needing a better fix

I’ve been actively trying to play Everquest 2 for the last five months. I was doing okay. Between five characters, I have a combined 85 levels and a couple hundred hours of game play by now. So far I’ve spent somewhere around $65 on the game overall, which is about the price of a brand new game for my Xbox 360, and worth about 9 video rentals. I’d say I’ve gotten my money’s worth, since I would put that kind of time into something else electronic and spend about as much cash.

Downside: I’m getting bored with it. If you aren’t an MMORPG regular, then let me give you the run-down on how these sorts of games work.

1) Talk to some unassuming yet oddly realistic looking sprite
2) Be requested to gather some nonsensical item by slaughtering animals or people.
3) Begin such slaughtering until such time as you gather needed materials or reach certain goal
4) Return to sprite and deliver the good bloody news.
5) Rinse and repeat.

It can be a lot of fun when you have some six people together in a group doing the same psychokiller trail, but generally, alone, its not much of a blast after the first 30 hours. I’ve been focusing on one character, trying to get him pretty high. I’m on level 30, nearly tapped out about the game play, and there are 50 more levels to go until he will be at his zenith. There are people who have played the game for the last four years and still don’t have level 80 characters.

I’ve been involved in a pretty hefty role-playing group with a somewhat involved storyline and I’ve been working on a personal story between me and the Girl. However, this story isn’t worth $16 a month. That is two times eating out, or half an electric bill, or a week of gas, or a new album from iTunes, or two good books. So I think I’m gonna be spending my time doing something more productive with that money soon.