2017 in review

The year is nearing its end and so it’s time for a new round of “what happened?”.
What I played a lot:

  • WoW: Legion
  • SW:TOR
  • Guild Wars 2
  • Marvel Heroes
  • Ragnarok Restart
  • InfiniPicross, Picross Touch & Picross Luna

Completed:

  • Mass Effect 3
  • Fallout Shelter (146h, 34/35 achievements)
  • InfiniPicross (it’s infinite, but 27h and 100% achievements have to count)
  • Picross Touch (“completed”, 60h, 13/18 achievements, 550+ games played)

Played a bit:

  • Party Hard
  • Project Highrise
  • Crypt of the Necrodancer
  • Rise to Ruins
  • Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
  • WildStar
  • EVE Online
  • TESO (The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited)

Gaming expenses in 2017:

  • SW:TOR: 3x 11 EUR
  • WoW: 4x 13 EUR
  • Diablo 3: 15 EUR for Rise of the Necromancer
  • WildStar: no idea, website says zero
  • Xbox 360: 0 EUR
  • GameBoy Advance: bought some used cartrdiges at a retro fair, 20 EUR iirc
  • Games on Steam: ~36 EUR – Templar Battleforce, InfiniPicross, Party Hard, Submerged, Cities: Skylines, TESO, Rise to Ruins
  • Games on GOG: ~14 EUR – Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Project Highrise, Pinata(Deadlight, meh)
  • Games on Bundlestars/Fanatical: 1 EUR
  • Hardware: 17 EUR for a SteamLink + Game bundle
  • Marvel Heroes: 30 EUR for ingame currency, via Steam
  • Guild Wars 2: 80 EUR for the expansion

This means: 298 EUR in 2017, at ~25 EUR per month. (I actually needed to doublecheck this, it seemed awfully low before I added GW2).

  • Amount of MMO subscription months paid for: 7
  • Bought stuff in the shop: Marvel Heroes
  • Full price games: 1 (GW2: Path of Fire) (and a D3 expansion, which was not full price…)

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This is gonna be legen -wait for it- dary

After my last post I was pretty busy playing and levelling in SW:TOR but Christmas has taken its toll and I think yesterday I logged in for the first time in 2 weeks.
My most important in-game goals are still finishing the KotET expansion (and so the “main” story minus the latest patch I guess) and getting the “Legendary” flair for having levelled one of each base class to 50, including finishing the story line of the original game.
On KotET, I just started Chapter VI (of 9) and hope to finish it in the next week, as I’m not sure I’ll renew. It’s not that I’m opposed to the game in any way, but it lost momentum and I’d rather have an official break for a few weeks now.
Regarding the Legendary thing, I’m only missing a Trooper class at 50.

  • 70 Cyborg Powertech (Bounty Hunter, check)
  • 70 Chiss Sith Juggernaut (Sith Warrior, check)
  • 55 Mirialan Jedi Sage (Jedi Consular, check)
  • 52 Miraluka Jedi Sentinel (Jedi Knight, check)
  • 51 Twi’lek Scoundrel (Smuggler, check)
  • 50 Sith Pureblood Sith Assassin (Sith Inquisitor, check)
  • 50 Human Operative (Imperial Agent, check)
  • 26 Zabrak Commando (Trooper, y u no 50 yet?)
  • 14 Rattataki Sniper (Imperial Agent, take two)

And *of course* I’d be interested in playing a Mercenary, Sith Marauder, Jedi Shadow, Jedi Guardian, Gunslinger, Sith Sorcerer, and Vanguard as well. ARGH.
Also, maybe I should go into detail which classes I liked most. Powertech is still a lot of fun and after starting again in October this is my main, no questions asked. Jedi Sentinel was ok, but not my favorite. Sith Juggernaut was better, more Charge – AoE – Continue than slowpoke hitting things. Stealth is always good when soloing, but I think I liked Operative less than Scoundrel and Assassin. But maybe I also just really love my Twi’lek Smuggler a lot more.

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Welcome to Tulak Hord

So yeah, apparently the big server merge worked (not flawlessly, they had to extend the maintenance from 12h to ~17h and restart something, but they’re up now). The login screen tells me I’m at 9/26 characters although the patch notes say I should have 24 slots – maybe I bought 2 more slots at some point? Unlikely, but whatever. Preferred should give me 12 slots, so still some room.
Had to renamed one of my toons, the Level 14 Sniper. So not sure if I was active enough to have denied someone else their names or those other names were just unique enough to not clash. Whatever – quite happy my ~5 main toons didn’t have to be renamed.
Everything else seems to work, they even managed to keep the keybindings, awesome – although I didn’t play yet. just log a few toons. By not having more than one Legacy and only one Guild per faction the hard merge stuff shouldn’t have applied to me anyway.

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Waiting for the big SWTOR server merge

So the server merge I mentioned is supposed to be happening right now, so I can’t play today. 😐
GW2 is still a bit on the back burner (but I do like that I can log in, do a single pvp match and/or a jumping puzzle and some quests and have earned my 2g daily) but I think that’s ok.
I’ve finished Chapter VI of the SWTOR KotFE expansion on my Bounty Hunter (is that my new main? I don’t know, my only max-level character at least.) and meanwhile finished the original Level 50 story line on Sith Juggernaut and Sith Assassin – so three times on Empire side and two times on Republic side so far, with the following races unlocked: Mirialan, Twi’lek, Chiss (bought Legacy unlock anyway), Cyborg, and Sith Pureblood. Played the Sniper for a bit (still on Dromund Kaas), created a new Trooper and already deleted her after Ord Mantell again (don’t ask). Already recreated and ready for action. FemShep’s voice (Jennifer Hale) is a bit irritating, but still really good.
Speaking of voice actors, as I’m playing all the story lines, and mostly solo – I think I can say I’m playing this just like another Bioware Single Player RPG like Mass Effect, especially on the dead server – but that should be remedied by tomorrow, right? I love the voice actress of the Bounty Hunter (Grey DeLisle) and the Smuggler (Kath Soucie), whereas the Sith Inquisitor (Xanthe Elbrick) and Jedi Consular (Nolan North) are kinda fitting but not so good as the other two. The Sith Warrior (Mark Bazeley) is a little inbetween. Honorable mentions for these companions/characters: Risha, Mako, Jaesa, Vette, and Thana Vesh.
So I guess I should finally progress a little more in KotFE, gain some more Command Levels (why do I always stop at “max-level” and switch to alts so quick?) and there’s still a few stories to explore: Imperial Agent, Trooper, Jedi Knight… I also don’t have any Profession maxed yet, but least a few in the 400+ range. Also saving up for that 10m credits achievement. And the subscription was renewed a few days ago, but I don’t plan on stopping right now, let’s see after week 8-9 🙂

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So much SWTOR

I seem to have fallen into a SWTOR-shaped hole this last month. I should’ve jotted down /played when I started, but I forgot.

  • 70 Cyborg Powertech – 3d 16h
  • 64 Chiss Sith Juggernaut – 2d 1h
  • 55 Mirialan Jedi Consular – 10d 17h (no surprise, raid char at launch)
  • 51 Twi’lek Smuggler – 2d 1h
  • 11 Rattataki Sniper
  • 16 Sith Pureblood Sith Assassin (new)

I’ve finished Yavin 4 (Shadow of Revan) on the Powertech right now, the Juggernaut is still stuck in Voss (not even finished Episode 3) and the Smuggler just finished the personal story and Corellia and is ready for Makeb (but I am not ready for Makeb again after only a week, I guess).
I still want to start solo-levelling that Trooper and duo-levelling the Sniper and Juggernaut.
The Command System at 70 is a bit confusing at first, but so far no major roadblocks. I’m also working on crafting, as usual. Still mostly happy with the Crew Skill system where you send your minions off. Downside: waiting, but I often browse and chat while alt-tabbed, so usually not a problem.

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This blog is now 8 years old

As I wrote somewhere, this wasn’t my first gaming blog, but it’s the one I kept.
This is the first post, made on Oct 18, 2009. It started as a WoW blog because I really only played WoW at that time. This wouldn’t really change for a few years – at least not in the sense that I played a game enough that I would write about it.
This should be post #138.
I’m still mostly playing MMOs, but I’m not raiding and hardly grouping outside of RL friends, so I guess that makes me the prototype casual pretend-single-player MMO player. And I’m having a blast. At least when I’m not on a month long gaming break, which is also fine.
Actually there were quite a few MMOs/notable expansions I only started (or were released) after this blog was created:

  • SW:TOR launched on December 20, 2011 – played at launch
  • Marvel Heroes launched on June 4, 2013 – I started in December 2014
  • TESO launched on April 4, 2014, I started in 2017
  • WildStar launched on June 3, 2014 – played at launch
  • Guild Wars 2 launched on August 28, 2012, but I only started in spring 2015
  • WoW: Cataclysm – December 7, 2010 – played at launch
  • WoW: Mists of Pandaria – September 25, 2012 – played at launch, stopped in April 2014 iirc
  • WoW: Warlords of Draenor – November 13, 2014 – started in December, stopped in January
  • WoW: Legion – August 30, 2016 – resubscribed a month before launch, stayed for a while

But here’s the oldtimers, being released more than 8 years ago:

  • EVE Online launched on May 23, 2003, but I started in 2014 iirc
  • Ragnarok Online launched in the EU on April 15, 2004, but I started in December 2003
  • The Lord of the Rings Online – April 24, 2007
  • WoW launched on February 11, 2005 – but I started in May 2006 iirc
  • WoW: The Burning Crusade – January 16, 2007 – played at launch
  • WoW: Wrath of the Lich King – November 13, 2008 – played at launch

Not even trying something similar for non-MMOs because I don’t even remember when I bought a game at launch day. But I’ve also not just waited for a sale. I tend to not be overexcited and just at some point happen to pick them up if they sound interesting. One exception is Diablo 3, incl expansions.
Let’s see, I’m really bad with predictions (but I don’t do them in my year-end post anyway) so here’s a list with the “moderately interesting” label for the next time:

  • Albion Online
  • Crowfall
  • Destiny 2, the beta really hooked me.. but now.. MMOs, not shooters
  • Wild West Online

And yes, this is a scheduled post because I would’ve surely forgotten to publish it on the correct day 😛

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Suddenly back in SW:TOR

swtor_juggernaut_38
Sith Juggernaut at 38

Yeah, so apparently between all the Guild Wars 2 gaming I got pulled into Star Wars: The Old Republic again. “Hey, I want to play that again, how about you join?” and off we went.
First it was off to a fresh start on T3-M4 (the German non-PvP server) but seeing how the Legacy stuff IS kinda important/nice to have/handy and I messed up and bought my Chiss unlock on Jar’Kai Sword by accident… We started again on Jar’Kai Sword – Sith side.
News is that the 3 German servers will be merged in November anyway. Which is pretty awesome and sorely needed, Jar’Kai Sword has <10 people online in the Fleet, on a Sunday evening. On levelling planets it’s usually 2-5. I have no idea how the 3rd German server fares, but T3-M4 seems healthy enough. Apparently also the EU (English) servers will be merged to one and so will the French ones.
2017-10-08 16_52_58-Star Wars™_ The Old Republic™
Powertech at 30

So, I’m playing a Male Chiss Sith Juggernaut now and it’s quite fun. (Subscribed for a month because why not, already got my money’s worth I think). Levelling is super fast and so far we’ve done Korriban / Dromund Kaas (complete) + Balmorra (Class Story only), then Nar Shaddaa (complete) and now off to… whatever, probably Tatooine, then Alderaan.
Most lovely feature so far: Can save keybinds on one character and load on others. (Looking at you WoW, this needs an addon).
Intermission: Apparently this layout style with images left and right only really works if you produce massive amounts of texts, as I just spent nearly as much time trying to fiddle with spaces, paragraphs, and the images as writing everything else. So I need a filler paragraph with more text, thus this rant about HTML layouts 😛
 
I’ve also looked into Strongholds and dusted off my other characters, here’s a rundown, but not sure if I’ll keep all of them. (I also seem to have at least one 65 boost…)
2017-10-08 16_52_11-Star Wars™_ The Old Republic™
Poor launch day Sage still sitting at Level 55

  • 55 Mirialan Jedi Sage (old main)
  • 38 Chiss Sith Juggernaut (the new one)
  • 26 Cyborg Powertech (now 30)
  • 12 Twi’lek Scoundrel (now 17)
  • 15 Cyborg Operative (might be deleted, might be kept)
  • 15 Sith Pureblood Sith Juggernaut (might remake as Marauder or Assassin)
  • 11 Rattataki Sniper (probably keeping)
  • 1 Zabrak Trooper (never logged in, but always wanted to try Trooper)

Suddenly back in SW:TOR Read More »

GW2 all the time

So I guess I’ve been busy. Being on vacation and a bit sick and not leaving the house apparently doesn’t help.
A ton of stuff happened:

gw2_guardian_red
Scarlet Crusade?

  • Warrior is equipped as good as it gets now, without further Ascended pieces (2 green Berserker Accessories that could be Exotic Soldiers, and Rares in the off-gear, but that’s good enough for me
  • Thief is also basically done, full Berserker, but with a few greens and Rares
  • Guardian is missing 2 pieces of Exotic gear
  • Ranger is nearly full Berserker Rares or better and in Act 3 of Living World Season 3
  • Mesmer is lacking quite some gear, but in Act 3 of HoT
  • Tequatl gave me an Ascended Weapon Box, but it’s Carrion – have to research…
  • 18 Chests of Exotic Equipment left me a bit “meh” with the results
  • Sitting at 3215 Achievement Points
  • Finished the last Tequatl Achievement
  • Finished “For the Children!” and got a tree!

 

gw2_ranger_mask
Noble’s Equip is kinda ok

So right now I’m researching specs and trying to make some of them a bit beefier in solo play.
So the TODO list hasn’t changed much. Except now it also includes getting the Necro to 80, crafting some more bags, and earning a ton of Hero Points on some characters, also some respecs.

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Preordering GW2… again

I wrote a post back when I preordered Heart of Thorns in June 2015. So on September 15th I did it again and preordered the Ultimate edition of Path of Fire, Guild Wars 2’s second expansion. I’ve been playing again for a few weeks now, the cash shop was not in my face, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself and this is my “Thanks developers, have some money, because I don’t have to pay a monthly fee”. That’s less than 200 EUR for more than 2 years of GW2, if I had chosen to play that much. WoW would’ve been at least 300 EUR for exactly 2 years.
This time I’m not forgetting to take a screenshot of the page:
gw2_pof_buy
So yes, I like this package – I’ve bought HoT with gems that lasted me until now and now I have 4000 more gems to spend and in between there’s a few bonus things.
“Pre-purchase before launch and receive one Sunspear Weapon Skin of your choice, a Miniature Balthazar, and the title of Elonian Envoy.”
Also not bad for just buying it a few days earlier than launch.

I’m not so much excited for the content (I liked Tyria better than the HoT content) but we’ll see. I’m definitely eager to check it out, but not necessarily on launch day.
I now also have 2 open slots, 2 character professions missing, and 2 Level 80 boosts. Fits perfectly, and still there’s so much to do even without this.

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Running out of clever GW2 titles

Big surprise, I’ve been playing GW2. Did some more levelling/using Tomes and now the roster looks like this:

  • Warrior – 80
  • Thief – 80
  • Guardian – 80
  • Mesmer – 80
  • Ranger – 80
  • Necromancer – 64
  • Engineer – 32

Just finished the story quests at 30 on the Engineer, nearly finished Act 1 of Heart of Thorns on the Mesmer, did the 3 daily quests for most days in the last 2 weeks and worked on some achievements:

  • 75% map completion (actually 78 already)
  • 13/18 Heart of Thorns Act 1 (needed a second playthrough, working on the rest)
  • Got to 520/1000 skins
  • Got my first set of Cultural Armor (Norn, Heavy, Tier 1)
  • a few Jumping Puzzles (most are really fun)
  • Got all Tyria Mastery Insights
  • Progressed a bit along “Anomalous Occurrences”
  • Alpha Crafter
  • 2745 (2205 + 540) Achievement Points (boo)

 
So the current plans are:

  • 100% map completion on the Warrior
  • finish the Personal Story (instance quest) on the Warrior
  • progress in HoT with the Mesmer
  • collect a little more equip for Mesmer and Ranger
  • maybe craft a 3rd Ascended piece (currently: Helm, Legs, Amulet, 2 Rings)
  • wrap up some achievements
  • Level Chef and Scribe to 400 (hopefully)
  • decide if any of the PoF elite specs are worth preparing some spare Hero Points

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