Thursday, August 31, 2006

Assassin Cross Build

Ragnarok Game - Builds - Assassin Cross

I'm tired of seeing SB builds, SD builds. Heck, here's a hybrid guide!

For those planning to make an SB sinX, Here's my Build. This is still experimental and i'm still waiting for mine to reach Base 99/Job 70. So all here is still theoretical. Feel free to tweak it to suit your taste. (But don't make one the same as below. I still don't know what this build can do. Atleast not until mine reaches max level.)


Included a damage simulation with Orc Lord and Emperium using the weapons indicated and the build explanation below.


Damage Simulation with Orc Lord DD mode

Minimum Damage 3993(190)
Average Damage 4710(213.5)
Maximum Damage 5498(237)
Damage Per Second 9556.85
Minimum Number of Hits 47
Average Number of Hits 54
Maximum Number of Hits 64

Damage Simulation with Orc Lord SB mode

Minimum Damage 12665
Average Damage 14208
Maximum Damage 15743
Damage Per Second 7104
Minimum Number of Hits 25
Average Number of Hits 28
Maximum Number of Hits 32
Average Battle Durration 56s

Damage Simulation with Orc Lord SD mode (Using the same weapon for DD, assuming there's no time to equip +10 3 hardworking Saber on right hand)
Minimum Damage 9207(6900+2307)

Average Damage 10719(8150+2569)
Maximum Damage 12331(9500+2831)
Damage Per Second 3533.74
Minimum Number of Hits 32
Average Number of Hits 37
Maximum Number of Hits 43
Average Battle Durration 112.23s

Damage Simulation with Emperium (Dual Wielding Ice pick/+10 2 racial/size cards + Cursed water)

Minimum Damage 3766(162)
Average Damage 4161(172.5)
Maximum Damage 4614(183)
Damage Per Second 8421.74
Minimum Number of Hits 10
Average Number of Hits 11
Maximum Number of Hits 12
Average Battle Durration 8.37s

Damage Simulation with Orc Lord, GT mode

Minimum Damage 2585
Average Damage 3109
Maximum Damage 3627
Damage Per Second 5757.41
Minimum Number of Hits 109
Average Number of Hits 127
Maximum Number of Hits 153
Average Battle Durration 68.58s

Build:

Str 95 + 25 = 120
Int 30 + 10 = 40
Agi 55 + 15 = 70
Dex 58 + 22 = 80
Vit 47 + 3 = 50
Luk 2 + 8 = 10

All stats boosted with Blessing

ASPD when dual wielding: 161.9 with awakes
ASPD when katar: 172.8

HP 13226
SP 765

Accesories:
2 GoMs

Weapons DD mode - +10 2 racial damascus, Ice pick
Weapons SB Mode - +9 Infiltrator

Key Skills:
KM 10
AdKM 5
SD 10
Right Mastery 5
Left Mastery 0 (Not worth getting, IMO)
EDP 5
GT 5

Build explanation:

Vit is kept to lowest i can tolerate to avoid 1 Shot Acid Bomb
Luk is raised to 2 for perfect dodge bonus, making the final stat point 0
Dex is kept to mid, waiting for Noghaltz' Sonic Acceleration quest skill

Left Hand Mastery is kept to 0 and replaced by GT. Damage difference between level 5 LH Mastery and level 0 LH Mastery is 400+ with EDP, meaning 100 w/o EDP.

Another Reason:

Maximum no. of hit against Orc Lord with Level 5 LH Mastery is 61 Hits
Maximum no. of hit against Orc Lord with Level 0 LH Mastery is 64 Hits

A 3-Hit difference. O.o

Damage Analysis:
Damage is high, but Pure builds will definately have higher. Good thing about this build is all offensive skills do quite fair damage, All have good DPM. Meaning with proper handling, you can outdone a pure sinX build on combat.

I did a damage test on PvP with EDP-SB using +4 Infiltrator. At lvl 78 SB reaches 1.6k per hit, 4000-5000 SD using Infiltrator. Haven't tried going DD though. That's STILL without the proposed accesories and weapons.

Potential Damage can still be higher. I didn't include stat increasing headgears. Because this is a hybrid build. You can't stick to one headgear.

Blessing is the only damage increasing support skill included. Meaning you can still have higher damage with other support skills such as Impositio Manus from Priests/HPs , Endow Elements from Sages/Scholars, Provoke from the Knight class and other support skills.

Additional damage can be attained from Sonic Acceleration.


P.S.
Again, this are all still theoretical

Legal Crap
Credits to Doddlercon calculator and my damage test dummies
Feel free to distribute it. Just don't forget to include this link or i'll screw your ass

-Stealth

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Levelup Games is Dying

Another sign of a dying gaming company is the presence of the Google Ads in the Levelup! Games official website. . Though the company is still currently the major pay-per-play company in the Philippines, the constant decrease of population of its flagship game, Ragnarok Online is obviously contributing in Levelup! Games’ decrease in revenue. Google Ads, are targeted advertisements from Google’s program called Adsense. Advertisers pay the Publishers (Which in this case the Levelup! Games website) to display these advertisements and in turn get paid for it. Though it is not an issue that the company implemented this, it’s starting to contradict their rules and regulations regarding their games. Commonly, these targeted Ads displays “Selling online games currencies” Which does not only includes Ragnarok Online’s zenny, but other MMORPG currencies as well. It is clearly stated on their Policies that these kind of trades are illegal. The policy clearly stated that:

What is Illegal Trading?

Illegal Trading is to exchange Ragnarok Online items, zenies, or accounts with real money or goods; or to swap Ragnarok Online items, zenies, or characters from one account in a server for items, zenies, or characters in another account and server.

Current List of Illegal Trades:
· RO item for real money is illegal
· RO item in one server for RO item in another server is illegal
· RO account for real money is illegal
· RO characters in one server for RO characters in another server is
illegal
· RO Load for RO item / zeny is illegal
· ISP Card for RO item / zeny is illegal
· Cel Card for RO item / zeny is illegal
· Zeny for real money is illegal
· Zeny in one server for item / zeny in another server is illegal

*Taken from Levelup! Official Website.
http://www.ragnarok.ph/dv_illegaltrading.php


Bots, which the company is allegedly trying to eradicate are being promoted on the Ads as well.

It is an act of desperation? Judge by yourself.

Just my two cents

Monday, August 07, 2006

Testing your Internet Speed

Why Test? Testing how fast your internet connection speed lets you know that you're getting the most out of your Internet Service Provider. If you happen to experience slow pageloads, downloads and uploads, you can use the data you gathered from internet speed tests when you report you problem to your ISP. There are a lot of bandwidth tests available on the internet. But one of my favorite is the one by auditmypc.com

http://www.auditmypc.com/internet-speed-test.asp

It gives you a nice graph where your connection speed falls. The graph shows both download and upload speed. I got a rating of 445kbps out of my max 512kbps connection. Not bad at all. Try it out. Most cust care reps get intimidated when the caller knows their exact internet connection speed rating. lol

Globelines Wiz and Worldpass – going WI-FI

Let’s define first what these services are

So what is Worldpass? It allows you to use your existing Globelines Internet service, whether it’s dialup or broadband. Or WIFI

And what it Wiz? Wiz stands for Wireless Internet Zone. It lets you connect to the Internet via WIFI enabled laptop, PDA, or cellphone.

The good thing about this service is you can use your existing internet service and connect to the internet wherever you are. Sounds cool eh? But you need to have the proper equipment. But if you already have it, let’s move to configuration

For manual Wi-Fi configuration:
1. Set the SSID/Network Name of the Wireless LAN enabled device to “GlobeQUEST”. For MAC users, enter the DNS server configuration as (Primary DNS: 203.177.255.10 ; Secondary DNS: 203.127.225.10)
2. Launch the Internet Browser and enter a website you wish to go to
(i.e., www.globelines.com.ph or any other website).
3. A login page will appear to prompt for your User ID and Password. Type in your user ID, followed by “@globelines.com.ph” for Luzon or “@visayas.globelines.com.ph” for Visayas. Example: subscriber@globelines.com.ph) Type in your password.
4. Upon successful authentication, the webpage of your requested URL will appear and you will be connected to Internet. If not, type in the website again.
5. To end your internet session, press “Logout” or type in “http://logout.globquest.com.ph” in the browser window you are using.

For automatic Wi-Fi modems:

General Instructions for WINDOWS XP:
1. Double-click on the Wireless Network Connection icon on the task bar.
2. Click Properties
3. Click the Wireless Network tab.
4. Under Available Networks, select GlobeQUEST and click Configure
5. In the Network Name (SSID) box, enter globequest (all lowercase) and click OK.
6. Click OK again and Close.

Oh btw, going WIFI doesn’t necessarily means that you can go surfing the web from like, mars or something. You need to be in a Hotspot zone in order to use them. As of now, hotspots are located only at

Ayala Center Cebu
Ayala Greenbelt 2
Ayala Greenbelt 3
Coffee Beanery, Greenbelt 3
Cebu City Sports Club
Greenhills Theatre Mall
Mactan Shangri-La Hotel
Pioneer Highlands
RCBC EAT Food Court

Globelines are implementing hotspots in these area soon

Fontana Leisure Park
Fontana Convention Center
Kaya Restaurant, Rockwell
Kelly Blue Café
University of Asia and the Pacific
The Hub, Podium Mall
Bo's Coffee, Davao
Paseo De Santa Rosa

*Configuration came from globe

Sunday, August 06, 2006

New Intel Processors Released


Intel being the world's leader in microprocessor industry released two new processors last june, namely

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and Inter Core Extreme Processor

Both processors consists of two cores, (Duo = Dual Core. Well i'm guessing here. But the name suggests it anyway) which allows a better multitasking, 2 MiB L2 cache, and an arbiter bus that controls both L2 cache and FSB access. Intel says that future stepping will include the ability to disable one core when its use is unnecessary to conserve power.

Now since it's like, 3:30AM here, i won't be reviewing this one for now. Lol. I just got excited about it and i wanted to let thw whole world to know.

Click here for more detailed overview it

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Computer Maintenance 101

People tend to spend a lot of money on paid computer technicians when their computer is getting cranky. But the thing is, the most common errors on a computer is due to reckless use of it without performing any maintenance. Maintaining your computer is just as easy as you browsing your favorite porn. (No pun intended.) As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.

So what exactly do a totally noobie computer guy can do to maintain a computer? Below, I’ll list some of the things you need to do. So read and save that money.

Defragment!

Over time you pc gets fragmented. So okay, what’s fragmentation? Fragmentation is the scattering of data over a disk caused by successive insert, update and delete operations. This eventually results in slow data access times, as the disk needs to do more work to construct a contiguous copy of the data on disk. Database reorganization is sometimes required to fix fragmentation problems.

There are several good softwares out there that do the defragmentation for you. In fact, All versions of Windows have a built-in defragmentation software. If you’re using WindowsXP, follow the following to initiate defragmentation.

1. Go to Start Menu
2. Go to Accessories then System Tools
3. Under the System tools, click Disk Defragmenter.
4. Just click defragment and wait for it to finish.

That’s it! One maintenance work done. By the way, you can also download dedicated defragmentation software for your computer. A good example is the diskkeeper program. Just Google it and you’ll find it easy. Dedicated defragmentation programs tend to be more efficient, better, have more features and faster than the standard Windows Defrag software. But it’s up to you.

So what’s next?

Antivirus Programs

If your computer is only an office computer who has no access to the World Wide Web, then you’re free to skip this one. (But you have Internet access or else you won’t be reading this lol) Antivirus programs are very very very important. I cannot state this hard enough. Once you’re connected to the Internet, viruses can easily penetrate your computer and destroy your files. If you have a newly bought computer, make sure that you have a good anti virus installed on your computer before going online.

Firewalls

Another malicious program to watch put for are Trojan Horses, Spywares, and adwares. What do these things do? Well, for one, a Trojan can manipulate your files, Shutdown you computer remotely, or even format it. Spywares and adwares can collect personal information stored on your computer like credit card information, address, etc. So, how to stop them?

A good firewall can. Pick one that is continuously updated and has customer support. Windows XP already has a built-in firewall. But I definitely recommend having a dedicated firewall. A good example is Zone alarm. It’s free to download! Just search it.


Anti spyware/Adware

It’s always good to have a strong protection against threats. Anti spywares and adwares can eliminate those who got in to your computer. Even if you have a firewall, it’s better to remove those malicious programs rather than just preventing them to send their collected information back to the Internet.

Proxy Servers

So what are proxies?

A proxy server is a computer network service, which allows clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. A client connects to the proxy server, and then requests a connection, file, or other resource available on a different server. The proxy provides the resource, possibly by connecting to the specified server, or by serving it from a cache. In some cases, the proxy may alter the client's request or the server's response for various purposes

In layman’s term, it hides you. It protects your identity by hiding you IP Address. (Internet Protocol)

We’ll discuss Proxies in another article. That’s it for now!

Three most downloaded Antivirus

The Antivirus competition

I’ve downloaded and evaluated several Antivirus software available on the Internet. All of them perform great, the only differences are the features which if you look carefully, and they only differ on names. I’m about to download a Free Antivirus I’ve heard from a friend when I saw its download count. Then I thought, would such free software like this affecting their paid counter parts? In a way of course it does! But the point is, is it killing them? Oh what the heck! Who cares about it. Anyway I made a comparison between the three most popular antivirus software available on the net. I ranked them in ascending order

1. AVG Free Edition by Grisoft

AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements). Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.
We’ll be basing the popularity of the products observing how many people downloads it.

AVG, ranks number 1. with 4,404,671 votes!

2. McAfee VirusScan

With fast, always-on protection, new McAfee VirusScan lets you surf, e-mail, download and chat with less worry about viruses, spyware, worms, Trojan horses and other malicious threats. Proven PC security recognized with an "Editor's Choice" award from PCMag.com (August 2005), McAfee VirusScan downloads and installs in minutes, then automatically looks for known and unknown viruses in both inbound and outbound e-mail, as well as downloads, discs, CD-ROMs, DVDs and throughout your PC. If problems are found, VirusScan immediately attempts to clean, quarantine or delete the infections. Pro-active spyware blocking on access also stops potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) like key-loggers from trying to install or launch on your system before they can steal personal information. Best of all, McAfee VirusScan automatically updates your anti- virus protection daily, for zero-hour protection from the latest threats. Plus, it scans for viruses in messages and attachments in the most popular e-mail clients and instant messaging programs, including MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, Eudora and others. You also get ScriptStopper and WormStopper, which block fast-spreading, script-based viruses and mass-mailing worms. Proven security, McAfee VirusScan is the easy, automatic way to help keep your PC virus-free.

McAfee VirusScan ranks 2nd 1,300,191 votes

3. Norton AntiVirus 2005

Norton AntiVirus 2005 automatically keeps virus definitions updated to provide continuous Internet and e-mail protection. It combines virus-detection capabilities with updating and scanning technologies to make it easy for users to secure their systems against malicious code. Norton AntiVirus also is an integral component of Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2005 suite. It guards against malicious code in ActiveX controls and Java applets as well as against worms, Trojan horses, and password stealers. The application's key features include automatic checking for and updating of virus definitions; pop-up messages if virus definitions become dangerously out-of-date; automatic scanning of program and document files as they are downloaded; compressed file-scanning; automatic scanning of e-mail attachments before the user saves, launches, or otherwise accesses the attachments; an enhanced interface that integrates an e-mail/Web status panel for easy configuration; and a bootable CD providing easy recovery after a virus emergency.
Norton AntiVirus 2005 adds expanded threat detection alerts which alert you to non-virus threats, such as spyware and keystroke logging programs, and scans compressed file archives before you open them and risk infecting your computer.

Norton AntiVirus 2005 ranks 3rd with only 417,116 votes.

But popularity by basing the number of people who downloads it is not enough to justify it’s reliability. Based on experience, I download a seemingly great product because of it’s glowing description but end up uninstalling it the moment I saw it. Ahh.. The power of Marketing. If I’m going to rank the three products below based on experience, I’ll rank them as follows

1st McAffee
2nd Norton
3rd AVG

Why? McAffee and Norton generally have good graphical user interface which is extremely user-friendly. I’m not saying that Grisoft’s AVG Antivirus software has a crappy GUI. Heck no. But comparing AVG to Norton and McAffee, it’s interface is quite inferior.

Friday, August 04, 2006

What are google bots?

I've been browsing through the internet and found this interesting piece of info. Geesh. I never thought of this one too. This is for all webmasters out there. Read out!

Copyright © 2006 Kim Roach, All Rights Reserved
SEO-News
http://www.seo-news.com

Google currently indexes over 8 billion web pages. However,
before these pages were placed in the index, they were each
crawled by a special spider known as the GoogleBot.
Unfortunately, many web masters do not know about the internal
workings of this virtual robot.

In fact, Google actually uses a number of spiders to crawl the
Web. You can catch these spiders by examining your log files.

This article will attempt to reveal some of the most important
Google spiders, their function, and how they affect you as a web
master. We'll start with the well-known GoogleBot.

GoogleBot

Googlebot, as you probably know, is the search bot used by Google
to scour the web for new pages. Googlebot has two versions,
deepbot and freshbot. Deepbot is a deep crawler that tries to
follow every link on the web and download as many pages as it can
for the Google index. It also examines the internal structure of
a site, giving a complete picture for the index.

Freshbot, on the other hand, is a newer bot that crawls the web
looking for fresh content. The Google freshbot was implemented to
take some of the pressure off of the GoogleBot. The freshbot
recalls pages already in the index and then crawls them for new,
modified, or updated pages. In this way, Google is better
equipped to keep up with the ever-changing Web.

This means that the more you update your web site with new,
quality content, the more the Googlebot will come by to
check you out.

If you’d like to see the Googlebot crawling around your web
property more often, you need to obtain quality inbound links.
However, there is also one more step that you should take. If you
haven't already done so, you should create a Google Sitemap for
your site.

Creating a Google sitemap allows you to communicate with Google,
telling them about your most important pages, new pages, and
updated pages. In return, Google will provide you with some
valuable information as well. Google Sitemaps will tell you
about pages it was unable to crawl and links it was unable to
follow. This allows you to pinpoint problems and fix them so that
you can gain increased exposure in the search results.

The next Google bot in our lineup is known as the MediaBot.

MediaBot - used to analyze Adsense pages
useragent: Mediapartners-Google

MediaBot is the Google crawler for Adsense Publishers. Mediabot
is used to determine wich ads Google should display on Adsense
pages.

Google recommends that webmasters specifically add a command in
their robots.txt file that grants Mediabot access to their entire
site. To do this, simply enter the following code into your
robots.txt file:

User-agent: Mediapartners-Google*
Disallow:

This will ensure that the MediaBot is able to place relevant
Adsense ads on your site.

Keep in mind that ads can still be shown on a page if the
MediaBot has not yet visited. If that is the case, the ads chosen
will be based on the overall theme of the other pages on the site.
If no ads can be chosen, the dreaded public service announcements
are displayed instead.

There is an ongoing debate over whether or not the MediaBot is
giving websites with Adsense an advantage in the search engines.

Even Matt Cutts has confirmed that the Adsense Mediabot has
indexed webpages for Google's main index.

He states,"Pages with AdSense will not be indexed more
frequently. It's literally just a crawl cache, so if e.g. our
news crawl fetched a page and then Googlebot wanted the same
page, we'd retrieve the page from the crawl cache. But there's no
boost at all in rankings if you're in AdSense or Google News. You
don't get any more pages crawled either."

Matt Cutts claims that your website does not get any advantage
by using Adsense. However, in my mind, simply getting your site
updated in and of itself is an advantage.

This is very similar to Google Analytics, which also promotes a
slightly higher degree of spider activity.

Those who run Google Analytics on their site can expect
additional spider activity.

However, you certainly shouldn't depend on any of these tools
for getting your site indexed. The key to frequent spidering is
having quality inbound links, quality content, and frequent
updates.

Have images on your site? If so, you have likely been visited by
our next Google spider, the ImageBot.

ImageBot - used to crawl for the Image Search
useragent: GoogleBot-Image

The Imagebot prowls the Web for images to place in Google's image
search. Images are ranked based upon their filename, surrounding
text, alt text, and page title.

If you have a website that is primarily image based, then you
would definitely want to optimize your images to receive some
extra Google traffic.

On the other hand, some web sites may not benefit from Google
image search. In most cases, the traffic from the Image search
engine is very low quality and rarely converts into buyers. Many
people are often just looking for images that they can swipe. So,
if you want to save some bandwidth, use your robots.txt file to
block ImageBot from accessing your image directory.

One of the few exceptions might be if you have a site dedicated
to downloadable images.

Our final bot is completely dedicated to the Google Adwords
program.

AdsBot - Checks Adwords landing pages for quality
useragent: AdsBot-Google

AdsBot is one of Google's newest spiders. This new crawler is
used to analyze the content of advertising landing pages, which
helps determing the Quality score that Google assigns to your
ads.

Google uses this Quality score in combination with the amount
you bid to determine the position of your ads. Therefore, ads
with a high quality score can rank higher even if other
advertisers are paying more than you.

This is one of Google's many efforts to ensure that they are
delivering the best results to their users.

Can you still block being spidered? Of course, but it will lower
your overall Adwords quality score, which could end up lowering
the positioning of your ads. If possible, it is best to give
AdsBot complete access to your site.

Today's Google bots are becoming more advanced all the time.
However, nothing beats relevant, quality, updated content.
Deliver that and the search engines will eat it up.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Mozilla Firefox

I've been seeing a lot of bickering about what browser is more superior. Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer?

Well if you'd ask me, i'd say Firefox. IE is always crippled by vulnerability and security issues. It lacks innovative and useful functions. I don't know when the Firefox Vs. IE competition begun. But seeing how IE is struggling to compete by being and outright copycat of Firefox features, i'd say not long ago. IE7 has implemented Tabbed Browsing, which is a Firefox original. I tried using it but forced to go back to my beloved Firefox. Why? The interface is so trying hard to copy firefox that it's making browsing more difficult than lower versions of IE. If they can resolve the vulnerability issues and make a better, user friendly and goodlooking browser, then i might reconsider. But for now, I'll use my firefox

Oh, btw, if you plan to use Firefox, there's a download link here. >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Find it on the right side of this blog

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Ever Tried Online Virus Scanners?

Well i did. In fact tried a lot of those. And not all wre worthy of being discussed. Maybe you'd ask me why use an Online version when pirated copies of Anti virus softwares and just one download away. Downloading sorts of pirated softwares in the internet especially on Warez sites tend to attract more virus/worms/trojan on your PC. So why bother to look if you end up trying to get rid of some forsaken malware you get from actually searching for Anti's?

here's the links of Online Virus scanners i use.

Here's a list of free online virus scanners. What i like abou this scanners is that, they're free, always updated and doesn't consume disk space. Use this together with your installed anti virus software for maximum protection.




Freedom Online Virus Check
Freedom Online Virus Check is a FREE online anti-virus scanner for web users. It allows you to scan your hard drives, diskettes, CD-ROMs, network drives, directories, and specific files for any hidden viruses, Trojans or worms. Freedom Online Virus Check uses state-of-the-art technology to scan your PC for all types of viruses.

Bitdefender
BitDefender Online Scanner is a fully functional antivirus product. It features all required elements for thorough antivirus scanning and effective cleaning: it scans your system's memory, all files, folders and drives' boot sectors, providing you with the option to automatically clean the infected files.

Trendmicro Housecall
Trend Micro HouseCall is an application for checking whether your computer has been infected by viruses, spyware, or other malware. HouseCall performs additional security checks to identify and fix vulnerabilities to prevent reinfection.

Globelines Broadband Vs. Smart WIFI

Globelines Broadband Vs. Smart WIFI

This is just a comparison between the two, based on own experiences and other people's experiences.

Globelines Broadband Internet

Globelines Broadband offers a cheap 900+ broadband internet connection with a modest connection speed of up to 364Kbps. Once you applied, the company determines firsthand the availability of connection lines in your area. (I have onced encountered a problem about this one. I get my broadband disconnected for awhile. And when i reapplied, there were no available connection slot in my area!) Once they determine and cofirmed that your area is "Globelines broadband ready" then you are ready to go. Globelines uses two types of modem: (Both made by Alcatel) The Speedtouch modems. The one is USB (Which needs to be dialed to their server to be connected.) And the other one which is LAN (Always connected to the internet. Now let's summarize their service based on my experience with Globelines broadband

1. They have a very good customer support. If problems occur, they're at your doorstep first thing in the morning after you called them for repair.

2. Customer reps are very approachable and professional.

3. In 4 years i can count with my fingers the times my broadband connection had problems. Which, only lasted for a few minutes. They worst, longest time is 5 hours. And that only happened once.

4.The price for a 364kbps broadband connection is almost too good to be true. Why? I've been a subscriber of Try-isys Internet for a month. They charged me the same for a lousy 56kbps connection!

Now let's move to the other one.

Smart WIFI Broadband Internet

As mentioned above, i had a problem with availability of slots with Globeline Broadband some years ago. So my best optiion is to apply for a Smart WIFI Broadband connection, which charge the same price as Globe for the basic package. BUT the thing is, it's only 128kbps that time. But i have no choice so i called their customer service for inquiries. You must be wondering if i tried WIFI while waiting an excruitiatingly 6-long months for Globelines to have an available slot in our area. To let you know, here's a summary:

1. The customer support is so unreliable. You'll wait forever before someone picks up the handset. And when a rep. is already talking to you, you'll end up thinking if you're talking to an untrained monkey or an autistic operator.

2. Since i can't get the information i need from directly calling them, i opted to search forums and asked what Smart WIFI users has to say. 99% of them says the connection sucks, it always lags and yeah, the bitcy operators.

In conclusion:

Globelines Vs. Smart WIFI?

You do the math

Philippine Online Shops

Philippines is getting more and more technologically competitive. And Internet is one of the great techno advances that we Filipinos are exploiting. You think chatting and gaming are the only thing we can do with the Internet? Think Again! Now, we can do Online banking, Online Shopping/Selling and more! Now where to start? Let me give you some examples and let's review them.

Filgifts.com

As the name suggest, This is an online giftshop. But that doesn't mean its merchandise are Novelty gifts alone. This Pinoy site offers a variety of products like Bags, Wines, appliances, Mags And Cellphones. The website is also easy to navigate. Upon visiting the website you will instantly konw where to go. There are categories that classifies their merchandise.

Filgifts.com accepts Visa,Mastercard, and JCU. You pay in Dollars

Islandrose.net

Need to impress your girlfriend/boyfriend? Then this site is for you. Island Rose is a Online Flowershop. They even deliver the flowers to an Address you specify. You can order a simple bouquet to an elegant mix of different flowers. They also reward points and discounts to members.

Island Rose accepts Visa,Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, and JCU

eBay Philippines

For those who does't know, eBay is the largest Buy and Sell corporation in the world. And now, we have our very own eBay Philippines! It's really not different from eBay.com. The interface of the website is the same. But this time, we can get a better response because it is exclusive to the Filipino people. I have tried this website for a testing. Upon posting an Item for sale, i got twelve replies in just two days.

Registration at eBay Philippines is free of charge.

MMORPG - Ragnarok Online - Review


(Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) all time favorites. For those still new to Online gaming, this is for you. I'll compile a list of MMORPGS available in the Philippines. Cast the noob away from you! Read on.

Ragnarok Online

Since we are assuming that you have no experience whatsoever about online gaming (Yeah you ignorant noob!), I hope that you are familiar with the T.V. Animation series "The Ragnarok Animation". If you've watched that, or at least had a sneek peek of what is it, then this will be easy.

Let go to the basics first. Ragnarok is created in Korea by the Gravity corporation. But Gravity is not the one to manage the game per country. (For example, Philippine Ragnarok is handled by LevelUP! Games. Click link for details: www.levelupgames.ph) They based it on Norse Mythology. (In fact the servers were named in norse. Ex. Odin, Loki, Chaos, Fenrir, etc.) But it also contains some mixed cultures. Some maps are modeled based on cultures of the real world.

The Game Interface

If you've played strategy games before like Red Alert, Warcraft, Startcraft etc, you'll find this game with a little bit similar interface. See sreenshot (Click to enlarge):



The one in the upperleft is your where you find your HP/SP bar, Experience points need to levelup your character, and shortcut button that opens other windows.

The box below is your Chatbox. Do i need to explain this? Duh.. It's the thing where you type messages. (Oh, it also serves as a notification area about certain things. We'll discuss that later.) And the one above the chatbox is the Hotkey system. You put spells, potions etc. there so you won't end up having multiple windows when you need to use them simultenously.

The Characters

Since Ragnarok Online is been up for years now, alot of changes happened. Before they were only Three slots per account to make your characters. Now, we have five. (Lucky you) Now let me introduce the basic characters

Novice

You start your adventure as a Novice. As a Novice all you can do is.. Well nothing. You have to train and level your character up to change your job.

Swordsman

The Midgard swordsman is a close-combat specialist. Being the steadfast frontline of armies and adventuring parties, only the bravest dare to enter their ranks.

Swordsmen can specialize in a variety of melee weapons. Able to heal faster than most other characters, the swordsman is the first one to join the fray… and usually the last man standing in a lost cause.


Archer

Rugged frontiersmen with a pinpoint aim, the Archers patrol the wilderness between the towns and cities of Midgard. Though many have a huge individualistic streak to them, a well placed Archer shot could spell the difference for an adventuring party surviving a dangerous encounter.

Archers are reliant on their skill with ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows to deliver monster-stopping power at great distances.

Magician

An arcane magic-wielder with the ability to cast a variety of devastating spells on their enemies, the mages of Midgard unlock the secrets of arcane lore for their never-ending quest to master the arcane arts.
Though extremely vulnerable when attacked up close, the mage can unleash a deadly arsenal of magical attacks upon unwary opponents. A powerful mage spell can easily make short work of an opponent in an instant.

Merchant

Masters at the art of the deal, these independent traders and craftsmen seek to make a living on trade in the world of Midgard. With the roads infested with marauding creatures that ambush the wary traveler, the merchants specialize in skills that allow them to get the most out of their dangerous travels.
Merchants specialize in getting the best prices for adventurers. Their skills in haggling and identifying unknown items make them invaluable in the fight for Midgard’s survival.

Thief

With sleight of hand and fleet of foot, the thieves of Midgard fancy themselves as hopeless romantics who don’t mind if a quick zeny or two is made at the expense of others.
Thieves specialize in pinpoint attacks and stealth. Their unique ability to steal items from unwary victims without having to fight has annoyed more than its share of porings in the wilderness.

Acolyte

A spellcaster who calls upon the powers of the divine through their piety and faith, Acolytes strive to aid others and attempt to foster hope among the people, whose faith has waned in the face of Ragnarok.
An Acolyte’s divine magic provides healing and strong support to an adventuring party. Among all the denizens that roam Midgard, none draws their ire more than the undead.

Those are the six basic characters you can make out of a novice. After you reach a certain level, you can change job again to a higher job. Also, you can choose an alternative job. For example, the original job change for a Swordsman is a Knight. Now you can choose the alternative job, which is the crusader. Below is the hierarchy of Jobs.

1. Swordsman - Knight/Crusader - Lord Knight/Paladin
2. Archer - Hunter/Bard or Gypsy - Sniper/Clown or Gypsy
3. Magician - Wizard/Sage - High Wizard/Scholar
4. Merchant - Blacksmith/Alchemist - Mastersmith/Biochemist
5. Thief - Assassin/Rogue - Assassin Cross/Stalker
6. Acolyte - Priest/Monk - High Priest/Champion

Special Game Features

The War of the Emperium
The Emperium stone is the most powerful piece of Midgard's lands. This mineral gives humans (or monsters) the power of conquest, hegemony and authority. The War of Emperium consists of conquering a castle and breaking the Emperium in training for the REAL Holy War against monsters and evil forces that threaten Rune Midgard.

The Guild system

The guild system allows you to make a Guild (Duhh..) You can invite people to join your guild for plenty of reasons. For example, you cannot join the War of the Emperium if you don't have a guild.

Game-Related Websites/Forums
http://www.leveupgames.ph
* The Official Philippine Ragnarok website

http://www.ragnaboards.levelupgames.ph
*The Offical Philippine Ragnarok Forums

Http://www.z6.invisionfree.com/PROLOKI
*Unofficial Ragnarok Fansite/Forum

Okay, i think that pretty much cover this game.

Credits to:
-Levelup! Games for the Basic Job Description
- Wikipedia for the War of the Emperium Description