Gaming – Page 322 – A Pixel Nomad

Wurm Online, WildStar, and FFXIV

Wow, I haven’t made a blog post since April 7th! I just haven’t had the time, as much as I wish I did. Most of my days are filled with work, and when I’m not working I’m sleeping or getting a few household chores done. I do still fit in some gaming here and there, mostly to regroup and relax after the things mentioned above. I decided to create a new alt in WildStar, to start. I love my Chua Spellslinger, but I decided I wanted to see how the other side lives (a common occurrence with MMOs, especially for myself) so I decided to create a human medic. I know, it’s not that exciting but the character is quite fun to play. I created a little back story, and so far she’s level 18. Still a long way to go. I picked the soldier path this time, my main character is an explorer. It’s a lot of smashing of things which is fine by me.

In Wurm Online, well. It’s exciting times there. I picked up a new priest (Vynora), a new deed (up North) and a set of drake. I set up a merchant at one of the markets up North that seems to get quite a bit of players passing through and made my first 5 silver in a very long time. Granted it was because I sold some rewards I had been given ages ago (a breastplate and some ore) but a sale is a sale, and it was nice. Of course I promptly went back to the market to restock and to do a bit of shopping. I walked away with a new leather at that looks like Indiana Jones wore it, a bassinet helm because my drake didn’t come with one, some Mol Rehan banners, and a Mol rehan guard tower that I’ll have to complete some time. I spent about 1.5 silver which I’m quite pleased with. Oh and I picked up 8 source crystals which will no doubt come in handy. I think people underestimate how awesome karma is (though I do wish I could port between alliance deeds with karma).

I’m also still playing FFXIV though my time in that game has been quite limited this week. I’ve been working up my crafting and harvesting skills because it’s just so relaxing. The guild I’m in (well, Free Company) is going strong, and it’s nice to see so many people around. I’m quite pleased at the come back that FFXIV has made, it’s a huge change from when I played before the re-release.

All in all being busy isn’t exactly bad. It just takes away some (all?) of my game time but I still manage to log in here and there. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and lets hope that I don’t go quite so long before my next update! As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

FFXIV Easter Events and a Bunch of Leveling

There’s always a lot of controversy from players as to whether or not real life holidays should be tied to in-game holidays. Some people adore them and look forward to the neat events that come around once a year based on their favourite real life holidays, and others prefer in-game worlds to have holidays that are based on the worlds themselves, and have nothing to do with the outside. I can see the pros and cons of each side, but personally, I love feeling festive and if my game of choice can help with that through holiday events that are tied to real life holidays, then of course I’m going to be all over that.

That’s how I found myself taking airships and transforming into a Spriggan in order to figure out some prophetic vision (which had quite the plot twist at the end). One of my favourite parts was that I was given earrings (which was an upgrade) and the graphic is little easter eggs. One thing I’ve always loved about FFXIV is that items like rings, necklaces, and bracelets actually show up in game. Too many other games I’ve played always neglect having accessories show up. They danced about as my character moved, and they just make me happy.

The rest of my game play session was spent leveling up my second class (I’m a 17 conj and now a level 11 arcanist, going white mage) along with a handful of crafting. I’ve selected weaver, alchemist, and goldsmith as my main crafting focuses, but I’ve also taken culinarian, miner, botanist, and fisher in order to supplement those crafts and just because why not. I’ve been working on getting everything to 10, and having an absolute blast with it. Fishing is oddly addicting (though I am running out of space for everything) and crafting in general is quite relaxing so long as you have all of the components readily available. It can be quite time consuming, but after games like Wurm Online and Vanguard ‘grind’ is something that rarely affects me. I just put on a TV show and do my thing.

I did also get a weird message from someone who claimed they were quitting and who wanted to give me coin, but they never did and I of course encouraged that they should stay instead. It was just a random message as I flew by, they asked me if I was new (probably because I wasn’t wearing clothes, I had just swapped into my arcanist build and had yet to receive anything besides the book at my side). Either way, since most of the tells I get are spam messages, it was a welcome reprieve. You can find me on Cactuar as Velours Reveur. Speaking of, I love being able to look up my character and view all of her details, hehe.

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

A Second Deed in Wurm Online (again)

My main deed is pretty much completed these days, with only 1 building and some fencing still needed along the upper most tier. I recently downsized two sides to free up a bit of the monthly upkeep I was paying, and to allow me a bit of freedom in creating a second deed with my alt. I decided to re-subscribe with Blesse, and I’ll probably be making her a Vynora priest once I get enough faith. Right now I’m hovering around 22, and I need to reach 30 in order to have another priest change me into one.

The second deed is nothing fancy, just a mining outpost along an enormous mountain side. My own mine is quite small, as my deed didn’t extend that far into it. Plus I just like having a little outpost to hang out at. I’ve designed a small 2×2 home with a 2×2 pen attached to it for my horses. I brought two horses over from my main deed, along with a handful of supplies like nails and barrels so that I didn’t have to create things quite from scratch. Still don’t have a hunting lodge, but honestly I haven’t seen that many areas on Xanadu that actually have any creatures. Makes things a bit difficult. I don’t know if they’re just bunched up together on some sections of the map or if other hunters are coming out and clearing everything. Either way, it make for some pretty barren lands.

Now that the deed is mostly completed, and the second deed is under way, that gives me time to work on some skills. I’d like to continue leveling my weapon smithing, but I’ll have to find something on Netflix to watch as that is probably one of the most tedious skills I’ve ever attempted to level. Besides that I’d like to continue working up my JC, and maybe branch more into HFC (hot food cooking). That of course requires me to actually work my farm, for vegetables, and maybe even fishing since meat has become scarce. Or I could take a wagon and go on a massive hunting trip. Either way, I’m never short on things to do.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Developer Appreciation Week – WildStar #WildStar

You may not have heard of the Developer Appreciation Week that is going on right now, but here and there throughout the week you’ll see posts from bloggers talking about it.

Now, let me mention right here that I’m obviously biased but I’ve been a gamer for many many years now, and while working for them I have developed an enormous amount of respect for what they do and how they handle things.

Our developer team includes such well-known forum goers as Tranagram, Meerkat, Timetravel, Caydiem, Moja, and a whole lot of others that I can’t even name. All of these people work together to create an entire living world that we lucky players get to participate in.

It’s not easy. If anything I’ve learned over the years that this fine balancing act of giving players what they want, what is best for the game, what can be done with the time and funds available, and every other factor that comes into it is probably one of the most difficult things to do. They need to be able to look at an issue from many different sides and then choose the best course of action.

If anything working so closely with these different teams has given me a better understanding of what it is they have to handle on a daily basis and for that I give them my DAW for the week.

Don’t forget to show a little developer love on your own blog this week. Lets face it, sometimes we can be pretty demanding. We should be able to take a little time aside to remind everyone that even when we’re screaming about the latest issue we’re having with our favourite games, we do still appreciate everyone who works on making them the best games they can be.

A Castle to Call my Own

I’ve never built an enormous castle in minecraft before, but yesterday I decided why not. The one pictured above took most of the day off and on to build, but I adore it. It’s enormous, 33×33 tiles, and probably more than 33 tiles high. It looks out over my property, and right now it’s completely empty but I hope to work on that slowly over time. Right now there’s no way to get to any of the higher floors, something else I’ll need to work on. I have absolutely no idea what to do with the space, but I’ll no doubt think of something.

A new machine has also made its way onto the property. It creates cobblestone, which is fantastic. Basically automating the action of lava and water combining (which creates cobblestone) the machine then harvests and stores it. Apparently this will be used to create some portal that requires a lot of cobblestone, and then a quarry can be set up in the realm that the portal opens to. I don’t remember all of the details, but the friend who is playing on server with me explained it yesterday. I’m personally looking forward to doing much less mining and much more exploring. Especially because this map is really annoying to navigate under ground. It seems like every step or two I’m faced with pools of lava and water, making mining precarious and not much fun. I’m constantly mining away from these enormous caverns filled with danger, but it makes for crooked hallways and I get lost easily.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever built in Minecraft before? How long did it take you to complete? Let me know in comments below!