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Runico lets you create personal amulets for good fortune
Runico is a universal app that enables you to create customized amulets to bring good fortune. These can involve anything from love to career success to health. Depending on your beliefs, you might take comfort in knowing you have a personal amulet on your phone that will ensure a better future. The app offers various amulets and design styles, plus the ability to paste it on an image or wallpaper so it's always visible to you. Runico is free with in-app purchases and requires iOS 7.0 or later. To get started creating an amulet to help with your life goals, tap the Plus icon at the bottom and choose a category. Runico comes with amulets for love, success, protection, career and health. Tapping "Your Own Formula" lets you create your very own amulet as well, dragging and dropping runes - each with their own meaning - to form a unified symbol that suits your needs. Pre-made amulets come with a name and description. For instance, I picked out the Inspiration amulet, which according to Runico "stimulates inspiration and a flow of creative ideas" and "will prove helpful to the people whose work requires creativity." Unfortunately, a lot of the amulets available in the app require an in-app purchase. Only a select few in each category are free and the rest have locks on them, selling for US$0.99 to unlock. Additionally, to create an amulet entirely from scratch, it sets you back $2.99 - a tad pricey for a personal symbol likely to only make an appearance on your iOS device's display. When you do find an amulet you like, whether free or paid, you have an option to paste it on a new photo, a photo already in your camera roll, a photo from a social network, or one of the app's unique wallpapers. The latter entails yet another fee: $0.99 to buy the entire wallpaper pack. Runico does provide a number of decent styles for your amulet to overlay onto an image, like metallic, glass and wooden backgrounds - or just plain works, too. Fortunately none of these cost more money. Fill in a description for your amulet if you'd like or elect to set it as for an event so that it only lasts for the duration of that event. When you create the amulet, there's no going back. The Edit button only works to change the description or event. The image and amulet design are permanent. Though the library of different amulets is extensive and the design on photos are adequately elegant, the fact that Runico limits so much content in the app by in-app purchases is frustrating. In-app purchases should be implemented in a way that they enhance the app and enable more possibilities, but here they just feel like walls locking you out from the app's full potential unless you pay up. If you're willing to overlook the large amount of in-app purchases, solely as an amulet creator the app does work very well. The amulets are tasteful, easy to create and there's plenty to choose from. If you want a little spark of good luck in your life, give Runico a try in the App Store.
Breakfast Topic: That one dumb thing that always happens to you
Sometimes, it's hard not to wonder if some other player out there somewhere isn't hogging all your luck. Is the zeppelin always leaving just as you pop out of the top of the tower? Do your groups learn about knockback effects from watching you get knocked off cliffs, ledges, platforms? Does all your soil seem to hide Squatting Virmen? Do all your unsold auctions come back the moment you leave town? Let's not even talk about loot rolls. You've already heard about my stellar lack of luck with phasing mechanics. That was a big deal -- but wanna know what small but annoying little thing always happens to me? The only time I get free time plus the inclination to play WoW during work hours is during maintenance. I used to think I was just being silly and not noticing that my schedule is lighter on Tuesday mornings -- only it's not. Tuesdays are logjammed with some of the most intense writing deadlines of my week. So why would I expect to be able to grab some WoW time on a Tuesday morning? Yet miraculously, when I find myself with just enough free time some morning to log in and toss back some dailies, it's Tuesday. What the heck?! Eventually, I began to notice that if I tried to log in late some afternoon on evening when I don't usually play, there would be some sort of emergency maintenance. I'm just not destined to play WoW at nontraditional-for-me times. Is there some annoying little thing that always seems to buzz in and sting you in game? Something so seemingly inconsequential (if not for the fact that it always seems to happen to you) that you almost feel embarrassed to mention it? Let's hear your bad luck trials and tribulations, fellow sufferers.
Hitting it big in the App Store ... or not
Lots of developers are aiming for huge success in the App Store, and it seems like nearly every day we're reading about someone who made a big game and is picking up something like a million dollars a day from customers clicking that little "Install" button. L'Escapadou didn't make quite that much -- it's a studio that works on "educational and fun apps for iOS," and in this blog post, developer Pierre Abel walks through the $200,000 the company has made on the App Store so far. As you can read, however, it's a combination of a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck -- Abel worked for months on the few apps he's produced for the store, and only after he got covered in the press for the right audience did he see a nice jump in sales. Also note that it took multiple updates -- none of his apps soared in revenue right out of the gate; he had to provide new content based on customer feedback and support his released apps before he saw the charts curve upwards. But not everybody sees even that level of success. FastCompany recently posted an accusation that the App Store was "more of a casino than a gold mine," excerpting a new book called "Appilionaires" that suggests developers investing big in the App Store might as well just put all of their money on black at Harrah's. Maybe it's true, that the App Store is the "world's most competitive software market," but to hear this excerpt tell it, success with an iOS app is all luck -- being in the right place with the right app at the right time, to get swept up into the machine of fame and success, or losing all of your money and time invested with a great app that no one ever notices or sees. Of course the truth is somewhere in between -- some great apps do sit there for a while before anyone notices just how good they are, and some terrible apps get caught up in hype or marketing and pick up lots of revenue anyway. In the end, the App Store works very much like any other marketplace: You need to have a product that people want, and then show people it exists and convince them that they want it. Despite the "gold mine" dreams, creating and releasing an app is a lot of work, even if some people are better or more experienced at that work than others. There is money to be made on the App Store -- that's for sure. But how that money is made and by whom is controlled by many factors, of which luck is only one.
Allods Online gives players a chance to choose their luck
Luck is fickle. One moment you seem to be hitting a 20% chance for a critical hit every other swing, the next you're lucky if you can avoid missing. But Allods Online is giving the playerbase a chance to change its collective luck through pure will. Well, pure will and a helpful dose of popularity. The Choose Your Lucky Moment event has begun, offering everyone a shot at something bigger and better next week. Currently, there's a poll available with a long list of lucky bonuses, such as increased experience gained from quests and better loot from the Astral. The voting runs until Friday, September 9th. Once the votes have all been tallied, the three bonuses with the highest number of votes will be turned on for the next week on both servers, running from September 10th until September 16th. It might not help you with that string of critical hits, but it's the best chance Allods Online players will have to turn their luck around by choice.
The Road to Mordor: For want of a horseshoe, my sanity was lost
So a while back I was at an art fair with some friends when I commented on how much I liked a strange piece and one of the guys with me said, "Justin, you know what? You're kind of esoteric, ain't ya?" I agreed wholeheartedly and then rushed home to look up "esoteric" in the dictionary. And yeah, it sort of fit. Sometimes I get obsessed with small details that get shrugged off by others, a habit which extends into my MMO playing career. So you'll forgive me if today's post is a little more esoteric than usual, because this topic is honestly driving me up the wall. I think many of you already know what I'm talking about from the column title up there. Today, we're going to talk about a horseshoe. A very interesting, very confounding, very obtuse horseshoe. It may even be the biggest smallest mystery that Lord of the Rings Online has to offer. I haven't stopped obsessing over it since I first found out about it. So it's better for me to exorcise my demons here than keeping them bottled up inside.
Wings Over Atreia: Hit or myth?
You know they are out there. You hear them -- sometimes whispered in reverence, sometimes shouted by a particularly spazzy groupmate. Whether treated as ancient wisdom or snickered at, they cannot be avoided. But how much do you believe in them? Superstitions. Superstitions (myths, legends, folklore) are not by definition bad or even incorrect. In fact, superstitions are another way for a community to bond; shared beliefs go a long way towards creating a cohesive group. Every culture has superstitions, and gaming -- a unique culture, but a culture nonetheless -- is no different. And each game has its own unique collection of folklore. Whether they consist of avoiding specific loot, crafting with a full DP bar, or something almost whimsical (such as turning around in a full circle before my second attempt at Miragent's leggings), Aion is full of little snippets specific to the world of Atreia. What superstitions are prevalent in Aion today and just how much truth do they hold? Knock on wood and cross over the break to check it out.
Breakfast Topic: When it drops it's like magic
There are drops that just seem to elude you. One of those for me was The Sun Eater. It wouldn't drop and wouldn't drop and wouldn't drop and then, finally, on a run I didn't even want to go on there it was. And then the rogue took it and I had to run it another 20 or so times before I actually got it. Not that I'm still bitter about that. Well, okay, I totally am. As in, if I ever get control of an orbital weapons platform and find out where that guy lives, well, there would be stuff raining from the sky. Last night however I had the opposite experience. Last night, Lana'thel dropped my new precious. Amazingly, no rogues took it, and so I'm wandering around wearing the door from Satan's own El Camino as a shield. It's pretty much been the drop I've wanted the most from ICC ever since it opened up and I'm ridiculously, deliriously happy with it. (SInce I never saw the Elementium Reinforced Bulwark or Bulwark of Azzinoth drop, it's also the best looking shield I've ever had.) So in my state of giddy glee I move to ask you, have you had that surge of relief when something finally dropped lately? What was it?
Anti-Aliased: Serious business guys, serious business pt. 2
You might see where this is going now... This is a hard concept to explain, yet it's the concept that drives all social games, real-life based or online based. If you're taking the game so seriously that you're not having fun, then you've found the line where the problem begins. "Serious business" sounds like a joke, but all games have some degree of seriousness in them. The only ones that are truly unbound by this rule are the ones that are entirely luck based, like The Game of Life, Chutes and Ladders, or Trouble, where the dice determine the progress of game play. Players have no true input into the game, thus no true focus is required. "So are games getting too serious? Nope. They're doing the same things they've always been doing." Once decision making is introduced, strategies begin. Once strategies are introduced, players will formulate efficient ways to win and those winning methods will always win unless luck determines otherwise or a more efficient strategy is found. Regarding our MMO games, which require player movement, button presses, and (to some degree) luck, you will need players who are focused. If players aren't standing in the right places or if the right skills aren't being used, then loss will almost constantly occur. Players don't gather in raids to lose, they gather in raids to win. A football team and a raiding party are actually closer than one might think. Both get together to overcome a challenge presented to them, whether it be the Blue Mountain Eagles from the other side of the county or Patchwerk of Naxxramas. The fun comes from the work of overcoming the challenge; from "winning" the game. Sure, there might be rewards involved, like trophies or purple loot, but there is also going to be work involved. So are games getting too serious? Nope. They're doing the same things they've always been doing. So next time you're in that raid group, or next time you're on that PvP team, or in that corporation war, or sieging that city, remember that focusing is not being overly serious. It's about working to get the task done, not screaming at one another. It also means that perhaps you might want to save your list of jokes and gossip for another time. There's always more time to kid with friends. But right now is one of the few times you may be standing in front of Malygos. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who is still forced to make decisions he totally doesn't want to. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
Breakfast Topic: Insane luck
My wife just got an Eye of the Sea from her fishing daily quest reward. Yesterday, she got the Weather-beaten Fishing Hat and last week, on the second day of Patch 2.4, she picked up The 2 Ring. She fished Mr. Pinchy mere hours after she had the skill to fish in the pools around Skettis, while we'd met anglers who had been after him for weeks. She also gets at least one Badge of Justice a day from Shattered Sun Supplies. I, on the other hand, have gotten only one on either of my two 70s despite doing all the daily quests since the patch went live. Whenever we do drop quests, she always finishes before I do even when I start killing before she does. I guess you could say the RNG, or Random Number Generator, has taken a liking to her.The RNG hates me. I ran Heroic Slave Pens and Steam Vaults enough times to get to Exalted with Cenarion Expedition but never saw the Pauldrons of Wild Magic or Wave-Fury Vambraces drop for my Shaman, who was Elemental at the time. I guess this is also why I just PvP, because I have the kind of luck that Dan asked about in an another Breakfast Topic. Here's the flip question -- do you know anyone with insane luck? Someone who gets a quest drop on the first kill, perhaps, or even the luck of finding really cheap stuff on the AH? I've mispriced wares on the AH as Silver instead of Gold (alright, that's more stupidity than bad luck, but hey...) while other people find those exact misplaced wares. So, who's lucky around here?
Breakfast Topic: Lucky loot and other personal practices
In a world of dice rolls and random number generators, its not too strange to get a little superstitious. Like we've touched on before, every raid has their own dark rituals they perform before or during a raid, whether that be rolling dice to predict success or sacrificing their enhancement shaman to the loot gods. But what about the players?Personally, when my raid hits a roadblock against some boss, I equip my good luck charm. I've used it in all of our "big" firsts: Lady Vashj, Kael'thas, and Archimonde have all fallen to the might of the Shard of the Fallen Star. I'm sure my raidmates are tired of seeing that thing in the middle of an epic battle, but it works, so don't knock it! Besides, a giant meteor falling out of the sky and hitting Archimonde is totally awesome.I've seen mages equipping their fishing hats for specific bosses and warlocks summoning their favorite demon, no matter how useless it is, when they're in need of a little good luck. What about you guys? Do you do anything special to shed the bad mojo?
Wii Warm Up: Tendencies
The sporting world is notorious for superstitious tendencies and odd behavior. Players always have the same meal preceding a game; they won't cut their hair until they lose; they'll wear the same jock str ... egh, never mind. The point is, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, people still continue to engage in silly habits for luck and good fortune.As a gamer, do you have any particular habits before tournaments? Barring competitive play, are there any strange habits you have while gaming in general? Some of us here tend to spin the Wiimote around our fingers when we perform something of note, and others blow on the DVD before insertion into the Wii, harkening back to the NES days. Man, we're weird.
Superstitions in WoW
The Daedelus project recently posted an article dealing with MMORPGs and the superstitions we build as we play the games. Seeing as how we as people love to finding meaning in seemingly random events, World of Warcraft has its fair share of superstitious players. I might even go so far as to say we all are superstitious about some things within the game. Despite the prevalence of superstitions in game, we always seem to see others' quirks as crazier than our own. Now we're not talking about religion or spirituality here, we are talking about how players create meaning where there is none. Here are just a few examples that Daedelus brought up: The spawn dance There are many players out there that subscribe to the particular belief *cough* Maelis *cough* that a special dance will help mobs spawn faster. I have never myself attempted to use a spawn dance, but I have found that I tend to run in a clockwise direction when I am farming because somehow the mobs seem to spawn faster. Or perhaps it's just because I can't turn left.
Lucky you
When I came upon this post in the Raids and Dungeons forum, I had to laugh. The guild Dissension on Bleeding Hollow apparently got three Rejuvenating Gems -- each about a 5 percent drop off the three drakes in Blackwing Lair -- on one run. The funny thing is, the exact same thing happened to my guild this summer before we could even clear BWL. One of our healers thought it was funny and told a real-life friend of his, who happened to be in another raiding guild on our server. That guild would not talk to us for several days, aside from random "I HATE YOU SO MUCH" tells from their druids, priests and shamans. The same thing happened later in the summer, when we killed Nef and got three Ashkandis out of our first four kills. I did the math on the Rejuv Gem drops and it came out to be about a one in six thousand, five hundred chance occurrence. (Please correct me if I'm wrong -- it's been a long time since I've been in a statistics class.) End of Days on Black Dragonflight reported an even more improbable loot table: four Talismans of Ephemeral Power off the four Molten Core bosses who drop them. This has a chance of happening in one out of every seven hundred and fifty thousand and change Molten Core clears. Have you ever had a wildly improbable run of loot luck? And not an improbable run of not getting loot -- sorry, there's going to be a lot of guilds out there still waiting for that last Wraith Blade or Bloodfang Chest. People who complain about "it must be our loot seed, we've never seen a Eye of Sulfuras" need to look up the phrase "random" in a dictionary, along with "two percent drop rate."
