A reading update, and friends make it worthwhile
I have finished reading the second Gotrek & Felix Omnibus, a while ago actually. Initially I had planned on moving on to The Ghost King, the third book in the Forgotten Realms Transitions trilogy, which I had received as a Christmas gift from my sister. However, since it has been a while since I read book two, The Pirate King, I figured it wouldn't be any harm to move on to the third Gotrek & Felix Omnibus and save The Ghost King for when I was done.
I've already finished the first novel in the omnibus, Giantslayer, and moved on to Orcslayer which is where Nathan Long had picked up the series. I have to say, even though I'm not even halfway through it, the difference between William King's writing and Nathan Long's is noticeable. I can't complain about the difference though, as I'm finding that I actually seem to prefer Nathan Long's style. You see, I'm very much weaned on fantasy fiction by starting out with much of the initial Dragonlance novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, then moving on to Forgotten Realms when I had consumed most of what was available in the Dragonlance "universe". I found that I preferred Forgotten Realms, particularly R. A. Salvatore's writing style, and stuck with it never looking back. While my love for the Forgotten Realms and Dungeons & Dragons in general has kept me waiting with baited breath for new novels to be released, I have ventured over to the Black Library to seek literary sustenance in their Warhammer Fantasy offerings (Warhammer 40k has never really caught my interest).
Welcome back Kott… err, Hawktalon
This weekend marks a momentous occasion for me. I was actually able to convince a good friend of mine to come back to WAR, despite numerous protestations from him against it. About a week ago his hard drive failed, then he had to take off on an out of town trip. He was back this weekend and replaced his hard drive (as well as obtaining a nice OEM copy of Windows 7), so I mentioned it would be a great time to reinstall WAR to come back and play with Lannerea and myself. He grudgingly inserted the CD and began the install, complaining about how long it was taking the entire way (which increased tenfold come patch time). Luckily we were still able to transfer his Engineer, Hammerstorm, from Phoenix Throne to Badlands but had to rename him to Hawktalon in the process. Now to get him some badly needed gear, which shouldn't be too hard.
Tonight I'm trying out a new recipe; Red Curry Beef. Yesterday we went grocery shopping and had a hard time finding some of the ingredients, but a friendly couple in the Asian/Indian aisle helped us fine the red curry base that we were looking for. I'm not completely convinced that we have the right stuff, as it's a red Tandoori curry paste, but whatever, I'm sure it will do. Hawk is coming over to try it out as well, so at least Lannerea and I won't be the only ones suffering if it doesn't go well. Plus I get to watch Death Comes To Town again, since Hawk hasn't seen the premiere episode yet.
~MikeR.
Inevitable City almost hits Stage 2
Last night, Lannerea was in the Inevitable City with Feared, attempting to push the city siege to Stage 2. From what I saw, this was a server-wide effort on the part of Order which is incredible in itself, given that it tends to be the case that you can never actually get anyone to work together coherently. Entire instances were doing their best to push back and demoralize Destruction, as well as actually kill Adell the Conqueror. Feared was able to get in three kills (unfortunately in an empty instance, but it seems that's potentially the only effective way to do it) before the timer ran out, and infuriatingly enough the final kill didn't seem to count toward the Victory Point total. It happened with roughly 30 seconds to go, and some people in Vent even stated they saw the VP meter lock to Order, but in the end the city went back to rebuilding/safe status with a total of 64 VPs (65 needed to flip).
Highside, prior to logging out, congratulated everyone in the server-wide Tier 4 ORvR channel, guaranteeing that another push will be forthcoming Saturday night. I intend on being there.
On another note, earlier this week I was able to not only fill up my High Elf T4 influence, thereby gaining me the Mallet of Remembrance, but I also was able to earn two more Silver Ankhs in Land of the Dead which was more than enough to buy my Shroud of Nehekharan Assassins. Lannerea also earned two more along with me, allowing her to purchase the Shawl of Nehekharan Priests. Now to just get her into some Lost Vale runs with plenty of luck so that she can gear out in her Dark Promise set.
~MikeR.
WAR Renown Rank plugin is official
The WAR Renown Rank plugin that I wrote was officially accepted by WordPress.org Plugins. It's now available here, and can also be found in your WordPress dashboard under Plugins -> Add New.
~MikeR.
Dragon Age expansion coming in March
I just read that there is an expansion to Dragon Age: Origins coming in March, called Awakening. I bought Dragon Age earnestly hoping to play it almost exclusively, as we weren't playing WAR anymore at the time. That went by the wayside once the server transfers happened and the RvR action started picking up again (ie. the game became fun again). I think I will have to take it a bit easier again and move back to Dragon Age in hopes of completing it before March rolls around (yeah right). The expansion will allow the importing of a character from the main game, presumably regardless of whether they finished it or not. There is a trailer available, along with more information at the official site (haven't checked it out yet since I'm at work), as well as information about the release of the Return to Ostagar DLC which was delayed from its January 5, 2010 release date.
Last night in WAR, Destruction was out in full bloody force; an estimated 4 or 5 warbands worth. I was able to join up with an organized warband, but the rest of Order seemed a bit disorganized and there simply wasn't enough to put up much resistance. We were able to lock Reikland, but that was the most damage we could do to Destruction's campaign as afterwards they rolled us no matter where we went. However, I was lucky enough to see a Sovereign Warclasp of the Unbreakable drop when we wiped a force of Destro at the Graveyard in Praag. Congrats to Jaros on that one. I ended up logging out around 10pm about 30% renown ahead, and less than 1900 influence to go in finishing up my High Elf Tier 4 ORvR influence. Not too bad, I'm hoping to have my Mallet of Remembrance and the ability to wear at least some of my Invader pieces by the end of this weekend.
~MikeR.
WAR Renown Rank plugin for WordPress
I wrote my very first WordPress plugin the other day!
It lets a user specify their character ID and server of their Warhammer: Age of Reckoning character, then it will simply connect to the Realm War website and display their character's name, renown rank, and a nice progress bar showing how much further they have to go until the next renown rank. Two examples are in the sidebar to the right; Baelgur and Lannerea (my character and my wife's).
While it's not much, like I said it's my first plugin and I think it's pretty neat. There's still some things I need to fix up, such as gracefully handling the inability to connect to the Realm War page (happens more often than I thought, even though a page refresh usually fixes it). I wonder if anyone other than myself will ever use it...
~MikeR.
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