Transcention

Welcome, Spiralites, to another exciting installment of...oh who am I kidding. Forget the formalities, I'm Transcended, baby! Thanks to an extended Thanksgiving break, I was able to achieve level 70 earlier this week (and get the Chimera spell along the way!). Every time I reach level cap, I change up the looks of my gear. Now, I had this idea that being Transcended should mean showcasing how I looked as a noob + school symbols.

I quickly decided that this was a bad idea. It was much too bright, so I traded it in for different orange and brown diggs, still very much to my taste. Technically I'm still using level 60 gear, as I was horribly underwhelmed with the level 68 gear. True, I found what looked to be a very nice athame, at least until I realized the lack of pips. I'm balance. I rely heavily on power pips. 

                           

That's all I've got for right now. I'm working on getting a better pet hatched, and then I don't know where my adventures will lead next. 

Your [Transcended] Friend Always,

John Lifeglen

Level Skews

Chatting with a friend tonight, I realized a few things. The primary item we discussed was something that I'm going to call "level skew", or how far off from the main story someone actually is at different parts of the game. Before Grizzleheim (GH), everyone was usually in about the right area (though sometimes one ahead or behind, depending, but always close) to obtain their next spell as it happened. And then came the advent of side worlds.

I haven't played a new character through anything yet, but I can tell you that the experience from Wysteria (WS) and GH will mess up spell obtainment in Marleybone (MB). Once you get messed up, it stays pretty messed up the rest of the way. GH wasn't a huge problem on its own, because the areas unlocked gradually as you leveled. What about WS, though??  Adding in a level 35 spell obtained in GH has also caused a weird order to doing things. Do you play through GH first to try and get that spell, or stick to the main line, grab your level 28, and then continue to 35? If you play to the level 35 spell, doesn't that put you WAY behind on getting your level 38 (and then 48, 58, and 68 due to the delay)?

I adore the side worlds mostly and the feeling that your problems aren't the only ones in the Spiral. Side worlds allow more depth into the universe to show parallel stories and to see how interactions on one world are not felt elsewhere until a direct influence (Malistaire or Morganthe) happens to start causing problems.

Those of you who have played through with the new content, how does it off-set the spell quest time periods? From the time you become eligible and obtain the quest ("dinging" a certain level), how many additional levels does it take you to actually get to the area (not by teleporting, but by legitimately earning your way there) required to obtain the spell and complete the quest? I have quite a few toons sitting on the back burner that I'll be experimenting with, but I'm curious to hear about some other experiences.

Just some food for thought.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Reminder and Housekeeping

The title implies that I'm reminding people of something...which is only halfway true. I'm reminding approximately 4 people of something that was brewing. This is *not* a "Happy Thanksgiving!" post done early. I have other plans for that. Anyway, the other people involved (and one person who just happens to know what's going on) might be able to recognize this stuff. Maybe not. It's been a while since it was last discussed. Anyway, here's a picture. For those of you who know what it means, I hope it jogs your memory. I haven't given up hope on that yet, just haven't had the time to act on it. Eventually, though!

In other news, a friend of mine just turned 20. For his birthday we wanted bacon incorporated into the cake somehow, as it's one of his favorite foods...so we rolled bacon into roses and dipped them in chocolate before putting them on a store-bought cake. You expected me to actually cook? I'm a culinary disaster. Here's the picture of that glorious thing, anyway. 

Yes, those are Magic: The Gathering deck boxes in the background. One has Nissa and the other pictures an Etched Champion. If anyone ever wants to peek at my deck builds (new and old, a couple no longer exist but could be reassembled easily enough!) here's a link to my stuff.

Your Friend Always,

John Lifeglen

Not Much

Just dropping in really quick to tell everyone that Through the Eyes of a Sorcerer is now on Google+. Exciting news, I know. Here's the link.  Anything that goes on over at G+ will be more conversational than it is here. Rather than dealing with approving comments and such I'll just open up the floor there. Leave random comments if you'd like about pretty much anything game related to see if we can't start the fire of discussion!

Highly considering making one for the Bloggers' Club for easier communication, even! Rather than having everyone's identity, though, it would link together pages for the specific blogs. Leave me a comment with your opinions on that!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen