Nightmare Union

Why I Play on A PvP Server

    Recently I've started playing Funcom's new MMO based of the Conan series, Age of Conan. So far I'm loving the game. It, so far, supports two server types: PvE, whose ruleset focuses on fighting computer controlled enemies, and PvP, whose ruleset follows a FFA - Free-For-All - style of player versus player combat. I enjoy PvP, so I naturally choose the PvP server type. Little did I know the amount of griefers, gankers, and just plain *ass-hat* players there would be. So why do I adamantly love playing on this type of server if I hate the types of people it fosters? To put it simply: I love the challenge.
     Now, I am not the best of PvPers - hell, I'm borderline "just-plain-bad" - but it is from a combination of not really knowing the intricacies of the class I play and my lack of MMO PvP experience. So, this server type does two things, it lets me learn my class and get experience against much more skilled opponents.
    This type of server also gives me a sense of pride. By hitting the max level, I can say to myself "Against all odds, against the constant stream of 'haters' and 'gankers', I was able to succeed." Some people may say "So what?" To them, this is not a big deal, but to me - a fairly casual player at best, this is a goal I hope to achieve. Also, this isn't saying I did not choose the server for the same reason as many others (siege warfare), it just means that this is the reason I stayed. I stayed because the community allows for a much higher difficultly level that, to me, is something I think the developers could never have expected. 

School's Over

So, The first year of college is down. Four more years to get my MS in Computer Science.

With school over, I will be able to focus more on my blog and blogging matters in general. I've begun work on my first independent game and will be giving updates on that, as well as various gaming matters. I feel that I'm not doing justice to the title i wear on my wrist: "GAMER." So, I'll hopefully start doing a lot more commentaries on gaming news and gaming in general.

As a side note, the other title I wear on my wrist is "GEEK," so I believe it is my duty to also write about tech stuff in general.

The Weekend That Was: Feb 16 - Feb 17

So here we are again :)
For those of you that follow the Blog, I apologize for its recent sporadic posts; I've been really busy lately with school, but hopefully things will slow down soon and I be posting more substantial posts as I once did. But until than, The Weekend That Was will continue to pour in every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday :P

Friday
Ok, so Friday isn't TECHNICALLY part of the usual post; however, I felt that it was so much fun that it deserved a mention. I went home Friday night to go to Gaby's College Formal. It was SO much fun, even though all they played was Spanish rap XP. We were there from 8 - 12. After, since it was officially Saturday, we decided to go to Taco Bell and get a Fiesta Platter and Cheesy Potatoes; Always better at 12:30 in the morning. Being that my parents weren't home, I stayed over at Gaby's house Friday and Saturday night.

Saturday
Not much. Gaby and I hung out all day, which was fun. We watched movies and stuff. You know, just a nice relaxing Saturday, really. We made dinner together; chicken, ratatouille, and pasta. The chicken Gaby made and it was AWESOME. I found that I absolutely love cooking with my lovey :)

Sunday
Same sort of thing: Gaby and I hung out early in the morning. Her and her family drove me back around 2pm. We stopped at a Really good restaurant on Route 9 on the way. When they got here, I showed them around the campus: All the dorms, all the buildings, etc. It was fun to be able to "show off" my school. After they left, I studied for my Computer Science II test that I had the next morning.

So there you go, another weekend come and gone. Hope you continue to enjoy The Weekend That Was!

LOLCODE

This was so funny I had to post about it. So, I was surfing for "O RLY?", "YA RLY!!", and "NO WAI!!1" pictures - mainly to use on forums - and I stumbled across this (Which I took from another site, which took it from another, and that one took it from here...it's a string of blog pilfering):

HAII
   HAS A CHEEZBURGER ITZ 1
   IM IN YR LOOP
      VISIBLE "I has dis many: " N CHEEZBURGER
      IZ CHEEZBURGER BIGGER THAN 11 O RLY?
      YA RLY
         GTFO
      NO WAI
         UP CHEEZBURGER!!1
      KTHX
   KTHX
KTHXBYE

Anyone who understands programming can see the obvious hilarity (definitely not a word, but oh well). Very funny.

The Weekend That Was: Feb 9 - Feb 10

So, a little bit late, but better than nothing. At least it's for good reason :P

Saturday
Saturday was one of the most interesting and fun days I've had since starting this blog. It all started with Gaby and I getting Taco Bell Fiesta Platters (which I must say are REALLY good with Chicken Ranchero Tacos) and Cheesy Gordita Crunches. I know, awesome lunch. Since I won't be home for Valentine's Day -Tomorrow- we decided to celebrate it on Saturday. I *surprised* Gaby taking us to one of our favorite restaurants: Sakura. It's a nice Japanese style restaurants with what I assume are culturally correct style tables. But this is where the real fun started. We had 6:45 reservation for one of their two person rooms; I know, romantic :P. I forgot how to get there, so I had to tell her where we were going so she could navigate. It took us 1:10 minutes to get to it...it's only about 20 minutes away. We drove straight on the Boston Post Road for 50 minutes, which apparently we weren't supposed to do. So then we finally get there. Our reservations are gone and we are seated at a regular table. No big deal. Keep this in mind: The fun is only beginning. We order Edamame, but only get a bowl of it...no plates, no bowl for the shells, no soy sauce dish. Awesome. The dinner continues. I order us a Filet Mignon dish to share and 4 rolls of sushi of various types. We're eating and I mess with Gaby by  throwing stuff on her plate, which eventually leads to me breaking a water glass. The Awesomeness continues. Later, Gaby is being funny and knocks over her  glass, which happens to have all the water in it land in my shoe. By far the most  entertaining dinner I've ever had. To end the day, Gaby had made me truffles for Valentine's Day. The best I have ever had; she must love me or something ;) So ended a very interesting day.

Sunday
Sunday was uneventful with respect to Saturday. Gab and I got sandwiches from Roly Poly.  We watched One Tree Hill, which we have to TiVo because she works on Tuesdays, when it airs. She had to work, so I worked on a Second Life project for school - the reason I haven't posted in a while - and played so WoW. Nothing to exciting, but always fun to hang around with Gaby and the family.

NU Review #2

Review of the Razer Pro|Click Mobile Bluetooth Mouse

Going back to my old ways

Just when I think I'm out; i feel the pull of the role i love - again. To many it is an under appreciated role; someone whose job it is to hold the enemies focus. That's right, I'm talking about THAT role:

TANK

I've been playing MMO games since I was barely in double digits. In every game I've played, I've - at some point - been drawn to tanking. Why, I don't know. Maybe I like everyone yelling at me to do a job they have never done; maybe I like always being ALMOST dead before being healed; maybe I like being blamed for a wipe when the DPS pulls hate without care; maybe i just a sucker for punishment. I don't know, but I do love it. I tried to resist the pull WoW had with not 1, but 3 really cool and very different tanking classes (with one more on the way that you can be certain I will play to its finest). I've sampled them all, mostly in WoW in lower level instances - my main is my DPS/Healer flip-flopping Shammy - and I really like all the different flavors of tanking style. I enjoy the strong aggro hold that properly played Prot Warriors can have; I like the versatility and threat generation mechanics of the Feral Druid; most of all though, I like the Threat-Through-Holy-Damage style of AoE tanking that Prot Paladins can do. Don't get me wrong, I like the threat-through-hitting, but I really think it's cool how Paladins tank by getting the stuffing kicked out of them, only to make their hold that much stronger. It's just plain cool. And so, this post is to declare that I officially pursuing my Belf* Pally as my main, and spec'ing him Prot for AoE grinding and instance Tanking.

Tanks - You're Welcome.

BTW, I know the picture isn't just about tanking, but it made me laugh so I used it :P

* Edit: and Draenei...Belf leveling Horde side frustrates me so I have to do both to be sane

The Weekend That Was: Feb 2 - Feb 3

Welcome to the second installment of The Weekend That Was

Saturday
So, Gaby had surprised me by coming with my family to pick me up to go to Vermont the day before. Unfortunately, I was really sick that morning and she had hurt her ankle during the week, so neither of us was able to go snowboarding. We still had fun, as we stayed with my mom at the house and watched TV and stuff. My mom made some extremely - and I mean EXTREMELY - good corn chowder that night; nothing like good comfort food to make you feel better. Honestly, I don't remember much of Saturday, except watching one of the Food Network challenges and Father of the Bride I and II with Gaby, because I was in and out of sleep most of the day.

Sunday
We drove back from Vermont just in time for the Super Bowl. Now, I'm not a judge of football - or any sport really - by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought the whole first half of the game wasn't that exciting. Then the fourth quarter happened; I flipped out and was going crazy (yes, I am a Giants fan). All the while, my mom had again made an awesome meal. This time it was Chili and Cornbread. Both of which were what I really needed after being sick.

All-in-all it was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun spending time with my family and watching movies and the big game with them. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing about it :)

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NU Review #1

First of a new series of posts: Video Reviews and Such!! I'm calling it the NU Review; clever, right :) Enjoy. Today's Review: The Creative Fatal1ty Keyboard...and yes, I do drop it within the first 30 seconds :P