User:Gaile Gray/Journal
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Canthan New Year 2009[edit]Well, it was a great weekend. Sure, I spent it totally drunk and whacking wurms for 20 hours a day, but how is that different from any other weekend, hmmm? :) Quick cover: Other weekends it's Charr, or Mursaat, or Ettin. *cough* I don't know why Dragon Nest holds such appeal for me, but I do enjoy the game. I find it's fun to play something short, simple, and relaxing. And after all, it's possible to play while the screen wobbles and my character says, "It's spinning" and "Avast me hearties!" so that's a big plus. The only problem is, my character kept mumbling, "I need to sit down" -- and doing it -- in the middle of a match. I told a couple of friends that I felt Dragon Nest is "a sophisticated form of PvP." If anyone sees screenshots of that, I was kidding! :) I'm about three quarters of the way to Drunkard, but I didn't reach it this weekend, so I'll wait until the laptop I blew up on Sunday is back from repair to try to finish up that title. So, if tradition holds, I am looking forward to Shamrocks next month, and Bunnies the month after. *happy dance* -- Gaile
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The Gwennie Invasion -- April 1, 2009[edit]There are some people who have had quite enough to Gwen. "Drop the whole Gwen thing," they say, "we've had enough of her." To those three players, I say "Hush, you." :) Because the vast majority of us love the traditions of Guild Wars, and that includes holding a great fondness for Gwen. Already pleased with the release of Guild Wars: Eye of the North and Gwen's reappearance as an adult, how extra sweet is today's April Fool's Day Prank, where we're all turned into diminutive versions of everyone's favourite flutist. Districts came alive this morning at Midnight, with more and more folks gathering to admire each others' new looks, to try out the emotes, and to do a size comparison between Gwen-chan (I've been calling her Gwennie) with various miniatures. I can tell you that The Frog reaches the shoulders of Gwen-chan. Good thing he's become a vegetarian, eh? A Charr tonic user in Lion's Arch towered over the girl -- it looked as if a wave of his tail would send her toppling. She short. She's sweet. She does emotes that are as cute as her appearance. My personal favourite is the fistshake, but cheer and beckon are adorable, too. (And if you've missed her skip, simply move her backwards and see her skip in that manner you remember oh, so well from all her "helpful" ventures with you in Pre-Searing. ;) ) Well done, Live Team, well done! (And please, may we someday have a Gwen-chan tonic?!) -- Gaile
             
Note to Self -- 25 January 2010[edit]Me: So, Self, if you're going to have a journal, it may, just may, be a good idea to update it occasionally, don't you agree? Self: Well, ummm... lot of people use my talk page and/or the Support Issues page to keep in touch. This isn't where I put official stuff, or even really do most of my chatting with friends... *voice fades* Me: Well, yes, but the Journal is here, for everyone to see, and it hasn't been updated in... Self: ...a few weeks, it's true. Me: Weeks? You call April 2009 weeks ago? And how long has it been since you even just updated the Minis on this page? I mean, someone might stop by. Someone might link to this. And look at it! Self: *shuffles feet* *looks at sky* Me: Welcome to the soon-to-be-updated Journal page. More to follow. -- Gaile
            
Dhuum's Day -- 26 May 2010[edit]
It's been a long time coming, but we're pretty happy to have finally completed the Dhuum Project. Ok, ok, it wasn't call the Dhuum Project in the early stages. I doubt if it's officially called the Dhuum Project even now, but hey the name seems to fit. :) In the beginning, we didn't have any idea if the team would have the time to design an in-game display for actioned accounts. I think I was calling the ongoing research and preparation the Big Bot Project, but that wasn't the best name because some of the accounts that were blocked this week were blocked for match manipulation. Anyway, there was talk of adding some sort of in-game effect for actioned accounts, but it wasn't until about a week ago that we knew the team would have time to do it. But oh yes, they did it -- and they did it in spades! If you haven't see the effect, I imagine you will, because it is displayed for any actioned account, not just those marked for botting, and not just those that are temporarily suspended. When an account is actioned, Dhuum rises from the ground behind the character, towering far above the head of even the tallest warrior. Dhuum raises his scythe and slashes. The character bursts into flames, falls over, and slowly sinks -- still burning -- into the Tyrian soil. It's marvelous -- truly an effect for the ages! "Why Dhuum?" you may wonder. "Because he's frickin' awesome!" I reply. I mean honestly, can there be anything more perfect? You may recall that Dhuum was a god back in the day. Through some sort of internal god-ish political power struggle, Dhuum was deposed and sort of replaced by the ok-but-not-nearly-as-splendid Grenth. Grenth lacked the skills (or perhaps the intestinal fortitude) to totally banish Dhuum, so Dhuum has been lurking around the Hall of Judgment for eons, gathering strength every time someone slays a creature in the Underworld. I don't know if he's back or if he's just showing up in symbolic form -- I suspect it's really just the latter. But whatever the meaning behind Dhuum's presence, I want to give my personal thanks for those of you who make those nightly UW runs or gather a weekend party for a long siege, because you're helping Dhuum with those creature kills! I have this thing for skulls, skeletons, and wraiths; this deep appreciation for scythes; and this rather unseemly love of all things Grim Reaperish. So you -- yes you! -- made it possible for Dhuum to make a comeback, and in my opinion, that's a very good thing on so many levels! I hope everyone gets to see the effect. Hmmmm... thinking about it, I hope everyone get to see the effect but that it's not on them! :) -- Gaile
           
To Click, or Not to Click... March 11, 2011[edit]Somehow, about the middle of Year 4, I pretty much stopped opening my Birthday Presents. Now, if you know me -- and if you're reading this, you probably do -- you absolutely know that my not clicking wasn't some sort of bizarre loss of love for (lust for?) Miniatures. No wai! But somehow, I had this plan that I'd store them all for a while and then have a major clickfest and see what I got. I reasoned -- if you can call it "reasoning" -- that maybe my outcome would be better, maybe my luck would improve, if I had more boxes to open in one setting. Maybe I wouldn't get Year 4's equivalent of the dozens of Jungle Trolls I received in Year 1! Back in the day, I thought Devs were gods. I believed they had all sorts of superhuman powers and could do and see everything. Of course, now that I've been in the industry for 12 years or so, I know devs are gods. :) Still, I rather doubt that a dev spent the time painstakingly coding a means to add a super-secret uber-special gift tracking device that sets up what you get in presents. Like "Fred already has a couple of Miniature Kraits, so toss him a Mini Nian next time." So my logical brain says that whether I click them all, or click them individually, or turn three times in a circle before I click, or click with my left hand instead of my right, or click under the Halloween moon in Droknar's Forge... the outcome is going to be the same. Right? On the other hand, would it hurt to wait until Halloween and have that clickfest on a moonlit landscape? :) Your MiniManiac Friend, -- Gaile
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