My Chronicles of Spellborn Photo Album

Typing one-handed while holding a baby is tough. So, here are some screen shots from my time in The Chronicles of Spellborn.

Heartless_ Father

9 months has already come and gone. I'm a father to a happy baby boy.

Recap: TCoS PvP Server Bug

To recap my previous post.

...there is one glaring problem right now: the fucking PvP server is not working and has not been working for the entire god damn weekend. No progress is saved, characters can't be created.

Now, I knew there was an issue earlier in the day, but thought it was only affecting me. Not until last night did I know it had been ongoing for nearly two days affecting all players on the TCoS PvP server.

The sad thing is that it took TCoS support until 2:36 AM this morning to post that they even heard about the issue.

We have received reports of Rollback on PvP Server and many more other bugs. We apologize for the delay and are looking into it. I'll update this post when the bug is fixed.

By 3:57 AM, the server was restored to normal working order. To recap: two days the server was broken, for something that took an hour (give or take) to resolve.

Yes, TCoS is F2P and being redesigned. Yes, I am bitching about it simply because there was no way to even notify the developers that there was a problem and no way to know they even knew there was a problem until way too much ill will was generated for their game.

Contrary to popular belief, I want MMOGs to succeed on all business models. TCoS has a chance to relaunch itself successfully and now is not the time for them to be letting the general player base down.

Acclaim: The Chronicles of Spellborn's PvP Server Has Been Broken For Two Days, Please Fix It

I've started to play The Chronicles of Spellborn (TCoS) recently as it went full free to play (F2P) (with no strings attached until they rebuild the game). I'm actually enjoying myself.

So, the game is completely free right now as the developers figure out how to convert the game into a profitable F2P title. As a free game, TCoS is not that bad. Its not something I would ever consider paying $50 + $15 monthly for, but as a micro-transaction game, I would spend a few dollars here and there.

However, there is one glaring problem right now: the fucking PvP server is not working and has not been working for the entire god damn weekend. No progress is saved, characters can't be created. Every time someone logs in, they are at the same point they were at the last login. Unlucky are the few that logged in unaware, spent hours playing, only to log back in later and find every last second spent logged in previously was erased from the record book.

I am aware that I am paying nothing for this game and the support is going to be lackluster. However, it was not that long ago that people were ACTUALLY PAYING TO PLAY THIS GAME.

All I am asking for is a post or whisper from Acclaim stating that they at least KNOW there is a problem. Right now, there is nothing but confused and angry players re-rolling characters on the PvE server (which is working). There is no known way to contact the TCoS developers to make sure they are aware of the problem.

Please, not for me, but for the people that actually paid for this game previously, post this news and get the word out so Acclaim and the TCoS developers can get this fixed.

UPDATE: 24 Aug, 2009 - I guess a support tech came into work this morning and noticed the network cable to the database server was unplugged, because the PvP server appears to have returned to normal as of 8 AM EST when I was able to successfully create a new character.

New Star Wars:The Old Republic Videos: Same Old Crap Part I

IGN is sporting four new videos for Star Wars: The Old Republic, totaling 20 minutes of footage. Most of the footage is from in-game, showing off SW:ToR's combat and voice acting. Unfortunately, holding the same as every single video Bioware has released for SW:ToR, the developers in the video say one thing and then show something else.

Here is the first video.

What Bioware says:

"the action packed Star Wars combat"
"we want to make sure combat feels heroic from the beginning"

What the Video shows:

A bounty hunter crouching behind a rock and tree blindly shooting blaster bolts and rockets through solid objects at NPCs that stand there and take it like a bitch, all while the NPCs five feet to the left ignore the fact that their comrades are being killed.

From the video footage, their idea of heroic is "fighting two guys at once". I'm not quite sure that fits my idea of heroic. Personally, a heroic situation comes from more than just the number of enemies involved. It comes from the entire sum of the scenario. This could have passed as Heroic if the NPCs around the area reacted to the fact a bounty hunter just walked in and started blasting random members of their team, culminating in maybe a wall mounted blaster cannon taking aim at the bounty hunter, truly forcing the jet pack equipped bounty hunter to take to the sky and unleash a precisely-fired rocket to take down the cannon.

That would be HEROIC. Standing still, shooting NPCs that are also standing still, is not.

Part I score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The only thing that looks interesting is the voice acting and story driven nature. The combat still looks terribly boring and formulaic. An additional half star for the cover system which looks interesting.

Faith in Humanity: Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale

I just got back from the "Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale". Seeing tens of thousands of people show up to shop through hundreds of thousands of books warms my heart. Reading, in a society so bent on instant gratification, sometimes feels like a lost art. However, today I was reminded that people still read: from little old ladies sorting through the Nora Roberts table, to the throng of geeks grabbing everything off the Sci Fi and Fantasy table.

Enough with the pontificating and on to the books I was able to snag:

Michael Crichton - Sphere, Jurassic Park, & Eaters of the Dead

Isaac Asimov - The Currents of Space (1962 paperback edition), Foundation, Foundation and Empire, & Foundation's Edge

Tad Williams - Shadowmarch, The War of the Flowers, River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Book 2), Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland, Book 3)

Terry Brooks - Sword of Shannara, The Black Unicorn

All for a total of $12, mixed paperback and hardcovers. Most were gently used and in the case of Sword of Shannara and Isaac Asimovs, 1st printing mass market paperback editions from the 70's and 60's respectively.

Next Warcraft Expansion: Cataclysm Confirmed and Detailed

The basics:

Two New Playable Races: Adventure as one of two new races--the cursed worgen with the Alliance or the resourceful goblins with the Horde.

Level Cap Increased to 85: Earn new abilities, tap into new talents, and progress through the path system, a new way for players to improve characters.

Classic Zones Remade: Familiar zones across the original continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms have been altered forever and updated with new content, from the devastated Badlands to the broken Barrens, which has been sundered in two.

New High-Level Zones: Explore newly opened parts of the world, including Uldum, Grim Batol, and the great Sunken City of Vashj'ir beneath the sea.

More Raid Content than Ever Before: Enjoy more high-level raid content than previous expansions, with optional more challenging versions of all encounters.

New Race and Class Combinations: Explore Azeroth as a gnome priest, blood elf warrior, or one of the other never-before-available race and class combinations.

Guild Advancement: Progress as a guild to earn guild levels and guild achievements.

New PvP Zone & Rated Battlegrounds: Take on PvP objectives and daily quests on Tol Barad Island, a new Wintergrasp-like zone, and wage war in all-new rated Battlegrounds.

Archaeology: Master a new secondary profession to unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards.

Flying Mounts in Azeroth: Explore Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms like never before.

Comments to follow at a later date.

Team Fortress 2 Hat Drop Rate

I have to tip my hat to Kill Ten Rats for finding this chart detailing the drop rate of items in Team Fortress 2.

Actually, I can't tip my hat, because there appears to only be a 0.05% chance of actually seeing any single type of hat drop.

Has anyone else found a hat since the latest TF2 updates?

Polar Bears: Guild Wars 2 Looking Good

Guild Wars 2 has a new website and a new trailer. Normally, MMOG previews are full of computer generated cut scenes and movie-like storytelling. Not so with Guild Wars 2: the video is full of in game footage and the game looks absolutely stunning.

I was most intrigued by the Polar Bear people and would be interested to find out if they are an NPC faction or playable race. Unfortunately, I read through the FAQ and they are not exactly a playable race:

Will Guild Wars 2 have non-human playable races?

Absolutely! In addition to humans, players will be able to create, customize, and play a variety of non-human races.

* Charr - Ascalon's conquerors, the charr are ferocious, warmongering creatures--the intractable foes of humanity. Now, as greater dangers threaten their conquests, charr legions and their war machines prepare for battle.
* Norn - The norn are towering brawlers from the frigid northern lands who can shape-shift into mighty bestial forms. Driven from their homeland by a force beyond reckoning, the norn have regrouped among the dwarven ruins of the Shiverpeaks.
* Asura - The asura, who once ruled the caverns and tunnels below Tyria, are an advanced race of small size and great intellect. Now that they have risen from below, the asura aim to rule the surface world with their powerful golems and ingenious plans.
* Sylvari - Not much is known of the sylvari, save that they are a race of sentient plant-beings, newly blossomed into the world. The sylvari are the youngest of the races, bound together by a common dream and awesome power.

But hopefully, Norn, can shape shift into being a polar bear, because that would be cool.

Introduction to the "A Game of Thrones" Card Game

Fantasy Flight games has a neat little tutorial to introduce new players to their card game based on George RR Martin's book A Game of Thrones.

Its a neat time waster for anyone interested in the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. The introduction covers some lore and the game play that can be found in the game.

The official game page is here.