Sideshow & Syrana

Hey all, I’m going to just kinda ramble in this post a bit.  Hope ya don’t mind.

This week has been a bit nutso IRL.  Last week was too, but it’s always even more crazy when trying to get as much work stuff done as possible before taking some vacation time around a holiday weekend.  It’s been hectic and draining this week, but now I get to relax a bit before rejoining the rat race.  (And believe me, it will be crazy when I return to work since there’s a lot I could not finish before leaving.  Blarg.)

Yesterday was nice… it was the start of Sideshow’s and my 5 day weekend.  Yesterday was doubly special because it was our wedding anniversary.  A little later today, we’ll be traveling out of town to visit my parents for a few days.  So, it will likely be a bit quiet around this corner of the blogosphere for a few more days.

But that’s alright because I’m sure you have cookouts or projects or something you have planned for at least part of this weekend!

One of the bummers about this past week being hectic is that I haven’t gotten much WoW time… I only need 2 more quests to complete Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms! Uhh! So close!  ….still need another 30 for Kalimdor.

Funny, I thought Kalimdor would be easy to finish off because it seems filled with so many Horde zones and I’d have to search more to complete Eastern Kingdoms.  But noooo, I’m finding the complete opposite to be true.  Although, there seem to be more dungeons and raids in the Eastern Kingdoms…. which have plenty of quests that count towards Loremaster.  In fact, I still have a TON of Eastern Kingdoms quests I can do – easy to locate ones!

Whereas… I’m struggling to find more Kalimdor ones.  I’m hoping some of these leftover Eastern Kingdoms quest chains will take me back across the sea to count for some Kalimdor turnins.  I mean, it is quite likely since I’d seen a few chains bounce back and forth already… some counting for one continent and some counting for the other.

*Looks around* Ya know what… I think I should log in and finish off Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms before we hit the road… so I can make sure to have that special screenshot.

Thought I’d provide a brief update regarding the wonderful World of Warcraft.

See, I haven’t been running dungeons, raiding, or even doing dailies.  You might be shocked to know that I still haven’t used the random dungeon finder nor have I ran any new dungeons from Trial of the whathaveyou or beyond.  (Nope, no jousting runs, and no Pit or Reflection or any of that).

Shocking?  Perhaps.  But I’m still having fun and I’m busy.

I’ve been getting some achievements accomplished.  They may look a little odd along the sidebar there (and that widget is not very good at updating promptly, by the way) since there are several old Azeroth lowbie dungeons on there.  See, when I leveled Syrana it was before they first sped it up during The Burning Crusade, but I still leveled her quickly.  She rarely ran with a level appropriate group on her way up and if I was getting a run through for experience/quests or gear, it wasn’t always the whole run…. plus, she was leveled to cap before the achievement system went in and sometimes things didn’t count when they should have.

Anywho… (continue reading…)

I know I can’t be the only one that has dreams that incorporate gaming elements or dreams about games.  The game I find sneaking into my subconscious the most is World of Warcraft.  I suppose it doesn’t help that I often listen to the soundtracks while falling asleep.  (The Eversong Woods music with the cellos and haunting voices is super relaxing.)

I previously shared a very whacked out dream that involved Samodean, Chris Metzen, and a live action zombie demo.  I had a LOT of details to share since I wrote it all down as soon as I could after waking up.

More commonly I remember snippets, if that.  What I’ve noticed more lately is that waking up is part of a quest chain.

I’ve had dreams where hitting the snooze button is a repeatable quest.

I’ve also had dreams that the “A” button was the snooze button.

Dreams are weird.  And yes, that’s a scientific term.

Ya know, I think this is why I love to slow time down when my Sims are sleeping.  Usually the game will auto-speed up time when the entire household is asleep.  I mean, they are sleeping, you don’t have anything to manage after all.  But, I like to slow it down just to watch the dream bubbles.

Hmm.

I never realized just how creepy that was before.

Last week I posted some screenshots from Allods Online.  In the comments, Tami asked the following, which I will answer today:

I’m curious to know how you like the game, past the opening scenes. I don’t know if it was just me being flighty or not, but it seemed really hard for me to connect to the game (adorable hamster people with vicious attack squirrels notwithstanding – mine were Khuu, Bhuu, Rhuu, and Twidget).

Characters

Allods offers some interesting characters to choose from.  There are two factions to choose from: League and Empire.  Each side has 14 different classes you can choose from (which play off of 8 basic classes).  The character creation was kinda fun, but not a whole lot in the way of customization. Plus, I noticed it was easy to change factions and/or classes during the process.

I didn’t see much for descriptions of the races or classes during the character creation. I sort of missed that, especially after World of Warcraft improved their character creation information.  And, honestly, I didn’t want to poke around outside of the game to find out this information. (continue reading…)

me⋅nag⋅er⋅ie [muh-naj-uh-ree]
–noun

I have added to definitions 1 and 3 today.  And my new alt allowed me to pay a bit more attention to some of the changes with patch 3.3. (continue reading…)

So recently it was revealed that the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) MMO by Bioware will have the option of utilizing NPC companions.  (Check out this video interview for the full scoop.)

Apparently this is the apocalypse and the demise of the genre as well as false advertising as an MMO.  Keen is not the only one that seems to take issue with this.

The main point I pulled from Keen’s post was that the inclusion of NPC companions meant that Bioware is developing a single player game with multiplayer options rather than a massively multiplayer online game.

In the other posts I read regarding this (and the dislike for it) I couldn’t help but notice a point of view that was being missed…

Why can’t it be viewed as a multiplayer game with single player options?

That thought was then followed up with these:

Why does an MMO have to mean forced grouping at all times?

What MMO has forced grouping at all times nowadays?

Storytellers

But mainly what I saw as missed that MY ears latched onto during that interview was the part the NPC companions play in the story.

Dragon Age, anyone?

Story equals immersion.  Your companions will react to your choices…

There are going to be certain characters that will be integral to the Star Wars story, but won’t suffice as a simple quest giver.  And some… you just can’t expect to create.  So genre destroyer be damned, it sounds to me to be more of a vehicle of driving the story.  Plus, you’re more likely to listen to what they have to say than read quest test, amirite?

Anywho, in this post I am going to move forward with addressing the “single player games are trying to overthrow and destroy MMOs” argument. (continue reading…)

We all know that Sideshow and I are avid gamers.  But did you know my parents are gamers too? About a year ago, Sideshow and I piqued their interest enough in WoW to get them playing.  They each have their own account and are still enjoying the game.  Sure, Sideshow and I had told them about WoW throughout our times playing and they’d be interested in knowing our progress.  Now, it’s a bit different having them play as well.  We get to talk with them in game, my mom is a loyal reader of the blog, and phone conversations and visits are full of WoW chatter.  I thought it might be fun for you, my readers, to hear a little more about them.

… except when I asked them to participate, my dad said, “You’ll have to find your parents first…” (continue reading…)

Oh hi there!

What? Oh yes, I know there’s been nothing new ’round here for a few days.

You see, sometimes I get a bit distracted…especially by new games.  But not just by any ol’ new game – good new games.  Unlike Sideshow, I don’t really suffer from game ADD.  Instead, I tend to get hyperfocused on one thing at a time.  That’s why my playtime may seem to be monopolized by one particular game for a stretch of time then shift to another.  After the newness wears off, I tend to fall back into a more “normal” multi-game rotation of sorts.

Unfortunately, this hyperfocus can derail other projects I have going.  For example, this past week I’ve fallen (farther) behind (than usual) on reading other blogs as well as posting.  But hey, we all need mini-breaks here and there, am I right?

At any rate, I thought I’d give a bit of an update as to what’s going on in my virtual world(s).  I don’t usually write update type of posts, but what the hell… when have I ever followed the rules before? (continue reading…)

Quit starin' at my booty!

I like money.

Especially easy money.

As I discussed last week, there’s gold to be found in those candy buckets!

And we’re talking more than a simple penny pouch.  Sheesh, can you believe some of these innkeepers?  The gall to hand out penny pouches.  I think that’s worse than the old lady nickels some kids acquire during IRL trick or treating.

Now, I realize there is only about a week left to the Hallow’s End event and several people have found their way here in search of a list of the Northrend candy buckets.  Hopefully this will still help some of you out.

Last week, Shadowspawnd was kind enough to post the Alliance listing in the comments, so I will repost that here for all of you.  I went flying around scouring Northrend in search of the Horde buckets.  I hope this list is complete.  If by chance either of us missed any, please feel free to say so in the comments! (And no, I didn’t separate out the neutral locations – just left them in the running lists.)

(continue reading…)