I like content better the second time I complete it. When I’m new to a zone, I don’t know what to expect, and I tend to miss a lot of stuff for being either overcareful or surprised by things all the time. When I get to someplace a second time, I have an idea how it’s going to go, and I can sit back and enjoy the game a lot more.

This is true in whatever game, it seems. WoW, Diablo, SWTOR, Torchlight. It’s not that I like to know exactly how everything is going to go…

Wait actually? That’s kinda it.

I like to know in advance how things are going to go. It gives me more time to react to them in character, among other things. I’m also a lot less likely to get lost or turned around. And I learn which quests are going to make me want to pull my hair out too, so I can skip them. It goes faster, but with more time to take breaks and think about character interaction.

In short, I like re-doing old content a lot more than I like running dungeons for gear at max level. Not surprising when you consider the stable of alts I keep around.

Unfortunately I’ve not hit the enjoyment mark with Cataclysm content, though. I’ve been having a lot of fun with Annata in Outland, and I’m looking forward to Northrend, but I still can’t seem to get Aely!Priest and Annie Mae out of Hyjal. At least with rested XP it’s a bit faster. Perhaps I need some deadlines or goals or something!

Either way though, it means I have to remember not to make my mind up too much about new content until I’ve done it at least twice. I always feel disgruntled when I’m stuck on stuff or things seem really slow because it’s the first time I’m doing them, regardless of the game. I truly HATED Outland the first time I went through it (for both content and social reasons, I was getting whispers to heal things every 15 minutes, even when I was not actually in Outland). Now some of my favorite zones in the game are there (Zangarmarsh, Nagrand).

So even though I’m not feeling particularly sucked into and immersed in Star Wars, I’m not making my mind up yet. I need to run it at least twice before I decide. Now I just have to remember to log in, instead of doing more on my WoW alts…

***Thanks for reading this post from Too Many Annas. May the Loot-Fu be with you***

The Second Time Around

The final push, the breaking of the siege – and it’s not really very pretty in there. The 5 man instances are filled with a sense of foreboding, and while I’ll avoid spoilers, the first 5 minutes inside the raid instance is pretty mind-bending as well.

Any character that is fighting there will need to find some strength, some faith, or some /something/ to keep them going, just like any person that’s ever found themselves in the throes of a terrible war; just like the soldiers whose letters we found on the undead during the Scourge Invasion last year.

Today’s prompt is in kind.

Your character is at war (if they aren’t in a position to be fighting the Lich King just yet, either pretend, or have them in another of the many wars that have ravaged Azeroth – from the Sundering, to the Shifting Sands, to the First and Second wars). Write a letter home from your character to someone they care for – a mentor, a lover, a friend, a family member.

OR

If your character isn’t one that would BE at war, write a letter they receive from someone they know/care about that is fighting, or the letter of encouragement they might send back.

This doesn’t need to be long, and it doesn’t need to be dark, necessarily.  Will your character ask for more cookies? What happens to inkwells in Icecrown (I’d bet they freeze). Are there any comforts of home that they miss particularly? This isn’t meant to be an epic prompt or a dramatic one – just a little slice of how your character deals with the one thing that seems to have been constant on Azeroth for … well, the extent of this World of Warcraft.  I guess they named it that for a reason, huh?

***Thanks for reading this post from Too Many Annas. May the Loot-Fu be with you***

Friday Five Prompt – Letters from the Front

I wanted to hilight this because of some of the RP things that it illustrates.

First – the conflict is between Bricu and Aely.

It’s not between me and Bricu’s Player.

And while I didn’t give him a lot of warning about what was coming when she exploded at him, he knew she was upset and was planning to confront him, and he and I were both OK with that.  If he’d told me to hold her back, or to not have that be right now, or whatever, then I can modulate the character accordingly. There is still IC development, but the OOC communication guides that and keeps us both working towards what will hopefully be excellent storytelling.

This kind of OOC communication is what really supports and brings about great RP. Because of the friendship I have with the other writers in the Riders out of character, in character conflict becomes something that can grow up out of the roleplay and then be dealt with and moved on from, without actually changing how we interact OOCly.

Second, this particular sentence:

“Aely is dealing with the death of Jolly and the fact that the Watch has ransacked her home away from home. I would also venture to guess that Aely has more than a few secrets left, which is an undercurrent to Anna’s *known* plot lines.”

Is absolutely true. What I saw in my character’s head during that whole evening was far more than just her mentally snapping and telling Bricu off. She’s got a LOT running through her mind right now, including a lot of personal guilt over some of the things regarding Jolly’s passing, as well as some friends (like Arrens) who have been struggling. Add to that the fact that she’s buried three friends in six months and lost the person she thought she was going to marry… and there’s a lot of undercurrent there. The idea of losing her friends to the noose? Isn’t particularly palatable.

Did Bricu Bittertongue know all that?  No – he’s living in his own headspace and trying to figure out how to get them out of this mess.  His not knowing that, or not thinking about it, or just generally being a Bastard, meant that it came up and very nearly punched him in the face. And now both Bricu AND Aely will have to deal with that (you didn’t think she’d get off that easy right?)

So – cool things, go and read his post. It’s a really good summary of what and how these sorts of conflict take place, and how to distance the character from the person playing him or her.

PC Conflict can lead to powerful stories. This conflict will have direct consequences for all the characters involved. If the players talk, even if the characters are yelling, fighting or worse, the consequences can develop into RP that is best described as Crowning Moments of Awesome. Do not avoid the consequences: Talk them out with your fellow players!

Because, as all of us that write about RP are constantly harping on – communication is what makes all of this work!

***Thanks for reading this post from Too Many Annas. May the Loot-Fu be with you***

Recommended Read: Consequences

If anyone has suggestions of particularly picturesque places for me to use, please let me know.  I’d like this to be a good tour of all the places that make Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, and Northrend particularly beautiful, so I’m happy to head out to any spot on any continent!

Leave your suggestions or places you’d like to see in the comments, and I’ll post again when I upload another batch!

***Thanks for reading this post from Too Many Annas. May the Loot-Fu be with you***

Wallpapers Wanted