MEGA VANGUARD BLOG!

Yes, you read that right! I wasn't going to do it, I told myself I would not do it, but I went ahead and did it anyways. I bought Vanguard: Saga of Hero's. I think it was seeing the box on the shelf that finally pushed me over the edge and made me decide to buy it.

Where do I begin? It's always so difficult to compare MMO's. Much less to review them the first week of playing 'em.

Vanguard feels very epic and open. The landscape seems massive and yet there is definitely room for expansions to add even more land. I look at my map and think of all I have seen and yet I know I have just scratched the surface.

I have been having some trouble getting good screens of Vanguard... it's not because it is a bad looking game but for some reason the shots just do not do the in-game feel and look justice. That's how it has always been, especially in the dark. Anyways, this is a really cool looking portal that I came across. Turns out spiders where somehow making it to travel around! The spider dungeon is awesome, it's big with large caverns and it feels like a real cave.
I followed my guild into a place called the Vault of Hero's. It was full of gnolls and we killed many. I like the design on the huge ceiling. I didn't see but a bit of this place and I would really like to go back soon.
My favorite part of Vanguard is just how real it feels. I don't get the feeling that I'm just running around grinding to advance my character or playing a single-player RPG like Oblivion. Rather it feels like a living breathing world. It's a great feeling and it is something that I don't think you can find in alot of MMOs.

Vanguard has a real "classic" feel to it. I never played the first EverQuest but this game feels like what I imagined EverQuest to be like. I think I definitely will be spending some time in the world of Telon for the next few months. Will it be years? We will have to wait and see.

I like the detail in this game. For example, outside of the Stone Mug Tavern in Halgarad (the home of the varanjar, or, barbarians) there was a poor citizen who had a bit too much to drink and was vomiting:There wasn't any vomit, but there where nice splashing sound effects. This next shot shows off the nice shiny veins of copper ore in this rock. It really looks like copper and is not FUN to mine but its not BAD to mine. I wonder what higher level ore looks like? I saw the next tier of ore, Tin, but it just looked like copper except silver. Hey, wasn't tin a mix of metals?

A typical yet exciting day in Lineage 2

I have been just grinding out levels with ChewToastOnce. I look forward to getting her to level 40 and then to change her class to a Treasure Hunter. Once I get that second class I know my skills will really start to open up!

I will be stronger the higher I level up. That said, I think I'm plenty strong right now. I saw this dark elf when I was exploring and I made a split second decision to kill her.
The picture is a bit dark, but while I was running around looking for trouble I came across this huge statue tucked away southeast of Giran. An interesting detail and it doesn't seem to serve any purpose. (You see, most of the areas in Lineage 2 there is a clear theme to each place but this just seems random)

I've been lazy XD

Well, I decided against drawing anymore comics. I am just too lazy to draw something every week! I have also been quite busy with some new games I have been playing... but I won't talk about that here, lets just get into some screens and what happened over the past week!

While I was leveling up in the Execution Grounds collecting hearts for the valentines day event I met some people who wanted to form a raid.We killed one raid boss but it pretty much broke up after that, too bad.

So I went back to hunting and I dinged level 32! Not the best picture I have taken, but it works. I really wasn't going to kill anyone today, but there was this guy who was afk for sooo long and eventually some monsters starting hitting him so I decided to show some mercy and kill him.And the funniest part of the day is that I got PKed! I pulled too many mobs and this guy finished me off. ^^ I didn't get a very good screen, but here he is! I want to talk to him... perhaps we could form a PK guild or at least just group a bit and kill some folk.

Comic Monday is here again! *bonus: real comic!*

I'm very excited about this new addition to the blog! I have been having fun writing new ideas for comic strips and sketching out scenes. You are going to see all kinda of random stuff on Comic Monday but don't worry I got some great MMO pieces written. (I think they are actually funny! Of course I think all my own jokes are funny, especially when I'm tired). Well, without further delay...

Mmm... meaty!

I have a nice meaty blog for you today. Heavy on great screenshots with extra levels on top! To get things started I dinged level 50 Provisioner on EverQuest2. I had fun on my brief stay in Norrath... but I don't think I'm going to stay. I don't know why but the game just hasn't managed to keep me entertained. I just cannot get into it, so you might not see anymore EQ2 for awhile. :(I was bored and I felt like fooling around with a new character, so I made an Elven Knight. I've been thinking about making a tank in Lineage 2 because I really enjoy tanking in other MMOs. Well, I'm not going to play the character much more because I think the name is too unwieldy and because I found out later that the elf Tank class is one of the worst classes in the game. :PThere is a new event on the Deviant Realms server! You collect heart pieces and then play a little mini-game for prizes. The prizes are pretty good including Blessed Scroll of Escape (the one that can make you instantly teleport away) some great pots, scrolls that cast buffs on you, and if your luck Enchant Weapon and Enchant Armor scrolls all the way up to A grade. ;)

I played on CowNoseTheCat for a bit but I was killing mobs really slowly. I need to kill monsters faster if I want more heart pieces, so I logged onto ChewToastOnce! Here is just a random screen I took, nothing special but I like little details like the skull on the irrigation pipe in the gardens on the edge of the Execution Grounds.I got to level 29. ^^
There was this guy who I saw sitting AFK for a long time. I wasn't even going to kill anyone, I just wanted to actually level up for a change. But how could I resist?
->WIRUSEK: I kill an ant
->WIRUSEK: and realize my three children
->WIRUSEK: have been watching.
While I was hunting I got my first halfway decent item drop! I'm going to save these in the bank, but I can crush them for crystal later.Well that's all today. Be sure to tune in Monday for Comic Monday!

Presenting: The First Comic Monday!

All right, I know the first image isn't a comic but, "Comic Monday" just has a nice simple ring to it. It's not MMORPG related either, a very different direction then past posts, but I promise that this will be the only time you'll see non-MMO stuff.
In an effort to bring regular content to this blog and as a push to try and get some real art out of myself I'm going to try and make a comic or drawing each week and post what I have made on Monday. I know I'm a really crappy artist and excuse me if this ruins my blog but I think its something that I'm really going to enjoy doing. Any comments positive or negative are welcome. ;)

Oh, and this image is a drawing of some Pig Men sighted at the Skinwalker Ranch. As the story goes, a farmer was driving by the ranch when he saw some people smoking cigarettes at the side of the road. When his truck lites lit them up he saw that they where humans except they both had pig heads. When he got out of the truck to talk to them he said that the pig men where gone but that there where two cigarettes left burning on the ground.

Ding! Level 63

Another day on the 50 Pound Cat's ranch. :) Things are steady and regular, not too exciting, but not bad either! I got to level 63 on CowNoseTheCat! I can't believe I'm this high level and yet 78 is still soooo far away. Shit, 70 is sooo far away! Would you know that this isn't the first time I've been at 100%? Lol!
Ta-Da!
I dinged level 22 on ChewToastOnce too! Not nearly as impressive as 63, but still a good number.
I tried to PK this guy but as I was attacking him a monster killed him for me. Oh well! Next time.