Analysis of the Q4 Earnings Release

So instead of my normal blog-based analysis of the Q4 Earnings Release, this quarter I did it in podcast format with Alt from Alternative-Chat and Mick Montgomery from The Starting Zone podcast was kind enough to put it up as an episode of The Starting Zone.

So a big thank you to both Alt and Mick.  And here is the link to the podcast analysis of Activision-Blizzard's Q4 Earnings Release:

Starting Zone Podcast - Q4 Earnings Release

Playing Some Rift

So yesterday I went in and started playing a little bit of RIFT.  I'd run through my normal garrison activities for the day, and started working my warrior through Mt. Hyjal, and then just stopped and decided I wanted to do something else.

RIFT is a game that I've played since launch and really enjoyed.  I got a mage to max level in the original game, and even did a bit of experts and raiding, but once Storm Legion came out, I started falling behind.

So now I'm playing a little bit of catch up.  My mage is finally finished with the Storm Legion content and working his way through the Nightmare Tide leveling zones.  Those have been fun so far and I'm about half way through 61 at this point.  I'm leveling as a Harbinger / Chloro build.  You Warcraft fans out there are going to snort your drink out of your nose at this point, but this is actually a melee build for mages.

See, the interesting thing with Rift is that any "calling" (their word for classes) can basically play any role - tank, healer, melee or ranged.  So you can have a ranged warrior, or a healing warrior, and a melee mage, or a tanking mage.  There is a warlocky option for mages in Rift, but I was really enjoying the Harbinger through the Storm Legion zones, so I'm sticking with it for now.  I've also heard good things about Pyro builds (think fire mage), so I may try that out soon.

I've got toons in various states from the other 3 callings as well.  I've got a cleric at level 28 (who I play like a shadow priest), I've got a rogue at level 25 (who I play like a hunter), and a warrior at level 6.  Yeah.  I've never been much of a warrior guy.

So I may work on getting my mage to max level and then play through the content in the Planetouched Wilds, just to see what that's like.  Stay tuned for updates.

Ding, Level 100 #21, And More Gold-Making

So I managed to hit level 100 yesterday on my alliance shadow priest.  Not a bad way to start off the month of February.  I'm working on my alliance warrior next, saving the monk for last.  The warrior is currently working his way through Howling Fjord of all places.  I wasn't sure I'd ever done that on the alliance side, but now that I've started through it, I realized I had.  

Since on the horde side, I'd leveled my warrior as fury, on the alliance side, we're going arms.  All of the characters that I've been leveling lately, seem to have been taking right around a total of 2 days played to get to 100.  That just really blows my mind when I step back and consider that way back in the day, a total of 6 days played to 70 was absolutely bonkers fast.

How things change.

Beyond the leveling stuff, I'm continuing to crank out the gold horde side with 11 fully functioning garrisons.  Things are starting to crank up alliance side as well.  I've got follower groups fully geared on at least 3 different alliance toons, and working my way there on another 5.  It's the usual mix of treasure hunters and trading posts to keep the gold flowing.

Beyond that, there's not a ton going on for me in Warcraft these days.  Just peeking into alpha news now and again and waiting for the beta to come out.