July 30, 2010

Say Hello

I've created another alt. Now before you go sighing and shaking your head at me, listen to my reason...I want to try playing on a PVP server!
I've been fascinated by the idea of a PVP world for a while now, I think because I've been enjoying siege so much. There's a real thrill to the feeling that I could be killed at any moment while just minding my own
business. I guess that's called paranoia, isn't it? Sounds fun!
So I made an elf and I called her Sunkissed. I tried my best to make her as innocent looking as possible. I'm hoping to cause my enemies to pause for at least one millisecond before they attack. I need every advantage I can get.
I've decided to make her a Warden/Rogue. I've tried Warden before and haven't been fond of it but I figure the pet will help protect me and also level me up faster. And Rogue obviously is for the fully awesome hide skill. I also looked up the elite skills for Wd/R on theromwiki.com and they look kinda neat.
I'll be posting a bit about Sun's adventures here for all to read. Perhaps I'll discover that constant vigilance isn't as thrilling as I imagine and quit right away. Or perhaps I'll go all Benicio del Torro and stay in Indigo forever!

July 28, 2010

Death by Guinea Pig

Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been out adventuring in the Real World! Summer is the best. :)

Today I logged on the game for a bit during a lull in my workday and managed to get Spiral killed twice in 40 minutes. The worst one was when I was obsessively chasing a Magic Cavy and ran into a Naga Firestarter and her burly bodyguard. Eeeps! I swear I heard the Cavy laughing at me.

On a different note, I don't know if it's just me but I seem to be experiencing quite a bit of lag in the game lately. Everything is jumpy and other players are disappearing and reappearing farther away. Very strange. I've always had issues with saving my video settings too so it's annoying tweaking my settings every time I log in. I've read some stuff in the forums about it but nothing seems to work for me. Oh well. Not a big deal really. Just complaining.
Gonna go play now. Maybe something cool will happen that I can blog about.  :)

July 22, 2010

HotO

Went for a couple of runs through Heart of the Ocean last night with my friends from The Knights of Good. Had a blast! Got stuck, got killed, got loot, and got too little sleep! (To bed at 5am and up for work at 8:30am.)
This is us with the corpse of the Teeth of the Reef.
The highlight of the run was finally taking down Geba! Didn't get a screenshot of it because we were too busy oohing and ahhing over 2 purple drops. Neither were for mage/rogue, but I did pick up a level 55 blue wand from another mob so I was happy.
We took a crazy-fun shot at Medusa after I quickly scanned through a Youtube video. The fight is more of a strategy thing than a tank-and-spank but we quickly discovered we still didn't have enough DPS to take her down. Ah well. We resurrect to fight another day!

It's fun to go with a group of friends to an instance because everyone is a bit more open about their mistakes. In a pick-up group, I find it harder to admit that I don't know what I'm doing and I also find myself apologizing way too much. My boys from KOG (ha!) are very understanding of my ability to pull a whole room of nasties onto their asses.  Love you guys!

July 19, 2010

1001 Baby Names....NOT

I was having trouble thinking of a name for a new pet when I came across this really cool website.
The Online Demon Dictionary
It is just stuffed full of totally wicked names! I might just end up naming all my toons and pets after demons from now on.
Before I discovered this helpful resource (hee hee), most of my toon names just sprung to mind when the toon was being created. Spiral's name is from the fact that when I doodle, it's almost always spirals. Not kittens or happy faces or flowers. Just spirals. Not sure what that means.
Of my alts, Sister Agatha's name just seemed appropriate for an elderly female priest who likes baking. Mousekin is named after a mouse in a children's book that I loved when I was small. I have an elf alt named Kestry but only because Kestra was taken. Kestrals are fierce and beautiful little falcons.

Naming a toon says a lot about your own personality. Well, obviously, I'm a bit MPD, but even then I would never name my toon Red Eyed Toker or Jennifer. Wait, correct that. I might name a toon Jennifer, but only if it was a ginormous male knight! I love to mess with people.

P.S. Was just re-reading this post and realized how funny the title "Online Demon Dictionary" is. It sounds like it's a dictionary of all the demons that are online. I wonder if they're on Twitter?  :)

July 16, 2010

To Laugh or To Cry...

Playing on (yet another) alt and tried to upgrade her Logar set.
HA! Mega-fail. Uber-fail. Mr Faily McFailpants. I'd like a Fail burger with a side of french Fails. Fail is my middle name AND my last name. I eat Fail for breakfast. There is no I in Fail...oh wait, yes, there is!

I get an A for effort...or else an P for persistence!

July 14, 2010

Mousekin & Puppy

This is my alt, Mousekin, with her pet, Puppy. I don't remember what animal he actually is since once you change the name of your pet, it no longer tells you the type. I think he is the wolf that hangs out with the Cyclops. I get a lot of "nice pet!" comments on him.  :)

I finally got a Pet Event with Puppy. Mouse was touring around Sascilia finishing up some lower level quests and it came up on my screen: "Your pet wants to talk to you." I clicked on the little box that was up near my mini map and a window opened up with a question and multiple choice answers. The question was something about a dog stealing something from him. I answered, "What did he steal?" Then I received a gift egg! When I opened it, it contained Low-Fat Goat's Milk which is a pet food that gives nourishment of +20.

I found a thread on the forums that talks all about the various pet events and what the best answers are. Check it out here.

P.S. Lost siege last night to a mega-uber guild called Kabal. They captured all towers, broke down both castle gates and captured Anomalies' Honor Crystal in 19 minutes. Impressive!

July 13, 2010

I WON!!!

I actually won a siege all by myself! WOOT!!
By some crazy twist of luck, Anomalies got matched up with a guild that only had only one player for siege. I was all alone from my guild too but fortunately for me, the other guy was a lower level. He didn't really cause me much trouble.

All my frustrating attempts to win previous sieges when I was highly outnumbered had forced me to perfect my strategy for capturing crystal towers alone. I don't have enough HP to kill the guards, so I've developed a sneaky way to distract them while I occupy the tower...and tonight it actually worked! I captured all his crystal towers and then just let the timer run out. I know that it takes too freaking long to break through the castle gates so I didn't even try. Besides that, I know I'm not strong enough to take on that guardian thingy by their castle crystal.

Anyhoo, got 5 Glorious Victory Packages, which is fully awesome! Gonna dole out the XP orbs to some alts and level them up.

I was thinking about recruiting for Anomalies but now I may hold off some more. It's actually nice to be in a quiet guild, yet have the benefits of a library, gathering points, siege, etc.

July 12, 2010

I'm a Lowbie

Apparently, numbers aren't everything.
I went for a run through HotO with some very nice folks. I suppose in hindsight I should have mentioned that I wasn't too familiar with the instance, but I didn't do that, so I ended up dying, oh, five times? Maybe six? I lost count!
The group was very nice, especially the healer, and they resurrected me without complaint. But they did say to me: "We were all lowbies once."
Lowbie???  HA!  I laughed out loud at my desk. How astute of them!
I can't deny it. I am a lowbie. Just cuz I'm level 58 doesn't mean that I know what the EFF is going on. I was the one with the lowest HP and the worst gear. If I was them I would think I was a lowbie too. But a level 58 lowbie seems an oxymoron, doesn't it? Maybe I need to invent a new word to describe someone who has reached a high level but doesn't have "elite" gear and stats yet. Midbie? Almost-leet? Semi-uber?
That little 58 beside my name gets me the invites into places like HotO and even HoS and ZS, but doesn't help me to not take a dirt nap when the big bad bosses come out to play, that's for sure. Most of my deaths were one-shots. One second I'm alive, panicky but alive, then I'm dead and frowning at my combat log, thinking, "WTF hit me??"
Sigh. Perhaps I should strut around Silverspring for a while to boost my self esteem.  :)

July 9, 2010

Cool Thing In Siege

I got into siege tonight, which hasn't been the case very often in the past while. I was fighting merrily away and I accidentally clicked on a Flame Tower and this came up.

WTF!  Who knew??? I didn't know you could upgrade Flame Towers! Anyway, totally cool. I clicked on the Faces of Treachery to see what they did but no go for that.
Speaking of Faces, they changed their description. Now the description says something like they "slow your advance". It appeared to me that they were still knocking people down but I personally never got hit by one during this siege so I'm not 100% sure what the effect actually is, if it's changed at all.

Siege was fun tonight. What am I saying? It's fun every night we get in! But tonight we actually TIED for the first time. Anomalies has lost every siege we've ever been in -- hee hee -- so a tie is pretty cool. Unfortunately, we got the exact same rewards as if we had lost, so it was hardly worth the effort. Oh well.

By the way, for those who haven't seen it yet, I've made a Guild Siege Guide and hosted it here on my blog. You can get to it by clicking on the link over to the right. There's also links to my Arcane Transmutor Guide and a bit about my guild, Anomalies.

July 6, 2010

Sudden Growth Spurt

I think Spiral has reached puberty because today she grew like 3 feet! 
Actually, I got a Fullness potion from my housekeeper and it made me get all super-sized. I also got a potion of Unbridled Unthusiasm which increased my movement speed by 15% and also one called Princely Look that turns me into a frog.
I'm glad they fixed the housekeepers. I've been trying to remember to chat with mine every day to bring up her Affinity score. Today was the first time I asked her to craft anything for me and I don't think it did anything to her Inventiveness score but maybe she has to do it a few times.
I've dressed up my poor housemaid in leftover costumes from Halloween and some of my old Tempest Heights gear. Isn't she lovely? I think I enjoy it too much that she looks like an idiot. I guess I'm some sort of sadistic boss or slave owner or something!  Ha ha!
But the fact that Frogster fixed the housekeepers is a good sign that they are listening to our complaints and taking actions. I hear a lot of negativity online and in the forums and I try not to let it get me down. I still enjoy playing RoM very much, even with the bugs, (o, siege, how I miss thee!), so I will keep my frustrations to myself and give the game guys time to work it out.

July 3, 2010

Pets Pets Everywhere

So the big deal in the new patch appears to be the pets. (I know the higher levels are bonkers over Warnorken Arena, but I'm not there yet.)
Of course, I went right away to "the guy on the donkey", which seems to be the standard description of him, and took my pet training. Pretty simple and I got a little lime ball pet out of it.
Also checked out the quests in Miller's Ranch. There are two there that give you rewards for your pet. I did the chicken one just cuz it was called "An Easy Lay." Sheesh, what a quest title. I think the localization folks are having a bit of fun with us.
And I got another giggle when I was required to cheer on the chicken as it laid an egg. "Come On! Go for it!" Pretty embarassing, especially when Gravity Cat was watching. :)

So 10 eggs equals one Miller's Special Cake which equals training 1, nourishment 5, experience 10 for your pet. I guess if you don't have gold, this is the way to get food. And there has been a lot of chatter in the zones about how expensive food is for the pets. They called it a "gold sink". I think I may agree. Later in the day, I was purposefully not summoning my pet cuz I had no food to feed it!

Anyway, I bought a bunch of traps...ok, 20 traps...and went out and killed mobs. On my tenth one, a Magic Cavy appeared. So cute! (I've got a thing for rodents.) I herded it around and caught it in the trap. Woot! It gave me this level 15 strange looking thing that I named Goober.
Caught the Pokemon fever then and starting catching cavies all over the place. I even threw some eggs out before I realized that they could actually be sold on the AH even though the description says they can't. I ended up with a level 6 Forest Fox and a level 30 Wasp. I renamed the wasp Hunnybee so I wouldn't be so icked-out about having a hornet flying around me. Did freak some people out in Varanas Central though!
One of the strangest things is that the pet talks to you as it buzzes around. Somewhere I read that what you say back has an effect on their stats but I tried talking to it and could see no difference. Besides, half the time the pet said something, it was off the screen and I couldn't read it. And it's awfully embarrassing to say "I love you" out loud on Varanas Bridge! What am I supposed to say when people look at me funny? "Oh, I was just talking to my bee."

Things I learned that might be helpful to others: Those darn Magic Cavies will climb up cliffs and go through walls so don't push them that way thinking it will stop them.
There are Pet Hunter guys in Varanas East and Obsidian Stronghold Trade Square.
Magic Cavies can be ninja'd.
The golden egg that you occasionally get from the chicken quest doesn't actually give you an unbound pet because all pets are currently unbound. This may change.

Got distracted by the onset of double XP/TP for the weekend and stopped gathering eggs and went to level some alts. Pretty soon, everywhere I went there were Magic Cavies running everywhere and people just leaving them. Either folks are already bored with them (bad sign), or they didn't have traps (like my alts).

So I'm off to enjoy the long weekend out in the sunshine. Hoping to get some more play time in so I can level some more and get Spiral's rogue side to 58.
Happy Canada Day to the Canadians, and Happy Fourth of July to the Americans!

Side Note: I killed a Forest Fox in Weeping Coast and it dropped a Strange Crystal. Used to be only able to get these from the Spirit of Tempest Heights event in DDC. Collect 20 Strange Crystals and you can exchange them for an Ancient Treasure Key to open locked treasure boxes. Cool. Nice addition.