Friday, November 30, 2012

Hello, Storm Legion!



This week in Rift I managed to hit level 50. I'm pleased that I can already take part in the new expansion that I purchased. I had been hesitant at first, as release day creeped closer I thought it might be a fair decision to go ahead and pick it up. I'm glad I did!

Getting to 50 was fairly quick and fun. Storm Legion is a bit different though. The XP is slower at hitting 50. It is still fun though, lots to do! The mobs have a lot more hit-points  thus killing them is a good bit slower. As I gain better gear it is getting easier though. Mobs seem spread out decently, not too close together, a tad tight but not as bad as it could be. They are everywhere though, tons of carnage quests, which you can pick up easily, you can also help others as they do them, very cool. It does sort of seem odd, seeing a bunch of soldiers wandering around the fields, lol. All in all it seems decent thus far.

I decided to actually head to Storm Legion at 48. Hearing it was tough didn't sway me, I had a quest to head out there so I figured I'd may as well. The XP went very fast and while it was a bit tough it did help me gear up a bit better by 50 and I was glad I headed out there. There is also a quest-line to gain appearance items for a SL set, which looks pretty sweet. I still need to do the final part, which is a dungeon.



I've found people in Rift, for the most part, are pretty decent. I've run into a lot of really nice people, not everyone is wonderful but, as I said, for the most part people are pretty friendly and helpful. There seems to be more room to help and work together. Less competition. I like that. I've even made a few friends, some real cool people. I don't find it as easy to make friends in MMO games, as I once did years ago. In EverQuest and the early years of WoW I had tons of friends. Then again there were more reasons and opportunities to make friends on your server.

So anyhow, leveling, builds and all that. My build is a Necro/Chloro mix. I was considered dps until the last few points, now I am a healer it seems. I like to be able to support people in groups, I like being able to last through a lot. It isn't the best dps but it is an enjoyable spec for me. I do have others that are more DPS oriented but I find that being so fresh into SL, a more supportive spec benefits me more for now. I think one of my favorite dps builds would be a mix of Harbinger with Chloro. The harbinger soul is quite fun.



My housing, or dimension rather, is coming along nicely. I've added more rooms to my little 'house thingie' I built, lol. I added ladders and levels. I need to expand it once again, just a few plat short but that will come soon. I do wish there was more reasons to go to your home but I LOVE working on it and adding items!

Sunday is my birthday, I'll be 35... my how time flies! I am thinking about asking for a years sub to Rift, I think that would be a great present, I really am enjoying the game a lot. I don't know for sure yet, just an idea, hehe.

I poked into EQ2 for the Heroes Festival. My bags are rather full and many locked, since I'm not subscribed at the moment. I need to clean them out and actually do the event quests. I ended up playing around with housing for several hours this week, lots of fun! EQ2 housing is very robust, so many items and houses/plots to build and decorate. I decided to move into one of my older houses, one of the older Qeynos houses that you have to pay for. It requires status and gold but the amounts are so measly to me now that is isn't a big deal. I love these older houses, they have a sweet charm about them and so much room to decorate, plus you can break out and decorate the outside, a nice bonus if you have portal pads. I have a plethora of them from past events over they years.




There are many reasons to go to your house in EQ2. Portals to travel, guild hall doors, setting up your broker/home shop (really crates people can come and buy from), apprentices stay there too, or even checking your mailbox from home. Always a reason to pop into your house, I like that.

But if I am to play I need to sub and buy the expansion. I am so far behind at 90 with a whole bunch of content to get through to the newest. I don't think it would take too long, a little daunting though. I think I will hold off for now, since Rift is taking up so much of my play time, I'm happy there.







Monday, November 26, 2012

Rift- Housing And Levels





Dire and I.


Rift has been a lot of fun since returning. I've managed to hit level 46, soon to be catching up to the rest of the population and able to join in on the new expansion. I'm very excited about this! While I hear it is a lot slower than 1-50 I do hear lots of good and interesting things about 50+, I look forward to seeing what is ahead.

I started back on my mage at level 23 and since then I've done Instant Adventures all the way to my current level. They've flown by and really been a lot of fun. The money I've earned has been decent and it is always enjoyable to work with others as I level, not soloing all the time, the world feels less lonely than most games I play. It just feels different. I like that things are fast paced and fun with the IA's. I wanted to try something different instead of solo questing all the way to the cap, this is exactly what I was looking for. Not as stressful as a dungeon run would be, yet still working with other players.

Rift has certainly brought back an old feeling, an excitement. I can't wait to participate in the Christmas (Yule) event this year, I really look forward to it. I love games that offer lots of fun events and I hear the events in Rift are very rewarding. I've taken part in a few but not seriously, always in passing.

Dire!! Can you PLEASE stay still long enough for a pic?!!!!


Dire is still playing, I can mentor him or we can join in instant adventures, I think this helps a lot. He seems to be enjoying himself a lot. There have been games in the past that he hasn't meshed well with, I had hoped Rift wouldn't be one of these that just didn't stick. Vanguard was one of them, unfortunately, as well as EQ2. He played EQ2 to the cap at one time, but it never really captivated him. Rift seems to hold his attention better and he seems pretty excited about playing, which I am very glad to see. Sometimes it can be hard to find a game where you and your family/friends/spouse equally enjoy playing.

I've saved up money and gotten things that make me happy, like costume pieces. I love that Rift has a wardrobe slot for items, it is easy and works well. Dyes are relatively cheap and easy to access, that is another plus. While we don't have as many [colors] as GW2  or even EQ, and we can't seem to mix them like GW, it is still quite nice to have the option. Dire says I blow my money on silly stuff, maybe I do, but I enjoy doing it! Plus, I always look smashing ;)

Another guilty pleasure of mine would be decorating my Dimension. I've expanded the item limit twice. Now I have had time to fully experience how these work and compare them to other games. The best housing for years in any MMO has been EQ2. If you want to go into sandboxes I'd have to say Second Life is a huge contender, but it is also limited to things like constant payments for land, prim limits, which case I still say EQ2 is better because you don't have so many restrictions and payments of RL money to keep a place.

Instant Adventure on the beach.


Rift housing is great, I enjoy it a lot. It gives me something else to work on when I want to do something fun and creative. Housing is one of my favorite aspect in MMO games, any game that offers housing is better for it, they enrich games, add depth, they are creative outlets. I like the fact that you can add to your houses and land in Rift. I like that you can place anything anywhere. The controls are easy, CTRL+D is a wonderful tool to copy and paste a duplicate item in the same position and the same size (as long as you have another in your bags).

It does have a few drawbacks though. It is expensive to expand. Then again, we don't have to pay an upkeep and thankfully we can expand, I'd be heartbroken if I couldn't expand. The biggest beef I have is that most of these houses are very, very expensive. You won't see most of them until later on in the game. But we can get a free house and expand until then, so there isn't too much to complain about there. It gives us something to work towards.

There are many beautiful places in Rift.


The housing has a lot of room to grow. More items will needed to be added on a regular basis, I hear that holiday events will add to this, which is good. The controls are simple but leveling and turning an object can sometimes be tough to actually level out. The rotations don't highlight as they do in Second Life, which sometimes can cause you to grab the wrong one and turn... oops! But you can hit esc and undo it. It will take a keen eye to make sure things measure up just to look good. In EQ2 when we rotate an object it snaps into the directions. With Rift, much like Second Life, a hairpin turn can skew the whole object, but that is also the beauty of having more freedom. It can be more time consuming but you can place things just so and don't have to stack things just right, like you might have to in EQ2.

EQ2 has a HUGE scale of housing, from cash shop housing to cheap, small inns, which make housing more accessible to all levels. It also has a massive quantity of items. For now it still remains ahead of Rift in my honest opinion, but I think Rift will be stiff competition if the developers keep churning out ways to improve and add to this wonderful system. If anything, a wonderful alternative if you are looking for a different game with housing. I really applaud Trion for this addition to the game, these dimensions are simply stunning, truly gorgeous. They were a major pull for me to return.

That's it for today. I hope to hit 50 by the end of the week, we'll see how that turns out. My son has been very sick over the holiday weekend. We thought he had strep but... it seems he has aphthous stomatitis. I've been trying to figure out what has been wrong with doctors visits and many different medications to help alleviate his pain. He's simply prone to horrible mouth ulcers and there seems to be no reason why he gets them, or why they are getting worse and more often. It seems he has the worst case yet, causing me to resort to baby juices and trying to hunt for food he is able to eat. Keep him in your prayers, please.

And now I leave you with some screens of my housing, some costume stuff and just other neat pics- The housing, it is a work in progress:


The placement interface for objects.

Building, this was the addition of stairs and the first room.

Eventually the room has expanded but this was how it started.

Dancing in Meridian, lol.

A dragon in the city!

More building, adding flowers and such.

I love the flowers, wish I had more. All in due time!

As you can see in this pic the room has a 'porch' added to it and trees in front of it for a quaint look. Since then I've added another part, more pics in the next post.

Steps I added in, overlooking the beach at night.

Some furniture.

A little sitting area on the addition I built.

Overlooking my land.

The room from above.
Looking down the steps. The pet thinks the roof is a more suitable perch, obviously, lol.

Building, checking all the angles making sure they are all aligned correctly.
A bed I crafted, yay for crafting items!







Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Catching Up



Dire and I. Aren't we so cute ;) 


Rift
Recently I started using Raptr, I never really cared to track my play-times  I know I sometimes play too much, sometimes I don't play much at all, it's just never been a big deal. However, Rift has had some cool rewards up that are linked to using Raptr. I've gotten a couple of appearance items and also a free copy of Rift. An incentive, sure they bribed me, but I like free stuff!

What do I need a free copy of Rift and 30 free days for? Well it seems Dire (the hubby- seems I still get mistaken for a dude because of my name, by some readers, and he as my dude friend, heh) ended up playing Rift with me. I never, ever thought he'd be interested in playing it but he seemed interested in the changes I've mentioned to him. So he figured he would give it a try and he's now playing a cleric, enjoying himself a lot. It is sort of weird hearing him say he is going to go play some Rift.  I am so jealous too, his computer runs the game so much better, it is just gorgeous, my son says it looks like two different games. I really am pushing for a new one soon... grrr! After Christmas though, I don't need one right now, even though I want one now.

The cool thing about us both playing, even at different levels, is that we can do the instant adventures together, which is a blast! He really seems to enjoy them, I'm addicted to them. Instant adventures are really great. What is so nice about them is that you don't have to look around for them, kind of like you do events in Guild Wars 2. You don't have to worry about people joining because eventually they will, you know who is in your groups, where they are. Plus, people actually talk in these. I'm not bashing Guild Wars 2, I had a blast playing it, I just really like the pace and direction of Rift's IA's more so. Rift has really come a long way from when I first played it in beta and at release, I am very pleased thus far.

I managed to save up and buy my 90% speed mount, pick up some crafting writs to make some house items and climb my way to 38. Last week I started at 23 so I think that is a huge jump on catching up. I cannot wait to hit 50 and head to the new areas in SL. I hear they are tough but once you get some upgrades they seem to be a bit easier. I look forward to this.

WoW
I need to log in and get the 8th year anniversary achievement in WoW. I think there is one, there should be. I miss getting cute little pets, or something tangible. This year's in-game mail seems to be a copy and paste of last years, with the same item. The letter speaks about Deathwing, heh. I know the team has been hard at work with MoP and the upcoming patch, but it seems holiday events have really taken a backseat, nothing new added, thus nothing for me to really do. I could use the holiday to work up cooking on my lock I suppose, that isn't too exciting though.

On another note our accounts expire in the first week of December, we decided to take another break. Ok, I decided to play Rift and he followed suit. While it is good, it's us, not you, WoW. I suppose we just need something new and fresh. I don't know, I just want to be excited about playing what it is I play, I need a change of pace for a bit. For now Rift offers that 'excited, can't wait to play and level' feeling again, it's nice to feel that way about a game. And... it has housing, mounts, fluff and stuff that make me want to collect things.

What Else...
I've been puttering around with Runescape on the side and I want to do a nice write-up on my thoughts while they are fresh in my head. I hope to do so, by Sunday, but with the holiday I don't know how soon I'll be writing. Plus, I've also picked back up on my other blog and resurrected it, so writing on two sometimes can be a bit of a task, but I love writing and sharing pics/screenshots. So, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, those of you celebrating with us in the US, those in other parts of the world, have a great weekend!

He rarely stands still long enough for me to get pics of us together, lol. I have to try hard to get a few in.

Mah pet is doin' the mailbox dance, ha!













Sunday, November 18, 2012

Eye Candy (Rift)

Running some instant adventures.

A lovely, but creepy, cottage, full of vampires upon closer inspection.

More questing with mah pet.

Looking ahead.

I love the colors and feel of the zones in Rift.

I'd so love to have this house in a dimension!

Just checking out the interior, quite cozy once you clean out the vampires.

I love these huge trees, what a wonderful forest to explore and quest in!


Friday, November 16, 2012

The Lost Shores, You Lost Me (GW2)



Now we all know what the signs were for: WARNING- LAG-FEST AHEAD!


So, about an hour ago the new event in GW2, The Lost Shores, kicked off. What can I say about it? Well, I do like GW2, I just am not big on cash shop lottos and one time events, thus I've been sort of turned away from the game lately. I wanted to give it another try, maybe I'm being too harsh on GW2. I figured I'd try out the second event they are offering and let my guard down.

I logged in with two minutes to spare and made it in with the cut scene. Which was a boat and some splashing, maybe I missed some of it? Lagged out so bad with rubber banding that I had to log out and back in. Logged back in, about six minutes of loading, this time I could see my character. However, skills were not working, most things were not showing up on the screen, huge delays in everything. All I saw in chat was cries about lag. Dead people everywhere.

This was not fun, I stuck it out for an hour, dying over and over to mobs I could not see, other deaths due to not being able to move or heal. It was a huge lag fest and this couldn't have been fun for many. I couldn't even loot items to turn into the quest, it was that bad. It felt so disjointed and confusing.

One time events? I think I'll pass for a lag-fest like this. Why not run it for a week or two, prevent issues like this and let everyone have some fun with the event. I'm really let down, I so wanted to be part of this but I'm done, stick a fork in me :( I couldn't even find the chest at the end. I was so disgusted I just logged out after talking with a friend for a few.

I really, really wanted to stick with GW2, but I cannot help be soured with things like this. Right now I just can't do it, all I can do is pop in here and there and focus on the good, when I don't feel that jaded feeling in the pit of my stomach. For me, these are the things that shape a game, hopefully the kinks will be ironed out before this just becomes normality, the general direction of the game.

I can't help but feel sad and let down. Sad because I don't like events to turn out like this, they should be fun and exciting, not confusing and disjointed feeling. Everyone should be able to participate, not just those of us who can make it.  Letdown because ANet isn't learning from their mistakes.

For those of you who are more willing to go at it again, here is a good link with info for this event.















New(s)tuff


We have a barber now! My Bella got a makeover!


Lots going on out there in 'MMO Land'. Glitch is closing it's doors in December, which is very sad. I think a lot of niche games like this would flourish better on the mobile platforms. I really would have played the heck out of it on my Android, I had often wished it was a mobile game. I think it is something developers should consider in the future: Is this a game that will survive as a PC game or would it really flourish as a mobile game? When I sit down at my PC I'm not wanting to play a FB game or something so laid back, I can do that on my mobile device, just something that crossed my mind. It is sad to see this cute little game go away though, I enjoyed it, such a unique game, but never played it enough to be able to help fund it.

GW2 has some new content and an event kicking off this weekend, The Lost Shores. After the last event I'm not sure how much I feel like logging in to try it, but I think I may pop in and at least see how it starts off. Looks like weapon skins will be available in the cash shop this time. There is a new area and I've read players will be up-scaled if they are too low to participate, for the weekend event.

There is also a hot debate about the direction of gear, the new gear grind being added to GW2. There is a massive, massive forum topic you can check out here. It does seem to go against the projected image of the game, the initial direction of the game. As others have stated, you can make another gear grinding centered MMO, nothing wrong with that, you just can't expect people to be happy when you claim you're game is going another direction and then turn it into another gear grind. All I can think is GW2 has some very poor management. ANet has gotten a lot of heat with recent choices. It is a fabulous game, at the core, I do hope they don't try to milk it for all it is worth and run it into the ground.

However, I do want to pop in, since I own the game. I really had high hopes for GW2, especially since I enjoyed the first title and how the game was handled, it was great. We'll see how this event goes, I wonder if the new gear deal is going to overshadow it though.

ToR went F2P and I'd like to pop in but I'm wondering about the restrictions, I don't know if I'd even enjoy it. I do plan on trying it again, at some point. I hope the game does better but with all the silly choices going live with F2P I don't know. Paying to hide a head slot or to add more action bars? I do wish them the best though... maybe I also wish them to get real with some of these ideas, heh.

WoW is getting even more to do in the next patch and I haven't even it 90! I really love the expansion, I am enjoying the content. I think it is a really refreshing expansion but I think I am just kind of bored sometimes. I log in still but not for more than an hour a day tops. It isn't the game it is just me I suppose. Still enjoying it, just not playing as much lately. I'm sure in a few weeks or so I'll get a second wind and pick back up.

Rift is very exciting, even though I'm not able to participate in the newest content Storm Legion offers. I'm doing a lot of instant adventures, which I love. Boom, boom, boom, tons of xp and very enjoyable. People seem to work together well, most of the time. While we don't always talk we seem to have a synergy of sticking together and helping each other, it's weird. People seem to be pretty nice here too. I suppose because, here in Rift, we have more things that help promote being kinder to people, they are on your server, you will run into them again. I find myself throwing heals to keep up members, watching after those lower levels w/o mounts, who always seem to lag along at the back of the pack and get all the adds. I guess that is just me, it is always great to work as a team and have reasons to support your allies. I love it.

While I haven't grouped in an instance I am having a total blast with instant adventures. I can see them taking over most of my leveling progression. I'm still popping into zones as I level, I want to see more of the game. Instant adventures are very addicting though! These groups grow and shrink, people come and go. Sometimes they are huge groups, all of us working together to defeat massive waves of mobs, other times it is just one other stranger and I working together to complete a goal we have in general. I find myself more inclined to talk in these groups than I would in other random groups in different games.

Anyhow, enough gushing. The game has changed a lot. No longer do I have problems exploring and riding across zones, I don't have masses of mobs chasing me like I did at release. It seems more polished with lots more to do. I'm working on a Necro/Chloro build that is decent for soloing and helpful with random rifts and events. Not the best DPS oriented build I'd guess, but for what I want and need, it is pretty stable, exactly what I am looking for. I'm very glad I picked up the mage again. I did manage to try the Harbinger pre-made build which was very cool, I think I need more levels for it to truly shine though. Very awesome concept, I can myself playing it lots more around 50 or so.

It is all shiny and new again, refreshing, lots to so, different specs to play around with. I think that is what I needed to get me excited about a game again. I'm glad I am back, it's been quite enjoyable! And... Ding 30. I picked back up at 23 and I'm looking forward to seeing more levels!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, leaving some lovely shots from Rift!

Off to another instant adventure.

A clicky item I had in my bags, I could use at level 30. I think this was from Rift's first world event.

Fishing, I really enjoy this profession in any game. Rift seems to have nailed it.

Following the pack.

A gorgeous Death Rift ahead.

Another lovely sight to see, though sometimes there are too many of these around, lol.

Visiting a gorgeous dimension. This is the one I want... 500p!! I have a lot of saving up to do.

The grand canyon? LoL.

An invasion boss.

Fire rift.



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