We’re certainly not all perfect (some of us not even remotely close) so when I created my sim I decided to give her the kleptomaniac trait. Along with that trait I chose generosity, and a few others like green thumb and lucky.

Now, my sim likes her free time, a lot. I decided she would quit her full time job, and take a part time job at the book store. This freed a lot of time to work in her garden where I sell fruits and vegetables on the side. Of course growing things can also be pricey at first, so I took a trip to the neighbors house and harvested all of their vegetables for them. It wasn’t as though they were going to use them! Onion and garlic and potato that was far better then anything I had currently growing (tomatoes and apples). My neighbors would never miss them!

That’s how it started. Something small and expendable like veggies and fruit.

Over time, I noticed a few more little ‘things’ went missing when my sim was around. I would send her off to work and she would come home with a ‘free’ stack of magazines. She tried to explain that it was just a perk of the job, but they were clearly marked ’stolen’. She didn’t even read them but dropped them on the table and went about her business.

Feeling a little lonely I sent her over to the neighbors home again, to talk a little. She was feeling hungry so she helped herself to the microwave food laying around (and was scolded over that) then proceeded to walk from room to room pilfering items when no one was looking. It almost became a game to see how much she could get away with.

That night she came home with a new shower (I’m sure the Roomies won’t miss that!) a box of tissue, and a picture one of the Roomies had hanging on their wall. She had no issues setting up the ‘new’ items in her home (and selling the old shower, it only sprayed cold water anyhow) though she did get a few lifetime requests to return the items, I decided she’d rather not – see, she’s not all bad.

Because she has the generosity trait she has the option to donate to charity (often) and she does. $100 increments here and there, on a fairly steady basis. She also has the ability to brighten people’s days and I try to take advantage of that – so despite the fact that she’s stealing from her neighbours at least she is trying to balance the bad traits out (she can’t help but steal after all – it’s like you spot a shiny in EQ2 just LAYING there even though your group may be in the middle of some big fight, can you pass that up? No, of course not!) and trying to make a difference in the small way that she can.

This time around I turned off the aging feature in the options, because I didn’t want my sim to die – a little odd I know but I’d like to be able to play for a good length of time and see what I can work her up to. I’ve left the story line on, and that at least gives me a little direction.

Amusing story, yesterday she was out in her yard working her garden (a typical chore, they requier a lot of work especially when you have a large number of plants) and she was out there a little too long because her smell became quite unsavory. A neighbour happened to come walking along who she had never met before and he laughed and pointed at her due to the scent. At least she was getting a good day of hard work in! Meanie!

The little quirks and twists and turns that happen in game amuse me, the bits that I have no control over while still having control if that makes any sense. You can try to anticipate how someone is going to react or what is going to go wrong, but you won’t always be 100% correct. That’s what keeps the game fun and interesting to me.

Well, there’s lots of news going on out there – to start things off, the newest Wizard 101 world is going live today! What a great Canada Day gift to players. I’m excited about this world for a few reasons, number one you can level up through it just as you would level up a character, so for those who have completed it all – it’s time for alts, and time to run quests for house items. It will also impliment a crafting system, bazaar, and the new 18+ chat system, and a few other goodies. Speaking of goodies, be sure to check out Tipa’s site for some wallpaper goodies! I love how fast things come out of test for players.

Of course there is also the discussion about the Chronicles of Spellborn becomming free to play – I dipped into this game only VERY briefly, and didn’t enjoy it. I’m not sure why. I don’t even think I made it past the tutorial, but maybe I just know my comfort zones, and tend to stay within.

I am looking forward to the next Aion beta weekend, from July 2nd to the 4th. I have no idea if I’ll actually manage to drag myself to the PC to play, but we’ll see. It would be nice.

I spent some time on the new EQ server yesterday, Mayong. For those who have been living under a rock, this new server is a 50/51 server – you log in and create, and achieve level 50 instantly, as well as 51 aa to your name. You also start out with all of your spells (and I do mean all) as well as some gear and backpacks (there are more packpacks waiting for your in the bank if you’re looking for them). You don’t start with any money, so you’ll want to farm some especially if you plan on using a mercenary.

The server was absolutely packed last night, I had problems moving around. It was fantastic. There were four general channels, and people were advertising for groups and guilds all over the place. PoK was packed, it was easy to tell who had been a long time player and who had returned for the free 30 days and didn’t know about the guild lobby yet.

There were of course raids also going on, and I saw a few system messages about encounters that were being taken down. I didn’t stay for too long but I did create myself a beastlord, enchanter, cleric, and bard. Whether I will actually stick with one of those or head back to Drinal I am unsure.

In EQ2 (the brief time I played) I collected some more red shiny and decided to do a little crafting and put items for sale which was nice. Not going to be purchasing anything super expensive over the next little while, but hey it’s better then nothing.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day today, it’s the first of July and thus Canada Day! Get out there and enjoy it for me.

When you don’t have an adventure level epic to work on – that must mean it’s time to work on yet another crafter epic, of course! Aside from the 8(?) epics I’ve completed for various adventure classes, I’ve also completed a number of crafter epics. I have completed them for carpenter, jeweler, woodoworker, provisioner, and as of yesterday my tailor is brandishing her new title and cloak proudly.

The other epic crafters are all on Najena, so I haven’t had anyone who was able to harvest the wonderful red shiny that are out in Norrath, invisible to anyone not wearing the earring of the solstice. The quest was fairly simple. It starts out with a quest that is shared by all and is broken into sections. One portion requires you to head to Steamfont and Loping Plains to harvest bits for a gnome, and the next sends you to a crafter version of the Drafling Tower in Rivervale, to throw down smoke bombs and get rid of bixie. Afterwards each subclass has their own unique instance to defeat. Mine last night was quite simple, it was a version of The Nest in Barren Sky and I had to run around avoiding agro from the feathered fiends within and collect bits to make a mask (which helped me avoid them further). It was by far the easiest of the three subclass quests, my least favorite being that of sage, alchemist, and jeweler.

Of course, the most difficult portion of the entire quest is finding other crafters to make the components you need. I could make the tailor one for myself at least, and Kasul provided the jeweler portion. I donated 1p per piece that others helped me out with and spent most of the evening tracking down those who could aid. It took a few hours, but eventually I finished. Next is to get my alchemist to 80 (she’s part way into 79) and complete her epic as well, adding it to the collection. Once server transfers are affordable I’m looking forward to having all of my crafters together again.

I also managed to do a quick Obelisk of Ahkzul run, no the shield I want didn’t drop but we did see the fighter one handed which has also never dropped for us before, so maybe there’s hope. Aside from that, it was a fairly quiet day (but at least I felt productive!) I hope everyone has a fantastic Monday today!

One site that seems to have been over looked this Fan Faire (at least on twitter) is the EQ2 Wire – you may remember them from last year, they were the ones frantically posting all of the guild hall information, and they were fantastic in keeping things up to date. Take a peek over at their site for an in depth (although not always flowing) look at what is to come for EQ2. Some of the changes I noticed right off the bat that I wanted to mention here are:

Certain new adornments recipes will be muter only

Extend eof and kos trees
50 more AA points
250 cap

End abilities at bottom of eof and kos trees will be combinations instead of additional buttons

Aa xp slider

Spell ranged melée heal taunt crit merged to just crit
Double attack and RDA merge to just DA
Each class has crit coefficients
Same gear adds diff crit % for diff classes

Reduce mitigation types to
Physical. Elemental. Nox. Arcane

Consolidate common self buff lines

Gear scaling system — old gear scales down

Druid heal over time with expiration heal for groupmate
Druid should be viable healer

No need to bring 8 support classes
Raidwide buffs for chanter and bard
Illy time compression 4 ppl – 1 per group

Summoner debuffs spell dmg
Rogue debuffs melée dmg

All of these changes will be on test for a long time

May make T9 version of some TSO dungeons

Fan Faire had their big release last night, and I caught parts of it on twitter this morning and watched the video since I was unable to at that time. Now we know:

EQ2:

• - Odus will be the next expansion, including the starter city of Halas
• - Level cap going to 90
• - Auto-mentoring (I’ve always said trivializing your content is a bad idea) inc with GU53, as well as shard of love
• - Doesn’t come out until February (not cool)
• - 3 months between GU’s
• - Character transfers via station cash for $25 (best announcement of the night personally)

I was disappointed that Vanguard was not mentioned this year (nor was it last year) if anything it would have at least been a nice tidbit for those who play the game and attended Fan Faire (Joodah and your crew, I’m looking at you).

I was also sad to hear that the new 51/50 EQ server is only open to those at the moment attending Fan Faire, which means achievements and discoveries go to them. Those people who perhaps could not afford to go but who have been loyal EQ customers for 10 years now can play later when it opens for the public in a week. I understand the need and desire to give ’swag’ to people who are attending your events, but everyone is already getting auto-access to beta, and free copies of both EQ and EQ2. What more did they really need?

Bitter, I know. If I were one of the people at Fan Faire I’d be all over that stuff, but I’m not.

I played very little yesterday, but today is looking better. I’ll post more when I have more to say! In the mean time I hope everyone is having an amazing Saturday and a great weekend in general.

After spending two days in bed due to a particularly nasty gallstone attack I’m feeling far better, and able to sit at the desk again which makes me exceptionally happy. I have completely changed my diet (no meats, no dairy, no sugar, no coffee, clear liquids only, etc) for the next month in an attempt at preventing these attacks completely until I can have my ultrasound and doctors can determine whether or not I need my gallbladder removed. Since the attacks are directly related to what you eat and how much cholesterol is in it this is about all I can do. For anyone out there who has dealt with gallstone attacks before you have my deepest sympathy, this is some of the scariest stuff I have ever had to deal with.

I spent the majority of yesterday (when not sleeping) playing Sims 3 and although at times it chugs a little slow on the laptop it runs fairly well. I learned a few new things.

First of all, my sim-self has a fairly small starter house. Deciding to throw a party with as many people invited as she can possibly add is a bad idea. A very bad idea. The majority of people showed up to the party and then spent a few hours all crammed into my kitchen while my sim-self stood there holding a plate of pancakes, unable to move. People told me I threw a pretty cruddy party and I had to agree, I couldn’t mingle and by the end my sim-self bladder was about to explode. Oh, and thank you whoever it was that broke my sink, because that was just what I needed!

My sim-self also quit her job, after taking on numerous ones in an attempt to find her calling. She tried to be a criminal mastermind for a little while and found the hours too annoying. Plus my first day there the boss asked me to stay late and work for some mafia leaders. I took up gardening which is a pretty neat feature in the game that I enjoy a lot, and promptly quit my job. Why not just create my own farm and sell that at the local grocery store! My meager seeds were not enough though and I headed over to the neighbours house to harvest their plants too. Then I used their garlic, onion, potato, and bell pepper seeds to cultivate my own plants, giving me even more selection. They won’t even notice that they’re gone.

Speaking of which, my sim-self is a kleptomaniac, so if things are missing, well. I can’t help it!

While selling veggies at the local grocery store is fairly good money (I was making 200 a day or so) earning money was still pretty slow. While my sim-self is not THAT hung up on material things, the extra coin is pretty nice, so she took a part time job at the book store a few hours a night. This still gives her lots of time to work on what she wants to do, including a grill-a-thon that the town held in the community park – I was SO CLOSE to winning! Off by one serving of hotdogs and if it wasn’t for the fact that my sim-self had to use the washroom so badly she ignored all other commands, I would have won.

I have noticed one drastic change for me in playing Sims 3 vs. the other sims games. In all of the other games I was a builder. I enjoyed creating and designing the houses far more then I ever enjoyed actually playing a character in game. This time around it’s the opposite, I have spent little to no time building aside from adding a garden and little upgrades here and there – almost all of my time has been spent following my little sim-self along and watching her life. It’s interesting to me, and something that I would not have guessed would change.

The achievement system within the game also appeals to my gamer self, and I find myself aiming for lifetime rewards and goals, something that I previously wouldn’t have cared about.

All in all, it was a great way to spend a few hours, and I’m looking forward to seeing what trouble I can get into today!

I resubscribed to WoW, even though it has been almost a year since I last played – I know, I know. WHY. Right? Well, I have reasons (I always do) so here they are. Number one would have to be the fact that for the past two months I’ve been suffering from gallstones which are exceptionally painful. I have one more month before I can even be considered for an operation to remove my gallbladder, in the mean time I have good days and bad days as everyone who has read my blog knows (I try not to vent about it but it happens, I’m sorry). The day after a ‘bad day’ is spent in bed for the most part, recuperating. Laptop is thankfully never far from my side (notice this post has no screen shot? A sure sign that I have been dealing with health issues and it’s not just pure laziness) along with lots to drink and a warm kitty watching over me.

In any case, WoW is one of those games that runs on anything, which I appreciate. Sure, EQ2 also runs on the laptop, but I ‘m used to boxing in that game and I feel like half a person playing from the bedroom and not the pc. No fault of the game to be sure, it’s just my personal view. Also, being confined to my room means I don’t have the wonderful gaming selection that my PC has, so I’m restricted. I have EQ2, EQ, WoW, W101 and Sims 3 installed on the laptop and they run wonderfully. You can expect that with so much time to do nothing, I get bored, easily. This will also help a little.

I’ve played WoW off and on since release. I’ve never gotten a character over level 50 and I’ve never been end game in any sense of the word. I’ve never made much money, and I’ve always found it amusing that the ‘easiest’ game out there was also the hardest for me at least in terms of leveling. Probably because I’ve never had a steady guild or known anyone else who was playing. I love pvp (but can’t run WAR on the laptop) and while it is HIGHLY doubtful that I will play for more then a month (it’s about all I can handle at a time) it does fill the gaps of my gaming needs for now.

I just need to decide what I’m going to play, and where. I have some characters on Uther (44 priest and my 50 hunter) as well as Ravenholdt, or maybe I’ll just start some where new fresh. I always felt like WoW was the sort of game where it really was too late to start over anywhere new, but I guess we’ll just see.

No, I’m not giving up EQ2, or EQ, or VG or any of the other games I play, but if you see a post or two about WoW or notice my xfire time I didn’t want anyone to think I had betrayed over to the dark side or some such.

In other news, Fan Faire starts today. I’m incredibly jealous. I hope everyone has a safe and fantastic time, I’ll be cheering from the sidelines!

Yesterday was one of those rare days when the members of three plus one are all around – and it was great. I spent the morning creating a new necromancer for no other reason then the fact that I could. Her name is Stargrace on the kithicor server, go figure. I used my paladin to power level her until the down time, and managed to reach level 20 hanging out in Fallen Gate.

In the afternoon the four of us decided it was about time we started working on our TSO chapter quests again, and so we finished off chapter 4 which required going into Obelisk of Lost Souls (the level 40 zone) a few times and then headed back to the Moors to pick up chapter 5. This one requires you to head into a number of TSO instances for updates. We meandered our way through Obelisk of Ahkzul (no, the shield did not drop, is it even real or just a myth?) just for fun and then decided we would head to Veksar, since it was the daily double (MoTD if you’re from Kithicor).

We had a few issues with the zone, but nothing extreme. Not a single upgrade dropped, I was hoping the healer charm would show up at the end.

I happened to spot my level 74 coercer charm M1 for sale for 50p on the broker, and Ultann purchased it for me (I’m broke, dang alts) which is fantastic. I have purchased both him and Wpus masters before, it’s just one of the pleasures of gaming with friends. The master charm is not any different then the level 64 version I was using aside from the amount that the mob regens, and the duration of the charm. I’m exceptionally happy to have it though – the spell researcher is currently working on enraging demeanor for me, so 50p was a huge bargain.

These researchers are also why the spell was so cheap to begin with, I had seen the spell sitting for sale for a few weeks now at 100p with no bites. For 100p I’d rather just wait the 30 days. 50p is pretty affordable for such a fantastic spell (my bread and butter while soloing and exploring a few specific zones).

The Norrathian Museum also added a few more books to its collection, which really made me happy. Taymar created a character on Kithicor to pen me a novel as well as the banker of one of Kithicor’s raid guilds, I had to giggle. I have 13 unique player written books in the collection and I expect it to grow.

Aside from that it was a quiet night. In the evening Ultann and Kasul offered to help level up my baby fury, an arasai that I’ve taken a shining to. We started out at level 23 and in Fallen Gate, before too long I was level 38 and in Runnyeye before I had to call it a night and get some sleep. I love alts, nothing new there. The baby fury has only a handful of aa and she’s wearing practically no gear but it’s still fun. I’ve got an unused 75 fury on my recruit a friend account, but I don’t expect to do anything with that third account now that the month if game time I paid for is up.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday, and that everyone going to Fan Faire has an incredible time. Hopefully next year I’ll be there too!

Yesterday was quiet – not a bad thing. I happily worked on the museum, adding tables to the library as well as chairs and some lighting. I always have issues getting the lighting right, it’s hard to figure out which house items will give what particular light I want. I added a few more books as well, and mailed off some blank ones to players. So far trying to get people to write for me has been like prying teeth but I expected no less on a non-rp server, and I enjoy the challenge. This way my library is also truely unique, I have one of a kind books that are not published anywhere.

Ultann and Wpus headed off to Pawbuster, but since the cat (as precious as she thinks she is) keeps waking me up at 5am every morning, I have been going to bed fairly early, unable to keep my eyes open any more. Honestly, does anyone have a suggestion on how to train a cat NOT to wake someone up? She will (and I kid you not) do anything within her power to wake me, including (but not limited to) screaming, biting, ripping apart books (my room is a disaster in the morning, I’ve had to give her specific books to chew so that she leaves my important ones alone), vaulting from the nightstand onto me (this is so very painful), she will walk up my body and stuff her nose in my eye and I can wake up to the sound of her heavy breathing, and numerous other acts of cat-ness. 5am is too dang early to be up and I’m one of those ‘once I’m up I’m up’ people, after she’s had her fill of attention for an hour she runs off to sleep. Of course, I’m up by then.

Kasul spent the evening questing, and I nodded off at the keyboard so I decided to get some sleep.

Fan Faire starts really soon, so everyone has been preoccupied with getting that off the ground and I’m excited to see what happens this year. I wish I were going, but there’s always next year. Of course as I’ve mentioned before I’ll be following via twitter and every other device I possibly can, I hope everyone has an exceptional time (I’m sure I don’t even need to say that, it’s just a given).

I believe today the guild of three plus one are all home, so maybe we’ll get a chance to do some instances, summer months are a little more difficult to arrange for that sort of thing. Safe travels, and I hope everyone has an amazing Tuesday!

This player written book was donated to my library this morning. It was one of the most beautiful books I’ve read, and even though it’s not EQ2 related specifically (the story that is) I wanted to share it and remind everyone about the power of words, and just one more reason why I think these player written books are so wonderful, little tokens of memories spread throughout Norrath.

Thank you for allowing me to own this copy and to share it with others who visit the library (which you can find on the Kithicor server, in the North Freeport mage tower, bottom floor under the name of Ellithia).