December 2014

Gaming in 2015

stargrace December 31, 2014 1 Comment

I’m taking some inspiration from Sypster over at BioBreak, and writing about what I’d like my goals to be for gaming in 2015. As he says, lists constantly change, so I don’t expect this to be set in stone in any way. Plus I hardly know what new games may be just over the horizon. These are some lists of mine, lets see how this year pans out.

MMOs I know I’ll be playing:

World of Warcraft (for how long, I’m not sure, but I currently have a subscription until February)
Wurm Online (currently have a subscription until February of 2016)
WildStar

MMOs I May Play:

ArchAge (I dropped out of this after the mad rush for housing just became too much for me)
Rift (I keep going back to Rift and just can’t seem to get back into it, for whatever reason, but I keep trying)
Diablo 3 (The new season isn’t slated to start until at least February, probably more like March which is discouraging, but I still really enjoy the game)
Landmark (I’m waiting for some polish, mobs were JUST added, and it was hard to get back into)
Heroes of the Storm
EverQuest 2 (I always end up going back here and there)
Guild Wars 2 (Much like Rift, I return only to feel incredibly lost and end up leaving again)

Games On the Horizon:

The Repopulation (I keep hearing about this game, and I’m very interested, but early access is expensive, and I’m just not sure)
Rising World (Loving this so far, but right now it’s very alpha)
Clockwork Empire (I’ve played this game a few hours worth so far, and it’s got a lot of promise. It’s in early access though, and we all know how long those can take to push forward. That being said, it’s probably one of the better early access games I played this year)

Disappointments:

Castle Story – This game has been in development for quite some time now. It’s still early access, still full of bugs, and the dev team has slowly been removing features from it instead of adding to it. The length of time it takes to get a game out the door varies, I know, but it feels like this is more of an unfinished product now than when I started playing it over a year ago. I know it’s not exactly fair to place an unfinished game on a list of disappointments, but I really had big hopes.

I have a lot of non-mmo games I want to get to in 2015. These include my ‘regulars’

The Sims 4 (that game just makes me so happy)
Banished
Craft the World
Cook, Serve, Delicious!

Plus a handful of others. I have a LOT of games I haven’t even touched yet. I’m tempted to do a weekly spotlight on one of my ‘non regular’ games throughout the year, but I tend to be horrible at sticking with those sort of things. Still, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try. As being a ‘gamer’ becomes more mainstream, I’m awed by the number of games that are out there. The decision on what to play and how to spend those precious moments becomes harder and harder.

How does your 2015 look so far?

Gaming

A Year in Review

stargrace December 29, 2014 1 Comment

Of course Jetpack once again provided some neat-o information about my site for the year in review. It’s not that exciting, but I thought I’d share it with everyone none the less. You can find it located here, but for a brief run down it gave me the following stats:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 66,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

The busiest day of the year was January 30th with 815 views. The most popular post that day was How: Level 1-62 in Two Hours #EQ2.

This report only shows data since you connected Jetpack.

In 2014, there were 171 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 2,653 posts.

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

A big thank you to everyone who stopped by. I certainly appreciate it! I just renewed the site for another year, so I’ll be sticking around for a while yet. Hard to believe that this will be the 9th year I’ve written here on MmoQuests.

Gaming

Trying to Embrace Dailies

I dislike dailies. They make me feel obligated to log in for a bunch of chores that are not much fun and by the time I’m done them it’s usually time to log off. Lately I’ve been trying to embrace these dailies to see if I can look past them to the rest of WoD, because the rest is pretty fun.

Yesterday PR was due to spawn on our server. This is a named encounter that can spawn in 5 locations, and has a respawn timer of 46-92 hours. All information subject to change, this is just what I overheard while sitting in the raid. I waited a few hours while I worked on a crochet project, but the creature never spawned. By the time I had logged back in later in the evening, the crowd had dispersed, the mob having finally spawned for those who were patient enough to wait around for over three days. No thanks, not my cup of tea.

This morning I’m sitting in a queue for Ashran so I can try to complete the group daily. Unfortunately the queue lasts a long time, it’s limited by your faction. 100 players from each faction get in at a time. I’m not sure how long I’ve been waiting yet, but there’s a lot of complaints about the length. In the mean time I have other chores that I can work on. I managed to raise my cooking and fishing both to 700, and have been working on other achievements. I haven’t started playing any of my alts yet, which is a surprise. Normally I’m bouncing all over and not completing anything on anyone.

So can I look past my dislike of dailies to enjoy the actual expansion? So far I’m doing alright, but whether or not it will last is another story.

Real Life

Easy Sweet and Sour Meatballs

stargrace December 24, 2014 No Comments

These meatballs are fast and easy and absolutely delicious served with noodles or rice. You don’t have to be exact with the ingredients, so play around until you find a combination that suits your taste.

Meatballs:

Ground beef (lean) and ground turkey mixed together
Kirkland no salt spice (or any other spices of your choosing)
A healthy dose of sriracha (to your taste, as spicy as you like)
1 egg
breadcrumbs
Worcestershire sauce
fresh garlic minced up

Mix this all together and make into little ball shapes, then put on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven just until the balls are cooked on the outside, about 5-10 minutes or so at 350. When they’re done swap them into a deeper baking dish (like a casserole dish) and set aside.

Sauce:

4 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons mustard
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Mix all the sauce stuff together (until the brown sugar is dissolved) and then drizzle over the meatballs in the casserole dish. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour, and then bake at 350 until the sauce is bubbling and thick and the meatballs are cooked all the way through (about 30 minutes). Serve over your favourite rice (mine is basmati) or with noodles. Recipe can be adjusted any way you want. Bon appetite!

Gaming

Lets slay a Forest Giant

stargrace December 24, 2014 1 Comment

I thought I had logged in too late to participate in the Forest Giant slaying on Xanadu but it turns out I was right on time. The creature had been holed up under ground and locked away from the public until it was go-time, so we spent a few minutes gathering, a few more minutes being added to the mine door, and then we went into the mine to take the creature down. There were over 90 of us in local chat, though not quite that many were actually attacking the creature. One of the main rewards you can get is blood which can be crafted into a potion and then applied to a tool. In this case the potion is for woodcutting, which is certainly one I will make use of.

There is also a ‘giantslayer’ title associated with killing the creature, so long as you get a hit. Unlike other unique killings that I have been to, people were very eager to help out and backed off of the mob to allow others in. This ensured that everyone who was there could get credit for the kill.

The only downside was that because this is Xanadu, I had quite a hike to get to the location. First I used the /suicide command to kill myself, and respawned at one of the starter towns. I choose Summerholt because it was the closest location. Then I used karma, and summoned my corpse to me. Finally I started out on foot to the location, but a short while in I crossed through some desert, and found a handful of horses grazing, so I used one of those to ride the rest of the way. Once the event was over I used more karma and gated home. I love being able to use karma to gate and summon my corpse, but it’s a pricey adventure and not something I can do with any frequency.

Still, I had a great time. I love the decision to make uniques not as ‘unique’ and now they respawn. This gives other players the chance to partake in some very epic battles.

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

Gaming in 2015

A Year in Review

Trying to Embrace Dailies

Easy Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Lets slay a Forest Giant

You Missed

Leveling Up With Timewalking

The Construction of Quail Landing

Making Gold – One Sale at a Time

Timewalking, Gets me Every Time