Intents

1) Fix the blog's layout
2) Update with new content
3) Blatantly steal ideas from everyone else
4) Pet the warm kitty on my stomach

Various free MMORPGs

Let's see, within the past week I have downloaded and tried two free mmorpgs and am working on the third download/install.

Dungeon Runners
Cheesy low poly graphics with the old school charm of Diablo set in the 3d world. You have a handful of classes that you can play, I picked the ranger. And as soon as I disabled the mouse-click to move feature I was able to stand in one spot and send arrowed death to my foes.

All of the dungeons are random creations, in fact the first real zone where you kill stuff is a 5 level dungeon with a rapping rat as the final boss. All of your quests take place inside the instance, with a nifty scroll of teleport letting you poof back to the start zone to sell junk. Nice feature about this, which I still haven't played with yet, is that when you use your teleportation scroll, you can port back into the instance exactly where you left. No more running back through 3 levels to pick up where you left off slaughtering various baddies.

The game has an interesting sense of humor, your starting weapon is usually made out of cardboard. Think I was using a cardboard crossbow, not really sure how that works, but I still managed to kill things. Diablo and WoW fans will recognize the suffixes on armor and weapons, "of the whale, of the hawk, etc" is still live and kicking.

You can pay for extra features, a bigger bank, better armor, potions to stack. But why? True it's only $5 a month for those features, but that defeats the purpose of the game for me. I wanted something that I can pick up, spend half an hour clearing out a dungeon, grabbing loot, selling stuff and log for the night. This suits my needs. And makes me smile while doing it.

Shaiya
Pure frustration for me for the first two hours. I rolled a fighter to run around hacking and slashing to get a feel for the game. Almost every UI component in the game can be moved, except for some key items. And it's those key items that bug me. You can semi-modify the key binds in the game, unfortunately not the ones I wanted to change either.

The ~ key is set to target the next mob and begin to auto-attack. Well, that's also my vent button. Tab switches between running and walking. Why you'd ever want to walk, I don't know. I could change the run/walk button, but not the target enemy button. And no explanation why. Even fiddling with the configuration files on my hard drive didn't help. Though, I was finally able to set a proper monitor resolution.

After I fixed the resolution, then I actually started enjoying the game. Doesn't help that I played it all last night with a crappy resolution. But that's ok.

The game does have several features that I do like though. The minimap and full map have color coded dots indicating where you can pick up quests and where you can turn quests in. Very nice when you're lost in the middle of the zone, looking for the next quest hub.

Levels earn you points which you can spend on your stats. On normal mode you get 5 points per level. I chose to dump 3 into strength and 2 into dex on every even level, then switch on the odd levels. But I could have put them into LUC (crit rating as far as I can tell) for a crit based fighter. You earn skill points which are used to unlock a skill or it's next level. Higher level skills have level restrictions.

Passive skills, active skills, buffs, specials all use the same skill points to unlock. Once you've spent your points you can't get them back. So any skill investments are really that, investments. I purchased first level ranks in a couple of skills that I will never level up. But even those first level skills are useful.

I can see myself playing this game for a while, probably not as much as I used to play WoW, but it does have a draw to it. Once I got over my preconceptions about it, it became an enjoyable game.

Runes of Magic
Installing it now. From what I've read and seen, this looks to be my new game, unless something just goes horribly wrong.

Dual class leveling game. Think I'll make a Rogue/Fighter, a Scout/Priest, or a Knight/Mage. Those combinations seem the most appealing to me without even playing the game.

Woots! It finally installed, off to see what I think about it. :D

...and now it's patching. *sighs* That's ok. I'm patient, right? >.>

Asleep at the wheel

So I'm going to counseling. I've been in a self-destructive suicidal spiral for about half a year now, ever since my grandmother died last Christmas. Not many of you know about my grandmother. I didn't really want to talk about it. I couldn't talk about it.

She was a headstrong argumentative bible thumper. But I loved her. She loved me too. Wasn't pleased with any of the choices I've made as an adult, and would explain in detail exactly what I was doing incorrectly. Last thing she told me before dying, was that I was fat. This I already knew, but thanks for the wisdom Grandma.

Life fell apart long before then for me though. I've been angry and bitter for as long as I can remember. Forced feelings toward my family, friends, co-workers, etc. I hated everyone and everything. Mostly myself. Especially myself.

I have so much that I want to say and apologize for, that I hardly know where to begin.

Let's start with the apologies.

I am sorry for my lack of respect towards my friends. I haven't treated any of you nicely, and it's been like this for too long now. I skipped Crystal's birthday party, even after I said I would come, because I was afraid. Not afraid of seeing my friends and having a good time, but afraid that I wouldn't meet their expectations of me. A fear of rejection by the very same people that I had already rejected. Crowds of people terrify me now. They might have always, which would explain my constant drinking. Liquid courage perhaps. Loss of brain cells, that could have been used to figure out the right thing to do.

I have missed and been absent from so many gatherings, I don't answer the phone because I don't want to be yelled at or cursed at. So instead of talking to me, people talk to Leslie. That tells me that I've failed in so many respects. You shouldn't have to talk to my girlfriend just to find out what's wrong with me. Fuck, I need everyone's support, just like you need me to be who I was. If you want to talk, call me or email me.

There was a time when I was a good friend. That too was so long ago, that I've forgotten how to be that person.

Old Dragons Lose Their Teeth

Dragons don't scare me anymore. At least not the old ones that I'm seeing again. These figures used to be titanic gods that trembled the very ground that they proudly walked upon. Their utterances were received as blessings from on high. A glance would smite the undeserving.

Get the gist?

Not anymore. Now they are just embittered old fools. Rehashing outdated concepts and applying a new veneer to old crap. Cackling to the old used jokes.

Perhaps I've become disillusioned to the process. Perhaps these dragons should still be worshiped. Perhaps I should stop complaining and accept my fate linked to these beasts.

Beasts of burden now. Old dragons lose their teeth.

I should weep for them. But I don't care anymore. Just give me a fucking A.

Ethics

I laughed so hard after reading this Girl Genius. The final panel did it for me. No wonder I enjoy the company of cats so much.

Cookie coma

Wow these cookies are good...

And since I care about everyone else, here's the recipe off the back of the butterscotch chips.

Oatmeal Scotchies
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract of grated peel of 1 orange
3 cups quick of old-fashioned oats
1 2/3 cups (11 oz pkg) nestle toll house butterscotch flavored morsels

Preheat oven to 375

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated suger, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies; 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies (that you will really enjoy).

Dead in here

Think I just saw a tumbleweed.

I hope to start posting entries soon. School is on week 9, 11 weeks per quarter, so things are kinda moving along now.

Tivo and TCM have been nice to me lately, there was a Sean Connery marathon. So I was able to watch a bunch of his older work while I was drawing/shading: Shalako, The Great Train Robbery, A Fine Madness, The Wind and the Lion, and others.

That's all I have for now. Back to the grind. I'll write more later.