Blackwood Shots (ESO)

Sharing some shots today from ESO. I have been enjoying the new Blackwood expansion and the companion system. I have spent a bit of time in the new area, it is fun so far. I made a new character to quickly unlock companions and have been leveling since then. Overall having a great time, wanted to pop in and share some shots today. I'm still here, just working a lot these days. Enjoy the shots!

Adventure Log: GW2, ESO, EQ

Things are going pretty well in ESO, I have been messing about with Morrowind mostly with some other exploration on the side. The main story line awards some cool cosmetics, which was a neat surprise, as well as a lot of cool things to check out, lots of quests to follow around. Lots to do, lots to see.

ESO Eye Candy

Some shots today from ESO. All my screenshots use ReShade, for a more vibrant look. If you want to use my settings you can download the file here.  Enjoy the screens!

Adventures In TESO

The world at your fingertips. Or perhaps- Let your fingers do the walking.... lol. 

I've spent a little over a week playing The Elder Scrolls Online since launch. I'm still learning things along the way but this week I have a much better grasp of how they game works. I'm really having a blast! The game has a nice feel to  it, I don't feel it as much of a grind it has been more like an adventure, an enjoyable journey. I'm only sitting at level 14, Raptr says I am in the top 20% of players, hitting Hardcore rank yesterday. I've only played about 34 hours. Some of that may of been my son an hour or two here and there. He made a character but hasn't progressed much with it. But I think that is a fair gauge to get a nice feel for the leveling aspect. So far I love it. 

The game is just gorgeous! I end up taking way too many screenshots. Another thing is how I don't see many people that look alike really, which is something new. Lots of different faces, skin colors and sizes. I find it all pretty interesting. The game has more of an adventuring feeling to it. Quests are not merely kill this collect that, you feel drawn in. My brother read a lore book and told me he actually wanted to read more when it ended. The only real drawback i can complain about would be the masses of people while you are just trying to explore a tomb, poke in a few containers, glance over at a bookcase perhaps, while they run ahead blasting everything to bits before you get there. I'm sure it will calm down in due time. I had initially thought this game would be different, not so massively in design, but it is nice to see people around.

I'm more of a classic caster, wearing mostly cloth, using pets and casting from range. It all sounds very boring when I read about other sorcerers wearing full plate and tanking or slicing things with a 2h weapon. Or a life tapping rogue who can AoE and heal. But the thing is that it is what I went in wanting, I find it fun, it clicks and that is all that matters. I use a restoration staff for the moment but I will be swapping that up quite a lot when I hit my next level. I am thinking a bow or perhaps a damage staff. Something ranged, I love being ranged. My next class will be more melee but that won't be for a long time. The thing about this game is you can do SO much with any class. It takes some thought, some thinking ahead and some imagination. You're not locked into just a class. 

What else to comment on? Neat stuff, fluff. Costumes, which can be collected from quests, you can use them after the quest is finished (like some servants clothing). I like that. There are also costumes from quests as rewards (there is a costume slot), my friend linked me one he got at 25, I am so looking forward to getting more! Gideon Emery- He's apparently voicing the NPC you go to for the Fighter's guild on the Ebonheart side. That was cool to see when I made my dark elf alt (who is still sitting at 3). What else? I love going into houses and poking around in crates and bags. That just adds a neat bit of exploring, lock picking chests too! The music is fantastic, the voice acting is pleasant and not so forced feeling as some games. Map travel is great when you really need it, or run to a shrine and save yourself a few gold to travel. 

My brother, Heri, started this week. He's really enjoying the game, which I am happy to see. He was really big into the older ESO games, he knows a lot of the lore and sees the ties into this one from the others. He's really pumped about it. He loves the freedom of the classes and armor/weapon combos. I think he's having trouble picking, like a kid in the candy store. I sometimes wonder if I should have picked this or that... Int he end if I kept wondering I'd never get anything done trying everything out, heh. 

I will be subbing again next month, I don't see myself unsubbing anytime soon to be honest. I really love this game. I can't get enough of it. While I want to play more than I do, I'm not rushing things. I am taking it slow, picking the flowers, rummaging through old chests, questing, meeting new characters and just having a heck of a time! 

More thoughts as I continue to level. Being 14, I am sure most of you have far more experience on the game than I do, but for those of you who haven't tried it, some impressions as I continue on my journey. In closing, the scenery isn't much the same but it is beautiful and with so many places to explore it often makes me think of Vanguard Saga of Heroes. I miss that game so much sometimes, in my heart it is already gone. Anyhow, screenshot time!

Questing on a lovely sunny day.

My dark elf alt. Not a fan of snowy starting areas >.<

A pretty vista.

Ruins.

Giddy up!

The swamp.

Exploring and questing.

Heri and I.

Chasing fireflies (well that's what I call them) for a screenshot, lol. 

Creepy farm.

Lovely beach.

This outfit is actually a costume, which looks neat for riding.

One of those 'events' I never seem to stumble on them at the right time or get anything good :(

Ahhh.... you turned me into a Man! Weird quest, thought I was going to transform into an undead or maybe a werewolf... no just trans-gender, lol. 

TESO Launch Impressions

I didn't really think I was going to pick up on The Elder Scrolls Online right away. I am not much for hype on games these days and while I read about The Elder Scrolls Online here and there, I really wasn't hyped and didn't plan on playing at launch. I never do really. On a whim I decided to read a bit and see how the head start was going. I liked what I read, liked some of the aspects of the game, sounded intriguing, I also liked the way the game looked and it appeared I should be able to run it smoothly. I'm an Elder Scrolls fan, but not hardcore, I've played the games but never really dug into them very deeply. My son utilized my copy of Skyrim more so than I did. I loved the game but certain things bothered me, like my horse speeding off a cliff in fast forward motions, to his demise. I loved that horse, something in me sort of died when that happened, lol. So the idea of an Elder Scrolls game was cool but it wasn't something I was drooling over.

I was going to pick it up the day before launch but turns out the game launched a day early. Since then I've really been looking forward to playing each day. Over the weekend I got a little time in, but I try to save the weekends to playing EQ with Dire for the most part. I managed to get to level 8. That includes time from last week. I also realized that I picked a poor choice in race for my class, with rather crummy racials for a caster (Redguard). But I really like the race cosmetically. I may reroll as Imperial when the servers come up, I am still not sure at this moment. I'll take a look at them.

It took me a couple of days to flesh out a real feel for the game, combat and all. It is very different than a lot of other MMO games. I'd say it is similar to GW2 with the weapon switching, but I like how you're not entirely tied to skills by weapons. That gives a nice balance to what you want to do, while still keeping the reasons you chose your class in the first place. I can use a healing staff to throw a few heals out and still play the sorcerer class without losing the feel of it entirely. I can play how I like, what feels best for me. I really went in as a newbie, being rusty at this type of game. I died a lot, didn't realize I needed to open the skill window (K) to spend points to get my abilities. That lasted a few hours... Which left me wondering a lot of things. Then things just clicked. I don't die nearly as much and I am really enjoying the game, combat and all. I really like the simplicity of combat, the weapons system, skill system and all.

This game honestly isn't going to be for everyone. It doesn't (in my opinion) do a lot of hand holding and you do need to get out and explore a bit. Lock picking threw me off because it was a bit different than I remembered, at least from the older games, I don't remember much about it from Skyrim. But I got the hang of it and now I'm picking those chests left and right, huzzah! Upon my first chest I kept breakinglockpicks, it was a harder chest and I didn't know quite what I was doing, having closed out the popup hint window thinking it couldn't be hard to figure out. Thus I had a player waiting to try, making fun of me through it. Which really broke the immersion of exploring and learning. Really rude, but so far that was probably the worst I've encountered so far. All I can do is hope they crawl back under the rock from which they came.

Travel isn't bad. There is map travel for a cost or you can just run to a shrine and travel for free, which is what I mainly do. Crafting is interesting and not a drag so far. I have been gathering a lot too, selling what I don't use. The biggest issue I do have is no auction house. There is a guild system you can sell to, it works like a very messy auction system. You can be in five guilds, for now I am only in two, simply for this. It just seems like a weird way to do things. People say an auction system will ruin an economy. I don't totally agree with that. I say this is so 15 years ago with bartering in trade. I wasted way too much time in EQ doing that, not doing it here... at... all. Seriously, I wasted stupid amounts of time trying to trade and sell items in EverQuest, it makes me cringe. The only good thing about it was that there was more of a meeting place to do this. It had a festive feeling and you could chill out with friends while doing so. Granted you can spam it while killing things but then you still have to meet up, or can you send it C.O.D.? I still don't know. So mainly I vendor things or try to use the guild system if it looks decent.

All in all I am having a blast. I didn't see this as a game I'd really be drawn into but it is. The combat isn't the type I mainly navigate towards. I don't like action combat but this isn't as bad as I thought it was. I have carpel in both wrists and often I crochet far more than any human should thus having stiff wrists a lot these days. But the combat isn't too harsh on me like I had feared. It's kind of exciting.

The music is great, sounds are nice. Visuals are awesome in my opinion. It runs nicely on my computer. Far better than Landmark did, and looks a lot better (no Disney style characters). I was having some occasional freezes and read on the forum to try closing out the launcher while playing. No more freezes!

I love my class. I am a sorcerer, going mostly with daedric summoning, using staves (healing and damage). I have tried a few different weapons but so far I like the staves and being ranged. So I think I will stick to those as needed. My son has been a big help too, remembering things from how the older games worked and giving me some tips. I've tried to get him to try it but he's been working on Reaper of Souls. Which I learned from watching the new class intro the male crusader is voiced by Gideon Emery! How awesome is that?!! It looks great though so I am happy he is enjoying it.

I've only played around 12 hours so these are just my initial thoughts. I've played everyday when I can get some time in. I look forward to experiencing more of this game. I highly recommend it, but, as I said, it won't be for everyone. If you love to explore, have a flexible type of play and just taking time enjoying the leveling game, it is really worth it. Endgame, I do have hopes it isn't too much like WoW focused on raids and fast paced instance runs... We'll have to wait and see. *crosses fingers*

Nomadic Gaming

EQII.

I probably have too many games I am interested in now. WoW, RoM, EQ, EQ2(X), ESO, The Sims Medieval... Still wanting to log into Vanguard soon and my son has been wanting me to play Minecraft too. I still want to check out DA2 which is sitting on my computer unplayed as well as Portal 2 (which my son plays). Then Fable 3 is out.... I've been dying to play this for PC since I saw it on the 360. So, I just play a little of this and that. I can't complain, too much good stuff is better than not enough interesting things to play. Plus, I have a friend going back to WoW and wanting us to play with him more.

In EQ2 they have all the city festivals going (all the loot can be found on all the vendors, making it easier to do the quests without too much travel). The Ether Races are here again... Which I still have to do. I've been trying to get the Moonlight Enchantment stuff and the festival items first. I used a few things to cure my housing cravings yesterday. I'll show you my 'gingerbread' house, which is still a work in progress. Just a little, small building I built 'outside' my house.

In EQ I have not had such a glorious return. Isn't it always like that for me, lol?! I've solo'd some here and there, but every time I go to group with Dire... well I died the first time and he died the second. Then by the time we get rezzed or try to go somewhere else we end up logging off due to the time or something in real life. Dire has been playing it more than I. He's enjoying it a lot.

On top of that, my rogue's house is gone, along with her plots. I logged in to receive eviction boxes. I thought they added time to the housing? I wasn't too pleased about this and just said 'screw it'. I might work on the housing, again next week. I spent a lot of time on my plots and I'm not happy about having to buy them again... I suppose it's an excuse to play with housing more. Plus my beastlord needs a new house on this server!

Minecraft. My son loves, loves, loves this game. I am going to have to start playing it with him more. He wanted to show me some stuff people made on the classic-server games you can log into. There were some really fantastic places! Just showing off a couple of screenshots from our travels. The creative/builder part of me really would fit in here, I think.

I started playing Ether Saga Online again too... I am on like a binge with free games this month. However, this one is really cute, gorgeous graphics and characters, fun to play and laid back. I played it years ago and wanted to pick up on it again. It has a really great pet system too.  I am making my way through the game again as it has had a revamp in April, so it has been pretty fun, thus far! Just showing off some cute shots.

For now I'm a bit nomadic, but enjoying it all!
-kaozz