Geezer Gamer

For gamers who've been around

Dungeon Disaster

Dec 27

Posted by admin in Games, It's All About Me, WoW | No Comments

My favorite game, at least for the present, is WoW. My step-daughter played it quite a bit all the way back in vanilla. At the time I didn’t have the time to check it out, but about a year ago my boss at work and several co-workers convinced me to give it a try. These are 8 level 85 type of players. Well, I tried it and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I’ve been told, and I’ve observed, how quickly you can level by running dungeons as soon as you are able. There’s just one problem — I suck at dungeons.

On my first main I leveled by soloing; just questing and grinding on my own. I didn’t even realize what dungeons were until I was level 30 or so. By the time I tried my hand at a few randoms I was well past the point where I should know what to do. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. I was getting yelled at by the other members in the instance for a variety of things. I didn’t know which way to go, where to fight, when to fight, or even what to roll on. I even got kicked a few times for being such a noob. For quite a while I avoided dungeons because of those bad experiences.

Well, this morning I’ve done two things. I started a new toon — another Human Warrior — with the goal of hitting every dungeon I can as soon as I can. I leveled him from 1-9 in just under two hours. I’m waiting on pushing on to 10 while I put part two of my plan in to effect. I’m writing this post to reach out to you. What do I do next.

The comments are open, hoping you’ll make your suggestions on the best way to make my character a dungeon pro. The first question, what is the best spec to go for when I hit 10? As I mentioned, I am a Human Warrior (the same as my main). Then, as I go from 10-15 what talents should I choose in that spec? Finally, what tips do you have for dungeoning? I need to know it all, and I’m counting on all of you to give me your best tips.

Tags: , , ,

The Geezer Guild

Nov 27

Posted by admin in WoW | No Comments

One of my main games to play online is World of Warcraft. I got to thinking that it would be nice to have a Geezer Gamer Guild, so I created one just for us.


If you are interested in being a part of this guild take a look at Geezer Guild on Guild Launch, or go directly to the guild application. Here’s the description:

Geezer Guild is a WoW guild primarily for players who are not tweens, teens, or twenty-somethings. In other words, those who remember when Pong was brand new and who dropped quarter after quarter into Pac-Man and Astroid machines.

That doesn’t mean we won’t accept younger players, but we will be focusing on players who have been playing since before Y2K (and who remember what that meant).

Secondarily, this is going to be a friendly, social guild, and a learning guild. That doesn’t mean we can’t do some serious damage in game, just not to each other.

Hope to see you there.

Tags: , ,

SWTOR

Nov 26

Posted by admin in SWTOR, Tech and Specs | 2 Comments

Star Wars: The Old RepublicStar Wars: The Old Republic is one of the most anticipated releases in recent memory. The game will be released on 12.20.11 and is currently undergoing final beta testing. For a second weekend, I have been chosen to participate in the beta. Unfortunately, my system is just a shade under the minimum requirements, which are:

Processor:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz or better

Operating System:

Windows XP or later

RAM:

Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM
Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM
Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

Video Card:

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:

ATI X1800 or better
nVidia 7800 or better
Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better

DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only)

Internet connection required to play.

Everything I have meets the requirements with the exception of the video. My system has a Nvidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 built in. I need to upgrade, but I need to do that without breaking the bank. I’m open for your suggestions.

A little bit about the game itself. I’ve been a fan of the Star Wars franchise since the first film was released in 1977. Those of you who have only lived in the world of multi-plex theaters have missed out. The original film was amazing on a truly big screen. The opening credits and iconic introductory scroll were enough to let you know you were in for an experience. EA has brought those elements to the game. As you can imagine, the in-game cinematics are exceptional.

Typical of an MMORPG, the first step is creating your character. There are four classes for each of the two factions, The Republic and The Sith. For the Republic you can choose to be a Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, or Jedi Consular. The Sith classes are Bounty Hunter, Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent, or Sith Inquisitor. I chose to be a Smuggler. At this point you can also modify the look of your character. Then it’s on to your first adventure.

Even after dumbing down the settings as much as possible, the lag on my inadequate system was tremendous. Creating my Smuggler was a test of patience. I had to be very slow to focus on and change any of the attributes. Once into the game, the lag was even worse. If I haven’t done so already, let me make it clear once again. I am not faulting the game in any way. I know that my system isn’t up for it. I did manage to get “on the ground” and start to move around. I just didn’t have any control. I’d try to turn and wouldn’t go anywhere. I try a longer turn and end up doing a 180. Let’s face it friends, I need to upgrade to play this.

I do have some friends that have also been invited to this weekend’s beta party. Friends with better gaming systems. I’m anxious to hear their thoughts, and I’ll be sure to pass them along.

Have any of you participated in the testing? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Recommendations Anyone?

Nov 12

Posted by admin in Computers | 1 Comment

We bought a new computer nearly two years ago, but purchased them with business and blogging use in mind. For those purposes it is outstanding. As I’ve gotten into more online gaming though, I’m finding the current system comes up a little short. I have no problem playing WoW, although I do play in what I refer to as Mr. Magoo mode. But some of the newer offerings I’m looking forward to are going to require a change.

The two most recent examples are DC Universe Online and the soon to be released Star Wars: The Old Republic. I installed DCUO the other night when it went free. I just couldn’t dumb down the settings enough to make it even playable, much less enjoyable. And looking at the requirements for SWTOR tells me that I’m going to have to do something if I want to play – and I really want to play.

Let me throw the discussion open for all of you. Understanding that money is a prime consideration, what would you recommend? A new system, an upgrade? I’ll post my system specs here later (I’m not where I can see them right now) and you can let me know if there are any upgrades I can add, on a budget, that will give me the oomph I need.

Hope you’re having a great gaming weekend.

Tags: , , ,

Empire Avenue

Nov 8

Posted by admin in Empire Avenue, Games | No Comments

{EAV_BLOG_VER:a53af6a97f671750} This brief post is to verify this blog on one of my favorite “games” Empire Avenue. You can join too! Use this link and you’ll get 2000 Eaves to spend!

Tags:

Geezer Gamer

Nov 5

Posted by admin in It's All About Me, Site News | No Comments

GeezerGamerJim I’m starting this blog because I like playing games. Computer games, online games. That’s not unusual, but you have to understand – I had to wait for PONG to come out. That’s right, I’m a geezer.

Not every gamer is a tween, teen, or twenty-something. A few of us have been gaming since Nixon was in the White House and WoW was a misspelled term of surprise. This is a blog about us.

Of course in the beginning it will be a blog about me, but I hope you’ll join in the conversation as well. I encourage you to leave a comment. If you’d like to drop me an email you can send it to geezergamer@floridimagine.com or jim.geezergamer@gmail.com You can also follow my GeezerGamerJim insights, random thoughts, and rants on Twitter.

As I said, I started playing PONG, and dropped enough quarters to buy a new computer into Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Astroid, and Frogger. I couldn’t believe it when my parents hooked a game up to our TV. My first computer was a TI99-4A followed by a  Commodore 64, then a Commodore 128. Then came the day I got my first PC. The people I worked with made fun of me for wasting money on a 150meg hard drive. They said I never need that much storage.

Most of the games I played back then were ones like Oregon Trail and Sherlock Holmes. Then there were the games I painstakingly typed in from Commodore magazine. Much of the time the game play didn’t live up to the cost of doing all that typing. On the plus side, I learned a lot about computers and programing during those years, although I’ve never worked as a programer.

So, what games do I play now? I love playing Word of Warcraft, I’m looking forward to SWTOR being released, and I play The West. I’ll say more about that in future.

On a personal note, I am in my mid 50s – 56 in a couple of weeks. By the way, that’s not me in the picture. It’s just something I found on the web.

I spend most of my work day in front of a computer, working as an Operations Management Desk Analyst for a call center. I have a beautiful daughter with her two kids, and helping raise three adopted grand kids (who love playing games). Politically, I’m conservative and spend a lot of my online time contributing to my political blog bRight & Early.

Have a great weekend. I hope to hear from you, but now it’s time to level up my Dwarf Hunter – Reddeagle.

Tags: , ,