Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Tomorrow I'll be cooking and when I am done relaxing, so I thought I'd get up a post this evening. Lots of neat stuff going on this holiday weekend, sales, events and even some cool pocket gaming. Dire got an early Christmas present from me this year, a new Nintendo 2DS, he's not big on 3D so I figured this would be great for him. He loves it so far. It is a nice way to relax, and it is portable and easily taken wherever you go, which is great.

Speaking of easy access gaming, the mobile version of Animal Crossing released yesterday, it was early! I have been waiting on this for ages. It is one of the coolest mobile games I have played. It looks and feels much like New Leaf, which I love playing on my 3DS. I think it is pretty great with the tap controls and fishing and bug catching are certainly much easier! There is a lot to do, it is easy to pick up and play, I am thinking this is going to be a great game to keep on my phone. Lots of polish and it feels great to play. Another game I am looking forward to is Morphite, keep an eye out for it if you're into fun exploration mobile games.

WoW has the yearly Thanksgiving event, nothing new added to it. I really wonder why the team doesn't build upon existing holidays very much. They are not that exciting these days if you've done them a few times. The 13 year anniversary is in full swing. Currently there is a quest called 'The Originals', where you kill 'classic type' dragons out in the open world. You don't even need to be in a raid to tag them and they offer really nice gear. They are highly melee unfriendly, but fun still and you get a quest to kill three a day. There is also the new sunglasses transmog that showed up this year, but we've been told it is only usable during the event, hugely disappointing. I have a floating head that follows me but sunglasses seem unrealistic or something?

There is always so much to do, which I like. Sometimes too much, I am so far behind and WoW isn't the only game I play. I just enjoy it at the pace I am going and it seems to work for me. Dire and I pictured above, it is nice to play with him again, even though we rarely seem to be on the same page progress wise. It is nice being back, I never can stay away. The game evolves and changes so much, sometimes it is neat but these days it just feels so different so I look forward to playing on the classic server some too.

Rift had the Shiny Shenanigans event, while also having some type of DDoS attack the whole time, lots of disconnects and lag, I thought for sure they'd extend the event. I did not manage to get any collections done, and finishing a few items off costs more plat than I am willing to part with on the auction house. The prices for a draw using real money/credits made me do a double take, needing two it would probably cost me 40$ USD, and that was on sale!I still love Rift though, it is one of my games I log in daily or at least weekly. It is still a lot of fun. There is a lot to do, small little projects, collections, crafting, farming plat or fishing. I am looking forward to farming presents with the Christmas event! I love to farm those trees!

I was going to get the EQ2 expansion for my birthday, but I am thinking Christmas I may ask for it. It is about a week away before the release and I wanted something I could sink my teeth into now. The PoP setting looks awesome so I am looking forward to jumping into that. I've been eyeing LoTRO Mordor for a long bit, with the High Elves! So that is what I went with. I got the CE with shiny costumes, a house item or two, awesome mounts, xp bonus and I just jumped in with a fresh new character and started playing.

LoTRO still has that magic. I can't pinpoint it, it was something that Vanguard: Saga of Heroes had, that big world, so much to explore and see, not polished so well that it felt sterile. A little clunky but a lot of sticky to make you want to see what's around the next corner, even if you've already been there. WoW used to have it, but it lost it a long time ago. I was talking to my brother today and he mentioned the simplicity that he missed the most.

Simplicity doesn't make up for everything though. Maybe it is a large world to explore, quests that always stay the same? Old starting zones that hook you in, I think I could play LoTRO over and over 1-20, it is always such an adventure. Maybe that is what I miss these days, the feeling of adventure? The feeling that it isn't too complicated, it knows what it is and that's how it stays. All in all I am glad to be back and playing. The new High Elf race is lovely, it has a new starting quest, then plops you down back into the known areas where we've all started before. I have three Lore Masters, I plan on getting this one to the cap! I sometimes really love classes and when I come back want a fresh start, so I always pick a class I love.

Have a great holiday weekend! Safe adventures and don't eat too much turkey!