Category Archives: Uncategorized

August Gaming Goals

See how flexible those post calendars can be? I like reading other people’s gaming goals. https://biobreak.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/syps-gaming-goals-for-august-2022/

In June, I even did my own, and was all set to make good progress when the real world intervened and I accomplished none of them.

https://thelastchapterguild.wordpress.com/2022/06/02/atherens-gaming-goals-june-2022/

Let’s try again for August.

Shadowlands (WOW)

I have characters on Blackwater Raiders ranging from level 56-60. I want to get everyone to 60 this month. I’m sending my Druid Atherne ahead as I’ve done in the past to assure I have at least one character who has done all of the Shadowlands content before Dragonflight is released, but the others will keep inching along.

Atherne is in Revendreth. I like Revendreth so much better than Ardenweald. I can manage to play a little in Ardenweald, then I think, I should move forward in Revendreth. Yeeeesssss.

In The Burning Crusade Classic

I have A Warlock and Hunter in Outlands I’m hoping to get to 70 by Wrath’s release so I’ll work on those.

Working their way slowly towards Outlands are the other characters I’d like to see at 70 when Wrath releases: A Druid, A Holy Priest and a Protection Warrior.

In Elder Scrolls Online

I’ve got my Blackwood girl and I’ll move a higher level to High Isles. If the game ever updates…..So five levels each, how’s that?

Secret World Legends

My gaming laptop has long been a disappointment, and tonight as I’m writing this it won’t boot up properly, nor bring up Secret World Legends.

So. Put it on my main PC, you say. Installation/Update Hell night continues.

This will be a GREAT gaming month! I can feel it.

As far as Steamies (My Steam Library) go, I think I’ll look at a few new to me titles and perhaps revisit some I haven’t looked at since Blaugust 2018.

The Tomb Raider Anniversary game version is the one I’ll delve into.

Lord of the Rings Online—I can’t face Mirkwood where my Hunter is mired endlessly, so I’ll move my Loremaster forward in Moria.

That should do for a dazzling day two post. I’m off to finish downloading SWL and frankly, the dogs are whining at the door to come in and there’s no room in here for them. Good excuse, right?

Welcome to Blaugust Week, Last Chapter Edition

My Monday morning posts will all feature the Blaugust theme of the week. So Happy Monday everyone! I’ve only participated once before, and my favorite part was reading a wealth of posts on a topic always of interest to me, gaming. Everyone, particularly the newbie bloggers, write posts during this week with great enthusiasm.

There are a few new folks who write something along the line of “Hi, here’s my blog”. And that’s it. Don’t be discouraged. I think sometimes there’s the impression that these posts should cover serious important gaming topics, or nothing. Pssst…no, we like whatever you have to say. Oh wait, there was a mean person one year…. You know what to do, (forward slash) Ignore Mean Person. Poof.

Consider, if your blog is new, or even if it’s been around for awhile, that creating or freshening up your sidebar with blogs you read and gaming or other sites you use all of the time and recommend for others can make everything look shiny and new. That will give you ideas for posts right there.

In any case, these are Game Blogs, or are written by people who play games but have many other interests. Enjoy!

My Blaugust is pretty much planned out. I created a Post calendar. Sketched in a few notes. For me, it helps to have a few days that are pre-planned topics. This year it’s the theme of the week on Mondays and everyone’s secret favorite, Screenshot Saturday.

Here are my loose topics:

TV Fair Game

Dungeons

Shadowlands (WOW)

TBC (WOW)

Lord of the Rings Online

Elder Scrolls Online

Tomb Raider

Look at Steamies! (All those charming things I keep collecting in my Steam Library during the sales.)

I see I still have Secret World Legends installed on my laptop. Let’s just see where we left off, shall we?

There is a whole page of writing prompts at Tales of the Aggronaut (Blaugust Boss and Host Extraordinaire). I printed out the list and have marked the topics I’d like to write about.

Blaugust Prompt List

Also, all the other Blaugusters will be writing and sharing ideas, so snare those ideas and make them your own. Write in advance and pre-post whenever you can to give yourself thinking and playing space.

I’m looking forward to what everyone has to share this month.

Atheren Lightrunner, Star Wars Galaxies Ranger, Retired

In Before The Lock: Blaugust 2022

I’ve signed up for this year’s annual Blaugust event, pretty much officially. I can write a post a day in my sleep, normally, but have been unable to write a thing on my main blog since mid June. I’m hoping to break the blockade here. My goal is to get a nice Rainbow Diamond Award for my sidebar at month’s end. I liked the idea of the new achievements this year, but there aren’t many I can see myself doing.

Because I’m a dirty rotten cheater at heart (remember the Can of Worms game tips site? Sniff), I’ll post general game posts, and steal would be content from my Azeroth blog, and TV posts that fit in this science fiction-y game environment such as Umbrella Academy and the upcoming last season of Locke and Key, not to mention the likely gag-worthy Game of Thrones prequel and Uncharted the Movie when it finally hits Netflix.

I do love a run-on sentence.

Introducing Blaugust 2022

In case you haven’t piled in and signed up for Blaugust, all the details are on the Tales of the Aggronaut blog.

See you Monday!

Just Checking In

Grrr, I’m still locked out of my Blogger blog Atheren’s Azeroth. Not that I was writing much anyway, but it’s the being blocked thing that has finally cracked me.

Azeroth: I’m still loving the Burning Crusade Classic game and play most days. My husband plays even more than I do. What a fiend he is for materials gathering and tossing himself up against murderous enemies. In order to get money and materials.

I am currently playing my Hunter and Warlock back and forth trying to finally get us a guild bank. Since my sister doesn’t read this (hi sis!) I can say I thought that she and her husband, who are ace at using the auction house, could work with the rest of us to get a guild bank pretty easily. Then I can just pop potions, weapons and armor in the bank instead of spending all that silver mailing stuff around.

The warlock is level 45 and the Hunter closing in at level 37. I’ve been saving for about a week, just by questing, and have 50 gold. I think, I’m pretty sure, I can have the rest by month’s end. Then we’re all on easy street.

I’ve peeked into Shadowlands once or twice, and my Atherne character finally made it to Ardenweald. I just can’t stand the place. And every time I think that every single class is recommended to go there, agh. No. No.

Then I played briefly a level 3 Mage on a server far far away. She’s now level nine because I played her a little. I liked her combat animations. She’s in Westfall, however, and it is so different from the Westfall I’ve been spending lots of hours in, fighting the Defias. The tornadoes. The cracked earth. Cataclysm was release 11 years ago, and the landscape hasn’t been repaired? There are homeless refugees from Stormwind all around Sentinel Hill, all those people still hungry. Nothing ever done for them. It’s a depressing place. Perhaps one of the reasons you get shuttled now through these early levels so fast is so they never have to fix anything. Bleh.

TBC is my happy place.

Did you know you can ride into the Swamp of Sorrows via Darkshire? It’s completely overrun with Horde, no Alliance spots at all, which I hate, because it’s a favorite spot in the game. Still.

Even more mind boggling, you can get to the Badlands via Dun Morogh. It’s right there! You ride past Uldaman on the way in! Yikes! And Feralas is just gorgeous. Thousand Needles is disappointing. Even though it’s not underwater in this era, again, blah blah, it’s all Horde. No Alliance base or quests.

I have peeked into LOTRO now and then when Wow was down. It is apparently my next game of choice. The graphics are so fuzzy, though, it’s kind of unpleasant. I did find a guide to graphics settings for it that are supposed to make it look better. Haven’t gotten around to that quite yet.

I’ve no interest in New World at all. It never sounded interesting, as I can’t stand the historical period it semi-resides in. Of course Bhagpuss makes everything sound good, so I like reading what he has to say. That’s as far as that goes.

I’ve completely left ESO behind, which is so odd to me since they are doing the Oblivion game period, my favorite of the Elder Scrolls games. However, it plays to a major flaw in the game itself, having the Imperial City be a PVP zone only. Do you know how much time I’ve spent in the Oblivion game in that city, with it’s merchants, and I can never go there in ESO.

Blizzard’s Sad Story

The revelations and story playing out at Blizzard are nowhere near over. My comments are small without still knowing the depth of the problems in this apparently toxic workplace where a game I love is created. How do these things even happen in the world?

My thoughts are summed up best by Taliesin via Priest With A Cause’s Blog

http://priestwithacause.blogspot.com/2021/07/shitshow-at-blizzard.html

and, the best writer about World of Warcraft currently writing:

https://kaylriene.com/2021/07/30/the-actiblizzwalkout-and-reconciling-art-and-artist/

I agree with most of what they have to say. I’m shocked, dismayed, saddened. I did not hold any of the developers at Blizzard in any particular regard, as always, having learned from SWG not to follow individuals and creators of the games I love too closely.

I have not unsubscribed from the game since Wrath of the Lich King. I will not be unsubscribing now. I hope all of the voices are heard and changes are made at Blizzard. As a former union steward, I recommend that a union is formed. That’s how you protect your workforce, that’s how you make sure someone is looking out for everyone.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

Here we go! I’ve just begun the first Mass Effect game from scratch, and if this released in March, I should be able to see how I like the “soldier” build, and I’ll either start anew with that for this update, or choose one of the others. I had originally thought this remaster was just the first Mass Effect, but it’s the first three. Wow. Here’s my wallet, guys!

https://www.ea.com/games/mass-effect/mass-effect-legendary-edition

Creaks

Creaks is a new platformer game from Amanita Design.   They call it a puzzle adventure.     https://amanita-design.net/games/creaks.html

I find the Edward Gorey like art appealing.   The character, though silent, is hapless, yet determined, so far.  I’m sure I’m still in the tutorial.  This is the first game I’ve bought not as part of a sale or an expansion upgrade in quite a long time.

 

Controls are the arrow keys to move and the spacebar to select/interact.   Having watched the trailer and the moves the character makes along the way, this surprised me.

 

 

Though you see small sections on your screen at a time, a scene where the character climbs down and down a ladder provides potential for a large area, perhaps.

 

 

I stopped when I saw his first potential enemy.  The look on his face.  Maybe it’s a good dog.

 

Two For The Show

My Warrior gained 120 and next up is my Enhancement Shaman.

Starting at level 71 earlier in the week, she’s at 84 today.  I left her behind for a long while, but she has been very easy to play.  I feel guilty for having left her behind.  Somehow in my Shadowlands strategy I want to keep all the BWR characters at the same level.

I can’t guarantee my Monk will crawl forward to 120 though.  Maybe she’s not so bad once I concentrate on learning how to play her class.   First the Shaman.

I’m pretty sure I chose to try Enhancement Shaman because I thought her totems would enhance not just her, but her fellow dungeoneers.  Nope.  Very disappointing.

Her Healing Surge is one limp heal.  Even so, sometimes it’s a teensy moment’s escape from death.

She’s doing super well in dungeons except when things occasionally go awry.

Thanks to my brother-in-law, I find myself transmogging everyone’s outfits as soon as they have a few coins.  The Shaman looked good in blue, with her ghostly pale coloring.

 

You’ll recall I ran a Hunter on another server to 120.  Every other character there is very low level. So no armor, potions, bags, any support of any kind from the other characters there.  Agh.  On Blackwater Raiders, every crafter is max level and can make her useful things!  It is pretty great.  Including my Inscriptionist who had the glyph for this cool Spirit Form:

 

I will note briefly it is depressing to look at Inscription these days.  It is so gutted of anything fun or useful.  Give me those scrolls and glyphs back! (Shakes fist)

 

Shadowlands in beta.  Hurry hurry to get these two last classes to max!  Don’t squish them yet!

I did not opt in for alpha, nor do do I plan to opt in for beta.  I usually crack to get a peek, but yech, this one is going to be a rough sell.  A few bloggers are getting access now so they can do the suffering and cautioning or recommending.  Popcorn is at the ready.

Even without opting in I keep checking my launcher just in case.  What. A. Fish.

 

 

Flat Atherne

There’s a ton of information out this week on Shadowlands, way to much to absorb at once.  In my own analytical way, I thought I should pare down what I think in small bits.   The part I am of course focused on, and am not happy with, is the Level Squish.  So  I was thinking of good post titles with the word Squish in  it, without having any analysis ready–lets face it , a zippy post title always comes first.

I remembered Flat Stanley, a book I actually haven’t read.  Yeah, there we go, our characters are all getting flattened.  There was a Flat Stanley Project, wherein kids could download their own Stanley’s and color them, then send them in the mail to some other kid.

Home

37 Flat Stanley Templates & Letter Examples

So, looking at my Atherne character, I have created her as a Flat Stella (the girl version).  So like the original!   I free-handed that hammer, I’ll have you know.

 

With this ready to go, I can now study the Squish and report back.   I’ll be writing once a week or more, who knows, but am not doing the Tuesday GameNotes going forward.   Thanks for stopping by!