The Daily Blink

Today’s strip stems not from a need to attack or claim that the floodgates are going to open up on players switching from one game to another en masse, but from a real trend that we’ve seen amongst friends and acquaintances – both those only peripherally interested and those who were very progressive about making the switch from WoW to SWTOR – who are at least having to have the conversation with themselves about not re-upping their SWTOR subscription in favor of sticking solely with World of Warcraft. When faced with the prospect of paying for 2 monthly games instead of one, this decision certainly isn’t as easy, and the prospect of seeing Patch 1.1’s supposed rescuing of a few aspects of the game doesn’t make Month 2 an auto-purchase for many. I know Mike and I will be continuing to play both, though for different reasons – I’m enjoying a lot of the storylines, and Mike likes to electrocute players by the baker’s dozen.

I mentioned on FB and Twitter, but neglected to link here a podcast that I was on recently, as I joined Flux on his Power Word: Gold show to talk about the frustrations that I’d experienced with leveling enchanting recently and how it related with my overall experience since Day 1 in WoW with earning gold and holding onto it. It’s a pretty robust show, coming in at over 90 minutes, but it’s a good conversation that isn’t afraid to wonk on some of the more nerdy aspects of the WoW economy, and I suggest you check it out.

As for future appearances online, I’ll be joining the Convert to Raid podcast this Sunday morning to discuss a wide variety of topics, including how I miss raiding and my LFR experiences up to this point. I’m making an effort to give a shout out ahead of time because we should be broadcasting live – if you feel up for braving an 8AM PST start time, please be sure to tune in and place bets with friends about whether I’m actually conscious or not.

Hey, Chris here. Tomorrow is a big day for The Daily Blink, though for reasons that people would never guess.

A little history for those unfamiliar: I first created The Daily Blink in 2006 as a joke for the WoW blog that I was contributing to at the time, Metroblogging Azeroth. It became a full webcomic in January of 2010 and co-wrote the strip with my friend CP for the first half of that year, before taking a long hiatus. During that time, Michael and I became acquainted for the first time. We were both members of a mailing list for a gaming organization we volunteered for, and I sent him a message after reading a particularly acidic and funny email he’d sent in. A friendship was formed, and when the Daily Blink relaunched, he started becoming a soundboard for ideas bofore eventually becoming a fully fledged partner-in-crime.

The truth of the matter is that, Michael and I have never met each other in person. We’ve worked over emails, IM, and hundreds of hours of Skype calls, but never in the same room, or even the same state. I started in Iowa and moved to California last February, and Mike’s service in the Navy took him from New York City to his initial training in Chicago.

However, fate has a funny way of handling these things. Blizzcon 2011, which was supposed to be our first meeting, became a one-man show when Mike’s leave request got caught up in complications and prevented him from attending. However, as I write this, Mike gets on an airplane to his next assignment, an hour South of my home in San Diego, and I will be there tomorrow to finally introduce myself and laugh about the weird trip that it’s been for both of us.

Our hope is that our new close proximity will mean working together more, and give our readers more than just three strips a week. What that “more” is made up of is still up in the air, but there will be much plotting in the weeks ahead. No matter the direction we head in, I know that the future is an exciting thing.

Here’s to an awesome 2012!

For those interested, a link to the high res version of today’s strip:

Download! Enjoy! Troll your friends!

Though not mentioned by name and in an article having nothing to do with World of Warcraft, The Daily Blink got a really nice nod in the Arts section of the New York Times during their official review of Skyrim, referencing our own (albiet completely tongue-in-cheek) thoughts on the game:

There is now an entire generation of gamers that has grown up online (World of Warcraft is actually seven years old this week), and it has been fascinating watching those players react to Skyrim with such fascination and glee. A funny, insightful cartoon that compares those two games has been making the rounds online. As it points out, when you are a new Level 4 player in World of Warcraft, “You kill boars and collect apples.” When you are a new Level 4 player in Skyrim, “You beat a dragon to death and rip its soul through its neck.” Certainly, one feels more heroic than the other.

Really, in the end this is just a nice little ego boost and validation more than anything else, but we’ve been walking on air since we found out yesterday. Thanks for all the congratulatory tweets and Facebook replies, it’s a nice little bonus during this long holiday weekend.

While we’re all waiting anxiously for friday’s strip to post, I thought i’d share a lovely bit of…fan art…done by my beautiful if slightly insane lady. Behold her…works, and if you think it’s funny (i certainly do) pop by her newly begun webcomic project, P & Q. Every pageview she gets is a moment of insanity she shares with all of you instead of me.