So What Are You Up To Lately, Xyzzy?

With the ongoing health crisis of doomy diabetes doom out of the way, it's time to refocus on what I do best: Video games.

(It's been uncomfortable to say that for years because of the way most modern-day Loud Internet Gamers act, but it's also true: I play video games and post blog entries about them. That's my thing.)

So what am I doing lately? Well, I've been doing a lot of streaming. That's going to pause for a while, but I've had a good time beating various games with some company. Thanks to everyone who shows up for that. You're all wonderful and very supportive of my utter bullshit.

The three games I'm focused on lately don't lend themselves to streaming very well, though. At least not the way I play them.

MMO 1: Elder Scrolls Online.

I'm still pretty fixated on this one. It's easily the second-best MMORPG on the market, for my money, with the first being FFXIV. Unfortunately I don't feel like tapping back into the plot and dungeon roll of FFXIV and I can't get interested in the side-stuff, so ESO it is for me.

My sorcerer cat, Mottlefur, has a fantastic outfit thanks to finishing up the thieves' guild questline, has finished the main story and a fair bit of the DLC tales, and is really cruising along towards being my Forever Character/main who does All The Content. ESO is such a good game to wander and explore in, with some of the best-written quest dialog in the business and lots of books/reading material laying around. The combat system is bland as hell but y'know that's the Elder Scrolls for you.

For the most part I've been trying to log her in and progress in something, somewhere every day. I'm also thinking of starting a side-alt to actually try out the dungeoneering in that game, but ... ew, people, y'know? MMOs are best experienced alone.

That's what I always say, anyway. But what if?

MMO 2: World of Warcraft (Classic)

What if I'd taken a different evolutionary path down the road of MMOs? When I saw World of Warcraft in beta for the first time, I dismissed it with a laugh. You had to pick a CLASS? The combat was so CLUNKY. This would never dethrone City of Heroes as Best MMO.

I didn't get into WoW until sometime just before the Burning Crusade launch. (I had a WoW hat I got when I picked up the expansion that I wore for years.) My character was a Troll Shaman who didn't use totems because I didn't like the micromanagement, which is like being a baseball player who doesn't use bats because he doesn't like violence against balls.

In short, I was Real Bad at WoW.

With WoW Classic coming up over the horizon, however, maybe I can go back and do things differently. My concern is that I've lost all memories of the old days. But I've been soft-invited to a guild and might join up with that. I might have a shot at doing better this time.

I'm thinking about a gnome mage. Short and pink's the way to think, no?

Until Classic's out I've been playing a Panda Warrior because I just wanna hit things and then hit things again. S'going well thanks.

GAME 3: Pillars of Eternity II

I picked this up on sale with all the DLC and told myself I'd just dip in a little, do a bit of scouting and learn how the systems worked.

Oh god I want to be playing this. This is so good. So, SO good. But it's really not a stream game, being super text-dense and full of sidequests and fiddly bits.

But I'm super playing this now I guess?? Looking forward to that.

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So there you have the reasons I'll be scarce on stream and also what I'm planning to get real up to in the next month or three. Will I be able to juggle two MMOs and a dense single-player RPG? Who knows, but I'll have fun, and it'll distract me a bit from snacking all day, which will help the blood sugar and possibly blood pressure.

This year isn't looking great for my total game clears, but at least I'm having some fun with MMOs again, y'know?

In the realm of actual reality, I've been gearing up for a second run at the DMV to get a proper ID card so I can get health insurance etc etc. I've also been vaguely considering: What if I change my actual, for real physical name to Xyzzy? It would save time if I decide to initiate the process of swapping physical genders, since that's nice and neutral. It'll also befuddle the hell out of anyone trying to pronounce it, which is fun. But... hmm. I dunno.

Plus I need the ID card first and then I would have to promptly get a SECOND one, which is aaaaaaaaa to consider.

So, maybe not.
But it's on my mind.