I wish I could explain my absence as being the result of purchasing an island and retiring there, but the truth is, for quite a while, I just didn’t feel like playing MMOs or talking about them. I still read MMO blogs, but the post counts in my RSS reader crept ever upward as I devoured them less and less. I got into EVE pretty strongly but then that fizzled. The new MMOs on the market, like Aion, were just disastrously no-fun. I even tried a brief return to WoW when the “looking for dungeon” thing was released. It was fun for a week or so, but then the fatigue set in and I deactivated.
For a couple of months, I just didn’t play MMOs at all. I bought a house and focused on all that that requires. I spent a lot of time working on work stuff. Thanksgiving came and went. I bought a few PS3 games, like Assassin’s Creed II, Ratchet & Clank, and Dragon Age, but I didn’t play them. I just lost interest in games.
Then the massive snowstorm hit the Midwest in early December and I found myself holed up at home every damn day. As the temperatures plunged to the single digits and below, my man cave (where I keep my game systems) became inhospitably cold. I began to feel that urge to play an MMO, to sink my time into something that would both keep me entertained and warm.
And such as it was that I found myself in Norrath again.
I set some goals for myself: 200 AA by the expansion, my mythical, level an alt to 80. I did make it to 200 AA on my SK, and I did level my coercer to 80 (and got his fabled epic), but I failed on my mythical. I did everything up to Phara Dar, but every time I did VP, something kept me from finishing the quest. The raid would fall apart, or they’d save Phara Dar for the next night and then not invite me, or we’d attempt him and people would go linkdead. Ironically, my wife got her mythical on her warden, which she rolled on December 27 and leveled to 80 in a couple of weeks. My brother got his mythical as well. I’m happy for them, but I’m sad that I never achieved that goal. I realize that there’s a level 90 quest that gives you the clicky from mythicals, but meh. I really wanted mine.
Still, we preordered Sentinel’s Fate and the three of us (wife, brother, me) have been playing way more than I’d care to admit and we’re excited about the expansion. Now I just need to decide which character to play.
