Syp’s Gaming Goals for October

September 2018 in review

• I was very right to keep my expectations light for this past month, because moving and getting used to a new job sucked up so much of my time that it often left very little for my usual gaming fun.
• That said, I did get my Death Knight in World of Warcraft to level 120 and started her on her gearing journey. She still has a good chunk of two zones left to do, but that felt like a good accomplishment for the limited time I had. However, this meant that I had to all but abandon my Hunter and sorely neglect my Horde Warlock.
• Our DDO group didn’t manage to meet for this month, alas.
• I did get in a couple of sessions with Pillars of Eternity and was tempted into Neverwinter and Guild Wars 2. I also had some fun with Rimworld on my lunch breaks.
• Lord of the Rings Online got some more attention from me, which I felt was a good thing. I’m still stuck in the dark eves of Northern Mirkwood, but hopefully I’ll re-emerge any day now.

October 2018’s goals

• I’ll talk more about this tomorrow, but suffice to say that Guild Wars 2 might be getting some serious play time from me this month. I tested the water last week and found the temperature good, and so I started up a new Mesmer and found a guild. No huge goal here other than having fun and map completion!
• In World of Warcraft, I want to get my Warlock to 120, finish at least one of the two zones left for my DK, and get my DK geared up well into the 300s. A long-term goal is unlocking Dark Iron Dwarves, but that’s a ways to go.
• I’d like to make some good progress through the last update of LOTRO as the new one emerges on the scene. I thought about making a new character alt, but this probably isn’t the best time for that.
• Otherwise, I’ll give DDO a couple of sessions, keep pecking away at Pillars, and prepare myself for Fallout 76 in November!

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Syp’s gaming goals for September 2018

August 2018 in review

• This month was easily divided into two era — pre-BFA and post-BFA — and the first half of the month was spent treading water until the expansion released. With moving and other career-changing activities, I had very little time for extra pursuits and didn’t feel as experimental.
• I did get a few strong Lord of the Rings Online sessions in as I explored around the Northern Mirkwood region and found myself delighted by the lands of Dale (especially when I got to actually, you know, see it!).
• My Dungeons and Dragons Online group met a few times and kept me entertained as we protected kobolds and pushed the difficulty levels in dungeons as high as we could go. My Druid got to level 6 and I found a bit of a groove as a healer.
• Once World of Warcraft pushed out Battle for Azeroth, I was playing that pretty much exclusively for the remainder of the month. For a change from how I approached Legion, I leveled up all three of my characters simultaneously, rotating through them at the pace of one per night. I certainly wasn’t the player who had a level 120 in the first day!
• Mobile gaming was sparse, but I enjoyed some Bloons 6 and Clash Royale.

September 2018’s goals

• I’m going very light on my goals this month as our family goes through this major transition. I am anticipating some internet outage and a few days of not even having a computer or desk. Hopefully not too long!
• That said, World of Warcraft is definitely going to get most of my time, and that’s just how it is. I’m having fun, there’s a TON of story that I’ve yet to do, and it’s absolute comfort gaming for me. My goal? By the end of the month I want all three of my characters at 120. Should be easy peasy.
• Lord of the Rings Online is a good contender for side activities, and I should do a session or two of Star Trek Online as well. I’m also encouraged to see movement on Fallen Earth’s front, and that might make for a fun blog series.
• Our Dungeons and Dragons Online group is changing nights to Fridays, but that shouldn’t be a problem. I have been thinking about taking my Artificer out for a spin now and then too.
• Special project for the month is to buckle down and really learn how Elite: Dangerous plays. I’d like to get out of the tutorial and try the MMO proper!
• It’s been on my mind that I want to finish Pillars of Eternity too, so I’m going to jot that down.

Syp’s Gaming Goals for August 2018

July in review

• It was a really weird month, gaming wise. I was off for two weeks on vacation, during which most of the time I didn’t have access to my computer. Also, I’ve felt rather blah toward most of my regular MMOs, so I didn’t force myself to play anything I didn’t want to.
• I was also in a holding pattern for World of Warcraft all month, although I did get to check out the new class changes for Patch 8.0. Ready for the expansion! I also have purchased enough tokens to pay for my subscription through May 2019, so go me.
• Tuesday nights remained a highlight every week, as I got to play with my regular Dungeons and Dragons Online group. We advanced to level 5 and tackled some quests in the Harbor, Marketplace, and Cerulean Hills.
• I did push a little bit into Star Trek Online: Victory is Life, but only beat the first two missions.
• I puttered about in Fallout 4, Pillars of Eternity, and The Sims 4, buying a couple of expansion packs for the latter and generally enjoying making new houses and families. I also played and beat Telltale’s Batman and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
• Mobile gaming was mostly Battleheart 2 and Clash Royale, because who needs anything more?

August’s gaming goals

• It’s going to be an even stranger month since our family is getting ready to move from Michigan to New York at the end of the summer. At some point I’m going to lose internet and time, so I’ll just have to roll with that.
• Obviously, the big attraction this month is Battle for Azeroth, and I am keyed up and ready to go! I have two Alliance and one Horde character ready to level, and I think I’ll be rotating between the three on a daily basis.
• In addition to regular DDO fun, I have a thirst for space games, so I bought a joystick and will be trying out Elite: Dangerous and No Man’s Sky. Wooosh!
• There’s a lot of content that could be tackled this month if I’m interested, such as the remaining STO missions, Mirkwood stuff in LOTRO, and some new/revised Secret World missions.
• Rend looks increasingly play-worthy as it enters early access. Should I give it a try?
• I’ve pondered some other MMOs for a change-up as well. Maybe it’s time to do some Elder Scrolls Online again or I don’t know what else. I need to get out of my very limited routine here.

What are your goals this month? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Syp’s Gaming Goals for July 2018

June in review

• Summer 2018 has turned out really strange for me, as I’ve been introducing a lot more single-player games into my diet, including Fallout 4, The Sims 4, and Pillars of Eternity. Don’t regret any of these, as I am enjoying the variety and making more progress in all of these games than before.
• I went on a few outings with my Dungeons and Dragons Online group as we plowed through lowbie quests on insanely high difficulty levels. As a Druid healer, it’s been an interesting challenge!
• I’m all caught up again in Secret World Legends, having finished up South Africa with a really trippy boss encounter inside Marquard’s mansion.
• Star Trek Online: Victory is Life has kind of underwhelmed me so far, although I’ve only completed two of the seven missions.
• Lord of the Rings Online only received two sessions from me, as I pushed further into Mirkwood and did the new summer picnic instance.
• I spent most of the month in a holding pattern in World of Warcraft, waiting for the expansion. Made money, shaped up my Horde alt, cleared out quest logs, and did the pre-pre-expansion artifact weapon quest.
• Bought several titles in the GOG and Steam sales for future play. And speaking of purchases, right at the end of the month I managed to (FINALLY) snag an NES Classic when it went back up on Amazon. Considering how much me and my kids play our SNES Classic, I’m looking forward to adding this to my collection.
• I started a new retro game series, this time going through Chrono Trigger on Steam. Very excited to blog about this favorite series of mine!

July’s gaming goals

• This is going to be another strange month for me. I’m taking a couple of weeks off for a much-deserved vacation, so I might be getting much more or much less gaming time as a result. I’m staying flexible there.
• Fortunately, there are no huge pressing releases that need my attention. Instead, I’ll be trucking forward as usual with my current rotation while perhaps trying out titles like Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture and Staxel.
• This means DDO grouping, a mission or two in Star Trek Online’s DS9 expansion, and more Mirkwood in Lord of the Rings Online.
• When the World of Warcraft pre-expansion patch hits, I’ll work through the scenarios and re-build my characters with the new talents. Shouldn’t take a lot of time there, but it’s still something new to do. I do need some better transmogs too.
• Maybe some Fallen Earth? It’s still installed, still waiting. But really my post-apocalyptic heart is with Fallout 4 and the upcoming Fallout 76.
• I have a huge backlog of mobile Telltale Games, so I’m going to make a concerted effort to start chewing through those.
• I’m really excited for one mobile game release — Battleheart 2 is coming this month!

Syp’s Gaming Goals for June 2018

May in review

• Two multi-day power outages and a failed hard drive took a big bite out of my gaming time this month. It did get me to play a bit more on my laptop, and I started up a new Pillars of Eternity campaign. Would love to finish this game one day!
• May was a big “wrap up” month for me in World of Warcraft, as I finished the last major goals for myself in Legion and found myself twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the expansion. So I rolled up a Rogue to amuse myself.
• I slowed down in my advancement through Star Trek Online, nearing level 50 and my desired Tier 6 ship. The DS9 expansion is definitely out of my reach for June, unless I want to go back to an older character. Hm.
• I got in a session or two with Secret World Legends, blasting my way through the Morninglight’s compound in South Africa and finding all manner of disturbing experiments there.
• In Dungeons and Dragons Online, I continued a relatively hot streak through Mists of Ravenloft. Mad tea parties and castles filled with angry ghosts? I’m all over it!
• There were a few good nights of Lord of the Rings Online exploring in Northern Mirkwood. Place is going to take me forever to finish!
• I also gave the Dauntless open beta a try and messed around with Clash Royale and Fallout Shelter on my iPad.

June’s gaming goals

• With the school season winding down, I’m looking forward to a month with less work and responsibilities (knock on wood). So my biggest personal goal this month is to get outside of my usual games and be more free to try other titles. I have a couple in mind, but I’m going to stay open to this notion and not make any definite plans. A tour around MMOs that I haven’t given a try yet seems overdue. At the very least, I like the idea of dedicating a night to my Try-It Tuesdays series.
• I think I’ll most likely switch over to my older Star Trek Online captain in order to putter around in the Victory is Life expansion. I’ll also get in a session with Secret World Legends to finish up that patch.
• I’m hooking back up with my old DDO group, which has been going strong for eight or nine years now. Want to do some group runs on a new character!
• There’s certainly a lot of content ahead of me in Lord of the Rings Online, and I might start transmog hunting again in World of Warcraft. Maybe go on a dungeon crawl? Work on my much-neglected Warlock?
• Pie-in-the-sky goal: I’d really love to make a lot of headway in Pillars of Eternity.
• Pie-in-the-sky goal #2: Time to resurrect retro game reviews? Anyone miss those? Any suggestions?

Syp’s Gaming Goals for May 2018

April in review

• I began the month very much on fire for RIFT Prime and ended it with a whimper. While I had a reasonable amount of fun, I disliked the pressure to keep up and stopped getting into as much group activities. With so much else on my plate and plenty of (free) fantasy MMOs to keep my interest, I decided to let my sub lapse and walk away.
• World of Warcraft was mostly a month of gold making and gradual questing. I did unlock the Lightforged Draenei and got an impressive four WoW Tokens thanks to selling one item for a whole bunch of gold.
• I finally got into the Mists of Ravenloft expansion in Dungeons and Dragons Online and worked my way through most of the new South Africa update in Secret World Legends, both of which filled my horror quotient for the year.
• I made a tentative step back toward Lord of the Rings Online as I stepped out of Mordor and made my way to Mirkwood. I also put in a couple of Project Gorgon sessions, but I’m still not as heavily into that game as I want.
• The big (re)addition to my gaming roster was Star Trek Online, which was prompted by both the upcoming expansion and the Delta Recruit event. Made a new character and got through the Klingon campaign.
• Novel progress: 18 chapters and 60,000 words into the book.

May’s gaming goals

• Right now I’m most on fire for Star Trek Online, so I will jot down a goal to reach level 50 by the end of the month. Level 60 would be better, but we shall see! It would be great to get into a Tier 6 ship again.
• Finishing up the allied races by getting Void Elves (for completion’s sake) is my main goal for World of Warcraft. Maybe start some transmog hunting, my Death Knight needs cooler gear.
• I’ll stay on top of Secret World Legends’ current content, and a mission or two a week in DDO’s Bavaria would be just fine. I’m really enjoying sitting down for a regular DDO night (although I’d like to be doing more group stuff too).
• Pillars of Eternity 2 is coming out, and that has my attention — although I feel way too bad that I never finished the first one nor several other CRPGs that I own. Maybe I just need to schedule a weekly “offline” night and be happy with that. State of Decay 2 might be a possibility as well. And I need to sort out all of my mobile games and maybe pare those down to titles I actually want to and will play.

Syp’s Gaming Goals for April 2018

March in review

• Strangely enough, while I had strong expectations that I would be playing both Sea of Thieves and Shroud of the Avatar, I ended up avoiding the former entirely due to some red flags and only briefly touched on the latter.
• I scaled down my gold-making enterprise in World of Warcraft (although I still got three Wow Tokens) and focused more on certain goals. I did the whole Uuna pet storyline and finished up the Suramar campaign.
• RIFT Prime was a huge focus this month, as I dove deep into this progression server/reboot. After a couple of false starts, I leveled a Bard to 26 and got to the third zone on the Defiant side.
• I did get in at least one weekly adventure in Dungeons and Dragons Online — yes, I know my frequency is down, but this is working out for me. I finished up the House K quests and endured a pair of Haywire dungeons.
• Project Gorgon welcomed me back with early access and I began the game for good.
• In other games, I got in a smattering of Rimworld, Chrono Trigger, and Clash Royale.
• Novel Progress: Eight chapters and 20.6k words into my fantasy novel.

April’s goals

• I still don’t know what the schedule is going to be like for RIFT Prime, but if I could get to at least 45, if not 50, by the end of the month, I’d be happy.
• Probably my biggest goals right now in World of Warcraft is to knock out the three remaining allied races. One I’ve got to do the quest for and the last two require some more reputation grinding. Motivation is hard because I’m not really keen on playing any of these, so it’s more like getting them for the sake of the collection (plus the free mount).
• Making an entrance into DDO’s Mists of Ravenloft is something I’ve been looking forward to for a while now, so that’ll be my adventures this month unless they’re too hard for whatever reason.
• I’ll definitely be making it to South Africa for Secret World Legends’ story update. You couldn’t stop me!
• Project Gorgon will get some of my time, although mostly just to figure out how this game world works.
• I’d also like to get into Northern Mirkwood in Lord of the Rings Online, just because I keep hearing how incredible it is.
• Otherwise, I’ve started up Divinity Original Sin 2 again and would like to get a session or two in every week. There are so many CRPGs in my queue right now that I want to go through, and this is high up on the list.