Horde or GTFO
Just showing off some of the graphic work I play with on my off time 🙂
I’m not a graphic artist by any means. But I can manipulate graphics like crazy! I start by grabbing a high rez screenshot from places. Using the free Photoshop alternative paint.net, then painstakingly cut out the background and save it as a transparent PNG file. After that, I set to work giving it depth and then can make these wallpapers I use on my computers. The picture above is all my current characters on World of Warcraft.
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- Bilgewater Harbor
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- Ice Crown
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- Orgrimmar
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- Silvermoon City
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- Thunder Bluff
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- Undercity
Layers give life. I take the ordinary cutout and add all sorts of other images I’ve either created or found and manipulated to look great in the end. As exampled by my Goblin Frost Mage Theodes:
Here’s the layers I used:
Finally, flatten and save and here’s Theodes with a bit of Magic:
Glowing shards on his shoulders with a bit of faint dust floating about. Frost magic on his staff. Eyes glow on his buckle. Took me about two hours to do everything.
This whole website is done with graphic manipulation. From story images, to decorations and the images along the side bar. Logo and more. I designed this whole theme you’re looking at. Yeah, I’m a bit proud of the things I’ve taught myself over the years. Nifty huh? I think so anyway 😀
As Theodes says:
Death to Legion
It certainly was short lived. My return to try Legion only lasted a mere two weeks. I just cannot get into it. I find myself bored out of my mind. As a person who likes playing different characters and trying different things. I couldn’t do it. It’s an insane amount of work to not only level 7 characters, but 7 or more artifact weapons. The new crafting, while more involved, isn’t worth the effort. I’ve unsubscribed again.
Then there is the lack of community and team spirit. Trade chat is so quiet now that Blizzard has instilled the auto silence for spamming. If it isn’t for bad chat, it seems we have no chat at all. Gloom, Despair and Agony Oh … uh.. them!
I agree with most of what Alexensual points out in his video below.
The worst part is, I tried to return to my legacy server Atlantiss. Legion has bored me so much, I can’t even play there and enjoy myself. I’ve no idea if this is the end for me and Warcraft once and for all. Because I’ve said that same thing many times, only to find I’ve lied to myself. So rather than repeat the lie, I’ll just let it run it’s course. I’ve already tried a new game, Mad Max. But new games are just so overly complicated now. I just don’t enjoy them like I do the classics. Though my determination still makes me look for something. Perhaps Pantheon will turn out good.
Trying Legion
It’s not like anyone couldn’t see the pattern I use. A new expansion for World of Warcraft comes out. I hate the changes, go play something else for 4-6 months. Then when I’m discontent with where I chose to go… I end up right back at playing on Blizzards servers once again. Although this time I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it.
Sadly Blizzard has gone silent on their thoughts on actually bringing legacy servers to their players of old. Private servers only hold so much charm when they are laden with bugs and script errors. Quests you can’t complete and Dungeons you simply can’t finish unless you find a way to exploit past whatever is causing the issue.
I still can’t grasp the concept of these Artifact Weapons. So with legendary weapons, will they be useless in the next expansion? Also, will the next expansion be something to do with the Lich King again? (it looks like Blizzard is rehashing old story lines now thanks to the time travel element) I mean they left it open when Bolvar Fordragon took the helm. Oh hey, let’s relocate Dalaran again. Or perhaps have it crash and add to the story.
In any case, I restarted my account on Christmas day. Sort of a gift to myself I suppose. Though I understand for us Altoholics, life will be challenging. Who knows. Maybe this will push me back to single player games finally. It’s not like anyone I gamed with 5 years ago is around anymore. I did just pick up Mad Max on sale from Steam. Although, the invitation is open to come play with me 🙂
Yes… it’s weird I play on a game with other people and yet play alone.
Kitty-clysm!
It would seem I have finally settled on a server to play World of Warcraft on. It’s not a Lich King server as I had planned, but instead it’s a Cataclysm server. Which in all honesty has a better qualities. So many improvements over Vanilla, Burning Crusades and Lich King as far as the interface, skills and was when the client was able to do Directx 11 with updated water and textures. Icing on the cake to that is being able to fly in the main lands.
It’s not hosted in the US, but then again, it’s not completely filled with immature nitwits either. Sure there are some. Every server will have them. I feel more at home as well. When Mists of Pandaria came out, it was be elite or be nothing. Casuals like myself can go craft, pet battle or something. It became incredibly hard to find anyone polite and willing to help a person learn things. “Google”, was the number one answer to everything. Followed by, “You’re an idiot.”, “Wowhead”, “YouTube” and “KYS”. Which for some of you who may not know, KYS is internet gibberish for Kill YourSelf. In a world up in arms over bullying, what an odd new meme.
Atlantiss isn’t without its issues to say the least, but they aren’t that many when you look at the whole picture. Literally, you can look at the whole game world and figure out what works and what doesn’t. They do well keeping their players informed and involved. They listen to folks and despite the kids not getting a GM’s attention on demand, they do help players when they aren’t squashing bugs.
Sure I find it amusing to see an NPC float down the stairs or be stuck in a funny pose. Nothing so far has been game stopping. Everything essentially works. Some quirks to be expected.
The pro’s and the cons:
Pro’s
- Server up-time is impressive. Not one crash or ounce of lag have I endured.
- The game shop is not pay to win. There is no items that give anyone an unfair advantage.
- You can donate via PayPal. Everyone else uses PaymentWall which is incredibly dodgy.
- Low latency and handles a fairly high volume of players daily with no problems.
- Bugs aren’t that many compared to the whole and they do work to fix them.
- Mainly a helpful and friendly community.
- Website is well laid out and works great.
- Have been around for a few years.
- You can play for absolutely free if you so choose.
Con’s
- Not in my timezone, so peak hours are during the morning for me.
- Monetary exchange rate sucks, but this isn’t the fault of Atlantiss.
- Armory works, but no images of characters.
- Some quest lines can’t be completed at all.
- World events are buggy (well.. to be fair, I’ve only seen Brewfest so far and I’m low level right now).
I think I’ve found a way to finally enjoy myself. Time to strap in and make some friends and get back to playing they way I loved. Still, I can’t help but be myself. The altoholic. Seven toons of fun 🙂
If you’re interested, we can do a Refer-a-Friend.
Which Server to Choose?
I went Rogue about a month ago. Not playing the class, but where I play my normal characters for World of Warcraft. The original game evolved, and I have not. I still love to play, but not their way. I want to enjoy what I know, not relearn on every single expansion. Thus, screw the advanced graphics for game-play that I enjoy. It’s not my fault Blizzard refuses to learn from the plentiful of examples set before them. That lesson being, is there are loads of players who still love the old content and are content to play it. If Blizzard simply understood that, they would still be getting my monthly fee. As well as thousands, possibly millions of others.
Besides, it seems like the mighty game gods have run out of ideas and are now simply rehashing old content. Since Legion is basically a reboot of Burning Crusades. I’m guessing the Lich King will return. Probably Bolvar Fordragon, as he took up the helm after Arthas was defeated. I mean seriously. Oh and all skills will have to be completely redone yet again and you’ll lose and gain skills as with every expansion. …yeah I’m over it.
However, I’ve been confronted with new issues. Sure playing on a different server, comes with caveats of it’s own. Like bugged quests. OK that’s expected on a handful of issues. Along with bugged NPC’s. OK sure. Poorly run servers. That’s a bit of an issue. I’m on server number 4 after the first two would crash daily. The first server was Vanilla and I started in Lich King. So I wasn’t into it as much. The second server was dead. I mean I could do a global /who and find exactly zero other players. I started to really gain ground on the third server but it crashed too often. Both the second and third servers were hosted by the same people and they would crash every single day. The main server had roughly 800 players at peak. If it can’t handle 800 connections then someone isn’t running a server properly.
Then of course there is the global hatred of Americans. That can be an issue since 90% of servers are not hosted in the US for obvious reasons. So far, the hatred has been minimal and I’ve found very friendly folks generous enough to help a person starting over. The old content in it’s original state was hard and making in game currency is tricky without a little boost.
I’ve only been on server 4 for a few days, but most of that time I’ve been working or fixing other peoples problems. So not sure where this server stands, but I do like the ping rates.
Lastly this means that some of my toons will have to have slightly different names due to lack of availability. ?
As the French would say, “c’est la vie”.
Going Old School
The problem I’ve had playing games the past few years, is that as the graphics get better and the game play gets more in-depth… The less I enjoy it. It’s been true in many cases for me.
I play a game like say … Thief (1998). I had a blast playing it. Next one I got was Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004) and I had an absolute blast. In so much as I still play it. Then Thief (2014) came out and it lost its magic. It is beautiful, but I don’t care for how it plays.
Same thing with Grand Theft Auto. I started playing GTA III (2001), it was fun. GTA Vice City (2002) it was a blast from the past, and a blast to play. GTA San Andreas (2004) was fun. GTA 4 (2008) was cool, but not as much fun. GTA 5 the graphics are astounding, but it just doesn’t feel the same. I love driving the cars. That’s about it.
It seems I have a very hard time of letting go of games I loved. New games just don’t do it for me. God knows I’ve tried endlessly the past few months to find something to enjoy. I guess I’m no longer a gamer in today’s definition. Rather I’m an Old School Gamer.
Everyone who knows me, knows I love my World of Warcraft. As much as I try to quit playing it. I always end up coming back eventually. Problem is, just like every other game. The newer it gets, the less I enjoy it. I came in when Burning Crusades (2007) was on it’s way out and Wrath of the Lich King (2008) was coming in. Best two years of gaming ever. I was crazy for the game.
Then Cataclysm (2010) came out. I had a pretty good time. Never made it to the end raid though. Still haven’t and it’s 2016. Mists of Pandaria (2012) was launched and I felt something inside me die when I was surrounded by happy bouncy fat pandas. I spend most of my time on the Timeless Isle for the last six months. I really didn’t even find it pretty. Then again, I’m not into asian culture or art/design. Then Warlords of Dreanor (2014) came out and it almost felt like they were simply rehashing old content and upping the visual aspects. Sure it involved time travel. Honestly, if you don’t have a TARDIS, it’s best to leave time travel to The Doctor. Again, spent most of my time doing Garrison missions and farming Tanaan Jungle. I only did one WoD dungeon. Didn’t even care to try the others. Now here comes Legion (2016). It’s Burning Crusades all over again. I wasted $70 on the pre-purchase of the Deluxe Edition. I have absolutely no interest in trying to relearn my character all over again. The more they change it, the less I like it.
While I can go back and play my old favorite games to my hearts content, I can’t do it with World of Warcraft. I have no choice in the matter. Either I learn to play the way Blizzard wants, or I simply don’t get to play at all. Or do I 😈
The Next Expansion
Here we are at the edge of the crucible that is Legion. Within 3 days the pre-patch begins and the masses will flood the landscape to try out the new content, new skills and of course the Artifact Weapons. Which seems to be the only real focus everyone cares about. Sure you can play a Demon Hunter too, but the weapons seems to be all anyone really drools over. I’ve seen many videos depicting that other classes will be more fun to play. Shaman seems to be on top for best kick-assery.
I’ve reduced my force back to 7 characters. All of which I have loved to play for their uniqueness. My current setup includes a Druid (Balance/Boomkin), Warlock (Destruction), Mage (Frost), Priest (Shadow), Hunter (Beast Master), Shaman (Elemental) and my Death Knight (Frost). It was 9 with a Rogue and a Paladin, but it’s insane enough to keep up with the seven.
I’ve spent the morning,
- Saying farewell to my bodyguards and my garrison
- Closing out all garrison missions
- Selling off the massive amounts of resources what will be soon fairly obsolete
- Spending all my garrison resources for several Smuggled Sack of Gold
Using this handy macro helped shorten the insane time it would take doing it one by one and managed to get a couple of achievements doing so: Got My Mind on My Money
/run BuyMerchantItem(27)
/use Smuggled Sack of Gold
Still took nearly an hour doing all toons. Though I imagine it cut the other way in half in terms of time.
Looking back, I wasn’t really thrilled with Dreanor. I’ll be happy to visit Stormwind for a few days and pet battle while time ticks by for the switch to flip and we move on to more green. I’m sick of green. Fel this and Fel that. Garrisons were OK, and made me money. The flying requirements pissed me off to no end. Sounds like that will continue into Legion despite the hatred Blizzard got for it last time.
I still spend my time in WoW alone, so I don’t do high end raids. I don’t have end of game gear. I only play an hour here and there. Maybe two if I’m lucky. Still nothing seems to keep my attention like WoW does.
A lot of new games don’t look fluid. Rift was touted as such great graphics, but I reinstalled it yesterday. Although I forgot how to play my Mage, the movements don’t look smooth like WoW does. The attention to detail WoW has. I have Elder Scrolls Online on my steam wishlist, but won’t pay for the Imperial Version at full price (or the regular for that fact), but I missed the summer sale by a day or two. Though I found Skyrim to look so dreary. So can’t imagine that ESO will impress me much. Besides, I have never taken to a game that is absent of tab targeting. I’ve yet to find a true free to play that isn’t either pay to win or just sucks. Then there are the games like ESO where you buy the game and there is no subscription, such as Guild Wars 2. I hated GW2. I hated Guild Wars.
The only game I’m fairly interested in that isn’t out yet, is Pantheon. However, the alpha videos make it looks just as clunky as Rift, if not worse.
I can’t help it. I like the cartoony look of WoW, it’s fluid motions and detail. The bright happy colors. I don’t like that every expansion is change-city. New skill trees, or talent systems. New stat systems. Now it seems gear won’t matter. A gamer showed us you can play naked and just have your artifact weapon and do PVP just fine.
I can’t say I’m excited for Legion. But I’ve no idea what else to try.
I’ve tried in the past year:
- Guild Wars 2
- Rift
- Dungeons and Dragons Online
- Lord of the Rings Online
- Neverwinter
- Forsaken World
- Perfect World (yeah, I was getting desperate)
- Runes of Magic
- Lineage II
- Everquest II
- Wizard101 (told you, desperate)
- Alganon
There may have been one or two more, just can’t think of them.
And no I don’t want anything that is arena fighting or PVP. No DOTA or MOBA. I like fantasy, medieval stuff similar to WoW, but without all the changes they’ve made. I’ve seen some Co-op Games, but few have such MMO like play. Anime looking games make me want to regurgitate.
I’ve even tried to get away from fantasy games and play GTA Online. It’s pretty much a griefer’s paradise. May as well call it Douchebags Online.
If Blizzard would ever do nostalgic servers like Vanilla or *ahem* Lich King, I’d be all over that.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Guild Theme/Site Design
Check out this sweet piece of work. I recently renamed my Guild when I moved back to the Alliance. In an effort to help entice Darla to come play World of Warcraft with me. It’s based off of this website with it’s transparent design, to see the background and the header image that changes on page load. I’ve added a changing background on page load as well. Also a custom 404 error page.
Check it out and see for yourself 🙂
If you don’t see the backgrounds or headers change, make sure your caching addons are turned off. If on mobile, turn off data-saver.
If you’d like a website designed or a custom WordPress Theme, visit:
Mount Parade
Holy crap what a day for mounts! I don’t think I’ve dropped so many mounts in one day before. Yeah I’m a bit of a mount junkie. Not as much as of an achievement junkie as I once was. But I got two achievements today and 8 new mounts!!
Started out my day with a simple run to Nagrand (Draenor) to drop off a Highmaul Relic for reputation with the Steamwheedle Preservation Society on my Death Knight. I see something flickering nearby out of the corner of my eye. It’s purple smoke. It’s the Edge of Reality Portal!! I get excited, run over and click it. This is a hard to find but a simple gimmie for a mount called the Voidtalon of the Dark Star. Pretty purple non-flying bird mount. (See 3D version from link.)
Earlier in the week I was on the Isle of Giants collecting Giant Dinosaur Bones and Primal Eggs. Having 8 different characters I play, they each had an egg and today they turned into Cracked Primal Eggs (they have a 3 day wait time) and I managed to get all 3 mounts from them.
I also managed to collect over 10,000 bones to get the rewards for those. A Spectral Porcupette and the Reins of the Bone-White Primal Raptor! This also gave me a cool achievement of: I’ve Got 9999 Problems but a Bone-White Primal Raptor Ain’t One!
So then I decide to run two old raids in search for more mounts. My Paladin finally dropped Experiment 12-B from Dragon Soul! This put me at 200 mounts! So got the nifty achievement of Mount Parade 🙂 Although it didn’t take effect until I logged onto one of my Horde characters 😉 Love the Horde 😀
Which immediately awarded me with a new mount! An Armored Red Dragonhawk (or an Armored Blue Dragonhawk for my single Alliance toon) So… Now I have 201 mounts 😀
Then to put icing on the mount cake, I was wandering about Frostridge and found pig-face er I mean Gorok just standing around. I gave him a quick ass-whooping and got the Great Graytusk mount! It was a good day to play 😀
That’s 202 mounts! Now to knock out another 48 mounts to get Mountacular and a Felfire Hawk 😈
The Horseman’s Reins
After five years of playing WoW, I finally got the coveted The Horseman’s Reins! Having multiple alt characters and never missing a daily dungeon run, it was getting very frustrating not to drop this mount. Today I finally did!!!
/happydance 😀
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