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Well, I've come to the decision I need to take a long term break from GW, and probably most computer games in general.
I expect to fall off the wagon a few times, but key thing is I'm not going to be doing the massive hours long stints here like I used to do.

However... I am still working on stuff currently in game, but only for a limited time.

Before I get into that, I need to post something on the MPB issue.
I paged regina on the day after the quests got pulled. She said she was playing catch up on the threads. I said okay, and gave her and devs time to work on that.
About on wed, I found out the quests in Eye of north were still active, at which I worked to finish them on various charas.
During the snowball fight on my ele, I saw Lindsey on.
I paged her, and most of the conversation I posted in the MPB thread.
She understood the frustrations and problems with the whole quest issue, seemed pretty cool about the whole thing. She seemed to like a couple of the ideas where either bear falls from presents, or from wintersday past chest.
No word on if she would push for either of those to be implemented. The problem stems mainly from the fact that she never had anything to do with the quest and bear in the first place.
So I leave the issue alone, but I see Regina on today, and ask her about it.
She seemed a bit... terse about the thing, and basicly asked me what do I want done about it.
I reiterated the two ideas, along with long term suggestion that the bear's rate be increased next year. Anything else to get the bear at this point would be pretty much impossible.
No word from her.

I basicly get the feeling I'm being more then annoying to them on this subject, and ... I also get the feeling that nothing is really going to be done in regards to this.
I can't say I blame them, there's tons more projects in the works, and I knew this thing would just get blown over once it was done.
It's left a deep bitter sour taste in my mouth, and at this point, I've come to realize I really don't have anything more I want to do in the game, even though I have quite a few things left unfinished.


So, after the newyears event in cantha, That's probably when I'll be taking my leave for a bit. I've already pulled my charas from the guild, as I've stopped farming faction much at all during my runs in the dungeon. I felt bad about that, and I really do miss the guild because VEIN was one of the best guilds I've ever been in.
I was with them for over two years from it's original incarnation. From it's original luxon version, as COLD, and then over as VEIN on the kurz side, then the switch to luxon, and then back again. The failed attempts at maintaining high faction and keeping with alliances that held HZH, to the crash of the guild down to core members, and an almost complete dissolve. But I managed to convince the boss and a few others to at least maintain the guild to a degree as a marginal faction guild, just enough to keep with a good but small alliance to help keep a town and keys.
And then the double faction deposit weekend, and our faction cranked so high after that, we pushed to get into the top alliance again, and did, and managed to maintain it even after the Hfff nerf. Building up even MORE faction at amatz, and then THAT nerf, and still able to maintain it with vanquishing and JQ.
But my 2 weeks of running the MPB quest, I didn't do any faction farming or deposit. When the event ended, I realized I needed to remove myself. Hopefully they can get someone in who pulls in better faction and is a bit more responsible as an officer.

...Ye gods. When I think of the stuff that doing that MPB quest cost me.. it just continually makes me ill. Nothing should be that worth that much. Or the desire to get it.


White Winter Hymnal by Fleeting Foxes

I
was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin in the snow
And I turned round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime

***************
Current project for the time being the use of a trial key on the factions only account.
This was loaded right on the day of the event so I could get the hats. I'm glad I did that, and I've been learning a few things about what the trial key offers. Here's a few tidbits.

First off, the trial key runs for 2 weeks, 10 hours. Whichever of these is used up first is how long it lasts.
The 3 set key does open up the entire game for the account it's activated for.
What this gives you is not just physical access to the areas, but also you can now capture and get skills that are out of reach normally.
So the goal here is to get as many good skills as I can unlocked to help give heros better skillbars.
Two things help with this.
One, you can get the missing professions you need if you have senji's corner or the command post with the profession changer in it.
Note: best one to shoot for if you have proph and not the other two is senji's corner. It's only two missions and two quests to get to.
Doing that will open up 2-4 professions for you to get the skills from.
Second is the balth priest allows you to buy the skills from him as well.

A couple of important things to remember and plan for here if you want to do this as a skill cap run. You MUST have charas with a lot of built up skill points. It doesn't work if you go to them and run out of skill points when buying skills to unlock or skillcaps.
Second is the money issue. I set aside 100k for this run, and I've used up almost all of it so far. I've had to sell off extra mats in storage, but that's okay. It's just something you need to plan for.

Now, in doing the skill run, if you have Eye of north along with whatever single or double campaign you have, EotN turns out to be a real boon for helping to get some hard to get caps. A lot of bosses that are fairly easy to get to have skills that would otherwise be impossible to get in the limited time frame from the trial key.

Also, and this is probably the most important thing to remember.
The timer only runs down while you are in a zone that is unlocked by the trial key.
For example, I have factions and EotN on the account. As soon as the chara steps into Lion's arch, the clock is ticking. But if I move them to gunnar's, the clock stops.
This means any skills I get in Eye of north I don't have to worry about the timer ticking down.
Also, when you intend to just afk, or need to work out skillbars or sell junk, or do other things that cause you to mill about a town, it's best to move to a zone that you own, and do your business there. hopping back only when you're ready to fully continue.
Because of this I've been able to extend the key for the full two weeks now, with expiration due on the 15th.
I've managed to open up a LOT of skills now for the heros, with the full knowlege that I won't be able to use them myself, but that's okay. It's a far cry better then what I had before.
Something of note: If you ever have to do Land of heros, and can get access to skillcaps, do that quest OVER and OVER again, and don't take just one skillcap, but take 3 for most of them. I checked, and for at least 3 of the bosses, they have skills that you can only acquire from trainers in Realm of Torment, so they're worth capping there.
I'm currently down to a little over 3 hours time, and 3 days for the expiration, but I've gotten almost all I wanna get. A couple skills on the list are ones you can cap from the docks mission, and a few from some trainers here and there. The docks mission is going to eat up a lot of time, so I need to plan that one out.
When I get down to the last minutes on the timer, and the last hour or so on the experation, I'll farm some more balth points and go and find skills I want but can't get to, and unlock those.
After that, I should be able to set that account aside for a while.
From there I'll take a short break, and then be back in time for the newyears event.

I feel kind of sad though. The Canthan new years was how I got introduced to factions, and I loved it way back when. It's also where I started this blog from.