Weekend tanked away

Oh. My. God.

First of all, noticed just now that I have fought in one thousand battles in World of Tanks. My son, who is a wizard in all things FPS and related - heck, what ever game you get your fingers on! - has 'only' 700 battles under his belt!

That said, I have fought so many only because I have mostly switched to another tank as soon as possible. I have ran most of the lower tier tanks to elite status (except US based ones...) and thus wasted games and experience in vain.

Lesson one (if you ever start in WoT): choose your tank tree by the feel and stick to one or two tanks till you reach your goal. Spread yourself thin only after that.

I was in a good winning streak before last weekend. My win ratio was 54% at 800 battles, but then the in game match maker (MM which is cursed in WoT forums in so many ways) started evening out the odds. I think I was in the winning team in one every ten battles over the long weekend. Which really sucked and hurt, made me cross allover. Thankfully my wife was not at home, so I was able to joke my frustration away with the kids. Thankfully I got over it all by going to see Sherlock Holmes with the kids.

Yea, I liked the movie. Guns, bigger guns and Little Hansel.

The weekend was crowned by the fact that I got into the Clan I applied for. It will take some time to get accustomed to the fact that I can join a group of complete strangers fellow clanners to frag enemies. In a way I'm a bit jealous for the fact that a)I'm so old, b)I have a family to support and c)thus I have not enough time to devote to the game and enter the Clan Wars. Then again, taking into account the fact that the Clan War combats occur every so seldom, I could make the time.

The only thing is actually the fact that I don't have high enough tanks.

I really should concentrate on something. But I like going from a heavy KV-series to agile scouting T-50 to sniping sharpshooter of T-34 to supporting artillery role of Grille and back, so it's kind of difficult to settle down for just one gaming style. I master artillery best, at least according to statistics, but I like the other roles as well.

You know, it can get lonely at the back, too.

Shoot sharp and aim straight!

Revisits and some more

It was in August, 2009, when we met with this enormous whirling monstrosity last time. Many corpses and their pieces have floated under the bridge since that fateful encounter, even the main characters of the Three Stooges have changed their appearance. Some even their gender altogether.

But there we were, Three Dunces, sons and daughter of the famed Three Stooges who are still waiting for the challenge to take at level cap, to go and blunder in a five man instance in trio.

We cleared the Auchindoun instances in one run at gentle level of 68 for the Paladin tank and the gender-bender Rogue, and 72 for the hyperactive dwarven Shaman. What a disappointment it was to see how time has raped this instance, how the grand designer gods had ravaged the game mechanics and - well - the whole experience to something we didn't even recognize at first. Considering the fact that our first visit to the instances were almost ten levels higher (!) and were still a bit challenged. Our tank was then lv76, healer as well, and the rogue 'only' 72, and I wrote earlier that the challenge seemed just right then.

Nothing has changed, really, except the difficulty level of the game. We are playing completely different characters, I'm messing more with my Shaman than Bishopgeorge with his priest, but still we're coping with relative ease with the stuff presented in the game. I fear that when this troupe hits Northrend, the instances there are going to be total pushovers.

I don't really fear that. I know it already. The few hours more to played with these unknown classes hones the excessive edges off of our game and everything becomes smooth as butter.

On the other hand, my tanking experiments in World of Tanks are progressing nicely. I'm in the stage of the game that I feel that I'm still learning and what I'm learning contributes to my playing. In fact, it contributes immensely, making my fights fun even if I'm losing. Mainly because I can feel how I am doing my best, pushing myself a bit further and finding a new way to use my tank's abilities. As I'm progressing four lines at the same time - and the tanks are completely different and fill different roles - I'm not succumbed to the grinding people are complaining about in the forums. Oh, yes, they are a loud bunch, they are.

Anyhow, I'm applying to a clan, offering the few hours a night to achieve higher goals with a group of people. I hope I can bring out the best of things into the team.

Wish me luck!

The beginning of 2012

Happy New Year to everyone.

Not going to make any predictions nor any promises. That taken out of my chest, I have the following in mind for the next year (in games).

Three Stooges will be riding weekly, as often as life permits. That much has been said and decided so far, as it is the most fun in WoW anyhow to do things which are easy to others in a way that is hard for us. Might also pick Gnomore up and see if I can arse myself into the pacifist way of life again.

World of Tanks seems to be the 'non-pacifist' part of the day. The game sucks me into a new random battle after another, which makes it hard to just quit. Now sitting on a tier IV scout I'm starting to find all new ways of annoying those huge tier IX tanks which makes life very interesting (and usually ending fast in a BOOM!). On the other hand, my artillery unit is progressing through the harder random battles with blazing guns and mostly with one or two kills under it's belt, so I'm seeing both sides of the play, so to speak.

Skyrim has still some achievements worth unlocking and some strings not yet tied. In a way I'm already waiting for the first content pack to spice the world a bit up, even though I still haven't joined the civil war at all. I'll check all the other storylines before making the 'big' decision (which I think I have done already).

Otherwise I think the year will be pretty much the same: skipping from one F2P to another while trying to keep up with the news and craze of the new and upcoming things.

As life otherwise permits, of course.