Literary Challange 3

     I am running a bit behind this week. Lots of Family events going on this last week and more still to come this week. But on with the show.

     So last weeks challange was to write about the characters safe place, their Haven. As it was, I only had time to write one person's story, VAdm Danic's. The shows a bit of the interaction between him and Derip, his First Officer. The difference of their personality is what I was trying to play on alittle bit as I also set the stage as to why VAdm Danic sought out such solitude. Hopefull it was good enough for people to enjoy.

    I have given this some thought, and I have decided I would rather extend LC2 another week to give me a chance to finish the other two stories before going on now.

    I will send another blog out today about my characters. Until then, enjoy and have fun.

LC2: Danic's Haven

Stardate 91371.91            USS Explorer

                Commander Derip B’zoph stalked the halls of the Explorer looking for the Captain.  His Andorian antennae twitched in frustration from his lack of locating the Vulcan Vice Admiral. Derip knew that the captain needs to perform some of his rituals in isolation. But where on this ship would he find that solitude?  The fact that he had asked the computer to locate the captain was met with some message about it not necessary for him to know infuriated him to no end. In fact, he believed that the captain took some perverse Vulcan pleasure from angering him.

                Stomping past the botanical labs he picked up an odd sent. Like some incense was burning in one of the labs. He recalled that Vulcan’s liked to burn these smelly candles in their rituals. He twisted his head and followed the scent in the air.  The spicy aroma lead him through a couple labs and finally into a lab with lush jungle vegetation. The heat was unbearable but he pushed on.  As he approached the end of a table filled with leafy green bushes, Vice Admiral Danic stepped out from behind it, with a lumpy bag in hand.

                “There you are Captain. Starfleet has sent a communicade for your eyes only. You are needed on the bridge.”

                “Wait a moment, Derip. I need for you to keep my presence here a secret.”

                Derip furrowed his brow. “Why would that be, Captain?”

                “It has been the once place I have found on this ship that I can be alone and not disturbed for a few hours each day. Do you not have the desire to get away from others, the demands of command, and from the rigors of duty for a few moments? To escape the public’s eye?”

                Derip paused, it was uncharacteristic of Danic to ask such personal questions. “Well, yes. But I use the holosuite to bring up my home on Andoria. The ice fields really give you a sense of being alone. And the temp is so refreshing to be in.”

                “I see. Well, this is my holosuite, my place to contemplate my day and relieve the stress of command, and a place that I will most likely not be found by the crew or the senior staff. The temp is not unlike that of Vulcan, but with more humidity. I also take advantage of the strong smells that the vegetation create to hide the smell of my meditation candles. I have told the computer that I am not to be disturbed where here except in dire emergencies. “

                “Humph…I see.  I will keep this a secret. But can you let the computer know to tell me you are meditating when I need to reach you? I don’t think the crew liked seeing me stomping through their areas looking for you.”

                “Oversight noted and I will take measure to adjust it. Now, shall we go see what Starfleet Command wants?”

                “Yes, after you?”

                The Captain and his First walked calmly to the turbo lift, and their new orders.

Modern News and Views 2

  And again I got nothing for this feature. I am going to suspend this feature till I start actually doing something with it. Sorry folks.

Science News and Views 2

Star Trek Online
     There is a new event going on. Kid Q is hanging out at the faction capitols handing out XP boosts. It lasts for 4 hours.
     They also have been releasing Dev Blogs about what is coming in Season 8. Mostly covering the Voth and their designs. But the few things I have gleaned are that a new battle zone will be put in place that will be a battlefield with several regions. These regions will be battle for between the combined factions forces and the Voth. You get to take 2 bridge officers with you on these ground missions and up to five players. You battle accross the various zones trying to gain control and advance the front. Of course the Voth fight back. you get rewards based on how many fo these zones you hold on weekly basis.
     They have also announced that they are revamping the Rep system but have not released any details. I hope this revamp removes some off the grindier aspects of the rep system.
      Some of the details of the Voth forces has been released. They are technologically geared towards defensive postures. But the do make use of beast in battle. In fact, the fond terminology has been used to refer to these beast as Dinosaurs. So we are getting Dino's with Lasers on their heads. Hopefully they don't do it as cheesy as it sounds.
      Space battles will be with ships that have some unique defensive technologies built. These technologies are also geared to keep the Voth from taking damage or healing the damage that they have received. It will take people working together to overcome the Voth technological advantage.

Again there is nothing else in the science fiction games that I have reviewed or looked at. So tune in next time for the Mordern News and Views.

Fantasy News and Views 2

World of Warcraft

       LFR Wing 4 has opened up. New realms have been joined together to increase server populations, Garrosh got nerfed in LFR. Warcraft is in it's winding down stage of the patch cycle before Blizzcon's announcement of what the next expansion will be. At least everyone theorizes that the next expansion will be announced then. They do have a panel dedicated to the 'future of wow' so I assume that is when that will be announced what is next in store for us WOW players. Meanwhile I have hit General Forums to see if I can get LFR loot changed to reduce RNG's role in gearing. But so far I have had no blue posts, but a bit of lively discussion about my time spent in WoW. Hopefully I can get more people to discuss the pros and cons of a non-RNG based loot system.

Hearthstone

       More keys for Berta have gone out. Otherwise I have not seen any real news for this game.

     

Weekly Character Update

Airholen the Explorer
     I have now killed every boss but 1 in the first three wings of LFR. I have two peices of Tier 16 gear so far and 3 peices of upgraded Timeless gear and three peices of BIS gear that is not either of the previous mentioned groups. I also have killed a few more Rares that I have not downed before. But I have not completed the noodle cart missions yet.

Vice Admiral Zombee
     I have gotten all three reps upt to level 2. Nukara Rep should be level three tonight. Until I get the reps up I don't plan to do anything else except the new missions when Season 8 comes out.

Vice Admiral Danic
     He has gotten Level 2 with all the reps. It will be a few more days before I get Level 3, most likely with Omega first.

Lieutenant General Sisteric
     This one has also gotten to level 2 with all the reps. Probably will get Level 3 first with Nukar or Omega but not really sure.

    These were all the characters I had time for this week. The STO Characters are all stuck doing the rep grinds so that I can get the better gear for them. But according to some of the Dev Blogs they are going to roll out a new way to do Reps with Season 8. This will be the second time they have done this. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the current grindy system is.

    Tune in tomorrow for the Fantasy New and Views and what I have to say about the the various fantasy games I play or watching.

Literary Challenge 2

     So lets start off by going over the three stories I submitted.
     First up is Core Item Updater. This story revolves around my villain from DC Universe Online. In DCUO you create a character with a certain set of powers, a fighting style and a movement ability. In the case of Red Laughter, she is following Lex Luther, which makes her a meta human. Meta humans derive their powers by the virtue of their DNA. Red's power structure is based on gadgets. So this means she makes high tech stuff to do her things. I took this to mean that she has re-engineered her body with technology. She is a cyborg. Her fighting style relies on blasters. So she has blasters built into her hands. Her travel power is based on acrobatic maneuvers. So she has uploaded programs to get moving and dodging and climbing based on physics. She also has developed some gadgets to attained gliding and also rocket boosted gliding. Have decided that all of the body modification has taken it's toll on her mind. So she is a wee bit psychotic. I tried to present this psychotic portion of this personality with out revealing to much about her powers, to make her seem more monstrous. I hoped that it worked.
      Next is Danic's Prized Possession. This is a story centering around Vice Admiral Danic, a Vulcan Science Officer and Starship Captain. I found writing this story easier because of my familiarity with military life and the the Star Trek media. Vulcan's are not emotionless, but they do try to hide it. And I thought that a major turning point in his career would warrant a memento. Crew members would also rotate on ships, and I saw no reason that it would be any different in the future. And I think the meeting of the captain would be a standard thing to do in the Federation's friendly future methods. I used a Ferengi female as the foil because it allowed for the type of reaction I wanted with no animosity to be perceived. I think this was the better of the three submitted stories for it.
      Finally we have Valued Peace. A story set in Pandaria about my hunter character, It gives an insight into what drives Airholen to wonder so far abroad. And to take animals as friends over other humanoids. He seeks natural peace and a connection to this new world that his people have crashed on. And a farm is going start for this. I hope people liked this story, but it was the hardest one for me to write.
     So what do you guys think of the stories? Let me know.
     So for Literary Challenge 2 the story will be about where these characters feel the most home at. Where do they relax and chill and unwind after a hard day of work. The same three will be up again for their stories. So enjoy and hope to hear from you all.

LC1 Valued Peace: An Airholen the Explorer/WoW Story

                Airholen stretches as he exited the Pandarian farmhouse. The smells of an active farm fills his nostrils. The pigs, chicken and yak meander about eating. The dog sat at the base of the steps watching over them and the cat was sitting on an old stump cleaning himself.  He loved the rustic living that he found out here on the Pandarian continent. And getting away from the crystal powered ark was what drove him out into the world and away from his people.

                Panterra purred at his side. She was his constant companion. Her spotted white fur was soft to the touch as his brushed along his tail. She also seemed to prefer this place over most of the place his people, the Draenei, could be found.  Walking down the stairs, Airholen surveyed the farm and started to walk its perimeter. He didn’t fear that any creatures were damaging his fence line because the farm was on the outskirts of Halfhill. He wondered back around the house.

                The building sits up on stilts. There was a stairs that took it up to the low circular doorway.  The thatched roof was fresh and yellow. The interior was simple one room affair with cooking fire, bed and desk with chair.  It was sufficient for his needs, and didn’t have that hard feel of the stone, metal and crystal of Exodar. The wood grains and vegetable fiber carpets and bedding.

                This home and its isolation it provides from the bustle of world really was what he valued the most.  There was nothing else that compares to this calmness this place provides. He was home, and that was all that mattered. 

LC1 Danic's Prized Possession: A VAdm Danic/STO Story

                Stardate 91355.39  USS Explorer

                Vice Admiral Danic sits in his ready room, eyeing his new crewmembers. Assessing them in every manner his Vulcan senses can allow him. Three of the four crewmen were staring straight ahead, as good fresh cadets normally do. But the fourth one, Ensign Tugnarra, was looking over the shelves that held his souvenirs from previous missions. Tugnarra was curious enough for being a female Ferengi in Starfleet, but her uniform displayed the yellow of engineering too. And the lack of fear was interesting in a Ferengi.

                “Welcome to the Explorer. Remember, we are ship of science, not war. Do not expect to see combat. Do not expect to be safe either. We face the unknown, and that carries its own danger. You know your assignments. You are dismissed. Ensign Tugnarra, remain here. “Danic watched the crewmen leave, eyeing Tugnarra as they passed her.

                Tugnarra remained at attention while her compatriots filed out. But she just couldn’t keep her eye from wondering about the room. When the door swished shut, Danic once again looked at Tugnarra.”Do you know why I had you stay?”

                “No, sir.”

                “I am curious about your actions and attitude in my office. You seemed more interested in my office and lacked any of the fear that most new crewmembers have when meeting me the first time. Why is that?”

                “There is a saying on Ferenginar, ‘You can measure a man’s success by his possesions. But you can measure a man’s character by the possessions he treasures.’ I was just taking in what you show as having value to display. I like what I see, even if I don’t understand it all.”

                Arching his left eye brow quizzically, Danic looked at what was on display. ‘You are a quartermaster, if I remember correctly from your files. So you should recognize all that is on the shelf. So what don’t you understand?”

                Tugnarra hesitated. Then look straight at a lump of charred metal. “That piece of metal over there. It seems to be a burnt piece of hull structure. Unlike the other pieces, it has no obvious artistic value or functionality. It stands out as an oddity amongst all the cleaner aesthetic pieces. It represents something. Something that you are not afraid of talking about, but feel no need to bring up yourself. I would think that it’s connected to your first command, based on your public records started with in disaster. “

                Danic looked at Tugnarra. Ferengi logic was always a curious thing. Profit and acquisitions as the guiding factors for one’s life seemed to be a shallow way to live. How they could find such joy and self-worth in such things was beyond him. “It is from that fatal day. I kept it to remind me of how disaster is not always a bad thing. From that moment, command took notice of my efforts and so gave me the Discovery. There are many examples in history of where failure brought new discovery.  My discovery was that I can command others and make those right choices. And Command learned that they had another starship captain when they needed one.  That piece I picked up from the bridge once I got back to ESD, before I meet with the Admiral.”

                Calmly Danic looks over the Ferengi female. “You have yet to explain your attitude.”

                Tugnarra frowned. “I don’t know what you mean? I am not sure what attitude you mean?”

                Danic stood up and approached the crewmember. “Most new crewmen who come to my office are too afraid to do more than stare straight ahead, too afraid to say anything and all to glad to be dismissed. You on the other hand were so busy looking around that I doubt even your famed Ferengi hearing heard all of what I had to say. What sets you apart from the rest?”

                Tugnarra gave a snaggletooth grin.  “I see. Well…on Fereginar, females are not allowed to do many things. We are largely ignored, which allows me the luxury to always look around without worry. Besides, since it’s illegal for females to leave Fereginar, the threat of a stern warning from a Starfleet Admiral pale in comparison to Liquidators grabbing me and taking me back to Fereginar to face charges for being a female with the lobes for business. No offence.”

                “None taken. Very well. Does my explanation of the hull piece sufficient?”

                “Yes sir.”

                “Then carry on. Report to Commander Kerrick. Dismissed.”

                The young Ensign nodded and turned to leave. As she get to the doors, Danic heard her whisper “He’s nicer than most Vulcan’s. I wonder what it would cost to buy command apprenticeship.” And the doors close.

                That would be a curious thing, a Ferengi Starfleet Captain. Would be most curious.

               

                

LC1 Core Item Updater: A Red Laughter/DCUO Story

                A man sits in the dark. He is very scared for he doesn’t remember how he got here.  He hears a small metallic sound as if metal hit stone. He looks about in the dark and then focuses on the two glowing circles that were floating in the air. “Hello?” he nervously calls out.

                Laughter with a metallic edge floated towards him. “Hello he says. Well hello, John” the female voice tuned the man’s blood cold.

                “Red, is that you? You ok?” John was afraid.

                “Yes, John, I am fine. And I won’t hurt you…..much.”  He hears a stifled laugh. “I want something, John. I want my things back. Please tell me that Robearto is fine. Please tell me you still have him.” He could hear her giggle a bit. “Or I will have to make you pay for him. Where is Robearto?”

                John swallows. Red loved that bear. And he didn’t know what had happened to Red the night those Aliens came and took her and the others. But it’s been hard living since she was gone. The apartment they shared had been hit hard by the invasion.  He had left in a hurry leaving everything behind. He didn’t know what had happened to her or his stuff that he had left behind. His life has been hard ever since. “I don’t have it. During the invasion I left in a hurry leaving everything behind.”

                A light turned on over him. It was harsh compared to the utter darkness he had been in. Then something soft flew out of the darkness beyond the pool light and hit him in the head. He looked at it where it landed. It was Robearto. “Oh, you found it. That’s good.” He held his breathe.

                “Yes. Yes I did. Poor Robearto was all alone. Robearto didn’t like being left alone. He wants you to know that you were a bad man for leaving him.” Her laughter wafted in again.

                “Red is no more, John. Red Laughter is here to right the wrongs done to poor Robearto.” John’s eyes widen as Red Laughter stepped into the light. Her mechanical eyes glowed red. The patchwork of woman and machine smiled as his fear became even more evident. “Yes, John. You left me and Robearto. And Robearto says you need to be punished. “ Red Laughter’s palm starts to glow. “And I am going to punish you….” She laughed with inappropriate joy at the prospect of his pain.

                He screamed for hours, before he died. 

Modern News and Views 1

     So this is supposed to be about Modern games. But I haven't been playing any lately so have not payed them any attention. So I will plan to play DCUO and Champions Online at least once over the next week so that I have something to say here.

Sorry folks.

Science News and Views 1

                So today we have the very first Science News and Views. I will cover Star Trek Online; the only science fictions based game I am currently playing.  At some point, I will return to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but for now it’s strictly Star Trek Online.

Star Trek Online

                So I figure I should first explain this game a little bit. Star Trek Online (STO) is a free to play MMORPG. You take on the role of a ship’s captain. You will send crewmen off on missions, take bridge crew on ground missions and fly your ship in space battles. As the name implies, it is based in the Star Trek Franchise, but not part of the alternate timeline that JJ Abrams has created.  You can me a member of the Federation, Klingon Empire or Romulan Republic. So that is the basics.

                STO is working on Season 8, seasons being expansion. The new Season is The Sphere and will deal with a Dyson Sphere that is home base of some Voth. The Voth are a dinosaur-like species from the Voyager series. They are more advanced than anything in the Alpha Quadrant. In this expansion, they are aslo coming out with a new federation ship, Avenger Class Battlecruiser. This ship is designed to look like it was built for war but retain the classic look and feel of Federation ships. So far, I think that it looks good.

                The expansion will have space and ground combat. The Voth ground forces include high tech armored Voth soldiers, cyborged dinosaurs with lasers, and armored battle mechs that are mini tanks. These units have interactivity amongst themselves so that they developed tactics that combine the unit powers together for greater effects. This will make it that your ground missions and away teams will have to work together to beat the high tech Voth and what other threats they have yet to release. The Voth are not being presented so much as an enemy of the state but a organization with goals at odds with our government’s goals. No animosity but a desire to control the future of the Dyson Sphere.

                For those who don’t know what a Dyson Sphere is, let me try to explain. Take a sun and build a ball of metal surrounding it. Put the walls of this ball the same distance from the sun as the Earth is and now you have a basic idea. The people would live on the walls of the ball with a sun always shining down on you.  This is the general idea.

                They are still working on this expansion and as they release more info, I will update this blog. Tune in tomorrow for the Modern News and Views.  Have fun everyone!

Fantasy News and Views 1

                This is the first Fantasy News and Views update. We have news on WoW, Neverwinter, Hearthstone and EQ Next. So let’s get started.

World of Warcraft

That when I learned about the random factor on Burdens. You get a random enchantment when you combine it with a Timeless Token.  Now, if you’re a person who likes to plan out their time to get things, because you have limited time, and need to make sure that every choice moves me in the right direction.  Randomness eliminates any sense of personal control or accomplishment of obtaining that goal. While I don’t like randomized rewards for boss kills, I can at least accept it because it’s a reward that I received at the end of one action, a fight. The Burden’s take days, in my case weeks, of effort to get 50K Coins, just to apply it to the token and get some enchantment that might not be what I needed for the optimization of my character to be completed. It sucks because either I languish with the realization that I might never get the character built to be what I want it to be, or don’t plan on ever optimizing my character to be the best that I have the ability to get it too. It sucks, and has ruined my desire to do more on the Timeless Isle.

                Otherwise, we know that Patch 5.4.1 is in the works, hopefully this means that we will find out Garrosh’s final fate in Pandaria. I really don’t have much more on the news as I didn’t have a lot of time reviewing the news for WoW this week.

 

Hearthstone

                More closed Beta keys have been released. More players are being brought in, I think this will help in raising the player base for testing, maybe doing some pre-release stress testing of the services on a lower scale. I have encountered two bugs in the system so far, and have reported it. Not much else to say for it.

 

EQ Next

                Everquest (EQ) Next is the next iteration of the EQ MMO.  They have a Round Table in which they ask fans questions. They take those answers and make choices based on the collected data. The current question is about Lore. They want to know in what way you like to learn about game lore, either by cut scenes, questing notes, external sources or some mixture thereof.  This game appears to be going in a new direction for MMO’s, you get to destroy the world like bridges and trees and such. This means you can find new places by digging. We will keep an eye on this for now.

 

Neverwinter

                This is a D&D based MMO. It is free to play. I have had a lot of fun playing this game but recently haven’t had the time. They are releasing a new lockbox with high end gear in it. I haven’t been on to get any so far.

 

Tune in tomorrow to see what the news in Science News and Views will be be.

Weekly Character Update

Airholen the Explorer
    The Timeless Isle gives up some booty. I got the mount off of Houlon, nothing from LFR wing 2 and 3, and have picked up several burdens. I used the burdens to get several off the timeless armor pieces up to iLevel 535. I also picked up some grievous leggings from the Celestials. I have picked up enough valor points to upgrade several of the armor pieces.

Brewmaster Asmodea
     Sold some stuff. Done nothing else.

Zombee, Danic, Sisteric and Grell
     All of them have completed the CE event and received the 50k Dilithium, a Very Rare Duty officer and several hundred marks. All four have returned to the trail of rep grinding once again.

     Sorry this isn't much this week, but I really didn't play much because of Hearthstone. I got a beta key into the Hearthstone Closed Beta. This has taken my interest very hard as I try many things. I have reported some of the problems I have encountered, but overall this game is more fun than any Magic game I ever played. And I like Magic a lot.
      So tune in tomorrow for the Fantasy News update, where I will talk about WoW, Hearthstone, Neverwinter and whatever else I think of. See you then.

Literary Challenge 1

     This challenge will be to write about your characters favorite object. This object must have personal value, but not necessarily monetary value. You can either write about how they across the item or why it is the valued possession. You can make it as a conversation between characters and npcs, or as a story about the object itself. It also doesn't need to be an object that is in the game.
      Fantasy character for this will be Airholen the Explorer. A World of Warcraft character.
      Science Fiction character will be Vice Admiral Danic. A Star Trek Online character.
      Modern Character will be Red Laughter. A DC Universe Online character.
      I will right additional ones if time permits.
      There will be no discussion of the previous story as there was none.
      I hope to see some comments and discussions on this topic. Tune in next time for the Fantasy news if I have nothing to say on Monday.

Pre-Story Teller posting

     So today is supposed to be a story, but we haven't had a Sunday Literary challenge yet. So no story. But I will say now is that I am excited about the prospects before me. I welcome anybody to write any thoughts as to what the challenges could be.
     Over at Star Trek Online they have a literary challenge that they run every two weeks. I plan on doing this for the first few Sundays. At least until either come up with cool ideas of my own or reader submissions come in. I plan to take the STO challenge and apply it to my characters from all three genres. Hopefully, people will like it. I think I will do one from each genre for sure, and additional ones if time permits.
      I hope people will like this new direction for me and join in. But time will tell. I know I will have fun.
      Tune in tomorrow to find out what the first Literary challenge will be.

Future plans of the Cast of Characters

      Hi all. I know that I have mostly been writing about what I have done with my characters. I also occasionally write about how the changes in WOW are affecting my play with those characters. But I wanted to take a step back for moment and look at what I have been doing, what I really wanted to accomplish with this blog.
      So what is it that I wanted to accomplish with this blog? Well, I want to talk about my characters from all games I play, not just mmo's, but all games. I wanted to write stories about those characters.
       So how do I get there? Well let's look at what I have done so far. I have a regular piece that talks about what I have done with my characters as a generic news. I have also talked about the WOW patches as I have experienced them as a player. All of this has been done from the viewpoint of player talking about the characters. I made a short stab at writing about the adventures of characters as they played the quests in WOW. But I stopped as I finally reached a point that it seemed like I was writing a wordy version of my Character updates. It didn't feel right. And with the lack of feedback on those stories, it didn't seem like a good use of my time.
     So how do I change things to make this different? I am going to rethink how I go about things. SO far I have been very WOW-centric. I need to change to encompass all of the games I play. I need to not only present information on changes in WOW but in STO, Neverwinter and every other game that I regularly play. And I want to write more stories involving my characters of things that is not about the quests and dungeons and such. I want to expand their back story and their personalities. I also want to talk about my process and my choices.
     So i have decided that I am going to break these things into segments. Assign the segments a specific day and proceed from there. SO here is my preliminary idea...

     Monday, No specific blogging. Gives me a day to just relax but also leaves it open for thoughts or news I just feel like talking about if the mood strikes me.
     Tuesday.  My regular Character updates that I have been doing. The news report on what characters I played and what progress I have made with them.
     Wednesday. Fantasy News. Blogs about fantasy games that I play and the recent news involving them. Like patches, hot fixes or just interesting tidbits. At least things interesting to me.
     Thursday. Science Fiction News. Blogs about science fiction games I play, like Star Trek Online, and news that comes out about them.
     Friday. Modern News. These will be blogs about games that don't quite fit in the above categories. Things like Champions Online.
     Saturday. Story Teller day. I will post a story based on a previously discussed concept from Sunday's blog. I will either post one of my works or from a submitter, if I get any.
     Sunday. Literary Challenge. Start off by discussing Saturday's story and then move on to what next Saturday's story will be. If I get readers submissions for subject matter and even character or characters to involve in the story, then these will be discussed and chosen from during this blog.
    
     Now the above outline is subject to change. And also will suffer from the interference from Real Life. So there may be days where things don't get done, or days might get doubled up on. Each character will have it's own post for his story. So there might be more than one post on Saturday to cover all of the stories I may have written.

     If all of this goes well, my next stage in this will be to create a podcast covering fiction written in these game worlds. I would like to get listener submissions that could read on the podcast. I would like to get even the authors on the podcast to discuss the story and anything else. I would also like to eventually get the writers of the novels for the games to be interviewed too. But I first will start off with my own stories. But before the podcast gets started, I will work at finishing up rebuilding my computer.

    I hope that you all will be excited about my planned changes. As always, I would love to hear feedback, good and bad, about what I am doing here. So please let me know. Thank you all, and plaese tune in next time for the Start of the New Cast of Characters format.

Weekly Character Update

Airholen the Explorer
     Ran the second wing of LFR again. Still no BIS. Still roaming the island and finding more boxes. Got a second Bonkers in the cave. Got some new boots from the LFR and waering them for now as they are iLevel 528 base.

Zombee, Danic, Sisteric and Grell
     Continuing the CE event. In about 4 days, Zombee and Danic will have it done. Grell will be in 5 days and Sisteric will be six days out. These missions have stopped most of my efforts to get the reps done.But at least the Nukara Points are generated from these outings.

      I haven't had time to play any other character at this time. What I have gotten to do is buy some parts for a new computer  and got the Hearthstone Beta key last night. I will say that I have enjoyed playing the Hunter deck, though I have not been very successful as yet. I have only played the PLay mode and the Practice modes so far. I have yet to try areana. I have gotten 200 gold so I will try that one evening that I have time to play it.

     Tune in next time to see what else I have to talk about..

Seige of Timeless Loot, Part 2

                Now, my Rogue has been roaming around on the isle. I have had a lot of time to check out the various places that my Hunter has been too already. And now trying to sneak about to find new places. This has been able to push up my iLevel faster than I ever did with my hunter. But I have only pretended to start on the legendary cloak quest.  I guess I should really track this and get it done quickly, but it so much more fun as a rogue to sneak about and grab those chests.

                Decking out my rogue in mostly Timeless gear has been a great way to get my alt into the game again. So my plans, now, is to get my Tauren Paladin leveled 90 quickly and then start her roaming the Timeless Isle to get her upped the same way. I think once I have a Horde toon gathering Timeless Tokens, I will be able to level all of my toons and get it done this expansion. I hope at least. Most of my toons will be timeless geared decked out, but not BiS gear. It should keep my relevant enough to be fun. Maybe I will eventually gear them to Tier 16, but it won’t be a priority.

                The first wing of LFR was fun too. Between 2 different runs I got all of my BIS gear I am going to get from them. The mechanics and time spent fighting those four bosses felt appropriate and worth it. And the rewards were more than just gold, which has been a better move over previous tiers. Wing two of the Siege is way better, I think. The fact that you actually have to think about the mechanics and what you have to do I thought was awesome. But this past week they nerfed that. I haven’t tried the LFr since the nerfs, but from what I have read, the ease of killing the bosses has gotten waayy easier. Not sure that is a good thing. But I won’t say for sure till I have given it a go. Now, my Hunter still needs two pieces of BIS gear in wing two. And All I have to do is keep running this till I get it. I am just hoping that it’s not one of those tier 15 weeks till you get what you want events. I hate RNG for loot. And I wish it was done away with. But that’s a topic for another post….

                So all in all, I love this new expansion. I really only have minor problems with it so far. The fact that I can gear my alts quickly in this patch makes me feel so much better. And the Raids are good, and entertaining.

                So what do you think of Siege of Ogrimmar? Good? Bad? Let me know. And tune in next time to see what else I may say.

Siege of Timeless Loot, Part 1

                So, it’s been 4 weeks now that Siege of Ogrimmar Patch 5.4 has been released. I think that is long enough now for me to speak my piece about the Isle and what changes the patch has brought to my characters and play style.

                First off, the new area is called the Timeless Isle. And Island where time stands still. From the moment I have gotten there, I have been having fun roaming the island killing things.  My hunter has killed almost every creature on his own (High Priest of Ordos eludes me yet). The slaying of Rares is fun, but sometimes they are killed faster than I can get over there.  

The only thing I see has being bad is Celestials and Ordos, the world bosses. No one seems to want to take them on. As a casual player, and coming from a very small guild, I have no one to draw upon to group up with to take these characters on. And I can’t do it by myself. And so I have yet to fight Ordos, and haven’t had a shot at the celestials since the first week.  Previous world bosses always had players going after them. But these guys never seem to have any pugs forming for it. Why this is I am not sure. But with all the new options to get gear, including flex raiding, I feel that the desire to do these bosses without guildies has been reduced or even removed. In fact, I think that there is a lot of changes in this patch that is pushing players to do more with their guildies than with pugs, which really hurts a player like me. With extremely low membership in my own guild, and not knowing very many players in the game, I suffer from the lack of content I want to do because I am not as socially connected in WoW as others. LFR was a godsend to me because it allowed me to experience raiding on a time schedule that fits within my home life.

There are chest that are strung all over the island and give you coins and a chance at epic tokens.  These tokens give iLevel 496 all the time or iLevel 535 with a Burden piece. The Burdens are hard to come by but are nice to have when you can get them. Both my Hunter and Rogue have had no real trouble getting the tokens. And these tokens are bound to the account which means I can transfer them to my other characters to hold on to till they get to level 90.

But the biggest change has been to my Hunter talents. The loss of Silencing Shot to my Beast Master has been a hard pill to swallow. Counter Shot is not that effective, and the cool down on it means I can never keep a caster from not casting a particular spell like I could with Silencing Shot. In fact, all that Counter Shot accomplishes is forces a spell with a casting time to start over again. In the end, Counter Shot actually just lowers my DPS with no real effect. I can accomplish the same interrupt with just doing lots of damage, even better it effects all spells he is casting all the time and I am DPSing him down at the same time. On NPC’s, the Counter Shot doesn’t seem to stop elites from casting and normal seem to just cast another spell, not even missing a beat. I am going to have to trade out binding shot for intimidation. Hopefully this will have a better overall effect for my survivability.

I think this is good enough for today. I will continue my analysis tomorrow. Tune in to see what else I have to say.

Weekly Character Update

Another week has gone by and another update has come.

Airholen the Explorer
    Continued exploration of the Timeless Isle has found a few new chests. I did finally get Bonkers from the chest guy. Rode an Albatross to get to a chest on a high mesa. Killed a couple new rares and continued on my quest to get good gear.

Brewmaster Asmodea
     She has started on her search of the Timeless Isle loot. She is half decked out in Timeless Isle gear. Also have found a few chests. Still working on getting her iLevel up high enough to get into the LFR for SoO. Getting close but not quite there yet.

Zombee, Grell and Danic
     Have completed the Crystal Entity event three times now for the special event. Have not put any effort into the Rep Grind because of it.

Sisteric
      My system crashed while playing this guy in an CE mission. Lost everything, including the ability to get the crystal shard later that day. So I am only 2 shards along the way on this special event.

     So that is the week of activity for me. Tune in next time to see what I have to say next.