Sideshow & Syrana

A few years ago, Sideshow and I bought a treadmill.  At the time, we were trying to go to the gym on a regular basis to work out.  Like lots of great plans, it worked for awhile, but then trailed off.  Mostly due to the extra time it took to get there and back.  Solution: buy a treadmill for home.  I don’t have anything against treadmills and used it almost every trip to the gym… so why not have one at home to use to fill in the gaps between our trips there?

We bought it and used it for a bit.

Now it sits in the basement, unused.  Why? Well, the environment is not conducive.

I get the treadmill effect with some games.  At this point, I’d say Aion was my treadmill MMO.  Once my workout buddy stopped playing, it was hard to keep my interest.  Then there’s the grind.  Sure, I’ve said time and time again that putting seemingly mundane and repetitious tasks into game form and I love ‘em.

But the environment wasn’t quite right.

So Aion, much like my treadmill, sat unused for a lengthy period of time.  All the while I kept telling myself I should get back in there.

But I didn’t.  My account expired a few weeks ago.

I didn’t quit because I disliked it or because of World of Warcraft (which I haven’t logged into for a few weeks either).

Much like my treadmill – I enjoyed it when the environment was conducive.

I could start using either one again at anytime.

Image courtesy of Robbert van der Steeg @ Flickr

You ever notice how weird time is? The amount of time in a day is the same… every day.  But some days time seems to drag and other days it flies by.

I definitely find this crazy “fast flying” time to be the case when I take vacation days.  Especially those vacation days where you don’t actually leave the house.

I had some time off over this last week, and I had all these plans of things to do during that time.

All these things I wanted to tackle could be boiled down to 3 main categories:

1. Spend time with Sideshow
2. Play games
3. Write blog posts and maybe get a bit ahead of myself!

…I can tell you 2 outta 3 ain’t bad.

Of course I got to spend time with Sideshow.  Besides it being our birthday, we like to … well, play games together. (continue reading…)

Last week I posted some screenshots from Allods Online.  In the comments, Tami asked the following, which I will answer today:

I’m curious to know how you like the game, past the opening scenes. I don’t know if it was just me being flighty or not, but it seemed really hard for me to connect to the game (adorable hamster people with vicious attack squirrels notwithstanding – mine were Khuu, Bhuu, Rhuu, and Twidget).

Characters

Allods offers some interesting characters to choose from.  There are two factions to choose from: League and Empire.  Each side has 14 different classes you can choose from (which play off of 8 basic classes).  The character creation was kinda fun, but not a whole lot in the way of customization. Plus, I noticed it was easy to change factions and/or classes during the process.

I didn’t see much for descriptions of the races or classes during the character creation. I sort of missed that, especially after World of Warcraft improved their character creation information.  And, honestly, I didn’t want to poke around outside of the game to find out this information. (continue reading…)

This is going to be a bit different than last year’s goal list.  Last year I focused heavily on World of Warcraft goals with a smattering of Rock Band goals mixed in.  This year, I’ve broken down my goals into a few different categories: WoW, Aion, Dragons Age, Sims 3, Blogging, and Assorted.  And my, I look gamerbitious, don’tcha think? (continue reading…)

Oh hi there!

What? Oh yes, I know there’s been nothing new ’round here for a few days.

You see, sometimes I get a bit distracted…especially by new games.  But not just by any ol’ new game – good new games.  Unlike Sideshow, I don’t really suffer from game ADD.  Instead, I tend to get hyperfocused on one thing at a time.  That’s why my playtime may seem to be monopolized by one particular game for a stretch of time then shift to another.  After the newness wears off, I tend to fall back into a more “normal” multi-game rotation of sorts.

Unfortunately, this hyperfocus can derail other projects I have going.  For example, this past week I’ve fallen (farther) behind (than usual) on reading other blogs as well as posting.  But hey, we all need mini-breaks here and there, am I right?

At any rate, I thought I’d give a bit of an update as to what’s going on in my virtual world(s).  I don’t usually write update type of posts, but what the hell… when have I ever followed the rules before? (continue reading…)

I thought I’d give an update on my gaming and an overview of my play-style.

Sideshow is currently at 80 and has been there for many months now. In all honesty, he’s probably as far as he needs to be. He has a few Naxx pieces, some PvP pieces, etc. I have no interest in getting him fully top-tier geared. That’s not how I play. I drop in to enjoy my free time with whatever I feel like doing at the time. I usually do a few dailies, hit up a few battlegrounds, and maybe run some stuff with guildies. I may start PuGing more when the dungeon changes come out in 3.3. It’s not the act of raiding that I don’t enjoy. (continue reading…)

Today is the first day that Aion players can redeem veteran rewards.  Last week NCsoft revealed their plans for veteran rewards.  Starting today, accounts that have been active for at least a month will be able to redeem them.  Although things could still change, at this time, they are planning to have rewards for each active month – up to 6 months.

What kinds of goodies shall we see? Titles, cube expansion, exclusive emotes, rez stones, experience amulets, and better wings.

Best part? You can redeem them for any/all of your characters as long as your account has been active long enough for each veteran reward package.  Very cool for altoholics. (continue reading…)

These rolls are out of control! (Image from dasonic @Flickr)

As many a blogger can tell you, keeping an up-to-date blogroll is a daunting task.  It can be difficult enough to keep one’s feed reader tidy.

Why might this be difficult, you ask? Well, some people stop writing or updating without warning, others announce they are leaving, and still others move to new locations.

I read a lot of blogs and wish I could read more (there are SO many fantastic blogs out there!), but I have to set some realistic limits.  Unfortunately, that required me to unsubscribe from several blogs I loved because there hasn’t been any activity in months.

But, while I may have removed some feeds from my Google Reader, I also added new ones.  Before long, it was plainly obvious to me that the site’s blogroll and my reader did not accurately reflect each other.

So, I went through and tidied up my links.  I considered redoing the categories, but realized it was very difficult for me to categorize people’s blogs (especially since I don’t read very many that are a strict niche).  There will be some restructuring done in the future yet, I’m sure, because that list is long…

But they have descriptions now!  That’s right, I went through and added descriptions of each link on the blogroll that you can see when you hover over them.  (My personal favorite? The description for Massive Nerd. )

For the most part, I’d have to say if you enjoy reading my style, you’ll enjoy those listed on the sidebar.  Also, please keep in mind that our ‘roll is not all inclusive.  Like I said, I tried to get it to match my reader better…

I also want to draw your attention to 3 fantastic places to help fill up an empty reader that hungers for all things Warcraft (or find something more specific that you want to read, but I don’t have listed): TNB Big List of Blogs, Blog Azeroth, and Azeroth United.

Now go forth! Read the descriptions, giggle, and visit those sites! Feed your reader!

smashcon @ Flickr

It is no secret that WoW was my first MMORPG.  When I first started playing WoW in October of 2006, I was totally enamored with it.  I started out playing here and there, getting to know WoW.

The more I got to know WoW, the more time I wanted to spend playing it.  My play time increased and I tried new things with WoW – new characters, new classes, new zones.  I tried dungeons, battlegrounds, world PvP, and roleplaying.

After a few months, WoW and I were nearly inseparable.  I barely looked at other games.  I felt as though all my gaming needs were being met within this one package.  So, I played even more often… until that honeymoon phase was over.  The euphoria wasn’t there anymore, but I still really liked playing WoW.  But, it felt different.  I needed space.

That was when I took my first break.  And it wasn’t my last.  Many of my breaks were filled with console gaming.

It didn’t feel like cheating, because I played primarily one player console games.  They were on a completely different level than MMOs and most certainly were not like WoW.

It never took long before I’d return to WoW.  I’d feel guilty for being away for so long, hoping I hadn’t missed out on too much and that WoW would have me back.

Of course, WoW always accepted me back with open arms.

Eventually, WoW and I had to have The Talk.  I still love WoW, but sometimes it doesn’t provide everything I’m looking for.  I didn’t like knowing what I was missing.  But WoW… WoW was always forgiving and accepting of my need to explore.

My need to be free to game as I pleased. (continue reading…)

Sometimes we get too focused on the ground before us as we fight through new lands.  But if you never look up, you are missing out on seeing half your world.