September and October ended up being a bit of a… rough few months this year, much like it was last year. So I haven’t done much gaming for a plethora of reasons, including but not limited to depression, emergency pet health, and my own physical health. As such, I didn’t particularly meet many of my September goals between the two months.

• Hit CP 150 on Warden (ESO) – As of the end of October, I’m at 190 CP. Which is probably much slower going than many other folks I know, but I’m surprised I’ve gotten this far with as casually as I’ve been playing.
• Ding level 50 on Conjurer (FFXIV) – For now I’ve cancelled my FFXIV subscription. I logged in twice over the course of September, and not at all during October. I very much want to get back to it, but do not have the mental capacity to handle more than one game right now.
• Finish Auridon (ESO) – I surprisingly managed to complete this at the start of October. Grahtwood is another story, however.
• Finish Grahtwood (ESO) – I am nowhere near finishing this. I have barely started it due to not having the capacity to do so. Depression is a bitch.
• Finish City of the Sun God (SWL) – Once again, I am nowhere near finishing this. I haven’t logged into the game in almost two months.
• Finish side missions in Blue Mountains (SWL) – I think I’ve finished this one? I’d have to log in to check, so we’ll leave it as unfinished for now.
• Finish next route in Sweet Fuse (Otome) – I didn’t even open my Vita case the past two months.
• Figure out a game for #SportSeptember and play it (Community Game-Along) – Again, with a lack of energy to be able to handle even the games I want to play, I did not make it to the Community Game-Along.

November Goals

• Hit CP 215 on Warden (ESO)
• Finish Grahtwood (ESO)
• Finish Witches Festival quest (ESO)
• Finish next two routes in Sweet Fuse (Otome/Community Game-Along)

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August Recap

Setting up goals as a more focused month-based list rather than, “here’s what I wanna do soon!” has definintely made a difference in how I use my playtime, or how I decide not to game at all. And I think it helped a lot with the way work has been, and looks to be continuing for the remainder of 2019.

• Complete Vvardenfell Master Angler (ESO) – I had intentions to finish this, but then dinged 50 and got caught up in quests and CP.
• Ding 42 on Warden (ESO) – I surpassed this! I hit 50! Once I hit 40, I got into the “OMG I’M SO CLOSE MUST DING” mindset, which helped.
• Hit Revered with The Unshackled (WoW) – About freaking time. UGH. I hate Nazjatar with a passion.
• Hit Revered with Rustbolt Resistance (WoW) – I’m super close. I should hopefully have it in another day (possibly two if things don’t go my way after daily reset).
• Ding level 30 on Conjurer (FFXIV) – I didn’t even think I’d hit 30, but I ended up dinging 35!
• Start re-watching MSQ cutscenes (FFXIV) – I didn’t do any of this, because I mainly logged in for roulettes. I figure once I hit 50, I’ll re-watch them to continue where I’d left off before quitting.
• Finish a play though of Detroit: Become Human (PS4) – I honestly didn’t touch my PS4 at all for the month, except to watch Detective Pikachu.

September Goals

• Hit CP 150 on Warden (ESO)
• Ding level 50 on Conjurer (FFXIV)
• Finish Auridon (ESO)
• Finish Grahtwood (ESO)
• Finish City of the Sun God (SWL)
• Finish side missions in Blue Mountains (SWL)
• Finish next route in Sweet Fuse (Otome)
• Figure out a game for #SportSeptember and play it (Community Game-Along)

I am one of very few left playing Warcraft right now that has yet to obtain flight. I’ve been ruminating on how to write about my feelings in regards to the current flight grind, but I really couldn’t come up with more than, “heck this bull” (except with much more colorful words).

The flight grind, right now, is ruining the game for me. The need to spend an hour per zone each day to grind out world quests and zone quests is time I don’t have. I was already feeling indifferent about the game (pepped up a bit by downing Azshara and seeing some more lore), but this feels like an anchor that I can’t untangle from.

Luckily, it seems I’m not the only one that feels this way.

Stroeb mentioned,

“Earning flying almost seems not worth it, and disappointingly punitive with the two new factions you have to advance…”

I agree that it feels largely punitive. Even more so when one cannot dedicate even a half hour of time per day to just doing the world quests in one of the zones. Then add on the fact that others begin to question, “You really don’t have flight yet?”

Kaylriene also commented,

“No matter how well designed these zones are, how engaging the core quest and PvE content, they will be lost for many players in a haze of empty, unfulfilling grinding. My core issue this time around, a similar one to Legion actually, is that the flying grind involves a lot of time spent not playing the core game of WoW. It has the skin of it – you do world quests in Nazjatar and the one daily world quest in Mechagon, and it has the same reputation increases that accompany a lot of WoW’s gameplay. However, many of these quests don’t focus on actually playing your character, and instead focus on minigames and other things – some of which are amusing, but many of which are not, and none of which are as fulfilling as playing your character in fresh world content.”

Her post in general is a pretty good summation of my feelings.

Even though Pathfinder is not a pointless endeavor (flying is super helpful), it very much feels like it. And it’s dragging what little enjoyment I had remaining for Warcraft into the toilet.

It’s taken us some time due to the fact it was summer, and people have lives, but Iron Circle finally downed Azshara on normal! We’ve been close for a couple raid nights, but just didn’t have the people to get her through. Now that she’s down, though, we’re focusing efforts back on pushing heroic.

The cutscene you get after defeating Azshara actually made me squee a little bit. Azshara and the old gods are some of my favorite Warcraft lore, and it’s felt like a long, slow, slog to even get to this point of the story since Battle for Azeroth started. Now that it’s here, I’m excited. I just hope Blizz keeps up with it, otherwise I’m going to lose my interest very fast once again. (Cutscene has spoilers!)

Brain Weasels

This is a post that has been sitting in my backlog since 2017. It’s one of those evergreen pieces I mentioned it is a good practice to have around for bad days. And today was a bad head day. It wasn’t as difficult to get out of bed this morning as it has been the past few weeks, which is a plus, but it has been a very difficult day for concentration, focus, and parsing of feelings and thoughts (not exceptionally brain weasely, per se, but they’re there in the background). I even took a nap when I got home from work because I didn’t feel like I could reasonably function for the remainder of the day if I didn’t.

I really didn’t want to miss a day of Blaugust, but figuring out what to write about, despite plenty of half-written posts and ideas was difficult. I went through seven or eight different posts now in various states of done-ness, and nothing felt exactly… right. There was lots of over-thinking and self-doubt. So I figured something a little more light-hearted and fun was a good idea. Plus, I figured I’d split it into 3 parts, and people could also use it for prompts since it is Topic Brainstorming Week this week for Blaugust!

The Questions

I pulled this idea from Wolfy back in 2017. At the time there was one of those, “here’s a picture with questions, I’ll answer a question for every like!” things going around the gaming/blogging Twitter. I’m terrible at keeping up with those, the majority of the time, but had really wanted to participate in it. I saw that Wolfy had co-opted in a blog post format and thought it would be much more fun to do it that way as well… since you were still limited to 140 characters at the time!

Your First Video Game

I honestly can’t remember. I think it was something like Megaman or the Mario Bros. game where you jump around dodging stuff Kong throws at you to try and rescue Peach. I know it was something handheld that was on the original Gameboy. The first real one I remember is playing Paperboy after our grandmother gave my brother and me a Nintendo 64. That game was terrible but also so much fun.

Your Favorite Character

For those that know me well, this comes as no surprise. (I always end up loving the [SPOILER] murder-husbandos in dating sims, somehow…)

A Game That is Underrated

There’s a lot of games that could fit this, and choosing one out of all of them is a difficult task. But honestly, I think it’s going to have to be The Park. A lot of people don’t think they’d be interested in it because it’s, “just a walking sim”, but the depth of the story was pretty incredible for a few hours of gameplay. I do think it seems to resonate more with folks that live with mental illness compared with those that don’t, as well. Regardless, it’s a game I wish more folks would try (if horror is your thing). It’s also made by Funcom, and considered canon to Secret World, so that also works a little bit in its favor for me.

Your Guilty Pleasure Game

I could swear I’ve written about how much I love this game previously (but can’t find the post), but it is Monster Rancher Advance (1 and 2), hands down.

Game Character You Feel You Are Most Like

I don’t ever particuarly identify with video game characters. I suppose the closest would be any MC in an otome. While they’re their own characters, I always end up picking what I would want or do rather than what I think the character would want or do.

Most Annoying Character

SUN-IN-FREAKING-SHADOW.

Favorite Game Couple

This is a difficult one for me. The only games I’ve truly played that had a focus on a love story of some sort have been dating sims, and while I have favorite pairings there, I don’t feel they fully apply, because it’s the fact that I like the character I pick as the MC, rather than the MC as a couple with the chosen character.

Best Soundtrack

Bless Jeff Kurtenacker. He’s also looking for questions any of you fellow WildStar fans may have about the music for the game to bolster his YouTube channel, so be sure to reply to him on Twitter!!

Saddest Game Scene

I’m honestly not sure. I have cried at a handful of video games, but I couldn’t, off the top of my head, tell you which one has been the saddest for me. Or even remember which ones I specifically cried over. So I’m going to tweak this prompt: Most Memorable Time a Game Made You Sad/Cry. And that, honestly, would have to be when WildStar shut down.

Best Gameplay

Heck, I honestly don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to gameplay within a game unless it annoys me or truly makes the game unplayable for me. I do have to admit that I enjoy telegraphs and slightly more active combat, especially in MMOs. So as far as MMOs go, I’d list WildStar, and ESO. Secret World could almost make it on the list if certain aspects of movement weren’t so dang clunky.

Gaming goals used to be something I posted monthly, but fell off at the end of 2018 with them due to, well, life. I figured I’d try to get back into them in some way or another, and Blaugust is a good opportunity to tackle that, especially as day job calms down a little bit with some reorg that’s happened recently, leaving me with some time for gaming that I haven’t truly had in quite a while.

I used to do goals as more of a running list of, “here’s things I want to accomplish, just maybe not necessarily this month!”. I kind of want to change that outlook, and make my lists a little more focused and truly month-based. So I plan to give it a try this month and see how it works out. Can I be more realistic about my goals? We shall see!

The Goals

In no particular order…

• Complete Vvardenfell Master Angler (ESO)
• Ding level 42 on Warden (ESO)
• Hit Revered with The Unshackled (WoW)
• Hit Revered with Rustbolt Resistance (WoW)
• Ding level 30 on Conjurer (FFXIV)
• Start re-watching MSQ cutscenes (FFXIV)
• Finish a play through of Detroit: Become Human (PS4)

Just a quick, obligatory, yes, I’m still playing WoW. The game hasn’t been of interest to me much outside of raiding. Which I know is a detriment for gear, but I just don’t get much enjoyment out of it right now outside of raiding with folks. We got Heroic Mekkatorque down last week, and will hopefully have the folks right before Jaina (I can’t remember their names and don’t feel like googling) down soon.

I’m hoping that the story becomes more engaging again, soon. I mean, Legion wasn’t the best expansion ever, but I at least felt like I had fun logging in to do things, and pursue various stories and class-based things. I think part of my lack of enthusiasm is also due to the whole, “factions fight each other, rawr!” bit, but that’s just speculation, because I haven’t had time to delve into the “whys”.

Back to Streaming!

As detailed in my last post, I want to try to better balance vanilla and NSFW endeavors, so I’m back to streaming this week!

I'm back from my streaming hiatus on Thursday! Come hang out for beginner @TESOnline streaming fun!

June 6th @ 5:30-8:30 PM EDThttps://t.co/JnTzQBobaM @GirlStreamers @Themooglespom #ESO #ESOFam pic.twitter.com/zmQpA3ECjA

— Chestburster (@ChestnutPlays) June 3, 2019

Pigs Fly, and Hell Froze Over

Since I’ve been so busy and burned out with real life, I’ve been trying to find a new game, again, that catches my fancy. I considered City of Heroes, but I’ve never been a bit superhero fan. So I figured why not give ESO a try, for the third time. The farthest I’ve gotten is level 8, but it’s never clicked. My assumption, before starting back up this particular time, was due to the fact that I wasn’t taking things at my own pace, and exploring the way I wanted to, because I was playing with other people.

So Manthing and I have come to a sort of agreement where we’ll still both be playing ESO, but sit in Discord and do our own things in game instead of trying to play it with characters together 100% of the time. And I’m enjoying both the extra time with him (seeing him only once a week is difficult, sometimes), and doing my own things in the game… even if that just means talking to every NPC I run into, reading every single book I open, and gathering everything I can with no care in the world.

I also decided to roll up a Bosmer, this time. “Wait, you’re playing an Elf, Chestnut?” Yep. For those that don’t know, I don’t like Elves in fantasy. I never really have. But I’ve been watching Aeyvi stream a bunch, lately, and saw that she had a Bosmer, but with horns.

And really, I’m all here for some Succubus Forest Witch shit, so I decided why not go Goth Bosmer? It’s definintely been making the game enjoyable for me, so I will concede that Elves maybe aren’t all bad, so long as they don’t follow the normal body shape and have horns, and I can pretend they practice sex magick.

Welcome to Warden-ing

Manthing and I have been searching for a game to play together for a while now (like, a year and half). Part of the problem has been schedules not lining up, and part of it has just been, by the time one of us chooses a game, the other isn’t particularly interested in it, or is farther along, etc.

So the other week we were both sick, and date night wasn’t a thing. So instead, we hopped into ESO and leveled a little bit together—which was a lot of fun! Once he’s done with school for the semester, we’ll probably level a little bit more together on alts, while I stream leveling my main to catch up with his main. Then I will most likely end up switching which toon I’ll stream, so you’ll see a bit more of this Orc lady (my alt) in the future, I’m sure!

Pooh!

While doing some world quests (ugh) in WoW, I stumbled upon this scene, and had to share, because it made me extremely happy. Who can resist Pooh!

And their location, for those who want it! Oh, speaking of WoW…

Warcraft = Meh

I’ve been feeling super “meh” about WoW in general, lately. So I did some hardcore reflection on it. And a big portion of it is not enjoying playing a Warrior. (I mean, part of it is that BfA just isn’t that great, but, spending time with my guildies helps outweigh that factor.) I’ve barely logged in, and have felt bitter about raiding. Like, where even though I’m trying my hardest, it doesn’t feel like it’s good enough (because Prot Warriors really suck right now).

The last time I felt like this about a class/spec was in Cataclysm, when I played a Guardian Druid. I spent a lot of time feeling bitter about the class, and that was a big contributing factor to why I quit WoW for five and a half years (I mean, it wasn’t the only reason, but there’s some baggage there).

I don’t want to quit WoW for another five years. Honestly, I love logging in to spend time with guildies. But when I haven’t been enjoying the Warrior, it makes it harder to log in, because I’d mostly be running M+ and shooting the shit.

I did hundreds of M+ dungeons in Legion. I mean, Warriors weren’t perfect, but we weren’t shit tanks, either. It was middle-of-the-road, and it wasn’t bad. This expansion I’ve run a total of two M+ dungeons on my Warrior.

I’ve made a lot of “Oh, I’ll log on!” promises, and then end up reading a book or binging Netflix instead. Because the Warrior isn’t enjoyable.

For the longest time, I didn’t want to be the person who changed mains every expansion. Especially since I am an achievement hoarder, and WoW’s achievement system is not very conducive to rolling alts (IF THEY’RE GOING TO BE ACCOUNT BOUND FUCKING MAKE THEM ACCOUNT BOUND AND STOP GIVING THEM TO ME IF I ALREADY GOT THEM ON ANOTHER CHARACTER, DAMNIT. …Yes, it’s a pet peeve).

But I think I’m going to switch from the Warrior to the Death Knight. Which will completely change my goals for the month, but, I think it needs to be done, or else I’m going to end up distancing myself from friends I wish I’d never distanced myself from in the first place.

October Recap

Well, November is already half over and I’m finally getting to writing this. Woops! October’s recap is a pretty quick one—due to life being super busy (vacation, assisting with SphinxCon, LARP, etc.), I didn’t really have a lot of time outside of raid nights in WoW, and work deadlines, to do much gaming. Of my list, I really only completed a few things.

I finally ended up getting my Pathfinder (Part 1) achievement. So that’s one less thing to worry about come whenever Blizz releases Part 2.

I got a fair bit done in my miscellaneous goals. I hopped into Diablo 3 for a bit, and finally got the first expansion (that Ainyan gifted me for my birthday) to redeem. So now I can finally play campaign mode! Manthing says he’ll help level me so we can do some Rifts for the season, but we’ll see if it happens with the holidays (and multiple birthdays) approaching.

I also played a bunch of games as a part of #HorrorGameOct—The Park (1/2), Layers of Fear (1/2/3), and I started Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines (1/2/3), which I plan on continuing until I finish a full playthrough.

November Gaming Goals

I don’t have many goals for November, because (1) it’s part way over, and (2) I have a busy rest of the month ahead of me.

World of Warcraft

• Reach Exalted with one BfA reputation
• Zandalari Blacksmithing 150
• Zandalari Cooking 150
• Zandalari Fishing 150

Miscellaneous

• Finish a route (or two, or more…I’m so close to finishing the game!) in Sweet Fuse for #VNNovember
• Start Period:Cube for #VNNovember
• Create a new main in ESO
• Work through side missions I’ve not yet completed in Secret World Legends to catch up with main story

The way I used to do these posts was as two separate entities—one post recapping how I did the prior month, and then a second post outlining my goals for the current month. Honestly, for sanity’s sake (and because I really don’t like having multiple small posts that are kinda pointless to anybody but me), I’m condensing them all to one post, now.

If you’d like a recap of what the specific goals were for August (which I carried into September due to a very stressful move), you can check them out here. I’m only going to discuss how I did meeting each section that I laid out.

So I learned the hard way that with the Double Agent and Quintessential Quintet achievements that they’d been changed in the pre-patch. So they’ll still stay on my list of “achievements to work on” but get moved around to a lower priority, I think. I also never got anywhere with obtaining flying in Draenor—life saw to that.

I also didn’t get any alts up to 110 except Macadamia whom I’m slowly working on leveling up as my second 120, pretty much solely for the fact that she can make bandaids and I need bandaids for mid-combat because I’m a warrior.

Because life was crazy and hectic and draining, I also never even logged into Secret World Legends, or touched an ARPG for August’s Community Game-Along, though I do still want to poke into some Diablo 3 for the first time*, and so maybe I can have a game to play with Manthing occasionally (y’know, we still haven’t gamed together… XD). I also never got to do anything for September’s Community Game-Along, but I didn’t really game much in September to begin with.

I also never logged into FFXIV. At this point, honestly, I’ve let my subscription lapse (partly because I haven’t had the time or energy to change my card information after having my bank account hacked on top of dealing with all the address and card changes from my move). I think I’ll pick it back up in December, but we’ll see. Also, a lot of those goals are moot because cross-classing is no longer a thing, I learned, thanks to Rakuno.

October Gaming Goals

Guys, it’s October. So what does that mean? HALLOWEEN EVENTS AND SPOOPY GAMES!! Though, I pretty much completed all the Halloween stuff in WoW last time around, so there’s not much spoopy MMO things to do. But that just means more time for spooky games on stream?

World of Warcraft

• Disturbing the Peace achievement
• Level Macadamia to 115
• Level Chest-Dwarf to 112
• Battle for Azeroth Pathfinder, Part One achievement
  • Explore Tiragarde Sound achievement
  • Explore Drustvar achievement
  • Revered with Champions of Azeroth reputation
• Reach Exalted with one BfA reputation
• Zandalari Blacksmithing 150
• Zandalari Cooking 150
• Zandalari Fishing 150
• Archaeology 950

Miscellaneous

• Finish side missions in Egypt in Secret World Legends
• Play some Diablo 3, finally
• Participate in #HorrorGameOct as a part of the Community Game-Along