Neverwinter: Development, Exploiters, and You

Yesterday was a hot mess for the fans and developers of Neverwinter alike.  Exploiters decided to take advantage of an in-game bug in a massive way that resulted in netting the exploiters real world money in-game and non-exploiting players with an in-game economy that quickly spiraled completely out of control.  Ultimate resolution was that when servers were brought back online characters had been rolled back seven hours and the auction house remains offline. 

Players, however, are reporting inconsistencies with the rollback, like losing characters progress and items earned but retaining all their Astral Diamonds earned during the affected hours.  Forums were on fire yesterday with claims that the exploit which caused the server shutdown has existed since closed beta and was repeatedly reported by multiple players many times.  Players were also reporting that the exploit is identical to the one to hit Star Trek Online a while back. 

I can’t confirm or deny the veracity of any of the forum claims, but if true then the developer is responsible for everything that occurred yesterday.  Alpha and beta testing exists to find and close bugs in software.  There appears to be a growing trend to push out games and content as quickly as possible and damn the consequences to the customer base if there are known bugs in the code.  If you have an open beta with a released cash shop, it is no longer a beta product especially in the free to play gaming market.  Developers may be on safer legal grounds by calling their product beta, but the only people they are fooling into believing that the game hasn’t launched are the legal system which cannot move at the speed of technology.

Personally, I was enjoying Neverwinter immensely when I found time to play.  However, after yesterday I doubt I will be going back unfortunately.  There are FAR too many games out there that are equally enjoyable that have developers and development teams that track down and close bugs when reported.  Had the servers been wiped completely, the game taken offline until the exploit bug which caused the mess yesterday, and the other mass reported exploit bugs surrounding the Foundry, then I would have enjoyed returning to play Neverwinter. 

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Rift: Free to Play Announced

Set your calendars for June 12th, Rift just announced that when Update 2.3 Empyreal Assault goes live Rift will be converting to a free-to-play model.  The FAQ for the change over can be found here and don’t worry if you are a subscriber, there are and will continue to be benefits to maintaining your subscription to the game.

If you haven’t tried it, Rift is immensely fun (especially PvP) and well worth playing both as a subscriber and as a freebie.  Admittedly, I find the constant opening of rifts annoying when I’m out trying to complete quests and get the story but the atmosphere is great in the game.

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Defiance: The Irathient Vagabond

The first in-game cross-over content from the television series was released late yesterday afternoon.  Details can be found here, if you did not see the episode on 13 May 2012 (aka Episode 5: The Serpent’s Egg) then I don’t want to spoil it for you.  For those of you who have seen the Episode, go find Lawkeeper Jon Copper for missions.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Patch 2.1 Customization

Tired of the sometimes drab brown world of the Republic or perhaps you have an inherent distaste for purple armor of the Empire, well then my friends never fear the fine folks at Bioware have released Patch 2.1: Customization today for Star Wars": The Old Republic!  Patch notes can be found here in full.

Hate everything about the way you created your character except for class and gender?  Then rejoice because for Cartel Coins you can have everything from a new race to different eye color.  Hate the hair style you picked, then head on over to kiosk by AesthTech and pick a new one on your fleet or Capital city.  If you wish to create a new character using the new models, those models must first be unlocked via Cartel Coins.

Have you longed to rename your character, legacy, or guild?  Then you too have a reason to head on over the the AesthTech kiosk and deposit your cartel coins.  Renaming in now an available option, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 Cartel Coins.

Cathar are now a playable race.  For 600 Cartel Coins, you can unlock the race to create a new character or change the race of your current character.  I expect to see quite a large number of player created Cathar in the coming days.

Collections are a new feature also being released today.  Collections will be where all characters, across all servers will be able to access most items available from the Cartel Market or Reputation, live fan events, Pre-Order, Collectors Edition, etc. items.  Once one character has collected an item or gear set, Cartel Coins can be spent to unlock said item or gear set for all characters on the account.  There is however an exception for level 15, 31, and 43 Adaptable fear and Cartel Reputation items.

I’m looking forward to experimenting with armor dyes and character customization later today.  See you in game!

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The Secret World: Revisited – Success or Failure?

Apparently it was retry old games weekend around here and Funcom’s The Secret World was part of that gaming experience this weekend.  Was it a successful experiment or did Funcom once again disappoint?  My past experience with the game was filled with frustration and disappointment, so to say my expectations were minimal is being generous.

The new team for The Secret World has apparently been very hard at work since the game converted from the subscription model in December 2012.  I decided to create a new character, not only because I wanted to see if there had been improvements made but because my two existing characters were “tainted” from the bad taste the launch of the game a year ago left.  I was floored by the cast improvements in character creation.  I was actually able to make a female character I could stand to look at for the first time ever.  Hairstyles have been expanded and improved, as has make-up options.  I won’t lie and tell you that it’s the best character creator I’ve seen in recent memory but it’s vastly improved from the game’s launch.  Also, there is FINALLY a height slider!!!!  Seriously this option alone was a significant improvement for me.  There is no body size modification slider unfortunately, but I think that is a hard and fast limitation of the game engine being used. 

After character creation improvements, my expectations for the game improved dramatically.  I was not disappointed.  The game still has an amazing atmosphere and creepy feel.  I immediately had the spark of excitement rekindled over the different types of quests available in the game.  I love not breezing thru quests and having to think in trying to solve a puzzle presented to me.  Now that my character no longer looks like a whore and I can stomach looking at her, I’m much more willing to tolerate the issues that still exist in the game.

There are still issues, no sense sugar coating them, but they aren’t deal breaking for me.  Combat still feels disconnected, at least against the zombies in Kingsmouth.  Zombies don’t react to a hail of bullets or a whack from my hammer, they just stand there and try to hit me while I’m mowing them back into the earth.  Now that good be because zombies don’t feel or react to pain or it could be that the engine is incapable of having enemies react to being slaughtered.  It is an annoying issue that mildly affects game play but it isn’t a deal breaker for me.  Item delivery from the cash shop can also be wonky and slow.  This is more annoying since, in theory, real life money is being expended to procure items.  But since the cash shop is purely cosmetic and optional, once again doesn’t impact the ability to play the game.  The biggest issue with game play I found is that my machine can’t handle certain areas well at all, I can go from 60+ fps to 4 fps in a couple of steps.  My machine isn’t bleeding edge admittedly but it’s no slouch either.  A couple of tweaks later, frame rate issue was resolved except for a couple of locations and that is something I can live with.

So final verdict?  We both immensely enjoyed our time and will continue to play The Secret World.  The stories and settings are just too good to ignore.

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Guild Wars 2: Revisited

Almost a year since the release of Guild Wars 2 and our immense disappointment in the game, we both fired it up recently and discovered the state of the game is horrible if you are anything but max, or close to max, level.  The game is stunning for artwork and visuals, but those cannot compensate for the overwhelming flaws in the game.

We stopped playing characters at level 10, thus nowhere near level 80, and the world is completely empty.  Doesn’t matter which race or city you are in, you are lucky if you see another player once every 10 minutes or so.  It doesn’t just feel empty, it feels desolate, isolated, and forlorn and more than adequately illustrates the flaw in the “questing” system implemented by Guild Wars 2.

With no other players to complete “dynamic events” with, you are forced to do them alone.  Good luck ever achieving a gold award for those events, if you are able to complete them at all.  Leveling is now very much work, and miserable work at that.  Quest hubs exist in MMO’s for a reason and without them, late adopters are better off playing other games.

I’ve said it before, but Guild Wars 2 is the most over-hyped, biggest let down in gaming for the last several years.  If you haven’t picked it up, save your money and go play something else.  I highly doubt we will be returning to Tyria without a major overhaul to the questing system, and frankly that just isn’t going to happen.

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Defiance: The Show & The Game

SyFy announced this morning that Defiance has been renewed for a second season.  This means for all of you enjoying the space Western set in a much different St. Louis area, the fun and alien mayhem will continue next year.

We played the Defiance beta, and truthfully I never expected to go back and give the game another try.  Hubby bought it the week it was released and he has a blast when he has time to play.  He convinced me to give it another go this week and I’m glad I did.  There is now a decent tutorial and much more immersive lore as to who, what, and why.  In fact, the lore has been improved so much in-game that it has made the television series much more interesting to me. 

I’m not going to lie, I die A LOT.  No seriously, A LOT of dying and right now I seem to be stuck at one particular extraction point which is just irritating.  However, hubby has promised to roll a new character and help me figure stuff out.  I’m horrible at shooters and this is my first shooter on the computer.  To say it’s challenging would be an understatement but it’s an enjoyable challenge and a very nice break from high fantasy games.

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Neverwinter: Verdict so far

I’ve played each of the five available classes in Neverwinter through the beginning quests and they were all enjoyable.  I have my personal favorites but no class felt gimped in comparison to the others.  The one flaw of the five classes so far?  Quite simply the scales are tipped in far of those that prefer melee classes, there is currently only one pure ranged dps class and one healer class that is also ranged for dps.

The Classes

Control Wizard, who unfortunately none of my screen shots took during severe server lag yesterday afternoon, is ranged dps.  They appear to be an arch-typical mage class (imagine that, archetypes in a Dungeon and Dragons game!).  Game play was fun without feeling uber squishy those first couple of levels and enemies were pretty quickly dispatched.

The Great Weapon Fighter class is a two-hander melee dps class.  Extremely fun and powerful feeling from the very first weapon attack, no feeling gimped by heavy armor and a huge sword. 

The Guardian Fighter class is the tank class.  The play style, at least initially, is very similar to that of the Great Weapon Fighter except for the sword and shield.  Holding aggro was not a problem and killing enemies did not take much longer than the dps classes.

  Trickster Rogue is the archetypical rogue, massive burst damage followed by stealth.  Damage the rogue puts out is incredibly, to be honest it felt more like I was dual wielding claymores rather than daggers.  Enemies were dying fastest on the rogue, other classes feel slow in comparison.

Devote Cleric is the ranged healer for Neverwinter and the class I’ve played the most.  High survivability and decent damage output make for an incredible immersive and fun play style.

Summary

So far, truth is the game is a blast but it isn’t going to entertain those looking for an immersive social game.  The feel of the environment and the quests are all very reminiscent of the Neverwinter series.  However, so far I haven’t had a need to group with anyone to kill anything quest related, I haven’t died or even come close to dying.  Players have the ability to heal others as they run by or stop and help kill a mob.  Personally, I prefer my games this way.  I prefer questing at my own pace and play style rather than being forced to play in a manner that suits the group.  This is not true for all gamers however, and if you want that elusive “social” experience will gaming I can’t see Neverwinter being the game of choice.  Don’t misunderstand me, servers are packed and chat is never quiet.  There is plenty of opportunity for social interaction and joining a guild, but the overall feel of the game is that of a single player game set in a muliplayer world.

There is a cash shop and the cash shop currency is called Zen.  The conversion rate from Zen to dollars appears to be 1:1.  Thus buying extra bag spaces will cost you real world money.  So the cheapest, non-quest reward bag, will cost you $6.00 for 12 slots or $10.00 for 24 slots.  Yep if you want extra bags be prepared to pony up real life money for at least 2 extra bags per character.  The cash shop contains cosmetic items, mounts, dyes, and various other items.  There is no subscription fee to play the game.  The cash shop, which is normal for Perfect World Entertainment games, is pretty standard.  Extra bank space is also a real world expenditure, as are extra character slots.

I don’t have a problem with the cash shop model or the free to play model.  Would I think it wise if they offered a subscription model option in addition?  That’s a no brainer, it’s asinine not to offer the option of a subscription.  Need models that work, try any Sony Online game or Turbine game out there.  Bioware has implemented a model that works well also.  Why would any company only go strictly free to play when there is a chance to have a sustained, reliable revenue stream completely baffles me.

I have completely enjoyed my experience in Neverwinter so far.  It reminds me of Guild Wars 2 in many ways, minus all the hype and BS that accompanied that title.

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World of Warcraft: Children’s Week

This year, for some unknown reason tucked away in my subconscious, I’ve decided to finish up all those partial holiday achievements hanging out there.  Thus Penelopa grabbed her orphan Monday afternoon and hit the road.  The tour of Westfall was just fun.  Whoever designed that quest has little kids and clearly they would have loved the cyclone ride!  This morning finally saw the successful conclusion of the School of Hard Knocks achievement with an assault on Tower Point in Alterac Valley.  I don’t mind PvP but I will admit that the Hard Knocks achievement can be quite annoying.  However, Pen did earn enough honor and conquest points to acquire her PvP weapon and equip her first piece of conquest gear. 

Children’s Week run’s through Sunday, so there is still plenty of time to finish off the achievement and gain the title of Matron or Patron.

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Neverwinter: Open Beta Starts Today – First Impressions

Neverwinter hit open beta today and I eagerly logged in and created a character.  Shockingly I created a Devoted Cleric , pictured above.  The servers are pretty laggy right now but that is in large part due to the sheer amount of people logging into the game.  Cryptic is aware of the issue and sends regular messages to chat channels announcing they are working on the issue.

Overall, first impression is extremely positive.  Game is beautiful, combat is intuitive and engaging, and so far, it feels like a Neverwinter game. 

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World of Warcraft: Class Changes Review Blogs

Blizzard is publishing summarized versions of class changes in a series of blogs for Patch 5.2: Rise of the Thunder King.

The first summary deals with Death Knights, Druids, and Hunters.  A common theme shared among all three classes is to make less compelling talents more attractive to players.  Overall, Death Knights and Hunters were in a good spot for game play and received small changes to talents and abilities.  Druid’s received the most love from developers out of these three classes.  In addition to making some talent changes and improvements, Balance and Feral Druids should see an increase in PvP healing effectiveness.

Update 1: Mage, Paladin, and Priest Review

Frost mages who PvP are likely feeling the nerf bat hard in this patch but have seen a dps improvement for PvE content.  Silences have been toned down some and so truly skilled PvP mages will most likely not see a significant difference in PvP.  arcane mages have seen a decrease from 6 to 4 for the stack of Arcane Charge .  Scorch as a talent suffered from other problems and so it has been entirely removed from the mage talent tree, instead it is a spell learned by fire mages only.  Blazing Speed has been repositioned on the talent tree to the first tier of talents and the new talent Flameglow now resides in the second tier of talents which are focused around defensive abilities.

Holy Paladins are feeling the PvP nerf bat along with Frost Mages.  As a result, Holy Paladins only will now have a cast time for Blinding Light and the PvP gear bonus for Holy Paladins now effects Flash of Light instead of Word of Glory.  Retribution Paladins received a PvP buff by lowering the cool down on Avenging Wrath for Retribution only.  Retribution also received a buff to Flash of Light to allow for increased healing from PvP Power’s conversion.

Priests received the nerf bat in both Discipline and Shadow.  Shadow priests were good in PvE but weak in PvP, so Phantasm and Psyfiend talents were nerfed.  The Glyph of Mind Spike was also changed.  (On a personal note here, I’ve stopped actively playing my beloved Shadow Priest.  Pre-patch it was a challenge to keep her alive if I did something stupid like over pull or tag an elite.  Post-patch she is taking more dirt naps than any self-respecting priest finds acceptable.  Admittedly her gear sucks but I’ve had her dps decline post-patch and my level 85 Monk is putting out dps rivaling that of my level 90.  So for now, the priest is hanging out in the bar like a good dwarf.)

Discipline priests likely feel they’ve been nerf to the ground in PvE because their reliance on Prayer of Healing while Spirit Shell was on cool down for healing raids has changed.  Spirit Shell no longer benefits from mastery.  Power Word: Shield should once again be back in the rotation of Discipline Priests.  The spell has had it mana costs reduced and is now capable of criting.  Divine Aegis has been redesigned as well.  It can no longer be spammed, rather it requires a critical on Prayer of Healing to activate.  When it procs it now produces a bubble instead of doubling the healing of Prayer of Healing.  Mastery has also been reworked for Discipline so that both heals and absorption benefit from the stat.

Update 3: Rogue, Shaman, and Warlock

Rogues received a lot of developer attention for this Patch.  Their PvP performance was subpar and PvE had problems as well.

Rogues are no longer forced to pick between Preparation and Shadowstep.  All Rogues receive Preparation now and Cloak and Dagger is the new talent which replaces Preparation.  Cloak and Dagger causes the Rogue to be teleported to their target when utilizing an opener skill.  Versatility has been deleted from the level 90 talent choice and has been replaced by Marked for Death.  Marked for Death instantly marks the target and generates five combo points on that target.  The cooldown resets when the target dies.  Rogues were suffering from a lack of burst damage in PvP, yes not a typo folks, and thus the developers wanted to provide more burst damage for PvP Rogues.  The new set bonus allows Rogues to store up more energy so that energy is there waiting for when they need to utilize it rather than been energy starved as just the wrong moment.

Shamans were up next and they received buffs and nerfs along the way.  In many ways Shamans and Druids suffered from the same problem: too many talents felt mandatory.  As a result, talents were adjusted to broaden their appeal to more Shaman’s.  Elemental and Enhancement Shamans saw changes to their PvP survivability.  The glyph of Flame Shock felt mandatory for all Shamans and thus the glyph is now a baseline for all Shamans.

Warlocks received the nerf bat in PvP regarding the use of Blood Fear as an offensive ability and as a result Blood Fear as a talent has been deleted.  It has been replaced in the talent tree with Blood Horror which applies a buff to the Warlock and enemies who strike the Warlock in melee range are subsequently fears.  Warlock pets are once again important part of playing the class.  Grimoire of Sacrifice has changed so that the damage bonus from destroying the demon pet is not as high.  The Blood Pact bonus to stamina from having the Imp out as a pet is now included as part of the Dark Intent skill.  Thus there should be a wider variety of choices for Warlocks to utilize demon wise.

Final Update: Warriors and Monks

Arms warriors were too powerful in PvP and thus they received more nerfs than either Fury or Protection Warriors.  Taste for Blood will no longer buff Heroic Strike which will serve to minimize the burst damage from the Taste for Blood.  Glyph of Death from Above damage buff to Heroic Leap has been removed but the overall Glyph remains.  Shockwave and Warbringer stuns have been altered.  Warbringer now shares diminishing returns with non-proc stuns while adding a snare to the skill.  Shockwave now has a longer cooldown if it his a single target, and a shorter cooldown when it hits multiple targets.  Defensive Stance has seen a reduction in the damage mitigation for non-Protection Warriors. Arms Warriors will also notice that their skills now require more rage to utilize.

Monks received their first post Mists of Pandaria launch update.  Windwalker Monks receiving the most changes overall.  Chi Wave, Zen Sphere, and Chi Burst are now free to utilize but now have a cooldown.  Windwalker Monks have new signature ability from Warcraft III, Storm, Earth, and Fire.  Windwalkers have had their Mastery changed as well.  Combo Breaker is no longer the Mastery ability, it is now Bottled Fury.  Bottled Fury increases the damage bonus from Tigereye Brew.  The new ability should help free up global cooldowns while providing some burst damage abilities for Windwalker Monks.  Monks is PvP are a rare sight and as such, the developers paid particular attention to Monks performance in PvP this Patch.  Nimble Brew was added as a talent at level 30 and added the Ring of Peace talent at level 60.  Deadly Reach is no longer around, instead it was folded into the Paralysis ability.  Mistwalker Monks will now have a viable chance to engage in melee healing with increased viability to “fist-weaving” monks.  Prior to the patch, the healing provided via “fist-weaving” was competitive but the damage output was pathetic.  Mistwalker Monks who heal via “fist-weaving” will now notice a buff their damage output make it a truly viable game play choice.

 

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World of Warcraft: Patch 5.2 Rise of the Thunder King

Good Morning and Welcome to Patch Day!  Servers are currently down for maintenance and are expected to be up around 9 AM PST.  It wouldn’t be unheard of for maintenance to be extended however, so while waiting remember to update your add-ons and read the highlights of Patch 5.2 here:

• A new raid is being released, Throne of Thunder
  • LFR gear is ilevel 502 and ilevel 522 on Normal
  • Heroic gear is ilevel 535
  • Thunderforged items are included
    • these items are six levels above regular level for the raid tier
    • low drop rate for these items
  • LFR bags have been fixed, and should no longer be known as Fail bags
  • LFR requires a ilevel 480 to queue
  • Raid schedule can be found here
• Two new world bosses
  • Oondasta
  • Nalak, The Storm Lord
• Isle of Giants is now open for business
  • new quests allowing players to discover new mounts and vanity pets
• PvP Season 13 begins
  • 4 tiers of PvP gear
  • Crafters can learn new recipes via daily transmutes for ilevel 458 PvP armor sets
• Isle of Thunder
  • Gated daily questing content, much like the Isle of Quel’Danas during the Burning Crusade expansion
    • Kirin Tor Offensive and Sunreaver Onslaught are the main factions: both battle one another and the Zandalari
    • Activities on the island are server wide efforts, so pacing on individual servers will be determined based on the server population and balance
  • Island unlocks in stages
  • The War Effort is being extended to the new island, the Isle of Thunder
  • Single player scenario coming, Troves of the Thunder King, if a player has the appropriate key to unlock the scenario
  • Portals to the Isle are located in Townlong Steppes near the Shado-Pan Garrison
• New Factions:
  • Shado-Pan Assault
    • has the best gear of the three factions
    • ilevel 522 Epic gear for valor points
  • Kirin Tor Offensive and Sunreaver Onslaught
    • Alliance and Horde factions respectively
    • Both factions will offer gear that will assist players in the Troves of the Thunder King scenario to maximize a players effectiveness in the the scenario
    • will also offer two dinosaur mounts
      • Reins of the Golden Primal Direhorn and Reins of the Crimson Primal Direhorn
• Changes are coming for Pet Battles
  • Elite Battle Pets are located on Pandaria and are indicated with a yellow paw on your map
• Legendary chain continues, with the reward being a metagem
• There are class specific changes comings, but here are a couple of highlights:
  • Hunters have the opportunity to tame three new spirit beasts and a new family: Direhorns
    • Check out the new models over at Petopia
  • Warlocks will finally have the opportunity to quest for green fire
• Reputation changes coming:
  • Sunsong Ranch will now have Work Order quests allowing reputation boosts for two factions per day
  • Random instances and scenarios will offer a bonus reputation line allowing additional reputation to be earned for the first instance and scenario of the day
• Transmogrification has some changes coming
  • Highlight is that many weapons that were once main-hand restricted are now available as one-handed weapons
• Profession changes:
  • Archaeology: Mantid race is now included
  • Blacksmithing: if you have the Ghost Iron ingots, it is now possible to level from 1-525 solely utilizing Ghost Iron
    • New weapon are also available, resembling weapons from the Burning Crusade
    • New recipes are also learned from discovery by making Lighting Steel Ingots
      • ilevel 458 PvP gear and ilevel 522 epics
      • However, in order to learn these items your SERVER must first unlock the Thunder Forges on the Isle of the Thunder King
  • Tailors and Leatherworkers will also be able to craft ilevel 458 PvP gear and ilevel 522 epic gear via recipes learned via discovery
    • Tailors have a chance when crating Imperial Silk
    • Leatherworks have a chance once they have obtained one of two new world drop patterns (patterns are green so the drop rate shouldn’t be abysmally low)

Blizzard sent the development team out on a blitz of media events and interviews for this patch.  For a full listing, head here and pick the one that interests you the most.

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World of Warcraft: Patch 5.2 tomorrow?

There will be extended maintenance tomorrow 5 March 2013 for World of Warcraft.  Maintenance will begin at 3AM PST and is expected to last 8 hours.

UPDATE: Blizzard has confirmed that Patch 5.2 will be deployed during extended maintenance tomorrow.

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World of Warcraft: The Thunder King

The poetry speaks for itself. 

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Lifestyle: I figured out why I had Burnout

So it dawned on me over the weekend why I had burnout on the MMO front and I blame Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Well, SWTOR isn’t solely to blame, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back truth be told.  I got my beloved Consular through the first chapter of the game and went from loving the story line, and therefore my character, to feeling let down and slogging through levels just to gain a level.  Then I just stopped playing all games, I couldn’t stand the mere thought of logging into any game.

Everquest 2 is just daunting, even double experience weekends can’t tempt me to log-in.  I don’t hate my characters, my guild makes me laugh, but those AA points are a roadblock I dread.  Literally they are speed bumps along the path to leveling.  I could have multiple characters to max level by now in Everquest 2 but for the AA roadblock.  I’m not looking for speed or power leveling but I was not enjoying the feeling of constantly running on a treadmill and gaining no ground.

Rift is just frustrating.  I love PvP in Rift but unfortunately rifts get in the way of PvE activities in the game.  For me, it completely detracts from the story in Rift.  It is a fun game, but I should have listened to my initial assessment when we were in the Rift beta (“there isn’t enough of a story line for me” is precisely what I told my husband).

I resubbed to WOW this morning.  I keep swearing it off and resubbing, hey it gives hubby great joy when he teases me whenever this happens.  I plan on playing at my pace and keeping chat off as much as possible.  Yeah I know, it’s a social game but hey to each their own.

So here’s my advice for those of you suffering from gaming burnout – take a couple of weeks off and do something completely unrelated.  I am making a public promise to myself that as soon as someone irritates me in game or I feel obligated to do something, I’m walking away and doing something else.

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