I had my first candy cane of the season. It was... amazing.
There aren't words for that kind of satisfaction. =D
11.27.2009
11.26.2009
Herbalism & Alchemy
Played WoW leveling my DK all evening. Stevo was raiding during the pre-midnight hours, and it's fun to get updates on what's going on on the other side of the world... of Warcraft [couldn't resist that one sorry, hehe]. I cleared all the quests in Zangarmarsh & got the achievement for that.
I started around 8:30pm at early-level 63 and leveled to 64 and 75% into it by ~1am. That's about when Steve was finished with raiding, so we got on Skype. Then we did a smash-&-grab thru Blood Furnace so I could complete 2 dungeon quests for that place. Then I was at 97% so as we B.S.'d around Honor Hold (town nearby) I convinced him to do it again till I hit 65. We did, I dinged. /dance
Then I was in the Scryer's Library in Shattrath (tho I hate blood elves... they're so pretentious, ew). There are bookshelves for every profession in the game, and my DK didn't yet have any professions (you can learn & train up to 2).
I wanted a 'gathering' prof so I could sell that jazz on the Auction House and make money. Herbalism (picking plants) or Mining (mining ore nodes for raw ore) would suffice, but being level 65 means to level a gathering prof I'd have to go to the starting areas and spending time leveling my character and only leveling the prof [professions are generally meant to be worked on as you level up your character].
I also wanted to have Alchemy, which allows you to brew all sorts of potions -- not just health & mana potions, but stuff like "underwater breathing" and "run speed increase" potions. I also get the Mixology feature, and at the max level you also get 'bottomless' potions for your use only. >8:-]
So, it was 2:30am and Stevo & I were chatting about professions and the benefits... and I grabbed Herbalism & Alchemy. Alchemy needs herbs & plants as ingredients to the potions, so I can level both back-to-back. I won't have to spend much money at all leveling Alchemy since most of my mats will come from my gathering.
Also, he pointed me to WoW-Professions.com -- a site that lists the most efficient way to level profs up! /smart
I spent the next 30-40 min making 2 loops around Elwynn Forest to level up my Herbalism, collecting plants. Stevo for a bit was also leveling Herbalism on his Druid alt in another area before we called it a night ~3:15am. ^_^
Happy Thanksgiving!
I started around 8:30pm at early-level 63 and leveled to 64 and 75% into it by ~1am. That's about when Steve was finished with raiding, so we got on Skype. Then we did a smash-&-grab thru Blood Furnace so I could complete 2 dungeon quests for that place. Then I was at 97% so as we B.S.'d around Honor Hold (town nearby) I convinced him to do it again till I hit 65. We did, I dinged. /dance
Then I was in the Scryer's Library in Shattrath (tho I hate blood elves... they're so pretentious, ew). There are bookshelves for every profession in the game, and my DK didn't yet have any professions (you can learn & train up to 2).
I wanted a 'gathering' prof so I could sell that jazz on the Auction House and make money. Herbalism (picking plants) or Mining (mining ore nodes for raw ore) would suffice, but being level 65 means to level a gathering prof I'd have to go to the starting areas and spending time leveling my character and only leveling the prof [professions are generally meant to be worked on as you level up your character].
I also wanted to have Alchemy, which allows you to brew all sorts of potions -- not just health & mana potions, but stuff like "underwater breathing" and "run speed increase" potions. I also get the Mixology feature, and at the max level you also get 'bottomless' potions for your use only. >8:-]
So, it was 2:30am and Stevo & I were chatting about professions and the benefits... and I grabbed Herbalism & Alchemy. Alchemy needs herbs & plants as ingredients to the potions, so I can level both back-to-back. I won't have to spend much money at all leveling Alchemy since most of my mats will come from my gathering.
Also, he pointed me to WoW-Professions.com -- a site that lists the most efficient way to level profs up! /smart
I spent the next 30-40 min making 2 loops around Elwynn Forest to level up my Herbalism, collecting plants. Stevo for a bit was also leveling Herbalism on his Druid alt in another area before we called it a night ~3:15am. ^_^
Happy Thanksgiving!
11.22.2009
My new emoticon
I just recently created this one, it's a mad scientist with goggles on his forehead:
>8:-]
I haven't seen it anywhere previously, so I claim it!
>8:-]
I haven't seen it anywhere previously, so I claim it!
Oh, WoW.
The new job has sapped a lot of my free time. Playing WoW got pushed aside for the first month and a half. That's a horrible coincidence since I stopped playing just when my coz Joe finally started.
I recently started playing frequently again, but just haven't had the desire to level a new character up from 1 all the way to 80... I had started a Druid (a shapeshifter class) when Joe did, except I'm still at level 16 and Joe's been questin' on & on and is currently 41. I definitely don't have the time or drive to push on and try to catch up.
So, in the interest of saving time AND trying something new, I'm leveling up a Death Knight. DKs start at level 55 (and you have to have a character that's already at least level 55 to create one), start in their own special beginning zone with lore and a back-story going on, kind of "predating" the events in the third [current] expansion pack. Very cool.
They're melee-based attackers, tho the spec I'm going with [Unholy] combines some spells and a permanent ghoul minion that fights with me. So yes, basically a melee-warlock wearing plate mail instead of cloth. >:-]
After you finish up the story leading you out of the DK starting zone, you arrive in the main city of your faction (I'm Alliance, so Stormwind city) and have to talk to the king. After all of that, I was walking through the city and a level 80 DK player asked me to sign his guild charter (to start a guild).
Doing so costs me nothing and I could leave right after the guild was created (after 9 "signatures"). Turns out these people are very friendly, so I didn't leave.
It's nice to share experiences and dings [level-ups] and achievements with a group again. ^_^
Now I'm level 61. Stevo has a Druid at 60, and at the rate I don't play, hopefully Joe will catch up so we can quest in Northrend together, post-68 [and post-Christmas?].
Late Friday night the 3 of us got on Skype while playing our characters separately. Tons o' fun. =)
Then late Sat night Joe (@lv41, Balance Druid) & I (@lv60, Unholy DK) ran thru Stormwind Stockades, a short level-30 instance in Stormwind city. I love a good smash-&-grab! >8:-]
I recently started playing frequently again, but just haven't had the desire to level a new character up from 1 all the way to 80... I had started a Druid (a shapeshifter class) when Joe did, except I'm still at level 16 and Joe's been questin' on & on and is currently 41. I definitely don't have the time or drive to push on and try to catch up.
So, in the interest of saving time AND trying something new, I'm leveling up a Death Knight. DKs start at level 55 (and you have to have a character that's already at least level 55 to create one), start in their own special beginning zone with lore and a back-story going on, kind of "predating" the events in the third [current] expansion pack. Very cool.
They're melee-based attackers, tho the spec I'm going with [Unholy] combines some spells and a permanent ghoul minion that fights with me. So yes, basically a melee-warlock wearing plate mail instead of cloth. >:-]
After you finish up the story leading you out of the DK starting zone, you arrive in the main city of your faction (I'm Alliance, so Stormwind city) and have to talk to the king. After all of that, I was walking through the city and a level 80 DK player asked me to sign his guild charter (to start a guild).
Doing so costs me nothing and I could leave right after the guild was created (after 9 "signatures"). Turns out these people are very friendly, so I didn't leave.
It's nice to share experiences and dings [level-ups] and achievements with a group again. ^_^
Now I'm level 61. Stevo has a Druid at 60, and at the rate I don't play, hopefully Joe will catch up so we can quest in Northrend together, post-68 [and post-Christmas?].
Late Friday night the 3 of us got on Skype while playing our characters separately. Tons o' fun. =)
Then late Sat night Joe (@lv41, Balance Druid) & I (@lv60, Unholy DK) ran thru Stormwind Stockades, a short level-30 instance in Stormwind city. I love a good smash-&-grab! >8:-]
11.18.2009
CS4 + Graphire4 + TheCore4
I've been sketching a bit in Photoshop lately. With my new fast computer and Photoshop CS4, there's no slowdown at all for me.
I remember back in Fall 2004 when I was in the Martini Art War with a girlfriend at the time, and I was creating digital martini art on my old 450MHz computer with a 16Mb gfx card [painfully slow] and bought myself a new laptop which ran at like 1.2Ghz...
Going from 2 processors at 1.4Ghz with an integrated-crappy-Intel gfx card on my more recent laptop to this desktop tower [I named it "TheCore4" -- a hommage to The Final Five in Battlestar Galactica, swapping alliteration for a rhyming scheme] with 4 processors at 2.6Ghz and a decent gfx card is like the same transition. ^_^
It took a little tweaking to get my Wacom Graphire4 tablet running well in CS4 under Windows7, but it's working and possibly better than ever -- it feels more sensitive. =) That might just be because my processors are processing the input faster, but either way it feels better.
I've uploaded a couple of new bits of digital art to my DeviantArt gallery, and this is what I did tonight (go to the gallery to see it in full, clear resolution and of course my commentary).
A Boy and His Ooze
I remember back in Fall 2004 when I was in the Martini Art War with a girlfriend at the time, and I was creating digital martini art on my old 450MHz computer with a 16Mb gfx card [painfully slow] and bought myself a new laptop which ran at like 1.2Ghz...
Going from 2 processors at 1.4Ghz with an integrated-crappy-Intel gfx card on my more recent laptop to this desktop tower [I named it "TheCore4" -- a hommage to The Final Five in Battlestar Galactica, swapping alliteration for a rhyming scheme] with 4 processors at 2.6Ghz and a decent gfx card is like the same transition. ^_^
It took a little tweaking to get my Wacom Graphire4 tablet running well in CS4 under Windows7, but it's working and possibly better than ever -- it feels more sensitive. =) That might just be because my processors are processing the input faster, but either way it feels better.
I've uploaded a couple of new bits of digital art to my DeviantArt gallery, and this is what I did tonight (go to the gallery to see it in full, clear resolution and of course my commentary).
A Boy and His Ooze
11.16.2009
Autumn in Georgetown, 2009
After a bit of miscommunication with Sara, I decided to go for gusto & carpe diem and fended for myself and made plans to go to DC with my sister & bro-in-law on Sunday. We decided on Georgetown because they had wanted to see it all (having only been in that area once prior and not for too long) and I hadn't been there in a long time.
It had been at least 2 years.
Not too much has changed since I used to hang out in Georgetown. A few new shops in place of a few old ones maybe. Actually the biggest change was merely that the small park on the waterfront is gone and is currently a fenced-off construction zone. /shrug
It was fun being back there again, and going into all sorts of fun shops. A few are mandatory for me: Commander Salamander [an odd punk/indie clothing store -- used to have cool toys but no more apparently, boo], the huge Urban Outfitters [again, less fun toys than ever before], Dean & Deluca [but they didn't have any fresh apple cider in stock] and looking in the storefront window of an expensive antique shop at the martini shakers from the 30s-50s they always have on display. Surprisingly I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. Maybe the colored anodized-aluminum shot glasses at Urban Outfitters just for the cool factor, but I certainly don't need 'em.
Georgetown had its usual smell [which of course is difficult to describe, but each part of the city has a slightly different smell based on the stores/restaurants around + how much traffic drives thru] combined with that Autumn dead-leafy smell I love. Oh do I love it!
We drove in to Georgetown, via the Cabin John Parkway exit off 495 -- the same exit for Glen Echo. We continued on the road past the odd "U-turn" to Glen Echo and eventually that takes you around to the main drag thru Georgetown, although on the opposite side I'm used to (the Georgetown University side), it's not the Metro & Georgetown hospital side.
It was a good day -- I always enjoy walking around any part of DC in decent weather, and it was fun to do it with my sis & bro. =)
It had been at least 2 years.
Not too much has changed since I used to hang out in Georgetown. A few new shops in place of a few old ones maybe. Actually the biggest change was merely that the small park on the waterfront is gone and is currently a fenced-off construction zone. /shrug
It was fun being back there again, and going into all sorts of fun shops. A few are mandatory for me: Commander Salamander [an odd punk/indie clothing store -- used to have cool toys but no more apparently, boo], the huge Urban Outfitters [again, less fun toys than ever before], Dean & Deluca [but they didn't have any fresh apple cider in stock] and looking in the storefront window of an expensive antique shop at the martini shakers from the 30s-50s they always have on display. Surprisingly I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. Maybe the colored anodized-aluminum shot glasses at Urban Outfitters just for the cool factor, but I certainly don't need 'em.
Georgetown had its usual smell [which of course is difficult to describe, but each part of the city has a slightly different smell based on the stores/restaurants around + how much traffic drives thru] combined with that Autumn dead-leafy smell I love. Oh do I love it!
We drove in to Georgetown, via the Cabin John Parkway exit off 495 -- the same exit for Glen Echo. We continued on the road past the odd "U-turn" to Glen Echo and eventually that takes you around to the main drag thru Georgetown, although on the opposite side I'm used to (the Georgetown University side), it's not the Metro & Georgetown hospital side.
It was a good day -- I always enjoy walking around any part of DC in decent weather, and it was fun to do it with my sis & bro. =)
11.13.2009
11.08.2009
Leave the Torchlight on...
I was able to acquire a new game recently: Torchlight. [official site] [wiki]
I had heard some buzz about it and was intrigued. It's an RPG by Runic Games, and partially designed by guys who worked on Diablo I & II.
To be honest the only way I can sum up the description is the same as everyone else: a single-player World of Warcraft as done in the Diablo engine.
It's an RPG, with randomly generated dungeons a la Diablo. There's 1 town to come back to. All the standard features are there (even the Town Portal spell and Identify scrolls). You can choose from 3 player types: melee DPS, ranged DPS, or spellcaster (mana-based ranged DPSer). Isometric view you can't rotate. Five points to distribute to Str/Dex/Magic/Defense per level.
The weapon names and art style are very WoW-like: that slightly cartoonish, colorful, "fat" look. Quest givers have the familiar yellow "?" from WoW, and when you take/complete a quest you're informed on the sidebar of how much Gold, XP, and items you'll receive. There are also 'talent trees' to customize your character's abilities (+1 point per level to distribute, and +1 point every time you level up your Fame rating). Inventory is done the WoW way: one item per slot (so no playing Tetris in the inventory bag). Even your gear has sockets to fit gems into. Boss fights every couple of dungeon levels.
A neat thing is that you always have a pet: you choose a cat or a dog when you create the character. The dog looks like a husky or grey wolf, and the cat looks like a small tiger/lynx in yellow-orange. That pet fights alongside you, has a pack that can carry as many items as you can, AND you can send him off to run back to town to sell off whatever is in his bag. That saves some trips back & forth from town.
The game is gorgeous and supports my 1600x900 rez, but it's not overly complicated in the gfx department so it would run beautifully on a lesser computer (like my laptop I surmise).
One major thing I like about Torchlight is that it's an RPG, but has difficulty levels. So I put mine on Easy because I just want to romp thru the dungeons and experience the content and have fun and not die... ^_^
I chose to play The Alchmist. Yep, the spellcaster. He's like a mix of mage & steampunk styles. Staff or wand in hand, big mechanical glove on the other hand, plus goggles. Love my goggles. I named him spontaneously, a variation of 'rascal' -- Raz Kal. I think that might be my new game characters' names. I named my pet cat Tigre (that's French for tiger, always made me think of a little kitty tiger).
So far I'm like level 10-ish, I can fire off 3 bolts of energy at once, a chain blast of lightning, and summon up to 3 permanent Imps to fight with me, and a small horde of zombies for a minute at a time (yes, I've taken the Warlock route a la my WoW character). >:-]
It IS only single-player, as the development time was under a year I think I had read. In another year or two they are planning on releasing an MMORPG based on this. If so, I definitely would look into it.
Check it out, it's $20 to download from the official website, else there's definitely something from TPB...
I had heard some buzz about it and was intrigued. It's an RPG by Runic Games, and partially designed by guys who worked on Diablo I & II.
To be honest the only way I can sum up the description is the same as everyone else: a single-player World of Warcraft as done in the Diablo engine.
It's an RPG, with randomly generated dungeons a la Diablo. There's 1 town to come back to. All the standard features are there (even the Town Portal spell and Identify scrolls). You can choose from 3 player types: melee DPS, ranged DPS, or spellcaster (mana-based ranged DPSer). Isometric view you can't rotate. Five points to distribute to Str/Dex/Magic/Defense per level.
The weapon names and art style are very WoW-like: that slightly cartoonish, colorful, "fat" look. Quest givers have the familiar yellow "?" from WoW, and when you take/complete a quest you're informed on the sidebar of how much Gold, XP, and items you'll receive. There are also 'talent trees' to customize your character's abilities (+1 point per level to distribute, and +1 point every time you level up your Fame rating). Inventory is done the WoW way: one item per slot (so no playing Tetris in the inventory bag). Even your gear has sockets to fit gems into. Boss fights every couple of dungeon levels.
A neat thing is that you always have a pet: you choose a cat or a dog when you create the character. The dog looks like a husky or grey wolf, and the cat looks like a small tiger/lynx in yellow-orange. That pet fights alongside you, has a pack that can carry as many items as you can, AND you can send him off to run back to town to sell off whatever is in his bag. That saves some trips back & forth from town.
The game is gorgeous and supports my 1600x900 rez, but it's not overly complicated in the gfx department so it would run beautifully on a lesser computer (like my laptop I surmise).
One major thing I like about Torchlight is that it's an RPG, but has difficulty levels. So I put mine on Easy because I just want to romp thru the dungeons and experience the content and have fun and not die... ^_^
I chose to play The Alchmist. Yep, the spellcaster. He's like a mix of mage & steampunk styles. Staff or wand in hand, big mechanical glove on the other hand, plus goggles. Love my goggles. I named him spontaneously, a variation of 'rascal' -- Raz Kal. I think that might be my new game characters' names. I named my pet cat Tigre (that's French for tiger, always made me think of a little kitty tiger).
So far I'm like level 10-ish, I can fire off 3 bolts of energy at once, a chain blast of lightning, and summon up to 3 permanent Imps to fight with me, and a small horde of zombies for a minute at a time (yes, I've taken the Warlock route a la my WoW character). >:-]
It IS only single-player, as the development time was under a year I think I had read. In another year or two they are planning on releasing an MMORPG based on this. If so, I definitely would look into it.
Check it out, it's $20 to download from the official website, else there's definitely something from TPB...
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