Well I was having a blast in GW2 but then my graphics card melted and died, seems it wasn't spinning up the fans properly in certain games, GW2 included. Probably had been happening for some time, slowly baking my card into crispy silicon oblivion. So I had a gaming break for a few weeks while I researched a replacement. Ended up with a shiny new GTX 660, which is rather like putting a Ferrari engine in a Ford Fiesta given my ageing PC, but I figured it'd have some degree of future proofing. And very lovely it is too!
While I was gone GW2 decided to implement a gear grind, which is something they are on record many times saying they would never do. However, seems that behind the scenes there's been some shareholder changes and one of the major shareholders that came in around the time the game launched now wants to "monetize" (such a suitably horrible word) the game. Well we all know where that leads, especially since the game relies on a cash shop model, so I've kind of lost interest and have barely logged in since.
SWTOR re-launched as F2P recently, so I stuck my nose back in the door and ended up getting drawn in again, heh. My account was in such a mess - characters needing renaming after server mergers, inventory hell etc. Figured I couldn't sort it out under F2P restrictions, so I subbed. Really enjoying it again but I'm keeping away from the raiding endgame and just enjoying all the story stuff, which was always the game's strong point anyway. Will play while it remains fun or until something else comes along.
I see Planetside 2 launched recently. Has anyone tried it?
As for Santa, I'm hoping he drops X-COM down my chimney. I don't think I've been good enough this year for anything else.