Post-Cataclysm WoW
- Get both my Gnome mage (currently 84) and my Tauren warrior (82) up to the new level cap of 85.
My mage came up just short of hitting the milestone this year for reasons I've discussed. - Complete every normal and heroic 5-man at least once on both high level characters.
- Explore some of the revamped old world on new alts.
Currently, I'm a bit over halfway through a tour of the newbie (1-12) zones with a small army of new alts. My favorite lowbie specs right now are Subtlety Rogue, Survival Hunter, Destruction Warlock, and Discipline Priest. It's possibly telling that none of those are traditional leveling specs, which tend to make life too easy.
- Actually get a character into the mid-high levels.
My highest is currently level 7 (out of 20). This doesn't bother me, since I'm having fun with the chronic re-rolls, but it might be nice to eventually see some of the new mid-level content as it arrives.
- Complete the Vol 3 Book 2 content in Enedwaith (added during the F2P switch)
- Await Isengard
LOTRO has never been the game I go to for dungeon grinding, and new dungeons are the only announced content between now and next fall.
- Write fewer news posts about the EQ2 business model.
Every studio spent 2010 experimenting with new ways to charge players more, but SOE has really managed to make me feel like I'm getting less and less for my money with EQ2, as the "missing" resources go to the game's cash shop or the studio's other offerings. Though I believe my coverage to be accurate and informative, I feel like I've said what there is to be said here. I'd like to pare back my posts about this game to the (currently minimal) time and money that I actually spend on it. - Either find a Velious bargain or skip the expansion entirely
We won't know until they lift the NDA, but nothing that I've heard about this expansion makes me excited about spending money on it. Right now, the only way I can see myself paying for Velious is if I can get an extreme discount on a surplus unsold retail box later in the year. If that happens, I might pay to copy Lyriana, my main, off of the left-for-dead Lucan D'Lere server and over to the Extended servers so that I can enjoy this and future content at my leisure without paying for a subscription.
- No current plans to return to ROM
I would not be opposed to paying money for this game, but they would have to actually deliver an experience that's better than what I could get for the same amount from other games. I'm at level 30 now and already feeling that the exp curve is balanced around grinding with exp pots and paying for daily quest limit reset tickets to keep both my classes leveled appropriately. This just doesn't strike me as fun.
- DC Universe Online: Sightsee for a month, maybe return for a month at a time as content is added
If I find enough to have it be worth paying for two additional months (beyond the month that comes with the box), I'll consider this exercise a success.
- Check out followups to games I've enjoyed, including Uncharted 3 (Nov 2011), Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 (a.k.a. Gotham City?), and one or more Assassins' Creeds. I'm also vaguely interested in the supposedly forthcoming Tomb Raider collection, and perhaps Red Dead Redemption.
- Probably visit this game for a few months
Depending on what else I'm up to when the MMO-siah of the moment arrives, I might wait and see what people are saying at the 30 day mark. Telara sounds promising, and it might be unfortunate to miss the launch crowds because these will spawn massive invasions, but I remain concerned about the long term.
- F2P Watch: Both Vanguard and STO have been discussed for potential F2P conversions. I would try both of these if/when they lose the monthly fee.
- My interest in SWTOR is currently extremely low after not having liked any of the past Bioware games I've played. Also, this may or may not even show up in 2011 anyway.
- Though I try to keep an open mind about these things, I've also got limited time if anything else (or even everything I've listed above) is going to get my attention.
- Though I did manage 200+ posts this past year, my work schedule has made 3 posts per week about what I'm capable of handling these days, which would put me more in the 150 range. Unfortunate, but I'd rather not feel compelled to post stuff I don't enjoy writing just to make an arbitrary posting quota.
- As always, thank my readers for sticking with me for another year.
Best wishes to everyone for a happy 2011!