Elder Scrolls Online in 2023

I tried Elder Scrolls Online back in 2018, and at the time I was not a fan and didn’t continue playing it for very long.

Elder Scrolls Online – First Impressions

However I recently came back, after about 3 years with Final Fantasy XIV, with some Guild Wars 2 along the way and found the experience with ESO very different. I’m sure that I’ve changed, but the ESO game has changed too.

I recall that in 2018, as I started, the quests seemed very disconnected and hard to find. Also, they sent me off to do things that were Killing Me quite often.
I did get a starter pack with a nice mount and some other goodies. Not sure if I bought it or if it was a gift.

ESO Economic Model

The ESO economic model is a lot like Guild Wars 2, which is Buy-Cheap-To-Play and then Pay-For-DLC [Download Content] and Cosmetic items in the store.

ESO appears to be Free to Play, with Pay-For-DLC and Cosmetic rewards, and an Optional Subscription with Perks. ESO does not appear to be Pay-To-Win.
As I have come back, I find things in my account wide collection – Four Nice Outfits – light, medium and heavy armor and a fancy dress up armor, among other things – that I didn’t think were there four years ago.

Not Dying As Much

As I have returned, quests were never life threatening. At least I have not died all the time. A few times. And one quest even has death as part of the story line. But repair of gear is required not only after death, but after fighting for a while. One of my playing rewards was a stack of repair kits tho. So there is that.

I have a level 8 character, with a companion who is level 2, and we were just in High Isles, a zone from the recent DLC. We came across lots of mobs on the road and as part of quests that had bright red names – as if they were much higher level, but we dispatched them in two’s and three’s with no problem. I’m not sure what the Bright Red Names are meant to signify. Those mobs didn’t seem any stronger than the ones I’ve seen in Summerset for example, which is a “Starter Zone”. Looks like ESO scales so you can deal with any of the zones or quest content that you will see.

A lot more fun

I’m having a lot more fun now with ESO than I did four years ago. This is not a detailed review. Just take this as an advertisement [unpaid of course] to encourage you to go try ESO for yourself if you’re interested in an MMO and haven’t played Elder Scrolls Online in a while or have never played it.

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Alienware Aurora R2 Lighting Repair

Back in March 2019 I completed modification of an Alienware Aurora R2 case for LED lighting that does not require OS drivers or support. Here is a link to that post from that time.

Recently this modification has developed an intermittent failure. The lights on the right side of the case aren’t working properly.

Here’s a video describing the problem and showing the fix.

Enjoy,
:ww

Repair RV Gate Casters

I finally started the repair of the RV Gate Casters.

The left side caster is tilted and looks like it will break off soon. As you can see the casters are held on with short pieces of 2 by 6 which are then screwed with lag screws into the bottom 2 by 4 of the gate. On the left side the 2 by 4 is twisting under the load of the caster.

The fix I’ll try is to use a long 2×6 rather than a short piece and extend the 2×6 under the the vertical piece at the center to prevent twisting. I’ll bolt the long 2×6 to the 2×4 so their held tightly together to stiffen them. I had some used treated 2 by 6 left over from tearing off a partially rotted deck.

The hardware is all stainless since I live on the coast of Oregon. Also the 3/8″ bolt heads holding the casters on are recessed and covered with silicon to slow down the rot of the 2 x 6 since the recess goes through the treatment.

The bolts all have small washers under the heads and large washers under the nylon lock nuts. Looks like that is working. The caster is held straight under the weight of the gate. No twist. I’ll fix the right side another day.

Cheers,
:ww

Update – Fix the other side of the gate

I finished the gate repair. Here are pictures of the process.

The gate should last for years to come.

Cheers,
:ww

Island Sanctuary – End Game Only

In a few days we are going to get a new feature in Final Fantasy XIV – Island Sanctuaries. These are “Instanced Housing” in the form of a large island for every player. Here’s the FFXIV official page and here’s an article with some details.

How disappointing. I had assumed that they would be available at, oh say, 30 or 50. So I could take my friends who are new to the game and show them my Island Sanctuaries. Or as an alternative activity for my 2 dozen alts. But no. The Island Sanctuaries are locked behind a tall, tall ladder of level 90 and Endwalker. Current housing is locked behind scarcity and high cost in Gil and Island Sanctuaries are “End Game Content” at least now. In a couple of years it won’t seem like End Game any more.

And of course the other obvious question would be why can’t the whole account share the same Island? All the alts could work to progress the same island.

All of my Alts are 50+ and about half have completed Heavenward that’s 3.0. And my friend started more recently and of their half dozen alts they only have a couple beyond Heavensward and one at Endwalker which is 6.0. Are you seeing a theme here?

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Unable to Log In to Forums

I played FFXIV on 25 July 2022 from 4:30 – 5:30am in Praetorium Dungeon for Moogle Tomes as part of the event. Later on, shortly after playing, I tried to log into the forums and got the following screen.

I tried both Firefox latest of that date, and Chrome latest of that date and both failed the same way. I am running an updated Windows release. And clearly FFXIV was updated as I started to play.

Not sure what the problem is but I can’t access the forums.

: ww

FFXIV Event is Boring

This Moogle event is supposed to keep us busy while we get ready for the next patch. But it is so boring that I can’t stand doing it.

I’d like the gorilla mount for my Lalafel characters. Nothing is cuter than a Lalafel carried around by a gorilla. BUT.

It’s too boring to get these rewards. It requires 7 RUNS of Praetorium, which takes about 40 minutes each, and a run of something else. After running this dungeon dozens of times it is Soooooo Boring. I can’t stand it. I have several Lalafel characters, but I guess they will have to do without their mounts.

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What is Old is New Again

I saw a Youtube video talking about a new controller that solves the Joystick Stick Drift problem with game controllers. But then I got to searching around and found that Hall effect joysticks have been around for a dozen years.

So APEM was making Hall effect joysticks back before 2010. There’s a youtube video from Digikey showing that.

But at least someone has adapted this “Old Technology” to the modern problem of Controller Stick Drift. Great. I saw them for sale on Amazon, Aliexpress and elsewhere. We can only hope that the console manufacturers put this tech in their native controllers and finally solve the Stick Drift problem once and for all.
:ww

But the Hall Effect Joysticks are Going to be More Expensive

Oh, by the way, before we talk about the Hall Effect versions costing more, look at this:

So, yes there are cheap controllers that plug in for $30 or so. But the wireless ones are about the same price as the Hall Effect ones from Gulikit. No excuse for Microsoft and Sony to not use Hall Effect joysticks.
:ww

What Wow Gets Wrong with Dragon Mounts

World of Warcraft has been accused of copying Guild Wars 2 mounts for the upcoming Dragonflight expansion. Let’s review Guild Wars 2 mounts for those who don’t know. Mounts were added to Guild Wars 2 in Path of Fire. Before that travel was limited to Teleporting to Waypoints, and Gliding. There were some other things like mushrooms and lava tubes in some limited zones.

Guild Wars 2 Mounts

There are a few mounts in Guild Wars 2 and they each have their special abilities that are increased with Masteries in the game. All mounts and mount skins are account wide in GW2, just like Wow.

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