How many forum members does it take

.... to change a lightbulb?

One to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.

Fourteen to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

Seven to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

Seven more to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.

Three to correct spelling/grammar errors.

Six to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb".

Another six to condemn those six as stupid.

Fifteen to claim experience in the lighting industry and give the correct spelling.

Nineteen to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb (or light bulb) forum.

Eleven to defend the posting to the group saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this group.

Thirty six to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty.

Seven to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs.

Four to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL.

Three to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group.

Thirteen to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too".

Five to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy.

Four to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

Thirteen to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs."

Three to tell a funny story about their cat and a light bulb.

AND

One group lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now
with something unrelated and start it all over again.

Back in WoW

After cancelling my sub to World of Warcraft back in December, I've missed it...alot.  Not that I've ever been heavy into end-game raiding, etc., but I miss Azeroth and there are still so many things I haven't done there.

So, talking to a friend that has been playing and asked him to send me a scroll of resurrection.  Looked at all the sub options and decided to go for the annual pass as I know I'm playing a panda!  Diablo III, I hadn't had much interest in, but will likely try it now.

Watch out Azeroth, I'M BACK!

Having been gone so long with Rift, LoTRO and most recently TOR holding my attention, there are so many changes, it feels like a new game again!

I flew back to Stormwind just in time for the Horde invasion, so helped fight them off, only to be totally owned by an undead warlock up behind the keep.  When did 'locks get 140K health?  Ouch!

After that I decided to check the Darkmoon Faire, I can't remember the last time I attended one, so when did it move to its own island?

Pretty cool.  It felt like a a faire instead of a traveling carney event it use to.

Now we have one of the seasonal fun events - NobleGarden.  Time to chase down eggs and work on those achievements!

It feels good to be back.

GW2 - purchase now

Guild Wars 2 Pre-Purchase started today.  So of course had my order in a little after midnight.  Digital Deluxe Edition.  https://buy.guildwars2.com/

I'm definitely looking forward to spending time in GW2 as our guild has a number of people that will be playing.  Many of us interested in the PvP aspect of the game.  It should be good times.


The only thing I'm really hoping for is that it WON'T release to close to The Secret World's June release date.  TSW is the one I've been waiting for more than any other game in recent times.  Crossing my fingers the beta next month proves it was worth the wait and FunCom can put out a good game at launch.


It's definitely been a good gaming day - my Kinect finally arrived and I've been testing that out as well.  It will be a fun way to get in shape.  One day MMO's using a Kinect - gamers will be the fittest people out there!

Karraga and HM EV

Finally we did it.  Fabricator went down and Karraga was literally a cake-walk. Well almost.

We did manage to down Fabricator after only two tries and Karraga one attempt and he was dead.

Big yeah there.

As we were feeling so awesome, we decided to test an EV HM.  First attempt we wiped immediately on the turrets, but after that we sailed through with minimum deaths taking down Annihilation Droid XRR-3, the trash and Gharj, before we had to call it on account of people's schedules.

We were really surprised at how easily it all was coming together.  I think we'd 'assumed' it was going to be much harder than it was, but all of us being well geared has helped.  No enrage timers hit and a fun night.

Good upgrades for many of the team too!

TOR Fleet +10 Datacron fun

Last night the TOR Republic team did the +10 to all stats Fleet Datacron run.  Four people can do it, but I'd really recommend a larger group - you need people to open doors, lower bridges, fly around with the grappling hook, etc.

It was fun but loooong!  A few things we did discover:

1. Start at a designated time and plan on a couple of hours if it's your first time there
2. Everyone get their MGGS (Magnetic grappling thing) in advance - it's on Alderaan, 10K credits (it can be traded)
3. At least one (but preferably ALL) have the Corellian Museum Crystal  found on Corellia l (the red one - opens the door - and once you have your +10 it's gone!) People will die and you need to open the door to let them back in.
4. EVERYONE has to have the crystal found on the Fleet Museum - Cormium Crystal Shard (the big blue one opens the door to the datacrons - once you have +10 it's gone!)
5. Everyone read the swtor-spy.com walk-thru and watch one of the video's on YouTube, so you understand what's involved.
6. A force pulling sage or two is awesome to have along
7. Until the one grappling point is fixed, a smuggler with cover - yeah T'nk! - is a major help on that PiA one.

So having done our proper research () our intrepid group set out. 

Menana, Jale'penos, Redimere, Maxx, Herc, T'nk, Reymal and Lyril, but before we'd lowered the pretty pink bridge, we were joined by Blitzheipr, Psycheerose and Erickson.



A few of us watched the videos and read the swtor-spy.com guide while getting everyone into position.   This is a fun guild event for level 50's, and really requires thought and teamwork.  Which we're all so good at!!! 


Finally we had success and all were ready to grab their +10 stat datacron, only to find out we didn't ALL have the Cormium Crystal Shard!  . 

Being the great and supportive team that we all are, we took a quick break, re-assembled and back we went to get everyone their +10 datacrons!  Menana being the very clever lady she is, brought and alt that we parked inside the first door (the red crystal one), so she could log in/out to it, saving running time for everyone else.  As falling deaths happen, and you can't res people in the room.



Of course this time one of the grappling points was buggy as can be, which extended our time in there.  But being the guild we are everyone stuck it out to help their team.  T'nk, finally smuggled his way to the point.  Many of us had a very fun time being stuck inside part of the ship, wandering a black oasis of nothing, did I say buggy? Yea, very much so!

But we finally got it all together, Rose and Maxx, the sages pulled everyone up the last two points and success! A whole bunch of us with +10 to all stats!


Sadly Redimere and Jale'penos had to leave as they were well past their bedtime, so didn't make it in the final pic!

Raiding in Rift

Our guild is slowly progressing in our raid content and went into River of Souls last night. It was the first time for the majority of the team.

River of Souls is a 20 man raid instance in Rift.  We were short a few people, but decided to give it a try. Hammerfist Clan is co-raiding with Silent Strike guild to fill out for a 20 man. 

We did awesome on the trash, even being short dps.

The Dark Foci has mechanics that take some practice to get down, but once everyone understands it's fairly simple.  Being short dps we were having trouble getting the the Force of Corruption down as well as managing the Destabilizing Soul. 

So after a few attempts we decided to move forward to Warmaster Galenir as we'd cleared the trash to him.  As our raid time is strictly held to two hours we decided to have one attempt on the boss.

It was a fun raid, and we all had a great time.  Raiding with a casual focused guild does take longer to progress through content, but to be able to laugh and have fun as you wipe and clear more of a raid instance is more important than anything.



Rift Junkies Guide to River of Souls

Rift Dragon Parade

The Carnival of the Ascended continues in Rift, with the Dragon Parade.  This is Phase 2 of the first anniversary celebration for Rift.

There are new games at Fortune Shore including a race, fashion show and drinking contest.

The parade is pretty cool to watch, TRION really puts on a great show.  The world events in Rift are fun with great prizes.  Kudos TRION you did it again.

SWTOR Datacrons

Datacron hunting in TOR is one of those fun side activities.  There are some wonderful walk-thru guides out there (see list below). I do like Swtor-spy's one with screenshots/maps.
 
The passive stat bonus from each is helpful as you level (+2 to +4 stat increase) and if you get ALL of the ones for example for +Aim, , and the shards that can be made into a relic is really helpful as you  level and at max level.

Datacron on Alderaan 

Here is a link to the combos you can make with the shards.  Make sure to have a a power core for the disassembler, just in case you put the relic together wrong. The cost is 8,000 credits.

RIFT - Carnival of the Ascended

The Carnival of the Ascended is here!

To celebrate RIFT's one year anniversary, Telara is having a party!

It started with Pinata's scattered around Telera dropping a variety of items from collectible pets to glass beads. Sadly, if you're not ontop of a Pinata when it drops, you may miss out!

Now into the first phase, carnival games are available (and repeatable) available in the main city as well as in Shimmersand.  Also in Shimmersand is the daily Tales of the Ascended I raid which rewards you with 10 Prize Tickets and a box of Random Artifacts. This is set on the boats at Fortune's Shore and there is a portal to and from Meridian/Sanctum to the event.

Overview of the Meridian Carnival

SWTOR Datacron's

SWTOR (Star Wars The Old Republic) has datacrons which are fun in a PiA way to get as they add to your stats, and you can make a relic which is useful.

Here are different links to them.

SWTOR-spy.com is my favorite for the walk-thrus.  I waited until 50 to start going back and getting them, as I was always thrilled to stumble across them out in the world.

I lost the thread on the datacron locations, so starting one with a variety of links.


Walk-thru on Swtor-spy.com:  http://www.swtor-spy.com/datacrons/
** I've been told some of the locations were incorrect, but I haven't had issue with the walk-thrus

List of ALL datacrons (by codex #):  http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Datacron_Locations
** You can check your Codex #'s to see which you have/haven't done

Datacron - mixing shards: http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Datacron

>>Matrix Cubes function as relic-type items, and are equipped as a part of the player's gear that grants a passive stat boost. Depending on the color combination, the Matrix Cube will give a different statistic boost and will also vary in level requirement. The level requirement has no relation to the current level of the player assembling the cube, but rather the colors of the three shards. There are four tiers of cubes at levels 15, 24, 32, 50 [3]. Though it's not always the case, usually the more of a single color shard in a cube the higher level it is. Therefore a cube made with Red, Blue, and Yellow, some of the first colors acquirable, you will have a very low-level cube.


Other location sites:
http://www.ign.com/wikis/star-wars-the-old-republic/Datacron_Locations

http://www.swtorstrategies.com/2011/10/complete-datacron-location-list.html