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.

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.

Read more »

I reached 52 as a Blacksmith, working on smelting stuff to do the fitting on the rearranged plot of my guildmate.

Here's the problem. I'm the last of my guild. One left MMOs altogether, one left over the treatment of the game by the new owners, etc. So... do I switch to mason to finish the building on their plots? do I start work on my confectioner, to fill the tavern I built on my plot? do I quit? It's not a lot of fun to log in and not chat with my friends while I'm digging ore out of the frozen mountains of Mahagra.

I have a couple of other games I've been neglecting of late - AC and DDO. Do I give HZ a rest, and go poke around out there for a while? I've been playing HZ pretty exclusively for quite a while, but....

Now what?

or...some people are never satisfied with the way their plot is laid out. Here I am, happily practicing my blacksmithing skills, and I find that one of my clan mates has decided to reorganize.

and upgrade.

So, now, I've got bronze joints and sheets and iron joints and sheets to make. All over again. I don't mind, really. I enjoy the change of pace from the frozen tundra of Mahagra, and I like the exercise of mine, smelt, recall, port, port, build, recall, mine...etc

And for me, it's not about the exp. I didn't switch back to Fitter for this, because I really don't care about the exp - ok, maybe a little, in the fact that if I gain more exp as a fitter, I can keep it in closer balance with blacksmithing. But this job will be over soon, and I'm gonna have to pick a profession and work it to the 'end'. Right now, that's blacksmithing (they don't call me "blacksmith boy" for nothin!). When I max that out, then I'll go back to fitting. Right or wrong, that's my still. I'm very focused, and rarely multiclass in any game.

Now, I'm off to see who else has changed their mind, and wants a t2 silo, instead of 3 trees.

Heh - this is my blog, so I'm gonna tell you what I think

I think that, for now, the sale of Horizons from Tulga Games (TG) to Entertainment Interactive Interactive (EIInteractive) doesn't have a direct impact on my playing the game.

I will say, for the record, that I'm not that impressed with the communication I've seen, but *shrug* actions speak louder than words...and so far, all I've seen are a whole lot of of malformed words. So we'll see how that translates into actions.

Speaking of actions, I've made it to level 49 Blacksmith. Still working the frozen north, still practicing my skills...Still reaching for that elusive point when my skills as a blacksmith outreach my skills as a fitter (the level does now, but some of the actual skills are still at Fitter levels). Looking to get to whatever level it is that lets my metalworking skills be at 550, so I can learn some of these formulas I have stacked up!