Six Degrees of April 29, 2016

I think I might start calling this Seven Degrees because I keep cheating and grabbing 7 posts to look at rather than 6 because one is more than 6 months old.  I guess that’s my current requirement – if the post is older than 6 months, I mention it but grab an extra site.

Six Degrees of April 29, 2016

This week the 7 sites I looked at were…

  • Harbinger Zero
  • Dice Jockey ==> Pathfinder
  • For A Few Credits More
  • What Rhino Said
  • The Legacies of SWTOR
  • FibroJedi
  • Gamers Decrypted

Harbinger Zero


21st Century F2P MMORPG’s

I love this post. Granted, HarbingerZero borrows the images from Imgur, but I agree…it really sums up the current crop of MMOs. I particularly like the candy cane and hat. Every time I look at that image, I think of the South Park episode with the Free Hat.  I’m also reminded about MonocleGate from Eve Online.  This is the type of thing that pisses players off and drives them away from games that don’t respect them. If there’s one thing I would like developers to learn is to respect the people you want to play your game.  If you start there, you’ll get so many more customers and a lot less grief.  


Dice Jockey ==> Pathfinder


3 Reasons Why I Gave Up the Ghost

Ben has moved his blog.  He was at the Dice Jockey site, but that forwards you to the Pathfinder site which is where I found this post, and it covers some interesting topics. Basically, Ben is cutting back on his finances, as I really should – and as Ben did, I’ve read the Dave Ramsey book.  Part of that process is migrating back to WordPress from Ghost. I think this is a good post to read if you are interested in starting a blog or self-hosting. He points out the stability of WordPress and the fact that there are so many developers for the platform. It really is hard to beat. It’s a good post to read if you’re thinking about blogging since it covers some of the foundational questions you should know about before starting, and Ben writes it in a clear and understandable manner.


For A Few Credits More


I need an Extra Life to fit it all in…

Mhorgrim over at For A Few Credits More posted back in October about the Extra Life Marathon.  He also mentions the Passionately Casual podcast which I downloaded but haven’t gotten a chance to listen to yet…an episode of the podcast was released April 9th so it’s more current than the post.  SWTOR seems to be the focus of the blog which is pretty cool since I’ve been thinking about getting back into that game soon.  I can definitely empathize with Mhorgrim about needing more time to get everything in…too many games…too much work…too much everything…and not enough time.


What Rhino Said


I’m Going To Japan

It’s pretty cool that Rhino is able to attain one of his dreams. I’d love to visit Japan someday for petty much the same reasons Rhino describes in the post. Japan is the spawning ground for so many game and anime concepts. I know the United States had had an influence on world culture, but Japan has had a big influence on U.S. culture. Whether it’s Speed Racer or Pokemon, Godzilla or Robotech, I love so much that Japan has introduced to the world that I’d love to visit…though I’d probably feel overwhelmed. In any case, I hope Rhino has a great time and I’m looking forward to seeing posts about the trip. 


The Legacies of SWTOR


Recent Achievements

Shadowz over at The Legacies of SWTOR comments on efforts he’s put forth to make achievements in Star Wars The Old Republic.  I’m pretty impressed since I still only have a low level sorcerer in that game…as usual, it’s an MMO I want to get back into…  In any case, Shadowz is pretty versed in the game and not only has the achievement thing down, but he is working diligently on crafting and making new outfits for his crop of characters.  Hopefully in future posts we can see some of the fashions he’s created, but he’s starting to look at making a new character or two, so that may be a while.  Maybe he should get with Noctua (below) to work on setting up his ranked team since they both seem to know this game pretty well.


FibroJedi


Fibro Jedi Younglings – Becoming a Fibromyalgia Father

Cor-Jhan, the FibroJedi posts about his excitement and nervousness for becoming a father.  I think this is a great post and wish him congratulations and much joy.  I know becoming a father is a grand experience, but I can only guess at how being a father with fibromyalgia will be.  I know that illness is pretty harsh, causing pain with seeming randomness and causing exhaustion on a regular basis.  While I’m sure the joys of parenting will push a lot of those issues away temporarily, they always come back…sometimes with a vengeance.  I find it so empowering for people to be able to have friendly gamers provide support and I love how the blogosphere seems to be a place that can offer encouragement when dealing with real life issues.  As Cor-Jhan mentions, “despite being in an ‘Age of Trolls’, social media can still bring out the best in people.”  I totally agree…and I’d like to see more of the best in people and less of the trolls.

Good Luck Cor-Jhar on bringing a new Jedi into the world!


Gamers Decrypted 


Team Ranked in SWTOR: Part 5 – I want to try to make a ranked team but I have no experience. Where do I start?

Wow!  This post is so jam packed with information.  If you ever want to play SWTOR and play ranked, I would recommend reading this series of posts from Noctua.  I’ve never played any ranked teams in SWTOR, but Noctua certainly has done some good research on what needs to be done to start up a new team.  Everything from class/specialization decisions, utility spell selection, team strategy, how to tank, dps, heal, and what NOT to do is covered in this post.  It seems to be pretty comprehensive and it’s only one of 5 posts dedicated to starting a team.  This post was focused on patch 4.0.3 back in January so I hope Noctua was able to put together a good team, but I could see a lot of the recommendations being useful for any season or even any game where you have to deal with a team of players.


Roundup

Well, here goes another attempt at my roundup (networking issues killed my last two attempts). 4 blogs touching on SWTOR…I think that’s pretty good for a game that’s been F2P for a while. It nice to see so many bloggers sticking with the game and enjoying it. I also found 3 blogs dealing with real life issues and I think it’s great to have supportive readers that help offer encouragement in difficult real life times.  In all, I think this is a good group if posts and I look forward to hearing more from the blogs I ran across.  


Morning Ramble 2.78