OOC

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OOC – Busy Month


June 9th, 2018

There are times when one must take care of a multitude of things in RL and it keeps you from doing the things that you want to do.  My one big hope was to get some time to write some stories and that didn’t work out all that well as you can plainly see – busy times abound.

Winter, Spring and now we’re into full blown Summer with all the heat and surprisingly torrential storms that seem to hit our area.  At least I don’t need to use the snow shovel now, however, a boat might come in handy later.

I’m really enjoying the new computer and have put in quite a bit of time in the Beta lately so that I can test out and see what is going to happen with our characters in the next expansion.   The classes seem to be okay and the one thing that will throw everyone for a loop is the GCD.  I know I had to change my playstyle a bit to do some of the things that I normally just blast through – it’s just a bit more of a time-consuming thing.  As always with each expansion, you must learn how to adjust to the game again, however, I don’t think there were massive things done like in Legion and some of the classes are getting some of the things back in their talents to take the place of the weapons.  One thing I was happy to see when I was able to take a character that I was familiar with to play on – no Hati for the hunters. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I liked the concept of Hati and what the intent was but somehow, the poor thing feels a bit short when you were in combat.

I knew that I needed new glasses for a while now and finally got that off my plate.  Got some new specs and am enjoying the lack of eye-strain for a major change.  Of course, I have the usual age-related eye issues that aren’t too bad yet and I can see at 20/20 again for the moment.   I just must know I am going to have to take breaks when my eyes start feeling too tired.

The one shocker was that my son finally got married to the woman that he has been living with off and on for the last nine or so years.  I’m happy that they did do that because they do have a little girl to think of that is about to turn eight years old.   Of course, they didn’t have a ceremony or anything like that and kept the affair very low-key.  I know that it is going to be one of those things that they might regret later, however, the days of spending thousands of dollars for weddings has been long gone in my family for quite a few years.

We also had a major roof leak that required quite a bit of work and you know how you feel when there are people climbing about on the roof and the hammering – that will put you off gaming and writing when you have all that going on. 

Let’s see, yep, had a birthday and turned a new year over – yep, leveled up to 69 and I’m still here and trying my best to hang in there.   As they say, “Time marches on and Time waits for no man.”  I know the last few years have zoomed by quickly.

Anyway, just thought I would let you all know that I am still alive, and the intent is still to get some writing done.  I won’t be zipping about in the great outdoors because it’s bloody warm here now and I can’t deal with the heat very well.   Hope to see you all in Azeroth soon. 

 

 

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OOC- Stop and Just have FUN…


May 10, 2018

One of the things that I am starting to enjoy about Legion is the fact that it will soon be over, and I have reconciled myself to the fact that I may never get flying for this expansion, however, I’m getting my money’s worth out of it.   Now that I have stopped worrying about reputation grinding and such for the Allied races, I’m having a blast playing the way that I want too.  So what if I have a few 100s stuck all over the map in Azeroth, they will all eventually get to where they are going – one step at a time.

Yes, I was getting caught up in the grind of getting the reps and was missing out on the fun of the game, so, another step back and two steps forward.    I started out behind due to health reasons and that isn’t Blizzard’s fault or my own – there’s no reason for me to punish myself over that bit of trivia.   It’s not Blizzard’s fault that I have so many characters because I’m an altoholic in the worst way, however, I’ll keep playing the way that I want and put the fun back in the game for myself without the pressure.

Age does not always go hand-in-glove with Wisdom.  It takes some of us longer to figure that part out and before you know it, you’re in a tizzy for no reason.

I’ve played a little bit of the new Alpha version and I’m enjoying it so far, seems a whole lot like Legion.  Some of the class changes are not what I would call mind-boggling but will require some player adjustments.  I know that I am used to blasting my way through with my high levels and I don’t think that is going to be the case with BfA, who knows, they are still doing adjustments and such.  What I have seen of the storylines, it seems okay, however, I’m holding out on my decisions on that since Blizzard is still doing a lot of changes with some things.  As I have said before, I am not going to do the thing of spoiling any of it for anyone.  I know that I will enjoy it a lot more when it goes live too.

I also know that if I stuck with one character, I would have everything done quickly, however, I would also have a bad case of burnout as well as a case of stress that wouldn’t let me play the game at all for a few days.  Yep, I must stop and take more frequent breaks than I used too, however, that comes with the age and health.

LOL this is all about me instead of the game, sorry about that.

 

 

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OOC – Busy Times & Distractions


April 28, 2018

 

Well, so much for me getting a lot done with my writing and game playing.  Been a tad bit busy with RL as well as recovering from a drug reaction that will take some time to get out of my system.  Oh well, that’s how things go when you start getting older.  Funny thing is that I don’t feel old in my head, but I do in my body.

I’ve been spending a lot of time doing catch-up in Legion as well as getting used to the new set-up with keyboard and mouse.  I know that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but I sure as the devil am not going to let this get me down and I will succeed.  It’s hard to re-learn some muscle memory techniques, however, it’s a work in progress that is going to take a while.

I haven’t had time to keep up with all the goings on with the bloggers on WordPress of late because when I’m not playing WoW – I’m doing chores around the house and taking care of my spouse.  Hey, sometimes things just keep getting in the way.

I do hope that everyone is doing okay and that I hope to get some things done and finally get back on track with my stories again.  Take care all and see you in Azeroth.

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OOC – April 6th – Surprise…New Expansion Release Date


Friday – April 6th, 2018

I will have to admit that I sure wasn’t expecting the expansion release date for Battle for Azeroth to be as soon as it appears to be currently.   August 18th doesn’t seem to be all that far away when you’re as far behind as I am.  Part of the reason that I am behind is due to health reasons and part of it is because I wasn’t paying attention and played stupid.  Oh well, I’m still having fun and will continue to do so.

I do have the Alpha for BfA, however, I haven’t played it all that much because I don’t want to get burned out and I don’t want to know everything that is going to happen before it happens in the “live” portion of the game.  I have been in almost all the Alpha/Beta portions of the expansions and I will have to admit that it spoiled some of the initial joy of seeing the stuff on live.  Oh well, I’ll keep plodding along and doing the things that I want to do because that’s the life of a casual player.

I am excited about the new expansion getting here and will play my brains out for a few days, I’m sure.  I think it’s rather ironic that it is going to drop on a Saturday according to my calendar. The EU folks are going to be binge playing like mad because they have a holiday that feeds into the expansion release period.  If I was working, I would arrange to have a few days off – I used to do that when I was working anyway.  Silly person that I am, I will plan my chores around this event and try to get everything done prior to that.  I’m excited because I have a feeling that this is going to be a good expansion because even if I haven’t played Legion all that much, it was good in a lot of ways.  Yes, I hate the RNG and the gating that went on, however, being so far behind isn’t all that bad because I don’t have the gates to deal with.

I’m not going to talk about what I have discovered in the Alpha stuff because I know that there are a lot of people out there that don’t want to have the “live” version spoiled by knowing too much.  I think that we are all going to be adjusting to our class changes and how the squishes are going to hit us all.  I am just happy to get away from the weapon setup that we had in Legion – I did hate that with a passion.

I feel like an utter fool right now too because I have all these alts in-game and I play them because I enjoy them, however, I don’t know why I thought that the reps were shared.  Of course, they aren’t shared, you dolt!  Now, I am going to have to bust my behind to get some of my characters really caught up.  I don’t know why I was running with that misconception other than the fact that I was paying more attention to Pathfinder than I was to the rep grinding that was required.  I’m not proud and I can admit when I screw up and move on.  I know that I felt stupid when I found out the error of my ways – was looking up info for a friend and that’s when I saw it.  Poor person had been working like a fiend to get all the reps for the new races and she thought the same thing that I did, and we were both wrong.  Oh well, hey, you gotta learn the hard way sometimes.   I can imagine that she is a bit disheartened with the way she worked to find out that the only thing she got was her 110 to almost everything exalted, and her alts start out at friendly.

I will have to admit that I am bouncing all over the game and exploring since I got my new computer, just seeing all the things to see and just killing a bit of time too.  Still working on screenshots and things of that nature, might be able to upload them one of these days.  I think I am just enjoying the game and laughing like a loon when I get myself into weird situations – still wish I had my flying in Legion but it doesn’t bother me that much except for when I leap off something without thinking about it beforehand. 

 

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OOC – Finally Bit The Bullet


March 26th, 2018

I will have to admit that I really am pleased with the fact that my search for my computer is finally over and I am as happy as can be with the one I purchased.  I’ve been toiling around and trying to find my “build” and tried all kinds of different things only to find out that it was more than just a bit pricey with the cost of the video cards that have tripled in price. So, I started doing the other thing of looking at sites with machines that I could buy off-the-shelf and found exactly what I wanted.  I ended up with a Corsair One – a top of the line machine for me as well as the peripherals.  Nice Razer keyboard and mouse as well as a headset that I have been needing for quite a while. Oh yeah, got a bit screen too so that I could see what I was doing – that seems to be rather important.

Now, I’m still in the process of getting all the things setup and getting everything downloaded (all games are downloaded and playable).  What I really like is the fact that this machine didn’t have any bloatware on it so there wasn’t a whole lot to clean up.  I know that this is the first machine that I have ever had that I didn’t spent tons of time cleaning up the bloat over the following months after I bought it. With all the new things, I’ve been running around like crazy looking at all the stuff in World of Warcraft and the other Blizzard games and I’m sure loving it.  Loads of fun.

Please don’t think that I am bragging because I’m not.  I just am so excited about finally getting a new gaming rig.  I even got yelled at last night for having the volume up too high and rattling the rafters and it wasn’t even turned up all the way. Life has improved for me as far as my computer goes and that makes me very happy.  I spend a lot of time on computers, so, it’s always a bonus to get them all up and running.  Laptop is kind of old, however, it does work for me to write on and do web-browsing.

So, now I have a good reason to keep on playing running around like I’m crazed.  I know that I couldn’t be happier right now because this is something that I have always wanted and now I have it.  Naturally, I went over my budget and that’s okay because it wasn’t too bad.  Didn’t want to get the spouse all riled up or anything of that nature.

Well, wish me luck and I’ll keep running around Azeroth and start getting immersed in my characters again, so I can write my blog. 

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OOC – Just Checking In


March 17th, 2018

I did take a couple of weeks off from my computers because I just wasn’t in the mood to do anything.  That happens every now and again with most people. Physically I do feel better, however, I just haven’t felt compelled to getting involve in World of Warcraft now.  I’m all set to go with BfA even though I have yet to complete Legion.

Legion has been a good expansion and I have enjoyed most of the storylines that I have completed, however, there just seems to be so much to do that there are times that I am overwhelmed.  There are times when I feel like we are being pulled in too many directions.  Yes, I do other things than play video games just as most of us do and sometimes I tend to get involved in those things.  Oh yes, binge watching shows that I have missed because of my involvement in gaming and then, of course, there are books that I want to read as well.  So, between doing all the other things, my gaming has not bee utilized as much as I would have liked. 

Normally at this time of year it is too bloody cold to go outside much, however, this season has been weird because we have had so many warm days that it makes you wonder if Winter is here or is it just playing with the rest of the country.  Our ski areas are getting good snow for the sport; however, the rest of the state is well below our annual snowfall rate which generates our water supply for the rest of the year. 

Since my oldest computer bit the big one, I’m down to one desktop and my laptop.   The laptop can’t really play World of Warcraft all that well, however, it is still functioning enough to log in occasionally.  Currently I am waiting on the prices to drop back down on the memory cards because it is unreal how the prices have jumped up.  We can all thank the bitcoin miners for some of the cost increases on technology now.  Yes, I do acknowledge that GPU is the thing that World of Warcraft uses intensely.  Back in the day, the money that I have saved up would have bought me one heck of a gaming rig off the shelf – this time I was planning on building my own, however, that seems a bit daunting.  Of course, I will be shopping around to get the best that I can afford.

One of the big surprises for me this week was the fact that I got an invitation to participate in the Alpha for World of Warcraft.  Talk about a shock and surprise because I’m not a streamer or anyone special other than being a very long-time player.  I have usually gotten the Beta testing invitations and I think this is my second invitation for an Alpha – last one was MoP.  I am going to be thrilled to work on the Alpha a bit, however, having learned from my experience, I won’t get too heavily involved so that I’m not burned out when the expansion drops.

Just wanted to check in and let people know that I haven’t passed away or anything, just take a brief break from the game that I love and my computers. See you all in Azeroth.

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OOC – On My Way Back


February 25th, 2018

Well, this has been an interesting month for myself – decided to upgrade to the new expansion and immediately got physically ill.  Kind of reminds me of how things went when Legion started.   I hope that this isn’t the case because I am still getting caught up with the Legion expansion.   Let me tell you, getting old kind of sucks but I do think that the alternative would be totally boring.

I’m just cruising along at my usual pace and still enjoying the game when I get the opportunity to play.  Did some med changes and getting my body adjusted to that now, I think that I’ll live.  I had several days when I couldn’t even sit in front of the computer for very long and had to go back and lay down on the couch.   Now, I am feeling a bit better and will jump back into World of Warcraft.

Yes, it’s time for me to get back into the routine.  I know that I am not going to be running as crazy in the new expansion as I have been in Legion.  I’ll catch up with things eventually and I’m actually having an easier time due to the fact that I don’t have to wait on the “controlled” time-gates that  Blizzard had in the game when it was in process.  Not too bad because it’s still fun for me.  I will have to admit that I am taking my time and just enjoying the heck out of things.

Finally had to retire my oldest computer because it was just struggling trying to keep going with the things that Blizzard has added to WoW of late.  My FPS just hit the floor and it wasn’t much fun to play on although it still looked great.  So, now I’m on the market for a new gaming rig which is going to take some time since I’m not exactly going to buy “off the shelf” this time and definitely not doing the refurb route again.    Since my son is my IT guy, he’s helping me with the search for a new computer.  He definitely gets any old equipment that I have because he’s the one that has handled all of the upgrades and so on.

I’m in the process now of catching up on my reading of the blogs posted on WP and getting myself ready to do some more writing.  Hope to see you all in Azeroth soon.