• 12May 09

  Finally...

  I did it, I quit WOW. And no, I am not going back. I made sure of that when I typed D-E-L-E-T-E with my level 80 naxx 10/25 geared pally tank. Why? Well it's simple really, WOW, for me, lost the rpg touch. In recent times, all I have been doing in WOW is waiting for weekends for a chance to get a raid spot and just may be get a peice of gear. So I was playing, at best, 1-2 days a week and the only motivation was to get gear, not the story nor adventure, heck, not even the gameplay. I had a fun time with WOW, the best times being 20-60 for me as their was always something new and exciting and I focused on the adventure. But it's not the same for me anymore.

  The problem is that I still want to play an rpg, and I'd like it to be an mmo so I can have a broad world to explore with other people. At the same time, i don't want a game that'll force me to play on a schedule and chain me in place during over planned raids; I want an open game with just questing and adventure, even at end game, with the ability to play whenever and however I want. Seems like I want too much, but at the same time it seems LOTRO might just have what I want. The start of a new adventure? Just may be....

  • Posted May 12, 2009 6:59 pm GMT
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• 30Mar 09

  Keeping it fresh...

  So I've been looking at all the web browsers out there lately. The reason for this is mainly when I got my new computer and started hearing about all the weaknesses of Internet Explorer. Right off the bat I went after firefox and really never went back to IE. More and more I became interested in all the cool software out there (yes, this started with me checking cnet a little too often).

  No, don't think I'm completely ignorant; I did know there was a whole slew of browsers and apps that made playing on your computer more interesting, I had just never really looked into it. Soon after I had finished having my fun with firefox I looked into Google Chrome.

  Quite frankly, I really like Chrome for one major reason; simplicity. Sure with firefox you could get new themes and edit around the look of the bars and such, but there was still a certain complexity to it. With Chrome, however, simplicity is at its core. Though this may sound a bad reason to pick up Chrome, it's not. The simplicity of Chrome really makes you realise how all those buttons and lines filling up your browser's window make surfing stressful on your eyes. I found that spending a half hour just surfing with Chrome really seems more fluid due to the simple design that makes it feel so much more welcoming and relaxing.

  However, Chrome doesn't seem to offer anything else major. Overall I'd recommend Chrome if you didn't care about tons of apps and cool little features but just wanted a browsers that was simple and was much more fluid in its design and experience.

  Pretty soon I turned to Opera. I had heard that many use it and those who did usually never went from it unless needed (which I'll cover later). I heard about all sorts of cool features like speed dial and mouse gestures so I had to try it out.

  As soon as I opened it up I was welcomed with a browser with a look evenly balanced between firefox's sleek, shiny look and the fluidity and simplicity of Chrome. As I looked over the various themes I was happy to find that the ones I like didn't take away from the look and feel of Opera's base design, which is great.

  What really sold me in the end, however, was the above mentioned features; mouse gestures and speed dial. Mouse gestures is an integrated tool in Opera that allows you to perform task like going back and forward in history, scrolling through tabs, opening tabs, and many others just by holding the right mouse button and performing the correct motion with your mouse. The motions are simple and can be memorised very quickly. Pretty soon I found myself having fun just surfing the net and looking over my favorite pages, but not because I wanted to really focus on them, but because I was having fun with the mouse gestures!

  The other major feature is speed dial. This feature is basically a list of your top 9 sites that you choose. By holding control and pressing the corresponding number, that site from your list will open up automatically. This is a tool that really speeds up your surfing and adds to the fluidity.

  One problem, however, is one that I have only heard of. For some reason, Opera is reported to block or not load certain sites. So far, my favorite sites are unaffected. However, this doesn't seem to be a big issue as many users stick with Opera and the problem is probably being taken care of due to this wide base of users.

  I really recommend Opera to anyone who spends a good amount of time surfing the net, whether for fun or work. The simplicity of Chrome is found here and built upon by the mouse gesture feature making surfing not just fluid but fun! As well, there are many good apps out there as with firefox so you're sure to have your widget needs covered. This is all topped of by the speed dial system which adds both to the fluidity and usefulness of Opera.

  • Posted Mar 30, 2009 9:09 pm GMT
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• 29Mar 09

  Waaaagh!!!!

  Well, seems I'm getting more and more bored of WOW... its was fun while it lasted. The problem is I still have the mmo bug and still want to play rpgs, so I picked up Warhammer.

  Its kinda of a huge change of pace for me; I was never really into pvp with WOW but the whole point of War is RvR (basically pvp but on a much larger, more complex, and more fun scale). I have to stay I'm having quite a bit of fun with War. There is plenty to do. You can go and fight the enemy players in giant groups of 24 in areas made specifically for these battles. In these areas (which are completely open) you'll fight to capture strategic points which give players on your side various buffs and you'll fight for the keeps of the area you are in, which gives you various benefits and control of the area.

  What is really cool about this open RvR is that you can jump in very early on and you will be able to level through this as you gain experience from killing enemy players and helping in these battles. As well, like gaining experience, you will gain influence and ranks, these are used to get some of the best items in the game.

  In addition to open RvR, you can join in scenarios which are basically instanced RvR battles with specific objectives that are basically capture the flag or king of the hill. For those who prefer pve, I will warn you that in the end game the focus is on pvp. However, the main pve aspect of the game is one of the best out there; Public Quests, or PQs. PQs are basically open areas in the game world that have certain objectives and are divided up in at least 3 parts. Basically you would walk right in to the area of a PQ and the part and objective will be listed on the top right of the screen (usually kill X amount of these guys, or kill this boss, or protect this guy). Anyone can walk in and help and you gain influence like in RvR but for a different set of rewards. At the end everyone is ranked on how much they helped and based on their score will get a loot bag from which they can choose one prize, like armor or weapons or gold.

  Interestingly enough, PQs become a huge part of RvR when capturing keeps. To actually get the keep, you have to kill the enemy faction's keep lord which is a npc with npc guards. At the end everyone is ranked and gets a loot bag much like in normal PQs.

  Overall, War is very well polished for a MMO out for less than a year. There is plenty to do, no serious bugs, and a friendly community. The graphics are pretty good for an MMO, and have a super realistic fantasy/ medieval theme to them. I recommend this game to anyone interested in fantasy mmos as it is a nice change of pace from what is normally in a MMO and it does now have a free ten day trail.

  This is basically a review but by the time I realised it I was pretty much done... Oh well, enjoy!

  • Posted Mar 29, 2009 9:50 am GMT
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