Happy Wintersday!

Hello, friends and fellow gamers! Sorry I haven't been blogging. Busy time of year, ya know. I've been having fun in real life and in Tyria, and I hope you have been too!

Highlights:
1. Got my world completion! Yay!  :)
2. Leveled my tailoring so I can make damask.
3. Got a perfect 600 on Bells Choir.
4. Got my Plush Griffon mini! So adorable.  :D
5. Almost almost ALMOST got to the end of the Wintersday jumping puzzle. I really suck at jumping. I had to take a break from attempting it cuz I thought my heart might explode from stress.
6. Finished the Nightmare Ends achieve.
7. Got the highest score in a PvP match. (But we didn't win! Bummer.)

Here's some screens for your eyeball enjoyment. Have a Merry Wintersday!

Have you seen this guy in Heart of the Mists?
He sells new stuff for Glory.
They're getting rid of Glory sometime,
so I guess they want you to spend it.

My granny asura, Agga Gemseeker, met her human counterpart.

Pink moas going for a swim. 

Go me!! We were so close to winning too. I'm not good at PvP and get really frustrated. I keep going back though.
I think I need to do more research on what a good build is for mesmers. I got my butt stun-locked by a mesmer the other day and I was impressed. And dead. Dead and impressed. 

Happy Wintersday from your favorite Sylvari! 

*Yawn*

One downfall to being back into GW2 is the lack of sleep. I was up till, hmm, probably 2 am, and had to be at my desk for work at 8:30. Ugh. Need coffee. But it's super-awesome-amazeballs to be able to work from home. Cuz I can type my blog and laugh at my screenshots and pet mah kitteh while I "work". :)

I took a few of my level 35 characters shopping for new clothes and got them the cultural armor sets. It was mostly for the achievement points, to be honest. (I'm obsessed with points!) But they do look pretty darn fine. (Asura is not actual size. Hee hee!)

Wifty wows in leather leaves.

A nubile Norn in cloth.

Mistress is ready for the catwalk in cloth.

Agga is stunning in leather.

I've been working towards map completion, which is harder than it sounds. A lot of the skill points in Orr require the altar to be deactivated, which requires a group event to be completed at the temple. So I have maybe 4 skill points left to do to complete those three areas, Malchor's Leap, Cursed Shore, and Straits of Devastation.
The other areas left to complete are the WvW maps. Once again, I'm stuck with a few vistas and POIs because they require the enemy keep to be taken. So I pop into the WvW maps usually last thing before I log, just to see if the castles happen to be ours. Of course, then I get caught up in a zerg, and that leads to the 2am bedtime!

I used my first siege ram! Totally satisfying. 

What else have I been up to? Hmmm, trying to remember. Made a Norn ele. That's fun, but kind just get stuck in Fire attunement. Ooh, just finished reading about the trait balancing that's coming out today. Sounds interesting. I'm assuming we all get a free trait reset too. I redid Spiral's traits not too long ago, so I guess I'll be poring through the descriptions once again. As long as I have Deceptive Evasion, I'm good to go.

I also read about Wintersday, which is actually starting tonight. Seems like it's all the same events from last year...Yay bells! I was kinda hoping that the toys from last year would not be repeated, you know the Princess Doll and Toy Ventari? I wanted them to be collectibles, only available for one year.

Busy place! Nice to see so many players.

I was hanging out in LA last night and people were saying that the mat prices are going to skyrocket because of the ascended armor crafting that is coming tonight. Apparently, people have been hoarding mats. Wow. I'm not that prepared. Then again, I don't know if I plan on making any ascended armor. For myself or for sale. Maybe I will, if it's going to net me some coin. I'm broke again, after my shopping spree on cultural armor, plus my abnormal obsession for having every tiny little hue variation of dye that has ever been made. (Honestly, is there really a difference between Purple and Glory? There must be! I should get them both just to be sure. Must collect them all. MUST.) At least having new tailoring recipes will be fun to learn. And gosh oh golly gee, I just love getting mats from Orr! So relaxing and peaceful and non-combative, not to mention scenic. The pulsing flora and burned out landscapes are just fabulous. And don't even get me started on the friendly locals. Always offering to eat my face. So nice. 

All righty then! Time to get back to work. Here's some more screens of my adventures this week. Enjoy, and Happy Wintersday!

Now to make nuggets!

Came through a portal and ended up in the tree! That's talent.

Poor Norn got stuck in her dive spin when she hit the water and just kept spinning and spinning.
She threw up in her reg. Ewwww.

Did the Demongrub Pits jumping puzzle and found this little lady. She was cute!
She psyched herself up to jump, then ran forward...and chickened out!
Good thing too. That jump is impossible. (Not the way into the puzzle, I found out. Thanks, Dulfy!)

This is Spiral in her personal story. I'm shaking my head just looking at this pic. See my posse? The guys who are supposed to be watching my back?
They're NOT LOOKING! One dude is even facing the wall! LOL!! Trahearne is the only one facing the danger, good sprout that he is. 

No Intervention Required

After the events of this past week, I began to wonder what kind of crazy drugs the devs at Anet are on. Not saying that's a bad thing though! *grin* Sometimes I just shake my head at the crazy things you find out wandering around in Tyria. The writers of GW2 have really good a wacked-out sense of humour sometimes -- I like it! I want to invite them over for wine & cheese and a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity.

Have you guys actually paused to listen to some of the conversations the NPCs have? I mean besides the ones you hear over and over in Lion's Arch? (So sick of hearing, "I was going to make a dumb salad joke...") I love eavesdropping on the real citizens of Tyria. I overheard two Krytan newlyweds decide to forgo a walk to go back inside *wink wink*. I cringed at a Norn wife berating her husband for picking a scab. And I did end up finding that pirate who sings his own version of the Major-General's Song! (Thanks for the tip, Anonymous Commenter.)

I don't have any work to do until 4pm so I think I'll pop back into Tyria and see what's shaking. The dirty dishes aren't going anywhere. Or at least, I hope they don't go anywhere. That would be a sure sign they need cleaning, if they start crawling away. :D

"He's got a thing about cows. And ghosts. So ghost cows are a real problem." Ha ha!

Attempted the new fractal with Dezi, Pol, Chazdy and a guildie.
We were unsuccessful. 

Spiral as an Asura. So cute!

Have you met Larra? OMG her dialogue is hilarious! Love her.
(Click the picture to the Wiki article to read her snarky comments about Sylvari.)

I touched it. And I know you did too. :)

Odd Happenings in Tyria

In celebration of my 100th blog post (WOOT!!), I have purged my screenshot folder and posted up for you, my faithful readers, a fine collection of the most bizarre things I have seen in Tyria. Enjoy! And thanks for reading. I always think it's cool when I see my stats that people have actually viewed my blog, and it's even more awesome when someone comments. :D

Holographic Scarlet mini does NOT follow you around!

Quaggans have taken over this fountain in D.R. Maybe they're on vacation?

The elusive 3-tailed dolphin sticks its head in the sand.

Apparently a nice footrub can bring you back from the dead.

I'm finding places that were added in old patches. Recognize this? 

Who is Karopek the Fierce?

Uh-oh. I say "Leave" is a good option. :)

Good song!

Lots of singing in Tyria. :)

Um, guys, you might wanna clear outta da bar. It's on fire. Just sayin'.

Bloggity Blog Blog Can't Think of a Headline

I hope he's not mad I killed his buddies.

I've been forcing myself to go into the level 80 areas and finish up my missing POIs, vistas and skill points. I hate it! It's so violent down there. I'm such a pansy.  :)

But I have accomplished several things including making it to the entrance of Arah. Trust me, that's no mean feat when you're on your own with only your clones to protect you. Thank goodness for that skill that creates a clone when I dodge. Saves my leafy butt!

I helped out at the Lyssa event, but I don't know why. I had heard the Orr armor and stuff was awesome, but I didn't find it that great. I have mismatched pieces of exotic gear that seem to be just as good. But then again, I'm not nitpicky about that stuff. Never was a big fan of that end-game fascination with two or three points.

Have also been doing the Tower of Nightmares event, but in a modified way. I gather up 30 Pristine Toxic Spores in the regular world, then go to Dee and trade them in for the three pieces of the key to make one Tri-Color Key. Then I port up to the 3rd floor of the tower and wait for a zerg to get me to the top. I get my big chest rewards and then dive off. Still hate that place though. Just hoping to get some nice drops from the chest, that's all. Got my mini Krait dude.

One other thing that gave me an above-average sense of elation was that I unlocked my second Abyss dye. Okay, I'll admit I freaked out and tried to explain to my non-gaming man-friend that it was like winning the mini-lottery of the game. So then I sold it and felt all rich because I had 51 gold in my bank. Woot! I go off bragging to my buddy, Pol, and he is all impressed with me, cuz he's such a super-nice guy, and then proceeds to modestly tell me that he made 400 gold selling his hoarded junk. Oh. 400, eh? Huh. Okay. (I felt silly for my puny 50! But whatever, it's more money than I've ever had in game.)

I'm drawing a blank on all the other stuff that I've been up to lately, so I'm just going to go through my screens folder and posts up pics. I think I need more coffee. And breakfast. Maybe a nice omelet or some waffles.

I found a dude in the pirate cave in Lion's Arch that gave me some thinga-mah-jobbie to go to the Hall of Monuments. I was super excited! I didn't think you could go there unless you had Eye of the North. But of course, no one there would give me anything. In fact, I think I recall them saying I wasn't a hero or something. Pffft. 

How could I forget to talk about Lazuli! She's my ranger. Isn't she freaking adorable?

I bet on the races! I remember waaay back I noticed the race track that was set up in L.A., and I wondered what kind of races would be going on there. Pretty cool to see it implemented, even though it's gambling. I suppose, the Mystic Forge is also gambling in a sense, right? It's all about the hook.

That's Spiral down there on the vista. This is in the Cursed Shore. I think. *frown* Or not. Meh, dunno. It's pretty though, isn't it? I love the artistic style of this game. 

Taking New Paths

Spiral Madheart 2.0

After last week's debacle with the Tower of Nightmares disconnects, I grumped about, pouting and fussing, and played some low level alts to ease my mind. When I got back on Spiral and she was still at the top of the tower, I glared at the portal into the Hybrid instance and pondered my fate.
Then I jumped off the platform!
Screw that tower!

So off I went to new adventures. Many, many, many new adventures! I finished some more personal story, revisited some low zones and admired the views, did WvW and PvP, gathered some mats for my alts, completed my monthly achievement, plus did some fun achieves, did Sanctum Sprint, Keg Brawl, Crab Toss, & Belcher's Bluff, and unlocked some more POIs in Orr. (I'm still not at 100% map completion.)
I also analyzed my gear setup, redid some sigils, made a new outfit for myself, and even reset my traits. Extreme Toon Makeover, Tyria Edition! Here is the new and improved Spiral!

All-in-all, I've been pretty busy and not really missing the Tower of Nightmares at all. However, I did go back and complete that final instance one last time, just so I could get the exterior diving achievement. I'm nothing if not tenacious. :D

Check out my screens from the past few days. Busy girl! (Some of the pictures are clickable and will take you to the wiki article, just FYI.)

Found the Skritt burglar!

Um, I've got a little something...right there.

Helped this handsome Norn make an Arctodus rug.
(Why does this picture look so sexual?)

A pipe organ in Ebonhawke. Yes, you can play it!

Guess he didn't have a key? Or the sense to leave when he got hungry? 

The outer ToN diving goggles location, accessible only by completing the final Hybrid instance.

Gosh, I hate heights. 

Not Happy

Tried to run the final instance in ToN, The Nightmare Incarnate, and got disconnected TWICE with error code 7:11:3:191:101. The second time was on the last freaking boss when he was at less than 50% health.
Not happy. Going to bed.

Checking Out The Nightmares Within

It's exciting to load into the game and have new content to play, and I certainly was pumped about finally being able to get inside that darned stinky tower in Kessex Hills.

View up inside the Tower of Nightmares.
This is a screenshot, not a cut scene, just more proof that
 the artists at ANet are fully awesome.

But pretty soon, TOO soon, I was swearing out loud. Repeatedly. Ferociously. And then resignedly. (Is that a word?)
Apparently, Tower of Nightmares is not something you do solo.
Over and over again, I died. At one point I wondered if I was just woefully undergeared or a bad player or my mouse was dying or something. I couldn't believe how many times I found myself on the ground.
But a quick look around the map showed many blue skulls. I wasn't the only one attempting to solo the place and failing. Yay. (note the non-enthusiasm)
I don't know why I was expecting it to be a walk in the Grove. Seems a bit silly of me now that it's the cold hard light of day. Of course they would make it hard. They're not just going to GIVE you your rewards. You gotta sweat for that ugly scuba mask.

Zerg, zerg, zergitty zerg.

So I did what any self-respecting loner-with-a-cause would do: I joined a Zerg. Together, we staggered and dodged  our way through the ToN maze in a ragged pack, led by an uncharacteristically patient Charr named Ulysses S. Gant. My, what an interesting warband we were for him! But he didn't leave anyone behind and successfully got the group up to the top of the tower. Yay! (note the real enthusiasm this time)

Open is my favourite word.

The big chest at the top gave me some Tahlkora's Boots that I'm not even sure I'm going to wear, and some other stuff that I've already completely forgotten about. Oh, maybe a recipe that I sold on the TP. So yeah, great to complete my mission of getting to the top, but not much excitement in the rewards.
Ooh, except for the lovely set of goggles that were lying up there. Donned those and took the heart-lurching plunge aaaaaaaaaaaallllllll the way back down! Super fun!

When I was at the top of the tower, I had a chat with a few players up there. They said that all the chambers, including the final instance at the top, were solo-able. Yeah, so it took me like five seconds to decide to leap through the portal!
I didn't take any pictures of the final instance because I was too busy performing finger-tangling keyboard moves to avoid dying, but I must say it was a pretty intense fight. I was thanking the Six Gods for my phantasms and Sylvari pup, that's for sure. Which makes me think: do Mesmers really ever solo anything? Spiral comes equipped with her own set of henchmen. (Does that bring you back, old-timers from GW1? *grin*)

After my success at the top instance, I went back and tried one of the smaller chambers. It was the same kind of fight, waves of mobs, then a boss, but it was much, much easier than the top instance. Plus I got help from the adorable yet clueless lesbian couple, Kasmeer and Marjory. (No offense intended, of course. I like them. They remind me of Xena and Gabrielle in the early days.)

Anyhoo, I'll probably give the tower another go or two during the rest of its time in Tyria, in between making goofy alts and spending all my gold on Unidentified Dyes. See you in there!

The sexual tension was palpable. ;)

Playing Lots More

I'm happy to say I haven't blogged in several days because I've been playing too much! I've gotten back into the swing of things and I'm thoroughly enjoying the new content, Hallowe'en events, playing on alts, and chatting with old friends.
A big shout-out to Tenvaras! So stoked to hear from you again! Can't wait for us to have time to play together.
Also, hello and hugs to Dezi & Pol, Chazdy and Dogmatichades, my long-time gaming buddies.
And high-fives and headbutts to the members of Forbidden, who have graciously and innocently offered to take me into their guild. I have spared them my insanity for now, not because I don't want a new group of folks to torture, but because I don't yet feel I would be a benefit to a guild.

Going to just pop up some screens I've taken over the last week or two to fill you in on my shenanagins, then I'm heading out to work. Need to make money to buy Gems! Damn store has too many shinies I want. :D

Forsaken Fortune -- mini dungeon. Really neat! That's Garrvin, the NPC who takes you in.

Still having a few graphics issues. *sigh*

Played a lot of Mad King's Labyrinth for achieves, especially once they started giving PvP points. That's my necro, Mistress Madheart.

Have been catching up on my personal story too! This is a largos I met. Strange creature.
For some reason, I was obsessing over the fact that she was wearing armor underwater. Was it made of coral? Why didn't she sink? And why did she sound German? 

Spiral and the Tower of Nightmares. Love the Living World concept of GW2.

Spiral dressed up for Hallowe'en. Dat cleavage! :D

My first dungeon run with Forbidden!
Yeah, they said it was supposed to look like this. I only died like five times. So proud. *snort*