2015

Motivation for Round Two

stargrace October 12, 2015 0Comment

I took a bit of a break after completing my first sock just to switch things up. I finished off a few books, played some video games, and made plans for future projects. I know that when it comes to other hobbies I can get burnt out, and I didn’t want that to happen with knitting, especially since the colder weather is slowly creeping up on us. This week I decided it was time to get started on the second sock to my pair, and things started moving along much quicker than the first. I’m about half way done now, finishing off the heel flap so that I can begin the short row heel and then bring everything back into the round and then I’ll start the instep. I’m still not happy with grafting, and I’ve been looking at alternative methods of doing toes so that I don’t have to graft. I understand the logic behind it, linking your stitches and all the rest, but when I do it I end up missing stitches and then before I know it half of the sock has come undone. Not good.

I know it takes practice, and so that’s what I’ll have to do. I think part of my issue was it was my first sock and I was using a very fine yarn, makes it hard to see the stitches in order to graft them. Still, the rest of the sock was really easy and if grafting the toe is the only difficulty that I have, I can’t really complain about that.

I ordered some new needles last week to go along with my interchangeable set as well. I needed a size 17 for an upcoming project, and decided I may as well. Since I expect my interchangeable set will last me for some time I don’t mind adding to the collection. I also picked up an extension to the set so that I can make the cord longer for larger projects. I wish the default set had come with it, but for the price I got them at I’m not really too upset. I was just looking at knitting supplies in Michaels the other day and noticed that their bamboo interchangeable set was $230 (Canadian) where as the nickel plated set that I bought were only $45 (USD).

Of course since I was in Michaels I had to pick up a few more skeins of yarn. I ended up buying one more skein of a blanket type yarn for a blanket I’ve been working on (slowly), and I bought two skeins of sock yarn (really lovely colours, purples and reds) and a third skein that’s worsted weight but could be used for a number of projects. It’s very soft, so I may turn that into a pair of socks too. That skein looks like fire, strips of bright red and yellow that blend together. Absolutely beautiful. When my needles finally get here I’ll be starting a prayer shawl for a friend in-need. I’ve got a few skeins of a bulky royal purple colour that I think would be perfect and she has been going through a rough time so I want to make her something. I’m not sure what else I want to knit. I want to keep learning, of course, but making a decision on what to do next is difficult for me. I do have a few Craftsy classes for knitting mitts and gloves, I wouldn’t mind making a pair or two of that. Of course the other issue is that I don’t tend to keep very much yarn on me, I have many smaller skeins but not a lot of the same colours for larger projects. I also keep seeing people crocheting these awesome granny square blankets for their children and friends and I keep thinking that I should give that a try. Granny squares and me don’t really get along though. I’ve tried to make them a number of times and they always end up so weird. I’m not sure why. I’ve made stuffed animals out of crochet before and other items without issue (a hat, a scarf) but for some reason granny squares are the one thing I get stuck on.

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to these days. I hope to finish the second sock this week so the pair will be completed, begin another pair of socks for a friend, and begin the prayer shawl. What I’ll work on after that is anyone’s guess.

Gaming

Getting Started with Streaming Games

Not pictured is the new c920 HD Pro Webcam that I bought, but along with that I picked up a blue yeti microphone and have started setting up my area to do some livestreaming in the future. Today I played around in WildStar (thank you those who came and visited while I was adventuring!) and I’m trying to think of some more exciting adventures for people to tune in to. I’ve done a few livestreams in the past but nothing very exciting (and most of the time I tend not to use voice, and I’ve never used my cam before) but I’ve always admired those who did. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years now, and heck there’s no better time than the present!

If you’re looking to catch me live, you can follow my twitch channel:

Twitch.tv/Stargrace

Or if you would rather watch at a later time, you can follow my youtube channel:

YouTube.com/StephanieMorrow

I haven’t worked out a schedule yet, so my streams will probably be sporadic in the meantime. Due to where I live I’m also not allowed to sign up for the direct donations programs, but I did include a link on my twitch channel for those who may want to donate through paypal. You can also donate directly at the link here:

Paypal.me/stargrace

Donations will go towards keeping my web site (MmoQuests.com) running, as well as paying for things like twitch banners and avatars. I’ve been looking at getting some custom ones made, but so far haven’t had any luck finding what I’d like. Of course all content will continue to be free, this is not something I want people to feel roped into doing, but a nice little side hobby. We’ll see if it goes anywhere.

In the meantime I’ve been bouncing ideas around. I thought maybe I would try playing (and streaming) some of the lowest rated games on Steam – but that idea really didn’t sit very well with me. I don’t like to play bad games just because. Then I thought maybe I would try playing horror games – the one genre that I don’t have the stomach for – but honestly when it comes right down to it, I want to play games I enjoy. I don’t want to play just because I have an audience. So for now I’m back to the drawing board. I do have all sorts of games in my steam library that I’d like to slowly work through, but a lot of those are also visual novel type games. I don’t know how interested people are going to be in me reading aloud a romance story, even if it’s something I personally enjoy playing. For now I’ll just continue streaming when the mood strikes me, and the games will be random as well. There’s a good chance you’ll see me in Wurm Online, WildStar, and maybe some EverQuest or EverQuest 2 along with Sims 4. Those are pretty static regular games for me. Please remember to follow my channel, especially if you want notifications of when I go live. You’ll see the highlights of my last broadcasts up there and I’ve already moved them over to YouTube as well. I did find that the sound quality seemed to have reduced quite a bit when I transferred the videos from twitch to youtube – is that normal? Is there a way I can combat that?

Of course any help, tips, tricks, etc. are greatly appreciated. I’m brand new at this, I don’t know any of the fancy UI things people have on their twitch streams (I’m using XSplit to stream if that matters) so of course anything you can offer up as a suggestion is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

Downsizing

stargrace October 7, 2015 0Comment

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!

Gaming

From Esper to Medic

stargrace October 6, 2015 3Comments

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!

Gaming

Market Progress

stargrace October 5, 2015 0Comment

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!

Motivation for Round Two

Getting Started with Streaming Games

Downsizing

From Esper to Medic

Market Progress

You Missed

Keeping Organized (Bookmarks)

Why a Nullsec Bloc Just Wasn’t For Me

Expensive (To Me) Skills

My Biggest Exploration Holy Grail