Fourth Anniversary Edition

Legion  Beta... but will I ever log in

My four year anniversary was on May 5th.  I guess it is only appropriate that I am more than 2 weeks late given my infrequent postings.  If you are looking at my blog not through a reader, there is a sidebar on the right side with all the blogs that started from the first Newbie Blogger Initiative four years ago that still existed after two years.  Originally there were 110 blogs(!).  After one year, 30 of those blogs were still posting, after two years, it was 18, and now there are seven of us left.  And now, it might as well be six (or five, since there is one other infrequent poster).  In alphabetical order, the others that have posted in the last month (which are also the same as those that have posted in the last six months):

1. Ald Shot First
2. Beyond Tannhauser Gate
3. MMO Juggler
4. Ravalation 
5. Vagabond Goes for a Walk
6. Why I Game

I also include honorary member Jewel who started just after the NBI and is now posting at Healing the Masses.  Congratulations to you all!  If others have changed their address and I just missed it, please let me know and I'd like to add them to my blog roll and give them credit for their persistence!

Over the last four years, I've pretty consistently averaged one post every two weeks, which isn't too bad for a casual blog.  I've tried at times to figure out a way to post once or twice a week, but, although I like writing, I never have had the inclination to write that much.  At this point I don't think I'll pretend to try to post regularly.  If I have the inclination, I'll post, but more often I'll include comments in other's posts.  In order to do that I'll try to keep up with other's blogs more.  Over the last month, there have been several posts I would have liked to respond to, but more than a week after the post, it's a little late to join the conversation.

In my gaming life, I finally spent the few hours I needed to level my mage, Kantrina, to level 100 in World of Warcraft which has allowed me to upgrade Kanter's gun.  I'll need a few more visits to Lord Kazzak and it'll be max level which will be a nice accomplishment.  I got Kantrina an Inn, Barracks and Salvage Yard once I leveled her garrison.  The garrison tasks of leveling the new followers so I can complete more missions is a little annoying at this point, but I'll need that extra income to keep paying for my subscription with tokens and it should become much easier once they are all leveled.

The day they announced the Beta, I received an invite.  I went to look at it and it still said 'alpha' so they must have just started it.  I was on the fence, but then my daughters wanted to do something with me and they said they'd like to see the beta, so I went ahead and installed it.  I still havent' started it, but with the long weekend, I'll probably have an opportunity soon.

I'll still enjoy gaming and reading other gaming blogs, but don't expect to see many posts here.  Hopefully I'll see many of you on your blogs!  If you'd like to add me on Battle.net so I might also see you in games, I'm Kanter#1214.

A Month in an MMO Life: April 2016

Not an MMO, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3442785

I went from 'A Week in an MMO Life' to a 'Month' since I haven't been playing or posting much.  However, I did some gaming over the last month and I'll count this as my April post even though it is posted in early May.

I recently bought two copies of Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition on a Steam sale for my daughter and I to play together.  I remember buying it as soon as it came out in 1998 (I believe it was December).  I'm pretty sure it was the first computer video game I played with another person over the internet.  I don't even remember who it was, but at that time I believe I was still active on CompuServe and it was likely someone else who posted there.  We didn't get very far together and I also didn't get very far by myself.  

One of my daughters has recently showed an interest in Dungeons and Dragons, so I thought this could be fun to play together and maybe I could finally complete the game and play the sequel.  I died early on going off by myself, so we'll have to see if it gets any traction or not.

I still log into World of Warcraft most days, but haven't done much besides daily Garrison tasks, bi-weekly auction house sales and periodically making sure my in game mails don't expire.  I did level my Shaman who has been at level 19 for years to level 20 to get the achievement (and logged into Hearthstone just long enough to see the cross game bonus was there).  I also have started fishing for Felblight for upgrading my gun and joined my first Lord Kazzak kill for the Felblight from him as well.

I played some Minecraft with my daughters, but I would rather play on our Mojang server and they would rather play with mods they have discovered so it has come to something of a stand-still.

I would still like to try out Black Desert Online sometime.  What I have read about exploration and crafting makes me believe it would be something I enjoy, even if I don't play it long.  Stargrace has also made me want to try out Wurm Unlimited, though it is probably a game better suited to someone who has more playing time than I do.

The World of Warcraft Legion expansion now has a date:  August 30, 2016.  I plan to get it upon release (probably with Amazon Prime's 20% discount on new games).  That gives me four months from now to close out a few things with Warlords.