A while back I was going freaky nuts over a few mashup albums that had totally blown my mind and I couldn’t stop playing them. Lately thats all changed. The more I listen to Mesmerize and Hypnotize from System of a Down, the more I absolutely love them. Absolute brilliant combination of melody and head bashing heavy guitars with an absolutely breath taking drum line kicking hard and fast in every track.

It leaves you out of breath just listening to them. Who needs a work out with this kind of pace in the music? ;-)

I listened to a few samples of the X&Y album from Coldplay. Sounds good. Well, what I could get of it in 30 second sound bites. Shame they’ve let their record company totally destroy every chance they had of me buying that and any future albums from them. They’d have to change lables for that to happen again.

Why is it that some artists get it, and others are just so completely ignorant? Why is it that some politicians actually understand their constituents and others tell their constituents what they want. Guess its much the same question. Some people are just grounded, others are so full of their own importance they don’t stop to notice that its all in their mind. Wouldn’t you agree Mr Maharey?

I’m on to a whole new addiction lately. I can’t stand Bunderberg rum, but their Ginger Beer has always been good. Not quite like mum used to make it when we were kids, but still nice. However, I’ve really acquired a taste for their Lemon Lime and Bitters of late. To the point where I’m sitting here surrounded by a whole lot of empty bottles and only have 1 and a bit full ones left. The sharp taste is just delicious. Leaves a real kick in your mouth. If you don’t like bitter flavours, its not really for you. This isn’t bitter as in a beer or ale. This is much sharper. Simply put, if you can handle sucking on a green lemon (not necessarily like) you could probably really enjoy Lemon Lime and Bitters. ;-)

I guess people want to know what I’ve been up to lately? I had my uncle on the phone earlier asking pretty much the same thing. Truth of the matter is, bugger all. :-P At least, nothing to write home about.

Damn. Down to one last bottle of Lemon Lime and Bitters. :-( Means I have to leave the batcave. Probably a good thing though. I’ve been drinking significant amounts of the stuff lately.

Am supposed to be going out this evening with Ian and Emma. Should be good fun. Something other than playing World of Warcraft and Guild Wars.

Speaking of Guild Wars, the Factions beta weekend is really intense. Very different. You can see that Arenanet are very much pushing people towards the arena play. There are a bunch of new types of arenas and they’re all a bit different. I actually like some of what they’re doing with it. They haven’t opened up anything of Factions except the Battle Isles. Battle Isles are all about PvP and the arenas. Even the 2 missions I’ve seen so far have been about winning different styles or numbers of PvP arena matches.

Just as a quick aside… Hows this for profound. ;-)

“We pay so much attention to our mind that we’re losing touch with our true vision, our instinct,” he says. “Ever since the day we were separated from the Earth, as a culture, as a religion, we’ve become very left-brained, very logical. We’ve lost something.”

Serj Tankian – System of a Down

Anyway, back to Guild Wars:Factions. ;-)

There is a lot of grumbling from a lot of people that have been playing GW for a while about the beta preview weekend. Primarily because they think its just more of the same with 2 new classes. Sorry to disappoint folks, but if you spent any time in the arenas you’d notice the differences immediately. More than that, remember that the beta weekend is only previewing the Battle Isles. None of the rest of the content has been made available. This is purely and simply to check out the new Battle Isles arenas. None of the Faction vs Faction stuff is present, none of the new PvE content is present. Its just the Battle Isles.

That said, those that do notice the difference are likely to be those most enjoying the factions expansion. Factions is very much about PvP content and the new continent is swayed much towards that goal. There will be a lot of PvE content, but if you’re not in to PvP you’ll probably feel a little let down.

I’m not in a guild anymore. And the guild I have been considering joining is all about PvE. As a result, I the new Faction vs Faction content will not be available to me when it is finally made whole. That doesn’t bother me too much just yet. Its not due till Spring in the US. Autumn in NZ. By that point, I might have found a new active guild ;-)

Still, having said all that, the team arenas and the random arenas are still a lot of fun for me. :-) I’ve gotten to the point where I spend a lot of time there. ;-) Mostly because its getting damn hard to find a group to do normal missions with. Still, thats partly to do with timing on my part. I’ve found myself playing mostly when the US players are sleeping. Severely reduces the number of people I can play the game with. :-( Might help if I joined a Guild that was interested in doing the missions I guess. Maybe I should join that PvE guild after all ;-)

On top of Guild Wars, I’ve been playing a lot of WoW again. Theres a number of reasons for this. Firstly I hate the fact that my char got to only the mid 40s before I dumped him. I could have at least gone to level 60. ;-)

One thing I’ve really not liked about playing WoW again is the random ganking. Sorry, but theres only so much a guy can take. WoW plays like a pig on my machine. Slow and wallowing in mud. Annoys the crap out of me. Worse yet, the ping times lately have gone completely pear shaped. The server is full now. Right down to even encountering login queues sometimes. And having been away from the game for so long, there are plenty of 60s on there now that take great pleasure in beating on a lagged out druid. Some days it feels like I’m playing the game with a bullseye painted on my char. Nick loves this style of PvP. Being able to attack anyone almost anywhere for whatever reason you feel like. Personally I prefer PvP only when I want to play it.

Still, I started playing on that server so I could play the game with Nick given that its really about the only interaction we have now that he and Kylea are living in Brisbane. As much as I get annoyed by the game and frustrated, I will probably end up sticking with that server until my Druid is 60. Then will go make me a tank and deal some damage back to the fuckers that have taken pleasure in ganking me (and everyone else).

I really need to spend more time in duels.

The Arenas on Guild Wars are much more my style. You have a rounded team and you lay a smackdown on the opposition. Hold positions, annihilate the opposition, beat them snotless more times than they kill you… All available in GW and starting to show itself in the WoW battle grounds. But I much prefer the GW implementation.

Sometimes I think there is a rivalry between Arenanet and Blizzard. I know that a good chunk of the original Arenanet developers that built GW used to work at Blizzard on Diablo. Seems to me that the competitions between the two in regards to Arenas/BattleGrounds is really starting to heat up. With Guild Wars: Factions, Arenanet is starting to draw a massive line in the sand for Blizzard to cross. New PvE content (as you’d expect from an MMORPG) and a significantly new style of PvP. Faction vs Faction is going to be absolutely grand in its scale. You’re not just fighting for an arena now, you’re fighting for a whole damn continent. Your goal is to take and hold control of cities and resources and eventually control the continent. Its the kind of thing that could take forever to happen. It could possibly never happen. Or it might happen very quickly if everyone sides with the same Faction somehow.

Have I ever actually described how it works? Don’t quote me on this as being gospel because this is only what I’ve pieced together from bits and pieces I’ve read around the way. Much of it in interviews or from Arenanet themselves.

In Factions, there are 3 new races of people. 2 of which are very much at war with each other and the 3rd that is pretty much neutral. Now the 2 that are at war are each side of the Factions fight. Each guild in the game sides with a faction and from then on, they’re competing to control and dominate resources and hold the towns of an area. The winner of each battle moves the front forward in their favour.

Rumor has it, that the faction that controls an area will gather taxes from an area. But that was said of the original GW release and it didn’t eventuate so I’m not holding my breath expecting it to happen. However, the original GW release didn’t have anything like what Factions has. In fact, much of what I’ve seen and read suggests that Factions is going to have a lot of what people were hoping of the original release. Truth or not, I can’t say. Its purely speculation until the game is released. However, it would be absolutely fantastic if it did. :-)

I’m really looking forward to some of the new arenas that have been promise. Arenanet has spoken of arenas in, around and over cities. Fighting across the rooftops of the buildings in a city would be a lot of fun. ;-) Don’t fall! :-)

From what I’ve seen of the beta weekend so far, aside from the new arena content, the game itself is pretty much the same. No great new changes to the client. Well, unless you count the login screen and the GUI of the game itself. Much more slick. In fact, I really, really like it. I hope they keep it, even after the beta weekend. It looks absolutely beautiful. The new login screen blew me away. The character select screen is fantastic and the in game interface changes, while subtle are definitely nice. Adds a whole new spark to the game itself.

I was going to post a bunch of screenshots of the Battle Isles, but to be honest, how do you explain the new types of arena battles in a screenshot? Its really something you do have to experience for yourself. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t present you with a whole heap of screenshots.

I’ve tried getting more people to try out the beta weekend. Mostly WoW players. But unfortunately most of them aren’t interested in playing only arena style games. If you don’t have the original GW, the beta weekend only gives you access to some of the new arenas. So you’re kind of limited. I guess this bothers a lot of people. They want PvE contact as well. On the other hand, hard core Battleground/Arena style players have been absolutely loving it. :-) Go figure ;-)

One thing that concerns me is that Nick has been complaining the game has been crashing his computer. Don’t quite understand it. The engine hasn’t changed, only the content. And it was working fine for him in the pre release beta weekend he played of the original GW. Oh well. He’s not much in to the arena style of play by his own admission. Prefers to be able to kill anyone out in the PvE areas whenever he wants to. ;-) I guess I can understand that. Each to their own. I just prefer not to get ganked or griefed myself. Which seems to happen a lot as a Druid. :-|

Anyway. I’m going to sign this off now. Need to have a shower before Emma and Ian decide its time to go have that coffee. ;-) Talk to you later. :-)