Using Social Power and Influence for CS

Noticed this on my feed and had to laugh. Must be nice to have a recognizable name for the insta-responses. Decided to try loading up the client. Got all the way in and out with no problem. Tried logging back in with no issue. So whatever.

NCsoft Unleashes Industry Standard Pre-Sale Ploy

Get those gamer dollars committed to score the carrots! *lol* Looks like Guild Wars 2 is offering the standard three-way marketing line-up. All will include head start and beta access. The deluxe pack gives the in-game items while the collector's gives the CD, book, and RL items.

Not sure where I am with this game yet. S'okay since the options aren't available until April 10th (another excellent ploy… allow hype to build). The banker part of the deluxe would sell me but they hedge with “at your command for five days.” So no mount and a banker that expires? Standard may be fine.

That's a Lot of Warm Bodies

Taugrim mentioned an article at Massively that went over SWTOR head counts:

Vogel and Dickinson also shared some mind-boggling numbers relating to SWTOR staffing, as the game's development cycle featured 30 producers, 40 platform engineers, 80 programmers, 75 designers, 140 artists, and 280 quality assurance positions. How does one approach a ginormous project management task of this magnitude? Mainly by sticking to a rigorous triage process and thinking outside of the box when it comes to internal conflicts and team-building procedures.

That's pretty insane.

Maybe You Beta, Generate Social Excitement for Now

Got an eMail from the GW2 peoples about beta invites going out "soon":

In just over 48 hours, 1 million players signed up for a chance to participate in upcoming Guild Wars 2 beta events. Although we wish we could invite everyone who signed up to playtest the beta, we do have a limited number of slots available for each event and not everyone will be able to play. We know you're very eager for us to send out beta invitations, and we will be sending these confirmations out shortly.

In the meantime, we've prepared a little thank you for all those who applied - a brand new video that features never-before-seen in-game footage.

Just head over to the Guild Wars 2 Facebook page and "Like" us to watch the video! Thanks for your support, and we'll see you in game!

Video has less then 40 seconds of footage yet it did look damn smooth. Hoping I get an invite.

Achieving Despite the Climb

Working my way through the last of the Steam Skyrim achievements. Number 45 was getting up to the last Standing Stone: The Tower.

Been putting this one off since it's so tedious. I'd only found half of them on my own so called on the UESP for assistance. Normally any new characters pick one en route to Riverwood and never change again. Going to finish up 50 by switching to 2h and Heavy Armor, so it was a good time to grab the Warrior benefits.

While leveling said warrior skills in a bandit hide-out I defended myself with a human shield!

Once you take most of the items off a corpse you can lift it rather high in the air. After looting the melee bandit at my feet I ended up hoisting his body in front of me while his archer friend shot at me. The arrows would shoot into him as I walked slowly forward. Rather gruesome but have to admit I laughed…

Don't Everybody Mod at Once

As the de facto mod site it's surprising this doesn't happen more often.

You Under Estimate the Power of the Dark Side

Have eleven days remaining but doubt I'll bother. Should log in to check my mail and clean everything up… just no interest. Maybe in a few months.