April 2016 Archives
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – My Kingdom for a Mount
Posted on April 30
New mounts were actually first patched in with the last update in April, right before I started playing. So, I joined at a pretty good time.
FFXI: Ultimate Collection Seekers Edition (On Sale and Sold)
Posted on April 29
I’ve been hesitating on picking up the FFXI Seeker’s Edition, despite being every single expansion in the game for $30. I was still feeling my way through the lower level content, for one, and didn’t see an immediate need to upgrade to the newest expansion yet.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – A Quest for Grass
Posted on April 29
You wanna know something disappointing? I never got my chocobo license way back when I used to play FFXI. So I had no idea how it actually worked.
TSW: New Thoroughbred Horse Mount
Posted on April 28
I’m such a horse nut, you knew I knew I’d have to spring for the new Secret World horse mount.
May Gaming Goals
Posted on April 28
This month, I want to do something a little different. I want to include goals for games other than FFXIV! Yay!
BDO: Million Silver Horses
Posted on April 28
So I was down to my last T3 female again last night, and decided instead of working a week and a half to raise another pair to the point of shooting for T6 offspring, I would try to hit that spot where there was a 60% chance of breeding females.
BDO: First Tier 6 Horses Bred!
Posted on April 27
I know I’ve been quiet about my horse breeding lately. That’s because I’ve spent all this time training my T3 female and T4 male to level 29 (both) in order to push a big breeding last night.
Steam Challenge Milestone: More Than Half Backlog Played!
Posted on April 26
I’d like to announce that for the first time since I started the Steam Personal Challenge in 2014, I have now gotten my backlog numbers to under 50% not played. That means I have officially more games that I’ve played than not played!
FFXIV: April Goals in Review
Posted on April 26
I know it’s not quite the end of April yet, but it’s pretty close. I doubt I’ll be finishing up any other goals before the month is over, so I wanted to take a look back in review.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – The Run to Jeuno
Posted on April 26
The run to Jeuno. It was just one of those experiences you had to have in your early 20s in FFXI. It was fraught with danger through zones that had mobs who could kill you in a few shots.
Steam Challenge: Culling Time
Posted on April 25
Let’s face it. Many of us have ended up with games in our Steam backlog that we’re just never going to play in any serious way. When we go to pick out a game to install, our eyes just brush past this title, not even considering it. We may not even remember where it came from – likely part of some random bundle somewhere.
FFXIV: Level 50 Scholar Get!
Posted on April 25
Finally got my level 50 Scholar tonight, dressed in some Poetics gear! 🙂
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – Time Traveller
Posted on April 25
So I hop on the boat to Norg, which happens to be a pirate town of some sort. I explore around and talk to NPCs, but it’s pretty clear that this area is made for someone higher level than myself. I decide to focus on the business at hand, which is talking to the captain and meeting this person he found.
Steam Challenge: Old Skool Strategy Weekend
Posted on April 24
This all started when I picked up Sid Meier’s Colonization for $2.37 on a Steam sale this weekend. Then, I suddenly decided to spend some time playing through some of the old-skool strategy games I own but have never tried out.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – Support Jobs and Story Ahoy!
Posted on April 23
Those who follow my blogging know that story is a huge part of a MMO’s experience for me. Now, I’ve always heard that FFXI had a top notch story, but I’ve never been able to see it, since I never leveled past 20 with any character.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – Remembering Missions
Posted on April 22
Once I became aware of the Quests button on the main menu, I also took notice of the Missions button just above it. I checked it out, and it seems my character must have accepted a mission (Bat Hunt) over a decade ago.
Riders of Icarus: Closed Beta 2
Posted on April 21
So thanks to a free beta key from MassivelyOP (they’re gone now), I downloaded and decided to try out Riders of Icarus. Of course, the game nabbed my interest when it came to taming and riding mounts.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – Super Easy Solo Leveling: Records of Eminence
Posted on April 21
While buzzing around on the FFXI subreddit, I was given a really great, updated starter guide. The first thing this guide stressed was something called Records of Eminence (RoE).
BDO: Riding Attire & Musa
Posted on April 20
A while back, I stated that when BDO put cosmetics in the shop that I wanted, then I’d put some more money towards supporting the game. I already knew I’d want the riding attire based on looks alone, but I didn’t know that it would have the 20% experience bonus to horses as you ride them. It was a no brainer.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – Super Easy Solo Leveling: Field Manuals
Posted on April 20
If you’re anything like me, when you think of FFXI, you think of a game that requires a huge time sink to level. I remember spending hours leveling during my teens at the La Theine Plateau, getting ready for that big level 18 when I could start the SubJob quest in the Dunes.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – In Excenmille We Trust (Solo-Friendly FFXI!)
Posted on April 19
So remember how in my previous post I mentioned that I noticed that the Red Mage character I rolled over 10 years ago had 8 hours sunk into her, but only had 4 levels? Well, when I got back to town, and visited my Mog House, I noticed the inventory there was stuffed full with fishing gear, rods and bait. I also noticed that her fishing skill had been leveled.
BDO: Still Horsing Around
Posted on April 18
While I’ve been busy playing FFXIV and FFXI this weekend, my little laptop has been constantly running BDO in the background, where I’ve been autolooping my horses to level them. I was unsuccessful in breeding any females from my last group of T3s, so I had to run out and tame some more T1/T2 females to start another family line.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – Aywren vs. Locked Treasure Chests
Posted on April 18
Once I got the game looking and playing well through configurations, it was time to finally check out the character that I left deactivated on the Asura server over 10 years ago. Now, I know that I never leveled any of my characters past 20, mostly due to the grouping nature of the game.
FFXI: Return to Vana’diel – First Time Configuration Woes
Posted on April 17
Yesterday morning, my 8 hour download off FFXI was finally complete and the game was ready for me to launch for the first time. Oh boy, did I not see what was coming next… I spent more of my time fighting with the game configuration than I did playing at first.
FFXI -V: What Am I Even Doing?
Posted on April 16
I’m totally blaming this on Massively OP’s article about FFXI. You don’t know how odd it is for me to write FFXI and not FFXIV. I’m freaking out right now.
[Response To] Dual Wielding LFG Edition: Organic Community in MMOs
Posted on April 15
I was actually invited to join in on the first LFG Dual Wielding Edition, but I’ve had so much going on over the past two weeks that it sadly slipped through the cracks. I was enthralled by these awesome bloggers who tackled the question of: “What can developers do to foster community in MMOs”…
Black Desert Online: Advanced Horse Breeding Guide and Resources
Posted on April 15
In this guide, I want to talk about some of the more advanced information I’ve learned over the past month in training and breeding horses in Black Desert Online. I’ve poured over spreadsheets from other breeders and I’ve kept my own on my Stables Page.
Steam Challenge: Dragon Fin Soup
Posted on April 14
Two years ago, in April 2014, I Kickstarted Dragon Fin Soup. It’s been on Steam for a while now, but I read that it had a slightly rocky start with many patches to make needed changes based on feedback. So I’ve been holding off trying the game until I sensed that it was more stable.
FFXIV: Greetings from Stone Vigil!
Posted on April 14
Tonight, we helped Xaa and Vix through their first time in Stone Vigil.
Steam Challenge: Long Live the Queen
Posted on April 13
I picked up Long Live the Queen during a Steam winter sale in 2014, and have only just now gotten around to trying it. I’m awful. But, hey, that was the final game that I bought that winter that I hadn’t played, so now I’ve caught up! 😀
Revisiting Starbound
Posted on April 12
So last night, I was still in the I-don’t-know-what-to-play mood, so I suggested we try Starbound, which Syn and I haven’t played in months. I like to check in on the game every now and then, because I genuinely have a great time playing it, and I like to see all the changes the dev team puts out.
BDO: First T5 Horse Bred
Posted on April 12
I’ve had absolutely no luck in breeding females from my original stock of T3 and T4 horses, sadly.
BDO: Training Expert, Camp NaNo Writing, and Dat Funk
Posted on April 11
I did, indeed, reach my goal of Skilled 1 Trainer in BDO last night. This gave me a new title, Training Expert, which I wear proudly.
BDO: Cherry Blossom Earrings, Autoloop & First T4 Horses
Posted on April 9
This weekend I finally got the free Cherry Blossom Earrings cosmetics that you earn by farming cherry trees during the current event. My hair kinda gets in the way, but you can see them more or less here.
BDO: Cherry Tree in my House!
Posted on April 8
So while I’ve been training my horses in BDO, I’ve also been foraging for cherry tree seeds that you can farm and earn rewards during the current Cherry Blossom Event.
BDO: Makin A Splash with More Horse Breeding
Posted on April 7
I’ve been quietly training up my stable of T3 and T2 horses over the weeks in BDO. I’ve found, however, that as low as my skill is, it’s much more lucrative for me to capture a T1 horse and train it to level 10 before selling it off.
Steam Challenge: Cat Goes Fishing
Posted on April 6
Cat Goes Fishing is a game that’s been on my wishlist for a while. I’m a sucker for fishing games, and the cat in this game is a flame point like my own, so this game had a few things going for it (including cute art).
Weekend Gaming: FFXIV, Sims 4 & 7D2D
Posted on April 4
This weekend was a mish-mash of gaming, which was actually quite a nice, relaxing blend. Despite piddling around in various games, I even knocked out some of my FFXIV goals.
iPhone SE: Unexpected Purchase
Posted on April 3
Back in September 2013, I bought my first smartphone – an iPhone 5S. I took really good care of my first phone. I probably use it a good deal less than most folks do. I hardly ever dropped it. Always had a case and screen cover.
Introducing Miitomo
Posted on April 1
I’ve been following the development of Miitomo, Nintendo’s first phone app, since it was first announced. It did an open beta stint in Japan, where it is quite popular, and finally just released outside of Japan yesterday. As soon as I knew it was released, I downloaded and created my Mii over lunch break.