V is for Video Games

It feels strange to call them video games when most of the games I play are on my iPad or my PC but the dictionary says I've got the right word so here we go!

I've been playing World of Warcraft since 2009 and writing about it since late 2010 but I remember Space Invaders back in the late 1970's and was fairly addicted to that even back then. Over the years I've played lots of different games and spent hours of fun, bashing buttons at arcades at the beach too. I particularly enjoy the strategy/resource games like Settlers & Sim City. I think I like those because I play solo and at my own speed, without the need for speedy reflexes & movement, something I struggle with in the multiplayer games but then I wouldn't have so many wonderful people to chat too if I didn't play online!

World of Warcraft is in a bit of a lull for me right now while we're waiting for Warlords of Draenor so I've been playing quite a few other games. I'm really looking forward to Wildstar being released on 3rd June and I'm kinda hoping my operation will be scheduled for the week before! I'll be off work for 2 maybe 3 weeks so it will give me something to take my mind off my discomfort! I was lucky enough to get into the closed Beta and have picked up a few of the keys for the current special weekend Betas. I could pre-order but I'm torn between buying the Wildstar US version or the EU one! So for now, I'm hanging on, hoping something or someone will help me make my mind up!

Most recently, I've been lured into League of Legends by Cold and we've met up with a few Twitter peeps in there too (hellooo Amarochi & LegionHopper!). I'm really enjoying it when I play against the AI at beginner level! I'm really not very good at the intermediate level though! If you'd like to join us on Sundays (afternoon US time, evenings UK/EU time) then send us a friend request. If you haven't played before, it's free so just download & install it and tell them NevToo sent you!

I'm also playing Clash of Clans with a new clan and we're all suddenly re-learning how to attack strategically. The new Clan Wars expansion was a bit of a shock to my system for sure! I'd been using a cheap army to just farm resources quickly but that method of attack doesn't work in the Wars!

And of course, there's Hearthstone - the free to play collectible card game (CCG) by Blizzard, the makers of World of Warcraft. I enjoy a game now & then but I haven't stayed addicted to it as I did with WoW. Even now that it's been released for the iPad, I have still only played 1 or 2 games! As you can imagine, with 2 blogs and countless other games on the go, I don't have a huge amount of time for it!

Some of the games I do try to find time for are the free apps I review for my One Minute Gaming segment - which reminds me - I need to do some more for this weekend! You can read my reviews here by clicking the page link at the top of the page.

So yeah, I'd say I'm fairly well covered in the video games department - not saying I'm a geek or anything although I definitely have geekish tendencies! I have a long way to go to earn my full fledged geek card I think!

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C is for Clash of Clans

Ok so back to more normal topics today - games & gaming. I'm currently playing Clash of Clans on my iPad and loving it. It's a 'build a base then attack others' kind of strategy game but without the frantic quality so many games have these days. It's also free to play although as usual, there are ways to pay the developers real cash and I'm pretty sure most people do at some point! How much you pay over is down to your own patience & will power though! It's available on iPhone, iPad & some Android devices although sadly my phone is too old to run it.

I've joined the EGP clan and am currently sitting in 2nd place behind Cold (of Cold's Gold Factory) for number of trophies although I am quite a ways behind him. I'm at Town Hall level 7 which means that improving any of my weapons or defenses usually takes about 3-4 days each and a whole bucket load of elixir or gold, the two main resources in game.

It's one of those games you can play for just 2 minutes at a time - pop in, collect your resources and pop out again. Or of course, you can stay in game for much longer - working out great layouts for your base, developing a build strategy or building different kinds of armies to go raiding with.

If you get attacked and enough of your base is destroyed, the game gives you a shield too so it's not so bad if you are just getting everything built - you're not going to be constantly under attack by higher level players which is a relief - I have to admit to being fed up with the constant ganking that new players get in almost any game!

One of the achievements available in game is to reach 1250 trophies - this is a main achievement to aim for because it awards 450 green gems - the ones you normally have to buy with real cash! It's extra desirable because to get a 3rd builder costs 500 green gems which is almost a must have element. There is a way to get green gems in game without spending real cash - you just chop down trees, dig up stones & dead tree trunks that appear each day on your land area - unfortunately, those only drop 1-5 green gems and then only if you're lucky!

As a newbie to the game, my advice would be

• Don't spend all your green gems just to speed up building stuff, you'll need them even more later on. 
• Try to keep things fairly balanced between defence, attack and building upgrades - don't spend all your resources on upgrading your army and forget about your walls - keep them balanced!
• You don't have to clear all the obstacles around your base, like rocks & trees. They can give green gems but they can also be expensive to remove.
• Play some of the solo missions against the goblins - that will give you an idea of what you may come across in raiding later
• Join a clan once you have your Clan Castle built. You can request troops to help with attacks or defence but don't get too greedy when asking, donate some to help clan mates out too!
• Most of all? Have fun!

I'm pretty sure this game doesn't really need an in-depth explanation but if you find you want more information, there is a FREE walk through video guide available on Amazon and I'm sure there are others available too. Or if you want, you can ask questions here in the comments and I'll try and help :)

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