2015

Saturday: Video Game Roundup

stargrace August 15, 2015 1Comment

I didn’t get that much gaming in this week, but of course we gamers always seem to find a bit of time here and there. Without further wait, here’s what I’ve been up to this week.

Minecraft

Most of this week was spent playing FeedTheBeast Infinity. There are 164 mods in this pack (165 on my server as I added one I really wanted) and it’s got something for pretty much everyone. Instead of setting up a village outdoors as I typically do, I created an enormous house within a rock mountain, and carved out each room. Then as I upgraded my tools and obtained a chisel I customized the home further. The screenshot above is my crafting room. Lots of space. I’ve also created a portal to the Twilight Forest, and to The Nether. There are Runic Dungeons that I haven’t explored yet, and just so much to do. The mod I added includes a way to level up your tools and weapons so that they get better and progress. You have to upgrade them in order, and it’s just a lot of fun to add this level of customization. Of course on the downside my axe for chopping trees now smelts things it hits – and that means wood just instantly turns to coal when I cut down the tree instead of giving me wooden blocks. Had to make a new axe because of that.

WildStar

Closed Beta Testing has begun and so I’ve been spending most of my time on the beta servers sending in bug reports. I copied my character over from live, and have been playing around with all of the new things that have been added. Got a few new pets and some new costumes so far, I’m really looking forward to the game moving to free to play so that more people can experience what an awesome game it is and not get hung up on the monthly price tag.

GuildWars 2

In a surprising turn of events, my mesmer managed to ding level 80 this week. In part due to crafting, and also due to those daily loot boxes you get to open every day. Today when I logged in I was given 2 ‘level’ tokens that let me climb to level 79 instantly. Now I need to finish my personal story, I’m at the level 60 ones now where the giant dragon comes down and things all go crazy for a while. I’m glad that I reached 80, and now I’m debating whether I want to level up another character right away or just continue to do things on the mesmer. I do have a few other level 80 characters but they’re on a different account, so I’m glad I managed to level this one up. I picked up some level 80 gear but now that I’m 80 I have absolutely no idea what I should be working on, aside from finishing off my personal story.

Wurm Online

A few new things have been added to the game, black sheep and some rams. I’ve been working on my priests still which is pretty slow work but I enjoy doing it. I’ve also been breeding more animals and working on meditation which is a really slow skill to try to level up. Right now I have four active accounts, but I expect that will drop down to three before too long. I have a year of premium on my Vynora priest along with my main character, Stargrace, and included a year on my Najho priest. I do have a battery that I’ve been using for the Najho, but I really don’t want to have to pay to keep them all active. That’s one of the downsides of Wurm, you have to pay per character.

That’s it for this week! What has everyone else been playing? Let me know in comments.

Gaming

Therapeutic Organization

stargrace August 14, 2015 0Comment

I spend a lot of time (both in game and out) organizing things. I find it really therapeutic and calming for whatever reason. For example, lets take yesterday. Just last month I did a clean install of windows 8.1 because I bought an SSD (my first one ever). I decided that a clean install was the way to go and while it was a bit of a pain it could have been worse. Yesterday I was getting a message about a chipset driver I needed to install. So I downloaded the app that would let me do that and of course somehow along the way something broke (I blame it on the fact that I had a LOT of updates to do all at once and just sort of crammed them together without closing programs down first etc). I couldn’t restore and I couldn’t get windows to load, so after a bunch of frustration I just decided to do a fresh install again. It was actually very quick, and thanks to a few little things I had previously set up, it wasn’t as painful as it could have been. For example my default documents / pictures folder is not on the same drive as windows. Nor are my games. There was a handful of smaller programs but nothing essential. I was able to install the few items I was missing thanks to the windows.old folder, and then remove that folder.

Instead of being upset and concerned that I had to completely reinstall windows (again), it was nice and relaxing. Now everything is fixed up just as it was before, and I had a “fun” afternoon of cleaning. I get this same feeling when I’m in video games where there’s an organizational component. Minecraft, for example. I spend hours making lawns look good, creating even pieces of land, organizing boxes and inventory, and just “cleaning”. I tend to do the same things in other games just out of habit. In EQ2 there’s always inventory issues especially when there are so many pieces of decor to shift through, so I spend hours making sure everything is in the right place. Odd? Maybe. I could probably be given some sort of closet organization sim game and have a blast with it.

The point is, it doesn’t matter how you spend your time in a game so long as you’re having fun (minus methods that tend to hurt other players, I’m not an advocate of that). Me, I have fun cleaning. It doesn’t happen every day but when it does, I’m glad I have the control and the option to organize things in game.

I’ve been playing a bit of Minecraft lately, along with Wurm Online, World of Warcraft, and WildStar (PTR!) I’m looking forward to giving a round up of what I’ve been up to in more detail tomorrow. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Real Life

What Anime are you Watching?

stargrace August 10, 2015 4Comments

Thanks to a discussion on twitter with @zoltariel, I’ve been spending some time thinking about how yes, we are gamers, but we’re also more than that. We’re not JUST gamers. Not any of us. To say that our only interest in the entire world is gaming would be false (waiting for someone to comment and prove me wrong here, I am sure there is ‘that person’ out there). There is a smaller circle of gamers I know who also share similar interests to me – and I love to hear about these interests. I also love hearing about those interests that we don’t share. I love knowing that we are human beings and that we do other things. It fascinates me. I love learning what people ‘do’ when they’re not gaming. What background they come from, what their family is like. Maybe it’s just me, but these things interest me far more than how their latest character is doing.

So on that note, here’s a non-video game blog post about anime I’m currently watching. I love anime. I don’t get enough time to watch it because it’s something I need to pay attention to (ie: I hate watching anime in English, so I need to be able to read the subtitles, I don’t speak Japanese). First, I’ve been working my way through the original Sailor Moon. I watched it on TV growing up in English, and prefer it with the subtitles. For some reason anime with English voices just.. really bugs me. They always sound wrong. I’m almost done with this series and I imagine I’ll start working my way through the others. I’ve also been watching Bakemonogatari, then I’ll probably move through the series. I started watching Sword Art Online II but I got bored after the first few episodes. Apparently it gets better, so I’ll probably switch back to that for a bit. There’s so many anime out there that I could probably watch all day every day and still never catch up on everything I want to see. That’s a good thing, in my eyes at least. Ones I finished watching recently are No Game, No Life, Log Horizon, Kotoura-San, R-15, and I My Me! Strawberry Eggs.

So for any anime lovers out there, what are you currently watching? What’s on your play list? Have any suggestions?

Gaming

Lets Talk AddOns (Again)

stargrace August 5, 2015 1Comment

I love games that allow players to create 3rd party addons to help enhance game play or solve UI issues I may have. In many games I prefer to load just one overall addon that takes care of everything for me, but that isn’t always how things are done. Take WildStar for example. I use a number of individual addons there, and it works out great. Sometimes people wonder if addons make games too easy, or if they’re technically considered cheating. For example in WildStar there’s an addon that lets you relax when the simon says games are going on. Those are the challenges that flash a pattern of colours like a bop-it and you need to match the pattern. The addon responds automatically, saving you a lot of potential frustration.

In EQ2 I use DrumsUI. I used to use Prophet, but it stopped getting updated. Now, Drums hasn’t been updated in quite some time either, but it’s still a working UI, and it does everything I need it to do (which is replace the entire UI for the game). I could get by using the default stuff, but after so many years it’s just not comfortable and it feels outdated.

In World of Warcraft I use ElvUI and like all addons and mods out there, some people love it and some people hate it. This UI mod has a bit of a reputation because so many players use it and it’s seen as a ‘n00bs’ UI of sorts. Despite the negative connotations that I see floating around, it works for what I need it to do as a causal gamer. I also discovered HandyNotes which is by far the most amazing addon I’ve seen so far (especially with WoD).

HandyNotes updates your map and mini-map with every named, treasure, collectable (toys, pets, etc). As you collect the items (or kill the bosses), the icons vanish from your map. This is especially handy if you happen to hunt for achievements that require you to collect everything under the sun. Now, again this addon is not going to be for everyone. Some people really love the discovery and they don’t want any help at all – but others (lets say, completionists) want the ability to finish off these items, and that’s where this addon really shines.

I also have a few pet addons, deadly boss mod because it’s awesome, and an auction house addon here and there. Nothing all that fancy, but it suits my play style.

In games where addons are an option, my decision is usually to always go with one (depending on their availability and how easy they are to install). I like to have the option, even if it’s not for everyone.

Do you tend to use any addons in your games? Would you rather not have the ability to? Let me know in comments!

Gaming

Wandering Around

stargrace August 3, 2015 1Comment

When it comes to game subscriptions I tend to buy a few months at a time, even if I don’t plan on playing the game steadily. One, because even if I play it only a portion of those months it’s usually cheaper than buying one month at a time, and two, because I like to show my support. It’s not just about paying for a game I’m playing, but rather it’s showing the company that I’m invested in their product.

Of course with that being said I often forget that I have a subscription at all until the renewal date pops up on my calendar. I tend to mark it as a reminder to either renew again or to cancel for a while. Such is the case with World of Warcraft. I’ve had a subscription for the past 6 months, but I haven’t logged in for the past four (give or take). There’s two weeks left to the subscription at this time, and I decided to play a bit here and there. Mostly familiarizing myself with the entrance to WoD on the alliance side since I’ve only got one level 100 character, and they’re horde.

Looking over my friends list shows that people are still playing Blizzard games, but instead of seeing everyone in WoW like I have in the past, they’re more spread out. Some are playing Hearthstone, some are playing Diablo, some are playing WoW. I love that there is such a variety of games out there, and that there’s really something for everyone.

I’m not sure how long my stay will be, I’m still deeply invested in Wurm Online, Eve Online, and EverQuest 2 (not to mention the non-mmo games I’m also playing) but it’s a very comforting site to log into, and some days casual and relaxed is exactly what I’m looking for. Plus there’s that announcement about a new expansion coming up soon, and everyone loves a good expansion.

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

Saturday: Video Game Roundup

Therapeutic Organization

What Anime are you Watching?

Lets Talk AddOns (Again)

Wandering Around

You Missed

Keeping Organized (Bookmarks)

Why a Nullsec Bloc Just Wasn’t For Me

Expensive (To Me) Skills

My Biggest Exploration Holy Grail