EQ2: I killed Holly Windstalker!!

Ok, I know A LOT of people don't care. But that person has been killing me for years. 

  I hit 20 on the Conjuror, and got the Mage pet.  Now I am used to the Mage pet to be high damage / low health. A really bad soloing idea. But I took it out anyways and tried it out. 

   I was amazed. It was able to kill fast enough that I didn't need to worry too much. It still is not the best tank. But for raw leveling, it is awesome. 

   I stumbled across a blue elite and pick up aggro. Now I am used to dieing in these cases, so when the pet grabbed aggro I beat feet. I was then amazed that with in seconds it wasn't my pet at half health - but the elite mob. So I turned around and spammed heal pet. 

    After that I got the master version of the Mage pet. 
   
    So today I was working on the harvesting skills when a green Holly Windstalker wanders up. With less than 2 minutes of game time left, I couldn't refuse. The Mage pet used her like a tooth pick. 

   So who is laughing now!!!!!
-Jason

   To really understand this post you had to have played Everquest for several years and have been ganked by her repeatedly. Even in EQ2. 

CSM : Jaded Tears

I really didn't have much to say this morning. So I read for a bit on capsuleer. 

  Which lead me to the CSM review. Reading the article reminds me so much of real life politics. Where there is only one right answer - the writer's. 

Referring to people who question as Tin Foil Hats. Or inserting the word supposedly, it was like reading the local newspaper come election time. 

All this said, I do plan on reading and promoting his article and website. Just to help raise the awareness of the CSM. 

But I'm a little bit more jaded. After all, alot of what is said to us is the infamous - trust me. This coming from a game that at it's core design fosters distrust and scamming. 

The best thing to do, though is read it yourself. http://keithneilson.co.uk/the-csm-summit-june-2010-thursday/

-Jason 

Planetary Interaction: My carebear tears

Have you ever done something that loses money, isn't all that much fun, and is a little frustrating?  Yet, you can't help yourself and you keep doing it again and again. 

That is my planetary interaction experience. It's either stop what I am doing every 30 minutes to take 5 minutes to refresh or throw it to 23 hours and let 1/2 the plants stay idle cause I can't get them enough resources. 

Also there is no in between. 30 minutes, 5 hours, or 23 hours. What about a 8 hour work day?  I sleep longer then 5 hours ( or at least I want to.)

   All of this and I have made less then 5 million in products. There are ways to make isk off of this, I know. But not in high sec doing it the way CCP wants you to do it. 

    So I am waiting for my 3rd account to finish a few skills then I will try null sec.  The motherload better be there. 
-Jason 

Wahoo ...done

Wahoo, the podcast that could - finally went.

Man, I thought it would never get off the ground.

With Overtime, a bad work day and a trip to San Antonio, I was about to give up.

Instead I think it is one of the funnier ones. Though a bit long.
-Jason

Perpetuum: Day 2

WAHOO!!! Eve is not longer - Eve-Offline!!

Well Perpetuum, is a ramp up curve. For my system, the graphics of the game are choppy. But I run on a wal-mart laptop. So go figure.

The opening moves are normal. The combat is different in that you can select a target and keep walking. That is pretty sweet.

But I have no idea how to make money. It will take some more time. But with Eve opening back up, I need to run do a skill and fire up planetary interaction again.

-Jason

they love me, they really love me!

Dear Player,

we are glad to inform you that your application for the Perpetuum closed beta
testing has been accepted. Welcome aboard!

Please visit our website ( http://www.perpetuum-online.com ), download the game,
and create a character. After this you will be able to log into the game and use
the community features of the website. Your login for the website is your e-mail
address and password.

Please log into the website and browse through the forums for instructions. You
will find lots of valuable information specifically posted for beta testers.

We wish you happy testing and lots of fun!

Best regards,

The Perpetuum Team

------------------

ok, I know alot of people dont care. But I love Battletech. And this is as close of a MMO as I have seen in a long time.

Steps to become a ninja

Lost in eve is a nice podcast. 

He goes through the news articles, touches on PI, and then tells a story of an in game experience. 

This week he covered something I particularly found nice. Ninja mining.

The goal here is 
1) to scan down a wormhole
2) go in and cloak 
3) drop an extractor down on a planet - he recommends a Basic
4) leave
5) in the comfort of your station open up a can of extractors and devestated the planet for a short period of time. 
6) when it's time for bed or the wormhole is reaching it's natural life cycle you warp back in. 
7) drop in a spaceport ( this flags as a customs office in the overview - so if someone is watching they will notice)
8) dump it all to space station. 
9) warp in and grab it ( hopefully no bubble)
10) run like a flaming banshee to the exit. 

Congrats you just stole minerals from the occupants. 

Over course when I got home I didn't find a wormhole in my system. Then I got spouse aggro.... And it was all over. 

Jason 

SW:ToR - live DH QnA

I know this redundant. For those intrested already know this and the rest don't care. 

 But tonight is Darth Haters live QnA on Vent. As much I as would love / need to listen. Not sure my wife would allow that during family time. 

   She is not a big SW the Old Republic fan either. 

    Still I encourage you all to log in and listen. Maybe even throw in a question or three. 

Jason 

NPE

Well in making the 3rd account, I got try out the new player experience. 

  (Old man voice) "Back in my day, ( hobble hobble) we didn't have all those high fluletin fancy Blueprints! (shake my cane). All those choices of carEer paths. BAH!!  We were given a stick and bail of wire and told to make our own Titans. I remember I had to walk to nearest jumpgate in the snow!!! Up Station!!!  BOTH WAYS!!!!!  You young wipper snappers have it too easy!"

-cough-  umm hurts my throat. 

Overall it was ok, I did rush through how to turn my ship. I was suprised at how painful it was to kill a rookie pirate with a civilian Gatling laser. 

   I was given a few Blueprinter missions. But as far as I could tell I had no clue where to go. (assuming I was new). The first couple lead me fairly well. But the last one I had to get some Isogen and it never told me I needed to find a 0.6 or 0.5 sec space and what asteroids to look for. 

  For me it wasn't a problem, but if I was a new player not committed to the game. Well it is possible I could have rage quit 2 hours into the game. And I didn't even get ganked. 

  Also I lost connection. So when I got back on, the tutorial kept trying to get me to redo everything I had done to begin with. At one point it would even let me warp unless I turned it off. 

  Sad
-Jason 

Eve gate redux

Eve gate. Ehhhh
 
   So I saw I made 24 mil roughly on Capsuleer. But I don't know what I sold. 

And since I am hard at work (hahaha) I decided to try eve gate again. 

  first time I have log on in about 2 or 3 weeks. I see Kirith likes the tweets. I didn't even realize I had him to view. I did have 1 tweet in there. 

  So I threw up the fact that I just purchased a 3 rd account so now I can train for cynos. And the my dream of 2 hulks and an orca can be realized. :). Hmmm. 

Now I need another computer
Jason
 

PI: Mr. Roboto

I looked over the top tier of Planetary Interaction from the Ivy League Wiki web site. 

    They were all exclusive to POS/Sov stations.  

   It seems to me that this is a rather poor market. For the large part people running POS's will have their own PI manufacturing going on to save on operational costs. The expection being possibly Wormhole space where the access to a needed planet might be missing. 

   T2 components on the other hand might have a better chance. 

   And of course if you can find a product that uses both - then that is the highest demand. ie robotics.

  That is my train of thought. So off to robotics I went. Been playing for about a week now. And I have 24 units of robotics. Needless to say it's a little underwhelming. 

   I have decided to put storage units right after extractors and before industry. This way any excess material gets stored and ready for shipment. It also helps as a buffer if you can't get to your planet in time to refresh the extractors. 

    I decided to forgo the storage unit right before the launch pad. This was redundit. As the storage unit is 5,000 m3 and the launch pad is 10,000 m3 with another 20,000 m3 floating in space. 

Overall fun but not as enjoyable as Sim city. 
-Jason

Work in progress

Life changes, that is a constant. 

  Work is shifting away from me doing daily computer maintenance ( and hence easy time to write a few notes for the blog) to being more actively involved with some reporting issues. And hence not that wonderful time to say something silly. 

    I guess this means I am re-evaluating things.  Currently I  am doing this on my break. So it might just be that this post is a waste of time. 

  Like that has ever happen !  ;)

I listen to alot of interviews with Bioware on E3. Well 5 or 6, some written some on video. But I never got to see the arrogant one.  Would liked to have seen it to understand Kiriths statement more.  

-Jason 

PI - the UI needs some love

While I am not the biggest reader. Ok I barely read. I haven't noticed people talking about a problem I have in planetary interaction. 

  The timing of extractors going off line. I know I mentioned it a little bit on the podcast. But yesterday was just another prime example of not understanding what I am doing. 

   After the failed podcast recording, Tuesday. I jumped online at 5 pm and saw my entire lava planet workers were on strike. I choose the 23 hours till depleted option. Thinking I would have time Wednesday to move the production process onwards.

  Wednesday 4 pm came and it said I had another 2 hours. So my math is off 5 pm to 5 pm is 24 hours. Plus 1 more equals 25 hours total. Yet it said 23 hours till depletetion. 

    And another thing. You can't stop them in their mining process without scrapping the entire extractor and rebuilding one. I was hoping to stop mining and rescan so I wouldn't have my planets doing nothing during my sleep time. 

   It bugs me so much, I might get off my rear and head to Jita's Park and see if I can get a CSM member to sponsor me. 

-Jason 

Ok so my foot tastes a little funny, but I'm used to it.

There is a proposal already raised for CCP. To look at some of the functionality of PI.

Let's see if I can get the link

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1335480

SW:ToR - Love / Hate relationship

HAHA, I love Kirith Kodachi's post.

Mainly cause I am so polar opposite.

Well not the all MMOs are stupid part. That is just plain dumb and dumber.

But the reason I started following The Old Republic, is cause of story. And Voice acting. I loved the trailers in Guild Wars. I was that guy that wouldn't let you move on the next mob cause I wanted to watch the Video.

The story line is very immeserive to me. The little bits and pieces I have been able to glean is truely tantalizing.

I whole heartedly agree seeing abunch of smooth versions of the Star Destroyer is ludicrious 3000 years ago. There has not been any advancement in 3000 years. That is just plain dumb. But that is something I will have to live with.

I watch the trailer 4 times now, each time I enjoy it more. I could easily get upset that a trooper lived through a point blank termal grenade. ( same one 3000 years in the future ). But hey, I love James Bond too.

Over all, this has me more stoked about the game.

Plus I get Starships.

Comparing this to Star Trek Online isnt really right either. Star Trek is having lots of issues just trying to come out of the starting gate. (Still have that lifetime subscription).

-Jason

Opps I did it again

Well phoey
  

   I can't find my headphones anywhere to the iPhone. 

    So I nick'd my bosses computer speakers for the day. 

     Now everyone at work gets to listen to day 3 of the alliance tourney. 

   -Jason 

SW:ToR - Information Overload

Drooooll...

There is just too much that happen to remember it all.  Darth hater will be up all night working on their podcast. 

   Another timeline video,  this was a nice little piece of video describing the Jedi Civil War. My thought was that the capital spaceship looked awfully similar to the Star Destroyers 3000 years in the future.  

That 3000 year thing will probably always bug me. 

   The G4TV trailer was neat, but honestly nothing ground breaking. Though it did wet my appetite for the next trailer. 

   Then there was the Gamespot play through update. 

    Oh man, drool. 
  I like the idea of bullets being the limiting factor for troopers. Love the storyline already for each one. 

   I have been wanting an Imperial Agent, and they still found sweet. The play style will be a bit rough. But I  am so willing to try. 

Overall, it was a great night. 
-Jason 
 

Frustration to relaxation

Special thank you to Kirith Kodachi for reminding me to look at the My Eve section of the forums for new podcasts.  I have been remiss in that. 

    Last night, I spent roughly 4 hours working on iClone. Trying to get things setup. I was really starting to get a feel for the software and it's limitations. I rendered a 30 sec trailer but the watermark they put on it makes it look like 3D image without the glasses.

    So I settled down for a session of ice mining.  You know what? Ice mining is great. The rock never depletes and,with an orca near by, it's just every 8 minutes move the load from the mackinaw to the orca. Was able to unwind from iClone, then get wound up (good way) for SW: The Old Republic. 

Overall a nice way to end the night. 
-Jason. 

Podcasting - 1 road bump down, Thousands to go...

I picked up Crazytalk yesterday. And started to experiment as soon as I got home. 

   My first trick was that the program wouldn't show the model in it's normal mode. It would let me edit, but then the screen would go white.  I remember this problem when I did the trail version, but I couldn't remember how it was done. 

   So that leads me to an hour of searching the Internet and reading forums. But the effort paid off, found the right .ini file and did the transfer. 

   After that it was pretty smooth sailing. I made a rough draft of the model, threw in a mp3 file and watched the fun for a bit. I tested the save mp4 format ( wasn't available on the trail) and it all works fine. 

    After that it was working on the green screen. The first step was to color the background down to the pixel   .  This separates the model from the background.

 While it is easy to understand and even watch, it is a pain in the wrist. Literally, I am still hurting today.

   After that, it gets even mire fun.  Neither crazytalk or iClone will do the Chroma Key ( ie green screen ).  Even though they say iClone can do it. If anyone knows how, please let me know. Please.... 

   This lead me to surf for awhile longer to find 123MagicVideo. They have a free trail, then pay to play. 

  Now onto my first mistake. When I was creating the green screen of the model, I really didn't want green. I choose blue. This is an industry standard also, so I saw no harm in it. When I go to upload my model to 123magicvideo, it only takes green. I figure no problem. I open up crazytalk, change the color from blue to green, and make another movie. But 123 keeps seeing the blue version. So I delete the blue movies. 123 still sees them.  
 
   I get so frustrated that I log onto eve for some ice mining.  

  This morning I uninstall then reinstall 123 magicvideo. Upload the green version and in works great. The model gave his speech in front of clouds then triangles. I then went to the next step and added the Dominion trailer for the background screen. I left the house while it said 4 hours to go. 

    I am leaning towards either doing still frame backgrounds, or figuring ( ie asking) what software STOked uses for their greenscreen. 

   Either way it's an adventure.  And that is what it's all about. 

-Jason 

Podcasting idenity crisis

Blah. 

 That is about the best way I can describe the podcast. 

   Maybe, Grrrrrrrr. Is more accurate. 

   Or better yet - John Casey's sigh from the show Chuck. 

    Either way I am getting annoyed with the mike problems on the podcast.  Erin comes in fine, but mine bounces up and down. I use a headset, and the mike doesn't move. But during the editing portion my voice goes all over the place. 

     Still all I can do is adjust and try again. Yeah I know, and I will do some samples first. But man it is annoying. 

     Think I'm going to stick to the Notalotanews Newshour name. Wonder how much the EVOGANDA guy charges for some banners. 

    Figured I would stick to the format of :
Intro
Kiriths Korner - for as long as he can take this thing
Podcast weekly update - I'm always wanting to know if there is a new podcast. 
Mission from eve survival - this is an off shoot from the mission collide pattern. 
Eve Tribune
Dev Blog - these are just staples. Maybe add ten ton hammer and kugtsumem to it. 
Sport pages ( Dotlan maps )
And finish it up with outro/final thoughts. 

But as you can tell it's just a work in progress. ( hehe maybe that should be my title ) 
-Jason

6 jumps in 4 hours

Yes, I was at my computer the whole time.

I went from low sec entry to the pocket. It is roughly 6 jumps long. What took my 4 hours was at each station i would turn at least 90 degrees from my destination and cruise to 200 KM from the gate. Then bookmark the spot. It just takes time traveling at 200 meters per second.

But I got to the pocket unscathed, and was able to cyno in my carrier. Which landed 10 KM from the station. Still working on the specifics of that one. I made a jump clone (yeah!) and grab an t1 amarr frigate. Threw a warp stab in the back and off I went. There was a brutix that hanging out at one gate. I didnt really pay much attention as I was spamming the warp then jump button. Part of my book market was (to Empire) or (to LSS). So when I am in a non cloaky t1 death trap I have less thought pattern and more... go go go.

Now I am mining ice, cause that thanatos sucks fuel down like it was the 70s all over again. (yes conversvation is at 5)

My high loading zone is a nice little spot. But it is double jump into empire. All the single jumps are a little too unsavory for me.

-Jason

And the idiot award goes to....

On behalf of all the idiots out there, I would like to accept this award. 

Decided to actually move the carrier yesterday. Grinding missions is just grinding me down. I need some ore. 

  As my last couple of posts lead you to believe I am clueless (shocker I know) on how capitals move. Well, that is not entirely true. I understand the basics. I guess it is more accurate to say I do not have personal knowledge of the mechanic. 

  Anyways, when I get up in the morning and finish the whole shower/dress thing I have 15 minutes before Eve logs for it's daily downtime. Great!  That should give me plenty of time. 

Log in, and move the scout and the cyno to position ( I kept them log in high sec for my peace of mind). 4 minutes left. Log into my main and shed the Domi I was in. 3 minutes. Pause training ( boy I could blog about that hassle) and jump! 

Error - it appears I already have a jump clone here. I made one a long time ago I never used. 

2 min 30 sec - ok. Dock at the other station.  Undock, warp, (soooo slow) redock. 48 seconds left. Well phoey. I log off all 3 in the right spots. 


Did you catch my mistake?   It's pretty obvious. 

I'll give some time. 


That's right. 


  So I am at work, doing the work thing. Going over the whole moving the carrier thing. Looking at it from different angles to make sure............

 Oh noes!!!!!!! In my rush to get pod from the station to the other, then seeing there wasn't enought slack time,I called it quits. WITHOUT TURNING MY TRAINING BACK ON!  Major DOH!

  So there went approx 10 hours of training. 

Hello, my name is Jason.  And I'm an idiot. 


Idiot update. 

This morning I go again. Now everyone is prepositioned, I get ready. 7 minutes left. And there sits a Sabre off my carrier stations bow. Now I am 101% positive that the sabre could not chew through my shields/armor.  But it wasn't the game plan. 

   Sabre finally got bored, and I jumped. ( yes I remembered to turn training back on) I click undock and pop the cyno. 

Error - you cyno requires fuels. 

    What?!??!  Remember when Kirith recommended to use a t1 frigate/cruiser.  Well I went out and bought one. Then moved all the stuff to the cruiser. Then chanced my mind and move " everything " back to the cyno ship. 

    So it's my mortal enemy's fault. He made recomendation knowing I would be an idiot and forget the fuel. 

End of the story : I ran back grab the fuel. Got back and the sabre was back floating around station. Bastard finally left at 2 minute mark.  Undock, lit cyno, and spam jump you bastard. 

  carrier is now in a few low density zone. So those people living in Aeschee - have a wonderful life. I have no plans to go back. 

-Jason
      
  

iPhone ; love/hate relationship

I love my iPhone

I hate my iPhone

  Emails come to me.  I can surf the web. I can check on the weather including a map. Capsuleer. Banking. Pictures. Camera.  Language translation. Watch full length movies. Listen to music/podcasts. And even maintain a blog can all be done from the iPhone. 

  But no flash player, so no listening/watching Alliance Tourney. And that is just wrong. 

It's all political, and we suffer for it. 
-Jason 

The great Boris

Between the garage sale, mom coming over, and Eve giving me a 6 hour mission - diddly got done. 

   I read SW:ToR comic, the best thing about that is listening to Darth Haters podcast to pick up the smallest details and expound upon them. 

   Good news for podcasting is alliance tourney. Of course I forgot to charge my phone last night so I cannot stream the video now.  But atleast there will be a 5 second talk on it. Wonder if Erin will watch some?  

I still love Boris Hotches' interpretation on the tourney.  Ships fly by, lasers fire, ships blow up.  He would have been great as an announcer. 

  does anyone know the rules of getting a jump clone in player controlled station ( in null sec?)

Have a great weekend
-Jason 
   

Advice on setting up Capsuleer

Well I was going to talk about never try to play on the computer when the wife decides to hold a garage sale. 

  But that got trumpt by my iPhone. 

I refresh my podcast selection and see Planet Risk and the Neutral Zone have put one out. Great!!!

  I go to sync my phone to iTunes and it hangs up. This causes another problem in that iTunes then will only preform a restore to the phone. No other option than say it's a new phone. So after the restore, life is good. 

 I remember last night my Command Center finished 4 last night and moved on to 5 ( I was able to sneak in a que update when the wifes head was turned ). This morning I go to refresh capsuleer, and my characters are gone. 

   Now anybody who has used Capsuleer knows getting your characters on is a pain. But the last time my phone was restored ( actually I think it was when I upgraded my phone), I created a contact on my phone. Inside that contact I created the website address with my API correctly placed. 

  What this boils down to is that, instead of getting worked up, I just opened up my Capsuleer contact and click on Acinom. A few seconds later she was back, and all the work didn't need to be repeated. 

Very handy idea I recommend to all capsuleers. 
 
  Did the same thing for iClone. 

-Jason 

While reviewing this thread, I notice this sounds like came up with this idea. I did not. It has been awhile, but I believe I got it from the Capsuleer website. I was just happy I got to use it the way I orginally planned on using it.

It's not paranoia, if they really are out to get me

You know what is worse then being a noob. 

  Being a paranoid noob.

  I got the 2 recon ships fitted and skilled to fly. I sent one approx. 200 km off the station where my carrier is. And the other one I found what looks like a quiet spot (this is eve. Quiet is relative) in my jump range. 

   Now the last ship I lost was when leaving my carrier. I saw a Moros and atleast 4 battleships. There is roughly 25 people in system. 

   And I have never done this cyno before. Personally I would rather not lose my carrier. 

    It is my understanding that if I get a point on me, I can't cyno jump. There fore I was fitting it with my low slots full of stabilizers. 

   What I am hoping for is (10 minutes before eve closes)

1)  have all 3 ships ready. Carrier, the station observer, and the cyno. 
2) fleet up
3) pop cyno
4) undock
5) I have no idea, but I am hoping to right click on the cyno guy and spam jump. 
6) pray it works

  What annoys me the most is my belief that CCP should atleast be able to tell me how to do this. It's annoying trying to work out the mechanics of how to jump in a pirate system. 

  next time remember : Buyer beware ( no wonder the guy put the carrier on the market)

-Jason 

Cheetos Podcast

Well, it ended up being a complete failure, and a great show.

I was worried that my friends lack of play time would show through, and it did. This meant that it left me doing most of the talking.

But the best thing, was that Erin helps me relax and laugh. So the podcasts becomes more vocal and less scripted.

Kirith was a bonus. And he gave me a second shot before I put it up. So that rocked.

Overall, I am happy with it. Though Podded reruns have nothing to fear from me ;)

-Jason

A question without answers.

Has anyone else ever wondered what could be done to level PvP and PvE?

I personally feel that Cryptic put the big Kybosh on City of Heroes when they tried to introduce PvP to a PvE game a year or so after launch.

As for Eve, it always seemed weird to me that a PvP ship fit would do so poorly fighting rats. Or a PvE ship with 80s to 90s resists would have a problem with someone popping by.

I did like the point brought up at the last FanFest about having rats target anyone and not just the mission runner. It would make it more dynamic for a pirate. But that is easy for me to say, since I dont want to become a pirate.


With this Expansion done and now on the fixing side. I wonder if they would take a look at this. I know everone is talking about Incarna, but that carrot has been dangling for a long time now. It is starting to get ripe.

It was either talk about this, or Baffle you with the BS about changing a Shield booster amp for a cap recharger.... exiciting stuff I know.

-Jason