A Month in Gaming
Here we are again. Yet another month has gone by and I find myself writing another instalment of “a month in gaming”. And to be honest, I have very little to say in this particular roundup of my gaming activities. I played Star Trek Online throughout February and created a new Klingon character to take advantage of the ongoing Klingon recruitment event. I have managed to upgrade a Tier 5 D7 and kit it out in such a way that it is fairly robust. And I also created a new Jem’Hadar alt, as they start at level 60 and you are provided with a fully equipped vessel and crew. Nothing fancy but it allows you to get into the endgame content a lot quicker. I may write a more detailed blog post about this at some point. I also played a lot more Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout as my granddaughters came to stay for a week. I have already expressed my thoughts about the mechanics of that game in a prior post.
Here we are again. Yet another month has gone by and I find myself writing another instalment of “a month in gaming”. And to be honest, I have very little to say in this particular roundup of my gaming activities. I played Star Trek Online throughout February and created a new Klingon character to take advantage of the ongoing Klingon recruitment event. I have managed to upgrade a Tier 5 D7 and kit it out in such a way that it is fairly robust. And I also created a new Jem’Hadar alt, as they start at level 60 and you are provided with a fully equipped vessel and crew. Nothing fancy but it allows you to get into the endgame content a lot quicker. I may write a more detailed blog post about this at some point. I also played a lot more Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout as my granddaughters came to stay for a week. I have already expressed my thoughts about the mechanics of that game in a prior post.
I briefly dabbled some more with Spiritfarer and Toren. Both are enigmatic and charismatic games which deserve a far more in depth blog post. Sadly due to time restrictions I have not played enough of these two titles to write a proper analysis. What I will say is that they are both intriguing and I wish to return to them as soon as I can. So in default of writing further about what I have been playing, I thought it would be interesting to talk about what I have not played. Because throughout February several titles have appeared regularly in my social media timeline, indicating that many of my friends and peers are playing them. However, due to the genre and type of games they are, I am not. Sometimes, not being part of a shared gaming experience that everyone appears to be enjoying, grants a very interesting perspective. I’ve expressed similar thoughts before regarding World of Warcraft.
Valheim seems to be having a great deal of success at present. This game only appeared on my radar when many of my fellow bloggers started writing about their experiences. At first I thought it was an MMO but as soon as I realised it was a survival and crafting driven title, I quickly decided it was not for me. However, it was pleasant to see it inspiring so many blog posts. These were not only very enlightening but a timely reminder that my fellow bloggers have diverse tastes and we don’t all enjoy the same thing. The other game that has come up a lot is Outriders. The playable demo has attracted a lot of attention and many are surmising that with the demise of Anthem, this title may well find a gap in the market at exactly the right time. Again, this new game is not for me, as I don’t think it offers a shred of originality. I also think my six month stint playing Call of Duty Warzone has fully scratched my “pew pew” itch.
If I had a close group of friends that I regularly played co-op games with, then Outriders may well be a more exciting prospect. I would be far more forgiving of the generic nature and aesthetics of the title. But I haven’t really had access to that sort of online social gaming network for a decade or more and I suspect I don’t have the time to play that way anymore. Valheim has aspects that interest me but I just cannot muster any enthusiasm about resource management in games. I just don’t find that sort of thing exciting. As for tracking game related data via a spreadsheet, well that’s Kryptonite to me. However, I have happily embraced the concept that some games aren’t for everyone. You can’t like everything or play everything. It’s fine not to be part of the latest “thing”. In fact getting that particular monkey off your back is especially liberating.
So what have I got scheduled for March, gaming wise, I hear you say. Well the idea of buying a Nintendo Switch is back on the table. My granddaughters are going to be six in July and they like simple, brightly coloured and “fun” games. Well Nintendo has all that in spades so I may buy a Switch for reasons of suitability and inclusion. They like to watch me play The Elder Scrolls Online but I have reservations about its appropriateness after one of them asked about the “lady with the burnt face and big boobies”. A regime of Mario and Pokemon may be a better idea at present. I also remembered recently that I have the game of the year version of Horizon Zero Dawn. Perhaps I should make time for that in March as I haven’t played a RPG for a while. I suspect that Standing Stone Games will release the next update for The Lord of the Rings Online soon, so it will be nice to return to Middle-earth and touch base with my kin mates. Let’s see what happens in the next 31 days.
I last wrote a post in this series in June. Back then I wanted a break from MMOs as I had invested heavily in Star wars: the Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Because I was still enjoying the Star Wars vibe, I decided to try Jedi: Fallen Order. Sadly, despite the story showing a lot of promise, the PC version of the game handles poorly and the controls are sluggish. Often it felt like my character was wading through mud and there was a tangible amount of skills lag. So I uninstalled it and moved on to something else. One of the odd things about gaming is that despite amassing a library of free and discounted titles, we often end up buying something new, instead of playing that which we already own. And that is exactly what I did. I purchased Stray amid all the excitement surrounding the game, but to date I still haven’t played it. Make of that what you will.
Usually I keep subscribing to an MMORPG, even if I’m not playing it that much. I like to have options in case I decide to log in on a whim. Especially if an absent friend returns to a particular game presenting an opportunity to catch up. However, the current economic climate is no longer something that I can ignore. Although far from having a low income, the current ongoing increase in the cost of living is becoming apparent, so I have been fiscally prudent and cancelled my monthly subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Both have provided me with a lot of entertainment over the last three to four months but until new content becomes available, I can happily dispense with them for the meantime. Not only have I saved £17.98 on subscriptions, I shall no longer be making ad hoc purchases of in-game currencies. Something I have been doing a lot more than usual of late.
I have confined my gaming to three MMORPGs in recent months and have not strayed into anything new. Time has been an issue due to a great deal of change in my domestic life. Hence The Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Trek Online have proven suitable for my needs. Being able to log into a game and commence an activity without any complicated preamble is convenient and currently suits my schedule down to the ground. I will be buying Sniper Elite 5 at the end of the month as this is a franchise that has always proven entertaining and engaging. While recently perusing the various game launchers I have installed, I took the opportunity to remove several games that I’m no longer playing or that have proven to be a “five minute wonder”. Hence I said goodbye to GreedFall, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Days Gone. Their removal is no reflection upon their quality.
It’s been a while since I’ve written an instalment of A Month in Gaming. Over Christmas and New Year I was busy with family issues and it’s only in January that I’ve started anything approaching a regular gaming schedule. The novelty of Forza Horizon 5 has run its course and I’ve grown tired of the game’s upbeat tone and neverending activities that litter the in-game map. It’s nice that the game tries hard to engage with you but it reaches a point where you never get a time to stop, think and take stock. I couldn’t find anything else included in the Xbox Game Pass which especially excited me. There were a few titles that did take my fancy but I then discovered that I already own them elsewhere via Steam or Epic Games. So I decided to cancel my subscription. I still think that the Xbox Game Pass for PC is very good value and my failure to find anything that I like is my problem and not Microsoft’s fault.
September has been and gone and the nights are now drawing in. Usually this time of year is ideal for gaming but sadly I’ve had a lot on over the last 30 days and as a result there’s been precious little time for gaming or indeed writing. Such is life. When I did have some leisure time, MMOs were the easiest way to get a quick gaming fix, as per usual. Standing Stone Games announced that the next expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online would be released in November and that a revision of the Legendary Item system would be coming prior to that. Hence I took a look at the beta builds on the Bullroarer test server and then started prepping my various alts on the live servers, to get ready for this major change. I also managed to complete the latest event in Star Trek Online. However, beyond these straightforward tasks I didn’t really get to do much more.
Again this is more a case of two months in gaming. Furthermore although I was quite active in July, I was less so in August as the Blaugust 2021 Festival of Blogging event consumed the lion share of my leisure time. The majority of my gaming time is usually mid to late evening. Although Mrs P and I do many activities together, there are times when she will want to watch something I don’t, be engrossed in a book or out with friends. These occasions present sizable windows of time to focus upon a video game, which is especially useful for the MMORPG and RPG genres. However, I often have to choose whether to use this time exclusively for gaming or some other recreational activities such as writing. Another foible of my video game time management is trying to arrange things so I can undertake recurring, daily quests in a game early in the morning. I will often tackle such content in Star Trek Online, as soon as I get up.
The last installment of A Month in Gaming was at the end of April. I have decided to update this recurring post less often to ensure that I have more to write about than just cataloguing my generic activities in The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online. The only downside of such an approach is that it invalidates the title but that can’t be helped. Fortunately, I have done more than usual over the last two months. My daily schedule has changed temporarily and I now have a little more leisure time available. Hence I’ve dabbled with several new games as well as using my Nintendo Switch more often. I also took part in a “tag team” playthrough of XCOM 2, which was a very interesting experience. And I finally took the time to go through all my games libraries on the various different platforms to catalogue exactly what I have. I found a few hidden gems but the majority is just “filler” that you find in most video game bundles.
I usually write this recurring post at the beginning of each month, reflecting upon my gaming activities over the previous thirty odd days. I refrained from writing an instalment at the beginning of April as I really didn’t feel I had much to say. However, now that a further month has elapsed, I believe sufficient has happened for me to continue. I do worry that these posts get repetitive and simply writing “ I played MMO A or B” is not sufficiently engaging. Luckily, I do feel that I have more to say this time round as I’ve broadened my gaming horizons recently and feel that I’ve done more, compared to other months. So let me begin with my return to console gaming. Something I haven’t done since 1999 when I purchased a Sega Dreamcast. After some procrastination, I’ve finally bought a Nintendo Switch and it has proven quite a hit not only with me but my grandchildren.
Here we are again. Yet another month has gone by and I find myself writing another instalment of “a month in gaming”. And to be honest, I have very little to say in this particular roundup of my gaming activities. I played Star Trek Online throughout February and created a new Klingon character to take advantage of the ongoing Klingon recruitment event. I have managed to upgrade a Tier 5 D7 and kit it out in such a way that it is fairly robust. And I also created a new Jem’Hadar alt, as they start at level 60 and you are provided with a fully equipped vessel and crew. Nothing fancy but it allows you to get into the endgame content a lot quicker. I may write a more detailed blog post about this at some point. I also played a lot more Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout as my granddaughters came to stay for a week. I have already expressed my thoughts about the mechanics of that game in a prior post.
I last wrote A Month in Gaming post in December. Quite a lot has changed over the last two months. I have abandoned Cyberpunk 2077 as it has totally failed to hold my interest. I just couldn’t get on with the first person perspective. I also stopped playing Neverwinter, despite the game having many appealing elements. Sometimes, when you start an MMORPG that has been running for years, you feel so “behind the curve” that the prospect of catching up with everyone at the endgame is too daunting. And because the Call of Duty franchise has a yearly lifecycle, a new iteration of the game was released in November. Black Ops Cold War subsequently replaced the reboot of Modern Warfare and a lot of the new games content subsequently bled through in the free Battle Royale version. I’d been playing Warzone since last April and it was beginning to get a little stale. So I didn’t buy the latest Battle Pass and decided to move on. And then there’s The Lord of the Rings Online. Let it suffice to say I have completed as much of the latest “mini expansion” as I require and the game is now “on hold”.
November proved to be a very productive month, gaming wise. I had to self isolate for 14 days, due to coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. Hence I had far more leisure time than usual. For a second month I applied myself to progressing through the new “mini expansion” in The Lord of the Rings Online. The new zone is a two phase map. The first is Elderslade, a mountainous region to the North of the Wells of Langflood. This area contains mainly story quests. The second phase, called War of Three Peaks, is the same zone but during a period of open war between the Dwarves and the Orcs. Quests here are mainly repeatable slayer and achievement quests. I did not discover this until I had completed the first round, so to speak, only to be offered exactly the same quests again by an NPC. As I had reached maximum rank in reputation for this new faction and there were no rewards of any note for me to spend my barter currency upon, I simply stopped playing through this content.
The last 31 days have gone by really fast, or at least that’s the way it feels. Despite having bought several new games recently and acquired yet more for free from the Epic Store, I did not embark on anything new throughout October. Due to the unexpectedly prompt release of the new “mini expansion” for The Lord of the Rings Online and the launch of a new event in Star Trek Online, I found myself focused upon the MMORPG genre, yet again. And after playing continuously for six months, Call of Duty Modern Warfare/Warzone has finally begun to lose its lustre. I didn’t especially enjoy the Halloween event, not that there was anything inherently wrong with it. It just wasn’t for me. I played a little Fall Guy: Ultimate Knockout but quickly discovered that the “season” system is just another gear treadmill, although the gear in this instance are novelty cosmetic outfits. I don’t want to be tied to too many games in this fashion (it’s bad enough with MMOs), so this is another title that has been relegated to occasional play when the fancy takes me.
September has been a difficult month. A family crisis and subsequent bereavement meant that gaming got pushed down the daily agenda. However, after the various chores and duties were done I did need some downtime and means to relax. Hence I did play some games in a limited fashion. Nothing fancy, just stuff like Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Gang Beasts, which are light-hearted and undemanding. I also took the time to log on to The Lord of the Rings Online test server and check out the preview of the forthcoming “mini-expansion”. Not only was this informative but it provided material for a blog post. But overall I didn’t really achieve anything substantial with my gaming throughout September. Gaming was relegated to being just a convenient diversion from the immediate problems I’ve been facing but as such, it did fulfil that role well.
I’m still somewhat shocked that August has been and gone. Even by 2020 standards it’s been an odd month. Due to illness in the family, my schedule has been turned on its head and subsequently there has not been as much time for gaming as I’ve previously enjoyed. However, I tried to put what time I had to good use. I attempted to return to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online once again, to see if I could continue through the epic story. Sadly, the game has run into further server related issues, just as it did last month. Standing Stone Games community manager Jerry Snook was a little “snippy” in responding to players' concerns and at present there are no details regarding what the problem is and when it will be resolved. If this issue persists I suspect that it is going to do some genuine harm to both the player base and community relations. I hope matters improve for SSG and LOTRO over September.
As I mentioned in the last instalment of “A Month in Gaming”, I was toying with the idea of buying Ghost Recon Breakpoint. However, I have decided against that. Yes the game may well be a third person, co-operative shooter but ultimately it’s yet more explosions and military hardware fetishism, which isn’t anything new. I have more than enough of that at present with Call of Duty Modern Warfare/Warzone. I also don’t feel disposed towards giving Ubisoft any of my money at the moment, until they get their house in order. I am so tired of continuously reading about how shitty the video game industry is to work in. It’s difficult to protest in a meaningful way but I guess for the present not buying a product is as good a way as any. So rather than purchasing any further games, I decided in July to play at least one of the many titles I’ve got in my existing library.
I stopped subscribing to The Lord of the Rings Online in June. I’ve always had a very cyclical relationship with this MMO and at present I feel I need a break from the games somewhat linear formula. Plus the new content scheduled for release centred around the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen doesn’t exactly sound enthralling. So I’ve left my primary character in Langflood and will return to the game later in the year when I feel the need to catch up with content. I have also abandoned the ongoing events in Star Trek Online as they’re getting too repetitive. I would like to see a new longterm story arc rather than just a continuous cycle of short term events and repeatable content. I don’t mind working towards a goal but it has to be something I want and the rewards offered in this MMO are getting a little too generic for my liking. I shall return to the game at some point as I’m a lifetime account holder and I’m curious to see how developer’s Cryptic overhauls the Klingon story arc.
I see by the financial data that is currently available and being pawed over by industry pundits, that April was a very good month for the video games publishers. Quelle surprise. Who would have thought it? The increase in leisure time has certainly meant that even I have had a greater opportunity than usual to invest in playing video games. And as I predominantly play the MMORPG genre that has proven to be a boon. Or at least it was initially. After two month plus that is fast becoming a bane. MMOs are great when you have new content to play through, stories to discover, goals to achieve and systems and items to advance. But once you’ve done all these things and find yourself doing dailies just out of obligation and a way to kill time, then it may well be time to move on to something else.
April has been an usual month. The ongoing lockdown here in the UK (and elsewhere in the world) has afforded me more gaming time than usual. The policy of social distancing has reduced my caring duties to just three hours a day. Hence I and many others like me have much more leisure time available. I initially thought that this situation would be the perfect time to try some of the many of the games that I have stockpiled over the years. However, despite trawling through many titles, I still failed to find anything that immediately took my fancy. So I decided to take stock of my overall gaming activities and whether it was time to revise them and try something new. And by new I don’t just mean just buying a new game but taking a step out of my current comfort zone into a genre I don’t usually play. So that’s exactly what I did and the results have been very interesting.
The problem I find with monthly gaming articles is that they tend to cover ground that I’ve already written about over the last 4 weeks in other blog posts, only in less detail. So here is the brief version of my gaming activities throughout February. I played through the entirety of the Star Trek Online 10th Anniversary event and received the new hybrid Tier 6 ship. I enjoyed the new 2 part feature episode and have managed to maintain a schedule of doing “odds and sods” to keep myself busy. STO is currently my primary game. I’ve ground to a halt in The Lord of the Rings Online, as soon as I start questing in Minas Morgul itself. It is simply too uninspiring and grindy an area. So I’ve focused on completing deeds for virtue experience and daily repeatable quests for Anfalas Scrolls of Empowerment. Due to constraints upon my schedule, I decided to temporarily stop my subscription to ESO Plus, as I simply do not have the time to invest in The Elder Scrolls Online at present. ESO is a good game and deserves attention when played. Committing to multiple MMOs at once is always a mistake.
So much for the New Year. January has now been and gone and 2020 just seems to be barrelling along. As ever, due to my real world commitments, I’ve been pushed for time over the last thirty one days. Therefore, most of my gaming has been targeted “binge” sessions conducted late at night. However, I do find playing through episodic content over several hours to be a very productive means of making progress in MMOs. So overall January has been an enjoyable experience, game wise. Due to my circumstances, I have deferred starting any new single player games and have focused primarily on two titles; The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online. Sadly, The Elder Scrolls Online has been relegated to being played just once a week, usually on a Wednesday night when I meet up online with friends. My exploration of Vvardenfell will have to wait until later in the year, as I cannot sustain three MMOs to any great degree.
October has been and gone. And as ever the MMORPG genre has been the mainstay of my gaming activities over the last thirty days. Furthermore, it has been a productive month. I managed to complete the Daggerfall Covenant narrative arc, along with the main story on my Dragonknight in The Elder Scrolls Online. I find that completing Coldharbour is the biggest obstacle in progressing. It’s an atmospheric zone but once you’ve experienced it, it doesn’t really lend itself to repeat playing. But having done all this my Dragonknight hit level cap. I had taken the precaution of buying appropriate gear ahead of this achievement, so I managed to acquire some decent armour and jewellery that provide robust set bonuses. Despite focusing mainly on ESO, I did manage to progress further in The Lord of the Rings Online. I got as far as the Wolf Denes in the Vales of Anduin update. I also took the time to visit the LOTRO test server and checked out the Minas Morgul expansion preview. As for Star Trek Online my daily visits have been focused upon completing Task Force Operations and grinding for a free ship (again).
September saw The Elder Scrolls Online becoming my primary gaming focus. No real surprises there as I’ve been having so much fun of late with this MMORPG. I managed to get my Argonian Necromancer to level cap and then had the fun task of trying to equip them suitably. I don’t quite know why this aspect of gaming appeals to me so much but I just get a real kick out of trawling around looking for appropriate gear. I tend to enjoy it in all the MMOs I play. There’s just something inherently satisfying about equipping a new piece of armour or jewellery and seeing your stats noticeably increase. This process is even more enjoyable in ESO as there isn’t any server wide auction house, so you have to travel around from region to region, individually checking each guild trader you find. It really is virtual shopping. Once I managed to find the right gear for this character, I promptly created a new Imperial Dragon Knight and started playing through the Daggerfall Covenant storyline as it the one faction I haven’t yet completed. Oh and in ESO cosmetic pet news, the ghost chicken (official name Spectral Chicken) is outstanding.
Last month panned out pretty much as I expected. Blaugust and writing daily blog posts took up a fair amount of my leisure time. And then I lost a few days due real-life social activities. What gaming time I had was focused mainly on The Elder Scrolls Online. I’m sorry to say that I’ve ground to a halt in The Lord of the Rings Online. My level 113 Guardian remains at the Black Gates and for the present I simply do not feel disposed towards working my way through Mordor again, which I did just a year ago on my primary character. I have undertaken a few quests with my level cap Lore-master and will endeavour in the weeks ahead to at least complete the Vales of Anduin region. LOTRO at present doesn’t have much of a hold on me, although I may well become more enthusiastic once the next expansion is formerly announced.
Contrary to my last A Month in Gaming post, I did actually end up buying a discount copy of Elsweyr and returning to The Elder Scrolls Online. And I’m rather glad that I did, because it has provided a welcome change of scene and an opportunity to do something different. However, you can’t just fire up ESO and dive right in. No sir. The first thing you have to do is update all your addons and if your starting a new alt (which I decided to do), ensure that your key mappings and custom settings are ported over. This process was a pain in the butt; however it did inspire a couple of blog posts. Creating a new alt is the perfect way to reacquaint yourself with ESO after a lengthy absence. In my case it has been 12 months. I decided to try the new Necromancer class and so far, it has proven to be both fun and rewarding. Rather than try to do a thousand things at once, I just started the Elsweyr main story and doggedly pursued it. The narrative is enjoyable and it was fun to see Cadwell as part of the plot focus. For practical reasons I’ve re-subscribed to ESO plus to unlock various DLC and I intend to continue playing for the next month or so.
This post should have been published two weeks ago but as ever, real life just keeps getting in the way. As expected, June proved to be a busy month, however, I managed to organise my leisure time pretty well, affording me an opportunity to not only play my two current MMOs but also experiment with some other games. At present my caring commitment keep me busy from about 10:30 AM to about 5:00 PM. I tend to get up round about 7:00 AM so if I promptly have a shower, dress and eat, I can usually create a two-hour window in the morning to either tackle admin and paperwork or undertake dailies in games such as The Lord of the Rings Online or Star Trek Online. I can also find several hours in the evening as Mrs Peril tends to go to bed earlier than I. Therefore practical time management has proven beneficial over the last four weeks.
As I suspected in my last post, my gaming activities were somewhat curtailed throughout May due to both my parents being ill. However, the time I did manage to spend in-game was both therapeutic and relaxing. For me, I’ve never really seen gaming as escapism, although I appreciate it certainly is for others. One of the aspects it offers, along with a degree of challenge and entertainment, is a release from stress and the pressures of one’s daily life. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed Sniper Elite V2 Remastered so much, because not only is it a thoroughly absorbing game, it also provides a sense of catharsis. I’ve already written about the game in some detail, along with my thoughts about the ongoing “remaster versus remake” debate. However, I would add that I enjoyed it so much I re-installed the sequel, Sniper Elite III, which I haven’t played since it’s release in 2014. This also proved to be an enjoyable undertaking, again for the self-same reasons.
So what have I been up to in April gaming wise? Oh, yes there was this. Mounted combat for the Guardian class is awful. There. I said it. As I’m not a LOTRO “altoholic” my only previous experience with mounted combat was with my Lore-master. Most of their skills are ranged which makes the fights less tedious and time consuming. And you get a combat pet which helps the proceeding slightly, but overall, it’s not that much fun. However fighting via your war steed with a Guardian is a ponderous grind. You have to be in close proximity to your foe to hit them and half the time they are running around you, conspicuously out of range. Sure there’s a skill that brings them next to you for a short period of time but as a level 85 Guardian’s DPS output is distinctly average at this point in the levelling curve, it’s a long, arduous slog to kill anything. My solution has been to summon my skirmish soldier who is an Archer and to use them in conjunction with my own bow to shoot down mounted foes while on foot. This still takes time but is quicker than doing it from horse back.
LOTRO: Producer Q&A 2021
Executive Producer Rob Ciccolini (AKA Severlin) made a surprise appearance on the latest The Lord of the Rings Online livestream this week and conducted an impromptu Q&A with those viewing. As ever it did not contain any major revelation regarding the long term plans for the game but it did include some interesting nuggets of information. The fact that he engaged with players is a talking point in itself. Communication has been a major complaint from LOTRO players for several years now. Perhaps the negative PR from last year regarding the server outages and the so called “mini expansion” have finally appeared on senior staff’s radar. The fact that LOTRO has a new owner may also have contributed to this “revised” approach to community relations. Here is a breakdown of what Rob Ciccolini had to say, courtesy of Massively Overpowered:
Executive Producer Rob Ciccolini (AKA Severlin) made a surprise appearance on the latest The Lord of the Rings Online livestream this week and conducted an impromptu Q&A with those viewing. As ever it did not contain any major revelation regarding the long term plans for the game but it did include some interesting nuggets of information. The fact that he engaged with players is a talking point in itself. Communication has been a major complaint from LOTRO players for several years now. Perhaps the negative PR from last year regarding the server outages and the so called “mini expansion” have finally appeared on senior staff’s radar. The fact that LOTRO has a new owner may also have contributed to this “revised” approach to community relations. Here is a breakdown of what Rob Ciccolini had to say, courtesy of Massively Overpowered:
There are plans for LOTRO continuing for a decade and more: “We want it to go on forever.”
A spotted leak of a “landscape difficulty NPC” is part of a project to let players increase the challenge level while questing, but that’s still in the works for all servers.
The Wildwood content update is cool because it fills out content in the mid-levels but has missions for endgame players.
“The more we round out the map in development, the more it feels real.”
Again, Gundabad expansion is confirmed for later this year with a continuation of the main storyline.
The Guardian class update and tank class balance changes are “ongoing.” But a lot of the attention from the class team is focused on the Brawler right now.
No teasing on the Brawler just yet. It’ll probably be part of the pre-order for Gundabad. “Doing a new class is a big deal!”
The studio would love to do more racial housing, but nothing immediate. Definitely not before the expansion.
There will be Update 30 in the summer before Gundabad. It will be an endgame patch that includes a smaller raid. It’ll be handled as a normal quest pack.
There is no release date for Wildwood yet. It’ll be a regular quest pack that’ll be free for VIPs.
He feels communication is “improved,” which is why he’s doing these Q&As.
There will be more talk about “modest changes” for PvMP coming in the producer’s letter.
Producer’s letter is almost ready and will be here within the month.
LOTRO market gifting is coming in the near future, but there is no ETA for it yet.
Scrolls of Empowerment controversy: The team wants players to stay at their level of content rather than going back to farm easier spots.
Apologized for the delay on legendary item revamp, as it’s gotten delayed twice now for different reasons. They are excited to do it, want to do it, but it’s slow in coming because of how much engineering resources it’ll take.
Look for the legendary item revamp “later this year” that will include UI changes. The time frame for this depends on what engineering says when they get in there. They just want one system from level 50 onward that’ll make for leveling alts better.
Transferring from closed game worlds will be happening in “the near future.”
River-hobbits are confirmed to be an upcoming race, but don’t expect to see it until 2022.
They are aware of attack speed and animation issues, but they have to deal with this carefully and delicately since it affects so much.
There are possible plans to create a level 130 Valar boost, but this is not confirmed yet.
No further plans to expand LUA support.
The anniversary event is indeed coming.
The team wants to put more resources into crafting, possibly after Gundabad.
There is more work being done to reduce server lag, especially during raids. New chat server hardware is being worked on.
Kinship revamps are on the list, not at the highest priority but it’s there.
SSG has no plans for Europe-based servers as it doesn’t have the resources to support both.
The studio “learned a lot of lessons” from the War of the Three Peaks “mini-expansion” debacle such as giving VIP players more value from these (“We’re not trying to squeeze them,” he said of charging VIP players) and making the more expensive bundles better.
The team wants to give players more ways to get good gear, including essences.
No new instruments are being announced, but it’s definitely something the team loves to do.
The team has discussed a stat squish, but it’s a “big deal” that requires an entire game rebalance. It would also invalidate every single class guide if this happens. Not saying yes, not saying no.
SSG’s goal is to have something fun for players to do “every 13 weeks,” something cool and interesting as 13 weeks seems to be the point when players start to fall away without further stimulation. It’s why the team wants to get out the as-of-yet-unseen Unfinished Tales quests.
There’s a lot of discussion about investing into the engine and graphics of the game. This comes from EG7’s excitement about improving that.
There are more character customization options in the works, perhaps prior to the expansion.
SSG knows that 4K support is heavily requested, but it requires specialists to do it right. They’re looking into the viability of doing that.
SSG has a number of positions open as it is expanding the team.
Scaling UI is something the team wants to do.
The team looks at the player engagement data from patches to help figure out what should be developed in the future.
The legendary servers should be going to level 105 in the next few months.
GMs are getting more tools to help players better and more quickly.
SSG wants to revamp its website, it knows that it is old.
There are plans for more of these AMAs!
There are a few points that I would like to pick up on. Firstly Mr. Ciccolini’s claim that communication has improved strikes me as a little premature. I think we should give this a year to decide if things have gotten better. But at least he has shown up and engaged with the community so it’s a start. Secondly, I am cautiously optimistic about the proposed Legendary Item changes. If the developers can rationalize the mechanics and make the overall system less arcane, then they’ll impress the hell out of me. I still like the idea of a weapon that levels and grows with you as you progress through the game but I don’t want the process to be an insufferable grind. I also don’t want it to be a means to strong arm me into paying unnecessarily. It is unethical and frankly insulting to artificially create a grind and then monetise the very means to escape it. Thirdly, I am definitely interested in a level 130 Valar boost. I have several alts I want to progress but don’t wish to drag through Mordor.
However some of the other issues discussed are a little more nebulous and I suspect will be difficult to address without a lot of financial investment and the employment of specialist staff. Tinkering with graphics and upgrading the game engine are major undertakings. However, if LOTRO is to remain competitive with other MMOs, a more contemporary visual style along with support for 4K, as well as a scaling UI, would be beneficial. However, let us not forget that some people do not like change. Alterations to the Hobbit run animation along with the last character model upgrade resulted in a small but vocal group of players brandishing flaming torches and marching on the Winter Palace. If changes are made, will SSG be able to offer an option for a “classic” game aesthetic?
I am hoping that Standing Stone Games will be more transparent with regard to their actions in the months to come. I don’t expect to see the details of the corporate balance sheet but I would like to know what’s being planned and how things are going. If problems occur I’d like to be treated as an adult and told that there is an issue. It’s only a small percentage of players that tend to lose their shit when there are delays and frankly they’re best ignored. The rest of us tend to have a positive view of the game and want to get behind and support its ongoing development. Hence I hope we see more of Mr Ciccolini in 2021 and we get a clear road map for the next 12 month soon. Hopefully SSG will be a little more sensitive to player sensibilities and feedback. The whole Scrolls of Empowerment debacle is still present in many player’s minds. I still balk not only at the level locking of scrolls but the fact they put a cap on how many you can stockpile at once. SSG needs to get a lot of things right this year if they want to genuinely repair community relations. Let us hope that process has now officially started.
Are video games becoming easier? It’s a perennial subject that is frequently discussed by those who play them. Often the question of whether they have actually become easier is not the focus of the debate, as it seems to be broadly recognised that it is the case. Instead, discussion of this matter tend to drift into the rectitude of this change. Debate’s of this nature are usually awash with subjective opinions and personal preferences which are then put forward as objective facts. It’s not just a question of video games becoming easier, it’s the fact that making them easier is “wrong” and those who want them as such are “not proper gamers” etc. The hours that have been lost to this pointless, tedious debate are uncountable. However, I digress. Let us return to the matter of video games becoming easier, because although fans discuss this a lot and have plenty to say, you don’t often hear from the developers on this subject.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
According to the recent “letter to the players”, Standing Stone Games will be adding a new zone to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online in the second quarter of this year. Possibly around May or June. Having spent the last three expansions in the South of Middle-earth exploring the tropical Umbar and the deserts of Harad, I would certainly welcome a change of location. I have gradually warmed to these zones over the last eighteen months but I do find them so incongruous. They are so radically different to the European style content that has been the mainstay of the game for so long. Tolkien’s source text has plenty of detail regarding Eriador and Rhovanion. Information regarding Harad is scarce, hence it has afforded the developers a great deal of artistic freedom. Although exceedingly well realised these tropical zones have taken a while for me to get used to.
I’m not sure exactly when it started but I’ve recently noticed a graphical bug within the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. This problem often occurs within caves or in areas where there are a lot of rocky surfaces. Hence it has become very apparent in the latest two expansions, set in Umbar and Harad. This graphical glitch causes some surface textures to appear to flash from light to dark intermittently. The resulting strobe effect is hard to ignore and very distracting. Fortunately, a quick online search showed that this is not a problem unique to my installation of LOTRO and is a known problem. Furthermore, there is a very simple workaround, which is to go into the Advanced Graphics setting and uncheck “Per Pixel Lighting”, which immediately remedies the problem. I have no idea why this has recently started to happen but at least it can be resolved.
The latest expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, Kingdoms of Harad, launched on December 3rd. With this release the level cap was raised from 150 to 160. It should also be noted that the cap for virtue traits was also raised from 96 to 100. Naturally these changes meant that there is a requirement to replace all armour and jewellery once the new cap is reached. Similarly Legendary Items have to be reforged and any traceries upgraded or replaced. If you follow the Epic Story it will lead you from quest hub to quest hub. The main quest rewards, along with those from side quests will provide adequate gear as you slowly progress towards the new level cap. The new raids, instances and missions/delvings then provide a means to acquire higher quality level 160 gear. LOTRO and indeed, many other MMOs are consistent in this methodology.
It is customary in a post such as this to list the various games that I’ve played over the last twelve months and share my thoughts on them. Wider analysis of the video game industry is also de rigeur. Unfortunately, I don’t really feel disposed to do either of those two things. My thoughts on the games I’ve played have already been published and can easily be accessed via the links at the bottom of this post. As for the video game industry, it suffers the same flaws as music, TV and cinema. There is creativity and innovation out there but it is often drowned out by mainstream products which are demonstrably inferior due to their inherent mediocrity. As for the business side of things, we once again clearly see the failings of the corporate management class. Sadly, they do not face the consequences of the mistakes that they make.
Today Standing Stone Games began beta testing Update 46.1 for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. The current preview on the Bullroarer test server is mainly for the new instance cluster that comes with the Kingdoms of Harad expansion which launched a few weeks ago. However, it would appear that this latest preview has another feature or note. One that should please LOTRO players. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, myself included, SSG have been working on a scaling UI for 2K and 4K monitors and the results are now available for testing from today Monday 15th through to Friday 19th December. Until now the main workaround to the lack of UI scaling has been to use either Nvidia or AMD graphics software to upscale the game from 1920 x 1080, or a third party app such as LosslessScaling. Having an official solution is a far better option.
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online runs on a broad spectrum of PCs. From archaic laptops to high end gaming rigs, although it may require a bit of tweaking. At present, the optimal way to play the MMO is at a resolution of 1920x1080 (FHD) with the graphics setting maxed out. The graphics are sharp and the UI is readable. However, a growing number of gamers are now using 2K and 4K monitors. You can play LOTRO at higher resolutions such as 2560×1440 (QHD) and 3840x2160 (UHD) and the game looks great. However, the UI does not scale and so is very small on 2K and 4K monitors. The skill icons on the quickslots (shortcut bars) and the in-game text become difficult to see at these resolutions, which deters some players from using them. It is a known issue that Standing Stone Games are attempting to address but it is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
I recently read a post on Massively Overpowered about skills rotation in the MMORPG genre. I found the subsequent discussion in the comments fascinating. Mainly because I have never used a fixed rotation of skills in any of the MMORPGs that I play. I understand the reasoning behind such things and why some players want to optimise their combat performance. Using one’s skills in a specific order to maximise damage and manage their subsequent cooldown has a logical appeal. In Star Trek Online, some players go so far as to create keybinds for their rotations and assign it to a specific hotkey, which is then continuously pressed throughout combat. However, rotations are a blunt tool that lack flexibility, often being geared towards dealing with a single target or using an area of effect skill against a larger group. They may not be the optimal approach to combat when things do not go to plan.
Tolkien enthusiasts may recollect Athlon Games, a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies, announcing that it was developing a new MMORPG, based upon The Lord of the Rings, back in September 2018. The following summer, it was revealed that Amazon Game Studios was the partner developer for the project. In late 2020, Leyou Technologies (a Hong Kong-based company), was acquired by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. This triggered a contract clause with the license holder, Middle-earth Enterprises, allowing them to terminate the existing arrangement if a new deal could not be met. Amazon and Tencent were unable to agree upon how to proceed with the project, leading Amazon to withdraw from negotiations. The project was subsequently scrapped. No details or images of the MMO have been released.
After a six month migration period, Standing Stone Games formally closed all their legacy 32-bit game servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on the 31st August 2025. Despite this planned closure being widely discussed via the game’s official forums, professional video game websites and fan blogs, many LOTRO players were unaware of this deadline. Hence many were unable to migrate their respective alts to the new 64-bit servers. Naturally those affected by these closures were upset, especially those with longstanding characters who didn’t relish the prospect of starting from scratch with a new alt. Thankfully, SSG have been true to their word and as of today, have re-opened these “dark worlds” to character transfers. If you have an alt trapped on one of the older game worlds, then now is the time to use the transfer wizard and move them to a new active game world.
MMORPG announced earlier today and it was subsequently confirmed by Standing Stone games, that the new expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online will be Kingdoms of Harad and that it will launch later in the year. The expansion will see the conclusion of the epic Song of Waves and Wind storyline and the level cap raised from 150 to 160. There will be a new region to explore, Mûr Ghala, comprising four zones. Adagîm, Idagâl, An Shêru and Kighân. The latter contains the main trading hub of Zajâna. Players will travel into the region with Gandalf the White, along with allies of the Kindred of Coins and Mizadi as they seek to counter the regional power struggle brought about by the fall of Sauron. Canonically, this takes place three months after the destruction of the ring, hence King Elessar and Eomer are busy with domestic affairs in their respective kingdoms.
Skirmishes were added to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, in 2009 with the release of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. Skirmishes are a repeatable and scalable combat system that allows players to access various instances for solo or group play from anywhere in the in-game world. Players can choose a Skirmish Soldier from a variety of classes to accompany them and provide healing, tank or additional DPS. On paper it’s a great system which is why many other MMOs offer something similar. I recently decided to tinker with my Skirmish Soldier build on my main character to see if I could optimise their performance. As my primary alt is a Lore-master, for the last few years I have had a Warrior as their Skirmish Soldier, to take some of the aggro from attacking mobs. I used the excellent guide by FibroJedi and swapped over a few Training and Personal Traits.
On 2nd August 2025, I was playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, on my primary character, a level cap Lore-master. I decided to continue with one of the Allegiance Quest lines, specifically Durin’s Folk. I played through several quests and earned the appropriate tokens that advance the Allegiance system. I then handed these in to the NPC in the Hall Under the Mountain, expecting the next quest in the series “Chapter 3: Gimli’s Request” to be unlocked. An item appeared in my inventory that I then clicked on, which should have bestowed the quest. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Furthermore, the item vanished from my bag and therefore I could not attempt to click it again. I checked the LOTRO Wiki and then looked around the Hall Under the Mountain to see if any NPC had a ring icon above their head. As they did not, I surmised that this was a software glitch and logged a support ticket with Standing Stone Games.
Let’s start with a quote from a classic Walter Hill film, The Warriors. “Can you count, suckers?” says Sirus. The gang leader was referring to the number of Police in New York City at the time. Whereas, for the purpose of this post, I am referencing how many Delving Writs a player needs to acquire 6 pieces of level cap armour in LOTRO. Because, next to the gear you get from endgame instances and raids, Delving gear is a good alternative.. It is marginally better than the items you can get from lootboxes. Hence, Delving armour is a good source of high end gear for the solo player. Through the miracle of mathematics, the number of Delving writs required to acquire a full set of this armour is 9,000. At first glance, that seems like a lot. If you then do some further research to put the number in context, you realise it is indeed a lot and a substantial undertaking.
I am currently enjoying a renewed interest in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online since I migrated all my characters from the old 32-bit servers to the new 64-bit replacements. I’ve created a new High Elf Lore-master on Peregrin server and am currently levelling them in a targeted play through of the Epic Story, supplemented by curated side quests. While playing recently, I realised the game UI on this alt wasn’t as I usually have it laid out. So I checked through the various documents on my PC and found a text file I had created many years ago that had a few hints and tips written down. I’ve added a few more and decided to share them as a blog post. I’m sure veteran players will be familiar with many of them but a lot of them are worth repeating. They may prove useful to those new to LOTRO or returning to the game after a long hiatus.
In mid-March, while the server migration debacle raged, I created a new alt for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on Peregrin server. The idea was to play casually through content focusing on enjoyment, rather than worrying about progression. I was to level at a pace that suited me and had no specific plans to develop my alt in any particular way. I have been playing LOTRO since 2008 and have a primary level-cap character that has been my main focus over the years. Hence I have previously experienced all story content from all the expansions and am therefore very familiar with what the game has to offer. Which is why I thought I’d do things differently this time. So I started my new Lore-master in Mossward in Swanfleet, the new starting area added to the game in 2022.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
It has not been a good week for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online and its developer Standing Stone Games. The migration from legacy 32-bit servers to 64-bit servers has not gone smoothly. The transfer queue was overwhelmed by the sheer number of accounts and it has taken far longer than expected to process the backlog of requests. Today has been the fifth day of waiting to see if my 3 main characters from Laurelin server have successfully migrated to their new home on Meriadoc. When I checked this morning, the transfer wizard indicated that my characters were back where they originally came from. I therefore considered repeating the entire process. However, around midday, Community Manager Cordovan indicated that SSG had caught up with transfer requests made around 8:00 AM EST on Sunday 9th March. So I decided to be patient and wait a little longer.
I’ve been busy this weekend, so it wasn’t until late afternoon today that I found time to sit down and attempt to migrate my characters from the old 32-bit server Laurelin, to the new 64-bit server Meriadoc. The “Great Server Migration” has not gone smoothly and the week has been a litany of changing deadlines and unfulfilled expectations. However, developer’s Standing Stone Games, have been “firefighting” issues on a daily basis and communicating regularly with the player base of the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Sadly, a lot of players have not responded well to the ongoing technical difficulties and there is subsequently a lot of ill feeling on the official forums. I have chosen to adopt a more pragmatic outlook and to let events run their course.
Standing Stone Games were scheduled to open their new 64-bit servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, today. However, when the free transfer service went live yesterday, it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of players trying to migrate their alts from the older 32-bit servers to the new ones. Eventually SSG had to disable the transfer facility so that they could process the backlog. Hence today’s launch of the new servers has been postponed till tomorrow. In the meantime, the official LOTRO forum’s have gone into meltdown with irate players berating the developers for handling the migration poorly. True to form, SSG have been somewhat defensive and prickly in response to what they see as unjust criticism. Let it suffice to say that neither party has covered themselves in glory and there is a good chance that the technical problems will persist a while longer.
What Massively Overpowered calls LOTRO’s “Great Server Migration” began today. The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has opened 4 new 64-bit servers in conjunction with the 2 existing 64-bit legendary servers and the long term plan is to migrate all current players over to them. Eventually, the 32-bit legacy servers will be shut down, however that is a long way off at present. As of today, VIP players can select a new server, log into it and create new characters with their desired names. These placeholder characters cannot be played at present but can be used to reserve names. Tomorrow, if all goes well, the new servers formally open and free transfers begin. Players can then delete placeholder characters and rename alts that they have migrated, thus restoring desired names. It should be noted that none of this is mandatory and players can remain on the old servers for the present.
Here we are again with another summary of my gaming activities in recent months. Or in this case since last September. It’s been a while but I’ve been on a blogging hiatus until recently. However, I’ve kept myself busy gaming wise and often I find the hunt for news video games, just as entertaining as I do playing them. Perhaps that could be a future blog post. Back to the matter in hand. Gaming wise, pretty much all things related to the MMORPG genre are currently on the back burner. I’ll give specifics later but I am taking a break from these for the present. I am currently looking at trying games outside my usual comfort zone and also trying to test whether you can or cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Fortunately, the answer appears to be yes you can. Enough summation, on to the specifics.