One thing to keep in mind is that this is actually a Renown Event (also called Renown Hearts because of their Heart symbol on the map).  This is before level 10 and some of the higher level events are far more impressive.  

Twitch TV: /skeleton_jack
Twitter: @SkeletonJack_

As I thought about it, I was like, “I have a wesbite…”  So I’m putting some of it up here to link to them, and also for you guys to see as well.

Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 Trailer

MMO Manifesto

These videos are both by Arena Net (the Devs), and I recommend you watch the MMO Manifesto.  The scenes you see in the videos of the actual game play look even better in game btw!

If you buy GW2 now (pre-purchase in full) you get guaranteed access to ALL of their Beta events (that doesn’t include their closed Alpha).  And there will be NO SUBSCRIPTION.  You buy it, you own it, you play it.  End of story.  So beyond that, what are some good reasons to purchase this game?

Overflow Servers

Can’t play because of the queue?  No worries, you get shuffled to an Overflow Server where you can play while you wait until there is room on your server.  And everything you do is real and counts.

Guesting

Sounds weird, but this is a feature that allows you to go play with your friends no matter what server you are on.  This doesn’t change your “Home Server”, but it does allow you to go temporarily (for free) to a different server to play with your friends.

Side Kicking

Unlike City of Heroes it only scales down, but if your buddy is level 20 and you are level 45, you can go to your buddy’s zone and you will be “scaled down” to the max level of that zone so you can both play together.

Skill vs Gear

The focus of GW2 is player skill, not gear.  So you can achieve the Best in Slot items through Crafting, PvE, or PvP.  Your choice.

Automatic Max Lvl PvP

You can take any character you have (of any level) directly to instanced 5v5 PvP matches and have a full set of PvP gear with all of your abilities, traits, etc unlocked at max level.  Leveling up to later discover you like another class better is no longer as much of an issue.

More reasons

More than I care to list here.  But if you respect my opinion, this game is a *must* buy.  I think what I like the most about GW2 over their amazing game play and features is that it’s the first MMO to make it possible to play with your friends no matter what server they are on.

Moving in Less Than 2 Weeks!

I’ll be off to Mobile in 1 to 2 weeks from today (date isn’t set yet) to go train for the new job.  The apartment is going to have whatever internet the company had set up though, which means standard slow internet speeds most likely.  :(

I’m also getting a new cell phone, the HTC EVO™ 4G LTE, so I’m pretty excited to see all of the nifty stuff that’s come out on cell phones these days.  Realistically however it’ll end up being a glorified MP3 player so I can listen to music while at work or working out, heh.

Twitch TV: /skeleton_jack
Twitter: @SkeletonJack_

I talked to my buddy I used to play WoW with back when we were hardcore. And we talked about how we were always trying to “recapture” that old feeling back when we were raiding with the new MMO’s that were coming out.

But no matter what MMO came out we couldn’t recapture it. And we never will. Just like you’ll never recapture that feeling of your first kiss.

I’ve been re-examining my entire life these past few months. And in the last few weeks I’ve stopped and taken a hard look at myself and my life. And I’ve been able to sum up my goals in life into three basic concepts.

1) Find a partner (wife)
2) Help people (any capacity is fine)
3) Write (guides, stories, etc…)

I was a free lance writer (yes it actually made money) and a dispatcher. Now I’m a baker. Yes, a baker. I’ve got the opportunity to pursue a career path that has serious growth potential and a chance to actually look forward to going to work every day. Something I think we all aspire to.

But I got lost over the years and didn’t have any focus. Now I do.

I had to also accept that I will never again be a “hardcore gamer”, something I identified myself with for the majority of my life.

I actually plan on creating a few guides here and there, and even doing some videos because it interests me. But I cannot commit to this as a part time job (which it was), or offer you guys any kind of regular schedule.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words (judge me by that)

I’m moving to Mobile, Alabama for 2 months to train for my new job in the next 2 weeks. And then I’ll be back in New Orleans after that. From there I will pursue my job (career) as my primary focus over everything else (including gaming).

And I’m seriously looking forward to actually being off 3 nights a week instead of just two, and having some weekends off for the first time in over 2 1/2 years!!

I don’t know what my writing focus will be. But I’ve written blogs, posts, guides, 2 different table top game systems, poems & pros, and notes for several novels over the years. And I plan to fully explore my capacity as a writer in the future.

When I first created this website I had a clear goal. Make the website a success story within 6 months. And if I could do that, then I had the chops to write a series of novels people would fall in love with. I lost sight of that.

In the post below I linked the guild I will be a part of for GW2. That is set in stone for me. If you’d like to tear it up some time, that will be the home that *ANY* of you can join with me.

I became an elitist prick who thought too highly of himself. I lost sight of my true goals (in real life) and stopped living life. And over the past few weeks I have painstakingly gone over every success and failure I’ve made, measuring myself as a person. Trying to determine what I want my place in the world to be.

For every person I disappointed I am sorry. Truly. For every person I helped, you are what made everything worth while.

For those who may find this too long to read, I will tell you this.  Check out “This Is Your Game” and check out “Creating a Community”.

This Is Your Game

This will be the title of a new webseries I am creating.  My goal is to create this webseries for GW2, and use this to expound upon actually “playing” the game itself.

Specs, builds, play styles, leveling, tricks, making money, trade skills, etc…  I’ve got a framework of cycling 2 classes each week for 4 weeks before moving on to the next two classes (wk1 Thief, wk2 Mesmer, wk3 Thief, wk4 Mesmer).  This allows me to appeal to a broader audience by changing things up, but also go back to a previous class to fine tune concepts, builds, and my understanding of the class.  This of course may be modified in the future.

In addition to that I will cover big Dev post news and viewer Q&A as well.  Add in shows based upon making money in game, PvE, PvP, general play style tips, and more and this is something I will have no problems coming up with ideas for months to come.

Creating a Community

Guild Wars 2

I am seriously considering joining GAISCIOCH for GW2, but I am open to ideas.  In my “climb” to be in the best PvE and PvP guilds over the years I lost sight of something.  In being with my “peers” I ended up playing with a lot of douche bags that I didn’t like.

The best memories I have of a guild was Category 5, a guild that managed to host over 200 members tackling top end game content (AQ40 vanilla WoW) while being family friendly and having players who were honestly clueless at how to play.  What mattered the most was what kind of a person you were and building a sense of community so that everyone enjoyed logging in to play together.  I miss that.

This is where I ask you guys, my loyal readers, what you guys want.  You need to TELL ME what it is you are interested in doing and whether you want to join me in this endeavor.  You can twitter me, leave a comment here on the site, or email me at skeleton.jack@hotmail.com, but you need to actually do something so I have an idea of what to consider.  Join me over at GAISCIOCH?  Or have an idea for something else?

SWTOR

I am moving over to the Oceanic Server: Master Dar’nala (PvP) so that I can continue playing with the Aussies that I am friends with.  I am not currently in a guild and do not have any plans to join one atm.  But if you ever see me on and happen to play on those servers feel free to give me a shout!

Defining What Was Lost

I’ve never been able to recapture what it was I was initially doing with this website that made it so much fun and also made me so popular.  And then it finally came to me.  I’ve always enjoyed teaching and helping people.  And not only did I lose sight of this, but I couldn’t define it as well.

What made me “great” and what made all of this fun was discovering how to play my own class better, and then sharing that information with everyone else.  Helping you guys play the game better.  Not only was I helping people, but I was also teaching as well.  And that has to be the fundamental outline of all future projects or I’ll flake out and lose interest.

Writing, Force Junkies, and Priorities

In writing for Junkies Nation I discovered a fact.  I don’t have any interest in being a “journalist”.  And forcing myself to write 4-5 articles a week there was doing more to damage my interest in gaming than pretty much anything else.

Whereas by now I would have normally put together dps guides and breakdowns on Marauders & Sentinels showing DPS graphs and how to prioritize your rotations, writing for FJ stopped me.  I am tired of writing about SWTOR’s day to day hum drum.

My priorities for now are creating “This Is Your Game” and being more active on Twitter.  As a secondary concern I will focus on streaming.  And that’s it.  As GW2 isn’t out yet I will do my best to create videos from the Beta Weekends for you guys, which will give me practice for the webseries at the same time.

This way I am focusing on what I actually like to do and what is fun for me!  While at the same time ignoring stuff that bores me and makes me want to beat small fuzzy animals.

Readers, Viewers, and You!!

I want to shift my focus to not only what I enjoy doing, but to also answer your questions.  The more you guys ask me about things, the more I can answer you all and get a feel for the pulse of my “viewership”.  If you reach out to me, I will reach out to you.  I make that promise.  I can’t promise how quickly that will happen, but it will happen.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Twitch TV: /skeleton_jack
Twitter: @SkeletonJack_

http://www.forcejunkies.com/tag/skeleton-jack/

The majority of my future work will be published at Force Junkies.  If you want to keep up on my current articles drop by their website or just go directly to my Tag to see all of my work there.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/#!/SkeletonJack_

I am making an active effort to use this more often now.  Sometimes I fail and forget about it for a few days, but I’m trying to re-imagine Twitter as an alternative to my blog.
HIT FOLLOW!!!

Streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/skeleton_jack

I stream my gameplay at Twitch TV.  If you don’t catch me while I am online, all of my streams are automatically recorded by Twitch.  Previous recordings: http://www.twitch.tv/skeleton_jack/videos
HIT FOLLOW!!!

Videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/SkeletonJackGaming

I will be creating videos very soon.  They are in 1080p, but there is a strange haze on the rendered videos that I can’t seem to get rid of.  I will upload my videos to this channel.
SUBSCRIBE!!!

I’m moving out of my place sometime within the next 1-4 months, pending how my finances fall.  I just upgraded the computer system, so I’m not 100% prepared for all of the installation and deposit fees for getting my own place.  But I’ll have it squared away soon.

How does this impact you guys?

For now my schedule is going to stay the old way, streaming and playing late night around 2300-0600 CST (GMT-6).  Also my writing for Force Junkies is going to be erratic as I’m spending a lot of my personal time looking for a new place and getting prepared.

I expect the “BS” work to take up about a week or so, and then the actual move prep to take a week of it’s own.  So don’t expect to hear from me too much over the next week, and then once I confirm when I’m moving you’ll lose me for about a week then as well.

I will be putting up a news post on the weekly Q&A after it gets put up by BioWare and then break everything down in a subsequent post.  Those should go up this weekend at FJ.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

Twitch TV: /skeleton_jack
Twitters: @SkeletonJack_
FJ Articles: /tag/skeleton-jack

NSB Gaming is currently RECRUITING new players for both PvE and PvP. Not Steamboat was previously World Ranked 13 and the number 1 Oceanic guild before they disbanded in WoW.

If you are applying for PvE, apply on the website.

If you are applying as a PvP member see us (see below) *in game*.

• Master Dar’Nala (PvP): 10-49 bracket PvP, see Skeletonjack or Candice.
• The Swiftsure (PvP): 50 bracket PvP, see Skeletonjack or Mikaela.
• No exceptions, apps are done for PvP in game by playing with one of us.
• If you suck, don’t get butthurt when we tell you no. We are recruiting for Ranked Warzones.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

My newest article is pending review and should be out early this week.  That said I’ve been spending some time talking to the guy that runs things there and I will be moving my focus more to FJ for the foreseeable future.

This will still be a solid source to find out more personalized information and I will use my blog as hub to disemminate info about my videos, streams, articles, guides, etc…  But I will not be focusing on the blog outside of that purpose.

I will be moving into doing 2-4 articles a week at FJ to start, and include videos within the next month hopefully as well.  From there we will see how it goes.

Guild Wars 2

I’ve seen enough at this point to say this officially now.  I will be covering and playing Guild Wars 2 as well as SWTOR.  So you will be seeing coverage of both games by me in the future, and I will be writing articles in the future for Guild Wars 2 Junkies.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

I need the following:

Relevant information:

Yes, I am at the point where I am willing to pay for this.  No, I am not rich so I don’t have tons of money to throw at people.  This needs to be low budget.

I intend to brand my work as:

Skeleton Jack Gaming
The Skeletal System

Pending appearance, text size, and format used I will sometimes include “Prepare to get boned!”  Cheesy and corny yes, but it makes me smile.

Concept:

My two iconic characters are Skeleton Jack (main, male) and Skeleton Jill (alt, female) in the games I play.  As such, for the border (number 2) I was thinking of having one on each side.  I don’t want them to be specific to SWTOR.

I envision Skeleton Jill being a human female with some kind of skeletal mask (like this one) with pale skin and hair (similar to this).  The idea of her being in some kind of black leather outfit similar to a thief seems good, but open to ideas there.  Also one fist clutching/holding black energy and the other hand with a wicked dagger in it similar to this maybe, following a curved blade theme.

I envision Skeleton Jack being a human male with a skeletal head (example of concept), though no exposed flesh ideally.  Also some kind of creepy element being added such as licking blood here or feasting on it is an idea as well.  I don’t ever imagine him as a full bodied “person” so I’m having a hard time giving or finding an example…  Though that does leave me very open to an image that only shows say the hands/arms, shoulders, top of torso and face like in this example.  I want a skeletal head that gives the impression of both wry humor and wanting to kill you at the same time. No glowing eyes and no fangs either.  I’d need some help perhaps with laying down the concept for this.

The rest would be simple with these done.  Skeleton Jack done from just the shoulders up would fit into a banner easily.  And then the 2 images could then be applied to a load screen as well.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…

So my new little Sniper is on her way, and I have to say that the Imperial Agent story line really is blowing me away so far.  If you’re not going to play one, you should go YouTube it.  I’ve been doing mostly Lethality and it’s been a blast.  Hopefully I will be including theory crafting, leveling guides, and end game guides for Snipers as well in the future.

As a side note, this is where a lot of my spare time is going atm.  I want to get Jill up to 50 and start farming her up.  So I’ve not been allocating as much time to theory crafting and guides because of this.  And while that can be frustrating in the short term for you guys, this will only increase my knowledge of the game and improve the information I give to you guys down the road.

Updates & Guides (where are they?)

So if you’ve been following me closely and hanging out during my live streams over at Twitch TV then you may have a good handle on what’s been going on.  For everyone else, here’s the deal.

I’m currently changing my sleep schedule up to allow myself to stream roughly from 0300 – 1000 CST (GMT-6).  0300 is 8pm in Sydney Australia.  I’ve noticed that the majority of my viewers don’t really start watching until somewhere between 0400-0600, so I’m doing this in an effort to be more accessible.  Also, this will allow more of my American viewers to hang out as well.

I’m also settling in over at Force Junkies now.  I’m waiting for the final word on my newest idea, but I will be doing a second weekly column at FJ on the BioWare weekly Q&A giving you insights by reading between the lines on top of my regular weekly column.

Lastly I’m going to be focused on figuring out how to make video guides and finishing off my Sniper alt before under taking any major guide projects.  Video Guides are the future of reaching players, and I’m going to make sure I transition into that future.

Skeleton Jack Gaming

The end goal here is to make this my career path.  I’m an old dog, but I am sure as hell going to learn some new tricks.  The video guides will further serve to push my name out there combined with my exposure at Force Junkies.  Which will in turn funnel into my Twitch TV stream.

Eventually I hope to be taken on as a partner with Twitch TV and to get full paying gig with a major website to write articles and create videos for their website.  So with that information at your fingertips, understand that every decision I make now is to help push me further in that direction.

Taking your time…

When Death Knights came out and I started my blog, I had years of experience with WoW already and an amazing pool of information and tools at my fingertips.  But with SWTOR those tools don’t exist (like mods) and I don’t have the years of experience with multiple characters in end game.

I jumped right into everything with SWTOR, but I don’t always have the most accurate answers as many things in the game are still up for question.  So I have slowed down my content being released as I try to better understand the game and how everything works.

What’s the point?

I wanted you guys to know what’s going on, where I’m at, and what to expect.  I will be putting out some “unofficial” guides to get people going.  Because I know people want that stuff.  Basic breakdowns on my rotations, when to use stuff, specs, etc…

But the truly mind blowing content that just sets my guides apart from everyone else?  It’s coming, just give it time.

This is still one of your best options (the website) however to find out what is going on.  I will be posting all of my articles up here on the website, and I also twitter them out when they go up (@SkeletonJack_).  And this is where I will take the time to directly talk to you guys about what is going on.

Questions?

If you have questions, I have answers!  Leave a comment or reach me through my Contact page.

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters…