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Guild Wars 2: 13k Achievement Points!

I hit a milestone: 13.000 achievement points! That’s quite something, right? Well, I don’t know. I think you can have around 40k achievement points if you’ve done every single achievement in the game, ever. It’s a lot. My 13k is small in comparison. Especially considering I’ve been playing since the three-day head start.

Still, it’s a milestone, and Guild Wars 2 rewards accordingly. Some gold, a nice skin and a permanent 1% boost to magic find. I’ll take increased magic find any day.

New mount skin

I got a Black Lion Key to open a Black Lion Chest and got the above pretty skin. It’s the Adventure Box Raptor skin that’s a rare drop now. I was lucky enough to get it. Getting a 2000 gem skin is pretty nice. It’s pretty cute, and glitchy. It’s my second mount skin, with my Stardust jackal skin. My other mounts are all default, but with a pretty dye job. I’d love to have a nice skin for all of them but they’re so expensive. So I’ll have to cross my fingers whenever I get wardrobe unlock. Unlocking more other skins will increase my chance of getting a mount skin.

And Then It Started

Or ended. The problems on the EU servers started, and the enjoyment I felt getting back into the game, achieving my goals, exploring new places, all of it was gone. It started with the rollback on the 12th. Then followed a 24+ hour maintenance period. They fixed the rollback although they couldn’t recover the progress people made between the rollback and the maintenance.

When the servers came up again, the login server was flooded, which doesn’t surprise me. What did surprise me is that most players still had lag issues days later. Yesterday I wanted to walk through Crystal Desert, but the lag was so bad the random mobs killed me before I moved 10 meters. It was insane. Unplayable.

And then this morning I saw a post on reddit about more login issues. People can’t connect to the game. Again. Around the same time as the rollback issues last week. What is happening?

As of right now, ArenaNet hasn’t put out an official statement about what went wrong and how they went about fixing it. But if things like this keep happening, I think they should tell us more than just “we’re aware and working on it”. If they can’t fix these issues and don’t communicate well, they will absolutely loose players.

I planned on getting the deluxe or collector’s edition of the third expansion, but now I’m not so sure. I really wanted to do another 25 BL chest opening to see what I got, but that’s not going to happen. Unless I start farming keys. I’m curious but also a little anxious about what ArenaNet is going to do now. I want to believe in them, give them the benefit of the doubt, but it’s getting harder. And other games are calling me. One day I will not look back.

I wrote the first half of this post before the rollback happened, so excited to finally get my 13k AP. And then it was gone. All the effort I put into it. Other people lost legendaries, map completion, newly made characters, and whole accounts. It sucked. Both for the players and ArenaNet, but it seems we’re not passed it yet. I hope these server issues stop before the next episode hits. Who knows.

Guild Wars

Guild Wars 2 Goals Before The New Expansion

We still don’t know when the new expansion is going to drop, what’s in it, or what the story is going to focus on. It’s hard to prepare when you don’t know anything. So my goals will be based on what I know, and that’s content that’s already there.

There is one thing that was announced, and that’s the coming of the legendary armory. I don’t know when this will be implemented, before or after the launch of the expansion, but I’m excited. This is an addition to the build templates and gear load-outs. Now you only have to craft one legendary and you can use it on all of your characters. No more swapping via the shared inventory slots. This is an extra incentive for me to finally craft that first legendary and maybe even more. But before that, there are a few things that I’ve to do. Level my crafting to 500. I still haven’t done that for every profession.

Goals

  • Get all my characters to level 80
  • Level armorsmith, tailor, huntsman, artificer, and weaponsmith to 500
  • Unlock all Heart of Thorns masteries
  • Have 100% map completion with Naella Ysangwan on all maps available to me maps, excluding raids and WvW
  • Stay up to date with Icebrood Saga
  • Unlock all Living World masteries
  • Unlock the griffon mount
  • Unlock the skyscale mount
  • Full ascended armor set for ranger
  • Full ascended armor set for mesmer
  • Full ascended armor set for guardian
  • 100% map completion of Core Tyria for Miira
  • Bifrost

Guild Wars 15th anniversary

It’s the 15th anniversary of Guild Wars and the game is getting an update. The original game has been in maintenance mode for some time so no one expected a new patch. Especially not with ten new skills and new bosses to kill to capture those skills. I logged in a few days ago and I still see a lot of people in the hubs. I don’t know if they’re Guild Wars 2 players who want to fill up their Hall of Monuments, or just people who love Guild Wars so much they never moved on.

Guild Wars 2: My Mains

I don’t think I ever shared my characters, so this might be a good time to introduce them. I’m starting with the my main characters, since I have 16 characters and don’t want to overwhelm you with all of them in one post.

Naella Ysangwan – Human Ranger

Naella is the one I played the most and consider my main at the moment. She used to have her trusty fernhound with her, Bark. So far, I’ve only written one story about her. Maybe she’ll make a return one day, but not anytime soon.

She has the most percentage completed of the world map. Core Tyria is done, but I haven’t done the Heart of Thorns or the Path of Fire maps yet. That’s mostly because I don’t have all of the masteries yet so it’s kind of impossible to have all done. I’m going to try to get 100% in all of them though, at least with her.

Miira Lightbringer – Charr Guardian

Miira is one of my favourites. The hammer guardian is so much fun to play but only in PvE. Miira is also the main character in most of my fanfics. I especially enjoyed writing the cub parts of her story. I’ll keep writing them although they’re not my priority right now.

I really like how she looks. White with black stripes. She has a gentle but strict expression. That’s a leftover from her time with Torruhk and the others. I tried to integrate their story with the heart events on the maps. They’re interesting bits and all related to the area. Hopefully, it’ll feel more real too since you can visit the places they’ve been. Maybe you’ll understand the areas a bit better too if you normally don’t pay attention to the story.

Anora Lorya Sera – Sylvari Mesmer

Anora is the second character I made during the first day of the three-day headstart and my first main. I played her for a looooong time before I switched to my ranger. I really liked the butterflies, purple colours, clones. Popping a clone and running away was my favourite thing to do. Now I use my pet to distract the enemies.

I haven’t played enough with her since the expansions to know either of the elite specializations. I think I unlocked chronomancer, but haven’t done mirage yet.

Kaibush Treewood – Sylvari Thief

I participated in the Heart of Thorns beta and tried the daredevil. I really liked the class so I made one when the game launched and since I wanted a sylvari in all armor classes, I made one. He’s black with red accents.

The elite specs are so hard to complete if you don’t have good enough equipment to do the expansion maps. Honestly, I think I still have green or yellow gear. I have to craft full sets of armor and equipment for all of my chars at some point. That’s long term though.

For now I’m really enjoying doing map completion, meta events, and continuing the Living World story.

What would you like to know about my characters? I might do a full dedicated post with more background information on them in the future. Like full character sheet with builds, equipment, background, etc.

Come back later to meet other characters!

My Five Favourite Game Series

I’m going to jump on Krikket‘s bandwagon and talk about my favourite game series. It’s a good writing prompt and I’m kind of running out of ideas to write about. So here goes.

Diablo

This shouldn’t be a surprise if you’ve been following me for awhile. Diablo is absolutely one of my favourite franchises ever. I love the lore, I love the genre, and I love the games. I still get that itch to play Diablo 2 sometimes even if it hurts my hands. I still regularly play Diablo 3 and I’m really looking forward to both Diablo Immortal and Diablo 4. I’ll be pre-ordering the Diablo 4 CE when it becomes available.

Guild Wars

I came late to Guild Wars, only starting the original game when the second one was announced. I did play a week during the beta, but the friend I was playing with left my behind and I was clueless about what to do. I died a lot and lost the will to play. I wasn’t ready to dive into the world of Tyria. But years later, I was swallowed whole. I tried to play as much of the story as possible before the second game hit, but I still haven’t played all of the expansions yet.

Guild Wars 2 came with a three day head start and I enjoyed those a lot. I’d have had my first character at level 40 if my friends allowed to play without them. But I couldn’t, and didn’t think it was fair to them. Even with the level adjustments and the easy waypoint system to travel between areas.

Since then, I’ve written fanfiction set in the world of Tyria based on my own characters and the lore I’ve grown to love. I’ve participated in multiple community-driven projects. Tyria was the escape I needed during hard times.

I don’t play that much anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten Tyria. I’m really looking forward to everything that’s on the horizon. From the rest of the Icebrood Saga and to the new expansion.

Civilization

Just. One. More. Turn.

If you’ve played any Civilization games, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Just one more turn, and then I’ll have finished my researched. Just one more turn, and my army is large enough to attack India. Just one more turn, and I’ll have my victory.

The games are highly addictive, once you start, you have to finish the game. It’s not a game you should start after 10 in the evening because your sleep will suffer.

I’ve played 4, 5, 6, and Beyond Earth. I liked all of them except for six. It’s just not for me. I want my games simpler, I also don’t play on a higher difficulty. Super easy for me please.

Pokemon

Pokemon shouldn’t be a surprise either. I’m a big fan of the franchise, games, animes, merchandise, everything. I bought the Japanese Pokemon Blue for the gameboy last November when we were in Japan. That’s got to be the highlight for me. I haven’t tried it yet, and I’m sure the Japanese will be a challenge to, but I’m going to finish the game. I know I will.

Dragon Age

Dragon Age, and you can blame that one on Alistair. I can’t help it. The writing is just so good that I still have a crush on a fictional character. Even when he becomes kind of a dick in Inquisition. I don’t know what happened to my character in Inquisition but Alistair seems kind of bitter. Maybe my character died and he misses me (aww). That’s what I like to think.

I loved the Neverwinter Nights games, but it doesn’t come close to how much I love Dragon Age. Having multiple romance options, dragons, and butterfly swords is just perfect. I think I’ve done seven play throughs of the first game and I’ve put in about 50 hours in Inquisition and I’m not even halfway. I do plan on playing the second some day, but I want to finish Inquisition first.

If someone asked me, I could probably write fanfic for Dragon Age too.

Guild Wars 2: The Return of SAB

Years ago, Super Adventure Box (SAB) started as the April Fool’s joke. The 8-bit inspired 3D platformer world is a game within a game. The move mechanics are still the same, but the attacks, skills, and items are all different. Even the story is completely unrelated to the usual Tyrian drama. It was supposed to be a one time thing (which didn’t make sense because they only had three levels while the end boss was still far away. The festival has become so popular people are requesting its return. It has been a while since the festival was there, and now it’s back!

And I hate it.

I don’t care about SAB at all. The art style is cute for sure, and I definitely tried to beat a few levels when it first came out. But I suck at it. I suck at it so much it’s more frustrating than the Halloween jumping puzzle. I know that I won’t get past the second level of the first world. I’m not even going to try. It’s not worth the aggravation I’ll experience.

Still, I’m glad it has returned for the people who’ll enjoy it. It’s nice to see they’re adding new achievements and rewards for the fans. Maybe I’ll buy another skin someday. So far I have the blue 8-bit scepter and staff. I wanted them for my mesmer and I still like them very much. The minis are cute too. Especially the breakdancing, sunglasses-wearing spider.

There’s more than enough I still have to do, like finishing the last saga episodes and unlocking more masteries. I just unlocked enough mastery points for the next level of the raven mastery line, so I just have to get enough experience. Maybe I’ll get some nice drops and finally get enough gold to buy a griffon. I still have to unlock that one and the skyscale.

Overwhelmed

Let me just start off with a nice list. You’ll probably know where I’m going when you read it.

  • Guild Wars 2 Episode 1 of the Icebrood Saga came out
  • Diablo 3 Season 19 started
  • Stardew Valley 1.4 update came out
  • Pokemon Sword was released
  • The Sims Discover University came out

THERE’S SO MUCH THINGS I WANT TO DO!

Honestly, this is just the list of immediate things. I still have more I want to do, like finishing Dragon Age: Inquisition. But I’m not even counting those. My writing goals aren’t on this list either. Or all the Japan-related blog posts I want to write.

I’m overwhelmed. I’ve only been away for 12, 13 days, but so much has happened that I have a hard time catching up. I’m sorry if I haven’t read your posts, liked, or commented.

My husband says I have to prioritize, which is great advice. That puts Guild Wars 2 near the bottom of the list. I’ve unlocked the episode so I can play it whenever. The Diablo 3 season runs for another two months at least, so I don’t have to focus on that either. I really want to play the Stardew Valley update on the Switch, and that one hasn’t been released yet, which makes it less relevant. The Sims is a game I usually play when I’m not feeling too good, which isn’t now.

That leaves Pokemon Sword. Looking at it from this perspective has helped me to get rid of the overwhelmed feeling. I know what I want to do now (catch more wooloos, hope for a shiny).

I’m going to do another round of prioritizing with all of the things I want to do this month. I can already say that an amazing new project will be on my Instagram until Christmas day. Please check it out! The first post will be up soon.

Just Five Games For A Year?

Naithin challenged his readers to pick five games to play for an entire year. I really liked this idea, mostly because I always said I only need a handful of games to play. Can I still name five?

The Rules

The rules as stated by Naithin. This is a direct c/p.

  1. The consequence for playing a 6th title?
    Playing anything outside of your pre-selected five titles will result in any gaming device you touch spontaneously combusting. (Ooooh, Spooky! Halloween ya’ll!)
  2. Selections aren’t limited to a single platform
    So if you wish to select some Switch titles, some PC, some PS4 etc — this is OK.
  3. All DLC for a given game is fine and included within your pick
    As the original tweet, all DLC for a game included. I will further specify, that this could be unreleased DLC at the time of making your selection.
  4. Mods (even Total Conversions) are also OK
    But they can’t rely on the assets of a game you haven’t selected to work. (e.g., The Skyrim TCs for Morrowind and Oblivion require the original assets.)
  5. For a series of games, each entry is an individual selection.
    If you want Dark Souls I, II and III — that’s three of your five picks.

My five games

Guild Wars 2

This should come to no surprise to anyone. I still have a love/hate relationship with the game and I have no idea where it’s headed with the last big announcement of the Icebrood Saga.

I’m still playing now, almost daily since I go to bed later, but I often find myself logging off pretty quickly. I really hope I’ll find a real goal soon that doesn’t seem too far off.

Stardew Valley (Switch Edition)

I love playing Stardew Valley on the Switch. It’s right next to me as I write this, even. It’s a moment of relaxation where I don’t have to worry about anything, just the season change.

In my current save, I’m in year three. I passed grandpa’s evaluation with four candles, so now I can focus on the other quest lines

Pokemon Sword

Yes, I picked an unreleased game. I know I can play Pokemon all year and not be satisfied with the team I have. Ever since I’ve seen Wooloo, I’ve been determined to beat the league with an all Wooloo team. I have no idea if it’s possible or not, but I’ll have to train hard.

League of Legends

This is still one of the games that I find hard to uninstall. It’s also one of the few I’ll install right away with a new setup.

League of Legends isn’t a game I’ll play daily. I don’t have to. It’s a game I’ll drop in, play a few matches of ARAM and be done with it for a while. My hands don’t really like the fast action of LoL, especially during the colder months.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The game I want to finish. I’ve got about 40 hours in and I know I still have a long way to go, especially if I want to do all of the side quests. When I’m done I can still replay it with different choices. I’d even try to get all the achievements.

These are my five games. Which ones will you choose?

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Short update on books and games

I’ve read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and watched the movie. I like the book better because there are nuances there that you don’t see in the film, which is a shame. I gave the book five stars, but would give the movie three. Read my full review of the book on Narratess

My first book, Tales of Lunis Aquaria, came out nearly a month ago and I just received my first payment. So I finally made money with my fiction writing. I’ve done a gig for non-fiction before, so it’s not the first time I’m making money writing. It’s still an achievement though. I’ve sold 30 books and earned over 50 bucks in total.

A few weeks ago, I planted some seeds and they already came up. I have no idea what kind of flowers will bloom since it was a wild flower mix. My parents brought fresh herbs to plant and I’ve already used up most of it. Now we wait until it grows again. It’s nice to have fresh herbs for once. Maybe one day I’ll be reasonably good at gardening.

I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 more frequently than before and focusing on the thing I like best, the story. There were still episodes from the Living World I hadn’t done yet, so I’m working through those. I’m currently at the penultimate episode and will do the finale episode immediately after.

Besides Guild Wars 2, Stardew Valley has been on my radar again. I actually bought a second copy, one for the Switch. I’ve been playing that single player, while keeping my save file on my pc for the multiplayer game with my husband.

If I do need my relaxation SP fix, I’ll jump into Graveyard Keeper. It feels like a harvest moon game, but it’s pretty dark. It definitely deserves a content warning since it has cannibalism. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue playing it after I found out, but the game itself is pretty cute. Just don’t think too much about it. Maybe the ending will explain it.

Guild Wars 2 - The Clock Tower

Guild Wars 2 – Halloween Is Over

I really enjoy the Halloween events in Guild Wars 2, but I missed out on it last year due to multiple factors. This year I did manage to get some things done.

I now have a shiny purple book to carry on my back (The Mad Memories: Complete Ignition backpack skin) and a purple candle to follow me around. I managed to get one of the Halloween skins from the Mad King’s Gift.

One of the things that I missed out on was the rivalry between Joko and the Mad King. I hadn’t finished the Living World story yet (and I still don’t), so that’ll have to wait until next year.

I no longer care for the skins since I knew the odds were small to get them. The farming in the labyrinth wasn’t as attractive as it used to be, also because the runs I was in were usually lead by commanders who didn’t had any idea how to lead a run. And I’m still too passive to take on that role myself. I also lack a commander tag.

With all the new and returning achievements, I did manage to get my account to a whooping 12,000 achievement points. The Hellfire Vambraces were my only option now. For someone who’s been playing since the three day headstart, 12,000 AP might be a bit low, but I don’t care. Everyone plays at their own pace, right?

I hope I can earn enough materials to craft the lunatic armor skins to finish the collection and earn some more achievements next year. Maybe I’ll have more roller beetle by that time as well and I can take part in the race like a proper racer.

Guild Wars 2 – The Confessor Is Dead

This isn’t really a spoiler for the players who have kept up with the Living World story, since this happened halfway season 3. If you haven’t played the episodes yet, stop reading since this post will be one big spoiler about my frustration with this one boss fight.

Patch Preview Privilege?

Some time ago, when the patch for The Head of the Snake came out, I was still writing for MMOgames and I was allowed to do the patch preview. I first thought this was marvelous. I was one of the few who could see everything of the new patch before it launched!

I didn’t care that I could only barely make it with my full time job, time zone differences and limited computer time. It was really fun to be able to see everything without risk of spoilers and truly experience the reveals as they came. And, I’ll be honest, I got a slight kick out of knowing something amazing that other players didn’t.

The previews that I wrote had to be as spoiler free as possible and it’s what I still try to do as much as possible when I’m writing about a movie, book or game. The upside of that was I wasn’t forced to complete the whole episode, but I did it anyways. I feel that I can’t comment on a story without experiencing it completely, so I always read/play/watch everything or I won’t write about it.

Spoilers ahead

The Head of the Snake

The Head of the Snake is the fourth episode in the Living World Season 3, which off after the story of Heart of Thorns. I actually remember very little about how the story got there, only the big outline. It doesn’t matter much for this post since I just want to talk about this one man. Minister Caudecus.

It was obvious from the first time that I did the story mode of the Caudecus Manor dungeon, that this wouldn’t be the last time we’d hear from that weasel. After the explosion in the Maguuma Jungle, it is revealed that Caudecus is the confessor of the White Mantle, a group of extremists. He wants to rule Tyria and he needed the bloodstone for its powers.

Long story short: he wants to overthrow Queen Jenna and you, the commander, stop him during this episode.

Now, the writing for this season was incredibly. It has a lot of twists and turns and I really enjoyed the new maps. But. I hated how they did the progression of the story steps. One of the steps in this episodes was simply to do events in the new map.

Well. Eh. I don’t care? I’m coming here for the story. I already run around the map and heard and saw a ton of things without specifically being told to do so. The progression of that bar was slow as hell. It only made me dislike it even more.

Doing events in open world is never really a problem since there are always people around to jump in and help. This is not the case in a patch preview. Players are very limited and most of us were doing our own thing, making cool screenshots, figuring out where all the collectables are, or doing things totally unrelated to the story and/or new map. 

Doing the events was a nightmare. Most of the enemies had some form of CC which made killing them in groups nearly impossible when you’re alone. Especially when you’re a super casual player who doesn’t know the optimal build and how to play the class the best they can. I’m a very average player. Maybe even below average.

I hated this. I also knew that I had limited time to finish the story, write up the article, sleep, eat, get on with my life, and work. I had a deadline and I don’t want to be late for a deadline set by someone else.

After I finally finished this step, I had to go back to Queen Jenna and the final plans were made to kill the head of the snake. I had to go to Caudecus’ Manor to deal with him.

Caudecus, a thing of evil

I hate you, Caudecus, with a passion. Not only for what you did, but also for everything that you’ve thrown my way in your manor. Your White Mantle friends, the bandits and jade constructs.

I hate you for what you did to Demmi. I hate you for sacrificing all those people. And I hate you for killing the parents of my main character.

But most of all, I hate your private dungeon. Covered in bloodstone, feeding your insanity. I hate your carvings on the walls that make it look like you’re staring at me from every direction. I hate the small size of it and you’re giant, flashy SFX for your skills. I hate how you make my camera flip through walls in a manner that gave me a headache. I hate how you summoned more of your minions while I tried to kick your ass. I hate how your jade constructs are tougher than you. I hate how you CC’d me with two skills and killed me. I hate how limited my mobility was in a small room with all your AoE. I hate that you killed me at least ten times before I managed to finish.

From the German GW2 Wiki

It took me over one and a half hour in preview to kill him. Last night I finally dared to do it on my own account and it took me 45 minutes. It was easier. Maybe they adjusted the battle a little so people like me wouldn’t have such a hard time with it.

I can genuinely say that I’m glad he’s dead. Not just because of his role in the story, but also because I know that I will never do this part of the story ever again. I managed to do two achievements and that’s more than enough. Should I ever want/need more achievements in this particular story step, I’ll be sure to bring others.

Not always good

After I finished the patch preview I could never get myself to finish this part of the episode. I knew what was coming and I hated having to do it again. That was one of the biggest downsides of being part of the preview.

A few weeks after I stopped writing for MMOgames and forfeited my right to be part of the previews, I started enjoying Guild Wars 2 again. Just a little, and only by doing certain things. But it was a start. I had my freedom again.

That’s when I learned that some (press) privileges aren’t always good. I do have to say that it depends on the person. I didn’t do well in these circumstances. Even without a full time job, I’d have to think twice before taking up such a writing job again.

I learned from this experience. I really enjoyed doing the previews and the dev team excellent in their support during those busy weekend. It’s just not for me.

This while Caudecus thing the reason why I didn’t play any of the following episode or the Path of Fire expansion with my main character. Not being able to do the story of my main, the character I’m most invested in, has hurt the enjoyment of the game. Now that I’m passed it, I’ll continue with her story, do the other episodes, the expansion story and the new episodes. It’ll take a while and I know that I’m playing through the story again. The big difference is that this progression is for myself.

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Guild Wars 2 Fiction

Miira Lightbringer:
Fried Moa Steak
Quiet Before the Storm

Young Miira:
Tail Tugging Part 1
A Promise Made Part 2
Night Falls Part 3
Grawling Preparations Part 4
Badazar Incarnated Part 5
Graduation Part 6 - Final

Savyrius Belain:
We Meet Again...

Naella Ysangwan:
Dogs and Ogres

Play with me!

Do you want to game with me?
You can add me on Steam, Origin, Raptr, X-Fire or League of Legends. All use the same nickname: Endalia.

Or, if you want to give me some extra love and want to play League of Legends and you don't have an account, you can sign up here and give me some love <3
Diablo 3 Battle Tag: Endalia#1709
Guild Wars 2 Identifier: Endalia.8109

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