Category: Gaming

Yesterday Was Huge

I can’t remember the last time I had such an eventful day gaming so I’m going to go through each game one by one and my thoughts on them. The ones I’m playing, of course. Pictured above – my new home in EQ1! Doesn’t it look awesome. I need to purchase more trees for my lot, but so far I’m incredibly happy.

EverQuest (1): House of Thule went live and with it came a level cap increase (90) which of course also means new everything. Player housing was also released, and it’s just great (refer to my video yesterday for details). I spent a good chunk of time playing with my housing, and since I have the collectors edition I also had a lot of neat things to claim, including two paintings for the home, two mounts, and a few mercenary contract items. The down time was painless and I’d say out of all the updates yesterday the smoothest. I spent the morning watching the SOE Ustream event during the down time, and really appreciate the time and effort everyone put into it, especially since some had been at the office since 1am.

EverQuest 2: GU 58 went in yesterday. Some 5 room homes were given balconies which look really dang cool. I find it a little amusing that a 5-room home now has more item space then a T1 guild hall. I was a little put off by the fact that you can now purchase a 200 item expander from the market, as opposed to the 100 item expander (that don’t stack) crafted by players. $12. After playing both EQ2 and LotRO which have fairly elaborate markets, I feel that turbine does a MUCH better job on their price points. I really enjoy the new currency tab but wish it was shared across all characters so that I wouldn’t have to keep putting currency into my shared bank for alts. The new mount tab is also nice – but I still wish we had a quest item tab to clear out even more inventory space. The update had a number of bugs that still had to be worked out, and there was down time this morning for that. I haven’t tired the new zone yet, but new content is always good.

WoW: The game changing update 4.0.1 went in yesterday. The game didn’t come up until 9pm EST and then of course I had to disable every single AddOn I had until they’re updated. I like the changes to talents although it requires me to re-learn every single character I have which is not exactly fun. My single target dps is up on the shadow priest, but down in AoE damage. It felt odd to play her. I’m considering going holy instead of discipline, but I haven’t really decided yet. I went from 21,000 hp to 29,000 hp which was a nice change. I love what they’ve done to the talent window, the UI changes in general are nice looking. The graphic updates are quite nice. Azeroth is being plagued with earthquakes, and it’s giving me incredible bouts of vertigo, but a neat live event for the onset of a cataclysm.

LotRO: While there isn’t a huge patch going in right now – there is an incredible sale where you can purchase some quest packs for 75% off – and what’s more is if you actually quest through these packs you’ll make the turbine points back. Even though I have VIP access until February, I’m going to pick them up because – well, it’s just a fantastic sale and I know I won’t have a VIP account forever. The sale only goes on until midnight tonight, so be sure to take advantage of it. My Minstrel hit level 32 yesterday doing a few skirmishes, and I’m really excited about exploring further.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Skirmishes, A Home, and Levels

Exciting times with my gaming lately. Not only does WoW have a large update due in today, but so does EQ2, and House of Thule goes live for EQ. Thankfully while all three of these games are down for maintenance, I can still dive into LotRo to get my ‘fix’ (that was sarcasm there folks).

I spent most of yesterday playing, having a VIP account until the end of February. Toargo also has a VIP account until December, so we haven’t had to purchase any content yet. Not that it has stopped me from ogling the store, especially those cosmetic items. I’m a sucker for a pretty dress/hat/backpack. As I mentioned yesterday I did purchase the riding skill (which is 75% off) for my four characters for 48 turbine points. I find almost everything in the store is really well priced except maybe the shared bank slots item and I can understand why that one is so pricey. I enjoy the way the store is set up, and I’m confident I’ll be making a few more purchases over time. I wish I had picked up a life time account when they were available.

In game my Minstrel went from 29 to most of the way through 31 – sure I had accumulated a lot of rest experience but the bulk came from doing skirmishes. I had never done these before, always being slightly out of reach level wise. When the game went Free-To-Play a bunch of options that used to unlock at 35 (riding, skirmishes) lowered in level to 20. To be honest I didn’t have the faintest idea what these were about. I was pleasantly surprised when I did the tutorial, and then even more so when Toargo and I decided to team up and complete the newer ones as a duo. Apparently these skirmishes work almost like daily quests, the first time you complete them (each day?) you earn a good chunk of experience. We completed all that were open to us and racked up tokens and other goodies. I upgraded a few pieces of gear as well as my soldier. I own three of them now. The default warrior that everyone starts out with (which I did not upgrade), then I also purchased a sage for when Toargo (who plays a guardian and has a herbalist soldier) is around, and a protector for myself when I’m out soloing. I haven’t actually tried the protector yet, and it’s lacking a lot of skills, but I’m interested in seeing how I do. The first time through I used the sage and had her tank due to damage agro, and just healed through it.

You can purchase a whole lot of ‘stuff’ with skirmish tokens. There’s gear, potions, cosmetic items, skills and traits for your soldier, a huge selection of NPC selling level based items. The more players involved in your skirmish the better the items for sale. For example the classic skirmishes require you to be in a full fellowship, and reward some outstanding looking gear (to me at least) for my level. Problem is I rarely see anyone from CoW (Casualties of War, my Kinship) on these days, and well. We all know how much I just LOVE to PUG.

I also bought my first ever LotRO home. I could never afford one previously and I couldn’t afford a 7g one (maybe some time in the future) but I had enough saved up to purchase a 1g home and a few furnishings for it. My favorite feature is that I had saved a door mouse house item from when I first created my characters, and finally got to place it. I was tickled pink when I noticed a little grey mouse running out from the hole in the wall to nibble on some cheese I had placed. I purchased a home in Bree-Land, which is just fantastic looking. I live at 8 Chestnut Street, in the neighbourhood of Ellham. While housing is not as customizable as other games I have played (EQ,EQ2,VG) at least it exists and it is absolutely beautiful. My home over looks the entire lot, and there’s a guild hall next door. It’s backed by rocks and I planted a few trees outside. I love how I have a mailbox.

I’m excited to see where my travels take me next. I was afraid when the game went F2P that the community would suffer, but so far the community has persevered and aside from channels being a little ‘spammy’ with conversation, it seems like Landroval at least has upheld it’s role play aura.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

It’s a Goat, of Course

I picked up a few 60 day time cards for LoTRo just before it went F2P for half price (of course now the price has gone back up) and I’m really glad I did. This gives me VIP access until February some time, as well as monthly turbine points. Including the ones I had already accumulated, I’m up to 2500 or so and today I made my first purchase. Sure, I know I could quest for the riding skill, but I was eager to use my dusky nimblefoot goat – so I purchased it for a whole 48 turbine points. Since I don’t have to buy a mount to use, I think it was well worth it.

The goat came from pre-ordering Mirkwood, and my 29 Minstrel is the first character who is able to ride it. I like how it’s not a typical horse mount, the basket on the end bounces as I ride, and the lantern sways. It’s a great deal faster then my starter pony, and I’m really happy with my first purchase.

It’s been a little while since I’ve delved into the world of Middle-Earth and I barely remember how to play. I have four characters (each are crafters) which is more then enough for me. I may decide to go play one of the lower level characters I’ve got to get re-familiar with the areas. Pictured above is Lysthia (on the Landroval server if you want to say hello) who is an expert Armourer (that means she does prospecting, metalsmithing, and tailoring).

As always I love the way this game looks and am eager to see where my adventures take me. I may even try a skirmish or two since they lowered the level requirements.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

P.S. Sorry for the lackluster post, but it’s thanksgiving day and I’m stuffed with turkey. Om nom nom.

Why so Much Emphasis?

After reading a number of early morning blog posts left over in my RSS reader from yesterday, I found myself wondering: Why do gamers put so much emphasis in what we and others are playing. Especially others. Why do we even care? Every day I read a post from one or more authors that includes some sort of semi derogatory remark condoning a group of players simply because of how they choose to spend their time. Or, to be more precise, where they choose to spend their time.

There are those who have made up their minds that everyone who plays a free to play game must be a certain ‘class’ of gamer. How dare they actually enjoy ‘the grind’ that comes with a lot of these games. Don’t they know that in the long run they’ll pay more for their “free” game then some people will pay for their monthly subscription?! Then there are the WoW gamers. Don’t even get me started on these people. I have heard everything from how close minded they are to how stupid they must be, simply because of where they choose to spend their time. It’s as though we as gamers have moved into certain categories and stereotypes not based on who we are, but because of where we play.You ask a fellow blogger their game of choice and suddenly your opinion of them shifts slightly.

So I ask again – why does this aspect of a person even matter. Why are we so keen to judge someone based on a persons decision to spend their free time where they wish. I have even heard people go so far as to say they do not like a particular person because they play certain games that they are not fond of. Really? Are we so shallow that we are now making character judgements based on video games?

I simply don’t understand it.

In my opinion it doesn’t matter where you play, so long as you have fun. In fact voicing my opinion about any other ‘type’ of gamer is a moot point because when it comes to how others are spending their time – my opinion doesn’t matter! It’s their time, their money, and what I think of the matter is completely irrelevant. I refuse to classify a person based on whether they’re playing EQ2, EQ, VG, LotRo, WoW, WAR, DDO, Darkfall, Wizard101, Runes of Magic, EVE, Alganon, Fallen Earth, Lineage II, Allods, Champions, STO, Free Realms, Aion, FFXIV, SWG, Guild Wars, AoC, or any other game.

Go play, and enjoy. Don’t like it? Move on and find something you DO enjoy. It’s a game. They’re supposed to be fun. There are SO many games out there and despite what others would say about them all cloning one another there are always unique factors to each and every game – you may be surprised at what you end up playing and enjoying. I implore gamers to make their own decisions about what they like and don’t like, and refuse to be classified into a category of gamer simply because of where they spend their time.