Welp, I have kept up with streaming and am kind of proud of myself for getting past some of the hiccups in the beginning. I wouldn't say I am streaming where I want to be yet, but that I have kept up with it, and still have every week, almost every week day, is something to feel good about. I started a character and did the story and map completing from scratch, leveling and all that too. I have done a decent chunk of content on my new character on stream now, all maps and story through the end of Path of Fire. I am even crafting fully Eternity right now on this character, from the achievement collections to craft the precursors for Twilight, Dusk, and Sunrise, Dawn. A massive undertaking that I am more than half way through. There is still an enormous amount of content I have not touched on this character yet, but just going back and experiencing story and stuff I haven't in over 5 years has been really rewarding. :) I hope to keep streaming after the new year, even though I will be starting working. It is fun! Rawr!
So I have only had 2 streams on Youtube so far, but still, those streams are quite the monument for me, because I have only ever made videos before, either commentary or else guides for the most part. Now, this will hopefully open up interactions that cause guides that are spontaneous and based on live questions and such. That would be really cool, I feel like. I also moved a lot of my personal videos off of my Youtube gaming channel, and put them on a new channel for personal vids. I am still making vids for fun, so not a professional, but still, rawr for new adventures :D
I am still playing, still enjoying, and still enthusiastic about Guild Wars 2! I have been so happy with the game that I have even started making vids on Youtube a bit again. I just have so much love for the game after more than a decade of playing it, literally. The anniversary is here and if you haven't logged in for a while, or if you are still on the fence about trying it, right now, there are free things that have been coming in the store, and one of them is a mount skin selection license! And it is not just 3 skins to choose from or something, it is more than 30 skins, per mount type, besides turtle! It was hard to just choose one!
Get on and play! The world is vast, the content is expansive, and the story is well done. There are multiple game mode arch types to engage in, player vs player, world vs world, and player vs environment, and then pve has many different paths to chose inside of it as well. The game makes you feel good and rewards your time, plus, no subscription fee and a store that is well known for being one of the most honest out there. It is even on Steam now! I can't express enough how much this game has meant to me, but I did try, on a vid, if you care to hear it.
This is just a short encouragement to come enjoy a game that deserves to be lauded. Rawr!
So yesterday, the End of Dragons expansion in Guild Wars 2 launched, and I spent a solid 9 to 10 hours playing just the new content. So far it is great. The new maps are huge and feel similar enough to old ones in how you do it that it isn't overwhelming, but different enough to feel fresh and exciting, while the actually look and theme of them is very enchanting and interesting. They took traditional themes and made them so much more creative.
I played Virtuoso and I LOVE IT. The new specc is so fun and something that mesmer didn't already have, being a pure dmg build. Really feels good. On top of that, the new elite specc weapon skins and collections are also awesome and very fitting.
The story is good so far, and they have sure come a long way in story telling, with emotions done on people's faces so much better than every before, in cutscenes that have much more engaging camera angles and less standing around on one side while your allies talk on the other.
Cantha is huge, and the meta I did yesterday also was huge, spanning almost the entire map up to a big boss who gave what felt like good rewards for the effort.
The upgrade to DirectX11 is felt. I lagged once. ONE SINGLE TIME on a game's launch day. It was during the afore mentioned meta, on a completely full map, fighting that very boss, but I have all graphics and players showing on max. If I turned down my player count a littler, prob wouldn't have lagged even that tiny bit.
The game had a few updates that took almost no time throughout the day fixing a few things, and we found a couple bugs, the main one being a bugged Hero Point, but honestly, it was almost all smooth and running as it should be. Which is amazing by itself, cuz most games, when they launch an expansion, it is a partially done, super messed up mess of a game, and hard to play. GW2 does expansion launches better than any mmorpg company I have ever seen. I mean, compared to the shit shows I see in other mmorpgs when they drop an expansion, this is almost flawless. Ashes of Creation, take note.
Anyhoo, I am having a blast, loving everything so far, and actually super happy, already, with my purchase. And I am only just at the very start of ACT III of the story. I haven't fully map completed a map yet, and fished twice. I also still haven't even touched the new guild hall, the other new elite speccs, nor the new legendary crafting, the new ranger pets, or any of the new collections/items. I almost have one mastery set maxed, and none actually maxed out yet, and already, I LOVE IT. So glad I got it and am playing it. :)
Rawr!
I am so happy I have been playing so much Guild Wars 2. I am having a blast and the expansion hasn't even arrived yet. I just can't seem to stop having fun. I am still hopping on ESO each day, but only for an hour or so. The rest of my game time is all devoted to GW2 at this point. I finished my cloth legendary armor set, am making HOPE, and doing the Return to Dragons event/achievements. Finishing up the Icebrood Saga story that I never did, and just having such a good time.
Plus, doing all this has put me back doing metas and map events that I used to love and hadn't done in so long. I have been running all the world bosses and HoT metas and the Blitz Confetti event in Crystal Desert and the new metas in Icebrood saga as well.
This mix of massive group content just reminds me what other games really lack a lot of the time. MMOS that are out there just too little of the time have content geared toward 20 to 50 or more players all going at a thing together. Massively Multiplayer actually feels true in GW2, where I can solo play, and still constantly encounter other players and other events. And yes, there is the normal 5 man content and raids and strikes (mini raids) and so on. I have done some fractals since coming back too and that is nice, but it is the big bosses taken down by a full map that feels the most impactful and like other games fail to pursue that kind of gameplay as much as they should.
Which is crazy to me, because GW2 still has a lot of 'older' technology behind it, although they are about to update to directX 11, but still, like, more modern games could easily make map wide metas and such that are hundreds of players at a time doing it, while also being a mmorpg, and yet they prefer to keep those events/things limited some. I have played almost every mmorpg ever, and just have seen a lax in the development of the massively mulitplayer side of mmorpgs, and more of a focus on the rpg side of it. And there is absolutely something to be said for a good story and collections and personal achievements. But GW2 just blended all of that together so well with the actually encountering other players and doing stuff with them part of gaming.
GW2 will always be one of my top games and have a special place in my heart, forever. I have my real life loves because of GW2 and meeting them there. I was part of the prelaunch and will never forget the giant pax party. I still have never encountered gameplay like Mesmers or their mount system done so well. They took the in game event system and perfected it, and the balance between traditional mmo tab targeting and action play is spot on.
But also, even besides all that bias, GW2 keeps adding content and building up and making new things that are engaging and exciting and make you feel good when you play. And if you take a break, even a year or 2 or few long break, everything is still there when you get back, your gear is still viable, the world is still ready to explore, and the content/collections all exist to pursue. It all builds onward, expanding into a bigger and bigger experience, rather than taking things away or being temporary. I am grateful for that. I wish more games did it.
I can't wait for End of Dragons to come out and to go to Cantha, but also, I am not the least bit bored or feeling lacking for things to enjoy in the meantime.
I had a much quicker response from Riot Support this time, now that my account is mine, about fixing the mistaken information from when it was hacked. Sadly, though they did fix a decent amount of it, in the end, they couldn't return all of it back to my information. They said it was because the changes were made so long ago, which to be fair, I hadn't checked my account in years, so I guess I will accept that. It is a pity, but at the same time, it is what it is. At least my account is back in my name, and though I still don't intend to play LoL, having all those memories with my brothers playing for hours is back in my power, and that feels good.
Instead, I have still been only playing Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online for PC games. In reality, I am still playing a ton of the PlayStation 5. I have been going for full completion on Brigandine, and am loving it just as much as I did back on the first game. I also have been playing Final Fantasy Remake and God of War quite a lot as well. Really enjoying myself.
I am starting to feel a little excitement for the expansions coming soon to GW2 and ESO, but not enough to hardcore those games again yet. Soon. Rawr!
