Ho hum another reformat for me

Last night my PC got hit with a Trojan, having dealt with numerous of these over my time with computers it came as no shock and I moved into disaster mitigation mode.  

After yanking  my network cable out so I don’t have the chance of infecting the other machines on the network I set to work cleaning it off.

 

Except this one was a stubborn bugger, I got rid of the executable files but I could not for the life of me find the registry entry for it.  After attempting to have a system restore only for the little bugger to lock me up every time I open it I turned to the old fallback.  A reformat of my hard drive.

 

For most people this would be a big thing, you will lose all of your data including pictures and documents.  But im lucky, my PC is a gaming PC, used for ONLINE gaming only.  There are no single player saves, no soppy pictures, no documents for work or anything.  So I formatted and reinstalled XP, booted her up and got back to the grind of driver installation.

 

Within an hour of the reformat I was back on WAR (copied the whole directory across from Mrs Bs PC).

 

LOTRO I left downloading overnight and installed this morning, should be patched by tonight.

 

In a way im kind of glad I got hit with it, I really needed to do some housekeeping on my PC anyway, now I don’t need to… I got a whole new house!

TMM transfer leadership :(

Its been a while since I did an update, that’s due to the sheer amount of work im cracking through at the moment.

 

However heres a few notes:

 

I transferred guild leadership over to one of my alts in Warhammer and joined another one of the alliance guilds, it may just be a case of the grass is greener but I miss The Merry Men already on him.  In the meantime ive been recruiting like mad and have gathered a few more guys to our banner, most are lower level but im trying.  If they all seem like they want to stay then ill probably transfer back.

 

Lost Vale was actually pretty good this week, we had an off tank for the first time which was so amazing to see the dungeon done with one.  Gorak was one shotted for the first time ever, so much easier, I still reckon its faster to single tank the whole thing but this way is safer.

 

Not done a lot else in gaming, haven’t played much WoW as a friend is using my account at the moment before he re-subs his own.

 

Ive downloaded the LOTRO client but not installed or patched yet, its free to play at the moment, ill try to get some time since it may still be worth a sniff.

 

Not played any more Runes of Magic, but this is F2P anyway and I can dip in and out as needed.

 

I also bought the new Blood Bowl PC game, I own Blood Bowl in its board game format and actually love the game to death, finally I can play a decent version of it online.

At the moment im playing with my Chaos team which is obliterating allcomers but my Warriors aren’t earning the SPP I want them too so most are lacking my fave skill, Block!

However im doing well having just won the first competition so carrying on.

Ive also got my human team side project, I really like the human team as you can really adapt depending on whom you are playing, against hard hitting teams, play the passing and running game, against the quick teams play the powerhouse.  Love it!

Weekend Update!

Hey guys well there wasn’t loads of gaming this weekend as I was busy with other stuff which ill tell you about anyway (Its fun to bore people)

 

Friday night my brother in law came round and brought Mario Kart for the Wii with him.  I had played this once and MK on the SNES was one of my favourite games of all time, well its different but still fun, Mrs B, her brother and I did 3 player Battle Games most of the night which was awesome fun.

We also plugged in the Gamecube pads and smashed out some levels from Gauntlet.  Many people didn’t like Gauntlet on the gamecube as it wasn’t very diverse past hammer A to kill things, but sometimes that is just what you want to do, so we had giggles with that.

 

Saturday was mostly spent out of the house.  We went shopping for more gardening supplies and took the kids to the park and let them play in the fountain near the shopping centre.  Afterwards we went over to my mum and dads to see them and ended up staying for a BBQ.  By the time we got home it was time for the kids bedtime.
The gaming we did that night was on EQ2 im sure, and we did a PR raid with two groups.  Now this instance isn’t hard for the Harpers at all however we took along some people from other guilds who were friends.  Now harpers aren’t like everyone else, we tended to just develop our own tactics for mobs whereas a lot of guilds will read the tactic and go with it.
This lead the first problem when on Doomcoil as we do it differently to a lot of people.  End result was a port to the entrance and Doomcoil locked in his room.
This of course means that we had to deal with the next fight with both the group and eventually Doomcoil.
Well we wiped and wiped and wiped and were about to call it when some more in guild came online, we filled out another group and downed them both.  This just left Imzok which was done with no fuss.  I went on the Pally which means I need just one more update to get my Mythical, Tariza the widow mistress.  I also had a shock when I looked at my Pallys gear.  Now back when I was going to make my Pally my main I started to gear him and he quickly got stats as good as my Zerk, however I changed back and now the Zerk is geared WAY over him.  The shock was inspecting my Pallys tank gear to see some treasured crap!  Oh god, Void shards are the way to go for him I think!

 

Sunday was spend chilling out and gardening, I dug out a semi circle of turf for us to plant in before we realised we needed a skip to get rid of all the waste we were producing, crap!
Gaming was all on Warhammer.  I decided I wanted some more wards and the only way to get them is RvR so I gritted my teeth and sat in the warband for a few hours, ive now got 79 officer medallions.  Seeing as I need over 200 for the chest, I think, and over 100 for shoulders im getting there.
Why am I bothered about wards?  Well the alliance is starting to run LV events and I want in!

 

I will probably play Warhammer tonight depending on what Mrs B wants to do.

 

Rock on

Day 40 Update: My Gaming Future?!

(TMG in Afghan post to follow later on!)

 

Having been forced away from gaming due to my Op Tour it gives me a lot of time to surf the internet and make decisions on my gaming future so I figured it would be a good time to write down where I think im going in the next year with gaming.

 

World of Warcraft

With Wrath being out maybe a week before I came out I had a small time to play and even did the Nexus once.  Im still semi interested in WoW and will most likely take my Warrior to 80 and perhaps my DK but recently its not been the game which is really keeping my interest.  At least by the time I go home the expansion will have been out for a while and things will have settled in regards talents, raiding and instances.  I do not know if I will be playing WoW as much as I was though.

 

Everquest 2

Im yet to try TSO but ill take a peek at it when I come home for some R&R in January but at the moment it seems that this will be my “raiding” game.  I can only really focus on raiding in one game at a time anyway so might as well make it EQ2.  Ill have to step back and take a look at what I want to do with myself in EQ2 regards raiding but a decision will be made in March.

 

LOTRO

Moria has come out and although LOTRO does have a special place in my heart, I really cant see myself spending much time in Middle Earth, the game isn’t bad, it just doesn’t hold my attention as much as it should.  It doesn’t matter that everytime I actually do play LOTRO I say how great it is, I still end up stopping.

 

Warhammer Online

I left this one to last as its my current game that im getting into.  Yes I played it way too much during beta including powering two characters to level cap in order to test T4, come release I was burnt out, big time, I couldn’t find the drive to play the game due to it being the same as before.

However I think this break will do good for me, once I get back I think that WAR will be my “Main Game”  This means the majority of my time will be spent here with raiding done in EQ2.  My goals are to try out the Blackguard and if they suit my style of play then get one to 40.  My Chosen is my next choice.

 

Well there we have it, a fast MMO roundup, decisions made are to play WAR and EQ2.  Ill have to see if I can rope Mrs B into dropping EQ2 a bit for WAR, I doubt it

TMG in Afghanistan: Day 37 – Christmas Day

Hey guys,

I was going to d ao video for this one but I think the written word will suffice.  Be sure to look at the recently uploaded video for days 35 and 36 since ive only just got time to upload it now!
Well as its christmas and im here in Afghanistan ill wish everyone out there a fantastic holiday period and urge everyone out there to have a special day, let those petty little arguments slide because if that special someone was far from home this holiday it would all seem trivial.
My heart goes out to the family of the poor marine who died yesterday on christmas eve, I bet all those arguments seem trivial to THAT family today.

I dont need to work today which is a nice bonus for me, I got up at 1330, my body must really have needed the sleep, im supposed to go for dinner in 10 minutes but to be honest I dont think im all that hungry, im sat in the Dutch Echoes cafe again and now ive secured an internet spot ill only move to plug my laptop in and maybe get another drink, christmas dinner just isnt the same when it isnt cooked by my wife or mother.

Still once again to you all have a very merry christmas, eat well and love those around you, for you dont know how long they will be with you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE TWENTYSOMETHING MMO GAMER in Afghanistan.

Rock on!

 

EDIT: Ill just add that dailymotion is having issues so I cant post the vido for yesterday, will do it tomorrow or something

TMG in Afghanistan: Days 1&2

Note: There is a 1 day time delay between posts so although the post I posted now is say day 54, its actually day 55.

Day 1 Well there is no day 1, I flew all day.

Day 2

I have been here for a little over 9 hours and things could have gone better. The flight itself was straightforward and uneventful, the pitch black landing was the only concernig thing but that over with I arrived at Kandahar and looked on to getting myself sorted. Only once I got here my escort was nowhere to be seen. Feeling somewhat unwanted I made my over to the RSOI tent with the full intentions of heading to J1 in the morning to announce my arrival. Luckily for me my escort had been looking for me as they were told my flight was delayed!! (We actually arrived 30 mins early) so I was quickly shown to my accommodation for the next week at least.
I find myself sharing with 3 SNCOs. One of which works nights so I may not get to meet much of him but the other two were about. Not much was said no matter how much I tried to get a conversation going and so I quickly stowed my gear and climbed onto my bunk. It wasn’t 5 mins before I realised I wasnt going to sleep so well….. they both snore… like freight trains…..FUCK! A night of snatching 10 mins here or there and they got up at 0520. I dont need to be up till half 7 but still how can two rhinos who snore possibly be quiet enough to let you sleep while they sod about getting their kit on? SO here I am, sat at 0611 typing my thoughts so far. Cant find any internet access ports so far but there is a internet suite just across the road from my bunk, ill take a wander over there later on once ive gotten myself familiarised with some of the base…. cant wait to move rooms though…..

Day two officially over work wise, just learnt the basics of the job and listened to two guys in the office bitch at each other all day… oh the joys. Back in the room now, the others arent here meaning I have some “quiet time” to type this and also to finally sort out my bed! Yes we have a bed at last goodbye sleeping bag. Still cant find any easily accessible wifi but will go for a wander later on with the laptop to see what I can pick up, you never know! so, two down 119 days to go, if they all go as fast as today has then it should be great, Its all an experience though, and who knows maybe I will be a better person for it. I managed to call home to let Tracy know I was ok, she told me that Luke came in crying to the bedroom this morning saying he “wanted his daddy back” not something I want to hear on day 2 since it really tears at you. So anyway im off for a bit of food at 7 in the mess then ill see what takes my fancy, I feel a trip to the shop WILL be in order as will the aforementioned trip to find some connectivity, till then all I can do is chill really, not much else doing. I didnt install any ofline games on the laptop meaning im stuck with solitaire… if im not a solitarie god in 4 months then something is wrong haha!

Well im back from my walk now to find a note telling me to move rooms…. ho hum a bit of an arse wants me to move so fair enough, new room looks a lot better anyway. I managed to get access to the internet but the clever fuckers have put a block on it so you need to have some sort of account or something to get onto it. Im going to have to investigate that tomorrow with Kate, im sure she will be able to tell me how to sort it out. But for now im just chilling in the room, waiting for yet another day. Fairly tired today so im hoping that ill be able to drop off to sleep tonight and wake up when im supposed to. Fingers crossed aye??

An Update

Wow I always seem to leave it a good long while between posts when there is a lot going on so heres a life update and game update!

Life: deploying in less than a months time to Afghanistan, feeling crappy about it not looking forward to going at all. But its my job so what am I gonna do?

Warhammer Online: I really cant find the time to log in to this, im level21 and TMM are level 11 last time I checked.  Id love to give it more time but im having much more fun with…..

Everquest 2: What a joy it is to still be playing this game! I now have a baby inquisitor since I wanted to heal after playing Mrs B’s Warden so made me an Inqy, hes level 43 atm!  Zerk got to go raid SoH and PR etc and got some tanking upgrades, much happier!  Zerk is back as my main again since its what I want to play.
My main aims are to play this guy and my Inq if needed.  Im planning on taking a laptop to Afghan with me and I hope I can run EQ2 on it, if not then ill do a lot of life updates while im there.

Ill be back soon, and in one piece!!  I swear!

Is there love in EQ2?

A small conversation with a friend this morning (afternoon… it was 1210!) has led me to this post, its nothing more than a bit of fun, but since the stereotypical mmo gamer is single and lives in his moms basement heres a little lonely hearts ad for you!

Single white, and grey, and brown female hamster (:D),what does age matter seeks mate for fun times, and companionship maybe more!  Must like being healed, and be sympathetic to my litter.  GSOH and man enough to conquer my “six pierced nipples” If I had to describe myself id say “Perfect” Can you handle my mythical and my “well rounded” character?
Do you want to be the one to snuggle me away to your mansion and keep me safe?

So theres a lonely hearts ad for a friends character in EQ2, shes really a lady in real life.  If you want to answer the ad then feel free to contact me in game so I can screen all the psychos!  Ta!

But on from this, EQ2 is a slightly more mature MMO in that the playerbase tends to be older, do we use the game as a tool for meeting people like people did back with singles bars and such?  I dont think it is used exclusively like it but its a aid.  I know many couples who play the game together or who met through the game.  It can be a healthy medium to meet someone since you already have one thing in common already.

Lets get a bit deeper on this now shall we, I wish everyone out there could find the person they are looking for EQ2 is as good a place to look as any, sure its a bit like a blind date but I have met some wonderful people in my time who deserve better than the hand life has dealt them, but they keep on trooping on.  To those of you who are single, playing this game then keep cracking on with it, its as good as going out to a club especially now we have voice chat.

To the Ratonga whom the advert is for above, keep on doing your thing and someone will come, I know it

Lack of Sleep makes me want to be sick!

The new addition decided not to let us sleep at all last night so I took the advice of someone in my guild and that was log into EQ2 in the middle of the night.

Alas the server was down…. BLEH!

So what have I done while in my tired stupour?  Well actually a fair bit.  I tanked Maidens and Chelsith one after the other with some friends and finished off my Scale of the Leviathan quest (and Anaphylaxis!!!) good bye Fishbone Earing!

Plan for tonight, chill to be honest, see if there are any group for vault or COA or maybe jsut harvest for some cash!

Im back baby!!!

It was 6pm,  little Borgio had spent the day learning to make on his own…. on the floor (go go potty training headaches) when he went up to bed.  I sat there staring at my Rock Band drum kit, thinking that once Mrs B had watched all of her programmes then I could crack on and bash seven bells out of them.  Then a thought struck me, “wouldnt it be great if the broadband was working”  I took a wander into the dining room and looked at the router.

One light…. two lights… THREE LIGHTS!!!!  OMG!  Do we finally have broadband, over two weeks after it was due?!!?!? Am I freaking dreaming?  I fire up firefox and point it to google… no problems there.  Maybe its a cached page…. better check something else.  The guilds website… WORKS!!  On goes the Conan patcher on both PCs.  Only a 650mb patch to do.

Ok so whats happened whilst I was away.  WoW guild struggling, looking to dedicate itself as a 10 man guild come WotLK.  Ventrilo server closed due to the period expiring. EQ2 offering amazing deals to return.  I was spoiled for choice of what to do.

I refrained from starting WoW. Part of me wants to step back and return come Wrath to see if I like it.  All of this time away has done me good.  The pressure of raiding lifted from me.  LOTRO is a draw to me still.  But ill need to free up some space for it since Conan ate my harddrive.  Im thinking of getting an external HDD for the purpose.  EQ2 is still kinda interesting to me since I have a lot I can do there.  Not to mention its raiding isnt bad.  EQ1 is having a resurgance too and I thought about trying my Berserker over there.  Except that last night was Conan night! My first Conan night ever!

I gleefully start the game on my PC since it finished patching first and I create my Barbarian!  The game is pretty, but my system struggles slightly with loading the graphics.  Its playable and runs smooth but the load times are long.  I got to level 3 before I called Mrs B over to see it.

I sat there…….. for an hour…… while she “created” her character….. I hate this part of games with her.  For me Ill do height, build and hair thats about it since you cover it all in armour anyway, but not her.  EVERY SLIDER MUST BE TWEAKED…. AT LEAST TWICE!  Eventually she settled on a Stygian Tempest of Set.  One because she always plays priests and also because it sounded sort of like a spellcastery priest.  So in game she goes on HER PC…. the one I spent a SHED load upgrading.  Fast load times, no stutter, constant 55-60 FPS even in town….. I am gobsmacked.

First thing she does is get naked since she wanted to see the underwear, she was surprised ill tell you that.  Then she proceeded through the jungle to Tortage.  Once shotting most mobs with her lightning spell and occasioanlly stabbing something if it didnt die in two bolts.  She pulled off a couple of lightning fatalities but to be honest I didnt see anything different.  It could of at least shocked the target to death and left a charred skeleton but ah well, maybe in time.
She then cracked off a few quests in Tortage that involved collecting healing herbs, stuffing them down a boys throat then finding a man on an island to heal too.  Im sure my Barbarian will have differing quests but I have to get her off my account long enough for me to see first!

Which begs the question, why didnt I get her her own copy?  Well for one I didnt know if she would be interested in it and I preordered my copy ages ago.  Ill let her carry on playing for a while and if she seems happy with it then ill get her a copy for herself.  It wil lhave to be HER copy since I have activated both my Preorder Mammoth and also Drinking Cape (oh yes!) on my account!

So last night was Mrs B Conan night, maybe tonight will be my go.  Maybe ill finally stop WoW till expansion.  Who knows.  Maybe EQ2 will yank me back, maybe LOTRO will (I know ill be playing LOTRO again soon) maybe ill keep my eye on WAR again to see how its coming along.

Its good to be back!