Mystic Worlds

Aging Gamer with Less Time

As the years go by, I find that I have LESS time to game, which is the opposite of what I was expecting. Being an empty nester and established in my profession, I had it in my head that I’d be able to game more as time went by. Instead I have a high pressure job and multiple entrepreneurial ventures depleting my energy and gobbling up my time. I also keep telling myself that I want to finish writing one of my false-start novels some day too.

The myriad of things pulling at my strings makes me more particular about the games if any, I play. There are always a dozen things I could be or should be doing; that treading water in a game I don’t REALLY ENJOY is a thing of the past. The more games I try, the more disappointed I become but clearer about what I’m willing to spend time doing versus what I’m not.

Existing the EQN Landmark Adventure

Over the weekend I submitted a Support Ticket to be refunded my Trailblazer purchase for Landmark. I was not unhappy with the building tools. I was not disappointed with game mechanics. What I didn’t anticipate was that the world would be so full yet feel so empty. All the claims taken but I don't see a living soul. There are very FEW player structures. There are no NPCs yet. It’s mostly you, yourself and your claim. All the great builds on YouTube, linked in the forums, posted on Reddit and the alike, represent a very small portion of the claim population. For the most part it’s crickets and dead space.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wasn’t motivated to start a new project after completing my claim. I made templates of the individual structures, the whole structure and all of the custom objects I created Since the most recent patch I could tweak it with the newly added recipes which includes plants and trees but it wasn't enough of a temptation to for me to log into LM. It had the opposite effect.  I felt more strongly that without “game” elements, Landmark wasn’t going to be something I’d do very often and decided to wait for EverQuest Next.

EVE FW, EQN Landmark, Hearthstone, Star Citizen

EVE Faction Warfare

I definitely should have considered that I play EVE in spurts before joining Faction Warfare. I have more moments where I’m not looking for an adrenalin rush, than moments where I am. I haven’t played in a couple of weeks. Work and getting my shop ready for spring and summer having commandeered much of my free time, I don’t have the availability needed to get involved with pre-planned activities in EVE. My free time, mood and temperament seem to be counterproductive to participating in long term gaming commitments.

I must be doing it wrong! Before disappearing, I was still struggling with knowing for sure when it was safe to make the first hit in FW. Several times I had the advantage, having seen the ship on the scanner as I was nearing the area. However, they were not in my overview because they were cloaked and by the time I checked the pilot info to see their status, they’d started the engagement. Once I was saved when another friendly arrived. Another time, I just barely escaped.

EQN Landmark Beta

Across several mini sessions I’ve completed my first build – exterior and interior. It was fun. I enjoyed creating custom props much more than building structures. I think the template tool is great but I’d prefer if it, and all of the tools, handled micro voxels versus the manual way I have now discovered people are making them. My issue is that your ability to manipulate custom props is limited - rotate (some) and scale (not at all).  So once I create an object comprised of micro voxels it's difficult to turn that into something else or re-use it beyond the base micro voxel.  I dont have the patience for it.

My current assessment is that while I enjoyed constructing my claim, I had zero desire to knock it all down and start over – make something else. The world feels too dead, barren and lacking in visible player life to inspire me to “hang around”. Most of the time I played EQNL, I felt like I was in an offline building sim not a sandbox that supported other players. I saw what others had created when I passed by but VERY RARELY did I see actual signs of life. Sure it’s alpha but I’ve done many and this is the first one where it feels empty.  And yet, all the claims are taken. :-\

Without the usual MMO PVE traps and tropes, I think players will be online in spurts to farm and build. Cooperative building and new biomes will bring people back in numbers for a bit but I don’t expect to see constant hordes of players online in these zones. Consequently, I don’t know if it will give me what I need to sustain an interest. I will certainly build a “home”, maybe small town or street when it goes live and put my favorite templates on the market. But at this point, I’m not seeing what’s going to make me stick around for a long period of time other than checking in every so often to tinker with new templates.  Good thing it's free to play. I won't need to make that stay subscribed or unsubscribe decision.

What I’ve Been Playing

Converting and Corrupting Children

Things have been busy at the store with holiday shoppers, which is a good thing. I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my favorite part of the business remains the Saturday craft classes I’ve been teaching there. I’m definitely going to expand that area in 2014. I’ve introduced steampunk inspired projects and of course, fantasy themed crafts. Yep, I’m on to corrupting other people’s children like I did my own along with my nieces and nephews. *smile*

The look of cheer joy, wonder and amazement in their eyes is so infectious and heartwarming. I thought the Harry Potter inspired wands class would be the highlight of the 2013 but we topped that with a steampunk inspired Wizard’s Sanctum Shadowbox. OMG they were so excited and happy. We heard wonderful feedback from the parents about the memories their kids are making, on top of the artistic skills and new friends. This is the video I did to commemorate it, as it was the last class of the year for us.

World of Warcraft

I re-subscribed to WOW last month. My plan is to get one of my level 80 characters to the new max level and mess around with the farming. With the help of friend, Elvenmoon, I saw three of the new instances and am sitting at level 87. Elvenmoon is a well geared and experienced Discipline Priest. So much so, that we were able to duo the instances. For the most part, my Druid stayed in kitty DPS form.

The instances are well done - as ever. Pandaria is an attractive zone with as diverse a variety of quests as can be had in any MMO and is extremely solo friendly. But it’s not exciting compared to the other games I’ve played since I was in love with WOW. There’s no imminent danger and thus, questing in WOW lacks a sense of excitement or urgency. I hope to get to max level before I exit again. I’d like to be able to see the garrisons, WOW’s version of player housing, when it’s introduced. I suspect that like the farms, Garrisons will require a near max level character.

Steam Games

I’ve known of Steam but until recently, I’d never availed myself of its services. That changed owed to a few games sent to me as gifts from Sarzan. Of the ones I’ve played, Bastion was my favorite and the one I almost completed. The others I’ve tinkered with here and there. We also dabbled in Saints Row IV, which is one of the few multi-player games I’ve tried given my preference for full on MMO.

I had a good time in Saints Row IV but am not a fan of the movement mechanics and obstacles in setting them up in a way that was comfortable for me. For that reason mainly, I haven’t been back. I have a hard time enjoying myself when I can’t move around confidently. I think we’re going to give it another try though because it was a lot of laughs.

World of Tanks

Queue the hysterical laughter, I’ve played a little WoT. I SUCK ASS at FPS games and am not much better at shoot ‘em ups. EVE was an exception. With EVE Online’s combat, you’ve often won or lost before you undocked from the space station. It’s not twitch dependent which is problematic for me.

I’ve been kicking around from game to game with the attention span of a gnat. Figured I’d give WoT a whirl since Sarzan plays it religiously versus dragging him to another game I’d abandoned in a couple of weeks. Here again, I like the game but am not able to get comfortable with controlling the tank’s movement. I need my movement to be muscle memory, something I’m able more easily achieve in MMOs but have difficulty transferring to FPS-like games. I suppose it takes time but I hate completely failing at games. Being incompetent isn’t much fun. Still, I might give this one a bit more time to sink in.

The Sims 3

It’s been a long time since I played The Sims with any regularity. Having become a diehard MMO fan, I let The Sims 3 release pass me by. MMO-less, I returned to the scene of the crime to find a very pleasing evolution to game play.

With the addition of Lifetime Wishes and ambitions, Maxis has introduced short and long term goals into the gameplay. For people looking for a slightly more guided experience, these elements provide a focus for objectives beyond keeping your Sims alive. A good portion of them require multiple tasks be completed in a predefined amount of time and under certain circumstances, lending them a quest-like feel.

An expansion pack also added the ability to own and run hotels and resorts. You can do this passively by hiring employees, staying at your own residence and simply collecting cash OR be hands-on and work your way to a 5-star rating. I elected the hands-on route which is a blast. I setup a private studio/suite for my Sims on the premises. I have them manage the front desk themselves while hired staff deal with the cleaning and general maintenance.

I didn’t like the few hotel room facades that shipped with the game, and of which you must include one on the property. Luckily I didn’t have to use them. I found a mod that allowed a carpet to provide them features, allowing you to design your own room around it. The built in hotel rooms are only a façade (rabbit hole). I wanted rooms that I could enter and see the inside of, not a rabbit hole.

I also have family pursuing “normal” game careers. I did an awful lot of gardening which I find strange. Why on earth do I enjoy it so much in a game??? I adored Harvest Moon. TS3 gardens takes a lot of time if you have anything more than a small plot. They do however, yield a TON of cash after you unlock the uncommon or rare vegetation and are able to grow it to perfection.

Tera Rising

More Tera incoming. I need another MMO that’s exciting! I need another MMO love! Damn you ANet for leaving GW2 end-gaming hanging in limbo with your temporary content. Ugh. Dammit! What I really want is level in new GW2 zones, while earning new abilities, weapons and traits. I suppose Tera will have to do for now.

I like Tera. I liked it the first time I played it. I think I burned myself out because I couldn’t decide on which class to play. I’m not someone who does alts very much. Repeating the first two zones 3x in close succession soured me. By the time it was all said and done, I was wishing I’d rolled a priest from the get-go. *grumble* This time there was no question in my mind about which class to play. I went straight for my priest.

Tera is less solo friendly than many of the newer MMOs. It’s better as a duo but even then, you may elect to skip quests that require killing elite mobs because they are HARD TO KILL. Elites need the sub tag ‘bad ass’ on their name plates. They take a long time to whittle down when you’re not a full party. They can be soloed by some classes such as the Lancer but you won’t be doing it very quickly if you’re the appropriate level for the content. And it doesn’t take more than a couple of mistakes to face plant you in the dirt. Coupled with an unusually fast mob re-spawn rate and mob density, you can’t lollygag in most areas. Hell, I often leave half my damn loot on the ground. I wondered why Tera hadn’t added area loot mechanic until I saw there’s an area loot pet on the cash show. Oh well, they have to make a buck.

I had cash on my account from the last go ‘round burning a hole in my pocket. Ever the dress up maven, I bought a steampunk armor skin. I’d like it a whole lot better if I HAD PANTS instead of booty shorts but whatevs. I almost bought the pirate outfit instead because it had real bottoms but I love steampunk. Guess my lower butt cheeks will just have show. *smile*

EQ Landmark Founder

Yep, I’ve already slapped down money as a founder for Landmark. The early access is nice but what I really wanted was the perk of being able to claim land first and the crafting perk from the top tier package ‘cuz we all know I’m going to craft and decorate. I might as well be real about it up front and get the little extras they’re handing out.

I expect to bail on Tera once EQL is out. Here’s hoping it and EQN have some staying power for me. If not, I’ve got nothing – nadda in the MMO space that I’m looking forward to in 2014. Ugh, that’s a grim thought.

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I Am

I AM

I’ve had a few careers in my life – developer, instructional designer and performance analyst. I’ve been fortunate enough co-author three books that were published back in my technical hay-day. I’ve been a wife. I am a mother. I am a grandmother, aunt and entrepreneur. I still aspire to be a published fiction author. And I’m a gamer.

Gamer – of all the monikers I’ve worn over the years, this is the one that was kept in the closest the longest. It’s not something you speak of loudly when talking to co-workers. You definitely don’t strike up a conversation about it with strangers unless you’re at a geek event. For many years, even family members outside of our household had no clue. And yet, gaming is such a huge part of my personality and lifestyle. Gamer is the moniker that identifies me best outside of family oriented titles. Gaming has been present from an early age for all of my children - they are gamers too.

Kthxbai Guilt

I haven’t blogged much in recent months. Between work and my entrepreneurial adventures, I started feeling guilty about spending the time. Isn’t it bad enough that I occasionally squeeze in gaming when I could be doing any number of other more productive things? To turn around and spend more time on the subject blogging about it, seemed excessive. *smile* I’m not Catholic but I do self-guilt really well.

I’ve decided to throw the gaming guilt hat out the window. I can’t work 24/7 and even if I could, it sure as hell wouldn’t be healthy. I game. I enjoy gaming. DAMMIT, I AM A GAMER. So what if I like blogging about gaming too. Games, MMORPGs in particular, have provided me with a lifetime of precious memories. I’ve forged real life relationships with people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

MMO Love Affair

I’ve been a serious MMO player since Asheron’s Call. I wasn’t blogging back then however. Blogging didn’t start until Asheron’s Call 2 but I didn’t keep that blog alive after AC2 was shut down. Consequently, I only have a few pictures from AC2, my first MMO love affair.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching my daughter make personalized monogram name plates for a customer’s nursery when an idea hit me. Wouldn’t it be cool to do something similar using my game characters?? I raced through my blog’s archive and picked out a few favorites and asked her to do a full word collage of them.

GAMER - Loud and Proud

I gave her pictures from the MMOs I’ve played. AC2 to GW2, minus the minor forays into F2P games, my most beloved characters are represented. Knowing that I’ve played just about, it not every, AAA subscription-based MMO that’s hit NA, it’s telling which games didn’t make the cut. Notably missing from the line up – Vanguard, Age of Conan, Star Wars, Pirates of the Burning Sea and Lord of the Rings Online.

Of the ones I selected, every picture has a story. Every image brings a smile to my face. I can recall exactly what I was doing and why for every pose. It’s easy to tell which games I preferred by the number of pictures I selected versus other games represented. I LOVE how it turned out!

I can’t wait to hang this in my home office. When I look up and see it, I’ll be transported to happy thoughts. I’ll breathe a little easier and exhale a sweet sigh. I don’t know about you, but I could use more moments like that in my day. If you or someone you know might be interested in having one done, I’ve posted buying options on our Etsy shop.

Visit with The Sisters

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sister Julie and Sister Fran from the No Prisoners No Mercy podcast recently.  As usual, I had a good time and plenty of laughs.

Jump on over the Virgin Worlds and give it a listen

http://www.virginworlds.com/podcast.php?show=26&ep=135

 

 

Long Time No Blog

I’m in a MMO gaming slump. Granted, I don’t have nearly as much free time to play but the time I do have, I guard carefully. My free-to-play journey with Sarzan stalled after Dragon’s Prophet. Arena Net’s strategy of providing temporary content has not interested me enough to return to GW2 either. I’ll be back if/when there’s an expansion pack. I need new levels, completely new zones, skills and crafting recipes. Until then, my adventures in Tyria are over – much to my disappointment. 

Final Fantasy IV wasn’t the Ticket

I was hoping, more like praying, that FFXIV would fill the void. It did for a short period of time. It’s a gorgeous game! I enjoyed the crafting and promise of player housing. My class quests were VERY interesting and fun. The main storyline quests are too. Unfortunately, that’s not the vast majority of leveling content and the rest is an utter bore. Ugh, so uninspired. The WORSE ESCORT QUESTS OF ALL TIME!! Escort quests are bad enough with NPCs who are in dire trouble yet walk slowly and deliberately into every dangerous mob they can find. FFXIV takes the cake however, because the NPC requires you to use the beckon emote every few steps to make them follow you. OMG, who thought that was a good idea??? I’ve done way too many emote quests, some back to back which makes me feel like they couldn’t even bother.

Indie Games, GW2 & FFXIV AAR

As you can imagine, my gaming time has been greatly curtailed since opening the store. Even when I do have down time, I’m so mentally exhausted, that I’m more apt to catch up on TV shows or watch a movie. I have done a bit of gaming here and there – whatever can be done in small spurts and without formal grouping.

Indie Gaming

MMOs are my games of choice. I play just about every Triple-A title when it releases. In most cases, having pre-ordered it. When I don’t have one of those to play, I look into console titles that the whole family might be interested in playing together for a spell. So while I’ve known of Steam, there’s been no occasion where it fit my gaming preferences and hence never checked it out. 

I was recently introduced to being a Steam consumer via gifted games from Sarzan. I received three games. I tried them all but only one really resonated with me. I think there’s a wee bit of disconnect between what he thinks I’d like for sure and what he thinks I ought to like. *smile*

Dragon’s Prophet, ROM’s Paler Cousin

 

I’ve been playing a bit of Dragon’s Prophet (DP), the new title from RuneWalker, who also developed Runes of Magic (ROM). I was enticed by player housing, where the homes are visible in the landscape and the promise of creating my own furniture much like I did in EQ2. I bought into one of the founder programs to secure a free house and some starter furniture. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn until I started playing that unlike ROM, player housing is end-game material and not something immediately available. Unfortunate, but not a deal breaker for me. 

Consus Cave - First Instance in Puretia

Sitting at level 13, I’ve moved past the starter zone into more active combat quests and have completed the Consus Cave, the first instance in the Puretia area. Consus was a bit underwhelming to say the least. While I did enjoy the fact that I could enter solo and complete the trash mob quests alone, the encounters were pretty bland. None of the special mechanics or orchestrated combat I expect when you take the time to instance an encounter. It was more of the same hack-n-slash quest material.

 

  

Many people slammed ROM for its generic watered down World of Warcraft feel. I liked it well enough. I enjoyed the housing. The crafting was decent and I liked the meta game of upgrading your armor. The daily quests were helpful in gaining XP. What I disliked most however, was the lack of combat against humanoids. I really get bored fighting beasts out in the wild! It’s so uninspiring.

Paler Version of ROM

From what I’ve seen so far, DP is a paler version of ROM. Hard to imagine you could make a ROM-like experience more generic, but apparently, you can. I do like the class I’ve selected. Taming a stable of dragons is appealing. As is the meta game of acquiring ones with different skills for different situations. I like that I can place them in the lair and send them out on errands (processes – that so needs a better, more RP name guys) like harvesting raw materials, training up their skills, etc. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mitigate the banality of the leveling experience. *sigh*

GW2: Taking a Break

I am officially on hiatus from GW2. Although I love me some Mesmer, what I was doing became too repetitive. I was crafting, saving up money and doing monthlies for no real reason. I had all the gear I wanted, maxed crafting and amassing gold just cuz. I need some dings, places areas to explore or new skills/specs to entertain me. I think my days of deep end game are over.

My patience and tastes have changed. If it’s not player housing or fun RP themed gear and items, I can’t be bothered. Running instances over and over to obtain gear with a few more stats or different skins doesn’t appeal to me anymore. My son is also moaning about not having any new gear to obtain or a bigger variety of weapons to chase. He has all the dungeons sets he wanted, Ascended items and WvW sets. My nephews have returned to their console games, only logging into GW2 occassionally.

Just as well, fair weather days are coming with other hobbies and activities. All the more reason to rejoice that GW2 has no monthly subscription. Neither my son, nephews nor I have to make that hand wringing decision to unsubscribe. We're F2P on when the mood strikes.   *Smile* I haven’t been back on since I started playing Tera Online. It ain’t no GW2 but it has new areas to explore, classes I haven’t played and dings to be had.

 

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Tera Online: Early Impressions Part 1 of 3

For the past few weeks, I've been playing Tera Online 1 to 2 evenings a week as a static duo with Sarzan, who is by the way, starting to blog on Spicy Funyun. For me, the idea is to surf F2P games until the next big surge of enthusiasm for GW2 aka an expansion, as filler. GW2 is my home for the foreseeable future but an alternative would be nice.

Despite having a list, of which Tera Online wasn't even included, that's where we've landed first.  I don't remember how that happened.  *Smile* Going in, I knew Tera Online wasn't targeted to players like me. I'm no FPS gamer. I've played a few in my day and have enjoyed them but I suck at them. I'm a die hard keyboard gamer. Me and PC games go way back.  Me and controllers, not so much.  So I can't blame the game for aspects that are awkward for me merely because I prefer to do most things with the keyboard. So I'll skip my opinion on those aspects for the most part.

It Ain't no Tyria

I don't know when I'll see the likes of GW2 Tyria graphics and detail again in another MMO.  It's incomparable, inspiring and stunning.  We do pay dearly for all this pomp and circumstance.  Large body combat can be an agonizing slide show. For me culling just added insult to injury.  Even so, gaming in Tyria's lush world that always feels alive, reminds me why I play fantasy games, in particular, MMOs.

Tera is somewhat of a generic fantasy MMO environment.  The art style feels a bit dated coming out of GW2.  It's not on the level of realism like Age of Conan, nor is it stylistic like Allods. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are "nice" but they're not really special.  There are elements that appeal to me. So far I've seen shire-like areas, woods and germanic style locations I'm partial to as zones. The human city is slightly industrial in a way that gives it a whisper of steampunk.

Beyond Aesthetics

For questing you have your bears, pigs and boars clustered in groupings that are all too familiar and doing nothing new - same old pathing and static behavior.  The zones themselves are very reminiscent of Runes of Magic.  If ROM wasn't your cup of tea, Tera won't impress you much either.  It doesn't feel like developers have come to terms with the sheer variety of choices we have now in the MMO space and that merely decent or "okay", isn't going to get you monthly subscribers anymore.

You will encounter some NPC and mob types I've not seen anywhere before, with details that are very nicely done. However, so far, it's back to questing in the wilds ala EQ1/2, WOW and the rest of the old guard.  This questing in the wilds leaves me flat.  I'm left wondering why I'm supposed to care what these creatures are doing out here amongst themselves?  The answer is I don't. For me, there's no sense of urgency in that questing model.  I don't bother with the quest text.  I'm merely a schlub grabbing tasks and managing a "To Do" list.

All that said, there are aspects of Tera that shine, such as the classes and other reasons that kept me moving past the starter area. Check back on Wednesday for part 2 of my early impressions and Friday for the conclusion.

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