Week #12 - High Forces

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

The opening of Southsun Cove and investigation into the new Consortium led to some higher guild member activity this week, but alas due to timezone mismatches I think only Yue and Austea were able to participate in every event, including slaying an ancient karka! I kept myself busy too by pretty much attacking every single jumping puzzle and mini dungeon in the game with my alts (in the low level zones for cheaper respawn fare) and main (everywhere else) and have now completed the vast majority of them, with Yue helping me through the visually impressive Obsidian Sanctum. Stand-outs for me were the also incredibly pretty Hidden Garden (which Faiotan, who I had met in a Fotm PUG last week, helped me access), Sector Zuhl which was quite forboding since the dredge dug too deep (soloed that Giant Destroyer Troll!), and the new Skipping Stones which is incredibly fun (but just short of that Clocktower). 

The Dark Reverie, while not so fun is a painful but necessary lesson in air-kiting apparently and if you are attempting Coddler's Cove make sure your graphics settings are higher than "low" because when I went there there were a ton of orbs missing. Managed to also get into a random team to run the Ascalon Catacombs story mode which was entertaining but what I found even more fun than that -or- the jump puzzles was the dwarven ruin at Dredgehaunt Cliffs. DL and I went in not knowing what to expect and it was FUN! They should make more open-world dungeons like this in my opinion. They can even share the same "darkness" mechanic. Much better than having to get 5 people to run one of the instanced places, making it quicker to organize.

Lastly Yue, DL, Thaldir and I managed to encounter AND defeat the Claw of Jormag (twice) this week. He's certainly the most annoying of the dragons thus far but that also makes him the best "boss" battle having extra abilities of both the Sunless one and the Shatterer. Well, when people aren't just farming his summons that is.

I'm gonna farm that dragon good... eeeheheheh!

Week #11 - Setting the Board

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

My ranger finished her story segments this week, ultimately joining the Vigil on level 25. Gotta love all the little side stories that each race gets to do and I'm glad I did them. If you ever wonder where all the steam creatures are coming from, ask an asura who has an "infinity ball" background. I got her to run more jumping puzzles and grab more dive goggles afterwards, and positioned my other mules to do the same - my thinking being that since gravity doesn't really discriminate, it's better for my lower lev chars to do the lower lev jumps leaving the 75% in the harder zones for my main.

Speaking of jump puzzles, I'll briefly mention Pig Iron Quarry which my thief and DL ran this week. Very fun, just wait for the screen to stop shaking before you jump! :P However there is something I love more than jump puzzles and those are mini dungeons! We raided a large shiney treasure guarded by lotsa golems, as well as a hylek temple with Yue. These really encouraged coop play rather than the individual skill that is also fun, but in a different way, for jumping segments. Looking forward to finding more!

We also ran Twilight Arbor Explorable this week with Austea Scarlet and a random fifth. Quite tough, especially the spider queen and whipping vines - too bad the main boss was a bit of a loser (easy), unlike the bosses I faced with a pick up group (PUG) at the new fractals dungeon. Very pretty place those fractals. Our first spot was the swamp, but after failing a few minutes we restarted and got the cliffside which was spectacular! Alas our fighter glitched out into space so being the nice people we were, we left to get him. Next one was funny, since we were all turned into dolphins, though i didn't particularly enjoy that - why the frig would I want to -sneak- past things I would otherwise easily kill? Whatever. Blizzard map was next and that was awesome, and we finished off with the dredge base which was challenging but very fun especially when we finally got that legendary drill-suit down.

Fractal Dungeon - more fun than these.

Ofcourse this also meant the new enemies, the Karka, were beginning to appear with the Lost Shores patch. Alas since one of the NPCs during the investigation phase was not spawning, I couldn't really do much here but DL and I did bump into a Karka "raid" at Morgan's Spiral which served as a good introduction to our new crustacean enemies. Lastly Juris is now also level 80, which hopefully means we'll have enough people to attack Arah, and Zhaitan, soon.

Week #10 - Different Roads

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

My charr warrior finished his business this week, hunting down an asura necromancer and defeating the rebel Ajax to earn me the Vigil Banner (which, comparatively speaking was the easiest path I found). After he finished on level 31 I decided to see the stories of the two remaining races, and why not - there were free achievements to do so anyway so I made a Norn engineer who was very fun to play. Obviously more fragile than the warrior but she did alright saving a minotaur spirit, repaying a debt to an Iron Legion platoon for taking one of their tanks on a drunken joyride (LOL) and defended the last remaining dwarf, Ogden Stonehealer from the Dredge. That was awesome - at least I got to see and talk to him, something even my level 80 thief hadn't managed to do. Since she didn't need to go after a banner she finished off on level 24.

Next up I made an asura ranger which I am finding super strong - stronger than the warrior in fact! Haven't done much of her story yet and instead was focusing on leveling up AND thanks to the Mad King's Clock Tower, I've decided to hunt down the jumping puzzles that I haven't yet done. Morgan's Spiral was pretty easy, unfortunately the one after it in Nightmare Court territory is proving a bit too tough for her at the moment, I'll have to come back to it later. She is currently level 14.

Gravity is not my friend.

Guildwise DL, Thaldir and my thief managed to help Trahearne cleanse the Heart of Orr so all that is left now is to wander into Arah and kill the dragon. We also attempted 3/4 man Cadecous' Manor (Story mode) with Juris which wasn't that bad despite a few deaths. Good to see that Thaldir, who came late (we were already 60% of the way through) was still able to join the instance and though he didn't get some of the chests was still rewarded for his participation. It's a very awesome mechanic indeed. :)

Week #9 - Racing the Clock

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

The arrival of the Mad King really side-tracked me this week, and while my first attempt to join in was just an uber lagfest last week it was better this time around as more of his zones got unlocked - spreading the population. After killing a Shadow Behemoth in Queensdale who I stumbled into while looking for a "pumpkin" haunted door the very first bit I participated in was also my favourite - the Mad King's Clock tower, a timed jumping puzzle.

For me - Hours of Fun!

Took me over three hours to finally clear it but it was incredibly enjoyable more so because of all the people I met and talked to while running the thing. I was fortunate enough to also be able to assemble the full story behind King Thorn, explore his labyrinth, fight him during his ascent, play a few rounds of Mad King says, and do each of the event themed pvp related activities of which I found costume brawl to be the funniest (and most fun). There was promise in the Inquisition one though, I hope next time they make it a coop event where people are the villagers looking for environmental weapons and possibly have to protect their village against waves of attackers because that would be better for me. I also took the opportunity to spend 10 gold and buy the whole set of Mad King armor and am laughing now when I summon the flocks of ravens against hordes of orrian scum.

Did manage to progress the main plot too again with DL and Thaldir, cleansing an Ossuary then pushing forward through risen giants and princes with Vigil Tanks and chatting to an avatar of Grenth at the Cathedral of Silence. While it is easier to wander the Cursed Shore as a team, it makes slower going since we kill -everything- in the way. Ofcourse that means my charr warrior didn't progress his path at all - however I still made him explore all the cities and clear out hearts in Queensdale, Wayfarer Foothills, Diessa Plateau and the Plains of Ashford. He finishes this week on level 22.