Mini-Report From Middle Earth

Sheesh a 6 hour update.  I got in and checked all my characters.

Meneldor chat is all full of “Goodbye Meneldor!”  “Farewell, Meneldor!”  Some guy purporting to be from a “games organization” said he was going to try to interview staff to get the scoop on closures.

Gladden appears to know nothing of upcoming events, or is unconcerned, because they’re 
all talking about classes and their strengths.  No “Goodbye Gladden” talk here!

As it turns out, I killed off any other scattered characters on other servers a year ago so it’s all good, I think. I logged everyone on.  Three Gladden characters are still in the starter areas, I’ll get them out before Monday so nothing untoward happens to them.

Off we go!

Blaugust: Game Blogger Tales from Many Realms Coming August 1st

Tales of the Aggronaut is sponsoring an opportunity for game bloggers to practice their craft every day during the month in August, with prizes (!!) and commendations for the hearty souls who manage to write about the games they love without stint for all of August.

He  (?) had 47 signups as of this morning. Almost 50 wondrous tales per day for those of us who like to read about the adventures of others.  Many of the blogs are on my blogroll now, and I’ll get the rest on so I can enjoy the rousing tales, deep thoughts and pictures from lands familiar and unknown.  Onward!

(Note we’ll be gone four days in August with iffy connectivity so I will enjoy this round and think about next year.)

The Next World of Warcraft Expansion To Be Revealed at Gamescon August 6, 2015

The Ancient Gaming Noob’s post    on the World of Warcraft expansion announcement caught my eye this afternoon.  He also notes it comes on the heels of current subscriber numbers being announced, and has a poll for you to guess where the numbers will be.  I guessed 6 million, because that number seems to be where things settle after expansions and new content have been run through by most.

Blizzard recently dropped jaws saying there wouldn’t be any new Draenor content, causing quite a bit of angst among certain fan segments.

Announcing the next expansion before the wails have had a chance to die down, that’s pretty good!

I am not an apologist for Blizzard, and I don’t think they need one.  Of all of the gaming companies out there, they have provided some of the best game experiences ever, and have been without (Cough cough CRZ)  any real dramas, and no betrayals of their customers.  Few can say that.

Flight in Draenor is, aside from CRZ, the biggest drama I can recall.  I am not rushing to send my characters aloft in Draenor, because it isn’t important to me.  I have wished upon the Winged Wanters a next expansion that is all flight.  Everyone will be happy then, right.

This little video called Skies of Azeroth could be a sneak peek at just such a thing, right?  Skies of Azeroth would be an excellent name for an expansion.  Most excellent.

Star Wars Galaxies: The Crafting Game

Since I’m trying craft everything, I finally made two sets of Mabari Armor.  I’m pretty sure it has all the protection qualities of Saran Wrap, but you can make it in varying colors and it is sort of a pretty piece of work.

I tried to match my spouse’s scale colors but didn’t realize he is shaded rather blue.  I’ll match him up better next time.  He is so cute.

The hat looks good on him, but not on my own character.  Everything looks good on a Trandoshan….

Hmm Black and Red might not be my colors, but it is a nice cosmetic replacement for my Gunman’s Duster.

I like the semi-skirt.  Nice detailing.  Unlike my husband’s character, the head piece makes me look like a goof who would steal lunchboxes.  So, hatless!

My Ubese chest piece given to me by TSC went by the wayside, finally, so I thought to make just that piece.  I couldn’t resist doing the whole set once I started.   I have some good resources at hand, but no real skill (Novice Armorsmith, rofl) and not a single piece of metal with higher than 744 OQ.  One point to experiment with.  Busted doggie, but you just have to start somewhere or you never get anywhere.

My Dustbunnie is a Master Artisan, and I had some nice copper, so I looked in my old notebooks for the name of my briskly selling Live game fishing poles.  Voila, now available, Starlight EZCast Assassin,  a superior fishing pole. I also have all the bait you’ll need.

As part of my long term goals to make and offer for sale everything my characters can make, I started doing some crates of Scout/Ranger Traps.  I “brand” everything “Starlight” because a brand is a good thing sometimes, and because it was what my last set of crafters used in Galaxies in their shops.  They live again in spirit and brand name.

I got to this one, The Starlight Stink Bomb and had an attack of the sillies and had to stop.  I also need more bone, even for small factory runs.

How I do love the crafting in this game.

Lord of the Rings Online Reveals World Transfers on August 3 2015

Thanks to MassivelyOP for the tip that Lord of the Rings Online will begin the process of Server Merges next week.

According to their page, they’ll go from 29 servers to 10.   It looks as if they plan to have the process complete by January of 2016.  See their page for the many details of what can transfer.

Interestingly to me, if you need to transfer to another server and your name has been used there, if the other party hasn’t logged in in a year, you get the name and they have a -1 next to theirs should they return.

I find this so exciting, and am hopeful for the game, since they’re willing to make such a big move.  It has been needed for a long time.

It seems to me I killed off characters except on my main server, (except a couple on Brandywine) so I should have an easy time transferring if need be.

Very exciting!

This Week in the Galaxy

Life continues apace in Emuland (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase).  My Alt-itis has never been so happy as it is here, working on the many variations of crafting, fighting and exploring available in Galaxies.

When I first played, I felt a need to “get back to where I was” when I left the game.  It isn’t the same as being away from a game for awhile and you can just fire up your character. No. You must re-create them from scratch.  How easy it is to forget the time it takes to level, and the vast amount of materials for any crafting person is staggering.  Try working every craft profession in the game, and you drop to a snail’s pace.

I do always try to work every craft available in games I play.  Creating fun and useful things for others in games is rewarding, just as it is in the real world. I can think of no game where you can make items for others which can be real game changers for them.  The potential quality of what you can make is a dizzying combination of Skill, Crafting Tools, Foods that will boost experimentation chances, and the ever rolling quality of Resources in the game world.

Novice Doctor

I’d rather be getting Medical XP by healing a person in the field, but I have to admit I’m grateful for the “Action Burners” in the Med Centers who wiggle and jiggle endlessly so you can get xp healing their Action Bar.  I managed to get Novice Doctor one evening this way.

I needed a break from it though, so I’m working to get the resources for Advanced Medicine Components.  These are very specific, such as Lokian Wild Wheat or Talusian Water.   In order to make decent ones, you need particular statistics.  You’re at the mercy of resource spawns and the quality of the spawns though, so you just need to place harvesters on whatever is there so you can get started.  You need money to buy harvesters, power and more money to run them.

On a normal Galaxy, I would just buy some of the resources from other players.  On Basilisk, I find that resources are sold in large quantities and for loads of credits, say 100000 units for 300000, even with poor stats.  Anything used by a Doctor, Armorsmith or Weaponsmith seems to be priced particularly high, because players in those professions are all feelthy rich.  Not me!  Not anyone new or returning trying to get a start.

I’d like to move this character forward, because I’m finding even her crummy Stimpacks are useful to my other characters, and my husband’s characters.  It seems that since Publish 7, there have been fewer Doctors available for buffs, and though I’ll never be a Buffbot, I can surely step in and send people out better prepared for the dangers of the Galaxy.

Better meds, better doc.

Scripted Death Guild

I placed a Guild Hall near my Corellia Merchant Tent, and created a Guild Scripted Death.  It is pretty cute to see my dignified character Elsinor Dustbunnie with the word DEATH after her name.  Poor Dustbunnie.  I am not ready to recruit, since I haven’t the masteries I’d like to be able to offer people, but I just wanted to snare the name, and I couldn’t believe nobody had used Death as the five letter shortened Guild name for display.

I’m not planning to take over the Galaxy or anything, but I’d like to offer new and returning players a place to get started in the game.  Give them advice, training, some basics of their profession to get started.

As subtle background, I’ve been talking in GenChat, which is sometimes good, sometimes grotesque.  I’m reading the forums and trying to get a good sense of who is who, what cities and guilds are out there, who the good crafters are.

My longer term plan is to find a core of maybe five people who have the same goals and who can recruit and help players along.  Slow and steady wins the race.   I am The Tortoise.

Fallout 3: Home Sweet Megaton

I easily disarmed the bomb this evening, and now have my own swank Post Apocalyptic Shack.

Just as in Oblivion, I can buy upgrades to make it look “really nice”.  For now, I’m happy to have a place to drop off junk when the local store isn’t open, and to just have a place to call my own.

I leveled up as well, and went ahead and put points into melee so I can whack all the more effectively.  I took the Black Widow Perk to more effectively bop the bad guys since I’m running into few women.

What does someone so newly powerful do?  They go back to the school and they look for the guys who were hiding out back.

I snuck around the building like a weasel, then I got here and just ran in, found em and whap whap!
With this new found bravery and Bat Power oozing out of every jet-packed pore (my husband will recognize that) I went in the lower doors in search of The Tunnels.

So It wasn’t Rad Roaches in the tunnels.

Freaking Ants.

Luckily they weren’t so big.

Let us descend.

You can kind of see one peeking in the first picture.  It turns out your intrepid explorer was too busy mindlessly whacking the ants, even after they were goners, to get good pics.  I did pick up some yummy Ant Meat which grants like five health. 

I’m ok now.  Next up, Super Duper Mart (I saw an announcement today Fallout 4 will have Super Duper Mart in it. Agh.) 

Fallout Shelter: There’s A New Sheriff In Town

As a surprise in a Lunchbox earned for my C+ efforts in the Vault, I got Lucas Simms!!!!  My buddy! His Luck is his only low rating, otherwise he is The Man.

Fallout 3: Self Education in The Wasteland

Rather than head off to find my in game dad or visit the Dread Super Duper Mart, I did a few side quests, then decided to just explore to get some loot and xp.

Dressed in Wasteland chic, I decided to make sure I had fully explored the nearby town of Springvale, and perhaps the entire surrounding area.  Don’t diss the hat, it adds Perception and lets me know when hostiles are nearby.

It looked like I’d been all through town, except, I hadn’t visited the Springvale Elementary School. 

Gack!  I don’t recall it from before so how bad could it be?  As it turns out, if you’re a Raider in the Wasteland, you love love LOVE being back in school.  The place seems to be crawling with them. Thank heavens my Hat of Perception lets me see they’re coming so I can run up to them and use my trusty bat on their spiky selves.  They got guns, I laugh at guns! Hahahaha!  My bat always wins.

Well, I’m not dead yet.  Somehow when I thought I was going up, I ended up in the basement with a tunnel, which I’m not going in.  There are all of these skittering sounds, and I’ve had quite enough Rad Roach attacks from Fallout Shelter this week.  I hate bugs so much.

Good thing I save like a maniac.  I found a way outside but there were several guys right outside the door shooting at me and I couldn’t even see where they all were.  Reload and God help me try to retrace my steps and go back out the front door.  I’m a weenie from Weeniesville, you called it! 

Fallout Shelter

Fallout Shelter is free from the App Store, and is absolutely an addictive little game.  You create your own Vault, adding rooms to provide Power, Food, Water and Living Quarters for your tiny dwellers.

I started off promisingly, with potential Vault Dwellers lining up outside.  I added rooms as quickly as I was able to, to make room for more eager dwellers.

Suddenly, so it seemed, I was running low on all resources. I had to take chances, Rushing rooms to release more resources more quickly.  This sometimes panicky behavior resulted in FAILURE.

Failure means the workers will be fighting off Rad Roaches or Fires.  Even though I had many of them armored and holding rather nice weapons, they were almost always ineffective and died.  In one nightmare scenario which began in the Water Treatment room, I lost half of my dwellers as the roaches swarmed the place.  

You can revive dead dwellers if you have the Caps, you can even let them lie there dead with their little tongues hanging out and revive them once you save up the Caps to do so.

The Vault dwellers have S.P.E.C.I.A.L abilities sometimes.  They might appear at the Vault door, or be born to a happy couple, or be given in a reward Lunch Box.  Because they have no personality, I just try to revive those with particularly good stats.  That seems a bit sad, somehow.

Speaking of happy couples, you want to send those with Charisma to the Living Quarters.  There, the couple will “court” each other with the all time winners for Worst Pickup Lines.

Soon, they go off behind the partition and smiley faces float through the air.  Moments later, they emerge looking as if they’re ready to die. Even worse, the woman is pregnant and remains so for a very long bit of in-game time.  Life isn’t good in the Vault.

My Dwellers are particularly unhappy all of the time. Their mouths are tragically down turned.  You are sort of graded daily on your running of the Vault and the happiness of your dwellers.  I have had a solid F all along.

I should be discouraged, and after dwellers go down like flies I have bad thoughts of Rushing every room, destroying the Vault, and starting over.  Then I peek in to see how things are going, and a few folks have leveled up, and resources are ready to distribute.

We’ll try to survive just a bit longer, I think.