Latest randomness

So I'm away from Age of Conan for a week. Kind of nice but I didn't get a chance to upload any screenshots before I left home. Hoping to be back on Sat and maybe I'll do it then.

I finally hit 20, got a big ol' battle axe. Figured out that mentoring in Tortage is pretty much useless for the lower level folks. I'll need to spend my next first moments of AoC retooling my toolbars to take advantage of new combos and such.

And on a completely unrelated note, I've found a new tv show to captivate me (I need to take a break from Firefly, having seen each episode prolly 100 times, though not recently, per aforementioned break). NCIS. Caught 3 episodes last Sat on USA. Good stories, good characters, good writing, and it actually makes me laugh. Been awhile. Besides The Office, I only really follow Rescue Me which won't re-air till Jan or Feb. Tonight is a new episode from season 6 on CBS, tomorrow is a marathon on USA.

And on a "podcasts I listen to" note, where the heck is Hyborian Herald #13? I'm jonesing pretty badly. I guess YaMB are recording 101 tonight. Considering how non-plussed I am about Hoth (granted I haven't been there but I have a 90 ent and a 14 smuggler, and you need 4 people to go to Hoth), I'll be interested to see what they have to say on the state of the game.

And on a pizza note, at some point I'll upload pictures of my double decker pizza from my phone and put it up for y'all to see. In the meantime, enjoy your turkey day if you celebrate it (and why would you turn down a chance to eat turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy, do you hate all that is right and good in this world?).

I've yet to upload screenshots of my plains experience. Found a hill I wanted to get up but there were too many durn Yeti. Unbelievable amounts of Yeti. Deciding to go another way, I headed across the plains and found an abandoned camp with a gong. I rang the gong. Didn't seem like a good idea but my toon looks so good I just can't tell her no. Stupid girl. Two Hyperborean warriors ported in and kicked her pretty little rear before she could even get a good combo off.

Forgot to mention a couple of things that I found over the weekend. I enjoyed running from a Yeti who spotted me and caused me to de-cloak. He was level 41, me 17, so I ran and jumped off the mini-cliff into the river that was going by. Phew, saved by a lack of inhibitions. It was fun when I realized I might get to the river before I was killed and that escape was within my reach.

Inventory overflow. I completed the bat demon quest but my inventory was full so I couldn't turn it in. Except I could, I just couldn't get the loot or xp. Then lady Zan (possibly a trucker) told me of the inventory overflow. Cleaned out my inv of some things, claimed my loot and BAM, xp. Good xp, left me 3 points away from level 17.

I also love the Fresh Kills concept. I know EQ2 has vitality which is nice, but fresh kills combined with AoC's better levelling curve (better IMO) is just delicious. Also nice? The chat ui. I love all the options available when I right click. This is so much nicer than SOE's version (SWG and EQ2). EQ2 does have a great guild managment system though, so I'm hoping AoC matches their chat quality in the guild system as well.

*Update* played with MrBubble again last night. Will post tonight and upload screenshots.

Screenshots from this weekend

Amandara_picture003
Originally uploaded by RHTblog

Here are some screenshots from this weekend. You may notice some weird issues due to the age of my system.

Oh, and you may notice MrBubble from YaMB in one of them.

Goodbye Tortage

Welp, I'll be dropping my Station Pass before long. Will play EQ2 over Thanksgiving probably, and maybe check out the holiday events, but for now I think I'll get my EQ2 fix through West Karana and other blogs. Age of Conan has taken possession of me.

My buddy and I have leveled from 5 to 17 completely by grouping (sometimes adding others) and killing crocs, gorillas, and others in the White Sands, and by doing quests in the Archeronian Ruins. Our battle against the bat demon was aided and made possible by a great group of people we happened to see running through the area and invited to our group. Standing atop the bat demon's ledge, there was just an amazing view. This game's visuals have hooked me in. Not just the style of graphics (EQ2 is amazing but the "feel" isn't right for me, isn't real), but the grand vistas. It was actually a screenshot in Cimmerian mountains that kept me coming back to any blog entry I could find about it, and finally prompted me to buy. Nothing on the AoC box captures me like the online mountain vistas I have seen. I'll upload screenshots I've taken later this week. Keep in mind I'm playing on a P4 3.4Ghz, 2gb ram, and an ATI X800XT. Not exactly current hardware (bought in Aug and Sept of 05).

The city of Tartania is beautiful but I had an urge to find mountians so I went to the area known as Lacheish Plains. Being a barbarian I had the advantage of stealth which became necessary when I crossed into an area with Yeti's. While running across the landscape trying to find the highest possible vantage points, I took a small fall and was de-stealthed. Taking advantage of the Yeti-less aspect of the immediate area, I started running to the next hill when I was set upon by two others, a level 17 and 18, some sort of melee classes (was too busy fighting to check). I was able to dispatch them both without making full use of my 2 step combos that I gained with level 17. What a rush. From "oh crap, I'm going to die" to "whoa, I just took that one out, and I still have 2/3's health" to "BRING IT ON SISTER!" to "aww man, I wanted to finish her off with the new combo". It was awesome. Since I lived, I bear no ill will towards them :) but instead instantly thought how special an element pvp adds to this huge world. Even if I had died, I would have been saddened at my reset in travel but since it was an even level ambush, it would have been ok, just "man, I wish my buddy would have been with me." 

This is why Age of Conan has captured me. The gameplay is something I enjoy (not just click auto attack and wait for specials to refresh), the graphic style is truly spectacular, and the lore background are just awesome. If only SWG could carry out the first part, and do slightly better on the second. Also, props to the Hyborian Herald (also a member of VirginWorlds), which is another thing that had me hooked. As with YaMB, I listened to it before I played the game, and while not even close to YaMB's style, he puts out a great podcast, and I eagerly await episode 13.

Anyways, that's all I have for now. Thanks to my buddy for giving me the social element, to my random group-mates (now on my friends list), to Funcom, and to Streamweaver for helping me find my gaming home. I haven't enjoyed a game (pc, xbox, 360, or ps3) this much since my days of QuakeWorld (thanks Muppet Clan), Half-Life (thank you freshmen year floormates), or Quake 3 (thanks Barker house foes). If you're on the RP-PVP serve Hyp, feel free to add Amandara to your friends list and look me up in game.

AoC Update

Ymir's pass is out and the new patch requires an update to DirectX. The link they provide didn't work for me (first you have to jump through hoops, then it fails to install). This link works (thanks forum poster aocmmo). Logged in to get some of my 20 Fresh Kills for the day. Needed about 4 to hit level 10 (in Archeron (sp?) ruins). Woot!

I should also add that even though I have an old pc (P4 3.4Ghz, 2Gb ram, ATI X800XT) and AoC is only getting between 12 and 20 fps, I've seldom noticed any hitching or fps problems. Compare that with SWG or EQ2 on my Macbook Pro (bootcamp, Core Duo 1.8Ghz, 1.5gb ram, ATI X1600) and it's impressive/ridiculous. If only the MBP had 30gb worth of HD space for bootcamp. My Thanksgiving week off (woot!) would be able to be filled w/ awesome AoC, but instead will be web surfing, maybe some SWG or EQ2, and other things not involving a PC. I've got a book I need to plow through anyways I guess.

Also, Metaplace's build mode looks way too intensive for someone as lazy as I. We'll see how that goes.

And in semi-related note-ish-ness (to the AoC topic), I love the commentary to Conan The Barbarian. You can't beat Arnold's observations. "Ha, I just hit that guy." Wow. Granted, they're not all like that, but 30-40% are. I do appreciate the commentary in general though (but I'm a fan of movie commentaries with directors and actors).

Metaplace

Got into Metaplace Beta, creating my first world (Age of Threepio).

Happy to be /stuck with you (and holiday talk)

Last night, ran around with Mr. Bubble just outside the walls of Tortage, trying to complete "A Brother's Vengeance." We were 2 level 8 (and then 9) fools getting schooled by Picts. We're both Barbarians, so no heals = either quick win or certain death, especially if a 3rd Pict happens upon our battle. We finally made it near the quest goal Pict, tried to be clever and sneak around to the side, and we both got stuck between the rock ledge and a tree. /stuck never worked. For awhile I was able to loot some enemies, which was weird considering I was clicking on a Pict that was just out of range of hating me, clicking combos, and hoping he would come at me. The combo click seemed to loot something from somewhere. Unfortunately they were all loot pieces that were orange to me. Will probably give it a try again tonight. "Tune in tonight at 8EST to Beavis and Butthead in Tortage." Fools we are.

*Update* R2D2 we wish you a merry Christmas. Thank Yoda for Holiday Extravaganza episodes of YaMB. It's cold here in Wisc, but no snow that will stick yet. It's not even Thanksgiving and I'm jonesing for Christmas. Or maybe just snow and a holiday (come on Turkey day, hurry up and get here). Also, regarding snow, today is Snow Plow Driver Appreciation Day in Wisc, so of course it's raining.

Q:Why do you think I'm building this dam? A:Because you don't know that lava beats bricks.

That quest dude outside tortage is great but he needs to realize that Lava wins. That's how it rolls. Continued on with my new toon on Hyboria (female Cimmerian barbarian, woot!) and grouped up with a buddy for some levelling goodness. Ran some random quests, killed lots of crocs, panthers, and picts. Good times. Love the dual wielding. Didn't realize I could sell looted crap to anyone I can buy stuff from, good call B. Gonna do my best to hit 20 and escape Tortage by next week. Not sure my buddy will have time to group and level that much.

Going to try to figure out the deal with the Underhalls and maybe try doing White Sands as Epic. http://aoc.wikia.com FTW. Anyways, that's all for now.

Mondays

Sometimes it doesn't pay to get out of bed. Guy's night out tonight. Hopefully get some AoC in too. Slaying picts sounds good about now.

*Update*
Day may be looking better. Time will tell. Picked up Conan the Wanderer over a quick run at lunch. Four short stories. Will see how they fare. Unfortunately that was the only book by Robert Howard at the W. Side 1/2 Prices Books (a place a recommend highly to any lover of reading).