I’m obviously really enjoying Lineage 2, hence the lack of substantial content on my blog the last 3 days. Sorry!
A nice “first 30 levels” write- up will come once I hit 30. I’m almost 26 at the moment. Will be talking about my experience with the first 30 levels, some of the amazingly friendly, international, people I’ve met, the clan that has taken me in, and dissect some aspects of the game.
In the meantime check out some sexy screenshots of my new dark elf, RemoveNozzle:
Pushing on 23, I’m starting to feel old in the gaming scene (I can see all you older gamers scoffing at me right now for calling 22 old) – so that being so, I’ve started to appreciate games, MMORPGS specifically, in a different way. As my free time becomes more and more precious, I long to experience MORE out of my games and really have a way to escape. Yet, I’ve fallen victim to the GRIND of MMOs, and forgot that MMORPGS are in fact ROLE PLAYING GAMES and not just gear/level-cap grindfests.
Having recently get totally burnt out on WoW (again), I’ve realized it’s probably because I’m just playing the game in a way that would cause most sane people to resent it. A usual gaming session for me in WoW was logging on, clicking on npcs with ? or ! above them, instant-quest-text dialogue so I am not bothered by any hint of STORYLINE, and mindlessly following where Questhelper tells me to go, so i can make a bar move on the bottom of my screen. When a game is making you feel like you have to do something you don’t want to do, or when you’re just doing something because you feel like you have to, even though you acknowledge that it’s no fun – you shouldn’t be doing that! Before I decided to take a break from WoW, I did fall victim to the Wrath of the Lich King hype and tested out a Death Knight, but from a new angle. I let myself get immersed in the plot and storyline by reading every single quest dialogue, reading the random quest items you get like books or scrolls that may have lore/storyline hidden away on them, and I didn’t force myself to rush through the content. I had a blast! It was a shame they only gave DK’s about 2 hours of dedicated content. But alas, turns out I just hated the class, as I quit him around 65 when I found msyelf back in the grind.
So I realized, half of my problem is that I’m not treating my MMOs like RPGs. I’m not playing them like I would a single player experience. So giving WAR another shot, I’ve tried reading the quests, diving into the lore and storyline, and it’s actually helped me appreciate the game from a brand new view. Despite the technicle problems, general glitchiness, and rather boring story/quests (at least, Empire ones) – I still appreciated the game in a new way and it has made me eager to see what else I have been missing, in the giant backlog of MMO’s that I have essentially not even given a fair chance.
First up on the menu? A $39.99 Guild Wars Trilogy wants to say hi, and I’m sure Lord of The Rings Online would taste pretty good about now.
It took me multiple Backspace spammings to get this first line out, but, HEY, here it is. I don’t know what to say really. Making your first post on a blog is like sparking a conversation on a blind date with an attractive girl. You know you like what you see, you know what you want, but you just can’t spit out the right words at the right time.
I guess i should start with why I made a blog and why i feel the need to post it on the world-wide-web for anyone to read, as if they should care. Well you should care, because it’s fun to read other’s opinions, right?
Let’s get the business and formal stuff out of the way: I am a Journalism student at the University of North Florida and I’m just trying to get my feet with in the ol’ blogosphere and get some writing in when I’m able to pry myself from whatever MMO i am playing. I will be talking a lot about Warhammer Online (hell i almost even made it a WAR-centric blog) as it is the game i am currently most excited about (obssessing about). Waaagh!
Let’s get this straight. This will not be a live-journal, myspace blog, man-diary, disguised as a gaming and gaming industry blog! I am here to discuss all things gaming: the politics, the sales, the communities, and so-forth. Of course, as the name implies, my spceciality obviously lies in the Massively Multiplayer Online genre, and although this genre may ignite many of my rants and raves, it is not the only area of interest to me or this blog.
I’m a big time gaming-blog reader. I literally have 10+ gaming news and blogs that i will religiously check every time i open firefox. I really should get on that whole RSS feed train. Oh well. But my constant attention to gaming blogs is what helped motivate me to finally make my own. I find it encouraging to read simple blogs made by simple gamers like myself, and find that they actually have a nice following of active readers, so i hope to follow in the footsteps of many bloggers who have influenced me. That’s right, it’s shout-out time: Kotaku, wowinsider, massively, joystiq, the greenskin, and a fellow wordpress blog, Waaagh!. I thank those sites for giving me hours of good times and good reads.
So as i bring this icky first post to an end, let me say to the 3 people out there who will probably read this first post (including my girlfriend and mom) thank you and please check back for many more updates!
Disclaimer: I used the word “blog” way too much. I sowy.
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