Gnomesblight, Death Knight weaponsmith

I have some time outside of grouping with my Death Knight friend at the moment. I thought I'd try to get the weaponsmith quest out of the way, as it isn't the most exciting of endeavours to undertake when twenty or so levels above the requirement, as well as it being a task of gathering materials. It will also give me something to do that won't see me advance in levels and get ahead of my colleague in destruction.

With the notion that I would complete the weaponsmith quest clear in my mind I set out my goal clearly. Whilst flying down to Nessingwary's camp in Stranglethorn Vale, to pick up the missing pattern for one of the weapons that is available from a vendor there in limited quantities, I list all the weapons I need to make and the materials needed to craft them. Broken down completely, I come up with:

The list of materials is quite long but doesn't seem quite as imposing as all the mithril I remember Tiger gathering to become an armoursmith. There seem to be more cross-profession items needed, though, particularly the leather. Undaunted, I start hunting mineral deposits. As I am in Stranglethorn Vale, and as luck would have it manage to buy the missing pattern from the vendor, I may as well run around the area to mine a whole bunch of iron, gratefully accepting any mithril that comes my way too.

After a full circuit of the Vale I am a bit weary of mining and hope that I have at least enough materials that I can economically buy the rest from the auction house. First, I send some tin that I happen to have lying around to Sapphire, who prospects some lesser moonstones and shadowgems from them and sends the gems back to Gnomesblight. All that is left are a few gems and a couple of stacks of leather, of which the auction house has plenty at reasonable enough prices.

A quick trip to the blacksmithing supplier and I am hoping that my simple arithmetic isn't flawed. It would be a pain to have to go out gathering again, plus it would be awfully embarrassing to make a mistake on such simple maths. I smelt the metals I have collected, adding the coal to some of the iron to make steel, before opening my smithing interface. I am pleased to see that I can create the required quantities of each of the four weapons. I start hammering away at my metal bars to create four moonsteel broadswords, four massive iron axes, two heavy mithril axes and two big black maces.

Within a couple of minutes all the items are made. With that kind of speedy crafting they must be masterwork quality allowing me the title of weaponsmith. The dwarf weaponsmith agrees with me, surprisingly enough! A brief flash of light and I am now Gnomesblight, weaponsmith. And that's it. It's all a bit anticlimactic, particularly as I remember Tiger heading off to complete the quests for the Mithril Order and ending up with a trinket that conjured an epic mace for her.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is all a big scam, to be honest. I rush around gathering all this ore, create a bunch of relatively expensive weapons, and all I do is hand them to someone who in return simply tells me 'you are a weaponsmith'. I bet he headed straight to the auction house after I was out of sight. On top of everything, I now need a whole new heap of mithril just to increase my blacksmithing skills enough so that I can start to use thorium, which is only a stepping stone to fel iron and a vague opportunity to craft something useful for my character.

Why am I crafting again?

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Tags: blacksmithing, gnomesblight, mmorpg, professions, world of warcraft

A new Cormorant for more efficient salvaging

'Ah, Cadet Ibramovic. You're looking chipper today!' My Minmatar agent was happy to see me as always. Although her second sentence may have been only in my imagination it would have been rude not to comment.

'Thank you, I'm feeling pretty good. I have just bought and fitted a new ship specifically for salvaging.' After being reminded of the utility of separating mission running and clearing up the wrecks it seemed foolish not to spend a bit of ISK to recreate the successful set-up I had back when I was running missions in Caldari space.

'Oh, really', my agent says. 'Tell me all about it.' I find that if I don't mentally add these second sentences the conversation tends to stall.

'It will be my pleasure! I'll take a seat for this, it will probably be long-winded. I bought myself a Cormorant, because it has eight high slots that can be equipped with many tractor beams and salvagers for the quick collection and salvaging of the wrecks. I have a Cormorant back in Caldari space somewhere, which I didn't bring when I moved because it was a bit inconvenient at the time. I can't remember what the rest of the fittings are on my other salvaging vessel, but my time spent in New Eden is again showing me how I am picking up experience even when it isn't immediately obvious.

'I may not know the best set-up for a salvager, but I know that the salvager modules themselves are a considerable drain on the ship's capacitor, as is the micro-warp drive in one of the mid slots. I also don't know the full extent of the modules available on the market, but my experience has shown me that if I have a need for a certain type of module there is a good chance that it exists, I just have to find it.

'The single low slot of the Cormorant was easy to fill, selecting a expanded cargohold, allowing for more intact equipment to be looted from wrecks before my hold becomes full. That leaves some mid slots to fill. I don't need any offensive or, hopefully, defensive capabilities on a ship that should be picking through empty hulls long after the battle is over, so I can focus on the salvaging capabilities. With the drain on the capacitor from the salvaging modules I could use some optimisation of the ship's capacitor.

'My direct experience is knowing that there are ways to boost the capacitor directly or to decrease its recharge rate, which I have gained from either looting modules from wrecks or having fitted a similar set-up in the past. I think a passive set-up would be preferable, so I start looking at the market for cap rechargers. I know that there are low slot fittings that would help, but the single low slot on my ship is used. I need mid slot fittings. This is where I draw on my experience of the market.

'I know the type of fitting I am looking for, so it is simply a matter of looking through all the options available to find a mid slot fitting that decreases the recharge rate of a ship's capacitor, and it is only a short time before I have found the exact unit. I buy three to fill up the mid slots and my cap recharge rate drops significantly, hopefully allowing for continuous use of the tractor beams and salvager modules, with some MWD use in-between.

'On top of that, my training experience means that I don't have to worry about CPU or power plant drain when fitting all of these modules. I have gained enough skills in the time since last fitting a Cormorant that I know how to equip all the modules without draining all of the ship's power.' It can be difficult to see direct progress in EVE Online because of the long duration of training and the slight incremental gains at each level of skill training, but it is times like this where it is useful to reflect on the positive changes that have occurred.

I can tell my agent is enthralled with my wondrous tale of buying and fitting a new ship. She is leant back in her chair savouring every word, eyes closed to avoid distractions of the physical world as I weave my tale. 'And that's why I'm so chipper! I can fit my Kestrel, Chewy Centre, to be a purely combat vessel and clean the battlefield afterwards with the Cormorant Life Imitates Art.'

My agent stirs, 'So are you saying, in a long-winded way, that you'd like some work? Good, because I have just the job for you.' It's terribly exciting, getting ready for battle and looking forwards to taking Life Imitates Art out in to space to rip systems out of wrecked ships. I am on the edge of my seat as my agent pulls the mission file out, wondering how many enemies I'll be asked to engage and destroy, how many wrecks I'll be able to salvage from!

'Here we are, 'Save the Trees'. I need you to deliver some seeds to another system. It needs to be done quickly, are you up for the task?' Oh, sure, a courier mission is just what I was after. In fact, I hope this is a three-part courier mission so that my hour of preparation and millions of ISK feels well-spent.

Maybe my agent wasn't listening when I told her about my new salvaging ship after all.

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Tags: cormorant, eve online, kestrel, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Mining 300 on my Death Knight

My initial plan for Gnomesblight, my Death Knight, was to level up my mining and blacksmithing concurrently, and hopefully take advantage of running through the low-level areas to gain some faction reputation and cookery ingredients. The idea was that if I didn't do this initially it would be frustrating to level through the Outlands without being able to mine any ore there, as well as more tedious to have to revisit all the areas at some point in the future in order to be able to craft anything of any use.

Unfortunately, mining ore increases skill more quickly than that recovered ore will advance the crafting profession, which means that either more ore needs to be mined than is necessary to advance only the gathering profession or the crafting profession is left behind at some point. Mining in low-level areas also doesn't require much in the way of protecting yourself from wandering mobs, which could provide at least some cooking meats, so it is easy to bypass cookery too.

There is also the decision as to what my blacksmithing specialisation will be. For Tiger, my previous blacksmith, I chose her to be an armoursmith. This choice reflected her desire to be a tank, thinking that armour would be more important than weapons for that role. I'm not sure quite how much armour she made that she wore over high-level instance loot, but it seemed like a rational decision at the time. For Gnomesblight I chose weaponsmith, if only to be different. I know that weapons take more materials than armour to create, in the sense of types of materials, often requiring items from other gathering professions, but I didn't quite fancy gathering a few hundred bars of mithril again for the armoursmith quest.

The weaponsmith quest is, perhaps unsurprisingly, just as involved as for the armoursmith. I don't think as many pieces need to be crafted but those that do require about as much gathering and cost, as well as requiring iron and mithril combined. As my mining skills no longer find extracting iron to be any sort of challenge completing the weaponsmith quest will require time to advance my blacksmithing that has no effect on my mining, a significant time contribution at that.

My desire to get mining high enough to mine in the Outlands was two-pronged. First, so that I could mine the ore I find when levelling Gnomesblight, rather than leaving it behind and having to return later only to mine, which seemed a waste of time in itself. Second, so that Sapphire's jewelcrafting skill could be improved. Sapphire is a jewelcrafter and enchanter, so has no way to gather ore herself and is not affluent enough to buy the ore she needs from the auction house. Having a second character send her ore is the most effective way I have of improving her professions.

Up until the dash to 70, prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich Kind, Knifey was her miner, also being my main character on the server. Then Sapphire overtook him and is now sitting ready in Northrend, but with her professions lingering below the level required to train to the highest level. To increase her skill she needs more ore, but it seems that Knifey likes the environment of Zangarmarsh and is unlikely to move from there any time soon. Gnomesblight will take on the mantle of mining for Sapphire.

With plenty of ore required to raise Sapphire's jewelcrafting profession skill, and hence enchanting, it makes more sense to concentrate on that first. Now my plan is to get Gnomesblight able to mine in the Outlands and gather as much ore as possible to send to Sapphire, which I achieved last night when hitting the 300 skill level in mining. Once Sapphire can train in Northrend I'll feel more comfortable to send her questing there, as well as getting Gnomesblight caught up in her own professions. It is still going to be a long path and my main concern is that my guild will not race past me in Northrend or levelling with me content to take my time and enjoy the Death Knight class and the scenery of the new continent.

I have a companion Death Knight with me, also in the guild, which is helping both to enjoy the class as well as the Outlands content again. To be honest, I really quite like Outlands still, even if there is so much more awaiting me in Northrend. I'll get there soon, but I don't feel any great desire to rush there lest I also rush past it. With the speed boost given to levelling in Outlands it also means that I can send Gnomesblight in a different direction to Sapphire. Whereas Sapphire headed south from Zangarmarsh to Terrokar Forest and Nagrand quite early, Gnomesblight can head north to Blade's Edge Mountains and beyond. I get to experience all the content, merely split over two characters.

The only problem will be in levelling cooking and blacksmithing at some point, but I don't see that spoiling my current enjoyment at all. It's all working out quite well right now.

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Tags: blacksmithing, death knight, gnomesblight, knifey, mining, mmorpg, outlands, professions, sapphire, world of warcraft

Some quick missions, minus one ship

My new plan to run missions quickly to gain faction standing more efficiently, ignoring bounties, loot and salvage, starts off well. I pop in to New Eden and pick up my first mission of the evening from my agent, the Repair Station. There isn't a better mission for my new work ethic. I leave dock and warp to deadspace where I find the repair station sitting unguarded in space. I target and destroy the auxiliary power generators first, leaving the station alone, as these generators help the repair station regenerate more quickly if they are intact. I leave the station alone because the first hit on it causes pirates and gun placements to appear to protect the station, as well as the station launching waves of repair drones to repair itself and anything else allied to it that has been damaged.

My tactic works as expected. Without the auxiliary generators the repair station is much easier to destroy, and no ships appear until I start attacking the station itself. With the speed I destroy the repair station the pirates and mercenaries are only just coming in to range, but despite the promise of bounties, loot and salvage that await should I engage them the mission completion is triggered solely on the repair station's destruction. I warp back to the agent's station before a single target locks on to me, leaving them to sift through the debris of the repair station. One mission completed in about five minutes and I'm ready to pick up the next.

The next couple of missions involve actively engaging hostile forces in order either to complete the mission directly or to unlock acceleration gates in the deadspace complexes. With the enemy ships being destroyed and leaving wrecks tantalisingly close to my ship the temptation gets too strong and I end up locking on to and salvaging from a few wrecks whilst finishing off the destruction of the rest of the ships in the area. Of course, by the time I am a few battles in to the evening's piloting I am telling myself that it won't take long just to grab the last two wrecks and that I would be foolish not to see if there are any of the lucrative armour plates or melted capacitor consoles to be salvaged. My efficient mission running has dropped a notch, but I'm still running fast through the missions.

By the time my agent asks me to deal with a Pirate Intrusion I am almost grabbing each wreck as my missiles blow up the ships, justifying the tactic as being even more efficient because I am completing missions just as quickly yet also getting loot and salvage, as long as I balance my locked targets between active threats and wrecks. It's not such a bad plan, really, but I must amend a previous assertion I made. I pointed out that flying level one missions in EVE Online, with a few million more skill points in my head than when I started, is as much of a challenge and threat as running my World of Warcraft Death Knight, Gnomesblight, through the Deadmines.

I think it it more apt to state that running level one missions at the moment is as challenging as running Gnomesblight through Uldaman: it's straightforward and unchallenging if I am paying attention. I feel I need to make this adjustment because of two events that occurred. The first was when Gnomesblight bit off a bit more than she could chew and was overwhelmed by irritating troggs in Uldaman and killed. This was mostly down to not paying enough attention, caused by being overconfident in my invulnerability against lesser foes. Having played with 70th level characters for a while it can be easy to forget that I am only on a 60th level character and that those ten levels can make a significant difference. It is easier to forget when confronting mobs that are still conning grey by a couple of decades, but there don't need to be quite so many for them to become overwhelming when only 60th level compared to being 70th level.

In much the same way, my overconfidence at surviving level one missions in EVE Online ended up causing the loss of my Crucifier frigate. It happened quite quickly and whilst I was trying to salvage. I broke off the salvage attempt and tried to recover my position but I couldn't even warp out in time. It was my pod that eventually got away. I would point out that I was flying uninsured as well, but it was only a frigate and the default payout covered the basic cost, but not the modules and insurance, for its replacement. I even bought and fitted a new ship quickly enough to recover a few modules and salvage from the Crucifier, as well as completing the mission to get the bonus reward.

My overconfidence was tested because of various reasons. I am still not entirely experienced enough to run an armour tank, being used to shield tanks instead, and could probably use more skill training in that area as well. I was also being cocky in trying to salvage whilst under fire from two or three ships at once, rather than keeping my speed up both to mitigate some of the damage and to maintain a suitable distance to negate some weapons fire entirely. I essentially made myself a huge sitting duck and was penalised for my arrogance. It is good to be reminded occasionally of one's vulnerability, though.

I don't replace the Crucifier with another frigate of the same type. To help complete the mission quickly and to feel more comfortable I buy and fit a Kestrel, a Caldari frigate. To be honest, it is perhaps a mystery why I bought myself the Amarr Crucifier when I had moved to Minmatar space, but that was simply because I wasn't paying enough attention in the first place. The Kestrel is much more familiar, being a missile boat with a strong shield that I augment with some extra modules. It doesn't take long to fit the Kestrel and I am soon back in deadspace wiping out the last of the pirates and scooping up the remains of my Crucifier. It is my final mission of the evening as well.

It is a good session that has seen me complete about twice as many missions as I would have normally, had I been salvaging everything, although I probably could have fitted another mission in had I not lost a ship. It is all good, though, leaving me with an even more renewed interesting in continue my adventures as well as giving me aspirations for skill training and experience gains. Onwards and upwards!

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Tags: crucifier, deadspace, eve online, gnomesblight, kestrel, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, uldaman, world of warcraft

Cost versus benefit in PvE mission running

I jumped back in to a pod to blow up more spaceships in EVE Online. I knew I wanted to and that I would have a good time, but another factor that became apparent after a little more thought influenced my decision. Having joined a corporation in a different faction's space than my own I had to abandon my good quality level three agents for mission running to start again with poor quality level one agents. This isn't terrible, because I still get to blow up lots of spaceships and as my skills are suitably more advanced the level one missions have become feasts of explosions, but it is still a demotion. The ships I am fighting can often be destroyed with a single missile, I am limited to flying frigate-class ships, and the mission rewards and bounty payments are pitiful compared to what I was getting.

To be fair, destroyers are frigate-class ships and any one of those available could make me even more potent an adversary in deadspace, but I don't think there are any destroyers that employ missile bays extensively, which is where my limited expertise lies. This is one area that I am hoping to expand upon once my learning skills are complete, moving in to training how to use cannons more effectively. Even so, running level one missions is straightforward and not much more of a challenge than running my Death Knight through the Deadmines. PvP operations are more interesting but also more time-consuming. I realised my balance in New Eden was compromised in that I either had to dedicate a lot of time or accept a lack of challenge.

When I bought my new Drake and headed out on a level three mission with my corporation they were running the missions to increase their security standing, offsetting the losses incurred from their PvP operations. The mission ops were interesting, in that the missions were accepted, ships were blown up, and missions were handed in, to be repeated as quickly as possible. 'As quickly as possible' meant that the wrecks were left floating in space without being scavenged or salvaged. I was encouraged to take what I could in the time it took to hand in the mission and pick up a new one. Still languishing with my level one agent it occurred to me that this is the approach I should be taking currently.

There is no doubt that salvaging has been my primary income for most of my time as a capsuleer. The big level three missions offer high rewards and higher bounties, but even then the number of salvaged modules pulled from the many wrecks could end up netting me even more ISK from the market than the rewards received. There is also no doubt that salvaging earns me far more money when running level one missions, by at least an order of magnitude per mission. However, the amount of time it takes to clear a deadspace mission area of wrecks also takes a great deal longer than the time it takes to create the wrecks in the first place. When I was struggling to make money when I first started in New Eden this time-reward ratio was a worthwhile venture, enabling me to buy better equipment, more suitable ships and not to worry should my own ship get destroyed, as well as paying for expensive skill training books.

Now that I am back to level one agents my aim is, or at least should be, to raise my standings with the new faction quickly so that I can get back to the more worthwhile mission running. To achieve this I am going to learn once more from my corporation and leave the loot behind. It is not that I couldn't use the money, as it will come in handy in the future if nothing else, it is more that there is no point in being able to afford a battleship if I am still running missions that won't allow cruisers through the acceleration gates. My primary focus should be gaining faction standing and I can best achieve that through faster mission running, which means leaving possibly lucrative salvage behind.

I head in to New Eden with my new plan of more efficient mission running and find that the first mission fits quite nicely with this plan, in that it is a simple courier task. Whilst I am warping my way to the pick-up system I am invited to join a corporation member on level four mission, after I mention that I am only on for a short while to blast through some missions. The level four mission will probably gain me much more in the way of standings and money than the few level one missions that I could run in the same time, so I head off to swap my frigate for the Drake battlecruiser and get ready for some heavy fire. After getting two systems confused again I finally find my Drake, Lightness of Being, in the station where I left it and make sure all the systems are on-line and suitable for the mission, before undocking and making the jump to the destination system.

With my far more capable corporation colleague piloting an armour tank and designating targets my heavy missiles and his drones make light work of most of the cruisers and battleships in the deadspace region. Even when a new wave warps in and starts picking on me the shields on my passive tanking Drake are coping without a problem. My colleague suggests aligning to a station ready to warp out just in case, but not normally using the 'align to' button I instead accidentally warp to the station immediately. This isn't a problem, as the aggro switches back to him and my shields get to recharge even more whilst I'm gone. The only issue is that I abandon my drones by warping out unexpectedly, so I have to fly out to retrieve them.

Getting closer to the enemies draws more fire and there are some really neat explosions going on! I check my combat log and find out that the huge, ring-like explosions are caused by torpedoes. They look really cool, even if they happen to be bouncing off my shields at the time, and it makes me want to learn how to use them in anger. My colleague mentions that they are generally ineffective without a target painter, which I counter by saying 'but look at the explosions!' As luck would have it, our own bombardment of the enemy doesn't destroy all their systems and I am able to pluck some siege launchers and torpedo ammuntion from the burning wrecks once the battle is over, perhaps giving me a cheap opportunity to give them a trial.

I hop in to EVE Online to blast through some quick level one missions and end up getting involved in a huge scrap and seeing even more cool explosions than before, picking up over five million ISK in rewards and bounties as well. I definitely want to be doing this more often.

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Tags: deadspace, drake, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, salvage

More Death Knight mining

After motivating myself to spend some more time as a space cadet I disappointed myself a little when I procrastinated slightly before ending up loading World of Warcraft. It just seems like I have so much to achieve in World of Warcraft at the moment. I would like to take my warrior Sapphire out to Northrend but I know that if I did that too soon her professions would falter, as Knifey was the ore gatherer that fed her the raw materials. Knifey has been left behind now and is probably going to be replaced by Gnomesblight, my Death Knight, who is a miner and blacksmith. Having a gatherer and crafter on separate characters pretty much requires both characters to be almost equal in levels, otherwise the crafter will either lack materials or the gatherer will have to revisit areas solely for gathering. With Gnomesblight starting at 55th level and mining from zero skill there is quite a journey for her to go before being able to pass on suitable materials to Sapphire.

Essentially, I need to get to the point where Gnomesblight can mine fel iron and adamantite for Sapphire, which requires both some levelling and a lot of mining. I try to avoid words like 'work' when describing my gaming as it can easily give the wrong impression, but starting a gathering profession on a high-level character can certainly seem like a chore. In a game where progression is nominally expressed through character level, with perhaps a secondary measure being equipment level, having to run through all of the low-level zones gathering ore secures no feeling of measurable character progression. My mining and blacksmithing skills are progressing, certainly, but nothing I am making will be of any use to me and I am neither gaining experience nor better equipment in the process. Trying to combine my gathering with low-level quests is at least garnering some reputation gains, which again isn't real progression but it can give a sense of some.

At the same time, gathering the ore is not difficult at all. I am in no direct danger at any point, regardless of the mobs I aggro or my inexperience with the class, simply because of the disparity in levels. I have cleared the Deadmines, inside the instance and out, of all its ore several times without needing to slow down from running pace. But, again, I want a challenge at least some of the time. This is why I suggest to a fellow Death Knight that we head out to Hellfire Peninsula to gain a quick level and wreak havoc proper. It is my second visit to the demonic red landscape and have my hearthstone set to Shattrath City already. Running through the familiar quests is an entertaining diversion to mining, even if I have to leave several mineral nodes alone being unable to mine them at my skill level, and again I am having a splendid time as a Death Knight taking on mobs two or three levels above me without giving it a second thought.

My companion dings 59th level quite quickly and we plow on through some more quests, even getting a random world drop of a cloak that is better than our standard equipment. I finish the excursion half-way through 59th level and am happy with how I am getting to grips with my abilities and powers. We ride to Shattrath City as a pair, getting knocked off our mounts by pesky mobs twice only to cut them down efficiently and continue on our way. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time in Outlands soon, as one small progression I have made is moving my blacksmithing skills past needing copper and brass and on to iron, so I don't need to mine any more copper or tin. Soon mithril, then thorium. I am making progress, it is just in small steps at the moment and I am setting myself targets that help me realise my progress. Exploring the world and taking time to make more tangible progress also means I am having fun in the process.

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Tags: blacksmithing, death knight, gnomesblight, knifey, mining, mmorpg, outlands, professions, sapphire, world of warcraft

The state of play

I joined a corporation fleet and headed in to low-sec again, roaming for viable targets. My skills at flying safely through low-sec are improving even more as I gain more experience heading from gate to gate, scanning from afar to ensure there are no serious threats waiting for us, and keeping on the move as much as possible. But even though I have spent many hours in low-sec in a fleet my small ships have yet to be used in anger.

There have certainly been a few moments of excitement, needing to warp out of areas with haste before more powerful ships turn up from the other side of a gate, or before they can con us and get a lock, and it is definitely interesting to be navigating low-sec space in a fleet. Not entering battle has also probably saved me a few ships, and perhaps a clone or two, but I know the risks as much as I understand that EVE Online is about not picking a fight unless you are sure you can win. It is still disappointing to have spent so much time without seeing a single PvP combat. And the longer I spend without encountering PvP the more shy I become about the time it will happen.

When I consider what I would like to do with my evening, spending a few hours in safe spots whilst gingerly jumping to an active low-sec system doesn't grab my attention. It would be different if there was a high chance of a PvP engagement, but even then I have the problem of becoming too nervous about finally engaging an opponent because of the wait having been too long. Instead I am much more likely to enter World of Warcraft. With Wrath of the Lich King released there is a whole new continent to explore and a new class of character to develop, both of which I am slowly but surely playing my way through and enjoying, and both of which allow for a quick entry in to the content I am there to play.

I could get a similar experience with PvE mission running in EVE Online. Whilst mission running is nowhere near as glamorous as the PvP side of the game it only takes a couple of clicks to get involved in some assured action. But being half-way across the galaxy from my roots makes it difficult to find suitable agents to work with, particularly when I am trying to stay close to my corporation's base of operations. It also doesn't help that the Minmatar faction apparently didn't much like that I am Caldari when I first turned up. Running level one missions is not a terrible position to be in, but not being able to move up in agent quality easily is making it more of a chore than it was when I first started, and I know I am capable of running the much more challenging level three missions.

At the moment, World of Warcraft is easy, EVE Online is difficult. World of Warcraft is comfortable, EVE Online is harsh. This should come as no surprise, as they are probably top-level bullet points on the design requirements for each game, but with my time being limited and a need to split my attention between the two games I find that I more often than not head to World of Warcraft. I realise that I am letting my EVE Online corporation down a little and I also realise, in writing the above, what fun it can be to play EVE Online, despite its demands.

I think I am getting too comfortable in World of Warcraft, having adventured for quite a while without much of a real challenge or threat. It would be beneficial for me to arrange or involve myself in an environment that offers opportunity for learning and adaptation, to push myself in to performing at my peak. I don't need to be pushed constantly, as sometimes it is good to relax and enjoy the scenery, but I certainly should be looking for a challenge that requires more attention than being able to rely on auto-attacks.

On reflection, I now feel a little motivated. It is perhaps time to shake things up a bit, to get back to EVE Online in some capacity on a regular basis and involve myself in the corporation as much as I can, with the understanding that I will only commit to what I can reasonably offer. I can only hope it will be enough. As for World of Warcraft, I will simply have to trust that I can keep pace with my friends as they all explore the new content and gain levels and, if needs be, choose which characters to focus on and accept that I cannot currently do everything at once.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, world of warcraft

Mining in Westfall with a Death Knight

My Death Knight, Gnomesblight, has been running around Westfall recently, and she's not the only one. Despite being granted rank 270 in all skills a Death Knight starts with, including weapon skills and first aid, this does not include any professions you choose once free from the Lich King's thrall. With both my mining and blacksmithing starting at zero I have to run around the low-level areas to increase my professional skills, bumping in to other Death Knights also looking for copper veins.

It is not a terrible situation, though. The completely new mechanics of the Death Knight's runes and rune power, coupled with being presented with a dozen or so new powers and abilities in quick succession, has made it difficult for a casual player like myself to get comfortable with how everything fits together. Running through zones where I am in no danger from the mobs has allowed me to experiment with various powers and find out how they combine effectively. I could go through a similar process at the target dummies in a city, but at least I am increasing my profession skills when I go out in to the field.

Going through the low-level areas also gives me the opportunity to run some easy quests whilst hunting for ore, and gathering cookery ingredients, boosting my reputation as I do so. Perhaps old-world reputation is becoming increasingly insignificant, though. One aspect of the Death Knight that is welcomed is the knowledge of the flight points in Azeroth. I don't know whether the flight points known are accumulated from another character or whether you are given them all for free but it certainly cuts down on a lot of unnecessary travel time.

In-between ravaging the Deadmines for its ore I decide to try my powers in earnest and to gain a quick level or two on Gnomesblight to see what new or upgraded powers I can get, so I head to the Blasted Lands to venture through the Dark Portal. On the other side I am flown to Honour Hold where I run around picking up the now-familiar quests. Despite only being 58th level, much as Sapphire was when I first brought her to Outlands, I was mowing down the orcs and demons found in the peninsula quite easily. I don't want to spend too much time in Outlands and get carried away as I cannot mine the exotic ores found here. I will only have to revisit all these areas once I raise my mining skill to be high enough and I would prefer having to avoid the separation of levelling and professions as much as possible.

It is a bit too easy to forget about the level disparity after playing high-level characters for a while and I often take on a 61st level mob without realising that it is in fact three levels higher than me, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Indeed, at one point, when setting the bolt throwers ablaze ovelooking the Path of Glory, I accidentally aggro three orcs, one of whom brings his wolf to the combat. I strike them down with ruthless efficiency. Four mobs at once, all higher level than I am, when I am still familiarising myself with the abilities. Death Knights are pretty powerful.

Whilst in the area and noticing a few more Death Knights around I do a quick /who hellfire peninsula and notice that about ninety percent of the players in the area are all new Death Knights levelling up. I suppose most people are in Northrend instead of levelling alts, with the exception of the Death Knights. But it isn't always easy to spot a Death Knight once they start levelling in earnest, at least not out of combat. Even though all Death Knights effectively start with the same imposing equipment—the Lich King offering the best perqs for his elite troops—the gear is soon replaced by better quality loot from the Outlands, and this loot is the same generic choice offered to every other class.

Fairly soon, apart from the glowing eyes, a Death Knight looks as innocuous as any other adventurer, with clashing armour colours and nondescript weapons. It seems to make a mockery of this powerful class, particularly with the coordinated and vicious-looking equipment they gain early on, but on reflection it makes sense from the point-of-view of the character. Armed by the Lich King and his powerful allies the Death Knight is loosed upon the land to wreak havoc, but memories of their past break the Death Knight free from Arthas's hold and they have to rebuild their life after being redeemed in the eyes of their new faction. Death Knights may have powerful abilities and access to resources no other adventurers have but they have to work to prove themselves with each faction as much as anyone else, showing their worth and accepting what rewards they can.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: death knight, gnomesblight, mining, mmorpg, outlands, professions, world of warcraft

Another equipment fault

After trying to get this current piece of equipment through the first part of its qualification test and failing several times it finally seems like I am going to guide it through the test successfully. The fault was recently diagnosed as a design issue, resolved with an internal tweak and has passed vibration testing in the axis where it repeatedly failed. However, with about five-sixths of the vibration testing complete and the electronics still working I find I am having trouble getting the control system to pass its self-check loop test prior to the next stage of testing.

I try cajoling the control system in to seeing more signal at the accelerometers but it is all in vain and I have to seek a senior colleague for assistance. With a bit of investigation with a 'scope we find that there is an immense amount of noise on the control lines, caused by the amplifier itself. A module probably developed a fault during the previous run and was masked by the higher magnitude of the signal during the run, but it cannot be masked from the more sensitive loop test. No more testing until this fault is fixed.

It seems that the finger of death continues to afflict me.

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Tags: vibration

Friday film night

It was an animation spectacular for the Friday Film Night this time, with Kung Fu Panda and Futurama's third special Bender's Game lined up for viewing.

First to be watched was Dreamworks Animation's Kung Fu Panda, which I saw at the cinema earlier this year. I have been getting in to the habit of delaying DVD purchases until the price has dropped instead of buying them full price on release, realising that waiting a few months to watch a film is far from being any kind of hardship. But after chatting to a friend and being reminded about how fantastic a film Kung Fu Panda is I found that I simply didn't want to wait to experience it again and ended up ordering a copy before release.

Watching Kung Fu Panda again I wasn't disappointed in the least. There are some films that amaze and thrill in a cinema being watched for the first time but lack the depth and imagination necessary to recapture the experience on repeated viewings but this is not one of those films. There is not much I can add beyond my previous review of Kung Fu Panda. This is a glorious film about destiny and belief, hidden beneath the veneer of a children's animation. Don't let the fact that it is an animated film with furry creatures sway you from seeing the film, it could quite easily be a live-action martial arts adventure in the same style as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero. Kung Fu Panda is respectful to the sources of its underlying genre and most of the action has movements and actions as precisely coordinated and practiced as any mystical martial arts film. This is my film of the year by a long margin.

The second film watched was Bender's Game, the third feature-length Futurama animation. Like the two that preceded it, Bender's Game features the whole cast from Futurama on a new adventure and introduces a new character or two. The theme of this episode is Dungeons and Dragons, where Bender tries to join in with a game but is told he lacks imagination. When he develops his imaginative circuits the situation goes somewhat awry and eventually ties in with the other members of the Planet Express crew, who are concerned about escalating fuel costs. Even though a few of the jokes are obvious, forced, or telegraphed, much like the previous two Futurama features, there is plenty to keep fans entertained. Maybe it was because I was so tired, but the episode seemed to be over-long and extended beyond what I thought was going to be a conclusion. Considering it is only ninety minutes in length I will put this feeling down to my lack of sleep.

As is typical for a Friday Film Night a take-away curry was ordered. Even though I had rectified my lack of plates for a previous evening I still hadn't bought any more cutlery. Luckily, the number of people who could attend dwindled enough to prevent my flat from getting too cosy and also ensured that I had enough cutlery for everyone's curry. Despite this, I did not have enough trays for everyone on which to balance their plentiful plates. Not a problem, I thought, my guests can have the trays and I'll grab a thick magazine to help me, but a magazine didn't quite seem sturdy enough to protect me from the threat of curry spillage. In an ostentatious moment I picked up the broken Apple Powerbook I had lying around and used that as my dinner tray instead. It may have been only a take-away curry but I was still eating in style.

Posted in Video | 2 Comments »
Tags: bender's game, curry, dvd, film night, futurama, kung fu panda