Of Interest

MMO Regrets (Inspired by BioBreak)

stargrace October 6, 2017 3 Comments

Syp had a great post over on BioBreak today (yes, I still read Feedly and keep up to date with posts) about MMO regrets – and this is what inspired me to make my own post. He’s right, we all have a few regrets, so what are yours? Mine are the following:

1. Creating so many alts. I started making alts back in EQ2. Before then I never had alts and I was able to focus on a main character. Since that time I’ve never felt like I had a ‘main’ and I never felt like I actually completed all that much on a single character. Instead my characters were spread around with a little bit completed there, a little bit completed here.
2. Buying in to so many early access / Newly released MMOs. Yes, I regret this. I know it’s great to support developers, but I’ve paid so much money for games I rarely ever played and never stuck with. Just to name a few off of the top of my head there was the almost $200 for Landmark (we all know how that one turned out), the collectors edition of BDO that I don’t play (I made it to level 15), and the top tier of ArcheAge (I think I played that one for a month or two, I at least made it to level 50). Then there’s Ark, which may not be classified under the MMO genre, but why not. I think I played that one for an hour. I stuck with Rift for quite a while before giving that one up so I don’t include it in the list but the ones listed above I don’t feel like I ever got my value out of what I paid.
3. Being a nomadic gamer. I wish I could settle down in just one game for at least a year long stretch. It never happens. It used to happen, but now I change games more than some people change underwear. I envy people who settle down in their game of choice with a main character and are able to actually stick with it.
4. Not playing Vanguard more before it shut down. I LOVED that game. It is my all time favourite MMO even to this day, and when they announced it was closing I was absolutely defeated. I was actually playing it at the time and gave up because I didn’t like the idea of playing a game that was just going to shut down in the near future. That game had everything for me. A vast open world, the awesome diplomacy system, complex and rewarding crafting, just to name a few. I wish I made more videos of the game and I wish I had of dedicated myself to just playing that one and writing about it.
5. Not playing MMOs sooner (or video games in general). I didn’t start back in the ‘olden’ days. I started MMO gaming around 2003 / 2004 and so when people talk about the start of the rise of MMOs with the olden golden olden days I regret that I didn’t get to experience that, especially because I was such a fan of EverQuest. I had been playing EverQuest for a year when EQ2 released, and I eventually (I had some reluctance) switched over.
6. Keeping in better touch with my past MMO friends. I’m pretty good about this now, I have an established group I can virtually hang out with and I like to think we’re pretty good friends. If one were to go missing I like to think I’d notice and we’d band together and track them down. This wasn’t always the case, and I’ve lost touch with a lot of really awesome people over the years. I have multi-game guilds (now), and a good group of friends on twitter. I often wonder what happened to the people I started gaming with back in 2003. As I drifted from game to game I was often kicked out of guilds for not being active enough and of course people I had been ‘close’ to in a particular game would drift out of touch. This isn’t an MMO regret per say, but it’s still something that I think about and is pretty firmly based around MMOs.

That’s my list! Thanks again to Syp for providing the inspiration for this post. What about everyone else out there, what MMO regrets do you have? Why not share them!

Dreaming of a Gaming Laptop

stargrace September 27, 2017 5 Comments

Ever since my son was born, I have dreamed of a gaming laptop. Having a desktop is great, but the chances of me actually having a moment to sit there and use it have been pretty slim over the last year. I’m more likely to be found on the floor so I can be within easy reach of my crawling little one than sitting on any actual furniture. At night time I’m still watching over him, and the desktop doesn’t exactly lend itself to portability.

I’ve been trying to find a reasonably priced laptop for some time, but I also want to make sure it can handle a few specifics. What is it that I’m looking for?

Cost effective. I don’t want to make a big purchase when it’s just going to be completely outdated and unable to upgrade and won’t play the games I have in mind any longer. If I can’t upgrade parts of it I would like to be able to at least know it handles what’s out there today pretty well, and should last at least 5 years.

Temperature control / cooling system: I want a laptop that can actually handle games without setting my house on fire. I say this because I’ve had a laptop in the past that just got SO warm I felt like I needed to use it on a tray of ice in order for anything to work and be comfortable. The internal fans used to trigger on and it felt like an airplane was trying to take off. I wasn’t playing on high settings, either. They were pretty basic.

Where some people may care about the look and design – I don’t. I want functionality and I don’t mind paying for that functionality if I think it’s got real value to it.

Battery life is somewhat important but it’s something I can do with just an hour or two of. I don’t need something to run for 15+ hours before needing a charge.

For those of you who are gaming with a laptop, what did you find that works well for you? What are your requirements? Have suggestions / tips / hints for me (as I’m completely new to this sort of shopping)? Let me know in comments! As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.