The One About Lucifer Wings

I've got some pretty exciting news about My Bellem's Box Item Of The Month for November!

Only for November's Item Of The Month will there be a special edition Lucifer Wings which will last all the way up to 20 December 2007, rather than its usual 30 day time period! Yes, that's a less than subtle hint. If all goes well and no major obstacles crop up, we'll be going into V2.4 on 20 December 2007! ;)

Some people have been asking on the forums what will happen to the Lucifer Wings once the time period has expired. From what I have heard from IMC, it will disappear from your inventory.

I've also gotten some emails from Pinoy gamers asking me if My Bellem's Box will be coming to the Philippines. This will very much be dependent on your local distributor, which in this case, is E-games. Alternatively, you can also purchase from the online shop located here.

Here's some pictures of the upcoming Lucifer's Wings:

The One About Halloween In-Game Event - Tiburon's Scarecrows

We wanted to patch the Halloween in-game event patch today during server maintenance but unfortunately, there were a lot of bugs that could not be resolved in time. Nevertheless, all the bugs have been fixed as far as we have tested and after we do a final round of testing, the event patch should be in by this weekend, or maybe even tomorrow.

Here's a taste of what is to come:

The One About Sexyback

We've just finished recording the voiceovers for V2.4 and we had some really good voice actors this round!

I am totally mesmerized by one of the new male RNPC's voices, Edward Jameson.

Now here's a guy that does what Justin Timberlake does best.

Yeah. He brings sexy back.

Big time.

Here's a sneak preview of what Edward Jameson looks and sounds like:



Some interesting background to Edward Jameson is that he is an immigrant from Brestia, and 2nd Lieutenant from the Brestia Special Army.

And. He is the fiance of Selva! (If you have no idea who she is, check out my blog avatar.)

He lost a huge portion of his memory due to some traumatic events that happened to him (Do the quests in V2.4 to find out!) and all he remembers is that he has a fiance and a younger brother.

Discuss this here.

The One About Vergo... Cursed?

I've been hearing some players speculate that Vergo The Cursed is bugged and thus, un-killable. But this is not actually the case. There are a few things to take note of:

1) Vergo The Undead

Why is it that the HP bar of Vergo The Cursed gets to zero and Vergo is still not dead?

This is because he goes into an 'undead' mode, whereby he will start to regenerate HP at an incredibly fast rate. Once he goes into this undead mode, his regenerated HP will remain a ???? mystery. This is the case in V2.1.18. From what I have heard from IMC, in V2.4 onwards, the possibility percentage of this undead mode has been reduced significantly and most of the time, Vergo will die swiftly without going into undead mode.

Despite his HP reflecting 0, be aware that his HP is regenerating and you will need a VERY strong party to continuously hit him. If people start leaving, Vergo's HP regeneration speed will exceed that of the damage done to him and it will be back to square one.

And yes, the people who enter the scene when Vergo is in undead mode, will see Vergo's HP as being maximum, even though the people who have been there from the very start will see it as zero. Don't panic: This is normal. This merely means that Vergo's HP is regenerating and remains a ???? mystery.

2) Need Moar l33t 92 weaponzzz

Frankly speaking, you will need Elite Level 92 weapons to be able to easily defeat Vergo The Cursed. Vergo has a DR of 57, while the best Elite 84 weapons give an AR of 52. Except the fact when you +5 or if you manage to enchant the Elite 84 weapon to a +3 Attack Rating Option, otherwise it is not possible to efficiently damage him. FYI, Elite Level 92 weapons will be much more easily attainable once we hit V2.4.

Does this mean it is impossible to defeat Vergo The Cursed in our current version V2.1.18?

Nope, it is still possible. But you will need a very large number of strong players in order to take him down and even so, you might probably have to whack for about 2-3 hours after his first physical death before your party can take him down. The thing is, you cannot afford to have players leaving halfway through the raid because the HP regeneration which will restore him to his all-powerful self again.

Ideally, in order to prevent his insane rate of HP regeneration, it would be good to stun him with say, Wizard's Hole Of Darkness, and of course to have good tankers and many high damage ranged attackers to complement.

3) The Sweet Spot

Talk about backdoors that programmers just love implementing...

There is a certain sweet spot on the cliff that permanently stuns Vergo. If you are one of the lucky 1% to be able to find it... then it just might be time to buy a 4D lottery ticket.

I heard that one of the factions in Cervantes actually managed to find it once and only once. Their tanker fighter was never able to find it ever since. Nevertheless, despite being unable to find Vergo's sweet spot again, this same faction managed to take him down a second time using some extremely well thought-out strategies (which I am afraid I am sworn to secrecy about - after all, it's their secret, not mine). Even so, it took them 3 hours after Vergo went into undead mode to take him down.

Well, hope that helps answer some of the burning questions on your mind regarding Vergo.

P/S: Just for the fun of it, I tried using Irawan, equipped with a Level 100 Knuckle of 3 Kings to solo Vergo on the test server. It took me a good two hours after he went into undead mode to take him down. ;)

The One About Halloween & Ops Black

Halloween is just round the corner and we'll be having a Halloween in-game event from 25 October 2007-8 November 2007! It's gonna be one of those special event type of quest issued by an RNPC. The most exciting thing about it is that this is the FIRST time ever that kGE and jGE are holding the exact same event as us concurrently! kGE-jGE-sGE FTW! Talk about MCC, bond of trinity baby! More details will be out early next week once the patch has been uploaded to our test server and we have finished testing the event patch out.

Vanity Extravaganza has been extended by another week and male costumes at 20% discount will be added in as well. So you can look forward to that happening next week.

On a sadder note, Reborn Faction from Caravaggio, one of the very first pioneering factions in Granado Espada has disbanded on 14 October 2007. Although I don't play on Caravaggio, I read quite a bit about them here and there on players' blogs and on the forums. They wrote an entire history of their interactions with the various factions in Caravaggio. You can check it out over here.

For those in Singapore, here's something interesting that is an absolute must-go! A murder mystery Halloween party! It's known as Ops Black and held at Settlers Cafe. Settlers Cafe is a place I hold dear to my heart as it was a place I worked part time when I was still a poor struggling student in National University of Singapore (NUS). It's a boardgames cafe and they have over 200 board games, mostly imported from overseas. I recall my days of overnight board-gaming with my ex-colleagues and how it had such a warm, family feeling there - pretty much like how it is at IAHGames. It's like 'Cheers' (the comedy)... where everybody knows your name type of place.

Anyway, its menu looks like a Monopoly board and if you look real closely, you would notice 'Granado Espada' as one of the MRT stations on the food menu!





Tickets are REALLY limited so better buy them soon!

The One About My Bellem's Box

I was looking at the November poll for My Bellem's Box and was pretty surprised to see that Lucifer's Wings vs Karjalainen's Accessory Boxes are having a close fight of 106 vs 139.

What really surprised me was that people actually prefer Karjalainen's Accessory Boxes over Andre's Costume Boxes. I would have thought that Andre Costume Box is a way better deal in comparison with Karjalainen's Accessory Boxes.

I was having a casual chat with one of the IMC programmers on MSN and he was telling me that in our current version of V2.1.18, Andre costume box drops everything cosmetic - hair costumes (wigs), back costumes and body costumes.

Once we hit V2.4, Andre Janzur would have come to the conclusion that fashion diversification is a no-no and decides to go down the road of specialization and focus solely on body costumes. Thus, Andre costume box will no longer drop all things cosmetic but will only drop body costumes while Karjalainen's Accessory Boxes will drop back costumes and wigs.

Well, I guess the reason why people are voting for Karjalainen's Accessory Boxes could possibly be that it might drop other hairstyles and back costumes not yet available in our current version. But hey, V2.4 is just round the corner! Just 2 months more. We have already begun work on localizing the new text and probably will be going down to the voice studios next week to begin work on the voiceovers. Tentatively, we are trying to get V2.4 released just before Christmas, so keep your fingers crossed! V2.4 is a whopping 1.2GB patch so you can imagine how many more updates there will be!

Anyway, not to digress, coming back to Lucifer's Wings, it gives an ATK rating +1, ATK +10%, Max HP +1,000, Additional ATK +10% against Humanoid and Beast, Restores HP by 5% of each damage done to enemies.

What's not to love about that? I do love cosmetic stuff and all... but I love power and pwning even more.

And Lucifer Wings pwn. Big Time.

The One About Vanity Extravaganza

Vanity Extravaganza is commencing on 18 October 2007 and in the words of Robinsons... "It's the sale worth waiting for". It's unlikely we will be having another costume sales for the rest of the year so go nuts and start buying costumes. We'll probably be having other types of sales in other categories like.. perhaps a Potions Sale?

After all, it's reaching the end of the year and well, let's just say Hrin's potions have an expiry date and we erm... ordered an excess of stock from IMC so now we have an imaginary warehouse of potions that are smelling weirder by the minute. ;P

LOL. That's kindda funny actually. I'll probably propose this as a mini storyline for a Potions Sale. Hey, c'mon. Any excuse is good, as long as we have sales and discounts, ain't it? ;)

Coming back to Vanity Extravaganza, there are actually 3 types of things to take note of:

1) All costumes are going at a 20% discount.
2) There will be School Uniform Packages! Woot!
3) School Uniform packages are going for a 10% discount for Vanity Extravaganza week. Its original price is 22,000 Gpoints. But for Vanity Extravaganza week, it is going for 20,000 Gpoints.

Elaborating more on the School Uniform Packages, they are really value for money! Not that I am trying to hard sell or anything, it's just that the Discount Queen in me just has this insatiable need to share my value-for-money discoveries with the world.

The School Uniform Package comprises of:

1 School Uniform
1 Combat manual - expert 15 days
1 Tactics manual - expert 15 days
1 Warp license - 15 days
10 Soul crystal
20 Hrin's ampule
20 Enhancement booster
3 Forgotten Territory pass

If you calculate the entire value of the items in this package, the whole value is 41,800 G Points! But the package (normal priced) is only selling for 22,000 G Points!

Now this is the package worth waiting for!

Hrin’s Updates: Bot Court? Yay Or Nay?

Hi guys!

1. Bot Busting (B Square) Squad Feedback

Our bot busting squad has been working 24/7 for the past 2 weeks to keep ‘third parties’ from coming between our relationship. We would like to know whether this measure has been effective in eradicating most of the bots. After all, such resources (especially a 24/7 one) are a huge money drain and upper management needs to know if these resources are justifiable. Thus, we would like to conduct a poll to find out about the service level and effectiveness of the B Square Squad.

Please vote and leave your feedback here.

2. Upcoming Events

Vanity Extravaganza: 18^th October 2007, Thursday-25^th October 2007, Thursday

Due to community feedback and popular demand, we are bringing you yet another week of costume sales! 20% discount on all costumes! There will also be some School Uniform Packages which are going at 10% below its normal price.

Discuss this here.

3. De-Leveling Issues

The community has been asking us for a stand on de-leveling issues. The [GM] team deals with this on a case-to-case basis. For example, if a player has just leveled up and was PK-ed by someone else just once, he would be ‘de-leveled’. This type of scenario is part of the game-play on a PK server. However, the other type of scenario whereby the infamous ‘Ress-PK Loop’ combination is repeatedly deployed – is considered as harassment and the culprit will be dealt with accordingly.

Discuss this here.

4. Opinions On Bot Court: Justice For All!

We’re facing a bit of a dilemma here. We do have a few appeal cases on hand and although the entire team has watched the video replays and coming to a unanimous decision about rejecting the appeal, a few gamers persist in an outcry of innocence on the forums. Thus, we’re toying with the idea of presenting these replays to the community and inviting the community to play the roles of judge, jury, defense attorney, prosecutor and whatnots. Typical scenarios include:

“OBJECTION!

He has an alibi! His faction mate, MisterAlibi Family was speaking to him at the time he was forcibly disconnected from the server and proclaimed as botting!”

“HOLD IT!

The records show that the time of botting was at 1313hrs while his faction mate was speaking to him at 0808hrs! There is a time lapse of 5 hours! We plead that the court regards this evidence as null and void!”

It’s an unorthodox approach, no doubt, but hey, in a day and age like this, unorthodox works. ;)

Let us know your opinion on this.

5. Real Person VS Reel Person

The [GM] team has been getting some appeal cases whereby the gamer admits that he has been using a *‘pilot’ to train his characters and that his*‘pilot’ used certain third party programs without his knowledge to train his characters. Unfortunately, we have to reject such appeals. After all, if your virtual character does the crime, then your virtual character has to do the time. You, as a real person, are cleared of all charges. It’s just your reel character that isn’t.

Since we are on the topic of ‘pilots’, we strongly discourage the community from sharing accounts or letting someone else pilot your account as this might result in scams, hacks or abuse of your account.

Discuss this here.

‘pi-lot’

-noun

A pilot with quotation marks as mentioned above – ‘pilot’, is not really the dude who steers an aeroplane. In this context, it refers to someone who is employed to train your virtual characters on your behalf.

The One About The Monster Blender

I was writing an article for Playworks Magazine October issue about the wonders of Diego and his usefulness in Colony wars. It's a little sad that not many people realize the incredible potential of Diego. 3 Diegos can solo take down a colony within 10-15 minutes due to rotating blades' fast attack speed. This 10-15 minute timeframe has certain conditions though:

1) 3 Diegos must be equipped with 2 Great Rotating Rings each
2) Switch to 'Hack & Slash' stance after you have built your maximum number of Great Rotating Blades' and attack the colony - to maximize the number of hits to the colony.

The amazing thing is that you don't even need to train him to Level 100 since any damage to the colony only results in 1 HP decrease - all you need is to train him such that he gets 'Great Rotating Blades' skill.


Looking at those fineeee rotating blades reminded me of a blender I bought recently. Well, more like a Monster Blender, really, due to its traumatic background...

* * *

Lunch hour.

Had rushed down to Bugis Junction to buy a birthday present for my colleague, Ducky, since I had been too busy over the last few nights to go shopping.

Ducky is our copywriter for storylines for Granado Espada's background history & NPC backgrounds as well as the brains behind the GE Comics series. So after some careful thought, I felt that a pen would be most appropriate for him. After all, the pen is mightier than the sword and all that yada yada.

After I bought him this lovely black Parker Pen set with his name engraved in gold on it, I happened to pass through the household section and Braun's latest portable new blender caught my eye. As I was looking at it, the salesman comes up to me and beams,"Hello Miss! Would you like me to test it out for you?"

I shrugged casually,"Sure. Why not?"

He enthusiastically takes it out of the box and plugs it into the power socket, telling me excitedly about all the various items that it could blend. I was starting to wonder if he was going to tell me that it could blend an iPod. "

... and it has two speeds as well. High speed and low speed!" he says to me as he demonstrates by pressing two different buttons.

"Oh ok... which button is low speed and which one is high speed?" I ask him.

"Hmm... I'm not sure. Let me see..." he replies as he puts his hand under the blades of the blender to try to feel the wind currents it produces.

It all happened so quickly. Or maybe the shock of it blocked out the exact memory of it.

Somehow or other, the blade dislodges itself slightly and blends the palm of his hand! Blood splurts all over the place!

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I find myself shrieking in absolute horror. I feel absolutely faint. The sight of blood always makes me queasy and pale in the face.

"Can you please test out the blender for this lady here?" Mr Courageous Salesman says his last parting words to Salesgirl standing nearby, as he is being ushered away to E.R to get his hand stitched up.

ZOMG... Mr Courageous Salesman is so brave! So dedicated to his job! So professional! Even when his palm has been semi-blended... the blending show must still go on...

I do hope I can reach that standard of professionalism one day - if that day should ever come when I am vomiting blood on my deathbed, I will turn to KingKongJon (Level 100 boss) and say to him,"KingKongJon... please tell the Granado Espada community not to grief for me... Tell them that life in Cite De Reboldoeux must go on... Tell them to continue training levels to get to veteran! Then only will I die in peace..."

So anyway Salesgirl looks at the blood stained blender and then looks at him with this look in her eyes that says,"Are you crazy? There is no way in hell I'm going to operate on that demon-possessed monster blender!"

Nevertheless, she feels obliged to do something about the blood-stained blender. She carefully unplugs Monster Blender and cleans the blood off the the handles of the blender.

"Erm... you missed a spot..." I meekly tell her as I point to the bloody blades of Demon Blender.

She glares at me and I guiltily look down and shuffle my feet.

I had wanted to try to lighten up the gloomy, tense atmosphere by cracking a joke like,"Out damn spot! Out I say!" and mimic Lady Macbeth. But from her response, she probably wasn't the type who tried to humorize awful situations. And well... if she hadn't read Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', she prolly wouldn't appreciate my cold joke either. So I had better not go down that road man... She might set the Demon Blender on me or something.

"So do you want to buy the blender or what?" she snaps.

Sigh. Of course I will. I feel so overwhelmed with guilt about the incident. A good friend of mine always used to say that the God Of Drama favors me. For some strange reason, drama always seems to follow me wherever I go - sometimes good drama, sometimes bad drama. I think I have reached the phase of bad drama, though. I have used up all the good drama charges over the past couple of weeks. Mental note to self to lay low for the next few days and keep myself and everyone else associated with me far away from sharp objects and road-crossing incidents etc.

"Yeah... I will buy it," I say defeatedly.

Pause. Contemplative silence. I need to say something important to her.

I look sheepishly at her as I say...

".... Erm.. Could you get me a new blender?"

The One About The School Uniform Interview

So school uniform week has come to an end. This school uniform week has brought back fond memories of how I got my job at IAHGames.

Yes. I cosplayed in school uniform which landed me this job...

Nah! I'm just kidding! Kidding about the part that cosplaying in school uniform will land you a job at IAHGames, that is. But I'm not kidding that I wore a school-uniform type of outfit to my interview!

















Putting On My Game Face For The Interview... THE TIME IS NOW!

Prior to working at IAHGames, I had been working overseas in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City for nearly a year. I loved working there, don't get me wrong. Working and living there was like an adventure. Life was so unpredictable and the random people you meet there truly inspires you. I'll probably post some old entries from my previous blog about some of my classic experiences there. Nevertheless, I had explored enough and wanted to come back to Singapore to work. So when I was back in Singapore to settle some financial and legal matters for the company, I decided to 'try my luck' and see what kinds of jobs Singapore was offering at that time...

I had been browsing through all the various jobs online with a bored expression on my face. Clicking, clicking, clicking.... and then I saw it! A Gamemaster position at an online gaming company! Being an avid MMORPG fan and a competitive gamer (I always strived to be one of the top in the server for any MMORPG I played), it would be a dream come true to work for an online gaming company.

It was the first interview I went for and a very enjoyable one. I had a lovely time chatting with my interviewer - The Gamemaster Manager.

The thing is that, the next day, another position at the same company opened up. A Community Manager position. Which had greater challenges, greater creativity required, and writing - which was one of my passions in life. Now THAT was the dream job I really wanted cos it encompassed various of my interests. Event management, business strategies, public relations, the list goes on... So I emailed the Gamemaster Manager to thank him for the interview and asked him if it were possible if I was considered for the new position that had just opened up as well.

So I went for yet another interview with yet another person from a different department, my current Level 100 Boss - KingKongJon!

Being that obsessive, 'kiasu' (competitive) person that I am and considering that this was my dream job, I spent the whole day before my interview thinking about various business strategies for MMORPG and various other potential questions that an interviewer could possibly ask.

So during the interview, things went pretty smoothly. Towards the end of the interview, he asked me the top question that every single interviewer asks every single candidate,"So why should we hire you? What do you have that makes you stand out from the other candidates?"

Pause. Silence.

Aha! The question I had been waiting for. I had written a whole page in my notebook about my superduperawesome, winning qualities!

I began,"First of all, I am passionate about gaming! Especially MMORPG. It's my Archilles heel."

Pause. Silence.

I laughed,"Oh boy... I bet every other person you have interviewed has told you that exact same cliched thing huh."

He laughs heartily,"Yeah."

I grin,"Why not you let me know all the other cliched stuff that the other interviewees have told you so that I wouldn't bore you with same stuff over and over again?"

He grins back and says,"Ok. Hmm... other than passionate about gaming, they said they were hardworking...etc etc etc"

"Ok... So that's off my list. But you know I am all these things, right?" I say with a cheeky grin as I cross out those qualities he mentioned one by one off my notebook.

Then I go into my soliloquy of all my winning qualities.

From the important qualities:

"... and I'm pre-emptive! I don't just react to problems when they happen. I think about all the various potential problems that could crop up and think about the solutions in advance. Just like how I thought about all the potential questions you could ask me and I wrote down my answers in this notebook! Being pre-emptive is important in an online gaming company since changes are so dynamic and nothing is for certain..."

Blah blah blah...

To the lame qualities:

"... and I'm a female gamer! I could offer you the perspective of what females think. Female gamers are important. Cos when you have pretty girls playing your game, the guys will be drawn to play your game as well! So well... I could be that 'yin' so that you will have yin-yang balance in your team!"

He laughed heartily at my candid and (hopefully) entertaining answers to his questions.

Finally, it was shortlisted down to me and another female candidate. Both of us were called back to have a second round of interview with the Product Director.

After an agonizing wait through the weekend, I finally gave KingKongJon a call on Monday to ask about the results. I needed closure. Regardless of the answer. Which is when I learnt that the director who interviewed me in the second round of interviews was on sick leave for the next 2 days. KingKongJon promised to contact me once a decision had been made, whether or not the answer was 'yes' or 'no'.

Unexpectedly, on a lazy Thursday afternoon, when I was having an afternoon nap, I received a call from KingKongJon.

"Hello?" I sleepily answered.

"Hrin? You resting at home now is it?" he asks.

I laughed sheepishly,"Yeah. Enjoying my tai-tai (Lady of Leisure) life while I still can."

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you those days have come to an end," he says with a smile in his voice.

"Huh? Why?" I ask sadly, still halfway drifting out of lala-land.

"Cos you need to start work tomorrow! I have tons of things waiting for you to do!" he says chirpily.

Pause. Silence. Temporary confusion. Sudden realization.

"Oooo!!! Yeay yeay! I got the job! Thank you so much! I'm so happy!" my volcano of suspense finally erupts, lavas of delirious joy overflowing.

And so... here I am. :)

The One About Black

Yes, I am aware that there is a lot of angst and questions on the forum about certain issues. At this point in time, the only reply I can give to these can be found here. I wanted to reply earlier, but I felt it was unwise to do so in the mentally and emotionally drained state I was in over the last few days. I can't afford to be emokitteh in my replies. I want to, have to, need to be strong at all times, not for myself, but for the people around me.

On a lighter note, this is by far one of the most fun interviews that was ever conducted with me, by one of the GE fans, Reclusion Family, on his blog. For once, the words flowed out so easily like smooth honey...

Source: http://www.sipchil.com/

On the upcoming days we will be entering the “School Uniform Week” on Granado Espada that will be on September 27 2007, In this week players can have the opportunity to buy. School Uniforms costume for their characters. But why am I talking about the school uniforms? As we all know Black Clothing have been a sort of Uniforms to our dear Community Managers and some game marshalls if theres an offline event..

Last Post we have learned about the Philippines CM, Veya’s reason on why she always wear black. Now we will hear Mistress Hrin our Regional Community Manager about the issue.

Gee… I feel like I am doing a thesis on the color black. Thanks a lot Darrick, I’ll never look at black the same way again! :p - Hrin

1.) Do you love Color Black?

Oh yes of course! Just the other day, I was doing laundry and was slightly disturbed to see that all the clothes that I hanged up to dry in a row were ALL black, from external jackets, to blouses, skirts, pants and right down to inner wear… but let’s not go there. ;p

2.) We always saw you wear Black clothes on your pictures, can you tell us why you prefer this color?

Cos it brings out the color of my eyes? :p

Black is always a very classy, sophisticated color. Moreover, it’s easy to match all the various colors of my 10 pairs of boots and my various collections of bling bling accessories.

( These are part of Hrin’s Fashion COllection :p The Boots, The Necklaces and The Watches!)

It’s always been my favorite color.

3.) What is color Black for you?

Black holds a certain sense of mystery to it. It is an intriguing color. Hey! I mean, what’s not to love about black? People have even sang songs about black. Just of the top of my head… ‘Paint it black’, ‘Black Parade’, ‘Back to Black’, ‘Baaa Baaa Black Sheep’… and even bands with ‘Black’ in it. Like ‘Black Eyed Peas’, ‘Black Sabbath’…

Gee… I feel like I am doing a thesis on the color black. Thanks a lot Derrick, I’ll never look at black the same way again! :p

4.) Instead of Black? any other you like and why?

Red, Royal/Cobalt Blue, Dark Green, Hot Pink.

Because these are all very extreme colors. I guess the type of colors one likes is somewhat dependent on personality. For myself, I am someone who has pretty strong opinions and believes in living life passionately. I don’t believe in being a peripheral.

On a more shallow note, these are the colors that look best on me. So… hello favorite colors!

5.) Whats your favorite in-game Costume?

Definitely Torsche Dress for female elementalist. Elegant and classic, and its plunging (yet not over the top plunging) neckline adds a subtle sexiness to it.

6.) We all know that on the upcoming patch, Andre Janzur will throw away his White Man Image and he will now wear a black costume. the thing question is. what can you say about his new look?

Probably because he felt that Black is the new ‘white’?

( Doctor Torche )

Or perhaps the good influence of Dr Torsche has rubbed off onto him. If you notice, Dr Torsche has a superb taste and sense of fashion. His fashion line manages to be simple yet intricate all in the same breath. His focus has never been about jarring colors. He usually only uses about 2 colors in his clothes – classic black and gold. The cutting of the garments are usually fairly simple, but his focus is on the intricate embroidery of his garments. His clothes are perfect for that romantic candlelight dinner date at fancy restaurant or a classy ball.

On the other hand, Andre Janzur’s clothes REALLY scream out loud. With its jarring colors and huge accessories, you simply can’t not notice it. Which perfectly suits his personality – his need to stand out in a crowd, his need to be in the limelight at all times, his desire for recognition and attention.

Nevertheless, perhaps his sense of fashion is evolving and being the extremist, temperamental person that he is, he swung totally from ivory to ebony. He probably wanted an ‘extreme makeover’ to his creations and he believed that by switching his signature color to the extreme, it would somehow inspire him to greater heights.

Well, all these is purely my speculations, don’t quote me to him! He might… like blacklist me from his shop for all eternity! :p

7.) If Granado Espada was a color (not black ) what will it be? and why?

Golden. Cos GE is all about the bling bling, royalty and living in the fast lane. Or at least that is the first impression that one gets when you first arrive at the new continent of Granado Espada. But once you are here long enough, you get to see the other ‘darker’ sides of society like Port of Coimbra and Los Toldos.

Last but not the least….

if you’re given a chance to design an in-game costume for a RNPC or a Stock Character who will it be and why?

Female elementalist. Well, what can I say? I’m shallow. I think she looks cute in sheep horn hair.

9) please do describe your designed costume

Erm…. Erm… sorry man. I ain’t artistic in the least. I can only PK people with words and not peektures. My art teacher used to call me ‘Picasso’ back in high school. He didn’t mean it as a compliment. It was meant to be a still life drawing but it was drawn so abstractly that he, as well as the rest of my class, could not understand what on earth I had drawn out.

So well… the only thing I can say is it will have the following elements:

Black. Leather. Lace. Satin. Gloves.

The One About The Oscars

I'm up in Kuala Lumpur now, curled up on the sofa of my 2 bedroom hotel suite. For once, I actually have time to blog, despite this being a work trip and all. I was delighted to finally meet my dear Malaysia community manager, Selwyn, in the flesh. All this while, we had communicated via teleconference calls or msn conversations. I was even more thrilled to meet up with some of the Malaysian GE gamers. I must say that Malaysian GE gamers are considerably more outgoing. Some of them actually took the initiative to come up to me and introduce themselves and chat with me. Tomorrow's event will be a lot more happening with various tournaments, boss raids and of course, meeting up with Lin Yuzhong and Jinsha (the singers of our official GE MTV.)

Meanwhile, we had a discussion earlier about the future events for GE and there will be a lot of exciting in-game events and item mall additions coming your way. A little sneak preview for next month is the GE Oscar Awards! Think online machinima tutorials, a movie critics corner, and a grand prize awaiting the best movie directors. Start planning for your movies. And oh wait, more importantly, start thinking who you would like to partner up with for your movie production. Yes, that's a hint. A strong hint. ;p

The One About Granado Espada Launch Parties In Malaysia & Philippines!

I'm pretty psyched up right now about the launch parties that are happening in the region over this weekend. SMM has kindly invited me down for their party so I'll be going down to Malaysia tomorrow for their launch.

Meanwhile, I hear that there's gonna be a grand finale between the finalists from Malaysia and Philippines. Now that is a match I am REALLY looking forward to. Considering that GE has been around for a few months and most people are in the higher level range zone, the experience would have been there and strategies would have been more carefully mapped out this time.

Do try taking part in the PvP challenges. And if you do, remember not to repeat the same mistakes that were made in the Zouk RAID party the last time. Here's your checklist:

1. Remember that these are pre-made accounts so you get to add the additional veteran stat for each of your characters.

2. Elementalists - Make sure you equip the right elemental bracelet before and after each match!

3. Musketeers - Remember to buy bullets... ._.

Other tips and tricks:

1. My personal fave MCC combi for PvP is Wizard, Fighter, Elementalist.

Elementalist is great when it comes to dealing damage. Elemental strife is good because it holds and knocks back enemies, though cool down is rather long. Hole of darkness should follow next to stun them. Then kill them off with chain lightning. Super Duper combination! If the enemy still alive, then use elemental strife again and if by then, they are still amazingly alive, then chain lightning should have been recharged to use chain lightning again. If the enemy has a fighter, chances are he will go for your elementalist. Having a fighter is useful for countering his fighter. Other than that, Absolute zero is good for single target.

2. Regional PvP Champions - cara and nuub's strategies were a) The Rush; b) Buffing and Healing with pots so that scout is not wasted for defense. Offense all the way.

I expect to see many using the 'Mount Rushmore' tactic employed by cara and nuub so it would be wise to be psychologically prepared for this scenario and to know how to counter it and turn it to your advantage. Perhaps using spells like 'Invisible Stalker' to surprise them and backstab them in return. The key thing is to be psychologically prepared for any type of scenario. Practise various surprise scenarios in your head and think of creative ways to counter them with your build

Just to recap on some of the PvP strategies used during the PvP tournament by our regional champions, here's the interview I conducted with them previously:

http://ge.iahgames.com/en/news/archive.asp?aid=167&dt=1/6/2007

Well, Malaysian and Pinoy PvP Challengers... Godspeed. ;)

The One About Random Snippets

Wow it's been such a while since I last blogged. I feel almost at a loss about the how-to of it. Today's entry is just gonna be random snippets here and there.

It's been hectic-to-the-max lately, especially since I've had new responsibilities and roles to fulfill. Still, I've been wanting to thank a great number of people for the various lovely surprise birthdays I had. You know you have been truly blessed when you've had 7 birthday cakes in a row. I'm especially grateful to the HrinFanClub members for the birthday party they threw me and an exceptional thanks goes to Akira - for that lovely portrait you drew of me, NightLordzz for that kawaii bear sitting on my office table as we speak, Raymondee - for that classy, sophisticated restaurant dinner and of course, Elyrean - for... everything. :)

* * *

I met a reporter from PC World Vietnam, Mr Q, recently. He happened to be in town for GCA 2007 and we had the most pleasant conversation. I was a little surprised yet hopelessly delighted about the amount of passion he had for GE and his vast knowledge about it. I nearly fell off my chair with laughter when he told me which faction he was in. It was one of the most prominent factions in GE! So well, well, you never know who is in your faction. It could be a prominent reporter, a Mediacorp TV cameraman or an E.R doctor from your local hospital. (Yes, I have met all 3 in GE, in real life!) ;)

* * *

My boss and I had gone up to Indonesia for the Intel-MachinimaAsia event and we were really impressed by the workshop. As we were discussing the event on the plane as we were flying back to Singapore, we talked about holding a longer duration workshop catered specially for our current GE gamers across the region. Unlike the brief 3 hour workshop that was held in Indonesia, we hoped to have something that lasted longer and went more in-depth - into the storyboarding elements, various artistic directions, camera angles etc.

And hey, at the end of the workshops, I thought it would be a lovely idea to have something like 'The Oscar Awards' where people can nominate and vote for the best entries and the winners get maybe a trip to Korea to visit IMC team and dinner with Hakkyu Kim perhaps. There could even be various categories like Solo Artiste, Group Artiste ( a team of 3 could do a video together) and probably a category for those who did not attend the workshops, but still wanted to be take part with their own GE videos. Do let me know what you think of this idea via blog comments or forum threads.

* * *

And alright, if you actually read thus far, I'm gonna let you in on a little sneak preview for the future. We will be moving to the next version before the end of this year.

And. It's not going to be V2.2. ;)

Hi guys!

Newly Revamped Video Page

Our video page has been newly revamped! Granado Espada videos can now be downloaded or streamed via our website over here. We will continue to update this page with new videos whenever there are new versioning updates for Granado Espada!

Discuss this here.

Scam and Hack Cases

There have been an increase in scam cases and hacking of user accounts. We advise the community to choose good passwords that are hard to crack. At the same time, please refrain from downloading third party software that may have keylogger programs. Please change your passwords on a regular basis and do not share your account with anyone else. Do note that IAHGames staff will never ask you for your password.

Discuss this here.

Upcoming Events In September

September is a month that I am really looking forward to. There are just so many activities and events in the lineup!

6^th September 2007-13^th September 2007: Ladies Fashion Week

Andre Janzur is launching his latest fashion line for some of his favorite women during Ladies Fashion Week and hey, he has even decided to be generous and is giving us a 20% discount for his Autumn 2007 Collection. Fantazzzies FTW!

8^th September 2007, Saturday: In-Game Event

There is going to be an in-game event next Saturday, which is a sequel from the previous Dark Lord Returns event. This time, 3 sisters will be leading the community into battle. More details coming your way this weekend!

14^th September 2007-16^th September 2007: Malaysia Official Granado Espada Launch Party

SMM, our Malaysian distributors, will be hosting their Official Launch Party over 3 days in Cineleisure Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. What I have heard is that they have even invited celebrities Rynn and Jin Sha down to perform the Granado Espada Official MTV, ’Fu Huo’! So you can only imagine how exciting that event would be! They are also looking into planning a range of various tournaments like boss RAIDs, leveling competitions and PvP tournaments.

15^th September 2007, Saturday: Philippines Official Granado Espada Launch Party

IP-Interactive will be launching their mega launch party over at One Esplanade in Pasay City. It will be very much like our RAID party with offline quests, box set sales and of course, PvP tournaments with pre-made characters!

Discuss this here.

An Extension Of Cinderella’s Midnight?

We are going into our commercial phase at the stroke of midnight! So all you Cinderella ella ella ey eys out there … make sure you get your characters to Level 20 to enjoy 90 free days of gameplay! Hold that thought. Level 100 Boss has just informed me that due to overwhelming response, he has decided to follow suit in Andre Janzur’s generosity and extend the midnight offer all the way till 10am tomorrow instead. Therefore, as long as you get at least ONE Level 20 character in your family by 30 August 2007, Thursday, 1000hrs (GMT+8), you get to keep your glass slipper reward of 90 days free gameplay.

Discuss this here.

The One About Enhancement Boosters

Someone emailed me asking me what are the statistics and success ratings for enhancement boosters. This data doesn't come officially from IMC or from IAHGames, but just some tinkering and testing done on my own in the test server.

Enhancement boosters have a maximum cap for the various AR/DR of equipment, meaning to say that the enhancement NPC will only accept up to a maximum number of enhancement boosters for the different base AR/DR of equipment. The table below shows this relationship:

Base AR / DR of equipment	Max amount of Boosters required
1 ~ 8	1
9 ~ 13	2
14 ~ 17	3
18 ~ 20	4
21	9
22	11
23	13
24	15
25	17
26 +	20

Then there is the enhancement level success rate, which I'm sure all of you are much more interested in knowing! Ok, the important point to note is that ONLY when you use the maximum number of boosters allowed for that particular equipment, do your chances of success double. So say, I wanna enhance a +10 weapon, the chances are like... 1.56%. If I use 20 enhancement boosters, which is the maximum allowed, my chances are doubled. If I use less than the maximum number of boosters allowed, my chances increases slightly, but do not double. (Gee, I hope I am making sense here.)

1.56% X 2 = 3.13%

Enhancement Level	Success Rate	When max amount of boosters are used
1	100%	Unable to use boosters
2	100%	Unable to use boosters
3	100%	Unable to use boosters
4	100%	Unable to use boosters
5	50%	100%
6	25%	50%
7	12.50%	25%
8	6.25%	12.50%
9	3.13%	6.25%
10	1.56%	3.13%

Yep, hope this is of use to you folks out there.

Oh wait, before I end, thanks for answering all those previous comments on my behalf, Leonson. I couldn't have said it any better myself. I've said it before and I'll say it again - You're my blog hero! (:

I was feeling a lil' philosophical on my way home earlier and it just occurred to me that buying a virtual item is akin to buying shares on a volatile stocks exchange market. You never know when the index will go up or down. It is a risk we all take and alas, it is something that we have no control over.

I was having a chat with one of the IMC guys, Sam about Emilia The Sage and he was telling me that the reason was Emilia The Sage was immediately taken out off the cash shop RNPC listing in kGE merely a few weeks after she was released was because once she reached veteran and was able to increase her INT, she was undefeatable. 3 Emilia The Sages levitating during colony war, 3 Emilia The Sages taking turns healing and reviving one another, 3 Emilia The Sages Proton Splashing Together. One hit K.O. No one could even get near them. Melee classes were totally useless against them. No saving throws whatsoever for the enemy. kGE gamers were outraged and raised such a huge outcry that she was immediately removed.

Never underestimate the power of a proton splash.

Did you know that a proton splash has around the same damage as Elemental Strife (Lord Of Elements Stance)? Not to mention proton splash has a longer range and shorter cooldown: 7 seconds as compared to Elemental Strife's 60 seconds!

I'm closing the chapter of Emilia The Sage after this entry. After all, we all have to move on. Yes, me and my 5 Emilia The Sages will get by just fine... :)

The One About Emila The Sage

So lil' Sage Emilia is a little less intelligent now.

Despite that, she still pwns... big time. I've been using her lately and I am totally enchanted with her. In fact, in every server, I intend to own an Emilia the Sage.

She can levitate and she can heal. This statement in itself has so much deeper meaning to it. Some people have commented that with an INT of 7, she is equivalent to that of an ordinary wizard. But she has a higher DEX of 1, which improves her accuracy - thus improving your minimum damage and improves your chances of critical hits.

That aside, the most important thing about her, in my opinion, is that she can substitute the scout role at lower levels and resume her wizarding roles at higher levels. At lower levels, pots (healing potions) are expensive since the amount of vis you can potentially earn is lower. But at higher levels, pots are comparably cheaper in relation to how much you 'earn' as you train. For this reason, once you hit higher levels you would prefer not to use a scout anymore and just rely on potions for your healing/buffs especially since they are a lot faster than heal/buff spells.

Enter Emilia The Sage. Welcome to the Sage's world where you don't have a wasted character slot in your MCC team of 3. Lower levels she plays Lil' Miss Florence Nightingale with her nursing (healing) ability and at higher levels, just equip her with a rod/staff and voila, welcome offensive levitating wizard with proton splashes of high crits.

From this day forth, I shall never own a scout ever again. ;)

The One About V2.1.18 Commercial

Here's the V2.1.18 commercial! Feel free to download it, share it around and put it up at your blogs etc. The new RAID boss you see in the commercial is Hellbreaker. Check out his Godlike stats!




Games GE TVC *New*">IAHGames GE TVC *New*

On that same note, I'm currently faction visiting Godlike Faction in Carracci. Sorry I haven't logged in for the past 2 days (before the server went down for patching). I've been really busy with work. Catch up with you guys when IMC and Hanbitsoft flies back and things are more settled. ;)