Ok, as soon as I got home from work and did some homework I completely rearranged my slime ranch because I decided it just took too long to feed them all and was impractical.
So, now I have:
Main Ranch - Honey Hunter Largos, Rock Boom Largos, Phosphor Tabby Largos, and Pink Slimes (will be Pink Mosaics once I get some Mosaics). I keep the Phosphor Tabbies on the far side near the entrance to Overgrowth, and I grow Cuberries for them there. Honey Hunters and Rock Booms are in the center corrals, with Mint Mangoes and Heart Beets growing right with them. The Pink Slimes are on the upper area near the house, with Silver Parsnips growing right there as well.
Grotto - I just have Quantum Tabby Largos in here. Also have two sets of Pogofruit trees as Phase Lemon fodder, and two sets of Phase Lemon trees.
Overgrowth - Just have Tangle Rad Largos here. I grow Oca Oca for them right nearby, and a silo for whatever I may need it for. On the farthest part from the slimes I keep a pen with Painted chickens. I also have some Painted chickens freerange roaming around near the slime pen. I keep the penned in chickens just in case the population of free-roaming ones dies out.
Docks -
I don't really do anything with this area because it's too inconvenient to get to since I don't have any teleporters yet. I have my Puddle Slimes in the free pool, a silo, and three gardening patches for if I ever need them.
Lab -
I keep Crystal Dervish Largos in the farthest plot, with Heart Beets growing right nearby (I'll switch these for Prickle Pears as soon as I am able to). As far as possible from the Crystal Dervishes, I have an Incinerator for Fire Slimes. And then on the two remaining patches I have chicken pens with just normal chickens, as fodder for the Fire Slimes.
So yep! Quite pleased! Once I get the last two things I need (Mosaic Slimes and Prickle Pears) I'll focus more on Slime Science stuff and making my farm look pretty.
Showing posts with label sorry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sorry. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
An Argument for Always Picking Up Chests in PoTD
Ok, this has really been bugging me. I run Palace of the Dead a LOT because I've been feeling stressed out and it doesn't trigger my anxiety at all (even when aggravated), and it's also great for leveling up my classes and making money off of materia (which is great because I now have no gil after buying my house). And a looot of times that I run it, everyone ignores all the gold and bronze chests. And I don't mean that they don't enter a room just for a non-silver chest, I mean they run straight past the things when it would take no time at all to just click them and be done with it. And of course, the complaining at people who do pick them up because "mah speed run."
Please note that I am not arguing clearing out a whole room just for a gold or copper chest. I am just arguing for picking them up when you happen to already be next to one. Because, honestly, why not?
Also, I'm really only talking about floors 51-60 here. 1-50 are a different beast, and I've never bothered with 60+ so I don't know what things are like there.
1. Lust and Rage pomanders are great time-savers. If you really want to speed-run, you should pick up chests, because Rage pomanders help you clear floors waaay faster. And Lusts help speed up the boss fight if someone remembers to pop it and get the vulnerability debuff up.
2. Sight and Safety pomanders also save time. Sight poms make it so you can easily skip rooms that aren't worthwhile (which could mean a room with only gold/copper chests; again, I'm not talking about making runs slower here, just picking up ones you come across). Safety pomanders make it so the entire party doesn't stall because they all got hit by the silence trap or something. Or all explode and die like the last group I was in did.
3. Flight pomanders are woefully underused in 51-60. What's better than less enemies on the floor to deal with?
4. Witching pomanders can save your butt in dire situations. And again, are woefully underused.
5. Purity pomanders. How many groups have I been in where no one's picking up chests, and the one time someone does it's a mimic. And then everyone proceeds to not pick up chests, meaning they're stuck with the long pox debuff (which can be deadly in groups with only DPS). Hey, if everyone was picking up chests, maybe you'd have a Purity for the pox?
6. Serenity pomanders can save you. Seriously. Gloom + no actions is awful. It's even worse when your healer forgets to turn off Cleric's Stance before going to the next floor, and is thus stuck in Cleric's Stance with Gloom and no way to heal effectively because Cleric's Stance is an action...
7. INTUITION POMANDERS. WHY WOULD YOU NOT WANT THESE? Sure, sometimes you get useless stuff out of the bags, but if you get materia you can sell it and make decent money. I should know. I just got my house preeeetty purely from PoTD materia money.
As for copper chests, two words: Gelmorran Potsherds. Yum. These things can get you so much money because you can check the prices and demand for the materia and pick the one that will give you the highest profit. Or, you know, you can keep your good materia for yourself if you're trying to gear too. I know they're rare, but a small chance is better than no chance at all.
Also, how am I supposed to revive people with Phoenix Down in all-DPS parties when no one picks up the copper chests so I never get another Phoenix Down? Especially since a lot of groups I've been in apparently don't know how the raising tower thing works, because I tend to have to run over there by myself to get someone up because no one has a raise or phoenix down, and people seem to forget it exists.
Seriously folks, just pick up the chests when you come across them. Please. Not picking them up can work out with a decent group, but picking them up just makes it safer, easier, and quicker. People don't play perfectly all the time, and having pomanders can really save a group or at least speed up a slow run.
And again, I'm not at all advocating taking the time to clear out rooms just for chests. I get it, floor 51-60 are the speedrun, leveling floors. Trust me, I know. I'm just here for the fast leveling too.
Sorry, needed to just rant about that for a minute. Ugh!
Please note that I am not arguing clearing out a whole room just for a gold or copper chest. I am just arguing for picking them up when you happen to already be next to one. Because, honestly, why not?
Also, I'm really only talking about floors 51-60 here. 1-50 are a different beast, and I've never bothered with 60+ so I don't know what things are like there.
1. Lust and Rage pomanders are great time-savers. If you really want to speed-run, you should pick up chests, because Rage pomanders help you clear floors waaay faster. And Lusts help speed up the boss fight if someone remembers to pop it and get the vulnerability debuff up.
2. Sight and Safety pomanders also save time. Sight poms make it so you can easily skip rooms that aren't worthwhile (which could mean a room with only gold/copper chests; again, I'm not talking about making runs slower here, just picking up ones you come across). Safety pomanders make it so the entire party doesn't stall because they all got hit by the silence trap or something. Or all explode and die like the last group I was in did.
3. Flight pomanders are woefully underused in 51-60. What's better than less enemies on the floor to deal with?
4. Witching pomanders can save your butt in dire situations. And again, are woefully underused.
5. Purity pomanders. How many groups have I been in where no one's picking up chests, and the one time someone does it's a mimic. And then everyone proceeds to not pick up chests, meaning they're stuck with the long pox debuff (which can be deadly in groups with only DPS). Hey, if everyone was picking up chests, maybe you'd have a Purity for the pox?
6. Serenity pomanders can save you. Seriously. Gloom + no actions is awful. It's even worse when your healer forgets to turn off Cleric's Stance before going to the next floor, and is thus stuck in Cleric's Stance with Gloom and no way to heal effectively because Cleric's Stance is an action...
7. INTUITION POMANDERS. WHY WOULD YOU NOT WANT THESE? Sure, sometimes you get useless stuff out of the bags, but if you get materia you can sell it and make decent money. I should know. I just got my house preeeetty purely from PoTD materia money.
As for copper chests, two words: Gelmorran Potsherds. Yum. These things can get you so much money because you can check the prices and demand for the materia and pick the one that will give you the highest profit. Or, you know, you can keep your good materia for yourself if you're trying to gear too. I know they're rare, but a small chance is better than no chance at all.
Also, how am I supposed to revive people with Phoenix Down in all-DPS parties when no one picks up the copper chests so I never get another Phoenix Down? Especially since a lot of groups I've been in apparently don't know how the raising tower thing works, because I tend to have to run over there by myself to get someone up because no one has a raise or phoenix down, and people seem to forget it exists.
Seriously folks, just pick up the chests when you come across them. Please. Not picking them up can work out with a decent group, but picking them up just makes it safer, easier, and quicker. People don't play perfectly all the time, and having pomanders can really save a group or at least speed up a slow run.
And again, I'm not at all advocating taking the time to clear out rooms just for chests. I get it, floor 51-60 are the speedrun, leveling floors. Trust me, I know. I'm just here for the fast leveling too.
Sorry, needed to just rant about that for a minute. Ugh!
Monday, November 28, 2016
I still exist!
I don't really have much time to play MMOs at this point in time, sadly. I'm still very much adjusting to being in school.
Class is going very, very well. Finally something feels right subject-wise. Next week is my last week of this class before I move onto the next one (I'm taking accelerated courses), and my advisor recommends another history class instead of a gen ed right now, so that's all the better for me! Crossing my fingers for a class on early America next!
I've been playing the new Pokemon game in my spare time though, of course!
Er, well, I was, until my DS decided to break a couple days ago. Just randomly shut off and wouldn't turn back on reliably. Appears to be an issue with opening it all the way, since it will run fine if I don't open the DS all the way. It still works technically, but it stresses me out. I just know that I'll find a shiny or something, get excited, my screen will pop all the way back and then poof! No shiny for Jenna!
Aaand of course every single store around me is sold out because of Black Friday! Well, unless I wanted a 3DS XL, but I'm not in the market for an expensive DS right now. I honestly just want a preowned 2DS or original 3DS since the only game I own is Pokemon Sun (my little bag of DS games went missing a few months ago, so Sun is the only game I own for it now).
But anyway, school is going great! The sheer amount of work I have is kind of crazy, but at least I feel productive for once! I finally feel comfortable with my choice, which is a rather new feeling for me, but it's good. I feel like I'm out of the fog I've been in since leaving animation school :)
Class is going very, very well. Finally something feels right subject-wise. Next week is my last week of this class before I move onto the next one (I'm taking accelerated courses), and my advisor recommends another history class instead of a gen ed right now, so that's all the better for me! Crossing my fingers for a class on early America next!
I've been playing the new Pokemon game in my spare time though, of course!
Er, well, I was, until my DS decided to break a couple days ago. Just randomly shut off and wouldn't turn back on reliably. Appears to be an issue with opening it all the way, since it will run fine if I don't open the DS all the way. It still works technically, but it stresses me out. I just know that I'll find a shiny or something, get excited, my screen will pop all the way back and then poof! No shiny for Jenna!
Aaand of course every single store around me is sold out because of Black Friday! Well, unless I wanted a 3DS XL, but I'm not in the market for an expensive DS right now. I honestly just want a preowned 2DS or original 3DS since the only game I own is Pokemon Sun (my little bag of DS games went missing a few months ago, so Sun is the only game I own for it now).
But anyway, school is going great! The sheer amount of work I have is kind of crazy, but at least I feel productive for once! I finally feel comfortable with my choice, which is a rather new feeling for me, but it's good. I feel like I'm out of the fog I've been in since leaving animation school :)
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Applied to College...again...
I signed up for college again! Yay, me? What is this, attempt number 5? Maybe it'll go well this time? I'm starting to think that the universe doesn't want me to attend college for some reason. Sadly, I can't find anything that I'm interested in that doesn't require a college degree so I have to push through somehow...
Let's see:
- First time: Panic attack. Dropped out on the first day of school. First panic attack I ever had, and I have had bad anxiety ever since. Was a really bad year after that. Near-constant anxiety.
- Second time: Was doing really well...then failed art class twice to the point that I really don't think I would have been able to pass it. I tried really hard. Dropped out. Severe anxiety for another half a year.
- Third time: Panic attack on the first day of school. Switched majors.
- Fourth time: Horrible experience with an online class. Teacher didn't grade our midterm until the week before our final, gave zero feedback, and I swear didn't even check our work. Came out of the class having passed, but not really understanding any of the content. Complication comes from the fact that the teacher was the head of department...
So now, attempt number 5! Online classes which will either end horribly or decently. Either I'll get okay classes and it'll be okay, or it will end like my last attempt at school. Won't end with a panic attack though. That's only in physical classrooms, apparently.
I want to at least get my gen-eds done this time. Even if the classes are horrible and the teacher isn't teaching anything, I can at least get my gen-eds done in that sort of situation. I always do well in English class so I'm not concerned there. I never do well in math, so, again, not concerned because that outcome is not going to be good regardless. So long as I pass then that's alright with me. I'm surprised I've never outright failed a math class, to be entirely honest. I was messing around on Khan Academy a few weeks ago, and it has me as pretty well stuck at 2nd grade level math.
Let's see:
- First time: Panic attack. Dropped out on the first day of school. First panic attack I ever had, and I have had bad anxiety ever since. Was a really bad year after that. Near-constant anxiety.
- Second time: Was doing really well...then failed art class twice to the point that I really don't think I would have been able to pass it. I tried really hard. Dropped out. Severe anxiety for another half a year.
- Third time: Panic attack on the first day of school. Switched majors.
- Fourth time: Horrible experience with an online class. Teacher didn't grade our midterm until the week before our final, gave zero feedback, and I swear didn't even check our work. Came out of the class having passed, but not really understanding any of the content. Complication comes from the fact that the teacher was the head of department...
So now, attempt number 5! Online classes which will either end horribly or decently. Either I'll get okay classes and it'll be okay, or it will end like my last attempt at school. Won't end with a panic attack though. That's only in physical classrooms, apparently.
I want to at least get my gen-eds done this time. Even if the classes are horrible and the teacher isn't teaching anything, I can at least get my gen-eds done in that sort of situation. I always do well in English class so I'm not concerned there. I never do well in math, so, again, not concerned because that outcome is not going to be good regardless. So long as I pass then that's alright with me. I'm surprised I've never outright failed a math class, to be entirely honest. I was messing around on Khan Academy a few weeks ago, and it has me as pretty well stuck at 2nd grade level math.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
WoW Legion Day 1
I'm level 104, yay!
I've been leveling as a Holy Priest, and having fun doing it. Mostly I've been questing and doing dungeons with guildies, but I've done a couple random ones too.
Launch has been very stable, with the exception of the past half hour or so, when the DDoS attacks started hitting.
I have been unable to log in again for about 5 minutes now.
I really, really want to apologize to the people I was in a party with. If you were in a party with Toyosatomimi-Tanaris and I DC'd and never came back, it's because I am unable to log back in. The Battle.net launcher has had me in a "less than 1 minute queue" for a few minutes now, and I don't think it's going to let me back on.
If any of you are still on and wondering why your healer got up and left, that's why. It's because I'm trapped!
I know none of you will probably see this, but I just wanted to get that off my chest. So sorry :(
Now though, I'm going to go to bed. It's midnight. That last dungeon run took about twice the time it needed to because of the disconnects, and I'm exhausted.
Leveling in Legion feels sooo slow! I've been at this since 9:30 this morning. It's midnight now. I only barely got to 104! A guy in my guild is at 107 or so, and I don't understand how he managed that so fast, let alone how people are already 110! Crazy!
I've been leveling as a Holy Priest, and having fun doing it. Mostly I've been questing and doing dungeons with guildies, but I've done a couple random ones too.
Launch has been very stable, with the exception of the past half hour or so, when the DDoS attacks started hitting.
I have been unable to log in again for about 5 minutes now.
I really, really want to apologize to the people I was in a party with. If you were in a party with Toyosatomimi-Tanaris and I DC'd and never came back, it's because I am unable to log back in. The Battle.net launcher has had me in a "less than 1 minute queue" for a few minutes now, and I don't think it's going to let me back on.
If any of you are still on and wondering why your healer got up and left, that's why. It's because I'm trapped!
I know none of you will probably see this, but I just wanted to get that off my chest. So sorry :(
Now though, I'm going to go to bed. It's midnight. That last dungeon run took about twice the time it needed to because of the disconnects, and I'm exhausted.
Leveling in Legion feels sooo slow! I've been at this since 9:30 this morning. It's midnight now. I only barely got to 104! A guy in my guild is at 107 or so, and I don't understand how he managed that so fast, let alone how people are already 110! Crazy!
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
I love my FFXIV character so much
I can't help it but take screenshots of her all the time! I think she came out so well! I just wish she looked okay in other hairstyles besides this one, because currently she looks pretty awful in any other ones.
~Yomi Tosho from Adamantoise Server~
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Another character
I just deleted my Elementalist, Lucia Snapdragon, because she seemed a little bland compared to my other characters and I could never find dyes that looked nice with her coloring. Also, it seemed weird to have 3 light armor characters, 2 heavy, and only 1 medium.
Sooo, I made a Thief instead!
And I think she looks really, really, really nice, despite the fact that I don't have a customization kit for her yet. I did splurge and buy $10 worth of gems to buy a new outfit though. It left me with 100 gems leftover, so if I just sell some more stuff in-game I'll have enough to get a customization kit again. Soon, soon!
Although...I'm not sure I if I want one for her. I think she looks nice the way she is. If I get one, it'll probably be to adjust my Revenant since she's kind of wonky looking at the moment (her head seems too small compared to her body?).
Also, can we talk about how pretty the Crystal Savant outfit is? Because it's gorgeous. It dyes beautifully with some dyes, although with others it seems a little too light. The back of it is so pretty, and the necklace thing kind of glows along with the shoulder crystals. The back also glows a bit. It's so pretty. Red is gorgeous on it. I also have Keiana using it right now, in white and yellow; it still looks nice, but not nearly as nice as it looks on Lucia here. I don't like using basically the same color scheme as I do on my Reaper, but I was kind of going for an autumn theme. It's awfully green outside, so I wanted to make an autumn-themed Sylvari.
And I know, I know, I never like Thieves. But I don't know, it's actually pretty fun this time. I think it's because I have stuffed myself into Dagger/Dagger, and I'm instead using Sword/Pistol, which is way more fun. I still find Shortbow really clunky though.
Also, I am making good progress on my Mesmer again. I've been grinding Hero Challenges today, and I think I need 95 more points total (which is a big improvement over earlier today) before I have Chronomancer maxed out.
I'm hoping that once I have my Chronomancer stuff all sorted out that maybe I'll feel better and more confident and could try to do a dungeon for once? I've never done one in GW2 because I've heard bad stories about the community in them, and the party finder is difficult for me to use. I like when games have a proper LFG system where it automatically puts you in random parties. It's easier on my anxiety. I am absolutely dreading using GW2's party finder, where it is far more personal in my opinion. It would be extremely difficult to get myself to use. I am in a guild, so I would ask for help, but I can't get myself to speak up and ask, and whenever I feel like I can, something sabotages me (either they'll log off and I won't get a chance to ask, or I do ask and they either don't see / ignore it or something). I think I'm a decent Mesmer, and I would really like to do content, but I'm just too terrified to with a random group! At least for the first runs. I feel like once I've done even one dungeon I'll feel better, like with FFXIV.
I can't quite figure out what it is about FFXIV that makes me somewhat comfortable with being in a group. I don't know. Usually if someone comes up and talks to me in-game, I'll immediately just log off in panic, but when I'm in a dungeon I can talk to people. I can lead the group, I can answer questions, I can make small talk. I'm wondering if it's because healing has more of a leadership position to it with people heavily relying on you that makes me comfortable? I know that's part of what makes me uncomfortable trying GW2's dungeons. I can't hide behind being the healer. I'm not a very good DPS, and honestly, I should be working on grinding Hero points with my Ranger instead so I can Druid heal. But I don't know, I like Mesmer thematically way more. If sometime in the future they make a healing specialization for Mesmer, I'll play it in a heartbeat.
Sorry, went off on a tangent there. I've just been getting very mopey about playing MMOs by myself all the time. I want to be sociable and actually play the game with people, but I can't get myself to no matter how much I try. I'll be okay though.
Sooo, I made a Thief instead!
And I think she looks really, really, really nice, despite the fact that I don't have a customization kit for her yet. I did splurge and buy $10 worth of gems to buy a new outfit though. It left me with 100 gems leftover, so if I just sell some more stuff in-game I'll have enough to get a customization kit again. Soon, soon!
Although...I'm not sure I if I want one for her. I think she looks nice the way she is. If I get one, it'll probably be to adjust my Revenant since she's kind of wonky looking at the moment (her head seems too small compared to her body?).
 |
| Lucia Snapdragon Version 2.0 |
Also, can we talk about how pretty the Crystal Savant outfit is? Because it's gorgeous. It dyes beautifully with some dyes, although with others it seems a little too light. The back of it is so pretty, and the necklace thing kind of glows along with the shoulder crystals. The back also glows a bit. It's so pretty. Red is gorgeous on it. I also have Keiana using it right now, in white and yellow; it still looks nice, but not nearly as nice as it looks on Lucia here. I don't like using basically the same color scheme as I do on my Reaper, but I was kind of going for an autumn theme. It's awfully green outside, so I wanted to make an autumn-themed Sylvari.
And I know, I know, I never like Thieves. But I don't know, it's actually pretty fun this time. I think it's because I have stuffed myself into Dagger/Dagger, and I'm instead using Sword/Pistol, which is way more fun. I still find Shortbow really clunky though.
Also, I am making good progress on my Mesmer again. I've been grinding Hero Challenges today, and I think I need 95 more points total (which is a big improvement over earlier today) before I have Chronomancer maxed out.
I'm hoping that once I have my Chronomancer stuff all sorted out that maybe I'll feel better and more confident and could try to do a dungeon for once? I've never done one in GW2 because I've heard bad stories about the community in them, and the party finder is difficult for me to use. I like when games have a proper LFG system where it automatically puts you in random parties. It's easier on my anxiety. I am absolutely dreading using GW2's party finder, where it is far more personal in my opinion. It would be extremely difficult to get myself to use. I am in a guild, so I would ask for help, but I can't get myself to speak up and ask, and whenever I feel like I can, something sabotages me (either they'll log off and I won't get a chance to ask, or I do ask and they either don't see / ignore it or something). I think I'm a decent Mesmer, and I would really like to do content, but I'm just too terrified to with a random group! At least for the first runs. I feel like once I've done even one dungeon I'll feel better, like with FFXIV.
I can't quite figure out what it is about FFXIV that makes me somewhat comfortable with being in a group. I don't know. Usually if someone comes up and talks to me in-game, I'll immediately just log off in panic, but when I'm in a dungeon I can talk to people. I can lead the group, I can answer questions, I can make small talk. I'm wondering if it's because healing has more of a leadership position to it with people heavily relying on you that makes me comfortable? I know that's part of what makes me uncomfortable trying GW2's dungeons. I can't hide behind being the healer. I'm not a very good DPS, and honestly, I should be working on grinding Hero points with my Ranger instead so I can Druid heal. But I don't know, I like Mesmer thematically way more. If sometime in the future they make a healing specialization for Mesmer, I'll play it in a heartbeat.
Sorry, went off on a tangent there. I've just been getting very mopey about playing MMOs by myself all the time. I want to be sociable and actually play the game with people, but I can't get myself to no matter how much I try. I'll be okay though.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Frustrating
I decided to go back to FFXIV today, for many reasons. 1) I can progress further in the game without needing to interact with people so much due to the party finder and 2) Patch day, yay!
In particular, I was most excited for the Novice Hall. As some of you may know, I attempted tanking in FFXIV precisely once. In fact, that was the first time I ever tried tanking in any game ever. It went horribly, because I had not a clue what I was doing.
Well, I studied in the Novice Hall for a few hours today! Read some guides online, and then kept redoing the Novice Hall missions over and over until I could reliably keep enmity. So I went into my first dungeon (Sastasha) as a newbie Gladiator, expecting it to go fine.
And, on my end at least, I think it did! I was holding onto enmity fine; a couple mishaps here and there, which was to be expected since it was my first time. I did a Shield Lob > 2 Flashes > and then started comboing. Marked targets. Initiated ready checks before bosses. The whole deal.
It got a little stressful at the last boss there with the adds since no one bothered to block the bubbles, so we got ALL THE ADDS. Which I was not prepared for, and I don't know how to tank yet, so that was difficult, and I admit that I resorted to Flash spam at one point when about 5 Baleen Guards spawned all at once and were after the healer. Didn't ultimately matter though, for reasons I'll explain.
But, the most frustrating part of all of this? I was dead 50% of the time. Why, you ask?
The healer only used Medica. Yup, just Medica. I don't know if this is typical in dungeons or not; I main a healer and therefore have never had to see a healer in a dungeon before besides myself (plus the couple of raids I've done, but the healers there were spectacular!). Oh, and they were also in Cleric's Stance the whole time.
It did not feel good to die on nearly every pull. The pulls were otherwise going well. I used all my cooldowns as much as I could to try and live, and I'd pop potions whenever they were available too, but I don't think I ever saw my health above 30%. And these were on just normal trash pulls. I found myself needing to use Foresight and Rampart whenever they were available, Fight or Flight + Bloodbath whenever they were available, and I'd pop Convalescence every now and again in hopes of living, but it was to no avail.
I guess I should have been a little more suspicious when I was placed in an in-progress party, but I just assumed that the tank had been bad or had left for other reasons. I try to assume the best of my party.
It was literally, I'd pull, get enmity on all mobs, combo combo combo to keep enmity, see my health rapidly dropping, pop anything I could that was available, and boom, dead. And then the party would proceed to somehow finish off the enemies without me, which made me feel quite bad about myself.
If any new healers are reading this, please, please, please, do not just spam Medica. I know they give it to you later, and it's AoE, so you'd assume it's more powerful / useful, but please realize that it is situational. Please know that Cure does more healing than Medica does, and that Medica has less range. Also, please note that Medica costs waaay more MP and wastes your MP. And please, please, please, do not be in Cleric Stance when healing. If my HP is fine then you're free to enter Cleric Stance and DPS, but if my HP is low you should be out of Cleric Stance and healing me. Cleric Stance reduces the potency of your healing spells by a considerable amount, so that on top of only using Medica makes for not very much healing.
But, regardless, after wipes every other pull and at least 5 wipes on the final boss, we did finally clear it. Well, everyone but me, basically. I was dead on the floor. I lasted about half the final boss's HP though...! I successfully held onto the enmity for the Baleen Guards and the DPS hit the bubbles. I died halfway through due to lack of healing, but the DPS somehow miraculously kited the boss around and killed it. So, yay...?
Thank you c:
In particular, I was most excited for the Novice Hall. As some of you may know, I attempted tanking in FFXIV precisely once. In fact, that was the first time I ever tried tanking in any game ever. It went horribly, because I had not a clue what I was doing.
Well, I studied in the Novice Hall for a few hours today! Read some guides online, and then kept redoing the Novice Hall missions over and over until I could reliably keep enmity. So I went into my first dungeon (Sastasha) as a newbie Gladiator, expecting it to go fine.
And, on my end at least, I think it did! I was holding onto enmity fine; a couple mishaps here and there, which was to be expected since it was my first time. I did a Shield Lob > 2 Flashes > and then started comboing. Marked targets. Initiated ready checks before bosses. The whole deal.
It got a little stressful at the last boss there with the adds since no one bothered to block the bubbles, so we got ALL THE ADDS. Which I was not prepared for, and I don't know how to tank yet, so that was difficult, and I admit that I resorted to Flash spam at one point when about 5 Baleen Guards spawned all at once and were after the healer. Didn't ultimately matter though, for reasons I'll explain.
But, the most frustrating part of all of this? I was dead 50% of the time. Why, you ask?
The healer only used Medica. Yup, just Medica. I don't know if this is typical in dungeons or not; I main a healer and therefore have never had to see a healer in a dungeon before besides myself (plus the couple of raids I've done, but the healers there were spectacular!). Oh, and they were also in Cleric's Stance the whole time.
It did not feel good to die on nearly every pull. The pulls were otherwise going well. I used all my cooldowns as much as I could to try and live, and I'd pop potions whenever they were available too, but I don't think I ever saw my health above 30%. And these were on just normal trash pulls. I found myself needing to use Foresight and Rampart whenever they were available, Fight or Flight + Bloodbath whenever they were available, and I'd pop Convalescence every now and again in hopes of living, but it was to no avail.
I guess I should have been a little more suspicious when I was placed in an in-progress party, but I just assumed that the tank had been bad or had left for other reasons. I try to assume the best of my party.
It was literally, I'd pull, get enmity on all mobs, combo combo combo to keep enmity, see my health rapidly dropping, pop anything I could that was available, and boom, dead. And then the party would proceed to somehow finish off the enemies without me, which made me feel quite bad about myself.
If any new healers are reading this, please, please, please, do not just spam Medica. I know they give it to you later, and it's AoE, so you'd assume it's more powerful / useful, but please realize that it is situational. Please know that Cure does more healing than Medica does, and that Medica has less range. Also, please note that Medica costs waaay more MP and wastes your MP. And please, please, please, do not be in Cleric Stance when healing. If my HP is fine then you're free to enter Cleric Stance and DPS, but if my HP is low you should be out of Cleric Stance and healing me. Cleric Stance reduces the potency of your healing spells by a considerable amount, so that on top of only using Medica makes for not very much healing.
But, regardless, after wipes every other pull and at least 5 wipes on the final boss, we did finally clear it. Well, everyone but me, basically. I was dead on the floor. I lasted about half the final boss's HP though...! I successfully held onto the enmity for the Baleen Guards and the DPS hit the bubbles. I died halfway through due to lack of healing, but the DPS somehow miraculously kited the boss around and killed it. So, yay...?
Thank you c:
Friday, December 18, 2015
Back on FFXIV
I'm back to playing FFXIV again. Still playing Ayame Miyumi, although I used a Fantasia and she's Xaela Au Ra now instead of Raen.
I did a couple practice runs of low-level dungeons (I think I did Copperbell Mines, Tam-Tara Deepcroft, and Haukke Manor) just to get used to healing again. And then I jumped right in and did Steps of Faith because I needed to in order to continue on in the story. That went surprisingly well. The party assigned me the role of main healer while the other healer did cannons. There was only one death, and that death was me because I was dumb and stood too close to the dragon's feet. Luckily, the other healer was able to pick up the slack while I ran back. If I remember correctly, I died pretty much right at the end and the dragon died soon after I got back, so I guess I wasn't missed too much there.
Upon getting into Heavensward content, I immediately made my way over to the Astrologian guild, and I am now an Astrologian (level 32)!
I'm loving AST. Have to say. I've done a couple dungeons (Tam-Tara, Haukke Manor, and Toto Rak), and I don't feel like I'm doing horribly. Bad, certainly, but not horrible. Although that Haukke Manor run went flawlessly, just saying. Tam-Tara was a bit hard because I hadn't healed on AST yet before and was having problems with taking enmity, and Toto Rak...well, we'll talk about Toto Rak in a minute because that run was horrible and I really don't think that was my fault. I think I did great!
I enjoy Draw way more than I should. Just working on memorizing what cards do what before Royal Road comes in and messes me up! And the skill animations just feel so satisfying. I know I'm not healing any more than I am on my WHM, but the skills just feel like they have more punch to them.
Ok, Toto Rak. That run was terrible. I just want to write this out and vent about this one because this was honestly the worst run of Toto Rak I've ever done. First of all, to set the stage, the group is all melee DPS, which is rough in Toto Rak because of the poison clouds from the microchu things. Tank and a DPS are both new, which is fine, I get that. I'm patient and lenient and all that, and I know my healing can pick up the slack when need be.
Except when everything is working against me. Then my healing can't pick up the slack at all.
First of all, I get walking into the poison exploding pod things once, not knowing that they'll explode and poison you and stress out your healer, but repeatedly running into them? Constantly? Even though I'm standing behind you frantically trying to dispose of them before you get there?
So, first tank death. Tank runs face first into some exploding pods, and I stop to try to heal/remove at least one poison stack. Everyone continues running on ahead and activates one of the web walls that pops up. I get stuck behind it because I stopped moving for a second to try to keep the tank alive. No one bothers to try and help me get past the web, so I'm frantically trying to break through with my meager healer DPS while watching the tank's health lower. Make it through with just enough time to start casting a heal and he dies. DPS is able to handle the mobs while I resurrect him.
Second tank death. Tank runs straight into at least three exploding pods and then into a group of mobs. Can't keep up with the poison damage and incoming mob damage. Tank dies while I frantically try to heal.
Third, group wipe. On the final boss. Goes fine for the first half. Once the tail comes out and starts shooting poison puddles it all goes downhill. Everyone stands in the puddles because they're melee and the tank doesn't move the boss. No one bothers to attack the tail. I get boxed in by puddles and the boss spawns an exploding pod on top of me. I die. Everyone dies.
Second time through the boss we miraculously make it through despite no one attacking the tail again.
Really though, the running straight into poisonous exploding pods knowing full well that they explode and poison you and stress out your hero is a huuuuge pet peeve of mine. Toto Rak can seriously be one of the most frustrating dungeons just because no one bothers to deal with those pods properly.
Long story short / moral of the story: Don't run face first into the exploding pods in Toto Rak. It annoys your healer. If no one has a range attack feel free to wait for your healer to dispatch it because they have a ranged attack and it only takes one hit. Please.
I did a couple practice runs of low-level dungeons (I think I did Copperbell Mines, Tam-Tara Deepcroft, and Haukke Manor) just to get used to healing again. And then I jumped right in and did Steps of Faith because I needed to in order to continue on in the story. That went surprisingly well. The party assigned me the role of main healer while the other healer did cannons. There was only one death, and that death was me because I was dumb and stood too close to the dragon's feet. Luckily, the other healer was able to pick up the slack while I ran back. If I remember correctly, I died pretty much right at the end and the dragon died soon after I got back, so I guess I wasn't missed too much there.
Upon getting into Heavensward content, I immediately made my way over to the Astrologian guild, and I am now an Astrologian (level 32)!
I'm loving AST. Have to say. I've done a couple dungeons (Tam-Tara, Haukke Manor, and Toto Rak), and I don't feel like I'm doing horribly. Bad, certainly, but not horrible. Although that Haukke Manor run went flawlessly, just saying. Tam-Tara was a bit hard because I hadn't healed on AST yet before and was having problems with taking enmity, and Toto Rak...well, we'll talk about Toto Rak in a minute because that run was horrible and I really don't think that was my fault. I think I did great!
I enjoy Draw way more than I should. Just working on memorizing what cards do what before Royal Road comes in and messes me up! And the skill animations just feel so satisfying. I know I'm not healing any more than I am on my WHM, but the skills just feel like they have more punch to them.
Ok, Toto Rak. That run was terrible. I just want to write this out and vent about this one because this was honestly the worst run of Toto Rak I've ever done. First of all, to set the stage, the group is all melee DPS, which is rough in Toto Rak because of the poison clouds from the microchu things. Tank and a DPS are both new, which is fine, I get that. I'm patient and lenient and all that, and I know my healing can pick up the slack when need be.
Except when everything is working against me. Then my healing can't pick up the slack at all.
First of all, I get walking into the poison exploding pod things once, not knowing that they'll explode and poison you and stress out your healer, but repeatedly running into them? Constantly? Even though I'm standing behind you frantically trying to dispose of them before you get there?
So, first tank death. Tank runs face first into some exploding pods, and I stop to try to heal/remove at least one poison stack. Everyone continues running on ahead and activates one of the web walls that pops up. I get stuck behind it because I stopped moving for a second to try to keep the tank alive. No one bothers to try and help me get past the web, so I'm frantically trying to break through with my meager healer DPS while watching the tank's health lower. Make it through with just enough time to start casting a heal and he dies. DPS is able to handle the mobs while I resurrect him.
Second tank death. Tank runs straight into at least three exploding pods and then into a group of mobs. Can't keep up with the poison damage and incoming mob damage. Tank dies while I frantically try to heal.
Third, group wipe. On the final boss. Goes fine for the first half. Once the tail comes out and starts shooting poison puddles it all goes downhill. Everyone stands in the puddles because they're melee and the tank doesn't move the boss. No one bothers to attack the tail. I get boxed in by puddles and the boss spawns an exploding pod on top of me. I die. Everyone dies.
Second time through the boss we miraculously make it through despite no one attacking the tail again.
Really though, the running straight into poisonous exploding pods knowing full well that they explode and poison you and stress out your hero is a huuuuge pet peeve of mine. Toto Rak can seriously be one of the most frustrating dungeons just because no one bothers to deal with those pods properly.
Long story short / moral of the story: Don't run face first into the exploding pods in Toto Rak. It annoys your healer. If no one has a range attack feel free to wait for your healer to dispatch it because they have a ranged attack and it only takes one hit. Please.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Dragomon Hunter Review
I've been in a game-trying mood lately, so I decided to try Dragomon Hunter, since I noticed it was in open beta, and then I figured "Hey, why don't I write a review about it?" and so here we are.
Please be aware that this review is written during the Open Beta, and therefore some things are bound to change between this review being written and the full release of the game.
So first off, let me give a couple quite bullet points before going more in-depth:
Good
So first, let's talk about the good things about the game.
First up, the dialogue. The dialogue is magnificent. Usually I just skip over dialogues in these free imported MMOs because the dialogue is typically terribly localized and all around boring. This game, however, has quite enjoyable dialogue (most of the time at least). To top it all off, the dialogue and quest names frequently references to something or other (usually anime), which gives me an extra giggle when I get the reference.
The game looks nice. I really like games with vibrant colors, and this game certainly has that. The character models look quite nice in my opinion, although I know not everyone likes the chibi look. The game has a day/night cycle which is a nice change from other F2P MMOs too. The monsters in the game are well done and unique looking. I'm playing on Medium graphics settings and it plays decently. I do get some lag spikes, but they are mostly in town where there's tons of people, with the occasional spike in the instanced quest areas. But I also recognize that my computer is terrible, so there's that.
Character creation is a bit disappointing. There are a few hair and face options, plus eye colors and hair colors. The variety of the female hairstyles felt a bit disappointing though. I didn't feel like I really found one that I liked all that much. Faces were a bit better variety-wise though. The game also has voice options, but personally I turned off all voices in my settings because the game talks just a little bit too much. Also, the hairs have a bit of a physics issue sometimes. They go crazy in the character creator when you turn the character, and act wonky in-game sometimes when you turn quickly or enter a zone. They calm down significantly during normal play though (or maybe I just get too distracted to notice?).
Classes are pretty simple to grasp. You can select one of four base classes. You can use a different weapon with them at level 20, and at level 30 you can specialize into one of two specializations per class. The base classes are Mercenary, Mage, Scout, and Cleric. These are your typical Warrior, Mage, Rogue, and Healer classes. Mercs use Battleaxes or Greatswords, Mages use Staves or Magic Horns, Scouts use daggers (I think they have a different name though) or Rifles, and Clerics use Hammers or Cestuses (if you are familiar with FlyFF, they are the same things as Knuckles). Mercs can specialize as Barbarians or Vanguards, Mages can become Arcanists or Symphonists, Scouts can be War Dancers or Sharpshooters, and Clerics can be Crusaders or Monks. Personally, I've been really enjoying my Cleric, leaning towards Crusader.
Dragocite Inlaying is quite neat. Basically, every time you kill a monster you get a chance to pick up its Dragocite (it's rare though, as far as I can tell). These are gems that can be inlayed into different equipment. When you pick them up, they have an effect that isn't all that great on its own. But then you can take it to a Master Craftsman along with some materials and Transform it to give it more effects (such as an attack boost), and then they become significantly more useful. You then inlay it into the equipment type that it specifies and there you go! You are also able to separate the equipment and Dragocite at no cost and at no risk to either piece, so the Dragocite are reusable! You have 10 tries to Transform your Dragocite before you can't do it anymore, but it seems like those tries are hardly necessary if you aren't too picky. As an example of what I'm talking about as far as stats, I have, right now, a Rhinosker's Dragocite inlayed on my Frigid Cone Hammer. The base effect of this is +15% damage to Shellomon, but because I transformed it, it now also gives me +49 Attack, +54 Penetration, +20 Crit, and +5% damage to Humanoids. And at any time, I could remove it from my hammer and apply it to my Quintus' Devestation cestus.
Crafting has a neat concept, I think. Every time you kill a monster you get a chance to get materials from it. These materials can then be used to craft more gear. As far as I can tell, gear can only be made from dungeon boss materials, but I could be wrong. You can also Refine and Evolve your gear to make it more powerful. I don't know too much about this process yet, because I figure I'll wait until a higher level when my equipment will be more permanent than it is during the leveling process.
Hoppalongs are adorable bunnies that are adorable. You customize your own personal Hoppalong during character creation complete with naming. You can also change their class later on, but I haven't figured out how yet. I know it has to do with some books you can win in the Hoppadrome, but I have a couple classes unlocked for mine and can't figure out how to change his class.
And a lot of this leads into one of the big negatives of the game. That being a lack of explanation and tutorials! Yay! The game introduces you to these concepts like crafting, Dragocite, the Hoppadrome, your Hoppalong, the Ranch, etc. but then doesn't really go into detail about them. The only reason why I figured out how to use Dragocite was because I looked it up. And I still do not understand the purpose of the Ranch or how to use it properly at all.
There's also the occasional plot-hole, although I might have messed something up, maybe. The big one that I can think of is when I got the automatic quest to visit my ranch and there I met Fate and the dialogue acted like I already knew her when in fact I had never even met her until a later quest. Or how the main quest sends you to visit Marvin/Martin/whatever-that-con-artist's-name-is long before he introduces himself. On the topic of quest, I also did not appreciate the automatic pop-up quest that led me to a quest that required me to purchase something from the cash shop. I promptly dropped that quest as soon as I figured out what it wanted. I also do not like this quest I have in my quest list that is listed as a main quest and wants to require me to join a guild. I can't get rid of it either because it is an auto quest. I'm going to hold off on it for as long as possible.
Outside of crafting, the game feels a little bit too easy. I feel like I just use Sovereign Blessing to give myself a buff, start the fight with Hammer of Judgement, and then just spam all my buttons until something dies, occasionally moving out of easy-to-escape attack telegraphs. And if I take damage I just use Healing Prayer and I'm done. I don't know, I went into this game expecting a little more difficulty than that. Maybe it'll get harder later, but the only decent challenge I've gotten has been in the Hoppadrome, but the only way I can tell to get tickets for that is through the daily quests, so I can only do Hoppadrome so many times a day.
Finally, my biggest complaint is that the game has some of those wonky MMO systems that I despise. Things like auto-movement to automatically bring me to my quest objectives. Or how I can pick up new improved armor but that armor does not include a skin, instead I need to get a costume to change my outfit skin, and those are few and far between in-game. This game takes this a step farther by having costumes actually have stat-bonuses on them. Not cool. If you're going to make me use costumes instead of gear, do not put stats on them and most certainly do not then sell said statted-costumes in a cash shop. Not okay. The game is also currently plagued with gold spammers, and when I say plagued, I mean an absolutely insane amount of gold spammers. I also cannot seem to find a report button and I've heard that there's a limited amount of space on the block list, so that's no good.
All in all, the game has the potential to be really, really good. It has the concepts and the bones, but it suffers from issues that plague many F2P MMOs. I'll be keeping an eye on it, for sure.
Please be aware that this review is written during the Open Beta, and therefore some things are bound to change between this review being written and the full release of the game.
So first off, let me give a couple quite bullet points before going more in-depth:
Good
- The dialogue is well-written and comedic
- The sheer amount of references to other media (primarily anime) is great.
- The game itself looks quite nice from an aesthetic point of view. I thought the character models are nice (aside from the wonky hair, but I'll get to that later).
- The concept of capturing monsters to use as mounts and to raise on your Ranch is interesting.
- I really like the concept of Dragoncite inlaying.
- I like the concept of crafting.
- The Hoppalongs are adorable.
- Weird plot holes (talking to a character like you've already met them when in fact you never have).
- Lack of tutorials / explanation for the game's more complicated things such as crafting.
- Combat is kind of boring.
- The game overall feels a little too easy.
- No armor skins, just costumes.
- Holy gold spammers!
- Main town has a weird layout.
So first, let's talk about the good things about the game.
First up, the dialogue. The dialogue is magnificent. Usually I just skip over dialogues in these free imported MMOs because the dialogue is typically terribly localized and all around boring. This game, however, has quite enjoyable dialogue (most of the time at least). To top it all off, the dialogue and quest names frequently references to something or other (usually anime), which gives me an extra giggle when I get the reference.
The game looks nice. I really like games with vibrant colors, and this game certainly has that. The character models look quite nice in my opinion, although I know not everyone likes the chibi look. The game has a day/night cycle which is a nice change from other F2P MMOs too. The monsters in the game are well done and unique looking. I'm playing on Medium graphics settings and it plays decently. I do get some lag spikes, but they are mostly in town where there's tons of people, with the occasional spike in the instanced quest areas. But I also recognize that my computer is terrible, so there's that.
Character creation is a bit disappointing. There are a few hair and face options, plus eye colors and hair colors. The variety of the female hairstyles felt a bit disappointing though. I didn't feel like I really found one that I liked all that much. Faces were a bit better variety-wise though. The game also has voice options, but personally I turned off all voices in my settings because the game talks just a little bit too much. Also, the hairs have a bit of a physics issue sometimes. They go crazy in the character creator when you turn the character, and act wonky in-game sometimes when you turn quickly or enter a zone. They calm down significantly during normal play though (or maybe I just get too distracted to notice?).
Classes are pretty simple to grasp. You can select one of four base classes. You can use a different weapon with them at level 20, and at level 30 you can specialize into one of two specializations per class. The base classes are Mercenary, Mage, Scout, and Cleric. These are your typical Warrior, Mage, Rogue, and Healer classes. Mercs use Battleaxes or Greatswords, Mages use Staves or Magic Horns, Scouts use daggers (I think they have a different name though) or Rifles, and Clerics use Hammers or Cestuses (if you are familiar with FlyFF, they are the same things as Knuckles). Mercs can specialize as Barbarians or Vanguards, Mages can become Arcanists or Symphonists, Scouts can be War Dancers or Sharpshooters, and Clerics can be Crusaders or Monks. Personally, I've been really enjoying my Cleric, leaning towards Crusader.
Dragocite Inlaying is quite neat. Basically, every time you kill a monster you get a chance to pick up its Dragocite (it's rare though, as far as I can tell). These are gems that can be inlayed into different equipment. When you pick them up, they have an effect that isn't all that great on its own. But then you can take it to a Master Craftsman along with some materials and Transform it to give it more effects (such as an attack boost), and then they become significantly more useful. You then inlay it into the equipment type that it specifies and there you go! You are also able to separate the equipment and Dragocite at no cost and at no risk to either piece, so the Dragocite are reusable! You have 10 tries to Transform your Dragocite before you can't do it anymore, but it seems like those tries are hardly necessary if you aren't too picky. As an example of what I'm talking about as far as stats, I have, right now, a Rhinosker's Dragocite inlayed on my Frigid Cone Hammer. The base effect of this is +15% damage to Shellomon, but because I transformed it, it now also gives me +49 Attack, +54 Penetration, +20 Crit, and +5% damage to Humanoids. And at any time, I could remove it from my hammer and apply it to my Quintus' Devestation cestus.
Crafting has a neat concept, I think. Every time you kill a monster you get a chance to get materials from it. These materials can then be used to craft more gear. As far as I can tell, gear can only be made from dungeon boss materials, but I could be wrong. You can also Refine and Evolve your gear to make it more powerful. I don't know too much about this process yet, because I figure I'll wait until a higher level when my equipment will be more permanent than it is during the leveling process.
Hoppalongs are adorable bunnies that are adorable. You customize your own personal Hoppalong during character creation complete with naming. You can also change their class later on, but I haven't figured out how yet. I know it has to do with some books you can win in the Hoppadrome, but I have a couple classes unlocked for mine and can't figure out how to change his class.
And a lot of this leads into one of the big negatives of the game. That being a lack of explanation and tutorials! Yay! The game introduces you to these concepts like crafting, Dragocite, the Hoppadrome, your Hoppalong, the Ranch, etc. but then doesn't really go into detail about them. The only reason why I figured out how to use Dragocite was because I looked it up. And I still do not understand the purpose of the Ranch or how to use it properly at all.
There's also the occasional plot-hole, although I might have messed something up, maybe. The big one that I can think of is when I got the automatic quest to visit my ranch and there I met Fate and the dialogue acted like I already knew her when in fact I had never even met her until a later quest. Or how the main quest sends you to visit Marvin/Martin/whatever-that-con-artist's-name-is long before he introduces himself. On the topic of quest, I also did not appreciate the automatic pop-up quest that led me to a quest that required me to purchase something from the cash shop. I promptly dropped that quest as soon as I figured out what it wanted. I also do not like this quest I have in my quest list that is listed as a main quest and wants to require me to join a guild. I can't get rid of it either because it is an auto quest. I'm going to hold off on it for as long as possible.
Outside of crafting, the game feels a little bit too easy. I feel like I just use Sovereign Blessing to give myself a buff, start the fight with Hammer of Judgement, and then just spam all my buttons until something dies, occasionally moving out of easy-to-escape attack telegraphs. And if I take damage I just use Healing Prayer and I'm done. I don't know, I went into this game expecting a little more difficulty than that. Maybe it'll get harder later, but the only decent challenge I've gotten has been in the Hoppadrome, but the only way I can tell to get tickets for that is through the daily quests, so I can only do Hoppadrome so many times a day.
Finally, my biggest complaint is that the game has some of those wonky MMO systems that I despise. Things like auto-movement to automatically bring me to my quest objectives. Or how I can pick up new improved armor but that armor does not include a skin, instead I need to get a costume to change my outfit skin, and those are few and far between in-game. This game takes this a step farther by having costumes actually have stat-bonuses on them. Not cool. If you're going to make me use costumes instead of gear, do not put stats on them and most certainly do not then sell said statted-costumes in a cash shop. Not okay. The game is also currently plagued with gold spammers, and when I say plagued, I mean an absolutely insane amount of gold spammers. I also cannot seem to find a report button and I've heard that there's a limited amount of space on the block list, so that's no good.
All in all, the game has the potential to be really, really good. It has the concepts and the bones, but it suffers from issues that plague many F2P MMOs. I'll be keeping an eye on it, for sure.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Progress Update?
Hello, sorry, I've been quite busy in the past two weeks.
I had begun college classes for Hospitality and Event Planning, but then, due to various reasons, decided to switch to Programming.
Long story short, I felt quite uncomfortable in my hospitality classes since it seemed like everyone there was very outgoing and we were told that we shouldn't be in this class if we aren't a "people person."
I am not a people person and I am incredibly shy and introverted (and anxious!).
So, I decided to switch to Programming instead, which is honestly probably a better fit for me anyway due to my computer background.
So, we'll see how this goes. Hopefully, this will be my last major swap, and I can just get through with this. It's just a certificate course, so it's not like it's a huge time commitment.
This all hinges on if I get a decent grade on my computer skills accuplacer tomorrow though. Which I'm extremely nervous about. I've never actually had a computer class; everything I know about computers I learned from my dad or I taught myself. I just hope it's enough. It'll be discouraging to have a basic computer skills class blocking my way to the good stuff.
I'm particularly nervous since I haven't taken a test in...oh my goodness, 6 years. My high school wasn't traditional and we didn't have tests. And my animation school also didn't have tests. Well, that's suddenly more nerve-wracking.
Sorry, just venting a bit. I'm a nervous wreck.
Oh well, the cure for nervousness is playing Mass Effect, so I'll happily go do that. I'm doing a new playthrough this week and I'm about in the middle of ME2 right now. Just did the Collector Ship, and I'm off to complete loyalty missions before Reaper IFF. I really need to get around to getting the ME2 DLC. I have all the ME3 DLC (Citadel is the best thing ever), but I've never gotten around to getting the ME2 ones. I've watched my boyfriend do parts of Shadow Broker, but that's about it. I need to get it. Maybe I'll ask him for it for my birthday / Christmas.
I had begun college classes for Hospitality and Event Planning, but then, due to various reasons, decided to switch to Programming.
Long story short, I felt quite uncomfortable in my hospitality classes since it seemed like everyone there was very outgoing and we were told that we shouldn't be in this class if we aren't a "people person."
I am not a people person and I am incredibly shy and introverted (and anxious!).
So, I decided to switch to Programming instead, which is honestly probably a better fit for me anyway due to my computer background.
So, we'll see how this goes. Hopefully, this will be my last major swap, and I can just get through with this. It's just a certificate course, so it's not like it's a huge time commitment.
This all hinges on if I get a decent grade on my computer skills accuplacer tomorrow though. Which I'm extremely nervous about. I've never actually had a computer class; everything I know about computers I learned from my dad or I taught myself. I just hope it's enough. It'll be discouraging to have a basic computer skills class blocking my way to the good stuff.
I'm particularly nervous since I haven't taken a test in...oh my goodness, 6 years. My high school wasn't traditional and we didn't have tests. And my animation school also didn't have tests. Well, that's suddenly more nerve-wracking.
Sorry, just venting a bit. I'm a nervous wreck.
Oh well, the cure for nervousness is playing Mass Effect, so I'll happily go do that. I'm doing a new playthrough this week and I'm about in the middle of ME2 right now. Just did the Collector Ship, and I'm off to complete loyalty missions before Reaper IFF. I really need to get around to getting the ME2 DLC. I have all the ME3 DLC (Citadel is the best thing ever), but I've never gotten around to getting the ME2 ones. I've watched my boyfriend do parts of Shadow Broker, but that's about it. I need to get it. Maybe I'll ask him for it for my birthday / Christmas.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
And I'm back!
Hello, it's been a while!
I've been very busy with other things and haven't had the time to write on here, but I'll try to get back into the swing of things starting now.
Let's see...what's happened since I last posted..
I had the flu, which was initially made me stop writing for a while because I was just sleeping all day and couldn't really even play games. And when I'm not playing any games I don't really have too much to write about.
And then I got absorbed in GW2 for a while. I had another abnormally productive week and Keiana Xiphium, my Mesmer, is now level 80. Yeah, I don't know how that's possible either.
Then I played Skyrim with my boyfriend. Fun fun. I'm playing a High Elf who uses no magic, is a Stormcloak, and would probably best be described as chaotic good. She also may or may not be a Thalmor spy. We're not sure yet. We don't think she's sure yet. My boyfriend also says that my character has powers to manipulate alternate universes due to the fact that I have a tendency to save, kill off a character, and then reload. So that was fun for a bit.
I'm a terrible gardener in real life.
My cat is going insane in his old age. We give him plenty of food. We keep dry food out for him and our younger cat all day, and it's special cat food from the vet's office because of my cat's urinary problems. We also give them a can of wet food at night, which he eats all of in under ten minutes and does not let the younger cat near it. And yet he is constantly acting like he is starving to death. He isn't. He has plenty of food. He is just picky and doesn't want his food that he's eaten for years. He wants everyone else's food. He tried to eat my pizza the other day. And my cereal. And my Oreos. And anything else we have to eat. He also tries to take the dog's food. If we turn out backs for even a minute he'll take food off the table. Weird cat.
I applied to a college but never heard back. :|
I applied for a job but never heard back. :|
The most recent event is that we had to have our 14 year old Dalmatian put down last week. It was very sad. We knew it was coming because of his hip and spine problems that he developed in his old age. There wasn't much we could do about it. We did what we could. The last suggestion the vet had for us was acupuncture, which is the one thing we didn't try. Regardless, it finally got to the point where he couldn't move at all. This had happened a couple days in the past where it seemed like he wouldn't be able to walk again and that it was time, but in the past he had recovered after a couple hours and been fine. He wasn't fine this time. He could not put weight on either of his back legs and he did not show any signs of being able to again, because in the past it had only been one leg that had been bothering him, but this time it was both. And his front legs weren't looking great either. At 9PM my dad came upstairs crying and saying that it was time, so my parents went to the vet to get it over with and I stayed home to console our other dog. RIP Tango.
So yeah, I'll get back to work on writing some stuff for the blog. Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth: 2 apparently comes out tomorrow on Steam, so maybe I'll do something about that once I get it.
I've been very busy with other things and haven't had the time to write on here, but I'll try to get back into the swing of things starting now.
Let's see...what's happened since I last posted..
I had the flu, which was initially made me stop writing for a while because I was just sleeping all day and couldn't really even play games. And when I'm not playing any games I don't really have too much to write about.
And then I got absorbed in GW2 for a while. I had another abnormally productive week and Keiana Xiphium, my Mesmer, is now level 80. Yeah, I don't know how that's possible either.
Then I played Skyrim with my boyfriend. Fun fun. I'm playing a High Elf who uses no magic, is a Stormcloak, and would probably best be described as chaotic good. She also may or may not be a Thalmor spy. We're not sure yet. We don't think she's sure yet. My boyfriend also says that my character has powers to manipulate alternate universes due to the fact that I have a tendency to save, kill off a character, and then reload. So that was fun for a bit.
I'm a terrible gardener in real life.
My cat is going insane in his old age. We give him plenty of food. We keep dry food out for him and our younger cat all day, and it's special cat food from the vet's office because of my cat's urinary problems. We also give them a can of wet food at night, which he eats all of in under ten minutes and does not let the younger cat near it. And yet he is constantly acting like he is starving to death. He isn't. He has plenty of food. He is just picky and doesn't want his food that he's eaten for years. He wants everyone else's food. He tried to eat my pizza the other day. And my cereal. And my Oreos. And anything else we have to eat. He also tries to take the dog's food. If we turn out backs for even a minute he'll take food off the table. Weird cat.
I applied to a college but never heard back. :|
I applied for a job but never heard back. :|
The most recent event is that we had to have our 14 year old Dalmatian put down last week. It was very sad. We knew it was coming because of his hip and spine problems that he developed in his old age. There wasn't much we could do about it. We did what we could. The last suggestion the vet had for us was acupuncture, which is the one thing we didn't try. Regardless, it finally got to the point where he couldn't move at all. This had happened a couple days in the past where it seemed like he wouldn't be able to walk again and that it was time, but in the past he had recovered after a couple hours and been fine. He wasn't fine this time. He could not put weight on either of his back legs and he did not show any signs of being able to again, because in the past it had only been one leg that had been bothering him, but this time it was both. And his front legs weren't looking great either. At 9PM my dad came upstairs crying and saying that it was time, so my parents went to the vet to get it over with and I stayed home to console our other dog. RIP Tango.
So yeah, I'll get back to work on writing some stuff for the blog. Hyperdimension Neptunia Rebirth: 2 apparently comes out tomorrow on Steam, so maybe I'll do something about that once I get it.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Where have I been?
I've been playing Wildstar!
And, I've got to say: really happy with this game.
Up until recently, this game seemed very uninteresting to me. Another game that you have to buy up-front, and then pay a subscription fee. And why bother with that when I could just pay my subscription for FFXIV or DCUO?
Well, I'm glad I finally got the trial working, because I ended up picking up the game and I'm going through my free 30 days, and planning on trying to support myself through buying C.R.E.D.D. with in-game currency to pay for the subscription (may I just say that the C.R.E.D.D. system is genius?).
The combat is very fun and I really have to pay attention to it lest I take a ton of damage. The housing system is amazing and I love my house so very much. More than my DCUO base, even. The customization for housing is simply phenomenal.
So, without further ado, here is my character:
I love her.
I intend to heal at level 50, but until then, I'm running a DPS action set with gear focusing on the Moxie stat. I am currently level 23 and leveling in Whitevale.
I've only been playing this for about a week, so I still don't have any idea what I'm doing, build-wise, but my action set is:
Telekinetic Strike, Mind Burst, Crush, Blade Dance, Concentrated Blades, Mind Over Body, and Geist.
Basically, what I do is start off the battle with one Telekinetic Strike, then get Concentrated Blades going, spam Telekinetic Strike until I have 5 Psi Points, then use Mind Burst. Rinse and repeat. If there's multiple enemies I add Blade Dance in there too. If I'm fighting a particularly tough enemy or lots of enemies I'll send out my Geist. If I need to heal I use Crush to knock the enemy down, and then use Mind Over Body. Pretty simple, but interesting to play. Keeping an eye on my Psi Points helps me stay focused, and I love using Mind Burst and seeing all the damage it does at 5 points.
For Ability Tier points I have 2 in Telekinetic Strike, 3 in Mind Burst, 3 in Concentrated Blade, 3 in Blade Dance, 2 in Mind Over Body, and 1 in Crush.
For AMPs I have up to Armor Pierce III, Assault Power III, Strikethrough III, Critical Hit III, Critical Hit Severity II, Lifesteal II, and Cooldowns II.
Hm...what else...
I have the title The Scholar, so my name is Myothi Shyflower the Scholar. I have a Grinder mount.
I am a Survivalist / Architect. The crafting system is this game isn't interesting me too much though. My house is a Cozy Aurin House and my other plots are Thicket Tier 1, Crafting Kiosk, BBQ Pit, Cute Date Spot, Moonshiner Cabin, and Prospector Plot.
I'm really happy :)
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Gimme Your MMORPG Recommendations!
I'm in a "try out new MMOs" kind of mood.
Currently downloading La Tale and RIFT, and re-downloading Dragon Nest, Ragnarok II, and Elsword.
But, I want more recommendations! And give reasoning as to why it's a good MMO. I also don't mind going back to games that I have played before since I things can change and such.
PvE MMOs only please. No MOBAs and no PvP-centric games.
MMOs I've played and enjoyed at some point in my life:
World of Warcraft - WoW's group content makes me anxious. Like most other things about it though. Not good experience with the community, however...
Guild Wars 2 - Great fun and love the customization, but I really miss the traditional paradigm of DPS/Healer/Tank. I like healing :(
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - Super fun, but leveling another class is a pain. Would play this all the time but I don't want to pay for the subscription all the time. Looking for something free-er.
DC Universe Online - Really fun but, again, something a bit more free would be nice. Yes, I know I can technically play for free, but not having the DLCs is a pain.
Maplestory - Community is ick. Love the controls and combat, and the variety of classes.
FlyFF - Nope. Not playing this ever again. Nope nope nope. Grind is not worth it in this case. Liked the armor in this game, but that's abut it.
Mabinogi - Love the concept; hate the controls and graphics.
Dragon Nest - Not really any customization. Fun to play though.
Ragnarok Online II - Doesn't seem to have a very active community. Didn't stick with it long enough to develop an opinion besides that.
Elsword - Not much customization. Fun to play, but confusing at times.
Eden Eternal - The combat feels slow and clumsy. I don't know why, but it does. Very cute game with armor and weapons that I like.
Aura Kingdom - Pretty much the same thing as Eden Eternal, except clumsier feeling.
TERA - Pretty great game, but it absolutely kills my computer. And unlike FFXIV, turning down the graphics doesn't help all that much (and you can't se how gorgeous this game is then).
Toontown Online / Toonown Rewritten - Not always in the mood for this lovely game.
Pirates of the Caribbean Online - Shut down. Not aware of a replacement.
Divina Online - Shut down. Can play in Japanese, but I don't know Japanese.
Lucent Heart - Shut down.
Iris Online - Shut down.
Oh, and please don't say Scarlet Blade because I have so minimal interest for that.
I really like when games try something new as well, whether it be classes or mechanics.
Minimal spiders is preferable. I remember I tried a game once (I can't remember what it was called. I know it was rereleased under a different name, but I don't remember what, or if it still exists), but I couldn't play it because pretty much all the enemies were spiders. Wasn't good for me. The game was such a fun concept too :(
I need a ton of MMOs to keep my attention since I switch between them so frequently...
So give me recommendations!
Oh, and I can give recommendations too! I'm good at that!
Currently downloading La Tale and RIFT, and re-downloading Dragon Nest, Ragnarok II, and Elsword.
But, I want more recommendations! And give reasoning as to why it's a good MMO. I also don't mind going back to games that I have played before since I things can change and such.
PvE MMOs only please. No MOBAs and no PvP-centric games.
MMOs I've played and enjoyed at some point in my life:
World of Warcraft - WoW's group content makes me anxious. Like most other things about it though. Not good experience with the community, however...
Guild Wars 2 - Great fun and love the customization, but I really miss the traditional paradigm of DPS/Healer/Tank. I like healing :(
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - Super fun, but leveling another class is a pain. Would play this all the time but I don't want to pay for the subscription all the time. Looking for something free-er.
DC Universe Online - Really fun but, again, something a bit more free would be nice. Yes, I know I can technically play for free, but not having the DLCs is a pain.
Maplestory - Community is ick. Love the controls and combat, and the variety of classes.
FlyFF - Nope. Not playing this ever again. Nope nope nope. Grind is not worth it in this case. Liked the armor in this game, but that's abut it.
Mabinogi - Love the concept; hate the controls and graphics.
Dragon Nest - Not really any customization. Fun to play though.
Ragnarok Online II - Doesn't seem to have a very active community. Didn't stick with it long enough to develop an opinion besides that.
Elsword - Not much customization. Fun to play, but confusing at times.
Eden Eternal - The combat feels slow and clumsy. I don't know why, but it does. Very cute game with armor and weapons that I like.
Aura Kingdom - Pretty much the same thing as Eden Eternal, except clumsier feeling.
TERA - Pretty great game, but it absolutely kills my computer. And unlike FFXIV, turning down the graphics doesn't help all that much (and you can't se how gorgeous this game is then).
Toontown Online / Toonown Rewritten - Not always in the mood for this lovely game.
Pirates of the Caribbean Online - Shut down. Not aware of a replacement.
Divina Online - Shut down. Can play in Japanese, but I don't know Japanese.
Lucent Heart - Shut down.
Iris Online - Shut down.
Oh, and please don't say Scarlet Blade because I have so minimal interest for that.
I really like when games try something new as well, whether it be classes or mechanics.
Minimal spiders is preferable. I remember I tried a game once (I can't remember what it was called. I know it was rereleased under a different name, but I don't remember what, or if it still exists), but I couldn't play it because pretty much all the enemies were spiders. Wasn't good for me. The game was such a fun concept too :(
I need a ton of MMOs to keep my attention since I switch between them so frequently...
So give me recommendations!
Oh, and I can give recommendations too! I'm good at that!
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Non-Guide Update, Kind of!
I am still working diligently on the guide, of course.
That said, if I don't get a new bit posted every day, there is a reason for that.
I decided not to withdraw from animation school, and I am continuing. I will have to retake the art class, but this month I get to take my very first actual animation class! Yay!
The workload is very large and I had a 3 1/2 hour class today. I'll be lucky if I don't dream about vertices and extrusions!
Completely unrelated, but for the past two months now I have not been able to go a single day without seeing some mention of Batman, and it is rather unnerving. I feel like perhaps I had been seeing mentions of Batman every day for my entire life and I just only became aware of it. Perhaps we all see mentions of Batman every day and just never even realized it?
It's in the weirdest places too. I'll be looking up Pokémon stats for my boyfriend and I'll come across something about Lego Batman. Just today I was reading an article, and it mentioned "The Dark Knight Rises," (or whatever it's called, I just know it's Batman). The other day I was at the store and I saw Batman pajamas. Without fail, I have been seeing something about it every single day. My mom says that my brain is actively looking for it, but I don't think so at all, because I run across it in the weirdest places. I don't go through the day purposefully looking up things that would get me a result of Batman. I go through my day looking up Touhou stuff, or animation stuff, or Disney stuff. Never Batman.
As an added note, I do not count anything related to DCUO as being "Batman," because that is just a given. As such, I do not count the launcher I see every day on my desktop because then I would obviously see it every day since it's an icon that is consistently on my desktop. I also do not count when my boyfriend says Batman because he does it on purpose to annoy me. So he doesn't count.
They are all completely random sightings.
And now I fear that by writing that here I may have just cursed anyone reading this to a life filled with Batman. I am very sorry. Or congratulations, if you are happy about it.
I don't have any problems with Batman. It's just a weird thing that I can't seem to go a day without hearing about him in some context, and not anywhere I would expect to find him.
Just weird.
That said, if I don't get a new bit posted every day, there is a reason for that.
I decided not to withdraw from animation school, and I am continuing. I will have to retake the art class, but this month I get to take my very first actual animation class! Yay!
The workload is very large and I had a 3 1/2 hour class today. I'll be lucky if I don't dream about vertices and extrusions!
Completely unrelated, but for the past two months now I have not been able to go a single day without seeing some mention of Batman, and it is rather unnerving. I feel like perhaps I had been seeing mentions of Batman every day for my entire life and I just only became aware of it. Perhaps we all see mentions of Batman every day and just never even realized it?
It's in the weirdest places too. I'll be looking up Pokémon stats for my boyfriend and I'll come across something about Lego Batman. Just today I was reading an article, and it mentioned "The Dark Knight Rises," (or whatever it's called, I just know it's Batman). The other day I was at the store and I saw Batman pajamas. Without fail, I have been seeing something about it every single day. My mom says that my brain is actively looking for it, but I don't think so at all, because I run across it in the weirdest places. I don't go through the day purposefully looking up things that would get me a result of Batman. I go through my day looking up Touhou stuff, or animation stuff, or Disney stuff. Never Batman.
As an added note, I do not count anything related to DCUO as being "Batman," because that is just a given. As such, I do not count the launcher I see every day on my desktop because then I would obviously see it every day since it's an icon that is consistently on my desktop. I also do not count when my boyfriend says Batman because he does it on purpose to annoy me. So he doesn't count.
They are all completely random sightings.
And now I fear that by writing that here I may have just cursed anyone reading this to a life filled with Batman. I am very sorry. Or congratulations, if you are happy about it.
I don't have any problems with Batman. It's just a weird thing that I can't seem to go a day without hearing about him in some context, and not anywhere I would expect to find him.
Just weird.
Friday, December 5, 2014
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.
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.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, September 22, 2014
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.)
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.)
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
My opinion on what brought Toontown down.
As you already probably know if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, Toontown is an incredibly sensitive subject with me.
I had played the game since its release, when I was about 9 years old.
My original toon was Miss Binky Octomuffin, a tall, electric green rabbit wearing a purple floral top and skirt. She was later deleted due to my obsession with cats, and remade.
My main Toon became renamed Miss Binky Octofish, and she was a tall, sand-colored cat. Her outfit has been through many iterations throughout the years. I have never held onto a character for even a fraction of the amount of times Miss Binky Octofish has been around.
My other primary character was a short black cat wearing a white top and skirt named Nobody. She is another long-existing character of mine.
I played before you could decorate your house, before fishing was actually a thing that you did to earn jellybeans, before racing, golfing, Cog HQs, accessories, doodles, black cats, the Silly Meter, moving fire hydrants and such on the streets, being able to type to other people. I played when they still sent out newsletters and collectible cards through the mail. I'm pretty sure I have a complete collection of the cards and newsletters.
Toontown was shut down on November 19th, 2013.
I think that part of the reason why it all ended up going wrong was because of open-chat: the ability to type to anyone.
Previously, we had to choose from a list of pre-defined phrases. You could buy new phrases and emotions. If you knew someone in real life, you could trade secret-friend codes, and then you could type them. No one else would be able to see what you typed, except for your secret friends. People found ways to trade codes with people they didn't know, but for the most part, it was a good system.
Has anyone ever heard of the experiment in which they placed a 14 year old boy in front of a game concept where they had a limited dictionary, but you could still type to each other? As in, the same system as is now used in many "child friendly" games?
Within a few minutes, the boy had come up with the phrase "I want to stick my long-necked Giraffe up your fluffy white bunny." (http://habitatchronicles.com/2007/03/the-untold-history-of-toontowns-speedchat-or-blockchattm-from-disney-finally-arrives/)
I still don't understand how, after that experiment, anyone thought that "Hey! Maybe we should let people type to each other using a limited-dictionary! Nothing could go wrong!"
Yeah, things did go wrong. Of course, if you give people the chance to talk on a game, they are going to talk. What used to be a perfectly "child friendly" game, turned into a chatroom where people talked about boyfriends/girlfriends, made rather obvious innuendo, and bypassed the filters in order to swear or tell people their age.
Were there some benefits with free-chat? Yes. It made battles such as the VP, CFO, CJ, and CEO much more streamlined, as you could now direct people in a simpler manner. Even bypassing the filter in order to say numbers had its benefits with directing people as to what cog they should hit. But, honestly, that's where the benefits ended.
Did people make friends? Yes. Were there plenty of nice people on the game who didn't abuse the chat system? Of course! But you didn't really notice them. You noticed the people that were abusing it. If I were a mother and my young child wanted to play this game, I would have said no after running around for a bit. It was hailed as "child friendly" even after free-chat went into place. When in actuality it had become a cesspool of worse behavior than I usually see on the other MMOs I play.
I know that the chat-system had its good points. My grandmother made a lot of friends through Toontown, that she still talks to. But for the most part, that wasn't the case, as far as I saw.
Today, I finally got into Toontown Rewritten, and I was disappointed. I was so happy to have gotten in, and I was so happy to be back in the game. It was all just as I remembered it, save for a few things that hadn't yet been implemented. I was disappointed that free-chat was still in the game. I knew it would be, but part of me was really, really disappointed.
I re-created Miss Binky Octofish and went into the game, only to witness things that I didn't really want to see. People getting angry because you defeated a cog that they needed (when they were way down the road where you couldn't see them, and they didn't ask you to wait or anything). People calling non-cats ugly. A whole lot of people getting upset with each other. I was left there thinking "Doesn't anyone here appreciate the fact that we are able to play this game again?" It certainly didn't seem like it. I didn't end up playing for my full three hours because it just started feeling sick to my stomach a bit.
Maybe I am just over-sensitive. Or, rather, I know I'm over-sensitive. It's kind of a thing with me. If someone's upset in the next room my stomach starts churning, even if it has literally nothing to do with me. I don't even have to know the person and I still get sick. I'm like allergic to negative emotions or something, I swear :P
This game is very much beloved by me, and I don't want to see it shut down again. I'm just worried that with free-chat still in place, the game will have harassment issues and will be forced down.
I had played the game since its release, when I was about 9 years old.
My original toon was Miss Binky Octomuffin, a tall, electric green rabbit wearing a purple floral top and skirt. She was later deleted due to my obsession with cats, and remade.
My main Toon became renamed Miss Binky Octofish, and she was a tall, sand-colored cat. Her outfit has been through many iterations throughout the years. I have never held onto a character for even a fraction of the amount of times Miss Binky Octofish has been around.
My other primary character was a short black cat wearing a white top and skirt named Nobody. She is another long-existing character of mine.
I played before you could decorate your house, before fishing was actually a thing that you did to earn jellybeans, before racing, golfing, Cog HQs, accessories, doodles, black cats, the Silly Meter, moving fire hydrants and such on the streets, being able to type to other people. I played when they still sent out newsletters and collectible cards through the mail. I'm pretty sure I have a complete collection of the cards and newsletters.
Toontown was shut down on November 19th, 2013.
I think that part of the reason why it all ended up going wrong was because of open-chat: the ability to type to anyone.
Previously, we had to choose from a list of pre-defined phrases. You could buy new phrases and emotions. If you knew someone in real life, you could trade secret-friend codes, and then you could type them. No one else would be able to see what you typed, except for your secret friends. People found ways to trade codes with people they didn't know, but for the most part, it was a good system.
Has anyone ever heard of the experiment in which they placed a 14 year old boy in front of a game concept where they had a limited dictionary, but you could still type to each other? As in, the same system as is now used in many "child friendly" games?
Within a few minutes, the boy had come up with the phrase "I want to stick my long-necked Giraffe up your fluffy white bunny." (http://habitatchronicles.com/2007/03/the-untold-history-of-toontowns-speedchat-or-blockchattm-from-disney-finally-arrives/)
I still don't understand how, after that experiment, anyone thought that "Hey! Maybe we should let people type to each other using a limited-dictionary! Nothing could go wrong!"
Yeah, things did go wrong. Of course, if you give people the chance to talk on a game, they are going to talk. What used to be a perfectly "child friendly" game, turned into a chatroom where people talked about boyfriends/girlfriends, made rather obvious innuendo, and bypassed the filters in order to swear or tell people their age.
Were there some benefits with free-chat? Yes. It made battles such as the VP, CFO, CJ, and CEO much more streamlined, as you could now direct people in a simpler manner. Even bypassing the filter in order to say numbers had its benefits with directing people as to what cog they should hit. But, honestly, that's where the benefits ended.
Did people make friends? Yes. Were there plenty of nice people on the game who didn't abuse the chat system? Of course! But you didn't really notice them. You noticed the people that were abusing it. If I were a mother and my young child wanted to play this game, I would have said no after running around for a bit. It was hailed as "child friendly" even after free-chat went into place. When in actuality it had become a cesspool of worse behavior than I usually see on the other MMOs I play.
I know that the chat-system had its good points. My grandmother made a lot of friends through Toontown, that she still talks to. But for the most part, that wasn't the case, as far as I saw.
Today, I finally got into Toontown Rewritten, and I was disappointed. I was so happy to have gotten in, and I was so happy to be back in the game. It was all just as I remembered it, save for a few things that hadn't yet been implemented. I was disappointed that free-chat was still in the game. I knew it would be, but part of me was really, really disappointed.
I re-created Miss Binky Octofish and went into the game, only to witness things that I didn't really want to see. People getting angry because you defeated a cog that they needed (when they were way down the road where you couldn't see them, and they didn't ask you to wait or anything). People calling non-cats ugly. A whole lot of people getting upset with each other. I was left there thinking "Doesn't anyone here appreciate the fact that we are able to play this game again?" It certainly didn't seem like it. I didn't end up playing for my full three hours because it just started feeling sick to my stomach a bit.
Maybe I am just over-sensitive. Or, rather, I know I'm over-sensitive. It's kind of a thing with me. If someone's upset in the next room my stomach starts churning, even if it has literally nothing to do with me. I don't even have to know the person and I still get sick. I'm like allergic to negative emotions or something, I swear :P
This game is very much beloved by me, and I don't want to see it shut down again. I'm just worried that with free-chat still in place, the game will have harassment issues and will be forced down.
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