the road not taken

Or perhaps it'd be called the road less traveled. Either way, playing through Guild Wars has been quite interesting. Going through the various lands, areas, dying, living, and ressurecting, it's all been a great experience. However, I now wander the endless sand dunes of the desert where the enemies are tough, numerous, and a pain in the rear end. It is now nigh impossible to get by due to certain devices that won't work unless one has at least one human partner. In the end, I only ended up waiting as comrades catch up. The voice communication software used in coordinating strategies, attacks, and assists made the teamwork all the more rewarding, for certain areas where it is difficult to get by is now a little easier. Alas, due to the complicated layout of various enemy spots and groups, we were defeated numerous times. And so we broke off, to tackle the problem another day. It was needed, to ensure that we do not wear ourselves out.

It was refreshing that I was able to play with these people, where it's much more easier to get by spots where it'd take me a longer to complete due to the difficulty nature of the quest and mission.

And so another day ends, and a new one begins. My character will continue its quest for enlightenment soon, along with his comrades, hopefully.

Jacking In...

The title is misleading. In truth, I'm about to play Guild Wars to my heart's content for the first time. No time limit. No rushing. Just full-on exploration of the vast world presented in the game.

On Tuesday afternoon, I called up my local EB Games to inquire on the availability of the game. It doesn't surprise me that the store had it in stock with my copy waiting. In my rush to get the game, I forgot my Pre-Order slip that would have simplified the process of getting my copy. Well, the purchase was made and my identity proven using my driver's license. And there the box sits for a few minutes, waiting to be opened. In order to purge what leftover content that remains from the previous betas, I've uninstalled the game and installed straight from the CD. As I type this out, O&O Defrag is currently defragmenting my partition. Another 40 minutes to go and I'll dive right in. Signs of addiction? I hope not. In all honesty, I just hope that it doesn't pull me in too much like Phantasy Star Online.

Start : Run...

After hitting that snag and doing additional research, the transition to the new design is finally completed. But there are still things needed to be tested before I can be sure that it works fully. Hopefully, the template works as it should and that there'll be no weird surprises as time moves on.

On other parts, Guild Wars has finally gone gold. And given from the time frame it went gold up until store date, it should arrive on time to meet the April 28th date w/o much delay. I guess I'll be ... 'absent' during those times.

Paused...

Well, it seems my goal of completely customizing the blogger template hit a major snag. I just finished the template design only to hit a major roadblock due to a certain template tag that's being used. Unfortunately changing it over will have to wait another day or two, maybe 3. After a quick look at the help system, I find that it's possible to simply use individual elements to display what I wanted or need. I was pretty close to completing this, only to have this roadblock hit my face. Well, the change will still be smooth, albeit slow.

Looking forward

And so the last beta weekend event for Guild Wars has come to a close. For a late entry that is nearly a week after it started, I had to process a few screenshots so that I can post it up here.

The ending to the final event turned out to be one amazing show. But no show is complete without some amusing entertainment and chaos. ArenaNet provided that for those able to participate and witness it. I'll let the screenshot speak for themselves.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4
Screenshot 5

Anxiously waiting for April 28, I hope to have the game on hand to get started.