11/9/08 - Waaagh!
It is with a smile on my face I am very happy to say, I am finally in the WAR beta. I finally got in on Tuesday night (after my rant, see below) "Sod's Law" I think they call that!
Anyway, the game is fantastic, more than worth the wait. And I cannot wait for the full version on the 14th! The only issue I have is the random crashing to desktop I have been suffering. It is entirely random, and has recently also been resetting the PC after a blue screen. It looks like a general exception error (from the brief time I get to see the BSOD) and I really have no idea what it is. Thankfully, I'm not the only person it has been happening to, but still, it really isn't very nice to crash out of a PQ (just before the loot roll usually!) or out of a Scenario when you're about to win.
Hopefully, it'll be fixed soon, but as a precaution I'm seriously considering getting a new HDD, and possibly even Vista Ultimate, and starting fresh with this PC. At least then I'll also be able to use all 4gb of my RAM properly!
8/7/08 - There is a beta. And I am not in it.
Aye, you heard me. The clusterfuck that is GOA has, despite months of warnings from the Warhammer Online community, royally fucked up our open beta "experience". And my, what a fucking experience it has been so far...
I mean, Jesus fucking Christ, I am so fucking angry right now, I just cannot put it into words! They told us all to make a new account on the WAR Europe site, so we did. But oh! Sorry! That was a miscommunication! You could have used your old login after all! But then, low and behold, your old account won't work, and then you spend 5 hours waiting for a fucking validation email, only to find out the authorization server is down. Again. For the rest of the night...
So, they spent half the morning trying to get stuff sorted out, giving us updates at 2 and 3am. Er, where were the updates when the players needed them? They expected everything to be sorted by 12, but, even if it was, the game servers were down anyway, apart from one french server... Hmm, great...
Did we say 12? Oh, that was just an ETA for an update. Everything should be done by 2pm. 2pm? Oh, well, what we meant by 1400 was actually 4pm. Ah... is the login still not working? Tell you what, use this temporary one if you already have a new account that you made yesterday, or use the old one. Did you get your open beta key validated? Great! Now you can wait 4+ hours for a fucking email to tell you all your details are wrong, and you'll have to start again! Sorry for the inconvenience! You'll be in the beta soon! We promise.
Oh, but before that, you'll have to wait for roughly an hour before the patcher will let you patch the game, this is to prevent overloading of the servers.
Wait, what? Over-fucking-loading!? There's no cunt on the servers at the moment anyway, because most people can't register, are waiting on "authorization" emails, or can't even patch the fucking game! At least some people actually got an email, I and most of the Phoenix Legion guys are still waiting, and the others can't even make an account, or validate their beta keys!
Anyone for a bit of Euro DAoC while we're waiting for this shit heap to get sorted out?
Oh, yeh, that's "run" by GOA too....
Fuck you GOA. FUCK YOU.
4/9/08 - About time for an update!
Yes, it certainly has been a while since the last one... WAR is ever closer, with the open beta literally just days away! I seemed to have developed an abscess, which, while not overly painful (at the moment) means I have to go to the dentist, and I really don't like dentists. Hey, does anyone? :( Still, I need to get it sorted out, and quickly. I've got the Essex Air Ambulance ride out on Sunday (depending on the weather) and also the WAR beta starting Sunday afternoon, so I don't really want to be in pain for that. But, if I end up losing this tooth (broke it a while back, I knew I should have got it fixed!) I'll probably be in pain anyway! Ugh...
The forum is now back up too, for some reason there was a major fuck up after I renewed the domain, and it simply stopped working. At all. No idea what happened, but reinstalling the forum didn't work either... Hence all the posts have gone, and all (5) of the current members have gone too! Argh! Never mind, at least now I can get the forum setup for next years potential Nurburgring trip...
I'll probably update a bit more later, or tomorrow, or at the weekend! :)
8/7/08 - I love Kung Fuuuuuuuuuuuu!
Yes, as sad as it sounds for a thirty year old man to go and see the latest Dreamworks film; Kung Fu Panda, I have to confess something:
It was quite simply one of the best, and most enjoyable films I have ever seen.
A great story, adult humour - considering the cinema was full of kids, there were a lot of times that only the adults laughed - and fantastic CGI. If you enjoyed Shrek, you'll love this! I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can buy it, and watch it again! Jack Black was his usual very funny self, actually, it was quite an all star cast as Angelina Jolie, Ian Mcshane, Dustin Hoffman, and the legendary Jackie Chan(!) also voiced characters!
Having seen some "reviews" of the film, if you can even call them that, makes me wonder if these "film critics" actually know what humour is? I'm sorry, but I don't go to the cinema to pick apart a film, I go there to watch, and enjoy them. Sadly, something that didn't happen when I went to see Teeth... But hey, they probably loved that.
Anyway, in other news, I've finally got my play.com WAR pre-order codes! Woot! I've also got a secret...
An LG Secret that is! Bwahahahaaaaa! And it is a bloody gorgeous phone, so easy to use, light, great camera, nice sound, I love it!
30/6/08 - Frustration and Boredom...
So, here I am, waiting patiently for my WAR Collectors Edition pre-order codes from Play.com, which were supposed to be with us within "7-10 days." That was on the 18th, it's now the 30th... After reading various forums, some people got theirs within a couple of days, others, like me, have not received anything. People have emailed and called to complain, and I've just done the same. I've read about far too many people who have pre-ordered games from Play in the past, to be told their pre-order pack is "in the post" or that it had been "emailed" only to find they never receive anything.
Quite frankly, with a release as big as WAR, and the coming of the open beta soon I predict, (only to CE buyers btw) I have no intention of being left high and dry. All I can say is, I'm bloody glad I went to HMV and picked one up when the pre-order packs first came in store... Why? Well, after talking to Maloghurst from Blueshadow Cult a while back - he's a former employee of Play by the way - he told me they're always doing stuff like this, never getting codes out on time, or sometimes not getting them out at all... Not very heartening news, I'm sure you'll agree! As I said in my complaint email, knowing my luck they'll probably turn up tomorrow, but some how, I very much doubt it.
That's the frustration bit dealt with, now for the boredom...
I've completely and utterly lost all interest in World of Warcraft. It's happened before, but not to this extent. In the passed two months I've cancelled both of my accounts twice, in May, and again just last week. When I cancelled them the first time I ended up playing more due to my account closing, and as I really enjoyed it for the week or so I got back into it, I reactivated my accounts. But, in the past month, I think I've logged on about 20 times, yet each time not for more than 5 minutes. There have been times I was so bored before I got into the game, I couldn't even be bothered to click the 'play' button! And that's the truth.
I tried levelling my new Shaman earlier, he's level 20, and I have his class quest "Call of Water" to do, to get my next totem. This takes me into Ashenvale, which is a nice area. Nice and full of level 23+ mobs in most areas! I ran my socks off to try and get to where (I thought) the ruins of Star Dust were, but I was so bored, I died. Twice. Where is my character motivation? I don't feel any 'love', or connection to my Shaman, it's just another alt. My main, level 70 Hunter, Khazrak - has become the same. I just can't be bothered with him, and I loved playing him, he was one of the reasons I started this site back in 2006, to detail some of my exploits and adventures.
While there are things I could do, it's all basically gear focused. PvE dungeon raids? I need a group, but then people in pick up groups only whine about drops. Mal even had a Shaman (who wear mail) need roll for cloth gloves, meant for a Priest! Oh dear... Hmmm, how about PvP? Yay! Get hammered by people in better gear, or play with a team who have no idea what teamwork is. Or er, I could level an alt. /sigh...
The problem is, I know exactly why I'm so bored. It's all because of Warhammer Online. I've done so much reading, and watched so many movies about the Living Guild system, the crafting, the keep and castle sieges, the dungeons, and the realm vs realm (RvR) combat, I want it, and I want it now. We've still got July, and August to get through yet, due to an 'estimated' release in the 3rd quarter of 2008, or "fall" (autumn to you and I).
So, that's potentially another two months of scratching my arse, depending on release, and when open beta starts. Argh! I think the reason I'm so over excited about WAR, is due to me playing Dark Age of Camelot for several years since release. I played on the US, and Euro servers, had a level 50 Necromancer, 48 Paladin, 50 Cleric... I used to love playing in Thidranki too, the level 20-24 battle ground, with a big keep in the middle of the map. Staying there and killing so many players, that I once got to level 26 from RvR exp alone! Bit of a pisser when you died tho, as it logged you out of that battleground bracket.
Those days were awesome, the RvR absolutely smiting WoW's "PvP" system. You actually had a reason to fight open field RvR as well as in battlegrounds. We used to have Relic raids, castle sieges that lasted literally hours, massive battles in Emain. You actually felt part of something bigger, it's not like WoW's PvP, or Arena system, where it's the best pre-made, or best team that gets the rewards, you got something far better than that. It was a sense of realm pride, that you were part of a massive 600+ person battle with all three realms (Albion, Midgard and Hibernia) attacking each other, or sneaking into a keep that another realm has just sieged, and killing their players to claim it for your own.
That, is what war should be about, not who has the biggest sword, or the most DPS on a raid damage counter!
29/6/08 - More avatars!
I've just finished uploading some more avatars, this time for World of Warcraft! Taken from the WoW fansite kit, so thanks to Blizzard for those. I've also now removed the other large WoW avatars I'd found, I didn't particularly like those anyway, and they were a lot bigger than those that Blizzard supply in the FSK.
Here are a few examples of the World of Warcraft avatars:
27/6/08 - My FTO hits the 150,000 Milestone!
Not really important news as such, but my FTO has just 'rolled' over 150,000 on the clock! While it isn't officially at 150,000 yet (it's a mixture of miles and kilometers, and probably only actually done around 120,000 or so miles) it was still an achievement none the less. :) Still, not bad considering it only had about 70,000 on the clock when I bought it over 5 years ago... And I still love the car today as much as I did when I first bought it! Even if it does still need a respray to make the paint A1 condition.
26/6/08 - New avatars on the forum.
Just a quick update as I'm working nights this week! I've now added avatars to the forum. As it was completely devoid of any at all! They come in two flavours: Warhammer Online, and World of Warcraft.
There are over 500 WAR avatars - thanks to Garthilk over at Warhammer Alliance for those - and around 50 or so World of Warcraft avatars. I'll add more when I find decent packs, as some that I have found have been, quite frankly, shit.
Here are a few examples of the Warhammer Online avatars:
23/6/08 - Archives are live!
A bit later than I had originally planned, but the archives are now live. They'll also be updated with the old screen shots I had originally included, and I'm hoping to get that done tonight...
In other news, Demon's mail server has gone tits up, so I can't collect my bloody emails! ARGH! Shouldn't complain though, as they're generally 100% reliable, so fingers crossed it will be fixed shortly! :)
23/6/08 - Teeth? I'd rather have mine pulled out!
Well, if one long 90 minute unfunny cock joke is your thing, then you might enjoy the latest release in the cinema entitled "Teeth". No doubt you've seen the trailer, and the film lives up to its basic idea of a bird with "Vagina Dentata" (teeth in her clacker.) Now, what exactly the point of the film was, to be honest? I don't really know.
I mean, it wasn't scary, it wasn't that gory, and some of the scenes were just laughable. "Just". It's like someone running passed you, and slapping you in the face with a wet kipper. The thought of it is kind of amusing, but the reality is just something that leaves a bad smell, and leaves you thinking, "WTF?"
So, yeh, not one I'd want to see again, and certainly not worth £7.50 to see it! Hell, I wouldn't want to see it again if it was free! Was it really that bad? You know what? The more I think about it, the more I realise what a pointless waste of 90 minutes of my life that film was, and I'll never get them back.
Thanks.
21/6/08 - 'Ere ta fix yer gubbinz!
New forum, with a new style, and now a new site!? What is going on! Yes, I've actually done something constructive with my time for a change! It was so much easier to use a template site, and edit it, so thanks go to Template Tower for their free CSS templates. While they do take work to get them how you want them (like any free CSS template really) they're a great jumping off point, with a good portion of the CSS attributes you'll be likely to use. Plus, if you're relatively new to CSS like I am, they're a great way to learn hand coding!
Most of the above links aren't live yet, but they should be (hopefully) by tomorrow at some point. Anyway, this will probably it for tonight, we're off out later for a combined house warming / engagement party! :)
20/6/08 - New forum now up!
Ah, I finally have a forum again :) Sadly, it still only has one section, topic and post, and I don't particularly like the style of it, but it'll do for now. As you can see, work on the new site is coming on at a blistering pace! Lol.
Not really done anything constructive today, I've been pretty bored really, even the recent changes in WoW aren't enough to get me interested in that again.:( All I can say is, the sooner Warhammer Online (WAR) comes out, the better!
Visit the new forum here.
16/6/08 - Shakey, Shakey, Shakey Byrrrrrrne!
Firstly, I have to say, BSB was utterly awesome. I've never been to, or even watched a race on TV that I have found so thrilling, and captivating. We must have seen around 10 crashes where we were at Russells chicane! And there were more crashes else where on the track!
Thankfully, no one was hurt too badly, there was one worring moment though when one of the Supesport 600 guys came off and ended up under the bike and got dragged along, he didn't move at all for a while, even when put into the ambulance. Luckily it just seems he was unconcious as the Chief Medical Officer gave him the all clear later on, which was a relief to hear! Shortly after that, the heavens opened for the best part of an hour, and we got soaked. It was a case of either go home, or stay that bit longer, and hope they didn't cancel round 2 of the BSB race.
I'm very pleased to say they got the track cleaned up, and the race went ahead, with Shane 'Shakey' Byrne coming 2nd in the first race to his team mate, he looked like the sure winner on the now soaked track... After setting off, and dropping to third (the two HM Plant Honda's got a really poor start) he was in 3rd behind Karl Harris, with not even a lap gone, Harris high sided, right in front of Shakey! Quick thinking by Shane saved Karl from getting hit, and luckily the rest of the field went passed without incident, leaving Shane down in 13th...
By the time they came around for the 1st lap, he was up to 9th! I said to Jo, he's going to win this still, and the commentator seemed to agree, knowing as well as I do, Shane is quite simply a demon in the wet conditions. By the next lap or two, he was up to 4th, two more laps, 3rd, then 2nd... And with only a couple of laps left of the 15 (rather than 21 due to the weather, and previous accidents) he passed his team mate Leon Camier for an anstounding win! Needless to say, we were happy! 13th-1st, in those conditions?
That guy has some big cahonies! Lol. ;)
15/6/08 - That feeling of, what was the point?
So, I've spent half of today fucking about with Dreamweaver CSS tutorials, getting along great, and brushing up on CSS for site building, and not just for text formatting. I get right to the end of the 3rd "tutorial" only to find the code I'm being given, and told to enter into a certain point, doesn't work.
Hmmm, maybe I got it wrong? After 6 re-reads of the same sentence, and multiple tries of code entering into the same (and different) places, various <div>, </body>, <html>, etc tag editing I finally give up. I know it isn't me. Having looked at other pages CSS 'styles', I've come to the conclusion the guy is talking out of his arse. It's far too complicated to explain, and quite frankly, I really can't be bothered. All that hassle for a bloody footer at the bottom of an example page, ffs...
Oh well, at least tomorrow is British Super Bike day, though going by this week, it'll probably fucking rain!
14/6/08 - Hmmm, feeling kinda 'bleh..'
Ever had that feeling, when you're really excited about something, but that over-excitement spills over into everyday life, and you can't be bothered to do anything? Yes? Then you'll know how I feel right now.
I've got all these great ideas for things I'd like to do, two new websites for example - and I really can't get motivated. Indeed, I really can't be bothered. It's sad really, I've got so much enthusiasm for WAR at the moment, that everything else just seems to pale into insignificance, and frankly, that's kind of worrying. I mean, the game isn't even out yet, and already I'm obsessing about what character I'd like to be, for which realm, or getting the guys who are interested from Blueshadow Cult together to form our own guild, etc.
Well, for that we need a site. Hell, the WoW side of BSC doesn't even have a site yet! I'd love to do it, really I would, but I just can't get my head around using CSS (rather than tables) to build a site, even using said tables, I just don't have a first clue where to begin, or what layout I'd like, or anything like that. Sure, there are plenty of free templates online you can use, and I've seen some good ones, but they seem so, limited, for what I want, and where is the satisfaction in using someone elses work for your site?
I've still got that massive door stop of an HTML book on the shelf, gathering dust... Maybe it's time I actually started reading it and actually learn something for a change, rather than spending my afternoons running around in WoW, totally bored out of my mind.
Anyway, I have been slightly productive lately, and I've made a new banner for Eye of Terror, and also one for the Blueshadow Cult WAR site, (using some of the images from the webkits for the latter) and they both look great.
11/6/08 - Yes, An update in 2008! O.o
Over a year since the last update, has it really been that long? Well, as I'm writing this now, then yes, I guess it really has been that long.
What's been happening? Well, just the usual old shit really, working hard, sometimes gaming more than I should, other times not gaming enough. Currently, I'm salivating over the prospect of WAR! No, not "war", but Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning! Waaaaagh! :D
But first, WoW news. Khazrak is still 70, better geared than he used to be however, Khazrek is now 65, Tuern is 64 and Elali has reached the heady heights of 54! Khazren, is still no where near 70, at a lowly level 50. Yup, not really a lot of levelling done since the last update, but then I did quit WoW for a while out of sheer boredom..
Frankly, it's getting to be like that again too. The same old players and guilds, getting the same old (new) better equipment because they have more time to play than us "normal" people with you know, jobs, familes, partners, etc. Fair play to them I say, to be honest, I don't really have the time, or inclination to run the same bloody instance 10,000 times just for a chance to get a piece of my "Tier X" armour (which I'd then have to roll for against "X" number of Hunters) so really, I can't say I really care for gear grinding any more.
I could get started on the scripted nature of the boss battles, and how you need to do "X" boss using "X"tactics, but what's the point? The fact my gear isn't really good enough (4/5 pieces of Season 1 Gladiator gear atm, plus a few other greens & blues) to go to most of these places anyway. But you know me, I've got so many alts to level (including a new Dranei Hunter at level 16) that the "End Game" instance has never really worried me. Would I like to do it? You bet your arse I would, but as my job limits regular play time on the same days, it puts a bit of a dampener on said proceedings.
Anyway, as I said, WAR is coming out soon, 3rd quarter of 2008 is the current "release period" and I'll be leaving WoW to play that instead. Remember the good old days, RvR in DAoC, I do, and I miss them. 6 cans of Red Bull, 36 hours without sleep, and a 20 hour siege of our keep after I finished nights one morning, aaah, those were the days... The stuff legends are made of! :) It's true though, and I slept for over a day by the time I actually went to bed, I was totally slaughtered! And glad to say, I've never done it since - not to that extent anyway - certainly makes you think when you hear about the Korean chaps that died after drinking nothing but energy drinks, pissing in bottles, eating take-away's and generally not getting any sunlight for a week..
So, anyway, on to my point. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with this site at the moment, do I make a new WAR site, detailing my future exploits for 6 people in the world to read? (Yes, that includes you mum! Haha) or, as I've spoken to Taima / Maloghurst about in guild chat - make a new site dedicated to the Blueshadow Cult in WAR? Time, as they say will tell. I also need to fix the phpBB forum, and add the new phpBB v3.01, hopefully then we'll get less spammers, and less bullshit.
Meh, I don't know.. It would be nice to do something more mentally stimulating for a change though than running around killing the same mobs, and running the same quests I've done 20 times before in WoW...
WAAAAAGH!
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