A Week With TERA: Prologue

As I'm typing this blog post, I am downloading the newest MMO to hit North American markets... TERA, also known as The Exiled Realm of Arborea.
The release date for TERA was May 1st, 2012, meaning that it has only been out for 13 days.
I've been following the development of this game for over a year, so when it came out I was dying to get my hands on it. Now I finally do have the game... but will it be worth it?

Reading reviews is usually how I judge whether or not to get a game. I see what the big gaming websites think, I see what the average players think. If the game intrigues me enough and the reviews seem to be favorable, you know what, I'll bite.
Despite reading lots of rave reviews, however, I do feel like my purchase was a bit impulsive. Maybe I watched way too many snazzy trailers.

Honestly, it's near impossible to resist a trailer like this.

Problem is, every review I've read has been written by somebody who has been paid to write a review. I know that being paid doesn't mean that your review will be biased, but it very well could be.

So, I have decided, for the good of every person squirming in their seats, trying to decide whether or not to purchase TERA... I will write up a review of my own.

A whole week with TERA, with all of my first impressions, experiences, and frustrations.

I'm not being paid to do this. I have no affiliation with any companies. I'm just a PC gamer with nothing better to do.

Before I begin this journey, I will let you know a bit about my MMO history.

I am an MMO veteran, you could say... I've played them to death.

I've played:

Ragnarok Online on and off since 2002.

Final Fantasy XI on and off since 2004.

World of Warcraft on and off since 2006.

Other games I have played were:

ROSE Online

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (I played at launch, it was horrible.)

FlyFF: Fly For Fun

Toontown Online (I played this for a while, but haven't touched it since around 2008)
Guild Wars (I played for about a week before I decided I just didn't like the game.)
RIFT Free Trial (Got to level 7 before I decided I wasn't interested.)

As you can see, I've played various styles of MMOs. I've pretty much seen it all.

To begin my week with TERA, I'll outline my current impressions of the game, and see if they evolve while I actually play the game.

Current Impressions

Graphics: From screenshots, videos, and reviews, the graphics seem to be the best of any current day MMO. I've been really impressed by the graphical style. I hope the graphics will live up to what I've seen.

Plot: As far as I know, the whole plotline is focused around two slumbering titans, which form the two continents. Some force is trying to wake them up or something, which would be horrible because all of life as the inhabitants of TERA know it is one big dream of the titans. Sounds like trouble.

Combat: From what I've read, combat is fun and kind of like Skyrim's hack and slash gameplay. There's a lot of dodging and strategy, which I'm excited about. I'm sick of auto attacking.

Questing: Reviews have stated that the quests are no different that what you'd see in WoW... Ah well, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Though not eating a cake seems like a waste...

Crafting and Gathering: Crafting and gathering is supposed to be a lot more useful in TERA than in other games. Crossing my fingers that this is true.

And so, my adventure in TERA begins...

Happy Staffy

Thought I'd share a drawing I made a few weeks ago!
I got a big set of 50 markers for $10 when I last visited Jon in Delaware, and was dying to try them out... and what better way to take them for a test run than to draw a Staffy?
For those not in the know, Staffordshire Bull Terriers are the UK's pitbull. Most dogs in shelters there are Staffys, and they tend to be demonized by the media. Though both the Staffy and pitbull share a common ancestor, the Staffy doesn't grow to be more than 35lbs and can sometimes be half the size of a pitbull.
I met my first Staffy at my dog-washer job, and it was love at first sight. His name was Earl, and he was one of the friendliest dogs at the facility. He loved people, was best friends with a female mini dachshund less than a third his size, and wouldn't hurt a fly. If the doxie took a toy from him and was guarding it, he'd bark at her, and then at us rather than lunge and take it away. It was as if he knew his strength and wanted us to help him out rather than risk hurting her. Even more incredible, when he was in the play area he was confronted by a pitbull pup... rather than start a fight, he walked to the corner and sat. He ended up being peed on, but he took it rather than resorting to violence. I was touched by his self-control and love for people.
Ever since leaving my job I've been missing that goofy pup, and musing about getting a Staffy of my own. How I'll go about getting one is up in the air, possibly literally... One of my current options is to fly to the UK and adopt one from a shelter, then fly him back to the US. If that'll even work is a mystery to me, but one can hope.
I also have to move out of my parent's place first... at least that'll be happening in less than two years.
Cheers!

Our Commitment to Handmade and more

I admit it.
I've been incredibly lazy.
I could make a million excuses, but that just wouldn't be rational.

Here is the current news in the world of Maddie...

1. I have changed the gawd-awful layout at last. It's not a huge improvement, but it should be easier on the eyes. I am still debating whether or not to put a background image or not, but I like things rather plain... after all, it's the text on the blog that makes the blog, not the pretty embellishments.

2. I -do- have some new post-style earrings available, but they haven't been put up in my Etsy shop yet. To be completely honest, Etsy has really gotten me down lately. If you aren't a follower of Regretsy, you definitely should be now. Recently, April Winchell, the author of the satirical blog and leader of the "fat jealous losers" (it's an old joke that I'm sure only Regretsy veterans will understand) that make up the Regretsy community, released a bombshell... That the Etsy featured seller, Ecologica Malibu, whom they interviewed and wrote a cupcakey little article about, was in fact a dreaded reseller. For those unfamiliar with the term, they are people who buy factory-made items, tag them as handmade, and sell them for a profit. In this case the seller was buying Balinese boat furniture wholesale and selling them as handmade pieces that she claimed she had made herself. This goes completely against Etsy rules and guidelines, but they have initiated a great cover-up and cover-ass by saying that Ecologica Malibu is a "collective" and that doesn't break any rules.
This may not seem like the biggest deal ever, but Etsy is a -handmade- marketplace. When resellers join the picture, it's just a fancier version of our good friend eBay. Handmade is extremely important to me. It was the whole idea of a handmade market place that made me say "Hey, I can do this!" and attempt to work with clay in the first place. Making sales and knowing that somewhere out there, somebody else will be holding and enjoying something I created... It's an amazing feeling and incredibly rewarding. Now that Etsy has begun to lose its integrity as a handmade marketplace, I've found it much more difficult to make sales and my listing fees are greater than my profits again. I also don't feel like I want to be a part of a website that doesn't care about its own sellers.
I'm considering making the switch to a WePay store if things don't improve with Etsy's handmade policies. Of course, that means a huge decrease in viewership. So...

3. ...I'm considering expanding Hello Interloper. Right now there's the blog and there's the shop, but if I do end up having to make a move to WePay I'll be buying my own domain and building a website. Hopefully that will give Hello Interloper more of an audience, or at least a better sense of legitimacy. I'd most likely have to put up ads to support site costs though... or, you could just all click an ad here on this blog, it makes me a quarter, haha.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I'll stop being such a lazyass and update more often. Now that classes are drawing to a close, there's a good chance I'll be able to update weekly.

Alright, here's the scoop

A quick post to announce that...

- I am actually WORKING ON STUFF! It's a miracle!
(No, really. I've had such an artist's block lately, and I finally sat down this Sunday and was able to crank out some new clay things. I added the finishing touches and now they're ready to glaze.)
- This blog is going to have a layout overhaul soon.
(This layout is hideous and the ads are annoying.)
- Derp.
(Herp.)

That is all... for now, at least.

...Oops.

Well, it looks like I've neglected this blog again.
What have I been up to lately?

-Preparing for tests (and then taking them) in college
-Completing orders, shipping orders out, so on (Had some big orders in Feb and March!)
-Playing World of Warcraft
-Spending Spring Break with Jon in Delaware
-Thinking about dogs (and missing the dogs at my old job)
-Other stuff which I can't think of right now.

The good news is that I do have some new stuff made, which I will be posting once my last midterm is over.
I also will be starting up a project together with Jon... we're going to FINALLY make a scrapbook of our last 2 years together! (Almost 2 1/2 years now, yikes!)

So, there's the rundown. Hopefully I'll have more for you all next time I post.