I appreciate a free month of gameplay when I buy a new mmo.  I mean, I REALLY appreciate it.  If I am buying a new mmo, which I have done a lot of in the past 4 years, I plan on playing it.  Something I have read or seen from beta interests me about the game.  Unfortunately, when it comes time to play the new game, I usually only last 15-20 days or more accurately between 60-75 hours.  Lord of the Rings Online was different.  When Moria was released, I picked it up.  I played LotRO for almost 3 months.  That was back in the day when we paid to play, before the ugliness which is FTP/micro transactions (but that is a different angry).  Warhammer, Aeon and Rift never made it past that first, free month.  I have a tendency to completely jump into a new mmo.  Playing as much as I can, reading as much about the game as I can, and usually burning out as quickly as I can.  Most of you know that on December 20th, Star Wars: The Old Republic launched.  I have been looking forward to this game since I first read about it.  I tried to not get over excited about the release due to the nature of games on this scale.  They get pushed back and pushed back until all of the major excitement is smothered to a minor spark, and then after a couple of weeks playing the game, it dies.  I think…  I think I may be sticking around this time.

I was lucky enough to squeak in 2 beta weekends and 5 days of early access, but besides that, I kept away from SWTOR news and announcements.  I didn’t really evaluate the classes until beta and still haven’t chosen whom I plan on taking to 50 first.  I have a Jedi Guardian at level 37, he is probably the best candidate for my first 50, but I absolutely LOVE the Smuggler story, and the trooper gameplay is so much fun.  I actually have a Bounty Hunter at 13, but I honestly HATE the Imperials.  The leaders are disgusting and after running Black Talon on my BH, I can say that the decisions during the social parts of the flashpoint are ridiculous.  If I could have the gameplay and spell animations of the BH only fighting with the Republic, I would probably already be 50.  My Guardian is most certainly my style though.  I loved tanking on my warrior and druid in WoW and I am finding that my Jedi guardian is very similar.  I love having to be constantly moving to keep agro on all the mobs.  I’ve kind of freaked out some groups I’ve been in by hopping from mob to mob.  I appreciate them trying to only hit what I am hitting, but this is a different game and with a class that doesn’t have many ranged options, as guardian tanks, we should plan on being very mobile.

I think what is keeping me interested in this game is that there are different things I want to do.  It’s hard for me though.  I am so used to the “rush to end game while wearing a full suit of heirlooms” way of playing, that I am consistently telling myself to take a breath for craps sake.  Slow down, there is plenty of time to do all the things I want to do in the game.  With WoW, I always felt like I “should” be doing something else.  I “should” be running heroics on my current main.  I “should” be dropping my profession and leveling one that gives me the extra 5% crit.  When Cataclysm launched, I felt lousy because I wanted to finish leveling my warrior instead of taking one of my 3 80s to 85.  Sometimes, while I am at the character creation screen, AGAIN, I feel like I am slacking because I’m not on my guardian, pushing towards 50, but that goes away when I reassure myself that we are less than a month into this adventure, and there is plenty of time to do everything.

I hate publish a half finished post, but time to do some paid work.  We’ll call this part one.  Part two soon?  I hope so.

Years back, I wrote a post about the podcasts I consumed daily.  Well, things have changed, podcasts have been retired (Me and the Bean, I’m looking at you!) and I no longer play the game that spawned so many of the podcasts that I listened to way back when.  No fear though, my old list was destroyed anyway when I thought I knew what I was doing and effectively deleted 2 years of blogging.  C’est la vie, right?  So, servers are down, I am awake and the kid is still sleeping, time to put together a new list.

Ok, here are the Star Wars: The Old Republic podcasts I am listening to at the moment:

Mos Eisley Radio - Hosted by Zach Brown, Evan Lewis, Leo Andrie & Alan Nauman (Sorry, the link for Leo Andrie’s twitter went to Alan’s page too)

Solid podcast that is updated most every week.  Zach and Evan have hosted most of the podcasts, but Leo and Alan are listed on the About page, so they are listed here also.  This podcast is probably my most listened to of this list.  I really dig this podcast and the information I have taken from it.  I would start here if you haven’t subscribed to any yet.

The Instance: The Old Republic Edition – Hosted by Veterans Scott Johnson and Dills

This podcast is definately the new kid on the block, despite Mr. Johnson being one of the most prolific podcasters working right now.  I LOVED The Instance and I hope that this podcast will get to where The Instance is someday.

Sunny’s Diner – Hosted by Sunny Ravencourt and Radicool.

I’ve only hears a couple of their recordings, but I really dig the flow of this podcast.  Their thing, their “angle” if you will, is that they are casuals.  I’m not sure how many casuals listen to or record podcasts, but there you have it.  This podcast reminds me a bit of Casually Hardcore from back in the day.

The Holocron 2.0 – Hosted by Brian Casey (Fiddleback) and Phil Maiewski (Darth GM)

Along with Mos Eisley Radio, this podcast is solid, real solid.  They update regularly and have real decent content.  This is actually where I got some major tips about my new favorite part of SWTOR, space combat!!

These are the four podcasts that I have been digging on for the last couple of months.  I will hopefully get some more for my earhole, but for now, these are keeping me in the loop when I am physically(or virtually) not.

Google+ pages:
Mos Eisly Radio
The Instance: TOR Edition (twitter link, no g+ yet)
Sunny’s Diner
The Holocron 2.0

I listed my K-9 bumper sticker at my cafe press store.  Take a look and show your K-9 pride!

So I am going to print a prototype SITH/CCCP sweatshirt this week.  I will be putting the Imp. logo on the front left breast, with the main image on the back.  Wednesday, Friday at the latest.  Stop back for pics!

I tinkered with the faces a bit to try and get a more Pureblood look to the gents in the helmets.

Ok, going ahead with the Sith shirt desgin.  I will be printing them when the proper colored t-shirts show up.  W00t.

Again, I redesigned this image from the original, found here.

Well, well, well.  Seems like I’ve been here many times over the past 5 years.  Sitting at my computer, wondering what might come to pass as a new MMO is birthed.  I started World of Warcraft about 6 years ago, and although I played it happily on and off during that time, I was always looking for something different.  First, I tried Lord of the Rings Online, liked it, played it the longest, about 3 months.  Then came Warhammer.  I played it from launch, dug that too, but wasn’t exactly what I wanted.  Next up was Aeon.  Played that from beta on.  Aeon was the first game I played on my “new” rig.  Fantastic looking game, but I’ve never really been a huge PvP fan, so…  After I uninstalled Aeon and went back to WoW, I started playing very regularly.  This was the time that I used WoW to quit smoking.  Yup, that’s right.  Damned if it didn’t work too.  I also started my only serious raiding then.  I was tanking on my druid and LOVED it.

Then came Rift.  I think that if I had never played WoW, I would still be playing Rift.  I really liked that game, but was completely burned out on MMOs in general.  I didn’t play anything for a long while, then came back to WoW before the launch of Cataclysm.  This marks the point where I started to really NOT like the game.  I came back to a completely redesigned Bear.  I had to relearn my beloved class, and I hated it.  I actually put aside my drood and started a BElf Warrior, well, because I could.  After Cataclysm launched, I transfered all my toons to a friends server where almost immediately, his guild all left the game, ouch.  That’s when I pretty much closed the doors on WoW.  It had been fun, but wasn’t anymore.

Now I’m here.  Refreshed from a long break, minus a couple of beta weekends, and ready to play again.  I have a different feeling this time though.  I’m not going to rush through the content.  I’ve been sprinting through MMOs for so long that I’m ready to kick back, enjoy the story and hope for the best.  I haven’t chosen a server.  I haven’t even decided my first character class, although I am pretty confident it will be a Jedi Sage.  But all of that chatter is for a later time.

I thought about this while getting pissed at all of the Volvos and SUVs rolling around New Hampshire sporting their ridiculous “I love my (insert expensive dog breed here)”

I would love to print some of these out and give them to some friends, but I think I might be breaking some law or something.  Well, I guess it could be ANY old robotic dog…

Ok, here is my first attempt at a Republic response to the Sith poster.  Here is the original image, and below is mine.  Enjoy!

Although I am honestly still up in the air about which faction I will play at launch, I have to admit, the Imperials are way more fun to design for.  This is my first offering of a Sith Poster, in the time tested style of the Soviet Union.  All I did for this one was find an existing poster and edited it for my pleasure.  I am not a scholar in the Sith alphabet, but I think I have the correct wording at the bottom.  Someone please let me know if I effed it up too much.  Here is the original image.  Here is mine…

Now that I’ve had some coffee, I am thinking that I might like to change the saying at the bottom.  Need to think on this for a bit.  Until then, enjoy, and please leave a note if you like it…  or if you don’t.