tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67884488133858192472024-03-14T02:19:26.463-04:00MMO CasualJoarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.comBlogger543125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-67356281794135610392024-03-10T12:12:00.002-04:002024-03-10T12:12:37.306-04:00Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online Updates<p>I continue to balance my playing time between Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2. I finished running my Reaper through the new Guild Wars 2 content. What I really need to do next is focus on grabbing the rest of the mastery point abilities I need across all the expansions. I thought the easiest way to do that was to run various characters back through the story quest, but I really don't think that's the most efficient way of accumulating experience in those zones relative to just doing zone events and things like that. I might do some of that on alts. Like right now, dual-wield mace rangers are entertaining to play, although I'm expecting that to get seriously nerfed in the next week or two. </p><p>I need to find one more Central Tyria mastery point, and the Karka Queen thing is probably the easiest thing for me to grab quickly. </p><p>However, even with spending more time on Guild Wars, most of my time continues to be spent in Elder Scrolls Online. I finished leveling my Magicka Nightblade to 50. It's not my favorite class I've leveled so far, but it was okay. My Dragonknight is at level 37, and the Necromancer is at level 31. I'm going to start working on the Warden next. I'm thinking about leveling that one as a dungeon healer primarily, so we'll see how that goes. I haven't been a huge fan of Dragonknight so far, either. I probably should have leveled him as a tank, but I'm not confident enough in the dungeons yet to do that.</p><p>I likely will get back into both FFXIV and World of Warcraft at some point. Right now, grinding out renown on those last two factions isn't enough of a motivator for me to go back to World of Warcraft, and I'm not sure what I'd do in FFXIV at this point. </p><p>So that is the update for now! </p><p>Cheers!</p><p>Joar</p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-59505706160684272572024-02-29T13:50:00.007-05:002024-02-29T13:50:41.427-05:00State Champ, Initial Thoughts on New GW2 Content and More ESO<p> I'm getting a third post for February in just under the wire. Thank goodness it's a leap year. I've been traveling a lot recently, which has cut down on my play and blogging time. As I've mentioned, my younger two kids are both competitive swimmers. My middle son swims for his University, Carnegie Mellon, and my youngest swims for his local high school. I was in Chicago two weeks ago for my middle son's conference championships. </p><p>He finished 7th in his main event, the 50 Free, which was disappointing as he was leading at prelims. However, on his relays, one of his relays finished 2nd, and two of them finished 3rd, which was a good outcome. He has qualified for the NCAA National Championships in 4 events - the 50 Free, the 200 Free Relay, the 200 Medley Relay, and the 400 Free Relay. Those are happening in Greensboro, North Carolina, near the end of March.</p><p>Last weekend, my youngest son won the Ohio State Championship in the 50 Free and 200 Medley Relay. His team also finished 2nd in the 200 Free Relay. It was a fun weekend, and we're very proud of him.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzflGo3zgy2-qgmnutTDM6KBK8jyClfhextM_nKyNbW78vPCVvwpCxqV4vN1G2auykymJM5kMN4SaxPhIPap7G96mNuFD5wO05qrK-cjZy-f5r6fkocZuyPmz0YLG1eFNnqO6GlX1exyd34TOCR2L4PnRhhGvo2bC7-E3gD9J6RsSKWxnVkbAnPqGr" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="392" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzflGo3zgy2-qgmnutTDM6KBK8jyClfhextM_nKyNbW78vPCVvwpCxqV4vN1G2auykymJM5kMN4SaxPhIPap7G96mNuFD5wO05qrK-cjZy-f5r6fkocZuyPmz0YLG1eFNnqO6GlX1exyd34TOCR2L4PnRhhGvo2bC7-E3gD9J6RsSKWxnVkbAnPqGr=w258-h400" width="258" /></a></div><br />In gaming news, I ran through the new Guild Wars 2 content on my Machinist. The story in this expansion continues to be pretty good, although I miss some of our old friends from earlier expansions. That's one thing that FFXIV does really well. The events in the zone are a lot of fun, and the storyline is challenging and engaging. I've also started through it on my Reaper, so we'll see how that goes. <p></p><p>In Elder Scrolls Online news, I continue to work on leveling those three alts. My Nightblade is at level 38, the Dragonknight is at level 38, and the Necromancer is at level 24. I'm continuing to work through Main Story Quests in their Zones and then doing the Daily Dungeon. I also tried doing the Daily PvP thing to see if the bonus xp from that would be worth doing. I may try it again, but I did two different battlegrounds and finished last both times, so I got no bonus xp. I did get a couple of decent pieces of gear, though.</p><p>Beyond that, I have yet to play World of Warcraft or FFXIV.</p><p>That's the update for this week! Cheers!</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-70752608337793590382024-02-13T12:10:00.004-05:002024-02-13T12:10:20.852-05:00Continuing the Alt Leveling Run in Elder Scrolls Online<p> For the past week, when I've had some play time, I've mostly continued my run at leveling alts in Elder Scrolls Online. I got my Sorceror to level 50 and am now working on a Nightblade and a Dragonknight.</p><p>As I mentioned last week, I intended to start the Nightblade as a Stamina spec and try doing Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood content along with the Daily Dungeon and PvP stuff to level him. I think I've decided to switch back to Magblade and go the regular MSQ route for leveling instead. I just think I'm not a sneaky sneaky style of player. I much prefer just charging forward and smacking things. Or at least blooping them from a distance with my spells.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL1kAEkyRwQbpZm8Aai4aBvMlP72DSL0nOgM4srskHSK6JPflRcu6F1ZEf6SMeCfwrbaAx_MchQEEcbA9Olp3SjrM4-fM_Vxf2uE7Z6WW5J_IhPZ7qdKlnQ-8N-Nho5qRpVZ2kIS4N6vhT3YnGF_ScivfsG2-p7CVPNp25R2ymymBmHgrWliycvZRQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL1kAEkyRwQbpZm8Aai4aBvMlP72DSL0nOgM4srskHSK6JPflRcu6F1ZEf6SMeCfwrbaAx_MchQEEcbA9Olp3SjrM4-fM_Vxf2uE7Z6WW5J_IhPZ7qdKlnQ-8N-Nho5qRpVZ2kIS4N6vhT3YnGF_ScivfsG2-p7CVPNp25R2ymymBmHgrWliycvZRQ=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>The Dragonknight also seems fun so far. Right now, the Nightblade is sitting at level 22, and the Dragonknight is at level 13, so I have a way to go on both. After that, I will do a Necromancer, and then I might try leveling a Warden as a healer just for something different.</p><p>I also hopped back into World of Warcraft to continue getting renown on the Niffem guys and the Dream Wardens. I reached Renown level 18 on the Niffem, which let me snag their mount. As one of the hundreds of mounts I now have in Warcraft, I'm sure it's fine.</p><p>I'm still not really doing anything in either Final Fantasy or Guild Wars 2 these days. Guild Wars 2 has more content coming out later this month, so that may change, at least for a while.</p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-27467998546605370682024-02-05T18:18:00.000-05:002024-02-05T18:18:27.078-05:00Playing Mostly Elder Scrolls Online Lately<p>My intentions of sticking to a once-per-week blog posting schedule were quickly thwarted by some business travel two weeks ago and then a rough week last week getting caught up. However, we're back this week. </p><p>I came down with the flu this weekend, so my wife has me quarantined in a guest bedroom as our youngest son is coming into high school championship season for swimming, and me getting him sick at this point would not be well received! </p><p>So I might even get more than one post per week to get at least partially caught up.</p><p>In terms of video games, I've beey playing Elder Scrolls Online this week. That's one of those games that I am always really comfortable with but just don't find myself playing that often. I've decided, like with most other games that I play, to go ahead and try to get a character of each class to max level. My original main, which is a Magicka Templar, has been there for quite some time, and I just finished getting a character of the new Arcanist class to max.</p><p>I'm now working on a Sorceror and after that, I plan to work on a Nightblade. The Sorceror is sitting at level 45, so almost done with that one. I have them spread out pretty well between the various factions, so that will give me different storylines to play. I've been doing a random dungeon once per day as well because that's huge experience. Beyond that, I'm just trucking along with the various storylines in different zones.</p><p>I'm thinking about having my Nightblade be Thieves Guild / Dark Brotherhood to see if it's possible to level that way. I'm guessing it's probably not, but it's worth giving a try. I've also debated setting foot in some of the DLC Dungeons now that my Sorceror is level 45, but will have to see if that's even possible. I'm not sure if those give higher levels of xp or not.</p><p>I haven't really done much of anything in Final Fantasy once I got my Island to level 20. I've been logging in to World of Warcraft periodically to do Niffem and Dream Warden world quests, but that's about it for there as well.</p><p>That's about it for today!</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-80628636274002831862024-01-18T13:28:00.000-05:002024-01-18T13:28:00.503-05:00New Content In FFXIV and World Of Warcraft<b><i>Warning: There may be spoilers for the new content for both FFXIV and <br />World of Warcraft included in this blog post.</i></b><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>I've spent the time that I've had this week primarily working through the new content in both FFXIV and World of Warcraft. The early part of the week was still spent mostly on Elder Scrolls Online, where I've gotten my Arcanist and Sorceror to level 37. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>FFXIV</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>I hopped right into the new MSQ for FFXIV as soon as it became available. The new character introduced was fun, and I like the new female Hrothgar model, but I still miss Zero. I hope we see her brought back at some point. It was pretty short and followed the FFXIV model of tugging at the heartstrings at a couple of points, but it did an excellent job of setting up the transition to Dawntrail.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also knocked out the latest installment of the Hildibrand quest line, which I enjoyed. It was completely silly and ridiculous, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an entertaining end to this particular installment. My one complaint with the whole questline is that creepy little Lalafel stalking Nashu everywhere. I'm not sure I noticed it early on in the Hildi chain, but someone pointed out that the little creep is in every cutscene, hiding somewhere and stalking her.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sort of made me want to go over and nuke the little shit, but that didn't appear to be an option. I was disappointed that there was no ending group dance scene with the quest chain itself, but I suppose I'll get over that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once that was done, it was off to knock out the final stage of my Manderville Relic weapon. I got a ridiculous dance scene for that, which took a bit of the sting away, but not by much. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7MVOou1zEa1rVa3NaNgCTUXj_-yltPQZFn4USJhc_wkOH7fnCajyFP35b3GinDWHswww__tcii2tchS0hZI8fzk_miD4bqV0PVeN7rHqgUSxn09rP8icALYr_w9hL65gO21ymKWi0ei3iiFHER2KLHw5xnBXJ-ZpOS4i1fiosGvXPNWB6KMrEKiy-/s1920/ffxiv_01172024_171857_041.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1051" data-original-width="1920" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7MVOou1zEa1rVa3NaNgCTUXj_-yltPQZFn4USJhc_wkOH7fnCajyFP35b3GinDWHswww__tcii2tchS0hZI8fzk_miD4bqV0PVeN7rHqgUSxn09rP8icALYr_w9hL65gO21ymKWi0ei3iiFHER2KLHw5xnBXJ-ZpOS4i1fiosGvXPNWB6KMrEKiy-/w400-h219/ffxiv_01172024_171857_041.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>The new weapon looks stylish, so I'm happy with that. I've not yet completed the final installment of Tataru's quest line, so expect thoughts on that next week.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>World of Warcraft</u></b></div><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div>I logged on and did the Gilneas thing. That was fun, although a bit formulaic. Go to this area, kill 12 guys, click 6 things. Now go to this area, kill 12 guys, click 6 things. Yeah, I get it. Feels like we're losing a lot of senior leadership across both factions. </div><div><br /></div><div>It allowed me to try dragon-riding in the old world, which was absolutely spectacular. The speed with which I could get from one end of the Eastern Kingdoms to the other was really fun. I have not done the new Bel'ameth zone yet, so more on that to come. I'm also very interested in trying the follower dungeons and figuring out how helpful that will be for leveling alts. </div><div><br /></div><div>So very early on for me, but it's been fine so far. It's not exactly a 5-star review, but I'm pretty good with fine now. </div><div><br /></div><div>At least for now, I'll be continuing to level alts on ESO and then logging in to knock out those few last bits of content in WoW and FFXIV. I still have Niffem and Dream Wardens to finish on the Renown front. Niffem is at 17, and Dream Warden just hit 15, so it's not too far still to go on either.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br /></div><div>Joar</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-7107786056859773322024-01-11T09:57:00.004-05:002024-01-11T09:57:39.769-05:00More Elder Scrolls Online Than NormalI've been playing more Elder Scrolls Online recently than I have in a long time. After a bit of a burst late last year, I've gotten a little tired of leveling alts in World of Warcraft. I also realized that Elder Scrolls is the only game I play regularly where I don't have an alt of each class at max level. So, I've started to work on that.<div><br /></div><div>I have an Arcanist at level 27 and a Sorceror at level 33. The Sorceror is one that I had already started a long time ago, but I also picked up Arcanist recently. As the most recently introduced class, it seems a bit overpowered at the moment, so I figured it would be good to level it while that was still the case. I'm just running home faction main story quests and the daily dungeon queue on the Arcanist. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7wRofj3_2kBDS-oI-Q5LrfgZ7R1sI1A3Vc_h1EQ_iHQtQsZa1ZeT7bQc6PvxWJR4okTKqFkgubEHvgC9E-nv6T2SiPFPEGrbWquX0tc2p-lLD9zNyAtmz8bEPyxEFrVMPWH0hRatexqvsqyYT7Nde4JyPy37JmLqoR9yp13jjN9Y6UsJV5rkMmKQD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="321" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7wRofj3_2kBDS-oI-Q5LrfgZ7R1sI1A3Vc_h1EQ_iHQtQsZa1ZeT7bQc6PvxWJR4okTKqFkgubEHvgC9E-nv6T2SiPFPEGrbWquX0tc2p-lLD9zNyAtmz8bEPyxEFrVMPWH0hRatexqvsqyYT7Nde4JyPy37JmLqoR9yp13jjN9Y6UsJV5rkMmKQD=w400-h196" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For the Sorceror, I went to Vvardenfell and picked up that expansion content, just for something different since that class is the same faction as the Arcanist. Both are fun to play and have been relatively easy to level. I'll probably try a stamina-based build with something like Warden next, just for something different.</div><div><br /></div><div>In Final Fantasy, I'm essentially logging on each day to fill up my workshop queues. I'm about 3/4 of the way through level 19, so I anticipate having my Island Sanctuary at max level in the next day or two. There's new content dropping next week, so I will shift some time from ESO to Final Fantasy for a little bit.</div><div><br /></div><div>In World of Warcraft, I'm working on leveling my mage, who is currently at level 64. After that, I just have the Evoker to finish up, and I'll have a character of each class at max level, which will be the first time that's happened since Battle for Azeroth. Beyond that, Joar is basically fully geared, and I'm just working on finishing up Renown with the Niffem guys and the Dream Wardens.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll have a decent chunk of play time next week, and then I'm traveling the following week, so my play time will be minimal.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for now.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br /></div><div>Joar</div>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-77984801631643329762024-01-04T20:36:00.007-05:002024-01-04T20:36:48.715-05:00Gaming Goals for 2024A lot of new content is coming out this year that will keep me busy on the gaming front. While we don't have specific release dates for most of it, there are definitely going to be a few more content patches in Guild Wars 2, a new minor content patch and a new expansion for FFXIV, several new content patches and a new expansion for World of Warcraft. I'm also assuming there will be something new for Elder Scrolls Online, but all they've announced so far is a big in-person event in the Netherlands in April for their 10th anniversary.<div><br /></div><div>The first piece coming out is the 6.55 patch for FFXIV, which is expected in the next week or two, followed by the new content patch for Guild Wars 2, scheduled for late February.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, I plan to level my various World of Warcraft alts. I'm also finishing the Niffem and Dream Walker renown on my main. Once that is done and his gearing is done, I may also work on gearing up the hunter. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since leveling alts has gotten a bit tiresome only 10 characters in, I've also decided to level some alts in Elder Scrolls Online. It's the only game I play regularly where I don't have a character of each class at maximum level, so that seems easy enough to rectify. I've started with Arcanist to power through that while it still looks overpowered. After my normal Magicka Templar, I have a Sorceror at level 30, but everyone else is basically just starting out. </div><div><br /></div><div>My other commitment for this year is to get closer to posting something once a week on this blog to have more consistency, but we'll see how that goes. Last year was the highest post total since 2015, so I'm coming around a bit.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for now!</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br /></div><div>Joar</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-59418524721525337532023-12-30T20:57:00.002-05:002023-12-30T20:57:31.178-05:002023 Year In Review<p>My wife and I managed to get a few days away on a cruise this week, so I initially thought this post would probably wait until 2024, but I find myself with a bit of time in the evening, so I figured I'd at least get started on it.</p><p>The early part of 2023 started with me splitting time between playing World of Warcraft Dragonflight and still working through Final Fantasy XIV, with time reasonably evenly split in the first few months of the year. </p><p>By March, after getting 6 characters to max level in Dragonflight and working through more renown, I got tired of that again, so I returned to FFXIV and even started picking up some Elder Scrolls Online. In ESO, the main goal was finishing up Caldwell's gold, which I did by the end of the month. </p><p>In April, I decided it would be fun to knock out a Skyscale in Guild Wars 2, so I also jumped back into that game. All during this time in ESO and GW2, I was still working on leveling more jobs to max level in FFXIV. </p><p>In May, I started working on World Completion on my main in GW2 and also started working on leveling a character of every class. I got the World Completion done in June. I also began working on the new ESO content, Necrom, when it came out and continued with the FFXIV leveling.</p><p>In July, I finished leveling every class in Guild Wars 2 to max and unlocking at least one Elite spec on all of them. Meanwhile, I was down to just 3 jobs to go in FFXIV to have them all maxed out. </p><p>August brought the launch of the new Guild Wars 2 expansion, which took quite a bit of my time as I ran through that content on two of my classes. By mid-September, though, I ran out of steam again on Guild Wars 2, so I switched back to Final Fantasy XIV for the final push on those last few jobs. I finally managed to get the Omni-90 done in FFXVI and so switched back to playing World of Warcraft. </p><p>November and December saw me returning to my Island Sanctuary in FFXIV to get caught up on leveling that, continuing to work on leveling alts in World of Warcraft, and trying to knock out those last few Renowns. </p><p>Next week, I'll try to pull together a preview of what's planned for 2024. </p><p>Cheers, </p><p>Joar</p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-6895587668608468812023-12-13T12:32:00.005-05:002023-12-13T12:32:45.425-05:00Thoughts on Amirdrassil LFR and WoW Leveling Update<p>I managed to run through the last two wings of LFR earlier this week, including the final wing with Tindal and Fyrakk. As a casual LFR hero, I must say that I'm much happier with this LFR installment than I have been in a long time. These fights are challenging without being overwhelming. Fyrakk is the first end-of-expansion boss in a long time where I've come out of the fight NOT saying "I will never do this fight ever again." For me, LFR should be about getting to see the content and potentially getting some rewards that are basically on par with what you can get from World Quests and other events. I think they've hit that balance nicely with this last raid. The fights are challenging and interesting. You have to understand the mechanics and adapt, so it's not just a face roll, but it's not so difficult that you'll be pounding your head against a wall for hours waiting for 10 stacks of determination.</p><p>I did have one odd thing happen this week. I had a tier piece drop for me, and I had another warlock in the group absolutely beg me for it, saying it was the last one he needed for this 4-piece set bonus. </p><p>I happily gave it to him because I already had 445 gloves in that spot (just a purchase from the Dream Wardens), and I hadn't been to the Catalyst yet to switch the last two pieces to tier pieces. Is it possible that there are folks out there doing raids and such who aren't aware that you can use the Catalyst to convert any gear to a tier piece? /shrug</p><p>Anyway, this person was thrilled to death that I gave them the tier piece, even though it was way less of a big deal than they probably thought. So glad I could make someone's day.</p><p>Also, the final series of campaign and post-Fyrakk kill quests are beyond sappy (tree pun fully intended). So ensure you're prepared for overdone attempts to tug at your heartstrings. </p><p>Beyond that, I'm still doing Niffem and Dream Warden world quests on Joar for rep until I get those maxed out.</p><p>In leveling news, I did get my Demon Hunter to level 70 using the Timewalking event and anniversary bonuses, and I'm now working on Shadow Priest, who is currently at 69. After that, I'll be working on the Rogue. I've always hated leveling rogues since they got rid of the Combat spec, so this will probably be another one where I just try to chain-run dungeons to get it over with.</p><p>In Final Fantasy XIV, I've primarily been working on my Island Sanctuary, which is now at level 17. I unlocked the final area of the cave, got a new set of tools to use in said cave, and also upgraded my Cozy Cabin to something large and ridiculous-looking, which I think is the final upgrade.</p><p>I had no activity at all in Guild Wars 2 or ESO this week.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-18291088983159604432023-12-05T14:39:00.001-05:002023-12-05T14:39:15.216-05:00Using the Anniversary Event and Timewalking Dungeons to Level Alts<p> As was true with my last update, I'm spending most of my time right now on World of Warcraft, using both the anniversary event XP bonus and the current week of timewalking dungeons to go back and level a few alts that I had sitting at level 50 that never got touched after the end of Battle for Azeroth. I've used this to get my rogue, monk, and mage to level 60. I also plan to use the last few days of the event to finish getting my demon hunter and priest to 70. For those, I'll obviously be using regular dungeons, not the timewalking variety. After that, I will return to doing normal stuff on my main with off-time focused on leveling the alts again. </p><p>At the end of Battle for Azeroth, I had 43 max-level characters, including one that was a boost with the pre-purchase of Shadowlands. I only leveled three characters to max in Shadowlands initially before my 18-month-long departure from WoW. I did three more when I came back near the very end of the expansion. Currently, I have six max-level characters: 2 that are sitting between 60 and 70 and three that have now been leveled to 60. That leaves me with 34 level 50s and a level 60 and level 70 boost.</p><p>I won't level at anywhere near that pace again, but I may see what progress I can make. Mainly, if things come around again, offering decent bonuses.</p><p>Yikes.</p><p>On the FFXIV front, I'm primarily working on my Island Sanctuary. I've gotten it to level 16 now. I don't know what level 16 triggered, but by the time I looked up from doing the latest installment of the Tataru questline and opening the new cave section, I was already halfway to level 17. So that won't be long. </p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-89133282523268017692023-11-22T12:28:00.001-05:002023-11-22T12:28:07.794-05:00Further Progress in World of WarcraftLast week, I had very little play time because of some work stuff, and then some travel with the Joarlings for swim meets. I'm back to it this week and have been mainly focused on World of Warcraft.<div><br /></div><div>First, in FFXIV, I've been logging on daily to work on my Island Sanctuary. I've now gotten it to level 14 and have upgraded all 3 of my Workshops to level 4. The Island is back running reasonably well on its own, so it's not taking a massive investment of time each day to keep it humming.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most of my time has been spent in World of Warcraft. I did end up finishing the Iskaara Tuskarr rep, so I'm now just focused on the Niffem and the new Dream Warden faction. My Niffem guys are sitting at level 11 and the Dream Warden's are still relatively early.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also ran both wings of the new raid. I had a ton of gear drop for me, mostly because there were hardly any casters in my groups. Lots of hunters, but very few casters. I found the first two wings to be pretty fun. The bosses were challenging; you had to pay attention to the mechanics, but they weren't too ridiculous. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Gear is pretty plentiful, which is excellent for late in an expansion. I'm not sure I want to spend much time gearing up any alts, but I may take a look at it eventually.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm still playing as Destruction, but after looking at the Tier Set bonuses, I may switch back to Demonology, as those seem more fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've also started leveling some alts again. When I stopped playing Dragonflight, I had stopped on my Demon Hunter, so I'm picking him back up. He's sitting at level 65 now, so halfway there, although still in Waking Shores.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've played a bit of Guild Wars 2, doing a chapter or so of LWS4 now and then.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for now.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br /></div><div>Joar</div>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-71066414630074580882023-11-07T13:28:00.001-05:002023-11-07T13:28:19.250-05:00A Busy Week for MMO's<p> This is a busy week for MMOs, at least the ones I play. We have new content dropping today in both Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft. There was also an expansion announcement at Blizzcon last weekend and some faint signs that WoW might be getting some of its mojo back. </p><p>I'll start with the not-new and shiny stuff. In FFXIV, I've mostly been working on my Island Sanctuary, which is now level 13. I recently finished upgrading my Cozy Cabin and both of my Granaries. Beyond that, I'm doing Expert roulettes every day for tomestones and for gear to upgrade some of my alt jobs. </p><p>In Guild Wars 2, I returned to working my Engineer / Machinist through the Living World Season 4 content. I'll do the latest story content drops on both my Engineer and my Necromancer and then go back to working on him. Once I get the Engineer caught up, I'll probably go back and do the Ranger, then pick another class to work on. Maybe either Mesmer or Revenant. </p><p>In World of Warcraft, I've been primarily working on finishing up the Iskaara Tuskarr rep, which I'm very close to completing, and then continuing to work on the Niffem folks. I'll probably finish up the Guild Wars 2 stuff before starting on the new story stuff for Warcraft, although I want to make sure I'm geared enough to try the new wing of LFR when it releases a week from now. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1LhFSuAivZFfu7E_GSe7E0rVJOsEqqbWdxxfsc-NB__r0Mk3yg9RL3B4Kv8HGOCV2dvbfygv4m4hiS2xCaKxO_BrfOjDxzQHdQ5i8cWvF6uyLWhJt9ODDQNXqMejCd9p1ljKmvEnvyF3vRdw6riOHBucr507_vR1OzULR8jhXnvl7QabEtTQ8gunq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="543" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1LhFSuAivZFfu7E_GSe7E0rVJOsEqqbWdxxfsc-NB__r0Mk3yg9RL3B4Kv8HGOCV2dvbfygv4m4hiS2xCaKxO_BrfOjDxzQHdQ5i8cWvF6uyLWhJt9ODDQNXqMejCd9p1ljKmvEnvyF3vRdw6riOHBucr507_vR1OzULR8jhXnvl7QabEtTQ8gunq=w400-h295" width="400" /></a></div><br />Of course, the new expansion was the other big announcement in the past week. I have to say, I've always felt a strong personal attachment to both Thrall and Anduin, so that trailer really got me in the feels. In a way they probably haven't since Legion. <p></p><p>As an altoholic, I really like the idea of shared renown. Hopefully, that's something they'll push back to old expansions eventually. The hero point thing looks fine. You know there had to be a thing like that. It sounds like you'll also get dragonriding capabilities on pretty much all of your old flying mounts, so that could be fun too, although I'm not sure the Pandaria sky dragon things won't make me a bit ill. As with most new World of Warcraft content, I'll definitely give it a try, and if it's not for me, I'll unsub for a bit as I've been doing lately. But it seems I'll pretty much always give them a chance.</p><p>That is the update for this week.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-43343763876640449372023-10-19T13:43:00.006-04:002023-10-19T13:43:35.094-04:00All FFXIV Jobs at 90<p>This happened over a week ago, on October 9th, but I finally hit my goal in FFXIV and now have all of the regular jobs to 90. Basically everything except blue mage. With that done, I've mostly gone back to working on my Island Sanctuary, and am also running a few roulettes every day for tomestones. I'm using the dungeon drops from the Expert Roulette to try to gear up my non-primary jobs, which is working out just fine so far. Once I cap out on tomestones, I can also start using those for gear upgrades. I've also been knocking out some of the hard-mode dungeons from ARR and Heavensward that I had unlocked but not completed. Wanderer's Palace, Fractal Continuum - stuff like that.</p><p>As a result, I've been playing more World of Warcraft than I normally would. I still don't have those last few faction renowns maxed, although I'm very close with the Centaur people. Only about halfway there with the cave people. I finished the Blue Dragonflight quest, which tugged at the old heartstrings. I almost feel bad for killing all those blue dragons back in Wrath. </p><p>Beyond that, I've also dived back into Guild Wars 2. I still want to run my necromancer through the current expansion content, so I've also started on that. I like the machinist, but the necromancer has basically 100% map completion everywhere, so there's something satisfying about that.</p><p>That's about all of the update for now.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-79391308460392069662023-10-06T12:26:00.000-04:002023-10-06T12:26:07.207-04:00Initial Thoughts on Patch 6.5 and Other Weird News (**some spoilers**)On the release day, I managed to run through all of the MSQ content for Patch 6.5 and the new Alliance Raid. I loved the story and thought it was an excellent wrap-up to the Endwalker expansion. The new dungeon was challenging but generally doable. I'll benefit from watching a few videos before grinding it out regularly. <div><br /></div><div>The new Alliance Raid was an exciting story. I'm still not sure what I think about the ending, but I'm not sure the gods were really getting all that much accomplished anyway. So I suppose we'll be just fine without them. As long as they're leaving some swirly gold AI-type thing to solve all our problems, I feel like we're probably in good hands.</div><div><br /></div><div>The raid itself was extremely challenging. I could catch on to the first two bosses pretty quickly, but I spent a lot of time tanking the floor on the last two. I got one piece of healer gear from the whole routine, which was nice.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTjMmlY6jmm9CO1GDWBe-B2PZsi-tiq6wUEE7_5FD4pYVkZQeHH8Jyj2b4IROMevj2M0sYZcmeDTCif3H700yv-_dYl9Z0zMO4IEU0dSb4uz_dJs0OvjGESA3lDzYhzxgayiVsX7_G9vuezwx_FLqfJ77XJwlHlHu9FMpuPbcQH4U6j5r5t9f9X1it" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTjMmlY6jmm9CO1GDWBe-B2PZsi-tiq6wUEE7_5FD4pYVkZQeHH8Jyj2b4IROMevj2M0sYZcmeDTCif3H700yv-_dYl9Z0zMO4IEU0dSb4uz_dJs0OvjGESA3lDzYhzxgayiVsX7_G9vuezwx_FLqfJ77XJwlHlHu9FMpuPbcQH4U6j5r5t9f9X1it=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Beyond that, I'm back to leveling the Dragoon, who is sitting at level 85, so there is only a little longer to go on him.</div><div><br /></div><div>In weirder news, I've started playing World of Warcraft again. I was getting tired of ESO and Guild Wars while waiting for the new FFXIV patch, so I went ahead and started playing and getting caught up a bit. It's odd how comfortable it feels getting back to my warlock. </div><div><br /></div><div>I did manage to get caught up on all the latest campaign quests and went through most of the Aberrus raid. Got a couple of nice drops from there, and we'll see what shows up in my vault. I have not tried the Sarkareth fight yet, but I might give that a try right after reset next week. </div><div><br /></div><div>I still need to finish up Renown on the Iskarr and the Centaur folks plus the new folks down in the cave, so that'll give me some other stuff to work through. And I haven't quite figured out what this Dreamsurge crap is yet, so that's another thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's about it for now. </div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br /></div><div>Joar</div><div><br /><br /></div>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-29945372970608408782023-09-27T13:58:00.001-04:002023-09-27T13:58:45.567-04:00Back to Working on the Dragoon<p>I returned from my trip to the Netherlands last week and am working diligently on leveling my Dragoon. Since my previous update, I managed to finish the Dark Knight, so the Dragoon is the only one left of the regular classes I still need to get to 90. Note that I'm saying normal because I technically still have a Blue Mage that I need to get from 50 to 80, but I'm not looking forward to that.</p><p>The Dragoon is currently sitting at level 76. I finished up the job story quests, which were really quite excellent. I'm not traveling again anytime soon other than the typical weekend at water polo tournaments with the youngest, so I should be able to knock this one out quickly.</p><p>I should get the Dragoon to max level just in time for the launch of the next patch, which will bring a bunch of new content and a new alliance raid. I can use that as a chance to gear up all of my various jobs, along with running daily experts.</p><p>Besides, I've been wondering a bit about how to keep myself busy. I've been thinking about resubscribing to World of Warcraft just to get caught up on the content there. I also need to finish the new expansion content in Guild Wars 2 on my Necromancer. Beyond that, I've just been doing daily crafting scrips in ESO to slowly level up the various crafting professions I haven't already done - primarily alchemy, provisioning, and jewel crafting. </p><p>That's it for now.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-40182751556854510682023-09-06T16:50:00.003-04:002023-09-06T16:50:24.504-04:00Finished Secrets of the Obscure<p>It's been a while since I've posted, particularly after the flurry of Blaugust. At least a flurry relative to my normal pace of posting. Things have been busy with real life for the last week or so - my youngest son's high school hosted a big water polo tournament this past weekend, and as the finance guy, a lot of behind-the-scenes work running the tournament ended up falling on me.</p><p>Things have also been pretty busy at my regular day job. </p><p>Today was the first time since last week that I've had any play time. I have finished up Secrets of the Obscure since the last I posted. I may run through it on my Necromancer and then go back to getting my Mechanist caught up on current content. Then I'll need to decide if I want to try running my Ranger through stuff.</p><p>On the FFXIV front, I've continued to work on leveling both the Dark Knight and Dragoon. The Dark Knight is at level 82 and the Dragoon is around 65, so they're both in very good shape. I've gotten two new mounts out of the Mogstone event, and I hope to get quite a few more once my play time frees up a bit. </p><p>Next week, I should be able to invest a bit more time, but then the following week, I'm going to be out of the country all week, so there won't be anything happening then.</p><p>That's all the update for now.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-90886378347880089202023-08-30T08:39:00.000-04:002023-08-30T08:39:31.634-04:00Blaugust 2023: Randomocracy<p>I rarely post anything even remotely political on my blog. And my political beliefs can probably best be described as something like, "What the Hell is Wrong With All of You?" I've often found myself sitting in the car listening to some news story and thinking that the homeless guy asking for change at the intersection could probably do a better job than 80% of the people in higher elected office these days. </p><p>In fact, almost everyone you run into on the street, at the grocery store, or at your kids' soccer game would do a better job. Okay, maybe not that one dad at the soccer game. But most everyone else.</p><p>I've been spending a decent amount of time on the long drives to my son's school to think about what a framework for a better, more effective government might look like, and that's where the idea of randomocracy was born.</p><p>This would obviously be highly controversial. It would require a complete rewrite of the U.S. Constitution, which makes it essentially wholly impossible but still interesting to think about. It also effectively does away with democracy, but I'll argue in a way that makes things more representative, not less. It also basically eliminates political parties because they would no longer be needed.</p><p>So here is how it works. The new structure would maintain the three branches of government that we have now - Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. </p><p><b><u>Executive</u></b></p><p>There would no longer be a President or a Vice President for the Executive. Instead, we would randomly draw seven names randomly from the general population every five years, and those seven people would run the executive branch for the next 5 years. They would move to the White House with their families, each earning tax-free $1,000,000 per year for their 5-year term. One alternative approach that I thought about with this structure is instead of selecting all seven people at once for a 5-year term, you could choose a new person each year for 7-year terms to replace one person on the team each year.</p><p>The only requirement to be selected is to be at least 30 years old and a citizen, although not necessarily natural-born.</p><p>Besides this executive committee, the rest of the Executive Branch would stay in place. Cabinet Secretaries and other senior executive department officials would remain in their roles until the executive committee either decided they were no longer performing and asked them to step down or until those secretaries voluntarily resigned. In any case, the executive committee would recruit and interview replacements once that happened, based on the candidates' actual expertise in the field for the relevant department.</p><p><b><u>Legislative</u></b></p><p>This would work similarly to the Executive Branch. Instead of having two houses of the legislature, you would only have one. It probably doesn't matter whether the term for representatives is 4, 5, or 6 years, and you could either do it all at once or in tranches, for example, 100 new people selected each year for 5-year terms, but you'd have 500 people in the legislature. But those 500 people would be chosen at random from among the population.</p><p>The requirements to be selected would be the same as for the President, with the one change that the minimum age would be 21, not 30. </p><p>Most of the legislative work would continue to be done in committees based on the type of job you had before selection or your areas of interest. So, for example, anyone who was a lawyer or judge in real life would most likely end up on the judiciary committee. </p><p>Instead of elections, every three months, Congress could add questions to a nationwide poll that could be both internet and mail-based and would solicit feedback on areas the committees would like public input on. They could also hold regular town halls around the country as another venue for gathering public input on issues they are considering. </p><p><b><u>Judicial</u></b></p><p>This would flip from how it works now. Judicial positions would be subject to 10-year term limits. When vacancies arose on particular federal courts, candidates could apply, or nominations could be taken, and the judicial committee of the legislature would interview candidates and make recommendations on appointments. Those recommendations would then need to be approved by the Executive Committee. Candidates for Appeals Courts would need to have served at least one term at the District Court level, and Candidates for the Supreme Court would need to have served at least one term at the Appeals Court level. Candidates for District Court positions could be anyone with a legal background, including former Supreme or Appeals Court members.</p><p>So that's generally it - my idea for a new form of government called randomocracy. Think of how much money could be saved on elections and how much more efficient these folks could be without worrying about their next election. They could be 100% focused on just running the country for their terms of office. </p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-13098873016113697222023-08-25T09:29:00.000-04:002023-08-25T09:29:00.094-04:00Blaugust 2023: Initial Thoughts on Secrets of the Obscure<p>This week has been a bit crazy with real-life demands, particularly with getting one of my children moved back into University. So, my playtime has been a bit limited.</p><p>I did manage to get some initial time in the new Guild Wars 2 expansion, Secrets of the Obscure, so here are a few initial thoughts.</p><p>I've only been in the first new zone, having played part way through Chapter 4. Everything seems pretty typical for new Guild Wars 2 content at this point. The zones are beautiful and take advantage of Skyscale usage, which I'm sure everyone finds really fun. </p><p>The story is interesting, but not enough to get me to take a complete time out from FFXIV, which I've still been running some regular roulettes on. I'm enjoying the rift mechanics so far, but I wonder how those will feel when there aren't as many people doing them as there are now. It's probably too busy right now as you can often arrive at a rift too late, but they may be hard to get through later without larger groups. We'll have to see how that evolves over time. The mechanic reminds me of the game Rift, which I always loved.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAlA3XYXNGhdYhtCeuICp6eQbupR7wmWO5c6f9q-oeSpRWllUiaFpElz4ZokgxmnCQLR7qDbrWt9XpeOvHiE0Q0OMskzbmwrTZG2N8Z_xzNZ8PNzZVUCr84PA9bdKAYDrGt8jJUPHToKb7btaS_RsEL3rhxN9HFSnFYoSXoqMHXK9hcpaw-KHj3rWV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="1916" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAlA3XYXNGhdYhtCeuICp6eQbupR7wmWO5c6f9q-oeSpRWllUiaFpElz4ZokgxmnCQLR7qDbrWt9XpeOvHiE0Q0OMskzbmwrTZG2N8Z_xzNZ8PNzZVUCr84PA9bdKAYDrGt8jJUPHToKb7btaS_RsEL3rhxN9HFSnFYoSXoqMHXK9hcpaw-KHj3rWV" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I wish I had finished my Mechanist because I feel that would work better with the Rift mechanics than my Reaper. I'm considering switching to either Scourge or Harbinger for tagging things in rifts. I have Harbinger fully unlocked, but I have never tried it.</p><p>In general, I'd give it positive reviews so far. I should have more play time next week, so I will provide a broader update after another week.</p><p>On the FFXIV front, I've made more progress on both characters and have the Dark Knight sitting at level 75 and the Dragoon at level 61. </p><p>I'm off to an out-of-town water polo tournament with the youngest again this weekend, so we'll return with more updates next week.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-60803560186629698952023-08-22T08:40:00.009-04:002023-08-22T08:40:52.791-04:00Blaugust 2023: Back to School<p>We take the middle Joarling back to college at Carnegie Mellon tomorrow, where he will be starting his sophomore year as an Electrical and Computer Engineering Major. He's planning to focus mainly on software engineering and is pairing it with a Computer Science minor. He spent the summer getting various certifications like Microsoft Azure and Microsoft AI certifications, which will hopefully help him get an actual paid internship next summer. Beyond that, he was primarily working on his plan to have every relic weapon for every job in FFXIV, which is a bit nuts. </p><p>The youngest Joarling will start his sophomore year of high school on Thursday. He started learning to drive over the summer but doesn't get his license until February of next year, so it will be a while until he can drive himself to school and swim practice. So we're stuck providing car service at least for the next few months. He seems to be mostly fully recovered from his knee-cap dislocation earlier in the summer. He hasn't started to compete in water polo yet, but he is back at practice. Swimming seems to be pretty much back to normal.</p><p>I've mostly been playing FFXIV and Elder Scrolls Online while waiting for the new Guild Wars 2 expansion to launch later today. I'm continuing to make progress on the Dark Knight and Dragoon. The Dark Knight feels squishier than the other tank jobs I've leveled, but it still seems to work out just fine. </p><p>In Elder Scrolls online, I've decided to work on leveling some of the other crafting skills, working specifically on Jewelcrafting, Provisioning, and Alchemy. I mostly do daily writs to work on those, which seems fine so far.</p><p>That's the update for now. Later in the week, I'll provide an update with my initial, spoiler-free thoughts on the new Guild Wars 2 expansion.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-55821342079894085482023-08-16T19:24:00.004-04:002023-08-16T19:24:34.564-04:00Blaugust 2023: A Regular Gaming Update<p>I have yet to hit my goal of two posts a week this week because things have been nuts on the work front. I'm also doing some work travel for no good reason, restricting my playtime. I flew down to Atlanta, Georgia, this afternoon to join a colleague down here in attending a Zoom call. The other participants in the Zoom call will be in our corporate office in Ohio, where I flew from to get here. But this particular person thought having me in the room with him would be great. /Le sigh </p><p>Not only has my blog posting time been limited, but my playtime has also been limited as a result. But here goes:</p><p><b><u>FFXIV</u></b></p><p>I continue working on my Dark Knight and Dragoon jobs, which are sitting at level 70 and level 60, respectively. There's probably not going to be a ton more progress on either of them since the new Guild Wars 2 expansion is dropping next week, and I'll be working through that content on my Reaper. I am probably going to run through the current seasonal stuff to grab the Red Power Ranger outfit, as I definitely want to tank all of my MSQ roulettes as the Red Power Ranger for the rest of the time that I'm leveling Dark Knight. </p><p><b><u>Guild Wars 2</u></b></p><p>So that brings me to Guild Wars 2. I didn't get anywhere close to my goal of getting my Machinist current on content before the new expansion. I did manage to get him through the end of Path of Fire, which felt like pretty decent progress. The problem was I couldn't step away from FFXIV completely and was getting a little bit sucked into ESO. There are elements of ESO that are more conducive to my schedule when things get a little busy, and I can't necessarily commit to the uninterrupted time needed to run a roulette or commit to a particular story instance in GW2. </p><p><b><u>ESO</u></b></p><p>I managed to finish the Murkmire content, which brings me completely current on all non-thieving / murdering type content. It was a reasonably typical ESO storyline, but despite that, I always enjoy them. I also grabbed crafting writ certifications for everything so I can start leveling some of the crafts that I don't already have at max - mostly Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and Provisioning. If things free up a bit after finishing the new GW2 stuff and my last two FFXIV jobs, I may come back and work on those, but that may be a few months.</p><p>Those are really the updates for now.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-73062115757133633462023-08-10T11:06:00.004-04:002023-08-10T11:06:31.058-04:00Blaugust 2023: Why I Keep Getting Burned Out on World of Warcraft<p>In my introductory post last week, I mentioned that this blog was started and, for the first couple of years, was exclusively about my quest to achieve specific goals in World of Warcraft. And was focused primarily on my journey to level a lot of alts. </p><p>To the surprise of no one except me, leveling a crap ton of alts ended up burning me out on the game. Someone alert the Academy of Sciences, right? I'm actually amazed that it took as long as it did. </p><p>I started playing in the middle of Burning Crusade and only really started my quest to have many different alts, probably partway through Wrath. I completed my goal of having a max level of each class by the end of Cataclysm. These were all Horde characters. </p><p>This, by the way, is the original Joar. Warlock from Burning Crusade. Named Joar because that's what popped up when I hit randomize. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkgfykb2smRlnuG717Aqeog6leI6FgRqHSuADSjOCPp-SftLy0sWqp9waOnXBjyITBcX7Yh3UaF5_NaaWIe8XHwN2ywgrMAgYrrFAGIFJoPeu3vAclLX8KJuqQKr9Qky86zfDuFEcbZ07K5vBOrmzyyYR6jW4-hQssSZ_hAxOaazB1V8Tf_dlFulx/s471/Joar%20head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="443" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqkgfykb2smRlnuG717Aqeog6leI6FgRqHSuADSjOCPp-SftLy0sWqp9waOnXBjyITBcX7Yh3UaF5_NaaWIe8XHwN2ywgrMAgYrrFAGIFJoPeu3vAclLX8KJuqQKr9Qky86zfDuFEcbZ07K5vBOrmzyyYR6jW4-hQssSZ_hAxOaazB1V8Tf_dlFulx/s320/Joar%20head.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Late in the Cataclysm expansion, I started the same process with an Alliance character of each class but only managed to finish two before Mists of Pandaria started. </p><p>With Mists of Pandaria, I set an exciting side goal of finishing the Siege or Orgrimmar on a character of each class. Since that particular raid was out for what felt like 6 1/2 years, that was not as challenging as it might seem. So I didn't make much progress on my Alliance goal during that expansion and only had 3 more done by the time we rolled around to Warlords.</p><p>I finally got the two characters of each class from each faction completed during Warlords and then started a third set, so I had 27 max-level characters by the end of Warlords. </p><p>Those all got moved to max level by the end of the first year of Legion, and I did 6 more during the last year of that expansion to get me to 33 max-level characters. </p><p>Battle for Azeroth was mainly a slog of working through leveling those 33 characters to max level, and I had 25 of them done when an important event hit. During the anniversary event in November of 2019, Blizzard had set it up so that a vast amount of experience could be earned, for characters of any level, in a special anniversary event involving Korrak and old-school Alterac Valley. Over the few weeks of that event, I went from having 25 max-level toons to 36. By early the following year, I finished at 42 max-level characters. And that's as high as I ever got. </p><p>While waiting for the next expansion, Shadowlands, to come out, I started playing Final Fantasy XIV in August 2020. It was a game that I really enjoyed, but I was just initially viewing it as something to do while waiting for the next WoW expansion. </p><p>When Shadowlands launched, I jumped back in with both feet and leveled my Warlock, followed by my Hunter and Paladin. I finished hitting max level on my Warlock about a week after launch, and within 2 weeks after that (mid-December), I was posting about how I was getting tired of the game and thinking about returning to FFXIV. Those were the only three characters I got to max level in Shadowlands phase 1. I had stopped playing by mid-January and unsubscribed in late February. </p><p>So why? As an altoholic, I think there were things about the game before that that I just enjoyed more. The leveling experience in Shadowlands for me was just much more painful. While trying to give you more variety through the whole Threads of Fate thing, it felt like every character after your first was utterly detached from the story. I also preferred the old emissary system over the grinding process for Faction Renown. And dropping the flight whistle made running daily world quests on alts much more painful. </p><p>I was unsubscribed for almost 18 months before I picked it back up again towards the end of the expansion. I ran my warlock through all of the content I had missed, including all of the raids and Korthia and other new area, and managed to get 5 more toons to max level, for a total of 8. </p><p>I continued playing in the early part of Dragonflight and got a bit further earlier this year than I did with Shadowlands. I ended up with 6 characters at max level, then started to pull back again in February of this year, and unsubscribed for a 2nd time in April of this year. </p><p>It's a hard discussion for me because World of Warcraft was my first love in MMO gaming, and I would like to reignite that spark. I may try again at some point because it often makes me sad to be gone, but it feels like it's no longer my game. </p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-43617167602654889932023-08-09T12:27:00.000-04:002023-08-09T12:27:04.634-04:00Blaugust 2023: The Summer of Overwhelmed.<p>It has been a while since my last blog post, which always makes me feel doubly bad during Blaugust. Real life has been kicking my butt lately. I took a new role at work about 15 months ago. I'm in finance/accounting generally, and I've mostly done the same type of thing for most of my career, and this new role involves more travel and is not the type of thing that I'm used to doing. For someone as late in their career as me, it's kind of an odd move to have made, but it was one of those things where I was "asked" if I wanted to take the position in a way that it was clear the form only had one answer button on it.</p><p>On top of that, I'm one of those people that has a hard time saying no, so as a result, I take on a lot more than I can legitimately handle. My younger two kids are competitive swimmers, so I've gotten involved in many swimming-related things just because I'm spending lots of time at competition pools with them anyway. So right now, I'm the Treasurer of a club swim team, a high school swim team, a high school water polo team, a club booster organization, and my state's overall umbrella swim organization. I also work as an official for both club and high school swimming.</p><p>But wait. That's not all. I also serve on the boards and finance committees for two local not-for-profits. Did I mention I'm also getting a master's degree? I'm a complete and utter dumbass. </p><p>I managed to generally juggle all of that, but then our youngest child dislocated his knee-cap earlier in the summer, adding an additional fun cycle of doctor visits, scans, physical therapy, etc., to the schedule. He is recovering well, and it did get me out of a few travel swim meets since he couldn't compete, but it has definitely added to a stressful summer. </p><p>My wife and I tried to have some fun this past weekend to try to destress. Our town here in Central Ohio has a big Irish Festival each year. We don't often get to go because we're generally out of town at a swim meet, but with the youngest's injury, we suddenly had the time, so we got to go watch a few Irish rock bands and enjoy ourselves.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhciuMxAAlTrzATfgDx-pxs48ldEzrJhCgeTeUEgc1T-nddV3pv4xUaxQfKQoRHSOwTpuiAeSUKep-58Tbo68cV9pgPJ-4uOE_szkMmNB1pJ-ZHphKKpQJlh-aqydnGWMzVsIKoWFV9-gvx1HGzmbnxS-k9ZnKeLAsgKaAHICleLbRZyJVJJK4xCjE3/s4032/Gaelic%20Storm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhciuMxAAlTrzATfgDx-pxs48ldEzrJhCgeTeUEgc1T-nddV3pv4xUaxQfKQoRHSOwTpuiAeSUKep-58Tbo68cV9pgPJ-4uOE_szkMmNB1pJ-ZHphKKpQJlh-aqydnGWMzVsIKoWFV9-gvx1HGzmbnxS-k9ZnKeLAsgKaAHICleLbRZyJVJJK4xCjE3/s320/Gaelic%20Storm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPBWutPTEeyPwgY96clxhfXFHiSmFFU-CHTROC5-4mrXWt4p-oHYWhNoa-tM1ueO6oA5wbXviIsamETmSIkLqPBYot2tV4tCB43AGBqV8FmmsICwSR8ZFKMjlfu97bdkH8JTUFXfhzpuTNY2u5_wPn6nYsPMCed020H6MaCO0AqPAu4eYOe1Icrcg8/s4032/Young%20Dubliners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPBWutPTEeyPwgY96clxhfXFHiSmFFU-CHTROC5-4mrXWt4p-oHYWhNoa-tM1ueO6oA5wbXviIsamETmSIkLqPBYot2tV4tCB43AGBqV8FmmsICwSR8ZFKMjlfu97bdkH8JTUFXfhzpuTNY2u5_wPn6nYsPMCed020H6MaCO0AqPAu4eYOe1Icrcg8/s320/Young%20Dubliners.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>The next day, we took the kids and some of their friends to Cedar Point, an amusement park about 2 hours north of us known for its fantastic collection of roller coasters. While the kids made themselves sick riding everything in the park, my wife and I enjoyed the "staring at Lake Erie enjoying a beverage" ride.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqvq_0OKuZ6LfJ0xvUOaXLiZfwsTmPX8_bmw1DxFfJX3jEYs_D-DP7jVj6sNs_FHZy4ro370MmmBKKDQtnh8j2g5mDhUZrhqzFAZfOcrT42KdYj5961sJaMUh4rd9-d4K6F8lTWlze_9vID1sf4merSLw1TA5WryE9xOPxc19ctsD5Y5h8GiEhhxi/s4032/Cedar%20point%20view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqvq_0OKuZ6LfJ0xvUOaXLiZfwsTmPX8_bmw1DxFfJX3jEYs_D-DP7jVj6sNs_FHZy4ro370MmmBKKDQtnh8j2g5mDhUZrhqzFAZfOcrT42KdYj5961sJaMUh4rd9-d4K6F8lTWlze_9vID1sf4merSLw1TA5WryE9xOPxc19ctsD5Y5h8GiEhhxi/s320/Cedar%20point%20view.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Cool clouds that day too. It was all really fun, but we were also up late both nights, so I'm still pretty exhausted. </p><p>But as a result, I've yet to make much progress on my gaming stuff. In FFXIV, I did manage to get my Fisher to 90 and have added a couple of levels to both the Dark Knight and the Dragoon. In Guild Wars 2, I'm halfway through Path of Fire on my Mechanist.</p><p>In the next post, tomorrow or Friday, I will talk about why I think I have twice burned out on World of Warcraft. That was the blog post I intended to write today, but all the above came pouring out.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-72997593435323396742023-08-03T10:41:00.001-04:002023-08-03T10:41:12.215-04:00Blaugust 2023: Regular Updates and Thoughts on FanFest<p> <b><u>Guild Wars 2</u></b></p><p>I'll start this week's update with Guild Wars 2. I've been working on getting my Mechanist caught up on current story content. I'm almost done with Living World Season 3, so I will be ready to head off to the Path of Fire expansion soon. I thought about catching up on this character before the next expansion drops, but I don't think there's even remotely the time to do that. Plus, I'm still enjoying leveling my other jobs in FFXIV, so I'm not quite willing to walk entirely away from that yet. </p><p>I've also been working on additional zone completion on my Necromancer, who is coincidentally also working through the Living World Season 3 zones. </p><p><b><u>Elder Scrolls Online</u></b></p><p>I've been working through Murkmire on my Magicka Templar. It's a piece of additional content that I never did, and I enjoy spending a little bit of time back in the Elder Scrolls world. </p><p><b><u>FFXIV</u></b></p><p>In Final Fantasy, I've been working on leveling three jobs - Dark Knight, Dragoon, and Fisher. I noticed that I'd never bothered finishing up Fisher, so I'm using the Omicron quests to knock that the rest of the way out. I'm probably only 2 days from being done. </p><p>I'm enjoying both Dark Knight and Dragoon so far. The Dark Knight is about to hit level 60, and the Dragoon is at 54. The Dark Knight quests interest me, but the quest guy for the Heavensward thread isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQ3UJOFPG9hpAI6BNU0Y8cYgr_OyCdnKh03npUWyflvcCMQu5-UrRiPpF7Cw5Q7iNFJ76T0lytILOnMPJSDEATp8AtUt44evdQYgsmCsP84G5nkemuWs-I1ryU26uL9WrllSbTY3rRHw6V7TjM6Ae46M7eWOoEVM1T0WSN_vmF2WdzcgeT6u3-XgcZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQ3UJOFPG9hpAI6BNU0Y8cYgr_OyCdnKh03npUWyflvcCMQu5-UrRiPpF7Cw5Q7iNFJ76T0lytILOnMPJSDEATp8AtUt44evdQYgsmCsP84G5nkemuWs-I1ryU26uL9WrllSbTY3rRHw6V7TjM6Ae46M7eWOoEVM1T0WSN_vmF2WdzcgeT6u3-XgcZ" width="300" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>"Well, this is terrible. The temple knights will never stop trying to kill her now! OK, let's go back to Ishgard."</p><p>"Wait, what? Um...hey...Captain Dark Genius? If the temple knights are never going to stop trying to kill her, maybe we could pick a hang-out spot....I don't know...maybe anywhere in the world other than Ishgard? Just a thought."</p><p>I also watched the keynote address from FanFest last week. Everything is obviously very short on details at this point, and I'm not sure we've seen enough to tell if this is the beginning of a new overarching storyline or if this is intended to just be an interlude. However, it feels like more of the latter. </p><p>For me, FFXIV is more about the stories, the characters, and an interesting setting. I don't really need it to be some massive heart-pounding endeavor. I'd probably be fine watching Zero and G'raha freak out about tacos between various dungeon runs. So I'm generally optimistic about what I've seen from Dawntrail so far. </p><p>I'm curious what the two new jobs will be, and the general roles described are ones that I enjoy playing, so that would be great for me. I'm looking forward to the next FanFest and hearing more. It seems like I have plenty of time to accomplish my in-game goals before it will be released, which is also a relief.</p><p>That's it for now. </p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-29914092800299990602023-08-01T10:50:00.000-04:002023-08-01T10:50:24.199-04:00Blaugust 2023: It's Not You, It's Me<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj359G7Fdzre5zx3S-diCY3dii79h4F9xNVUyOckJXAFqLilNc3g3oQHAcZsWuaJMX5I8Mi7N95WqMXoTmit3pyLPauuI97hf7lEcPhuGr8LdD4hYKyS_U2Xrqru5wbbDG5Mx3WiPl9uwtTyNEE1AxHZC2Xn7AUkDUDbcWDopRN9kzfEDSQuxukSstR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="833" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj359G7Fdzre5zx3S-diCY3dii79h4F9xNVUyOckJXAFqLilNc3g3oQHAcZsWuaJMX5I8Mi7N95WqMXoTmit3pyLPauuI97hf7lEcPhuGr8LdD4hYKyS_U2Xrqru5wbbDG5Mx3WiPl9uwtTyNEE1AxHZC2Xn7AUkDUDbcWDopRN9kzfEDSQuxukSstR=w400-h255" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>This is my fourth or fifth time participating in Blaugust. In previous iterations, I didn't always include the note in my post titles, so it's a little hard to tell. I've been writing this blog for over fourteen years now. The first several years were definitely my most prolific, with the first full calendar year of the blog having a total of 77 posts, almost 30 more than the next highest output total, 2 years later with 49. All that being said, I've always managed to keep up a pace of at least once a month, with 21 posts being my lowest total ever in 2021. </p><p>When this blog started, it was exclusively about World of Warcraft. I was a relatively new player at the time, but I had a plan to try to level a character of each class to the maximum level. I started playing during the original Burning Crusade expansion but developed this plan during Wrath. It took me around a year and a half to complete the goal. That goal then expanded to a character from each class from each faction and then got completely out of hand during Legion when I ended up with over 40 max-level characters. </p><p>As I worked through these goals, I would diligently track my leveling time for each character and sometimes write about which leveling paths I found to be the fastest. At some point, because I'm a financial guy in real life, I also started writing analyses of Activision-Blizzard's earnings releases and conference calls, back when you could actually glean meaningful information about World of Warcraft from those.</p><p>About two years in, I start also playing and writing about other games, starting with RIFT but eventually expanding to include Wildstar, SWTOR, FFXIV, Elder Scrolls Online, and Guild Wars 2. I tend to keep this blog very gaming focused and rarely post anything personal here, although that has changed a little bit in recent years. Generally, it tends to be a weekly or bi-weekly update on what I've been doing in the games I play.</p><p>The blog is intended to be more of a personal journal for me than something I expect to be widely read or utilized. It's a way to document my gaming journey and a nice distraction to sit down and regularly write stuff that has nothing to do with finance or accounting. If the only writing I ever did was accounting memos and financial statement footnotes, I don't think that would be great for my personal development or mental health. </p><p>On Thursday of this week, I'll publish my regular update on how things have been going with the various games I play and my initial thoughts on the FFXIV Fan Fest.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Joar</p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6788448813385819247.post-49377449015401306992023-07-17T15:43:00.000-04:002023-07-17T15:43:00.051-04:00Elite Specs and Paladin Done<p> <b><u>Guild Wars 2</u></b></p><p>I will start with Guild Wars 2 this week. I finished getting to max level on all the professions and also was lucky to find a couple of regular morning Heart of Thorns Hero Point trains, so also got the elite specs unlocked on all of those professions. Everyone is basically geared up and ready to go at this point.</p><p>In terms of playtime, now that is all done, I've been mostly working on playing back through story content on my shiny new Mechanist and his big green robot friend. So far, Mechanist has been a lot of fun. We'll see how far through the story we can get him before the next big content drop in August. I tried the Daredevil Thief a bit and wasn't really feeling it, but will probably try a few of the other professions in just general open world meta event type content and see how they all end up feeling. </p><p>I may work on leveling up some crafting professions after this, at least trying to get them all to 400, but we'll have to see on that one. </p><p><b><u>FFXIV</u></b></p><p>I finished getting Paladin to max level and am now focused entirely on Monk. That job is sitting around level 74, so I do not have far to go with that one either. I'm usually hesitant to level tanking or healing specs using either the leveling or alliance raid roulettes because I just don't have the confidence to do either of those well in situations where the group is clearly depending on me to not screw things up. However, I may give it a try for Dark Knight once Monk is complete.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXslrylvOCALp5nA8jlNAzWBcTRhqvhF7lJWka4ea8a3dImQKFpYrWdB4Tskcf1UIAqGzjIiL2x1OvYUDb-ewt33jczO3qk_zOQmaQOqCY3yrWy-3m0keqLxBXnHMUrj6fgVBxPKMfuDKisGcaSyHAXgn8UbPrrXcJl9NbGTS6y_UlW9cnGOfbjur4" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1051" data-original-width="1920" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXslrylvOCALp5nA8jlNAzWBcTRhqvhF7lJWka4ea8a3dImQKFpYrWdB4Tskcf1UIAqGzjIiL2x1OvYUDb-ewt33jczO3qk_zOQmaQOqCY3yrWy-3m0keqLxBXnHMUrj6fgVBxPKMfuDKisGcaSyHAXgn8UbPrrXcJl9NbGTS6y_UlW9cnGOfbjur4=w400-h219" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know how Monky this is, but I think it looks good!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Joarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06343975994265805336noreply@blogger.com0