A Pixel Nomad

Factions and Busy Work #WoW

In pretty much every MMO I have ever played, there is ‘busy work’ to keep you logging in. A few years ago it became dailies and with Pandaria (at release) pretty much ALL busy work was dailies. It became a boring grind for me and was one of the main reasons I quit. Logging in to complete 20-30 dailies was just not my idea of fun. These days there is a lot more to do – but I regret not doing those dailies back when they were relatively fresh.

There are a few factions I really need. One is Shado-Pan. I need this to purchase a few enchanting recipes, like the weapon ones I want. This faction isn’t too bad because I only need revered not exalted – but the dailies themselves are annoying.

Another faction I need is August Celestials, and that one is also for some recipes.

I have also never finished faction for the Anglers, nor for the folks that sell serpent riding (Order of the Cloud Serpent). That’s right, NONE of my characters, even my main, have this skill. The problem is I still hate dailies, especially when it comes to completing them on multiple characters. It’s a bother for me to remember to do my crafting dailies, let alone the multiples that are involved in farming and every other faction under the sun. While it may be a successful method in getting players to log in daily, it is one of my least favorite things to do in game. How about you, do you enjoy logging in for dailies, or are they something you could do without? Let me know in comments!

It’s the Simple Things #WurmOnline

Last week during a server glitch I lost two new animals that I had brought home. Animals update on the server much later than things like skills do, and so when we crashed they reverted to their positions before I captured them and brought them home. Thankfully I had branded both animals right away, so when they were released back to the wild, they kept their brands. Branding animals means you can lead them off of any deeds they may have wandered onto.

I looked for my hen for hours, and could not find her. Then a few days later while visiting a neighbour I spotted her in the brush! Hens don’t exactly serve a purpose in game – but they CAN lay eggs. You can also name those eggs so the chicks that hatch are named when they are born. Not all eggs will hatch into chicks, but I’m hoping at least one out of my batch does. In order for an egg to hatch it has to decay, hence the pile of named eggs in the screenshot above.

I’ve been working on completing my houses before I get too much further in skills. Last week I built a workshop along with a villa and a shipyard, but so far the buildings have sat as plans and I had not actually completed any of them. The workshop is first on my list and I purchased a rare forge that was up for auction at a reasonable price. I’d love a loom, but for now I’m happy with the one I’ve created.

All in all, the new deed is going very well. It will be nice to have completed with the base buildings so I can continue the skills I want to work up (fine carpentry being one of them).

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

Still Catching them All #WoW

Last night was another night I spent working on pet battles, inching my way to owning at least one team of level 25 pets. So far as you can see by the list above, my highest pet is level 17 (also happens to be my favorite pet, Lil’XT). I’ve been able to keep a team of three but what I’ve started to do is swap out the third pet to one that I capture so I don’t have to actually level it for battles. The two pets with stars are my ‘core’ pets, and then the third I swap to something I have captured. At the moment that is the adder. Leveling my team is still a bit slower than normal because I capture and upgrade any wild pets I come across (so long as they qualify) which reduces the xp you earn – but I’m very pleased with my collection so far.

I’ve got 196 / 615 and while I know I will never ever come close to ‘catching them all’ it’s still a fantastic way to spend some time when I’m done with my hack ‘n slash adventures.

In other news, thanks to leveling up alts the guild is just a smidge shy from level 24. We have also been running a daily heroic scenario which helps earn a bit of experience and gives the guild bank a bit of cash. Nothing extreme, but it is still nice to see. I’m excited about reaching level 25. At one point in time I had contemplated joining a different guild temporarily while leveling to take advantage of the perks – but now there’s absolutely no need. I’m content staying in my little guild of three members. Thankfully with flex raids and LFR and LFG, there’s no obligation to go out and join a larger guild in order to do end game content. This works out perfectly for players like me.

I’ve got three level 90 characters so far, but I still have at least two more I would like to reach 90. There is the 87 warlock along with my 85 druid. I’m sure the warlock will be next as she is already most of the way there, then I’ll attempt the druid. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing, and I still attribute that to the fact that I find there is a LOT to do, plus I’m playing other games in between so I don’t get burnt out (mostly Wurm Online).

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

Enter the Butler #TS3 #TheSims3

It has been a little while since I played The Sims 3, but I still love it as much as ever. There were a lot of free items given away over the holidays, and I dutifully logged in each day to make sure I claimed them. They were worth anywhere from 400 to 700 sim points, so they were some pretty nice items. I picked up the latest expansion as well as the latest venue and world (the one that includes the roller coaster) and have been having a lot of fun with both. Of course my legacy family doesn’t get to play with those quite yet, so where is what they have been up to.

When we last left the family, it consisted of Mushi the cat, Teddygirl the boy (who was named during my Extra Life fundraising campaign), Blesse (wife) and Jack (older gentleman that she married). Jack got up to feed the family goldfish and passed on, while his family freaked out. I was expecting this, Jack was pretty old when he married Blesse and it was only a matter of time. I moved his gravestone to the backyard, and now his ghost haunts the house.

I decided that since Blesse was now a single mother and had a lot on her plate with work and Teddygirl, I would hire a live-in butler. These costs $1200 a week (if only) and require a room with a bed in your house. I added a room for her in the basement, and now Tashia lives with everyone. Clothing was starting to pile up and my shower and toilets have all broken multiple times now, so it’s nice to have a pair of extra hands to deal with all that stuff.

Teddygirl also decided to become a scientist. He wants to become a robot breeder in specific, but any career in the science department would be a good start. Blesse is still a middle school teacher, although she did get a promotion for telling the principle that another teacher was sleeping while her students watched movies all day. This did not earn Blesse any bonus points with those teachers, and now they’re all angry at her. Oh well!

As always the point of the legacy family is to get as many generations up as I can, so next I’ll be looking for a suitable partner for Teddygirl. Hopefully someone who doesn’t mind his name too much.

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

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot

I like loot.

Do you like loot?

You do? Great!

This game was gifted to me over the holidays by a friend of mine, and before then I had never heard of it before. It’s created by ubisoft and before I could even play it I had to fiddle around with their ‘uplay’ launcher which does not get along with windows 8.1 (of course that’s what I happen to run). Thankfully there are some fairly simple work arounds to the problems.

When you log in you’re presented with three class choices. There is a knight, an archer, and a mage. You can only choose to be a male character but I won’t hold that against the game for now.

Gameplay follows a diablo style, where you’re in top down view running through dungeons where the walls fade away as they come across your vision. Mobs are named adorable names like snotlings and derps. I chose to be an archer and even got a nifty falcon who follows me around. You start out in your pajamas, and as you complete the dungeons you’ll loot gear and other items of interest.

Of course what sort of adventurer would you be without a castle! Once the first battle tutorials are completed you’ll be given your very own humble abode which you can upgrade and grow and decorate with creatures and lots of other fun things. I’ve only just started this process, and it is also where the game shifts slightly. Creating upgrades for rooms and items costs currency, and time. You can instantly complete the upgrades by spending currency. Otherwise you spend a lot of time waiting for projects to complete. Not an issue for me, this makes it a very casual fun game to play and the voiceover and instructions are hilarious. You can find the game in closed beta on steam, and like so many other games are doing these days you can purchase your way into getting access.

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