I’m back from a 4 day weekend, all days spent out of town for the most part, and I’ve missed my games. That’s not to say I didn’t have a great time, because I did, it’s just that all these games I’ve been buying on steam while miles away from my gaming rig has been difficult to bare.

Funny thing is, when I got home and saw how beautifully my Steam games library had expanded, I was filled with glee but then immediately started playing Rift. I got a feeling as though I was a collector, overjoyed by the coffers I held, but then walked out of the room that housed my collection, just satisfied to know it was all mine. Now, that’s not to say I won’t be taking my new lovelies out of their packaging. I can’t wait for some free time to check them all out. It’s just that I’ve really been enjoying my time in Rift and I was eager to dive back in.

Speaking of diving in (+1 for segue), I was a bit upset that I missed the opportunity to take care of my Waves of Madness (Ride the Walrus) dailies while out of town, but I had a great first night back. Not only was there ample Water Rifts open when I logged on, allowing me to complete two of the quests, but one of them yielded a piece of quest-offering loot. The reward to which was quite nice:

I’ve really been going at Rift with a different frame of mind this time around. Before I was more concerned about my characters abilities and how he fared in PVP while trying to level through the content. Now, I’m really enjoying the game from a completionist’s perspective, trying to round out all the quests in an area, regardless of them being a few levels too low for me, as well as caring more about loot and crafting. I’d be willing to say that this is the first time in an MMO that I’ve given two craps about the PvE, and it’s finally clicking.

There is always the concern that the carrot will eventually get too long of a stick, and I’ll get bored with trying to chase after it, but I’ll take it for what it is now.