We Have Moved

My domain registration finally went through, making procrastinationamplification.com live for the public. If that link doesn't work for you yet, your ISP may need a couple of hours to pick up on the DNS change but it should work for the majority already.

This blog will stay up, at least for a while, and some post may still link back here. All the content has been transferred to the new system, however, and all new posts will appear there and no longer here. The feed address stays the same, so if you're reading this through an RSS reader, nothing should change for you. See y'all on the new site!

Better Raids through Command Structures

Beating a new raid boss encounter in WoW - and every other MMO I've seen so far - is a three step process. First you have to research the encounter and find out how it actually works, then you have to turn this information into a battle plan, and finally you need to execute that plan reasonably well in order to kill the boss.
If you've ever wiped for a lot of times in a row on the same boss trying to implement a strategy that you knew as correct, you'll know that this can quickly get boring. There is no element of surprise, no adapting to circumstances, you simply need to perform just as the battle plan demands and everyone else needs to do the same.

Comment Issues

I have removed the Echo commenting system from the blog in preparation for a potential move to Wordpress. For now that means you can comment much more easily again.

Alas, the names of comment authors have been lost in the process. I'm very sorry for that, but I hope the new (old) commenting system will make up for it.
If you wish to claim a comment, just copy it, post it again and I'll remove the old one as soon as I see it.

$330k for Virtual Property

Has anyone heard of Entropia Universe? I have, a while ago, during research for my master's thesis but I never thought it to be very interesting.
Well, seems I was wrong - on Dec 28th last year, a space station in the virtual world of Entropia Universe sold for 3.3 million Project Entropia Dollars (PED.) What makes this number so surprising is that PED can be traded for US dollars at a fixed 10:1 exchange rate. That means that the player with the handle Buzz Erik Lightyear paid $330,000 for a piece of virtual property, a new record high for virtual currency transactions.

Complexity

I reinstalled Master of Magic recently, inspired by the news about Elemental - War of Magic, an upcoming Stardock title. The graphics in MoM are beyond terrible (the game is 16 years old after all) and the UI is incredibly clunky. Yet, the game has a degree of interesting complexity that I dearly miss in today's games.

End of Year Reads

I'll admit it, I haven't really thought about games in days and likely won't anymore this year. If I don't think, I don't come up with content and you don't get stuff to read from me.
Luckily, there's a lot more to read out there. Here are some things that might interest you.

Christmas Fillings

I don't really have time for a serious post today - and to be honest, you should be out getting presents or decorating trees or whatnot as well. I handed in the thesis for my master's degree today, so you can expect some more focus on the blog after the holidays. (And after I've finished celebrating. Man I'm glad that that axe over my head is finally gone.)

Speaking of Christmas - Steam has a big Christmas sale that's worth looking at. I won't go into details, but what you should really do is get some of those ultra-cheap indie games. You can get Braid for €2,24 (you might remember that from the list of top games of 2009!), AudioSurf for €2,50 (I just played the demo so far but I'm definitely getting it now.), and World of Goo for €4,99 which was worth the full €20 when I bought it. Even if you don't like indie games, if you get these 3 that's going to be ten euros (or dollars or pounds or whatever heathen currency you use) you won't regret spending.

Also, you'd be doing a good deed by giving money to indie developers. 'Tis the season after all. Also, way more fun than a pandaren monk!