Gaming – Page 324 – A Pixel Nomad

Wandering through Frostfang Sea

I noticed Tipa was wandering around Norrath this morning, so I decided why not, it has been a few months since I have peeked in (ok, a few years) why not see what’s up.

Unfortunately, like many games, EQ2 does a poor job of welcoming a stranger back. Aside from the Brewday festival I didn’t have the slightest indication of where I left off, what I was supposed to be doing, where to go, or .. anything. My characters are level 95, and I know the cap now is 100 but I don’t know how to access any of the new zones or even where they are. So I logged in one character after the other. Checked their broker. Checked their research scroll status. Logged in my second account. I’ve been a member all this time so I claimed my station cash and browsed through the store. Twiddled my thumbs. Watched chat channels.

Eventually I decided I would make a new character. A troubador. I named the ratonga after one of my older characters, Goudia (a play on the cheese) and found myself in Frostfang Sea. After completing a handful of quests my little troubador was level 5 – and doing swell.

Channels were populated with players, and there were even a few newly created characters wandering around the zone with me which is always nice to see. Still, I couldn’t help but wish I knew what direction to take my level 95 characters. It just felt like too much of a struggle to get back into things. Instead I would have more fun mentoring down and doing older content, wandering nostalgically from zone to zone, dreaming about the days that were.

Trying to get Better

In any game I play, I like to know that I am playing my character well. I like to find the optimal builds, wear the right combination of gear, hit the keys in the right order. For some people, that’s just not fun and I can completely understand it, but that’s how I have fun, and I work at it. It would be nice if people could understand that how I decide to play the game has no baring on how they play the game, and that we can each enjoy things our own way.

I’ve been working on my priest as of late, in specific her shadow spec. For some reason I find it very difficult to break through the 12-13k dps range, though I can’t seem to figure out if it’s due to gear or due to my rotation. Right now she’s at 644 ilevel, which isn’t that high. I haven’t had the patience to go blood farming, so only one piece of gear has been upgraded. Plus I know she’s using the cheaper gems and enchants. Still, I want to be better and continue to strive for it.

I haven’t managed to level another character to 100 yet besides my priests. I have a few sitting at level 92 (mostly for garrison reasons) but mindlessly grinding has never been my forte. Probably the reason my pet battle building is also still only level 2, and my fishing shack. I’m hoping to work on both of those over the weekend.

Meanwhile I’m also trying to complete the final two raids that I haven’t participated in yet. That includes Slagworks, and The Black Forge. Unfortunately RNG absolutely hates me, so my chances of actually walking away with loot have been slim to none. I know eventually I’ll reach a point where it all just comes together, other shadow priests are pulling in some insane numbers. For myself, so far, it has been a struggle.

As always, happy gaming this weekend! No matter where you find yourself.

Sims 4 Legacy Family – Day 2

Playing a Sims 4 legacy family is a pretty humbling experience. In the screenshot above you can see how Elizabeth started out, a single room with a bathtub, toilet, a cot, some pizza she ordered since she can’t cook, and her penguin TV (which she’s still using). She has the childish trait, so she requires high amount of ‘fun’ in order to keep her mood up, and lets face it, fun isn’t free in this world.

Eventually the story progresses. It’s no longer about Elizabeth, but about her children, and providing for them. She managed to fit all of their beds into the house, and can cook them homemade meals, but they have to eat outside. Instead of upgrading her own items she also purchased them an activity table, so they can do arts and crafts. Her entire world becomes about her children and providing for them, so that they can have the best future possible. “J” comes over often to visit with the kids, but continues to turn down Elizabeth whenever she proposes (I think it might be the 8th time or so now).

By the time the kids are on the brink of turning into teenagers, the house is looking a bit better. While both children are in bed, Elizabeth spends hours (and hours) outside, collecting rocks, flowers, and fruit in order to sell them at a local market for pennies. She has taken to breeding exotic frogs in her inventory for a bit of extra cash. She was able to scrape and pinch enough coin to purchase a second hand computer – this is a big deal, it means she can work from home, and do paper work. Of course now in her current position (assistant to the manager) she requires logic, so she spends a lot of time at the library. The children’s room used to be covered with their artwork, but she had to sell all but one picture in order to afford payment for their rent. Because they live on such a giant plot of land (even though it’s mostly empty) they have incredibly high taxes.

Elizabeth is about to age up, and it’s important she see that her children grow up well. When she’s no longer around they’ll be responsible for keeping the family line going. Both kids are B students, and they’ll have to keep working at things. The best thing that has happened to the family recently was a $1000 that Elizabeth got for staying loyal to her work. Even if her loyalty was out of fear. They’re not the most wealthy family out there, but they have lots of love and laughs. That’s what matters.

A New Legacy Family – Day 1

I deleted my previous legacy family because I was getting frustrated with bugs and issues. Today, I finally found the motivation to begin again. Elizabeth was a single gal, looking to rise up in power at her tech job.

Unfortunately things did not start very well for Lizzy. She met and fell in love with “J” – he didn’t bother giving her his full name. They dated a few times and things seemed to be going well. Key word there, seemed. Lizzy proposed, thinking that was the natural progression of things – but J had other ideas, and declined. Three times.

Little did he know that Lizzy was actually with child.

Little did SHE know that it was twins.

So that’s where I’m at now. Lizzy doesn’t make enough money to afford a computer, so she finds it hard to get promotions at work. She spends as much time with the twins (Tristan and Jessica) as she can, but they tend to spend a lot of time at daycare. Their house at least has four walls now which is a bonus. Tristan and Jessica aged up and spend most of their time doing homework. They share a room at the moment, with Elizabeth. The house only has two rooms, and the 2nd one is a bathroom-kitchen-livingroom all combined into one. That’s how houses are made these days, right?

I’m hoping to make it past the 2nd generation this time! For some reason I always seem to lose track of the legacy family after the 3rd generation or so, and I’d really like to play through to the 10th! We’ll see how it goes.

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

Two down, Ten to Go

I took some time yesterday to run through the raid zones required for Raiding with Leashes III – and managed to get 2 out of the 12 new pets. I was hoping for better odds, but RNG has never been a friend of mine in any game that I play, so it didn’t really come as any great surprise. The zones are easily solo-able by players level 100, and they don’t take a great deal of time to complete, but they are annoying to navigate if you’re not used to them. They also drop a LOT of junk loot, so you’re going to want to have some extra bag space.

I also did my weekly run through Dragon Soul, which is great for coin. Coin that I really needed because I spent absolutely every penny I had this week on the money sink that is known as heirloom gear. 6.1 added tokens to upgrade your heirloom gear, as well as a few more pieces. Most cost gold, the tokens cost gold, and if you collect 36 pieces of heirloom you unlock a mount that a level 1 character can use.

There has been some debate on the forums about this because “how dare you make the game even easier! Just giving away free mounts at level 1!” but an important thing to remember is that these mounts are not just given out to brand new characters. If you have heirloom gear chances are you have a main already leveled up, and this gear is for an alternate character. I have no problem with letting veteran gamers level through content faster than new players because it will keep them interested in playing in the long run. Of course it’s also your absolute choice whether or not to use this mount, no one is obligated to.

So my collection is at 40 pieces now, mostly upgraded, unlocked the mount – and then realized that I don’t really have many alts who can take advantage of it. Sure I do have a handful of level 90 characters, but it has been a while since I created a new character. That of course meant it was time.

I created a mage, rogue, and warrior, three classes that I don’t currently have a 90+ version of. I’ve actually never played a mage at all, for whatever reason. Whether or not I’ll get anywhere with these characters I have no idea, but the option is there.

Meanwhile I’m still playing (and having a blast) EVE Online, still taking care of my horses and crops in Wurm Online, still piddling in FFXIV and a handful of other single player games on steam, Wii U, 3DS, and PS4. It’s a good time to be a gamer.