Sleep? Nah...

After running around in Guild Wars for a few hours, I'd like to put up some blurbs here for those to read. So... here goes...

The April (final) Beta Weekend Event started off as normal, seemingly starting at the 12AM PST mark as I checked half-hour past it. However, one thing that I am feeling disappointed in is the consistant lag issues I've been getting. While I firmly believe the issue is not with my connection nor my router, certain doubts made me think that perhaps it's time to reboot the router. But at what cost? The router has yet to run into any form of problem and I've just created a new updated kernel for it to use. All that's left is to let it reboot if I am forced to reboot.

Internet performance with the router standing at over 30 days of uptime show that I have yet to find a flaw that indicates the problem is the router. All bandwidth tests I've ran turn out normal and is within specifications as advertised by the ISP (screw you, Comcast). My computer has been clean of virus, spyware, and any other junk that may possibly infiltrated into my system. It's gone through a mishap reboot before and it was very recent. All in all, I just can't seem to narrow down exactly where the problem lies. Can it be distance? Or is it something else? Whatever it is, I've no way of fixing it.

So what is this particular issue? It's the plain and simple... lag...

Starting from the February beta event, I have been noticing a lot of warpings stemming from what looks to be lag. But how can such a thing be possible? Nothing is eating up download stream and nothing is even uploading either. Up until now, it seems to be getting worse or just as bad as before. I wish I could figure it out exactly where the problem lies. Alas, I'm at a loss.

Other than this issue, things are running great. The new user interface is vastly different and is taking some getting used to. Along with that is another revision to the inventory system. Not only is it possible to view individual containers but one can open all of them in a single window. Along with this improvement, there's a new 'vault' that stores items across characters. The only downside is the 100 or more gold fees associated with it. Nonetheless, it's a welcome addition to the game.

Item drops are interesting now with color variations with certain item types. But I am still finding it a little difficult to make enough gold to craft new items. Hopefully I'll rake in enough to buy new armors for future journeys.

But therein lies a problem... time and effort. Surely enough, the characters will be reset and one-time guests accounts wiped. It's fun to play around in. But then by release day (or the day before), we'll be all back to square one once more. Is it worth running around completing quests? One has to wonder. I love exploring MMO worlds. But maybe that's why I like World of Warcraft. And with a vast environment, it'll be interesting to see how much Guild Wars will keep me in. Come release day, I'll be able to finally play at my own pace and not worry about having to wait for a month for the next shot to play. Here's to hoping I don't create another Phantasy Star Online fiasco...