Category: Gaming

Leveling Solo / Duo 30-40 #VGD #Vanguard

Working my way through level 37 has been interesting. I’m currently questing at Beranid Hills, fighting large groups of undead and druids. The camps are a bit annoying, it’s really hard to pull safely. More than one death was experienced last night, although the penalty for death is not that significant (thankfully) so no one was upset. The quests reward coin (and not much) which is annoying because I could really use some gear upgrades. I went shopping on the broker last night for a few items, but since there’s such a small community, choices are limited. I’m hoping this changes in the future. Of course my crafters can also help out with gear, but I’m in that difficult level range where the new stuff is around 42, and the old stuff is in the 30’s still. As I did with my blood mage, I’ll just have to grind it out. I’m really looking forward to being 40+ on the shaman (although I’m thinking of switching over to the blood mage again once they’re around the same level).

I will admit it’s very nice to be out of Qalia, land of blinding bright sand. Thestra suits my personal taste much better as far as continents go.

Before too long I’ll be working on swamp armor and trying to raise my faction depending on what type of gear I want to go for. I already have a few pieces on my blood mage, so that should help me out. I have absolutely no idea what I’ll be doing from 50-55 but I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out then. Hopefully I’ll be able to work on my flying mount quest, I think it would be really neat to finish that. It involves raiding, so I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance, but a lot of the casual guilds PUG it these days so we’ll just have to see. Other places I’ve been leveling include:

Cragwind Ridge, River Palace, Seawatch Coast, Tar Janashir, and in the future I’ll be headed to Jathred’s Twist and Dragon’s Backbone (neither of which I’ve been to before). That should take me to 40 without too much trouble (hopefully). My shaman is a bit squishy, and I’m thinking of changing my alignment. Right now I’m with the phoenix because of the bonus to + heals / dps they have and the fact that I don’t do a lot of soloing. However; I’m thinking I may want to switch back to bear. It’s for a pretty silly reason too, the phoenix form makes me float, constantly, and it gets really annoying to maneuver around that way. If I click off the form I’m still left with the buff which includes levitation. I’ve switched a few times now, so I’ll have to give it some thought.

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

What do YOU Want To Do? #WurmOnline

One of the big factors in any sandbox game is that you are the one who decides what you want to do in game. The game doesn’t tell you what to do and your imagination really is the limits. In WurmOnline I’ve decided to go a few routs. First of all, I breed cattle, and then slaughter it (messy business) and butcher the hides. I then take these hides over to my neighbour Yetian, who uses them for his leatherworking skill. These cows are not just leather though, they also provide me with creatures to groom for my animal husbandry skill. I also spend a lot of time cultivating the ground in their pens with fields that I can harvest later on (and it provides them with food). All of this gives me helpful skills for my character. Animal husbandry will allow me to check my horses out and see what traits they have. Negative traits can (eventually) be cured with my Fo priest spell Genesis. It’s a big circle.

Since I am a priest of Fo and restricted in a lot of my activities, I spend a lot of my time ‘making parts’. Making planks, making bricks, harvesting sprouts, working fields, cooking meals. Those may seem like boring mundane things but they’re activities that I enjoy doing in game. You could take a completely different rout and become a warrior, traveling the lands defeating creatures and not making any one place your home. You could move from village to village, working for coin, there’s so many possibilities within the realm of your imagination, the game only needs to give you a few tools in order for you to move forward with them.

I’m still working on my keep. I need 500 (or so) more bricks to finish the final wall, and then I can start working on the inside of the keep walls. I’ve got lights set up which give off a nice glow during the night, and two buildings, one is my personal residence, and the other is a craft hall, with bulk storage bins and the food storage bins as well as a few other containers for random storage.

I’ve been looking VERY hard for a hen. My rooster is getting lonely. Hopefully I can find one before too long, I’ve had my rooster quite some time, but I’ve never seen a hen before. I may have to post an advertisement on the forums looking to buy one. The forums are a fantastic way for players to interact with the community, there are boards for selling / buying products from one another as well as server forums to find out if any events are going on in your area. That’s how I found out about the Fo sermons, as well as the Kyklops killing. Don’t be afraid of getting involved with the community!

Ding! 49 Artificer #VGD #Vanguard

It took a long time, almost three years in fact, but I’ve finally made it to level 49 artificer. One more level and I’ll be at the old cap of 50, five more to go after that and I’ll be at the current cap of 55. I’m excited about it although to be honest I know so little about any of the 50-55 content I’m not even sure if I get any new recipes (if memory serves, I don’t, but things will be easier to make). Leveling a craft in Vanguard is unlike any other game I’ve played before, except maybe Wurm. It takes a LOT of time, and it’s not a mad rush with a timer game which I enjoy because it gives me the ability to AFK during the craft process.

Artificers (at least the branch I’m down, remember there is mineralogist and carpenter) make jewelry, along with stone weapons (mauls), and house components (bricks, planks, and shingles). I’ve been saving up my silver tokens so I can buy upgrade recipes, I’ve got a few of the lower level ones but haven’t gotten any more for a while (mostly because I wasn’t working on my crafting. It makes it difficult to get crafting sigils if you’re not actually crafting).

The shaman has managed to inch her way to level 37, which means ONE more level and it will be time for a whole collection of new spells. I’m excited about that. Sadly, this is where the level ‘grind’ comes into play. I find it very hard to get from 35-42 or so. Once you’re past those levels it seems easier, and before those levels there’s lots to do. It could also just be that I don’t have the faintest idea where I should be leveling, these days I spend my time in Bernadid Hills killing undead.

I do have other crafters and it’s important that I level them up so that I can upgrade my items with their components. In Vanguard crafters are still required to work together, using bits and pieces from one another. My jewelry components are upgraded with pieces of rare metals, and cloth. My weaponsmith is closest, at level 31, and my Leatherworker is currently 22. One of those (or both) will be next on the list I suppose.

I hope everyone had an incredible weekend, no matter where you found yourself! As always, happy gaming.

 

Playing the Skill Point Game #EVEOnline

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the way that skills work in EVE. In more ‘tradtional’ MMOs (ie: most themepark) I would log in to ‘grind’ skills or levels. I’d work on tasks that would better my character. In EVE there’s no way of doing this. Your skills come from books that you add to a queue, and automatically learn in a number of hours/days/months while you’re in game or not. You’re only limited by the amount of time required to fully learn a skill, and the price of the skill book. That means the ‘main’ thing to work on is gaining ISK so you can afford those books / ships / etc. How you decide to earn your ISK is completely up to you.

Above is my current ‘planned’ queue of skills. It will take around 49 days to learn them all. This is the Dominix fit I’ve planned out on Battleclinic, and then I’ve uploaded the skills I need for that fit. It’s drone heavy (obviously, almost everything I have left to train is drones) since that’s how I enjoy playing. I love sending my drones out into combat while I hang back and blast things from range or tank the heavier hits while they do the bulk of the damage. Picking a fit for your ship is unique to the type of gameplay you enjoy so be sure to spend a lot of time browsing fits. You don’t have to go with what everyone else dictates is the best, either. You should always focus on how YOU enjoy playing. The dominix makes a great drone ship, although I’d like to upgrade it eventually. Since the only real combat I do is for missions, I’ve never been that focused on my PvE combat ship.

One thing I wish were a little easier to do in game is probing. Normally Kasul would scan sites and then drop off the mining locations for me because I’m just not good at it. He’s moved on, so I’m left to figure out probing for myself. It’s not THAT difficult, I’ve watched videos on how to do it and I’ve even managed to scan down a few sites myself. It’s just that I’m not very good at it, and I prefer to spend my time in game doing things that I’m good at and that I enjoy. Problem is I enjoy mining (I know, how wrong of me) and if I spend my time mining just the regular asteroid belts, that can become a chore. I really enjoy the excitement that the other sites bring, especially if there are rats around. So, a large portion of my time in-game must be spend dedicated to learning the finer arts of probing. That sounds completely wrong.

How do you enjoy spending your time in-game? Let me know in comments! As always, happy gaming no matter where you are.

 

Lets Talk ProSiebenSat.1 #EQ2 #SOE

(Comic is curtsy of @CheesePirate, and was censored from the EQ2 forums) I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to speak up on my blog about this situation, because I dislike posting negativity, and it’s rare that I do. However. I’m also not one to just sit down and let things pass by when I feel that there is something that can be done. For those who are unaware, here is the situation:

– SOE announced a deal with a company called ProSiebenSat.1 that would affect eight Europe-based SOE games. With this deal comes region locking. US players will no longer be able to access EU servers and those EU players who currently have US characters will be grandfathered in, but not future EU players. This deal carries over into future SOE titles, like EQNext, and PlanetSide 2 (for me personally, it means I can no longer access my Splitpaw characters. There’s a huge list of other consequences here).

– ProSiebenSat.1 are known for their shoddy customer service, and they’re also known for publishing the personal details of customers which is in violation of EU and German privacy laws.

– MANY people spoke up on the forums about this situation, and were banned for “excessive negativity”.

– Feedback was requested, but the deal has already gone through (6 weeks ago).

– A player even called ProSiebenSat.1 to try to get some answers since SOE has been very reluctant to say anything on the matter. They (ProSiebenSat.1) said “EU Customers will regret being considered US customers” because of all the events and marketplace items they have planned for the EU servers. In fact, it looks like the EU servers will have absolutely nothing in common with the US servers once this deal is implemented in full.

 

Perhaps things are not all doom and gloom, and this deal really is a GOOD thing. I fail to see it, personally. Region locks are NEVER a good thing, especially from my perspective where I play EU hours and live in Canada. In a day where games like Rift are trying so hard to allow players to stay together (free weekly server transfers, no region locking) it seems outrageous. It’s especially bad for games that have already been established. Put yourself in the position of the US military personnel who has been gaming on a EU server and now that they’re finally home, are unable to play with their friends because they must move to a US server, no longer having access. One of the major reasons any of us play these games are to be able to play with our friends, no matter where they’re from. To be able to meet people from all over the world, form bonds and learn from one another. Restrictions such as these do nothing but separate players, and having (what sounds like) completely different rule sets on US/EU servers makes me wonder  for the future of our EU friends.

It has been said time and time again – companies listen to nothing but MONEY. If you disagree with this and the future of SOE games, PLEASE consider cancelling your accounts. SPEAK with your wallets. That is the ONE sure way to get your opinion across in a way that will make the higher ups listen.

(As a side note, I hold no blame to the community team of SOE nor the developers, I know this decision was not something that they personally made, but came from higher ups).