Posted in Gaming Goals

Syp’s gaming goals: August 2026

Posted on by Syp

July in review

I tried really hard in July to downshift from what had been a very hectic year so far. I took a week off work entirely, which wasn’t spent gaming as much as you’d think, and I also went on a cross-country trip to visit a friend (zero gaming that time).

I contentedly bounced back and forth between Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars 2 without feeling too much of an itch for wanderlust.

Guild Wars 2

I began the month going all-out pew-pew on my Sylvari Thief but swapped back to my Necro at the mid-point. I’m actually growing more comfortable with the Harbinger as long as I play her according to my own style vs. a preset optimized build.

While I spent a good hour or so playing GW2 every day, it was almost always doing the same thing: world boss trains. I could knock out my dailies that way, most days, and I liked hanging out with others, even if we were doing the same thing over and over again. So I didn’t make much if any progress on mapping out more zones or pursuing the storyline. But I did make some nice gold!

Lord of the Rings Online

Apart from a smattering of Lore-master play in the last Harad region, I mostly poured my attention into guiding a new River Hobbit Minstrel through the Shire. I absolutely love playing her, way more than I thought I would, and have a mind to take her on a slow, thorough completionist journey through every zone, quest, and deed.

At one point, I popped a six-hour slayer deed tome and then went on a lengthy rampage across the low-level zones taking care of a lot of these grindy tasks. At the end of July, she was level 17 and doing quite well in the virtues department. I’ve also been toying with her build and trying to learn a little more about the ins and outs of the Minstrel, including trying different stances for better utility and self-healing.

August goals

I probably need to wrap up that Harad zone with my LOTRO L0re-master, just to have it done. But my main LOTRO goal is to keep plugging away at low-level completionist zones and really savor the journey while also dusting off my high-level Captain and resuming her journey through the Harad expansions. Maybe just have her do the epic, I dunno.

Over in Guild Wars 2… I dunno. I feel that I’m in a rut with dailies and world bosses and not much else. It might be time to take a break until we hear about the Hall of Monuments 2.0, so I’ve been thinking about spending some time in FFXIV (new expansion FOMO might be sparking some of that). Stars Reach is hitting paid early access this month, but that’s very much a wait-and-see how the early adapters like it. I did load up Eterspire onto my computer, so that looks like a good possibility for a side dalliance.

Long-term, my MMORPG interest is aimed at WoW Classic Plus, whenever that comes out, and the Fallen Earth Unity remake project.

It might be a good time to venture outside of MMORPGs and enjoy some other titles, of which I have plenty in my backlog. So I’ll set a goal to at least explore that idea and see if I can find something that inspires me to stick around.

Posted in Gaming Goals, Lord of the Rings Online

Syp’s gaming report: July 2026

Posted on by Syp

 

June in review

This ended up being a strange month for me, as it was the first month in a long, long time that I didn’t have a World of Warcraft subscription. And you know what? I didn’t feel as though I was missing out. My eye’s still on Classic Plus for a re-entry point, but there’s plenty of other things to play in the meanwhile.

Lord of the Rings Online

After months and months of feeling really ambivalent about LOTRO, I got back into this MMO in a big way at the end of May and into all of June. Switching my main over to the Lore-master was a great decision — much more laid-back playstyle — and I progressed further into the epic story than I ever have. It’s amazing how the change of class and the push deeper into the epic absolutely rejuvenated my love of the game.

Because of this, I finished up the Song of Wind and Waves (or Waves and Wind, I forget which is the order there). That had a pretty powerhouse-packed third act, and I was very impressed with where it went. Good stuff. Then it was on to the latest zone added with Update 48, which I’m going to devour at a very slow pace.

Inspired by what happened with my LM, I also started a new River Hobbit Captain with an eye on a different way to engage with the game. Namely, I’m only playing through the epic story start-to-finish (beginning in Swanfleet) and using slayer deeds and missions to bolster XP and VXP. It’s a much more focused experience with a lot of travel, and I’m liking it quite a lot. She’s also adorable, and I keep taking breaks to make new outfits for her.

Elder Scrolls Online

I made good on my promise to roll up a new Necromancer for Update 50 and try out the higher difficulty level. I started on Master, rebuilding my character and acquainting myself with the MMO after being away for a long time. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the update, so this seemed like a great time to return.

However, after a few sessions, I really wasn’t clicking with this class at all. So instead of abandoning this return, I jumped back over to my trusty Warden to continue her adventures — of which she has plenty to do, considering the huge list of DLCs that I’ve only partly plundered. Currently, I’m in West Weald, enjoying some beautiful scenery and finishing up the main storyline. I did crank up her difficulty to “seasoned” and invest in a couple of class mastery options.

Guild Wars 2

Instead of Final Fantasy XIV as a side MMO, I ended up popping into Guild Wars 2 instead, partially due to the Guild Wars 3 announcement and partially because it seemed like a good game to dabble in right now. We’re at least two years out (more or less) from GW3 launching, so there’s plenty of time to get back into the second game, go through all of the content (which I’ve never done), and work on the upcoming Hall of Monuments 2.0 achievements. That’s a worthy goal that should drive my engagement.

I spent a lot of the month trying to figure out what class (or, more specific, the elite spec) I wanted to play for a good long while. I engaged with my Necromancer for a while — love that minion master playstyle, plus laying down traps is fun — but none of the elite specs were appealing to me and I ended up dropping her.

Instead, I surprised myself by juking over to the Mesmer with an eye on the Chronomancer. I have her geared up fairly well (thanks to the Wizard Vault for getting a couple pieces of ascended gear) and so far she’s been an enjoyable vehicle for my Guild Wars 2 adventures. We’ll see how that goes as we progress further into the summer. I’m sending her right into End of Dragons to get enough hero points for her elite spec, but I’m mapping on the side as well.

Goals for July

  • LOTRO: Probably finish the Update 48 zone and get my Captain to around level 40.
  • ESO: Wrap up West Weald and pick a new zone to explore and quest through. However, I may put down ESO for a month to do some FFXIV.
  • GW2: Get my full Chronomancer elite spec on my Mesmer and get the hang of that while I go through the expansion and map some more.
Posted in Final Fantasy, Gaming Goals, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft

Syp’s gaming report: June 2026

Posted on by Syp

May’s gaming in general: The really big thing that happened to me this month is that I finally got a replacement desktop gaming PC to replace the one I’ve had since 2016 that gave up the ghost back in March. The new one isn’t top-of-the-line or anything, but it’s a very solid machine that hopefully will last for a good while. So at the tail end of the month, I was setting that back up and enjoying gaming with a mouse-and-keyboard again (versus my Macbook).

World of Warcraft: May’s trading post actually impressed me with a nice horse mount, a cool Gilnean outfit, and a couple other odds and ends that prompted me to spend over 1000 tender. I really do need to sit down at some point and work on some new outfits for my Warlock, as she’s been running around in the same murloc onesie for months now (but can you blame me?).

I continued to spend a lot of time on my Warlock, clearing out Harandir zone sidequests, running weeklies and a handful of delves, and picking herbs to make some gold. I loved being able to unlock the ability to pick herbs without dismounting, which is such a time-saver that Druids used to hold exclusively.

Every other day I started to rotate between my alts. So I’d do my main on the first day, one of my three alts (Druid, Hunter, Death Knight) on the second day, back to my main on day three, then a different alt on day four. The general goal there was to gradually get my three alts up to 90, and gear them up while keeping all of my primary progress (side quests, zone quests, campaign) on my main alone.

However, by the end of the month, I wasn’t feeling the urge to log in and play WoW much at all. The goals and drive weren’t there for me, so it was time to take a break. I actually paused my subscription, the first time I’ve done that in several years. I’ll either wait for Classic Plus or something that pulls me back into retail.

Final Fantasy XIV: I needed a change, and heading back to FFXIV always seems like the cozy and comfortable thing to do. I actually initially installed this on an external hard drive, since both of my laptops had too small of an SSD to hold more than one MMO at a time. The idea was to start over and play as a Au Ra Archer from Day One, going through the base game and free expansions (with one more added to that list, thanks recent announcement!). Not having to pay or subscribe to this right now is a huge incentive for keeping it as an “on the side” MMO.

It didn’t take too long to remember how long ARR’s questline would be, however, and that started to dampen my initial enthusiasm. It’s still on my hard drive, but I didn’t make a whole lot of progress.

Lord of the Rings Online: After not getting much time at all in April to play LOTRO, I was bound and determined to get through this sticky Kingdoms of Harad zone and push on. I gamely plugged away at the expansion before shifting gears and getting back to my high-level Lore-master. The current plan is to completely sideline my Minstrel (which is a bit frustrating to play through some of the tougher content) and get my LM caught up through Umbar by only doing the epic story until I get to the latest zone. Transfer my flag over to that character, so to speak.

My new computer gave me a breath of fresh wind in playing this — it looks GORGEOUS now — and I got really excited blasting through expansions on my Lore-master doing just the epic.

Outbound: During a pretty hectic week, I was glad to get a little treat in the form of the early access launch of Outbound, the van life sim. This isn’t really a game you want to jump into and no-life; it’s more a “little bit here and there, enjoy the vibes, make a little progress, enjoy the journey” experience. I’m really liking it so far, although I dearly wish there was third-person cam for when you’re out on foot (you can use a third-person perspective for driving, oddly enough).

Paralives: My daughter and I were excited to jump into Day One early access for this life sim, even as buggy as it promised to be. I spent a good amount of time exploring the paramaker and build mode, since I heard those were the two parts of the game that were the most fleshed out.

Rimworld: Nearly every day, I’d spend a half-hour or so during lunch tending to a new colony that’s only in its first couple years. It’s doing well so far, having set up shop in a mountain canyon with a lot of defensible chokepoints.

June’s gaming goals:

  1. Catching up my Lore-master to the latest zone in LOTRO by going through the epic quest. Hit level 160. Start Update 48’s quest chain. Maybe pick back up my lowbie Captain and work on him for a while.
  2. Reinstalling Elder Scrolls Online and starting a new character with the higher difficulty challenge.
  3. Continue poking about in Outbound and Paralives. No big goals there, just chill gaming.
  4. Lightly keep visiting FFXIV during lunch breaks, see whether the game’s sticking with me or not.
Posted in Gaming Goals, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft

Syp’s gaming goals for May 2026

Posted on by Syp

Bio Break: I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot lately, and I think it’s time to pull the trigger on scaling down this blog. I’ve been writing Bio Break since 2008 with multiple posts every week, and while I’ve loved it, I’m so crunched for time lately that I need to pull away from projects that don’t have my full attention.

So going forward, all I’m committing to here is a monthly “gaming goals” post recapping my adventures with some plans. I might add more posts here and there, depending on my interest and time. Mostly, however, I’ll be writing over at Mutant Reviewers and Massively OP.

World of Warcraft: I’ve put WoW alts on the backburner for two reasons: Other than getting some class variety, I don’t see much of a point right now in diluting my time and effort; and I have my eye on expanding my MMO play to more titles again soon, and I don’t want to be too tied to a raft of characters in a single game.

After a break from the campaign, I spent a day chewing through a bunch of those quests. There’s no rush, but it’s so satisfying to have zones and campaigns cleared, so I’m targeting one at a time and going at it. I did fully finish Zul’Aman’s side quests, and that blank map (minus world quests and delves) looks soooo pretty.

Patch 12.0.5 was a pretty awful release — way too many bugs, housing got disabled for a time, and I had a heart-stopping moment when I logged in to see that I had zero characters on any realm (I did eventually find them, they just weren’t listed). I wasn’t super-keen on the new content anyway, so having the bugs with that didn’t feel like a good trade.

On the plus side, getting enough delve keys every week is incredibly easy, and I even saved up enough gold to buy a WoW Token for a rainy day.

WoW Classic: One title I haven’t talked about in a while is WoW Classic, which I’ve also backburnered. I think I had to face the fact that I wasn’t going to “catch up” in any meaningful sense with the Burning Crusade Anniversary crowd — and that’s partially because I don’t really feel a compelling urge to rerun those expansions again. I’m pretty much waiting for Blizz to tell us what’s happening with Classic Plus before I commit time there again.

LOTRO: Continuing with my Desert Adventures™ in Lord of the Rings Online, my Hobbit recently helped with a huge prison breakout and rescued a ton of innocent pretend people from pretend slavery and even pretend execution! And what’s the reward for such a noble act? Why, to be tasked with going back in there to do even more quests and clean-up! Thanks, LOTRO!

Update 48 arrived, so now I’m no longer in the last zone but the second-to-last. This might actually work out well, as SSG is time-gating the new zone’s quests through mid-May, so I might be on track to hit all of them by the time I’m there.

My Mirkwood-venturing Mariner got some surprise attention from me this month after a long period of neglect. She’s my only character who isn’t either in the very early stages of the game or all the way in the most recent expansions, so playing her offers me different content and environmental flavors (if that makes sense).

May Gaming Goals: My biggest goal is to get a new gaming computer after over a month without one! I have my eye on one and will report more on it if and when I pick it up. That will ideally free me up for more gaming, as I do want to pick up Outbound and Paralives, with an eye on Loftia. I also have some notion to return to FFXIV and ESO.

For World of Warcraft, I’m focusing on catching up on the campaign and clearing out all the zones while also starting to work on getting my Druid to 90 and geared up. And in LOTRO, I’d like to get to the new zone and content from Update 48 while also going on further adventures with my Mariner.

Posted in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Jump the guild

Posted on by Syp

I feel as though I’m starting to make some good headway into Season One of Midnight, especially with gearing on my Warlock. I’m at item level 245 and soloing T8 delves fairly easily, which is where I want to be. I picked up herbalism to go with skinning to focus on making a little more gold — my wife is shaming me in the gold-making department — and finally getting back to cleaning up some side quests that I skipped when doing the campaign.

But an average WoW session for me is very relaxed, with only a general goal in mind and the willingness to divert course if something else comes along that looks more interesting.

Another project I’ve been poking around at is choosing an alt for this expansion. This is proving to be a surprisingly tough call, as I have a number of options but no clear frontrunner for second banana. My Druid has great travel forms and some nifty spells, but I don’t feel like another spellslinger. My Death Knight is tradition with lots of pets, but it overlaps pretty hard with the Warlock in a lot of areas. My Shaman has some cool melee attacks but could be a pain in delves while having to be on the frontlines. My Hunter has good pets and ranged power, but the actual attacks are dull and have been for many expansions now.

So I don’t know, and as such, I’m just cycling through them, feeling it out, and seeing what I might be interested in pursuing more long-term.

I have been having a good time with my Hunter just because I love the thematic design of a little clockwork-loving Gnome who’s got an outfit to match and a robotic squirrel and bunny as attack pets. Taking down huge foes with this combination never ceases to amuse me.

I did jump guilds — nothing wrong with my old guild other than it simply was too quiet with no real comradery happening. I found a much more lively bunch of WoW lunatics and felt seen almost immediately. We’ll see how it goes long-term, but at least my guild chat window is rolling with fun and goofy discussions and offers to group up and help out.

Posted in General

Gaming into the summer

Posted on by Syp

One effect of not having access to a gaming computer with Steam, GOG, etc. is that it’s made me focus on the very few titles I can play and think a lot about what I do want to enjoy when the time comes. So while I can’t be diversifying my library right now, I can make a few plans about what I’d like to do come this summer.

Elder Scrolls Online keeps coming to mind, especially with the debut of Season Zero. I do like some of the quality-of-life stuff they’re doing in this game lately, and the new difficulty challenge levels arriving in June are of huge interest. I might roll up a new character, multiclass away, and have a good time going back through all of this content — which I haven’t finished, by the way.

I don’t know why, but Final Fantasy XIV has been flitting about my thoughts as well. I know, I know how that usually ends, but the vibes, the community, and the opportunity to take a single journey all the way through a game has appeal as well.

I do miss casual post-apocalyptic adventures in Fallout 76, especially with the map expansions of the past year. That might be on my to-do list at some point. And Guild Wars 2 is always over there, casual and waiting in case I want some laid-back gaming. I just might.

For single-player games, I’m definitely going to buy Outbound (now delayed into May) and probably Rimworld: Odyssey. I truly hope we do see Paralives come out in early access as planned for May 25th, but it’s been delayed before, so no great hopes there.

And then there are always CRPGs that I keep vowing to get into and through, such as WAR40K Rogue Trader or another run through Fallout New Vegas or dipping into the JRPG Chained Echoes.

Options are good! Indecision and lack of time and gaming space are bad!

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online

LOTRO: Vacations and work days, both in the same game

Posted on by Syp

This week in LOTRO, I dusted off my lowbie Lore-master and bought her a Stone of the Tortoise so that I could double back and work on some lower content without continually pushing her levels higher. First up was heading into Bree-land and working on a full zone clear of deeds. Nothing like a Hobbit, a pint-sized bog-guardian, and a backpack full of mushrooms to signal hope for an entire world!

I like how this character feels like a “vacation” toon. I’m not in any particular hurry, I just log on to revisit these old areas and gradually do stuff there. It’s a really good visual break from the desert regions of the most recent expansion, that’s for sure.

I’m also returning to Idagal to try to make headway through the rest of this expansion, especially with the final zone of the Umbar trilogy emerging later this month. I figure that even if my enthusiasm is low, I can still hack away at a few quests every day and keep moving the needle forward until it’s all finished.

And you know what? That works. When you set small, measurable goals to get through a project you’re less-than-enthusiastic about, you can complete almost anything. Plus, it’s not like I should whine about the chore of playing a game. It’s just that sometimes you have to push through blah content to get to the good stuff.

As for a replacement for my gaming computer, I’ve been shopping around and trying to find the best combination of hardware and a good price point. I think we’ll probably pull the trigger on something in May, at which point I can bring LOTRO back to the desktop.

Posted in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Gaming matrimony

Posted on by Syp

Heading into April, I was pretty impressed with the trading post this month. Both garden-themed mounts were excellent, with the arboreal snail being the standout. And what Harry Potter fan wouldn’t love the Mandrake? I probably spent about 1500 tender all told, which is far more than the nothing I purchased in March.

I’m continuing to work on gearing up my Warlock, although occasionally my thoughts turn to my neglected Death Knight and Druid. I know it’ll be a bit of effort to get them caught up, but I feel that it’ll be worth it in the long run… at some point. Maybe this summer?

There’s really so much to be doing on my Warlock that I’m not hurting for content on a single character. There are weekly housing endeavors, weekly quests and world events, weekly delves, the rest of the campaign, side quests, prey missions, and so on.

Some of the best fun I’ve been having is hanging out with my wife in the game. She hasn’t played WoW since Dragonflight, but she’s sucked in pretty deep right now with a love for making tons of gold and buying up WoW Tokens. But we do run delves and world quests together, which is usually pretty funny as our gaming styles aren’t that compatible — she’s very reckless and gets us into trouble a lot — while we tease each other as we sit on the couch with our laptops. It’s the most “together gaming” time we’ve had in years, and it’s been bonding.

And while my Macbook is holding up as a WoW gaming machine, I really miss having a standard mouse-and-keyboard setup. I’m still in a holding pattern for a new computer, but hopefully early May we can figure something out.

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online

LOTRO: Aiming for a fresh start

Posted on by Syp

Not willing to part with LOTRO entirely, I went a week or so go by and then dipped back in to make a little adventuring progress on my Minstrel. I see that Update 48 and its new zone is in testing, so a little pressure is radiating from that. Baby steps back into Middle-earth when I wish that I was rushing back, super-enthused.

My feelings about the most recent expansion could be easily summed up by this screenshot — it’s boring, blah, and uninspired. I don’t normally ding the world designers because they typically do amazing work, but what happened in this expansion? Why is every zone just the worst? How can I escape this hellscape?

I mean, the answer there is pretty obvious — stop playing that character and get away from that expansion entirely. So I hopped servers to Glamdring, where I have zero presence or progression or unlocks, and whipped up a brand-new character. My new River Hobbit Captain joined the ranks of this server. Now it’s time to get settled, find a kinship, level up, get a house, build up a wardrobe, and all the rest.

As for a leveling path, I don’t have any idea right now. Completionism is one way to go, but I’ll over-level things way too fast unless I use a stone of the tortoise. The reason this appeals is simply because it encourages me to take my time, really digest all the content, and spend a good long vacation in Eriador.

I quietly, gradually got established and started running her around the Shire. I might freeze her progress at level 15 — the cap for this zone — and keep her difficulty at level 2 so that I’m not getting nuked by Sauron all the time.

Posted in Music

A day in the life of Syp’s music listening

Posted on by Syp

It’s 6:30 am. Groggy and waking up, I head into the basement and put in the earbuds of my iPod Nano 7th gen before getting on my exercise bike for a half-hour spin. The random assortment of 4200+ songs keeps me company through the rest of the exercise and then through making breakfast for a half-hour past that.

8:30 am rolls around and it’s time to head to work. My car boots up the small flash drive I have with my custom mix — no algorithms for me, no sir. I bop to this (yes, sometimes I literally bop in my car and I’m unashamed if others see) until I roll into the office.

As I get settled for the work day, I’ll take a stack of about four CDs from my to-listen pile, which currently numbers around 200 or so. I never get tired of those extra steps of turning on the stereo, popping in a CD, putting the case on a stand so that I can look at the name of the tracks, and listening to it from start to finish. Any must-have tracks I’ll flag to put into my music mix folder later. If it’s an album that I’ll legitimately listen to again in the future, I’ll give it an honored spot on my shelves. If it doesn’t pass muster, I’ll put it into a bag to bring to the record store later that month to exchange for credit.

I try to get through four albums a day. Depends how busy I am, because some work — and visits with people — require no music to distract.

Over lunch, I’ll take a mile walk, grabbing my customized iPod Mini and Koss Porta Pros to keep me company. I keep telling myself that I need a second iPod Mini because I love this one so much and would be crushed if it failed.

When I get home and have some down time, I’ll check through a number of YouTube channels that I trust for curated songs — some EDM, some VGM, some just random cool songs. As I game that evening, I’ll sort through the new songs and see if there are any keepers that also should go into the music folder.

Perhaps I’ll sit on the couch and listen to some music on one of my other players or laptop as I read or write. Not always, but sometimes. If the weather’s fine, I might take a walk or sit on the back porch and enjoy some tunes that way as well.

And that’s about it for the day. I’ve experimented with listening to music as I fall asleep, but I’ve found that listening to a quiet sitcom on my phone tucked under my pillow works far better to put me right into a sleep state, so I go with that unless I’m on a trip or something and only have music on hand.