NBI Wrap-up - Building a Community

One month has come and gone in a flash as usual, meaning the NBI, Newbie Blogger Initiative is technically done.

I feel a bit bad, not having written more advice articles, but I find its a bit boring writing the same advice that nearly everyone else is writing about (even if you get a different perspective). It is my hopes that any new bloggers that came to my site would realize that blogging is about getting your ideas out there and its just about sharing what you're passionate about. Sometimes you're inspired and can pump out tons of entries (ie. all my Diablo 3 entries), and sometimes you have nothing. Even though you may have 'nothing,' you can always find 'something' to post; whether that be a comic, a picture, a quote.. anything and everything has value.


Oh and a shout out to my dear friend Leslie who updated my banner logo to something that fits my color scheme better. Thats possibly the last thing I'll advise, in that its nice to have someone artistic (if you're not) make a banner for you that is eye-catching and a good representation of your blog. The idea of the foot prints was from the Family Circus comics where it shows where the kids went; instead of a straight line to the objective, they would go anywhere and everywhere instead (b/c they're kids). That was the same for me when I was playing Warhammer Online; instead of going to the quest objective, I would be exploring every nook and cranny of the map, looking for Tome of Knowledge achievements.


I'd like to give props to Justin aka Syp at Biobreak who started this idea, showing one can build a great sense of community through blogging. His entry has a massive list of all the new bloggers and sponsor blogs that one may find interesting. I'm going to go and start adding everyone to my blogroll over the next few days (there's alot!). Congrats everyone, keep at it, and I wish everyone good fortunes in writing. 

You're more than a study group now, you've become a Community.

Photography - ISO Comparison

I went to a close friend's wedding over the weekend and took some photos of the blushing bride at the church ceremony. Looking in the display window, it looked great; good exposure, good crispness, in focus.. Sure, I didn't have a good seat, nor chose to move around for better angles, but I wasn't really in the mood to do that and wanted to try to enjoy the moment.

I came home and uploaded the photos. To my horror I found that because I was using a telephoto lens, less light was hitting the sensor, requiring me to increase my aperture to maximum and increasing my iso to 3200. Both things I dislike to do; while increasing aperture will result in bokeh, the photographer needs to ensure that the correct point of focus is made, otherwise the shot will be ruined with one's eyes unable to settle on the right focus point (should normally be on the eyes, but may be on the cheek/nose instead). With a telephoto lens (which allows incredible zoom), it becomes increasingly harder to keep your camera still and get the proper focus point. I already knew the dangers of a high iso: noise/grain. To the untrained eye, most people don't see it (noise), but for photographers in particular who study photos, noise is a very ugly thing, almost unprofessional. That's why I don't like Facebook photos because they normally are very grainey or are under exposed (very dark areas; normally the face). 

Today's entry is a comparison of different iso settings of the same picture, which is something that I should have done before and that i'd recommend. Why? In knowing how much noise will appear in your photo, will help you determine whether you want to make that much of a sacrifice. I believe that the result (how much noise) will differ depending on your individual camera; so this was all taken with my Nikon D300s on my 50mm f1.8 lens.

200 ISO - Basically Perfect

1250 ISO - The Threshold

2500 ISO - Noise is Noticeable (car siding and bricks of house)

6400 ISO - Unacceptable (noticeable even on the driveway)

So after doing an analysis of my photos (I had one for every step in ISO and just chose to show the major changes), I've found that, IF possible, try to keep your ISO at 200-500 for the best result. 1250 ISO is probably the highest ISO that I would go with, as the noise starts to creep into the photo. Anything  2500 and greater is probably not worth taking. This is all my opinion, people have varying levels of what is good or not, but again, this is more of an experiment for oneself to determine how much noise is acceptable for you.

Diablo 3 - Dude Where's My Rare?

 Something came to me today that I found odd:


1. Where are my pants?


2. Why did Blizzard feel the need to outline rare enemies in yellow? Are we blind?

3. Seriously, where are my pants?


Even a blind person would be able to make out elite and rare enemies in D3. I guess its better than not seeing them at all, but its painfully obvious. I would prefer they are not neon signs and just appear bigger or better equipped. It kind of takes away from the immersion is all i'm saying.


I'm having a blast with D3 and Blizzard keeps finding ways to make me say "wow that was alot of bad guys.. I doubt I could fight even more.." And then they surprise me over and over. 

Whats happening here? Beats me; just spam your skill!

Happy Wednesday

You're halfway there (work-week-wise)people! 

Diablo 3: An Adventurer In Need

Diablo 3, while a great game, could use some improvements in some areas:

A button to sell all the trash gear. Later on, we'll only pick up blues and better, but if we're the type to pick up everything, a convenience button that lets us sell the trash would be very helpful.

A dedicated dye dealer so I can be even more poor since I like to turn my magic items into dust.. for my tomatoes.. My gf doesn't craft and has nearly 10 times more gold than I do. There is an achievement for using dyes though (dye each part of your gear at one time).

MORE random blacksmith/gemcrafter recipes to drop off monsters. I've never seen any recipes fall yet and maybe it should be something craftable (the recipe that is via money or the resource from salvaging). A great way money/resource sink would be to make certain lvls of your crafter be able to make a random RARE piece type; whether that is truly random, or like the current system where it is like [Random Chest Piece: 2 enchantments]. Although i've seen rare recipes, I believe its only for certain gear parts and not every part that a player would need. That would make crafting even more addictive and exciting.

More useful followers. I found my pet in Torchlight was much more effective than my followers in D3. My pet could fight and do decent damage, I could equip them with a unique spell, it could hold items, use gear to buff it, and run back to town to sell. I thought Blizzard would steal that idea and make followers better; I see my templar struggle with one enemy at a time. Its basically my heal bot. The only thing my templar can do is make small talk with my barbarian... whoopie. 

Diablo 3: Spam-lunking Your Heart Out

I can't remember how D2 played.. I think it was similar to this comic. But it DOES feel like you are spamming the same skills over and over; the left click ability and then the right click.. once in a while doing a numbered ability. 

At low levels i'm finding its very much a grindfest for characters; just mowing down hordes and hordes of enemies with the same ability (go Barb Frenzy). Maybe at higher levels, there is more strategy.

I do notice with my Wizard that i'm not spamming as much; I'd cast off my buff spell, then use up all my Arcane mana, cast a frost nova to freeze enemies that got into melee range, then cast my signature spell until I have more Arcane Mana again. Rinse and repeat. Its spamming in a way, just more buttons to press.

For some, this will annoy them and cause them to quit. For others this is perfect.

Diablo 3: 3rd Day Impressions

So! Have you had a chance to play any Diablo 3 yet or have the servers got you down? (bad pun)


I originally thought that I would play the Wizard b/c it fits my playstyle best (high risk, high reward), but i've found that I prefer the Witch Doctor the best right now. It has a nice slew of summon spells to keep the buffer between you and monsters and is great when it gets laggy and need something to distract enemies (ill touch on that later). They nailed the creepy shamanistic feel of the class.. nothing says scary than bats, zombies, frogs and spiders. One of my favorite spells was the Grasp of Hands which looks like a scene of your favorite horror movie where zombie hands jut from the ground trying to grab you; it not only slows down the enemies that walk through but also damages them as well.

Froggies!

The Wizard class seems a bit underpowered at early levels and heavily concentrates on arcane and ice spells. I kinda expected more fire spells. What is interesting is that if you freeze an enemy and use a cold spell on it while frozen, it will do less damage. I like small touches like that. The greatest thing about the spellcasters in D3 compared to D2 or other similar kind of games is the mana system. Your Wizard has two kinds of spells Signature and non-signature; signature spells may be slightly on the weaker side, but doesn't cost 'mana', while non-signature spells have cooldowns and costs mana. I truly enjoy this system as I will always have a reliable spell and not have to worry about mana conservation or even potions (can't find mana potions yet; doubt there are any). In all other games, the spell caster can usually provide the highest amount of spike damage, but be limited especially at early levels, but their mana. In D3, you have a steady stream of mana/spells, at the cost of less dps. I say: Bravo. I like this new system.


After only playing 2 days of D3, I see both the benefits and downsides of needing to be connected constantly to the internet to play the game. The biggest downside is the inability to play when the servers are down. This was originally created to be played offline and I understand that and hacking and all that kind of bad stuff that has lead us to DRM. I don't like that, but my main problem is if you have poor internet connection (my house has 3 different people doing massive downloads at peak time), your latency will be poor, EVEN if you're playing solo. THAT, I don't like.


I do enjoy the fact that in being connected, there is 'greater security' and all that jazz. It enables us to play with others more easily if say we started only soloing and find friends that want to join you; instead of creating a whole new character, you just keep using your character and join their game (or vice versa). Though there are breaking drawbacks to this DRM, Blizzard has done a good job in making online play much more convenient and fluff-filled.


Below are some of the best implementations of D3: 




Health pots
- there is a separate key for them (Q), with a cooldown
- health pots will not take up a huge part of your inventory anymore; only one or two slots if you're good with health management


Mini map
- the mini map is great as well as the major map; being in the top right corner
- its very detailed and helps you find where to go for quests, where your companions are, and various points of interest


Shared stash
- I can't remember in D2, but there is a shared stash for all your characters
- its now a billion times easier to trade gear between your alts; just login with that alt and go to the stash and its in there. Easy
- the sharded stash also is used for the auction house; so there isn't anywhere in particular you need to go to sell items; it opens up in a separate screen with your stash screen open from there


Lore bits
- I love lore bits; normally when you defeat a new monster, there will be a lore button you can click on which gives you an audio log tidbit about it


Achievements
- who doesn't like achievements?
- and since you're online now you will also see your friends gaining achievements
- achivements grants ingame rewards; so far I see stuff to customize your banner


Buddy system 
- in the bottom right of your screen there is a social button which shows at a quick glance how many of your friends are online
- when maximized, you can easily add friends either by their email or their battlenet tag#
- you will be able to see where they are, what character they're playing, and be able to invite them to your party
- one of the greatest innovations of this buddy system is right when you login, on the right it shows you friends that are playing and it gives you the option of quick joining them, instead of the traditional invite system we're used to


Banner system 
- each account has a banner for your characters that you're able to customize and call your own
- with over 5 different categories and 30+ options in each, there are literally hundreds of thousands of customizable options and looks to one's banner
- while in game, you can go to town and it will show each player's banner which will allow you to quickly jump to where they are
- no longer do you have to wait for them to drop a town portal; just jump to their banner and you'll jump to them


If you've read all this and you're still not convinced.. don't bother ;) Although we had to wait nearly a decade for D3, and the server/DRM issue is a big one, I think all the improvements makes it worth the wait. 

Diablo 3: You know what would be cool? Playing.

Just fyi.. I'm going to be a bit random here..

And... so many connection issues with Diablo 3 servers tonight.. in credit to Blizzard, I did install the game and log in the first time with no issues. No gray screens *KNOCKONFREAKINGWOOD*.. through about an hours worth of game time.


Got to a major boss.. defeated it... and then the game disconnected... BLAH!
I'm curious of how often the game saves your progress.. ill find out when I am able to re-log back in; will be looking for the Saber of the Eagle that i picked up 2 seconds before I disconnected.


Its a great game.. nice innovations.. and still feels like the Diablo 2 that you played 10 years ago.. in a good way. Except for the graphics.. i'm at full everything and I kinda expected better graphics.. oh well.. still rather pretty.


If you like having a horde of spiders do your dirty work, then the Witch Doctor is totally your class. I know I said i'd play the Wizard first, but I wanted to give it a try being a pet class. Pretty sick; they start off early with an aoe dot that has grasping hands that snare and damage enemies in the area. Blizzard totally nailed the creepy vibe that is the Witch Doctor... although he does talk like a scholar.. Fyi; you can't change the appearance of your character, only the gender.

Some funny quotes from the Twitterverse:


"error 37, 75, 3003... ok I'm starting to get the pattern here" ~gomfucius


"Diablo 3, always online, except when you want to play" ~boothninja81

"if my girlfriend went down as much as D3, I'd be the happiest man alive" ~intellilogic


"i was having a great time playing Diablo 3, then I took a DRM to the knee" ~beelandj


"well Diablo 3 servers are down. Suppose ill go take a shower lol" ~psykio


Good ol' Blizzard, helping us with our hygiene issues..

NBI: Opportunity

Blogging is just like photography; you always want to be ready to take it, otherwise you'll miss the opportunity.

Countless times I passed by my neighbor's property and saw a tree that reminded me of the Japanese cherry blossoms and thought in my head 'oh that would make a pretty picture.' I would then procrastinate b/c 'it would still be there later.' 

WRONG. Photography and blogging are the same in that, the opportunity will be there for only a brief window and eventually it'll be gone. Those blossoms were only available for another week and one day, the day i intended on taking photos, they turned an ugly brown from a snowflake white.

While you may write it differently than other bloggers, if you wait, most of your interested traffic will be gone if you wait too long to articulate your thoughts. Just like how today is the Diablo 3 launch day; its best to talk about your launch day experiences, the day of, not one week from now. 

I'd always recommend to be ready for either (writing/photography) opportunity. Carry your camera with you everywhere.. something I still don't do. Bring a notepad with you everywhere.. or type the thought into your phone.. or have a pc notepad window open and (if you're allowed to, of course) write your thoughts out and forward them home. 

P.s. I dislike how Instagram makes people think they're now photographers.. :P

                                                           Newbie bloggers! Join us! 

Diablo 3: Error! Does not Compute!

In hindsight, I kinda wonder why I made a special effort to leave for work earlier so that I could hopefully pick up Diablo 3 at my local EB Games. It was unfortunately not open yet and I rushed to work a bit paranoid that I wouldn't be able to get a copy when I had time during my lunch. I actually went during my break to snag a copy... which there were many of. 


Then you see the news that the servers are overloaded with an error37.


RAGE QUIT!!!!!


lol. More like a *shrug* "meh."


We shouldn't be upset at such a thing, as we need to approach the Diablo 3 launch as a launch similar to (but possibly even more popular than) the most highly anticipated mmo. Say 'maybe' Guild Wars 2. I'd go out to even say that D3 will have even more people playing it than GW2.


In saying that then, there is always launch day issues. Overloaded servers.. massive lag, and huge queues is the norm. Except with Rift which had some rather huge queues for the first week.. more mmo launches are rather rough. 


BUT "D3 isn't an mmo" we scream/whine. That is true; this is the way of the future, being required to be connected to the internet constantly, even if we are playing single player *coughSTEAMcough*. This is the part I don't particularly like; ok the servers are overloaded and we can't play online with other players: that is acceptable. But I would like to play some offline D3 and totally understand I can't transfer my character or gear to my online character even if it is the company's 'fault' for not having enough servers to handle launch day capacity. 


And that is exactly how it works for Heroes of Might and Magic 5; if you cannot connect to the internet, you can still play Homm5 singleplayer. The game will not track your progress and earn any rewards, but atleast you still get to play.


The inability to play even the single player offline-mode without any transfer over for D3 is a bit disheartening for me. Thats why i've learnt not to take vacation days for launches of games, unless it is a totally offline game that doesn't require internet connection.


Take heart fellow gamers; Blizzard is one of the better companies out there and are probably doing their best to solve this issue for their legions of fans.

And as I write this, looks like most people are able to log in fine now.. and the game is very good.