What I Am Up To : May Edition.

I have a bad case of the WoW blahs after some rather nasty guild drama.  Still, my guild managed to continue its push through ICC, downing Festergut and getting pretty close on Rotface.  This is due in part to our excellent group of raiding members, and in part to the buff that has been pushed to 20%.  Another reason is, since we lost two raiders in this messy dramatic break, we have been having some friends of the guild help out in a couple of places, some of which have already seen all of ICC, if not having already completed it on other characters.  They have been a big help explaining fights that some of us never took the time to study (hides behind her keyboard and whistles innocently). Oh, and did I mention Delgada got shelved? Turns out I know what I'm doing on Carlotta, and we don't need another healer.  Look up there, you'll see our raid group, about 50% Tauren, and made all that much sexier with Carlotta's ethnic color.

Since I have been fairly uninterested in doing anything in WoW, I have been playing a couple other games to pass the time.  The game that has taken the most of my time, up until our last ICC raid, was Perfect World, a free to play game with cash shop.  I am trying to play it without using the shop, but I think it's going to get difficult when I exhaust the quest means to expand my bank.  There are no quests to expand bag space, only a "quest" to turn in a bag expansion stone, which you have to purchase. Your bank,. however, can be added to by completing two gathering quests.  The first I was able to complete by level 20.  The turn in for this quest, however, is at the very top of the game map, far and away from a level 20 anything is questing. By this time, my cleric had maxed out her flying skill, so this was not too difficult to turn in.  But what a gigantic time dump!  I think all I did that day that I turned in that quest was turn it in and log off.  I am not looking forward to the second collection quest.  Let me not forget to mention that I joined a great faction there.  HVND has been around just as long as KNR, and been in many of the same games.  I remember frequenting their town on the Corbantis SWG server, paying my credits for their great doctor and dancer buffing house. The faction in Perfect World is just as friendly, and I'm looking forward to my next few stolen hours of playtime with them.

Another game that has taken some of my gaming time is Wizard 101.  Rowan Trollstalker is level 30, and I decided I would spend some time farming bosses for pets, since part of the new expansion for the game has been pushed live, with the introduction of pet leveling, breeding, and min games. Tonight, I spend a good part of my evening killing General Akilles in Cyclops Lane over and over again.  No pet yet ( I hear he drops a blue ghost), but I managed to snag a cyclops statue, a tonne of armor, a shelf, and a one day flying broom! After, Mister Winston and I fiddled around in the Pet Pavilion, playing in the maze game, the cannon game, and the dance game (we don't like the falling food game, no we don't!) Below is a picture of a practice derby Winston tried out yesterday.  As I play with crowns, I didn't run a rated match, but if this is any indication of how well he'll do, I may shell out a few crowns for some rated matches when he gets to ancient status. Right now, he and my dragon Madame Hannah are adults, and I could mate them to hatch another pet, but the price is outrageous!  Since we were lucky farming for pets (accidentally, mind you, what I really wanted was a flame cat statue!) the day before, I think we will stick with that for now.  If you want to try this out, level a character to 7 and talk to the Headmaster.  He'll send you on a delivery mission that will end in you getting a piggle of your very own to grow and love!

I would be a bad, bad game blogger if I didn't mention my other game addiction, We Rule. It's free to download and play, though if you wanted I suppose you could support them by buying mojo to speed up your farming and building, but you don't need to. Oh, and it would help if you had an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad to download it to, as I think that is the only platform they support.  Recent expansions have moved the level cap from 20 to 25, then to 30, and added such neat things to add to your kingdoms as stocks, jails, orange and ruby groves, and golden roads.You can farm, visit your friends villages and purchase their wares, and rearrange your town to your hearts content. Below, in no particular order, are hubby's homes and gardens, Michelle's(of VGO and WCO) kingdom, a picture of what the neighbors menu looks like, and a view of the loading screen and my kingdom.  These are all a little dated, because I had planned to post them earlier.

Other than those titles, the only thing that has been keeping me busy are the end of school rush for extra credit (or just regular credit), getting ready to close my work kitchen, and teenage drama.  I hope you are all in a better state than I am. 

That is all I have for now.  Stay tuned as summer hits, and my gaming adventures become less mundane.  I promise a summer vacation of free to play mmo's and free  iPod apps that will leave you feeling like you took a grand vacation!

Could Cataclysm Be Blizzard's NGE?

I was on the Warcraft Outsiders Podcast last Tuesday with John and Michelle and their special guest Ziv. If you haven't listened in lately, I suggest you check them out.

Bear with me, please, as I try to get this out of my head and onto the blog. I have tried to write this post 5 times now, and it gets better every time. Problem is I am suffering from my normal early spring severe cold and hubby switched up the fabric softener on me again, so I sit here, feeling guilty for not being at work, trying to get this out because I have been working on it for too long now. At least it keeps me from scratching. :)

During the show, the blue post describing how stats would change in the Cataclysm expansion was brought up. I personally think this is a great thing, in a way simplifying things for the more casual player, but still leaving something for the min-max player to chew on. Ziv commented that he hoped this didn't ruin the game like the NGE ruined Star Wars Galaxies. Now, I played SWG, and I have an opinion on this. The WCO podcast is a timed thing, and I didn't think it fair to unload my opinion on that, which is lengthy, during their show. So, I shall link to the episode and leave my too long argument as to why Blizzard couldn't possibly do to WoW what SOE did to SWG right here where it belongs, on my blog.

First, let's explore the major differences WoW and SWG have. WoW is more of a theme park sort of MMO, taking you from ride to ride as you level, with hardly a bit of time left to entertain yourself. SWG, however,was (and to a point, still is) a sandbox, with seemingly endless possibilities for roleplay and discovery, but noone pointing you to where you have to be and what you need to do. In both games you can tackle it head on, just killing mobs for points to level up. WoW guides you, teaching you about the places you are at and the people you are with. SWG doesn't, assuming you know about the area and its people. You should, though, shouldn't you? I mean, who hasn't seen one of the Star Wars films at least once? In WoW, you choose what your character will be in the character creation screen. In SWG of then, you chose what your character would look like and named it, then logged into the game to find yourself surrounded by trainers. There is where you shaped your character, and you could change that whenever you wanted.

Then SOE threw in their New Game Enhancements (by threw in I mean no real warning. It's here and you'll like it!). Things that I took for granted were gone. Instead of a combat queue what you could load up with actions for your character to perform, you had global cool downs and a rather difficult way to select and use them (though I hear some of that part has changed for the better). No longer could you walk into the game without a clue about what you wanted to do and end up with some crazy combination like Master Ranger/Master Image Designer. You now have to choose your path in the character selection screen. Oh, and they kind of point you down the path with their tutorial, showing you the who, what, where and how of the game's lore. No more crazily combining skills to make your character unique. You now have to choose one of 9 different classes to play. They added in skill trees to help make your character more powerful and unique, but all you number crunchers know that if you want the top end damage and abilities, you go with what others have found works.

Some of the things I loved about SWG are still in there. I used to love dropping a building down, decorating the building, planning for new furnishings, and gathering from the remotest parts of the galaxy to furnish my places. I could spend hours riding one of my speeders across a planet, looking at the water and the plant life. Rancor hunting, alone or with a friend, was fun, especially when you could tame them(taming creatures was taken out of the game right around the same time as the NGE was ushered in). Building long and complicated macros to change outfits and dances during a show can still be done. Not everything is still there, and what was introduced as the games savior did the exact opposite. Just last year they closed the realm I played on forever. It is sad to think that so many of the towns I played in are now only represented by a few screenshots.

Now, on the flip side, we have the changes they are promising for Cataclysm(by promising, I mean they are telling us of these changes well in advance of them). What is happening on a very basic scale is that some stats won't be on armor, but may still show up in talent trees, or be based on a certain base stat, or may even still be present on weapons. Let's pick on Spell Power. It didn't show up on gear as just spell power until Burning Crusade. Before that, you could get "of Arcane Wrath" gear which would have a number modifier to your arcane damage. With Cataclysm, spell power will be derived from Intellect, and might be found on weapons. Another change that is presented for Cataclysm is that some things we are used to as a fact of life will go away completely. In the items they have described, I have no complaints. Mp5 as a stat wasn't something I actively looked for, and I would love not to ever have to worry about casting the wrong rank spell on a mob or player again. Getting rid of weapon skill means only one thing to me; time to get out the weapons so I can be the one that says,"Back in the day...".

Do I think this is game breaking? No. They aren't changing how my character interacts with the game world, only simplifying a few things to make it easier for the casual or even the new player to understand.These new changes to the game coming with the Cataclysm expansion do not come close to the horror that was SWG's NGE. I'm looking forward to all the new goodies I'll get toplay with in Cataclysm. How about you?

Packing Up and Moving, SWG Style.

A couple nights ago, my husband reminded me that there were free character transfers off our dead server to any server we wanted, so long as we met the deadline. Well, I hit that deadline hard. My main character, Karin, was able to pack up her structures and transfer easily, but Eromee had to leave it all behind. I wish moving in real life was as easy as telling the structure to hop into my datapad.

I'm not playing this game seriously right now. I was given 30 days free, to try it out again, and I just had to see my houses again. I missed my houses. I spent a long time decorating them. World of Warcraft doesn't have this feature, and it's kind of sad. It's nice to have a place to hang your hat that you can really call your own!

So, since Eromee had left her factories, houses, and merchant tents behind, she had to buy a new crafting station and house. With veteran rewards and some odds and ends she hadn't placed, she has made a small dent in decorating her small Nabooian house. I'm looking forward to pooling Karin and Eromee's resources to see what feats of decoration we can accomplish together!

I'll post some screenies (without the ui when I remember how) of my houses when I get them.

Karin's Lament

Another story languishing on a dead guild site. Karin's Lament was written as during my days in Star Wars Galaxies. This one is safe for work, I promise!

It was a dark and stormy night. Karin sat in front of the fire, bantha doll in her lap, absentmindedly stroking its well worn fur. It had been an extra long day at the salon, and the customers had been so demanding!

"Don't you think it would look better purple?"
"Can you make my lekku twist round my neck? Oh, and make the pattern look like little flowers, bright orange. Change my skin to light blue...."
"I have been bald for so long, what do you think I would look like in a mohawk? No, better make it dreadlocks. NO, NO! Not the short ones, the long ones! And make them black, and my skin white, and my eyes blood red."
"Could you migrate my stats?"
"Can you change me from a Mon Calamari to a Zabrak?"

"So many, many customers...all wanting some pretty tall orders, some even impossible! Imagine how long it would take to undergo the amount of surgery it would take to make a Mon Calamari even RESEMBLE a Zabrak, let alone be able to breathe the same atmosphere! No wonder the masters in my training schools said it couldn't be done! And if I have to migrate stats for one more person who hasn't a clue how to set their dials.....", thought Karin to herself. If it weren't for the soothing hiss-pop of the fire and the well worn bantha doll, she might burst from the pressure.

They didn't call Karin a top rank Image Designer for nothing. She had the most difficult customers given to her because she was extremely patient, and had a knack of making every customer leave with just what they wanted, even if they walked in to just look. Karin sighed, propped the bantha against the sofa arm, then gracelessly tripped over the briefcase of the latest fashion magazines she'd left on the floor. Rubbing her bruised ankle, she stood back up and walked to her little fireside dining nook. Opening the heating drawer, she pulled out a small meal for one. Almost knocking over her glass of brandy as she set her plate down, she settled the glass from rocking, and silently munched.

Meals hadn't always been for one. In her halfway dazed state, Karin sat back, meal forgotten, and remembered.

Raydale!

The had met soon after she had joined the rebellion. She had been a rash young recruit, sword at her hip, ready to do or die for...what? Karin shook her head trying to remember just why. But she remembered Raydale. Tall,lean, muscular, he was an artists dream model. Blue eyes, crew cut brown hair, everything about him was proper and neat. The challenge to mess him up, given to her by one of the other recruits, had been enough to get his attention. Somehow, she kept it.

A bite of dinner. A sip of brandy. Not enough to stop her musings...

They were married, in a hush hush way, so as not to upset his superiors. After all, she was still green, and he was an officer! She accepted his troth in the cantina in Coronet, where the marriage vows were covered in the bawdy strains of a Twi'leks song, sung to the tune of several badly tuned slitherhorns.

He made her promise to take up a less combative role in the rebellion. Karin found she had a keen eye and good rhythm. Soon she was in demand in the same cantina where she married, dancing away the hurts of the war weary. She learned a little music, too, and her act continued to gain popularity. All the while, her love, Raydale, was fighting for..what? Still she remembered the nights. Nights that began with a light dinner, sitting in front of the fire, eating off a single plate, drinking from a single glass. Dinner forgotten, wine spilt in the frenzy of two lovers too long separated by war and worry. Then the urgent call to arms, and the rush as clothing was donned and he left.

She was alone. Now more than ever. For the cause that Raydale was fighting for, killed him. The friends that knew of their hidden union, wept with her. Quietly she went to the Cloning Center, in hopes of catching him as he was reborn. But, fate had her way, and kept them apart. Raydale went back out to fight, and came back. But there were no more hidden trysts, no sly kisses stolen behind the Med Center. Gone were the nights of eating and drinking together, as only lovers know how. Raydale knew they were married, but he no longer knew love. Gone was the passion that burned in his eyes at the first sight of her after leaving her, even for a moment. In its place, automation.

Karin tried Image Designing. Perhaps her looks were too plain? Maybe Raydale just wanted something more exotic? She changed her hair, augmented her body, spent a few hours in the skin color enhancers. As she practiced on herself, others began to ask for her services. Though she became well known as an ID, Raydale noticed her less and less, and then one day, her friends told of his second cloning. Karin rushed to the Cloning Center, this time to meet up with Raydale, fresh out of the bacta, and still the same look of knowledge, but no fire. She left the Cloning Center alone again.


Soon after his second cloning, she stopped dancing, stopped playing music. There was no longer any joy in life, and her audience had dwindled to almost nothing. She took up training in the martial arts, in hopes that she might find something in common with the man who had all of a sudden become a stranger to her. But her Rebel trainers had no answers, no relief for her sorrow, and no cure for her love.

Karin wept. Dinner barely tasted and forgotten, she went to the Med Center, in hopes that she would find anything...answers, solace....

REVENGE!

The words rang in her ears. The Rebellion had killed her Raydale and given her this husk in his place. Nothing would stop them from taking this husk from her, too. Tears of rage and hatred coursed down her cheeks, as her fists balled at her sides. But how could she exact her revenge?

Ozzie, a recent recruit, and a talented doctor, walked in early the next morning to find Karin in a tight ball in the middle of the cold, impersonal Med Center floor.

"Do I sense the need for revenge in you?" Ozzie asked Karin, a light hand on her shoulder. "I may have a way for you..."

Her face white from hours of crying, eyes bloodshot, she looked up at Ozzie with a yes, though unspoken, was loud enough to be heard throughout the center.

"Come with me to the Empire. Your incredible skill as an image designer can be used to great effect, and you will be safe from all harm."

"But...Raydale!" Karin could speak no more...as it was the words she uttered were barely a breathy whisper.

"Tell me the tale, when you have recovered. The Empire will find him, and bring him in unscathed. Whatever the power of the Empire can do to regain two such lost souls, it will do. I am sure of it."

Karin looked at Ozzie, her eyes full of questions.

"Did you not think it odd that a Doctor of my skill would be found in this rebel unit, and not be in a hospital in some great city? I was placed here for you, Karin, and for Raydale. Pack today, we leave at first moonset."

Ozzie helped Karin to her feet and led her to her small house. To anyone else, Ozzie was just doing her job. Karin nodded her thanks, and went inside.

Karin's bags were already by the door,packed long ago, inside her cabinet. She walked to the couch, pulled out her bantha doll , and curled around it, fast asleep.