PlayNotes Mixed

Lord of the Rings Online

I feel a bit guilty, but after thinking of my last post, and that I’ve basically been stuck in the same area of Middle Earth in LOTRO since 2009.   How is that even possible?  I’ve gotten stuck in plenty of Action/RPGs, but an MMO?   So, I have not bought the expansion till I see if I can get out of Mirkwood, or at least advance through it.

Secret World

I’m also stuck in Secret World with those security cameras, which has been depressing.  I’m wondering tonight though, if the reason I kept failing had to do with my recent connection problems.  My computer guru spouse fixed the connection problems as far as I can see, so maybe I’ll give it another try.  I will be so relieved to move on.

World of Warcraft

In WOW,  I ended up doing what I always do and have a newly established family guild on my new server.   I’m continuing to run my Paladin ahead of the rest of my characters to earn money for guild tabs, and guild repair monies, plus everyone’s riding training up through Northrend.

I’ve gone back to rotating my BWR characters who are in their 100s, but just those.  Everything is so easy for all of them except my Frost Mage, who I have to load with potions to keep alive.  Sheesh.  My new server Mage is going Fire, a spec I’ve never really played much.  Early on when I played the game, for some reason, Fire Mage and Destruction Warlock seemed too similar to me, at least for the lowbies I was running.   So I went Frost.

EverQuest 2

 All  of my characters are finally working in Antonica.   I had a bad moment when I considered sending one to the Frostfang Sea instead of Qeynos just to get a bearskin rug I’d picked up on the Fallen Earth server in that area.  Bad idea!   There must be a bearskin rug somewhere else in Norrath.

I love the fighting moves of my Monk and Bruiser, and have been trying to capture pictures of them in action.   It’s never easy to get a nice shot of your character in a fight because, well, dead doggie.

The Bruiser    Look at those brass knuckles!   Smoke effects, light effects!  The Froglok is on fire.

Monk    Watch out for those legs!

Been busy lately, but hope to be back on schedule for my games next week.

A Week of Adventure

Happy Friday!  Welcome to More Rambling Than Usual!  A one time post.  Because I’m a flibbertigibbet and can’t be repetitious for long.

Rotations

I have played everything except GW2 so far this week, not necessarily in it’s assigned day slot.   I find myself as I’m writing the PlayNotes, kind of becoming involved in each game and character’s story, and sometimes I can’t wait to get back to a particular set of adventures.

I am enjoying playing most things more because of that what happens next element.

One thing that I have learned from this is that for me, MMOs are certainly not “all the same”, each game in my rotation is successful in creating a very unique world.  It doesn’t matter to me if the mechanics or frameworks are similar, each is very distinct and immersive.  I’ve never enjoyed playing more than now, I think.

The only thing I am seeing is I need a nice grid or chart that reminds me what button is for capturing a screen, which removes UI, various basic commands like opening bags, calling pets and mounts, adding toolbars and removing skills.   I take it this is common and it is why people are always tweaking the UI in the game settings to make them all the same in every game if they can so they don’t have to make the switch mentally. 

I don’t do this, because early on I became very interested in how the game is built from the ground up, and I respect the choices made by those who designed the thing, and I’m going to adapt rather than choose these aspects of the game to “make it my own”.

Secret World

Working on the Kingsmouth Code sequence I found myself in an Illuminati tunnel that was very familiar to me from the first go around.  I think I had a post on it whose title included the words “Don’t Gas Me!”    I took the poisonous gassing at each puzzle much better this time.   Dead, dead, dead, ho hum.

I’m really pushing to get Kingsmouth finished so I can move on to Solomon’s Island.  I’m up to level 14 and am working for crazy Edgar at the junkyard who has no concept of personal space and I bet he hasn’t bathed in several years.   Still stuck on that Dawning of Endless Night Tunnel with the motion sensors and Cassandra, another person with no concept of personal space.  I’m going to save that till last.

I’ve decided not to try to work with the old game as well,  after playing SWL, it is all I need, and nothing is so different that I can’t just enjoy the game as it now is.

World of Warcraft

My shining glory character this week is my low level (less than ten) Arms Warrior.  She’s my first Elf who wasn’t a Druid or Mage.  She’s just uber lean and powerful, and is making her own finery.  She has these cool moves, that I don’t notice on my higher level Warriors.

I’m working in the Dolanar area and dang, this new to me server is really high population and for the first time since I’ve been playing, there are a bunch of people around.  This is usually a quiet spot in Azeroth, but I actually had to fight for mobs at one place, particularly against a Hunter who tried to hit and loot out from under me every mob.  Sucker.

I hadn’t started any new characters in WOW in a long time, and didn’t realize that last year they stuck you in a particular specialization for your first ten levels of the game.  They used to just give you a sprinkling of the skills from the three specializations.

Cone of Alt-a-holic shame, I now have ten characters here, and this wasn’t a real problem on any of the others, though I didn’t care much for the Warlock assigned Affliction spec.   I got Frost Mage, which I always use, and Retribution Paladin, always my choice.

The Warrior comes in as Arms, which is what I turn out to have on my other two.  However, though they stick you in that spec, they give you a one handed sword, and Arms can’t use their skills without a two handed sword equipped.   For a level 6 person, I could just buy a claymore from a vendor.

The problem came in for a new Death Knight.   They make you an Unholy, and you have a two handed sword.  I couldn’t change her to Frost, my usual, because you now must have a one hand equipped to play Frost.  Quest rewards two-handed, why no choice?   She, I don’t feel, could just buy a trick one handed sword from a vendor, because she’s fighting all higher level stuff.  Once I was in Stormwind, I could have bought one from auction, but pricing is pretty crazy.   Luckily for me, I was long in the habit of using the Blood spec for adventuring and questing and Frost for dungeons.  Blood can use two handed.  I’m just going to run her through questing till she is offered a one hand or I make enough money to buy one (all these characters are broke).  PITA for no good reason.   At least be thoughtful of the fact that you are making someone play a particular spec, and aren’t giving them the equipment they need to play it.

Everquest 2 Fallen Earth

I felt like I should try to get my level 10 Fury namesake someplace, not just let her flounder.  She didn’t get the nice teleport skill or the turn into a pretty wolf spell at level 10 as did the AB character.
I’m giving it my best power leveling kill everything you come across technique, but it’s crawl crawl goes the xp.

I’m having trouble finding some Young Bears for a quest so I was exploring all over the Antonica area outside the Qeynos gates trying to find them.

Criminy, out from behind an innocuous tower pops a level 16 Dark Shaman guy.

 Naturally, my level 10 Fury tries to make a run for it.   And again with the running backwards thing.  See my health bar go down as I run!  It was down to nearly zilch before miraculously he stopped chasing me.   Bonus: I found I can hit my heals while running backwards!  This is what saved me really, the ability to run and heal.  I hate when you have to be stationary to heal.   Honestly, I’d prefer you could use almost any skill on the move.

This character is on Fallen Earth, the new progression server.   I’d like her in a guild for the advice you can get, and hopefully for grouping.

Thanks to a post from the Ancient Gaming Noob, I knew you could search for a guild that was recruiting and actually talk to a person who could invite you and ask question who was online now.  Whoa.    https://tagn.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/looking-for-nostalgia-in-fallen-gate/

I tried this, but didn’t see anything that seemed a good match.  But it was midnight, and I was tired and feeling tso social, so I decided to wait.

Which brings me to thought on Guilds once more.

I posted a week or so ago on guilds and what I wanted them to be.  I’ve left the Wow guild I was in and via a random invite almost immediately joined another.   My thought now, because I’m such an introspective dolt, is, how can I be a good guild member?  What makes you a valuable addition to a guild?   What do I do well as a guildie, what should I work on?

Being part of a group should be a whole package thing, what do they do for your gameplay, how do you contribute to the gameplay of others.

Sticking points for me:

I can’t stand having a guild name over my head that I don’t like.   Babsie’s Bobbers, no.   Deathly Dreamers, ya, ok.

Discord      Everybody’s got it.    Everyone wants you to be on it.  I honestly don’t want to randomly chat with anyone I don’t know.  I don’t want to talk politics, or anything else that isn’t related to the game world.  I’m almost always playing late, like 9pm to 1am, and zzzz you don’t want to talk to me at that time of the day either.   So everyone who is all proud they’ve got Discord and wants you to chime in:  Gamebreaker.

PlayNotes: Mixed

Lord Of the Rings Online

Monday is Lord of the Rings Online Day, and I spent about an hour and a half trying to get from Tharakh Bazan  to the Chambers of Wisdom, Knowledge and Deep Thought or Katatub-zahar, somewhere near the Chamber of The Crossroads in Moria.

I’m working on Chapter 6 Hewers of Stone within Moria.  I got within 230 meters once near the Chambers, but a very solid wall still lay between me and my destination.

I’m just going to relax about the whole thing and find my way.  There are some pretty sights in Moria after all.

Everquest 2

Irresistibly, I spent some time with my next EQ2 Character, a Warden.   Bhagpuss of Inventory Full has joined the new Fallen Gate progression server, and some of the comments on his post helped me decide to make sure my Warden got all of the quests on the Isle of Refuge (I had missed some with the Fury somehow) and also the Collections.  She left at level 10 rather than 8 and is snuggled down in the shared apartment.  I really do love being able to have my characters in a warm safe spot after they’ve been adventuring.  No one likes sleeping in caves or under trees.

World of Warcraft

My Paladin dungeon-ed her way from level 57 to glorious 60.   Man it was an odd day in the dungeons. Super weirdo tanks doing inexplicable things.  In Lower Blackrock (?) the tank kept jumping down to the level below, in various locations, and everyone got killed each time.   This was after starting out the dungeon not moving at all for about 2 minutes, saying nothing. People get twitchy, then (she) shouts WAIT, and eventually gets moving.  So odd.

Then there was the brand new Death Knight who didn’t seem to understand the tank was supposed to attack things….zzzzz….

Secret World Legends

Another day, another dive into some tunnels.  There were the usual laser traps, easily handled.  Next thing you know, I’m back in, but

What do we have but those pesky motion detection cameras and a long hallway.   I’ve done it before, dang it.  Not today.  I even watched two different YouTube videos to see just where they made that first turn to go to the other wall.   Intruder Alert!   Death death death.  Sometimes you’ve just gotta walk away and come back fresh.

Star Wars Galaxies Emu ed.

There is some nice Reptile Meat on Tatooine so my sweetie and I got in some Dewback Hunting.  Hunting in a group is one of my favorite things to do in the game, and there’s no one better to hunt with than my spouse.

PlayNotes: Secret World Legends

I wanted to get to level 10 tonight but only made level 9 1/2.   I’m killing most things as I go by them for the xp, but it’s slow going. 

Combat Crisis

I hate to say it, but combat is way too easy.  It’s almost silly easy.  I fought every “elitish” thing I came across and just no challenge.

Suzie Q

Not the Feigr Lord, nope it’s not him

The Fire Station!  The Firemen were really hard for me last time I played, they were just nasty.  Now they roll over and play dead, and are dead.

Testing, Testing, How are those Mines working?  Well, against big wave after big wave of zombies like this group, all my level, with puny effects from the mines I placed, I should have been dead.

What is happening here for me is that the world is no longer scary because nothing needs to be approached with caution.  You can just steamroll everything.

The Quests

I am being led from quest spot to quest spot.  The “mileage” type indicators were always there, but you still had to be reading the quest, looking at your map, then figuring out where to go next.   All the Secrets have been taken out of the Secret World.  There’s no mystery.  No puzzles to solve, no thinking involved.  I feel like I’m being dragged around.

Even the fact that sending the mission report gives you a reward you snap open, but doesn’t make you feel like you’re an agent in the field, just is adding to a deterioration of the scary atmosphere the game has had.  I’m not reading the accompanying text.  I just look to see if I can upgrade my weapons with what I got, and keep flying.

Bring Back the Peeps

I really really hate that there aren’t any people flying by.  The world is too empty.  Even if you aren’t chatting with people, it’s a shared experience when others are in the same game world with you.  You’re sort of all in this together, even when you’re not.  It kind of validates that this is a fun place to be.   (edit: note below the next night people were spotted!)

6/29/17 Thursday

Sneaking in again tonight since the game has been on my mind today.  A much better night, still easy combat but I got a puzzle (which I’ve solved in the past) with the quest Dirty Laundry which was written really clearly, I suspect it was more cryptic the first time around.   It’s just nice to get them.

The Dawning of Endless Night sequence is getting a bit more interesting now that Dr. Bannerman is talking to me.

I saw five real live people!!!   Thrilling!  I hugged this person.  She didn’t notice.   Lonely, I’ve beeeen sooo lonely,  wah wah wah wah….

At level 10 1/2     I can now go in the “Polaris Dungeon Story Mode.”   I think I’ll try it tomorrow night after studying up a bit.  I’ve never done a dungeon in this game.

I’m like the blabbering confession queen, so I’ll note I’m going to slide in here extra, trying not to get left behind everyone else who’s blogging about it and racing along.  Levels certainly aren’t quick, and I do every quest they let me pick up.  See you in the funny papers!

PlayNotes Issue 7: Secret World Legends

For the finale of the series, I wanted to wait till today and check out Secret World Legends.

I loved the changes to the tutorial area.  The scariness level was way up.  There was a floor puzzle, a sneaking puzzle and a wall puzzle  and if people haven’t played before, it’s a great introduction to those play mechanics.

Last time around I created a character who used both magic (some zappy electrical looking stuff) and pistols.  It worked well sometimes but not so much others.  I kept swapping skills around into the (still limited) slots and just couldn’t be satisfied with the fights.

This time I looked at all of the combinations and chose Warlock.   Her main skill is Blood Magic which produces a red radius of death.  I’m liking it.  The zombies still all attack in groups of five, so this covers them pretty nicely.  I’m not having to worry too much or at all about the placement of the targeting reticule.

Illustrating this weapon choice is a Book on my back.  A dang book just stuck there.  You may not be able to pick it out in the picture above, because my secondary weapon FOR HEALING is an Assault Rifle!  Bang, Bang! You’re Healed!   Weirdest idea ever.

The quests are the same as they were previously, such as this set of traps in the Mining Museum.  That went pretty well, except I’m a fool for stepping into the range of security cameras.  Oops, forgot about the explosions.  I bought Metal Gear Solid or some other stealth game on the Steam sale last year.  I should fire that up and see if I can set a record for getting caught and killed.

The first time I played through this area, Kingsmouth, every quest made a big impression on me, and I remember them well.  Except I don’t completely, so I keep going, oh yeah, this over here and it’s not.  Getting ahead of myself.

Despite the whole Book/Assault Rifle thing, the character seems reasonably powerful.  I had no trouble with the Draug at the end of the road.

If I balance between hitting the left and right mouse buttons in a fight, I’m fine.  In one fight I was just using the Blood Magic alone, and poof I was dead.

Kingsmouth is as creepy as always.  I run down the street keeping an eye on zombie groups, but sometimes it sounds like there’s one right on your tail and I find myself looking around over my shoulder frequently.

Didn’t get too far tonight, just hanging out with ol’ Shotgun Norma.

It’s a great game, with a variety of quest types and combat options.  It couldn’t have a more distinctive atmosphere.  For people like myself who have been reading horror tales and ghost stories for ages,  it doesn’t get much better than this.

I appreciate the modern setting, and like the clothes.   I need money money money to buy more.  Maybe also a Book with a nicer cover.