/sigh

16 11 2009

Kiara, dear, I love you.  Really.  I know that the CRM position is an important and often unrecognized one.

But for the love of GOD … please … PLEASE !  Please tell your boss that bloggers everywhere want separate DEVELOPER and COMMUNITY postings on the dev tracker !

;)

 

Love,
the Ratwarlock





Sometimes, I Really Love Having a Private Blog …

15 11 2009

… because not being affiliated with any commerical site or company allows me to say this:

THIS GUY IS A BIG FUCKING IDIOT!

Suing SOE saying they are costing you money because you are blind and therefore cannot participate in the exchange server marketplace becuase they have not implemented your suggestions to improve ease-of-access standards and are therefore in breach of the AWDA?  Really?  REALLY?  A videogame company should cater to the blind?  REALLY!?

You’re fucking BLIND, dude!  That’s terrible and I would not wish it on anyone, ever – but seriously?  Get a damn grip!  There are jobs you can do outside the realm of virtual money exchange in an MMO, that are very, VERY accessible to people who are legally blind.

No one is keeping you from your money but yourself, jackass!

Lame, lame, LAME!





New Video

13 11 2009

 

View it in HD on YouTube  (you should do this.  It’s bigger and better there than this crappy little box you see here!)  hahah  Just make sure to click the HD button!

 

 

I will do another one soon.





New Sentinel’s Fate Trailer

12 11 2009

On top of the below announcement, there is also a new trailer available.

As well as several new screenshots.





Sentinel’s Fate Release, Pre-Order Details

12 11 2009

sentinelsfatebox

SOE sent out a newsletter, today, detailing the features of the upcoming Sentinel’s Fate expansion pack for Everquest II.

  • - Level cap raised to 90
  • - 400 new quests
  • - 12 new dungeons
  • - 4,000 new items, including armor and weapons
  • - Two new overland zones: The Sundered Frontier, and the Stonebrunt Highlands.
  • - Five new Heritage Quests
  • - New alternate advancement abilities

- (That last point will no doubt be of the most interest to veteran players, although the newsletter does not elaborate.)

- The newsletter also detailed the various release packages available:

Physical Retail Packages (available only from Best Buy, Amazon, and Gamestop):

Standard Edition (Pre-Order):

  • Up to a 7-day head start of gameplay access before the digital release
  • Coveted Guarding of the Reasoned armor piece* to provide extra protection on your journey
  • $10.00 Sentinel’s Fate digital download discount coupon for Station Store
  • 500 Station Cash™ to spend on virtual items
  • Legends of Norrath™ The Fall of Erudin scenario
  • Free 30-day subscription included for new accounts

Collector’s Edition (Pre-Order):

  • Up to a 7-day head start of gameplay access before the digital release
  • Exclusive Armored Highland Stalker in-game mount*
  • Collectible Armored Highlands Stalker pet figurine
  • Coveted Guarding of the Reasoned armor piece* to provide extra protection on your journey
  • EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest DVD Documentary
  • 500 Station Cash™ to spend on virtual items
  • Legends of Norrath™ The Fall of Erudin scenario
  • Free 30-day subscription included for new accounts

 

Digital Download Versions (via the Station Store):

Station Store Digital Download:

  • Coveted Guarding of the Learned armor piece* to provide extra protection on your journey
  • Legends of Norrath™ The Fall of Erudin scenario
  • 500 Station Cash™ to spend on virtual items
  • Free 30-day subscription included for new accounts

Station Cash Purchase (only after February 23rd, via the in-game Station Cash marketplace), offering same benefits as the above.

One important thing to note is that the digital downloads do NOT come with any of the retail pre-order bonuses.  It would appear the special pre-order perks are available ONLY to purchasers of the physical retail copies, and ONLY when those physical boxes are actually pre-ordered from Best Buy, Gamestop, or Amazon.

Full details of the announcement at EQ2Players.com!





VERMIN Turns 5 Years Old!

12 11 2009

imagelogoultra

I can hardly believe it’s been 5 years since EQ2 was released and nearly that long since I joined the wonderful guild, Vermin, on Antonia Bayle.

I’ve met some great people through our guild.  I would have never, ever guessed, when I first logged into EQ2, that someday 5 years later I’d be meeting up with a group of friends for a weekend in the mountains.  I never even thought I’d remain in a game that long, let alone a guild!

For several years I maintained officership, and it was invigorating at times (and yes, it could be equally draining, at times!) to help direct a guild that consisted of nearly 100 unique – and sometimes very vocal and outgoing – members.  I’ve seen the usual casualties and heard the usual debates and watched the drama explode at the strangest times, but all that aside, I’ve spent more hours with these people than with my own family (okay, to be fair, my family doesn’t live anywhere near me – but you get the idea!) and to look back at some of the long-time members, it’s an interesting retrospective.

Some of the highlights for me include nights upon nights of running the Desert of Flames instances, back in 2005.  Then, spending weeks in the bowels of the Sanctum of the Scaleborn, and trying to climb the Palace of the Awakened, in 2006.  Endless runs through the Halls of Fate, Blackscale Sepulcher, and the Den.  Exploring the Village of Shin and trying to tackle Nizara.  I have one particular memory of a group of us, all 6 from the guild, and all ratonga, with our tags up, running through the Forbidden City – another player stopped and literally: “squeeee, OMG Vermin !  Sooo cute!” (which our guild leader was disgusted by, as usual).

As we made our way through Faydwer, we started tackling some raiding content.  We weren’t usually very successful, it’s true – but over time we’ve managed to rack up a relatively nice little kill list, for a small-ish casual guild that barely manages to raid more than once per week.  Memories of that time include the Inner Sanctum and Freethinker’s Hideout.  With ROK and TSO, we continued our raiding, trimmed back our force a bit, and, by tooth and claw and tail, finally managed to get most of our guild our mythical weapons.

beyond that are the thousands upon thousands of moments of humor and genuine comraderie.  You wouldn’t think — I certainly didn;’t — that you could get such things through a virtual game, but as I’ve said before, and as I’ve heard many others say: “If it weren’t for the guild, I probably wouldn’t be logging in.”

It’s been a long journey – and it isn’t over yet, as we are all planning to check out Sentinel’s Fate this spring.

Happy 5th anniversary, Vermin!  Here’s to 5 more years of leaving droppings across Norrath!





Aeralik No Longer Working at SOE?

11 11 2009

It’s like an episode of Days of Our Lives up there at SOE, I swear.

The crazies over at eq2flames reported earlier in the week that Aeralik was no longer employed at SOE.  Details beyond that were not given.  The post was started by someone with the handle “InsideSecretz” so you can take it for what it’s worth.

When someone raised the validity of the claim on the official EQ2 boards over at SOE, Community Rep Kiara gave the standard company line, upholding SOE’s policy of not commenting on employee relations rumors.  (She also – rather humorously – moved the thread to the PVP forum, and as of this writing, it is not locked … so you can take that for what it’s worth!)





Currently Playing

8 11 2009

http://torchlightgame.com

 

Uhhh, yup, yup, yup, huhuh.  Uhhh … /goofy

http://torchlightgame.com





Oh Celebrities!

7 11 2009

Two things I just must say, and then be done.

1.) What, what WHAT is “Perez Hilton” (dot) com’s beef with poor Kirsten Dunst.  I swear, the world may never know.  She doesn’t always dress the best, I’ll grant that, but poor girl is certainly no …

2.) …  Lindsay Lohan is quite possibly the most over-exposed celebrity on this planet?

Just saying.

End.

 





Anti-aliasing in EQ2 with nVidia 19x.xx drivers? See here!

30 10 2009

(I’ve only verified this to work on Vista 64 and Windows 7 64, fyi.)

Having problems getting EQ2 to play along nicely with your anti-aliasing settings under the 19x.xx nVidia drivers?  Here you go!

First:

Computer > Hard Drive > Program Files (x86)* > Sony > Everquest II
*the (x86) notation only appears on 64-bit systems.  EQ2 is a 32-bit program and therefore installs into the 32-bit directory path.

Second:

File > New > Text Document

Third:

Type r_aa_blit 1 (exactly as I have it bolded) in the blank document.

Fourth:

File > Save As > EQ2

IMPORTANT!  IMPORTANT!

Be sure that in the File type box, you set “All Files.”  This will properly allow Windows to associate the .ini extension.

Fifth:

Desktop > Right-click > Nvidia Control Panel

Sixth: (very important that this is done exactly as listed, this is where the quirky bug exists!)

  1. From the menu on the left, select Adjust Image Settings with Preview.
  2. Then, on the right, choose Let the 3D application decide.  Apply.
  3. Then, from the menu on the left, select Manage Using 3D Settings.

Choose Everquest2.exe from the drop-down menu.  (If you don’t see it, make sure you’ve chosen to show all programs.)

Make your preferred adjustments; my recommedations:

Anistropic Filtering: 4x
Antialiasing – Setting: 4x
Antialiasing – Mode: Override*
(* you must opt to override; any other setting will not be acknowledged!)

Apply.

Exit the control panel.
NOTE: if you go back into “Let the 3D application decide” AFTER this, it will reset incorrectly and you will need to start from Step 6, again.

That’s it!

Your EQ2 forced anti-aliasing settings should now work and be stored between sessions!

Hopefully this bug in the control panel will be fixed, soon.