OT: Killed my first Spartan (and Pirate, too)

Still happily playing Atlantica Online. Reached 95, which is basically their equivalent of "Veteran". The slog to 120 (I guess their version of Expert) is pretty slow, but there are steps between the the two, unlike in Sword.

Anyway, I'm advancing pretty well in the automated PvP tournaments. My winning percentage is a pretty steady 44%, but winning 3 out of 8 still brings me in about 5 million per tournament, which isn't bad.

Just recently, I ran into two of the higher types of mercenaries available in the game (B Grade). They cost hundreds of millions (or billions) to acquire in game and are really tough apparently.

And yet while I didn't win, I came pretty close, despite having guys about 5 levels lower and mostly D grade ones.

3.0 at the end of May?

Finally we've gotten a vague date at least out of the new AM for the game, "Raven".

Better than no date, I suppose.

He seems more forthright than Neume, though.

Q. Obviously Neume was stalling/didn't know the situation at IMC, can you explain what happened between K2 and IMC that communication broke down so badly?

A. .. same here, Business Related.. Only my boss knows the details, but things are back in good shape and working smoothly

Neume would either lie or ignore that question.

K2 takes action against Dupers...

But the dupers strike back, apparently. K2 seems to have banned some of the dupers main accounts on Illier, but not their alt accounts. So at least one of the people on Illier got on his alt and dropped 100s of duped items for people to pick up.

Apparently this caused K2 to do a rollback of Illier.

I feel sorry for the 3 people who play there.

Another week...

Still doesn't look like any word of update on a patch for Sword. The new AM Guin seems to be about as good at saying nothing as Neume.

In my own MMORPG news, I'm up to level 89 in Atlantica. For that game, "Vet" is really at 95, so I'm getting close. I wouldn't say I'm burning out of it, but I've heard bad things about the end game. So I don't know how much longer I shall play. It's been fun though.

LOTRO also came out with a big patch, a gig's worth, adding a new Elf area. I haven't even made it to Moria yet, but I logged in and played a few hours.

They changed the xp requirements for levels in that, to make leveling slightly easier (or smoother). In approximately 190 hours playing it, I had reached level 37. The changed xp chart bumped me up to 38 4/5s.

What's new in Sword?

Well, from reading the official forums, sounds like the servers, or at least Orpesia, are having trouble with the hamsters that power them.

Still no apparent word of when the rest of 2.9 (or 3.0) is coming, so who knows when (or at this point, if) I'll be back.

In Atlantica I'm up to 85th (almost 86th level). I've now spent $20 on that game (buying 4 merc rooms, that game's version of quarter slots. The cash shop there is expensive!)

In LOTRO I've been playing once in a while, now up to level 37. They're about to roll out a big update there in the next couple weeks.

Right now though, I'm not playing much of anything because my internet is screwed up again. Constant disconnects, which makes play games almost impossible, and even just browsing not much fun.

And every time you call Verizon for help, they are just so clueless. "Oh, just update your networking program." Uh, no, that's not the problem. Your lousy network is the problem. If you spent half the money you do advertising saying how great you are, actually improving your network, I wouldn't be having this problem.

As much as I hate them though, my contract is up at the end of the year and I'm afraid I'll be out of options then. Verizon no longer offers the unlimited plan (which I have), but charging a quarter for every megabyte after 5 gigs. My normal usage in a month is about 15 gigs, which would run about $2000. Oy!

Hughesnet is an option, but not a very good one. And it's horrible for gaming, so I might be out of MMORPGs for a few years....

But I got 8 months left, so no need to completely panic yet. But at this rate, disconnecting every 15 minutes, I won't be playing games in those 8 months, either.

Well, another week...

Doesn't seem like anything new on the Sword front.

I'm still having a lot of fun with Atlantica, so I don't know when I'll be back.

Just hit level 73 (it goes up to 120, like Sword).

One of the fun things about Atlantica is the PvP tournaments every few hours. Basically you just hit a button to apply, and you automatically get matched up with opponents (8 in a tournament which lasts 80 minutes, one every 10 minutes).

For someone who doesn't normally like PvP, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. I've got like 120 matches so far. My record stinks, 44-75, but I'm still having fun. Up to Division 9 (out of 18).

Although I'm not very good, it's still a thrill when I managed to beat higher level opponents. I just beat a 89 and then a 92! That's a pretty big difference, since you get new gear every 10 levels or so (and I've got nothing special).

The nice thing is you get prizes for winning and even losing. Gold (not CS money, but regular in game stuff) and experience books. You also earn points (either way) which can be used to get stuff.

My internet is really sucking though, and it's problematic because in these fights you only have 25 seconds to move 5 guys. That might not sound so bad, but you have to wait until the attack animations are done to make your next move sometimes (like seeing if you killed a guy or not).

And I'm starting to get a little disenchanted with the quest aspect of the game. There are quests, but the difficulty seems to have been ramped up once I hit 70 (set in Egypt). As either a way to fight botters or sell a CS item, they sneak in bosses with the mobs. I can't beat the bosses, so I have to run from them. And there are a lot, I've been running from half my fights...

Still on hiatus...

Was going to log in if they had any V-day contest. But apparently not, so I didn't. Still playing Atlantica. Just got a horse!

The cash shop is a little expensive there, but you can buy most items. The horse cost me 15.8 million, but goes for $10 in the CS. So far in a month and a half of playing I've earned about 30 million? 25? At my level, 68, I can make half a million a day grinding, about a million by fighting in two full free leagues (PvP), and selling stuff I get adds a lot as well.

Strangely though, the horse was only 15.8 million, but the ratio seems to be about 50-60 million per $10 of CS items. I have no idea why the horse was so cheap, but having a speed boost is useful. Beats walking.