Token Female Gamer

I didn’t know I had any firsts left in World of Warcraft. Then again I was pretty sure I was done raiding, so what the hell do I know. =P

Yup, for the first time ever, my warlock has her four piece tier set bonus. What makes this even more amazing is that it’s the current highest gear level. That’s right, tier 13.

The highest gear was only ever available to high end raiding groups, this means militaristic 25-40 people, methodically dying week after week, until the gear and learning curve were sufficient. Then it’s just grinding through the raid over and over. Sounds fun right?

Most like torture really. Loot hasn’t been much of a motivator to participate in such masochism, since the days of EverQuest anyway. And so I have forgone set piece completion in favor of sanity.

But with the latest patch, Looking for Raid (LFR) was added to the game. This is a cross server collection of 25 people, very much like the looking for group system. What makes this really work is that they dumbed down the encounters to such an extent that hardly any coordination is required and completing the event takes very little time.

So lots of success to be had in LFR, high end gear is finally available to all a wider range of players. But like all LF experiences you still have to deal with 24 other random people, replete with ninja looting, complaining, afk-ing, quitting, failing, and so forth.

Thankfully my warlock now has her 4 piece tier bonus, so I never have to LFR with her again. Sadly my druid isn’t quite as lucky.

It’s only the beginning of the holiday season and I am already so burned out. This might have to do with the thirty some people that crammed into my very small place for thanksgiving. After that whole ordeal, I find myself in a motivational slump.

Which is terrible timing (learned my lesson, don’t invite 30 over and feed them!) It’s a busy time. Family obligations, various fairs to attend, and massive amounts of game releases make for very little extra downtime.

And then a new WoW patch was released. And Word of Warcraft is so easy; my husband plays, my characters are already established, our guild merged with another small one so more people are playing. It requires so little thinking and motivation from me, I just piggy back onto the husband’s schedule.

Turns out that I now find myself raiding three nights a week and gearing up two characters. (WoW took advantage of me in my moment of weakness!) Bit more then I was aiming for, but then I should know better. WoW has always sucked me in whole; I’m not so good at applying the whole ‘in moderation’ virtue to WoW.

But I have to say that the 4.3 Patch has made the game much more fun. By that I mean progression is possible, without agonizing grinding or learning curves.

Plus the new tier 13 Warlock set bonuses are awesome! This is probably the first time ever that I have actively wanted to complete a set bonus. Doomguard more often? Yes please!! No more Shard fussing? Finally!

~sigh~ World of Warcraft is like a pit of Quick Sand. Seems like I’m stuck here for a while and the more I struggle the worse it will be. Portal 2 will just have to wait a bit longer. Oh well.

Blizzard upped the deal on their annual World of Warcraft subscription. Not only a free copy of Diablo 3, but also a free Tyreal inspired mount. So I signed up for this. I do so like flying ponies!

And really when it comes down to it there was absolutely no reason not to do this. It is unlikely I will be canceling my accounts in the next six months and I was going to buy a copy of Diablo 3 anyway. Plus the whole thing is just an agreement, no upfront payment or anything.

All the time I already paid for still counts, which means I have just agreed to continue paying. Which I was going to be doing anyway. It is really almost too good to be true.

Nintendo has dropped the price on the fancy 3DS (as of August 12, 2011). Clearly they haven’t sold enough units and are hoping to stimulate the sale of games and 3DSs by making it cheaper.

Totally sold me. I am now the proud owner of a brand new teal 3DS!! I can play Ocarina of Time!!!

As a side note to the awesome power of cheaper 3DSs, the executives of Nintendo are taking a pay cut to accompany this price drop. The press release states that they feel responsible for the poor showing of the 3DS.

I have to say that I find this incredible fabulous, not that they are losing money, but the taking responsibility. It’s something we are sorely lacking in the USA. Then again our culture never involved Seppuku for failure. Can’t help but think that a little more Seppuku would do us good.

Last month I received an email from a Josh, who was kind enough to say that his wife and he enjoyed reading the site. (Yaaay! Thanks!) Also that he opened a shop on Etsy called Dice Designs.

Curious, I checked out the site. Its a cute little shop that sells the perfect accessories for any girl D&D gamer, jewelry made out of dice. =D

Turns out that there is a whole market of geeky jewelry on Etsy. Places like Josh’s that sell earrings and necklaces out of dice (quite fetching really) and then there are other places that make a variety of computer game jewelry and various accessories.

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Did you forget about Mothers Day? Too busy playing World of Warcraft?

Well fret no more because we have the perfect gift for you!! Get her the newest WoW companion, the Cenarion Hatchling!! Get her two (you are a day late after all.)

And the very best thing about this purchase, all proceeds go to help the Red Cross Japan Relief fund. That’s right folks, double brownie points!!

(Purchase one of these before July 10th and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross to help with the Japan relief efforts.)

I got myself two! =D

There is nothing quite as rejuvenating as a fabulously large comic book (and more) convention only thirty minutes from my house. WonderCon is so close I don’t have to fly anywhere, stay in expensive hotels, and curb spending because my carrying capacity on the plane is limited. All the fun without any of the drawbacks. Certainly one of the huge perks of city living, one that I would be remiss in not enjoying to the fullest.

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‘Sonic’ and ‘Street Fighter’ iPhone and iTouch Titles Temporarily On Sale. 100% of Proceeds Go to Japan Relief.

http://toucharcade.com/2011/03/15/sonic-and-street-fighter-titles-temporarily-on-sale/

Buy games, make a difference.

I came across this expansion at my local game store (love that place!) The box said Small World, which automatically made me pause. As I noticed that it was an expansion I did not own, my internal debate team reared its ugly head; it went something like this: Ooooh Small World expansion….but we already have so many and do we really need even more races to play?…..but more is better right?….so many we can hardly fit everything into the one box?….but its SMALL WORLD!!..

On and on it went with me frozen in place. Gradually the opposing team gained footing (I really didn’t NEED another expansion) as I prepared to leave the premises and stop all the staring. Much cheering ensued on the opposing team.

The supporting team, fearing the end was neigh, rallied a last ditch effort! Caving, I took down the box to at least give it a once over before walking away.

Time slowed down, the angels sang, and ten geeks got laid, for I saw that the expansion came with its very own storage box. I had to have it!!

The losers slunk away defeated as the supporting team threw a winners party riot. (It gets loud in my head sometimes.)

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