I've been leveling at a steady pace and I think I detect some cries of alarm from guildmates seeking to catch up. It hasn't seemed rushed, I try to hold myself back, but my Polearm Guardian is too much fun dammit.

Kheshatta is the level 80 zone in this game and I have to admit in my first visit I was underwhelmed. Perhaps I've yet to find the hidden gems in the zone, so I'll withhold any deep criticism, who knows with first impressions right? Desert landscapes don't appeal to me on the surface.

Atzel's Approach on the other hand, has proven a surprising alternative. I expected to be moving on by now but it goes all the way from 60-75. It's cleverly laid out, whomever the zone designer was he has my deep respect because Atzel's Approach has layers. Like onions, or better yet a layered cake. Oh yes, my analogies suck.

I just wrote a poetic description of the place that was borderline brilliant, but I nuked it for sake of explorer spoilers. =P   Discover the zone on your own terms, because this good stuff is too far and between in these games.

The animations are truly why I love playing a Polearm Guardian.

Here's a video tribute to Guard V:

The Guard combos have always had an extra flare as they're triggered, mostly with an overhead spin, but Funcom saved the best for last and gave the final rank of Guard an almost nunchuck-like maneuver: a spin across the back.

It's a long combo, which makes it hard to pull off with mobs that stun, but when successful it's spectacular.

Yay. A little while back they shrunk polearms to toothpick sizes, now they're adjusting them upwards again. I'll have to compare screenshots, but here's hoping my Guardian can feel reasonably intimidating again.

Update: It looks to me as though they've normalized some polearms a little better, they aren't longer but I think they're not as thin as they used to be. I could be imagining it though, because if it is a change it's a marginal one. =/

I love Thunder River, the esthetics of this zone really appeal to me. Rushing water and the spray from waterfalls. The lore is great too, most of the quests relate to a couple of central themes to this zone. For my character in an RP sense, I'd also planned months ahead that he'd be from the Pictish border and this is basically it.

Do watch the video, you'll see what I mean on the visuals:

I'm also loving the overall experience at level 60. For my character at least, the new abilities I obtained were just enough push to make me feel powerful enough again, handling multiple mobs several levels above me.

I've heard it said elsewhere and I'll repeat it here: Each class at some point has an awesome feeling of almost being overpowered. The game isn't too easy, it's just the many moments of "OMG did I just do that?" and I'm not just talking about the death animations. For me, it's surviving a swarm of mobs all at once, where I was sure I was about to die but pulled it through with a sliver of health. Yes that's happened in other games, but it's never been quite so satisfying.

The entire game and combat system is 'Overpowered'. I know I'm gushing, but it's just too much damn fun at this point.

I hit level 50 last night.

I'm starting to fill my character's shoes well, figuratively and literally (nice boots!), because at this point I think I can finally say I've got a groove on the nature of my class. Or at least my class with a Polearm spec.

Here are some mish-mashed level 50 ponderings / rants:

• Mob AI is becoming significantly challenging at 50: Mobs with fear, stun and cower effects. Mobs that shout for adds. Mobs that heal themselves. Mobs that run and grab some more buddies. It's getting significantly more difficult to solo, but I like it.
• Gathering resources is almost too easy (more on this soonish), but it's certainly more fun than in other recent games.
• Polearm reach combined with collision detection makes for an awesome combination. It's insanely satisfying to handily manage 5 mobs plus adds.
• Polearm Guardians suffer from a lack of weapon choices. I find myself not able to choose a weapon based upon appearances, but have to settle for one of the two common choices at this level if I want anything suitable for actually killing stuff with a reasonable DPS. Compared to the wide selection of swords, I'm feeling stiffed in this area.
• Funcom's official Guardian forums are dominated by players with assumptions from other games. This is especially true for those who rushed to 80 and are firmly carrying their assumptions into AoC's raiding. Sword & board to me equates to sword & bored. I'll be sticking with my polearm and milking the most out of it.
• The gear is great in appearance overall, kudos to Funcom's art department. But the itemization generally stinks, I finally reach level 50 and all of the gear is just a colour change from the same models I've been looting since 30. Apparently there are some unique items (like my boots) from group dungeon bosses, but that means all of the soloable gear is just the same.
• Funcom's solution to the itemization problem is they plan to add more of the unique stuff onto the loot tables for soloable outdoor bosses. But we don't just need more unique stuff, we need better ordinary choices. One common model with just colour and minor detail variations for 30+ levels doesn't cut it.
• I hate capes. I wish they hadn't put stats on capes, either that or let us hide them. I'm wearing a more subdued cape with lower stats rather than my 'Superman' red cape from the Sanctum quests.
• I want bigger bags.

Level 50 feels like a good time to reflect. My complaints feel pretty minor and I'm not the least bit bored of the game.

The combos, the finishing move animations, and just the high quality animation overall-- I would be hard pressed to return to any MMORPG without these features, AoC has thoroughly spoiled me with the combat.

Bello, my Aquilonian Guardian, is looking good at level 20. He's escaped the confines of Tortage and has moved on to the world of Hyboria at large. So far though, he's mostly sat around Tarantia while his controller (that would be me, Rog, heh) sniffles and sneezes trying to kick a nasty cold.

I have managed to poke around a few places, doing some casual exploring. It's all so huge and overwhelming at this point.

I've also decided that for now at least, Bello will be my main character. And as such, I created our guild (Left Hand Path) under his name. His guild title is Chaos-lord, which is pretty suitable. Hmm. Chaos-lord Bello. Yeah I like it.