Syp’s gaming goals for May 2024

April 2024 in review

• This was a fine enough, if unpredictable, month of gaming. The only anomaly was a full week that I stepped away from the internet entirely for vacation (and didn’t even mobile game that much, to be honest).
• In LOTRO, I got my high level Minstrel through the core Corsairs of Umbar questlines including all of the Chapter 8 stuff, while my Lore-master did some Spring Festival activities to get a honey goat. I’m mostly at idling speeds in that game right now — a little here and there, but not full throttle.
• World of Warcraft (retail) finally saw me finishing the main Dragonflight storylines so that I could unlock normal flying in the Dragon Isles. Done with that, I started to work on leveling up my Druid to 70 through dungeons.
• I did several prologue quests in Elder Scrolls Online but really wasn’t feeling those, even for the sake of completion.
• Another game I wasn’t fully feeling was SWTOR, where I started a Sith Warrior but quickly ran out of steam in pursuing that. Just not your time, SWTOR.
• Let’s see, what else? I had a great time running a new prosperous Rimworld colony, dabbled in some Sims 4, and finished up the month getting back into Fallout 4.

May 2024 gaming goals

• I really like the idea of committing to a CRPG that I’ve never finished — starting with Fallout 4 — and playing through it until it’s done. That’ll be a multi-month endeavor, but I’m psyched for it, so May’s going to be the month to incorporate that into my regular gaming schedule and see if it’s something I want to keep doing past this month. Heaven knows I have a huge pile of RPGs I’d love to go through start to finish.
• I’m going to go ahead and ditch all of the remainder prologue quests in ESO and spend the month working on Greenshade. Hopefully I’d finish that in time for Gold Road in early June.
• For LOTRO, I have plenty of options but not a lot of drive at the moment. I could keep on with my lowbie Lore-master, work on a new Rune-keeper, or start leveling my Captain through Umbar. I feel a tinge of burnout at the moment, perhaps stemming from that lack of a drive, so I might just keep this a “log in for 15 minutes, dither around, and see where my whims send me.”
• I’m pretty psyched for World of Warcraft’s Pandaria Remix, so I’ve circled that date to jump into this mode with a brand-new Paladin to have fun for a few months. I do think the ship’s sailed on the notion of going into Cataclysm Classic (not the least of which is the fact that I never finished Wrath Classic), so unless I see something intriguing in that version of the game, I’m fine letting it lie.
• I’m also flirting with picking back up my free trial FFXIV character and going through more A Realm Reborn questing as a White Mage.

Syp’s gaming goals for April 2024

March 2024 in review

• March was an acceptable month of gaming without any moments where I felt hooked or pulled toward a particular title. I am cautiously optimistic that it ended in a good state to charge into the next month with some more enthusiasm.
• LOTRO was quite the journey last month. I started with a new Gladden challenge character, then abandoned that to spend a couple days on Treebeard (which was pretty dead), before landing back on Landroval. There I worked my way through the city of Umbar with my Minstrel and picked back up my Lore-master for some lowbie leveling. Mostly it was a lot of Spring Festival activities and getting to know a new kinship.
• SWTOR brought me back into the fold with a new Sith Warrior and a desire to enjoy a nostalgia tour through an old favorite game.
• Elder Scrolls Online was the other big project this month. I managed to go through all of Wrothgar to earn the freebie 10th anniversary costumes and mount, so that felt like a good goal accomplished.
• I also poked back into retail World of Warcraft as I focused on finishing up my two remaining campaigns for Dragonflight.
• Otherwise I played some Control at the top of the month, Secrets of Grindea in the middle, and The Sims 4 toward the end.

April 2024’s gaming goals

• I am going to push hard to (once again) get to the content cap in LOTRO on my Minstrel. She’s still a little ways from there, but I think that’s very doable this month.
• In SWTOR, I’m just going to feel out the first few planets to see if this is a long-term project that I’ll stick with or a flight of fancy. Finding a nice guild would be helpful for the former, I think.
• In World of Warcraft, I at least want to finish one (if not both) of my two remaining campaigns and get closer to unlocking normal flight. Past that, I’ve been thinking about parking my Death Knight and working on getting my Druid to the level cap.
• ESO’s goal this month is to clean out my quest log of all of these stray quests and prologue missions. Only when that is done will I move on to a new zone. I am seriously thinking about picking up one of the two newer expansions for this spring.
• And I want to lean on The Sims 4 as my lunchtime game to see a family’s story through.

Syp’s gaming goals for March 2024

February 2024 in review

• I’m coming out of February in a much different state than I entered it — and for the better, I think. It was a little bit of a weird month, as the first week I was away on vacation and didn’t game at all.
• I continued to pursue Final Fantasy XIV for a while as I got my Dragoon into the 40s and over the halfway mark in A Realm Reborn. The chill enjoyment I had since Christmas started to fade, however, and I felt dissatisfied with the prospect of continuing this for a long time to come. So for now, I put it on the backburner knowing that, thanks to the trial, I can pick it back up whenever I want.
• Most of my time in LOTRO was spent slowly approaching and then gradually going through the city of Umbar. I spiced things up toward the end of the month by rebooting my challenge character concept and rolling up a new Hunter on Gladden with a higher difficulty setting.
• I dithered about in a few other games, but really connected hard with Elder Scrolls Online by the middle of February. I wrapped up Eastmarch and made a huge dent in Northern Elsweyr on my Warden.
• And I did return to retail World of Warcraft to finish up Thaldraszus’ campaign.

March 2024’s gaming goals

• In LOTRO, I would like to get through most — if not all — of Umbar and have my Minstrel at the content cap by the end of April at the latest. With my challenge character, I’ll be taking her through all four of the newbie zones. If I have those four fully done by the end of March, that’d be great.
• In WoW, I have two campaigns to wrap up before I unlock normal flying everywhere, so that’s what I’m shooting for.
• In ESO, I want to wrap up Northern Elseweyr and perhaps do another full zone.
• I have a number of backburner games right now that could pop up next month, such as Wayfinder, Last Epoch, and Nightingale. Time and money are the key determining factors for these.

Syp’s gaming goals for February 2024

January 2024 in review

• This was the start of my (hopefully) year-long experiment in changing how I juggle MMOs with a weekly rotation of a “free agent” game chosen by RNG. I actually liked this quite a lot and it led me to some surprising destinations.
• In LOTRO I continued my Minstrel’s journey through the latest expansion by going from the Shield Isles into Umbar itself. I didn’t push very hard to go fast, but I did play daily, so steady progress was made. I also hit the new level cap of 150.
• I wrapped up my current stay in World of Warcraft, feeling a tinge of burnout creeping in no matter what version I played. I did get a good chunk of Dragonflight done and got almost all the way to 80 in Classic.
• Free Agent Game #1 was EverQuest II, where I took a Ratonga Necromancer through the early zone, level 10, and a free mount granted by a generous player.
• Free Agent Game #2 was City of Heroes following the news that the rogue servers were granted an official license. I tinkered around with an Illusion/Dark controller named Hope Sesame.
• Free Agent Game #3 was FFXIV, which quickly sucked me back in as I started over with a fresh trial account. I had a surprisingly great time with a Dragoon doing every quest I could find.
• Free Agent Game #4 was Guild Wars 2, which ALSO pulled me back into its grasp with fluid combat, friendly folks, and interesting potential.

February 2024’s goals

• I’m going to keep on keepin’ on in LOTRO, with the slim hope that I’ll be able to wrap up the expansion this month on my Minstrel. Probably won’t, but I think I should get close. I haven’t decided on what character I’ll be focusing on next, so stay tuned.
• FFXIV is getting promoted to a second main game as I take Yeti Yesterday through A Realm Reborn’s zones and storyline. I’m quite digging the chill pace right now, so I’m going to keep surfing that feeling as long as it holds my attention.
• I think I’d like to continue to pursue Guild Wars 2 to see where this newfound interest might lead. I’m going to work on my Mesmer, do some map completion, and maybe hack away at her personal story.
• And as time permits, I’ll continue to fire up the RNG every week (?) to pick a different free agent title.

Syp’s gaming goals for January 2024

December 2023 in review

• Welcome 2024! It’s my first post of the year, 16 years after I began doing Bio Break back in 2008. Egads, has it really been that long? Is it truly 2024? Very surreal stuff, I’m going to need a minute to process it. Fine. Let’s get this party on the road… by looking back at last month.
• The holiday craziness was balanced out somewhat by the “limbo week” between December 25 and the 31st that gave me some much-needed down time. After bouncing between several game projects and — at one point — contemplating playing six at a time, I ended up whittling everything down to three in the end (more on that later).
• I did a smidge of Star Wars: The Old Republic, both with my lowbie Sorcerer and my old standby main Imperial Agent. I was open to a full return or even a side project, but in the end, I thought that this wasn’t quite as compelling as some of the other options, so I tucked it back into its drawer.
• After several months of playing Fallout 76 almost daily, I took a break. I hope that’s all it is, a break, because I do want to see some of these storylines play out. I just feel a little weary of that gameplay loop, especially as the mobs are adjusting upwards to my level.
• LOTRO provided a delightful and dependable gaming experience. I exclusively focused on my Minstrel going through the new expansion, wrapping up outer Gondor and taking a sea voyage down to the Shield Isles. She ended the month almost being at the new level cap and wishing that she had a swimsuit for the tropics.
• WoW Classic was quite the rollercoaster of experiences last month. I started out on Season of Discovery, then ditched that for regular Classic with a new Undead Warlock. Then I switched to an Undead Death Knight. Then, not finding any guilds on horde-side, I reunited with my old Draenei Shaman and had a great time taking her through Wrath zones and dungeons.
• And I came back to Elder Scrolls Online to find it ready for my attention once more. I worked on finishing up Eastmarch.
• For the first time in several years, I broke my annual tradition of buying myself a few games around Christmastime. I still have plenty of single-player experiences if I wish to play, but I’m not champing at the bit to do them right now.

January 2024 goals

• Going into a new year always feels like it should be accompanied by grand plans… which I don’t have. I’m not really on fire to do anything spectacular this year, preferring instead to stay in a comfy MMO gaming cocoon of ESO/WoW Classic/LOTRO for now. There are some titles that I’m considering down the line, but with very little changing over the next few months, I don’t feel a rush to get to them.
• For WoW Classic, my main goal is hitting level 80 and working through all of the Northrend zones while continuing to gear up in dungeons. I want to roll a Druid when the Cataclysm pre-patch comes in the spring, but that’s still a ways off. I’m also going to be alternating days with Dragonflight to work on my Death Knight, see if I can’t wrap up the Emerald Dream this month.
• For LOTRO, getting my Minstrel to the new level cap and arriving to do some questing in Umbar is my bare minimum aspiration. Getting all of Umbar done might prove to be a lot at this pace. Whenever she’s fully done, I’ll probably do all this all over again with either my Captain or Lore-master. I am eager to hear what’s going on with plans for the new legendary server, but that’s probably a ways out too.
• Something I’m going to be trying in 2024 is to make space every week for a “free agent game” — a rotating title that I’ll pull from a curated list with the help of an RNG generator. The idea is to keep pushing myself to try different games and move between them within boundaries that I set. Whatever the RNG says I must play, I will and report on it every week! This could be a disaster, but this sort of format has worked very well for my movie reviewing (I have a list of 1400 movies that I’d be interested in covering, and I use an RNG generator to tell me which of those I’m doing next). It does take a lot of stress off of decision making while keeping things spicy. The one rule is that I can’t play the same free agent game two weeks in a row, but I *can* return to it later on if it’s selected.

Anticipating games in 2024

• Also, what the heck, I’ll add this section today to talk about what I’m looking forward to coming out this year.
• The two WoW expansions — Cata Classic and War Within — have my attention, especially since I’m going strong in those games right now.
• I’m also weirdly excited about LOTRO’s new legendary server, as I would love a fresh start and to try a different take on the game, whatever that may be.
• Blue Protocol, sure, I’ll give that a try. I’d love to be really pleasantly surprised by it.
• Tarisland is also on my radar after hearing some good word-of-mouth from others.
• Corepunk and Ship of Heroes are on my “I’ll definitely play them for a good week or so to see how they shake out” whenever they arrive.
• I’m definitely pretty psyched for Nightingale — I really hope this one doesn’t let us down.
• Assuming (and it’s a bit of a stretch) that Wayfinder gets better in quality and finds a publisher to launch, I’ll pick this up when it goes F2P.
• I don’t have a lot of single-player PC games on my radar, but I’m willing to wish list if I see any. I mean, Open Roads and Witchbrook look moderately interesting, but that’s about it.

Recapping my gaming journey of 2023

Something I like to do every year (without ascribing it too much significance) is to chart out all of the MMOs I’ve played over the course of 12 months and see what it looks like from a bird’s-eye view.

One thing you’ll notice here is that, Diablo IV and Palia aside, this wasn’t a year of a lot of new or different MMOs for me. I stayed very firmly in my comfort zone, helped by a lack of powerfully attractive new MMOs on the scene. I also didn’t touch a few of my long-time favorites this year such as Fallen Earth, DDO, Secret World, or FFXIV (actually, I did log in twice to the latter for like one hour each time just to be reminded why I don’t want to play that game any more, but I don’t think it counts for this chart).

Lord of the Rings Online continues to be my main MMO home and the one game I played all 12 months. But past that, what was my SECOND most played game? That’s where this chart is misleading, because it simply shows what games I hit at least once that month without weighting them for how much play time per month. Like Guild Wars 2? That was a lot of small-fry dabbling, nothing significant. Same with Star Trek Online and RIFT.

Probably the answer here is “WoW Classic,” between the time I sunk into hardcore and a late-year surge in interest in regular Classic. After that, Fallout 76 got a lot of time, so those are my top three right there.

Diablo IV and Palia both dropped my interest sharply, although I really do think I’ll go back to the latter one of these days. It surprised me to see how many months I touched on SWTOR — I’d like to be more regular with this in 2024, I think.

And as for non-MMO games I played in 2023, here’s my list:

• Marvel Snap
• Warcraft Rumble
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• The Outer Worlds
• Pentiment
• Colony Ship
• American Trucking Simulator
• Rimworld
• Wildermyth
• Firewatch
• Torchlight II
• Pillars of Eternity II
• Rumble Heroes
• Octopath Traveler
• The Golden Idol

Syp’s gaming goals for December 2023

November 2023 in review

• I knew going into November that BlizzCon was the major wild card that could change things up — and change they did. I got moderately pumped up for the future of the World of Warcraft franchise and ended up spending a good amount of time in retail while making some upcoming plans for Classic.
• Otherwise it was an agreeable month with a less-than-normal amount of gaming time due to life events, guests, and holiday scheduling.
• In Lord of the Rings Online my Minstrel went through all of King’s Gondor after the release of Corsairs of Umbar — and right inside the borders of Anfalas. I think her level ended up at 143 or so with some virtues on the increase.
• Retail World of Warcraft was both overwhelming and enjoyable as I tried to figure out a to-do list. Mostly I tackled the new 10.2 Emerald Dream zone and worked on building up my sadly subpar gear score.
• Fallout 76 continues to be a hot streak with me, as I log in almost every day to explore a new area or progress a questline forward. I’m well into my 20s with a good chunk of the map opened up. I’m pretty pumped about this.
• Other than that, dabbling in MMOs produced a week in Project Gorgon as a low-level newbie, some SWTOR time with a new Sith Inquisitor, and a dash of New World.

December 2023 gaming goals

• I’ve got that First World MMO problem of too many alluring projects and really not that much time to get around to them all. I might have to work out a rotation of sorts, because there’s no way I can touch on all of the games I want to play on a daily basis.
• In any case, there are a few assured projects. Casual LOTRO questing through the latest expansion will continue, with the hopes of finishing up Gondor and finally getting to Umbar on my Minstrel, and some challenge questing on my lowbie Lore-master. I’ll also be rolling a Druid in the new WoW Classic Season of Discovery to give that server ruleset a month. We’ll see how compelling it is after that. And more Fallout 76, of course.
• Side projects? Continuing to push through retail WoW on my Death Knight. Guild Wars 2 has been quietly beckoning for a while now, and I might answer that call. I’d like to get in some more SWTOR with my Sith Inquisitor and see if I might be able to settle back into this game. And I also picked up Colony Ship for a fun CRPG fix, so I’m going to hopefully get into that at some point.
• There isn’t anything else that I see on the immediate future, so a calm, dependable month in which I figure out this schedule would be much appreciated.

Syp’s gaming goals for November 2023

October 2023 in review

• On the surface this month was several weeks of reliable, routine MMO adventures. But under the surface, I continued a trend this year of casting about in familiar and unfamiliar games to try to find any sort of attraction, excitement, and… future possibilities? There were a lot of one-and-done logins this month to take a personal assessment of a title, only to leave it be for now.
• So what did I play? We’ll start with LOTRO, which was quite the eventful month. I pushed hard to get my Minstrel all the way to the level cap and end of the epic in preparation for Umbar (happily achieving this). Secondary to that was rolling my very first Mariner and trying out this class for myself. So far I’m just level 20, but that slow speed is mostly due to really taking my time and doing all the zone quests.
• I spent some time in WoW Classic, first wrapping up some adventures in the hardcore mode and then rolling a new Draenei Shammy for Wrath Classic. Both of these showed me that my interest in WoW, such as it is, definitely lies with Classic these days and not retail.
• I returned to Fallout 76 with a new character and started to have an absolutely great time in the game. This time around I’m really taking my time and fully exploring all these environments — all in my cardboard robot armor.
• New World finally saw my face again after the initial expansion crush and some login problems. I picked up my level 27 character and continued through the second zone, eventually joining the Syndicate faction. Purple for life, yo.
• My casual go-to this month was Rimworld, because it’s such a relaxing, zen-like game when I don’t want to think too much.
• I did not end up playing a lick of Baldur’s Gate 3, despite trying to work up to it many times. I have a real mental block there and haven’t connected very well with that title. I want to tho!

Gaming goals for November 2023

• With the Corsairs of Umbar expansion (probably) coming out this month in LOTRO, taking my Minstrel through it is my primary focus. I don’t want to rush, so I’m not setting any hard goals. Just, y’know, see all the sights, do all the quests, and deed deed deed. I’m really looking forward to it!
• For New World, my main desire is to get into a regular pattern of play and really savor all of the quests and areas. I’d like to be getting through zones a bit quicker, but we’ll see how that goes. And more Fallout 76, just keep exploring the map.
• For WoW, I’m letting my sub lapse until I see what comes out of Blizzcon. If I see an exciting future for retail or (especially) Classic, the chances are good that I’ll come back. But if it’s predictable or same-old, same old… then I probably won’t. I miss being in the thick of this game, but I’ve got to see some change in the current status quo.
• Back Burner games: SWTOR, GW2, Palia, Wayfinder, EVE. Just stuff I’m thinking about, nothing more. And, y’know, Baldur’s Gate 3.

Syp’s gaming goals for October 2023

September 2023 in review

• A very tight home budget put a pause on all extra spending this month, which meant that I wasn’t able to pick up Wayfinder, Sea of Stars, or anything else I had been eyeing. It became all about being content with what I had at the moment, and that’s fine.
• LOTRO provided by far the most excitement and surprises. River Hobbits and Lyndelby housing came out, and when I realized that I could snap these up with my stockpile of LP, I did just that. I eventually upgraded to a deluxe Lyndelby smial and started to decorate that. There was also some experimentation with River Hobbit alts — including a Captain and Hunter — before I settled on adventuring with a new Lore-master.
• On top of that in LOTRO, I focused on pushing my Minstrel up through the last fifth of the game with the hopes of having her ready for the fall expansion.
• Baldur’s Gate 3 proved to be an interesting beast. I liked it, but it wasn’t an “every day” game. I would have to deliberately carve out an hour of time here and there to continue to push my party through the early stages of the CRPG. It’s been fun, although I’m not a big fan of the combat or camera.
• I picked back up my New World character and took her into her 20s as she finished up the starter zone and got into Everfall. The spear/rapier combo is pretty solid, and the game is certainly a lot of eye candy to behold.
• I also started dabbling in some WoW Hardcore Classic with a Gnome Warlock for the fun of it… while I still had some time left on this account.
• A new Wildermyth campaign beckoned, and thus I started a journey with a fresh crew.

October 2023 gaming goals

• I don’t immediately see any major shifts in my current plans. I want to keep working on my two LOTRO characters, and if I can finish getting my Minstrel to 140 and King’s Gondor by the end of the month, that’d be amazing. There’s also the fall festival to consider, although my involvement in that is probably not going to be that great.
• Side MMOs may involve some New World and maybe more Palia. I really do need to sink some more time into both. And a game that’s been tempting me with a return is No Man’s Sky. I want to love that title so much.
• WoW Hardcore Classic? This is a “see how it goes as it goes” sort of thing. My subscription runs out at the end of the month, so when that happens I’ll have to decide if it’s worth keeping.
• Otherwise, I’ll be trucking along with my Wildermyth campaign, more Baldur’s Gate 3 adventures, and Marvel Snap.
• There’s even more on the backburner, so the possibility of switching things up may happen. Star Trek Online is an easy MMO to jump back into, especially considering that there’s a bunch of episodes I’ve never played yet. I keep thinking about returning to DDO and ESO eventually. If finances ever free up, I’ll snag Wayfinder, but if not, there’s always the free-to-play launch later this year.
• I really would like to buy Sea of Stars and Colony Ship before the year’s out, although at this point I may wait for a holiday sale. I also have to consider the fact that I need to set some money aside for the LOTRO expansion, which I anticipate will arrive in November.

Syp’s gaming goals for September 2023

August 2023 in review

• As with most months, August didn’t really end up quite like I expected — although it did to some degree. It was a hellishly busy month for my schedule, so overall my gaming time was minimized.
• One thing I had really anticipated doing, which was playing Wayfinder, didn’t materialize at all. I was on a trip when it debuted in early access, and by the time I got back it was such a mess that I felt like the smart thing to do was to hold off a couple of extra weeks until everything calmed down. I also didn’t roll a LOTRO River-hobbit, seeing as how they were delayed.
• But I did skip around a lot to make up for this. I played a few rounds of Elder Scrolls Online, started up a new Star Trek Online captain, and got into the semi-fun that was Palia’s beta. Oh, and I replayed through all of Firewatch to feed my craving for an adventure game.
• I also had a productive LOTRO month, all in all. I finished up Gundabad on my Lore-master, got my Minstrel up through Lake-town, and started a new “challenge run” with a Hobbit Hunter.
• Once I started seeing the amazing reviews and word-of-mouth for Baldur’s Gate 3, I gave in to the FOMO and picked up a copy. I figure that this character’s journey — a Halfling Bard — would stretch well into the fall.

September 2023 gaming goals

• At some point this month, I really do want to buy Wayfinder and get into it to see what’s what and if it’s for me.
• As I’ll be doing Baldur’s Gate 3, I’m going to save Starfield for much later in the year, perhaps over the holiday break (especially if there’s a sale!). I just want to focus on BG3 for now and enjoy every step of this journey.
• And in LOTRO, I’ll be mostly working on my challenge character as she slowly goes through all of the four newbie zones on Fearless difficulty. Getting all of the quests and deeds done takes a long, long time, which means that I’ll also be level 15 for a long, long time.