/Sigh . . .

Do you know what I really dislike about Guild Wars 2?  (Aside from the fact that I get bored playing it solo and can really only enjoy it when I'm playing with my husband . . .)  When I've spent all day working on one project or another and finally find myself with an hour before bedtime to sit down, put up my feet, and log on, almost invariably, there is a patch.  And with our less-than-desirable Internet connection, I know I've lost my window of opportunity for playing.

That has also been the case with my ability to play SWTOR recently.  I log on and discover there is a patch.  But, as I am unwilling to risk my husband's ping rate on his World of Tanks games, I exit out of the patch sequence and end up going to bed.

Last week, I had to travel for a conference, and I delightedly brought my laptop with me, thinking I would patch SWTOR overnight and have some fun on the other evenings.  Unfortunately, while the hotel Internet worked perfectly well for other downloads and for Netflix, I was unable to reach the SWTOR patcher every single time I tried.  I could only conclude that the firewall was doing something to block my access.  (Oh, well.  A couple of evenings spent watching "Firefly" can't be considered a complete waste . . .)

Well, last night, I finally had the opportunity to patch up my desktop SWTOR!  So today, after what seems an incredibly long time, I managed to log on and run a few warzones as a Preferred status player.  I ran one on my baby Agent and two on my Smuggler.  Then I respec'd my baby Sage, whose skill points had been reset, and headed out into the wilds of Tatooine with Qyzen.

Amazingly enough, although I wasn't in top form, I could remember where my keys were well enough to manage.  I guess when you standardize your toolbar abilities between characters, who all play similar roles, it helps solidify the arrangement when you return after a relatively long absence.

It's nice to be running around the familiar game maps again, guarding nodes or interrupting people trying to plant bombs.  And somehow, I even find myself actually interested in Tatooine, instead of thinking to myself how interminable are the quest chains located there.  (I will confess that Taris still makes me want to gag, which was why I was delighted my Smuggler made it to level 23 in her second warzone and was able to think about heading straight to her class quest area in Nar Shaddaa.)  I guess sometimes you need a break for a while to appreciate things you have been taking for granted.

Speaking of things which have been taken for granted, I can live without having my wardrobe matching, but I did spend the Cartel points to acquire the ability to hide my head slots on all characters.  There was no way I was going to deal with some of those insufferable headpieces, especially after all the thought and consideration I had put into creating those character appearances, to begin with.  A girl's got to have some standards, after all!