FFXIV – Page 9 – A Pixel Nomad

Unboxing Specially Marked Snacks

Every so often I’ll get an email from a company or a game representative asking me if I’d be interested in trying something out. I typically say yes, because why not, they’re usually a lot of fun. This time I was approached by a kind representative from Mrs. Freshley’s asking if I’d be interested in sharing some information about specially marked (FFXIV Stormblood) snacks, and they offered to send me a few products to try. As far as I’m aware we don’t have Mrs. Freshley’s up here in Canada, but I’ve never been one to turn down free snacks (cough) so I accepted and they arrived this week! I actually decided to make an unboxing video, my first and quite possibly my last because I had so many technical issues. Still, I put it up on YouTube for everyone to watch. These baked goods were held up at the boarder for a day due to customs (we’re really cracking down on imported snack goods eh..) but they were still delicious if you like cupcakes and cinnamon buns with a ton of icing.

I downloaded Blippar to try to scan the packages and get the code that you can then use in game – but no matter how I tried to scan or which product I couldn’t get it to work. I’m not sure if I was doing something wrong or it was my location or some other issue, but I’ll keep trying so that I can hand those codes out to readers / viewers. I’m also handing the sweet treats out to a few locals who have expressed interest. I wasn’t an enormous fan of the cinnamon rolls (personally) but the chocolate cupcakes were delicious (I basically devoured two of those off screen later). You can find out more about Mrs Freshley’s products here, and you can read about the awesome contest they’ve been holding for the past few months here. If you’ve got any tips or tricks on how I can make Blippar work properly don’t hesitate to let me know in comments!

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

Forever Wandering Through Games

How long has it been since you stuck with a single MMO for at least a year? I remember when Tipa used to put out a challenge to people to stick with a single game for a year, and almost no one could accomplish it even when the choices were much more limited, let alone these days where there are games for every genre you could possibly think of. Sure, we may play one game at a time, or two games, or have some combination of F2P & subscription, but more and more I notice that we are ALL becoming nomadic gamers, bouncing between games when the mood strikes (or when that new shiny pops up on the table).

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just something I’ve noticed over the years. I would love to be one of those people who stick with a single game for any length of time but I simply don’t have that in me any more (for a few reasons). One reason would have to be the price point. Money fluctuates throughout the year and my game choices will change based on that. A good example is EQ2. My subscription expires the 2nd week of July, so I find very little motivation to log in and play right now as I know I won’t be re-subscribing (baby on the way, I simply have to re-allocate my funds for a bit). I’ve never really enjoyed playing games with a sub as a F2P player, not because I think F2P is “bad” but because I’d rather have access to the entire game. Speaking of – why doesn’t Trion offer some sort of bulk subscription plan that offers access to all of their games, much like station access? Rift and ArcheAge would certainly be two games I’d love to check out more of, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about the F2P options (especially in ArcheAge where owning land is tied to having a subscription). Offer a package deal and those subscriptions become a lot more favorable. I blame Belghast and Bhagpuss for my sudden interest in Trion games, both of them have been posting about Rift / ArcheAge on their blogs. I was interested enough that I updated glyph though I haven’t actually logged in (yet).

Speaking of EQ2, a new server opened up yesterday. It’s the Isle of Refuge, and it runs just as all the other servers in the EQ2 line up do, except the majority of items can be sold / traded and don’t have the heirloom tag. There’s a great write up about it over at EQ2wire, and the server reminds me a lot of Firiona Vie, the RP server over on EQ. There are a few other rules to the FV server besides that but it was one that stuck out to me. Why Daybreak has added such a server I have no idea (nor does anyone else it seems if you read through the comments on the article) but it’s nice to see things are not completely stagnant.

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

That Summer Burnout

It happens every year around this time. I can’t figure out what I want to play and so I spend the majority of my time bouncing in and out of various games, hoping one will catch my attention for longer than 20 minutes. Then I feel bad when it doesn’t. It could be the amazing weather, stresses from work, watching friends and family all do their thing while I’m across the country, or something else. I have no idea. I just know that normally when I have a bit of free time (and I’m at home) I think nothing of what game to play and I just do it. These days though I’ll log into 4-5 games only to wander around aimlessly and then decide they were not what I wanted to ‘do’ after all.

I managed to resist every sale on steam – even though there are quite a few DLC I’d love to own on my wishlist. I just didn’t think I was gaming enough to justify the cost at the moment. I’m tired of Early Access games. While I understand that crowdfunding and EA games are a fantastic way to get indie developers into game releases, I’ve just been burned and frustrated too many times. The latest is with Windborne, which sat on my wishlist for over a year before developers announced that they just don’t have the funds to continue.

I can understand that. I understand that we live in an age where there are lots of games out there, and to create something that’s going to be profitable is hard. It’s still frustrating as a player and as a potential investor in these games. I miss the day when I could purchase a completely finished game (or at least what I would consider ‘finished’). There are some great Early Access games out there, but the chances of me being interested in them when they finally release are pretty slim.

What have I been playing lately? Well. The list isn’t that long, but like I said I haven’t been doing a lot of gaming.

Wurm Online: In summer my Wurm interest flags a bit, but I’ve still got two active accounts and deeds, and I still check in daily to take care of crops and animals. I know my interest in this one will pick back up after summer, it always does.
FFXIV: I keep trying to be interested in this one, and it’s just not happening. I still have 44 days active on my account but something about the game is just not appealing to me lately.
WoW: I still have time left on my account, but honestly I just haven’t been playing. Garrison grind is a thing, and I just don’t like it. Not even pets are able to keep me entertained these days.
WildStar: I play daily, and I still enjoy it quite a bit but I limit my time so that I don’t get burned out. Since I work for NCSOFT on WildStar it’s also pretty much a given that I’m playing it daily.
EQ/EQ2: As much as I love the Ragefire server, it’s hard to get into if you’re not already in a community or with established friends. I was hoping it would be more like the communities of days gone by, but so far it hasn’t been and that bugs me to some degree. Instead I’ve been playing EQ2, my old haunting grounds. I’ve been clearing out older heritage quests and playing in my guild on my own, we’re level 78, and I’m having quite a bit of fun with that. My defiler is still only level 96, but I’m not really in a rush to reach level 100. I don’t even know what is available to do at level 100.
EVE Online: I don’t play nearly as much as I should / could / want to, but I do have an active subscription for a year, and in the meantime my skills are training up. I know this is a great game to pop into when I can here and there, so I haven’t been concerned about my lack of playtime.
GW2: Still working on my mesmer, on a new account. Right now she’s 49, which is great but I’d still ideally like to reach 80 before the expansion hits, and maybe get another character or two up there on the new account. We’ll see how that goes. It’s hard when I don’t really have any inclination to play.

Hopefully I climb out of this rut I’ve found myself in before too long. I imagine when fall rolls around I’ll be back to my ‘typical’ gaming self, whatever that is. In the meantime, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Wurm Online, WildStar, and FFXIV

Wow, I haven’t made a blog post since April 7th! I just haven’t had the time, as much as I wish I did. Most of my days are filled with work, and when I’m not working I’m sleeping or getting a few household chores done. I do still fit in some gaming here and there, mostly to regroup and relax after the things mentioned above. I decided to create a new alt in WildStar, to start. I love my Chua Spellslinger, but I decided I wanted to see how the other side lives (a common occurrence with MMOs, especially for myself) so I decided to create a human medic. I know, it’s not that exciting but the character is quite fun to play. I created a little back story, and so far she’s level 18. Still a long way to go. I picked the soldier path this time, my main character is an explorer. It’s a lot of smashing of things which is fine by me.

In Wurm Online, well. It’s exciting times there. I picked up a new priest (Vynora), a new deed (up North) and a set of drake. I set up a merchant at one of the markets up North that seems to get quite a bit of players passing through and made my first 5 silver in a very long time. Granted it was because I sold some rewards I had been given ages ago (a breastplate and some ore) but a sale is a sale, and it was nice. Of course I promptly went back to the market to restock and to do a bit of shopping. I walked away with a new leather at that looks like Indiana Jones wore it, a bassinet helm because my drake didn’t come with one, some Mol Rehan banners, and a Mol rehan guard tower that I’ll have to complete some time. I spent about 1.5 silver which I’m quite pleased with. Oh and I picked up 8 source crystals which will no doubt come in handy. I think people underestimate how awesome karma is (though I do wish I could port between alliance deeds with karma).

I’m also still playing FFXIV though my time in that game has been quite limited this week. I’ve been working up my crafting and harvesting skills because it’s just so relaxing. The guild I’m in (well, Free Company) is going strong, and it’s nice to see so many people around. I’m quite pleased at the come back that FFXIV has made, it’s a huge change from when I played before the re-release.

All in all being busy isn’t exactly bad. It just takes away some (all?) of my game time but I still manage to log in here and there. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and lets hope that I don’t go quite so long before my next update! As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

FFXIV Easter Events and a Bunch of Leveling

There’s always a lot of controversy from players as to whether or not real life holidays should be tied to in-game holidays. Some people adore them and look forward to the neat events that come around once a year based on their favourite real life holidays, and others prefer in-game worlds to have holidays that are based on the worlds themselves, and have nothing to do with the outside. I can see the pros and cons of each side, but personally, I love feeling festive and if my game of choice can help with that through holiday events that are tied to real life holidays, then of course I’m going to be all over that.

That’s how I found myself taking airships and transforming into a Spriggan in order to figure out some prophetic vision (which had quite the plot twist at the end). One of my favourite parts was that I was given earrings (which was an upgrade) and the graphic is little easter eggs. One thing I’ve always loved about FFXIV is that items like rings, necklaces, and bracelets actually show up in game. Too many other games I’ve played always neglect having accessories show up. They danced about as my character moved, and they just make me happy.

The rest of my game play session was spent leveling up my second class (I’m a 17 conj and now a level 11 arcanist, going white mage) along with a handful of crafting. I’ve selected weaver, alchemist, and goldsmith as my main crafting focuses, but I’ve also taken culinarian, miner, botanist, and fisher in order to supplement those crafts and just because why not. I’ve been working on getting everything to 10, and having an absolute blast with it. Fishing is oddly addicting (though I am running out of space for everything) and crafting in general is quite relaxing so long as you have all of the components readily available. It can be quite time consuming, but after games like Wurm Online and Vanguard ‘grind’ is something that rarely affects me. I just put on a TV show and do my thing.

I did also get a weird message from someone who claimed they were quitting and who wanted to give me coin, but they never did and I of course encouraged that they should stay instead. It was just a random message as I flew by, they asked me if I was new (probably because I wasn’t wearing clothes, I had just swapped into my arcanist build and had yet to receive anything besides the book at my side). Either way, since most of the tells I get are spam messages, it was a welcome reprieve. You can find me on Cactuar as Velours Reveur. Speaking of, I love being able to look up my character and view all of her details, hehe.

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