Nomadic Gamer

2016

Gaming

Lets Change Things Up A Little

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I currently play on 3 servers in World of Warcraft. Argent Dawn (Alliance), Area 52 (Horde), and Dalaran (Alliance). On each one I like to have a “main” even if I drift off to alts over time and as I finish content. I’ve been trying to decide who I want to play where and I think I’ve finally figured it out. Subject to change of course, but for now I’m sitting with:

  • Argent Dawn: Priest (holy / shadow)
  • Area 52: Paladin (retribution / holy)
  • Dalaran: Druid (restoration / feral)

Easy to tell what I like about each spec since they all have a healing and DPS component. How does this equal any change for me? Well, the paladin on Area 52 is a character I boosted when I first purchased Legion. I bought it ages ago when it was first announced, and I’m glad I did. I probably should have held off on boosting a character since I don’t think I even touched the paladin after I boosted her to 100 until recently, but that’s alright. I spent some time doing the shipyard quests and introduced the character to tanaan jungle. Invasions start in a few hours, and I’m hoping to pick up some more gear (at least a better weapon than the 640 I’m currently sporting) from that. I know I’m going to make a demon hunter but I’ll probably hold off in leveling the class because I know it’s just going to be a mad house of everyone else with their demon hunters. I’ll make the character, reserve the name, and then play when things have gotten a bit more quiet (if there’s such thing).

After running around tanaan jungle with the paladin I’m starting to feel a bit more confident about things. I know folks are saying that retribution spec took a bit of a hit with the latest class changes, but I feel that a lot has to do on gear dependency and lets face it my gear is quite lacking. As I upgrade things piece by piece the character gets better. As I learn my rotations and skills things get easier. I’m confident that if I just focus myself on playing the one character and don’t try to take on every class there is, I will enjoy the paladin as much as I enjoy any of my other “main” characters. A huge change for me since I’ve never played a paladin before in any great capacity.

Servers are down now for their three hour maintenance. It’ll be interesting to see how long they’re REALLY down for, and how crammed the servers are when they come back up. What will you be doing first when you log in? Let me know in comments! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. <3

 

Gaming

It’s Almost Time!

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It’s here, it’s here! It’s almost here..

Demon Hunters, that is.

I spent almost no time this weekend playing games, and it looks like that streak will continue, at least for a short while. 28 weeks into my pregnancy there’s not a whole lot motivating me to sit at my desk, so if I’m going to game I’ll typically set up Steam Link and play from the couch. Even that seemed like a bother this weekend, so I spent it watching the Olympic games and knitting. It wasn’t all bad!

Tomorrow the patch goes live that will bring Demon Hunters to the game. I know I’ll make one even though I always say I won’t. I know it will be crazy busy as everyone and their dogs also make the class. I think it will be fun, and it will be great to see so many people out and about doing beginner things on their characters. I’m excited. I like the positive hype that I’ve seen.

Meanwhile I’m still trying to decide who to play as my “main” for Legion. I’m debating between my priest and my druid. Sure I could (and probably will eventually) end up playing both but for the first foray into a new expansion I really do like to focus. It will probably end up being my priest because most of what I’ve “done” in game has been on that one character. I have ties to her, feel connected. The druid is a newer character for me still with very few achievements under her belt. She hasn’t maxed out archeology, cooking, or fishing. They’re not exactly “important” skills, but it’s the casual fluff that makes me interested in a game and keeps me playing hence the lure of my “most worked on” character.

Will you be making a demon hunter? Going to jump right in or give it a bit of time? Anyone need a holy / shadow alliance priest? Give me a nudge! I’m stargrace#1783 on bnet (speaking of bnet, I’ve been playing the new season of Diablo III, too. So you can find me there! I rebirthed on a witch doctor).

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

Gaming Real Life

Turning Life into Games

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Ravatar_TeamBKALAs I get older I notice that it’s not just video games that have grown by leaps and bounds and that have headed into mainstream, but all sorts of things that turn “gamification” into a major hit. There are games to get chores done, games to make productivity and tasks easier, games for fun, work, and pretty much everything under the sun. Competition (whether it’s between yourself and someone else, or just competition between yourself) is a strong motivating factor, and it encourages us to push forward and better ourselves in whatever it is we’re trying to do better in.

With so much gamification in our day to day lives though, when do we get a chance to relax from it all?

Right now the 2016 Summer Olympic Games are going on. I watch every year, proud of the athletes who are representing Canada, and yes, eager to follow up on the political mumbo jumbo that constantly goes along with this event. This year while the games are ongoing I’m also participating in the “Ravellenic Games” which is an event hosted by Ravelry for the love of all things fiber. Basically you enter projects into categories, cross a finish line, get awarded medals, and qualify for laurals. You can join a team, and in some cases those teams have prizes for people who earn medals. It’s a neat way to motivate and push yourself into completing projects if you tend to be a more relaxed craft person. This is my first year participating, and the sheer number of people partaking in the event is pretty astounding. I belong to ‘Team BKAL” which is my beginner’s knit-along group. So far I’ve submitted entries to two events with a third being completed today. I’m hoping to complete a total of 8 events, but it’s only a 16 day period so it really does take motivation and persistence to keep up with it all.

In this case, for me, gamification of real life works. It DOES motivate me to push myself harder, to keep on task, to work towards my goal. In some cases gamification works in the opposite way. It doesn’t motivate me at all and I find it awkward and annoying. I don’t think that all of life benefits from this type of scenario and I think in some cases we even go a bit too far.

Having games in our life is great, being motivated and helping us overcome hurdles is something I hope I constantly encourage – but sometimes we do need things to be a little more quiet. Take time to look around and enjoy and appreciate what we have without it being a competition even if it’s just a competition within ourselves. Find the balance.

 

Gaming

Ghosts are Breaking Everything!

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08-04-16_7-48-18 PM

Last night I spent a little time with my Sims 4 legacy family – and was incredibly frustrated. See one of the things I adore about having a legacy family is that they have a history, and since they stay on the same house lot the entire time, that history grows as the family ages. There are two tombstones out back, one for my original legacy starting character, and the second her husband. They frequently return to the home as ghosts and their children and grandchildren (and soon to be great grandchildren) get to interact with them and visit. It’s fun – until they start to haunt and break things.

Without fail, every single night these two ghosts return and start haunting bathroom fixtures like toilets and sinks, sometimes it’s the computer, another time it was the dishwasher, or the TV. Without fail after they’re done haunting these items it promptly breaks, leaving the living sims with a few options, repairing the items themselves (my typical choice, since it costs nothing but time), hiring a repair person (rarely used, I hate having to wait for someone to show up) or spending out of pocket to replace the item (also rarely used). Last night it was especially bad, I think I had four broken items all at once. It stresses the living sims out because the home becomes messy with water and trash everywhere. The maid doesn’t show up on weekends, and of course it was a Saturday.

I moved the tombstones further away from the home and eventually plan on putting them in a graveyard type area towards the back of the lot. Maybe this will help cut down on the destruction that they tend to do. I’m reluctant to get rid of the graves because they add to the family history. Each one is engraved with the cause of death, and while it’s not always exciting, it’s neat to look back on (in a weird creepy way).

Since my sims spent most of their time yesterday fixing broken things I didn’t get a lot of unique gameplay done. I did set their club to giving points while repairing things so that helped out a lot. I swapped it out with the cooking one because honestly my Sims have so much food in their fridge it was getting a bit crazy. In a few days time my youngest sim will become a young adult, and then it will be time to start working towards the fourth generation (out of ten). I’m slowly getting there!

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