The Site
Here we are for my 36th “month in review” post. Let that be a warning that at some point next month there will be a “Hey, it’s been three years” post.
As for the site itself, I haven’t made much in the way of changes, so I’ll just gripe about the number 13.
I’m number 13 according to that little Blogflux Topsites tab thing down near the bottom of the right side-bar.
You know, this one.
I’ve been number 13 for over six weeks now, by my count. On the Blogflux details page for this site the stats are up to date, but the list itself seems to be broken. Not that I care all that much. I had been as high as number 8 at times and well down in the 20s at others. I like to measure things, even if it is pointless.
Anyway, if you know somebody at Blogflux, have them go kick the server or something to get the list unstuck.
One Year Ago
After what seemed like endless delays, Darkfall went looking for beta testers for real. Many asked if this product would shed its “vaporware” reputation and see the light of day, and if the feature set would be anything close to what was promised.
Meanwhile Warhammer Online was rolling on towards release with a preview weekend. I looked at races and classes as well as my general opinion of the game as I saw it. I thought I was generally positive, though I wanted to be able to open up the quest log with a single keystroke. Rabid fans sensed faint praise and whined a lot in the comments. Still, Google liked me as I got the top spot for the search on “WAR Preview Weekend.” (And I still am the top result for that search! Imagine that.)
Suicide Ganking was the plague in EVE Online last year at this time. I suggested that the Secure Insurance Commission be given the power to extract the cost of insurance payouts from high sec gankers as a way to make this “throw away character” exploit a bit less lucrative. In the end, CCP just made CONCORD a bit more responsive to attacks right under their noses.
In WoW the instance group we were hitting level 70 and starting on the Caverns of Time dungeon Escape from Durnhold Keep. Instances were starting to get tough for us and it would take a revamp of our talents and some work on gear before we would be able to take on an at-level instance on the first try.
We went down to LEGOLand for vacation, but I left a vacation cliffhanger post to keep people amused.
LEGO Indiana Jones came out, and while it was a lot of fun, I wasn’t sure if it was worth list price.
And finally, people were fretting about Diablo III. It was too colorful! Internet petitions were deployed and accomplished what they generally do… nothing.
New Linking Sites
The following sites have been kind enough to link here. Please take a moment to visit them in return.
Most Viewed Posts in August
- Play On: Guild Name Generator
- Darkrai Member Card Event
- How To Find An Agent in EVE Online
- Heroic Deadmines!
- My Interests with WoW Patch 3.2
- WoW Patch 3.2 – Cautiously Optimistic
- The Approaching Cataclysm
- Sentry Drones are Boring
- Follow the Ring
- Getting Upper Blackrock Spire Access
- Fun Under Stormwind
- Why Does Tetris Get Faster?
Search Term of the Month
coilfang underdog
[It’s “underbog,” baby]
cmud crack
[This is actually a search term every month. Come on people, CMUD isn’t that expensive.]
BlizzCon
I finally finished up watching Day 1 and am a decent way into Day 2! Despite the fact that every detail from the event has been posted in some way on the net, it is still interesting to watch. Watching the Q&A sessions after panels gives me some hope for gamer sub-culture. While we’re very focused on our hobby, many of us seem to be articulate, clear thinking, and not overweight.
Plus some of us can dance it seems.
Stereotypes begone!
I’m still waiting for Grunty the Murloc. 4-6 weeks they say.
EVE Online
It has been a month in the hanger for the most part in EVE Online. I have been rounding out my skills and plotting future directions, but have spent very little time actually shooting or mining.
World of Warcraft
Being level 80 hasn’t killed WoW for me yet. It has, however, made the game a little more like EVE Online in one very specific way. Rather than there being the grand drive for the level cap where one follows a series of quests related to an over-arcing story, it is now much more of a find a goal and drive towards it. Fortunately, for Blizzard, achievements are a very good source of goals, so several of us in the guild have been cranking along various paths outside of group time.
I am also surprised at the amount of gold one can accumulate just running around doing daily quests or cleaning up old quest lines. Despite the fact that I have been spending gold pretty freely (for me) my player stats show that I am constantly raising the bar for that “most gold at one time” metric.
Will all this keep me going and interested until Cataclysm comes out? I’d be surprised if it did.
Open Betas
I did go out and download Fallen Earth and Champions Online and give them each a try. I’m just not sure I have anything of value to say about them, so I haven’t bothered to put up a post regarding either.
Fallen Earth kept me interested for a bit, though my character, which I tried to make look like me, ended up looking like Paul Sorvino circa 1990 wearing a velour warm-up suit. I am not sure that is a good sign. Anyway, the game didn’t quite hook me. I might go back to it at a later date, but nothing about it engaged that “must play now!” mania that overtakes me when a really good game comes out.
Meanwhile, Champions Online just reconfirmed that I am not really a super hero person. I thought, perhaps, if I could make the right hero it could work for me. And I enjoyed making heroes. The character creator in Champions Online is a step beyond City of Heroes/Villains. But even controlling the likes of “Miss Anne Throwpee” and “Ruth Bader Killberg” couldn’t keep me going past the starter area. It looks very much like a comic book. The colors and art style really work for that. But like City of Whatever, when I’m done with the character creator, I’m done with the game.
Coming Up
I will attempt to keep this from becoming an “All WoW All The Time” blog, despite the fact that WoW is pretty much what I have been playing of late. I still have a pile of ancient gaming articles to write that should break up the Azerothness.
The wife and I will be going away for a couple days to celebrate our wedding anniversary, so expect some lag in posts.
And, as mentioned at the top, the third year of this blog is coming to a close. It might be time to evaluate what I am doing. Is this what I set out to do back in 2006?
The Ancient Gaming Noob 