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Belated Happy Halloween!
Posted by: Celios on Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 11:24 PM
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I think I promised to post some screenshots for those of you who didn't make it to Lion's Arch on Halloween earlier this week, so it's about time I posted a blurb. Needless to say, it was a blast. You can say what you like about Guild Wars, but when it comes to keeping the game patched, adding free content and going all-out on the silliest of occassions, the game delivers.
Most of the pondies met up in Lion's Arch (which had almost 200 districts that night) on the eve of one of the arrivals of the Mad King. The King played some games with the people that came (and there were a lot), handed out goodies and told jokes. All in all, it lasted about half an hour, and those who were competent enough to avoid getting slaughtered by failing the little minigames took away a handsome amount of Halloween goodies. When the King finally did leave, everyone present was given a special-edition helmet in the shape of a pumpkin to commemorate the occasion.
The pondies then met up to hang around a bit and shoot the breeze. At some point, and for unknown reasons (too much Witch's Brew most likely), the pond decided it was time for the team to get in shape. So, in true boot-camp spirit, it was decided that we were to line up and run a few laps of Lion's Arch, giggling uncontrollably all the way. This event was later described quite aptly as "TOOT TOO".
All in all, it was a great time. To those of you who missed it: for shame. Let's just hope Christmas (or, as fishie and frag pointed out "politically correct winter event") rolls around, the devs will come up with something just a cool.
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Penny Arcade vs. Jack Thompson
Posted by: Celios on Friday, October 21, 2005 - 03:06 AM
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If you have yet to hear the name Jack Thompson, feel free to consider yourself in an enviable position. The nutcase lawyer – who’s propaganda and insult campaign against the video game industry has led to many a headline – has finally picked a fight with the wrong crowd. Penny Arcade, the world's most popular webcomic, recently got involved in the “Yack” Thompson affair, with some rather amusing results.
It all started with Thompson's “Modest Proposal” - an offer for a $10,000 reward to the charity of anyone who would create a video game featuring Osaki Kim, "a father whose son was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer." The game would apparently focus on Kim, who is infuriated that the guilty party was “only” sentenced to life, killing the publisher, followed by all parties involved in the trial, merchants of GameStop-like store and arcades and any cops that get in his way.
This is where Penny Arcade comes in: upon hearing the news, Mike “Gabe” Krahulik e-mailed Thompson, telling him that his offer of $10,000 was pretty weak compared to PA's “Child's Play” charity event, which raised over half a million dollars worth of donations thanks to gamers. Thompson responded by phoning Gabe and telling him that if Gabe every e-mailed him again, he should be “sued so fast that his head would spin.”
Well, shortly thereafter, things turned from bad to worse. A GTA:SA modding team announced that they had just completed their work on a game abiding by Thompson's above-mentioned specifications - and were awaiting his donation to charity. Thompson's reply? Suddenly caught in a trap of his own invention, he claimed the original offer had consisted of nothing more than “satire.” He then went on to insult gamers' collective intelligences at not having “got” his clever humor - as we all know, scamming charities is absolutely hilarious. It's a wonder the guy isn’t a comedian.
Once again, Penny Arcade was on the case. Writing a check in Jack Thompson's name, Gabe and Tycho mailed off $10,000 to the ESA foundation, with the note “For Jack Thompson Because Jack Thompson Won't.” Within hours, Thompson faxed a letter to the Seattle Police Department, claiming that Penny Arcade was “criminally harassing” him, and demanding the arrest of “this little extortion factory.”
Needless to say, Penny Arcade's fanbase was more than happy to back Gabe and Tycho up. In fact, the FBA has apparently called an emergency board meeting in response to the massive amount of mail they have been hit with, demanding that Thompson's license as a lawyer be “reviewed.” It looks like “Yack” may have finally gotten himself in over his head. At least one thing’s for certain: gamers “get” this particular joke, and they are laughing.
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Patch Out, Ladders Reset
Posted by: Celios on Saturday, October 01, 2005 - 10:35 PM
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If you have any interest in GvG, you've probably noticed by now that the ladders have all been reset in preperation for the Guild Wars World Championship. Along with this news is a list of changes in the most recent patch, most of them being skill tweaking. The only really significant change to the game itself is the new skill monitor, which has been improved tremendously. On the surface, this may not seem like such a drastic change, but the implications are pretty far-reaching: monking and casting in general is now more difficult, and interrupt and knockdown are both far more efficient thanks to the aid in timing the use of those skills.
With all that said, the pond has started doing GvG again this morning, now that the ladder has been reset, and is currently rank 95 (thanks to the largely untouched new ladder.) Feel free to drop by and join in anytime, as we'll likely be doing a fair bit of it today.
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Server Move Complete
Posted by: Celios on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 06:03 AM
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After only a day without teamspeak, things are back to normal again as the pond completes its move to its new host. You may have noticed a few minor updates and changes to the site recently - we hope this will be just the tip of the iceberg as we move towards bringing the site back up to speed. The immediate results of the server move are a change in IP addresses, which means you'll have to re-add the T2 server to your favorites (new IP: 72.36.222.220:28000). Also changed is the login info for the TS2 server; keep in mind that you have to enter the port now (new address: voice.the-pond.com:8749). And, last but not least, the T2 server has also been moved over to a Windows box. Compatability and crashing problems will (hopefully) be reduced, just in time for our first Saturday PU on the new server. Many thanks go out to Brandon of branzone.com for hosting us.
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Pond Climbs GW Ladder
Posted by: Celios on Saturday, September 24, 2005 - 03:45 AM
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Some good news on the Guild Wars GvG front today. As many of you already know, we've been doing a lot more of it lately and, luckily, it's been going pretty well.
So, what is this mysterious tidbit of information? Well, we finally crossed the top 1,000 barrier today, meaning we're officially ranked on the Guild Wars ladder! With some 5+ matches played this afternoon, The Pond hit as high as rank 500 and earned a rating of around 1,300. Make sure you check the Guild Announcements frequently if you wish to participate!
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