Monday, June 28, 2010

WoW, I'm Back

Started playing World of Warcraft again this weekend. Stef had been playing DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) with our friend Jeremy for the last several months. They heard another old friend of ours, Rob, had started playing WoW again, so they decided to play again too. I've always liked WoW, so I reactivated my account as well.

Had a fun time this weekend. We played all Saturday night and then a few hours Sunday afternoon. There's a been some changes since we last played (which appears to have been about a year or so ago. No new expansion, but a few new dungeons, plus a change on pick up groups (PUGs), which is definitely an improvement from before. Now, instead of being limited to one's own server, you can get into a queue for a random dungeon with a group from any server, or get a person to complete your group from any server. So, since our group was only 4 this weekend, we put in to get a 5th for several dungeons, which worked out well most of the time. There was only one dungeon that we tried to do that didn't work out with the 5th we got, we really just needed a different class for that particular dungeon, which you don't really get to choose, the class or the dungeon. You only get to choose from Tank, Healer and Damage, which can be quite different in actual production. Most of the time, whatever you get will work, but some certain dungeons really require the right mix of classes to succeed.

Naturally, since we last played, there's been another set of "ultimate" equipment to strive for. Where we once had the top armor, we're now back at the bottom of the next totem pole. That's what the new dungeons are for. I think they also made some changes to some of the achievement requirements, because we got several achievements during the dungeons we did, that we struggled and failed to get after many attempts before.

Its nice to see that the game comes up with new things to do. We're hoping to get another friend to play again to be our regular 5th. Its always more fun to do things with people you know. I'm not sure how long we'll play this time, I know that we've got Stef's family coming in at the end of July and through most of August, so I'm guessing we won't be playing much during that time.

The only downside to playing again is that it cuts into the time I was going to spend this summer catching up on watching some movies and TV shows of which I've got on DVD but haven't yet seen. I was trying to clear a bit of backlog before the fall shows start (although there's less I'll be watching this fall too). But social interaction is a good thing, so I'll just enjoy it for now. At least I don't have to spend as much solo time doing daily quests and faction grinding as before, and I'm almost maxed on my profession skills. So mostly I'll only be playing when our friends are on, so it won't be quite the time consuming things as before. Plus, we both have to spend some time with our kids. They're not plugged in just yet.

1 comment:

Dave Mosier said...

Two online games that I used to enjoy years ago were Trade Wars and Barren Realms Elite. Those were in the dialup days; before the BBS's were overcome by the internet.

These days I'm spending my spare time reading. The Asimov novels I've been working on are fascinating.

And, I start vacation tomorrow! After work I drive up to Lynette's house. We leave the next morning out of Sky Harbor, on our way to Wisconsin. We're flying into/out of O'Hare. It's nice not having to change planes.