Posted in Lord of the Rings Online

LOTRO: Welcoming the Wolves of Mordor

Posted on by Syp

In a way, Lord of the Rings Online’s newest expansion couldn’t have come at a better time for me. This has been an excruciating month of waiting, in some respects, for WoW Forever to launch. And as we all well know, the best thing to do to combat the agony of waiting is to embrace a distraction.

A new expansion? That’s a darn fine distraction.

I’m also relieved because Wolves of Mordor gives me a new journey to go on after months and months of spinning my wheels with my Lore-master. Now I’ve got three zones stretching out in front of me, a new survival instincts system to learn, and plenty of screenshots to take.

Very very first impressions? I’m actually grooving with this so far. It’s still Mordor, plenty of evil and whatnot, but it’s a more scenic, more interesting Mordor with its own secrets. In fact, one of the big questions of this expansion was called out early on: If Sauron had this tailored army of super-wolves, why didn’t he pull them out for the Battle of the Black Gate or, really, anything else? What kept them here in this region? I’m very keen to hear the answer on that.

The new environmental special effects are welcome, such as flowing lava fields that look amazing — and even hurt you now. And it’s a small thing, but I’m glad that the first zone has a ton of trees everywhere. Even in Mordor, trees help to lift the spirits and give you something to look at other than rocks.

I’m really in no rush to blast through this expansion, so it’s a little at a time every day. The next thing coming down the pike for LOTRO that has my interest is a possible new legendary server, which I’ll guess will be rolled out in April for the anniversary, but that’s a long ways away.

Posted in World of Warcraft

My starting World of Warcraft Forever trio

Posted on by Syp

Now that we are finally able to reserve names and make characters in World of Warcraft Forever — despite not being able to play them — I wanted to share my picks with you today. So we’ll start with my planned main, a Night Elf Druid named Yeti Yesterday. No, I’m not the biggest fan of elves, but there isn’t a lot of choice here if I’m going Alliance. So I swallowed my irritation and whipped up Yeti here. I’ve used this name in other games, such as Guild Wars 2, and took it as inspiration for other alliterative names on the roster.

I do like that she has shorter eyebrows and a pixie haircut. Unlike some, I don’t mind the HD graphics for character models, so that’s what I’m going with.

Echoes Envy is — at least for now — my Dwarf Shaman. I knew I’d want one of these on my roster, and coming up with a second name that paired with “Echoes” took a bit of finagling. I like it, though. And a short, sassy redheaded Shammy is interesting to me. Hopefully not TOO interesting that it distracts from my main, though…

…hm, *should* I play a Shaman at launch? No. C’mon. Stop changing your mind. Anyway…

Jetta Jammer is my third pick. At least for a placeholder, I put her as a Gnome Warlock, although I may change her over to a Gnome Priest instead. Or just have both at some point. I dunno. I know I had to have some Gnomes on my roster. It’s just too bad they can’t be Shamans or Druids.

Posted in World of Warcraft

WoW Forever: The roster forms on the bench

Posted on by Syp

Well, THAT could’ve gone more smoothly.

Yesterday’s name reservation for WoW Forever was a debacle. What should’ve been a fairly simple, straight-forward process of about five minutes ended up being hours of frustrated re-logging and constant error messages. Blizzard wasn’t communicating very well through it all, which led to even more aggravation.

At some point, I said “forget it” and went to spend a couple hours with my kids. Sometimes it’s not worth it to babysit your computer. Just go live your life.

And when I came back, I was able to log in — to the PvE realm only. RP wasn’t working yet, at least for me, so I elected to snag three names on PvE to later delete and move over to RP.

Happily, I got all three of the alliterative names I cooked up earlier: Yeti Yesterday, Echoes Envy, and Jetta Jammer. Yeah, for the first time in a long time, I’m not going with a “Syp” moniker in the game. At least not yet. “Trying something fresh and different” is a theme I want to embrace for WoW Forever, even if in little ways.

Posted in Fallout

Fallout 76: Free time in the apocalypse

Posted on by Syp

This past weekend, my wife and two of my sons went out to California, leaving me with a pair of rather self-sufficient teenagers in a much more empty house. So for about four days, I had a whole lot more free time than I’ve had since last summer thanks to not having to drive extra kids around.

Of course, the irony here is that this free time happened only before the new LOTRO expansion and WoW Forever. So I found myself with plenty of time but not a lot of ways to spend it gaming. I didn’t want to get into big new projects right now, so, say, tackling a CRPG wouldn’t be the best of ideas.

So mostly I spent last weekend playing a bunch of Fallout 76. My character is level 28 and still working through a bunch of quests in the Forest. I’m feeling far more confident with her than I have in this game in the past, and by plugging through these stories, I have a directed purpose beyond merely wandering around.

I do like the stories from these missions, some of which you have to piece together from holotapes and notes and contextual clues. There’s some remarkably grim stuff here, such as two kids engaging in a murder-suicide or a lodge where they hunt the deadliest prey of all, but it’s offset by goofy robots and absurd locales.

I am looking forward to the December update, which promises to let us take our CAMP pets out as traveling and combat companions. I have the dog, which would be my choice anyway, and that should go a long way to providing a feeling of having company on these treks through the wasteland.

Posted in Music

Happy 25th birthday to the iPod!

Posted on by Syp

It didn’t completely escape my attention that this month, the iPod is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Of course, it’s a slightly bittersweet birthday, as Apple shut down the product line back in 2022 and has no plans to ever bring it back. There are those of us who still love and use iPods, many of which are modded, even in 2026. Here I’m holding my modded Classic 7th generation, which has a 128 gb flash drive and a newer battery tucked into it.

I honestly don’t remember when I first started to become aware of iPods. Initially, they were a Mac-only thing, and I wasn’t a Mac user, so that was a non-starter. Back in 2001, I think I was rocking a Creative Zen Nomad MP3 player. It was bulky, heavy, and the user experience left a lot to be desired. I was mostly playing CDs or music files on my computer, so a portable player wasn’t a huge priority.

My first iPod was a 4th gen color (photo), which I remember enjoying on a flight because I could play solitaire while listening to music. Oh, and I killed it by accidentally dropping it into a pot that I left soaking in the sink and then fishing it out a day later to my chagrin. No, don’t ask me how, my mind doesn’t give me all the details there. I did get a 6th or 7th gen by 2010, because I was bringing that to seminary so that I could listen to music or watch movies on it between classes. That particular iPod ended up in my parent’s house, as I gave it to my mom when I got an iPhone (it still sits on their kitchen counter in a dock, and I say hello to it every time I visit).

That was pretty much it for me and iPods until I got back into them a few years ago. I really don’t know why I wasn’t more fanatical about them at the time. I liked music, but I wasn’t as dedicated to collecting and curating it beyond the occasional CD or MP3s on my desktop.

Anyway, I certainly get a lot of use out of them these days. This past summer, I would destress by sitting on my back porch and just listening to some tunes while reading a book or staring up at trees. They’re great walking companions — that pocket-friendly interface can’t be beat — and I just took one out yesterday with my Koss Porta Pros for a walk around the neighborhood.

Posted in World of Warcraft

WoW Forever: 12 days to go…

Posted on by Syp

It might be a blessing in disguise that my life’s been so hectically busy lately that I’ve barely had time to game — nevermind to sit here and impatiently wait for WoW Forever. Honestly, other than the occasional thoughts flitting in and out of my head, I haven’t given it much thought.

I will say that I’m glad the beta is over. While there were good testimonies about the game itself, the beta community was like a trampling herd of kodos looking to datamine and stir up controversy and complain about everything under the sun. It really reinforced my feeling that popular streamers are, by and large, a plague upon this game. I really dislike these cults of personalities, their oversized influence on Blizzard, and the effect that they have upon the servers.

So as I write this, the beta is shutting down and there are 12 days to go before it begins for real. There isn’t a lot of prep for me, so other than writing the odd column, settling on a few names to reserve, and maybe doing a little more guild shopping. I’m also going back and forth on a Night Elf Druid or a Skyborne Druid as a main. Night Elves feel a little more grounded in the world and less flavor-of-the-month, I do like their feral forms, and the quickness trait is certainly a nice one to have. Skyborne might have cooler feral forms, that glide ability is amazing, and having a starting zone that isn’t Teldrassil is a plus. Either way, I’m still on Team Druid as a main… unless the Gnome Warlock bound up in my mental dungeon bursts out and demands that I pay homage to the original Syp. But I feel pretty secure in the Druid pick as a main character — pet classes can come as alts.

In any case, the next couple weeks promise to be a blur of activities and work. I’m enjoying the Rimworld Odyssey expansion, I have LOTRO’s expansion hitting next Wednesday, and I really would like to pick up Final Fantasy Resonance as an on-the-side game if I have time and extra funds. Keeping my mind from going crazy due to the wait is the best strategy for now.

Posted in General

Bye-bye BioWare

Posted on by Syp

I swear it was just earlier this week that I was idly thinking about BioWare, how that studio used to be at the forefront in my gamer mind — and how it’s been a long time since that was true.

And now it’s done. EA — endless curses upon that horrible institution — shut down BioWare this week amid a ton of layoffs, and now this studio is no more. This sucks, because it’s not how a studio of this pedigree should’ve gone out.

I was on board with BioWare all the way back in 1998 when Baldur’s Gate released. It was the year I graduated and used my graduation money to buy a much-needed desktop computer. I had amazing RPG and RTS adventures on that machine, including both Baldur’s Gates, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. By the time the last one came out, I was a legitimate BioWare fanboy.

Jade Empire was… fine. It was OK. I don’t often see people going to bat for that title other than perhaps from the angle of it being a cult favorite. But the Mass Effect series — especially the first two — were amazing original IP games of legendary status.

Dragon Age? Eh, the first one was fine, but I never got that sucked into this world. I was much more interested in SWTOR when it came out in 2011, as that MMORPG gave me hundreds upon hundreds of hours of gaming pleasure.

But the studio never really regained its Top Dog footing after that. Mass Effect 3, Inquisition, Andromeda, Anthem… all these were fine but not the “must play” story powerhouses that this studio was once known to harbor.

I keep telling myself I’m going to play through the full Mass Effect Legendary Edition one of these days, you know, when I have a few hundred free hours at my disposal. Perhaps it’ll be a fitting tribute for this former fanboy to go through that adventure one last time. I’ve also wanted to do the Baldur’s Gate 1+2 enhanced edition run, back-to-back, experiencing the old school storytelling chops.

In any case, farewell BioWare. Thanks for all the great memories.

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online

LOTRO: Bigger fences make better neighbours

Posted on by Syp

Without too much else to do in LOTRO before the expansion, I’ve been faithfully plugging away at neighbour dailies and figuring out the fastest way to do each. Then, every so often, I call all four neighbours at once, dump gifts and journals upon them, and catch up on their various storylines.

Now that I’ve got a better handle on this system, it really isn’t so bad. You get cool gifts from your new buddies every few days, there are some fun story beats to work toward, and the whole thing is wrapped up in a fancy reputation grind. But it’s not one you have to do all at once, just a little bit at a time.

Anyway, there’s about a week to go before the expansion drop, unless it gets delayed again, and I suppose it’s time to talk about Plans for it. I’m ready to 100% dive into Wolves of Mordor, so my Minstrel is sidelined for the time being, because I’m looking forward to slowly chewing through this new content. I haven’t felt this way about an expansion in a while, and although I know that Mordor isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’m kind of excited about it. It’ll feel far more Middle-earth than Harad, at least.

So my plan is to take it slow and thorough, reading through the quests, doing every single quest in the area, doing all the deeds, grinding out the survival instincts, and maybe grinding out reputations. I have nothing else pressing to do in this game until, perhaps, the 20th anniversary next April — and that’s a long way away.

I’m also very intrigued as to what SSG is planning for the next legendary server. They keep hinting about and teasing it on the livestreams, although other than “this is going to be very different and surprising,” there’s been no solid details. Probably won’t be until the January producer letter, at the earliest. That said, it’s something to spice up 2027 in the game, and I’m already thinking of what class I might play. Beorning is currently at the front of the pack.

Posted in Fallout

Is Fallout 76 a cozy game on the down low?

Posted on by Syp

I’m sure there’s a high-stress and high-energy way to play Fallout 76, but my experiences with this game is almost the polar opposite. This is a perfect “sit back and unwind” title when I’ve got some extra time (which really hasn’t been happening that much recently, alas), a game that angles toward cozy in its presentation and gameplay loop.

Right now, I’m gradually making my way toward quest objectives while detouring to every unexplored location along the way. It might be a few sessions before I get where I’m going, but it’s never a wasted effort. I enjoy poking around these places, picking up some loot, fighting the occasional bad guy, and building up my crafting mats stockpile. As I’m doing this, I’m listening to Appalachia Radio, where Julie’s chatter and the 50 or so cheesy old timey songs provide a level of virtual companionship. Then, at the end of every session, I zip back to my camp to unload and repair for the next stretch. Rinse and repeat.

There’s a whole lot of game in front of me, some that I’ve done in the past, and some I haven’t. Even after WoW Forever and LOTRO’s expansion arrives, I hope to keep pushing forward in F76 here and there, because I truly am enjoying this return to the game. I feel utterly chill when I boot it up, and aside from the occasional tense fight, that attitude remains pretty constant all the way through.

I am looking forward to being able to take my CAMP dog with me out on adventures soon — December, I think? — and there’s a map expansion in the works for next summer. That’s enough to stoke some hype, if I needed that anticipation.

Posted in Music

Scoring a $5 iPod Shuffle — but does it work?

Posted on by Syp

Last Friday, my wife asked me to take her to the thrift store to grab a few books for a trip, so while she was perusing the shelves, I walked over to the music section intending to see if any new CDs were put out. Then I did a double-take and walked back a few steps, because in the display case where they keep gadgets and jewelry, there was a little unmistakable shape: an iPod shuffle, second generation. It was only five bucks, so… why not? Even my wife was impressed at my first and, so far, only iPod find in a thrift store.

The shuffle isn’t my favorite iPod, starting with the lack of screen display and very low storage capacity. But it was still nice to bring it home to my small but beloved iPod collection (this is #5 after my two Nanos, my one Mini, and my one Classic).

I found a dock for this, as my wife used to have a Shuffle but hers died a long time ago and I kept the port. It’s a weird way to charge it, through the headphone jack, but it kind of works. ITunes recognized it — the previous owner had some WEIRD angry music on this — and I wiped it and started charging it. This is when I discovered that Shuffles don’t load specific music from a library; you simply tell it to “autofill” from your library and it pulls random tracks onto it until the storage is full. Apparently, this happens every time you plug it back in to charge, so you’re getting a different “mix” every time.

Lo and behold, it worked… at least the first time. Sound was crystal clear, and all of the controls functioned as they should. I do like the cobalt blue color and the little clip, which is more charming than it has any right to be. And while it only can hold about 300 songs, that’s still a chunk of time (17 hours, more or less). I have doubts about the battery life, though. The Shuffle 2 came out 20 years ago in 2006, and unless you solder in a replacement battery — which is outside of my ability — you’re stuck with the original. And a 20-year-old battery is going to be finicky at best.

Still… five bucks doesn’t put me out that much, and I’ve had some fun fiddling around with it. Even if it only charges enough for an hour or so, that’s still a cool little retro gadget I can play with.