As you’ve probably noticed, not only have I been straying from World of Warcraft to play Lord of the Rings Online, but EverQuest II as well. Heading back to Norrath was probably a foregone conclusion for me, but I found myself more and more thinking fondly of my days adventuring with good old Ostimak.

You have to understand … as much affection I have for all of my mains (Grodimil, Hackworthe, Amak, Jacob’s Ladder, etc.), I’ve been playing Osti for more than two freaking years. On top of that, almost all of my time with that character has been spent playing with good friends, two of whom in turn I’ve known for something like half of my life.
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Seeing as I actually got a lot of the presents I asked for this year, I can’t help but pitch in and ask Santa for some more goodies next year. Every year, around the world, we secularly ask ‘Saint Nick’ for loot under the Christmas tree. I’ll try not to buck the trend. As I’ve put out for the last two years, here is what I want to see under the MMO industry tree figuratively for the next twelve months. Come on, MMO industry: gimme some pretty packages!

Here’s what I want for my 2009 year in MMOs:

• Mega-quantities of awesome from SOE. Agency, Free Realms, and DC Universe Online are all very near the top of my awesomedar. I am really looking forward to the Free Realms Beta, and my hope is that Agency will go into Beta at some point near the end of the year. I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing much of DCUO publicly, but at least one more chance to play that kickass demo would be much appreciated.
• An ongoing stream of content from BioWare about The Old Republic. Not only am I personally really thrilled that we’re finally getting something, professionally I can’t get enough of that SWTOR.
• The lads at 38 have told us that we should see real news on Copernicus sometime in early summer. I want their kickoff to be a huge splash, their content to be incredibly well-received, and their design to be absolutely inspired. I’ll be straight: I think they’ve got a long haul ahead of them. The fantasy genre is going to be hell and a half to enter as a direct competitor to WoW. But if they want to give it a try, who am I to stand in their way or do anything but cheerlead from the sidelines?
• After one of my favorite interviews of the year with two gents from Red 5, I have been obsessed about getting more details on their game. I would absolutely love to know what the hell they’re doing down there. More than any other ‘dark’ company right now, Red 5 is making the game that I’m desperate to explore. Here’s hoping they give us a bit more insight on their plans thiscoming year.
• I’m greedy, I know, but I really want a look at Guild Wars 2 as well. It’s been more than a year since Arena.net put out Eye of the North, and GW2 was well along in development back in that point. While I completely understand why it’s not out yet, the tomb-like silence that we’ve seen from the company on the topic of their sequel to their groundbreaking title has been a bit unnerving. I really hope Arena will finally be able to throw back the curtain and give us a look at the goods.
• Tons of success to my fellow MMO bloggers and podcasters, be they industry paragons like Scott or enthusiast juggernauts like Tim (Van Hemlock). While I know I don’t contribute a lot from this domain much any more, I’d like to think that the MMOblogosphere is a pretty darn special place to be hanging your hat. Here’s hoping it continues in 2009.
• Continued good gaming vibes and personal connections between myself and my guilds! A year ago I was a boring-as-hell soloer, and now I have a community in all three of my primary MMOs! I hope that 2009 finds me growing even closer to the Podcasters of Bree, Revelry and Honor, and What Would Thrall Do.
• The will, intelligence, writing skill, and patience required to run Massively.com. I’ll be honest, a year ago I never in a million years would have imagined I’d be running an MMO news site. It’s exactly, precisely what I’ve been working towards for the last few years and I feel incredibly lucky to be here. It’s hard, it’s challenging, it’s stressful, and to be honest it doesn’t pay that well. But it’s Massively, and I’ve got lots and lots of love.
• The energy to recommit to doing the MMOG Nation Broadcast … a podcast that should be returning soon!
• And, of course, the dedication to keep the feed alive here at MMOG Nation.

Feel free to drop in what presents you want from the industry next year in the comments.

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Or rather, how I finally ‘got’ LotRO. As I’ve said elsewhere I honestly think Lich King is a better expansion. Moria and the two new classes are incredibly impressive, but WoW’s newest offerings are (in my opinion) some of the best content ever added to an existing online game. What the last few weeks have proven to me, though, is that when I keep saying ‘the fantasy MMO is a solved problem’, I’m not giving enough credit to the other fantasy games that are already out there.

Let me be clear: new fantasy MMOs are almost certainly a losing proposition at this point. That’s just the way the market looks. But my viewpoint that WoW’s success had completely overshadowed other company’s work is oversimplifying things. Turbine’s hard work on LotRO – which I’ve long tried to highlight at Massively and elsewhere – is not wasted effort. Nor, I think, is SOE’s work on EQ2 – but that’s another blog entry. Read on for some thoughts on why Turbine’s work should be lauded so.
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Given all the news and hoopla as you might imagine it’s been a bit busy for me. Between ongoing issues at home and all the work at work, I’ve been very glad to take my fun where I can find it. Thankfully I’ve taken time away from both LotRO and WoW to reconnect with some old favorites.

On the AAA front, I wanted very much to make sure that Ostimak the Gnomish Inquisitor didn’t die the death of loneliness. After two-plus years of play I’m kind of attached to him. So I took up the kind offer of Karen (Jaye) and hied him over to the Guk server. There Revelry and Honor reside, her guild and the guild Darren plays in. Other VW’ers also call R&H home, so I’ll be in good company. On the more casual side, I return to the fun and games of Shortiez gaming in a bit more casual environ. We took on Puzzle Pirates with a fervor.

Read on for my duality of experiences; old and (old) new.

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I talk about my synesthesia problems over at Gamers With Jobs today.

My heel scrapes across a rock, disturbing the crystalline silence. I freeze. It’s full daylight out, but beneath the arched boughs of some urban foliage there is a deep shade, almost darkness. I involuntarily hold my breath, waiting to see if anyone heard me. No one did. There’s no one around to hear. Letting out the breath, I slowly move deeper into the bushes. I’m stalking prey that isn’t there, lost in a world inside my head. I’m seven, and successfully ‘hunting’ the wild creatures that stalk the wooded lot behind my grandparent’s house. Dangerous urban predators with the wiles to stay alive in a small stand trees still thriving in the middle of a Chicago suburb.

Two decades later, and I return to that wooded glade. I’m a rogue with a pair of enchanted daggers moving through the steamy underbrush in Stranglethorn Vale. I’m working with a group of Horde players in this PvP-heavy World of Warcraft zone to drive off rampaging Alliance player-killers, coordinating a strike to allow the lower-levels the ‘luxury’ of leveling unmolested. The Alliance group has paused to cheer over another effortless kill, and we’re closing in. I’m stealthed, silently hoping that the high level characters won’t notice me as I inch closer … closer …

Yes, yes. I haz a problem.

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I’ve actually been 74 for some time … but as I mentioned yesterday, it’s been a bit of a challenge to get in game-and-writing time. I dinged 74 finishing off the content for Borean Tundra proper, which left me just the last few quests on Coldarra/Nexus proper to finish off. I’m now in Dragonblight, and I’ll talk more about my experiences in that (awesome, amazing) zone in a bit.

I want to finish up my ‘Lich King starter zone’ impressions by talking a bit more about the epic feeling Blizzard has instilled in these adventuring areas. It’s actually kind of ludicrous, the sheer number of powerful moments they pack into one area. Even finishing up the kind-of-gimmicky D.E.H.T.A. quest line had some fun times. The last guy I had to kill before Harold Lane was Ned, the Lord of Rhinos. He’s riding a bloody great Kodo, and slaying both of them is required to get the quest completion.

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You may have already read Darren’s short post on the Monday night group’s decision to jump from DDO to Lord of the Rings Online. From his post:

“Is DDO a bad game because we left? No…it isn’t. I think this is just a case of some of the more glaring flaws of the game just being amplified by our specific group dynamic. Yes, it is said that DDO is great for a static group of players…just not for this specific static group of players.”

He nailed it there; basically we screwed ourselves by not really planning our group makeup ahead of time and not having a full group. More on our DDO experiences and our plans for LotRO below.

Update: If you’re reading this and play LotRO, feel free to give advice! One of the best parts of talking about my adventures via MMOG Nation has been the helpful comments from folks like Kendricke. Chip in!

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