Rant 402 / Excessive Gas - The Best Part Of Waking Up

The Australian government has gone insane! They're trying to follow the example of China by setting up a clone of the Great Firewall of China. Though not as strict as the original, it is going to block very popular websites such as Steam. Steam - the most popular online game store on the Internet! It doesn't even dabble in piracy. Reason? They offer games that go beyond their MA15+ category.

They're going to ban websites that contain porn too.

And the best part of this whole issue is that adult videos and sex shops are legal in Australia.

What the heck is going on? They don't give a flying fuck about their language but when it comes to the internet they suddenly transform into prudes.









Electric cars, the focus of the new age car industry and the climate-change-fearing masses. Cars that are driven by batteries, not fossil fuel, are supposed to be smoother since there isn't any continuous chain of explosions that vibrates conventional vehicles.

Both the US and the UK and other countries in the EU are planning incentives to attract potential buyers. But with each change comes other consequences. Here, one major consequence is the emergence of the electric-car-charging industry.

Today it isn't feasible to dabble in it, but with Obama working towards the goal of having a million electric cars being used in the States by 2015, car-charging may become a lucrative business.

In Singapore, if they would do the same to persuade potential car buyers to pick electric cars, car-charging stations would definitely be necessary, just because most people live in apartments. Only people who have parking space in their homes can plug in without such help.










I finally switched on my handphone after so long. Apparently I have 3 voicemails, but according to my experience, they probably contain nothing but sounds of breathing and clicking. Also finally checked my NTU email which seems to have been forcibly cleared by the technical staff due to my not checking the email for the entire 3-month holiday.









This week RoM (US version) is having a really cool sale. I couldn't resist buying one of the upgrade bundles with my diamonds, but now my Rogue has 3.5k HP. Whenever a fellow lv50 parties with me, they usually comment on my low 2.8k HP. One of them even commented that my gear is alright but needs upgrades.

So now I have 22 diamonds left after spending 199 on the bundle. Not only has my HP gone up, but so has my Dex and critical hit rating. I consider this a promotion from a shitty lv50 to a semi-decent lv50.

After some quick calculations, I realized just how fantastic those bundles are. Two bundles have great value:

-Bundle 4 contains 6 Purified Fusion Stones, 30 Transmutor charges and 5 Golden Repair Hammers.
-Bundle 3 contains 30 Moon Jewels - Wishes, 30 Sun Jewels - Wishes, 20 Star Jewels - Wishes and 5 Golden Repair Hammers.

Uses of items :

Purified Fusion Stones are used to transfer stats from one piece of equipment to another by Transmutation. Think of it as a non-reusable container for stat boosts.

Transmutor charges are used each time I Transmute anything.

Golden Repair Hammers not only repair stuff but bring it to 200% durability. All equipment with more than 100 points (not %) durability gets 20% bonus to its stat boosts and most equipment have around 80 points of durability.

Jewels are used to increase the level of equipment. The Jewels mentioned are the highest level Jewels, meaning they can be used on the highest level items. Raising the level of items increases their effectiveness and brings out the hidden stat boosts.




Purified Fusion Stones cost 55 diamonds apiece. Transmutor charges go for 29 diamonds for 10. Golden Repair Hammers can be bought for 29 diamonds each.

What Bundle 4 contains costs 562 diamonds normally, but is being priced at 219 diamonds now. This is a 61% discount, 11% more than their usual generosity! However, Purified Stones and the charges can be bought with Phirius Tokens (but with huge amounts of them) which players can earn through certain repeatable quests. This means that given enough time, I can get these 2 items just by doing those quests.

Let's go to Bundle 3.

Star Jewel - Wishes are priced at 79 diamonds for 10. Both Moon and Sun Jewels - Wishes cost 39 diamonds for 10. Hence Bundle 3's items normally cost players 537 diamonds, but the package costs 199 diamonds - that's a whopping 63% discount! In addition, none of these items can be bought without diamonds. Therefore if I were to buy them normally, I'd have to farm for huge amounts of gold, use them to buy diamonds at obscene prices and then use the diamonds to buy these items.

Seriously, I'm tempted to spend some cash just for this occasion. They're even giving bonus diamonds for players who buy diamonds right now.

But I won't. This is a free game. I intend to keep it free, at least for myself. Already, I have a pretty good character without spending a single cent. Gives me a sense of pride. Kind of.

I'm not getting enough gold to buy enough diamonds for another bundle. 30 diamonds now and definitely not enough time to farm much. Other things take priority since the semester has begun. Gah! Offer officially ends on Friday, which is around Saturday afternoon for my timezone.

In the meantime, I'm considering using my laptop and mobile modem to open a new account and bring an alt to my Rogue. I'll send the lvl 1 alt to a safe spot nearby while I farm. This would give it free exp and raise its level. When it hits lvl 15, I'll open its gift bag (everyone gets it and it gives players a taste of the items that is sold in the diamond shop). Already, I've been raising alts to lvl 10 for the ten free Transmutor charges. I just need to raise them to 15 to get a few free Repair Hammers.

Gotta farm!

NO!

Gotta farm more!

No!

Need more farming!

Nooooo!











Anyway, have a slogan! It's fun!