October 2015

Downsizing

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I’ve had my current deed on Xanadu for a few years now, but of course I always get an itch to expand. My most recent purchase has been to set up a market that is just across a small canal from my main deed. With the market taking up most of my time, and my priests back over at my main deed, my deed up North was seeing little to no activity, and it was my most expensive deed at almost 4 silver a month for upkeep. I decided that I would disband that deed and focus my efforts on the places down South, along with exploring if I started to get that itch again.

The problem with disbanding a deed, and this deed in particular, is that over time you tend to accumulate a lot of “stuff”. Now some of this stuff is useless and you don’t need to take it with you when you disband, but a lot of it can be useful items that you don’t really want to part with. So that’s how I ended up sailing for 5 hours up North with a borrowed knarr, and then loaded up 38 large crates with all of my possessions (each create can hold 300 items). I took everything that I couldn’t “easily” acquire at my main deed, and then I disbanded the place which gave me the 16 silver I had in escrow.

Now I’m happily back down to two deeds, and currently sailing my way back down to the Southern deed. I’m actually moored right at this second because the fog rolled in and I can’t see my way any more. Great time to do a blog post.

Even though I’ve downsized my deeds, I still have three active accounts (and will until sometime early next year at least). I’ve got Stargrace my “jack of all trades” main, and then two priests. The two priests spend mos of their time hanging out in my temple building enchanting tools and gaining favour along with taking care of mundane chores like farming and animals which reminds me, now that I no longer have the deed up North I’ll need to start a new farm for the priests to work on.

I love the flexibility I have in Wurm Online. Want to travel and explore? You’re welcome to do it. Want to settle down and never venture past the front door? That’s an option to. Want to join a village? Live the life of a hermit? They’re all options. You just have to have a plan in mind (which is often the most difficult part).

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

From Esper to Medic

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I enjoyed playing my Dominion Esper quite a bit, but once I reached 50 I decided it was time to make an alt and see how the Exiles play. It didn’t take long to fall in love with them. I’ve been leveling up a human medic this time around, and I’m just about level 50 on her too. It’s easy to see why some people may prefer Exiles to Dominion, but I think in the end I like both factions. I know there’s always a lot of discussion surrounding Exiles being more popular due to the Aurin race, but so far I haven’t made one. Maybe a future alt.

The medic class is a lot of fun. I’ve kept to a pretty simple DPS spec and I’ll branch into a healing spec when I’m level 50. I’ve been questing my way through Malgrave, which is a neat zone but unfortunately the regional story bugged for me so I can’t complete it. On Monday morning I didn’t have any of the lag issues that had plagued the release, and I managed to get a few more levels. The guild experience buff isn’t showing up on my buff icon for some reason, and I miss being able to get the buff from my housing plot. I also need to figure out how to revamp my housing plot now that they’re larger. Everything is pretty bunched up in the center and I’ll need to fix that. I do like the larger plots, but wish the fabkits you place were a bit more spread throughout.

One change that came with the F2P launch that I’m simply not a fan of is the change to Challenges. These used to be little mini events that you would do and then get a chance at a random item. The basic idea of the challenge is still there, the mini events, but now when you complete them you earn an amount of points that move up a line and unlock a specific goodie bag of your choice. Once you’ve unlocked three of the smaller goodie bags via points, you get to unlock a larger one. Gone are the awesome random prizes that we used to get a chance at winning, and instead there are three very drab choices. Aside from experience and achievements, I don’t see that big of a reason to complete these challenges any more. There’s no ‘good’ prizes, and I can certainly find better elsewhere.

Not all games get a second launch, and I think it’s a mistake to see WildStar as “just releasing”. Yes, everyone is working incredibly hard to get the issues taken care of, but treating it as a “new game launch” is ignoring the fact that the game has already been released, charging people to play, in the state it was in. I don’t expect people to be quite as patient with the issues that are occurring now and I think it’s understandable that folks would be frustrated. Of course how you demonstrate that frustration is another story. It’s not a reason to go out and treat people poorly, especially when they’re working incredibly hard. Just something to keep in mind.

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

 

Market Progress

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The market is coming along, and slowly but surely each day it looks more like a market and less like the deed that used to occupy the space. The 20 horse stalls are completed, though they still need locks (and keys) for each gate so the contents inside can be purchased. I’ll do that at the very end because I’ll also need to adjust my deed permissions to allow players to lead. When the market is complete I don’t expect to keep much there aside from the regular market objects, so I won’t have to worry about people stealing. The way the horse stalls work is that the keys will be marked with a price, and placed on a merchant. You purchase the key, take it to the proper pen, and then unlock the pen, and lead your new horse away.

I’ve also got the storage shed built, and a portion of the craft building. The market stalls have been started, and I’m gathering ore to craft some altars surrounding the center of the market. I want to get more of the ground marked out properly with paths and such, right now it’s a mesh of whatever was used for paving in the past.

P22 is where the market is located, at a canal that currently allows for shallow boats (up to a depth of 5 I believe) but no lower. This also allows me to get back to my own deed as the canal is between us. Eventually I’ll dredge the canal deeper, and build a bridge so I can reach my place. Naitey has been working on lanterns for the market so we can light it up. I haven’t decided yet on what sort of decoration I want the place to have as far as the entrance goes, but I’ll get there. I was thinking of a few colossus but I’m not sure if I want those. I’m also hoping to get some trees in while I finish the basic paving. I may change the paving in the future, but for now the basic outline of the market should be in place. Helps for those who are going to help me build, too. I’ve linked everyone the map, so there’s no confusion.

All in all I’m pleased with the progress. It still has quite a way to go, but I’ll get there slowly and at least I know this market isn’t going anywhere.

I’ve been contemplating disbanding my deed up north so that I only have two places (right beside each other) instead of three. The place up north is lovely and holds a LOT of goods, which is the main reason I still have it. There’s over 17 silver in escrow which I’d like to take out, but there are so many supplies there it would take me more than 5 boat trips back and forth from north to south just to haul it all away. I’m also very reluctant to part with any of it (ie: I don’t want to sell the deed). For now I’ll just keep all three places, and maybe I’ll entertain the idea of hauling my stuff to the main deed in the future. If only Xanadu were not so enormous.

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

One Sock Down, Lets Make it a Pair

SockAfter one week of knitting and pattern reading, I have finished my very first sock. Honestly, there are so many emotions I’m feeling it’s a bit odd. Of course now I need to begin the second sock but I’m hoping that I find it even easier than the first one. Maybe I won’t need to reference the video so many times and I’ll be able to just use my pattern.

It’s incredibly comfortable. So comfortable in fact that I slept with it on last night. That’s right, I slept with a single sock clinging to my foot.

I used size US 3 DPN to knit this sock, along with 50g of Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn, in Cadet colours (I believe). The yarn is a mixture of wool and nylon with just the right amount of stretch.

I thought the hardest part of the sock would be the heel, but that was actually one of the easier parts. There were only two ‘hard’ parts. One was picking up the instep stitches to bring the work back into the round. The second and most difficult part was the toe. I absolutely hated doing the toe. In fact I messed it up big time. That being said, I honestly don’t care, the rest of the foot is lovely. The toe method that was in my pattern was a grafted one, and I ended up dropping a lot of stitches and having to figure out which ones I had dropped so that the whole sock didn’t unravel. I’m thinking of just adjusting the pattern to my own liking when I reach the end of the toe in the future, maybe just plain stitching it up or something. I haven’t decided. One thing I’ve learned and I really enjoy about knitting (and enjoyed it a lot during my sock progress) is that knitting is flexible. For example, have too many stitches or do a left slanting decrease when you meant to do a right? That’s absolutely fine, in the grand scheme of things (like my sock) you won’t even notice these things. I’m sure there are other pieces of knitting where a mistake like that is unforgivable, but in my sock the only person who knows there’s an issue will be me. Especially because no one is going to be looking so closely at these.

Did I mention I’m proud? I know, it’s a bit silly, but I really am. My experience with knitting has been so different over the past few months than it had been years previously. I’m honestly not sure why I find that I am able to pick things up now compared to my previous attempts, but I AM glad that I’ve managed to get somewhere this time. I’ve owned my Craftsy courses on how to knit socks for years now, and as I read the patterns my eyes would glaze over and I’d lose track of what it all meant.

Coming up next on my needles will be the second sock to this pair (of course). I’ve got a few other projects in mind while I’m working on that. I’d like to do a prayer shawl for a friend (these don’t have to be religious, they’re basically shawls knit with good intentions and thoughts along with prayers, and given to a person who is going through a rough time in life) as well as some mittens or gloves. There’s also the second baby blanket I want to do for my other cousin (remember two of them are pregnant) and we’ll see what else. I’m hoping to continue learning new techniques and to improve the more I knit. It has been an amazing journey so far (and incredibly relaxing).

 

It’s a Sockdate

SockThis week I started my very first sock. Socks have been an ‘end game’ goal for me for years now, they were the reason I wanted to learn how to knit at all. I don’t know what I found so appealing about them, something about actually wearing an item you’ve created that doesn’t take a lot of yarn and you could work on it almost anywhere. To the left is my progress so far. First I started with a k2p2 ribbed cuff, then I worked plain for the leg of the sock, then the heel flap was done in a reinforced stitch, I decreased the instep, and now I’m working towards the toes. I’ll stop around the beginning of my baby toe, and then start decreasing again to shape the toes. Then I’ll be using a chimney graph to close the toe up. The heel flap was done using short rows, and it was my most stressful thought before I started doing it, but was actually the least stressful step out of all of them. The most difficult part so far has been when I attempted to bring the heel flap and the rest of the foot back into the round. Making sure I had the proper amount of stitches and then making sure I was decreasing at the appropriate places was a bit of a pain.

Over all, the sock progress has been going very well and I’m really pleased with how I’ve taken to it. It fits well, it’s comfortable, and I am excited to start the second one so I can have a pair. Once I’ve done both socks I have some gloves and mittens I might knit up, or I might try that shawl I’ve been meaning to do, or I might take a break and try some crochet and work on a blanket. Or maybe I’ll take a break from the fiber arts for a bit and do some reading. The wonderful thing is that it’s October now, and fall has landed in full swing already. It’s cold outside, the leaves are falling, and I am in my element. I feel incredibly blessed.

Though harder to see, my heart still has sadness in it. I keep thinking about Nette and how much life she brought to everyone, and it hurts. It hurts that I was supposed to send her some of my knit items and that I never got a chance. That she commented on all of my pieces and was just so very enthusiastic. I know time is supposed to ease the pain but it’s still a very surreal situation. I think part of my motivation to do a good job and learn knitting so quickly has been because of her. I miss her so much.

Nomadic Gamer