Guild Wars 2 launch day!

As if I need yet another game to play, today marks the launch of Guild Wars 2.

The main attraction for this game for me was the fact that there is no monthly fee.  Free is good.  You purchase the retail game and there are no "in game" purchases that you see a lot of these MMORPG's moving towards.  There will be expansions and those will cost, but unlike my WoW addiction this one wont drain my pocket every month.

I downloaded the game last night and finished the install this morning.  I logged in to create a couple toons and was pleased with the race/class combo, as well as the character customizations.  Being able to change the color scheme of my armor prior to logging in was a nice feature.  While not really anything that will change the game play, it did make it feel more personalized.

I didn't get much of a chance to really do anything other than create my 3 toons.  I currently have a Human Necromancer, Norn Guardian, and a Sylvari Ranger.  I have not decided what I am going to play when I get home from work tonight, but this was a start.  I think I am going to make myself a Norn Elementalist and possibly a Human Mesmer.  Then play around with each to see what I like.

First impression, the graphics look really nice.  I also like the fact that each Race/Class combo can adjust what type of role they play in each group.  Elementalists can change focus from Fire (dps) to Water (healing) in the middle of combat.  Once changed you can only cast from that school, but its nice to have options if your healer drops in the middle.  Someone else can switch on the fly and fill in.  I also like the fact that your spell selection you have access too also depends on what weapon you have equipped. 

All in all I am really looking forward to jumping in game tonight and checking it out.

Today is the day Cybertron Falls! Or Drew saves the day - whichever comes first.

Things really do come full circle don't they?  I remember when I was a LOT younger thinking that the Transformers were pretty cool.  I used to watch the cartoons all the time, and even collected some of the figures back then.  My main interest and collecting was comics and Star Wars figures so my Transformers was mainly just the shows.

Here we are, 30 years later and it puts a smile on my face each day watching my son get all excited about Transformers.  His whole room is decked out in posters, wall stickers, pillow, blanket, and of course the 10 gazillion figures he has now.  Everything is Transformers for him.  While I thought the new movies were okay at best, he loves them.  This also translates into his video game playing.  He has purchsed every Transformers movie game that has been release so far.  He has finished each of these so many times I lost count.  He also picked up the War for Cybertron game when it came out and finished that in record time.

So last night he says to me, at 7:30pm, "Dad, I am going to go to bed early tonight so that it gets over with fast and I can play my new game".  Then this moring he is up at 6:30am ready to go.  He knows he wont get the game until I can swing by Game Stop and pick up his preorder at lunch and bring it to him.  He is beyond excited.

I am sure by the time I get home tonight Cybertron will be in a full on state of robot enduced destruction and ruin.  I will get a complete play by play of how he defeated each Decepticon and which Autobot he did it with. 

Yup, its going to be a great night listening to him.  It takes me back to when I was a kid and got this excited about a new Star Wars toy.



...And NO this isnt because of "The Hunger Games"

Growing up in Meridian Idaho was pretty fun back when I was in Junior High and High School.  The neighborhood my parents lived in was surrounded by corn fields with nothing remotely close for at least a mile.  We spent a great deal of time playing outside, running around the neighborhood and fields.  It was during this time that I got into Archery.  I had a friend down the street named Andy that had purchased a bow and convinced me I should give it a shot with him.

I purchased my first bow using money I saved mowing lawns that summer.  It was a Bear something or other model but I thought it was awesome.  I'm old now.  I can't remember the little details about such things any longer.  Anyways...

My dad and I built a target in our back yard for me to shoot at out of hay bales and wood.  I would stick all kinds of stuff into the hay to shoot at like Tennis balls, racket balls, water balloons, jawbreakers and anything else that I could find.  I was shooting these really heavy old aluminum arrows that would bend if they hit anything more solid than a soggy loaf of bread.  I cant even tell you who made them.  All I know is that back then I shot using finger pulling, a glove, forearm guard, and no site.  I got pretty good at it too, bent arrows and all.

After high school I stopped shooting and didn't pick a bow up again...


Until this year.

Last summer Jayna and I were bumming around Cabela's looking for something for Drew for camp.  We went back to look at the bows because I wanted to see what they looked like now.  I talked Jayna into shooting one of the new ones (she had never so much as held a bow let alone shoot one.)  It was about 4 shots into it and she was hooked.

So this year we decided to jump in and get some bows and start shooting.  After reading a ton of reviews we decided to pick up a couple PSE Supra ME bows.  I picked mine out in flat mat black finish and Jayna got hers in red.  Our first sport together!

This is me shooting shortly after our bows came in.  Since this picture I have added a front stabilizer bar and a wrist support/bracelet. 

Here is Jayna shooting:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we moved to Elko fucking Nevada in August of 2011.  Jayna got a job as a senior recruiter for Newmont Mining.  One of the nice parts of moving here is the Archery Club.  These pictures were taken up at the club range outside of town.  It is a great range that has marked bags from 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 yards to adjust your site off of.  The also have a 15 target "unmarked" yard hike on one side, and then another 15 "marked" yard hike on the other.  Add to that they numerous competition shoots they do every year makes it a lot of fun.

Check out the club site for information on the organization and upcoming shoots at:

Elko Archery Club

There are also a bunch of other organizations around Nevada that host shoots that club people go to each year as well.  So far due to scheduled stuff we have only made it to 2 shoots.  I placed 7th in my first shoot and had a shoot out for 3rd place in my second.  I ended up in 4th place for that one by roughly a finger width difference in arrows.  Not too bad I must say.

Jayna on the other hand is doing great.  She placed 3rd in her first shoot and got a pin for that, and then got 1st place in her second shoot.  She really is doing awesome and is already planning our tournament participation for next year.

Anyways - we have having a blast with this new sport and even have 2 target bags set up in our back yard now.  Ill post pictures of that later.  I must say, this sport has sure changed since the days when I was shooting back in high school.  +-.03 arrows, different shaft diameters, head types, fletching, build material, bow construction, lensed sites, 3, 5, 7 and more pin, wrist strap triggers, hand held triggers - its enough to make your head spin, or your wallet empty. 

Mists of Pandaria Cinematic Trailer

When Blizzard first announced that the new expansion would be a big fucking Kung Fu Panda sequel I was seriously going to cancel my 2 accounts.  The idea of every time I logged on and saw one of these little bastards running around, and you know there will be a shit ton of them, made me envision hearing Jack Black all night long.  Thinking that WoW was now going to go the way of Everquest and start putting out craptastic expansions was a real turn off to continuing to play.  I mean I think we can all agree that Cataclysm was definitely NOT a good expansion.  It really was a let down.  Where was our Burning Cruisades?  Where was our Lich King?  Brand new, completely different zones that were exciting and fun to explore.  Not the same old creatures and zones just rehashed with bigger punch. 

Then I watched the new cinematic Blizzard released today.  Now I am actually a bit more excited about this expansion.  I am not sure I am going to make a panda express toon yet, but I will definitely make a Monk.  Got my heirloom gear ready to go!

I like the idea that everyone can start with a Panda and at level 10 can choose to go Alliance or Horde.  Going to make the starting zones extremely congested and make questing difficult.  Having to fight everyone else for the same drops will suck.

Looks like I am not going to cancel just yet.  I mean seriously, I have 6 level 85's that I have to get to 90 now!

 



I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Not that I was ever a serious blogger to start with (just go back through this thing and see the piss ass attempt I made at trying to be one) I am back.  I have decided to start writing on this page again.

So sit back, relax, and brace yourself for more worthless garbage to come spewing forth from my cranium.

You have been warned.