[GW2] The Ultimate Grind: Making a Legendary

A little while ago, I made the decision to work towards a Legendary. When I initially started playing Guild Wars 2, I didn't care much for the flashy weapons and the incessant grind that came with them. However, about three months ago, I became infatuated with the feminine blossoming bow, Kudzu. I didn't really know where to begin, but I expressed my interest, or fantasy rather, to my guild. and casually started collecting things (Obsidian Shards here and there, being more vigilant with my dailies, saving my globs, so on so forth). I made a list of every component and how much I needed, and went along my way. I wanted to make this little post to document how I took my first steps towards making this longbow, and where I currently stand in this process.

I read somewhere that it was best to start with my Mystic Clovers, as a guildmate sent me all the components for the Gift of Wood as a gift, and I already had purchased my Bloodstone and Sigil of Conjuration, and I finished World Complete months and months ago. I poured all the karma I had into Obsidian Shards and every time Balthazar was open and I had enough Karma, I would buy more and more, making sure to put some aside in order to make my Gift of Mastery. I followed the 10 Clover recipe, and although it was hard to throw in ten globs at a time, I wielded good results. I initially made my first 30 by myself, until my friend and guildmate (an excellent farmer) offered his globs to me to use. We created a deal where I would borrow his globs and if I received T6 mats, he would get them and have to send me 10 Mystic Coins, and if I got clovers, I got to keep them for myself. In no time (after about three weeks or so), I had 70 Clovers. I dropped down to the 1 Clover recipe for my final seven, and by this time I had already completed a full stack of Obsidian Shards for my Gift of Mastery as well!

After creating my clovers, I started working on my crafting. I purchased my Gift of Wood Recipe (10g) on my Thief and did a fast craft to get her to 400. Having all of the components, I created my Gift of Wood and scratched it off my list. I slowly started working on my Leatherworking as well, and purchased my Gift of Nature recipe (10g) for when I was able to make my Gift of Nature. I started salvaging everything blue and yellow, selling my greens, and being on top of farming as best as I could. 

I started putting globs aside for my Gift of Fortune and got some more help farming things for my Gift of Nature, mainly omnomberries, and started running Twilight Arbor religiously again. Recently, about two weeks ago, I retired from the dungeon having completed it and buying my Gift of Thorns. 

We four-manned my last run! We joked that TA was my boyfriend... and we needed to part ways.

Getting my leather was easy enough, and it was cheap to buy my last like 50 that I needed. A few days ago, I finished getting my thief to Level 400 in Leatherworking, and farmed omnomberries with a guildmate. I popped all my ingredients into my crafting window and produced my Gift of Nature, another item to cross of my list! I've also started making an effort to go into the Obsidian Sanctum too. I'm now only 140 Badges of Honour short of my Gift of Mastery. 

In all honesty, I'm very close to my Legendary. Closer than I was 2.5mo ago. I now have 101 Globs of Ectoplasm and 20 Icy Runestones. What I'm struggling the most with is knowing I need to pour 80 more gold into Icy Runestones and I have no idea how I'm going to get my precursor, Leaf of Kudzu. I've started slowing down a bit, as I've been pouring a lot of gold into making this weapon. However, I do have a lot of thanks to give to my guildmates, as they have been both supportive and helpful of this venture. 

Currently, I'm looking into getting a magic-find set from Crucible of Eternity so I can be a little more efficient with my farming. 

All in all, I think I'm very close to my Legendary. I do have a recommendation to others, though: DO YOUR WORLD COMPLETE FIRST!! I'm working on it for a second time and it is a pain in the butt. Seriously. Save your pennies early and you will not have trouble making a Legendary. <Says the player who spends all her money on useless stuff. :3

Good luck!

[GW2] Becoming a Leader: A Learning Curve

Change is hard for everyone. Back when my few guildmates and I decided enough was enough and we moved to Tarnished Coast, it was a bit of an adjustment for some of us. The players on this side of the mountain were friendly and active, and covered a variety maps, made an effort in WvW and then some, and it was something we hadn't seen in months. However,  this was a needed change, as I expressed in my post a few months ago. The adjustment was big for me, however. 

Dance for Dolyaks 2013! 

During this initial period, I was given rights to the guild; full leadership rights both ingame and in the mumble provided to us. I was excited,  but wary. Back on Darkhaven, I didnt do much leading, although Valkyria was my idea and created under my name, so how exactly how was I supposed to lead a guild that was more goal-orientated and had the same mentality leader prior to me? I expressed my uncertainty multiple times but the core members didn't seem to think the same way. Conscious of these feelings I had, I embarked on a new lesson of leading in game.

Our numbers had dwindled, and after recruiting two of my old gaming friends and a couple of other players, we started working towards goals as a small group. Getting people to eighty, grinding dungeons and fractals, and working towards buying guild missions, which we learned was costly and time consuming. We pugged frequently, often short numbers or people with high enough levels, and I didn't do much leading. Sure, I made executive decisions when we didn't know what to do, but I wouldn't call that the entire definition of leading at all. And Miraza, I know you'll be reading this and that you'll disagree :), but nonetheless. We continued on like this for a couple of weeks before two things happened: I encountered a problem player among us, and we unlocked guild bounties. I'll start with the ladder.  

As we built bounties, I studied them. I wrote out a master list of names and what maps for easy reference, I tried to understand mechanics, and I tried to know every path. When we were finally ready for bounties, I was initially lax. I didn't stop side chatter in mumble and we were always short on time,  so we ultimately failed a few, even with two experienced returning players and our arsenal of core players. Our communication was weak, and our coordination suffered. Tired of constant failures, and frustrated,  I constantly said how I was sure we were capable of this. We had tackled Arah before, I knew we could make this work. And then, what did Anet do? Bounty training missions. One target in fifteen minutes, 3000infl reward.

We queued up a handful.

After evaluating our previous strategies amd listening to my officers, I put my boot down. No more chatter. Either you're calling locations for bounties or you're not talking at all. You were to listen for battle strategies while in fights, and you were taking this as seriously as Tybalt takes his apple cider. We made a day with eleven of us and tackled a few training missions, all successes, before I asked if everyone wanted to tackle a real bounty. No one said no. So we popped a bounty tier 1.

Our first target was Poobadoo, arguably the easiest bounty.  A heavy hitting quaggan with a small path in Kessex hills. We found and burnt him down with nine minutes on our clock, and we raced off to Timberline falls for 2MULT, a new bounty golem with a scary mechanic. Thankfully,  I spawned on top of him. I pinged my location and everyone arrived, excited.  We could do this! We started the fight and struggled at first, but upon getting the mechanic with the sparks down... we burnt him down! We succeeded, and with two minutes to spare. I congratulated everyone, stressing how integral the communication we just showcased played a massive part in this win. We took success screenshots, and went on our way. Since then, bounties always yield successes rather than fails (unless we're just going for rewards to catch others up) and we understand what it means to communicate efficiently and effectively.

I was on my laptop at the time, but Mimee sent some screenshots my way! Our first victory!

Now, back to the former. While we learned what effective communication meant and how to use it, we struggled with a player with a... I-know-more-than-you mentality in our roster. Initially we felt this player was great. They were friendly and listened... until they got comfortable with us. Our core is close, but not too close as to alienate others. We include others and are always friendly, but we also like to pick on each other verbally, though always in a joking way; I see us as a family, and I hope the others do, too. 

While running with this player, he would make jabs like the rest of us, which is great! It's welcomed, it shows us you're comfortable with us, and as long as it's playful, there's no foul. Sometimes, the guys pick on me, but that's fine because I'm sassy back, so no harm... However, I started to feel that some of these jokes from this particular player were a little mean. Often I can take a hit; I'm pretty resilient or will roll my eyes or something. Usually. Though, when these jokes from this player were said, I often felt a little cornered. I raised my concerns with Miraza and an officer, but stressed that maybe I was being a little too sensitive. 

It wasn't until the Super Adventure Box came around that my officer noticed this behaviour too, and asked me about it. I explained that I wasn't sure why there was a different tone of voice being used with me. Long story short, my officer spoke to the player and then they spoke to me, and apologized. We left that at that, and the relationship seemed better again after we had talked it out. I felt initially if I had spoke to them first, it would be confrontational. Moving on, however, we started bringing this player and their new character into dungeons with us, after they had made it to 80. Being able to relate, as they were playing a condition-spec engineer, I tried to offer advice where I could. 

This is when we started to have a bulk of our issues. Countless times we explained that their spec should have them standing at mid/long range, as their max was 1500r with their spec, but they always preferred melee-range, which resulted in a lot of downs and deaths, and often frustration on our part. There was a lack of miscommunication, and it resulted in longer runs, more repair bills, and higher frustrations.

My officers and I were starting to lose our patience, so one day, I took it into my hands to research another build that might be more viable for their particular playstyle. Maybe Power/Toughness/Vitality, Tool kit and Rifle or Pistol/Shield with some elixirs and the bomb kit that would let them get into that melee range they enjoyed staying in. I brought this up in mumble to them, explaining I had looked it up and thought it would work really well. When I explained it all, excited to hear if they wanted to try it out, they responded that they liked their spec, and they liked being in melee range. I explained that although they had loads of toughness, they were still prone to taking heavy hits and going down pretty fast. Response? They liked dying!

Now frustrated, I explained that it really bogs down a party. They said we didn't have to bring them with us if we didn't want to. Anyway, this went on for a few more minutes before they got frustrated, and we decided to just let it go. However, after this conversation, this player became even more difficult, refusing to take part in bounties or events with us, and eventually left because they felt that they were left out and that I had targeted them. 

Were there things I could have done differently and better? Absolutely, I'm willing to admit that. I could have made that conversation a lot more private than it was (two idle people in the channel who added nothing to the conversation until the end, when voices were starting to rise) Did I have to research other builds? No, but I did want them to understand what constructive criticism was. 

These two things, bounties and this player, have taught me a lot in a short span of time... Since then, we've gained several active members, we've opened our own mumble for just guild members, we've unlocked Treks, and I've become more willing to raise my voice and... actually lead. I make sure there are items on players that are helpful, skills we might be need, organize parties for large events, and make sure everyone is up to speed. I'm more willing to have an open door to others, and be firm when I have to be. I don't know if this is earning me respect or if our newer players see me as an appropriate leader, but if there's anything I've learned, is that there's always more to learn and there's always ways to improve. 

I wouldn't have been able to do it without help, though. My SiC/officers/core members are all supportive and I know they all step up to the plate when and where necessary. I just hope that as we continue to play this game, and maybe branch out into other games together, I am still capable of being a strong leader, and that I can become even stronger and more knowledgeable. For now, though, I'll continue to move up in this learning curve.

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.

Guild Wars 2: August-September

Wow. WOW. My mind is literally at a loss of words when logging on to the full Guild Wars 2 game for the first time in August. Even though I had participated in beta weekends due to purchasing a collector's edition, I didn't explore very far out of beginning zones. I refused to leave those level 1-15 zones and the main cities. I just couldn't bring myself to actually open that present even though I had already peeked at them before. But... when I finally did... I was smitten. Everything was so beautiful and detailed; I could see the locks in my engineer's hair moving, and her body shifting as she stood still or as she ran. I was excited all the time and so completely floored by how beautifully large and expansive Tyria was. I really felt a part of the game.

Pardon the roleplayer in me, but I could literally feel myself as Nova, weighing her rifle in her hand, throwing her grenades, running through the lush fields of Queensdale and Kessex and swimming through the beautiful large lakes. I wanted to inspect every tree, every blade of grass, every civilian who walked by.

Nova Arterius, my main (Engineer) in Divinity's Reach

My friends and I started on Darkhaven server, and I created my guild Requiem of Valkyria [VALK] for us to play. I loved helping others, running with randoms, completing quests... Everything was so fresh, exciting. Thrilling. But as the first few weeks passed, school started, and my friends, and only guildmates, started to lose interest due to the grinding they knew we would be facing (let's face it... Guild Wars 2 does have a grind system whether they say they do or not). However, despite my friends leaving, I continued playing. I refused to stop. Everything was still so gorgeous and beautiful, and I wanted to learn more about Tyria every day. I wanted to build Nova, and create her to be the character I knew she was.

My guildies and I running Ascalonian Catacombs story mode when we were high enough level; due to bug and disconnect issues, we never completed it. 

However, as time continued on, I became lonely. I started to talk to some of my boyfriend's friend, who were trying to encourage me to switch servers to Northern Shiverpeaks and join their guild; an active, thriving one that would accommodate me and my fluctuating schedule. I told them for about a week: no, I can't. I know my guildmates will come back but... I couldn't help feeling empty. This game wasn't fun without my friends, and although I had made some great acquaintances online who were a thrill to play with. For three weeks, I told them I would be fine and I felt okay playing by myself but eventually...

Eventually I caved. I became too lonely to play by myself, and I made the server swap to Northern Shiverpeaks. Above is  a picture of my friends and I dancing to seal the deal. I was now a Northern Shiverpeaks player. I put it off until I reached Level 80; until I could at least look like a decent player to a new guild who was active, and considered semi to hardcore. Through joining Nex-Praeconus, I felt rejuvenated... and Guild Wars 2, which was beginning to lose it's promise with me, was suddenly amazing, and fun again. And I realized the problem wasn't with the game itself, although it does have them here and there... it was the fact I was alone. Tl;dr: it is definitely a game that should be played with friends.

Next Post: Guild Wars 2: October-Present,playing with a guild, running dungeons properly for the first time, Halloween and now.

Guild Wars 2 Collector's Edition!

I have been so immersed in Guild Wars 2 since Friday's headstart that everything else has been forgotten. Here are the pictures of my GW2 CE Statue of Rytlock and Map of Tyria!♥

Inside, I had a few prints and a picture frame (not pictured; I didn't feel like I should take pictures of them and post them on here). But there is so much detail and thought in every aspect of this edition. I am so, so pleased and so happy.

In a little bit, I'll make a post about how the game has been so far. ♥ If anyone is playing on Darkhaven, message Nova Arterius! I'm playing with my guild, Requiem of Valkyria [VALK]


♥ until next time... I'm kind of lost in Tyria at the moment. ;)

it's almost here...!

Guild Wars 2 is upon us...!! I'm so excited. They keep doing stress tests and I've just been logging on to get an idea of what I want all my characters to look like.. So far, the only problem I'm having is if I want my Engineer to have silver or platinum blonde hair.

Here's some screenshots of what I've been doing~

My Sylvari Necromancer~ I'll be soloing with her in my spare time / when I feel like taking a break from my main character. 

My main, an Engineer! I can't decide if I want her to be silver or blonde...! Gah! First world gamer problems lol.

My elementalist. Also something I'm doing in my spare time. I'm just going to make her right at launch, though. so I don't have to worry about her name being taken ><

Finally, my PVP Thief. I was originally making her as my main, but I decided to be adventurous and do something I don't normally do!

Gah, I can't wait to get the ball rolling! Only a day now!! Can't wait to do an unboxing of my collector's edition~ ♥

Diablo 3: Paragon System

Blizzard announced their "Paragon System" as a part of p1.0.4. This is incredible news. Not only did they make my Demon Hunter much beefier in terms of her DPS/Hatred Generation and all that jazz (After they so ungraciously destroyed her in p.1.0.3), but now they're adding this new system!

I actually think this is what I needed to get back into  Diablo 3. Granted, I don't know how I'm going to have time to play it, what with the amazing game lineup Q4 I'm looking forward to (And GW2. I could remind this blog all day about how excited I am for that)... but I think this will be a great opportunity to do something more linear and grinding when I don't want to spend the extra 90 or 180 minutes getting a level or two in GW2. Also, how neat is that? It shouldn't take more than 90min for you to level in Tyria. I'm pretty stoked, considering I hate those last little legs of grinding.
See: My level 55 Demon Hunter in D3... ( ¬д¬。)

In other news, the EB Games where I make and pick up my preorders/games/accessories hasn't got the OK from the mall to do a midnight release for GW2... I really want my Charr statue haha. ;__; I can't wait to spam my blog with unboxing pics!

Hopefully I can share good news soon! If I can't pick it up at midnight, I'm definitely going first thing in the morning.

until next time~

Introducing the Worlds of Guild Wars 2 | GuildWars2.com

Introducing the Worlds of Guild Wars 2 | GuildWars2.com


ah, the list I've been waiting for! =3=~~ I wonder what server my friends and I will be playing? ~