[Games you are looking forward to]

I was mixed up. I think there is some way to save enchantments so that you can send them to yourself or put them to auction. Inscriptions is a new way to augment spells, I guess. I would say that, in anticipation of purchasing WotLK, you should level up someone to be your workhorse for gathering. Once you've ramped up your professions to the max, you really don't need any material until you plan on making something. That means you can have one character do the grunt work and have your other characters maxed with profession specific gear.

 

Hell, once you get raid stuff, even a lot of your crafting stuff won't matter as much.

 

I really wish there were some great single player games on the horizon. The NWN franchise is all about custom content and multiplayer. Dragon Age is only interesting in that it's a new fantasy game, but I cringe at the staid "high fantasy" setting. WotLK is coming out, but half the time I don't even read the quest text anymore. What we really need a solid, well written CRPG. Maybe I'll give ME a shot, although that's not upcoming. From what I've seen, it isn't well written, but it's a single player game at least. Is ME out for the PC yet?

[Games you are looking forward to]

Oh my goodness! I can finally customize my appearance beyond the ridiculously limited selection I have now?! Woo HOO! YEE HAW! I'm mostly interested in inscriptions in order to provide enchantments. That's the one that let's me save an enchantment so I don't have to wait for my guildies to finally start leveling their enchanters again, right? Inscriptions save enchants?

 

Anyhow, as far as professions go, I have one miner/skinner maxed. Then I have one engineer(350)/blacksmith(maxed). I have a leatherworker/engineer maxed. I have an alchemist(366)/herbalist(maxed). I have an enchanter(371)/tailor(maxed). The only thing I would do different at this point is spring for the epic flyer for my miner/skinner. Since I've had to dole out thousands of gold to my guildies for seed money and epic flyers and whatnot, I only have one epic flyer and it really should be on my gathering professions. I find that I really don't need an epic flyer once my people are max level.

 

Hey, will we be able to use our flying mounts in WotLK? It's in Azeroth, so if we can use them there, we should be able to use them everywhere.

[Games you are looking forward to]

Just 5 more days until WotLK! Luckily I have Columbus Day (13 Oct) off because our company closes for that day so I can log a ridiculous amout of hours playing.

 

I forgot to mention this one. This is a must buy, and likely on release day. It's not that I'm excited about the release. I'm just glad to be able to move forward with guildies. Right now, I don't want to invest the trouble gearing up our 70s knowing that we're going to replace our current kit within the next five levels of the expansion.

 

Looking back, I guess I sound pretty down about prospective games, and yet I'm still buying them. I bet anything, as jaded as I appear, that I'll really enjoy WotLK when I get it. ...And Enoch's excitement over Fallout 3 is infectious.

 

Hell, I'm kind of thinking of buying the Halo series and Max Payne for the PC. I had them for the xbox, but I just can't figure out the damned controller.

[Games you are looking forward to]

I imagine Dragon Age will be a must buy. I'll probably pickup the new NWN2 expansion. I'm inked for Fallout 3, although I have doubts about it on a variety of levels.

 

None of the above excite me, but that way I can be pleasantly surprised.

 

Still have my ear to the ground otherwise.

[What are you playing now?]

Well, what makes Spore good is also what makes it bad. There are so many varieties of ways to win the game. This is especially true in the Space stage, where colonizing, capturing, trading, decorating planets, and just about anything the player can do will earn points. The problem is that it does so many things, it fails to do any of them well. I can't really complain about a game that has entertained me for so many hours, but I find that most of those hours are kind of empy in retrospect. Still, a fun little game. It's not addictive, but who the hell needs another WoW anyhow?

[What are you playing now?]

I've been playing a lot of WoW and Spore. I recently played another round of Painkiller. I'm stalled, yet again, in Crysis. Spore has been fun, but it's really disappointing in many ways. Luckily for me, I wasn't caught in the hype, so I can enjoy it for what it is. WoW is a social game and I would've quit playing it long ago if it weren't for my guild. Painkiller is a good game, but I've mined it for just about all the goodies. Crysis was as huge disappointment. If it weren't for the fact that I virtually always finish games I start, I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. It's not that it's too hard, it's that I find the design so uninspired it's mind boggling.

 

I'm trying to think of new releases on the horizon, but I'm drawing a blank. I'll probably pick up Fallout 3, but I'm not sure when it'll be released. I'll definitely pick up Wrath of the Litch King (WoW expansion) but mostly because its a big thing with my guild.