When it comes to The Lord Of The Rings, I never read the books or watched the movies voluntarily (the third one was alright up until the neverending ending). However, Turbine seems to have done something right with The Lord Of The Rings Online (or LOTRO, as it’s more commonly known).

I originally thought that it was just another WoW clone, but there was a reason this MMO was scored 9.0 by IGN and 8.5 by GameSpot – it’s fun. While there are the usual go-here-and-kill-or-collect-that quests, the game never feels repetitive, and with so many tasks available thanks to achievement rewards by way of deed quests, an intuitive three-way crafting system, and points that can go towards temporary stat boosts, you always feel like there’s something to do in the game if you tire of the usual kill/collect quests.

The story, of course, follows the lore of Middle-Earth. Even though I’m not a huge fan, the plot is pretty simple to follow and entertaining, exposing you to enough background and fluff that may make somebody like me a fan. Mind you, I’ve only been playing for 9 days, so it’s still too soon to tell. However, the characters are interesting enough that I’m patient enough to read through all the text and dialogue. I created an Elf Champion, starting off in Ered Luin. The world is open, but isn’t as populated as I thought it would be; this obviously cut down on general chat antics. Nevertheless, I was never too far away from a fellow gamer.

The graphics are more on par with the cartoony/comic style of Rock Band (trust me, this is a good thing). While it isn’t comparable to Aion, LOTRO still manages to surprise you with some lush environments and interesting effects. I haven’t had problems identifying a particular mob from another. Water isn’t the most realistic, but more believable than WoW. Sound effects are pretty standard, and already some key event sounds have made it into my head. The music is pretty damn good; you’ll find yourself humming along to some of the tunes as you hack and slash your way through hordes of mobs. Drops are also pretty decent – I haven’t had a money issue and I always frequently acquired a stronger weapon without having to resort to buying one from a vendor. Armor is detailed and I loved what I got to wear in the n00b zone. I hope to see some interesting armor and weapon designs as I proceed through the game. Leveling is pretty easy too. I’ve been able to gain a level once an hour on average, and I’m currently sitting at level 17 after only 9 days, playing only an hour each day due to my busy work schedule. Skills and combos are fun to pull off, and you get a lot at the start, with at least one active every two levels and one passive every level. Cooldowns are also shorter than most other MMOs, which adds to the enjoyment of using skills more often. I haven’t reached them yet, but there are also hobbies and housing in addition to all the other fun stuff you can do in this game. Finally, with the trait system, no two characters are ever the same even if the same armor and weapons are equipped.

Now for the cons: after being spoiled by Aion’s cutting edge features, I miss auto-approach on target, auto-repeat jumping, and my inventory quick sort button. I also miss flying, but I digress. ^_^ The mini-map shows you where to locate your quest targets, but for some strange reason, you can only target one quest at a time, which is annoying. Quest tracking only limits you to a maximum of five quests, and every time you get a new quest, it appends itself and concatenates the last quest from the tracker. Lame. Finally, selling your wares to vendors is also flawed. You can only sell item by item, which is sorted seemingly at random, not matching how you have your bags sorted. Why the hell is there a Sell All button? Who the heck would sell everything in their inventory, especially when Bankers are not available in most areas?

At the time of writing, I’m on the last day of my 10-day trial. I went back to play Aion for a bit to compare both games, and while Aion is the technologically superior game, I actually have more fun playing LOTRO. Dying in an MMO is never fun, but when I die in LOTRO, I always feel like I did something wrong and could have strategically planned out my combos better. However, dying in Aion makes me feel like I got ambushed unfairly, plus some mobs are uncharacteristically stronger than others but running around in the same area as them.

Definitely better than WoW, and quite possibly the best MMO I’ve ever played. It may be a clone, but it’s a high quality clone. Final score? I think numbers are misleading. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. I feel that more people should be playing this game. I just hope people do. I will definitely be purchasing the full game when I get the money. Warhammer 40,000 – Dawn Of War II is high on my list, but not as high as this one.

Image Sources: In-game screenshots with interface disabled.

My nose kept bleeding last Thursday after work. I had to take Friday off to go to the clinic and recover from all the blood loss I endured. Thankfully, my Dad got me Secaris (a cheap knock-off of neosporin/polysporin) to help block it and moisturize my inner nostrils. Better than super glue, I say. The doctor at the clinic diagnosed me with a sinus infection and prescribed me with amoxicillin. I love that stuff, the liquid version tastes like banana! Yum! However, when I went to the pharmacy, they recommended the chewable tablets, which were supposed to be cherry flavor. So, I decided to try it out for fun. What a big mistake!! It tastes like cherry with a banana aftertaste. Not that it’s a bad thing, but… it IS. Why would cherries have a banana aftertaste??? It’s like playing the final boss in Legend of Zelda and getting Super Mario’s I’m-sorry-but-your-princess-is-in-another-castle ending. Or a guy disguised as a girl.

Anyway, I’ve been sick, which explains why my previous post was late. I don’t know if I’m getting better or not, though.

On another note: this morning, I was brushing my teeth and Bad Romance popped into my head for some strange reason. So, when I was rinsing my mouth, I gargled to the tune of Bad Romance.

Lady Gargle. Wait for it; it’s going to be a thing. Maybe.

In other news, I’ve finally accumulated my buffer enough that I can stop living paycheck to paycheck! YNAB rules! Well, the YNAB rules are pretty cool, but I meant that YNAB is the best. Sorry, pun intended. Unfortunately, I’ve more than killed any semblance of a life I may have had by working hard enough to earn enough money to do so. The extra money also helps for… you know, comics. Who cares about a social life? A life without reward is no life at all. NO LIFE AT ALL!!

When I was going to sit down and write this entry last weekend, I got waylaid by my friend, Noreen, who wanted help buying a new laptop. I like shopping for new gadgets and toys, even if they aren’t for me. I guess it’s all about the adventure than the end result for me. That, and I like helping my friends if I can. I sure as heck can’t help save their lives or be a wingman, but I can certainly help pick out a good computer worth every bang for the buck. So, we go to Staples and they only had Windows 7 laptops, which was perfect, because Vista was a steaming ball of horse manure encased in stained glass. Metaphorically speaking, of course. If I was speaking literally, then maybe Vista would have sold better because, let’s face it: stained glass is colorful and neat-o. That’s right, I said neat-o. I grew up in the eighties, what more do you want from me?

Anyway, I digress (the first of many times this post, perhaps). We checked out one of the first laptops available. A Toshiba Satellite with Core i5, 4 GB DDR3, 320 GB HDD. Nice specs! Nice design! Overpriced. Next up, we saw a decent Acer Aspire with Core2Duo, 3 GB DDR3, 320 GB HDD. After that, we saw nothing else but HP. Boycott HP. Their printers are good, but I would rather break a stained glass ball of horse manure on my head than accept an HP computer as a gift, let alone purchase one. Needless to say, we went with the modest Acer Aspire. Yay!

A few add-ons like a new laptop cooler mat and external hard drive (darn my innate RadioShack training), and we were off to the races! Except, not really. It slipped my mind that Noreen would have wanted her laptop setup. I spent most of Saturday and some of Sunday morning helping out with that. I’m a great friend, right?? I sacrificed video gaming for helping out a friend.

As an aside, I may have played my video games with a bit too much vigor later on this week, but I’m jumping ahead of myself.

Saturday night was spent at James G’s place playing Magic: The Gathering. It was my first time playing in years… maybe since high school? Anyway, it’s been too long, yet I managed to open a can of humble whoop-ass.  Mind you, it’s Magic. I can’t exactly brag about such a geeky hobby anyway. It’d be like saying, “Yeah, I buttered some toast at my soup kitchen community service job like a pro. Like. A. Pro.” Not that I’m insulting Magic; far from it. However, Magic doesn’t exactly bring a crowd to their feet like the Olympics. There – I mentioned the Olympics. Am I good or what?

On Sunday afternoon, I played Warhammer 40,000 with Colin the Cripple. His Tyranids defeated my Necrons like a bundle of dynamite would take out Chinese coal miners, but not by much. Mid-game, however, my throat started feeling hoarse (whinny?) and I was coughing like an angry asthmatic (sorry, Ian). By Monday morning, I had caught a slight cold because I was only coughing. Then, the fever and aches came. I was down for the count by the end of the day, yet I somehow managed to work on twice the tickets at work than Adam did. I wonder why?

I took the day off on Tuesday to recover. I was back on my feet in no time and back to work on Wednesday. Then today came and my cold gained superpowers and beat the living tar out of me, adding sneezing, nasal congestion, and nosebleeds to my woes. Hooray for death!

Don’t worry, I’m not going to die (probably), but I sure wish I could.

EDIT: This entry was supposed to be posted last week, but the cold got worse!! The next entry will explain it all.

The year in retrospect

2009 was a year of struggle; workers struggling to find a new place after losing their jobs as a result of the recession, companies struggling to stay afloat, and people struggling to find solace from the loss of their beloved celebrities. To me, it was a struggle to find my place in the world outside of my Northern mining town. Unfortunately, I was unable to forge my path due to many reasons, one of which was thinking ahead. I let my emotions guide my way, and as a result, I was unprepared for the harshness of the outside world.

The year in projection

2010 is going to be the year I change all that (well, obviously, I can’t solve the world’s problems, but I can affect my own). Starting with my own name, I’ve decided to create a new personal brand identity, along with rebranding for ChickenBall Design itself. What does this mean? It means that the way I present myself and my one-man design firm is going to change.

Change forward, not backward

Who I am, my thoughts, and my blurbs about life are going to be separated from what I represent, the services I offer, and my portfolio. Speaking of my portfolio, I’m planning to build one. I may be inexperienced and just starting out, but I plan to hit the ground running after exercising my legs with figurative walking. I want to prove my worth not just to people and potential clients, but to myself.  I’ve never felt so passionate about web design than I have while doing computer repair. My life as it is at this time of writing is unfulfilling, so I’m filling it fully.

In Conclusion

My English teachers warned me against using “in conclusion” to conclude an argument, but I’ve always been one to challenge the rules, and this is exactly what I’m doing.

When I got back to Thompson (after an icy highway between Grand Rapids and Ponton), I moved out of my parents’ house into Colin and Crystale’s place. Good times.

Now the Internet has mysteriously stopped working. Uhh… did somebody at MTS remove the enhancement for our line? O_o

I’m posting this from my parents’ restaurant, which explains the shortness of this entry.

Really, don’t kill people.

Anybody who’s anybody in the IT game has heard of remote administration tools such as RealVNC, Remote Desktop, and Altiris Carbon Copy. However, they may or may not have heard of LogMeIn. Aside from having several professional and enterprise uses for securely managing workstations/servers from remote locations over the Internet without requiring client-side encrypted protocols and layers aside from the simple browser plugin, you might want to take note of the most important feature of all – it’s also free. That is, if you don’t need any fancy features such as file sharing, remote sound, and remote printing.

So what is LogMeIn exactly?

LogMeIn is a tool that runs in your web browser and allows you to connect to any computer in the world and remote control it as if you were sitting in front of it. However, instead of installing software and configuring multiple network settings to allows you to do this, LogMeIn just needs a small client program installed on each computer you wish to administer, and a browser plugin that allows your remote computer to establish the remote session. Encryption and security is performed by LogMeIn’s hard working servers, so no matter what capability your computer is, you’ll be able to perform tasks, manage data, or access applications on the remote computer that are only on that computer, without the risk of compromising security on the computer you are viewing it on.

What’s the buzz then?

It looks like LogMeIn has been busy as a bee recently. Just last week, they launched a complete overhaul of their website with a brand new design, as well as the client application to match. The new color scheme is beautiful, but sacrifices a bit of bandwidth to replace their previous minimalistic design. The result is a stylized feel that gives current and/or returning users a refreshing new look. However, the design is not the only thing they’ve unveiled.

LogMeIn Central is the new product offered that enhances LogMeIn Free, Pro, and Hamachi. Judging from what I’ve read about Central, it serves as a client-side application that not only allows you to make multiple remote connections simultaneously, but also allows background remote sessions for those who don’t wish to interrupt active users but still perform maintenance tasks that would otherwise take time away from the daily workload. Furthermore, you get reporting and inventory benefits as well.

Who should be using this?

Anybody could, especially if they have IT experience. It could be the guru in the family who doesn’t want to make a 2 hour drive to Mom and Dad’s just to fix their e-mail settings. It could be for the tech who helps out his raid members across the world with configuring firewall port settings for World Of WarCraft. However, it’s also useful for the office accountant who forgot to bring a spreadsheet from home, wants to access an application from home that isn’t sanctioned for use at work, or just wants to surf the Internet during some downtime without compromising work security and policies.

Should I sign up for this?

Sure, why not? You have nothing to lose, and it’s free! In addition, they occasionally offer free trials of their paid services, but you can opt out and continue to use the free service only.

Do you work for LogMeIn?

No, but I sure wish I do. They wouldn’t hire me because I don’t have formal education anyway; but I think education is overrated.

Well, things didn’t work out as I planned. I didn’t find a job with a decent wage, I never broke into my career like I wanted, I missed my family and friends, and, most importantly, I ran out of savings. So, I packed up all my belongings and came back to Thompson last week (on Thursday, to be exact). However, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to return to Winnipeg. In fact, this is just Attempt #1 of x (where x < &infin;).

I officially got my job back with Compugen yesterday after a conference call with my boss. However, ever since I got back to Thompson, I got myself involved with a few things, keeping in mind that since I’m back in Thompson, I should take advantage of the opportunities I have.

The first thing is stock market investments. My Dad has been gaining experience with the stock market, so he’s loaning me some start-up cash and I setup a trading account at the bank. Making quick money will be the key to erasing my debt fast and saving up for a condo or house down south, as well as maximizing my investments portfolio and savings.

The second thing is property. My parents still own our old house, and we recently lost our tenant. However, the house is a mess from cigarette smoke, paint, and physical damage, so I volunteered to help fix up the house and take up landlord-like residence there, though I will officially be staying at home. I already started with painting, but we’ll be working on carpeting, flooring, fencing, and other small projects around the house. This will give me some hands-on experience with doing bad property flips and managing tenancies, since I plan to own and rent out property in the city for extra income.

The third thing is business. Colin and I discussed some business opportunities, and we plan to open up a storefront next year. I don’t want to say too much, but it will be something that Thompson could use, and there will be multiple services available. This is something I want to do for fun, plus the business management experience will look good on my resume.

Finally, I was so broke in Winnipeg that I couldn’t buy anything, but every time I needed something, I had to cough up the money out of my savings. So, I made a list of toys, tools, and supplies I will need for my next move out, now that I’ll be making good coin again. Better to buy now than cough up budgeted money later.

I try not to mention anything about my personal life here, but I recently went through a whirlwind romance that got me thinking about the future. I’m nearly 31 and I have nothing to show for my experience and age, least of all a significant other. If I want to have a girlfriend or wife, I’d better be well off enough that I can support her financially, or even manage the costs of having a relationship (especially since I don’t plan to date anybody in Thompson if I can help it).

In a nutshell, I’m back in Thompson, but I don’t plan on staying very long. I’m kicking ass, taking names, and getting paid. That’s all there is to it. As for my web design career, it’s being put on hold. Maybe after all is said and done, I’ll take some of those savings I hope to accumulate and go take a design course or something.

That is, if I don’t overdo it with the comic book collecting.

In short, it looks frakking amazing now. The game has so far lived up to what I was expecting. Interviews, gameplay videos, and more importantly – a full game manual in the form of a wiki has been posted and updated on the official site. Ladies and gentlemen, we have lift off. I’m just going to read the wiki a bit before I decide to preorder this cash vampire.

In between work, I checked out the wiki and went to EBGames, but they were all out of beta keys. So, I bought it online. No physical game packaging, but we need less physical media these days to conserve on packaging material that clutters landfills if not recycled properly. I’m downloading the game client at the moment, so hopefully, I’ll have time to play tonight. I hope to post a beta review shortly on DigitalBytes North (website pending).

After finding out that I was one day late for the most recent beta event, there will be no beta review until another beta event is scheduled. I hope they don’t stay quiet until launch. That would be foolish on their part.

For example, I turn to hard rock or heavy metal when I’m working on something edgy. I immerse myself in action movie scores when I need to set a tone of epic proportions. Pop music for hip and modern, electronica for futuristic and experimental, and the list goes on.

I’m into a number of artists, but most recently, I’ve gotten into the latest from Michael Giacchino (who composed the score for the new Star Trek movie), Halestorm, Lacuna Coil, Linkin Park’s New Divide, and the Battlefield single from Jordin Sparks. Even though they’re not as recent, Bullet For My Valentine’s Scream Aim Fire and In This Moment’s The Dream still rotate in my playlists.

Do you also use music as inspiration? If so, who do you usually listen to? If not, what do you use?