malkav11

Two main developments in my life of late. Firstly, I think I'm going to have to switch ISPs. The problem seems to be that they can no longer consistently provide quality, error-free DSL service at the speeds (3 MB down) I'm currently paying for. And I can't face going back to 1.5, especially when there's cheaper, faster alternatives out there from companies I admittedly don't like as much. If you're a Twin Cities denizen and know of a local way to get high speed internet that doesn't require me to have any dealings with Comcast or Qwest, let me know. Otherwise I guess it's going to be Qwest DSL - I purely do not trust Comcast, and their known habit of throttling BitTorrent is incompatible with my needs. This also means I'm going to have to switch phone service. Probably to some sort of cell phone, because land lines are archaic and VOIP has been less reliable than I'd like. Less so still with non-Speakeasy source. Again, if you currently use a cell phone, let me know how you get along with your provider and if they offer any special value to you - I've never even looked at cell phones before now because I don't like them and they're traditionally more expensive than the alternatives. (Less of an issue now, since I'm okay with paying a combined $135 a month for my phone and internet now, and I will be paying a fair bit less for internet with Qwest.)

Secondly, I preordered Warhammer Online to try the open beta, did so, and got firmly hooked. It's not entirely dissimilar to WoW, but the richness of gameplay is significantly deeper and it eases you into PvP so well that even I, the avowed PvP-hater, am doing it on a semi-regular basis. It's pretty much all I've played in the last week, and that may continue for some time - it's got me worse than WoW did back in '04. I'm making steady progress as a Warrior Priest of Sigmar, hooked up with an excellent, populous guild, and am thoroughly enjoying every step of the way along the PvE road. PvP has been hit or miss - open RvR with my guild has been a blast. Scenarios have typically been overwhelming victories by the opposition and not much fun for this reason, especially when I kept dying because my healing target had gotten stuck on someone else (or worse, an inanimate object), or my spells just wouldn't cast. But we were on a roll tonight and if I can keep getting into scenarios with people on my side who know what they're doing, hey, they'll be great.

In general, like most MMOs, people are both a blessing and a curse. When they're good, they make things so much more fun. When they're idiots, whether in PvP or grinding mindlessly in ways that gut the excellent Public Quest system, they make things really fucking annoying.

In any case, I heartily recommend it. My server's Ostermark, my side, Order. My character, at the moment, is Viedald.