And I Finish Different Than I Began...

[liralen]

I started in October, at the very last minute putting an ad up on the UGC LFP forums for the NA Iron teams. There were, as I understood it, five divisions, the lowest being Iron, then Steel, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. And the teams that placed in the top so many spots of each division could move up

Comments

[2metaldog]

If you're still interested in gaming but want a more casual approach and enjoy D&D, I cannot recommend Neverwinter enough. It's completely free to play, there are currently 8 classes (Control Wizard, Scourge Warlock, Devoted Cleric, Hunter/Ranger, Trickster Rogue, Great Weapon Fighter, Oathbound Paladin and Guardian Fighter) with each class able to select 1 of 2 Paths and from there, 1 of 3 Trees. You get 2 free character slots and can purchase more if you want.

Additionally, there are 12 races to choose from (and you can be male or female without it affecting your stats), although I think 4 of them you need to buy the pack to be able to play them. Races are human, drow elf, sun elf, moon elf, half-elf, hafling, half-orc, tiefling, dwarf, Menzoberranzan renegade (a type of drow) and dragonborn.

The current level cap is 70 and there are areas that are level 70 only. Once you reach 70, you continue to gain overflow experience that rewards you with extra power points, astral diamonds (in-game currency) and enchantment stones to slot into weapons/gear. The quest line is fun and the run up to level 60 can be accomplished in a few days is you go hardcore at it. There's a good number of dungeons at both a normal level and epic levels. Guilds are part of the game but you don't need to join one if you don't want to although being in a guild will get you more boons and another area to explore as well as some specific encounters/fights such as stronghold seiging and flight of the dragons as well as a new module that will be dropping in May I believe.

You also get companions and mounts. Some are cheaply bought with in-game gold. Others can be purchased in the Zen market with real world cash (or you can convert astral diamonds to zen and not spend real money) or through the auction house for astral diamonds. You can also win some by opening lockboxes (this requires a key purchased from the zen market), but RNGesus must love you long time for that to happen or you need to open literally hundreds of boxes a day (I have a friend who opens 100 boxes a day). Special companions/mounts can also be acquired during events basically for free as long as you do whatever daily thing is required (which usually takes 10 minutes or less).

I play/log in every day and if you want to give it a whirl, just email me and I can trot out my DPS nuke (that would be my main, a Scourge Warlock) or tag along as your healbot 2000 (I have 9 toons that I play).

[liralen]

Very cool! That sounds fascinating!

But I'm probably going to tone down on all the video games for a while, since my hands just aren't really up to a lot of anything right now. I'll definitely contact you if I do decide to play, though.

I appreciate it and your offer of companionship on the way. xD

[2metaldog]

No probs. I wasn't sure the level of not playing you were doing so thought I'd throw it out there in case you still wanted to run around in dungeons killing monsters.

I hope with rest your hands get better. I wear a brace on one of my wrists when I game/write due to sever arthritis. it holds my wrist fairly immobile, which helps tone the pain down a lot. But it also always hurts regardless so for me its just a matter of degree of hurt.

[liralen]

I appreciate it.

Everything still aches... and I've been doing some things with the boys now and again just for the fun of it, and to test their servers and to just... be with them. So still playing a little, but not nearly as much as I was.

Yeah... and I understand the it just aches... there's a certain amount of that which is inevitable with time and wear.