Thursday, September 29, 2011

Show & Tell

Just a few pics of some games I've been messing around with this week. My lovely daughter asked if I'd share some pictures of one of her favorite games, Fantage, and us playing together. Fantage is a really cute game for kids and she loves it. It is sweet to see she is taking an interest in games and gives us even more in common. Very kid friendly game with controls for parents to decide how they want chat to work. And.. Just because she is going to be reading this: HI, BEAN!!! 

My daughter, her friend and I.

Shopping, showing the newbie Mommy around!

My daughter's in-game housing. Isn't is cute!

Twig is making sure I don't fade away from Second Life. While I don't play as much these days I do pop in and spend some time with her. She is making more friends and learning the game rather well, very proud of her as she hasn't ever played a MMO type game but she is learning the ropes. Some recent pics.

Warden of the forest. Just showing off one of these looks I love.

Chilling out on a shroom.

Twig and I out adventuring, looking for new places to explore.

And last but not least some pics from WoW. Just some fun or pretty shots I have taken along on my travels. I even managed to snag the phoenix hatchling this week, yay! I haven't done much grouping with Dire and when I have my screenshot finger must have been being lazy! Tonight he wants some runs through WoTLK heroics, we'll see how many I get ;)

There's no place like home- Kara Oz Event props behind me.

Outland.
I've wanted this pet forever!
Another new friend to add to my pet collection!


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

If You Can't Beat Em'... Join Em'!



Mostly everyone is talking about the SWTOR release date. I do want to play but currently if I end up doing a pre-order, it will be for my son for Christmas, he really wants to play. I'm thinking about going ahead and getting it out of the way. I'm glad to hear there is a release date though and I will play it at some point. It isn't that I don't want to play it, I'm just not that hyped still, but it might bite me hard at the last moment much like Rift and Aion did- However, after the initial burst of fun, those games just didn't hold me and I really don't want to get caught into that web again. The companion video out is very enticing, I do have to admit that! If you haven't seen it, very much worth checking out.

Right now I'm actually enjoying what I'm doing. I know this summer has felt sort of stagnant for a lot of people and it would have been nice to of seen some fresh games, but I've been enjoying myself. I think the wrap up of this year will be full of lots of interesting options. SWTOR is due out, EQ and EQ2 have expansions that will release and I'm looking forward to 4.3 in WoW.


I'm really enjoying WoW again and I can say my time away really gave me an appreciation for it again. Playing other games sometimes makes you appreciate certain aspects. I have a lot to keep me busy, working on my daily quests, trying for the Brewfest achievement (just two left!) and doing other things as they pop up. Also I have been working on a few achievements and drops in older dungeons. So, things are pretty entertaining and I haven't really begun to even do five mans again, though I have gotten some upgrades which now enable me to do the new troll heroics! My dps is better than I had anticipated, I am beast spec and I really enjoy it, nothing really impressive but not as bad as I had anticipated, as far as dps goes.

I managed to get the Brewfest kodo mount, very happy about that as I have wanted it on Clo for awhile. I also nabbed the giant sewer rat in Dalaran, and the achievement, in under five minutes of fishing there. Talk about luck! Not all of my achievement hunting has gone so smoothly but it is always great when luck goes your way.


I've been talking to some people I haven't spoken to in awhile and it is always so nice to touch base again and be able to talk to them on a regular basis within the game. With RealID I can stay in touch with other bloggers and friends on different servers or even the other faction and I really appreciate the tool. I don't like how it works with names as it can be immersion breaking but nothing is perfect.

The other night I was wanting to solo some stuff in Kara and I told Dire that I needed a raid group but I didn't want to bother anyone to help me create a raid, wishing I had him to log in to help me create a raid. He actually told me he was thinking about playing too, which surprised me. I guess he saw how much fun I was having and decided to jump back in ;) If you can't beat em' join em', right? I'm happy he is playing again and he is working on his hunter alt, which is 78 at the moment. He seems to be excited to be back again and it is always nice to have someone to play with on a regular basis!

It seems Everquest is on hold for now, since we are both playing WoW. I wouldn't say he was bored, I tend to get a tad bored especially when I end up soloing a lot. I think the economy and having to leave the computer on for hours and hours while trying to sell items, and sometimes not having much luck, it just all started to wear on him. I really think an offline trader mode would benefit a lot of players everyone who plays. It has said to be in the works but for now it is still an inconvenience to us to try to sell items. My son likes to hop on my computer sometimes to play games I have on here and that means logging a trader out, or maybe I want to do something else, another game or program. There goes my trader mode. Just not something I want to deal with right now. We'll return to Norrath again, it was nice being back and spending time with Dire there.

So that wraps it up for me. Waiting for fall to hit us here in Houston. The leaves are turning brown and falling from trees, it just gets so dry that they just die and fall off the trees about mid summer, not much of an autumn for us. Smelling smoke in the distance reminds me of fall bonfires but here it has been wildfires... Which is very scary that they are so close we can smell the smoke. It is still sweltering... Come on October, bring us some cool relief! Have a great week everyone, hope you're all enjoying a nicer fall than we are currently!

Friday, September 23, 2011

It's Good To Be Back In Azeroth



So, I'm back in the World of Warcraft. It's good to be back. I don't really have any goals in mind except to have fun. I was happy to see that I am still in my guild, they are good about not booting inactive players and if I want to raid I am sure I could get into it. I have plenty of time to but right now I don't know what I want- other than to putter around having fun for now.

I am casual. But I'm happy being casual. Maybe I'm just older, thirty-three, thank you! I already had those days spending too much time raiding or faction grinding until my eyes bled. My time is valuable and I want to enjoy every minute I can. I'm more hardcore casual, at times wanting more and other times less and I probably play more than the average player and yeah... the whole blog thing...

It's good being back. I play lots of games and I know when it is time to pick up and take a break to give some of my other games attention. I enjoy so many games and even trying many just to have a point of view from trying it out. Just because I take a break doesn't mean I hate that game. Leaving on good terms encourages me to come back with a refreshed, giddy feeling when the time comes. I missed my hunter a lot! *snuggles and huggles her plethora of pets* I even missed my alts.

There is no perfect game and there never will be, you can please some of the people some of the time but you'll never please all of the people all of the time. I am enjoying WoW for what it is, just as I do with EQ when I play it. I don't focus on the 'golden' days and what once was, rather I revel in the memories of all my friends and good times. That doesn't mean I like everything that goes on in my games but I try to stay positive and enjoy them for what they are, a hobby.

Instead of crying about raids being nerfed and how casual or hardcore ruined my game, how about I enjoy it instead? I like to do silly little things and just hang out with my friends, I have an awesome guild IF I choose to  raid and heck I even enjoying the daily quests again.

So, once again, it is good to be back. It is always nice to come back refreshed and excited. If you're not happy with where you are, doing what you're doing, nobody else can change that but you.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Digital Jobs And Houses

One of the coolest places I've seen in SL, from a distance.

In Everquest I have been such a lazy arse... I have so little to go with finishing up my epic 1.5 and I haven't really felt like it much. Dire has been playing his rogue alt, so it has been pretty much solo time for me, which sort of bores me lately, I prefer a duo any day of the week in Everquest.

I'm going to try to get on there tonight and finish it up. I have been playing on and off in the evenings but the drops are not going my way- STILL. I finished up the last part I was complaining about in my previous post about it, well I didn't really, I came in the other night and saw my son on my computer. I heard Everquest sounds (some games you just know the sounds by heart!) and asked him why he was playing, he hasn't shown an interest in awhile. He and Dire had finished up that part, after a server reset,  it was so cool of them!

Trying to do something relaxing, the other night I went to pick out a house plot and I must have chosen a guild neighborhood because it wouldn't let me purchase it. So, I just got huffy and logged. As it stands, I still need to grab my magician a plot and house. I suppose it gives me something to look forward to for another day. I had such a lovely plot picked out though!

In other news, I am thinking about subscribing to WoW this week. I don't know why but I find myself missing it. I have such an urge to play. I just want to putter around with stuff on my hunter and work on leveling the new(ish) priest or another alt. I think the idea of farming appearance gear has something to do with it. I really want to farm some stuff for the hunter!

Speaking of WoW, I met a couple of people who play it, in Second Life. I don't really talk to many people but these two are very nice and I told them to come to Silvermoon, they are very casual and want to start over so it would be cool if they started there!

Second Life is still enjoyable. At times I get frustrated with the loading times but there is always something new to check out, some freebie to check out, a hunt to chase down and so on. Dire hates the game but I use it as a creative outlet and a fun pastime for something extremely casual.

Out of the blue I had someone ask if I wanted to dance in their club yesterday. As you can have jobs in Second Life, some people seek employment for in-game currency, I never have but I have seen wanted ads around, mostly for dancers in clubs. I was just curious and asked them about it, but then I was told it was a stripper job it killed my curiosity. I'm not really interested in going in that direction with my games or having to dedicate set time blocks for digital stripping, heh. It was flattering in a way.

Mostly, I enjoy spending my time helping Twig and try not to lose patience with her! You always think that you will have more patience to a complete newbie, who has never gamed, but when you answer a question for the umpteenth time... sometimes it is hard- BUT I keep in mind she won't always be a newbie, we all have to start somewhere. I don't want to scare her off from the game by biting her head off. I try to remember what a newb I was.

I also help random newbies sometimes too, I have had a few coming up to me asking questions so I try to point them in the right direction on where to go or how to acquire things to start with. I can't ever resist helping people in my games. I haven't played the game for too long but I've learned quite a lot as I tend to read up on games I play and seek out answers to my questions.

There are also hunts to go on, which can be real fun. I had the chance to go on the Mother Dragon hunt which was pretty cute, traveling through a maze, lava, and finally to the cave with the mother dragon all the while collecting armor and the final reward was a nice dragon vehicle/mount that attaches to you (pictured below). Almost like doing a quest, sort of different though, but fun!

So, that is it for me, trying to not get a digital job but trying to find a digital house! What do you think about jobs within a game? Or houses for that matter? Is it too much simulation or do you enjoy having the option?Anyhow, just poking in here to dust off the pages and share some current thoughts. Leaving some pretty pictures behind- Hope everyone has a great week!

I heart zombies.

Twig and I visit Egypt. 

Mother Dragon armor and mount. 

Chillaxing.

Visiting some friends.


Monday, September 19, 2011

Yarrrrrr!

Yarr! We be magic pirates!

Arrrrg! I hope all ye land lubbers had a great 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'! I be dreaming about getting me sea legs back one of these days and heading back to Booty Bay. I be leavin' you mateys with a few pirate jokes!

Captain kaozz' favorite pirate jokes:

Why would a pirate be scared of a woman?
He might get hooked on her?

Harrrr! Harrrrrr!

Why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet?
Because they spend so much time at C!

Yarrr! 

A pirate walks into a bar wearing a papertowel on his head. The bartender asks him why he has a paper towel on his head. The pirate replies 'Arrr! I have a bounty on me head!'

Arrrg!

Where did the one legged pirate go for breakfast?
IHOP!!

Yarrr! Harrr! Yarr!

Safe adventures, mateys!


-Captain kaozz

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Pic of The Day- Jedi?!

Okay, not really... but I think it turned out pretty cool looking!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Casual Update



I've been enjoying Everquest a lot this past week. It seems more laid back than other games I played, not tons of pressure on specs and equipment. Being 90 and raiding casually has been nice too, I'm in it for the experience though not really the loot. I just tag along with Dire and go to have fun. I think I prefer EQ with other people though, more than I do solo. Not that I mind but it always seems more fun with even one more person to play with.

I started on the magician epic 1.5 this week. Dire has been a lot of help and really it is cake at our level, I could probably solo it but he has been a huge help with checking spawns and tracking mobs. The hang up is drop rates and spaws, I'm stuck waiting on drops from mobs that have a horrible respawn rate, two hours or so and then there are only four of them that spawn. Someone is beating me to the punch or perhaps someone kills them as they pass through the zone, in any case it sucks and adding in a horrible RNG with the items dropping, well, it is teh suck. Everquest hates me.

So this has put a damper on me doing much else lately. When Dire isn't on I don't log in much to work on it, I know- lazy, lazy. I suppose I dread the idea of two boxing the ranger so he can track the mobs for me. I still have to work on my brewing skill, not very high but I'm not looking forward to it either, lol. I'm a completionist and if I start on something I always have to finish it, if I don't then it can lead to disinterest. So, I plan on finishing this up before long! It's not hard but I can't help but fume at the time I've wasted on crazy long spawn times and unlucky drop rates. I suppose that is the nature of the beast.


I'm actually learning my way around in the world of Second Life. It is nice to get away from the normal MMO scene and just wander around and play dress up, hah. I can't say that this could ever be my main game, I don't socialize far enough or really have tons of stuff to do. I only log in with goals in mind, if I don't have anything to do, I log off. I do find it enjoyable sometimes plus I have found some gorgeous places.

What is so impressive about this game would be that everything, and I mean everything, is player created. All my clothes, skin, hair, shape, the worlds I explore... they are all created by the players. I really was excited about designing clothing but then I saw that to upload files it is ten linden dollars per item uploaded. It isn't really that much but it can add up quickly (one linden dollar= 0.01USD).

I figured I could decorate a house instead, that idea was deflated when I found out just how little prims you get with a house. What the heck is a prim? The word prim is a shortened version of primitive and refers to the 3D polygonal shapes used by residents to build objects in Second Life. So, now that you know what a prim is, some items can consist of many prims thus filling up your house 'prim limit' very quickly (I think it is around 170 prims per linden house). You could always rent an island from Linden Labs, quite expensive I might add.

Even though some of my hopes have turned out to not be avenues I wish to travel, I still enjoy it as a side distraction. I'm learning quickly and really don't have any problems figuring things out. Resizing and shaping things is a snap, figuring anything out as a veteran MMO is cake really.

The person I am playing with, Twig, she has never really played any games so it is a very high learning curve. The interface is outdated and redundant. Overly complicated for a new player but just annoying and redundant to someone who games avidly in the MMO world where UI's are constantly getting better. Today Twig somehow managed to flip her character's hair onto her back and it was upside down as well. She really couldn't figure out how to fix it. I just logged in and spent about five minutes turning and twising it to fit back on her head. I admit it was annoying but if there is a way to reset an item I haven't found it out just yet.

The thing is, it would have been very hard for her and she probably would have had to abandoned that item until she really figured out just how to do it. You can very easily mess things up if you don't know what you're doing. So it does have a high learning curve and annoying complicated means of doing things. I still find it fun as these are not obstacles for myself. The lag and slow loading is what makes the game consume so much time. It's not horrible anymore as I have gotten use to it and it seems better than it was last time I played.

Anyhow, I'll leave you with a video I made with some screenshots on my adventures. The song is Army of Love by Kerli <3



PS- Rusty Hearts Open Beta started today! Yay!


Thursday, September 8, 2011

SOE Affected By Blackout

Waiting patiently.
Meh, can't log into your SOE game tonight? Dire was asking me why he couldn't log into any of our EQ accounts. Seems the websites/forums are down and the game gives a login error- ZAM states SOE has been affected by the San Diego blackout. Here's to hoping that SOE comes back up soon and the residents of San Diego get power back swiftly!


Ah not going to sulk about not being able to play, seems some have it much worse with no power. Here's what ZAM has to say about the issue:

UPDATE: At 5:30pm PDT the San Diego Gas & Electric company stated that "We do not have an estimated restoration time. The power could be out through the night and into tomorrow." It is unknown whether or not SOE will be affected during that entire duration.

blackout in San Diego this afternoon has brought down Sony Online Entertainment and many of its services. Currently login servers and forums are confirmed as down, though players already logged in seem unaffected. Zoning while in-game may disconnect you. Linda "Brasse" Carlson has been answering some questions on Twitter:
Brasse: SOE and most of San Diego has just lost power. No ETA. ;(
Brasse: “@cuppy: @Brasse Rolling blackouts?” not unless they rolled it out across the entire city and surrounds with no advance notice.
Brasse: “@gdcurry: @Brasse ACK! Was there an earthquake?” No earthquake discernable from this location. We are clueless as to cause
Brasse: “@NickMcLaren: @cuppy @brasse According to 10news, unplanned and no idea of the cause yet” [I blame the Vanu #Planetside]
We'll keep you updated when we hear more on this issue! Also check out San Diego Gas & Electric's twitter feed for real time updates for that area.


Find the original source HERE from ZAM!


Keep posted with more info filtering in through SOE Twitter and Facebook pages.
Interesting Info on the blackout.
-kaozz

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Ding 90- Everquest & Stuff

Yay, we're 90!
I've sort of shifted gears in what I've been playing, we both have- Dire and I. My station access ran out and I just decided to let it wait for now, Dire still has it but he isn't account hopping like I am. I'm mostly waiting for the expansion in EQ2, so I've not been doing too much there. I do feel bad for not participating with the guild more as we are recruiters (Dire and I) but hopefully we can jump back in there when the expansion hits.

What we decided to play is EQ. Dire loves this game and this time he's really getting into things and being quite active, I figured I may as well too since I've been missing it. I made a new alt shadowknight, a few weeks ago, but I didn't get very far on it. I think I sort of got bored. Meh.

We decided to try out the new recruit a friend program and it is amazing xp. Add in FV server xp bonus and then a bonus xp weekend and, well, I ended up with a new alt at 90 over the weekend.  It really didn't take a lot of time to work on her, we still played casually. I decided to make (yes, another) magician. While we have another on our other account, Dire did most of the work and I really didn't want to play anything else, I was really in the mood to play a magician. So, my new mage is my first 90, I have several sitting in the 80's but I really enjoy this character and think she will be my new main. She is a bit low on AA but it's all gravy now. Dire bought me an enhanced minion VIII item and my pet is pretty tough, I was so excited when he gave it to me! Enhanced minion is an effect which increases pet power, it is great to have for a pet class.

Choo choo! It's the XP train!
I suppose it is rather nice to have an 85 SK swarming mobs for insane xp, really Dire power leveled the hell out of me. The amount of mobs he can kill at once is crazy and nets in loads of xp. I couldn't have done it without him, I tend to slack off and he keeps me grounded and focused these days. He stayed one level ahead of me once I hit 84 and then we both moved onto 90. It is really nice being at the level cap again as I haven't really focused on it for years, always being a few levels short of it. I think the last time I was max level of a current expansion's cap would be.. hrmm.. Planes of Power. The last time I really raided in EQ.

Fippy raid.
Speaking of raiding we went on a raid last night, first at level 90, fun! While I had to leave early (was my turn to carpool giggling teens) Dire managed to stay for the whole thing. It is an alliance we are working on getting into, through our guild, and we should be joining up with them three times a week if we can. The raids in EQ are really enjoyable in my opinion, I always miss them when raiding in other games. Not tons of dancing around doing the texas two step, balancing an egg on a spoon, avoiding green goo while trying to do your job, not saying there are not mechanics you have to watch for, there are plenty, but it is at a more relaxing pace. And a much larger scale sometimes. So we're really happy with Everquest, I still need to buy a pretty little house and decorate it... Ah fun times ahead!

Vroom! 
Ironically in my last post I spoke about a lack of interest in Second Life and then a week later someone asks me to help them learn the ropes in the game. Which in the process I have been learning more about the game and.... actually enjoying it. I think the inner shopping addict in me fell in love with the hunt for freebies! I really have the urge to decorate too. We'll have to see about that.

There are some really amazing places in Second Life and it is really the ultimate sandbox, there are so many different places, whatever you can imagine. Have a look you want to go for? No reason why you can't find something that catches your fancy. I chase clothing, skins, animations, vehicles, hair and house items down while trying to keep fun goals in mind. Plus, it is nice to actually play it with someone else. I'm not as social as she is, I'm more out for exploring and seeing what fun things I can find and how many things I can cram into my inventory, which currently has 7,914 items. I really need to start sorting it out, maybe that will be my next goal!




So that is about it for now, safe adventures!
-kaozz



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