WoW

WoW Remote Guild Chat (Thoughts) #WoW #WorldofWarcraft

stargrace April 25, 2011 0Comment

Out of all the game apps out there (Champions, Fallen Earth, EQ2, just to name a few) I think Blizzard has the best grasp on their version. It runs smoother then any of the other apps I’ve tried, and they’re updating it to incorporate new features. Always the nomadic gamer that I am, I decided to re-activate my WoW account for a bit. I’ve never had an issue with the game but I tend to only play any game for 1-3 months and then switch (and switch back). The latest feature to World of Warcraft Remote is guild chat. Right now the feature is free for anyone who has the remote app (you currently don’t have to pay to access your characters, but only to make broker transactions and claim in-game coin etc) eventually it will be added to the $2.99/m price tag that includes the remote auction house. I’ve been pretty impressed with upcoming patches that are going to make looking for a guild easier – and I applaud Blizzard for giving more incentives to group with people from your own server (guild groups) and to entice players to get to know one another and find a good ‘home’ to run dungeons and raids with. I think the fact that their app is easy to use and (gasp) works is a huge deal. I love that you can not only see everyone online, but anyone who is connected through the app (note the green chat icon) as well as whispers. When you’re browsing other app screens a little pop up message will flash at the bottom letting you know that guild chat has updated – even if it’s just with someone new logging in. It gives me one more reason to want to be a part of a group of players – although at the moment finding a group of people in WoW that I can actually stomach for more then one day is a little difficult. I’m hoping that the latest round of updates to the LFGuild window will help this.

I don’t find the price tag all that bad. $2.99 USD on top of my monthly fee so for less then $20 a month I’m getting hours of entertainment. Plus who doesn’t like checking their characters out and broker transactions on the go! Again another reason why I don’t mind paying the $2.99 when a lot of other game apps are free is that it runs as it should. Sure, there have been outages, it happens with anything online these days (PSN anyone?) but for the most part my characters, their sales, and the armory has always been accessible to me. Plus I really love browsing for upgrades and planning what I want to work on obtaining next. There’s also a neat little area for upcoming news, and I just find it a pleasure to use.

I really think more games need to be taking a look at creating these hooks to keep people playing / interested in their games. Not only that but be sure you can release a well developed and clean product. The EQ2 app for comparison was so incredibly filled with bugs and lag that after the first month of using it I stopped. Their servers are often unavailable, and the interface (specifically for receiving and sending tells) is not very intuitive. It also had a record of every single character I had ever created in EQ2 rather then my updated character population list, which made selecting who I wanted to chat on difficult.

Now WoW just needs to add crafting via this remote app. Of course there’s something to be said for still being required to log IN to game for some things *grins*.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Closing in On 85 #WoW

stargrace February 18, 2011 3Comments

While most of my friends have moved on from WoW and the shiny that was Cataclysm, I’ve decided to stick around at least for a little while longer. I really enjoy the relaxed atmosphere WoW brings to my gaming and I made a few changes to encourage this. I joined a guild, a rather large guild. Level 12 so far (thanks to efforts last night) with over 300 members. A lot of those members are no longer playing or have moved on but that’s fine by me, there were a comfortable 20 or so on yesterday. They claim to be ‘mature’ but can use crude humor, I’ve decided there’s no way any guild in WoW is mature, and the humor is fine I can block out pretty much everything these days. I was tired of being in a guild by myself, although I do still have one for alts and bank purposes.

That being said – I’m just a small jump away from having my first level 85 character, the priest. She is currently sitting at 60% into level 84, which is great. I think next I’ll try to get my paladin to 85, we’ll see how that goes. She’s only level 29 so that’s a much larger endeavor.

It’s so hard to keep up with all of the games I have on my plate right now, but I’m having a lot of fun. Lets see. There’s

• Rift – pre-order access on the 24th
• EQ2 – Dov on the 22nd
• EQ1 – Fippy Darkpaw progression server
• WoW – Gaining level 85 on my first character
• STO – Lieutenant Commander (need to level more)
• Sims Medieval – Out in March
• Dragon Age 2 – Out in March
• Little Big Planet 2 – Progressing along nicely
• Magicka – Neglected, but love it
• Wizard 101 – Checking up on my garden daily
• EQ2X – Still looking for a guild there
• A Tale in the Desert – Dabbling when I’m tired of killing
• EVE – Not playing that often, just training skills
• Guild Wars – On hold because I just don’t have the time
• LotRO – neglected because of lack of time, but I will be back

I think that’s everything I’ve been playing lately. As if that were not enough! Ah well. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend, I believe it’s Presidents day in the US, here in Canada, Monday is Family day. Make it a good one!

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Guild Instance Runs vs. Pugs #WoW

stargrace December 16, 2010 2Comments

In true nomadic gamer style I have been playing a handful of games but the majority of my friends seem to have divided themselves between EverQuest 2, and World of Warcraft. Of course being – well, me, I decided that we needed a guild in WoW so I created Dragons Flight on the horde side of Argent Dawn – and then I promptly also made Dragon Flight on the alliance side. We’re a tiny but friendly guild and so far most of the people who have joined are gamers that I’ve been playing with a long time now. Last night the majority of us were level 15 or a few levels higher, so we set out to do our first instances as a guild.That’s on the alliance side at least. On the horde side there is an 85 (hugs!) as well as my 82 priest, and another 81 priest as well as a handful of alts. We’re playing alliance for a change and because not everyone owns the Cataclysm expansion yet.

As a guild we’re pretty lucky. I play a healer and we have a paladin (or two) who are able to tank. That means instant queues right there. Two other members play a hunter and a rogue, so there’s some DPS. My healer was level 21 while everyone was 15 so I decided to try an instance or two on my warlock just so that the others could gain some levels. Well. In true PUG form we had incredibly bad luck with our healers.

The first one left after the first named. Why? No idea. They never said anything to group. The second one joined our instance right as we were fighting a named, and then never moved and promptly went offline. I pulled out my warlock tank pet, and the entire group wiped except me. One of my prouder moments, to be sure. Our third healer was a druid and I couldn’t understand why they seemed to be having an incredibly hard time healing after we died three or four times. Then I checked their playerscore. See, you can dislike this addon all you want but it DOES have its uses. Selecting the player and typing /gs provided me with information about their character and upon further inspection I found out that they were a BALANCE druid which means caster dps. NOT restoration. Now, at level 15 as a balance druid you’re missing one of your biggest heals. Restoration druids gain the ability to turn one of their heal over times into a direct heal. The skill has a fairly quick recast timer and even at 21 it’s my second largest heal. Since the majority of the group was not sporting heirloom even this one little thing was causing huge issues for us.

I asked the druid if he knew that he was balance spec’d even though he had queued up as a healer and he replied that he didn’t mean to join as a healer. O.. K.

Anyhow, it was our first dungeon and it was Deadmines and we were almost done after numerous wipes so we just kept trucking. After the zone was completed I relogged to my healer and we did Ragefire without any issues. I like the changes to Deadmines, particularly the boss fights, and especially the one that smashes the target up against a wall and then sticks to the heads of random players. The final fight with Cookie is also awesome where you have to click on healthy food and avoid the rotten stuff.

When the dust had settled everyone had obtained a few new upgrades and a few levels. My paladin is sitting at 24 and I’m looking forward to doing some more guild tanking of my own. We’re in the midst of raising cash for a guild bank and a few tabs since we’re completely new to not only the alliance faction but the server itself. In the mean time, hopefully everyone is having as much fun as I am.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Exploring Archeology #WoW

stargrace December 9, 2010 2Comments

After reaching levle 81 yesterday and picking up my new skill (and training my new talent point) I decided to slow things down a bit and explore archeology which is a new secondary profession that came out with cataclysm. By secondary profession I mean it doesn’t count towards your maximum of two – it runs on the same lines as cooking, fishing, and first aid.

My trainer was in Orgrimmar so that’s where I headed. Training the skill gives you a survey command, as well as the archeology button that you can click to see your collections. How it works is quite simple. At any one time on all four continents there are dig sites. You can locate these by right clicking your map and viewing in continent mode. You’ll see little shovels marked on the map. The next step is to fly to these locations. When you get close, you’ll see that the map has a red area marked off. This is your dig site area. Landing, you’ll use your survey skill and a little machine pops up that scans the area. It will point a telescope in a direction, and a coloured light shows up. The light indicates how far away you are from your extraction site (red, green, or yellow), and the lens of the telescope points the direction you should head.

From there it’s just a matter of narrowing down your search field. Eventually you’ll scan an area and an item will spawn near by that you can interact with. You extract the item and discover something, fragments, tablets, those sorts of things. So far I have discovered 12 fossils (common) and 17 night elf fragments. These work almost like EQ2 collection quests, where you need a particular number of fragments before you can solve the puzzle. They (the fragments) represent pieces of lore and history within the game, and if you’re looking for something fun and different to do (since WoW lacks housing) I really suggest you give it a try. I need 31 pieces to solve the fossil puzzle, and 30 to solve the night elf one. The rewards are fluff items (as far as I’ve been told) but can include mounts and vanity pets. You also gain experience for extracting fragments just like you would for harvesting (mining, and herbalism).

Like most crafting in WoW, it is level restricted. The dig sites will be in any zone area that is equal to your level or lower. That means if you’re level 30 trying to search for dig sites in Outlands or Northrend you won’t find any. I’m pretty excited to solve my first fragment collection and see what sort of lore / story is revealed. Sure, it’s mindless busywork, but I really don’t mind it at all. There are so many people in a rush to get to end game I’d much rather just take my time and enjoy the sights and sounds.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!