Any recommendations?

Are there any offline games with a good co-op mode? Offline co-op specifically. I just got Dragon Age Inquisition and was disappointed to discover that the co-op mode is online only (or I'm doing something wrong, but I think it's online only).

Reason being that I've always wanted to play a co-op game with my boyfriend. He doesn't have a internet connection that he can use with his Xbox at his house, and he doesn't get to my house very often because my dad is intimidating (really friendly and not really intimidating, but he is menacing looking, I suppose)

My favorite kinds of games are, of course, MMOs, but his internet connection is not sturdy enough to be able to play with me, plus he's a bit antisocial and doesn't really want to be playing with a bunch of people, but we'd really like to be able to play together.

Competitive games are out. We have plenty of those, but neither of us is very competitive and we'd rather play together, not against each other.

So far the games we are able to play together are:

• WWE 2K14 (so long as we are playing as both males or both females, or one of us plays and the other plays the referee)
• Borderlands (Shooters aren't really up my alley and this game frustrates him as well; like the loot system though!)
• Pokemon Rumble (super fun, but we can only play it at my house)
• Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (Battle Maison Multi-Battles. Not really co-op like I prefer, of course)
• Diablo III (Gore levels make us both a bit ill)
• Goat Simulator (again, not co-op like I'd like)
• Left 4 Dead I-don't-know-what-number (Zombies are scary)

Inquisition seemed ideal since there's even tanks and healers, and I would have loved that but he just doesn't have a stable internet connection.

So, does anyone  know of any games that are co-op, offline, and you know, kind of like MMO format? And preferably not zombies and something with a gore filter if necessary, would be nice. I know it's awfully specific. But I can dream, right?

The systems we have access to are:

Xbox 360, Gamecube, PS2, Wii, all Gameboy/DS versions

We can do system link on the xbox as well as we both have one.

Back to FFXIV

I've been back into FFXIV as of late.
I'm afraid I have been indoctrinated by the Lalafells, as I am now playing a Lala myself.

My character is Poposhu Poshu on the Midgardsormir server. I am currently only a level 10 Conjurer, and I likely will be for some time as I intend to level up most of the professions a bit before continuing on (storyline quests + Conjurer = not all that fun, really, plus, I still really like Archer/Bard).

Anyway, my Lala is adorable and I'm taking my time leveling through and all that.


As for my little upset episode last week, I have made the decision to drop out of animation and instead look at what the local state college has to offer (my only real option is the state college as it is the only place I can commute to). Thinking about Computer Science right now, but I'm not going to worry about it until after Christmas.
All I know is that Animation was not the right choice for me (at least, not formal classes for it. I would still like to pursue it as a hobby, maybe make YouTube videos or something, but I do not think I have the artistic talent to pursue it professionally, and I don't like the job outlook either, so continuing on), so I feel rather relieved and stressed at the same time. Relieved to be out of a stressful situation, and newly stressed because I am dreading doing the application process again, not to mention taking all those gen-eds that animation school did not require. Oh, and I'll have to probably take remedial classes before I can even get into a school because my high school did not give us the opportunity to take the necessary classes (I like to tell the story about how they were offering Physics, but I was the only one who actually signed up, so it was cancelled and I was placed in a study hall instead).
So, new chapter. College Attempt Number 3!

Rather frustrated!

First of all, before I start this: I've still got a ton of leftover Sylveons, so I'll be sending those out intermittently throughout the next week or so. If you didn't get one today, it's possible you'll get one at any time this week. Probably not during the day tomorrow or Sunday, as my boyfriend's house does not have wi-fi, but I'll likely send them out in rather large batches once I get home at around 9:30 PM EST or so.

Anyway, I'm frustrated and just need to vent for a minute, but bear with me.

I've come to the conclusion that an art career is not for me. I didn't go into animation expecting a full-on art career; I went in knowing that learn programs quickly and that doing 3D modeling and rigging sounded interesting, but the fact of the matter is that there is a LOT more traditional art skills involved in that then I initially though, and I am not a particularly artistically inclined woman.
But, I'm also definitely not a mathematically inclined person either. I have an interest in physics, but I am very aware that physics is not a realistic major for me in any way because I'd need a few years of just remedial math before I could even apply or a physics course, so that's pretty much out.
What I am is technologically inclined. Put a computer in front of me and ask me to fix a problem and I'm good. I always have been. My dad has been working in tech support for 25+ years and we've always had way more computers than necessary around because my dad likes to keep up with all the new computers (I myself have...7, maybe? Including one wicked old one running Windows 98, another rather old one running Windows XP, my Windows 7 one which recently permanently died, and one Mac). I learned how to type before I could spell very well. I've been known to do thing such as yell the step to fix a problem from the bathroom without seeing the computer. I've been praised for typing extremely quickly. I've also been told that I have immense patience for computers, which is silly. That kind of stuff.

And I'm frustrated 1) because I don't want to reapply to yet another school (especially since I don't think my credits will transfer and my highschool did not allow me to even remotely reach college-acceptance minimums for credits, and 2) I don't know what sort of career path I should be looking at. What fits the skillset of someone who is great with computers, but not all that good at anything else (I run a video game blog and I'm not even really good at video games!). It seems like a useful skill, but I'm really not finding it all that useful to find a career path to match. So it's frustrating.

Sylveon Wonder Trade Giveaway!

All day today I will be putting Modest Sylveons through Wonder Trade.

Can't guarantee the IVs, but they should be pretty clean EV wise. They will all be level 9 and with different TM moves on each + Fairy Wind. They were all leveled up to 9 exclusively on Remoraids, so any EVs they have are in Special Attack. I can also 100% guarantee that they are Modest because I put an Everstone on my Modest Eevee that I'm breeding, so yes, it will definitely be Modest.

So, if you get a Modest Sylveon with OT Jennya, that would be one from me! Yay!

They will be sent out in batches of five before I have to go make more Sylveons/do homework.

I'm atoning for the fact that I spammed Wonder Trade with Wailmers the other day because I'm a horrible person.

DCUO Characters

I just realized that I never did post pictures of my DCUO characters!

This is Toyosatomimi, my level 30 Nature power Hero. Not doing much with her because I'm having trouble healing with Nature. My pheromones aren't showing up where they're supposed to, so I can't tell if they are working or not.

This is Lady Elza, my Electricity power hero, level 12. Hoping to learn to heal with her instead. I also just got that purple aura out of a promethium lockbox, and I know it doesn't really match her color scheme, but I really wanted to use it, and I've been playing her more than Toyosatomimi.

 As for what I'm up to right now:

In between schoolwork (Art Fundamentals = Tons of work), Pokémon Omega Ruby, and leveling my Electricity hero here, I've been working on a newbie guide for DCUO.

I am really, really happy with DCUO right now. Level 30 being the cap is great for me, because I can realistically reach it with any alts I make. The monthly subscription is working well for me, and it gives me all the DLCs, tons of bank space, and plenty of space for alts. Acrobatics is super fun. I really like the sound of the healing style (haven't really gotten to try it yet because I can't figure out Nature Pheromones). The game feels like it has just the right amount of casual content and hardcore raiding. If I feel like raiding, I can go do that, or I can do 4 man dungeons, duos, or solo challenges. I'm inspired to log on every day to do my Joker Vault and maybe a solo challenge. Exobit farming in-between queues doesn't sound so bad, and scaling buildings is a cinch with Acrobatics. Gearing up seems simple enough. There's lots of builds for trait trees, and I don't feel like I'd really be gimping myself by picking one of the less popular builds (so long as I'm hitting the important things, like Restoration on my healer). Being able to keep the stats of my good gear and still wear the style of any gear I like (with no fee, I might add) is perfect. The healing classes are interesting and unique (I never thought of a class that heals by shooting electricity!). The idea of the Controller role is interesting. Auras are shiny. Plot is interesting enough. Players seem helpful enough, as far as online games go.

Oh! And I just set up a guild: "Touhou." If anyone would like to join up, just let me know either here, on in-game on Toyosatomimi or Lady Elza.

Where have I been?

Playing Pokémon Omega Ruby, of course!

I've already beaten the main game and I'm currently in the middle of the Delta Story.

Story-clearing is on pause for today though because the best thing is going on in my game.

After you beat the main storyline (take care of Groudon/Kyogre), you will receive an Eon Flute from Steven Stone. This allows you to Soar with Latias/Latios.

As you soar, you may see glowing red things. If you head to those, you'll find a secret Mirage area, some of which contain Legendaries, and others contain random wild Pokémon.

Well, one of my Mirages today contains only Audinos and Sunkerns.

I will have a full team of level 100s by the end of the day.

All of these Pokémon were raised 100% in this game (except Meowstic who transferred up from Y after the 8th gym, at level 74 or so), with no assistance. The Meowstic was also levelled with no assistance, except most of it's leveling was done in Y, but still by me!

Meowstic was my first ever level 100 Pokémon that I myself raised, so it's huge for me. This will be my first time having a level 100 team.

Pokémon:

Meowstic
Sceptile
Altaria
Dusclops (need to beat Delta Story to get a Reaper's Cloth)
Golem
Whiscash

I would also like to add that all of these except Sceptile were Pokémon that I always wanted and never got to level up due to various reasons (never got around to it, never managed to find one, etc.)

Basically, this is a really big deal.

Oh, and if you have any questions about what to do for some parts of the game, feel free to ask me. I can probably answer most things. I can also give tips! Yay!

I have been playing WoD!

Sorry for lack of updates; I've been busy playing WoD!

Tanaris-Greymane isn't super crowded, so queue times weren't bad at the beginning of the week. I was trapped in my Garrison for about two days though.

Toyosatomimi is currently level 98, leveling up decently. I've had fun, although Nagrand isn't as fun for me, as, say, Spires of Arak was. Or Talador. Or even Shadowmoon Valley. Nagrands just...I don't even know, but it's not as fun.

Just got Theeriyi through the Dark Portal. Specifically because I want her on Draenor / I want her to build a Stable in her Garrison so I can collect mounts.

Thinking of working on another character or playing DCUO at the moment. Want to heal some dungeons, but I don't have the confidence on Toyosatomimi (on either game, actually).

Still Enjoying DCUO

I think my lovely Nature Hero is level 28 (maybe 29, I can't remember), so I'm nearly max level. For a while there, I thought I had cured my addiction to making new characters, but perhaps not. The more research I do about Nature healing, the less I'm liking it, and the more I'm liking the idea of Celestial and Lightning healing. Perhaps even Sorcery. I don't know, Nature healing just doesn't sound fun to me. I wish I could find a good comparison of them all. It doesn't take long to level up to 30 so long as you aren't messing around too much, it seems, and I have a subscription now, so bag space and such isn't as much of an issue as it was (and I have access to all powers).

Ah well, I have plenty of time to decide what to do while the game is down for maintenance today :)

DC Universe First Impressions

Surprise! I've been messing around on an MMO!
Yeah, yeah. I know. Not a surprise.

Let me just preface this by saying that I have extraordinarily minimal knowledge of superheroes as a general thing. I like Disney's The Incredibles, but that's about it. When I was a really, really little girl I apparently was obsessed with Batman, but I don't remember that, so it doesn't count. I can kind of recognize some Superheroes/Villains, but until yesterday, if you asked me their name I wouldn't have known. I've been playing this game for just a little more than 24 hours, and I'm starting to learn names and such. I don't really know what's going on though.

I have a level 15 Hero. Her power is Nature, specializing in Plants. Mentor is Wonder Woman. Uses a Bow for a weapon. Movement ability is Acrobatics. Name is Toyosatomimi, so say hi if you see me around!

I'm actually really enjoying it, and considering buying a subscription for a month or so (mainly because I need character slots badly).

I'll do a more in-depth review at some point, once I understand what I'm doing.

Touhou EX Stages

You know, I always thought that if I ever reached an EX stage in Touhou, it would be in Ten Desires, since it was the first one that I beat and it always seemed like the easiest one to me.

But nope! Just got EX stage unlocked in Imperishable Night of all games. Yuyuko+Youmu team = OP.

On top of that, I beat Byakuren (and Shou!) for the first time a couple days ago as well, so I'm on a roll right now.

Do you think if I go and attempt Mountain of Faith I will finally get past Kanako? I think she's the only one I haven't completed yet, aside from EoSD (because Hong Meiling kicks my butt in EoSD).

EoSD I can only reliably get just past Hong Meiling, but I usually perma-die during Patchouli's stage. I got past Patchouli once and then died promptly against Sakuya, but I haven't managed to kill Patchouli since. Have never seen Remilia.

PCB...I know I can get TO the Prismriver Sisters fairly reliably, then from there it's pretty much just luck for me. I got past them once, then died on Youmu. Then I managed to get past Youmu, and died on Yuyuko. So I've technically seen Yuyuko, I just haven't beaten her because Youmu stole all my lives.

Imperishable Night I just beat Eirin and then I played through again and beat Kaguya, and now I'm working on Mokou (and failing, I might add. The state itself isn't that difficult, but Keine is mean).

MoF I can get to Kanako pretty reliably. Then Kanako's stage takes all my lives before I get to her, and it makes me sad. And then I get onbashra'd.

Subterranean Animism makes me angry because I can get to Utsuho's final spell card, but I'm always out of lives by then. I can get up to Orin before it all goes downhill, and then Orin adds insult to injury by killing me again during Utsuho's stage.

UFO I just beat the other day. Nazrin's stage is easy. Kogasa's is harder, but not that difficult. I maybe lose a life when she starts shooting umbrellas. Ichirin likes to hurt me, and that's where I lose all my bombs. Murasa is kind of laughable, and I've done her stage + her with no lives before. Shou is mean and I still don't know how I got past her (that said, I think I can do most of her spells fairly reliably now, because I've been practicing, but that one with the spinny green laser is what I save bombs for). Her stage is actually fun now though. Kind of relaxing. Byakuren's stage is not much harder than Shou's, and I actually find Byakuren easier than Shou as a whole (maybe because I beat her on my first day of trying, rather than Shou who took me months?).

Ten Desires is fun. I occasionally lose a life against Yoshika, but not usually. Seiga is kind of easy, so is Futo. Miko is easier than Byakuren and Kanako, but I think Kaguya was easier than Miko.

DDC is weird for me. Wakasagihime is easy, and so is Sekibanki (only one spell card gives me mild difficulty). Kagerou has one troublesome spell but is easy otherwise. Tsukumo sisters kick my butt, especially Benben, so I try to avoid playing as a character with their weapon so that she is not the actual boss. Seija Kijin is easy except for when she flips the screen, plus one spell as a midboss for her stage. I've gotten about halfway through Shinmyoumaru Sukuna, and she's pretty difficult. The problem with her isn't that she's necessarily hard, but that Yatsuhashi and Seija Kijin took all my lives before I get to her.

Ok, now time to take a break and play WoW for a bit while my hands relax. Leveling zones are so crowded right now that it's frustrating. Having fifteen other players trying to kill the same mob as you is kind is rather trying.

Day 3

I can't tell if the stat squish got better or not. On the plus side, my level 31 Shaman isn't dying whenever she attacks something (haven't checked my Mage though), on the downside, soloing on my 90 appears to have gotten harder? I don't know, I didn't really expect to get killed in Firelands against the first set of trash. Kind of thought I'd make it a little farther, you know?

Do we know if those rolling restarts a few hours ago fixed the issue the Blood Elf starting zone was having? The one where the Mana Wyrms were 1-shotting level 1s? I hope that was fix. Poor Blood Elves.

I'm still happy with the models. Even the female Tauren are growing on me, honestly.
Quite frankly, it's disturbing me immensely that people are saying that the female Night Elves look "fat." There is no fat on those ladies. It's rather disturbing that people are seeing fat on them. I think they look great.

Going back to either leveling something or soloing dungeons, since I can still apparently handle those no problem.

Day 2

I see what the issue with leveling is now. Once you're at level 20 or so things get a difficulty spike. Ow. Can't do any quests on my level 41 Mage, and my level 30 Shaman is barely getting by. Pre-level 20 is fine-ish.

On the plus side, levels 90s are great for soloing. Perhaps too great? Not complaining, but it's a bit crazy. It felt awesome though.

Achievements I got today by soloing with a Shadow Priest that I don't necessarily know how to play perfectly, and who has never stepped foot in a raid with other people:

Heroic: Hour of Twilight
Heroic: Well of Eternity
Heroic: End Time
(I didn't realize that I was doing a dungeon until I started fighting Echo of Baine. I didn't realize the quest I was doing was a dungeon, since I'd never done it before. Only when I saw the Echos was I like "Ohhh, I'm in End Times.")
Moon Guard (The other Echo I got was Tyrande, obviously)

The rest of these are all Icecrown Citadel (10 player). I got up to the Lich King, although he ultimately killed me.

All You Can Eat
The Frostwing Halls
The Crimson Hall
The Orb Whisperer
Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion...
The Plagueworks
Flu Shot Shortage
Storming the Citadel
I'm on a Boat
Boned

And, I think that's it.

Oh, and I got my Explorer achievement today too, so I'm super happy!

WoW Warlords of Draenor Prepatch First Impressions

Let me preface this with two things:
1. I did not do the pre-expansion quest chain during the beta, so it was 100% new to me, along with some other things I hadn't messed with yet, like the Toybox and the new Reagents system and storage.
2. I'm a great big beam of sunshine-y happiness compared to the WoW forums today. Expect very little negativity here. I'm completely satisfied.


Now that that's over with, what do I think about the prepatch?

• My characters look great, for the most part. Toysatomimi needed a hair/hair color change. My Draenei needed complete makeovers (especially Gensokyo. Her skin color isn't quite the same as it was, and it's not matching with any hair colors, really). The only models that I have problems with are the female Draenei and female Tauren. The rest I'm pretty good with. I love human females, in particular.
• The prepatch quests were decent. I was hoping they'd be short, and they were. I really wasn't feeling up to a whole long chain. It wasn't a bad questline by any means. Not the most exciting, but not the most boring either.
• My Shadow Priest is feeling great. Level-up glyphs have really helped me out.
• I messed with some of my lower leveled characters, and I'm having no issues fighting things whatsoever. If anything, it seems like I'm downing things in fewer shots than yesterday.
• Stat-squish has somehow made it feel like I'm doing more damage than before. I might just be confused and out-of-touch with numbers though.
• I'm a big fan of the ability pruning. All the skills I lost on my Shadow Priest weren't that important to me. The only one I was mildly sad about was Renew, but I understand why it's gone, and Desperate Prayer makes up for it. I still have Power Word: Shield, so I'm good.
• The game itself doesn't feel like it's changed much. The nicer models are a plus, although not all that noticeable unless you're specifically looking out for them.
• Toybox sounds great. I don't have many toys, so I haven't really gotten to mess with it. That, and whenever I try to put a toy in my game crashes, but I'm 100% certain that'll be fixed soon.
• I LOVE THE NEW REAGENTS SYSTEM. IT IS AMAZING. So many shiny new tabs to keep all my cloth in! And the Reagents stack to 200! DO YOU KNOW HOW AMAZING THAT IS?! Toyosatomimi's bank was previously completely full of cloth with no space for anything else. I have so much free bank space now!
• I've already finished the prepatch questchain, so I've got my shiny new title and less exciting pet. I'm kind of obsessed with attempting to collect titles at the moment, so I love having a new, easy to get one at the moment!
• Warlord's Deathwheel looks great, even if it is mildly obnoxious sounding.
• My only character that is legitimately ruined is this random level 5 Orc Warrior I have on Nazgrel named "Beautyitself." Well, her, and a level 15 Tauren Shaman on Nazgrel. But that's because I think the female Tauren model is...lacking.
• Quintella is looking great. I also feel like the only person who actually really likes the new Female Forsaken run animation...

Was logging on this afternoon a pain? Certainly. I didn't expect it to be a smooth login process. My game patched fairly quickly. It did get stuck at one point, but a quick restart of my computer fixed that. My game got stuck at Connecting (not surprising; it did that to me in the beta as well), but Run as Administrator cleared that problem right up.

All my vital addons are up and running. Lag isn't terrible, especially since the Blasted Lands don't appear to be CRZ (that, or only Tanaris-Greymane players were playing today, which seems unlikely, as we're often CRZ with Stormrage).

All in all, I am extremely pleased. I can go back to my leveling in peace, and my characters will look better doing it! That, and the leveling zones are fairly quiet today since everyone's busy on their 90s. Heehee.

GamerWaltz Tips for New and Returning WoW Players

Trying out or coming back to World of Warcraft with the advent of Warlords of Draenor?

Starting out fresh has likely never been easier, with simpler systems and less overwhelming amounts of buttons to press. If you're just now returning, then there are a lot of changes in store for you.

So, I decided to write a guide. Figured it's a good time, since the pre-patch for WoD is coming tomorrow. Basically, it's just going to be a long list of basic things to know, tips and tricks, opinions, and I'll post another thing after this about picking a class.


I hope it helps someone!


1. In general, don't buy expansions in advance. If you're a new player, the Battlechest will get you up to level 80. You don't need Cataclysm until you're level 80, Mists of Pandaria until you're level 85, and Warlords of Draenor until level 90. The only exceptions to this is if you want to play a Monk (which I believe requires Mists) or if you want to boost your character (again, requires Mists, and you'll need WoD. WoD also comes with a free level 90 boost). Never mind. All expansions except for WoD are now included in the $19.99 package, making the game considerably more affordable.
to
2. Don't boost a character until you've gotten to level 60. This allows you to have your professions raised along with your level. More importantly, it will give you time to get used to the game. Rushing straight to level 90 isn't doing anyone, including yourself, any favors. Take your time and learn the game before boosting to level cap.

3. Try to stick to only one class at first (I'm a terrible role-model, I know). It's okay to level up a bunch of classes to level 10 or so to try them out, but it's important that you stick to one and get to max level with it. Pick the one you like best. I'll have more information about choosing your class in another post.

4. When you get to max level, it may be a good idea to save up so you can splurge on Heirloom gear. Heirlooms make it easier to level up subsequent characters because they give you an experience and power boost. If you plan on leveling more characters, Heirlooms are a must after your first level 90!

5. Don't buy gear from NPC vendors early on. Most of the time the name of the gear is colored gray, which means that it's junk. Even if the gear has a green name, it is more prudent to not purchase it. You'll earn plenty of green-name gear from questing.

6. Do try queuing for dungeons during your early levels. If you hate them, you don't have to do them often. Do them at least a couple times though. If you ever feel like doing dungeons/raiding at max level, you'll likely feel a bit more comfortable having done some easier ones in the past. It's better to go into a raid knowing a tiny bit of what to expect, rather than nothing at all.

7. Don't try tanking or healing on your first character. It may sound like a lot of fun, but it's probably better off to get the traditional questing over first, get heirlooms, and then try it. Heirlooms will make it easier, and DPS is the simplest role to start with. Tanking and healing can be very stressful, and other players can be very disrespectful towards them with little provocation.

8. You get your first talent point at level 15. You'll get another talent point at level 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and, once WoD hits, 100. Talents are basically like extra skills you can choose to have, or things that augment already existing skills.

9. Starting on 10/14/14, essential Major Glyphs will be automatically taught to you, and you can apply them without spending anything. You can purchase any other Glyphs you may need (including Minor Glyphs) off of other players through the Auction House (which can be found in any racial capital). Glyphs are what you can use to augment your skills and customize. Some classes may have more Major Glyphs that are considered "required" than others. Minor Glyphs are generally for aesthetic purposes only, although there are some with legitimate uses.

10. To figure out what talents, glyphs, and stats you need, I recommend checking out your class on Icy Veins. You can generally find your class by searching on a search engine like this: icyveins [spec] [class]. So, for example, I can search "icyveins shadow priest," or "icyveins windwalker monk." Acronyms for your spec and class often work as well, such as "icyveins demo lock." This website will tell you everything you need to know about builds and your ability rotation.

11. When you first get into the game, there are a couple of settings you'll probably want to set up. If you go into your options menu, and then Interface, there's a whole bunch of options to mess with. Under Controls, there's an option for Auto Loot. You may want to make sure that has a check next to it. It makes picking up items that much simpler. Under ActionBars, I highly advise checking on Bottom Left Bar, Bottom Right Bar, Right Bar, and Right Bar 2. As well as Lock ActionBars. I keep my Pick Up Action Key on SHIFT, which means I can move the skills on my bars by holding down Shift and then clicking. Finally, some may want to go into Social and turn on the Mature Language Filter and Spam Filter.

12. Always log out in an Inn. Having a Rested bonus really helps in leveling, and you'll learn to appreciate it.

13. Try to participate in seasonal events. A lot of them give useful bonuses and items. Also, you may want them someday.

14. Do your Darkmoon Faire games every month. You'll regret not having enough prize tickets when you actually want something (like heirlooms!). You can get to Darkmoon Faire through a portal in Goldshire (Alliance) or right by Thunder Bluff (Horde). I think all the racial capitals have Darkmoon Mages who will teleport you there for a fee as well.

15. Speaking of Darkmoon Faire, you don't have to run back to the Cannon whenever you play the Cannon game. There's a Gnome fishing right near the target. Talk to him to have him teleport you back for a fee.

16. You don't have to do every single quest. For the most part, it's okay to leave a zone when you reach the maximum recommended level for it (i.e. leaving Westfall at level 15). That said, you will miss out on a bit of storyline, completion, and you'll have more backtracking if you ever decide that you want the Loremaster achievement.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'll likely add more later.

Really enjoying my Mage

My Mage is now level 43.
Not much else to say except that I'm really enjoying Arcane.

I always read that Arcane was boring, but I'm really, really enjoying it!

Introducing my level 30 Mage :)

I've been leveling a Mage today. Having a bit of fun with it, which is new, because I hadn't been enjoying Mages recently.

I figured out why!
I had been thinking that Fire sounded like a fun spec, but I respecced to Arcane at about level 26, and it's a much better fit. My original Mage (level 47 or so) was Arcane, and I enjoyed her, so I guess this makes sense, right?

I'm pretty sure that I'm a terrible Mage. I die if I'm not careful, and I have to eat after nearly every enemy. I got Temporal Shield as my level 30 talent because IcyVeins said to, but I really don't like it. It hasn't helped me at all. I'm thinking of switching to Flameglow, because the passive absorb sounds much better than a 4 second shield that I can only activate every 25 seconds. Temporal Shield just isn't working for me. Plus, I think it wasn't there on the beta, so I'll only have it for, what, three more days until the pre-patch hits?
Yeah, switching to Flameglow.

Presence of Mind (the level 15 talent) is another one that is giving me issues. It was super useful as Fire, so I could actually get a Pyroblast off every once in a while. I just reread the IcyVeins for Arcane, and it turns out that the reason why it isn't useful is because it's not advised for Arcane (I still had it left over from Fire spec). I knew Ice Floes sounded more useful!

Anyway, I can't tell if I'm just a bad Mage, or if Mages are just THAT squishy to the point where I need to eat after every enemy, and just barely make it though "boss" enemies. In Stonetalon there's a quest where you have to kill three Horde generals in a row, and let's just say that I died in between each one. I'd kill one, the next would spawn and kill me. Run back to my body, eat, attack the next one, and repeat.

I'm mildly worried for the prepatch in a couple days. I've been reading mixed things about how leveling goes. On beta, I only leveled a low level to about 5 or so, with no issues whatsoever. From what I'm reading, the trouble doesn't start until a bit later. I'm hoping it won't be too difficult. On the forums people were saying that it's similar to Lich King leveling (except faster, obviously, because Cata).
I started playing in Lich King. I did not enjoy leveling in Lich King.

My gear is bad, I think. I haven't been getting many upgrades from quests or anything, sadly.
Haven't gotten any glyphs yet because I'd just assume wait until the prepatch (are the auto-learning glyphs coming then too? I can't remember).

Gear:

Tattered Dreadmist Mask, Northwatch Amulet, Faerie Mantle, Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak, Falathim-Washed Robes, Negotiator's Armbands, Narassin's Gloves, Singleton Sash, Tattered Dreadmist Leggings, Quiet Slippers, Jalin's Recompense, Mine Sealer's Ring, Earthborn Staff

I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten a new staff since Darkshore. Just saying.
And yes, I know my necklace has Strength on it, thank you. It's the only necklace I've got through questing so far. Figured I might as well equip it since it has Stamina on it, at least. I will of course swap it out for something with Intellect as soon as I get something with Intellect.

Things that I'm most excited about for WoD

Just wanted to make this list. Please be aware that I am far from a hardcore player, and have no delusions of being one (okay, maybe delusions, but I know I'm not). I know that some (perhaps a lot) of people will not agree with my opinions. That's fine. I like these things. You don't have to :)

Oh, and these are in no particular order.

• New Human Female models. I know people don't like the new faces, but I love them. The faces have so much more emotion! The high-eyebrows don't bother me too much, and the old faces just never had any personality to me. I mean, a couple of them did, but things get old when you use the same face for every character, which was what I was doing. These ones are all slightly different. They have different expressions, and I love them. I feel like I can actually make the characters I want with them!
• New Night Elf Female models. I love them. I never used to like playing Night Elves because I didn't like them. Now I do. Face 1 is wonderful.
• New Troll Female models. If I play ever play Horde again, I'm making all my characters Trolls. They're gorgeous.
• Ability pruning. I log onto the beta and rearranging my buttons is still a core, just, perhaps, less of one. I honestly don't see the big deal, but I main a Shadow Priest, and we didn't get hit bad, so there's that. I've been messing with the classes I've never maxed before (so, everything but Priest and Monk), and I can pick it up just fine. Then again, I don't know what I'm missing, right?
• Claws of Shiravva level 100 talent for Feral Druids. Looks pretty cool. It would be nice if they implement a glyph that lets us keep the perk of the new form (any non-combat spells are usable while transformed) but still keep the appearance of Cat form. Not because I don't like the new form, because I do, but I'm guessing that some people really won't like it replacing Cat.
• Lone Wolf level 100 talent for Hunters. This is what I've always wanted. Hunter without the pet. I love archer classes, I really do; I hate pet classes. This will let me still be viable without having a pet. I desperately need a level 90 Hunter now. If only you could get the talent at an earlier level than max.
• Tanaan Jungle opening questline is fantastic.
• I kind of love Yrel.
• Automatically learning some essential Glyphs while leveling sounds like a great addition.
• Demonic Servitude level 100 talent for Warlocks sounds useful. Probably. I don't know anything about Warlocks.
• On the topic of Warlocks, they have a level 100 Talent called Cataclysm. Warlocks can summon an expansion?
• Shadow Reflection level 100 talent for Rogues sounds wicked interesting.
• I love the idea of Followers. I haven't messed with Followers or Garrisons too much since I want to experience it fresh when the game comes out officially, so I don't know much about it. Sounds like the system in Assassins Creed II: Brotherhood, which I really enjoyed.
• Prismatic Crystal level 100 Mage talent sounds really, really interesting, but it also sounds clumsy, so I'm not sure about it.
• Quests so far seem fun.
• The new glow for objectives (replacing the sparkles) is a lot easier to see, in my opinion.
• Hair pretty much looks better for everyone.
• Female Dwarves now wear bras under their armor (better physics, yay!).
• Being able to bring certain Followers with you questing sounds wonderful.

There's really only two things that I'm still iffy on:
Lack of flying (let me get into that, don't kill me just yet), and the new Draenei female faces.

Let me start with the easier one: the faces.
I don't know, something just doesn't look right about them. It's not the eyes, per se, since on the level 100 realm my Shaman came with a mask by default, so I can just see the eyes. The eyes look great. It might be the proportions of the face, or perhaps the shape of the face itself? Not sure. The lips look a bit weird as well. It feels like it's some minor detail throwing me off.

As for flying, I think I've explained my stance on this before. I support flight at level 100 because when I first started playing, flight was what inspired me to level. Don't ask why, it just did. Ever since then, I enjoy getting on my mount and just flying around. Half the time I forget to mount up while questing anyway. I just like seeing the view. I don't enjoy my surroundings on the ground, because I'm too worried about running into enemies.
When I'm on the ground I'm in serious-mode. When I'm in the air, I'm looking around at the pretty surroundings.
That said, I'll see how it works out.

Which character to level?

Ok, so I really, really want a new level 90. Not going to boost it, but I want to see how far I can get before WoD arrives.

As you may know, I have 3 level 90 characters:
Theeriyi: Pandaren Monk (Windwalker/Mistweaver)
Toyosatomimi: Human Priest (Shadow/Discipline)
Quintella: Forsaken Priest (Shadow/Holy) (RP character, mostly)

My options are:

Yuyuko: Level 58 Draenei Death Knight (Frost/Unholy)
Gensokyo: Level 30 Draenei Shaman (Elemental/Restoration)
Toramaru: Level 27 Human Paladin (Holy/going to be Retribution)
Whispereith: Level 10 Night Elf Mage (Fire/going to be Arcane)
Rowenellia: Level 10 Worgen Druid (Feral/going to be Balance)
Momizi: Level 10 Human Warrior (Fury/going to be Arms)
Archanique: Level 1 Human Warlock (going to be Destruction/Affliction)
Bunnise: Level 1 Gnome Rogue (going to be Subtlety/Assassination)
Kaenbyou: Level 1 Dwarf Hunter (going to be Survival/Marksmanship)

I've been doing a few dungeons every day on Toramaru, trying to level her that way, but it's taking too long for my liking. Might go do some more in a minute though.
When I get bored of dungeons though, who do I play as? I'm leaning towards my Mage, Warrior, and Warlock, but then, my Rogue and Hunter also sound fun.

I'm so bad at this whole leveling thing.

Has anyone ever attempted a Touhou-inspired Transmog?

Just was messing around with the addon MogIt today trying to think of good sets. I've been making and remaking a character named Toramaru, but I can't seem to decide on a class that would fit. I know she's going to be a jewelcrafter though. At first, I was thinking Feral Druid, but then I'd have to be a Night Elf/Worgen/Troll/Tauren, so that's out. I know I want her to be a human, because humans have the hairstyle I want on her.
Next thought was Hunter, because I could get a pet tiger and name it Shou, but I just can't get into a Hunter for some reason.
Attempt 3 is Paladin. Probably Holy because I've never found myself enjoying Retribution, and there's no way I'm going to learn how to tank. Just sayin'. Tried it once with a Protection Warrior. Never again. I didn't have a bad experience with it or anything, it's just far too stressful for me.

Anyway, I was messing around with transmog ideas for her (it inspires me to try and work on the character more!), because I had made a rather nice one for Hunter-Toramaru, but I think I've come up with a decent one for plate armor. Not my first choice in leg pieces, but I wanted a skirt, and there are hardly any plate ones.

The gear itself, I'm hoping is still obtainable/exists. I haven't checked it properly yet, so I'm just going with the information MogIt is giving me. So, with luck, this stuff still exists in the game. Unlike a lot of sets that I like, that all happened to be LFR specific. Why are the color combinations I like always LFR versions? So sad.

Anyway:

I forgot a helm because I forgot. I'd probably have it turned off anyway though, so it doesn't really matter. Same with the cloak.

Pauldrons: Lightbringer Pauldrons
Chest: Gilded Crimson Chestplate
Shirt: Wound Dressing
Wrists: Battlescar Spirebands
Hands: Conqueror's Aegis Gauntlets (oh, wait, it says Conquerors. Does that mean it's PvP? Whoops, need to find new gloves for this, if so)
Waist: Forgemaster's Shattered Shackle
Legs: Judgement Legplates
Feet: Myrmidon's Treads

Don't know what weapons a Holy Paladin is likely to use endgame, so I guessed/messed with whatever ones looked most appealing at the time.

One-handed Sword: Renataki's Soul Slicer
Off-hand: Lamp of Peaceful Radiance

Oh my goodness

Blatant Touhou reference right there.
And my character's name that I'm doing this quest on is "Gensokyo." Even better.

For those who do not know Touhou, there is a character named Nazrin. Her character theme is called "A Tiny, Tiny Clever Commander."

I'm so happy right now. Nazrin is one of my favorite characters, and I never would have caught that before.

If there's a Shou reference in here somewhere, I'll be even happier.

I predict...

A Draenei Paladin boom.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people are making Draenei Paladins right now.

WoW Live + Beta Character Comparisons

Just thought I'd post this, because I'm happy with the results.
Sorry for the really loooooong post.

In order to create all my new characters, I made them in the beta so I could figure out exactly what faces to pick and such. Just thought I'd post how they look on the current live game compared to on the beta.

Disregard the differences in armor for Toyosatomimi. Character import isn't working on the beta at the moment, so I had to remake her. I think her beta face is a bit off as well because of that. ALSO, her armor on the character select screen in live doesn't show her face or hair because of my transmog, sorry.

Also, Theeriyi is not included here because obviously her model was not updated (she's a Pandaren, after all).

I'll post some Horde ones once the game comes back up from maintenance. Tanaris is merged with Greymane, so I'll make my Horde ones there. I will, of course, be skipping over Blood Elves, since they are not updated yet.

I actually think this is the same face as Toyosatomimi has on live. It has a ton of personality on beta. I used to hate the low ponytail hairstyle, but on beta, it looks really nice!

The new Gnome faces are not my favorite, but, then again, I was never fond of the original faces either. I really love this hairstyle on the beta.



I like this Dwarf better than my other one. She looks kind of sleepy.

This is the only character that I'm not completely happy with. She may be remade, but probably not. I think I just need a new haircolor/style or something.

Modelled mainly off of  a Draenei NPC in the beta starting zone that I really liked (and it turns out she's a lot more relevant than I initially thought. I totally thought she was just a random NPC. Oh well). This was originally going to be my Shaman, but I decided that she kind of glows and it fits a Paladin more.

My new Shaman. Not much to say about her except that I accidentally gave her the wrong horns, so once I get to a barber I'll fix those.

Yeah, I know you can't see the live one's face because I forgot to take off the cowl. I love how Death Knights get blue hair.

White hair on live always makes your character seem older, but that's not the case on beta. She looks kind of sad.

My lovely Toyosatomimi. Not much else to say except that I like this hairstyle better than the one my character currently uses (which is the bun).

I really like the new Night Elf models. I hate the current ones, but the new ones are wonderful! Yes, I know I made her hair the wrong color on live.

How common is your WoW name?

Have you ever checked how many other characters share the same name as your characters?
If you don't know how, it's very simple. Go to the World of Warcraft homepage, and type in your character's name in the search bar (it's right under the area where you log in). It'll then come up with all the characters with your name!

So, let's see with mine...

Toyosatomimi
There are 8 Toyosatomimis total. Only one is mine, which is the level 90 Priest on Tanaris.

Theeriyi
There is only 1 Theeriyi and that's me!

Bunnise
There are 19 Bunnises and only one is mine, which is the Warlock on Tanaris.

Decorum
There are 93 Decorums. Two of them are mine: the Warrior on Nazgrel and the Warrior on Tanaris.

Gensokyo
There are 18 Gensokyos. Only one is mine, which is the Hunter on Tanaris.

Whispereith
There are 61 Whispereiths. Only one is mine, which is the Druid on Tanaris.

Archanique
There is only 1 Archanique, and that's me! Which is weird, because I thought I had made more Archaniques on other servers, but oh well.

Octofish
There are 7 Octofishes, and only one is mine, I think. Mine is the Shaman on Tanaris, but the one on Eldre'Thalas may or may not be mine. I'll check that tomorrow...

Toramaru
There are 34 Toramarus, although I'm going to bump that up to 35 because mine does not appear to be listed yet.

Glamaraa
Comes up as there being zero, so mine just hasn't shown up yet :(

Busy busy busy

Very busy!

I've been playing WoW again the past couple of days, I gave in and boosted Toyosatomimi up to level 90, because I want to play her in WoD, and I know I won't get there in time otherwise. I really don't want to be stuck doing the content as Theeriyi, since I don't enjoy her so much.
I've been soloing some old raids on Toyosatomimi, and my father has been running me around Timeless Isle to get some gear (Timeless Isle and I don't really get along).

I've also started playing the beta. I'd kind of been holding off on it because the lag was bad. It still is bad, but it's a bit better now. I think Toyosatomimi is level 91 over there right now.

Other than Toyosatomimi and Theeriyi, I've pretty much reset all my characters again. New batch, new batch!

So my characters right now are:

Toyosatomimi: Shadow/Discipline Priest
Theeriyi: Windwalker/Mistweaver Monk
Bunnise: Warlock (going to be Destruction/Demonology)
Decorum: Warrior (going to be Fury/Arms)
Gensokyo: Hunter (going to be Survival/Beast Master)
Whispereith: Druid (going to be Balance/Feral)
Archanique: Rogue (going to be Subtlety/Don't know)
Octofish: Shaman (going to be Elemental/Enhancement)
Toramaru: Mage (going to be Fire/Arcane)
Rowenellia: Death Knight (Frost/Unholy)
Glamaraa: Paladin (going to be Retribution/Holy)

No, I'm not creative with names. Yes, I know three of them are Touhou related.
Also, Whispereith is a rather interesting one that came up on the in-game randomizer, so I kept it.

I'm trying to mess with specs I don't usually do, hence the Fury Warrior and Survival Hunter.
Other ones, I'm sticking with the old ones I know I like (Balance/Subtlety/Fire, etc.)

Just a bit of venting

This is not gaming related.

For those of you who do not know, I am currently in school as a Computer Animation major. I am about four months into my course, and I have been second-guessing myself since I applied for the course.

I had initially been going to attend a college about two hours away from my home, which would have required me to stay in a dorm, as I cannot drive due to severe anxiety. Needless to say, that did not work out, and I am instead taking online Computer Animation classes through a different university.

I ended up taking an accidental "gap year" between my high school graduation and going to college, which involved a lot of soul searching. I had about two jobs in that time: one as an office assistant in a medical facility (basically, I did the paper shredding), and I also worked at a local concession stand for a short time. I ended up taking a break from a few prominent hobbies of mine, such as Cosplay and historical reenactment.

I am a person who cannot figure out what they want to pursue. In high school, I had been planning to attend school to become an Esthetician, but that interest soon faded and I have no desire to do that whatsoever.
I have a rather large, futile interest in historical reenactment that I won't pursue career-wise. Having that as a career goal is not realistic, and there is no way I am getting a history degree (my brother has a history degree that has yet to help him at all).
Any personality-career test I take comes up with Anthropology, which would undoubtedly be a good fit for me, but everywhere I read says that Anthropology is a terrible major to get into, and you will not be likely to find a job as an Anthropologist or Archaeologist.
Those same tests say that I would be an excellent Museum Curator or an Archivist, but again, where in the world do you get a job like that?

Another interest of mine is Computer Animation. The issue I have here is that I do not particularly enjoy drawing, and I do not consider myself a very creative person. I'm pretty sure that I'll enjoy the more technological aspects of the field, but I worry that the creativity required will be too much for me to handle. I'm taking an art class in my spare time, and they ask me to draw an object on the table. Then they ask me if I "drew the object as I see it, or if I drew my interpretation of it." I don't know what to answer there. I am drawing it as I see it, but it doesn't end up looking like the object in front of me because I do not have the creative skills to render it as I see it.

Finally, the last interest is the one that is currently bothering me the most. I appear to have some random interest in Physics, less of an interest and more of a hunch. Usually interests like this fade rather quickly, like the Esthetician one, but this one has persisted. And the issue is that I do not think I have any way of knowing if this is something I would be good at. I have always been terrible at math, more by virtue of not being taught well rather than my own bad math skills (when I do understand it, I really understand it). My high school offered practically no science classes aside from biology. They were going to offer a physics class, but only three of us signed up for it, so they cancelled it. The same thing happened for a meteorology class I was interested in.
I've tried visiting a local science museum to see what catches my interest, but it was too filled with screaming children playing with the physics stuff for me to pursue any interest in it at all.

And what is bothering me is that while I am pursuing Computer Animation, there is something nagging me in the back of my mind that I should be learning more about physics. Everything that I've read into quantum and theoretical physics is fascinating to me, and my brain wants to understand it. Yet I do not know if I will ever get to the point where my math skills will be up to par in order to pursue my interests.

I just do not know what to do. Whenever Physics pop into my head I question my decision to learn Computer Animation. Every single time. One of the reasons why Computer Animation is an interest is because of an interest in how things move (which, of course, involves physics).

I have no idea how to tell if Physics is really for me, or if my brain is just fantasizing. I need to know because otherwise I'll keep second-guessing myself, but I don't know how to know. I read things that say that if you have interest in science, to pursue it because the world always needs more scientists, but I also read the opposite, and that it's difficult and not realistic to jump right into it.

So, basically, I have no idea what I'm doing.

tl;dr
I'm stuck between staying in my Computer Animation courses or pursuing a mysterious persisting interest in Physics and I don't know what to do about it.

Sims 4 Wishlist

These are all the things I hope we get in the future for The Sims 4:

• Ability to retire upon reaching Elder life state (My Sim's husband just hit Elder, and I don't see the option anywhere. I might be missing it though)
• Option to take maternity leave. Or at least vacation days. 
• Baby showers and bachelor/bachelorette parties to make a return
•  Expansion that introduces Witches similar to the Witches in Sims 2. The Sims 3 Witches just weren't as fun...
• No zombies. No zombies. No zombies.
• More career options. What if my Sim wants to live a normal life as a Doctor or Teacher, instead of being a Secret Agent or Astronaut.
• That said, more interesting career options as well. I would very much like the return of the careers from Sims 3 Showtime.
• Lolita fashion available again. I don't care if it's cash shop again like it was in Sims 3, but I want it back again.
• Return of the Family Tree. I like to keep track of my character's families, and keeping track on a spreadsheet just isn't doing it for me.
• Please no toddlers. I love this game without toddlers.
• Please fix the babies' appearances. They look scary with their extended limbs and snail eye stalks. Oh, and their invisible when they're in their cribs. 
• Make certain activities auto-cancel when you choose something else of higher priority. My Sims stay on the computer even when they're starving and I'm trying to feed them. More of a nuisance than anything, but still worth the complaint, I think.
• Things break constantly. My Sims' sink has broken at least six times, the toilet three times, the shower twice, the fridge once, the stove once, and the computer twice.
• Let us change our mailboxes! I've noticed that there's different styles depending on what neighborhood you're in, but it would be nice to switch between them. 
• Please make it so my Sim's husband's ex-love-interest will stop stalking him. She shows up at my door three times a day and calls once a week. 

And just something I haven't quite figured out...
Since there's no progression like in Sims 3, am I going to run into the issue from Sims 2 of running out of marriage candidates after so many generations? I mean, there's only so many Sims running around by default, and with none dying and having babies on their own, I would imagine that at some point I'm going to exhaust all possible candidates, right? 

Sims 4 Review

Hello, I got the Sims 4 yesterday! Hooray!

Now, allow me to preface this by stating that I personally don't particularly care about the lack of toddlers and pools. I never really used pools, and toddlers are my least favorite life stage.
Okay, now that that's out of the way...

I...I don't know what to think about this game right now. I was enjoying it so much at first, but now...well, I'll get into that in a bit.

First off, character creation is quite fun. Being able to choose default walkstyles is a very nice touch. The whole click and drag body morphing feature is a bit wonky, and I find it generally better to click on the part I want to morph, and choose a preset before messing with the dragging. At least, for the face. Body morphing is pretty simple, although remember to turn you Sim around in order to make sure that you're getting everything.

At first, I was rather disappointed at the lack of color customization for clothing, hair, eyes, etc. I still am for hair, especially since some of the colors are not quite appealing (the brown-blonde one looks like poo, in my opinion). Eyes are fine, I very rarely used colors besides the ones available. I'm actually not to disappointed on the clothing options. Are there some outfits I wish I could have in a different color? Yes! For the most part, though, I'm pretty satisfied with the color options.
Also, for those who haven't figured it out yet, you can delete the filters for any clothing type, allowing you to pick from every outfit. This is great for things like sportswear and pajamas, where there otherwise aren't many options.

House building is pretty much the same as before, with the addition of the pre-made rooms, which aren't wonderful, considering that they get messed up when you stretch the room. The square blocks of walls that you can place down are no faster or easier than the old system, which, luckily, you can still use.

Now then, on to the actual game-play.

The new  UI is relatively simple, once you get the hang of it. It's different, yes, but not really in a bad way.

Emotional states can be a pain, especially when your character is angry and wants to kick trashcans and yell at people. That's no fun. Some emotional states, like Energetic, are more interesting. Energetic seems to generally allow you to do actions more quickly.

Relationships are a bit more complex. I found that it's easier to befriend a love interest before pursuing any romance with them. That said, I've only wooed one Sim so far. He wouldn't let me flirt with him until we were friends first, and after that it was smooth sailing.
I just want to note that romantic interests will often show up at your house for no particular reason, multiple times a day until you let them in. I didn't know until my characters got married, but apparently there was a lady interested in my husband. She shows up at the door every. single. day, about three times a day. And calls all the time. And she won't leave me alone.

Pregnancies are another big change. I personally found the pregnancy to be worse than in any other game. Reason being? Lack of maternity leave. My Sim's needs were going down too quickly to manage while working, especially since you can't see what their needs are doing when they're at work, meaning that when she gets home, she pees on the floor and passes out in it. She was running at zero energy, zero fun, zero hygiene, zero bladder, and dangerous levels of hunger by the time she gave birth. It got to the point where she couldn't even pee, because she'd pass out before then.

Then, she gave birth to twin boys, who when you hold them, their limbs are all stretched out, and when their in their cribs, they are invisible. She then proceeded to pee on the floor immediately after giving birth, and then she passed out again. I tried to have her sleep through the night, but, due to the fact that I can't see my babies' needs, I had to wake her up again due to a notification stating that if I did not feed them right now they would be taken away. I am quite honestly relieved at the fact that I don't have to deal with toddlers after this, and they'll become semi-self-sufficient children soon.

On top of that, I can't seem to find any way to hire a nanny or take time off of work for either of my Sims. The time off isn't even to take care of the baby, as my Sims' schedules work pretty well for that (she goes to work at 8AM and comes back at 4PM, he goes to work at 4PM and comes back at 1AM). It's so I can try and get my Sims' moods back up so they aren't dying of starvation/peeing/passing out.

Other than the pregnancy/baby issue, I'm actually having quite a bit of fun. My only other complaint is rather minor, and that is that time doesn't pass by very quickly. Things on normal-speed sometimes look like they're in slow-motion, and sped-up time doesn't go by as quickly as I'd like. But, like I said, that's minor compared to the pregnancy issues.

Oh, and I really hope that we get a fix for the babies' appearances. They're scaring me the way they are right now.

I can't decide if I like my characters or not

I'm pretty satisfied with the majority of my GW2 characters.

My Necromancer is feeling rather weak at the moment, but that may just be me not being used to her again. I'm enjoying Dagger + Dagger more than Staff though, which disturbs me a bit. I'm having a lot of trouble against enemies around my level and such. Maybe my reaction times in placing down marks is slower? I can't really figure it out.

My Guardian is fun enough. I'm enjoying her quite a bit at the moment. I'm using Sword + Torch, but no other weapon set has clicked with me yet.

My Mesmer is...okay. I don't really know if I like her or not right now. I'm doing Scepter + Sword with a Staff alternate, but I'm not sure if I like Scepter + Sword. I might try Sword + Sword, and mess around on the dummies or something. I like my actual character though, so that's a big plus.

My Warrior is okay, but I don't really have much direction with her. Greatsword with Longbow alternate. Kind of boring.

Then, there's my last slot. I can't think of what to do with it. The only remaining classes are Elementalist, Engineer, Ranger, and Thief. I know I don't really like Ranger and Thief. Ranger because I don't particularly like being forced to use a pet, and Thief because Thief classes have just never clicked with me. Yes, I've tried it. No, I still don't enjoy it.
That leaves Elementalist and Engineer. Elementalist is just not clicking with me for some reason. I can't find a weapon that I really like the skill set for. I want to like it, I really, really do, but I can't find a skill set that I enjoy. It all feels too slow.

So, Engineer? Another weird one for me. Maybe I'll go mess with it a bit on the dummies.

I guess I'm just a little discouraged with my recent failings on my Necromancer, alongside having bad anxiety the past couple of days.

I really, really just want to stick with a class, you know? But I can't find one that clicks with me just right. I thought it was Necromancer. Maybe it's not. I don't really know.

More GW2 progress updates!

Changes from last time.

My human and charr have switched classes and have slightly different names now.
So, here's my current character roster:

Lady Elza: Level 34 Sylvari Necromancer. Staff/Dagger+Dagger.
Elza The Eternal: Level 7 Norn Mesmer. Scepter+Sword/Greatsword
Recalibrator Ioulla: Level 11 Asura Guardian. Sword+Torch/Staff
Aurelia Fairblade: Level 7 Charr Warrior. Greatsword/Longbow
Lucinda Orchid: Level 2 Human Engineer. Pistol+Pistol

Just finished creating Lucinda, so that's why she's a bit behind.

I'll have pictures soon, I promise!

Playing Guild Wars 2 again

I'm back again!

I've pretty much got a whole new set of characters, aside from Lady Elza, my Necromancer, who is still very much around.

I did one of each race this time, and used a name generator to find lore-friendly names and such.

My characters now are:

Lady Elza: Level 34 Sylvari Necromancer (staff/dagger+dagger)
Recalibrator Ioulla: Level 7 Asura Guardian (sword+torch/staff)
Elza The Eternal: Level 6 Norn Mesmer (scepter+sword)
Orchid Viviani: Level 5 Human Warrior (longbow)
Aureliana Fairblade: Level 4 Charr Engineer (pistol+pistol)

Lady Elza is still Lady Elza. Nothing new to see here. Still have this weird, incurable love of Necromancer Staff skills.
 
I'm really having fun with Recalibrator Ioulla at the moment. Sword + Torch is rather fun, although Staff is so-so. Primarily focusing on Signets, utility-wise, I think. Not so much of a support Guardian, although maybe someday.

Elza The Eternal is going to have a shatter build, because I love shatters. My plan is to try and build clones quickly and then trait into things that add to shatter utility and damage. Secondary weapon...staff, maybe? Or Greatsword? Support Shattering, perhaps?

Orchid Viviani, I don't know what to really do with yet. I'm thinking a supportive banner/shout Warrior. Using a Longbow for now, because I like bows. Secondary weapon, I'm thinking Axe+Warhorn. She's going to be more of my support character.

Aureliana Fairblade is my other support-ish character. I was messing around in the Mists, and fell in love with the Elixer Gun. That, and turrets. So she should be interesting. I wish I liked Charr armor more.


I don't really know what it is about this game that makes me not want to look up "acceptable," "viable" builds. I see so much room for creativity, and I don't want to box myself in to a build I don't like as much. I can never manage to hit max level in most games anyway, so does it matter?

I only play a game for as long as it is enjoyable to me. Once it starts feeling less enjoyable and more like a chore, I don't bother playing anymore. No one's forcing me to play a game against my will, and I can stop any game I'm playing and play a different one. It always confounds me when, say, my boyfriend or my friends are playing a game, and they can so frustrated with it that they start yelling and swearing, but then they keep playing. I would be done. I don't get why you would keep playing when it's not fun anymore.

Maybe I'm just crazy.

World of Warcraft vs. Guild Wars 2 vs. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

I wonder what can of worms I just opened by deciding to write this, but I wanted to do it, so do it I shall! Please don't hate me.

This is not so much for the hard-core player, and more for a new gamer looking to start into MMORPGs. Please remember that this is only my opinion, and that it may be edited because opinions change. I am only human, and therefore, I naturally have some biases.
All three games will be rated on Character Customization depth, Music enjoyability, Graphics and Lag, Questing and monotony, End-Game Content, Class uniqueness and abundance, Race uniqueness and abundance, PvP quality, Controls, Combat systems, Crafting systems, Mobility, and, finally, Price. They will be scored on a system of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest possible score.
As a side note, I do use a bit of gaming terminology in this review. Nothing too out there, but maybe some common terms that are good to know anyway, such as AoE, kiting, kill-stealing, PvP, etc.
I'm also thinking of doing one of these for the more popular free-to-play games as well. Is that a good idea?

Also, I can't really rate fun-factor, because that is really a matter of "you have to try it for yourself." I know a lot of people love FFXIV's dungeons and such, but I personally can't stand it. Same goes for raiding in WoW. I'm one of the people that really things GW2 is fun, but I know many people disagree. That said, I enjoy each and every one of these games for different reasons, and also because I just enjoy MMORPGs as a genre.

Character Customization
WoW: 5/10
GW2: 8/10
FFXIV: 7/10

Compared to the other two, WoW is really lacking in the customization department. During creation, you get a couple preset skin tones, hairstyles and colors, faces, earrings, and maybe something specific to your race (tusks or horns or ears, etc). All characters of the same race and gender combination are the same height and build. There are a couple hairstyles you can get later if you visit a barber, but that's about it. Its saving grace is Transmogrification, which allows you to  customize your equipment to better fit your aesthetics. That said, Transmogrification only goes as far as allowing you to cover your actual equipment with another, better looking, piece of equipment. You cannot customize colors or fit or anything like that. You also cannot transmogrify out of your armor class or the weapon type you currently have equipped (with some exceptions, bows can be "mogged" into guns and crossbows, and vice versa).

FFXIV gets a better score because the initial customization is rather in-depth. You have a choice from a diverse palette of colors for skin, hair, eyes, etc (with some variation depending on race choice). There is very in-depth customization as far as facial and body structure goes, if you so choose. There are also simple presets as well. That said, I don't feel like I can give it the highest score because it's difficult to make your character really stand-out. My Miqo'te doesn't look all that much different than any other Miqo'te out there, you know? All the characters kind of look the same.

GW2 gets the highest score for me. While it's customization is not quite as in-depth as FFXIV's, it is still nothing to scoff at, especially when compared to WoW's presets. It costs real money (or a lot of in-game grinding for gold) if you want to do the equivalent of WoW's transmogrification, but it makes up for it by the fact that you can dye your armors provided you have the appropriate dye. Dye can be made through crafting (cooking, I believe), or bought through the auction house. More importantly, I feel that most characters end up looking pretty unique, Asura and Charr aside (even then, they're pretty unique most of the time). The thing that really beats out the others is the customization options for the Sylvari. I very rarely see two Sylvari that look similar.

Music
WoW: 8/10
GW2: 4/10
FFXIV: 5/10

WoW wins this by far. The other two don't really have much in terms of memorable music. WoW's music definitely sticks out, especially their tavern-music. I can think of one song from FFXIV that stuck out. I can't think of any from GW2.

Graphics
WoW: 6/10
GW2: 9/10
FFXIV: 8/10    

WoW loses this one. The new areas are gorgeous, but a lot of the older content is showing its age. Which is fair, because the game has come a long way. The first time you enter a zone, it can be breathtaking, but it is nothing compared to the other two games. That said, it is made to be run on a lot of older operating systems, so long as you have the graphics down low enough, making it much more accessible than the other two.

FFXIV definitely has the best graphics out of the three, but it loses out because of the lag. Oh goodness, the lag. I had to turn my graphics down to Low, and even then, it's not wonderful.

GW2 wins this because the graphics are very nice, and I have not experienced nearly as much lag on my computer.

Questing
WoW: 6/10
GW2: 8/10
FFXIV: 6/10

WoW and FFXIV are tied because their questing systems are very similar. Talk to this NPC, kill 10 of these and collect this item, bring the items to this NPC, then return to the original NPC for your reward. FFXIV has active events similar to GW2's, including their shared plight: They pop up exactly when you don't want them to, and never when you do. The big difference being that FFXIV's F.A.T.Es are less common and more of a pain to reach. They also seem to cause quite a few arguments, as far as I can tell.

GW2 wins this one because it is like a breath of fresh air to me. There are multiple ways to complete any given task (heart quest?). Their active events are rather frequent (sometimes annoyingly so), and you are generally given plenty of time to reach them. Waypoints add to the ease of traveling to them in time, unlike in FFXIV where you have to run through the map. That said, it barely gets a higher score because you don't get gear quite as easily due to there not being any exact rewards to quests. It also succeeds because anyone who participates in the kill gets credit. Kill-stealing is pretty much nonexistent. On top of that, you can go back to any zone that is a lower level than you, and level there as if you were the level it was intended for. It syncs you down to that zone's level, but you still gain experience as if you were your actual level.

End-Game
WoW: 10/10
GW2: 5/10
FFXIV: 5/10

WoW is the king of this. There are many different things to do, such as raiding, farming, daily quests, dungeons, running through old content, collecting achievements, pet battling, etc. 
GW2 and FFXIV are tied because, honestly, you don't hear magnificent things about their end-game. WoW and Raiding are pretty much synonymous. What do you think of end-game wise when you think of these two games? Nothing. They're pretty much nonexistent. GW2 consists of grinding for end-game gear that you don't end up doing much with. Same with FFXIV. GW2 has the living story going for it, but that's not constant, and FFXIV has more end-game dungeons to grind.

Classes
WoW: 10/10
GW2: 6/10 
FFXIV: 4/10

I think WoW definitely wins out here. There are a total of 34 (I think. Counting has never been my forte) unique playstyles (this includes all the specializations, by the way). That said, the classes don't always feel that unique. Playing a DPS Paladin and a DPS Warrior feels very familiar; not identical, but definitely similar. The same goes spec-by-spec, not including specs that fill a different roll (healer and DPS specs are not similar, for example). A Fire Mage, Arcane Mage, and Frost Mage certainly all have their own playstyles, but they are all a Mage. They feel familiar. Not that familiar is bad, but I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say.

GW2 is next not because of the abundance of classes, but due to the fact that each feels unique. There are 8 classes total, and all of them legitimately feel unique. My Necromancer feels completely different than my Mesmer. My Warrior feels completely different than my Guardian. Added to that, every class has different weapons that they can equip, each of which gives you a completely different playstyle. My favorite weapon for Necromancer is the staff, which allows me to kite and AoE, but if I switch to, say, a Dagger, I am suddenly a melee class that wears down its opponent with conditions. That said, you are often forced into specific weapons in order to be viable. Which makes me sad.

FFXIV gets the lowest slot due to my personal bias. There are 8 combat classes, and 9 jobs which branch off those. It gets the lowest slot because I feel it is overly complicated to figure out which classes you need to level to get which job. Leveling a new class feels overly complicated and unnecessarily time-consuming.

Races
WoW: 9/10
GW2: 8/10
FFXIV: 8/10 

All the games are pretty equal as far as races go, I think. It really just depends on personal preference as to which races you like best. WoW gets the higher score only because of the sheer number of them.

WoW has the two factions: Alliance and Horde. Alliance has Humans, Night Elves (purple elves), Gnomes, Dwarves, Draenei (aliens), and Worgen (werewolves). Horde has Orcs, Trolls, Tauren (cows), Undead, Blood Elves (elves), and Goblins. Both factions have access to the Pandaren (pandas). In all, that covers pretty much any fantasy trope you could want, from dwarves and elves to things like aliens and werewolves.

GW2 has the Asura (tiny, alien-looking things), Sylvari (plants), Humans, Norns (giants), and Charr (cat-cows).

FFXIV has the Elezen (elves), Hyur (humans), Lalafell (gnome-like), Miqo'te (cat people), and Roegadyn (giant blue/green seafarers). Each race consists of two sub-races, which determine your starting stats and some aesthetic options. For example, Midlander Hyur have pretty rounded stats and are smaller and have more delicate features than the Highlander Hyur, whose stats are skewed towards physical attacks, and who are taller and have a stronger-looking posture.

PvP
I can't actually rate this. I know next to nothing about PvP. That said, I do enjoy WvWvW in GW2.  I should like normal PvP in that game, since I play a Necromancer, but nope. Just don't enjoy PvP in any game ever.

Controls
WoW: 7/10
GW2: 7/10
FFXIV: 7/10

This is kind of tricky to rate because it falls to personal preference most of the time. WoW is the most intuitive to me, but that may be because it was one of the first MMORPGs I played. GW2 is tied because I personally enjoy the ground-targeting mechanics, and the rest of the controls are relatively the same as WoW's. FFXIV loses out because some controls and hotkeys are counter-intuitive to me. Terminology can also be rather unfamiliar to someone coming from other MMOs.

Crafting
This is another one that is just personal preference. I find GW2's to be the simplest, but WoW's is also very simple, albeit slower. WoW can also be rather grindy and there's a bit of competition for materials. I don't quite understand the crafting mechanics in FFXIV, although their gathering mechanics are much more interesting.
Both WoW and GW2 only allow you to have 2 crafting professions at once. WoW only allows 2, GW2 allows you to drop them at any time and pick them back up later at the same experience level (I think. I may be wrong).
FFXIV allows you to take on as many crafting/gathering classes as you can handle.

Mobility
Again, preference. This one, I can really lay out for you though.

WoW: Has ground-mounts starting at level 20, with max speed available at level 40. Flying mounts start at 60, max speed is 70 or so, I think. Lots of flight upgrades through each expansion (WoD notwithstanding, because we don't know yet). Flight paths are available in most towns. Zeppelins/boats across continents. Mage portals. Various mobility abilities available to different classes. Hearthstones to return to your home point.

GW2: Waypoints allow easy access to most places, at the cost of some in-game money. Most classes have at least weapon that offers you a mobility skill.

FFXIV: Some warp points, and easy teleportation to a home point. Ground mounts are available, and they help in combat as well. Chocobo Porters can be used to get from place to place if you don't have a mount and you've visited the place before. Running is relatively fast.

Pricing
 This one, you need to make your own judgements on. The prices are currently as follows.

WoW:   $19.99 for the base game, which includes Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm. That gets you up to level 85. $9.99 for Mists of Pandaria. $49.99 for the Warlords of Draenor pre-order (although that price will drop after it comes out, obviously). The price of a year-long subscription is about $155.88. This comes out to a total of $235.85 for your first year of the game. I think. My math may be wrong.

FFXIV: $49.99 for the base game (not deluxe). Year-long subscription comes out the same as WoW's: $155.88. The total comes out to be about $205.87.

GW2: $24.99 for the regular edition of the game (not deluxe). No subscription fee. There is an in-game cash shop. You need to buy Gems with real money in order to buy from it. You also have the option of grinding for gold in-game, converting them to gems and paying attention to conversion rates to get the best deal, and then obtaining Gems that way.

So, take that as you will. That said, with WoW you are paying for a lot of content, and you do not have to buy it all at once. The base game will suffice until you hit level 85. And, like I said, Warlords of Draenor will definitely drop in price once it's been in game for long enough.
The prices here definitely go in order from most content to least content, so remember that when you make your decision as well.

Summary

Overall, my opinions are as follows:

Casual gamers (by this, I mean players who don't have a lot of time to put into the game) might want to put more thought into GW2. No subscription fee means you can play when you want to without feeling guilt about not playing. There is not a ton to do at end-game, but if you play infrequently, you may be satiated by the living world content that is periodically released.

FFXIV: ARR is your kind of middle-of-the-road sort of game. It's right in the middle of the two.

WoW is great for someone who wants to put a lot of time into the game. It's a daunting game to start up, for sure. If you really want to get into the raiding scene, this is just about your only option.


So, those are my opinions. I'm really meek and don't like arguing, so please go easy on me.

I've just decided something

Well, actually, two things.
The first is that I'm going to drink more green tea and less root beer.

The second, and more important thing is that I'm going to attempt to collect/level/train all the Pokemon that I love but have never obtained, leveled, etc. Along with Pokemon that I had, say, on my very first playthroughs, and Pokemon that I just plain love. I don't have any particular preference on what game I collect any of them on, I just feel like I need some of my favorites that I've never had...
My goal is to catch each one (trades of the fully evolved form don't count, although I can use them to breed one), make sure it has the proper nature, and EV train it. Not going to worry about getting it up to level 100, but I just want it in case I ever feel the need to use it. Pokemon X or Y is preferable for getting them. I want to actually level it. Somehow, being traded a Golem just doesn't have the same appeal.

So, here's the great big list of Pokemon to catch:

GENERATION 1
Raichu (never had one, do you believe it?)
Ninetails
Parasect (used to be my favorite Pokemon when I was little)
Golem (one of my favorite Pokemon now)
Rhydon
Seaking
Machamp (had one on my very first Pokemon Red playthrough...)
Cloyster
Gengar (never had one)
Omastar

GENERATION 2
Ariados (yes, I know I'm arachnophobic. I also like Ariados. I'm a bit strange)
Xatu
Politoed (always wanted one, never had one)
Ampharos (one of my favorites)
Quagsire
Slowking (always wanted one)
Girafarig (original team from Pokemon Silver)
Magcargo
Octillery (original team from Pokemon Silver)
Houdoom
Donphan
Jumpluff
Blissey

GENERATION 3
Ludicolo (I always get up to Lombre, but I never manage to evolve it)
Masquerain (always wanted one, never found a Surskit)
Breloom
Exploud (original team from Pokemon Ruby)
Swalot
Wailord
Camerupt
Grumpig
Whiscash (always wanted one, but never found a Barboach)
Flygon (original team from Pokemon Ruby)
Claydol
Cradily (original team from Pokemon Ruby)
Armaldo (always regretted choosing Lileep)
Banette
Chimecho (one of my favorite Pokemon)
Walrein (original team from Pokemon Ruby)
Huntail
Gorebyss
Salamence (would you believe that I never had one? Outside of Pokemon XD, I think, although I'm not sure I ever leveled it)
Metagross

 GENERATION 4
Torterra (original team from Pokemon Diamond)
Luxray
Bastiodon (always wanted one...)
Wormadam
Vespiquen
Mismagius
Abomasnow
Weavile (I love Weavile)
Lickilicky
Leafeon
Glaceon
Porygon-Z
Dusknoir
Froslass

GENERATION 5
Liepard
Simipour
Gigalith (I love Gigalith)
Audino
Leavanny
Lilligant (second favorite Pokemon, only beaten by Skitty)
Whimsicott
Crustle
Zoroark
Cinccino
Reuniclus
Ferrothorn
Chandelure
Golurk
Bisharp

GENERATION 6
Pyroar
Meowstic
Slurpuff
Florges
Aurorus
Sylveon
Trevenant
Avalugg

Coincidentally, my 10 favorite Pokemon are:
Lilligant, Skitty, Golem, Persian, Chimecho, Sewaddle, Ampharos, Weavile, Chandelure, and Solosis.
Roughly in that order. At least for the first 5.