October 2011

Flying The Skies #Tweetfleet #EveOnline

stargrace October 22, 2011 No Comments

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/

Gaming

What Is It About EVE? #EveOnline #TweetFleet

stargrace October 20, 2011 1 Comment

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!

Gaming

Come Along Little Doggy #TS3Pets

stargrace October 19, 2011 No Comments

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!

Gaming

Missing Out #LotRO

stargrace October 18, 2011 5 Comments

If there was one game I really wish I had of purchased a lifetime subscription to, it would be the Lord of the Rings Online. I kick myself every time I log in that I didn’t take advantage of it while I had the time, but I just couldn’t afford it. Every so often I get an itch to dive into the game, and this week was no different. I own all of the latest expansions, but my main character is only level 43 (almost 44!) and that’s not high enough to really take advantage of Mirkwood or the most recent expansion, Isengard.

Toargo and I delved into game without too many issues, and as a sort of refresher course we decided skirmishes would be the way to go. Great experience, and a safe fighting environment that wouldn’t have other players cursing our name. Most of the time, at least.

We completed a handful of them without any issue while I got reacquainted with my Minstrel. Before I knew it two hours had passed and it was time to head to bed. Funny how those moments sneak up on us.

LotRO is one of the few MMOs I’ve played for any length of time where I haven’t managed to get to the ‘cap’ in game. In fact I’ve never even been close to maxing out the level of one of my characters. I find leveling quite slow, but then again I don’t dedicate as much time to playing as I do other games either. I’m not quite sure why. The game is (and always has been) breathtakingly beautiful, and I suppose all of the fall colours if Rivendell makes me a little nostalgic since it’s my favorite time of the year. I haven’t subscribed to the game (yet) and am still playing it in the ‘free to play’ form, but I imagine that will change before too long.

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

Gaming

The Life of a Crafter #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace October 17, 2011 4 Comments

Last week a patch came that would change the price of Kael gems forever – that’s right, the removal of shards required for Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr armor. I was lucky, I purchased gems that were relatively cheap (at the time at least) and stockpiled them for my alts. I had enough of the two common gems to supply all of my characters with Ry’Gorr helms and gloves, and enough gems left over to gear up a few of the neglected characters. with 12 level 90 alts, that’s a lot of crafting. I don’t quite understand the decision to remove shards as a component, I think it reduces players incentive to do the zones that drop shards. Although they are still required in order to purchase adornments. I know this is probably just preparation for the “features” expansion coming out in November, (can it even be called an expansion?) preparing players for any new content that may be released.

Despite my feelings about SoE’s direction with EQ2 on the adventuring side of things, I still think the crafting side is very well taken care of. I spent most of my weekend working on crafting quests,working faction for Sentinel’s Fate factions (there are four dailies, one for each crafting faction) completing my Sentinel’s Fate crafting epic (a very nice carpenter hammer) and doing my Thurgadin daily so that I can obtain my 3rd shawl some time. I also completed the crafting chains that take players through Butcherblock Mountains and Steamfont Mountains, gathering a nice supply of rares and some cheap crafting books at the same time. I love the idea that players can choose this aspect of the game to play and not have to bother with adventuring in the traditional manor if they so choose. You can complete a crafting version of the leaper and glider mounts, as well as the flying mounts.

There isn’t as much for crafters to do in game as adventurers, but there’s a fair amount none the less. Particular factions to work on with their own crafter related rewards and all sorts of goodies.

Speaking of goodies. If you haven’t done the starter quests in the beginner zones recently, and you’re a fan of housing items – you may want to check them out. A while back rewards were revamped to grant housing items, so I went and completed the Darklight woods quests and came out with a handful of new items. If you’ve already completed the quests on your character it’s too late to get the newer rewards now, but you can always run through with an alt or a higher level character who hasn’t done them yet.

How did everyone else spend their weekend? I actually spent less time in game and more time working on a cross stitch – real life crafting is always a great fall pass time. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

P.S. Trying to fight an urge I’ve had lately to play LotRO. But I think I’m losing that battle.

Flying The Skies #Tweetfleet #EveOnline

What Is It About EVE? #EveOnline #TweetFleet

Come Along Little Doggy #TS3Pets

Missing Out #LotRO

The Life of a Crafter #EQ2 #EverQuest2

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