The Conundrum of Catching Up

It's one of those days. As my one-day weekend FINALLY begins, having conducted the penultimate class of the year (one more public programme next week, urgh!), my eyes are becoming a little bigger than my stomach again.

I'm getting THE itch.

The itch that says, maybe I should give another serious go at one of those lengthy time-consuming soul-sucking all-encompassing obsession-creating timesink-sprouting supposedly-addictive MMOs.

Now it's just rattling around in a vacant part of my brain like a hyperactive bunny at the moment, since the rest of my saner consciousness knows this to be a doomed quest (one-day weekend, hello?)...

...but it's just that damn itch.

I half-feel like giving WoW another go, because 11 million bloody people can't be wrong, right? Except those 11 million people aren't really talking to me, on the server I chose, and are in the wrong level range, and I think I would be traumatized if they talk to me in l33tspe4k anyway.

I'm attracted to the smoothness of the combat. I remember how Patrick ran from mob to mob with his pet tank (or is that tank pet?) out in front, and then going plink plink ploink with his arrows, and seeing these cute BIG cartoony numbers appear over the mob.

Then reality sinks in on how much work I have to put in to get decent armor and weapons, how much grind and grouping and linear railroading and progress bar incrementing in a world whose lore I just have zero appreciation for (Star Wars / Warcraft lore = complete fail where I'm concerned.)

And all towards what? A raid game that we are definitely not interested in taking part in. And a misbalanced towards alts class system - aka if the class is weaker this patch, better level a new alt cos it sure ain't getting fixed towards anything resembling balance.

Makes you almost want to play Eve Online instead, huh.

Then again, there's my cheap WoW-alike version 2, aka LOTRO. I don't have moral principles against an inclusive design that tries to provide something for everyone - so I may never see a big raid mob, but at least I know you put in something for the raiders and you put in something for me, the soloer too.

Mines of Moria is out. I actually pre-ordered the digital download for the heck of it because I am a hopeless LOTR lore junkie. I want to see the area and I want to dabble with the Legendary Item system. So there's a lot of push factors that say, dammit, go and log in.

But there's push factors out too.

I don't really like the Nimrodel server. I think it's too quiet for the times that I play. I could pick a new server and start anew, but that's a terrible amount of invested effort 'wasted.'

And LOTRO is all about the TIMESINK. Because it's one of those 'immersive' old-school timesinky experiences.

I feel rather unwilling to abandon my nice stable of alts that have their crafting skills all lined up for feeding off each other.

My Guardian is level 45. Soooo close to 50. Except I am kinda bored shitless hacking things slowly to death.

I found the burglar and loremaster and even hunter rather interesting. But they are all so much lower in level, and I'm kinda sick of the low level quests. Which involve a story I already know, and extreme FedEx running cross-country (loatheloatheloathe) and random combat of wildlife.

So here I sit, perfectly balanced at the midpoint of push and pull, and if only the itch would go away, I could then play something else a little more guilt-free.

After all, if I wanted a social cooperative game - I have found shooty heaven in L4D.

If I wanted a solo MMO challenge - Guild Wars screams of neglect.

If I wanted the progress quest feeling - I just picked up Titan Quest for the heck of it, but I kinda need to find my cheaper non-Razer mouse before excessive Diablo clicking destroys my sensitive and expensive controller.

If I wanted a mixed genre sci-fi trader game - I'm starting to appreciate Space Rangers 2 on my second or third attempt at playing it.

And if I want a bit of a story - I'm liking the Sam and Max episodes that I'm halfway through. I'm just glad I bought them at the discount because I'm wiping them out at unbelievable speeds. I'm woofing them down at 1.5h a game, despite each game supposed ly lasting 2-3 hours in gameplay. Either my mind is too sharp and used to adventure game workings, or it's just LIES lies LIES. If I paid more, I would be feeling very ripped off right about now. At $4 SGD each, it feels just right.

If I wanted more story...well, I'm still waiting for Fallout 3 to drop a little more in price before going to Tec Drome again. Mebbe nearer Christmas.