Played some more D3 this afternoon…

I’m really liking the Monk class.  Very cool.  Vaguely reminiscent of the Assassin from D2…  With maybe a dash of Paladin thrown in for good measure.  Lots of fun.

The game does some things in interesting ways…

The stash and gold seem to be shared across all your characters.  As do your achievements.  In fact, in a lot of ways, it almost seems like the individual characters don’t matter.  While you can name your individual characters, once you get into a game the only name that appears is that of your Battle.net profile.

One of my quests involved getting the local blacksmith set up and running again…  And when I came back to the game on a different character, he was already up and running.  I was still able to do that quest again, but I was also able to make use of the blacksmith before I did so.

Terri got in to the Diablo III beta.  Got a notice just a couple days ago.  As did one of my old DAoC buddies.  I didn’t though.  Primarily because I hadn’t even opted-in to the beta list.  I feel a little stupid about that.

Terri, being the awesome wife she is, has shared her beta access with me.  And I’ve spent a good chunk of the day today playing around with it.

My very first impression – holy shit, this place is dark.  The whole starter area is dark and gloomy.  Lots of fog everywhere.  Everything is varying shades of black and grey.  Feels very muddled.  Very hard to see.  Feels like those stupid rainbow-hating morons won.  I have to assume that later areas will be more varied, and this region is simply dark for plot-related purposes.  I certainly hope the whole game isn’t this dark.

Getting beyond the overwhelming gloom…  It’s definitely a Diablo game.  Feels just like I’m wandering the fields outside the cathedral in Diablo II, Act I.  Lots of zombies, the occasional quillrat.  Hollow logs and corpses to loot.  Even the sound of coins falling to the ground is the same.  Very familiar.  Very cool.

As I play through a couple of the dungeons, I get the distinct impression that I’m actually playing Torchlight, and not a Diablo III beta.  The Demon Hunter is playing almost exactly like the Vanquisher did.  Plus there are bonuses for destroying random objects in the environment.  And achievements to be earned.

The comparison to Torchlight is maybe a little unfair…  As Torchlight was simply the most recent game to imitate Diablo…  But that’s really what it feels like.

I’m having a few, small issues with the beta…  Getting some random pauses and slowdowns.  I’m assuming that it’s somehow related to the beta status of the game.  Maybe it’s doing some reporting behind the scenes…  Or maybe there’s still some bugs to be squashed…

But, on the whole, it’s playing very well.  The graphics are nice, crisp, and clean.  The gameplay is very familiar, very intuitive, and very enjoyable.

I can easily see myself sinking a ridiculous amount of time into this game once it is released.

The more time I spend trying to deploy the Java runtime through SCCM, the more I hate Java.

You’d really think that a monstrously huge company like Oracle, developing as ubiquitous a product as Java, might spend a little time making large-scale deployment a little easier.

Instead…  It seems that the JRE was specifically designed to be as difficult to deploy as possible.

I’m really questioning the wisdom of coming in to work today.

I’m feeling crappier today than I did yesterday.  My lungs are all congested…  As are my sinuses…  And my voice sounds awful.

I’ve taken some medicine which will hopefully alleviate some of those symptoms…  But I’m thinking I’d probably be better off with a day or so of rest.

Back at work today…  And I’m not sure that’s a good idea.  I’m still feeling a bit under the weather…  A little bit out of sorts…  Still feeling a little bit dazed and confused.  It’s making the day go by frustratingly slow.

I keep getting distracted, or zoning out, or making stupid mistakes…  And then having to go back and pick up where I’d left off…

Hopefully I’ll feel more human tomorrow.

I am, at this very moment, installing iTunes.

I’m not a big fan of the software…  But I’m installing it to support the new iPhone I just purchased.

And I’ll likely wind up installing it on my work-issued MacBook as well.

Yes, that’s right…  I’m using iTunes, an iPhone, and a MacBook.

Despite the fact that I originally started out on a Mac SE/30 years ago, this feels somehow wrong to me.  And Terri is thoroughly enjoying my discomfort.

I seem to have come down with some kind of illness.

I’ve been feeling kind of under the weather since Wednesday or so, but I didn’t think too much about it.  I’ve been waking up earlier, and working long days, and my diet has changed – so there were plenty of reasons I might not feel quite right.

Last night, though, it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

I was OK throughout the day…  Felt unwell, but not horrible.  We went out to dinner, did some shopping afterwards, and I was feeling progressively worse.  We got home, and I just crashed.

My head feels fuzzy and distant.  My throat hurts like hell whenever I swallow.  My eyes keep leaking and there’s horrific sinus pressure.  My lungs feel tight and stuffy.

The end result of all this is that I feel like crap.

I’m just glad I don’t have to be at work today.  Maybe I can actually get some rest and feel like a human again by Monday.

We recently discovered that one of our local theaters does “Throwback Thursdays” and shows older movies once a week.  So, tonight, we’re going to see The Goonies.  Going to be fun!

Been playing a good amount of WoW lately.  And, since I’m not really part of an active guild, I’ve been running dungeons with a bunch of pick-up groups.

For a while there, I was having great luck with my PUGs.  Could burn through three or four dungeons, back-to-back, with no trouble.  Decent gear, no real drama, more-or-less competent players…  Really had no trouble clearing a dungeon – either normal or heroic.

Sure, there’d be the occasional fuckup and/or party wipe…  But folks would just get back up, dust themselves off, and charge back into the battle.

Then something happened.

I’m not sure if my luck changed, or a people suddenly got stupid, or what.  But I suddenly find myself constantly grouped with moronic prima donnas.

I’ll wind up in a party with one or more incompetent players – a tank who can’t hold aggro, or a healer that just can’t keep people standing, or a mage who simply can’t control his aggro…  And we’ll wind up wiping on something…  And then folks start bailing.

We’ll have a single bad pull, and all of a sudden the tank leaves the party.  Or the healer runs for the hills.  Or a couple of the DPS’ers leg it.

Depending on who leaves, it might be possible to queue up again, find someone to fill that role, and continue through the dungeon…  But unless someone is found very quickly, more people start leaving…  And before long I’ll find myself standing alone in some dungeon wondering where the hell everyone went.

Seems like I’m only actually clearing a dungeon about a third of the time.  It’s getting pretty discouraging.