Gaming – Page 362 – A Pixel Nomad

Really Dang Excited

I know I have already talked a bit about upcoming games, but let me say again, I am so excited. Sims 4 is just days away, and following that, Fable Anniversary. I have been on a bit of a fable kick but unable to play it on my PC having missed out on the Fable 3 game before it was removed. I looked around for some other copies of it but didn’t have any luck. I do own it for the XBox 360, but since I don’t actually have that console system here with me (I left it behind when I moved) it makes it a bit difficult to play.

I have always been curious about the time that these games release, it seems like fall / early winter is a very popular time. Personally I’m the opposite, I would rather game in the summer when it’s too hot to go outside. Fall and winter I’m typically busy as those are my favourite times of the year. It’s not a bad thing by any means, but it does make the wallet hurt a bit. I suppose it’s important to get all of these games out before the Christmas rush.

I’m not sure what game I am most excited about. Sims 4, Fable Anniversary, WoD, or the EQ2 expansion. I think for now those are the only games on my radar, but I have no doubt that more will join the bunch. What about my dear readers, is there any one game out there in particular that you’re incredibly excited about releasing soon?

Another Alt? Sure Why Not!

I love my swashbuckler but she’s not exactly great DPS when it comes to single target encounters. In a lot of dungeons the boss encounter is a single target you need to DPS against. That being said, tonight I decided why not try an assassin. I’ve never played one before (I know, with all of my alts that is hard to believe) and so I boosted one with station cash to 85, and then took her through a few dungeons before calling it a night (I do have to work at midnight after all).

Level 89 later, I enjoy the class quite a bit, plus the heroic characters get some pretty neat looking armor (pictured above). I also dragged my paladin along for the fun, and she managed to reach 340 aa (the current cap is 350). The amount of experience it takes to get from 340-350 aa is quite insane. Right now only my swashbuckler has met that requirement.

I decided to 3 box it tonight. I was playing a berserker, my paladin, and the assassin. Granted one of the three didn’t actually DO much (it’s hard to swap between all the accounts, I only have two monitors) but I didn’t do too bad. It was nice to be able to use the 3rd account as the main tank so that it didn’t matter what two other characters I played. Normally I have to play a tank / something else combination because my squishy characters can’t really hold their own. So it ends up being my shadowknight or my paladin combined with whatever I feel like working on. With the berserker I have a bit more freedom. I know, the last thing I needed was yet another alt, but eh, why not.

What’s in a Server

I’ve been playing on Argent Dawn (alliance side) for a number of years now, but even after the server merged I found it very quiet. On a whim I decided to join a friend over on Area 52 (screenshot above) and the two servers couldn’t be any more different. This time around I’m playing horde, and the server is constantly bustling – which makes me very happy to see.

I really dislike having servers at all. They separate your player base, they make it easier to quit because your friends are scattered to the wind, and they make it impossible for new players to figure out where the “good” place to be is. More games need to do away with these archaic things and implement an open world. I get tired of trying to figure out where all my friends are playing. Some are fans of PvP while others enjoy roleplaying. Some are EST and others are PST and then there are my EU friends who typically get sequestered off in some server that I can’t even access.

Frustrating.

When you’re starting a new game, how do you pick what server you’ll be playing on? Do you typically follow your friends? Immediately jump to the highest population? What about queues? What if new servers are added? There’s always a fear that if new servers are added to balance out the populations on the heavy servers, that those new servers will eventually become desolate as the population evens out down the road.

I don’t mind phased instances, and I don’t even mind instances themselves as a masked way of keeping the population in tow, but I really REALLY dislike constantly having to decide where it is I’m going to play. Especially since these days my friends never ever play just one game – and they’re never playing those games for long, either. One minute it’s WildStar and the next week it’s FFXIV, then the week after that it’s WoW. Having to figure out where everyone is going is just one headache that I don’t think gamers should have to deal with any more.

I know it’s not that easy, after all if it were wouldn’t we have already given up these systems by now? But still.. wishful thinking.

Alts – They’re How I Relax

I love alts. When I’m not in the mood to do anything on a main character, or when I’m frustrated with progression, those are the characters I turn to. They don’t always make it to the end game, but quite a few of them do because I love playing them so much. The screenshot above is my 2nd account, and Blesse is my latest alt to make it to level 95, a monk. I used to have a monk on my main account but I ended up deleting it for one reason or another. Probably so I could create another alt.. that’s the problem with limited character slots.

Monks are great. They can run around zones and just feign off the aggro, they can go shiny harvesting without too many issues, and they’re just plain fun to watch. Of course it can also be frustrating to get a character up to level 95 because if you want to be any ‘good’ you have to do their epic and then invest in a bunch of expert / master quality spells which can get very expensive very fast – but they’re still a lot of fun.

So what characters am I sitting with at the moment? Well on my main account I have:

95 defiler / 95 tailor
95 shadowknight / 95 sage
95 inquisitor / 95 jeweler
95 dirge / 95 alchemist
95 coercer / 95 carpenter
95 illusionist / 95 provisioner
95 swashbuckler / 95 weaponsmith
91 ranger / 95 armorer
91 warden / 95 woodworker

And on the second account I have:

95 Beastlord
95 Monk
95 Paladin
95 Fury
48 Coercer
33 Channeler
50 Necromancer

None of the characters on my second account craft, but that may change in time, I haven’t decided yet. I enjoy having at least one of every crafter (these days I think many people do) and I like being able to do the weekly / daily quests on them (the crafting ones). Do I like it enough to do it THAT many times? Not yet.

Keep in mind these are characters that I have made and leveled up over the course of 10 years (7 years for the 2nd account) so they’re not something that I just dove in head first this year to create. I’m a bit better in other games, but in EQ2 at least I have always had a lot of alts. I find it so relaxing when I just don’t want to deal with anyone (it has been one of those weeks, what can I say).

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

What’s in store for EQ2

SoE Live has come and gone for another year, and with it loads of announcements about their various games. Since Vanguard has now closed down, I was far less interested than previous years. It was like a constant reminder that my favourite game was gone. Ah well.

The next EverQuest 2 expansion is Altar of Malice. Eq2Wire has loads of information posted from SoE Live, so I’m going to go into incredible detail but I will mention the bits that interested me.

First, a new race is coming – but for those who thought this race would be included in the expansion, you would be wrong. They will be sold separately as a station cash purchase according to twitter comments. What is that race? Oh, well it’s the Aerakyn. Makes sense since the next expansion is going to focus around Lanys T’vyl.

Points that interested me

All access: Ability for members to use the broker anywhere in the game. Players with all access will also be able to receive mail from anywhere in the game. Some special spells and items may be limited to subscribers.
You’ll be able to sell shinies for status
New grandmaster spell upgrades, basically every spell will now have a grandmaster version. They’ll be researched and dropped (and I believe all access only).
They’re finally updating the deity system – yay!
Wardrobe system

The level cap is increasing to 100, and the expansion is due out November 11th (a holiday?) so in between now and then I’m working on getting a few more of my characters to 95/350 (the current cap) as well as crafting (though I already have all 9 crafters at 95). The event did also mention that crafters would be able to make some awesome gear in the expansion, so I’m looking forward to that.

What are you most looking forward to in Altar of Malice?