Pre-purchase for Warlords of Draenor begins today.

Today Blizzard announced that you can pre-purchase Warlords of Draenor and go ahead and get your free boost to level 90 for a character.  Please notice that this is not the official pre-order notice, you are still unable to pre-order the game from various retailers.  This is pre-purchase, only.  Which is good, because unless you pay for it RIGHT NOW, you don't get that free boost. You can still purchase a boost for $60, if you'd like.  I like to have the physical copy of the game, thankfully I've got everyone to 90 that I want so far and I've got about 6 months until I will need to have the other couple of characters leveled and ready for another expansion.

They have release a relatively cheesy, but very Blizzard-like, video about this breaking news.  This is good news for people who hate to level, but really must hit cap right now.  I am hoping that this helps bring some players back to the game and since the pre-purchase is required and the game is still so far off, this is great for business.  A person who has been gone for some time will decide to come back and check the game out prior to WoD and still be on the hook to come back and play WoD.  I know quite a few people who left during Cata or WotLK and would not feel like leveling through a couple of expansions just to play... and I don't blame them.  I am quite sick of leveling, myself.

While I am not entirely excited, because I'll be pre-ordering, this is still great news.  GREAT NEWS!  This means that Blizzard has a fire under their ass to get it finished and tested and out the door.  We should see lots of testing during the summer and another September to November release date for the game.  This will give us all something to do over the Christmas break.  I look forward to moving forward again in WoW and I really hope to be able to dedicate some time to raiding in the next expansion.  Probably something super serious, but a couple of days a week for a few hours to really work on content.  Just gotta hang in there for a few... more... months.

The disappointment of Titanfall.

On first glance Titanfall looks like an incredible game.  It has the fast run-and-gun aspects that people love about Call of Duty.  It has the insane acrobatics that we all adored from Unreal Tournament games.  It has densely packed urban maps that remind of CounterStrike.  It has huge player-controlled mechs that we can use to wage war in paying homage to Mech Warrior.  The game looks like a lot of fun... until it isn't.

I really hate to be a buzzkill, but this game is not a savior for PC gaming.  I have no doubt that it may be a fun alternative, but any of the other games would be more rewarding and, probably, more fun.  This game is aimed squarely at the XBox One to show off Microsoft's next generation.  This is how they hope to bolster their early sales and build a fanbase for their console.  I sure hope it works for them, but this won't fly in the world of PC gaming.

I only got to spend a limited time playing the game, but it was long enough to become bored of it and decide that it was not worth the initial investment of $60+, nor was it worth the addition $25+ for the "get all of the DLC before you even know what it is" bundle.  I'd much rather play a free-to-play game that has an entrenched playerbase or invest in a new-ish, or upcoming, game with some promise.  After spending just a little while with it I just completely shut off my interest in the
game.

The controls will be hard to master, but easy to pick up if you've played an acrobatic FPS game before.  I played quite a bit of Unreal Tournament, so I was able to jump in and display my acrobatic skills during the tutorial.  The tutorial, by the way, is a series of "aha!" moments where you realize you are just replicating what you have done in other games.  Well, that and aimbotting at someone's face.  The overall feel of the game seems heavy and sluggish.  I know that there are speed boosts and double-jumps, but I didn't feel "agile".  At least not compared to some of the action FPS games that I've played in the past.  Once you get into the mech the feeling actually smoothed out a bit, but you still felt a little sluggish.

Once you figure out the jumping puzzles and how to use the abilities of your huge mech, you are ready to take on the battlefield!  This game would be better if it actually allowed you to kill players.  As it stands the servers and filled with bots.  There may be other human players, but you will see bots a majority of the time.  They exist to make the server feel full and to provided fodder to help you generate your Titan more quickly.  This is miserable for me because I'm missing out on THE PEOPLE.  We are losing people and replacing them with AI, AI that sucks!  These technical limitations wouldn't be so bad if you could find servers that didn't run bots, but you can't.  You see, you don't get to host servers.  There will be dedicated servers for matchmaking, but none that you can rent or purchase and then run the game off of.  You don't get to set a customer config or map rotation and have a great time representing your team, clan or website.  You get whatever group of people they decide is best for you and they toss you into a cloud server and let you battle it out... with the bots.

After spending a few days blasting away I just could not be bothered to remain interested.  I would rather play another game.  PlanetSide did something on a much larger scale with even bigger mechs almost a decade ago.  That game is still running and allows you a free trial period before you have to invest anything into it.  I would rather play just about any of those original games that have small bits that contribute to the overall concept of Titanfall.  Considering that CoD is offering GHOSTS, CounterStrike is represented by CSGO and there is a new Unreal game on the way... You will be hard-pressed to find a lot of fan support for Titanfall on the PC.  If you REALLY want to be successful on the PC, you will need to look to PC games and see what it is that they truly want.  I can tell you right now, it currently isn't this game... at least not in the shape it is in right now.

CoolerMaster CM Storm QuickFire Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard review

I almost got exhausted typing the entire name.  Wow.

I don't really do "reviews", so I am not sure where to actually start.  I am going to break it down into a couple of parts that make sense to me when talking about the keyboard and go from there.  I'll do a scale of 10 to make it easy on me.

Layout and feel  (8/10)
The keyboard has a standard layout of most 104-key keyboards these days.  The Shift key is a little awkard to get to and the Windows key doesn't have a logo, instead it says "Win".  All gaming keyboards should have a key that says WIN, especially when it will potentially tab you out of a game...  OH WAIT!  There is actually a feature that stops that, but more on that later.  Everything seems to be in the right place and it didn't take very long to adjust to this keyboard.  It took me longer to adjust from the old cheap-o Logitech keyboard to my previous Thermaltake MEKA G1.  Maybe it is the practice.


Aside from being laid out well, it has a great feel.  The keys are well spaced and raised.  The Cherry MX Brown switches are awesome.  I am used to Blacks, but these things feel great.  They keys are a little easy to jar.  I've actually knocked a couple of them off without meaning to by bumping into it a little too hard.  The Browns have a great clickiness to them and really lets you know that it is mechanical.  They say that they are supposed to be quieter, but I don't really hear it so much.  They sound great and the keys have a great feel to them, it appears the letters are lasered, and yes, it makes all the difference in the world!

I would love to see an adjustable lift in the back and the inclusion of a wrist mount.  I feel like if I buy a "Pro" model, it should have some pretty nice features... right?  I could have stepped up to an Ultimate, but it doesn't seem to have these things either.  A lot of other keyboards include things like this, it would be a nice touch.  However, none of this really changes the fact that the keyboard feels great.  It would feel much better if my hands were going numb from this angle, though....


Features (8/10)
I have only ever had one other mechanical keyboard of this caliber, so it will be hard to compare to a wide variety of them.  The features on this board aren't really noteworthy, but they sure to assist in the quality of life aspect.  That, like SSDs, I can really appreciate.

The FN-Lock key is a life saver.  This is the key that makes your WIN button not lose.  This is how you will adjust settings on the keyboard.  Everything from polling to backlight brightness, to what keys even get lit up.  The FN-Lock key really gets it done.  This key doesn't make up for the lack of macros, though.  Not that I need macros, because I don't, but they are pretty standard in the gaming keyboard world.  I stepped up from an older mechanical keyboard that didn't have them, so I haven't spoiled myself, but others may be disappointed.  How would they integrate it?  Don't ask me.  I'm not a design engineer.

The backlight leaves something to be desired.  I understood when getting it that the entire keyboard would not light up.  I was okay with that.  It highlights my most important keys... now, really.  The backlight does not show fully on all keys that it supports.  There is a logo that isn't full lit up and there are several keys that just don't full illuminate.  Then, there are keys that look perfect.  The ESC key and the arrow keys look excellent.  The FN-Lock and the Spacebar look far less attractive.


Price and availability (9/10)
This thing is a steal.  For about $80 you can get your hands on one of these and be very happy with the quality and design of the unit.  That being said, for a few bucks more you can get more out of your keyboard.  What this keyboard does, it does well for the price.

It wasn't hard to find.  I could pick it up just about anywhere.  Newegg, Amazon, Superbiiz, NCIX, even at MechanicalKeyboards.com.  There are even multiple versions of the keyboard.  You can find one with just the switches you want in it, if you look hard enough.  Thankfully I wanted to try out the Browns, which was part of the reason why I picked this one.

Great price, multiple options, available all over the place.  This is a place where this keyboard shines!


Typing and Gaming (7/10)
Time for some of the wicked honesty.  The keyboard is great, but only because it was cheap.  I wanted to give another set of caps a try and I wanted to see what this thing was all about.  Sure, I'm gonna stick with it, but I know that there are better options.  I feel it is a step up from the keyboard I had previously, even know I lose out on the headphone/mic jacks and the additional USB.

The keys feel great, but they also feel kind of small.  This isn't such a bad thing.  Like I said, I easily made the adjustment in just a few hours.  There are features on the board that almost don't make sense, especially when leaving others out.  The lack of macro keys means that this is a very limited keyboard from a gaming standpoint.  The NKRO feature seems kind of strange as a key feature of this keyboard, since it is lacking those macros.  The main feature of it is kind of defeated, but okay....  However, macros are not a big deal to me, but I have to consider the person that would be buying this.

Typing here is kind of complicated with the smallish keys.  I made the adjustment, but one of the features of that NKRO is that it will now register all of those accidents as you are missing keys.  This can be infuriating if you use a lot of different keyboards or if you are used to a larger one.  I work in front of a computer all day and then play in front of one all night.  I have been doing this for more than two decades, I might have a leg up on the average Joe.  My work keyboard is a dome that wants so bad to be a mechanical. it has a similar layout, so it makes it a little easier.

This isn't a typists dream or a gamers go-to board.  This is a keyboard that can exist in both worlds.  It does fine in gaming and feels good to type on.


Conclusion (32/40 = 8/10)
I'm glad I got it.  I am glad that I took this jump.  I may find that 8 months from now that I am in love, but my initial reaction is of happiness... and a little disappointment.  This thing matched my computer "theme" of black, red and white.  It fits in way better than an obnoxious green Razer would.  That doesn't mean that it is a better product, though.

The product is fine, don't get me wrong, but it could be better.  I would be willing to pay more for something with a few more features.  Make the keys larger, add macros, included a wrist rest and give us some adjustable heights and this thing is worth $150 to me.  The weird lighting is fine, as long as it works and feels good, but if you wanted to illuminate them ALL and just give me red highlights for the "gaming" keys, that would look amazing.  Pay attention CoolerMaster, I'm a big fan and I'm trying to get you millions. =P

Overall, I'd recommend the keyboard.  I would be sure to mention some of the limitations, though.  It's a nice keyboard and I look forward to making other folks smash their own keyboards into bits with it.

The Build Saga: Part Fifteen.

We are officially on the home stretch. The PC is assembled. All major parts and pieces are inside. I will have picture very soon. The case still needs a little lovin' and I'd like to put in my non-crucial media player before I snap pics. I've also got another fan to install. Turns out that the sweet 230mm fan that people were raving over and swearing fit into this case... does not. I have a $20 huge white fan that I have no use for. Who the fuck is going to need a 230mm white case fan? FUCK! I ordered another 200mm, same as what I got to go with the one that was already in the case. It will mount just fine, just so long as it has clearance with the video card. The video card looks like it MIGHT cause me some trouble, but we'll have to see.

 My shopping list is pretty small now. Picking up some Noctuas to replace the fans in the case. Grabbing a Blu Ray player because I fucking want one. Getting the 200mm NZXT case fan just so that I've got something on the side. After that we are done. Complete!

 I've got a couple of monitors and a mount ordered. I decided to go with the ASUS VS239H-P monitor, twice over. 23 inches, matte-like screen, VESA compatible, black on the bezel, IPS and competitively priced. The mount seems pretty standard. It's made by Tyke. It has some pretty good reviews, is not insanely expensively and looks easy to use. I actually watched some YouTube videos about the mount, because I wanted to see what I was in for. It looks pretty good. I'm excited to get the monitors and get them attached. Again, pictures are coming soon. I will have complete pics of the PC, as well as some shots of my desk and my monitors.

 Since I've got everything together, I figured that I would run some benchmarks. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but without overclocking I can say that I am very pleased compared to my old rig.

Used the defaults for 3DMark, not sure if I can even use anything else.  In the top 25% seems pretty good.

Heaven kind of hurt my feelings.  I was expecting to be closer to the 60 FPS mark.  I'll take it, though.  Maybe with some overclocking I can hit that mark.  I ran this test at Ultra Quality, Extreme Tesselation, 1920x1080 fullscreen at 8xAA.  It was unforgiving.

I've never run Valley before.  My first experience wasn't so bad.  I thought the benchmark itself was gorgeous.  Even though I tried to ignore it, all of the colors and outdoor landscape sucked me in.  I maxed out the settings here, too.  1920x1080 fullscreen with 8xAA with Extreme HD Preset.  I pushed it pretty hard.

The Build Saga: Part Fourteen

Oh video card, where art thou?! I've got my new PC pieced together. I've got Windows on the SSD. I've started installing certain games to the other SSD. I've got Steam setup. I just need one... final... piece. The video card. I ordered it quite a while ago. It packed up and was out the door quickly, but then got stalled. After sitting for almost two weeks (8 business days) I decided to shoot an email out and see what the hold up was. Well, turns out they gave me a shitty tracking number. Not that it wasn't sitting there, but it was one of those hand-off deals and one of the carriers just hadn't updated correctly. It was still sitting in the same shithole, just with incorrect info. That info made the tracking looking scarier than it needed to. It was corrected and has now, amazingly, nearly landed at my door. I really look forward to getting this beast in. I plan to go and check out monitors OR do some interweb shopping for them here very soon. Woo! I am going to have to buy a new keyboard. It is official. My Thermaltake MEKA G1 is dead. I thought I had already killed it, but I fired it up and it worked to my shock and surprise. I got a few more months out of it, but I am now on a garbaged-out, beaten and used Logitech domed key keyboard. =X I want to make a switch to Browns, I think. I really liked black, but having to bang on my keyboard to get something out of it kind of sucked. I haven't looked at Thermaltake's latest offering, but I think I am going to look around this time. That worst part? I was just telling someone at work how fucking awesome the MEKA G1 was. It was the best keyboard I've ever had, for sure. I've got a couple of fans and a media drive to pick up, but nothing major. I should have the majority of the rig setup very soon. I should have my "battlestation" updated with new monitors and a proper keyboard in the near future. It's hard to motivate yourself to spend 100+ dollars on a keyboard when you are gonna get MAYBE 8 hours a week to even use it. I'll wait until I've got some days off before I go down that road. I can't wait to get my new monitors and get them setup. I will be handing my old monitor over to my wife. She has an old school 17 inch CRT display that will land in a closet or a dumpster. She will probably be happy with this nice, big 23 inch Samsung beast that I've got now. I really wanna setup my desk with a multi-monitor mount and do this right! Pretty stoked about it.

The Build Saga: Part Thirteen

The video card has been ordered.

PCPartPicker part list

To be ordered
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: 3 x Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm  Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 140mm  Fan
Optical Drive: Asus Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer
Monitor: 2 xAcer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($149.99 @ NCIX US)

Ordered
Logitech G500 Laser Mouse
Thermaltake Meka G1 Keyboard
Windows 8 Professional (64-bit)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
Gelid GC-Extreme
ASRock Z87 Fatal1ty Killer Motherboard
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
Corsair H100i Liquid CPU Cooler
Kingston Blu Red 2x8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast (White/Red) ATX Case
NZXT FS-200RB Red LED Case Fan
Antec HCG-750M 750W Semi-modular Power Supply
BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm Fan
Intel Core i5-4670K Processor
ASUS DirectCUII nVidia GeForce GTX 780

We are getting very close to the end.  I am still debating about the monitors, but this is my choice as of right now.  I am still trying to decide if I want one larger (27 inch) monitor or two smaller (23 - 24 inch) monitors.  Either way I will probably pick up a new display and give my wife my old one.  She will be excited, I hope.  She just inherited my Phenom II 955BE with 8 gigs of RAM and a Radeon HD6870.  I will probably need to get her a new drive.  Her drive is 160GB and very loud and very old.  I think a 250GB SSD may be in her future...

I am very excited to get to the end of this process.  I have assembled most of my parts, but I have yet to really take an enthusiast approach with it.  I have not setup my SSDs to be optimized.  I have no fooled with Corsair LINK.  I have no overclocked or adjust anything (other than my RAM which was surprisingly easy).  I look forward to next month when I will get the chance to take a break and really fool with all of my new toys.  It will also be just in time to give my wife a special birthday and HOPEFULLY get into a shift that allows me to see my family.  As much as I love my new PC, I'd love to spend some time with my family, too.

I am really thankful that my brother came over and hung out with me while I put all of this stuff together and helped out A LOT.  I get a little anxious about things like this when I build for myself.  I mean REAL anxiety, here.  He will be bringing by a nice camera to take some pictures soon, once we get it all finished.  We wanted to get some build video, but did not.  We might still take some, but it won't be progressive.  I also ordered some case badges for about 6 bucks to fix in the color scheme that will really put the finishing touches on it, I hope to get a chance to show those off on this new rig, too.

The Build Saga: Part Twelve

I know that it has been a while.  I disappeared while the majority of my packages shipped.

Almost everything has arrived.  The Blu Ray player, some replacement fans, a video card and some monitors (if I choose to get them) are all that is left.  The Blu Ray player will probably be the cheapest one I can find, since I will use it sparingly.  The replacement fans will all be Noctua.  I am getting the ASUS DirectCUII GTX 780.  I have looked at a few different monitors, but it looks like I will either be picking up a couple of Acer 23" monitors (H236HL BID), a couple of ASUS 23" monitors (VS239H-P), or a nice 27" monitor (
ASUS VE278H or maybe an IPS/PLS).  

My brother and I got together and put the PC together.  We didn't get any pics of the build, because we forgot the camera.  We had to rush to get it put together.  We got a late start and then had to finish up early.  Being responsible isn't always fun and doesn't always support your hobbies.  A dad's work is never done.  We will snap a few pics once the entire process is complete.

The board is in, but no major cable management has been attempted.  The H100i is in and mounted and seems to be working fine.  I haven't had a chance to punish it or overclock it, yet.  The RAM worked almost perfectly.  It showed up as CAS9 1333, but switched easily to the XMP profile of CAS10 1600.  The SSD drives are silent and very fast.  It is quite an enjoyable experience.  I am using the onboard video, but haven't done much more than setup Windows and browse, honestly.  I am still a little paranoid about the SSD.  I've felt a couple of stutters or pauses as I go to open a program and I can't tell if it's a hard drive thing or a CPU thing or if I am just imagining it.  I was kind of expecting instant access. =P

The video card should be here by NEXT weekend, so that is a bummer.  Won't have much more to provide, other than maybe some pictures, until then.