Ah Midseason's Greetings

Greetings People of Earth!

So here we are in the mid-season/mid-broadcast year downbeat.  I've been getting more writing done (when I can fit it in.  Work got exceptionally busy, which means more time spent at home vegetating and holiday shopping), and have finally let myself be tempted back into World of Warcraft.

If you know me I'm guessing you fall into one of two camps:

Camp 1:  NO!  Mike, No!  That path leads to the dark side...

Camp 2:  Finally!

I'll keep you posted.  For now I'm entertained enough by the worgen that it's holding my interest, but we'll see.  Blizzard, bless their black hearts, came up with this free 10 day trial if you already have an account with them, so I'm essentially playing WoW free for the next 9 days (I started last night).  If I get all psyched, I might shell out the $16 for a month of actual WoW, but I'm going to have to be really psyched.

I originally left the game, besides not really having much time to play, for the following reasons:

1.  The Plethora of Morons- 

Rude, immature, WoW-junky no-lifes whose sole purpose seems to be to insult, belittle, and shame everyone they meet.  A.K.A.  "Oh, you don't have Tier 5 gear, go F yourself, I'm not helping you with this quest NOOB!"

-Not likely to have changed.  This also seems to be the general attitude on many MMORPGs.  Sad, really.  When WoW first started it wasn't this bad.  I blame Blizzard for playing to the lowest common denominator.

2.  NERF!!! - 

I remember when quests were hard, but you really felt accomplished when you got them done.  Sure it could be frustrating when you couldn't get something done, but that happens with console games too.  Eventually you either figured it out, or found someone willing to help either for a favor owed or some gold.

-Blizz is carrying on their campaign to nerf everything and make WoW so simplistic to do, it practically plays itself... Which invites the Plethora of Morons as well as a great deal of boredom when questing.  This does not seem to have changed.

3.  Raiding?  Bring your parents, your kids, your friends, and their friends or you're gonna F'ing die sucka! -

Yeah, remember when you got a group of 5 together and ran a dungeon?  Furthermore, remember when 5 was all you needed to get through all dungeon content?  Those were good days right?

-As far as I know, hasn't changed either.  If you're not in a guild, you're screwed for experiencing all of the content you're paying for.  Thanks Blizz...

4.  Guilds-  

Hard to get into, hard to start, and they wind up being useless anyway because no one wants to lend a hand to level you so that you can go raiding with everyone else.  I remember when people helped each other out all the time.  I'm not kidding, they did!  Lasted about the first year of WoW before things started getting NERF'd and they let in... well, I'm getting repetitive but you get the idea.

-Betting it hasn't changed, as this is a function of the aforementioned Plethora of Morons.  It's an epidemic I tell you.

5. Time - 

And here is the one that is truly, exclusively, my fault/life getting in the way.  I'm busy, I got me stuff to do!  However, this can be mitigated to a degree by careful (snicker) planning of my day...

-Yeah, if a game is good I'll blow off responsibility and personal projects for a few hours or even days, but it's really got to be good and if it's frustrating at all, it better be frustrating in that fun way.  Wow Has not been that fun frustrating in years.

So we'll see what comes of this.  I suspect I'll just be playing for the 10 days and then quit again, but time will tell.

Okay, I'm off!

Oh!  One more thing!

December 21st :  Lunar Eclipse for the Western Hemisphere : Enjoy!

Be well!