Rick's blog

I just talked with Noble Fist and they are excited to run the Shroud with us--tonight!  They are expecting us at 9 and are east coasters, so--assuming everybody is happy with this and will be here tonight--it would be good if we get started as close to on-time as we can.  If you know you can't make it, will be late, or don't wish to do this, please post as soon as you can.

See you tonight.

So we've been without a 6th man for quite some time now.  We have a player, Chris, who would probably join us in that spot if he had a character to play.  Also, adventures at our level have gotten a bit... unenjoyable lately.

Does anybody think forming a new 6 man group with Chris and playing that group on Sundays in addition to/instead of the high levels would be fun?  I have no agenda here, merely tossing out something that might not have been considered.  I'm happy to keep playing Valtar, but I thought Chris might appreciate getting in on the fun, and everybody else might enjoy a new role.

This is in no way intended to exclude Mel; if he returns we can alternate groups so he can play his Cleric, or he can play in the alternate group if anybody else doesn't want to participate, or we can take turns rotating with him.

To be clear, I'm talking about a dedicated group who play together and stay on the same quests, with each role taken by one of us: healer, tank, caster, rogue, and two others (hopefully a Bard will be one of them!).

If people are too burned out on DDO, no worries.  Just a thought.

So DDO is still fun once a week, but I've been finding myself wishing there was something else on the horizon a few of us could agree on and play once a week or so. Possible choices are Aion, Star Trek Online, Warhammer, Conan, LOTRO, or EQ2. None are particularly appealing, and I know Phil, Doug, and Griffon all have multiple committments already, so this may not inspire any interest. I know a couple of people weren't too impressed with Lotro as a solo game, but I thought it had real potential for a regular full group once a week.

...or whichever seasonal festivity you prefer!

...no Reincarnation. Here's the scoop:

http://www.ddo.com/ddogameinfo/developer-diaries/709-a-letter-to-players...

We will be trying to get an extra game going to get Borrin and Obsidean some experience. I plan to play my Paladin, and if he's able to play Mike will probably bring his Ranger. If you can join us, the time is 9pm on Wednesday, 10/14.

I am unsure as to whether or not I'll have internet access while I'm gone.  I will definately not have game access.  Hope to find everybody well when I return.

Rick

Does the way our replies to earlier posts in a thread are displayed bug anybody besides me?  Instead of posting chronologically as the first criteria, they post under whichever comment the poster chose to hit the "reply" key to.  This results in conversations being very disjointed and it becomes hard to tell which ones you haven't read without looking at all of them again

I understand the purpose of having the responses be tiered below the posts responded to, but without some signal (highlighted, bolded, something) to indicate which ones are new, it is a bit viewer unfriendly.

It seems to me an unnecessary complication to the formatting, like having sub-threads under the main threads.  Probably just me.

This looks pretty interesting.  Watch the video!

You holdouts should start thinking about Warhammer.  More good news:

http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=386

The guild is still fairly small, but very friendly, fun, and helpful.  Many of our old friends are in Warhammer, and seem excited about it.  If you decide to join us, please roll your characters on the Avelorn server.  Being part of a large guild in this game is going to be a real asset.

I haven't even told you about the Guild functions.  Guilds level like characters do and unlock abilities and features as they do, like an in-game calendar, taxes, special perks and abilities and a lot more.  Yet another very fun innovation.

I broke down (no surprise there) and am in the midst of downloading the WAR Beta.  Anybody else going to try it out?  I'll post my thoughts once I've gotten a look at the game.

I'll probably be playing a High Elf or Human of some flavor, most likely Shadow Warrior, Archmage, or Bright Wizard (or all three).  House Ancora has a small presence on the Estalia server, so I'll be playing there.

So Jason has been putting out feelers for other games and with the soon release of Warhammer Online, I thought I'd post my thoughts on my hopes/plans for future gaming.

I am completely addicted to DDO and hope none of the new games will divert us from this game.  I'm at the point where I mostly want to focus on my Sorceror, and keep Rivenwind available when needed.  I'm a little weary of running up lower level characters, but do have a 5th level Ranger I can play if needed.  I also have Kalyndra, my 8th level Cleric, but frankly, I"m really tired of healing.  If I ever get any of my characters to 1750 favor I may run up one more character.

I've thought about checking out Warhammer, but think I'll pass on that game.  Another WoW clone is just not what I'm looking for.  Also, PvP is only fun when it is like Planetside, the central focus of the game, brief, and not something you need to invest half your life in to be competitive (like WoW).  I doubt I'll be participating much in future PvP titles, unless something extraordinary comes along.

I thought this was interesting.  Nothing earth-shattering, but new stuff is coming.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41259

AVATAR HARDCORE PARTY

SUNDAY 10/19/08: Start: 9pm (Rick C is out 9/12, so no go.)

GROUP ON HIATUS - Indefinate

RULES (Revised 7/27/08)

So I upgraded to Vista.  Went more smoothly than any OS upgrade I've ever tried.  All my programs run as well or better than they did under XP... EXCEPT...

AoC.

The frame rates jumped from 3 to 50 constantly, making the game unplayable.  I tried everything.  Driver Sweeper.  Reinstalling drivers.  Tweaking settings.  Nothing worked.  Until...

I switched from Pixel Shaders 3.0 to 2.0.  With everything else on high settings, including water, particles, shadows, draw distance... my frame rates are a steady 30+ in Aquilonia, about 50 everywhere else.  Much better than the game ran under XP using 3.0.

So when (if) you decide to give it a try, keep this in mind.

I suspect the 3.0 drivers are intended for use with DX10, which Funcom screwed up...

This was an interesting read:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=151041

If a fighter takes one level of Sorceror or Wizard, does that mean he can use any items, including wands, those casters are able to use, if he is of high enough character level?  In other words, for example, can a 9 fighter 1 Wizard use a Wand of Cloudkill?

I sense there is waning or not much interest in Age of Conan currently, but I wanted to mention I have left The Sundered Guard and joined Life's Blood, the House Ancora (remember the Hands of Providence from Shadowbane?) guild in Age of Conan.

They are no bigger, perhaps even smaller than the Guard, although many nights there are more people actually playing than I remember with the Guard.  They are more active and there is a lot of playful interaction in guild chat, which I enjoy.  Anybody who wants to play AoC and wants to join us, just let me know.

If this post quickly slides away, I'll try not to be too badly hurt....

Seriously, though, I'm having as much fun with AoC as I ever did with Wow, and mostly solo'ing.  I was part of a run with Turin and Ardwynn a couple nights ago, a full group, mentored into the mid-sixties.  Great fun, but their are some significant ai/pathing issues that make the game very frustrating.  If you guys ever tire of grinding in WoW, you should give it a try.  Levelling is quicker than any game since Shadowbane, the guild is active and friendly, and the threat of pvp (more than the actual ganking) adds some nice spice to things.

For those of you already playing, this will be mostly old news. I'm going to try and post a few comments for those still considering the game.

Disclaimer: I tend to gush early on, so take all I say with a grain (pound?) of salt.

Negative impressions: AoC has launched with fewer overall problems and more beginning area content than any MMO I've every played. Even WoW had more problems. I especially remember the "loot lag" we had to deal with for the first few days (weeks?) after launch. The feel of AoC compared to WoW is much more realistic and immersive. WoW started with nothing new, just all the old stuff done really, really well. AoC has implemented a number of new features that are actually different from standard MMO fare. However, there are still warts. I have three major compaints about the game.