Happy 10th Anniversary

Blizzard really put some effort into this anniversary. Brilliantly done. And what a mount!

Getting Started

Haven't looked forward to a new game like this in a while. Ready for Friday so starting what I can now…

Laziness Reaps Additional Rewards

I never picked up XCom: Enemy Unknown. I loved the original X-COM: UFO Defense back in 1994. Played it for a number of years. Some nostalgic barrier kept me away from the new one. Then last week I caught Gopher playing it and it changed my mind. Captures a lot of the spirit of the original with fun twists. Added to my Steam wishlist, figured it might come up in the next Summer Sale.

Here it is one week later and *bam*. Got the eMail that it is 75% off this week plus it was added to my library for three days so I can play it for free first. Perfect! Then I looked at my next eMail from GMG…

WHAT?! *lol* Hilarious. I was meant to play this game; not going to fight it anymore. Needless to say I got the voting done immediately and am now downloading it…

As to the voting I didn't really feel qualified to speak up in most of the categories. There are so many games that I haven't played. So many that I haven't even heard of. Just went with the ones I knew in most cases:

Good times.

World of Warcraft Patch 6.0.2: The Iron Tide

Finally time for some new content. While Mists of Pandaria was an enjoyable expansion it went on far too long. I assume it will happen with Warlords so this will likely be the last expansion I play World of Warcraft.

Recorded a quick video of parking my Hunter out by the Dark Portal. In retrospect that may not have been a good idea. It will be lag city so I may not be able to log into her first.

I should log into some of my other characters anyway. As I mentioned in the video I am most excited about the Toy Box. Silly as that sounds it's going to save me TONS of bag space and most of the awesome rare trinkets I've collected over the last decade are now available to all my toons.

Of course the removal of hit/expertise/reforging is a close second. Having more than fifteen characters across the two servers has been exhausting. It's going to be a lot easier to maintain raid-ready alts.

I'm concerned most about the tradeskills changes; seems like Blizzard trivializing all of them. Removing their bonuses along with giving all the basics to the garrison is strange. The only benefit to having a profession is the ability to make high-end crafted pieces. But there is so much competition and they're so easily replaced by raid drops... how is this going to work out? Guess I'll find out over the next few months.

The real dread is unavoidable: addons. *sigh* Many of the ones I use have been updated in the last week so hopefully the authors can keep up with whatever get actually released. I suppose the only critical addon I need is WeakAuras. If it dies there's are other addons out there but none with it's power and flexibility.

As to raiding, I'm not sure what's going on. I don't think I'll make the 20-cut on the top-tier team. Little ego damage but I'll get over it. I already have the mount anyway so I should be helping out the second team. Or third. Or whatever ends up happening. I do enjoy Eternal Kingdom but, as usual, I am certain I'll be hedging and raiding elsewhere.

Still Denied Moore Pride

Looks like my Warcraft problems persist...

Still doing the same thing. Shows that message for twenty seconds then disappears. Haven't gotten any replies on my forum post. There's another post with players having the same problem that I've commented on. It has two blue notes but it's the usual front-line techs suggesting a modem reset.

Pretty frustrating when I can see friends on my Battle.Net list that are logged in and doing things. Blizzard's twitter response this morning didn't help:

Naturally I had to respond and I even got a response back:

Not sure what is happening on Mal'Ganis specifically. Makes me wonder how their issues are tracked. And if one solution can help address other similar issues. Sure happy I don't work on the Blizzard Infrastructure Team but sure not happy I can't play the game. *snicker*

No You Will Not Proudmoore!

Would like to get some leveling done and a few of the Brewfest quests, but no!

Really annoying how the client doesn't say anything; it just tries for twenty seconds then gives up. I was annoyed enough to make a nuisance of myself. Posted on the forums then tweeted at Customer Service. Even tweeted another general bit of crying…

Ugh. Can log onto some #Warcraft servers but not the one I want. Client waits 20sec then gives up. :( http://t.co/x5nOpkVf6X
— Aenara (@aegamer) October 3, 2014

My Fishou

Had a Mage Dominate daily quest to do last night. Noticed AJ Sacher mention a deck that had worked well for him on the ladder. Hadn't heard about it but apparently TheFishou had some EU fun with it. Naturally I didn't bother looking up what it was supposed to do, I just tried to build it the best I could then headed on over to ranked play:

Sadly I'm missing a core card—Bloodmage Thalnos. It has spell power, death rattle, and card draw! *sigh* For now I'm subbing Haunted Creeper. Novice Engineer and Kobold Geomancer might also work. Stupid Legendaries. Crazy mage deck overall though. No Flamestrike! No Polymorph! No ... et cetera.

Anyway. With all the low cost cards it was obviously aggro. I'm still awkward with aggro since I like to keep the board clear; this made for good practice. Took eight games to win my five so that's an okay ratio. Biggest problem was a Priest who had every damn taunt in the game, early to mid, so I conceded. Came up against a ZooLock and a HandLock—destroyed them both. Fun deck.

Maybe ArcheAge in my Old Age

Just watched Kripparrian ramble on about why he won't be playing ArcheAge. He did research about how the game works which makes me feel good about passing on it. Right before release they changed they way Labor Potions worked—adding a Pay-to-Win element. I agree with Krip in that once a company makes this kind of decision there will be more bad decisions around the corner.

For me it was a little more basic than that. Land ownership is core to the game and it requires either a massive amount of effort or $50. That tells me it's not free-to-play. So removing the cooldowns on Labor Potions plus making crafting require more Labor Points didn't surprise me.

Crafting itself was the next deterrent for me. While detailed and complex normally creates a rich experience, to me it all seemed tedious. And if I'm bored with crafting I would be missing out on a large chunk of the game. Not like I could anyway… since I won't pay $50 I couldn't even own land anyway. Public plots? Yeah right.

The final "meh" for me is the PvP requirements. Too often I enjoy doing things on my own. And being forced into PvP even in leveling situations is not appealing. It really sealed the whole "This Game Isn't For Aenara" thing.

Which is too bad. They did do a number of things right. The class design is incredibly flexible and interesting. They have gliders. Their dynamic events aren't terribly interesting or original, but they do add spice. The UI was tolerable. And I have a couple of MMO friends that I never get to game with anymore who are playing it. *sigh*

Oh well. Maybe the next one.

It Better Be

I haven't had enough excitement or interest in a game to warrant pre-ordering in a couple of months now. Somehow the new Civilization got to me. Probably a combination of YouTube hype and the 25% off Green Man Gaming offered.

Just over three weeks to wait now. :(

That's An Angry Mount

The group I've been killing Heroic Garrosh with gives one of the Kor'kron Juggernauts out via loot council and the second as open roll. Last time I rolled a 7. The time before that I rolled a 13. But not last night...

I really don't deserve it. But I didn't protest and right-clicked on it in my bags as quick as I could. *snicker*

Hellscream's Downfall

When the ten man group I ran with broke up in January I figured my progression days were over. Burned out on tanking I'd been having fun doing damage. Unfortunately I don't really pull numbers that would get me in an upper tier raid group that is still raiding after a year in the Hell that is Siege of Orgrimmar. So I figured I'd never see Heroic Klaxxi dead let alone Garrosh.

Guess I was wrong.

DBM says I had 128 heroic wipes but I now have one victory!

The guild leader wants to see Garrosh on farm to make recruiting easier. More than two months until Warlords come out but this guy is really enthusiastic. I plan on staying involved through all of it. And shamelessly using the title on all my under-geared alts...

Caved In

I have plenty of game clients: Steam, Battle.Net, Glyph, and Capsule. Everyone hates EA so I resolved to never bother with Origin until today...

And what finally convinced me? Free stuff. As usual I got suckered in by nostalgia...

So yeah. Wing Commander III of all things. And one more way for EA to dig at me.

Day One of ArcheAge Closed Beta 2

Been able to spend some time in ArcheAge and managed to successfully stifle most of the yawns. Naturally I started by stripping my Adult-race (Nui?) character to see what sort of assets I'm working with.

Needless to say I was disappointed. Great bis/tris with decent pecs atop fairly well-defined abs that suddenly taper into nothing. While Asians stereo-typically don't bulge all that much I found this utter lack disturbing. Genital stealth aside the riveted, square-cut briefs are quite strong and able to support a typical sword/dagger combo with little trouble.

The nethers-hole criticism may be unfair since I was really impressed with how effeminate and adorable the males were in Final Fantasy XIV. Some part of me had assumed that was a standard for Asian MMOs and was bemoaning the fact that I've only played Western MMOs. Dammit. Still… I'm hoping that the Undergarments slot will help somewhere down the road.

There are lots of global channels full of amusing commentary which help keep one awake. I often contributed with bold statements like "This is FarmVille© China®" or outrageous claims, such as "I got my money's worth since I haven't paid anything for this shit." Of course such humor was lost amidst comments stating "The romance in the story line is better than Twilight" or pleas for help "Where I grow horse?"

The story has been almost coherent after the translation. Have to admit I even got caught up in some of the subtlety they threw in. Such as Masden here.

Masden is obviously concerned for his would-be lover's mental state seeing as the HORSE'S ASS IN HIS FACE doesn't even phase him. Apparently he feels threatened by the other woman, Sloane. Masden is eager for me to take Sloane's ring away so Malcolm can "relax" in Masden's home.

Unfortunately I had to kill Malcolm. Thankfully I didn't have to face Masden's amorous wrath since Village Elder Humphrey saw Malcolm attack me first. The Elder wrote me up a letter explaining everything so I could go tell Malcolm's foster mother that, although I slaughtered her foster son, it was only in self-defense. She'll be giving me 1170xp, 2sp 9cp, and a Gilda Star for doing this.

So yeah. Questing is the standard, hub-based shit. The usual kill 'X' sewer rats then "Oh, take this paper to my boss in the next town." bread crumbs. They have done a good job getting me familiar with the game though. Introducing combat, magic, skills, etc. There have been a few quests that allow extra kills to earn you extra rewards. Quests can also be turned in early for lesser reward. There are also some hidden kill or collect quests. But meh. Hackneyed and typical.

The rewards showcase the F2P experience. After my "hard work" I'm given unidentified gifts that I need to spend "Labor Points" to identify. Once identified the items can be used or sold.

Not sure how Labor Points work entirely yet. Chat tells me that I get some every five minutes that I'm online. But if I'm a Patron they are also earned while offline. Also, as a free player I can only have up to 2000 LPs while a Patron can have 5000. LPs are going to be key as they're used in gathering, crafting, growing, etc. The F2P pressures are real.

Still not completely sure how all the growing works. I did the introduction quests for the Blue Salt Brotherhood and ultimately earned a Scarecrow Garden Design. Trade Master Edward sent me off to pick-a-plot and get-to-grow'in. Unfortunately Edward forgot to check my F2P status. Finding a nice chunk of dirt and trying to Scarecrow it up resulted in an unseemly ERROR MESSAGE informing me land is only claimable by Patrons.

Not having much access to raw materials I also am unsure how crafting works. It seems pretty easy to find the crafting stations as they have fantasy-theme BLUE LASER BEAMS that draw your attention.

Apparently there are also special regional crafting stations that can produce exotic goods that are in high demand in far-off lands (where the Kitty and Child races are, most likely). Can see the draw since it would be killer fun to place raw lumber and watch the BLUE LASER BEAMS transform them into Bizzle Charm Rice Lamps with 50 or so Labor Points.

The horses seem to work okay. They have their own XP and gain a few things when they level. Now that my Gray Lilyut Horse is level 11 she allows me to make a mounted attack. At level 25 things get serious with a charge. Horses also have three gear slots and I already received Shabby Pet Legguards that grant +5% movement.

Upon leaving the ranch with my freshly grown mount I was naturally rather excited. Riding bareback I think the animal sensed this (impressive given my limited genitalia). I was INNOCENTLY checking out the rear equipment and placed a steadying hand on the animal's rump. Let's just say the horse got more than a little nervous. I'm not sure what kind of or how much attention mounts are given in this land, but I recommend careful concern when riding one. At least until you have a saddle.

As skittish as the horse was at least you could steer it. Around level 7 I was given a rowboat to run a FedEx quest. All you can do is move it forward and backward! Oh, and there's a little paper lantern you can turn off and on. Useless! I was so frustrated I didn't even take a screenshot. What I ended up doing was dismounting then facing 90° off the quest indicator. I could then summon the boat and it would be aimed correctly. Maybe there's a specific keybind for rudder control but it wasn't intuitive. And there was no handy Tutorial window popping up to inform me I was being a dipshit.

As to the class definitions I really like how it's all skill based. Started in Shadowplay since Rogues. Then added Archery to be a pussy and shoot things from afar. And finally level 10 added Battlerage so that once something gets close they would be dyin'. This combo apparently makes me an "Outrider." Really smooth. Also the skills are immediately available based on level. So no taking 3 lame filler abilities to get to the one you want. Must be a nightmare to balance this.

I noticed a few times some sort of event happening. Yet another world where people think that resurrecting really evil dead things is a good idea…

At first I thought, "Oh hey, am I in a Bethseda game?" Then I remembered China's blatant disregard for copyright. Trion is publishing this game in the Capitalist world so maybe they just overlooked the combination of RIFT and a classic Elder Scrolls game. In fact, this reminds me… I wonder if J.K. Rowling would be pissed if she saw their mail system…

Oh well. I'm sure her team of lawyers will handle all that.

So after a day of wandering and sniffing, I'm not terribly impressed. I am a member of social guild that is rabidly excited for release so I'm going to spend more time figuring out what my level of involvement will be. Apparently each race has a different main story so I might try the Child-race (Haranas?). Have to be careful equipping them as I doubt it would be legal to undress them.

Enough stalling. *sigh* Back to the chat involving Panty Raid invites and hairy vaginas…

Sometimes It Just Works

Been playing with different Constructed decks. It's been a little frustrating at time but I have learned a number of things. And there have been some laughs...



This video is based on a Bouncy Rogue deck that I tweaked. Also tried some Priest Zoo and Rogue Tim. Still haven't found "my" deck.

Poking Around Draenor

Got a beta invite a while back but it was impossible to stay logged in very long so I gave up. Trying again today. Actually got a hunter leveled up to 91. Got my base started. And tamed my first new pet...

General Down Quickly

Joined a guild on a different, higher population server. They got Heroic Garrosh down two weeks ago and are already looking towards WoD. One way they're trying to ramp-up recruitment is to work on ranking strats to attract new bodies. It was a little rough but we did get a server top time on a Nazgrim kill. Looking forward to pushing other fights...