Apparently this massive dragon is a rare occurrence on my server of Argent Dawn, and last night was my first time seeing the event. From trade chat I gather that this event takes place as a player obtains their legendary weapon, but aside from those few details I know absolutely nothing about it. Anyone else able to shed some light for me? Nonetheless it was really neat to see.
This weekend was one of those weekends where I almost hate to admit that I play (and enjoy) World of Warcraft. That’s how heavy the snark was that hung in the air. It’s not the first time I’ve dealt with this situation, but it’s yet another reminder of how judgmental people can be. Especially people who are passionate about their hobby (which in this case happens to be gaming). I’ve been on G+ for a little while now (you can find my profile here if you want to add me) and I have a few ‘circles’ of people that I post to. One happens to be a general gaming circle, which I’ve diversified into an EVE Online circle + general gaming, because as it turns out EVE players do NOT like to see posts about other games. Especially not games called WoW. During one post that was actually about social interactions and the lack of finding a ‘home’ in an MMO some random player decided to tell me that since I had posted about WoW, they were going to remove me from their circle. This was the first comment I had seen like that – but not the last. It didn’t matter that I consider myself a nomadic gamer bouncing from game to game, or what I actually had to say. They saw the words “world of warcraft” and panic set in.
Blizzcon lead the way to the announcement about the next expansion which is going to introduce a new race and a new class as well as some interesting vanity pet combat games. Personally, I think the race is an interesting concept and one that has been around for quite some time. EQ2 also has a panda race, and players can quest for illusion items in order to ‘play’ them. The monk class reminds me of a combination between druid and paladin. Able to tank, dps, and heal, but wears leather and is melee combat focused. I haven’t decided if I’ll create one yet but I think it’s pretty safe to say that I will. I don’t find the expansion all that incredible but of course I’m going to wait until it actually launches (or I can test it) before I pass too much judgement. It doesn’t surprise me that Blizzard is feeling some pressure now in the MMO market, after all they’ve been ‘top dog’ for quite a long time and probably don’t know anything else. Years have passed and eventually they’ll have to fall. How they handle themselves during the next little while will make all the difference in the world.
Right now the Halloween event is in game and I’ve been trying to win the headless horse mount which comes from the daily reward. So far, no luck. Last year my warlock managed to win one but the priest just has really bad luck when it comes to that sort of thing. Alterac Valley happened to be the battleground for the weekend, which is my favorite battleground of all time so I spent most of my evening grinding honor points and purchasing a few more upgrades. I picked up the helm and now I’m working towards the honor required for a weapon. 3500 is a long way to go, but I think I can do it. Once I’ve finished of my dps set I’ll continue working on a heal spec. I’ve got a few pieces collected so far (back, shoes, weapon, and pants) but would really like to finish the set off.
In the mean time there’s always archaeology to finish off and crafting to be done. I still haven’t maxed out my tailoring or enchanting, although I have a number of other crafts that are currently finished. There’s lots to do (as always) and I’m enjoying the fact that I split my time between WoW and EVE, two VERY different games but both equally fun and relaxing to me. I hope everyone else had an amazing weekend, no matter where you found yourself.
Happy gaming!
There’s been a lot of talk floating around lately about CCP and their recent layoffs, 20% of their staff were let go. My heart goes out to those people involved as it certainly could not have been an easy decision. Going forward CCP has vowed to concentrate on those things that they should be concentrating on, and not spreading themselves so thin. This has brought about a lot of snark from the usual suspects, but I’m ever the optimist and will just have to wait and see how things go.
Today I decided to activate my second account again after having only been back for one day. My second account acts as a hauler account typically, but before I stopped playing last time I had set it to learning to fly a hulk. My main account owns and flies an Orca,which can get pretty dull when you’re not filling it up with ore. Ideally I would probe for grav sites and head out in the Hulk, leaving the Orca close by so that I can ship the ore some place else afterward but that’s a whole lot of work. I’d rather take advantage of the fleet bonuses and use both the Orca and the Hulk at the same time. It will be 20 days before that’s set to go so in the mean time I’ve been harvesting in my retriever which isn’t nearly as fun but it gets the job done.
In the mean time I’m working on my standing with both CreoDron and Astral Mining Inc. CreoDron is the corporation that my R&D agents are associated with, having more standing with them means I can work with better agents. Astral Mining Inc is the corporation I want to earn LP with so that I can purchase some pretty things in the future. I’m working with L4 agents for CreoDron and L1 (for now) with Astral, hopefully I’ll get them both higher before too long. I enjoy mission running, it’s quite calming (where I run them at least) and lets me take in some pretty sights.
I’m also still working on PI daily, as well as my invention and production. I’m waiting for a copy job to go through (13 days) and wondering what I want to build next. I’m quite happy with my selection of ships at this point in time but I could do some work on fitting them all properly. Most of my ships are a mish mash of bits and pieces that I’ve pieced together, a combination of items available by skill and by availability. I also spent some time switching ships back and forth between my accounts, so getting everyone their own ships is high on my list of priorities.
It feels really good to be playing again. I didn’t even realize how much I missed flying the skies until I was back. Sure, there are some less than savory folks out there (50 million ISK in order not to get podded? I think not) but it adds to the atmosphere of the game.
As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
o/
Once more I have been pulled into Tranqility by the lure of – well, nothing in specific, in fact it’s something I can’t quite put my finger on. I received an email from CCP stating that I could log back into EVE for only $4.99 for my first month back, and the price was just too good for me to resist. Before I knew it my finger was on the activate button and I found myself in game trying to remember what I was doing before my break. Playing EVE is like riding a bicycle, you take a few minutes wobbling around and then it all comes flooding back. I had docked at the headquarters of Genovian Holdings Inc. (my current tiny inactive corp) and the first thing I noticed was that our HQ was gone, items missing, and corp wallet empty. It took me a few minutes to figure out what had happened, and by then I had already frantically tweeted to Petter (CEO) wondering if we had some how been stolen from. Turns out being inactive is bad. We couldn’t pay the rent due for our HQ and thus we lost our hangars. I’m not sure if everything in them transferred to me, but 600 of those items did and I found them in my inventory.
I wouldn’t mind being in a more active corp, but I’m nice and cozy in my high sec space, aside from some wurmhole exploration I tend to stay that way. My ‘gaming’ involves a lot of invention and manufacturing with some mining runs thrown in there for good measure. I have never been one for a lot of killing, although I am working on fitting my dominix for some ‘pew pew’.
I updated EVEMon and saw there have been some changes, both to the program itself (which I use for skill tracking) and the API from CCP. I can now track and view multiple things involving my character like research and standings. Right now I’m working on propulsion jamming IV, and then it’s time to work on energy systems operation. I currently have 24 skills at level V with 13 million SP spent. Not that much compared to some players, but a comfortable amount for me.
I haven’t checked on my PI yet, but that will be next on the list as I ease myself back into things. I was manufacturing items for drones and then selling those drones in Jita on a weekly basis to fund my wallet and I’d like to get back into the habit of doing that (along with some invention). I was also working with an agent or two on some missions, but I have no idea what faction I happened to be working on (or why I was working on it) so that’s on my ‘to do’ list. All in all, it feels great to be back. I think it’s the sandbox flavor of the game that keeps pulling me in. As any long time reader of this site knows, I am really not a fan of any science fiction what so ever. It typically puts me to sleep. EVE, somehow, has managed to beat those odds.
As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
Yesterday was the release of The Sims 3 Pets expansion, highly anticipated by all lovers of Sims and pets. I bought the digital version from EA, and downloaded it without any hassle at all via their Origin program. I even received two codes, one for a free “stuff” pack and another for some skins. For registering the game on the Sims 3 web site I also received some IAMS pet kits and some space-like pet beds. It was a good deal all around.
Believe it or not my biggest excitement didn’t come from any of the pet related things initially, but from the fact that EA had FINALLY fixed the photography bug. This broke with their latest ‘stuff’ addition, and rendered the skill useless. Photography plays quite a large role in the Sims, so having it back was important to me. Once I had gotten over that little excitement I decided it was time to adopt a new pet for my home.
Players have multiple methods of obtaining pets, which I really appreciate. You can adopt one from a shelter or find out if anyone in your neighbourhood has one up for adoption. The three basics are cats, dogs, and horses. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and even ages. You can adopt an older dog with their traits already defined, or a young puppy. You can keep their given name, or choose to name them yourself. Each pet comes with a memory book of their life, and their first ‘memory’ is of being adopted by you, their wonderful owner. There’s a huge selection of interactions available for Sims to take advantage of and not only can you interact with the pet, but because technically they are a member of your family (much like a child would be) you (the player) can control the pet and decide what they are going to do. There are some really amusing options for both the pet and the owner. Your pet will also start to adapt to your actions, for example if you praise them for grooming themselves they may adopt the neatness trait. Right now my dog has the lazy trait, go figure. It means when I take him for a walk (such as in the screen shot above) he runs out of energy really quickly.
A bunch of new lots also came with this expansion, dog parks and places to ride your horse. Of course players also get all of the typical animal goodies, scratching posts, food dishes, and litter boxes as well as some fancier items. So far I’m having a lot of fun playing this expansion, I think it’s quite well done and really appeals to a large audience. I’m not sure if you can take your pet abroad yet, but if you can I think that will be a lot of fun. I don’t use any mods at all in the game and I haven’t come across any glitches since yesterday, but the forums had a few complaints such as spiral staircases not working. Hopefully EA is a bit quicker about updating their bug squash list now that the expansion is live, but I wouldn’t really hold my breath.
As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
