Archive for November, 2014

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The Big DING! Warlords Edition

November 21, 2014

ding

It took some of my guildies a little less than 24 hours, and a lot more of my friends aren’t even anywhere close, but for me it took about eight days. Last night, a week after the release of World of Warcraft’s newest expansion Warlords of Draenor, I hit the new level cap of 100.

I have to say, the experience just keeps piling on in this expac. My husband and I weren’t pushing hard towards 100 by any means, mostly keeping to our regular gaming schedule and only playing a couple hours in the evenings, a bit more on the weekends.

Not to mention, I kept getting distracted from questing by about a million other things — treasure hunting, collecting and battling companion pets, archaeology…and most of all, I got constantly waylaid in my leveling by my Garrison. Every half hour or so I’d be hearthing back to my base to set up new missions, check in on progress and status of my buildings,  start new work orders, etc. It’s bloody ADDICTIVE.

It’s actually a wonder I made it to the new cap in only about a week.

Obviously there’s so much to do in WoD. Even though I’ve achieved level 100, I know I’ve only scratched the surface. I’m happy about a lot of the new content and while my overall impressions are positive, it’s still probably too soon for me to do any in depth write-up. The expansion has been keeping me quite busy though, and that’s good thing (though not for all the other stuff I have to do this month)!

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Battle Bards Episode 39: Jigs and Shanties

November 18, 2014

Battle Bards

A new episode of Battle Bards is up!

It’s going to be impossible to keep from tapping your toes during this one. This week, Syp, Syl and I bust out all manner of lively jigs and shanties for the enjoyment of all, and even their past feuds are set aside to dosey-do in front of the tavern fireplace.  We also tick off accordion players across the globe.

LISTEN NOW

Sea shanty

Episode 39 show notes
  • Intro (featuring “Caribbean Port” from Pirates of the Burning Sea and “Player Owned Ports Ahoy!” from RuneScape)
  • “Sea Shanty 2” from RuneScape
  • “Seaside” from Free Realms
  • “Cool Ranch Tavern Theme” from Pirate101
  • “Bash the Dragon” from Guild Wars 2
  • “Rum” from Monarch: Heroes of a New Age
  • “Tavernenlied” from Drakensang
  • “Pirate 3” from DDO
  • Which one did we like best?
  • Mail from Cindy
  • Outro (“A Tavern Far Away” from DDO)
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The Secret World: The Belated Halloween Event

November 4, 2014

The Secret World Halloween update that was supposed to have gone live on October 20 didn’t happen. It didn’t happen the week after either. It finally dropped, the day before Halloween or thereabouts, and I didn’t get the chance to check it out until last night’s session of TSW Monday, along with Tententacles, Syp and Winin, who has recently come back to the game and is checking out the Meowling cat quest from previous years.

The new quest for this year is The Broadcast, given to us by NPC Dave Screed the conspiracy theorist and weird magazine editor in NYC. Needless to say I won’t be revealing any specific/spoilerific details here, but there will be images galore to tease the content. It’s a pretty fun one, and if you like “haunted house” themes in games, you should definitely play the mission for yourself to see what the folks at Funcom have come up with. It’s pretty spooky!

sepia

The good old “ghostly figure in an old sepia photograph” effect.

eyes

Eek! The eyes, they’re everywhere!

around the corner

Who is that figure standing there just around the corner?

mission boss fight

The mission boss fight.

thriller

Post-quest celebration: getting our Thriller on!

Though, Chucho’s (center) outfit might possibly be the scariest thing I saw last night.

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Battle Bards Episode 38: The Elder Scrolls Online

November 4, 2014

Battle Bards

A new episode of Battle Bards is up!

The Elder Scrolls soundtracks have a legendary reputation in the video game community, but when you take Jeremy Soule (mostly) out of the mix, can the MMO score stand up to this legacy?  Syp, Syl and I investigate in an exploration of this massive OST of one of the new MMOs of 2014.  Keep your ears open for Nordic Santa!

LISTEN NOW

TESO

Episode 38 show notes
  • Intro (featuring “Winged Twilight” and “Moth, Butterfly, and Torchbug”)
  • “Three Banners: Fanfare”
  • “For Blood, For Glory, For Honor”
  • “Weapons Drawn”
  • “The Towers Cast Long Shadows”
  • “Greenheart”
  • “Beauty of Dawn”
  • “Lute Emote”
  • Mail from Draculetta
  • Outro (featuring “Three Hearts as One”)