And quite a year it’s been… a year ago, I was giving Star Trek: Online another shot (having just received it for Christmas) and was working on leveling all my WoW toons to 85.
What a difference a year makes.
MMO’s
I’m still playing Warcraft. In fact, I’ve signed up for the ‘I’ll play for the next year, I promise’ program. In return, Blizz gave me a new mount, and promises access to the next expac beta.
I have, however, mostly retired from raiding. Raiding had moved from being a (mostly) fun challenge to being a (mostly) infuriating chore. Really, I hated it. I hated it on my Resto Druid. I hated it on my Mage. I’d try to psyche myself up for it – but within about ten minutes I’d be pissed and trying to find a way to get out.
Part of it is the guild. I hate to say it, but it’s true. We’ve got the oddest assortment of drama-queens, “serious” raiders with huge e-peens, and plain old fuck-ups. Despite the best effort of the Raid Leads and our incredibly patient GM – focus would usually go out the window after about the first minute. Sorry, but I have better things to do than listen folks go on about how well they know the fight (then fuck up right off the bat and blame everyone else) or listen to one of our healers get drunk and wonder why the tank she’s supposed to be keeping alive keeps dying.
Part of it is my patience. I don’t have any left, I don’t think (see the last sentence above). Back in the day, I was content (mostly) to sit and wipe repeated on the same boss in the name of trying to get progression. Now – I can tolerate maybe two wipes, then I’m done. Especially if the aforementioned fuck-ups are, you know, fucking up and not paying attention.
Part of it is my life. Things outside Warcraft are pretty damn frustrating and stressful, so I just don’t need to face that in my primary recreational outlet.
So – I ended up transferring everyone (but my mage) over to Moon Guard and joined an all-night elf heavy-rp guild. That went great for a while. Now, I’m second-guessing my decision. If I had the funds, I’d probably transfer my resto druid back. I’ve made some friends on her, but really – the guild has a BILLION resto druids – and my attempts at getting her into any significant rp has failed. Repeatedly.
With the advent of Cross-Realm Raiding, I may actually be able to have my RP and my Raiding – at the same time. We’ll see.
I just got two free weeks back in Rift, thanks to a well-timed customer service call. Problem is – it’s been so long that I don’t remember how to play my mage there, and I have no idea how to complete this quest (or the zone) so I can move on.
Color me confused and lost there, and without any social/community support – I don’t see myself really getting back into the game.
Yes, by the way, I really want to play Star Wars – but I really need to find a way to purchase it first.
Star Trek Online, now that it is finally Free-to-Play, has grown into a good game. However, it is almost the same problem I face in Rift: I’m simply lost. I don’t know which gear to equip. I don’t know what the specs are, or even which questions to ask about the spec. I don’t know the professions, or why I need to level them – and things just seem very overly complicated.
I know that some of my friends play, but I’ve never been able to find them – so I mostly just cruise around alone. As with Rift, unless I break into the social/community scene, I don’t think I’ll do more than just poke around at the game.
No promises on regular updates, but now that you’re (mostly) caught up with what’s going on in the MMO world – and as this is mostly an MMO blog – I’ll try to do better than once a year.
Elune Adore!
