Redwolf's Journal (continued)

Read and finished this week, digitally to boot (but more on that later). I still very much enjoy the Dresden Files series. I'm still amazed that the books are able to keep a certain freshness, each one tying up loose ends while laying more thread for the future. Harry hits the ground running again, and it's a good story, expanding on the roles of the faerie courts well beyond how they've been portrayed thus far. There are elements of the formula, however, that I'm becoming less enchanted with. I've read opinions on how thw Twilight series was so popular largely for playing on female wish fulfillment. And I've friends who stopped reading the Antia Blake series becaue of the gratuitous sex. The sex itself didn't bother me so much as the escalation - both in power and relationships - to the point where I felt there was really no risk of failure/loss and thus lost interest. The Dresden Files certainly does escalate power, but to far the series has managed to k

Time to look at the other big game at the moment... Let's start off on some bright notes. I've hit level 80 with my rogue and begun obtaining exotic weapons and armor. We got in a dungeon run Sunday night, which I hadn't seen and was interesting in that it started off in a social setting (though got into more standard fare soon after). I managed to get through almost the entire personal story (I'll get back to that). Recent experience has taught me a few things I didn't know/realize. All good. I still feel a bit squishy in the endgame zones, so I'm hoping to round out equipment with a little more toughness/vitality in addition to offense. Gearing up with endgame stuff can be expensive, though, and I'm finding it difficult to break even financially with all the waypoint hopping I've been doing lately. In general, the game itself still has a habit of annoying me. It's still not very good at explaining things and while the heart-activity system i

... for me. Well, I do get my money's worth as far as play time. About two months in, however, I'm starting to flirt with burnout. Progress so far: My main character is max level, and capped blacksmithing and mining. I've gone through all the notable reputation paths with her. Her gear is raidworthy via valor points in tank spec and LFR drops in DPS spec. I have a stack of motes of harmony on hand for whatever. I have not done much with alts at this point, though I have capped out alchemy, enchanting, and inscrption with tailoring not too far behind. I don't have the Pandaria/rep-based patterns for thos professions, but most of those are only directly useful to the alts I'm not playing that much. I've seen all of the heroics a couple times, though only about half the scenarios, and have seen through the first three LFR pieces, at least. In progress: I'm making slow headway through the cooking ways. There are a couple Tillers yet who aren't "bes

Guild Wars 2 is not a bad game. It really isn't. There are some things it does well and a lot of things it does okay. But Oh My God it can frustrate the hell out of me at times. I logged on today with the intent of participating a little in the Lost Shores release events. So... I start off with a notice to talk to a transport person about access to the new area. Eventually I find that they are marked on the map, though not terribly well. And some time after that, it's pointed out to me that even though it's a level 80 zone, you get scaled up (which was why I didn't hop off that way immediately). Hmm. Along the way, I run into someone wanting investigation of things washed up on a beach done. I go to the beach and... there's nothing there to investigate. There's people. There's a high number of crowbars. But no parts of things or crates to open up or anything to advance that quest. Errr. I also run into someone collecting things to donate to the war

So I went in for an annual exam today (nevermind that it's been more like 14 months than 12, it's still an improvement over waiting years). No major/general problems. A few points discussed. - Based on the continued (if occasional) appearance of little rashes/blisters between my fingers, I'm getting a referral to an allergist to investigate the possibilities from that side. I've suspected a possible food allergy, but my dietary tweaking hasn't been able to pin down a certain cause. - We talked about a two-week (or so) period at the end of October when I felt constantly dehydrated and thirsty. I was guzzling 2-3 liters of water on top of that which normally worked into my day (and went to the bathroom with corresponding frequency). While I might not always drink as much water as I should, that was... extreme. Since I don't seem to be going through that anymore, we're taking more a wait and see approach. - And we chatted a little about depression. Based

I'm falling behind in my book reviews. Blar! So I actually finished Among Thieves a little while back now. 'tis another fantasy rogue story, which does seem to be its own (sub-)genre these days. I liked the worldbuilding involved. A land with an immortal emperor isn't unique, per se, but the details feel fairly fresh. There's extensive use of street lingo, which can be a little disorienting while being nicely flavorful. Naturally, there's a focus on the underworld side - the "Kin." The whole concept of the Gray Princes (mysterious figures in the underworld that puppeteer lesser gangs and orchestrate grand plots) might be just a little overdone, but some of that could easily be attributed to street reputation. There are power levels in the book, though they're not quite as noticeable as in some - elite warriors like White Sashes and Degans can be reasonably expected to take on several opponents and win, while powerful casters can do some pretty insane

So... My new boss started Friday, technically, though really he was tied up in meetings then so this week he'd getting settled and in place for real. This marks the first time our little two-person IT department has ever really had a manager (my co-tech was senior to me and sorta-kinda filled that role.) I am not sure what this will mean long-term. And, as is my nature, I'm a little on edge about potential change. Already, with him just across the hall, I feel an increased pressure to "look busy, whether I really am or not." I also think this may interfere with our practice of leaving early a couple afternoons a week - which has 1) given us a little more personal freedom, 2) helped to avoid overtime as encouraged from "on high," 3) and given us a way to use up some vacation time without actually being gone . Without that outlet, I may need (due to vacation time caps) to schedule some time off soon. I guess there's ups and downs to that. Personally,

"Done." If Skyfall has a main flaw, it would probably be length. It could probably stand to be a bit more concise. Other than that, though, it's a good, solid movie. Daniel Craig continues his showing as a tough, but smart, James bond who cheats death as a matter of course. While the movie naturally follows Bond most of all, the overall story is actually much more M-centric, and Judi Dench does an excellent job, perhaps even stealing the show at times. As with other movies since the reboot with Casino Royale, there are elements of transition moving Bond's world back to the more traditional, but heavy use of gadgets aren't really one of them. Well, except for a modified car that's deliberate throw-back. No, most of the evolution (arguably) is with characters, and it works pretty well all told. All-in-all, it wasn't what I was expecting from the latest Bond flick, but it was quite good.

Well, hey, that's what Normal mode of Mogu'shan Vaults looks like. At least up until the first boss. Ha! We sooo got our collected asses handed to us. Not that I expected anything different at this point. After half a dozen attempts on the Stone Guard, I have a better personal feel for how it needs to work, but we kept losing one or more people early and things just collapsed from there. This raises some question of how much of the problem is skill/performance versus gear. We definitely have some people undergeared at this point, but when you look at it closely, the actual difference in defenses/DPS/healing between item level 440 (roughly where you come out of leveling up) and 470 (heroic dungeon + a few epics, required level for LFR) probably amounts to around 5-10% of whatever numbers you're looking at. Everything else is how well players execute rotations and react to the situations presented in the raid encounters . So how do you whip people into shape such that the

I'm tired. Not in a "I should get another couple hours a sleep a night" sense, though that may well be a good idea. Rather, experiences that are positive or invigorating to me have been... rare, this last week. Dwelling on the past left me moody over the weekend. A couple nights ago, someone blew up on the MUCK over "lies" and miscommunication, the whole situation there still leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I'm having continuing trouble connecting with one of my longest-standing friends online just because of this sense of sameness - that everything's been said and done - and because, more and more, I feel like his interests and preferences diverge from my own. The WoW daily grind and my inability to find a comfortable niche in GW2 don't help. And that's the "fun" part of my life. Work... hasn't been as bad as it could be. I've only really been in full crisis mode one afternoon. But I also feel the impending awkwardness a