My latest reading expedition was through the Darksword trilogy, circa 1988, written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I do not recall why I originally picked these three books up, but when I saw them, still unread, in a box I figured I should take a peek. Sadly I found the first few chapters of the first book to be the best part.

It starts with setting up the world of the Darksword, and I really liked the setup. Alas the follow up seemed like an amateurish D&D/D20 modern story hour. The author’s are best known for their creation of the Dragonlance and Deathgate series and I am hoping when I get around to reading those that they are better than the Darksword.

On another note, I finished up Titan Quest: Immortal Throne on the normal difficulty and I really enjoyed it. Sadly the studio that created the game closed up shop as I was finishing the game.

The game offers so many different character combinations, almost overwhelmingly so, and all the ones I played offered a slightly different way to play the game. The art direction and level design were spot on; they really took advantage of their assets and made a game that is fun to play and look at. I the only negative thing I can think to say, is the static nature of the game. I wish they could have found some way to integrate some areas that are randomly generated each time you play. As it stands right now, once I completed the game, after leveling up a few other characters, I decided to simply uninstall the game.

Of course with that game done, I was off to look for something else to play. I tried a few things; Lost Odyssey, Fable, the greatness of AudioSurf, some Age of Conan beta, a bit of Gal Civ2, a few games of Sins of the solar empire, and several demos. Nothing captured my attention.

Then this week, my wife asks me if I have signed back up with WoW yet (she knows it is inevitable). I said no, and for a split second I saw a tiny spec of disappointment. I responded with how I was going to be strong and only go back when I really feel the call; again a tiny drop of sadness.

“Why do you ask?”, I asked. And she stammers. “Well, I sorta think it would be fun to play again, with you, maybe a couple of hours, a few times a week. I remember having fun with it, back you know, when I played, and I think it would be something fun for us to do together.”

Gulp, resolve failing. “Well I have been thinking of playing some Lotro again, maybe we can play that together?” She nods. So a couple of days go by and I get both computers patched up and ready to play, but then something happens.

We were looking at Lotro sites talking about the classes, and when I try and describe them I use WoW classes as comparisons. Once I do that and see the haze of mystery replaced with a grin of recognition. WoW’s classes, have become iconic to my wife, whether she knows it or not. She knows what warrior, rogue, priest, mage, and pally are. She knows what a human, gnome, troll, orc and the rest are. She knows and remembers some of the places. I know in an instant that we are bound to be back playing wow, because it will be easier for us to get in and play with out feeling completely lost.

So now, after a couple of days of getting the game and mods updated on both machine, we have a pair of new Blood Elves and its been a blast.

And of course, I know myself too well to think that the only time I will play will be with her and our new elves. No, it is only a matter of time before I am on trying to level up one of my alts or doing daily quests for coin.