Gaming – Page 310 – A Pixel Nomad

Wurm Unlimited Releases on Steam

I’ve been playing Wurm Online for many years, and I’ve loved it for many reasons. It’s the ultimate sandbox game, and while aspects of it may seem outdated (graphics, this game uses java after all) it still incorporates every single aspect of a sandbox that I adore. I’ve made some great friends in game and I belong to an awesome alliance. I have three active accounts and two deeds but I’ve owned countless more.

When Wurm Unlimited was announced I was of course a bit concerned. I had visions of population decreases and a lack of development on the ‘main’ game. Then I realized that this version of the game was never intended to entice people who were perfectly happy playing Wurm Online. This version of the game was meant to capture those who have always wanted to play, but didn’t want to pay a monthly subscription, or who were concerned about griefing, or who could never find a nice place to settle down. This game is made to encourage those 5 friends of mine I have who used to play Wurm but left for whatever reason, to come back to the world that they could enjoy if it was only tweaked a little to their specifications.

In that regard, Wurm Unlimited is perfect. Right now I’ve got a dedicated server running with a few mild tweaks. Skill gain is 10x faster than normal. Actions are 5 times faster. There’s no deed cost. I created an adventure server which means there’s still kingdoms and this also enables the starter towns (pre-created) along with treasures and hidden items in the world. There are also quests. The server is protected by a password which I’ve given to a few friends who were interested in playing, and we’ve started our little set up just outside of the Mol Rehan starter town (the mine is pictured above).

There are of course some ‘downsides’ to playing Wurm like this. It’s MUCH quieter. There’s no real ‘community’ aside from those you invite along. The economy won’t exactly thrive in this play setting. The server could poof one day accidentally if my computer dies. These are just things that have to be dealt with.

On the other hand, it could encourage others to try out WO and meet the wonderful community there. It could mean extra money in the pockets of the developers which would be a good thing for both versions of the game. It gets word out about the game which is also never a bad thing.

Over all, I’m optimistic. I purchased the game to support the developers and I enjoy the small server I have set up currently. It’s not perfect, there are a few glitches here and there and the game still has a huge learning curve, but I am hoping that more people come and experience what this game has to offer and that they appreciate it and maybe even enjoy it as much as I have over the years.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Mesmer-ing Around in Guild Wars 2

A few months ago I started a brand new account for Guild Wars 2. This meant that I would be retiring my old characters and leveling up new ones – hopefully before the expansion was due out. Because I’ve already done a good portion of the content prior to starting this new account I was in a rush to get to 80 so I ended up picking 4 craft schools and leveling those all to 400/500 respectively and then using a few of my spare level up scrolls to boost myself the last few levels I needed. My first character to 80 on the new account was a mesmer. I grabbed a few pieces of gear and set out to complete My Story before moving on to Scarlet’s War and the Living World Season 2 (which is where I’m at now). Because I leveled up through crafting rather than exploring, a lot of my map hasn’t been uncovered (still) and there’s lots of things to do.

I haven’t looked into what’s coming with the expansion this Friday at all, even though I have heard tidbits here and there (it’s hard to be a part of a gaming community and not hear anything at all about these things). My mesmer wasn’t playing quite how I wanted her to, so I set out to start another guardian, which has been my class of choice. About half way through leveling that character I decided (as is my way) to just stick it out with the mesmer. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the class, I do, it’s just that this time of year I’m constantly restless, and it shows in my gaming.

Once again I’m left with the feeling of ‘well, what now..’ when I return to GW2. I wish they had a better introduction for players who have been away for a while. So much happens in this world that when I come back I’m not even sure where we’ve left off or what’s going on or what I should be doing. There’s no easy way to tell what’s the ‘best’ gear to get, what goals one should be working towards or what direction you should be headed in. This has always been the number one issue I’ve had with GW2. Of course I’m also not as familiar with it as I am with say, EQ or EQ2, so returning to those games is quite a different experience.

That being said, the game is still as beautiful as ever, and I am excited about the new guild halls and other HoT features coming this Friday. I imagine there will be quite a nice turn out. Maybe I’ll go level up that guardian after all…..

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

My adventures with Minecraft: Story Mode

Today marked the release date of Minecraft: Story Mode. Now these games created by Telltale games are basically choose your own adventure games, or at least that’s what I’ve heard. To be honest before today I’ve never played one before, even though I was gifted the bundle just a short time ago. I went in knowing that I absolutely love these types of games, they appeal to every side of my gamer self.

I don’t want to talk about the game that much because it will give away details of the story that are much better experienced in person. I did put up a short video on my youtube / twitch channel with the introduction but didn’t stream any further.

I will say that Ruben makes the game. Your faithful sidekick. He’s awesome.

Oh and of course I’ll show a bunch of screenshots too. So glad I picked this up, and can’t wait for the next episode.

Into the Nether.

Fun with minecarts.

Getting Started with Streaming Games

Not pictured is the new c920 HD Pro Webcam that I bought, but along with that I picked up a blue yeti microphone and have started setting up my area to do some livestreaming in the future. Today I played around in WildStar (thank you those who came and visited while I was adventuring!) and I’m trying to think of some more exciting adventures for people to tune in to. I’ve done a few livestreams in the past but nothing very exciting (and most of the time I tend not to use voice, and I’ve never used my cam before) but I’ve always admired those who did. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years now, and heck there’s no better time than the present!

If you’re looking to catch me live, you can follow my twitch channel:

Twitch.tv/Stargrace

Or if you would rather watch at a later time, you can follow my youtube channel:

YouTube.com/StephanieMorrow

I haven’t worked out a schedule yet, so my streams will probably be sporadic in the meantime. Due to where I live I’m also not allowed to sign up for the direct donations programs, but I did include a link on my twitch channel for those who may want to donate through paypal. You can also donate directly at the link here:

Paypal.me/stargrace

Donations will go towards keeping my web site (MmoQuests.com) running, as well as paying for things like twitch banners and avatars. I’ve been looking at getting some custom ones made, but so far haven’t had any luck finding what I’d like. Of course all content will continue to be free, this is not something I want people to feel roped into doing, but a nice little side hobby. We’ll see if it goes anywhere.

In the meantime I’ve been bouncing ideas around. I thought maybe I would try playing (and streaming) some of the lowest rated games on Steam – but that idea really didn’t sit very well with me. I don’t like to play bad games just because. Then I thought maybe I would try playing horror games – the one genre that I don’t have the stomach for – but honestly when it comes right down to it, I want to play games I enjoy. I don’t want to play just because I have an audience. So for now I’m back to the drawing board. I do have all sorts of games in my steam library that I’d like to slowly work through, but a lot of those are also visual novel type games. I don’t know how interested people are going to be in me reading aloud a romance story, even if it’s something I personally enjoy playing. For now I’ll just continue streaming when the mood strikes me, and the games will be random as well. There’s a good chance you’ll see me in Wurm Online, WildStar, and maybe some EverQuest or EverQuest 2 along with Sims 4. Those are pretty static regular games for me. Please remember to follow my channel, especially if you want notifications of when I go live. You’ll see the highlights of my last broadcasts up there and I’ve already moved them over to YouTube as well. I did find that the sound quality seemed to have reduced quite a bit when I transferred the videos from twitch to youtube – is that normal? Is there a way I can combat that?

Of course any help, tips, tricks, etc. are greatly appreciated. I’m brand new at this, I don’t know any of the fancy UI things people have on their twitch streams (I’m using XSplit to stream if that matters) so of course anything you can offer up as a suggestion is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Downsizing

I’ve had my current deed on Xanadu for a few years now, but of course I always get an itch to expand. My most recent purchase has been to set up a market that is just across a small canal from my main deed. With the market taking up most of my time, and my priests back over at my main deed, my deed up North was seeing little to no activity, and it was my most expensive deed at almost 4 silver a month for upkeep. I decided that I would disband that deed and focus my efforts on the places down South, along with exploring if I started to get that itch again.

The problem with disbanding a deed, and this deed in particular, is that over time you tend to accumulate a lot of “stuff”. Now some of this stuff is useless and you don’t need to take it with you when you disband, but a lot of it can be useful items that you don’t really want to part with. So that’s how I ended up sailing for 5 hours up North with a borrowed knarr, and then loaded up 38 large crates with all of my possessions (each create can hold 300 items). I took everything that I couldn’t “easily” acquire at my main deed, and then I disbanded the place which gave me the 16 silver I had in escrow.

Now I’m happily back down to two deeds, and currently sailing my way back down to the Southern deed. I’m actually moored right at this second because the fog rolled in and I can’t see my way any more. Great time to do a blog post.

Even though I’ve downsized my deeds, I still have three active accounts (and will until sometime early next year at least). I’ve got Stargrace my “jack of all trades” main, and then two priests. The two priests spend mos of their time hanging out in my temple building enchanting tools and gaining favour along with taking care of mundane chores like farming and animals which reminds me, now that I no longer have the deed up North I’ll need to start a new farm for the priests to work on.

I love the flexibility I have in Wurm Online. Want to travel and explore? You’re welcome to do it. Want to settle down and never venture past the front door? That’s an option to. Want to join a village? Live the life of a hermit? They’re all options. You just have to have a plan in mind (which is often the most difficult part).

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!