Tonight was my first current content raid in World of Warcraft.

Sure, some guilds I'd been in had done legacy content like Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair, long after they were actually a serious challenge. But tonight, was special. I got randomly invited to a Pick Up Group to hit Obsidian Sanctum (10-Man). I admitted to the raid leader i was just barely geared for the content, but he seemed confident. Turns out he organized these PUGs fairly regularly, and has it down to a fine science.

Sure enough, we went in with a minimum of fuss. Downed two drakes and accidentally got wiped by a patrol while getting briefed on the boss. The raid leader apologized, we rezzed and quickly waxed the last drake. Moving on to the Sartherion himself, we wiped again, this time due to several of us not getting the whole "avoid the waves" thing. Second attempt we faired a bit better, and I got the pattern to the dance so I could avoid them. Unfortunately the off tank was a bit less skilled and things got hairy at the end with one healer and the OT dead, and the second healer going Zero Mana with 5% left to go on the boss. Then the MT dropped, and it was down to just us DPS to kill the bastard as quickly as possible before we died.

I have never been so glad to be a hybrid class in my life. My unused bubble and Lay on Hands "oh shit!" button kept me up long enough to help drop that bastard dragon with those of us left nearing the end. We cleared, the raid, I got the achievement. And with a bit of personal gloating, the Tier 7 glove token dropped for my class, and I won the roll with a 100, getting me my first Tier 7 drop without any competition. Given how hard its been for me to get groups and gear with my current work schedule, this was a bloody miracle and I all but squeeed aloud.

The group starting expanding for a whack at the Heroic (25-man) version of the instance, but i knew with my borderline 10-man gear, I'd be a hindrance so I bowed out. All in all it was a night of exciting (well to those who like this sort of thing at any rate) firsts for me. It's been a good night.

As most have already heard, Ricardo Montalban passed away late last week. Most bloggers and online newspeople have already reported on it, but while reading those articles, I found a user comment so very appropriate, I just had to repost it here.

"I feel sorry for actors cast as Star Trek villains following Khan. He is such an awesome villain that other characters essentially have to be god to top him. In fact "god" shows up as the villain in Star Trek V and Khan still outclasses him."

Too bloody true.

Via con Dios, Senor Montalban.

I've been playing World of Warcraft since Live Beta 2 ( I think thats what it was called). Hell, I've tried most MMOs before the proverbial gorilla went on the market. I never stick with them. I'm a single player gamer at heart, and too many good games keep calling my attention away. Couple that with the tedium of grinding to endgame content, and I just never stick around

Given all this, it is with great joy, and no small amount of shock, that I announce I have made level 70 in World of Warcraft.

Yes, I know everyone else on Earth has 3-5 lvl 70 toons and twice as many alts, but for me, this is an achievement, and I'm particularly proud of it. It also means that when Wrath of the Lich King hits on Nov. 13th, I'll be able to actually jump straight in and see Northrend. I'm... just giddy to be honest.

And my Ebon Gryphon flying mount just looks cool!

Okay, yesterday was made of win and awesome.  Not only did Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core come out (it being the prequel to the best JRPG ever made, imo and one of the two main reasons I bought a PSP in the first place).  I've played through the prologue and it's everything I'd hoped.  The combat system is... odd, but it plays like a cross between VII and XII, making this quite possibly my favorite FF game since VIII came out.

But the fun didn't stop there.  C&C3: Kane's Revenge also came out.   Now I'm not a big RTS fan, but the C&C series has a special place in my heart for one reason:  live action cut scenes of such Shatnerian melodrama that it makes me giggle, with the titular character played by none ofhter that the former producer of the C&C series, who throws himself into the role like the aforementioned Captain James T. Denny Crane himself.  The mssions are, as ever a royal pain, but its worth it.

And last but not least, the coup de grace:  World of Warcraft Patch 2.4: Sunwell Isle.  Not only does it release new class balances and quest fixes, it revamps a fair bit in the way of PvP, Honor and Arenas, adds a SLEW of daily quests (the new way to make money for you non-WoWers), AND an entirely new zone with two new raid instances and an addition to the lore of the blood elves that makes me positively giddy inside.  I'd just about left the game behind, but one day in and I'm already re-addicted.  Dammit, they never let you go, man, they never let you go.

From my new all-time Game of the Friggin' Millenium, Mass Effect.  This is Tali, a cute-sounding, enviironemnt-suit wearing engineer who's joined up with you because she made the bad mistake of uncovering the bad guy's evil scheme and needed protection, and Garrus the cynical cop who's grown sick of red tape and left Citadel Security to work for you in stopping said BBEG. 

Tali: Garrus, do you ever regret quiting C-Sec?
Garrus: Chasing a rouge Specter accross the Galaxy, saving billions of lives, no red tape to get in the way; I'd say that beats C-sec any day.
Tali: I'm glad the imminant doom of all organic life in the galaxy has afforded you new career oportunities.

Well, I just finished what is my new favorite RPG.  Bioware's latest, Mass Effect, is a science-fiction RPG set in a non-licensed universe of Bioware's own creation.  After ton after ton of fantasy-based RPGs, this is a welcome sight.  With the promise of episodic content, a la Half-Life 2, and two sequels, this is the beginning of a powerful new franchise.  But is it any good?  
 
( Here's my two cents. )

even a Sith Lord.

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