Consider this blog renamed!

And voilà, it is done. I think the title shows that I still have some interest in space-related stuff but that I like a broader palette of subjects. And I'd like to thank the thousand or so crazies bashing the hell out of the Burn Eden monument; I wonder if the alliance that won this monument and placed it there ever imagined something like this could have happened... probably not :) I've used this header to signify that my EVE adventure is pretty much over. I will probably change it at some point, but for the time being this is it because I want to show my support to those of you who still like EVE as a concept, despite all the stuff that's been happening since Incarna arrived, and all the shenanigans CCP was up to. I will watch closely as the CSM flies to Reykjavik to ask CCP in person "Dudes, WHAT THE FUCK ?!?!". Interesting times, Hilmar said... yeah!

On other fronts, I'm happily doing the vacation dance right now! Yep, I took the week off for some bike riding, a bit of gaming, and most importantly the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The kick-off was last Saturday with Robert Plant and Band of Joy; I was supposed to see Paco De Lucia that evening but things got tight and I couldn't have a baby-sitter as I had my boys. But on Sunday night I opened my 2011 festival with Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos (Marc Ribot and the False Cubans XD). The first thing we noticed just before my buddy and I entered the concert hall was a sign saying "There will be no intermission". Coolness! And we got treated to 2 hours of what I'd call Power Salsa, which was absolutely amazing. Three encores later, the sign we saw earlier was clear to me: intermissions are for pussies !!! And of course before and after this show we mingled with the crowd outdoors and drank in the festival atmosphere, complete with beer and the legendary MJF hot-dogs :)

Yesterday I had my first "I am a vegetable" day of my vacation so I didn't do much during the day but surf them interwebs, but the evening was beautiful and windless so I did a nice 30km round-trip on my bike. From my place in LaSalle I went to the St.Lawrence river, followed it to Lachine and then up to Dorval airport where I saw my first Airbus A380... goddamn this thing is huge !!! I'm more and more anxious to do my little trip later this summer. Yesterday's ride could be considered a night ride, so because I had gotten up pretty early in the morning I was tired when I got home, but at least it wasn't from physical exhaustion. So with better preparations, a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast, I should have no trouble going up north.

And now, on to enjoy the rest of my vacation. In the plans today: a bit of Hellgate single-player (btw, Hellgate Global will go open beta on June 30th), probably a ride to the Jazz Fest, and paying Letrange a visit later tonight.

Life is good :))

o7

Burning Eden, part deux

iRabble at work... thx for the term Let :D

First of all, I will not go into the numerous reasons why just over a month ago I parked my Internet Spaceships for an indefinite amount of time. The links to my past blog posts are right there on the right ---->

So for the first time in 3.5 years I experienced an EVE expansion as an outsider. I had a rough idea of what would be new in Incarna but as of now I still haven't even seen it. So last week during Patch Day I paid a visit to the EVE-O forums... and already the uproar was starting. This was shortly followed by a post on Letrange's blog with a very short text: "15$ for a pixel skirt?!?! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL !!!". Because I know Letrange personally and also know he's usually a lot more eloquent than that, I immediately phoned him up for a "WTF?!", and that's when I learned about the 70$ monocle. I almost pissed myself laughing !!! Seriously, if you're one of those crazy rich fucks I love to hate, who have to buy every single toy they can lay their hands on just because you can, go ahead and blow your money, I couldn't care less. But this was the very tip of the iceberg.

First in my book were the reports of CCP's specialty: breaking what already works. Please stop hoping that someday they will learn something from past experiences, they never will. It's simple, when CCP patches EVE, something breaks. It's inevitable, like death and taxes. This time it wasn't just the game acting up though: reports of GPU meltdown were heard, especially from ATI card owners. Note to gamers: when a game is optimized for one brand of video cards, in this case nVidia, expect the other brand to work at an inferior level. But if the game also fried good nVidia cards, then CCP is simply full of fail.

But the most important thing that turned the masses into a lynch mob was CCP's laughable attempt at public relations. Citing designer jeans to justify the high-priced pixel goods only made CCP Zulu look stupid and disconnected from reality, but it's not as bad as avoiding critical questions the players had, mostly regarding the vague possibility of RMT for non-vanity items, the dreaded Pay2Win syndrome. The lack of respect and communication sent the mob into a frenzy, and that's when the trade hubs got blobbed by protesters. And to spill just a bit more fuel into an already raging fire, the message carried by Hilmar Petursson's internal mail that got leaked a few hours after the mayhem started fanned the flames to heights I've never even imagined possible for a video game. A. Fucking. VIDEO GAME !!!!!

So being the outsider and not able to participate directly in either a constructive solution or pointless demonstration I followed the events on Twitter (this was the first time I actually found Twitter useful), the EVE Radio special hosted by DJ Funky Bacon and the EVE-O forums where all hell was breaking loose; it's pretty much already loose when all is cool so this weekend was just over the top. At some point I was just happy I had pulled the plug before all this crazy shit started, and felt sorry for my friends who are still playing. And all of a sudden my Hate-Love relationship which caused my own retirement turned from 95%-5% to 99%-1%. Yeah, the chances of me getting back into EVE are very slim indeed. So my position in the various debates I was seeing was that of someone who had already made his peace; even though Tranquility will most probably be up forever and the CCP devs will die rich, to me EVE is dead, or if not dead then in a serious near-unrecoverable coma. I didn't encourage people to do like me and quit, but I didn't defend CCP's stupid PR skills either. Shit like this weekend's does not get my money. Period.

Of course on Sunday CCP Zulu promised a blog "with 100% more love" to the players. When I saw that I simply couldn't believe how thick-skulled vikings could be. I tweeted directly to him "How about a blog with 100% more answers?", not that I expected an answer. CCP, you guys need to hire PR people pronto. If you don't it will be just like with your wrecking ball expansions, you'll have learned nothing.

And to the rioting players, for the love of Frank Zappa, LIGHTEN THE FUCK UP !!! You guys get this angry about a pixel life in a pixel universe?! If you start hating EVE then do like me and unsub, and/or just don't log in. Want to play a game where the devs care? Play something smaller scaled. "But EVE is epic!" you say. EVE is what the players make of it, and this weekend it was anything BUT epic. Surprising yes, and as the videos showed spectacular to look at, but riots of any kind aren't epic. I should know, I'm a Montreal Canadiens fan!

Fly, or don't. You decide.

o7

PS: The next time I will cover something about EVE Online will have to be something positive or I simply will not cover it. There are many other things in life that are better.

Burning Eden

EVE Online is in turmoil, and weirdly enough it's never looked so damn good! I'll follow this post with my view on this crazy weekend when my brain cells are actually working... getting late here :)

Fly safe... if you're still flying.

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - St-Jean-Baptiste Edition

Bonne St-Jean tout l'monde !!!!

:))

Blog redesign soon

Let's face it: "Diary of a Space Jockey" doesn't fit the bill anymore. I started blogging just to keep a record of my EVE Online career, and over time I've added little bits and pieces that have absolutely nothing to do about EVE, something that very few EVE bloggers do. Pushing myself to write about a game I loved inspired me to write about things I love even more, until eventually I noticed that I was more interested in writing about real life stuff than I was about EVE. And then I started noticing that I didn't like the game I was supposed to blog about as much as I did when I started. At this point, EVE Online is the very last thing I feel like blogging about because so many other subjects interest me. Therefore, a redesign will be in order soon to reflect this.

"But what will the readers think?" one might ask. That's an interesting question. When I started blogging I did it purely for myself; my buddy Letrange had a blog when he got me to play EVE and I just said why not. I was already an active forum participant on other sites, mostly Quake, flight sim and race sim related, and when I noticed that a lot of EVE players liked to keep a record of their activities I told myself "when in Rome..." even if I knew only a single person in all of New Eden. It was a great surprise to see players start following me and commenting on my posts. But since then a lot of the bloggers that were around when I started have completely stopped writing (as my "blogs I read" list shows), and my loss of interest for the game means I'm not reading other EVE blogs. On the flip-side I read drumming blogs, cycling blogs, and other gaming blogs. So when I start the redesign will my reader base follow me? Maybe, maybe not. But as I did when I started playing Internet Spaceships, and without any disrespect to the readers who have followed me, I write about things I'm passionate about. If people start following my passions then it's icing on the cake!

So what do I call a blog that talks about cycling, music, motorsports, FPS games, RPG games, Sci-Fi, science, and basically anything I feel like writing about on any particular day? With my current bike trip plans I did think about "Diary of a Madman" but I wouldn't want to offend any Ozzy fans, least of all Ozzy himself! Also, what should I use as a header? It's kind of hard to pin down, which is why my Cynabal is still there. I have zero Photoshop skills so one thing is sure, the next header won't be a work of art! I'm sure I'll come up with something that's not too gaudy :)

But even if I don't play the game anymore, I may keep just a little bit of EVE content if only for one reason: EVE is an awesome source of drama bombs! Yesterday's arrival of Incarna and the shit-storm that followed is a prime example. I may even keep my EVEnews24 gadget on the right, maybe down a few notches. I may not like the game anymore but it's still the one that got me writing, so might as well give it a little bit of respect. Only a little bit. I feel sorry for anyone I know whose EVE experience has been diminished because of Incarna due to the new bugs, the ressource hogging problems, or the mind-numblingly expensive vanity items. It is now clear that CCP will never listen to their player base, and they sure as fuck will never learn.


So whatever you do, may it be fly, ride, play or anything else, do it because you love it.

o7

Preparing for the Big Trip

My baby

Not too long ago I posted about my desire to travel to the vast expanses of Nunavik, the Great North of the province of Quebec, which is only a short 1500km North of my hometown of Montreal. Totally doable by car, and even easier by plane. Too easy. By bicycle though... ah, this will make it more interesting! But as I was explaining, one does not simply ride North with a back-pack full of spare clothes and sleep in hotels along the way. I wouldn't be the first rider to go out into the wilderness, but rides like this one have to be methodically prepared from A to Z, and ride buddies and/or a support team has to be found, and these guys have to be as crazy as I am. But before I even think about heading out to a place where caribous outnumber humans I have to gradually get used to long rides and being exposed to the elements. And towards that goal, I have a plan.

During the first 2 weeks of August I'll be on vacation, and at the start of week #2 Part One of my plan will be put into gear. After thinking about it for an enormous amount of years I will finally do the trip I've been wanting to do: Mont-Tremblant, here I come! This is still a 150km ride so it's not exactly a milk run, but most of it is spent on the Laurentian Linear Park, a bike path located on what used to be a railway called Le P'tit Train du Nord. The advantage of this: slope grades are almost non existant because trains don't like steep climbs. The downside: ALMOST non existant means that when you go slightly up, you go slightly up for a long time. But still, having taken that train when it was still in operation in the early 80's I know that the scenery I will ride through is absolutely breath-taking, therefore well worth the effort.

Because the bike path goes through many Laurentian villages I will not have to haul a huge amount of gear. My back-pack with a bit of extra clothes, a few bike tools, and a few snacks to have along the way and I should be all good. In the case of a bike emergency I'll be within walking distance of civilization at all times, and anyway there will be traffic on the bike path. But even thought this isn't the full-on camping trip there are a few things I will not want to be without when I'll do my 300-ish kilometer round trip:

• Seat pouch with a bicycle multi-tool, tire repair kit, tire irons, pocket knife, and a mini first aid kit. I may upgrade my pocket knife to a camping multi-tool that has pliers.
• A simple bike computer; I don't need a GPS, my heart beat, and the weather forecast for 2 weeks. All I want is the current speed, the average speed, a trip meter and the time of day.
• A Presta valve travel bike pump. And I'll pray I don't have to use it. If it has a pressure gauge all the better.
• A flashlight with plenty of spare batteries. I don't intend to do any night traveling but I may do some evening hiking. Yes even after a big bike ride; I'm crazy like that. The full reflector/lighting set-up will be for the longer rides where I'll use actual roads.
• Walking shoes. My bike shoes are very comfortable to walk in... for bike shoes. They are still pretty stiff and I don't want to use up the cleats more than I have to.
• Food: trail mix, trail mix bars, Power Bars, dried fruits, and always a full bottle of water. I will be using up calories at an alarming rate so I need to stay on top of it. Getting water along the bike path is very easy, but eventually I will need a water treatment kit. I checked and those things are more expensive than I thought.
• Light rain gear. Because this is a "short" trip I may be able to bypass this if the weather forecast is good for the few days the trip will last, but who knows. I don't plan to look like Gilligan but if I can be slightly less wet when I get to a destination then all the better.

For this trip I can fit everything that can't fit into the seat pouch in my back-pack, and even then the weight shouldn't be too bad. The heaviest thing will be my lock. But yes, eventually I will have to gather up a lot more gear, the most important of which will be a one-wheeled cargo trailer. I've also seen the tents and sleeping bags that would be perfect for bike trips, as well as a ton of useful camping gear that I need to get for the bigger trips. At some point I will have to make myself an Excel sheet of everything I will need to go out on a solo camping trip. And when the set-up is not only obtained, but tried and tested in the field, then it'll be time to start thinking about the Big One. In the mean time, I'll do my best to enjoy what will essentially be 4 of my regular rides packed into one ride. At least I know one thing: rain or shine, this will be the cushy trip and on my two intended stops a warm bed will be waiting. Well, you gotta start somewhere :))

Between the Mont-Tremblant ride and the Nunavik ride I will plan others rides, gradually farther both in distance and from human civilization. Saguenay/Lac St-Jean is a good place to plan a trip. The Gaspésie region is another, plus I know the area a bit. Yep, I'm getting pretty psyched up about this :)

Live to ride, ride to live

o7

Proposed Montreal to Mont-Tremblant itinerary

Parc linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2011/06/17

To celebrate Vika's imminent arrival in the USA (not Canada unfortunately, for now at least) here's a sample of the piano dominatrix's Zurich concert. Puppets is one of the few tunes she could play after busting the low E-flat string. Yes, she busted a string on a 50k$ grand piano XD

Enjoy!

o7

One month later

As we hit the middle of June - damn it, already... - it is just about one month since I've put EVE Online on the back burner and started to watch what's been happenning from the sidelines, so I thought it would be good to look back on not only my decision, but also my perception of what's been happening lately. Let's start by saying that this break feels awesome so far, like a vacation after having worked too long. I don't miss the game, but I do miss the interaction with the people who play it.

First of all I won't presume to have an idea of what's going on with the different power blocs, the invasions, the fail-cascades and so on. I just don't care about politics more than to know who's loitering where, and that will probably change like 200 times before I even think about maybe getting back in, which sure as hell won't be tomorrow. There was a patch that came out the day after I left the game that was supposed to fix a crap-ton of little annoying things without actually adding stuff to the game, except maybe the changes to the jump bridge mechanics. I read some whining when the patch was applied but then it seemed to die down, proof that like with all whining subjects in EVE everybody just rolls with it. So a month later, how do you 0.0 guys feel about that change? Another thing to come with the patch was a change in the scanning mechanics, with better range, scan time, and use of the probes. I admit I felt like getting back just to try that. I understand that EVE is supposed to be hard, but that doesn't mean it has to be a pain in the ass. So all pain in the ass fixes should be welcome, and to those who think EVE should remain uber complex, well just go design me a nuclear-powered VTOL aircraft or something. Too many people seem to forget it, but EVE IS A GAME FFS !!!

Around the same time I left, the Captain's Quarters had hit Duality, and now with Incarna around the corner I hear it's now on Singularity. I've always been of two minds about Incarna. Sure it would be cool (if a bit geeky) to have a beer at the MAPU Brewery let's say, but what that would do is suck more of people's time, which is already being sucked to no end when you're actually out in space. If CCP wants people to jack into EVE 24/7 Matrix style, they're doing it right. But unless one is a) retired, b) invalid, c) a hermit, d) unemployed, e) lacking any semblance of social life, or f) all of the above, this is not possible. But oh well, once it's developed enough I'm sure Incarna will be a valid alternative to ship-spinning, and God knows there's a lot of that! Of course that's if CCP can manage to get a walking character to interact with its surroundings properly. If I read Letrange right, they don't quite get it. Weird that most of all other MMO producing companies do get it...

Before I talk about Dust I must also mention something about the turrets being reworked. Sure they look cool, but in my case the only time I would ever notice them would be during the odd mission. In PvP I played zoomed out so I could see most of the grid, and my Vagabond for example would be 1 or 2mm long, maybe 5 to 10mm when maneuvering manually during a fight. At that size turrets could be drawn by my 4y old kid and I wouldn't care. I still say this was a waste of ressources that could've been aimed at something more important, but if it rocks your boat, good for you.

And now that E3 is over we've all seen the Dust 514 trailer a few times. Does anyone who own an Xbox and knows the way Micro$oft does business really expected Dust to come out for THAT console? What the hell sort of cave have you been hiding in ?! When Dust was announced to be console only it was evident that it would come out exclusively for the PS3 because M$ would have kept its ugly nose in everything CCP does. That said, I still think that at some point CCP will have to port the game to the PC because that's where its ENTIRE player base is. Only time will tell, and anyway Dust is still over a year away. Soon™ indeed.

And the latest thing, Lulzsec attacks. Awesome. Apparently I left EVE at just the right time!

So in retrospect, am I happy to have left New Eden behind? I have to admit it: yes I am. Though I've made good friends IRL and online, fought with good and bad people, smacked with the best in the business and been reprimanded by directors who barely even undock, and grown a lot as a character over 3.5 years, at this point in time I do not miss EVE Online at all. Hell I don't even play my other games much. The real life projects I have are way, WAY more interesting than any computer game or simulation could be. And I love this :)

Fly dangerous, virtually or IRL

o7

Edit 2011/06/22: Looks like Cozmik will be in cryosleep a very long time... case in point. For the first time ever I sincerely hope CCP gets the fail-cascade it deservers. And I didn't even talk about the stuff they broke !!!

Blame Ewan McGregor !!!

Because I spend a lot of my "at home" time in front of my computer, I don't watch a lot of TV. And when I do, whatever's playing better be awesome or else I'll just find something to do at the 'puter, or go outside if the weather is nice enough (which has been hard this year... watch a review of the Canadian Grand Prix and you'll have a good idea of the weather we've been having). But lately one of my friends gave me a chance to catch up on something I had missed, and it gave me a renewed sense of respect for the actor playing General Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the spring and summer of 2004, McGregor and his friend and fellow actor Charley Boorman decided to give their love of motorcycling a new meaning by taking quite a ride: from London to New York, the long way round, by way of France, Germany, Tchekoslovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Russia again, Mongolia, more Russia to the city of Magadan. From there they flew to Alaska and resumed riding to Yukon, Alberta, Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, to finally arrive at the Big Apple. 19000 odd miles. Holy shit, watching TV does NOT get any better !!!

But what watching Long Way Round has given me is a serious case of the Wanderlust. No, I don't own an adventure-fit motorcycle, or even a motorcyle license for that matter. And no, I don't plan on visiting Siberia and the Road of Bones any time soon, though this would be awesome in every sense of the word. But I am known to ride my mountain bike for some nice distances, but those are usually on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Still, a 50-75km round trip does not faze me too much. But in my long-distance riding there was always something that's been missing in my Curriculum: riding North. Starting from Montreal, I've always wanted to ride a good distance, say to Mont Tremblant, roughly 150km away. Of course life is cushy there and it really is no huge challenge. You'd be surprised how many people do it every year. But after watching LWR my view of a long ride has changed. And today it dawned on me what would be the mountain biking equivalent: riding North, but ever so slightly farther. To Fort-George on the shores of James Bay, at the mouth of La Grande Rivière. A 1500km ride. Now we're talkin' !!!

Google Maps says 3 days 10 hours. I don't believe this one iota. Well, maybe if you ride non-stop without even a lunch or bio break... yeah, right! The road may be paved, but only just. And it's so remote you can bet yer ass that road work doesn't get done there very often. It's possible to tour Quebec by car via the Chibougamau road (Letrange would know, having lived way up there), but my intended trip would take me from Abitibi straight up for 1000km; with only a single gas station at kilometer 381 of Route 1055, this is one of the most remote places one can get to in North America. There is a road there only because the majority of Quebec's electricity comes from the dams at La Grande. So 3 days? PFFFFT! More like 2-3 weeks if one crazy enough to try it would like to enjoy it. And you know what? I think I'm crazy enough! Not without a whole lot of preparations of course. As we say here, this is not a beer run to the dep. But I'd say with a couple years' planning, and the fact that I have a lot of vacation time from work, it's totally doable. Not quite sure I'd do it solo though, and I have yet to find riding mates... any volunteers? :)

The first part of the preps would be to gather up the necessary bike and camping gear required to pull off such a crazy stunt. Then a decision has to be made: round trip or one-way? This would be after the most important part of the preps: find some hardcore nutcases who have done crazy shit like this, have a couple of beers together and take in all the advice they can give.

Hey I'm not saying I'll be doing this next month, this year, or even next year. But the seed has been planted and Wanderlust smells damn good. I'm 40 years old now and not in too bad a shape, and even though I'll probably die an adrenalin junkie, if I want to do some crazy trips now is the time to think about it. So thank you Ewan and Charley for waking me up to the fact that I haven't travelled enough, and if I am to travel it's better to do it the hardcore way; it beats waiting hours in line at the airport, getting crammed with 300+ people into a pressurized tin can, and catching La Tourista in the middle of a humongous tourist trap.

To hell with flying... ride like there's no tomorrow

o7

The proposed ittinerary o_O

James Bay Road website

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - Montreal Grand Prix Edition

It's that time of the year again. The world's raddest cars are hitting the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, and even though they're at the time trials only, our surprisingly tricky track has surprised yet another world champion. Yes, Sebastian Vettel is now a member of the exclusive club of pilots to have literally embraced the Wall of Champions, sponsored by Tourism Quebec :))

So to keep with the F1 spirit, I hope you enjoy the tribute to one of the greatest drivers of all time.

Salut Gilles

o7

Hellgate Global closed beta - a quick review

So last Friday at 1830 EDT arrived the moment that was just over two years in the making. Hellgate Global closed beta testing went live... until the server crashed under some probably unexpected popularity. And of course when hundreds of nerds started spamming "NOOOOO!! WHY?!?!" on the T3fun forums, that server also came close to the breaking point. Thankfully for me I wasn't home; enjoying awesome wine and music with a buddy of mine was more important. I told myself I would spend more time with it on Saturday before heading out to the EVE/Mine-meet, and also for my Vegetable Sunday. This turned out to be a good thing. After a late night trek home I slept in, late enough to see that as I was sleeping the Hellgate server had been fixed and beefed up. I couldn't have had a better timing. Coffee and breakfast at hand, I got in on the first shot waiting maybe 3 minutes in a queue that looked a lot worse than it really was.

The character creator is only slightly different from the original game. Having played a Marksman for the past week in the Revival single-player mod, I decided to do the same because 1- it's my favorite class, and 2- I had made a few bad levelling choices on my SP toon and wanted to "bring him up" better. When I finally got into the game world the differences between the regular game and HGG were evident. A different tutorial, which is a quest in itself introduces you to the game. There isn't really any huge changes so I just plowed through it; the ultimate goal is to go meet Murmur, the tutorial guy from the original game. So before you see this guy you have to go through your first hostile environment, mostly inhabited by level 1 zombies and demons... mostly. Here comes La Surprise: a message in 1-inch high font appears in the middle of the screen, giving you a bone-chilling message: "A messenger from Hell has entered". This was followed by the apparition of a T-rex sized Hellmeat monster, with all sorts of "fun" qualities like "vivifying" and "electrifying". This can't be good! Bracing myself I did try to give this monstrosity a shot but the vivifying part was clear because his health kept regenerating, and my puny L1 standard gun couldn't break his tank. Only one thing left to do: RUN COZ RUN !!!

Fortunately I didn't stay in my standard starter gear for long because the loot drop rate was just phenomenal. I suspect this is a beta-only thing though. But those "messenger" guys are a permanent feature and you get to see one or two in every hostile area you go through. They are randomly generated from random monster classes, with random attributes, and after a few level-ups and wearing some decent gear the encounters get to be fun as they are harder to kill than the average boss. But I remember one quest where I had to pick up a book in a place called Aslot's Vault. Aslot himself is already pretty badass, and he's surrounded by a neverending stream of cannon-fodder monsters. But I had the luck to have a small group of rare and epic monsters, and as if this wasn't enough a messenger came to crash the party. I don't have a Templar tank so yeah, I died. But when I came back I did manage to split up the group of baddies: Aslot was the first to go, and then I kited the messenger and a horde of regular monsters. Once that was done I was finally able to tackle the rares/epics and finish the quest. Damn that was satisfying !!!

Aslot, killing me. Smoldering Burning is correct!

Aslot, dead. Notice my tombstone :)

All in all it was a good experience to play online a game that I feel has the best from roguelikes like Diablo, and shooters like Quake. I did play only solo over the weekend, but the next time around, or when open beta starts (me crosses fingers) I will most probably group up with one of my Quake clanmates, who also had access to the closed beta but didn't get to play, and maybe even bigger groups. There were also a few lag issues especially in the first couple of stations due to over-population, but after a while I was far enough into the game that the stations were much less crowded. Of course there were whiners who were bashing the game's state... they probably didn't see the "closed beta" part of the deal :) One thing is certain: Hellgate is back, it's great fun to play, and it will be worth supporting when it comes out of beta testing. Well, back to HGL Revival as we wait for the next phase of testing.

Cozmik's final setup, 2 minutes before the end of CBT

Fight for the living, and all that jazz

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2011/06/03

Volume to 11. Enjoy!

o7

CCP wants to know

I was checking my e-mails a few minutes ago and noticed I received an e-mail from CCP asking me "what are your reasons for leaving?", accompanied by a survey. I can't fill out any of this from work because of our uber firewall, but when I get home I fully intend to wake up Eyjafjallajökull >:)

Fly it like it's already dead

o7

Edit 2011/06/03: Survey bomb dropped.

Demons = Fux0r'd

As I am typing this I'm currently downloading the Hellgate Global client. Finally, after over 2 years the gates of Hell will re-open and people will be able to get together to give the hellish legions, well, HELL !!! :))) From what I read it looks like I'll be able to get right into the beta because I pre-registered but even if I have to wait a bit more, I'll live.

If you want some information on the rebirth of Hellgate, click THIS LINK RIGHT HERE.

Remember the dead; fight for the living

o7