Rift: Exploring the Wardrobe Patch

Hey, guys! As you may have read in my earlier post, I’ve dropped Diablo 3 as my main RPG and started playing Rift instead. For the few of you reading my blog that may also play Rift, you’ve probably been keen on the new game patch: the wardrobe update.

When I first heard about this patch, it didn’t seem like much. Some new clothing looks, another menu for clothes. [I’ll admit, I didn’t go too far into the research.] Sure, I thought it would be cool, but I didn’t expect it would be anything big.

When the patch came out and I got to play it for the first time, I thought it was stupid. The dye merchants in Sanctum and Meridian were gone, replaced by an in-game dye menu. You had to pay credits to get the nice colors. I learned, slowly, that apothecary dyes still worked, and the colors in the menu were nice, anyway. It still seemed pretty pointless. Now you could have two sets of clothing. It didn’t make much sense to have two wardrobe options; why not just wear the best armor you owned at all times? I put all my normal clothes in my wardrobe slot. It felt pretty much the same, albeit with nicer colors.

Then I realized that wasn’t what the update was, and I started to like it more. Now, easy as pie, you could make your character look like he or she was wearing whatever you wanted him or her to. You could even wear something that your class couldn’t normally use – while still retaining the stats of the armor you were really wearing. This worked better than ever at the time, right after I’d picked up a piece of chest armor that had good stats but was ridiculously immodest. [Yeah, sorry, my rant about inappropriate/impractical womens’ RPG outfits will come later.]

In my opinion, this is especially useful for mages and warriors, whose clothing options aren’t exactly pleasing [to me, anyway.] Mages’ robes usually look like they’re wearing bathrobes, especially the lower-level ones; the warriors sometimes look like they’re wearing metal swimsuits. Not exactly advisable if you’re going into battle. Even the weapons are customizable – if you’re tired of your boring dagger or dull staff, exchange it for a swaggy sword that you’d never be able to use anyway!

The wardrobes can be accessed via the character page [press C]. Click on the wardrobe tab on the left side and tinker with your appearance to your heart’s content!

Maybe later I’ll post a picture of my character’s wardrobe, if anyone wants to see it.

Thanks for reading! I hope my review of the patch was useful to you!

– Summer 🙂

Last Day of Summer Break FUN POST!!

Hey, guys. Today’s my last day of summer vacation, which means that tomorrow is the first day of school. I’m not too excited about this, as you can probably guess. So today, I decided to do a SUPER COOL post about… everything I put on this blog!!
Yup. I’m going to do gaming, a review, a picture, and a story ALL IN ONE POST. Everything’s going to be a little short, since it has to fit in one blog post, but it’ll be great!!

~Movie Reviews: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes~
I think this is still showing in theaters. I saw it a while ago but never got around to reviewing it!! Anyway, here it is.
This movie is a modern prequel to the 1960’s Planet of the Apes series and a sequel to the 2012 Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I went with Flora and my dad, since my mom was convinced that it is the cheesiest movie series on earth and that, even though this had 2014 animation, it was going to be just as stupid as the 60’s version. True, the costumes in the old movies looked like they came out of a Halloween costume store, but this movie was nothing like its predecessors.
First of all, the animation was ten times better. The characters actually looked like apes and not people in ape suits. The music was also a whole lot less dramatic, if there was any at all. Overall, it was much better done than the old ones.
It wasn’t quite as action-packed as I expected. Sure, there was lots of fighting and war and destruction and stuff, but the dialogue was slow in places and it was more of a drama than a real thriller movie.
Sorry this review is a little short, but I have to make it all fit in one post without it being ten times as long as a normal post. For cool animation, good actors, but a slightly weird story, I give Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 3.9 stars. If you didn’t like the other ones, don’t see it, but it’s really much better than the other ones. I recommend this for kids 10 and up. The reason is best stated by my little sister: she didn’t go see it because “I don’t want to watch that creepy ape movie”.

~Fiction: Among the Clouds, Part 3~
Alright, this one, finally!! A bunch of people said that they like this story, but it wasn’t catching my attention as much as my other stories. I figured it would be good for a short story feature, though, so here it is!!

Mallory’s eyes widened. Invaded?! She’d only lived there for about a month and the land was already in danger. She wished she could have a normal life for at least six months! She decided that she would try to fight back. She’d give whatever she had to to save her new home, even if it meant fighting her old people.
But how? She wasn’t even supposed to know. She’d been eavesdropping on the Queen, and how was she going to help if she couldn’t admit it? It would be kind of stupid to walk up to the ruler of Skyland and say, “Hey, Your Highness, I was kind of listening in on your private conversation, but it’s all cool now, and now you ought to let me help you with whatever you’re doing?” It wasn’t going to be that easy. She would have to take a more unconventional approach.
Quietly, she walked toward the door, humming casually as if she hadn’t been paying any attention to the regal conversation at the table. Once she was outside, she took off as fast as she could to the edge of Skyland. She had to find a plane.
She was halfway to her destination when she heard the quiet whuff-whuff-whuff of wings. Turning around to see who – or what – it was, she was met by the glare of another winged person.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” she said angrily. “I saw you listening to the queen, and I am this close to turning you in right now.”
It was Breeze.

~Gaming: How To Make The Most Efficient Minecraft Farm~
Lots of people – including me, at one point – don’t use the best farming technique. You might put your wheat next to a lake, river, or ocean. You might build strips of water and dirt like in a village. You might do some crazy wacko thing that I’ve never even seen before.
But there’s one farm that gives you TONS of dirt space, plus only uses 1 water for every 9×9 square. It’s super simple to make, and I don’t want to clog this post up with a bunch of pictures, so I’ll put it in text. It’ll still be easy to make.
Step 1: Make a 3×3 square of dirt with the center block empty. It should look like a square donut.
Step 2: Put water in the hole.
Step 3: Put 2 blocks coming out from the center of each side of the donut. There should be 3 blocks coming from the water.
Step 4: Connect each line around the corner, making a 9×9 square with the water at the center.
Step 5: Hoe all the dirt, and you’re finished!!
It really works and only uses that much water. If you stick a bunch of them together, you can get TONS of farmland with only a few buckets of water!!

~Picture: My Beautiful Fingernails!!~
I did them myself!! I actually never used the brush: my tools were a bobby pin, a pinhead, a straw, and a toothpick. Unfortunately, I only did my left hand, since if I did my right I’d have to paint with my left hand and I’m right-handed.

Thanks for reading! Also, a small update on my posting schedule: I’ll try to post at least five times a week, but I can’t post anything on Tuesday, so don’t expect anything then.

Summer 😀

5 Cool Things to Build in Minecraft

Hey, guys!!  I’m so sorry I haven’t posted for so long, but school is starting so soon and we’ve had a busy week.  I felt awful for not posting anything for so long, but I was just about out of ideas, so here’s my post for today: five awesome things you can make on Minecraft!

1.  Your House In Real Life

I don’t know why this one is so fun, but it is.  There’s a weird kind of satisfaction in making your actual house out of blocks.  Invite all your friends over to your server and you can have a sleepover at your house without having to bring them all over to your real house!!

2.  Animal Traps

There are various blueprints for redstone-powered mob traps all over the Internet.  If you can get a spawner inside one, you basically have an infinite supply of meat, and let’s admit it, it’s fun to watch virtual animals trigger virtual traps.  

3.  A Huge Castle

This one may be a bit cliched, but for a reason.  These things are awesome.  You can make them even cooler looking than the Crystal Palace on Animal Jam since you can customize the size so much more easily, and living in your castle mansion is just so fun, whether you’re in survival or creative.

4.  A Statue of Yourself

These things look awesome when they’re finished!  Who DOESN’T want a giant version of themselves overlooking their Minecrafting?  I recommend using white stained clay for skin.  It’s kind of flesh-colored, even though it’s supposed to be white.

5.  Sky Adventure

I think Flora and I may have actually invented this one.  It’s like a cross between a parkour and an adventure map.  There’s a point or a story like an adventure map, and there may even be boss fights or traps to escape, but it’s all on platforms in the air.  I’m currently working on posting my sky adventure, which I named the Myrest, on my Planet Minecraft account.  It’s pretty old – like pre 1.6 old – but it’s still super fun.

Thanks for reading, even though I haven’t posted anything in so long!!

Summer 😀

Viva Pinata!

Hey, guys. I was sitting on my couch playing on my Xbox when I realized there was a video game I’d been playing for forever – well, since kindergarten – and hadn’t blogged about it. Yes, I played it in kindergarten, but it’s the kind of video game that is available for all ages, just in a different style. My dad even played it at one point.
Viva Pinata! Where on earth am I going to start??!! Not to sound braggy, but I know so much about this game I could write a handbook. I’ll explain the basics first.
You start out with a dried-out, junk-filled, comparably tiny plot of land. Then, as the game goes on, you clear it out, expand, grow plants, attract pinatas, and make it beautiful. The game is made so that there are lots of hidden cheats available – such as changing pinatas’ color, attaining new pinatas, and even transforming and evolving them – so this will be a very rich topic for my blog. I’m excited.
For this post, I’ll start with three basic pinatas, their needs, and their special cheats.

Whirlm

This is the first pinata you attain. They’re extremely simple to get – all you need is at least 1 pinometer of dirt or grass. To romance them, you do exactly the same, plus having one of their type’s houses in the garden, which is necessary for all pinatas to romance. They’re required food to get Sparrowmints to breed, and quite a few others – this is a staple pinata that is extremely difficult to completely eradicate.
Feeding them a turnip will turn them purple. Feeding them a watercress seed will turn them green. Feeding them a water lily seed will turn them pink.
Pinatas’ names come from two things: a candy or edible, or an animal. These pinatas are named after whirls and worms.

Sparrowmint

These pinatas are almost as easy to get as Whirlms. To attract them and make them visit, all you need is a Whirlm. To make them residents, you have to have romanced Whirlms before. To romance them, they must eat a Whirlm. Eating one of these is part of the Buzzenge’s romance requirements.
Feeding them a thistle flowerhead will turn them purple. Feeding them a water lily flower will turn them pink. Feeding them a watercress flower will turn them green. Feeding them a buttercup flower will turn them into a Candary.
These pinatas are names after spearmints and sparrows.

Mothdrop

The Mothdrop only comes out at night. In fact, that’s all they need to appear and visit. To become a resident, you must have some kind of light in the garden. To make them romance, they must eat a thistle. Mothdrops are required to attain tamed Sherbats and Galagoogoos.
Feeding them a bluebell seed, a turnip, and a carrot will turn them blue with orange wings. Feeding them a daisy flower will turn them yellow. Feeding them a pumpkin and a watercress flower will turn them green with red wings.
These pinatas are named after coughdrops and moths.

Expect more Viva Pinata posts in the future. I don’t know of too many people that play this game – only Flora, actually – but if you do, I hope these posts are helpful. If you don’t, it’s really fun. You ought to try it.

Summer 😛

P.S. Sorry for the spam of tags. I just had lots of ideas.

Minecraft Snapshot 14w21b: My Thoughts

Hey, guys!! Today I’ll be talking about the current preview of the next Minecraft update, otherwise known as a snapshot. I’ll be talking about the ups and downs of this preview, as well as what I think about the next update.
First of all, there are six new blocks to build with: diorite, andesite, granite, and polished versions of each of these.
Granite is going to be very good for building houses, as it looks like a kitchen floor or counter. The other two could probably save the same purpose. They can be found in random places with stone, a little like coal ore, but mostly on the surface and in the water.
There’s also another new block under “decorations”: the slime block.
It looks really cool, and I love the purpose it serves: it’s like a trampoline; it bounces everything that lands on it. I bet if you built a giant room out of slime blocks it would be like a trampoline room. Whoa…
And here’s my favorite feature of the snapshot: 1.8 skins are now fully functional! Skins can now have different arms and legs and a 3D “hat” layer over the whole body. My skin creator only supports the 1.8 format, so this is a big relief. Both Amber’s and my skins are 1.8 format, so I really can’t wait until 1.8 comes out officially so we can use them in multiplayer.
Overall, I think this is a great addition to the world of Minecraft. I absolutely love the new skin format, and the new blocks are cool, too.
Thanks for reading, I appreciate it a lot!!

Summer 🙂

UPDATE: One of my readers noted in the comments that not only are there new blocks and skin formats, but there’s also a new set of commands – I won’t go into detail about that – but villagers can also plant and harvest crops.
Funny how, with their big eyebrows and crossed arms, they look like they’re plotting your death.