Because the internet needs another gaming blog.

It’s been just over two weeks since my last post, which is a lifetime in blogging terms, but rest assured I’m still around (because I know you were wondering… right?).  The fact of the matter is, now that I’m no longer actively playing any MMOs, the blogging well has started to run dry.  There isn’t really a whole lot of interesting stuff to write about when you’re playing single-player games, is there?

Here’s a quick little update on a few different things:

Guild Wars
I was challenged by a friend claiming that I’d never be able to play Guild Wars up to level ten without first quitting of boredom.  I set out to prove him wrong and I definitely got off to a roaring start.  I was having a fair bit of fun with the game and rocketed my way up to level 8 and have since hit a brick wall.  I haven’t logged in to the game in weeks, so I’ll concede to my friend.  It probably wouldn’t take much to get those next two levels, but I’m not sure if I want to.  There you go Kuarlos… you win.

Dungeons and Dragons Online
The game went free, I played for a bit, and lost interest.  I definitely liked what I played, but my problem with it at the moment is that I wasn’t having a great time solo’ing it.  This game screams out for group play but my real life commitments don’t allow for that right now.  Maybe some day.

World of Warcraft
My subscription has been up  for two weeks now and I still have no burning desire to head back.  I suspect I’ll be able to last until Cataclysm’s release, at which time I fully intend to resubscribe, however, there’s nothing in that game for me right now.

Fallout 3
I finally cracked this one open on my Xbox 360 and I’m loving it.  It took a little bit to get going, but once it did, I was hooked.  I really like the atmosphere, although I can certainly see how it wouldn’t be for everyone.  There’s something so very satisfying about playing an RPG like this on a big TV while sitting in a comfy couch.  Sure the PC version looks better, but my rear end is so much more happy to be ensconced on the couch.  By my estimates I’m about halfway through the main story, and I’ve done every single side quest I’ve come across.

NHL 10
I hate (the internet version of hate) EA as much as the next guy, but they sure do make a good hockey game.  I’m having a blast with the “Be A Pro” mode in this one; a great feature if I’ve ever seen one.

Another reason I’ve migrated to my Xbox as of late is because I’m desperately in need of a new computer.  My current rig is approaching six years old and has been chugging on the newer games for the past little while.  When I finally get around to purchasing a new one I can see a whole lot of Dragon Age: Origins in my future.  For the meantime though, I’ll be sticking with the 360.

… indifferent.

It’s now been almost three months since I last played World of Warcraft and I have just one week left until my subscription runs out.  In that time I haven’t once been compelled to go back and play again, almost as if the longer that I’ve been away, the less I want to play.  When I quit EverQuest II however long ago, I struggled almost daily fighting the urge to resubscribe, but I’ve felt no such pull with WoW.  Until Cataclysm comes out I can’t see there being anything I want to do in that game, of course, I suppose I should never say never.

There isn’t any MMO out there right now that appeals to me, and that’s mostly due to my lack of free time to play them, but I also don’t really like the direction they seem to be taking.  WoW especially seems to be strictly all about gear upgrades as opposed to creating a sense of adventure, and fun.  Yes, I know that ultimately the loot is a prime mechanic in any MMOs, but no game hits that point over your head like WoW does, and it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even know which badges can be used to buy what armour and frankly I couldn’t care less.

If Cataclysm can bring back that sense of adventure and exploration as opposed to an endless grind for better gear, I’ll be back.

No doubt by now the entire Internet has heard all the details about Cataclysm, the next expansion for World of Warcraft.  When the details were leaked by MMO-Champion.com I was fairly quick to dismiss it as crazy fan-boy rumour.  I figured there was no way Blizzard could get all of those changes done in any sort of reasonable timeline, but I have to say, I’m quite impressed that all the rumours were true. Cataclysm looks like it will be a gigantic expansion.

The expansion announcement confirmed one thing for me; I have officially broken free from the WoW tractor beam.  After reading the feature list and watching the trailer, my reaction to it is what could best be described as indifference.  It all looks and sounds really cool, but I just don’t care a whole lot.   At least not right now.  I’m getting a kick out of seeing people who I’ve heard say they “never want to see the old world again” rush out and create alts because they’ll “never be able to experience the old world again!”

Despite my current indifference, I fully believe that closer to Cataclysms release I’ll be right back in there with everyone else, but my goodness, this is probably a year away at best.  Blizzard truly is the master.  As more and more people are getting bored with the game and starting to play elsewhere, they announce this expansion and bring a whole bunch of them back.  I’m sure there will be just enough little stuff released between now and the expansion to keep those people going as well.  Just as they’re starting to get bored again, the expansion will be out, and everyone will be starting all over at level one yet again to see all the new content.  I plan on going back to check the new stuff when it’s released, but for now I’ll stay happily unsubscribed.

I’d say Blizzard has the MMO space safely locked up for the next few years for sure.  How can any other MMO compete with World of Warcraft now?

It’s been three weeks since I canceled my World of Warcraft account, and despite the fact that my account won’t actually expire until the first of October, my motivation to play the game has plummeted.  I suppose I just don’t see the point any more, which only reaffirms my decision to cancel.  I had a great time with the game for a while but towards the end, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my character was just a hamster running on a wheel, not doing anything useful, just repeating daily after daily.  It’s a good time for a break.

In the mean time I’ve fallen back in love with Civilization IV.  I had forgotten how addictive that game is and I’ve caught myself several times late at night playing “just one more turn!”.  Unfortunately it doesn’t make for the most interesting blogging material, hence the lack of updates here.

Civ IV has prevented me from playing a few games I picked up on the cheap in the last week.  First, I purchased Supreme Commander for $10.  I’ve always wanted to try it because I loved Total Annihilation back in the day.  I’ve gotten as far as installing it, but haven’t actually played it yet.  Actually, after installing I launched the game only to be told I didn’t have the correct CD in the drive.  A few internet searches later led me to the latest official patch which fixes that issue.  How does that issue even occur?  Stupid DRM.

The other cheap game I picked up was Dungeons and Dragons Online for a whopping grand total of $2.20.  That’s right, two dollars and twenty cents.  I realize of course that the game is going free to play September 9th, but the retail box comes with 30 days free so I figure it was worth two bucks to try it out for a bit.  I’ll try and post some impressions shortly, assuming of course I can pull myself away from Civ IV for a bit.

I have zero experience with DDO, so it’ll be interesting to see how simple or hard it is to start playing an established game.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about how crappy pick-up groups can be, particularly in World of Warcraft.  I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never really had to rely on them because I usually have had a steady group of people to play with.  Last night, I got a little taste of PUG Hell.

I was grinding out some quests with my level 37 Mage when I received a whisper asking if I was interested in the Scarlet Monastery library.  I had the evening free and it was still early enough so I said, “sure”, and joined the group which was now just lacking a tank.  After fifteen minutes or so a tank was found and we all started heading towards the instance.  While on the way there, a Warlock in the group all of a sudden remembered “he had something to do” and dropped group.  He was quickly replaced by a level 38 Paladin, who upon joining the group was asked, “do you DPS?”.  His response: “What’s DPS?”

This should be interesting, I thought.

I was the second to arrive at the meeting stone and we began to summon the rest of the group.  We were finally all in place and ready to roll out when it was discovered the tank, another Paladin, was wearing a cloth chest piece, and had a two handed weapon equipped as opposed to a sword and shield.  We shrugged it off though given that we had two Druid healers, so we weren’t too worried about keeping him alive.

After a quick ganking by some high level Horde, we finally made it into the library.  One party member however, (the “what’s DPS Pally”) had lost track of us as we entered the Monastery.  We tried our best to guide him into the zone but he just had no clue.  I was watching him on the map and could see he had walked down the path away from Scarlet Monastery and was headed toward Western Plaguelands.  “Stop and head back west along the path,” we’d say, but I’m guessing he had no idea what “west” meant because he kept heading east into the Plaguelands, which, at level 38, wasn’t a place he’d survive in for very long.

For five minutes we tried directing him, to the point where I figured he was just utterly hopelessly clueless, or messing with us.  Unfortunately, I think it was the former.  The rest of us decided to continue on, when, right before our first pull, the tank stops and says, “I’ve never tanked before, what do I do?”.

To my surprise, the four of us were doing just fine, dispatching mobs without any problem, all the while still trying to direct the lost Paladin toward the Library.  He was now even deeper into Western Plaguelands and dying constantly.

We made it to the first boss, Houndmaster Loksey, when one of the Druids said, “Dudes, I gotta go, my mom is pissed”.  He logged off, and left us with just myself, the other druid, and the Pally tank.  The Druid decided to step just a little too close to the boss, pulling him, and his three dogs to us.  Again, to my surprise, we killed the Houndmaster without difficulty, but the tank then said, “I’m going to go”, left the group, and hearthed back to Stormwind.  At least he had the decency to say he was leaving, as the remaining Druid, the one who started the group in the first place, hearthed back home unannounced.

There I was, almost an hour and a half after accepting the group invite, standing alone in Scarlet Monastery, when the “Lost Paladin” said to the party, “What’s going on?  Can someone just please summon me again?”.  I dropped group and hearthed back to Ironforge.