While I penned a personal opinion of what 2016 will bring for EverQuest Next at MassivelyOP.com, it wasn’t quite my first piece. No, my original message was a bit more succinct, with much less flair. But I think the meaning was far clearer. That treatise I will share with you now.

Imagine if you will, a sheet of paper tucked into a typewriter, only half-filled with words.  Beside the typewriter you see a large stack of already filled pages, obviously brimming with deep and meaningful prose.  You glance down, eyes resting on the profound message…

All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan.

All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan.

All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan.

All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan. All quiet and no word makes MJ a sad EQN fan.

I am sure you can all understand the hiatus during 2015. Once we decided to stick together and create something better than what we lost, I threw all my energies and time into building up Massively Overpowered. Much behind-the-scenes work went into that, and it left little time or energy to devote to here. On top of that, there were many more official streams to do, quite a bit more than I was allowed at the old site, so personal ones had to be temporarily set aside. I simply had to give the new site my all to help it be a successful successor. (OK, to be perfectly honest I could have had a little time, but that would have come at the expense of shiny hunting in game, and I just couldn’t cut that out of my life!)

I am proud of the work that went into MOP, but I never stopped missing it here. This is home — my home. My personal abode where I get to invite you all in to share in the search for and savoring of all things shiny in games.  And now that I have come home from a long-year’s work, I am ready to relax and entertain guests again. So the door is open, come on in and make yourself comfortable!

What can you expect during your stay? I have a number of drafts still sitting here, in varying states of readiness, that I’d wanted to share. However, I think we will just move forward from here on out. I still have fun ideas and plans for LFS that may have been put on hold for a time, but there’s no reason to hold them back any longer. I am looking forward to seeing these develop this year. I’ll be detailing those resolutions soon, but I want to hear from you: What would you like to see on LFS in 2016 and beyond? Share in the comments below!

Regardless, we can’t be erased. There is a way to still see all my past work (and that of the other great staff members) thanks to archive.org. And bonus — none of the page views go to support the company that tossed the great news blog and its awesomestaff to the curb in the first place. So its loss. Archive.org, you seriously rock! You have my support (and all my clicks!).

I knew you all were fantastic as a community, but these last few weeks have just been amazing. I have been massively touched by your outpouring of support and kind words. And making the Kickstarter goal in under 48 hours? Just wow. I knew what we could do on our own could be greater than anything AOL ever had, and your agreement in those sentiments is very validating. It’s like a superfuel that has me revving to go! (It seriously pained me that my pre-planned family vacation was smack dab in the midst of all this, so I have been sneaking on the internet every chance I get to do everything I can!)

So this valentine is just to tell you how great you all are. Community is why I play games, and you’ve just shown everyone what an outstanding community you are. Will you be my community forever and ever? <3

As I stewed in this news for this past week, I had intended to write a long, touching, heartfelt post about my experiences there — all the things I learned, the amazing experiences I had, and the awesome people I met. But I hope you’ll forgive me that I just can’t do it yet. Words are failing me. It’s not that I am super depressed; I am actually excited for the upcoming changes. Instead, I just can’t seem to compress all that stuff in my head and in my heart into a single set of prose. I am sure I will eulogize at some point, but for now just know that I never go down without a fight and I certainly never give up. I’ll be looking for shinies in games until the day they pull the plug on the net!

To help get the most of the next twelve months, I’ve made myself a set of gaming resolutions.

1. Streaming the single-player experience.

You’ve asked for it, and you knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. It just so happens that 2015 is the year. Not only will I carve out time from my MMOs to dabble in this other genre but I will stream some of these experiences. Which title will be first? Hard to say; I have already bought a few in anticipation.

2. Producing a podcast.

When I first envisioned Looking For Shinies, I had planned on a podcast. Or something. I just haven’t quite settled on what it is I want to focus on. The fact is, I love doing voice work and I love communicating and interacting with you all. I find doing DJ work fun, and podcasts are certainly a way to express myself vocally… but I have even been entertaining doing some kind of old radio-type shows. In any case, the voice will be heard in 2015!

3. Moar shinies!!!

As much as there are new games coming along that deserve some attention, there are some olda favorites who need more lovin’! I am particularly thinking about EverQuest II and all the beautiful glowy shinies it has strewn about so many lands. There is still so much to do there that I haven’t done; so much in fact that I practically sidestep it just so I don’t have to try and decide what to do first! I have plenty of unfinished collections, so there’s a place to start, no? No longer will I hide from my beloved shinies. Instead I will seek them out and spend quality time with them. And hug them, and squeeze them, and call them George.

4. Finish a build in Landmark.

I keep getting distracted by touring, mining, and spelunking in Landmark so I have never once finished a build I have started! I’ve still had fun, but I do have some ideas I’d like to see through to fruition. Will it be a deathtrap cave with hidden treasure, or a maze with secret passages and puzzles? I don’t know — I just know I have to finish one. Just one!

That will probably do me to start. I am sure new goals will present themselves over the course of 2015, and I can add them to the list. For now, I don’t want to overload myself. After all — I’ve got tons of games to play and only so much time! I don’t want to set myself up for failure because I was lost in a virtual world.

Do you have any gaming resolutions this year? How about ideas for LFS? Share below!

Notice the similarity? This picture depicts a little stuffed animal my son made for me when he was younger. With each punch, spell, or otherwise attack I felt like I was ripping apart something quite dear to me. Could you eradicate the sweet gift of a young child, lovingly made by his own hands? I am not sure I could ever log back into Wakfu without coming to tears.

Besides that, bunny punching should never be a thing! Never.

Because of the beautiful world of Atreia, I got my start at Massively.com. When I took over the Wings Over Atreia column I had the opportunity to share my love of a game with others and a larger scale then ever before; it opened me up to a larger gaming community, and my favorite part of gaming is the community! From there I branched out into more games, livestreaming, and ultimately made it right here, Looking for Shinies with all of you.

So here’s to you, Aion! Happy fifth anniversary. And thank you so much for the amazing gift you gave me. May this next year be your best one yet.

This has got to seriously be the best presentation of a plushy ever, and a plushy is already at the top of the awesome chart. The can even has a nutrition label (20 grams of Adorableness, 14 grams of Fluff, and 14% vitamin PvP) and heating instructions. If building a fire and digging a pit is just too much work, you can take advantage of the magical option: Cast Flame Bolt at can. Repeat if necessary.

I am in love with my new pet porgus, and the whole thing will definitely have a place in honor in my collection. Long live Tutty! Thanks NCSoft for making such an awesome thing.

You know you have it even worse when in between Twitter checks you dream that Franchise Director Dave Georgeson invited to a special real life Landmark combat/AI test! Of course, weapons were apparently not implemented yet, so we resorted to trying to hide/sleep under the beds. Didn’t work well for me, but I eventually prevailed.

I plan to get Dave back for that. Someday!