The Shiny Side

Believe it or not, aside from work I haven’t actually spent much time at a computer over the last couple of weeks. Sure, I’ve sat down and rummaged through some emails, but I’ve gamed very very little on my reliable box of awesome. Why is that?

Really, it just comes down to what I affectionately call my gaming ADD. I go through some pretty serious swings in what I feel like playing sometimes. Case in point: both my CoH and WoW accounts have officially run their course. Well, I don’t want to be called a liar - I think my WoW account expires in two days. But I’ll be out of town… so it might as well be gone already!

It isn’t that I regret paying and playing the games. I don’t, not one bit. But my tastes change and so do my gaming habits.

I love the social aspect that comes with MMOs. Some of my best friends (heck, both of my roomates!) were met through online gaming. Most of these friendships have continued, even without the game as a backdrop. Let’s face it, MMOs are a far better option than eHarmony! *grin*

I’m getting off topic here. Ah, well. My blog, my rules? Nah, let’s get back to why I started this post…

Console gaming. It’s always something I like to do here-and-there. Well, probably more than that, considering what my game collection looks like.* Nevertheless, sometimes it just strikes me that I need to put a dent in my backlog of games and I just start going to town on ‘em.

First up on my conquest was:

Well, no. Okay, it wasn’t Bunnies Creed II. But it WAS Assassin’s Creed II. I just couldn’t turn down the chance to post that picture. Seriously, how cute is that?!

For my birthday at the end of November, Rose got me Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. I was SUPER excited and was eager to throw it right in and give it a spin. Then a horrific realization struck me.

I hadn’t finished Assassin’s Creed 2. Egads!

So off I went. As it turns out, I get my best console gaming done early in the morning (yeah yeah, bachelor pad, yadda yadda) before I go to work. I’m the only one awake, the flat is quiet, and there is nothing to do but snuggle on the couch with my kitties with a controller in my hands.

Looking back, it actually didn’t take me very long to burn through AC2. I just ate up the story, I loved the city-rebuilding mini-game (completed it early and was super rich by the end of the game!) In fact, the only trophies that I didn’t have by the time I finished were some specific weapon-based ones, and a glitched trophy (I have the “use all the lookout points” trophy but not the “use your first lookout point” trophy? Really, game?)

So I finished it. It was epic, and so I immediately put in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood as a reward… or that’s what you would have figured. But I am not always logical in the “typical” sense!

Check back soon to see what I got sucked into next!

*My collection isn’t that bad. Well, okay, so I have about 20 games for each of the current-gen systems, which if you figure average in cost to about $40 each (with sales and BOGOs, etc) then that only comes out to be about… two… um… thousand four hundred dollars.

I think I need to sit down.

Been quiet for much longer than I wanted to. I really want to post more, but work has literally been kicking my BUTT the last couple of weeks. It’s just a matter of making time to write, though, and I will.

So I noticed an old City of Heroes buddy playing DCUO today. That makes at least three people that I know have picked up the game. I poked his brain about some of the features, what he likes, how many options there are for XYZ. Three friends I know who have the game, and all three of them love it.

Now, I understand the ground rules for this game. The game is more action than RPG. I got that from the first announcement of the game. Play it like a comic book driven God of War game with an epic online component. Cool. I can do that. Heck, I thought a multi-player mode in Arkham Asylum would have rocked.

Then, there’s the whole “this isn’t City of Heroes” line people keep telling me. GOOD!

You see, I am one of those really strange people who will play a game I don’t particularly like. Why? Community. I am a big fan of the massively part of MMO. I like hanging out with people. I like meeting new people. I’d gladly scrounge my way through the muck of a bad game or the wretched hive of “LOL NUB” pugs for the sake of meeting new and interesting friends.

So getting away from CoH, still having a fun Super Hero MMO, and getting to meet MORE new/fun people? Yesplz.

I guess it sounds like I’ve already made up my mind. Maybe I have. I guess I don’t know. I don’t want to be spending a lot of extra money right now. Bills to pay. Girlfriends to spoil. You know the drill.

Maybe I will be picking it up soon. Canceling my CoH account gives me an extra $45 in my pocket right away (I was on a 3-month reoccurring plan). Canceling WoW gives me an extra $15 to throw into the mix. So just by canceling my two current MMOs (that I’m rather “meh” about most of the time - CatDog notwithstanding) I would have the allocated funds available to MMO in a new way.

Even if the majority of my current MMO friends didn’t follow, I’m not too worried about losing them. Whyfor? Well, two of them just moved in with me. That’s right, I have MMIRL! Wow, that was dorky..

Furthermore, I know a great number of them will be grabbing TOR when it comes out later this year (c’mon, BioWare!) That was the plan all along for a lot of us, and I was going to be dropping out of my current MMOs for that anyway. So what’s a few months early and a new MMO in the meantime? I’ll still chat with them all on Vent and see some of them every day. Oh, and we sometimes hop into LotRO, which I can still do. Yay, free!

Okay. So maybe I really have already decided. Maybe. But that brings up a really big question…

Buy it through Steam or on the PS3?

Cataclysm brought me back to WoW for a few reasons, the first of which was Worgen. Being able to play as a Werewolf with a top hat? Where do I sign up?!

Since I created Chimeran, my Worgen Druid on Winterhoof, I have hardly played anything but him. My playtime has been relatively scarce due to real-world distractions (which I am very glad for, mind you!) and work being pretty killer since the new year. When I get time to play, though, it’s on my favorite CatDog.

I made it a point to not log into WoW after 4.0 dropped. I didn’t want to mess around with the new specs. I didn’t want to raid. I didn’t want to travel across the world one more time before Deathwing jacked everything up. I was done with the old, and ready for the new… and I wanted it all at once.

BBB had a wonderful post about “going to sleep” one night, and waking up years later in the “story” of Azeroth. Overnight (to us) the world completely changed. Civilization had already adapted. Life was already going on… all without the help or direction of the supposed Champions of each faction. It’s a great read, go check it out. I don’t mind waiting.

All caught up? Good. Hopefully his superb writing style doesn’t turn you off of my blog!

The reason I wanted you to read his thoughts is the very reason I chose to stay away: the epic change took a while for me. I stayed away from the game for a month. Maybe even a bit more than that. I didn’t really have the urge to log in and play (I primarily blame that on Lord of the Rings Online and my friends, but still!). So when I decided to buy Cataclysm (after the launch-night craziness), install it, and log in for the first time in over a month, everything was different. And it thrilled me.

From the portals mysteriously missing from Dalaran to the Barrens broken in two (something I’m yet to see, actually)… nothing was quite the same. It was amazing.

So after a few minutes on my tried-and-true Hunter (Jaarka, for those playing the home game), I logged out and decided to roll up my very first Worgen. Rawr!

I had already decided ahead of time that my first would be a druid. I have tried to level a druid in the past, but they were usually side projects with friends that always fizzled out between levels 15 and 20. I know, that’s really sad. But some were more for RolePlaying than actually leveling. gasp. Yes, I am that guy.

This time, however, I decided things would be different. I had read about how fun the new talent trees were. I already had a basic understanding of how druids operated (in all 4 functions, to boot!) All I needed now was a Druid to call my own. And, thus, Chimeran was born.

I’m having so much fun!!!!

Seriously. Not since I rolled up my originally Jaarka (Nightelf Hunter on Thorium Brotherhood. He’s still there!) have I felt so enthralled by a new class. Even when I started leveling Lazurin (Bloodelf Mage now on Winterhoof) it was more of a fun side-project than a complete change of how I wanted to play.

Now I can’t imagine having fun without my druid powers.

The name of this post is a fun acronym that one of my old <For the Horde> guildies and I came up with when we decided to run around together in-game while both in cat form. You see, leveling a feral druid in cat form has become, shall we say, broken. Not in the “nerf-it-to-the-ground” way, but in the “this-is-so-much-fun” way. Everything falls before the might of the Chainsaw Kitties of DOOM.

I’m pretty sure that I stole “Chainsaw Kitties” from BBB. If so, sorry for not giving you the proper credit! Though, since I’m mentioning it now, all is forgiven?

Anyway, to save this post becoming a Super Beast (it’s just a beast right now, nothing super about it) I’m going to just cut this short and tell you this:

Chimeran is my new favorite toon. I’ve beartanked. I’ve chainsawed in CatDog. I’ve healed in a pinch.

I am officially a Drood4Life.

“Happy Birthday.” A phrase we all know and use more often than we realize. Usually it is used to celebrate years of existence after birth. But, let’s be honest… the launch of an MMO is the same as its metaphorical “Birth” into the world. So today we celebrate the birthday of DC Universe Online!

SOE has had ups-and-downs in the MMO market, but they’ve been a big player for a long time. Here’s to them, and the hope of a successful game that thousands (millions?) can enjoy!

Hello?

*taps microphone*

Is this thing on?

Man. One of these days I’m going to be an actual blogger. Not just a “once in a blue moon” kind, either. I’m talking, like, posts. Weekly. Blows the mind, I know.

I have a lot of idea fluttering around in this head of mine. Lots of games I’ve played. Lots of books I’ve read. I want to write about it all.

A wise person An amazing and beautiful person My wonderful girlfriend once told me “it’s not about finding time, it’s about making time” and they were she was absolutely right. I am going to make the time to write on this blog. To post my shenanigans. To subject you to the craziness that is my braaaaain! *evil laugh*

Anyway. If there is anyone who actually reads this… Hi! I’m here, I swear. More posts incoming. Maybe even today!