MMONBI: Newbie Cleanup

Removed a few blog sites from my blogroll that I got from the MMONBI master list.. b/c there were so many, I didn't do a background check on each site and somehow had added a golf club website (gamingbrew.com)..??? Very weird. Like I wrote about before for my advice article, I don't like it when people are uncouth or swear in their entries.. doesn't make you sound very mature. But otherwise there are a ton of great new blogs out there, keep it going!

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Check out this article about this suit of armor hoody!

It screams nerdy, and I so want to get it.. but will never wear it out in public... mayyybe for ComicCon and hopefully impress some girls that likes nerds. Lol.

This article talks about some uncommon equipment that you'll find in the new Magic 2013 Core set. Normally, I dislike the Core Sets, finding them a waste b/c they recycle the vast majority of the cards and normally not containing enough good cards to warrant a buy. 

I then looked at this equipment and had the same response "meh." But then I looked closer, my eyes widened and "woah! That ain't too shabby!" Who really cares about the haste.. but +1/+1 counters on the equipped creature IF its red? Thats pretty cool.


//edit: well.. it certainly feels like they reprint alot.. apparently they pare down the duplicates each year..

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.

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 Musings

Diablo 3 is releasing at midnight tonight and I was wondering.. how do you play your games?

Do you do alot of research into the classes you intend on playing, scoping out what may be the best way to play them? Did you do no research and pretended D3 was not releasing so everything will be fresh, new and uncorrupted?

- for games that I am anticipating (normally mmo's), I'll do a massive amount of research, and plan far ahead of what class ill play and how i'll spend my points
- D3 is not one of these games; I found having to wait 10+ years for a game was too long and puts the expectations too high. I did do a little bit of research to see what classes I want to play, and looked at their skills/spells, but only a high level review.
- I personally like the looks of the Witch Doctor.. with their voodoo, evil-ish look.. hoping i'm not dark skinned only for the fact that I tend to make my characters an extension of myself (which means almost never making a female character)
- I probably will start off as a Wizard though

Do you intend on playing only one character til max level then start an alt? For D3 in particular, will you go all the way to the Insane difficulty, then do an alt? Are you an alt-a-holic and make tons of alts and play what you feel like?

- i'm an recovering alt-a-holic.. though ill probably start as a Wizard, ill probably make a Witch Doctor then a Barbarian as well
- I get bored easily and like to mixup my gameplay experience

Will you play solely with friends, or with anyone, or intend on soloing the whole time?

- love to play with friends, especially with my gf, but don't mind pugging
- pugging will be required if I want better loot (which i do!)

How about you guys?

I'll post my character's name/whatever you need to join me if you want to quest(?) together :)

Newbie Blogger Tips

1. Blog about what you're passionate about.
Just because you start your blog off talking about MMO's, doesn't mean you have to always talk about it. Depending on what is occupying my time, is what Ill be writing about. That has changed from Warhammer Online tome unlock instructions, to Xbox 360 game reviews, pictures and links of cosplay, photos of the work i'm proud of and just ideas and opinions (mostly game related). As long as you're writing, its a good thing.


2. Unless you're writing a rant.
I've had my fair share of rants here, though mostly on my personal blog. Although it helps to put a rant up on your blog and others may agree to what you're saying, it isn't always the best thing. Just like blowing up at someone in real life, you may regret saying it later. Although you can always delete your entry, people will still have read what you wrote. Losing our cool isn't very classy.


3. Spelling is important.
I'm a bit of a spelling and grammar *ahem* 'stickler.' Abbreviations are alright, but leet speak and poor grammar is frustrating to read and may turn off other readers.


4. Avoid Wall of Texts.
There are very few bloggers that i'll spend actually reading their whole entry if they don't include any pictures, links or videos. Its just natural; your mind wanders and then you start skipping what people have written. At the same time.. when you're at a loss for words, sometimes all you can do is post only pictures and links. I feel it cheapens your blog a bit, but I do it myself when I don't have much to talk about. 


Once again, visit the NBI forums for some assistance to getting traffic to your site and links from other more experienced blog sites.

Pick your platform (Wordpress, Blogspot, etc), and just start writing; its as easy as that!

A different take on the Elder Scroll MMO announcement

Despite the fact that everyone is having their take on the announcement of the new Elder Scrolls MMO and I possibly play more Skyrim than anyone else, I don't have much opinion on the matter.


I fully enjoy Skyrim, even with all it's flaws. I enjoy mmo's for the social aspect of it. At this stage in my life tho, I kind of enjoy single player experiences that simulate the mmo experience b/c it makes you want to play instead of insisting that you play.



What do i mean by that?


If you are taken away from Skyrim due to other games or other responsibilities in RL, thats ok; the game and your progress will still be waiting for you with no penalties. An mmo almost forces you to play constantly/as much as possible. How? Well, there is always the rush to get to max level. Our greed makes us want to get the best gear, the coolest mounts and be the strongest. Our ambition makes us want to always win (whether it is via scenarios, or world pvp). If you're not playing constantly, you're not doing any of this and will lag behind those that do. Some developers find ways to make it balanced, but its a truism that those that put more time and effort into the game, will generally be stronger than people that don't.


In my youth, my only real hobby was playing video games and in hindsight those countless hours have been wasted. I truly could have accomplished something or made myself better. I see those that play so many hours and feel a bit of pity that they cannot see it themselves. This fact, helps reign in my own desires to play countless hours and do something a bit more constructive instead.

So while i'm intrigued of a new mmo to a favorite series of mine, I give a shrug knowing that eventually I may stop playing mmos for the blackhole which is addiction and dependence. Life is the real mmo, with real results and rewards.

We need T-shirts

Its little things like the flavor text (non instruction text) that makes me enjoy Magic: The Gathering.

Lol; "I hate angels."

Don't forget newbie bloggers, you can go to the forums and join up; i'd recommend sending us established bloggers a comment that you added us to your blogring and we'll normally return the favor, resulting in increased traffic.

Launching Now: Newbie Blogger Initiative

Today marks the start of an interesting idea of community building by Syp at Bio Break: the Newbie Blogger Initiative. This event is here simply to help people who are new to blogging, to get advice, support and traffic.


I remember when I first started this blog, it was because the developer of Warhammer Online, Mythic Entertainment had a promotion where if you created a blog for their game that they would provide you some unique in-game perks. Being rabidly addicted to the game, I signed up. 


There are a few important things that one must ask when launching a successful blog


The first question I had was, "what will the blog be about?" Very important, just like in life, without a goal, one cannot expect to accomplish anything. My favorite pastime when playing WAR was finding the Tome of Knowledge achievements which granted unique in-game titles and items. I had a special add-on to help me find them and decided to have a step-by-step blogging guide that showed visitors where and how to find these achievements.


The second thing that I thought of was "what will the name of this blog be?" This is probably the most crucial thing for me; a good name for my character or the guild I join is very important. Sometimes I feel that if I can't get a proper name, its not worth bothering. Maybe a name isn't too important for you, but this is your face to the world. For me, I was constantly playing a few more minutes because I kept saying to myself "welll... i'm in the area, i might as well get one more unlock (for my tome of knowledge".. so the name Just One More Unlock was a natural fit. 


A 'successful' (we'll talk about that shortly) blog is normally one that has a high frequency of blog entries. You'll find that sometimes you have tons to talk about and share and other times life gets busy or there isn't anything interesting to play, so entries are few and far between. Its my opinion that a good blog will have an entry atleast every 4-5 days; its kind of like having a conversation with a person, in that you want to keep the conversation going and not have any awkward pauses. One thing some bloggers need to remember that its just polite etiquette to have an entry that tells others that you're busy and will have a lull in your entries.


An important area to consider is "What is your content?" You will notice that alot of the bloggers for NBI are mmo gamers, which is fantastic because once connected via blogrings, you can easily get to the information that you crave. Its always great when everyone is playing (and thus blogging about) the same game as you are, and you may feel isolated when they're not. But never fear, one great thing about bloggers is that we still read what you write; we may not comment, but we visit and like to see what you're thinking about. I started with WAR, then transitioned to Rift and then the more recent SW:TOR. You are in charge of your blog's destiny; when I wasn't playing mmo's, I blogged about the Xbox 360 games I was playing instead. I got into photography, so I shared my photos as well. I love to read self-help books and share the knowledge, trying to make it a Coles Notes version as my best friend would normally give me the "too long, didn't read" email reply. Your blog may start off as one on mmo's but don't let that limit you to blogging only on that one subject.


The last part one should consider is: What is success to you?
I'm a bit jealous when I look at some other blogger's sites with their hundreds of thousands of page views, or tons of comments. While that kind of traffic is a good measurement of success, it doesn't mean its the be-all and end-all. Never get discouraged at that: ever. I see success in that i'm able to articulate what i'm thinking and feeling. That I can share my art to the world wide web. That I'm able to make people think critically on what I bring up. That i've had this blog since 2009 with nearly 500 entries. Find your measurement of success and be happy.


Anyways; welcome to the NBI. You will find alot of helpful information on the forums with many of the greatest mmo bloggers and writers. Like a great big guild, we're here to help and support you. Welcome and best of luck!