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Enter at Your Own Rift: Pre-launch checklist
I'll just come out and say it: The month or so right before the launch of a highly anticipated MMO is simultaneously ecstasy and agony, full of love and loathing. The waiting sucks, but the anticipation is delicious. The enthusiasm from the community is electric, but the heated emotions can be toxic. The discussion is fascinating, but the know-it-alls are annoying. Personally, I kind of wish we could be at launch-plus-one month right now, just so that the frenzy of insane opinions will have died down and we can just, y'know, play the game without feeling as though we were in the middle of a verbal rugby match. Like any MMO, RIFT's going to have its positives and negatives, but I feel that this launch is going to be something we haven't seen in a long time: a solid, stable MMO that offers up a complete package. That pleases the Justin. Since I can't whip out my magic remote control and fast-forward to April, I propose we do the next best thing. Let's open up our imaginary quest logs and run down a checklist of seven "To Dos" and a few "To Don'ts" to help us prepare for RIFT's release. Planning can be fun! Shut up, it can be!
First Look: CheckOff 4.0 for Mac OS X
I'm one of those people who "Gets Things Done" the old-fashioned way. I've tried just about every To-Do list manager for the Mac and iPhone, and I still end up resorting to writing lists in my Moleskine notebook and then crossing off the completed items. Still, when I saw that an upgrade to CheckOff had been shipped by Second Gear Software, I decided to give it a try. CheckOff 4.0 is not the latest navigator and weapons officer for the USS Enterprise. It is a compact and easily accessible to-do list for Mac OS X, and it runs both on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. CheckOff 4.0 is shareware, and requires that you purchase a US$12.95 license to use it for more than ten to-do items. After installing and launching the 4.4 MB application on your Mac, a check mark icon appears in the menu bar. To add or delete items from your to-do list, you click on the check mark to make the CheckOff menu appear (below): What you see is the complete user interface for CheckOff 4.0. Those five icons are used to add a new item, add a new folder, delete an item, change the color or category for an item or folder, and to delete checked (completed) items. There's a place for notes down at the bottom of the the window.
Preparing for Wrath Day 1: Get your act together
It's not that you've done anything wrong, but if you want to really hit the ground running in Northrend you're going to need to get your act together. Go outside and get some food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and other goodies. All those nutrients will let you stay up and play Wrath until you fall asleep in your chair.But there's more to it all then just that. You need to make sure everything else is taken care of so you can have some uninterrupted play time tonight. Be a pro and get as much of this stuff done now, so come 11pm or so when you walk out to your midnight release gathering you can be free of all responsibilities. And if you're really a pro, you've secretly engineered your life for the next few days to allow you the maximum amount of time to play Wrath. If you're like me this includes having a wonderful dinner with your significant other tonight, then some alone time with her and Jon Stewart, and finally the "Okay hon, I'll see you in a few days."I'm sure that'll work, right?Read on after the break for the WoW Insider "I proudly don't have a life outside of WoW for the next few days" checklist. Follow it, and you'll finally be prepared for Wrath.
