holiday stress

I love and hate holidays. It's definitely fun slacking off at home, no questions asked. But when your coworkers go on vacations and leave you with twice as much work to do, it really sucks. These last two weeks I have barely had the time to breath at work. Luckily my boss left already, tomorrow's Christmas Eve after all, so I'm alone in my room and I can do whatever I want until I’m free to go home.

Since the new 3.3 patch, I've been playing WoW even more than I usually do. The new LookingForGroup feature is something else entirely, it's an important paradigm shift in a game that desperately needed it. I've done more Utgarde Keep and Nexus runs with my 72 Enhancement Shaman (my boyfriend's same level Elemental Shaman went Restoration and healed – thank god for dual specs!) than I ever did instances on my Paladin's whole entirely solo quest grind to level 80. My sexy burly Draenei Warrior alt, with which I hadn't played in like 6 months, has more Tier-9 items than my Rogue, who raided Trial of the Crusader on an almost weekly basis! Tanks have such an easy time right now, even inexperienced tanks like me are blazing through lots of successful heroic runs with ease and getting loads of Emblems of Triumph for our… “efforts”.

Due to technical issues on the last couple weeks, I finally got to run Icecrown Citadel 10-man for the first time yesterday. We one-shot Marrowgar and Deathwhisper and wiped some good four or five times on Gunship Battle and Saurfang , partially due to us taking several guildies who aren’t regulars of our 10-man group. Now… the cutscene after you kill Saurfang Jr. was one of the most emotional moments I've witnessed in WoW. I was all teary-eyed in the end (crybaby, I know)! King Varian is a major asshole (regardless, his strong rugged handsome manly looks do make up for his shitty personality in this horny gay nerd view), but his exchange with Saurfang Sr. showed a very noble side of his, heartwarming even – and, I’d say, very in character since Varian is a father himself. Overall, a superb addition to an already remarkable fight.

On the gay manga “bara” front, Comiket 77 is coming up very soon (god I wish I were in Japan) and I'm already craving for Shoutaroh Kojima's newest doujinshi. It seems slightly peculiar in comparison to his previous doujin work: I’d say because it isn't fanart as far as I can tell (the characters look original to me), and the oyaji bottom looks older (he even sports a moustache!) and even more muscular than usual (Kojiman is particularly fond of bodybuilding competitions, and that is showing – and I’m loving it). While some artists always take the safe, predictable path every time – Takeshi Matsu being the greatest offender, his stories are usually enjoyable, but I can't seem to shake off the triteness – this admittedly small but very noticeable twist on Kojiman’s usual oyaji-uke characters only makes it even more enjoyable to me, if that were even possible! Here's a crop of the preview he posted in his pixiv account:

dragon age: perfection

A few days ago, I managed to get my dirty hands on a copy of my long sought-after masterpiece Dragon Age: Origins. Coupled with the fact I've been having constant issues with my ISP lately (two whole days without internet at home sure made me feel like I've been isolated from the world for an eternity), I can say I've had the opportunity to play it a fair bit.

Without any hyperbole, I must say it's clearly, hands-down, without a doubt, surely, unmistakably, undeniably, undoubtedly, certainly, definitely the best game I've played this generation. It's briliant in every single aspect. The only issues I've had so far are a BSOD once, and noticeable slowdowns in cutscenes. Other than, that it's flawless, which means if you have an up-to-date gaming rig, unlike me, by purchasing DAO you will be acquiring a perfect game. Simple like that. And everyone knows how hard to find those are!

The gameplay is pure delight. I had never played any D&D game that preceded DAO such as Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights - heck, I had never played a BioWare game before, so I had no idea what to expect... and I sure feel stupid for not trying out one of those games before! I'm amazed how it's both tactical and fast-paced; pausing for queueing commands is like the best invention ever. The plot is your traditional epic quest, but it's told in a most compelling way. I actually cheered out loud a few times: it's that nerdgasmic, if not terribly original.

(and Alistair... oh, Alistair. He is the hottest bearish thing ever. Sharp-tongued and cuddly at the same time, what a combination! Best character so far. I love his exchanges with other party members, especially Morrigan. But it makes me sad that DAO is western, so Alistair porn will probably be harder to find. If he were in a Japanese game my HD would surely be overflowing with Alistair porn by now. I vow to find a way to get my male Human Noble Rogue to fuck him in the ass, because he's clearly a bottom)