Woot! That’s right, Pawtopsy is now level 68 and has her Flight Form! I only played for it for about an hour last night before bed, but it’s going to take some time to get used to noticing there is a Z-axis now. I already tried to fly up as high to the sky as I could go (for the record, I got bored flying upward before I reached a height cap…so I’m not sure how high I can go but it is damn high!) and I also had fun flying up to the top of the mushrooms in Zangarmarsh and standing on top of them. I guess I never assumed that everything would have collision. I assumed that I wouldn’t be able to fly up to tall trees and then shift back to Tauren form and stand on them. Is there anything I should go check out now that I can fly? Any hidden Easter eggs or lore-type stuff? Anywhere that I can only access if I can fly? Seems like there should be a WoWInsider guide on this! 
All our guildmates and friends keep harassing us about how SLOW we’re leveling, but it seems like I’m playing WoW constantly if I’m not at work or sleeping. Maybe it’s faster if you solo the whole way instead of duo, but Luke and I are having a great time. He bought his epic land mount and we did our first arena skirmish last night against 2 pallies and won! (Who cares that they were both level 65…) Since the last time I’ve updated we’ve done Mana Tombs and Sethekk Halls. I’ve gotten a lot of items, all mostly cloth and some that I can’t wear until 70. We’re still having a blast with the game.
Friday we had a little party here at the office and had a good time jamming with various instruments of Raph’s. I know there were videos taken, but they better not surface anywhere on the internet or I’ll cry. There were several coworkers who were playing Age of Conan and one of them gave me a little primer on the game’s UI and some of the features. The game was running on a work machine here (with a less than recommended GPU) but didn’t really look all that intriguing to me. I know I didn’t spend any time actually playing it, but when I’m having this much fun in one MMORPG there really isn’t a reason to play another.
I think Michael really said it best in this post. It’s interesting he posted that because a few of us had a conversation that said the exact same thing in the office here last week. Once you’ve played an MMO for as many years as a lot of us have, you’ve really played them all. I don’t like to come to that conclusion because I’d like to think I’ll be breathing MMOs until the day I die, but until things fundamentally change (and probably make a new genre of game entirely) I don’t anticipate being able to play them forever. From EQ to EQ2 to Lineage 1 & 2, to LotRO, to WoW – they’re all the same. Regardless of the bells and whistles that games disguise themselves with – they’re all the same core. The same treadmills, the same grinding, the same premise, the same structure. I’m interested to see where the future MMOs end up, how things evolve to something a bit less diku and a bit more unique and riveting. We’ll see.
In other news, Luke and I went to see Prince Caspian yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I’d heard some mixed reviews about how it wasn’t as good as the first one, but I personally thought it was as good if not better. The acting was much improved this time around, the effects were phenomenal, the animals adorable, and the horses were fantastic. I enjoyed that it was a more ‘adult’ movie than the first one and that the actor that played Prince Caspian was decent to look at. So, yeah. =P Good stuff.
In other random news, I have plants at home now! We went to the garden place and bought two potted plants and a hanging basket, so now I have children to take care of =) I like trying to keep plants alive, and the house smells good and our patio looks great. Once we get patio furniture and a grill, life will be perfect ^_^ I’m also trying to look into getting back into horses again. I’m trying to find a horse out here to lease at the end of the summer and trying hard not to buy one. This is the first time in 14 years that I haven’t owned a horse and it is strange and uncomfortable. Horses have always been my stress reliever, my relaxing hobby that I partake in every weekend. As much as I love video games, I love having a reason to be outdoors enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather and spending time in the sun.
I hope everyone had a good long weekend and Memorial Day festivities. =)
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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There are a lot of places you can only reach by flying. To name but a few: Barrier Hills (ogre camp just north of Shattrath), Skettis (SE part of TKar forest), the entire North and West parts of the Blades Edge Mountains zone. Instances in Netherstorm: Tempest Keep, Botanica, Arcatraz, Mechanar. I’ve left some out but you get the idea
Grats on flight form. It’s simply amazing. Have you tried shifting out while high up in the air and free falling for aways before shifting back into flight form? It’s pretty flipping sweet, and something no other class can do… making it that much more sweeter.
I feel ya on the comments about MMOs. Although I haven’t played all of them, but I think I can say that when boiled down to their core essence, they really are all the same. There is so much more Blizz could do with WoW, yet it’s core essence is grinding. The mechanics for that so much more I mentioned is there, they just seem to continue development using the same blueprint.
Possibly the MMO developers are afraid of deviating from the grinding model because it’s proven to be successful? I dunno, but I too hope for the day when something different enters the market.
Gratz! I have no idea what flight form is, but it sounds cool and I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Warhammer and The Agency both look like really meaningful evolutions in the genre, with some minor revolutions thrown in for good measure. But the major MMO revolution isn’t on the horizon yet, sadly.
The console and non-MMO PC market is much more exciting right now! I asked Brent to take me off his feed, because I don’t write about MMOs much anymore. The next game for me is the Spore Creature Creator demo. I’d be sorely disappointed if I didn’t see pictures of your own Sporelings.
As always, good luck with Metaplace!