My 2007 Gaming Year

This was a tough year for me and gaming.  Between work, buying a house and moving 863 miles away from work and my primary social circle, I didn’t game as much as I had in previous years.  I continued my love–hate relationship with Blizzard and World of Warcraft, which found me more on the hate side of things in 2007.

Here are some of my gaming related highlights for 2007:

• My favorite post: “My Love/Hate Relationship with WOW”, where I discussed what makes me both love and hate this game.  I think this post summed up what makes me frustrated with WOW even though I keep coming back for more.  I think it was articulate and funny, in that signature tone of mine that I only seem capable of mustering when I’m really pissed off.
• I did a few podcasts: I dipped a toe into the podcast world only to find that I don’t have the time or the patience to be consistent.  I was a short-lived host on World of Warcraft Podcast, was guest on VW Podcast and produced three shows for my own blog.  Having done less than a dozen shows in total, which felt like a lot of work and time, my hat is off to the hosts putting out quality shows every week.  Many new shows aired in 2007 and I listened to way too many but my favorites stayed pretty much the same: Virgin Worlds, MOG Army, Epic/Titan from WOW Radio and Harry Potter Prognostications.
• Casual me raids Karazhan: Regardless of how many hours a week I spend gaming, I still considered myself a casual gamer in 2007.  In previous years I’d been more hardcore – living that raiding scene of 3+ nights a week of raids, 1 to 2 nights of farming and then whatever I had the time to do afterward.  So although I’m still gaming around 30+ hours a week there’s no rhythm to it.  I do what I please as I please, which is what makes it casual to me.  That said it was insanely fun and exciting to be part of the guild runs that prepared for and eventually took down Prince in Karazhan.  I made some friends, shared some laughs, acquired a few repairs bills and copped a couple of epics along the way.
• Down memory lane with a Druid: Electing to roll a Druid definitely added more life to my WOW game.  My initial intent was just to revisit my favorite zones and play with my nephew on occasion.  I never expected to take her all the way to 70 but I did.  It was a very slow – very casual pace to max level.  I found the versatility and range of play style options very refreshing.
• The Burning Crusade:  Whatever I don’t like about WOW these days, there is no denying that TBC was an outstanding expansion.  The level 60+ zones were just phenomenal to see.  The quest interactions were a bit more varied.  I even messed with a Draenei Shaman to see one of the new level 1 to 20 zones.  I did a few 5-mans and the introductory 10-man raid dungeon.  And all of it was quality through and through.
• EQ2 Echoes of Faydwer: Going back to EQ2 for EOF was a nice return to the game.  What I did see of the expansion was great.  The new race, zones, quests and lighter graphics style/tone were all very refreshing.  I think that if I hadn’t gotten so frustrated with EQ2s implementation of PVP after having rolled on a PVP server, I might have stayed longer.  After some encouragement from StarGrace, I’ve since gone back and re-rolled on PVE server but re-doing the zones was a bit uninspiring so I pretty much bailed again.  However, I do expect to go back at some point in 2008.

In addition to these high points, there were a few lows:

• My WOW account was hacked – gear sharded and gold gone. Thankfully, Blizzard Customer Support fully restored the account within 72 hours.  The misadventure did leave my guild with some funny stories from the GM that logged on as me (GM as Vellora was how they knew) and greeted them all in guild chat where he suddenly gained rock star status.  Lots of screenies of the funny chat were captured and posted on our guild’s forum.
• My son left WOW and for a time, deactivated his account.  He comes and goes but he’s no longer a consistent WOW player.  My most vivid gaming memories are tied to AC2 and the adventures we shared together.  His maturation as a player and young man now take him down different roads, a fact that is bitter sweet for the mom who introduced her son to gaming and relished those moments.
• Gods and Heroes got shelved.  This was a game I was looking forward to playing as my filler until Warhammer Online.
• Lord of the Rings Online wasn’t what I’d hoped it could be for me. That’s not to say it’s a bad game.  I think it’s a decent game. However, it is heavily predicated on a playing style that doesn’t suit me – forced grouping.  Given that a fellowship a.k.a. group, is at the core of Tolkien’s lore, I couldn’t complain.  I just acknowledged that it wouldn’t work for me.

All in all it was a decent year.  It was no 2005 where I was riding a wave of WOW euphoria with a guild that felt like my online family. It was no 2006 where although my gaming time was diminished and I was beginning to sour on WOW, I still had a core group of friends in game. 2007 was definitely they year that I pretty much played the role of the loner – unable to stick to a game for more than a few weeks at a time, unable to commit to specific time slots in order to be in a static group and needing to jump around a lot to keep myself interested.

Here’s hoping that 2008 finds me a bit more excited about gaming.  I hope that Warhammer Online is a great game and provides me with a new diversion and something I can get energized about again.  I hope that something comes along that returns me to my explorer and RP storytelling roots.  I want to be motivated.  I want to be inspired. Please, please let 2008 bring me gaming joy.