So many topics, so little time. Well not really, I have all day, but wall of text crits are not always cool, so I’ll try to be brief with everything.

First up, the internet gets butthurt over a youtube video. One would think Colin (the coder in the video) has thousands of ‘cheer up’ cards on his desk today from all the people personally offended. It was a dumb video addressing a very serious issue, one that is going to be fixed. I’m guessing Colin agreed to the video (probably wanted a bit of e-fame himself, and you can’t blame him), and played the part of the “I’m sorry” coder too well for some to get it. I know some people will find a way to bitch about anything, but this one took me by surprise a bit. I watched the video before I read any of the feedback about it, and found it entertaining/informative, and far better than some text on a message board explaining what happened.

Speaking of message boards, the topic of official forums for WAR is back again. Why so many people get all worked up about having an official forum I’ll never understand. I’ll take youtube videos and the Warhammer Alliances dev tracker over official blue text of “working as intended” any day, but that’s just me. Why waste company resources moderation idiots when you can have someone else do it, and still get out all the info you need. If someone can’t manage to use a dev tracker, I doubt any form of official forums is really going to save them anyway. Hopefully this dies down again.

As for WAR in-game, my leveling pace is glacial right now, sitting halfway into rank 31, and I love it. Being able to sit at the top of tier 3, and being able to enter tier 4, is just pure win. Sure T4 can be painful, especially in one-on-one situations, but overall it’s still more than doable to contribution in scenarios and keep sieges, and the renown gain is fantastic. Speaking of renown, I’m currently sitting at rr25.5, so close to being able to wear the full devastator set. One good RvR night in T3 should do it, no real worries about that. Annoying Vista-related CTD in RvR aside, performance has been really great. I was part of a 80+ person keep siege Sunday, and experienced zero lag or skill delay, even in the keep lord’s room. I also got lucky and ended up winning a gold bag, so I now have the T4 RvR set piece chest waiting for me, just need rank 39 and RR35. Another goal!

Finally, I finished Fallout 3 late Sunday night. The final sequence of steps in that game is just… well wow. Rollercoaster does not describe it, I literally found myself impatient with the walking speed just to get the story to progress. The game ends with a huge bang for sure. The actual ending itself, once you stop playing, is more a recollection of what you did rather than a true ‘ending’, but I’m fine with that. Perhaps an expansion will really wrap everything up, who knows.

I’m now torn between exploring with my level 20 good karma character, or starting over as a bad karma guy and exploring with him. The ‘problem’ with the level 20 is that he is just too strong. Between his buddy with a gatling laser, the power armor, and the endless supply of named weapons, ammo, and medical supplies, nothing is really a challenge. I barged into a room full of Talon Company and Super Mutant NPCs, and it only took a few seconds to clear them all out. No need for strategy or planning, just run in, pull the trigger, and watch everything fall. Makes exploring the wastes somewhat uninteresting, as I’m someone who likes a challenge.

At the same time, do I really want to take a level 1 bad karma guy and see the world that way? I know some spots will remain impossibly tough, and not being able to unlock or hack everything might be frustrating as well. And I have a TON of the waste to explore too. Basically everything north of the river, spots in downtown DC, the south-west corner… yea, a lot. I want to see it all too, as everything up to this point has been really well done. Lamplight Caverns, with all the little punk kids was hilarious.

Any suggestions? Do I go with the low level, or just explore everything with the 20, and disregard challenge in favor of completion? Anything in particular that is a ‘must see’?