As Much As I Bag On Them...

Blizzard did do me right on one thing tonight. A couple nights ago I did a quest that showed complete, and for all intents and purposes it was complete, except I got no reward at all. Nor did I see the yellow "Quest completed" message on the screen.

So I petitioned about it, and the first response was something like "That is not broken, and we can't give you hints on how to complete a quest."

So I repetitioned, explaining that situation more clearly. Today, I get an email with *gasp*... An actual list of things to try to correct the issue, and was told that if those failed to repetition and they would do something.

I dont need them to give me a reward, or fix something out of the ordinary... However, giving me a list of possible work-arounds was very welcomed. If I can ever get this patch done, and eventually log in, I plan to try them first thing.

Patching Interface Designer Wanted: Only Crackheads Need Apply

My gawd! The patch utility (as I have said in the past) for WoW is the WORST! A 60.5 MB file to download... Which, on my connection should take no more than 15-20 minutes, tops. But nooooo Blizzard, in their wisdom thought it would be really snazzy if they had a patch server with a dial-up connection.

How the hell does a game that is near the 1 million subscriber mark get away with such a shitty method of patching? I'd rather they just have a simple FTP server set up, and grab it that way. Manual patching I would take in a heartbeat over this.

And the fact my bits uploaded is almost 2x my downloaded does not soothe the pain in any way. Shit... I hate patch days.

WoW (Working on What?!?)

Well, I went to the WoW website tonight, checking the patch notes and the forums to see if there is any mention of a fix for the issue that drove me to quit. Nope. Not a peep. Not even a recognition of this issue. They were fairly quick to respond when this issue hit the Alliance side. However, since this issue is more of a Horde problem they are in no hurry.

It seems the latentcy issues are even worse now. I am sure they are running around like mad trying to fix that. And I just the 'work around' they've put in place. Instead of looking at optimizing code, or possible hardware issues, they deiced to decrease the number of players allowed on a server at a given time. Yeah, I see the logic in that...

"Hey, I know! If we keep them in the login queue long enough, they'll be so happy to get in that they won't even complain about the lag. "

But hey, 16 slot bags are now marked "uncommon".

Meh...

Just Not Fun

I logged into CoH today several times, but just could'nt seem to "get into" it. I think I managed to collect a few badges, and read a few plaques putting me closer to more badges. I also managed to run two missions tonight. The first was against "The Family" (the mafia, basicly) and the other was against what used to be the 5th column. I still say they were much cooler when they were nazis. Kicking the snot out of nazis is more fun for some reason.

Anyway... I ran those two, did a very small amount of street hunting, and decided I had enough for one night. I'm not sure if it's the massive pain in my ears, or the fact the game is just boring... But I just could not get into playing at all.

Ok, Enough Already

This sinus infection has decided to put up a fight. For the last two days I have only been able to swallow liquids, and only with extreme pain. And both eardrums feel as if they have had a blunt pencil driven into them. The ironic part is that I really don't feel much pressure in my sinuses per se. It's the post nasal drip that's honing the irritation blade being twisted behind my tongue.

I tell the doctor I'm having trouble swallowing, and what does she do? Prescribes an antibiotic pill that (and I swear to Christ this is no exaggeration) is about the size of a .45 APC round, case and all. I wonder what the hell I am expected to do with this... Swallow it, or load it in my Colt 1911-A and pull the trigger?

Thank the maker for Thera-Flu©! I don't think I would have survived this long without that nectar of the gods.

Cape For Sale...

Well, I'm seriously not having fun in CoH. I had been away from the game for close to five months, and thought I would never return. Ethic managed to talk me into coming back. So, as you all know I did. It was nice to see they've made some really nice changes, added plenty of content, and even put in some incentives to explore. Had this been the game they had released last year, I would've had to have called it one of the best of all time.

However, a combination of past history with this company, it's in-game CS department, and the openly repetitive game play I just see myself extending my subscription another month. The game is just not fun anymore.

Last week I managed to find a shitload of my old Sega Genisis games. Now talk about gameplay! They just dont make games like they did in the old(er) days. I may just forsake MMOs for good, and just stick to the console.

City of Huh?

I tried logging in a few times this weekend. Most of those sessions would end with me suddenly realizing I am standing in the middle of the street, just standing there... Or I would be sitting just inside the door to a mission. Not knowing how long I had been there.

My head is a little clearer today, so I may giver it another go. I certainly wont be up late tonight playing, as I am finding the more I sleep, the less this crud I have abuses me.

The Sickness Returns

Sometime about Thursday afternoon, I noticed a small tickle in my sinuses. I wrote it off to allergies, as I had just gotten over that sinus infection, and the antibiotics should still be in my system. Boy was I wrong.

Friday morning I woke up, and could barely move. It felt as though I had been beaten with an axe handle. And part of that beating included ramming that handle up both nostrils. I was so plugged up, I absolutely could do nothing but fight the gag reflex being kicked off by the post nasal torrent that was assaulting my throat and lungs.

So, I exercised an option my employer allows me, and worked from home. And spent the entire day in misery, jugging down decongestants, Thera-Flu©, and hot spiced cider. By the end of the work day I was beat, and retired to the couch. I faded in and out of sleep all weekend. It's now Sunday, and the symptoms seem to be easing, but the sinus/sore throat thing is still there. I seriously hope I am operating on at least three cylinders by tomorrow morning. I have a couple meetings that -must- attend.

Day 8 (or is it 9)

Well, the static group met yet again tonight. I am amazed things are going as well as they are. All three of us got a level tonight.

While I am pleased to see us holding together as well as we are, I am not so pleased with the speed of your progress. We should be in our mid teens by now, and I am not sure why that is not happening. Personally...I want my toon to lvl 14 asap.... then lvl 18. I have absolutely no ability to solo, as I made this guy strictly for the team. I suppose I could LFT, but damn I hate teaming with strangers, so I wont. But I seriously want to kick it up a notch on the levelling front. Level 11 in 8 (or 9) days is too slow for my tastes. I've gotten toons to 15-20 at least in that amount of time.

Maybe we need to just do a street grind one night instead of the missions.

*shrug*

I have to say though, this trio is solid as hell. We've yet to take a death within a mission. The only deaths (usually mine) are the result of mobs encountered enroute to a mission. 3 more levels, and that's no longer an issue.... C'mon level 14!

Times Are Hard....

Something I have noticed is the difficulty in getting enough cash (in CoH, it's called 'influence') to make it through the lower levels. My lvl 33 Ar/Dev makes it like it's raining money. And thus, the static team I have going atm is not wanting for money in the least as he helps them on that.

However, my 'side projects' are hurting. To get ahead in this game, you have to be constantly upgrading your enhancements (items that add %bonus to your powers). And pre-30, it seems the cash-flow is to slow to allow that to happen. One would think the problem would scale with level, as the higher you are, the more powers/enhancement slots you have to keep upgraded. But this does not seem to be the issue. Somewhere around level 30, the frequency of new powers learned decreases, thus giving you a chance to keep the learned ones up-to-date. Also, mobs drop more cash, as well as having to earn more xp per level tends to give you even more time.

Just wish the paradigm were a tad easier on the little guys.

Old Friends Revisted...

Well, I was really close to deleting a lvl 16 Spines/Regen Scapper I had from my first round of CoH months back. I had tried playing him since my return, and the experience was 'meh' at best. It seriously had me considering swearing off that build.

Then an odd thing happened.

Just out of curiosity, I scoured the forums for this build. I had -heard- it was the hottest build in game, but I just was not seeing it from personal experience. Then I found a template. With a respec (from either Issue 2 or 3) I figured what the heck... I'm deleting this guy anyway, so I'll give it ago.

All I can say is WOW! The difference is night and day. I -really- like this guy now. He kicks total ass. And the odd part is that I really was not so far off on the template, but I had a couple powers I didn't need, slotting was off... etc. with a minor tweaking from the respec, this guy went from sleeper to keeper. Very strong now, and very fun to play.

The path is laid out for this guy until lvl 35, then I'll need to research some more. But damn... he's built strong now.

Why CoH Pisses Me Off....

One of the things in this game I have noticed is that people love to send you team invites. They love to send them, and resend them, and re-resend them. I think I must've recieved (not making this up here...) at least 100 invites in an hour when I was playing my healer. And not a single whisper, saying something like "Hey, team of 6 needing a healer, are you game?" or something... I mean, not a single /tell. And what REALLY got me was the asshats that would spam the invites... there are at least 3 people on my "go-to-hell" list just from that.

Here's a tip... if you send an invite that is refused, and then your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th invites are refused as well... odd are, that person is not interested. But then, since you never bothered to send a whisper asking if that person was wanting to team... I guess you really dont care.

It would seem CoH has a high population of assmonkies. Just stand around the Atlas statue in AP long enough, and that becomes obvious... However, I have to say at least one person in this game has some class....

Kaagoon De'Kian actually sent me a whisper in conjunction with the team invite. I almost fell out of my chair. I made a point of talking to this person, and thanking them for the invite, as well as the communication. Sadly, I had to be getting out of the game, but asked him to please consider me in the future, as I liked his style.

Why cant more people be like that?

Day 7...Slow Day

It's amazing how much having a DPS toon in the party helps. Ethic and I decided we would give things a go, as his brother was not going to be on much this weeked. We made an excellet duo, no deaths (while in missions or fighting... 1 death to me, due to lag while travelling). But we noticed the XP was not flowing as expected. I attribute this to the fact we had no serious DPS with us.

Without that, it takes longer to kill stuff, thus dropping the xp/min numbers.

Still... we had fun.

6 Nights in a Row...

Well, I'm shocked. Recently Ethic, his brother, and myself had agreed to run a static team in CoH. And the shocking part is that we have met for 6 consecutive nights, and nobody has broken the static-party covenent and levelled w/o the party. After 6 nights, we are -all- lvl 8. Very suprising. Every other MMO I have ever played, there has always been attempts at a static party, but invariably someone gets impatient and levels their toon beyond the group. So far, that has not happened. The ironic part is that this is the only game that has the ability to side-kick/exemplar someone up or down so they can play with others of a significant difference in level.

Why is this group holding together in a game (the only one I know of) that does not really require it. *shrug*

I''m having fun with it, and hope it continues. =)