The Lows
I had some things planned to head up the list of lows in my 2006 gaming year. Unfortunately, some kind hacker beat anything I was planning, by breaking into my account and obliterating my characters. This all came about when I logged in late Christmas Eve. My nephew’s parents got him a computer for Christmas so I wanted to find out where his highest character was on our accounts and have it transferred to the account they’d activated from him to go with the PC. Imagine my shock when I eventually got on my account and saw my toons were naked on the character selection screen.
When I first had trouble signing on, I thought that I had somehow forgotten the password and was only mildly concerned when I had to use the forgotten password feature. It had been several weeks since I’d been on WOW and have so many different passwords – games, work, bank accounts, etc. I figured that I’d just didn’t remember which one I had assigned to the account last.
My heart sank and any air I had left in my WOW sails quickly deflated. I know that at least two weeks ago everything was in tact when my son hopped on my priest for a little while. It’s a horrible feeling to see your toons completely stripped of all valuables – epic armor, weapons, banks contents (months of enchanting comps, herbs, nexus crystals, flasks), and every single bag. Everything that you've worked so hard for and spent massive amounts of time accumulating DE'd and golded by some stranger. It may be just a game, but you totally feel violated. Blizzard is looking into the situation and “may” be able to restore aspects of the account. Reality for me becomes, if I lose those possessions, I’m out. I have zero intention of rebuilding those toons so, it will be a permanent adios for me. I mean damn, they left me barefoot! Since nothing else that happened in the year can even come close to this little holiday surprise, that finishes my lows of 2006.
The Highs
Finishing my NE Priest is definitely among the best things I did in games in 2006. It was a long journey. I put her aside many times because of guild raiding requirements until I finally decided my game my way, and left to play my priest full time. I enjoyed leveling her and engaged in PVP on a serious level for the first time in WOW. All of my characters have been on high population PVP servers and I've never run from a fight. However, it wasn't until my priest that I engaged in the organized PVP and set my sights on some PVP gear. I ended my journey at rank 6. I'd have gone further if Blizzard had been more forthcoming about when honor would be wiped but whatever. All in all, I'm proud to have slugged out the grind - visiting regions I'd previous skipped and PUG'g a priest to 60.
Stepping outside the box and trying EVE Online is another high point. I had fun the entire time and learned that I can try, and enjoy, games that aren’t high fantasy. However, I do require an avatar and a virtual world on which I can interact with the environment and other players.
Heading back to EQII for the EOF expansion was a breath of fresh air. All the things I originally liked about the game where there but had been improved. Some of the things I didn’t like had also been redesigned. Flying around as a Fae during my WOW hiatus was lots of fun. Yet there was still something elusive missing from EQ2, so I’ll be moving on in 2007. It's a good enough game that my account will remain active.
I’ve been very pleased with my blog overall in 2007. I have some great readers whose comments and participation here I really enjoy. I hope to continue to bring interesting reads and rants in 2007. In a same vein of sharing my MMO experiences, doing a little segment on Virgin Worlds was a blast and totally makes the list of my high points in 2007 gaming.
The Future
I will definitely be taking a spin on Vanguard. And my recent self revelation that in addition to immersion I also need that oomph, I’m going to reconsider some other games that I’d written off as not my thing. Age of Conan will now be a possibility, as is Warhammer Online. Not sure if either will have the detailed content, quest lines and crafting that I enjoy, but I’m sure both will have a little punch to them.
As far as goals go, I’d like to join a guild in WOW. It’s time to take the plunge again, that is, if my account gets restored. I also want to beef up the content here – a little more information with a little less whine. I’m sick of bitching about WOW. It’s time to play it or shelve it. I plan on choosing one gaming conference to attend in the new year, as well as visit with Brent for some live segments on Virgin Worlds.
/e Raises glass. Here’s hoping that we all have more highs and fewer gaming lows in 2007.
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