Dear Diary,

Life has been rather hectic for a while now, but as usual I’ve been playing DDO in between all the craziness. A tiny new Japanese Bobtail kitten has joined our household, to the enormous chagrin of our two adult Ragdolls Mewie and Kisheeni. Anyway, the new kitten (who belongs to my daughter and is called Willow), is a total honey, and a real love bug. She loves to cuddle and be carried, and being with her is the equivalent of quality time in the Tunnel of Love. <3

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the scoop on Setareh, yKaterina, and Darya. Setareh was reincarnated a while ago, and went from being a pure Paladin in her earlier life to an 18 Ranger/1 Monk/1 Rogue in her new life. So far she’s level 19, and is almost capped at 20. She’s changed race and hair colour, going from a slender green-haired Elf in her past life, to bright blue-haired gorgeous Human in her current one.

Teaser: As you can see, Setareh is thriving in her new reincarnated life!

Newsflash! I’ve got a second True Reincarnation underway; the reincarnation of  my 1 Bard/19 Barbarian  yKaterina to a pure Fighter. Currently she’s Level 13 and totally cute! In the image below, yKaterina is in the middle and Setareh is on the right. I’m leveling yKaterina with Shy’s Favoured Soul Scorch and a couple of very uber Stormlords players (Dowdy-Judd and Debauched-Strangefellow). Coordinating with them has been a pleasure, especially seeing that I’m rather a fanatic about doing stuff at level in True Reincarnation. This practice will ensure that that leveling doesn’t become a struggle later on - especially for Judd who is on his 4th True Reincarnation.

Below: True Reincarnation Trio - Darya, yKaterina, Setareh

So… I talked about my current True Reincarnations, but you’ll notice I haven’t mentioned the character pictured above on the left. That’s Darya, my second seldom-used Cleric. In the very near future I’m going to True Reincarnate her to a Favoured Soul. I expect that she’ll be the consummate DDO butterfly with those wings. I’ll probably make Darya go Human, because Feats in DDO are just so thin on the ground. There are so many Feats available, and yet not very much opportunity to use enough of them. Just think how much personality character builds could have if we had access to even just a couple more feats!!!

I’ll keep you posted about how these True Reincarnation projects go.  Thank goodness I’m in an organized group so that I don’t lose steam on reincarnating yKaterina!!!

Diary darling; thanks so much for keeping all my secrets safe from prying eyes!!! And, by the way, tiny little Willow is purring on my shoulder, going to sleep!

Sharz

<3 XOXOXOX

Dear Diary,

It’s been too long I know. I’ve been terribly distracted by playing DDO, by real life, and by a little dalliance with a game called Dragon Age. Now it’s time to focus on the present, and on the weighty news it brings.

Say goodbye to my pretty Paladin Setareh. She’s extinguished her life force, trusting that she will True Reincarnate out of her noble life as a Paladin to a new, less restrictive life as a wild and impetuous Tempest Ranger.

There are even heartrending whispers that Setareh’s closest friend Chelsa may have followed her into the night, unable to contemplate living on in a world without her dearest friend fighting at her side.

I’m gonna miss how pretty Setareh was, and how desperately she tried to keep up with the other melees. Even when she tried her hardest, she just couldn’t be be the great Paladin her friend Chelsa epitomized so gracefully…

Below: Setareh - Gone But Not Forgotten

May the deities of Eberron watch over sweet Setareh… Should her hope to True Reincarnate be fulfilled, she won’t look the way she used to. But the steadfastness of her beautiful soul surely flickers brightly somewhere in Stormreach. When I find her, I’ll try to capture her new image to include here amidst your smooth pages. I hope to track her down soon; this secret mustn’t remain hidden forever. I feel her loss so terribly!

Luvs, <3

Sharz

Dearest Diary,

As promised, I’m posting about another happy fashion treasure I unearthed from the yummy new Inspired Quarter quests. Wow! Those Inspired fanatics sure do have a fun sense of style and quite an eye for colours. This latest medium armour, called the Elocator’s Habiliment, looks quite fetching on Silkey,  my spunky Halfling Two-Weapon Fighter.

Here’s a picture of Silkey modeling the new armour. She looks delightful, even in the midst of nail-biting combat and extreme danger! Baddies, Watch Out! You didn’t know someone so cute could be this deadly!

And here’s another pic of the armour’s ability tag; just in case you’re interested.

I wonder what the mysterious Suppressed Power is! Silkey doesn’t know how to make it activate. In time, some savvy player is bound to figure that out. When that happens, we’ll have a party!

Bye till next time, wish me luck in my DDO adventures. With fond affections etc,

Sharz <3 XOXOXOX

Dear Diary!

What a Halloween Horror story! Now I know what had my Elven Wizard Vyxun all spooked and uptight. She’d discovered that a bunch of no-good Shavarath monsters were planning to raid her sweets pantry tonight! Yikes!

As soon as she heard about the impending attack on her delicious sweets supply, Vyxun sprang into action. She spent most of today guarding her tasty treats, and when darkness fell, her pantry came under attack.

Here’s a picture of what went on! Vyxun was magnificent, and she banished the baddies to Timbuktu!

Right now, Vyxun is laughing and stuffing herself with junk food! She’s having very Happy Halloween.

I’m off to play some DDO! When I have time I’ll come and post a pic of the new Elocator’s Habiliment that I found in the Inspired Quarter. You’re gonna love it!

Sharz <3 XOXOXOX

Dear Diary!

I’m thrilled to tell you that dear Divae has found the loveliest dress in Stormreach! It’s from one of the new Inspired Quarter quests, and it is ever so pretty. It’s made of firey Phoenix feathers, and is bright red, orange, and yellow. I’m gluing a pic in here so that you can drool on it.

Since she got the striking Regalia of the Phoenix, Divae won’t wear her Dragontouched Robe anymore.

She’s put her foot down quite firmly, and is determined to be a fire-specced sorceress. She says her Phoenix robe is gonna turn her into the scourge of Eberron’s monster population!

I concede that the robe’s got some nice abilities on it, including a mysterious supressed power. I’ll glue the label in here, so you can see the garment’s ability make up.

There must be other delectable treasures hidden in the Inspired Quarter. It’s gonna be so much fun seeing what players find in there! I can’t wait!!

Enough about Divae, dear Diary. I should mention that I’ve been a bit worried about Vyxun lately. She’s  jumpy and nervous, and I can’t figure out why! I’ll get back to you when I work out what’s going on. It might have something to do with Halloween…

Bye till next time <3,

Sharz XOXOXOX

Dear Diary,

Halloween is coming!!! Vyxun is getting excited about eating lots of cakes and sweets. She’s even starting to hallucinate and sees them all over the place! Yikes, I think I heard her tummy rumbling!

We didn’t have any lowbie playtime this week. Szapphire, Sayla, Dunixi, and Esoterically are taking a break while Esoterically gets his new gaming PC custom built.

Esoterically has infected the entire lowbie group with New PC-itis. We’re all daydreaming about getting new gaming PCs. Mine’s about four years old now, and I’ve decided my machine just isn’t hot enough anymore; especially since I saw it’s appalling rating on this website!!! http://cpubenchmark.net/ My processor is so bad, I nearly went blind when I saw how low it scores on the chart.

I always like to drag out buying stuff I’m gonna have for a long time (furniture, cars, PCs, etc), so I’m dawdling over which PC to get. As far as tech goes, the longer I wait, the better a PC I’ll end up with for my money! At the moment,  I’m sizing up Alienware and Cyberpower computers. The Intel i7 Processors look pretty yummy, and I’d definitely be going with 64 bit Windows 7. So far I’m keen on Nvidia for graphics, liquid cooling, and plenty of DDR3 memory.

Here’s the base Alienware computer. Just click the customize button, and go from there. http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/alienware-aurora/pd.aspx?refid=alienware-aurora&s=dhs&cs=19&~ck=mn A Cyberpower PC is at this link; also very customizable. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Xtreme_SI/

I’m sure I’ll be writing again before Halloween.  So hang in there dear Diary, and don’t be lonely! If you get bored, just read all the other Journals going on around you in MyDDO.

Big Love, <3

Sharz XOXOXOX

Dear Diary,

It sure is a lot of work getting all my characters both flagged and leveled up! At last I got cute little Feefeen to level 18, and I hope to finish flagging her for the Tower of Despair raid soon.

As you can probably tell from the colouring in the Feefeen collage below, I’m pretty psyched about Halloween coming up so fast! Lolz, Eye of newt and toe of frog, Fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Feefeen is a honey, though I confess I’ve gotten rusty at playing her. /blush Playing a Ranger involves all kinds of quick thinking and strafe jump running around. It’s also important to have a clue about how monster aggro is working and affecting the group, so that things stay under control.

I want to find a way to increase the potency of heals that land on Feefeen, so I need to knuckle down and find her the Hound raid Levik’s Bracers, plus perhaps put a Finger Necklace on her. Poor little mouse, I’ve neglected her for too long.

That’s my news for today, I’ll chat some more tomorrow! Night Night!

Sharz <3 XOXOXOX

Dear Diary,

Chelsa and I have been questing to find those elusive Tower of Despair Anchoring Boot components, and at long last! We’ve found enough ingredients to make some Boots for a few of our characters. Let’s Celebrate!!!

Chelsa’s Elven two-weapon Fighter Kina (pictured below) is a total knock-out in her set of Anchoring Boots; Yippee Yay!

My Human Bard-Barbarian yKaterina is pumped up about making a set of Anchoring Boots today. (/cheer!!!) :P  Check her out below, feeling all majestic and confident.

My voluptuous and stout-hearted Dwarven two-weapon Fighter Ashin is all starry-eyed about her brand new Anchoring Boots. She loves how sturdy they look. I’m sure Ashin’s gonna rock the foundations of the Tower of Despair very soon. Monsters beware - she’s really got it in for you!

Now that these characters have their boots, we still need to work on finding more boot bits ‘n pieces for our alts.

Below my Halfling two-weapon Fighter Silkey is feeling very impatient about getting boots! Kina better knock off all the celebrating and help her get some!

Chelsa’s planning to make his next set of boots for either his Human Paladin Chelsa, or for his Human Monk Dingding. Onward Ho! We’ve still got quite a way to go!

Till next time Dear Diary, I close with great affection etc…

Sharzade XOXOXOX <3

Dear Diary,

Just for kicks, I’ve decided to put together a list of my favourite books in random order. If you’re curious, you can check the reviews out on Amazon.com!

Archangel by Sharon Shinn, Fantasy/SciFi romance, first in a series, very unique world-building

The Shapechanger’s Wife by Sharon Shinn, strange Fantasy, liked the way the intrigue regarding the mysterious wife unraveled

A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin (starting with A Game of Thrones), gritty medieval fantasy, huge cast of characters (amazing on CD)

The Dune books by Frank Herbert, SciFi

Lincoln’s Dreams by Connie Willis, tragic but gives a unique perspective on US history, loved it, kinda Paranormal

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman, bit kinky but loved it, very dramatic and moving at times, Fantasy SciFi

His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman - excellent on CD, fully acted by cast, narrated by author, Fantasy

The Legend of Drizzt books by R A Salvatore, Fantasy

The Star of the Guardians space opera series by Margaret Weis (adore this series! First book is The Lost King), SciFi/Fantasy

Wasp by Eric Frank Russell, SciFi, freaking hillarious! :p

The Rai Kirah series (starting with Transformation) by Carol Berg, great Fantasy

The Faded Sun Trilogy (Kesrith, Shon’jir, and Kutath) by CJ Cherryh, groovy SciFi, with action, romance, chills, & thrills!

The Seafort Saga (starting with Midshipman’s Hope) by David Feintuch, interesting military SciFi

The Black Jewels Trilogy  (starting with Daughter of the Blood) by Anne Bishop; Dark Fantasy, liked it lots, kinda badass

There you have it. Some of them might be your cup of tea too!

Sharz <3

Dear Diary,

For me, DDO is a great place to have fun and be with friends, and I think there are things that would make the game even better.  Here’s my fluffy wishlist for the game in random order!

1. Housing (to provide a non-combat pastime)

2. More fashions and more character appearance customization options via the DDO Store (lipsticks, more hair options, unique fashions etc)

3. More races, classes, and quests

4. More XP for high level Shavarath quests, and the ability to Teleport to both Amrath and the Reaver’s Refuge

5. More crafting

6. Around town pets

7. More bonus xp weekends!

8. Greensteel Item and Weapon Deconstruction; to fix old mistakes and retrieve original components (essences, foci, etc)

9. Long life for DDO and a Lifetime VIP DDO option rather than just the current payment choices

10. More ways to earn DDO Store coins; not just by Favour.

Cheers till next time,

Sharz <3