Saturday, September 29, 2012

Crashy McCrashypants

Some sort of art nouveau?
I upgraded my video card last week and was super excited to see better FPS right away, about double what I was getting before. However, I also saw this -->

I mucked about with things for several days, all the while complaining to my tolerant guildies whenever I got in game. I upgraded my drivers, rolled back my drivers, tried beta drivers, did clean installs and reinstalls, defragged and registry cleaned, scoured the forums, Googled till I could Google no more, verbally insulted and threatened my computer, and generally spent a lot of time NOT in game. I would tweak one item, go into the game, then wait for a crash and resulting error message to go back out and retweak and try again.

Here's a screen of me and Majyst in LA. At this point, I had not crashed in about an hour, so I thought I'd test some stuff. Switched my shaders to high and BAM, there goes the screen! Ouch.
There were times I could play for a few hours straight, but then cracks would start to show, such as my trusty leaf-dog turning an alarming shade of yellow. At the same time, ore deposits would turn cyan, making them quite easy to spot at a distance. But I usually didn't have time to get to them, as within a few minutes my game would freeze up or crash to my desktop.

After several long days of this mess, I broke down and asked for help from my guildie, Warmad, who is quite knowledgeable about computers and all things digital. He asked some very insightful questions, was patient and helpful, and even got me to open up my case to peer inside and read him some numbers.

His diagnosis: my power supply is too small for my new video card.
Solution: buy a new power supply.
Bandage fix until then: lower all my settings and cross my toes. :D

So my lovely smooth gameplay has gone away for a bit until I can get the cash and motivation to make another trip to the computer store and buy a new power supply. Sigh.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Jump Around!

GW2 Guild Wars 2 hidden strawberry patch
I'm on the right track!
Candles light the way through a musty, rusty pipe.
I did a couple of jumping puzzles recently and actually was only mildly frustrated. I think my heightened FPS is helping me with my coordination so I'm not falling so much, plus I just got that cool trait where you get 50% less fall damage too. I love the name: Descent Into Madness. Could mesmer be any more perfect for me??
It makes me smile too, cuz when I hit the ground, not only do I fall flat on my face, always good for a giggle, but I also cast Chaos Storm! It's like, awww, the poor mesmer fell down! Look how angry she is!

The first jumping puzzle I completed was for strawberries. I'm not even sure if it would qualify as an official puzzle, since there was no chest reward, although for a chef like me, strawberries can be reward enough! I saw this vid on YouTube about the Charr's hidden strawberry patch and had to check it out!
GW2 Guild Wars 2 hidden strawberry patch GW2 Guild Wars 2 hidden strawberry patch charr anya fairmind
The most beautiful scrap yard I've ever seen. Anya is guarding her little strawberry patch!
The second puzzle I did was the Sharkmaw Caverns puzzle in LA, officially called Weyandt's Revenge. I had seen the entrance to this previously while completing the vista near there, but when I jumped down the "throat", I died, so I just moved on to other things.
This time, Majyst (on Carnelion, his necro) led me into the caves and helped me through some of the rough parts. It was totally fun! The pirate captain taunted us as we ran circles through the maze and stumbled down the trapped hallways. I felt like I was in an Indian Jones movie! Or maybe The Goonies would be more appropriate considering the company I keep.  ;)
GW2 Guild Wars 2 Sharkmaw Caverns
Sharkmaw Caverns
GW2 Guild Wars 2 First Mate Shane Sharkmaw GW2 Guild Wars 2 Sharkmaw Caverns Captain Weyandt
"Don't mind Shane, he's not the talkative type." Success!
Maj is giving the captain a piece of his/her mind.
Lastly, I went on my own and did the Troll's End jumping puzzle. Once again, my chef obsession led me to this one, as I read on the wiki that there were grapes at the end. The funny thing is that I almost found this puzzle by myself accidentally when I was completing the LA map. I don't want to give it away cuz I think it's kinda neat that this secret is hiding right in the middle of town, so I'm not going to post much about it here. But I must say, who was the first person to find this? How excited must they have been to discover something new! I think the Wiki is amazing, but sometimes I just wanna find things out on my own. It makes it more satisfying. I guess that's the adventurer in me. :D
GW2 Guild Wars 2 Troll's End
Spiral, the intrepid explorer, fearlessly ventures through the damp torch-lit caves, fingers brushing the cold stalactites, feet treading cautiously over creaking boards. The only sounds are the drip-drip-drip of water, the far-off screech of cave bats, and the excited beating of her own heart.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Quaggan Babies??? Squeeeeeee!

GW2 Guild Wars 2 Quaggan
"Mum, can I have more tuna? I'm hungry!"
I've loved Quaggans from the first moment I saw them in the ocean outside Lion's Arch during beta, and now I've found more reasons to squee! I was questing somewhere with lots of water (be glad I never have to give you directions to anywhere), and I saw the chubbiest, bluest, more adorable baby quaggan chasing after an adult Quaggan.
Honestly, look at him!! He's fatter than his mom! He's so freaking cute I might explode!  Look at his stubby little tail! Look at the reflection of the sky on his rubbery noggin!  :D

Ahem! Anyway...one of the NPCs said that we needed to protect the nearby Quaggan nursery from predators and such. They said it was a secret place and the NPC actually wouldn't tell me where it was. But of course I went a-looking for it. I swam all over the place until I found a cave entrance guarded by a Quaggan who was trying his best to look fierce, but failing, as it's hard to be intimidated by a marine mammal with the face of a beluga, the tail of a manatee and the thighs of a plump baby. (Although, if any of you have done quests where the Quaggan get mad, you'd know they have some nasty teeth!)

So I ventured inside the nursery and was immediately overcome with SQUEE! Everywhere were fat blue Quaggan calves swimming lazily about. A few adults kept watch over the chubby group, no doubt with aching cheeks from smiling so much at their delightful offspring. After a few moments of exploring the cave, I backed up a bit to take a screenshot. Here's what happened...
GW2 Guild Wars 2 Quaggan
PHOTOBOMBED by a baby Quaggan!
OMG, I busted out laughing so loud that I scared my cat! Somehow that little guy got right in front of my camera just as I snapped the pic! Such perfect timing! (Could it be intentional on ANet's part? Who knows?)
GW2 Guild Wars 2 Quaggan
The secret Quaggan nursery
Many quest letters are boring, but this one made me smile.
I repositioned my camera and took another photo of the nursery showing the babies and the homes where the eggs are laid. I thought it kinda strange that they laid eggs, then raised young that somehow get smaller as they get older...but whatever. Cute cute cute!

I got this letter from the NPC after completing the heart quest. "Stubborn little butterballs"! "Little ball of flab"! Love it. :D

GW2 Guild Wars 2 Quaggan
Spiral and the Quaggan elder
Further along in my personal storyline, I had to choose what inferior race I wanted to study with the Durmand Priory: Krait, Skritt, or Quaggan. I chose Krait cuz who doesn't love a big scaly lizard?
KIDDING! Just seeing if you were paying attention.
Yes, I chose quaggan, even though I knew it would involve underwater fighting, which I suck at.

There's a pic of me in my fab dragonfly gear that Modra crafted for me, and one of the Quaggan who was showing me around. Check out the fancy headdress on her. How the heck did she make that with her pudgy fingers? Hmmm...minor technicality.
Some people say that they want Quaggans to be the next playable race, but I doubt that will happen. They too peaceful to be a viable combat race and have a hard time on land. Though if ANet ever came out with a Quaggan pet, I would be all over that! Coo, Spiral love Quaggan!

Friday, September 21, 2012

That Just Happened

Ugh, totally tired from staying up too late gaming and having to get up early to work. But I had buckets of fun last night. I think I trashed my guildies' ears though. I was a bit loud in RaidCall.
But wouldn't you be if you ran over a hill and saw this?

GW2 Guild Wars 2 Claw of Jormag
I tripped in the snow when I saw him!
At first I thought it was The Shatterer, cuz I didn't know there was more than one giant icy dragon,
but it is actually a Claw of Jormag. Basically a baby. :D
I had no intention of fighting a giant dragon last night, but I was lost or searching for strawberries or something, and literally heard the sounds in the distance and then ran over a snow bank and saw him! I was stunned. I almost didn't want to get closer but....
GW2 Guild Wars 2 Claw of Jormag
Here I am getting into the fight...or so I thought.
...I just had to get up close. It was kinda bizarre because I kept getting closer and closer and he kept getting bigger and bigger! At one point, I did get right up under his feet, and promptly was in the downed state.
It was just so ... mind-blowing. I wasn't expecting it. It truly was like a dynamic event for me, something I just stumbled upon and decided to join because all sorts of crazies were there trying to take down this massive beast. He was loud and beautiful and scary and painful.
GW2 Guild Wars 2 Claw of Jormag illusionary rogue
My Illusionary Rogue, cast from my downed state, has become an Angel of Death!
I swear I was hitting the dragon or the ice shards or something, but in the end I didn't get any loot or XP. Next time I'm grabbing a turret or something though so I can do some real damage. Look out, Claw, I'll be back!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Too Much or Too Little GW2?

Last night, I typed /age in the chat box to find out how much time I had been playing so far. It said 223 hours over all characters. So a quick bit of math reveals that I've spent the 37.2% of my life in Tyria over the last 25 days. Eeeks! That is a LOT. That is kinda crazy.

But but but...here are my excuses! (Or techniques?)
I work from home so any moment that I have between jobs, I can pop online and play a bit. (Like right now, when I'm blogging as I wait for the next file to come in.) Working from home also means I don't waste valuable gaming time with commuting.
I don't have a husband or kids to distract me from my game. The only real world aggro I get is from my kitty cat.
All my friends are gamers too. So when I want to hang out with my buds, they're exactly where I want to be anyway! No annoying trips to the movies or out for coffee.
Most of my family lives far away and demands little of me. My younger sister and her family live in the same town as me, and they are one of the few reasons I will turn off GW2 and leave the house. In fact, Headstart Weekend was the weekend of my niece's 4th birthday, and I spent two full days with her instead of in game.

Wait a second here! I just realized how easy it could be to have more in-game time. If I get rid of my job, cat, and family, I could be a true gaming addict!
But am I an addict already? I don't think so. I love the game. I'm having fun. I'm still working, spending time with friends and family, and remembering to feed myself. Sure, my hair has a permanent dent in it from my headset. Yeah, I could do with a bit of sun. But who needs all that? Tanned, outdoorsy folk are so 1970s! This is the....um...'10s? This is the age when we send texts rather than letters, emails rather than call, and Skype rather than visit.

Sigh. Not sure where I'm going with all this. I'm not proud or impressed or surprised by my 37.2%. It is what it is. I love my life. I'm happy. Actually, I'm having more fun than I've had in quite a while! The last few weeks have been a barrel of laughs. I've made new friends and reconnected with old ones, I've learned new skills, and I've even kept up my ability to use proper grammar by writing this blog. :D

What do you think? Do you have people in your life that feel you game too much? Do you feel you game too much? Do you sometimes stop gaming because you think you "should" and then spend all that time wishing you were kicking pirate butt or discovering a new vista?
Welcome to my world. Glad you could join me! Care for a quick run through CM?  :D

Monday, September 17, 2012

An Adventure with Majyst

I have so much to blog about! The last few days have been packed with fun and laughs and deaths and awesome-sauce. But I've decided to start with the adventure I had with my good friend, Majyst.
Last night, he was excitedly telling us (Hartak and I) in Raidcall about a fantastic Kodan ship carved out of an iceburg. I was fascinated by his description, so when he offered to take me there, I accepted! I knew it would be a hard trip though, as the ship is in Frostgorge Sound, which is a level 70-80 zone and I am only 62. But I had confidence that Majyst would help me survive. And he did!

I reluctantly spent silver to port to the nearest waypoint that I had unlocked, which was Solitude Waypoint in Wayfarer Foothills. (BTW, Majyst shared a link with the guild called gw2cartographers that is an interactive map of the whole of Tyria. Really amazing site to help you find that last POI or heart quest.)
From there he escorted me north through the wild white wandscape (hee hee, that's my best Elmer Fudd there!). It was completely uneventful...NOT!

Basically here's how it went. I'd be running along following him like a good girl and then pull a skritt and go, "Oooh shiney!" and veer away from the safe path. Then I'd squeak, "Uh-oh!" and brave Majyst would come running back to save my leafy ass.
I gathered so many mobs that he exclaimed in RC, "You're like a wild animal magnet." To which I replied demurely, "Yes, yes, I am."
Of course Hartak had to pipe up and say, "You should see what happens when she goes into a Norn bar."  LOL!! This is why I love you guys!  :D

Anyway, here are some great screens of our adventure to the ship...
Guild Wars 2 GW2 griffon
Look, I'm hitting one!

Guild Wars 2 GW2 Frostgorge Sound
Check out this epic fight! Majyst's pet moa, Rocky Balmoa, is in there giving it to the tigers!

Majyst has no fear as he shoots an arrow into the belly of the beast!

Underwater wasn't any safer. It's a shark!
(Or as our kiwi Modra says, "A shahk!")

Okay, so here's what's going on in this picture. I am trying to point out to Maj the tiny pink seahorses that are zooming around near the bottom of the picture. Behind me is a barracuda ready to chomp my butt, and there is Majyst going "Awww hell" and swimming back to save me!  
So we did finally make it to our destination and spent many minutes staring in awe at the iceburg ships. (There are two.) I took many screenshots, but really you just have to go see it for yourself to appreciate the scale of the them.


Both Maj and I were saying that we give the GW2 artists a big KUDOS for their vision and talent. To conceive of such a thing as a ship carved from an iceburg, and then to draw it in such a fantastic, massive, glorious way is just AWESOME. This game continues to amaze me. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, right now actually: look up from your fights!! See the world around you. It is beautiful.
And if you happen to see a purple-leafed sylvari about to get mauled by a raging minotaur because she's staring at flowers, be a kind soul and help her out. :D

Thursday, September 13, 2012

When You Run With An Asura

GW2 Guild Wars 2 lightning hammer elementalist
Warmad and the lightning hammer!
Ya gotta be careful who you hang with. Asura are fearless, inventive and just plain fun!
Hartak (aka Dogmatichades) is an asura elementalist, I think maybe the only asura in the guild so far, and he perfectly embodies the brilliant yet mad spirit of the diminutive race. I always have such a fantastic time when I group with him!

One of my first adventures with Hartak was in WvWvW, along with Warmad, who plays a Norn warrior. We wandered off the main path to get a skill point and ended up goofing around in a field. Hartak dropped a lightning hammer and War had a blast (har har) pounding the earth and anything else in range. I also got to ride in the golem power suit, but I was so excited, I didn't take screenshots! I love the skill where you whip your robot arms around like a blender! Too much fun.  :)

GW2 Guild Wars 2 golem power suit bear form
Power Suit vs. Bear Form
Here's a screen of Hartak in the power suit having a fake duel with War, who retaliated by taking bear form! Whatta fight! It's too bad you can't duel. I would pay money to see who would win that. 

A few days later, Hartak logged on after a long day at work and decided to join Majyst and I for some newbie adventures. Maj had just made a human necro to try it out and I had rerolled my own human necro cuz I hated her skinny ankles. (True story.)

So us two girls were brawling away in a bandit fight in Queensdale while chatting it up in Raidcall, when a crazy little asura joined the fray. We were like, hey, that one's ours!! So we partied up, and we put a target reticle on Hartak's head so we could tell who he was. He's so wittle!  :D
GW2 Guild Wars 2 human necromancer
Mistress Madheart, Carnelion Teethhurt
 and a lucky Hartak
In fact, he's so wittle, he can fit under Carnelion's skirt. Oh my! Don't blame the asura; it was actually Majyst who positioned his girl like that.

So off we went and did some newbie hearts and skill points to level the necros. During one of the quests, Hartak found some bombs in a cave that you could pick up and carry around with you. When he put it down, it ignited and a few seconds later exploded.

So he took one with him! He carried around for a good few minutes before deciding what to do with it.
He found a deer -- yes, an innocent deer, peacefully grazing in a field -- and he put the bomb UNDER IT. We all stood back and watched with gleeful anticipation and a minor dose of guilt, like little kids lighting a firecracker. ~~BOOM!!~~ The deer flies into the air with legs splayed, lands with a solid thump...and then GETS UP and starts attacking Hartak with inspired ferocity! OMG, I was laughing so hard I forgot to take a screenshot! It was too funny.

shadow behemoth Godslost swamp GW2 Guild Wars 2
"What? Is there something behind me?"
Our last adventures of the night was a doozie! As we were exploring the newbie zone, a message came up about the swamp. Maj and Hartak knew what it meant...the Shadow Behemoth was spawning! Off we go to fight...or in my case, to stand around looking pretty and taking screens! :)
It was a very cool event. The dude was spectacularly huge and wicked and scary. There were a pile of dead players around his, um, "feet", but when I tried to go in and rez them, I died too. So we stood back and blasted at him and his portals until he was defeated. A huge chest popped up and we looted with big grins on our faces. What a great way to end a super-fun night!

Thanks for the fun and adventures, boys. You guys make me laugh every time. *huggle-grope*


Monday, September 10, 2012

AC Takes It To The Face!

Well, it's only been a few days since our first painful run through Ascalonian Catacombs, and where did I find myself last night? Yup! Standing on the steps of the place, nervously switching all my skills to heals and group buffs. :)
But this time we were more prepared. Or at least, they were. I was just going along to prove that I wasn't scared of the place. Kinda like falling off a horse, right?

GW2 Ascalonian Catacombs group
The group is ready to go!
So Warmad did a bunch of research into fight strategies and he led the way with his humungous fox-adorned greatsword. Majyst was there on his ranger with his lovely healing spring and all those tree-folk, plus the Amazing Humping Bear. Hartak jumped in with typical Asuran modesty, bringing the healing rain to us all. And super leveling Miss Modra was there as well, adding a whole lot of *PRETTY!* to the bunch...oh, and some killer ele water skills as well.

This is me cheering just outside the exit of the dungeon.
Yes, I have lost my top. Adelbern, the dirty old man,
ripped it off me in the final fight!
I was too busy fighting to take any more screenshots, but I have to say that we were much, much, MUCH more successful last night than we were the first time. We took it slowly, and we knew where the painful spots were and tried to pull only a mob or two at a time. War tried using LOS (line of sight) to peel mobs off from the group and keep them trapped so we could burn them down. Everyone had their best heals out and I used a fab new skill called Illusion of Life that allows players to get up from downed and fight for 15 seconds, and let's them stay up if they manage to kill something while under the spell.

I was very pleased at the end and felt so proud of my group and myself. This is what it takes to be a real team and a good guild. We learn, we research, we adapt, and we try again. Big high-fives and headbutts to Warmad, Majyst, Modra and Hartak! Thanks for taking along this reluctant Slyvari and showing me -- no, reminding me that LOST kicks ass!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Just An Ordinary Day in Tyria

The past couples of days have been chock full of fun in Guild Wars 2. I took Spiral out for adventures all over the land! Here are some highlights.

Guild Wars 2 GW2 elementalist fire lava dog
Met up with Modra and he showed me his Lava Puppies! So cute!
Guild Wars 2 GW2 underwater
I love the underwater areas and do a lot of swimming.
I found a Quaggan tunnel that went right underneath an entire island to the other side.

Guild Wars 2 GW2 Hylek
Also while exploring underwater, I went down a tube, then across, then up, and found a hidden Hylek village.
They were commenting about how peaceful it was to live there.

Guild Wars 2 GW2 snow leopard
My favourite type of quests are when you get to be an animal! This is me playing with snow leopard kittens.
Guild Wars 2 GW2 lava destroyer burrow
LAVA!!!

GW2 mesmer Caladbolg
As part of my personal story, I had to enter a fighting ring and try to win back the stolen Sylvari sword, Caladbolg. I was triumphant!
(I just quickly Googled Caladbolg to be sure I got the spelling right, and Wikipedia has some interesting stuff about the real-life Caladbolg. Click the name to read more!)

GW2 walking fern text
While I was in the fighting ring, this NPC text came up. Walking fern? Funny.
"Let Daddy drink his beer." Even funnier!

Guild Wars 2 GW2 pig truffles
Every day I'm trufflin'
(Sorry, couldn't resist!)





Saturday, September 8, 2012

Found Something I Don't Like

AC splash screen. Be afraid!
It is Ascalonian Catacombs, the first dungeon you an enter at level 30.
I really wanted to put "hate" in the title, but I chose to say "don't like" as hate is a pretty strong word. However, I did have an extreme strong dislike for AC when I tried it for the first time a couple days ago. It totally BLEW.
I have spent a few days mulling this over and trying to gain perspective. I've chatted with a bunch of guildies and browsed the forums and been reassured that I'm not the only one who feels that AC is a PITA. I thought for a bit that maybe I was being a big, whiney baby who was crying because she couldn't plow through the dungeon on the first go. Afterall, I'm uber! I am an amazing mesmer and an MMO slut!

Tenvaras, Lia, me and Majyst
But no, I don't really feel that way. I don't have a leet complex. I fully expected to die in the dungeon.
What I didn't expect was to die on the first trash mob. And to die over and over and over.
It was mental.
It was discouraging.
It was a blow to my ego.
And it made me hate GW2 just a little bit.

I was so excited to go try the dungeon. I was thrilled to go in with some good friends too: Majyst, Warmad, Lia and Tenvaras. I thought we were a solid group with a great variety of classes to balance the fights: a mesmer, two warriors, a ranger and an ele. I figured we would struggle to learn the boss fights, but never did I imagine that just GETTING to a boss fight was going to be such a struggle.
In fact, after the whole thing was done, most of us agreed that the trash mobs seemed way harder to defeat than the bosses. How is that okay? At one point in the torturous time, I commented that we should just assume every mob is a boss and congratulate ourselves for taking down 23 bosses! Woot!
"A study in depth perception and size."  ;)
Teeny little Majyst in the back wearing lovely Humiliation Pink.
Warmad the huge Norn, looking not so huge behind Lia.
Tenvaras and Lia, humans. Me, Sylvari at the front, looking large!

I did try my best to remain positive and upbeat, but I could hear the frustration in my own voice coming through on Raidcall. I felt cranky and peevish. Majyst said that it is always that bad. Tab came in RC and reassured us that it sucked for him too. Hartak said his PUG couldn't even finish the damn thing, so we should be proud that we perservered.

But I just felt crappy. Being a self-conscious female, I assumed it was my fault. I wasn't good enough. I did something wrong. Others thought that the game was borked. Others thought it was just a challenge and a learning experience. I tried to adjust my thinking to believe the last statement. We came, we didn't quite conquer but we survived, and we learned.

I'm not sure that I'll ever go back to AC. I found the drops to be meh. The boss fights were mostly tank-n-spank with very few fascinating mechanics to keep you on your toes. (The lovers was the hardest but War figured out he could chuck boulders at their heads to stun them and keep them apart, so it was smooth after that.) As far as I know, you only get one yellow from the King at the end so what's the point of doing it again? There seems to be tons of folks hanging about asking to go into AC all the time, but I fail to see the point. Feel free to enlighten me if you find AC appealing or rewarding. I'd love to hear why it's so popular. I think Explorer mode has  some different rewards and such, so maybe that's it, or maybe it's just that it's so challenging that those hard-core uber gamers who are bored with regular PvE are in there reveling in the madness.

For me, it was honestly the least fun I've had in the game since I started. I'm disappointed and a bit sad, because I was looking forward to running instances with my guildies, but for now I'm going to stay outside and happily murder creatures in the wide world. Besides, there are no blueberries in the dungeons! 

I was downed in the lovers fight and Majyst's bear came over and started humping me!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Quest for Walnuts

Mmmm, nuts.
It's amazing how GW2 can be so absorbing and fun. I've reached level 38 already and I don't know how. I mean I haven't even been focused on it! Honestly, I'm the kind of girl who can't maintain her attention long enough to sit through a red light. I get honked at all the time cuz I'm staring off at billboards or clouds or ducks.

So yesterday was a typical day in Tyria for me. I had previously discovered a fine Norn fellow named Meinolf Njordson who sells walnuts in bulk, but who also stubbornly refuses to live in a nice, warm Sylvarian town and instead resides waaaaaaay up in the mountains of Snowden Drifts. Being a frugal person, I forgo paying the port fee and decide that I'll just run up there and gather mats as I go. I started at the far western side of the map, of course!

But here's why it took me all night to finish Quest for Walnuts. I start running and see a carrot patch, so I veer off to gather them, cuz who doesn't love carrots? I move along, then see an undiscovered POI pop up on my map and I head over there to uncover it. While there, a skill point challenge starts, with several players participating to take down a boss. I join in and get a skill point, hoooraaayyy! I'm off running east again, but notice a vista on the map so I spend some time leaping around like an idiot until I get it.
GW2 Spiral Madheart catching snowflakes
I wasn't really catching snowflakes!
I got glitched in a fight and ran around with my
arms up for quite a while.

While I'm admiring the view, I see a downed player icon on my map. Being a sensitive fern, I race over to help. Well, he's downed because there's a ginormous boss fight going on so of course that has to be taken care of. More cheering and fat loots, yay! I celebrate by stopping to catch snowflakes and admire the pretty ice formations.

I notice guild chat is fired up so I pipe in and spend some time chatting with my guildies, talking about crafting, admiring each other's dye drops, discussing gear, and turning every comment into a sexual innuendo. (The Sylvari racial skill "Take Root" gets a lot of giggles, especially when combined with Mayst's "Rapid Fire".)
GW2 Snowden Drifts ice
You have to see these! They shift and reflect the light. Beautiful!


Oh, what was I doing? Right! Quest for Walnuts. I try to focus my attention by putting a personal waypoint on my map (Alt-click!). A nice guiding star lights my way and I head northeast. But oh, there's a lake and some clams. Must get clams! Oooh, Quaggans! They're so adorable. And they need help! Must help the cuties. Then on to pirates and wargs and more carrots and centaurs and ... where was I going again? The star! Follow the star!

Three hours later I finally arrive happy and exhausted at Loneholme Range and of course have to defend Meinolf from a veteran bad guy before he'll agree to trade with me. Walnuts! I am success!  :D

So this is how a day in Guild Wars 2 goes. It's just fun and distracting and adventurous, with near-endless exploring and dynamic events. It's like you're in a living world where stuff is just HAPPENING all the time. It's truly remarkable and I love it.

Monday, September 3, 2012

More and More and More Screenshots

I'm being lazy and letting the "pictures speak a thousand words" phrase dictate this post. I'm sorry they're not better quality, but I'm often screenshotting on the fly and don't have time to pump all my graphics options to max.

GW2 charm interaction
I met this guy whose three kids were daring him to dive off the dock into barracuda-infested waters.
It was one of those personality choices, where you needed to use charm, ferocity or dignity to get him to jump.


GW2 heart quest party icon
Mighty big dude! Dezi pointed out the empty hearts next to party members
that shows they haven't completed the current heart-quest.


Convincing an ettin to fight for his leader, Krug. Krug's thank you letter. So cute!


GW2 minotaur transformation
Majyst is feeling horny.
Dropped our first guild banner.
Dezi and I spent an hour making the emblem.
It's totally crazy and fun, just like LOST!

GW2 Kodan polar bear people
Spiral and the Kodan. If it was up to me, this would be the next playable race!

GW2 races kodan charr quaggan norn asura human sylvari
This is one of the things I love about GW2. We helped escort a Quaggan to meet with a Kodan.
In the picture are also a Sylvari (me), an Asura, two Norns, a Charr and a human!

I dove off the high dive outside L.A. with this lovely Norn.

Discovered what happens if you try to swim out to sea.

GW2 seed turret sylvari
My seed turret that shoots spikey fruit at the enemy,
plus me admiring my large greatsword.

What are these puppies waiting for?

GW2 underwater pipe organ
Underwater pipe organ!!

GW2 Caithe hylek
Okay. So let me explain this picture. I was in my personal story, and the Hylek was leaking poisonous gas ... or something ... and Caithe was trying to help him.
But wow, it does look like she's in a compromising position with a rather relaxed frog-man!!  ;)