Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Arc'teryx Accelero Jacket Review

I recently bought the Arc'teryx Accelero Jacket and man was it worth it. If this jacket had a hood and front pockets, I would have no regrets in buying it.

His ears and fingers must be freezing!

Aside from the lack of ear protection and front-side pockets, this jacket has many benefits to it.

1. Wicking Material

When it rains and I am wearing this jacket, I do not have to worry about having to walk around with a soaked jacket all day. Some of my hoodies absorb the water, so when the forecast calls for rain - this jacket is definitely on the top of my list. As with most wicking material, a simple flick of the clothing will remove most of the water droplets sitting on top of the fabric.

2.  Keeps You Warm

For me, jacket weather starts around 450°. This jacket tends to keep me warm for anything above 20°. It's also light enough that you could wear it indoors if you wanted to - I have. This jacket is defined by Arc'teryx as "Light/Athletic," and it is exactly that. When I am going to go running outside and it's a bit chilly or windy, I will throw the Accelero Jacket on and have no worries about my upper body being cold.


The Arc'teryx Accelero Jacket is definitely worth the $139.00 it costs. I plan on using this jacket for the next couple years, with the possibility of buying another heavier jacket from Arc'teryx. 

A side note:  
I normally wear a large or medium, the latter being a bit tight - this jacket is a bit loose on me in size Medium. Consider getting a size smaller than you normally do, the purpose of this jacket is to be tighter.

Below are some links to look into if you are also interested in a breathable, lightweight jacket.

Links

Why Diablo 3 Will Be Depressing to Players

Ever since the release of Diablo 2 in 2000 and the Lord of Destruction expansion in 2001, fans have been anticipating the release of Diablo 3. Hell, even I have been waiting years for it to come out. But there is one thing that will make most players depressed: the real world auction house.

This auction house is going to use real world money; all of those Asian Gold Farmers from World of Warcraft will change to Asian Item Farmers for Diablo 3 - they won't ever be required to pay for a monthly subscription.

Back in Diablo 2, if you got a unique item, like a perfect Shako or make a perfect BotD, you could always trade it for other items. Now, in Diablo 3, people will be more inclined to put the item up on the real world auction house because, why the hell not? Also, when trading items, people will look at the real money value to gauge whether the trade is fair or not, even if the real price of some item at the time is higher or lower than it normally is.

This will cause players to become independent: to get items you want, you'll have to either find a generous person who doesn't care about money (good luck with that), or a friend who knows they can trust you.

Call me cynical and crazy, but I'm just going off of how humans are - greedy. We'll all put our rare / set / unique items on the Real Money Transaction Auction House in hopes to earn a bit of side cash while playing a video game. Undercutting in World of Warcraft isn't that big of a deal for most people, it's just in-game gold; you can always go and do daily quests or farm mobs for more gold if you really need it. But, when it comes to real money, people will become upset when others undercut their item by a mere penny.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pokemon Online

While looking through my old cabinets I found my old Game Boy Advance and every Pokemon game I've ever owned. This discovery brought back great memories of battling my friends and trading, but battling was definitely the best part. Along with this I thought that I would not be able to battle with any of my old friends because most of them are at college and the ones that are not probably got rid of their old games.

I did a bit of searching on the internet and found a pretty nifty program. It's called Pokemon Online and it simulates WiFi battles: you create your team, join a server, and just search for a match.


Currently, I've won most of my battles - I'll list my team for anyone to evaluate it or do whatever:

Infernape (Male) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 112 Attack / 144 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Nature: Naive (+Speed / -Special Defense)
- Fake Out
- Stealth Rock
- Overheat
- Close Combat

My opener, regularly I will use Fake Out to either break their Focus Sash or check if they have Leftovers. The Focus Sash he is holding ensures Stealth Rock be put up, unless they have a sandstorm or hail - in which case I will immediately use Stealth Rock. If he has a higher speed than my opponents opener, Overheat really brings the heat - it tears through most Pokemon, and there is always Close Combat once I've lost enough Special Attack.

Porygon-Z (Neutral) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Nature: Timid (+Speed / -Attack)
- Tri Attack
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Dark Pulse
- Trick


This guy's speed is just absurd. He's moved first out of every battle I've done, unless the opponent uses a priority move. Most of the time, I will just use Tri Attack because of the STAB and Adaptability. Trick can be used to screw with the other team whenever needed.

Gliscor (Male) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Defense / 72 Speed
Nature: Impish (+Defense / -Special Attack)
- Protect
- Fling
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake

With a protect right off the bat not only to scout their moves, but also to activate his Toxic Orb, Gliscor is amazing. Going against Grass, Psychic, or Ghost types - Fling that Orb at them (make sure Gliscor is already poisoned!) and get them poisoned too. Now Acrobatics does double the damage, which is something you want to make happen as soon as possible. Also, for Pokemon like Ferrothorn, I just protect and let them slowly die (I'll burn Ferrothorn with Rotom-W and switch to Gliscor).

Scizor (Male) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 220 HP / 104 Attack / 112 Defense / 72 Special Defense
Nature: Adamant (+Attack / -Special Attack)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost

Most of the time I will just Bullet Punch, the STAB and his decently high attack get the job done. If the other team lets him get to +6 Attack, they might as well quit though, he can sweep through nearly anything.

Rotom-W (Neutral) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Defense / 88 Speed
Nature: Bold (+Defense / -Attack)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Discharge
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power Grass

His main goal is to burn people and just last as long as he possibly can. Discharge is a priority over Will-O-Wisp when they're water type, wasting a move to burn them when I will probably kill them the move after is a waste. Hidden Power Grass counters Swampert and Gastrodon quite well.

Jolteon (Male) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Nature: Timid (+Speed / -Attack)
- Charge Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power Ice

Charge Beam is used as a revenge killing move. Other than that, Thunderbolt is mostly used because of the STAB. If they're Psychic or Ghost the Shadow Ball surprises them, most people don't expect that. Also, Hidden Power Ice also surprises grass type Pokemon. Also, most of the people miss the fact that Jolteon is on an Air Ballon, making him immune to ground types until they cause damage to him. Jolteon has capabilities to sweep full teams if lucky enough with Charge Beam.

That's my team for now, I'll probably be playing this for the next few hours - I encourage you to try it too! You can find it here : http://pokemon-online.eu/