Um, Sorry.

OK, sorry about the whole no post thing last week - I'll explain what happened. In keeping with the recent theme of things I'd planned to spend last week's post writing about Enemy Territory Fortress, another total conversion for Enemy Territory in the theme of the many Team Fortress mods. The ET2.60 patch threw a stick between the spokes of my gaming bicycle, so to speak, and I found myself unable to connect to a server. Hence, no game to write about for last week's post. When I realized this I panicked, figured I'd never figure out a backup plan in time(which I didn't), and gave up on the whole thing. I'm not the only one having the problem with ETF, so hopefully by this time next week we'll be back on the right track.

So anyway, I've been playing a little bit of Anarchy Online again lately. The new advertising system is in place and, honestly, it's not that bad. Billboards have been scattered about Rubi-Ka since I got my first glimpse anyway, now they're just advertising real-world products instead of in-game items like Yalmahas. The really sweet part of this deal is it's starting to look like stock Anarchy Online is going to move into the realm of being free for quite a while. Sure, there haven't been any major announcements, but I give you this quote from the news bit linked above: "... I am confident our free players will welcome the permanent continuation of our complimentary subscription in the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG". Seems like a solid hunch to me.

I've bumped my Adventurer up to level 53 by now, but it's been a slow process. Leveling in Anarchy Online, at these levels anyway, is actually quick and easy - it's me that's slow moving. For me, the draw of an MMORPG has nothing to do with leveling, quests, or even socializing. No, for me, it's all about exploring the massive, intricate worlds laid out in front of you. I spend the vast majority of my time in AO doing just that, running around looking for cool areas and maybe taking a screenshot or two, if the mood is upon me. Maybe, if ETF isn't patched by next week, I'll post some of my favorite snapshots of my travels.

I often wonder how different my character would be if I'd never met the kind soul who gave me a million credits and a backpack full of BBI Faithful 22 pistols. I'm sure that I'd be quite a bit more impoverished, as well as having died quite a bit more. I've just recently equipped the last two pistols of the bunch, so that means that pretty soon I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands when it comes to weapons. It also means that pretty soon, I'll be able to do the same favor for another clan Adventurer - I just hope I don't end up giving away hundreds of thousands of credits worth of free pistols to someone who, later on, reveals themselves to be a walking pile of crap.