Holy Flip, Rift

Rift has been updated recently for their new expansion, and since I just re-installed it on my computer, I figured I'd take a look at what all they'd done. Liking the new soul trees, but what really flipped my mind was the new skins for the animal companions.

It's probably worth noting that most of my old screenies were likely taken on my old laptop, so quality isn't the best. Plus low-res, cause you know, laptop. But still, take at look at these guys now!

First up, the beastmaster's pet.

Old model

New model!

And scratching, because it's cute.

I didn't have a screenshot of the old model for the ranger's dire wolf because I fail, but here's the new one!

Handsome, isn't he?

And here's the ranger's Razorbeast, old and new.

Old model.

And new model!

I am liking these guys a lot, might even start tinkering on Rift some more if I can pull myself away from WoW. Only problem is, my sub's cancelled, so I can only play with my lvl 20-or-lower toons (which is why there's no screenies of the druid pets, can't log on Shaurria to see them :P), so any playing I do do will be severely limited. Free acounts ftl.

*Blows off the dust*

So... it's been almost a year since my last post here. I suppose I ought to do something about that, right?

I have to admit it's a bit confusing trying to run 2 blogs, what with trying to think of stuff to write, deciding which blog it goes on, and all that. Since my other blog is supposed to be about WoW, and I've been playing a lot of other games lately, I guess I should start putting those posts over here. Plus, I may actually start on that rambling I've always meant to do.

Blogging anything has been hard lately... or maybe rather, harder. I am definitely someone that does best on a set, predictable schedule, and things have been crazy around here, mostly with work and stuff. I generally have enough brain power to get through my shift, but by the time I get home I'm usually ready to drop.

I am also a "night owl." I like early work shifts because it means I get home sooner, but getting up early in the morning makes for a cranky-person. And then my brain refuses to settle down and let me sleep until midnight or so..... so yea, hopefully you get the picture.

So anyway, when I'm not working or sleeping, I'm still usually gaming. I've just found this game (sort of) recently, and it's kind of amazing. Those are all my characters in the picture (lolaltoholic), ranging in levels from Dharius at 35, to little Tamsin at 12. It's a big change from WoW, or every other game I've tried so far for that matter. The playstyle is... kinda hard to explain, but it does tend to keep you on your toes (unless you like being dead alot). And my characters are all developing their own personalities and quirks, so I will be writing about them as their stories develop. I've actually made a start on writing already, just little bits and pieces, and if I can get those sorted and cleaned up I will post them here.

I've still been writing/drawing for my horses, too. I'm not sure how much I want to put up here, especially if I do wind up writing out a whole book's worth (do not want anyone to try and steal my idea and stuff), but I may toss up some snippets. And pictures, once I have them finished.

I was having other thoughts but now I can't remember them, so this is as good a place as any to stop. And hey, if I do remember them, it's a good excuse for another post, right? So, gonna take my overtired little brain off and try to sleep. See ya!

Silence...

I feel like I ought to apologize. I honestly don't mean to let so much time go between posts, especially since I don't like when other bloggers do it (apologies to all said bloggers, I meant no offense). The fact is that lately I've been so tired that I haven't had the energy to even think of a blog post.



Anyways, so what have I been doing lately? Mostly I'm still playing Lord of the Rings Online. It's fun, it's interesting, so... I've been getting a good bit done too- Elgo the champion and Solanthe the hunter have joined the others in my level-20+ group, and Ilfariel is up to 31! Wardens are still mega-fun, though champs and hunters are started to get up there too. My budding runekeeper has finally gotten some playtime as well, I got him up to 11 in one day (although he went back to gathering dust afterwards >.>).



Allods has lost it's shine for the time being, though I don't doubt that I'll be getting back on it sometime. The biggest reason for that is my brother's PC is having... issues. Yea, those kind of issues. So until he gets it fixed, he can't play, and that was the biggest pull for me as far as the game went. I do have my fingers crossed that he gets it fixed up soon.

WoW has been... well, just kinda there. I've logged on a few times for some RP, and gotten Lark exalted with the Silver Covenant finally to boot, but other than that? Eh. I am still writing stuff for it, just haven't been itching to play it lately. I guess I'm in the pre-Cata limbo that's claimed so many others.


So, besides all that? Haven't been doing much. I'm finally back to a normal schedule at work, though I can't say I'm really recovered from my crazy stretch. I do have another week of vacation coming up soon, which will just be a sit-around-home-and-recup type of vacation, so that ought to be fun.

It's starting to get... well, not cold yet, but chilly. Winter is definitely on the way, which I'm not really looking forward to, but oh well. We've just had a few days of rain, which compounds the tiredness, but it seems to be over now.

That's all I can think of for now. Hopefully I will think of interesting things to post in the near future, instead of getting ideas which I forget about as soon as I get home. >.> Til next time, ciao!

Why I Like Google

Out of boredom I was poking around on Google image search a few days ago, and I found some stuff I wanted to share. Meet a few of Lark's pets. >.>

Firstly, the first ever Tuah. Just add the scars on her ear and cheek.

I wondered what Quiloe looked like exactly. Then I found this. I'm undecided about the white spot on her chest- Quiloe might have one, but it's likely smaller than this.

Meet another of Lark's older pets. Rage was probably the biggest panther you'll ever see, with an attitude to match. (Yes, he's got his own story, which I'll probably finish someday. >.>)

And finally, here is... not a pet- this is what Pitch's catform looks like. Although you'd have to imagine it being jet-black instead of spotty-looking. :P

Still writing bits and pieces, and job has been killing me this week with a wacky schedule. I just finished working 6 days in a row with no days off, but I'm off tomorrow. Then I go back again for another 3 days straight. That's 9 out of 10 days at work, for those that don't want to do the math. Yeesh, no wonder I'm tired. -.-



/passout

/pokes blog

Nothing new and exciting going on right now. I started a blog post about Allods, but it's stalled out for the moment (writer's block on something not story-related? Seriously? O.o). I've got several RP stories cooking, but having so many in my brain is scrambling it. Hopefully I'll be able to sort them all out soon.

Still playing Allods for the most part. I've been on WoW a few times, mostly just for our RP nights. Quae's also gotten a level, she's 74 now. Shadow-priesting has been fun, kinda makes me want to skip getting her second spec, although I know I'll be drafted into healing eventually.

Work this week has been crazy because my store's been getting ready for inventory, which is happening today. And I got today off. Score!

Sketching is at a stand-still, but that doesn't bother me, since I know if I try to force something it'll look awful anyway. I'll get back to things sooner or later.

Buster has been incredibly clingy since we got back from the beach, which is understandable since he's a rather... insecure cat anyway. It is rather interesting having a 12lb.+ cat want to be on your shoulder all the time, though.

Blizz has put in the Gnomeregan/Echo Isles bits, so Rajast and Booggah will have some fun stuff to do. I'll probably get it done on Zuluu too, but I'm not really sure how much he'd care. :P

Pitch will be doing the Gnomeregan stuff, along with as many of my others as I can. Still feeling the pull for Allods more than WoW, though, so dunno how long it'll take. Heck, maybe it will keep me occupied until Cataclysm comes out. >.>

I got back into Runes of Magic for a brief stint, only to find that my characters had all their talent points reset and all their money gone. Still had all their gear/items/bank stuff, so no idea what happened. Maybe it was because of the account screw-up that happened a while ago. It's not a terribly big deal, since making money in that game is ridiculous. Samyth has almost as much as he did before already.

Ummm, can't think of anything else. Like I said, quiet week. Maybe something interesting will come up in the next week or two.

(Got some potentially epic RP planned out with Shaurria, Pitch, and Alanon over the next week or so. You should check it out. >.>)

Back Home Again

We are back from the beach, and while it's good to be home, I miss it already. The drive home was a lot quieter than the drive down, with a lot of rain. It had started raining before we even left, actually, which messed up some of our plans for the last day there. Me, brother, and sister had wanted to go to the sound and swim before we left, but when we arrived, this is what greeted us.


Yea, didn't even try it. We just turned around and headed back.

It is wonderful to be back on my desktop. The laptop works all right for trips and stuff, but it's old, laggy, and has no sound whatsoever. Now I can get back to playing WoW and the other games I like without worries. And I can get on Ventrilo again! Oh Vent, how I've missed you.

Sis and I spent most of our vacation free time playing Allods instead of WoW, and while I miss my in-game friends, the break has been rather refreshing. And Allods is a ton of fun so far, I know I'll keep playing it alongside of WoW now. I may have to figure out a future post about the non-WoW games I've been tinkering in, there's quite a few of those now. I think I might even be able to make it interesting.

Today will be mostly getting things together so I can get back into Real Life. We've got grocery shopping to do, laundry to finish, all that "fun" stuff. Hopefully I'll find some playing time after it's done, then tomorrow one of my best friends is getting married, so I'm foreseeing that being a little hectic. After that it's back to the daily grind of work and stuff. Hmm, I think I'm ready for my next vacation already. >.>

Driving to NC- Vacation Day One

I had to be up stupid-early for work, so I was a little worried about driving for 3+ hours right after. I forgot who was gonna be in the car with me. My brother and sister did a good job keeping me awake and alert (maybe a bit too good) and we arrived just fine.

So what good is a long drive without highlights? Here's some noteworthy happenings:

- Stopping at Chik-fil-a for food before hitting the road, and my sister dropped my straw underneath her seat. I had to stop the car so she could get out and find it.

-The surfer bar we drove past that sold "COLD BEEP". (Broken signs ftw)

-The bridge across the sound near here that has cobwebs decorating the siderails across the whole thing. Then I realized that most of the webs were occupied. By really BIG spiders. I developed a case of tunnel-vision after that. >.>

-The sheer number of ABC stores we passed once we crossed into North Carolina.

Can't remember much else. Tomorrow I believe we are hitting the beach first thing, so might have some pictures to post. Now I think I need to crash, it's been a really long day.

AFK for VACATION!!!!!

Yea, we're leaving tomorrow to head to the beach with the family. We will have internet, so I may put up a post or two if I find anything blog-worthy, but I kinda doubt we'll be doing much game-playing. Unless it's Allods or something- my brother's gotten me and sis hooked on it now.



Anyway, I'm almost done packing, then gotta go pick up a few things from the store. After that, I just have to get through work tomorrow, then we'll be on our way! Yay, vacation!

Achievement Spaaaaam

We had another non-raid raid night last night, but at least I was able to talk a few folks into doing some dungeons (yes, I take all the credit! Muahaha). We wound up 4-manning Violet Hold when the PUG healer suddenly dropped the group, but my buddy did a great job elemental-healing on his shammy while we finished up. Go go shammies!

Then a couple other guildies decided to run heroic Occulus for the achievements they were missing. Since that's the last dungeon Barraccus needed for his CotFW title, I was very.... enthusiastic about going. The run went nice and smooth, until Eregos went down. Then Barraccus exploded everyone's chat windows with achievement spam.


7 achievements at once? Yes please. And he has his title now! I think he's only my second toon to get it, mostly because no one ever wants to kill Malygos anymore. Heck, they'll even do Naxx before him. :P

Krallormu approves of the achievement spam.

Not much else went on. I was having some issues at work today, however. I've had joint problems for years, now, and while it hasn't been worth mentioning before, today both my hips decided they did not want to work properly. It made for a painfully (literally) long day. But hey, I found that if I take enough of my painkiller stuff*, then everything kind of goes nicely numb. Doesn't help with the grinding sensations or the popping-out-of-place feeling, but at least the pain more or less stopped.


*(which I highly recommend for anyone that has pain problems, you can find it here)

Getting the Gang Back Together

Today was "run Turron through ToC5", "Do random stuff on Barraccus & Rajast", and apparently "Go play alts I usually ignore" day. Turron has some decent gear now (3k GS woot!), Barraccus is 10 frost badges away from his t10 legs, and Rajast has 6 of his twenty ravasaur teeth, plus got to 63 from doing random dungeons. Then my sister mentioned she was on her hunter Treng, on Wyrmrest Accord. That got me thinking, sooo....

Gwynifar is now level 11, up from 9, and has all her buddies back. Khlar helped escort her to Elwynn to reclaim Haiden, she braved Howling Fjord on her own to get Arthoas back, and then she and Treng were off to Azuremyst for their moths. The trip was every bit as eventful as it was the first time, and in the end Gwyn had Authir back at her side.





*Warm fuzzies*

So that was about it for today. Might go back to writing tomorrow, if my brain can function normally (aka not so omygollytired). I'm also starting to think about leveling Quae a bit, or maybe Shaur.

Oh, and I had a screwup with my Runes of Magic account (it got suspended "by mistake" somehow) but it's all fixed now. Maybe I'll try leveling my warden there. Or my druid. Or my warrior/rogue.....

Now What Was I Doing Here...?

Ugh tired. Had to get up at the crack of dawn on my day off to take my car to the shop, which feels like it messed up my schedule (day off wut? where?), but at least now my car has new tires! This was my first time buying new car tires, I feel like I've graduated from something.


I am in Warrior Mode at the moment. My warrior Turron is now 78 and closing in on 80 fast. I've just noticed that when I pick a character that I Really Am Going To Level Next, I usually wind up on a totally different one..... But on the bright side, this will be my first 80 that's not a druid, hunter, or death knight!

Ilfariel has stalled out a bit at 24, because the WoW bug has gotten bigger than the LOTRO bug. I do plan on getting back to her, just not sure when yet.

I recently ran into an interesting PUG that I thought was worth a mention. Shaurria got Ahn'Kahet for a random, and two pulls into the instance the dps warrior ran into both of the groups that sit there. Much death ensued, and as we all ran back from the graveyard (and the healer quit the group -.-), this little gem happened.


This just makes me wonder if he would have cared that after the fiasco was over, we got a new healer, new dps, and finished the instance with no problems. I don't think that qualifies as "biting the dust".

Also, most people would feel compelled to smudge out the names to "protect" the guilty party. I have no such problems, so if you happen to see this guy... yea, you've been warned.

My writing bug has bitten me big time, I foresee another Massive Wall O' Text(tm) incoming. Don't say I didn't warn you. And speaking of which, I should go write some more now, so See ya!

Hi

So. This is the spot where I'll be sticking the more random things that pop up in my head. My other blog, Spirit Bond, will now be reserved for World of Warcraft-only writings, mostly my RP stories.

Still messing with designs and templates and stuff here, so don't be surprised to see some changes now and then, til I figure out what I like.

Expect to see.... well, I don't really know what will show up here. But it should be interesting. To me, anyways. Ciao!