I'm on the "Crazy Taxi" side

 I don’t usually dive into politics on this blog, but every now and then, something just grabs my attention. If you looked back far enough, you'd probably see that I’ve drifted between the right and left over the years. Since around 2016, though, I’ve found myself firmly on one side—and it happens to be the one where a VP candidate is unafraid to show off his Crazy Taxi skills. Plus a Mountain Dew!  Now that’s a candidate I can get behind!  Kamala is pretty cool too.

Throne and Liberty 1.5.0 Patch Incoming

 The next Throne and Liberty global patch 1.5.0 is rolling off the assembly line tomorrow (10/31).  I spoke into my AI box and told it what I was interested in and it spat out this summary for me:

Throne and Liberty Update 1.5.0 Highlights

Throne and Liberty’s Update 1.5.0 lands October 31, packed with new content and impactful tweaks:

New Battle Pass & Shop Gear

The Phantom Tracker’s Star Battle Pass launches October 31, bringing exclusive emotes, a spooky Amitoi, and new outfits. The Lucent shop refresh also offers themed cosmetics for a festive look.

Big Gameplay Enhancements

• Field Boss Rewards: Boss portals now scale better with player count, offering more spread and better odds for rewards, including new Epic reward chests for selecting your preferred Epic loot.
• Combat Adjustments: Faster crowd control immunity buildup makes getting CC’d less punishing in group fights.
• Dungeon Fixes: Bugs in Death’s Abyss are squashed, and Adventure Codex objectives now award more XP.

UI & Quality-of-Life Tweaks

Extra chat tabs, visible health bar shielding, and a better Guild Points tracker make it easier to stay connected and organized.

Bug Fixes Galore

This update smooths over crafting issues, character movement, and controller function—setting players up for a smoother, more polished adventure.

... and honestly the AI (ChatGPT) did really well here with what I gave it as my interest areas.  Specifically I told it my favorite dungeon was Death's Abyss and it picked out a change specific to it.  I also mentioned I was interested in epic loot which it used well.  I also said to make sure to let me know if there was a new battlepass (which I knew already but wanted to see if the AI would interpret correctly).  I also asked if there were any changes to CC / crowd control and it picked them right up!

 I am sure there is more I could get out of reading the actual full patch notes but time is limited here and I'd rather play around with my "read the patch notes for me" AI than read actual notes myself :)

Why doesn't Throne and Liberty use a blind auction house?

 RMT (real money trading) is rearing its ugly head in Throne and Liberty, but the developers are pushing back by penalizing players caught engaging in these transactions. When players are caught buying Lucent (the premium currency) from RMT sellers, they’re hit with negative balances in game, which the community seems to find amusingly effective. But it raises a question: Why is the game in this situation when there are better ways to design the systems to minimize RMT?

A screenshot from Throne and Liberty showing a negative Lucent balance due to a player being punished for buying Lucent off third party sellers.

 Taking a step back first: it's surprising that RMT is this prevalent, especially since there’s no direct player-to-player trading in the game. Player A can't buy items directly from Player B. Instead, all exchanges happen through the auction house, which is restricted to premium currency and a limited selection of items. Even calling it an "auction" system is a stretch, as there’s no bidding—everything is listed at fixed "buy it now" prices, and listings are anonymous, so players can’t see who’s selling what.

 This setup makes RMT transactions fairly obvious. For example, if someone buys an item for 10,000 Lucent that typically sells for 10, it's likely RMT-related. While it’s possible players are simply transferring Lucent this way without any real money trading hands it doesn't seem in the "spirit" of the game for players to move Lucent around like this.

 Given the lack of player-to-player trading and the limitations on which items can be traded, it seems like Throne and Liberty could benefit from a blind bidding system. In this setup, sellers wouldn’t see listing prices but only the most recent bid or purchase prices. When a player bids on an item, they’d either get a match or be informed their bid is too low. This would eliminate the obvious RMT loophole as players can no longer pick which seller they are buying from.

 Blind bidding has worked really well in other games such as Final Fantasy 11 and seems like the obvious design choice in Throne.  This blurb from the wiki I linked sums it up best:

In the auction houses of FINAL FANTASY XI, sellers designate an asking price when they put items up for bid. The first bidder to offer a price higher than the asking price gets to purchase the item.

 I can't even think of a legitimate reason that any player ever needs to buy something in Throne's auction house at a higher price than the current lowest price which means it is perfect for blind bidding.

 While Throne and Liberty’s current auction system limits direct player trading, it inadvertently leaves space for RMT to thrive, impacting the game's economy and balance. The blind bidding system would minimize opportunities for suspicious transactions that are likely RMT. As the developers continue to combat these issues with the negative account balances, it’ll be interesting to see if they consider more structural changes to the marketplace.

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness is the AI.

Monday Screenshots: Daily and Weekly Checklist for Throne and Liberty

 I’ve described Throne and Liberty as a “chore” to play, but I keep logging in because my friends are there, and I do find some moments of enjoyment. Since I’m sticking with it, I decided to get organized and establish a daily and weekly routine. Part of that involves visiting specific vendors to buy time-gated items they offer. I came across a helpful image on Reddit that breaks this down, and I thought it’d be useful to share. 

Note: The only item I don’t fully agree with is the Rare Parchment. You can earn 33 of these by completing a single contract, so I don’t see much value in spending contract coins on them. Contract coins are hard to come by, so I’d rather save them for other items. However, if there’s nothing else you need from the contract coin vendor, the Rare Parchments could be worth picking up.

Your Throne and Liberty daily and weekly shopping list; see notes above about Rare Parchment!

Sunday 10/27/2024 Post

 The Packers keep on winning keeping their QBs undefeated streak alive.  Backup QB that is.  Jordan Love goes down and Malik Willis steps in and just like last week the game comes down to a game winning field goal from our newly signed kicker.  You can't make this stuff up!  What I can make up though is a combo image!

Things I do like about Throne and Liberty

 In my last post, I laid out all the reasons Throne and Liberty drives me nuts—yet here I am, still playing. Why? Because there are moments in this game that are so incredible they make me forget the frustrations, even if just for a while. Throne and Liberty pulls off some things I haven’t seen any other MMO do, and for that, it’s hard to walk away.

 First off—and I’ve said this so often that other people are starting to repeat it—the game’s performance is incredible. One standout feature is the seamless transition time. If you press B to recall back to town, you’re teleported almost instantly. Ready for a dungeon with your party? You’re transported there near instantly.

I'm not the only one impressed by the tech!

 On top of this, the game handles large groups of players remarkably well. I’ve joined open-world boss fights with hundreds, possibly over a thousand players. Sure, it’s a chaotic blur of lights, but the fight remains perfectly playable, allowing players to execute the boss’s mechanics reliably. Seeing a massive zerg of players fighting a giant monster is the essence of what an MMO should be!

 After 30+ years (holy crap!) of playing online games, I’ve learned to appreciate technological improvements. Whatever magic Throne and Liberty uses to enable near-instant loading and the ability to support thousands of players in one area deserves praise—it should be the standard!

 The game makes full use of these technical feats in its open-world dungeons. These aren’t small caves in the hillside; they’re massive, multi-tiered labyrinths requiring proper groups or careful solo planning to navigate.

 Just last night, my group spent an hour descending to the 6th floor of Syleus Abyss, where it felt like we were drilling down to the center of the earth. At the lowest level, we encountered massive lava pools and enjoyed knocking enemies off bridges into them. All the way down, we were flanked by hundreds of other players carving out their own spots in the dungeon. It’s a vibrant and dynamic environment.

 

The sixth floor of Syleus's Abyss.  Open world dungeons FTW!

 One of my favorite, albeit most frustrating, dungeons is the Sanctum of Desire. It only opens when it rains—which is annoying but also what I love about it! In so many games, content is always accessible with a click. Knowing Sanctum opens only with rain adds excitement whenever someone calls out, “Hey, it’s raining! Go, go, go!” It’s reminiscent of Dark Age of Camelot’s Darkness Falls dungeon, where everyone rushed in when conditions were right.

 This leads me to another feature I love: the server’s top players can activate world-changing abilities. One example is the power to make it rain. Sanctum of Desire has a world boss that spawns on a schedule, but if it’s not raining, players can’t get in. The other night, I watched our entire server plead with a top player to trigger rain so we could all rush in to fight the boss.

 Another thrilling aspect is that these open-world dungeons turn into PvP zones at night. Nothing beats the tension as two groups of players stand off in the depths of a dungeon, waiting for the clock to hit nighttime. The victor keeps their farming spot; the loser is kicked out. In Sanctum of Desire, if it’s not raining, the losing team can’t even get back in.

 Add in the “Eclipse” ability, where players can trigger nighttime across the server, and the stakes go even higher. Just recently, an Eclipse was triggered while hundreds of players waited for a world boss. The guild that triggered it was ready and ambushed everyone. I was frustrated after getting killed, but looking back, all I can think is, “That was freaking cool!”.  Players can literally change the world.

Eclipse! PvP is ON in the open world dungeons!

 I spend a lot of my game time in these dungeons, even though rewards stop once you run out of Abyssal Contract tokens. I really enjoy pushing deeper into more challenging areas and claiming my little farming spot. It’s a truly multiplayer experience that thrives on open-world interaction—and Throne and Liberty delivers here.

 Scheduled world events are another highlight. Whether it’s a “kill the most wolves” event or one where you can jump onto the back of a giant flying whale, there’s always something happening. The game even provides a schedule so you can plan for upcoming events.

 The game also excels at providing in-game information. Every item has an info icon you can click to see how to obtain it, listing vendors, quests, or other sources. You can click on a map location to see enemy types, then click on an enemy to view their loot drops. Once you learn the system, there’s hardly any need to visit an external wiki. 

Map > Area > Monster Info > Loot Table > Details about the drop without ever having to alt tab from the game!

 In the end, these moments I love—epic dungeons, massive player battles, and real-time world changes—are exactly what make Throne and Liberty’s shortcomings so frustrating. This game has the potential to be truly groundbreaking, with technology and ideas that could set a new standard for MMOs. If only the combat and PvP were tighter, if gearing weren’t such a grind, and if the progression caps weren’t so limiting, Throne and Liberty could be exceptional. For now, though, I’m sticking with it, because there’s still nothing quite like the experience it offers.

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness is the AI.

Things I don't like about Throne and Liberty

 I’m still playing Throne and Liberty because my gaming group is, but the game is starting to wear on me. To put it simply, playing feels like a chore, and there are several things I don’t like about it.

 My biggest issue with the game is that everything is based on random outcomes (RNG). Want to upgrade a skill? It might take one skill book or five. Want to upgrade gear? Same deal. Craft something? It’s a random result. Looking for a specific loot reward from an activity? Good luck, because that’s also random. Even when you complete your weekly tasks, the rewards are random.

 There are "pity mechanics" in the game, like tokens you get from completing a dungeon that can be used to craft rewards—but the number required is high. You're limited to three dungeon rewards per day. Even if you run 100 dungeons, you can only receive rewards three times. These three daily rewards do stack, so if you miss a day, you can earn more when you do play.

 This limited rewards system runs throughout the entire game, and I don’t like it. Whether it’s co-op dungeon rewards, open-world dungeon tokens, contract rights, or something else, there’s always a cap. Even basic crafting materials are limited per day!

 Another major issue is the lack of a proper in-game economy. While there’s a premium currency auction house, it only allows certain items to be sold. So if you need extra honey to cook a meal and you've hit your daily purchase limit, you're out of luck. Plus, there’s no player-to-player trading for most of the game’s materials.

 You’d think that restricting player-to-player trading would solve the "gold buying" problem. But no—gold sellers easily bypass this by using the auction house to sell items for the purchased gold amount. What’s worse is that this involves the premium currency. It’s absurd that gold farmers can sell the game's premium currency at a cheaper rate than the game itself!

 The design of the PvE dungeons is another area where the game falls short for me. Most dungeons are short, which I don’t mind, but the basic structure is repetitive. You do a practice fight, then proceed straight to the end boss, which is packed with wipe mechanics. There’s no leniency—either you execute perfectly, or you wipe. I find it frustrating, as the fights feel more like memorizing mechanics than real progression.

 Another frustration is the complete lack of resurrections during combat. There’s no in-combat res, and there’s none in the open world either. If your hit points hit zero, it’s back to the respawn point. If you’re in a dungeon and get knocked out due to a moment of lag, you’re out of the fight. Gone is the dynamic of balancing in-combat resurrections.

 Then there are the events—another aspect of the game’s design I dislike. I enjoy many of the events, but they’re all on a strict schedule. If you can’t play during the scheduled time, you miss out. There are events I’d love to do over and over, but they’re locked away by this scheduling.

 Add up the RNG progression and all the caps, and it’s practically impossible to have a second build for your character, which is a shame in a classless system. It’s more efficient to just play a second character because that gives you access to another set of daily, time-gated rewards. Plus, premium currency is account-wide, so you can farm it on both characters and get more than one character could on its own. This is just terrible design.

 To top all of this off, the game often leaves me with analysis paralysis. There are so many currencies with so many uses, and since many are capped, I end up stressing over every decision. The tutorial might show me how to use five tokens to unlock something, but I’ll hesitate, because I only have seven tokens and worry I’ll need them later. Next thing I know, I’m on YouTube, watching guides on how to "best use Y tokens"—and still confused because everyone has a different opinion.

 So with all these gripes, why am I still playing? Well, despite everything, there are some things I genuinely enjoy about *Throne and Liberty*. But that’s a story for another day. Stay tuned for my next post!

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness is the AI.

Rerolling into Rosa

Update 11/30/2024 - I switched back to playing my main on Valhalla.

 New World Aeternum has launched, and although my internet was still down due to Hurricane Helene (thankfully, it’s back now), I was determined to dive in. Bad internet or not, I couldn’t resist the urge to join the wave of new players hitting the shores. I decided to hop onto the new crossplay server, Rosa, and bring HeartlessgamerX (aka X) to Aeternum!

 My main goal? To play through the new storyline and reach level 65. I’m a few days behind the herd, especially since I’m still playing Throne and Liberty, so this will be a slower grind for X.

Amazing view!

 For my leveling build, I’m sticking to my tried-and-true setup: Firestaff paired with Sword and Shield. I’ve spent thousands of hours mastering this playstyle, and it’s still as satisfying as ever! There have been a few tweaks to the Firestaff, particularly with mana, so leveling a new character feels like a good chance to familiarize myself with these changes.

 Jumping back into New World was refreshing—literally! I like how the new introduction starts with the player swimming toward the shoreline. After a brief introduction to combat and item interaction, you're thrown into a dust-up with ole’ Thorpe and then introduced to Isabella. The tutorial now has much more substance than at launch!

 Once out of the tutorial, it’s back to familiar territory: the shores of Windsward, where I found myself gathering flint, picking bushes, and hunting pigs. The early quests feel familiar but have some fresh twists, with new characters joining you on the journey. While I think these new additions are well-executed, the story is still just "OK" for me. As much as I promised myself I'd pay more attention, I ended up clicking through most of the dialogue.

 All in all, I’m enjoying my return to New World. While the game feels improved, the commitment to push to level 65 is still substantial—especially when you factor in trade skills, gathering, and everything else that also is starting over. Having put thousands of hours into my main character, I already miss the perks of having piles of gold and full ultimate trophies. But for now, it's one step at a time. Stay tuned for more updates!

Sunday 10/20/2024 Post

 Gave them Texans 16 points just to break their hearts in the end.  Field Goals are back on the menu boys!

Helene Update Day 22: INTERNET

 It is day 22 post Hurricane Helene interrupting our lives and Spectrum has finally restored our home internet.  While I am grateful for TMobile 5G home internet helping get us through the down time on Spectrum I won't miss the constant connectivity issues the 5G experienced.

 And yes I feel a bit of guilt being this excited over something as stupid as good internet access. Folks in our neighborhood are still months of repairs away from having their normal homes back.  Just north of us in western NC the scene is still apocalyptic in areas.  Their wait for power will be months and they may never get stable wired internet back; 5G or satellite are their only answers for the foreseeable future.

 So I'll take a moment to enjoy reliable low latency and massive download speeds but still think of those folks a short drive away and we'll keep volunteering and donating.  I'd suggest if you have any means to give that you do so.

 Also some visuals for anyone interested in what the difference means on our internet connection.

Network monitoring via Pinging.net web tool. 
TMobile 5G on the bottom; latency spikes and consistent drops.
Spectrum on the top; smooth consistent connection.
Literally night and day difference.

 

 

 

Speedtest results on Spectrum.  Note: speedtest isn't the greatest of tests but it is a simple way to illustrate a connetions potential.  For comparison TMobile 5G sometimes couldn't even run speedtest as it would die out during the test or if it completed it was 20-50 Mbps down and 1-5 Mbps up and latency was always 60ms+ (expected with 5G).

Thoughts after making level 50 in Throne and Liberty

 Even with my poor backup internet I was able to hit level 50 in Throne and Liberty last night.  I have some thoughts to share on the experience.

Yay! Level 50!

 First, I’m not sure if reaching level 50 in Throne feels like much of an achievement. This isn't your early 2000s MMORPG where you'd grind for weeks to max out. Instead, leveling in Throne is extremely fast and requires minimal effort—basically just completing the main story quests. Aside from a small grind from levels 44 to 45, the quests propelled me right to 50, and I hit that milestone upon finishing the final story quest.

 This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as leveling in MMORPGs has largely become a way to deliver the story and introduce game mechanics. However, I can’t help but feel that something is lost with this express-train approach. The fast pace means I didn’t stay in any single area long enough to truly appreciate it. 

 The fast-paced quest design also left me feeling disconnected from the world. Most quests followed a simple formula: go here, click, walk a few steps, click again, and fight a couple of enemies. After that, you’d enter an instanced story mode, complete an activity, teleport back to town, and move on to the next area. As a result, I never felt encouraged to explore the visually stunning world.

 Another issue was that the story itself felt incoherent and disjointed. I struggled to follow it from chapter to chapter, and the actions my character took—making potions, arming magic traps, breaking into buildings—didn’t connect with the actual game mechanics. It was frustrating to set up elaborate magic traps in a quest, only to realize I couldn't do anything like that in the open world.

 The lackluster story only emphasized how generic the world felt. Despite the visual variety, the environments didn't offer much meaningful interaction. Harvesting nodes were the same from level 1 to 50, and they often felt out of place. In New World, you can chop down any tree or break almost any rock, but in Throne, you’re limited to just a few types of gathering nodes.

 Enemy placement in the game was another immersion-breaking element. It often felt like I was walking into "dumb piles of mobs"—"mob" short for "mobile" from text MUDs.  These were just enemies that stood around waiting to be killed. In many areas, they respawned so quickly that it disrupted any sense of immersion. And then, in the next area, there’d be nothing at all—no enemies, no gathering nodes, just empty space.

 Unfortunately, this left me feeling unmotivated to explore. The world has beautiful environments, and the game’s morphing abilities allow you to fly, swim, and jump to all sorts of places. But there’s no real reward for doing so. Your best bet is to use the map, which tells you exactly where everything is, making exploration feel unnecessary. The entire exploration side of my brain was left unsatisfied.

 Despite my gripes, I did enjoy the journey to level 50. While I didn’t explore as much as I’d have liked, the visuals were stunning, and jumping on the back of a giant flying whale to watch the world pass below is a core gaming memory for me now. Now that I’m level 50, I can finally dive into the game’s many progression systems. There’s a lot to explore—tokens, contracts, various UI screens, and mountains of unopened reward boxes. But with so much complexity, there’s a chance I’ll just get irritated and return to New World instead. For now, though, I can recommend Throne and Liberty as a decent free-to-play experience.

TLDR; Throne and Liberty: OK experience up to level 50. 

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness is the AIs.

Once Human up to more crazy stuff

 I haven't checked back into Once Human since stopping after the first season ended on our server, but I caught Force Gaming's video update featuring some of the new content and it's some crazy (thematically) stuff!  I especially liked the theme park area featured in the video.  I may have to go check this update out!

New World Aeternum is FINALLY here!

Here we go.... again

 Today is the day that New World relaunches as New World Aeternum and launches on consoles along with bringing a slate of updates to the game for PC players.  There is a new 10-man raid, match making in PvP modes (arenas and outpost rush), a free-for-all PvP island, new gear score max of 725, and many other changes.  Annnnnndddddd I won't be able to enjoy it because my backup internet solution (due to Hurricane Helene knocking out our main wired connection from Spectrum) can't cut it for action gaming!

 One item that has been a hot topic is the addition of target lock in PvP. During the Aeternum open beta the target lock was pretty aggressive and could track a locked-on target pretty well.  It made sense to have a target lock to help controller players, but with how sticky the lock was it took away most of the "skill" to be able to land attacks.  Players found they could just spam left click and the game would keep them on target (as made famous by TrickTrick winning a duel blindfolded and just clicking his way to the win).

 With the final patch notes for the Aeternum launch provided there are numerous changes coming to the target lock:

• Killing a PvP opponent in target lock will no longer automatically switch to another target
• Target lock now breaks more aggressively when losing line of sight to your target
• A character’s turn speed is now slower when using target lock

 These are all good changes that I think will help make target lock more palatable.  The biggest issue from the open beta was target lock sticking you to the enemy and performing in ways you could not realistically do normally.  It is now closer to the "assist" form that it should be.

 I was originally in the camp of NOT wanting any target lock at all but in reflecting back on it I came to the conclusion that the game needs to try new things to have a fighting chance at a long future. Console is a big part of the current future and there are plenty of games I've played where console players are given some assistance to compete with PC/Mouse&Keyboard players and those games were fine so why not expect that from New World?  There will still be outcry from a vocal few but they are the same vocal few that complain about everything.

 We are also finally getting a new season after Season 5 seemed like it was never going to end and I think it is appropriate they call the new one "Season of Opportunity".  This is the opportunity for the game to turn around.  We are only an hour into the launch here and Steam Charts are all hockey sticking upwards which is a good sign.  That is also just tracking the PC playerbase; we really don't have a sense yet of the uptake on the console side (I don't think it's going to be crazy high but hopefully enough to have made the work worth it for the New World team).

The type of graph we like to see!

 I am a bit bummed I won't be in Aeternum for a bit here until my internet situation stabilizes but I'm excited to get back to New World!  Being excited for the game once again is a better place to be than where I was at back in June with the game.  I'll take it!  See y'all in Aeternum... maybe.... hopefully sometime soon :)

Monday Screenshots: Throne and Liberty Post Helene

 A quick catch up if you haven't followed my Hurricane Helene posts.  I played a few hours of the early access launch for Throne and Liberty; right up until the hurricane took out my internet.  Fourteen (yes, FOURTEEN!) days later we got internet back via TMobile 5G home internet. Unfortunately it's not ideal for gaming due to poor signal at our house, but I did give it a go with Throne and Liberty.

 There were lots, and I mean lots, of deaths.  Disconnecting in the middle of a fight or more fun; lagging as you approach a cliff and learning that there is fall damage in Throne and Liberty.  But I at least got to grab some screenshots to share!

Heartlessgamerr (with two Rs)

Completing a public event

Flying over areas never gets old in this game

Amitoi house where you send your little minions on missions to get you free stuff

Waiting for the giant flying whale

Love the size and scope of this castle

Puzzle quest

Another shot of the large castle

Upgrading green gear to 6 to then transferring it to blue gear

Fishing!

More upgrading gear!  Oooh... Ahhhh... pretty!

My first PvP event... I died a lot since I am well behind on level

Sunday 10/13/2024 Post

 O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?  Packers beat up on the Cardinals and Romeo Doubs comes down with two amazing TD catches a week after coming off a suspension.

 

Helene Update Day 14: I PLAYED THRONE AND LIBERTY

 My TMobile 5G home internet arrived late yesterday which gave me a chance to jump in and play some Throne and Liberty.  This is the first online game I've played since Helene hit two weeks ago! 

 For anyone that hasn't followed along on this journey I bought into the Early Access for Throne and Liberty which started on 9/26.  I played right up to the point where my internet service went out as Helene started making its way inland.  Little did I know it would be 14 days later before I'd be able to return!

 During my hiatus from being offline my friend group, who had NOT planned to play Throne and Liberty, decided it would be a good idea to start playing and then constantly ask me "where you at bro?".  Since they started post Early Access they were on servers that I could not transfer my Early Access character to.  Thus Heartlessgamerr (with two Rs) has been born!

 

Heartlessgamerr

 I had only made it to level 27 on Heartlessgamer proper on the Amos early access server before Helene knocked me offline which was just a few hours of work.  So starting over to play with my friends was not that big of a hit to take and as I'd find out re-leveling was the least of my worries.

 I work in telecom so I hate to throw shade on telecoms and technology that is helping in otherwise tough times, but 5G Home Internet is just not great.  We actually had a better signal than I expected at the house for TMobile but even with that signal the technology is just unreliable.  There is consistent packet loss and latency spikes; not to mention regular periods of it dropping out altogether.

 The result is an unreliable service to play games on, but that did not deter me and it actually highlights one area that Throne and Liberty absolutely shines in!  As I explored there was a bit of rubber banding and frustration waiting for interact actions before eventually hitting some disconnects.  

 But the beauty of Throne and Liberty is its performance and whatever voodoo they use I was able to play effectively and when a disconnect did happen I could get right back into the game.  I am still amazed how they pull off not having long load screens even when dropping me into areas with hundreds of players all while I am on spotty internet!  This performance is entirely worth the price of early access admission and sets a new bar for competitors to match.

 For comparison if I was disconnected from New World it would easily be 4-5 minutes before I was back in game.  In Throne and Liberty I was back within a minute; basically as fast as my PC could boot the game back up.

 It's good that I confirmed to myself that gaming on 5G home internet is NOT reliable but in a pinch it is serviceable.  I still wait patiently for Spectrum to return more reliable service via cables in the ground.

Helene Update Day 13: Wooting 80HE

 As I posted yesterday we've taken a good number of steps towards normalcy in our post Hurricane Helene journey.  One more step today was heralded by the arrival of my long awaited Wooting 80HE delivery!

 I had ordered the 80HE almost a year ago at this point when it was first announced.  The 80HE brings all the goodness of the Wooting keyboards and lekkar switches in a "slightly bigger than 75% keyboard layout so we'll call it 80" size.  Compared to my 60HE this brings back my F keys, arrow keys, and a few extras like PgUp/PgDn/Del/Ins.  While I loved my 60HE I did miss all of extra keys; especially the F keys.  

Helene Update Day 12: Hoping Milton Stays South

 It is day 12 of our Hurricane Helene experience.  A quick recap: 

• We have power
• Spectrum internet is still down with basically no communication on progress
  
• Roads are mostly open now 
• Gas and food is readily available
• Most limits on purchases are also being lifted (hooray for being able to buy two loaves of bread now!)
  

  To attack the Internet issue I have ordered T-Mobile 5G Home internet.  I know the signal is not great here but its better than nothing and definitely better than an hour of commuting each day and paying for parking downtown.  It should arrive in the next couple of days.

 Next we are staring down Hurricane Milton to the south.  It should NOT swing north towards us but hurricanes were also never supposed to be bad for us before Helene dropped 40 trillion gallons of water on the area and knocked down every other tree within driving distance!  I am pretty confident Milton will stay south.

Helene Update Day 9,10, and 11: The long(er) wait begins

 Note: posting these updates a couple days late due to returning home on Day 7 but without Internet and spotty mobile service it has been difficult to get anything done online.  Fortunately, my company has office space still which has power and internet so after years of working from home I am back in the office.

 We returned to a house with power and a nasty mess in the freezers and refrigerator.  We had cleaned most of the freezer items out but on the off chance we got power back we left frozen tomatoes and peppers from the garden harvest this year so we could can them in jars.  That was the wrong choice and I should have thrown them out when I visited the house earlier in the power outage.  So we had to turn off the freezers and let them thaw which we then followed up with some cleaning.

 The fridge was mostly cleaned out except for some items that could withstand longer durations, but we still chucked a bunch of sealed food such as orange juice bottles and stuff like soy sauce.  Having an empty fridge gave us the chance to give it a good scrub down and we are now proud owners of a very clean fridge.

 The fridge/freezer cleaning inspired us to get some more kitchen cleaning done.  That in turn inspired some clean up in the office and then the great room.  It's amazing what you can get done when you put your mind to it and don't have Internet-connected devices distracting you.

 We then took on the task of getting the yard in order.  Fortunately we had no trees down in our yard but plenty of branches and debris.  We also live on the bottom of the hill in the neighborhood so had lots of washed out areas in the yard that needed attention.  

 The wash out reminded me I need to get the grading/drainage situation in the yard cleaned up.  A recent Spectrum cable repair in the yard compromised some of the drainage to the street and that's causing water to pool around the AC unit during these events.  I also need to see if the HVAC company can raise the AC unit.  So much to think about and get on lists to wait for companies to have resources to check out.

 Then it was back inside to relax and catch the Packers game on TV.  We were fortunate that it was an afternoon game on CBS and broadcast in our area.  I had to chuckle to myself after explaining to my oldest son on how over the air TV works even though Internet does not.  

 I also helped myself to an "adult soda" (as we call beer in the household) which is something that is a rare treat as I only have beer a few times a year.  The beer was from a brewery, Sierra Nevada, in western North Carolina which was heavily impacted by Helene and may be out of brewing for a bit so there was a tinge of guilt to go with it.

 Some gaming activity did return to the house.  Personally, I've been too exhausted each day to get any gaming in myself but my oldest son has latched onto Starfield again and is playing a good bit of that.  It was neat to see land vehicles introduced in the game and over all seemed like a better experience.  I need a few things to calm down at work and in real life before I jump into some offline games. Wreckfest is my normal go to.

 Lastly; we wait for Internet to return and for school to start back up.  Tentative plans are the kids go back tomorrow (10/9).  Internet (our provider is Spectrum) is an unknown.  They are not even giving estimates.  Communication is actually very poor from Spectrum currently and when they do give updates they are combative/defensive about the situation.  AT&T and other providers are providing much better updates and are facing the same widespread challenges as Spectrum.  None of them are working in our area.

 There is the option of going with 5G home internet from a provider like T-Mobile so I am weighing that option even though I know coverage is not great and all the major carriers are also heavily impacted for capacity due to the storm damage.  But it may be an option vs waiting likely weeks if not months for Spectrum repairs.

 I'll leave on a positive.  While cleaning up I walked past our fig tree and was greeted with the first ripe fig of the second crop it has set for this year.  It brought a smile to my face.  Mother nature marches forward and so do we!

 

Sunday 10/6/2024 Post

 Packers S Xavier McKinney intercepts pass in fifth straight game to start 2024!

 

Helene Update Day 8: The Return of POWER

 Power, but not internet, has returned to our home on this, the 7th day, of Hurricane Helene aftermath.  The family and I are heading back home today and saying good bye to our gracious hosts that have housed us the last few days.  

 While this closes one chapter in this saga it is not the end.  Trees are still down everywhere.  Hundreds of thousands are still without power.  Many businesses remain closed.  Schools are closed.  Many stores that are open are cash only but there isn't readily available ways to get cash.  There is a likely long wait for repairs to internet as Spectrum has deemed it still too unsafe to work the issue in our neighborhood due to the trees and down poles/lines.

 But we'll take it.  Power back on and getting back home is one more step towards normalcy.  Now I wait for the return of being able to stay up to the wee hours of the morning playing my favorite online games.

Helene Update Day 7: Hope and patience

 It is day 7 without power at our house and we continue to stay relocated with a coworker who has power and internet.  Tomorow is the estimated day for power to come back on at our house so we are hopeful that stays true.  I doubt we will get internet access back at the same time but that is secondary to having power.

 We are also prepping for more rain as another tropical storm makes its way through the gulf and up our way.  We should get a minimal bit of rain but any amount at this point has most of us here cautious.

 We've also been able to get word from some friends up in western NC which was both heartwarming and heartbreaking.  They are in good shape and their area specifically was spared from most damage but they informed us the brother of their's son's girlfriend is missing.  His last known whereabouts before the storm are unknown but his car was found in flood waters and home completely washed away.

 It is a stark reminder that while this is inconvenient for myself and my family; there are others who will forever be changed by this event.  It reinforces the patience needed to get through these events.  More importantly it reminds us that we all need some hope in these trying times.

Bonus cat picture.  This is our neighborhood cat who adopted us.  He's doing just fine. 

Helene Update Day 6: Reminders we still have a ways to go

 Still no power at our house on day 6 of the joy that Hurricane Helene brought us.  The family and I remain relocated.  I am making daily trips to the house to check on things and keep our outdoor animals fed (rabbits and chickens).  School is cancelled now into next week.

 In a more positive update there is now ice arriving at a regular interval in the local grocery stores.  It won't save anyone that lost everything in their fridge/freezer days ago but it allows some short-term storage instead of having to figure out how to use an entire container of milk in a single day.

 I was also able to check around more of the immediate area in our neighborhood and there were sober reminders that we still have a ways to go.  There are still downed trees on power lines that are still untouched.  Street lights are still out.  Roads are still blocked.  Damaged houses covered in tarps also remind us that for some getting back to normal is even farther away.

 An example of a partially blocked road and damaged power lines in our area that is TBD when it will be worked on.

Helene Update Day 5: The Estimate and Throne and Liberty launch day!

 It is day 5 of no power at our home and we got the first glimmer of hope to an end with an estimate from our power company that they will have power restored by Oct 4th.  We were fortunate enough to have a talkative worker that was working at the problem location where the lines were taken down.  He was optimistic but you could tell he was not convinced Oct 4th was real but thats what they had.  They have to replace multiple poles and transformers.  

 That will get power back into the spot where the utilities go underground to feed our house.  The risk after that is the state of the underground lines; some of which were ripped up as trees uprooted.  If the underground lines are damaged then there is unfortunately a wait for a crew that can do buried cables.  

 I don't even want to think about internet.  Down the street you can see Spectrum's buried line sitting six feet up in the air attached to a upturned rootball of a 100 year old oak tree that toppled over.

 With that said the family and I are still relocated to a coworkers house where they have power and internet.   Its a bit of a drive but still checking on the house and family members each day.  Gas is surprisingly available with minimal wait times.

 Also Throne and Liberty's global launch is today.  I played early access for a few hours the day before Helene hit so I have some thoughts but it will be a bit before I get to that and a bit before I get to jump back in Throne and Liberty.  

A pic showing what some streets still look like.