Category: Gaming

Weekend Adventures (and a lack of posts) #Skyrim #NaNoWriMo

Many many people are spending far too much time this weekend playing Skyrim. I’ve been trying not to fall behind on my NaNoWriMo (unsuccessfully, I’m one day behind so far) but with eye candy like this waiting for me it’s been hard. I’m closing in on 20,000 words, which means I’m getting closer to the middle of NaNoWriMo. The hardest part for me to write. I’m good at figuring out what happens first, and what happens last, but when it comes to all of the juicy details in the middle I tend to stutter around. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve worked things a little different this year, planning the story out one little chunk at a time, so that I have at least a rough idea of what is happening next.

Skyrim is as good as I thought it was going to be, and I’m really pleased I picked it up. I wasn’t going to, but the hype got the better of me and I’m pleased that it did. The graphics remind me a lot of Vanguard (but better) as does the wide open world. If I see it off in the distance changes are I can walk to it. I love exploring, and I’ve been picking up absolutely everything I can get my hands on that won’t land me in jail for doing so. I’m not very far into the story yet because of these things but the point is I can play this game ‘my way’ and feel absolutely comfortable doing so.

That’s been my weekend so far, although I did also spend some time in EQ2 and WoW (Fireland dailies, how I loath thee) it wasn’t very much time. My hands have been giving me some trouble as of late so I can only spend 30 minutes or so typing / using the mouse before I have to take a break. Hopefully that solves itself sooner rather than later.

What about everyone else, how did you spend your weekend? Let me know in comments below! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

 

Thoughts on EQ2 Going Free to Play, and Age of Discovery #EQ2

By now I’m sure that everyone has heard the news that EQ2 is going free to play, following the success of their Freeport server. While I’ve personally already said that I think the announcement comes at a bad time I do feel that long term this is probably the best thing for the game to do to extend the life until EQ Next releases. I feel it comes at a bad time because it is a lot to take in for loyal long term customers. Not only have there been an incredible amount of class and gear changes this year, there’s also the fact that we’re getting an expansion that doesn’t follow the ‘norm’ of previous expansions. It’s a lot of change all at once. I would have much rather seen the entire game go F2P when the announcement about the Freeport server was first put forth. Alas, the past is what it is, and we can’t go back there (yet).

I do have one character on the current EQ2X server that I paid $35 to copy over, and I’m a bit sat that I copied her now since it didn’t include any of her house items 0r coin. I’ve enjoyed how populated the server has been with people in every level range and I’m really hoping that this change draws in fresh blood even if they’re not paying for a monthly subscription. I think seeing an active populace will entice others to pay for the monthly sub to stick around. We’ll just have to see.

I was a little less enthralled with the announcement of the pricing for next EQ2 expansion, Age of Discovery. It’s mostly because I’ve already got 12 level 90 characters who are also level 90 crafters and this expansion isn’t going to give me much to do on my level 90s. In fact I’m not even sure I’ll get to keep them all when the game goes F2P, I may have to trim the fat. I really have no need for mercenary, I tend to group to get things done and when I want to solo I haven’t had any issues. I’m not a fan of monster missions which is what the DYOD will be (design your own dungeon) and I honestly have no idea where I would spend any extra aa on my main character. Beastlords are always neat but with so many characters I would have to delete someone in order to play one, and everyone and their goat is going to be doing that.

This AoD expansion also does not include any previous expansions, something that has been the norm for some time now. If you’re thinking of giving F2P EQ2 a try you’ll be able to access all content except for DoV (the previous expansion) or AoD. You’ll need to purchase both of them if you want the content from them. On the plus side DoV content is mostly for players 85+ so you won’t need DoV for quite some time, unlike AoD which is aimed for new players and those who haven’t reached the level cap yet. As always I’ll want to poke around the content first before coming to any firm conclusion, these are just opinions off the top of my head without anything to back them up. I may or may not be participating in the beta over the next little while to be able to form some firmer conclusions.

What do you think of all the announcements over this last little while? Or are you too busy playing Skyrim to have really noticed them….

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

 

2011 Gamers Secret Santa

In case you’re not familiar, last year I ran the 2010 Gamers Secret Santa, and the year before I ran the 2009 Gamers Secret Santa – and it was a huge success. I had over 100 people participate, and geeky gifts were sent out all over the world. This year I’ve decided to attempt to run another one. If you’d like to participate or are interested in what it’s all about please read further!

What it is: Those who want to participate, are more then welcome to. You can be a gamer, blogger, a member of the game industry, whatever. As long as games are some how a part of your life. I will take names / addresses, and assign everyone a ‘secret’ person to buy a small less then $20 gift for, as well as give them the address required. Send out your gift and wait for one to head your way, and that’s it. Ok, let me explain it a bit better.

What is “Secret Santa?” here’s the definition!

How:

1. Send your full name and mailing address to me at stargrace@mmoquests.com, make sure it comes from a valid email address. If you happen to run a fansite or a blog, please mention which blog you write for. If you’re just a gamer mention that too. It doesn’t matter who you are or how involved in the gaming community you are, anyone can participate.

2. On December 1st I will email you back with someone else’ address.

3. The price limit is $20, don’t spend any more then that. Be creative, make something, have it be unique to your culture or your life, if you need suggestions then please don’t hesitate to let me know. Try to keep in mind that we’re all gamers, no matter where we come from.

4. Keep your person a secret! Don’t tell anyone who else you have. If you DO happen to run a fansite or blog, then when you receive your gift write about it and let everyone know.

5. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know below in comments, or email me.

Details: I understand that you may not be comfortable with me or one other person having your mailing address, so if you’re not please don’t feel pressured to participate. The idea is to share with one another and realize what a fantastic community we have, not make you feel on edge that you’re going to potentially run into issues.

If you’d like to participate but simply can not afford to no matter what, send me an email and let me know, I will do my best to help you out. I want anyone who’s interested to be able to participate in this event. I think some times we forget that these people we all talk to online are not just random pixels, but are actual people on the other end of those computers.

Please keep in mind that only myself, and ONE other person will have your address. It won’t become a mailing list or anything like that. If you’re only comfortable with me having it and no one else then let me know, and I’ll have your gift sent to me and then I’ll send it out to you. Anything to make sure people are comfortable and still able to participate.

YOU HAVE UNTIL DECEMBER 1st TO EMAIL ME YOUR ADDRESS – please take your time to think about whether or not this is something you really want to do. If it is, get me your address by December 1st so that I can give people some time to get their shopping done. If it’s a little late (the gift, not the address) that’s alright.

If you don’t celebrate christmas but still want to participate that’s alright too! This isn’t a religious thing, I just want to try it out and see how it works this year. There are some amazing gamers I have met from all over the world, and I think that we have a lot to share with one another.

I think that’s about it. If you can think of something I’ve missed then please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer it. If this is a completely horrible idea don’t feel shy to let me know. I just wanted to share some of the christmas joy that’s going to be flying around before too long and figured this would be a fantastic idea for people to experience it with one another.

The Joys of Trade Chat #WoW

It doesn’t matter what server you play on, whether you’re alliance or horde, trade chat tends to look like this. I’d love to turn this channel off but WoW lacks any proper server wide channels which makes finding groups on your own server (RBG anyone?) all the more difficult. I really wish they would implement level specific channels, or even a general channel that was server wide aside from trade chat which you can only access while in cities. I’m a bit surprised that they haven’t yet.

 

Making Myself a ‘Better’ Player #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

When I play an MMO I typically take it upon my self to ‘be all that I can be’ when it comes to my character. I know this opens up a can of worms about the min/max that goes on in games, but it’s just one of my many generic ‘goals’. I like to be good at playing my character. I don’t like to be a liability for the group I’m in, and it’s fun to know that I play well. If I don’t play well at least it’s not from lack of effort. I don’t hold this over other players heads because personally it doesn’t matter to me how they play their own characters. I just take pride in the things that I do, and I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with that until you start projecting negative attitudes towards other players. If you harp on them for not being ‘as good’ as you and tease and make fun of people then I will very quickly have a problem.  That being said there are a few sites I use in order to learn more about my characters for World of Warcraft. You can play just fine without using any external resources, especially if you’re really good at figuring out the mathematics of the game yourself but I am not one of these people.

ElitistJerks (forums) – Now doesn’t this forum sort of go against everything I believe in as a gamer? Sort of. I only read the class sections and I stay away from every sort of comment that vaguely resembles someone trolling. Forums are notorious for flame wars and that’s really not something that I need to get involved with. If you can look past the ‘elite’ attitude of gamers you’ll find some fantastic information. You just need to develop a bit of a selective reading skill. It gets easier over the years. My issue with this forum is that as time goes on there are fewer and fewer updates by people who really know their class. I’m hoping when 4.3 goes live this may change a bit.

MaxDPS.com – a site I’ve only recently started using, this gives you a choice of stats to input and then find optimal gear for your character. It also includes things like spell rotations, and talents. There are some faults with the site, for example they only have one rogue spec listed (combat) and the gear is a bit behind. I couldn’t find some of my pieces listed. Still, it came in handy.

AskMrRobot.com – I was just told about this site yesterday, and I absolutely love it. You can input your character from the armory and then optimize to find gear that’s BiS (Best in Slot). It also tells you which gems, enchants, and reforges would suit your spec the most, and allows you to customize what tier of gear you’re aiming for. You can leave off certain BiS options like ‘Too lazy to get exalted rep’ – if you select this it won’t list gear for you that requires exalted reputation. Using this site I was able to narrow down what upgrades I should work towards, where they came from, and then what to do with them.

PLAYING a character well is still something that’s completely up to you. If you’re going to constantly stand where you shouldn’t stand, you’re going to die. If you run ahead of the tank, are impatient and pull on your own, constantly badmouth someone in your group, or any other number of ‘bad player’ things you’ll never be one of those ‘good players’. It doesn’t take high dps to be a good player. My warlock is a great example of this. She’s wearing pretty poor gear at the moment and only parses around 5-7k dps, but I know where to stand and what to do on specific fights. Staying alive and not being a dumbass dying to certain encounters is just as important as being able to parse high. When you’re able to do both, well now, that’s what I strive for. My priest is getting there, I have 0 raid gear and can hold a steady 11-12k dps on single targets, I’ve been able to parse as high as 42k on group encounters depending on how many adds there are. None of that matters if I don’t know enough to move out of the way when a flaming ball of lava is headed in my direction.

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