Postulations

Crazy Day in the World

2009-07-20T22:43:52Z

Within the last six hour period, I...

Worked up an outline for a novel concept that I'd like to work on

Completed and mailed off a pair of documents related to my contract work.

Got word from my co-author that some of our screenplay plans are moving forward

Got word about a possible biz connection that also might drive a creative plan one step forward

Worked out a billing dispute with a local restaurant

Bought a load of veggies for tonight's dinner

Read a friend's newest chapter and liked it quite a bit

Figured out how to fix the fuse on our elliptical trainer

Helped a friend out with her cat, as we've been down that road, too...

I got word from a friend about a piece of particular contract work that I'm well suited for...

...but with my existing contract, my current work would clash with the new work, so I had to turn it down (bummer)

[GW] Dragon's Throat

2009-07-20T20:09:02Z

Accomplishments: Getting through the Vizunah cooperative mission to the far side alive, and providing a positive, supporting role with the other team of players, made me feel pretty damned good this morning. While the other crew consisted of eight players, and I was working with just seven NPC's, I was able to hold my flank and didn't allow for a team wipeout.

Minion Masters: Necro characters that can summon all manner of terrible beasts and use them to mow through mobs are awesome in these missions, as you suddenly have twenty four guys on your side instead of sixteen, and the eight undead beasties are capable of drawing aggro constantly without much real party loss. When I first got through Vizunah for the first time, it was only because the other team had a swarm of dozens of undead that just mowed through everything. In this round of play, my experience worked to my advantage, as did the purchase of some good new armor that helped a lot with surviving some dicey moments.

[GW] Vizunah Square to 20

2009-07-19T16:26:33Z

Accomplishments: Leveled up from 17 to 20 in a two hour session, using the "Captured Son" mission" back in Shing Jea to get up to level 20.

Important Note: Once you head back to tackle the pirates of the Crimson Skull, the Naga in Shing Jea begin dropping pelts that you can use to satisfy the Naga Oil quest.

Overall progression: It took about 10 - 12 hours to get up to Level 20 in Factions, compared to the 35 - 40 hours it took in Prophecies. While I felt that I finished up the Factions initial quest set with less loot than Prophecies, the skills offered by the Skill merchants for Mo/As are very impressive, and allow a lot of options for the future.

[GW] Raisu Pavillion

2009-07-18T18:33:09Z

Accomplishments: Not a lot to say on this morning's play, save from getting up from 15 to 17 with about an hour of easy grinding. As I'm working through a series of missions I played through a few weeks ago with my other character, I would call the current sessions productive, but not especially thrilling...

In other news, I watered some plants this morning, in preparation for a warm summer day. .

Level 20 Wr/Gd (Writer/Game Designer)
Current Attributes: Content 10, Gaming 9, Game Design 9, Chores 4, and a handful of unused Attributes at 0 or 1.
Current slotted Skills: Editorial Muster, Continuity Knitting, Guild Wars Grinder, Dice Wrangler, Errand Runner, Plant Waterer, Insurance Wrangler, Rez
Armor: A good pair of 25's flipflops.

;) -Scott

[GW] Welcome to Waijun Bazaar

2009-07-18T00:06:29Z

Achievements: Cracking Zen Daijun (and cranking up to Level 15) was exceptionally satisfying this afternoon. While the week was mostly spent working on a contract writing gig (25,000 words in four and a half days, not bad...) I didn't get a lot of chance to get my GW on... but reading my fellow GWarriors talk of their conquests, including some deep craziness in Pre-Searing Ascalon, got me through the bad days... :)

The End of Zen: After getting stomped more than a few times by this mission, I did a quick re-spec of my Assassin/Monk and focused down to just a set of skills that allowed me to jack up a couple attributes to 11 and 8, rather than having a fixed fleet of mixed attributes only up as high as 8 or 6. This method, of ignoring one of my two classes for the coop mission worked like a charm, and I was able to hammer through the bosses with a bit of careful flag-waving. That was a great lesson learned, and I hope the education plays out well in the cooperative missions to come. Man, but those Afflicted Rangers and their blinding ability -- uuuuuugly!

Level 14 As/Mo,
Attributes: Critical Strike 11, Dagger Mastery 8, and a couple of little Skills at 1.
Skills: Unsuspecting Strike, Fox Fangs, Bane Signet, Twisting Fangs, Death Blossom, Orison of Healing, Purge Conditions, Rez
Armor: 55's throughout.

Going Forward: Now, I'm on the Mainland in very familiar territory, and back on the track to level up to twenty without much difficulty at all. My NPC party now stands at Level 20 instead of 15, so I'm back to being able to letting them sweep up the Am Fah and just rake in the xp and treasure fora little while with little threat or effort. What I'm the most excited about is going onto Vizunah Square soon and getting involved in the deeper plots of the game, now that I have a good character and a better grasp of how to wield GW game mechanics.

-Scott

A Terrible Beauty: A Fabulous Establishment

2009-07-15T01:17:36Z

(Reposted from my fellow Alliterate, Jeff Grubb, from his Grubbstreet blog, because it says it all. For myself, I had the Camembert-filled hamburger with a tasty zest of coleslaw, and finished it all up and two Guinness and wanted more...

Per Jeff, with the bolding below my accent:

I don't write much about my writers' group, the Alliterates, except, of course, to brag about our recent triumphs. It is not that we are a secret society or anything, bent on world domination, but that we do enforce a polite zone of silence on our discussions. Let me lift the lid, however, on one thing about the group.

We are bar-killers. At least, the west coast team is. While the midwesterners have had a very good run at their local bar, we have gone through taverns at relatively quick rate. In one case, we have closed the same bar between four and six times (sometimes it would reopen with new owners but the same name).

The bar in question is located in downtown Renton, 201 Williams Ave S. (here's the map for it under a previous name) and should by all intents and purposes be a hands-down success. The location is on the edge of where the town proper meets residential, there is ample parking, and it is situated on the haunches of the new urban townhouses that have been a part of "Rising Renton". The building is a former bank with a drive-in window and high ceilings and the original vault.

The structure had become the Cedar River Brewpub by the time our merry band first arrived, the old lobby dominated by silver tanks. With its demise, it was vacant, then replaced with The Giant's Causeway, its first Irish incarnation, which replaced the tanks with a beautiful bar supposed hauled over from the old country, keeping local and Dublin time. After that it was an Irish-lite pub called Finnegans (perhaps a couple incarnations of this) with a lot more flatscreens showing sports.

And now, in a quick turnaround where one of the former bartenders has bought the joint, it is now A Terrible Beauty.

The name itself comes from a favorite book belonging to the new owner Ireland: A Terrible Beauty, coupled with a chance remark from a friend. And it originally comes from a poem by Yates, commemorating the 1916 Easter Dublin Uprising:

Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

(Add one more piece of fate as the color green belongs now to another uprising, half a world away from Ireland).

The bar itself is greatly improved in its latest incarnation. It has 75% fewer flatscreens, the old bar is still there, and they have resurrected some of the furnishings from its previous incarnations. Its back patio (outside the drive-in-window) has a pair of gas fireplaces (ours blew out - still a couple bugs in the system).

And the food is wonderful, most of the menu cooked from scratch, and ranges from traditional to experimental. Thick cubes of Camembert cheese deep-fried as an appetizer were delicious. I asked the waitress for a recommendation and ended up with "Death by Mac and Cheese", a five cheese and garlic dish that hit the spot perfectly on a cool Monday night.

Now here's the deal - we, the Alliterates, are not enough to keep this incarnation of our local public going on our own. We meet once a month, and face it, we're writers - that means at least one of us is between gigs at any time and therefore on salads and small beer. So it is up to the rest of the motley crew in the Renton area (including those at nearby, say, Wizards of the Coast) who are looking for an after-hours place to check it out.

"The Terrible" is not so terrible. In fact it's a beauty.

-Jeff

[GW] Zen Daijun

2009-07-14T15:22:12Z

Accomplishments: Moved up from Level 12 to 14 and made some decent progress on cleaning up missions along the northern seacoast.

Frustrations: Zen Daijun is a tough level to crack with only NPCs. While the rest of my party follows my flag commands pretty well, the two NPCs that accompany us tend to do their own thing, even if they are standing in the middle of a disease cloud amidst a whole caravan of pissed off Afflicted. While I'm steadily making progress in luring Afflicted out of their comfort zones into the open air, its a tough gig. Going to try respec for tomorrow's session, to see whether specializing in one skill set or another will give me an easier time in this campaign setting.

Storyline: I'm very fond of this storyline section, as the whole problem of dealing with the plague and finding its source reads very much as if it is _your_ responsibility. I don't get the feel from this string of cooperative missions thatjust any hero can just jump in and take care of things at any moment, but that the whole world is threatened, and its very much up to you and you alone to set things right. Very satisfying.

The Tree has Something to Say

2009-07-12T20:29:15Z

The Tree has Something to Say, originally uploaded by continuity_guy1.

If you look dead-center at the slightly (sorry) blurry picture, I expect you'll pick up on what the local flora is up to outside our window this morning.

I've seen stuff like this before, but never quite so geometrically correct... :)

[GW] Seitung Harbor

2009-07-12T17:33:46Z

Accomplishments: Getting from Level 5 to 12 in a short three hour session!

Leveling Up: Gaining level in Factions is very much faster, as it took me 5 sessions to reach Level 12 in Prophecies, and only 1.5 sessions in Factions. I didn't change the style of my play at all, and accomplished pretty much every mission I came across in sequence, so I suspect my gain in play capability hasn't affected the formula much. It's possible that the Assassin / Monk class that I'm working through works really well in the Canthan environment, but I figure I can test that theory just as soon as I reach the boat launch that takes me to the old continent.

Advancing: I just accomplished a mission that opened up another one of those "travel with four NPC's all over the map" situations, and I expect I can eradicate most of the local carnivorous flora, fauna, and undead in the next session without too much trouble. I'll let you folks know how it goes, and whether Haiju Lagoon is going to be the next stop on the Experience Train to Twenty!

[GW Factions] Sunqua Vale

2009-07-11T15:30:10Z

Accomplishments: In an hour this morning, I started a new Assassin character and got her up to Level 5 without much trouble at all.

Assassins: While I don't know a lot about Assassins yet, I'm very impressed with the ease and fluidity of their attack strings (main attacks, off-hand followup attacks, etc.) and how you quickly learn to choose a battle strategy based on the target's current health and capabilities.

Environment: From the first moments of play, the beauty of the natural, wild environment in Factions is breathtaking, from the waterfalls to the lush, misty vistas that overlook forests, seascapes, and mountain passes. The presentation of architecture and natural features throughout the environment really works for me, as the world in Factions already feels like its massively more varied than Prophecies!

Leveling Up: Getting from from Level 1 to 5 was the work of about 40 minutes, and my travelling group of four characters took out some bad guys and bosses that I wouldn't have even dared approach in Prophecies. I suspect the leveling up process is going to be much faster, but I'll track that as I go along to compare.

Annoyances: In terms of the presented information, the "Tablets of Wisdom" scattered around the opening play area offer a lot of good advice to the noob, but the information written on the tablets really isn't couched in the same rich, clear language that marks the overall Canthan style. In the noob introduction, after dealing with the frequent long pauses and the handful of weird NPC moments where I wasn't sure what to do next (did the quest crash?), these Tablet info-dumps strewn all around the opening area with gameplay strategy tips could have been designed SOOO much more thematically.

In other news...

2009-07-10T18:29:49Z

The Whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth: Yesteerday, I went to the dentist for the first time in about five years, and was astonished to learn that I have no cavities. While my gums could use some work, and I'll have to go back in again for some more work on the built up tartar, the Sonicare really proved itself during this period. Possibly up there in the "top ten product purchases ever" category, as I used to have a cavity per visit every time I went to the dentist back in my 20's.

Attention of the League: I picked up my first couple of invitations on XBox Live, for people who saw me play CoD:WaW and wanted me to join their guild. While I don't play enough to be in a guild, I appreciate the nod, and I'm glad that all my hardwork on COD, GOW, and Halo has paid off!

Job Status: I had a good phone interview two days ago with Bungie. While I didn't work out for their current job listings, I'm very pleased that they spent a half hour talking through my skill sets - and I'm hoping something will blossom from that conversation in the future. In addition, it looks like I'll be starting up a short-term contracting gig this coming Monday, which could open up some interesting possibilities if things go well. More news about that when I can talk about it, but it's a pretty cool opportunity!

[GW] Crystal Desert

2009-07-10T18:15:46Z

Accomplishments: Picked up a Fire Sword as a random drop from a Hydra, which seriously helps the war effort! Boom, baby!

Failures: While I successfully explored the Crystal Desert and got locks on my map for all three of the cooperative missions involved in the Ascension storyline, I don't think I can do these missions alone with just my band of NPC's as backup, or a group of random PC's picked up in town. I'll need to organize a group of friends sometime later this month to go in and help me through this section of the game, as with my current level of skills, the NPC's are just too random to pass certain sections of these missions without continued party wipes.

Next Task: I'll be moving onto Factions, starting with a beginning character and working my way up through the opening content.

[GW] Amnoon Oasis

2009-07-08T17:54:16Z

Accompishments: Managed to pass the cooperative mission at Sanctum Cay without much trouble, courtesy of some good pulling, and great use of the new katana I purchased over in Cantha.

Lessons Learned: Save for one "party wipe via cat", I was able to get through the mission in about three tries, with the third try resulting in no bad mob collisions or party member deaths. While navigating through poisonous swamps can be difficult with a party of NPC's, doing flagwork and careful pulling can let you eliminate most threats if you're careful.

Going Forward: We're getting to the point where I don't have a lot of personal knowledge about the game maps, so I'll need to play a bit more conservatively in the coming desert battles. If I remember correctly, some of the lead-up to Ascension is a real bear to hack through, and I'll just have to rely on what I learned and keep on going.

Things I'd Change: Opening up a set of skills that specifically work in public spaces, that are related to amusement or non-griefing situations. Being able to sprint through certain public areas would be great, though I kind of understand why Arena did it this way, to truly deliniate between combat zones and public areas where players are "safe".

[Creativity] Back to the Grind

2009-07-07T17:36:30Z

Over the last couple of mornings, I've been working on a couple of projects, including a set of board game rules I'm working up, and hammering out synopsis documents for the teleplay that one of my writing partners and I are working on together. While the board game rules went pretty well, the initial work on the teleplay notes this morning were kind of like pulling teeth. Eventually, I got into the rhythm of it, but I feel I had a wasted hour of puttering about with the keyboard without much benefit.

Since two of the novel queries I submitted back in early May have gone unanswered, I figure I'll get the next raft of query letters put together this week for a couple of other publishers. While I'm not writing off the two agencies I sent work off to, as it's now been double the 2-4 week waiting period, I may as well continue to get the word out to the other agents that I have on my list.

I've received some good notes from my alpha readers on my Ferry Folk manuscript, and I suspect that while the book is going to need some serious scrubbing to get it ready for submission, the cut-down from 160,000 to 100,000 words is largely a success. I also got word back from a late-beta reader on Goblin Girl, in that she also really enjoyed it, and pointed out a couple of areas that could use some light tuning up as result.

All for now,
-Scott

[GW] Weekend Edition: Stingray Strand

2009-07-05T22:41:59Z

Accomplishments: Managed to get through Aurora Glade by using my brains rather than brawn. In terms of trying to capture the three end-zones, I decided to try and out-run the other team rather than try to fight them head on, and things worked out well. By just concentrating on the goals, I just repeatedly conquered the different areas one after the other. By using a Sprint power to give me an extra boost I was assuming the NPC's wouldn't have, I eventually outran them to victory without ever exchanging a sword-blow.

Adventuring: Once I got out of Aurora Glade, I followed the main quest series through Riverside and up and around to Fisherman's Haven. In terms of character strength, as long as the party doesn't get tackled by two or three groups of monsters at a time, we're doing ok. But at this higher level of play, the careful balance of movement and planned aggro is rapidly becoming key, as without carefully working out where you are going to move to next, it's possible that one of your henchmen will draw the monsters to your location just when you don't want them to.

Pretty Stuff: In this incarnaton, the Strand, with its blue water and palm trees, probably stands as my second favorite location in the game in terms of beautiful visuals. I know more good stuff is going to be coming shortly, but on my good monitor, it's just a pleasure to watch the water move about.

[GW] Aurora Glade

2009-07-02T18:01:52Z

Accomplishments: Leveled from 18 to "21" this morning, and managed to chop my way through most of the Maguuma Jungle. Yesterday afternoon, I did a great deal of shopping and selling of objects, and got myself in top shape to take on the next major section of the game.

Armoring Up: After selling off pretty much all the trade goods I collected over the last week and a half, I was able to pick up a really nice set of "85's" is Cantha. This armor, compared to the 50's I was wearing, and the 60's being offered around the home territories, is way superior. As result of doing this (and combined with an elite Elementalist skill I havested in Cantha yesterday) I'm now able to tank just about anything in my home territory. The process of working out all of the logistics took a while, but in the end, I now have a ton of armor and defensive runes that will let me probably handle anything the mid-game throws at me.

Aurora Glade: This important battle represents an interesting challenge, as at the end of a long road of monsters and bad guys lies a simple three-end zone game of base capturing. While I suspect I can win this with one or two more tries, learning that a loss in this game means re-doing the entire half hour trudge wasn't especially fun. But, with looking through some online notes, my strategy of "hold the center" looks like it should work, if not just taking it to the enemy with all the annihilation I can muster.

Going Forward: I suspect my summer contracting work is going to start soon (fingers crossed), so I'll probably be putting GW down for a few days so I can get some work done on a few of my own projects before the next wave of creativity-for-hire starts up. Overall, I probably was able to get my character up to the level 20 cap with about 35-40 hours of play over the last week and a half or so, and I'll be interested (once I finish Prophecies) to see just how fast the level-up speed compares to Factions and Nightfall. I know that Arena wants people to get in the game faster, but are we talking about 5 hours less, or 15?

[GW] Maguuma Jungle

2009-07-01T18:22:32Z

Accomplishments: Up from Level 17 to 18, with half my session messing about in Cantha, and the other half trying to chop my way through the Maguuma Jungles.

Noted for Next Time: The consumable scroll, Hero's Insight, might be quite useful for the next character I run through Cantha. Being able to earn bonus xp during the days of milk and slaughter via a turn-in might work out quite well, though my current character is kind of beyond that stage in her development.

Bloody Annoying: Things that pop out of the ground and gnarl all over you, without much warning, and usually when you're in the middle of another fight, are really annoying. While it keeps things lively, facing three or four seperate swarms of mobs at the same time is never good, even when you have the upper hand.

[GW] Divinity Coast

2009-06-30T19:51:56Z

Accomplishments: This morning marked a good power-grind from Level 15 to 17, with a side-trip to Cantha to pick up some more buku XP.

Leveling Up: I've exhausted the first wave of quests available in Cantha, and used the same heavy-lifting trick with Brother Mhenlo's NPC gang to clear out a whole zone of bad guys for little to no effort. While the average quest in Kryta is paying about 600xp right now, over in Cantha I'm earning up to 800 to 1000 xp in a single thirty second battle! Now, having leveled up significantly, I'm back to Kryta continuing my drive to explore the width and breadth of the Divinity Coast, in search of new places and new boss-monsters to harvest Skills from.

Lesson Learned: In GW, you're only as good as your party. Even after getting all manner of good tools and xp in Cantha, I suffered a near party wipe as result of a poorly thought out mob pull. Realistically, if I had to do that road of Ettins again, I'd probably switch to an Air/Ice Elemental model and just plow through it, rather than try to continue to desperately chop down the waves of Ettins that kept wandering into range of the fight.

Beautiful Things: The Divinity Coast is just breath-takingly beautiful, including one vista that just left me staring for thirty seconds. The new monitor I picked up, a 22 inch Acer, helps a bit - but I expect the scene would be just as beautiful on my old Dell monitor.

Being Unique: I picked up a set of armor a few sessions ago which I intend to wear until it's time to move up to the next kit, without adornment. So, I'm dressed in a warrior's white outfit, which I figured would make me stand out like a noob amidst the city-zones. However, in all the time I've played, it seems I'm the only one who is wearing an outfit in plain white, which weirdly makes me stand out in the crowd as something unique and shiny. How's that for strange?

[GW] North Kryta

2009-06-29T18:41:55Z

Talk about a clearing-house morning! Rose up from Level 12 to Level 15, courtesy of letting the NPC's perform most of the heavy lifting.

Tour of Kryta: When you first reach Lion's Arch, a cluster of four heroes are waiting around outside talking amongst themselves. If you stop and listen for the full conversation, you can pick up a quest to escort them to a nearby settlement. However, after a small side combat, I decided to take the full tour of North Kryta with the four extra high-level heroes in tow, and annihilated everything on the map with little to no problem. Ka-ching!

Water Taxi: Additionally, by travelling over to Cantha and running a few quests there with a bunch of high-level NPC's, as long as you keep to the rear and don't let yourself get stomped on, you can earn buku experience and loot for a quick series of combats and missions.

[GW] Crossing the Mountains

2009-06-28T18:37:04Z

Accomplishments: Chewing up through level 12 in a short session, and crossing through a number of regions, includng the Iron Horse Mine, Anvil Rock, Ice Tooth Caves, Deldrinor Bowl, and down through the Griffon's Mouth into Kryta.

Travelogue: Crossing over the snow-capped mountain ranges in GW is a truly remarkable journey. While a few of the enemies are pretty easy (Driders, Centaurs) some of the enemies are notably difficult (rampaging Minotaurs and fleet-footed Dwarves). While I managed to get all the way down to warmer climes today, into the first territories that make up the lands of Kryta, the journey wasn't especially difficult.

The Awesome: The presence of snow and light in the mountains is incredible, including the shifting snow clumps that drop from the trees when you reach warmer climes. It's not like every tree or stump is individually drawn for your alpine viewing pleasure, but the overall view, the panorama of the forests, the mists, and the mountain landscapes are breathtaking in places, especially on the last Minotaur-infested push up and over the mountain pass.

[GW] Traveller's Vale

2009-06-27T19:43:15Z

Accomplishments: Ascended through levels 10 and 11, and am now within a single mission of reaching level 12.

Nostalgia: Having finally reached the city zone of Yak's Bend, its a familiar spot. I spent a lot of time here during my earlier endeavors a few years back, as I cleared out wagon-loads of centaurs and dwarves so I could afford a better set of armor for the coming missions. One of the best things available here for Warriors is the Gladiator's Helm equipment piece, which you can purchase with a bump in Strength, Swordsmanship, or other such things for the cost of a little gold and a few ingots salvaged from less desirable materials.

Grumpy Things: "The Hill Of Too Many Dwarves" - one of the missions you get in Yak's Bend populates a main thoroughfare in the Vale with a veritable legion of dwarven fighters with magical backup. While I remembered that the best way to complete the mission is to go the long way around this military checkpoint, it wasn't until I was in the heart of the fight that I remembered this little fact. So, I lost part of the morning getting everything back on track again, and managed to hit checkpoints, find the missing traders, and hack down a few dozen Centaurs for good measure.

Learned Things: Keeping the healer from being pummeled to death in the first few seconds of a fight is becoming more of a challenge, and I'm starting to use the 'rally' flags to keep the party in one general vicinity. Without the flag in place, the party tends to go off in all different directions in order to attack prime targets, or to get the hell out of the way of the brawlers coming in to do damage to the friendies. By placing the flag, the party stays in one place, which allows for a higher survival rate in the long term.

[GW] Diessa Lowlands

2009-06-26T19:42:53Z

Accomplishments: Today, I marched my way from Level 8 to 10, and managed to hack my way through the Diessa Lowlands to Grendich Courthouse.

Small Victories: Courtesy of a skill agent in Grendich (I'd forgotten about those) I was able to pick up the Resurrection Signet I mentioned in yesterday's post, so that helps a bit. Apart from having to respec after a couple of failed runs through Diessa - as taking the wrong road in GW often leads one into annihilation vs. temptation. I am proud to say that after a stop at the Courthouse and picking up a couple of higher level NPC's to help me out, I was able to grind my way down to the Nolari Academy for a good bit of slaughter & treasure.

Going Defensive: I suspect the biggest change in my playstyle this time around, is that I'm willing to play defensive in the beginning of a fight, and try to catch the rushing mobs so they don't get to my healer in the first few seconds of the battle. Once they're occupied, then I can start making inroads towards KO'ing the casters and ranged folks, but only my healer is no longer threatened with being torn apart like wrapping paper on Christmas morning!

Morale Bonus: In terms of clever GW mechanics... the fact that your party steadily gains a morale bonus over time, and that the bonus ups your party's basic stats by a few percentage points is a nice little thing. But when your party gets wiped, your existing morale bonus drops by a 15% death penalty, and then every time you get wiped again, the morale gets dropped by another 15%, down to a max of -60%. More to the point, if you get wiped a few times in a row in a given zone without returning to 'rest' in one of the safe towns, you start off with only 40% of your hitpoints and energy. As game mechanic, this earns a golf-clap from me, as the reduction makes for a really good, compelling, optional reason for the player to choose to return back to home base without being told or forced to do so by the designers. :)

[GW] Reaching Piken Square

2009-06-25T18:42:39Z

Accomplishments: Advanced through level 6 & 7 up to Level 8, and after losing a couple of NPC party members to a Charr ambush, I arranged for a couple of careful pulls with a choice longbow shot or two, so I could eventually duel the leader in single-combat on my own terms.

Things I like: The character pathing is really strong. The fact that your character doesn't gets hung up on rocks or trees during travel or combat makes this game quite worthwhile, vs. a PC game I worked on a couple of years back where the NPC's were sticking to the walls before you even got into the action.

Personal Failures: I totally spaced completing the group-mission that is offered at the beginning of the GW play experience, where as a reward for a relatively simple group quest, you get the Resurrection Signet, which lets you resurrect fallen friends and NPC's you're grouping with in the field. While there are a number of ways that I can get this important spell a bit later on in the game, missing that particular tool is making me a little bit cautious when I encounter a new boss or group of bad guys I haven't battled before.

Things I'd do differently: With the post-Searing storyline, after an impressive cut-scene, you are re-introduced to the world some two years later. However, your character is still the same level, even though you've been battling and travelling for two years straight within the story sequence? It's a nit-picky point, but is something that I'd use to give the player a few complimentary points to spend on skills, to give the player a sense of the time and travel.

[GW] Pre-Searing Ascalon

2009-06-24T19:02:56Z

This morning, I started my run-through of Guild Wars: Prophecies, with a goal of playing the whole series to the end - specifically so if any positions open up with ArenaNet, I'll be up to speed on the current flavor of game mechanics and storytelling.

In terms of mechanics I'm very fond of in GW, the fluidity of re-organizing your character between missions, from stats to skills, is really very pleasant. The world is very beautiful and doesn't have any sense of geographical cookie-cutter flavor about it, in terms of placed objects and repetitive scenery pieces. While I initially felt a little railed in, in terms of the limitations that GW sets on geographical areas & travel paths, after exploring around the continents of WoW, including swimming around the eastern edge of one of the continents without finding a single damned interesting thing to look at or interact with, I'm much better now with being kept on the path, provided there is a constant level of entertainment and adventure to be had.

When I first experienced GW a few years ago, my computer was barely able to run the game, and I soon found that there was only one location in the entire game where I could actually interact with a merchant (Rurik's Square?) without blue-screening my computer. Now, being able to save, buy, sell, and mess with my inventory on the fly, playing GW is a much more fluid and entertaining experience. Additionally, now that I've played Eve, Warcraft, and a bunch of other MMO's, I feel I can appreciate GW in a much different light, especially when coming at the game from a position of experience rather than as just a 'noob'. :)

Today's accomplishments: Starting off with a Level 1 Wa/El and raising it up to Level 6, up to the Searing of Ascalon. (Hot plate!)

-Scott

Four days, five nights

2009-06-22T16:33:37Z

While my wife was off in Vegas, I had four days to get a whole bunch of stuff done, including:

Hammering out some concept work for a new boardgame.

Performing some historical research.

Working up the teleplay project with my writing partner.

Trying to visit an old friend for his birthday and failing my mapping d20 roll with a nat 1.

Playing a massive 50-mission epic Eve fest and talking in-game with a couple of old friends.

Bringing home my new computer and all the fixings.

Having a nice dinner with some old college friends.

Inquiring about getting some of my piano playing professionally recorded.

Mucking around in the yard with a weed eater and a pair of salad tongs.

Shooting up a variety of nice people on XBox Live.

Meeting with some folks about some potential contract work for the summer, with an interesting possibility on the side.

Continuing to research full time jobs, including another neat possibility from a friend of mine.

For my next trick, it's likely going to involve a lot whacking a bunch of mundane tasks from the task list, including a trip to Costco, getting new passports, and filling out rebate forms. (Whee!)

-Scott