Remembering what made WoW so fun...

When I look back at all of the time I spent playing WoW, I have to wonder... what kept me playing so long? The answer always ends up with me telling people the reason why I left or what I felt the game did to further the genre or gaming as a whole. I never get around to what I enjoyed or what kept me coming back night after night.

When WoW first announced I was totally onboard. I had been a huge fan of the original Warcraft series since back when I had a PC that couldn't even run it. I played it at a friends house and wished for the day to be able to enjoy it. I played the demo of the first game as soon as I had a rig capable enough to run it. I wore that thing out, and never did get a full version of it. When the second came out, that was my new goal. I wanted to be able to play it AND get a full copy of the first. I managed to get the two games together in a BattleChest. This was before Battle.Net, so patches had to be randomly found on crappy internet sites and then applied later while holding your breath or you just dealt with whatever bugs came with the game.

I took that BattleChest home and I set it on the shelf and I waited until I had a PC good enough to play it. Well, the second one at least. The first one I was able to play and I played it plenty. I even managed to get my dad hooked. To this day Warcraft 2 is one of his favorite games, though I've managed to get him into Warcraft 3 a time or two. I eventually got a PC capable of actually playing Warcraft 2 and it was amazing. The game was gripping and added so much more to the game. It was the first time that I saw storytelling evolve and a real story push through a video game and feel so epic. Sure, I had seen and played a lot of great games, but you knew Warcraft was going to be special.

By the time the third game came out I was an adult and as an avid PC gamer I had an uber rig and was easily able to handle it. Warcraft 3 was a benchmark to the RTS/RPG genre. It was so good that people STILL play it and even modify it slightly and market it as a different/better game. I had two of my close friends come over and experience Warcraft 3 with me. We each took turns playing the game and never let each other miss out. We would always save and go back. We slept in shifts and ate in stages. We lived off of very little of both food and sleep for about a week and we watched every glorious pixel of Warcraft 3 together. It was a great week and a damn good time. Again, we all knew that we were watching a huge franchise make some serious moves.

World of Warcraft was the icing. It was THE thing I wanted the most in the world. I had played other MMO games and had played dozens of RPGs and I knew that Blizzard would find a way to bring it all together perfectly. They did.

I invited one of my friends over to the house the first time I ever logged into WoW, during the closed beta. We watched as the magical world we had seen unfolded in front of us and we watched the different skills and effects and how gorgeous this whole world was. It was amazing. Something I am not sure that I can ever duplicate. Two grown men with our jaws dropped running around on this tree in the middle of the ocean killing off the random demon creatures and spiders. Sure it wasn't a raid and we didn't get any super epics, but it was amazing back then. The world hadn't seen anything like this before.

I played through the beta and into open beta. I watched the game change many times just before it was released. I played the game loyally. I picked a server with some friends and we made it our home. We founded a guild, we played together and had a great time. Slowly the friends slipped out of touch with WoW and went on to play other things, but I remained. WoW sucked me in. I wanted to see all of the world, I wanted to play all of the classes, I wanted to know the most and be the best. I memorized all of the cooldowns and spells and all of the formulas for calculating DPS and crit chance for melee or spell. I was never in a dominating guild, but I managed to get in a few server firsts.

My video card died and ended the early raiding career I had. I managed to level a lot of other classes and become very proficient in PvP, because of this. I met a lot of great people and made a lot of great friends, but mostly I had a lot of fun. I laughed and laughed and enjoyed the victories and I hated the losses. I was emotionally attached to pixels and a fictional world and these people that I'd never met. That is what still keeps me playing. The fun that I once had and I hope to relive. Sometimes there are glimmers of hope and every now and then I run into someone who knew me way back then, 5 or 6 years ago. I see people who recognize my name from the old days and respect the asses I kicked or faces I healed and it's nice.

Now days my brother plays off and on and most of my real life friends either don't play, or don't play with me. The friends I met in the game have mostly dwindled and the few I still see aren't around too much. I just recently came back because I want to be around when they blow up the world that I've come to know and love so much for so long. The shitty banks of Darkshore, with Murlocs and hydras. The forever-stretching Barrens that honed your skills as a young Horde player. The fields of Elwynn and the shores of Darkshire where I lured many newbies to death.

Many changes have been made to the game that I believe will help me relive a bit of the old school and some seem very interesting and give me hope for the new direction of the game. I always expect to see a few old faces at the beginning of every expansion, even if they just take off a couple months later. I wish that I was able to go back and play those days all over again. Not that I'd do much different or not that I'd want to. I'd probably do just about the same, but I wouldn't take for granted all of the fun that I had in the game or some of the friends I had made and hope to see again.

I survived Champaign, Illinois.

Barely. Just barely.

I managed to come out on top of my management training in good ol' Champaign, Illinois. What has to be the festering asshole for the known universe. I never thought I'd be so happy to be back home in the south. I managed to bring back some super sickness with me. So sick, in fact, that I actually managed to get time off of work to get better. Imagine that!

Now that I am back from my month long adventure and I have resubscribed to WoW, I am sure I will have all sorts of fun and interesting moments to share. Actually, I am pretty sure I will probably just have horrible letdowns and shattered dreams. BUT, AT LEAST IT'S SOMETHING!

... BUT I DON'T WANNA PLAY WOW AGAIN! =(

I played WoW. A lot. From the closed beta until just before the second expansion. I was convinced that WAR was going to be really good. It wasn't and I ended up back in WoW just a couple months after swearing it off for good. My account got turned off, with my internet, back in January. I haven't touched it since then. I got internet back again in March and it wasn't even on my list of things to do. But now... now, it is.

I spent a lot of time angry at WoW. I was angry

because the community was a bunch of fucking asshole elitist fuckbags. I was angry at the devs for constantly failing to live up to what was once so great about the game. Not even in the rose-colored glasses sense, but just in general. Especially when you consider the explosion at the launch of the game. I never knew that I'd look back almost 6 years ago and say "Man, this is probably one of the largest and most played games OF ALL TIME".

I was very upset with the latest expansion, after at first being overjoyed. Things rolled out too slowly and the stride that I thought they were making were more like babysteps to dumbing the game down even

more. The talents got reworked, but were still over the top and there was a lot of balancing that needed to be done that had thus far been overlooked.

THAT'S WHAT BETA IS FOR! I've used the phrase thousands of times and in this case, it was true. They seem to have worked over many of the kinks and issues that I had with the game that drove me so batshit crazy.

The talent trees have been slimmed down. Each class chooses a "specialization". From there you enter the tree. At max level, 85, you have 41 talent points now. Each tree has talents that extend down to a 31 point talent. You MUST invest 31 points into a tree (though you don't have to buy the 31-point talent) before you can spend talent points anywhere else. Hybrid builds are a thing of the past. No more picking up talents from all over the place. The synergy on some top tier talents have been improved to make this a little easier to handle. The outcome, though, will be forcing people to learn to play their specific role as Blizzard intended.

A large number of what used to be talents have been added as trainable ability or simple something passive. Trainable abilities, by the way, only need to be trained once and will scale with you as you go... forever. The Mastery system also steps in to take the place of some of the lost talents. Depending on your specialty, your Mastery skill will provide a different and specific bonus. For Warlocks their Affliction specialty adds X% to periodic Shadow damage. Then for each point of Master you add another Y%. Destruction does this for Fire damage and Demonology does the same for the damage of your demons.

WoW has always done a good job of streamlining and reshaping things before a large content patch, such as an expansion, and this is no different. They really did a pretty good job putting together a new system to play with. The main addition (or subtraction, rather) was the removal of many of the mind-numbing game stats. Spellpower and Attack power are gone, they have been replaced by stats that give a specific amount of either based on your class or spec. Mana per 5 also made an exit. The gear is now more simplified and stat heavy. It seems to be shaping up pretty

nicely.

I never though that I'd play WoW again. I figured I would be able to just quit it and never turn back. I can't. I see so many things returning to the way they should have been and I have a chance to run wild in the original landscape after it has been ravaged. I am really hoping for the best and I hope it turns out well.

Halo: Reach and why a 360 may be in my future.

I have been a gamer of some sort since I got my first Nintendo. Maybe even before that with a hand-me-down Atari. For more than a decade now, though, I've been a PC gamer almost exclusively. This longtime lovefest may be coming to an end.

As many of you may know, Halo:Reach just came out. It broke all sorts of online playing records as well as some sales records. This will be Bungie's last Halo game, so you know it has to be solid. On top of that, the multiplayer is anticipated to be VERY good.

I played Halo competitively when it came out for PC. I enjoyed the game and have very fond memories. I was never an XBox fan, but the game was really something special. I have been waiting to see something that fantastic again... and this could be it. I just have one little problem...

I don't own a 360. I don't own any consoles. All I own is a single gaming PC that is slowly being outpaced by today's games. I am trying to decide if I should get a 360 and if I do which one. I know I'll want more than one controller, that'll be extra. I know I will want at least 3 games to start, that's gonna break the bank. I know I want to be able to connect to the new Kinect and I will want to avoid RRoDs, that is going to crush my wallet... to death.

If I get a 360, I lose out on some features that the PS3 has. Large hard drive included, check. Blu-Ray player, check. Free online community/browser, check. I can't afford one right now, let alone both. I know I want to play Reach, but there are tons of great PS3 games, too. This is why having a PC is much easier. All of the games come out for it. Sure, you might have to upgrade every 3 or 4 years, but you can always play whatever they put it out for it.

The lust for a console is how I really know that PC games are dead. =(

Global Agenda does right so wrong.

Global Agenda is a newish FPSMMO hybrid game. It is based on the latest Unreal Engine (UE3) and has a lot of nice features from games of old. It has a Tribes personality with a 3rd person PlanetSide feel to some of it. Lots of people have hailed the game as a masterful in between of the two genres. In my little time with it I can't say if I like or dislike it, but I know that something is wrong under the surface.

Maybe it comes from being such a negative Nancy about the current state of gaming, but moreover I think my inner tinglings are because of the engine. The Unreal Engine isn't set up to take advantage of massive landscapes and tons of people smashed into one area. It all feels kind of odd, especially how the mobs respawn. I am an old school FPS and MMO player and neither one of those urges manage to be satiated by this game.

Granted I've not got very far into the game, but the time I have played has felt very strange. The movement is standard and the weapons seem fairly basic of this type of game. There are quests to be done and new items to be had. There is an underlying story and plot that I'm not sure I quite understand and their is a PvP system that seems to have a lot of people excited.

I will give it some more time and see if it grows on me, but in the limited time that I have had with this game, I'm not sure it's something that I could really get into. Then again, I've had a hard time getting into ANYTHING lately.

Phone companies will cannibalize the Mobile OS

You see it every day and you just don't realize it. That person using their fancy new smart phone hacked it/has a paid app that they downloaded/has at least 10 MP3s that they don't "own" on it. The phone company doesn't want you to have any of that and they WILL stop you.

No matter how many times technology changes for the better or how awesome it is for the world, no one is going to be happy... especially the guys who are looking to making money off of it. I am currently a perfect example of this.

I have an HTC Incredible. Verizon calls it the DROID Incredible by HTC. It's a great phone and I love it to death, but getting the latest version of the Android software has been quite a pain. The Motorola Droid managed to get it before Incredible owners, which is a huge letdown by itself. I, however, don't really care. The official update is out and circulating to phones, but it doesn't matter to me. Not that 2.2 isn't important or a great update, but I've already got it.

Yep, I have it before it even came out. I've had it in several different flavors. Right now I have it in a flavor that seems to work better and have less bugs than those with the OFFICIAL update. Go figure. I have a phone that is "rooted" (Jailbroken to anyone with an iPhag...err iPhone) and I've already had this update for quite some time. The official version doesn't seem to really offer much more. But it should.

Soon we will start seeing phone companies take the Mobile OS technology and consume it. Verizon might end up with Android while AT&T ends up with iOS and T-Mobile gets Windows Mobile. Fuck Sprint, they might as well go out of business for all I care, lying pieces of shit. This may not be how it all boils down, but it will go that direction soon enough.

Why? Because of money. If people can so easily hack, change or manipulate this stuff then someone, somewhere isn't getting their money. Jailbreaking your phone could result in an automatic brick if Apple catches you soon enough. Verizon and Sprint have been slowly narrowing your ability to root and modify your phone on their latest Android devices. In the next few years we will see the Mobile OS become a huge market and you can bet that the phone companies are going to cash in on it.

Until they do I plan on having plenty of fun with my uber powerful smartphone and it's open source OS. Hopefully by the time they do that we will all be on a network similar to what they have in Europe. Pick your phone, pick your carrier. We will just have an extra step with "Pick your OS".

Sometimes real life interferes.

I have really had a whole lot on my plate, so my internet diary/blog/hatespew has been on hold.

My girlfriend and I just put her house on the market. We spent weeks moving stuff out and around so that we could clean. Carpets, baseboards, walls, tubs, toilets, counters. So much work. We moved our essentials to my parent's house, where we are staying for the time being. We moved much of our furniture out to the garage and boxed up most of our clothes and stacked them neatly in our closets. We arranged our "stuff" rooms as best we could and anything that didn't go to the garage was arranged to make the house look better or more spacious. My computer room got a good organizing and my good desk went out into the unused "office" area to show it off. Her stuff mostly got tossed into the closet in her own room since she had so much stuff: sewing machines, make up kits, hair products, etc.

The house is now on the market and that takes a lot of stress off of us. We still have some walls to touch up, but most of the work is over and all we will need is a U-Haul to carry it off. We are hoping to sell it quickly since it was listed at a modest price. With luck we can be out of there in time to get into decent house of our choosing before the housing market takes another dump all over itself.

I have also been looking for and may have a new job. I have kept my current job and I am working them both at the moment, while I go through this training process.

I am in the probationary period for a management job at Jimmy John's. If can manage to "cut it" for the next couple of weeks then I will have earned a trip to Illinois. While there I will attend a 3 week training course for Jimmy John's management/franchisees. I will get the whole run down from how the store should look, operate and function to how to perfect my sandwich making skills. I have had a whole lot of information thrown at me very quickly and it has actually been more challenging than I was expecting.

Any bozo can make a sandwich, but I have had some difficulties. Memorizing the menu by the numbers has caused me headaches and the amount of customization to the sandwiches is pretty tough. When you get an order that is nothing like what the sandwich is, it can get confusing. I am sure that I'll get it, but I might need to slow the pace down and work on my "skills" outside of a busy time.

On top of that new job, I have been working my primary job. I've been at a gourmet pizza shop for a while now and I've really been trying to get their menu down and learn all of the procedures. I am just now getting comfortable with all of that and I am having to memorize a whole new set of stuff. Ugh.

My brother works at this pizza place with me, he actually got me the job, and he is getting married in a couple weeks. I have decided to stay on at this job long enough for him to get in a small honeymoon. I love my brother and I want him to be happy. While missing work and losing out on some cash isn't really happiness, I want to be able to let him get some time off and enjoy his new, married, life.

My brother has been working 6 days a week (the pizza joint is closed on Monday) for the last several weeks and has been putting in more work and more hours than anyone else there. I know it is stressful and I know that he could use the time off, even if he doesn't leave or go anywhere.

On top of that I haven't really had much time to play any games. I did pick up a new game for trial the other day and I will have good things to say about it coming up soon. I am finally situated at my parents and things here are starting to die down and I am sure once I get the hang of my new job the stress there will clear up. Weddings, moving, jobs (new and old)... man, it's been a busy month!