Yearly Archives: 2015

art

“I am not scary.”

5 Comments

I have this problem where I always want to draw my characters but can’t, because I cannot draw. Well, I can kind of draw, but not very well.  At all.  And then my pictures inevitably turn out looking like this:

sketchyWhich then turns into looking like this:

sketchy 2
The Proven Assailant. The Light of Dawn. The… Adorable?

Super serious.

Except not.  Cute though?  Maybe?  Okay, maybe.  I will accept maybe.

I think I want to draw more often and dump the results on this site.  Because why not.  Warcraft lore is a fun world to play in, and if I can’t make it serious or professional, then by golly I can at least make it cute.

garrisons, thoughts

Update: I Still Love Garrisons a Whole Heckuva Lot

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I feel like it’s kind of unpopular these days to like garrisons, but so far the love affair that I’ve had with mine over the last six months has yet to wane.  I do not feel that it keeps me away from the rest of the world in any way, shape, or form – I’m only in it for twenty minutes a day, or maybe thirty if there’s an invasion – and it’s just a fantastic hub to return to every so often, spend a minute checking on and sending out missions, and then run back out into the rest of the wide world.

I love everything about it; I love that my pets are running around, I love that my followers (who I’ve grown strangely attached to) are in it chatting to each other, I love that I can make it play a variety of in-game tunes, and I love that because of it I don’t have to pay real world money for WoW anymore.  That’s some GOOD STUFF right there!

Oh, and it’s also excellent for dancing.

Are garrisons perfect? Nah, I wish you could have like five more activated followers at all times and I wish you could have more buildings. Further, I wish that the buildings were customizable because I figure my blood elf is getting tired of this Warcraft 2 orc campaign BS. I mean, he has a very strong sense of style, you know?

But other than that, nope, I still love my garrison. A++++ would love to see it again in more expansions.

thoughts

In My Life

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I said in a recent post that, unlike many MMO players, I’m here for the characters more than I’m here for the social aspect of things.  And I definitely wasn’t exaggerating when I said that.  I love me some characters, and I don’t mind spending much of my MMO experience alone or maybe with one friend.

As an aside, this is one of the greatest films of all time.
As an aside, this is one of the greatest films of all time.

But I would be very remiss not to talk about the friends I’ve made through World of Warcraft.  No matter how much of a loner you are, MMOs are at their core about a social experience, and eventually you will befriend people.  And if you do any sort of endgame, then chances are at least some of those people will become important to you. If you’re playing RuneScape and you want to skip all the time-consuming grinding and get straight to playing with the items you want, then you might be interested in Farmingless guide about legit RuneScape gold sites.

For me, it was a group of people who I fell in step with during a Zul’Farrak run in our early-40s back in The Burning Crusade.  We stuck together and eventually formed a guild, and moved on up through the instancing ranks doing first dungeons, and then eventually heroics and a couple of raids.  We were all friends; we talked to each other frequently both in guild chat and in Ventrilo and I’m pretty sure in some cases we probably spent more time with each other than we did with our “real life” co-workers.

This is some of us in Dire Maul.
This is some of us in Dire Maul.

We stuck together through the first third or so of Wrath of the Lich King before slowly the little group began to drift apart.  People were logging in less and less or were playing on other servers.  For a while we kept in touch outside of the game, but then that petered out as well.  And so, we all went our separate ways.

Sometimes I think about those people who I once counted as good friends.   I still look back fondly on most of these people.  Theoretically, I could get back in touch with them, too, if I wanted.  I have most of them added on Steam.  And yet we never talk to each other – I feel like it would be awkward.  “Hey, remember me from eight years ago?”

I suppose in these ways the game kind of mirrors life.  How many old classmates or co-workers of yours have been reduced down to people you occasionally wish Happy Birthday to on Facebook?  Quite a few, I’d imagine.  That’s just the way life goes.  Time goes on and old faces are replaced by new ones.

The memories will always be positive ones, though.  And hopefully, if my old friends ever need me, they’ll know where to find me.

good games that are good, non-wow

Good Games That Are Good: Europa Universalis

There was a time just a few years ago when the title of this post would have produced quite a few “huh?”s, but thanks to the recent mainstream success of Crusader Kings II, Paradox Interactive and their quirky grand strategy games have never been so in vogue.

Most of your time in a Europa Universalis game is spent staring at a map, which is admittedly not the most exciting sounding thing in the world, but that’s just scratching the surface – the EU games are all about digging into diplomacy, trading, colonization, and, of course, warfare, I know some would rather play with dreamjackpot games instead.  Someone who’s never played the games before might benefit from having it compared to, say, Civilization, but the playstyle of Civ and EU really couldn’t be more different from each other.  Europa Universalis aims to be a more nuanced experience, and one that will keep you engaged for several times as long as a game of Civ will.

It also leads to situations like this.
It also leads to situations like this.

Europa Universalis, then, is a step up in complexity, designed for those who want more fine-tuned control than they’re going to get in most other empire-building games.  And if that isn’t enough for you, you can graduate to Victoria II and then eventually even more grognardy war games, but don’t rush – Europa Universalis has enough to offer you for many months to come.  So give the series a look if you haven’t already and if you’re a strategy fan.

Oh, and prepare to hate comets.

pox why

meta-wow, music

There are a couple of things that Blizzard always gets right

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One of those things is cinematics.  Because oh, Blizzard has got a flair for those.  Who among us who played Warcraft III doesn’t get chills at Arthas’ betrayal at the end of the Human Campaign?

Next up is music.  There have been too many talented composers at Blizzard over the years to name them all here alongside their contributions, but I feel that Blizzard games have some of the best soundtracks you will find in any video game.  From the infamous Terran theme in Starcraft to the bouncy and jingoistic Warcraft II music (heard today in pet battles), to all the multitude of melodies that you’ll here in World of Warcraft today – I just love it all.

My favorite music, of course, resides in my favorite raid:

Mmm. Just listening to it brings me back.

Tell me of your favorite Blizzard tunes!

pet battles, screenshots

Live to win ’til you die

So I’ve been doing this newfangled pet battling stuff all morning.  When it all first went live in… MoP, I believe, I only played WoW for a couple of months so I didn’t get much of a chance to mess with it at all.  But seeing as now I’ve had a menagerie sitting in my garrison for six months I figured it was finally time to do something about it.  To that end, I’ve been slowly working up a team to hopefully take on a variety of challengers.

This Sunday SUNDAY, we have NUTS the Squirrel, CURATOR the… uh, robot custodian, and the oh so rare SPIRIT OF COMPETITION… in a FIGHT YOU WON’T BELIEVE VERSUS…

…a cult leader, apparently?

CGLq5dhUYAADGn5.jpg large

And also a guy in (old) Shadowmoon Valley who I have no argument with.

Sounds accurate to me!
Sounds accurate to me!

Anyways, it’s pretty fun.  And pretty frustrating because after a while it starts to get difficult.  It’s like Pokemon with type strengths and weaknesses and everything and having three max level pets when you should really have, like… at least one of each type is, um, tough, to say the least.

BUT HEY, at least someday, eventually, I’ll be able to beat the guys in my garrison!  …maybe!

thoughts

So basically I love WoW Token

Well, it’s been a few months since the WoW Token rollout, and I’ve gotta say I’m a fan.  When the price tips low, I can cover my entire subscription just via gold… and I’m a casual with one single garrison and not a whole lot of skills in the capitalism department.

I think making money in WoW is pretty easy these days.  Between garrison mission rewards, salvage, dailies, LFR rewards and selling things like gathering materials and Savage Bloods, I feel like I’m making out like a bandit at all times.  The times sure have changed from a decade ago when I was spending days farming and selling Briarthorn so I could afford the 600g required for an epic mount.

What does everyone else think of WoW Token so far?  How many have YOU bought?

non-wow

Are You Playing Diablo III Yet Because Holy Frick

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I know, I know, I’m behind the times.  Pretty far behind the times.  But I finally caved and snagged both Diablo III and the expansion.

And you know, I love me some ARPGs.  I love them a lot.  I love the Torchlight series, I love Baldur’s Gate II Dark Alliance, and of course I love the older Diablo games.  There’s something pure about the idea of a lootfest isometric RPG; something that reminds me of playing old arcade games back in the day.  You just go around and kill things and collect prizes.  No questions asked.

So I knew going in that I was probably going to love D3, but dang.  I don’t know what Blizzard did but I cannot stop playing it.  I made a wizard and between the whole tornado summoning thing and feeling like Jubilee with Arcane Torrent, it’s an absolute blast.

Also yes, I am spending tons and tons of money on transmog.  Because welcome to my life.

Screenshot011
Also I look like a Final Fantasy character. Prove me wrong.
guides, hunter, hunter kindergarten

Focus Fire and When To Use It: A Beast Master Hunter Guide

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Focus Fire.

That little yellow glowy button is one of your biggest boosts to DPS, and learning its nuances is something that you’re going to want to do once you hit max level and start looking into things like raids.  It can be kind of tricky to master, and there are quite a few little variables involved, but hopefully I can help to clarify a bit.  Here, then, is when to use – and when not to use – a Beast Master Hunter’s second best friend (your pet being your best friend, of course):

big focus fire

WHEN TO USE FOCUS FIRE:

1. Use it at five stacks, of course.  The button will glow and you won’t miss it.  There is an exception, which I will cover later.

2. Use it with Bestial Wrath.  It doesn’t matter if it’s only one stack.  If you have a build up of it, use it.  It’s also not a bad idea to pop it for other large cooldowns, such as Stampede.

3. Use it when you are about to AoE.  That means Barrage and Multi-shot.  And lastly,

4. Use it if it’s about to expire.  If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it, and get no benefit!

Now then, let’s discuss the other side of the coin:

WHEN NOT TO USE FOCUS FIRE:

1. If you’re almost, but not quite, ready for Bestial Wrath.  Say you have somewhere between 10-20 seconds left to go before Bestial Wrath is off cooldown, but your yellow glowy button is telling you to click it.  Do you?  Nope.  Because if you do, then it will be expired by the time Bestial Wrath is ready to go!  Instead, wait until your Bestial Wrath is about ready to pop (below ten seconds left on the cooldown.)

2. If a boss is invincible or shielded or otherwise unavailable or something for a short amount of time and your Focus Fire won’t expire by the time you can use it again.  In this case you’ll want to tactically delay it – the same as any other cooldown, really.

…and that’s about the only times you shouldn’t be using it.  Because Focus Fire is just that good.

Okay, that about does it for today’s Hunter Kindergarten Guide!  If you have any questions, comments, or other concerns, feel free to post a comment or bug me on Twitter!

 

characters, screenshots, thoughts

Cause I Just Gotta Get Into It: The #1 Thing That Makes Me Stick With a Character

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Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time probably knows that I’m kind of a big nerd who comes up with stories and backgrounds and personalities for each of her WoW characters.  That’s just how I’ve always been, and in fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s often one of the major things that keeps me playing a game.  Perhaps even the #1 thing.

Yes, it’s true!  Oftentimes long after I’ve found a certain game satisfying from a gameplay standpoint I’ll continue to return to it, again and again, because there’s something nice about seeing a character again.  It’s like seeing an old friend.  Like going back to a book that you’re emotionally invested in.  Without that connection to a character, I’m usually not inspired to play said character – or game – very often.

I frequently hear people talk about how they’re in WoW because of their friends.  I’m in WoW because of my friends, too.  My friends are polygons, though.  And I love ’em.

Even if they're huge friggin' nerds.
Even if they’re huge friggin’ nerds.