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Pandas, Guild Wars 2, and Vanguard

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Even though WurmOnline has taken most of my attention these days, I do still have an interest in a few other games coming out this year, and I do still get excited about announcements.

Vanguard: Finally, the Free to Play announcement that we’ve all been waiting for. We haven’t gotten many details yet other than it will happen (maybe) this summer. Personally, I’m excited. I’ve been a long time player of Vanguard and I’m constantly going on about how much I love the game. I realize that there are always going to be people against a F2P model, but honestly at this point in time, some players are better than the no players the game is currently working with. I have high hopes that this will help revitalize the game a bit. The only down side is that it will be happening when a lot of other games are coming out, and that may cause issues.

World of Warcraft: It has to be said, I still play. I still enjoy the game even though I did not really enjoy cataclysm. I don’t raid and I find that there’s a lack of things for me to do, but I did sign up for a year (Diablo 3 for the other half) and I enjoy poking around when I want a game to play that requires very little thinking. I should be getting into the beta for the panda expansion, and I’m also really looking forward to the new race. Jokes aside.

Guild Wars 2: This title has been on my radar for ages now. I’m not in the beta, but I wish I were. I enjoy Guild Wars, I enjoy not having to worry about a subscription, and I don’t really care if there’s a market or how it works. I have been staying away from most of the news updates about this game, although I have indulged and watched the trailers. I’m eager to jump in and play, and it doesn’t matter how good or bad the game is, I’ll judge for myself whether or not I enjoy it.

There are a few other games coming out this year that are pretty exciting. What are you most looking forward to if anything at all? Perhaps there’s a console game that tickles your fancy? Let me know in comments! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Gaming

2,000th Post

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Where does the time go – I started this blog back in 2006 and have been posting fairly frequently ever since. I’ve met some wonderful people and some not so wonderful people. I’ve shared my experiences with numerous games over that period and I’ve had fun writing ‘my way’ which is typically drama free (and results in less comments but is true to my nature). Back in 2006 EQ2 was my game of choice, and while my desire to play it has faded over time I always look at it with fond memories. These days I bounce between a handful of games, at the moment the list includes EQ1, Vanguard, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Rift, and The Lord of the Rings Online, Sims 3, and whatever else happens to strike my fancy.

On the game ‘news’ front this week is pretty exciting. There were test patch notes released for 4.3 (World of Warcraft) and today 1.5 is going live in Rift which is bringing about all sorts of goodies. We’re counting down to the Sims 3 Pets release, and SW:TOR was also given a release date. I’m excited about Skyrim, which is supposed to release November 11th if all goes well. There’s a handful of other notable games releasing over the next few months that I’m sure have people pretty excited. It’s a great time to be a gamer (and a writer of said games).

I just want to thank everyone who continues to read this site, and any newcomers. While I write for myself (and always will) it’s incredibly heartwarming to know there are others out there reading about my adventures and sharing in my virtual travels. As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself. Hugs!

Gaming

Why so Much Emphasis?

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After reading a number of early morning blog posts left over in my RSS reader from yesterday, I found myself wondering: Why do gamers put so much emphasis in what we and others are playing. Especially others. Why do we even care? Every day I read a post from one or more authors that includes some sort of semi derogatory remark condoning a group of players simply because of how they choose to spend their time. Or, to be more precise, where they choose to spend their time.

There are those who have made up their minds that everyone who plays a free to play game must be a certain ‘class’ of gamer. How dare they actually enjoy ‘the grind’ that comes with a lot of these games. Don’t they know that in the long run they’ll pay more for their “free” game then some people will pay for their monthly subscription?! Then there are the WoW gamers. Don’t even get me started on these people. I have heard everything from how close minded they are to how stupid they must be, simply because of where they choose to spend their time. It’s as though we as gamers have moved into certain categories and stereotypes not based on who we are, but because of where we play.You ask a fellow blogger their game of choice and suddenly your opinion of them shifts slightly.

So I ask again – why does this aspect of a person even matter. Why are we so keen to judge someone based on a persons decision to spend their free time where they wish. I have even heard people go so far as to say they do not like a particular person because they play certain games that they are not fond of. Really? Are we so shallow that we are now making character judgements based on video games?

I simply don’t understand it.

In my opinion it doesn’t matter where you play, so long as you have fun. In fact voicing my opinion about any other ‘type’ of gamer is a moot point because when it comes to how others are spending their time – my opinion doesn’t matter! It’s their time, their money, and what I think of the matter is completely irrelevant. I refuse to classify a person based on whether they’re playing EQ2, EQ, VG, LotRo, WoW, WAR, DDO, Darkfall, Wizard101, Runes of Magic, EVE, Alganon, Fallen Earth, Lineage II, Allods, Champions, STO, Free Realms, Aion, FFXIV, SWG, Guild Wars, AoC, or any other game.

Go play, and enjoy. Don’t like it? Move on and find something you DO enjoy. It’s a game. They’re supposed to be fun. There are SO many games out there and despite what others would say about them all cloning one another there are always unique factors to each and every game – you may be surprised at what you end up playing and enjoying. I implore gamers to make their own decisions about what they like and don’t like, and refuse to be classified into a category of gamer simply because of where they spend their time.

Gaming

So Many Games, So Little Time

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A full blog post just isn’t working out for me today, so I’ll keep it short (for once). I didn’t get to play EQ2 at all yesterday due to work, meetings, and other things popping up (brother came down for the day) but I picked up the daily double to do at another time since you can keep them for a number of days. Started a few new games, can’t talk about one yet but I will as soon as I can. Princess (the cat) woke me up at 5:45 instead of 5:30 today, so that’s nice. She’s resorted to chewing apart the same book instead of 20 different ones, another bonus!

Next weekend is the Medieval Festival and work deadlines, so needless to say my posts will be sporadic and disjointed at best over the course of the following seven days. Once that weekend is over things should be able to settle back down to normal, and I won’t appear so harried and frantic. We’ll see!

Happy gaming where ever you play, and have yourselves a fantastic weekend.

Gaming

Alice the Camel in Telon

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I decided to peek into Telon today, it’s been a little while. Not because I don’t adore the game, I always have (even at launch with a billion bugs) but I just don’t have enough hours in a day to do everything I’d like to do. I’m fairly certain that everyone suffers from this. 

Anyhow, the first thing I always do is log in and gate to my house to make sure it’s still standing (hey, I worked HARD on that T5 house!) and add a little more coin to the upkeep. I’ve owned the house since March of 2008, and was pleased to see it still standing. My Christmas tree is still set up in it in fact. One of these days I’ll actually level my carpenter up and be able to add more furniture to the place. 

My characters in Vanguard are all on the Seradon server:

  • Faydai – 44 Half Elf Bloodmage, 47 Artificer (Mineralogy) 
  • Arysh – 18 Kojani Human Warrior, 17 Blacksmith (Weaponsmith)
  • Minxes – 15 Thestran Human Bard, 14 Artificer (Carpenter)
  • Ysandria – 19 High Elf Psionicist, 5 Outfitter (Tailor)
  • Ishbel – 23 Dark Elf Disciple, 23 Outfitter (Leatherworker)
  • Qutey – 14 Raki Paladin, 10 Blacksmith (Armorer) 
  • Petites – 4 Halfling Cleric

As I logged them each in to check sales I noticed something that must have slipped by me in the notes. Vanguard has appearance slots now! Woohoo. Not that I’ve actually used them (yet) but some of my characters (Ysandria in particular) are wearing some massively disgusting gear. I’m looking forward to finding something pretty (which is some times a challenge) to wear over top of her ‘battle’ gear. 

I also noticed that I had a new item I could claim that I’d never seen before. In this item are gem slots, I assume for some sort of attunement. Something else I’d never heard of before. Since my highest character is (at this moment) only level 44, I decided not to claim it yet. I can’t wear it until 50 anyhow. I don’t have the faintest idea how the gem slots work or where I obtain them from but I’m looking forward to figuring it all out. That’s one of the best parts of Vanguard to me, trying to figure it all out and put it together. I don’t have to know everything about the game in order to play it. Eventually I’ll figure it out.

The game was quite busy this morning when I logged in, at 8am EST there was a pick up raid for Jagund looking for 3 more before they’d be full. Players were talking in channels (as always) and even the craft channel was showing signs of life. All things I love to see, especially at 8am on a Friday. 

There have been other changes in game and content released for players, more polishing going on of course. I found it amazing that within the city of Aghram which typically lags me to no end and I barely manage 5fps, I was hitting 50fps even around corners. My house was giving me 180fps, a number I’d never even seen in game before. 

I decided to take things easy and before jumping right back on my bloodmage, took a peek at my second favorite character, which is my psionicist. Looking through her quest journal (and gear) I realized she had never done any of the URT missions (United Races of Thestra), which reward some pretty nice gear at lower levels. I took her to Renton Keep and called for her trusty camel, and set off to spend the morning working on those. It didn’t take very long to get back into my pattern, and since the quests are now green, it took barely any time to complete them. 

I may level up my level 4 cleric who is still on the Isle of Dawn, I really love that starter area. It’s so beautiful and the quest rewards (and gear) are quite astounding. I’ve never really been into the cleric in Vanguard because when I first started playing they were (quite literally) everywhere, so maybe I’ll free up a character slot and create something new. Ah, yes, alt fever, it never quite goes away!

It’s one of those great lazy Fridays that I enjoy even more then the actual weekend, and it’s RAINING out (see that, rain, not snow!) for the first time in a very long time. Sure, tomorrow it’s supposed to be -4F again (-20C) but hey, I’ll take what I can get. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday, and I’ll see you in Norrath Telon, or where ever I happen to wander these days.

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