Happy Halloween!

"The Mad King ain't got nothin' on me!"- Vanlorian

So many fun events this month, trying to enjoy a few of them at least! I find myself strapped for time these days, so I want to play what is offering the most for this month. Most bang for the buck! Which game isn't going to dollar me to death for cool Halloween items? Which game is going to actually update the events? I've tried most of them out over the years. I very much want to mess around with some new events like Neverwinter has, but it just boils down to time. So what looked the most appealing this year?

I decided to pop into GW2 and Rift, see how the events were rolling. I am trying to fit in EQ2, which really has the best events around, but I just need to sink so much into my second account with an expansion or unlocks, I will get around to it eventually. Plus the pull to purchase a Halloween themed house... I haven't though. Sort of leaves me feeling, meh because I need to unlock so much.

Rift is always fun, I just seem to drift off because Dire won't play it much. But it is still a very enjoyable game. I love the cosmetic side, the rifts out in the world and the housing is a nice plus as well. It is fun to decorate dimensions and there are a lot of awesome items to fill them with. I've been playing around on the cleric, I really love the class. I also find with my newer video card I enjoy the game more, feeling more pulled into it by the sheer beauty of the game. I hear a lot of people say they feel a disconnect with the game, I felt the same with the lower settings. It felt bare, now I feel more immersed out in the world.

The Halloween event in Rift has been pretty laid back, I don't feel rushed or like I can't keep up. I started out late but it was nice to be able to participate in it for a few days! I've also gotten some cool costume items. This year they have some great additions like going headless! Pumpkin heads, corgi heads, unicorn heads... Funny stuff to build a costume with! Plus, the Halloween items are available in the shop and in game, I don't feel like I am missing out.

GW2 feels more of a faster pace. The clock tower, the instance, the maze. It all feels like a rush, a blur, but it is a fun rush. The mobs in the maze hand my arse to me if I get into the overflow (oh noes all alone!!), best to keep with the zerg. Even at 70 with really nice gear, I sunk a good bit into armor for a change, I still can have trouble. There are just too many mobs packed in all over.

The event is fun, I didn't do the questline yet, I'd like to since I am much higher in level this year. I just don't know if I will be able to fit the time in. It has been nice to poke my head in and play for the event, I just love the atmosphere for it! The art team did a stellar job on it and I can't get enough screenshots, lol.

The one downer is that the cosmetic staff that I wanted last year is still behind a lockbox, which is random. Not even guaranteed anything decent in the box, a real turn off to even buy one key, after last year I didn't even bother. I checked the auction for it, 400g, way out of my budget for a freaking skin. I read there is another way to get permanent skins, I suppose I should look into it.

And, yeah, WoW totally bombed for this event. Fastest way to push me to another game. Some people love to raid, some people love to PvP. I love fluff and special, holiday type, events. At least we'll get a cool little skeleton pet in a few days.

So, those were the most appealing to me, personally. My free time is also being shared with a new addition to our zoo family, Bella-My tiny, teeny, little chihuahua puppy. She is so darling! She still sleeps a lot, like an infant. This little girl has a big personality for such a little thing! And... our lost ferret showed up today, I received a call this morning, half asleep, pondering if I should answer. My son is ecstatic. I feel like a zoo keeper some days, lol. In addition, someone felt bad he lost his and gave him one that was lost and they had found... So we now have two. Double trouble! Maybe I'll hand out animals instead of candy for Halloween.... Just kidding!

Have a safe and fun Halloween, boils and ghouls!

Playing with Toilet Paper.... Could be worse, we could be in Azeroth playing with poo...

Mad King's Realm.

Dead.... again!

Meet Bella... She is hilarious. This is her rolling around getting her clothes all dirty!

Eye Candy- Tricks And Treats!

Checking out Rift this season.

Checking out the festive areas for seasonal quests. 

Running around LA with broken armor. Still had to take a pic of those punkins' ;)

Spooky games! I don't know what I'm doing but it seems to be fun!

GW2 has some of the most gorgeous holiday decorations for the holidays, no denying that.

Love the bats hanging on the wire, that's just awesome. 

Yep, got my Sky Golem in WoW. That's my treat for the season.

I now find myself logging in just to ride this mount, lol.

Zombies Ahead!

MOAR Halloween Plz!

Oh, Magic Broom, please don't leave me.... Stay with me forever.  My favorite mount in the game, sadly only avail for a short time each year.

This week has been a bit slow for gaming. I've been playing when I feel up to it. Trying to do LFR, in WoW, has been a right pain. While many people are raving over the new flex raid (If you're not in the know: Flex is a difficulty which scales, sitting between looking for raid and normal difficulty) I think it really hit LFR hard. Sure, I could sit down and join a flex raid with OQ, or join a more active guild. My brother and Dire both use OQ but I generally sit down for spurts and want to just hop in the queue when I can. I like LFR, I don't want any more than that. I like that I can raid casually, but that is all I have in me these days. I've been with my guild for around two years or so now, while it is small I don't want to leave it. So I suffer the pain that is LFR, many times not being able to complete runs in a single sitting. Either you get a good run or you don't. Last week we had a great run at one point, but it was a terribly long run. I've been sick and I just can't sit there without breaks for long periods :(

I am still glad LFR is a viable option for content for casual players. However, I have the worse luck trying to get a new weapon! It really seems by the time I get one from the new content it will probably be time for the expansion to hit. The way the modifiers on abilities work in WoW is heavily dependent on weapon damage, thus I am really suffering because of it. While my hunter's ilevel climbs, I still take a 'penalty' for the weapon I'm sporting. A buddy of mine has every bow that drops in the new raids, talk about luck. I just would settle for one. RNG truly hates me.

I still have fun moments in WoW. With Heri and Necro, at the shrine, being silly.

Which leads to a feeling of meh sometimes. Nothing new on the holiday scenes, everything is raid centered these days. Yet I still find myself logging in, I still enjoy the game. I suppose I wish wow wasn't so.... cookie cutter? There feels no mystery to the game anymore, it feels so small. But on a good note, I will be creating my Sky Golem mount tomorrow!! Very exciting for me, to have actually worked up my tradeskill and saved up enough money for the combine! I am horrible at tradeskills but I have been trying to be better with the hunter, since I did work so hard on engineering, years ago.

I've been dabbling in EQ2 a little bit. Last night I finally got my spells situated on my necromancer, which took me ages to get around to actually doing. Ugh... Do I have to?! I'm working on Halloween stuff, and there is a lot, many fun rewards. I suppose what has hindered me the most is that this account needs me to unlock a lot of things still, from the cash shop, like mercs. I don't have to- but for me to be happy playing, there are a few things I will need. I think that is part of why I stick to WoW, just one upfront payment a month. That and I can be really impulsive with shiny things in cash shops! Then again I do like the option to buy fun stuff sometimes :)

My own PoFear!? Fire walls and all XD

EQ2 has two really awesome housing additions for the holiday season. The first one I checked out was a version of the Plane of Fear. Which is totally cool, coming from the first EverQuest game. I loved that zone back in the day when it was a current raid zone. So being able to have the option to own it as one's personal residence is quite cool in my eyes! It is really snazzy looking. But the new Fright Manor is also quite awesome, that is the one that really caught my eye. My own haunted house to have year round?! It is reallllly hard to resist this one.

Plus, it has been nice to focus on some more festive stuff, instead of worrying about raids and drops, especially when I have been feeling like utter garbage in real life. It is nice and relaxing to just have a change of scenery and a change of pace. To get excited about holiday fluff. Moar Halloween plz! This really has to be one of my favorite events to get excited about since my days in EverQuest. The first 'seasonal' event I ever participated in was for Halloween. Werewolves would spawn, all kinds of spooky waves of mobs, it was so awesome. They had some cool drops too. Since then I've been hooked.

That is about it for today. Safe adventures! Stay spooky ;)

Fright Manor gates, can't wait to get my hands on this house!

Perfect creepy house for a necro!

Inside, while rather small it is cozy.

Behind the house- a murky, little pool.

My pet and I. A fun feeling class for Halloween XD. Probably my most favorite class in any MMO.  

Hanging In There

Sorry for the lack of posting here on the blog. Our beloved ferret, Gwin, got loose and broke my heart. We've been trying to put out posters and touch base with people who may have seen him, we're always a few days late, as time goes by it seems we'll never see his sweet little face again. You couldn't ask for a sweeter pet. He was my little buddy, oh how I miss him!

On top of that I'm still recovering from some very painful dental surgery. Add in some other unexpected things like the cashier at McDonalds making a copy of Dire's credit card and having a shopping spree... It has been bit eh... busy. Be careful when you hand your card over to anyone! But I'm hanging in there :) Hopefully things will balance out this week. I know I sure need a break from reality sometimes thus I've been looking forward to Halloween in my games.

Halloween is always a fun distraction. Sadly, this year in WoW there are no new quests, no new rewards either. I already have the achievements so there really isn't much incentive to do anything besides hit up the treat buckets for a little extra cash and try for the mount. I love holiday events and I think the more they grow and are added to in a game, with each year, the more there is to look forward to. I do wish there was a little bit to look forward to with WoW holidays for older players.

For now WoW has the most playtime still. It is easy to get in and get going on something, always plenty to do. I run the new raids each week, though sometimes it is hard to get through them. I am having pretty horrible luck for a new weapon, which really grinds my nerves. Most of the time we have some really horrible people that ruin the runs for me. People making fun and complaining about the tanks or the healers, the scrubs, they like to call them. *cringes*

More often than not it is a person who is preforming horribly, standing in the fire and all that goes along with not caring, doing the worst performance wise. Last night we actually got a great group, it was actually a good run. We had the tanks leave before the end but everyone was in good spirits and most waited it out for the last boss, on new tanks to show. Which was over half an hour of waiting. I ended up making a friend from another server, we struck up a conversation about transmogs, which was pretty cool. Not something that happens often, new friends in WoW.

Back to the Halloween topic, I am really looking forward to digging into EverQuest 2's holiday this year. I haven't felt well enough to really do more than putter around, until today. There are no new quests but there are plenty of great old ones and other instances with new rewards. There are even a few holiday themed items I want from the cash shop, though they are a tad overpriced. I boosted my Necromancer, on my other account, to 85- So I'll probably be playing her through the holiday event mostly. I've been wanting to play a necro again for awhile, so I figure this is one of the more enjoyable versions of the class [in any of my games]. The pets look cool, they have neat abilities, and the class is very solid.

I also need to check out the GW2 holiday event, it looks pretty fun with a few new things to look forward to. All depends on how I'm feeling. I'm also wanting to check into a few other holiday events this month. Are there any games that you look forward to this time of year, any events you must participate in? Let me know in the comments! I'd love to know what you will be doing this month for Halloween goodness!

Eye Candy- Treasures

My spooky, kooky pumpkin I carved for my brother . I really need some of those snazzy tools, my mom's kitchen knife was such a pain to use, lol.

EQ2, flying high in Velious. Just love the Heroic Character mounts!

Four year anniversary gift in EQ2.  Billy doll illusion, always wanted one. You can buy them with loyalty tokens now but it was pretty cool to finally be able to claim it.

Noodles, get your fresh, hot noodles! I managed to get rolling on the noodle cart cooking quest, yay! Heri there sampling some of those noodles, which stack up to five. 

Drop my bow... Illidan. Really like how this pic turned out.

Cloud serpent training is NOT going to be account wide, I read recently. Phooey! I decided to get my hunter her faction and mount/riding as well. 

Just a neat shot flying through some of the older areas. 

Fishing. I love this raft, which is available through the anglers faction. It is awesome, like having your own boat, kind of, lol. 

I love the valley, like something out of a storybook. 

Since making my own Blingtron 4000, I finally got something cool- Little Bling! This is one of the cutest pets :)

Algalon in Ulduar. 

I love rainy days.

And for those of you who may remember the kitty I rescued, a few months back. Thought I'd give an update on her, below. This was her when we found her.

She is doing quite well. She is loving, well behaved and sleeps in her kitty bed a lot. She is getting better every day. The, monsters, I mean neighbors, behind me, decided to throw her out, my mother found out. She is also fourteen years old! Imagine that, throwing out your old pet, as if it were the trash? She is missing most of her teeth, she has no idea how to hunt, and is very fragile but recovering. The reasons she was put out? She was said to pee all over the house and fight with the other cats. Which is funny, as she is very humble towards my other two, and is a good girl with the potty box. I fear the damage done to her may have shortened her lifespan, but we will care and love her until her last breath. My pretty kitty princess, Trixie- She is my little treasure.

EQ2 Heroic Character Tips

I've had a bit of time to play around with EQ2's new Heroic Character feature and I thought I'd pass on a few tips for those returning. These are free until October 15, 2013.

First off, you can try one before making that choice! If you don't know what you want, this can be helpful. I also recommend checking the forums and reading about the classes, lots of helpful info there! You get one free choice, so pick wisely! When you go into the character select you will have the option to create a heroic character, from there you have the option to create it or try it out.

Remember you can always betray if you picked the wrong 'flavor' of your class. That is something to keep in mind, this also swaps you to the other faction. At this level it is a walk through the park. It is always an option down the road.

My advice, if you are returning, is to start a new character. It doesn't really matter if you bump up an old alt you really had no ties with, or didn't really have any cool items you saved over the years. Chances are if you have not played the character, letting it collect dust, you're not really that attached to it.

Why do I recommend this? You won't have a messy inventory to sort through, wondering what quest items are old, new and so on. You also won't be going through skills pulling your hair out wondering what skill is new, what was old... blah, blah, blah. The skills will be assigned on a clean new hotbar (right click and select open new hotbar, you'll find them already sorted out for you). Your AA points will be assigned (you can always change them), and you can pick from optimal builds, instead of fretting over what does what, letting you get into the game and start playing sooner. Everything will just feel fresh and new, if you have been gone awhile, you just don't know how much hassle this all saves.

Visit your trainer. There are two crates of armor, old flavor starting armor for appearance use. As well as your fun spells, and another skill to toggle AoE skills. Fun spells are those that give visual flavor to your character. Such as illusions, 'glowy' particle effects, pets and neat stuff like that, depending on what class you play.

Look in your skill book, just take a moment to skim it over. You will have a recall ability, this will take you to either Freeport or Qeynos, depending on your faction. If you need to bank, visit the trainer or whatever, this is the fastest way home. You can also head to Thurgadin which is also within the zone you start out in.

What do heroic characters start out with? Well, pretty much everything you need. Gear, which looks pretty freaking sweet, and is quite nice to start with. Mounts, these are some nice looking rides- the Coldain Pegasus. Potions will be in your bags. You will have 280 AA points, to use as you choose or pick an already planned spec.

Check your buffs, you should already have them up when you start, but you will want to get used to knowing what is what. You'll make decent money in Velious, do a few quests for some coin if you want to buy a house or something. Also to get back you can take any globe to sinking sands, from there talk to the little otter guys on the bridge, they'll send you back. If you want to just leave, talk to the otters in front of  Lodizal (the giant turtle).

Also, I hadn't noticed, but Telwyn notes that for the period through October 15- accounts are upgraded to gold, nice! Check out his blog for some other handy notes!

I've not played the game since my nifty video card update, so I've been drooling over the characters and shadows ;) Hey, I'm not even using the soga models as I usually do!

So, hope the tips help, have fun and feel free to add any tips here that you might find beneficial! Now go be heroic ;)

So Much To Do... So Little Time

The excitement of the new Timeless isle in WoW has worn off a bit for me. I've geared out my alts, filled some spots with them, which was really great for me as I can really feel like playing them again. I've barely touched my 'main', the druid. The lock had taken over for a short time, mostly dabbling around on the hunter this week and last. I suppose that is the nice thing about having multiple 90 characters, it is nice to swap them around. Honestly I don't know who really is the main anymore as I play them all for periods them swap them out for another.

I've also managed to cap my Engineering on the hunter, something I've been really lazy about. I suppose the new Engineering mount, Skygolem, has been a huge push to getting it capped. You can find the plans for this and all the 5.4 recipes (all in one skill book BoP) at the timeless isle, a random drop. I got it within minutes of killing on the isle. She's also worked up some rep (moar mounts!), saving for materials for the Skygolem. Which gives me more to do when I log in.

The new raid is decent, but getting a decent group is another story. Trying to queue in the wee hours of the morning, when Dire plays, you can get some pretty spotty groups. I've yet to finish it this week, just had such bad groups we had to leave because it took too long, someone pulls (for kicks) and kills us all, seems a bit of a problem lately. We'll keep trying.

I also have been messing around in Vanguard a little, with my ranger. She is fun, sneaky, has the bow and swords. I like that I can melee and be ranged, though getting used to running out of arrows feels like going backwards in time. I need a place to stock them in mass amounts! But it has been fun, while it is not a main game I enjoy going back and puttering on alts. I wish I had friends who played there with me.

It has been refreshing sneaking around, questing and just doing whatever comes along. The ranger also gets a 'class' type series of quest. One of these quests is one where you pick an animal for a pet, I picked a raven. While the raven is cool, the flapping wings gets annoying. Also, the pet has to be (re)summoned every time I dismount, ugh. I forget to use it sometimes, heh. To get a new pet it costs 50 gold, which I am a long way off from, lol. So the raven it is, for now.

Not much new there in Vanguard, I suppose that is what holds some of the charm. I always know what I am getting into, it feels the same, more or less, each time I play. Maybe that is part of why I don't really seem to care if I get to end game, I'd like to, but what does it hold for me?

I will be posting more about EQ2 soon, as I am back playing. Thanks to the new heroic characters! I just don't have time to put into leveling another alt from scratch as it isn't my main game, so this gives me an opportunity to skip a lot of the levels and get back to the zones I like the best. I will be mentoring down to go back and do some of the old content as well.

These heroic characters are free. You get one for FREE! Until October 15. You don't have to pay a dime if you already have an account. I think it is a very cool offer, if you don't get one and you have an account, it is your own fault for not taking this offer up. It is great for someone like me who wants an alt but doesn't always have the time to catch one up.

After the promotion ends on Oct. 15, all new or upgraded free Heroic Characters created from Oct. 1 to 15 will remain fully unlocked and won’t lose any functionality or features.- Holly Longdale
Sr. Producer EverQuest II

I created a brigand, I wanted something sneaky, a tad 'tanky', that doesn't heal. Something different as an alt. This class is a scout, rogue like character. In the future I may pick up a necro as well, we'll see. For now I am enjoying myself in Velious on my brig. I'm playing on the Crushbone server as Vanlorian, send me a tell to say hello if you play there!

Another note- The character creation has been buggy with the heroic characters. Things such as backing out and deciding to make the character after you hit create or having a name rejected appears to consume the one time free character. There are two things you can do, exit the client and try again (perhaps wait a bit then try again) if that doesn't work then contact support. They are working on a fix, this is not intended. I used a more unique name that I knew wouldn't be rejected thus I didn't have this problem.

I'm still at it in GW2. While I did not really do much for the last content update I'd like to try to do more with the current one. I'd also like to mess around with the LFD system, see how that is. I've hit 70 in my necro, so close to the cap I can taste it! I'll get there, eventually!

More on the heroic character experience soon, have a great week!