SWTOR: the adventure continues

More like adventures in scavenging scrap metal.  I joke...sort of...let me fill you in on my recent escapades:

I got bored with my Imperial Agent, correction - I got bored with getting my ass kicked because my gear is shite and Agent is just kind of boring to play.  Run into cover, charge shot, shoot, get shot at, and whomped in melee.  It's kind of regrettable because I do like the story.  So I created a bounty hunter (Bessler) and I've had a much better time with her, both in combat and versatility in game play.  However I ended up in the weeds in a crafting skill that while potentially awesome didn't really ring my bell - Cybertech.  Cybertech is cool - it's the craft for mods and droid parts and ship gear - and potentially useful down the road but in the meantime it's kind of less than thrilling craft.  So I started another bounty hunter - after starting an awesomely grizzled looking older woman Republic Trooper and finding out I can't trade gear between Republic and Empire characters (which is kind of lame).  This time I went for a male Rattataki and made the biggest guy I could.  He looks like an alien Buster Bloodvessel.  I slapped the hooliganyouth moniker on this goon and contrary to most male characters I play this guy is actually pretty nice and has been shifting over to Light Side pretty quick (unlike Scoville who is sinking into the Dark Side with rapidity).  So Hooliganyouth, the big moosey, lumbers along and actually looks more like a Space Marine than a Bounty Hunter.  I've noticed a changed in my combat style as well, with this alt I tend to get stuck in pretty quick (the same way I was playing the Republic Trooper) charging into the fray with two blasters, missles, and a flame thrower.  I guess I play him as a Space Marine too.  Wait a second, "For the Emperor!" hmmm...

I decided to go with armortech with hooliganyouth because it seems like the most practical skill for my class to have.  I've heard a lot of chatter about biotech - which allows the crafting of medpacs and stims - and its ease of use/levelling but frankly I don't use stims or medpacs since my companion is my heal monkey and medpac recharge rate is fucking useless at 90 seconds.  Plus I seem to come across a lot of armor drops that I can simply reverse engineer for parts/templates.  Combined with scavenging and slicing I've got a set-up that works for me.  I also have Scoville and Bessler set-up with armstech/investigation/underworld trading and cybertech/slicing/underworld trading respectively so shifting goods and gears back and forth is easy enough.

All in all been having fun, which I'm starting to think is the most important thing in life/recreation. 

Something awesomer than WoW.

I was going to start this post about how I reached level 80 with Scoville in WoW, however...

Fallout: New Vegas is scheduled for Fall 2010.  Warcraft?  What Warcraft?  On one hand I hope I can import characters but on the other I'd love to start a new one, especially if they have new skill trees.  I thought kolaches made my day...this really makes my day.

WoW News: Starting a new guild on Fizzcrank.

Unfortunately Followers of Eli (the guild I have been a member of ) is dissolving.  This is a drag but it is what it is.  So, in a fit of madness I am starting up a guild.  The name will be Hooligan Youth United.  Here's the rundown of what I'm thinking:

• The name Hooligan Youth United doesn't have anything to do with age, race, or gender.  The concept is simple - punk rockers, rude boys & girls, SHARPs, goths, rivetheads, hard-rockers, and assorted folks outside the social norm.  You don't need to be a member of any of those groups currently.  Hell, I'm not a youth by any means these days and I've gone pretty square.
• A social/casual/levelling/learning the ins & outs of the game guild based around standard rules of Mr. Rogers.  Don't make Mr. Rogers sad.
• I'm not going to be spamming for charter signatures, I have three right now and will be trying to hustle for more.  What with finals and moving perhaps this isn't the smartest time to do this but I figure if there's no rush.  We can have folks who are worth having in a crew and not space-monkeys interested in hand-outs.
• When all is said and done, Hooligan Youth United will not be a baby-sitting service or a soup-kitchen or a gold-teat to help you get a new ride.
• Any suggestions, ideas, questions, comments are welcome and appreciated.

So yeah, there we go.  Anyone interested?  I will be lurking around Fizzcrank most evenings so drop me a line.

p.s. This is an Alliance guild.

p.p.s. Here are the potential tabards:

Cogs!

Hooray Beer!

Thirty days of Warcraft, Spring Break marathon, and hopefully a return to regularly scheduled programming.

So I blew past the thirty day marker on Warcraft this week.  It was Spring Break/hide from the world and wear jammies week as well.  Here a few observations:

1. Warcraft was designed by diabolical masterminds who have in their employ people who worked on government mind control projects and the people who invented crack.  Of course I joke but this is a game that has an addiction level like no other I've played.  Perhaps the addiction level is the same but there's no end in sight, there's always just one more x,y, or z.  Warcraft's reward system is brilliantly designed.  Each goal is tantalizingly out of reach but ultimately completing the goal is empty because here's the next carrot.
2. Warcraft has been a welcome escape from my personal life.  While this is not the appropriate forum or time for such a discussion, let me just say it hasn't been a sun-warmed basket of fluffy kittens.  People on Warcraft are, on the whole a fairly nice bunch, and thanks to the blessed anonymity of the Internet and a "toon" ("toon" is the in-game term for your...sigh...avatar), it is fairly easy to get along with people.  Plus the ability to simply block having to listen to any dipshits from chat avec "ignore" is a blessing.  I also have also found that I am a fairly humourous individual and oddly enough play well with others as long as they aren't being pricks, trolls, gloryhounds, or SHOUTERS (a.k.a. people who type in all caps).  I do have a tendency to be kind of a jerk about there, their, and they're and appropriate usages.  Once I simply refused to understand what someone was saying because of their grammar.  Childish I know but I think I was drunk.  Probably was times being what they are and things being what they are.
3. I think I should have gone with an RP (role playing) server instead of a PvE (Player v environment) server.  While I wouldn't go all Ye Olde Renn Fairre Forsoothing, it would be kind of fun to do some good old fashioned role-playing d20 style.
4. My new personal favorite dungeon quip, "Are they bringing pancakes?"  in reference to being alerted to the presence of something big and hurty.  The best reply I've gotten is, "Yes, but you have to beat the pancakes out of them." followed by a conversation about what type of syrup the monsters bleed.
5. I managed to beat my goal for Spring Break of passing level 50 (as of last night I was up to level 52 or 53).  Now I'm staring down the barrel of 60.  Bastards.
6. Followers of Eli are an awesome guild though sometimes I wonder when people sleep.

And there's more but mostly in-game quibbles that I won't go into.  Will I keep playing for another month?  Probably, but will I be a long range player?  I dunno, I guess that remains to be seen.  Until then, if you're on Fizzcrank look me up: my main is Scoville and my alts are Bessler and Capsaicin.

New character...

Gustatory Reflex & Oral Chemesthesis is Da'Bomb! (aka new hot sauces I like)

Gustatory Reflex & Oral Chemesthesis are the fancy terms for sweating, snotting, and coughing fire. I found new hot sauces and here's the rundown.

El Yucateco is a damn fine brand. I picked up a bottle of Kutbil-Ik which - according to their website - is Mayan for "crushed chile". Rated at 11,600 Scoville this stuff is...well...my direct quote was, "It's like a volcano shit in my mouth." It's awesome stuff and I love the flavor but I don't know if I could just put this on everything I ate. Kutbil-Ik is something to: use very sparingly, use for some kind of Shaolin chile pepper eating, or for punishing children. On the other end of the spectrum I picked up the Chipotle style. It's much milder ranking in at 3,400 Scoville. It is very tasty and far superior to any other chipotle sauce I've found. This is going to be a staple hot sauce. If you can find it I strongly suggest picking it up. I haven't picked up the Green Habanero but have tried it a couple of times at restaurants around town. It comes in at 9,000 Scoville. Not so good on its own - it's too bright but could be tasty mixed in rice or guacamole. The green is not one I'll be picking up though.

San Luis Hot Sauce "Really Hot" is good. About the same caliber as Valentina Hot Sauce. It's a solid every day use hot sauce. I've been partial to putting it on breakfast - not Strawberry Rice Kripsies...yet - eggs, sandwiches, egg sandwiches, etc., etc. It's not particularly hot but it's not a slouch either. At an eighty-nine cent price tag for a 17 oz. bottle there's no reason not to have a bottle kicking around. Only one problem - opening the bottle is a pain in the ass. The cap doesn't screw off so you have to punch a hole in the cap and fish out the plastic or leave the chunks of plastic in the bottle.

You can pick these up at your local Mexican supermarket, bakery, taqueria, or if you're not smack dab in the middle of whitey-town your regular supermarket.