Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I seem to be keeping up with reading a lot more this year. Assassin's Apprentice I picked this up a while back at the used bookstore down in Albuquerque. It falls in the realm of "okay, but not outstanding" where I seem to file a lot of what I read. A first-person retelling of a bastard-turned-assassin's early life in the same fantasy world as the Liveship Traders series. Somehow magic feels more prominent in this one, even though it's really not that much more common - perhaps because the main character exhibits the ability to bond with animals early on. Most of the characters are interesting enough, and the setting has a solid feel to it. So why not consider it more highly? I'm not sure. Lacking a factor that pushed it over the edge for me, I guess. There are a lot of major plot points that seem to (and really that's the test - how obvious is it) hinge on deus ex machina. I may pursue the series depending on other options. Magic Strikes Part three

Sparked by some rumor/comment/foretelling out of Blizzcon about Theramore being attacked or destroyed, there've been some forum arguments about how Blizzard "favors the Horde" (or perhaps the Alliance, depending on who you listen to). This got me thinking about the Alliance versus Horde aspects of the game... Disclaimer: First, I play on a PVE realm and do very little PVP content - that's personal preference, I just don't enjoy competitive video gaming much. Second, I have played Alliance almost exclusively, which may well shade my perceptions of the game - I can't speak objectively because I haven't seen all the sides of the game. I do feel like the Alliance has been "losing" against the Horde, but I take a lot of pride in the faction and I don't exactly feel "picked on" but Blizzard. It's the nature of such a conflict to have gains and losses, and while the Alliance doesn't seem to be winning much against the Horde,

I can keep this relatively short. This little DLC side mission is disappointing overall and probably not worth the $15. It isn't bad , but it feels disjointed by its separation from the main game. It's fairly short. The environments are okay, but are limited and include a fair bit of backtracking. The end "boss" is, though, more in-tune with the game - just a guy behind several layers of protection, who can be snuck up to and taken down as easily as just about any grunt. I think it also suffers a little from the inclusion of the Factory Zero achievement: complete it without using weapons, explosives, or praxis kits. Because this is deliberately possible, it feels like passwords are dropped like candy and security is especially easy to bypass with a little patience. 'course, I completed my second run this way and didn't get the achievement even though I'm pretty sure I didn't use any such items. Grrrr. Unrelated, but an interesting read: http://www.

I really am my own worst enemy. Always have been. I'm wonderful at making myself feel absolutely miserable over things that probably aren't even a big deal to begin with. It's a little funny after my last post. Perhaps I'm too empathic sometimes. I worry about letting down those I care about. So when my gut doesn't say "yes" to them, I feel bad about it. And beat myself up further over it. And... rawrgh! I don't think even some of my "closest" friends realize how much it pains me to say no sometimes.

Quick note on WoW going alright. Quicker with the progress through the raid. Practice for our otherwise-usual tank on Alysrazor. A second person getting a look at flying on that fight. My Ret-self hasn't undergone dramatic improvement, but continues to work just fine. All good. More drama than usual, though, starting early even. That wasn't so good and had a few people more tense than should be. Which, in turn, got me thinking about "playing politics." I've said before and I'll probably say again that I probably could be good at it, but I don't really want to. In another life, a few choices different, a little more purpose in my college days, and I might even have been a politician. Scary. But the principles apply at more levels than running for Congress. A lot of the theories can apply on multiple levels. Getting along with people at work or running an in-game guild... One of the big elements of being in a leadership role is compromise . Unless yo

Uhh... okay. Maaaybe I will end up playing Diablo 3. Free if you sign up for a year's subscription to WoW. I feel like I might be very close to the target demographic for that offer: someone who is likely to be playing WoW a year from now, but has some small measure of doubt due to upcoming competition like SWTOR and GW2. I already pay for six months at a time (for a slightly better rate). So the only way I lose out is if I stop playing WoW over the next year (and that would likely take guild disintegration). Otherwise, it's a free top-tier game for me... that adds me to a list of people who may (though the odds are low for me personally) end up paying money in by use of the D3 auction house transfers. Oh, and doing this also gets you an in-WoW mount that... actually appeals to my paladin tendencies. Sneaky bastards. Mists of Pandaria is real, huh? Okay, I guess I'm not actually surprised. I am a little surprised that pandarens will, in fact, be playable and both Hor

A couple links about storytelling in general, largely for my own remembrance and benefit. Food for thought, at least. A blog article on poor story due to adherence to the hero's journey format . A short video of the creators of South Park discussing using causation/complication between scenes/beats rather than simply following one scene with another.

Sorta looks like no offline roleplaying this week. We could maybe get three people together tonight (one likely later) and that's only about half the group. Looks like our second stab at the Dresden Files mechanics will wait a couple weeks. Interestingly, it looks like a place is being opened up downtown that offers space for gaming. And they're planning to run Friday Night Magic. Sheesh, where was that when I actually played? I picked up The Missing Link DLC for DXHR. Just getting it was challenging enough, as Steam insisted I verify my email address. Okay, that's simple click the link in the em-... waaaaait, this automated email has no link in it, only three garbled-looking characters in the body. While Steam Support (which requires setting up a whole other account) kicked back a form letter that wasn't terribly helpful, I changed my default mail for my Steam account and got something I could respond to finally. Whee. Then there was downloading it - but better a c

Yay, no jury duty tomorrow. ... I say that not because I have any great dislike for the system or anything, but I feel a little put out by the thought of losing mornings to that and still having to work nights. The one time I served was a good experience to have overall, but the trial itself felt like one side wasting everyone's time. That may have shaded my views a little, I suppose. And as I've been thinking about my most recent book reading, I find I have a lot more thoughts, but they get into spoiler territory real quick, so... I like most of the character, and that generates a lot of good will from me right off. - Kip served well as a relatable teen protagonist growing into some big powers. His awkwardness and self-consciousness are played up, but don't reach the point of going "too far" in my opinion. He manages to survive/get away with a lot, but that's sort of part of the whole protagonist thing. - Karris is interesting as noblewoman-turned-Spec

I, perhaps, had different expectations, but wasn't disappointed by The Black Prism . I'd put it off because... well... I certainly didn't want to start in on reading a trilogy when only the hardcover of the first part was out - so I waited for the paperback release, at least. But I did like the Night Angel trilogy a great deal, so I certainly wanted to give it a shot. Very different. Weeks' last series started with what felt like a tighter focus on mostly just one character and his place in the city. This one immediate follows several, and is thick with setting-building. Rarely a chapter goes by where some detail of luxin-wielding spellcraft isn't explained. The politics and relationships are all laid upon the foundation of a 16-year-past war (that reminds me just a little of MtG's war between Mishra and Urza). Then you start getting shown more layers to the state of the world. Then, perhaps 250 or 300 pages in, comes a twist that turns things on their coll

Rargh. Work suckage with the remote system having several pages locked, and printing not working right, and... urgh. I hate waiting on call-backs from tech support. It makes me feel helpless. Did get the upgraded cable (ooo, now I can actually watch HD channels on the one of my two TVs that can show it) and internet. Haven't had time to tinker too much, but so far two things appear true: 1) Youtube video downloads notably faster, now faster that in plays even at higher resolutions and 2) it doesn't look like this will have any direct impact on my online gaming. Latency in WoW appeared about the same before and after, MUCKs aren't going to use much bandwidth anyway, so... yeah, it doesn't look like there's likely to be much change there either way.

What's to say? Weekends are still too short. I probably should have gotten out a bit more - hike, bike, something. Though as I think about it, last week was so rainy that mud was a consideration. And I've decided to try cable internet out, the timing being somewhat ironic as the phone company is just offering DSL speed increases. Still, cable offers "faster" for similar price (if cheaper for the first year), so we'll see how that goes. If it works okay, I'll downgrade my current ISP service to "email only" - at least for a while, though I really can't imagine how many placed I'd have to change that address I've had for years. Also, Aliens is still a great movie, though the censoring on AMC really throws me off. WoW went pretty well. There was some minor drama partway through, and several people bristle under the inevitable AFKs, but we made pretty good time on what we did, getting to see the beginning of the Ragnaros fight. My DPS i

We even got some snow yesterday, if not so much that it lasted any at this elevation. I suppose wintery cold snaps aren't really all that uncommon getting into this time of year, though I usually expect them at the end of October rather than the beginning. The day is thusfar being a bit less intensively busy than the last few. That's good, though I feel somewhat drained by the week already. Fridays end up that way all too often these days - get to the end of the day, rejoice for the weekend, and... completely run out of steam. Last night brought troubling news of a friend losing his job. Maybe I should be more worried about that, but it was the manner in which it happened that bothered me most. I have to remind myself that I really don't have much control over how someone else lives his life, but it doesn't stop me from wishing I could do more. ... Ah well, I've talked about that in a more direct fashion for what it's worth. Last week, I finished Magic Burns

Steve Jobs: I've never really been an Apple person. I always favored PCs and the rampant fanboyism for i-Products is something I've long found annoyance in. That said, I had to respect the man and all he contributed and accomplished. It's been a dark and dreary week here. Clouds and rain have conspired with the waning morning light to make it very difficult to get out of bed in the morning, and the busy days at work (and continuing rainy weather) have been leaving me with little drive to stay up in the evening. I'm not especially looking forward to winter. So last night we finished a short-campaign/adventure of supernatural Westernness using the Unisystem Ghosts of Albion rules. It was run with someone who I would call more an idea person than an implementation person - which is to say there were a lot of elements and scenes that probably looked cooler in his head than they felt when played out. So, story-wise it was okay - the PCs came together and, mostly at the

Not an unusual state. Feels like it's been a busy day, though, including running through the gauntlet of Toshiba tech support by phone (for a laptop at work) and another bite adjustment at the dentist (@whee!). Looks like Wednesday gaming and a bunch of new laptops to be phasing in at work. Yesterday, I was pretty down. Bleh. No particular good reason for it, but I seem to have been plagued less by such depression this year, at least. Guild Wars was an uninspiring run through a couple zones I've done... half a dozen times? Feels like more. Saturday's WoW raid was similar to the week before - 6/7 down in Firelands. This time, though, we had trouble with Rhyolith rather than Alysrazor (which is sort of preferable as even a good Alys fight takes 10+ minutes), due to problems getting a good DPS balance between boss and adds. And after some discussion, I'm polishing off my Retribution set to be better able to switch roles myself. 'course our chief death knight sets a