Had a truly wretched day yesterday.  My Exchange migration has gone to hell.  We’ve got corrupt data in our Public Folders store, it’s been there for years.  We’ve also got an assortment of errors in Active Directory from when our Domain Controller up and died one weekend.  And there’s some lingering crap from the first time I tried to move us from Exchange 2003 to 2007.  The end result of all this is that I’m unable to move our Public Folders over to the 2007 server.

Everything I do kicks up a cascade of errors.  Data doesn’t move, errors are logged, and servers fall over.  And I can’t really keep the Exchange 2003 server up and running just for Public Folders because it is barely running as it is.  So I’ve had to create a completely new Public Folder store on the 2007 server and manually re-enter everything important.

And while I was struggling to get the server back up and running properly I had folks around the office asking me every hour or so whether they could get back in to Outlook yet.  And my phone was ringing constantly - assorted clients with various issues that only I can take care of.

So, once I got home, I fired up Left 4 Dead and spent some time killing zombies - very therapeutic.

I played through Death Toll, which takes place in and around a small country town.  It reminded me more of the original Night of the Living Dead than 28 Days Later.  There was a general feeling of open-ness…  Sure, there were still plenty of obstacles to channel you where you were supposed to go.  Plenty of hillsides, car wrecks, walls, fences, buildings…  But everything felt far more open and expansive.  Not everything was paved over.  There was actually grass, and trees, and a river.

We started out on a country road, but had to abandon it because the bridge was out.  We made our way through some kind of industrial complex…  They had some kind of a big shipping depot with lots of trains and stuff.  Made our way through a small town - little shops and assorted houses.  Had to work our way through a couple small country houses.  Eventually we made it to the river and caught a boat to safety.

Earned a few more achievements…  And I actually lived through to the end of the game this time, instead of dying literally feet from safety…  Had a lot of fun mowing down zombies left and right…  I’m getting a little better at dealing with the zombie horde.  Managed to save some folks from hunters and smokers.  Managed to take down a tank before it actually hurt anyone.

I took a bit of a break from the WoW grind last night…  I’m very nearly 78, and Terri is still 76, so I didn’t want to get too far ahead of her.  Plus all that focus on questing and leveling and progression hasn’t left me with a whole lot of time to smell the roses.  So, last night, I determined that I’d go see the sights…

I hopped on my Netherwing Drake and just started flying around.

My first stop was the Sholazar Basin.  I picked up a quest in Dalaran that asked me to go looking for Hemet Nesingwary there, so off I went.  Looks like his expedition ran into some difficulties…  He’s camped beside the wreckage of something that looks like it was once a fairly large boat.  There’s no flight path immediately available at Nesingwary’s camp, but it looks like you can run some quests to unlock one.  I didn’t bother with that, I just went sightseeing…

Sholazar Basin reminds me of Un’Goro crater - tropical, lush, mysterious.  I kept getting a very strong Jurassic Park/Land of the Lost/Center of the Earth vibe from the place…but maybe that’s just because of my recent Jules Verne kick.  I also stumbled across some new minerals to mine - Saronite.  It’s a nice change from all the Cobalt I’ve been mining, and hopefully it’ll sell for a decent price.

Next I headed off to Zul’Drak, which is apparently a giant trollish fortress/city.  The whole zone is built in that Aztec-ish style that trolls like so much.  But it’s been over-run by the scourge.  Undead everywhere.  Very dark, depressing, imposing.  I found a couple camps with flight paths and quests available…  But I didn’t really see anything that amazed me the way some of the other zones have.  It really felt like a dark version of Zul’Gurub or Zul’Aman - except without all the raid bosses.

After I was done there I headed over to Crystalsong.  As far as I can tell this zone was basically built just to house Dalaran.  It’s relatively small and there isn’t a whole lot going on here.  There’s some woods, some rivers, a bunch of Malygos’s mage hunters, some ley-lines and glowing trees…  There’s a couple quest hubs, with flight paths, but there really just isn’t much to the zone.

Next, I headed up north to the Storm Peaks.  The entire zone consists of rugged mountains punctuated with Titan construction.  I suspect that it would be virtually impossible to navigate this zone without a flying mount.  I was constantly soaring up one mountainside and then diving down the other.  The Titan buildings look very cool…  Very ornate…  Again, I was getting a strong steampunk vibe from them.

The last zone I explored was Icecrown…  This zone is dark, imposing, and creepy.  Lots of huge, spiky buildings and towering walls.  It reminded me a lot of Mordor from Lord of the Rings, except it is dark and cold instead of burning.  Again, I suspect it would be very difficult if not impossible to navigate this zone without a flying mount.  Lots of mountains, cliffs, walls, and enemy camps.  There’s also a couple gigantic flying machines in the area…  Both the Horde and the Alliance have some kind of flying quest hub in the zone.  Very cool.

Exploring all those zones got me an achievement for exploring Northrend, and a really ugly tabard.  I still need to explore Kalimdor to get the world explorer achievement though…

I also ran through Azjol-Nerub last night some folks from my guild.  The dungeon itself was pretty impressive…  It’s populated with a bunch of Nerubians, who remind me quite a bit of the Silithid, but a little more spidery than generically insectoid.  The architecture of the place was just plain horrible…  It was basically a giant hole in the ground, with remnants of actual construction here and there, and the whole thing was held together with some very insubstantial-looking spiderwebs.  I had to carefully avoid looking at the ground because it made me dizzy.  It constantly looked like I was going to plummet to my death at any moment.

I was once again surprised at the length of the dungeon…  Or, rather, the lack of length.  Every instance I’ve run through in Northrend has been very, very short.  The Nexus, Utgarde Keep, Drak’Tharon Keep…  They’re all very short.  Seems weird to me…  Hopefully the raid zones will be longer and more involved than these normal instances are.

I spent most of the weekend playing WoW.  I’ve gotten my Warlock up to 77 now, and trained the Cold Weather Flying skill, so I can now fly in Northrend.  It’s amazing how quickly that changes the way you look at the world around you.

When you’re stuck to the ground you’re forced to go basically where Blizzard wants you to go.  You have to, more or less, follow their roads.  You can be channeled into valleys and passes.  They can make sure you’ll run into their ambush, or meet a messenger on the road, or stumble across the scene of a battle.  They can do this because you can’t just fly up and over obstacles - you have to go around them.

And that’s all very handy from Blizzard’s point of view.  It means that they can make sure you get the storyline stuff in the right order.  You can’t fly over the top of a key plot point and skip ahead to the next section.  And I understand that.  But it’s also a pain in the ass.

It’s annoying to constantly have to dodge agro.  It’s annoying to have to follow a road as it winds around the countryside.  It’s frustrating to have to go all the way around a wall, when your objective is just on the other side.

So, being allowed to fly again is great.  It is truly liberating.  Getting around a zone is no longer as painful.  Completing quests is suddenly much easier.

But this isn’t the first time I’ve been mounted in Northrend.  There have been a number of great quests that have put me on temporary mounts - usually with special abilities.  I had to swoop in on a gryphon to rescue villagers that were being attacked by the scourge.  I had to use a gnomish flying machine to fight off attacking gargoyles.  I’ve fought battles from the back of a dragon.  I tossed flaming oil from the back of a horse as we ran from werewolves.

All of which has been a lot of fun…  But it isn’t the same as being able to jump on your own flying mount and take to the skies whenever you want.

So, yesterday was Thanksgiving.  Terri got the day off on account of her slaving over a hot stove every other day of the year, so I did the cooking.  Everything turned out surprisingly well.  Not that I really thought I’d ruin everything…  I can cook fairly well usually…  But a big ol’ Thanksgiving dinner is a little imposing.

I, of course, ate far too much.  Piles of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie…  It’s amazing that I didn’t rupture something yesterday.

I also spent a good chunk of the day yesterday playing WoW.  My Warlock is now 76, and my Death Knight is 62.  I’m more-or-less done with Dragonblight…  There are still a few group quests for me to do there, but I’ve had enough.  Some of those quests were pretty frustrating and I’m glad to be out of the zone.  I’m currently grinding in Howling Fjord - technically a step backwards, as the zone is lower level, but it’s a lot of fun.

I haven’t played Left 4 Dead again since that first session.  It was certainly fun, but I’ve been tied up in WoW almost nonstop.  That’s the problem with the holiday season in general - excess.  Too much stuff going on, too much to do, not enough time for any of it.  I’ve still got to play through Red Alert 3, and I wanted to try Fallout 3, and I never did finish Dead Space…

The best part though, is that it is only Friday night.  I’ve had two full days off from work, and I’ve got two more to go.  Very nice.

Monday was my Birthday, and Terri got me Left 4 Dead.  I didn’t have a chance to play it Monday night because we were running through the Wrathgate stuff…  So last night I fired it up for the first time.

Left 4 Dead, if you aren’t aware, is the new zombie shooter from Valve - the folks responsible for Half-Life and Team Fortress 2.  Strictly speaking, the enemies aren’t zombies.  Much like in 28 Days Later they are actually people who are infected with some virus that turns them into zombie-like homicidal maniacs.  But for all intents and purposes they are zombies.  Civilization has been pretty much wiped out.  You and a few other survivors spend the entire game trying to find safety, and fighting off the zombies at every turn.

From a gameplay perspective, L4D is a pretty simple shooter.  You move around with your keyboard, aim with the mouse, left-click to shoot, and right-click to club someone…  There are a couple extra keys to turn your flashlight on or off, and to pick up items, but that’s really about it.  Nothing terribly complicated or weird.  Just run and shoot.

But there really is quite a bit more to the game than simply running and shooting.  They did a great job of capturing the feel of a zombie apocalypse, and that impacts on how you play the game.

It isn’t a solo shooter.  You’re teamed up with three other survivors who can either be controlled by other players on-line or by the computer.  You don’t carry an arsenal - you get a pistol, a bigger gun of some sort, and maybe a single explosive.  You aren’t indestructible - it is fairly easy to get yourself overwhelmed and killed.  You really need to rely on your team mates at times…  If you get knocked down you’ll need a team member to pull the zombies off of you.  If you get “incapacitated” you’ll need a team member to stop your bleeding and get you back off the ground.  And you’ve got a real incentive to keep the rest of your team alive, because you can’t fight everything off by yourself.

There’s basically a limitless supply of zombies.  You aren’t going to methodically clear one room after another and have a safe trip to the goal.  They keep re-appearing when you aren’t looking.  And if you’re too slow and cautious you’ll get attacked by a swarm of zombies that leap over walls, climb in through windows, or simply break down walls.  So you need to keep moving.  You need to keep shooting.  You need to have other people along to keep you alive.

Navigating the levels can be a little challenging.  There aren’t a whole lot of obvious directional cues in the ruins of this abandoned city.  I wandered around the same city block several times before I figured out where I needed to go.  It wasn’t so bad inside the hospital, I just followed the brightly-lit exit signs…  But it adds a very worrisome edge of realism to the game.  It is entirely possible that you’ll get lost and wander into a dead-end somewhere, with a horde of zombies blocking your only way out.

The zombies themselves come in a few different flavors…

You’ve got the standard-issue zombies.  They stand around looking mostly dead until they notice you, at which point they’ll charge right at you.

There are hunters, which are far more active and agile.  They’ll leap from one place to the next, climb up walls, and tackle you to the ground.

There are smokers, which like to lurk in dark places and then reel you in with a giant tentacle.

There are boomers, which like to vomit on you.  The vomit then attracts every other zombie in the area.

There are tanks, which look kind of like the Incredible Hulk.  They’re huge, muscular beasts.  They look kind of silly from a distance…  But when they’re charging at your, throwing cars out of their way, and knocking you across the room they’re not nearly so humorous.

And then there are the witches.  These zombies just huddle in a corner weeping, and will sit there unless you disturb them.  If you disturb them, they kill you.  They’re insanely fast and powerful.

The game feels exactly like playing through a Romero movie.  It reminded me a lot of the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead.  It wasn’t exactly horrifying…  Not a whole lot of scary moments…  But there’s a distinct feeling of suspense and oppression.  A very real sense that you’re only a hair’s breadth away from death at every moment.