Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

The MMO Times: Sans Kitchen Sink

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On November 15, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 53: Greetings Gamers! As you will see after the break, this has been a pretty busy week because it feels like everything (except the kitchen sink) is getting an update and, finally, the launch of the SWTOR Free-2-Play option and Update 1.5. I am surprised that the 5.1 update for Mists of Pandaria has not been released yet. It seems like it has been on the PTR forever!

If you are wondering, like me, when to expect the 5.1 patch for Mists of Pandaria, they are starting to publish Release Candidate builds to the PTR. This means that the builds they are compiling are nearly ready for live servers (my prediction is next week – Happy Thanksgiving!). In the meantime, check out the latest news regarding RIFT, EverQuest II, SWTOR, Aion and other exciting titles. Read on and game on, friends!

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The Blizzard Authentication Frivolity

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On November 13, 2012

In Gaming, Soapbox, World of Warcraft

The fact that a group of players and greedy lawyers think they can scam Blizzard with this frivolous lawsuit about account security is hilarious almost to the point of absurdity. It’s like suing the police department because someone broke into your house. It is the responsibility of the PC owner to secure their computer and account. Blizzard cannot, and does not, force people to purchase an authenticator (which they sell at a loss, by the way), they simply encourage their use to help further protect your account.

The ignorance of people these days is infuriating and I love Blizzard’s response to the allegations:

“This suit is without merit and filled with patently false information, and we will vigorously defend ourselves through the appropriate legal channels.”

I think that’s legalese for “you’re stupid for even suggesting that this is our fault!” – I heartily agree. I haven’t seen where any of the names of the accusing parties have been given, obviously because they will be ridiculed to the end of their days by anyone with an IQ larger then their shoe size.

Come on people, there are better ways to make money. Try getting an actual job, that seems to be working out well for me.

Biggs On: Goodreads

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On November 8, 2012

In Biggs On

If you are friends with me on Facebook you may have seen the occasional status post regarding progress I have made in books I am reading courtesy of Goodreads. If you haven’t checked out Goodreads yet, I highly recommend it if you are an avid reader such as myself. It is a website that is free to sign up and you can manage what books you have read, currently reading and would like to read.

The function of Goodreads doesn’t end at just managing your bookshelf. It can integrate with Facebook, GMail, twitter, Yahoo and Hotmail to try to link up with your friends. You never know if a book you friends are reading might interest you as well (and likewise for them). I have already found several recommendations both from friends and from the recommendation engine at Goodreads (based on the genre of books that you like).

Goodreads also has a giveaway program, called First Reads, where authors provide copies of their books and you can enter for a chance to win a copy. You can then post your review of the book on the Goodreads website which helps aspiring authors, and current authors, spread the news of their latest novel. It’s a pretty spiffy feature.

There are apps available for your mobile devices so you can manage your bookshelf while on the go including an ability to scan a book using your phone. They also integrate with eReaders, though so far it seems its only the Kindle, I have not seen where they offer nook versions.

I’m really impressed with this site and it can become pretty addicting. My to-read list seems to grow daily so I guess that’s a caveat as well 🙂

/Cheers!

The MMO Times: Jedi, Zombies & Kitties!

By

On November 8, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 52 – Greetings again, Gamers! It has kind of been a slow week for gaming news, I think with all that news regarding Hurricane Sandy and the Election, but there is some pretty exciting things in this issue. If you are an avid pet collector in WoW then you are going to be excited about the “hot” little item coming soon and its sales will help the relief efforts of those displaced by Hurricane Sandy.

There is also more news about Elder Scrolls Online, the SWTOR announcement we have all been waiting for, more unveils for Aion 4.0, a new MechWarrior Online trailer, and more. Hopefully I have wet  your taste buds enough to put down the Halo 4 and check out these headlines. Read on and game on, friends!!

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Getting Back to Work

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On November 7, 2012

In General Cogitation

I had this post ready in my head regardless of the outcome of the election. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney fought a very valiant campaign. In fact I’d say they were more cordial about their taunts at each other then most of the people on social media. Crass name calling and belligerent comments will only make enemies and will not rally others for your cause. We, as Americans, need to grow the hell up.

Never, since I became eligible to vote, have I been so focused on an election. I was watching multiple websites as polls started closing. I literally could not sleep and when I did sleep I had dreams of my candidate both winning and losing. I think what both candidates were successful in doing was bringing the country together to passionately and peacefully fight for what they believed. I’m glad it was a close race and I applaud both candidates for a great campaign (despite the fact that we were inundated with relentless television, radio and Internet ads).

As I said four years ago, its time to put aside our differences and work together to improve this great country we live in and we have a lot of work ahead of us. President Obama gave a pretty riveting acceptance speech and I hope his promise to bring us back to a United States of America wasn’t just empty rhetoric. I also hope that the leaders of both parties are ready to work rationally. We will never please everyone but we should do our best to accommodate the majority.

God Bless America!

WoW: Add-ons and LUA

By

On November 2, 2012

In World of Warcraft

I can get a little add-on crazy with WoW sometimes. I know there are a lot of people out there that like to troll about using add-ons but I say to each their own. I currently have 25 add-ons installed (I don’t really know if that is a lot or little compared to what others are running). I recently downloaded an add-on that hasn’t been updated since March 2011 and the author has said that he won’t be updating it anymore because of changes in life, which is understandable.

Remarkably the add-on still worked great but there were a couple of idiosyncrasies that I wished could be tweaked. I thought, well, I’m a programmer by trade so I opened up the code and, in about 10 minutes, figured out what I could do to change the add-on.

So it got me thinking, would it be worth perhaps taking over this add-on and/or perhaps venturing into my own add-on endeavors. I don’t know if there is a suggested method or IDE for writing and debugging add-ons other then clicking save and launching the game to see if you get any LUA errors. Perhaps its something I will start researching. Has anyone else out there spent some time messing around with LUA and writing/maintaining add-ons?

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