Stargrace

Holiday Gaming Goodies

The holidays are finally rounding up, and with it hopefully a little more time to write here on MmoQuests as well as NomadicGamer. I’ve settled into a semi routine with my gaming and I’m happy for that. What am I up to at the end of 2010? Nothing all that exciting, but I’ll list it in any case.

Rift – Today the 3rd Rift beta starts and runs until the 31st of December. Chances are if I were participating in it a lot of my time will be spent there.

EVE Online – I’m also three days away from flying an Orca – my dream hauler. I can’t afford one quite yet but I know that will come with time. I can’t wait to fly one of these. Ever since I got my hulk and saw my friend David flying on I’ve wanted to be able to fly myself.

WoW – I haven’t been playing in the Cataclysm zones (80+) all that much. Both my priest and my warlock are at a comfortable 82 and I’ve been working on their crafting skills as well as playing lower level alts on the opposite faction. I have been having a great time with the new quests in “vanilla” WoW. I just finished Redridge mountains on my paladin and I thought it was really well done, gained a few levels even though the quests were gray and worked up my enchanting skill. I’ve been enjoying the slow walk towards 85 and I mean it’s more like a crawl than a walk. I’ll get there eventually. I’ve unlocked and completed two dungeons (Throne of Tides and the one in Blackrock) which were quite fun. Healing PUGs is always stressful but I’ve enjoyed the challenge.

Sims 3 – This game continues to hold my attention in a big way. I wish there were less bugs would be one of my major complaints. It feels like EA just likes to push expansion packs out the door and rarely fixes any of the issues that they come up with, so it’s all about me dealing with bugs from a few expansions and packs that they’ve sold. I really enjoy and appreciate the amount of options we’re given in game, and though at times it feels a little “too real” for a video game there is enough humor to keep me trucking along finding out what happens next.

Neverwinter Nights 2 – This game was on sale at Steam for $10 including two expansion packs. I own NWN but haven’t played in ages, and while I have heard there was a lot of bugs at launch for NWN2 I decided why not, and picked it up. Still a few hours left to go on the patcher, but it should be a few hours of fun none the less.

As pictured above I also got a brand new Logitech G700 gaming mouse for Christmas, and so far I’m really liking it. The fit of the mouse is perfect to my hands, and unlike my previous razor, I can very easily hit the buttons and what’s more important to me – feel the buttons while I game. I found with the razor it was impossible for me to hit the buttons because they didn’t exactly stand out to me. I don’t want to fumble along the mouse or have to look down in order to hit them. Fully programmable with different profiles, I’ve already set one up for WoW. My attempts at learning WASD are going alright. I’ve completely unbound the arrow keys as movement keys in all of my games so that is at least forcing me to use them. I own a Steelseries merc keyboard which has a special gaming pad section on the far left that emulates the WASD keys as well as a few others. It’s not something I’m used to quite yet, but my right wrist is MUCH happier with the new set up.

How about all of my wonderful readers, get anything new and shiny for Christmas? Any new games on your horizon? Let me know in comments!

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Defiant Outpost Attacked #Riftgame

Wandering around Rift, I happened to stumble into an Outpost that was being attacked. The NPC’s (and players of course) joined in to take down the foes who were (I believe) after the Crystals that are located there. I helped defeat them after running away like a chicken at first. I didn’t want to get squished. I did get a fair number of goodies for participating in the battle and then wandered on my way to the next quest hub.

Enjoy!

(Yet Another) Rift Related Blog Post #Riftgame

As was noted by people all over the blog and twitter realms yesterday, the NDA for the first two betas dropped and the third beta was announced. I was lucky enough to find myself with a VIP code thanks to a link from Scopique. A lot of people immediately started naming games that Rift “feels like” in terms of game play, and for me that was no different. It feels a LOT like WAR. Everything from the mouse over loot icon, to the slow-ish (although incredibly beautiful and detailed) paced combat. The UI also reminds me of WAR because you can customize and move every single individual piece with one click of the layout button. Something I always wished other games like WoW would do without the need for an AddOn.

The characters even remind me of WAR but a lot more detailed and a lot more customization options. I mentioned numerous times that it was like they had removed the things I didn’t like about WAR and made them better. When I played (WAR) the only thing I didn’t like was lack of things to do aside from PvP and crafting. The Rifts themselves remind me of Public Quests, which I thought were brilliant. The first 15 levels or so I found quite boring and I dare say that my hand was not just held but I was carried from quest hub to quest hub. Thankfully the addition of souls which is basically an incredibly in depth character class customization kept me interested so I could struggle through those boring bits. I absolutely loved being able to pick skills from various branches of classes to be able to tailor my character my way. I started out the road of the Sentinel which is a pure healer. I added the druid soul, which appears to be an incredibly popular choice. I had so much fun playing my one character that I didn’t even experiment with any other builds (for now). That, and I don’t want to spoil everything before release after all.

The graphics are amazing, and even with the servers being pummeled by players I had no lag. I’m excited about this game coming out. I know very little about the lore and I want to start reading up on it. If you want to read what everyone else is saying about the game Tipa has compiled a nice little collection of related posts. The game doesn’t really offer anything brand new and earth shattering, but to be honest that’s not what I’m looking for. Each game has a few unique qualities that I really enjoy and I expect Rift will be no different once it goes live. The third beta begins on the 28th of December, and runs until the 31st.

Whether or not I stick with the game I haven’t decided. That’s impossible to tell while a game is going through beta. I will play it for at least the first month though, I tend to with pretty much every single MMO that releases and then I’ll make a decision as to whether or not it’s “worth it” from there.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Saying My Goodbyes to EQ2 #EQ2

I’ve played EverQuest II since release. I never intended on making the switch from EQ1 but after picking up the game on a whim I basically never looked back. I have been a strong supporter of the game, even when others shunned it’s numerous flaws. I stood by it when the station marketplace came out, despite the fact that the majority of my friends are against RMT. I made excuses for things like shoddy graphics that should play far better on great machines, lackluster expansions, and changes that no veteran player was a fan of.

Yesterday the game crossed that ‘imaginary line’ that we all have where we say to ourselves “Ok, enough is enough.”

Don’t get me wrong. I adore the people from the community that I’ve met over the years, but the changes that have taken place in the last year made the decision for me. I won’t be coming back. As a long time veteran player of the game I am absolutely disgusted by the changes that have taken place, and it is very obvious that the game is no longer for me. I’m sure all of the new people that are supposed to be enticed by this new market place will be thrilled, and more power to them. It’s simply not for me. What was it that pushed me over this virtual edge?

Today a vampire race goes live on the station marketplace. It’s $20 for the race for your account – or you have a chance to get ONE Freeblood character in February. Without all the fancy do-dads. Anyhow. It’s $20 for the race. It’s $5 for some animations. It’s $25 for a race-specific mount. It’s $15 for a vampire house. That’s right, for the entire “Vampire Package” it will cost you a whopping $65. This is on TOP of the 15/m you pay for a subscription and whatever extra yearly costs you have for things like character transfers, station cash items, and lets not forget the yearly $40 expansion. How many of us even have a free character slot to try out this new race. You can’t even preview the character design in the character selection screen before purchasing it to decide if this race is something you really want to put down more money for.

There are so many other games out there that do their market place the RIGHT way. When I subscribe to LotRO VIP ($15/m) I have no race or class restrictions. I can quest freely, and lets be honest here the majority of the awesome looking appearance gear is also available IN GAME in case I don’t feel like forking over extra cash. PLUS VIP earn 500 turbine points a month, and you can earn turbine points in game.

Wizard101 also has a market place. They have a subscription. I’m not restricted by wizard type or zone when I am paying a subscription. World of Warcraft – for all of the hating that people seem to do on the game is still one of the only games I know of that supports itself by a monthly subscription and DOES NOT have an item shop per say. Sure, they have a very small handful of companion pets that they sell, but nothing more than that. EVE Online may sell PLEX and they also have RMT but I can fly any ship that I want and again I’m not restricted when I’m subscribed to the actual game.

In case you haven’t been able to tell by now I am INCREDIBLY upset over the path that EQ2 has taken. I feel betrayed as a veteran player. Perhaps it’s silly, but again I’ve played this game for 6 years, and supported it and defended it time and time again. I have spent over $5,000 for two accounts over 6 years including character transfers, expansions, Legends of Norrath, and other items,

I just can’t do it any more.

So. Goodbye, EQ2. I really hope EQ1 and Vanguard do NOT go the same rout. I will play either of those games before I even consider returning to EQ2. Sorry for those dedicated readers who enjoyed my EQ2 posts – I’ll be writing about whatever games I happen to find myself in but they won’t be EQ2 related any more. I suppose it won’t be that hard for me as I really haven’t played EQ2 since before Sentinel’s Fate came out. I just wanted a little finality to it.

Flying a Noctis, 8 days from an Orca #EVEOnline

I absolutely love the new Noctis I’ve been flying around the skies of New Eden. I spent some time fitting it with the following:

Salvager
Salvager
Salvager
Tractor
Tractor
Tractor
Tractor
Tractor
10mn micro
Large shield extender
Exp cargo hold
Exp cargo hold
Signal amp II to increase locking targets from 10 to 12.
Medium salvage tackle x3

It salvages like a dream, and even more exciting is that I’m only a few days away now from flying my dream ship, the Orca. I still can’t quite afford one yet but if I keep at it I should be able to shortly after I can fly one. I really miss having my 2nd account in times like this, so I can fly a mining barge around while my Orca hauls. I know I’ll get a lot of use out of it none the less, and as each day passes by I get more and more excited.

I still haven’t taken the Helios out for a ride yet, I have to be in the right mood for that one. I’ve been working on my manufacturing and invention on a daily basis, but I’ve been letting PI slack in the background. Spending so much time setting up my extractors each day and unloading my items (another reason I want the Orca, I tend to fill up quickly when I unload all my planets) is a little daunting, and I’d much rather spend my in-game time doing something else. Maybe I’ll get back into the mood for it, we’ll see.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!