Not Gaming: AMOL

During the last few days, the entirety of my gaming time has been devoted to finishing a book. I finally finished late last night, having burned my candle at both ends quite a bit. Even though I don't have much to say about gaming (just waiting on 5.2 for WoW), I figured A Memory of Light was worth mentioning. Several of you are probably Wheel of Time fans as well.

I won't say too much. I know I'm probably the last one finished, but I still don't want to spoil anything for anyone. No alerts here. Just wanted to do a bit of cheering.

What an awesome series! I was introduced to the Wheel of Time series by a good friend only about 4 or so years ago. Many of you have probably been living with these stories for much, much longer. 14 books (15 if you count the Prequel), over 4 million words, almost 12,000 pages. Wikipedia tells me that the audio would run 419 hours and 30 minutes. That's a lot of story.

For folks that do not know, here's a quick intro to the series. The Wheel of Time is epic, epic fantasy. Yes, that's two epics. Long, involved, with loads of plot threads and characters, it is not for the faint of heart. Due to scope alone, it may not be for everyone, but what it does, it does well. It's not pretending to be a thriller, it is epic fantasy. There is magic. And battles. And different races. And very, very human emotions.

The first dozen books were written by Robert Jordan. Then, unfortunately (but with a slight bit of warning), he died. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. Obviously, Mr. Jordan wasn't able to finish the series, and fans anguished that they would never find resolution for the characters that they'd grown to love. Fortunately, the man had prepared notes. Lots and lots of notes. And Brandon Sanderson was approached (as both a fan and burgeoning fantasy author) to finish the series.

It proved a prophetic choice. I can't imagine another author doing a better job of both treasuring the story and honoring the legacy of the late Robert Jordan. These books will remain a treasured series of mine for many years, and it is not without quite a bit of sadness that I finished last night. It was not the ending, but it was an ending. And endings can be both sad and fulfilling. AMOL was both. To borrow the word of Thom Merrilin: exquisite.

To all the other WoT fans out there, /cheer. I made it. We made it. What a ride.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.

Welcome to the Fourth Age.

Anniversaries Etc

I logged in and was rewarded with WoW's 8th Anniversary celebration. Because of that, I became curious and went to look for my first WoW Anniversary achievement. For me, it was year 4. How about you?

That's pretty much all I have to report this week. In the interest of not writing the Shortest Post Ever, I'll pad it with some rambling.

I'm halfway through 88. Still chugging along.

I really want to place Assassin's Creed III, but I'm holding off on buying it until I hit 90. Then I figure I can split my time between "group activities" and ACIII. For now, my solo time should go to WoW (and I'm enjoying it).

LoL has gotten no love as of late. I know. I shall return at some point.

I watched Wizard of Oz this weekend. I never realized that Glenda was a disc priest.

I want a flying monkey minion.

Those last two were related.

Happy Thanksgiving. I'm hearthing it tomorrow IRL. Here's to a wonderful celebration!

*Cheers*

88!

I hit 88 last night. At this rate I'll hit 90 just in time for Thanksgiving. Then... ??? I'll probably do some casual gearing so that I could maybe sub for my guild's raid team. I do not plan to level an alt. I don't really have enough time. It's been tough enough to scrape by with my main (and there's plenty still to do.)

I did notice for the first time yesterday, when I was doing the quest that is sort of a scenario with three boss fights, that my practice of using Fel Fire really did drain my mana. It felt like I was OOM almost immediately. Apparently I'm going to have to modify my behavior for boss fights.

I keep running out of bag space because I'm holding on to so many cooking materials. I should probably just stow them away in the bank for later, but I suppose I'm being lazy. If you're a lowbie like me, is there a way to know what you should be farming? I've just been planting and harvesting random stuff each day, really for no reason other than it's there.

Is it just me, or are there a lot of items with like, fun effects? All kinds of weird stuff! And if you'd like me, you feel like you have to hold on to those items because, well, they're neat. I wish I could just transmog all of the clever effects into one super wand of doom. It would do all kinds of dumb things depending on where you're using it (since most effects seem location specific).

I've never really cared for the location-specific thing. It sort of makes it so you have to hang out in that area to get joy out of the item. I suppose that's the point, but it makes my holding onto the items especially silly.

Anyway, that's the update for now. I'm over the leveling "hump!" (Through, from what I hear, the later levels are much, much slower...)

ZOMG Theramore

I have to say, I wasn't as disappointed with the Theramore scenarios as some others. Probably had to do with keeping my expectations low. There were things to do. It didn't take long, and that was nice. A good preview of scenarios, from what I hear. And when that bomb... Like, I can't believe they could even go so far as to. And Jaina, what a mage! She was totally and completely a mage. She needs to embrace her inner Warlock. I mean, I know, read the grimoire or whatever, but if she'd just summon a horde of demons, I'll be she could just slay the Warcheif.

Wait, what's that you say? I've not even played the scenario yet! I'm just stringing together meaningless phrases that represent a regurgitation of the deluge of recaps I've read? No way! It totally and completely feels like I've experienced it first hand. Like that time when I binge-watched Pearl Harbor and really thought I'd been a cook that had to step up and man an AA gun on a docked destroyer. Then, I thought... no way could we have had an entire fleet of combatants chilling in Hawaii and let a whole bunch of enemies get so close. That's totally unrealistic. (And you thought I was going to pick on the Ben Affleck character, didn't you? Affleck, Aff'lock. Get it? There.)

I wish blogging let me do Family Guy-esque cut-scenes. I look nothing like Cuba. It'd be hilarious.

Also, who doesn't have a crush on Kate Beckinsale?

Also, BAYSPLOSION.

Aaaaand lunch time.

GenCon 2012 Report

The end of last week was gloriously busy. I say glorious because it was not due to work, or any other lame time sink. Nay, this was-eth GenCon! We had a blast submersing ourselves in nerd culture for four days. (At what other point will you witness Batman chasing Bane through a local eatery and no one bats an eye?(HA BAT, GET IT?!))

I don't have a lot of time today, as I'm catching up on all the work I missed (I wouldn't say I missed it, Bob), so I just wanted to pass along a quick list of the games I tried for the first time this weekend, and my thoughts on each. I know, I know... these are board games or card games, not video games. Sue me. (Some of you will probably be like: "How have you never played that?!)

Here's the list:

• Puerto Rico - This is a resource game. Lots of little pieces. It also employs, ahem, "brown colonists" to staff your plantations. The game is apparently translated from German and strives for some semblance of historical accuracy. It was a blast to play, even if not exactly PC. (Really, who cares? There are certainly worse games out there.)
• Cards Against Humanity - (... like this one. Nothing PC here.) In case you couldn't tell by the title, this is a card game. It's great party game, and I was doubly interested in trying it out once I learned it was indie-published using Kickstarter to raise the seed money. An awesome idea, rendered beautifully into an extremely playable card game. Grab a beer and some close friends (and probably play this one in a dungeon, because boy did we get some weird looks out in public.)
• Settlers of Catan - Can you believe I've never played this game? Yeah, I couldn't, either. It's always been described to me as sort of the gateway drug to more complex board gaming. For you Catan virgins (like I used to be), this is another resource/building game. Pretty basic. You get resources based on rolls, use them to build things to get more resources, and shoot for victory points in order to end the game.
• True Dungeon (the Lich one) - This isn't a card or board game. Rather, this is D&D brought to life. A life-sized dungeon. (Don't worry, there's no larping here, just regular D&D style gameplay with props and actors.) I really wish there was a year-round True Dungeon. This is a great idea... I just wish I could go regularly with a gaming group, and maybe be less rushed. Maybe I should start a Kickstarter for seed money to buy an old house in the Indy area and turn it into a permanent True Dungeon...
• Dominion - Okay, so I've played this card game before. A lot. We typically play it twice a week during lunch. Still, it bears mentioning because our local card-owner picked up the next expansion. I forget what it was called. We played today with the pretty new base set, though. I love this game. A great deck-building style game... without all of the deck building. That is, you don't need to buy mini-packs to make this game work. You simply pick ten stacks of cards from the sets you own, and off you go! Great, great game.

That was about it. I know, and inauspicious number when listed out like that. We spent a whole bunch of time doing things like eating, walking the vendor hall, eating, attending Brandon Sanderson events, eating, checking out costumes, and eating. Also, we spent some time eating. (Also, drinking was involved.) I'm sure I tried a whole bunch of other games that I don't remember. We looked in on a lot of games, too. Watching other people play is more fun than you'd think.

Anyway, gotta run. Back to the real world and all that. Any other GenConners find a new game they'd like to mention?

GenCon 2012!

I don't get to go to many cons. When my money tree finally bears fruit and I no longer have to uphold this farce I refer to as the Day Job, I would like to attend more cons. I think I've mentioned before my shame at not ever being able to attend Blizzcon. It would be really awesome to attend one of the WoW-blogger meetups and put faces to names that I've long admired and read. Sadly, Blizzcon falls right in the middle of football season, and as a coach, I simply cannot get away.

Fortunately, there is one con close to home for me: GenCon Indy. And it is this weekend! Fuu and I live just north of Indy, and many of our RL friends congregate in Indy to celebrate and attend the con. For those who might not know, GenCon Indy is a gamer's convention. Tabletop gamers. Think many-sided die and evil DM's lurking behind that large cardstock divider (the one that has all the DM rules written on the side you cannot see, and hides all of the evil minion rolls).

It's a pretty awesome weekend. It has all the staples you might expect at a nerdy con. People dress up. There are vendor booths and special guests. Events spring up all over, and local eateries are swarmed by basement-dwelling masses, getting their only taste of sunlight for the year. (Okay, that last is a bit of a stereotype joke. Still, if my house had a basement, I would call it the dungeon and dwell appropriately. Also, the crowd is unique, especially if you're a local. It is, quite literally, a downtown Revenge of the Nerds. It's awesome how much the con has grown over the last several years alone.)

I mention this, obviously, because I figured some of you guys might be planning on attending. If you are, rest assured in the knowledge that I, too, will be there. I like to wear things with "Fulguralis" on them (I have a nice red Warcraft hat with my toon name on the back), so if you see me, don't hesitate to say hello. Also, feel free to DM me through Twitter (@Fulguralis or @MattHofferth - the second is my author/personal Twitter that I try to use more, but I lurk on both, and DMs will alert me) if you'd really like to find me. I'll be a bit all over the place, what with friends, events, and coaching. (I still have to go to practice in the afternoon, but I've taken some vacation time from the Day Job to attend stuff outside of practice.)

If you're hoping for random good fortune, we generally end up at the RAM around meal times. That place is nuts, though, so good luck. We also are likely to be playing some Dominion at some point, as well as any other games we can squeeze in. I'll try to tweet what's going on if anyone is interested. Likely it'll be on my @MattHofferth account, but I may try to do both. We'll see how it goes. (I know, I'm terrible at Twitter.)

Anyway, I just wanted to make this announcement. We're really excited about GenCon. It's a blast every year. I'm looking forward to attending all of Brandon Sanderson's events (he's the guest of honor this year!), participating in True Dungeon for the first time (previous years I couldn't get away from work during the day), and simply taking in the sights. It would icing on the cake if I got to meet fellow gamers (readers or bloggers, both are equally exciting).

Oh, another thing that might give us away. Fuu will probably be wearing her new brain-wave cat ears constantly. So, tall blond guy in a red hat with a short girl with moving cat ears. The funny part? We won't stick out. Not one bit.

What If: User Generated Content

A while back, I was playing a D&D Facebook game. Something of the something... I forget what it was called. It was a neat game, free to play, and pretty true to the feel of a tabletop game (as far as that can go). My character hit max level after a couple months of faithful playing, and eventually I moved on to other games. Such is the way of things.

Today, one of the great ideas from the game sidled up a slapped me upside the head. The game featured a text-based story, little snippets popping up as you proceed from one room to the next in gridded dungeons. Each dungeon was basically an instance, and it had the typical Facebook Game convention of limited daily energy.

It wasn't to hard to progress through the main story, and you could increase the difficulty on subsequent runs. The mechanics were pretty simple, the stats well explained, and the itemization easy for any respectably RPG gamer to understand. In short, it was a fun little game. Well produced and presented.

Now, maybe I'm overselling this idea by calling it great. After all, I didn't personally partake much in it. To be honest, I don't really remember why I got out of the habit of playing every day. I just did.

The idea was "user created dungeons." Once you reached a certain level, a dungeon creator was open to you. You could access your own dungeon through a cute little trap door in your house. What's more, you could invite others to visit your dungeon as well.

What struck me today is why haven't we seen such a thing in an MMORPG? It was just a map creator, and map creators have been around forever. Heck, one could make the argument that the map creator was the true shining star in some of Blizzard's old Warcraft and Starcraft games. User created maps have spawned entire games for Fel's sake! (League of Legends anyone?)

Can you imagine if WoW came with a map creator? We complain all the time about lack of content, lack of challenge of content, or lack of novelty of the content. Well, Blizz could say, shut up and make your own!

I'm sure, at least for WoW, there's a huge amount of technical risk involved here. There are probably all kinds of things you could do to break the carefully balanced system or overload their servers. But what about for a game like Diablo or Guild Wars, where most of the dungeons are instanced? If Blizz can make custom maps play on Battle.net, surely they could make some kind of WoW portal that sent you to Crazy User Generated Dream Realm. Like the Emerald Dream, only not tied to reality.

In fact, they could make the entire thing a dream for you character. Loot, gold, experience gained in the dream could simply not travel with you when you wake up. No need to worry about someone creating a crazy overpowered gear dispensing machine. Or whatever the worry might be.

How much less would we complain between patches and expansions if we could mess around with our own content? There are a lot of really clever, really dedicated gamers out there. Sheer numbers alone says that someone would come up with something awesome that Blizz had never even considered. And if it took off? So what? More subs for you!

Several recent smash hit games have grown out of mods. Day Z and League of Legends are probably two of the more popular examples. Both ideas were born as user-generated content in other games. Sure, they've grown from there in something more or less unique (we could debate about derivative works here, but that's not really the point). More importantly, though, they're popular. People enjoy them. They are entertaining. And that's the whole point of making games: to entertain. It's also really the secret to retaining subscriptions or convincing people to pay in a F2P. We're obviously willing to pay for entertainment... so long as we're kept entertained.

Like I said, just an idea that hit me. I would enjoy tinkering around with dungeons in some of my favorite games. What's more, I would love to see what others come up with. I think a company that figures out how to do this may prove the next evolutionary step for the MMORPG. I've known some good DMs that could really knock a customized WoW dungeon out of the park. I mean, think about it. World of Warcraft PTQ!!

Blizz? Pencil this in for Titan? I've got more ideas. Hire me and they're all yours. Kthxbye.

Technically Small World

Matticus is one of those bloggers that has been around seemingly forever. Quite frankly, I'm sort of at the point in my blogging career when I feel that way about anyone who has been around longer than me. Four years is a long time in the blogosphere.

I was pretty thrilled, then, when I got to play League of Legends with him last weekend. Shhhh, don't tell him. Wouldn't want it to go to his head.

Now, Matticus would probably be the first to say he's no celebrity, even in the niche WoW-blogger world. (Maybe he is, I don't know). I didn't geek out on Mumble or anything (I don't think I said a whole lot period). It's not like that.

I grew up with several folks who are now professional athletes. I would consider them family friends. We played on some teams together growing up, maybe hung out several times, but I wouldn't say that I'm close with them.

From a closer-than-average viewpoint, then, I can say that there's a certain amount of celebrity that goes with being a professional athlete. I'm not the sort of person who gets starstruck, but there is a tangible excitement. Something in the air, if you will.

It's not like that, either.

I can't explain it, but there's this weird phenomenon that I've experienced several times now. I've been fortunate enough to be able to virtually hang out/play with several of the bloggers that I read. And every time, there's this semi-awkward trill of excitement.

Perhaps the best real life example I can think of is when I've done a bit of traveling -- further away than, say, a couple of states -- and I run into someone that I went to high school or college with. Not the sort of person where you're like, "Oh, no. Not him." Rather, the sort of person where you chuckle and say, "Small world." This is especially the case if you're attending the same niche event. You know, so that the next comment is "You do this stuff, too?"

What do you call that?

I hope it's not pretentious of me to say that I get this same sort of vibe when I bump into readers. Part of me is always surprised. Like, "Oh, you read that?" The old page-hit counter has been above 0 for some time now. You think it wouldn't be news to me.

I guess my whole point here is to sort of geek out about technology. How cool is it these days that we can so easily rub elbows with people who share our passions? It's the Technically Small World Phenomenon, if I had to put a name to it.

If you run into me, you should probably be aware that I'm a pretty solid introvert. I've never been a social butterfly. Oft times, I feel guilty for being short with people. I reflect later on all the wonderful, elegant, witty things I could have said. It is what it is.

I had a lot of fun playing with Matt this last weekend. This is probably news to him, as I didn't say much. I also learned a lot. I have fun any time I get to play with like-minded folks, even if I have to be coaxed out of my shell a bit in the first place.

So thanks to Matt for hitting me up. And thanks to the other folks that have popped in, commented, just said hi, whatever. If you think it's cool, rest assured that I think it's pretty cool, too. The world is a crazy place. It's always nice to know that you're not as crazy as you might have thought.

Yub Nub

Because nothing celebrates freedom like a dancing Ewok.

Any Newbie Warlocks?

Are y'all out there, lurking? I know I've been a bad blogger lately, but I swear I have good intentions. Like, I really thought the New Blogger Initiative was cool beans, but didn't feel like I could really sign up to sponsor because I'm more of a study in what not to do lately. Especially when you compare it to these stellar articles.

Side note, I really love the Pot. It makes my linking life a lot easier.

Instead, I wanted to mention that if there are any new warlock bloggers hoping to get in on this NBI thing, shot me a link in the comments of this post. I would love to link you in a post to be created at a later date. With all the gloom and doom Cynwise has been analyzing, new 'locky bloggers deserve a special mention.

Side note, from a warlocky perspective, isn't gloom and doom good?

I'm full of side notes today.

Hey! That can be my useful tip. Don't know what the hell to write about? Just start typing and then randomly throw in side notes. You can even give them their own paragraph to add length to your post. It's all about appearances, am I right?

Okay, so that's a lie. Content helps. Especially, if you want to get linked by the Pot. (Which, I must note--but not side note--is a laudable goal.)

Side post, are there many class specific SWTOR blogs out there? No, not you, Targeter. I already know about you. (But even you have branched out a bit). I think altitis has been encouraged so that the concept of a "main" is somewhat muddled in TOR, if not altogether destroyed. Anyway, I'd love to find someone writing about Balance Shadows. Does such a person exist? Google says "no" (apart from yours truly and forum guides).

Closing side note, Day Jobs suck. Just sayin'. (Which makes it okay.)

Random Thought Thursday

This is not a recurring feature or anything, just doing a brain dump today. Every so often in blogging, I've found that my brain needs emptied. All those topics that didn't get written don't always ride blissfully off into the nether. Instead, they like to kick around and whine that they didn't get their day in the sun (despite having been found wanting). When enough of the buggers get peeved, they march down my neurons and do their own "occupy" imitation on one of my lobes. So I have to periodically call in the cranial guard to kick them out. Let the dumping commence....

First SWTOR:

• The Rakghoul plague looks like a fart. Or, perhaps more accurately, Pig-Pen. Makes me want to bathe.
• The lightsabers with black cores appear somehow larger.
• I wish people always exploded when killed. Makes me feel powerful. Dirty, but powerful.
• The glowing eyes and green cloud aren't very stealthy.
• Why, in the technologically advanced culture of TOR, do the news anchors wear headsets? Are they Bluetooth? Do Imperials get Redtooth variants?
• Has anyone ever tried to make a Hutt line of clothing? A Hutt in trooper armor would be impressive. Slimy, too.
• New gameshow: Jedi Counselor -OR- Hobo? With your host, Jacobim Mugatu.

And WoW:

• Oh yeah, I have DI. Derp.
• This getting upgrades stuff is bankrupting me. So. Much. Reforging. At least gems are cheaper... well, not the purple ones. Light no, not the purple ones.
• Now that Cynwise has exposed the innards of everything warlockerly, what is seen cannot be unseen. I used to enjoy this complication, right?
• The coolest I feel as a Warlock? When I use my portal right. HA, ALREADY HERE, BITCHES.
• Tentacle face is not a good look for me. Back to burning skull.

That's all for today's dump.

The Dream (PvP) Team

Saw this on BBB's blog today. All I want to say is: Dibs on being on Cynwise's team. I'll even take Gnomer if we can figure out some across-the-Earth thing, (even though he's a mage). Can we have a fantasy draft? I'll need some sort of Average Honor Per Battleground (AH/BG) stats for appropriate judgement. Or what would be the best stat of effectiveness?

I don't think I count as a PvP blogger, though. Maybe I'm more of an alternate, since I've mentioned PvP occasionally at least. And I'm not sure my WoW toon is geared well enough to be less than a burden on the pros out there. I'm about one season behind. I can look pretty. And fight on the flag. And set a mean mid-map pick for the FC (Frost DKs can be supremely annoying).

My Jedi is damn near Battlemaster, though. Decked out. Not that that improves my odds of being chosen on any Dream Team. (The odds are not in my favor, much like a certain Everdeen.)

I think a blogger PvP brawl is a great idea. I don't have the wherewithal to set it up, but it's a great idea. Maybe BBB should pawn it off on Hugh again. ;-)

Flash Fiction With Friends

I generally shy away from writing contests. I don't know why. I suppose it's just hard for me to write on command. Plus, I suffer from the writer's common cold. You know, the "I'm not good enough" one?  Still, it's a BBB writing contest. That's pretty hard to resist if you ask me. But, but... I'm running out of time and work was really hard today and my brain is coasting and I don't have a whole lot of time before I need to get out of here and do another things and if I leave without doing it, I'm never going to do it and...

Okay. I can do this. Flash Fiction, 100 words or less. Go:

The slender elf leafed through the tavern’s gift shop rack. “Does liking this make me vain?” she asked, holding up a pair of tights.

“It says juicy on the butt,” was the dry reply from the dwarf.

“You’re right, it doesn’t hold a torch to the ones with the see-through star.”

The dwarf rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just get one that says ‘shaft please?’”

The elf shot her a puzzled look. “Where’s that one hidden?”

 77  words. Not bad. Nailed all the prompts, too. Now, I just need to put a link in BBB's post comments.

Then and Now

I'm going to do a meme today. Something quick that I can squeeze in before lunch. I saw the whole Then and Now thing over that The Pot. After I dodged the whole sixth meme (I was very, very quiet... hiding in the corner and all, apparently. Seriously, didn't get on the whole "web of bloggers" thingy, which I thought was very warlockerly of me, being shadowy and what-have-you.), I figured I'd step up to the plate and do one. I'll do one.

Here's the oldest screenie I could find (circa 2009, though I started playing in '07... the rest must have been lost in one upgrade or another):

And here's the most recent (circa last October, as you might be able to tell):

You may, of course, notice that I apparently got a face cut. Took a little skin off the top there...

Also, I'm really glad Gnomer is back. Even if he is still spouting magery.

Wrapping Up ACII: Revelations

I failed to report that I finished Assassin's Creed II: Revelations over the weekend. It's hard for me not to think: "Well, that was short." When you spend 90% of your gaming time in MMO-land, any other game is probably going to feel short (except for the occasional Skyrim). Yet for all the shortness, it was a fun game. I didn't really do a whole lot of side questing, as most of them were essentially the same as the previous iteration. I mean, I've already built back up Rome. Constantinople, while neat, is no Rome.

Bombs are always fun. I'm glad they added them. The hookblade was fun. I wish there were more of the tower defense stages. I think I only did like three of them. Perhaps this was just because I wasn't looking in the right places.

I'm not going to spoil anything, but the ending was solid. Still, I couldn't help but wish for some more information on how the, um, next generation comes to be (if you catch my meaning). What can I say? V-day was on the horizon and I'm a sucked for romance.

I was excited to see an announcement that the next step in the story, Assassin's Creed III, is apparently targeted for an October release. Ubisoft has confirmed that it will release the game this year, even going so far as to throw out an Oct 30th date. That's pretty awesome, and is a perfectly timed announcement for me.

I said before that AC:Rev didn't really blow me away. It was sort of the next in a logical progression, with nothing that was super-exciting, and just basically felt like a sequel. That isn't to say it's a bad thing, but neither was it something I wanted to rave about (a different feeling than some previous iterations).

Knowing what I do about development, I suspect that AC:Rev was sort of the last hurrah before moving onto the new AC:III project. Similar to that last patch in an MMO before an expansion, it tends to be a little short on the content because it is simply tying up loose ends, preparing for the next big release. In that, AC:Rev functioned well. And I think it had enough content to be worth the price tag.

I think this was what Blizzard was trying to do with shorter, faster patches, though I never felt "surprised" that something was coming "so soon." With AC:III, color me surprised... and a bit excited. Now, the two paradigms are different, for sure, so this is not an attempt to compare apples to oranges. I'm merely recounting a difference in feeling from a customer of each type of game.

In any case, I'll be keeping my eye out for the game come October.

(I did find that there is a short film called "Embers" that apparently gives me the resolution I'm after. Though, not having the signature/collector's editions, I suppose I'm going to have to find it elsewhere. I'd be surprised if YouTube doesn't have it.

Also, this brought up another question: Apart from not retaining Kristen Bell, why did Lucy get stabby stabbed in the previous iteration? I feel like that thread sort of got pushed under the rug. Hopefully, that will be revealed in III... but, uh, this was Revelations.*grumble*)

#SWTOR - Life at 50

I was a bit apprehensive at hitting 50 last week. One of the dangers of getting in on the ground floor of any MMO is the potentially shoddy state of the end-game. Sometimes it takes a while for games to figure out the gaming identity of their core playerbase (if they ever do) and design an end-game that can keep them around. Already, some have decried TOR's lack of end-game, so it was with mixed feelings that I capped.

I've really, really enjoyed the leveling experience. I'm a sucker for story, it's my gamer type, and if there is one thing even the critics agree with, it's that TOR does story well, even if it flubs in other important MMO categories. With reservations about the end-game rampant, why would I really want to end the leveling experience? Yet, I really want to see the end of my class story. There's a certain satisfaction to finishing the leveling game.

A side benefit is that, upon reaching a plateau, it's a lot easier to work on your character. As you're leveling, the tendency is to not get too comfortable with any one piece of gear, any one way of playing, because next level it can all change. Also, generally you're credit-starved (training is expensive!), so I rarely get into the more expensive minutia.

I'm looking forward to deciding what I want my max-level toon to look like. I believe the way it works is that, because of mods, you can pretty much find orange items that you like the look of and mod them up to be max-level viable. This is almost as good as transmogging (and out-of-the-box, I might add, not years later). Tweaking the look of your character is a great max-level activity that I'm looking forward to.

When I capped, I was not finished with Corellia yet. Rumor has it there are still some quests on Ilum. Plus, there is a bunch I haven't done. We pretty much ignored flashpoints, and capping unlocks the hard modes of those, so once we get some more max level folks in our guild, we can all go back together and I can see these as well. I realize I'm experiencing some of the content out of order here, but I guess my point is that, fresh at 50, I still feel like there's a whole bunch of content to explore.

How long that'll last? We'll see. Even if it's only a month or so, I think I'd still like to level my lowbie trooper the rest of the way too. TOR gives a story-gamer like me the incentive to roll alts that was never there for me in WoW. It's even a bit of a challenge as I try to skip as many of the non-class quests as possible, so I'm routinely under leveled for each planet (a far cry from my typical over leveling on first pass).

I guess my point is that a casual gamer like me has plenty of content to stay busy. I've been playing for probably what averages out to a couple hours each night, every day of the week (a solid casual schedule, if you ask me); I needn't have been so nervous. There's plenty to keep me around, though I may scale back the time I've been spending (take a few nights off for other pursuits) now that I'm max level. Such is the life of a casual gamer. Plus, I'm still only about half-way through AC:Revelations. I'm sure that game would appreciate more of my attentions. So many Templar, so little time (and another great story I might add).

Here's a question for other 50 TOR'ers: what are/were the first things you focused on at max level? What have you found to be the most fun?

#SWTOR - Ding, 50.

Nothing of substance to see here today. I'm celebrating hitting 50 last night on SWTOR. I'll discuss my spec sometime next week. Until then - and following old "screenshot or it didn't happen" adage - here are a few fun pics:

The moment, or just thereafter.

Corellia's skyline. Pretty, and the last place I gained experience points (for now, on this toon).

Another view, along with a random billboard that I found striking.

Our giant rabbit, looking very satisfied with himself.

Halftime of the Reader Clearing Game

And we're back. Happy New Year everyone! Back to the grind. I'm having an acute case of gaming withdrawal today. I've swapped my early morning coffee back in where early morning PvP warzones had settled in over break. Then, there's the bloated feedreader. Neglect it for a week and it'll blow up bigger than, um, something in a Michael Bay movie. (Anything. Could be a banana, and it would mushroom cloud... yeah, picture that.)

So yeah, I'm halfway through clearing out. I'm skimming most of what I find, captured by a few articles here and there. In an effort to force myself back in the swing of things, I'm babbling here. I'll even give you an amazing list of random gaming thoughts:

• I picked up AC: Revelations yesterday (finally!) and started it. Took forever to get my PS3 updated to the right software (I've played all the games on the console, though I had to dust the bad boy off this time). The tutorial got me right back into things (Yep, remember how to ledge assassinate). Looking forward to this game.
• My brothers surprised me with a Christmas Game Gift. They're poor college kids, so I didn't expect much (usually a half-imbibed beer is a solid effort, amirite?)... but they pulled out a Lord of the Rings game that I hadn't really paid attention to: War in the North. Apparently it is supposed to have a solid co-op to it, so I'll have to give it a play-through soon as well.
• After unlocking my legacy on TOR, I rolled a trooper. Feels totally different from my lightsaber-wielder, in a good way. I feel a bit like Stallone (think Rambo, not Rocky. Or maybe Demolition man. Murder-Death-Kill?), running in, guns blazing, blowing everything to hell. Fun times.
• I'm back in the raid leading saddle on the WoW side of things. Our previous RL stepped down due to RL time crunching. Last night saw my re-debut. We've got the first two Dragon Soul bosses down now, though the ping pong guy took us a bit. I'll probably be writing more about the strats we're using here, though I know we're late to the party, as usual.
• Two shout outs from my reader perusal. First, From KISA... on trying to hit "quicksave" while playing TOR. Spot on. Caught myself doing this last night.
• Second from Bio Break... on the strength of story-telling and its potential to reach untapped audiences. I've been seeing a trend of reactions to TOR in the blogosphere that I'll write about more tomorrow (and also link the counterpoint).

Wasn't that amazing?! *Sigh* Okay, back to the grind and sneaking in articles. I will get this reader cleared out today...

Happy New Year Picture Post

The yeah ends today, and I've been pretty much silent all week due to SWTOR binging and having the week off of work. I took the week off from writing, read a couple books, and gamed. It was a much needed vacation.

As a consolation gift, I wanted to do a end of the year picture post today. I had a handful of screenshots saved up that I thought worth sharing... so here we go.

We'll start with the Skyrim shots. I finished the game right before Star Wars dropped, and took a couple pictures to commemorate where I decided my ending would be. I hit level 50, finished all of the various guilds, skipped the revolution (I didn't feel pulled to join either side, and you don't need to finish it for the main quest), and, at the end, crafted myself some dragon gear out of all the bones I'd collected. Here's a look at the final set (with my wife, Aela the Huntress, beside me in the heavy stuff):

I won't spoil the story, but here's a picture I took after finishing the main quest line. Anyone else think they were going to visit the Fortress of Solitude (not the city)? I expected Consuela to answer: "No, Mr. Superman no here. No. No."

On to Star Wars. I tried to pass along a picture of Coruscant earlier in the week, but it got moved or something. So I fixed that with a different picture. No fireworks in it, but still pretty cool.

My Jedi Shadow is sitting at level 31 in cantina right now, celebrating his own new year. Side note - how would you calculate age in the Star Wars Universe? Would it be your home planet, or is there some sort of galactic standard? Talk about jet lag... "Well, when we left it was next year, but we got in this year. I need a nap."

Besides unlocking the Legacy system (which does nothing but grant you a last name right now for all of your toons), I've recently been hanging around Tatooine. Notice the classic dual suns.

I looked around for a T16, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been invented yet. Womp rats, however, are most definitely there. And, yep, they don't look much bigger than 2 meters across.

That's all I've got for now! Have a wonderful New Year!

Are You Not Entertained?

I went ahead and signed on for the Annual Plan this weekend. It was pretty simple. Reminded me a lot of signing that stupid two-year agreement with my cell phone carrier. You still pay however you want (per 6 months for me), you're just "obligated" to continue paying until the end of the contract period.

The concept has never really bit me in the arena of cellular devices, and I don't really expect it to in WoW.  Even with SW:TOR, Skyrim, and AC: Revelations (to name the three games I'm most interested in this holiday season), I will still likely being logging into WoW a couple times a week for raiding and PvP stuffs.  I'll also probably run the occasional holiday boss. 

Really, if you figure I play WoW 2-3 hours a week at worst (which isn't very much), it's about equivalent to going on a cinematic adventure (see a movie).  Those cost what, $10-$12 now?  That's about what WoW runs me per month, so I'd still say it's an entertainment deal.  Incidentally, books run me about the same as WoW.  I'll consume the latest George R.R. Martin novel in about a month.  Game of Dragons (I call them all Game of x, because I find it humorous to do so) cost me $15 in ebook form.

My value judgement is always going to be firmly based in "hours of entertainment per dollar."  Gaming has generally been a great investment.  Books as well.  Movies... well, we usually wait for HBO to pick them up and the sub there is worth it too.  I would only contemplate leaving WoW of the hE/$ falls below my persoanl threshold.  And I'm still well above it, even during my most casual periods.  Throw in a content patch, expansion, or fun even... that time goes up.

Speaking of Martin's Game of Games Series (Song of Fire and Ice), you fans out there may be interested to hear about our Halloween costumes.  Fuu and I went as the Lannister twins.  She even got a blond wig (my hair was Jaime-like enough as-is... though I did grow it out for the month).  Pretty hilarious if you ask me.

We'll probably scare the parents more than the kids...