Monday, November 30, 2009

Player Etiquette (WoW MMO)



This weekend I had full rested the whole time I was leveling my Druid plus 20% xp bonus off my heirloom items. This pushed along two levels quite nicely as I was getting really antsy about getting Cold Weather Flying for her. Last night I ended up hitting 77 in DTK. I am so glad! Woo I can fly past all the annoying stuff once again. Insta flight at that!

If you come here often you might have noticed I was a bit burnt out on healing with the Paladin and Priest (who are semi retired). Of course reading that I am playing yet another hybrid you may think I'm a glutton for punishment. I'm actually really enjoying a new healing role. Plus I like Boomkin well enough to level with, not enough to use it as my main spec at 80 though. If I want to DPS, Hunter will be where it's at. She is next on the list.

I actually ended up being dps in a couple of groups yesterday that the ol' man got me into. I've really been having fun healing with the Druid, throwing hots all over the place. So switching to dps was sort of boring. It was a snore fest really.Listening to the tank brag on the Priest was annoying too, simply because we had to beg her for priest buffs, which she finally handed out a few single casts towards the end of the instance. Don't blow up peoples heads when they need to learn still. My Warrior thinks I'm just a B*tch about things a lot. I'm just one who likes things done right. Do your job if your going to fill the role. Don't make people beg you for buffs. I think I died twice, I started using tranquility after that if we started getting low, which helped. Maybe I'm just hard nosed, however I try not to be rude about it though. I know new healers take time to get use to how things work. I just rant out loud to my husband. Poor fella.. lol.

While healing has been pretty laid back there are instances where people try to tank who shouldn't be. Well that makes me look bad and I don't appreciate it. Heck even healers can fill this spot too. If you are a new healer, you may not know that it's not your fault the group didn't go well. Or the same could be with a tank with a bad healer. DPS who just don't have a clue can make a group rough too. Why did we die?! While it's been ages since I heard this... I even have had my husband get mad in the past because I had a hard time healing (on the priest) an under-geared tank. While on the Paladin it was easier to keep one up. Luckily on my Druid I have a fantastic tank by my side most of the time. It spoils me.

Anyhow, as I was saying, when others don't preform as they should, it can lead to a quick burn out. This falls heavier on the tank and healer roles. I'm not perfect but I try to correct anything I find I am doing wrong and research my class to make sure I'm doing all I can be. I read a lot of info on the class I am currently playing. I've always done this from back in my EQ days. I was such a newb and one day I wanted to be better.

Speaking of reading, I love reading other gamers blogs and I've added some more on my list there. I like to read blogs that give information and outlooks on the classes I play (and insight on the ones I don't), see what other people are up to and just get other perspectives on the MMO scene. So if you are a reader and have a blog leave a comment and I'll add you and check out your blog! I'm always excited about finding another cool blog.

So do you ever feel bad when a group goes bad, even though it's not your fault you're not a miracle workers? Or how about when you or another player gets picked on by some jerk with a massive ego? There's a balance you have to keep in mind. You could go around being a jerk, who wants to be like that all the time? While you stive to be good and others don't.. well you have to be respectful still, part ways if you don't see it working. No reason to call names and leave with a dramatic exit. I joined a group that was in progress in OK the other day. The were making fun of the previous healer, on how bad he healed. I was filling his spot, was he bad or did he smarten up and leave early... flashed through my mind  While they were nice people, the tank was an 80 DK in dps gear with a more dps oriented spec. She took a lot of damage and threat was all over the place. While it wasn't a hard instance it made it less enjoyable to heal her than if I was healing a person specced and geared to tank. A newer healer might have been  frazzled with the situation. That's my guess what happened with him.

These days I try to have tough skin and not let things bother me, however things do bother me sometimes. Snide comments about dps not being up to par. For instance we were doing a AN group the other day where I was healing. The Paladin in all the Heirloom gear he could get is doing about 1.4k dps or so. While the other Paladin is doing around 900dps. This group ranges from around 74-76. He wasn't doing bad for crying out loud, leveling specs and gear are different than what it will be at 80. The poor guy offered to leave. I don't like this attitude, don't spam your damn meter in my group I have one. I use recount, the only thing is I don't spam it unless someone asks to see a report. Even if I am on the top I still don't like to spam it. These days everyone has a meter. Ok ok ... /rant off. I told him he was fine, told the other guy to chill.

This annoys me to no end, making other players feel bad for no reason other to boost your own ego. While I do speak about preforming up to par, you can't go shoving this down peoples throats. Offering advice in a helpful manner, not by bashing the player. While I may sound as if my groups were bad and annoying, they were not all that bad. Pretty smooth for the most part this weekend. I am speaking of the last five years of playing in general. This isn't a rant, maybe more of a lifeline throwing out there to newer players who might be struggling or older players suffering from burn out who need a little coaxing to keep on chugging even when people sometimes do these things. I know, groups are serious business right? Well these are the people you will be raiding with (so to speak).. so you tell me. Bad habits in groups don't change in raids. Neither do attitudes.

I have also met some really cool people in groups. It is nice finding people to group with on a regular basis while leveling after playing some of the lower populated games I have over the last few months. I've gotten some nice gear to help push me to the top with Nyomi. In all honesty my group experience has been very good so far with her. I look forward to finally hitting the top and gearing her up. Poor little Dr00d has sat there at 70 for hrmm.. a year?

The topic of todays post sort of went into a direction I didn't plan heh. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. It took on a mind of it's own.. didn't mean to ramble on so long today!!
-kaozz


Oh.. the SS is the little guild I'm currently in, they wanted a SS of the first guild group :) So we all lined up and took pics. My Dire missed this one.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A peek at Worgen and Goblin!

 MMO-Champion posted some very cool videos up featuring Worgen and Goblin! It is pretty neat to see them in the videos. Be sure to check out MMO-Champion as they have another video and tons of screen shots!





-kaozz 

Saturday, November 28, 2009

I <3 my Druid (WoW)



My Brother actually printed this picture and mailed it to me for my birthday two years ago (he worked at a place that did some awesome prints). It always reminds me of my Nelf.

I've played healers since my Everquest days. I guess I've always been one who likes to heal. Here and there it can be a burn out at times, honestly any class can be. Dual specs can help in WoW some to let you change things up. For this last expansion I've leaned heavily on the Paladin as my main healer. For some reason I left the Priest and Druid in the dust and decided I would rather heal on the Paladin. As soon as I hit 80 on the Pally I was whisked off to Naxx to start my first Northrend raid. I had plans to level a Deathknight and raid as that, even though she made it to 80, plans didn't go as expected. All the while the poor Druid sat at 70 collecting dust.

Once or twice over the last year I've tried to get into playing the Druid again however after going from one healing style it was hard to get into the mindset of healing as another. I was so use to FoL spam and playing the wack-a-mole that holy is. It's now been at least a month since I parked the Paladin, I've been getting use to healing as the Druid and using the tools to heal my Warrior as we group. Which has been so laid back. I've always loved hots so it's odd that I ended up as a Paladin healer for so long!

Last night we decided to do some instance runs. While leveling in groups is harder to gauge things (as they differ at 80), I do recall moments that were harder than others while working on the healers. So in our first group I actually went Boomkin because my Warrior decides to invite a Shaman who says she has one spec, resto. She's 80 and a bit low on hp and mana for the level, I assume she was a fresh 80 since she was in one of the bigger raiding guilds on the server. I wasn't ecstatic about this, as I wanted to try my hand at healing a group again, but it wasn't a huge deal. First group goes ok, we decide to do another, Shaman leaves. I switch back to resto and begin healing.

Out of all the healers I've leveled in this expansion (this will be my third), it has been the most enjoyable to heal a five man with (I even have a resto shaman sitting at 62 lol.. you could say I've played them all). The group hot and instant cast hots rolling over the group and tank really pack a punch. We had a Paladin who pulled excess groups a couple of times, at one point we had three groups of mobs on us and my Warrior looks over to me and says "Jen, I think you're going to have to try to shadowmeld, we are fixing to wipe." That's my emergency key lol, he knows I'm quick to hit it to prevent a full wipe in a group if I can.. if it works. However I nodded and kept on healing and we actually made it. The groups dps was actually very decent at this level which didn't hurt.

I'm not gauging my whole Druid experience on this as I played her before Wrath came out. I liked her for a reason but after playing three healers to 80, (once she actually gets there!) I think I will be happiest as Resto. I absolutely love it. We ended up doing three really fun groups last night and it was such a breeze and actually fun to be healing again.

I'm not saying resto is teh best spec evah! I'm just happy I found another healing spec I enjoy so much after being burnt out for awhile. I forgot just how nice healing on the Druid was. For me it fits well. Even if I do have to be a gnarled ol' tree. Yes, I went there. Tree. Form. Is. Ugly. Honestly it would have been better as a graphic for barkskin. Before you even think it: I didn't sign up for ugly form to go with my resto spec when I fell for the class.. I played a Druid long before there was an ugly tree, vanilla baby! Ok, it was cute.. for five minutes then I got tired of it.  I am going to get off the form topic, I love the class regardless.

I've always had a soft spot for the class and the idea of the class from my Everquest days. Even though it is a different class altogether it still is one I love. So that's it, I just wanted to say I <3 my Druid! It looks like she will take the lead in leveling as I hit 75 (finally) with her last night. I'm off now to do my fishing and cooking dailies!

See ya in Azeroth!
-kaozz

Pick me! (WoW)



"Play me! You can do some serious damage and not worry about healing those nubs!", says the Hunter! "No! Play me and you can get groups healing or doing dps!", says the Druid. Hunter rolls her eyes and winks over at me, "Come on, lets ditch her and have some real fun." ...While the Druid smiles innocently at me batting her eyes, "Ya know, that Warrior you duo with loves my heals!".. Doh, which one do I play?

Do you ever feel torn between your characters? I always seem to do this these days. I end up playing two characters I really like but just want to focus on one then work on the other. However they both seem to call me to play them.

With the holiday event wrapping up I will probably lean towards the Druid as she duo's so well with the Warrior and while he works odd hours we will never be looking for a tank or healer when we group. Sometimes I end up taking one for the team. I really enjoy the Druid so it's a win-win situation playing her up first. I get to group more with the hubby and I have really wanted to get her to 80 for a year. The Hunter will still get some time in here and there. They are both just so much fun.

Tonight we duo'd Sethekk Halls to get him the achievement for his Pilgrim's Bounty title and pet. It went pretty smoothly. He's bounded a level ahead of me since I've been alternating characters. So I need to catch up with the Druid this week. He only has three more rogues to shoot so I'm happy he's almost done with the Holiday achievements.

When I transferred my Hunter I sent over three heirloom items, yeah I cheated hehe. I sent shoulders for the Hunter and shoulders/chest for the Druid, so those help with the leveling some with the xp boost.  I didn't think about sending heirloom flight for the druid.. *kicks self*.. the Hunter already has it. I guess it's not so bad, I will get it in a few levels anyhow on the other.

Tonight I had someone /spit on my little racer rocket thingie from last Christmas. How rude! I laughed and asked him if he wished he had one. He replied by calling me a noob who wished I had an 80. Which was really funny. Ya know, I'm standing there with heirloom gear, chances of me not having an 80 with those on? I pointed this out (been there done that, note my heirloom items..) and asked him if he wished he had a brain.

So that was about as exciting as my night got. Actually while writing this I'm making a few chars for the hubby to shoot for the achievement. Working odd hours makes it hard to find some of the less played races. I leave you with a parting screen shot.



No not the Turkinator!

-kaozz

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!



Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm stuffed. No cooking tomorrow, yummy wonderful leftovers!

-kaozz

Heroes' Festival- The Dream Hero (EQ2)



I decided to adventure into Norrath for a bit tonight and check out the celebration. After some wandering around (I've never seen so many people in Qeynos at one time!!), I made my way to North Qeynos, where I stumbled upon a guard asking me to check out the celebrations and locate an impostor. For my reward Queen Antonia Bale granted me a dazzling firework selection. She sauntered down the steps and gave me a long winded speech as well! It was lovely to see her in the 'pixels'.



I also found, all across Qeynos, a collection of odds and ends and was rewarded with a beautiful Tapestry of Luclin. You can find these collection items all over Freeport and Qeynos. I then made my way upon a Dwarf who pointed me in the direction of a troubled dreamer. This is where it got fun! I adventured into several dreams to retrieve shards for the dreamer so that he could complete his quest and finally wake. In the end I was granted with the title (Decree) The Dream Hero.







I've not gotten a chance to see (a lot of) the beautiful Norrath of EQ2. Some places like Unrest and Karnor's which  I've yet to see within this realm of Everquest, so it was quite a treat. It's very nice on a nostalgic note, to see these places I remember adventuring in from years ago in another game. Unrest was like going back in time, same layout even down to the gazebo and the fountain out front! It was so nice to be able to see that some of the story still fits into place exactly.



I absolutely love fluff and the title was icing on the cake with this event, for me. The quests were lovely, simple yet fun. I even got some nifty house items; a gorgeous painting, a statue and the lovely Tapestry of Luclin.This was a very fun and rewarding event, I was very glad I was able to participate this year.



All in all I am very glad I logged in tonight for the event. I didn't think I would have time but it turns out I had more than enough time to adventure in Norrath before Turkey Day! Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and Everquest 2 another wonderful five years!

Cheers!
-kaozz

If you are curious about the event you can find out more at EQ2players and always the EQ2wiki!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Five things you don't want to miss!






Five years ago what were you playing? Were you having more fun then.. or now? Five years ago I was playing Everquest, then I moved onto World of Warcraft when it released. It's been a long fun filled journey! Five years later I'm still playing WoW and now play EQ2 more than the original.

WoW 

The main form of gaming entertainment for me is still WoW.  The five year anniversary was kicked off with Pilgrim's Bounty which has been great. This week I managed to get the Pilgrim title and Plump turkey pet with my Druid and Hunter. I thought about getting it for my neglected Pally, I don't know if I can take anymore turkey though! It has been a really nice event, much nicer than I thought it would be, getting achievements. At first glance I thought it would be more of a pain. I didn't have much trouble getting the Turkinator with my chars, I did it at like 4am.. When I tried to do it for the hubby's warrior prime time, I wanted to pull my hair out. It was also much easier nabbing 'turtreys' (My dad use to call them this and I always thought it was hilarious), as ranged class. The warrior was fine.. when charge wasn't on cd.

I was surprised to find every seat full in Tb when I went to sit at the table for my last achievement yesterday. I don't know what was going on with that, when I'm on horde nobody 'hangs out there' it's way out in BFE.. So I snuck up in cat form while watching another Druid run up in the middle of Horde Central. They all hopped out of their chairs to kill her so I pounced into one now available chair. Bling Bling! Achievement! Two seconds later they noticed me and I was dead. I didn't attack one person this season, I felt bad for them, the alliance side seemed easier, no guards attacking us. You can tell when someone is kind of nervous, skittering around the opposing side trying to get into a chair w/o getting into combat (in combat you can't sit in a chair). I however was attacked several times but by then I'd gotten what I needed so whoopee doo kill me.. the little lowbie 74. You showed me! All ten of you! Har har.. I know I'm so funny.

My Hunter is now 74 along with Druid. Switching factions with the hunter was actually cool when you consider reputations. My Hunter is the older character and almost Exalted with all the alliance factions. Having said that, I get to do all the alliance quests for faction which makes it even easier to max out. I finished up Stormwind last night and got me a pretty palomino. I only have two left sitting a bit into revered. Those won't be hard at all to max once I'm able to do the Argent dailys.

I even decided to try for baron's mount ( it seems cooler on the alliance since I no longer have my 'dead pony mount') with the Hunter. It proved to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I'm so use to facerolling through old instances on the Paladin! I actually had to let the pet tank as I'm not 80 yet on her, but my wolfie did a good job. Imagine the Baroness still mind controlling me at 74! She ran me into a bunch of mobs and had me melee my pet to death, which took a bit. Poor little fella. I just ended up having to kill her without the pet.

I still have not decided which I want to play mainly, so I'm playing them both up. The Hunter is so nice soloing and the Druid is so nice duoing with the Warrior. I want to get one to 80 then work up the other but I just can't pick which. I am enjoying leveling up again and being on the Alliance, it's refreshing.

EQ2
Another five year anniversary you don't want to miss! I have not forgotten EQ2, just been so busy with WoW in my play time. I will have to log in tonight though because there are anniversary events! From the patch notes:

"EVERQUEST II FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY EVENT The Heroes' Festival has begun!  A call has gone out to all Norrathian adventurers to commemorate the five years that have passed since the Refuge Islands first began collecting those lost in the turbulent oceans.  Celebrators, happy to share in the festivities, can be found in North and South Qeynos or West and South Freeport."


I'm going out this evening but I hope to have some time when I get back in to play a bit.. tomorrow is going to be a busy day, I may be able to get some time in tomorrow night if not. I can't wait to check those out!

Aion 
It's been awhile since I spoke on Aion. I had some issues with it and figured it might be something to come back to later. From reading here and there I have heard some great stuff in store. With the quest xp boosted it seems to be a nice improvement from the grind. I have heard about some changes that look to be in the future that may add more depth to this game. Player housing and mounts. Along with graphic enhancement, as if this game wasn't stunning enough as it is.. If you haven't seen the video Aion Vision it's well worth watching to see whats in store. Would I ever revisit Aion, perhaps in time. These changes definitely make me more interested.

Some cool things I noticed would be swimming was added (!!), the player housing looked .. I can only say wow.. combat looked more interactive,  and I loved the mounts. It even looks as if you tame them.. very nice.  I will definately keep tabs on this stuff, props to NCSoft for working hard on evolving this beautiful game. I've had beef about certain aspects within the game but it really looks like things might be looking good in the future with Aion. We will have to see what the future brings, I am actually looking forward to all these changes!


Champions Online
Champions has some more free play instore for the holiday weekend! "That’s right, from Thursday, November 26 at 10:00 a.m. PST, through Monday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m. PST, you can play to your heart’s content. We’ve got all sorts of new stuff for you to check out, including our newest lair, the Nemesis Confrontation! Sign up now! It looks like a fun weekend worth checking out.

Age of Conan
Awhile back I was ranting on games offering you to come back with a measly xp boost to go with the free time every other game offers.. AoC actually beefed this come back deal up with 100% xp. That is really tempting. If you reactivate before November 27th. This is a really fantastic deal to catch up.

Want a chance to win free AoC playtime? You can win one year of AoC playtime by entering this giveaway. Check it out at out giveawaygamer.com to enter.

I hope you all have a fine Thanksgiving!
In the words of Porky Pig..
That's all Folks!
-kaozz

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Let's Say Thanks!



This isn't MMO related but in the spirit of the Holidays I thought this was something nice. My sons school news letter included this and it made me think about all the troops away from home and family for the holidays: 

"You can send a card to our troops by clicking on the link that follows. If you go to this web site, LetsSayThanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and send it to a soldier who is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of our armed services. It is free and it only takes a second.  Remember that our military men and women will be away from their homes during the holidays."

-kaozz

Monday, November 23, 2009

The Turkinator (WoW)




Pilgrim's Bounty has been a lot of fun. At first I was thinking it would be a pain to get all of the achievements, honestly they were not that bad. I think the most annoying was the Turkinator, however I did that one late at night so it was a little easier. With beast tracking (I used the critter bites on my Druid), it was much easier. I also made a macro to target the little 'Turtreys' and cast/shoot, which made the achievement smoother to get.

I have just two more things to go for my last Achievement on the Hunter, I need to turn 2 more rogues into turkeys. The Druid is still working on it but I hope to be done with it tomorrow. I think I may help the hubby get his too, he is always slow getting into holiday events. Soon the cute little Plump Turkey and title will be mine! I think the Paladin will have to pass getting it this year,  if I get the urge to I may get it on that one also, as of now I am turkey-ed out.

We had a great time watching New Moon last night. I can't wait for the next two movies to come out. Every time Jacob's character took his shirt off or had no shirt on.. which was half  of the movie.. the women/girls were screaming and whistling in the theater, my husband claims the first to yell was a guy (I will admit it was a deep voice hehe). It got kinda annoying. When Bella leaned her hand on Jacob at one point a girl yelled out "OMG she's so lucky!".. And when Edward took his shirt off, silence. What no love for Edward?! I was actually grateful for the silence heh. All in all it was a nice movie, we had a good time.

That's it for now, safe adventures everyone!
-kaozz

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A great weekend: WoW 5th Anniversary & Pilgrim's Bounty




Lots of exciting things in WoW today! If you log in you get an Onyxian Whelpling  for the 5th Anniversary! Very cute pet, she even takes a deep breath and blows a puff of smoke. One of the coolest pets in game yet! *Cheers* to WoW, may they have another five wonderful years!

Today also is the start of Pilgrim's Bounty! The pilgrim clothes are great, I'm still trying to work on the achievements, some of them are sort of tough like the Turkinator, which I think you need 40-50 kills in a row. I hope to have a Turkey this year as a new pet. It seems the Stormwind tables were not working, I hope those get that fixed. I've also heard that this is the perfect time to get cooking skilled up. Supposedly you can get cooking 1-300 in  lass than 30 min! MMO Champion has a Pilgrim's Bounty guide that is worth checking out.I worked up my cooking to 300+ on the Druid the day before, now I'm kicking myself because this is a really easy cheap way! However I have yet to do any of this with her so far, I've been working on the Hunter first.

For an early Birthday Present my husband transferred my Hunter to alliance for me so I'm very happy about that! I also get another present today, he's taking us to see New Moon. Yes, I love the movies and books! I wasn't a fan until I had read the books however. I already know whats going to happen, I still have to see it on screen! My son also read the books, I think he wants to see it more than he is letting on. He says it's really me who wants to see it lol. He's already showered and ready to go. Now if I can get my ol' man to get ready we will be making good time!

So that's it for now, I have to go get ready! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
-kaozz

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Quote of the Day!




"There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far."


-kaozz

Murlocs, Pandas and Turkeys ...Oh WoW!


                              We be some crazy Murlocs, Fool!

I've not been feeling too well the last couple of days so not a lot new going on with me really. *Chews on some pink Pepto tablets*.. I've had a little time to level the Druid, which is almost 74... I am going so slow waiting on the hubby so I don't out level him. We've had a lot of fun with this combo again and I'm glad to be on the alliance for a change of pace. It's nice knowing both sides like the back of my hand, I know every city and outpost which is nice, though sometimes I run into the wrong outpost, which ends up in a life and death chase.

I've gotten my herbing and skinning up where I can use them in Northrend which is making some nice money, trying to save up for our cold weather flying on alliance. We've been doing a lot of quests and having fun, like the screen shot above heh, getting some questing achievements as we go. Next I work on cooking. I need to log into EQ2 but I just haven't had the time, so maybe later this week.. oh noes... This week is Pilgrim's Bounty in WoW! More on that in a bit.




I made a new friend, his name is Super Cute Kung Fu Panda Dude.. ok, it's not. I just call him that, it's really Pandaren Monk. I'm a lover of pets, they make me happy, Super Cute Kung Fu Panda Dude makes me very happy. You can /bow to him and he bows back (which everyone knows, he gets so many people bowing it's funny) and you can also /drink to him, which causes him to sit down and drink his little bottle of.. whatever it is he drinks. We are best buds, he goes everywhere with me. It's funny to see him start doing his cool moves when he gets the whim to show off. What else is cool about him is ALL my characters get one. So literally he goes everywhere with me no matter if I am on Horde or Alliance which is great.



So yeah.. this week is Pilgrim's Bounty! It looks like fun, I can't wait! Just one more day, yes I'm such a fiend for holiday events. Some neat things I noticed:

-If you eat five helpings of any single food, you'll gain benefits unique to that food. In addition, if you eat five helpings of every food, you'll gain the Spirit of Sharing which lasts one hour and increases reputation gained by 10%. This is accomplished much faster if you work together with your fellow feasters at passing food to one another. Very Cool!

-Daily Cooking Quests. I need to get back to leveling my cooking before then!! 

-Pilgrim Items. Ohh nice.. a Turkey Shooter!!

-Last but not least the achievements which award a Plump Turkey Pet and Pilgrim Title! <3 Metzen and the creative development/art team @ Blizzard who design those lovely quests and items! Speaking of.. this is a very awesome site to check out if your a fan of the WoW art.

On a related note, more new stuff, I've seen a lot of mixed feelings on the official WoW forums over the "Gating System" or releasing Icecrown Citadel in stages. Even some fellow bloggers have made some statements of how they feel about it. I really don't have any set opinions so far personally, I suppose that it's meant to be stretched out to engage us until or pretty close to Cataclysm. It's really not a big deal to me either way honestly. I have so much I want to catch up on with the Druid. I have more than enough to keep me busy for awhile. If I didn't.. well if might bother me a bit. How about you, do you like this system? Do you like this way of releasing content or would you rather it all released at once?

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings today... Safe adventures to you!
-kaozz



Thursday, November 19, 2009

Hail to the king, baby! (WoW)

I'm not big on playing on WoW PRT really, I already have stuff to do on live. If you come here often you might have seen me mention my son's interest on PTR. He's pretty into it, he loves testing things and he has had some cool stories and screen shots he shared with me. So as I like to share interesting things, I'm posting some pics he wanted to show off.

Also it's very cool to see the Devs interact with the community. Even the chance to group with a Dev when you join the new LFG tool, very neat! It looks as if the PTR has really been lots of fun. I don't have a ton of shots to share but I thought these were interesting and worth sharing.

Frostmourne supposedly a GM had this item, my son regrets not shift clicking it.. sorry guys! (Title per this shot heh)


   
Shadowmourne I'm sure you've seen it on every WoW fan site, well here's ours to add to it!



GMs in Chat Chat Always funny to see good banter with the players! Even Devs like to spam trade chat! Report that trade chat police! .. I kill myself with my humor..




See you in Azeroth!
-kaozz


Last Stand, devation from the norm, Zombie post.




I love Zombie movies, games, books.. anything Zombie. I don't know why, I just do. Not all the time of course, I just like creepy stuff sometimes! Last night  I spent some time playing Last Stand and Last Stand 2, very fun flash games. I had fun earlier in the night watching my son show my brother the game. We use to play it sometimes and always had a lot of laughs over it. I even named some of the zombies, there's so and so.. your Grandmother, your Uncle.. Oh I'm such a bad mommy. The chainsaw, oh it gets me in stitches.. I always have to use it at some point.

This is a fun little flash game(s) that can be very addictive! While this isn't really MMO related, these two games are really cool and worth checking out if you like flash games. Last Stand was the first and it is a little tougher than the other, I suck at it. Last Stand 2 has more variation, depth, a story line and you actually travel. It has more options, other than that it's still the fun filled zombie kill fest.

So if your bored, you like zombies, or both check it out. If you like zombies I have a link where I found a whole slew of zombie games I still am working on checking out, all flash of course.

The Last Stand 
The Last Stand 2
Zombie Games Galore



Till next.. Brains.. Brains.. Must have..
What was I saying? Ah never mind.. Brains..
-kaozzombie

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Hybrid Theory (WoW)




No this isn't a post about Linkin Park.. although they kick a$$! Actually, I was thinking today about my Druid I'm currently leveling in WoW. I know I will end up healing with her at 80, heck I already have a Resto spec simply because I duo with a Warrior. I enjoy being able to heal and dps, I think dual specs were a fantastic addition to the game. What bothers me is the gear part.

Oh I know.. You have to work hard and get both sets. Right. I did that with the Paladin, I have a decent Holy set and a so-so Ret set. Well honestly at this point I don't feel like working on two sets even if one comes later. Maybe I should transfer the hunter and level her with the Warrior, then I never have to worry about it! *Whines*... But I like hybrids. I honestly don't think the problem Blizzard aimed to solve with Dual Spec was really made much better, if not worse in some ways. Let me explain.

I cannot count how many times I read about it on the WoW forums, selfish hybrid classes speccing to dps and not heal or tank with that extra spec! Oh those selfish people playing how they want to, what has this game come to?! Well you have to take into account sometimes people don't have the time, nor want to spend time getting two sets of gear, and good gear at that, in this elitist world we now play in. Say they did start working on it, GEAR CHECKS! That annoys me to no end when people mention that in a group. I like to tell them to check my gear then make them waste the time to armory me and not even join. Ok, I don't really.. but I would like to one day *evil laugh*. Actually I've never had a problem with that honestly but I can see how it would intimidate some players. Also some people have that other spec just for PvP.

The problem isn't the specs now, it's getting the proper gear for both specs. I find myself at times pigeonholed at times into healing because it's often easier to get in a group that way, and besides my Holy set is better than my Ret set. Then my dps set hurts after some time with no upgrades. I actually have a whole dps set I can run in fine with, but it took some time, and really it's kinda dusty and not as shiny as the new gear out now. I don't mind healing, sometimes I don't want to though. So really unless you have a guild that has a lot of off spec gear up for grabs, or a lot of time to raid for two sets, it can be a pain. I suppose you could get a ton of badges in heroics, hey that takes time too! It would be much easier say for a druid to switch to Resto to Balance except the stat problem, I'd be missing a lot of hit and my stats wouldn't be as they should for dps. Sure a few items could be used but not all. I ran into that problem with the Priest. With the Paladin I had to get a whole complete different set.

Lets all just be what is needed! It would be nice if you could just change your stats with a click of a button much like you can with Specs. But lets face it, that currently isn't how it is. People have to pick what they want to work on first, or some simply pick one spec for PvP. You can't get mad at them for playing how they want to, we all do. I would love it if a class set actually swapped stats and enchants with the spec you currently were specced for. That would be very awesome, but it wouldn't really be viable. It would hurt raiding in a lot of ways I think.

I suppose in the end it's all about choices and how much you personally can work on. Just because someone per-say can tank or heal doesn't mean they really can, if they don't have the gear to back it up. Honestly some people are not good at everything, some people can dps like fiends but can't tank or heal worth a crud and vice-versa. When it really comes down to it, you have to pick what you want to do. If you don't, it leads to burn outs quickly. If you can do them all then more power to you! If you can gear up for all three specs, well done! Not everyone wants to or has the time to though, we have to remember that. We have to always keep in mind the most important fact.. It's a game, meant to be fun!

Do you find yourself stuck to one spec you don't like so much anymore due to the choices you made earlier in this expansion? Or do you simply just have enough gear to swap out specs as you please? I can say for my Paladin I can swap out and go for either spec. Once people know you can.. well which spec do you think they'll ask you to join as the most ;) Just some thoughts I've had while leveling, yet another, hybrid class..

See you in Azeroth...
-kaozz

Postcards from Norrath...

Some of my favorite places in Norrath... Enjoy!



 

 

 


-kaozz                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ugh...






If you came by this mornin' and saw the site was screwed up sorry! I had some yucky html messing up things. I want to poke my eyes out right now, I think I'll take a nap instead.. sigh I lost my blogroll. More work for later I suppose.

-kaozz

Are we having fun yet? (MMO)



I'm back to the point where I'm really enjoying WoW again. Lately I've read a lot of blogs where people state they are not having fun, the game is stale. I know exactly how they feel though, I've played three characters to 80, raided with two and have ran an endless slew heroics. I'm not hardcore, but I'm not the average WoW player either. Why am I all of a sudden having fun? It took a few breaks, tried other games and I'm now taking things slower. It's not some magical fix, but sometimes you have to break away and take a breather, or just slow down. I have a friend who has 5 80s and he's currently working on 3 more alternating ever 10 levels.. if that won't keep someone busy I don't know what will! However that's not something for everyone, some people don't have that much time or patience.

For now I have my sights on getting my Druid to 80, getting her an epic flying skill-- I do not want to farm 5k again but that's part of the plan. Eventually the hunter, however the Druid has sparked more interest it seems. Sometimes I think about what I already have and just sticking with one already 80. I miss my epic fliers, my achievements yada yada yada....but in all reality the Druid will make things fresh for me. Do you miss your mains when you play alts? I sometimes do but I'm having fun again. That's the goal. I respecced resto/boomkin which I think will coincide better than feral/resto or feral/boomkin, the gear will swap easier and I can heal and still dps as I level. I'm taking the time to catch up professions on her which keeps things interesting and changes up the pace.

Also there are some cool things coming to WoW soon which look great. The new quest tracking feature. Long overdue! Now they need to add in a healing tool like HealBot and I'd be one happy Dr00d (and Paladin)! The Perky Pug! You get it for pugging, funny one there, ILU Blizzard even if you make me pug for a pug.... A cool calico cat  and albino snake too, Breanni has the latest on all the pets. And two holiday events along with the upcoming patch.. MMO Champion has so much news I can't keep up anymore! And if you haven't seen it you can get your own Night Elf Mohawk grenades to throw at everyone! I pity the fool who hasn't seen these.. sorry had to say it. You can watch the commercial here, it's pretty funny. A lot of people complained about it on the forums as 'wasted resources'. I think it's funny really, all in good fun.

I'm still playing EQ2, I hit 38 and got a few levels last night with the Swashy. I found a really cool guild with some fun people so I'm really looking forward to playing that more. I also don't out level the husband while he isn't playing WoW. The server is still awarding 20% bonus xp which is so very sweet! This game feels so rich in lore and I relate to it being a EQ vet. Something about EQ2 just keeps me really interested, I cannot wait to hit 80, I think when I finally do I may play up my Fury next. I've just felt like playing her for some reason, I may level her a bit here and there just to have a change of play style.

Since I don't have anything witty to say in closing, I leave you with this:
O o
/¯____________________________ ________________
| IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR!!!
\_¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

-kaozz

Monday, November 16, 2009

Northren Exposure ... WoW



                                        Nyomi and Dire.

I had a quiet weekend and my time spent gaming was pretty fun. I only ended up getting one level for my Swashbuckler (EQ2), I just decided to take a breather and come back refreshed in a few days. I ended up quitting my guild so I still have to look for another that is a bit more outgoing and friendly. I'll save that for later this week.



Yesterday my husband was hopping around playing different characters, looking bored, and I asked him if he wanted to make a new duo for us to play together. Then I noticed he was messing around on his alliance Warrior. We had made a Warrior Druid duo before WoTLK came out and I don't really know why we went back to the horde. I've often missed my druid and asked him if he wanted to go questing on them. So we ended up doing a lot of quests out in Northrend. He hit level 72 and I hit 73. It was a real nice change playing our alliance characters, I've already pinned him into playing them again tonight when he gets off work hehe.



I'm dual specced so I can go several routes to level. I ended up picking feral simply because it's just so smooth for leveling plus I love the new kitty form. We actually found a named flying about, in the quest area around Fizzcrank and got the Northern Exposure achievement! That was a first for me. He got the loot bag that dropped with a stack of cloth and 15g in it and I got a new blue leather chest item for feral. We were pretty happy with that.



I even got 73 with the Hunter, she was pretty close to it anyhow. I still want to play her up but if he is willing to play up an 80 on the alliance side with me I want to do that first. I often miss the alliance side, the cities are so cheerful and cozy. Plus the Druid has been a character I've played since Pre-BC, before they were good at anything besides healing. It fits like an old shoe. I don't know if I'd want to heal high end again but we will see how far we get them first! (Yes I know my screen is cluttered with her, been so long since I played her I need to sort things out!) Lots of screen shots because we had lots of fun. So that was my gaming for this weekend. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!


Till' next time!
-kaozz

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Postcards from Azeroth...

Sometimes I wish I could send a postcard to my friends who I don't see on anymore.. Wouldn't that be nice? Enjoy!



 
 



 


-kaozz

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Mundane leveling... (MMO)




I'm still dabbling in both EQ2 and WoW. I'm having fun in both. I am at the point where it seems one of them will take a back seat so I can focus on leveling in the other. I keep saying I'm going to let the WoW account lapse, I just don't know if I really want to when it comes down to it.

In EQ2 I've found some stuff to keep me interested like the Spire Quests which are really neat and fluff pets.  I really want to get to the max level to be able to join in and do more. Trying to catch up sometimes can be tough. I need to find a guild that is more outgoing I think, logging in and nobody saying much of anything gets stale fast. I've hit level 35 with the Swashbuckler woo.. I need to push past the 30's and 40's I really dislike those levels. I hope to get a surge of motivation to push through this weekend. Right now I don't feel like bothering with it. However I still like this game too much to let those mundane levels put me off. I think my biggest issue with this game now is the community. Or rather the lack of.. maybe it's my server. I've thought of transferring. I will give EQ2 some more time, some more levels. It's really a great game, and I want to see the top finally.
 
In WoW I'm still working on my Hunter. A good friend of mine helped me knock out some group quests which was fun. I've ended up helping random people lately, it's nice to come back to this game and have people LFG. I can always log in the Paladin to do more if I want. One of my friends is trying to get me to apply to his guild which is actually dong very well. I'm thinking on it still, I enjoy being in a guild that does a lot. The only thing holding me back is my connection seems to sometimes be inconsistent on 25 man runs some nights. I will be so glad when I move this spring. If I could find a group that I could get into 10 mans with weekly, I'd be happy. The guilds I had joined previously kind of turned out to be meh. Nobody was ever on, still nobody on when I log in to see if anything is on the calendar for the week.

If I indeed get the hunter to 80, I think it will be a lot of fun. Plus it gives me something new to work on and time to think about what I want to do. I miss those days of running heroics and raids with her. Plus she has the most kick a$$ pet ever the Ghost Wolf.  I really can't remember why she got "retired", I think possibly because we always needed a healer so I ended up filling that spot. I'm considering hopping over to the rogue, not sure yet, I really like range DPS in WoTLK. Yogg is a mess for melee, I actually did that fight as Ret once and it was chaotic. I think I prefer fights like that as Holy!

So that is what I'm doing, I need to crank the leveling up a notch and get some knocked out this weekend. I hope to hit 40 with the Swash and get a level with the Hunter. We will see how it goes. Have a nice weekend everyone!
-kaozz

Friday, November 13, 2009

You've got mail! What's in your box? (MMO)





You've got mail!
I decided to clean out my mailbox today, it's gotten very cluttered. I have three or four email accounts running into one "mailbox" so it can get kind of messy. Why do I have so many email accounts? Well I probably have about five.. The main ones I use are;  for personal/professional stuff, another for my site (well actually two tied into one) and one simply for my games. I'll get back to the games mail account later.

It seems my box is full of games trying to get me to try this or that but the focus of today's topic is the ones that try to get me to resub. I will also mention a few things about account safety if you read far enough down ;)

Come back, we miss you!
This week I have gotten two emails from LORTO offering free play from NoV 12-18. If you sign up for 3, 6 or 12 month plans you get the expansion free. And while I'm back I can get 25% xp boost. Make it 50% and I just might think about it, my character is so low I don't think 25% would really make a big deal on a comeback.

Then I see Funcom is offering also14 days of free play. If I resub I can get - Subscribe for 1 month and get one week of additional gametime for free. Subscribe for 3 months and get guaranteed access to the closed beta test of the Secret World + the reward above. Subscribe for 6 months and get the Hyrkanian Headguard, an epic armor piece with a 10% XP boost + all rewards above. Subscribe for 12 months and get the Rise of the Godslayer expansion for free + all above. Meh, I don't want long term commitments, I'm not playing for a reason right? This would benefit current players more than me.

DDO Unlimited is having a sale on this and that.. and a Friday the 13th Marketplace Event. Cool but I don't play much now so I'm not interested in spending money on it.

I think I even got one about Warhammer last week.. The Endless trial. Cool, I already have a real account. I don't need a trial, you didn't offer a free trial when I wanted one anyhow.

While all of these are interesting and make me go "Hrmm.. should I?"... Nothing really sparks much interest. If you really want me then I want to come back with a bang.

Hrmm..
All  of this mail has got me thinking, these are ads, these companies want customers. They want to make money. I have nothing against any of them, this is directed at game emails I receive in general. With the economy like it is I (and I'm sure other players)  want the most I can squeeze out of a game. I want the game that offers me the most bang for the buck. If these games offered it to begin with I might not have strayed away. Simply put, the offers I usually get are on the meh side wanting me to spend a large quantity of money to get all I can.

While I do reminisce on how the gaming world use to be more slow paced I don't want to play in the "dark ages". Why play a game that makes me wait till level 40 to get a mout, run all over the world slowly when the other game I play offers it at a lower level? I know, I sound like the random player ranting on their personal blog.. in all actuality I'm the customer, a potential customer and a player. If companies listened to the concerns of players or actually noticed what works for people maybe those games would have more players.

What do players want? Not another email to trash, next!
After trying many different games I really know what a player feels starting off in a new game, new to me old to you, all the same. Players want end game. While they want this, they do not want it to take ages to hit the top. This goes for any game out there, all new games are old games eventually. As a game ages it becomes top heavy. When new players try the game they want to get to the top to catch up to the populated part of a game. While some games lower the amount of xp needed to get to the top, some players complain they did it the hard way. Do you honestly want to turn down the chance for the game to have a healthy player base? Or would you prefer the elite sit on the throne at the top all alone?

People get disgusted playing an MMO alone in a game that is very top heavy, while they try to play catch up. If you want to get those players back, I suggest offering a massive xp boost to close in the gap. Everquest did this, it's really much easier now to catch up and it's nice to see the xp bar flow. If you want people to come back, don't offer cash shop items as bait, offer things in the game to get them interested. Then let the cash shop do it's magic. Once they actually play and get involved then they might want to invest in the shop.

If you want people to come back, give them a reason to spend the money, a free this or that on top of the time and an xp boost to catch up. Why ask them for a bundle of money on top of a measly two weeks free? Everyone does that.

The moral of the mailbox is..
In this case less is less. These games have to offer more to get people back. While some of the ideas are good, they probably are not getting people interested enough. And honestly these days the competition is tough, games have to be on the edge to keep players interested, offer the most.

Games and Email Addresses- Safety?
Lately I've seen a lot of posts on the WoW forums with people upset of having their email as their username since the change over to battle.net. Years ago I got into the habit of having a separate email just for games. Why? Let me give my guildies my email so they can have information tied to my account? No thanks. Sometimes I have given a guild member my email or used it to sign up for a forum ect.. I never use the same email for any of these, as dear as these people may be, you just have to be careful. If you don't like handing out your email to people because it has your account tied to it, there are plenty of free places you can get access to email to use for friends. Just have all the mail forwarded to your other account or vice versa with a separate account for games.

Do you really have to do this? No, but I think it's a safe thing to so with so many accounts getting stolen these days. Plus you have a lesser chance of the game account getting into the hands of a scammer sending you fake emails trying to steal your account.

Goodies in 'da' Box
Last but not least I sometimes get something really cool. If you haven't got the one about Evercracked on IGN then you might want to check it out!




... this message will self destruct in five seconds.
-kaozz





Thursday, November 12, 2009

WoW: Fun on Test!

It seems that there was some fun on test recently in WoW. Some of the GM's ported a raid out to the Arena in STV. The members got to engage in a fierce battle with Onyxia along with some other bosses. While I don't play on Test my son loves it. He likes testing games and designing his own maps, so he is always first to hop on the test server when it comes up. So when he passed these pictures to me I had to show them around!  It was nice to see the GMs interacting with the players, I wish we could see more on live servers.

Several GMs were there for quite awhile, one in particular Pierretombal, stayed for about four hours. The players really loved him. He and the others put on quite a show! I thought I'd post up some of the pics as they were indeed very cool. As you can see from the chat logs the players went wild. Exciting and really nice to see this kind of interaction. WTG Blizzard!












 


Never underestimate the fun on PTR or when a GM is around!
-kaozz

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