(Okay, maybe not 8 billion)
Lots of pictures. :)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Rift Part 4: Levels 33-41
Don't you love the weird levels I decide to review :).
I've been slacking a little on Rift. I tend to lose interest if I'm just questing kind of fast. That and if an Invasion comes storming through late at night, meaning it won't get completed, I tend to just log. Lately it seems there are far too many invasions where we fail just as we're almost done. Like, only need one more Rift closed or have three invasions left to kill, but instead the wardstones fall. Yeah, that's not depressing.
I have most fun when I'm with everyone. I didn't get to play with them a lot recently because of work and Easter, but the last couple of nights we've been running stuff together, doing invasions and finishing up some group quests. Instant running has been pretty fun. The bosses are hard enough, but at the same time, doable, even though me and our healer were a couple levels from yellow mobs.
I really like Chloromancer as a healing spec, but with the way I am leveling and the things I do with my group, I am finding that it has one serious weakness/flaw. If mobs are not my level, or at least in yellow range, then I cannot solo heal the instance. And considering that half my usual running mates are a few levels higher then me, I find myself seeing Resisted quite a bit. It certainly is frustrating.
Once you hit about 38, the leveling areas start to branch out. Up until then, it has been incredibly linear. There are certain areas or certain levels, and while the levels of the areas may overlap, in general, the gap has been fairly large, about 5 levels. Now, as I get closer and closer to 50, the gap seems to have been narrowed to about 2-3 levels. At 40, you can go to Droughtlands, finish Moonglade Highlands, or Iron Pine Peaks. I've also found that levels of the quest kind of jump around. You can do some quests at higher 30s in Droughtlands, but then there's a gap where you have to wait a couple levels before you can take on the 43 quests. You then journey to Moonglade or Iron Pine Peaks. Then you out grow those quests and move back. Then you go back again.
We did an instance, Runic Descent, which takes place in a beautiful garden. It's very Japanese, cherry blossom trees grace the ruins and gentle petals continuously rain down on you. There's a small pool fed by a waterfall, where the sun glistens through the trees. Absolutely stunning.
The other instances are all well made as well, but remind me of different movies. One reminded me of running around the ewok village in the Return of the Jedi. Silly stuff. A lot of the dungeons seem like they're outside, but you can't mount.
I do miss the lore of WoW, as well as the quest variation. A lot of Rift is the usual grind, and the lore is interesting, but I'm not that into it. Asha Catari, Defiant female leader, is kind of like Sylvanas. Asha was killed, then in death, was tortured by Regulos in hopes of getting her on his side. She is brought back to life as an Ascended, but not after developing a huge grudge against Regulos. She's out for revenge. That doesn't sound familiar at all. Clearly, WoW has the advantage of having a long standing lore that came from a couple games previous to WoW, and then 3 more expansions. Rift has yet to develop that strong standing. All gameplay aside, the lore of WoW is unbeatable. It's complex, interesting, and has a fine line with right and wrong. I hope Rift can create a world just as rich.
As I edge closer to 50, I begin to wonder what I will be doing. Raiding, since 10 mans were announced, is not entirely out of the question for me anymore. However, I'm not sure my laptop is up to the task; We did an invasion last night, and I could barely move during the final boss killing. It was bad.
Maybe if I lower my settings?
I kind of miss WoW's UI. I loved UI building and I miss my Vuhdo. Yes, I am reliant on addons. Oh noes!
I miss my druid and is direct heals. I do sometimes regret making a mage, simply because I'm limited to Chloromancer. I love Chloromancer; it's so fun and when I can hit stuff, it's a lot more different and unique. However, I wish I had more direct heals that Cleric offers.
I wonder if I should resubscribe. I feel like if I did, I'd find myself bored pretty fast and leave WoW quickly. I look at scenes of old WotLK days, and there was lots to do and everything was a lot of fun. Cataclysm simply doesn't have enough. Although I think they added more archaeology items. Ruh roh... Intrigue.
I've been slacking a little on Rift. I tend to lose interest if I'm just questing kind of fast. That and if an Invasion comes storming through late at night, meaning it won't get completed, I tend to just log. Lately it seems there are far too many invasions where we fail just as we're almost done. Like, only need one more Rift closed or have three invasions left to kill, but instead the wardstones fall. Yeah, that's not depressing.
I have most fun when I'm with everyone. I didn't get to play with them a lot recently because of work and Easter, but the last couple of nights we've been running stuff together, doing invasions and finishing up some group quests. Instant running has been pretty fun. The bosses are hard enough, but at the same time, doable, even though me and our healer were a couple levels from yellow mobs.
I really like Chloromancer as a healing spec, but with the way I am leveling and the things I do with my group, I am finding that it has one serious weakness/flaw. If mobs are not my level, or at least in yellow range, then I cannot solo heal the instance. And considering that half my usual running mates are a few levels higher then me, I find myself seeing Resisted quite a bit. It certainly is frustrating.
Once you hit about 38, the leveling areas start to branch out. Up until then, it has been incredibly linear. There are certain areas or certain levels, and while the levels of the areas may overlap, in general, the gap has been fairly large, about 5 levels. Now, as I get closer and closer to 50, the gap seems to have been narrowed to about 2-3 levels. At 40, you can go to Droughtlands, finish Moonglade Highlands, or Iron Pine Peaks. I've also found that levels of the quest kind of jump around. You can do some quests at higher 30s in Droughtlands, but then there's a gap where you have to wait a couple levels before you can take on the 43 quests. You then journey to Moonglade or Iron Pine Peaks. Then you out grow those quests and move back. Then you go back again.
We did an instance, Runic Descent, which takes place in a beautiful garden. It's very Japanese, cherry blossom trees grace the ruins and gentle petals continuously rain down on you. There's a small pool fed by a waterfall, where the sun glistens through the trees. Absolutely stunning.
The other instances are all well made as well, but remind me of different movies. One reminded me of running around the ewok village in the Return of the Jedi. Silly stuff. A lot of the dungeons seem like they're outside, but you can't mount.
I do miss the lore of WoW, as well as the quest variation. A lot of Rift is the usual grind, and the lore is interesting, but I'm not that into it. Asha Catari, Defiant female leader, is kind of like Sylvanas. Asha was killed, then in death, was tortured by Regulos in hopes of getting her on his side. She is brought back to life as an Ascended, but not after developing a huge grudge against Regulos. She's out for revenge. That doesn't sound familiar at all. Clearly, WoW has the advantage of having a long standing lore that came from a couple games previous to WoW, and then 3 more expansions. Rift has yet to develop that strong standing. All gameplay aside, the lore of WoW is unbeatable. It's complex, interesting, and has a fine line with right and wrong. I hope Rift can create a world just as rich.
As I edge closer to 50, I begin to wonder what I will be doing. Raiding, since 10 mans were announced, is not entirely out of the question for me anymore. However, I'm not sure my laptop is up to the task; We did an invasion last night, and I could barely move during the final boss killing. It was bad.
Maybe if I lower my settings?
I kind of miss WoW's UI. I loved UI building and I miss my Vuhdo. Yes, I am reliant on addons. Oh noes!
I miss my druid and is direct heals. I do sometimes regret making a mage, simply because I'm limited to Chloromancer. I love Chloromancer; it's so fun and when I can hit stuff, it's a lot more different and unique. However, I wish I had more direct heals that Cleric offers.
I wonder if I should resubscribe. I feel like if I did, I'd find myself bored pretty fast and leave WoW quickly. I look at scenes of old WotLK days, and there was lots to do and everything was a lot of fun. Cataclysm simply doesn't have enough. Although I think they added more archaeology items. Ruh roh... Intrigue.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
people are starting to disturb me
Let me just say that I am an animal lover. While I'm not a huge dog lover, I have 4 cats, who I love deeply. I buy them silly toys and those expensive Fancy Feast Appetizers for them. I spent a week watching my new kitten because we rescued her and were worried about her health. I also rescued my cat staying with my dad. I had to put up with my best friend freaking out as he drove us home, afraid she had rabies. I had to walk to Petsmart because my family was on a trip, to buy cans of kitten milk for her. I cried when she wouldn't eat because I didn't want something to happen to her.
And I am not a big dog lover, but I oo'd and awe'd when I saw those cute puppies on Game of Thrones, and I thought, I wouldn't mind one of them. And when Lady met her gruesome, fateful end, I was saddened by it all, hoping Ned would figure something out at the very end.
However, this recent controversy has disturbed me quite a bit. And it's only been a couple hours.
Game of Thrones is causing a little bit of hoo haa after the killing of Lady. Her death consisted of: shot of her face, shot of Neds, shot of dagger, shot of sad puppy dog eyes, shot of Ned's face, doggy yelp. The end.
This subtly violent scene has apparently caused a lot of mad animal lovers, who are enraged by the killing of this animal. Apparently, it's gone as far as letters being sent to HBO to stop the madness.
I love Game of Thrones, so I've been diligently following this story. I actually read the comments from the original EW post that reported on this, and added my own 2 sense. Yet, the more and more I read the comments the more I come to a freakish understanding. Has media desensitized us to human deaths.
Many of the arguments for the animal outrage express hate of animal killings, but seem to be unmoved by human killings.
In fact, one of the comments that sparked this whole thing says:
“[They can] sleep with as many people as they want, but don’t kill [animals]. Or I’m done!”
Comments following the post include some pretty harsh ones.
As I pointed out in my post, one commenter simply shows ignorance in how children are treated, and justifying human depictions of death with a simple:
"Dogs are innocent. People are not."
He then follows up with: "It’s more emotional for a lot of people because animals are mistreated exponentially more than kids are in the world. People are allowed to care about whatever makes them the most emotional."
I would almost respect his opinion if his ignorance wasn't so disturbing.
Other comments include some from an article about the EW article on Sodahead.com.
This commenter mentions a person who is writing/wrote a letter to HBO expressing their rage.
"I agree with the one fan who wrote HBO to complain, saying she'd rather see people killed off than the animals. I'm like that, too. While watching a movie, when characters die, I'm not as bothered as when animals suffer and die in the film. But hey, this is TV -- FANTASY TV, to boot -- so the producers and writers of "Thrones" can always pull a rabbit out of the hat and somehow make it so that the wolf didn't REALLY kick the bucket. Maybe it was all just a dream, like that entire season of "Dallas!"
I really don't understand this person. How can watching people die be less painful then watching animals. They do realize that when they eat a hamburger the animal had to be KILLED for them to eat it. And don't get me started on their delusional hopes of keeping the animal alive...
Back to EW, which has reached 250 comments in a few hours.
"The fact of the matter is a thousand thousand Ladies die every day, butchered by their masters in order to feed human beings. These people who whine about one animal or pet dying in a medieval-style fantasy television show are simply people who are far too protected from the reality they exist in. They’re sheltered from the blood and guts of the butcher shop they buy their meats from, sheltered from the septic tank their crap goes into, sheltered from the pin pricks and starving kids from where their sweatshop clothes come from. These people whining about Lady being killed are a legion of Lady Sansas who think that life is as pretty as a song, only to find out that heroes get their heads cut off and there is no such thing as justice in the end."
I don't know if PETA is going to get involved with this. Honestly, if they do, I will start respecting them less. I don't like the way they go about some things, like throwing flour on celebrities. Good motives, but some shady ways of going about it.
"I’m not really sure why its okay to kill “just an animal” and not a human. Humans ARE “just another animal”. Some humans are civilized and some humans are more savage and cruel than the most savage four legged animal. And in general animals are not intentionally cruel in their kills while humans very well can be."
I don't really know how to react to this. I think she has some good points, but at the same time, this is incredibly insensitive. Humans are cruel because they have emotions. That is what sets us apart from "just another animal" for better or for worse.
"I don’t care about the people being killed, but don’t kill the animals, it really puts me off watching programs and films when animals are killed. If any more animals are killed in the series, unnecessarily, I won’t be watching any more, it isn’t that good up till now, so it won’t be any great sacrifice."
Again. Don't care about people?!?
What is worse is that either these people are REALLY stupid, and think they actually killed the dog, or they really don't care about when people being killed. I know it's all fantasy, but I can't watch brutal shows/movies like Saw. I cringed when Will was decapitated in the beginning of Episode 1. I hate violence of a realistic nature. Silly nonsensical violence that is impossible is one thing. But maybe its scenes like that, that are the problem.
Are we desensitized by the media?
And I am not a big dog lover, but I oo'd and awe'd when I saw those cute puppies on Game of Thrones, and I thought, I wouldn't mind one of them. And when Lady met her gruesome, fateful end, I was saddened by it all, hoping Ned would figure something out at the very end.
However, this recent controversy has disturbed me quite a bit. And it's only been a couple hours.
Game of Thrones is causing a little bit of hoo haa after the killing of Lady. Her death consisted of: shot of her face, shot of Neds, shot of dagger, shot of sad puppy dog eyes, shot of Ned's face, doggy yelp. The end.
This subtly violent scene has apparently caused a lot of mad animal lovers, who are enraged by the killing of this animal. Apparently, it's gone as far as letters being sent to HBO to stop the madness.
I love Game of Thrones, so I've been diligently following this story. I actually read the comments from the original EW post that reported on this, and added my own 2 sense. Yet, the more and more I read the comments the more I come to a freakish understanding. Has media desensitized us to human deaths.
Many of the arguments for the animal outrage express hate of animal killings, but seem to be unmoved by human killings.
In fact, one of the comments that sparked this whole thing says:
“[They can] sleep with as many people as they want, but don’t kill [animals]. Or I’m done!”
Comments following the post include some pretty harsh ones.
As I pointed out in my post, one commenter simply shows ignorance in how children are treated, and justifying human depictions of death with a simple:
"Dogs are innocent. People are not."
He then follows up with: "It’s more emotional for a lot of people because animals are mistreated exponentially more than kids are in the world. People are allowed to care about whatever makes them the most emotional."
I would almost respect his opinion if his ignorance wasn't so disturbing.
Other comments include some from an article about the EW article on Sodahead.com.
This commenter mentions a person who is writing/wrote a letter to HBO expressing their rage.
"I agree with the one fan who wrote HBO to complain, saying she'd rather see people killed off than the animals. I'm like that, too. While watching a movie, when characters die, I'm not as bothered as when animals suffer and die in the film. But hey, this is TV -- FANTASY TV, to boot -- so the producers and writers of "Thrones" can always pull a rabbit out of the hat and somehow make it so that the wolf didn't REALLY kick the bucket. Maybe it was all just a dream, like that entire season of "Dallas!"
I really don't understand this person. How can watching people die be less painful then watching animals. They do realize that when they eat a hamburger the animal had to be KILLED for them to eat it. And don't get me started on their delusional hopes of keeping the animal alive...
Back to EW, which has reached 250 comments in a few hours.
"The fact of the matter is a thousand thousand Ladies die every day, butchered by their masters in order to feed human beings. These people who whine about one animal or pet dying in a medieval-style fantasy television show are simply people who are far too protected from the reality they exist in. They’re sheltered from the blood and guts of the butcher shop they buy their meats from, sheltered from the septic tank their crap goes into, sheltered from the pin pricks and starving kids from where their sweatshop clothes come from. These people whining about Lady being killed are a legion of Lady Sansas who think that life is as pretty as a song, only to find out that heroes get their heads cut off and there is no such thing as justice in the end."
I don't know if PETA is going to get involved with this. Honestly, if they do, I will start respecting them less. I don't like the way they go about some things, like throwing flour on celebrities. Good motives, but some shady ways of going about it.
"I’m not really sure why its okay to kill “just an animal” and not a human. Humans ARE “just another animal”. Some humans are civilized and some humans are more savage and cruel than the most savage four legged animal. And in general animals are not intentionally cruel in their kills while humans very well can be."
I don't really know how to react to this. I think she has some good points, but at the same time, this is incredibly insensitive. Humans are cruel because they have emotions. That is what sets us apart from "just another animal" for better or for worse.
"I don’t care about the people being killed, but don’t kill the animals, it really puts me off watching programs and films when animals are killed. If any more animals are killed in the series, unnecessarily, I won’t be watching any more, it isn’t that good up till now, so it won’t be any great sacrifice."
Again. Don't care about people?!?
What is worse is that either these people are REALLY stupid, and think they actually killed the dog, or they really don't care about when people being killed. I know it's all fantasy, but I can't watch brutal shows/movies like Saw. I cringed when Will was decapitated in the beginning of Episode 1. I hate violence of a realistic nature. Silly nonsensical violence that is impossible is one thing. But maybe its scenes like that, that are the problem.
Are we desensitized by the media?
Game of Thrones 1.02: Viewer Outrage: I should read comments more often.
SPOILERS ZOMG! But it's not a huge one.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Gamer A.D.D.
I have bad Gamer ADD.
Like real bad. And Rift is not helping my problem.
I like Rift. When I'm in a Rift mood, I enjoy leveling, closing Rifts, fighting off invaders and looking for artifacts. When my guildies are on and we do things together it's a lot of fun. But I'm becoming weary of certain things. Questing is quite the grind fest. I'm also several levels behind my friends, so we can't do much together. And while I switch between different specs to keep things lively, I began to wish I made a Cleric. Oh noes! Invasions went from being a lot of fun to being the most annoying aspect of the game.
Invasions are when Rifts begin taking over the area you're in. You have 3-5 objectives, which always include, Defending Wardstones, which are these rock formations that have health points in areas you get quests in; killing a certain number of invaders, which are groups of mobs that spawn from Rifts; and closing a number of Rifts. This is doable with about 10 or more people. The number of invasions can get pretty bad, and if all three Wardstones fall, then its game over.
I level a lot at night. I spend my days at school and my evenings trying to play, but usually caught up in homework. I stay up late and level around 9-12. It's when our shard's population dips to Low and thanks to awesome Invasions, it begins to droll out on my patience. Invasion mobs easily begin overwhelming the Wardstones. One person cannot defeat them alone, and even if I'm careful, and have the NPCs on my side, I tend to pull aggro from all the groups, which end up being over 9 mobs, and 3 of those mobs tend to be the stronger leaders. The other problem is how far the Wardstones are from one another. They're usually on opposite sides, making travel between them difficult, and leaving the wardstones up for falling. Because the Wardstones are in questing areas, I can't turn in quests. Once a wardstone falls, the mobs stay in the area, making it difficult to defeat them all.
This wouldn't be too annoying, considering that it is late, but I wish there was an off button for areas with low populations. Every time one starts, I immediately know I'm screwed. Usually, I just log off, not wanting to deal with the coming irritation. But it's not just late at night. I've had multiple invasion fails during prime times, when we've had 10-15 people in a raid, yet we still fail. It's very annoying.
Other Rift Problems
Questing is incredibly linear. No different racial starting areas, no different places to level for overlapping levels, no separate continents. So leveling alts isn't appealing at all. I don't really find the Guardian starting areas interesting either.
Remedies?
I'm at the moment downloading the Lord of the Rings Online, simply because it's free to play and running around Middle Earth sounds like it would be fun for a little bit.
I am not going to return to WoW. I have no desire to, despite the fact that I do miss certain aspects of the game. I miss the variety of areas to level and the alts I can have. I miss my druid, and I miss UI building. But heaven knows, I've done it all, and I know once I go back, I'll immediately lose interest and waste 15 bucks.
I think Rift can hold my attention well enough, but it feels tiring fast, and I wonder if I'll ever find a game like WoW, that captured my attention with it's magic from the very first moment I logged in.
Like real bad. And Rift is not helping my problem.
I like Rift. When I'm in a Rift mood, I enjoy leveling, closing Rifts, fighting off invaders and looking for artifacts. When my guildies are on and we do things together it's a lot of fun. But I'm becoming weary of certain things. Questing is quite the grind fest. I'm also several levels behind my friends, so we can't do much together. And while I switch between different specs to keep things lively, I began to wish I made a Cleric. Oh noes! Invasions went from being a lot of fun to being the most annoying aspect of the game.
Invasions are when Rifts begin taking over the area you're in. You have 3-5 objectives, which always include, Defending Wardstones, which are these rock formations that have health points in areas you get quests in; killing a certain number of invaders, which are groups of mobs that spawn from Rifts; and closing a number of Rifts. This is doable with about 10 or more people. The number of invasions can get pretty bad, and if all three Wardstones fall, then its game over.
I level a lot at night. I spend my days at school and my evenings trying to play, but usually caught up in homework. I stay up late and level around 9-12. It's when our shard's population dips to Low and thanks to awesome Invasions, it begins to droll out on my patience. Invasion mobs easily begin overwhelming the Wardstones. One person cannot defeat them alone, and even if I'm careful, and have the NPCs on my side, I tend to pull aggro from all the groups, which end up being over 9 mobs, and 3 of those mobs tend to be the stronger leaders. The other problem is how far the Wardstones are from one another. They're usually on opposite sides, making travel between them difficult, and leaving the wardstones up for falling. Because the Wardstones are in questing areas, I can't turn in quests. Once a wardstone falls, the mobs stay in the area, making it difficult to defeat them all.
This wouldn't be too annoying, considering that it is late, but I wish there was an off button for areas with low populations. Every time one starts, I immediately know I'm screwed. Usually, I just log off, not wanting to deal with the coming irritation. But it's not just late at night. I've had multiple invasion fails during prime times, when we've had 10-15 people in a raid, yet we still fail. It's very annoying.
Other Rift Problems
Questing is incredibly linear. No different racial starting areas, no different places to level for overlapping levels, no separate continents. So leveling alts isn't appealing at all. I don't really find the Guardian starting areas interesting either.
Remedies?
I'm at the moment downloading the Lord of the Rings Online, simply because it's free to play and running around Middle Earth sounds like it would be fun for a little bit.
I am not going to return to WoW. I have no desire to, despite the fact that I do miss certain aspects of the game. I miss the variety of areas to level and the alts I can have. I miss my druid, and I miss UI building. But heaven knows, I've done it all, and I know once I go back, I'll immediately lose interest and waste 15 bucks.
I think Rift can hold my attention well enough, but it feels tiring fast, and I wonder if I'll ever find a game like WoW, that captured my attention with it's magic from the very first moment I logged in.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Game of Thrones 1.02: Kingsroad
aka: I want to punch the blond-haired ppl. Except Tyrion. He's cool.
This person, who made this is awesome btw...
This person, who made this is awesome btw...
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Game of Thrones 1.1: Winter is Coming
aka: A Case of Bad Wigs
from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the books.
Spoilers!
from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the books.
Spoilers!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Do I miss World of Warcraft? Part 2/Rift's First Real Fail
Hm...for some reason's my friend's facebook status made it seem like the patch dropped today, when it didn't. Maybe he meant another game. I'll never know <.<.
And I'm getting this weird empty feeling about it. Like I actually wish I could get on my druid...Damnit.
Now you change it.
Blizzard sucks. They finally make the changes to my beloved class that I have been hoping for. I don't really care for the new instances (cough recycled cough), and I know that if I did renew my account, it would be an incredible waste of money. My old guild is dead, I don't want to go through the daunting task of finding a new guild. I don't want to be tied down to a certain amount of hours, certain nights, because I have to raid. And I certainly don't want to start running dungeons just so I can see how awesome the new Efflorescence is, or spend gold so I can see the spec I've been wanting, but don't really get to use.
But still...
I get this sadness. Because Druid was always my favorite, beloved class. I loved healing on that class. That's the hardest transition for me in Rift; trying to find a niche as a healer. I really like Chloromancer, and ironically, Chloromancer is the "healing with nature" spec. I even have Wild Growth. But it's definitely a far cry from druid healing.
Now wait. Before I think, damn I shouldn't have left...
There are some things I am glad I don't have to deal with. Like the new Call to Arms LFD system. I can just imagine the first, unfairness, and second, the problems it will begin to cause. Dealing with bad tanks who probably just q'd for a chance at free loot bag. I don't think this will solve the problems of people being basic assholes in pug LFD. (Yes, I know Healers can get the Call to Arms thing too) And it doesn't make the dungeons themselves more interesting. The LFD system basically is just something that, has the right intentions, but basically ruined a large portion of WoW. It ruined the social aspect of the game, and caused people to become desensitized within their groups. Now not all Pugs are like this. There are still good people out there. But the majority of my pug LFD experience has been full of jackasses. Like someone tell me I'm a f*ck'n moron for forgetting Crusader Aura after one pull (cause you know, people never make that mistake...ever). Or having the finger pointed at me, when the tank gets pull happy and grabs way too many mobs, then lets them aggro onto me because I have high healing threat since they're taking damage. Then there's the people just rolling on stuff they shouldn't. No wonder I hate dungeons.
Unfortunately, the LFD system is something Blizzard can't take back. And I applaud them trying to fix a serious problem in their game. But really, I think maybe those long dungeon Q's should be a wake up call to people, not something that Blizzard feels can be remedy by awarding possibly horrible tanks.
But it's not my problem. My problems are with Rift now
I hop onto facebook, which has become a source of keeping in touch with a lot of people since I left WoW.
"So how was phase 2 of the World Event?"
Well, gee, that's a good question. I basically don't know because I couldn't get on at the proposed time. I do work all weekends, and have been for over 4 years. And it was an incredibly depressing thing. I have recently immersed myself into this world and now I can't even partake in some of it's biggest selling points. At least I got to do Phase 1. And I wasn't the only one who was unable to participate, as seen by the massive amounts of problems, others had. I can at least be consoled by that.
And this Blizzard, is how you respond to your community.
My biggest love of Rift is Trion. They are a great company, who cares much, responds swiftly, and seems to understand their users quite well. With the debacle of the World Event, they have responded in a way that I can truly be grateful for.
To wrap-up their event, they are giving everyone, including those who did not participate, a goody bag with chances at the items that dropped during the World Event. Other achievements, and the weapon quests will remain as well.
They give everyone a fair chance. They respond swiftly and understand what their players are complaining about.
Yes, I wish I could've done the event as well, but since I can't, and they won't be rereleasing it, I'll take my goody bag. Thanks.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Rift Part 3: Levels 12-33
Man has leveling slowed down. Well yeah, my last Rift post was when I was level 11, and yeah this post is about 21 levels. But man it's a slow process. With leveling, dinging tends to be a surprise that I don't expect. There has been more than one occasion where I closed a rift, defeated an invasion, or discovered a new area and BZZZZAP! Red Lightning! I leveled up!
Some things never change. That includes Quests.
The basic questing grind is tiring at most. My biggest (and only) complaint about Rift is traveling. I don't mind having to travel large distances, but the easiness of being dismounted (by grey mobs too) and the fact that I really can't out run or out live mobs once I get dismounted is really annoying. Respawn rates are really fast (not Cataclysm fast, but fast enough) and I am constantly spending too much time trying to clear a wave of mobs just to reach one destination. And don't want it to be a clean run in and out thing, but sometimes there s such thing as TOO much. That is Rift.
Because of my constant grind fest, I tend to out level areas before I leave. This is also coupled with the decent experience I gain from doing rifts and invasions, which I NEVER pass up. The spread of other toons at your level is actually starting to show cracks in the rift/invasion system. While rifts aren't really difficult to finish off, large scale invasions have been failed more than once because there is simply not enough man power leveling in that area to counter the waves and waves of small invasions running at the wardstones. Although I haven't seen it happen too often over the course of leveling from 1-33, I have seen it a lot more, as I try finishing up Scarlet Gorge. Considering my guildmates are now all 4-5 levels higher then me, I'm probably gonna leave and move on to Scarwood Forest without really finishing Scarlet Gorge.
Oh look! AnAlliance Guardian Member!
I don't play on a PvP realm, because I'm allergic and all that jazz, but I did encounter my first Guardian. The only race differences between Defiant and Guardian is that they have Dwarfs and we have Brahmi (Asian Indian types) The Defiant's Kelari are basically dark High Elves, and the Defient's Eth are the Mathosians, but darker skinned. Yep. Variety is the spice of life. There is a chance I ran near a bunch of Guardians, but just merely didn't see the difference. I saw my first dwarf though and it was an odd experience. We'll see what happens when I move onto higher level, more contested areas.
Dungeons
We've done a few dungeons together. I like that our group composition is not entirely standard. We have a the warrior tanking, the hunter and mage dpsing, the cleric in some sort of half healing/half tanking/half dpsing spec (yes that's 1 1/2) and me in the super sexy Chloromancer spec, which gives me main healing, but some off spec damage. This has served us well so far. between my good group heals and Beacon of Light type tank shin-dig and the Cleric's splash heals, we don't need to follow a basic set up. And we all get to do what we want. I love it.
OMG...Ew...
There are some really gross looking monsters in this game. From the Foul Gorge final boss, to the epic story quest's unseen agent. Ew....just ew....
The little things
I've been doing some platform gaming around the world, looking or items called Cairne Do. They all go towards an achievement and there is one in every zone. This, along with finding the puzzles in every area, has given me so much joy. It's like Archaeology, but with faster results. Love it. And Artifacts. I love it all.
And the Dancing with Squirrels achievement. That is just by far epic.
I still love Rift. But let me not get dismounted so fast Trion! KTHXBAI
Some things never change. That includes Quests.
The basic questing grind is tiring at most. My biggest (and only) complaint about Rift is traveling. I don't mind having to travel large distances, but the easiness of being dismounted (by grey mobs too) and the fact that I really can't out run or out live mobs once I get dismounted is really annoying. Respawn rates are really fast (not Cataclysm fast, but fast enough) and I am constantly spending too much time trying to clear a wave of mobs just to reach one destination. And don't want it to be a clean run in and out thing, but sometimes there s such thing as TOO much. That is Rift.
Because of my constant grind fest, I tend to out level areas before I leave. This is also coupled with the decent experience I gain from doing rifts and invasions, which I NEVER pass up. The spread of other toons at your level is actually starting to show cracks in the rift/invasion system. While rifts aren't really difficult to finish off, large scale invasions have been failed more than once because there is simply not enough man power leveling in that area to counter the waves and waves of small invasions running at the wardstones. Although I haven't seen it happen too often over the course of leveling from 1-33, I have seen it a lot more, as I try finishing up Scarlet Gorge. Considering my guildmates are now all 4-5 levels higher then me, I'm probably gonna leave and move on to Scarwood Forest without really finishing Scarlet Gorge.
Oh look! An
I don't play on a PvP realm, because I'm allergic and all that jazz, but I did encounter my first Guardian. The only race differences between Defiant and Guardian is that they have Dwarfs and we have Brahmi (Asian Indian types) The Defiant's Kelari are basically dark High Elves, and the Defient's Eth are the Mathosians, but darker skinned. Yep. Variety is the spice of life. There is a chance I ran near a bunch of Guardians, but just merely didn't see the difference. I saw my first dwarf though and it was an odd experience. We'll see what happens when I move onto higher level, more contested areas.
Dungeons
We've done a few dungeons together. I like that our group composition is not entirely standard. We have a the warrior tanking, the hunter and mage dpsing, the cleric in some sort of half healing/half tanking/half dpsing spec (yes that's 1 1/2) and me in the super sexy Chloromancer spec, which gives me main healing, but some off spec damage. This has served us well so far. between my good group heals and Beacon of Light type tank shin-dig and the Cleric's splash heals, we don't need to follow a basic set up. And we all get to do what we want. I love it.
OMG...Ew...
There are some really gross looking monsters in this game. From the Foul Gorge final boss, to the epic story quest's unseen agent. Ew....just ew....
The little things
I've been doing some platform gaming around the world, looking or items called Cairne Do. They all go towards an achievement and there is one in every zone. This, along with finding the puzzles in every area, has given me so much joy. It's like Archaeology, but with faster results. Love it. And Artifacts. I love it all.
And the Dancing with Squirrels achievement. That is just by far epic.
I still love Rift. But let me not get dismounted so fast Trion! KTHXBAI
The Rebuild of Evangelion 1.01 (You are (not) alone) & 2.22 (You can(not) advance)
It's been a while since I watched anime. I used to really be into it. I went to Anime Expo for 5 straight years; I knew all the songs, bought all the latest manga, and read Newtype US. I attribute my loss of interest to two things: Growing up, and WoW. WoW kind of ruined a lot of things for me; because of being dedicated to it, I didn't keep up with shows I loved, play video games on consoles I was looking forward to, or went outside. That's why I love Rift. It's fun, but I (currently) have no tried, true dedications to it (raiding), so I can do things I would love to do otherwise. That includes watching Evangelion 2.22 (granted I should've been studying as well <.<)
I hold love for only a few really good anime. Nothing new has really grabbed my attention. Nothing will ever be as magical as hearing Tank! (Cowboy Bebop), listening to Shinji say "I 'musn't run away!" over and over (Eva), or reading the words, "Hey Nana...(NANA)" for the first time. I've always loved Japan and it's music, animation, video games, etc, but I've moved away from a lot of it in favor of Irvine's little giant.
So hearing about a complete reboot of one of my favorite animes, Neon Genesis Evangelion was especially exciting. It stirred something in me, not because it was getting a nice animation update, new scenes, or insights. Evangelion is one of those animes that twists your brain in so many directions, you don't know where you're going next. I've been lucky enough to have access to many different interpretations and variations of the journey of Shinji and his fellow Nerv-lings. Everything from the anime, to the manga, to the vast amount of video games, features a "this is how it could've been" scenario. And the much anticipated movies, Rebuild of Evangelion, are no exception.
I've already seen Eva 1.01, but for the benefits of this review, I felt I needed to revisit it. The first time I ever watched it was at the very last AX I ever went to. I remember seeing it in the program, and thinking, "What is this? Some kind of documentary?" I had never heard of it in my life.
Boy was I in for a surprise. New graphics, story and character development, updated animation and great music. I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. It was like a finely wrapped gift granted to me by the anime gods. Because they must've known something I didn't at the time; that this was the last AX I would ever attend and would be the beginning of the end of my relationship with anime.
I went on to see it not once, not twice, but all three screenings that weekend. I couldn't get enough. Not only does Rebuild of Evangelion revive the series, it makes it better. It revived my love for the show, for its characters, for where it will go.
And after watching Evangelion 2.22, I can promise you, it just keeps getting better.
Spoilers Ahoy!
I hold love for only a few really good anime. Nothing new has really grabbed my attention. Nothing will ever be as magical as hearing Tank! (Cowboy Bebop), listening to Shinji say "I 'musn't run away!" over and over (Eva), or reading the words, "Hey Nana...(NANA)" for the first time. I've always loved Japan and it's music, animation, video games, etc, but I've moved away from a lot of it in favor of Irvine's little giant.
So hearing about a complete reboot of one of my favorite animes, Neon Genesis Evangelion was especially exciting. It stirred something in me, not because it was getting a nice animation update, new scenes, or insights. Evangelion is one of those animes that twists your brain in so many directions, you don't know where you're going next. I've been lucky enough to have access to many different interpretations and variations of the journey of Shinji and his fellow Nerv-lings. Everything from the anime, to the manga, to the vast amount of video games, features a "this is how it could've been" scenario. And the much anticipated movies, Rebuild of Evangelion, are no exception.
I've already seen Eva 1.01, but for the benefits of this review, I felt I needed to revisit it. The first time I ever watched it was at the very last AX I ever went to. I remember seeing it in the program, and thinking, "What is this? Some kind of documentary?" I had never heard of it in my life.
Boy was I in for a surprise. New graphics, story and character development, updated animation and great music. I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. It was like a finely wrapped gift granted to me by the anime gods. Because they must've known something I didn't at the time; that this was the last AX I would ever attend and would be the beginning of the end of my relationship with anime.
I went on to see it not once, not twice, but all three screenings that weekend. I couldn't get enough. Not only does Rebuild of Evangelion revive the series, it makes it better. It revived my love for the show, for its characters, for where it will go.
And after watching Evangelion 2.22, I can promise you, it just keeps getting better.
Spoilers Ahoy!
Book Review: Something Borrowed
Today
Will be a big blog day for me. I posted a small blog last night about the passing of my WoW subscription expiration date, but other than that, I've been missing in action.
But enough about that! On to the review!
I've been seeing these commercials for a movie called Something Borrowed. It features Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin and is based off a best selling novel by Emily Giffin (I keep wanting to say Griffin, but its GIFFIN). The trailer eludes to being in love with your best friend's fiance, and the back of the cover of the book I picked up on Saturday pretty much says the same thing.
Rachel, the consummate good girl, has always been overshadowed by her beautiful, spoiled best friend Darcy. Then on the night of her 30th birthday, Rachel has too much to drink and sleeps with Darcy's fiance, Rachel's old friend from law school Dex. It turns out though that as the affair continues, Dex and Rachel are deeply in love with each other. As Darcy's wedding date draws near, Rachel avoids the subject of Dex's impending marriage, then realizes she can no longer avoid it. Things begin to spiral out of control and she is faced with choosing her best friend, or her possible soul mate.
Why would I read this chick book anyways?
I have always been incredibly interested in, and incredibly influenced by cheating individuals. And not those cheap nights where one drink leads to a weak moment and it really means nothing. I'm talking, the affair is "true" love and despite the repercussions, the cheating couple ends up together in the end. Like Brad and Angelina; Leann and Eddie. My dad and his wife.
i do not have a good relationship with my father and I especially have a terrible, Cinderella type relationship with his wife, my stepmother. The worst part of it all is that his wife was my mother's maid of honor in my parent's wedding.
From what I can see, my stepmother has been romancing my father for decades and decades. In fact, at their wedding last year, i was forced to stare at a picture of them back when they were younger, when my mother and father were together. Scenes like these cheapen their relationship to me. My father claims she's his soul mate, yet despite everything, he originally turned my stepmother down to marry another woman 6 months after divorcing my mother. (Yes, that's right. I have an ex-stepmother). And alas, almost a decade later, they finally had their dream wedding last summer, which my brother refused to attend, and I watched, suppressing sobs, while staring at a picture of my young, cheating father, alone in the front row. I spent their reception, sitting next to my grandmother who gloated to everyone in passing, isn't it about time. They were destined to be together. Took them long enough. I worked hard to get them together.
It's a well known fact that most women are very Pro Jennifer in the Brad/Angie/Jen problem. I do not like Angelina, but respect her charity work. I think Brad is stupid and I don't understand his sex appeal. Sure he's handsome, but while women were staring at his butt in Troy, I was dreaming about Eric Bana's toned arms wrapped around me. Brad needed a haircut. I wish people would leave Jennifer alone, like the way I wish my dad's family would leave my mother alone. Calling her nasty names because she spent her 10 post marriage years raising my brother and I alone, instead of running off with another man and marrying as soon as the immigrant papers went through.
Oh shut up. What about the book?
Right, so here we have Rachel who in all terms is a sweet girl. She is smart, works a job she hates, and bends to her beautiful best friend's every whim. Darcy is an incredibly villainous young woman, who gets everything she wants with a flip of her hair. Her confidence is something I came to envy, like Rachel. And I watched her turn from best friend to evil rival. She throws tantrums, turns everything so that it's about her, and ends up being even more hateful towards the end.
But what about Rachel. The other woman is supposed to be the despised, evil one.
It may be from my extremely bias position, but I did not understand the relationship of Rachel and Dex. Yes they were best friends in college and he seemed to genuinely love her. And Rachel exudes enough flip flopping guilt that I feel for her. And since Darcy is a bitch, it makes it even easier to want Rachel to win Dex.
My problem with the relationship is Dex. If someone loves someone else, how could the spend months promising to marry another woman. How could he sleep with her? How could they continue the affair, if they truly loved each other and never wanted to be apart? This I do not understand.
Perhaps its my jaded view on love.
I am terrified of marriage; I am terrified of being cheated on. I am terrified of my mother-in-law breaking up my marriage so my husband can be with a woman his mother chose. These are things I do not want to experience.
And even though Something Borrowed had me rooting for the other woman, as I devoured page after page, I couldn't help thinking about how twisted the book made me feel.
Because cheering for the other woman was like cheering for my stepmother. And I wonder, did she feel sorry for herself, the way Rachel did. Did she see my mother as the evil Darcy, stealing her true love.
My stepmother has no qualms about expressing her bitterness and rivalry with my mother. She claims my mother is jealous of her fabulous life. She expresses hate and disdain for my brother and I because we will always be the bond that binds my mother and my father. My stepmother will never be rid of my mother.
And then it becomes clear. Who the Darcy and the Rachel is in my Something Borrowed tale?
In the end
Something Borrowed was a great debut novel by Emily Giffin. She has four other books out and I would consider reading them all.
Review: B+
Will be a big blog day for me. I posted a small blog last night about the passing of my WoW subscription expiration date, but other than that, I've been missing in action.
But enough about that! On to the review!
I've been seeing these commercials for a movie called Something Borrowed. It features Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin and is based off a best selling novel by Emily Giffin (I keep wanting to say Griffin, but its GIFFIN). The trailer eludes to being in love with your best friend's fiance, and the back of the cover of the book I picked up on Saturday pretty much says the same thing.
Rachel, the consummate good girl, has always been overshadowed by her beautiful, spoiled best friend Darcy. Then on the night of her 30th birthday, Rachel has too much to drink and sleeps with Darcy's fiance, Rachel's old friend from law school Dex. It turns out though that as the affair continues, Dex and Rachel are deeply in love with each other. As Darcy's wedding date draws near, Rachel avoids the subject of Dex's impending marriage, then realizes she can no longer avoid it. Things begin to spiral out of control and she is faced with choosing her best friend, or her possible soul mate.
Why would I read this chick book anyways?
I have always been incredibly interested in, and incredibly influenced by cheating individuals. And not those cheap nights where one drink leads to a weak moment and it really means nothing. I'm talking, the affair is "true" love and despite the repercussions, the cheating couple ends up together in the end. Like Brad and Angelina; Leann and Eddie. My dad and his wife.
i do not have a good relationship with my father and I especially have a terrible, Cinderella type relationship with his wife, my stepmother. The worst part of it all is that his wife was my mother's maid of honor in my parent's wedding.
From what I can see, my stepmother has been romancing my father for decades and decades. In fact, at their wedding last year, i was forced to stare at a picture of them back when they were younger, when my mother and father were together. Scenes like these cheapen their relationship to me. My father claims she's his soul mate, yet despite everything, he originally turned my stepmother down to marry another woman 6 months after divorcing my mother. (Yes, that's right. I have an ex-stepmother). And alas, almost a decade later, they finally had their dream wedding last summer, which my brother refused to attend, and I watched, suppressing sobs, while staring at a picture of my young, cheating father, alone in the front row. I spent their reception, sitting next to my grandmother who gloated to everyone in passing, isn't it about time. They were destined to be together. Took them long enough. I worked hard to get them together.
It's a well known fact that most women are very Pro Jennifer in the Brad/Angie/Jen problem. I do not like Angelina, but respect her charity work. I think Brad is stupid and I don't understand his sex appeal. Sure he's handsome, but while women were staring at his butt in Troy, I was dreaming about Eric Bana's toned arms wrapped around me. Brad needed a haircut. I wish people would leave Jennifer alone, like the way I wish my dad's family would leave my mother alone. Calling her nasty names because she spent her 10 post marriage years raising my brother and I alone, instead of running off with another man and marrying as soon as the immigrant papers went through.
Oh shut up. What about the book?
Right, so here we have Rachel who in all terms is a sweet girl. She is smart, works a job she hates, and bends to her beautiful best friend's every whim. Darcy is an incredibly villainous young woman, who gets everything she wants with a flip of her hair. Her confidence is something I came to envy, like Rachel. And I watched her turn from best friend to evil rival. She throws tantrums, turns everything so that it's about her, and ends up being even more hateful towards the end.
But what about Rachel. The other woman is supposed to be the despised, evil one.
It may be from my extremely bias position, but I did not understand the relationship of Rachel and Dex. Yes they were best friends in college and he seemed to genuinely love her. And Rachel exudes enough flip flopping guilt that I feel for her. And since Darcy is a bitch, it makes it even easier to want Rachel to win Dex.
My problem with the relationship is Dex. If someone loves someone else, how could the spend months promising to marry another woman. How could he sleep with her? How could they continue the affair, if they truly loved each other and never wanted to be apart? This I do not understand.
Perhaps its my jaded view on love.
I am terrified of marriage; I am terrified of being cheated on. I am terrified of my mother-in-law breaking up my marriage so my husband can be with a woman his mother chose. These are things I do not want to experience.
And even though Something Borrowed had me rooting for the other woman, as I devoured page after page, I couldn't help thinking about how twisted the book made me feel.
Because cheering for the other woman was like cheering for my stepmother. And I wonder, did she feel sorry for herself, the way Rachel did. Did she see my mother as the evil Darcy, stealing her true love.
My stepmother has no qualms about expressing her bitterness and rivalry with my mother. She claims my mother is jealous of her fabulous life. She expresses hate and disdain for my brother and I because we will always be the bond that binds my mother and my father. My stepmother will never be rid of my mother.
And then it becomes clear. Who the Darcy and the Rachel is in my Something Borrowed tale?
In the end
Something Borrowed was a great debut novel by Emily Giffin. She has four other books out and I would consider reading them all.
Review: B+
Do I miss World of Warcraft?
April 15 came and went without me blinking. That day was a Friday; I was at my college house when the clock struck 12, leveling Leda, my Rift main, as much as possible to keep up with my guildies who will (and surely did) surge ahead of me 5 levels while I am at work. I watched Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 twice again because I'm (still) working on their reviews for my blog. I ate a salad from Wendy's. I went to bed when I heard my roommate wake up at 4am and decided I should go to bed when she runs off to work. I woke up at 11. I watched a House marathon and waited for my BF to pick me up. We spent time playing Rift together since he started the weekend trial. We went out and bought Goldenspoon Froyo. It was tasty.
I went to bed at 11:30.
Then on Saturday, I don't even remember when, I thought of Naee. I had tried talking to him after he was raiding one night about my impending leave, but I missed him by no more than 5 minutes. I had sent him an in game mail stating that I would of course hop back on to talk to him over the next week before my subscription ran out.
And when did my subscription run out?
April 15th.
Somehow, the true end of my past 3 years of gaming flew by me without even a thought. Is this a good sign?
I was interviewing my friends about their experiences in WoW. Some were guildies, some were past guildies. All were friends. And it was like a flood of memories hitting me in the face. I met so many people through the games and I am shocked at how many I still keep in touch with. I am extremely thankful that I can play Rift with people I know, but somehow, I began to miss that diverse guild I used to be in.
I was looking at screenshots of my toons, my priest, shaman, pally. And I felt this ache of being level cap'd and having tons of alts. I am behind on leveling on Rift because I find times where I grow tired of pressing the same buttons to level. I love diversity. So not being able to just mindlessly hop from toon to toon is something I miss.
I also dread hitting level cap because I don't want to start raiding again. I don't want that anymore, but then I think, when I'm 50, what now?
Do I miss World of Warcraft?
No.
I went to bed at 11:30.
Then on Saturday, I don't even remember when, I thought of Naee. I had tried talking to him after he was raiding one night about my impending leave, but I missed him by no more than 5 minutes. I had sent him an in game mail stating that I would of course hop back on to talk to him over the next week before my subscription ran out.
And when did my subscription run out?
April 15th.
Somehow, the true end of my past 3 years of gaming flew by me without even a thought. Is this a good sign?
I was interviewing my friends about their experiences in WoW. Some were guildies, some were past guildies. All were friends. And it was like a flood of memories hitting me in the face. I met so many people through the games and I am shocked at how many I still keep in touch with. I am extremely thankful that I can play Rift with people I know, but somehow, I began to miss that diverse guild I used to be in.
I was looking at screenshots of my toons, my priest, shaman, pally. And I felt this ache of being level cap'd and having tons of alts. I am behind on leveling on Rift because I find times where I grow tired of pressing the same buttons to level. I love diversity. So not being able to just mindlessly hop from toon to toon is something I miss.
I also dread hitting level cap because I don't want to start raiding again. I don't want that anymore, but then I think, when I'm 50, what now?
Do I miss World of Warcraft?
No.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Quick Blog Update
I have changed my address to indecisivehealer.blogspot.com
I felt that Clearcasting was too related to WoW and since I no longer play WoW and my blog has shifted focuses to many subjects, it was time to change the title.
I hope you enjoy it. :)
I felt that Clearcasting was too related to WoW and since I no longer play WoW and my blog has shifted focuses to many subjects, it was time to change the title.
I hope you enjoy it. :)
Rift Part 2: Levels 1-11: Mage v. Cleric
I would be a higher level, but I can't decide whether I wanna do Cleric or Mage. Obviously from the title, I am a huge healer, so being a Cleric seemed like a no brainer. The other thing I would like though is a range dps, and while Cleric offers a range dps option, they weren't as fun as the Mages options. Now why am I even considering a Mage?
Chloromancer.
Mage offers one Healing soul (and two other supportive souls), Chloromancer. A Chloromancer uses dots and spells that give healing for the damage it does to the mob. That in itself sounds so interesting and fun to dabble with.
But as I went on to level 10 on my Mage, I realized I wanted more choices on how to heal.
I had tried out, during my little trial, a Cleric and was leveling the recommended spec of Druid/Shaman. It's a melee combination and I personally don't like melee. So that's what originally had turned me off from Cleric. You can try range dps in Cabotlist/Inquisitor, but I died a lot and found myself behind when trying to kill mobs.
In the end, I will probably level both, but I'm going to stick with Cleric for now. Again, I love healing, so it's probably better to go with the healing class for now. I hope to level a Mage soon though.
Rifts Rifts Rifts
I've done many minor Rifts and one invasion/Major Rift. I can see what the hooplah is about with the Major Rifts. They're so massive and it's kind of fun seeing everyone appear to work together. Public Group is the most brilliant thing ever; being able to press a button and enter a massive group instead of trying to figure out whose leader and hopefully get an invite.
The problem with Rifts is that it does take a good spiral of space, usually where you want to level at. You have to clear it to continue on. The Major Rifts completely take over the area, and while they're a lot of fun to do, I found that after some time, I wanted to continue on with quests. You have to have people, and I was lucky we had a few people around this morning. Last night, I found myself fighting minor Rifts alone, so I wonder what would happen if a Major Rift open and noone was really on. I noticed a small timer on it, but it was well over an hour and half.
Rifts are about as bad as farming for herbs. You see one, you gotta go run and close it. I found myself on late last night, thinking, okay, I need to log off. Oh, a Rift...Must...Close....
I think my leveling speed was slowed because I was closing Rifts (they give experience, but I think quests are the best way in the end)
Oh, what's this button do?...oh right, the same thing it does in WoW
The controls, the UI, the controls...Everything is nearly identical and it's scary. I was talking with some friends last night, and we were pretty unanimous in agreeing that we like RIFT because it's like WoW. We didn't want to leave WoW, but we just lost that drive. Now we have RIFT to fill that void, and it's basically WoW.
I hope to get my boyfriend to play
But he's happy to be back playing console games and catching up on them.
Chloromancer.
Mage offers one Healing soul (and two other supportive souls), Chloromancer. A Chloromancer uses dots and spells that give healing for the damage it does to the mob. That in itself sounds so interesting and fun to dabble with.
But as I went on to level 10 on my Mage, I realized I wanted more choices on how to heal.
I had tried out, during my little trial, a Cleric and was leveling the recommended spec of Druid/Shaman. It's a melee combination and I personally don't like melee. So that's what originally had turned me off from Cleric. You can try range dps in Cabotlist/Inquisitor, but I died a lot and found myself behind when trying to kill mobs.
In the end, I will probably level both, but I'm going to stick with Cleric for now. Again, I love healing, so it's probably better to go with the healing class for now. I hope to level a Mage soon though.
Rifts Rifts Rifts
I've done many minor Rifts and one invasion/Major Rift. I can see what the hooplah is about with the Major Rifts. They're so massive and it's kind of fun seeing everyone appear to work together. Public Group is the most brilliant thing ever; being able to press a button and enter a massive group instead of trying to figure out whose leader and hopefully get an invite.
The problem with Rifts is that it does take a good spiral of space, usually where you want to level at. You have to clear it to continue on. The Major Rifts completely take over the area, and while they're a lot of fun to do, I found that after some time, I wanted to continue on with quests. You have to have people, and I was lucky we had a few people around this morning. Last night, I found myself fighting minor Rifts alone, so I wonder what would happen if a Major Rift open and noone was really on. I noticed a small timer on it, but it was well over an hour and half.
Rifts are about as bad as farming for herbs. You see one, you gotta go run and close it. I found myself on late last night, thinking, okay, I need to log off. Oh, a Rift...Must...Close....
I think my leveling speed was slowed because I was closing Rifts (they give experience, but I think quests are the best way in the end)
Oh, what's this button do?...oh right, the same thing it does in WoW
The controls, the UI, the controls...Everything is nearly identical and it's scary. I was talking with some friends last night, and we were pretty unanimous in agreeing that we like RIFT because it's like WoW. We didn't want to leave WoW, but we just lost that drive. Now we have RIFT to fill that void, and it's basically WoW.
I hope to get my boyfriend to play
But he's happy to be back playing console games and catching up on them.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Rift between Us Part 4/ Rift Adventures Part 1
Okay guys. It's official (again). I've hopped on board the Rift train. Kind of. I've been trying it out through means I will not say. Trying this out has so far involved me spending 10 mins making my character; another 5 minutes thinking of a name; 45 mins of getting to about level 6, where you get the Third soul; then restarting.
I'll admit it. I love this game. I see what all the hooplah is about. But at the same time, I have a side of me screaming
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!
It's almost insulting how similar this game is to WoW. The look of it is what I always imagined FFXI to look like. Pretty. Shiny. "Realistic." But the feel, the way you go about things, the way the UI is set up. It's basically WoW. But in FFXI. With Rifts. Yeah....
Okay, so what's different?
You mean besides the storyline, world, factions, races, and conflicts? The talent tree. Talk about getting whacked in the head with a huge bag of choices. Idk if I like this more. While WoW has definitely slimmed down the "right" and "wrong" spec, so much so that I do sometimes miss the 71 talent point trees, I found myself missing WoW trees, as I sat there within the first quest, trying to pick out which Soul to take (pun?). Then within another 3 quests I had to pick out a second soul... I understand the greatness of all these choices. When you only have 4 classes, you need complexity to bring people back. But gosh....3 souls, and deciding which one to compliment which; then you get points to put into the trees but you have so many trees...I guess in reality it's like WoW...but the souls are all so unique, almost like a job within themselves, that it's not like simply choosing a role via spec in the old WoW tree.
WoW, but better
It's basically playing WoW with everything I want come true. I like the UI and I like that you can tweak it without having to download loads of addons. Don't get me wrong. I love builing UIs...LOVE it. I have a saved unpublished post about the evolution of my ui. I never finished it because it's evolving ALL THE FREAKN TIME! I love addons!
Anyways, The placement of everything in the UI is pretty much exactly like WoW. You can move things around, which is really nice, but it's creepy how similar it is. There was basically no learning curve as far as controls go because they are pretty much the same. I can't think of anything different. If it was different from current WoW, it was similar to WoW in WotLk.
Does the community get it?
My boyfriend doesn't want to play Rift because of one thing. The community. He says he is really turned off when reading WoW blogs and seeing comments from Rifters trolling around and bashing WoW because Rift is soooo much better. (I am sure WoW does the same to Rifters, but from his point of view he is annoyed)
But do these people really get it? Do they realize they might only love this game so much because it is EXACTLY like WoW, but with a shiny new look and content. It's basically what I think Cataclysm should've been. An expansion that actually expands greatly, not just enough to pull in some cash.
You can't go around waving a TRION flag saying "bravo! thou are't so brilliant and innovative." It's unfortunate, but TRION only deserves credit for being smart enough to take things people love about MMOs and smashing it all into one game. Because honestly, if there was no WoW, there would be no Rift. WoW took steps that were risky; they did trial and errors, constantly evolving WoW to cater to their ever growing player base. TRION's only risk was taking on WoW as their competition.
Yes yes, the rifts in Rift are unique and interesting. I have not done an invasion, but my friends say they are a sight to be seen and I believe them. I want to keep playing so I can see these Rifts. But I don't want my playing Rift to seem like an abandonment of WoW. I did not leave WoW to play Rift. I left WoW because it was time to move on. And I play Rift because it is a fun game that I happened to stumble upon. I like that I don't have a devoted time to raiding anymore. I like the feeling that I am in new content, but still playing WoW.
And thus, the adventures begin.
I'll admit it. I love this game. I see what all the hooplah is about. But at the same time, I have a side of me screaming
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!
It's almost insulting how similar this game is to WoW. The look of it is what I always imagined FFXI to look like. Pretty. Shiny. "Realistic." But the feel, the way you go about things, the way the UI is set up. It's basically WoW. But in FFXI. With Rifts. Yeah....
Okay, so what's different?
You mean besides the storyline, world, factions, races, and conflicts? The talent tree. Talk about getting whacked in the head with a huge bag of choices. Idk if I like this more. While WoW has definitely slimmed down the "right" and "wrong" spec, so much so that I do sometimes miss the 71 talent point trees, I found myself missing WoW trees, as I sat there within the first quest, trying to pick out which Soul to take (pun?). Then within another 3 quests I had to pick out a second soul... I understand the greatness of all these choices. When you only have 4 classes, you need complexity to bring people back. But gosh....3 souls, and deciding which one to compliment which; then you get points to put into the trees but you have so many trees...I guess in reality it's like WoW...but the souls are all so unique, almost like a job within themselves, that it's not like simply choosing a role via spec in the old WoW tree.
WoW, but better
It's basically playing WoW with everything I want come true. I like the UI and I like that you can tweak it without having to download loads of addons. Don't get me wrong. I love builing UIs...LOVE it. I have a saved unpublished post about the evolution of my ui. I never finished it because it's evolving ALL THE FREAKN TIME! I love addons!
Anyways, The placement of everything in the UI is pretty much exactly like WoW. You can move things around, which is really nice, but it's creepy how similar it is. There was basically no learning curve as far as controls go because they are pretty much the same. I can't think of anything different. If it was different from current WoW, it was similar to WoW in WotLk.
Does the community get it?
My boyfriend doesn't want to play Rift because of one thing. The community. He says he is really turned off when reading WoW blogs and seeing comments from Rifters trolling around and bashing WoW because Rift is soooo much better. (I am sure WoW does the same to Rifters, but from his point of view he is annoyed)
But do these people really get it? Do they realize they might only love this game so much because it is EXACTLY like WoW, but with a shiny new look and content. It's basically what I think Cataclysm should've been. An expansion that actually expands greatly, not just enough to pull in some cash.
You can't go around waving a TRION flag saying "bravo! thou are't so brilliant and innovative." It's unfortunate, but TRION only deserves credit for being smart enough to take things people love about MMOs and smashing it all into one game. Because honestly, if there was no WoW, there would be no Rift. WoW took steps that were risky; they did trial and errors, constantly evolving WoW to cater to their ever growing player base. TRION's only risk was taking on WoW as their competition.
Yes yes, the rifts in Rift are unique and interesting. I have not done an invasion, but my friends say they are a sight to be seen and I believe them. I want to keep playing so I can see these Rifts. But I don't want my playing Rift to seem like an abandonment of WoW. I did not leave WoW to play Rift. I left WoW because it was time to move on. And I play Rift because it is a fun game that I happened to stumble upon. I like that I don't have a devoted time to raiding anymore. I like the feeling that I am in new content, but still playing WoW.
And thus, the adventures begin.
Media Update: Casting of Katniss, Peeta and Gale in the Hunger Games Movie
The Hunger Games is a young adult book trilogy by Suzanne Collins. While I complain about the similarities to Battle Royale, a beloved Japanese novel/manga/movie of mine, Collins has written a wonderful, complex story that gives me renewed faith in the young adult genre (no thanks to Stephanie Meyers).
The Hunger Games movies are going to be the supposed next big thing, expected to fill the hole that will be left in the wake of Breaking Dawn. That's a big gap to fill, considering the overwhelming success of Stephanie Meyers' books.
The Hunger Games movies are going to be the supposed next big thing, expected to fill the hole that will be left in the wake of Breaking Dawn. That's a big gap to fill, considering the overwhelming success of Stephanie Meyers' books.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Falling Away with You
It's official. I quit.
I've officially canceled my WoW subscription. It ends for good on the 15th, at 7 pm. It's an odd feeling. I knew it was coming and honestly I haven't been on at all, especially enough to warrant a $15 a month subscription fee. Yet, I still feel this overwhelming sense of depression.
Mainly what happened was; after two weeks of poor attendance, our three guild leaders announced they were leaving. This also came after 3 of our other core members have been MIA due to unpaid subscriptions. My bf and I had already been toying with the idea of leaving ourselves, but we kept coming back; mainly because he has a year subscription, and I did enjoy raiding when we did. But with the announcement of the three gm's leaving, it became obvious where I was to go now. I was to leave.
For the past few months, my friends list has become less and less active and people have been leaving quietly and on their own accord. I myself haven't been on much lately, mostly because when I do log on, I just kind of dwaddle around, not really doing anything of substance.
It was time I left.
But I find it pretty sad leaving everyone and this game I have spent so much time on over the past 3 years.
Even though I'm leaving the game because I am so damn bored, I really did stick around because of my guildies, and I think it's a true testament to how much I cared about and enjoyed playing with them. We'll still keep in touch, and I'm sure our forum will continue to be a place for silly conversations. But it's definitely a new hole.
Blog from here
May have noticed a new tag line; I plan to keep blogging with a focus on games. There's a chance I might join in on Rift, but for now, I've been playing old school Gameboy games and Pokemon. I'm gonna be watching more movies and TV shows to report on, so hopefully it'll give me something to write about.
All of the love we left behind
I've officially canceled my WoW subscription. It ends for good on the 15th, at 7 pm. It's an odd feeling. I knew it was coming and honestly I haven't been on at all, especially enough to warrant a $15 a month subscription fee. Yet, I still feel this overwhelming sense of depression.
Mainly what happened was; after two weeks of poor attendance, our three guild leaders announced they were leaving. This also came after 3 of our other core members have been MIA due to unpaid subscriptions. My bf and I had already been toying with the idea of leaving ourselves, but we kept coming back; mainly because he has a year subscription, and I did enjoy raiding when we did. But with the announcement of the three gm's leaving, it became obvious where I was to go now. I was to leave.
For the past few months, my friends list has become less and less active and people have been leaving quietly and on their own accord. I myself haven't been on much lately, mostly because when I do log on, I just kind of dwaddle around, not really doing anything of substance.
It was time I left.
But I find it pretty sad leaving everyone and this game I have spent so much time on over the past 3 years.
Even though I'm leaving the game because I am so damn bored, I really did stick around because of my guildies, and I think it's a true testament to how much I cared about and enjoyed playing with them. We'll still keep in touch, and I'm sure our forum will continue to be a place for silly conversations. But it's definitely a new hole.
Blog from here
May have noticed a new tag line; I plan to keep blogging with a focus on games. There's a chance I might join in on Rift, but for now, I've been playing old school Gameboy games and Pokemon. I'm gonna be watching more movies and TV shows to report on, so hopefully it'll give me something to write about.
I can't remember when it was good
Moments of happiness elude
Maybe I just misunderstood
All of the love we left behind
Watching the flash backs intertwine
Memories I will never find
So I'll love whatever you become
And forget the reckless things we've done
I think our lives have just begun
Falling Away with You: Muse
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