The official PEBAblo game thread

[Bill]

Well, I got somewhat caught up this weekend. I got through the desert quests and got to level 21. Hopefully that will be good enough. I'd like to finish Act II, but I don't think I'll have time tonight. Or more specifically, I'd rather do my PEBA export and watch Castle.

Hopefully that will be good enough to play this week. My fireball is getting pretty wicked...(POOF)

[Hitmen]

Ventrilo is a free, or purchasable if you need a bigger server and want more channels, VoIP software.

Going to try and make this simple:

• Download from the CLIENT PROGRAMS list HERE for your operating system.
• Install the program.
• Right-click and run as admin when we play Diablo. (Need it to work behind Diablo)
• Setup your user name.

You create a user name by clicking on the arrow to the write of the user name box. Highlighted in the picture you would click on new, which will make the text part of the name, or rather what will show up on the list. The "phonetic" portion is just additional for ventrilo to speak your name when you enter the channel. Obviously you can make it whatever you want.

• Setup the server you will be joining. Click arrow right of server box.

Like with the name click new and enter a name for the server.

• The hostname for Tom's server is as in the picture: 24.196.110.226
• Port number should be the default 3784.
• Server has no password.

Setup should be done now, now we just select the options we want, or rather the name and server we set, then connect.

• You then use the box to select both your name and the server to join if it didn't automatically select it for you.
• Hit Connect.

Obviously all this is useless unless Tom is running his server client program, so trying to connect when he's not running it is pointless unless you have another server you know of to connect to.

It should work at this point. Obviously there is the setup button for you to mess around with for which button to set your push-to-talk button too. Or if you are doing voice activated or whatever. The comment button is to post a comment next to your name on the list when you are in a server, such as "going to the bathroom" or something. Probably not going to be needed by us. You can even use ventrilo to text chat, although probably only used in emergencies like when Dan got disconnected from the game last week and didn't have a mic :)

You don't even need a mic, I still think it is better if you can at least hear others then type whatever in game if necessary. This is just so much easier than having to type in game during combat or whatever.

[Lions]

Thanks to you both for getting this set up. I’ve used VOIP in a gaming group just once in the past but it was so much easier than relying on typing. It was also quite entertaining as it was the first time my friend was trying to teach his wife how to play WoW. He was very patient.

[John]

Thank you for these instructions, Michael. I'll try to get Vent set up for our Tuesday night session. With luck, I might even have a mic!

[John]

Destorying the Controlling Orb with Khalim's Will opens the path to Mehpisto

Mephisto falls!

Quests Completed

• Lam Esen's Tome - Alkor told us that there is a very special book we must find for him. It was written long ago by a sage known as Lam Esen, who studied Skatsimi magic and the effects of the Prime Evils on the mortal world. The Black Book was lost when the Children of Zakarum took over the land. Its knowledge may aid us in this dark time ahead. We recovered the tome in a ruined temple in Kurast and returned it to Alkor.
• The Blackened Temple - The mage Ormus praised our courage and valor as an inspiration, but explained that now the time has come to face those responsible for the evil that has stifled the land. We must destroy the High Council of Zakarum! Long ago, these elders were charged with the stewardship of Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, who was imprisoned within the Guardian Tower. Through the generations, these pious men slowly fell more and more under the sway of Mephisto's malevolent power and the Council became an evil mockery of its former glory. We traveled to the temple city of Travincal, which was the holy headquarters of the Church of Zakarum in Kurast. In the center was the Temple of Light, their holiest shrine. When the High Council of the Zakarum were corrupted by the influence of the Lord of Hatred, the city became a bloody and ruined shadow of its former self. No longer known as the Temple of Light, it was now referenced in hushed tones as the Durance of Hate. The Compelling Orb blocks the way to Mephisto and the Durance of Hate, but we were able to destroy the creatures inside the Temple and recover Khalim's Flail, which we would need to break the Orb guarding Mephisto.
• Khalim's Will - Our immediate goal is to destroy Mephisto. The ancient Horadrim imprisoned the Lord of Hatred inside the Guardian Tower that is located within the Temple City of Travincal. The only way to gain entry to Mephisto's prison is to destroy the artifact known as the Compelling Orb. Mephisto used this device to control the Zakarum priests and their followers. The Orb can only be destroyed with an ancient flail called "Khalim's Will", imbued with the spirit of the one incorruptible priest. We collected the scattered relics of Khalim - his Heart, his Brain, and his Eye, along with his mighty yet broken flail. Using the collected relics, we were able to repair the flail and use it to destroy the Orb.
  
  Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred
• The Guardian - Ormus feared that Diablo and Baal had surely found the temple city by now. They seek to free their brother, Mephisto. We must reach him before his brothers do and prevent them from releasing Hatred upon the world. And that, friends, is precisely what we did. Mephisto surrounded himself with fearsome and cruel undead creatures, but once cornered, he fell to our blades like a lamb to slaughter. We had little time to celebrate our victory before moving on to Act IV.

[John]

Thursday's PEBAblo session is being delayed. Start time will now be 10 p.m. ET. If I am unable to begin at 10 p.m. ET, I will post here and let Michael, Tom, Dan and Frank begin without me. I'll join in if/when I can. Michael, if you can pass the word along to Tom, I'd appreciate it.

[Hitmen]

Thursday's PEBAblo session is being delayed. Start time will now be 10 p.m. ET. If I am unable to begin at 10 p.m. ET, I will post here and let Michael, Tom, Dan and Frank begin without me. I'll join in if/when I can. Michael, if you can pass the word along to Tom, I'd appreciate it.

No problem John, I'll let him know.

[DanD]

Are we sticking with Ventrillo, or are we going with TeamSpeak3 for tonight?

[Hitmen]

Are we sticking with Ventrillo, or are we going with TeamSpeak3 for tonight?

Setting up a free TeamSpeak3 server is taking a bit longer than a Ventrilo one. Probably Vent still tonight, hopefully we can get TeamSpeak3 figured out for next week. If someone else wants to try setting up a server in the mean time with a bit more computer know-how, go for it :)

[John]

From my research, the other thing we could do is have Tom change the codec we're using from GSM to Speex. Mac Ventrilo users can utilize the Speex codec. It's not quite as good as GSM, but it's supposed to be pretty solid.

[Hitmen]

From my research, the other thing we could do is have Tom change the codec we're using from GSM to Speex. Mac Ventrilo users can utilize the Speex codec. It's not quite as good as GSM, but it's supposed to be pretty solid.

We already set this up after most people left last time. Took a few minutes but it did work and we did manage to get Frank to be able to hear us and speak. That is not the issue so much. But you could instantly tell the quality of the Speex codec is noticeably poorer than that of the GSM. That is why we have talked about looking into switching to TeamSpeak3. Tom and I have been looking into it, although setting up a server is not as simple as it was with Ventrilo. We are hoping to have it set up for next week. In the mean time, with poorer quality, Ventrilo should still suffice for now.

[Lions]

I'd say, stick with GSM until I show up. Speex was indeed a bit challenging to hear what was being said, although I found that turning up the volume on input or output settings helped a bit.

Sadly, I haven't had time to game more with either of my characters, so I won't have any more fun loot to share with you guys tonight.

[Hitmen]

Alrighty... I think I got this thing working for TeamSpeak3 since I had time.

Once again, begin HERE by downloading the client.

Install the application. For help, HERE are some nifty straight from their website video tutorials if things get confusing. I am not sure if this works exactly the same way on a MAC as on a PC, although I believe Frank did mention he has used teamspeak in the past. On the server at the moment it is already set up to use Speex Ultra-Wideband (32 kHz) so I assume it should be fine for all.

Once you get it installed, open the client up.

In the upper left will be "Connections" click on this.

Server address will be : 24.196.110.226
Port will be default : 9987
Nickname is whatever you want to make it
Password is : baseball

I believe that should be simple enough to get in. I am going to leave it on till game time since I am at home if anyone has the time to jump on before to triple check with me that it is working. Other than that I will see you guys online.

[John]

I just rushed through setup so that I can potentially be ready for tonight (though it's going to be tough... I have a feeling tonight's sim is going to run long). Looks like it worked okay. I got my mic yesterday, but I have no idea if it's working well with Teamspeak/Ventrilo. Guess I'll find out soon enough!

[Hitmen]

I just rushed through setup so that I can potentially be ready for tonight (though it's going to be tough... I have a feeling tonight's sim is going to run long). Looks like it worked okay. I got my mic yesterday, but I have no idea if it's working well with Teamspeak/Ventrilo. Guess I'll find out soon enough!

Yup saw you log in, I was away so I didn't hear if you spoke or not, but you did manage to get in so that is a good sign that everything is working properly and I forwarded all the ports correctly.