Archive for July 20th, 2007
Last night, for the first time in a long time, I visited the WoW battlegrounds. Before going, I respecced my 70 dwarf priest to a standard PVP build (this one), took a deep breath, and plunged into Warsong Gulch.
I chose Warsong because I spent long hours there back when I was level 19. For my first visit back to a world fighting intelligent enemies (instead of moronic mobs), I figured a familiar battleground would be a good idea.
And I’m not happy with my performance at all.
Oh, we did well. We won both matches (one 3-to-0, the other 3-to-2). And I think I aided in the victory in both counts. As a “face melter,” I was in the top five on the damage count both times as well as being second in healing for the Alliance side.
But I played without skill. I performed as well as I did on the ladder partly because I don’t think many others played with much skill. In my case, I spent a lot of time trying to remember button mappings. (And accidentally trying to use the click-to-cast combinations from Clique while forgetting to actually mouse over a unit frame—duh!)
When I wasn’t distracted by figuring out how to cast a spell, I was bewildered by what spell to cast. Should I be healing? Spamming damage? And if so, what damage spell was best?
I occasionally made good use of Mass Dispel, both offensively and defensively. I saved some lives by with Vampiric Embrace, but I don’t think my direct heals were ever done wisely.
How do I know I can do better? Because a few of the enemies were played with true finesse. I don’t know if they had highly superior gear or better mods or macros, but they obviously did the right thing given the situation. I was lucky if I even realized what class I was facing.
I think, in the end, that I need to practice. Just as going through any PVE fight has become so simple and automatic that I almost don’t have to think about it, I’ll need to achieve the same in PVP fights if I want to feel happy about my skill. It may take a lot longer to get there, given the intelligence behind the pixels I’m fighting and the great variety of abilities I’m up against, but it’ll be fun learning.
So, once more into the breach, dear friends. Once more!
July 20th, 2007
| I don’t just like games; I’m a foodie as well. On Fridays, I publish drink or cocktail recipe that I enjoy as an accompaniment to some sort of game. These aren’t necessarily drinks I’ve invented, but they are superior potations that gamers who tipple are liable to enjoy. |
| And, what with all this talk of addiction here on the blog, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that the drinking of alcohol should always be done in moderation. And if you’re going to operate any sort of heavy machinery or vehicle while drunk, make sure it’s a mecha or X-wing in an computer game! |
Since I’ve been thinking a lot about spy video games, I figure a spy-ish drink is an appropriate drink of the week. It’s not a drink I’d want to have next to me while playing an espionage video game, but it is one I’d want my sophisticated spy avatar to be able to order.
In Ian Flemming’s Casino Royale
, the very first Jame Bond story, 007 touted this drink as his own invention. He meant it “to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made,” and I think it succeeds admirably on all four counts.
The drink made it into the recent Casino Royale movie, too. Personally, I think it was, by a substantial margin, the greatest Bond film of all time. Not the least because it inspired a resurgence of popularity for the Vesper martini.
In the book, Bond instructed the bartender:
“In a deep champagne goblet. . . . Three measures of Gordon’s [gin], one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel.”
The availability of these ingredients—and even the glass itself—can be a problem today. Nowadays, this is made in what’s come to be called a martini glass or cocktail glass. Gordon’s gin has been reformulated to have almost one-fifth less alcohol, and most vodka has similarly reduced alcohol levels. Using Tanqueray for the Gordon’s and Stoli’s 100-proof vodka recaptures the correct alcohol levels and most of the flavor.
And there’s no such thing as Kina Lillet anymore. Most people use Lillet Blanc, but some die-hard fans actually add quinine powder to recapture some of the original. I’ve heard that a dash of bitters works well enough, although I imagine something like Angostura bitters—once used to mask the flavor of quinine—might interfere rather than enhance. If I ever find quinine powder for sale, I’ll give it a try, but the cocktail is great without it.
Here’s one recipe that makes a good stab at simulating the original. By the way, this really is a big, strong drink, just like Bond wanted. By most measures, it counts as two “drinks,” if you’re keeping track of your alcohol consumption, so take your time and go easy. Unless you’re an uber-spy.
As I said above, I don’t think this drink actually goes with spy video games. In fact, it really belongs at a casino table. The original Bond would probably have enjoyed it with Baccarat, but it should complement the new Bond’s Texas Hold ‘Em just as perfectly.
Versper Martini
Ingredients
- 3 oz. Tanqueray gin
- 1 oz. Stolichnaya 100 proof (blue label)
- ½ oz. Lillet Blanc
- twist of lemon peel
Instructions
Put all ingredients but the lemon peel in a shaker half full of ice.
Note that many martini aficionados insist that martinis are both colder and smoother when stirred instead of shaken. They are completely right. But this is James Bond’s drink—James Bond’s. For that reason alone, it must be shaken. Long and hard.
Pour into a martini glass and garnish with the lemon peel.
July 20th, 2007
Here’s a spoiler, in detail, for today’s Ultimate Search for Bourne mission. It involves contacting Mustapha Nayet, a new contact in Tangier, Morocco, with whose help we will hopefully find a locker that contains clues that will keep us on Jason Bourne’s trail.
The repeating video in the surveillance panel has today switched to one that is presumably in Tangier. And it’s about time, too! I was getting tired of that shot of Paris. Apparently, my four camera placements yesterday caught two images of Bourne.
The videos section of the media panel also includes two new clips: a quick one from the guy who made the original video briefing congratulating me on “getting out of Paris . . . alive,” and what is presumably a clip from the movie of a chase scene involving Bourne, Nicky Parsons, and a man I didn’t recognize in an on-foot (and Vespa) chase scene through crowded Tangiers streets. The clip was exciting at first, but as it went on, out of context, it actually started to seem a bit dull. I watched it twice hoping to find some clue to camera placement for today, but no such luck.
Nayet’s profile on Dater Notes mentions that he likes to make movies, that he loves football (and doesn’t like it when people call it soccer), and contains no photos. It does contain three video clips hosted on YouTube. These three clips all contain, among other things, first-person shots of someone getting on an elevator, followed by a clip of a desklamp being turned on and off three times. The third clip even subtle has the numeral 3 flash on the screen after the lamp.
There’s also a close-up of the number 12 on an LED elevator panel in the second video and the number 45 on a building outside in the third.Since we’re looking for a locker, I figured these numbers made up a locker combination. I got it right on my first guess, assuming the printed numerals, in the order displayed, were what we wanted (and that the lights either meant we needed three numerals or something we don’t need to worry about today).
So, to spoil the answer: You need to transmit 12 3 45 (with spaces between) to complete today’s mission.
As for camera placement, I basically guessed again. In case you haven’t noticed, you can click on the different cameras to see their descriptions without committing to using them. Today’s camera locations are all in Tangier, but you can only place one. None of the descriptions inspired me, and after searching for further information on them in Google (and Google Maps and Wikipedia), I came up with nothing.
So I went with the Parc de al Mendoubia camera, which is at least familiar from Nicky Parson’s Dater Notes profile and was useful in following her to Tangier in the first place. In fact, that’s probably a hint that it’s not the right one to choose. If there are clues that I’m completely missing, well, I’d imagine they don’t overlap with yesterday’s. But I went with the familiar. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow if I made the right choice (unless the results are actually randomly generated, an idea I can’t quite shake).
July 20th, 2007