Sheesh, you take a few days off…

I am writing this in a stream-of-consciousness kind of way as I catch up on my reading. My apologies if it seems random!

I took an unannounced break from the blog, email, and my feed reader for a few days to set up my new PC and make a few videos for everyone. I have SEVEN beta videos ready for everyone (almost 1 hour of total footage) once the NDA lifts! It was a bit of a pain because I was having driver issues and my programs kept crashing. Everything seems stable now.

I also haven’t edited a video since I was in college about 5 years ago, so there was a bit of a relearning curve. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy my directing and editing skillz (or lack thereof)!

There seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding a major Warhammer Online announcement tomorrow, so I’m as excited as you to hear what it is! NDA lift? Pre-order sellout? State of the Game? Only time will tell! I think the newsletter is a given, which may be the delivery vehicle for their big reveal.

A new WAR/Mythic promotional site popped up but I haven’t had a chance to fully read up on it or even check it out for myself yet.  Go explore and let me know what you think: http://www.road-to-war.com/! The site is insanely slow for me atm.

I finally made my rounds and answered some comments, so if you were waiting for a reply, check it out!

I think this week is going to be insanely busy (if the NDA lifts)… I am pretty scared but also excited. Syp feels this way too! For anyone who runs a WAR fan site, this will be a crucial time for attracting lots of new people to your websites as well as pushing out content for the search engines. I hope I’ve prepared myself well enough! I look at this site from two perspectives. First, it’s just a fun hobby for me to interact with other WAR fans. Second, even though I’m not making any money off it (yet?), I’m still trying to play it smart from a business point of view. Not every WAR site approaches it from both sides, but I think many do.

Then again, maybe it will be longer?

Folks,

Glad to know you’re enjoying this.

And no, it’s not the good news I promised. Which, as a gentle reminder, I did say could take weeks. I’m hoping it’s only days but it might take a little longer to work out the details.

I think we’ll have a bunch of good news coming over the next few weeks.

Mark

Keen and Graev let us know what you can expect from them once the NDA lifts and the game launches. I’ve been wanting to write one of these for a while… you know… an official plan moving forward kind of thing. I’m sure I’d like to know as much as you!

I’m going to take some time away from beta today to publish a few more articles. Stay tuned!

Posted in Site News | 7 Comments »

Greenskin Name Generators

I just noticed these two awesome Warhammer Online greenskin name generators and I will be updating my Greenskin Naming Guide to include them!

• Orc Name Generator (e.g., Tardug Bonegrinda, Kotag Facechompa, and Gardor Pansyeata)
  
• Goblin Name Generator (e.g., Divrug Mindsniffer, Timkin Groinprodder, and Bagzak Bellygouger)
  

Great job, Soylent Greenskins!

Soylent Greenskins (SG) is a Greenskin-only Guild that’s looking for mature players who want to play the game in a casual and fun environment.  We don’t expect to be the biggest or the most powerful Guild on the server, but we’re definitely going to have the most fun!  Our philosophy is simple: Leadership by merit, bosses in da front.

PS - This isn’t a guild promo, it’s a feature promo! We all know how well my last guild promo was received! I do suggest clicking on the Soylent Greenskin LORE link though, because they put a lot of time into creating a cool, role-playish back story for their guild including some key greenskin characters (at least, that’s what it looks like to me).

Da Big Waaagh! also has a name generator that breaks down each of the name’s components, giving their historical meanings. It’s quite awesome to know what your name is all about in terms of Warhammer lore.

Posted in Community News | 11 Comments »

My New Warhammer Online Computer!

Here is my new Warhammer Online gaming computer! All skus are from NCIX.com, which is a very reputable online seller up here in Canada. It took a little while to arrive, but everything seems to be working perfectly! Thanks UPS! For real this time!

After taxes, the entire rig cost me $1528, however, I still have $100 in mail-in rebates to claim, which I hope to eventually get back (yeah right)! That’s not too bad since this is a complete system with awesome peripherals (LCD monitor and overboard keyboard/mouse combo) Were you to drop those items, you could get it for just over $1000; and probably cheaper in the United States from Newegg.

I can’t comment on performance since the NDA is still up, however, if you’ve seen the minimum specs, you’ll realize that these are way beyond them, so I’m sure you can put two and two together (it equals four btw). Fear not! My computer performance guide is ready to publish as soon as the NDA drops, so make sure to come back if you’re interested.

I’m finally able to put my last computer upgrade adventure behind me…

Without further ado:

Processor (CPU)		Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail (BX80570E8400) (sku: 27784)
Motherboard		EVGA Nforce 750I SLI Ftw LGA775 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard (123-YW-E175-A1) (sku: 29440)
DDR2 Memory (RAM)		OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit (OCZ2P800R22GK) (sku: 19337)
Video Cards		XFX GeForce 9800GTX 675MHZ 512MB 2.2GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card (PVT98FYDF9) (sku: 29217)
Computer Case		Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio (NINE HUNDRED) (sku: 21123)
Power Supply		OCZ GameXStream 700W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black (OCZ700GXSSLI) (sku: 18185)
LCD Monitors		Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW 22IN Widescreen LCD Monitor Black 1680X1050 8000:1 DVI VGA (LS22AQWJFV/XAA) (sku: 29091)
Hard Drives		Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive OEM (ST3500320AS) (sku: 27144)
DVD Writer		LG GSA-H55L DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL 10X Lightscribe DVD Writer IDE 2MB Black OEM W/ SW (GSA-H55L BLACK) (sku: 25398)
Mouse		Logitech MX518 GAMING-GRADE Optical Mouse 1600-DPI USB SILVER-BLACK (931352-0215) (sku: 14879)
Keyboard		Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard Black Silver Programmable Backlit Keys USB (967929-0403) (sku: 21180)

Games I can’t wait to play on this new bad boy: Warhammer Online, Call of Duty 4, and Team Fortress 2 (these links include my Amazon affiliate ID, which means I’ll earn a tiny % if you buy them - huzzah).

Posted in Personal | 23 Comments »

Newsletter Delay = ChaosCast #5 Delay

Unfortunately, the Warhammer Herald is reporting that the July 2008 newsletter will be delayed until some time next week, and that was one of the biggest topics we were hoping to discuss in our upcoming podcast recording session this weekend. Even though we have plenty of other stuff to chat about, we feel as though it wouldn’t be as big of a slobberknocker without the newsletter info, so we’re going to delay by a week as well!

Reminder: We’re still accepting listener questions and new community site submissions for upcoming episodes of ChaosCast, so please leave them in a comment on any of our sites (here, @Keen, or @Syp).

PS. MY NEW COMPUTER ARRIVED TODAY! I am going to test everything tonight and write about it tomorrow.

Posted in Community News | 9 Comments »

Warhammer Online Release Date Speculation

It’s the sensation that’s sweeping the nation! I’m not even going to play the guessing game on the actual date of NDA liftage, open beta, or release because 1) I’m under the NDA; and 2) I think it’s pointless.  It will happen regardless of when the fans predict or desire, and even though it might be a fun game to play in waiting, I’m just all “meh” about it. Easy for me to say, right? Well, judge that once the NDA drops and you read all my impressions…

I do however want to offer up some hypotheses as to why Gamestop and many others have been releasing seemingly random and conflicting release schedules.

Hypothesis 1 - We’re pulling it out of our …

• Gamestop and others don’t actually have official confirmation from Mythic and are simply trolling the community for link-bait. Obviously, Gamestop still has some CE preorders left and wants to burn through them before open beta. Also, they’ll continue to sell the non preorder edition after release and this will help them rank highly in the search engines.

Hypothesis 2 - Haha, fooled you!

• Mythic has been giving out random dates to each of the online resellers to create confusion and hype since there’s really nothing else to talk about that isn’t negative (lack of a timely newsletter and recent cuts). The major events are over aren’t they (E3 and ComiCon)? The WAR train must go on…

Hypothesis 3 - Smoke, mirrors, and sleight of hand.

• Mythic has been using these sites to experiment with how the community would react to official information of this nature. If the reaction is positive, they’ll confirm it and try stick to plan. If the reaction is negative, they can just play the “it’s unofficial, duh” card and rework their plan.

The fact that there is currently major confusion over how the previously thought-to-be guaranteed open beta invites are being dispersed through the different game versions, as well as the actual length of the open beta, is actually a bit of a PR nightmare for Mythic imho. I realize they’re all pretty busy people but someone should clear the air on this ASAP, otherwise they’re going to have a lot of PO’d fans on their hands. The amount of emotional control a guy like Mark Jacobs has over so many people is actually quite chilling!

Posted in Game Speculation | 17 Comments »

MBJ: Patching the cut cities and careers for free?

There is a poll running over at Warhammer Alliance asking players how they would feel about the cut content being delivered in pay-to-play expansion rather than a free content patch. Currently, the results are as follows:

• 44.44% - Yes, and if they did I would come to their houses or where ever they sleep at and find them.
• 47.14% - No, some of you guys blow this crap out of proportion its just a game.
• 8.42% - Other

While the YES option is written in a fairly off-putting way (seriously, you’d have to be a psychopath to actually take it that far or even suggest it), it still hasn’t discouraged a large number of people from choosing it.

I personally chose OTHER because, while I would be pretty annoyed that they tried to scam me on content they have been talking about for a very long time, I’d still prefer a game to be expanded horizontally rather than vertically, and an expansion that included new class and city content help to do just that.

Here’s what Mark had to say:

Folks,

I would be very, very angry, how’s that?

Now as to my reasoning. First, during the development process of most creative ventures, things get cut and changed. That happens in games, books, films, television, etc. Secondly, for examples, things such as scenes that are cut from a movie are then are put into a “Director’s Cut” or “Special Edition” etc. I don’t think that it is wrong for a filmmaker to cut things out of his/her own film in order to make the film great and then offer them on a special DVD. Now, I wish they would put them on the same DVD as the original film is on but I have no real problem with the practice. While some people may disagree, it is a widespread practice and one that I don’t have any problem with morally, ethically, etc. Making a game, especially an MMO, is no different in that respect. We cut out things, change things, etc. during a development process and when the development process is three years long, well, even more can get cut and changed. However:

We have been talking about these classes and the cities for quite a while. And while I absolutely believe that we have the right, if we so choose, from every ethical, moral and legal perspective to cut them out totally or put them in the game in a paid expansion, that doesn’t mean that we should do that. We’ve always tried to hold ourselves to a higher standard. No, we’re not perfect, yes we make mistakes and yes, yes, yes we are also a business but just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should do something. In this case, what we want to do and what we will try our best to do is to make sure that if/when we bring back those classes and these cities (sorry for the if, don’t read more into it, just being careful) that players will not have to buy them from us as part of a paid expansion but rather just part of the content updates that we did so well for DAoC.

And that’s why I would be very angry because we tried to do something and for some reason(s) we couldn’t make it happen. And that always pisses me off…

Mark

At least it’s his intention to ship this stuff free of charge, so that’s a bonus! It makes me feel a little better about the cut content knowing that they are at least hoping to give it back to us in a content patch rather than a paid expansion. Blizzard took the other approach Mark mentions because hero classes were talked about during WoW beta for quite a while, and players of that game are only starting to see hints of it 4+ years later in a pay-to-play expansion.

Posted in Game News | 10 Comments »

Earning Money from Blogging

What are your feelings on this?

Hmmm… there’s a loaded question! I’ve said it before on this site but my audience is a lot larger now, so I’ll say it again: I want to make some money off this blog.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not solely motivated by dollars and cents here! I truly enjoy writing for the sake of writing and helping out my fellow MMORPG gamers, but if I start getting lots of traffic, why would I turn down the opportunity to make some coin for doing what I love?

I’m not going to get into the justifications too much here, but it’s fair to say that this hobby consumes MANY hours of my time per week and when I start providing services like guides and game advice, it only seems fair that I should get some sort of compensation. I’m not looking to get filthy rich off this scheme, but $50-250 per month would be nice! Obviously, it would be a profit-share with other collaborators of The Greenskin as well.

The trick is, how do I do it so that it is the least intrusive for my readers? I don’t want to annoy you guys with poorly placed, non-contextual ads or turn this site into a flashing billboard. I also don’t want to be sneaky by hiding links within posts or writing sponsored reviews.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately:

1. Google AdSense - Difficult to customize the exact products or services I want to display and I think most people have adapted their eyes to simply skip over these ads anyway.
2. Chitika - A bit more flashy and customizable than AdSense, however, it’s still difficult to get exactly what I want except for generic keywords.
3. Sponsored Ads - This would be great but a lot of maintenance and upkeep from my end and I’m not actually sure if there would be enough decent goods or services out there that would want to sponsor this site anyway.
4. Donations - I’ve donated to several other sites through PayPal, but I just feel dirty asking people for money straight up (no offense to those of you who do)! It could work if people were feeling generous though. Unfortunately, you’d probably have the same few people continuing to support the site as other view it for free, which isn’t really fair.
5. Cafe Press / Greenskin Merchandising - This might be cool too, but I’m not sure how many people would walk around in Greenskin thongs drinking from Greenskin coffee mugs. Earning money here would only happen if people bought a product rather than the traditional pay per click or pay per impression advertising model.
6. Amazon Affiliate Program - I think this would actually be the best choice, but similar in payout to the merchandising idea. The customization would be absolutely awesome and I could create a mini Warhammer Online store on this site linking to extremely relevant products (e.g., software, fiction books, guides, DVDs, etc.).

What do you think of that list? Any preferences? Anything you’d like to ad(d)? Do you have experience with advertising on a blog? Please share!

Posted in Personal | 26 Comments »

Minimum System Specs for WAR

No official word on Mac compatibility yet, but here’s what the WAR Herald lists as minimum system requirements for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning at release. Bear in mind, these are MINIMUM requirements, so you won’t get the best performance, however, you should be able to get by (not based on any beta feedback, just years of experience with PC gaming).

For Windows XP

·  2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
·  1 Gigabyte RAM
·  A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
·  At least 15 GB of hard drive space

For Windows VISTA

·  2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
·  2 Gigabyte RAM
·  A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
·  At least 15 GB of hard drive space

Supported Video Cards

ATI Radeon(TM) series

·  9500, 9600, 9800
·  X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
·  X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
·  2400, 2600, 2900,
·  3650, 3850, 3870
·  4850, 4870

NVIDIA GeForce series

·  FX 5900, FX 5950
·  6600, 6800,
·  7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
·  8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
·  9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
·  GTX 260, GTX 280

Intel(R) Extreme Graphics

·  GMA X4500

Unfortunately, I can’t really elaborate yet on my current system and performance in beta, but this appears to be what they’re aiming for. I’m quite happy to report that my new computer blows these specs out of the water, so I should be good to play WAR for years into the future. Also of note, these don’t appear to be much higher than World of Warcraft’s minimum system requirements.

Interesting to ponder the timing implications of this announcement. Sounds like they’re really gearing up for NDA drops and open beta (eliminating confusion by officially announcing the minimum specs). To me, this confirms that there is absolutely no chance they will delay release again.

Posted in Game News | 10 Comments »

Thank you, UPS!

UPDATE: My package arrived at 2:00pm on July 31 and everything was in tip top shape! Hooray! Below are my original frustrations:

Thanks for receiving my package in your distribution center two days ago and then only shipping it out this morning at 3:40AM, when it was supposed to actually arrive today. Thanks for rescheduling the delivery date to tomorrow instead and not allowing me to change the delivery address to my workplace until you make at least one failed delivery attempt first. Thanks for not allowing me to specify a delivery time or range either. Now I must arrange for someone to hang out at my house all day. Thanks for taking 7 full days to deliver my new computer when you originally quoted me at 1-6 days.

Thanks again. You’re the bestest!

All will be forgiven if everything arrives intact and perfectly functional, otherwise, I may just cry a little that this intimate weekend I planned to spend with WAR won’t work out as planned. My wife is out of town for four days and I need to capitalize on it!

Posted in Personal | 30 Comments »

Forum Watch (July 22 - July 29, 2008)

Wait, did you read that title right? Really? It is! He finally finished another Forum Watch! It’s time to get started one again with thegreenskin.com and your very distracted host, me! Cicadymn! I’ve waited a long time to say these words, and right here and now I’ll make it official. *Ahem* There is a Beta. I am in it. Ha! Finally! My lifelong dream of being in the closed beta came true! (Wait did he say lifelong?) All thanks to a phantasmagorical guildie of mine Sloug, and his attempt at a 100% entrance rate in beta by buying five Boom! Comics, lucky for me, you can only add one code to your account! Hehehe. Anyways, enough of my rubbing it in. It’s time for this weeks Forum Watch! I’ll try to keep them and Know Your Gods coming, but they may be more sporadic due to my…preoccupation. But don’t worry, your time will come! Stay Ready, WAR is coming.

First couple levels? Or all the way at the end?

• For me it’s going to be a hard choice. Assuming that the item doesn’t become useless after Tier 1, the bonus XP can really come in handy during the last levels when you just need that little extra boost to get you to your goal.

Don’t be scared, it will all be over soon enough

• I don’t care that this post is long. Just go and read it.

I’m sure by now you need that quick Paul fix

• While you don’t get the whole dose, this can help you get through the day with a little bit of Paul to even you out. Check it out!

Just in case it was still a little hazy…

• The boyz over at WAR-RvR are here to clear up any confusion! Check out what they think is going on with capitol sieges and how they’re gonna number!
  

WAR is coming to us in September! Or not.

• Did somebody say Freudian slip? (I only know that term thanks to Portal btw). Well originally EA had let loose that WAR would be going out on September 23rd, however, it was recently changed to a more convoluted September ‘08. That still sounds good to me. But until Mythic gets their hindquarters in gear and tells us we’ll never know!

In case you weren’t paying attention

• Warhammer Conflict did an interview with a WAR personality, check it out to get some great information! I forgive you for pronouncing my name wrong Warhammer conflict, but it’s Sick-a-Dim! Also, the second time I was mentioned it was actually the poster below me that asked that one. Sorry about that Gynthazi, your props are yours not mine! Also, for future reference, can people with simpler names please post after me from now on? Thanks.

Can WAR handle it? I hope so

• And so do the boyz over at Only-WAR. You should stop on by and find out what we’re talking about. It’s kind of important.

If you still haven’t decided, this thread might help you out

• Are you going to go with Open RvR or Core Ruleset? Can’t decide? Check out these guys over at only-war to hopefully find the answer you seek!

So the CE is sold out?

• This is bad news! Well sort of, It’s bad news for a good friend of mine, he never got around to ordering one (he doesn’t have any money blah!) and now he’s regretting it because he wont have a chance to get in the head start/open beta with his guildmates and good friends! If only there was some way to get an Open beta and head start key…if only there was a generous Forum Watch Fan out there…Hehe, well it was worth a try anyways.

Do you have a lot of questions you want answers to when NDA drops?

• Then look no further! Satriani5 over at VNboards is ready to take your questions to town and have them ready to post come NDA drop. Get over there quick if you want that question answered!

GoA getting in gear?

• Does this mean Open Beta rapidly approaches? Better stop on over and take a look!

So when the time comes, what will you do?

• When the time comes for Open Beta to start, will you shrivel up and die from exposure to something you waited so long for? Explode from the overwhelming feeling of Joy? Check out these boyz at Tentonhammer. They seem to be on top of it today.
  

Posted in Forum Watch | 2 Comments »