Ctrl Alt WoW - The Podcast...: April 2025

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 823 - Play or Not to Play, That is the Question

Recording Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 823 - Play or Not to Play, That is the Question

Grand Nagus:

I’ve been decorating my apartment, and this is the centerpiece of it.

New Online Store attire: The Warden’s Attire.

Space suit was introduced:

FFXIV: Cosmosuit - Full Glamour Showcase

Valheim in VR is Absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!

AprilPvd in VR:

Ilysia

I have given up completely on ILYSIA. Supposedly there is a quicker way to get to your weapons, but I just couldn’t figure it out and I found myself getting killed because I couldn’t switch from my bow to my blades fast enough when a mob was on. Plus it seemed like a level eight I was quickly approaching the game and still did not have a good understanding of how my skills were being used. The friend that was helping me or rather carrying me was trying to tell me something, but it was making me feel like a burden. I was constantly thanking her, but still not getting a good understanding of the mechanics.

She had had a similar response to when we were playing Medieval Dynasty and I had an epiphany that maybe all games aren’t for everyone. That’s when I realised how much I was missing legendary tales.

Legendary Tales

So I’m back in legendary tales and I realized we’re playing ILYSIA that I really enjoyed the weapons manufacturers mechanics. When I gathered loot to break down and then choose the ones I wanted to make it was very satisfying.

I have several characters, but I decided I wanted to go back to my archer and work on her. The really good thing about legendary tales is while I can play solo so I can concentrate on my quest line and getting my gear, when I’m at the point that I need to move up it’s easy to find a server with people on it that are willing to help. I even found someone to give me some nice beer and a bunch of potions. but I realised that unlike ILYSIA I was doing more steady fighting. One of my main purposes in video games in VR is to get exercise.

Zenith

I logged into Zenith to do cosmetic craze Saturday before last and found out they had cut down to five servers. It's sad because there was at least 20 at one point and a lot of them were full. When they started, you were locked to a server for so many hours, which made it hard for you to play with your friends.

Five or six of the regular showed up and we had a really good time. I really love the mechanics of that game and I actually went back in a couple more times during those suing week to love on my Blade and get her more gear.

Train World Sim

I'm progressing in my career. I really really love. I also went into derail Valley for a little bit and had a blast. At one point I was having a hard time going up the hill so I pulled into a yard and I got rid of the oil tanks I was hauling.

Sail

I got my golden fishing rod. I was at 899,000 gold coins when I just decided to go in and do a bunch of the big boss Ghost Maw to get 15,000 gold each time. It’s very strange. I love the feeling of being on the water and I have to ship my sales in the right direction and steer away and shoot my cannons just right so it was very very fun.

Medieval Dynasty

I harvested my crops, but my biggest thing I was getting low on iron, which is the best material to make weapons with because they last long. So I went out at the end of autumn to try to find as much iron as I could before the season was over.I ended up dying a couple of times, but because I’m in co-op, it’s OK.

Exercise

AprilPvd

https://www.twitch.tv/aprilpvdvr

https://www.twitch.tv/ctrlaltwow

https://www.youtube.com/aprilpvd

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 822 - The Friends We Make

AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discuss Final Fantasy XIV and Virtual Reality.Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life.

We made so many friends playing World of Warcraft. In fact, that’s how you and I got to know each other. It was an interesting dynamic because unlike most of today’s games there’s not even voice. How about we did have vent. Which was amazing to use. A couple of days ago we lost Caoboi he gave a lot to the community. He met his wife, Iceflow in World of Warcraft and the two of them have been on the Podcast on multiple occasions. Coincidentally, if you listen to last weeks episode, you heard the clan of darkness theme song at the end, that was written produced and saying by that wonderful couple and my heart breaks to know.

Grand Nagus:

Been doing a lot of role playing in FFXIV.

AprilPvd in VR:

Legendary Tales

Still haven’t played much

Sail

I’ve gotten obsessed with getting the gold fishing rod have to go, which cost 1 million gold coins. I had started on SAIL on Meta because it was free. Then I saw that it was on PCVR/theme for $12 so I bought it on there thinking the graphics would be better. They aren’t as far as I can tell. The biggest difference was that you can buy blue coins, the ones for cosmetic, on Meta, but you couldn’t buy them on Steam. Eventually, they posted a sign when you login on the Steam side that you could buy coins by contacting them via email. You could also get coins by doing the daily quest and challenge. But ironically, I’ve quickly run out of things I can buy with my blue coins and I have a set that I really like.

So when the “Forge” open up. I really got caught up in the challenge to get to 1 million gold. oh, I think I talked about this last week, but I did want to go into some more detail. My steam account didn’t have as much gold as my Meta account. So this week I have spent time trying to get gold as fast as I could. Initially, I was going in and doing my daily challenge and then sailing over to that three monkeys that when you give them a gem they give you a bunch of stuff. But then I decided to maximize my time. The biggest payout in the game is taken down ghostmaw , but that takes some time and scale. You have to damage him enough to kill him, but you have to make sure he doesn’t kill you. I’ve been doing it so long because the times I’ve done it with other people they will try to grab the skull and lie about it. Then I needed more exercise and I decided to do the skull event. but you have to keep in mind that I am also trying to make money and it almost becomes like playing the slot machines in Vegas. The bronze skulls cost 500 gold silver skulls cost 1000 and the gold gold cost 2000.

I was playing with a friend and I got three goals goals and we went out to do the gold skull event. It is the hardest one because it is on a ship and you have to keep moving. Otherwise you can be killed. I was under the misconception that you don’t get as much on the skull events on private servers as you do on public servers. But of course it feels “dead” on a private server. We ended up getting ambushed at the gold skull and I lost of a 6000 gold. So I decided to do an experiment to see how much gold I would get on a public server doing silver skulls versus how much on a private one. It turned out to be the same so I went to a private server and I would dance on my way out while sailing playing music that I could dance to, and then when I got to the event, I would listen to I, Robot on audible. This came in handy on Sunday because I went to a gathering with some coworkers for a few hours and I didn’t get in my normal amount of steps. So when I got back, I still need 5000 steps and I wanted to make up for the gold I lost so I just went back-and-forth with Silver skulls on a private server. I did start out with just five skulls because I was concerned that a glitch could happen or when you’re doing the event you’re fighting really hard against a large amount of mobs. If I were to die, I would lose everything that I had in my chest.

Medieval Dynasty

They have an Easter celebration where you can find eggs and make special recipes. I did finish the one quest and I got the recipe to make the crossbows. I also used harvesting as a way to get some steps in one night when I need an extra step. It does give you a workout and of course, I play standing up.

Exercise

I have been doing my three times a week workout in VR. I did mix some things up with light sport because when I’m doing Litesport, I’m looking in the mirror and I’m seeing my trainer and my own motion. Since I’m doing weights and boxing, it really helps to see both. I don’t know why, but I’m always recording whenever I’m in VR. I’m using Xsplit Broadcaster to record. It can capture games two ways. If I’m playing on PCVR I can actually set the game as a source into the recording app. But if I’m playing on my meta-headset, I have to cast to a matter webpage and then the recording app Will take that video as the game capture source. But it’s not the best quality so I really wanted to capture the scene in front of me when I’m working out and I have my trainer with me. To do this I can record straight inside the headset and the quality is a little bit better. Plus, I can enable an image stabilizer. But if I want to capture the video of me that I’m usually streaming into the recorder (see picture and show note), I have to record at the same time using a green screen and then I can use iMovie to combine the two. It actually comes out really good. I’m having fun with my little technology toys that I would have not imagined having back in the day.

Ilysia

They’ve redesigned the game and it does play a little bit better and there are a few glitches. It’s got a really good storyline and while it took some time to get used to some of the mechanics, it is an MMORPG. The only problem is that The voice system is a little weird. You can hear people talking even when they are nowhere near you which can be a little disconcerting. I didn’t realize it but again I had bought it on Meta and on PCVR. My first try at the new version I was with my friend Shirrah and she wanted to help me which was nice. But the problem with that is he lose some of the flavor because he spend some time with her telling you come over here click on this, and while I understand the beauty of that and the helpfulness of that it doesn’t help me learn stuff. So ironically, I decided to try it on the PCVR side and of course I had to start over again. Again like with SAIL I did not see that much of a graphical improvement, but I wasn’t really paying much attention. It is fine and it is solid and I will be going back and playing more.

Zenith

Civ 7

Steam

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/steam-total-account-spend/

AprilPvd

https://www.twitch.tv/aprilpvd

https://www.twitch.tv/aprilpvdvr

https://www.youtube.com/aprilpvd

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 821 - Happy Birthday AprilPvd

Grand Nagus:

We got patch 7.2 SEEKERS OF ETERNITY last week.

My highlights of the non-spoilery content are:

Glamour dresser additions/changes:

Gear additions/changes:

Many items have had a second dye channel added and many have gotten their texture quality increased.

Additions/changes to the crafting log:

New housing items:

New fish for the aquarium.

New seeds for new flowers to make new headpieces with.

New Gold Saucer items:

Glam in the form of eye patches, both left and right side.

Updates to emotes:

"Tomescroll" and "Study" are looping versions of the emotes "Tomestone" and "Read" respectively, and will be added to the emote list upon learning "Tomestone" and "Read."