Addiction test

The following comes courtesy of a post on the WoW Realm forums for The Maelstrom ...


Totally addicted

You are 80% Addicted!
When the server's down, its like the end of the world. You check your auctions before going to work, you love the game and everything it involves. Remember that other game called real life? Its not any fun, anyway! Keep it up! And remember, its just a game, but its the best game ever!

I guess if I'm that addicted (some of the answers I gave are from before I decided to cancel the subscription), then I have been playing the game too long ...

Original test comes from : http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take

Decisions, decisions ...

Before the main post,

My thoughts go out to those people who have had setbacks this Xmas period. And especially to those people who have relatives in hospital. I'm thinking of Family Aginoth in particular here, I hope that Father of Agi will get the chance to scramble up those ladders again sometime soon ...

Now to my rather more minor concerns - I'm wondering how long it'll be before people notice and how long before the "don't go, we need you" messages start flowing in.

I'm quitting World of Warcraft ... And the reason is - I think I've seen all it has to offer, all that is left to do is to go into the high end areas over and over again, in order to farm things for item drops that are unlikely to happen.

The original reason for WoW keeping my interest for so long was the massive amount of content it crams inside itself, which holds good for quite some time through the game. At any one level range, there are probably 6 or 7 distinct areas where you can go to hunt monsters to get experience. And it's effectively a "just visiting" mentality, you move on before you get bored with the area. Until, that is, you get to level 60 (max level).

To get the full set of mage items, I'd have to :
Belt - hit lots of mobs in the high end instance (no real trouble, gets done while hunting the specifics)
Bracers - as per belt
Head piece - hit Darkmaster Gandling in Scholomance with a 6% chance of getting the item
Gloves - as per belt
Trousers - hit the end boss in Stratholme with a 6% chance of getting the item
Shoulderpiece - hit someone in Scholomance with 11% chance
Chestpiece - hit end boss in Upper Black Rock Spire with 5.6% chance
Boots - hit a rare boss that no one likes to go for in Stratholme with 10% chance

So, running the numbers on that, I'd have to go into Scholo 9 times to get the shoulder piece and 16 times to get the head piece. Into Strat 10 times hitting the rare guy to get the boots, plus 16 times to get the trousers. Finally into Ubrs around 20 times to get the chestpiece. That's only the chance for an item to drop though, the chance to actually get the item depends on how much company you have. For that chestpiece, you need 15 people, so you'd have to take the random chance that some other person gets it. For the next stage of gear, it's worse - you have to take your turn between 40 people. Oh yeah - a full Stratholme run takes around 8 hours. A full Ubrs run takes 2-3 hours. And you can't do Ubrs unless you have a key, which takes several runs of LowerBrs to acquire. Yawn.

Oh yeah - I'd have to do that treadmill over and over again with alternate characters as well. That's when a game starts turning into something resembling a job on an assembly line.

What makes it worse is that it's the same place, over and over again. No variation, except in the moronic people you have to take with you. And that's part of it ... we lost another person before Xmas because he didn't like the prospect of the WoW end game and I guess I've come to the end of what I'm prepared to put up with as well. The guild people aren't bad, but we've always struggled to get enough for those end game instances. Which means you need extras in, which means you have to take on morons.

WoW's been fun, but I've only stuck at it so long because of a few of the people in the guild. One of whom I'm sure is reading this right now. Possible future guild master ? Ha ! Run Zalzar ! As fast as you can. Who are they ? I'll give some in game character names - Zalzar/Zaphyr, Makai (retired), Fubb, Souleater, Recharge/Charge and Bolbit (retired).

Because of the subscription type I took, I still have until April to go though, we'll see how much I get involved before then. In the meantime, I think I've found something that will let me read books and play at the same time ! It's called Eve and it's a space trading/combat thing that also happens to be Massively Multiplayer Online. And, because that's fairly small, I can play that and be on the same server (game world) as my best friend from uni.

Mall trip

I was expecting some extra people at the Mall today ...

I reckon half the people in Bristol were at the Mall (out of town shopping centre) and the other half must have been in the city centre. I rarely go to the centre though, so I don't know about that.

Dilemma time ... My itchy fingers are starting to demand that I build another computer. Think it's something to do with mine struggling with World of Warcraft with the warrior when she goes up close and personal in the battlegrounds. So I have two dilemmas :

Intel or AMD ? Not had an Intel cpu since my very first PC (a 486!), although I did put an Intel Pentium III in my dad's current machine. So it's either Intel dual core or AMD dual core. To be fair to AMD, their lowest price dual core has come within reach a little more
Air or water cooled ? Water cooled costs more but it's a case of I Really Wanna Try It !

Think it'll have to be a water cooled AMD machine. Now would be a good time to build it domestically as I'll be in a fair bit to receive deliveries. But I think it'll wait until Easter as my finances will have some of their variables taken out by then.

Yey ! Cricket on telly

Aussie v South Africa. Aussie are on top, but it's fairly even as you would expect with these two sides. Workmanlike stuff, good honest hard work but not the spectacular lump knocking of last summer's Ashes series.

Anyway - time for the traditional immediate change of subject away from the post title !

CQ's Crazie party tonight and we all had fun. Lots of presents being exchanged and an unbelievable amount of duplication ... That's right ! I think only one duplicate ... We must be paying attention to the wish lists ... [cough] (I only bought 2 presents off wish lists this year ...) I got lots of cd's that I'll be using to keep Cyberkitten awake in the evenings. (Not too late, as I rarely have the music going after midnight)

All the usual suspects were there, including CK, CQ, Agi, Agi Jnr, Mrs A, LMB, LMD, BD and RCA, with a guest appearance from RCAsOH. And we had lots of munchies too. Plus Jasper Carrott after the littl'uns were safely out of earshot ... CQ always puts on a decent party.

PS I didn't get a cat on my lap but I did get a cat demanding a good stroking. I know my place and I'm quite happy there. If an animal is happy to be around you without being bribed by munchies, then you must be doing something right.
PS2 I got a hug from CQ. :-) :-) :-)
PS3 [Massive Yawn!] The cricket isn't being particularly exciting at the moment. Time for bed I think. (Good job I'm not blogging from the laptop that lives on the sof ... .... ... [snore] ... )

Back again

Amid rumours of massive snowfall ...

Gotta admit, did have to clear snow off the car but the roads were absolutely clear. Would have been dicy coming back out of daylight though. The roads around Leicester were extremely wet. That will cause quite a few problems when the temperature drops and it turns to ice.

Apart from a few light flurries though, perfectly clear. Perfect driving conditions. Glad I didn't detour to the Mall though, traffic on the motorway was massively clogged ...

Merry Xmas one and all

From me in the dark ages of Information Technology ... Yep - this post comes courtesy of me hijacking my dad's internet connection, which comes via a 56k modem. Remember those ? Try not to, I don't want you getting sleepless nights.

All is not lost - I have a devious plan which involves him spending money on a wireless network. Muahahaha ! If it happens, I hope it works ... cos the free technical support (me !) is 180 miles away.

Anyway, a side effect of me being on his connection means that while I can read my email, I can't send. So I can't send a reply to the Happy Xmas emails. Three cheers for Blogging :-)

Hmm. Decent loot so far, a new leather jacket (bought in sales yesterday - modelled personally too by a willing slave), some ornaments (one new one for the telly !) and a couple of remote control mini's that helped in terrorizing Ben the pup earlier.

PS Ben is currently wrapped up in a ball, snoozing on my bed. Bless 'im.

Almost there ...

Last night was fun. I was wrapping stuff up. Didn't get the job completely done (ran out of sellotape during Tin Cup at about 11pm) but I got the higher priority ones out of the way. That'd be the ones I needed to get wrapped before disappearing up norf to my parents' place in an hour or so.

Imagine my panic after tearing through the house frantically when I couldn't find Aginoth's present ... Doh ! Found it in the end after having the brainwave : "Did it make it out of the car ?"

All sorted now, apart from needing more sellotape. And a present for RCA.

Almost forgot - here's a picture.

PS My place is a bit of a tip ... But most of the clutter is stuff I've kept for recycling without an obvious place to put the recycling.

Almost loot time ...

I must be playing World of Warcraft too much if I start thinking of Xmas day as an opportunity to do lots of looting.

Present wrapping today turned into a big long session of Alterac Valley. It must have been long because I finished off a packet of Chocolate Hobnobs while inside. We won though and my mage ended up being on the top of the killboard, which isn't too hard if you spend 6 hours at it.

(the hobnobs packet didn't have much left - honest ...)

Think I'm going to have a very strong grasp of what's been going on in the world at the moment. I had News24 on, which means hearing the same news every half hour or so but it's better than the alternatives - Music channels (pop - arg!) or cartoons.

Yey ! Xmas tree lights are on, will have to find something good to put on the telly while I wrap stuff up.

Elitism

Sucks ... Still, that's more than enough about the latest Guildlink initiative.

Kong's a good film. Peter Jackson lives up to the promise he showed with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, except this time he has better source material to work with. (I'm one of the people who think that Tolkein is over rated)

There's some awesome visuals in there and it takes cgi special effects to another level. And it does it without being the willy waving contest which was the second and third Matrix films. I'll always remember the Matrix as being an excellent film with great promise that wasn't taken up in the second and third.

Anyway - Kong. Really good job done here. Definitely one that needs seeing at the cinema for the visuals alone. There hasn't been much messing with the story from the original, which is a good thing. Too many films are "reimagined", which usually means they lose something. But ... it's too long, it loses focus.

PS I think it's time to hunt for pictures of Naomi Watts.

Curiosity and Google

Muahahaha ! I just got curious about how people get to this blog and saw that one got here through Google. So I had a peek at what "Sleepypete Pillow" would turn up.

Number 1 result - the My Laptop Is Slow post. Which is fair enough, because it is. And it can't play Civ 4. Grr. It can play Ufo Xcom though. And I can have it on the sofa beside me blogging and with MSN open like now.

Another result - curious, that's the third Sleepypete I've heard of. One is me, another is a Counterstrike player and we've got another one in the Google results.

What scares me is the result that has the following summary :
"There were 9 of us all together: Mr A & myself, CQ, RCA, Sleepypete, ... using Mr A as a convenient pillow. he started stroking my hair. it was nice ..."

I'd just like to state for the record that I have never used Mr A as a pillow and he's never stroked my hair.

Holiday season

That's it for me, no more work until the 5th of January. God I'm tired ...

Think all those late nights on World of Warcraft are catching up with me. So why am I thinking of going back in there ? I must be mad. [gibber][gibber][gibber]

Please wait a moment until reality is resumed.

Ahhh - that's better. Had my first lazy night for quite a while. Got home, got pizza, put Spiderman on (had that for ages, not watched it) and just generally chilled out. Was thinking about putting Spiderman 2 on as well as a back to back but I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.
Hmm. England game tomorrow, Loafy Thursday, up norf to the parents place on Friday. Must find time to wrap the prezzies and find room under the tree. Doh ! Mustn't forget the rest of the Xmas shopping tomorrow and Kong tomorrow night. CQ would never forgive me. Hmm. Maybe she will, I already have her present(s). Ok - Rca would never forgive me.

Wonder how they're getting on in Molten Core. There was another trip in there tonight that I could have gone on but I'd have needed the Coffee IV to keep me paying attention. Does them good to go in there without me every so often, although I like to think I make it a little easier for the raid leaders. I think I have fans ... I'm not sure if this will work due to access permissions but here goes :

http://www.guildlink.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=790

Wherever you see Iceangel in that thread, they're talking about me. I have fans. That's so cool :-) Maybe my fans are why I'm thinking about going back in.

Feast of Winter Veil

Is something that's hit World of Warcraft at the moment. Kinda like a Christmas thing.

Anyway, one of the new seasonal things they've put in is a quest describing the history behind the Feast of Winter Veil. It has you taking a book from one city to another. Most people won't read that book, which means potential Easter Eggs !

What's just made me laugh is the final page :
"Modern Day Observation

Other cultures have begun to recognize the Feast of Winter Veil as a time of great celebration, though not in the same traditions as the legend bases it in. Customs, often unrelated to anything other than a chance for celebration and gift exchange have made their way into modern day observation of the season. Even the image of Greatfather Winter is sometimes use, but more as a harbinger of commercial exploit rather than as a supernatural titan."

Yes folks, Santa Claus does exist, he's standing in front of the Orgrimmar Auction House at the moment.

Oops

Lesson for today :

If you put a pot of butter on top of the central heating boiler in the morning to make it soft enough to make toast within an hour or so of putting it there, don't forget about it until the evening.

"I can't believe it's not Butter" wasn't impressing me that much anyway ...

Gonna have to work on my people skills

I was on World of Warcraft this morning (only just, but 11.55 counts) and was hoping to help someone through a task. Person didn't appear (I think I know why - her sisters don't like her playing WoW) so I didn't get the chance to make her insanely jealous due to my second character's outfit.

"Person" plays a character called Tula, who everyone on the server loves because of her having one of the most playful, fun, beautiful spirits you'll ever hope to find. However, she's also a schoolgirl in the Netherlands, so the phrase "... Is Not A Hottie" comes to mind. Anyway, Tula's other name is the Dancing Girl, hence the jealousy over the outfit ...

What's so special about the outfit ? It caused enough of an impression in the bank the other night to earn a few slappings from the girl who was in there because it was making the male characters go blind ... Think chainmail bikini and you're close. The amusing thing is that the top half was good enough to be picked as an item I used for about 6 whole levels and I didn't know how little there was of it until my curiosity made me take the tabard (overtunic) off. Kinda shows what kind of things go through game designers minds when they're making outfits for the girls. I have to admit, I had to cheat to find an item for the lower half, there wasn't anything available where I could get away with saying "I actually used that !".

People skills - there's an unfortunate bunch of people in WoW who believe in powerlevelling everything involved in the game. Trouble is, that includes things like guild ranks too ... Guild rank effectively means nothing, as we've disabled most of the stuff that makes higher ranks special. Only about 6 characters can invite new people in, another privilege is Officer Chat, which we never use. So when you can see there's no point in giving promotions out, and the logical conclusion from giving in to one hassler is getting more hassle, people asking get annoying ... I probably upset one person today by making a new lowest-of-the-low rank called "PromotionHunter" and demoting him into it as soon as he asked for promotion. If he goes, it'll be no loss cos he doesn't get involved in the guild stuff anyway. Didn't even know about the website.

Ah well - munchies time while I wait for a few people to sort themselves out. Hope our Dancing Girl is ok.

PS I play mostly girl characters on WoW because they look better :-) And you're looking at your WoW character for a rather looong time while playing.

Been quiet ...

So what have I been up to ? For one thing, avoiding looking at Blogging while at work ... People with pointy sticks they are itching to use seem to be taking a dislike to it.

But mainly, World of Warcraft ... it's been getting busy in there again. And fun, now that we've got the Mercenaries back to a mob who get on without constant "Promote me!" (why?) and "Give me money!" (earn it)

And we're getting stuff done in there as well. Our people and the Guildlink people took down two more "bosses" yesterday, one of which caused much hilarity because we kinda beat it by accident.

Also in the news, I was hoping to have a match report posted last week on the indoor cricket - just one slight problem though - the other team didn't turn up. Grr.

Xmas party at work today. Which meant I got to talk to people, including the more attractive ones. Always worth it :-) More soon.

Long time no blog ...

[chuckle] Cos I've been hitting things in World of Warcraft and having too much fun in there ...

Yep - seems like the fun element has come back in. Dunno where it went to in the first place. Oh I do - it came out because we seemed to be under siege in our own guild. But the people we didn't like very much have left or been thrown out, leaving good people behind. We've lost one good person in the process though, which is a shame. He's left to go back to another massive multiplayer online game called Eve. [chuckle] He's also looking to get back to real life :-)

Didn't really notice the fun coming back in either, although the wins in the 40 v 40 person battleground might have had something to do with it. Tunnel vision striking I think, leaving a sense of achievement when the tunnel clears.

Anyway, I've been away due to some intense World of Warcraft and now I'm wondering why I've just eaten my dinner just 18 hours before a game of indoor cricket tomorrow. That game is far too addictive when you're having fun in it.

Oh yeah - new toy alert ! I got me a webcam.

PS I enjoyed the new Harry Potter film too, although I get the feeling that if I'd read the book, I'd have felt as if there was a massive amount missing.