I tried Horizons again last night with my saris confectioner. I was pretty sad to no longer have my huge plot in Forest Guard. The person I'd given it to back last July had torn out all of the confectioner related buildings and my saris homes.

I recalled, determined to not look back. I went out to our guild plot in Toku (this is all on Chaos) to see what my options might be. One of the largest (I use the term loosely) was still available - a 30x56. I went ahead and bought it and set about rebuilding my Horizons life. I was able to put a saris medium house with my patio giving me a nice view of the beach (except the area where the water wasn't loaded). I snugged in a jman confectioner shop next to that, and as a guildie's request, an expert pottery shop. I put a t2 pawn shop on the corner. I left a lot of space for silo type storage but have not put anything in yet. I did put in palm trees on either side of my front door to the house.

With much help and liberal use of novians, my house, pottery shop, pawn shop and palm trees all went up last night. I expect to have the confectioner shop by the time I log in tonight (if all goes well with today's update).

This isn't going to make me stop playing WoW, but if I can get my confectioner going again and the new confectioner things actually make it in game, I could be spending some time in Horizons in the future.

I find that it's really hard to get a blogging rhythm going. I'll give this another shot. No holidays in sight to mess me up! So... back into the world of Istaria.

Things are back to quiet and solitude now.

Last week was sorta hectic.

I'm all for helping hatchlings on their Rite of Passage, but wow, back and forth every evening? One of them was for a good friend, so I can't really complain there, another was for a hatchling that I spent a lot of time teaching, and two more were their friends. All in all, I guess it was worth it. I was rather pleased to see hatchlings with at least adventure level 50 again. I've seen so many groups where the prospective adult could only stand by and watch as their bigger friends fought /their/ battles. This was different. They were in the fray, fighting alongside of me, doing damage, and not dying from the first hit. If they are reading this, thanks for letting me be a part of your Rite of Passage and reminding me of the joy and pride of mine. It was a pleasure and an honor.

As an aside, anyone who wants a quiet place to battle Kaa should try the shore north of the spiral. There are no undead mobs near there, so adds can be kept to a minimum. Getting there is pretty uneventful and mob-free too – take the Eastern entrance to the Western deadlands. Jump off the cliff before you enter the blight and head north/northwest to the shore.

Oh yes, solitude and quiet.

Strange. Lately there seems to be an influx of new players, but it feels... different. Dragon chat and New Player Assistance have been well populated but very quiet, if not silent. It's a little disconcerting to see so many names and nobody talking. Perhaps they are all engrossed in whatever it is they are doing, or maybe it is because I catch the tail end of peak hours. Indeed, the latter may be a factor, as the number of visible players plummets shortly after I log in. I wouldn't be surprised if those remaining fell asleep while crafting.

Ah... crafting. Well, not crafting, lairshaping. Thats what I seem to be doing the most of lately. I think it deserves a dedicated entry or two, maybe more. In other words, not now!

So, when will my next entry be? I don't know. It'll be up when it's up -- that's the only promise I can keep!

With not much notice at all, the current owners of Horizons announced that they are deleting the Blight shard and moving the folks from Unity into its place. For those that want the sorry saga, you can read the Horizons official forums.

I feel deeply sad for the denizens of Blight that have lost their characters and their homes. You worked hard to make Horizons a better place for all. There is nothing I can do but offer you my sincere sympathy. While there is some small chance that some of you may find homes on one of the remaining shards, Blight itself is still no more. Farewell Blight and the heroes that lived there.

Rest in Peace.

Horizons was our first real home online. We started playing in the last open beta and have subscriptions paid through January. When we heard about the sale of our beloved game to EII we were very concerened. Unfortunately our concerns now seem well founded. Heavy handed moderation drove me from the forums. I don't believe they have any idea how to take care of this game, much less grow it. I cried to cancel my subscriptions, but it breaks my heart to log in at this point. I last logged in about 2 weeks ago - and this was to pass my homes to the remaining members of our guild. I miss you guys so much, but I couldn't continue as things were going.

Word got around to me that Horizons received an update, there was a fall festival, and everything would be fine.

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It is as if the frustrations I expressed earlier were heard by the gods and acted upon. Once more, I set out for the Satyr Isles, prepared to spend all morning to get the elusive essence of an undead wisp.

Luckily, I found a quiet spot... Well, it became quiet once I killed a the few wandering blights in it. I wasted no time in donning my Scale of Revelry and firing off a Prime Bolt at a nearby floating green sphere. It came closer and fell to a flurry of attacks.

I held my breath and looted it... Nothing! Ah! But wait! Another cursed wisp popped up where the other one was! What luck! In short order, I went through three more wisps and made off with some essence, just as the undead hordes began to notice my presence. Rarr!

Upon logging in, I noticed that there was going to be a “Valkor Adventure Event”. An event? Whoa! “This should be good!” I thought.

Luck was with me that Saturday, as I had the opportunity go get on during the time the event was scheduled. Friends informed me that there was a system message sent out right before I logged in. It said that Valkor was trying to ally with the Nahguk Ogre tribe. A quick check of the visible population showed a lot of high rating players on. Imitating Agent Smith, I said out loud “No players, your Valkor is already dead.” In came the reports that they found him (it?) ... dead.

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Greetings!
I suppose a short introduction is in order here. I've been playing on Chaos since early 2005 -- not old by any means, but not fresh and new either. So, what is life like for an older Istarian Dragon? Read on and find out!

Island Hopping
There are days when everything goes your way and days when nothing works out. Then theres days like today, when everything comes at you at once, demands your attention, and beats the living daylights out of you.

I've been charged with the task of collecting semi-rare drops off of Satyr Isle mobs. In particular, those floating green balls of frustration which are impervious to all damage except from that done using a special scale or talisman.

“No problem!” I thought, as I grabbed my pack of special scales and flew off to the West from Sslanis, towards Dahibi. I hoped it was just how I remembered it from previous hunts: put on the appropriate scale, find the wisp, pull it, and kill it. Of course, it didn't go that smoothly.

I found the wisp, found a quiet spot near it, and pulled. As the wisp wandered into the range of my claws, a Blue Vexator came up from behind and began to attack. I focused my efforts on killing the wisp first – Gold Rage, Silver Strike, and the wisp was... re-deaded. Back to the Vexator, and the ghost casting debuffs on me, and.. waitasec! Where did that come from? Now there is a warrior hacking away at me, a Kwellen smashing me, and something shooting lightning arrows at me!? No. not good at all! Not good! With a third of my health remaining, I took to the air and thought to myself: “That was close. Good thing they can't get me up here.”. As if my mind were read, a root spell was cast upon me, and I immediately fell to the ground -- in the middle of a seething group of blights and other undead. Can't move, can't fly, can only hop like a hatchling.

I hate the new aggro, dynamic grouping and falling to the ground when rooted.

This sequence of events – pull the wisp and get swamped by everything else, was repeated two more times before I gave up for the night. Tomorrow, I hope to find better (read: safer) places to continue my quest for undead wisp innards. Hopefully I will be in the company of friends so that there is a chance of surviving. If we still fail, at least we can laugh at the amusing orientations of our corpses.