Ricochet!

Jagex is doing nothing. Being dicks about crappy marketing.

Got into World of Tanks. It's an MMORPG, natch. Combo of third-person shooter, team strategy and RPG. You advance up a tech tree of tanks from weak to strong by throwing experience points earned on battlefields into research to upgrade your vehicle(s). There's a lot of room for customisation and teamwork, but most people don't do the teamwork thing. It's not a Build-Your-Own-Tank game. The combat mechanics are very realistic for something as fun as this, and your equipment upgrades are limited to pre-selected things that can plausibly fit onto your tank.

A good game, but a bit grindy before you hit the nice stuff.

Regards, IVIilitarus

Fail.

Jagex fucked up.

Mod Craddock posted on the War of Legends forum that the Stellar Dawn Official Forums would be shut down until a time closer to the Beta.

Shitstorm ensued.

A backup forum was launched to house the community, hundreds of threads were backed up, The Combine included. Took a good 12 hours, but Mod Markg finally showed up and clarified it.

The first official Jagex moderator post on the SDOF since last year is a clarification that basically comes down to, "We fucked up and caused a shitstorm. Sorry, guys."



If you want an example of what the main section on a pre-release video game's forum is not supposed to look like, here's one:



Nice.

Regards, IVIilitarus

Maybe They're Just Naturally Dicks

Got pulled into the SDC Skype the other day. I don't usually talk to the guy who pulled me in and left the other chats he dragged me into.

I was welcomed. Then I left. Was gonna leave anyway, I get pissed by people who pull me into chats I don't care about.




Maybe they're just naturally dicks. With some minor flamewars about how the SDC have egos that rival Dubai's building projects in size and incredible shittyness. Thing is, they're a close community who don't always have a penchant for welcoming the new guys. They post their obligatory welcome and then maybe, when your post count is high enough, you'll see some respect.

Thing is, I ain't part of that close community and after this, I don't want to be. Ren and PoultryChamp are good people. If this is anything to go by, the rest are just dicks who insult each other (which is fine), because they're close and insult new people (which is not fine), because they're dumbasses who can't tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar.

Here's a protip, motherfucker: If you're gonna open with a 'fun, joking' insult to a newcomer, you either address it as just fucking that really, really soon or don't bother until they've gotten used to your demeanor to each other. I don't care if you poo-poo each other because you're close, but dickishness to the new people ain't right.

Regards, IVIilitarus

Full Circle

For some real news before the crap starts.

SDCombine now has a blog. SDComBlog. Original, huh? It's posted upon by Combine members, launched by me.

Time to retire from RuneScape.

Not like it's a massive surprise. I've been off for a long time. A week or two of heavy playing and a month on break. That sums up the last half a year or so. I just had to make it official. Tie up some loose ends.

I've been around RuneScape in late 2006 and saw half of it. Through a good bit of playing and at least a year and a half of total inactivity, I've passed the 1900 total. More than 90% of my Quest list and Music list is green. I said I'd finish Eagle's Peak and Observatory, the quests I started on the first day but never finished now, but I'll only do one: Eagle's Peak.

I'll leave Observatory. Eagle's Peak signals the end of my story on RuneScape, but RuneScape carries on. Observatory can be left to the end of RuneScape.

Eagle's Peak is actually the perfect way to end RuneScape for me. Hunter was made my new lowest skill recently, but before I got membership, I was fascinated by Hunter. It was the only skill that, to someone who hadn't attempted it before, had real depth. Slayer was killing things. Agility was running in circles, Herblore was making potions I'd never use, Farming was boring, Thieving was boring etc. Hunter had depth. You'd travel across RuneScape, using camouflage and tools, advanced and primitive to trap an enormous variety of exotic wildlife for resources.

Hunter was the first thing I tried on a member's server. Feldip coast, catching birds. It was the reason I started Eagle's Peak. I found more interesting things to do and it happened to be left to now. Eagle's Peak is perfect for closing the book.



I started RuneScape when I was in the late sixth grade and was clueless about things like efficiency, guides and so on. My first business venture in RuneScape was selling bronze armour sets I smithed in Lumbridge court. I just did what came to mind and never asked for help. The opposite happened when I played EVE recently. I knew about the playerbase, player factions, backstory, ship classes and progressions and dove right in and shot to the top (and fell right back done). Information is valuable to a new player's experience.

My only regret is not Googling 'RuneScape' guides when I was in the sixth grade. That's another reason The Combine switched gears to teaching. I don't want people to waste time like I did.

My last work in RuneScape was materialistic. I got my 3rd-Age Helm and kitted myself out in Armadyl (it was a success, owing to hard work and great friends). Money has always been a focal point in RuneScape. It's to show off, it's for practicality, show but quite like having something nice to strut around in during my retirement.



Killing goblins behind Lumbridge castle before I did the Flap emote for the first time taught me that constant effort leads to constant reward.

Mining ore and smithing iron weapons to sell to NPC merchants in Varrock before I complained about the Grim Reaper's Hood not being black taught me that there are other ways to make money.

Air rune running before I entered a clan chat for the first time taught me to look beyond skills for money making.

Merchanting unidentified herbs when the Obsidian set was still valuable taught me about big money.

Cutting yew logs the first time whips were 1.3 million per taught me that not all money is fast, but it can be simple sometimes and I just have to wait.

Cutting magic logs during an uproar over free trade taught me that things escalate and it really does get better eventually.

Catching sharks whilst internally replacing the words 'High Definition' with 'High Detail' in a whole new world taught me that sometimes, money can be easy and reasonably fast.

Catching Rocktail whilst wielding a Dragonfire Shield and Amulet of Fury just to look good taught me that I can do it.

Selling my valuables as my journey ends and putting together one last outfit for retirement has taught me that effort will be rewarded.

I am the richest, most highly skilled and most fulfilled player in the history of RuneScape and nobody can take that away from me.

My name is IVIilitarus

I am retired.