Good Morning Folks. I decided that I needed to rename my turtle pet in Guild Wars 2. I remember being a big fan of the song Yertle the Turtle from the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Middle School, which of course turned me on to the Dr. Seuss book of the same name. Which of course is a much more obvious name than what I had originally called him aka Thumper because of the big canon on his back. I’ve had a bunch of folks ask me recently about this pet when I am using it, because apparently a lot of people do not know you can tame one. I’ve been using it in Soul Beast form because most of the attacks are ranged based, which flow nicely with being a Longbow main. In WVW it was extra nice because I could run it as a pet beside me instead of merged and pop up occasional shields for the “zerg huddle” when we were being shelled by siege equipment.
I did not write a blog post yesterday, because I get into these phases where I second guess myself. Essentially paying a game like Guild Wars 2 with long tailed objectives… and in which I end up doing a lot of the same things over and over… feels like I am not really generating anything worth talking about. The same is true as I reach the tail end of an ARPG league, and I am no longer making big leaps in progress or getting really exciting drops. Basically… I think to myself… who wants to listen to me talk about maintenance gaming? I guess I ask you my readers… do you care at all in the least about what I am doing on a daily basis if I am not doing exciting things? Each night I am moving the needle towards a goal… but said goal is a really long ways off.
I did however finish up my most recent Gift of Battle since the last time I wrote a blog post. I found a really good group and hung out for a few hours on Tuesday night, taking down objectives and defending others. I have to admit, that I think I enjoy defending WVW objectives more than taking them. The big zergs rolling around are generally all about rapid objective completion, and if you put up any resistance… they tend to flow like water around the obstacles. However lately we’ve had some pretty dedicated groups from the red team and it was a lot of fun to bait them into trying to take various objectives and then slaughter them as they rushed in. I could legitimately see myself playing WVW a lot more if I found the right group. It is also one of the better ways to earn various requirements for crafting legendary gear, and has a few specific items that you can only get there.
After finishing up the Gift of Battle, I renewed my efforts for getting a Gift of Exploration. I believe all that I have left in Ascalon is Fields of Ruin, and last night I suffered through the worst renown heart in the entire game… the one where you are forced to stealth around a Char camp. This is a big part about why I did not really feel like blogging yesterday… is does moving the needle from 81% to 88% really amount to enough to talk about it? I am having fun and in my element right now… but I am also not really doing much that is terribly exciting. Quite honestly I get a bigger kick out of swooping down and helping people with events when they are overwhelmed. I helped someone in Cantha last night who was trying to solo a rather tanky Champion encounter, and we managed to duo it… all the while dodging all sorts of nonsense without either of us getting downed. That felt really good… helping others… feels really good. That is legitimately the best aspect of Guild Wars 2 that other players are always a net positive.
I am also still trying to hit up events when I think about them. Doing the daily reset Tequatl for example continues to be my prime activity in the game. I am not entirely certain WHY this event is so important to me on an emotional level. I think maybe it was the first time I really understood why this game is special. This is the first world boss that really impressed me, and back in the day I just happened to stumble upon it without realizing what I was signing up for. Just like I have all of the lines from Izaro in the Lord’s Labyrinth memorized… I am pretty sure I have all of the lines that the Hylek say during this event. “There’s something in the water” will always be the most iconic however. I also just really like how key of an event it still feels… even though no one really needs anything from it. I mean the community running joke is that we are going there every day to get a spoon.
So I guess I am asking you. Do you give a shit about the dumb things that I do? Would you rather me just not blog until I have something meaningful to talk about? I get into spirals of doubting myself and it has been a few weeks since I have not missed at least one post. So I am opening the idea up for discussion.