Back in civilization

Man, oh man, did I miss out a lot.

Not only was I unable to attend last Saturday's GE PH Black Party, I was likewise absent in NineMoons' birthday bash on the event day (belated happy birthday, sis!).

If you're one of the people who missed out on the activities, check out the post-event accounts of NineMoons, Fiksdotter, Artaxerxes, Churvanesska, Sigrid, Mena and Blacksword! Seeing those fun photos made me want to wish I was there. ^^

Nevertheless, I'm glad that most of the Philippine GE players enjoyed the event, despite the earlier shocking news about the server merge. I hope you guys had the opportunity to talk and get to know each other. As what most people have been saying, the server merge is an opportunity for us to gain more friends, so it's nice that events like these can bring PH gamers from the various GE worlds some time to relax and socialize.

Hmm..where to go?

As for me, well, let's just say I went to El Lago de Tres Hermanas, Ustiur and the Skullic Caves for some much needed R&R. It felt like I was engaging in a 24-hr PvP match now that my body's aching all over, but much fun was had! I'll tell you more about it in the coming post. ^_^

DeSanggria Family update: A Fighter joins the ranks!

I'd like to welcome the newest addition to the Veteran ranks in the DeSanggria Family barracks!

Uhh..she doesn't like facing the camera. XD

It almost took me forever to get her to go Vet. Urduja was actually part of the main team when I created my family in Carracci. I initially came up with an all-girl Musk-Scout-Fighter team sporting local folklore names, until I exchanged fighter Urduja to wizard Belgarion to make the training easier on AFK mode.

I was never really a fan of melee type of characters as I preferred long-ranged, hit-them-before-they-hit-you combat, but then again, high level quests in GE almost always need a formidable tanker. That said, I decided to get Urduja to Vet.

And since I'm not used to handling Fighters, it's becoming quite a chore to max out all her stances. Not only am I a bit peeved because it costs more than a hand and foot to properly equip Fighters with a variety of decent weapons and armors, I will have to deal with leveling her to Expert as well. Not that I'm counting on it, since my main priority is to get the main team to Expert more than anything else. Maintaning a Fighter in one's barracks is damned costly and if it weren't for those high level quests, I'd never pursue training one.

Although I'm kinda loving the Stave Guard stance right now. She can go solo without me having to bring a healer nor constantly watching her to hit some pots buttons. If it weren't for the Phobitan Chieftain hanging out in Topolo, I'd have her stationed there the whole day.

Anyway, I hope I still have the patience to max out all her skills. I still have a Bai Hu to get to Vet, and I'll never be Expert if I keep this up. =_=

GE PH's 1yr anniv event

September 27 is the D-Day for Granado Espada Philippines' 1st year anniversary celebration at the SMX Convention Center!

There's going to be a slew of online and live events for everyone, so make sure to be there! All the contest and activity details are over at the GE PH website. I'm especially calling out to all Pinoy faction leaders and members to make their presence known in this event. This is also your chance to meet CM Aethrin, so don't be shy and approach him when you see him.

And may I just remind everyone that the event is a Black Day, so be sure to wear black or any dark colored shirts!

Have a great time this Saturday, folks! As for me, I'm off somewhere in the weekend so I hope to get all the exciting post-event news from my fellow GE Bloggers.

Long live Granado Espada Philippines!

Trouble in paradise

There are about 350+ people online at the GE forums right now. Usually in an ordinary day when the game is at its usual, error-free state, you won't find that much number of people hanging around.

And that means, that there's trouble in GE paradise.

I haven't been online in the game since Wednesday, but I've been regularly checking the forums for updates and stuff. Apparently, this Thursday's maintenance went from an unforeseen extension, to ad hoc, to server reset. And like always, all hell breaks loose in the forums. Just take a look at the General Discussion page and you'll see scores of complaints, expletives and demands on the irregularities they've experienced in-game. The only thing they need are torches and pitchforks and we have an angry, flaming-happy mob.

It kinda makes me thankful that I haven't been playing for the past 4 days to experience all these. It just gets so tiring and repetitive to be seeing scores and scores of threads relating to technical problems and concerns. Since most of the people hang out in that particular section of the forums, threads are being created at the wrong location, making the forums cluttered and untidy.

I don't wanna fan the flames. I do understand both the players' and IAH's position and I'm siding with neither. But for the sake of everyone's sanity, I just wish there would be:

• just one thread enumerating all technical irregularities, game bugs and errors so that IAH can properly take action. Imagine weeding out all those threads which are basically just saying the same things. Sure, sure, everyone's pissed. But if we don't act like sane humans and work together to solve these problems, we'd all just be wasting each other's time.
• some sense of maturity not to go around running like a headless chicken, screaming profanities. No amount of cussing or swearing will solve the situation at hand, nor will it bring back the lost time from all those ATs, CMs and other consumable premium items.
  
• an area where people can calmly discuss these concerns after the dust has settled. I'm thinking more in the lines of a dialogue between IAH and the gamers to properly inform both parties on what happened before, during and after the incident.

In the meantime, why won't people just chill and do their other responsibilities in REAL life?

Up close & personal with Aethrin

Curious on who the new GE Philippine CM is? Well then, here's your opportunity to know more about the soft-spoken, hardcore gamer, CM Aethrin!

Name: Aethrin
Server: Cervantes
Level: Veteran
MCC Team: Irawan, Grace Bernelli, Adelina the Pirate
Favorite NPC: Irawan

CM Aethrin (the one in purple) with the GE PH bloggers
Photo by NineMoons

Tell us something about yourself. How long have you been playing online games?

I’ve been playing online games for almost 5 years. I’m a gamer at heart. Aside from games, I like to travel, listen to music and dabble with art.

In your experience as a gamer, what makes GE stand out from the other games you’ve played?

GE has unique game features that other MMOs don’t have -- particularly the MCC and XAI. The game has an amazing concept and graphics. The RNPCs are also great because it allows you to include them in your family line-up.

You have big shoes to fill as the new CM for GE PH. Do you plan to pick up where CM Veya left off (in terms of projects, plans, etc.) or do you plan to come up with your own?

Being the new CM for GE is a very nice opportunity for me. I do plan to continue what CM Veya has started, but I have other plans for the improvement of the GE Community as well.

What’s the first thing you’ll do as the new Community Manager?

Do the unexpected.


What can the community expect from you as its new CM, and from IP e-Games in general?

Well, they can expect lot of good things. There will be more events for the GE Community.

We know that a lot of PH gamers are clamoring for more GE promotions and the availability/accessibility of the game in most Internet cafes and GVCs. What is your take on this?

We have good activities planned up for GE. We’ll be having more I-café/ground event tours. We will provide you with a better GVC distribution process.

Will the gamers be seeing more of you in-game? How often are you online? Will you also have server visits to check on the community?

Yes absolutely! I will be visiting the servers for them to know that CM Aethrin really exists. LOL. And yes, there will be server visits, schedules and activities that I’ll be doing. So for our GE gamers, check the GE PH website for updates on these.

I hear that you (or e-Games for that matter) is in the thick of hosting the GE PH anniversary this month. Are there any plans/activities that you have in mind? If so, what are those?

Yes, we have the activities lined up for the GE anniversary and we will communicate it to all players once everything’s settled and finalized.


I’m sure the PH gamers would want to know if the i-Café buff will be implemented here in the Philippines. Is this possible? When will this take effect if ever?

We are definitely planning to implement the i-Café buff here in the Philippines, and we are currently testing it. However, one of the major concern here is that our country has a dynamic IP address, meaning that most i-Cafes have varying IP addresses. But we’re working on ways to go around this concern. If things go well, we might implement it sometime soon.

Will e-Games also offer the 70k GP denomination? Does e-Games plan on expanding GVC denominations?

We are planning to work on the availability of the 70k G-Points, since many players prefer to buy the highest denomination.

I heard that e-Games is also working on implementing e-Points to G-Points for easier access. How soon will this be put into operation?

The EP-GP conversion project will be a big help for a lot of GE gamers; this project is one of our top priorities and will be launched as soon as it is ready.

What are your plans for the GE community in the Visayas and Mindanao?

For Visayas and Mindanao, we are doing ground events such as freeplays and tournaments.

Any words for the community?
Yeah, keep rockin’ the GE world! Make the Pinoy gamers proud!


There you have it! I tried to coax some more explanation from CM Aethrin, but he's kinda busy with a lot of things right now, and I am thankful as it is that he gave me a few moments of his time for this interview. ^_^

And for those in Cervantes who are curious to know his IGN, you're reading it right now. ^^ You can also reach him at: granadoespada[at]e-games[dot]com[dot]ph

Let's support the new CM of the Granado Espada Philippine community! Happy 1st anniversary!

The gates are open!

It's official, folks. The gates to Tierra Putrefacta, and ultimately, to Chaos Requiem, are now open, now that Vivaldi and Pachelbel did the job of pwning the Giant Keeper days after Caravaggio, Carracci and Cervantes killed the monster from their respective servers.

And here we thought that faction feuds would be a hindrance to resolve this matter. A big kudos to all seaGE factions for rising above the personal strife to come together for one cause. For that, you've given all citizens of Granado Espada the chance to venture into Chaos Requiem!

Not that I'm not miffed about what people were saying that this would further worsen the botting situation, I only see the more macro viewpoint, in this case, everyone is given the access to this new map. So this still calls for a big celebration.

Here's to hoping one day I can set foot in the new map as well. But for now, I gotta clear out my Katovic and Bahamas quests before I shoot for the stars. XD

Here's a few screenshots posted by our friends at the GE forums.

Pachelbel - SS by Xima

Vivaldi - SS by valinorian

I just went out for the day...

...and then here comes the news.

Apparently, Caravaggio's successful raid on the Giant Keeper went out as some sort of challenge to the rest of the other servers. Just tonight, I was alerted by Fiksdotter's & NineMoons' blog update that our server, Carracci, made a successful attempt in killing this monster.

E M I N E N C E Faction leader Nostradamus' name was announced in the entire server as the last person to have dealt the final blow on the critter. It's no surprise, given the fact that E M I N E N C E is the current superpower in Carracci. What makes me curious is how these guys actually did it.

Anyway, the topic's all over the GE forums, so better head on there if you want to know more about it. I'm a bit tired from today's activities so I'll check on it some other time.

Having said this, I guess it's now up to Pachelbel, Cervantes and Vivaldi to follow suit in this quest. Who will be next?

Now that's something worth anticipating.

[edit]

And so I heard Cervantes did the job as well. Knock, knock, knock on Pachelbel and Vivaldi! ^^

The fall of the Giant Keeper

This just in. Around 3 or so squads from Caravaggio efficiently pwned the Giant Keeper (Great Hill Giant) guarding the entrance to Chaos Requiem, making them the very first server to gain access to this never before chartered territory.

Screenshot c/o GrImRiPpEr at the GE forums

From Kai Kai at this thread

OMG this is absolutely monumental! I was actually thinking that it will take the cooperation of an entire server to kill this monster, but these guys just did it with 3 squads! Looking at the screenshot, they used a lot of DPS power, mainly using Musketeers, Wizards and Emilia the Sages. I can't even begin to imagine how they actually did it.

Kudos to you guys!

Now, some of the IAH staff are thinking of rewarding the raiders for their effort. Sweet! I wonder when will Carracci have its turn on pwning this tough cookie.

Stuff about being a girl gamer

Contrary to my un-updated blog, yes, I am still alive. Thanks to the culprit called real life (and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and Diner Dash on Nintendo DS, plus work woes to boot), things have been pretty busy for me.

Anyway, here's something I've been meaning to write a commentary about: Granado Espada's Gamer Girls.

If you know the whole story to it, chances are you know its herstory, stemming from the Community Managers, down to the gamers themselves. In fact, a long thread has been devoted to the discussion of this program, although admittedly, nothing worthwhile came up from the discussions, except for the proverbial masochistic harangue of "There are no girls on the Internets".

NineMoons has given us her own thoughts about this, and although I share her sentiments, I have a few things to add on my own.

1. Guys should learn how to grow up. Seriously. Just because there are girls playing online games, that doesn't mean they're guys masquerading as girls. You don't own the exclusive aptitude to play games.

2. Although I do applaud our CMs for starting the ball rolling for gamer girls, my only opinion is that it's not a huge issue at all. Don't get me wrong, but the fact that it's being hyped up only creates/worsens the gender disparity. You'd only have to look at the forums to know what I mean.

Seriously, it's nice to know that girls can pwn guys any time, but tooting our horns won't do that much difference. Refer to #1 for emphasis.

3. Why feature only the good looking girls? Not only will they elicit/bring up more masochistic discussions (in addition to weird advances and mindless ogling), it further aggravates the entire scenario. Ok, I know the gamer features are far from over, but it would be nice if all girls regardless of looks will be given space. Of course, we have to respect other's decision if they wish to remain anonymous.

I'm not speaking as if the gamer girl features are over. This may sound contradictory to my earlier point, but those who are willing to be featured should also be free to express their thoughts and not be hindered by what other people will say. And it would not be such a bad idea to feature the low to mid-level girl gamers of GE. We want to foster the spirit of community here and character levels are supposed to be irrelevant.

4. This one's for the girls: We don't need to prove ourselves to ANYONE. Regardless if you're a level 1 player or an Expert level player, the fact is that you love the game, that's more than enough reasons for you to continue playing. Let us not be impeded by our counterparts' serious, albeit wonked up, perspective on gaming. We're here to play and we're here to have fun!

=====

In other news, I has a Bai Hu! And since he's technically a Korean RNPC, I named him after my favorite Kpop idol, Ahn Chil Hyun, also known as Kangta to some.

Excuse me for the fangirling, but I've been wanting to give him that name ever since I knew he's from Coria. Haha. So I'm currently leveling both a Fighter and Bai Hu (at this rate, I'm never gonna be Expert if I keep on vetting new characters =_=).

But the good news is, my Gavin has a new playmate! >:)