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March 2, 2023[edit]

At a certain point as near as just in December 2022, this account was taken for a ride by a goldfarmer. My entire inventory was removed, except the following:
Everything my characters were wearing, but some of them had some odd blues in place of their real stuff.
Various greens my heroes had, their armor/runes as well.
They left me about 10p.

That's all they left me. My entire crafting storage was completely emptied out. Some of my characters were sitting on running builds and have thus been rendered completely useless. My dervish and ranger got it particularly bad, not really having the proper armor/runes to make a relevant build out of. Thanks to the charity of the fairly active LGIT alliance, I was given some freebies that helped me generate some money to rune up properly. My new main is essentially Shizuma, my W/D scythe wielder. A pretty simple build but it works for relearning the game, and have just finished completely setting up the Mesway 7 hero team build which is certainly getting some work done. But they left me with a couple armor sets but she no longer has the whole collection outlined on her character page, which is unfortunate. My monk was also left a couple of off-sets.
The fact I still had a variety of basic boss greens was helpful in my recovery but ultimately have absolutely no resources otherwise.

How active do I plan to be on GW? Eh? A little? When I thought I was going to lose this account I had bought a new one but since it recovered I gave him the key I just got. So he's got access to some expansions he never experienced, and he never really got to play through Prophecies properly. So I'll mostly just be playing with him, but will pop online when the mood strikes me.

I'm still big into other games like Warframe, and waiting for various other releases, patches, expansions.

What have I been doing for the last 11 years? Honestly, I never went anywhere. Perpetually online through the likes of Steam and Discord. I continued to blog through Tumblr (which dates its beginning to July 2012 so effectively right after I stopped being active here). Various games, MMO's, etc. And I figured out something: I don't really have the energy for MMO's. I also got employed for the first time in 2014 or so (three jobs later but ultimately I remained consistently employed since then) so that left me a bit less inclined to come home from work only to just do more work. WoW got bad with this (which I also played and only quit properly near the beginning months of Shadowlands) when it seemed like every update introduced another kind of token to grind to get cool things. Eventually got bored with that and I've largely gravitated to moddable single player open world experiences. My highest play counts on Steam include Skyrim, Fallout, Conan Exiles, Warframe, Smite, Cyberpunk 2077, and others.
In terms of MMO's I admit I remain somewhat active on Elder Scrolls Online, and it helps that it's a highly casual game as MMO's go that don't demand you to chase the latest content to remain relevant to dungeon parties. Respect.

Otherwise I'm around, just easier to find me on other platforms.

Character update: Deleted M, my Extra slot is currently a permapre. M was replaced by a dervish to level with my brother but may become irrelevant soon as we go through EoTn together through my new warrior main. I'll probably need to make a mesmer at some point. Considering buying a 10th character slot to have a dedicated necromancer, which I did make a new one of but truly did not enjoy the gameplay. I don't like long cast times on things.

May 23, 2012[edit]

My permapre is level 14 now, which I believe is the farthest I've gotten. However the new vanguard quests (New to me anyway) give me an extra incentive to keep soldiering on.

Still debating whether or not to start up her page -quite- yet.

Just wanted to chime in my progress. I -did- earn 38 Zkeys during the AB weekend event, sold them. Even though I wasn't far from earning rank 1 in that title, I just don't much care. The money will likely fund one thing or another for my permapre.

May 17, 2012[edit]

Created a permapre again, however I haven't given her a proper page -quite- yet, maybe when she hits level 16 or so. The page itself says that I will when she gains some significance. And that's true to an extent, I find she's pretty significant right now because in just a couple short days she's gained a decent stock of items, and is nearly level 13.

But she's not really impressive enough yet.

So I'm gonna paste a reply to a post on the Escapist. It was technically about guilty pleasures but I brought up this gem;

The Fable series tends to get a lot of ire, but I enjoy them ALL, for they all have strengths and weaknesses over each other.
I get the impression that most of the fandom just thinks each sequel is getting worse, but I disagree.

Fable 1: Graphics have aged well, specifically the actual environment. The leaves and trees, the backgrounds are just absolutely gorgeous. Every area portrays a wonderful atmosphere.
Odd thing to say, since it's a REALLY old game. But I still have it installed.

Fable 2: Strengthened character customization, tenfold. The dyes are easier to handle than in the third (Though the third's hue/darkness dyeability is nice). I could play the same archetype several times and not have her look the same.
I still return to this game when I want to play through the Crucible :D Somehow it doesn't get that old. Weak? Story felt practically copy/pasted from the first, they just turned 1-2 years into 10 in the prison section.

Fable 3: Strongest story of the series, a bit sad that it took a dive in character customization. The voice acting of the hero, while nice and a good move, felt a tad unnecessary. Maybe if they gave us better lines, because the dialog itself didn't feel natural. (The voice acting of our heroes themselves was fine, though)
Had a strong story, but the whole "You can't unlock things until a certain part in the story" was kind of a dick move on the designer's part.
The Arena was weaker, too. Didn't feel like an arena.

Fable 4: Give us better stealth >:(

May 13, 2012[edit]

A roleplaying story of my monk has begin to take form as I tried my damnedest to find away to spend the nearly 300k I had. 150k and two armor sets later, Caroline's story has become impressively complex in my mind.

She's a character who has a story to tell almost right from birth. See, most of my characters start around their teens or adult life, I build a story around an age they already are. But for Caroline, being born into servitutde, this is a woman who's been through some shit. Not traumatizing shit, naynay. Just a really bad station in life and she got "too old" for them to take care of, and thrown into a plague-ridden city that's practically falling apart.

First, the image to the right conjured this image to me of the heroes in some epic stories that logically dress for the area they're in. Caroline definitely strikes me as that kind of person. After all, to manipulate people you come across, you have to be dressed in a way they might be more familiar with, rather than a foreigner. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, she's a clever lass as she follows other groups of heroes, manipulating background events (Helping or hurting them, whichever serves her best). And then I came across this particular look that told me "Alright. She's gone too far". In every sense of the phrase I think.

See, what this picture tells me is possible mutation in a Nightmare world. Perhaps not permanent, perhaps a "form" of some sort when certain conditions are filled. (Emotion, location, I don't know yet) Still, this conjures the idea of "Gone too far". Perhaps her mental degradation and self-serving nature finally manifested itself in the Realms of Madness. I still plan on her to be fairly sane in this "form" of hers, just with a bit of disgust for herself.

I have an entire roleplaying story idea. Perhaps even longer and more complex than Nikki's. Nikki's RP story starts in Ascalon, but slings to a snowy zone (It doesn't matter which), then the rich estates of Vabbi and... storyline over.

Despite Cantha's size, Caroline's story is a bit longer. Basically a roleplaying partner would pretty much be with Caroline every step of the campaign, watching as other heroes wreck shop. They would witness the extremes she would go to to make sure her plans are fulfilled.
Then, she follows the heroes to Istan, Kourna, Vabbi, and the Desolation. Perhaps herself manipulated by a certain someone (Whom also plays a role in Nikki's story, albeit for a much happier ending), which leads her to the image you see above.

I haven't worked out all the kinks yet. If you want to discuss them, drop me a line here or in-game.

May 12, 2012[edit]

I finally hit a day when A Time for Heroes was the Zaishen mission. Earned 2 gold coins and some change because pretty much all but one (maybe two) of my characters have completed Eye of the North.
And since I don't really feel like alt hopping to see who ranked up in what (Not yet, anyway), I'll make it a note that nearly every character ranked up probably once in their Deldrimor rank. Doing it in Hard Mode gives a nice chunk of 7500. Was good for Kyna, since she actually uses one of the melee PvE skills in her usual rotation.

Not much else has happened. Kyna is at the running messanger bit in War in Kryta, but I'll get to that when I have more time. Earned another Oppressor weap and made yet another 100k, and I have no idea what to do with this money.
I need to get off my ass and get my paragon through Nightfall but I just don't feel like it T_T

That is all.

May 8, 2012[edit]

Went ahead and got the rest of the Ancient set for Kyna, though I'm not too fond of the fleshy spike look of the arms and legs. It actually fits with the chestpiece, the spikes are showy pauldrons but for the rest of the outfit, they're just too random and go too far out. There's just nothing else good about the set other than the chest and maybe the mask.

I also dyed my farming set (Normal exotic armor, pictures on her page when I was still using it in PvE) Pink because why the hell not. I think her main roleplaying outfit will be the elite kurz, if anything is ever done when it comes to RP. (RP of which will mostly be centered around Nikki anyway).

That's all for now.

May 7, 2012[edit]

For the first time in a long time, I finally have money and nothing to spend it on. I've sold a couple Oppressor weapons, and I began farming on my rerolled assassin for no other reason than the event. Might as well rake in the free Consumables while I can. Well that and whatever else one farms for. Sold a few sets of gold weapons to others, further increasing the fortune I just can't spend currently.

I've shopped around and no more armors interest me. Paragon Primeval armor might be the last, but she's just past Tihark Orchard and I don't feel like making the rush on an Imbagon. Playing her is uninterestingly passive. I just stare at my hotbar waiting for "Save Yourselves!" and "There's Nothing to Fear!" to light up.

As referenced, I have done War in Kryta on a scattered couple characters. I haven't finished on a couple but I have up to 4 characters able to do the daily "Wanted" quests. Except for the ones that only reward 3 or 4. Fuck those.
In which I'll be making even more money and I just don't know what more I want.

I better figure it out soon, else I'll be moving to another game yet again. Which is a shame because I've been so consistant with Guild Wars lately.

Meanwhile, I've been keeping up with Game of Thrones and Legend of Korra. Two -very- different demographics I think, but they're my two favorite shows of late.
Really glad Korra continues the trend of being tongue-in-cheek humor for the kids but still maintaining its own subtle maturity. Plus, I adore steampunk. I had already known the show was taking place 70 years after the first series, but didn't know it would have advanced that much.
I think I'm jaded and conditioned into expecting Medieval Stasis in everything I watch. It's refreshing to see lores and settings advance realistically. Finally.

May 1, 2012[edit]

Been a bit all over the place. But right now is a highlight: I finally killed Mallyx. Had to go nab a meta /Rt build that utilizes Destructive Was Glaive, but I did it. Fairly enjoyable build, though I was hoping to bring my pet along to level it up some.
I had previously solo'd all but the final wave with heroes, but finally seeing the final fight: Don't think I would have survived it anyway.

Got his daggers, not much else of note. I may run it one or two more times to see what else I can get out of it.

April 18, 2012[edit]

It's going to hit my funding a little bit, but I'll now be converting my faction to kurzick faction so that I'll be able to get a start on amber chunks. I usually just convert it all to Balthazar and sell zkeys, but I can get to that after I get the amber I need.

Today's Zcombat will be JQ, so I should get my assassin to all the proper outposts and give that a go. It's still really early in the day so I might have an "Added" section later in the day, as I do more stuff.

April 16, 2012[edit]

I did an impressive sprint to the end of Factions today, though I did need a run on Shiro. I don't know what it is about him, but he's the only thing in this game I can't solo. I've done almost all of Nightfall, Prophecies, and even EotN alone. The only Nightfall mission I couldn't solo was the one with, you guessed it, Shiro.

Got her elite exotic armor, but having trouble finding a well lit area to get a screenshot of her with it. This computer doesn't have Paint.NET on it, so editing the background out turned it into a pixellated mess.
So I'll get on that, later.

I then did some dwarven boxing and Norn Tourney stuff, gained a few PvE skills that will finally be able to replace Shadow Refuge (Which I found myself never using).

Now, I need a break. Going to watch some movies and shows and so on. Right now, on a Torchwood binge. So far, Miracle Day was a bit better than the show I'm watching now. Still, happy to get a little bit of background story and context.

April 13, 2012[edit]

Yep, still around. Just not terribly much to talk about. Playing games, watching movies and shows, applying for jobs in between.
Since I got my own room now, I was given a television that does not play well with HD games. Every line of text is both annoying and miserable on the eyes. So my Xbox gaming has come to a full stop, and I fear that I won't be able to stomach playing when Skyrim DLC comes out.

Oh well. On the Guild Wars front, I -did- indeed reroll my assassin into a character that's a tad less boring. I also wonder why I had never gotten the exotic armor on Hasin. It's practically the only assassin armor I like. Though I did add a couple more to the list, though they'll all take a lot of time to get. I didn't even bother putting Vabbian up there. Especially since gem prices spiked since I've last played.

That's all I've been up to, really. Just reintroducing an assassin to the world. It'll take some time before I can set her up with some farming gear.

Toodles for now.

April 7, 2012[edit]

I am officially moved in! Well, technically I've been here for about three to four days. But I just got the internet last night, which I spent playing Diablo 2 with my brother. I am in the process of doing the -images trick on Guild Wars, and the full download is at 3%. With 92,000 files remaining.
For you see, I was given my own computer. It's not new, as old as any computer in this household (Which ranges from 5-10 years, we can't afford to upgrade often), but it's finally my own and I no longer share a computer, and I have my own room. Oh, what debaucherous(sp?) adventures may it yet hold!
(That's a joke)

Anyway. May play some Diablo or Morrowind in the meantime. (Yep, I still play Morrowind).

March 30, 2012[edit]

Birthday today, having no celebration. Just working on moving. This may be my last night online for a couple days or more. Tomorrow is the big 'move' day where we get all the big stuff like furnature, tomorrow may be our real "moving in" day.

Meanwhile, I'm watching Game of Thrones :D

No Guild Wars news, although I did delete my assassin and rerolled her. More details on that later. She's still like level 7 or something. Gonna go for Exotic armor for her, it's the only set that looks good and I'm surprised I didn't have it on Hasin. (Too busy farming, never had much care what she looked like).

March 29, 2012[edit]

Tomorrow is my birthday, but it's got horrible timing because I'll be in the process of moving in that time. Also as a result, I may be offline for a couple of days. Just a heads up to any potential readers.

To update, my monk got her some elite kurzick armor. I once thought it looked "too similar", but I'm actually quite fond of it. She looks like some kind of military leader, and I may weave that into roleplay somehow. She, like Nikki, is starting to get her own little questline. Now if I could only find someone to roleplay it :/

I'm also considering rerolling my assassin, despite the fact the character is 4 years old with 9million experience (Mostly by farming, admittedly). I just don't fully appreciate her 'look'. I'll keep the ponytail but will change the face, hair, and skintone. It'll be a shame, because I like her storyline.

Having trouble connecting to the game so I'll hop on her eventually, clear out her heroes and other loot. Hope some things weren't customized.

March 26, 2012[edit]

Damn, buying armor is expensive! It took nearly all the money I had to get my monk's Deldrimor armor. 36k on the Damask alone. Ouch.
But, she has beaten EotN so the next order of business will be to get her some of those PvE skills.

But not quite yet. She's actually deviously close to beating Prophecies. And I still need to beat Nightfall and get Razah so I can run a proper Mesway hero set. I'm doing Prophecies, in hopes to gain another good hero weapon to equip my hero set with.

That's what I've been up to lately.

Added
Well, pretty much did everything I wanted to do for Caroline. Even got two of her extra armor sets infused while I was finishing up the last missions of Prophecies. Need to find a new character to focus on.
I discovered I pretty much cannot solo Shiro in Gate of Madness. I get him to like, a third health and he just stops taking damage and that "Impossible Odds" skill doesn't say anything about "rendering invincible". It just clears hexes and conditions, and he hits more. Nothing about actual damage reduction so I don't know what it is about the skill.

Oh well.

March 24, 2012[edit]

Pile-drived my monk through some Nightfall missions, aiming for a new armor set for her. I love my kurzick, but she could use a new look for a while.
After that, I need to do some EotN stuff with her, I'll be shooting for Deldrimor as well, which does legitimately look neat.

So yea. I'm doing stuff!

March 23, 2012[edit]

Well, GW is running again but currently patching Champions Online, see if that will run with the new drivers that someone linked me. (Not anyone here, so I'm not gonna toss out a thanks).

That's my only update. Toodles.

March 21, 2012[edit]

Movie review! This actually went above the 1000 word limit, so I'm posting this one here. Though I did several reviews.

Real Steel (2011)[edit]

This is one of my first reviews where I outline most of the plot. As a result, this review DOES have spoilers-a-plenty.

I can just imagine somebody, somewhere, pitching thus, "Imagine - Rock'em Sock 'em Robots. Live action!" A common comparison I know butthat's what it is, in effect.

The plot is simple, and yet leaks in some various complexities that I definitely appreciate.

A washed-up boxer owes debts to several people because he is, essentially, losing every robot boxing match he's entering. He's cocky and arrogant and loses the first first we see him in because he's too busy wiggling his eyebrows to a couple ladies in the bleachers.

Now, I liked Hugh Jackman immediately. He's best known for being Wolverine these days but it's definitely a testament to acting ability when I saw absolutely no Wolverine-esque personality leak in. (As opposed to Johnny Depp, whom I'm still seeing Jack Sparrow in every role he's in, even if it's for a couple of lines).

He loses the fight and is fleeing the scene because the arrogant dumbass opted for a 20,000 dollar bet rather than taking the lower,free few- thousand he would have gotten just for arriving because the Bullfighting arena was just itching for a robot (Since the big "League"robot fights are expensive to attend). He punches one of his chasers and it turns out, his wife is dead and he's the next of kin to take up the son. But he sells him to the uncle because he values paying debts and buying robots more than a son he never knew, or learned to take care of. But he has a week (or so?) with the kid because the potential future parents have a vacation to go to. Why they didn't just bring thekid? I forgot. And if I forgot, it must have been a silly, contrived reason that wasn't worth remembering.

Still, the guy 'selling' the kid actually made sense to me. Maybe I am a cynic? After all, more than decade of not knowing a kid and him suddenly being dropped in on me - I'd probably make a similar decision. It's not every day a rich family will pay me $100,000 to take a kid I know nothing about. Besides, he was thousands of dollars in VARIOUS debts so he clearly was not fit to take care of him.

Anyway, he buys a famous bot that gets killed the first fight (Again, because he's an arrogant idiot). He takes the kid to a scrap yard (With a hilariously stealth-based scene of dodging searchlights that reminded me of some games I play) to search for spare parts to build his own, effectively for free.

Another interjection into the plot description (This is actually my first review I've outlined the plot like this, I usually assume people watch the movie and THEN come read).

I really liked the Junkyard scene. It leaked in some backstory and exposition of the setting that we're in, while making the conversation feel natural and realistic. After all, the boy was eleven years old (Or something), of COURSE he wouldn't know why some of these parts look different from the rest. He asks, his father answers, and the audience gets more context for the setting. Bravo, film. Well done, and thank you for doing that properly.

Anyway, boy locates a fairly intact sparring bot, which was designed to take a beating but doesn't do a lot of damage on its own. The father, really not expecting anything to come of it. At this point, he's just along for the ride so he doesn't mind escorting his kid around to get his bot killed. Again, this whole dynamic felt organic and natural - the father had a reason to go along. Either the bot lost and got destroyed, to which he'd just resume what he was doing in the first place. Or it would win, and he'd continue to escort his kid to win some more. While his thought process may not have been that complex, it still makes a lot of sense. Once again, good work to the filmmakers.

The boy, showing some of the arrogant genes of his father, refuses to take a lower, few-hundred dollar deal simply for arriving, and makes a thousand dollar bet to survive the first round. It does! The opponent bets double or nothing, and the boy's robot (Named "Atom") wins again. You could practically see the dollar signs in the father's eyes, so they go through more matches with increasingly clever wins and fun, fights.

The best part is, the fights are fairly different and there's just enough to sate one's appetite for metallic carnage. There's just enough in-between dialog and scenes that don't overstay their welcome before the next action sequence takes place.

I'm gonna skip through the plot to the end, now. Seriously, go see the movie if you want to know the rest. It's worth it.

Predictably, the underdog challenges "Zeus" a super-bot built by an intelligent (and of course, Japanese) mind that has never lost. Indeed, no robot has ever survived a single round! Atom does (of course), mostly due to its design, for the ability to take a lot of punishment. It survives several rounds, in fact. Frankly, I saw the end result coming, which stung the enjoyment a little but because I was hoping the filmmakers would know this and give a tiny little twist. Basically, I knew Atom would lose but it would be in such a way that they would celebrate anyway.

Sure enough, Atom survives the last round and offscreen judges score the performances and the champ-bot still wins, complete with the boos of the crowd.

I was hoping for either or, frankly. This is a family movie and while predictability may be the name of the game, I was hoping for a complete win or a complete loss. If Atom was destroyed, the boy and father would still have enjoyed themselves and rekindled their family bond. If they won, all the better. It wouldn't have effected the overall plot anyway.

It was a good movie, I felt myself cheering for the characters, laughing at the villains when they got what was coming to them, and enjoyed everything in between.

Go watch it.

March 6, 2012[edit]

Sigh. That didn't take long.

For some reason Guild Wars won't load for me, even though it did TWO DAYS ago. Even with 3dAnalyze, with various options checked, it still won't load. Tried hunting for the latest DirectX but my experience with computers ended years ago, and I just get these various things about service packs and various things with shit like .10a at the end of it and I just don't know what any of that means or what would work with my computer.

It's all for naught though. I can't figure out what the hell changed in TWO DAYS. The computer was barely in use.

Sigh.

March 4, 2012[edit]

Few months later, sometimes I forget I have a blog.
Regrettably, my brother is giving up computer for Lent, but he's just trading it in for the Xbox. So I'm stuck being bored on the computer.

I've done a fair bit across various games in the last few months. I've played AC:Brotherhood and DE:Human Revolution, though not so much on that one.
I continue to be a fan of the Assassins Creed series, even though Ezio's story is kind of overstaying its welcome.

I tried loading up Champions Online but a video card issue popped up. I'll play it again when I have a better computer.
I had a couple-month stint on LOTRO, got a level 48 or so bard but questing in that game is just abysmally slow.

I eventually did beat Skyrim a couple times with a couple of mid-40 leveled characters and a couple 81's which I did via an exploit, which I'm still pretty sure hasn't been fixed yet. (They should get on that)

Loading up GW right now, may give my monk some love.

That's about all I can think of, really.