Uh, so.

There is a story that comes up a lot about why I quit MMOs, as in, virtually every time the subject of playing a new one comes around. I had come back in after much cajoling, having inadvertently spurred Gabriel into another torrid round of midnight raidz. I did my best to grind morbs, but it was mostly kind of gimlian axe-offer. I was mostly along to provide fellow-feeling. Like, if I saw some kind of Ravener, I would say "That's so Ravener," that kind of stuff.

Having been out of the game for awhile, both in the literal and figurative senses, it took awhile to get back up to speed. Raiding had gotten a lot more technical in my absence; I don't know how it worked in your guild, but we essentially had homework - watching videos, that kind of thing. I say that I prefer playing games in an intuitive way, not just because I can't play them the other way, which some might call Skilled. I like to take in situations and then be what is required - to feel motion under the black water. If you are a healer trying to get a job, don't put that on your resume.

I would never take a main healer job for that reason, but being a Paladin let me fill in. It looked from my perspective that the raid was going to hell, and so I DI'd at the wrong time. This is an ability that isn't even in the game anymore, probably because in good hands it is awesome. Without going into specifics, those are not the kind of hands I have.

It was literally years ago, but my ability to take a game that already required a princely chrono-sum and somehow make it take even more time is noteworthy. It made me feel like a vampire, generally something one tries to avoid.

I need to play more Wildstar to be able to explain what's different, I think. But taking a years-long break has put me in right place to enjoy the genre again. That's certainly part of it. But it being so… so Wildstar - the only MMO that seems to understand it is one - really is the rest of it.

(CW)TB out.