Down, But Not Out

I moved.

Decided to try something different. Although I won't be playing WAR anytime soon as this blog as been mostly just about that particular game, my recent purchase of Rift and a 3-month subscription made me realise I still have something to say about gaming in general, what it's like for me, how it impacts my life, what I expect from games, how I expect to feel fulfilled and, you know, stuff.

And here's where.

Urgh...

This is probably one of the hardest posts I've ever written. Not that I'm like all pro about posting that I do it every day or that I did it even semi-regularly. No. Posts, for me, came and went but this one was particularly hard to start.

I've been dreading this day for months now, when I'd finally put all of this in words but now the time has come and so, out with it.

For two years, I adored WAR. I loved it and was proud to play it. I spent hours on it, ditched school, set my desk on fire, let the dishes pile up in the sink. I was a healer and a damn good one at that. It was a title I wore like a medal. No other game could steal me away from it for long and I even had vivid dreams about it. I talked about it, read about it, blogged about it, wrote about it. I loved WAR.

Just... not anymore. I remember a post I wrote once on how people rr80 could still find things to entertain themselves while they waited for the post 80 patch: chase down tome unlocks, roll an alt and... I did all that. And I'm not even rr75 yet. I milked that cow dry and now I'm left holding the saggy tits of the dead thing.

I don't even know why I bothered resubscribing this month. I played it for like 15 minutes and all it did was piss me off. If people keep screaming that they need new content, that something that's not really an expansion doesn't cut it, you should listen. It's like going shopping for a woman having no idea what they like. You have to know the audience you're trying to please. That starts by listening. I think they failed to listen.

Losing interest in WAR was, for me, like losing a dear friend. I spent countless hours having fun with it, I laughed, I debated, I learnt, I taught. But now it's giving me the cold shoulder and I could care more. I could. But I don't and that's what hurts the most. That the game has become something I just don't care about.

I'm hoping that, given enough time, I'll come back to it, pretending to see with fresh eyes that which I'm now so pro at. Meanwhile, I'm going to go give Rift a try. Not that I'm overly impressed with it but I miss playing stuff with other people. At least undil Dragon Age 2 comes knocking.

If anyone finds this, I hope you continue having a great time with WAR, that it fills your life with as much joy and entertainment as it did mine, once.

Now and Then, Here and There

Wonderful anime, that. Featuring what probably is the cartoon boy that has suffered the most and grinned and beared it. Too bad this post has nothing to do with it.

No, I'm not dead. It was Christmas.
One thing about Christmas.
I fucking hate Christmas. I hate it to the point of tears, which is usually where it ends up (or starts off as the case may be). New Year's Eve, however, I love, and this year I got drunk to the point of laughing hysterically sitting on the floor behind the couch. Good times.
So that's why I've been away.

Also, Epikk did us the wonderful favour of buying Dragon Age: Origins which brought me back to an old favorite hobby of mine: flirting with fictional hunks.

A few years back I had a huge crush on Carth Onasi. You remember him, right? The blumbering widower from KotOR. I don't know exactly why, but I almost intantly fell in love with the thing. And I call it a thing cuz I have no delusions about what it is. It's a thing, a remarkably well made and endearing thing, but a thing. Maybe it's the voice behind the thing (somewhere, a voice-actor is blushing right now) that spawned that crush in me, I don't know. Probably.

But, for a time, I could do nothing else but play through KotOR over and over again, finding new ways to romance it and break its heart. I know most fans of the game actually hated it and I can see why. It could be a bit whiny. But what man, fictional or otherwise, isn't at times?

That was then - now, its Alistair. He's my crush for the new year.

Alistair is the spiritual successor to Carth in many ways. It's just as whiny but I find it a bit more witty. Plus the british-like accent is a nice change. So, while my modem is all up in a rage, I have succumbed back into BioWare's grip, romancing their fictional hunks. I spend hours in camp, flirting with other party members just so he'll tell me how hurt and jealous he is. Come to think of it, better I do that in a game than in real life, right?

Problem is, Epikk liked the game so much he's considering buying Mass Effect as well. Oh, dear, this does not bode well for my sanity. I just know there's at least one more virtual hunk in there for me to fall for. A girl can only have so many crushes at once.

That thing about the modem: I don't know what's wrong with it, it keeps disconecting both our 360 (which is really anti-climactic when you're making out with your choice of pixels) and Epikk's new pc. Also, since we received our new bedroom furniture (crafted by a very old, very rikety hermit in Sweden that has a contract with a very big, very famous furniture selling company that starts with an I, ends in an A and has the letters K and E somewhere in the middle) we had to disband our "junk room" so it could be turned into our bedroom. Junk, however has a habit of not magically storing itself in appropriate places so we now find ourselves with the den, where the computers are stored and used, as a temporary "junk room". I'm afraid to go in there. Not only because it pains me to know I'll be doing the bulk of the cleaning and storing but also because there's a big ass mirror against a wall that I'm always afraid will fall on me when I open the door.

Er... Wut?

Disciple of Khaine



•Khaine’s Embrace: The base healing value of this ability has been reduced and its cooldown has been removed.


•Khaine’s Vigor: The base healing value of this ability has been increased and its duration has been reduced.
 

I thought Khaine's Embrace didn't have a cooldown. In fact, as chance would have it, I was respeccing my DoK back to healing (and failing miserably at it) and I was spamming it like crazy, interrupted solely by my global cooldown. Maybe it's just me.

 

Also, I was farming some curios on my Magus late at night, while Epikk read to me the full details of that Wikileaks debaucle, and Indigo Fire of Change's debuff icon on my enemy still reads "If killed will turn into a horror!" or something to the same effect.
 
I mean, how hard can that be to fix? It's like the iPad's Safari not having a "find on page" function. Inexcusable. Or that I now currently have 15 "Wots a Subject?" mails in my inbox. I don't need them, I don't want them and I'm pretty sure I've completed the damn thing already.
 
While I'm here: Marauder=ganking goodness. I'm taking revenge on WLs everywhere. I'm only rk 19 but it's been great fun so far. Solo locking t2 zones for the influence weapons is a tad boring but when I find a little opposition its marvellous. For once, I don't have to worry myself with the survivability of me and my team mates. I can just run out and get killed.
 
Wots a punchline?

All I want for Christmas is a Little Piece and Quiet

I've been busy.

I've got xmas presents to buy, no mey to buy them with.
I've been ranking a Marauder, he's rk 17 now and I'm fuckin lovin it.
I have to get my cat castrated or whatever you call it. His balls must go.
Have to go buy bedroom furniture so we can stop sleeping in the guest bedroom.
Must make a doctor's appointment because I had a numb-finger episode, which is really scary since I had a half-face-numb-for-two-months episode.

I have a lot on my mind.

Be back shortly.

Smile, Though Your Heart Is Aching

I might have left things in a bit of a dreary note. Let's change that.

Shortly after the patch first kicked in I got my faith in the game restored. And it only took one man.

We went in a city siege, even though I'm always reluctant. I dunno, it seems they either leave or we do. And if we don't we're all about the fail. But I had nothing better to do so in I went, guns blazing and heals aplenty.

As luck would have it, we were being led by one who has been aptly referred to as Caligula. General but-kissing aside, I always liked Caligula's leadership style. There's no second-guessing, there's no questions asked, there's no sentences that sound like questions but really aren't. There's no pussy-footing or beaver-tickling or things of that nature generally. There's just stfu and do as you're told. You know, like war should be.

We arrived a bit late, first stage was already well under way. We were up against God knows who (well, maybe someone remembers but I sure as hell don't) and, I must say, I was impressed. With our flanking tactics we absolutely murdered them time and time again but they knew what they were doing. In the middle flag, they took out the cannons, wipe after wipe. Then they fought over the bomb, stopping us from defusing it. Then they split us up to take Lyceum and the Outcrop. And we murdered them again and again and again but never did they faulter.

If I remember correctly we eventually won on the second stage, us being able to save Engra when he was down to 10%ish and the third stage, simply because there is no great mechanic there. You just kill.

This turned out to be not just one of the best city sieges I've ever been in (just because it was challenging for both parts) but an opportunity for me to rediscover why I like the game at all. It's not something that can be put into words, or at least not any words I know of. It just felt right. We all came out of that instance completely fulfilled. We couldn't have asked for anything much better than that.

Also, one good thing about the patch was that I got to leech almost an entire renown rank during the weekend (in a VERY casual gaming schedule) simply just by idling in The Maw while waiting for Eternal Citadel pops. Yes, you know what I'm talking about.

The orc is leaving the ship

Fear not, as the zealot is still staying :)

Anyway, this started off as a 3 person blog that rapidly turned into a 2 person blog when our esteemed Nirvaesh stopped playing.

Now it's going to turn into a one person blog as I'm off in search of a diferent land, leaving Sara as the only member of this blog.

By no means i intend on stop playing. Far from it. Actualy, I intend on playign evenmore than I have lately, I'm just gonna move my rantings to a diferent place.

From now on, besides checking Super Effective, take a peek at Tea Forks as well as that's gonna be my rambling spot from now on.

I'll be sure to deliver a fair ammount of Choppa related stuff, alongside some