Asides from the interruptions this weekend, and there were certainly some interruptions. It was a weekend of LEGEND! I’ve mentioned numerous times, I don’t generally care for MMOs these days, but Kilogre had been talking about his recent adventures in World of Warcraft, and I just got an itch to play and see what all had changed. I managed to get the Battlenet Launcher running in Linux Mint, installed World of Warcraft and patched, and by Thursday afternoon I was ready to hop into Azeroth and give it a trial run.
I also had a fantastic time playing Outward this week. I’m looking forward to starting those adventures again! The situation with WoW was a bit unplanned and spur of the moment, so Qvaid and I didn’t really set out any time over the weekend to continue where we left off on Wednesday. No doubt, we will be picking back up on the 21st though, scheduling allowing at least!
Days played: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Players: Qvaid, Hobbit
Comments: On Monday evening, Qvaid and I were back in Outward again! More adventure in Caldera, with gathering samples, running dungeons, and a defeat here and there. We still have held off on starting the next quest for New Sirocco, per SheenShots advice. We did manage to complete one phase on the construction of the Water Purifier building. Unfortunately, looking over the math, it seems Qvaid and I might have made a mistake in our choices of building to start first. I believe we will end up in a scenario where it might start costing us daily for the town to continue. I’m not quite positive yet on the details, but if I read the requirements and funding conditions correctly, I suspect that might be the case. We did manage to clear a few dungeons as well during our play through, although we must have choose poorly as the samples were not quite as plentiful on this set for us. We ended the night with some major inventory management, crafting supplies, repairs, and rest to start up the adventures again on Tuesday, should scheduling allow!
Tuesday evening, Qvaid and I sat down for a bit of adventure in Outward, which I admit lately has mostly been farming samples in both the dungeons and areas in Caldera. I mean New Sirocco isn’t just going to build itself! On a highlight, we did manage to get the upgrade for the Water Purifier and the Food Store’s Communal Garden upgrades going. We also opted to build two more houses. We made a mistake on our building selections and currently the town of New Sirocco is in the hole in terms of funding. Effectively meaning it’s at a negative amount earned per day. This is mostly my fault as we upgraded the 3 resource buildings: Hunter’s Lodge, Mason’ry’s Workshop, and Woodcutter’s Lodge. While this does increase the production, it also increased the costs of operation. Because we opted to build the Water Purifier before putting another ‘shop’ in place first, it has caused us to land in a bit of a pickle. The houses and upgrades to the Water Purifier should correct that, albeit, once the construction of each are completed. Fortunately, we do have enough funds to make it through this bit of a damper for now. Our granddaughter was a bit under the weather and woke up later in the evening after she spiked a fever. We had to put the game play on hold for the evening to look after the grandson, while she went to the doctor with my son and his wife. All good though! No worries!
On Wednesday evening, after some brief conversation Qvaid and I had and a bit of irony, we decided we would put the work of New Sirocco on a little break. We did assist with construction for 7 days, which completed the first phase of construction on the two new houses being built. We started the second phase of construction, gathered supplies, and headed to Harmattan! We decided we wanted to start the Rust and Vengeance quest line before completing Caldera. Unfortunately, like all the other mistakes we’ve made on our first-ish playthrough of Outward, we made the mistake of starting it after completing our Faction Quest. So. Instead of 100 days, we only have 60 days. We burned through the first 2 or 3 days in game being…lost. While Qvaid was busy for a bit helping with the grandchildren, I watched a guide from SheenShots on running the quest, and after we found our way back to Harmattan, I was able to find the Abandoned Living Quarters and get us on track for a proper start. We managed to clear the Abandoned Living Quarters, and get to the train. From there we went to the Research Facility which is effectively where the quest ends once you gather all the gemstone keys. We ended up calling it there so: 1. We could watch more of the guide again, and 2. Because it was getting past time for us to call it in any case.
Days played: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Players: Kilogre, Hobbit, Error, Bubbles, Aces
Comments: In a somewhat random, and semi-unplanned fahsion, I had the opportunity to delve back into the lands of Azeroth. Kilogre (you might recognize the name from CliffCon) has been playing WoW a bit lately, and on Thursday evening, I had the game up and running on my Linux Mint installation. The last time I can recall playing (or attempting to) WoW was sometime in 2022. Kilogre spoke very highly of some of the changes to WoW, and the latest expansion. At the time of this comment here, I don’t have the latest expansion, but I’m not opposed to that possibility, if interests hold. In any case, we started new characters and played through the starter scenario. Kilogre hadn’t really played any caster like characters, and chose a Worgen Warlock. I have always had a desire to see what a high level paladin can offer, but never really leveled the class beyond earlier levels for whatever reason, so I went with a Dwarven Paladin. We managed to complete the starter quest line, and called it a night in Stormwind, beside Chromie with ambitions as to where we might go from there. We are leaning more towards Lich King, but the over all decision is still up for debate. I find it absolutely fascinating that you can play through the previous expansions from level 10 – 70! At least if I understood the description correctly. Now I might have to subscribe to continue the journey as level 1 – 20 you can play for free, but 21+ cause the character to go inactive. Error and I discussed WoW a bit, and while I can’t say he seems overly excited to play WoW, he also doesn’t seem to have any negative emotion about it at this time. Based on some of the conversation I’ve had with Kilogre the casual gameplay of WoW does certainly sound like something feasible (Thursday – Sunday). I’m hopeful in the possible adventures that may lie ahead!
On Friday evening, Kilgore and I picked back up on our adventures and did head into Northrend to face off against the Lich King and his minions! It was an epic session of questing, looting, and glory for the Alliance! We played until a bit later in the evening when Kilogre decided to call it a night. I should add, that at some point during our gameplay I went ahead and subscribed. I was fast approaching level 21 and I didn’t want a lock out to interrupt the gameplay! From there, Error and Bubbles joined up and we started new characters again to see about catching them up to Kilogre and perhaps myself. I’m open to playing a different class should the group composition need it, and on this round, I started a Draneai priest. Error, Bubbles, and I got a really late start, as they had to download the WoW client (battlenet launcher included). We managed a basic start before Error was ready to call it, and since it was getting really early on Saturday morning, I decided to call it there as well. I suspect we’ll both have a bit of catching up to do to get to Bubbles by the time we log back in later on Saturday. All fantastic times though, and I’m looking forward to some more adventures in the worlds Azeroth has to offer!
On Saturday, Error and Bubbles joined in again and we were on our way to catching back up to Kilogre. At some point in the day, both Error and Bubbles also subscribed, as we were all again approaching level 21. Unfortunately, (at least if I recall), scheduling didn’t work out well and we didn’t quite make it before Kilogre was ready to call it for the night. We were close when we logged early Sunday morning though, and ready for some adventure on Sunday!
Ah, Sunday, the last day of the weekend, and all day gaming binges. Turns out, Sunday was a bit of a hot mess. We did manage to get a few quests done with Kilgore on our characters, but he had to bounce at some point, and the scheduling for the rest of the day was just not great. I should add, that that is not a complaint per se. It just is what it is. Life happens. I’m also not at all discouraged by the interruptions. I did make use of the time to the best of my ability. I purchased a Warbound Bank slot, and started culling characters I knew I didn’t have any interest in playing anymore. I mean, given the time I was away from WoW, I’d probably start over in most cases as it were anyway. Even still, I saved my first two characters, and then my first two characters on our alternate server. Mostly for sentimental reasons, I suspect. Every other character save for the several I have on the new server we are playing on, got the axe. Over all, I still had a blast playing World of Warcraft over the weekend. We managed to join up with Kilogre, we were also joined by Aces a bit later, although he was on higher level characters, and we we mostly just chatting in our Discord. Still I have high hopes that maybe, just maybe this might be the time I can enjoy a MMO again. Considering it happens to be a MMO I’m very fond of, with tons of memories, I’m looking forward to playing as much as scheduling will allow! (Mostly from Thursday – Sunday, although I may sneak in a few early mornings here and there. 😉 )
