Holding pattern commencing

Right now I'm in an indefinite hold with WoW. I'm not in the Beta, and I'm not planning on it at all. My account is canceled until Cata, since the 2 or 3 months of savings will cover my game cost. In the meantime I'm keeping tabs on the big changes, since I expect that the fine tuning will start fairly soon. I'll probably hop back in when the pre-Cata event starts, though we'll have to see.

I'm still sucking it up in SC:2 - though I'm winding down in practice games. I'll have to break down and do my five ranking matches soon though, so I'm really working on mastering the Zerg macro. I'll probably spend my last 15 games learning the Protoss, just so I have a decent idea of how they play. I have no illusions about landing high in the ladder rankings, but I really enjoy the game.

I'll be chiming in when I see something that piques my interest in the blogsphere, but it'll be fairly quiet here until Cata.

See you then.

It's all about the company you keep

So my WoW time has pretty much shut down completely at this point. I've been doing some AHing and what not, only because it's something I can semi-automate while I'm doing work around the house. I've been slowly increasing my bank book by crafting bags - a 5g purchase of Netherweave gets me 11g when I make it into a bag. Not too shabby.

It seems fairly pointless though. I've got around 50k between my toons, everyone has all the flying they'll need, and I'm just waiting on Cata. None of my friends are playing much (if at all) right now, so there's really nobody that I'd be hanging out with. The prospect of running more LFD randoms, or even ICC pugs just makes me want to vomit. The question is, why?

There are certainly a few fights that I haven't completed in Wrath. Yogg +0, Algalon 25, HLK 10/25, and H Halion. I haven't seen a Shadowmourne completed either (or killed LK with one in the raid), but at this point, I'm willing to call it a wash. I feel like I've seen everything that this expansion has to offer, and I don't think I need to push for the final kills.

Doing something different

Right now I'm in the middle of playing SC2 and BC2, and I've discovered something pretty significant. While I enjoy playing SC2, I'm pretty much just doing 1v1s right now. My original SC partner is in Iraq, and I haven't made the effort to find another 2s or 3s partner. Plus, I'm still learning the game - so I'm probably pretty bad.

Of course, I'm not that great at BC2 either. My video card leaves something to be desired, and I'm not as twitchy as I was when I was 22 and playing in UT tournaments. I play mostly online Rush games, and the experience is pretty good There are times though, when it's exceptional.

The co-op play

Several of my raid mates from are playing BC2 with me (or me with them I guess). When there's more than just one of us, even if we're losing or are forced to opposing teams, the fun factor goes up by a power of 10. Being able to joke and pal around with the same people that I've been raiding with for years is definitely the big plus for me.

That, and having a squad mate do a suicide rush so he can dart someone's medic - opening up a guided RPG on his head :)

I've certainly found that I enjoy the team play over the solo play. This certainly plays heavily into my lack of WoWing at the moment. Plus, how much gear will I really need to start Cataclsym?

OT - Getting through the feedreader

I have a confession to make - I'm a skimmer of blogs, not a full reader. Right now I have about a thousand unread blog posts in my reader, although to be fair this counts Engadget, Bluetracker, and Elitist Jerks. By the time I knock those down, I'll be sitting around 700 or so - and this is after knocking them off a few days ago.

Because I have all these blog posts, from bloggers that I try and read, I have to be fairly selective in what I spend my time on. Any blog that doesn't give me full access in a reader is automatically off my list, since I generally won't bother to click through to read it. If the opening lines are interesting enough to keep me going, I don't want to be hassled with not being able to read it right away.

I also generally don't bother with fanfiction or RP stories. I'm sure some of them are quite good, but I just prefer to read my fiction on paper. Also, they're generally just small segments, and it's tough (for me) to keep several stories straight at one time. Maybe if I could get them all in one batch - something to think about.

Goodbye posts, Cataclysm posts, and most DPS theorycrafting also go by the wayside. Tanking and healing math will almost always sucker me in though. My DPS interest only exists to feed my knowledge of the rest of the classes. It's good to know what everyone can do in your raid, as well as in PvP.

Even with speeding through those types of posts, there's still a lot left to get through. It's great that the blogging community is so active, but man - ya'll make it difficult when someone takes a week or so off.

Back to the reading.

If you forget your coat, it's going to rain

I love vacation. There's nothing like stepping away from it all and completely recharging. It also doesn't hurt when you leave an area that is now hitting its 31st (maybe 32nd) consecutive day of rain, for someplace where it's warm and sunny. Oh, and there were also some amazing wineries. I think I brought home a little over a case of wine, stuff that I just can't get at home.

Since I was going to WA, I made sure to bring my rain jacket, after all, Washington gets a lot of rain (especially on the Western side). I bugged my fiancee about it until she relented and packed not one, but TWO coats. Just to be a pill I suppose.

Of course since we packed our jackets, we stepped into a heat wave down there. I don't think it rained at all during the day, and very little even at night. It was actually colder in AK when we touched down than it was at 4AM in Seattle. I think winter is already here.

Lots of blogs to catch up on, but it looks like the Beta is starting to settle down some. I'm still hoping for that 2010 release, but for now I've got SC2 to catch up on, and Bad Company 2 as well. Good lord do I hate snipers.

Holiday time

Heading out on holiday until the 16th, so posts will be sporadic if at all.

See ya'll when I get back.