Author: Stargrace

Unable to bring myself to playing an alt when there’s still so much to do on my ‘main’, I’ve been completing the lower level zones and collecting craft goods for those unplayed characters so that they may at least level up crafting (and gain regular experience from that). So far it’s gone quite well. Yesterday I completed the Charr starter zone, which I found incredibly pretty, decked out in fall colours. My human mesmer picked up armoring and tailoring, which is of course a huge pain in the behind because both skills use the same materials to level up. I’ll get through it, I’ve really got nothing but time on my hands now that my guardian is 80 so collecting lower level supplies is not too rough.

I’ve only completed two of the starter zones now, the Asura and Charr. Today I’ll probably do the human zones, and then the Sylvari tomorrow. We’ll see. That should get me enough craft materials to at least level either one or the other to 75, and prepare me for the next round of zones. I’m slowly saving up skill points towards the 200 required for the legendary weapon, and while I’m certainly not saving up any money (yet) I know it will come with time (or at least that’s what I hope).

I’m pleased that I’ve almost completed the monthly achievements for September. All I need is to salvage 500 items, I believe at this moment I’m at around 375, and running through the lower level zones has certainly been helpful, as I’m just salvaging everything I loot. I’ve made sure to keep the magic find food active on my character too, after all every little bit helps.

I hope everyone else is having a pleasant week so far, no matter what game you find yourself in. Happy gaming!

Thanks to some great blog posts by Rowan over at ‘I Have Touched The Sky‘ I decided to get my feet wet in some PvP in Guild Wars 2. One thing to keep in mind is that PvP is NOT WvWvW (world vs. world vs. world). You access it from your hero pane, and you port over to a completely different zone. You’re given a template character, with template gear, and you can sign up for what they call ‘structured’ pvp. There’s a few ways to do this. Number one, you can enter tournaments with a set team of players – or – you can join one of the 8 vs 8 teams already in progress. You’ll be randomly placed with a team of players, and you’ll be red or blue. You’ll be placed on one of a handful of maps, and the objectives are pretty much (from what I saw) all the same. First team to 500 points wins, and you are trying to take over as many areas of the map as possible (and of course kill your enemy along the way).

I really enjoyed this pvp, even more so than the wvwvw that I had been participating in. It felt a lot more ‘relaxed’ to me, although it also moves a lot faster. It takes no time at all to reach 500 points, especially if you’re on a good team. Instead of dropping and having to sign up again what happens when you’ve won (or lost) is that you’ll move on to another map, in another random match up of players, and start over again. If the matches go by really quick this means you could be moving maps every 5-10 minutes, which can be a bit confusing (at least it was for me). I just stuck with someone from my team, because obviously there is power in numbers. I’m almost finished the first ‘tier’ of PvP which is the hare, or bunny, or rabbit tier, whatever it’s called. You earn glory (I think that’s the name for it) that you can use to buy gear as you move up through the ranks. There are a lot of them, too. Merchants open up for level 50 60 and 70 that I found.

The introduction to PvP is quite well done, too. You’ll start out on the training grounds before moving to the actual sign up zone. You’ll have to complete three ‘hearts’ that are on these grounds, teaching you the basics of reviving an ally, and taking over an area of the map. After you’ve completed these three things you move to a larger map where you can work on getting familiar with whatever template you happen to be using, pick different weapons or gear if you’d rather not start out with whatever you have, and generally chatter with others in the zone about joining a tournament.

Then it’s just a matter of talking to another NPC to get into an actual battle, and you’re off. Best of all, I had no queues, unlike WvWvW.

Anyone else tried out PvP? What did you think of it? As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

I love the little details I find in Guild Wars 2, like the random mail I get from my old Asura mentor, Zojja. She’s always keeping me updated on what’s going on with her, and she’s never forgotten any of my own deeds, no matter how far from home I may be when I’ve accomplished them. Makes my little Velours a bit home sick, to be honest. She hasn’t been ‘Savant’ for quite some time, now she’s called Commander. I wish there were more ‘stories’ within the game that didn’t rely quite so heavily on GW1 lore, because I haven’t explored everything GW1 has to offer (yet). It’s on my list of things to do (along with a number of other things, that list seems to be growing longer every single day). By stories I don’t mean that everyone doesn’t have their own little one, they do, but I wish my character felt more connected to the world as a whole aside from her personal story that I follow through the zones.

That’s what I’ve been working on lately, her personal story along with finishing off the 70-75 zones, except there are a few skill points that are currently bugged. Hopefully they get fixed before too long (I’ve heard loads of people complaining about this in the map channel).

What is everyone else up to?

A lot of people that I know have been busy with alts – and I find myself a bit of an outsider this time around because while I am normally the queen of alts (I have a VERY long list of them) I have felt no inclination this time around to play one what so ever. I tried playing a few of them off and on, but none are above level 3 at this time. I’m still just too involved with my little guardian.

I don’t know how much longer that will last, but I’m enjoying it while it does, that’s for sure! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!