Oh Noes!

So, WoW is down for some reason (something involving them screwing up while doing rolling restarts and messing with the authentication servers) and in the meantime I thought I'd write a bit about hunter pets. One of my favorite aspects of being a hunter is being able to choose a [preferably] shiny companion to join me on my travels, and hunting the perfect pet. Yesterday I found a model of Quilen (some variety of a Chinese lion-dog guardian) that is very unique. The skin is a purple stone model and I found it after realizing that Quilen are the exotic version of a wolf (crit buff) with a battle res thrown in. After browsing for awhile on Petopia, I found this. It's a very rare model, at level 88 anyway, because you can only tame it while on a specific part of a specific quest-line, and I had not yet seen anyone else with one. Usually uniqueness is a key attribute I search for while researching pets. I also try to find pets that match with my character's color and personality scheme. In this case, her name has to do with the night and her coloring (as a Night Elf) is pink/purple and blue. Therefore I usually seek pets that are either pink, purple, blue, or black. 

During Cataclysm I decided to level her, raising her from her permanent-alt status to a level 85. During that time I had a lot of fun hunting and taming all of the pets I wanted, including Skoll, Skarr, and the oil-stained wolf. (Yes, I know two of those were from Wrath, but I listed them because they were part of the leveling experience, especially because she had been somewhere in the 40s or 50s prior to Cataclysm.)

With a new expac comes a variety of new skins and new families of pets. One such new family, the waterstrider, is very helpful to keep around while leveling in Pandaria, because it provides a water walking buff and we are all ground-ridden until level 90.

Alright, back to either real life or WoW, depending...

[As a final note, the links above are to either Petopia or Wowhead and both are trusted and widely-used sites.]

Sucked Back In

Well, that didn't take long.  It's been less than two weeks since Mists of Pandaria was released and I'm already sucked back in.  I was up until 4am-ish just trying to complete a quest-line.  I've been focusing on solo-leveling my Alliance hunter on Malygos for now, and have been trying to enjoy reading all of the quests and paying attention to the stories.  My husband has been doing the exact opposite and reading as little as possible, and it doesn't seem that he has been that much more time-efficient than I.  I had not been focusing on leveling this character until a few days ago, and am now almost level 89.  In addition to questing, I've run the dungeons that have been available to me, in the queue-while-questing style, and have been moderately impressed by them.  Even more than the main things, it's the little things in this expansion that have me intrigued.  I'm looking forward to the entire cloud serpent acquisition process, as well as the farming and reputation with the Tillers.  I also maxed out her professions, skinning and leatherworking, last night and was pretty pleased and impressed with how easy it was.  Other than running around and skinning other peoples' kills, I haven't actually farmed any leather, and had more than enough to achieve max level with just my own leather.  Speaking of leather, I find it interesting and convenient that while you can create Exotic Leather from the "scraps" through leatherworking and gain points from it, you can also click-to-create, and while it is a short cast time, you can do it while mounted and moving, so after having achieved the max amount of leatherworking skill points from it, I was able to just click and create while running (of which we do plenty in Pandaria, due to not being able to fly yet).

Why is it so damn easy to distract myself from real life?

Transcription... TROLLING

Transcription WoW Audio Clip

(note: loud and background noise, not 100% SFW)

Playing WoW and other MMOs can make you feel like a kid again, in more ways than one, and I'd like to point out one of the less positive ways.

So... my personal story is, part of my personal story anyway, I'll try not to bore you, is that I have played World of Warcraft for... off and on, let's see, 5 years? No... Maybe... 5 and a half? Wow, that's a long time. See, right there I just totally overlooked how much of my life and how many hours I spent playing a video game. Well, it's not just any video game. If you know anything about WoW you know that, right? But here's the thing: I think it set me back emotionally and mentally, just because I paid attention to chat. What's up with that?

So... there's this whole troll underground society, both on the internet in general and, more specifically within MMOs. So you get to create this fantastic-looking character, um, you know, you get to look like exactly what you want to look like, and you get to do all these cool things like slay dragons and wear super shiny armor, right? BUT, you also have to interact with other people, and while this is generally speaking a good thing, those other people are also all hyped up about their newfound anonymity and they get to hide behind these fantastic characters they've created, right?

So even to the most casual gamer, the world channels of chat in MMOs become a free-for-all playground of childish taunts, name-calling, accusations, um... wanton ranting about political and scientific matters of which you have no actual basis in the real world... you don't have a degree, you don't have a job, but you're an expect at everything... and this mindset, this activity, of trolling online, is catching, it's contagious: it can suck in even the most rational of creatures...

Now I am not saying I am the most rational of creatures, I am not at all implying that, I am implying that part of what led me to lose control over logic is losing myself in the chat channels in an MMO. And WoW is particularly infamous for this. It's a “Rated Everyone” game so you have... ::ahem::... no comment... children who are, let's say five years old, playing the game, with teenagers who are going through their rebellious phases playing the game, with older people playing the game, and all these people, at every age, see this as an opportunity to hide.

And it's like hiding behind a giant tree and throwing rocks at someone from behind it, it's petty and it's stupid and it's a waste of time, a waste of energy... It's not fun either; I mean a little bit of bantering, light witty sarcasm... remarks thrown back and forth between two willing players is “fun”, but reading trade chat for three hours at a time and just shaking your head and wanting to smash your head against a brick wall because you can see just how stupid people really are... do people really think that way? I mean some of them do! And it's sad and it's sick but... once you're sucked into that community, that lifestyle, that mindset, you're not stuck there... and I'm not saying you have to quit playing WoW or any other MMO, I'm not saying that at all, I'm just saying... maybe we should all wake up, do a little bit of growing up, and uh... leave behind the mental throw-up, the regurgitation of these semi-truths and half-facts and uh just play the damn game and have fun, you're there to fight dragons, FFS... sorry, but seriously, LET GO of the troll mentality. It's not healthy, it's not fun, it doesn't get you or me anywhere and it certainly doesn't accomplish anything.

So uh yeah, that's it for now... thanks for listening.

(c) Copyright 2012 Veronica Elizabeth Raj

WoW: Professions in Harmony...?

While still far being being "wowed" by the news released on the newest WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria, I will be purchasing the game and might even end up playing it some.

I came across this Blue post from Wowhead on Facebook (it was quite unintentional, I swear!  It shows up in my feed!)    http://www.wowhead.com/news=205515/professions-living-in-perfect-harmony

While not exactly what I would have had in mind had I thought about harmonizing professions, it still might be a step in the right direction.  I believe all professions should be able to work together, encouraging players to help each other out by crafting things needed by other professions.  For example, there are some Tailoring recipes that require potions made by Alchemists.  Most, if not all, professions have a "materials" tab which houses the things they can make that might be needed by others during crafting.

I hope they do not make these obsolete as the expansion progresses.  Updating profession rewards while still utilizing Chaos Orbs was a nice feature in Cataclysm, even if they did greatly devalue the orbs when they removed the binding property.  "Back in my day" I paid 1k gold per orb to have a weapon crafted by a Blacksmith... and I think that was actually considered a fair price at the time.  Last I checked Chaos Orbs were selling for about 30g each in the Auction House.

Professions in WoW are something that needs to be taken advantage of in a timely manner to actually profit from, and I always seem to fail in that department as I wait too long to max out my professions.

There is a note about Engineers in there and I hope they do what they have failed to do in previous expansions: update the Engineer profession-only rewards as the expansion progresses.  Engineers don't catch much of a break: they're not very profitable and they don't get a great bonus from their profession, with the exception of helms, so I hope they are updated as new tiers come out.

TERA Screenshots

Screenshots from TERA Online:

Hopefully these pictures didn't freeze your internet connection and if all goes well they should be viewable in both small and large sizes.

Note that the first and third pictures were of the Castanic race, and the second and fourth were of the Elin race.  (I'm not sure why they consider them races when they are clearly different species, but, meh, oh well.)

The first picture is Bellethiel (Frost Reach) a Berserker, wearing Ruby Rims and performing a random standing-still movement.  The second is Bunnypop (Dragonfall) a Mystic, also wearing Ruby Rims and performing a random "bored" motion.  The third is Drakynix (Frost Reach) a Sorcerer casting a spell, while wearing a Bandit Mask and using the Mister Patches costume item.  The fourth is Sucker.Punch (Dragonfall) a Warrior in the middle of the /dance emote.

I  hope you've enjoyed this taste of the magic that is TERA.  

TERA and more...

It's been a long time, but I'm still here and here's an update:

As you may already know, I'm constantly seeking distractions, especially with my most recent medical problems. My latest, fondest distraction is TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea. I'm still dabbling in D3, but after beating it in normal mode with no deaths and not really feeling a great deal of motivation to continue to repeat myself, I've mostly come to the conclusion that it will be a game I play with my husband when he feels up to it and a game I use to play the Auction House and have a tiny bit of entertainment from that.

So, TERA... It's absolutely gorgeous and the combat system is such that you can never AFK or mindlessly tab-target: it requires a certain degree of constant vigilance. Also, “mobs” take up real space – you can't run through them, you have to jump over them or run around, which generally prevents me from auto-running anywhere. In a party or group, team members also take up real space, which is both good in that it is realistic and bad in that it makes things particularly challenging for melee and tanking.

I've even made a new blog in which I will attempt to compile information relating to Achievement Titles in TERA, as I cannot find any good source of information online.

I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase this game due to a combination of “income” earned by creating lego-like connectors and from a very small but unexpected settlement check, and have also been able to purchase Guild Wars 2 in advance. (My husband promises he will play that with me, at least for a time.)

Back to TERA:

Level 60 is the max and I have yet to achieve it, (I think my highest is level 42). Leveling and questing is slow and due to the fact that all races and classes share the exact same quests while leveling and almost every quest must be completed to prevent being “under-leveled” it can be quite tedious, especially if you are, like me, an ALToholic and unsure which class to level first. I think I've finally decided that my Sorcerer should be my first 60, but this is after having played almost every class for hours. So, despite my large time investment, I have very little to show for it. I've also created characters on two different servers, between which I split my time, thus further reducing my speed of leveling. Frost Reach is the server I first chose, and I found a good guild there and made one out-of-guild friend, who then decided to transfer to Dragonfall, where I've made more characters and friends. Most of my characters on Frost Reach are Castanics, a sexy elven-ish race with horns, and on Dragonfall most are Elin, a fae, childish race with ears and tails of different woodland creatures, so not only do I have to choose which class I enjoy playing most, but also which race. I love naming characters, and most of my characters on Frost Reach have “RP-ish” names while most on Dragonfall are clever plays on words.

Queue times on both realms are rather long, unless playing a support class such as a tank or healer. The classes themselves are, in general, much different from WoW. It could be argued that the traditional Warrior class in WoW is represented by 3 or 4 of the classes in TERA, while there are few magical classes and the Rogue class is not at all represented. There are no pets in TERA, either combat or non, and this makes me rather sad, after having been an avid collector of both in WoW. According to the grapevine, non-combat pets are in the works, and there are several potential models implemented already in the game. The closest there is to a pet class is the Mystic, a challenging healer who can summon “thralls” to assist him/her in combat.

I majorly slept in today and just wanted to release some form of update, so I'll be on my way now after having provided this snippet. Ciao!   

Update

After going through a family tragedy, I've once again found myself desperately seeking distraction.

If you're interested in reading about that, you may do so here.

I've been getting into Diablo 3 for a few different reasons. First, it's not WoW. I'm so accustomed to everything in WoW, every class, every dungeon, almost every raid, that it has lost its “shiny” appeal. It's no longer the wondrous world of Azeroth of which I could explore every corner. Second, it's there, it's something to do, something new. I received a free copy of it when signing up for the annual commitment so we have had it, mostly un-played, since release. My husband had lost most interest in games prior to this incident, and had only been playing very casually, leaving the game untouched for me to experiment with. Third, it's not entirely unfamiliar to me. The controls are definitely different from WoW, but not so different that I have trouble with them. I'm sure there are more reasons than this, but I just can't come up with anything else right now.

As I had written previously, the game at first did not catch my interest. Without having played the original two Diablos, I was missing the “epic” story-line and its significance, and without that, the game might be considered a bit lackluster. Despite the extreme amount of time Blizzard/Activision worked on it, or perhaps because of this, Diablo's graphics are several years behind most new games. (My husband informed me this is because the graphics engine has been in place for years, outdating the game from the start.) With the settings turned all the way up, it is basically seamless, with no jagged edges or blurring, but it's also missing the feel of a new game, the way that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning made me feel, astounded by the clarity and colors. Granted, Diablo is supposed to be dark in theme and color, but it still feels like it is missing something. I am, however, rather used to being disappointed with graphics, because I have been playing WoW for so long, and even those unfamiliar with the game would probably recognize its chunky, cartoonish landscapes and characters. I most definitely prefer the “shiny things” in general, though.

I have a few other complaints with Diablo 3. Apparently, according to those who have gotten so far before, there are only 30 original levels: the rest are repeats of the first. Basically, you get to level 30 and do it all over again!?! Add to this the fact that every single character and class has to do the exact same quests, and you have even more monotony than you do in World of Warcraft. At least in WoW you can pick your questing zones and each race has a different starting area. It takes a few characters to make it monotonous. Questing itself is not very fun, but there are unique story-lines that branch out and span across the whole Warcraft world. The mechanics of questing are better in Diablo, this is almost definite, but with so few quests, does that even begin to make up for it? Thankfully, I am not yet at that point, but I have created one of each class (five in total) and have had to do the exact same things just to try to get to level 10. There is a lot of exploring you can do, but this almost makes it worse... you may have a goal for a quest, like finding and entering a specific graveyard, but you may come across several other obstacles along the way. While these are not necessary, someone like me usually cannot pass up the chance to grab more “epic loot.” (I don't even know what the terms are for Diablo, but I'm fairly certain it's not “epic.” I know there is a “rare” class of item, but I'm not sure what that is comparable to in WoW.)

Well, now I'm back to playing World of Warcraft. I've played Diablo for about seven hours the past couple of days and am trying to not get burnt out on it yet, so decided to give my baby orc shaman another spin. It's amusing that heirlooms seem to make me level almost too fast, while in D3 I am trying hard to level faster. I've temporarily sworn off on dungeons on this character, because I am overall so tired of them and I have about five different characters currently in this level range to “share” the dungeon queue with. I can grind dungeons for hours on my baby warrior, switch characters, and get stuck grinding the same ones over again.  Instead of queuing, I'm currently questing, in Stranglethorn Vale, to be precise.

So now I'm off to fall into yet another trap, thinly veiled evil and treachery causing my naive self to succumb.  That poor baby Lashtail Hatchling! I'll come for you someday, if only I can get a group together for it... (Remember how they changed the queue and you can no longer queue for Zandalaris? I'm still upset over that.) So, here goes!...

Righteous

Last night I played Righteous (now level 83) for awhile.  I decided to quest because I didn't want to get "too into it," and make a time commitment by running a dungeon... well, that didn't quite work out, because I ended up playing for about two hours anyway.  While questing in Deepholm, I was reminded that while I still suck at Retribution spec, I don't completely hate it, and on the off-chance that I actually hit my cool-downs appropriately, I can do some decent damage.  I suppose I am finally confident enough with my gear to tank some dungeons, as I don't think I have run any Cataclysm ones yet on that character, despite having crafted the entire Hardened Obsidium set for her before she had even hit level 80.  Waste of gold and time?  Probably.  Isn't it all, though?  Ah, it is a sad place indeed when you add the word "obsidium" to your Blogger Dictionary...
So, now that I've actually linked one of my characters, does this mean I'm about to be flamed or stalked?  Probably not, as, despite my blogger stats, I doubt anyone truly reads this.

And hey, what's a "blog by Veronica" without some ads?  So, here goes:

Oooh, that's pretty sexy.  Unfortunately, I'm not rich enough to buy something like this, but you can certainly click on it for me!

WoW

Watch out, World, I'm going to go play WoW.



My mouse, although sadly I own only the standard edition: RAZER RZ01-00280500-R3M1 Razer Naga Special Edition - Molten

Meh... [cross-posted]

So, yesterday (6/3/12) I got my final alt on my home realm (Malygos) to level 80, and it was completely anticlimactic.  I actually think I enjoy leveling more than anything else, and yet I am also completely bleh-ified by questing and doing dungeons in the "old world" (pre-BC).  Am I finally starting to overcome my years-long addiction to World of Warcraft?  What on Earth do I do now?

My husband is trying to interest me in Diablo 3, hoping that we will be able to play together, as we used to play WoW together, and I've tried, but I am not very into or familiar with the story-line, and to me the gameplay is nothing compared to other MMOs.  I've played for maybe five hours total, and have one "wizard" to level six and one monk to level eight, and have only yet unlocked the 1 key for special abilities, and it is on a cooldown.  So, this means that for the majority of the game and fights, I am madly clicking my mouse keys, which is not only annoying but not very ergonomically pleasing for someone used to engaging both hands.  I understand that many people are frustrated with World of Warcraft, and that it IS old and behind the times, and while the combat system is not as dynamic as the new Guild Wars 2 is supposed to be, it is at least solid and requires some form of coordination (even if that just means using both hands.)  So far, Diablo 3 requires the right hand for everything except for things like opening your inventory and turning on and off enemy health bars... so my left hand, so used to the 1-6, WASD, etc is left poised but unused, abandoned, as it were.

Needless to say, I don't foresee purchasing a second copy of D3 or investing any serious amount of time in it.

Speaking of investing time (ahem, wasting) I spent about 90 hours in my game of Skyrim (with one character) and because my hard drive died on me, my game is gone.  I am still convinced that we can recover the data one way or another, but that is just because I believe I *MUST* as there are some very important documents on there that I foolishly neglected to back up.  I went a little MOD-happy as I decided to start playing Skyrim again (anew) and in doing so have managed to break my copy of Skyrim... we purchased it on Steam and Steam decided that in order to fix it I had to re-download something that took about four hours, and it is still not fixed.

Whew, that was more writing than I've done in about two weeks!  And all, sadly, about something that most people would consider a worthless waste of time.

I don't think that I will find what I seek in Skyrim, I haven't found it yet in D3, and I fear I've lost it in WoW.  I want to purchase Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and TERA and try both of those, but have yet to find a way to fund these purchases.  And no, I don't think I'm ready to solely rely on the "real world" yet.

Intro

This is a blog written by a gamer girl who has played World of Warcraft (WoW) for more than 3 years.
Some may call playing WoW an escape, some may say it is an addiction, and others may say it is a healthy pastime.  Whatever it may be to you, I do it, and I used to do quite a bit of it.  This blog may entail me raging, commiserating, whining, or venting to you, the audience, or, more frequently, to myself.

I have a ton of characters on different realms, but here I'll post the ones I favor most:

On US-Malygos (Alliance):

Anemone (85), Razmina (85), Rowina (85), Kivanya (85), Psykhe (85), Lycanthra, Nocturne (85), Faelune (85), Valauthiel, Righteous

On US-Nordrassil (Horde):

Thalassemia (85), Eosphoria (85), Apotheosis (85), Lothiriel (85), Ephemeral, Katatomic, Nyani, Psykhotique, Masikiwa, Gazmai

As shown, not all of my characters are level 85, but unfortunately most of them are.  I have at least two of every class and have played as a tank on every class on which it is available.

Also, I am the Guild Leader of  on US-Malygos.  The name of my guild is derived of a play on words based on the literary mechanism, "Deus ex machina," replacing machina with the Latin word for nature, so instead of "the god in the machine" I loosely translate the name to be "deity of nature".