Opening the Mines

AggroChat #33 – Crafting, Puzzles and Raven

Last night we had a special guest on AggroChat that may turn into a more permanent addition, but for not we are playing that by ear.  Raven is a friend that I initially met through Twitter but we all have become close to through our time spent in Final Fantasy XIV.  She has been awesome with offering to fill in with her characters whenever we happen to need them for our guilds semi-regular shenanigans.  With Rae’s recent absence from the show I had been kicking around the idea of bringing on another person, and thankfully Raven showed some interest in doing it.  Hopefully she had as much fun as the rest of us did, and she brought some interesting takes on the topics we discussed.

Last night was a massive meandering show where we talked about some of our favorite puzzle games at length even dredging things up like Tetris Attack.  We talked about the Road Not Taken, which is quite possibly the most depressing puzzle rpg ever.  We talk Super Smash brothers, and do a horrible job at trying to guess Ashgar’s favorite character.  We talk about Kodra’s experience playing Dragon Age Origins and how he is ultimately playing a completely different game than I ever managed to play.  We fall into a giant Final Fantasy XIV crafting discussion, since Raven is the pocket expert on the topic.  Finally I discuss my frustrations with Molten Core 40 man LFR from this past Tuesday and how it really does make players not ever want to do 40 man again.

As I am writing this post I am still editing away on the episode or more so the audio is rendering.  We ran really long, but at this point I am not quite sure how long.  We might have ultimately recorded our very first two hour long episode…  this may or may not be a good thing.  I think everything flowed extremely naturally with our newest guest host, so hopefully that can be a thing that happens more often.  Even if not I am extremely grateful for Raven filling in and offering her views on the completely unprepared list of topics.  Our complete and total lack of organization would throw some people off, but she took to it like a champ.

Opening the Mines

My initial goal upon reaching level 100 was to be able to get geared for the impending opening of the first raid, that happens this Tuesday.  As such for the better part of a week I have been well over the 630 required cap to get into raiding.  Additionally I have been helping out various players that needed another dps or tank for doing their own heroic gearing.  Now however I am taking a bit of a step back and working on some of my alts.  Right now my goal is to get each of them to the level where they get their Tier 2 Town Hall and with it a mine and a profession hub.  Since I have an army of level 90 characters, this is going to take awhile but it should allow other tradeskill materials to start flowing in naturally on all of my characters.  As such I worked up Exeter my blacksmith and miner first with the hopes of eventually using him to fuel some of my gear on my warrior.  That said by the time I get around to making that gear I might already have epics in those slots.  In any case I now have his T2 Town Hall and T2 Mine so he is finally self sufficient in the creation of truesteel ingots.

Next I am opting to work on my leatherworker/skinner Worgen Druid Belgarou.  I noticed that most of the smithing patterns also require leather, so as such I need someone that can bring it back in large quantities.  Last night while recording the podcast I worked on getting the druid through the opening sequence at the dark portal, and now I am working through the various early areas of Shadowmoon Valley.  Unfortunately this character does not have an heirloom weapon, and the lower attack damage is noticeable.  My hope is that I can limp by with enough gear gained through the various treasure hunts in the zone.  I am also having to relearn how to play a feral druid… which feels a bit strange these days.  It feels like I only really have one attack button, and a bunch of optional attacks.  That said I should probably research that class further, because my survival seems to be lacking at times.

Exciting Guests All Around

Now comes the time to be extremely vague.  This morning I am recording the next episode of Bel Folks Stuff, and for those who have not been listening to them.. it is where I grab a personality in our community and talk to them about the various things that are important to them.  Previously I have had Gypsy Syl and Rowan Blaze on… and this guest is going to be just as awesome.  The thing is I am honestly a bit nervous about it.  Syl and Rowan I have gamed with or at the very least hung out on voice chat with… so were both super familiar to me.  This guest is someone I have the utmost of admiration for… but have never actually cross paths with in any games.  I am sure it will end up being fine, as when I close the office door and go into serious recording mode…  I seem to never have a shortage of anything to talk about.  That said I think you guys will be absolutely pumped over who I have for a guest this time.

Similarly my hope is to turn this episode around much more quickly than the previous ones.  I sat on the recording with Rowan for a good month, and as such it ended up kinda bizarre as we talked about a few issues… that were resolved or at least changed during Blizzcon.  Right now I am tentatively planning on having this third episode of Bel Folks Stuff out if at all possible by this coming Friday.  That should give me time to edit and fiddle and get things ready for the public, but hopefully still keep it from sounding outdated like the one with Rowan did.  I don’t have that huge of an installed listener base yet, but this is mostly something I am doing for my own sake and enjoyment rather than for any sort of internet fame.  Then again all of the things I do are mostly for my own entertainment.

The Month is Over

This morning I am thankful that the month is done.  This was hands down one of the hardest challenges I have done on my blog.  There were so many mornings that I was completely finished with the post and starting at the above logo not sure what to write about under it.  The first few days were rather easy, but after that I kept struggling to find something else to say… that also somehow related back to my post.  I think I mostly succeeded but there are times when it really is difficult to count your blessings.  I think I wrote some really solid blurbs during the month, some of which that maybe even surprised me a bit.  That said I am more than happy to close the book on this little chapter and move on to the next thing whatever it might be.  Thanks for riding along with me on this journey.