Understanding Guild Wars 2 better. Part 2.
Just to recap, recently I’ve been venturing in #GuildWars2. Now the interesting part is that the more time that you invest into the game and with the right guidance/tutelage the game opens up into so much more. Events in world are 24/7 and storytelling. As of late I have been going through the Living World season 3. But I have been working on so many little things I feel like I’m spreading myself thin, don’t take me wrong. It’s not the games fault, it’s actually mine, meaning in short, there’s so much to do that I almost can’t decide.
Understanding Guild Wars 2 better.
It’s been a while since I blogged, but I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. So much has been going on ingame and out of game. I’ve still been playing #FinalFantasyXIV , #GuildWars2 , along with #StarTrekOnline but as of late I’ve been a little more vested into GW2. Now you may ask yourself as to why, and here’s your answer. Alot of people underestimate Guild Wars 2, some say not enough content. Well, those people couldn’t be anymore wrong. Now you may ask, okay how so? Simple, what alot of people don’t understand is that Guild Wars 2 breaks the typical MMO aspect of bread-crumbing and questing. The game is a living breathing world that constantly has events going on 24/7.
Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, and Star Trek Online
As in some of my previous posts I spoke about #FinalFantasyXIV , #GuildWars2 , but I didn’t really talk about #StarTrekOnline. Now these are just a couple of games that I’ve been enjoying. And they’re in the MMO family. So hopefully you’re reading when you have some time after filling up on Thanksgiving dinner, or during commercials during football.
I honestly don’t know too much about the lore but the game and it’s universe are gorgeous, the design of this game is amazing. Ther are so many aspects to this game and there is something for everyone, housing, crafting, dungeons, raids, pvp. Currently there is a free trial of “A Realm Reborn” that let you play the ‘A.R.R. jobs/classes upto level 35, and there’s no time limit. Check out my previous blog post on #FFXIV. I will say this that I really enjoy the Endgame, I find it really challenging and enjoyable. Final Fantast XIV is a subscription base game. Currently Humble Bundle is having a promotion for FFXIV for a limited time.
With Guild Wars 2, I started out on free base game, and really enjoyed the exploration. But you have to go into this game with a different mindset, meaning #GW2 is not your traditional tanks, dps and healer aspect. Every player is an all in one type, leveling in this game seems fluidic, I got so wrapped up in exploring and just got involved in the events that popped up with I was leveling. One major difference in comparsion to other mmo’s is that Guild Wars 2 has not subscription unlike Final Fantasy XIV, WoW just to name a few. I sometimes that I can just go exploring/leveling and just lose myself in the game, so much fun. After trying the free base game trial, I bought into it by purchasing #HeartOfThorns aka “H.o.T” which introduced gliding and so much more. And when #PathOfFire went on sale recently with it’s half off promotion, I just couldn’t pass that up. #PoF introduced mounts, but not just your typical mounts, these mount have certain abilities which add to the exploration and gameplay. I really want to dive more into Guild Wars 2 and share what I have learned going into this game. I was fortunate enough to meet my GM (Guild Master) and his wife who have a wealth of knowledge about this game. And just to let you know that I am to type a post that dives a bit more in detail into the aspects and things I have learned about being a new player in Guild Wars 2.
I played #STO back in beta, and was disappointed. I came back to STO cause I some youtube videos and saw that Crytic had been adding content to the game. I later read on STO news that they removed the monthly subscription, so the game is free to play, but also has another option which is the lifetime subscription. STO has really changed from the time that I played during beta, and I’m having so much fun. The community is helpful and amazing. Granted I’m still learning so much about this game leveling is so much, the game really immerse you into the Star Trek universe. The space combat is one the best space combat systems out there. The customization of ships is so much fun, not to mention the uniforms, gear, etc. Currently Cryptic has released ‘Age of Discovery’ expansion/content. I haven’t reached endgame yet in STO, but I’ve seen videos/streams on twitch and looks like fun.
I would recommend to check out any of these games, it doesn’t cost you anything to try them out. I wanted to share with my readers just some of the game that I have been playing and enjoying. Happy Holidays!
Stay tuned to The Balance Force.
Guild Wars 2 Black Friday Sales
As the Holidays draw near, Arenanet has their #BlackFridayDeal and this is a great deal. I got mine at 50% off and was thrilled because there is so much to do in this game. And I just became an affiliate with Arenanet. So if you could use my link that would be great and it will help me during the holidays as well. But don’t forget to use the promo code of BlackFriday50 to this awesome deal.
I will have a follow up post as to what I have been playing and I have been playing several games, but so far I am having a blast with #GuildWars2 #PathOfFire.
Stay tuned to The Balance Force.
Update on gaming and Guild Wars 2 Sale.
For some of my readers may have already know that I had move on from #swtor. It was good for a while but some may argue that it was dead/dying and lack of content etc. This topic has been argued for the longest time, and that’s fine. But I had been playing for 5+ years, close to 6 years give or take. And yes I uninstalled the game already. Maybe one day I’ll come back to it, but not anytime soon. For those that want to try it out, my advice to you is that don’t even waste your time with the free to play. And that if you want to experience the full game, then just subscribe to it and get upto command rank 300.
As in some of my post in the past I have criticized #Bioware for their lack of endgame content, and I still do. And this is why endgame raiders leave/left the game. In the wake of all of this I had a friend ask me to try out #FinalFantasyXIV and I was so relunctant to do so. Well, eventually I gave in and started on the free trial of #FFXIV and I was amazed at how smooth the game runs. If you haven’t already checked out my blog post about the free trial of ffxiv, please do so. The free trial of the game is great so that you can actually get a feel for the game. Now for me, I can say that I am enjoying the endgame of FFXIV, it’s been a blast. And as a reminder remember that you can play just about every job/class on the free trial. In the beginning it’s hand holding but later on it starts to pick up.
Along with FFXIV, I have been playing #GuildWars2 and it’s been a bit different the the typical MMO feel and in comparsion to swtor and ffxiv with the trinity (tanks, dps, and healers) compostion. It’s more like a hybrid-ish of all three into one. The environment and feel for the game is different, what I do like about #GW2 is that you can just go around and level/explore and do you main story line, it doesn’t make you feel like there’s a grind at all. I think that it challenges the player(s) to figure out puzzles. I do like that personally. Arenanet now has the core game as a trial, and if you want to upgrade you can upgrade to either a Deluxe version or buy into ‘Heart of Thorns/Path of Fire’, currently I have Heart of Thorns and it’s been a blast. Though I do have one issue with the game but I think as long as you know that once you hit 80, you have to unlock Mastery points by unlocking them through the first couple of quests of the Main Storyline of Heart of Thorns. Then you can go back to Tyria for further exploration and finding more Mastery points so that you can unlock certain perks (such as gliding). If this can help anyone, great. I learned the hardway. https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-path-of-fire-50-off-sale/
So I would say now is a good time to take advantage of the Guild Wars 2 Sale!!! I just literally bought mine today for Path of Fire, cause I missed the last sale. And last but not least, I apologize to those for not posting as often but I should be posting more frequently. I have been streaming on twitch.
Also as of late, I have been playing Star Trek Online, and I’m really enjoying this game too. Crytic removed their sub from the game, so now there is only ‘Free to Play’ or a lifetime sub of $299.99 but I was advised to wait for when Crytic has a $100 off sale or so to take advantage of that. But it doesn’t hurt to check out all the games out there and mix it up a bit.
So stay tuned to The Balance Force.
From the heart…
It has been an interesting journey, as we draw to the end of 2017 and the start of 2018. I wanted to take a moment to apologize to the readers/community as I was not able to continue on with the podcast, life can some times, well just get a little crazy. It’s not to say that I woun’t possibly do a podcast in the future but things in my life still need settling. When I started the blog, I wanted to share my passion for gaming and #swtor.
Some time ago, I suffered a traumatic event. It had a tremendous affect on my health, that things havn’t been the same. It’s true what they say, it’s a long road to recovery. Now I don’t want to make this long and drawn out. Members of the swtor community helped me with learning how to podcast, in which I am grateful for (Thank you.). But certain personal issues came about that needed more of my attention, most importantly my health and finances. For anyone that may have felt asthough I had let them down, I apologize. It was never my intention to disappoint anyone in the community.
I have shared my views of games, and everyone has a different way of playing them. I am hoping that come 2018 that things in my life will be a bit more stable that maybe I can revisit the podcast.
But until then, I will continue to blog about swtor and games, and still post up #StarWars stuff on my facebook page. We all know how sometimes society can be so judgemental, and some times when going through a traumatic event can give people the wrong perception. We sometimes get so wrapped up with so much that sometimes we forget that maybe we need help from friends and family, or we take on more then we can handle. But most importantly we forget how to see things from that persons point of view and not realize that they are going through something we may or may not understand. And we need to remember to be patient and supportive. But the last thing that I ever wanted to do was to disappoint and let anyone down.
I do want to say thank you to the community for your support and understanding, and again I apologize if I had disappointed and/or let you down. I wish you the best holidays as Christmas is right around the corner and not to mention for you to have a safe and Happy New Year.
Thank you.
Stay tuned to The Balance Force.
The Balance Force: FFXIV Aetheryte Edition
Recently I have been playing #FinalFantasyXIV, I had a couple of friends that played Swtor asking me to try it out. That was about 3-4 months back, I was reluctant at first since I really didn’t know too much about the genre of #FinalFantasy. But since there is a free trial of the game, how could I really say no. And I’ll be honest I really had no idea that #SquareEnix made an MMO. So my friend said to me, “I think you’ll really enjoy this game.”. And like I said there’s the free trial. My friend took the time to explain to me what the jobs (classes) are and the races in the game.
I wanted to put out a review type of guide covering the basics of the game which I learned since I had started playing. But I don’t want to throw out too much information as to confuse anyone who might be new to trying FFXIV.
Casual End Game…
Over the past few months, I have not really had the desire to login to #swtor and thinking about as to why. And some may agree and others not so much. Now as most you know that I’m very direct and blunt in my blog posts. So I have had time to really think on some things, I spoke with friends that have left the game or waiting for their subs to run out. Lots of aspects have changed through the lifespan of the game and some more favorable to some players and other aspects still leaving much to desire. But let’s be real, yes I have tweeted out of the lack of content of the game, and it’s true. Some of you may ask/say to yourself “Yeah there is.”, but let’s break things down.
A disturbance in the force…
#CrisisOnUmbara is the latest to hit #Swtor, though from some players that I have spoke with feel asthough that it was a let down, not to mention that having to attain the new #Stronghold that you have to go through the story is annoying. Talking with friends/guildies over some of the aspects of the game as of late, and with the recent patch and the nerfs going out, several players I know have quit the game. They feel no desire to continue with Swtor. With a few of my friends leaving, it’s sad the direction that #Bioware is going. Several Nightmare/Master mode players I know have also felt similar and feel the game is just lacking in content.
The future is always in motion…
Greetings all,
I know it’s been awhile, but you know how things get in life and sometimes it’s gets crazy. Been a bit busy with work, and sometimes it cuts into recording podcats and playing. Thank you all for continuing to follow me I really appreciate your patience. I have some plans for upcoming podcasts that is a little of of the norm, hopefully as long as plans continue. But also let me say sorry for the break in podcasts, but timing of recordings is a bit of a challenge.
The Balance Force 