Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Review

If you want to get an MMORPG player passionately riled up, all you have to do is ask their opinion of one of three subjects (or all three—and be prepared to sit there for a bit): microtransactions, automated group finder tools, and mounts. Anyone who’s played any modern MMORPG for a length of time will have strong feelings about all three subjects.

It’s easy to understand why. All three are major game changers and can either dismantle or upgrade the worlds we’re comfortably immersed in. Let’s break it down:

Microtransactions: Let’s see. Do I want to click a couple buttons in a UI window and instantly pay real money to get a super cool item, appearance, or boost that could have been added to the game through other means (thus potentially taking away from the base game’s obtainable items and/or assets)?

Automated group finder tools: How about clicking a couple buttons to not have to communicate with players and instead be instantly and automatically paired with them to do this group activity that was initially created to encourage communication?

Mounts: Mounts look badass and make us feel badass as we’re romping through piles of bad guys on our way to Named Quest Mob #45, but they also act as a highway, letting us pass over and consequently ignore 75% of the world we’re invested in. Flying mounts are an even worse offender.

Looking Toward the Sky

It's been a while since I've updated again, but I'm happy to say these past few months have led to a few truly awesome opportunities in my career. We decided to relaunch Junkies Nation last month and I was brought in as the Editor-in-Chief. It's been a while since I've been asked to spread my leadership wings of sorts, but I find I enjoy it immensely. My team of writers is fantastic and I've had the chance to reach out to various game developers which is a new learning experience for me-- but one I'm extremely grateful for.

I'm also able to write my big, long editorials again! I've missed that so. Here's the first I've published. All about WildStar, World of Warcraft, and the need for risk taking in MMORPG development. I have a couple more in the planning stages as well as another editorial that's due to be published in a couple of days (more on that soon!).

I find these long-winded projects tend to be the most satisfying for me. They allow me to dig deep and really sink my teeth into subjects that are near and dear to my heart. I'm still a gamer, obviously, but being able to blend together gaming, thinking about gaming in critical/objective ways, and sharing my thoughts with the community is super satisfying in a way I didn't really imagine was possible.

Here's to life, and all the strange, wonderful turns it takes.

Moving Forward

I know-- this blog has been overdue of an update for a while now. My career's taken a few sharp turns in recent months, and truth be told, I wasn't sure where these bumpy roads would take me. I'm still not sure, but most days I find comfort in the fact that I'm moving forward bit by bit and take it from there. I think that's all we can do at times.

I'm still writing for Rift Junkies and Junkies Nation when I get a chance to do so, but as some of you may have noticed, those chances haven't been that frequently lately. I've been having to spend a great deal of my time looking for copywriting/freelance work wherever I can find it. The good news is that I may have some good news regarding a new client (and a cool site) in a couple of weeks. For now, I'm trying to keep on keepin' on. I did finally add my portfolio link to this site, though!

In the realm of fiction writing, I've actually had a bit of a breakthrough in a side project I recently started. The piece I'm working on will probably end up a novel, but for now it's kind of taking the shape of an erotica-based series of stories. Yeah. Me, erotica, right? My protagonist's kind of like a female version of Indiana Jones but with a bumbling, goofy side. It's an adventure story, but also one embedded in romance and erotic elements. We'll see how it turns out. ;) For now, I'm content with the fact that working on that project soothes me like nothing else quite can.

I'm also in the groundwork phases of a new collaborative fiction project with a friend. It's shaping up pretty nicely. I'll toss out one hint: Outer space!

Oh, one last thing. If anyone's going to be playing The Elder Scrolls Online, lemme know. I'll be playing and writing a few guides along the way.

BioWare, SWTOR, and Same-Gender Content

Wanted to pop in and briefly plug my latest Star Wars: The Old Republic editorial. It's about one of those close to home subjects for me - LGBT content in video games. There isn't much of it out there unfortunately, so when BioWare announced that same-gender companion romances werre going to be featured in SWTOR, it was exciting. Then it... wasn't placed in the game for release. Instead, BioWare promised to add the content in a post-launch update.

Now it's, well, post-launch, and the community hasn't received an update. In my editorial, I go a bit into the matter, and discuss ideas in which the content can be added. I also talk discuss some of BioWare's other games that feature same-gender content.

Anywho, if you're into gaming at all, check it out!

Here's the link to it: Patiently Waiting for Same-Gender Content