Syp’s gaming goals for August 2020

July 2020 in review

• Lord of the Rings Online started the month in a great spot with the release of the Great Wedding update. I had fun exploring the festival and got about halfway through the epic book, but then all of the Troubles hit the servers and I backed away from the game until it got fixed.
• I probably spent most of my gaming time this month in World of Warcraft trying to level up my Druid and Death Knight to get them ready for Shadowlands. Also got me a nifty katana weapon skin and my Hearthstone mount.
• Speaking of treading water, I dutifully logged into Fallout 76 most days to do as many of the easy daily challenges that I could to progress on the season. I’ve gotten quite a few good prizes, and spent some of the ATOMs I’ve gathered on a Red Rocket garage for my homestead.
• Was kind of hoping to do more gaming overall… but I guess I didn’t. Well, I did wrap up Sam and Max Hit the Road for retro gaming, but at this point those post are scheduled so far out that you won’t be reading any of those posts until next year. Seriously.
• One of the reasons for less gaming time in July is that (a) we took a week to go camping with no internet and (b) I was spending more time working on my movie/TV reviews site, Mutant Reviewers, and reading books.

August 2020’s goals

• I’ll tell you, one of the effects of all this LOTRO downtime is that it’s really, really made me want to play the game. So if and when LOTRO gets going again, I’m going to finish up the new epic book and work on some more deeds until the next progression server unlock happens. I also will buy the new Rohan housing when it arrives and will be spending some fun times decorating that. I’d love to be spending more time adventuring in Western Rohan as the month goes on.
• My World of Warcraft goal is pretty well-defined: Get my Death Knight and Shaman to 120 by the end of the month. Gear them up if I have extra time.
• Fallout 76 will continue with the daily challenges and not much else until the One Wasteland patch arrives.
• I’m eyeing Star Wars: The Old Republic more and more these days, especially with the resurgence due to the Steam launch and my somewhat recent playthrough of KOTOR. I might try my hand at a new character.
• I’ve shelved Torchlight III until the game commits to not wiping any more. Not sure if that’ll be soon or a long time for now, but I’m not going to spend time playing it if that’s the case.
• I might be going through another run of The Outer Worlds in preparation to the new DLC coming in a month. So excited that’s happening!
• For the next retro gaming series I’m going to explore, I’m going to an RPG, so I think that Anachronox will be next on tap.

Syp’s gaming goals for July 2020

June 2020 in review

• I’m ending the month in a very different place than I had anticipated. I barely played Phantasy Star Online 2 at all — just wasn’t that appealing to me — but I did fall right back into World of Warcraft with a brand-new account and a new Druid to level. I got my Worgan to level 45 and started to map out a plan of how to catch up for Shadowlands.
• Lord of the Rings Online was a big month of treading water by doing nothing else than deeds on my Minstrel. I got all of Eriador’s deeds done and started in on Moria and Lothlorien, but to be frank, I’m ready for some actual new questing content.
• I also got into doing some RIFT for the first time in two years. Nothing hardcore — I just missed it and wanted to revisit an old favorite MMO.
• I throttled back on Elder Scrolls Online a little, doing about one Greymoor quest a night along with some antiquities. One of my guildies helped deck me out with a great suit of stamina gear, and I switched my Warden over to being a bow-using ranger type. I haven’t finished Western Skyrim yet, nor have I stepped into the underworld.
• Thanks to a week vacation at a cabin with no internet, I managed to wrap up my Knights of the Old Republic playthrough about a month earlier than anticipated! Right now I actually have retro gaming posts written and scheduled through the end of 2020.
• I bought and tried out that indie survival game Among Trees, although it’s got a long way to go before being fully cooked.

July 2020’s goals

• Speaking of early access, I picked up Torchlight III, mostly because I was encouraged by all of the content and fixes that are going into this week’s patch. No huge goal here, other than to try it out and see what there is to see.
• My overarching goal of the month will be to level up my World of Warcraft Druid as much as I can. I don’t have Battle for Azeroth on that account yet, so I’m holding off on that until I can buy Shadowlands and get BFA for free. But still, getting to 90 or so would be a good sign of progress.
• I’ll keep doing my one-quest-a-day in Elder Scrolls Online, see if I can’t get antiquities to the next level.
• LOTRO is busting out its new wedding event/content update this week, so you better believe I’m going to be all over that with (wedding) bells on.
• And Fallout 76’s first season starts this week as well, so I’m going to table all my quests until the One Wasteland patch comes out and just do seasonal stuff. See how far I can get on that game board.
• For Retro Gaming, I’m going to tuck into Sam and Max Hit the Road. I never played it, so it’ll be a new experience for me.

Looking back at July 2015…

• I was playing Marvel Heroes as Ant-man, delivering my first impressions of Project Gorgon, being a Bounty Hunter in SWTOR, wondering if WildStar had a political message, and revisiting Star Trek 25th Anniversary.
• There were six things that bugged me in MMOs I liked, an internal conflict going on with playing FFXIV, expansions that became the superstars, a Twitter war over Shark Week among MMO studios, and difficulty approaching new MMOs.

Looking back at July 2010…

• I was playing the then-disappointing Star Trek Online, going into LOTRO’s Moria for the first time, adventuring through Dragon Age, and feeling unstuck from Guild Wars.
• I said that I didn’t want to become a gaming cynic. dealt with the fallout of Blizzard’s ill-conceived RealID, wondered why we keep returning to World of Warcraft, got very excited at the prospect of SWTOR space battles, talked about my favorite Atari 2600 games, looked at EverQuest II’s free-to-play model, wondered about Guild Wars 2’s prospects, and was strangely prescient about 38 Studios.

 

Syp’s gaming goals for June 2020

May 2020 in review

• Well, another wonderful (ahem) COVID quarantine month in the bag — it’s so strange to think that we’ve been in this new world for two-and-a-half months now. At least things are slowly starting to reopen in Western NY, so there’s some hope that this summer won’t be experienced solely behind closed doors.
• I’d say that my gaming time pretty much remained constant. I mostly rotated through three titles, giving each about 45 minutes a night apiece.
• Elder Scrolls Online got a strong resurgence from me, partially thanks to the next expansion and partially thanks to generally engaging storytelling and a pretty world. I worked on hunting down some final quests in Northern Elsweyr and did some lengthy prologue quest chains.
• Over in Lord of the Rings Online, I finished up the relatively short Wells of Langflood zone on my Lore-master, played around with a baby Hobbit Hunter, and did some deed hunting on my legendary server Minstrel.
• And in Fallout 76, I reached level 25, picked a faction to support (Settlers), built a small cottage, and explored some fun quest chains.
• Since I’m way, way ahead in my retro gaming play (in comparison to what is being posted these days), I’ve been playing through Knights of the Old Republic (light side).

June 2020 gaming goals

• I’m 100% into trying out Phantasy Star Online 2 and seeing how that whole experience goes. I’m optimistic, but not riding all of my hopes and dreams on it. I’ve been encouraged by hearing pretty good things about those playing it, so if it grabs me? I’m willing to be swept along… or just dabble, if that’s all my interest or time allows.
• With Greymoor out for Elder Scrolls Online, I’ll definitely be working my way through the new expansion before doing anything else in the game. I really want to try out the Antiquities system as well and see if that might be a fun side activity.
• Lord of the Rings Online remains a toss-up. I’ve actually been having fun just casually deeding on my Minstrel, so I might continue that until Helm’s Deep or another content patch drops on the live server. And no, I won’t be doing the new PvP world. Not my thing.
• For Fallout 76, I would like to get to level 30 at the very least and get deeper into the ally and faction systems. When the first season comes out, I’m going to charge into that full-bore.
• KOTOR’s probably going to take me two more months to finish at the rate I’ve been going, so that’s what I’m aiming to do.

Junes of the past

• In June 2010, I was having some mindless fun in City of Heroes, getting mad at Turbine’s Pando Media Booster, playing DDO with the Massively guild, examining morality in video games, partaking of a funeral in LOTRO, getting ever more hyped for SWTOR (but not for WoW Cataclysm), and processing LOTRO’s F2P announcement. I also got my very first Kindle this month!
• In June 2015, I was playing Planetfall, Fallout 2, and X-Wing for retro gaming, figuring out where Guild Wars 2 lost me, being all Squirrel Girl during Marvel Heroes’ second anniversary, doing some WildStar interior decorating, trying out ArcheAge and Villagers and Heroes, going up the floors of The Secret World’s Orochi Tower, absorbing SWTOR’s Knights of the Fallen Empire announcement, commenting on World of Warcraft’s flying about-face. I also started getting back into cycling at this time and tried building a new PC.

 

Syp’s gaming goals for May 2020

April 2020 in review

• As the COVID quarantine stretched on into its first full month, our family had to make some long-term adjustments in how we lived, taught, and worked. With my wife homeschooling and no need to be rushing around to shuttle the kids everywhere, I actually found myself with a bit more time on my hands than usual, allowing me to get more work and projects — and yes, a smidge more gaming — than normal.
• It was, I’ll say, a pretty good gaming month. Starting with Lord of the Rings Online, I finished up Riders of Rohan on the progression server and caught up in the Bingo Boffin storyline on the same. I also fiddled with the idea of a new Captain, but nothing serious there.
• I settled in for a longer stretch of Guild Wars 2 with the purchase of Path of Fire and the acquisition of a couple of mounts. While I started the month on my Engineer, I finished primarily playing my Necromancer.
• My anticipation for Fallout 76: Wastelanders wasn’t, er, wasted — the expansion/new game experience drew me in big-time as I started over with a fresh character.
• For Retro Gaming, I put some time into Dungeon Siege before going through the entirety of Space Quest V and starting into Space Quest 6 (posts to come in future months!).

May 2020 gaming goals

• Update 26 is here, so I’m going to switch back to my Lore-master on the regular LOTRO server and work on getting her through it. I think end of June would be an appropriate goal for this, especially if I’m anticipating Helm’s Deep’s release in June/July.
• I’m going to finish up the personal storyline and season 2 of Guild Wars 2 before most likely leap-frogging into Path of Fire with my Necro to focus on building up mount masteries. I also have an episode that I need to raise gems to unlock, so that’s a smaller goal there.
• I’m hoping that Fallout 76 will continue to keep me entertained. I definitely want to get to level 20 to start in on the meat of the factional storylines, but I also need to start building my house. Lots to do there.
• As for other games, there seems to be a whole lot of possibilities. Elder Scrolls Online is putting out a new expansion, World of Warcraft is gearing up for Shadowlands, and Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming out later in May. All are possibilities. I’m also considering some time in City of Heroes, Champions Online, and RIFT. Any of these will most likely be a gut call.
• After Space Quest 6, my Retro Gaming series will revisit Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic!

Flashback to Mays of the past

• I’m going to steal an idea from Wilhelm’s monthly wrap-up posts by looking back at my older blog posts and see what I was doing and writing about five and 10 years ago.
• In May 2015, I was going through Fallout 2 for Retro Gaming, grappling with WildStar’s free-to-play switch, clicking with Marvel Heroes, missing City of Heroes something fierce, going through Blue Mountain in The Secret World, blitzing through SWTOR’s Ziost, feeling so lost in Shroud of the Avatar, going through LOTRO’s Update 16, remembering the original WoW Syp, and building a new gaming PC (which turned out horribly). The Newbie Blogger Initiative was raging this month as well.
• Back in May 2010, I was getting psyched about SWTOR’s companion system, returning to Guild Wars 1 in anticipation of the sequel, subbing for a month in Star Trek Online, pushing hard to get my LOTRO Burglar to Mirkwood, marinating in DDO, and wrapping up my one and only play through of Mass Effect 2. I also got a new car, was still pretty new in my writing job at Massively, and was still marveling over how cool smartphones were.

Syp’s gaming goals for April 2020

March 2020 in review

• Well, I don’t think this month went like ANYONE planned, unless you were some sort of doomsday prognosticator. In any case, both life in general and my gaming routine was upended with the COVID-19 outbreak, and I found myself cycling through several different games.
• I made good progress on Lord of the Rings Online’s progression server, hitting level 83 in Rohan and dabbling in the spring festival a bit to get a hedgehog pet.
• Two sessions in Elder Scrolls Online, and I officially finished up the first Elsweyr zone. While the combat continues to do nothing for me, the setting and story are still pretty engaging.
• Neverwinter went back into mothballs, as did World of Warcraft Classic. I had some good fun in both in recent times, but they weren’t sticky enough nor did they provide enough of a sense of community to keep me there.
• I played a lot of Chrono Trigger for my retro gaming series and wrote up posts that are scheduled for months from now. I should be done with in a week or so of writing this!
• The big surprise for me was heading back into Guild Wars 2. It’s the kind of familiar, soothing, mindless gameplay that I craved right now, so I resumed playing my Engineer, Rain Bunny, and worked on filling out the world map.

April 2020’s gaming goals

• Suffice to say, just plowing ahead with regular sessions in LOTRO and GW2 seem to be what my gut-doctor is ordering. I don’t know if I’ll finish up with eastern Rohan by the end of the month, but I think it’s a distinct possibility. If I do, I’ll work on Hytbold restoration and Bingo Boffin stuff.
• For Guild Wars 2, I’m going to ping-pong between world mapping and finishing up Living World season 2 on my Engie. If I could get both of those done, then that would be a good achievement.
• Two strong candidates for play this month: A new World of Warcraft retail character — maybe a Shaman — and a revisit into Fallout 76 to see the Wastelanders revamp when that arrives.
• Once I’m done with Chrono Trigger, my next retro gaming series is going to be going through the entirety of the ARPG classic Dungeon Siege.

Syp’s gaming goals for March 2020

February 2020 in review

• This was both a busy month and a weird month. I had a vacation, ordination exams, and a lot of other stuff packed into a shorter time span. So while I didn’t get as much game time overall, I did manage to spread out more as the month went along.
• Neverwinter remained a daily activity as I shot up into the 40s, plowed through questing areas, and started in on my first two campaigns with my Chaos Warlock.
• I found it hard to resist the lure of Star Trek Online, especially with all of the 10th anniversary giveaways and new missions. I started up a new Federation captain and had her piloting a tier 6 science ship from the start.
• After about a month of no activity in Lord of the Rings Online, things started to move forward once more thanks to the release of Riders of Rohan for the legendary server. I gamely started in on this huge expansion, seeing how many levels I could make by the month’s end.
• I did get to play the new investigation mission in Secret World Legends, which is a statement I didn’t think I’d ever be writing again on this blog.
• Elder Scrolls Online got a few play sessions — usually a mission apiece — as I attempted to wrap up Elsweyr. I also have been logging onto World of Warcraft trying to grind out my bee mount, which is a neverending task.
• For Retro Gaming, I finished up Toonstruck and dabbled a bit in Masters of Magic.
• I also had some fun building tiny houses in Sims 4, especially when I went on vacation and had the game on my laptop.

March 2020’s goals

• I’m not in a pressing hurry to advance in Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, or Elder Scrolls Online, so those will all get maybe a mission every night so I can inch things along across the board. If I get to level 50 in Neverwinter, 20s in Star Trek Online, and move on to a new ESO area, I’ll be happy.
• I have no illusions about finishing up LOTRO’s Riders of Rohan in a month, but it would be great to at least get halfway through it by March’s end. It’s hard to tell with the decreased XP rate, but hitting level 85 doesn’t seem out of the question, either.
• For Retro Gaming, I’ll be (re)attempting to blog through Chrono Trigger if the Steam version doesn’t barf on me like it did last time.
• I’m mulling over some single-player game options right now, but I haven’t made up my mind on what I want to do there. Leaning toward getting into Divinity Original Sin 2, as that’s been on my backlog for a while. I also would really like to check out Sea of Thieves one of these days, but… time. We’ll see.

What are you up to in gaming these days? I’m always interested to hear what everyone’s been playing, so sound off in the comments or on Twitter!

Syp’s gaming goals for February 2020

January 2020 in review

• My carefully laid gaming plans from last month got thrown out of the window pretty quickly and I found myself on a wild adventure that I had not foreseen.
• So let’s start with Lord of the Rings Online — By around the fourth day of the month, I had finished up Rise of Isengard on the progression server, leaving me with little to do in that game. I put a bookmark in LOTRO for the rest of the month.
• Playing Witcher 3 weirdly made me want to get back into Elder Scrolls Online instead (and the upcoming expansion that was announced didn’t hurt neither). So I dropped W3 for ESO and didn’t regret it as I made headway through more of Elsweyr on my Warden. Not really loving the combat, but the scenery and quests make up for it.
• I spent a lot of time winding my way through the dark European alleys of Disco Elysium. What a strange, bizarre, lovely game. Kind of depressing at times, but always engrossing. Finished that up on January 25th.
• I went into Star Wars Galaxies hoping to find a groove there, but other than objective curiosity, I wasn’t feeling it as much. So instead I turned, late in the month, to Neverwinter, where I started a new Trickster Rogue and then transferred my attention back to an older TR that I had from 2016.
• For Retro Gaming, I started in on Toonstruck. This quickly became one of my favorite adventure games of all time, pretty much for its slick production values and humor.
• And finally, half-off sales and the new Tiny Living stuff pack drew me into the Sims 4 once more. I spent some time watching build videos and learning a few new tricks on how to make neat homes.

February 2020’s gaming goals

• Did January just teach me not to make any plans or set goals whatsoever? Eh, I’m still going to do that anyway.
• I will be finishing up Toonstruck for Retro Gaming and moving on to an old college favorite of mine — Master of Magic.
• Mid-month, Riders of Rohan is unlocking for LOTRO’s progression servers, so I’ll need to factor in some time to get through that massive expansion. If I can finish by mid-April, I think I’ll be doing good with that.
• Neverwinter? After experimenting with both new and old characters, I’m settling into leveling up a Chaos Warlock for the time being. If I can get to level 50 by the end of February, that’ll be good.
• I’m also having some fun dipping back into Star Trek Online. I want to play the 10th anniversary quests, fix up my inventory, and maybe clean up a few quests that I’ve missed.
• In Elder Scrolls Online, I’ll be pretty modest with my goal: Finish up Elsweyr, at least the first zone of it. You’d think that one of these days, I’d actually reach the max level, but no, I’m nowhere near it yet.
• For my solo gaming, I’ll be moving on to Control and also getting in some more Sims 4 gaming and blogging. For the latter, if I could stick with a household and actually make it through a full calendar year, that would be unprecedented.

Syp’s gaming goals for January 2020

December 2019 in review

• This month I was much more mindful of goals — and managed to accomplish all four of my projects by the 15th.
• This meant that I wrapped up both FFXIV Heavensward and LOTRO Minas Morgul, both of which were fine, but I felt like it was time to put a bookmark in FFXIV and game elsewhere for a while.
• I also finished The Outer Worlds and my retro gaming project Fallout New Vegas. Both made by Obsidian! It was actually pretty neat to play them both in parallel for a while there. Makes you appreciate how the studio has developed.
• With a lot of time left on the clock, I didn’t get a jump on January goals but instead had fun going through my gaming backlog just trying out different titles. I played some Rimworld (because Rimworld is always amazing), Marie’s Room, Yes Your Grace demo, The Sims 4, and Into the Breach.

January 2020’s gaming goals

• Last month was a trial run for a different way I wanted to structure my gaming time, which I think went very well indeed. The idea was to be more goal-focused than laying down loose “I sorta kinda want to do something” in my time. I enjoy having concrete goals as well as the idea of switching up my games on a monthly basis.
• So the format that I’m going to try, at least for now, is to focus on four games per month: One cornerstone MMORPG (which will be LOTRO until further notice), one floating MMORPG (expansion, patch, game I haven’t played, etc.), one retro title, and one single-player title from my backlog.
• In Lord of the Rings Online, I want to get my progression server Minstrel fully caught up, which means finishing The Great River and doing as much of Bingo Boffin as is available.
• I let my Massively OP Podcast co-host pick my floating MMO this month, which is Star Wars Galaxies Legends. My goal is to spend a good amount of time on this emulator and see if I can make my way in a sprawling sandbox.
• My backlog game is The Witcher 3. I know everyone’s playing it because of the TV series, but for me, it’s been in my backlog for a long time now and I want to really dig into it for my own interest.
• My retro game is Toonstruck, because it’s Christopher Lloyd in a weird Roger Rabbit-like adventure land. That’s an irresistible pitch! It doesn’t look super-long, so if I can get it done in a month, that’d be great, but by mid-February at latest is my goal.

Syp’s Gaming Goals for December 2019

November 2019 in review

• This was a pretty solid and stable gaming month in which I had fun with my current staples without really going outside of those boundaries.
• With the launch of Minas Morgul in LOTRO, I focused on getting my Lore-master through the new expansion. I finished up Mordor Besieged before making good progress into the Morgul Vale and leveling up my character to 125.
• Speaking of expansions, I got back to Heavensward in FFXIV and pushed further into that than I ever have played before. While I tried out the Mechinist for a while, I fell back on my Scholar to level both for familiarity and fast queuing. I enjoyed getting flight for the first time in that game and getting into a comfortable — if not exciting — gaming groove. Also found me a good guild there.
• I’m probably taking longer than most people with The Outer Worlds, but I had a terrific time this month exploring these frontier planets and dealing with tricksy corporations. Just an amazing game experience.
• The gaming surprise of the month was Shop Titans, a silly mobile game in which I play as a fantasy world shopkeeper. It became my go-to game whenever I had a few minutes here and there.
• I didn’t get as much time into my retro gaming title, Fallout New Vegas, but at least I made it to the titular city.

December 2019’s gaming goals

• I’m going to be ambitious for this month, especially knowing that I’ll have some extra time off work to squeeze in a bit more gaming. So let’s start with Lord of the Rings Online: I want to finish Minas Morgul and hit level 130 with my Lore-master.
• I don’t think I’ll be able to do the same — finish an expansion — in FFXIV, but I’d be happy getting most of the way through Heavensward.
• I want to wrap up The Outer Worlds and Fallout New Vegas this month so I can go into the new year with some new games.
• That’s it. I’m going to laser-focus on those four games and get stuff DONE this December!

Syp’s gaming goals for November 2019

October 2019 in review

• This month got really crazy about midway through and derailed a lot of my plans, mainly due to the #BoycottBlizzard that happened after the Hearthstone controversy. So yeah, I stepped away from World of Warcraft for a good long while. That meant that there was a vacancy open for other games, which I sampled.
• I managed to get into Fallen Earth for one last romp around the wasteland before tearfully saying goodbye. Fortunately, I had Fallout New Vegas to keep me occupied for most of the month as I made my way through Obsidian’s 2010 cult classic.
• I tried out ArcheAge for a few sessions. Wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, didn’t stick… yet. I am not giving up on it, but it wasn’t as instantly amazing as I was hoping from others’ testimonies.
• Yes, I did return to Final Fantasy XIV after all. That wasn’t really expected, but what else was this month? I changed my character’s look, job, and free company and then started on the Patch 2.1 content.
• I was happy to fully finish Vales of Anduin for Lord of the Rings Online on live and get to the Great River on the progression server.

November 2019’s gaming goals

• Until Minas Morgul launches in LOTRO, I’ll see how far I can get in the Great River zone. After that? It’s probably going to be back-and-forth between the live and progression servers. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if I was at the new level cap by the month’s end, of course.
• My overarching goal for FFXIV right now is to plow through the Seventh Astral Era quests, get to Heavensward, and switch over to Mechanist. I am betting I can do that by the middle of the month, after which I’ll make a genuine effort to journey through the first expansion.
• More Fallout New Vegas. Probably won’t finish this month. Maybe next? It’s a big game and there are lots of side quests.
• Even though I have tons of games on my backlog, I really, really want to get The Outer Worlds. I wish it wasn’t so pricey — these days I’m very stingy on $60 game purchases — but it sounds like this might be a good thing that I wouldn’t want to miss.
• Continuing to keep an eye on Torchlight Frontiers for a possible (but not probable) 2019 launch.