Category: Pointless Ramblings

My go-round with cybercrime

Posted on by Nimgimli

This post isn’t game related.

Monday I got our monthly bank statement from our “extra” checking account. I was horrified to find over $200 in charges to iTunes on it. Since this isn’t our main account, there wasn’t much money in it, but the Overdraft Protection had kicked in and now we were in the red. A quick check showed our ATM cards were all where they were supposed to be, so I immediately called the bank (Citizen’s Bank).

The very unhelpful person I spoke to couldn’t do much for me. She claimed she couldn’t deactivate the cards or in any way ‘freeze’ the account so more damage couldn’t be done. I’d have to go to a physical bank to do that. She did offer to start the paperwork on an affidavit to file a fraud report. Said that it would arrive for me to sign in 7-10 business days, and after I signed it and returned it an investigation would get underway.

After I hung up with her, I contacted Apple. They were even less helpful. There was nothing they could do, said I should speak to my credit card company (even though the charges weren’t on a credit card) and/or file a report with the police.

A bit of googling revealed that iTunes fraud is really, really common. And no, I don’t have an iTunes account connected to that checking account.

Tuesday, the banks were closed, so I had to wait until this morning to speak to someone, wondering all the time if even more funds were being sucked out of my account. Once I got there, the Customer Service rep started digging into the details of the situation. She discovered that it was Angela’s ATM card number that had been used (wouldn’t it be nice if our bank statements showed this info?) so Angela had to meet me at the bank to sign the affidavit. The rep did all the paperwork, canceled the card, got the signature and told us it’d take about 10 business days to get reimbursed.

I was chatting with her while waiting for Angela to arrive, and she told me that “most” of the claims that she saw were related to iTunes purchases. And that indeed, Apple wasn’t the least bit interested in helping consumers, or the banks apparently. Now this is 1 rep speaking, so you have to take it as hearsay. But I didn’t leave feeling warm and fuzzy about Apple or iTunes.

I feel a little better now. We still have to cover the overdraft until we get reimbursed, which is annoying but not crippling. I just wanted to share my experience and encourage you all to keep an eye on your credit card and banking statements and make sure nothing fishy is happening.

Honestly I have stacks of statements from this account that I never opened since we so rarely use it; I’m not even sure why I opened this month’s. But you can be sure I’ll be checking all my accounts every month, and probably checking them online once a week to boot. We don’t know how/when the info got stolen, though we’re going to do some checking. The last transaction Angela made with her card was to her hosting provider, and that was in the middle of October. Before then she hadn’t used the card in months. I don’t want to name names until I know for sure, but I suspect her provider has a security hole in their system.

Getting ready for Moria

Posted on by Nimgimli

I installed the Mines of Moria expansion for Lord of the Rings Online tonight (you can download and install the files ahead of time so you’ll be ready for launch) and then fired the game up to make sure everything was working properly.

And promptly got sucked in.

One of the drawbacks of Warhammer being a massive RvR game is that the graphics can’t be as lush as they can be with a primarily PvE game. When the whole intend is to have 100 player characters on screen at once, you have to keep a close eye on your level of detail.

Thing is, in my time away from LOTRO I’d forgotten how great it looks, so it was a pleasant treat indeed; like having a brand new game in a way! I took some pics to try and share with you, though some of this stuff doesn’t translate well to static screens. But look at this Orc to the right. Can you see the level of detail in his face? That’s one angry ugly!! (As always, click the image to get a bigger, or at least clearer, version.) Most of the mobs have a ton of detail, though often you’ll never enjoy it until you’re much higher level than they are and can take the time to really look at them. 🙂

This one, well, I need to work on my timing. Aethgar is a duel-wielder and he’s about to make a move where he slashes horizontally with both weapons, but sadly it just looks like he’s trying to hug himself. But can you make out the rain coming down, the drops hitting the water? See how the target rings are distorted by the water the combatants are standing in? What I can’t capture in a screenshot are the flashes of lightning that turn everything almost white for an instance, or the rumblings of thunder. And I should definitely have turned the camera up to get some sky shots. LOTRO has great skies.

And what kind of armor is Aethgar wearing? Well, what you see is his “social clothing.” This particular number I got as a gift for registering at mmorpg.com (I think). You can opt to display your real armor or your social stuff. This means everyone can really have a unique look without sacrificing their stats.

None of this is unique to LOTRO, but I’d been away long enough that it was just really pleasing to experience it again. And there are definitely things that bug me about LOTRO, like the lack of autofacing in combat, and the fact that quest items take up inventory slots. But being re-delighted with the game makes giving up Warhammer for a while a bit less painful. Now I wonder how I’ll react to going back to EQ2!!

Less negativity = feeling better

Posted on by Nimgimli

In some ways it is grimly amusing how many of us bloggers can take something as fun as gaming and turn it into a source of negativity. I both produce irrelevant negativity, and consume it. I’ve been trying to stop, on both counts.

From the posting side of things, I’ve been trying to focus on the joy that comes from this wonderful hobby of ours. I will still say negative things about a game I’m playing, but only in the context of a “review-like” post that is meant to help you decide whether you want to buy or avoid. I’m trying to stay far away from “Game X [which I am not playing] sucks because of Y” and staying even farther away from negative comments about other gamers and their choices.

From a consumption point of view, I’ve been thinning down the list of sites and blogs in my RSS reader. If a blogger or site writes the kinds of posts that are full of negativity, I’m removing that site. I understand how cathartic venting in text can be; I’m not judging anyone! But I just don’t want to read that kind of post any more.

Since trying on this new attitude, I’ve found I’ve been enjoying gaming a lot more. I have more time to play (fewer sites to read = more free time). And I’ve felt better emotionally, and this feeling extends beyond gaming.

I just too easily slip into the Quixotic desire to debate/debunk posts that I feel are unfairly negative towards a product or service. And those can become real tar baby issues for me, leading towards frustration and wasted energy. They quickly become toxic.

Anyway, that’s my Monday morning rambling for this week. Please call me on it if you see me slipping back into writing pointlessly negative posts. Gaming (to me at least) is supposed to be about discovering new worlds and having fun. I’m going to try to keep my focus there.

Back and crankier than ever

Posted on by Nimgimli

Going back to the office today, tissue box in one hand, fistful of various cold medications in the other. I should be pleasant to be around. 🙂 I worked from home yesterday, but aside from that I’ve spent the last 3 days pretty much laying on the couch.

Haven’t played any Warhammer (or anything else on the PC). Did play quite a bit of Fable 2, and I watched a lot of old videos I still had on the PS3, including stuff like 1Up’s E3 coverage. Wow, had I ever pushed a lot of that out of my mind. Who else remembers the “You’re in the movies” demo during the Microsoft Press conference? If you don’t, check out this video starting about 3 minutes in:

In less amusing news, a bunch of bills came in, and I felt the sting of all the splurging I did the past month or two, what with the Warhammer CE, Rock Band 2, and a new RB guitar, Hinterlands, LittleBigPlanet, and some non-gaming extravagances. The reality is that its time to tighten my belt. I cut a lot of little things like knocking my Netflix membership down a couple of notches, gonna be more careful about grocery shopping, dumping some extra cable services and the like. All these little cuts add up.

But I realized that I simply cannot justify carrying two game subscriptions at once. It’s so easy to turn these things on and off that it makes more fiscal sense to alternate months. I’ve promised Angela that I’d play EQ2 with her when the new expansion comes out, which is I believe Nov. 20th. So I’ll be suspending my Warhammer Online account after this month runs out (I think on Nov. 18th). I hate to do it since I believe in the game and I’m sort of voting against it by doing this, not to mention all the asshat smug bloggers who’re taking such joy out of finding out that supporters of the game are leaving it.

But I still have almost two weeks to enjoy Warhammer and CoW, so if you read this JoBildo, don’t make me an alumni yet!! And I’m going to look at it this way; when I go back after a month or two of EQ2, the game will be even better than it is now. So that’s something to look forward to!

Being sick ain’t what it used to be

Posted on by Nimgimli

When I was a kid, being sick meant laying on the couch watching daytime soap operas. It was awful!! A fate worse than death.

Today, being sick still means laying on the couch, blanket up to my chin and box of tissues in the crook of my arm. But now it also means mellow videogames. I find it interesting that when my eyes are too puffy and red to focus on reading a book, I can still mess around in Fable 2 or LittleBigPlanet (I don’t think I could manage a shooter or a fast driving game). And when even those get to be too much, I can exit the game and catch up on the many videos I have downloaded. Or with the PS3, I can go to Hulu.Com and watch tv episodes I’ve missed.

I have to admit, sometimes I take for granted how far we’ve come in terms of entertainment in my lifetime. Which feels like its about to end (not really, I’m just being pathetic). Anyway, expect some quiet here at the blog until I get back on my feet.

Bad apples

Posted on by Nimgimli

Last night being Halloween, we spent it all watching the Ghost Hunters Live Event. Seven straight hours of Ghost Hunters doesn’t leave any room for gaming. But can I just say, Amanda Tapping as a guest investigator = epic win. I now have a huge nerd crush on her.

Anyway since I didn’t do any gaming yesterday I don’t have any news to relate. Instead, I want to talk about mean people. Specifically, mean gaming bloggers. And no, I’m not going to include any links: no need to improve mean people’s google page ranks!

Right now it seems like there’s a wave of gaming bloggers leaving Warhammer Online. For the most part these are people who were in the beta, loved the game, got caught up in the hype and the excitement, threw down their money, and found a game very different (and less fun) from what they’d been playing in beta. So they’re disappointed and either a little sad or a little angry, and they’re quitting.

I find this sad. Granted these are just games, but still, to see a person going from excited about an event to disappointed…I have enough humanity in me to see this as unfortunate. But for some bloggers, this is an opportunity to laugh and jeer and enjoy the misfortune of others. That’s just mean and frankly, it says a lot about you as a person.

Even though “gaming” is becoming more mainstream, as “Gamers” (and particularly as “MMO Gamers” we’re still the object of much puzzlement and faint scorn in the greater public. When we go back to work after a few days off and someone asks “Did you do anything fun on your vacation?” most of us won’t say “Hell yeah, I hit level cap with my Priest!” because if we say that, we’re going to be labeled as some kind of anti-social loser, and honestly in a lot of companies this kind of label can negatively impact opportunities for advancement. Instead we say “Ah, I just kind of hung-out at home and relaxed, y’know? Rested up, read some books, watched some movies.” and then the person we’re talking to will smile knowingly and say “Yes, sometimes the best vacation is just to stay home and enjoy the family.” and all is well.

Which is a wild tangent, but my point is I still think we gamers need to stick together and cut each other some slack. The fact that you love World of Middle Earth and I love Warcraft Online is a teeny, tiny, trivial difference compared to the fact that we both love staying home and playing an MMO vs the people who choose to go to the movies/bar/opera/crack den/sports arena/hiking/ballet as their preferred way of spending leisure time.

Tearing each other down just makes our community weaker. How about we all (myself included, I’m certainly not infallible in this respect) try to be a bit more supportive of each other. We’re all gamers, after all. We’ve got plenty of common ground to cover.

War’s ups & downs

Posted on by Nimgimli

While playing Warhammer last night I had some quests to do in RvR areas. A few times I ran across a member of Destruction, and we did battle. The experience buffs make a huge difference. I’ve been grinding plague trolls for like 2 weeks (obviously not literally). I’m level 15, they’re level 15. They give 400 experience per kill. Up the road a bit are these pesky sprites that are level 16. They also give 400 experience. When I ran into a level 15 Destruction character and fought him 1 on 1, I got 2000 experience for the kill. Later I encountered a level 17 Destruction character and beat her. 3000+ experience for that. So yeah, the xp buffs make a marked difference.

WARNING: Moping, whining part of the post begins here.

This morning I log in and go back to grinding plague trolls, fantasizing about a day when I can get a group to cap Chapter 7 influence. Then amazingly, more people show up. I join their open group and we churn through stage 1. Finally I’ll be able to do stage 2 on this infernal, hateful, spiteful, vile Public Quest. And then… they all leave. And I’m left alone again doing this quest.

Ah well. I go grind sprites while the trolls reset. At one point two of them attack me. Things are looking bad, so I pop a health potion. “That item cannot be used yet.” WTF? The icon isn’t dimmed, there’s no cooldown timer on it. I try a HoT Potion. “That item cannot be used yet.” Bam. Respawn. *sigh*

At this point I’m not having fun and thinking that maybe cleaning the toilet would be more rewarding than grinding more trolls and sprites. I decide to say the hell with it and move on, leaving Chapter 7 incomplete. And then Mandred’s Hold comes under attack. There’s chatter about it in /regional and I head out there to defend the homeland. Destruction has a sizable force attacking the Keep. Order has… me. At least that I saw.

I try to pick off a straggler but get noticed and killed. Respawn, head into the Postern Door. Destruction is inside but I get up the ramp and aid the NPC Keep Lord in defending as best I can. Still no Order. Destruction pushes up the ramp, I die. Run back…and just as I get to the front gate the guards change to Destruction. Keep is lost.

In /region there’s much moaning and groaning. I give up, go back to finding quests or something to do. Then Destruction hits the other Keep. Much more moaning and hand wringing in /regional, with a side dish of finger pointing. Finally it sounds like maybe someone other than me might actually think about perhaps defending, so I turn around and start running back. But by the time I get into the area, the keep has fallen. More moaning and groaning, and then someone suggests “Well let’s take it back!” but they’re shouted down by some self-professed Leader of Order who explains that its not a good time because there are defenders.

WTF? Isn’t that the BEST time to have a fun battle?

At this point I realize that my day is slipping away and a long unpleasant work week is drawing near and having to work this hard to have fun just isn’t an efficient use of my time, so I log.

Yes, I’m pouting & whining instead of acting. I could’ve shouted down the self-professed Leader or Order. Or I could’ve done what most others did and just let Destruction steam-roll the BO’s and Keeps and keep grinding trolls. But by this point the wind had gone completely out of my sails.

Warhammer is great fun with the planets align and you find a group and there’s some openRvR happening. But for me, that’s maybe 25% of the time that I play. And I’m really starting to question whether its worth $15/month for that 2 hours of real fun I get out of it every week.

More blogrolling

Posted on by Nimgimli

Cleaned up the blogroll some more.

I re-ordered links in reverse alphabetical order. Why? Well I wanted to organize them in some kind of objective fashion, and since almost everyone goes with alphabetical, I figured I’d give the late-alphabet folks some love by moving them to the top for once.

The blogroll is a perpetual work-in-progress. If you want to be on it, or know a blog I should be reading, feel free to leave a comment. Here’s a repost on my criteria for linking to you, reprinted from my last post on the subject:
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If you’re not on there and want to be, drop a comment. My criteria for inclusion on my blogroll are pretty hazy but generally: 1) if you have Dragonchasers on your blog roll, I’ll almost certainly include you unless your blog is actively offensive to me (not very likely). 2) If I read you regularly, I’ll include you as a “public service” for other Dragonchasers readers because I think you rock. 3) If you’re a frequent commenter, I’ll include you as an indication of what great taste in blogs you have. 🙂 Plus I probably read you as well…I often follow links from commenters to check out your blogs.

BlogRolling

Posted on by Nimgimli

Last night I played Rock Band 2 until my hands were cramping, my back was aching (I was playing slouched back on the couch, coffee-house style!) and my eyes could focus on nothing other than note charts. It was a blast! But…not much to say about it other than… IT WAS A BLAST!!!

Anyway…

I’m making some changes to the blogroll here at Dragonchasers. “War Bloggers” is now “Gamer Blogs” since I’ve found so many quality blogs that aren’t really war-oriented and I want to start including them. Plus the reality is that so few of us dedicate our blogs to one game. This way I can link to places like Construed and have it “fit.”

If you’re not on there and want to be, drop a comment. My criteria for inclusion on my blogroll are pretty hazy but generally: 1) if you have Dragonchasers on your blog roll, I’ll almost certainly include you unless your blog is actively offensive to me (not very likely). 2) If I read you regularly, I’ll include you as a “public service” for other Dragonchasers readers because I think you rock. 3) If you’re a frequent commenter, I’ll include you as an indication of what great taste in blogs you have. 🙂 Plus I probably read you as well…I often follow links from commenters to check out your blogs.

I do want to keep the length of the list manageable, so I’ll be going through and cleaning things out every so often. But if you’re linking to me, I won’t remove you. We must all appease the Google.