I'm sure everyone has heard about the
new race for WOW Draenei. More to come Tuesday on that.
E3 is in full swing - I am not there. I'm in Canada.
If I was still working for a Video game establishment I could have gone.
I'm actually sure thats why some people take jobs working in places like
that.
Working on a new t-shirt. It might end up looking
better then this we shall see.
Luger, the gnomish mage created on Wednesday after several hours of
what doubtlessly took longer to decide on than all “partnered” sexual
intercourse he has had combined, Mark began the race to 60. As of this
writing he is level 11. Kattja, the human mage, created almost a month ago
after mere moments of thinking, but a few minutes of fine tuning her
porcelain features, is level 40.
The bet is ten dollars, but it is about more than money. It is about
pride, skill, and determination. It is about putting Mark in his place for
boasting that he can race to 60 in less time than I can move 20 levels.
But is it a fallacious boast from the sexually challenged?
Probably not. Mark has managed already to reach the pinnacle level 60,
he’s also manage to pass 50 twice more. He does not have a job, he will
not have a job, does not have a girl friend and lives at home where I
would imagine most of his meals are cooked for him, the floors are
vacuumed and his bathroom is tidied. Mark can sit naked in his blanket for
23 hours a day playing World of Warcraft and not worry that things are
going to get out of hand. Sans the necessities of life, Mark could
literally enter the World of Warcraft and eke out his existence there.
That says a lot for Mark. And on my part I have never managed to reach 41.
Attributable to whatever else you want, and whatever reasons they may be –
the real issue at heart here is, I don’t know where to go after 40. I may
have 7 characters between 30 and 40 – but none have gone beyond. I also
have a loving wife (who runs this site), a new house to keep up, dinners
to cook and a full-time job to take me away from Worl… keep me in the
lifestyle my wi… I have grown accustomed to. I could potentially play
World of Warcraft for 6 hours a day, but there would be no vacuuming, no
cleaning, no cooking and no sweet sweet lovemaking. And I would be less
than effective at work. With that perspective it is uncontested that Mark
should win the race to 60. All my applied time until now can easily be met
by Mark in 1 week’s worth of 10 hour a day gaming. Or can it…
The ace up my sleeve here, or moreover an entire deck and a half, goes
by the name of Manasper or Tarde. My elite co-worker has two 60s and leads
the raids on Onyxia and in Molten Core. And I am being powerleveled. Last
night the end quests from Stranglethorn Vale were completed and in only
3.5 hours time I went from 0 to 85700. In 210 minutes I went from 100 to
166% of my base speed. I went from porting myself to Stormwind or
Ironforge to tossing the whole group there at my whim. So how can you beat
that Mark? Huh!!… how can you?
Not just laying odds to win, but putting them down like hardwood
flooring.
I must admit, Kyle has set out a pretty strong line for how abysmal he
will do, but mostly it is simply so that if he does win he might suggest
that I had all the advantage, which I do not. It should be said that,
despite Kyle’s tirade about me having nothing to do, this is inaccurate,
except for the bit about the blanket (it is cold): I will be taking two
senior level courses this spring, both of which have substantial papers; I
will also be looking for a place to live on the south side of this great
city; I will also be taking on a job of low hours, low responsibility and
high pay, within the next month. Ok, well I am putting out resumes for
jobs that will expand my current resume such as a CJSW late night show
host, editorial positions with the local tabloids, or possibly taking on a
job as a Sioux chef somewhere around town. Although I am not burdened with
the duties of love, I shall too be busy, although perhaps not quite as,
which shall allow me, if anything, to let Kyle relinquish the small lead
he has.
On to business…
I am a strategy gamer. Since the days of Bandit Kings of Ancient China,
a Koei game from the 1980’s, I have tried and played almost every turn
based and real time strategy game out there. My interests have varied from
the sublime Civilizations, thank you Sid, to the obtuse, which includes
the newest iteration of Master of Orion and various other attempts. Why am
I telling you this? It is important to know my own history in order for me
to explain my next comment? No, I’m just egocentric.
Turn based strategy games are a thing of beauty when executed properly.
With the advent of real time strategy there seems to have been a movement
away from the turn based system as though it were an inferior and unworthy
sire of the younger energetic child of RTS. Screw that. Don’t get me
wrong, real time strategy has its place, but it is no replacement for the
turn based. I still go back and reinstall XCOM, Alpha Centauri, the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms…
Of course, I am horrible at them, but still… lets play chess.
This short weekend interlude is brought to you by... an attempt at the game of romance. Only time will tell how this tragedy will come to fruition. The setting is difficult, but the rewards are more than a few treasures being guarded by loose stereotypes. One can only stop and wonder… red or white?
