Hello, VuTalers. Glad to see you all again.

Runescape

I actually havn't been playing Runescape recently, but I do keep up with the game. Today, they released the date for the next Bonus XP Weekend. Before those of you left go jumping onto your dusty Runescape accounts, swatting off the cobwebs to start anew with this boost, you probably should know it's for members. I've lost my membership a while back, so sadly I will not be participating in it myself. The dungeoneering updates don't appease me well, considering I seldom train that skill.

I generally don't like dungeoneering because of its disjoint concept: the training stays in Daemonheim, the rewards stay in Runescape. There's no interaction between the two, other than that the former produces the latter. If I could train dungeoneering with my own gear, rather than use some weird weapon and armor and food, then perhaps it'd be more enticing.

Maplestory

Well, what can I say? Maplestory has really dug its grave pretty deep this time. After removing Stage 2 of the Visitors event series, they caused a bug in the system that spams nearly EVERY map with aliens that steal the spawns from normal spawns. To avoid this, one can go to hidden streets and mini dungeons, among other places, but really, how many of us can train in those isolated areas?

Pam's Song should really be called scam song. I mean really, $19.50 for a scroll buffer zone? I know that white scrolls are costly and rare but seriously, could they have milked maplers any more?

Also, if you havn't heard yet, PopTag is hosting a gachapon giveaway that ends tomorrow (or tonight, not sure) if you've played Maplestory between May and August something-or-other. All you have to do is level up 3 times in PopTag, and a week after the event ends, you'll get 5 gachapon tickets. No joke (unless Nexon pulls a fast one, in which it'd be a cruel joke).

Starcraft

After Starcraft 2 came out, I went back to playing the old one (seeing as I can't get the new one). I spent 3 hours looking for a feasible game Mac installer because of several technicalities (which I don't even understand, but guess didn't need to). Although it brought back memories, it also brought back a serious flaw in my strategies. Firstly, I have to kick the habit of using cheats (at least in a serious game; in casual games, I have say in how to destroy my opponent). Second, I have to develop a strategy overall, generally a more offensive one. I tried to utilize a defensive strategy, and I ended up jeopardizing my chances in expanding my resources. I've already gotten the knack of building a strong early economy, but my military is (unsurprisingly) lacking.

The one exception to this is on the map Chrysalis, a one-on-one mineral field in which you have to mine or fly your way to your opponent's base. As Protoss, I was able to mine to a Vespene Geyser first and was able to churn out Dark Templars. My Terran opponents were still spamming marines, and had not built any missile turrets. Once a gap in the mineral field opened up, I sent my 6 or so Dark Templars, and utterly slaughtered them without losing a single unit.

Site

Although I've been pretty silent on VuTales, I have been monitoring the forums and blogs, loosely. I have to say that I am disappointed in the direction that the community is heading. Although this site offers a wider level of freedom in blogging, I do miss those days when we shared information about games, and less so about real life, or about theories, paradoxes. Forum games have been replaced by such miscellany and Biebers that just yields a platform for pointless spamming. I feel like this site, this community that we've sustained for so long, has adulterated too far from it's initial purpose, of creating a pseudo-haven for gamers from Captain, a pseudo-MMOTales. Rather than a welcoming locale for a mapler or whatnot to relax and share his experience while one's offline from Maplestory, this site has become rather drab, of unappealing etcetera and such, of lolcats and rickrolls.

I respect the importance of other bloggers' blogs of personal life and interesting histories, especially many of the newcomers. But I just feel like there's little "game" left in this site these days.

As my closing words for this blog, I sincerely wish for the inhabitants of this great site to take up arms again, and use this site as a platform for gamers to socialize, not a vulnerable mass for trolls to crash again.