Holiday Treasures

I've been very slack with posts; incoming a critical hit of a post filled with a lot of thoughts and games. Today I'll be trying to catch up and jot down some thoughts as well as sharing some pictures of what I've been playing.

World of Warcraft

Warlords has been great. The new areas are lovely, tons of cool new stuff, garrisons are a huge hit. Though at the end of the day it is a little... dull at 100. I haven't really even bothered with LFR, my; first try at it was a group that was on the last boss as I entered the raid, which didn't wait on me and pulled before I could figure out where to go.Talk about getting started on the wrong foot. Funny thing is I didn't even care, I just took the debuff for leaving and logged out. I'd like to see more small group stuff over the course of the xpac.

Same for the last ten years.... standing on the quest NPC.

The lack of flying is starting to be noticeable. I don't really go very many places in Draenor, besides my garrison. I'm not harping, but I do feel the fatigue setting in. There isn't even a true level 100 zone implemented yet. It isn't a bad expansion at all, there just needs to be a bit more to do (other than old content I have been working though for years on various characters). I just don't feel like there is much for me to sink my teeth into at the cap. 

For now I am still having a decent time. I hope to see a patch add more to garrisons and the level 100 area implemented. I am hanging around for that. The holiday questing is the same but some new rewards this year and also in the presents. New additions are always welcome. 

EverQuest 2

I picked up the expansion, which seems okay so far. I need to play far more than I am but I can't help feeling a bit turned off by many things that came about this expansion. Sometimes I like to crawl through the previous xpac as I catch up, which isn't possible without mentoring and I don't even think it is viable currently (for the previous xpac- once at 95). The experience amount was basically nerfed into oblivion to push players into new content . Add in the massive change to the dungeon maker (player made dungeons) which now have had all rewards and experience removed. I paid for TWO of these features on two accounts. I feel very jaded there. I loved doing these. I don't play to RP through them, I play to get a little xp and do something different. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. Then add in the fact that the quest chains run out before you even get though the five level increase. It feels lacking and, frankly, lazy. It is as if SOE is catering to a specific...something. I don't know what it is. None of it makes sense, all these things that make the game fun, the options and choices... that is what drew me to EQ2. I suppose it has to also do with buying a boosted character for level 85, instead of power leveling them. Not sure on the whole list of changes though.

I am sure SOE will have to make some changes. I don't really mind grinding to the cap, though I only have one character I play right at this moment. I gave up on the thought of alts for now. Anyhow... The Frostfell content is out and I need get working on it. Mostly I have been checking out the new areas and building (which is 90% of it, lol). 

Dragon Age Inquisition

I picked it up and played it for a week then I got busy with holidays and all the stuff in between I haven't had a chance to log back in. So far it seems very cool.  A huge world. Interesting characters, interesting story. 

The sound is great, love a lot of the music. The world is beautiful. The characters have the ability to be very ugly if you're not careful. The males and females share the same hairstyles (I was wondering why my female had six options to be bald). Which seems lackluster. The characters may look great in character creation but in the wrong lighting they can turn out sickly. So after three tries, a lot of time and annoyances, I managed to make an attractive character. Her one flaw is that her blush seems to glow in the dark... First world problems, eh?

I don't like melee combat this round. I loved it previously. It looks like I'll be sporting a bow this time around. It has been fun adventuring around. I managed to stumble onto a mount, a lovely horse. This was a fun addition. The only drawback is that my party disappears, no banter while on horseback. 

It seems like a really good game, well worth picking up. It was a great birthday prezzy! Soon hopefully I'll be able to catch up and actually write more on it. 

Trove

When I first saw Trion's new voxel game, Trove, I thought it looked really cute. I have played minecraft and think it is a really awesome game but there is always so much to remember and learn, and then saved games if you don't play on a server. Just complications and getting started with it..It makes my head spin. My son has played it since the first chance at picking it up while in development. He went nuts over it. So... I thought maybe this might be something similar that I could grasp without spending hefty amounts of time playing catch up. It was. With a nice bonus of us both really enjoying it. 

It is pretty simple to pick up and fun. It is a bit action-y and I am sometimes slow, lol. I haven't had any luck setting up my house buttons, it seems to just sit there and not want to save the settings when I try to change them in-game. 

All in all it is a really cute world. The building aspect is fun and I cannot wait to do my own club, which is like a guild, zone. The characters are very low key but cute. It is bright and laid back in many ways. I like to mine and craft. I just love the building, though sometimes building with blocks is a bit of a challenge, lol. I made my cornerstone (house/base you can plop down throughout the world) a giant cake house. 

It's an addictive little game and I am trying all the classes out. Some are a bit easier than others. I do wish some of them had a bit more survival and less twitch play. For now that is where you can find me most of the time, when I have time to play something. 

I don't know how much it will have to offer me once I max out all the characters I like playing. We'll have to see where that leads. It is good fun, very co-operative and easy to get in and out of. I like that a lot! 

Miscellaneous

I have been popping into Guild Wars 2 for the new daily bonus, which requires you to simply log in. I also have been grabbing Christmas prezzys. I hope to log in this week and actually do the holiday quests. The decorations are simply amazing. It is GORGEOUS. 

I also want to play around in Landmark since the combat went live. I updated last night so I may poke my head in and see how long it takes for me to get splattered all over the ground. I had hoped to see the game further along at least into open beta at this point. There is already said to be focus shifting to EQN fulltime, so I figure this will be forced into OB soon and leave us all kind of stunned. I figure as they are ready to test and add things to next, Landmark will play the lab-rat. We'll see. 

That is it for today. Have a merry Christmas!