Week II Final Thoughts

Well, Week II of the GSL has come to an end, and it certainly was an interesting week. When things started, Young Guns, Woodcock Johnsons, and Hand of Thrawn were within 1k of each other. WJs exploded to +17k on us, YG imploded (this week, at least) to 3-7k behind us (not sure what their official score really is) and we own 6th place for now. The new goal is to climb into the top five, which is certainly a challenge, but we're down for it. L4A has announced that their team goal is to catch up to us... I do love motivational rivalries. I encourage them to do their best... my team thrives on people gunning for us. Week I it was Ducky's Angels and Rogue Squadron (crushed em), Week II it was L4A (they gained a little ground), Week III it will be L4A and YG (results obviously TBD). Come and get some =P

A couple of my teammates did excellent work, a couple underperformed a little... it comes with the territory (I think they all know how they did). Next week, I'm hoping for as much or more from everyone, as I think we failed to meet our goal for the week (except you Silva... you don't need to kill yourself... it's called SLEEP =P get just a tiny bit of it LOL. If we had 1,000 points for every time you sent we a message saying you were about to die, we'd be beating KOTOR {I exaggerate a little}). I'm not excepting myself from this; I too will strive to do better than my Week I score. Look for Silva to pass the 100k milestone next week. There's still six weeks of action left, so I'm sure there will be plenty of movement. I know my team well enough now to guarantee we'll remain consistent throughout.

After playing Week I, sitting out a week was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. I spent the time doing some preloading, boosting teammates in Prey and Timeshift, and playing games for fun, like continuing my second playthrough of Eternal Sonata, where I've progressed to chapter 4. Sitting back and watching the point whoring squad you've assembled do their thing certainly has its own satisfactions.

Thinking long-term, I think this will be my last GSL for a while. Don't get me wrong, I love these, and my team now is every bit as fun as TSA was (Despite the lack of Ducky's singing or totally non-PC gay jokes with Buck... we still have to break in the new guys to our randomness a little =P). My temporary retirement from GSLs will coincide from my temporary retirement from achievement whoring. Once I hit 100k, my focus is going to shift drastically from whoring points to scoring points in games I enjoy, and improving my completion percentage. My year-end goal may be 100k, but even if I reach it before May or June, I'm not setting a new goal. Operation Jedi and completing RPGs will keep me busy enough. As I look for jobs and try to establish myself post-college, I also won't have the time (or $$$) for it for a while. Assuming x360a continues GSLs, I'll probably sit out season 8, and actively avoid playing anything that smells like easy points, so that I'll have a lot of ammunition when season 9 rolls around, at which point I'd like to reform TSA or Hand of Thrawn and make a serious run for it... but that's a ways down the line.

On a separate note, while I cannot 100% confirm this yet, it looks like my next two reviews will be Stoked and Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard. One of those I'm actually looking forward to. The other I have no idea what to expect. I'll let you figure out which is which.