It Lives!!

[Wow, two posts in one day! Scroll down for more after this. - Ed]

I felt a bit like Dr Frankenstein the other night. I had put the kids to bed, grabbed a bite to eat then headed upstairs to hopefully get the computer up and running that my brother kindly sent me. From my previous blogs I think you can guess I am a bit of a gimp when techno stuff is concerned. Anyhow, as I was climbing the stairs there were dark clouds everywhere and the heavy thunder and rain began to start outside with the occasional flash of lightning lighting up the stairwell.

Hunched over the carcass of the computer I beavered away until finally after about an hour of hard work I leapt up, sweaty and grime covered, exclaiming to the street holding my arms aloft, “It Lives!”. OK, so I wasn’t particularly sweaty or grimy, but yes, I did stand up shouting in a dramatic manner. Luckily Ema was there, or I would have had no one to bring me back down to earth with a shattering “You Nobber”. Nevertheless, I had it working, all ship shape and smart. I can’t tell you how much easier that is going to make things in our house. Having to share one computer between two computer nerds is not much fun and has been the mainstay of ‘disagreements’ in the house for the last month or so. “Look, Vampire Diaries are on tomorrow, so you can log on whilst I’m watching TV” seemed to be Emas clarion call recently.

So, what have I been doing with my new computer spangly? Mainly EQ2 so far. I don’t have Lotro installed on it yet and apparently need to download DirectX9 for that to work ok. I’ll get that sorted out this weekend. Like I say, in the mean time I have been an EQ2 whore. The other night saw me march the Acolytes of Valor troupe through the Ward of Elements x2 raid instance. It was ahuge amount of fun. I know I have done the zone a thousand times but a load of my guildies still had to get most of their Tier3 molds for their mains (AoV is not a guild made up of hardcore players, there are a few but mostly casual in approach). I must say the slower paced chillax through the zone really suited me. Yeah I like as much as the next person on raid night to hammer through content as fast as possible to get as much as possible achieved during raid time, but this was a nice change in pace.

I ran the raid like I always used to run raids when I was raid leader back in EoF. Fun first, content next. The only caveat I placed on this was that I asked and kept reiterating that everyone needed to place full undivided attention when doing named fights. With technical fights you just aren’t going to get them down unless everyone stays on the ball. Overall it went well. Admittedly most of the raid was by now 85 levels+, but even with those extra levels WoE can be tough if you do not pay attention on the technical named fights. Luckily, I seemed to bring back the old magic and we all had a huge amount of fun, great drops and moved through the zone at a steady pace. Not fast, just steady. I had a real great night.

Last night saw me join a group of AoVers to help them do the Palace of Ferhzul. We didn’t get to Varsoon, but that was a time issue as our healer had to go and look after his kid. Not a problem though, we are going to finish it tonight. Nearly everyone in the group (aside from Taozen & I) had never done the zone before. They all really enjoyed it. PoF is such a technical zone on the nameds (for those who have not done it before) that there is something different every fight and I think that tends to keep you interested a bit more than just tankin n’spankin. A jolly good night.

So, what else is happening this week? Well, I have some old work colleagues from the UK coming over for a retirement party this weekend and heading to Puerto Banus. I’ll be meeting up with them for a few beverages probably one afternoon. It will be great to catch up with some of the guys. In my previous job we were all really close and got on like a house on fire and I really miss that camaraderie sometimes [Don’t you mean constant piss taking? – Ed]. Aside from that it’s going to be a fairly quiet week I hope. The craziness at work has halted for a few days now and I don’t expect it to get super busy again until next week or the week after. So this week is going to be relaxing nights in playing on the computer and the weekend catching up with the crew.

Be well.