Just Potatoes

In the Fallen Earth help channel, the same few questions get asked over and over. (No, not “How do I make relish?” and “How do I equip the axe?” though those do get asked an awful lot.)

It’s very common for people in the tutorial to ask, “What’s the level cap and how’s the endgame?” When hearing that Fallen Earth really doesn’t have much of an endgame yet, and the level cap is 45, the response is often, “Then what’s the point?”

What’s the point, indeed…

Many MMO players are inclined to look at the endgame of a potential new MMO as a determinant of how long they’ll stay with the game. What’s the point of subscribing if you’re going to run out of content in a month of playing?

The issue with Fallen Earth is that so much of the game is about the journey, and about exploring, that people who think, “I’ll jam through 45 levels and be stuck with nothing to do” don’t do the game justice. But I’m not surprised they think that way.

When I first tried Lord of the Rings Online, shortly after it’s release, I decided not to subscribe, because I was concerned that the level cap was only 50, and there seemed very little content past that. So I know what those people in the Fallen Earth help channel are thinking. I felt that same way about LOTRO.

For anyone whose main leap into MMOs began with WoW, as mine did (not counting MUDs and Guild Wars), I think it’s hard to break away from the idea that the*real* game starts at the level cap.

In World of Warcraft, leveling characters is easy. In the past, it was far more difficult, but they’ve since reduced the experience required to level and increased the experience earned from quests. So the journey to the level cap is short and sweet for most people. And that’s where the REAL game begins. Gearing up, reputation grinds, raiding… Blizzard has focused so much on the endgame in WoW that the Wrath of the Lich King expansion didn’t provide any new content for characters under the level cap. It was solely an endgame expansion. Blizzard’s primary demographic is clearly the endgame players.

Where I find the most enjoyment in WoW, or “the point” of WoW for me, is getting a character to the level cap then gearing them up. I love the gear grind. In Burning Crusade, I spent hours doing heroic 5-man instances with guildies for badges, and grinding rep with Ogri’la, and the Shatari Skyguard. Getting to exalted reputation levels with the various factions had tangible rewards and was tough to do for the casual player. It took time. As a result, there was far more diversity in the server community.

Now, the loot grind is ridiculously easy. Not only is leveling short and sweet, but so is gearing up! The whole point of WoW, for me, is lost. I was never a hardcore raider, so I’m not lamenting that they’ve made content more accessible. I’m glad it’s accessible! I’m just disappointed in that there’s nothing really left for my style of playing. I’ve got six characters sitting at the level cap, and the most recent two level 80s (druid and warlock) were both pretty well-geared within a few days of hitting 80.

I enjoyed Warhammer because I was able to level through PvP (RvR), and gear up through renown, lucky bag drops and later, tokens. The gear grind frustrated a lot of people, which is why Mythic introduced tokens, but it didn’t really bother me.

So after realizing that “the point” of an MMO, for me, is leveling (with friends!) and then the loot grind, I’m starting to look at other games to see what’s out there that might still satisfy that play style…

I’ll still stick around WoW, because I love the people I’ve played with the for the last three years, but I really need something more… hmm… satisfying? Or what’s the point?

And I feel fine…

I have a kid who can sing all the lyrics to that REM song. Crazy… but anyway…

After reading lots of good reviews, I picked up a copy of Divinity 2 last week. I enjoyed the previous games, so I figured it would be a nice diversion. While it was an okay game, I didn’t find myself getting too engaged. With some games, I feel like I have to finish just to get it out of my system, but D2 was more like… I have to finish it because I paid for it.

Being able to turn into a dragon is nice, and I enjoyed the aerial combat. The enemy AI wasn’t very good though, and I found I could easily strafe in, kill a couple of ballistics or a nest, and fly back to heal and quicksave. While the game offers a wide array of abilities you can put points into, I ended up dumping all my skill points into just a handful of skills: explosive shot (which has a ridiculously overpowered AOE affect), summon ghost (he’s weak at first, but with a handful of points, he’s a battle healer!), summon demon (a taunting tanking summon with decent dps) and charm.

For most fights, I could run in, fire off explosive shot and take out everyone in the group instantly. For harder fights, I had my demon tank, my ghost heal and I’d charm one of the enemies so they’d fight among themselves and I could pick them off. The final battle took me all of about 30 seconds and certainly didn’t feel epic. I almost never bothered pulling out my “creature” pet because he didn’t scale very well, even using clean-cut body parts. The story seemed a little goofy too. The bad guy keeps showing up periodically throughout the game, but he never thinks to just kill you while you’re a lowbie peon and rolling on the ground injured. To twist a Spaceballs quote, “Good will triumph because evil is DUMB.”

I started playing Fallen Earth, and it’s a great change of pace. I love not caring about endgame. With all the family stuff I’m having to do in real life right now, my gaming time is limited, so being able to queue up crafting stuff, or just log in and goof around for a bit is great. I love all the crazy stuff the npcs say. (”So. Do clones go to the bathroom?”) There are so many little things hidden everywhere, from signs spraypainted on the sides of buildings to the tooltips of my items. The humor fits me very well, and I can see FE being a game that my husband (”He Who Will Not Play MMOS”) might eventually play. The community seems mature for the most part, and the GMs are quick to squash the Barrens Chat refugees that occasionally start trolling in the help channel. I don’t feel like quite as much of a crotchety old lady when I’m playing FE, unlike WoW, where I’m occasionally convinced that an entire village of idiots has decided to have their worldwide convention on my server.

I’m still logging into WoW once in a while to visit with friends, but there’s really nothing to do now, apart from raid. Since gear is so easy to get, there’s just not much to do. My druid is exalted with the 5 Northrend factions, and is well-geared. So the only thing left to do is level alts… and with six 80s now (I got my warlock to 80 not long ago), I’m pretty over the whole alt-leveling thing. I’ve thought about starting some new characters on a different server with absolutely no resources from my 80s, in an effort to capture that whole “first time through the game” feeling. But I suspect it would be a bit like a high school reunion… the past was way cooler in my memory than it is now.

I also participated in the beta for Star Trek Online, for about two hours before the constant rubber banding drove me nuts. There’s plenty of potential in STO, but to think that this beta is just a month away from a release is crazy. It reminds me a bit of the Warhammer open beta. Not a good sign.

A few weeks ago, one of my guildmates from WoW sent a Facebook message to our group, saying, “I’m thinking about getting back into gaming. Where are you all playing now?”

Many people weren’t playing any MMOs. A couple of folks were still playing WoW. I was off playing LOTRO. But with that one Facebook post, most of the core of our guild suddenly decided to return… including myself. Originally, I said I wouldn’t go back to WoW, but as more people posted, “Hmm… maybe I’ll try it again,” I decided that I wanted to play with these guys again. Now we average about a dozen people on in the evening.

I picked up my resto druid, got her to 80 and very quickly geared her up. In January, my guild will have been together for three years so it’s pretty neat to have everyone back.

I’m still playing LOTRO as well! Once I got my hunter to 30, I was able to start using the new skirmish system, which is a blast! In the past, I only played one MMO at a time, but I find that having two to bounce back and forth between keeps me from getting bored or burnt out on either one. Now that the level requirements for a mount were lowered, my hunter was able to get a Bree Starter Horse. While slow, it certainly seems to help in getting around. Running from Ost Goruth to the Forsaken Inn isn’t quite so long anymore.

Between the skirmish system in LOTRO and the new dungeon finder tool in WoW, I’ve got plenty to do when I get a chance to play for a bit.

I spent the last couple of weeks trying to get Dragon Age out of my system. I’ve played all the other Bioware RPGs, and while Dragon Age looked good, I didn’t particularly care for Mass Effect (*gasp*) and envisioned more of the same.

Mass Effect had WAY too much talking. I’m sure Mass Effect fans will hate me for saying that. In order to get to the action, I slogged through hours of talking and reading codex updates. Aside from the one tutorial battle in the beginning, there was just not enough going on early in the game to hold my attention. The NPC personalities didn’t seem very distinct. By the time I did get through the seeming HOURS of dialogue, I found myself frustrated with trying to cross a bridge using the Mako while things were shooting at me. The Mako controls felt clunky and I died several times. I’ve heard the controls are better on the PC, and I was playing the 360 version, but ugh… I dropped Mass Effect at that point, and my husband got into playing it. He ended up finishing the game and loved it. It’s the only Bioware game that I’ve not played through to the end.

So I didn’t expect much from Dragon Age, apart from maybe endless hours of clicking through dialogue options. And lots of loading screens, if Jade Empire taught me anything… Even so, I bought the Collector’s Edition because I’m a sucker for a CE…

I’m very sensitive to good voice acting. Nothing breaks my immersion and ruins a game for me faster than bad voices or annoying music. My WoW friends will tell you that I LOVE the Lich King voice. (They were also subjected to vent discussions on the voices of Nexus-Prince Shaffar and Prince Malchezaar!) Oblivion drove me NUTS because all the NPCs of a particular gender/race sounded the same. You’d greet a beggar, who’d have a raspy cockney accent, and then his voice would suddenly change to the “refined male” voice in conversation. But as much as I enjoy quality voice acting, I don’t want to spend hours clicking through dialogue options to get to the action… I want a good mix of action and voice and NPCs should have distinct, well-developed personalities, especially the ones who are going to group with me. That’s what makes the gameplay memorable. The voices should not be grating or annoying. Anyone who’s played Baldur’s Gate remembers Minsc, (”Go for the eyes, Boo!”) but how many people remember the name of the male lead in KOTOR 2… the romance option for females?

One of the first things I noticed about Dragon Age, because I’m a dork, is that the voice acting is consistent! All the characters hailing from a specific region have similar dialects. People from Orlais sound French, etc. There’s only one little nitpicky part that seemed weird, and that’s Murdock in Redcliffe. His voice seems to change a couple of times, almost as if they had to edit in dialogue options for him. But the rest of the voice acting is great! The voices fit the personalities too, and the actors are well cast. One character burps when you click on him, and another answers in one or two word sentences and is as enigmatic at the end of the game as he is in the beginning. The voices of possessed NPCs are brilliantly done, with the demon voice echoing in the background. Sometimes, the voices are just downright creepy, like the child chanting in Haven. Much of the flavor of the locations is conveyed by NPCs that you “overhear” as you walk past. The dueling town criers in Orzammar with their “news of the hour” updates had me running past them each time I did something to see what they’d say next.

The best part is that Dragon Age dropped the endless dialogue clicking that seemed over overpower Mass Effect! Instead, there’s a nice mix of combat and dialogue. The codex is still there, but the updates are unobtrusive and quick to read. The chatting between party members is well done, and often hilarious (Morrigan and Alastair bickering, Zevran giving Alastair “tips”). It always seemed to occur in the spots where I had time to listen, rather than in some other Bioware games, where they start chatting just before you zone into somewhere else. Shale is a particular favorite who really should have been included in the main game so everyone can play with him. He reminds me a bit of HK-47, and his fondness for pretty crystals and hatred of birds just cracks me up.

I’ve played the game through twice, once as a mage and once as a rogue, and although I plan on playing it through again, it’s now out of my system. I’m no longer dreaming about it at night. (Am I the only gamer who does that?) Only a few games have really sucked me in like that, and made me feel like I *have* to finish it so I can move on with my life… Planescape: Torment, KOTOR, Diablo 2 and the Witcher come to mind. I was looking forward to trying The Old Republic when it comes out, but after playing Dragon Age, I’m now REALLY looking forward to TOR. If TOR is anything like Dragon Age, it could be amazing.

Yesterday, I logged back in LOTRO and got my hunter to level 27. I also completed another class trait, just in time for that third slot to open up at 27, another racial trait, and a couple of virtues. The game is just as fun now as it was before I got sidetracked by Dragon Age, so I expect I’ll continue to chug along there after my brief foray into Ferelden.

I just wish Radagast the Brown didn’t have the EXACT same voice as Gandalf. *sigh*

The leveling experience in an MMO is really only new and exciting that very first time. With that in mind, I’m really relishing my leveling experience in Lord of the Rings Online! I’ve taken loads of screenshots, gone way out of my comfort zone to pug the newbie instance (The Great Barrow) and join others in group quests. It’s been a GREAT week, and more fun than I’ve had in an MMO in a very long time.

I definitely get a sense that Turbine really cares about their game. The new Siege of Mirkwood trailer has the tagline, “Turbine: Powered by Our Fans” accompanied by the Turbine logo (a fan) which cracks me up and makes me groan at the same time. A couple of times, GMs jumped into the global “Looking for Fellowship” channel to say hello and ask how things were going. They had great rapport with the players, acknowledging several by name and joking around. Customer service has been improved considerably.

And they’ve really enhanced the new user experience! The quest hubs have been reorganized so that quests are grouped together logically. For someone like me, who prefers to group quests by area, complete them all together and do my turn-ins in batches, this is brilliantly satisfying. On the other hand, I spent a half hour yesterday running around trying to find the two Great Barrows quests that used to be offered in Bree only to finally give up and accept a summons to the instance… where the quest givers now wait right outside!

Leveling is much faster. There’s less exp required per level, and so far, the pace feels just about right, though I’ve heard it slows down soon. Many of the low level group quests have been made a tad easier so it is possible to solo them though still better to do them in a group. Playing Aion, with its grindy leveling, got me in the habit of killing everything along the way as I run, and that’s enhanced my leveling speed as well. I’m also mindful of completing my deeds at the lower levels and have two racial traits, two class traits, and about a dozen virtues completed. Attempting to be more sociable and less introverted has been working well too, since I’ve now completed all the Great Barrows quests and half of my gear is gorgeous purples! (Maybe it’s the WoW player in me that still gets giddy when I see purple…hehe). I have a handful of people on my friends list and have yet to add a single person to my ignore list. I also received the Undying title, for not dying during my adventures prior to level 20, but shortly after earning it, I was ganked by a couple of walking trees in the Old Forest… Oh well!

The best part is that I haven’t even quested in the Lone-Lands yet, other than to kill one poor crazy fellow for the expert Woodworker quest! It’s now completely possible to bypass Lone-Lands almost entirely. (Someone told me that they were planning on skipping it completely on their newest alt.) Lone-Lands was a tough slog when I was leveling my captain. There are definitely more choices now in where to go to level and the progression feels less linear than it did before.

My daughter has fallen behind on her leveling, but that’s okay. She’s been working hard on NaNoWriMo (this is her third year), and I’m proud of her for having her priorities in order. I do enjoy playing with her though!

One of the best experiences I had this week was going through the Epic Book 1, Chapter 11 quest, “Othrongroth” where I was accompanied by a dwarven rune-keeper from a dwarf-only heavy-RP guild. He put up with my (probably woefully awkward) attempts to RP and really made the whole thing a blast. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun that I didn’t get any screenshots. I also failed to get screenshots of my first Great Barrows group, which was made up of all level 21 and 22s.

So now my little hunter is midway through 24. Yes… She’s an elf. SORRY!!!! My daughter made me do it!! And Tolkien elves are okay, right? Right?!

Next Saturday, the server is having a kinship recruitment fair, and if I haven’t found one by then, I’m planning on attending and chatting with some of the kins. I’ve visited loads of recruitment links in the forums, and see a couple that look like they might be a good fit for me. Finding a kin is the next major item on my gaming agenda.

This past weekend my teen daughter and I started playing Lord of the Rings Online together. I’ve played LotRO on and off since it’s release, and the community is more mature and pleasant than in any other game I’ve played, so I felt completely comfortable allowing her to play. She’s also a card-carrying member of the grammar and spelling police and HATES chatspeak, so I know she’d go absolutely nuts playing on nearly any other MMO.

We did some reading and decided to create a Loremaster (her) and Hunter (me) duo on the Landroval server, which is LotRO’s roleplaying server. I *think* that’s an unofficial designation, but there is certainly a very strong RP community on Landroval. I haven’t seen so much public RP since my MUD and MUSH days.

We’re aiming to level these two up together, but we each have solo characters, for when the other can’t play. I rolled a minstrel and made him a guy, just for fun. I even pugged a group for one of the Chetwood group quests, and pug healing for me is so outside my comfort zone it’s crazy. Just as he hit level 13, I saw an announcement about a musical event going on in Staddle… so off I trotted.

I was pretty nervous about engaging in RP in LotRO, because I don’t know anyone and I’m not confident in my knowledge of the lore. In the past, I’ve only RPed with people that I already know, but I’m determined to make some social connections in LotRO this time around, so I went out of my comfort zone and attended this event. It was great, because there were no expectations. Some people sat and listened to music, while some people chatted and RPed more.

At first, all I had the nerve to do was /clap and /cheer, but then someone came over and greeted me. I chatted with a couple of people and by the end of the event, I’d turned my RP flag on.

My daughter was jealous because she came home at the very end of the event. She wants to accompany me to next week’s event, and she’s been working on learning the music system! Between having someone else to play with, and feeling pretty welcomed by the Landroval community, I’m hopeful that I’ll feel at home at LotRO for a long time to come.

I’ve spent the past month playing Aion with a really great group of people, but this past week, my mother flew in from California to visit and I found myself unable to log in.

And now, I find that I don’t really want to log in. I think, “Hmm… I have some downtime. I should play Aion and see how things are going.” But then I get distracted by something else– forums, email, housework, Google Reader, Order of the Stick –and I just don’t bother playing the game. When doing housework distracts me from playing an MMO, it’s time to start thinking about the value of that MMO!

My main problem with Aion is that PvP just isn’t that complex… or fun. I’m dreading logging on and seeing fortresses becoming vulnerable, because I know I’ll probably spend an hour sitting at an artifact, for 15 minutes of frantic PvP accompanied by disconnects, lag and people yelling at each other. I don’t like how some legions run past the guards to take on the diety just so they can get their name on the fortress. I don’t like how some legions don’t bother defending forts they’ve captured, but on the other hand, it’s hard to know when your legion’s fort is going to be vulnerable. I don’t enjoy feeling like I’m missing something if I’m not on when a fort goes vulnerable or that I’m not leveling fast enough to start fighting in the upper Abyss. I don’t like the way that healing, buffing and rezzing apparently give little or no contribution in fort battles. The only people I know who’ve earned contribution bonuses are melee dps and the healers who spam heal the tanks.

I really miss Warhammer’s scenarios, battle objectives, and open grouping. If I had a warband leader I didn’t care for, I could leave and join another open warband. In Aion, I spend most of my time ganking or being ganked while grinding in the Abyss. As a result, I’ve been logging on to alts more and more often.

But I love the people I play with, so I’m not sure what to do. I was willing to overlook Warhammer’s flaws (graphical issues, server and class imbalances) for so long because the lore was so rich, and the world was atmospheric (if buggy), and the people were wonderful. Friends are what kept me playing both WoW and Warhammer when my enjoyment of the games had ceased, and the lack of a social group is what led me to drop Age of Conan, and Lord of the Rings Online, though I really think they’re great games. I know I’m not the only one… At least three of my guildmates have quit Aion and gone back to Warhammer. Two of my WoW guildies who had joined us in Aion have gone back to WoW.

So I find myself looking at other games… It’s been so long since I’ve really been able to immerse myself in an MMO. I was in the beta for Fallen Earth, and I’m thinking about trying that out. I might go back to LoTRO too. My daughter would love to play with me, and LoTRO would be a good game for us both to play. It’s also the only MMO my husband has ever expressed an interest in playing, so maybe I could rope him in.

We’ll see.

I’ve gotten a number of messages in recent weeks asking where I’ve been! Thank you all so much for your concern, but everything is just fine. I moved to Minneapolis in August when my husband’s job was relocated, so between unpacking and getting adjusted to our new home, I haven’t had much time to write.

In September, I logged back into Warhammer for the first time since my move and found it felt sadly decayed. My server was like an old building with lots of character, where good memories were once formed, but now past its prime. Most of my guildmates were off playing Age of Conan or Chinese Aion or just biding their time waiting for the western release of Aion. The RvR map showed all tiers solidly locked by Order most of the time, with very few Destruction warbands roaming the RvR lakes. I noticed that morale would deteriorate quickly in the warbands that did venture out. I’d join a warband, they’d decide to take a battle objective or a keep, get rolled or wipe at the keep door, and the warband would dissolve as people found excuses to do other things. Sometimes someone would say, “Let’s go to . Since Order is here, we can take some objectives there.” I suspect Order was probably equally demoralized, because although they owned much of the map most of the time, they rarely seemed to put together an organized fort push. ( I also suspect that a tremendous amount of cross-realming was going on in the later months of my time at War.)

Uhm, sorry, but I play the game to fight. If I wanted to PvE, I’d play a different game. On the other hand, I agree that the lack of server and class balance in Warhammer is disheartening.

According to the Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology, I’m a Killer/Socializer, with something like 73% Killer and 67% Socializer, which means I enjoy both PvP and hanging out with my friends. When I found out that most of my Warhammer guild, War Seekers, was moving over to Aion, I opted to go with them.

I rolled a chanter, which is a buffer/debuffer class, and as of last night, I’m level 26. I provide some melee dps, but my dps is less than the true melee classes. Instead, my role in a group is to buff my party primarily using aoe buffs called mantras. I can only have 3 mantras up at a time, so part of the challenge is choosing which mantras are best for a given situation, and being aware of when mantras need to be changed on the fly. My other role is to keep my debuffs on the enemy, and to then to offheal as necessary. I have two heals: a HoT and a bigger heal with a long cast time. Clerics, which are the true healing class in Aion, have a wider variety of faster and more mana efficient heals, as well as group heals.

I have lots of criticisms of Aion, but I’ll save those for another post. I *really* didn’t like having to PvE my way through the first 25 levels to get to the PvP portion of the game. It’s absolutely silly to have a PvP focused game make you spend hours grinding. Over and over, I wished there were scenarios, or battlegrounds, or something like Lord of the Rings monster play. If not for vent and legion chat, I probably would have gone nuts grinding. As an RPer, I don’t find the lore as immersive as games like War, WoW, LotRO or AoC. But there are some really good things about Aion too, and I’ll probably get into those at some point as well.

The best part of my Aion experience has been that some of my WoW guildmates joined my War Seekers. While the killer part of me is loving the PvP aspect of Aion, the socializer part of me is having a blast too now that I get to play with my friends from both WoW and War.

This morning…

My husband: I was thinking that we should take these sailcloth curtains with us and put them up in the new master bedroom! The whole room could be sailing themed!

Me: But then it would just be all YOU. I want the room to be a place that reflects both of us.

My Husband: Well then let’s make it… Sailing in the World of Warcraft themed! (Insert “I think I’m so clever” snicker).

/smack

My little Necromancer hit level 37 in Age of Conan, but I haven’t played much over the past week. Part of that is due to preparing for a cross-country move on the 30th, and part of it is because I don’t have any social connections in AoC. I’m at a point where I feel kind of lonely. Global chat is incredibly bad, so I keep my combat tab flipped to the front which makes the game feel very quiet.

Last week, I logged out of AoC, and jumped in Warhammer, where my guild was putting together a warband to defend the Inevitable City against the inevitable push by Order. Within minutes, I was in vent, and in the warband.

As much as I like being able to solo, I’m really a social gamer at heart. If I don’t develop a strong social community within a game, I won’t stick around. As much as I’ve enjoyed playing some other games (Vanguard, DDO, AoC, LotRO), I have a hard time staying with them because I haven’t connected with the community. In smaller games with small communities, like Vanguard, that’s particularly difficult.

I’m also a fairly shy person in games (which is funny because I’m so NOT that way in real life). I don’t enjoying pugging, for the most part, and I don’t have a very thick skin. I need to feel like I’ve got a firm grasp on the mechanics of a game and my class before I jump into a group. That way, it’s no big deal if someone tells me to “l2p” because they’re just being a jerk. But if I’m actually learning to play, or feeling insecure about my abilities, then yeah… it irks.

In WoW, my first character hit 58 unguilded. I was at a point where I knew I’d quit unless I found a good group of people. There was *one* person on my friends list, a mage who asked me for directions a couple of months before, and afterward told me to pop him on my friends list.

I noticed he was a guild called “Shotgun Bunnies,” which seemed like a cool name for a guild, so I sent him a whisper. I was ridiculously nervous! I got a guild invite, and here we are almost three years later. My characters are all still in Shotgun Bunnies and I’m an elder, which is the rank just below the GM. In BC, our little social guild farmed Karazhan, downed Gruul’s a few times, and ventured into Serpentshrine. We had a tough time pulling together a 25 man, but we had a couple of great 10 man groups. We started out as a 10-man raid guild in Wrath, but after farming Naxx, OS and Vault, we fizzled out. A few key people quit the game or drifted off to other things, and a couple of people went to hardcore raid guilds where they could see more 25-man content.

But I still love those guys. For me, they ARE WoW. They’re the only reason I played as long as I did, and the only reason I still log in sometimes. Last year, I went to Blizzcon with one of them (my bud, Alicia). We met another guildie for dinner. We’re all friends on Facebook, and have a running group message thread going where we regularly trade links, chat, insult each other… and lately, talk about the mating habits of turtles. (Yeah… we’re a strange bunch.)

(I meet two of my guildies at Blizzcon 2008. I’m the short one on the left, with the Shotgun Bunnies shirt on.)

When I started playing Warhammer, after switching from Order to Destruction on Phoenix Throne, I shopped around guild adverts in the forums, and checked out lots of guild websites. I finally applied to a guild that I thought would be a good fit, but I’d never applied to a guild before, so that took me out of my comfort zone a bit. They ended up being a really great group of people, and I love playing with them. War Seekers is what largely what keeps me going back to WAR. A group of guildies is moving over to Aion in September, so I suspect I’ll be bouncing back and forth between both games.

It’s funny that in all my time playing MMOs, I’ve only ever really been in two guilds. I’m definitely not someone who enjoys guild hopping!

So now the question is do I like AoC enough to find a guild? I really don’t know.