Category: Gaming

Guard Tower Completed – Next Project? #Wurmonline

It took the better part of two days of continuous work between Yetian and I, but we finally managed to finish off the guard tower that sits just on the perimeter of his deed. Guard towers are wonderful. First of all, they have no monthly upkeep cost, so there is an appealing factor right off the bat. Anyone can make use of them, and they won’t attack random mobs that wander into your deed unlike the spirit guards (although you can set spirit guards to passive). If you require help from a guard what you need to do is be sure you have the mob targeted that you’re trying to have killed, be in combat with them, be in range of a guard tower, and say ‘guards’ or ‘help’ in local chat. The quality of the guard tower dictates how many guards you have, there are four at the tower above thanks to the improving that Yetian did to the structure. It should be more than enough for the creatures that we get wandering our way.

I spent some time wandering yesterday (one of my favorite hobbies in Wurm) and found some guards dead, alongside a troll corpse. No one had butchered it yet and it wasn’t on deed, so I took a few parts from the troll and buried it. I also buried the corpses of the guards, which gave me a nice chunk of alignment change. With some heavy consideration I’ve decided to go back to a priest of Fo, I had dropped back down to follower because I wanted to destroy a wall (and my alt doesn’t have the strength at the moment). I tried playing a few other games, but my interest just wasn’t held, it seems like Wurm has spoiled me and themepark MMO’s just don’t hold my attention (although I do have a huge impulse to play EVE, that’s another sandbox). I’ve decided to continue with two Wurm accounts and I’ll keep one as a priest and one as a follower. As you may recall from a previous post, priests are unable to do a lot of things with the added benefit that they can cast spells. Hopefully I manage to stick it out with being a priest for longer than I did last time.

I’ve done a LOT of work on my deed, and even sold my second deed (well, OK I gave it away) – but those are posts for another time (like later on today). As always happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Adventures in Telon #VGD

Turns out, finding information about quests in Vanguard is a huge pain in the ass, especially when things haven’t been updated in (literally) years. Because of this, I’m going to start posting a few of my own walk-throughs as I complete quests, in the hopes that when I need to find them later they’ll actually be around. The information is out there, but it’s quite literally scattered all over the damn place, and because Vanguard has three completely different spheres that you can level up via, it’s just a disaster. Finding out where I should be in game is also proving to be quite an annoyance, so we’ll see if I can’t put together all the information I’ve stumbled upon and create some sort of leveling guide. I know absolutely nothing after level 50 either, which means I’ll have to try to find information on that some where. My highest level is 50, and that was the cap the last time I was playing seriously. Since then the cap has raised to 55.

My shaman is almost level 35. I spend the evening questing and clearing up old entries in my journal. Surprisingly enough there was only one death, despite the fact that  I haven’t played the shaman in quite some time. It’s 1am and I’m exhausted so this post is going to end here for now. Looking forward to a lot more posts tomorrow. Also, I wish I had the know-how to create a wiki for Vanguard, I’d be great at that.

The Raider’s Companion – Thoughts

When Adam “Ferrel” Trzonkowski mentioned that he was writing a second book, this one about raiding, I was eager to read it and see what he had to share with everyone. He offered to send people a free copy with the understanding that we would write a review, whether it was good or bad. If you’ve never taken the time to sit down and actually think about raiding, or if you’re perhaps just getting started, then this book will have a lot of great information for you. If you have done any length of raiding in the past but want to brush up on some terminology then this book may also capture your fancy. While I didn’t personally learn anything new, I did appreciate having a different perspective about things. I spent most of the book realizing that guilds are incredibly different in the way that they handle raid situations, and Adam’s writing reflects this. I didn’t always see eye to eye on his discussions (especially Chapter 2.1 The Raid Leader) but I could appreciate where he was coming from. I do feel that the book is quite specific to the games that Adam has played and has experience with – for example only portions of this book would be useful if you were going to raid in EVE Online. A larger portion would be useful if you were raiding in EverQuest II, where the ‘trinity’ is used (tank, dps, healer). While it’s not exactly common to find games that swerve away from this method of game-play, it does happen some times. Raiding in Wurm is nothing like taking down an encounter in WoW, but in the end it’s all people coming together for a common goal, so there’s still information that pertains.

I appreciated the chapters dedicated to loot distribution, I think that raiders some time think their preferred way is the one right way, when in actuality there are many ways to handle this and they all have their up sides and down sides. It’s all unique to the sort of guild you’re in, too. Chapter 5 (The Tools of the Raider) was a fantastic overview that I wish every raider (old and new) would read. I think a lot can be learned from taking advantage of the items he lists – but again this is completely based on the idea that you want to “be the best raider you can be”. Raiding doesn’t have to be a second job, and if you’re not having fun then you may want to take another look at why you’re doing it (there’s a Chapter for that too).

Over all the book was easy to understand, and gave great insight to how a hardcore raider thinks which I think is much more valuable than the actual rules of raiding.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Amanda “HolyDust” Martin, and really adds a lot of character. You can find it in the amazon store as a kindle book if you’re interested in reading it yourself. Thank you Adam for giving me the opportunity to share your book with my readers, and I wish you all the best with its future!

Progress Is Happening in Telon! #VGD #Vanguard

Ah yes, bring on the “that game is still around?!” and “people still play that game?!” comments, today I’m talking about Vanguard. While I don’t often write about the game I have still been playing, my in-game home is still there and I’ve even had some neighbours pop up around the area. Last week Vanguard received a new launch pad, and I have to say it’s pretty nice. It mimics the new launch pads that were created for EQ2 and EQ1, and you can find them (as well as all of the SOE launch pads) over at soe.getthegame.com. It’s nice to have them all in a central location. If you’ve already got a copy of Vanguard installed on your PC be sure to point to the proper directory, as the new installation path is NOT where the old one used to install. The entire process was smooth and the game launches far more clean than it used to. I’m incredibly pleased.

The fact that there is a new launch pad (and a few other things in the works) gives me hope for this game. For too long now people have assumed that it should/will be shut down – and I have diligently stood on the side promoting it as a gem. I will continue to do so. The graphics for this game were well beyond its time, and I feel that it has finally reached a period where people have the computers to appreciate it fully. There are still glitches, but, they are being worked on.

You can still find me in-game running the guild Nomadic Gamers. It’s small (in fact at the time of posting it there are only two active members, one of them being myself) and more of a social guild than anything else. If you want to talk to me in game you can find me there as Stargrace (50 disciple), Arysh (18 warrior), Faydai (47 blood mage), or my 34 shaman and 24 bard. Their names escape me this morning, so just do a search for Nomadic Gamers. Chances are anyone on is me. This post has been quite rambling but you should expect some ‘better’ ones about Vanguard in the future. There are still so many dungeons I’ve yet to explore, so many quests I haven’t done. I’m looking forward to showing them off, and I may even post another Vanguard video or two. It’s been a while since I’ve made one.

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

Simply Working Deeds #WurmOnline

I’ve been doing a lot of sailing in Wurm these days, mostly between my two deeds but also to deeds that have fallen apart (as long as they’re by the coast). I’ve collected a lot of scrap wood and dirt, two very precious items (especially for me, since I really dislike cutting down trees). I have been working on both deeds diligently, for Darkpaw Bay that involves planting a number of birch and maple trees along my coast (a row of birch and then a row of maple) and taking care of the gardens. Perhaps finishing some floor boards in Petterm’s neglected (cough) house. At Les Reveur there’s more work to be done, but I haven’t quite come to a decision about it yet. The land has been heavily worked, but there are changes to it I’d like to make. I also need to finish the water front, put down slabs, and hopefully GM’s can get rid of the boat that’s moored on my deed, I’ve sent in a /dev report but no one responded. I’ll send another in today perhaps.

I neglected the grooming on one of my horses at Les, and now it’s diseased. I had to isolate it and feed / groom it in the hopes that the disease fades. That’ll teach me to neglect grooming! My rooster is still (surprisingly) alive, I’ve been hand feeding it grains. He’s certainly not as plump as the horses, but hey at least it’s alive. For now.

Speaking of horses, I had to put one down yesterday. I had too many males, and with a limited amount of space to keep the animals I decided to kill it and butcher it. A little cruel perhaps but at least I can make use of the parts that resulted from that. Just one more of the difficult decisions you have to make while playing. I suppose I could have just let him run free and another player would have found him – but that doesn’t save him from anything, it just prolongs it. I’d rather make use of the extra bits myself.

Aside from the daily deed chores as I call them, I’ve been working on my mining. Prospecting too, although that is moving quite slowly. I’ve discovered a cavern in behind my mines at Les, and I’m working on uncovering it. So far it’s a slow process, but I’m excited. Eventually I’d like to make lamps to light my deeds up at night, but lamps are tricky things to make and use an entire log, so I’m a bit far from attempting them quite yet.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself! Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm in my posts lately, but I’m dealing with a bit of RL stress, and so you’ll just have to put up with it for now. I’m sure things will be back to normal in no time at all. <3