"On The EVE of An Online Journey"

Wow, its really been a long time since I posted a blog post--and by that I mean a post that wasn't a podcast or promoting something I'm doing.  However, you are going to see this blog start to show more and more of the stuff I'm doing on a daily/weekly basis.  Normally that stuff was reserved for "The Nerd is the Word", but even with Ashley's new job we still have a lot of stuff to catch up on around the house.  Anyways, recently I've had sort of a dilemma in regards to my video gaming--particularly World of Warcraft and its latest expansion, Cataclysm.  I was really excited and looking forward to this expansion and all the stuff that it promised.  Yet at this point, I really feel like I may have over-hyped this a bit too much.  I'm not saying that it was bad; everything about it is so awesome--I just feel like there's not much to it.  I got to 85 in no time flat (like 2-3 weeks), so I tried to level up some new characters.  And though they "changed the world" with this latest expansion, the 1-60 content is still relatively the same.  Granted, the 1-15ish content for the Worgen and the Goblins is great and very vivid, there's just not enough of it.  So I filled in the gaps by PvP-ing with Ashley and leveling up some of my alts and professions as this time around I really don't feel the desire to raid/run dungeons.

This could only carry me along so far, however, and with this year bringing a bunch of new MMO's like DC Universe Online and Rift, I was interested in trying something new.  I thought about trying out Rift and even signed up for the beta; only to find out that there was no Mac client.  So after talking with a friend, and with my WoW guild expanding into other games such as it, I gave EVE Online a go, using a fellow AIE-er's 21 day trial code.

I've been interested in EVE for a long time now, given my love for science fiction, I've just never gotten around to it.  Given that, EVE is everything that I could have wanted in such a genre.  There is so much to do and so many things you can do that WoW couldn't even dream of, such as players actively affecting the world by taking over planets and regions of space and having to fight off people trying to take those areas back.  Instead of leveling up professions, you can queue up all the skills and abilities you need, and you can train those skills no matter if you're on or offline.

On the other hand, am I still playing the game?  No.  While I enjoyed the game, and had I started playing before getting hooked on WoW, I might have stayed with it.  But EVE's expansive gameplay requires so much time that I wouldn't have any time for anything else gaming wise (as Ashley has no interest in EVE, I am still playing WoW when I can).  Not only that, but with how open world it is, if I'm in the middle of something and have to get up to get/do something, I run the risk of getting destroyed without a fight.  I rarely have an un-interrupted period of time in which to play, which is what I feel like I would need.

So in conclusion, EVE is a great game, just not the MMO that fits my lifestyle at the moment.  I let my trial expire, and ventured back to WoW, thinking my journey into other games was complete.  Oh, how I was wrong, and I'll explain what I mean next time......