The trouble with subscriptions.

So the thing about signing up for MMOs that have subscriptions, is that eventually they run out. This week my subscription for EVE ended up running out and I had forgotten to refill my Paypal account. So now I've got to spend an entire week and a bit without playing EVE (Paypal takes 6-8 days for Canadians).

So with all this free time I thought I'd check out other titles in the market. First I tried going back to Guild Wars 2. Unfortunately the main reason I got out of Guild Wars 2 was the immense lag I had to put up with whenever going to maps that had all the activities I wanted to take part in. Even dropping to lowest graphical settings barely got me past 30 fps not including sections where there were mobs of players.

TERA Online: 

So I decided to go and try out TERA Online, which is a free to play MMORPG with a cash shop. I'd originally avoided trying TERA because of the huge download size (30 GBs) and the speed at which they switched from a subscription to cash shop suggested that there may be issues with the game. That said after finally finishing my download and trying out the game, I have to say. Its actually fairly good. Right now I'm playing at max graphical settings with speeds above 40 fps which is awesome considering I'm not running this on a gaming rig. The graphics themselves are awesome, while Tera has a slightly more cartoony feel than Guild Wars 2 the level of detail and flair of the graphical designs have me enchanted. After playing around with the character creation for a bit, I settled on an Aman Lancer as my first main character.

My Aman Lancer: Rhelgha

Tera is an action combat mmorpg that adds an extra layer to combat in the form of having to aim all your skills. Even the Lancer, a close range tank class, has to aim his strikes in order to hit. After flipping through a few of the classes I stuck with the Lancer due to the fact that the lancer's defense revolved around using a skill to 'block' the incoming attacks. By default this block skill is bound to my right click button and it makes for an interesting combat style. I use my lance with my left click or other skills to damage the target, and whenever it looks like its about to attack. I have to use the right click and make sure that my shield is pointing at the source of the incoming attack. At first because the level 2 monsters do very little damage this seems like a non-important skill, but after getting to level 20. I'm totally in love with this combat mechanic.

The Arakia, an early game World Boss (lvl 20).

I've also started doing some Armor-Smithing since my character belongs to class that uses heavy armor. Right now I'm farming a boss monster called the Arakia for materials to create a full set of enchanted heavy armor for my first attempt at a dungeon in TERA Online.  Farming in TERA seems to be a slight bit better than in Guild Wars 2 as you get something every time you kill a monster, and so far the drop rate for rare items from this world boss has been pretty high. Where as with Guild Wars 2, I ended up killing the claw of Jormag probably a hundred time to get a very low drop rate of rare materials. I'm aware that now that rate has been increased, but the practicality of having to fight through an intense lag fest to get the drop is very off-putting.

So all in all, even though my subscription ran out. I have now experienced TERA Online and I think I'll end up spending a bit more time on this game. Since it is a free to play MMORPG this is going to workout as a good breather/ change of pace from my usual gameplay in EVE.

A small farm I've been operating out of, to collect materials for Armorsmithing.

(despite the watermark these are all screenshots taken in game by players, 2 of them by me and 1, I got off the web, because I wasn't ready to get a world boss angry and then pause long enough to take the shot).

Its cold out there.

So for the last few weeks I've been raking in the cash as an Ice Miner in EVE Online. I've even gone and made the most efficient fit possible for a standard Mining Barge.That said Ice Mining tends to be quite boring. Most times all I do is warp to an ice belt, set my ship up to mine and walk away from my PC for about 15 minutes. That said there were a few close calls, where folks have tried to gank me while I wasn't paying attention. That said it was well worth it, right now I'm making 19 million ISK per hour every four hours when I'm on. I've gone and tripled my savings from my first month of gameplay, which seems like a small jump, except I've also been spending like crazy on new ships, equipment and skills.

Now I have more time and money to focus on getting my manufacturing business up and running. I've started producing ammunition and drones, both of which are things that many people use up quite quickly. Lately though my corporation (Guild) has been trying to get me to take part in more PVE/PVP activities. In fact for this weekend we are getting ourselves set up for a free for all tournament using tier 1 frigate class ships. During the last tournament, in the very first round I had the misfortune of being set up against the person who ended up winning the entire tourney. This time around I'm hoping to be ready for all eventualities and make it to the top 3 at the very least.

In addition to all this, my corporation wants me to start working on getting ready for incursions. For those who aren't aware, Incursions are EVE's version of raids. I'm currently working on getting a battleship ready for Incursions, but it seems like I'll need a lot of time to get my skills up to par for this challenge. Right now I'm thinking of creating a close ranged DPS with a passive tanking ability.

Edit: I've also updated my 'about me' page for those of you who would like to know who I am. 

Here come the Big Drills

So as I mentioned previously, in my attempt to fill the gap until the release of Wildstar, I have started trying out other MMOs. EVE Online being the latest attempt. So far I'm loving how the game is set up so that in order to make any real money you have to get into some kind of 'Career' in my case I decided to start in the Mining Career and slowly make my way into Manufacturing. 

I may have gotten a little carried away with my mining career. Just this past week I started work on an Excel sheet to figure out efficient ship/skill setups as well as which ores would make me the most money. The end result was this:    Mining Chart.

It seems safe to say I've gotten a bit hooked on the game. However my recent attempts to get into gas mining in Wormholes along with my corp-mates have met a bit of a roadblock. I've heard stories of pirates in EVE Online but this was the first time I've actually met them. They are a full corporation of players hooked on PVP and equipped with some serious firepower holding my Corporation(Guild) captive inside our own Player Owned Station, in a relatively unpopulated Wormhole.

Once more I find further confirmation that I am more of a PVEer than a PVPer in the way that I prefer to stay out of such engagements. I honestly don't get the appeal of sitting on an exit for 4+ hours, just to attack the guy(s) who try and make a break for it. It is a very slow way to make money, yes there is a small chance of a exciting battle. But more likely than not, it will be just a one-sided fight with the other team just being wiped out because they weren't ready for you.

Book Review : The Lies of Locke Lamora

(Book One of the Gentlemen Bandits Series )

So as I mentioned in my christmas update I'm adding a new section to my usual posts that covers books I've read and like or feel the need to comment on. As the title suggests the first book I will write about is 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' the first book in the Gentlemen Bandits series by Scott Lynch.

About:

For those who aren't aware the Gentlemen Bandits series by Scott Lynch, is part of the fantasy-thievery genre. It follows the exploits of a thief named Locke Lamora who uses cunning and trickery as the tools of his trade. The story takes place is a fantasy world where magic does exist, yet none of the protagonists are what passes for this story's version of a Mage. So don't expect many complicated magic battle scenes, it will mainly be sword vs sword type of battle, or in the case of the thieves an escape from such battles. The protagonists of the story are a small gang of thieves called the 'Gentlemen Bandits'. while most other thieves consider them to be small time crooks, their misdeeds however have the rest of the world in fear of their identity as the 'Thorn of Camorr'.

Story:
The story is a very witty one, it is told through multiple points of view. At first most of the points of view are by the Gentlemen Bandits, but overtime you get to see the points of view of their victims and main enemies. Throughout this book you see several flashbacks to the life of Locke Lamora as a child and his entrance into the world of thievery. While at first I considered skipping out on the flashbacks (I've never been a fan of flashbacks), they play a central role in explaining the motivations of the main characters. Personally I loved all the characters even the victims of their crimes, they were all fully developed and had several interesting quirks.

Overall: 
This is an excellent book, it starts off strong and gets you into the action fairly early on. If you are fans of films like Ocean's Eleven, then this is for you. Expect several plot twists and even if you get to the part where you know the plan, the ending will still elude you. The author has a very descriptive style that paints a clear image of the city of Camorr, and the characters. There is a lot of clever humor hidden throughout the story, if you pay attention it really makes you grin to yourself. I highly recommend this book to any fan of fantasy or adventure novels.