Back on Track

Its been a LONG time since i've written an entry, but i'm mostly moved in now and I figure I better get writing again before I lose the habit. Its harder than normal because i've been working, unpacking and been extremely busy with RL duties, encountering internet, then pc issues which restricted gametime. 

My main distraction these days, pc-wise is still Guild Wars 2. I've tried making a *gasp* Norn Necromancer, and just like each new character i've ever made, the initial gameplay was extremely fun.. but I always seem to hit an 'unfun' zone/threshold by where your character is doing everything (hearts, gathering, crafting, events, etc) possible, but still ends up underleveled for the next progression-able area. This requires you to either keep farming lower level areas, events, die from higher lvl areas, or go to another starting zone to level up there. I hit that area with my necro and I understand (again) what my cousin said about the limited ways to play the class. The limited ways to play a class is boring to me which helps my alt-o-holism and will allow me to play with my much more enjoyable Warrior.

 I've touched upon the topic before, but a guild (in mmo's particular) can really enrich a player's experience in a game. The drawback is that it can be easily corrupted though by negative, vocal players. That happened last week while struggling to get a good connection and preventing my pc from overheating. While soloing and testing my connection, I saw in guild chat how one officer was fed up with 'begging' people to join in World vs World and called us 'carebears.' For those that don't know, that is derogatory language to describe a person that likes PvE and doesn't like PvP. While I respect the person's leadership abilities and understand the hardships of leadership on an online mmo game, berating your guildmates and calling them names doesn't make for a healthy guild. It totally turned me off, making WvW the LAST thing i'd want to do; I would do WvW because I want to, and not to please the person that was name-calling. If WvW (or certain aspects of a game) is so important to you, as a leader, it is your responsibility to entice people into participating. Make sure people are aware of the event, making it fun to participate, easy to participate and accessible. In this case, unfortunately, the person didn't want to put forth that effort (totally their decision) and joined another guild. Guilds are a flowing and ever-changing entity and while our guild may have been considered a WvW or PvP guild before, with new membership, it has changed to a PvX guild. A PvX guild is one that does everything ("solve for X"), questing, dungeons, crafting, pvp, everything. Be aware of what guild you're in or what you're thinking of joining so that their culture meshes with the way you play.

My alternate distraction these days has been our old love: Magic The Gathering. The newest expansion of Gatecrash, coupled with my friends wanting to play it again (thanks to the end of their fantasy football league) has renewed my interest, before that, it was gathering dust. One thing that always makes it exciting is opening a set of booster packs to find you're extremely lucky and get a high percentage of mythic rares (the most rare type of cards). This happened in a recent purchase and will hopefully be incorporated into some new decks.

I wanted youuuu!

Release the Flying Kraken!

I asked for it and then a few days later it was up on an article at the Wizards Website.

This will be perfect.. as I typically lack fliers in my Kraken(slash Leviathan) deck. Coupled with the fact that my Kraken has a high emphasis on mana ramp (I use up all my lands).. we could be looking at an impossibly huge creature. I do miss the unblockable or shrouded krakens though as it'll be a juicy target to be used against me.

Just an updated pic of my mesmer.. I like how the Midnight Fuscia matches my skin color.. but I personally like the white and gold color combination better.. white looks great tho. I understand the reasoning to it, but I would prefer to be able to see my enemies dyed in the color that they chose and not depending on the color of their server side(fully red, green or blue). Its cooler to make a name for yourself if they can identify you by your look and color: "oh no, white and purple? thats probably that unkillable mesmer!" or "hey guys! easy kill! its that kamikaze mesmer!" Fyi, currently its the latter lol.

A Whole New World

Guess what?

Chickenbutt!

I really never understood that 'joke' or reference when my coworker told it.

Anyways; great fantastic, amazing news: We've switched to cable internet and its as fast as it was advertised. No longer does one need to start a video, pause it right away to let it buffer. No longer do I avoid Steam purchases for fear that it'll take over a day to download. Now there is no pressure to sneak some gaming in before one of my siblings come home and causes massive lag. Welcome to the future; i'm never going back to the type of internet plans I had before.

My good friend Kossi sent me some mail yesterday and she wanted me to post a picture of how I look; it was Midnight Fushcia.. which as you can see is a wicked dark purple. Still trying to find the right color that will mix well with it. Maybe a red.. or gold. Maybe its just the cheapo armor I have on where the color doesn't seem to pop out at you.

 By the way, one of the coolest (and unique) features of Guild Wars 2 is the ability to both chat and send mail to people in different servers. So altho Kossi and I are in different servers, we're still able to send each other mail (her dyes to me, and I sent her some birthday cake). Come the 28th, ArenaNet will be implementing guesting, meaning you no longer have to change servers to party with your friends (if they're on all different servers), and can just join their server for that session of gameplay.

Don't know how many people (doubt any of my friends are) following the card previews for Gate Crash.. but there are some wicked cards.. although i'm waiting for a cool Kraken-type card to add to my Kraken themed deck. Krakens totally fit the Simic (green-blue, watery experiment) theme.

Elusive Krasis! I choose you!

GateCrash: Trailer

Have a safe and fun New Years everyone!

Winter's Day and Gate Crash

If you're like me, you like recipes.. b/c I don't like guessing what collectibles combine into what (mostly the having to buy extra components from NPCs and then having too much extra). Thats why Dulfy's website is so good; it has guides such as this one which shows you recipes for these special live events.

I still can't believe I hit lvl 80 yesterday.. and according to the pic, I've only scratched the surface (52% map completion???). As I said, working on my Mesmer (mostly for pvp) and if I somehow find the time, try the Elementalist. 

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So! We haven't talked about Magic in a while and lucky us (?) there are a few new previews of the upcoming expansion of Gatecrash. The 4 new guilds include Orzhov, Boros, Simic and Gruul. With the exception of Orzhov.. all my favorite guilds are in this expansion! Lets take a look!

So, an Orzhov card; I don't particularly like the Extort mechanic.. seems a bit weak to me, but when you look at it closer, it seems to shine in multiplayer games with lots of enemy opponents. Still.. white and black color combinations.. I've never made that combination..

Boros! I like the militaristic, lawful good.. (zealotry) feel of this guild and the mechanic of Battalion seems to fit the flavor. Kind of requires you to have a few fighters.. better if they had vigilance and good toughness.

Gruul.. many of my decks are a Red/Green combo as I like direct damage, dragons, mana ramping and big creatures. I have one deck (Kraken deck) that has an easy way to nearly always have every land out.. using Bloodrush would just be game over.. and rage quit for some people.

Simic! The basis of my Kraken deck.. Blue/Green. I imagine creatures with this Evolve mechanic will be typically 1-3 mana more expensive/weaker than a creature of the normal cost.. a double edged sword.. requiring many creatures.. but making your chump blockers into a greater threat.