Rum, eh? Hmph… *puts on his Jack Sparrow costume and raids the liquor cabinet at KTR*

I myself played 4 years of NWN online on same server, for start it was fun like hell, there was lot of places to explore just for the fun of exploring, then I started to understand the character stats, so I was able to make better and better characters. BUT the absolutely best thing was the ppl on the server.

In some point ppl switched to rp server. After that in some point it got very boring, after trying almost all classes nad maximising of characters. It was the lack of good rp players (it wasnt even serious rp more like having fun rp with crazy like characters).

Sure the grinding/farming was fun for while but after done it all it wasnt, even with small chance of PvP.

Best memories I have from those 4 years isn’t like “Yeah I killed the server hardest enemy in 10 seconds soloing with my maximised character” its more like “We went adventuring to strange forest with low lvl characters in big group just because we wanted to, and got chased of by weak dragon”

I think for me WoW would be like NWN its fun at start but lack of the having fun or serious rp would eventually make boring game with just grinding. Sure it could take 50 years more to get bored of the game because its like 1000x larger world than NWN and theres always expansions. But still after playing 50 years of WoW I doubt I would have such good memories than playing 15 years of LOTRO. And btw im Tolkien fan :D

But I’m writing here now because they got rum. And me likes the rum.

and here I was hoping Julian had a blog of his own I could add to my reading list :D

Good stuff, Julian :)

I didn’t end up playing AC2, but the dauntingly expansive landmass was what I loved (and missed) most about the original Asheron’s Call. Vanguard was somewhat refreshing in that area, but frequently parcels off chunks of land using impassable cliffs, valleys, craters, and mountains.

One thing though, regarding the ‘being jaded’ that you illustrate well… I compare this to someone being dumped by a SO, or having a relationship end however.

Everybody goes through that at some point, and everybody goes through the aftermath. “I’m not dating anymore!”, “Gah, I won’t even look at another man/woman for a good while, no sir”, “Yeah, I’ll go out with you guys, have a drink, whatever, but I’m not looking for anything to happen, really…”

And so on. Then a new guy/girl drops by and he/she is “just right” and we’re in love all over again. Being jaded lasts until the right game comes along again. Then we’re back into the grind, putting the hours like any regular joe and like we used to do. ;)

Like Al said, “I thought I was out, but they pulled me back in”

Ethic: “Huge… tracts of land”

Say that with a british accent and it’s a winner.

Huge … tracts of land. Places to go with no reason to go there other than to see what’s there.

In LotRO it has returned. I saw a hill and wondered what was over it. Eventually I found myself staring at Starmere Lake. Beautiful lake with a few islands in it and not a mob to be seen. Resource nodes plenty, but no mobs. I’ve been hanging out there for a couple of days now, taking pictures. These are the things I remember for years.