Pets, Poison Yards, and Farming for Fesos

Aww, look, I let my Grabber out to play!


Look, he thinks the croc-musk is his mommy!

***

I said I had to feed my Grabber Po, so I bravely entered the Poison Yard tonight with a few good raiders:



As it turns out, the Super Fight maps currently AREN'T PK heavens. Instead, everyone plays nice because everyone's farming for the stones that can be exchanged for Fesos.

As a precaution, squad leader Fiksdotter advised everyone to tag themselves as "Farmers" while inside PY, and to observe a few rules of conduct that he had laid out beforehand. Once inside, though, it was pretty much every pioneer for his or herself, with assistance given when someone got accidentally killed.

At the end of the night, here's the NineMoons family haul:



w00t! I've already converted those stones into Fesos. Now I have to make plans for the next farming session. ^^

[Anything for my cute little baby! ♥]

Halloween 2008 in Rembrandt!

Last year, it was my girls in Bach and their Pumpkin Hats.

This year, it's my current leveling team in Rembrandt, marking Halloween with some good old-fashioned scares!


Anthy and Furyk taunt each other in their Croc and Bear suits, respectively, while Siuan looks on. Special guest appearance by the Winterlake family, DFL of ShenAnCalhar faction.


"They're behind me, aren't they?" Eeeeeeeeeek!

In the meantime, I wonder if the Trick or Treat event mentioned in Hrin's blog is pushing through?

A Future Pet: Meet Pigling!

People are still wibbling out over Grabber/Pilfurr/Poppet, and wondering when Buppet/Broomy/Moppet will be out, and worrying about getting the fesos needed to keep them both alive. We haven't even started talking about the Grabber Lady yet, only Ferruccio knows when we're going to get THAT one....

And now here comes an update that will bring in a fourth pet, in Granado Espada Version 3.1.04.

Meet Pigling.



[Incidentally, that MCC team is quite beautifully dressed. The male elementalist looks especially dolled up for the occasion, to say nothing of his female counterpart and the male musketeer. It seems like Version 3.0 is the version where the male elementalist gets a lot of costume love....]

Anyway, the thing about Pigling is this: you have to pay real money to get her. The doratomo.jp article that's the source of this post's information and images guesses that the price may eventually be something around 10,000 Won.

Quickie conversion rates:

1 South Korean won = 0.0679724619 Japanese yen
= 0.00104722366 Singapore dollars
= 0.0337880175 Philippine pesos
= 0.000701 U.S. dollars

So,

10,000 South Korean won = 679.724619 Japanese yen
= 10.4722366 Singapore dollars
= 337.880175 Philippine pesos
= 7.01 U.S. dollars

What justifies spending that money? Well, the article claims that while Pigling has essentially the same skill set as Grabber/Pilfurr/Poppet, she has a wider range for picking up objects and a faster pick-up time. To balance that out, she goes through her Activity Power much faster, i.e. you need to feed her more often than for the other pets.

In closing, have a video of Pigling in action:



[No Sarah Palin jokes, please!]

Sources
The original doratomo.jp article describing Pigling
The same page run through Yahoo! BabelFish
Currency conversions from Google.com [just type in the currencies to be converted, i.e. "X to Y"]

GAME! November 2008 Feature: Granado Espada Gamer Girls In The Spotlight

Okay, I managed to make decent scans of the GAME! November issue - well, at least just the pages for the GE Gamer Girls Season 1 feature. So here are the JPEG versions.


Page 1, the title page for the feature.


Page 2 of the feature.


Page 3, the last page of the feature.

Click on the JPEGs to be able to read the text. They should be large enough that the article can be easily read.

Enjoy the article ^^ For the upcoming Dec-Jan issue, I contributed a story about the Black Party event that marked the first anniversary of Granado Espada in the Philippines, as well as a report on the Server Merge - so please watch out for that one, too.

GAME! November 2008 issue is out!

This one is for all of the Granado Espada Gamer Girls - and especially those from the Philippines!

Never mind the main image; what you're looking for is in the bottom-left corner!



See the list of featured articles near the bottom? Check out the third entry on that list: Granado Espada Gamer Girls. That's right, you can now read the full article on the GE Gamer Girls Season 1 initiative - the same article I excerpted in this post!

Too bad I wasn't able to cover everyone. The article was set for deadline early in September, so I couldn't complete the list of Gamer Girls.

I owe someone scans of the pages where the article appeared.....

Talking about the Granado Espada "Web Controller"

[Goodness, I have just realized that this blog is well on the way to reaching its 500th post.

...Wow! *giddy*]

It seems as though the folks over in kGE and jGE can't wait to get their hands on the GEMOCON "Web Controller" function. From the looks of it, it's a way of keeping track of your pioneering family's progress from any other computer, in real time. The gushing article over at doratomo.jp even goes so far as to call it a "Messiah" for those people who have to work at the office and therefore have limited leveling time!

Here's the login screen for the beta version. The word on the street is that IMC and Microsoft - Microsoft! - worked together to produce this widget.



You'll get a sort of quickstart instruction screen to explain how the thing works, and then you'll go right into the actual GEMOCON UI.



[doratomo helpfully explains that the name of the web controller is derived from "GE" + the Korean and Japanese nicknames for a remote controller device, "rimokon", hence GEMOCON.]

Here's what the GEMOCON will allow users to do:

- Keep track of HP, SP, and EXP.
- Use the Call to Leader F4 function, the Select All/Select Individual F9 function, Hold attack order, Keep attack order, and even the Resurrect function if someone in the party dies. However, you'll need a supply of Soul Crystals to use the Resurrect function.
- Real-time chat mode. It looks like the PM, Faction Chat, at least one of the /broad-type messaging functions, and the "overhead message" [the one that you type in that begins with !!] are available in this mode.

While it does seem like something of a godsend to those of us who must go in to work daily, but still want to keep track of our leveling, I do have one immediate issue to bring up that may come into direct conflict with the GEMOCON: will GEMOCON users be subject to the Report Botters function? If the answer is yes, then there might as well be no point to using the GEMOCON, among other things; if the answer is no, then what prevents the botters from using the GEMOCON themselves?

Anyway, this thing is still in beta testing. We can hope that IMC tackles all the standing issues to do with this before releasing it to the player community.

Sources
The original doratomo.jp news article about the GEMOCON
The same article, run through the Yahoo BabelFish translator

Presenting: The NineMoons Family...Grabber!

Today's the third day since acquiring the pet egg - so my current leveling team cleaned out the last of the rats from the Bahia Greenhouse. Here's what happened next:


Squee! One more visit to the Pet Expert!


Yes, you get to name your pet/s. You'll find out what I named mine in a second.


Access Pet Information by hitting Alt + P.


Pick "Pet list". Now you know that I named my Grabber after the Kung Fu Panda!


And there's the little guy, along with his owners! Meet the newest member of the family, Po NineMoons!

***

Problem is, I don't have any Fesos to buy Po some pet food, so I've sent him back home to hibernate for now. I guess I've got to go off and think about ways to earn some Fesos so I can see him in action, and keep him fed too. *sigh*

Screenshots and Comments from Version 2.9 GE

It took me a damn long while to patch in, but I'm back in the New World, and here are a few things I've noticed along the way.

Changes to UI and Game Mechanics


New login screen, showing what seems to be the haunted town in the upcoming Errac area.

STILL stuck with the Beta Test fonts, though.


The lower portion of the Barracks screen, showing the modifications to the "Start a team" fields.

STILL no Channel 3-4-5 or so, though.


The lower portion of the standard UI screen showing the family members, skills, HP/SP, and other quick information. Notice that the colors of the basic and stance experience bars have been changed.


Improved navigation ability in the Mini Map. Click on a place in the Mini Map and your characters will automatically move to that place. The red dot means I was looking for Claire - she's not in yet though.

Full lists of features and patch notes here and here.

Pet Quest

There's a nice and quick guide to getting a pet in the forums; requires login to view. Roussalier's Cute Pet Quest Guide

For Sword of the New World players, your guide to getting a pet is here: Starstorm's Poppet For Pet

I make the distinction because there are subtle differences between the two versions of the process.


Aww, gotta kill the cute li'l ones. You CANNOT kill the mom.




After the fight, you might just get this.


Clean the Greenhouse out and visit the egg every day for three days so it hatches.

My Pilfurr [a/k/a Grabber, a/k/a Poppet] will hatch on Sunday! Maybe by then I can earn the Fesos so I can feed it....

[Guide] NineMoons's Guide to Staying Updated with Granado Espada!

Want to receive updates about Granado Espada from anywhere in the world?

Want to know just how many fan blogs exist for Granado Espada?

Want a way to find all of them without breaking a sweat?

Want a way to keep track of all of them easily?

Then you've come to the right place. As promised earlier, it's time to let you all in on a couple of secret techniques that I use to keep track of news, updates, opinions, and blog posts that all talk about Granado Espada.

Welcome to:

NineMoons's Guide to Staying Updated with Granado Espada!

Starring three popular web-based services: Google's webmail service Gmail, related service Google Alerts, and the social bookmarking site Delicious!

Part I: Getting a Gmail Account

Click to Gmail. You should see something that looks like this:



If you don't have a Gmail account yet, click the "Sign Up for Gmail" link located in the second blue box on the right. Follow the instructions carefully. It's a quick and painless procedure that should take just a few minutes.

Signing up for a Gmail account means that you can now access all of Google's other services, including - ta-da! - Blogger!

If you already have a Gmail account, skip on ahead to the next step.

Part II: Creating a Google Alert

Without logging out of your Gmail account, open another browser window or tab and click through to Google Alerts. Here's what that page looks like:



Since in this case we want to create a Google Alert for something specific, type in the following in the box after "Search terms:"

"Granado Espada"

This is you telling Google to:

- Look for ANYTHING on the Internet that mentions Granado Espada, be it news articles, blog posts, general web page content, or even video and audio descriptions

- Collect a little basic information from each mention. This includes the title of the article/post/content/description in which the mention was found, a paragraph or two [usually the first one], and the complete URL of that mention.

- Sort these pieces of information, and send them on to you as an email.

Fill in the "Your email:" box with the email address that you want to receive the alerts at, and click "Create Alert".

This is how I find out all the blogs and fansites that talk about Granado Espada!

After receiving enough of these alerts, you might realize that the list is getting too long for a blog sidebar or a links page. You might also want to find a better way of letting others know that you've found this amazing collection of Granado Espada links. The quickest way to do that, I've found, is to use a social bookmarking site. The one I use is Delicious.

Part III: Collecting Links with Delicious

Click through to Delicious and you should see this at the top of the page:



If you don't already have a Delicious account, click the green "Join Now" box and follow the steps to getting an account. If you have one, just click the blue "Sign In" box to go to your page.

To save a new bookmark, after logging in, just click the "Save a new bookmark" link on the right-hand side of the page and follow the instructions there.

You can also install a Delicious widget in your browser for easy, one-touch bookmarking.

Want to know how effective Delicious is at keeping track of links? Check out my own page:



See that red box near the bottom right? It says I have 182 bookmarks saved to my Delicious account - and most of them are Granado Espada links that I've found through the Google Alerts function!

If you'd like to become my contact on Delicious - and thank you! - just check out this widget on the left-hand sidebar:



Click the "Add me to your network" link to go to that Delicious function.

***

While this blog post is dedicated mainly to my fellow Granado Espada bloggers, I'm also putting it up so that we can all share the experience of finding all the wonderful and informative sites out there that talk about this amazing game. I hope that it helps you, and I hope that it helps broaden the community and its reach.

Update: I've posted this guide in full at the SEA / ANZ Granado Espada forums. You can check it out here: [Guide] NineMoons's Guide to Staying Updated with Granado Espada!. Please respond with suggestions and possible improvements!

Get Ready for the Next Post!

Okay, yeah, I'm kind of cheating. This is a bit of a placeholder post. But I'm putting it up here because I want you to know what I'm up to next.

If you ever wanted to know exactly how to stay abreast of news in Granado Espada, or how to keep track of events and updates in the flourishing GE bloggers' community throughout Southeast Asia and Australia / New Zealand - then just you wait for the next post or two. Just you wait.

And did you want to know how to keep track of all the bloggers and all the fansites? I'll throw that in too, as a bonus!

Seriously, I'm going to let you all in on a NineMoons secret technique. I'll reveal the entire process, step-by-step details, screenshots and all. It'll be a guide for everyone!

So watch out for what NineMoons has got on tap!

After the Merge: The Two Servers of SEA/ANZ Granado Espada

To honor one of the traditions I've started on this blog, here now is a piece on Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and Johann Sebastian Bach, the namesakes of the new, post-Server Merge "worlds" of SEA/ANZ Granado Espada.

The facts of Rembrandt and Bach's lives were sourced mainly from Wikipedia. The videos of musical performances came from various YouTube videos and will be properly credited as they are introduced. The images of Rembrandt's work were also sourced from Wikipedia.

Previous Entry:

[Repost] The Five Servers of SEA/ANZ Granado Espada

***

After the Server Merge took place in SEA/ANZ Granado Espada, the original five servers have been compressed to two: the PK realms of Cervantes, Caravaggio, and Vivaldi were merged into Bach; the non-PK realms of Carracci and Pachelbel were merged into Rembrandt.

The previous five servers were named after just a handful of the top men of the Baroque Era: Cervantes, author of the masterpiece Don Quixote; Carracci, the paragon of Italian painters of the Baroque time; Caravaggio, the forerunner of modern painting; Pachelbel, composer of the Canon in D; and Vivaldi, composer of The Four Seasons.

The two post-Merge servers could do no less but be named after equally dominating artistic geniuses of the time - and so we have Bach, named for the man who brought Baroque music to its ultimate zenith; and Rembrandt, named for that great painter of shadow and light.


Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and organist. He created music for both the church and for secular use, composing for choirs, orchestra, and solo instruments alike. He is best known for introducing a strong current of counterpoint, a technique in which harmony is derived from the interconnection of independent strands of melody.

Among his better-known works are the Goldberg Variations, a set of 30 variations for the harpsichord. In the works of author Thomas Harris, this is one of the musical favorites of the genius, Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter.

But certainly his most well-known piece is the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. Just take a listen to the opening seconds of the videos below and you'll recognize it almost instantly.


Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565. Arrangement by Leopold Stokowski. Performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Minato-Mirai Hall, Yokohama, Japan, 1999.

Here's a more familiar performance.


Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565. Arrangement by Leopold Stokowski. Performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. The first segment of the 1940 Disney animated film Fantasia.

The opening of this work has been performed many, many times since, to the point where it has even become associated with Halloween and horror movies.

Edited to Add: And of course we hear a version of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor in Granado Espada itself, courtesy of S.F.A! Thanks to Palukz™ for commenting on this!

###


Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher, generally considered once of the greatest visual artists of Europe, and certainly as the pinnacle of Dutch art. It was he who taught many of the important Dutch painters who succeeded him. He is famous for his portraits of his contemporaries, for his masterful self-portraits, for his paintings of Biblical scenes, and for the monumental painting Night Watch.


Night Watch by Rembrandt.

This painting was commissioned by a musketeer branch of a local civic militia of Rembrandt's acquaintance. It was named "The Night Watch" because when it was first discovered, it had been so darkened by age that it was thought to be a night scene. It shows Captain Frans Banning Cocq leading his group of musketeers out of their quarters. The exact nature of their errand is still unknown: are they going out on patrol? Are they going to a meeting? The girl near the center of the portrait carries many of the symbols of Cocq's group, serving as a mascot in the painting.

A little respect for your server, then, no matter what it be - it's named after a great man, so live up to its name! Forward the New World!

NineMoons's Memento: The First CW in Rembrandt Server

Not going back to Colony Wars reporting here - I just wanted to post something as unique as this. Have a look at the results of the very first Colony Wars session in Rembrandt, in the aftermath of the clash of the titans of the former Carracci and Pachelbel servers.

Comments are welcome - just keep them civil, eh?

A GE Gamer Girls Meeting at e-Games

It was, rather ironically, Blacksword who called my attention to a posting in the SEA / ANZ Granado Espada forums on the second day of the Server Merge.

[Blacksword, of course, is a guy ^^]

e-Games is hosting a Focus Group Discussion for its female gamers! This forum thread was posted by GM Phryzea, a/k/a Grantoza in Rembrandt.

So I signed up, and got the details. Which meant that I had to get up at the ungodly hour of 6am - on a weekend - and run off across the city to this Focus Group Discussion. The GE group was to be accommodated during the first session [of four], and it was to start at 10am.

Who else showed up?

Attendees:
NineMoons
ryuuosha
Serpentes [a/k/a Hahaziah]
Clairemont
Hargrove
Skeffington
Niji

Facilitators:
CM Jes, a/k/a GM Amethy
CM Aethrin [okay, he's a guy, but since he's the CM for GE....]
GM Phryzea [the aforementioned Grantoza family]
GM Makadesh
GM Chromium
GM Faiga

The session was supposed to have been shared with the gamer girls who played another e-Games-distributed game, Supreme Destiny, but it turned out that the GE players were the only ones who turned up, and not all of them besides. All of us attendees came from Rembrandt; the registrants from Bach seemed to be unable to make it.

We had the discussion solely to ourselves, and we talked about how GE could be better improved. To answer the always-thorny problem of GVC availability in the country, the e-Games people told us that they were finally in the last stages of putting together the process to be able to convert their own e-Points to GE's G-points. Apparently they'll be going public with this soon, denominations and all; they were at least able to claim it'll be up by November or so.

To answer the question of having more PH events both in-game and in real life, CM Aethrin mentioned that he had already turned in a list of suggested events [likely to both his bosses and to IAH, I guess]; GM Amethy said that by 25 October they'd start an all-new provincial tour, called "Road to Domination" or something like that.

They asked us what it would take for us to cosplay at events. We all looked at each other and held out our hands in a local gesture that means "money"! They wound up suggesting a quid-pro-quo scheme: show up in our own costumes, made at our own expense - which would be compensated by in-game items. We were pretty much unanimous in asking that if we were to be given items, the items should at least have some use to us in-game....

They gave us some tokens of appreciation for showing up - Field Manuals and 20 x Adelina's Booty Searches apiece - and also raffled off some prizes, including the rare and coveted GE ID laces / lanyards, GE mousepads, and a stuffed-toy version of the Ran Online mob "Hooligan". I got a mousepad, and it has Grace Bernelli on it ^^ They also gave us posters for The Requiem.

I think at some point we asked if e-Games would be distributing the actual DVDs of the Version 2.9 installer [as shown by RCM Hrin here] - they said they would. I hope so - I'd like to get my hands on one of those!

Okay, quick pics:


From right to left: NineMoons, ryuuosha, Serpentes, Clairemont, GM Phryzea a/k/a Grantoza, and GM Makadesh. [Oops, bunny ears!]


From left to right: GM Amethy, CM Aethrin, Niji, Skeffington, and Hargrove.


Seated, from left to right: Clairemont, Serpentes, and ryuuosha. Standing, from left to right: GM Phryzea, GM Faiga, NineMoons, GM Amethy, Hargrove, Skeffington, and Niji.

At the close of the discussion, we all promised we'd get together again; GM Amethy insisted it'd be a real event next time, and not just a Focus Group Discussion.

GE Gamer Girls Rule.

Thoughts and Impressions for After the Merge

And it looks like we all survived!

I was in Rembrandt briefly last night - why briefly? I'll explain later - and the following things really wanted to make me cheer. One, LOTS of people in Auch! For this instance, I tend to NOT complain about lag in walking around the city. It just makes me happy to see all the people there, and feel like NOW it's an MMORPG. I missed walking around in a packed-to-the-rafters town; I'm just glad my PC can handle the graphics load.

Two, LOTS of friendly broadcasts from real people! For once, the broads were overwhelmed by actual people talking about things in friendly ways, instead of those pesky RMT fools. Very heartening show.

It feels like the community makes a comeback!

Now, I couldn't stay long. What the heck happened? Well, I had numbers in my family names! I've managed to restore them now, thanks to Hrin and her tech team. I think it's safe to try the Family Name Change, since the server-application-thingummy error seems to have been resolved for the moment. Of course, NO TO IDENTITY THEFT. I'm just glad mine wasn't stolen at all.

Recent links to Hrin's blog show the following entries:

The One About The Program Lineup For October~November'08: A schedule of everything that's coming up in GE in the next few weeks. I am certainly interested in that Bai Hu costume, "Narciso", which might well be the one in this entry.

And also - a quiz show! I LOVE quiz shows!

The comments to this entry also show that with the Version 2.9 content now being readied for download to our clients, there are several ways to update the game to bring in all the content that's coming to us.

The One About V2.9 Poster & DVD Sleeves: Posters and graphics for the Version 2.9 release. At the end is a listing of sites where the Version 2.9 full client and manual patches can be downloaded; I think I'll wait for a good time to look into getting that manual patch.

I wish I could have the full DVD copy though.

I hope the servers come back online so I can go back to enjoying my actual REAL family name in-game....

Server Merge, Day 2: All-New Colony Wars Poster!

By the time you read this, the SEA / ANZ Granado Espada servers will have gone down for the infamous and much-discussed Server Merge. Now, what do we do in order to keep our collective spirits up? NineMoons humbly submits her second offering: an ode to the all-new Colony Wars beginning right this weekend!

***

All deities and guardian spirits willing, the Server Merge will end tonight at 1800 Singapore time - meaning we can all rush back in and take a look around at the new Rembrandt and Bach servers.

Server Merge means one major thing for Colony Wars: EVERYONE DUKES IT OUT from now on. It's high time we get a chance to see what happens when the biggest and best CW-oriented factions collide, and the first round of hostilities begins - we hope most mightily - on Sunday.

I offer this poster to serve as a teaser for what is about to befall the wars to claim new stakes in the New World.



I hope this serves as a fitting poster to herald what is about to come, with the long-awaited clash of the server Titans nearly upon us.

Should the Server Merge finish on time and with few glitches - well, it looks like happy days are almost upon us....

Server Merge, Day 1: NineMoons Presents Granado Espada Motivational Posters I!

By the time you read this, the SEA / ANZ Granado Espada servers will have gone down for the infamous and much-discussed Server Merge. Now, what do we do in order to keep our collective spirits up? NineMoons humbly submits her series of Granado Espada motivational posters!

***

It's a question we ask ourselves all the time: What do I do now? Well, allow me to suggest these ways of finding solutions to that immortal question. Ask yourself: What would my political leader do?

Are you a Royalist?


Are you a Republican?


Are you a Neutralist?


Be inspired, be motivated, and move forward, for victory!

***

Hope you enjoyed this entry, and please come back for the next one!

*Lights joss sticks and asks the gods to make the Server Merge go through properly*

***

Links, dribs, and drabs:

Since I was asked for the favor: Please drop into this forum thread by Tokoyoshi, who's come up with his new GE machinima story, Shattered Hearts II. Links to all parts of the story + poster in this forum thread.

Now that the "Player-Organized Events Happening In..." portion of the forums has been updated to include the Bach and Rembrandt servers, I put up the very first thread in the Rembrandt sub-forum: GE PH players in Rembrandt - let's talk here ^^. Drop in and say hi when you have a moment ^^

One Day To Server Merge: NineMoons's Last Hurrah in Carracci

The NineMoons family in Carracci's latest - and final, for now - accomplishment: boosting its first martial artist to Level 84!



Here is Siuan NineMoons, alias "Flying Snow". For those of you who saw the great wuxia epic film Hero, you know who I'm referring to: the gorgeous assassin played by none other than the great Maggie Cheung. The really cool thing - no pun intended! - is that her assassin name perfectly suits Feng Ling - ice-type attacks, lots of speed, and martial arts! What's not to like?

It looks like Siuan will be my first Veteran in Rembrandt server ^^

***

Testing on the new servers that will house Rembrandt and Bach continues.

If you haven't already done so, please look back to my previous entry to see if there's any more housekeeping you need to do before tomorrow.

Remember that the Server Merge begins tomorrow, 15 October, at 0800 Singapore time. The GE live servers will be shut down by then.

I'm thinking of lighting a few joss sticks my own self - I guess it's all I can do to express my hope that the Server Merge goes without a hitch, and that we'll all see each other again come Thursday evening in the new servers.

***

Watch out for tomorrow's entry!

Two Days To Server Merge: Don't Forget To....

Today the good folks at IAHGames start setting up for the Server Merge by setting up the "new servers with upgraded hardware" for Rembrandt and Bach.

Here's what YOU need to do today to not be panicky or nervous:

- Start taking out all the stuff you're selling through the Market Manager. Aw, don't let her sad face get to you - you'll get back to her soon.

- Claim any and all leftover loot from Adelina's Booty Search. Select the server you want to receive the loot in, click Claim Loot, then log in and choose the Receive Premium Item option from Leonardo Expreso.

- Sell, drop, or otherwise dispose of all the extras and odds and ends knocking around in your Item Vault. It WON'T be affected by the Server Merge, but it's always nice to have some more room in there!

- DO NOT activate any more long-term Premium Items!

- Start planning for what you can do during the days of no GE. I'll come up with my own list later, so please watch out for that.

Project: Server Merge Fun [TEASER]

If y'all were wondering what I was going to be up to during this week's Server Merge: I actually drew up a list of things to do. Yes, GE is ALWAYS on my to-do list, but I also have to balance the things I do on this blog with my actual work in real life, from the job that pays the bills to the freelancing and the articles I write for Game! Magazine.

Anyway, here's a teaser for what I'll be working on to unveil during the days of no GE. The thing I'm working on has something to do with each of these familiar GE faces:


Princess Gabriella.


Simon Ayende.


Gerard Lauren.

And what am I to do with these illustrious leaders? Well, right now, that's for me to know and you to find out - and you will, when the servers go down.

*NineMoons turns into a fox!*

***

On a world-news note, I always want to stop and think whenever I see Simon Ayende's quote in his screenshot. Yes, okay, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, but am I the only one who sees some significance in his statement, or its relevance to today's global issues?

Now HERE is something to look forward to after the Server Merge!

RCM Hrin announces the Event Zone: in-game events ahoy!



The Server Merge is supposed to make organizing in-game events easier and more enjoyable for everyone: two servers, lots of people in each, win-win. And it looks like that's what the Event Zone will be for: a place to hold all the events the community might ever want. [At least we hope so.]

Amazing stuff! Gotta say I'm really looking forward to meeting that talking sheep! [Incidentally: why sheep? Someone overdose on Warcraft or something? XD]

The CURRENT Schedule for the Server Merge [as of 9 October 2008]

Straight from Hrin's forum post on the subject:

Dear Gamers,

There will be a server maintenance for Granado Espada from 15 Oct 2008, Wed, 0800hrs (GMT+8)-16 Oct 2008, 1800hrs (GMT+8). During this period, Granado Espada game service will be unavailable. Players are recommended to avoid activating Premium Items that last for shorter durations (e.g. 1 day) during this period.

Here’s an update on the schedule of what will be happening behind the scenes during world migration next week:

On Monday, 13th Oct 2008: New servers with upgraded hardware will be set up for worlds [Bach] and [Rembrandt] – GE LIVE servers will not be affected.

On Tuesday, 14th Oct 2008: We will be testing the new server worlds for [Bach] and [Rembrandt] – GE LIVE servers will not be affected.

On Wednesday, 15th Oct 2008: GE LIVE server is shut-down at 0800hrs. The current worlds will be migrating into [Bach] and [Rembrandt]. We will then be running tests on these new worlds to minimize any errors of migration.

On Thursday, 16th Oct 2008: IAH will open the [Bach] and [Rembrandt] to the public at 1800hrs (GMT+8).

Time to make plans then!

Post Script to September 2008: A Gamer Girl's Lament

The following speech is, of course, borrowed and adapted to the purpose from Shylock of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. This famous lament appears in Act 3, Scene 1. Original here.

***

I am a Gamer Girl. Do I not have eyes with which to look out for myself within my chosen game? Do I not have hands to wield the controllers with, senses to play with, passions to fuel my game? Do I not use the same potions to heal with, am I not worthy of the same in-game weapons and tactics, am I not affected by the same buffs and debuffs, as a male gamer is?

If you PK me, do I not die? If you trade with me, do I not benefit? If you annoy me, do I not have the right to block your offensive ass? And if you insult me, do I not have the right to take your damn head?

If I am a gamer just as you are - and damn right I am - I will resemble you in this. If a male gamer harms me, a gamer girl, I shall not take it sitting down - I shall bring the hurt. However badly you behave in-game, I have the right to give it right back!

***

Some days, being on the forums gets TIRING. Just see the inanity of recent posts in two of the General Discussion threads on the SEA / ANZ GE forums.

GE Gamer Girls Season 1: Some guy warned the girls of Pachelbel that they might well get overwhelmed by PMs or broads once the non-PK servers have merged into Rembrandt. The sensible response from the girls? "That's what the block function is for."

And the guy has the CHEEK to respond to this with "block...soh mean D:".

Do we exist to fuel the single boys' fantasies? I think NOT.

Carracci - Pachelbel Faction Remix Discussion: The thread supposedly set out to give the factions of Carracci and Pachelbel a chance to describe themselves. The first attempted derailment of the thread came when some guy asked, is Les Filles Faction of Pachelbel really a girls-only faction? And someone answered yes, see their recruitment thread.

I next posted descriptions for my own ShenAnCalhar Faction and included the following lines:

"Recruiting / Not Recruiting: Undecided. This faction was originally formed for the single purpose of experiencing the Level 51 and 52 Faction Quests.

I am currently thinking about opening recruitment in Rembrandt. If I do so, I will open membership to female players, and female players only."

And then the thread gets REALLY derailed when the guys IMMEDIATELY wish for a showdown between the girls-only factions - in other words, they wanted a catfight! What kind of inane wish is that?

I'm beginning to think that for all the good the GE Gamer Girls Season 1 initiative was supposed to do, there are a lot of guys who JUST DIDN'T GET IT.

Reading is Fun + Computer Games are Fun = Reading + Computer Games are FUN!

While browsing a newspaper on the way to work this morning - yep, the telecommuting is over, and NineMoons must needs partially return to the rat race - my eyes lit on a headline of quite a different type: a sci-fi author was using video games in order to get more children to read.

Okay, what, right? One of the things that the sane users on the SEA / ANZ Granado Espada forums complain about the most are people, derisively called sotong or squid, who do NOT read the forums but instead create threads just to re-ask questions that have already been asked and answered elsewhere.

You know the type: there are guides in the forums, the guides are stickied so they're always visible in the relevant sub-forums, and people STILL keep asking, say, How do I get Catherine the Summoner? or What is this [item name] for? or even Do the Baron RNPCs craft the Baron Costumes?

Well, I found out that the sci-fi writer is named PJ Haarsma. He's a Canadian author, and his current book series is called The Softwire. It's the tale of a kid who finds out that he's the first human who can pretty much interface with any computer he encounters with just his mind - essentially, he can jack into the Matrix without needing the port at the back of the head.

What makes Haarsma and The Softwire unique? Well, he took the concept of the books one step further by creating an online Role-Playing Game [RPG], Rings of Orbis. In order to advance in this RPG, players must read the books! Also, Haarsma emphasized that his game was not a "pick-up-a-gun-and-go-kill-each-other-game" [sic] - it's more of resource management meets social networking meets role-playing.

The article on Haarsma featured reactions from other people in the world of children's and young adult books, many of whom had traditionally complained that they were losing their audience to all those new-fangled kill-'em-all video games. Some said that those types of games, coupled with the incessant chatter of "tlkng lyk dis" and terminology such as "Boom Headshot" were damaging the language skills of the players.

Others disagreed, and some mavericks even went so far as to say that video game players actually read more - strategy and tactics guides, game information, and - wait for it - blogs!

I was going to make a joke about how this development pretty much blows the cover off the raison d'etre for this blog's existence, but decided I might as well just celebrate it!

I created the NineMoons Family blog in order to document the journey through the New World, to provide guides and reportage for major events, to give the community another place to meet and exchange views, and so that I might have someplace to talk about my own opinions regarding the game - and that's nothing to hide!

*taps foot* Explanation PLEASE!

I said that I would wait for this to be resolved before I blogged about it. One weekend later, nothing has been done beyond a nonspecific announcement of investigations to be done.



I had actually challenged the IAH moderator who stepped into this issue to reveal the results of the investigation, if any, to the public.

[The moderator appeared on Page 5; my challenge on Page 6.]

The community has kept the thread alive throughout the weekend. We're still waiting for a response, if any should be forthcoming, on this matter.

In the meantime, please feel free to debate this issue in the comments, as well as in the original forums post.

Please give us an explanation for this.

Original thread: Analyze this by Dem.

STOP PRESS: Here's the IAH response: Official Announcement for Notice Abuse. Read and learn, think about it, and if you have any more questions - I know I do - take 'em to comments ^^

Got Glow? NineMoons and ShenAnCalhar Faction at 52!

Yesterday I created a faction. Today, I finished leveling ShenAnCalhar Faction to 52.

I gathered a large group of friends around me to begin, and even advertised briefly in City of Auch:



Points to ponder for anyone who wants to try this:

- Save in Cite de Reboldoeux. Really. Or put a warp point right next to Pioneering Officer Christelle, since she's the NPC what deals with factions. It's Christelle who levels your faction from 1-50 - pay her 10,000 Vis for each level - and it's Christelle who gives the triggers for the Faction Level 51 and 52 Quests.

- Faction Level 50: Start by defeating the Great Hill Giant at E5 in Vegas Javier. Make sure you've got the Honey Water quest item on hand to trigger its appearance. Kill it in 30 minutes to get its Crystal.

Killing the GHG is best done with a LOT of buffs on hand. Bring buffer scouts, at least one Vicente Rio, and at least one elementalist with you.

- On killing the GHG, hand in its Crystal to Christelle, then grab the Raid Key to Prison de Joaquin - Corridor of Assize 1. Open that door at J7 of the Prison de Joaquin, The Mohrgus.

Here's the squad at the beginning of the Corridor of Assize mission:



- After finishing the Corridor of Assize, report back to Christelle. She will give you the upgrade to Faction Level 51, and then send you to Princess Gabriella of the Royalists to continue to Faction Level 52.

Here's the Faction Level 51 leader's glow:



- At Royalist HQ, Princess Gabriella will ask you to deliver a Secret Letter to Simon Ayende of the Republicans. Schlep over to Auch; just before entering the Republican HQ Simon will drop a passionate speech on your head. Go in, deliver the letter, finish the dialogue, and return to the Princess with the reply.

- Once you've assembled the final group to take on the Shadow Temple mission with you, talk to the Princess again to enter the instance.

Here's the second squad, with a few more members.



- Take out the six sub-colonies and the central one inside the Shadow Temple, and click on the Flag that appears to finish the quest.

- Return to Gabriella for the last bit of dialogue, then to Christelle, who will give you a Royal Scroll and the choice to select your side: Royalists, Republicans, or Neutralists. Oh, and you'll get the
Faction Level 52 leader's glow!



I give profound and groveling thanks to all the smexy people who helped me achieve my goal of being a Faction Leader - see above for all the names!