Gotta have friends

Ran into an old friend and talked Warcraft for a few hours last night, convinced him to start a toon on Crushridge, now I've got someone to roll with my tiny Shaman.

One of my favorite things about games is having someone else I know play the same game. I used to play LOTS of games, but I stopped having friends for a few years and only hung around 1 or 2 people; but it could be any game at all, so long as someone else played it too. Final Fantasy X, Pokemon, Dungeons and Dragons, Runebound, Diablo II, Warcraft... game is MUCH more fun when you have someone else to talk to about it! That's what I need now, is more folks to gab with about the game! But, no douchebags. No dickweed jerks who think they have reinvented the wheel in the game and their stuff is SO much better than anyone else's stuff.

As much as I like these kinds of games, I really don't like anyone else who does. I played Dungeons and Dragons for years. Loved nothing more than to talk game stuff with someone who knew what I was talking about. However, with DnD, there really isn't any basis for achievement. You can say "I completed the Rod of Seven Parts!" and I can say "Yeah, because your GM let you! Woopdeedoo!" People can even say they completed the Temple of Elemental Evil module; its still just subject to what the GM allowed.

Playing something like Pokemon is a little different, but not much. Yes there are 450+ Pokey's... but, that is a finite number, and the only way to 'catch 'em all' is basically to have bought all of the games that were released for Gameboy. The game is balanced perfectly, with the dozens of elements each having strengths and weaknesses, making NOTHING you do unique. Your Ursaring is no different than my Ursaring, other than the attacks. Yours may have attacks that beat mine, but my Monferno has attacks that beat your Ursaring... and so on. Another game that was a blast to play, but most folks who play are complete dorks, unworthy of conversation.

Diablo II was a game I played for a long time, with friends online. It was fun, but eventually you ran out of things to do. You can play for a long time because after you finish on a higher difficulty with higher loot... but it is still the same game. It took quite awhile to beat, but not too long, maybe 30 hours, then it became MUCH harder. The only folks I knew who played this were my 2 friends and that was it, so never talked to anyone else. Really, there wasn't enough game here to make it interesting to talk about to anyone.

Warcraft is HUGE and varied and caps at 80. Even at cap you can still get better and better gear which adds huge amounts to the replay-ability... however the Douchebag factor is MUCH greater because the following is so huge. Cannot talk to ANYONE other than my close friends about it. Most folks I talk to are like "Yeah, i did all of that, on 5 characters!" You have to be in contact with douchbags in order to play, especially at the end game... which ultimately makes me wonder why I still play it at all!

Where was I going with this rant? I don't know, I just don't like people very much...

The Angry Man