Monday, April 30, 2012

Weekend Recap



This weekend brought in some really great GW2 posts, in my reader. I really enjoyed having a peek at the game through, many other, bloggers eyes. Lots of fantastic videos too! I plan on playing it but I just wasn't up for getting a taste of something that isn't due out for awhile. Just a bit beta'd out, heh. It was great having a look, even if I wasn't playing. I did have a nice weekend playing other stuff, plenty of things to do.


WoW
I spent a good bit of time playing WoW and working on my druid. Mostly playing around with transmog stuff, which I happened to win third place in our guild contest, I won a cute little mechanical bunny pet! I've also been working on achievements, tradeskill things and making a little coin. The nice thing about WoW is it is very accessible. You can jump in and feel like you're getting stuff done even if you don't have a ton of time. Or you can just waste a bunch of time and still have fun, lol.

Wheee!
I even did a couple of regular instances. I've been having pins and needles feelings in my hands (CTS acting up I suppose) lately so I don't always feel like doing this sort of thing but it was really nice and the people were very laid back. I always start off saying hello and sometimes it can draw out the group to be a little more friendly.

Dire even logged in on his hunter last night! I have been asking him to pick something for us to play together but he hasn't. He didn't take very well to Vanguard, sadly. We ran the hellfire (TBC) heroics and then killed Magtheridon. I got a pretty new staff to transmog (picuted up top), I was so happy. Hopefully he logs in more to play with me, it was a lot of fun. My son is playing again, we did the Scroll of Resurrection today and he's now working on a shaman. I'm excited about playing with him. I bought him one of the Total War games last week and he's been hooked on it. He ended up getting the bundle off Steam.

I've been farming transmog gear, exploring zones and working on achievements and I think I may work on the loremaster title. At least attempt it, hehe. I explored some older zones this weekend as I was traveling and realized how much I missed some of those old zones I hadn't been to in ages. It would be nice to work through them again for the achievement! It's soothing just going back to old haunts too. I like to pop in and look for rare mobs, esp in the mid to low level zones. They have a lower spawn time and most are up when I check. The greens can net decent money if they are items that can be transmogged. I've made some nice money off those that are in demand.

Children's week is also here! I've been working on the pets, I got Mr. Wiggles on the druid, still have the two others to do and the hunter and priest still need it for this year. Mainly though I've been enjoying the druid mostly, puttering around having fun.

Player made dungeon Avatar. 
EQ2
I haven't played EQ2 much, for quite awhile. I felt like messing around with my Beastlord a bit this weekend and had a nice time. I revisited the player made dungeon system and really ended up having the most fun with it. I like it more than I did at first and really it is a nice change. I have a certain avatar that I enjoy playing so it is cool to just switch things up for awhile and play something different. Plus the xp you get from those, at my lvl, is really awesome. I hit two levels and got an AA point, bumping me up to level 26.



I also worked on the new Freeport heritage quest for the Freeblood race and got a neat 'clicky' effect that swirls around my character with deathly looking green skulls. What is nice about EQ2 is there is a lot to do, a lot of things to choose from. I think that is what makes it such a great game.

Another great thing about EQ2 is with it being free it is great to pop into with an alt and mess around whenever you feel like it. If you don't then no big deal. It isn't that I don't to support EQ2, I probably spend more in micro-transactions when I do play, heh. I even threw some into the game for the triple SC weekend. I plan on spending more time in Norrath as I can, I will probably spend a good deal in some of those player made dungeons, they are awesome.



Vanguard
I'm still playing Vanguard. It is going slow. That is due to this being one of the games I haven't played for as long. I don't know all the ins and outs with it, the lay of the land. I am still learning. Playing Vanguard is relaxing and I try to keep it at a fun and relaxing pace these days. I've been working on some harder quests so I play a bit and log when I've had enough, until I get through these.

I spent some time last week crawling through dungeons and checking different areas out to level with. Sometimes the travel and exploring can cut into the speed of leveling. It is so nice just to explore and stumble upon quests in places I've never seen. I did manage to run off a cliff and lose a good chunk of XP while I was talking, Dire got a good laugh out of that, as I fumed, heh. Probably the most frustrating thing about VG to me, the xp loss if you can't get back to your corpse.

As May hits I wonder when we will hear more about the F2P conversion. I am really interested in what SOE has in store for this game. I would really like to hear more soon. Alas, no news lately, maybe we'll hear something soon. At least we're getting weekly updates, that is a good thing.  I am very excited for Vanguard getting attention and I cannot wait to see what is in store!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!









Friday, April 27, 2012

TGIF Link Love


Stop trying to molest me Mr. NPC.


Yay, it's Friday. Thought I'd share some link love. I have plenty to write about but I'll save it for a more interesting post over the weekend or maybe Monday. For now there's some better stuff to share :)

I'm looking forward to reading about GW2 beta impressions in my feed reader over the weekend. Syp seems pretty hyped up about it! Bhagpuss is reminiscing and getting ready for Yak's BendArdwulf plans on uploading some videos, can't wait to see those! He also has a really cool Vanguard video up too, check it out.

If you're into transmog stuff, there is a wonderful contest on Proudmoore- The WoW factor. Check it out here, if you happen to play there. I think it would be really fun to even pop in and check out. I absolutely love transmog events and everything transmog! My server needs more of this stuff! BTW-Don't forget Children's Week starts Sunday!

Allods is celebrating it's one year anniversary! There are prizes to be claimed. Check out the information here. Speaking of anniversary events, LoTRO is celebrating it's fifth anniversary! There is a big celebration which has been extended into May, Massively has the rundown. Happy Anniversary to both of these great games!

TAGN has a really awesome post on the new fishing profession in Rift. It sounds like a lot of fun, almost makes me want to pop in just to check it out.

My friends over at Encrazed Crafts have some new ME3 videos up, as always they are funny XD I was speaking to the missus the other night and she mentioned the Mr's hilarious french chef skit, it's too funny, check it out!

And I leave you with a video from the awesome- Your Favorite Martian!





Thursday, April 26, 2012

Eye Candy



Flowers and slime!

I finally figured out how to solo chess. 

Caverns of Time. 

Great place for a nap- The Emerald Dream.

Sparklez!

Flying high.

Hilsbury Manor.

Exploring under the moon.

A ghostly harbor.

On the prowl.



Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Music~





Lindsey Stirling is one of my favorite musicians. Thought I'd share some of her videos today. Music any gamer would appreciate ;) Check out some of her other music on YouTube as well, she is amazing!





Tuesday, April 24, 2012

'Biker Elf'- Transmog (WoW)





Sharing a shot for my guild's transmog contest, it has a 'biker' theme and the reward is a really cool... bike, hehe. Unfortunately my armory hasn't updated for many hours and I'm showing the wrong transmog set, even though the tooltip lists the correct transmog items :( I busted my buns on this set, it was fun but I am a bit let down the armory is being funky, ah well. Anyhow, wanted to share it! Not exactly what I had in mind, bad rng on some bosses, but it turned out better than I thought it would considering I had about 24 hours to get it together!




Monday, April 23, 2012

Weekend Recap


Tera beta, my archer. 



Ugh, 24 hour downtime for all SOE games today. I really dislike that, I mean can't they do it in chunks, so I can at least play one of my SOE games while the other is down? I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, as a company, with one game- much less all of your online games. I sometimes boggle over the choices they make, but I do love my SOE games.

I would p lay something in beta but Diablo 3 and Tera are over today. And if you haven't logged into MoP beta as a newbie panda, consider yourself better off. I can't seem to find a good time to try one out without being bombarded by cute, chubby pandas all over the screen. I mean everywhere, I think one popped out and fell onto my desk, scuffled around then jumped back in ;) I could play the hunter but I want to try out the new race and class first.

Is she doomed to be a lowbie forever, in beta at least? Oh yeah, where are all the other pandas in this pic!? ...

Over there.... that's where.


Speaking of betas, Tera was pretty nice. I'm holding off though. I just can't justify buying a game I'm not quite sold on. It is decent but a bit too fast paced; a bit too much clicking for someone who gets stiff wrists from that much clicking and moving within a game. I have moderate wrist issues. You should have seen me when I got Fable 3, I couldn't move my arm without wincing the next day- from all that clicking. The ranged play, in Tera, is much more laid back than the melee.

I did try a melee class, the Slayer, which I really liked. I got sick of seeing panties in my face so I went with a male and he was very awesome looking with that huge sword strapped across his back. It was a bit more involved with movement in fights but it was fun. I  also liked the archer too, another ranged class, The traps were neat and there was a move much like the WoW hunter's disengage, it throws you back several feet.

I had a great time in beta and would love to play it if the game were F2P. I couldn't play it as a main game, maybe as something on the side. The game is just gorgeous though, I was so impressed with the visuals. They were superb. I might give it another go in the future but for now it is on hold. I do wish Tera a wonderful launch!




Diablo 3 beta I dabbled in but not excessively, just not enough time. I liked the classes a lot, I wish we had a necro and druid though. The witch doctor was decent. I am not sure what I will be playing. I have the WoW annual pass- so I will be getting it. It reminded me of Dungeon Siege 3 kind of. I can't exactly say why. I thought the character models were nice, I was more impressed with the males than the females, overall. The males had more of a 'badass' look to them.

I haven't had a ton of time to play Vanguard much recently, yesterday I did spend some time playing it and had a really great time just soloing in Hilsbury Manor and questing. I worked on my faction to get the panther illusion mask, I was so happy when I finished it. You basically grind miners in order to gain faction with some siren mobs. Once you are at 12,000 rep you can do two quests for them and get the mask. It has really great stats plus an instant click with the panther illusion and gives 20%+ run speed and 5%+ haste. I love it! It is great to use indoors. Plus it looks pretty sleek.

I love when games offer cool quests to work on for great items like this mask. I read there is also a skeleton illusion as well. It is higher up, can't wait to do that. I am now 25. I put the unicorn mount quest on hold as I died a bit traveling around with it, like the time I parachuted into three dot level 37 mobs. I lost about half a level worth of xp goofing around. I'm going to pick it back up around 29 or 30.


Rawr!


I really enjoy Vanguard. Taking detours and exploring, stumbling upon quests and seeing some really great areas. It really draws you in and makes you feel as if you are playing an RPG almost. I received my veteran rewards with the Venerable title, some furniture and a very, very cool wolf (fluff) pet.

I'm sad I can't play it today /sulk. I'm not sure what I'll play. I was downloading Runes of Magic again but it stopped at 2gigs last night.... I have it going again. We'll see how that turns out. I will poke around in WoW most likely. I've been considering sending my Druid to the Alliance because I miss having her there. I'm still not sure. I'll just have to see what I feel like playing. I was thinking about EQ2... But, yeah, SOE game too, lol.

If you play a SOE game today what will you be playing? How long do you estimate we go over? LoL! Have a great week!





Saturday, April 21, 2012

Tera Beta




I decided to try out Tera beta this weekend. I wanted to take the chance and try it out while I could. So, I thought I'd share a few impressions on Tera. There are just my thoughts after playing it for a few hours.

First off are the graphics, they are really lovely. The characters look great and move pretty fluidly, the scenery is gorgeous. It is a very good looking game, a nice setting for a fantasy game. It almost reminds me of Aion in the feel but it has a different style to it. The game also has some really nice music as well.

The game play is a tad different. You sort of get used to it after a bit, moving the camera around much like you do in Dragon Nest. I played Vindictus and I'd have to say that they both feel very similar in that area. it is even similar to DCUO. I'm not a huge fan of it as it just makes me feel I have less control. But, as I said, you do get used to it and it is pretty easy to access your menus and windows. Great way to get yourself to start key-binding because, well, you sort of have to, in order to play, lol.

I noticed the game refers to the word ASS a lot, like BMAs (Bad Ass Monsters). Kinda funny but feels a little out of place. I don't know if I've seen the word in the actual game but I've seen it and heard it in a lot of ads and on the website. I take that back- I see a lot of it as my character runs and her skirt flies up, lol.

Back to game play, combat is pretty fast paced. People keep talking about how you have to be on the move constantly, really it isn't like that. You move out of the way while the mob does an attack, then you go back to attacking. Much like you would in a Mario game, heh. You're not just running all over like a maniac and all you have to do is move over to the side while the attack is going off. It is actually pretty decent in that sense. Now, if you're a mystic you can let a pet aggro it for a few seconds (like I do in my video, at the bottom) and then you can just stand there blasting away. I don't know if this works later on but if the game is a fast paced combat game I would imagine it does.

The game has tons of quests, it is engaging and fun. Is it the best MMO out there? No, but it is nice to have this as another option. Will I buy it? I'm not sure. Going to spend a bit more time in beta this weekend and see how I like it as I progress through the game. It is nice to play something fresh and new, very refreshing.

I made a short video, kind of choppy with fraps running but the game does run decently for having such detailed graphics, when fraps isn't going. Just showing the game and combat a tad. Throwing some pics too, enjoy!





















Friday, April 20, 2012

TGIF!




I considered taking TOR up for the free days on my account this week but I'm probably locked out of my account again. For some reason I keep getting locked out and my password keeps getting rest and then I have to head to another website and... meh I can't be bothered. There is currently a weekend pass until the 23rd.

I hear the TOR outbreak event is pretty interesting but seems more aimed at higher levels, unless you want to camp corpse explosions. I suppose that is cool in order to get some fun fluff stuff. Sounds like a fun event and I'm glad to see TOR players getting some new stuff to do, even if it is just an event.

I'm considering downloading TERA to try the open beta. They key for trying it-TERABETA. Pretty easy to remember. You can sign up here. I've not been all that excited about this game because I haven't been following it all that much. I am curious to check it out and an open beta weekend might be the perfect chance to check it out. It lasts until the 23rd as well. I wasn't aware of the MMO-FO ad campaign until Syp poked a bit of fun at it recently. They are kind of funny, I suppose TERA is trying to drawn in players from more popular games getting their attention. It does get one's attention, I don't know if it is in a good way, lol.

And speaking of the 23rd... All SOE games will be down for 24 hours. Ugh, we just had a whole day of downtime in Vanguard recently. I do hope this doesn't run into a 36 hour downtime. I don't look forward to this.

EverQuest is handing out gifts to reoccurring subscribers. I don't get why food and drink are added as gifts, unless they were miraculous or hearty meals. The big bags is kinda neat and a cool new skin for mercs- if you're on the three month or higher deal.

I finally got into MoP with my own account. I'm going to copy my hunter over and check things out with her. I haven't really checked it out again since my initial peek either, so there is still much to see. It seems thus far 400,000 Annual Pass invites have been sent out. That's almost half of them?

If you haven't gotten in MoP beta you might want to try D3 since it is in open beta this weekend. I've checked it out a bit last week, seems fun enough. I've gotten some freezes and I'm not sure if it is an issue with my machine or if it is something with the game. It is beta after all. It reminds me a bit of Dungeon Siege 3. The classes are pretty cool, I like the the witch doctor a lot. I haven't played it very much though, just trying out the different classes.

Last up for today- Tired of making play-lists because you can't repeat with YouTube? A while back my son showed me youtuberepeat.com, which is really cool. I've already stuck a song in a link here, check it out. A pretty handy site, all you do is type repeat before the.com.

That's it for today, have a great weekend! TGIF!!






Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Heroes of Dawn (Vanguard)




Last night Dire and I finished up the Isle of Dawn for his new character. I have to say it was very rewarding, I'm glad we stuck with it and finished it up. I don't like the isle so much solo as I did duo, it was a lot of fun together. We ended up with a couple of titles some really nice armor, weapons and cloaks. We're now Heroes of Dawn, or so our titles say ;)

On the final part we had a ranger team up with us and it went pretty smoothly. Both of us left being pretty close to level eleven. I'm not sure if I will work on my shaman on the side or if I'll level it with him. My plans were to mentor down with my disc to help catch him up. Still weighing the options right now.

Once we were finished I took him to pick up his first mount and bind in Veksal's Exchange. He was pretty tired at this point so we didn't get too far past that. I think he will feel more relaxed now that he is off the island and there is a wider range of quests to choose from. I am hoping the game will make an impression but I still don't know if it will stick with him.

My biggest concern is what happens at end game. There is plenty of group content to work on and raids, lots of faction grinds too. I hope development continues to expand on things to do, we'll have to see once the game goes F2P. There is still plenty to do, the leveling part of the game is probably the most enjoyable for explorers like myself. There is still crafting, fishing, diplomacy, housing, boats- for us to look forward to working on so I don't consider running out of things to do anytime soon. All that plus many levels and alts to look forward to.

Want to read more about Vanguard? Check out some of these sites:

Ardwulf who also works on Vanguard Forever (FB updates in the feed quite often)
Inventory Full writes about Vanguard on occasion still, yay!
Gaming SF has been sharing thoughts as a new player.
Massively has had a few posts lately.

Know other people writing about the game? Share them with me!

Also, Ardwulf has a lovely Vanguard video here, check it out!




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Island Adventures (Vanguard)


So busy taking this shot I didn't see the lava was killing us... he falls just as I take the shot. 


I still dislike the island starting (ISLAND) area in Vanguard. I prefer the racial starting areas. However, Dire has started and wants to finish up this quest line, so I'm playing through it with an alt I had there. I have a little shaman who was sitting at level five and she is now level nine in order to help him through the main quest line.

So, we're chipping away at his quest and he seems to be enjoying himself. The island can be a bit brutal at times, you often get many mobs at once, for a new player it can be a bit overwhelming. I keep telling him it's much nicer once you're off the island, a more leisurely pace of battle and mobs are spread out a lot better. Generally speaking, it depends on what you're going after but solo quests are a lot easier than the ones they island lists as solo.

He's tried to join up with a few groups in the last part of the island, only getting ignored, which doesn't speak very well for the community to a new player. Of course they don't count for it as a whole but it keeps happening and it is a bit annoying when you have two groups, in a dungeon, going after the same mobs and they don't want to team up. Once he leaves the island though we'll plow through some stuff with our disciples.

Yeah, he picked the same class as I. Fine with me, it's a really fun class. He's getting the hang of it too. I know a few tips to share with him that took a bit for me to pick up so I'm trying to guide him so he doesn't feel too lost. I don't feel lost anymore but I do a lot of research on games I play, especially those as massive as Vanguard.

The last few days I've been puttering around looking for another place to level up for a bit, and getting sidetracked. I've been exploring too as I wander around, checking out land for housing and such things. I really want a house but I need a lot more coin to buy the materials, so that will have to be put on hold. I looked into it tonight and was a bit deflated when I saw the prices, I can buy a plot but the materials will take quite awhile to gather.

Things are going well while I try to get Dire a feel for the game. I just want him to get off that damned island. I'm still debating if I should work on the shaman some after he leaves or not, I hear they are a pain until 15 but after that they are pretty fun. I'll have to think on it for a few days. I think he wants me to play my disc with him some first though, he wants to see what I've been telling him about, how great the class is. I die about once or twice a day, it's not invincible, and I poke my nose into things I shouldn't more often than not, heh. I am always curious and like to explore. I do wish I had invisibility! Ah, guess we can't have it all and feign death is pretty awesome to have, especially as a healer.

More as we advance him off the blasted isle of the dawn! That's it for today, sharing some pics (and a great song), enjoy.


The beach at dusk.

A new look, I love the appearance tab in vanguard.

Our guild hall across the island on that hill. I was exploring for land (housing plots). 

I so wish these mounts were permanent!








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