Failblog

I <3 fail blog, but one entry doesn't belong, it should be like this.

Age of Conan censorship

Holy crap!

So I got AoC for my birthday, and have quite happily been playing the game along with very little issue. Now I haven't updated to the latest patch yet (Final Fantasy needed patching first >.<), but apparently there's some issues with the patch.

Now, I went through the forums to read about this, and a strange thing began happening: Posts are vanishing.

The mods are censoring bad press.

I'm not shitting you.

If your post is negative and constructive, it will be deleted. If it's out and out retarded negative like "Funcom sucks", it will stay up to be flamed by fanbois who talk about how awesome the game is. What really shocked me is when one poster, CBozeman, stated that he canceled his account, and had selected Technical reasons. When he hit submit, it defaulted to Financial Reasons. I know, seems stupid right?

Here's the thing: This kind of data can be culled, formed and presented to investors to show that no one is quitting due to technical/support/other issues, that it's in fact the player's own issue with their inability to pay.

Big problem.

Without accurate data, there will be no pressure on the devs to get things fixed.

They deleted the post. The post was well written, informative, and there was no flame war per se. It was simply a "what the heck" kind of post. And the mods squashed it.

Now keep in mind there is no direct email support or phone support for them. There is no way to directly voice your concerns except in the forums. And they are squashing any attempt to do that.

Well, to that I say:


(Note how it changed my Support Issues to Financial issues as well)

A Message from YouTube: UMG owns you.

Last night I checked my email and saw that one of my videos, Bringing Sexy Back, has a copyright claim on it.

Now, I'm not about to say I have any rights to the original items the video is made of. I do not own the rights to Final Fantasy XI, nor to the music included (one of the songs from Chariots of Fire).

The copyright claim was on the music, which Universal Music Group does in fact own. It states now that they have the right to monitor the amount of views my page gets, as well as place advertisements on it.

...

So basically now UMG will be trolling through YouTube and nailing users who DARE use their songs....

It's my birthday!

I hope Travors at Garfield minus Garfield doesn't mind the hotlink to his comic. Perhaps shameless promotion of his sites will make him not hate me.

Wii(aren't)Fit

I am a big, fat, lazy pig, as Homer would say.

My wife saw some commercials for the hottest new Wii-ccessory, the WiiFit. It's basically a scale with attitude that is supposed to help you get into shape. Being the open-minded gamer I am, I managed to wrangle one (thanks entirely to my Dad running around in his small town and locating one when my large-scale city was out) and of course had to try it out.

I am way outta shape.

The games left me huffing, puffing, and coated in sweat. I did of course nearly get 4 stars (the best possible rating) on some of the more aerobic exercises. And for someone as out of shape as me, that's an accomplishment.

There has been some pretty harsh criticism of the WiiFit, stating that it cannot be a weight loss solution, and that some of its exercises are too easy. These people are missing the point. Weight across the nation is going up. People are less active. At this point anything that gets us moving is a good idea!

As for me, I intend on hopping on the WiiBoard tonight and continuing to get back into shape. I'll let you all know the results I get as I go along.

Awaiting the update

As the time grows near for the next version update of Final Fantasy XI, I can't help but wonder what the new changes will do for the game.

The moogle in Selbina is obvious: No more raise shouts. With so many people having leveled other jobs, you're bound to get someone in your party with raise on a sub job at the very least. That alone will eliminate the Dunes as I once knew it.

When I started, the dunes were the leveling area, no exceptions. Trains could stop everyone from leveling for a half an hour or more as people zoned in and drew the train back to everyone again. Parties were plentiful and awful. And the only way home was to walk.

Now players are on easy street, and I'm not mad about that. I'm disappointed they won't get the same experience I did. It made for some hilarious memories. However, the game should have been like this from the start. Often, the game feels like punishment, not a game. You'd spend hours trying to level and wind up losing experience points.

So why, then, are people still powerleveling? Still baffles me with all the ease of use of the dunes now that people even need powerleveling...

As for the new job abilities, I really don't see much in them except for PLD. The BRD ability is interesting I guess, but MNK sticking to just kicks? Huh? Who came up with that idea?

Were MNKs in forums all over saying, "My arms are getting tired, I want to just kick stuff!" Or, "Let me sacrifice my ability to attack up to three times to just kick at a mob instead." Granted, it looks cool when you kick but... still what the hell?!?

As for Campaign, totally disinterested in it. The long waits make it hard to keep my medals. Why they changed it, I have no idea. It was fine the way it was. Campaign was my favorite thing to do because it didn't take hours to find yourself in a heated battle. The EXP was a nice bonus, but not at all why I went. Now you sit for hours and wait at one location, or jump place to place trying to get into a battle. So I'm really not interested in higher medals.

The new merit additions are interesting as well, I guess. I don't merit much so... meh.

It will be interesting regardless.

Irony

Defined as a combination of circumstances or a result that is the opposite of what is or might be expected or considered appropriate.

As in me bitching about people asking for help, then asking and receiving help myself.

Big thanks to Caylst and my baby Bratia for coming to assist me with BST and NIN AF runs!

Real life rant to follow about other stuff.