I have always enjoyed the way blizzard developers their ‘jungle’ zones — Stranglethorn Vale, and Un’Goro Crater spring to mind. — and I quickly found myself hoping that Kezan was no exception.

Whilst the zone was loading; I found myself fantasizing about a flyover movie which encircles a lush jungle island, ending to rest behind your character… An idea obviously not shared at blizzard, there was a severe lack of introduction move, and a severe lack of lush jungle island…

Blizzard certainly isn’t one to be restrained by the medieval genre generally associated with the warcraft series, — Robots, Tanks, Helicopters and Rocket Launchers… — but by no stretch was I expecting what I found:

In a desperate attempt to figure out where my jungle island had disappeared to I took to reading the NPC dialouge and the quest texts… I was soon informed that this goblin metropolis was Kezan, and that I was an executive of the local ‘Kaja-Cola’ business, and gunning for the title of ‘Trade Prince’.

Alright, I suppose a little explanation is warranted here: A goblin trade prince is essentially the ruler of his ‘country’, where the goblin nation is a group of countries. (Which aren’t necessarily allied with each other.)

We were soon directed to the mine foreman, Mr. Dampwick; who was in need of some help. Apparently our troll ‘workers’ weren’t working hard enough… I was handed a taser and directed to ‘make them work harder’.

While undertaking this quest I came across a nice change to game play, do you remember those quests where you have to repeatedly use the same item on different mobs? — There is one in the orc starting area, that involves waking sleeping peons with a blackjack, if memory servers me — Well instead of having to ‘use’ the item, I could simply right-click the trolls.

Blizzard have always had an interesting sense of humor, and I certainly got a laugh out of the troll’s responses to being tased.

“What I doin’ wrong? Don’t I get a lunch and two breaks a day, mon?”

“I report you to HR!”

I don’t want to spoil the entire area for everyone, so I’m going to skip ahead a bit! A bit later one, I was given a quest to head into town and pick up some supplies for a party I was apparently throwing… “What?!, More running…” I grunted as I read the quest description… but to my surprise they were nice enough to supply us with… of all things… a car:

After zipping around town and collecting a few friends, and the party supplies I was given the difficult task of keeping the partygoers happy, which involved supplying them with more booze, nibbles, fireworks and the occasional bucket!

There were a few problems with the swimming pool in this area, but hey, its BETA.

After my party was well, and truly over the volcano in the center of the island decided it was a good time to blow its top… Faced with the task of escaping my demise I was quick to act and sadly didn’t take as many screenshots as I would’ve liked…

Needless to say acquiring the money to ‘purchase’ my way off the island involved a little… plundering… and some insurance fraud! Thats right, Insurance fraud:

“We’re close, but we still don’t have enough macaroons. Lucky for you boss, I suspected this might be the case, and I’ve got a plan. We’re going to collect on the headquarters’ insurance policy!
I took the liberty of filling the place with the lef

tover fireworks from your party, all you have to do is go in there are sabotage things a bit.
May I suggest the faulty generator, the leaky stove, and the flammable bed?…”

The following screenshot was taken from the boat, looking back over Kezan as the was bombarded with volcanic material!

After our boat headed off, and Kezan shrunk into the distance, we *apparently* encountered a battle between the alliance and the horde. Needless to say our ship was wrecked, and we were left to wash up on the shore… but on the plus side I figured out where that lush jungle island was hiding!

It certainly didn’t start on the best note, and then it soon dipped into frustration. Apparently my copy-pasted copy of the World of Warcraft client wasn’t sufficient for the picky Blizzard Downloader; I then spent the next hour re-installing all three previous copies… *Rolls Eyes*

Once that was all said and done, I attempted the download once more… surprise, surprise! I was once again, met with opposition. Apparently I had taken too long to start my download…

With another copy of the downloader in hand, it was off! with a hiss, and a roar, in a cloud of foul shit.

This is where my night started heading up hill… If only for a shot while.

The download and installation client was nice enough to inform me the beta client was a measly 2.2 GB, I was once again quite happy!

(Living in Australia, and having both a slow internet connection and limited monthly download quota) I was content in the knowledge that I would be playing in only a few short hours…

A few hours later…

I returned to my computer, coffee in hand, to find the download at 99%, and overall installation at 85%! A nice piece of technology I wish Blizzard would implement with their update patches… Installing files as they’re downloaded… but I digress.

I soon found myself loading up the game, and logging in, only to be met with a 1.2 GB update patch.

(Looking back on it now, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable… actually, it was perfectly reasonable…)

By now though it was 2AM and I found myself both bored, and tired… So naturally I slept!

The next morning…

With the patch completing over night I spent a few minutes perusing the patch notes, finding that the Worgen starting area was currently being re-vamped and Worgen we’re currently un-available for play… A little disheartened by this I preceded to make myself a Goblin instead.

Stay tuned for the next installment! Cataclysm BETA: The Goblin’s of Kezan, A first impression.

Earlier today I received an email from Blizzard stating that I had been accepted into the Cataclysm BETA, so expect commentary on that, and if I get around to be, perhaps some videos too!

Stay tuned.

I’ve primarily been under the tutelage of the W3Schools website who have an amazing range of tutorials on things i’ve yet to even acknowledge the existance of!

If you’ve not alreay found, and/or made use of their website I would highly reccomend looking into it: http://www.w3schools.com/

I’ve run out of EVE Online game time, I’m back plating World of Warcraft and nothing has happened on the Warhammer front.  -_-

Ill have to start my WoW detox again when I can muster the willpower to stop playing; Oh woe is me.

I can say whole heartedly, and with complete honesty, that I am enjoying EVE alot more than WoW, and substantally more that I did when I first tried it. I’ve primarily been working on making some money to give myself a headstart in the game… I soon found out that mining wasn’t as quick to level, or as quick to riches as I had once though.

After it became apparant that I wasn’t going to make the money I needed to build and outfit a decent combat ship any time soon, I took mining on as a career.

Only recently have I ventured outside of 1.0 & 0.9 security space… Without the help of Nacimota it would be rather impossible for me to even progress to 0.6 space where we have taken up residence.

Hes not all too far ahead of me in the mining business and I should catch upto him within the next week, once we can both hold our own, we can certainly start making more money.

Back then I looked upon EVE’s semi-automation as a bad thing as I had less control over my ship, this time however, i’m really enjoying the semi-automation.

I’m also enjoying the game alot more, as I feel that

I can appreciate what it is more now, as opposed to where I could only compair it all those years ago.

I’ve always understood the grand scale on which the EVE universe was built, barely making it out of the rookie tutorial It finally dawned on me, just how big the universe actually is.

That little blue square, is a highlight of my ship… I looks pretty big, but the stargate in the background is ~40kM away.

After reading into Dust 514 in more depth i’m awaiting its release, but not just to enrich my EVE experience, but so that I can directly impact the success or failure of planetary control.

To quote Wikipedia (On Dust 514):

“The game features users fighting ground battles in wars on planets in the Eve Online universe…, …the events that happen in this game will affect the EVE Online universe. Battles in this game can also determine who controls various planets in the EVE universe, and users in Dust 514 can interact with users from the EVE universe…”

Dust 514 which is (at this stage) only being released for the console market, is an experimental hybrid of the MMORPG and FPS genres, hybrids of these and similar genres have been attempted in the past; most notably: STALKER and Borderlands.

As both an RPG and FPS enthusiast you would expect me to ‘jump for joy’ at the announcement of these games, though I enjoyed STALKER and have never though of Borderlands past more than a mere consideration, I’m not particularly enthused about Dust 514. When I say i’m not particularly enthused, don’t get me wrong… I would both love to play it, and cannot wait for its release, but its not something I would wait in line, over night for.

I’m a typical (and predominantly) PC gamer, and my inexperience at playing a console breeds a lot of frustration, confusion and anger when it comes to aiming… and in particularly, games that require a good aim: First Person Shooters.

Dust 514, being solely released for console is probably the only shortfall I can see at the moment, if done well, CCP has the potential of creating a gaming community that could indeed rival some of the bigger gaming communities around.

I will at this point, withdraw, and reserve judgment on their decision to aim solely for

the console market, till the games release.

For years now, my only incentive to play has been that my friends play,  and their incentive being that I play.

When CCP’s EVE Online was released I was interested, After playing it for a while with some friends we drifted away from it, as is the fassion with all games. Since then, there has been a multitude of updates the the game, with the announcement of Tyrannis the 13th expansion to the EVE Universe, and Dust 514 CCP’s experimental MMO-FPS which is connected directly with the currant EVE MMO; I’m thinking about finally quiting WoW and moving towards EVE.

Below is a link to the EVE Online ’splash’ which displays its game trailer.

EVE Online Introduction Website

I’ve recently purchased the Orcs’ and Goblins’ Codex and as the first purchase towards an army am contemplaying between some Night Goblin Fanatics or a

Night Goblin Regiment. As is probably a little obvious by my choice of starting units i’m going to construct a Night Goblin heavy army. I’ve yet to decide upon the score to which my ’standard’ army will be assembled to match.

Below are pictures of the Codex, and the models i’m thinking of purchasing: