End Of The Year Wrap-Up

SWTOR is celebrating the fifth anniversary with some nifty free stuff, so I've found myself back in the game as the year ends. I grabbed some paintings, a cool jawa that floats around you and a holo trainer. All very cool stuff. I figured it was time to stop slacking and start running my newest jedi through all the chapters. I just adore her.


It really has been a blast doing all these chapters of the endgame story line with my jedi. She has been a lot of fun to level up, right now she is sitting at 68. Last time I played her I parked her around 60 and took a bit of a break. The expansion launched, on my birthday at that, and I kept meaning to play up to it but I just had not gotten around to it.

It really has been a pleasant change going through the story, I just love BioWare storytelling and it is great as an MMO, IMO. The characters bickering, joking or giving their viewpoints is always a nice spin that isn't something we get in many other MMO games. Your companions have personality. Many other games have picked up on the fact that most players do like to have a follower/companion/mercenary but none really have the spark that the companions have in SWTOR. Aura Kingdom has a neat little bit of banter with eidolons, commenting if you are up early, or little things such as alerting you that your auction sold, which was really interesting to see.

These days and I terribly casual and it is wonderful to have an automated buddy to follow me around and just do the things I feel like doing. Or perhaps one to help me and a friend/family member fill out a group to do casual content. I did some yard work this week and really did a number on my hands, this has been a good choice for relaxing play and still being able to play while being a bit stiff in the hands/wrists/arms. SWTOR really seems to fit me like a glove these days, this one comes highly recommended as an expansion-- And only needing to sub to play through it is great.

I am still dabbling in WoW. There is a lot to do there, I have to admit there is never a lack of something to do, which I like. I just play it causally though and the thought of doing a checklist for flying kind of nags at me how I should be working on it. Which annoys me all the more. I should be doing the laundry, or cleaning the car, or washing my dogs (I like clean things)... Those are things I should be doing. I have more than enough chores in RL!

Other than that I have really enjoyed playing. I finally watched the movie on Christmas, it was a gift from my brother. I loved it! I loved seeing all the places in Azeroth and hearing familiar names. Oh it is little Varian Wrynn! Is that Moroes?! That just tickled me. Seeing the actual story that the Black Morass instance tells, that was terrific. For those reasons alone it was a great watch, especially for someone who has played through the complete the lifespan of the game. I waited a long time to see it, should have watched it in the theaters, I do regret not doing that.

Lots of cool Christmas gifts along with the movie. A nice tablet which I absolutely love, it is great to sit with on the couch. My old one really turned out to be junk so this was a great surprise. Tons of books! I also got some Gunnar gaming glasses (look). I am getting the Illidan sleeves for them! I have a pair of NoScope which I wear a lot, but these help a lot more with my headaches. I can actually look at a screen with them on, where I have been known to occasionally get optical migraines with my prescription ones. They cost about double the price of the NoScope but they are higher quality and not plastic, both are good brands and I have been happy with both of them. If you are wanting an cheaper pair to get started NoScope is great, but Gunnar offers a little bit more if you use them as much as I do.

Anyhow, my EQ2 playing has thinned out a good bit, I did a lot of crafting for holiday items, some token grinding for housing items and a few mounts, that is about it. I played on my necromancer alt who is sitting around 94, and I just feel so stuck on her. Yet, I don't feel like playing my main.

There is a bit of unrest in the game with the players. The epic 2.0 is requiring players to also be level 100 in crafting to complete it. Crafting is just so.... Sleep inducing. I cannot do it for long without my eyes glazing over and getting heavy. It isn't a huge deal, because it isn't really hard to level but the real issue is: should games keep forcing players to do things they don't feel like for a shiny carrot that will diminish in use over time? Shouldn't we engage in the content we enjoy to keep us playing? That's what keeps me subscribing and playing. Chores, chores, chores, I have enough chores! Personally I am the type of person who can grind out faction by killing a billion mobs, give me daily quests and I see The Great Wall of China.

Rift is still fun for me as well, but with being 70 and waiting on the new content, it makes a good time to catch up on other games such as SWTOR. Plus, it seems that the prices are dropping very rapidly on everything causing my cash influx to slow down. There is not much else to make much money with, which feels strange. I hope with new content comes new ways to make money there, this really needs to be addressed. Soon hopefully, I have my fingers crossed!

I don't have any resolutions for the new year, not a big fan of them, more of a fly by the seat of my pants into the new year person, heh. I do hope to settle down with my games longer instead of hopping around as much, but that never happens... I just love MMORPG games too much, I love to play so many different MMORPGs for different reasons. My one hope for 2017 is that the genre pulls away from the old raid concepts and chore lists that are basically required to progress. Rift, SWTOR, GW2 and many others have shown there is more out there than this old system! We can all dream, right? I just want to go hit things with friends and maybe my automated pixel buddies and have fun! I'm a simple girl, I like simple things :) Have a Happy New Year!