Of Interest

Feel the Love (again)

stargrace May 21, 2009 4 Comments

So much has gone on over the last few days, I figured I’d jumble it all into this one post. To start, I know I’ve been quiet on the Twitter front (and in general) lately, but real life has been slightly difficult, and will probably continue to be so for the next few weeks. Nothing much I can do about that. As I’ve watched all the wonderful and amazing blogs and fan sites for various games crop up over the past three years I’m wondering if I want to keep up with my own. While I do make it a fairly good habit to write every day (and I just crossed the 1200 post mark not too long ago) there doesn’t seem to be much desire for ‘hey I love the games I play’ posts as opposed to everything else. Now, I know these moods of mine come and go (in regards to writing) and it’s spring (almost summer) so I’m feeling the itch of change, I’m sure this mood too will pass and I will indeed continue writing. I need some new avenue to venture down.

In other news, by now most people have heard that Alan “Brenlo” Crosby is moving over to a new position on the EQ2 team. It’s not so different then his current position, and Greeblen will be taking over his job. Congratulations to both of them for the promotions. I had a blast interviewing Brenlo (as well as other members of the Community Team) in San Diego when I was down earlier this year, and I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job. That being said, Bruce Ferguson (who I also interviewed) will be moving to a new project. Wonder what it could be.

If you enjoy playing EverQuest, or (like me) play off and on remember that this weekend is a bonus experience weekend from Friday May 22nd until the morning of Tuesday May 26th! I will be in game on Drinal, probably working on that hand augment quest. I intend on dragging Wpus and Ultann with me because both of their characters are just inches away from level 85 which is the current cap. We’ll see how that goes.

Vanguard had some pretty big changes happen this week, including a level cap increase to 55, new zones, new quests and all sorts of other goodies. I do still play my bloodmage on Seradon (as well as other characters) but just never seem to find the proper time in between everything else. I’m going to try to find some time to explore the new content, as my bloodmage is pretty close to the old level cap of 50. We’ll see how that goes. I also saw that you can now do spell crafting which would be pretty nice.

In EverQuestII we’re all eagerly awaiting GU52, and there’s a preview out for one of the new Kurn’s Tower zones. I’m not sure if it sounds exciting or just frustrating. If you remember The Crucible (which it makes reference to) there’s puzzles to be solved and books to be burned that require more then my little trio (most of the time). We’ll just have to wait and see.

Game wise for myself personally I spent some time yesterday helping Hamal level, and he inched his way to level 66! We did the Crucible (mentored down to his level) flawlessly, and also managed to do Scion of Ice, and Necrotic Asylum (which happened to be the daily double). He got a few upgrades, and we got a few more discoveries. We also headed to Obelisk of Ahkzul and my mystic gathered together enough shards to get her T2 breastplate which means I only need shards for two more pieces, her hat and shoulders (for tier 2 that is). I played the paladin earlier on in the day and inched her to level 73, and the dirge later in the day who is closing in on 76. I spent far too much money buying adept3 skills for her but they were really needed. Getting resisted on practically everything (I took her to Obelisk, where the mobs were orange) is not fun.

Tomorrow is the start of an early weekend, and I may (hopefully) be feeling well enough to travel to Upper Canada Village to take those pictures I have been talking about forever now. We’ll see how it goes (fingers crossed). I hope everyone has an amazing Thursday, no matter where you spend your time.

Gaming Real Life

A return to grouping, and miniature decisions

stargrace April 22, 2009 No Comments

As always when time goes by I start to wonder about all of these alts I have. Sure, they’re great fun but are they really worth the hassle? Should I just be concentrating on one character (or two, one from each account). It’s due to a restlessness I tend to have and is not exactly game-related as real life has a tendency to disrupt things.

The point is I found myself cringing when I looked at the paladin adept3’s for 71-80. They’re going for 7p each and I need 28 of them. The loams are no better even if I had happened to find myself an alchemist, at 4p a piece plus fuel and raws. I do miss having all of my characters on one server so that I can take advantage of my crafters but when friends are spread all over this becomes increasingly difficult. I can’t afford to move 20 characters around for $50 each.

I decided not to play the paladin last night, and went back to my illusionist / mystic duo that I team up. The group (Ultann, Wpus and I) decided to head to Obelisk to attempt another go at the shield that has never dropped. We’ve been there at least 30 times I’d say by now, and have never seen it. It was a fairly good run, no wipes. The final encounter even dropped two items of use, a nice earring for the conjuror, and a master also for the conjuror. I have yet to see a master drop that I could make use of, but I’m hanging in there and waiting. It’s bound to happen sooner or later.

My next ‘goal’ is to start the epic for both characters, of course to do that for the mystic requires harvesting that I have not bothered to work up as much as I should. That will be todays goal until groups are formed. It would be nice to have them both sporting their epic, at least fabled if not mythical (which I have no grandure hopes of obtaining any time soon). I still need shards for the illusionist who is only sporting her T1 void set thus far.

Crafting is something I’d also like to get back into – both in game and out. Inspired by Kasul and his return to miniatures, I decided that I’d like to try my hand at it as well. I’ve painted a few in the past back when I was in school and it feels like ages ago. He’s going to help me out and send a few spare models my way, and this weekend I’ll be taking a trip to the local Games Workshop to see what I can find. Now, I’ve never really been interested in playing the games, but I do love the whole ‘before’ process. We’ll see how it goes, maybe I’ll give away the models to people who are interested.

I’ve been working out every single morning for the last week and as such I’ve been going to bed early (around 11-12EST) in order to wake up at 5:30-6am (depending on when Princess thinks I should wake up at). We wanted to do Vaults of Eternal Sleep last night but I wimped out and called it a night, read a little more of “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro (great book by the way) and fell asleep. It was still a pretty great night.

Gaming Real Life

Another MeMe

stargrace March 31, 2009 3 Comments

Peter over at Dragonchasers tagged me in a Meme – a big thank you for that.

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”

Obviously Peter has been brain washed, because I don’t fall into that category, but I’ll reply in any case! Here were the rules:

When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

I’ll be some what skipping step two, sort of. I’m going to list some bloggers who I read every day who I find amazing and who have impacted my life in one way or another. Please don’t consider this me ‘tagging’ you though, you’re under no obligation to respond with a meme of your own, I just wanted to give a shout out and some recognition.

The folks I know online who have influenced me, and my life in general are as follows:

Tipa – West Karana, suggested me to Beckett as a writer, and who has motivated me to grow far beyond what I ever thought possible. There’s no way you’ll ever know just how much you’ve changed my life.

Cuppy – Cuppycake, I started reading her blog when she was writing about Vanguard, way back when. Her posts inspired me to keep going with my own. It was a long time ago. I’ve loved watching her career and her life change over the years.

Rao – Gestalt Mind, He inspired me to partake in NaNoWriMo this year, which I completed and raised $250 for. It was one of those really proud moments in my life.

Mythokia, Malfi, Kilanna and Kasul – Four very good friends of mine, who each have influenced and inspired me in ways they probably don’t even know. Thank you for always listening.

On to the last portion! Lets see. This is difficult because I’ve been partaking in the surveys over at Grinding to Valhalla, and I feel like my life (lately) has been one open book.

I enjoy liver (eating)
I talk to my cat (often)
I played / coded for MUDS for 2 years before I started playing EverQuest
I don’t enjoy bars, or parties for that matter
I fell in love with the Medieval Festival here in Ontario last year, and I’m looking forward to going again, I may even dress up this year.
I prefer doing my photography in black and white rather then colour
I’ve never watched The Matrix before (or Star Wars of any sort)
I constantly keep note pads by my desk, I have them all stored away when they’re full. So many note pads filled with random notes that make no sense to anyone but me
I have a very little personal pet peeve with males who play female characters in game and females who play male characters (please don’t ask, it’s just ‘a thing’ of mine!)
I’m allergic to gold – and pineapples.

There you have it! Nothing really that unique since all of us have our own ‘stories’ to tell, but it was fun.

Gaming Real Life

Another Writing Opportunity (Shameless Plug)

stargrace March 30, 2009 1 Comment

For those who follow this site, and who are interested in my writing, well here’s a little shameless self promotion. I do currently write freelance for Beckett Massive Online Gamer (which people are well aware of because I’m always trying to promote it) and I do some infrequent articles / reviews over at MMORPG.com – but I’ve recently taken on a new project over at MMO Bin for my good friend David.

He was looking for writers for the site, and I decided to apply – not that I don’t already love writing where I do, but I’m always looking for more. Seems to be a flaw of mine, but hey why not. I have the time to fit a few more things in there some where.

The site differs from MmoQuests in the fact that it’s mostly news and discussion, rather then just plain play experience (which is what I typically write about here). I’m looking at my posts there as a challenge, a different form of writing for me. Since my articles are rarely ever informative and tend to cater to my personal views and experiences in each game – and will remain as such. I’ll be writing (mostly) about EverQuest and EverQuestII for MMO Bin, my two games of choice but there may be articles on other games depending on what I happen to be playing and where my thoughts happen to wander.

So if you’re looking for more ‘news’ or ‘discussion’ orentated articles, please check over at MMO Bin. You can read my first post over there about the constant forward progression in games and my thoughts on that topic. Looking forward to this new site addition, and who knows what I’ll learn from the experience. He is looking for a few more writers for those who are interested (or was at least at the time of my posting this) so if it’s something you may be interested in, check this post here.

Back to your regularly scheduled program!

Gaming

Interesting Read

stargrace March 28, 2009 1 Comment

I was going through my google reader (which I do, almost obsessively at times) and came across this post over at ‘Of Course I’ll Play It!‘ which really hit home with me. With so much negative feedback from people across their blogs all of the time about games in general and their games in specific, it was a great read (even though it was just recapping thoughts on the GDC). While I’m constantly looking at things through the eyes of a player and NOT a developer, it’s nice to read what the other side thinks about things and try to piece together their thought process.

The portion in specific from his post that struck me was the following:

The second little gem from Mr. Burnett’s talk was also an excellent one. It boils down to this: Just because you’ve seen something a million times, that doesnt’ keep it from being fun for someone whom hasn’t ever seen it. Remember how it was the first time you saw it. This isn’t earth shattering, but it’s still a great little gem to keep in your pocket. Dont rearrange something just because you’re tired of looking at it. As long as you have fresh eyes, it still has huge value. As an MMO designer this is especially difficult to do, because there will be so much you’ve seen and done before. The trick, especially from an MMO designer’s standpoint, is to make sure you keep having fresh eyes.

Go check out the rest of the post.

Feel the Love (again)

A return to grouping, and miniature decisions

Another MeMe

Another Writing Opportunity (Shameless Plug)

Interesting Read

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