Category: Gaming

Almost level 35, and still completely enthralled with GW2. Of course, it hasn’t even been out a week yet, so that should be expected. I’ve still done hardly any adventuring, most of my experience is coming from crafting (the majority) with a few discovery bits thrown in. I decided that since I had “completed” Rata Sum, I would “complete” Lion’s Arch. That is to say obtain the vistas, points of interest, and gates. Today I plan on doing the same for Divinity’s Reach.

When I reached 30 my personal story suddenly started getting a lot more interesting. I see how all of the races are going to meet up and what they’re going to mean to Tyria. I love that.

There are still some major issues going on with the game. Number one, the auction house (trade post) still isn’t active yet. Despite this being an annoyance, I’m also pleased. I am leveling quite quickly, and if I were able to just purchase the materials I needed instead of having to actively go out and harvest them, I bet I’d level even faster. I don’t want that. Since you can also trade gems for gold and then use that gold to purchase items, it seems like once that trade post opens there may be a lot of folks keen to move up through the game via that method. More power to them, but I’m enjoying the fact that we all have to work together and talk and make new friends in order to trade goods at the moment. Yesterday I made a bargain with a few people I met in zone, my iron ore for their silver at a 3:1 ratio (because iron is quite plentiful). I even traded for some gems, and while you have to rely on the trust system because there’s no way to trade (you have to send things through the mail) it worked pretty well.

Number two of course would have to be the security issues. A lot of friends are being hacked or getting emails stating that their passwords have been requested a change. I also got this email a few days ago, but haven’t had any issues with security. I have two NCSoft accounts, one is my master account (Aion, Lineage II etc), and then the other is for GW1/GW2. Both have different emails, and different passwords. Both of those emails have a two step authentication process (and different passwords), so if someone wants to get into my game account by requesting a password change, they’ll also have to get into my email account and bypass that. It’s not foolproof and I really hope ArenaNet adds more security options, but so far it has worked for me. I’m once more eternally grateful for KeePass, because there’s no way I’d be able to remember all these passwords otherwise.

The third major issue I see is a combination of smaller bugs and glitches still kicking around in the game. Guild issues with joining and representing. To solve most of these I gate to a pvp battleground, for some reason guild stuff works better there. Overflow still has some glitches, as does meeting up with your friends to play together. These (imo) are relatively minor, and they haven’t affected my personal game play yet because I’ve been doing my own thing (aside from guild events).

The combination of GW2 and WoW is working out well. One has a sub, one doesn’t. They’re both fantasy genre but I love fantasy so why not. Plus, there’s the amazing Combat Wombats, who I just can’t speak highly enough of. I hope everyone else has had as good a time in game as I have, and if not, I hope it gets better. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

It was a complete accident that I leveled from 27-30, because it was all through crafting. I’m just a hair away from 200 in cooking, and I’m around 150 in jeweler. One of the major complaints I hear from a lot of people in-game is that they’re too low to progress to the next area or to work on their personal story quest. I, have never had this issue. It’s a bit odd to hear of a game that ‘forces’ a player into crafting or harvesting, but if you’re not a fan of grinding events you’ll want to do both of those things.

The level 1-15 zone is good for crafting up to 75, so I made it a point not to leave until I had reached 75 in each craft. This meant that I didn’t leave the starter zone until I was almost level 20, well above what I needed to begin the second zone. Once in the second zone I did the same thing, I completed the map, then worked on my story, and then raised my crafting until it was into the next tier.

Also keep in mind that there is more than one zone for you to explore. There’s nothing stopping you from taking your Asura over to the Norn starting area and completing their map. In fact you’ll probably want to, sooner or later. Or at least do it with an alt so that you get the achievements for completing the zones.

How to tell I’m REALLY enjoying a game? I stop playing alts. This is practically unheard of for me, any one of my long time readers will know that I am constantly flip flopping from character to character, working on multiple things at once. Not true in GW2. I’ve stuck with my Asura Guardian the entire time so far. It’s almost scary.

So now I’m sitting at level 30, still not completed the JC I need to do before I move on, and the zone I was questing in is 15-25, so I’m 5 levels above the recommended levels, again. It’s fantastic. Since the game auto levels you down as you meander your way through each zone you will always be level appropriate. It’s an incredibly smooth transition, you probably won’t even notice it, which is exactly as it should be.

Leveling too fast? I don’t think so, it’s not that I’m leveling quickly and missing anything, because I’m not, it’s that I have had a LOT of time to play and have been taking full advantage of that.

I did spend some money and buy $50 worth of gems. I upgraded my account to the digital collectors edition and I bought some lockbox keys. For a game with 0 subscription what so ever I’m incredibly pleased. I don’t have to worry about unlocking gear. Or levels. Or anything else. I can simply play the game. The entire game. That being said, I DO want to support AreaNet, I do want the developers to make money. Of course I’m going to spend a little here and there to show them that I appreciate their hard efforts, more than just the box cost of the game. So many other games I play are “free to play” with both subscriptions and stores and weird tiers of unlocking that it’s a pleasure to play an MMO that is so simple in its design. Buy a box. Play the game. The end.

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

It’s a little hard to tell in this screen shot, but last night I came across the cutest quest I have ever done in all the years I’ve been gaming. Yes, it was that cute. I had to pick up a little unconscious skritt from the ground, and carry him to safety. Skritt are odd rodent type creatures, and my little Asura was hefting him around her little ears flopping all over the place as she sprinted to safety. It was so cute I just wanted to do that quest over and over again. The skirtt dangled from my arms and I knew right then and there I had to call him George. I’d squeeze him and love him forever, too.

I’m currently sitting at level 22, my cooking is 80 as well as my jewelry making, and things are going well. I’m having fun discovering vistas and exploring. Most of the time I’m auto leveled lower than my basic level because I’m higher than the zone area I’m exploring in, and when I see people who are 2-3 levels below the appropriate level I wonder what it is they’re not doing because I didn’t even leave the starter area (1-15) until I was almost 20.

I freely admit, I’m smitten. The game certainly isn’t perfect – absolutely no game is. But as I said on twitter, it IS perfect for me.

One of the things I love the most is just how detailed the world is. You can spend hours looking through a city at all the little nooks and crannies, exploring the finer details. There’s things to look at and see everywhere. If you’re only doing the quests and not taking the time to notice that as you run through the plants they rustle, or that as you leave a pool of water your screen splashes with droplets, then you’re missing some of the key things (imo).

I am (of course) still playing WoW, and I do still plan on keeping up with EVE (I haven’t done much of either lately, new shiny and what not) but since GW2 is subscription free (and not just some weird varied free to play model) I am only too happy to keep it in my active game roster. The marketplace was finally up for most of yesterday, though the auction house still was not. The only thing in-game that is sold in the market that I don’t find nearly enough of in the game world, are the chest keys. Potions and all the rest I’ve been getting as I complete achievements, but I have a good selection of locked chests sitting in my bank until I decide to take the plunge and purchase some keys so I can unlock them all. I’ve only gotten one key in-game.

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

Yes, that’s my Asura decked out in the pink swim suit.

So much awesomeness has been going on with the head start of Guild Wars 2 that I haven’t even had time to write about it until now, but I’m forcing myself to. First of all, despite numerous people having a rocky start to the game, mine was almost the complete opposite.  I had one disconnect issue when I created my 5th character, but aside from that I’ve had 0 lag, and 0 issues (aside from the game wide ones like the auction house and store being down). I am confident in saying that GW2 will be one of my main ‘homes’ for quite some time, the game just caters to every single aspect of an MMO that I adore.

I joined Combat Wombat on the Sanctum of Rall, most of the people in the guild are people I’ve “known” in an online manor for quite some time, but have never really been given the opportunity to group with or talk with before. That, and I’ve always been too shy. I decided to throw caution to the wind and the first thing I did was start to get to know my online friends better, participating in guild events and vent. I’m so happy I did, it was one of the best decisions I could have made.

Game stuff aside (which pretty much everyone will be talking about) I had so much fun last night and during launch that I surprised even myself. Last night Combat Wombat hosted their first guild event, which included a pool party at the top of the diving board in Lion’s Arch. I REALLY have to give it to the developers, they did an AMAZING job giving players some roleplay features. If you stand at the top of the diving board you’ll notice a little footstool at the far end. Upon it are a pair of goggles. Put them on for hours and hours of laughs. Add a few dances to the mix, most of them by Sylvari and one very active Asura, and you’ve got a recipe for squeals of delight.

Once we had danced until we just couldn’t dance any more (some of us quite literally, as we hit the rocks below the diving board by mistake) we decided to take on a hidden jumping puzzle that is located in Lion’s Arch (there’s another one in the Asura starter zone, FYI). If I thought the diving board was fun, wow, that was nothing compared to this. It was an incredible time, following guild mates from location to location, working our way through this puzzle. There was one part where I was shuddering in the dark, because guess what, the lights literally do go out, and all of the Sylvari decided to turn on their glow features to try to light our way. It was hilarious. Also, no, it didn’t work very well. Thought counts! Our reward at the end was a chest of (pretty useless) goodies, and an achievement for having made the trip.

The game is great, there’s no question about it, but it’s really this group of people I’ve found myself playing with who make it an unforgettable experience. Thank you all.