the nut house :: more than you ever wanted to know about me

i have been playing more guild wars with autumn and ryan lately and it's been really fun. when playing at the level where i should be, doing the quests i haven't yet done, i often die. a lot. i get beat up, pushed around, and generally told by the game that i'm not quite good enough yet. sure, i get things done, eventually, but it usually takes me a long time.

but hanging out with autumn and ryan, because they are just starting out, means i look nearly invincible. i'm spending time in the very low level areas, hardly taking any damage, and basically just walking through hordes of enemies that cause their n00b knees to shake. i know it can't last forever, so i'm enjoying it while i can.

ryan seems to be having fun with his warrior, though autumn has been playing with different types of characters. she had been playing a monk for a while but discovered it's a very tough class to play alone. they aren't generally used on the front lines, instead being relegated to backup, staying behind the lines, healing their teams. there is nothing inherently wrong with this, and in fact monks are absolutely vital to any team. the problem is that when you are playing by yourself, assisted by heroes and henchmen, you need to be able to tell them which target to attack. you need to lead them and show them where to go and what to fight. as a monk this can be a really tough dual-role to balance, especially for a first character. being a leader without being in the front lines can be frustrating. if your henchies aren't killing fast enough, there's just not a lot you can do but sit and watch.

so instead she's trying some new stuff. she's tried a necromancer, and now a warrior. luckily she has ryan to play with when i'm not around, so they can tromp around together, defending each other, and learning how to use their henchies. and when i'm playing with them i've got all sorts of heroes that know their roles very well and no matter what kind of characters autumn and ryan chose to play, i have heroes that can fill in whatever team gaps we may have.

i'm happy that they have picked it up and are enjoying it. many of the humans that i have had to play with are just complete morons and it makes me very depressed for society. but i feel comfortable that these two are intelligent and competent enough that we could make it pretty far together.

plus last night i talked to my brother and it looks like he could also be coerced into leaving WoW to try out guild wars. that would be really fun, to play with all of my siblings at once. but then, jim works nights, and i'm on the opposite coast from them all. so it would be awfully tough to find a time that we could all meet online.

now if only we could set up team chat so we didn't have to type to each other...