Quantum Sleeper
stargrace Everyone needs to get themselves one of these….
Some times the folks on the radio here talk about the weirdest things..
Real Life
The Other Side
I’d love to say I’ve finally settled down with one character, or even two character. Those who know me, know better though. I’ve constantly got alts on the go. I think the only game where I didn’t have a plethora of alts, was Vanguard where I limited myself to three, and EQ1, where I also only had three (a rogue, enchanter, and cleric. Sitting at level 72 last I checked). So it really came as no surprise last night when I brought up making alts to Zokor and Gozad.
Safe Haven’s “official” branch is on the Uther server, which is a PvE server. They have both an alliance guild and a horde guild. So we decided to make alliance characters there, since we already had horde on our PvP server of Ravenholdt. I wanted to be able to give Zokor a break from tanking some times, as I’m sure he can tired of it. Anyone can tired of anything if they play it enough I’m sure. I only know one person who has never had an alt in all the time he’s gamed and that would be my other half who plays a Shadowknight in EQ2, and has since release. A monk in EQ1 before that. A paladin in WoW when he dips in for maybe an hour or two a year. In any case, Zokor jumped at the chance, and thus our Uther characters were formed. A warrior (me), mage (Zokor), and hunter (Gozad). We didn’t play much, managed to get to level 6 before calling it a night. The lands were pretty though, and it was a nice change from playing horde. I miss having bags of a proper size, that’s for sure, and by ‘proper’ I mean.. well, even 8 slot bags would do. I’m pretty sure in every game I’ve ever played, the bag size is never quite enough. Especially not for beginner players. Not for pack rats either. I have items I don’t even know what to do with any more. That’s a whole other story though…
The whole ‘less game more life’ has been going great so far. It’s been very odd going from 17+ hours of gaming to 2-3. I’ve found myself with a whole lot of free time, but with great friends am managing to find plenty to do between writing, reading, artwork, going out. I’m glad I stuck with a ‘casual’ game, and I live vicariously through the Shadowknight on EQ2 as he does his Veeshan’s Peek raids (among others) nightly. With my birthday just around the corner I was going to ask for a new hard drive and video card, but I’m finding myself without a real reason to get them (quite yet, until WAR comes out). My trusty 7600 will do until then. My mom just upgraded her machine, and has been eagerly telling me about how well it runs now *chuckles* gotta love family.
Influence
Do bloggers have an influence on what games people out there are playing?
I have to say, yes. Personally speaking. Not so much in the fact that people read your comments about other games and think “so and so didn’t like this game, there for it must be bad” but more so in the fact that when people read a blog and see you enjoying a game, they think they too will enjoy it. Plus, they’ll ‘know’ someone who’s playing. When I read blogs out there I think ‘wow, it seems like Cordanim is having a great time in EQ2, maybe I should give it another shot’.
It also works the opposite way. When you constantly discourage people to play a game, word gets out. “Ohh. If I play THAT game, maybe so and so won’t like me any more, they dislike that game.” I try really hard not to discourage people from playing any game. I write about what I play and what I’ve experienced, and if people are playing EQ2 while I’m playing Vanguard, that’s great. It’s a great game. I think every game out there has a niche for people, and it doesn’t matter at all which game you’re playing or even if you play none of them at all, so long as you’re happy. No one else is paying the subscription fee for you anyhow. I dislike telling people that they shouldn’t play a game because of whatever reason, or that maybe they should play something else because ‘enough people play that one already’. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Play what you will have fun in, there are great points to every single one. Bad points too. Everyone’s experience will be different, and unless you at least TRY it, you won’t honestly know. Don’t just follow a crowd because it’s the ‘cool’ thing to do. People can be wonderfully intelligent, and I’d expect anyones gaming to reflect as much.
Shadowfang Keep, Wailing Caverns, and lots of Fun
This weekend, between that real life stuff we all have, Unsafe Haven (the Ravenholdt branch) headed to a few instances, and wow did we have fun. Zokor had a paladin quest at level 20 that sent him to a few instances (Ragefire Chasm, Shadowfang Keep, and outside of that instance in Ashenvale that I can’t quite remember the name of right now) and we pinged those off easily enough. We only went far enough to get his update, and then moved on to the next area. By the end of it he had a shiny new polearm. I decided to get rid of my level 20 warlock, since I really wasn’t enjoying her, and started up a troll warrior. Why warrior? Well some times it’s nice to have a break from the general ‘mains’ that we’re all playing, and no doubt the tank would like to do something other then tanking some times. I wanted a little character to do that with.
Surprisingly enough Mayadhros from Vanguard came to say hello in World of Warcraft! It was a pleasant surprise when he joined the guild as his 25 rogue Skeletorn (yes, before you even ask, he is Forsaken). Since Gozad, Zokor, Skeletorn, and myself were all around last night we decided to do a full run of Shadowfang keep, which went off pretty well (aside from one mishap where Gozad’s pet decided to run ramped and train everyone — everyone except me) and everyone walked away with some experience, quest updates, and new gear. We had a lot of blues drop which was nice to see, and everyone got a level or two (even with reduced experience as I was there with my level 33). As people gain more levels that gap between experience will lesson, and I’m looking forward to it. If there’s anyone else out there who wants to join the (very small) group, please feel free! It’s never too late.
I decided to drop enchanting too, I know it’s a wonderful craft and very handy, but I just didn’t want to spend so much of my time disenchanting items in order to get mats. I figured I’d switch over to engineering. Is that a mistake? Should I just tough it out with enchanting? Tailoring is my other craft, though I’m only slightly into silk right now. World of Warcraft crafting is.. well, it’s all auto combines that never fail so long as you have the materials (at least, so far for me it is. Maybe this changes later on, I’m not quite sure). I don’t mind it though, it adds to the whole ‘casual’ thing that I have going on.
I’m sitting at 120gold or so now, and contemplating donating 100 of that towards the first tab of the guild bank. We don’t exactly NEED a guild bank, but it would be nice. Not sure, I’ll have to keep pondering it.
P.S. For more information about my plight with the pigeons, be sure to jump on over to this post here… it’s been interesting to say the least.
Change is Never Bad
A few changes happened over the last little while, some drastic (I suppose) and some not so drastic. First and foremost, I’ve switched games, again. I took a good long look at life (or lack there of) and decided to cut down my play time by a significant amount. Just because I have a house-wife life style doesn’t mean I should be dedicating a larger then normal portion of it to gaming, which was what I was quickly doing. While I am proud that my husband is able to support both of us while I take care of the home (no children to devote my time to remember) there’s still got to be ‘more’ to life. Not that ALL my time was spent gaming, but a good potion. Hopefully my readers are not too judgmental on me in that regard. Anyhow. So less play time (to me) meant that I wanted a game that took significantly less effort. I didn’t want something I could be drawn into for hours on end. Something less complex. Of course what else did that leave me with besides World of Warcraft (hah, I don’t mean for that to sound insulting, I’m aware that’s how it comes out though).
So yes, I’ve taken up residence in Azeroth (for now) as three characters on the Ravenholdt server. I have a 33 priest, 23 hunter, and 16 warlock. A few friends have decided to come play as well, for which I am eternally grateful. Growlius (who I played EQ2 as well as VG with), Zevad (from VG) and Gozad (also from VG) to name a few. If anyone else is interested in coming to play and maybe doing a few instances and what not, PLEASE feel free. I never intended on losing touch with people just because I’ve switched games (again). I’m on the horde side, and the server is a pvp / rp server. Alliance outnumbers (apparently) 3:1, but I’ve played here before and thus far am enjoying myself. I’ve got a far more limited play schedule then I was on before, which I am actually enjoying. You can typically find me in game on weekends (off and on) as well as from 7pm-10pm EST (or so) give or take a few hours here and there.
I admit, I’m one of those people waiting for the release of WAR (though honestly, I know nothing about it) just to see a new game. I’ve been slightly tired with what’s out there- I’ve been playing them for so long how could I not be.
Aside from the game stuff, I’ve started up a new blog, here. If you’re interested in reading more about me as a person and not so much me as a gamer, feel free. I’m not doing this for any particular reason other then my own personal venting mechanism. It’s therapeutic (so I’ve heard) to ramble on about boring things that no one except your family would be interested in. I’m keeping it seperate from this gaming blog because (though I know there are feeds) I’d rather not put people to sleep immediately (a good 10 seconds after reading is fine though). Some of my artwork and photography will also (hopefully) be displayed on there for people to check out. Maybe even some writing if I get brave enough, who knows.
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, where ever they gamed.