Very handy little bits of info here, original post and info found on the forums all credit goes- here. 

I caved. Yup, I always seem to. I Picked up Wildstar this week. The whole thing with Wildstar confuses me, it is so laid back seeming, so cute and lovable, yet it claims to be so hardcore. I figure if I make it to 50 that right there is enough of an experience all in itself. Plus, it has housing!

I had to create a new account, as my free seven day account was banned and I don't even remember my beta account login information, it could have been the same account. I have no clue why, emailing support is the only way to find out and it is sloooow. Not impressed with support thus far. That said, there is a silver lining, I ended up rolling a different class (last time I went engineer and esper), the stalker. Which I really enjoy. I'm pretty much loving the class. I've managed to get to 17. At first it was rather painful, slow, and the quests, the world, the combat seemed to be all over the place. It was so in your face and a lot to digest. However around 14 things started to fall into place more,

combat seems better. There are not so many life and death situations with every mob I engaged, it seems to be smoothing out with more abilities and amps. My biggest tip thus far is stick with the game through the first map. It feels all over the place, you don't feel so tough but it gets better! The game starts to smooth out around 14 or so I found. So, stick with it, there is much to look forward to!

Today I didn't really want to get into what I think or long winded impressions, I mostly wanted to share a few cool things about Wildstar!

Housing- I just knew eventually I'd have to play because I've watched and waited for this for quite sometime. You start off small but you start out with some stuff. Mobs can drop items for housing, which is awesome. Challenges and quests can award them as well. The look and feel of these plots it's just so whimsical. Is it the best housing ever? I don't know yet, I do know it has function. And a LOT of cool things you can do there. There is reason to go there, grow crops, challenges, rested bonus when camping there, fun decorating, daily buff from it as well. Those are just a few things to tick off the list. You can also have neighbors and roomates, very cool!

Another cool thing about housing is that you can add so much to your house, 1-5 player dungeons, challenges for dyes, renown points, house items and so on. As you level you can unlock more things, as well as buying or obtaining some as drops or from your chosen path. There is a lot of fun to be had with housing. I have to say Wildstar has taken housing to a whole different level.

Shiphand Missions- Everyone already knows about adventures and dungeons. I read posts from many other bloggers writing about them, but I have yet to read about Shiphand missions. I was very happy to stumble across my first and solo it, since I am playing alone. These are instanced missions, which scale with 1-5 players. Great for a duo or just something else to do solo. There are six of them in total, which you will find as you level. You can find the list here

Two Step Verification- What is nice about adding this to your account is that there is a sense of security as well as an incentive. For adding it to your account (mobile authenticator) you get a free mount, which looks awesome! You can use this at level 15. Not bad for a freebie, not bad at all. You also gain a cosmetic item and a title. I didn't have to think too hard on this decision, heh. Here is the official page with details.

Costumes and Dyes- What I like about the costume system is that you can stick anything in there, any armor! It doesn't have to be a costume, and you can dye it all. Dyes are unlocked once, which I absolutely love. I reallllly want to see a dressing room or some type of preview for items, I hope we see one before long, will really help on deciding what to keep or toss. Doing the quest you get for unlocking the dye NPC grants you with a free dye, so make sure to do it!

Mentoring-  Mentoring is awesome in any game. In this game it is a great way to get renown points as well (if only I had friends >.<). How many times I wished WoW had mentoring so I didn't have to play an alt with a friend or family who was leveling a lower character. I just want to run my main out to play with them! I am very impressed with any game that adds this right at release. It helps keep players together, friends playing together, it helps players not feel so left out when they want to play with their buddies but are still catching up. A big thumbs up in my opinion!

As someone who was really interested at first then put off by the hardcore aspect and not being a huge fan of the combat style, I have to say I continue to be impressed with Wildstar. Given a chance this game really seems to be one that really grows on you if you give it the chance. Stay tuned, more to come!

This month is the last month we'll be able to log in and play Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. It will fasde away forever, off into the sunset this summer. Which is sad for me, I do intend to, I still want to say my goodbye! I keep wanting to play but the thought of it going away just makes me not want to get even more attached to the game, so I am putting it off. Which makes me appreciate older games that are still running and updated, such as EQ and WoW. Even though WoW is still such a major influence on the genre and still highly popular.

So in our return, I try to look at things differently. I don't complain so often about the things that bother me but I enjoy the things I like about the game and focus on those. For instance, my son is visiting little Easter eggs in the game while I write this, showing me the game's little special places you can visit and chuckle at. Right now he's visiting an area in the Jade Forest which is a recreation from the movie Up. Little things that make you smile. You can find a whole lot of neat things on this list here.

We (Nelf and I) pre-ordered the expansion. Yes, we want to play with garrisons, new models and just new content in general. We boosted two characters to 90 with our boost. I went with my 75 priest, I've been so lazy with her! I wanted maxed professions, which requires a character over level 60. He went with a fresh and new rogue. We've had fun with them and I've had some decent luck at upgrading gear. LFR is pretty much the same, not much new from the last time we played.

It feels like stepping back into comfortable old shoes in some ways. I have the worst luck with my hunter, who is a beast. I love her, she is so much fun with her shiny epics, a long way from the struggle I had when she was still sporting blues and greens. I just hate long queues which seem to always throw me in the worst group possible. The priest has the best luck. I already have a strong hold on healing again, I just can't not heal. Falling back into it was so easy. Then again blowing away things as DPS is great too, just not the queues.

In being back we've been pretty active, a little leveling of lowbie alts, transmog runs, LFR, faction grinding, exploring, just a lot of stuff to do. Oh, and the isle. Not much has changed there, it is still a nice change of pace when we feel like doing it.  Dire hasn't returned, he looks over and watches me play at times. I think he'd like to return, but he just has so little free time. Diablo 3 is enough to keep him busy when he wants to play something.

I will say this, I do wish the company would set more of an example, stick more to a schedule for content releases. I feel like nothing much has really changed, which feels sad considering this is WoW. It isn't a game I played ten years ago that is still hanging on in maintenance mode. I look over at Wildstar and hope they can keep up with their steady pace, it sure does look inviting. But, we take it or leave it, love it or hate it. I'm glad to be back playing, the new content just seems so far off! That is really my biggest beef these days.

I've been wanting to do more with the Living Story in GW2 but I just haven't felt like playing. The nice thing is that it will be there whenever I am ready to tackle it, which is awesome. I have been playing more Rift, in the events when I can. I just love the look and feel of the game. I love the dimensions, the events and the choice of things to do. I have been trying to play every day for the summer event. I've gotten a few interesting pets, a new cape, some titles.

I also managed to get to Storm Legion content with my alt. Finally! It has been slow going but because I do so many crafting dailys, hunt for events, search for artifacts, dimension decorating and just general things to detour me from strictly leveling. I'm a smidgen from 50, can't wait to hit it again.  I have not felt like playing the main as much, two levels from the cap at that!

Pictures of some of my chars in WoW and Rift. Have a great weekend!

I love the changes in the sky in Rift, especially how you can change them in your personal dimension too!

Climbing.

Tiny and cute!

Scavenger hunt, stopping for a picture!

Summer event questing and corgis!

A dimension I'm working on. 

Fishing!

World event.

I don't have this mount yet, I want it though! Cool thing is you can try it with the hitching post, which many like to throw down in LFR.

Sunwell.

Panda land.

Sparring with the King of Stormwind!

Hit you?!

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Hanging out in Stormwind

Another alt, heh.

What are you playing?

This week GW2 dropped a new season with the Living Story: Gates of Maguuma. I made sure to pop in and check it out, I definitely wanted to unlock it. So far it looks interesting and I am working my way through the new area, which looks nice, small but a nice change. Yep, a new area added to the game! Is it permanent? It seems to be the case! More of a desert looking zone. Is it worth the wait? Time will tell, I'm still working through it. I probably won't have a chance to check it out more until after the holiday weekend. But so far it has been fun,

I really like the new feel of the zone. The story mission has all our friends and the usual banter. "Stay close, Marjory!" and you know.... "Oh Cashmere, that's my line."  Pretty uninspiring, lets just start with the action and smashing faces. Get out your jumping skills, you're going to need them with the new map! Not the biggest fan of these but I suppose it is a change of pace? Something else to keep me occupied, as I detest jumping, I'm sorry I have to be honest. Really I miss the old Guild Wars, at times like these. Seriously. They took the "We want the option to have our characters jump!" request... and made a joke out of it. Oh you'll jump, you'll jump and jump and jump! There is a new costume in the shop, a neat assassin outfit, and the last costume which was Cantha themed, is still in there. I'd love to grab them soon, they are pretty snazzy.

EQ2 has a producer's letter out for July and August. It looks pretty exciting, always so happy to see this game get updates and new content! It seems we have new status items, I want to log in and check them out. Better hope to have some banked up or start working on status! Some are a bit pricey I hear. Nice to see new stuff added though, the status merchants were getting kind of dusty. Tinkerfest is around the corner, a chance at robot mercs with the story quest (they are pretty sweet looking), and also new holiday themed items which you can see here on EQ2 Trader's Corner. Looks to be a refreshing couple of months for EQ2!

The first EQ has a double XP weekend this weekend, woot! Dire and I returned last week, something for him and I to do together, so that will be awesome! We'll be soaking up the AA points in no time! It starts tomorrow!

While I don't play Wildstar I am pretty impressed with the amount of content they have already dropped in their first patch: Strain Ultradrop, after the first month of release! Keep up the good work guys, very impressive. Now if they can keep this pace up, there is going to be some real competition for a lot of games out there, stringing players along with tidbits through huge content droughts. *Looking at you World of Warcraft*.... I just wasn't drawn in because of the combat style enough to want to play, but I do have much respect for a company that tries to keep their players, as well as wanting to keep them interested and excited. I read that they had planned to roll with a heavy workload in order to keep up a swift release of content. It is good to see someone turn on the heat!

Champions Online has some goodies coming over the weekend, a patch today with some nice quest rewards, which last until July 8th. A free travel power, which is interesting for anyone who wants to look and feel patriotic. Plus, it's free. Subscribers also get a new costume item unlock from the vendor. Two special missions from today till the eighth.

Second Life is celebrating it's 11th Birthday: SL11B! It is still going strong. Check out a list of community booths, these always have some great freebies for the clebrations! I missed SL10B but I got some really awesome stuff for SL9B. I need to log in since my account was reinstated and taken off hold, yay! I just never have time anymore. You can also find a community website with information on events and times here. If you haven't ever checked out Second Life, a great time to take a look with some direction to check out events. The community is highly creative, some amazing talent out there!

Summerfest has returned to Rift, according to the forums. Yesterday when I logged in I didn't see anything and the website hasn't updated us, but it seems to be in swing currently. Lots of things to gab with this event, a great time to pop in and join in on the celebration!

And in WoW we have the Midsummer Festival. Nothing new this year. Get out your alts for the xp buff! Last week we were returning with the free seven days, this week we're back playing, Nelf and I that is. Also, I read another batch of WoD beta invites were going out today. Oh please pick me! The only beta I was in was the WoTLK, which was very, very exciting. I mostly want to look around, I want to see Garrisons, new models and the new areas. Good luck if you're trying for beta! More on our return in my next post.

Have a great holiday weekend to those here in the US of A! Happy Independence Day! 

Rak and I showing off our awesome costumes :)

I really love games, I suppose that is why I play so many. That and there is always something to draw me back in. I like new stuff, free stuff, events, stuff that keeps me engaged. This weekend I thought I'd share a few new things going on, some free goodness and even some discounts.

Nelf and I have been really enjoying Defiance. To celebrate season two there is a code to apply to your glyph account for free fifteen days (a seven dollar freebie here). We jumped on it. The code is PARADISE. People in the game seem pretty cool, it doesn't seem to have a toxic community. I have seen that many people help out in areas, a lot of the time with events people will revive downed players, which is great. Love riding around in vehicles they are so FAST!! Every other game feels so slow now, lol. Good stuff here!

Heri joined us playing the other day and we really had a cool time, it was great to all jump in and play together no matter when we started or what our EGO level was. Perfect game to play with friends. Nelf and I tried out instances yesterday, not bad at all. We had fun, basically shooting things up. Nobody seems to run ahead, people seem to stick together in this game more so than trinity based groups in other games. The combat is fun, fast paced but you don't have tons of skills to worry about. You can swap out weapons on the fly. I have a weapon that does damage and heals, love that! So you can heal if that is your thing! A lot of interesting choices for weapons, you'll find something you like. It is still the most fun played with others, there is always something going on, which is probably the main drive for me to play. It feels odd playing older games that don't feature events, they are so captivating for me. I honestly can say I really love playing Defiance, for many different reasons than why I like other MMO type games. It is just different, very cooperative, and just plain fun.

Speaking of Trion games, Rift has a new hellbug event going on to celebrate the new Defiance season as well. I have really been slacking with Rift lately! I will try to pop in soon and grab one (if luck is with me, lol), I read there are some new ones, I'd love to have another in a new color and I still need a pet!

Currently Champions has a discount on Lifetime and subscription packages. I'm still playing and having fun. I should get a lifetime, but the ONLY lifetime sub I ever bought lasted me just a short few years as the game sunset this year (Free Realms). I'm slowly leveling, slowly... That tailor (character designer) really has a strong grip on me! My buddy, Rak, has been playing also. We did some alerts the other day and it was good fun. Alerts are missions where anyone can join (instance/dungeon) and you get some nice xp as well as an xp buff. I really love doing these, nobody is rude so far, they seem to go pretty quickly too. Plus, it is always cool to see what kind of characters join, I love seeing other people's costumes!

My character in EQ2 must miss me quite a lot, slack again! This weekend I hope to get some time in and check out the new house actors that were added to the game. These are models that look like players which you can use to decorate your houses, give them emotes and such. Very cool addition! These actors are made by tailors, I'll have to see if they added any into the station cash store, all I read was tailors as of now.

We're newbies again! Almost... 

And last but not least, Warcraft has a 7 day free time deal going on if you haven't been subbed for awhile. Redeem it by June 30th though! I didn't even see this in my email, Heri told me to check for it and there is was sitting all lonely in my alternate email. Nelf was really excited because he was thinking about playing but wasn't sure if he wanted to get back into the game, thus free time was perfect to find out with. Free, we love us some free time!

So, we put that free time to good use! We started up a couple of new characters after messing about on the mains for a bit. He went with a paladin and I went mage. I have never played a mage past 20 in all these years! We could pick up WoD pre-order and boost them but thought instead it would be fun to just play around for now. It isn't like there is a real rush to be at the cap anytime soon, heh. Looks way off into the distance for the expansion... Squints really hard... Nope, no rush.

On another note my Second Life (alt acct is fine) account was suspended, apparently something to do with an attempted hack. While I am selling stuff still in game, this annoys me to no end. Not even an email to let me know, they claim they are scared the email would be hacked too. Nobody hacked my account, I know Twig logging it on and taking all my money (Linden) all the time probably flagged it. Ugh... Not happy about that. Not that I play much anymore but it really ticks me off, the wait begins. I won't hold my breath. Like I need something else to play currently... right?!

Have a great weekend!