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canadiandiamondContinuing the theme started yesterday, Day 2's topic: Me and MMOs!
Yet another topic where I could go on and on and on, haha, but I'll try to keep it at a decent length.
MMOs have been a very big part of my life for, oh, gee. Since 2003, maybe? There've been some periods where I didn't really play them much at all, I suppose, but for the most part I've almost always been active in them since then.
It started out as a primary way of staying in touch with one of my best friends from residence during my MUN days, who lives on practically the other side of Canada now (Saskatchewan). We played tons and tons and TONS of computer games while in res together, most notably the EA Sports NHL games every year when they came out. We'd make ourselves in the game and play period for period, changing seats in front of the computer, and we'd play so much omg. Like, entire seasons and then the playoffs, we're talking all night and all morning, going to the dining hall for breakfast when it opened at 7am, then coming back to our respective rooms to crash and not go to class, whoops. It's a wonder I graduated at all sometimes. XD
But yes, of course once we both moved on, well, there was no more NHL. As a sidenote, we've both got PS3s now and are hoping to play together online once again with NHL 12, which just came out today, provided the lag's not too bad or anything. :D Without that option, though, we didn't have any real way to play games together. That is until I eventually got a job, got a new computer, and we both started playing this new Star Wars MMO, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). I wanted to buy a new computer at any rate, and when he started telling me how amazing this game was I was hooked.
Sadly, where I was living at the time was way, way, way out in the middle of nowhere, and I couldn't find the game to save my life. My friend was awesome enough to buy me a copy and mail it down, and as fate should have it, it arrived in the mail the very same day my new computer was built and ready to be picked up, haha. And so it began.
SWG was so very fun, I don't know if I've ever really fully recaptured the fun we had playing it back in the day. Back before SOE ruined it. :/ It was my first so that gives it an advantage over every other MMO after, I suppose, but oh was it great. I played it so much, from as soon as I got home after work until the wee, small hours of the morning - living in my aunt's basement, I had no natural light whatsoever, which made that very easy to do XD - and during the weekdays I'd often stay up way too late, and even played through my lunch, haha. It was fantastic, and we played with a great group of people too, all of whom I've long since lost contact, sadly.
We played SWG for... gee, I'm not sure now, well over a year at least, maybe closer to two? Changes to the game killed it, utterly and completely, which was and still is very sad. At its peak I played so much I even signed up to write a regular column on War Cry, called Campfire Tales. I think some of them may still be around online somewhere, but the images were long since deleted, sadly, and I never did back any of those up.
After SWG, there was a lull before Brad and I got into WoW, for the first time, haha. I remember preferring SWG but we lost so many people from our guild there that it just wasn't fun any more, that and the changes to the game that ruined it. So WoW it was, and following Brad's lead I jumped headfirst into that. I was behind, as I recall, with him playing a gnome Warrior and me a human Paladin, but eventually I hit the cap and fell into a guild that he'd first met and played with. It wasn't a huge one, and we couldn't really raid that much - back then at least I know many raids had 20/40 man variants and we just didn't have the numbers. I never did raid much at all in WoW, since the few times I've gone back over the years I haven't really leveled at all and am now hopelessly beyond whatever huge number the level cap currently is, hahaha. XD
WoW was fun, I even jumped at the chance to order a FigurePrint of my pally (even though his gear is AWFUL) when the site first launched, and he sits on a shelf here in my room, watching over my as I don't play WoW anymore. XD It was a gateway to many other games, though, really; after that I tried many more games, including but not limited to City of Heroes, GuildWars, Vanguard, and a bunch of others that came and went.
The longest lasting, however, and one which I both own a lifetime account to and am still playing, was The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Brad and I both got into the closed beta of this game almost 5 years ago now and I've been playing it ever since, haha. There was a time when both of us put it down and walked away for awhile, I think it launched in February of one year and that same year from ~August to December I recall not playing much at all, but then I started playing a lot closer to Christmas and have been playing a lot ever since then. I've got 6 characters to the level cap across two servers now, and raid on a regular basis, and have been raiding on that regular basis for, what, two years or more now I think, along with my lovely wife![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
believeitup. It's had its ups and downs, and continues to do so, but it's been a lot of fun and has been a big part of my life for many reasons, and I'm better for it.
While playing LOTRO, I've played some other games, some of which I still play and some that've fallen by the wayside. Aion was an experiment when LOTRO was at a low point for me and others, though that didn't really pan out either (as pretty as it was!). There was also Rift for me, which came out this past March, but it didn't have much staying power for me. Brad and I both gave it a good shot but neither of us even made it to the level cap, I don't think.
I do also have an active account with EVE Online, which is another MMO I've been trying out lately. It's way, way, way different from anything else I've ever played, and while many may call it boring (I suppose it could be, depending on how you play it), I've had a lot of fun with it. This is the main game for Brad these days, so that's a huge factor for me too, I suppose, but I do love the piloting of space ships, outfitting them, doing jobs and combat here and there, it's pretty neat. I don't play it all that much, really, but I've trained my pilot up to be able to use the best and biggest mining ships in the 'verse which I think is kinda cool, and I even own a huge ass one now too, a Hulk class ship which I first named Ferrigno but have since rechristened Amania. :D?
In terms of the future, Star Wars: The Old Republic will hopefully be coming out before the year's out, hehe, and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival. All I can say about it is that there's a beta program out there for it right now, and that I was a part of the program for awhile. That's legally all I'm allowed to say under the non-disclosure agreement I'm bound under, but I will have a lot more to say if/when that's lifted. I'm hoping it'll launch before Christmas, people are guessing maybe in November sometime to get a boost from Black Friday and whatnot, but knowing BioWare they won't release it unless it's ready, even if that means a financial hit of not having it on store shelves for that infamous day of consumerism gone crazy.
So, yes. MMOs. A huge part of my life, and my spare time, is devoted to them, and I love it. I don't see it changing any time soon, either, really, at least not in a big way. Time zones and schedules always affect things so there's that to consider, but my interest in them is still pretty strong. It may shift a lot to SWTOR once that goes live, not going to lie, but in general I see many more years of leveling and crafting ahead for me. :)
Yet another topic where I could go on and on and on, haha, but I'll try to keep it at a decent length.
MMOs have been a very big part of my life for, oh, gee. Since 2003, maybe? There've been some periods where I didn't really play them much at all, I suppose, but for the most part I've almost always been active in them since then.
It started out as a primary way of staying in touch with one of my best friends from residence during my MUN days, who lives on practically the other side of Canada now (Saskatchewan). We played tons and tons and TONS of computer games while in res together, most notably the EA Sports NHL games every year when they came out. We'd make ourselves in the game and play period for period, changing seats in front of the computer, and we'd play so much omg. Like, entire seasons and then the playoffs, we're talking all night and all morning, going to the dining hall for breakfast when it opened at 7am, then coming back to our respective rooms to crash and not go to class, whoops. It's a wonder I graduated at all sometimes. XD
But yes, of course once we both moved on, well, there was no more NHL. As a sidenote, we've both got PS3s now and are hoping to play together online once again with NHL 12, which just came out today, provided the lag's not too bad or anything. :D Without that option, though, we didn't have any real way to play games together. That is until I eventually got a job, got a new computer, and we both started playing this new Star Wars MMO, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). I wanted to buy a new computer at any rate, and when he started telling me how amazing this game was I was hooked.
Sadly, where I was living at the time was way, way, way out in the middle of nowhere, and I couldn't find the game to save my life. My friend was awesome enough to buy me a copy and mail it down, and as fate should have it, it arrived in the mail the very same day my new computer was built and ready to be picked up, haha. And so it began.
SWG was so very fun, I don't know if I've ever really fully recaptured the fun we had playing it back in the day. Back before SOE ruined it. :/ It was my first so that gives it an advantage over every other MMO after, I suppose, but oh was it great. I played it so much, from as soon as I got home after work until the wee, small hours of the morning - living in my aunt's basement, I had no natural light whatsoever, which made that very easy to do XD - and during the weekdays I'd often stay up way too late, and even played through my lunch, haha. It was fantastic, and we played with a great group of people too, all of whom I've long since lost contact, sadly.
We played SWG for... gee, I'm not sure now, well over a year at least, maybe closer to two? Changes to the game killed it, utterly and completely, which was and still is very sad. At its peak I played so much I even signed up to write a regular column on War Cry, called Campfire Tales. I think some of them may still be around online somewhere, but the images were long since deleted, sadly, and I never did back any of those up.
After SWG, there was a lull before Brad and I got into WoW, for the first time, haha. I remember preferring SWG but we lost so many people from our guild there that it just wasn't fun any more, that and the changes to the game that ruined it. So WoW it was, and following Brad's lead I jumped headfirst into that. I was behind, as I recall, with him playing a gnome Warrior and me a human Paladin, but eventually I hit the cap and fell into a guild that he'd first met and played with. It wasn't a huge one, and we couldn't really raid that much - back then at least I know many raids had 20/40 man variants and we just didn't have the numbers. I never did raid much at all in WoW, since the few times I've gone back over the years I haven't really leveled at all and am now hopelessly beyond whatever huge number the level cap currently is, hahaha. XD
WoW was fun, I even jumped at the chance to order a FigurePrint of my pally (even though his gear is AWFUL) when the site first launched, and he sits on a shelf here in my room, watching over my as I don't play WoW anymore. XD It was a gateway to many other games, though, really; after that I tried many more games, including but not limited to City of Heroes, GuildWars, Vanguard, and a bunch of others that came and went.
The longest lasting, however, and one which I both own a lifetime account to and am still playing, was The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Brad and I both got into the closed beta of this game almost 5 years ago now and I've been playing it ever since, haha. There was a time when both of us put it down and walked away for awhile, I think it launched in February of one year and that same year from ~August to December I recall not playing much at all, but then I started playing a lot closer to Christmas and have been playing a lot ever since then. I've got 6 characters to the level cap across two servers now, and raid on a regular basis, and have been raiding on that regular basis for, what, two years or more now I think, along with my lovely wife
believeitup. It's had its ups and downs, and continues to do so, but it's been a lot of fun and has been a big part of my life for many reasons, and I'm better for it.While playing LOTRO, I've played some other games, some of which I still play and some that've fallen by the wayside. Aion was an experiment when LOTRO was at a low point for me and others, though that didn't really pan out either (as pretty as it was!). There was also Rift for me, which came out this past March, but it didn't have much staying power for me. Brad and I both gave it a good shot but neither of us even made it to the level cap, I don't think.
I do also have an active account with EVE Online, which is another MMO I've been trying out lately. It's way, way, way different from anything else I've ever played, and while many may call it boring (I suppose it could be, depending on how you play it), I've had a lot of fun with it. This is the main game for Brad these days, so that's a huge factor for me too, I suppose, but I do love the piloting of space ships, outfitting them, doing jobs and combat here and there, it's pretty neat. I don't play it all that much, really, but I've trained my pilot up to be able to use the best and biggest mining ships in the 'verse which I think is kinda cool, and I even own a huge ass one now too, a Hulk class ship which I first named Ferrigno but have since rechristened Amania. :D?
In terms of the future, Star Wars: The Old Republic will hopefully be coming out before the year's out, hehe, and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival. All I can say about it is that there's a beta program out there for it right now, and that I was a part of the program for awhile. That's legally all I'm allowed to say under the non-disclosure agreement I'm bound under, but I will have a lot more to say if/when that's lifted. I'm hoping it'll launch before Christmas, people are guessing maybe in November sometime to get a boost from Black Friday and whatnot, but knowing BioWare they won't release it unless it's ready, even if that means a financial hit of not having it on store shelves for that infamous day of consumerism gone crazy.
So, yes. MMOs. A huge part of my life, and my spare time, is devoted to them, and I love it. I don't see it changing any time soon, either, really, at least not in a big way. Time zones and schedules always affect things so there's that to consider, but my interest in them is still pretty strong. It may shift a lot to SWTOR once that goes live, not going to lie, but in general I see many more years of leveling and crafting ahead for me. :)
