Heart of The Swarm [HOTS] Opening...clutching my pearls over here!!

JUST. WOW. BLIZZARD, PLEASE JUST STOP WITH THESE INCREDIBLE CINEMATICS BEFORE I DIE OF THE INTENSE BEAUTY THEY BEHOLD.

*clears throat*

I think I'm good. This looks absolutely AMAZING. Although I'm not an avid player (my boyfriend bought me SC2: Wings of Liberty for our one year anniversary - mostly as a gift for himself - and a N7 Black Widow Ultimate keyboard, and I played it... not very much. I played the campaign and some random 2v2s with him for a bit) I'm still very excited for this. It looks incredible. Plus, as an added bonus, my lovely SC2-obsessed bf has promised to let me play the campaign at his house! (´∀｀)♥

Anyway, watch it. Watch it again... and for good measure, watch it again. Because no matter what you say, Blizzard kills it with their Cinematics every time, and I think Kerrigan is one awesome HBIC.

I'll be writing my first impression of DmC soon, too! I just recovered from the flu, so I'm a little behind on that.

Tarnished Coast!

So, lately some of my guildmates (as well as myself) have been feeling... lonely. Northern Shiverpeaks became a very quiet server, and their WvWing has been less than acceptable. Not wanting to stand by idly anymore, I asked my guildmates if they were interested in moving, and it turns out, some of them were already considering the move before we had started talking about it. Our guild leader and some of our officers had unfortunately lost interest and other games were more appealing, and we wanted a fresh start on a busier server.

With this in mind, on top of the server issues (NSP has some people who are very elitist, and some of the community is quite rude, if you ask me) and the inactivity we were facing, I rounded up two of my former [VALK] guildies who were going to start playing again, Mininae and Pinkie, and the rest of us on NSP who wanted to see a change (Miraza, Wooly, Talon, Crimson, Becs, Slone and Baba.. Others showed interest but seemed on the fence) and we considered our server options. I named a few, but out of our options, Tarnished Coast stuck out the most. It's the unofficial roleplaying server for Guild Wars 2, it's a tier 2 WvW server, and on the WvW official forums, there was a very comprehensive post that provided infographics about the server population. The only problem was, it's very busy and "Full" most of the time, so getting in can be a little tricky.

After about an hour of waiting, Miraza, Crimson, Baba and I all managed to make a transfer a few nights ago, Talon the day afterwards. We're still waiting on the rest, but so far, Tarnished Coast has been lovely! People are friendly, and there are people on almost every map I've visited so far! Plus, I enjoy watching the roleplayers; it's very inspiring, and it kind of makes me want to try it out as well. :) Wooly brought our move to the attention of our guild leader, who today has moved leadership over to me. I feel fancy, I'm a guild leader of NeX now! Phew, leader of two guilds; originally, those who moved were planning on making a move to [VALK], but which the leadership of NeX being passed onto me, it's nice to know we can continue to represent. Over the next few days, I'm going to clean up the inactivity, and hopefully see if we can get some new players into the guild and make it a community again.

All in all, the move was much needed. I feel rejuvenated, and excited, like I did when I first started during head start! I feel like the updates coming up, too, will be amazing, and will hopefully bring back some players.

Tuesday coming up, DMC comes out, too! I'll be picking that up and giving that a whirl. It'll be my first DMC game, so I can't wait to try the series (even though its a reboot!). I can't wait to talk about my first impression here. Definitely will be updating next week!

My Engineer Build

In this post, I wanted to highlight the build I'm using for my Engineer (PVE spec, but I tend not to change for WvW depending on how my party rolls). Unfortunately, it's still a work in progress because as a non-crafter, I have to find my gear or farm for it... or beg my guildies haha. However, I can at least say that my armour itself is completed... my accessories, on the other hand, definitely need some work. 

Overview shot of my Engineer's Hero screen. For anyone's curiosity, the dyes I'm using are Celestial, Abyss, and Icing.

 When I realized how much I actually enjoyed the Grenade kit, I started to use it more frequently. Originally, I thought that a Power build might be better, until I realized how much DOT (damage over time) I could do with my conditions, and how I would be more helpful in party situations. When I asked for suggestions, my guildmates suggested Twilight Arbour, and I did not disagree.

My full stack of TA armour, and my transmuted helmet because the headpiece for TA is  ugly and I'm a very aesthetic player. 

Although I didn't realize it at first, I feel like the TA set (or any Precision/Toughness/Condition DMG armour set) is crucial for this kind of build, especially if you feel like there is a slack to pick up for due to the last update the Engineer's dealt with. I find that players who complain about this change the most, however, are people who don't have 30 traits into the Grenadier line (more on my traits after). To pick up some of the slack from the update, my guildmate helped me pick out some pistols and runes that, after using them, have really helped. 

They were originally "Dragonshot" pistols, but I transmuted them  to Lionguard skins until I find another skin I like more.

 On my main hand, I have the Superior Sigil of Earth, which has a 60% chance to cause bleeding on critical. Some might argue that the chance isn't high enough to bother with this sigil, and even though I only have a 43% crit rate, but it's also good to remember that sigils now affect the grenade kits, hence the "nerf"... and thus why those who are complaining should learn to adapt to the changes. My offhand has the Superior Sigil of Corruption, which gives me +10 CD each time I kill an enemy, and stacks to 25 = 250CD! I find it's easy to stack this while running fractals or WvW, so combined with my other sigil, my damage has barely suffered at all from the "nerf". In fact, I feel like I have benefited from the update, because it forced me to learn more about weapons and my class, and get out of my comfort zone.

As for my accessories, they could use a bit of an upgrade.

My only exotic piece is the Karka shell...

 I'm not really sure what I should do with these quite yet... but I think I'll have to look into some more accessories that cater to Precision + Vitality.  As for my skills, this is what my skill bar looks like (below)

I use my Healing Turret, which I burst immediately after setting up for an area heal/regeneration for my allies (I've noticed some positive feedback from this, which is nice). My number seven Elixir changes frequently. Sometimes I put up the Elixir Gun for WvW, other times I'll switch the Elixir to another for removal, etc. To be honest, however, I don't use it that often unless I'm in WvW and I'm using an Elixir gun.
Eight and Nine are naturally my heavy hitters. Bomb Kit/Big ol' Bomb is especially good when we have a Guardian with pull, or when I'm kiting for my party; nine is my standard "lay waste and watch them burn" skill. My ulti is my Mistfire Wolf, typically because it does quite a bit of damage, or is a good distraction tool. Sometimes I'll use a supply drop, but not often.

My trait lines! They are as follows:
Explosives: 30 Points
Adept: Skill III "Forceful Explosives" Bombs & mines have a larger explosion radius. 
Master: Skill VIII "Short Fuse" Reduces recharge for bombs and grenades by 20%. Grandmaster: Skill XI "Grenadier" You throw 25% farther, and you throw an extra grenade with every grenade kit skill.

Firearms: 30 points
Adept: Skill VI "Hair Trigger" Rifle, pistol, and harpoon gun skills recharge 20% faster. Master: Skill V "Precise Sights" 50% chance to cause vulnerability on critical hits. Grandmaster: Skill XI "Coated Bullets" Pistol shots pierce. 

Inventions: 10 points
Adept: Skill II "Explosive Descent" Release a barrage of grenades when you take falling damage. You take 50% less damage from falling. 

I haven't tweaked my skills in quite some time, as I find they've been fairly helpful for the most part, but I do enjoy reviewing them. The additional damage received from these lines is also fairly helpful.

For the most part, I'm most concerned about my accessories, but I've become fairly comfortable with everything else. Hopefully I can update this post when I find a more reasonable set of accessories.

Guild Wars 2: October - Present (very image heavy)

So, with my decision to update my blog more often and keep up with that sort of thing as a part of my new years resolution, I hope to be updating here more often! Hopefully at least once every couple of weeks, as this is a gaming blog after all, and I'll be busy once school starts to pick up. Nonetheless, time to do my update on GW2, OCT-PRES!

October:

After getting settled in to my new guild and getting acquainted to my fellow guild members through chat and mumble, I finally started to run dungeons! At first, I was hesitant; I felt as though my guild leader + others thought too highly of my abilities as an engineer, because in my world... I was still learning the class I had yet to solidify my skills and traits, and I had no idea what to do with my gear... like, at all. My guild leader suggested COF (Citadel of Flame, the level 70 dungeon) would be ideal for my class.

A screenshot from some of my first ever dungeon runs in explorable mode: COF.

Sometimes, you just have to do things in the nude.

Goodbye COF, hello TA!

After getting two pieces of the gear, I realized that I would prefer a Condition Damage/Precision build, so I started to run Twilight Arbour (TA)... a lot. Above is a screenshot of when I first started doing TA. Thankfully, my guildmates were very helpful and provided a lot of instruction for me, so I quickly picked up all three runs of TA no problem! ... little did I know that I would be running TA whenever I had the chance between studying and writing reports for school. ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ

Towards the end of the month, Arenanet launched the halloween event, featuring Mad King Thorn! The beginning of the event was fairly simple, and much like a scavenger hunt. It was interesting learning some lore about the Mad King, and I'm quite the lore junkie so I indulged several times over a couple of characters. Among the scavenger hunt, there were pumpkins scattered everywhere to carve, candy corn nodes to mine, and trick or treat doors to open! There was even The Mad King's Clock Tower, a horrid jumping puzzle I could never master... so it's the only achievement from Halloween that I don't have. There was also a sPVP game style called Lunatics Inquisition, where one team are villagers, and the other team is ghosts... it's kind of like Halo's game type of zombies. It was hilariously fun. Oh, also, when the Mad King appeared, he destroyed the Lion statue in the Piazza! To this day, it is still being built! I love how it's progressively being rebuilt, rather than all at once with an update. 

In addition to all these event activities and running dungeons, I also started taking part in more dynamic events, such as dragon champion events!

Jormag's Champion

The Shatterer, Khalkatorrik's Champion

 November: 

I knew November was going to be a busy month, as the Lost Shores event was announced prior to Halloween. Even though the weeks leading up to it were busy for me (midterms, lots of reports to write, and some struggles with work), I still found time for the interesting event. ANet told us we would be getting a new map, and some strange new enemies to fight, as well as a new dungeon, Fractals of The Mists (my favourite part about the event!). The event was about the Karka, ancient crab-like creatures that were invading the bay and subsequently destroying the lighthouse in Lion's Arch. During the weekend, we followed another scavenger hunt to learn about the Consortium's involvement with Southsun Cove and the Karka, as well as how to take them out safely, as they have incredibly thick shells that prevented them from taking much damage.

Exploring a new, untouched map was very interesting. We got to see some deforestation (no, I'm serious) and some jumping puzzles. It was neat to be on a map that we were all visiting for the first time.

Cutting down trees to make paths and camps with the Consortium, as a part of the multi-hour finale to the weekend.

The final day of the weekend was the longest, as it included a multi-hour event that took us through Southsun cove as we built paths and bridges and camps. At the end of the event, we had to blow up the Ancient Karka's hive and kill it so that we could live in Lion's Arch peacefully knowing that the large threat was gone.  The final fight was strenuous as essentially a large zerg fest, but it was also incredibly fun.

WHAT 9000??!!!

At the end of the event, we were awarded with a 20 Slot Box and an Exotic Accessory... and if you were lucky, a Precursor to make a legendary weapon!! My friend got Dusk (the precursor to make the legendary greatsword, Twilight). I got a named rifle. 〜(￣▽￣〜)  It didn't sell as well as my friend's Dusk, but it was neat to get something named!

Comparing the rifle to my rifle at the time.

After the event, I purchased a Young Karka transformation potion for karma. Worth it.

But, as mentioned before, my favourite part of the weekend was the new dungeon becoming available! Basically, you run three instances (four if you're doing every even number) that can take a few minutes, to an hour or more depending on how coordinated you are as a unit. What I really love about FOTM, is that it really  requires team work and communication, unlike TA (if you've done it a few times, you've done it a hundred, and you can do it without talking almost...) Also, it gets marginally harder with every new level!
Even though FOTM introduced a new gear type (Ascended), I still don't feel affected by the gear-grind. I mean, I just don't care if I have to grind - even if I was told that I wouldn't have to do it. I like working with others for a common goal, and helping out others who might not know what they're doing.

Just before our first fight with the Jade Maw (at lv2 Fractal)

Seriously, all these fractals are so interesting! This is climbing up the Colossus fractal.

And just for fun, my guildie's bear, who he now calls "Happy" per my request :3

 Once the weekend was over and people were tired of trying to catch others up to our fractal level, a lot of people became inactive. :( I had been promoted to an Officer's position in my guild, so it was frustrating we had fewer members than ever. This is still a problem, but it doesn't stop the few of us who are still active from having fun. We regularly WvW in our "serious business" (pink&purple coloured armour ONLY) colours and run dungeons and level up alt-characters.

We're super serious; don't mess with us.

Norn Dance Party

In addition to the event that happened in November, I also got my world completion star, and finished my personal story! 

So shiny （*´▽｀*♥ 

Finally!

 December: 

School ended fairly early in the month for me, just in time for Wintersday! In anticipation, I made friendly with some randoms on my server, and we danced like Kodan for ... a good hour and a half before the server updated with Wintersday fun.

Dance, minions, dance!

I even completed my TA armour set at last!

Merry Wintersday, Tyria!

When the server finally did update, there was snow everywhere! I loved running around building snowmen and throwing snowballs at other players ♥. I was excited for Tixx's workshop too, since it was supposed to be like a mini-dungeon where we could earn materials to make new minis for our collections. My favourites were the Plush Griffon and the Toy Ventari. Other than doing the jumping puzzle and each toy instance, Wintersday was okay but I made more use of my time running other dungeons or levelling my Sylvari Ranger. But below is a picture of my struggles with a group of randoms.

At least I died a very cute death!

Present: 

Currently, my guildmates are fairly inactive. Most have moved on to other games, or are waiting for more content updates to bring them back. This leaves the guild with only a half a dozen or so players, including myself and some close friends I've made, which is somewhat depressing at times. To combat this, we play on our alternates a lot and run fractals (we're finally at level 10!), which is just fine. As long as I still have people to play with, I'm content. ♥

ANet said in an interview recently that the content updates this month and next month will equate to almost a full expansion's worth of game content! They've also eluded to some new WvW maps... I can't wait! Even though I'm taking seven courses this semester, I'm still finding enough wiggle room for some game time.
I don't know what Anet has in store for the GW2 community, but I am very, very excited.

With all that being said, phew! I think I summarized and caught up my blog on my GW2ing... I'll be posting my Engineer Build soon, I think, so I can keep track of it somewhere. Also, with DMC coming out in a week and a bit, I'll be posting about that too! In the meantime, back to levelling my Ranger and playing Dead Island.