May 2014

Wild for WildStar

stargrace May 29, 2014 2 Comments

Headstart is just around the corner (May 31st 12:01 PDT) and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s amazing to me just how fast the time has gone by since I started working for Carbine Studios back in March.

I know it won’t be for everyone, and I know there are people out there who have less-than-nice things to say about the game, but I have been waiting for this release well before I ever got involved with the company. I’ve seen some amazing creations come out of the housing forums, and it just makes me giddy.

Of course then comes the question, if I’ve been so enthusiastic why haven’t I been writing about it here on my blog, and that’s simply because it’s too easy to look at a post and dismiss it because I have personal interest in the game succeeding. Those who know me or have read my blog for the last.. oh.. I don’t know.. almost 8 years know that isn’t the way that I operate, but it’s still better to be safe.

It is looking like my main will be a Chua medic on the NA RP server, but that isn’t set in stone yet. I just absolutely love the Chua, they are the most maniacal awesome little fuzz balls ever and playing one was awesome. Of course I will probably also create an Aurin at one time or another, because why not, but for now I’ll be sticking with just one character.

Since I passed by ESO when that launched, it has been nice to get into the excitement of another game. Sure there’s Archeage (so much love for that game) and Landmark (more love) but those games are both in beta (or alpha) and I have no idea when release is slated. Hopefully things go well for WildStar, and you get to see many more posts in the future.

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

Gaming

A Graveyard of Dead People

stargrace May 26, 2014 No Comments

I started up (yet another) new village in Banished, and am now on year 15 or so. I finally had my first disaster, a wooden house caught on fire. The only well in the village was up North quite a ways, so I had some fear that the fire would spread, but since it was winter I had extra labourers (I remove the farmers from working in the winter since fields are stagnant) and they managed to put the fire out with only the one home falling apart. Of course that meant the family living there had no home, so I got to work repairing it.

I’m currently working on expanding the town up north, which is where the only stream and body of water is located. I wanted a place to fish, so right now there’s a big long road, an area with docks, a single home where the fishermen live, and a storage shed close by so labourers don’t have to travel too far with their goods. Eventually I’ll start building up that road with new homes and create a trade rout, but for now I have been focusing on survival.

I know the main ‘jist’ of the game is survival, seeing how long your little village can manage, but once you have ‘beaten’ that aspect of the game (pretty easy to do on my settings) the ‘game’ at least for me, becomes expanding and watching your little town thrive much like a sims game. That’s the point I’m at now, though the town is still quite tiny. I think I have 35 total adults, a handful of students and some children. The older generation has been dying off (the NPC you start with) and thankfully I had more than enough new labourers to cover their jobs.

I love Banished, and have ever since I started playing it. For such a well priced game ($20) I have really gotten my moneys worth out of it.

Gaming

The Firelands Raid

stargrace May 26, 2014 No Comments

One of my favourite things to do lately is old raids. Last weekend (or the weekend before?) our small guild of 4 took down the Lich King for the first time. This weekend we decided to venture into The Firelands Raid and defeated Ragnaros. My favourite part was the screenshot above, us posing. From left to right there is Ebonsteel, the fearless Deathknight, myself as priest keeping these four alive, Toargo, our warrior, and Kanad, the hunter.

Yeah, it was awesome. We died a few times when the flames became too much (har har) but we also got some awesome transmog gear and achievements. The whole evening was just a lot of fun, and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch to hang out with.

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

Gaming

Weekend Fun with Guildmates

stargrace May 17, 2014 No Comments

Last night all four of us were online and looking for something to do, so we decided to get old achievements for raids that we had never done before. This took us to ICC, where we took down the Lich King for the first time ever (and obtained shiny new titles). I’m still working on collecting secrets for my cloak, so far the raids have been stingy and I only have 8 of them out of 20.

I’ve been collecting appearance gear for my little priest too but I’m having a hard time finding things that are not robe graphics. I’d like a vest and pants, so we’ll see what I end up with. I also got a few really neat weapons and off hand appearance items.

A short post today, it’s a long weekend here in Canada, I hope everyone enjoys it! As always happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Gaming

Lets Go for a Ride

stargrace May 16, 2014 No Comments

Yesterday in ArcheAge I decided to just work through some quest chains and adventure a bit. I haven’t figured out how crafting works exactly yet, or how to set up my very own little farm or house, but since this is alpha, I’m not too concerned. Everything I do right now is going to get wiped, so I’m using this as a learning experience.

I ended up questing to this little mining hub, and noticed there were mine carts travelling the rails. Technically I could have walked up those rails to reach the top (aside from the very last one, the incline was too much) but it was way more fun to hop into the carts and travel the rails while riding my mount. The quests are still very much themepark-esc, go here, kill this, return it, interact with some cogs and report back, but there’s a lot of ‘stuff’ to do that lets me branch off a bit when I feel like exploring.

I turned chat channels back on last night to see if I could pick up any useful information from the players, and immediately regretted it and turned it back off. Normally I enjoy listening to the chit chat of players in new games because no matter how ‘bad’ the chat gets, there are little nuggets of wisdom tucked away.

For others who are playing ArcheAge, a few friends have also set up a public “Tips & Tricks” page on Anook. If you have any tips & tricks that you would like to share with everyone please don’t hesitate to head over and post!

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

Wild for WildStar

A Graveyard of Dead People

The Firelands Raid

Weekend Fun with Guildmates

Lets Go for a Ride

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