posted by Travis on Jul 3
So I was very addicted to Age of Conan for a short time.. but I quickly started to feel like it was the same old thing around middle 30’s. Turns out, there is a reason for this. The starter area where you are at up till level 20 is the only area they let the Beta Testers into.. So it was very well balanced and tweaked, but the rest of it really had not been that well tested according to what Bleys has been reading on the forums.
Ah well.. I had bought Warhammer Online Collectors Edition, but after my disgust with Conan going to crap so quick, I decided to cancel it. I guess they need to make some bigger leaps in MMORPGs for me to get interested in them again. 
I really want a game that brings adventure. Not just treadmill leveling and killing of monsters. It gets old. What did you do tonight? Killed monsters and quested. What for? So I could get bigger and get better equipment. How come? So I could kill more monsters and do more quests. Huh, why do you wanna do that? So I can get bigger, and get better equipment… Wait a minute… I see a pattern here.
I really want a game where there is true adventure. Not just adventure for the sake of getting the best equipment in the game and getting bigger….. I mean, true adventure. I want it to be a challenge to cross a river through the strong current. I want a piece of rope to be useful. I want to be able to repell into caves, or to be able to climb a dangerous cliff. I want to be able to do more then just kill monsters and click on an item. I would like to be able to have a real profession, like Blacksmith, and be able to build a shop in a town and compete price wise against other player blacksmiths. Or to be a miner, that does more then just walks around and hammer at piles of rock sticking out of the ground.. How about being able to build a real mine? Or become an herb farmer? How about magic that requires some components? And make it so the components take some work to grow, not just make them impossible to find out in the wild so they become ungodly expensive?
Everytime I play a new MMORPG, I have such high hopes, then I play them, and quickly realize that they still fall way short of all my expectations. Ah well. Maybe I will be lucky enough to see such a game in my lifetime?
posted by Travis on Jun 23
Well, seems to anyways. I did not actually install it, just ran Ubuntu on the live cd and it runs just fine. I did not try to setup the video or anything, or even check it. I was just happy that it booted right up. Not that it really matters, I doubt I will be running Linux on my Game machine any time soon.
I was sort of disgusted. The prices of Video cards have dropped about $80 since I ordered my card.. rather annoying. Not that it really matters, I am still thrilled with my system, I just think we could have used that money for other things. Ah well. This system is still awesome!
posted by Travis on Jun 19
Ok, so I realized I have been posting about my new system, but I did not even bother to post pictures of it, which just some how seems wrong. So I thought I would post a couple pics that Emmy got right after I finished putting it together, and right on the first boot into Bios.
It was rather funny, Emmy was surprised at me for putting all the screws and everything in the case without even a test boot, but she was very impressed that it came right up and worked first boot. Which is probably why she took a picture!
posted by Travis on Jun 18
Age of Conan is incredible now on my new computer! I can not believe how much better it is! I can actually play with my virus scanner and pretty much anything else I want running, and it does not even phase it. This system is very impressive so far! I am thrilled!
I am not sure what I am more impressed with, the system or the monitor. Maybe it is just the entire system as a whole? Heh! I am really loving it though.
posted by Travis on Jun 17
Woo! My system is built, and it is awesome! I love it! We even took the time to make sure all the cables were out of the way inside. Air Flow is actually cool in the system, and to top it all off, it is quiet! So I highly recommend this system. I did update the bios and remove all but 2 gig of memory to get it setup, but as soon as I had the 64bit Vista installed, I dropped in the other 6gig of memory, and it all runs perfectly. I would rather be running Linux, but this is my game system, so I will just set up my old system at my desk to continue to run Linux for me. It can be my old reliable.
The system scores in the Windows System Experience are all 5.9 except one, which is 5.7, which makes my system score a 5.7. Not bad, not great. Of course, that is with everything on my system running during the test. I had the web browser open, the virus scanner working, and pretty much everything else happening just like usual. So I am very happy with my system!
posted by Travis on Jun 13
So I got my new 24″ Monitor today. Man, it is awesome! I never dreamed this would be so good. There is one pixel with a problem, but it is in the top edge, so not really a problem. NewEgg seems to have a 9 dead pixel policy, so I could not return it even if I wanted to, which I don’t!
I played Conan a little bit in it, and it is just freaking awesome! I can not wait until I have the faster system and faster and better Video Card. This thing will be jaw dropping. I can not wait! Well, obviously I *have* to wait, but I do not want to. 
It really is impressive how different it is at a 1920×1200. So much real estate in the game and out. I can have two windows open at once side by side and it has plenty of room. Really cool! I never really thought how much better it would be, but after seeing this, Emmy is thinking how nice it looks… We will have her one as soon as we can afford it probably, and I would not blame her a bit! Knowing me, I will be encouraging her to start. Heh.
posted by Travis on Jun 12
So we decided we had a bit of spare money, so finally got around to updating my 6 year old computer system.. It was so old, we just replaced it. Although, it is still working well, so I am going to keep it around to run Linux on. The new system I will start out running mainly Vista 64 for gaming. Everything important will stay on my old system and Linux. Here is the new system.
posted by Travis on May 24
So I am now officially in my homeland, Cimmeria. I am running around and helping people do the usual chores. Everything from helping the lazy apprentice recover his saddlebags from the wolves who ate his horse, to bringing inheritance weapons back to a family from a veteran who fears he will fall in battle. The land is huge and awesome. The hills of Cimmeria are sparse and hostile to the uninitiated.
Sadly I still do not remember my entire past. I am however relearning skills. I have become adept at many skills, such as Hide, Fast Run, Recovery, climbing, bandaging and several others. I increase my proficiency in these skills every level. I also receive training in my feats every level. These are special battle skills. They seem to help a lot.
I notice myself becoming more ferocious in battle. More blood spatter, and faster deaths. The blood actually comes up in my eyes on occasion when I fight, but as any good barbarian, I love it! I have also learned to stop noticing the level on the weapon so much. It is the attributes and quality of a weapon and armor that matter, not the level.
It feels good to be back home in Cimmeria, however, I fear for my homeland, it is at war as usual, but there are many hardships I must help my people face. I can not help everyone, but it seems everyone needs two or three things done. The one person who seems to think they can help me remember who I truly am refuses to help me until I get more experience under my belt. The Kurr!
I leave now to return to my chores of earning the trust of my people back. I fear I am like a stranger to them, but I hope one day to encounter someone who remembers me from my youth and can remind me of my days of glory. If not, I am sure I will return to my path of glory shortly enough! To Battle! Join the War!
posted by Travis on May 23
So I was reminded by someone who reads my blog recently that I forgot to post the results. Basically, I did not get a full time job. They decided they did not wanna pay what it would be worth for a full time person in that position. So the Doctor decided to put off hiring anyone full time for now. They did however say they really liked me and said they would like to hire me full time when the doctor decides they need someone full time.
So no go for now..
posted by Travis on May 23
So I am addicted to a new MMORPG. It is pretty awesome. The graphics are cool, even in the slimmed down settings I have to run in because my computer is like 7 years old. I am strongly encouraged to upgrade so that the game is much more playable.
The graphics are truly amazing. Some of the battles, even in the single player missions are truly epic. I have enjoyed what I have played so far greatly. Sadly, the slow computer makes it frustrating to play for any real length of time, so I play a while, log off, play a while, log off.. I can not even move at night when the servers are real busy. It is a truly awesome game. You can read more about it in my MMORPG tab.
My one real disappointment was that I was completely unable to get it running in Linux.
