to complete a job better than the other guy in the raid, making them more attractive to bring to the next raid over the other guy that doesn't perform as well. But this is negated through community working together so that everyone is on par with each other, to achieve a goal for the entire group of people.

Online relationshps within video games are more attractive to me because there are no faces. There's no popularity contest. There's no personal attacking towards ones' lifestyle, no rumors, no catty bullshit, no racing to get numbers (or "friends" -- unless you're a sell out like The Guild), no real judging about who you are and what you want to do. In these games, the personalities of all my guildmates I've ever met all shined so much more to me than the people I've "met" over the internet since FaceTheJury erupted. And also the fact that we all have this huge thing in common-- the game. That's all they have. And you pick up on that immediately. You can tell what kind of person they are because you talk to them all day, many times a day during the week, and you all work together. It's actually pretty amazing in retrospect.

I decided to write about this after my recent situations in my guild within Rift. One guildmate in particular has taken to me and has become very fond of me. As protocol, I am uninterested, cold, distant, and hesitant to engage. I recently hit the level cap, and have come around to being more socially accepting within the guild. Yes, even in multiplayer online games I am a hermit - ironically. However, noticing the elation in everyone's voices and reactions to things I've done, and others do, and the cheers, and congratulatory comments and praise, and offer to help one another, it's just hard to not want to accept. It's such a positive, welcoming, warm, loving, friendly environment to be in that you don't see every day in the real world-- in a game!! Everyone wants to help each other, and know how each other is doing. On my way to work every day I get honked at, cut off, flipped off, worry about money, wonder if I'm gonna eat or not, and just shit that I should not have to worry about. I just wanna be content. This is simple, every day shit. No one here gives a shit about you unless you tell them how good they look. Then you're bffs "for a minute". It's things like this that make me inclined to stay home on a Saturday night. Not that I don't see that in real life, because I do. But these are interactions that happen on a day to day basis. Every day. Would I rather spend money to hang out w/ people I don't really have anything in common with for the sake of getting more pictures of myself on the internet, or hang out at home with my other half playing a game w/ other people that want the same things I do?

So this guildmate has put me into a different perspective and reminded me of the other things I really love about these games. It's the relationships you build w/ these people, on a whole different level of just being hot on the internet in one way or another. Hot meaning selling yourself, advertising yourself. Nothing wrong w/ that at all. However I think it's kinda selfish to give people the illusion that you're their friend when all you think of them as is another vein to get yourself out there. It's these faux relationships that keep me at bay from wanting to socialize w/ the populace of 2011. 

 

I think that I can even grow to Love these people if they stick around, and possibly endow them with the title of Friend. Which to me, should be a title earned, and not handled out so carelessly. Of course, there are different variations of Love, but because I'm sure someone took that out of context, I figure mentioning that would be necessary.
I have many acquaintances, and few Friends. The first step to understanding this shit is to not be offended when someone refers to you as an acquaintance. It's not a title, it's a status. Warning: This requires some maturity and patience. If you have neither, you will probably hate this entry and feel insulted. Please refrain from reading further and exit this page by clicking on the top RIGHT corner of the monitor. If you have a Mac... well, I don't care. If you understood, I am probably in good standing with you, and don't wanna shoot my ears off when we are in the same room.

Anyway, basically what I'm saying is... in my experience, a lot of these relationships in the games I've played have been more stimulating than the ones I have in real life. I'm going to repeat myself, just in case anyone finds the word "stimulating" as an insult to their personality and self esteem. ... in my experience, a lot of these relationships in the games I've played have been more stimulating than the ones I have in real life.
but I can also blame chemistry between two people, or the fact that you have to buy out the day to enjoy it w/ someone outside the house. Think about it. You can't just go somewhere w/ someone and enjoy yourselves w/out money unless you wanna come off as something less than you are because other peoples' opinions of you matter for some reason. What does that say about our society?

 

I pay $15/mo for this game. That's... what? Not even enough for dinner for two at Denny's.

 

 

I wanna end this journal entry with the hopes that I made someone think about the people they interact with. I do. Every day. I'm either glad of it, or annoyed by it. Guess why Rotny deleted his online profiles? Guess what he's doing now? Guess why I invested over $300 into a gaming convention, even though I'm sorta broke all the time? Because the people you make fun of for being video game nerds are a hell of a lot cooler than the douchebag that cakes his face w/ make up and only cares about making money off you by pretending to be your Friend.

Principals; Y2K lacks them.

 

Honorable Mention

This post is dedicated to someone who I found to be one of the kindest, most generous persons I know-- or have ever met in my life.

He's always there to offer any help he can when you least expect it. Not to mention he's pretty fucking intelligent. He's offered so much to me, and never expected anything in return. To me, I find that to be a very impressive, admirable, and rare trait in a human being. Especially now-a-days, that so often gets taken for granted. So, because I can't buy his friendship like a normal person, I devoted a few evenings to trek the world of my beloved and most favorite video game, and captured things that remind me of him, for him.

DeadPonies

• Thank you from the botton of my heart for all that you have done, and still offer to do, for me, and now Rodney. Because believe me when I say, I'd probably be really fucked right now if it wasn't for you. The best part of all is that you're quite tolerant and understanding of my fail at life personality. And rather than mock it, you shamelessly admit a fascination with it. So thank you for that, also. I hope you like what I picked for you. I couldn't think of another way to really show my gratitude other than with my favorite pastime, and that is taking crappy video game screenshots in the hope that they look good enough for people to thoroughly enjoy.

 

The colors were stupid so I made it b & w, and then remembered you like artsy stuff :P and flowers + b & w = artsy = for ponies




 You're a writer :D




BOOM. FIRE, AIRCRAFTS, EXCITEMENT. you movie nut. 


 

Fancy thai food restaraunt




obvious is obvious :D

 

DEAD PONIES ^-^

 



knowledge and research











ARTSSSYYYY. it's a subway. subways + b&w = contemporary artsy = for ponies




cuz yer gawf :*D








i'm not sure. lol, i just thought you would like it?








Bat's Day :D



?? =\





something to day dream over



squiggly day dream alien


















if you were someone in WoW, I bet you'd be a magic scholar cuz yer so smart!



and these would be yer tools



and this guy would be in one of your films :D

 And I vote yes to Sunday. :D

New Hope after SWG’s Combat Update

I specifically remember the afternoon about 6 years ago when I logged onto my Star Wars Galaxies account to find an unfamiliar, and in my opinion, irrelevant menu staring back at me from my monitor. This monstrosity of an emotion I felt… very similar to what is known as pissed off, overwhelmed me to a stupid degree. See, I thought that SOE would have stopped at the new numerical “leveling” mechanic they had implemented, but it pained me much to discover that no, no they wouldn’t. Thanks.

I was one of several thousands upon thousands of loyal SWG players who were royally smacked upside the back of the head. I say back because this was completely out of nowhere. Nowhere like a song title, and where a song with that title is going. Simply put; a retarded move on SOE’s part. My thoughts were that Sony Online Entertainment was attempting to be a runner up with the other MMOs that were out at that time, and compete with their leveling tactics to give players a more defined sense of growth with their character. What has always been, and still is, a mystery to me is that their profession leveling mechanic was one of the most original and fun things about the game! There was no other MMO out there like it.

It wasn’t your average number leveling MMO. You chose professions. Those professions had their own tiers of the generalized corresponding genre, and those tiers had their own tiers specifically for that mastery. For example: I chose to be a Swordsman paired with the Entertainer profession: Swordsman because at that time I didn’t believe in magic, and Entertainer because… it was fun. Let’s dissect the Entertainer Profession, and navigate through the requirements for the “Master” title – my favorite.

Entertainer has four different discipline branches to be filled with experience points of that discipline in order to get Master.

|(Master) E N T E R T A I N E R |

(4^th lvl): IMAGE DESIGNER | MUSICIAN | DANCER | ENTERTAINER ITEMS
(3^rd lvl): IMAGE DESIGNER | MUSICIAN | DANCER | ENTERTAINER ITEMS
(2^nd lvl): IMAGE DESIGNER | MUSICIAN | DANCER | ENTERTAINER ITEMS
(1^st lvl): IMAGE DESIGNER | MUSICIAN | DANCER | ENTERTAINER ITEMS

| Novice E N T E R T A I N E R |

You either “level” up all 16 boxes beginning from the bottom, or…

|(Master) D A N C E R|

(4^th lvl) DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF
(3^rd lvl) DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF
(2^nd lvl) DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF
(1^st lvl) DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF | DANCE STUFF

| Novice D A N C E R |

• You can go into that specific discipline and level that, which has its own mastery tree to complete. The possibilities were endless, especially if you were a trying to unlock the Jedi tree. Yes, UNLOCK the Jedi tree. That was no easy task. It took several months of Mastering professions, crafting expensive items, and following clues that also needed to be unlocked. Jedi were rare, as I always thought they should be. Being a Jedi or Sith in SWG was a notable accomplishment. So anytime I saw one, which wasn’t often, I was basically like omfg grats like whoa. At the time, it was something cool.

Then the changes started to come in, killing us ever so softly. Until one day, I logged on, and was able to create a Jedi at the start where I would choose my character. My Swordsman/Entertainer toon was all sorts of backwards. I now had to pick what skills to give her, instead of earning them. I had to fill in this goofy looking blank tiered panel with stupid circles everywhere with numbers that led to other circles that led to unlockable things I already had! And my pre-existing toon was level 83. What did that even mean? What happened to my profession tiers? The skills I unlocked by leveling up my chosen branches? I had to start over from Entertainer, and fill in a couple Dancer selections I already had MASTERED before this all went down. I quit, as did most of their player base, ultimately forcing SOE to merge their servers. All hope was lost. Until a guild-mate recently exposed to me a new project which has gotten me pretty damn giddy.

SWEmu is a team of developers that started a project aimed at emulating the actual SWG pre-combat update (aka Pre-CU) servers. They have been developing this project since late 2005, researching and documenting protocols between the SWG client and the live server. In doing this, they were able to build their own server daemon. So they pretty much are giving people like me who miss the old Pre-CU game an opportunity to be happy and not feel bitter when I hear the words “Sony Online Entertainment.” Not only that, but it also gives the opportunity for those poor dears who began playing SWG after the update, to play and not watch so much awful happening on their monitor. The coolest part of all is that these developers are doing this out of passion (and pocket) for one of the coolest MMO’s that was ever out on the market.

Currently, SWGEmu is already hosting a Test Server named Nova. From the looks of it, this project is still under works to have the actual physical servers up, but the team looks determined to make gorgeous Pre-CU magic. This has been one of the most uplifting things to find out about for me as a veteran and victim of SOE Heartbreak Syndrome. I for one cannot wait to see what these guys have in store for everyone out there who has suffered like I have over SOE’s biggest boo-boo to date. They also do a great job at keeping everyone posted on their forums. Perhaps, with the steps that veterans are taking involving such devotion, SOE could follow suit in their newer title.

 

A new affair and hope in the air, snare, chair, dare, pear, air, glare, blare

Usually, when I'm committed to something, I stay true. Especially when it comes to my beloved pixelated sanctuaries, or what others may refer to as "video games." I mean with World of Warcraft, it's been a pretty lengthy relationship. I'm talking about 6 years of love, strife, hate, crying, yearning, begging, craving, blah etc. A lot of time put into it. Why? Well, because I'm just very introverted. I don't take well to social situations. They make me feel very awkward and uncomfortable to say the least. Especially when there are new people involved. Of course alcohol can sometimes remedy this, which Sandeep was more than happy to experiment with, but over all, I'm just naturally introverted, and I find comfort in my room, surrounded by my tv with no cable connected to another computer to watch netflix on, the food in my kitchen, my computer, my bed, and a toilet that I share with someone I've exchanged fluids with and am totally ok with in spite of knowing this.

But something new has come along. And it's not just anything new. It's a new MMO that's in testing. And it's not just any new mmo that's in testing, it's one I don't hate as soon as I log in after harshly judging the character creator. I've had my fair share of MMOs in mah lifetime, and I can say confidently that over-all, World of Warcraft mastered it. As much as I loved Star Wars Galaxies before Sony butchered it, WoW still takes the cake. Because they made it so welcoming and easy to play. It's SO easy, that retards could play it. And I'm not even exaggerating. Their player base consists of like... everything. Just make a hunter class for a chimp and he'll get through it no problem.

However this new MMO in beta has not only shown me that it's possible for me to not hate another contending MMO after WoW, but that there is hope for me to get away from WoW, because frankly I'm tired of WoW. I really am. All it is now is little kids logging on after school trolling stupid shit and just learning how to play the game, and PvP. PvP destroyed the class balances. There's always some wacko change to stats every damn patch because one class is too over powered, or one class got nerfed too much and now can't put out as much damage as before, or some other class's stuns and crowd control spells are too easily done within a short amount of time and blah blah bitch bitch whatever. FUCK pvp. I said it. Fuck pvp. You wanna pvp, go play a shooter. I'm just sick of it. I need something new.

So here comes along a title by the name of Rift. And I'm sitting here thinking, oh great. another shitty buggy mmo that won't come close to WoWs physics engine while at the same time try to outdo my graphics card's performance. awesome. i can't wait to test it out and get pissed for wasting my time. The ones that I've tried sucked. Example: Final Fantasy. Piece of crap. Got horrible ratings. And Age of Conan. physics engine SUCKED. felt stiff and delayed. i get that it's beta, but these are basic mmo properties. when you loot something, it shouldn't take 2 seconds to process. and when you move your character to the left, or strafe to the right, it shouldn't feel like you're  moving the environment around your character, but more like your actual character is moving. if the movement feels stiff and laggy, i'm uninstalling that shit asap.

Rift is.... for lack of a better term, fabulous.


Character creation isn't the most amazing one I've ever seen, but it's still pretty impressive with fully customizable features. Something I always resented Blizzard over.

Movement is VERY similar to WoWs physics engine. it's so smooth running and not jumpy or half assed. It's very very smooth and the spells and actions process instantly, similar to how they go off in WoW. So at this point, I'm not uninstalling it yet. The only thing lacking in the movement is jumping while strafing simultaneously. that's something I find myself doing in raids when I have to run around, but with a few beta notes, I'm sure they could implement that easy. That's the only difference. The mouse also is very smooth. This has been a deal breaker for me in the past. if the mouse is shit and can't click on things in real time, gfto of my hard drive, noob. i don't give a shit if it's beta, this is a basic fucking mechanic.

Mouse controls are the same as WoW

Talent trees are fucking spectacular. Similar to WoW, but with an additional awesomeage to it. You elect to employ 3 different class types depending on your main role. I chose a caster, more specifically a mage. That doesn't mean anything though. As a caster, you can choose to be 3 of I think 8 different caster elective sub classes. All of which are beneficial when paired nicely (which is demonstrated before you in the menus what goes best w/ what.) By the time you're level 5, you would already have your 3rd tree chosen. So I chose a mage right. From there I can be a whole bunch of other shit. I specifically went for Pyromancer for straight up nuking (specifically with fire), and then I chose a healing sub class, and finally a warlock sub class. My main role is fire throwing nuker, my secondary is a healer, and i use my third role for the bonuses that i would receive by just having points in the warlock tree. Kind of like having shatter in the frost tree, but you're fire spec and use frostfire bolt. it's just there for the bonus. you don't actually use those spells

• Talent points work a little bit differently, but not by much. You can only use however many points you have that equate to your current level in each tree. So if you're level six, you can only use 6 points in one of your trees. this works for each tree. not to be misunderstood with having 6 points for EACH tree adding to a total of 12 points for two active classes, and 18 points for 3 active classes, of which you get 6 for each tree, no. you have six spendable points all together. you can use 3 in your main tree, and 3 in your secondary tree. sometimes, you will have extra points you can use. you can put these extra points wherever you don't already have 6, up to 6- or whatever your current level is. 
• Extra points? every time you gain a level, you get two points. After a while, you will just get to the point where you will put all the points you can in your main tree equal to your level number, and have some left over. these should then be used in your secondary tree. no matter what, you will always have extra points to spend.

^ Sounds confusing but really isn't.

• Talent point bonuses* are completely new to me, but still familiar all the same. so you have your 3 trees with your sub classes that open new spells, and additional stat bonuses to your class. below those are mirrored tables with abilities dimmed out beneath it's corresponding tree. on each ability square will be a number. this number indicates how many points you need to spend in your sub classes' tree for this corresponding ability to be unlocked. let me tell you how nice it is. it's nice

Graphics are pretty. they're not too overly realistic yet fail like everquest 2. it's sorta cartoony, but not. it isn't overly anything. it's just right. WoW is too cartoony, where as Conan was too realistic-y wannabe looking, and Rift is right in between there. it's reaaaallly pretty.

Groups and Raids: You can select to group with someone privately, or leave it open for others to join you at their leisure. this is especially great for raids. which are introduced earlier on to defeat these tentacle rift things that open up in the sky out of nowhere and own anyone that goes near the mobs that spawn there. so you don't need to ask people to message you so you can invite them. they select to join.

Professions: you start off as a butcher, a forger, or a miner. butcher is misleading because it actually goes into crafting clothes. kinda like leatherworker. forger is obvious, as is miner. i chose butcher, and i've been skinning everything in sight. even wasps. they dissapear shortly are you skin them, just like in WoW.

Looting: exactly how it should be. and it's fucking fantastic and doesn't piss me off. there's also a "rolling" system implemented when you're in a group and a green drops. the standard need, greed, and pass. works like a charm.

Questing is familiar. the layout of the quests and vendors can be a deal breaker for me sometimes, because it mirrors what the game will be like, in my experience. if it's too flashy and feels "too much" you know it's gonna take work to try to even understand where the hell you're supposed to even get started. but the layout is simple and not littered with a ton of crap you don't need to know or have a billion menus attached to it or whatever. it's just very simple. like WoW. clean and direct.

User Interface is cozy. and awesomely fully customizable. and i say that and mean it. you can move everything around. eeeeevvverrryyythiiing. you can add more action bars and move em around. similar to the dominos add on for WoW that I use. and the raid and party UI is similar to WoW's also. it's all very very simple and cozy and nice and not a cluster fuck of trying too hard to outdo a monster mmo. like *cough* FF. the best part is once you have a UI customized to how you want it, you can save it, and import it to another character. unfortunately this doesn't work across servers. but it's still a generous convenience.


that's all i got so far today. I really like Rift so far. I can definitely say that I would leave WoW to play this game for sure. Not to mention that the monthly payments are a little cheaper. this was the last thing i thought of, but i'll take it. I honestly think that Rift has the potential to be a real contender against WoW. this is only beta. and i'm loving it. and the best thing about it is.. it's not world of warcraft. it has the basic and familiar mechanics that a lot of people expect these days out of an mmo, but the game play is completely different. the world is different, and it just rules. so if anyone is looking to take a break from WoW or is just curious to try it out, you can sign up to be a beta tester and they'll send you an invite via email to download the client here:  www.riftgame.com/en/beta/index.php

"Sup ya'll. I'm gonna kick World of Warcraft's ass."

Social Experiment: Fail at Boobs

So as some of you have been following, I conducted a very small social experiment in regards to Sexual Harassment in the work place. R e p e a t; in the work place.

 

This all came from a Beavis and Butthead episode talking about Counter- SH cases.

These tend to be generally a little more towards women than men. (Source http://www.sexualharassmentsupport.org/SHworkplace.html)

In this episode,  a girl was sued because she was too alluring. Then it made me think, omfg. There are so many sexual harassment cases, but what about the root of some these cases? Now sometimes, this "root" might not be the case, but other times I just might be.

So, because I'm a girl, and it's embarrassing to me when another girl so easily whores herself for attention, I wanted to see what would happen if I wore your typical low cut top to work, to see what kind of reaction I would get, for a day. Now I'm also counting this towards super corporate office suit and tie jobs too.

 

Questions I asked myself:

- Why would a (generally) man feel like he had to approach a woman for something other than work purposes?

- Why would a (generally) man feel like he wanted to look at her chest or legs?

- Why would a woman accentuate her body features for work?

- How does form fitting and revealing clothing help your work situation, if you're supposedly a strong confident woman with skill?

- There are perfectly good professional womens work suits out there without a V-neck cut, as well as pants. Why not wear those?

 

My answers:

- Because he knows her enough to get past the barrier, inducing non-work related interaction

- Because he noticed it more that day than he did before, maybe she did something different

- Because she wants to feel "pretty" for work

- BECAUSE I'M CONFIDENT IN MYSELF AND I CAN SUPPORT MYSELF AND I'M A WOMAN IN AMERICA WITH RIGHTS DON'T JUDGE ME HEAR ME ROAR WOMANS RIGHTS (< -- angry answer because i wasn't offended or anything)

- Because they're ugly! Teehee

 

^ Now think about that. Am I incorrect? If I am, please correct me.

 

Now that we have our questions, lets begin. Sex is behind wanting to look good. You don't need that for work. Period.

Unless your job requires you deliberately promote yourself in that manner to attract more people under the influence who have little to no judgment, then it's just unnecessary.

 

Example: A woman sues a man because he kept leering at her every day at work, never said a word. She's a lawyer. Good at what she does. Her work outfit is a low v cut blazer thingy, and a form fitting suit skirt whachamacallit. She wears make up, rockin the red lipstick and appears to come off as high maintenance.

 

--- Now lets give her the benefit of the doubt and pretend red lipstick isn't supposed to subtlety mimic a womans lips engorging with blood while she's having sex k? she wears it because she likes stephen king---

 

The guy gets sued. End of story right? No. Because he can totally counter-sue her. Why? Because she came to work dressing a little too... not worky. A man will succumb to his animal instincts way before a woman would. Her animal instincts are to nurture and snuggle her boyfriend cuz she's happy she has a protector and wants to reproduce and then snuggle that too. Men want to spread their seeds. It's not my opinion. It's fact. It's in our DNA. SO-

 

Billy here can counter-sue Tiffany because he looked at her, BECAUSE she probably googled sexy womans professional suits and got it from there. Just like I did;

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/t-by-alexander-wang-cutout-back-knit-blazer/3138016?origin=category&resultback=4104

 

Does she need to be sexy for work? Nope. Does she need to do anything but work for work? Nope. Does she need to go to work to look pretty for her co-workers? Nope. But she took the extra step and did it anyway, and now she's getting results. She got what she wanted. Attention from her target audience.

 

Now is the part where I go to test peoples' reactions to what I wear to work. This isn't 100% because it was only for one day, but I got my results, and they're good enough for someone with common sense.

 

Day 1 - Thursday Jan 10 :  I wore a typical black low cut top with a push-up bra with black flared jeans. Simple enough.

Results: Before I even walked into the building, I noticed two men in a passing car turn their heads and face me as I walked around the block to my building ala Natalie Portman in Closer at the end. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh5yAQXNsyo

Throughout the day, I tallied up 11 glances from males that didn't know I existed the day before, at my sternum. Sternum. Sternum. At my sternum. Es, tee, ee, ar, en, yoo, em. Sternum. Google it if you don't know what it is. Eleven. At my Sternum. Not my kitty cat bag, not my face, not my dreadlocks, not my octopus necklace because I tucked it under the cut, but my Sternum. I don't have a piercing there anymore thanks to Rotny, and I don't have a scar there from heart surgery. So really, nothing material drawing these glances other than deliberate naked flesh.

 

Day 2 - Friday Jan 11 (Today) : I wore a black form fit t-shirt with a logo and olive cargo pants i got from the army surplus store. Super baggy

Results : No one looked anywhere near my chest. When we paired up for a training activity, They didn't even look at my logo. I got a question about my dreadlocks, and talked with someone about Warcraft 3 in the morning before I flashed them my shirt, but uh... not one glance at my boobs. Not one.

 

End result: 11 - low cut top with boobs vs. 0 - black t shirt with un-padded bra

I wore my make up just as I would any other day. The only thing that changed was my top. And this was only for a day. Imagine if I went to work every day in revealing attire.

So uh, yea. Before you think you can get someone for sexual harassment, look at your self in the mirror and ask yourself a couple things.

 

End note --

I was sexually harassed by a co-worker at GameStop years ago. Not because I wore scantily clothing - it's GameStop. But because he asked me what my favorite mythical creature was. I said Centaurs, I love em. He followed that with a question; would you ride me if i was a centaur? I didn't yell at him, but i made it clear that i was upset and that his comment was unacceptable to me. then he said whoa, calm down. what, are you on your period or something?

 

in that case, it would've been legit. he was fired shortly after for something else.

Screenshot or it didn't happen

Not very much to be said here:

MMO shopping, OH MY

That's right. I'm playing SWG for the time being. 

-No, I'm not that retarded. I'm playing SWGemu!

 

A few posts back, I mentioned that there's a group of amazing people out there who are working on servers for SWG veterans to play. Not the crappy, ugly, butchered, everything on a silver platter SWG, but the Pre-combat update SWG from 6 years ago before Sony ate shit and liked it.

It's so cool to be playing it again. The memories came pouring in as soon as I stepped into Mos Eisley's cantina. The down side is that the game is still in it's alpha stages. It shows very much. But I'm willing to wait. The fact that it's there for me to access whenever I want, knowing that it's slowly regaining it's strength back is enough for me to remain loyal.

Another announcement is that Rot and I are mmo shopping now. We're tired of World of Warcraft, and we got bored w/ Rift. Rift is too small right now. I need more content. It's a great game, but they need to add a little more to it. I'm sure they will, and once they do, I'll jump back on the bandwagon. I can still play for a while, just not re-occurring.

MMO shopping is hard! What to choose? I mean... I always wanted to try Aion, but apparently it's shit. Dungeons and Dragons Online is free... for a reason. And so is Lord of the Rings online. But... eh. I dunno. I'll try DDO before LoTR though, if I must.
I even thought about re-installing Guild Wars, but... meeeeh. Rot, Josh, and I were all just sitting in the living room pondering and going off about how MMOs are just blah right now. World of Warcraft simplified everything and has changed the standards and expectations of MMOs now that all others are just ruined before they even come out. They literally dumbed it down SO much... that other companies don't stand a chance. It's awful. That makes gamers like myself, rot, and josh, sit in our living room, and think about what MMO we want to play now because we're so tired of WoW, and Rift is too small right now, and the others are just... not WoW. It's a vicious cycle.
It's even worse for veterans who have played MMOs before World of Warcraft, because it never used to be like that. It was actually a challenge. Now, WoW is pretty much the Special Eds student of MMOs, and because Special Ed has made so much money, and has attracted so many Special Ed PLAYERS, veterans like myself must also tolerate the industry's newly adopted "expectations", or as I like to call it, "horse shit that'll follow suit."

Apparently Guild Wars 2 has promise, but people always say that. To me, a monthly subscription doesn't make or break my decision on playing an MMO. I've been playing MMOs since I was 14 years old. So the fact that NCSoft \ ArenaNet is advertising it as a big MMO w/ no monthly subscription bullshit means absolutely nothing to me. I could give a shit.
Now as far as Rift goes, don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed Rift. It's just that they need to add more things to the game. I understand that it's only a couple months old, and there's a lot of room for growth, but as a veteran, I'm impatient. Right now, it just isn't worth the monthly I was paying for it.
And even though I do enjoy the broken SWG at my disposal, it just doesn't fill the void. I need an MMO that's going to keep me yearning for more. :(
It's kind of funny how important this is to me. I never realized how much of a turd I am, but I am. I love MMOs. Without one in my life, I feel kinda bummed. I have the option to occupy myself w/ several other things, but I just don't want to.

In the mean time, I could always play Zelda: The Windwaker on my gamecube with Sex and the City playing on my other monitor... but it's just not the same. I've also considerate buying The Sims 3, but what's the difference? Better graphics. Oh joy. --I'm a Nintendo fan. C'mon now, lol!

Speaking of which, I was really disappointed to learn that Nintendo came out w/ an updated version of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS. What about the DS:Lite?! Sh'mon now, Nintendo, wtf? So lame. I was talking to Rot a couple weeks back about how they needed to come out w/ an upgraded version of that game, because when I play it on my monitor, it looks like ass. As much as I can tolerate horrible graphics w/ massive pixels... that was too much. I couldn't do it. It was painful. It's like watching your hamster dying of old age. I know what I'm talking about.

Anyhow,  I'm rambling. I thought about a tattoo that I would get, If I could even afford it, or prioritize before important things like paying bills on time. In addition to the other two that I would like to get someday. What are they? I shall post it when it happens. In the meantime, I'm going to look for my Guild Wars CD :(

Here is a clip of my neighbors being rude by having loud sex at 11 at night with their window open,