Gaming – Page 416 – A Pixel Nomad

Head Start For Pirate101 Begins! #Pirate101

The head start for Pirate101 has begun, if you’ve purchased one of their starter plans or set yourself up for a subscription you’ll be able to log into the game and play – the rest will be able to get into game when it fully releases on October 15th.

I played a swashbuckler in beta but wasn’t enthralled with the class, so this time around I picked a witchdoctor. I’ve only just started to make my way through the story and battles, but it’s a lot of fun. One thing that is NOT fun are players who go afk in the middle of a game or in the middle of a path of mobs and then you join in their game. Pirate101 (much like Wizard101) adds mobs based on how many ‘players’ are on the board at once, for a max of 4 ‘real’ players. That means if someone isn’t pulling their weight with encounters, you can be taking the brunt of most attacks. I had this situation happen for the first time this morning, a player decided to just sit in the middle of the very first place you happen to come across mobs. I stuck to the roads on either side after that, avoiding the first encounter and making my way to the second one.

I’ve already found a few pieces of upgraded gear and browsed through the ‘crown’ store. It seems more expensive than I am used to (compared to Wizard101), over 1,000 crowns for a single piece of gear, like shoes. Still, the combat is fun and playing as a strategy game instead of just pure hack and slash combat really appeals to me. Plus there’s boats, and boat combat. You really can’t go wrong with that!

I’m looking forward to posting more about my experiences as time goes on, if you happen to be playing and want to add me to your friends list you can contact me on Raptr (as Stargrace) and then IM me a ‘true friend’ code, they’re good for 48h each which should be plenty of time to log in.

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

Glitch is Giving Away Credits #GlitchGame

I know, this contest requires facebook which some people are completely against, and I don’t blame them at all! BUT! Credits! They’re very handy in Glitch, you can use them to purchase neat furniture, or a new outfit for yourself.

So if you’d like 25 free credits, they’re giving them away. You do have to ‘like’ them on facebook. You’ve been warned!

“Do you like Glitch? Well now, we will like you back for liking us, to the tune of 25 credits. Check out www.glitch.com/account/bonus/ for details. “

(If you’ve never played glitch before and have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the game! I’ve got two free invites I can send you, just leave me a message with your email, or email me requesting one stargrace@mmoquests.com).

It’s Fixed, It’s Really Fixed! #GW2 #GuildWars2

Malchor’s Leap. The broken zone that caused the completionist in me to scream in pain every time I thought about Guild Wars 2. See, there was this single skillpoint that I just couldn’t get. Actually, very few people could. The NPC would move slightly each time you defeated it (it’s not really an NPC so much as it is a bow laying on the ground) and after a time or two it would vanish completely into the geometry of the zone. There it would stay, stuck, until the server restarted and it would rest in the proper place. I tried to log in right after a server restart in order to get this final skill point I needed for zone completion, but alas, it eluded me. For weeks.

I found it hard to move on to the Cursed Shore, a level 80 zone right next door and next on my list of ‘places to be’ for my story quests. I kept being lured back to Malchor’s Leap. Finally, this week the glitch was fixed, and I was able to log in and complete the zone. My little Asura is pictured above, cheering.

I understand that games have bugs and glitches and things go wrong but this one was a personal annoyance because it stood in the way of not only a large reward, but finishing something I really wanted to complete so I could (in my mind) move on. I’m glad I was finally able to.

More people are reaching 80 and I’m curious about how they’re spending their time. Completing the map? Playing alts? Crafting? PvP? There’s always lots to do, but which is your preference? I admit, since MOP came out (has it only been two weeks?) GW2 has become a less frequent visit for me – but I knew that it would since I’m comforted by the fact that I’m not ‘wasting’ money monthly if I don’t log in. Even if I were to never log in again, I’ve gotten more than my $60 worth out of the game so far (don’t worry, I’ll be logging in plenty, I’m a nomadic gamer remember).

I’m still not certain if I want to play an alt. I’ve been trying to harvest supplies for other crafters but I’ve found that if your character is above the level range of items you need to salvage (ie: leather and cloth in specific) it’s better to play an alt so they’re getting the actual items you need. Having looted gear scale to the players level is both a blessing and a curse, depending.

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

Never Gone For Long #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

I know, I know. It’s been almost a WEEK since I’ve written anything! Does that mean I haven’t been gaming? Nope, of course not! I just have not been in the mood to write about my gaming sessions, and so I took a little mini vacation / holiday from updating MmoQuests. As always I am back, and with stories to tell.

My priest has been slowly gaining gear (and ilevels) in order to participate in the LFRaid encounters that are going live tomorrow (Tuesday, October 9th as I write this). Right now I’m sitting at ilevel 465, and you need 460 to be able to queue. Getting there was quite easy. Heroic mode gear is (mostly) ilevel 463, although WHY on earth a heroic dungeon that requires ilevel 450 to enter it gives quests that only reward ilevel 440, I have no idea. I suppose it helps balance out some of your old gear, but honestly the quests should be rewarding gear equal to the zone.

Anyhow.

Combine those dungeons with some player-crafted bits (a robe, gloves, and off-hand that I crafted myself) as well as the trinket from Brewfest and archaeology, and I was set.

While I’m talking about it, let me mention how much I SEVERELY dislike having a cap of 1,000 valor a week with a hard cap of 3,000 valor. I also dislike how dungeons have been set back to the ‘old’ way – which is to say you get 60 valor the first time you do a dungeon for that day, and then 30 valor every run after. It used to be 60 valor the first 7 times (ie: a week) and then 30 after that. So people who couldn’t log in every day but could spend one day a week playing could get all of their valor and not have to worry about missing a day.

Not only does valor have these limits, but in order to purchase valor gear you’re going to need faction. That means doing daily quests, and each day you don’t log in and do the 2912392328 dailies that are waiting for you is one day further away from your gear you are. I’ve been working on faction with the Tillers, Anglers, and Golden Lotus – the others can wait.

I played a monk for a bit, but nothing heavy. I think she’s sitting at level 17 now. The guild managed to earn 600 in every craft and that unlocked heirloom pants for our members (all 4 of us). I was quite pleased, even if I am broke now because most of the crafts were ones that I handle on my alts. Worth it? Yes, it sure was. I love those heirloom pieces.

Speaking of the guild, we’ve managed to some how climb our way to level 15, and part way through. I couldn’t be more pleased. I know that experience comes MUCH faster since some nerfs, but for the past year or so I had zero hopes of us ever reaching beyond level 5 (which we sat at for a good year). It’s nice to know that with the change, smaller guilds are able to provide at least some of the perks (the others that come from guild raids etc are still well beyond our grasp).

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! Also a happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canucks, I hope your turkey is as delicious as mine was!

How Does Your Garden Grow #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

It took me almost a week, but my priest is level 90 (finally). I found leveling MUCH slower than previous expansions, although others I’ve spoken to have said that they found the experience quite quick. I felt that 87 was the ‘hell level’ and the last 50% before 90. It took me almost 2 hours to get the last 20% I needed.

Once I dinged I was in for a surprise. A map covered in blue ! because there are so many daily quests to complete. With the removal of the traditional ‘wear a tabard in a dungeon and get xp’ method of gaining faction we’re now expected to complete dailies. There are dailies for everything, some of the more popular factions you’ll want to work up are the Golden Lotus (lots of gear and neat recipes), the Cloud Serpents (very neat mounts), and of course, the Tillers.

Tiller faction is quite different from regular faction. First of all, you get to garden, which is really neat and fun. It works almost exactly like Wizard101. You have plots that require tilling, and you plant seeds. Once they’re in the ground you’ll probably get a random event like the need to weed, spray bug spray, or kill vermin. Leave the seeds to grow for 24 RL hours, and when you return you’ll be able to harvest the plant. I’ve been growing carrots (pictured above) to use for my cooking. In fact I’m at 595 cooking right now, tomorrow I should finally reach 600. You start out with 4 harvest plots and as you work up faction you’ll gain more plots. An NPC came by to weed a portion of my garden today to reveal another 4 plots, and I can now plant 8 different plants a day. I believe the max is 16.

You’ll occasionally harvest a ‘gift’ item to give to an NPC, or you’ll find one while you complete your daily quests. These can be turned in for a bit of faction with a particular person. As you earn faction with them they become more friendly with you and you’ll get some more rewards and you’ll open up more quests. It’s quite interesting and I can’t help but think that if WoW simply gave us all our own personal homes along with this garden method, players would be incredibly happy. Well, some of us in any case.

I also managed to get my archaeology to 600. It went a lot faster than I had expected, especially once I could fly. A lot of areas where archaeology opened up were phased portions of zones, and there were no mobs around. Needless to say, I’m having a blast in MOP so far. There’s a LOT to do, and if you’re not much for dungeons or raids you can always try a smaller 3-person scenario. There are neat rewards for each as well as achievements. Between dailies, gardening, crafting, dungeons (regular and heroic), scenarios, pet battles, and then all of the other little tid-bit things that capture my attention, I can see that my alts may be taking a back seat for a bit. I have 4 other level 85 characters that I’d like to level up some time (if for no other reason than to allow them to access the panda city) and I haven’t really felt an urge to.

What do you think of the latest WoW expansion so far? Let me know in comments!

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