Hello Brothers and Sisters

[Garrock Ironforge]

Hello, hello... it's been awhile. Some of you may (or may not) remember ol' Garrock, or Arsham. Little update on where I've been. Took a job in Afghanistan, and been there for nearly 2 years now. Anyway, am coming home in around 3 months, and wondering how everyone has been doing, and wondering if there are any games being played, or coming out soon that the old DAoC gang will play. Would really like to pick up something new and exciting.

Take care friends, and looking forward to renewed acquaintances!

[ellyiana]

Welcome back

[Gisli]

Wow, great to hear from you! That sounds pretty exciting -- I can't even imagine doing something like that. I hope that you benefited from the experience, and come back safe. Would love to hear about what you are doing, if it is the sort of thing that you feel like talking about.

[Athelstaine]

I must say i am intrigued as well. I am assuming you work for an overseas security company? My brother just came back from being deployed over there. I am glad you are doing well and good and hope you have a speedy flight home.

[Voh]

Hallo old Garrock dwarf of powerful aromas! Let's see 2 years... had adventures in Aion which was uneven as the Korean grind style could be brutal at times, though in the end had some great RvR but seriously couldn't keep the gear up with the hard core.

Now in Rift which I must say is quite good. You have an open invite to pop and join us, even if just for a while on Shadefallen. We are Werran Fehtan there. Voh = Foon, Sonja = Raederle. Look also for Kelaen, Nelinye, Cron, Draknar, and Grembel.

Safe journey old friend.

[Logard]

Hi Garrock, long time old friend. Some of us from Clan MacLear/Siol Lear are getting back together for Star Wars, right now we're kinda scattered throughout a few different games.

[Gisli]

Hi, Logard! Good to see you around! What have you been up to lately?

[Logard]

Hi Gisli!! Not alot, actually. After warhammer fizzled out a small group of us went to WoW which I had never played above level 30. After we got bored of that we switched to some free games, LotRO and DDO. Been playing them while waiting for Star Wars. How about yourself? Tell your brother I say hello too!

[Gisli]

Will do!

The only thing I have played much since Aion is a little bit of Titanquest with the kids. Got Portal 2 a week ago, still haven't had time to install it! Kids are looking forward to Diablo 3. (I keep telling them it could be a long wait.)

Which reminds me... does anyone know of a good game that 3 or 4 people can play on a LAN, that feels something like a instanced dungeon like in Warhammer or Aion? That is, something where the players have defined roles and have to work together to finish? I don't really want to introduce them to a MMORPG right now, but they might enjoy something more teamwork oriented than "superhero" games like Diablo or Titanquest (where a given monster is generally a tiny bug to squash).

[Drakhon]

You could check out Magicka. It doesn't have defined roles, but it's fun co-op up to 4 players and you can get the 4-pack of the base game on Steam for $30. The basic mechanic is the combination of eight elements (plus two sub-elements formed by merging water with fire or cold - steam and ice) into five active slots to create a variety of spells from energy beams to AE novas. One of the elements is life, which is used to heal. It can be pretty complicated. There is a lot of information on the wiki.

If the kids are mature enough for games rated M due to violence, you could also look at Borderlands. It's an FPS with RPG elements, though, which may not be to your liking.

Also rated M and just released is Lord of the Rings: The War in the North. I haven't played it and don't know a lot about it, but from what I've heard, it's fun when you play co-op. Limited to three players, however.

Guild Wars would probably work if you were willing to introduce them to a pseudo-MMO. Most of the PvE game (including all of the combat) is made up of instanced "missions". There are only a small number of common areas (cities, mostly), so it's not like a real MMO with an open world.