Books – A Pixel Nomad

[GW2] Kudzu (almost)

Getting a legendary in Guild Wars 2 isn’t nearly as hard as it used to be, but it can still be time consuming depending on which one you’re going after, and how you go about it. A while ago the ‘wizard’s vault’ became a thing, where you could get a bunch of components for 1st generation legendary weapons. I picked up two (so far), one for a dagger that I never made, and another for bolt (which I also don’t plan on making, at least not yet).

Thanks to the generosity of a friend, they got me the precursor (these days it’s only around 16 gold, so not the huge amount it used to be in days gone by) and with the bits I already have I’m actually very close to owning my first ever legendary – Kudzu. A longbow. I’m currently playing my guardian, and she is an absolute beast with her longbow.

One of the main components I still require that I am VERY nearly done obtaining is the gift of exploration. 100% base map completion. Those little heart events are the bane of my existence. I dislike doing them and actively avoid them. These heart type events were phased out on later maps (thank goodness) but that doesn’t help me out very much right now.

Once I finish off the exploration portion, I’m basically done. I have three zones left, and all of them are at various stages of completion. I am hoping to get it done today (Sunday) but who knows, life being what it is. That SHOULD mean that I can obtain the legendary. My first ever. I’m sad that it took me this long, but again you have to actually play the game to make any progress, and let’s be fair, I’ve barely played since 2019. In fact I think I have made more progress these last two weeks than in the last 5 years.

I’m having a lot of fun playing, and it’s nice to have goals in game. Once I obtain the legendary it will be back to working towards Skyscale and hopefully also working on the latest content so that I can “catch up” a bit. As I complete it I also want to work through the older content, but I’m going to go backwards from most recent to least. I think this will benefit me more than if I worked from the beginning, especially since I’m already familiar with the lore / stories.

Anyway. Back in 2019 I said I was “close to my legendary” and then that never happened. I think I mentioned in June that I was hoping to get it by December. Maybe I meant December 2026.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Bring on the Cozy Games

There’s a lot of arguments lately over whether or not cozy is a genre, or just a feeling people get that encompasses a whole bunch of different games, and I always wonder why it can’t be both. I don’t have the energy to argue about it all so I will just say that these are in fact games that are cozy for me. Latest acquisition? Tiny Book Shop.

This game is adorable, and makes me feel happy when I play it. Plus it promote actual books, and I’m a big fan of that.

Tales of the shire I haven’t actually played yet. I’ve heard good and bad about this one. I did have high hopes for it, but the initial comments were not especially promising, so I decided to give it a bit of time and play a bit later.

Then we have my usual suspects. RimWorld is one of the coziest games I know, but for a lot of people the game creates a huge amount of stress. I don’t play it on the most difficult mode and that probably has something to do with it.

Date Everything is another newer game, and it’s hilarious. Highly suggest picking this one up for anyone looking for something a bit different to play.

Wobbly life is not actually a cozy game of mine, but it is one for my kids, so I play along with them. Personally this game drives me crazy but I’m glad they’ve found their own ‘thing’ to enjoy.

Euro Truck Sim 2, and Wurm Online round out the list of my usual cozy suspects. I can’t wait to dive into either of those, especially if I’ve had a difficult day.

So what constitutes as ‘cozy’ to you? What games top that list? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

An Early Year in Review

It sure has been a very full year – though my blog doesn’t exactly demonstrate that. I’m hoping for 2023 I’ll get back into the swing of posting more frequently, but that’s never something I promise or count on. This year it didn’t feel like I accomplished very much but then I remembered we drove across Canada and moved from the far North to the Atlantic Coast as a family of four, and we bought our first house, and none of that was small potatoes.

What am I up to these days besides simply trying to get by?

When it comes to video games you will usually find me in World of Warcraft enjoying the Dragonflight expansion (I write about my gold making adventures over on my web site dedicated to that), or in Dwarf Fortress which FINALLY released for steam. It is absolutely everything I hoped it would be, and more. I have dedicated an absurd amount of hours to this game already, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I would ideally also like to try to fit some Wurm Online in there, but there are only so many hours in the day.

Art! I had set a goal of completing 52 pieces of art this year, and right now I stand at 39 – considering the year we had, I’m OK with that. Next year I hope to challenge myself in the same way, and I hope to blow that challenge out of the water. Unfortunately with AI art and moral issues concerning both DeviantART and ArtStation I have no idea where to post my works any more. I’m contemplating setting up a Patreon, where people could subscribe to see my art process and my works without giant obnoxious watermarks on them. I’d like to get some prints of my pieces made, so I could give them away or maybe even sell them. I haven’t decided on anything yet.

Knitting – I did manage to finally complete my cardigan, but that was all I completed besides some wash cloths I knit before we moved. I also did a lot of spinning on my new Daedalus Starling e-spinner, which I adore. Knitting went into the “I wish I had time” pile, but I still managed to get that big cardigan project done (I am now living in it for the remainder of winter) so I’m pleased. I have to keep reminding myself I cannot do all of the things.

Speaking of all of the things! I made my way through 23 books this year – raising my original goal of 15, twice. I’m two books short, and I think I might still be able to make it.

I had more MS relapses than I care to admit, and homeschooling my 6 year old was both rewarding and exhausting, but overall 2022 has been alright. I’m hoping to settle in for a rewarding 2023. I plan on doing another reading goal, along with my art challenge, and maybe I’ll set something up for knitting so it doesn’t get forgotten about.

I hope everyone had a great year – thank you for reading my posts and keeping me company all this time.