I find myself at something of a crossroads at the moment, regarding matters MMO. This current malaise seems to have been largely caused by me recently winning of World of Warcraft. An arbitrary thing, I know - just a number, but more importantly, I’m now at the point where most of the interesting and varied solo content options are running out, to be replaced by endless repeatable "Kill 100x [L58-60 TrashMob], Gain 10 Faction Points" type open-ended blue-question-mark types of work, and of course the nightmarish prospect of 5-Man L60 Instance Pick Up Grouping. (Which I'd have to massively, and almost exclusively, specialise myself into 'Group Tanking' talents to be able to do - all or nothing.)
Burning Crusade being postponed hasn’t helped, but I read with some alarm that BC is likely to not be my cup of tea, with Blizzard disappointingly falling back on the tried and tested EQ classic of ‘Hell Levels’ to keep bums on seats for longer than they would otherwise like to sit there. It makes sense - give out beta places to only the most obsessive hardcore, and of course they'll complete it in two weeks. Duh!
Coupled with this current nonsense regarding their new Premium Content Upgrade Variable Micropayments system…err…sorry…'Collectable Card Game', a marketing brainwave so toweringly cynical that even I’m impressed, and all in all, I think it’s time to move on.
(Humans of Earth, we salute your brutally efficient lack of joy, innocence and fun, as evidenced
here. These traits will not help you in the Greater Galaxy, and you do well to eliminate them! We at Van Hemlock particularly condone Evil Toyshop Owners ripping open booster packs and selling off the rare cards, with the phat unlock codes, separately! Step 3 is indeed 'Profit!'. Bravo!)
My lil troll warrior will indeed now hang the axes over the fireplace, buy and run that inn/fish restaurant they’ve always wanted, (probably on the Feralas shore, south of the Feathermoon ferry, great fishing all year round, Alliance welcome, but shoes and shirts must be worn!) and spend the twilight years reminiscing and telling epic tales of...of...of...well, that’s just it. I must have done something memorable with my sixty levels in WoW, surely? According to my blog, it was mostly meet new people, be comprehensively let down by then, and learn to hate strangers. Anyway, if/when I do go back, it’ll be as an entirely new character, I expect, and not until at least several months after the Burning Crusade settles down a bit and more importantly, has finished being fixed.
So, time to ride Cherie (my L40 Raptor mount) off into the sunset, and find a new MMO to obsess about, get cross with, meet ghastly random strangers in, and then bitch about here, and the options look quite broad at the moment, with new titles in the works, and expansions all over the place. Second Life provides an avenue for my crafting urges, and Planetside is there for when I just want to shoot people in the face, but I do need a third; some long-game grind-like RPG MMO of some sort. More research needed, but for the time being, Guild Wars is stepping up to fill the gap. More on that later.