MMo' time is needed

So now that WAR is in full effect, I hope to be playing it at least as much as WoW.

Unfortunately, right now that doesn’t look to be happening.

Couple things. First – and this is the biggest minus with WAR right now – the game is still very sluggish. At least on my computer. I’ve got 2gb of RAM, with an 8800GT 512mb card, but WAR is at best slightly rubber-band laggy. At worst, it’s completely unplayable – as in gotta wait five seconds before the character responds to any movement controls because the FPS is in the severe shits. I’ve got all video settings at “best framerate,” or other minimal settings.

The best FPS is out in the wilderness with minimal players around. The worst, of course, is around town hubs or public quest areas. And these are unfortunately the best place to be in terms of fun and progression. I love the public quests. I really do like WAR so far and want to keep playing. But the lag and choppiness are painful on the eyeses.

While I want to love WAR, at this point the low FPS and eye strain are really driving me back toward WoW. Well, that and the Brewfest, aka best in-game holiday ever. It was a blast last year and it’s almost as good this year, downsides being the loss of a few awesome quests and lack of any new ones.

Best part of last year’s Brewfest was getting plastered hunting the Wolpertingers, which you could only see whilst intoxicated. The end reward was a neat Brewfest tankard which could summon your own awesome Wolpertinger pet. You still get the free pet, but you don’t have to get drunk and work for it. That was kind of sad. I also recall some quest where you had to find the pink Elekks (also only visible while drunk) at beer gardens in Thunder Bluff and Ironforge. Nowhere to be seen this year.
I got three quests – to ride the ram (once for regular quest; afterward a daily), to pelt a robot with beer mugs (which gets you the Wolpertinger, I believe) and to bark for the Brewfest (another daily). Once you complete these you gain access to the quest to kill Coren Direbrew in BRD, another daily.

There’s also the intermittent assaults on the beer garden by the Dark Iron Dwarves, which are cool, but don’t really offer that much after you’ve done it a few times. So that’s about three daily quests for some beer tokens (also new; changed from tickets last year). Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like there’s so much more they could do with the Oktoberfest theme. That said, I’ve really enjoyed the Coren Direbrew fights so far. I got my Empty Mug of Direbrew trinket on Friday and then a completely unexpected Swift Brewfest Ram last night. Très cool.

I’m actually at a bit of a loss now in WoW in terms of goals. As mentioned before, I finally scrounged together 5200 gold and bought my very first epic flyer. I’m broke, but very happy with it. No more paying for transportation in Outland like a sucker. And mining? Hooomigod. It’s so much faster from node to node now (if I can find a node, since 99% of the population are miners at this point).

But saving for the mount – that was my big goal for the last month or so, after I got the regular flyer. First it was getting to 70 (easy two levels of rested XP), then it was getting my 225 riding skill and building my flying machine, then it was gearing up (moderately geared now), then it was getting exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive and then it was getting the 300 epic flying skill and building the epic flying machine.

Still working on getting the 375 in engineering to craft the flying machine, but at this rate, I’ll have that in a matter of weeks. I’m having fun, no doubt. Accomplishment and improvement always fuel good feelings in WoW, but it’s honestly very strange to have accomplished everything I really wanted in the game, outside of raiding.

I’m going to say it’s a good thing. Wrath of the Lich King is only seven weeks away at this point, and we get a nice patch somewhere in the nearer future, which should make things interesting.

Now if only I could solve my WAR troubles…I want some smooth RvR action!