2012

Chains of Eternity Releasing Tomorrow #EQ2

Taken from the official EQ2 site here.

We’re just hours away from Chains of Eternity™!

All EverQuest II servers will come offline at 7:00 AM PST* on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 to prepare for this content update. We anticipate game servers will be back online before 12:00 Noon PST*.

Important: This is an estimate of our anticipated downtime; please keep an eye on the forums , Facebook , and Twitter for any changes and updates!

While the servers are offline tomorrow, make sure you keep an eye on Twitter , Facebookthe forums , and the website for special countdown activities and updates, including diary entries from our off-duty server hamsters!

If you haven’t bought your Chains of Eternity expansion, there’s still time to pre-order! Pre-orders end on November 12, 2012 at 11:59 PM PST*. Remember that those who pre-order will get the exclusive Cloak of Mourning as well as special savings on the Collector’s Edition. CLICK HERE to order now!

Sims 3 – Supernatural #Sims3 #TS3

This weekend I spent most of my game time playing The Sims 3 – and I didn’t really mean to but it was a lot of fun. When I was looking at expansions I noticed Supernatural but wasn’t really keen on picking it up, it didn’t seem to interest me. However while out at EBGames I thought what the heck, and came home and bought it on Origin. Most of my EA Games are on there simply because it’s nice to be able to download them again without worrying about the disks. Anyhow.

I installed Supernatural and right away decided I would start a new family. You have a choice of new races, you can create as a human, witch, zombie, werewolf, fairy, or ghost. I created a fairy, you get wings. You also have ‘mana’ to cast spells. You can learn new things like alchemy; if you’re a witch you get a wand and ride a broom (or a vacuum if you rather). Before I knew it three am had passed and I was still playing. The expansion is actually a LOT of fun, and I’m really glad I picked it up. There’s a new lunar cycle and when the moon is full magic is high. Werewolves transform from their human forms and zombies come and meander around your yard, eating your garden (which I was none to pleased about, took me forever to clean up their dead plants). There are new jobs and professions along with the expansion, my fairy decided to become a fortune teller, and she worked out of a gypsy wagon in the woods.

I’ve set up my Sims 3 profile page, I noticed you can send gifts to friends, so if you’re looking for someone to add to friends please feel free. You can find the profile here: Stargrace.

Seasons comes out soon. I think in a day or two. It astounds me just how many Sims 3 expansions there are this year. Not even three months since Supernatural released. It’s hard to keep up with them all and there are still a few I’m missing as well as stuff packs. I didn’t bother getting Showtime, or Sweet Treats, and Diesel Stuff. Fast Lane was another stuffs pack that hasn’t grabbed my attention, my sims rarely ever purchase vehicles. Seasons is going to add yet another dimension to the game with weather patterns and holidays. I haven’t decided if I am going to get it yet, mostly because there’s an EQ1 and EQ2 expansion releasing this month and Christmas just around the corner. In an ideal world I’d get it though. We’ll just have to see!

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

4th Annual Gamers Secret Santa Registration Has Started!

In case you’re not familiar, This will be the FOURTH year I’ve ran a gamers secret santa. Last year was my 2011, then 2010 Gamers Secret Santa, and the year before I ran the 2009 Gamers Secret Santa – and it was a huge success. I had over 100 people participate, and geeky gifts were sent out all over the world. This year I’ve decided to attempt to run another one. I know it’s not as big as the Reddit one and I’m sure there are others going on, but I really take a lot of pride in running this little event. If you’d like to participate or are interested in what it’s all about please read further!

What it is: Those who want to participate, are more then welcome to. You can be a gamer, blogger, a member of the game industry, whatever. As long as games are some how a part of your life. I will take names / addresses, and assign everyone a ‘secret’ person to buy a small less then $20 gift for, as well as give them the address required. Send out your gift and wait for one to head your way, and that’s it. Ok, let me explain it a bit better.

What is “Secret Santa?” here’s the definition!

How:

1. Send your full name and mailing address to me at stargrace@mmoquests.com, make sure it comes from a valid email address. If you happen to run a fan site or a blog, please mention which blog you write for. It doesn’t matter who you are or how involved in the gaming community you are, anyone can participate.

2. On December 1st I will email you back with someone else’ address.

3. The price limit is $20, don’t spend any more then that. Be creative, make something, have it be unique to your culture or your life, if you need suggestions then please don’t hesitate to let me know. Try to keep in mind that we’re all gamers, no matter where we come from.

4. Keep your person a secret! Don’t tell anyone who else you have. If you DO happen to run a fan site or blog, then when you receive your gift write about it and let everyone know.

5. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know below in comments, or email me.

Details: I understand that you may not be comfortable with me or one other person having your mailing address, so if you’re not please don’t feel pressured to participate. The idea is to share with one another and realize what a fantastic community we have, not make you feel on edge that you’re going to potentially run into issues.

If you’d like to participate but simply can not afford to no matter what, send me an email and let me know, I will do my best to help you out. I want anyone who’s interested to be able to participate in this event. I think some times we forget that these people we all talk to online are not just random pixels, but are actual people on the other end of those computers.

Please keep in mind that only myself, and ONE other person will have your address. It won’t become a mailing list or anything like that. If you’re only comfortable with me having it and no one else then let me know, and I’ll have your gift sent to me and then I’ll send it out to you. Anything to make sure people are comfortable and still able to participate.

YOU HAVE UNTIL DECEMBER 1st TO EMAIL ME YOUR ADDRESS – please take your time to think about whether or not this is something you really want to do. If it is, get me your address by December 1st so that I can give people some time to get their shopping done. If it’s a little late (the gift, not the address) that’s alright.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas but still want to participate that’s alright too! This isn’t a religious thing, I just want to try it out and see how it works this year. There are some amazing gamers I have met from all over the world, and I think that we have a lot to share with one another.

I think that’s about it. If you can think of something I’ve missed then please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer it. If this is a completely horrible idea don’t feel shy to let me know. I just wanted to share some of the Christmas joy that’s going to be flying around before too long and figured this would be a fantastic idea for people to experience it with one another.

Sims 3: Horse Adoption Addiction #Sims3

Thanks to some chatter yesterday in twitter I was feeling in a Sims 3 mood, not that it takes much for me to feel like playing, there’s just something incredibly appealing about that game. Thanks to an EA sale a bit ago I picked up two extra ‘stuff’ packs for free. I’m still missing a lot of expansions but they release them so frequently that I find it incredibly hard to keep up. I have no interest in showtime or whatever the magic one was called. I do want to pick up seasons when it releases in four days.

I started over with a fresh install recently, so my little sim moved into her $15,999 house (fully furnished) and began looking for a job. I placed her as a mundane newspaper girl, and then began browsing the newspaper for a pet to adopt.

I’ve adopted animals before. I have bad luck with them. My dog died almost as soon as I adopted it. My cat also mysteriously died while my sim was making out with some guy in her living room. The guy witnessed the death, got freaked out (because death was literally standing in my living room while we were trying to smooch) and then I never saw him again.

This time around I decided to adopt a horse. Why not! How much work could it possibly be!

Oy. First things first. If you have a small lot, like I do, you’ll want to make sure you have room to purchase a box stall for it. This takes up a huge amount of property. I re-sized (ie: removed) my deck in order to make it fit. The horse I bought was a foal, which means I needed to bottle feed it every time it was hungry. Too young to feed on its own. My bond with Ariel quickly grew, and in a few days she turned from foal to horse. She is currently untrained, so between working my job delivering newspapers, working on my meager art skill, and trying to cram cooking and writing into my daily chores, I took her out riding.

Who needs a car! You and your horse can fly through the town, the wind whipping through your hair. Problem is after riding for a bit you’ll gain the ‘sore bottom’ moodlet.

You gain skill while riding, and eventually you can even enter contests. You need rank 3 in riding before you can. I’m rank 2 so far. It really feels like there just isn’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want, and that’s both good and bad. Bad because my sim hasn’t even met another human being outside of work yet, she spends all of her time with her horse. Good because there’s SO MUCH to do. It keeps things nice and interesting.

I’m glad I adopted the horse, now I want to try to find a good partner for her and breed them. That’s right, horses even have family trees.

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

How To Get the Bracelet of Lucky Charms – In Tanvu #VGD #Vanguard

The Isle of Dawn is great, and I typically suggest that new players start off there to get familiar with the game of Vanguard – however, if you’re an older player (like myself) and have characters already situated in Telon, chances are you’ve looked in envy at the other characters you have who snagged themselves a very nice charm bracelet with some essential stats that are good at any level.

No longer!

Today I decided to work on this bracelet with my 50 Raki disciple, Stargrace. Since the starter villages have been reduced, Raki now start on the Kojan continent, in the village of Shang. I swam there to begin my adventures, but really you’re looking for Celinal in Dallerjuba Village. Remember you can right click an empty hotbar slot and make a text only macro to /target Dallerjuba if you can’t find her yourself. This is the little bit of land that’s directly across the water from Tanvu. You’ll want her quest called Redemption. You’ll get the very first charm; the Dawn charm.

Then you’ll want to go visit Master Kaol. He’s a bit east-north-east of Celinal. The quest he offers is The Final Steps. Finishing that will give you the sun charm.

Third you’ll go visit your good friend Oki. Also located in the Dallerjuba village along the beach. She’ll give you the quest Oki’s Jewels, and you’ll get the dusk charm. It’s the third charm and now all you need is the webbing.

So finally you’ll head south past Tanvu, past Master Garu’s Monestary which should be marked on your map, and you’ll come across a little lake with a pond and you’re looking for Ashlaine. Again you can use a macro key to find her if you can’t spot her. When you accept her quest you’ll be able to talk to Kalen, who will give you a number of quests but the one you want is called Ring of Vision. Finish off that quest, turn it in, and you’ll have the web. Right click the web, and you’ll have the bracelet (so long as you have all of the other charms). This item goes in the diplomacy slot, and every 10 levels you can right click it and upgrade it.

I HIGHLY suggest people who have not completed the isle of dawn do this quest. It gives you an experience boost, and is one of those really nice items that you’re going to want to have.

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