I remember when World of Warcraft, more commonly known as WoW, first came out.  I resisted the call of my nerdy peers to partake in the MMORPG.  I knew the probability of addiction was too high to risk.  So I avoided it, and justified that I wasn’t willing to pay to own a game, as well as play it.  Then the first expansion came out, the gaming audience grew ever further as word of mouth spread and people go their friends in on the addiction.  Still, I avoided the call.

Then I got a roommate that plays.  It seemed that no matter where I turned there was WoW.  People at work raving over the game, then at home it was the same thing.  I couldn’t get away from the subculture of the WoW gamer.  The temptation grew.

I screwed up by allowing myself to be talked into trying a “free server”.  I assumed that the novelty would wear off quickly, after all how many quests can you really do before you just get bored?  The server was glitchy and problematic so I stepped away for a little while.  The seed had been planted.

A few weeks later I finally folded.  I bought the combined Chest of WoW and the Burning Crusades expansion.  From that fatal moment I became invested.  So I did the refer-a-friend program, linked my account to my roommate’s and am enjoy triple… let that sink in for a moment… yes TRIPLE xp while leveling to 60.  OMFG I’m so hooked.  We play constantly, I’ve learned all the little sub-cultural references and am a bubble-whore priest.  You can search my toon on the WoW armory, level 64 she’s a Holy Specced Priest for Enigma.

For the others out there, wondering is it worth it?  Is it worth the investment of time, money, and social life?  F*ck yes!! Dude I am pwnin the noobs with the uberl33t hax with the wtf omg ftw…. roflmao.

For the Alliance!

So TempleCon was a great first experience for us convention virgins. We learned some new games, met some cool people and overall had a great time. If you ever find yourself in Warwick R.I. make sure to get off at exit 10, take 117 East and ask someone where Nick’s Diner is… there’s no sign. Nick makes some awesome food and his one man operation makes the costs just as great. 

The Biltmore Hotel was neat. It has some great architecture and really nice Valet drivers. Overall though, for being as historical, expensive, and famous as it is, it felt rundown. The Convention pretty much dominated the entire hotel. Some of the cool vendors were Rivendell Games, Heather V. Kreiter; C.J. Henderson to name a few. There were also some really cool guys working a place called the Tomb, they make custom fangs all kinds of art, and sold games. 

A quick look at some of the games we played (because Blindman LOVES his lists):

Munchkins- always a classic!

ZombieFluxx- this was really really fun and I recomend the Fluxx games for anyone.

Gloom- Ever wanted to kill your whole family? Gloom lets you do just that! In fact, you have to kill them if you want to win.

Shadows Over Camelot- One we were already familiar with but was great to join in on and play with a full cast. Fckin traitors won.

In order to avoid the hell that was NYC, we drove an extra hour out of the way and went west on I84 and cut down home from Scranton, PA. As a side note: Scranton is a really pretty area once you get past the city and back into the mountainous countryside.

Coastal Beach in Warwick, Rhode Island

So we left at around 6pm EST Thursday night to head out on the 8hr drive to Warwick, RI. The route took us up through Maryland, over and east through Pennsylvania, on to New Jersey and then… well then we entered the twilight zone, the seventh level of hell and Abadon all in one- also know as New York. 

Now for those of you who have never had the pleasure, the thrill, the glory of risking their life by driving around New York City… don’t. We got on I78 and dumped on to I95. The list of things that are horrible:

1. Horribly riddled road system- the exits appear and disappear at the drop of a hat.

2. 8 dollars to go over a gddam bridge!- Why in the F Scott Fitzgerald anyone should pay 8 dollars to go over a bridge is freaking beyond me, it’s unfathomable. 

3. NY drivers WANT TO KILL YOU- They refuse to use blinkers, they go 80mph in a 45mph zone, they cut you off, they don’t move over on merge lanes EVEN THE FREAKING TRACTOR TRAILERS SWERVE AROUND LIKE A FLAG IN THE WIND!!

4. Hope you get gas before you get to the city- the only real gas stations take you off the interstate and into the city, yeah… you have fun with that.

Then there is Connecticut… in mind’s eye Connecticut is always with pristine and beautiful state with glorious countryside… until you get into a bathroom that tells you to beware the sanitation due to hookers. The other problem with Connecticut is THEY DRIVE LIKE FCKING NEW YORKERS!

Rhode Island is kind of refreshing, it seems rather sprawling. However, like the rest of the region known as New England the roads make no sense whatsoever and they refuse to say words with an AR combination correctly. It’s a MART not a MAWT.

More to follow as I post up pictures and information about the gaming!