Stargrace

Getting Back Into It

After a good while of being sick, things are finally starting to look a little brighter. No, we haven’t quite figured out what I have yet, but I’m keeping down food and water this week which is more then I could say last week. After being on an IV for two days (not fun) I had a CT scan, endoscopy, as well as an ultrasound. Everything major was ruled out, and so the next step is to have an upper gi xray and see a few specialists to see what’s going on. It’s nice to be feeling almost human again at any rate.

A lot has been going on since I stopped writing, even though it’s only been a week. I’ve been keeping up to date on twitter and google reader (must have my daily feed fix!) and following along as much as I can.

In a bit of good news last night, I managed to win a copy of Age of Conan from MMORPG.com which also comes with a free month of gameplay. You may remember that I tried the game on a trial account for a little while but that I didn’t feel the game pull me in so to speak, so I didn’t bother purchasing it or continuing a subscription once my trial had run out. Free on the other hand is another matter. Plus having an entire month to play rather then just a week or two is a nice bonus. I don’t imagine I’ll be hoping in game right away, but once things calm down and I’m feeling even more like my old self we’ll see how things go. I mentioned at the time that I didn’t dislike the game, but that I just couldn’t find the one ‘thing’ that would keep me there. That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to give it another try.

In EQ2 my little guild has been working away while I’ve been sick. Ultann managed to hit level 80 on his armorer, and finished off his tradeskill epic. Him and Kasul have been attending raids with a few alliance guilds we’ve met up with. Both of them have gotten some pretty nice gear from WoE, and I’m happy for them. Wpus has been leveling up a berserker but he’s hit the 70-80 stage which is always very slow especially if you’ve already done that grind once or twice before. It’s where everything turns into a quest grind, and good dungeons like SoS or PoA are in low supply. Hopefully he’ll be able to make it through.

Our small guild also managed to hit level 51, granting us three more amenity, I wasn’t around for this victory but I did notice that we now sport a portal to member housing, and a training dummy chest. The tiki bar pictured above is a small section of our guild hall.

Speaking of member housing, I now have some 20+ player written books in my library for the Norrathian Museum I created. I check the broker every day and as long as the books are resonably priced (1p or below) I tend to pick up any that I don’t already have. Some times I am very dissapointed (a page or two written and nothing more) other times I have been surprised at the stories that others have written. Ideally I want a LOT more books, but Kithicor is a slow server when it comes to these sort of things (understandably) and it’s been like prying teeth. I’ve even sent out random blank notebooks to players in the hopes that they’ll send a story back to me in return. In most cases this seems to work, but not always.

I think most of us are eagerly awaiting SOE’s implementation of the station cash server transfers so that we can move to Antonia Bayle, where I have a level 30 guild waiting (not as grand as the level 50 but we’ll get there) and a lot of friends. It will be nice to team up with Calreth and Malfi and Cuppy (and whomever else is over there) for some dungeon runs and just good ‘ol fun. I won’t be able to move all of my characters over right away, but I can start with a few of them at least and we’ll see how it goes.

Aside from that things have been quiet – something I’m hoping to change as time goes on. I’d like to finally reach 200aa on at least one of my characters, there are numerous quests and instances I’d like to complete, and it’s just a matter of letting myself heal (three weeks of very little food or drink will wear a person down) and slowly getting back into the groove of things.

I am still subscribed to WoW as well, since it runs easily on my laptop for those days I just can’t sit at the PC (sighs, speaking of which missed the Aion beta weekend last week) and will probably continue to play on the Ravenholdt server. We’ll see how that goes. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, and has a great time gaming (or doing whatever it is you’re doing). Again, a HUGE thank you for everyones support as I go through these health issues, it really has meant the world to me and has kept me pushing forward when all I really wanted to do was give up. I am exceptionally lucky to know such a wonderful bunch of people.

No Posts Until Further Notice

I’m sorry, but for now I will be unable to continue to post about my MMO experiences. Health issues are currently preventing me from doing much more then curling up in the fetal position and crying. Hopefully I will be back before the month is up so I can get back to writing about things I love. Thank you all so much for your comments and support, thoughts and hugs and well wishes. Means a lot to me. I can still be reached by email, occasionally on twitter, and in game though I am typically afk. I did not want to leave readers in the lurch over my lack of posts, and hope everyone understands.

Thank you

~ Stephanie Morrow (AkA Stargrace)

Balancing Act

We’re certainly not all perfect (some of us not even remotely close) so when I created my sim I decided to give her the kleptomaniac trait. Along with that trait I chose generosity, and a few others like green thumb and lucky.

Now, my sim likes her free time, a lot. I decided she would quit her full time job, and take a part time job at the book store. This freed a lot of time to work in her garden where I sell fruits and vegetables on the side. Of course growing things can also be pricey at first, so I took a trip to the neighbors house and harvested all of their vegetables for them. It wasn’t as though they were going to use them! Onion and garlic and potato that was far better then anything I had currently growing (tomatoes and apples). My neighbors would never miss them!

That’s how it started. Something small and expendable like veggies and fruit.

Over time, I noticed a few more little ‘things’ went missing when my sim was around. I would send her off to work and she would come home with a ‘free’ stack of magazines. She tried to explain that it was just a perk of the job, but they were clearly marked ‘stolen’. She didn’t even read them but dropped them on the table and went about her business.

Feeling a little lonely I sent her over to the neighbors home again, to talk a little. She was feeling hungry so she helped herself to the microwave food laying around (and was scolded over that) then proceeded to walk from room to room pilfering items when no one was looking. It almost became a game to see how much she could get away with.

That night she came home with a new shower (I’m sure the Roomies won’t miss that!) a box of tissue, and a picture one of the Roomies had hanging on their wall. She had no issues setting up the ‘new’ items in her home (and selling the old shower, it only sprayed cold water anyhow) though she did get a few lifetime requests to return the items, I decided she’d rather not – see, she’s not all bad.

Because she has the generosity trait she has the option to donate to charity (often) and she does. $100 increments here and there, on a fairly steady basis. She also has the ability to brighten people’s days and I try to take advantage of that – so despite the fact that she’s stealing from her neighbours at least she is trying to balance the bad traits out (she can’t help but steal after all – it’s like you spot a shiny in EQ2 just LAYING there even though your group may be in the middle of some big fight, can you pass that up? No, of course not!) and trying to make a difference in the small way that she can.

This time around I turned off the aging feature in the options, because I didn’t want my sim to die – a little odd I know but I’d like to be able to play for a good length of time and see what I can work her up to. I’ve left the story line on, and that at least gives me a little direction.

Amusing story, yesterday she was out in her yard working her garden (a typical chore, they requier a lot of work especially when you have a large number of plants) and she was out there a little too long because her smell became quite unsavory. A neighbour happened to come walking along who she had never met before and he laughed and pointed at her due to the scent. At least she was getting a good day of hard work in! Meanie!

The little quirks and twists and turns that happen in game amuse me, the bits that I have no control over while still having control if that makes any sense. You can try to anticipate how someone is going to react or what is going to go wrong, but you won’t always be 100% correct. That’s what keeps the game fun and interesting to me.

Random Game News

Well, there’s lots of news going on out there – to start things off, the newest Wizard 101 world is going live today! What a great Canada Day gift to players. I’m excited about this world for a few reasons, number one you can level up through it just as you would level up a character, so for those who have completed it all – it’s time for alts, and time to run quests for house items. It will also impliment a crafting system, bazaar, and the new 18+ chat system, and a few other goodies. Speaking of goodies, be sure to check out Tipa’s site for some wallpaper goodies! I love how fast things come out of test for players.

Of course there is also the discussion about the Chronicles of Spellborn becomming free to play – I dipped into this game only VERY briefly, and didn’t enjoy it. I’m not sure why. I don’t even think I made it past the tutorial, but maybe I just know my comfort zones, and tend to stay within.

I am looking forward to the next Aion beta weekend, from July 2nd to the 4th. I have no idea if I’ll actually manage to drag myself to the PC to play, but we’ll see. It would be nice.

I spent some time on the new EQ server yesterday, Mayong. For those who have been living under a rock, this new server is a 50/51 server – you log in and create, and achieve level 50 instantly, as well as 51 aa to your name. You also start out with all of your spells (and I do mean all) as well as some gear and backpacks (there are more packpacks waiting for your in the bank if you’re looking for them). You don’t start with any money, so you’ll want to farm some especially if you plan on using a mercenary.

The server was absolutely packed last night, I had problems moving around. It was fantastic. There were four general channels, and people were advertising for groups and guilds all over the place. PoK was packed, it was easy to tell who had been a long time player and who had returned for the free 30 days and didn’t know about the guild lobby yet.

There were of course raids also going on, and I saw a few system messages about encounters that were being taken down. I didn’t stay for too long but I did create myself a beastlord, enchanter, cleric, and bard. Whether I will actually stick with one of those or head back to Drinal I am unsure.

In EQ2 (the brief time I played) I collected some more red shiny and decided to do a little crafting and put items for sale which was nice. Not going to be purchasing anything super expensive over the next little while, but hey it’s better then nothing.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day today, it’s the first of July and thus Canada Day! Get out there and enjoy it for me.

Epics of a Different Sort

When you don’t have an adventure level epic to work on – that must mean it’s time to work on yet another crafter epic, of course! Aside from the 8(?) epics I’ve completed for various adventure classes, I’ve also completed a number of crafter epics. I have completed them for carpenter, jeweler, woodoworker, provisioner, and as of yesterday my tailor is brandishing her new title and cloak proudly.

The other epic crafters are all on Najena, so I haven’t had anyone who was able to harvest the wonderful red shiny that are out in Norrath, invisible to anyone not wearing the earring of the solstice. The quest was fairly simple. It starts out with a quest that is shared by all and is broken into sections. One portion requires you to head to Steamfont and Loping Plains to harvest bits for a gnome, and the next sends you to a crafter version of the Drafling Tower in Rivervale, to throw down smoke bombs and get rid of bixie. Afterwards each subclass has their own unique instance to defeat. Mine last night was quite simple, it was a version of The Nest in Barren Sky and I had to run around avoiding agro from the feathered fiends within and collect bits to make a mask (which helped me avoid them further). It was by far the easiest of the three subclass quests, my least favorite being that of sage, alchemist, and jeweler.

Of course, the most difficult portion of the entire quest is finding other crafters to make the components you need. I could make the tailor one for myself at least, and Kasul provided the jeweler portion. I donated 1p per piece that others helped me out with and spent most of the evening tracking down those who could aid. It took a few hours, but eventually I finished. Next is to get my alchemist to 80 (she’s part way into 79) and complete her epic as well, adding it to the collection. Once server transfers are affordable I’m looking forward to having all of my crafters together again.

I also managed to do a quick Obelisk of Ahkzul run, no the shield I want didn’t drop but we did see the fighter one handed which has also never dropped for us before, so maybe there’s hope. Aside from that, it was a fairly quiet day (but at least I felt productive!) I hope everyone has a fantastic Monday today!