In their latest press release, NCSoft announced that they will finally be bringing the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchise to the Mac.
This is great news although I am a bit annoyed at myself for spending a bunch of money to get the Leopard OS and then some more money to get Windows XP just so I can play CoH/V on my Mac. But then again, I am really impatient...
Anyways, maybe in they will come out in the PS3 or Xbox 360 or some other console game. That would be neat cause then I can finally play CoX in bed!
I signed up to beta test it... you can too here: http://www.cityofheroes.com/macbeta/
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
CoH & CoV Launches a New Combined Site Design!
Its about time that NC Soft redesigns the look and feel of the CoH and Cov website. It was getting particularly stale and outdated in the fast moving pace of the world wide web! The new look has a more web 2.0 feel to it. They removed a lot of the clutter and its much cleaner and easier to navigate.
Also of note is that they finally combined the City of Heroes and the City of Villains template into one solid design.
The forums still have the same Hero or Villain look and feel to it, but I suspect that it will change once they switch over to vBulletin.
They have also updated the login-updater to reflect the changes made to the site.
I really like the new look and it does overall balance the Hero and Villain feel of it pretty well. I do wonder what Content Management System they are using!
Enjoy the new site everyone!
Also of note is that they finally combined the City of Heroes and the City of Villains template into one solid design.
The forums still have the same Hero or Villain look and feel to it, but I suspect that it will change once they switch over to vBulletin.
They have also updated the login-updater to reflect the changes made to the site.I really like the new look and it does overall balance the Hero and Villain feel of it pretty well. I do wonder what Content Management System they are using!
Enjoy the new site everyone!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saving the Reactor Core from the Freakshow
Annzilla and a few good friends ran the level 34+ hero respecification trial tonight! The trial, also known as a "respec" trial is a series of instanced mission with the last mission being a trip to the Reactor Core in Terra Volta. Its a unique map and its pretty darn neat!
For characters that have not run the trial before, upon completion, it awards the character a chance to respec their powers. What this means is that you can choose different powers in your primary, secondary, ancillary, and epic power pools, as well as being able to slot them differently.
Almost to the reactor core. Dashing through the halls.
The respec trial for any first timers is very exciting. Like I said, there is a new unique map that you do not see anywhere else as well as very interesting and engaging gameplay during the core itself.
There are 3 different respec trials with different enemy groups for different level ranges. The bad guys spawn at doors on the top platform surrounding the reactor core. Their objective is to attack and destroy the core and the heroes' objective is to protect the core from the attacks! There is about 10 waves of spawns to face down to successfully complete the trial. In between the spawns, the squishy heroes need to get protection from the radiation in the form of a red bubble while they are in the core or else they lose Damage over Time. The sturdier heroes, like Tankers and Scrappers can do without it because their regeneration outpaces the DoT in the reactor room.
I remember my first time running it, it was some heart pumping fun! But then again, it was crazy hard back then since the devs seemed to have rushed the trial release where testing was inadequate and the difficulty was not scaled correctly. After actually completing it through many failed tries, it was my first feeling of real satisfaction with the game.
Nowadays, the respec trial is not too difficult and you do not have to build the "perfect team" in order to succeed. In fact, any decently coordinated team can beat this trial with ease.
The team kicking butt and protecting the core. I'm the Stone Tanker with the brown, poopy looking stuff around my feet.
But after running it a bazillion times throughout the years, it does get rather predictable and tedious. To spice things up, I have this personal challenge that I create and try to beat. For the level 34+ respec trial, I try to shoot around the 1 hour and 30 minute time limit. It's just a fun little thing to do to keep it interesting.
In the end of this trial run, as expected in a "who's who" team of kick ass heroes, we obviously kicked ass with a Respecification Trial successfully run in under 1 hour and 15 minutes!
Manganese Hero, Polar Vengance, Annzilla, Jane Flame, HardKore
For characters that have not run the trial before, upon completion, it awards the character a chance to respec their powers. What this means is that you can choose different powers in your primary, secondary, ancillary, and epic power pools, as well as being able to slot them differently.
Almost to the reactor core. Dashing through the halls. 
The respec trial for any first timers is very exciting. Like I said, there is a new unique map that you do not see anywhere else as well as very interesting and engaging gameplay during the core itself.There are 3 different respec trials with different enemy groups for different level ranges. The bad guys spawn at doors on the top platform surrounding the reactor core. Their objective is to attack and destroy the core and the heroes' objective is to protect the core from the attacks! There is about 10 waves of spawns to face down to successfully complete the trial. In between the spawns, the squishy heroes need to get protection from the radiation in the form of a red bubble while they are in the core or else they lose Damage over Time. The sturdier heroes, like Tankers and Scrappers can do without it because their regeneration outpaces the DoT in the reactor room.
I remember my first time running it, it was some heart pumping fun! But then again, it was crazy hard back then since the devs seemed to have rushed the trial release where testing was inadequate and the difficulty was not scaled correctly. After actually completing it through many failed tries, it was my first feeling of real satisfaction with the game.Nowadays, the respec trial is not too difficult and you do not have to build the "perfect team" in order to succeed. In fact, any decently coordinated team can beat this trial with ease.
The team kicking butt and protecting the core. I'm the Stone Tanker with the brown, poopy looking stuff around my feet.But after running it a bazillion times throughout the years, it does get rather predictable and tedious. To spice things up, I have this personal challenge that I create and try to beat. For the level 34+ respec trial, I try to shoot around the 1 hour and 30 minute time limit. It's just a fun little thing to do to keep it interesting.
In the end of this trial run, as expected in a "who's who" team of kick ass heroes, we obviously kicked ass with a Respecification Trial successfully run in under 1 hour and 15 minutes!
Manganese Hero, Polar Vengance, Annzilla, Jane Flame, HardKoreSunday, October 26, 2008
More ToT Grinding
After 3 more hours of ToT grinding, Annzilla is now level 40. I didn't think I could do it, but I guess I made 40 by the end of this week after all.
Tonight's grind was so much better than last night's because I created and ran this team. Meaning, I made sure the team consisted of decent players and that I was on the lower end of the team level range. I was about 2 levels lower than the average team level, which means more XP for me! Hey, as a tanker, I can do that because even at my lower level, relative to the spawns, I have the defense and resistance to make me useful and keep me alive.
I am going to attempt at ToT grinding with Annzilla as much as possible before the Halloween event is over (presumably on November 1st) and will probably run Peregrine Island Archvillain missions thereafter. You know, Hero's Hero story arc with gobs of AVs? Yeah. That one.
And if all goes well, Annzilla will be all done and I will be starting my new Dark Maisma & Energy Melee Tanker, Paradoxic.
Tonight's grind was so much better than last night's because I created and ran this team. Meaning, I made sure the team consisted of decent players and that I was on the lower end of the team level range. I was about 2 levels lower than the average team level, which means more XP for me! Hey, as a tanker, I can do that because even at my lower level, relative to the spawns, I have the defense and resistance to make me useful and keep me alive.
I am going to attempt at ToT grinding with Annzilla as much as possible before the Halloween event is over (presumably on November 1st) and will probably run Peregrine Island Archvillain missions thereafter. You know, Hero's Hero story arc with gobs of AVs? Yeah. That one.
And if all goes well, Annzilla will be all done and I will be starting my new Dark Maisma & Energy Melee Tanker, Paradoxic.
More Halloween Grinding with Annzilla
As the title says, I trick or treated all night with my Stone Armor & Fiery Melee Tanker, Annzilla. I started at 10P.M. (give or take a few minutes) and grinded with a full team of 'pick up' folks and reached level 38 by about 1:30 in the morning. I was level 35.4 when I last played her so a 3.5 hour grind isn't too terrible for about 2.5 levels. It makes me very glad that I am that much closer to 50 for Annzilla. I am probably going to continue to milk the trick or treating as much as possible. I really would like to start on the next Tanker Project already! And if you're wondering, its a split between either Willpower, Dark Armor, or Fiery Aura. Most likely it'll be DA because its new!
3.5 hours of just standing around clicking doors may sound rough, but the folks I played with knew what the heck they were doing and they were also a hoot. It was actually very fun!
After the ToT grind, I ran to Wentworth's to craft some goodies and noticed this along the way!
And Lastly, I've finally decided to build that base for my Super Group! The group consists of all my alts and my brother's characters (who's account is inactive at this time). I have no intention of inviting anyone else to the group. It's just a personal base for my characters so I don't have to rely on other people to transfer items or influence between my characters.
3.5 hours of just standing around clicking doors may sound rough, but the folks I played with knew what the heck they were doing and they were also a hoot. It was actually very fun!
After the ToT grind, I ran to Wentworth's to craft some goodies and noticed this along the way!
I had no idea that NCsoft is now advertising in-game. I have been away for 6 months after all.
I do have mixed feelings about it. I think its neat because of its novelty, but it is a little annoying But my fear is that the in-game advertising will morph into a more intrusive form like "pop-up" ads or in-game email spam. Don't ask me how I think that'll be possible, but I just don't want my games to get there. Ever.
And Lastly, I've finally decided to build that base for my Super Group! The group consists of all my alts and my brother's characters (who's account is inactive at this time). I have no intention of inviting anyone else to the group. It's just a personal base for my characters so I don't have to rely on other people to transfer items or influence between my characters.
So far, there is only the entrance and the energy room -and NOTHING else! I couldn't afford it. I think I'll only be able to afford one big item per every two gaming sessions so the base is not going to be functional for another month I think.
Its okay though, I'm in no hurry!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Stone Armor & Fiery Melee Tanker: Annzilla
I thought I'd elaborate on one of my characters, Annzilla, my Stone Armor & Fiery Melee Tanker.She was created from a screen name I have that is very similar to it. And since it had the 'zilla' at the end of the name, I felt compelled to make her as tall as possible and give her a reptilian flair. I usually like to have an idea of my characters' history before I create them, but since I created her on the fly, she doesn't have a developed background story yet.
As for game play, have mixed feelings about it.
I have created several Stone Armor Tanks in the past, but was never able to get any of them past level 20. Its that darn Rooted toggle power that is essential to for Stone Tanker to have. When toggled, it allows the character to have faster regeneration as well as status protection. That's all fine and dandy, but the drawback is the movement debuff which does not allow you to jump or fly, and your sprinting is soooo sloooow. Since I am a naturally impatient person, I couldn't tolerate it.
The reason why I got this far is thanks to my old Super Group -and no, they did not power level me. I just have good friends there that would switch their characters to play an Archetype that better complimented Annzilla, namely any character with Kinetics. Its safe to say that about 98% of the times I teamed, there was always a pocket Kin around to Speed Boost me. I am spoiled, I know!
It seems as if the Stone Armor power set is based on the concept of "slow, but solid." Being solid is nice, but 'slow' is not my playstyle. When I tank with Ms Ann, I move quickly from group to group; I am conscious of where my teammates are at all times and I make sure that all the bad guys' attention is on me. I do try to emulate my Invuln Tanker playstyle with my Stone Tanker, but it the Stone Armor powerset makes it inherently difficult to due to the lack of mobility.
I like to think that it takes actual skill to be a good tanker, but after reaching level 32, Stone Tankers have access to the Granite power that has very high defense buffs. Because of Granite, it doesn't require much skill to be a 'decent' Stone Tanker.
For most other Tanker primary sets, people will instantly know when a Tanker sucks. These Tanks must argo manage and health manage, with some requiring more attention than others. If they have no clue, missions will be a mess, people will die, and they will be exposed as a crappy tanker. After level 32, Stone Tanks become slow defensive behemoths and can stand around and spam taunt.
And for someone impatient and easily distracted as I am, that kind of playstyle becomes very tedious. My general feeling with Annzilla is "I can't wait til she is level 50." I don't think I will play her too regularly after she reaches the cap.
Even though she's a boring Tanker, she's still a Tanker and that's the role I thrive in. I am a harsh critic, because she's really not that bad to play. However, I think the overall character concept of Annzilla is what saved her from the delete button. I just get a kick out of running around as a giant, green lizard lady breathing fire at things. Hopefully that sentiment will last me all the way to level 50!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Annzilla goes Trick or Treating
More fun tonight, this time with Annzilla, my Stone Armor & Fiery Melee Tanker.
Obviously, shes the Stone flavored Tank that I am trying to level up to complete my set of Tankers. As of tonight, she is level 35.4. Maybe I will get her to level 40 by next week, but probably not.
I started the night with some trick or treating.
It's hard to see me, but I'm in the very center of the circle of fire!
Another view of the fighting the 'tricks' coming out of the door.
If you could make out a person holding a fiery scimitar, that's me!
As the night progressed, the zombies invaded!
Here's the bird's eye view of the melee going on!
I am going to try to get in as much trick or treating with Annzilla because I don't particularly like to play her for long periods, but I do want to get her to level 50 sooner rather than later. Trick or treating with a decent group of players is the easy, safe, and quick way to earn xp in the time that I would play her.
Obviously, shes the Stone flavored Tank that I am trying to level up to complete my set of Tankers. As of tonight, she is level 35.4. Maybe I will get her to level 40 by next week, but probably not.
I started the night with some trick or treating.It's hard to see me, but I'm in the very center of the circle of fire!
Another view of the fighting the 'tricks' coming out of the door.If you could make out a person holding a fiery scimitar, that's me!
As the night progressed, the zombies invaded!
Here's the bird's eye view of the melee going on!I am going to try to get in as much trick or treating with Annzilla because I don't particularly like to play her for long periods, but I do want to get her to level 50 sooner rather than later. Trick or treating with a decent group of players is the easy, safe, and quick way to earn xp in the time that I would play her.
Issue 13: Power and Responsibility
For anyone playing City of Heroes or City of Villains, I know the new major update to the game, Issue 13: Power and Responsibility is old news. But as you may or may not know, I just came back to the game, so this is certainly news to me.
The main features as taken from the official announcement includes:
I am also excited to check out the new powersets, particularly the Shields power.
I am Tanker at heart and it has always been a goal of mine to have a level 50 Tanker for each primary power set. The Tanker primary powers consist of Invulnerability, Fiery Aura, Stone Armor, Ice Armor, Dark Armor, Willpower, and now, Shields. Unfortunately, I've only ever leveled up a Fiery Aura and an Invulnerability Tankers to 50. Even worse yet, I deleted my Fiery Aura Tanker a little after the first update (Issue 2), so I have a long ways to go (1 down, 6 more to go!). This just gives me more to do!
The fact that they are getting rid of the whole base salvage system and restructuring the pricing is also another goodie. Although I had left my old supergroup, this change is great because it makes it possible for me to create and maintain a small base of my own.
I am also interested to see how the Leveling Pact will work in the live servers. There is a lot of potential there!
As for the rest, as I've mentioned, they seem like really good add-ons. I just can't wait til Issue 13 goes live!
The main features as taken from the official announcement includes:
- Shield and Pain Domination powersets
- Merit Reward system
- Day Jobs (that include a suite of new costume pieces)
- Additional Cimerora and Midnight Squad mission arcs
- Leveling Pact
- Multi-Builds
- PvE & PvP Powers re-balancing
- Villain Patron Power Respec
- Supergroup Base Repricing
I am also excited to check out the new powersets, particularly the Shields power.I am Tanker at heart and it has always been a goal of mine to have a level 50 Tanker for each primary power set. The Tanker primary powers consist of Invulnerability, Fiery Aura, Stone Armor, Ice Armor, Dark Armor, Willpower, and now, Shields. Unfortunately, I've only ever leveled up a Fiery Aura and an Invulnerability Tankers to 50. Even worse yet, I deleted my Fiery Aura Tanker a little after the first update (Issue 2), so I have a long ways to go (1 down, 6 more to go!). This just gives me more to do!
The fact that they are getting rid of the whole base salvage system and restructuring the pricing is also another goodie. Although I had left my old supergroup, this change is great because it makes it possible for me to create and maintain a small base of my own.
I am also interested to see how the Leveling Pact will work in the live servers. There is a lot of potential there!
As for the rest, as I've mentioned, they seem like really good add-ons. I just can't wait til Issue 13 goes live!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Zombie Invasion! Mmmm Brains...
My second night back and I jumped right into the special event for Halloween. This year's event consists of Trick or Treating, where you can click on doors in level compliant zones to receive either a trick or a treat. Treats consist of inspirations, which are one-time instant buff items. Tricks consist of an assortment of Halloween themed spawns, like witches, werewolves and zombies. You receive special badges after defeating a certain number of these spawns.
The newer special event is the Zombie Invasion. This is when zones are randomly invaded by spawns of zombies. Defeating different types of these zombies also awards badges as well.
Tonight, no surprise, I played again as my main hero, Ms Ann, an Invulnerability & Battle Axe Tanker.
Trick or treating with a random Pick up Group (PUG).
Since I already had the Trick or Treat badges, I left the PUG after a helping them out a bit to participate in the zombie invasion.
The invasion in full swing!
Getting a nice aura heal from someone.. those zombies are tough, ya know!
More kickassery! I have no idea where I am in this picture..
The night was fun. I earned four new event badges. What more can a girl ask for?
Next time, I'll be getting some badges for my main villain character, Zetsumei.
The newer special event is the Zombie Invasion. This is when zones are randomly invaded by spawns of zombies. Defeating different types of these zombies also awards badges as well.
Tonight, no surprise, I played again as my main hero, Ms Ann, an Invulnerability & Battle Axe Tanker.
Trick or treating with a random Pick up Group (PUG).Since I already had the Trick or Treat badges, I left the PUG after a helping them out a bit to participate in the zombie invasion.
The invasion in full swing!
Getting a nice aura heal from someone.. those zombies are tough, ya know!
More kickassery! I have no idea where I am in this picture..The night was fun. I earned four new event badges. What more can a girl ask for?
Next time, I'll be getting some badges for my main villain character, Zetsumei.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Born Again Noob
Jeez, its only been 6 months! I feel like a noob all over again in readjusting to the game. I actually got lost trying to find my way around Steel Canyon of all places!
I was in for a bit of a shock after realizing that Wentworth's, the auction house scraped everything bidded, auctioned, or held there after 60 days of character inactivity. I may have lost between 100 - 200 million influence/infamy (the in-game currency) in total among all of my characters. I don't know for sure how much, which isn't a bad thing because ignorance is bliss after all. I still have about 700 million influence/infamy among all of my characters, so I'm not struggling or anything.
As the night progressed, some good friends, ACFU and Yaki put together a team to run the Imperious Task Force in located in the zone Cimerora. I played as who else but my "main" hero, Ms Ann, an Invulnerability & Battle Axe Tanker. It was really rusty at the start. In fact, I actually died a few times, which sucks because I do pride myself in not biting the dust as a tanker. I did get back back into gear by the end of the night though!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. I was playing on my MacBook and I had no idea who to take a screen capture with it.
Needless to say, the task force was a lot of fun (especially for tankers, with lots of herding goodness). The night ended with me receiving two new shiny badges.
I was in for a bit of a shock after realizing that Wentworth's, the auction house scraped everything bidded, auctioned, or held there after 60 days of character inactivity. I may have lost between 100 - 200 million influence/infamy (the in-game currency) in total among all of my characters. I don't know for sure how much, which isn't a bad thing because ignorance is bliss after all. I still have about 700 million influence/infamy among all of my characters, so I'm not struggling or anything.
As the night progressed, some good friends, ACFU and Yaki put together a team to run the Imperious Task Force in located in the zone Cimerora. I played as who else but my "main" hero, Ms Ann, an Invulnerability & Battle Axe Tanker. It was really rusty at the start. In fact, I actually died a few times, which sucks because I do pride myself in not biting the dust as a tanker. I did get back back into gear by the end of the night though!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. I was playing on my MacBook and I had no idea who to take a screen capture with it.
Needless to say, the task force was a lot of fun (especially for tankers, with lots of herding goodness). The night ended with me receiving two new shiny badges.
The Reason for this Blog
Why I created a blog about the City of Heroes and the City of Villains:
- I really enjoy writing, even though I'm not very good at it.
- I want to keep writing to improve!
- Writing about my experiences helps in keeping me interested in the game. Its like a fun diversion to break up the monotony.
- As well as working a day job in downtown Boston, I own a business that develops and maintains several web properties, a few of which are blogs about various topics. It felt only natural that I create one for my adventures in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
- As mentioned, I do have several blogs, but in different content management systems like Wordpress, Joomla!, Drupal, and Modx. I have never used Google's Blogger. It's about time I check it out.
- Even though this project is mostly for my own entertainment, if anyone stumbles on this blog and enjoys it, that would be great too!
- News and updates on the development of the game(s) and my accompanying opinions on it.
- General commentary on missions, raids, or other in-game events.
- Discussion on character build. This includes tips and general commentary on personal experiences with certain powersets and archetypes.
- "In character" entries from my characters' point of view. Please understand that I am not a role player by any stretch of the imagination. I never ever initiate my characters interacting with anyone else's character. This includes in-game or on forums and whatnot. If I'm around role players, its cool, but just don't expect me to participate, because its just not my thing. I do however, enjoy writing origin and fan fiction for my characters. That's just about the extent of my role playing.
- To actually keep updating it! My business blogs have paid writers posting for me. This blog will just be me and I want to be committed to it.
- That friends and family reading this blog actually likes it!
- To eventually have another writer or two posting to this blog as well. It certainly doesn't hurt to a second or third opinion on things.
Homecoming
After a 6 month hiatus, I'm back to the City of Heroes and the City of Villains!
I've played this game since its release in the spring of 2004. I was still in college at that time. I'd say CoH was the main contributing factor to my mediocre grades (well, that and binge drinking).
I've always been a gamer, but CoH was actually my first real foray into MMOs. I played it pretty consistently. I joined with a great guild (or a "Super Group" as its know in CoH) and had a fun time.
I left the game in April 2008 for a few reasons.
It was getting tedious. Level 50 is the cap for characters in the City of Heroes and Villains. My level 50s were fully outfitted in the proper Invention Enhancements. Even with bells and whistles added to the subsequent patches known as Issues (ala comic books), it gets redundant after a while. I had gotten all the badges that I was able to on my "main" character (without going completely nuts). On both Hero and Villain side, I've had experienced all the missions, task/strike forces, and raids that the game has to offer. I even led a hardcore team that ended up earning the elusive Master of Statesman Taskforce Badge. The game didn't really have much more to offer me.
There was some drama I didn't want to deal with. I'd actually like to point out that I would have quit the game years before, but I stayed because I had a good group of people to hang out with online. I've never met any of them in person, but after hanging out with them for years and getting to know them and their family, it was only naturally that friendships developed. These were people I cared for. I also put a lot of time and energy into the group but not to go into too much detail in what happened, I started to feel really unappreciated. Because it was a gradual thing that went on for so long, that feeling of unappreciation turned into bitter disappointment and then resentment.
But the main reason I left was because of the real life situation going on at that time. I had spent a miserable year working for this small liberal arts university. The work was tolerable, but my boss was the most stupid, ignorant, psychotic, unprofessional, unstable, unfair, and unqualified person I had ever worked with and for. Add that to a very mundane administrative work and you have someone dying to find another job -which I was. Looking for a new job was like a second job.
I was unhappy in the world outside of the game and I was unhappy when I came home to play. It just was no longer fun or relaxing. And with everything going wrong, it just didn't seem like it was worth it anymore, so I left quietly without much fuss.
But after 6 months. I'm back!
After going through 7 different interviews, I've finally found my dream job! I'm learning about things that I am actually interested in and passionate about. The clincher was really the drastic change in my work environment. I now work with some very knowledgeable, courteous, and professional people. I've learned more in 2 months working here than I did for the year I worked for my previous employer. To top it off, I got a 55% pay increase (which may sound huge, but my previous employer was paying me in lint and gum wrappers, so its really not all that much more).
And with my work life stabilized (it had actually been stable for the first three months working there!) and after some online friends persuading me to come back. Here I am!
I've played this game since its release in the spring of 2004. I was still in college at that time. I'd say CoH was the main contributing factor to my mediocre grades (well, that and binge drinking).
I've always been a gamer, but CoH was actually my first real foray into MMOs. I played it pretty consistently. I joined with a great guild (or a "Super Group" as its know in CoH) and had a fun time.
I left the game in April 2008 for a few reasons.
It was getting tedious. Level 50 is the cap for characters in the City of Heroes and Villains. My level 50s were fully outfitted in the proper Invention Enhancements. Even with bells and whistles added to the subsequent patches known as Issues (ala comic books), it gets redundant after a while. I had gotten all the badges that I was able to on my "main" character (without going completely nuts). On both Hero and Villain side, I've had experienced all the missions, task/strike forces, and raids that the game has to offer. I even led a hardcore team that ended up earning the elusive Master of Statesman Taskforce Badge. The game didn't really have much more to offer me.
There was some drama I didn't want to deal with. I'd actually like to point out that I would have quit the game years before, but I stayed because I had a good group of people to hang out with online. I've never met any of them in person, but after hanging out with them for years and getting to know them and their family, it was only naturally that friendships developed. These were people I cared for. I also put a lot of time and energy into the group but not to go into too much detail in what happened, I started to feel really unappreciated. Because it was a gradual thing that went on for so long, that feeling of unappreciation turned into bitter disappointment and then resentment.
But the main reason I left was because of the real life situation going on at that time. I had spent a miserable year working for this small liberal arts university. The work was tolerable, but my boss was the most stupid, ignorant, psychotic, unprofessional, unstable, unfair, and unqualified person I had ever worked with and for. Add that to a very mundane administrative work and you have someone dying to find another job -which I was. Looking for a new job was like a second job.
I was unhappy in the world outside of the game and I was unhappy when I came home to play. It just was no longer fun or relaxing. And with everything going wrong, it just didn't seem like it was worth it anymore, so I left quietly without much fuss.
But after 6 months. I'm back!
After going through 7 different interviews, I've finally found my dream job! I'm learning about things that I am actually interested in and passionate about. The clincher was really the drastic change in my work environment. I now work with some very knowledgeable, courteous, and professional people. I've learned more in 2 months working here than I did for the year I worked for my previous employer. To top it off, I got a 55% pay increase (which may sound huge, but my previous employer was paying me in lint and gum wrappers, so its really not all that much more).
And with my work life stabilized (it had actually been stable for the first three months working there!) and after some online friends persuading me to come back. Here I am!
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