Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Gaming

I've been doing a bit of gaming away from the computer for a change. I've always been more of a PC gamer but recently I've really wanted to try some of the games on the 3DS. I've honestly never really had my own hand held gaming device. My phone doesn't really count, while I do play a lot of games on it, they all seem the same in the end. Nothing with much depth or exactly what I want. I do play a lot of Heroes of Dragon Age regularly (it has gotten quite grindy), and some Tiny Death Star on occasion.  Originally I thought I'd pick it [3DS] up when my son wasn't playing, but every time I went to... it was on the charger, heh. Dire had wanted to surprise me with a 3DS for Christmas but we found a great sale on (XL pink and white!) one so I've already been playing it for a week now. It was actually cheaper than the smaller one, I was quite happy.

I've always wanted to play Animal Crossing and with New Leaf, it looked better than ever. Plus, my brothers and my son each have a 3DS and play ACNL together, while I watched them trade items and play mini games together, I wanted one more and more. ACNL was the biggest reason I wanted one, and I have to say I love it. It is a bit of a 'needy' game but it is a lot of fun, I absolutely love playing it. It is quite cute and a fun change from what I usually play. It is also nice to kick back on the couch and play something, or pick it up on a ride across town.

I really have been enjoying the 3DS more than I had initially thought I would. I see myself playing it for a very long time. I haven't played anything with a controller in so long, so my hands had to get used to that, haha! I got a few hand cramps last week, which was so embarrassing. Um, sorry I bombed at that game, guys... My hand is cramping!

From left to right: Necro, me and Nelf. Love how you can join other people to play together in ACNL! We are just so cute!

I also have Rune Factory 4, which looks soooo fun. I've only just started it. My son has been hogging it up until he got the new Zelda game and Pokemon, so I plan on getting some time put into it this weekend. I hear there is a lot to do and it really appealed to me being a sort of spin off of Harvest Moon. Another title I've always heard good things about, which I also got Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Currently ACNL has taken up most of my play time on the 3DS but I am excited about the other games too. My son has quite a few games now as well, so we can swap around games. Plus, it gives me a nice break from MMO games, which is a big change for me.

Over the Christmas week I did get some MMO time in, though not as much. I have been doing a few daily (holiday) quests in Rift, gained some cute holiday pets. In EQ2 I did lots of holiday stuff, getting the quests I wanted the most out of the way. Lots of fantastic rewards, especially housing items. Lots of cosmetic goodness!

I even headed back to EverQuest, just to play with Dire. I hit level 100 with my monk, it is nice to be at the level cap again, it has been awhile. Thanks to a double XP weekend, our accounts being grandfathered RaF linked, and his crazy SK swarming, it flew by. I don't mind playing it to play a game with Dire, but I don't really do much solo. There are some new daily quests which grant 54 AA for killing five random mobs, really great way to rack up some points if you don't have a lot of time to play. But the whole thing feels so different these days, with mercs and now Dire boxes (my characters mostly, seems I have a 100 bard now- taken over by him, lol). It just doesn't feel the same as us going toe to toe to mobs together as a team. But it is nice to play something with him, even if it is not my first choice. I'm still puttering in City of Steam when time permits, slowly leveling. They added a cosmetic gear vendor, which was great to see. Now my bank is full, lol.

And... I popped into WoW for Christmas. I didn't want to miss another, as I did last year (first one I ever missed, heh). Then I actually missed it, the fluid gameplay, my characters, the cities. WoW has a lot of great memories attached to it, it was very nice to pop back in, so easy to fall back into Azeroth. On top of that, I forgot the new recruit a friend system had been implemented, so I had a gift waiting on me for Christmas. What a cool thing to log into for the holiday, I could pick any of the new pets or mounts. I was like... Are you serious?! So I grabbed the Nightwing mount (pictured above), which turns you into a flying cat, and it also allows a passenger to ride on this flying mount. I have needed a flying mount which I can fly someone on, so  I was very stoked!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I still have presents to open and quests to finish up... People to visit in little towns, crops to harvest, fishing to be done, and a mayor position to get back to, heh. Safe adventures!

Quality Holiday Time

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a lovely time, Dire even managed to get some much needed time off. Thus we ended up playing EverQuest. Which I really didn't expect to do. Last week he decided he wanted to play again and he's been mentioning how fun it would be if we started another duo, fresh and go through fun old content. He often goes to many games I play, gives them a shot at least, so I thought it only fair to play something with him this time. Since he plays so little I figured it couldn't hurt and I actually enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. Plus, it seems we had some free time on the accounts, via a promotion. We also got a massive bag through the /claim, yay.

We managed to hit level 50 by the time we finished up the weekend play. In all reality it just flew by, plus we have the grandfathered recruit a friend bonus on our linked accounts. He made a warrior and I a druid. EverQuest is a much different game than it was back in the day, but it still has a lot of good memories for us, many of the mechanics are the same as well. It isn't the time consuming MMO it once was, which makes it much easier to jump into. It does take longer for things than a lot of newer games but being able to get going isn't the task it once was. Instead of looking for a group for ages, we can just grab some mercs or duo.

What I like about EverQuest is that it doesn't feel shallow. It doesn't feel like there is nothing to do when you get to the cap. You also don't feel rushed to the cap, there is so much to do along the way. Often locking in a level to work on AA is the thing to do and it doesn't feel like your hindering your progress. It can get repetitive though, but it is also nice that there are so many routes you can go while leveling. 'Where do we go today?' Is often something we ask each other when we are playing.

I'm still playing Rift! I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I have a year sub there. I didn't get much playing over the weekend but that was because I was spending time with family mostly, doing last min shopping and such. I do admit sometimes being the leader of even a small, and growing guild, can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. I think that has a lot to do with personal reasons, which I'll touch on in another post. Anyhow, wonderful people in this guild. I just can't get over how much I enjoy the community in Rift. Always friendly people, lots of interaction, even with people outside the guild. Reminds me of the old days of EQ, people were just more... social. They still shock me in EQ as well, in a good way, it's a caliber of people you don't find in most new games, or should I say- Games that don't really have a reason to focus on community.

Other than EQ and Rift, I did manage to poke into EQ2. Not that I got much done. I want to do some holiday crafting over the next few days, as time allows. I read that EQ2 was having a promotion for free time also, but I'm not flagged for it I suppose. I don't know what the requirements are for it, honestly. I logged into GW2, saw a few events but didn't really do much. The event didn't feel like it had much direction so I didn't feel like I needed to get sucked into it. I just wanted to look and see how the art team did. It was a gorgeous work of art. GW2 might not be my favorite MMO but I do love the art direction, top notch. Just stunning!

So many wonderful holiday events this year, it is hard not to just run to them all and bounce around! It is also the first Christmas I can remember that I have NOT been playing WoW. It does feel weird but I miss the old WoW, not what it is now, but I guess that is nostalgia biting me. I'd love to be able to pop into TSW to see how it is doing but I just don't have the time right now. I will save that for a rainy day, when I need something new and fresh. I am glad it is there! Love the new direction they are going with B2P. It is a much better model than most of these F2P games that try to bleed your wallet dry.

Til next time! Safe adventures!

Tis The Season!

It's December already! Tomorrow is the best holiday yet, my birthday! On a serious note, I wanted to put up something festive and fun for the season, so here's another silly video. Enjoy! Wishing everyone happy holidays! And... A happy Cataclysm ;)