disappointments, going 40 and new friends

Okay, so I just missed this Saturday's unannounced and unpublicized (note the emphasis) Colony Wars. However, thanks to NineMoon's update, I learned that CARNAGE got at least one colony despite the sudden announcement.

And knowing that the next day meant another day of war, I made sure I was there to witness it. But the thing is, a large number of the faction's members did not know about the impending war. And so with still a few families present, the group had to make do with whoever was online.

While observing the guys talk about their next steps, I read some of the peepz brought up the idea of not participating at all, given the fact that we were lacking in troops. I for one thought that it would actually materialize since some of the guys voiced out the same sentiments.

But at 10 minutes before the war started, Overseer decided to deploy all troops for the defense of the single colony in El Tejado Verde.

Dunno what happened after that, though I was only able to get snippets of the discussion (was busy leveling to reach the 40 mark), which included some requests to Overseer to declare war on some factions and the usual talk about strategies and all.

I was just surprised to find out at the end of the stipulated 2-hour war that our one and only colony was swiped from us by Yakisoba. And to even add insult to the injury, I found out that Estradz was banned for 5 days for...botting?! WTF?!

Why o why do they resort to surprise CWs? *head desk*

The New World's not the same without CARNAGE on the map.

===

And I'd like to interrupt the drama with this announcement:

Alaena!! Heaven and Hell!! WAAAAH!!

Finally, after 48 years, I finally did it. However, I've noted that this particular stance's kinda inhibiting in a sense that I'm having a hard time dealing with mobs. Verdandi does most of the job in eliminating the ugly hordes, but Alaena's stance doesn't have that much against multitudes of monsters ganging up on you. Well, perhaps I need to work on leveling the stance itself, but jeez...I don't want Alaena dying every now and then when I go to the Porto Bello Cabin.

So right now, I've resorted to using the Plow Guard stance, using the Castor Sword as the weapon. The Skyliner skill works like a charm against mobs. Always.

===

Oh, and Idge makes a new friend!

Do introduce us!

And....*gasp*

Cyradis canoodling with unknown Fighter

I can just see the look of indignation on her sisters' faces. >:)

And I just went on another mission with a faction mate. ^_^ Thanks for letting me tag along, Max!

working on GE PH site

I've just finished writing the article for the website which is about the featured faction, CARNAGE. It took me quite a while to finally type the last word, but all in all, I'm proud of my handiwork. Blame it on the fact that I know these guys well enough to tell their story without the usual hassle.

We hope to launch the beta version of the GE PH website by tomorrow. This is the reason why I've been neck-deep in work since yesterday, foregoing all other stuff that I need to do for other projects.

I'd like to share with you a sneak peek of the article. Enjoy!

Perhaps one of the more evident instances where one can see CARNAGE’s synergy at play is during Colony Wars. During this in-game event, everyone discards their carefree selves to become full-fledged warriors. Their mission: to conquer and defend as many colonies as possible.

At this time, Overseer turns into a stern commander-in-chief, grouping members into platoons with their designated leaders for easier information dissemination. Platoon members quickly respond to their leaders’ commands in assisting other members during War Declarations.

After the battle, everyone switches back to their lax and funny selves. “I think what sets CARNAGE apart from other factions is the members’ diversity. We also have a few foreign members, but majority of us are Pinoys and with Pinoys, there’s a different kind of interaction. We may have different personalities and professions, but we all get along. We’re like one big barkada even if we haven’t seen each other in person,” says Stormrage.

Where I work, favorite RNPC, failed mission and more work

This current addiction to GE has made me some sort of a "freak employee" at work. For one, I log in at work at the most absurd time of the day (6AM being the earliest) at leave at an equally insane one (9PM being the latest). So in most cases, I report for work for 15 hours on a typical weekday, not discounting the overtime stuff I do on weekends.

God, this made me realize how much I miss sleeping on my bed for 12 hours straight. Hehe.

On a sudden streak of vanity, I took a few pictures of my workstation using my cellphone camera.

Anne's cluttered desk

Pardon the small size of the picture and the clutter. My seatmate's a terrible hax when it comes to tidiness. XD

Notice anything familiar? That's right, it's a GE tumbler sitting next to the monitor. I rarely use it now because it's sort of coming apart. Don't ask why, it's just that way. I dunno if I chose the substandard one from all the batches we gave away for the press last January, but I have a bad feeling that I did pick the worst in the lot.

And just this morning, my seatmate, who also happens to be my boss, had this lying around the table.

The Zouk Raid Party Guest Pass

Wow, neat! I still wish to this date that I was able to attend the Zouk event as well. Must've been loads of fun.

===

I am currently working on populating the content for the temporary GE PH site, which is why I've been recently spending more time in-game after work. Last night, Nepomuceno, one of my faction mates in CARNAGE, invited me for the Trinity Mission. We set off to meet in Port of Coimbra Ch. 2 and warp into the quest room from there.

It took me quite a while to get there because of this totally abominable work PC that I have. In the quest room itself, the girls got wiped out by several Escudo Pechers coming from all directions. So there I was getting frustrated with the uber slow machinations of this PC while Nepomuceno handled the mission all by himself.

Massive failure

Yeah, so we failed. Damn.

I just wish my request for better hardware gets here by next week, otherwise I'm going to scream bloody murder.

===

While on my usual level grinding moments, I took on Idge's last quest. Having previously collected the Liquefied Talts from Mermen in Porto Bello, I took quite some time finding that stone in Jezebel Glen to battle with the Grim Reaper. I thought I was going to have a hard time again, but thankfully, I finished the mission, and I'm totally bowled over by the reward:

Idge's great news for me

Yay! I finally got Idge! I've been wanting to have her in my lineup, given the fact that she's my favorite RNPC (next to Adelina Esperanza).

Idge is now a DeSanggria

Exploring the city with a new team

Idge and Cyradis up close

I felt like skipping for joy when I finally added her to the DeSanggria barracks. I didn't change her name just to stay on with the Idge fandom, though she now carries the DeSanggria surname. I'm thinking of having her and Alaena do some serious level grinding in Porto Bello The Deck. Alaena's has only 2 notches to go before Heaven and Hell! I can't wait!

Man, this is going to be fun later at 6PM when I go online. Woohoo!

day 2 of colony wars: strategies for defense

The 2nd Day of the said in-game event was actually twice the fun and anxiety as factions with Colonies had to defend their keep from invading factions. One such group is the strong force of the Yakisobas. Fresh from their Saturday EB, this well-known faction went on an all-out assault for Colony takeovers and war declarations.

Of course, CARNAGE Faction did not disappoint as they gathered their forces for the defense of their 6 Colonies. I chose to let the girls stay behind and support the faction from the sides, as well as to chronicle the events as they happened. Again, I noticed a low attendance of CARNAGE member families, considering the fact that defending the Colonies were a lot more work.

Anyway, Lolo Seer mobilized everyone to assemble at the usual spot (Port of Coimbra Ch. 1). I was at Reboldeoux watching the faction chat for any developments. Platoons were soon given orders to meet in a particular area to defend nearby colonies.

I killed time by leveling the girls in Porto Bello, but I was still watching for any updates. Perhaps at one point I became engrossed in my own activities that I missed a few developments. Although I did learn that the Colonies in the Porto Bello Deserted Quay and King's Garden were soon occupied by Yakisoba and VIRLEAD Factions respectively. And naturally, the faction's HP boost went down from 45% to 27%.

It was then that the action started kicking in.

Lolo Seer gave orders to abandon the Colony in Porto Bello's Desolate Cliff to defend the ones in El Lago de Tres Hermanas and El Tejado Verde. It was then that VIRLEAD took the Desolate Cliff Colony as their property.

Faction Leader Overseer divulged the main strategy during that time: take the Yakisoba territories while they were busy claiming other lands.

Wow. Heavy.

To the rescue

Anyway, I later found out that the Hermana Colony was safe, and that the next stop was the Deserted Quay. At this point, I made a stupid move of going there to help out. I encountered a faction mate on the way to the area, but was later on taken by surprise at the appearance of several Yakisoba families awaiting us on some sort of ambush. And because there were only the two of us in the area (and the lag started to kick in at this point), we were easily taken down. I believe it was RavaNa who pwned the girls without so much as batting an eyelash.

Death by Yakisoba

An in-game shout-out announced that the Tejado Colony was successfully acquired by the VRADICAL Faction. Lolo Seer then ordered everyone to move to the area to reclaim the Colony, and then someone from the faction announced that another platoon's efforts to reconquer the Quay Colony was already on its way. After the success of getting back El Tejado, Overseer announced the defense of Tres Hermanas next. Scouts were ordered to equip daggers and install traps for an all-out defense of the territory.

After the dust has settled, I'm proud to announce that CARNAGE got 3 colonies after the gruelling two-hour battle. Not bad at all. Congrats to the mamaws of CARNAGE for a successful defense!


And another congratulatory shout out...

CARNAGE ATTAINS LEVEL 52 FACTION STATUS!

Great work, mga paps! v^0^v

sad news up ahead

Aw, man, I just learned that CARNAGE's gonna be a lot more strict when it comes to level requirement. Just today when I logged in the game, a faction-wide announcement read that all families under CARNAGE are required to be level 80 and above in three weeks' time.

LEVEL 80 IN THREE WEEKS?

*Looks at DeSanggrias' level 37 status*

Okay, so that made me think of the following options:

a. Have a pilot for my account and have that person play 24/7.

b. Transfer to another faction with less restrictions and grind until I reach a much more decent level before joining any Colony Wars.

c. Stay faction-less until I reach a decent level and THEN join a faction.

Sigh. Sad news indeed.

*edit*

And I also found out (via GE forums) that CARNAGE has reverted to the Republican Political Party from its former stand as Royalists.

Okay, I've thought early on that the DeSanggrias are Royalists. This sudden news has somewhat added to the problem of staying or not.

Decisions...decisions...