Been to i43

Back.

Exhausted.

So, to be going on with; two photographs of the TF2 community taken after the TF2 final between Epsilon eSports and Infused.Tt (Epsilon eSports won). There aren’t two photos because there’s a giant chasm preventing mixing, dividing the TF2 community, some geekish battle or controversy over some small generally incomprehensible point of order (though of course, being geeks there are still plenty of those). There are two photos because a lot of people weren’t listening when the first one was organised and so another one was sorted.

TF2 community no.1

TF2 community no.2

The first has some names added for those interested enough to zoom in for a closer look.

Going to i43

Tomorrow I’m off to i43, now set to be the biggest LAN ever to take place in the UK (at time of writing 2223)

I’ll be meeting up with people from my Clan who’ve managed to make it and dropping by to say hello to various people who play on the set of Community servers I most frequently play on, UKCS. All TF2 of course.

Apart from that, I’ll just be hanging out, soaking up the atmosphere. I haven’t bought a BYOC (Bring your own computer) ticket which would give me the use of an internet connection and a neat little table to put my pc on, because I’m going up on the Saturday; it starts officially on Friday with an early arrival service on Thursday allowing entry from 6pm. I felt that I couldn’t justify the cost, UK LANs seem to be more expensive comparatively, than mainland EU LANs. There was an early bird offer which knocked 30% off but I missed that because I was still fiffing and faffing about going.

I’m not 100% sure what to expect. There will be a TF2 tournament which I’ll be watching. There’ll be two teams from UKCS playing and my Clan is putting up a team too. A lot of the main comp players/teams will be playing as well so it will be interesting to see that live.

Apart from that, there is an Exhibition Hall to look around and other games to spectate (including CoD, Starcraft 2, CS:S, L4D2). There is wireless/Internet in my hotel, so I can retreat there to do some gaming if I want, plus I’ve checked and the games I’ve got all play in off-line mode. It sounds, as well, as if all the usual boozing and cavorting associated with any Convention will be going on; there’s a pub quiz and a Boat Race.

Anyhow, it all should be pretty entertaining and certainly interesting. I’ll report back.

My dice collection: another installment

I think we’re way overdue.

A further exploration of my dice collection (I think these posts are the most interesting ones on here)

First some d6 dice. You can see that at the back there is a very big die. And at the front there is a very little one.

Look at the different sizes

Now the next dice are my Japanese dice. They were all bought on my trip to Tokyo.From a Japanese pen and paper roleplaying shop found in the depths of Akihabara.Pen and paper roleplaying is truely international!

これらのサイコロを転がし

And, on a serious note, while we are talking about inclusion and roleplaying, I have a die I am particularly proud of. If you look, you will notice that instead of numbers in the usual script, it has numbers written in sign language. This means that roleplayers who are hard of hearing need no longer be, or feel, excluded. They too can join in and game.

No-one need feel excluded

WDG KOTH League: Zero Gravitas vs Sit Tommy Down

So the first match has taken place and it was my team, Zero Gravitas (Berath, Greg, Teh Fluff) vs Sit Tommy Down (Tommy the Cat, Cruelcow, Power).

It was good.

After a bit of debate, we managed to settle on a date and a time, we only needed to decide on the map. We reckoned it was easier to rule out the ones we didn’t want first. I didn’t want Koth_nucleus. This is a very dangerous map. It has walkways that are very easy to fall from. You’re also a sitting duck on the point.

koth_nucleus: too dangerous. Sitting duck

Koth_sawmill is another bad map. It has two enormous saw blades on either side of the point going backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. This is disturbing, and dangerous as well.

koth_sawmill: too disturbing

Tommy the Cat rejected koth_lakeside. This map was, we felt, too weird and too big. There was a risk that, playing 3vs 3, teams could get lost and end up never meeting one another.

koth_lakeside: too big, too weird

This left us with koth_viaduct, koth_harvest and koth_badlands.

We decided on koth_harvest which we all knew and is a compact map.

Koth_Harvest_Farmhouse: the selected map. The point is in the hut to the right

We started with a Pyro (me), Demoman and Soldier (no Medics or Engineers allowed).
STD started with a Soldier, Demoman and Scout. Although Demoman is probably my
stronger class now, I’m still really poor at close range. I guessed that the other team
would run a Scout which would mean I’d end up dead most of the time, Scouts are fast,
they dodge and can get in close quick. With the Pyro I could help defend our Demo, countering any Scouts to an extent.

And the three of us put up a reasonable fight I think.

We seized the cap, they seized it back, we took it again. They brought out Power’s Heavy to mow us down, the sods, we counted with our own; I think it was Teh Fluff, team captain, saving us all. Then Cruel went Sniper so my Pyro nipped behind him and took him out, and yes, indulged in a dash of Tommy scout singeing too. There was a bit of Soldier vs Soldier roof-top action, Greg and Teh Fluff scored some tasty direct hits. No-one fell off from either team.

Yes, it was good.

We ended up losing 3-0. But after the third game we kept on going with no talk of stopping. Fortunately there was a time limit on the map so it came to an end; I’ve seen the Duelists, I know what can happen.

But whatever, well played everyone and onto the next.

Goodbye to all that: farewell to Raiding?

Well the last time I signed up for a Raid was Sunday 29th May (which also happened to be my birthday). Since then, I’ve barely logged into LOTRO either. This last will change. The next LoTRO expansion is due out in September, Rise of Isengard. This will involve a level increase, new areas to explore, new quests (personalised quest phasing) and an overhaul of class skills and traits. There will be new Crafting recipes and the virtue cap will be raised from 10 to 12.

It sounds promising, so once more I’ll be treading the lands of Middle Earth.

But, I doubt I’ll be Raiding again.

And me, so much of a Raider. As was.

It’s partly the baggage Raiding now brings for me. In our kinship there seems to have been so many misunderstandings, unpleasantness and resentments associated with Raiding (and I know that it’s not just our kinship that’s experienced this about Raiding). As such, it’s now an activity I don’t really want to involve myself with anymore.

And the Raiding itself;  it’s a change in my preferred play style since starting Team Fortress 2. I now find the Raids static. You more or less know exactly what will happen  when and where, which mobs will spawn and what they will do, often all following a very similar formula. And in this, every Raid member has a part to play. The skill of mastering a Raid is for everyone to work out, learn and play those parts perfectly. But it’s like being the living part of a machine, a giant puzzle game.

In Team Fortress, of course, you’re playing against other people which immediately makes it more dynamic and unpredictable. And it’s this which I find so refreshing, a new sort of challenge; you need to constantly try to outplay and out think other players. It would be the same with other non-PvE on-line multiplayers, it’s the same with the PvP, or Monster play, in LOTRO which I used to play and enjoyed but stopped because it was never developed as much as it could be within the game. Different.

So this is where I’m at. Farewell to Raiding but there will be time instead, spent exploring, role playing, questing and socialising; the kin has a number of new members who I barely know and older kinmates with whom I ‘ve not spoken for a while.

It feels good.