February 27, 2010

In the Poor House

Runes of Magic FerretThis morning I spent about 1.5 million gold buying diamonds so I could buy Gashas so I could get a Dawn Ferret mount for my alt, Sister Agatha. No such luck. I got a 7-day one, but no permanent. Also ended up with a TON of transport runes and three dailies reset tickets and one Lesser Speed Mount potion.
I like the idea of Gashas but it is very frustrating when you're hoping to get the best option out of a random draw. It's a brilliant ploy by Frogster to get our money though, isn't it?
But look, isn't she cute?? Don't you want one??

February 26, 2010

My Soundtrack

Not feeling all that great today. Crappy day at work. But you know what helps? Playing RoM to a fantantic ROCKING soundtrack. It makes such a difference to how much fun I have frying butt-hair off of hostiles.

Tonight I'm listening to a variety of Paramore songs on Youtube. Love them! Good rocking chick music. Very empowering. Almost makes my fireballs a little brighter. (And by fireballs, I mean the actual balls of fire I toss from my fingertips, not the faux set of cohones I imagine Spiral is hiding under her leather undies.)

February 24, 2010

Secret Place #1

I like to wander around in Taborea kinda aimlessly. Well, not "without aim" but with the aim of just seeing what's there. It's a stress reliever to just forget about questing and dailies and modding and all that and just go exploring.
Boulderwind Village, Taborea
This is a photo of my first Secret Place. It's a lovely rooftop patio restaurant in Boulderwind Village. More specifically, 63.4, 38.5. It seems a nice place to sit and have appetizers and a frosty beverage, don't you think?

February 22, 2010

New Stuff to Buy

I just logged on today after being away all weekend and being swamped with work today. I briefly went into the Item Shop to check out the new items.

I'm happy to see that Ancient Treasure Key is now being offered for 180 Phirius tokens. The keys are used for opening certain Treasure Chests. The chests are sometimes offered during special events, but you can also get some in The Spirit of Tempest Heights, a high level game that plays twice a day near Obsidian Fortress. I like the game when I can remember to play it and I've gotten some interesting stuff from those chests too when I could afford the keys. I'll write more about the game later, hopefully, if I remember. (Is there such a thing as a Potion of Remembering?)

I also noticed that Purified Fusion Stones are in the Phirius token shop. Have they always been there? I don't recall them being there before. They are 1,100 Phirius tokens.
Also some XP and TP potions have shown up in the store and I think some plussing stones too.

Most interesting is that there are now two types of wings that a player could potentially buy from the Item Shop without purchasing diamonds. Mighty Phoenix Wings can be bought for 2,500 rubies. Heavenly Black Wings can be bought for 5,999 Phirius tokens.
Quick calculation: it would take you two months of 10 dailies every day to get enough tokens for wings. Sigh. I suppose that means I'll be wingless forEVER.
I don't really care too much for the look of wings. A lot of them look like Rabid Pigeon Wings or maybe Bedraggled Wet Crow Wings. Then there's those crazy blue ones: they look like Fairy on Steroid Wings. But I do appreciate the fact that having wings means another slot to add stats to.
Also, I think that wings should plus your Dex automatically. Makes sense, doesn't it? But there I go again, trying to impose reality on a fantasy game!

February 17, 2010

The Most Important Day of the Year

Yes, today is my birthday!  Woot for me!
I've had a wonderful day except that I didn't get enough time on RoM cuz I was busy working and celebrating and opening presents and going out for dinner. :)

But my BF made me the cutest birthday card ever. He wrote the whole card using the acronyms I posted on this blog AND he put fake signatures on the card from Spazzy, Borrofar, my guild leader, one of my guildmates and my RoM friend, Gustavus!  Too funny!  What he said to me was: "And you think I don't listen when you talk about RoM!"

I'm a lucky girl. 

February 16, 2010

Going to the Chapel

So I was looking at the new Chapter III features and I noticed there is going to be a chapel to get married in. That’s sort of a strange thing to put in the game, I think, but maybe there’s more to it.

Like maybe there’s going to be a big quest line that has to be followed in order to get your marriage certificate...

First of all the groom has to craft a Level 55 purple rarity ring that costs him 3 months salary. And he has to guess at what metal to use or risk his beautiful bride-to-be bursting into tears and screaming, “I wanted Mithril, not Mysticite. Do you even know me at all??”

But once the bride accepts his ring, the groom really doesn’t have much left to do. The only other quest he has to complete is the Bachelor Party quest in which he logs off one night in Varanas and wakes up the next morning on the other side of Taborea with no pants, no gold and the words, “Bronwen, House 027582” etched into his armor.

The bride, however, has many many more quests to complete before the lucky day. First she has to collect 150 Fairywood timber to print the invitations on. Then she has to collect 1000 Moon Orchids bundles to decorate the hall with. Then she has to craft 150 plates of Crisp Honey Roasted Chicken for the guests plus one plate of Exquisite Meat & Bread for Aunt Martha who can't eat chicken since that unfortunate incident at the Chick-fil-A. After that, she must visit every vendor in all of Taborea TWICE to find a wedding dress. Having finished that quest, she must repeat the process to find the right shoes.

And lastly, the bride must defeat her future mother-in-law in a PK duel on the steps of the church in front of all the guests.

By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife!

February 15, 2010

Multiple Personalities

I have eight characters on Osha. I've talked about Spiral of course and also a bit about Sister Agatha. I wanted to try playing a bunch of different class combinations so I made six other toons to see what it was like.

I have a Warrior/Priest (male), Scout/Mage, Knight/Warrior, Knight/Rogue (male), Druid/Mage and Warden/Warrior plus Spiral is Mage/Rogue and Sister is Priest/Scout.
I thought that perhaps I would find a combination that I would like to play more than Spiral, but so far I don’t feel that way. Mage/Rogue is a great combo and very fun to play. Playing Warriors, Wardens and Knights makes me nervous. Priests are difficult to solo and grouping all the time irritates me. Scouts are cool. I think my Scout/Mage is my second favorite toon to play.

I don’t think I’m all that much into the role-playing side of RoM. I don’t go around saying, “Hail and well met, gentle sir. How art thou on this fine summer’s eve?” That’s a little kooky, even for me.
But I do have certain personality traits in my head for each of my toons. I think it's perhaps a throw-back to my day of D&D when there was more to the game than just rolling dice.

Spiral is a good girl who got into the dark side of magic when she was a teenager. She broke free of it and now tries to be nice to everybody to ease her guilt.
Sister Agatha is a sweet nun who bakes cookies for friends and strangers alike. No frail old lady, she is battle-hardened and world-wise from her many years of travels around Taborea.
The Wr/P is the town idiot, strong yet stupid, violent yet remorseful. (He's also green, like the Hulk.)
The S/M is a slut who uses her long legs to get her way. Although she is extremely outgoing and flirtatious, she refuses to get emotionally involved and views all things with an eye on how it can benefit her.
The K/Wr is an angry young woman with a black past. She is not a nice person and barely tolerates her role as protector of pale weakling mages and priests.
The K/R is a wandering mercenary who is very good at his job. Bitter, stoic and scarred, he keeps to himself.
The D/M is a ditzy elf who just wants to dance and laugh and look pretty.
The Wd/Wr is very short, very insane elf who takes nothing seriously, including the possibility of death. Is she brave or crazy? Who can say?

Having different toons is a nice way to play not only a different class but also play in a different manner. I can be a bitch or a princess, a jerk or a saint. It suits my complex RL personality I think!

February 11, 2010

Chapter III

Triumphant!

Last night I killed the freaking Rune Guardian Leader! OMG. What a fight! Well, not really. I ran around him in circles for a good solid 10 minutes, tossing a fireball his way whenever I could catch my breath between chugging potions like a sorority girl.

He had something like 250,000 HP. I have a little under 8000.
I’m stoked! I didn’t think I could do it. I was totally panicked the whole time thinking I was gonna bite it. Wow.
Got stupid drops though. Blue “Frost Fighting Leather Armor” with dura of 109 and purple “Purple Gloves” with dura of 109. I can’t use either of them, they’re level 40.
But I’m just excited that I killed the damn thing! WOOT!!!

Here's a video on YouTube of a guy killing the Rune Guardian Leader.

February 10, 2010

Gamer Psychology Test

The other day I did the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology at GamerDNA.com. It turns out I am mostly an explorer type. Here are the descriptions they gave me.

EAKS – Explorer 93, Achiever 73, Killer 27, Socializer 7
It's not so much the wandering around and poking about, but that euphoric eureka moment the Explorer strives for. The joys of discovery do not necessarily involve geography, real or virtual. They may derive from the mental road less traveled, the uncovering of esoteric or hidden knowledge and it's creative application. Explorers make great theory crafters. The most infinitesimal bit of newness can deliver the most delicious zing to an Explorer.

Explorer Achievers have been there, done that and have the t-shirt...in fact they have a plethora of t-shirts, badges, trophies and other rewards. EAs are the completionists of the gamer world. They like to find new places, quests, easter eggs, unlocks, maps etc. and check them off as have, visited or beaten. Like real world travelers, EAs enjoy collecting memorabilia that helps them relive their experiences later.

February 8, 2010

Fancy Pants

Woke up early this morning and logged on with Spiral for a bit before work.
I finished one more of the Rose Growing Contest for the Flower (Valentine’s) Event. I was very lucky and got Eve’s top so now I have two pieces of that set, hat and shirt. It’s also nice that they give you aggregators with your prize so you don’t have to spend money to actually wear the clothes.

After that, I decided that I would upgrade a level 54 shirt I had hangin around in my backpack and replace my beloved Fairy Robe. I figure that Spiral will probably be level 54 until the Aotulia Volcano freezes over so I might as well equip her like one.
The shirt is called Bablis’ Jacket and it’s kinda nice looking. I think it’s a bit weird to have a mage not wearing a robe, but I guess I’ll just be the leader in avant-garde Taborean fashion.
So the top picture is the new jacket. Below that are the stats so far. I tiered to 4 only cuz I can't be bothered to spend more money and charges making it Tier 5. I will be adding at least three runes to it, probably Mind IV, Strike IV and Guts IV.

So it’s a cute jacket from the front but that’s not what I get to see as I play. I get to see the bottom picture, and by bottom, I mean butt! Spiral is much more daring than I am to prance around wearing those underwear! And what if she needs to sit down and rest? She’s gonna get splinters or thorns or a newt in her butt, I swear. Not very practical, this outfit.

I wonder why I have such a preoccupation with reality? I seem to accept with perfect calmness that I can chuck fireballs at zombies, but I worry about the practicality of wearing short-shorts in the forest. I suppose that I've accepted the fact that magic exists in this game but that doesn't mean that all the rules of nature should no longer apply. I shouldn't complain though cuz otherwise the developers in all their infinite wisdom (ha!) will start nerfing skimpy outfits. Gosh, what I am saying? This game is written by men! Maybe they will program in a stat bonus for the amount of bare flesh you expose...females only, of course.  ;)

P.S. all the pink hearts floating around are from the Flower Festival buff you get for growing roses.

February 4, 2010

RoM is Down

I was super-excited to see the new patch this morning and went right away to Varanas Central to try out the Valentine's events (Flower Festival). I got some milk from a cow in Logar, grew some roses, and got a blessing from a fairy. Pretty cool so far but I am waiting to see what the prize boxes give out before I make my final judgement on this event. (I'm hoping for some pretty outfits, cuz I'm a girl.)
I didn't get a chance to finish more of the Valentine's quests becase they shut the servers down for "unexpected server mainteance". They've been off all day since then.
I went to the forums and read some of the silly posts people are putting up about the issues but it was more annoying than informative. I guess the main problem was the mages and priests were getting a dura loss when casting, which never happened before, so it ticked them off. The knights and warriors and saying, "Suck it up, sweetheart." The mages and priests are replying, "No heal for you, clinkety-clank!"

In a way I'm glad that there are passionate people out there who are willing to complain about new developments in the game in order to create a fair play system. On the other hand, I'm annoyed that I can't play!

February 3, 2010

Leveled My Rogue Side

Spent an hour or two today getting Spiral's rogue side to level 52. Woot!
It didn't make that much of a difference overall since I didn't want to replace most of her gear. She has 5 out of 7 pieces of the Tempest Heights Hero set and it gives pretty decent bonuses. It's difficult to justify splitting it up, especially since I plussed most of the pieces. I think if I ever get the rogue side to level 53, I'll maybe switch her gear, and then again at level 55 of course.
I don't have the coat or boots from the set so I did get to put new ones on her. And a new off-hand sword too. You can tell I haven't upgraded the sword yet cuz it isn't sparkling like the dagger.
But really I only leveled the rogue side to give a bit of a boost to the mage side. The rogue passive abilities that transfer over are bonuses to dodge rate and attack speed.
(Shouldn't the plural of bonus be boni?  Ha ha!)
It was fun to play rogue again. She is so fast! Stabby, stabby, stabby! And I really like the poison trap too. And of course sneaking around invisible is totally wicked.
I haven't quite figured out how to do the Shadow Step correctly. Supposedly you can Shadow Step behind your opponent in the middle of the fight and stab them in the back. I must not be fast enough on the hot keys because by the time I'm behind them and ready to stab, they're already turned around.  :(
Well, it's back to my mage side anyway. Gonna do some NoM runs with the guildies and perhaps Malatina's as well today. Cheers!

February 2, 2010

The Most Hated Mob on RoM

Borrofar.
Is there anyone who doesn’t loathe him?

That miserable stinky bear has heartlessly murdered thousands -- no, MILLIONS of innocent toons. No warning. Just walks up behind you and – Claw! Bam! Roar! – you have died.
It gives me great pleasure to kill Borrofar now that I am a level 53. I kill him pretty much anytime I am near the New Moon Forest or anytime someone does the standard zone shout-out: “Dammit, some big-azz bear just pwnd me from behind!” I race over and find the stoopid beast and fry him like bacon on a bonfire.

Borrofar, big bad bear, better beware!

February 1, 2010

Altar of Boring

Logged on with Spiral tonight and went to Mystic Altar to look around. I know I've been there before, obviously, because I completed the quests, but I didn't remember much of it. So I sauntered in and didn't have any trouble killing the level 40-42 elites that were prowling about: scorpions and Mana Bats and Zurhidon dudes. They seemed to drop a lot of recipes and useless runes, like Vitality I.
Got a chilly surprise when I touched the Holy Water...a coven of Ice Witches gathered round me and tried to freeze me solid.  Didn't much like that. I ended up running away just because I figured it wasn't worth using the potions to keep my mana and health up long enough to kill them all.
Wandered around a bit more in there but didn't stay long. There isn't really anything in MA that is necessary. I mean, FA and NoM have drops that people need for elites. MA, nothing like that. I'll probably do a bit more research online to find out if it's worth killing the bosses in there or not.
What's the next instance after MA? Hmmm...IDK? 
Cool! Just went to theromwiki.com and found this nice page. Pretty good list and a few of the links give more info.  Sweet.