2016

Throwback Thursday

It’s amazing how we look back at things we’ve done throughout our lives and suddenly realize just how much time has passed. 8 years ago this month I was writing articles for Beckett Massive Online Gamer about EQ and EQ II. Today I took a bunch of time to go through some of those articles and just reminisce. One of my favourite features was doing the class guides, especially bards. I got to interview some really fantastic people (some who I’m still friends with today!) and I had a blast doing it. The four years I spent writing for Beckett was (I feel) some of the most rewarding writing I ever did and not only because I could pick it up from a local book store as a physical object (how cool is that), but because of the leeway I was given in my articles to write my way and not have to follow a lot of strict rules. Ah, memories..

Beckett12

Beckett13

Beckett14Beckett15

Impatience

WoWScrnShot_080316_154039

Yesterday I decided that I’d  take my level 15 monk and run some LFG dungeons as a healer. I love healing in groups and raids and my character has lots of heirloom so at these levels it’s pretty simple. I don’t expect perfection from any group that I end up in – but it would sure make things a lot easier if people just had some patience. The first dungeon run I did went flawlessly. No problems, everyone followed the tank, smooth as could be. The second dungeon was a different story. We were in Wailing Caverns, and there was myself (monk healer), a tank (paladin), a hunter, rogue, and priest.

The hunter decided to take it upon themselves to tank and they ran every place that the actual tank was not. The actual tank didn’t know his way around the dungeon, so he was backtracking and just running where ever he wanted. Everyone else followed one of these other people but no one followed just one of them so the group was pretty split. I followed the tank.

As a healer this makes for an exceptionally stressful experience. I can’t heal anyone who isn’t in range. If you’re going to run and pull the entire dungeon (especially as a DPS class) and expect me to keep you alive – well, that’s just not going to happen. We managed through most of the dungeon without incident despite the mass pullings in all directions but eventually the hunter pulled one too many and they ended up dying.

I can’t resurrect in combat. My only option is to wait until we’re out of combat, and then cast it. The hunter had no patience for this and decided to leave the instance instead as soon as I told him that I couldn’t rez until after combat had ended. Since everyone kept pulling (and were finally in range) this put me in combat a lot. The tank then decided to run away from the rest of the group while we tried to trail after him and after another failed pull because people just couldn’t work together I decided to cut my losses and left the group.

I don’t like to leave groups, and like I said at the beginning I don’t expect perfection or even “good” game play. I don’t expect a new player to know the dungeons inside and out, and I don’t groan if someone can’t keep up optimal DPS. I will always complain if someone doesn’t have the patience to ensure their survival in a timely fashion. Don’t run away from your healers. It makes things difficult. Try to stick with your tanks. It makes things easier. Those types of tips are things people should keep in mind. If you’re new, unsure, or returning, just speak up. Yes, there are some less-than-kind people out there who may grief you if you speak up, but honestly you’ll find more understanding people than not.

I’ve done a LOT of pick up groups over the years so these types of situations don’t bother me long term and I was back to LFG later in the evening on my druid instead (until the DDoS stuff happened, but that’s a whole other post) where the runs went pretty well. My Dalaran characters are sitting in a comfortable spot. The deathknight is 60, druid is 27, warrior is 14, and monk is 18. I’m really hoping that some folks from Zero Commitment will be into dungeon runs this weekend, even if I have to tank them myself. We’ll see how that goes.

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

Three Humans and a Night Elf

WoWScrnShot_080316_072331

Last weekend I decided to join up with friends on Dalaran, and I created four new characters (originally I created one). A human warrior, a human monk, a human deathknight, and a night elf druid. Why so many humans you may ask? Well, that reputation bonus that humans get is something I will always take advantage of if I can. Out of all of the racial bonuses the game offers, it’s the only one that I feel gives a significant advantage. There’s so many factions in game, and every little bit helps.

I created the deathknight so that I could farm lower level instances for transmog gear and sell them, earning myself a bit of coin. Little did I know that a billion other players would also be headed to the DK area. It was absolutely packed! It was so busy that trying to quest was a feat in itself. Thankfully you can tag other people’s mobs and still get credit, but I feel bad doing that because they also get reduced xp with that method. Since most of the experience you gain comes from quests and not from actual kills it’s not such a huge deal, but still something I don’t enjoy taking away from someone else.

Since my DK has lots of heirloom I managed to get almost 60 before leaving the starter zone. I really wish we could just skip that entire place, I’d rather level up some place else. There’s no option to skip it and you can’t leave until it’s done so you’re pretty much stuck there. A quick dungeon run and I should find myself at 60.

I haven’t decided who I’d like to focus on when it comes to this new server. Lets face it, I’m basically just wasting time until the 9th and then until Legion comes out. I’ll probably swap back over to my priest main during those other times, and group up cross-realm (hey, have I mentioned I dislike servers) through bnet. Speaking of, if you’re looking to add me, my bnet is: stargrace#1783 – I play both horde and alliance, and while I may not say a whole lot, I’m always eager to group up with friends!

Tired of Servers

WoWScrnShot_072816_164841

Almost nothing irks me more than not being able to play with my friends in any particular game on any particular day because we’re all spread out across different servers. I know, servers used to be (and perhaps still are) the ‘norm’ in video games – but honestly, I feel that a better way should be found. Sure, WoW has come leaps and bounds in allowing people to group together by faction so long as they’re on your bnet, and by server cluster, but it’s not enough.

The whole reason this comes up is because I’ve recently started playing on another new server in WoW so I can play with friends (ie: in their guild). I don’t want to have to pay to move my 0lder characters so the only option I really have is to start fresh. I’m currently playing on three servers and I REALLY want to just be playing on one.

It’s not completely unheard of, I mean EVE Online does well with their shard universe and there are a handful of other games out there that will let you transfer (for no cost) between servers at your discretion but older games (EQ, EQ2, I’m looking at you two) require you to stay put unless there are server merges or free transfers.

Of course this is all easy for me to say. I know if it were as simple as developing a new idea to keep people happy then it would probably already be implemented. Plus there’s revenue generated when someone pays to transfer. Still, I can’t help but wish things were a little different, and that when my friends gathered in their respective games I could play with them too without having to start all over once again.

 

Beginning Blaugust 2016 & Sims Shenanigans

07-31-16_9-18-59 PM

It’s August, and with it typically comes Blaugust, which I’ve participated in here and there over the years, and since I know I never do as much blogging as I wish I did, I decided to participate once again. Will I manage to blog for all 31 days of August? Well, we’ll see. I’m headed towards the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy so a lot rides on how I feel on any given day. At least I managed a post on the first day, right?!

Last night I decided to play some Sims 4, my legacy family as it were. I’m on the third generation, nearing the fourth. The first generation, or my founders, have all passed on. Their graves sit beside the back of the house and their ghosts wander around interacting with random pieces of furniture. In my last round of game play I had decided to purchase a restaurant and in doing so I had to sell off a large portion of the “fluff” that my sims had acquired. I downgraded their bedrooms to just the basics, the kitchen had a fridge and stove that constantly broke, and I removed their bar, dance room, and pool. This allowed me to purchase the restaurant of their dreams – but alas, it just wasn’t for me. I was hoping it could mostly run itself and that’s not how it works. So this game session I decided to sell the place, and then I re-purchased all of the items that I sold off before. I rebuilt their pool, the dance room, the bar, I added fancy new amenities upstairs, their tubs and showers are of the best quality, and their kitchen has never been so clean. The house is nearing $200,000 in value, something I’m quite proud of because I remember when my sims lived on the lawn eating on the edge of the toilet and when they had only three walls.

Tristan is once again jobless thanks to his ‘noncommittal’ trait.  Emily still works as a famous artist, and that’s where most of their money comes from. She’s been decorating the house with her artwork which helps up the value, and the extra paintings get sold off to galleries and private collectors. Their son is going to school during the week and on weekends he works as a landscaper. It’s not much, but it will give him a good start once he’s finished school. The hardest part for any of them has been trying to make friends, so I have a lot of club meetings at the house. Gardening is almost always on the agenda, but I really wish club members wouldn’t harvest the plants because that’s how Tristan makes any income. I don’t mind the other garden tending options, but that one should be left off by default, you don’t see any money from it.

For some reason when I loaded the game my mailbox and garbage can were both missing, so I had to replace those. Their home is a fancy 5 bedroom 3 bathroom affair, and I hope to keep adding to it. Maybe I’ll do some fancy work on the grounds over time as it’s quite bare. The perks of owning such an enormous lot, they have room to grow. I can’t wait to see what happens with the family next!

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

07-31-16_9-47-42 PM