So much promise, and its being eaten by bugs! Admittedly, many of them are small bugs, but they are swarming all over my poor computer, and making it cry. It seems that the longer I play the game, the worse it runs. Its strange, but when I initially installed, I had no problem running at medium high settings. Now that I have played for several weeks, I have had to reduce several settings, and the game is still hitching every thirty seconds or so. I ran a full defrag (with PerfectDisk 8, not the windows defragmenter) and it did not helped. The amount of time my computer spends accessing the hard drive is insane. I am actually upset, because the game is still fun to play, but it is rapidly approaching the unplayable stage because of the performance issues. Also, I mentioned the leveling slowdown last time, and I wanted to address that. Solo leveling slowed down, but full group leveling is just as fast as before if not faster. It's still possible to solo much of the non dungeon content, but at level 15 its really slowed down. I knew it was a more group oriented game going into it though, so I really can't complain. This is still one of the most beautifully rendered games on the market, but unfortunately it's hard to appreciate when your computer is slowing to a standstill every 30 seconds or so. Oh well, at least its pretty!

Things seem to be slowing down for me. I have played up to almost 15, but its taking FOREVER! I swear, its like there is a switch between 12 and the rest of the game that slows down the leveling exponentially. That and I am starting to run into broken quests, buggy combat numbers, and general lag issues. Needless to say, after the marathon gaming session I had Friday (around 11 hours straight, two levels gained) I'm slightly frustrated. I guess if I want to get anywhere, I am going to have to break down, be social, and group! Anyway, back to the grind, more later.

Well, I am just returning from a couple hours of questing with a friend of mine. He started a Cleric in Thestra, and I decided to make a Halfling rogue to play with him. Well, I like the rogue so far, I can't believe the amount of damage the class puts out. I hit a meadow lurker earlier for right around 1500 damage! Now, it was a crit, but I was still very impressed to crank that kind of damage out at level 10. The cleric rogue combo seems to work fairly well also. My friend holds aggro pretty easily, which allows me to simply hang out behind the mob, stealthed, and wail away on whatever we are slaughtering. Which consisted of a lot of bears, spiders, and snakes. Oh, and the cockatrices. Lots of nasty looking cockatrices. I have to admit, vanguard has some of the best looking mobs I have ever seen in an mmo, hands down. The spiders, in particular, creep me out. The stupid things are HUGE! I don't like spiders in the first place, but being attacked by a 10 foot tall garden spider while I fend it off with a dagger really makes me think. Mostly makes me hope that spiders don't ever get big enough that I have to purchase a gun to defend myself from them. Or a very large can of raid. Or a really big shoe. Well, time to get back to it, those spiders aren't going to give up their "caviar" willingly. More later!

I have to say, its been a while since I played a game that makes me want to call in sick to work. Well, I found one! I sit and play in the mornings and have to force myself to leave for work every day. There is so much stuff to do in this game, its amazing! I have been focusing mostly on Khrul, my necromancer. I finished up most of the quests on Martok, and have moved to the continent of Qalia. When I got there, I had to grind out about 250 kobold kills to get my faction up high enough to go into Khal. Each kill gives me a whole 1 faction point. Well, when I finally finished up, I had about 370 faction built up. I received no xp from any of the kills, but I was having fun killing them (I love to watch them die), and stopped counting around 180 or so. Anyway, I finally moved on, and am questing around Hafeez Al'Azaimat. Just got level 13 today, and have soloed pretty much everything I have done so far. Still hard to believe the number of quests. Anyway, more on friday, since I'm already 30 minutes late for work!

I set foot in Thestra for the first time on Tuesday morning, and the first thing I noticed was how utterly quiet the newbie area was. This bothered me a little, since newer MMOs like this usually have at least a few low levels running around, even several weeks after launch. I have to admit, I had a negative opinion of the game before I even logged in, and this did nothing but reinforce it. It launched early, and had a lot of memory leaks and other issues that have been giving it a bad name. I expected a lag filled, buggy gaming experience, and have been very surprised to find a game that runs fairly smoothly, and hasn't crashed for me once. I'm glad I decided to give the game a chance.

My first character is (of course) Knarr. Once I logged in, I walked up to the first quest giver I saw. His name is Beardun Ironguard and I asked if I could be of service. It turns out that he really dislikes kobolds, and wanted my help in thinning the population a bit. I agreed to help, and I was soon up to my elbows in kobold bits. I am loving the quests so far, as they are fairly unique. And you have no idea how utterly beautiful this world is until you see it first hand. The screenshots just don't do it justice. I find myself standing on the hill just outside the starter tower, gazing off into the distance. Now, if only I could afford to get that second 7950!

Anyway, I will update you in a couple of days on how the leveling is going, and my overall impression of the game. Feel free to send me a tell in game if you see me on (Knarr or my goblin Khrul, both on Shrideth), I'll be there, somewhere, starting at the trees...

The spirit of Lao'Jin Grand Master Shaof told Velea and I of two more masters that we needed to see along our conjoined paths of redemption and learning, but this came with a warning as well, "Your path to understanding Jin is almost complete. Only two tests remain. In the hills to our east lie two Jin masters, waiting to give you your final tests. What you have been through up to this point will seem trivial. These masters will test every fiber of your being – pushing your strength, intelligence, wit, and resolve to their breaking points."

"Master Garu will test your faith. Master Ashaine will show you the true nature of Jin. Return to me when both tests are complete."

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Our training with the Lao'Jin masters had led Velea and I to Master Kaol on the outskirts of Tanvu, where he awaited evacuees from the Ghost Wind Academy in order to quietly integrate them into city life. When we approached him he cautioned us to be careful in the city where the Emperor had taken up residence and his troops abounded, and Ra'Jin warriors looked to eradicate practitioners of Lao'Jin. He left us with some cryptic advice, "In order to complete your training, you will need to seek out the true masters. Take some time and explore the city, carefully. When you are ready for your final tests, head out of the city to the abandoned hotel in the south. You will know what to look for. Good luck, and be careful."

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I got tired of not getting much of any loot from the nearby animals so I took up harvesting. I can't stop thinking how this reminds me of Kirk from Hoodwinked. It was like I was finding the little woodsman inside of me. Well, I found a sapling and had at it with my axe. Chop chop chop. Timberrrr!!!! I like the tree falling down animation. Much more realistic then simply disappearing after I've depleted it. I'll figure out what to do with the wood later. Meanwhile, I'm just chopping down trees.