This & That (RIFT, EQ, LoTRO, WoW)

Seeing all the wonders of Norrath... one backside at a time.

Sigh... Last night I was messing around, checking my RIFT account management it seems I was invited to the last beta event but didn't have a clue. *Kicks Self*... Apparently I hadn't logged into it in awhile and needed to fill out one last round of information before it sent me an email. Maybe next time?

I'm really pondering about pre-ordering. It's looking like a nice change of scenery. I'll make a decision closer to March probably. I'm going to see if I get into a last beta event before then. Chances are that I will, unless things really start rolling in EQ and by then I can just pick it up at a later time.

Last night I did manage to log into LoTRO and just got nauseated with it. I could not remember what was what with my abilities and spells or where I was questing. I couldn't finish my skirmish quest because I lacked enough points to unlock the warrior. So, then I went to do another skirmish, for points, and got my tail handed to me. I'm either too low to do them now [whats the point of offering them now] or maybe I am just missing something completely [newb moment]. Maybe I'll just start an alt to get back into it, at some point. I might try again when Lono is on, for some insight.

While things are not always peachy keen in Everquest I am enjoying it a lot. The community for one doesn't grate on my nerves. Sure there is plenty of drama and stupid people around but it's not as abundant as in some other games.

I've had some time to mess around with housing in Everquest which has been nice. I've never had housing with a yard, very cool! More about that, later this week. I've gone out of my way to join some small groups and working on some more aa's before leveling up the Rogue. Still waiting on the transfers to go live, meh it's so hard!

Dire seems to be enjoying playing again, getting back into the swing of things. I was wondering if he would quit, for a moment there. We all have our days. I try to enjoy all the things that make the game what it is, to take the good with the bad and remember no game is perfect.

Do I miss WoW? Not really. I am enjoying the time away from all the bull that surrounds it. Something is wrong there. Look at all my fellow bloggers writing about the issues and analyzing why something is amiss, look at the forums aflame...err then again maybe you shouldn't. It seems like a lot of people are not happy with the direction and the state that the game is in. It seems to be blatantly apparent but maybe that's just my perception.

Plenty of people blame everyone else. DPS classes are leaches, others say it's children running wild within the game, some people think tanks and healers should get special treatment, casual lazy players wanting hand outs and so on, blaming each other. Maybe that's part of the problem. We're too busy blaming each other to see what has really happened.

IMO a key problem is that it's the games dynamics constantly changing. Right now casual players are left in the cold with heroics, we're not crying about raids being too hard or long. We're talking about group content. What goals does the game really offer, at this point? It's a solo MMO these days that all of a sudden pushes us in a corner forcing us to group in a hostile environment that the game has mutated into. Forcing us to be friends after 85 levels of solo, after an expansion that pushed hard for PUGS. We all just want a quick run and then off on our merry ways. But that's just the tip of the iceberg and I'm not going to drone on about again.

I will say this: People in older MMO games invest in the community. WoW and the like, people don’t feel they need the community.

So yeah, I'm not missing any of that one bit. I do miss my friends out there though! Hope everyone is having a great week, enjoying whatever it is you're playing!


-kaozz