The purpose of this revamp is two-fold. The first, as you can probably gather, is to come up with an identity and a theme which does suit me and my writing style. The second is purely to revitalise my own interests in blogging. I won't lie when I say that in the past year I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with this blog, and it's time to start fixing that.
Before I get to the nitty-gritty details of the four theme ideas I've come up with, I'll go over what else I intend to do as part of this revamp.
This is a feature I've been wanting to do for some time now; a YouTube channel for uploading recordings of game sessions, be this KotFE Chapters, PvP, Operations, or even just messing around with friends and/or guildies. I've got a video showcasing an Eternal Championship run (behind-the-times? Never!) lined up as the first video as a sort of "trial" before things get more heavily underway. This won't actually come into existence until a new theme and identity for the blog has been chosen, of course.
So without further ado...
~~~
1) From the Valleys of Alderaan
Alderaan has been my favourite in-game planet for the longest time; its scenery is wonderful, it has wonderful and varied wildlife - again including a favourite of mine, the Thranta - the music is serene, and the entire planet has a very peaceful ambience. This is of course a direct contrast to Alderaan 4,000 years later, which I feel the tourism board is entirely to blame for with its brutal reshaping of the Alderaanian landscape.
It makes perfect sense, therefore, to reflect my preference for it in making a blog theme about it!
One thing you'll see throughout these choices is that each option is themed around a particular character, and in this case that is Pippera the Sniper. Her home planet in my mind has always been Alderaan, so she's the perfect candidate for being the 'headline act', if you will.
~~~
2) Galactic Antics
Okay, so there isn't a specific character pictured here, but this theme 'belongs' jointly to the two newest Jedi in my Legacy, Miorahna the Guardian and Vhiallia the Sage.
I have never been good at discerning what a particularly "Jedi" thing to do is when it comes to screenshots, especially when only a small section of these screenshots would be visible such as in this context. As I seem to be quite good at cutting corners, I decided to relegate their theme to a general "Space" theme. The approach to the planet Rishi acts as the background, as it is one of the best approach shots in the game with the Rishi Maze glistening in the background.
We need a new one for Alderaan, though, BioWare...
~~~
3) Smuggling with a Cool Head
So this theme is obviously based around the Commando Ziodus, and as you can clearly see, he's currently undercover as the Gunslinger Kirtahna. Keep up that hard work, Zio.
Returning to more serious waters (for now), Smugglers are perhaps the easiest class to build a "natural environment" for; just give them a lounge and they'll look right at home relaxing therein. The XS Stock Light Freighter, of course, provides several good areas for Smuggler-screenshot-hunting, as Kirtahna demonstrates in the Millenium Falcon-esque seating arrangements.
'Fun' fact: I originally intended to go with "Keeping a Cool Head", but I realised that that sounded more like an advice blog than it did a slightly nonsensical and very ramble-filled SWtOR blog. That said, it might still look like an advice blog to some people...
~~~
4) Blaster-Whipped Cream
This one requires some explanation, not to mention about 72 pinches of salt - even though that can ruin perfectly good whipped cream.
All of the previous three ideas were all thought up earlier today; BWC is an idea I've had for almost a week now, having leapt out of the dark whilst thinking about blog names based more around specific ability names - "Snipe Central" was a working title for one which I have since abandoned - than more general themes, which have now formed the majority of the choices. Having come up with the idea, it stuck resolutely as I found it hilariously awful, and I wouldn't forgive myself for not making mention of it somewhere in this post.
I described it on Twitter as "either the absolute best idea or the absolute worst idea" I've had for the new blog name, which - if the name itself doesn't give it away - should indicate that I'm not actually serious about this as a name.
'Fun' fact: I don't actually like whipped cream.
~~~
So, those are the themes which I have come up with. Now, the fun bit.
Even though I know my readership is relatively small, I'm going to put this to you guys to choose the final result. After all, a revitalisation needs a kick from both sides to work properly. Simply vote for the one which you like most (probably against better judgement, I am including Blaster-Whipped Cream in this), and the new theme will be in-place by the end of next week.
Vote away!
[polldaddy poll=9425788]
For anyone else who sometimes has trouble seeing poll widgets in Firefox like me, there is one at the end of this post so if you're not seeing that it's worth looking at the blog in another browser...
ReplyDeleteBlaster-Whipped Cream made me laugh out loud! However, I always caution people against overly punny blog titles because of the unintended consequences they invite. For example Bloglovin had me rated as "similar to" a bunch of porn sites for the longest time (though they finally seem to have fixed that).
My vote went to Smuggling With a Cool Head, for (in my opinion) fitting your writing style as well as sounding fairly unique.
Oh, and good luck with the YouTube project; looking forward to seeing how that works out. I often wish I had more time to work on some video content on top of everything else, but video editing is just too damn time consuming. There's a reason that even many professional YouTubers don't release more than one or two videos a week.
I had no idea that Poll widgets bugged out in other browsers (I primarily use Chrome in which it seems to be perfectly fine). I'll bear that in mind for future ones.
ReplyDeleteI honestly had a miniature laughing-fit when the name came to me. I can see how it can have certain... connotations... however. :P
I'm aware of the potential toil that would come with this project. I just figured that, given that I'm looking to do a second degree and maybe a future career based on this sort of thing, it would be better to get some practice with video editing and this was the most straightforward manner of enabling that.
I like Blaster Whipped Cream because it made me laugh and it's a name that people will remember. The others don't really do that for me. It also made me think of crème de la crème. Second choice would be Galactic Antics, since it's more generally fitting for all your characters - that way history will not repeat itself.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with choosing, seems like everyone is super divided!
I laughed out loud at Blaster-Whipped Cream, but you don't like it...
ReplyDeleteSo, I picked Smuggling with a Cool Head. More smuggler stuff on the internet please!
It's not that I don't like it, per se, it's just that I personally don't think it would suit the blog at all well. It's certainly made an impression as being a laugh-out-loud worthy title, which I can understand given that it prompted the same response from me when I thought it up, but the stuff which I write can't at all back that up: it's often far too analytical and not at all witty or humorous, and when it tries to be it just seems stale.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's just me being too critical, I dunno.
It would be like being drawn to see a show claiming to showcase a famous headline act, only for a less talented namesake to take the floor instead and just drone on and on for the entire evening.
That's probably the entirely wrong analogy to use in this context, but it's what my mind told me was a good response.
I agree, we definitely need more Smuggler stuff on the internet. :P
Yeah, it was certainly far tighter than I thought it would be, at least at first (seems Smuggling is winning out more clearly now). I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that Alderaan is coming last, really.
ReplyDeleteAh, well.
It's important you feel the title suits the content of your blog and you make some very good points here. So please ignore my Blaster Whipped Cream vote - still kudos for finding that brilliant title.
ReplyDeleteAlso, feel free to ignore whatever comes out of this vote. It's *your* blog, and that's most important! :)