LFGryph

With thanks to Hesket for the great shot!

Is it really the 20th already?!

Going to be a short post today, I’m starting it while countless Secret Worlders wait with much enthusiasm for the servers to reopen with the Issue 12 update. Community Manager Sezmra shared the Issue 12 trailer early into the downtime, and as usual players have been romping haphazardly across social media.  The endlessly creative group is passing time sharing videos, including one starring soundclips from our Lead Designer (who promises retaliation), but once the server opens it’ll be time to get off Twitter and into the new content. The second part of my post will come after I’ve had a chance to get in game and check it out myself!

Later:

While TSWDB has consolidated the Issue 12 info, enough has been added that there was no way I could experience everything before needing to get ready for tonight’s show. What I did check out has been great fun, though!

Since I’m a player whose currency was spread across multiple types, my first stop was to do some shopping with my new stash of Black Bullion. I can’t say enough how much the consolidation helps players like me who never managed to focus on one thing long enough to make much progress with gear. It was never that I couldn’t do tough content, as much as my interests are so very spread out. With my work all going to one currency, I can finally start getting upgrades I’m long overdue for. As Jennet mentioned on her stream, it’s something you don’t really notice until the block is gone.

That done, my next step was to check out the Challenges. There was a good variety, including a bit of PvP, some dungeons, main missions, and scenarios. The rewards for these seem reasonable to me, I’m looking forward to seeing what else pops up on them in the coming days. I ran an Egypt mission as my first challenge, getting a chance to revisit an area I’m not often in anymore.

I signed up for PvP in Fusang, and had the longest wait I’ve ever had to get in. This is not at all a complaint, as I’m pleased to see players are so interested in the updates! The active mission when I zoned in was to defeat 3 turrets, and it was neat to see my faction chat coordinating how best to get that mission done. I didn’t get a chance to finish running the mission as it was almost time for an event I wanted to get to.

Once 3pm EST hit, another new feature got a chance to shine. Thanks to the new social interface, it was easy to see when the Radio Free Gaia 80’s dance party started. I always plan to make it to one of those, but rarely remember to check the forums before I jump in game. This time I was able to hang out for a bit and enjoy myself. Community Managers Tomium and Sezmra were both there for a while, it’s entirely possible more members of the team showed up later.

TSW has two player-run radio stations (the other being Gridstream Productions) and numerous other groups who host social events; it’s going to be great fun seeing what happens now that more players will be aware of them! The window was full within moments of the game being up, with everything from LFG, to streams, to the party, to trade, to a note for the Beyond the Veil show tonight. The filters are definitely going to help those who only care to see certain types of announcements.

While there was still plenty to check out, including the new dungeon and raid, I had to do at least a few offline things before the podcast tonight. Our Lead Designer, Tilty, is graciously joining us to answer questions, though we probably won’t be able to get him to sing. 😉 It’s always fun when we have a guest, if you get a chance join us at http://www.twitch.tv/holosuitemedia or meet up on one of us ingame at 7pm EST. It’s already posted in the new Social window. 🙂

Want to join in on #Blaugust? There’s still time! Visit the Blaugust Initiative page, and then head over to the Nook to get signed up and see what everyone else is up to.