What I Am Up To: Mid July Edition

Aside from being slightly jealous that hubby managed to get into a Blizzard beta test while I have been hungrily watching my junk and in mail box for anything that resembles an invite, I have actually been rather busy in other games.  Maybe that is why Blizzard hasn't invited me.  I'm too busy vacationing in the Spiral and in Pan Gu's Perfect World to merit vacationing on the beaches of Azshara or Sen Jin.  Please, if you know a Blizzard employee that has any pull, have them read this heartfelt apology.  I would rather vacation in a beta version of Azeroth than any other digital paradise.  Please, I promise I'll even write letters of my travels to them, complete with reports of nasty bugs that need extermination.  Delgada and her girlfriends are dying (or undying) to see something new!

Her armor beautiful, isn't it?

Since I mentioned my holiday escapes, I should at least tell you what I have been doing.  Eromee, my main vacationing character, is nearing level 50 in Perfect World.  I broke down early and bought an inventory stone and an outfit, which led to another 10 dollar outlay for more clothes and some random dyes to make a skirt and shirt fit better into Eromee's wardrobe.  The game world is beautiful, and the game play is easy to figure out.  Unfortunately, it is more click friendly, and remapping keys is a formidable task. I was playing it rather exclusively with a splinter group off a faction split of HVND called Wanted, who are a great bunch of people.  I am taking a small break, though, and back playing Wizard 101.

Disregard the blue pig-tailed mismatched character to the left.  She belongs to my daughter.

My main character in my vacation in the Spiral is Rowan Trollstalker, who rounded the midway mark of the thirties and is rapidly approaching level 40.  Hubby has joined me, and is working on catching me.  We are buying areas instead of subscribing, which will afford me hours of entertainment when Rowan is too old to get any benefit from them.  Rowan is currently working her way up the tower of Big Ben in Marleybone, trying to get to Meowiarty.  It is a tough climb, and Rowan is being very cheap, not buying new gear, though there is a nice fire/life robe on the auction house that she'd love to have.  See, she is saving her gold so she can buy the Thunder house.  It will cost her 60,000 gold pieces, and she is determined to only spend crowns on unlocking areas.  She's more than a third of the way to her goal closing in on halfway. If Rowan is really good this coming week, she could be standing (cruel KingsIsle, providing lovely couches and chairs, but not letting the characters sit on them!) in the middle of an unending storm.
 

Brew, anyone?

So, Rowan is more active than Eromee this last part of July for that reason.  Eromee cannot hope to get a drop of fashion items or wings or even a wedding set in the Perfect World, because those items are only available through the cash shop or through enterprising players who have more real money to throw at the game that sell these items for millions of coin in their cat shops. Millions of coins are hard to come by, since I am not a game economist.  Rowan, on the other hand, has the chance to get a mount to drop or crown shop gear off higher end bosses, and can purchase certain mounts and houses with in game currency if she works hard enough. There are no ways to make more than anyone else that puts their spell book to the grindstone, since you don't price your items in the auction house, and cannot trade anything but treasure cards to other players.  So, Rowan lives the high life, or can aspire to it, while Eromee wanders her Perfect World broke, but with some fashion sense.

Cute, but expensive.  To think I paid fifteen bucks for all those pixels.

That's what I have been up to.  Exciting?  Probably not, but the desert area I live in has been extremely hot (as expected) and really humid (not expected), so aside from trips to Walmart and the Playplace at McDonalds, virtual worlds have been my vacation.  I leave you with a video of the storm house, as taken by Youtuber wizard101extreme. Who wouldn't want this steam punk dream house?

 

Level 40...Hurrah!

Level 39 introduced a great quest chain involving the latest addition to Perfect World, the Tideborn.  This quest chain, once it ended, started me on a coming of age group of quests  that gave me a level every other quest.  I was up way too late last night, and hit 43 before I logged out.

Before 40 passed me by, I remembered to use my little account stash.  Every 5 levels, there is a sort of treasure chest that you can use that gives something useful for your character.  Some levels, all I got were stacks of potions.  One level I got a very nice weapon.  At level 40, I got a voucher to turn in at the mailbox for a  useful item.  This useful item are the bat wings pictured above. Along with that, I got a small stack of chi stones (to boost the wing speed when used).  They are 2.5 percent faster than normal, untalented fairy wings. They only last for 7 days, but this is a nice boost nevertheless.  These same wings, permanent style, go for 5 gold.  I'll bet this little taste is enough to make some people rush out and buy their wings.

Borrowed from this blog about Perfect World. Check it out! 

Not all races get wings.  Humans get to fly around, Silver Surfer style, on the blade of a sword. Above is one of the prettier and faster blades. 

From the same blog, but a different post. 

Above is the Untamed mount.  I would have thought that a fish mount would better suit the Tideborn.

This picture comes from here, a great source for items from the cash shop in Perfect World.

Wings are cool.  Why wouldn't the freshest race in game come with them, eventually?  I would have preferred a flying fish or seahorse, but hey, wings are cool. *mutters grouchily about Tideborn getting all the cool stuff*

So, to make a long story short, I have just finished day one with faster wings, and I am loving it. It didn't make me use the teleport master any less, but travel between quests is quicker! I am looking forward to what level 50 and beyond have to offer!

Is Real ID The WoW Killer?

HowManyOfMe.com

There is person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Every time a new mmo comes out, the question is asked.  Sometimes it is loud, sometimes it's just a murmur, but it is asked.  Will this game kill WoW?  Nothing yet has come close to killing WoW, though some have taken a few subscriptions for a time.  Seems they always come back, or someone else takes their place.

When Real ID was first introduced, it was to be an option, not a necessity.  You could share your email address with whomever you wished, and they would know where you were playing in the WoW universe and what your real name was. Eventually, they would be able to find you in Starcraft, even Diablo, from their Battle.net friends list. This I am definitely a fan of.  I have people in this game I consider to be good friends of mine, that I want to be able to find me should I ever leave, and this is a good way for it to happen.

The recent news of integrating the Real ID system into the Starcraft and Cataclysm forums has my tongue tied.  On one hand, here is me, inconsequential nothing of a person with a terrible credit rating, no items of value, and no job to ruin from anyone knowing that I, Jennifer, posted on the World of Warcraft forums.  From what I can tell, there are more than enough Jennifer Morton's on the internet to gain me a smidgen of anonymity.  However, there are people out there with last names that are rather unique, situations that require them to be a bit more zealous of their personal information's safety.  For them, I am against this addition to the optional Real ID system.  Sure, they have said you can choose to not post on the forums.  Being a social game, I can see where some people would feel that their gaming fun had been compromised by not being able to chat with like minded individuals over their lunch break in the forums.

  I read, thanks to Saresa's snippets in her post, one person's idea of a Real Alias for the Real ID system.  Fabulous idea!  The beauty of this game is to be able to slip on the mask of your character and become them, even for a short time.  It is an escape from Jennifer Morton and her life.  For those that enjoy the social aspect but still need a bit of anonymity, this would solve many problems.  Only Blizzard need know our real names, not the general public.

Will this kill WoW?  WoW seems very resilient, but this threat is from the inside.  I can see them taking a big subscription hit if there are no changes made to their current plans for the forums. I hope that they find a way to make this more palatable, with perhaps a Real Alias system or some other way to protect those who need to be protected. Without any change, I fear for the life of what has been my game of choice. 

HowManyOfMe.com

There are people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

What's Not To Love?

I would be lying if I said that Perfect World were the perfect video game.  It has its problems, just like every other game out there. However, I am finding a lot to love in this game.  Some of the things I am finding here would be great implemented in World of Warcraft (hint hint).  WoW will always be my first love, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I am making the most of this absence!

One of the things I am really enjoying about this game is the quest finder.  Need something to do? Check your quest log, but flip to the Find Quest button.  A list of quests you haven't found that are in your level range appears.  You can click on the names of the quest givers, and it will auto path you to them.  For example, I just flew to what looks like the second stop for venomancers and barbarians and got a quest to go into their level 19 dungeon. I was, thankfully, able to complete the quest alone, one that involved me cutting out the still beating heart from some black wolfkin.  Thankfully, I only had to kill the first 5 mobs in the instance, which also garnered me a token for some reputation, and I was on my way.  Turns out this is a quest chain.  I will take every quest I can get (especially during the triple experience event that is on this weekend)!

Another thing that is really helpful in this game is the auto pathing feature.  As a winged Elf, I might say it is even more useful to me, as I don't get hung up on terrain or structures quite as much using it.  Have a quest taking you somewhere new? Click on the mob or the npc name in the quest and away you go.  It's almost like taking a flight path in WoW, except it costs nothing, and you go exactly to where you need to go.

Need A Lift?

Another thing I am finding useful, and a little silly and fun at the same time, is the embrace feature.  In my last mini post, you saw me "embracing" a barbarian in form.  Yesterday, I got a totally random embrace from a guy about my level, and he whisked me to Archosaur from the Dragon Quest Director near the City of the Plume, which is no short flight.  I didn't have to accept his request, but I figured, why not?  We had a nice chat on the way, and he tried to friend me on drop off, but I think he disconnected.  We looked so good together in our matching armor, too. *sigh*

I am really enjoying having a choice between my armor look and a fashion look.  I can wear both sets at the same time, and switch when the whim strikes.  Here is my favorite outfit (and for a while, the only one I had!)

 Isn't She Cute?

 Outfits, when purchased from the cash shop, come in random colors.  I think this one was a lucky pick!  I had 5 gold left burning a hole in Eromee's virtual wallet, so, with hubby's help, she chose this.

Missing The Proper Rock Star Hairdo...

The pants are already there.  I bought a minxy mini skirt to go with it, but the color was really off, so I will have to hunt around for a royal blue dye (or white, or black) to make it match. In the meantime, however, this just means she has one more option in her wardrobe.

Beach, Anyone?

The shirt and sandals are part of the permanent fashion everyone has.  If you take everything off and show the fashion, you see those with the pants shown in the last picture. Wouldn't it be great to be able to do this in WoW?  I'd even go for being able to make a lower level armor set with a look I love and infuse it with the stats of whatever I have at the time, ala Wizard 101. Yes, you may accuse me of playing for the Barbie factor, and I will 'fess up to it.  A new drop in WoW is always tried on the the dressing room when I play. 

One other thing I like about this is that pure quest items go into their own separate inventory.  That means, when you are out farming for teeth, you don't accidentally run out of room when your bags fill up with meat and furs. Oh, and when you are done with a quest, it will not allow you to complete it if you don't have enough room in your inventory for the reward.

Eromee is getting close to level 40.  I'm sure once she hits this level, there will be more news.  All I have to do is resist the urge to buy Zen (it's a bonus Zen sale this weekend as well...agh!)

Have a great Independence Day Weekend.  Stay safe, don't drink and drive!

Riding A Barbarian

There is a neat mechanic in this game called embrace.  Get close enough to one of the opposite sex, and use the action, and the male carries the female.  Barbarians, when in form, become a very handsome mount.  Look at Eromee all ladylike, riding side saddle on a white tiger!