Rift: Dimension Showcase (Harvest Meadow, Gloamwood Glen)

Sharing a few pics with a couple of my dimensions in Rift today. The Harvest Meadow and Gloamwood Glen. I love the fact that you can have so many dimensions in Rift and share them easily across alts. It has to be my absolute favorite thing about Rift, the gorgeous dimensions. There are so many talented people in the community, they always astound me with their creativity.

December 2nd- Birthday Edition

It's my birthday! Another year full of great games and expansions to distract me. I still haven't picked up Dragon Age Inquisition. I've been so busy with other games I just haven't had time to really think about playing anything else, soon though. For now there is plenty going on in the month of December after somewhat of a content drought in many of my games.

The Quickie Post- Rift

Within the last few weeks of playing Rift I've picked up playing more steadily. It is nice to be back, while I've been fiddling on alts I'm also working on my main. I figure I may as well get one to cap, this time around I'm having fun with the Harbinger spec, it really is a lot of fun. The climb from 50-60 is not nearly as bad as t was, recently it was tuned to be more along the lines of 1-50. I've noticed it going a good bit faster. I managed to hit 55 last night. Woo!

Rift is a nice game, I'm especially enjoying the quests. I'm taking it easy on Instant Adventures lately, I used to do so many that I neglected questing. I like exploring around and the scenery is lovely to do so. Carnage quests are nice too, I love finding them and knocking them out.

I've also been decorating a few dimensions on my three characters. It is nice to have a cool dimension for each of them. Always fun and relaxing to do a little decorating or just pop in one and soak in the scenery for a few.

My year sub is up around January, as of now I plan on asking for another year for Christmas, but we'll see. I think I used it well, popping in here and there, chugging on alts, getting to see events. For me it was worth it.

Just a short post today, figured I'd share some lovely shots! Have a great weekend!

My rogue's dimension, love the little cabin area.

Graveyard.

A little pond I decorated. Little fox pet decided to sit on the lamp there, lol. Cuuute.

Cozy cottage beside the pond.

Searching for treasures in Rift. 

Cape Jule, so lovely.

Exploring the wilderness.

I love the sky in Rift, always so gorgeous. 

Ceiling in a new dimension I bought. A tower, it is simply stunning.  (temple of the abandoned- dimension)

Upstairs to tower.

View looking out of the tower door.

I could sit here all day :)

Bottom. 

Side view. Now the fun in decorating it.... It already looks so good what could I even add, lol. 

Gearing and Designing: A Nice Balance

Mainly...

These days WoW is still carrying me pretty steady as far as interest goes. With my newfound love for LFR (looking for raid system), there is just so much more to go after. I don't know why I was so hesitant to use it in the past. I suppose I heard so many horror stories, but really I haven't had any trouble at all. Currently I am gearing up two characters, heck I didn't even think I'd be that worried about one, much less two! I enjoy healing on the druid and dps as the lock. So for now I swap them both out. It is taking me a little longer to gear up but I love both roles on each class.

Swapping the characters out has it's advantages- If I want to do something while I am off on my own, I use the lock, then I save the druid to play with Dire. It helps hasten the queue time for him as well, since he does not get to play as much lately. I have been doing the weekly quest for the valor and the armor, some of it I can use still. I am still needing many items on both characters but I broke over 480 with them both, this week. Very happy about that! I even managed to get the super snazzy staff from Lei Shi on both characters yesterday. I've had some good luck with loot raining in on me this week, lets hope it holds out! Dire has had some real dry runs, we're trying to get his gear caught up. I want to do some heroic scenarios soon. 

My healing is, as it always is, on the ball. As my gear gets better I start topping the meters, but I don't go for that. I don't waste mana just to see the meters rise but it is nice not to be at the bottom, though I haven't really had that issue, nor the issue of running out of mana. I do try to conserve as much as I can. I've been healing so long it is like second nature, I even find myself watching the health of the raid when I dps, old habits die hard!

The lock is going strong. As with the healing getting stronger in that department, my dps is getting better with this one as well. It really blows to be 17th on the meter when you start out and once you begin making your way up it feels like you're finally doing something. Last night I was 3rd so that made me feel better. It isn't all about the meters but I do like to gauge how I am doing. I don't spam them or flaunt anything, I just want to know exactly how I am doing, what I can improve and so on. 

I have to say that I didn't see myself being so into the endgame as I am now but I enjoy it a lot. It has been fun watching my characters grow and gearing them out. It is exciting and brings back a lot of memories. Even LFD hasn't been bad. Nobody bothers me, pretty nice groups most the time. 

Bit by the housing bug...

I miss having housing in my main MMO. I really do. So I've been contemplating some land in Second Life, shopping around. I finally found a lovely sim with some great land and snapped it up. I've been decorating and puttering around with it here and there, this morning I finished it up and think it turned out quite nicely. 

Other than that I miss being able to create and modify things. I suppose my creative side is drawn to the game, because that is all I do when I am on; decorate and build. I enjoy it, a nice outlet. I built a house, but by the time I finish the things I create, I am tired of looking at them, lol. I will probably finish up the last touches and sell it in the market. 

I've seen a few friends on and that is always great! It is nice to stay in touch and catch up, something I always enjoy. Chit-chatting while I build, not so rushed like some of my other games, more of a relaxed environment. 

Getting to it...

I downloaded Dragon's Prophet a few nights ago, but I had a migraine that made me physically ill so that was put off to the side. I still need to play it. I briefly tried the closed beta but I didn't really get a good feel for the game. The forums are really negative, I have been peeking in on them when I can. But, I don't want to judge things before I get to play it. So that is on my agenda this week/weekend to get my feet wet, see how I like it. Sadly... I hear that housing is endgame. Meh!

Also, as Bhagpuss mentioned on his blog, I see that City of Steam is up to the Elves. Now I want to make a new character and play it. I really enjoy that game, it is a lot of fun, good ol' hack and slash. I've been pretty slack with this game and Neverwinter. So many games, so little time.

What's keeping you busy and why? Are you looking forward to anything? Let me know in the comments! I have been keeping my eye on Wildstar, it looks good, it has housing!! I keep getting stress test invites but usually something happens and I miss them. Ah well, hopefully it will be out soon enough! I'm just trying to keep things fun, for now gearing up with some design on the side keeps me pretty happy, a nice balance.

Safe Adventures!

My buddy, Rakhar, came to visit me while I was plopping things down on my land and terraforming. 

A table... which I decided I didn't like afterall. Lots of decisions and changes ;) That is the fun part!

My treehouse, it even has a tire swing, so cute!

A sweet little table in my gazebo. 

A view of my dock. I like this dock because it has a lot of fun things built into it, like swimming and fishing!

Shopping, or something... lol.

A project I was working on.

My house and a little pond I made, it even has coy swimming around in it, as well as inner tubes to float on!

12-12-12

I just love the armor in this game, all the detail. Robes actually feel like robes within this game as well, nice change after wearing some truly horrible robes in some of my games!

Rift!
I'm still here, I just have been busy. When I have some free time I pop into Rift instead of writing about it ;) Which always means a game has to be pretty engaging if it pulls me away from writing. I hit 54 this week. It is slow going but I also take time off to decorate and putter around.

Our guild is going quite well. We're small but we have some really cool people. I'm so glad I decided to go the route of creating my own. It has been a long time- too long- that I log in and really talk to people and get to know them. Sure, I have here and there in some guilds but this just feels different. It's quite nice, I enjoy the people and while the leveling of the guild is slow it is a great place to be nonetheless. Some people log in on an often basis, others once a week or so. I keep everyone in the roster, it is always nice to be able to come back and know you're not going to be kicked out because you don't play all the time. I know some m members were worried about that. I wanted this to be a place that people are happy to be, where they feel among friends and always welcome. We're growing, our little guild. I absolutely love it. Once again, if you're on Faeblight and need a home, we're a casual laid back guild who prides itself on quality over quantity. Our doors are always open and we welcome people wanting a family style guild. You can find me on as Belladahna.

We now have a guild hall as well! It is so lovely. Since the prices were dropped across the board for dimensions it was much easier to get that out of the way. Now we now have a place to hang out. Everyone can take part in decorating, I want everyone in the guild to enjoy it. Though I've been told by some members that they cannot access it without Storm Legion. Not sure what the deal is with that. I know you can have a starter dimension without having the expansion, so I don't know why one would not be able to visit a guild dimension.

I don't see us raiding, I don't have that goal in mind. More of a place for us to gather, do five mans, hunt rifts and just help each other in general. Just hang out, talks, whatever. My raiding days are over, I don't have the pull or interest in that direction anymore. There is still plenty to do though.

I've also been visiting other dimensions and I've found some really fantastic designs. I'm also working on my own, which is always relaxing and fun, my favorite thing to do some nights. I've been excited about the holiday event coming this week- Fae Yule, more goodies to add to my house and guild hall. I can't wait to see what all will be available.

Leveling is sloooow. There, I said it. Sometimes that really deters my interest in playing but this far I just keep at it, enjoying my class. It hasn't really diminished my desire to play, even if it is a bit slow. I'm now playing with a strong Necro build, pulling on the warlock for a second tree, the dps is much better than my old spec and it is a lot of fun with many skills to fall back on if I get into trouble.

What Else?
On another note, Trion has done some 'downsizing'. From what I hear it is mostly QA and EQ, not too clear though. I hope this doesn't hurt development. I feel badly for those who lost their jobs, may they find work soon, such a terrible time of the year to be out of work! My heart goes out to those people.

Pay once, play forever? TSW has gone F2P it seems. It will be like GW2, Funcom claims, buy the box, play for free, with a subscription route as well. Subs will be awarded a type of rested xp bonus with costumes on top of that, as incentive. I thought this would be in the cards sooner than later. I suppose this gives me more of a chance to poke back in and check things out. There is a great interview here, with lots of good information. It seems the company has a good idea on direction, we'll just have to see if they stick by it. Thus far I like what I hear.

GW2 has Winter's Day heading our way this week as well. The art direction looks stunning, as always. The art is top notch and breathtaking. I'm sure I'll pop in just to admire that, if anything. The event looks fun and it lasts more than a weekend, heh. Nice to see a longer event heading our way.

And... if you want to check out Storm Legion, there will be free time this weekend, Dec 14-18. Former subscribers can try it out without limitations over this period. If you've been on the fence now is a great time. Don't have a 50 character? Still a nice time to try out the new souls!

Pics!
In closing I'll leave you with some pics from Rift. Some of our hall, some of the houses dimensions I've taken time to check out thus far. Enjoy!

This is one of my faves, I think it was Pyro's Fishing Hole. Lovely bunch of building this player as done, Faeblight server.

Love the Conquest Projectors. They really make the sky look awesome.

This was a very cool house, this dimension also had a huuuuge slide. Think it was called Eye Candy Slide, Faeblight server.

Pool table and bar, too cute!

Dive Bar. This is on Faeblight as well. 

Go up past the bar to take a dive!

Santa's workshop?!

I love how this player added in little carts of gifts under the tree! Great imagination. I think this was 'Home for the holidays' on Faeblight.

A lovely deck someone built with some chairs to sit among the tree tops.

More houses, these were really fantastic!

Beach houses a player built.

A player actually built this little house in the starter guardian dimension. Took me a moment to figure out which dimension I was in! Great work!

Our lovely guild hall! Work in progress but it's coming along nicely.

The back of the dimension. A guild member built that fantastic ramp leading up, behind me.

My own personal dimension, roots overhanging the path to the door there.

One of the rooms I am working on in my own dimension.

Dancing To My Own Tune

Latest addition to my pet collection Voodoo Figurine, archaeology pet. 

It appears that today the EverQuest update for the AA changes has hit the live servers. No official word on it and I haven't logged in yet but I'm pretty excited about this. The AA xp has been modified to around 1,000% and caps at 4,000 AA (thus decays closer to this cap). Dire has his account active with station access and I've been considering playing around with my little Druid, which is on one of my my silver accounts. I've sorta been feeling like playing her up a bit lately. So, I'll have to see about getting us together to work on a duo when he has some more free time. He seems pretty excited about it, I admit I am too.

The Druid is a real fun class, one I've always loved playing, would be nice to re-visit it. Plus, I want to see how the AA boost works on a character on the low end of the spectrum. He wants me to make a new one on my RAF account since the linked xp boost is nice amazing... but we'll have to see. Still pondering that, lol.  My Druid is from the 51/50 Mayong server (may it R.I.P.), so it isn't a huge loss, she is only 57. Basically I got her when the server was live and you started at 50 with 51 AA points. Now that spells are all in PoK, for the low levels, I shouldn't have to run around a billion places for them.

Plus, as always, every few months I feel a huge rush of nostalgia. This often happens with WoW and EQ. My two biggest loves in my early MMO career. Nice that EQ is F2P, I can pop in and see what I feel like playing. I usually drift off to spend time in other games but as you can see I always feel the pull back to these two.

In WoW I've been having a great time just doing my own thing. I am still working on the holiday event, gathering up monies, doing the daily boss, quick and easy for a few JP (unless you run into a clueless group, how do they all die on Ahune? Hunter the last one standing? <3 feign death). I'm getting some really cool stuff with archaeology which also causes me to do a bit of mining, and speaking of, I've also been trying to catch up on my engineering. So, I have a nice fun to do list, getting ready for MoP, which I'm pretty excited about, lots of fun things that I am looking forward to.

That's what keeps me playing my games, all the little things- Not the groups or the raiding for gear, been there done that for years and I burnt out a long time ago. Chit-chatting with my remaining friends and my guild when I can still keeps me social. You can still have friends and fun even if you 'dance to your own tune', that's what I've learned over the past twelve years of playing MMORPGs. I'm enjoying myself more than I have in awhile, when it comes to WoW. If you can keep this in perspective, then you can really enjoy things much more. Instead of feeling like you're doing a chore, do what you feel is fun. Scared of letting people down? Maybe it's time to think about why you even play. When I look back over the years it isn't the epics or 'phat lewts' that make those memories so special, it was the friends and the fun quests, might have been a quest of our own to cross the Dreadlands as a team or simply running a raid of newbie guildies through the Deadmines (Ha, a Deadmines raid, so looooong ago!). No matter the game, it is the quality of time spent, not what my gear score or ilvl was. So, yeah, That's what keeps me going.

In Second Life I've revamped my land. I really enjoy decorating and designing in any game and SL really has some great options for this, especially since I can terraform my land. I figured if I have land I might as well make it a place I really, really enjoy hanging out at. I had a lot of fun decorating it and absolutely adore it. It is a great place to hang out and invite friends or just sit in peace and quiet. I wanted to share some pictures in this post too. I have a tower on a small island and a couple of copses of trees as well as a hollow tree trunk with a pool in it. So cozy! There is a room, way up at the top of the tower, to chill out in, love it.

I haven't really logged into Vanguard for a few days. I haven't lost interest but I did get on a tough quest- which is far, far out in the middle of nowhere and I just needed a break. I figure I'll pick back up on it perhaps later on this week. I still really enjoy the game but sometime I have issues with it. Like the fact that if I explore and stick my nose into the wrong place I can eat a massive XP loss, like the time I lost half a level over the span of a day. Or the fact that I can really only see what I want as my Disciple, simply because I can heal through so much. I don't have many friends and I keep trying to join guilds only to find nobody logs in anymore, on my fourth one now. But that topic is for another day. I still really enjoy the game but I sometimes need a little break when things get rough.

That's it for today. Hope everyone is having a great week, safe adventures!

My tower on the isle.

Inside my tower, way up top!

Cozy campfire in a copse of trees.

In the process of decorating the land, with some friends hanging out.

A few friends popping in after I finished up. Seems someone got a hug in this shot, lol.

Fancy a swing?

Some creatures placed around the isle.

Tower from the distance.

Close up.

Placed some deer by my campfire, added more grass. The marshmallows and coffeepot hand out goodies when clicked on.

Hollow tree stump from the outside.

Inside the hollow tree.

From the side.

Entrance (where my freebie items are).

Entrance from outside.

Back of property.

Lovely tree swing.