tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89220726875206653632024-03-05T11:22:44.398-08:00BossOfEarthUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-75383264518059046292016-09-05T09:46:00.001-07:002016-09-30T23:49:40.265-07:00Pledge for September!<br />
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Complete a Rebot!<br />
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Fingers crossed, I'm gonna win it!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh0z5X_ZNd1NQ0DP8GtpNflFhBrMpSAGnmCYcuEpEGeARG1hY9VJHfsgkQyFqqWdPaWNHsg5AUNdr4ZOQ3SeDhyphenhyphenFbBUvPxcJrkJGxrdydqU6MQQ1aukRSl6UPgQkRk8ihyphenhyphen_5VF8BYYUQ8/s1600/IMG_0184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh0z5X_ZNd1NQ0DP8GtpNflFhBrMpSAGnmCYcuEpEGeARG1hY9VJHfsgkQyFqqWdPaWNHsg5AUNdr4ZOQ3SeDhyphenhyphenFbBUvPxcJrkJGxrdydqU6MQQ1aukRSl6UPgQkRk8ihyphenhyphen_5VF8BYYUQ8/s320/IMG_0184.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sept 7: Finished smoothing mold lines and removing flash. I'm excited about daring to try more dynamic poses. I can see why so many modelers choose to assemble them the same way -- it will take a bit of work to make them strong enough to stand any other way! The ball and joint sockets seem... overly optimistic to say the least. :)</div>
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Finished! (at night so bad lighting)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-25510556621291416532016-09-02T01:56:00.001-07:002016-09-02T01:59:55.614-07:00A portrait from my Chinese student<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcGbv1iMA4kL1Hrca9m7moITDWWQ2LDr6Kl4HeCato3YfRq5bhVI7fJjbwTi7sL01-M5fenorcvRt_n7GPiOD3rpNeiqNQ4a9G3YCFItTAHmlsfUJNLoYwnZHZ2I0UvQoNTqqDEQEiUk/s1600/ALEPH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzcGbv1iMA4kL1Hrca9m7moITDWWQ2LDr6Kl4HeCato3YfRq5bhVI7fJjbwTi7sL01-M5fenorcvRt_n7GPiOD3rpNeiqNQ4a9G3YCFItTAHmlsfUJNLoYwnZHZ2I0UvQoNTqqDEQEiUk/s320/ALEPH.png" width="310" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-75325705148043409912016-07-24T00:01:00.000-07:002016-07-24T00:01:00.425-07:00Do you have the Aleph starter box? Because I do, and here's what I wished I knew about how they survive attacks. Each and every trooper in the Aleph starter set is tough to kill in it's own special way. Their similar sounding rules are easy to get wrong, be it ever so <i>slightly</i>.<br />
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There are no normal troopers in the Aleph starter box. None. But for reference, normal models stop fighting after a single wound and die after a second. </div>
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No wounds suffered - fighting. </div>
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One wound suffered - unconscious. </div>
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Two wounds suffered - dead</div>
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But when normal troopers are hit by "shock" weapons, they die immediately from the first wound suffered -- no unconscious state, they're dead straight away. That's how normal models behave.</div>
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One shock wound suffered - dead</div>
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Nagas are like that but with an added bonus. When they are unconscious you can choose to have them keep fighting instead. This skill is called V: Dogged. The downside is that after the end of the turn in which you activated V: Dogged they die. Their automatic death represents the deadly toll of fighting with injuries. Its a tradeoff -- if they just stay unconcious and alive a doctor can try to patch them up later in the game.</div>
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One wound suffered - unconscious, or V: Dogged</div>
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Two wounds suffered - dead</div>
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Deva functionaries have an even better bonus, "V: No wound incapacitation." When they are unconscious you can choose to have them keep fighting, but unlike Nagas, they don't die from fighting while injured. They can potentially keep fighting while wounded for the entire game, so always activate it, there's no downside.</div>
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One wound suffered - fighting because of V: No wound incapacitation</div>
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Two wounds suffered - dead</div>
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The result of V: Dogged and V: No wound incapacitation is that your troopers will seem to be twice as tough as normal troopers. Normal troops fall down and stop fighting after suffering a single wound, but Nagas and Deva functionaries keep on fighting until they die from the second wound. However, they have no special defense against shock ammo. If they take a single wound from shock they automatically die. Shock ammo is deadly against normal troopers because it deprives them of their unconscious state, but it's especially harsh for Nagas and Devas because it deprives them of a chance to use their V: Dogged and V: No wound incapacitation.</div>
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One shock wound suffered - dead</div>
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The Asura is the toughest trooper in the starter box. She fights until she suffers three wounds and dies. She's so tough, it doesn't make a difference if those wounds are shock. Shock damage, normal damage, its all the same an Asura.</div>
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One wound suffered - fighting</div>
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Two wounds suffered - fighting because of V: No wound incapacitation</div>
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Three wounds suffered - dead</div>
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When any of the preceding troopers are healed by a doctor or paramedic (like your Dakini tacbots!), they recover by having one less wound than they would when unconscious (or V: Dogged, or V: No wound incapacitation). This is equivalent to removing the last wound they suffered, which means that they're two wounds away from death -- even for the multi wound Asura.<br />
Asura after after healing:<br />
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One wound suffered - fighting because of V: No wound incapacitation</div>
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Two wounds suffered - dead</div>
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Dakini Tacbots are a kind of robot called "remotes." Shock ammo acts like normal damage for them because they have structure instead of wounds. They also have Ghost: Remote presence, so they have TWO levels of unconscious.<br />
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No wounds suffered - fighting</div>
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One wound suffered - unconscious</div>
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Two wounds suffered - unconscious </div>
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Three wounds suffered - destroyed</div>
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Since they're not alive, they don't die, but they can be destroyed. They can't be healed by a doctor but they can be repaired by an engineer; returning them to full structure, it's like they were never shot at all! This is equivalent to undoing one or even two wounds.<br />
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Aleph is infamous for having lots of V: No wound incapacitation so your opponents an be expected to bring plenty of shock weapons. However, shock ammo is wasted against shock immune troopers like Asuras and Dakini tacbots. <br />
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So good luck and remember to keep your Devas and Nagas away from shock ammo, your Dakini tacbots unconscious after two wounds, and your Asura in the thick of things. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-68713916728179729552016-07-13T08:05:00.001-07:002016-07-13T08:22:33.244-07:00First TAG-kill ever!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhKxlHy_QNqm1z4j-6e2SzWAjWj7KkGICn3ywBTaDM5Lz8pYk6V1IEuhbJof6JgEmF6OrhCttY6TQ-ISKjLDaC4i5YDwk5Ox3aBdXByArA88WKuiNkKHuFVNDwIVlnoE4uWgSOvH2zJE/s1600/IMG_0092.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhKxlHy_QNqm1z4j-6e2SzWAjWj7KkGICn3ywBTaDM5Lz8pYk6V1IEuhbJof6JgEmF6OrhCttY6TQ-ISKjLDaC4i5YDwk5Ox3aBdXByArA88WKuiNkKHuFVNDwIVlnoE4uWgSOvH2zJE/s320/IMG_0092.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
HMG Asura (work in progress) shoots through a smoke template to destroy an Iguana TAG in full suppressive fire. The Iguana pilot escaped with a HMG, harassed my flank and claimed an objective.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-74824739580293906042016-07-11T01:56:00.002-07:002016-07-11T01:56:59.981-07:00 Daktini tacbots. <div>
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Notable re-sculpting:</div>
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New heads: </div>
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I'm very happy with my new serpent-faced bug-eyed talbot heads because they look wiser and sneakier than the default. The eyes are HUGE so they'll give me a canvas to try NMM. They have no mouths, which fits with them being the automatons of Aleph. </div>
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New gun-safety protocol: </div>
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I converted my Daktini takbots never point their gun-arms at anything they don't want to destroy. I like that they look like they mean business in a Ghost in the Shell sort of way, not in a guns blazing sort of way. </div>
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Decommissioned codpiece: </div>
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The one on the left is fixed, the other two will be on the chopping block soon. </div>
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I'm enjoying the miniatures, totally unlike the squat GW minis that I'm used too. Please let me know what you think of the changes. </div>
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We're from Section 9, not Section Gangsta.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-19146281378790631202016-07-10T17:42:00.001-07:002016-07-11T02:29:31.281-07:00I'm starting Infinity:N3 and really enjoying it. Here's my first purchase, paid for by a gift cert I got for Christmas. Thanks Santa!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiFLrf35XGDlSomuGUnWfhQyBBxw_4sbtGkYa95x17h0IMHPk2c-Ma9C2zgILUmnl3_Rw2nSHx8uVfWTHhM1eTwcHKu1r9EbgruoXtCAg-CgEyVEBhGGOKphIPMd8FKslVIkXrrI-td10/s1600/IMG_0075.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiFLrf35XGDlSomuGUnWfhQyBBxw_4sbtGkYa95x17h0IMHPk2c-Ma9C2zgILUmnl3_Rw2nSHx8uVfWTHhM1eTwcHKu1r9EbgruoXtCAg-CgEyVEBhGGOKphIPMd8FKslVIkXrrI-td10/s320/IMG_0075.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aleph starter pack. Asura, Deva, Naga, Dakini tacbots (x3)</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-61434775376146345362013-04-12T11:03:00.002-07:002013-04-12T11:37:51.848-07:00Red Dead Redemption Xbox 360I finished Red Dead Redemption. I liked it. I can't remember the last time I played an Old West video game, but the best Western game I've ever played. The look of the game is perfect. The glorious sunsets, the sun scorched deserts, the antique firearms, and flawless horse animation -- I can see why this game is so highly recomended! <br />
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I played on "hardcore" difficulty where combat is an enjoyably deadly affair and death is dealt with a single bullet (or two). I particularly enjoyed the challenge of ridin' an' shootin' but I didn't enjoy the "deadeye" slow motion and only used it as a crutch when I was outgunned.<br />
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My favorite memory was hunting mountain lions with a knife. Every once in a while, when I was playing RDR I'd hear a roar and then see a Mountain Lion kill my character, with no hope of retaliation. (On "Hardcore" difficulty mountain lions are deadly!) After a while I learned to anticipate their arrival. Horses whinny in fear whenever they sense a dangerous predator, but Mountain Lions are the only silent and invisible predator. Even so, all my Mountain Lion hunting trips ended with me as the prey. My first break was when I stumbled across a sleeping Mountain Lion. I had never seen one before and it was very helpful to get to see what it was that was hunting me. I tried to soften it up with some small arms fire, but it escaped.<br />
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After that I set out bait. I saw a lot of wolves and boar, but precious few mountain lions. Eventualy I encountered one by chance, wounded it and chased it on horseback. My plan was to kill it with my knife, but instead my horse trampled it to death and I was no closer to my goal. The big breakthrough for me, was when I finaly attracted a Mountain Lion to some bait. I was up on top of a tall hill looking down, and I got to observe it's sneeking pattern and most importantly how it moves. An RDR lion moves like a race car. It even fishtails when it accellerates. After that, hunting them was easy. One I hunted from horseback, and the other I was on foot. <br />
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I also enjoyed the battles on the river and the stage coach. Those were a lot of fun. <br />
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That said, I did not enjoy the third act. It's non-Western and the gameplay takes a turn for the worse. Whereas in the first two acts I was very happy to blaze away with my cowboy weapons in real time, act three has a bunch of cheap ambushes that can only be survived with "deadeye." The third part is full of Plot! History! and Acting! that is lamentably bad. Worst of all, everyting is played against type. The lawmen are unlawful, the villian is not a villian, the revolutionary is not revolutionary, the anthropologist is not an anthropologist and so forth. The effect is a disorienting nightmare and I was glad when the game ended. <br />
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RDR doesn't have the fun or lasting appeal of DDO, but I enjoyed it for a few weeks. My 6yo daughter thought the horse stuff was great, and was forever commanding me to lasso and break more wild stalions. <br />
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Red Dead Redemption is a solid game set in an exotic milie but don't listen to the actors or play Act III. <br />
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3/5 stars.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-4633695275912138602013-04-12T06:59:00.001-07:002013-04-12T06:59:56.114-07:00Hello World This is my first Blogger post. All the posts previous to this one were imported from the now Dungeons and Dragons Online fan-site where I used to blog about my DDO hobby.<br />
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Now that I'm on Blogger, I'm going to expand the focus to my gaming in general, and not just DDO. I also paint miniatures, play Xbox 360 and occasionaly get the time to do some real face-to-face gaming. I also do a bunch of "fun" stuff with my kids (6, 5, 2, 10mo) but that's generaly not blog worthy. (Although see the post where my Daughter slays the Church pinata with her jedi powers.)<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-26363502027733913882013-04-01T10:57:00.000-07:002013-04-01T10:57:33.833-07:00Hello worldHello worldUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-10754301395377187462013-04-01T01:45:00.000-07:002013-04-12T06:37:50.752-07:00That which is eternal offline is not dead...Like Chthulu, I spring from my watery offlineness and devour 1d4 investigators! <br/><br/>I've got my computer back, my game back and MyDDO back. So how was it back in game?<br/><br/>Session 1: I was holding my little 10 month old and rocking her to sleep while onehandgaming. I did it successfully with my other three kids but my youngest is more rambunctious. <br/><br/>My first quest after my extended absence was that house K quest with the fire caves. It used to be a really tough quest, but now that I'm geared up (and have access to 30 fire resistance from the guild airship) it's really a cakewalk. And to make it even easier, I arrived late. So I ran through the entrance took a right, jumped over the lava...<br/><br/>...and my daughter kicked my mouse arm. My dwarf spun like a top, landed in the lava, and got hit with a fire trap. I was like "right click, G1, G9! G9! G9!" and DDO was like "DING!"<br/><br/>Luckily, someone else managed to drag me out of the lava and rez me. Then I tagged along and finished the quest.<br/><br/>Later on, I put the baby to bed. I got my nice chair, my quality earphones (which look yummy to a teething baby) and turned down the lights. Man, this is such a good game! The sounds are so full, the action is so engaging. I enjoy other games too but DDO is really outstanding.<br/><br/>Re: MyDDO. I'm sad to hear that MyDDO is going away. Writing about my experiences here has been a really fun part of the enjoyment cycle of playing DDO. I've enjoyed it so much I'm going to try to start up a new blog and salvage as much of my content as I can. I've enjoyed your comments here and look forward to seeing more in the internet!<br/><br/>Neener neener: I won a Chronicles comment Turbine Code!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-55051587460608748582013-01-26T14:52:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.748-07:00Retrogaming: Currently playing DDO on a fun-size netbookCurrently, my main is at the Harbor bank and my gaming rig is a HP 210. <br/><br/>Q: Does that ancient netbook even turn on? <br/>A: Yes. I vaporized the previous owner's bloatwear so it boots up and turns in while plugged into the wall. However it won't charge the battery (internet says HP BIOS is buggy) so it's strictly an AC laptop for now.<br/><br/>Q: Can you install DDO?<br/>A: Yes. The install took 12 hrs but now DDO is installed.<br/><br/>Q: Oy! Can you move? You ain't undead are you?<br/>A: My one (and only) toon is in the Harbor right now. The snow is falling really thick and, at least for now, I'm not able to move. <br/><br/>Q: And so it has finally come to this!<br/>A: Yes. Although with any luck I'll be able to limp to house C for the tokens once the Festivult snow storm stops.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-41444159511609785732013-01-15T15:11:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.739-07:00U17: NEW augment system + my main = Panic!You can read the offical announcement here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=404669<br/><br/>I'm excited. This new augment system consolidates and replaces two systems I never used: EPIC and GUILD crafting.<br/><br/>EPIC CRAFTING was fun to read about. I thought long and hard about putting in the time and effort to get some gear and slotting it with something cool. But by the time I was epic questing ready True Reincarnation was released. Insufficient dedication to the endgame means I traded all my tokens for hearts of wood and never did anything with Epic Augment Crystals.<br/><br/>GUILD CRAFTING did not appeal to me. I was in a big and successful guild but even so, I didn't like the timers on the stuff. <br/><br/>So, since Ive never done either of those, I'm looking at the NEW augment system with fresh eyes. I'm asking "is it better than nothing for TR twinking?"<br/><br/>CLEAR: Not interesting to me. At low and mid level, Clear slots offer attribute bonuses that are comparatively weak.<br/><br/>RED: These will provide a small boost to my Cannith Crafted twink gear. The ability to do an extra 1d2 fire damage in Waterworks will be fun. I also have an eye on the byshyk augment for that pesky Devourer of Dreams.<br/><br/>BLUE: These go on shields and armor by default. So for me that will probably just be armor. There's plenty of nice things, and I suspect that a blue Slot on armor will compete pretty well with named armors. <br/><br/>YELLOW: Far weaker than RED or BLUE but available on everything. This looks great to me, I can really see getting some flexability out of this.<br/><br/>PURPLE, GREEN, ORANGE: These hybrid colors are exclusively assigned according to the whims of the Devs (which is the same thing as random, but more arbitrary.) I'll reserve judgement until I see how they parcel them out.<br/><br/>NAMED AUGMENTS: What are they good for? It is a mystery.<br/><br/>Additionaly, I'm glad that GIANTHOLD RELICS are used to buy augments from vendors. As it stands now, I think that the new augment system will play a minor role in equiping my TRs. <br/><br/>Bravo Turbine. Now hurry up! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-3410310859196878022013-01-12T13:04:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.708-07:00My first time: Tomb of the crimson heartYeah yeah, I was gonna do the whole chain last night but I got a late start. Makes for a short post anyway. <br/><br/>I put the wife and kids to bed and hopped onto DDO later than I intended. I've completed these quests before (Necro 1) but I did it as part of an overleveled favor farming PUG. I was basically running as fast as I could to avoid getting left behind. I don't remember the geography or the story or anything.<br/><br/>No one joined my PUG. I blame it on the lateness of the hour, the alure of festivult, and the proliferation of Otto's irresistable boxes. And it probably doesn't help that despite the fun of Necro 1, it has a rep for stingyness of loot and xp per second. And anyway, the people who are attenuated to that are farming EPIC XP.<br/><br/>But thats ok. Honestly I kinda like soloing now that I'm on my 3rd TR. The stats and gear make it a snap to do traps and self heal. My DPS is slow, as always, but that's a trade off I've made every time. <br/><br/>This quest is mostly against wights. They have good HP and low DPS (just like me!) so the resulting conflicts are slow battles of attrition. Me and the hireling got in over our heads once, theres some optionals with a mob of human cultists and they've got Magic Users that work in tandem. The soundblast stunning was a bit much for the hireling, but nothing that a rez shrine couldn't fix up. <br/><br/>No, the real problem I had last night was my ancient foe...<br/><br/>...Hubris. <br/><br/>See, there's a half dozen identical hallways in this quest. All of them are suspiciously long and empty and yeah they all have blade traps that line the walls. Anyway, my problem was I was running around with my big red band leader hat of spot and my GM voice of even more spot and I had plenty of advance warning on all the traps. Whenever I saw the trap-sense warning I stopped swapped hats and trinkets a few times and disarmed everything. No problems, I even disarmed a trap on a natural 1. <br/><br/>So anyway, I got a trap-sense warning and spotted the trap from maximum range. The little white ray transmitted through a wall to find the thing. And then the wife and baby started to wake up. I rushed in there opened the trap and then checked to see if there was any way to complete the quest immediately. <br/><br/>The log said I only needed to find one more rune so I started running franticaly. I found the last of those trapped halls. I started to swap into my trapfinding gear but then, to save time I double checked with my spot gear. Nothing. Totaly safe. <br/><br/>So I ran through the hallway. Halfway there I got a trap-sense warning, and also got chopped by a big blade trap. Now for the Hubris part: instead of jumping to avoid damage while casting lay on hands and running to safety. I stood there like an evil mastermind thinking "Inconcievable!" And then the blades hit me again and I thought "I do not think that word means what you think it means." And then I made the wrong decision, I leapt and jumped forward into the next trap.<br/><br/>My hireling ran in too, and her spider summons ran in also. The nearest shrine was way too far, so I recalled ran back in, resummoned a hireling, resummoned a spider and went back to the hall. Sure enough there was a trap box in the exact spot where I reflexively started to look for a trap box. I also saw a new bug, the spider that followed the hireling and I to our doom? It was still in the trapped hallway just hanging out. <br/><br/>I brought the new spider summon in to say "hi" but they didn't interact or anything. <br/><br/>I found the missing rune and opened the final chamber. I got there and was impressed. Whereas the rest of the tomb was a maze of twisty passages, all alike this final throne room was really cool. High ceiling and the floor sloped up to the throne at a very steep angle. Not at all practical, unless the purpose of the throne room is to intimidate.<br/><br/>I dispatched the guards, ascended the ramp, approached the throne and battled yet another pair of human Magic Users. The same kind of group that had given my hirelings such problems. They also had the Mummy King that ruled this wicked throne room. <br/><br/>Since he was so good at interior decoration I assumed he was mostly harmless and focused on the casters. But no sooner had they fallen my wife and baby arose from their slumber. I aimed my character at the entrance of the throneroom and hit "autorun."<br/><br/>Ten miniutes later, I returned. I was running stupidly into the entryway doorframe, but the mummy was back on his throne. I approached the throne again and we battled. He hits pretty harder than I gave him credit for. <br/><br/>That was all I had time to do, but tonight is DDO-nite for real! I'm gonna finish up my level 5 bravery bonus quests (Tomb of the XYZ heart, and Delera's tomb part 1) and then level up!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-26690535274866166502013-01-11T17:41:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.680-07:00DDO now and forever!DDO tonight! DDO forever!<br/><br/>Tonight: It's been a week since I've played, and months since I've played uninterrupted. But tonight is DDO-nite!<br/><br/>I stopped because of computer problems. An error message that announced every five miniutes that Windows Explorer shut down unexpectedly. That error message played havoc with all the other programs, so we stopped using our PC and did exclusively iPhone computing for a few days while Windows 7 fixed a half dozen "orphaned files" whatever that is. And then after that my wife monopolized the computer to make up for lost time. But tonight it's my turn to play DDO. <br/><br/>It's gonna be great. First I'm going to finish the "Tomb of the XYZ heart" quests. Then I'm going to take level 8. Then I'll reset my enhancements and respec into a Paladin 6 prestige class. I'm not sure what to take yet but I'm leaning towards Hunter of the Undead. <br/><br/>Oh right, and I also have a ML8 Air Guard full plate that I'll swap into. I don't think I'll do any of the Festivult stuff though. I'm too excited to get back into the game. <br/><br/>Forever: Long term I'm weighing my computing options. It runs DDO satisfactoraly, but the computer itself seems old and crappy. The fans are really loud, the drive makes odd noises, and worst of all my wife says it's too ugly to be seen outside of the basement (for lack of a better word.) <br/><br/>There's a few options I've been playing with:<br/>Upgrade the (dying) hard drive, upgrade the meager power supply, and buy more graphics cards. I haven't priced this out yet but I presume it will be cheaper than a new computer, although I'll still have the stigma of playing in the basement (for lack of a better word.)<br/><br/>Migrate to iMac. My wife is crazy about apple products and next on her shopping list is a new computer. I've heard that people can play DDO on macs, and that Turbine will make DDO for iOS soon(tm). So if that's true, I don't need to buy anything. I can just play on the iMac (assuming that it's an upgrade from my five year old <br/>PC). And I won't have to be in the basement (for lack of a better word.)<br/><br/>Buy a gaming laptop. Honestly I'd love to have the ability to set up my game outside of the basement (for lack of a better word). I'm not sure how much money I have to drop on a laptop to get a good gaming rig for DDO. And even if it is an upgrade, I'll still lose out on the larger screen size.<br/><br/>Who has a realy cool gaming laptop? Who plays on a mac? If this computer dies and fails it's system shock roll, I will be forced to make a snap decision!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-38250197494949845772013-01-05T11:51:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.535-07:00Today I am a proud Jedi Papa. (Warning: Contains Star Wars and not DDO)I have a dim memory of when I was a kid meeting another kid. His name was Luke, just like Luke Skywalker. And I thought, gee that would be cool if one day I had a son and I named my son Luke because then I could say stuff like "Luke, *I* am your fatha!"<br/><br/>Well I do have kids now. None of them is named Luke or any starwarzy name, but doing the accent is fun. Especialy when they're playing Lego Starwars.<br/><br/>Son: Papa! I can't make the Legos work!<br/>Me: Use the force!<br/>Son: Help me!<br/>Me: No. That is the "Jump button." "The force" is the red "B" button. Use the force!<br/>Son: I'm pushing it! But it's not staying!<br/>Me: Use the force by pressing AND HOLDING IT. Feel the force *flow*!<br/>Son: I'm trying!<br/>Me: Do or do not. There is no "try."<br/>Son: It worked! Thank you Papa!<br/>Me: Congradulations! You've taken your first step into a much larger world.<br/>Son: (kung-fu sound effects)<br/><br/>He's still a padawan-knucklehead or whatever. But my oldest is six years old now and she's got that "control" thing that Yoda is always talking about. She's an elegant Jedi of a more civilized age, not so clumsy or random as her little brother.<br/><br/>Today at church we celebrated Epiphany, the so-called twelfth day of Christmas. On this holy day, the three kings (aka three wise men) followed the star to Bethlehem to give praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. In celebration we re-enacted the story. Sang songs, feasted on hotdogs and chips and finaly, beat a star shaped pinata with a club until candy fell out. <br/><br/>As is our tradition, we lined up all the kids from shortest to tallest. The first kids are the tinyest, and often need help to raise the bat high enough to even touch the streamers of the star. Then the pre-schoolers and little first graders step up and take their swings. Sometimes they hit it hard enough to rip off a streamer, sometimes they hit accurately enough to hit the body of the Pinata itself. And then the firstgraders step up, they swing one handed for the most part, but it's obvious who has played baseball because they swing for the bleachers, and often hit the pinata's arms with enough force to spin it, or even break the arms off entirely. <br/><br/>My daughter was among the last firstgraders. She stepped up and I watched excitedly to see if she remembered her training. Sure enough, she grabbed the stick as a Katana, and delivered a powerful overhead strike. Not perfect, but she had the timing and aim to hit the candy filled body and not the arms. The blow sounded a loud crunch, but her stick rebounded without having cut through the dense pinata body. But the force of her blow opened a great rip in the far side of the pinata, a horizontal gash that opened like an ear-to-ear smile. Then the weight of the candy took over and the whole bottom hemisphere collapsed and dangled by a thread. <br/><br/>The Pinata handler gave the rope a few good tugs and the children, Ewok-liked, rushed in to gather the candy that my daughter cut out of the Pinata. My daughter.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-19281572587040524382013-01-01T18:02:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.523-07:00New Years Resolutions: Be Moby Dick2012 -- worst year ever!<br/><br/>I knew in advance that 2012 was not a year to pile on resolutions about looking prettier or doing something whimsical every sunrise. I only had one resolution last year: Be Moby Dick. <br/><br/>Moby Dick is pretty cool. He's a Sperm Whale -- the largest living toothed animal. Twenty times more massive than JAWS. Infinately more non-extinct than dinosaurs. Sperm Whales are so cool they eat GIANT SQUID for breakfast. <br/><br/>Like all sperm whales at the time, he is hunted by whalers who try to kill and process him. But he is also hunted by the most accomplished whaler of all time -- Captain Ahab. The first time the two of them meet, Moby escapes and Ahab is crippled.<br/><br/>And here is where the story gets strange. Captain Ahab blames Moby Dick PERSONALY. Ahab has a reputation for delivering angry tyrades, and it's well deserved!<br/><br/>But Moby Dick doesn't care what Ahab says. And neither do I. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-76640868635106124302012-12-31T13:50:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.513-07:00Curiosity killed me thrice"Ghost of a Chance" was my only unfinished level 5 quest on Three Barrel Cove. I've been unsatisfied with the lack of challenge that Elite quests present to my thrice TRed Dwarf (Ranger / Paladin / Paladin / Paladin). To to ramp it up a bit and celebrate my hardcoreness, I've running with a new self imposed challenge: lazy style.<br/><br/>What is lazy style? It's just like Gungnam style but without dancing or singing or any unessisary effort. Wheras somone doing DDO Gungnam style might ride an imaginary horse in a snowstorm on the steps of the house K to frighten the vendors? DDO Lazy style is going directly to Three Barrel Cove.<br/><br/>No one can tell you what Lazy Style is because defining-terms style is antithetical to lazy style. But here's some examples of how lazy style has influenced my playstyle.<br/><br/>My main is not wearing a belt -- Lazy Style! <br/>No gloves either -- Lazy Style!<br/>I use lockpicks I loot -- Lazy Style!<br/>I only shipbuff when it's faster than walking, and I never go downstairs cuz that's too many loading screens for Lazy Style!<br/>I only buy stuff if I walk past the vendor while traversing the shortest path between quests because that's Lazy Style!<br/><br/>So anyway I happened to be running through marketplace I stopped and bought a few hirelings. To my surprise, one of the level 7 drow wizards had firewall. Hired him (her?), a few healers, and ran to my last level 5 3BC quest: Ghost of a Chance. Mwah ha ha! Firewall is so cool.<br/><br/>But as soon as I entered Ghost of a Chance me and the hireling were in over our heads -- literaly! Swimming in water 30 feet deep with a half dozen pirate archers peppering us with arrows. I swim over to them, hop up on their dock and start blowing them down (that's pirate talk for "trip") but the whole time I'm thinking to myself "UNLEASH THE FIREWALL!"<br/><br/>(There's a display at our local hippy supermarket of Egg Nog and "Unleash the Kraken" rum. The display went up in October, which is 90 days too soon for buying Egg Nog or even whining about buying Egg Nog. So, to distract my early readers from reading the 'Nog cartons, I made a big deal about the octopus "Kraken" eating a pirate ship. Like everything that kids do, they overdid the Unleash the Kracken thing and that's why I was reflexively thinking "Unleash the Firewall!" There's also a song that Elmo sings in my head whenever I see a triangle.)<br/><br/>But no, it turns out that the hireling never unleashes the firewall unless you select a foe and click the firewall button -- too much effort for lazy style. So instead, I just set him (her?) to agressive and let him do his thing. A strategy I immediately named "Unleash the Drow!"<br/><br/>The Drow did a fine job with fireball, and she (he?) seemed to be self-healing somehow. I did not know non-warforged wizard hirelings could self-heal. I also had a mystery, my twinked out Spot gear was detecting two secret doors that I couldn't find with Search. The only other clue was the GM was going crazy talking about how everything smells like oil. I figure we could light this place up if only I had some fire. Unleash the firewall? No, doesn't work unless you select someone. What I really need is a torch or a flaming brand or something. Don't have one though. Beyond not having a torch, I abandoned the search for two reasons, the pirates kept respawning and I wanted to finish the quest before my wife got back.<br/><br/>The last fight was a pirate captain, a few dogs, and a bunch of warforged archers. So I was like "Unleash the Drow! Unleash my Pirate's Cove air elemental!" And then, since all the warforged archers were lined up in a row with me I thought about breaking the lazy style vow and unleashing the firewall. <br/><br/>In a way, using firewall to torch six warforged with a single cast is sorta the lazy way. I mean it takes more work to DPS them, especialy since their arrows never trigger my offensive guards. So I started setting up the firewall. First I ran around to position the hireling so he'd be perpendicular to the targets (See? "Perpendicular" is a word that is antithical to lazy style). And then I started tabbing through the targets since click-selecting them is too hard to do with a friendly air elemental getting up in my face. But, I figured that it was still worthy of the lazy way to unleash a firewall on a bunch of non-casters. <br/><br/>But amazingly, at that exact moment the AI decided at that to cast firewall. It was not paralell to the line of warforged, but it caught two of the six. And then another firewall appeared, and then a third. I was astounded. What could have possibly caused my idiot hireling to unleash a triangle of firewalls?<br/><br/>Suddenly my lazy apathy for him (her?) vanished. I wanted that triangle of firewalls to burn all the warforged! By then she (he?) had wandered onto the wrong end of the pirate captain's sword and died a hero's death. (Heroine's death?) <br/><br/>*ding*<br/><br/>The firewalls were still burning though so it wasn't a total loss. Usualy they go away when the caster dies, but she (he?) must have died in a swarm of awesome by learning to cast and then forgetting to cancel on death. ...and then the pirate captain cast a firewall on me and it all made sense. <br/><br/>Those firewalls I was celebrating were actualy the captain's firewalls. So then I had a huge battle, the kind where I rely on my Mabar Cloak of Night cloak to turn me invisible long enough to drink pots to be in fighting condition. I ran out of pots but I won anyway. Slew the captain and his robo-army. Looted his treasure and then my wife arrived.<br/><br/>I went afk and gave her a foot rub till she passed out. Then I returned to DDO. Luckily, the respawning pirates did not respawn in this room so I was safe for now. But the halls were full of them. <br/><br/>The map said there was a shrine back the way I came, and I didn't know how much longer this quest would be. The quest log said something about freeing a prisoner and you know how difficult that can be in a game caled DUNGEONS and dragons.<br/><br/>So I went back, heard about the blatantly obvious oil clues, found a lever to open the secret door to the secret passage and got my hireling back. He (she?) fought a bunch of spiders with me and then we unlocked the second inaccessable secret area. I took a long secret swim, and emerged in a hidden troll lair, no, even better! A Skrag! It's like a troll, but BLUE! <br/><br/>I unleashed the air elemental but the hireling was stuck in the water. Or something. I selected the Skrag and unleashed the firewall, but no dice. I fell to the ground incapacitated and then the Hireling showed up. She (he?) killed the skrag with a fireball and then, due to AI problems, could not drag my stone to the shrine. I released, but not before I looked around the lair. A collectable. A trunk. And, what's this?! A flaming brand? My mind raced. What could I do with a flaming brand?<br/><br/>Ignite whatever was making the oily smell!<br/><br/>So I ran as fast as I could back to the quest but I was too slow. I redid the quest and with the help of my new Dwarf-lady cleric hireling, I slew the Skrag, took his collectable and most of all, the coveted flaming brand. Worst weapon ever. It only does one point of fire damage, and the combination of fire and smoke makes it more difficult to see anything: -5 Spot. But who cares? It's gonna ignite whatever the DM was hinting at. <br/><br/>I waved the flaming brand around the whole dungeon but to no avail.<br/><br/>So I fought my way back through the respawning pirates and ended up at the prisoner that needed rescuing. He's locked into the DDO version of SAW. "Don't do anything or I'll die!" he says. "Don't do nothing or I'll be trapped like this for ever!" he says. "Or, kill the pirate captain in the next room and take his key." he says, forgetting to mention the captain is a wizard that likes to unleash the firewall. <br/><br/>Well I beat him once, so I can beat him again right? Wrong. Lazy style means never having to run to house K to buy healing potions. And without enough self-heals, my go invisible plan is dead in the water. Just like me, except in a firewall under a pile of Warforged. <br/><br/>I was just about to quit and lose all my progress again, but lucky for me, an underleveled person joined the group and entered the dungeon. I can't find anything out about him because he doesn't show up in /who and he's listed as anonymous. He enters the dungeon, dies and drops group without a word. But by then I'm back in, lazy style. I still don't have any pots, but at least I don't have to redo the quest.<br/><br/>The final fight is reset. The captain is waiting by his treasure chest, the warforged archers are in their places, and the dogs are alive and waiting for me. This time, I know that I'm out of healing pots, so I plan accordingly. I leap up to the archers and fight them while the air elemental goes crazy on the melee and the captain. The Dwarf-lady cleric is staying out of trouble, and occasionaly casting a searing light spell. The spider she summoned? I dont' know, dying in a fire most likely. <br/><br/>Without the archers, the cleric has a chance to heal me. With heals, I have a chance to survive the firewalls. I rush the captain and lay into him, soon he's dead and the rest of his robot army too. For the second time that night I looted his chest and took his key. Then, my hireling and I walked unopposed to the prisoner's cell. Freed him, and won. <br/><br/>I left the dungon. The flaming brand dropped from my inventory and remained.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-4051554385201596262012-12-29T11:08:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.499-07:00Depths of Discord: Hilarity ensuesA while back I was finishing up all the level 4 quests for bravery bonus and favor farming. I ran the first two depths quests but not the last two because they're level 5. <br/><br/>Well today I was finishing up the depths quests and I could not find the entrance to Depths of Discord. I found entrances to the other three. The Depths of Despair, Darkness, Doom, but I could only guess that they took out the entrance to Depths of Discord out when they cleaned up house D? <br/><br/>As fate would have it, there was an LFM for the Depths quests. So I joined, thinking that it would save me some time. <br/><br/>Ha!<br/><br/>It was the craziest PUG ever! People running everywhere, going in circles, soloing the Troglodite boss and dying. And the pure rogue needed someone to open a locked door. So I opened doors, healed the incapacitated, and grabbed soulstones. (One soulstone was pretty cool, I dropped it by the altar, it turned into a dwarf that slew the boss, looted the chest and opened the next quest on elite. )<br/><br/>Then I had to go afk for real life stuff. It was the craziest family ever! Toddlers running everywhere, going in circles, Pre-schoolers comforting the baby and crying. And my wife needed me to open a locked picklejar. So I opened jars, changed the stinky, and fed baby girls. (One baby girl was pretty cool, I dropped her by the baby toys, she crawled to a castle her big sister made out of a cardboard box, flattened a wall, grabbed the tea set and opened it up to get at the Holiday themed Oreo cookies hidden within.)<br/><br/>After all that, I returned to DDO and was promptly slain by a bunch of trolls and wolves. Which was a total shock. I haven't had any trouble with the fighting so far. I've been killed by traps and failed to protect fragile NPCs. Casters have been troublesome too, but melee? Really? <br/><br/>So I exited out and found, to my surprise that there IS an entrance to the Depths of Discord -- it's located to the left of the gate as you're heading to the Marketplace. Well, I figured it must have been because of the Dungeon scaling or dungeon alert or something. So I hopped back in without a hireling (to avoid dungeon scaling) and again, I had a savage fight for my life. <br/><br/>Nearly died several times hacking my way through a pack of wolves and minotaurs. Then it was two trolls, I killed one, and almost the second one. But I had to run and heal, slowly with wands and pots.<br/><br/>Running was easy thanks to my Mabar: Cloak of Night. It occasionaly procs improved invisibility which makes sighted enemies wander aimlessly and attack the empty air. <br/><br/>So I healed up while the troll looked for me. By the time he found my hiding spot, I was at full health. But so was he! (trolls regenerate duh!) and so we had to epic battle from scratch. I won, but then I was at the part of the quest I was most aprehensive about: The hallway of earth elementals. <br/><br/>I remember so many deaths in that stupid hall. My characters have almost all been Dwarves, and have benefitted from maxed out Dwarven Spell resistance. But it never seems to work against Earthgrab. Earthgrab isn't as deadly now as back when helpless meant auto-hit and auto-crit, but it's still risky.<br/><br/>Cautiously, I crept down the hallway and fought the first elemental without alarming the rest. I won, barely. There's was no way to fight them simultaniously and survive. <br/><br/>I crept forward again. Suddenly two Elementals arose from the ground, and two more trundled towards me from around the corner. I played at seperating them but to no avail. <br/><br/>Instead, I made a mad dash to the shrine door and turned the valve. As the action was completing the elementals attacked. I avoided damage long enough to open the door and ran inside hoping for the door to close so I could fight the few elementals that followed me inside. The door stayed open. I fought until I was incapped. Then some of them strode out the door while a big one stood guard as my lifeforce ran out. <br/><br/>Died, rezed behind the shrine and had a few moments to heal before that hunk of rock spotted me. After another near-death battle I was victorious and looking at a room of, again, four elementals. Plus a rednamed elemental named "Landslide." Supposedly, the inhabitants of this portion of the depths worship Landslide as a god.<br/><br/>I couldn't make a dent in them, and I couldn't pull them apart, and what little progress I made was undone when they hit the ends of their leashes and honeycomb ported back to the throneroom with full health. <br/><br/>This would have been solo-fail but I had a little something from Pirates Cove -- an elemental gem! I summoned the air elemental and followed it into Landslide's throneroom. Soon everything was dead except for me and 20% of Landslide. I had no air elemental, he had no friends. It was just the two of us. <br/><br/>That was a crazy fight, but I survived and achieved yet another point on my elite Bravery Bonus streak. But honestly I have no idea why this one quest seemed so much more difficult than everything else so far. I wish Elite was always this much of a struggle! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-5009865075863900782012-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.494-07:00True Reincarnation IV: Three Barrel Cove Bravery Bonus for a Favored
Soul UnlockFurther exploits of a Ranger / Paladin / Paladin / Paladin Dwarf.<br/><br/>I'm methodicaly running everything once on Elite. I want to unlock favored soul and experience everything I bought bundled in with MotU.<br/><br/>Currently I'm level 7 (Rogue 2 / Paladin 5) with enough XP to level up. But I'm banking that XP for the sake of sweeping up every last bravery bonus.<br/><br/>I swept through Tangleroot's level 5 quests and moved on to Three Barrel Cove. My Rogue Paladin is sufficient at traps, locks, self-heals and tanking -- ideal for a soloist build. <br/><br/>One 3BC quest gave me some difficulty though. The fail condition was no more than five crewmembers slain, but the pirate hobgoblins were slaying them faster than me and my hireling could heal them. On a whim I decided to try it without the hireling and suddenly everything was easy. I guess dungeon scaling is real? <br/><br/>There's not much loot on 3BC that can compete with my TR twink and cannith crafted stuff, but I got a random pull that looks interesting -- an Air Guard full plate! I won't use full plate this life (because I prefer Evasion, thank you very much!) but I'm going to hang onto this ML8 Air Guard for posterity.<br/><br/>Oh, and one other interesting tidbit. I got an "Elemental Gem." Reading the description, I'd guess it summons an earth elemental. Never seen one of those before! Closest is probably the Gems you can buy with planar shards from the sub. <br/><br/>Note to self: I still need a dedicated returning thrower until I get my Dwarven Thrower. I keep reaching for a ranged weapon, only to find out that I've vendered them all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-9962744435302249722012-12-22T09:30:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.470-07:00Happy birthday to me!My birthday was so fun I forgot to blog about it. But had a nice party and I got a gift that is relevant to our shared interests. I got a ddo peripheral!<br/><br/>A razer nostrimo controller. It does a million things but I'm still learning how to use the thing. <br/><br/>Currently it's just a super comfortable keyboard replacement. I tried to use it as a keyboard and mouse replacement but the thumb stick is no replacement for a real mouse. <br/><br/>Other birthday news. This is my worst year ever thanks to several jerks. But looking forward, this next year looks to be a fantastic year for me.<br/><br/>DDO is going swimmingly. My main is an unstoppable trap monkey, master crafted cannith gear and unsuppressed ioun stones are unbeatable, and in a few levels I can equip ventilated bracers AND upgrade them too! (So glad I didn't use the sigil on the Maidstone shield. (Maidstone? Seriously apple, you gotta fix autocorrect!)<br/><br/>Last quest I ran was with a pure rogue in forgotten caverns. He couldn't search, but was good at dd after I did. Later he complained about how tough it is to get a +7 spot. So after quest I mailed him an unbound shard -- turns out that's the best I can do with my current crafting skills.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-59976696631159165212012-12-11T13:48:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.449-07:00Top Ten Snappy comebacks to dying in my trap.Players who fly through traps are cool but they're not the subject at hand. I'm talking about the little cluster of soulstones that piles up durring the three second disable device animation. <br/><br/>10. See how mother nature culls the weak and the stupid from the herd.<br/><br/>9. Don't touch the soulstones. They're zerging my trap to save time and maximize xp.<br/><br/>8. Everyone else survived. You must have lag.<br/><br/>7. One does not simply walk into mor-traps.<br/><br/>6. r = autorun<br/><br/>5. Survival of the fittest.<br/><br/>4. Darwin awards you a backpack ride. <br/><br/>3. Timing is everyting.<br/><br/>2. Step forward and die. GOTCHA SON! I didn't say "Simon says."<br/><br/>1. There's a trap hiding under those soulstones!<br/><br/>(Got more? Post 'em! :))Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-85527926743888655522012-12-10T13:50:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.431-07:00TR3 Level 6: Bravery Bonus Trapfinder PaladinThe further exploits of a thrice True Reincarnated Ranger Paladin Paladin Paladin.<br/><br/>Pesky traps have forced me to take my second rogue level earlier than I anticipated. But on the upside I'm having alot of fun with this character. I took rogue early because I wanted evasion. <br/>Disarming traps is satisfying. I've never done it before so the locations of the trapboxes are not somthing I've got memorized. But I do have a pretty good memory for places I've died horribly, and that includes many traps. <br/><br/>I'm also picking locks for the first time -- although it seems that most of the doors are locked for my own good. (Locked doors are there to protect adventurers from trapped chests!)<br/><br/>And, some of the traps I've blundered into are new to me. I bought every adventure with the bonus points from Menace of the Underdark. That was only this summer, and didn't play them all yet.<br/><br/>First trap behind a locked door I found was in the Catacombs. I shoulda known better (spoiler: because chests are often trapped. Duh.) but instead got a face full of spikes. I was incapped but my hireling wouldn't heal me -- he was AFK. <br/><br/>After that I was cautious, but I still got fooled by an untrapped chest in a trapped halway behind a locked door. I ran right into that one.<br/><br/>But I'm getting the hang of this, and with my Ioun Stones (+6 Int +1 exceptional), and my master crafted cannith hats (+10 spot and +10 Disable ML5) and a bank of +5 picks I'm able to trap level 4 elite content with my level 6 character.<br/><br/>Looking forward, I'm thinking of doing more multiclassing. I like Paladin 15 (two level 4 spell slots). If I take Pal15/Rogue2 that leaves me with three spare levels to mess around with. Barbarian could be fun for the +10% run speed. Fighter 2 would be nice for the bonus feats. I guess I could take some rogue too for some good clickies... but I don't like clickies all that much.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-89130117594963683222012-11-24T12:58:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.405-07:00Salesmanship: flooz and Black Friday<img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/galleries/2010/technology/1003/gallery.dot_com_busts/images/flooz.jpg" alt="flooz Just what you wished for" /><br/> <br/><br/>I've been worried about DDO for a while. Not for all the reasons listed in Dooom threads (lag monster, too easy, too hard, not revolving around me). I worry about DDO because the promotions are too good.<br/><br/>You see, back before the internet accepted credit cards, there was a company called "flooz." Dumb name but catchy. And it had Whoopie Goldberg as a spokeswoman. flooz was always spelled in lowercase though it was a proper noun and even when it started a sentences like the one you are reading right now. But most importantly, flooz had a uniquely futuristic vision:<br/><br/>"Wouldn't it be great if you could buy things on the internet? Now you can, with flooz!"<br/><br/>They didn't claim to reach perfection. But they did have a system -- and it worked! You could buy flooz over the telephone (using your credit card) and then you could buy things DIRECTLY from the internet, or using e-mail. Very cool.<br/><br/>I was acutely aware of flooz because at the turn of the millenium I had a desk job at Starbucks Coffee Company. I occasionaly did business in flooz but the people in the cubicles on the other side of the isle did flooz orders all day long.<br/><br/>Then one weekend three things happened pretty much simultaniously.<br/>1. New customers started contacting me out of nowhere. Their first questions were always "Do you take flooz?" and "What Starbucks Gift baskets can I get for exactly $X.XX?"<br/>2. I used a pencil, paper and linear algebra to streamline the process of getting an order to cost exactly $X.XX.<br/>3. The guy on the other side of the row bought an $800 Palm pilot for less than $200 so he could read e-books and e-newspapers.<br/><br/>I wanted to get in on that deal. So I asked where did you get 80% off on a state of the art Palm pilot with 16 color backlit monochrome display? He told me an interesting story: flooz was selling several dollars worth of flooz for one dollar.<br/><br/>flooz was offering a discount on money.<br/><br/>And that's how he got the discount. He bought a bunch of discounted flooz and IMMEDIATELY spent the flooz on goods. He bought the Palm pilot, his friend bought a computer and a friend of a friend bought a motorcycle.<br/><br/>But he warned me not to buy flooz. He said "I don't care who you are, NO ONE can stay in business giving a discount on money." And he was right, soon flooz stopped paying money, then it stopped taking money. It's website used to be a catalogue of all the places that accepted flooz but it became a single page that said "Closed" and then the logo.<br/><br/>I went around the entire floor of Starbucks HQ and told them the same joke about how on the website it says "flooz is closed, just what you wished for" because honestly I didn't like the hastle of dealing with flooz. A few days later they took of the tagline, ruining the joke. I guess my joke was original, but not unique.<br/><br/>Anyway, because of that I always have a twinge of fear whenever Turbine offers a sale and also a sale on their money. Turbine is on safer ground because you can't spend TP outside of Turbine, you can't buy a motorcycle with TP for example. But even so, whenever I saw Turbine's crazy black friday sales, I was always felt sorry for them. It's kinda pathetic to offer such a steep discount on money.<br/><br/>But this year, Turbine's sales have struck me as sane and responsible.<br/><br/>Take Menace of the Underdark for example. The only way to buy MotU is with money. Granted, there is a third option to pay with turbine points, but the great options, to buy it ASAP, or to buy it this weekend with a 75% discount are only available for real money. That fills me with confidence because honestly, selling cool things for TP sold at rock bottom prices reminds me too much of flooz.<br/><br/>I think that the era of shamefuly low prices on cool things is over too. Personaly I like that because I feel like I can wait for a sale and save 30%, or buy it now, but in no case do I have to feel like an idiot for paying full price instead of waiting for the 80% sale.<br/><br/>Over all, I feel very happy with Turbine's new non-pathetic pricing structure. I'm also impressed with the Free01 promo code -- it's a great way to introduce people to the DDO store. I bought some red sparkles for my gelatinous cube pet. And I keep telling everyone in game to use their Free01 discount code, just so they learn to shop there. Click the red button on the lower left and select store.<br/><br/>I also see the sense in picking MotU as the doorbuster. MotU is a great price, but it's also something you want at the END of a character's life, like when you hit level 20. Getting there without spending cash is possible (I know, cuz I did it) but once you buy into that end-goal of going to the Forgotten Realms you may as well spend some real money to get some TP so you can enjoy more of Ebberon's quests.<br/><br/>TLDR; I'm glad that Turbine's new promotion style seems sustainable. I enjoy shopping more now that there's a bit more price protection.<br/><br/>Edit: flooz not Flooz. Oh how that brings back the memories.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-33271221864791444752012-11-23T11:16:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:37:50.394-07:00Tr4 Palidin rogue: The one man pugI true reincarnated today. <br/><br/>Previous life was Daxe and shield. At the end I had reliable hate tanking and intimidate but the DPS was terrible! Damage mitigation was useless without evasion. So, partway through I picked up two rogue levels for evasion and Use magic device. That made for a very survivable yet harmless tank. <br/><br/>This time around I'm taking rogue for evasion and trap finding. It's not impossible for me because of all my +3 tomes. <br/><br/>So i kept the same name, race (Dwarf), face, alignment (lawfull good), and class (paladin). But I took rogue at level one for the bonus skill points. Korthos is much easier than I remember. I was able to elite solo it all. I compensated for the difficulty by imposing some rules for myself, no bank or buying. It took longer but I enjoyed the challenge. Loot is much better than I recollect. <br/><br/>Then at level 3 in the harbor I opened up the bank vault to see what I saved for myself. The only twink gear I had was a cannith crafted Daxe, mirror cloak and 70 invisibility pots. I've got more twink gear, but I like to swap at level 4, 8, 12, 16, 18, 20 to avoid too much clutter. <br/><br/>So far I've really enjoyed doing traps and locks. I don't have any specialty gear until I reach level 4, but so far I've had good luck. If this build doesn't work out I've got a complimentary reincarnation plus two hearts of wood. So I'm confident I can goof around and correct any mistakes as needed. <br/><br/>After I get some more play time I'll hit level 4 and pull out all my loot. That's gonna be great.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8922072687520665363.post-51707190450567264032012-11-19T15:04:00.000-08:002013-04-12T06:36:40.575-07:00My First time: Twist of fateWhee! I got a twist of fate point. I've been so busy getting my money's worth out of the Stone of XP I haven't had time to pay much attention to the Twist of fate. ...until now!<br/><br/>Currently my Paladin has a bunch of Unyielding Sentinal Epic destiny -- it's solid stuff. More AC, more PRR, more hitpoints and aggro. But, somehow it doesn't seem to live up to the "EPIC" promise, and especialy not compared to the outstanding DPS everyone else seems to be putting out with their more graphically in-yo-face destinies.<br/><br/>Well anyway I unlocked a twist of fate point so now I can twist a level power... as soon as I level up another Epic destiny a bit.<br/><br/>From where I'm at, the easiest path is to take Radient Servant. Theres lots of good stuff but the only thing I can twist easily is a boost to healing spellpower. I wouldn't mind even more powerful self heals, so that's good enough to justify the detour. There's a button a the top of the Radient servant button that appeared now that I can make it my active destiny. Fittingly it's called "activate destiny." Overall I think this is a good system, but it seems really simple compared to all the thought that goes into making a good character.<br/><br/>I think it would have been better to put this easy character planning stuff at the begining of DDO, and then put some byzentine monstrosity of char op at the end game. But then perhaps there's some reason why it's good to reward Epic players with simple and elegant design?<br/><br/>There's only one person who would be insane enough to inject transparency and playability into Dungeons and Dragons. It could only be my nemesis -- Dr. Moriarty! Oh wait no, lemme do that over again. It can only be My nemisi -- The guys who made D&D 4th edition and their intended hipster audience!<br/><br/>Don't mess with me bro! I've got a $0 in my pocket and I'm not afraid to use it! Remember how 4e failed? That's all because of my $0! Yeah, so don't mess with the opaque convoltion and complexity of DDO! <br/><br/>And that goes for the Pit and the Coal chamber too! I like that they're hard! (exept the elevators in Coal, those are very nice.)<br/><br/>/Brandishes $0Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5