I had the week off this week. No work. No adult responsibilities besides keeping myself fed and happy. It was nice. And way too short, but I guess that’s how most time off is. I spent a lot of my time on the couch with a blanket watching Drive to Survive on Netflix, the Mythic Dungeon Invitational on Youtube and the various F1 related practices and later today the qualification for the first race of the season. It was nice being able to relax and not worry about any appointments, work or other “mandatory” things.

I started the week with playing Pokémon Violet. I’ve had the game since it came out but never really put a lot of time and effort into it. I’m currently about 7.5h in and I’m getting the hang of the whole open world exploration. I’m working on my 3rd gym badge. I’ve defeated the first Titan Pokémon and I cleared out the first team Star base. At the same time I wandered into a high level zone and got absolutely clapped by the wild Pokémon there so I knew I went the wrong way. It took a bit of adjusting, I really liked the old linear formula, but exploring the world and finding out where to go without following a guide has been a very fun journey so far. I tend to play the game an hour or two at night while having a show or Youtube in the background and it’s working out for me that way.

The big game that has gotten me completely hooked over the last week has been Disney Dreamlight Valley though. I bought it when it was released as early access game back in September last year and put a few hours in and then put it down. However with the latest update being released and me looking for a new game to fill my time with I started it back up a few days ago and I have been playing it ever since. I had the base game to chew through as well as three content patches, thus making it a bit hard to do everything in the proper order. I kind of went along with whatever the game asked me to do and right now I’m in a spot where I have unlocked almost all biomes and characters. I’m still missing Prince Eric (who is tied to unlocking the Forgotten Lands biome), Olaf (who is tied to unlocking the Frosted Heights biome) and Stitch (who is gated behind a multiple day quest). I’m working on unlocking the Frosted Heights as we speak and I’m slowly leveling up the friendships with all the inhabitants I do have unlocked as I go.

I think what has me hooked on the game is that it has a lot of quests and storylines but also a farming sim element to it as well as a design element for your character, your own house in the village and the village as a whole. I’ve not really looked at how and where I want everyone to live yet, I’ve mostly been focused on unlocking everything I can first. But once I have I think I can start working on the layout of my Valley, how to decorate it and where I want everyone to live. It’s taken a big chunk of my time already, I’m currently around 30 hours in, but I’m enjoying it and I don’t see myself playing something else anytime soon. At least, not until I’m done with unlocking everything the game has to offer me.

I did it. I’m done. Or well, I’m done for now.
3 out of 3 goals in World of Warcraft reached in this first raidtier and first Mythic+ season. I got Keystone Master, including one of the ugliest mounts in the game. My guild carried me through Raszageth Heroic and a few days ago I maxxed out the final reputation I needed on my mage: the Tuskarr.

It didn’t exactly go smoothly. Frost Mage isn’t that good in terms of dps right now and me being completely new to playing the class in any sort of end game doesn’t help. Tears have been shed, carries have happened but in the end I managed to do everything I wanted to do and maybe a tiny bit more. I leveled my priest and healed some Mythic+ and I leveled my hunter out of boredom. Right now though I feel like I need to step away from WoW and evaluate what I want moving forward. Do I stick it out on mage and try to get better at it? Or do I switch to a class I’m more comfortable on and if yes, which one will that be and how will that look? Stuff I don’t really have to think about right now but maybe when the next season of M+ makes it’s appearance.

Outside of WoW I’ve managed to complete two short games that I bought on a Steam sale: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion and Marsupilami Hoobaventure. Both fun in their own right and both well under a 10 hour commitment. I’m noticing though that as it’s been very stressful at work and my levels of exhaustion have been going up I’m enjoying gaming less due to the tax it has on my brain. Instead I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix, taking naps, taking walks and going to gym. It helps me relax after work and it isn’t as mentally taxing as other things may be.

I’m looking forward to my week off the week after next and the fun times that come with that. For now though I’m just an exhausted gamer trying to make it through the week. Oh well. Atleast I’m able to cross off my WoW goals!

I took a break last week from blogging since I was at family for New Year’s Eve/New Years Day all day and honestly nothing much interesting happened in the week between Christmas and New Years. I did my dailies on my Mage in WoW, we raided a bit and life kind of moved on.
I have however dipped my toes into other games than WoW over the past two weeks and there are a few that I’m dedicating some time to and, hopefully, finish.

The first one is Rayman Origins. I’ve owned this game for a very long time but never have never gotten around to play it. I wanted a reasonably relaxed platformer to play and I landed on this one after trying out Celeste and getting really frustrated with it. I’ve finished the first two worlds and am currently working my way through the third which is an icy world filled with food. It’s fun and relaxing and I’m sure I’ll be able to finish the game sooner rather than later, so you can move to other games like casino games at the olympic kingsway casinos. Also, consider this site, such as Captain Cooks Casino Online gambling, for more rewards and an enjoyable gaming experience. If you’re confused about how to compare different online bingo sites, check it out for more information. Additionally, here are some casino tips for beginners, in case you need them. Additionally, here are the top rated online casinos in Japan, you can check them out for more insight.

I’m also playing Dead Cells and streaming it to Twitch. I’ve been wanting to stream for a while and didn’t really know what game to show and then Dead Cells was on sale and I figured… Why the hell not. It’s not exactly the platformer I thought it was but I’m figuring out the pattern of the first boss now and hopefully should get past it during my next session. For a change of pace, you can also try your luck at the best real money online slots for some added excitement and thrills. Additionally, explore enticing Online Casino Bonuses to enhance your gaming experience. Check out our latest review on the best real money online casinos in Canada at outlookindia.

Finally I’ve decided to finally do something about the massive RPG backlog I’ve built up over the years and hope to tackle one RPG per month. I’m currently working my way through “I am Setsuna”. I started it up earlier but never finished the game. It’s a shorter one compared to some of the others on my list but I need to be able to cross something off to give me a bit of a boost to pick up longer games. All in all I’m playing a variety of things right now and it’s making me pretty happy to do so.

Oh I’ve also put a tiny bit of time into Final Fantasy XIV and unlocked the Dancer weapon from the Hildibrand questchain. It doesn’t look nice yet but hopefully it will with the next step of the weapon. It was nice spending some time on my bunny again but I really can’t play two MMO’s at the same time so I’m putting it down again for the time being.

Merry Christmas everyone! It’s a weird feeling that the year will be coming to an end in less than a week. I feel like the past three years have just gone by in a daze for various reasons and I’m back to where I started in 2019: Playing World of Warcraft and raiding with a team of people.

This week we managed to down Raszageth on normal and with that lorewise I’m almost done with the new expansion. I still have some quests to unlock through renown and there’s probably some side stuff that I’ve missed but all in all I’ve done what I set out to do: kill the first big boss of the expansion. Of course this just sets up for the rest of it (spoilers incoming!) where Raszageth may have died but we were too late to prevent the fact that her kin has been freed. I guess we know what to expect for new content though and it involves killing at least three more angry Proto Dragons. We’re actually quite in the dark who the real big bad of the expansion is this time and I have to say it’s a refreshing take. I like to see where the story unfolds next and what the ultimate goal of us returning to the Dragon Isles is. I feel like we’re not done with the Old Gods yet and there have been some mentions of Galakrond that I won’t get into now.

Next to raiding I’ve been steadily working on daily quests, world quests, weeklies and whatever I can do to up my renown with the different factions. In the process I’ve unlocked accelerated renown for my alts and it will definitely help me if and when I decide that I’ve done enough on my Mage and feel ready to put time into my Warrior or another character that I enjoy playing. A lot of the quests I do are really cute and fluff filled, like the one where you have to save animals from a river and a cat desperately clings to your head as you get it to the riverbank. Obviously the best place to dig in those claws right? I’m really in love with all the cute hunting dogs of the Maruuk Centaur and all the ducks that can be found on the island, and the fact you can pet them all! All in all this expansion feels really whimsical right now, inbetween the more serious things going on, and I’m totally here for it.

As far as other games go… I’ve taken a long hard look at the steam winter sale as well as the various other sales going on and decided that I’ll pass on everything except one game for my PS5, namely that being Horizon Forbidden West. I’m getting some Playstation credit through my work Christmas gift and will be buying the PS4 version that comes with a free upgrade to PS5 and it’ll cost me total of €15. Best deal I can get on the game for sure and one that I’m excited about. For now though it’s time to head off and prepare for the four course Christmas dinner that will be served later today. Untill next week!

World of Warcraft is back on the menu. And so am I.

I’ve spent the last three weeks playing Dragonflight. I wasn’t planning to play the expansion. Hell I wasn’t planning to play WoW anymore at all. Yet here I am. I found a new guild to call home with a nice group of people to play with. I’m playing Horde and maining a Mage for the first time since starting up the game back in 2007. My pinky is slowly starting to get tired from all the Ice Lance spam but playing Frost has been a really fun time so far. I’m not sure how long my newfound interest for WoW will last, but for now I’m pretty much invested in both raiding and Mythic+. I like the fact that I don’t feel like I need to log in every single day to remain relevant and I can’t wait for the Mage buffs this coming Wednesday. I hope it brings Frost more in line with other dps because I refuse to learn Arcane. My brain just can’t handle it.

As far as the expansion itself goes. It’s been fun so far. I very much disliked Shadowlands. I hated what Blizzard did with the storyline and how “the Jailer was behind everything that happened up until this point”. I hated the Sylvanas story line. I firmly believe she should have been killed by Tyrande when she got the chance. I much rather would have faced an evil Tyrande than get Sylvanas her “redemption”. But I guess that choice isn’t up to me. Right now this expansion feels very much like Mists of Pandaria did. It’s whimsical, fun and low stress. The big bad, so far, has a clear story about why she is doing the things she does and the story so far has been pretty okay. I’m not as invest as I am in the Final Fantasy XIV story but for Blizzard standards it’s decent story writing.

The zones are beautiful, I love the Azure Span and Ohn’aran Plains a lot. It’s taking me back to TBC era Nagrand and WotLK Grizzly Hills respectively. I like the factions and the fact that I don’t have to grind reputation with them for anything. I want to see how the whole Wrathion vs Sabellion storyline will play out and the Tuskarr have been a very wholesome breath of fresh air. Not to mention the brilliant alternate Murloc timeline and the hunch that we will be dealing with Nozdormu/Murozond somewhere this expansion.

All in all I’m happy to be back. I’ve been pushing some Mythic+ keys this week and got a few 7’s in and our guild has cleared up until Razageth in the raid on normal mode and got a few attempts in on her tonight. The coming week we’ll only have one raid day due to Christmas but I guess we’ll see how far we will get then.

Next to WoW I’ve been playing Pokémon Violet here and there. I picked my starter, Quaxly, and have caught every single unobtained Pokémon I encountered so far. I’m not that far into the game yet because WoW came along and took all of my attention for a while but I hope to be able to pick it up again soon and start working on the various challenges the game has to offer. For now though I’m still finding some sort of balance in what I’m doing between work, social engagements, going to the gym, keeping my apartment clean and playing games. I guess that will always be a struggle. Oh well. Untill next time!