Real Life

Hodgepodge

Lately I’ve been doing a hodgepodge of things, between real life, gaming, and artwork. So here’s a summery of what I’ve been up to:

EverQuest2: I managed to complete the Everfrost charm quests on all of my ‘main’ characters. Thankfully with the update yesterday, there are now two instances of Everfrost up. I was beginning to feel sorry for those who were of the appropriate level to be in Everfrost while they tried to quest – having random level 80’s swoop in and take their encounters. Whether or not this is tied to the double North Qeynos’ also open, I’m not sure. I also decided I did not like Silhouette’s entrance to her home, it looked like a garden mish mash of crud. So I took the entire thing apart early this morning and rebuilt it into a sales display area. I’m still not exactly happy with it (I suck at building display areas) but it will do for now. I’ve got big plans to create a dining / kitchen area with a wall length fish tank in one of the Gorowyn home windows. I like to work in stages though and I need some rares, so it will be a while before I have anything to show. Short term goals are to work up my smaller crafters, maybe get some levels on my templar, or illusionist (poor Stargrace) or my necromancer. We’ll see how that goes though.

Guild Wars: I played for a little bit last night, traveling around the starter area on my elementalist. Since I have one character who’s left the starter area already without completing everything that was offered I decided that this one would stick around until I cleaned out all the quests. I still think for a game that has no monthly subscription it’s got some fantastic graphics. Could just be me though. Since I spend a lot of my time soloing anyhow, I don’t mind the fact that the game is not a ‘true’ mmo. I expect to play more either today or this weekend, depending on my mood.

Life: I’ve been posting on the Beckett MOG forums often, trying to bring a few readers over. I’m the EverQuest2 correspondence, and while it’s not especially difficult work it does take time to do. I’m super excited about Beckett MOG issue 15 which comes out on the 24th of September – should have my articles in it if all goes as planned (there are four of them). I’ve been learning more about DAZ Studio, and taking a small break from it so that I don’t get burned out. I have a request for a fairy I’d like to get done for a friend, but again it depends on my mood. You can’t force creations (which is why art will never be a job for me, because I hate to feel pressured into doing things). I’ve been debating getting ‘Spore’ since it seems to be all anyone is talking about lately. For anyone who has a PS3 and wants to add me to their friends network, my name there is Stargrace, feel free! I’m still back and forth on the WAR debate as well. Chances are I may buy it when it goes live and play for the first month, but no guarantees. I’m thinking of buying a laptop, I’d really like one and I’ve wanted one for a bit now. Then again, there’s also a new zoom camera lens I want badly, 75-300 (the one I currently have is only 14-45) which means there will be a slight gap between my two lens, but it shouldn’t make too much of a difference. The leaves are all starting to change colours here, and hopefully I’ll get out a few more times to snag some shots of it.

Anyhow, sorry for the rambling, some times, it just has to be done! Safe travels no matter what realm you play in.

TWO Non-Gaming Posts?!

I know, I felt the shiver too as hell froze over. Looking at my Xfire profile, I had to chuckle. On the weekends I typically have a lot of hours in game and my Xfire profile hovers around 70-89 hours a week. Of course a lot of that time is spent AFK while I do other things, or just chattering while I run other programs. While I’m working on art projects I try (some times unsuccessfully) to close down all other programs, and keep my chat programs to a minimum because I’ll just get distracted and not get anything done.

Anyhow. Since I’ve been spending far more time doing 3D rendering then anything else lately, Xfire dropped from 89 hours to 50. It was at 48 yesterday but I played a little bit last night.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with it (as is obvious by the post) and don’t get me wrong, I’m still in Eq2 as well. In fact today I think I’m going to finally get my miniature replica of the Temple of Life, as well as finish those harvesting quests for guild halls and we’ll see what else comes along. Sorry to those who are not interested in reading about anything aside from my gaming experiences, but I typically do try to keep them at a minimum. If you’re interested in looking at the detail work from the picture above, check out this image here. LOTS of details that you can’t really see in the over all picture (especially since it’s re-sized for this site). Anyhow. Enjoy!

P.S. Yes, Openendge, that one’s for you

Not About Gaming.. This Time

For once, I did not spend the evening gaming. I know, I almost thought hell froze over too. Instead I spent it lost in DAZ Studio – a 3D rendering program that I’ve been (slowly) trying to teach to myself. Tonight was the first night I actually felt like I ‘completed’ an image, instead of just worked on portions trying to learn the program. I know, there are lots of issues, the floor especially.

The image was rendered in DAZ Studio, and then post work was done in Photoshop CS2, no doubt I’ll be linking my DeviantART gallery here some to show off random bits. I realize it’s not the greatest, but hey everyone needs a hobby (or two or three).

A few Levels, and a Lot of Pictures

As much as I’d like to say that I took full advantage of the 20% bonus experience this weekend, and accomplished all sorts of things – I really didn’t, so my post today may be quite short (depends on whether or not I start rambling, though I suppose this counts). I did get level 37 on the alchemist with no vitality (I used a potion, I know how bad is that at such a low level) and the guild did manage to ding level 25. That means we have another five to go by the end of the month. I’m hoping we can do it.

I probably would have tried to get a few more alchemy levels but rough opalines (the common) for T4, are going for a whole 20s each right now. I’m not sure why there was a sudden increase in price, but it hurts. I bought 100 of them just to finish up my level and left it at that.

I did some questing in Kunzar Jungle with Stargrace, who has been inching her way through level 77 for the past few months. It seems to be a hump for me. You’d think that getting to 80 would be motivation to quest, but after completing the same quests on various other characters I’m just not inspired to do it any more. I joined up with Kasul, Bloodpact, Kattareena, and Lanerian for the quests, then started sneezing and couldn’t stop so I spent most of the evening on the couch.

Early in the morning however, I headed to Gatineau Hills for some pictures – bright and early before the crowds got there. Below are two of the pictures I took – if you’d like to see them all you can check out my DeviantART site, here.

Pink Lake – named after a family who settled there and discovered it. The water is actually dark green, and it was very beautiful. There’s basically no sounds except for a random car driving up heading to the hills, and there’s a very nice walking trail that goes all the way around the lake. On the right hand side you can see one of the little lookout areas.

Champlain Lookout is one of the most amazing views from Gatineau, and yesterday was a crystal clear day with not a single cloud in the sky. I’ll be headed back up to the hills in late September early October in order to get shots of the leaves changing colours. Hey, I think I can see my house!

I love areas like this. The best part, is it’s not even 30 minutes away from my house, and I live in the city. Good for when I need my tree fix.

WAR?

For those of you who have asked, or are curious about my thoughts on WAR (Warhammer, of course) and whether or not I’ll be playing – I honestly haven’t decided yet. I’m not oblivious to the huge amount of information out there, or the sites dedicated to the game, nor have I lived under a rock these past few months and indeed years while hype for the game has built up.

I write about what I’m playing (for the most part) and my own personal experiences within whatever game – which at this moment is not WAR.

I’m happy with EverQuestII right now. Very happy in fact. I have things to do on multiple characters, guildhalls are coming out and I’m working hard towards that. I’ve never really been much for PvP or RvR or whatever they’re calling it, so that’s not a pull to any game for me personally. I’ve heard good and bad – everyone has their own thoughts and opinions. I’m not taking any sides, I just listen to it all and when – if – I decide to play, I’ll form my own conclusions.

With the EQII expansion coming out in November, and my current satisfication with how things are going, it seems pretty slim that I’ll be headed over to the WAR table quite yet. One never knows though – I said the same thing about EQ2 when it released, from my blog about EQ1. We’ll just have to wait and see. I never tried AoC (nor do I intend to it just didn’t appeal to me personally) and maybe this’ll just be another one of those games I live vicariously through someone else’ writing.

Nomadic Gamer