I was all prepared to write a positively happy post brimming with excitement over Witch Hunt, the new DLC for Dragon Age: Origins, and I still want to, but for the time being I’m distracted by a sudden and blinding hatred for Microsoft and Xbox Live. The kind of burning rage that can only really be alleviated by doing something like throwing a very large TV off a very tall building. Alas, ever since I’ve moved trekking up the CN Tower is no longer an option, and not that I have a TV to spare anyway, so I’m just going to resort to complaining on the internet.
Anyway, I own both the PC and Xbox 360 versions for DA:O, but since my favorite character and the playthrough where I managed to marry Alistair and shamelessly muscle my way up to the Ferelden throne is on the latter, that’s where I decided to make my DLC purchase. Waiting for it to be released for 360 wasn’t the problem, because I can be patient. What made me want to tear my hair out came afterward when I tried to buy Microsoft points and found my billing address stuck to Canada — except I’m in the US now with US bank accounts. From previous experience, I’ve known that the country associated with your Xbox Live account can’t be changed once it’s created, and with media distribution rights and laws differing so much internationally, I can even kind of understand why. I guess I should have foreseen this, and I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me earlier that buying points online with a credit card might present a problem, but it did. Come on, I’m trying to give you money!
So I guess I’m forever stuck buying point cards from retailers like Best Buy every time I want to make a DLC purchase, or just take the plunge and create a whole new Xbox Live account — thereby losing all the saved game content, my friends list, achievements etc. associated with that gamertag — an idea I don’t want to think about right now, and wasn’t going to help my predicament anyway. I ultimately resolved the problem without having to do either, but it’s not a permanent solution so it’s still an issue that’s going to be hanging over my head, but I figure I’ll deal with it when the time comes (most likely when account renewal time comes at the end of the year).
For now, I’m happy enough that the DLC is on its way, the green bar slowly chugging along thanks to my pathetic connection speeds (my husband just now goes, “What, complaining about our internet again? Does someone want instant gratification?” I’ll go bite his head off later). As far as Dragon Age DLC goes, I haven’t been too interested in most of them. But Witch Hunt is different because ever since I finished the main game, I’ve been plagued with the question of what happened to Morrigan. I’m hoping this campaign will finally shed some light on that, and I’m very, very excited to play it, so much that I’d cut through a thousand more miles of Microsoft red tape if I have to.
