Ultima Online Macros

This is my hotkey / macro setup for Ultima Online...

I have all my offensive spells set to the keypad...
(please note, this is the square keypad on the right, not the number row up top)

Starting from the bottom...

0 - Magic Arrow
. - Meditation
1 - Clumsey
2 - Feeblemind
3 - Weaken
4 - Paralyze
5 - Explosion
6 - Energy Bolt
7 - Poison
8 - Harm
9 - Mind Blast
+ - Flamestrike
* - Fireball
- - Lighting

I have my heal keys set to F2-F4 because they're near the escape key if I need to cancel a heal...

F1 - All Names
F2 - Heal
F3 - Cure
F4 - Greater Heal

I also set my drink cure potion as number 6 on the number row so it's near my Greater Heal key for group pvp encounters...
(number row)

6 - Drink Cure
7 - Drink Heal
8 - Drink Refresh

I also like to maintain my stats, so I have the following...

Alt+A - Agility
Alt+S - Strength
Alt+C - Cunning
Ctrl+B - Blessing

Some other random macros include...

Alt+L - Nightsight
F5 - Say: Bank, Guards, I Ban Thee, Wintersoul, Recsu Recdu, Etc...
F6 - Teleport
F7 - Hide
Alt+F7 - Invisibility
Alt+Q - Recall
Alt+W - Gate

It's also important to have the following...

F8 - Magic Trap
Alt+F8 - Reactive Armour
Shift+F8 - Magic Reflect
Ctrl+F8 - Protection
F9 - Use Once Agent (this opens your traped pouches for you)
Shift+F9 - Set Use Once (this sets which pouches to open)

That should cover it; there's more, but nothing I would ever share, muhahaha >=]

~Keystone

EvE Online

I've officially subscribed to EvE Online; this is the only MMO I'm playing. I could play WoW on the free private server, but even free the game doesn't interest me anymore. I miss the Ultima Online days of MMORPG's where the the game was complex enough to give meaning to the acronym RPG.

I had started a Caldari, but after some online research I found Gallente make better solo PvP'ers. I don't plan to go solo through the entire game as joining and participating in a Corporation (guild) is where all the fun is, but I'd still like to solo gank from time to time.

I'm going to post my character sheet in a subsequent post, and hopefully redesign the blog to fit my new gaming addiction.

P.S. I'm looking for a good Pirate / Warfare Corp to show me the ropes and take me in; leave me a comment if you know of any...

Until then...
~Keystone

LAN Preparation!

It's been awhile since I've posted, and I apologize for that! I could be cliché and talk about how college and work are ruling my life and how the mob is out to get me and break my legs for past gambling debts, but I digress.

So, there is an awesome LAN party that I attend once or twice a year that is coming up in May. This is not your normal bring-your-computer-not-know-anyone-warehouse-entry-fee-LAN. This is a LAN at a friend's house and he only invites friends of friends, and it's invite only. He covers most of the expenses, and since it's in his house he doesn't want random people there.

We have always played Counter Strike and one other shooter- usually whatever just come out and is hot. This time we'll be doing our normal Counter Strike plus Crysis. The problem I'm having is my machine barely meets the Crysis minimum system requirements, and upgrading right now is not a monetary option. I really wish our second game had been TF2 since it seems like the perfect LAN game, but the guy who runs the LAN is in love with Crysis.

I'm going to pop in another stick of RAM and end up with a P4 3.0 processor, 2g RAM, and a 9800 pro video card. I read a PC Gamer article where they played Crysis on low settings with those same hardware components, and while it didn't look snazzy, it still played.

I'm going to buy Crysis next paycheck and start playing it and Counter Strike (again) so I can be ready for the LAN. The last one we had I hadn't played in a awhile and it showed in my skills. This time I plan to be ready to frag some fools in a drunken stooper!

If anyone has Crysis and wants to show me the ropes or knows a good server to play on, please drop me a line. Thanks!

Ding! LvL 50

I dinged 50 on my Orc Shaman. I was about to play around with my new talent, "Shamanistic Rage" when I was asked to heal an instance with some buddies, so I respec'd Resto and played with Earth Shield instead.

They are both interesting top talents, but they don't have the "ooo-ahh" affect that my water elemental did =(

I might retire the Shaman for now and go back to playing a Mage; I feel the class was made to my specs. I've played all the classes up to about level 50, and the Mage is by far my class.

I love the Mage's mobility; they can portal around the world in a matter of minutes, and what is this thing you call "walking"? I'm an Azerothian version of Nightcrawler my friend, I just blink and *poof*, I'm there!

I'm curious what makes certain classes appeal to certain people more than others...?

What is your favorite class, and why?

Ahh, Crack is Good, but WoW is Better!

It's true, I'm playing WoW again.

I decided to go Horde this time around as I've seen the entire game from the eyes of a Human Mage already.

This time I rolled an Orc Shaman by the name of "Ocid". Those who know me will recognize that name as my Night Elf Druid, but anyone who plays these games for a long time starts using the same names over again- especially ones they like!

I'm still trying to get use to the tribal architecture of the Horde. I really miss my brick & mortar building from the Alliance cities, but it's a small price to pay for a new experience!

I'm only level 26, so nothing crazy has happened yet, but once the PvP stories start flowing, I'll have more to post. Until then...

~Keystone

Darkfall Online

Darkfall is expected to have several features that set it apart from the majority of MMORPGs:

Unrestricted PvP, with no safe zones, only protection by npc guards in racially controlled cities.

Game mechanics will punish killing of racial allies. (see alignment section below)[19]

Complete looting. All items will be dropped on death, and can be looted by anyone who opens the corpse. Armor and weapons will be somewhat easy to replace.[20]

Inter-character and projectile-character collision detection. Projectiles (spells, arrows, cannonballs etc.) can be dodged. Players can be pushed or blocked by other players or by explosions.[21]

Manual aiming & blocking.[22]

Naval warfare, with the ability to sink player controlled ships.[23]

Dynamic, physical weather.

No radar or floating names, it is not known if there is a radar, in Asp's review it was said there was a radar but this has not been confirmed by the developers (Player made clan banners worn for identification.)[24]

Ranged combat will be viewed from first person perspective. Melee combat will be viewed from third person perspective.

Friendly fire. If you miss with spells or arrows you may hit someone other than the character you were targeting. Area of effect offensive spells and healing spells can affect your friends and your enemies.[25]

Cities can be built by players[26].

Player built cities can be destroyed. Each player built city will contain a clanstone, which protects the buildings and defensive structures in the vicinity from attack. The clanstone is invulnerable, except when it has been weakened by a Gloomer.

Gloomers can be built by players after they have built a siege fort next to the target city. The siege fort can be attacked and destroyed at any time, during or after construction. If a city is destroyed, a new clanstone constructed on the site is temporarily vulnerable to attack. [27]

There will be a limit on the number of players and NPC's that can bind to a clanstone

Gaming Limbo

I've canceled all (4) of my WoW accounts, but if you've read my blog before, you already knew that. I was playing TF2 for awhile, but the game gets a little stale, and most of the servers lack team-play, which kills a game in which the word "Team" is in the title.

I had started playing EvE for a little bit, but I just don't have the umph to get into such a deep game anymore, but if I did, it would be in EvE.

The majority of my gaming as-of-late has been Guitar Hero + Whiskey (with the occasional lamp shade on my head). I just haven't found any stand out games, but there is hope...

A good friend of mine that host a LAN party once or twice a year emailed me the other day boasting about a game that just came out. It's an FPS, and apparently raises the bar for First Person Shooters. PC Gamer gave Crysis a 98%, which is an insane rating. I've heard nothing but good things about the game, so I'm looking forward to checking it out. The next LAN is going to be May 22nd - 26th, and Crysis will be a featured game, so I have to get it soon and start practicing!

That's about it, not much else to report. As soon as I get Crysis I'll post some thoughts!

Guitar Hero + World of Warcraft, huh?

I just read an article on Fool.com (link below) which speaks of the acquisition of Activision by Vivendi. This is exciting news to me since one of my favorite games of all time was put out by Activision, Soldier of Fortune II, which by-the-way, the 3rd installment of the SOF series just came out and I'm hoping to check it out soon.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/12/03/blizzard-has-activisions-investors-singing-let-it-.aspx