tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76978299151466314142024-02-25T20:16:45.183-05:00MMO One Night a WeekKanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-61799211933936567872024-02-25T20:12:00.000-05:002024-02-25T20:12:24.568-05:00February Gaming Check In<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE9bvHiWZh2ZjFZELqWsGEQ6Lfzi_B0O_PkWj3HThESW-3Cu8bB6Mrmwf7DN_458I3EX4-jiBFuDJ0S19SRzWlFUbUg-kmiYRoHUU3lPOikBJNh59h43YYimyHT-nXCXzS8j5Nz7KrCy6bVeHgS2dT2Ea2LQRQjPZl3e1f5X5H1of1AZkb9Ipe4i0OZqWx/s318/blanc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="318" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE9bvHiWZh2ZjFZELqWsGEQ6Lfzi_B0O_PkWj3HThESW-3Cu8bB6Mrmwf7DN_458I3EX4-jiBFuDJ0S19SRzWlFUbUg-kmiYRoHUU3lPOikBJNh59h43YYimyHT-nXCXzS8j5Nz7KrCy6bVeHgS2dT2Ea2LQRQjPZl3e1f5X5H1of1AZkb9Ipe4i0OZqWx/w400-h400/blanc.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blanc was a cute, fun game</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Not a lot to report for February but I would like to keep this up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I received Blanc for my birthday and played it cooperatively with my daughter who gave it to me. It is a very cute, sweet game about a fawn and a wolf cub who have to work together to join back with their packs. It was nice how they each helped each other and most of the puzzles were interesting but not too difficult (though I did look up a couple of hints). Pretty short, but also not very expensive so worth it if you like artistic games like this and like to play cooperatively with someone. It is nice to have finished a game.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I am still not playing World of Warcraft and still playing Animal Crossing. It's possible the pre-patch for War Within might bring me back for a month or I might just go back to buying the expansion once it goes on sale. I do like that they have a patch for which they aren't revealing much (10.2.6), but it isn't enough to bring me back. I'll probably follow along to see what it is.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">My current goal for Animal crossing is to build the Robot. I had collected the 30 rusted parts from the pirate that washes up on your land but didn't realize I would need star parts that drop from a rare island you visit by taking the boat with Kapp'n. I learned that you can guaranteed to get a rare island by checking on your luck with Katrina if you have luck with belongings. So far I haven't been getting luck with belongings very often but I do find the gameplay loop relaxing so it's enough to keep me coming back daily and building up my bells and tickets.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I tried Millenium when it was free to play and, although it's not as obscure as most Paragon games, I decided after playing the demo, I'd rather just play Civilization.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">On the Playstation, I've decided I don't like the Undertale minigame that determines your success and so I'm dropping it. I got it for free with Playstation Plus extra and at least I have an idea how the game works. I'm thinking about going back to the Last of Us since I got around half way through it. I'm trying to decide if I want to buy the upgrade since it's been about a year and it might be better to start over anyway. I'm not paying $60 for a game I already have but maybe I'll pick it up when it goes on sale.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-23838561474796964962024-01-15T14:37:00.001-05:002024-01-15T14:37:33.991-05:00January Gaming Check In<p> </p><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRSLyhupz8qVmmPYJHHOuuRjuPCaJMAz7Y0LbxHQtrx4XzzINOT8p9dwvLwouRLtQX1FtRP2BFb_qoBW2XclaGv41jP_KF8ABb4eU_a1zWMs2o10EH8pvbfYX4l3eY-27KxuTEQHVqroADwFz76nsexL1FWAWLK_uhLwGs-7Gjt8Akdn5W6SvKfTeVr1x/s1280/2024010610185300_s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRSLyhupz8qVmmPYJHHOuuRjuPCaJMAz7Y0LbxHQtrx4XzzINOT8p9dwvLwouRLtQX1FtRP2BFb_qoBW2XclaGv41jP_KF8ABb4eU_a1zWMs2o10EH8pvbfYX4l3eY-27KxuTEQHVqroADwFz76nsexL1FWAWLK_uhLwGs-7Gjt8Akdn5W6SvKfTeVr1x/w400-h225/2024010610185300_s.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Animal Crossing Birthday Celebration</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">As mentioned in my previous post, I let my World of Warcraft subscription expire this month. I was able to finish the Necrolords quests on Kantro before it expired. I just happened to see where you could purchase 60 Covenant renown so I didn't need to wait for that, just finish the different quests offered primarily by Baroness Draka. I'm not sure why I couldn't start the quests until I was level 60 (seems like a poor limitation) but I went ahead and completed all the Necrolords ones and was level 63 at the end. I considered doing more in Dragonflight (I haven't done many of the quests after The Waking Shores) but I had seen the main story and decided to leave it alone. I'm guessing I'm done with Shadowlands even though I didn't see the Revendreth or Bastion storylines. I might go back to Dragonflight before or after The War Within but I'm hoping they handle it better than Shadowlands once it comes out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">In other gaming, one of my daughter's was back from college and I started Baldur's Gate 3 with her. We found Lae'zel and the Owlbear cub, two things that we missed in my plan with other daughter but neither group has left chapter 1.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">For my birthday, one of my daughters purchased Blanc on the Switch for us to play together. We played quite a bit in the first session. I saw it is supposed to be pretty short so it'll be interesting to see how much we have left. It'll be nice to finish my first game since Horizon Forbidden West.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">One is never really finished with Animal Crossing New Horizons but I still think I'm close to being done. I've now seen all the seasonal events with Christmas and New Years (I purchased it for myself at Christmas 2022) and even had my birthday celebration. One of my daughters bought me some of the Animal Crossing Amiibos, and it has been fun to invite them to coffee and I might invite one to the camp when a villager asks to leave. I would like to finish the art gallery but I'm not sure I'll keep playing like I have been (see my December post).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I believe that is all I'm actively playing right now. I'd still like to finish up some games, particularly on the PS5 but we'll see. I'm considering getting a Playstation Portal since I looks like a good way to play in the house without having to be in front of the television.</span></p><p>Happy New Year!</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-13709579378685496172023-12-22T15:27:00.003-05:002023-12-22T15:27:16.089-05:00December Gaming Check In<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaE33VPuWKZV-MkBREIZjQBfaBBl_5_oMN5AboIsM1wtYpQdk5zNm3Phk7Qf01I6HNtf2a_F0jk0lH2kznIjpzDFwAKouw8qunHX8yVo-lWNoM20apA3MVkDDHTkk3BYfrB90mbYohqStbT-0No7g9PgVdnD3etQ37wGyv8Hn8-ojBqCwNXZi1g2c1Mjf6/s3840/WoWScrnShot_120223_185638.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaE33VPuWKZV-MkBREIZjQBfaBBl_5_oMN5AboIsM1wtYpQdk5zNm3Phk7Qf01I6HNtf2a_F0jk0lH2kznIjpzDFwAKouw8qunHX8yVo-lWNoM20apA3MVkDDHTkk3BYfrB90mbYohqStbT-0No7g9PgVdnD3etQ37wGyv8Hn8-ojBqCwNXZi1g2c1Mjf6/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_120223_185638.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emerald Dream</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Another post to help me keep track of my gaming. I see it was approximately three months since my last post, maybe that'll be my new normal. Then again, I'm playing World of Warcraft again, so maybe I'll feel compelled to write more.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">So, after about a 10 month absense, I decided to resubscribe to World of Warcraft. The main driver for me was that 10.2 (Guardian's of the Dream), the last major patch for Dragonflight was live. It is also true that the announcement of <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/blizzard-announces-next-three-expansions-in-world-of-warcraft-the-worldsoul-saga-blizzcon-2023">the next three expansions </a>starting with The War Within at Blizzcon made me feel more hopeful about World of Warcraft's future with Microsoft.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Going through the 10.1 (Zarlek Cavern) and 10.2 (Emerald Dream) content was pretty quick on Kanter and gave me normal flying which helped me get my Alchemy and Herbalism to max level (100). Now that I have it, I'm not sure that I'll use it much but it isn't something I like to do with each expansion.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Once that was done, I wanted to get up to level 60 on Kantro, my warrior. I was hoping to do it with the Necrolords Covenant in Maldraxxus but when I used Chromie time to set myself back there (it had moved me to Battle for Azeroth as the default) I didn't have any of the Covenant quests available. It looks like with the Dragonflight expansion, they for some reason moved the Covenant quests to level 60 at which point it makes sense to be doing Dragonflight. In any case, he was able to pretty quickly move from level 52 to level 60 in Shadowlands doing a few daily quests and has now moved on the Dragonflight. Maybe I'll go back to try to see the other Covenant stories but it's doubtful. Even though I've seen pretty much all the Battle for Azeroth stories, I'll probably use it to get to level 60 my characters in the 50s. If I end up doing it before The War Within, which is doubtful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I will probably get Kanter to level 11 renown with the Iskaara Tuskaar since I enjoy the fishing and cooking aspect but I'm not sure I'll extend when my subscription ends in January.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">In other gaming, I've dabbled in different games on the Playstation 5, but nothing has stuck since I did Horizon Forbidden West and the expansion in the first half of the year. I still have my daily Animal Crossing session (and out of my 162 hours on the Switch in my year end summary, 160 of them were playing Animal Crossing). I'm doubtful how much I'll play in 2024 since I've now seen all the seasons having started in December 2022.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">For any of you still reading my blog after all the gaps, I hope you have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a good year of gaming in 2024.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-74781392380961636552023-08-26T15:33:00.002-04:002023-08-26T15:33:31.637-04:00August Check-in<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMB6oUr2ytk8SS4Yy0wqN5jthVNU_vbMlNlIwibHn9z6HuE2nvQFBWC0RBJw1P8GrpWkzzy1qtuwoLUbDGDXpkWcSIERnrm5rQMzKI__KCC5NFHUpqGUktOTICs1FPJai1tJmwzJzV6KT60EcACd5w43uPpAbxILItxnwcpk6BDVH1_RkmeuFR7ZsXifF/s3840/18a15556e5b27-screenshotUrl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMB6oUr2ytk8SS4Yy0wqN5jthVNU_vbMlNlIwibHn9z6HuE2nvQFBWC0RBJw1P8GrpWkzzy1qtuwoLUbDGDXpkWcSIERnrm5rQMzKI__KCC5NFHUpqGUktOTICs1FPJai1tJmwzJzV6KT60EcACd5w43uPpAbxILItxnwcpk6BDVH1_RkmeuFR7ZsXifF/w400-h225/18a15556e5b27-screenshotUrl.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Diablo IV Bear Druid with two Wolf friends</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">August is here which means Blaugust among those I follow. I knew I was on vacation for the first two weeks of August and the first week I'd be away so I didn't have much inclination to join. That said, I'm happy for the others who are still blogging and for Belghast for keeping this tradition going that I have participated in in previous years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">July saw the release of Diablo IV which I bought on release for the Playstation 5. I only have a gaming laptop these days and I'm not inclined to update it often, so for new releases, my Playstation is my best bet (and it wasn't cheap, but it was much cheaper than a current gaming PC or laptop). I played it with one of my daughters and we were enjoying it but ran into a difficult spike and one of the early bosses. I'm pretty sure we could work around it but it's more difficult because we have leveled past where we are expected to be but don't have the gear that would match our level. I also chose Barbarian thinking it would be a good companion for a more squishy character my daughter would choose, but I'm thinking most of the other options would have been more fun. I've played gone past that in my solo play through on a Druid and just got my wolf companions so I'm sure I'll have more fun on that character.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I did make an exception to get Palia on my computer and even hooked it up to the TV so my daughter and I could play together more easily (by playing together, I mean one of us watching while the other controls the character). My daughter plans to be an entomologist so 'Bug Scouts' was a big draw. We caught our first bugs but haven't played much since.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">At this point, I'm excited to get Baldur's Gate 3 when it comes out for the Playstation in early September. I'm hoping my daughter will enjoy playing it with me since it supports 2 player co-op. Besides Diablo, I'm still playing Animal Crossing but I think I've done most of what I want to do. I've dabbled in a few free or cheap games recently. I got Oxenfree for $2 on the Switch and played it enough to get an idea what it was like but I'm not sure I'll go back to finish it.</span></p><p><a href="https://chasingdings.com/">Tipa </a>and <a href="https://tagn.wordpress.com/">Wilhelm </a>both reminded me it is nice to have a record of what they've been playing so I'll try to make these periodic posts to keep track of my gaming life.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-60428271841719407542023-06-18T17:44:00.000-04:002023-06-18T17:44:56.320-04:00Horizon Forbidden West Complete<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWznMQ5jCIEe3yu1nKY7WgADk2qYYWsQ6Hn4V8tbl551TfjYPK-wsKFONpviYtNEYb86vcuxGpf9dAloXIbB_3tIzoRJJ7hupM0Qo9VAiNKZKyk54K0uZNMjWHyHoiBXguqJDgHDbIbXGMUbZ6HQ4G1246ObHbFrL5Tk65E70yFWYKtYWzvSQFZWeTg/s3840/188ca4a0c4e28-screenshotUrl.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWznMQ5jCIEe3yu1nKY7WgADk2qYYWsQ6Hn4V8tbl551TfjYPK-wsKFONpviYtNEYb86vcuxGpf9dAloXIbB_3tIzoRJJ7hupM0Qo9VAiNKZKyk54K0uZNMjWHyHoiBXguqJDgHDbIbXGMUbZ6HQ4G1246ObHbFrL5Tk65E70yFWYKtYWzvSQFZWeTg/s400/188ca4a0c4e28-screenshotUrl.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">End of Burning Shores</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Mainly a note that I recently completed Horizon Forbidden West and the Burning Shores expansion. I played it on Easy mode since I only have limited gaming time. I did very much enjoy it and thought it was worth it, particularly since my daughter played it as well. I did almost all of the side quests but didn't do very many of the collections.</span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Finishing it made me feel justified to purchase Diablo IV. I played the original game not long after it came out and played a lot of Diablo II. I didn't play much Diablo III (played a little with my daughters but they didn't want to keep playing) but thought it was worth seeing the new game. I have a coop game with my daughter and another I'm playing solo but we haven't gone that far into the campaign. So far she seems interested in continuing.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I am still playing Animal Crossing New Horizons almost every day. I felt like I had done most of the unlocks, but two more happened in the last few weeks though I have no idea what triggered them. I started playing around Christmas and I know there will be the opportunity for mushrooms in November so I probably keep playing until it's been about a year just to see the different events.</span></div></div>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-34210650975806511902023-02-06T10:00:00.003-05:002023-02-06T10:00:00.161-05:00Dragonflight Paused (for now)<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9c4WV0fpMsd4Kidt1zvl0R_KNCU2IpqR7mGqn0vaRJu4rMXl_cV4jwa4aFze6ZDhihc2unhZ899N-x8Ges-9PP-TEM9u8Txgfnw49ps0dI_Y814zan_jbPfaQr_3buAQlSBSPnWB79kVEdP6zo9v0ezhHe7Warjqi9bUuhxL9Y03az_ZRwnIZUQ2Jw/s1920/WoWScrnShot_010823_195754.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9c4WV0fpMsd4Kidt1zvl0R_KNCU2IpqR7mGqn0vaRJu4rMXl_cV4jwa4aFze6ZDhihc2unhZ899N-x8Ges-9PP-TEM9u8Txgfnw49ps0dI_Y814zan_jbPfaQr_3buAQlSBSPnWB79kVEdP6zo9v0ezhHe7Warjqi9bUuhxL9Y03az_ZRwnIZUQ2Jw/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_010823_195754.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max level (again)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Nothing major to post but I wanted to note where I left Dragonlands and what else I'm playing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">It took me about 2 weeks to reach max level in Dragonlands and another week playing less to finish the initial questline. Generally, I like it and I even enjoyed some of the activities like finding lost ducks but, once I didn't have a goal I stopped logging in. Eventually I realized my subscription was going to expire soon, I check, it had expired the day before and I decided it was I sign I didn't need to be playing now.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I wasn't subscribed since I had a free month and I wasn't sure whether to subscribe or, if I did, whether to subscribe for more than one month. This decided it for me. I have a vacation scheduled for the middle of February so I'll probably resubscribe after that for a month and see how much I play. I'm interested in leveling some alts and, possibly, my Dracthyr. There is also a <a href="https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23897170/dragonflight-in-2023-the-road-ahead">roadmap </a>(good for them) and there should be some new content coming out but I'm not very interested in the Trading Post that just came out and I'm not sure if anything else will be available in March.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I did go back and play some more of Horizon Forbidden West. I hadn't played in months and I was just at a critical plot point when I left. With some looking up controls, looking up hints, and replaying parts, I was able to finish this section and move on to the next section of the plot but it was frustrating. Hopefully I can play more regularly so I don't need to relearn it again. I'll need to decide if I want to do some of the side quests I skipped to increase my level and, hopefully, allow more people to participate later in the game (at least that is how it worked in Horizon Zero Dawn).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I am also still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons most days. There were pretty clear next steps up until about a week ago but now there is a more vague 'improve your island' in order to have a concert there. I'm not even sure I want the concert so I'm not as motivated as I was.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-18044955845265101772023-01-04T10:00:00.002-05:002023-01-04T10:00:00.157-05:00Back in World of Warcraft for Dragonflight and other Gaming<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj639Bq6QpLQu1ACahkjDNJlHckwvaH83NRWKTTOSkeANDELA1djDvJD9xjU1V62E3Fwsi1-k4AuE7qa2xfC7IhLXUQ6zvscyI2j22QRs5IbK47LumLisamAIeoJMPVyO0M0-rYgwu2lOj5jKz-FbiWLoOh7tgM6DipZns5YEgqXn7sWr3pUai5E66lw/s1920/WoWScrnShot_123022_121545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj639Bq6QpLQu1ACahkjDNJlHckwvaH83NRWKTTOSkeANDELA1djDvJD9xjU1V62E3Fwsi1-k4AuE7qa2xfC7IhLXUQ6zvscyI2j22QRs5IbK47LumLisamAIeoJMPVyO0M0-rYgwu2lOj5jKz-FbiWLoOh7tgM6DipZns5YEgqXn7sWr3pUai5E66lw/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_123022_121545.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Side content in World of Warcraft Dragonflight</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">As has been my pattern, I bought the latest World of Warcraft expansion once it came at a discount (and I've been posting very little when not playing it). This time, it was 30 days of game time rather than dollars off the expansion, but it comes to the same thing. I bought it just before Christmas when it went on sale (in addition to three free days that you could play a </span><span class="lwptoc_item_label" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dracthyr</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> (the new 'sort of' dragon characters). They start at level 68 and the introductory story was fine (didn't seem quite as elaborate as the Pandarens (race), Death Knights (class), or Demon Hunters (class), that were previously introduced. But I was ok with that. Nice to get an extra character that I can use in the new zones.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I think I played for two days and reached level 61 and decided I wanted to play Kanter, my first character, a hunter, so I went ahead and purchased the expansion then. It was nice to know I was going to have a good long break where I could explore the game when I wasn't working. My break ends today as this is posted (on 1/4) though I have now caught COVID so my work will be limited tomorrow.</span></p><p>I thought the first zone, Waking Shores, was very good. I did all the quests to get the two achievements and it seemed like pretty much the perfect length and kept me interested. Scenery was very nice as well. However, that immediately changes with the second zone, Ohn'ahran Plains. One sign of how uninteresting I found it was there is a point where they send you on quests about the four tribes of centaurs and then they ask you questions about them. I had no idea, even though I had read the quest text. I looked them up without any remorse since I'm really not interested. There has only been one dragon so far in this zone and I'm ready to get back to the dragon stories. I'm not sure why they decided to do this but it feels like filler. Maybe it can't be all dragons all the time (though it might have been better that way).</p><p>I'll wait to fully judge the zone when I'm done with it (I'd guess I'm half way at level 66) but I'm already looking forward to the next zone or at least when we get back to the green dragons (ostensibly why I'm there). My hunter seems like easy mode as usual and I'm definitely ok with that. I know I've died through inattention but nice just to be able to play the game and not worry about min/maxing.</p><p>In other gaming, I bought one of my daughter's who will be going to college next year her own Switch which meant I could play Animal Crossing on the old one. I'm finding it very relaxing, just playing it a little bit every morning. Reading some things online, it seems like people tried to find the shortest way to get things done but I'm glad to take it at a relaxed pace. I was able to visit my daughter's island, which was nice as well. Gathering iron for the next quest is taking some time but the game doesn't penalize you for just playing a little bit every day. However, it was quite fun to have a house and the museum on the same day a few days ago.</p><p>I'm a little stuck on what to play on our PlayStation 5. I was primarily playing Ghost of Tsushima. I think the game so far has been great but it seems like it would take forever to finish it, particularly since my primary objective is to visit all the fox shrines. Really good ideas in this game but I just don't have the focus for it now. I stopped playing Horizon Forbidden West pretty early in the game and I think I'll go back to it but there are also so may free games I have available on the PlayStation through Plus Extra that part of me would just like to dabble in them (tops are probably the two Spiderman games, the three Mass Effect games, and the Bioshock games but there are many). I was also really enjoying the original Borderlands game with my two daughters and it would be nice to go back to that. Right now they are focused on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It's been nice having Pokemon be a annual Christmas tradition for the two of them and, now that we have two Switches, there is more they can do together.</p><p>Thanks to anyone still reading my blog after my many breaks. I hope all is well. I believe COVID will be a relatively short disruption (I'm very glad to be fully vaccinated). I do enjoy writing when I'm actually playing and MMO. Not so much otherwise.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-26460798070848791152022-10-11T10:00:00.001-04:002022-10-11T10:00:00.146-04:00Stray, Firewatch, and What Remains of Edith Finch Complete<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7rQaYAx1WpnhVz9vf1eBtJ_tWwPacWzrm7Swy3uKPYcAj4Ac4AtrOUm7Z97kTn9vdF3EWeGUnlqIg6j64Tb06rkkMKnHY-C4X0UafCRo-hILFQAnYqxjpW5qN94glRSV_Z4F_ZJ6BfC-hLvd8698CpLrtW3Psj2YmE1FYr7syURHqoEkA0c2AqSLvg/s616/firewatch.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="616" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7rQaYAx1WpnhVz9vf1eBtJ_tWwPacWzrm7Swy3uKPYcAj4Ac4AtrOUm7Z97kTn9vdF3EWeGUnlqIg6j64Tb06rkkMKnHY-C4X0UafCRo-hILFQAnYqxjpW5qN94glRSV_Z4F_ZJ6BfC-hLvd8698CpLrtW3Psj2YmE1FYr7syURHqoEkA0c2AqSLvg/w400-h229/firewatch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firewatch graphic since I used Stray last time</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Three relatively short games that I finished recently and just wanted to record my thoughts. I'm hoping to keep this going about monthly so I can keep some track of my gaming here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Stray was my favorite of the three, mainly because most of it felt like it allowed you to be a cat. Yes, there were parts where no cat would intentionally do what I did but the animation and the interactive parts felt appropriate for a cat. As mentioned in my previous post, it encouraged to get Playstation Plus Extra and I have no regrets. I did die a lot on some of the platforming and I did take advantage of the built in hint system I few times but I never felt like I couldn't do it. I have limited play time and it certainly saved me some trial an error, particularly on some of the longer platforming runs.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_T0dwQSzV3MQUUAsJdDc2dL74CmdWCD7jINCvWZipLdTvBribjAQ1QbCXOI6I3kToVaxUiHTHVX61eQ5nSHRlinR6pla5QRaK4xG9FjVe30MdueIB4mebPmNstGro7Jaut4ZX384ktP3YMZWHkBhiiPyFw9A0GtMwJ9yqddNo92JVCQG03Jzw6hXFA/s3840/Stray_20220904181117.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_T0dwQSzV3MQUUAsJdDc2dL74CmdWCD7jINCvWZipLdTvBribjAQ1QbCXOI6I3kToVaxUiHTHVX61eQ5nSHRlinR6pla5QRaK4xG9FjVe30MdueIB4mebPmNstGro7Jaut4ZX384ktP3YMZWHkBhiiPyFw9A0GtMwJ9yqddNo92JVCQG03Jzw6hXFA/w400-h225/Stray_20220904181117.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who can resist a photo op with a snuggled cat?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Above is the loan screenshot I've used from my PS5 (or PS4 for that matter). I guess this means I can do it and it looks like <a href="https://www.techadvisor.com/article/745694/how-to-upload-ps5-screenshots-and-videos-to-your-phone-the-easy-way.html#:~:text=Open%20the%20PS%20App%20and,and%20clips%20to%20your%20smartphone." target="_blank">they've made it easier using the PS App</a>. Besides the places you could rest (how appropriate for a cat), there were places you could scratch using back and forth paw motions. I have heard concern about having the cat get hurt in the game but, as with most games, I just see it as part of the challenge and it didn't bother me (other than when I made the same mistake too may times). For the record, I'm not particularly good at platforming and it took me about 8 hours according to my Playstation. The fact that it seems like I played it longer I see as a good thing. I definitely enjoyed my time.<br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I started What Remains of Edith Finch (2015, Edith Finch going forward) after Firewatch but completed it first so I'll include it here. I saw that it was also published by Annapurna that published Stray and it was a way to see what else they did for free since it was also available on PS Plus Extra. It had been on my I did take one wrong turn which confused me, but generally this is more of a walking simulator. They did have creative ways through the imagination of the different members of the Finch family to change the appearance and navigation within an almost completely linear game.</span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">It was beautiful and I'm glad I played it but I am also glad it was as short as was (3 hours for me).<br /></span><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegaikefEX1VRZDHZwAuwOv-O_oNi1oevpD4BI5Zwd1uI__0SQAr0EInO7v-Ai290582q_awoVnOCqjM6EiMOj1QDgEJJWPnYaVDS0s44O6T8qy8jcparaQz8UPcsfRMUOic4W2e1ynbYY2-L2elvgN-Qd8s3dfz46azH0cs0Db9AHDARGieTZscdc6Q/s2960/1_photo_1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2960" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgegaikefEX1VRZDHZwAuwOv-O_oNi1oevpD4BI5Zwd1uI__0SQAr0EInO7v-Ai290582q_awoVnOCqjM6EiMOj1QDgEJJWPnYaVDS0s44O6T8qy8jcparaQz8UPcsfRMUOic4W2e1ynbYY2-L2elvgN-Qd8s3dfz46azH0cs0Db9AHDARGieTZscdc6Q/w400-h263/1_photo_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first photo from Firewatch</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Firewatch had the most depressing start of a game I have ever experienced. It again had been on my wish list for years (published in 2016) and one of my daughters bought it for me on Steam (Thank you!). Overall I'm glad I played it, but, again, I don't see myself returning to it. It is beautiful but I did experience some motion sickness from the movement (I did adjust it in the setting and it helped some). Even thought I used to be primarily a PC gamer, I did connect my PS4 remote to my computer and it felt better playing with it than with keyboard and mouse.</span></p><p>I felt invested in the characters even though, by the end, I don't think my choices changed the outcome. It was mostly walking around a beautiful forest (for 2016 graphics) and talking to a single person. However, it was more of a game then Edith Finch because you felt the choices made a difference. I had one issue with the controls in that I would be looking at the map (required for much of the game) and a dialog would come up and I couldn't respond in time because I kept trying to respond rather than closing the map first. The two characters felt real and felt like they were dealing with real problems, not the normal topic of a video game. According to Steam I played 5 hours and that seems about right.</p><p>Next up I think will be Ghost of Tsushima, another Playstation Plus Extra game. I'm doubtful whether I will finish it. When I was younger I'd love to get hours and hours from games like Warlords or Civilization but these days I'd rather experience more games. I also want to go back to Horizon Forbidden West, a game I do want to finish after finishing Zero Dawn but I'm not in a rush.</p></div></div></div>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-77188711508163350242022-09-02T15:05:00.000-04:002022-09-02T15:05:26.697-04:00Gaming in 2022 so far<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEswLpon_7_18vvAzUXIeXGEQKBYrvpzEtETFY04mWnLNpwaK_cup5L___6jzQ8VP23KSTEmPM7JgNYxcQbkhuWygQsC5hjbd4YMEaI-ZKAqE0UXdfbhn-XDFBbN4_S8hDhMfzoRFbBpiEcKVoklfC11VHEjO1PVCKA13DBVxPHWFkpChd8DJkzHbCYg/s460/StrayVideoGame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="460" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEswLpon_7_18vvAzUXIeXGEQKBYrvpzEtETFY04mWnLNpwaK_cup5L___6jzQ8VP23KSTEmPM7JgNYxcQbkhuWygQsC5hjbd4YMEaI-ZKAqE0UXdfbhn-XDFBbN4_S8hDhMfzoRFbBpiEcKVoklfC11VHEjO1PVCKA13DBVxPHWFkpChd8DJkzHbCYg/w400-h188/StrayVideoGame.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gaming as a cat</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">It's been more than a year since my last post. I thought about joining Blaugust but I knew I wasn't motivated to more than one post but I do have one post in me so I'm writing the day after Blaugust (seems appropriate).</span></p><p>Almost all of this blog has been about World of Warcraft so it's appropriate to start there. I did resubscribe for the 9.2 patch. I joined thinking I would go through the new content and then finally run through the other Shadowlands Covenants on my other characters. That didn't happen. However, I did finish the 9.2 quest content on Kanter so that's done. Shadowlands didn't motivate me and it hasn't seemed to motivate many people however I think it has more to do with me than it does the game. I'm still surprised by how much content I was able to motivate myself during Battle for Azeroth.</p><p>The games I've played the most over the last year have been on my tablet. I play Microsoft Solitaire, Sudoku and Plants vs Zombie almost every day. Not particularly involving, but it's a nice way to keep my mind busy when I'm not up to anything more. I've also spent a lot of time playing Merge Dragons. Like most free mobile games, at base it is pay to win. However it has a few things going for it. There are no ads unless you opt in for them to get rid of a timer. You can get everything without paying, but it'll take more time. Once you've played a while and have enough dragons, there is always plenty of content without paying for anything. And they still keep adding things (like most successful free to play games). I have paid for some gems and they've helped but it was more because I felt like I had enjoyed the content enough that they had earned it, particularly since they didn't earn anything from ads (since I didn't see any).</p><p>I am surprised at how little I played our Switch. I did play a little of Breath of the Wild but it didn't really motivate me. I also started </p><p>Finally, I have been playing our PS5. I was looking for a co-op game to play with my daughters and we settled on the original Borderlands remake. All three of us are enjoy it and it does feel rewarding when you get a better weapon and my daughters both enjoy driving over enemies. I've enjoyed Horizon Forbidden West but haven't played it recently. The graphics are gorgeous and I enjoy the game play but since I have played frequently, there is always some struggle to re-remember the controls. I'd guess I played almost half way through Death Stranding. It was visually and aurally nice but I enjoyed the path finding more than the combat and it seemed like there was more combat as I went further into the game. Finally, I'm probably 3/4s of the way done with Stray so I feel pretty confident that I'll finish it soon. The play as a cat is great. Between meowing, curling up, scratching things and intentionally knocking things over it really does feel like you are playing a cat. Some things you do are totally un-cat-like but they are few enough it isn't too bad. Stray also motivated me to pay for Playstation Plus Extra. I was pretty much ready to buy it for $30 but for that same amount I could upgrade my membership and get both Spiderman games, Ghost of Tsushima, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I've heard some speculation for the value but I feel I will get my money's worth and don't really feel a need to buy another game anytime soon.</p><p>I'm not sure if anyone is still reading, but I've given myself a summary of where I am in gaming, so I'll be glad to have it anyway. Happy gaming and we'll see the next time I'll post. Definitely don't hold your breath.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-68613626929933761202021-08-23T10:00:00.002-04:002021-08-23T12:09:39.678-04:00Blizzard, Supporting Victims and World of Warcraft<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaPqmpRHwIq4TkhqFPwNHR15KcBbbEGikTLXeKu0UGEKiWvRvUYTPL20Y5OgqNHv8Qv3JGie4rienjr-FE4Aws9qiJwXuwI1soDMe6X4a2ojz1pGPXAxcuTEurDAEsLykxBT2qpKpsoIAT/s2048/Blizzard_Entertainment_Logo.svg.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaPqmpRHwIq4TkhqFPwNHR15KcBbbEGikTLXeKu0UGEKiWvRvUYTPL20Y5OgqNHv8Qv3JGie4rienjr-FE4Aws9qiJwXuwI1soDMe6X4a2ojz1pGPXAxcuTEurDAEsLykxBT2qpKpsoIAT/w400-h240/Blizzard_Entertainment_Logo.svg.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blizzard has a lot to answer for.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I haven't posted for about six weeks now. Some of that has to do with a two week vacation I came back from last week but a lot of it has to do with this post. First, let me say I believe Blizzard Entertainment has to change today, that I support the victims, many currently still working for the company and that nothing that has been done by Blizzard up to this point shows that they have made the changes required as a company. As someone in management, I am always very aware of the need I have to support those who work for me and make sure I can do everything I can to prevent any perception of improper activities either by myself or by others. As a white male in IT I understand that there is extra responsibility to encourage diversity and listen to those who may have a different view.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I believe <a href="https://blizzardwatch.com/2021/07/27/blizzard-watch-stands-solidarity-employees-blizzard-will-not-posting-todays-walkout/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlizzardWatch+%28Blizzard+Watch%29">Blizzard Watch</a> did a good job of summarizing what we know and supporting employees who are trying to hold their employer accountable for the required changes. Yes, this is an old post and more has come out and I believe Blizzard Watch has done a good job keeping up with the news in a way that says the company has to change but that doesn't support totally abandoning the games and the good people who develop them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Finally, I am still playing World of Warcraft. I know for many people they had to stop playing Blizzard games based on the news that came out and I understand and support the decision for them. For me, as a casual player who has tried other MMOs without success, I am going to keep playing World of Warcraft until my next natural break. It will take time for Blizzard to change and, I believe, if it doesn't change, it will fail.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-45327558416563210642021-07-08T10:00:00.001-04:002021-07-08T10:00:00.181-04:00Shadowlands 9.1: I Like It!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicr1oWZoP2ElVA150yDPY-H_-346JnMp6-0E9OMWyyuSNx-zWF0Pkow5eGiIvBVaXzSwGoTMcifzYVWUzAt2NxYtWEfoEI-OMGZ7DfSjzzUpdtyly-v5R6LYw1fVYT_lih8yDw9TsiVX2r/s1920/WoWScrnShot_070721_212915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicr1oWZoP2ElVA150yDPY-H_-346JnMp6-0E9OMWyyuSNx-zWF0Pkow5eGiIvBVaXzSwGoTMcifzYVWUzAt2NxYtWEfoEI-OMGZ7DfSjzzUpdtyly-v5R6LYw1fVYT_lih8yDw9TsiVX2r/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_070721_212915.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can fly!</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">World of Warcraft Shadowlands 9.1 is a little over a week old and, I have to say, as a casual player, I really like it so far. In pretty quick succession they allowed mounts in the Maw, removed the Eye of the Jailor (which prevented staying to long in the Maw), and granted flying for not just your main, but any alts (outside of the Maw). This is in addition to quite a bit of story and content in a new section of the Maw. I stated in my previous post that I would prefer to wait to work on alts until I got flying, and now that I know how quickly I got it, I'm glad I waited!</span></p><p>Some could argue that enjoyment by making things artificially difficult and then removing that difficulty is less than ideal and, logically, that makes sense. However, grinds are a part of all MMOs by nature of having to provide content that lasts a long time. I do think adding barriers that get removed makes sense both from giving the player the pleasure of seeing it removed and also of giving players who start later a way to catch up without getting frustrated.</p><p>Looking back I see it's almost been a month since my last post. I did craft my first Legendary item not long after that post. It didn't provide a huge boost but, on it's own, it let me complete another level of Torghast. Since then, after getting upgrades in 9.1, I reached iLvl 190 and so I upgraded it to iLvl 210. Since I had been soloing Torghast most weeks, it wasn't too expensive to do, I just had to purchase the upgraded base item in the auction house. I also went through the Maw introductory quest with my warrior, Kantro, and sent him to Maldraxxus to wait for flying.</p><p>Between upgrading the sanctum on Kanter and working through the Covenant levels and story and seeing the other Covenants on alts, I feel like I'm in a good place for a while. Of course, I didn't experience the frustration of the wait for 9.1 that many others did because I started so late. I wonder if Blizzard delayed 9.1 due to wanting to release Burning Crusade Classic first and misjudged how frustrating it would be for many players. All I can say is it looks like I'll be busy for a while now.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-48974474783505487132021-06-09T10:00:00.001-04:002021-06-09T10:00:00.238-04:00Shadowlands 9.0 Night Fae Renown and Torghast Questlines Complete<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1x6xN78cQIGYmLVJy_QZ-SVYULJp_yc88cbFw-bDvZe1bvN68i0e_Bu8fjbYv3trButzLvanP3cFC4RLxZYP6GdyJBc-V1m010uYc_xT64tVb2h7FteqV-TOC9nOPLyllV9BbEkMPkD6/s1920/WoWScrnShot_060621_092059.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1x6xN78cQIGYmLVJy_QZ-SVYULJp_yc88cbFw-bDvZe1bvN68i0e_Bu8fjbYv3trButzLvanP3cFC4RLxZYP6GdyJBc-V1m010uYc_xT64tVb2h7FteqV-TOC9nOPLyllV9BbEkMPkD6/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_060621_092059.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No get-up is complete without matching mount (Runestag)</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">There was recently a <a href="https://blizzardwatch.com/2021/02/20/shadowlands-flying-zones-patch-9-1/" target="_blank">new Blizzard post</a> about how Flying in Shadowlands will mainly require Renown and Covenant Campaign completion. As a very casual player, I've already done all I can in 9.0 since I have now reached maxed Renown (40) and already completed the existing questline as of my last post.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Oddly, this is sort of disincentivizing play since I've done most of what I'd really like to do on Kanter and, if I wait, I'll be able to get flight to make leveling my alts easier. I have stuff I have been accumulating, but I don't really care about most of it since gear isn't a big deal. I have Soul Ash for a legendary, I have Stigia for Ve'nari, I have Grateful Offerings for ... I'm not sure what it's for, I have Spirit's for the Queen's Conservatory, and I have Anima improving my Sanctum among other things. I don't have any goals I particularly want to pursue at this point, though I am interested in what will come with 9.1.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I did complete the Torghast questline and recovered Baine, Jaina, and Thrall from the Maw and was motivated to see them back. I learned there are a couple more quests but they are locked behind the Castle Natria raid and I'm not sure I want to do group content. There is also a spirit for the Queen's Conservatory behind a dungeon. Maybe I'll feel up to it at some point but I don't really like forced group content. I was able to join some groups for some world quests and those were without drama.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I'll keep playing for a bit and certainly come back for 9.1 but I'm not sure if I'll stay with trying to build some Anima for my Sanctum but I don't have anything I really want there. I am interested in seeing the other Covenant quest lines, but, as stated above, wonder if it would be better to wait until I've unlocked flying.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I've enjoyed my time but, if starting 4 months late, I already feel a lack of motivation, I can understand why people are saying there isn't enough compelling content in this expansion so far. It'll be interesting to see how soon they release 9.1. They may want to give some time for people to be less involved with Burning Crusade Classic, something I don't care about at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-47750213221655625062021-05-29T15:52:00.002-04:002021-05-29T15:52:38.863-04:00Shadowlands Night Fae Questline Complete<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgrGcS4OKnGiKpfQXaMn8G-1EixCZ_2rFS-5ANPv9nX9KWcx1WFYQ1-3pxgqUSj9XelXPVy52UJIL0XXrvyT4eMRLAhQEc6j1PM3EebiVazMgXOGOQM4TAqsluz62qP4D2L6Ec5wr0XoJ/s1920/WoWScrnShot_052221_073616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgrGcS4OKnGiKpfQXaMn8G-1EixCZ_2rFS-5ANPv9nX9KWcx1WFYQ1-3pxgqUSj9XelXPVy52UJIL0XXrvyT4eMRLAhQEc6j1PM3EebiVazMgXOGOQM4TAqsluz62qP4D2L6Ec5wr0XoJ/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_052221_073616.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kanter in a not very Dwarven Night Fae get-up</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I meant to write this up on Sunday, 5/23, but it didn't happen. I finished the Night Fae covenant quest line (9.0) last week and wanted to leave some impressions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Overall, I enjoyed it. There were a couple of gaps where I had to wait for more renown but it all flowed pretty easily even though them. Ysera was a good character to bring back for the storyline. She had a tragic story in Legions and it was good to see her again. She is also tied to Elune, along with </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Tyrande Whisperwind, the other main focus of the questline. It was a little odd how the Tyrande Whisperwind story seemed to get dropped but I'm sure it is waiting for the next set of quests that will come along with the major patches to come. This was my experience without running any dungeons and I've read it is significantly faster with renown from dungeons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The armor, as seen above, doesn't seem very appropriate for a dwarf, but I've become attached to it. I also like the 8 piece bonus where one or two Fae Guardians will show up, increasing my primary stat and periodically healing me and my pet. The pieces can be upgraded and since I don't plan on raiding I'll try to make do with it and their upgrades. There are also three other <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/guides/night-fae-covenant-ardenweald-transmog-armor-sets-cloaks">Night Fae armor sets</a> available through different lines, each with a different color. I'll see how I advance in the those lines and if I can mix them, that might be interesting as well.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">It's seems generally people are not happy with the lack of content and I guess I can see that but that is part of the reason why I started four months late. Hopefullly I'll be starting the Maldraxas quests on my warrior and it'll be interesting to see how they compare. However, first I want to finish the Torghast questline that will be subject of my next post.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-8826068791362540962021-05-17T10:00:00.001-04:002021-05-17T10:00:00.174-04:00Shadowlands Night Fae Questline<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezmuVJMBphs0OJedd0h3JG6Eui-uEdrU-xv5du_f6-s_1oyF-_cBHpP9SzP2TiDmznCDJja_va9UniZQqRszUch5apYuPDPxzHlG6OG-2PqZaDOEOJcOji2U9A_W-bQQfcHmDxiMtN041/s1920/WoWScrnShot_051521_165146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezmuVJMBphs0OJedd0h3JG6Eui-uEdrU-xv5du_f6-s_1oyF-_cBHpP9SzP2TiDmznCDJja_va9UniZQqRszUch5apYuPDPxzHlG6OG-2PqZaDOEOJcOji2U9A_W-bQQfcHmDxiMtN041/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_051521_165146.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kanter with Night Fae Campaign Armor</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I've been progressing in my Night Fae Covenant questline over the last two weeks in World of Warcraft. So far (Chapter 7 of 9 completed) I've felt the need to grind at all. I did just have two spots where I needed more Renown to advance the questline but over two days I just had to do a few world quests to be able to advance it. I like the look of the armor that the questline has offered significantly better than the drops though it doesn't look at all Dwarven.</span></p><p>The Quests in Ardenwaeld have been mixed in with quests in the Maw. The first set of quests in the Maw brought back Baine. The current set is getting Tyrande Whisperwind back. Jaina was just hinted at and I haven't heard anything from Thrall or Anduin yet. They also tied in Torghast, World of Warcraft's new randomized dungeon. So far, I feel a little overpowered which is nice and there have been some interesting Anima powers. The last time, however, several were based on Disengage which I guess would be primarily used by a Survival hunter. In any case, the different bonus that are granted do add some interest and it didn't force me to take any that used Disengage.</p><p>I've also been gradually opening my Night Fae Sanctum upgrades. My command table now has 5 companions and I just completed my first rare Adventure there. I feel so short of Anima (which I guess is part of the plot, but isn't particularly fun) that I've just been doing the ones that reward Anima so I can use it for other things. Enabling the command table took 500 Anima, the Transportation Network and Anima Conductor took 1000 and the Garden will be 1500 (it will be next). Upgrade costs start at 5000 Anima go up from there. There was also a Ardenwaeld Hearthstone available for Anima but, since it is a convenience, it'll probably wait until at least most of the Sanctum upgrades are done. I just found Armor upgrades, too, but since I'm not doing dungeons or raids, they can wait. The Anima Conductor just introduced a new currency, Grateful Offerings. I'm pretty confused by them all except Anima for now. There have been faction currencies since Vanilla but these seem more general and less optional and therefore are more confusing than many.</p><p>I've unlocked Soulbinds as well. This is another way to adjust your I guess they work for any class but since I'm DPS it seems most of mine seem to be potency and the others seems under used. Finally, I've done a little with professions. Herbalism is at 114 out 150 so it'll get to max soon enough. Cooking and Fishing are in their 20s and I guess I'll focus on them at some point but not yet. Alchemy is only at 15 and will likely be the last thing I fully upgrade since the most useful potions are always the healing ones and since I'm not doing dungeons or raids, it seems a waste to use the others.</p><p>All together, I have been enjoying my time so far but I wonder how much I'll want to do on Kanter besides the Adventures once I complete my Covenant story (I'm on chapter 7 of 9). I do have another three stories to go so I certainly won't have them all done when 9.1 comes out.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-185258478171704882021-05-03T10:00:00.001-04:002021-05-03T10:00:00.254-04:00Shadowlands Four Months Late<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9UAZVRnf1MDUvwh9Vg9hJhW5uO24pOzc1bqwnbcJSYxD8jSNWhyphenhyphendkoTKALrT_y542VUKrKepl6t4JxBGwRujAxMSZGq-Q1jDUS8oojOomopNZTsV_Jljas3-u3A5GFdupuxW-NcWRrZn/s1920/WoWScrnShot_042421_091126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9UAZVRnf1MDUvwh9Vg9hJhW5uO24pOzc1bqwnbcJSYxD8jSNWhyphenhyphendkoTKALrT_y542VUKrKepl6t4JxBGwRujAxMSZGq-Q1jDUS8oojOomopNZTsV_Jljas3-u3A5GFdupuxW-NcWRrZn/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_042421_091126.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kanter in Ardenweald</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I've discussed previously my dissatisfaction when I get World of Warcraft expansions when they release. That said, since I've invested so much into World of Warcraft, I do find it worth while to see what Blizzard has to offer next. I decided to wait for a sale since if I wasn't going to get it at launch and late in March Blizzard offered 20% off and I decided I had some time to play and it would be good time to see the expansion. This will be a quick overview of my experience finishing the preliminary questline that gets you to max level, more for my reference than anything else.</span></p><p>I enjoyed the questline. The covenants are very distinct and the characters interesting. I certainly have a very distinct preference: 1. Night Fae, 2. Necrolords, 3. Kyrian, 4. Venthyr. That said, even though I'm not into the gothic look of the Venthyr, plot-wise, I think it would be interesting to explore their covenant. Ardenweald is so much much prettier than the other regions and I like the light-hearted nature of many of the characters even though there is a dark side to story.</p><p>I didn't have much rested experience for the Kyrian and I did have to do a few extra quests to get to level 53 that allowed me to advance the plot. I took a break then and only needed less than 10% to get to level 56 in the Night Fae story so the leveling seemed well matched for my casual advance. Also, it didn't take too long at all.</p><p>I was able to see the introduction to the Night Fae covenant during the beta test but I still really enjoyed it the second time. I didn't enjoy most of the Night Elf area in Legion, but I did like Ysera and look forward to spending more time with her as well.</p><p>I am a little worried about the covenant grind. My first experience was quite bad, dying repeatedly trying to get to one of the world quests and not being able to find my way. I probably picked a bad option but it sounds like they are trying to encourage you to open up the transportation network and I could see it getting frustrating.</p><p>However, overall my first experience was quite fun. I don't see any incentive to advance Horde like there was with Battle for Azeroth but I am quite interested in the different covenants and am currently planning to take my warrior through Necrolords, my priest though Kyrian, and my mage through Venthyr. I really don't care about maxing my character through abilities though I did happen to see that Night Fae is recommended for Hunters, though it wouldn't have changed my choice.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-52693802790252942602021-03-13T20:34:00.000-05:002021-03-13T20:34:12.537-05:00Long Live the Queen! Civ 6 Succession Game turns 381-390<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UM9Qw_rjobv-7q5-AKU5UyoRTQROnalys5647HU9nGVWA73nFcwHlq7dUMU4NOqTLXP1ZYEAVdFIb4cxKnfuPVD732lUk6IHQMYD-EvwtMxQof832VMG9J71bYubk3AhlYQjjGB3sKI8/s963/CivVILongLivetheQueen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="963" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UM9Qw_rjobv-7q5-AKU5UyoRTQROnalys5647HU9nGVWA73nFcwHlq7dUMU4NOqTLXP1ZYEAVdFIb4cxKnfuPVD732lUk6IHQMYD-EvwtMxQof832VMG9J71bYubk3AhlYQjjGB3sKI8/w400-h235/CivVILongLivetheQueen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, it returns!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; font-size: 13.2px;">This is a post in the Civilization 6 succession game started as part of the Blapril event. You can see the participants and all the previous posts </span><a href="https://www.timetoloot.com/succession-games/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: trebuchet; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; font-size: 13.2px;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I just looked and my last turn was in September so this was quite a long break. In the meantime I purchased the Civ VI expansions and played them during my World of Warcraft break. It's kind of odd coming back and vaguely remembering where we were but having a lot more understanding of what is going on. In any case, like <a href="http://www.beyondtannhausergate.com/2021/03/07/civilization-vi-succession-game-turns-370-to-380/">Rambling Redshirt said</a>, the state of the Empire is strong and with time we'll be settling Mars. One milestone, landing a human on the moon, was reached during my turn.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpjxxhtekMiRA-fqrtNKGIYhCRT4ptsRIqqVgdK0X_7exzuQzfnDTt9iU8iDYiK40BPsUe-07g5EQU9H1XDpXhn9p5PbhsXElKdhiF5aA8UsxXkh_oJU3zymW0Ci-Fk9kZ3XGHOPm2nPb/s1902/20210313095808_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1902" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpjxxhtekMiRA-fqrtNKGIYhCRT4ptsRIqqVgdK0X_7exzuQzfnDTt9iU8iDYiK40BPsUe-07g5EQU9H1XDpXhn9p5PbhsXElKdhiF5aA8UsxXkh_oJU3zymW0Ci-Fk9kZ3XGHOPm2nPb/w400-h206/20210313095808_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State of the Empire at both beginning and end of my turn</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 380</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">We bought a tile in Sheffield for crabs to improve with worker (the citizens are almost out of food). we also had the chance to build a new </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">district in London, could be Encampment, Commercial, Entertainment or Industrial. We decided to build an industrial district since other areas look fine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 381</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Roosevelt denounces us. Now there are three civilizations who don't like us and two who do. Fortunately, Roosevelt is far away so it didn't really impact us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Just in case, I looked at Domination to see if any threat but the queens troups are more than twice the military strength of next most powerful civilization and we will have airpower soon, can upgrade knight corp to modern armor or redcoat to mech infantry or AT to modern AT if needed against Gilgamesh, our only nearby threat so felt I could safely leave things as they are.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 382</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Made Missionary and Apostle to convert our cities to Buddhism and protect against other civilizations religions</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">383</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Cleopatra accuses us of being lazy since we don't have much industry. We are trying to change that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Time for new production in Birmingham. We have 2 cities with Spaceports but we can use three for last phase, but since we are almost done with moon landing (1 turn), we decided to build industry (Powerplant) rather than take 47 turns for another Spaceport. We also built a Shipyard in Bristol and purchased a tile with crabs for Bradford, whose citizens were also almost out of food.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 384</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxi-_EKLTqSuYHMCf9TMeaonmE1JIt0JIg80ckIqIJuPjkk6vAdf9_DQ4eZwAHn-_Tc6hRPAq1glg7MZPx_S0vN2aD7jZPNVLWUFvOOpubQpzJiJQ760JrvpOsgnUCvpwb5beFAF-T43_/s1902/20210313155854_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1902" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxi-_EKLTqSuYHMCf9TMeaonmE1JIt0JIg80ckIqIJuPjkk6vAdf9_DQ4eZwAHn-_Tc6hRPAq1glg7MZPx_S0vN2aD7jZPNVLWUFvOOpubQpzJiJQ760JrvpOsgnUCvpwb5beFAF-T43_/w400-h206/20210313155854_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">England is the first civilization to land on the moon!</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">England accomplished two long term goals this turn, the moon landing and building Petra, a wonder. We also started r</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">esearching Cold war and continued with the next phase of the space mission in Bristol. We decide to build a </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Military Academy in Ur just in case Gilgamesh has ideas. We also r</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">eceived an envoy (we have 3 total available) but already Suzerain of every city state! We left it for a future leader in case we need to take one back. I noticed </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">3 cities need housing but we can deal with it when production comes around to them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 385</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">England is denounced again by Pedro but there is nothing much he can do so I ignore him. We c</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">onvert Stokes-upon-Trent to the crown religion of Buddhism and started moving missionary to Ur to convert them next.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 386</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">A Destroyer armada appeared (When did that happen?) and directed it to our coast for defense just in case.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 387</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">England refuses trade with Pedro since he has no luxuries we need. We start r</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">esearch on Rapid Deployment and build a w</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">orkshop next in London, Amphitheater in Norwich and a p</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">owerplant in Eridu.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 388</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">England now has the ability to make Stealth bomber but no aluminum so we send our builders to Leads where there are two for mines.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 389</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Our Destroyers reach our coast and are put on alert.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 390</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Our trader to Rennes since France they are still our friend and offered the most gold. We built a f</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">actory in London and b</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">uilder in Adab for more food.</span></p><p>I had more screenshots to share but with the game winding down, I thought it best to keep it simple and get my post up. Onward to our next leader, <a href="https://www.timetoloot.com/">Naithin</a>! I'm looking forward to the colonization of Mars.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-7359962931860175312020-12-02T10:00:00.004-05:002020-12-02T10:00:05.570-05:00My Shadowlands Break<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8n3b_pWbHXcVSFeH2WRgTcm6YOnVglYiQWSWfaJiuB07pPqGOlYF2-xMXGZy70NLgOPHNWg9a3YIc-DZIfODjSIDtQuaP6t_Cq0HmCKQLte4OEwDigvtQV5s7dXRa08fFiWxdsuN0DNBh/s1920/WoWScrnShot_113020_164350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8n3b_pWbHXcVSFeH2WRgTcm6YOnVglYiQWSWfaJiuB07pPqGOlYF2-xMXGZy70NLgOPHNWg9a3YIc-DZIfODjSIDtQuaP6t_Cq0HmCKQLte4OEwDigvtQV5s7dXRa08fFiWxdsuN0DNBh/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_113020_164350.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first Horde Garrison</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I am now officially in my early expansion break for World of Warcraft Shadowlands. I have been enjoying my time and I do feel some disappointment, but I have been there for the initial expansion rush and I know it isn't for me. It'll be interesting to see how I handle my break this time. I certainly don't want it to last three years like the one I took after I stopped playing Legion. I'm not sure if I'll wait for a sale or just wait for one or two major patches that will add more content.</span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I feel like I'm in a good spot when I come back. I have four level 50 Alliance characters and one level 50 Horde character. I've had another Horde character in the 40s (a Demon Hunter that I created before the squish) and an Alliance character also in the 40s (a Druid). This will give me plenty of options to see the four Covenants when I decide to buy Shadowlands. I was also just able to level my Vulpera Rogue to 40 in Warlords of Draenor.<br /></span><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLs145ctn3OMx6vW_rxGvYVPSlwVwvmokkQS4L4fBDZj4lMPHC0ZQcGBJ3YiJbN727KyeLY1ivujApRLAEs5GMngHum2MTzaYDj3riRNuZ_FUVzkjwMKV4drpsHzNLR3sU_VQAqQviWLVP/s1920/WoWScrnShot_120120_093147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLs145ctn3OMx6vW_rxGvYVPSlwVwvmokkQS4L4fBDZj4lMPHC0ZQcGBJ3YiJbN727KyeLY1ivujApRLAEs5GMngHum2MTzaYDj3riRNuZ_FUVzkjwMKV4drpsHzNLR3sU_VQAqQviWLVP/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_120120_093147.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sneaking around Iron Siege Works with Gallywix<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I spent most of the last few days leveling from 31 to 40 in Warlords of Draenor. The introduction took me from level 31 to 33. At that point you get to build the garrison and I started the different tasks there. I generally enjoy the fact that things get done while you aren't actively having to do them. I have also done the fishing dailies every day. I just have the Barracks (given by default), crafting huts (barn and tannery for my leatherworking), and a bank since I didn't want to have to travel back for it. I also created a Zandalari Troll Warrior so I could send the output from the mine to him.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I don't remember the early alliance quests well and there were a couple that I remember but most of them are new and I think they are generally better on the Horde side. I like the Frostwolf questline and I'm glad I finally got to see it. It was also fun sneaking around the Iron Siege Works as a rogue. I didn't get any of the extra tasks done but I also got to avoid a lot of combat and Gallywix is a pretty entertaining companion.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have some thoughts about the different experiences I've had from Horde and Alliance that I wait to share with another post. I should have more time to write since I won't be playing World of Warcraft. It'll be interesting to see how much I miss it and if I decide to fill the time with anything similar.</div><div></div></div>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-24463572961245201922020-11-28T13:35:00.000-05:002020-11-28T13:35:11.408-05:00Ignoring Shadowlands<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMjRgdceDTqzpPJMW8VOYQjT9a9EiVHqS_zCD-7NA1nmHDfNa_gJNqOfmTBUEcBemBmWNJogTHVIt3IpY7GMfc9VquiXbEkGdXBhkfpXlts1nqbPX3K3Paqv26JtocG4Ko7q38-rP18S8j/s1920/WoWScrnShot_112720_032217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMjRgdceDTqzpPJMW8VOYQjT9a9EiVHqS_zCD-7NA1nmHDfNa_gJNqOfmTBUEcBemBmWNJogTHVIt3IpY7GMfc9VquiXbEkGdXBhkfpXlts1nqbPX3K3Paqv26JtocG4Ko7q38-rP18S8j/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_112720_032217.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Temple of the White Tiger<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">While most people are starting Shadowlands, I've been finishing up a few things before I take another break from World of Warcraft. Before Shadowlands released, I finished up the prepatch quests on Kanter, my hunter, and got the pre-patch weapon on Kantra, my priest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I had come to a standstill on the Tiller quests for Kintri, my Vulpera rogue. A quest required flying and I was still in my low 20s. Finally, over Thanksgiving break I was able to focus on finishing up some of the quests in Jade Forest and made it to level 30.</span></p><p>First, I had to either avoid or wait on the queues. Area 59, where my Horde characters are, had a two hour queue on Monday and Tuesday when Shadowlands started so I decided to do something else and play in the morning when there weren't queues. I thought I'd want to play my alliance druid, Kantree, to get him to level 40 (he's at 45 now), but I don't seem to be motivated to do that. I had to wait for a couple of 20 to 30 minute queues earlier in the week but I haven't had any queues during the day the last two days.</p><p>Once I hit 30 I was able to advance the tiller quest line and get the last two votes so I could join the Tillers Union and get my reputation to exalted. I've turned in the quest for the final 4 plots on the farm (not that I've used more than 8 at any time). I'm at level 31 and the agility food (Sautéed Carrots) work at level 32 so I'll make some to have them available.</p><p>At this point, I'm ready to see the Horde introduction to Warlords of Draenor so I will switch Chromie time to that expansion. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Mists of Pandaria, but I think it is the best opportunity to see something new since I think most of the Pandaria quests remaining are similar for Horde and Alliance.</p><p>Overall, I'm very happy with the leveling experience so far. I'm looking forward to trying out Warlords of Draenor. I don't think I'll make it all the way to level 50 before my subscription runs out but I'm enjoying it and maybe I'll come back to level Kintri and Kantree another time. The ability to see more of individual expansions rather than jumping between them is a great change to the game.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-42159659381143808592020-11-18T10:00:00.001-05:002020-11-18T10:00:03.724-05:00More World of Warcraft Pre-patch Activities<p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzy2jUn60LJijOCid3dKcpX7G-EhKYOvpaonC4fQYDGI_PyaNlGwQKOR_Fo9XT4Wxl-0yuhdoRqmhfi6VdV0-9WUXLVFYDMt245oDDO1D43mXa79k-swmqTLoYe4dGiaYowZW3uV370oV/s1920/WoWScrnShot_111020_173935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzy2jUn60LJijOCid3dKcpX7G-EhKYOvpaonC4fQYDGI_PyaNlGwQKOR_Fo9XT4Wxl-0yuhdoRqmhfi6VdV0-9WUXLVFYDMt245oDDO1D43mXa79k-swmqTLoYe4dGiaYowZW3uV370oV/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_111020_173935.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting spot of pre-expansion event<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">After focusing on getting my Vulpera rogue to level 20 last week in World of Warcraft, I just around between a few things this week. My first focus was to see the pre-expansion event with Kanter, my main hunter. I pretty much spent Tuesday afternoon looking at what was there and then decided I was done with it until the second week events open up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">As others have described, the event is divided in three pieces. The first describes how the leaders were abducted. The second takes you to Eastern Plaguelands to kill Nathanos Blightcaller. The last part takes you to Icecrown where you complete some quests and can kill a set of bosses that spawn every 20 minutes (newly changed to 10 minutes). I completed the first two parts on Kanter and also did the initial quests in Icecrown and killed one of the bosses but decided I wouldn't bother with more. I'll see what the second week offers and possible kill Nathanos Blightcaller for the ilvl 115 weapon he drops on some of my other max level characters.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYO-g1N7TtLrZqpefA2b7ZCCwAmCXjoAonhaDG5Mhme1w-4qWKfID7qA5Wv8vKIg1yVkwg3RYndwCU_ufVR-S-mEIb6MaLKWEvbiKVU7JV7PBON5Whr0i2usrXAlqocttgVdez4FH3W5G9/s1920/WoWScrnShot_111020_140853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYO-g1N7TtLrZqpefA2b7ZCCwAmCXjoAonhaDG5Mhme1w-4qWKfID7qA5Wv8vKIg1yVkwg3RYndwCU_ufVR-S-mEIb6MaLKWEvbiKVU7JV7PBON5Whr0i2usrXAlqocttgVdez4FH3W5G9/s320/WoWScrnShot_111020_140853.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Halfhill farm<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">After spending last week leveling Kintri I decided I wanted to do something different, but first I thought I would take her to Halfhill to start on the farm there. I spent quite a bit of time maxing out all the reputations on Kanter and had farms for several other characters when Mists of Pandaria was live. This time, I just want to use it to level some of my cooking skills while getting some experience from using the farm. I've done it for a week now and have completed three of the five required votes to become a member of the Tillers. The story is locked behind Tiller reputation and I am getting double reputation (I'm not sure if that is from the anniversary event or something else") so it seems like the story is advancing every other day. Certainly much faster than it used to during the expansion. I also took a side trip to Kun-Lai summit to complete a quest and get her trained for Pandarian Leatherworking.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I expected to spend this week leveling Kantree, my druid, to 50. I thought it would be good to mix it in with the Mists quests of Kintri. I started ok, going through the initial quests and advancing to the first town so he'd have rested experience but I haven't been back since then.</span></p><p>The Shadowlands expansion is now less the a week away (November 22nd) and I am still pretty confident I won't be buying it for a while. I went ahead and stopped my subscription which will end on December 1st. Maybe I'll wait to finish advancing Kintri and Kantree to 50 during that week when almost everyone will be in the Shadowlands. I'd like to take Kintri to the Warlords of Draenor expansion after I hit 30, have flying, and open to the primary Mists hub in the Valley of the Four Winds. I also have a Horde demon hunter I'd like to level to 50 in Legion. I don't think I've ever been subscribed during a new expansion launch without owning it so that'll be interesting.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-19213861408419270262020-11-09T10:00:00.011-05:002020-11-12T03:42:03.321-05:00Vulpera Kintri Joins the Horde<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rKI6mLBq3Kjz_iRnOseUVkrn3ID0SepD6cOKcqKyYtdostZ-xvjcfDXljsMTcCT_XmXJSYyy5n5mHv5eaRnaQKd8Le_KpdoFyr0IiCh17t4CGtYvs1zZA190BzKsc2chYXXOBym_GF1G/s1920/WoWScrnShot_110820_204643adj.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rKI6mLBq3Kjz_iRnOseUVkrn3ID0SepD6cOKcqKyYtdostZ-xvjcfDXljsMTcCT_XmXJSYyy5n5mHv5eaRnaQKd8Le_KpdoFyr0IiCh17t4CGtYvs1zZA190BzKsc2chYXXOBym_GF1G/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_110820_204643adj.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Vulpera Rogue Kintri Outside Grommash Hold at Level 20<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">After leveling my mage to level 50 in World of Warcraft last week, I wanted to do something different before leveling my Alliance druid or my Horde demon hunter, who are both in their fourties. I decided to create a new Vulpera character since I love their appearance and I wanted to try out how the new leveling works. My first decision was what class to choose. I wanted something appropriate for a Vulpera and preferred something I hadn't already leveled. I never was much of one for stealth and so I never leveled a rogue but decided it seemed appropriate for a fox and this was a good time to try it out. It was fun playing with the different appearance options and ended up with the cute female Vulpera, Kintri, you see above.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The next decision was where to level her. I remembered reading <a href="https://massivelyop.com/2020/10/23/wow-factor-the-world-of-warcraft-leveling-experiences-ranked-part-two/" target="_blank">an article in <i>Massively Op</i></a> about the different leveling experiences. Initially I was thinking about Warlords of Draenor since I never saw the Horde side and it seemed like it would be quite different. I</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">t was also supposed to be the quickest expansion to level.</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> However</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> then I saw that Mists of Pandaria was ranked as the top leveling experience and it was probably my favorite. Again, the Horde side should be quite different.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuA1vrWSdxr-A28Aovbkyi_Rk0SExHmVWRyASfK4bGypeq44l0g7AKdU8qvZ7xFN9gfdKalwYXftYZJd97dggYYBnn9gNixQNiOCVcmn1XvYpZAPucvoSDo7jsnh76eqoZicO65Ak-NEtg/s1920/WoWScrnShot_110620_122241.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuA1vrWSdxr-A28Aovbkyi_Rk0SExHmVWRyASfK4bGypeq44l0g7AKdU8qvZ7xFN9gfdKalwYXftYZJd97dggYYBnn9gNixQNiOCVcmn1XvYpZAPucvoSDo7jsnh76eqoZicO65Ak-NEtg/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_110620_122241.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><p>I know <a href="http://bhagpuss.blogspot.com/">Bhagpuss </a>had some issues being able to choose where to start but I didn't seem to have the same issues he had. When I arrived in Orgrimmar I was given two quests, one of which started the Battle for Azeroth chain with Sylvannas and the other was to go to the Warchief's Command Board. I knew about talking to Chromie but I thought I'd go ahead and complete the Warchief's Command Board quest to see what it offered. Interestingly, as you can see above, there seemed to be a prompt to go to Chromie and then quests for Legion (Broken Shore) and Warlords of Draenor (Tanaan Jungle). I was curious how it would work if I took one of these quests beside Chromie but I did want to get stuck so instead I went to Chromie without taking the flier to see what she would offer.</p></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2oe2128EB4A5NWZ6ezpB4Genq264InJ8qZ_rWUb4zgrTYM2nUPeMXiDlxTHDSGGOypAsFY1-rYiWGgU_fZixuSg1y6RPBXMzU8HB4-g4V3TaxO5n7EundgWf4f_jA2aIk7ndny-_4rUx/s1920/WoWScrnShot_110620_122601.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2oe2128EB4A5NWZ6ezpB4Genq264InJ8qZ_rWUb4zgrTYM2nUPeMXiDlxTHDSGGOypAsFY1-rYiWGgU_fZixuSg1y6RPBXMzU8HB4-g4V3TaxO5n7EundgWf4f_jA2aIk7ndny-_4rUx/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_110620_122601.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">No issues with Chromie either. She offered the six level experiences I expected. (Cataclysm is combined with the vanilla leveling experience and I already had the quest for Battle for Azeroth). However, once I chose Wilds of Pandaria I ran into an issue. I got the quest to go to Grommash's Hold and could see the quest but when I entered it, I would phase and Sylvanas would be there. I tried logging on and off to see if that would help but it didn't. Eventually I dropped the Battle for Azeroth starting quest, logged off and logged back in and I could then see Garrosh in Grommash's Hold.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Once I started the Mists of Pandaria everything went well. It seemed like I was a little overpowered but there was one boss that I died to because I didn't avoid his special attack. I enjoyed using my combo points and it was nice to be able to stealth to avoid fights. My goal was to reach level 20 (allied races start at level 10) and I did that over one weekend without playing that much. The story was just a Horde variation of the Alliance story but at least there were some parts with the Hozen that were quite funny. I was able to get skinning and leatherworking first in Orgrimmar and then the Pandaria variant of skinning though it looks like leatherworking will need to wait until a later zone. I'll probably also try out cooking since I enjoyed the farm and cooking quests as Alliance. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">So far, I really like the new leveling options. It's great to be able to actually see a full expansion on a character. Previously you'd only get through a small part before it would send you to the next expansion. It also seems about right to finish one expansion to see the new content. You can always create another character if you want to see a different one. Before Battle for Azeroth, I had decided I would never see the Horde side of the story because there was too much catching up to do. However, now, between the level boost and the ability to level an allied race character through only one zone, I'm interesting in visiting at least the revised vanilla zones and Warlords of Draenor. Maybe I'll try out the Isle of Exile as well just to see what it's like.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-17572283025382197442020-11-02T10:00:00.066-05:002020-11-02T10:00:00.331-05:00Joining back for World of Warcraft Pre-patch<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJdNQ4vkgSrLa6eNEUx7Upa-08HQ6wG-R-9K6Bn2Byd_WjdGb4-z_JR-zHjmAM3YqlAwOboH4lvVvrdfiyoiLVDK01m-_jEnA7bnK7Skv5nWsTHXgw2QYcbDEweT-OulT5pLDZx41qdtoB/s1920/WoWScrnShot_110120_145426.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJdNQ4vkgSrLa6eNEUx7Upa-08HQ6wG-R-9K6Bn2Byd_WjdGb4-z_JR-zHjmAM3YqlAwOboH4lvVvrdfiyoiLVDK01m-_jEnA7bnK7Skv5nWsTHXgw2QYcbDEweT-OulT5pLDZx41qdtoB/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_110120_145426.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squished!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I haven't posted in a while. I mentioned that I don't typically post unless I'm playing an MMO (almost always World of Warcraft). I wasn't sure whether I'd join back for the pre-patch but a few things made me decide to do it today. First, I received an invitation from Blizzard for the Shadowlands Beta. Next, I saw that the expansion, pre-patch event and anniversary event would all be happening now. Finally, I saw that the Mechagnomes, the only allied race I didn't have, no longer required exalted status so I could get access to them with only a run of Operation: Mechagnome. I also figure this will be good chance to use the leveling advantages of the anniversary for a few characters that used to be between levels 110 and 120 (and are now in their 40s) and possibly one or more allied race characters.</span></p><p>Before I subscribed, I'd tried out the Shadowlands Beta. I'm not really interested in playing much of the beta but since I wasn't subscribed it gave me a chance to play without paying. I made a level 60 Hunter (the only option was to make level 60 characters), did quest to choose a covenant. After talking to the four covenant representatives, I decided to go with Night Fae. The introductory quests were fun (not at all serious) and I felt confident I would enjoy this covenant. I'm not interested in min/maxing and I'm pretty sure I'll take four characters through Shadowlands to see each covenant eventually. After that, I'm pretty done with the beta. I might try it out again, but most likely I'll wait to play it when I purchase Shadowlands.</p><p>Once a bought the month of time (I had been unsubscribed for about two month), I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I opened the anniversary gift. There were fireworks (I set them off a few times, they don't get used up during the anniversary, only can't be used after). There was a <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/item=178512/celebration-package">Celebration Package </a>that gives a experience and reputation buff doesn't doesn't help much if you are max level. Finally, there was a quest that sends you to the Caverns of Time where you can get 200 Timewarped badges. You can get <a href="https://www.wowhead.com/event=1181/wows-16th-anniversary#comments">two mounts</a> for earning Timewarped badges in Alterac Valley (one each for Horde and Alliance). I don't think I'll bother.</p><p>After looking at my options I decided to focus on three things:</p><p>1. Earning the ability to create Mechagnomes, the only allied race I didn't already have,<br />2. Doing the introductory quests for some of the allied races (I had only done the introductory quests for Vulpera, Zandalari Trolls, Nightborne and Dark Iron Dwarfs),<br />3. Leveling some of my level 40 characters and possibly one or more new or allied race characters with the Anniversary boost.</p><p>I have 3 Alliance level 50 characters and 2 that are in their 40s, while only one level 50 and one Demon Hunter in the 40s on the Horde side. Getting the three level 40 characters to 50 shouldn't take too long though I may either get bored with Battle for Azeroth or if I try to go to a different expansion, I won't be able see much in so few levels. It will be good to get back to 5 level 50 Alliance characters since there are 11 professions and that will let me level all but one (Inscription). The Allied race characters start at level 10 and get a special set of armor if you level them to 50. If I created a new character, I'd be able to see the new Exile's reach introductory area. I could see some Legion class halls that I missed and how the Horde side of the story is different in the games (I've only seen Battle for Azeroth as Horde). However, I'm sure the 30 days will go quick and I'm sure I'll have time to do more than one, particularly if I advance those in their 40s.</p><p>In any case, I decided to put this decision off and get access to the Mechanomes and do another allied race introductory quest. I only needed to finish one quest in Operation: Mechagon to gain access to the race so I flew out to Mechagon Island, got the quest and queued for it on my hunter, Kanter, who has all the Alliance allied race achievements. As DPS there was a 25 minute queue, so I started on one of the allied race introductory quests while waiting.</p><p>Since I already did three Horde races and only one Alliance race I decided to try the Void Elves. I don't care for elves but the stories for both the Void Elves and the Nightborne were interesting, so I thought I'd at least do both introductory quests. The Void Elf quest was a little odd because it centered on a group of Blood Elves (a Horde race) that were banished from the Horde because they were investigating the Void. It was sort of the reverse of the Nightborne tale where Alleria Windrunner was the seen as 'bad' for causing a void to appear in Silvermoon. It was ok but certainly not as good as the story for the Dark Iron Dwarfs. I did get yet another allied race mount I will probably never use but I still enjoy getting them.</p><p>The queue for Operation: Mechagon was faster than estimated and I joined soon after I had flown to Ghostlands for the beginning of the Void Elf questline. I had put off this quest because I wasn't that interested in running dungeons and therefore not very efficient at it. However, my gear is ok so I'm hoping people will forgive it as long as I do ok. For the most part the run went fine but I did have issues with a part where I was supposed to sneak by some bots and I kept getting pushed back. Eventually they fought a battle without me and told me I could bypass the bots. It took a little searching to find the port that took me to the next part of the map but I was able to join them, help the group for the last two boss battles and complete the quest.</p><p>I'm looking forward to playing for a month but I don't plan to resubscribe or buy Shadowlands yet. Between the level squish, the allied races, the leveling boost and the pre-expansion event, I have plenty to keep me busy. I doubt I will play any of the remaining allied races, but I would like to see their stories. I'll need to do some research to determine which to do next.</p><p>It will be a little odd to have a week where everyone will be busy exploring the new expansion and to not have bought it but, as I've mentioned in previous posts, because I play World of Warcraft primarily solo, I don't get much benefit from being there at the beginning. I'd rather wait and buy the expansion on sale when there is more content available. That's my plan now but we'll see if the expansion hype gets me to change my mind.</p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-28887070019262981252020-09-20T14:24:00.004-04:002020-09-20T14:36:07.354-04:00Long Live the Queen! Civ 6 Succession Game turns 311-320<p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdukVNCxMH3V8doVIzq0DNdUygd7sQ3z44gTx_ma8M31sz_je-uRCOjXm31-6cbBiFoArWTpQ4Lkr1JCPdkn-SP43WB7Njl2yGXIEFtb2P-yiYbY8DZpCvo4ahv_PPzqfdEYsHrVC_ZyS0/s1920/20200919112505_1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdukVNCxMH3V8doVIzq0DNdUygd7sQ3z44gTx_ma8M31sz_je-uRCOjXm31-6cbBiFoArWTpQ4Lkr1JCPdkn-SP43WB7Njl2yGXIEFtb2P-yiYbY8DZpCvo4ahv_PPzqfdEYsHrVC_ZyS0/w400-h225/20200919112505_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our world at beginning and end of turn<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This is a post in the Civilization 6 succession game started as part of the Blapril event. You can see the participants and all the previous posts </span><a href="https://www.timetoloot.com/succession-games/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">.</span></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegCrhucTLIrNz8N2XubY0sFstavVB8oGd80Y_IfY9CFXsGbrL5LizPETRc4UxU2PbwJ-XFMr5M3NLN-rVelu7yBttd_g_ov2YeRn-gTtjjhlVfDsbijUcp5a6QrZaMqL6B_NE3Bl3BQbw/s1920/20200919112714_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegCrhucTLIrNz8N2XubY0sFstavVB8oGd80Y_IfY9CFXsGbrL5LizPETRc4UxU2PbwJ-XFMr5M3NLN-rVelu7yBttd_g_ov2YeRn-gTtjjhlVfDsbijUcp5a6QrZaMqL6B_NE3Bl3BQbw/s320/20200919112714_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 311</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Queen Elizabeth started off with offers from Gilgamesh, Katherine and Cleopatra. Well Gilgamesh just wanted something for nothing but I considered the Katherine trade to help with the relationship but decided against it all of them. Norwich started on Sewers to help them grow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I only used a couple builders on turn 312 but did get notification that America entered the information age. Odd since they have so many fewer science discoveries but I'm not so concerned since we are still well ahead in science.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 313</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Two of our English cities do not have enough housing to grow. This became much of the focus for this reign. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZm4z_smHh6vm9McPKH-gjJge2baI5Excp4uCKd7AOUgNcS2BDf8nkn489iekQLBMD7fxg7dDSLxgZ0INsvwotJdVRAIelplb9lKLuklrbS5zx7D6rM2h0S2srfRf27mxWA8xuQILXP7Iq/s677/20200919114247_1c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="344" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZm4z_smHh6vm9McPKH-gjJge2baI5Excp4uCKd7AOUgNcS2BDf8nkn489iekQLBMD7fxg7dDSLxgZ0INsvwotJdVRAIelplb9lKLuklrbS5zx7D6rM2h0S2srfRf27mxWA8xuQILXP7Iq/s320/20200919114247_1c.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The English Civics researchers discovered Conservation started researching Urbanization. Hopefully both of these will help with growth and Urbanization will open up Mass Media which will be boosted. Eridu started a builder to help that city grow. We received additional envoys. There were no bonuses to be gained from our existing city state relationships so we sent three envoys to Hong Kong to start our relationship with this city-state and gain the bonuses from it. Speaking of city-states, Preslav was asking for a trade route and Stoke-Upon-Trent had one available so the route was established.</span><p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkO7Gxl45sSYzrwBqNVK0v18JnrUEE0LTEby-JCRc55FE-zEV3NiaznCR7O-sBKqEx0lFSLAhXE_OvCptE0-U0T7WXlnsfL2W9Jre_5a5CzFrzjcvO2mmwMaFxOA0Cz5cN-uJTcg0e6kV/s1920/20200919114920_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkO7Gxl45sSYzrwBqNVK0v18JnrUEE0LTEby-JCRc55FE-zEV3NiaznCR7O-sBKqEx0lFSLAhXE_OvCptE0-U0T7WXlnsfL2W9Jre_5a5CzFrzjcvO2mmwMaFxOA0Cz5cN-uJTcg0e6kV/w640-h360/20200919114920_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFMeMhhuFhnIrlSQ8H0L4Un4vF_IfLuYe5LG7xQ-fRSUoF87JZK894dwI72nOm9pIaCbvKt9YA_bObOwFce68NeYa0qnS5Bot9dU3Ghh5fvIX7M5M3jSrvFA4wKDL48fTyQDXwjFv4M0d/s1052/20200919115524_1c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="509" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFMeMhhuFhnIrlSQ8H0L4Un4vF_IfLuYe5LG7xQ-fRSUoF87JZK894dwI72nOm9pIaCbvKt9YA_bObOwFce68NeYa0qnS5Bot9dU3Ghh5fvIX7M5M3jSrvFA4wKDL48fTyQDXwjFv4M0d/w194-h400/20200919115524_1c.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">There were only bui</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">lder movements</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> in turn 314 and only the construction of a shipyard in Bradford on turn 315. Looking at the options this would at least allow for more production when we started the space race.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 316</span></p></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjiKvOqMDVXUVqqehgVW4tbe3ZL6elQ8UXp_vHvVwSVyFU6G4ROIz-_QeuPTLSC7E0oFnHv8du1L1HXS3G_DXJRZjsNoJ06S6Vl3gzZ5ha5ehyphenhyphen5dSBUqS9Ob9A3D1R3cwKOuRlxozbCpN/s1920/20200919120211_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjiKvOqMDVXUVqqehgVW4tbe3ZL6elQ8UXp_vHvVwSVyFU6G4ROIz-_QeuPTLSC7E0oFnHv8du1L1HXS3G_DXJRZjsNoJ06S6Vl3gzZ5ha5ehyphenhyphen5dSBUqS9Ob9A3D1R3cwKOuRlxozbCpN/w400-h225/20200919120211_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">There were two trade offers this turn. </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Roosevelt offers gold for Niter, turned down. I forgot to take a screenshot of the offer we accepted from Cleopatra for Nitre for Gold and Coffee. I am hoping to keep relationship with her good since she is right on our border and no one else likes us. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Bristol created the wonder of the Colossus! The citizens started on a temple there but I wonder if we need to convert them to Buddhism. Bristol was busy this turn with a trade route available that we sent to Paris to help with our next best relationship. Another city started a trade route to Calais also in France.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The English science researchers discovered Combined Arms researched Rocketry for next step in Space race.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 317 was actually idle and turn 318 had us gain two more envoys. I will let the next ruler decide where to send them since there were no bonuses available.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">On turn 319 </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">London acquired what I believe is our first archeologist that I sent to site south of Norwich </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">built Royal Navy Dockyard and Ur started on an Aqueduct to continue our focus on growth.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Turn 320</span></p></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLVwz4S4IJMLMDz5q4I3af7NAZ5xqWO3Do9RF62Nrj2s2wEx-m1pzEmmni9U3qwIpxM_J-nC9Zboeq4cczI_4VGk248RtuT5AV8hJz-37AuIFSzjDjGG4iPEv6IDlKTxt6oDOP1gAV9y4/s1920/20200919152904_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLVwz4S4IJMLMDz5q4I3af7NAZ5xqWO3Do9RF62Nrj2s2wEx-m1pzEmmni9U3qwIpxM_J-nC9Zboeq4cczI_4VGk248RtuT5AV8hJz-37AuIFSzjDjGG4iPEv6IDlKTxt6oDOP1gAV9y4/w400-h225/20200919152904_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Pedro offered only 6 gold for a pigs which seemed almost as bad as Gilgamesh asking for gold for nothing. Also </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Plymouth completed University, made Builder to continue my pattern of growth focused decisions.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Our reign ends and it returns to <a href="https://www.timetoloot.com/">Naithin</a>. There are still 36 turns for Spaceport from Leeds but it will be built and we may have started on the second step before my next turn as consultant to the queen.</span></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-91186568813345006102020-08-29T10:00:00.001-04:002020-08-29T10:00:04.281-04:00Blaugust Promptapalooza: Community Influence<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4n3tOsgWPxrKFrssAI2a_pV7UCoOklLX-4ndyUEM_k2PtI-eaWeoekwIdwYv0erHQKhxA25wS8D-6wNycvTbmx-WEvs-GuXHHQhQyTMGeAvoy4xLl7HeCi4HCStQCknxMBS9O4UFaKiu4/s800/blaugust-promptapalooza2020.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4n3tOsgWPxrKFrssAI2a_pV7UCoOklLX-4ndyUEM_k2PtI-eaWeoekwIdwYv0erHQKhxA25wS8D-6wNycvTbmx-WEvs-GuXHHQhQyTMGeAvoy4xLl7HeCi4HCStQCknxMBS9O4UFaKiu4/s640/blaugust-promptapalooza2020.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Welcome to the second to the last day of Promptapalooza! Thanks to <a href=" Tell us about some community that you are part of and why it interests you or how it impacts you?">Belghast</a> for setting a different way for us to celebrate Blaugust. Yesterday's post was UltrViolet at <a href="http://endgameviable.com/">Endgame Viable</a>. If you haven't ready it yet, you can work your way backwards! Tomorrow return to Belghast's <a href="https://aggronaut.com/">Tales of the Aggronaut blog</a> for the last day of the event.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I almost didn't join. I am on something of a hiatus, given that I've finished what I want to do in World of Warcraft and have unsubscribed at least until the Shadowlands prepatch arrives. However, after seeing another request for people to join I thought it would be nice to participate in the community again have joined in Blapril for my first Blaugust community event. Belghast was kind enought to put me close to the end, but here I am, writing my post, the night before it's due. When I write, that's typically how it happens, so I guess it's only to be expected.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Speaking of communities, today's prompt is "</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i>Tell us about some community that you are part of and why it interests you or how it impacts you</i>?"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I struggled for a while with this prompt but then I remembered a quote for an author I saw somewhere years ago (I tried to figure out who without luck) when asked about influences he said that even nothing compares to the influence his family has on his writing.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The whole reason for this blog relates to my family. I was intrigued by MMOs but, though I read about Ultima Online and Everquest, they never looked that interesting to me. Something changed with World of Warcraft. I followed it before it was released, I searched for a guild and joined it during beta, I was there on day one and signed the guild charter, and I was one of the slower levelers in the guild.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">But that really didn't matter. People weren't leveling in Classic over a few days or a week like they were in future expansions. I enjoyed being able to do silly events with my guild-mates. I read the forum (now dead) regularly. I occasionally went on dungeon runs with them. And eventually I was max level and did raids with them, not in the first raid group but in a second group. That was fine with me and I enjoyed it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">But this isn't about my guild (with whom I'm very grateful to still be a member), it is about my family. I kept with my guild but sometime towards the end of Burning Crusade I knew I needed to change how I was playing. I was getting frustrated about being taken away from my computer by the people I love the most in this world. So I decided not to buy Wrath of the Lich King when it came out and went on hiatus from the game.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I did eventually buy Wrath and Cataclysm well after they were released and enjoyed playing solo while still being able to chat with people in the guild. Then, in 2012, I was trying to see if maybe it would make sense to play some other MMO and try to play it occasionally and this blog was born. I kept reading about MMOs (on Google Reader) and Syp on Bio Break created the Newbie Blogger Initiative and I joined so I could write about how to play MMOs not in a typical way, but in a way that worked with my life and kept me engaged with my family.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">So now I protect our old cat and pay attention to our dog so he does get too jealous of our new kitten who demands our attention. I try to be a good parent to our three daughters, particularly, the oldest who has very limited speech and is about to turn 18. I try to make sure my wife knows I love her and do what I can to support her. And, occasionally, I still play games when the more important things in life allow it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I'm not a very social person. I don't need a 'community,' but I do need my family.</span></div><p></p>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-25084658999383194122020-07-23T10:00:00.000-04:002020-07-23T10:00:05.435-04:00Finished with Battle for Azeroth<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBHgWfELsYF2gkPEEYdyIC292zmf8pOuF47JeTStRBwK_KnbVK4sNBCIXEWRdlS7bDBJZ6zMDb4ulUZhIaAXzOLy-nxdNZ6zoLwqhltNyBLUydf2NQugEBYryMssdh210M_2e5j6760cA/s1920/WoWScrnShot_071620_200700.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBHgWfELsYF2gkPEEYdyIC292zmf8pOuF47JeTStRBwK_KnbVK4sNBCIXEWRdlS7bDBJZ6zMDb4ulUZhIaAXzOLy-nxdNZ6zoLwqhltNyBLUydf2NQugEBYryMssdh210M_2e5j6760cA/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_071620_200700.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Necropolis</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><font face="trebuchet">This week I decided I was done with Battle for Azeroth (BfA) in World of Warcraft (WoW). I completed an emissary quest and an invasion for the Honorbound and that gave me the reputation I needed for the rest of the Vol'jin quest and the Mag'har Orc allied. I look to see how much time was left on my monthly subscription and there was a week left so it seemed like the right time to unsubscribe.</font><div><font face="trebuchet"> </font><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="1062" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTd25PTUasRC9TSLuoYfmhgtfNl-d4YZSCAi56IqeY6xA2iQuyaY4WBPg7bT2X96d-8gQ3sYktammHt-f8gn5GHRKVn0CYxMHwbQacgxki_M6RgU4FjTkbmdBwLG4HK22HDuJb-hT5G3oF/s320/Blizzard20200718.png" style="text-align: center;" width="320" /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The question was what did I want to do during that week. I knew I wanted to the Vol'jin quest so that was first on the list. I enjoyed all parts of this quest line and as Alliance only, I never would have seen it. It'll be interesting to see how this gets investigated more, I am assuming it'll be within the Shadowlands expansion.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZFNQ8svXlHGFze4luaC28ZdrjoN_jqPMRaGwsjXkUu4vWy0OjDj0px1xkgEL-AMClyKoFFvnKEeklhXVFjCuYXSGpTSDUNMvcup5yMixIzuLdXyHe8rLpSr821ZZPtRRzEEW3T4ZZ4JT5/s320/WoWScrnShot_071620_202339.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vol'jin looking into what is pulling the levers.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>After the Vol'jin quest, I decided to confirm I had all the Horde allied race quests. I decided to do the Zandalari introductory quest since I was interested to see how it was handled. You help her with some activities to become queen and see her address the people as queen. It was good to see Queen Talanji hold her own with Sylvanas but certainly not as interesting as the Dark Iron Dwarf quest line. I decided the Mag'har Orc and High Mountain Tauren weren't different enough to do now.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLW2Jp-iEgM4giXjQgC7fKpLCQL03XUVQG4k6IEgVJypGxuIkRGAm65wb6-rvXZA7VSNYCbQOU7ZdPMSDFD_UbWf6jExXFe9LhVdn-n27mwTCt7zM5HnUqFuFeD9AIqPBp72KcbSNW_9j7/s320/WoWScrnShot_071820_144522.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="320" /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIuect_yHMFngqwCMjdSgb7PSSrUHXEXW9kXSJUkYEqsB6q6BuArqPIGKV58kLPEgOlAaEjfz0tSZJ6u4QY4FViExlBbnNXEJX5W-9a9tqHFMHhSBxO0Udy028iS0gm9_l_I6WbaYa8tP/s320/WoWScrnShot_071820_144745.jpg" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I confirmed I had the Kul Tiran Humans, Void Elves, and Lightforged Draenai available. Since I already did the Dark Iron Dwarf questline, that only left the Mechagnomes that I already decided weren't worth the reputation grind. Instead of the other Allied races whose reputation quests are available as World quests in either Legion or the main BfA continent, Mechagnomes require travelling to a separate island to complete the quests and don't have any champion missions. I don't see it as worth the grind.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Since I have quite a few Alliance characters, I didn't have much incentive to complete these quests. I can do them any time. However, I only have one Horde character and I had missed the Demon Hunter questline along with most of Legion so I decided to create a Horde Demon Hunter as my last task in BfA. Odd it's a Legion task, but I have spent a lot of this end time in BfA discovering what I missed in Legion. With the experience buff I was level 105 by the time I finished the introductory quests and got the first Legendary weapon. The quest line was fine and a good length but would have been much more interesting while I was doing the </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFndJ26Jg6O3s7lfxabV6EQCuZzfpF-lDyDQYi3qtEXQHk6wh-UnKHs8uowXVleXsPs0mp1ShzMO_tqovQlPHh_BYN1rbih-bDCFKOOxcq7CMP7nPQSiDq-i17hvrkTZvwvrnjaSWgyTV/s1920/WoWScrnShot_071920_182512.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFndJ26Jg6O3s7lfxabV6EQCuZzfpF-lDyDQYi3qtEXQHk6wh-UnKHs8uowXVleXsPs0mp1ShzMO_tqovQlPHh_BYN1rbih-bDCFKOOxcq7CMP7nPQSiDq-i17hvrkTZvwvrnjaSWgyTV/s320/WoWScrnShot_071920_182512.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhzNlg6OkwNYEm5YD9zifzw-pElq5se7ZBwGAF76BeSJPvoRf5xo74T78ln8Hl20Hz2aRcVGWqMiC1O9PAxQDHkcNywhSiGz6GXEpDkY9mUiWdg0UjoTWQQXyZlcTjyImfmmitml3_fwv/s1920/WoWScrnShot_071920_232330.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhzNlg6OkwNYEm5YD9zifzw-pElq5se7ZBwGAF76BeSJPvoRf5xo74T78ln8Hl20Hz2aRcVGWqMiC1O9PAxQDHkcNywhSiGz6GXEpDkY9mUiWdg0UjoTWQQXyZlcTjyImfmmitml3_fwv/s320/WoWScrnShot_071920_232330.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="trebuchet">As of yesterday, my access to Wow is gone. It's a relief in one way in that there isn't much that I want to do. In another way it's always difficult when I don't have an MMO that I'm playing. I may join back for the pre-Shadowlands patch. That would be nice to see an would be a good opportunity to level another Horde character (probably a Vulpera warrior) to have available for when I do play Shadowlands. I'm going to try to wait to actually buy and play Shadowlands after the first or second major patch happens but when I read about peoples it might be difficult. I'm not sure what this means for this blog. I'll still be posting my Civilization turns and I have ideas for other posts but my experience has been previously that when I'm not playing an MMO I don't post. In any case, thanks for reading and the blog will still be available for me when the urge to write returns!</font></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7697829915146631414.post-78299535028117118172020-07-13T10:00:00.002-04:002020-07-13T10:00:00.320-04:00Allied Vulpera and Nightborne Races<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKHQ7_w2U-zPEflf1xkqRtVqODbWacQBX032fvlf0mkRxTs2dnh0vVeuebVTiWBSOONEKyCuuADfVmWeOCIC7rn4aiMH-xdZUkOGg-n2rutn7jREKtqL9c0kdWG7deq9ZE_apixxI3r8_/s1920/WoWScrnShot_070320_173607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKHQ7_w2U-zPEflf1xkqRtVqODbWacQBX032fvlf0mkRxTs2dnh0vVeuebVTiWBSOONEKyCuuADfVmWeOCIC7rn4aiMH-xdZUkOGg-n2rutn7jREKtqL9c0kdWG7deq9ZE_apixxI3r8_/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_070320_173607.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why the Nightborne joined the Horde<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><font face="trebuchet">I am still hoping to get to exalted with the Zandalari Kingdom. I finished one set of emissary quests and one invasion set of quests in Zandalar. This has put me at 18000 out of the 21000 reputation needed. Two sets of emissary quests will definitely get me there. I was able to get to exalted with the Honorbound which openned up the Mag'har Orc allied race. Since I wasn't doing too much I completed the introductory quest lines for the Vulpera and Nightborne races.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet">I did enjoy the Nightborne quests in Suramar though the reputation grind and stealth mechanism got old at times. I was a little disappointed how short the allied race quest was, but I guess when you spent as much time on quests to free an allied race in Legion, you don't need a long introduction. It was one simple short scenario primarily explaining why the Nightborne are Horde and not Alliance. I questioned that myself but I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the arrogance of elves.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPn7eegIkg8KWgi4-m95a1AViLjfsH2bwL29gC_T7Aehs136fwOlYtaUnhflTz51B5elkMs6AG_jzQYr_oTzYDsEQVVlOwp3yyrFKYP_oFvNslvViGBaoxyFenmCml0ZuJmiJCiCUMITbj/s1920/WoWScrnShot_070420_082257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPn7eegIkg8KWgi4-m95a1AViLjfsH2bwL29gC_T7Aehs136fwOlYtaUnhflTz51B5elkMs6AG_jzQYr_oTzYDsEQVVlOwp3yyrFKYP_oFvNslvViGBaoxyFenmCml0ZuJmiJCiCUMITbj/w400-h225/WoWScrnShot_070420_082257.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Volpera welcomed into the Horde<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet">The Vulpera quest line was longer but still pretty straight-forward. The short version is Kiro asks to join, Blaine refuses because the Horde has too many responsibilities, the Vulpera take care of three issues with your help, Blaine realizes the Vulpera will help rather than be a burden and invites them to join. The three questlines are pretty fun and include some more time with Dolly and Dot but nothing too exciting. I much preferred the <a href="http://mmoonenight.blogspot.com/2020/04/dark-iron-dwarves.html">Dark Iron Dwarf questline</a> but we had spent a lot of time helping both the Vulpera and the Nightborne and I guess a bigger introduction to the Dark Iron Dwarves may have been required.</font></div>Kanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03120979246123311769noreply@blogger.com0