Introduction: My name is Sieg

  Alrighty, first post; a bit late of a post, but oh well XD. So let me explain slightly of what I want to achieve here. I am a big fan of MMO's, they are truly the only genre I enjoy indulging in for hours and hours on end, next to the odd RTS or FPS. Back in around 2002-2003, I used to always go to the net cafe with a few of my friends, and we'd usually play StarCraft, Warcraft III, Diablo II, or Counter-Strike (I believe it was 1.5 back then? Or was 1.6 already out?). Anywho, one day as I walked up to the front to get some food, I saw some dude playing this game that had awesome graphics (for the time), and looked super expansive and epic. This game, my friends, was none other than Lineage II. When I found out what the game was, I asked the guy how to get it, and he gave me all the links I needed to install it and play free on a private server. All of my friends and I got hooked. We played L2 for quite some time, and then we ended up hearing about another great "MMO"RPG that was coming out. This game was Guild Wars (The quotations are there because I didn't consider this game to be an MMO, it was more like an advanced version of D2, everything was instanced). This was a GREAT game during the time it served me. I played an Elementalist/Necromancer to level 20, and beat the original game, however I didn't buy or play any of the following expansions as I had lost interest by the time they rolled around. Then came along Christmas of 05, and walking into EB Games, I made a fatal error that sealed my fate for the next 5 years... Yes FFXI players, I am terribly sorry, I cast my gaze upon World of Warcraft.

   Oh my god. This was the biggest mistake of my life. I played this game so extensively, that looking back on how much I played it makes me want to puke. I made an Undead Rogue, played it to level 60, got full High Warlord gear, and sat with that for quite some time while kicking ass in Molten Core, Onyxia's Lair, Zul Gurub, and Blackwing Lair. Then the first expansion arrives; Burning Crusade. Yes, sadly, I was one of the losers who went to go pick it up at midnight. Played my rogue to level 70, got bored, made a Blood Elf Mage and leveled that to 70, raided and arena'd with my two IRL best friends, and got full Season 1 and Tier 4. Got pissed off at the annoyance of raiding, and quit for awhile, then chose to sell my account. Made 400 bucks off of it, at least there was some redemption. Then a year later, I relapse, buy a new account, and level an Orc Warrior to around level 51, then realize I am a crackhead and I stop playing again. Then Wrath of the Lich King comes out, but I basically think about it, and say fuck it. About 3 months after the release of WotLK, I go into crackmode again. I level my Orc Warrior to 55, then I'm like OMGLOLZ DEATH KNIGHT YAY. So yeah, I get truly sucked back into this game again, and level my DK to 80, my Warrior to 80, a Blood Elf Hunter to 72, an Orc Warlock to 63, a Blood Elf Priest to 40, and most recently, I made an Orc Shaman on Feb 02, and by Feb 10, he was level 80. What. The. Fuck. I went from level 1-80 in the span of a week? I played maybe...five-seven hours a day. Then I start running heroics and I get full tier 9 in two days (not to mention my Death Knight and Warrior both had tier 9 dps and tanking sets). This is ridiculous. I was so unenthused about my progress because this game has been scaled down to cater 12 year olds who don't even know how their class works. This is not an MMO anymore. There is nothing that is rewarding about this game anymore. So, to hell with you World of Warcraft, I will no longer pay for your pampered ass game. So this brings us to where I am now.

   I believe that an MMO had a degree of difficulty in them that made every level you gained, every new piece of equipment, and every little bit of progression, worth all the time you spent trying to achieve that. So I think back on a series that I have been in love with since I played the fourth installment, and became further enamored after I completed the seventh. Final Fantasy XI? I remember almost buying this game back in 2004 for my PS2, but got scared originally by the concept of monthly fees and credit cards. I've always heard it was a very challenging game though so... I'm down. Let's see if this game can relive that worthiness and dedication MMO's are actually capable of. So I download the trial, and I create my Hume, Siegrien. Time to commit; let's see where Vana'diel takes me.